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mollymauk-teafleak · 3 years

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The Bianca Nureyev Detective Agency

This was an anniversary present for my wonderful girlfriend @spiky-lesbian who is just the most wonderful girlfriend ever and I love her a lot!

Juno tries to entertain his and Nureyev’s daughter on a slow day in space...

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Being a space pirate did sound good on paper. It sounded like a life full of narrowly dodged laser bullets, sprawling on beds of golden creds, witty one liners delivered to fallen foes in the smoking ruins of their empires that you’d just toppled and large, audacious hats.

And it was like that, about twenty percent of the time. But what they didn’t tell you was that the other eighty percent was a hell of a lot of waiting. It was a lot of snail crawling through deep space, killing days upon days worth of time in cramped metal hallways, eating stasis food and absorbing simulated sunlight. Planning your next big twenty percent could only take up so much time.

And it only got harder when you also had a three year old space pirate to entertain.

“Mamaaaaaaa,” Bee Bee poked her head up over the edge of the sofa, looking like some burrowing animal resurfacing, “I’m bored.”

Juno lowered the case file he’d been reviewing, eyeing his daughter with the tired amusement only a parent could muster, “Oh?”

Bee Bee scrambled up onto the family room’s busted old soda, sinking down beside her mama. She peered at him for a moment, taking note of the way he was sat, one ankle folded over the other and tried to copy him as best she could with her chubby little legs.

“Space is boring,” she declared, “There’s nothing to do.”

Juno set the files aside, silently accepting that he wouldn’t be getting back to them anytime soon, “Nothing? Nothing at all?”

“Nope,” his daughter gave a forlorn sigh, “Nothing at all.”

“Well then,” Juno shrugged, sinking down into the sofa so they were level even if it would be murder on his back later, “We’ll just have to think of something to do, won’t we, kiddo?”

Bee Bee giggled, “Yes. What was mama doing?”

“Oh,” Juno looked to the files he’d piled on the arm of the sofa, “Nothing interesting. Just looking into cases where other people have tried to do the same job we’re going to do.”

“And what happened to them?”

Juno winced. It wasn’t as if their daughter was unaware of the dangers they faced in their line of work. Pirates weren’t exactly famous for operating within the confines of the law, even in her storystreams. And since she’d been born, she’d seen her daddy at work, often getting a birds eye view of it all from a wrap slung across his chest.

“Well. Jail mostly,” he admitted, knowing he didn’t have to hide the truth from her even if it didn’t feel good to.

“Huh,” Bee Bee hardly blinked, swinging her legs, “Well, Auntie Buddy’s way way smarter than all of them. And Auntie Vespa is faster and Auntie Rita is better and Uncle Jet is cooler and my daddy is the best at stealing ever ever in the whole galaxy. And my mama’s the best detective. So we’ll do just fine.”

Juno grinned, reaching over and stroking back her curls, “Yeah. We’ll do just fine.”

“So can I help Mama? With being a detective?” her eyes sparked excitedly.

He knew that look, once her mind was fixed on something she’d follow it to the far side of the universe. She was like her daddy in that. But she wouldn’t exactly find much interest in going through old case files that somehow managed to make jewel heists sound boring. Though the tactics these failed thieves had used didn’t have an awful lot of pizzaz to them. Probably why they’d flopped, or at least that’s what Buddy would say.

“You know what?” Juno snapped his fingers like he’d just had a fantastic idea, “You’re just the kid I need for this very important case!”

“I am!” Bianca beamed, not a question. She had perfect confidence in her own abilities.

“It’s a classic head scratcher, kiddo,” Juno announced grandly, mostly to stall for time while he decided just what this case was going to be, “I’ve been at it for years and I’ve never been able to crack it but with your pluckiness and my brains we might just solve the case of...uh...the case of daddy’s missing glasses!”

Bee Bee gasped appreciatively, “Daddy’s always losing his glasses!”

“He is,” Juno snorted, “And we’ve got to go help him, right?”

“Right!” she jumped onto her feet, bouncing up onto the couch cushions and promptly tumbling, Juno just about managing to catch her. It didn’t seem to diminish her enthusiasm, as her legs windmilled wildly, “Let’s go!”

“Okay,” Juno grinned, “Well, first thing is to examine the scene of the crime and…”

“No, mama!” Bee Bee frowned, looking at him like he was profoundly stupid, “First thing is to dress up.”

“Of course. My mistake.”

Apparently no detective work could be done until Bianca was wearing her mama’s old coat, the one he’d hung onto for sentimental reasons even after he’’d been unable to really call himself a detective. And long after the leather had worn on the elbows and there were none of the original buttons left on it.

It needed to be rolled up quite a few times to even get the tips of her fingers poking out of the sleeves and the bottom of it looked like a mad kind of wedding train but Bee Bee grinned in delight and it was pretty good to see the old thing getting some use again.

“Now we go to the scene of the crime,” she declared, waving her arms, “Daddy and mama’s room!”

“Come on then, co-detective,” Juno laughed, “Lead the way.”

If Nureyev was surprised to see them burst through the door, it didn’t show on his face. He didn’t scare easily. He only smiled and tilted his head, quickly shoving the book on pregnancy he’d been reading far under Juno’s pillow. They weren’t quite ready to broach that subject with Bianca yet.

“Hello, my loves,” he hummed, “What adventures are we on today?”

“We’re playing detective!” Bee Bee toddled up, clambering on the bed to give him a quick hug before anything else, “Going to find your glasses.”

“Oh could you!” Nureyev smiles pleasantly, “It does seem I’ve misplaced them again, reading is something of a chore without them.”

Juno arched an eyebrow at his husband, “You wouldn’t possibly be deliberately reading that book without your glasses so you could claim you have while not retaining any information or looking at any of the diagrams?”

“An outlandish notion,” Nureyev flicked his fingers at him airily, turning his attention to Bianca who was now crawling around the bed, bent over so she could scrutinise every inch of the sheets like a bloodhound with a scent, “Please, dear little detective, will you take my case?”

“We on the case, daddy!” Bee Bee assured him, hurrying over to give him a hug, now just because she wanted to, “We’ll find the glasses.”

“You gotta question the witness,” Juno advised, “Build a timeline.”

Bee Bee nodded, looking up at Nureyev with a sudden fierce seriousness, “What is your timeline, daddy?”

He couldn’t help but smile down at her as he pretended to think, “Let’s see...well, I went to the kitchen for breakfast...then I had to collect some floorplans from Buddy’s office, I read them over in the family room with my wife...then I had an appointment with the physician. Then I came here to have a nap and do my assigned reading.”

Juno rolled his eyes at that last one.

“We’ll track 'em down!” Bee Bee declared, barrelling off the bed onto the ground. Again, her mama only just managed to catch her, “Come on, Detective Mama! Before the trail goes cold!”

Juno chuckled, pausing briefly to lean down and kiss Nureyev, before he followed his daughter, not needing to hurry too much, one of his strides matching about five of hers.

Their trail through the ship took them most of the rest of the afternoon, clattering through the winding corridors, the two of them making up wild twists and turns whenever suited them, inventing new characters, dastardly schemes that had happened off screen, speculating wildly on new threats. Buddy of course joined in enthusiastically, she was a regular and beloved playmate of Bianca’s. Just searching her room turned into a frantic search to disarm a bomb left by this mysterious glasses thief, a bomb that turned out to be in Buddy’s chest which could only be fixed by a hug from a plucky little detective.

Vespa was less willing, they caught her in the middle of disinfecting all of her scalpels. But even she wasn’t immune to Bee Bee’s charms, eventually playing her role with grudging grace. And Juno was able to get a quick whispered update on Nureyev’s check up, feeling a little better that it wasn’t just him and his husband who knew, that he had someone to offload all his anxiety on, the same anxiety he was trying to shield said husband from.

Even better, they ran into Rita in the kitchen and the game then swerved happily into the wildest corners of two vast imaginations, going off on a tangent that somehow involved werewolves, a falling moon and a galaxy wide ring of prolific glasses thieves (it turned out Rita had lost her pair too, though they did turn out to be perched on top of her head).

It was when Bee Bee was rolling happily around on the floor that she suddenly froze and squealed in triumph. She bounded up to the side table next to the old, sagging sofa, less than an inch from where Juno had been sitting earlier.

“Here! Here’s the glasses!”

Sure enough, there was a pair of cat eye spectacles on a silver chain resting there. Even Juno couldn’t raise much of a grump when he realised they’d been inches from their goal at the very start of the job. Some cases just worked out that way.

“We’ll have to take them back to your daddy, huh?” he panted, collapsing next to his daughter on the sofa. Somewhere along the way he’d picked up glitter on his black turtleneck, a rubber glove from the infirmary stretched over his head like a mad hat and one of Buddy’s scarves wound around his neck.

“Yes! And then get paid,” Bee Bee nodded, making Juno slightly nervous about what sort of payment she was going to demand. She’d asked to be paid in ice cream last time they’d played this game.

She plopped down next to her mama, leaning against his arm, adding more glitter to his favourite jumper, “Mama? I don’t think daddy is very happy right now. I think something’s up.”

Juno froze, “Uh...what makes you say that, kiddo?”

“Well…” Bee Bee wrinkled her nose, “He just seems...floppy. Always flopping on you and he looks pale and he doesn’t sleep good, mama. I think he’s sick.”

Juno tried to keep his face carefully neutral, “Your daddy’s fine, honey, I promise.”

“Hmm,” she replied, in that way she had that let him know she didn’t believe him in the slightest, “But it’s okay. Because we found his glasses and that’s gonna make him happy. And then we’ll help him more and we’ll do detective and find his happy.”

Juno relaxed, wrapping his arm around her, “Oh yeah?”

Bee Bee beamed and nodded, “Cos I’m the best detective ever! And mama helps!”

Juno sat back, laughing mostly to himself.

“You know what, kiddo? I thought I was pretty good but I think you really might be the best ever.”

#the penumbra podcast #juno steel #peter nureyev #jupeter #fluff #please reblog and comment if you like this!#tw: trans pregnancy

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thenickelportrust · 5 years

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First Kiss: Ricky

8/10

Three things were evident. The first was that of the, oh, dozen or so people in the room, Ricky was the only one not drunk off his ass. The second was that they weren’t about to give up on grabbing his arm and quite literally attempting to drag him down with them when it came to playing their childish- and he meant that quite literally- games. The third was that this was going to be a very, very long night.

Eleanor Boroughs, who had an almost clockwork consistency of reminding him to call her “Ellie” every hour, on the hour, was the reason he was there. Had she not been at the party, neither would he.

Now, this wasn’t meant to say that he cared for her. In fact it was making him feel considerably stronger in the opposite direction. No, it’s more to say that her mother was the founder and owner of a very big chain of hotels and thus very, very rich. And, because money and power are about as tightly intertwined as a sailing ship’s main line of rope, it meant that “Ellie” was, by proxy, very, very powerful. Thus, much to his chagrin it brought him here, at this damned party and, with any luck, her and her family’s good graces.

Which also meant that he had to grit his teeth in some approximation of a smile and laugh at her idiotic jokes and her friend’s even more stupid stunts. Honestly, it was hardly befitting of any of them to be behaving like animals, attempting backflips off of tables and smashing their heads into what had by this point tallied up to a total of three vases.

Ricky had politely declined what he’s oh-so-sure was a positively riveting game of beer pong and had managed to weasel his way out of eating cookies that were most definitely spiked with something by playing into their little game. “Oh? Trying to pawn the rest off on me, Hunter? What’s wrong? Can’t handle your own high?”

The shit-eating grin felt stretched on his face, pulling his lips unnaturally upwards. But it had worked and to prove his dominance over the situation Hunter had shoveled the rest of the cookies into his mouth and then half choked trying to swallow them.

Yeah… he was keeping 911 on speed dial.

But his tricks had finally been foiled by Ellie, who now hung on his arm, her legs dragging against the wine-stained carpet as she tried to drag him into the circle. “Come on Ceddy, you haven’t played with us all night! You gotta join us here!”

He swallowed his pride for just a moment. Biting down hard on the side of his cheek to keep himself from snapping at the nickname and instead just smiled at her. “I’d love to but you know I’m the designated driver, El. I can’t drink, but I’ll cheer you on, alright?”

“No drinks!” She managed to wobble her feet beneath her for just a moment, enough to prop herself back up. “Not a drinking game! So you can join!”

His smile grew just a tad bit tighter.“What… are you playing?”

“Kissing game!”

“Spin the bottle, dude.” Hunter, with words so slurred they may as well have been another language, lifted his bottle in cheers. “Ellie’s idea.”

Of course it was.

“So you have to join!!!” She jiggled his arm. His mind ran through a thousand and one excuses but… dammit, there was no getting out of this one, was there?

Ricky turned his heavy sigh into a bouncing laugh. Just get it over with. He took a seat next to her and reached out to grab the neck of the glass beer bottle that had been emptied just for this purpose. Not like there wasn’t already a surplus of them littered around the room.

The neck was still sticky.

Disgusting.

Ellie leaned haphazardly against him, she lifted her red solo cup in cheers and began a chant, “Spin! Spin! Spin!” It was joined in by the others, although not in anything at all approximating a harmony or any kind of coordination.

He flicked his wrist loosely and watched the bottle begin its amateur breakdance, turning once, twice, three rotations before the carpet finally got a good enough grasp to start it’s slow as it churned…. Little by little…

And landed right back on himself.

He laughed and leaned back on his hands, relief flooding through his veins. “Damn, bad luck. Guess I really do gotta sit this one out. Whos next, you, El?”

Her lower lip jutted out in a pout. “Awww… no fun!” Lucky for Ricky, the repramation was directed at the bottle, and not at himself. Then she leaned forward and, with significantly more enthusiasm, sent it spinning. Once, twice, thrice, four times, “Damn Ellie! Got an arm on ya!” Hunter’s slurred call was marked by him half falling back on his elbows.

Then the bottle slowed down again, giving one last languid turn before it finally stopped.

Right on Ricky again.

Hunter fell the last inch back laughing and clutching at his hat. “Hoo buddy! I think the bottle wants a piece of ya, too!”

“I-” Fuck.

Eleanor giggled, she already her hands on his cheeks, smooshing them together and then pulling them apart while pinching his cheeks. “What’s with the grump-ing, Ceddy? Don’ you wanna kiss me?”

Fuck. Shit. He couldn’t offend her, could he? And refusing her would be offending her. Shit. Fuck.

Well, the best thing he could do was just not reply. Which seemed perfectly fine to Ellie, who pressed his cheeks together against and perched up on her knees to mash her lips to his. Ricky did his best to kiss back, though her breath tasted like beer and wine and, yeah, there was definitely something in those cookies and it wasn’t chocolate chips. Or even raisins. He would’ve much preferred raisins.

She leaned back, too far, and fell flat on her back with an elongated “Whoo!” and a fist pumped into the air as if in victory. Ricky kept his smile as he laughed and surreptitiously ran his thumb along his lips as if he were savoring the kiss.

But it was just to hide him trying to wipe the taste from his tongue.

Sadly, it didn’t work.

#shorts #model citizens unmasked #ricky dempsey

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some-cookie-crumbz · 5 years

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Lesbian!Kidge would be a blessing from above, but I understand that you're busy and since you asked for opinion I came to deliever❤❤❤

Hope you were all ready for some more Lesbian!Kidge; and this time there’s also bonus Lesbian!Allurance because I felt like it and have no self-control~! :3c

She jumped about a half a foot in the air when the dorm toher small apartment was thrown open and her friend shouted, “Katie, get in theshower! I got you a date!”

“Lexi!” She snapped, narrowly managing to catch her laptopbefore it could topple to the floor, pinning to other woman with a glare. Whenshe spotted the small silver case in her hands, however, her eyes widenedbefore shifting to look up at the cheeky grin staring down at her. “Ugh, Lex, seriously? I had plans for tonight!”

Lexi quirked one well-plucked eyebrow at her and clicked hertongue. “Sitting around and moping because the girl you had a crush on turnedout to have a boyfriend does notconstitute as plans. Besides, you promised you’d go with me to Allura’s nextshow. Now go get in the shower; I’ll raid your wardrobe and see if I can findsomething presentable for you to wear,” She mused lightly, walking over andcarefully plucking the computer from the smaller girl’s lap.

“I wasn’t moping,” She grumbled, but still moved to get up,“and I do have plans. I was going tostart a new game plus on Tales of Graces.”

“Oh, no, I’m taking some time away from your video games! The horror!” Lex harrumped dramatically.Once Katie was off the couch, she settled one hand on her shoulder as sheguided her towards the restroom. “And besides, wouldn’t it be nice to go out?You can meet a girl you think is cute, maybe bring her home, get some of thatfrustration worked out?” She mused, her tone becoming playful as they movedalong. She skid to a stop and turned, red-faced and sputtering, but Lex’expression continued to remain that of amused. “So, you know, take your time inthere. Make sure you’re all set before we get a move on~!”

And with that, she was unceremoniously shoved into herbathroom with the door shut behind her.

She let out a resigned sigh and headed over to get the waterstarted. She knew better than to argue with Lex when she was on the warpathafter the several years they’d been friends. As she stepped under the warmspray she let her head tip back and smack against the tiled wall lightly. Shemust have been off her game in the last few days if her friend was going tosuch an extreme to get her out and about. It wasn’t normal that Katie Holt felldown into slumps like she had, but when she did, she was usually able to fakeit a little better.

While letting herself into Katie’s apartment with no warningwasn’t necessarily uncommon for Lex,the bombastic way she’d done it screamed of something more.

Clearly, Katie hadn’t hidden her anguish over her long-termcrush, Nadia Rizavi, revealing she had a boyfriend. Nadia and Katie had beenassigned as lab partners in their shared chemistry class in the previoussemester of college and hit it off right away. They were both wildly passionateabout science and technology, with a keen interest in video games; both classicand modern. They moved from simply being lab partners to being friends pretty quickly.Over the weeks, Katie’s feelings had moved from friendship to something more, adesire to be with Nadia in a more intimate way.

And then, while they’d been having lunch between classes,that Nadia had pulled up some pictures from a trip she’d taken over theprevious vacation week. “Oh, who’s that?” Pidge had asked, pointing to the tallmale with an arm tossed over Nadia’s shoulder, expression completelyunreadable.

“Oh, that’s Ryan, my boyfriend. He looks like a total grumpin every picture I took, but I promise he’s actually a big sweetheart once youget to know him,” She laughed.

And, though she’d played it off well, Katie was pretty sureshe’d felt her heart crack.

It was her own fault, though, she had to admit. She’dassumed that Nadia’s casual comments about actresses or singers that she foundattractive had been enough to imply that there was a sexual attraction to thesame sex there. And, certainly, there was still the chance that the other womanwas still attracted to the same sex, but she’d never thought to ask Nadiaoutright. She knew how uncomfortable it could be when someone pestered youabout your sexuality and hadn’t wanted to put the other in that position.

She could, however, have asked her about her relationshipstatus once her crush started to develop. Nipped it in the bud before it couldupset her as badly as it did. But she hadn’t and, knowing she had no one elseto blame but herself, opted into keeping closed up about how she felt, and mopingabout it when she was alone.

And, for the most part, she was pretty much over it. She wasmostly just tired at this point from long hours at work and even longer hoursfocusing on school projects.

Then again, she couldn’t blame Lex for thinking that she wasstill feeling heartbroken from the pseudo-rejection. Plus, the fact that shewas here and dragging her out to a performance without any forewarning, was asign that she really did care about Katie. She sighed as she stepped out of thebathroom, carefully tucking one corner of her towel into the fabric coveringher torso. Even if it was last minute, perhaps she would have a good time thatnight.

And then she stepped out and saw goldenrod, tattered scrapsof fabric littering her floor.

"Did you take a pair of scissors to one of myshirts?" She asked, carefully stepping around the edge of her bed. Shefelt her stomach plummet at the extremely familiar logo on the now snipped upshirt laid across her bed. The shirt had been cut down either side along theirseams and then, using some of the remaining slivers of fabric snipped away,tied back together so there were little knotted up bows all along both sides.

Lex was rummaging through her dresser, tossing a dark greenbra and matching lacy panties over her shoulder on to the bed. "Don'tworry; I picked one you don't wear very often, so that way you wouldn't bebothered," She said happily before shutting the top drawer. She thenpulled open the lower drawer. “Do you still have that really tight skirt I gotyou for your birthday last year? That’ll look amazing if I pair it with sometights.”

"This is the Garrison shirt Matt got me once he gotaccepted into their engineering program! It was a limited print they only sold on campus for his first semester!" She wailed as she picked the shirt up off thebed.

"Well, not it's even more unique!" She answered happily, standing back up as shepulled out the skirt she’d been looking for. She watched as Pidge held theshirt up to herself, a small frown in place, fiddling with the little edges ofthe bows along the side. "Oh, lighten up Pidge! It'll be fine!"

"I liked this shirt for lounging around. And now you'veruined it," She said, her tone more like a petulant child than the pureheartache she’d wanted to infuse it with.

Lex snorted as she set the skirt down then returned to thedresser drawer she’d been in before and pulled out a pair of leggings. "Ididn't ruin anything. Now get dressed then sit down. We're gonna get you alldolled up," She sang, tossing the leggings down before tossing the pantiesat Katie. Katie’s eloquent response was to let out a small groan as Lex steppedaway, picking her make-up case back up and heading towards the bathroom."And before you whine about it; yes, I knowyou don't like make-up. All I’m going to do is a little bit of highlighting tomake your eyes pop and such. I promise it’ll be painfully modest.”

And with that last little note, Katie accepted her fate andgot ready. Ultimately, the outfit was fine but it screamed of a punk rockaesthetic that she never would have pegged herself with. The leggings were finebut typically more suited towards when she decided to go make use of the littlegym in her apartment complex to work out frustrations. The skirt was one thatshe’d only worn once simply because it was of a tight, leather-esque materialthat seemed a bit too enticing for her. Lex had gone so far as to curl her hairjust a bit and, true to her word, only used nude hues of eye shadow and used apale pink lipstick on her.

Upon taking a second glance at Lex, noting the tight bluedress and knee-high boots, that the other was also looking for a more punk-rockfeel to her attire.

While she was still uncertain about how she was feelingabout hooking up with anyone that night – mostly because she herself wasn’tkeen on casual hook-ups in the first place – the whole change in appearance hadher curious about meeting Lex’ latest girlfriend. Allura came off as some kingof ethereal being beyond the realm of existence, based upon how she wasdescribed to Katie by Lex. Up until this point, though, there simply hadn’tbeen a point in time for her to meet Allura proper in the last four months.Partly because, until a week ago, most of her free time had been spent hangingout with Nadia, and partly because Lex had been having a bit of difficulty withone of her classes. As Lex drove them down to Seventh Street, she wondered whatwould go down that night.

They parked in one of the local structures and then madetheir way down, falling in line with the rest of the crowds swarming towardsthe strip of clubs and bars. Seventh Street had developed a bit of a reputationas being called the “Gay Strip” because so many of the clubs and bars wereowned and operated by members of the LGBTA community. It was a bit comfortingto see that the establishments were popular with not only members of thespecific community, as well as by members outside of the community, and turnedthemselves a decent profit. She’d only been down there a few times, as she’donly turned 21 a little bit ago, but she’d always liked how the place was solively and thriving.

As they walked into the doors of Kral Zera, shedouble-checked to make sure she still had the small purse Lex had shoved herthings into for her.

“Oh, man, wait until you hear Allura! Her skills areunparalleled! She basically has to carry the band, though, since one member oftheir group has been really so-so lately,” She mused, pushing the door open andleading her in. Once they were both inside, Lex offered a coquettish wave tothe tall, stocky male bouncer at the door. “Hey, Antok! How’s Regris doing?”

“Oh, hey, Lex. And Reg’s doing well; ankle’s healing upnicely,” He said, offering her a small smile and salute.

“Awesome! Let him know I’ll buy him a drink once he’s up andabout again,” She said before leading Katie along over to the bar.

“You come here often enough to be on first name basis withthe staff around here?” She asked in slightly surprise.

“Oh, totally. Allura’s band plays here all the time and I cometo the audio tests and shows. I may not know a lot but I like to help out.Allura’s suggested I apply as a server here for some extra scratch but whoknows,” She laughed as they headed over and settled in at the bar. “Antok’s oneof the cooler bouncers around here, one you get to know him. Regris is hisfiancé; twisted his ankle playing basketball a couple days ago.”

“Huh,” She mused as the bar tender approached them. Sheturned in her seat to watch the stage, where four figures were setting up theirequipment.

The women on stage were all wildly different yet somehowcohesive. The one setting up what Katie was pretty certain was a bass guitarhad a tall, platinum blonde dyed ponytail, wearing a hot pink tube-style dressand so many bright bracelets along her arms, she was surprised the microphonewasn’t picking up on the clicking of her jangles against one another. The onesetting up the drums was harder to see, as she was adjusting her stool, but shewas of a sturdy build wearing a tank top for some band that showed off hertoned upper arms. Her hair was cut to just above her jawline and had also beendied two-tones; pink on the bottom half and navy blue on the top, the colorspopping in contrast to the light brown hue of her skin. The bass player saidsomething to her, twirling briefly and fluttering luminous blue eyes at her.The drummer’s near-golden eyes widened a bit before she threw her head back andlaughed, motioning the other woman over with one of her drumsticks. The bassplayer waltzed over for a moment, the two exchanging a quick peck, beforehappily bouncing back over to her post.

Neither of them could be Allura, she surmised, since Lexhadn’t said they were in a polyamorous relationship. She let her eyes swivelover to the other two on stage instead.

Her eyes turned to the guitar player next, a tall woman thatscreamed to Katie of living proof of an elf. Her hair was a bright silver, butshe couldn’t see any sign of it being a dye job, but albino also didn’t makesense given her darker skin and bright blue eyes. Katie perked up when shenoticed the other woman using an incredibly familiar powder blue and whitecheckered headband to keep her hair pressed back on her head. It lookedsurprisingly good with the pastel pink tank top and ruffled black skirt with aspiked belt. She stole a small glance over at Lex and watched how she leanedone elbow on the bar, taking a sip of her drink with a contented, dreamy littlesigh. Katie could almost see her pupils turning into little hearts as shewatched the guitarist move to her own post.

And then her eyes fell on the lead singer, carefullyreadjusting her mic stand, and she felt her stomach flip a bit.

Lex wasn’t necessarily wrong in asserting that hergirlfriend had an ethereal creature, but to Katie that seemed like a betterexplanation of the front runner on stage. The girl wasn’t the tallest figure onstage, but she was certainly taller than herself. She was wearing a blackt-shirt with the silhouette of a lioness in a bright red color which, sherealized, was also painted onto the front of the bass drum. With that she waswearing a pair of black and grey camo pants and military-style boots. Her hairwas pitch black but there was a bright red streak dyed down the center, and itwas tucked back with a few clips.

But what really caught Katie were the bright indigo eyesscanning the crowd and scowling lips coated in a blood red color.

Back when she’d realized she was interested in girls, thefirst person she told was her older brother, Matt. She hadn’t been worried herparents would react poorly, but more just wanted to talk with someone closer toher age. Her brother had leaned back in his desk chair and, with a look thatwas unusually sagely, told her, “Allows be careful around women who can wearred lipstick and own it. Those are the kinds of women that will either blowyour mind, break your heart, or some awful combination of both.”

As she sat there watching the other take a breath in slowly,she could only think on how the other was making the red lipstick her bitch.She resigned herself to being completely doomed.

“Hello, everyone,” She said, pausing briefly as the crowderupted into thunderous, excited cheers. Katie took the chance to swipe thedrink that Lex had ordered for her. It was way too fruity with not near enoughliquor in it for her in that moment. “We’re Roar,Lioness, as most of you know. Tonight’s set is filled with requests fromout twitter page, so hopefully you all enjoy.” She said before stepping backfor a second as the drummer started counting them in.

The set started out with a mix of different songs, jumpingfrom Three Days Grace to Nirvana and then, surprisingly, actuallywent and did a few songs by Journey. Theband sounded amazing, as far as she could tell, and she couldn’t help but admittheir front runner had been gifted with a killer set of pipes. Her movements asshe sang shifted depending on the song and type of energy the song carried;shifting between upbeat, sultry and morose from track to track. It was a bitenthralling, really, given how flat and bland her tone was as she introducedeach song they performed. It was clear, however, that she clearly loved whatshe did, by how her eyes shined with a fire being reignited with each word. Katienursed her drink throughout the performance, watching how the lead singer movedlike a hawk, vaguely aware of how Lex was eagerly shouting her undying loveafter every song and cheering enthusiastically after every guitar solo.

The second the set ended, Lex was tugging on her arm whileslapping a few bills down on the bar top. “Come on! I’ll introduce you toeveryone!”

Katie carefully hopped down from her seat, nearly stumblingin her ankle boots with how much she was getting yanked on. She carefullyjogged so that she was level with Lex’ steps, not wanting to get dragged alongthe whole way, and slunk closer to her friend as she waved at the bouncerwatching the curtain leading behind the stage. They could hear quiet chatter asthey headed back, watching as the lead singer and guitarist spoke quietly.

“I told you I wasn’t interested in this, Allura,” The singersaid, scowling something fierce.

Allura rolled her eyes a bit. “Look, it’s been two months.It’s about time you start looking around and figuring out what it is you’relooking for going forward. What’s one date going to hurt?” She insisted, Katiecatching the slightest hint of a British accent.

“I told you; I’m doing fineby myself right now. I need to stay focused on things with the band. You know,writing and composing original songs and stuff?”

“One night isn’t going to sabotage anything. Besides, Lexpromised me that the girl she’s bringing it super sweet and cute. You couldcertainly use a girl like that after what happened between you and Acxa,”

“Um, excuse me, but what?”Lex sputtered indignantly as she and Katie reached them.

“Lex, darling! How did you like the show?” Allura askedhappily as she turned around, approaching and pressing a quick peck on theother girl’s lips.

Lex leaned in and kissed her happily, looping her armsaround the other’s neck and leaning into her. Allura snaked one arm around herwaist and pulled her in as close as she could, a sly grin on her lips when theypulled apart. “Oh, the show was amazing. But you already knew that,” Shegiggled, her previous irritation forgotten. She glanced over at the darkerhaired woman, however, when she let out an annoyed groan, and then sheremembered what was going on. “Now, what was that all about? You didn’t seriously invite Keira to be Katie’sdate tonight, did you?”

“Lex,” Allura said with a small sigh, tipping her head backas she spoke.

“Oh, don’t you ‘Lex’ me! Keira is the last person I’d want one of my friends to date!”

“You aren’t in much room to talk. I mean,” Keira drawled,glaring at Lex, “you’re part of the reason I’m even on the market.”

“What? How is your sorrytail getting dumped my fault?” Lex snappedback.

“Lex, Keira, please,” Allura sighed, holding her free handup in between the two women.

“No, Allura, I think I have every right to be upset! It’snot my fault she was a shitty girlfriend and got dumped!” She sneered at the other.

Keira shifted slightly, her shoulders squaring and handsclenching into fists. For a minute, Katie thought she was going to deck Lex forher words, but instead she abruptly turned and shoved past her. “I’m getting adrink,” She ground out through clenched teeth.

“Lex, that was uncalled for,” Allura said, pinning hergirlfriend with a firm look.

“What? I’ve told you before that I don’t like Keira! She’ssuch a snob!”

“You don’t know her that well, love, and what little you doknow comes for a skewed place,”

Katie watched them for only a second before turning andheading after Keira. She thought back to the situation with Nadia, how she had hesitatedand bided her time too long and not asked the significant questions early on.She was interested in at least getting to know this Keira girl better. She knewKeira was single. She knew that Keira was interested in girls. She wasn’t goingto miss out on a potential chance again.

She approached the bar just as Keira flagged the tenderdown. “Rax, hook me up with a Whiskey Sour,” She said.

“I’ll take one of those, too,” Katie said, causing both toturn and look to her. She didn’t shy away as she slipped into the empty seatnext to the other woman. “I’ve never had one of those before. It any good?”

Keira stared hard at her for a moment before snorting. “Dependson your tastes,” She huffed.

“I’m still kind of new to the whole thing and haven’t triedanything with whiskey before,” She elaborated.

“Good for you,” She grumbled, rapping her fingers along thebar top impatiently. It didn’t take very long before Rax returned with bothdrinks, setting one in front of them each.

“Sorry about Lex, by the way,” She offered, picking up thedrink and turning the stool to watch as the next band began to set up. This oneseemed to be all male. “She can be a bitch and hold grudges, but she’s actuallya pretty cool chick once you get past all the bravado and whatnot.”

Keira made a small choked noise. “Isn’t talking shit abouteach other in public the opposite ofwhat girls like you do?”

Katie took a small sip of her drink and wrinkled her nose abit. Not entirely unpleasant, but certainly not her first choice. “What type ofgirl do you think I am?”

“Uh, the same type as her. Caddy, superficial, obnoxious…They type of girls that have a clique of other vapid girls that are all usingeach other for the status and then talk shit behind closed doors? Spreadingrumors and stealing boyfriends or girlfriends and what not?”

“Well, if I was, I wouldn’t be doing a very good job at it. Imean, I doubt girls like that would talk shit about their Queen Bee as close byas Lex is. And, additionally, this just highlights that you don’t know Lex thatwell. She comes off like that because she knows that it keeps the actualbitches from picking a fight with her or hers. She looks after everyone in ourgroup pretty tightly, though,” She hummed with a small shrug. She thenindicated the Garrison logo on the front of her shirt. “Oh, and, sinceapparently I need to outright say it… I’m more of the astronomy androbot-building type of girl.”

“Seriously?” Keira asked, sounding a bit dubious.

“Mmhmm,” Katie mused lightly, taking another sip of herdrink.

Keira stared at her for a moment in silence, seeming to bethinking, before chugging down her drink and ordering another one. “What’s yourname?” She asked.

“Katie, but most people just call me Pidge. Whichever youprefer to choose, really,” She hummed, stirring her drink a bit. She thenturned and leaned on the bar, smiling a bit at the other girl. “So what got youinto music?”

“Oh, uh, a whole bunch of stuff, really,” She said with asmall laugh, pausing as Rax sent another drink in front of her before beginningon a long, involved story about how she got stuck doing community service forbreaking into her high school after hours.

And Katie smiled and listened, genuinely intrigued as towhat was on the other’s mind.

#crumbles grumbles #Voltron legendary defender #Keidge #Kidge #Peith #Kidgemas #my fics #I had a blast writing this!#I'll most likely end up writing more with this in the future whoops!#Just me up to my usual bullshit I suppose

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monotonemanday · 6 years

Text

Our Days Divided - Mystic Messenger University AU - Chapter 1 The Untouchables

So I decided to go ahead and make it a series! I will still be working on Star Crossed Entertainers (A separate mystic messenger fic series) and will still work on requests and other miscellaneous works!

Enjoy the official first chapter of this series! You can find the Prologue here.

Cypress University had a rather small student body but the campus was exceptionally large. With huge lecture halls, prominent dorm buildings, state of the art athletic facilities, a thriving tech building and multiple theatres and studios, it was not too hard to lose your way. The grounds were extremely well kept and walking through campus during any season was breath taking.

It was late in the afternoon and campus was fairly quiet. Many students retreating to their jobs and internships of campus. Late afternoons were when the scholarship students took over the campus. It was when most clubs and performing arts groups met for activities and rehearsals.

Chairs were in stacks against the far wall. A grand piano sat in the room, not quite centered but not exactly hugging the wall. The hard wood floor was freshly waxed and reflected the sun that was beaming into the small performance room. The windows were nearly 12 feet high and covered the entire back wall. The windowsills were large enough to rest on, and someone was taking full advantage of that.

His arms were behind his head with his fingers interlocking. The sleeves of his jacket pushed to the middle of his forearms. Long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles. The sun felt warm on his face and made his white hair glisten and really accented his pink highlights. His consciousness was drifting in and out and just at the peak of drowsiness he felt a pressure on his lap and then a gentle kiss on his forehead. He opened his left eye and was met with a pair of deep blue eyes. He closed his eye and let out a soft sigh.

“Why are your lips so dry? Get off me, Sam.”

“Wow, Saeran! You’re no fun.” The girl big blue eyes was straddling the edgy and reluctant boy with the mint eyes. Her beach waved brass hair falling past her shoulders, one side tucked behind an ear. “I figured I would venture from my normal way of waking you up from your afternoon nap, but if you’re just gonna be rude, I’ll go back to my old ways.” The girl grabbed an area of fabric from the boys t-shirt in both fists and began to shake him up and down, then side to side. “WAKE YOUR ASS UP REBEL BOY!!!”

Saeran grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her off of his lap, off of the windowsill, and onto the floor. The two were laughing playfully. Both had gotten to their feet and were straightening out their clothes.

“It amazes me that you always manage to find me at the exact moment I’m about to fall asleep. There’s a special place in hell for people like you, Samantha.”

“Oh let it go, you grump. If I didn’t catch you before you dozed off, you would never be at any practices, any rehearsals, any meetings and you would most definitely would lose your job.” Saeran was collecting his notebooks and cramming them into his backpack while Samantha had made her way over to the piano.

“Good. I’d much rather sleep all day than spend time with you and my irritating brother.”

Samantha was standing at the piano and her fingers began to gracefully dance across the keys. A soft yet bright melody rang through the room and she turned her head to the boy for only a second, then back straight away and closed her eyes. “Say what you will Mr. Choi, but your brother is your best friend.” She paused her speech but the piano played on. Saeran stood with his backpack hanging loosely on his shoulder watching Samantha until the melody slowed down. “Also, you couldn’t stop spending time with me even if you wanted to.” She met his eye line and abruptly stopped playing “Since you’re in love with me.” She winked at him and stuck her tongue out, abruptly turning on her heel and marching out of the room. Saeran clicked his tongue, rolled his eyes and followed after her. She wasn’t wrong, but she also wasn’t right. He had thought about it before. Samantha would easily be someone he could fall in love with. In the past. Now that he knew her as well as he did and as close as they were, he cherished her to much to feel anything romantic for her and would be happy for her whenever she did fall in love. The two walked down an empty corridor in comfortable silence until Saeran spoke up.

“You’re wrong, ya know.”

“Hmmmm?” Sam tilted her head in curiosity.

“Saeyoung is my brother and always will be, but you’re my best friend.” A slight pink tinted Samantha’s cheeks.

“Gross. Put all that away!”

“You’re right. I have a reputation to protect.” The two quickened their pace and continued their journey to campus concert hall.

“Seven!! I tried to turn this bull shit on and it’s sparking! Come fix it!”

“Don’t call it Bullshit, pretty boy! It’s obviously operator error!”

Saeran and Samantha entered the concert hall and could hear the usual chaos but they couldn’t see it.

“I’ll never understand why you insist we all walk to the diner together. If we didn’t have to pick up these idiots, I could be enjoying my milkshake already.” Saeran plopped himself down in and auditorium seat and pulled his hood up over his eyes.

‘Whine, whine, whine. Why don’t you try something else for a change. Anyway, where’s Liz?”

Without a verbal response Saeran pointed up towards the ceiling.

“HEY GUYS! I’LL BE DOWN IN A MINUTE.” The girl was shouting from her spot, upside down, hanging from a metal ring, gripping it with the backs of her knees.

Sam sat next to Saeran and pulled his hoodie down which he immediately pulled back up. They played this game back and forth until they were smacking each others hands away, then just plain smacking each other, until the playing was anger and they were actually fighting each other off.

“Saeran, you’re lucky she pulls her punches.” The girl who was just dangling 10 feet above them was now standing next to them in the auditorium aisle. Liz Paradise. Her hair reached the small of her lower back. It fell in long strands of ringlet curls that she let air dry. If she brushed out her rich dark coffee hair it would poof out like you wouldn't believe. Her and Sam were like night and day. Liz was average height and had a small waist with wide hips and wide thighs, she had a pair shape but it was strangely toned. She had flawless tanned skin, with dark freckles widely spread across her cheeks. She was soft spoken, but was the kindest soul to anyone she was near. Samantha was rather tall and had a very subtle hourglass shape that usually was hidden by her clothes. She was a ghostly pale, and had light red freckles speckled just beneath her eyes and on top of her cheeks. Both had beautiful eyes. Samantha’s deep pools of blue and Liz’s a light purple, almost pink. Magenta really, that changed in different lighting.

“Sam, uh, don’t get mad but this morning Zen asked what you were wearing when you left the apartment, again. I didn’t answer him but...”

“Oh about that, I saw my brother checking the hallway CCTV camera for our apartment building this morning...”

“ZEN! SAEYOUNG!!” Samantha stood up in the aisle and her arms stiffened at her sides, her hands balled into fists. From the wings of the stage walked two ‘children‘ as same would call them, now standing center stage. Samantha first shot a glare at the red head with the odd colored glasses. His unique hair color and honey eyes were different from his twin brother but they both had the same strong jaw and extremely handsome face. The level of handsome couldn’t compare to the next suspect that caught her icy stare. With shining white hair tied in a long ponytail, and crimson eyes the man stood, beaming at the rest of the group. The most beautiful man that had ever graced the Cypress University campus. Samantha looked herself up and down and then studied the gorgeous man effortlessly posing on stage.

“Zen! Stop asking people what I am wearing in the mornings so that you can match outfits with me!”

“But Sammy! Look at how cute we look!” Zen had jumped down from the stage and had jogged his way over to her. He pulled out his phone. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her in to him in a tight grip. He pressed his cheek against hers, squishing her face into a fish like state, he took a selfie. “We need to convince the world we are a couple in order to get into our new roles. It’s called method acting!”

“No, it’s called ‘people think I’m creepy’! You are the best looking human being on this campus and people think that I’m stalking you because WE’RE SOMEHOW ALWAYS DRESSED THE SAME.”

“Sam, with all due respect, you’re wrong. They think we’re in love!”

“I can’t handle this...” Sam closed her eyes and slowly rubbed her temples.

The red head began to laugh out loud and wiped a tear from beneath his glasses.

“And Saeyoung! Stop TELLING him what I’m wearing after spying on me through CCTV!”

“S-s-s-s-sorry, Sam. I was just doing my duty as 707 Defender of Justice, to help out a friend!” The red head struck a heroic pose and was met by the harsh tone of his twin brother.

“That is so stupid. Can we get going?” Saeran was already heading towards the door.

“Fine by me! We need to get some French fries in Sam before she flips her lid.” Liz was lightly patting Sam on the back.

“And I need some PHD Pepper, pronto!” Saeyoung slammed his right fist into his left palm.

“Then onward God Seven!.” Liz had jumped onto Saeyoung’s back, wrapping her legs around his waist, one arm gripping his shoulder, and the other in the air point forward. The two dashed out of the concert hall.

“Samantha, should we hold hands?” Zen extended his hand and gracefully winked at the angered woman before him.

“It pains me to know that this actually works on the ladies.” She turned away from him and began walking towards the door. “Saeran.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Saeran took of his jacket it and tossed it to Sam. Without looking back she put on the jacket and zipped it up. She wasn’t as skinny as Saeran but his sweatshirts were always baggy because he bought them that way.

“She’s going to snap one day.” Saeran told Zen, seemingly indifferent feeling about it.

“Eh, she knows I’m joking. Besides, I have my eye on someone else.”

And with that the two followed the others out of the concert hall.

The small group sat at their normal booth in their favorite theme diner. They usually spent time laughing and throwing food at each other. Complaining about their heavy workload, packed schedules and hectic lives. They had already spent hours in the diner that evening but before they were all to head back to the student apartments, Saeyoung brought up something weighing on his mind.

“So student counsel seems to have taken an interest in us.”

Samantha and Saeran each raised an eyebrow and shrugged at each other indicating this was the first they heard of this. Seven continued.

“Our dear student body VP brought me an invitation for some kind of meeting on Friday.”

“Yoosung, did?” Samantha questioned the red head and himself, Liz and Zen nodded their heads.

“Zen and I got one too.” Liz chimed in somberly.

“Well the twerp didn’t give me one, and I don’t think Sam got one either.” Saeran took a short break from his milkshake to spit out remarks.

“That’s because he was probably too scared to deliver one to you, little brother. Your always tormenting him. And Samantha’s is probably going to come from Kaeli.”

There was a long pause and Samantha finally spoke up.

“Why do you guys seem so suspicious and upset by simple invitations?”

The three looked at each other and Zen cleared his throat to offer an explanation. “Sam, For two years now we’ve never been offered anything from student counsel and now we are getting exclusive invitations? Us as a group specifically? We’re ‘The Untouchables’...scholarship kids. We just don’t think that we’re being invited to a harmless meeting. We feel like it’s a set up.”

Again the group fell into silence. Sitting in the middle of the booth Samantha was trapped between the others. She pulled herself onto the back of the booth, flung her legs over the side making her way to stand in front of the group at the table.

“Scholarship kids or tuition kids. It’s all bullshit. Kaeli has been my best friend since diapers. And incase you’ve forgotten, Yoosung isn’t scholarship or tuition, he won the applicant lottery.”

“It doesn’t matter, Sam. He got elected student counsel and now it’s like he’s too good for us. He only ever spends time with Saeran and I like once a month in the internet café outside of town to play LOLOL.” Seven hung his head and took a sip of his PHD Pepper.

“He’s still the same person. And it pains me to think you guys think he would set you up. Yoosung is our friend.” Samantha made sure to make eye contact with each of them.

“She’s right you guys. As much as I am skeptical, Yoosung is a great guy! I love that little cutie!” Liz was clearly trying to brighten the mood but it wasn’t working.

“We worked our asses off to get into this university and now you guys are going to act scared. I don’t think this is a set up and even if it was, are you saying whatever the high society brats throw at us would be enough to break our spirits? I’m disappointed. And if Kaeli invites me, I’m going.”

With her thoughts laid out on the table Samantha left the diner and the rest of the gang finished their normal menu items in a contemplative silence.

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ncfn · 7 years

Text

Nothing Comes from Nothing Part 9: Excerpt

“So, what happens if Gold dies?” Emma asked, keeping pace with the brunette as they headed towards the docks of Storybrooke Marina. She shivered against the brisk wind blowing in off the water. “Before Cora can take his powers,” she amended, pulling her hair out of her mouth. The blonde was still madder than hell, but Regina was letting her have her space. It also helped that the brunette’s magic had been constantly grazing against hers with a steady tenderness since they had left her parents.

“What do you mean?” Regina countered distractedly. Her eyes swept the landscape, magically searching for the Jolly Roger. She was trying to be as thorough as possible, but time was of the essence. The thin magical atmosphere of Storybrooke seemed somehow more, like she’d been living in a semi-desaturated world, and now, everything was in technicolor splendor. She found it disconcerting, seeing the thin threads of power glowing more prominently, brighter.

Sighing, the sheriff bluntly explained, “Would his powers stay in the dagger and be unusable?” She looked down at the cement walkway with a furrowed brow. Noticing her companion had stopped, she paused and turned towards her. “We’d be left with a fancy paperweight?”

“It wouldn’t be that simple,” the former mayor scoffed, dismissing the suggestion with a wave of her hand. Slowly lowering her hand, she frowned, considering. “It couldn’t be,” she added speculatively. Thoughtfully regarding the blonde, she opened her mouth then closed it again, only to finally snarl, “If anyone gets to kill the imp, it’ll be me.” She recommenced her search with renewed vigor.

“I was just asking,” Emma sulkily clarified as she resumed following the brunette. Her sharp eyes looked around for any likely hiding places. A few times, she attempted to reach out with her magic, but it kept moving to the other woman. She couldn’t decide if it was trying to pet or corral the former mayor’s magic. The earlier light show made her hesitant, echoes of the brunette’s scream still ringing in her ears.

When they reached the end of a long, wide, wooden pier, Regina crossed her arms and glared out across the gray waters of the harbor. “Damnit,” she cursed softly.

“What?” the sheriff inquired, looking around. She held her hair out of her face. “How do you hide a big boat, anyway?” There was a smaller marina a couple of miles down the coast, but it was in poor repair and populated by alcoholics. Needless to say, that’s where Leroy lived. Once she thought about it, she reflected that they might have better luck moving the search to the second marina, instead.

“With magic,” the former mayor replied with clear agitation. She pointed to a spot in the middle of the harbor. It was quite clever, actually.

Squinting, the blonde could just make out the subtle magic obscuring the moored vessel. “Huh.” She absently took the brunette’s hand as she mentally prepared herself to teleport.

“What are you doing?” Regina questioned, glancing between confused green eyes and their linked hands. Rolling her eyes, she wove her free hand about in a graceful gesticulation. A cloud of purple appeared off the end of the dock. Extracting her hand from the blonde’s grip, she gestured to the end of the pier.

Moving forward and peering over the edge, Emma frowned at the rowboat and groused, “Why can’t we just apparate to the damn boat?” With a surprising amount of coordination, she sat on the edge of the pier and carefully lowered herself into the waiting, rocking, too tiny rowboat. “Really? Not even a motor?” she grumped as she cautiously turned to help the former mayor down.

“I can’t teleport us somewhere I’ve never been, Emma,” Regina explained, accepting the other woman’s assistance. She settled on the seat opposite the rowing station and smirked as the blonde pushed them away from the bearing pile. “We might end up impaled on the rigging or merged into the deck.”

The sheriff made a disgruntled face and started to row. “Again, no motor,” she repeated, falling into the easy rhythm of rowing. She grinned as the former mayor rolled her eyes.

“And lose the element of surprise, Sheriff? Tsk, tsk, and here, I thought you were a clever tactician,” Regina mildly teased in a low, throaty tone. She cocked an eyebrow, but didn’t look at Emma. It was bad enough that she could see her big, goofy grin in her periphery.

“I got skills,” the blonde quipped. A smile stayed on her face as she heard the soft hum in reply.

It took about fifteen minutes to cover the intervening distance. As they got closer to the boat, the sheriff adjusted her rowing technique, keeping it fluid and smooth to minimize the sound of the oars connecting with the water. Taking advantage of the situation, her gaze avidly searched the other woman, who was focused on the boat ahead. Questions titillated the tip of her tongue, but she thought better of asking any, right then.

Estimating that they were close enough, the brunette waved her hand in the general direction of the ship. Gradually, the cloaking spell encasing the vessel faded away, revealing the famed Jolly Roger. She was staggered to see so much residual magic radiating from the ship’s hull. As the blonde maneuvered the rowboat alongside the port-side rope hanging ladder, Regina frowned, realizing her mother wasn’t onboard. She quickly reached for the rope and started to climb, easily vaulting the gunwale, her eyes scanning the main deck. It reminded her of David Salter’s brig, Star Strider.

Suddenly, there was a sharp whack behind her. Emma screamed, followed by the sound of something hitting the side of the ship with a solid thud. Regina spun around, instinctively reaching for the remaining rope of the ladder. However, she was caught off guard by a hard backhand across the face. She stumbled back several paces but managed to keep her footing, ignoring the slight ringing in her ears. Glaring at her assailant, she seethed, “Hook.”

“It’s respectful to ask for permission before boarding, Love,” the pirate taunted, flashing a brilliant smile. With more flourish than necessary, he raised his sword and lunged at the brunette. Before his blade tip could pierce her abdomen, he felt ropes twining about his wrists and torso as he was snared by the rigging of his ship and raised into the air. He raged against his bindings but knew it was pointless, calming quickly. This was to be a game of wits.

“Emma!” the former mayor called as soon as the ropes were moving, hurrying back to the port side of the ship. She looked over the railing and saw the sheriff struggling to climb the now skewed rope ladder, boots squeaking and slipping from condensation on the outer hull. With a sigh of relief, she reached down and helped the blonde make it onboard. Then, with her friend safe, she turned back to her prey. “Where’s Cora?”

“That, I do not know,” Hook replied lightly with an air of disinterest. “She absconded with her new treasure, and I haven’t seen her.” His gaze drifted to Emma. She was a still a sight to behold, memory hadn’t led him astray.

“You idiot, you were supposed to kill her, not join forces with her,” Regina sharply rebuked, crossing her arms. She ignored the blonde’s curious expression. “And while you licked her boots, did it not occur to you that aiding her to become the Dark One was a bad idea?” Really, how many idiots would she be forced to deal with?

Unconcerned with the entire affair, the pirate’s gaze lingered on the blonde as he huskily said, “I tried, Love, but she didn’t have a heart to begin with.” He trailed off and became enthralled with his own fantasies. Why were the good ones so appealing?

“What?” the former mayor demanded abruptly, bristling at his lack of fear. Had she lost her touch? Had she really gone that soft? When no answer was immediate, she sneered and twisted her wrist to tighten the ropes.

“Oy!” Hook cried before he started laughing. “Is this how you like it, Swan?” A roguish smile crossed his face, and a devilish glint twinkled in his eyes. “Hard and rough?” Turning his smirk on Regina, he added, “Miss having something to ride? I’d happily oblige a princess.” Any further taunts were cut short as he was immediately raised ten feet higher and unceremoniously dropped onto the deck.

“Regina,” Emma hissed, placing a hand on the brunette’s forearm, a furious blush working its way across her cheeks. Worry spread as she took in the hate brewing in the former mayor’s glare, the flexing jawline and pulsing vein in her forehead. In that moment, she missed New York.

“He’ll live,” Regina promised, unwavering in her loathing. If these two had some dalliance while in the Enchanted Forest, it wasn’t her business, but the bastard would treat Emma respectfully.

Groaning, the pirate rolled on the deck, testing his bonds. He grunted in frustration, and snarled, “Aye, I plunged my hook into her chest, to no avail.” Eventually, he stopped his struggling and looked up at the two woman looming over him. He almost liked it. “I cooperated to live.” For some reason, seeing the blonde touch the queen irritated him. When Emma met his heated look with her own, he leered.

Feeling the warm coil of magic slip around her like an affectionate cat, Regina calmed slightly, the desire to throttle the man successfully subdued, for the moment. She turned to the sheriff and contemplatively stated, “She doesn’t have her heart.” Unspoken questions were left hanging in the air. How long had Cora been without a heart? Where had she hidden it?

“That’s a good thing, right?” Emma prompted, not dropping her hand but readjusting her touch. She briefly studied the man tied up before asking him, “Where’s the antidote for the poison you used on Gold?”

“There isn’t an antidote,” Hook scoffed bitterly, rolling his eyes. “That’s why I used it on the Dark One.”

“You wouldn’t carry a poison like that without an antidote,” the sheriff countered with a prominent frown. They were wasting time, she realized, scowling as she noticed his persistent appraisal of her crotch. “Toss him around a little more,” she suggested to the former mayor. They could search the entire ship for days and not find the antidote.

“With pleasure,” Regina purred, both surprised and delighted by the blonde’s duality of character. She raised her hands, sensing the excited titter of Emma’s magic. This was going to be fun. Perhaps she could turn it into a mini training exercise for her pupil.

“What?!” the pirate exclaimed. Shock framed his face as he finally caught the blonde’s gaze with his own. What was this? He’d thought she was good. As he was once again lifted into the air, his eyes shifted back to the queen. However, any scathing remark was soon lost as he found himself thrown overboard.

Valiantly, he struggled to swim to the surface, but he only seemed to sink lower in the chilling depths, despite his best efforts. When the air was almost burned from his lungs, his body surged upward, yanked gasping and sputtering to the surface by the ropes. Then, without delay, he was hoisted over the gunwale, his gut slammed into the mainyard. He fell back, landing hard on the deck in a sodden heap, the rigging finally releasing him.

After a bout of coughing, Hook rolled onto his stomach. “You contemptuous, bitch!” he snarled, standing. His anger fully manifested as his face contorted in rage. “You broke our arrangement. You were supposed to aide me in killing the Dark One.” He stormed forward, shaking his hook. “You left me to your mother’s clutches.”

“Please,” the brunette jeered, unconcerned with his threats. Her eyes darkened and her chin tilted downward as she slowly stalked towards the angry man. “If you couldn’t kill an old woman, do you really think you could kill Rumpelstiltskin?” Angling to the side, she moved to flank him, taking predatory delight in the opportunity to play with her catch.

Instincts kicked in, and the pirate become very still, breathing heavily through his nose. His attack would have to be swift and decisive if he wanted to overcome the queen’s magic. “This,” he taunted the blonde, “is what you align yourself with?” His eyes cut away from his sweet Emma and resumed following the circling queen. “She’ll devour you.”

Smirking, the sheriff crossed her arms and leaned against the bulwark. This was payback. She was, although she’d never admit it, a little thrilled seeing Regina terrorize the pirate, the wicked gleam in her eyes doing something to her insides. “Where’s the antidote?” she repeated, watching the scene unfold before her. How many times while in the Enchanted Forest had she wanted to punch him in the face?

“Right here,” Hook catcalled with a wink and an air kiss, grabbing his crotch with his right hand and giving it a hard shake. He’d intended to tell her to suck it but instead found himself forcibly thrown against the mainmast. Crying out in pain, he breathlessly taunted Regina, “You already missed your chance to partake. But I’m open to a little ménage à trois, if that’s more your style.” He laughed before he was violently flung across the main deck.

Regina’s chest heaved. She breathed harshly through her nose as rage and disgust festered just beneath the surface. How could Emma entertain being touched by the brute? The last vestiges of lunch wanted to revolt from her stomach at the sheer thought. So, she closed her eyes to keep the rising bile at bay, and that’s when she felt the soothing concern filtering through the bond. With a flick of the wrist, she recalled Hook from across the ship, another elegant roll of her hand lashing him to the mainmast.

“Nay!” the pirate shouted, aggressively struggling against the ropes. Suddenly, he became very nervous. His brow furrowed as the blonde talked softly to the brunette. Again, she was touching the wretched witch. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but his Emma’s soft smile suitably quelled the queen. Perhaps his lady love was being tricked and needed to be rescued. The notion caused his heart to hammer in his chest. Yes, he could play the hero and win the damsel. He imagined his reward to be quite fitting from a dishonored princess. Taking a deep breath, he freely offered, “Only thing that staves off the effects of Dreamshade is the remedial spring waters of Neverland.” He looked between the two women. “That’s the only cure.”

“Where?” Emma demanded, turning. Her eyes glinted with fire. She was really tired of his shit.

“My cabin,” Hook answered hurriedly. “There’s a small chest wedged under the desk. Inside, you’ll find a black canteen.” He breathed heavily as he watched the queen walk away. He didn’t want to reveal too much of his hand too quickly, but he had to know. His gaze once again fixated on the blonde. “Did you find Baelfire?” he inquired softly, before she fully turned away. He was astounded at how much it hurt to say the boy’s name.

“Yeah,” the sheriff hesitantly replied. “He’s with Gold, now.” She didn’t miss the raw hate flitter across the man’s face. Pushing her curiosity aside, she followed Regina to the stern. “You seem to be pretty familiar with this ship,” she commented. Her thoughts drifted back to Hook’s supposed mission to kill Cora. Nervously, she chewed on her lower lip and inquired, “What was that about a deal to kill Cora?”

“It’s a standard brig, but it appears to have been constructed with enchanted wood,” the former mayor explained, stopping briefly before the captain’s cabin. Studying Emma for a long moment, she continued, “As to our arrangement regarding my mother, that is, perhaps, a story for another time.” She slowly waved her right hand before the door, eyes tracing the doorframe in search of traps when nothing happened as the door simply swung open. Cautiously, she crossed the threshold and spotted the small trunk. Regina placed the chest on top of the desk, unlocking it with practiced ease. She summoned a dark glass vial and proceeded to pour some of the healing waters into it.

“What are you doing?” Emma asked impatiently. She looked over her shoulder and out the door. Leaving Hook unattended, tied up or not, made her nervous. She’d be much happier with him behind bars. There were still those criminal mischief charges she could use to arrest him.

“Insurance,” Regina responded. Quickly, she secured the caps, passing the canteen to the sheriff and stowing the tincture in her coat. Then, she started checking the myriad of vials within the medicinal chest.

“Is this the best time to be shopping?” the blonde hissed, stepping closer and keeping eyes on the door. “And isn’t that stealing?”

“He’s a pirate,” the brunette huffed, pausing long enough to give Emma a scrupulous glare. “He probably stole it,” she elaborated with slight amusement. “Besides,” she added as she resumed her search, “we don’t want a repeat of events.” Examining a vial carefully wrapped in a wool-lined leather pouch, she found her prize of Dreamshade. Sadly, there wasn’t anything else remarkable in Hook’s little treasure chest.

The pair made their way back to the main deck to find the pirate gone.

“Damnit,” the sheriff cursed, seeing the tangle of empty ropes. “How the hell did he get free?” Spotting a frayed bit of rope under a mounted cleat, she muttered, “He’s got game. I’ll give him that.” She looked back at her friend, slightly impressed with the pirate’s ingenuity.

“He’s of little consequence at the moment,” Regina countered, walking to the port-side railing. For a brief moment, she watched Hook struggle with rowing and toyed with the idea of springing a leak in the boat, but Emma’s presence curbed the mischievous impulse. Turning, she held out her hand, and she smiled when Emma reflexively took it. “We have a heart to find.”

FF.net / AO3

#swan queen #Regina Mills #emma swan #ouat #fan fiction #ncfn #part 9 #excerpt

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