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unwoundvisions · 2 years

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Pan Plot Ideas

Okay, so the main idea I have for the plot was to loosely base it off two things. 1, being Hook the movie (it’s really old and not everyone has seen it). The basic plot there is that when Peter Pan goes back to visit Wendy and meets her granddaughter, he’s so smitten with the granddaughter that he decides to finally grow up. So the movie is literally just about him being grown up, not very happy or close with his family and it takes him embracing his true self to fix all that. Very sweet. One of my favorite versions of Peter Pan. Kinda makes you forget that he’s based off a demonic little psychopath.

Main plot inspiration 2, the book Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook. I’ve never read it myself but the basic plot is Captain Hook was originally the first and favorite lost boy. I suppose what changes things is the fact that in the original play it’s casually mentioned that Peter would often kill the Lost Boys if they started to grow up. I suspect that’s what happens here and that’s how they become enemies. Hook is just trying to stop Pan from kidnapping and killing children when he’s done with them. Brutal. Not going to use this whole idea for the plot because I want to make our Pan a little bit more likable.

Okay, gonna try not to ramble too much about my idea but here’s everything I’ve thought we could do. Also these are just ideas and we can totally change or alter them.

Our Pan’s Origin:

(Low key think young Satoru should look like this because it’s my favorite version of the costume)

(This is roughly going to follow the film’s plot) Similar to his canon backstory, let’s say Satoru Gojo was born into a very wealthy and respected clan/family (gonna cut out the abilities part because we don’t need it). One day, he overheard his parents talking about all the plans they had for him as a grown up. It sounded like nothing but preparations for him to becomd the head of the family with countless responsibilities and work. This upset him so much that he made sure his own baby carriage got away from his mother. It was after that the fairies found him helpless and alone. They brought him back to Pixie Hollow (yup I’m bringing those Disney DVD movies into this). There, he was given the name Pan (after the god of the wild because Fairies love nature and shit). He was cared and looked after lovingly by the fairies who raised and taught him the best they could. This is where he learns the fly, read, speak other languages, fight, ect. It was when he was a boy the finally granted his wish to let him go out on adventures. Their condition being he traveled with one of their own, Tinkerbell. Pan doesn’t mind this because he and Tinkerbell had been friends since they were really young.

They set off, with every intention on one day returning to Pixie Hollow but that changes when they stumble across Neverland. Pan quickly becomes infatuated with the various magical things there. Spends so much time there with Tinkerbell that they start to realize he isn’t ageing like he should. It’s then he decides he’s going to stay in Neverland. Tinkerbell warns him it’s going to get a little lonely and boring with just the two of them here. Pan quickly comes to the conclusion that there must be many children like him who are being forced to grow up too and he should go look for them and bring them here.

Our Hook’s Origin (AKA my origin):

Let’s say I’m from England and Pan found me struggling in this very strict boarding school when I was young. I was miserable. Literally been forced to do it because I was the eldest but clearly had more fun creating stories. One day, a teacher finds them and tears them up and they get tossed into the wind (I think I might be stealing this from the 2013 Peter Pan but I can’t remember). Pan comes across them and finds me. Whisks me away to Neverland and I become the first lost child (because we’re all for including everyone instead of just boys). I’m going to leave what exactly happens between myself and Satoru/Pan up to you but let’s just say we were really close for several years. However, I started to get concerned when I saw how little Pan cared about looking after the children he was taking in (he’s a kid so of course he’s not really going to prioritize anyone but himself). He starts to get concerned over the fact I am the first who seems to be ageing. He can’t have that. He doesn’t want anyone growing up around him. So, instead of trying to kill me, he attempts to banish me. I’m so furious it turns into a fight. In this big fight I accidentally lose my hand to the crocodile, it’s not done on purpose though I’m sure I’d walk away so angry thinking it was. Pan’s so horrified by all the damage he’s caused that he tries to block it all out of his mind and fly away. He’s so traumatized that he basically frames me as the villain in his mind. I get saved by some nearby pirates who were eager for allies against Pan (because pirates have always been around this island for some weird reason and Pan loves to mess with them). Overtime, Pan sort of forgets his real ties to me and I eventually become Captain Hook (let’s also say in this world I am aging but I’m aging very slowly). Staying in Neverland and because I want to stop him from taking children and trying to return them the second they start to remind him he should grow up.

Plot things:

Now, let’s say things with the Darlings play out as they always do. He meets them, they get overwhelmed by how wild things are here and they decide to leave. Only in our version the Darlings ended up taking all the Lost Children with them (another thing I think they did in the 2013 movie). Pan returns to Neverland, feeling more alone than ever before. Eventually, he decides to revisit the Darlings and that’s where he finds Wendy looking after her granddaughter. Seeing just how much time had passed for Wendy sort of alarmed him and he decides it’s finally time he should grow up as the others have (which is tragic because I’m sure at one point I tried to explain to him there was nothing wrong with getting older and now he’s just randomly decided to do it on his own).

Here’s where we’re going to take a huge shift from the movie. There, they had Peter fall in love with Wendy’s granddaughter Moria. They get married. He becomes a marketer and doesn’t really enjoy his life. Plus it’s also set in the modern era (as modern as they could get in the late 80′s). I want to change all of that so it fits are fantasy vibes.

So, after Pan decides he’s ready to grow up. Let’s say it’s the early 1900′s. Wendy does her best to care for him. Here, she’s opened up several orphanages and hospitals. Peter grew up in one of those orphanages, always being looked after closely by the Darling family. He becomes close friends with Wendy’s granddaughter Moria but that’s all. Overtime, Pan’s memories start to become an utter mess. He can’t really remember his time in Neverland properly nor anything he learned there. However, being back in this world did help him remember his name, Satoru. Despite his best efforts, he can’t really remember his real attachment to Wendy either and only sees her as his caretaker and grandmother of his friend Moria. No one ever adopted him (most likely because he was an older boy) but that didn’t matter too much to him because he still had the Darlings. When he was properly grown up, he became a teacher because he still enjoys being around children and teaching them. He even ends up being a teacher for Moria’s own children. However, it took him so much time to become a teacher that he’s never really thought about settling down with anyone. Does he flirt and fool around? Of course. But settling down seems far too serious for him.

Back to Hook for a moment, I am left in Neverland, for years wondering what happened to him. I assume he’s off just being himself and causing havoc somewhere else. So, I take it upon myself to get his attention by kidnapping the Darlings (little did I know that they were actually Wendy’s Great Grandchildren).

Satoru, Moria her husband and Wendy had gone out to some big celebration in Wendy’s honor. When they return they found the house a wreck, hook marks all over the walls and a note from Captain Hook that demands the appearance of Pan. It is then Wendy tries her best to explain to Satoru who he truly is but he can’t believe it. To him, Pan was a made up story from that playwright Wendy knew. It takes Tinkerbell coming to find him to even get him to humor the idea that any of this is real. She tries to get him safely back to Neverland even though he can no longer fly. She does and imagine my surprise when a grown ass man shows up looking for the Darlings. He can’t fly. Can’t remember how to fight but Tinkerbell insists his name is Pan. I even check to see if he has any of the old scars I remember. He does and he’s clearly Pan but now he has no interest in fighting. He just wants to get Moria’s children back. I want the brutal and cathartic face off I’ve dreamt of. For this to happen, he has to remember to try to remember everything he’s forgotten and embrace that part of himself again. We’ll also be around the same age again so now it’s properly time for ship stuff like lots of tension, angst, enemies to lovers with a tragic past vibes.

Okay, ended up rambling a bit but that’s my rough idea at the moment. I’d love to maybe try to come up with rough plots for the individual worlds and characters. I think there does need to be a thing that ties them together eventually but it’s also important to work on their individual worlds too. So maybe we could divid the worlds between us at some point and come up with some rough plot ideas for them.

#plot ideas

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dolugecat · 3 years

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On some Japanese social issues I had learned about at uni and abroad):

(Rb ok!)

Legit had an epiphany about the true hidden meaning of the last arc of Mob Psycho 100. It’s hella projection but for real there is nothing neurotypical about Mob or Mob Psycho. I do not wish to enforce my interpretation on others (ironic bc I do that all the time but this is a serious social theory). There are some interesting and very sad social issues in Japan that the west really doesn’t understand but would I think help people understand a lot of context behind not only Mob Psycho, but also a lot of other anime. I learned this at my shitty university (prestigious but horrific) and while studying abroad in Japan and talking with Japanese peers. Get ready here we go (and tw for bullying and darker things):

Unfortunately in East Asian education systems, bullying can be extremely intense. Growing up I assumed it was over exaggerated extremely in anime for drama but it really can be so horrific. From what I’ve heard, there is often a single kid or so who is just shit on by everyone else, even the teacher. Mogami land *is* the reality of some Japanese kids. I’ve read that in Korea, this social punching bag sometimes is just the darkest skinned person (yayyy colorism /angry) and or someone who does not fit in. I mean, we have that in America too, but maybe not as common for the bullying to be as focused on one misfit rather than several. These kids just can’t escape the stigma too, kids from other schools find out they were a major victim at their old school and it starts anew. Thus there is so much stigma and incentive to join in on bullying so you aren’t the one. Sadly, this also ofc leads to higher suicide rates. That’s where the “shoe on building roof” anime trope comes in, bc somehow taking off shoes is relayed to death (I forgot why sorry)

There is a difference in how intense in general high school vs college is too. In the West, commonly college is the more intense curriculum and is harder than high school, but in Japan it’s usually the opposite. Grind suuuupppeeerrrr hard for entrance exams (huge standardized tests that determines what college you can qualify to) bc unlike the ACT or SAT here, that test is by far the most important factor for college admission. Then chill and relax a bit in college. Can’t relate. Name and prestige is very critical for job application, more important than here. That’s why planning out your future is sooo much more intense for Japanese high schoolers than in America, and why there is sooo much more pressure to excel in high school than here. Japanese school years and holidays are done different than ours, I’d suggest looking it up.

Social prestige of going to an American high school or college is nuts. Like whyyy do you value our shitty education, Japan’s is much higher quality (it’s bc we neo colonized them). Being able to speak English is very, very highly valued and any association with Americans make you cooler. From my experience, some Japanese students got very excited to practice speaking English with us, and their biggest issues with learning it is pronunciation, lmao. Wasai english is unique slang that is indeed English words but it’s kinda different and it’s kinda jarring to remember lol. So, Teru having parents that are working overseas isn’t too uncommon, idk about leaving him absolutely alone, but I did have a ex-friend who just came from Japan in middle school who’s situation probably wasn’t too far off from that. Empty wealth with no love, it’s no wonder those kind of people can end up being huge bullies (minori?)

I did a presentation on 引きこもり(hikikomori) for which means “shut in”, (like Serizawa) and it’s fucked up. It’s a social phenomena where according to some Japanese researchers a mix of undisciplined parenting, guilt/not living up to expectations, and hopelessness makes an alarming amount of youth/ young adults literally never go out side their house/room. Often a parent is “enabling” the behavior by supporting them, but idk the articles seemed a bit victim-blaming to me when I read it, but I don’t think I should make a judgement too hard, not my place. I will say I do suspect and believe I read something to support that ASD might play a role in hikikomoris (there is pitiful resources for autistic people in Asia, much much less support than even here, to the point I don’t think most know it exists). Like come on, with the other points I laid out my personal opinion as an Asian American with autism is that it really seems it’s unknowing ableism against autistic classmates, but I didn’t grow up in Asia so I don’t want to say.

Mental health in general is tragically quite abysmal in Japan, and with it being so hyper competitive and brutal work culture, it’s no surprise birth rate in Japan is so low; some Japanese young adults say it seems unethical to bring a life to such hostile world. Suicide rate is of the highest in the world. It’s fucked, I’ve interacted with some of the locals in Tokyo and they were so nice, but the business men just looked dead inside, it’s so sad.

Relationships between child and parent is also strained bc of this intense work and school culture. Quality time is too scarce when you gotta work so much. And the pressure from parents to do well in education or else you might end up socially stigmatized is rough. Bc your job is who you are, it’s hyper capitalism (thanks us for making them do this)

With autism being so unknown, support for parents in raising autistic kids is almost nonexistent. What happens if the “darker” side of ASD shows up in kids? I used to be a menace when I had meltdowns, I felt so bad but really just became so indiscriminately violent. See where this is going? Legit, I think ESP is a sort of metaphor for neurodivergance to ONE. There is so much stigma around it, and even less way for kids to understand why they are different than the others. My Korean family can’t admit we all got ASD, too much fear and internalized shame.

I got finally diagnosed with ASD as an adult and I’ll tell ya, I relate too much to Mob hurting Ritsu. I felt so bad, but also not in control, I knew what I was doing but not how to stop. Luckily, is was blessed in that my hyperfixations involved science and logic, so I did well at school. Sadly, our boy Mob just don’t got the passion or ability to do well at school. His kanji is very bad, even to point of not being confident he wrote a kanji (世) they learn when they are 9, in elementary school (thanks @katyatalks). Him being a bit berated by his parents for having bad grades and bending spoons seems harsh to Westerners I think, but IMO it’s pretty tame from what I’ve seen of some Asian parents (I get to say that lmao). Ofc, however the shaming is very real and Mob just agreeing with them about how weird and stupid he thinks he is so sad. There is even more pressure for the eldest to be better than here, I feel from some interactions. Nonetheless, it’s implied Mob is quite emotionally detached from his parents, even though he loves them, which also adds to his emotional complex. Combined with originally fragile self esteem and feelings of worthlessness, we got one emotionally stunted boy. However, contrary to common belief people with ASD are sometimes hyper empathic and experience emotions very intensely. We are prone to having “meltdowns” which if not assisted with can be quite violent if very intense. For me, my worse meltdowns as a kid came from when I didn’t understand why I wasn’t getting what I wanted, it seemed selfish and cruel of me but I couldn’t control it. I wanted to be a good kid, so why did hit my moms leg at target when she refused to buy me Pokémon toys? I couldn’t come up with a good reason for why my mind just commanded my body to do bad things, just a single thought was controlling me, I want I want I want I want I want ____. Which I argue could be what ???% represents… bc well…. Yeah….. hmm….. not in control of self (mob unconscious), selfish (not actually, I’ve forgave myself but my “normal” kid self was so ashamed), destructive, hurt family, wanting to stop but can’t, that’s kind of…. Too relatable.

But legit, since realizing my new HC, I’ve started to think of the last chapter of mp100 when I “explode” and it helps me feel better and I do gain “control” a bit easier. I don’t feel so bad anymore either, Mob!

#mp100 #mob psycho 100 #my post #mp100 headcanons #welcome to my hc #asd #autism #actually autistic #kageyama shigeo #mob #mp100 meta #Japanese society #japanese culture #meta #mp100 analysis

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ludwigplayingthetrombone · 3 years

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I come bearing another chapter! Here’s chapter 6 of gentiste origins! tw for injury and drugs ment in one panel. Enjoy!

Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5

Tracer: Did you hear? Echo: Your brother Brig: And mccree, he Lucio, He went berserk, and- He kissed your brother! They’re together?? Genji: Oh my! [i knew] Ang: The man ran back into a collapsing building, Genji. Genj: Adds up

Genj: [in japanese] You look happy

Genj: He makes you happy Han: I... Yes, he does. Genji: I told you they’d support you two. But you are his boyfriend though, yes? That’s what you call eachother? Han: I... tend to prefer ‘partner’ over boyfriend, but the sentiment still stands. Why? What do you call Baptiste? Genj: EEH? ME and-?!

Genj: We’re not together? Han: OH. Genj: What gave you that impression? Han: You are together more often than not. You flirt like teenagers. You think I am blind? Have you /seen/ the way he looks at you?

Genj: Good morning, McCree! Jess: H-Hey, Genj Genj: Don’t look so nervous, mccree, I’m not the shotgun type and hanzo doesnt need protecting Jess: Who said I was nervous!

Jess: I’m sorry, Genj. I wanted tot tell you. Genj: Don’t fret, mccree, i am overjoyed! [I saw them together more once hanzo was released. More openly and closer than before. They did alot together. Ate together, sat in the same room together, trained together

[They’re content to just exist together and continue with business as usual. I’m genuinely happy hanzo has found a support system in mccree

[He looks at him so adoringly... I can’t help but ponder what he said. Have I truly not noticed that he could be looking at me the same way?

Zen: Genji. What troubles you? It has been some time since i’ve seen you this distant. Genj: Ah, sorry, master! Returning has given me many new distractions. I suppose I am questioning... my future. I am... stumped Zen: Unstaisfied with your relationship with Baptiste? Genj: What?! No! well, not in that way!

Genj: Baptiste treats me better than anyone i’ve ever been with. He’s incredible.I am afraid of how deep i have fallen for him... seeing hanzo so happy makes me pine more, but i-... My home is with the shambali. Zen: Humans are rather fascinating to me. While we omnics have souls like humans, we do not age, nor are we inclined to grow and evolve in the same way humans do. I believe you have grown from who you once were, just as I suspect baptiste has grown from his past self. I’ve taught you all I know about moving forward with one’s emotions; Perhaps you tow can learn new things together

Zen: I have always seen the shambali as a family, nit a place you must stay chained to. They love you, Genji. If you’ve found love and happiness, they would want you to go towards it. You will always have a home to return to should you need it. Live your life how /you/ wish to.

bap: [groggy] hey. stay. How is Zenyatta? Genj: Amazing as always! I’m glad he’s staying here now. I dont have to fret. Bap: Nice. Genj: I’m sorry I woke you. Welcome back. Bap: I wanted to see you. just tired

Bap: You’ve been in a cheery mood lately Genj: You think? hmmm. Hanzo said something kind to me, And master soothed my doubts. Bap: The stars must have aligned to make hanzo be nice

Bap: I’m glad he spoke to you. Genj: [soft] Yeah, it made me feel really happy

genj: sleep. Bap: [YAWN] You can go if you-

[i want this.] Ganj: For me? smells good! Bap: Of course! you said you haven’t eaten yet. [I cannot let this mperson slip through my fingers. I seem to have everyone’s support as well. If /hanzo/ can manage a functional relationship, i should be fine?] genj: shoo, snoops Jess: C’mon, genj

[I’ll ask tomorrow] tracer: Gotcha! [genji yelps]

Tracer: That all you got, Genj? Sombra: He’s planning on seeing you soon. Be careful. Bap: Hey! Genji: Hello, may I come in?

Genj: Are you ok? Bap: Sorry, I’ve been on edge for some reason. Genj: No need to apologize

How dare you walk in here looking so handsome. oH GOD! [laugh] You’re like a cat

Genj: You look tired Bap: Aren’t I always? missed you

Genj: [Exhale] Bap: Something wrong? Genj:Ah. No, it’s nothing. Bap: That doesn’t sound like nothing. What’s on your mind? You can tell me.

Bap: woah! Genj: You make me so happy, Jean-baptiste. I hope you know that; you’re so good to me. Bap: Just giving what I believe is owed. paying off this debt you gave me. Genj: smooth

[bap chuckles] Genj: Jean Bap: hm? Genj: Are we dating?

Bap: Dating? Us? Did someone say we were? I know I- I don’t... Seriously, are you ok, Genji? This is coming out of nowhere; what made you bring all this up? Genj: Because I want to know, Baptiste. Because I do not wish for THIS

Genj: to only be about THIS. I have done THIS enough times int he past, and i don’t wish to keep repeating my mistakes! Bap: Woah, hey, hey, hey, easy there. Genj: [soothing me like a child?!] Bap: I thought.. we agreed we were just having fun here, Genji, i didn’t-

Genj: We were until... I thought I could handle this. But continuing this way just... isn’t healthy for me anymore. I don’t want you to become another lover I leave behind. Bap: You’re unhappy- I thought... Genj: Do you truly find this normal, Jean?

Genj: People think we are together because casual lovers do not stare like we do. My feelings have crossed the lines of casual, so I am asking, Do you only want me because I am convenient? Or is there hope of something more? Bap: Genji, please, what hap- Genj: You haven’t ANSWERED ME [zen: temper!]

I-

#gentiste #genji shimada #Jean-Baptiste Augustin #Overwatch #mchanzo #jesse mccree #hanzo shimada #//drugs ment #//injury

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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

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i've been keeping a list of possible prompts for you and there's one i have no memory of adding that just says "courtesan nmj????" so i guess that's the prompt you're getting lmao

What Does the Fox Say - ao3

“Second Madame Nie!” a disciple shouted, rushing into her little garden. She didn’t recognize him, but he was solidly built and well-muscled like most of the others – truly, the Unclean Realm was a rapturous feast for one with eyes to see it. Yum, yum. “Second Madame Nie, I have bad news!”

Boo. She hated bad news: bad news meant she’d have to do something, usually, and right now she was seated very comfortably in a pleasant piece of sun in the garden path that’d been made up just for her and to her preferences, with her feet up on a chair and a full plate of fruit from the kitchen on the table in front of her just begging to be devoured, morsel by delicious morsel.

Her schedule was packed!

“I regret to tell you, but your husband has been killed!”

“Oh,” she said, frowning slightly. “Has he? How obnoxious of him.”

How unreliable. Men.

She sighed.

“Second Madame – Second Madame – you don’t understand!” The disciple was all red-eyed and weepy, which was a look she liked, especially in big, stout men like this. The salt added a bit of spice to the whole thing. “You must flee at once! He was killed by Sect Leader Wen in an act of outright aggression – Sect Leader Wen has declared war – the Wen sect is invading!”

She nodded and picked up another lychee to start peeling it. She’d get around to fleeing in her own time. As long as this Wen sect or whatnot was being led by a man, she wasn’t terribly concerned.

“They intend to wipe out the inheritance of Qinghe Nie! They will rip out the child in your belly!”

She hummed noncommittally. Really, how attached was she to having a child of her own? Really?

“They will slaughter civilians – execute Nie-gongzi –”

Her hands stilled.

“What,” she said, and the disciple took a step back automatically, proving that he, at least, had something more of a survival instinct than her late husband did. “Hurt my little meat bun? My darling rice roll? My savory zongzi?”

She stood up, diminutive height and over-large belly and frilly clothing doing absolutely nothing to diminish the vaguely menacing aura that darkened the sky around her. She bared her teeth.

“Who does this upstart Wen dog think he is?!”

The disciple blinked owlishly, but nodded, seeming relieved that she’d finally accepted his concern, though she could see on his face that he was thinking that her reasoning was – characteristically – a little strange. But then again, and she could see this thought process on his far too honest face, it was well known that the second Madame Nie been quite strange ever since Sect Leader Nie had found her in some lonesome place with no family or background and brought her back to be his new wife nevertheless.

Such a charming man. Pity about his loss, really.

“You have to flee at once, we can’t possibly fight so many people,” the disciple said once more, and this time she nodded in agreement. “We can escort you to a hidden exit –”

“No!” a little voice called. “We can’t go.”

She turned to look, and there was the little pork-and-shrimp dumpling himself, chubby-cheeked and earnest-eyed, looking as delicious as always.

“What do you mean, fish cake?” she asked. “Of course we have to go. Didn’t you hear what this strapping young man said? This Wen person wants to kill you!”

“If Father is dead, then I’m the sect leader,” her stepson said. He was serious and solemn in a way that made her want to pinch his cheeks and bury her face into his belly to blow raspberries, and also possibly to eat him right up, flesh and marrow and gristle and all. “That means it’s my responsibility to preserve the Nie sect.”

“Nie-gongzi, no!” the disciple cried, throwing himself to his knees in a dramatic display of loyalty. “You would only die – far better for you to run, and live!”

“Then isn’t the same true for everyone else?” the tasty little dish asked, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. Possibly he was trying to put on a fierce expression, maybe, she couldn’t quite tell sometimes. He was so cute. “Why should I live, and them not? I refuse to buy my life with their deaths!”

“But – Nie-gongzi –”

Her charming little honey cake shook his head and held up a hand to stop the disciple, turning to look at her instead.

“Second Mother,” he said, and he had that wholesome trusting expression again that was such a perfect little one-shot-kill to the heart, ugh. “You always said you’re the best at hiding. The best in the world, no one better among all the gods or demons!”

She was, too. She couldn’t help but preen a little, proud.

“– can’t you do something?”

“Oh, darling cabbage bun,” she said, not without fondness. “I can hide myself from even the net of Heaven itself if I so choose, from gods and demons alike, and I can most certainly hide a small group from any mortal eyes that dare to look, if you don’t mind being a little tiny bit dishonorable about the business. But an entire sect? That’s a bit much, even for someone as talented and skilled as me.”

Her stepson looked up at her, all straight-steel sincerity and upright righteousness wrapped into a perfectly edible little snack-sized package. “If we split them up, the sect could be small groups,” he said eagerly. “Couldn’t you do something then?”

He was so cute, and he trusted her. He trusted her, believed in her, felt that she could perform miracles with a wave of her sleeve if only she so wished.

It was awful.

She couldn’t bear it.

“Oh all right, you nummy little slice of roast pork belly,” she said, yielding. “But I’m telling you now, it won’t be the least bit honorable! There’s only so many excuses you can come up with for having a lot of strong men with wide shoulders and women with thick thighs hanging around, and not a single one of them has the slightest bit to do with what you people consider to be appropriate.”

“That’s all right. Preserving human life comes first, always.”

The disciple looked between them, clearly completely confused. Clearly all his effort had been spent on developing the muscles in his arms (quite nice) rather than his brain (quite slow).

“What?” he said. “What’s happening?”

“We’re saving the sect,” Nie Mingjue announced happily, clapping his hands together. Too precious, too precious entirely; she’d have to make sure no one else even thought about going near her darling little snackling. “Tell everyone to prepare to evacuate.”

“That will take too long,” she said, and smiled, with teeth. “Let me call some friends to help.”

When the Wen sect arrived at the Unclean Realm, they found the gate open.

That was unexpected enough, but when they entered, they found that the entire place had emptied out – not just of people, but of everything else, too. There wasn’t a single intact chair or table in the entire place, not a scrap of cloth nor a bit of food, like it’d been swept clean by locusts or wild monkeys come to pilfer whatever they could.

Even the paving stones where arrays had been laid out by the Nie sect’s ancestors had been pried up and carted away.

Sect Leader Wen ordered a search, but there wasn’t any trace of it – of the people, of the stuff, anything.

No one ever found out what happened.

Jin Guangyao despised social events, he’d found.

It was one thing when it was something he’d planned himself, where the work was interesting enough to distract him, but when he was an honored guest for someone else…miserable. Utterly miserable.

The only thing more miserable was when the host was his erstwhile father, from whom he’d forcefully extracted recognition. With Wen Ruohan as his backer, indulging his favorite torturer as if a beloved pet, there wasn’t much Jin Guangshan could do to refuse, and neither could he force Jin Guangyao to do anything on his behalf, either. And so Jin Guangyao, sitting as always by Wen Ruohan’s side, right beneath his sons, was now an honored guest at his father’s house, getting offered his pick of prostitutes as if the man had no notion of the irony.

Maybe he didn’t. Jin Guangyao couldn’t quite tell if his father had just forgotten his origins, thinking his bastard son too unimportant to remember the details of, or whether it was meant as a deliberate insult – who could tell?

“Oh, right,” the simpering idiot in front of him, a nephew or cousin of some sort to the sect leader, said. “Our dear Jin Guangyao is known not to like the gentle flower queens, even when they come from the finest houses in Lanling. Isn’t that right, cousin?”

Jin Guangyao’s fists clenched. A deliberate insult, then.

Despite that, his face remained neutral. Instead, he chuckled and said, “The appeal is limited. After all, I have seen the best of them.”

Beside him, Wen Ruohan nodded and smirked. He appreciated Jin Guangyao’s devotion to his mother, though Jin Guangyao suspected it was because he thought it funny that Jin Guangyao would bother to honor such a lowly woman – but what he thought didn’t matter, not really. All that mattered was that he let Jin Guangyao pay his respects to her to his heart’s content.

“Well, you’re in luck!” the idiot Jin Zixun said, looking absurdly smug. “We have something of a different flavor than the usual tonight – we’ve invited entertainment from the local branch of Splendid Spring.”

Jin Guangyao barely managed to avoid rolling his eyes.

The Splendid Spring Palace was a series of brothels that had popped up fully formed just about everywhere some years back, with madams and girls and musicians and bodyguards of all sorts. It was so patently a political move that Jin Guangyao had barely bothered to pay attention to it once he’d become actually powerful, and Wen Ruohan hadn’t paid attention to it at all. After all, in the unlikely event that the business really was backed by a cultivation sect that didn’t care about its face any longer, anyone who needed to use such a façade to gather power was clearly beneath notice.

Jin Guangyao had paid only very little attention, but to different and unusual aspects of the place: by all accounts, they were surprisingly decent employers as far as places like that went. They didn’t steal girls or accept unwilling goods – they had some connection with the merchant caravans, or at least one of the companies that helped coordinate routes and provide protection to such things, and they were as meticulous about checking things over as they were about seeking refunds if they were dissatisfied – and they did accept married girls fleeing unhappy marriages, which not everyone did. They did buy up all the girls in the local markets wherever they were, but they swept them away and brought them back transformed, even the ones that wouldn’t sell because they were too ugly; Jin Guangyao assumed that meant they had people who were talented in make-up and clothing, since the usual rumors of the girls being blessed with a yao’s enchantment were obviously ridiculous and nothing more than the usual marketing gimmicks that brothels since time immemorial had tried.

Even once they had the girls in hand, the places were pretty decent: they had physicians on staff to help with the usual side effects of the business, made sure their girls were clean and healthy, and were said to even limit the number of customers a girl would be obliged to take on in a given evening…honestly, knowing as he did the brothel business, Jin Guangyao sometimes wondered how they’d managed to bespell enough people to even make money in the early days. At any rate, whatever they’d done, it’d worked, because by now they had a solid enough reputation to trade on.

In short: a decent enough place, far better than the usual run of the mill. Once he’d had the ability to do so, he’d even pulled a few strings and arranged for the better of his mother’s old compatriots to end up there, since he couldn’t convince them to leave their old professions behind entirely.

Anyway, if they also seemed to have a sideline in information brokering and assassinations, well, let them. In the cultivation world, where the only thing that mattered was strength, real strength.

A little thing like that wouldn’t make any real difference.

Or so Jin Guangyao had thought.

He found himself re-thinking that, though, when the entertainment in question came out. There were the usual set of attractive (albeit in a wider variety of shapes and sizes than usually seen) dancers, dressed up in silks that seemed actually high quality, and plenty of strapping young men carrying sabers – dancers as well, once assumed, to provide some spice to the entertainment, and implicitly on the offer for men who cut their sleeves or women with more flexibility, like widows or ones with especially permissive husbands. Wen Ruohan’s wives were in that latter category, and they were already whispering to each other excitedly, looking at them.

They’d even brought in the local madame, who was…

Well, she was actually breathtaking, even by Jin Guangyao’s extremely jaded standards. She had hair that fell almost all the way to her ankles, shimmering in the light, and dark eyes shining with liveliness, a smooth and ageless face that simultaneously suggested youth and health but also winked at knowable experience, the features characteristic of what his mother’s employers had called the ‘fox-face’. As if to emphasize that, the lady was wrapped in fox-fur and draped in embroidered brocade, with little stylized foxes running up and down the hems of her clothing and along the gazy silk draped on her shoulders.

It ought to have looked absurd, looked gaudy and overwrought and overdone, but it didn’t.

She was a thousand dreams of wealth and beauty and power and sex appeal all wrapped up in one, and even Jin Guangyao – who was in his personal preferences quite firmly a cutsleeve – couldn’t help but intrigued by her, wondering what it might be like to touch the hem of such a glorious creature.

And next to her…

The lady was accompanied by two men that seemed completely different from each other. One was a slender and winsome young man, fluttering his eyelashes from behind a fan with a charming smile, emanating the appeal of softness and weakness, ready to be indulged. While the other…

Jin Guangyao swallowed.

He was the exact opposite of the first man. Clearly strong, muscular and powerful, and tall to the point of towering, with wide shoulders and a narrow waist, a chest that you could lean your head against and an ass that begged to have someone’s hands on it – and there were his hands, big and broad, perfect for holding someone down or up if they so wished and of a size that was very promising as to what was only hinted at under his clothes. His face was hidden behind a veil as if he were a woman, marking him, like his comrade, as one of the available courtesans of the Splendid Spring, but his body was visible under clothing clearly cut to put it to the best advantage.

And oh, what advantages it had…!

“It seems we found something to the tastes of dear cousin Guangyao after all,” the idiot said mockingly, sniggering and snorting like the pig he was, and for once Jin Guangyao didn’t even care.

“Who’s the woman in front?” Wen Ruohan asked, ignoring their interplay. He seemed utterly fascinated, almost spellbound, and Jin Guangyao couldn’t blame him one bit. If this woman had been at the same brothel as his mother, there wouldn’t have even been room for jealousy or shame; his mother would have gone straight up to her to ask for some tips. “She seems…familiar, somehow.”

“That’s the madame of the Splendid Spring,” Jin Zixun said proudly, as if he’d done anything at all in relation to this – nonsense, of course. Everyone know which brothels were backed by the Jin sect, and Splendid Spring wasn’t one of them. He was acting as if he deserve a pat on the back just for the introduction! “That means she’s not for sale.”

His smile faded a little, twisting in a small bit of bitterness. “Or so she told my uncle, anyway…although I’m sure if it were Sect Leader Wen asking, the answer would undoubtedly be different.”

Probably because Jin Guangshan couldn’t slaughter prostitutes with impunity if they said no to him, whereas no one could stop Wen Ruohan from doing any damn thing he pleased.

Wen Ruohan grunted, pleased by the answer – he was a possessive man, in the rare events that he did exert himself in the realm of women, and there had been more than one instance where he’d stolen away some girl his sons had been eyeing first just for the joy of having had her first – and raised a hand, catching the lady’s eye and gesturing for her to come over, which she did.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

She laughed. “You can call me Hu Jiuwei. With the ‘Hu’ being the character for fox.”

Jin Guangyao tried not to choke. There were false names and then there were false names – the lady’s theme was already clearly related to foxes, given her fox-face and fox-fur lining and the foxes embroidered onto her robes. Was the over-the-top name really necessary?

“It’s a fake name,” she added, unnecessarily.

“I see,” Wen Ruohan said, sounding a little choked himself. Possibly it was the woman calling herself ‘Foxy Ninetails’ and then kindly reassuring them all that the name was false as if she thought them too dumb to figure it out that was tripping him up a little. Jin Guangyao couldn’t tell if she was doing it deliberately in order to make her frankly inhuman beauty a little less frightening, or maybe she was blessed with so much beauty that she hadn’t bothered to cultivate her brain at all. “Are you our entertainment for the evening?”

She smiled, and any complaints Jin Guangyao (or indeed Wen Ruohan) might have had about her intelligence faded away at once.

It was that type of smile.

You could wreck nations with that type of smile. Jin Guangyao couldn’t help but wonder: how had a woman this extraordinary ended up in a brothel, of all places? How had no one snatched her up to keep her all for himself before now?

“My sons and I –” she gestured at the two behind her, “– would be more than happy to provide you with all the entertainment you could possibly want.”

Her smile widened.

“We’ve been hoping for an opportunity like this for a long time.”

#mdzs #nie mingjue #second madame nie #jin guangyao #wen ruohan #my fic #my fics #what does the fox say

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castiel-left-his-mark-on-me · 3 years

Note

Hi, Ary, very inactive ex-mutual(i think???) here. Good to see you thriving! ♥ It's been a while since I've dipped my head into cockles stuff. Could I perchance maybe ask uuuuum tf is going on??? lol I see Mish apparently confirmed he used to stay over at Jensen's in Van, and heard newbs were apparently freaking out about it and getting a bit messy, which I get that, business as usual. But I'm also seeing shit about spin-offs? And Jared getting in a twitter fight with Jensen, causing/resulting in stans to going feral and sending hate?? I know you're not as big a fan of Jar, but that's part of why I figured I'd ask you, you usually have a really level head about this kinda stuff. If you don't wanna answer publically, or at all, that's totally chill!

Hey, Rhi! We're still mutuals! Of course we're still mutuals! When I saw the notification of your ask, I was like "Hey! I haven't seen you in a while!" and my husband was like "???" and I said "Tumblr" and he said "Oh."

It was a wild time haha.

In any case, welcome back to the dumpster fire! We are obviously still a mess. So to catch you up, I guess I will start by summarizing both before and after the finale (not sure where you left off so this might be redundant for you) ... basically, it became obvious as the end of the show neared that Jensen was not on board with the plan for the finale; although Jared never stopped singing its praises.

We got confirmation of this during a zoom interview where Jensen said that he actually went into the writers room as well as called Kripke to basically voice how he didn't agree with the direction the final season was going, but he was shot down on all fronts. In another interview, he was asked "What would you tell your younger self going into this career?" And Jensen responded with: "I would tell myself to just keep your head down and do the work" meaning, "Don't try to change things because you can't." I also think that this whole situation is what he wrote "Let Me Be" about for his first Radio Company album, but that is just my own speculation. All of his reluctance, even though he always followed it up with "But I eventually saw the value in the script" or "I came around in the end" (which never sounded sincere, and I don't think he was really trying to sound sincere) made us all very nervous about what was to come for 15x20; and of course, when the last two episodes aired, we saw just how badly they fucked it up.

After the awful finale, the entire fandom became aware of the CW's heavy handed role in the thing, basically squeezing all the life out of SPN to shape it into a ramp from which Walker could launch itself. They not only erased all the love and joy and representation that Cas's love confession gave us, they also tore apart the things that made sense about the bond between Sam and Dean, making it really just about Sam-- and therefore Jared, which of course, Jared seemed to be fine with ... even though no one else was. Misha barely said anything during the finale, and a few of the other actors talked about the show ending in various posts, but Jared tweeted up a storm ... and Jensen? Jensen just sat in sexy-silent resentment of the whole thing. He didn't tweet, he didn't post, he didn't say a word once he no longer had to, and I think that's because he was already going full-steam-ahead on his plans for redemption.

Which brings us to Chaos Machine-- Jensen and Danneel's new production company that is being run by a queer creative director and has a mantra of inclusivity and representation woven throughout it's fabric; and apparently, the first story that Jensen wanted to tell through this new platform is the origin story of Sam and Dean's parents; so last week (?) he announced the upcoming production of "The Winchesters" -- the untold love story of John and Mary. Obviously, John is not the most likable character from the show, so the idea was met with a lot of resentment when it was first announced, but Jensen has gone on to say that he is excited to take on the task of telling the "true" story behind these characters-- the one that makes sense with the pre-established canon and doesn't reject it. So, given that, the idea is being mulled over with a bit more optimism from the fandom.

Who isn't being optimistic though?

Jared Padalecki.

When Jensen made this announcement on Twitter, many of his friends and coworkers congratulated him, but not Jared. Jared responded with a passive aggressive: "I'm happy for you, man, but I wish I didn't hear about it through Twitter." This of course, sent all the die-hard Jared fans into a tizzy and they immediately began asking him if he was serious (hoping it was just a joke-- we all hoped it was because there would be fallout no matter what one's opinion on Jared is). Instead of leaving it there though or just deleting that tweet, Jared went on to tweet some more, saying that he was being serious that he didn't know about the plans for the prequel, and that he was "gutted" that Sam apparenlty wouldn't be included (mind you, this a prequel to SPN... meaning BEFORE Sam and Dean were even born, so how could Sam be included? But Dean is apparently narrating this story so maybe Jared thought Sam should be helping to narrate it? I don't know). But Jared being Jared couldn't just leave that there, he then went on to tweet at Robbie Thompson who was announced as a writer for "The Winchesters" so then Jared went off on him too, calling him "Brutus" and a "coward" acting like Robbie betrayed him (speculation is-- Robbie refused to write for Walker, so Jared is pissed that he essentially chose Jensen over him). He did fairly quickly, remove that tweet attacking Robbie, but of course the damage was done at that point. And it truly only took his first tweet calling out Jensen for some people to be like "Jared-- that sucks if you didn't know but why are you saying any of this publicly?"

As you might know, Jared has had issues in the past with posting hurtful things on social media, and has even used it as a tool for attack before-- calling out customer service agents and public workers that he felt have wronged him, which is bad enough ... but for him to then do the same thing to his best friend of well over a decade? Many people who had once liked him or at least gave him the benefit of the doubt (I used to ...) stopped after this latest twitter tantrum.

However, some people have suspected for some time that J2 had a falling out either shortly before the finale or just after. Their public/social media interactions have seemed awkward, stilted or even non-existent in moments that they normally wouldn't be. In the past year, when Walker premiered, Jensen didn't say much about his friend's new venture other than a "Congrats. buddy" here and there. Later, we learned that Jensen refused to work on the show ... Jared said he make him do it, drag Jensen to the set "kicking and screaming" which made many fans quirk up an eyebrow because, why would Jensen put up a fight unless the two weren't as close as they used to be? And then Jensen moved his family to Colorado (either permanently or for an extended period at least) which is notable considering how he moved to Texas seemingly to be closer to Jared, even buying a house that was near his. All this was just speculation though; but it wasn't until Jared's tweet complaining about not knowing about the prequel that the theories behind them falling out, became less theory and more fact.

The day after his twitter tantrum, Jared tweeted again-- not retracting his statements or apologizing, but instead saying that he and Jensen "talked" and were "all good". Jensen then tweeted too, parroting this statement to some degree, which only made the whole thing even more sour in the mouths of the fans. The fact that Jared didn't apologize for his outburst and throwing his friend under the bus, and also the fact that Jensen-- Mr. Sexy Silence, Mr. Never Tweets, Mr. Tech-Ignorant-and-Proud, actually had to POST SOMETHING saying that he and Jared made up, it just screamed OPTICS. It was obviously the work of agents and PR firms and lots of people going "Look, if you two keep beefing, that will mean the death of both of your projects. Even more people will stop watching Walker, and this SPN prequel will never get picked up due to the scandal." So, the two "made nice" publicly to quell the chaos, but in my opinion, it's all too little too late. Jared started a storm that he can't contain now with a little tweet, and it seems like he knows that too because before he talked about him and Jensen making up, he asked that people "not send threats". He could have just as easily said that he shouldn't have made this a public issue and that he's sorry, but instead, he continued to play the victim and stoke the flames by alerting us all to the damage he's done.

Now, like I said before-- I used to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't think he's an awful human or that he deserves to be attacked or anything, but he is an adult man with very poor judgment and an obvious selfish-streak a mile wide. He should know better, and he should have more respect for his so-called "friends" and "brothers" than to make them targets to public ridicule. I have a hard time believing that Jensen still sees Jared the way he used to, and I wouldn't blame him a bit for wanting to pull away-- especially when he's moving on to so many new and exciting things. Jared certainly deserves happiness just as much as anyone else, but he went on twitter and basically asked for a scandal, and he got one.

The question is now-- was there a motive behind it? Was just looking for a reason to bring his and Jensen's falling out to light-- while making himself looking like the victim in the process? Or did he genuinely not know about the prequel and just decided to go about "not knowing" in the most toxic and hurtful way he could manage?

In any case, that is the drama ... that is the J2 insanity in a rather lengthy nutshell ... that is the tea ... and I hope it all makes sense.

But the good news out of all of this is, Cockles is thriving-- they are happy and in love and Jensen calls Misha "Babe" and Misha misses waking up to see Jensen in the morning, and they are just as cute and wonderful as can be.

So, I will end that there. I am so glad to see you back, and I hope I answered all your questions in a way that made sense ... I tried anyway!

💖💖💖

#omg #I don't even know if this makes sense #this took way too long to write #j2 #cockles #long post #spn family #so glad you see you back again my dear #welcome to hell #it's hotter now

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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 3 years

Text

Hue and Cry XVIII

Warnings: non-consent sex and rape (series), trauma, some elements untagged.

This is dark!medieval!Bucky Barnes x reader and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Synopsis: The reader and Zemo try to figure out what’s next.

Note: I actually think we’re closer to an end then the beginning. My goal is to finish this before moving onto anything else but that might be my original stuff so I might take a little break after this series to figure that out! Your patience and following along has meant the world to me. <3

Thanks to everyone and thanks in advance for all your feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

MASTERLIST

In the coming days, trunks were opened and stuffed with clothes, blankets, and miscellany. The servants did much of the work as when you were asked what to bring, you chose three plain dresses for you and several more outfits for Elina. Zemo tutted and ordered his staff to fill the chests.

There was no distinct urgency however as the horses were to be re-shoed before you set off and the baron seemed content to enjoy the summer sun with your daughter. He would sit with the two of you under the tree or take her on a walk of his sprawling green or dangle some ornament before her to reach for.

Your mind didn’t retreat from the prospect of your departure. He said a fortnight at longest, you had to leave before that. You worried about Elina and how she’d miss him and how she’d fare on the road. She was a healthy child but you couldn’t help but think of all that could go wrong.

The third day after the announcement of your looming trek, you sat on the balcony as Elina chewed on berries and Zemo sat with a book. The air was thick and damp from the heat but the sun was tamped out behind the gathering clouds. He wore his shirt untied at the top so that the fur of his chest peeked out and you wore a sleeveless cotton gown in a pale blue.

“Do you intend on negotiating? Truly?” you asked as your mind wandered.

He looked over the book and reached over to scoop up a slice of strawberry from Elina’s shirt and flicked it into the saucer, “what do you mean?”

“Are you going to try to seal the alliance they want or is it all a ruse?”

“My liege has given me leave to approach their proposal however I wish. If they present some benefits for us then yes, I should like to have peace but… they’ve not offered anything before that we couldn’t find elsewhere,” he shrugged and lowered the book, “are you concerned for them? The people who let you suffer as such?”

“It is still my homeland but that is not what I’m worried for. I wonder how long your patience can wear on,” you said.

“We have spoke on this, we both know--”

“Yes, I know, but… how long should I have left with my daughter?” you hissed.

“You think I mean to take you from her? Perhaps march you to your death?” he scowled.

“I know however this turns out, my place in it is perilous,” you retorted, “do not mock my fears.”

“I do not--” he took a breath and his sneer softened. He chuckled as he leaned forward, “you are stronger than before, you know that? You snap like a lioness. I thought you underestimated me but I see you only misjudge yourself.”

“You are vague with me so how can I trust--”

“I have seen you through your recovery, through a labour, and a life beyond that,” he said, “I only ask a little more for all that I’ve done.”

You sat back and cupped your chin. You looked at Elina, dark juices smeared around her lips. She was entirely undisturbed by the bickering of adults. You reached over and took her tiny, sticky hand.

You thought of Lord Barnes and if you should face him again. The idea made your blood run cold. Would he hate you? Would he still want you? You did not doubt he would have some cruelty left for you but as you were, scarred and hobbled, would it be different? And if he discovered your daughter, what then?

“He can never know about her,” you said softly and cautiously looked at the baron, “please, he can’t--”

“If he ever sees her, he will only know her to be mine but I have no intent upon my daughter being near that brute in her lifetime,” he growled. No little baroness but ‘my daughter’. You smiled at Elina and she squeezed your finger.

“I am grateful for all you’ve done for her. I know you didn’t have to--” your eyes strayed beyond the railing as some distant movement flurried beneath the sun. You squinted and leaned on the arm of your chair as you tried to see the specks along the horizon.

Zemo followed your gaze and stood. He went to the golden scope he kept on the balcony and put his eye to it as he adjusted the sights. He tilted it and stood stalk straight as if he’d been struck. The scope bobbled and he steadied it.

“Get her to your rooms,” he said, “lock the door and don’t make a sound.”

“What? What is it?”

“They are early,” he hit his open hand with a fist, “the letter… it could not be. The king must’ve assumed and sent the party prematurely.” He went to Elina and lifted her. He kissed her cheek and waved you up to your feet, “go on, take her. Keep her quiet as you can. I will house them on a lower floor but they cannot suspect you, understood?”

“How do you--”

“The banner, it is all I can make out,” he said as he grabbed your cane and rushed you back through his cool chambers, “you will lock the door and I will have Ulrich keep watch over the corridor.”

“You didn’t see who it was?” you asked as he opened the door and thrust you out into the hallway.

“You will know when I know,” he assured, “keep your candles unlit and draw the curtains.”

“My lord--”

“I did not plan for this,” he said as he marched you down the hall. You tried not to stumble as he still had your cane and you only had him to keep you from falling, “my lady, I do fear you will not make it to the Creek as we planned.”

He stopped at your door and you hugged Elina as you leaned against the wall. She was entirely untroubled by the sudden upheaval, ever a happy baby. “My cane,” you pointed to his hand as he gripped the silver topper, “please?”

“Oh, I-- Yes,” he handed it to you then reached to open your door, “keep that close…” he said, “just in case.”

“We’ll be as quiet as we can,” you assured him as you held Elina against your hip and limped with your can into the dim chamber.

“I will have Tess secret up some food before their arrival but you do not come out for anyone but me. I will knock,” he tapped a pattern on the door, “like so.”

“Yes, my lord,” you squeezed Elina as the nerves stormed inside of you.

He sighed and gripped the door as he leaned on it, “I only have a few hours to hide the evidence of you and all we’ve done to see you off. Even so, they will not suspect anything unless they are fed crumbs, yes?”

“I understand, my lord,” you stiffened and forced back the panic, “we will see what comes and do as we must,” you swayed Elina as she began to fuss, “for her.”

“For her,” he repeated, “now I must go.”

He closed the door and you set Elina down on the rug with the mouse Tess had sewn for her. You went to the door and twisted the latch into place. You turned back to watch your daughter as she tossed the toy and giggled. She pushed herself up to her feet, more certain everytime she stood. The time was passing much too quick.

🏰

You tried to distract yourself by playing with Elina and keeping her quiet. You worried however, the few times she made noise, that you would blow it all. When Tess brought the food, it was easier as your daughter grew hungry and restless. Once she had a proper meal in her, she was ready to lay down. She dozed beside you on the bed as you listened to the activity below.

First, you heard the horses through the window and the rattling carts and carriages. The voices were too distant to discern above a muffle and you weren’t so foolish as to peek out, even from so high up. You calmed yourself by watching Elina sleep but you knew you would not rest that night.

The sun sunk further behind the clouds and the evening approached with a dullness which forewarned of storms. You flinched at every noise, even floors below, and waited and waited and waited.

You had faith in Zemo, he was a great pretender. It was that very quality which kept you wary of him for so long.

When Elina stirred again, you quieted her cries with your tit but she wasn’t taking to your nipple as eagerly as before. It calmed her for a while but she was soon awake again. You let her explore the chamber but not far from you and kept her away from the clacking wooden blocks gifted her by the baron.

And then the knock came as the sky blackened and grey clouds rumbled above. The rhythm drew you to the latch and Zemo slipped through the door. He was quick to lock it again as you ambled without your cane, afraid to tap the floor too hard with it. Elina greeted him with a shrill cry but it was blanketed by the bluster of the rising chaos in the heavens.

“The storm will frighten her but it should also help hide her,” Zemo said plaintively, “I hope.”

“They are here and settled?” you asked.

“Yes, so they are,” he confirmed as he picked up Elina, “They are too concerned with themselves to worry about any dead women hidden above.”

He sat in the armchair as the girl played with his beard as she liked to do. He smiled and let her, poking out his tongue until she did the same. He bounced her on his lap and she gibbered noisily.

“They are floors down, you should be safe to exist but if she cries, you will have to be quick to quiet her,” he girded.

“Anyone we know?” you asked as you sat on the foot of the bed and rubbed your hip.

He was silent and kept his attention on Elina. He raised his hand and let her bend his fingers to her will. She grabbed onto his ring and twisted it around his knuckle.

“My lord, is there--”

“Yes,” he huffed at last. He kissed the child’s forehead and set her down to crawl across the carpet, though she didn’t go far before she was distracted by her stuffed mouse.

“Who is it?” you asked as you folded your hands.

He rubbed his forehead then pushed his head back, “it isn’t him,” he assured, “if they were callous enough to send him or he was fool enough to come, well, we wouldn’t be having this placid conversation.”

“Who?” you asked again.

“His dog, Lord Rogers,” Zemo spat, “I don’t know which is worse. The man was watching Melinda as a wolf would watch a deer. I don’t even know the girl has flowered yet and he would be sniffing at her skirts. Despicable.”

“Rogers?” you breathed and your chest knotted.

A roll of thunder boomed at that very moment and made you gasp. Elina stopped playing and her lip began to quiver. You slid off the bed to your knees and went to her and gathered her up. You cooed and hushed her and she clung to the collar of your dress. You watched her face as the fear retreated and she turned to watch the window flash. The terror turned to curiosity in an instant.

“Ha, look how brave she is,” he snickered.

You nodded, speechless still. Your nose tingled and your eyes burned. You were so overcome at the idea of that man being so close. You recalled that day in the forest, your singular mistake, then the scene in the carriage, and that on the staircase when Zemo himself had kept you from his perversions.

“My lady?” he said, “you look unsettled.”

“Take her,” you murmured then cleared your throat, “please, take Elina.”

He got up and took her from your arms. You pulled yourself up by the bedpost and leaned against it, your grip tightened around the carved wood. Your chest pattered in time with the downpour against the castle walls. You shook as you felt the scar along your face and those that led down beneath your dress. It hadn’t just been Barnes.

“Lady?” Zemo got closer as Elina babbled.

“I… can’t breathe,” you said and turned to fall back onto your rear, the mattress dipping beneath you as your fingers clung to the post, “I can’t…”

‘A bird, a bird, high above the cloud…’ he began to sing as much to Elina as you, a tune in his own tongue, ‘a wing, a wing, flaps without a sound…’ he rocked the girl but kept his eyes on you, ‘an angel, an angel, looking down on me. A blessing, a blessing, cast upon the lea…’

He reached with one hand and drew you up to your feet. He let you lean against him as he embraced you against your daughter and kept swaying in time to his voice and the sudden onslaught of the storm, ‘a lady, a lady, spinning at her wheel. A mother, a mother, her will as strong as steel…”

You clung to his sleeve and buried your face against the thin cotton. He kept singing until Elina was quiet and the rattling of your bones stilled. You were embarrassed at the sudden emotion which overcame you and the dampness on your cheeks. He carefully sat you back down and shushed.

The rain continued but the thunder passed. He moved carefully to lay Elina in her cot and stood as you hid your face behind your hand.

“I’m…” you uttered.

“No, that man. I remember that day,” he sat beside you and gripped his knees, “I know what he would’ve done and I am wise enough to know it was not the first he’d touched you.”

“It was long ago,” you said, “I shouldn’t be so… frail.”

“You are...strong. You must stay strong for her,” he sniffed and touched your elbow, “but you feel it now.”

“Feel what?” you blinked at him.

“The longing… for vengeance?”

You stared into his dark eyes and your chest continued to twist. Your spine went rigid and your jaw clenched. “I do,” you nodded and looked over at your daughter, “I feel it so very deeply.”

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random-imagines-blog · 3 years

Text

Voices {Diana Prince x Fem!Reader}

Requested by: Anonymous Wordcount: 2343 Summary: Jealousy is hard to tame, even in an Amazonian Princess. Warnings: Smut.

Diana had never been the jealous type. That was until had come along and joined the Justice League, the only other female in this male-dominated group. You weren’t quite as powerful as Diana, but you contributed a lot to the team, and knew how to handle yourself in a fight. Your powers of creating a force field had saved the ass of each one of these lunatics at least once. Even Superman had owed you a debt of gratitude for your powers, all of which you took with a grin. But out of all of them, the one that you seemed to be the closest with was Bruce - and that is where Diana’s jealousy came in.

You, like Bruce, were also from Gotham, so there had been that instant connection there. You would often talk about restaurants, about high school, about people and if there was any overlaps in where you used to hang out. It turns out you used to frequent some of the same places, despite being from totally different backgrounds. You two could often be seen talking and laughing around the coffee machine, or going out to dinner - which made the tabloids go wild. The rest of the league knew that you two were just friends but Diana had always suspected something.

She had originally thought that she would be the one that you would bond with, given that you were a woman. And yes, you two were friendly enough but it wasn’t quite what she had pictured. You would catch eyes in the hallway and nod at one another, and you worked well out in the battlefields of the world. When she saw you with Bruce, your voice would flow through her head like music, while Bruce’s was grating, like nails on a chalkboard. It affected her relationship with Bruce, which had once been friendly but now, being around him just felt like the annoying co-worker.

You and Bruce came into the Batcave from going out to dinner, and you were talking about the couple who had been sitting next to you. “I think it’s romantic,” You were saying about them.

“I think it’s convenient,” Bruce was shrugging off his jacket. “I know a thing or two about gold-diggers, y/n, and that man was one of them.”

“Sometimes, Bruce, I think you see the world in too dark a light,” You said, finally noticing that the others were gathered around, with only Diana and Barry eavesdropping. Cyborg was hooked into a supercomputer, and Clark was in his ordinary Clark attire, looking at his phone. “Oh, was there a meeting?”

“No, I was just bored,” Barry said. There was a flash of yellow, and he was standing right beside you, offering you a bag of chips. “Hungry?”

“Just ate, but thank you. I don’t think I could take another bite,” You protested. Bruce did the same with an elegant gesture of his hand, and you went your separate ways. Bruce went to hang up his jacket while you strode over to see what Clark was doing. Diana was sitting alone at the table now, watching the way that your dress moved about your body. She admired it on you. It was white and gold, and reminded her of home, though this was much more formal than functional. The sleeves draped over your shoulder, exposing the soft flesh of your collar and arms. As you bent over to peek at his phone and see who he was texting, she caught the curve of your breast, and looked away quickly, face glowing red in shame.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to look. But rather, she wanted you to be the one to show her, of your own free will. She wanted you to ask her to unzip the dress and watch as you stepped out of it, completely bare. These thoughts clouded her mind to the point where she didn’t notice that Barry had slipped into the chair beside her and was staring at her, grinning.

“You’re so obviously in love, just go ask her out!” He said, a little loudly. Diana shushed him quickly, and darted her eyes back to see if you had noticed. But you were teasing Clark about his girlfriend, Lois at this point and didn’t seem to have overheard.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Diana said, turning back towards Barry. “Isn’t there some marathon that you should be running?”

“Ouch, you get mean when you’re jealous.”

“I am not jealous,” Diana said, though she knew that it was a lie. Jealousy was a snake that was making it’s way through her nerves, and if she didn’t do something about it soon, she was afraid she was going to burst. The toxicity was unscrewing itself.

She stood up and made her way to the bathrooms. There were two, side by side, neither of them labeled as male or female because it seemed stupid. Just pick a bathroom and use it. She went inside and ran some cold water over her hands and patted at her flawless face. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw the red coming across her cheeks. She saw that glint in her eye that she didn’t like. Though alone, with the only sound being the pipes, she thought she could hear your voice. Laughing. Then Bruce. Probably saying something witty. Oh, I’m Bruce Wayne, I’m rich. I’m Batman.

She splashed herself again, trying to get control over these negative emotions. She dried her face with some paper towel and went to step out, planning on leaving the Bat Cave since she wasn’t needed here, but when she opened the door - you were standing there. You looked startled by the door opening, but your open mouth turned into a frown. “Are you okay?”

You pushed your way into the well lit bathroom with her, and closed the door behind you. Your hand then went to her forehead, reaching up because the Amazonian woman was so tall, and tried to feel for a fever. “Do I look sick to you?” Diana asked, raising an eyebrow, but let you touch her skin, her face. It brought that heat back but it was a different kind.

“Well, your cheeks look a little flushed, and you have been more quiet than usual,” You said, stepping back with a frown. “But you don’t have a fever, so hurray for small miracles.”

“Good,” Diana said with a nod. “But I could have told you that I’m not sick. I don’t get sick.”

“Of course, your immune system is probably as crazy powerful as you are,” You chuckled. “Is there something else wrong then? I mean, you look amazing as usual but there’s something up with you. If you wanted to talk about it, you know I’m here, right?”

You were just so nice, it was hard for Diana to really comprehend it. She only wished that you were this nice to her, and not to everyone else, as cruel as that seemed. In what was at first meant to be a reassuring motion, she put her hands on your arms and rubbed up and down, and then up, past the thin off-the shoulder sleeves, to your shoulders. Once she had started, she found it hard to stop.

“You’re here, and that’s part of the problem,” She admitted. You tilted your head in confusion, exposing more of that beautiful neck that so tempted her. The way that she was looking at you - with eyes ablaze - it was a wonder you weren’t running off. “I have to ask you a question, and it may sound a little strange.”

“Of course, what is it?”

“Do you have feelings of any sort for Bruce?”

“Oh, gross, no,” You said, shaking your head. Her hands were still on your shoulders, keeping you grounded. “He’s like a brother, especially since we grew up in a lot of the same places. Why do you ask?”

“You two seem very close... very close.” Her hands went up your neck, caressing the soft and exposed skin until she reached your jaw. Your breath hitched in your throat, she could feel it. But you didn’t become meek or shy. Instead, you surprised her.

“Hmm... are you jealous, Diana?” You asked. You didn’t attempt to push her off, or get her to move. In fact, the reason why you had been going towards the bathroom in the first place was easily forgotten. Diana was caught of guard by your direct question, and responded to it with a nod rather than verbalizing. A smile went across your lips - closed lipped, tantalizing. “Then my plan has been working.”

You were the one that initiated the first kiss, wrapping your arms around her neck, bringing her in. She was in her full gear in case something had come up, and her metal breastplate rubbed roughly against the soft fabric of your dress. It was a good feeling though. It was a bit cold - and it permeated through the dress until you could feel it on your nipples, making them grow hard. In contrast, Diana was now feeling the soft, the flowing feeling against her elbows as her arms bent when she came closer. Lips smashed against lips, and that jealousy melted away.

You were the first one to pull away, take a step back and looked over that outfit of hers. The infamous Wonder Woman outfit. Turned into cheap costumes the world round. “How do you take that thing off?” You asked. Surprising her again.

“Are you asking me to take it off, or are you curious?” Diana asked, pushing her hair out of the way, behind her neck, so that she could get back at yours with kisses.

“Both,” You said, leaning your head back so that she had more skin to get at. Diana grinned into these kisses, and showed you exactly how the form fitting top came off.

Diana felt very comfortable in her skin, and was fine with showing it off - to you. There were plenty of perverts out there who wanted to see this view, but it was only for you. Her chest was heaving with excitement, the pink that had been on her cheeks blushed her tan body. The skirt had come off as well, it being a one piece, and now she was standing there in only her underwear. For you.

You brought her back in for another kiss, this time with no hard breast plate in the middle. Diana’s hands deftly made their way to the back of your dress, and found the zipper. You moaned in encouragement, and gently - so as not to ruin the dress - she pulled it down until it reached your lower back. You shrugged your way out of it, pulling your arms out of the sleeves and let it fall onto the bathroom floor. At least Alfred kept this place spic and span himself. These floors had only been mopped that very morning.

Diana kept the kisses raining down upon you, your neck, your shoulders, your breasts once they were exposed. It was just the two of you in your underwear now, pressed against one another but it never felt close enough. Lifting you with ease, Diana swept you off of your feet and put you up onto the sink. You leaned back against the mirror, surprised at how quick all of this was going on. Both of you were. But neither of you were putting a stop to it. This was what she had been thinking about doing. Taking you from Bruce’s side and showing you how she really felt. This, this was a dream come true.

She kissed her way up one of your thighs, right along the inner skin, got to your underwear and started to pull it off slowly, leading it with kisses among the other thigh, to the calf, the to your pretty feet, bound in heels. Those, she would leave on. Just like she would her own thigh-high boots. “You’re very beautiful, y/n,” Diana said, getting a real good look at you.

“So are you, Princess,” You said with a smile, watching with eyes full of adoration. She existed for your compliments, and made her way hungrily between your legs. She was soft, just like those plump lips of hers, and she was gentle. She was also quite slow, which made you want her all the more. Her tongue was wet and warm and seemed to know exactly where to go to bring out the little whimpers in you. Your hands went to your own breasts, squeezing them. You pulled at your own nipples, making a display of it as Diana watched. Her dark eyes stayed focus up on you as her mouth worked.

As you began to reach your climax, miscellaneous things in the bathroom started to rumble. The garbage can for one, began to shake. The paper towel roll became entirely undone. The soap started to squirt out on its own. The lights flickered on and off as that force-field of yours affected the electricity around you. When you did finally reach it, your legs tightened around Diana, trapping her there as you thrust your hips up and down against her face, mewling with satisfaction.

The afterglow must have been amazing, for you grew a lot more loose and limber afterwards. Once you let Diana out of your grip, she joined you, hopping up onto the counter and put her arms around you, bringing you in for more kisses. These ones were more so lazy, just little pecks, as you started to recover from that rush of emotions. “What about you?” You asked, looking her over with a grin on her face.

“In time,” Diana smirked. “We have all of that in the world.”

#Diana Prince #Diana Prince x reader #Diana Prince oneshot #Wonder Woman #Wonder Woman oneshot #Wonder Woman x reader #Justice League #Justice League Oneshot #DC #DC oneshot #request #oneshot #x reader #dianap

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spenciegoob · 3 years

Text

The 4 Types of Manipulation

A/N: hey hey hey cuties... just thought I’d drop in to tell you I love you and Harry Styles at the Grammy’s, oh and Miley Cyrus in general. Okay that’s it.

Summary: Spencer has to interrogate an unsub, but she has a few tricks up her sleeve.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem Unsub!Reader

Category: Not fluff, but not angst... angsty fluff? fluffy angst?

Content Warning: mentions of murder, manipulation, mentions of sex in the form of flirting, mentions of drug use, mentions of emotional abuse

Masterlist

Word Count: 2.8K

____

Nobody dared to take a breath out of place, every profiler was packed into the room watching with careful eyes at the sobbing girl in the interrogation room through the glass. No one knew what their first step should be, but I guess there’s a first time for everything, right? Winging it was not something anyone in the BAU enjoyed doing, each case needed a thought out plan.

But they’ve seen this unsub before, they know the profile, the history, they know her. So why was she crying so hard that the weight of her head became unbearable, leaving her only option to sob into the crooks of her elbows as best as she could with wrists cuffed to the table?

Nobody knew, except for Spencer Reid.

Emily was hesitant, as expected, to blindly send in one of the best agents she’s ever seen into the room that with each tear shed slowly morphed into a lion’s den. Reid deserved better, she knew that, especially since the last time they dealt with an unsub like this one, Spencer had to be so far out of the loop that the case almost broke him.

He put up a good fight though, and if the determination set in his eyes wasn’t enough to inform the unit chief that she was not winning this argument, his deviance to storm through the door, startling the young woman chained down definitely did.

Why was it always Spencer?

Tears:

“P-please, I didn’t do anything.” Those were the first words anyone’s heard her say since the arrest, even if they were separated by sniffles and choked out sobs.

Spencer just stared down at her, not taking the risk to further entertain the stuttering girl with wet cheeks and tired eyes.

“I promise I’m not a murderer. You have to believe me, please.” That promise whispered so quietly made with unbreakable eye contact urged him to take a second to reevaluate the situation.

She was apprehended in place of Jacob Hughes, the man they had originally been looking for. There was a chance she wasn’t complicit, a chance she was innocent. Maybe Jacob placed a hair of hers at the latest crime scene because he knew they were closing in.

Or maybe she is just as sick as he is.

“Prove it,” Spencer said, his tone loud and assertive, leaving no room for argument. She didn’t plan on fighting his demand anyway.

“I- I haven’t seen Jacob for days. He drugged those men, and did h-horrible things. Those poor men.” This struck a nerve, everybody could tell, even the one person in this interaction that wasn’t a profiler.

Spencer’s shoulders tensed for a millisecond, but she saw it. She saw what her words were doing to him, after all, he used to be one of those poor men she felt so sorry for.

Another loud sob echoed off the concrete walls before she bit her bottom lip and took a deep breath.

“I can’t believe he mur... did that to them. H-how could he?” Spencer watched as the young girl looked up to him like he held the answer to the million dollar question. He studied the way her eyes bounced around his face, looking for something, anything to relieve some confusion when it came to her fiancé.

“Jacob Hughes is what we call a vindictive narcissist and a sadist. He receives pleasure from hurting others, and in this case, drugging and torturing men because he feels he’s been wronged his whole life. The question, however, is why. I know you know, just like how I know you’re aware of his crimes.”

It was a blow so low it could’ve come from hell itself. Spencer regretted it immediately when he watched the way her whole body stiffened at the mention of her knowledge, but he had to be certain no matter the fallout.

“I-I still don’t understand. I’ve never seen him hurt anyone.” Denial, guilt and fear all jam packed into 3 little words that had his heart dangerously close to breaking. The sorrow in her eyes believable enough that Spencer left his standing position between the suspect and the door to sit directly across from her.

She watched his movements with careful eyes, only stealing glances from her peripherals before returning to her cuffed wrists.

“Maybe you’ve never seen him physically hurt anyone, but we know what he does to you.” It was the first and only time Spencer let any emotion, as fake as it was, show in his responses. How could he not try when the girl resumed her sobbing at the implication of her past deception from the man she loves?

“You know nothing,” she whispered back, her tone laced with defensive anger.

“I know everything.” Was he challenging her?

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Was she challenging him?

“You know what it means.” Yes, he was.

“Do I?” Yes, she was.

The two stared at each other for the entire tone shift in the stuffy interrogation room. The other profilers on the other side of the mirror had no knowledge of how thick the tension had just become because unlike Spencer, they weren’t standing in the middle of it.

Small sniffles were the only noise breaking through the quiet until suddenly, they just stopped.

“Ugh, fine! You win this round. My eyes are starting to hurt from all this goddamn crying. Do people actually cry this much when you arrest them?”

Spencer leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms to clearly convey just how unamused he was with the girl’s antics. She watched him intently, picking apart every move down to the muscle trying to search for any indicators that her little performance worked even a fraction of what she was hoping for.

And she got her wish in the form of the agent’s fingers tapping lightly at his sides under perfectly muscular, if she may add, arms, because any other movement would have been too obvious.

Spencer Reid was getting nervous, because the second her facade faded, he lost the upper hand. She just had to get him trapped in here.

“Oh come on. Not even a ‘good job’? I wasn’t expecting full blown applause, but some appreciation for that show would be nice.” Still, Spencer gave her nothing. He needed her to keep talking, and filling silence was a sure way to make certain she did just that.

“I’ll tell you what you need to know, but first you have to admit that I had you fooled for a second there.”

Lies:

“No.” Unexpectedly, instead of getting frustrated with Spencer’s refusal to play along, she just smiled brighter. This was exciting to her, and it was getting on his nerves.

“What gave it away? Did I look to the left before I spoke or something?” Spencer kept his mouth shut. “Come on, what’s my tell? Enlighten me.”

She copied his movements as Spencer leaned over the cool, metal table slightly, eyes racking over her face, lingering on certain parts for longer than others.

“No.” At this, she huffed back in her seat, leaving the close proximity that would later be used as a secret tool against the doctor before he had the chance to catch on.

“If you’re just going to shut down every single one of my proposals, then why am I here?”

“You’re here because you’re a suspect in a series of 7 murders in the past 5 weeks.” She perked up at his words, amusement dripping from her features.

“Finally, Doc has something more to say than just ‘no.’ Tell me, was that so hard?”

“No.”

“Ugh!” Rolling her eyes would be giving ammo to the enemy, but the urge to do so was quite strong. In fact, she almost did until she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the one way mirror.

“I’m serious when I say this,” she said, looking directly into Spencer’s eyes so he couldn’t accuse her of lying. “If you take the cuffs off, I’ll answer everything.”

“No.”

“Please! They’re seriously starting to hurt. I put 100% into that performance, and now it’s coming back to bite me in the-”

“Fine!” Spencer stood up carefully, not walking around the table until he was certain the girl wasn’t a flight risk, or worse. When he did finally make his way over, she sat completely still, not taking her eyes off where his fingers grazed hers as the handcuffs unlocked.

A breath of relief escaped her as she rubbed her wrists with the opposite hands, eventually feeling the blood fully return to all 10 fingers.

“Thank you.” It was so vulnerable and raw that it knocked Spencer back for a second. They locked eyes, and something deeper than he was ready for passed between them.

He didn’t know what it was, all he knew was that he hated it so much that he tore his eyes away immediately to return back to his original spot seated across from her.

“Answer me this-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there.” Neither of them spoke for far too much time, and Spencer was growing more annoyed by the second.

“What?” It came out harsh, and mean, and downright cruel, but he couldn’t care less.

“Oh nothing, I just wasn’t going to answer anything. I really just wanted to fix my hair.” And, in being true to her words this time, she secured her hair into a messy bun using the elastic Spencer didn’t even realize was missing from his wrist.

“I’m putting the cuffs back on.”

“No wait,” she pleaded, halting Spencer’s move to get up. “They really did hurt, I wasn’t lying about that.”

“I don’t care.” He made his way over, forcefully grabbing both of her wrists before securing the handcuffs back on. Spencer only regretted his actions slightly when she winced at the metal now back to pressing into her skin.

“Yes you do. It’s your biggest flaw.” Instead of answering, Spencer just returned to his seat, leaning back with crossed arms. He didn’t need to listen to a psychopath tell him his flaws.

“You care too much,” she continued, not minding if he was listening or not. “It gets you hurt, other people hurt. I wish that wasn’t the case. You deserve better, Doc.”

Spencer didn’t engage, opting to gawk tiredly at the suspect, and watch the way her eyes flicker across his features, gauging for a reaction. She wasn’t done.

“Hey, okay, fine. I’m just messing with you,” she laughed, finally breaking her serious facade. “What? A girl can’t joke around while she’s being accused of murder?”

“Accused? Or caught?”

“Accused.” It was final, her tone immediately dropping to a fiery rage. Her defenses were up, and Spencer was never really good at playing on the offensive team.

This time, it was Spencer’s turn to analyze, watching the way the blood rushed to her cheeks with her rising anger level. How all of a sudden her eyes lost their playful glint, giving him the chance to fully see the soul buried deep in them. For a split second, she was completely unveiled right before his eyes.

Spencer, clearly not anticipating just how long the girl in front of him could hold her own, used his last bullet.

He placed the crime scene photos in front of her.

“You know who did this.” It wasn’t a question, he saw it in her eyes. Spencer watched the way they remained stoic even after looking at the bloody walls, and vacant eyes of the deceased.

“No.” Oh, how the tables have turned.

“Who are you protecting?” Her head shot up at his question, eyes flashing red before she blinked it away again. Subconsciously, she started to pick at her fingernails.

“No one.” It was a lie if he’s ever heard one.

Fear:

“You’re lying. Who is it?”

“I’m not lying.” She wouldn’t even make eye contact with him. Instead, she gave her undivided attention to her shaky hands confined to the table.

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Enough! Who are you protecting?!” At this, Spencer stood up and slammed his hands against the table with a strong amount of force that she flinched hard enough to further irritate her wrists.

He felt awful, the bouncing back and forth between them should have given him enough indicators that she wasn’t lying out of spite. But he couldn’t back down, he had her cornered and her only way out was to tell the truth.

“No one.” She wouldn’t look at him, even as she whispered. “Please stop.”

Spencer truly believed that he had her in a bind, an inescapable one at that, but it wasn’t the truth. Oh no, what the profiler failed to realize was she had him where she needed him.

“I have no information to give you,” she whispered before tagging along. “I’m sorry.” It was the first time she apologized for something Spencer could have seen as an inconvenience.

He believed her, too.

“I shouldn’t have yelled.” That was his form of an apology. Spencer wasn’t going to go any further with it, even if she was coerced into lying by whoever the true unsub is, she was still getting on his nerves.

Her hands were still shaking at this point, and she wouldn’t meet his eyes. Spencer just slumped back into his seat, settling into the silence between them until ultimately he was either called out of the room, or she gave him another indication that her game hasn’t ended.

A loud sigh bounced off the walls. “I don’t care that you yelled in my face. You think it’s the first time a man’s done that? You’re not special, Doctor.”

“I never said I was.” So the game carries on, but this time, she didn’t smile at his sarcastic response. Leaning back in her chair, she huffed a breath before continuing.

“You really want to be though, don't you?”

Lust:

She was pushing his buttons, trying so hard to dig under his skin till she was unremovable. She wanted Spencer to leave this room with her on his mind for the rest of his days.

She was close too.

“No, I don’t,” Spencer deadpanned, trying to keep a cool tone. If he continued to hand her the ammunition she needed, he would be left defenseless.

“Oh come on, loosen up. I was just joking.” A smirk grew across her features, a thought crossing her eyes. One Spencer knew would not be in favor of his win tonight. “I could help you with that, you know.”

“No, I don’t know.” He did. Spencer wasn’t going to lie to himself and say that the woman sitting across the table wasn’t extremely attractive; she was. He just would never admit it aloud.

“I have a feeling you like to get rough, don’t you, Doctor?” She asked, sitting up and crossing her legs. The stare shared between the two of them was a mix between passion and anger, meeting in the middle to create a new kind of emotion.

“Is this fun for you?” She left out bait, and Spencer was stupid enough to fall for it. Emily once said that a pretty face slashed his IQ in half.

He couldn’t help but agree.

“Undo these cuffs, and I’ll show you what fun is.” She was toying with him now, and they weren’t going to get anywhere, but Spencer couldn’t find it within himself to get up and leave. She had him by the...

“I’m going to get that confession.” It was like he was five years old again, arguing on the playground with the older kids about how their insults didn’t make sense.

“What’re you going to do, punish me?” She asked, the last words in a hushed whisper. When Spencer’s cheeks grew hotter, and his eyes darker, she knew she had him.

“You do like to get rough! My, my, Doctor, you're keeping me at the edge of my seat here.” She let out a boisterous laugh before really digging the knife deeper. “Is that why you kept the cuffs on?”

Before he could snap back, the door flew open and Emily stood there with a tablet in her hand. “You need to see this.”

Spencer got up to leave, thankful for the reprieve even if he did have to return to the interrogation after speaking with Emily. He almost made it to the door before a voice called out behind him.

“Wait!” She called after him, the cuffs rattled when she instinctively went to reach for Spencer. “Aren’t you going to answer my question, Doctor.”

Playing chess his whole life, Spencer had never once played a game where Checkmate presented itself unexpectedly. He was always at least three moves ahead in his mind, seeing the inevitable end before he even began his gameplay. There was a first for everything, because his last move suddenly arose.

“No.”

_____

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itsthemoofacewriting · 3 years

Text

It’s heaven in your arms

Well, this is just a clusterfuck of emotions. Let me lead you down the path of grief and mourning only for it to end with a bed sharing trope.

I have no idea if there are even people that like the original trio together romantically, but I was really vibing, so hopefully I can convince some of my regular readers to take the plunge.

If any of my ZoNami readers are here, I’m doing the requests you all sent in – I swear!

I’m not sure what to expect from posting this, so I’ll say this once pre-emptively: if this isn’t your cup of tea, you know where the door is, please leave quietly.

Summary: It may have been two years since Ace’s death but, for Luffy, sometimes it still felt like just yesterday. Or, sometimes, something beautiful can blossom from a place of hurt. Rating: T

You can also find this on AO3 and FFN.

Nami awoke, eyes burning from lack of sleep and mouth dry. It was still dark outside, and she grumbled to herself at waking up so early, but it was no use. She wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep until she had a glass of water. She swung her feet off the bed, clumsily trying to find her slippers before getting up. It was warm outside, so she didn’t bother with anything other than her pyjama top and shorts.

As annoying as it was to be awake so early, it was peaceful. It was a quick shuffle across the deck and into the kitchen, where she filled her glass hastily, already thinking about getting back into bed.

That last thing she expected when leaving the kitchen was the sight of Luffy sitting on the railing, facing the ocean with his feet kicking over the edge. Reckless as always it seemed.

“If you fell, no one would be around to save you,” She lectured.

His shoulders hunched; she’d surprised him it seemed, but he didn’t react as she’d expected. There was no carefree laughter or beaming grin as he told her not to be a worry wart. Instead, she received a muffled, “You’re up.”

Without looking at his face she didn’t know how to take that but his whole attitude was off, and it had alarm bells going off in her head. The comfort of her bed a distant memory now as she walked over to the railing to join him and settled her glass of water beside herself.

The words on the tip of her tongue vanished into the night air when she finally caught sight of his face. His eyes were red and puffy, his face pale despite his constant tan and drawn. It was an expression she’d never seen on his face. He looked defeated.

He looked tired.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He shook his head, just as she’d expected him too and uttered out a quiet, “No.”

“That’s okay, but I’m going to sit here,” she told him. He could sit in silence if that was what he wanted, but she wouldn’t leave him, that wasn’t an option.

She took his hand in hers because whilst he may not want to speak, he’d always been a tactile person and she couldn’t just sit here and not do anything when there were tears still running down his face.

They sat in silence, only the sound of the waves hitting the ship could be heard with their thighs pressed snuggly against the others and his hand clasped in hers, a thumb absently roaming over the skin of his wrist. His tears had resided for the time being, only the stray one falling every now.

She felt like she was sitting with a deer, trying not to spook it because it felt like any wrong move would have him scampering away.

Well, that was until he pried his hand from hers and she was going to say something until his head feel heavily against her shoulder and an arm wrapped around her body. That was all she needed to let herself relax, no longer worried about scaring him away as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders to pull him closer.

It was another long moment of them sitting like that until he whispered in her shoulder, “It hurts.”

“What hurts?”

He was silent but the tears were back as she felt them soaking into her pyjama top.

“I had a bad dream.”

“Yeah? What about?” She encouraged softly.

“About him.” His voice cracked as he said it and his shoulders shook.

There was only one him she knew of.

“It played in a loop, and I couldn’t do anything.”

Although she was being fed the information in dribs and drabs, it wasn’t hard to piece it together. She waited for him to continue but the long pause told her he wasn’t going to.

She thought about what she’d want in that moment, if their roles were reversed, what she’d want from the other person sat with her, so she settled on, “I only met him briefly, tell me more about him. What was it like growing up with him?”

He was quiet and for a moment she didn’t think he was going to respond, that maybe that wasn’t what he wanted at all.

“He hated me when we were younger,” he said wetly, fighting through tears to talk. “I caused trouble, couldn’t fight and cried a lot. He called me cry baby all the time.”

“He didn’t when we met him in Alabasta though.” She remembered how he’d looked at Luffy, eyes full of adoration and voice warm as he asked the crew to look after Luffy for him.

He huffed out a laugh at her words, such a stark contrast to his normal boisterous laugh.

He told her everything. How Ace had gone from despising him to accepting him as a brother along with his other brother, Sabo, how they’d caused trouble together and had the best times together. How he’d made Luffy’s childhood a happy one.

It made her ache. Because as he talked, selfishly she thought about her own sister. How devasted she’d be to lose her, someone that felt like her other half since before she could remember, knew her better than anyone else, who she could talk to about anything. It was hard to explain a sibling relationship to someone without one, there was a different feeling to, you felt it in your core.

Mostly, she thought about how hollow she’d feel.

It felt like an unspoken rule that siblings were for life. You knew that parents were older and that they’d pass at some point in your life, but not your sibling. It felt like they were meant to be with you for life, that you’d grow old together and have each other’s backs no matter what to the very end.

She supposed that was part of the grief.

Although she didn’t know the ins and outs, even now Luffy was edging around his dream and what’d happened back then, she knew the key details - how Ace had jumped in front of him to save him. How Ace had died before his eyes. Even if she suspected there was more to that moment than what she knew, it was traumatic enough.

Another tangled chain to unwrap from the knotted ball of necklaces that was grief.

Ultimately, she didn’t need to know what the dream was about or what’d happened back then, because the picture she had in her mind was vivid enough and she knew how he felt. Watching someone slip away before your eyes, helpless as you watched them go and wishing you’d done something different.

Her heart bled for him as he spoke, words blurring into his tears, she could feel her own eyes prickling as sadness overflowed.

Hands clumsily wiped at her face and belatedly she realised Luffy had stopped talking. “I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he said.

Without thinking, she wiped his face in return. “It’s okay, I’m glad I get to share this with you.”

She cupped his face and she meant it as a soothing gesture, yet it seemed to have the opposite effect. Watching his face crumple before her eyes was so much worse than how she’d imagined it when his face had been buried in her shoulder. He was so expressive all the time that she shouldn’t really be surprised, his lips quivered and those big eyes scrunched as he tried to hold back his tears.

“I know I still have so much, and I should focus on that…”

“But that doesn’t make that little part feel any better?”

“Yeah.”

“I know. It’s not going to either.” He nodded glumly at her words, staying silent and she suspected it was because he couldn’t form words. “You love him. That’s not going to disappear no matter what happens.”

She continued because she needed to say it, to let him know this was okay before she the moment passed, and he locked this all away to deal with another night. “You’re allowed to mourn him, you’re allowed to feel sad without feeling guilty, but when it overwhelms you, tell one of us, okay?” She paused, thinking over her words, before adding, “And even when it doesn’t overwhelm you and you just want company, come find us.”

“Okay.” He sounded choked up, more so than before.

She brought him back into a firm hug, running her hands up and down his back, letting her words sink in and giving him a chance to speak or cry more if he wanted to.

His next words told her they were done for the time being.

“I don’t want to go back to sleep,” he said.

She didn’t have to ask why. She still woke up sometimes in the middle of the night, tears in her eyes as she relived all different versions of Bell-mère’s death, each worse than the last. She knew that he feared having to relive his worst nightmare over again or catching even a whisp of his brother behind closed eyelids, taunting him over the fact that that would be the only way he’d ever be able to see him again.

“I don’t either,” she lied smoothly, “We could raid the fridge-” Sanji would understand- “or I could show you a new card trick or we could go draw on Zoro’s face. He’s probably up in the crow’s nest and he sleeps like a log.”

Luffy grinned, it didn’t reach his eyes like it normally did but that was okay, it was an improvement on the solemn expression from before. “Usopp just bought new markers!”

They both turned at the sound of heavy footsteps and the very person they’d been planning to mess with was stood only a few steps away.

“Why do you two look guilty?” He looked suspiciously at them both.

Neither of them answered, but she saw the moment Zoro noticed Luffy’s face and took in his red, puffy eyes and worn expression. His demeanour changed instantly, he looked serious, and he didn’t say anything more as he joined them on the railing, pressing up to Luffy’s vacant side and taking his other free hand into his- he could probably feel that it was wet from Luffy’s tears.

The ocean lapped silently against the ship and whatever plans her and Luffy had made seemed to be put on hold as he stayed sat on the railing, but that was fine with her, she was happy to sit there with him in silent support.

“It should’ve been me,” Luffy finally spoke, voice sure but only a whisper.

Those were heavy words, she imagined how often that thought circled around in his head and how hard it must have been to finally say it out loud.

“That’s stupid,” Zoro said.

“Zoro,” she hissed. For his blunt words and because Luffy looked on the verge of tears, it made her heart crumble all over again.

“Ace loved you a lot and he didn’t do it for you to think that; he wouldn’t want that. It was his choice and he made it and he’d do it a hundred times over.”

He made a good point, she knew that, but a tough love speech felt too soon.

“Zoro’s not stupid all the time,” Luffy defended weakly, smile wobbly.

Maybe not.

“Oi.”

Nami shook her head, smiling slightly at their antics. “Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. Shall we agree it’s a 10% smart and 90% stupid?”

Zoro tried to look miffed, although it was betrayed by the smirk tugging at his lips. He knew what she was doing, trying to lighten Luffy’s spirits, so he let it slide.

“Well, we can’t draw on Zoro’s face now-” Zoro glowered at her- “but if you want an extra challenge, we could get Usopp or Sanji.” They were light sleepers; she knew he’d be up for the challenge.

Luffy smiled, nodding tiredly and stifled a yawn that had her and Zoro sharing a quick look between them.

“You can sleep with me if you want,” Zoro offered nonchalantly and Luffy perked up at that.

She should leave them to get on with it. They’d made their arrangements already and in the back of her mind, she knew she should, but Luffy’d told her so much, it felt callous to just palm him off. And maybe, somewhere deep down she didn’t like the thought of being left out. Maybe.

The words were out before she’d properly thought them through.

“You can both sleep in my bed.”

“Like a sleepover!” Luffy said and his eyes brightened, a shimmer of what normally resided there returning.

“It’s a one-time offer and no one tells Sanji!” Nami warned even though Luffy looked considerably lighter and Zoro was smirking at her. She didn’t doubt Zoro would store that away to use against Sanji later, but she’d deal with that then. And if he decided to blab, she’d then have the perfect opportunity to charge him, and he wouldn’t be able to say a thing.

The walk to her room was quiet, only the sounds of their shoes thumping against the deck with every step, getting louder and louder as they got closer to her room. She wondered if she’d regret this. What if she’d made it awkward? She should’ve just let Zoro and Luffy bunk together.

Opening the door felt heavy, like something awful would be waiting for her on the other side. Instead, there was just a dark, muted room to greet her and the awkwardness she felt doubled to the point she wondered if the other two felt it too. She wasn’t sure if she was thankful or not that Robin was still asleep, facing away from them.

All those thoughts were put to rest as Zoro and Luffy moved past her, seemingly more than comfortable with this arrangement than her. Zoro shucked off his boots and settled against the far side of the bed so his back faced the wall and Luffy kicked off his flip flops, his hat already sat safely on her bedside unit.

“Absolutely not,” Nami whispered fiercely, hands on hips and they both peered up at her quizzically. “I’m not sleeping on the edge only to wake up on the floor. Zoro, swap.”

“What, so I can wake up on the floor instead?”

“You can sleep anywhere!”

Luffy had snickered at their bickering, watching them go back and forth until he seemingly grew bored of that and stretched his arm out to wrap around her waist. As his arm snapped back, he dragged her with it, she collided with the both of them in her bed. Like a true rubber man, Luffy looked unbothered although she was fairly sure she’d kicked him, but Zoro wheezed behind her as she’d winded him with her elbow.

“That hurt!” Nami moaned.

“Think before you do that!” Zoro grouchily whispered.

“There we go, now we’re all cosy.” He ignored them both, nestling down into the bed as his arm reached across Nami to rest over onto Zoro.

“Luffy!” She squawked, rosy faced. “Move over! You have all that space!”

This was not what she’d had in mind when she’d invited them… into her bed. Although she didn’t have a massive bed, she’d thought they’d at least try to keep their distance, she hadn’t expected this. Luffy was so close she could feel his breath on her face and his hair brushed against her forehead, no doubt mingling in with her own strands. She could feel Zoro spooned behind her, his own arm outstretched across them both and she was only now just considering how appropriate her pyjama shorts were. Which was ridiculous, it was only those two.

All of this didn’t feel right, they were there for Luffy, he should be the one in the middle not her. He should be the one squashed between them, safe and warm and feeling supported, not her. Yet one look at his face put all of that to rest. You could still tell he’d been crying; the puffiness would take a few hours to go down, but he looked relaxed, the tormented and weight in his expression gone.

He looked content.

And that was enough right now for her brain to shut off, thoughts pushed to the back for another day, and have her burying into the warmth from the two bodies next to her with the knowledge that everything would be okay for now.

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This was meant to be a one-shot, but it’s now a two parter at no one’s request. I’m writing/editing the second chapter right now; it’s on its way.

I used to ship LuNami hard when I was younger, but I think I’ve lost my ability to write them romantically nowadays… unless you throw in Zoro and then it’s back on apparently.

I write and edit all my pieces by myself, so if there’s any errors, please excuse them.

Thanks for reading.

#zoluna #Luffy/Zoro/Nami #LuffyxZoroxNami #LuNami #ZoNami #zolu #opwriting #opfanfic #One Piece #Luffy #Zoro #Nami

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ssadumba55 · 3 years

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Keep the Door Open! (Mike Wheeler X Fem! Reader)

Request: could u do a image we’re maybe her mom is Joyce Byers she heading to work and then she catches them in a heated make out session(she dating mike wheeler). Then she make Jonathan keep a eye on them while she goes to work then when she come back she talk to them. Sorry it that a lot to ask for.

So maybe, in retrospect, having your boyfriend over and making out with him in your bedroom without your mom knowing had been a bad idea. It wasn’t your idea, though, at least not originally. It had been Mike’s and when Mike had an idea, there was no getting him off of it. He could be really stubborn when he wanted to be. His stubbornness had always been a trait you adored and admired in him.

But now all that trait had gotten you was a one-way ticket to being babysat by your older brother.

Jonathan clearly did not want to be put on babysitting duty anymore than you wanted him to babysit you and Mike, but he’d had no choice. As soon as your mom had found you and Mike like that it had been game over. There was no turning back.

Your brother pretended like he didn’t know why he was there; he didn’t even scold you for it. There was no point. You both knew you’d get an earful from your mother later for it. Mike apologized profusely throughout the afternoon, but you waved him off each time. This wasn’t entirely his fault anyway, if you hadn’t agreed to it, maybe you wouldn’t be in this situation. The two of you spent most of the afternoon creating new D&D characters for a campaign Dustin was planning instead.

Your other brother, Will, was out with Lucas and Dustin. You wished you and Mike had decided to join them after all, but it was too late now. The hours ticked by slowly. Then, in the late afternoon, Joyce Byers returned home from her shift at the store. Jonathan immediately jumped to hi feet, muttering an excuse about how he needed to go see Nancy Wheeler for something and scampering out the door before anyone could demand he stay.

“You know we need to have a talk, right?” Your mother asked as she began putting the groceries away. Mike stood up from where the two of you had been sitting on the floor.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Byers. That will never happen again. It was my idea, we got really into it and sometimes I get a little carried away when I have ideas even if they’re stupid, you know? Like this one-time Dustin, Lucas and I wanted to- Ow!” He let out a yelp as you elbowed him, glaring at you and rubbing his arm.

“You’re not in trouble, I think we just need to set some boundaries for the house.” Your mom held out her hands. At those words, the tension in your shoulders immediately eased up. Boundaries were something you could live with, punishment not so much. You were thankful she wasn’t angry or anything with you.

“Boundaries?” Mike asked, looking between the two of you uneasily. He clearly wasn’t used to strict rules like that being set in place. You wondered briefly if it was because he was a boy, you were sure Nancy definitely had a stricter set of boundaries than Jonathan.

“She means we can’t be in my bedroom, alone with the door shut anymore. And we can’t do what we did earlier.” You felt your face heat up slightly. There was nothing quite as embarrassing as having your mom walk in on you and your boyfriend making out on your bed. Especially when she hadn’t even known said boyfriend was, in fact, your boyfriend.

You would never forget that moment, you shuddered inwardly.

“And if the two of you are home than me or Jonathan must be here as well, I trust you both but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.” Your mother added and you nodded. There was nothing unreasonable about this, as much as you hated to admit it. Your mother was a practical woman, she wasn’t stupid. She was raising three kids; she knew her stuff when it came to this.

You and Mike nodded, both looking down at your feet. You wondered if Mike was feeling as embarrassed as you were.

“Y- You won’t tell my mom, will you Ms. Byers?” Mike scratched the back of his neck. You shuddered at the thought of Mrs. Wheeler giving you and Mike this same talk. As nice as she was, you suspected that it would be a lot more awkward than this one.

“Of course not, but don’t let me catch you doing this again, okay?”

You both nodded and as soon as she dismissed you, hurried to clean your D&D stuff from the floor in the family room. Neither of you spoke as you carried the stuff back to your bedroom. Mike kneeled to push the papers into their proper spot.

“That could’ve been worse.” Mike finally said, breaking the silence and you laughed.

“You should’ve seen her talk with Jonathan and Nancy. Will and I could hear the whole thing from the other side of the house. I’m pretty sure all of Hawkins could hear her.” You grinned and Mike grinned back.

Nothing could work parents up quite as much as young love, that was just the way life worked. But you couldn’t help but feel somewhat grateful you lucked out and got such an amazing mom. At least she hadn’t banned you from seeing Mike ever again, although part of you suspected maybe she wanted to. At least she still has Will, you thought as you and Mike climbed back onto the bed to lay together.

“Keep the door open!” She yelled a reminder and Mike laughed.

“Sorry about her.”

“Don’t be.”

#stranger things imagines #mike wheeler x reader #mike wheeler imagine #jonathan byers #joyce byers #will byers

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teshamerkel · 3 years

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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 20] (24 Pages)

<< First | < Previous | Next >

Nia finally gets to talk with Xander, and Team Scarlet prepares for their trip to Ghatha.

The morning after their training session with Val, Nia and Tobias head to the guildmaster’s quarters. Verene must be out on some kind of business, because August answers the door instead of the mantis. The giant, leafy gorilla greets them warmly, inviting them in and settling himself back into his chair. From the parchment scattered across his desk, it seems he was busy filling out forms.

“What can I do for you two?” He asks, deep voice a pleasant rumble.

“W-Well, uh.” Nia glances nervously at Tobias, and the charmander urges her on with a wave of his hand. “You know that we’re leaving for Ghatha tomorrow, right?”

August nods. “Yes. Tobias notified me of your trip a while ago. Have your plans changed?”

“Oh! No, w-we, uh, talked to Andyn and Ezra yesterday—from Team Evergreen? They said they heard something from a traveling Pokémon about some…tension. Between Pokémon and former humans. A fight or something? They said they told Verene, but we were wondering if you’d heard anything about it?”

“Basically, should we worry about getting jumped since Nia’s human?” Tobias summarizes, crossing his arms and giving August a serious stare.

August’s warm, friendly expression slowly falls as Nia speaks. At Tobias’ question, he heaves a sigh. “I see. Yes, Verene informed me of Team Evergreen’s report. I wish I could say that it was only a rumor, but I’m afraid some of the mail carriers have confirmed it.”

Nia’s stomach sinks, and she shoots Tobias a worried look.

“So there are actual fights happening between Pokémon and humans?” Tobias asks, frowning.

August makes a troubled sound and runs a hand through his leafy mane. “Only one notable argument so far, at least that I know of. It happened far from here, on the other edge of the continent. Nothing serious, but enough to catch attention.”

“D-Did they say why the fight broke out?” Nia asks. She can’t imagine why Pokémon would get so upset by someone claiming to be human—it’s not like the humans tried to bring themselves to this world. And why would someone in her position be so mad at the Pokémon? So far everyone has been incredibly kind to her.

“The reports are vague and scattered,” August hedges. “Apparently each side claims that the other started it, and they were just acting in self-defense. I suspect there is more to it than that, but only those who were there could clear it up.”

Nia furrows her brow. “And this is completely new? I-In all of the years that humans have been appearing here, there hasn’t ever been a serious fight like this?”

“Not caused by the origins of the Pokemon involved, no. At least not that I’m aware of. There have been a few disagreements, I’m sure, but this is the first I’ve heard of them escalating into a serious physical altercation.”

There’s a beat of quiet, and then Tobias speaks up again. “So what does this mean for us? Is it something we need to watch out for or not?”

August brings a hand to his chin, looking thoughtfully between the two of them. “If I were to guess, I would say this is an isolated incident that will soon pass. Don’t worry too much about secrecy on your trip, but perhaps be cautious about openly discussing your human past unless you’re sure of your safety, Nia. Lie if you feel you have to.”

Nia’s head snaps up. What? Sure, she’s a Pokémon for now, and in this situation it makes sense, but...not admitting her past almost feels like denying it even happened. Like it wasn’t even real.

“That’s not exactly practical when the whole reason we’re going to Ghatha is for a human meet-up,” Tobias points out. Nia latches onto that more logical reasoning.

“I-I’m sure we’ll be fine!” She pipes up. “We’ll be careful, and I won’t go shouting it from the rooftops or anything!”

Nia knows she sounds a little shrill, but she tries to ignore the feeling of Tobias’ eyes burning into her. August stares at her for a few moments with something like concern, then finally sighs. “It’s unlikely you two will run into any trouble. Just be prepared in case you do.”

Nia nods, trying on a shaky smile.

August waves them out. “Unless you have other matters to discuss with me, go on. I’m sure you have a lot to prepare before you leave tomorrow. Have a safe trip.”

Nia and Tobias say their thanks, turning to leave. As soon as the heavy doors are closed behind them and they start making their way down the staircase, Tobias speaks up.

“So what was with your little freak-out in there?”

Nia swallows hard past the lump in her throat. “I...I don’t want to have to lie about being human.”

“Why?” Tobias asks, sounding genuinely baffled.

Nia isn’t sure how to articulate why she’s so upset with the idea. Finally, she settles on saying, “Because if I lie about it then it feels like I’m saying it didn’t happen. That I wasn’t ever actually human. But I was. I am.”

Tobias doesn’t answer this time, probably hearing the distress in her voice, and Nia is grateful for it. They make their way down the tree in silence, passing a few Pokémon on the way back to their room on the medical floor. Nia tries to calm down along the way.

It’s fine. So there were a few disagreements half a world away. It was bound to happen eventually. That’s not going to scare her into hiding that she used to be a human—that she is human still, on the inside. It’s an important part of who she is, after all. She won’t go out of her way to bring it up, but she won’t deny it either if someone calls her out on it.

Nia’s so wrapped up in her thoughts that she walks right past their floor. Tobias calls her back with a roll of his eyes and Nia follows him with an embarrassed smile. When the two of them reach the doorway to Maggie’s quarters, Nia is surprised to see a familiar crew of fluffy black and blue Pokémon in the room. Xander, and all three of his little siblings. The lion cubs—shinxes?— are happily chasing each other around the space, weaving between Maggie’s legs and leaping over Xander’s flicking tail as they play tag, squealing.

Laine is the first one to notice Nia and Tobias, and skids to a stop to shout, “They’re here!”

Luca stops to look too, and Leor slams into him with an “Oof!” The two go tumbling into a lump of fluffy shinx fur.

Xander and Maggie were talking, but both look over at the kids’ ruckus. Xander’s eyes skim past Tobias and land on Nia, staying there. His expression drops into something serious, ears flicking back in an uncharacteristic nervous gesture, and Nia swallows. They haven’t talked since the other day, when Nia told the luxio his aura color and he completely shut down. She can’t help feeling a bit apprehensive about him suddenly showing up now.

“H-Hi?” She manages.

The shinx triplets race up to them, all three excitedly talking at once. They hop and circle around her and Tobias, and Nia smiles despite herself.

“Slow down, furballs, we can’t understand a word you’re saying,” Tobias says, voice edging on a laugh.

Even now, Nia is still surprised to see an openly happy grin on the charmander’s face. He shuffles into the room and flops back onto the floor. Immediately, the kids swarm him, shrieking with joy and talking a mile a minute as they climb on top of him and bury him in blue-and-black fluff. Nia smothers her laughter as she watches.

Xander pads over to her side, eyes trained on Tobias and his siblings. His brow is furrowed in an unreadable expression, but Nia would almost say he looks...puzzled. After a moment of silence between them, he finally looks at her. “Hey. Would you, uh. Have time to talk?”

Neither of them have to say what about. Nia hesitantly nods, desperately wanting to clear the air between them but nervous about the conversation ahead.

“Great. We’ll be back in a few,” Xander says, louder, directing his voice to his siblings. “Be good, all right?”

“Yeah, yeah!” Luca says, pausing in his clambering to stick his tongue out at his older brother.

Xander sighs, and Nia barks out a laugh. Then, the luxio turns and heads out of the room, flicking his tail in a beckoning gesture. Nia follows.

There’s a moment of heavy silence, before Xander glances at Nia over his shoulder. “Your scarf looks nice.”

It’s an awkward start to the conversation at best, but Nia feels herself relax a bit, eyes trailing down to where her red attack scarf is tied around her bicep. She’d already forgotten that she had it on. True to his word, Tobias had helped her with it this morning, only grumbling to himself a little as he did so. Honestly, she suspects that he was more embarrassed by their close proximity than actually irritated about having to help her with tying it. He’s funny like that.

“Thanks,” Nia says, voice soft. Then, not wanting to drown in silence again before they reach wherever the luxio is leading them, she adds, “Your siblings are adorable, by the way. I don’t know if I ever told you that.”

Xander snorts. “Adorable little pawfuls are what they are. Especially Luca. Every time I visit them, Arlo has to fill me in on what trouble he’s gotten into in the last 24 hours. He usually drags his more well-behaved siblings down with him.”

Nia shrugs, biting back a laugh. “He’s a kid. Trouble is what they do.”

“I suppose,” Xander grumbles. Then, his gaze grows thoughtful. “You know, the kids have been telling me for years about how fun Tobias is to play with, and I never understood why they’d say that, with...well, how he is. But seeing how he was with them back there...”

Nia smiles, feeling an unfamiliar surge of pride for her partner. “Pretty different, right?”

“Completely,” Xander admits. He still looks shell-shocked as he glances at her. “Is he like that around you?”

Nia’s expression falls a bit. “He talks to me, but he’s not exactly like...that, no. I’ve only ever seen him that open around kids. I know he’s really fond of your siblings.”

Xander frowns, looking forward again as he leads them down another corridor. “I‘ve always worried about that. I was afraid he was being mean to them, or teaching them how to cause more trouble than they already do. But any time I visited the nursery, Arlo always insisted that Tobias was a good influence.”

Nia looks at Xander’s face, and sees the conflicting emotions there.

“He’s one of the only Pokémon in the guild with a good opinion of your partner, you know,” Xander adds. “Arlo, that is. It makes sense now, since he’s one of the only Pokémon to ever see Tobias like...well, like that.”

Nia takes a moment to gather her thoughts, tracing her fingers along the wooden walls of the hallway they’re walking down. Lattice-like windows are woven here and there out of the twisting bark, and Nia admires the bright flashes of green and blue that she catches as they walk. They pass through patches of warm sunlight, standing in sharp contrast to the otherwise cool, dim lighting of the hall.

“Tobias isn’t a bad Pokemon,” Nia eventually says, voice quieter than she’d like. She thinks of the charmander and how he’s been the past week, how he endures her constant questions about the Pokemon world and how he’s actually talking to her now. “I know a lot of people at the guild seem to think he is, but really, he’s...he’s trying. And he’s already a lot nicer to me than he was when I first met him!”

Nia knows her voice is a bit uncertain, knows that was a pathetically weak defense of her partner. But it’s hard to defend someone who started out treating her so badly, especially when she really admires and likes being friends with Xander. She doesn’t want to drive him away by disagreeing with him.

After a few moments, Xander makes a quiet, thoughtful noise. “I suppose I can’t really argue with you about that. Other than Pokemon like Maggie and Arlo and Fen, you’re the one who knows him best.”

Nia stops in her tracks, the casual truth of that statement slamming into her. She always feels like she hardly knows Tobias, but Xander’s right. Nia’s only been here for…what? Three weeks? And already she knows the charmander better than almost anyone else in the guild.

Could anyone else name his favorite berry? Or his favorite color? Could anyone else recognize when he’s biting back a laugh or notice that he rubs his scarf between his fingers when he’s nervous? She only knows the simple things about him, the surface-level tidbits, but at least it’s something. The two of them may not be that close, but it’s still a stark contrast to how distant Tobias is to everyone else.

Or how distant they are to him.

The riolu frowns, meeting Xander’s eyes where he’s stopped a few feet ahead, looking back. “Has...Has anyone ever actually tried to be Tobias’ friend?”

The luxio’s ears flick, and when he speaks again, he sounds frustrated. “When he first came here, sure. But all he did was pick fights and snarl at us to leave him alone. So eventually we did.”

Maggie’s words flash through Nia’s head, about the state she’d found the young charmander in when they met. Scared and hurt and completely alone. He was just a child, and it sounded like he’d just lost every shred of normalcy in his life. Of course he didn’t want to push aside all of that turmoil and make new friends at the guild. He was upset.

“Did you even think about why he was brought here?” Nia asks, surprising herself with the heat in her tone. “Why he was so angry all the time? He—“

Nia abruptly remembers that this is not her story to tell, and she snaps her mouth shut. She looks down at her hands, now curled into fists. She lets out a shaky breath. She shouldn’t be angry with Xander. This was years ago. And it’s understandable that he wouldn’t want to be friends with someone who clearly hated his company. Xander didn’t know about Tobias’ past. He still doesn’t.

Besides, if she’s being honest, then the only reason Tobias is as neutral towards her as he is is because he has to be. She threatened to end their partnership if he didn’t at least try to be nice. Nia feels a sudden and unexpected pang of guilt. She’d told Tobias she wasn’t blackmailing him, but...she kind of is, isn’t she? She’d felt so justified at the time when offering him her ultimatum, but Xander probably felt justified too in avoiding the temperamental charmander when they were younger. And yet here she is getting mad at the luxio, like she’s any better than him. If she grew up here, was a Pokémon all her life, she might have ignored and avoided Tobias the same way. She probably would have in this life if circumstances hadn’t brought her to live in the same space as him and Maggie.

She feels like an awful person, all of a sudden.

Nia takes a deep breath, trying to pack the remaining anger into her chest, and lets it out with a heavy exhale. It helps a little. Xander doesn’t say anything, and when Nia looks up, the luxio is watching her with an unreadable expression. His tail is flicking, claws out and kneading into the wooden floor, and for a heartbeat Nia thinks she sees that red aura of his trying to act out, sees the burst of emotion he smothers under a carefully calm expression.

Then, he sighs, and all of that explosive, contained energy seems to leave him. He casts a quick glance over his shoulder before sitting down. “This isn’t where I was going to tell you, but it’ll have to do.”

“What?”

“The reason I...shut down. A few days ago. I wanted to apologize and explain. You’re...what you said about Tobias. It reminded me of what I wanted to talk to you about in the first place.”

Xander waits, not gesturing her closer in any way but clearly hoping she’ll agree to talk. Nia doesn’t really feel like sitting down and hashing out their feelings anymore, still feeling oddly protective of her partner, but she steps closer and slides down the wall to sit with her knees tucked up to her chest.

When Xander realizes she isn’t going to speak first, he sighs. “First, I wanted to say I’m sorry. For just going quiet like that, and not explaining anything to you. And I’m sorry too for being less than...encouraging. About your choice in partner.”

Nia blinks at Xander, not expecting him to jump in so quickly.

“I’m really not fond of Tobias,” he continues, sitting down and curling his tail over his paws. “But my siblings love him, and he’s your partner. I should try to be more...open. To accepting that maybe he is actually improving. Or at least that he can. How he acted in the past wasn’t right and I stand by that, but…maybe there was at least a reason for how he behaved.”

Nia stares at Xander’s earnest expression, immediately wanting to forget her brief stint of anger towards him. After all, him and his teammates are some of her closest friends here in the Pokemon world, alongside Andyn’s team.

The riolu forces herself to relax her tense posture. “I-It’s fine. Sorry for getting so upset with you. Just...give him a chance? Please? I know it’s hard, but…”

Xander’s tail twitches where it’s curled around his paws, but he nods. “I’ll try to be more open to the idea.”

Nia smiles, relieved. “Thank you. And I wasn’t mad about you not explaining things the other day. Just worried that I did something wrong.”

“And that makes me feel even worse,” Xander mumbles, some self-deprecating humor in his tone. Then, his expression sobers into something serious. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure?”

“Have you ever wondered why my siblings are here at the guild with me? Why they aren’t being raised in an actual home instead of in the daycare?”

Nia’s blinks, caught off-guard by the question. “I...No, I haven’t really thought about it. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m glad you haven’t.” The luxio is clearly lost in memories, gaze going distant. “I’d rather Pokémon not know where we came from. It’s better for the cubs to be guild kids than to grow up with...“

Xander trails off, then shakes his head, meeting Nia’s eyes. “To keep a very long story short, we didn’t come from the greatest home. Our mother was...not a good parent. I just kind of took it when I was her only target, but that changed when the cubs were born. As soon as they could walk, I got us out of there. Ended up finding the guild and never looked back.”

Nia stares at Xander with wide eyes. “How old were you?”

“About twelve or thirteen. Old enough to realize that she wasn’t going to treat the kids better than she had me. Probably worse. I could defend myself a bit at the end since I was a luxio, but I knew the kids didn’t have a chance. They...they were just so tiny. I had nightmares for weeks that she was going to hurt one of them.”

“I’m so sorry,” Nia says, quietly. She’s trying to keep the horror out of her voice, but she knows it’s still there on her face. She doesn’t remember her family in detail, but she remembers how she feels towards them, the emotional connection that’s still there, even worlds apart. Everything in her recoils at the thought of any real fear between them.

Xander shakes his head, the faintest of smiles on his face. “It’s fine, Nia. Really. We found refuge here at the guild with August, and it’s been years since then. I’m doing much better now. It’s just...” Xander hesitates. “I always think I’m over it. Over her. But then something happens and I...”

Nia isn’t sure what to say in the silence that follows. Eventually, Xander speaks up again, voice rough.

“When I think of her, I always think of how explosive she was. Her temper, her mood swings, how strong her emotions were. It didn’t even matter if she was happy or sad—every reaction was just...devastating. If it wasn’t a forest fire, it was a flood. So when you told me about my own aura—“

Nia’s stomach drops as she sees where this is going, recalling her own description of Xander’s aura. Passionate. Intense.

“I’ve never felt someone’s emotions as strongly as I did yours.”

Before her panic can spill out in a rush of apologies, Xander holds up a paw.

“Don’t apologize. It’s fine. I gave you permission to read my aura and didn’t stop to think about what it might say about me. That was my fault.”

“But—“

“I’m fine, Nia. Really. Avery already talked me down. Just because I’m like my mother in some ways doesn’t mean I am my mother.”

Nia lets out a breath of relief, thanking God for the kirlia’s cool head and seemingly infinite wisdom. “Right. F-From what I can tell, I don’t think a person’s aura really takes into account like...how they choose to act. Even if you’re a really emotional person, clearly you keep a handle on your feelings so you don’t lash out at others or anything. I mean, you’re one of the calmest people I’ve ever met!”

Xander huffs a laugh. “Handling my emotions is a skill I’ve been working on with Avery for a long time. Glad to hear it’s paying off.”

They’re quiet for a moment, and then Xander shakes his head. “Maybe that’s why I’ve had such a hard time giving Tobias a chance. He’s just so...angry and aggressive. Unrestrained. I’ve spent so long trying to learn how to control myself and he’s just...”

Nia frowns, absently smoothing her hands down the sleek fur of her legs. Xander isn’t...wrong. Tobias doesn’t really bother with filtering his thoughts to avoid hurting others’ feelings, aside from her. And that’s just because he has to, per their deal to stay a team.

“Tobias is a bit rough around the edges,” Nia admits. “But he’s had my back whenever I really needed him, even from the start.”

Her gaze flicks to her arm, to where her bite marks lie hidden under her scarf. He’d bandaged her up after that fight and helped her back to her bed. Made sure she was fit enough to fight before having them train again. And even when they first met, before she even had a name, he didn’t ditch her in the dungeon she’d dragged them into.

“I trust him,” she says. “W-We’re not friends, not really, but I know I can rely on him to do his best and to make sure I’m not left behind.”

Xander doesn’t necessarily look pleased by those words, but he nods. He seems thoughtful, if nothing else. “You’re hoping you’ll be friends, one day,” he guesses.

Nia winces, peeking up at him. “You think it’s a lost cause?”

“Do you?”

“No.” The answer comes immediately, before she can even think about it. Nia thinks she’s more surprised by her answer than Xander is.

The luxio smiles. “Well, there you go. You know him better than I do, so if you don’t think it’s hopeless then you’re probably right.”

Nia looks down, brow furrowed. Even if she still feels like she hardly knows Tobias at all, she does want to get to know him better. She wants to be more than just his Seekers partner--she wants to be his friend, too.

A soft weight drops onto Nia’s head, and then Xander’s got her trapped in something like a headlock, giving her the noogie of a lifetime. Nia shrieks a laugh, struggling to shove the luxio away.

When she finally succeeds, Xander smiles down at her. “You looked a little lost in your head. Thought I’d help you find your way back.”

Nia’s still reigning in her giggles, smoothing the mussed fur on top of her head and shooting him a playful glare. “Jeez, no wonder Luca likes causing you trouble!”

Xander usually seems more like a parent to his siblings than an actual big brother, but Nia can see that part of him shine through on occasion. In some weird way, even his interactions with her are starting to feel almost brotherly.

Brother.

Nia stills, feeling her chest suddenly ache at the word. Longing and grief for someone she doesn’t remember rips painfully through her lungs. She chokes on her breath.

“Nia?” Xander asks, sounding a thousand miles away.

But Nia’s drowning in the emotion of lost memories, feeling tears well up in her eyes, flooding her vision in a messy watercolor mosaic. Brother. Did she—does she have one of those? She must, to feel this aching loss. To feel it carving its way through her body from the inside out.

She has a brother. She doesn’t remember him, but she misses him so so much.

Nia doesn’t even realize she’s crying until Xander pulls her into a hug, foreleg around her back and pressing her close. She buries her face in his chest and tries to stifle her sobs. Xander’s warm and soft and solid, and he smells like hay and something like ozone. It’s weirdly comforting. Distantly, she notes that there’s a very slight tingle on her face, where her tears press into his fur—his electricity causing static?

The riolu tries to bury her sorrow, tries to calm down from this overwhelming, unexpected wave of anguish, but it takes longer than she would like. After a few minutes of sniffling, she manages to calm herself down and box up the emotions to deal with later. When she lifts her head from Xander’s chest, the luxio leans back to look at her, concern tightening his expression.

“Sorry,” she rasps, rubbing the last of the tears from her eyes. “You just...reminded me of someone, suddenly. From the human world. It c-caught me off guard.”

Xander offers a tentative smile, looking like he’s not quite sure how to respond. “It’s fine.”

The riolu smiles back. It’s watery and pathetic, she’s sure, but it’s there. She gently pushes away from Xander’s hold. It feels colder without him sheltering her from her own emotions.

“C’mon,” Nia says. “They’ll be wondering where we are.”

Xander hesitates. “You sure you’re okay to go back? If you need to talk about it we can—"

Nia cuts him off with a shake of her head. “I’ll be o-okay, Xander. Thanks.”

The luxio still looks unsure, but he nods and follows Nia as she sets off down the hallway. When the two of them make it back to Maggie’s quarters, Tobias and the shinx kids are crowded around an array of herbs on the ground. Luca is leaning over the charmander’s shoulder to look, and the other two are glued to his sides.

“Ooh! What’s this one do?” Laine asks, pointing with a tiny paw to a purple flower.

“Helps fight infection,” Tobias responds. “You mash it up and put it on a wound under the bandages.”

“It’s awful pretty,” Leor says quietly. “I dunno if I’d want to hurt it.”

Luca’s ears twitch, and he looks up at Nia and Xander, face breaking into a smile. “Nia, did Xander say he was sorry?”

Tobias and the other cubs look up, and Nia giggles. So the kids were in on this? “Yeah, he did.”

“Good!” Laine says, puffing out her chest in a proud sort of way. “He was all mopey, and Av’ry said it was ‘cause Xander hurt your feelings, so we made him come apologize!”

Tobias had been looking at Nia’s puffy eyes, but at that news he moves his focus to Xander, a devious grin putting all his sharp teeth on display. “Really? The kids had to get you to come apologize? That’s pathetic.”

Nia bites back another laugh and glances at Xander. The luxio is clearly mortified, ears pinned back as he shoots the shinx cubs an embarrassed glare. “Hey, kids? I love you, but shut up.”

The kids burst into peals of laughter. Tobias just looks smug about seeing Xander so off-kilter for once. The luxio sighs, accepting his fate, and bends his head to give his chest fur a few rushed licks. Does he do that when he’s embarrassed? That’s adorable!

“Sounds like I missed all the fun while I was out!”

Nia turns towards Maggie’s voice in the doorway. The meganium looks unbearably fond of the good mood spilling from the room, a small pile of documents held in her vines. She carefully steps into the room between the smaller Pokémon, making her way over to her desk. “Did Tobias teach you kids anything while I was out?”

“Yeah!” Luca jumps up from his seat. “He’s been telling us about medicine, and how to do all kinds of cool stuff!”

“We even learned how to wrap bandages!” Leor adds, starry-eyed.

“A little too well,” Tobias says. “You looked like a trio of tangela.”

Laine nods, looking proud. “Toby said we’re basically doctors now!”

Maggie gives the charmander an amused look, and he shrugs. “Sarcasm isn’t their strong point.”

The cubs don’t catch that comment, already back to chattering with each other about what duties each of them will handle in their medical office. Poor Leor seems to be taking the worst jobs without much complaint.

“It’s nice to see them dreaming about something other than becoming Seekers,” Xander says softly. “It’s a dangerous job, and even if they decide to follow that path, I want them to know that there are other options.”

Nia frowns at that. Her and Tobias are only E-rank, and already she thinks she’s going to have lasting scars from that outlaw fight. She can only imagine how difficult it’s going to be farther down the road.

She looks over to where Tobias is answering the cubs’ questions about the different jobs of medicinal Pokémon. The shinx cubs are still so little—she can hardly imagine any of them going out into a dungeon. She doesn’t want to.

“But they won’t have to choose for a while yet, right?”

Xander nods. “They have plenty of time to decide.”

They’re quiet for a few moments, and then Xander stands. “Well, kids, let’s get going. I’m sure Tobias has other things to do.”

The three cubs let out an overdramatic “Aww!” in unison. Xander looks unimpressed. Tobias snorts.

“I’ll come visit as soon as we‘re back from Ghatha,” the charmander promises.

Xander‘s ears swivel forward with interest as he looks to Nia. “You’re going to Ghatha?”

“O-Oh! Yeah, I guess I hadn’t gotten to telling you with, uh. Everything else. We’re leaving tomorrow. Should be back in a couple of days.”

The luxio hums. “Well, have fun and be careful. You won’t be in our little community anymore.”

Tobias rolls his eyes. “Duh. We’re not idiots.”

“Yeah! Toby’s really smart!” Luca cuts in. “He knows medicine stuff and Seeker stuff!”

Xander gives his little brother a dry look. “All right, smart guy, c’mon. We’ll visit the training floor before I take you three back to Arlo.”

The cubs seem disappointed, but obediently press against Tobias one at a time in an armless hug, mumbling, “Bye, Toby.”

The charmander gives each of them a short squeeze before releasing them. “If you mope, the coaches in the training area will make you run laps,” he warns.

Laine perks up. “Really?!”

Luca bounces on his paws. “Ooh! That sounds awesome! We’d be like real Seekers getting trained!”

Leor’s the only one to not look thrilled at the thought, shifting his stocky little body. “Uh. I don’t wanna run laps, though.”

“No one’s running laps,” Xander says, patiently corralling the cubs with his tail. He smiles gratefully at Maggie. “Sorry for dropping in so suddenly.”

“It’s fine, dear! I love the company. It’s quiet here nowadays without Tobias and Nia around as often.”

Tobias winces. Nia tries to catch his eye, concerned (is he still worried about leaving Maggie on her own for medicinal duties?), but Xander turns to her before she can.

“Thanks again,” the luxio says. “If you two need anything before you go, let me know.”

And Nia knows he means it, too. She smiles warmly at him. “Will do, Xander. Thanks.”

Then, to her surprise, the luxio turns to Tobias. “Thanks for, uh, for watching the cubs, Tobias.”

The charmander looks just as shocked as she feels for a second. Then he hurries to hide it, scoffing as he starts to collect the herbs strewn across the floor. “Whatever. I didn’t do it for you.”

The cubs look confused about the tension between their brother and their favorite charmander. Xander, however, doesn’t seem offended. He just narrows his eyes, looking thoughtful, before nodding and turning to leave. “Come on, kids.”

The shinx cubs hurry towards the hall, waving their tails as they call out their goodbyes over their shoulders. “Bye Toby! Bye Maggie! Bye Nia!”

Nia waves back as she watches them leave. Then, she kneels by Tobias to help him gather the scattered herbs.

“Such good kids,” Maggie comments when they’re gone. “A lively bunch, too.”

Tobias snorts. “That’s one way to put it.”

“You love it,” Nia teases, daring to give him a grin.

Tobias gives her a halfhearted glare in return and blows a puff of smoke in her face. She yelps and falls back onto her butt, laughing and waving the smoke away. “Not fair!”

Tobias doesn’t answer, but he’s smirking as he collects the rest of the herbs. While he places the herbs back in their rightful spots in Maggie’s storage, Nia goes to their bag. She plops down to rummage through it and double-check that they have everything packed for tomorrow.

“Ready for your trip?” Maggie asks.

“I think so! Tobias took the lead in shopping since I, uh, had no idea what we’d need.”

The meganium sets aside her forms and steps over to peer curiously into their satchel. “You have food? Healing items?”

Tobias joins them, rolling his eyes. “Yes and yes. We’re good.”

“Maybe you two should’ve had Vera make you some coats before you left. What if it’s cold in Ghatha?” Maggie frets.

Nia laughs. “We’ll be fine, Maggie! Really. Don’t worry.”

The meganium still looks concerned, and Nia is intensely glad that they had elected not to tell her the news about a human-Pokemon conflict popping up. She’d be a nervous wreck if she knew.

“And you know the way to the flying outpost?” Maggie asks.

“It’s like an hour’s walk from here, Mags, you can see it from the tree. Chill,” Tobias says.

Nia’s ears prick up. “Really? You can see it from here?”

“Up on the mail floor, yeah.”

“Oh! That reminds me,” Nia leans back to look at Maggie. “How do you send mail to other Pokémon?”

“I’ve never had to, so I told her to ask you,” Tobias adds, pulling the bag into his lap to dig through it himself.

The meganium blinks. “Mail?”

“Yeah! I wanted to, um, send a letter to Hazel? In Afon’s Cap. I told her I’d keep in contact, but I uh. Don’t know how.”

Maggie’s confusion clears. “Oh! Yes, of course. Don’t worry, it’s simple. You just need to write the details of who it’s from and who it’s to. Name, species, location, those kinds of things. Then send it off with one of the mail-mon.”

“That’s a lot like how we do it in the human world, actually,” Nia says. “Huh. They’ll be able to find Hazel with just that?”

Maggie nods. “Mail-mon tend to handle specifically assigned areas, from what I understand. So anyone who delivers to that area should be able to find her!”

Nia straightens up, beaming. “Thank you! That’s a relief. I think I’ll wait until after we get back from Ghatha to write her. W-Would you, uh, mind helping me write it?”

The meganium laughs, no doubt remembering the riolu’s last attempt at writing in the Pokémon language. It was a wobbly disaster. “Of course, dear.”

“Okay, so here’s your money,” Tobias interrupts. He tosses a small sack of coins to Nia, and it lands with a muffled clink at her feet. “I’ve got mine, too—“ he pats another small pouch at his side. “And then we still have a bit of team money left over after shopping today.” He pulls out another small sack and places it on the floor.

As Maggie returns to her desk, Nia tilts her head and opens her pouch, slowly counting through the coins there. It takes longer than she’d like with the strange currency, but she thinks it’s around 700 poke. Which sounds like a lot? But she isn’t really sure. She knows that even in the lower ranks, Seeker jobs pay pretty well, and they haven’t really bought much since they started out as a team, but...

“H-How much do we have left in the team pouch?” She asks. They usually put half of their money found from jobs and dungeons into that stash, and then split the other half between them for their own personal funds.

Tobias frowns, glancing over the coins again. “Maybe around 800 poke?”

Nia hums. “That doesn’t sound too bad. How much does flying cost?”

“Not sure. Probably around 500 poke for a trip all the way to Ghatha, but we get a huge discount since we’re Seekers. So maybe like 300? 400?”

“Oh.” Nia nibbles at her lip, thinking hard. “W-Will we have enough for the trip? Like to eat and stay somewhere for a couple of days?”

Tobias brings a hand to his chin in thought. “We should be fine as long as we don’t go overboard. We’ll have to eat cheap.”

Nia nods, way too excited about the trip and Tobias’ good mood to even consider being disappointed by a lack of fancy food. She doubts she would have anyways. “That’s fine by me!”

“It’s still warm enough that we could camp out too, if we have to,” Tobias adds in a mumble, talking more to himself than Nia.

She grins. “I don’t even care! I’m just so excited to be going. I’m gonna meet more humans, Tobias!”

The charmander gives her a look, but it’s more of a tired sort of exasperation than anything. “You don’t say?”

Nia laughs again. “It’s just...even if we don’t have a way to go back home yet, it’s so nice to have someone who understands what you’re going through. Hazel was amazing, but she’s kind of already made her life here, y’know?”

Tobias shrugs. “I guess. I don’t really get it, but I’m also not a human.”

Nia ties her money bag closed and drops it into their satchel, shooting her partner a warm smile. “I’m just...really happy. Thanks again for agreeing to go with me, Tobias. I appreciate it.”

Right on cue, the charmander rolls his eyes, focusing on organizing their items as his cheeks flush. So easily embarrassed. “Yeah, yeah. Remember, we’re gonna ask about the outlaw trio too while we’re there.”

“Of course!”

“Are you sure you two have enough poke?” Maggie asks worriedly, looking over at them from her desk. “I can give you a little extra just in case—“

“Nope,” Tobias objects, tone final. “We’re good, Mags. Keep your money.”

“Thank you, though!” Nia adds.

Maggie frowns, looking concerned. “Okay...if you do end up needing anything, remember I’m just a short letter away. Call on me right away if you need me.”

“Yup!” Nia springs to her feet and stretches, skipping over to Maggie’s side to look at what the older woman is working on. Documentation of her herb stores?

“You’re gonna be like this the whole way there, aren’t you?” Tobias drawls, walking over to Maggie’s other side to peek at her work as well.

It takes Nia a moment to realize he’s speaking to her. “Like what?”

The charmander raises a brow, gaze flicking down to her legs then back up to her face. Nia realizes she’s bouncing in place, tail wagging. She forces herself to a stop. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Maggie laughs, looking down at the riolu. “You certainly do seem excited.”

“I am! I have no idea how I’m going to sleep tonight. I wish it was tomorrow already!”

Tobias snorts and points out a tiny mistake on the meganium’s form, which she dutifully fixes. “Just don’t keep me awake.”

Nia agrees and resumes bouncing on her toes. Dawn can’t come soon enough.

#pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #shinx #charmander #pmd seekers of soul #tesha draws #tesha writes

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multimetaverse · 3 years

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HSMTMTS 2x06 Review

Yes, And was a messy ep that brings us to the halfway point of the season. Let’s dig in!

Tonight took some big steps towards the Rini breakup. The conflict isn’t quite earned as they did too much too quickly in making Ricky overbearing; to go from Ricky supporting Nini going to YAC and them singing love songs to each other just 3 eps ago to Ricky now accusing Nini of changing because she didn’t get pineapple on her pizza just doesn’t work. Largely that’s because it’s clear that the writers are working backwards from an outline that requires Rini to be broken up before the finale.

The Rose song is great and Olivia’s vocals are wonderful as always but again it’s not quite earned. The lyrics make it seem like Nini thinks Ricky is holding her on a pedestal and holding her back when that’s not what we’ve seen on screen. Ricky and Nini went through a lot as they were finding their way back to each other and they learned not to see each other through rose coloured glasses and while Ricky was sad that Nini went to YAC he was supportive and respected her wishes, notably the only time he admitted how much he wanted Nini to come back to Salt Lake was after Nini had already made up her mind to return.

Rini was always going to break up both because writers struggle with writing happy or stable couples and because Tim became enamoured of Rina after writing 1x05 and will want to explore them at some point. Tim’s claimed that he has future seasons all planned out but I’m skeptical that he’s really thought out how to keep Ricky and Nini and Gina on goodish terms with each other for the remaining 2 seasons of the show while also not completely closing the door on the Rini endgame the show’s been aiming towards since the pilot.

It’s clear that Ricky has unresolved issues from his mom effectively abandoning him which are impairing all his relationships. And while it’s true he could try calling Lynne it’s the parents job to reach out and she is obviously fine living her life without Ricky. Not sure how much closure we can get with Lynne when she comes back in 2x09 but I hope we at least get an apology on her part.

Yet another ep of Gina going through it. That flashback to Gina tearfully telling Ricky that she wouldn’t have ‘’given up on us’’ if she hadn’t moved certainly paints Ricky’s behaviour this season in a worse light. I do hope the show doesn’t take the cowards way out and have Ricky being too stupid to realize that Gina had romantic feelings for him. Though again we run into the problem that these emotions aren’t fitting the story. There really wasn’t an ‘us’ for Gina to fight for, she and Ricky had only been hanging from 1x05-1x08 and never actually dated or went on dates. Also by this point Gina should be questioning her feelings for Ricky and whether he’s worth it; it’s not like he’s done anything nice for her this season like getting her chocolates for Valentine’s Day.

Still Gina did make some strides tonight. She finally opened up to Ashlyn which seems to have lifted a weight off of her shoulders and makes the decision to stay in Salt Lake. She also brushes off Ricky wanting to be improv partners which leads to her accepting EJ’s offer which led to a sweet callback to them being wonderstudies. I’m glad she’s not going to Louisiana but it does mean we were robbed of a HSMTMTS/Secrets of Sulphur Springs crossover.

Kourtney and Howie are finally together. I’m glad they didn’t waste time dragging this out. Kourtney’s confession was very in character and I liked the earlier hufflepuff dragging. As an aside I wonder if say 10 years in the future, shows will still be making light hearted unqualified references to Harry Potter or will J.K. Terfling have completely destroyed the goodwill the series has by then.

Lily continues to act as if she’s in Glee working for Sue Sylvester to take down the One Directions and honestly I’m here for it. I especially liked that she stole some of the condiments on her way out of Salt Lake Slices. Antoine seems alright, the espionage bit was funny. Seems like Salt Lake City would be a pretty shitty place for a French student to study.

EJ remains underused especially since this is his last semester as a student. His Gaston answer was surprisingly thoughtful and hinted at him getting over Nini with Gina as he sat down next to her. His may I have this exercise was just the right amount of smooth and goofy.

Ashlyn had a good ep, she killed Home, Julia has a great voice. And she stood her ground with Gina but was also there for her and managed to help her decide to stay. Loved her line that she was still part Caswell.

Mike Bowen is sweet, thoughtful, and rocking that beard? Must have been hard for Miss. Jenn to let him go but ultimately she made the right decision as it would just be too messy to date the parent of one of your students.

Lots of funny little moments this ep; the camera panning to the exit sign during Gina’s confessional, the group chat with Miss. Jenn and the real group chat without her, Seb hula-hooping with wild abandon.

Looking Ahead:

Well we’re now at the official halfway mark of the season. It’s been an uneven first half, lots of pacing issues, and clear signs of the covid pandemic impacting production. Disney + has announced that future seasons of Disney + originals will be released on Wednesdays from now on so we have that to look forward to for S3 and S4.

Carlos uploading the Rose song will inevitably lead to disaster. Nini is very right to tell Kourtney not to let Ricky know, the lyrics paint him in a very bad light. The song gives us more context for why Lily said to Ricky that his gf needed some space in the trailer. I suspect Lily will end up being the party crasher that Ricky re-evaluates in 2x12, I don’t think Tim is going to keep Lily as a one dimensional antagonist this entire season.

Ricky said in 2x01 that he’s never breaking up with Nini again and I think that’s true because Nini will break up with him. I think it comes before 2x12, maybe them exploring an old haunt in 2x08 is where it happens though the description for 2x11 also sounds like it could be hinting at a Rini breakup.

Well we now know what one of the secrets rising between Gina and Nini will be in 2x10, Nini was already jealous of Gina and Ricky in S1 and I doubt she’ll enjoy hearing that Gina confessed to Ricky in 1x10. Since Gina has already confessed to Ricky it makes it less likely that her speaking her truth in 2x12 is related to her and Ricky.

EJ and Gina doing the morning announcements starts next ep, that should be fun. Especially since Mazzara is aware of EJ’s feelings for Gina. There’s a pretty clear path to end the season with Portwell or at least set it up for S3. EJ already likes Gina, the announcements help bring them closer, Gina starts getting over Ricky and realizes that EJ puts her first, maybe Mazzara helps one or both of them at the cast party, and Gina shares her truth and confesses to EJ. So far the show hasn’t done anything it can’t pull back from but sooner or later the writing will have to commit one way or the other. One thing I’ll say is that it’s already clear that making EJ a senior was a big mistake and I expect it to cause a lot more problems for the show in the remaining two seasons.

There’s also a path for Ricky and Gina to get together but that seems less likely given the clear mess Ricky is right now. Seeing his mom in 2x09 probably helps a bit but it’s hard to see how any relationship Ricky gets into won’t swiftly crash and burn. There’s also the matter of when exactly Rini break up, if it’s too late in the season then there wouldn’t be time to jump right into Rina. There’s also the matter of the unexpected facetime call he gets in 2x10 and the party crasher he re-evaluates in 2x12. Even if they’re not linked it does suggest there will be some curveballs in Ricky’s story and at least the party crasher info suggests there’s some non Rini or Rina related twist being planned for Ricky in 2x12.

Until next week Wildcats

#HSMTMTS #Rini #Rina #Portwell #Ricky Bowen #Gina Porter #Nini Salazar-Roberts #EJ Caswell #HSMTMTS Reviews

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