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pillow-anime-talk · 3 years

Text

his talented baby. {pt.1}

synopsis: You as a person with a huge (and hidden) talent, and also a girl who really surprises your boyfriend.

# tags: scenarios; current relationships; romance; fluff; some PDA; sfw

includes: female reader ft. ken kaneki & nishiki nishio {tokyo ghoul} + yuuma isogai & itona horibe {assclass}

— KEN (ft. singing)

Your closest friends invited you to a popular karaoke bar on one Friday night to celebrate a successfully passed semester in college. Of course, you couldn’t forget about your lovely boyfriend, who was at the same university, but in a different field (i.e. Japanese literature) and always supported you with all his might, knowing how much you want to do your dream job in the future.

So you went to the meeting together, and on the way to the designated place you talked all the time about what the next year of study would bring you. As soon as you reached the room where your three closest besties and one male friend were waiting for you, you both greeted them warmly, immediately taking off your thick coats and taking your seats on a soft, leather couch next to a table filled with tasty-looking snacks and colorful drinks.

Long minutes of conversations between the six of you resulted in drunk plenty of alcohol and blushes on the faces. After drinking, you always got more talkative and more self-confident, so you suggested using the TV and the karaoke machine. Of course, you first offered your friends and Ken to sing something, but they all declined, saying that you should start as an initiator. One of the girls, blonde-haired Minami, smiled at you with a sparkle in her pretty golden eyes, adding that you are the best in this and you should show how to do it correctly. You chuckled in response, waving your hand at her to dismiss compliment.

Kaneki, on the other hand, frowned as he looked at the boy who was sitting on his right.

“... Oh, you don’t know? Y/N-san hasn’t yet praised herself to you that she has a wonderful voice? Huh, huh.” The black-haired boy shook his head, reaching for the glass filled with blue something again. “Hmmm, well. Normally Y/N’s very shy, but she always sings at trips when she’s drunk.” He chuckled while you picked one of your favorite songs in the meantime. So everyone looked at your standing figure, then heard the characteristic sounds from one of Selena Gomez’s songs coming from the gray speakers.

“My dear, I dedicate it to you~!” You looked with joy on your face towards the eighteen-year-old, giving him a quick wink, and then you started your little performance with ‘Love you like a love song’ from the above-mentioned artist.

Your friends didn’t seem surprised and instead started clapping to the beat of the music... but Ken’s eyes widened and he spat out his high-percentage drink, not knowing how to react to the fact that for nine, long months of your relationship, you concealed the fact that you could sing so well and so beautifully. Your voice was perfect for the song that was playing now, and you seemed to be having a great time – there was a huge smile on your lips, your eyelids were slightly closed and your hand was over your heart. If it weren’t for the fact that you were at a karaoke bar, everyone would definitely think you are playing a concert on the biggest stage in Tokyo city.

After the song was over, another girl got up to present a completely different choice, and you handed her the dark microphone, bowing in the process.

Kaneki still seemed speechless and as soon as you sat down next to him, he immediately kissed you on the warm forehead, asking you to sing more to him, especially when you two are going to be alone, because he probably fell in love with you once again and just wanted to experience that love every day thereafter.

— NISHIKI (ft. ballet)

Nishiki, as a pharmacy student, didn’t have much time for extra-curricular activities or unnecessary meetings; in addition, the fact that he was a bloodthirsty ghoul and had to watch over himself made it difficult for him to function normally in the life of Kamii University. However, the brown-haired man always found time for you, for his beloved girlfriend.

You had been dating for over three, long years, and the man definitely couldn’t imagine his own life without you by his side. You knew each other better than anyone else in this world, but sometimes some tiny things of your ordinary day eluded Nishio; of course you understood it perfectly and you weren’t angry or disappointed with him. After all, he had to protect himself, you, take care of his specific menu, be vigilant at every step, and additionally he had to pretend to be the perfect student, senpai (or kouhai) and friend of other people.

So you weren’t surprised when one day you handed him a silverish ticket for probably the most important show of your life and he just looked at you in wonderment. At the beginning, the twenty-year-old asked if it was a performance related to singing or playing an instrument due to the fact that the colorful paper didn’t tell him too much, but you just smirked as you tweaked the unruly, soft hair on his head.

“Hmm. If you don’t remember what I do in my free time, it’s even better, I guess. Come and see it for yourself, honey. I think that thanks to this you will even calm down a little and rest due to the recent weeks.” You announced in a light tone of voice, and the young man sighed under his breath.

“So... I’ll find out in three days, am I right?” He made sure by correcting his glasses and you nodded, then grabbing his rough hand and kissing his cool cheek. A short while later you suggested going to your apartment and catching up on a few episodes of your favorite series that you started quite recently.

The anticipation of your important day passed very quickly and on Saturday, at 6 p.m., when everyone took their seats (with your boyfriend sitting on one of the balconies with the best view of the stage), delicate music was played in the theater, which made everyone shiver on the whole body. Until then, the brown-eyed boy somewhere in the back of his head had the impression that it was a theater performance or an opera, but when he saw your person appear on stage in a beautifully tailored dress and ballet shoes, all the questions that flickered in his mind disappeared in literally one second.

‘Well, yeah. I remember now. She always told me about ballet classes and new shoes.’ A huge, proud smirk came on his pale face and you glanced out of the corner of your eye towards his VIP seat.

Though your expression was cold and composed, you felt an enormous heat in your small heart as the man waved at you, showing two thumbs up. His lips moved even slightly, and although Nishiki tried to hide it, you knew perfectly well that the pink blush and mute ‘I love you’ was sincere and even better than being able to play Odetta, the White Swan, in a ballet spectacle.

— YUUMA (ft. songwriting and guitar playing)

Christmas at school was never what you enjoyed; maybe due to the fact that before, your classmates on main campus were quite specific and you definitely didn’t fit with their strange ‘ideals’. It was only in the class E that you felt that you could find real friends or people who would share your ideas.

But, hmm. Still, you seemed to stand out from the rest of the girls in the class who had more... down-to-earth hobbies or characters than you; Okuda liked chemistry and was really excellent at it, Kirara loved reading, Rio was the best at English and had a great sense of fashion, and Toka was pretty good at cooking. Contrary to them, you preferred to... do more ‘intimate’ things. Writing short poems filled your heart with peace and prevented you from being as critical of yourself as usual. And when you wrote the lyrics of the songs, made notes or melodies to them and sang quietly, you could feel like a real artist that everyone wanted to admire and imitate.

Therefore, when your first and last class holidays with the rest of the 3-E students were fast approaching, Koro-sensei was the one who asked you for a short talk. You weren’t sure what this was about, but moments later your uncertainties were dispelled.

“Y/N-san, I think you mistook your notebooks today and instead of giving me your homework, you gave to me... this.” He said in his as always happy voice, and seeing the black notebook in which you always wrote songs and notes, you blushed all over your face, apologizing profusely for the mistake. “Huh? But this is no mistake, my dear. If it weren’t for this, I would never even think that we have such a talented soul in Class 3-E. So would you like to perform in front of the rest of the students and teachers during the holidays?” The easy question made you widen your eyes and sighed.

“I-I’ve never played in front of anyone, so...” You admitted shyly, and the tall, yellow octopus just chuckled.

“I’m pretty sure they will love it. We can practice together.”

Well, you couldn’t refuse (especially when Koro-sensei offered to bring your favorite, foreign snacks...) and on class Christmas day you showed up with your acoustic guitar and a notebook full of chords and songs. Everyone was surprised and curious at how well you play guitar. After all, you’ve never even mentioned that you can play any instrument before. On the other hand, the class representative, and your boyfriend at the same time, immediately came up to you, asking if you were really okay; better than anyone else, Isogai knew that you didn’t like too much attention and big crowds. But you reassured him it was okay and promised your teacher you would do it, so you smiled at him and then took your seat under the blackboard with a wooden guitar on your lap.

The song you chose for the day was a song you wrote quite recently. It had a little bit of magic, and at the same moment it seemed very romantic and delicate. Even Karma seemed delighted with your beautiful play and soft voice that echoed from time to time between the walls of huge classroom.

At the end of the song, you decided to raise your gaze and simultaneously look at your all friends, three teachers and other half; everyone was really happy and positively speechless. So you gave Yuuma a slight wink, making him blush sweetly.

The young teenager definitely hoped you would show him more of your songs someday, not necessarily the happy Christmas carols Kaede and Ritsu asked for.

— ITONA (ft. dancing)

“... You never mentioned that you can dance.” He admitted softly, and you squeezed his smooth hand tighter.

“So... I mention it right now. It’s not a big deal, baby. I just ... like it and enjoy it a lot.” You giggled as you correcting the black sports bag over your shoulder, then opened the heavy door to the training room, immediately jumping up at the sound of loud squeals and greetings from your closest friends. “Guys, this is Itona Horibe, my boyfriend that I told to you before! Love, it’s Aki-chan, Yui-chan, Kazuya-kun, Saburo-kun, and our cameraman and editor Ryuu senpai. Most often, the five of us cooperate with each other when it comes to dance in groups of five people. And... today we are going to cover a song so I hope you’ll like it. I’ll go change and you all, please, don’t scare my boyfriend and give him something to drink!”

As a group leader, you often came up with choreographies and warm-ups for yourself and others. So, it couldn’t be otherwise this time. For the last week and a half you have been practicing the choreo you came up with and today you were supposed to record material for the video on your quite popular YouTube account. You were extremely excited, not only with the new content, but most of all with the fact that your beloved one would be able to watch it live and evaluate your skills that have been refined over the years. So as soon as you got back to the teens waiting for you, you kissed the light-blue-haired quickly on the right cheek and told him that he could sit against the wall, close to the table full of snacks and the contact for charging the phone.

Then you talked with everyone for a while, doing a short warm-up and reminding the cameraman about how to move the cam. A few short minutes later, you lined up in the middle of a huge white room with Ryuu in front of you. You knelt down in the center, of course, gently moving your shoulders to calm your rapidly pounding heart and heavy breathing, and when a song by Ariana Grande started playing all over the bright room, you all looked at the already activated camera, shaking your heads and then you got up from the wooden floor.

Itona... was speechless. He has never seen people dancing before, he has never even been interested in others, only you and what you like. Today he got to know your little passion, which turned out to be a breathtaking talent, and the boy wondered if you could do anything else; are you good at one specific dance genre or are you able to move your body in a completely different rhythm than he currently saw?

From Koro-sensei’s history lessons, when you two were in junior high, the eighteen-year-old remembered perfectly well that there is also classical dance, tango and breakdance. So could you also do that? He had to ask you about it later.

But now his curious gaze was focused on you and your huge, radiant smile, and the sound of feet hitting the ground. He also looked at your legs, tiny hands, stomach, and hair, while he wondered if he might learn to dance too, to be even closer to you and your hobby. After all, you looked so beautiful and so joyful... He wanted to share these emotions.

#— 🍁#tokyo ghoul #tokyo ghoul scenarios #tokyo ghoul x reader #kaneki ken #kaneki ken scenarios #kaneki ken x reader #nishio nishiki #nishio nishiki scenarios #nishio nishiki x reader #assassination classroom #assassination classroom scenarios #assassination classroom x reader #itona horibe #itona horibe scenarios #itona horibe x reader #yuuma isogai #yuuma isogai scenarios #yuuma isogai x reader

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felix21im · 3 years

Text

"Ice Cold", a Leon Kennedy x reader fanfiction

As an Art and Design student all you want to do is just knuckle down and finish that one goddamn piece you've been working on for months. Too bad your time is constantly stolen by your Waiter job with minimal pay, but hey, at least the tips are good if you unbutton your shirt that one more time.

Masterlist

Chapter 8: Alone

You woke up early the next morning. The sun shone through the big window next to your bed and warmed your skin. You slowly opened your eyes and looked over to Leon. His breathing was calm so you figured he was still sleeping. You made sure to get up quietly, making sure not to wake Leon up.

You went to the bathroom to have a quick shower and change into something nice to wear. Since the weather was good you chose a white polo shirt and some shorts. After brushing your teeth and styling your hair you went back to the bedroom and sat down on Leon‘s side. You brushed some hair out of his face and placed a kiss on his forehead. You felt him move and he slowly opened his eyes. “Good morning, Sleepy. I hope you don't mind me waking you up.” Leon covered his eyes with his arms to prevent the sun from shining in his face. He didn't answer you but instead grabbed your wrist and pulled you into his arms. You chuckled lightly as he hid his head in your chest, reminding you of a little kid. You two lay there for a few more minutes before you sat up again next to him. “Come on now, Leon. You wanted to go out to eat breakfast, right? So get up!” You turned around to see him lying on his stomach and hiding under the blanket. You shook your head and laughed as you began pushing him out of the bed until the thud of him falling on the floor was heard, followed by subtle laughter. Moments later Leon lay on the ground beside the bed looking as tired as ever. You were laughing too hard so you didn't even hear him standing up and grabbing a pillow from the bed. The next thing you felt was the soft cushion hitting your face, stopping your laughing. You looked at Leon surprised and opened your mouth to say something but before you had the chance to, another pillow was thrown into your direction. You stood up from the bed and grabbed the two pillows Leon threw at you before. Instead of throwing them at him though, you ran around the bed and started hitting Leon with them. Leon was able to take one of the pillows out of your hand and tried defending himself. At some point you two were laughing too hard and didn't have the strength to continue fighting anymore. You lay on the bed together, legs hanging from the side. You turned and looked at Leon who was now also looking at you. “I love you, Leon.” You said with a smile on your face without even thinking twice about it. Leon looked at you surprised before saying it back after a short moment. He kissed you on the cheek before finally standing up and going to the bathroom. You let out a deep sigh as he closed the door behind him and closed your eyes for a second. You then decided to clean up the mess the two of you created and put the pillows and blanket into the bed again. After you were done you grabbed your phone and fixed your hair again. You didn't have to wait long before Leon came out of the bathroom. He was wearing some dark jeans and a light blue button up. His hair was also looking as perfect as ever, no signs of the pillow fight from before. You grinned at him as you stood up.

“Ready to leave, Buttercup?” He asked as he grabbed his wallet and his fancy sunglasses. You nodded as you put on some sneakers and put your phone in your pocket.

You realized you didn't bring sunglasses so you looked at Leon and pointed at his pair. “You don't have another pair of sunglasses by any chance, do you?”

Leon let out a small laugh and shook his head. “You didn't bring your own? Give me a second, I think I actually have another pair.” He turned around and went over to his suitcase to look for them. A few minutes later he came back to you and handed you some fancy looking round sunglasses. You thanked him as you put them on and opened the door. You two left the room together and walked the long hallway to the front door.

As you left the building the morning sun was already hot and warmed your skin. You took a deep breath as you looked around the front yard.

Your face went back to Leon as you heard him unwrapping a piece of paper. As it turns out it was a map of the city, which made you laugh. “A map? Really Leon? You know we both have working phones, right? If you wanna go somewhere I can just look it up online.”

You went to grab your phone out of your pocket but Leon stopped you. “I want this day to be phone free. I just want to enjoy the time with you. And also using this map feels more like a vacation, don't you think?”

You let out a small laugh again as you nodded and put your phone back. “Alright, whatever you say, Mr. Kennedy.” Leon also smiled now and soon after began walking into one direction. You quickly followed and put your hand in his to keep up.

Leon led you through the streets and as the day started more and more people filled the streets around you. He ended up leading you to a small bakery and brought you to a small table outside. It felt like you had been walking for days when realistically it was only a few hours. “Perhaps some breakfast will help you walk a bit faster?” Leon chuckled as he poked at your slow walking pace.

You rolled your eyes as you sat down at one of the tables outside of the bakery. “Not all of us are superstar athletes, Leon.” He still continued his laugh as he sat down too. “Oooo! Pastries!” You got excited at the selection of foods available, back home it would always be quickly bought junk food as neither you nor your roommate had time to cook.

“You like pastry?” Leon looked up from the menu. “You could have just asked Angel if that's what you ever wanted, we would have bought it specifically for you.”

Your face went hot from the embarrassment. “Oh please no, I’m honestly so grateful when Angel cooks for me, I don't want her to think I’m taking advantage by ordering something specific…”

“How about I ask then?” He smirked as he then looked back down at the menu. “I think I'm going to go for the brioche and some coffee.” He announced as he then tucked his menu back to where he found it.

You smiled at him as you began to read out what you were struggling to pick from. "I’m not sure if I want to go with the pain au chocolat or the cornetto…”

“Well the first one is actually French so that depends on if you want to stick to italian foods or not, but personally…” He scratched the back of his head. “I think both.”

“Both?” You flurried your eyebrows. “I’m not that hungry Leon, a-and these are expensive! Twelve euros for a coffee?!” You whisper-shouted for the last part, sure they were extortionate prices but maybe it was worth it?

“Really, Buttercup? You do realise that money isn’t an issue, right?” He smirked.

“I just feel guilty spending your money, that’s all..”

“Trust me, Buttercup. I like seeing yo-”

“Buongiorno!” A small woman exited the front of the bakery with a notepad and a pen in her hand. “What can I get for the two of you?” She asked as she looked at Leon so he went first.

“Would I be able to get the brioche and a shot of espresso?” He asked politely as he gave her his million dollar smile.

“And for the compagno?” She asked as she wrote down Leon’s order.

Just as you were about to state your order Leon did it for you. “They’ll have both the pain au chocolat and the cornetto, with a moka coffee please.” Leon then turned his head to smile at you as you chuckled and smiled back. The waitress nodded her head and then went back into the bakery, preparing your food. “Now you get to try them both.”

“I have had them both before, you know…” You shook your head at him.

“Oh… Well now you get to try them… Italian style!” He smiled again as he dramatically waved his hands, emphasising the ‘Italian style.’ You simply rolled your eyes at him and smiled. The two of you waited quite a while for your food but it didn't annoy either of you as it simply meant that it was being made fresh for you, besides it also gave you time to look at the view of both the ocean and Leon. Considering you never left the US and you stayed landlocked you've never actually seen the ocean before, sure you saw big lakes and stuff but this was so much more intense. Not only was it humongous it was almost crystal clear. “How about we go snorkeling or something once I'm back?” Leon suggested.

“I would love that.” You nodded your head and just as you answered your waitress came over with your dishes and drinks. You simply squealed to yourself as your senses engulfed the food that sat before you, not even stopping to talk to Leon once. Eventually you looked up at him and you noticed he was simply smiling at you, lost in his thoughts as he watched you eat. “Leon?” You lightly waved at him and you raised your eyebrow.

He then snapped back to reality. “Sorry, just thinking about how at first you said you weren't very hungry.” He chuckled as he took a bite out of his own food.

“I guess pastries just do something to me?” You replied to him as you went back to eating your food. Leon simply took his time, he slowly drank his coffee and ate his bread as he looked at both you and the view on his left.

“Much different than the view at home. Here we get flowers, the ocean and beautiful trees, whereas at home we get a jungle… a concrete jungle..”

“How about in twenty years time when you retire, just move to Italy?” You joked at him in response to his little monologue about the different landscapes. “You can get a beautiful little villa on the mountain side that looks over the ocean, all you would need is three kids and a beautiful wife so that you can have the american, nuclear-family, dream.” You copied his hand gesture from earlier and chuckled.

“How would that be the american dream if i'm living in Italy?” He questioned as he placed his empty cup on the metal table.

“That was what stuck out to you about that entire bit?” You raised your eyebrow at him as you wiped your hands with your napkin. “Are you not going to eat your food?” You asked him as you looked down at his plate, him only being about halfway through.

“Sorry, sorry.” He picked up a piece. “I just wanted to take my time so we could be together longer. Just before we got here I got a text from Chris saying I had to meet him after we ate, thought I could drag it out as much as possible.” As he spoke he held out his free hand on the table, wanting you to place your hand in his. Obviously you accepted and he lightly squeezed it. You let him continue eating his food as the two of you sat in comfortable silence until the waitress came and collected the dirty dishes, replacing them with two new coffees for the two of you.

You took another sip from your mug as you noticed how Leon's eyes scanned the area and he seemed to be deep in his thoughts again. You put your mug on the table again and searched his eyes. He didn't notice you staring and only reacted when you mentioned his name. "Leon? You still there?" You snapped your fingers in front of him, making sure he was listening.

Leon turned his head and faced you. "Oh, sorry Buttercup. Did you say anything?"

You shook your head in response before talking again. "I'm worried about you, Leon. Even though we're here together, you seem so far away. Are you really okay?" You looked at him with puppy eyes and reached out to his hand. He just shook his head and looked away again. You sighed and felt hopeless. It was the first time Leon took you with him on a big mission, so of course you were worried. You always were when he was away, even though it wasn't the first time for him to do this stuff. Whatever it really was that he was doing now.

"Leon, please don't do this now. Tell me what's going on, maybe I can help you, distract you or whatever. Anything to help you, okay?" It took Leon a minute before finally giving it. He sighed as he rubbed his forehead.

"It's just.. this mission is different. I didn't get much information beforehand and I don't know. Something feels odd. And now that you're here, too, I'm just.. worried about you. Maybe it was the wrong idea to bring you with me." He said the last sentence more to himself than you, but you still understood every word of it. Even though he probably didn't mean it like that, you felt hurt. Did he think you were a helpless child who would only cause trouble? You didn't really know what to say but you had to do something about his mood.

"Leon. Listen to me. I don't know what you do all the time when you're gone, but you always manage. I'm sure everything will turn out fine, alright? And you don't have to worry about me. I'll stay inside the hotel or around your big bodyguards, I'm sure they could take care of tons of bad guys." You gave Leon an optimistic smile, hoping he would lighten up a bit.

"Yea, you're right. I guess. I just never.. had someone close to me in this kind of situation."

"Everything that matters now is that you're concentrated, Leon. If it helps you can tell me the information you already have, maybe we can work on this together. And who knows, maybe I'll end up being a better agent than you." You jokingly said and finally Leon let out a laugh as well. As you waited for his response you saw a pen on the table behind Leon so you ran to grab it, getting ready to write your notes on a clean napkin.

"Yea sure, whatever you say, Buttercup." You two continued joking for a while longer before ordering something else to drink. As the drinks were delivered to your table, you noticed someone sitting at a table close to you. You didn't know why exactly he caught your eye so you shrugged it off and continued talking to Leon. Soon he began talking about his mission and all the information he had. Which was, as he said before, really not much. All he knew was that someone in this city intended to initiate a virus-breakout similar to ones Leon had to fight before. You wrote down what he said but it wasn't really the equivalent to much. You sighed as you tried your best to help him out. Sure, he was a professional, but it was worth a shot. Especially if you could make him smile with your stupid ideas. In the end that's all that mattered to you, anyways.

You two continued chatting a while longer before Leon's phone suddenly rang. He excused himself, showing you who called. Chris. Leon stood up and left the table to talk to him in a more quiet place. You watched him walk away as you noticed the man from before staring at you again. He seemed to have seen you noticing since he suddenly looked away. You raised an eyebrow, a bad feeling growing in your stomach. Even though you were worried slightly, you didn't want to tell Leon. Maybe you were just starting to imagine things and you didn't want to make Leon worry any more. Speaking of him, he finally returned to the table. He didn't seem too happy though, so you knew what was coming next.

"Chris is already waiting for me. I guess I really tested his patience today. I'm sorry that it has to end so abruptly, Buttercup, but I really have to go now. We have new information and it seems like quite a big deal." Leon grabbed his wallet and handed it to you. "Get yourself something nice with it if you want. And don't forget to pay for our breakfast. I really need to go now, please be careful on your way home." He gave you a kiss on the forehead but you stopped him before he went to leave. "I love you, Leon. Don't worry about me and please come back soon.." He nodded lightly and gave you another kiss, this time on the mouth. You didn't want this moment to end but you knew there was no other option. You watched him leave and suddenly felt so alone and lost. Sitting down again you waited for someone to bring you the bill.

A few minutes passed until someone came over to your table, grabbing the last dirty cups. You asked them for the bill and after paying a ridiculous high amount of money for breakfast you left the table and went back to the main street. You sighed as you thought about what to do for the rest of the day since it was still not that late. With no destination in mind you just started following the street and seeing where it would take you.

Leon carefully closed the door behind him as he was escorted into the home. “Couldn’t have picked a basic home?” He shrugged as he looked over at Chris who was sitting at a table in the kitchen. “This mansion is fucking huge.”

“The fuck you mean?” He snarled at Leon as he pushed back the chair adjacent to him for Leon to sit in. “We’re in an upper class neighbourhood, it blends in.”

“Where’s Angel and Daisy?” Leon asked as he sat down in the chair and gestured at the two empty ones opposite him.

“Miss Badawi and Miss Chu are doing some recon.” He passed over a singular folder and Leon opened it to the first page.

“You call me by my first name, why not those two?” He always thought it was weird but now that it was just those two alone he actually was able to ask.

“Neither of them have passed the required rank for me to call them my equal, meaning they haven’t deserved the right yet."

“They’ve both saved your life countless times-”

“-Oh please! You think we care about validation from some old white man?” Angel laughed as both her and Daisy entered the room and sat down at the table.

Now that all three of them were sitting opposite Chris he could begin his briefing.

“We’re going to be heading to a small provenance called Valtorta, there’s no such thing as tourists there which means this is a stealth operation. Miss Chu, your favourite.” Daisy smiled and lightly clapped her hands together as she heard about the standards of the operation.

Angel raised her hand. “Miss Badawi?” Chris accepted.

“Where is Valtora?” She asked.

“Near the border of Italy and Switzerland.” He replied as he flicked Angel’s folder to the map page. “Around a two hour drive from Milan which is where we’re going to be starting after a three hour helicopter ride. Which means a five hour trip so that you kids can catch up on your podcasts or whatever it is that you guys do nowadays.”

“I’ve been listening to this really interesting podcast about a woman who kills her boss because he didn't give her a payrise… Pretty inspiring if you ask me.” Angel smirked as she looked towards her boss, Leon.

“Depends on how good you do after this operation, and if you can get some pastries for us to bring back home.” He replied as he looked up from the folder and at Angel.

“I think that’s a very fair trade, croissants for an extra one hundred percent markup on your pay?” Daisy smirked at her girlfriend.

“How about we focus on our jobs rather than the pay?” Chris interrupted them. “So the woman we’re looking for is Leona Capulet.” He placed a photo of the woman holding a small child onto the wooden table. “Forty five, six foot tall and batshit crazy.” He then placed another photo on the table. “For the last four years she’s been attempting to recreate another virus, called the LC-020-Virus. Ever since we found out about it we’ve been calling it the ‘Loco-virus’.”

“Let me guess…” Angel interrupted. “Rather than it turning you into a zombie it just makes you go crazy?”

“Bingo.” Chris nodded as he placed another picture on the table. “Blueprints of the town, and the suspected laboratory Capulet has been working in.”

“How have you got so much information?” Leon asked.

“Inside man.” Chris replied. “Capulet’s son, Valentino, has been helping us. Once his mother tried to use him for a human trial experiment he had enough and tried to shut her down. After failing he turned himself in and he’s been helping us for around four months now.”

“And you trust him?” Daisy asked as she looked at the picture of Leona. “How do we know it isn’t a trap?”

“The boy is a millionaire and he gets nothing out of betraying his family, it's personal to him.” Chris picked up his pictures from the table and placed them back into his folder. “But that doesn’t mean we can fully trust him, we all need to stay vigilant.” Chris stood out of his chair and tucked it under the table. “Our mission is to capture the target Leona Capulet, destroy any trace she has of the virus and figure out where her funding comes from. Any questions?” All three of them nodded their heads as they looked at Chris. “Great. We’re heading out at nine A.M. tomorrow morning, I expect everyone to be ready with a maximum of two standard issue duffle bags with the essentials needed for the maximum of two weeks.”

“A fortnight?” Leon asked. “I was told only three days.”

“A maximum Leon, just in case. If we all work well enough we can be back here within two days so let's all get some sleep so we can make that happen.” Chris left the three of them at the table. Angel and Daisy just began chatting amongst themselves about what they were going to do once they were back and could enjoy their time together in the countryside, whereas Leon was thinking about you. He pulled out his phone and called your number but to his surprise you didn’t answer, he looked at the time and saw that it was around seven at night so he thought that maybe you were in the shower, at home you usually showered at that time. So rather than calling you again he simply sent you a text message.

‘Done with work for the night so give me a call when you can. Leon <3’

The sun began setting as you felt your stomach growl. You've been walking around for so many hours, you didn't even think about stopping somewhere to eat or drink anything. Thankfully, you weren't somewhere in the woods but rather close to the city. Your phone battery died a while ago, so you didn't have a chance to just google where to go now or call a taxi. "I should have taken the map from Leon earlier." You muttered to yourself as you scratched the back of your head. Instead of giving up though you tried to follow the signs all around the streets. Most of them were in Italian but you still managed to find your way back.

Even though it wasn't that late, or so you assumed since it was not dark yet, there weren't many people outside. You hoped to find a store to get something to eat and drink and maybe ask for the time or your current location but it felt like you were going in circles and as the time passed you felt really tired. Suddenly everything felt like too much and you had to sit down. You almost fell to the ground, feeling the effects of not eating or drinking for a few hours in the heat. Your head was spinning and your vision blurred and you just barely saw a silhouette walking in your direction. You rubbed your eyes in hope of seeing clearly again. A young man stood before you, reaching a hand out. He soon seemed to notice that you didn't understand what he was saying, so he repeated himself in English. "Are you okay? You look really pale and I'm assuming you're not from here, right?" You slowly nodded your head and tried forming words in your mouth.

"Water.. Do you have water?", was all that came out in the end. The man let out a small laugh and nodded. He pointed towards a house just on the opposite side of the street before helping you get up.

"That's where I live. There aren't any stores open around here so that's all I can get offer now. If you feel comfortable with it you can rest a while before continuing your way."

You looked at the man and thanked him as he supported you walking. The two of you slowly walked towards his house and you waited in silence as he opened the door for you. You walked inside the small house and looked around. It was something completely different from the hotel you slept in last night, but it seemed very friendly. The man led you into the living room and you sat down on the old couch. He left the room to get you something to drink and shortly after returned with a coke, a bottle of water and some cold lasagna.

"This was my dinner today. I'm guessing you are hungry, the way you look. Please eat as much as you like." He went over to a cabinet and got a plate, a fork and a knife. He placed it on the small table in front of the couch as you gulped down the coke. You already felt better as the sugar spread through your body.

"Thank you so much. Where I come from most people wouldn't care for strangers, like you're doing right now. I don't know how I can repay you." You said as you put down the can and took a piece of the lasagna. The man put up his hands and shook his head. "Oh please, don't worry about it. This is nothing, I'm just glad to be helping." You smiled at him in return and enjoyed the rest of the lasagna in silence as your body finally regained strength. After you were done you leaned back on the sofa and sighed. "Now that was a really good lasagna. I definitely need the recipe!" You said jokingly and the two of you laughed.

You two talked for a while longer before you noticed the time on a clock hanging on the wall. It was almost 11pm. You opened your eyes in shock and stood up abruptly. "It's so late already?! I'm so sorry, but I think I really need to go. Please, if there is any way to thank you, tell me." The man now also stood up and walked you to the front door. "Like I said before, I don't want anything in return. I'm just grateful to be of help." You smiled at him and went for a hug. It just felt right at that moment. He returned the gesture but you soon parted again. You unlocked your now almost fully loaded phone and checked the route to the hotel.

"Thanks for letting my phone charge as well, I don't think I would ever find my way back without it." You laughed as you stepped outside. By now the moon was shining high in the sky, making the night light up.

"If I'm not mistaken your way back shouldn't be too long. Please text me when you're back so I don't have to worry." The man said as handed you a piece of paper with his number. You smiled as you added him to your contacts.

"Oh, I don't think I've gotten your name, did I?" Now it was his time to laugh. "That's right, I believe. My name's Leonardo." You couldn't believe what you were hearing and let out a laugh. "No way. That's kind of a funny coincidence, my boyfriend is actually called Leon."

"Oh, well.. That really is a funny coincidence." Leonardo scratched his head as you two laughed again.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Leonardo, but I really have to go now. Maybe our paths will cross again." You waved him goodbye as you put in your earphones and followed the route that was presented on your display.

As you followed the instructions you felt like you were being watched. You looked around, not seeing anyone. Shaking your head you began walking faster, the feeling of being watched never vanishing. Just when you thought the feeling of being watched had gone you heard some footsteps behind you. You slowly pulled out your earphones and looked back. Nobody. "Jesus.. What is wrong with me?" You could already see the tall building you left earlier this day and felt relieved. Only a few more minutes and you were safe. From whatever it was that you felt afraid of. Not realizing you started walking faster again you suddenly tripped and fell to the ground, your phone sliding away. "Fuck.." You rubbed your knee and felt blood on your fingertips in return. You stood up with a pain filled groan and slowly went over to your phone. Just before you were able to reach it something hard hit the back of your head, sending you in a realm of darkness...

----

Taglist: @trinswhimsys @dixanadu @oppsie--channie

#resident evil #re2 #re4 #re6 #resident evil vendetta #leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon x reader #leon kennedy x reader #leon s kennedy x reader #resident evil x reader #x reader #x male reader #x female reader #x gn reader #x gender neutral reader

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mackeydoodledoo · 3 years

Text

Café Food and Tattoos

Pairing: Daniela Dimitrescu x (Fem!)Reader

Summary: One small glance at each other from across the way, has Daniela Dimitrescu enticed. One post-work encounter has her walking R home and visiting R during R’s work hours. Turns out that Daniela is not only there for the café food.

Warning: None, fluff all the way :)

A/N: So, this original idea is from @su-lilly-reblogs and I really love the idea of Daniela being a tattoo artist and I just love this entire idea in general! It’s a little short but I hope this entry is a good one!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

As you were cleaning a table out on the patio, you heard a door from over next door open. Being the person to always want to see who was coming out of the tattoo place next door, you saw a strawberry-blonde woman step out. You attempt to snap your focus back on bussing tables out on the patio but when you look up at the same woman that had stepped outside, she had noticed you staring at her. The world stopped for you. She looked so enticing to you. You just wanted to drop everything and walk over to her. However, you were snapped back to reality when your elbow made contact with a glass cup. Your instincts had caught the glass just before it could make contact with the ground. You sigh when you looked back up to the tattoo place and the woman was no longer there.

When you stopped at a crosswalk, you shiver at the slight breeze of the cool evening. You regretted not bringing a jacket of some sort. However, you felt a jacket being placed upon your shoulders. You could feel the presence of another person standing next to you. You use your peripherals and from the corner of your eye, you saw a familiar strawberry-blonde hair.

"Warm now?" She asks

"Yeah," you slightly smile, "Thanks."

"Daniela Dimitrescu," she answers

"Y/n Y/l/n," you reply

When the crosswalk light had allowed you to cross you noticed that Daniela was walking alongside you.

"So," you break the silence, "How long have you've been tattooing?"

"Since my apprenticeship at 18," she answers, "I mostly tattoo in black and white. Majority of my works are botanical and anatomical."

"Has any client requested a tattoo that was out of your comfort zone?" You ask

"A couple of times," she answers you, "But, the clients loved the end products. So if one would specifically request for something I don't normally do I'll do it."

"Maybe I'll have to get a tattoo done by you one of these days," you smile

From the corner of your eye, you could see that Daniela smiled at your suggestion. What you didn't notice was how she was still be your side long after the both of you met at the crosswalk.

"Did you want someone accompanying you home?" She asks, realizing your silence

"That would be nice," you say, "We're pretty much here already."

You walk up the steps to your house and turn around. You notice that Daniela is no longer in sight.... You sighed as you were going to offer her a cup of coffee to go. Even give her jacket back to her as it was still placed on your shoulders. You couldn't help but take in the scent of herbs and citrus that lingers on her jacket. Maybe she'll stop by tomorrow... I'll give her jacket back then.

The following morning was a mess. Table after table you barely could keep yourself steady trying to wait tables, clean the tables etc. You weren't the only one on the floor however, nearly everyone requested for your presence specifically. It was hell.

"Y/n, a table is requesting for you," your coworker says

Great... Just when you were able to breathe. You compose yourself and head back out onto the floor but you freeze.

"Daniela?" You call out, walking toward her with a menu in your hands

"Hi y/n," she smiles

"Fancy seeing you here," you smile back, "What can I get you to drink?"

"Water," she says, looking up at you

When you return to her table with a glass of water, you go on to check on your other tables with the assistance of your coworker.

"Sorry about that, its been a mess all morning," you sigh, seating yourself across from Daniela

"That’s okay love," she says

"You know what you want to eat yet?" You ask, taking out your notepad

"Are you on the menu?" She flirts

Your heart skips a beat, your cheeks flush red, you look at her surprised. Daniela giggles as she watches your face.

"What’s wrong love? Cat got your tongue?" She asks, smiling menacingly

The only thing you could do was nearly choke on your own spit before Daniela actually tells you what she wants. With haste you make your way back into the kitchen to give the chef Dani's order and catch your breath.

"One of the best tattoo artists in town, enticed by the awkward café waitress," your coworker laughs

"Shut it Clarice," you sigh, "We only met last night."

"She apparently dedicates her life to tattooing," she explains, "No one to get attached to. But, you can change that, I think it's time for you to get out there. With her. Maybe even get a tattoo done by her."

"Are you crazy?!" You ask, "She's so out there and I'm me. So who am I kidding??"

"Just look through your cameral roll for some inspiration for a tattoo, I’m sure the two of you can negotiate something in the next couple of weeks," Clarice suggests, "You got your tips, hourly pay you've been saving for this tattoo haven't you?"

You nod. You only have one tattoo. You've been dreaming about getting another one but you haven't really looked into it. You didn't plan to until you had enough money to have it done. You hear the chef calling out Daniela's order and you begin reaching for it.

"I'll check on your other tables," your coworker says, "Just book that appointment with Daniela."

You nod, because your coworker will make sure you do so if she found out you chickened out.

"Took you long enough," Daniela teases

You smile as you place the plate of food in front of her and seat yourself across from her once more.

"Do you have any tattoos?" Daniela asks

You roll up your left sleeve to reveal an arrow tattoo with a color in one of the three triangles.

"I got this when I turned 18 with my older sister," you say, "I've been saving up for another tattoo. But I don't think I have saved enough yet nor have I done research on artists to do it on me."

"Hit me with the design," Daniela suggests

You open your phone to reveal a botanical anatomy piece.

Daniela looks at your phone in awe, "I'll do it."

"What?" You ask, putting your phone away

"I'll do that tattoo on you," she says

"R-really?" You ask, your mood changing

She nods happily. You sigh in relief.

"How much do you normally charge?" You ask

"For you my dear, I'll discount it," she answers, "Normally, that kind of piece would be $600-$700."

You, again almost choke on your own spit. However, re-composing yourself.

"I'll do it for $400," Daniela says

You've saved up at least $300 as of your last paycheck. However, since the tips are really piling and you look pay is tomorrow, you have hope.

"When are you free?" She asks

"I'm pretty much free Mondays and Tuesdays," you say

Daniela pulls out her phone and supposedly looks through her calendar.

"How does Tuesday at 3pm sound to you?" She asks

"Works for me," you smile brightly

You leave to get Daniela's check and pay for her food. It was the least you could do for her. She practically got to book your dream tattoo. You go on and check on your other tables, running their checks, your coworker bussing the tables for you.

"Where were we?" You ask

"My check?" Daniela asks

"Don't worry about that," you say, "It's the least I can do for you."

"Thank you y/n," she smiles, "I gotta run. Work is about to open."

She stands from her seat and walks by you. However, before she leaves she leans down to your face and places a kiss on your cheek and then walks out. You just remembered about her jacket. Damnit...

Tuesday couldn't come soon enough. You've been working your arse off at the café. Daniela would pop in during her breaks to come say hi or order some food to go. You had long sent the image you had shown Daniela on Thursday to her. She’s talked about how excited she is to do that big of a piece. You told her that you had wanted it on your right outer forearm.

"So you didn't even HAVE to ask Daniela to do that tattoo?! Man, that's golden! She's definitely into you if she had cut down the price by THAT much," your coworker states

"Is she?" You ask, blushing

"Oh come on, if I didn't see how she looks at you when you talk to her, I wouldn't be saying that she's definitely into you," she says

"You have a point," you say

"Did you get her number?" She asks

"No," you say, "We've barely had time as is. She heads straight home to work on the piece for me and I'm busy here. Only chance I get is Tuesday."

"You better girl," she says before walking off to a table

When Tuesday had finally come, you tuck the tattoo fee in one pocket and her tip mixed with your phone number in the other. You take a deep breath before opening the door to the tattoo shop next to your own work.

"Y/n!" Daniela smiles as she comes walking over to you to give you a hug

"So I just finished up your tattoo and I just wanted to run through it with you," She says

"Dani, didn't we both agree on whatever you do is fine with me?" You smile and jokingly sigh

"Yes but I just want to have your approval anyway," she smiles

She takes her iPad and opens up to her editing app and shows you. You noticed that Daniela edited the work a lot to her style of work. And you loved it.

"Lets get that bad boy tattooed on me Dani," you smile

She has you fill out paperwork as the stencil begins printing itself out. You hand back the paperwork to her and she leads you to the back of the shop, leading you into a separate room, presumably her studio.

"Welcome to my humble studio," she smiles, "Just sit your little cute butt in the big chair and give me a hot minute."

You watch her cut out the stencil and watch her concentrate on applying the stencil to your arm. You try to keep yourself as steady as possible so she wouldn't have to reapply the stencil.

"Relax love," Daniela says, as if she could feel your tension

"I don't want to accidentally move my arm," you say

Once she removes the stencil, she backs away, "Check that out and see if you like the placement."

"I love it," you almost squeal

You again watch her prep her tattoo machine and begin concentrating on you.

The pain was unbearable but it was a pretty big tattoo that you had picked out. Daniela barely talked though. But, you assumed it was because she was concentrated on your piece.

“Hey, I have your jacket and-”

“Keep it love,” She says without looking up at you

“Are-are you sure?” You ask

“You look good in it y/n,” She finally looks up at you, smiling

You smile back at her.

Once she removes the excess tattoo ink she guides you to step outside with her for her to take a picture. After the fact, you two go back into her studio to have her put saniderm on your arm.

"Now keep that on for a couple of days for me okay?" She smiles

You nod. You reach into one pocket and pull out the $400 Daniela requested for the piece and then reach into the other and hand it to her.

"Why thank you love," she smiles

"That's not all," you say

You lean forward and give her a kiss on the cheek. She somewhat gives you the same face you did when she did the same to you.

"Will I see you at the café tomorrow?" She asks

"You will," you wink at her before making your leave

She opens the piece a paper: a $40 tip and a note.

"If you want to get together sometime outside of having café food and tattoos," Daniela read aloud

At the bottom of the note, was your phone number.

#daniela dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu x reader #female reader #modern au #tattoos #bela dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu #alcina dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu #resident evil village #resident evil 8

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snowdice · 3 years

Text

Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 63]

I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag proofread stories. I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29

Let’s do some of this tonight.

Chapter 29

Virgil finished eating the breakfast Patton’s mom had sent for him. It had been going on a week since they’d discussed making menus for him him. She sent up little cards with each meal and he was supposed to rate each thing she sent on a scale from 1-5. Logan would read it to him before he ate, and Virgil would mark the little box on the card corresponding to his opinion. Usually, he would put a 4 for everything (he had tried to do 5, but Logan had told him 5 was reserved for things like chicken alfredo). Three was for things that he was neutral on, 2 was for things he didn’t like but could tolerate, and 1 was for things he didn’t like. So far, the only 3 was the unseasoned porridge she’d sent one day. Yet, putting toppings on it like cinnamon and sugar and different fruits had increased its rating easily.

“Finished?” Logan asked.

“Yeah,” Virgil said.

“What would you like to do today?” Logan asked. “Patton is busy until after lunch, and then we thought you might like to go back to the garden again. It’s supposed to drop in temperature over the next few days, so it will be the last good day for it.”

“Sounds good,” Virgil said. “I don’t care what we do today though. What do you want to do?”

Logan made an expression, and Virgil titled his head. “I don’t have anything in particular I want to do,” he said.

“You’re lying,” Virgil said immediately.

“You would not be interested in the activity I wish to partake in,” Logan said.

Virgil squinted at him. “I’d be interested in laying on the ground and staring at the ceiling.”

Logan chuckled. “No, truly. The activity I would do if you were not present would involve reading.”

“You can read to me,” Virgil suggested.

“…In Sanskrit.”

Virgil frowned at him. “Isn’t that, like, some sort of dead language?”

“It is,” Logan said. “I taught the language to myself in order to read a specific book called the Pragilium Text. It’s an encoded book that leads to a magical location that I have been trying to decode for years.”

“That’s fine,” Virgil said. “You can do that.”

“It would be in the library,” Logan said.

“Okay.”

“But…” Logan said. “It would in no way be interesting to you.”

Virgil shrugged. “Like I said. I’m content to lie on the floor for a few hours.”

Logan frowned. “I can’t make you do that.”

“You wouldn’t be making me,” Virgil said. “I want to go. Maybe you can find me an easy book I could try to read?”

“Are you certain?” he asked.

Virgil nodded, decisively.

“Very well, get dressed and I will show you the library.”

Virgil stood to do so and a few minutes later, Logan was leading him out of the royal wing.

Both of the guards greeted him kindly, and Virgil hunched his shoulders in a bit, but said a soft “hi.”

The library didn’t end up being too far away. It was through the small dining hall and to the left where the staircase to the kitchen was to the right.

“This is not the main library,” Logan said when they entered. “It is just a smaller one. The royal librarian comes here only about once a week to organize. Some other castle residents might come in too, but it is usually mostly empty.”

Virgil could tell just by listening closely for a few seconds that the place was likely empty (unless someone was lying in wait).

“I’ll look and see if there is something simple for you in case you’d like to read. You can explore a bit if you’d like,” Logan said.

Virgil nodded and stalked off into the shelves to secure the area. There were many books, not that he could quite read any of the spines. The bookcases were mostly cramped into the space. There was the open area where they’d come in with a few comfy chairs and Virgil found a desk near one of the windows. It had stacks of books including one pretty large and old one. He looked at it curiously.

Virgil heard Logan’s footsteps approach from down an aisle. “That’s the Pragilium text,” he said.

“It’s pretty,” Virgil said, looking at the design etched into the cover.

“Yes,” Logan agreed. He reached forward to touch it and opened it carefully. The print was small and didn’t look like the letters Logan had taught him so far. There was a small map on the side that Virgil could at least guess at the meaning of.

“You can read that?” Virgil asked.

“I can,” Logan said. “Very few people can though.”

“Wow, you’re really smart.”

“Thank you,” Logan said with a smile. “Now, I found you a book. I apologize as its subject matter is for younger children, but it has many pictures that can help give you context when you don’t know something. You don’t have to read it if you do not wish to, especially as we haven’t gotten very far in our lessons, but I thought you might like the challenge.

He handed him the book and Virgil took it with a smile. “I’ll try to read it,” he said.

“Well, you have free reign of the library. Feel free to continue to explore and to interrupt me if you need to.”

Virgil nodded and took the book before deciding to finish his sweep of the library. It turned out that appearances were not deceiving, and the library truly was empty. Once he was certain about that, he looked around for a comfortable place to settle down and try to read the book Logan had handed him. He found a sturdy looking bookshelf near where Logan was reading at his desk. He scaled it quickly. It was a little bit dusty at the top, but it wasn’t a bad place. It was close to the ceiling and kept him hidden pretty well, but still gave him enough room to pop up onto his elbows. If he looked left, he could see Logan down below with his eyes trained on the book, but if he looked right, he could see the entrance to the library.

He pulled the book in front of him and looked at the cover. It was covered in drawings of different colored flowers. One simple white flower was in the center and there were three words on the cover. He squinted at it and silently tried to sound it out based on what Logan had taught him so far. He could guess that the larger word was ‘flowers’ based on context. So, he was pretty sure it read How Flowers Grow.

He flipped open the book. Logan was right, there were many hand drawn beautiful pictures. He could pretty much understand what was happening just from them even if he couldn’t read all of the words.

It was an interesting book even if he couldn’t read it and it was obviously made for small children. Judging by the pictures, it seemed to be detailing how plants, or at least, flowers grew through some kid planting and caring for a flower over the course of some amount of time.

Virgil had, of course, known flowers grew from seeds, but it was interesting to see things about how the stem would pop out of the seed in the ground and things about the roots growing.

He more looked through the pictures than read it the first time but had flipped back to the front to try to read the words when he heard the library door open.

Virgil perked up in awareness, but then settled when he recognized Patton’s footsteps. Virgil tilted his head to watch as he walked directly to Logan’s hideaway.

“Hi,” he said, gaining Logan’s attention.

“Hello, Patton,” Logan replied. He glanced at the window and must have seen that time had passed because he closed his book and shuffled his papers.

“The guards said you came here,” Patton said, glancing around. “Where’s Virgil?”

Instead of letting Logan answer that question, Virgil pulled himself forward, with the book in one hand and slid off the bookshelf to land lightly on his feet next to Patton.

Patton screamed briefly before slapping a hand over his mouth.

Logan had placed his hand over his heart. “Where on Earth did you come from?” he asked.

Virgil blinked at him and then pointed to the bookshelf he’d been on top of.

“How long were you up there?” Logan asked.

“Pretty much the whole time,” Virgil answered.

“I…” Logan said. “I didn’t even know.”

Virgil squinted at him. “You need to learn to look up.”

Patton giggled.

Virgil turned on him. “You need to learn to case the area.”

“Oh honey, your shirt is all covered in dust,” Patton said instead of responding to his very valid criticism. Virgil frowned. “Let’s get you changed and then go grab some lunch.”

“Lunch?” Virgil asked.

Patton chuckled and grabbed his hand. “Yes, sweetie, lunch. Then garden.”

“Fine,” Virgil said. “But you do need to learn to be more observant.

“Yes, yes, whatever you say,” Patton said.

Logan just rolled his eyes.

Chapter 30

After lunch, Patton and Logan took Virgil out into the garden to walk around. They let Virgil lead them around wherever he wanted to in the garden. A bunch more flowers had died since the last time they’d been out here, and Patton felt sad despite having never felt very sad about that sort of thing before. But, Virgil seemed to really like the flower he’d found last time, so Patton thought he was probably sad on the boy’s behalf.

Of course, Patton thought, perking up, eventually it would be spring, and Virgil could get to not only see flowers but see all of the flowers grow. Patton couldn’t wait to see him amongst the garden then.

Virgil took them wandering through the orchard for a while, but most of the trees had been stripped of their fruits. They ended up in the food garden after a bit, and Virgil finally seemed to decide on the direction instead of just ambling about.

A few seconds after Patton noticed Virgil seemingly decide on a destination, Patton noticed Mr. Deknis kneeling on the ground a few feet away. Had… had Virgil been looking for him? Patton wondered. That was adorable.

Mr. Deknis looked up as they approached and smiled at them.

“Hello, Mr. Deknis,” Patton said as they came closer.

“Hello you three,” Mr. Deknis said. “Getting into trouble?”

“No,” Virgil said, shaking his head.

Mr. Deknis gave him a flash of a smile. “I know, I’m joking,” he said. “Especially since there isn’t much left in my gardens for certain princes to destroy with experiments.”

“Oh, okay,” Virgil said. He tilted his head. “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting the last of the acorn squash out,” Mr. Deknis replied. “It’s the last crop to get finished. Good thing too, it’s supposed to start snowing soon.”

Virgil looked down curiously at the dark green squash.

“Would you like to help me pick a couple?” Mr. Deknis asked.

“Sure,” Virgil said, sounding interested. Mr. Deknis patted the ground beside him and Virgil knelt down to watch him.

“They’re not too difficult to harvest,” he said. “You just cut the fruit off the stem. You want to leave about a hand’s width of the stem left over which will help preserve moisture. The earlier harvests, I left in the field to cure in the sun for a couple weeks, but the frost’ll ruin them so we’ll take them inside the green house and let them sit in the sun for a bit there. We also want to keep the leaves. You’ll probably be eating those for dinner tonight since they have to be cooked up within about 24 hours after they’re picked. Patton’s mom makes a good side dish with them and she’ll be making some curry tomorrow, probably. Maybe some stew if there are some leftover.”

“Put the squash in this wheelbarrow and the leaves into this pile, okay?” Virgil nodded and Mr. Deknis handed him the extra pair of gloves and shears he carried with him in case one set broke. “These might be a bit big on your, but they should work for now.”

Mr. Deknis looked up at Patton and Logan. “Would the two of you like to help?” he asked. “I can get some more equipment.”

“I can help out if you want, but you don’t need to stop and get more equipment just for me,” Patton said.

“The same for me,” Logan said.

“Well, if you’d like to help still, you can sort the leave. Give your mother a head start.”

“Sure,” Patton said. He and Logan went to do that while Mr. Deknis and Virgil worked on cutting the squashes from the vine.

“What do you do during the winter?” Virgil asked curiously. “If this is your last crop.”

“Well, at the beginning, I mostly will be working on making sure things are stored correctly along with some of the kitchen staff. There’s some drying to do and some canning. After that’s done, I’ll spend some time organizing and planning. Then, before the spring comes, I’ll start preparing seedlings in the green house.”

“Seedlings?” he asked.

“I let seeds start to grow in the greenhouse that I replant once it gets warm enough.”

“Why don’t you just plant them where they’re going?”

“I do for some,” he said, “but giving some a head start is good for them.”

Patton watched as Virgil continued to ask questions about gardening while working on harvesting the squash. Mr. Deknis continued to answer them in a calm, soft tone that Patton didn’t think he’d ever heard from the often gruff man before.

Patton wasn’t surprised when, after finishing getting most of the squash off of the vine, Mr. Deknis asked if Virgil wanted to help him with canning some pears in a couple of days. Virgil immediately looked over at Logan and Patton as though asking permission.

“Say yes if you want to Virgil,” Logan said.

“Yes,” Virgil said as soon as he was given permission. Mr. Deknis smiled at him softly and started loading the last of the squash into the wheelbarrow. Patton offered to run the squash leaves to the kitchen while Logan and Virgil helped Mr. Deknis take the actual squash to the green house.

He dropped the leaves off to a kitchen worker since Mama was busy and headed back out to the garden. By the time he returned, Logan was already back from the green house and sitting by one of the more decorative trees near the castle.

“He’s exploring,” Logan said, nodding at the large patch of bushes.

Patton chuckled. “I see.” He sat next to Logan. Every so often he’d hear the bushes rustle, but he couldn’t tell if it was actually Virgil or an animal.

“He’s adorable,” Patton commented, keeping an ear out.

Logan hummed.

“I’m glad we kept him.”

“He isn’t a pet, Patton.”

Patton rolled his eyes. “I know, but I’m still glad. I’m glad he’s making friends with Mr. Deknis. Once he knows how to read better, we should get him a book about gardening. He seems interested.”

Logan nodded. “Having a hobby would be good for him. Clearly he has a fascination with the garden.” He nodded to the blur of dark hair that could be seen through the bushes. It seemed Virgil had stopped his exploration and was now laying down in the bushes a few feet away.

“I’m going to go see what he’s doing,” Patton said. “I’ll be right back.”

Logan nodded and Patton got to his feet. The bushes were part of a small maze that was filled with flowers during the spring and summer months but were mostly just green and brown bushes for now. Despite the fact that Patton had been able to see him only a few feet away, it took him a while to wind through the path to where he was. When he finally turned the last corner and he came into view, Patton gasped softly.

“Ghost kitty!” he said, making sure to make his voice as quiet as possible.

Despite how soft he made his voice, two pairs of eyes shot over to him. The completely black kitten was perched on Virgil’s lap like she belonged there. Ghost Kitty hissed slightly, but Virgil reached forward to pet her head gently.

“This is Ghost Kitty?” Virgil asked. “I thought you said she was hard to pet.”

“She is,” Patton said. He lowered himself onto the ground from a few feet away from them. “How did you get her to come to you?”

Virgil glanced down at the cat and shrugged, scratching one of her ears. “She just came over to me and let me pet her.”

“Wow,” Patton said softly. He looked at the cat. “Could I pet you sweetie?” he asked, holding out a hand in her direction. She hissed again.

Virgil frowned down at her. “It’s Patton,” he said as though he expected to understand his words and the exasperation in the tone he said them in.

He pet the cat’s head to soothe her and then reached over to grab Patton’s hand. He pulled and Patton carefully leaned a bit closer until his hand was within sniffing distance. Ghost Kitty sniffed his fingers contemplatively and then bumped her head against it. He barely restrained a squeal, knowing that probably wouldn’t be taken well.

He carefully turned his hand over so he could stroke the top of her head. He gently scratched her ear, not daring to go for under her chin yet since she didn’t know him well. “Hi,” he said softly. After a moment, she started to purr softly. Virgil reached over and scratched under her chin and she purred louder. “Oh, you’re a good girl,” Patton breathed, letting a hand trail gently down her back once and then again. Patton settled himself carefully into a seating position continuing to pet her. After a few more moments of soft petting, she hesitantly stepped her front paws onto Patton’s thigh so she was sitting in both of their laps. Patton laughed softly. “Hi sweetie.” He glanced over at Virgil who had a wide smile on his face as he pet the cat. This. This was adorable. They continued to pet the cat for a very long time.

Chapter 31

Logan waited for a while after Patton left to check on Virgil, but the two never resurfaced. It was odd, Patton would usually remember to come back and get Logan or at least tell them where they were. With a sigh, Logan climbed to his feet to go find them. It took him a while to weave his way through the maze of bushes to them especially because they were suspiciously quiet (Well, suspicious for Patton. Virgil was often unnervingly quiet when alone.) Luckily, he knew the bushes enough after all of these years not to get lost and managed to find the two after a few minutes.

“Ah,” he said, immediately identifying the reason for Patton disappearing.

“Logan!” Patton said, his voice excited, but also quieter than normal. “We found a kitty!”

“I can see that,” Logan responded, taking a step closer. The cat hissed at him in response. The hissing was so intense and wild that he’d suspect the thing was feral if it wasn’t happily on Virgil’s lap having had it’s head in Patton’s lap before Logan had approached.

“No,” Virgil told the animal as though it could understand words. “That’s Logan. Be nice.”

The cat still glared at him and swished it’s tail back and forth threateningly. Virgil pet the top of it’s head and it broke eye contact with Logan to purr.

Patton seemed delighted by the purring, reaching to stroke under the thing’s chin carefully. “We should give her a name!” Patton said.

Virgil frowned. “I thought her name was Ghost Kitty.”

“That is ‘Ghost Kitty’?” Logan asked skeptically. From what Patton had said about that cat, it was terrified of people and no one could ever get near it, even him. Now it was in Virgil’s lap?

“But that was a temporary name,” Patton said, “for before we officially met her. Now we have to give her a real name.”

“Do not give it a name,” Logan said. “You will get attached.”

“How do you name a cat?” Virgil asked.

“Do not name it,” Logan said.

“You give them names based on their personalities, how they look, or even just because it’s a cute name,” Patton explained. “Like, remember Mittens? I named her Mittens because she has white fur and black paws!”

Virgil looked at the cat. “She’s completely black,” he said.

Patton hummed. “So, we could give her a name based on that like Midnight or Shadow.”

“Those are fine,” Virgil said.

“No, no,” Patton said. “I’m just giving you examples. You get to name her yourself.”

“This is a bad idea,” Logan said.

“Just throw out some names,” Patton said. “Anything you can think of.”

“Uh,” Virgil said. “Knife.”

“…Just Knife?” Patton asked.

“Nightmare.” Virgil seemed to think about it. “No, that’s mean.”

“How about things you like?” Patton suggested.

“Alfredo?”

Oh no, Logan thought, he was worse than Patton at cat naming.

“Good start,” Patton said. “Logan, do you have any suggestions.”

“Cat,” Logan said.

“Real suggestions,” Patton scolded.

Logan sighed and thought for a moment. “Aphrodite.”

“Catphrodite!”

Logan glared at him. “Helena.”

“Helenpaw.”

“Claudia.”

“Clawdia.”

“Persephone.”

Patton smiled at him, cheerfully.

“…Damnit!”

Patton turned to Virgil again. “Like that! They don’t even have to be serious. Like, uh, you could name her Madam Fluffywuffykins the Great!”

“Do not name her that,” Logan said, scrunching up his nose.

Logan sat on the ground, the cat eyeing him, but no longer hissing. Logan gently guided them towards more sensible names despite Patton trying his hardest to drag them into stupidity.

Virgil still didn’t quite get it. He mostly tried to name it after foodstuff, and often not even appropriate foodstuff such as “Corn” and “Acorn Squash” and “Sandwich” and occasionally would drop in semi violent ones such as “Razor,” “Nightshade” and “Void.” Patton suggested names like “Fluffers,” “Bobette” and “Darling” as well as some that were puns. Logan tried to direct them towards more sensible ones like “Salem” and even went so low as to suggest the contrary “Snowball.”

It quickly seemed to become less about actually naming the cat and more of a game. Patton had taught Virgil about playing with cats and had even gotten out a ball of yarn he cared around for his crafts. Both Virgil and the cat seemed to find endless entertainment with that. Logan hoped Patton had another ball of yarn that color because, he was never going to get that ball back.

The barrage of names fizzled out into naming things around them like “Leaf” and “Bush” until they stopped suggesting names altogether. Patton and Logan sat back and watched Virgil play with the cat.

Logan watched as they stopped playing suddenly and Virgil and the cat squinted at each other. “Marisol,” Virgil said, pulling the name out of nowhere. “That’s her name.” He said it with a certainty that was surprising considering how he’d treated the naming process with confusion and caution earlier. If Logan did not know better, his tone of voice would indicate that the cat, or Marisol he guessed, had gotten bored of them coming up with stupid names and decided to tell him her actual name herself.

The cat made a sound and batted at Virgil’s face without claws to grab back his attention.

He turned back to it and bopped its face with a finger in kind. It attacked his finger, but in a clearly playful matter as it still did not extend it’s claws and its teeth did not draw blood.

“That’s a great name, Virgil,” Patton said.

“Much more pleasant than any that Patton suggested all afternoon,” Logan said. He received an elbow to the side for his quip.

“A pretty name for a pretty kitty,” Patton said, scooting over to where Virgil was sat and attempting to pet Marisol’s head. Marisol, however, was too keyed up and batted at the hand.

“I love you too!” Patton said.

Logan rolled his eyes, but he had long since resigned himself to watching the two of them play with and coo over the cat for the rest of the day.

Eventually, though, it started to get darker. Even after Logan pointed this out, it still took over an hour for them to relent and leave the bush maze to go to the door. The problem was of course, that the cat had managed to grow very attached to Virgil in the last few hours and she followed them all the way to the door with manipulatively heart breaking mews.

“You’ve got to stay out here,” Virgil said, when they got to the castle door. He pet her ear softly and she shoved her head into his hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t have anywhere to put you.” He sounded horribly sad about that fact and Logan felt himself shift uncomfortably. “I basically live in a closet and Logan doesn’t like cats in his room anyway.”

Logan immediately felt unreasonably guilty, probably more so because Logan did not think Virgil was trying to make him feel guilty. “…Bring the dammed thing inside.”

Virgil blinked up at him. “What?”

“It will get cold soon anyway,” Logan said.

He frowned at Logan from where he was crouched. “But you don’t like fur in your room…”

“I will have to find a potion that works,” he said with a sigh, “and we’ll have to say it’s mine to the guards and Father since it will be staying in my room, but it is yours in every other way. That means you are going to feed it, clean it, and clean up after it.”

Virgil nodded immediately and swooped Marisol up in his arms. The cat went without complaint. “Thank you!” he said. “I love her.”

“I know you do,” Logan said, already regretting it already. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to even consider recanting the offer considering how happy Virgil seemed to be. They had a cat now, he guessed.

Chapter 32

“What are you doing?” Helen asked a few minutes after her son walked into the kitchen and started looking around as though he were trying to find something. It was a few hours into the afternoon, and she and a few workers were already prepping for dinner.

“Uh,” Patton said. “Have you seen Virgil?”

“No,” Helen said. “Why.”

“Er… Logan and I sorta, lost him,” Patton said. He was wringing his hands anxiously. Helen put down the knife in her hand.

“What do you mean you lost him?” she asked.

“Well, see, we were trying to teach him how to play hide and seek, um, but then we didn’t think to tell him that he eventually had to come out if we didn’t find him, and now we haven’t seen him since breakfast.”

“He didn’t know what tag is?” she asked. That was just one more thing to add to the list of why Helen worried about Virgil and where he came from. Every morsel of information she’d managed to wring from Patton despite his evasions made her lists of concerns grow larger, even little things like him not knowing about simple childhood games. Actually, thinking of concerning things having to do with Virgil. “Wait, so he hasn’t eaten lunch.”

“Um, we don’t know that,” Patton’s mouth said while his eyes said ‘no.’

“He needs to be on a consistent diet, especially when he’s still taking the malnutrition potion,” she scolded.

“I know, Mama, I know,” Patton said. “I’m trying to find him. I’d kinda hoped he’d gotten hungry and snuck down here. He probably wouldn’t want to risk being caught stealing food though.”

Helen grimaced. Yet another concerning thing.

“Wait! I have an idea, I’ll be right back.” Patton turned and ran out of the room. Helen frowned at the space he’d been and finished chopping the carrot on the cutting board in front of her. If it had been any other person in the castle missing, Helen wouldn’t have worried, but she had literally never seen Virgil without Patton and/or Logan by his side. Even when he’d gone to help Jeff can some fruit, Logan had reportedly hung around to read a book.

Considering that Logan had never exactly been clingy even with Patton, she imagined that either Virgil asked, or Logan thought he should stay with him for his comfort. So, she was surprised that he was apparently hidden away somewhere in the castle where neither of the other kids could find him.

Still thinking about this, she walked over to the entrance to the cellar below the kitchen where they stored most of the vegetables, planning to grab some more carrots. She was confused for a moment when she heard movement from deeper in the pantry. She reached over and touched the panel near the door that controlled the magic lights.

The newly illuminated figure startled as the lights came on, whipping around to stare at her with wide eyes.

“Virgil?” she asked.

“Sorry,” he said immediately, taking a step back.

“It’s fine,” she said immediately, “but what are you doing here?”

He considered her for a long moment, but apparently, she passed some sort of mental test, because he relaxed, at least as much as he’d ever relaxed in her presence. “Where are we?” he asked.

Her brow knit together. “The cellar under the kitchen,” she said, “You don’t know that?”

He shook his head.

“The only entrance is from the kitchen.” Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen him go through the kitchen at any point.

“No, it’s not,” Virgil said. “There’s a tunnel.”

“A-a tunnel?” she asked. Actually, taking a closer look at him, he seemed a bit grimy. He had dust all over his front and dirt on his nose. She thought he might even have a couple of cobwebs in his hair.

“Yep,” he said.

“Where’s the tunnel?” she asked.

“It’s right over here,” he said. He took a couple of steps and pointed to the ground. There was an open square hole there that clearly had been made a long time ago but which she had never noticed in all of her time working here.

“How did you find this?” she asked.

“We were playing hide and seek,” Virgil explained. “Logan said I could hide anywhere inside the castle. I hid on top of a dresser upstairs in some unused sitting room. There was a hole in the wall above it, so I climbed into it. Then, I crawled a little bit and it let out into a hidden passage in the walls. I wandered around in it until I found another hole in one of the walls. I thought it was a way out, so I squeezed into it, but it took me to a different hallway where I found an old room. There was a different hole in that room that had probably been covered by something because it was in the floor but whatever it was had rotted away. I crawled though it into a tunnel and came out here.”

She couldn’t help but laugh a bit at his explanation. “Well, it sounds like you went on an adventure,” she said, “but Patton and Logan have been trying to find you. You missed lunch.”

He tilted his head at her. “I know. I was supposed to hide.”

“Yes,” she explained, “but you are supposed to come out at some point if they can’t find you for things like food.”

“Oh,” he said.

“They probably should have explained,” she said. “For now, why don’t we get you something to eat? You must be hungry.”

Virgil frowned. “But I missed lunch.”

“You can still eat even though it’s not in normal hours,” she said. “You could even if you had made it to lunch.”

“Really?” he asked, he looked tragically confused by this offer.

“Of course, sweetie,” she said. “In fact, I insist you get something good to eat right now. How about I made you a grilled ham and cheese sandwich? Maybe some cookies too!”

Virgil titled his head. “You are Patton’s mother,” he stated.

Helen laughed softly. “He gets its all from me,” she said. “We should probably go find him and tell him you’re okay. He was worried.”

“I didn’t mean to worry him,” Virgil said with a frown.

“I know,” Helen said. “It’s okay. He’ll probably laugh when he figures out where you’ve been, and Logan will interrogate you all about the secret passageways.” He seemed happy about the prospect of seeing his friends. “Come on, let’s go upstairs for a bit,” she said.

Chapter 33

Patton’s mom had already made Virgil sit down at the small table in the corner of the kitchen and had handed him a sandwich by the time Patton barreled into the kitchen, Logan coming after him at a more sedate pace.

“Virgil!” he said, sounding surprised and relieved.

“Patton,” Patton’s mom scolded. “No cats in the kitchen.” Patton had brought Marisol in with him and had let her go as soon as he’d seen Virgil. She immediately plodded over to him and hoped onto the table to sniff at his face in greeting.

“But she’s the princess!” Patton argued.

“No,” Logan said.

“Yes, she is!” Patton said.

“The stupid cat is not a princess.”

“Don’t be mean to your little sister, Logan.”

“I regret every life decision that has led me to this point.”

While Logan and Patton were distracted squabbling and Patton’s mom was distracted watching them squabble, Virgil tore off a bit of the ham in his sandwich and offered it to Marisol. Marisol gracefully took it from his grip and ate it.

“So, this is Logan’s new cat I’ve been hearing about?” Patton’s mom asked.

“Indeed,” Logan said, his lips thinned. He and Marisol were mostly amicable when alone with just them and Virgil, but Patton had a habit of cooing over the kitten and needling Logan into being irritated.

“Mmm, yeah,” Patton’s mom said. She glanced over at Virgil right as Marisol basically slammed her face into his chin in a bid to get pets. “Your cat.” She shook her head. “But Princess Kitten or not, I do not want fur in dinner,” she said.

“Sorry,” Patton said, honestly not sounding sorry at all. Virgil was always a bit surprised when the insolent shrug garnered nothing more that a scowl that did not reach Patton’s mom’s eyes. “I thought she could help me find Virgil, but you already found him.” He turned to Virgil. “Where have you been all day?”

“Found a tunnel,” Virgil said. He had to use one hand to hold Marisol back from his sandwich as he took another bite, but then gave her a bite of cheese.

“You found what?” Logan asked.

“There’s a tunnel under the cellar,” Virgil said. “It goes to an old closed up room and also to a set of secret passageways.” It was a bit of a security risk honestly, though clearly no one had used it in years by how dirty it was. He did plan to go back into it and make sure the sprawling tunnels didn’t go to anywhere more dangerous like the royal wing.

“A closed-up room?” Logan said. He could see a bit of curiosity already building in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Virgil said. “Where the door used to be seemed like it had been bricked over.”

“Really? Can you show me.”

“Sure,” Virgil answered.

“Ah, perhaps we should be a bit more cautious about climbing through random tunnels we don’t know the stability of,” Patton’s mom said.

Logan’s frown edged on a pout.

“Talk to your father,” she said. “I’m sure he can get someone who understands these things so you can safely investigate.”

“It was safe enough for Virgil,” Logan pointed out.

“No, Logan.”

He sighed but seemed to concede. That was another strange thing about living here. By all rights Logan didn’t have to obey anyone except the king, but he often listened to those around him, not just the adults but Patton as well. It was interesting though it sometimes made the hierarchy hard to figure out. Virgil did sometimes stress out about the hypothetical situation where he got conflicting orders from two people, and he wouldn’t know which one to obey. So far it hadn’t been a problem luckily. They always seemed to work it out amongst themselves in some give and take social interaction that was a bit too complex for him to understand.

Patton walked over to where Virgil was sitting. “I’m glad your safe,” he said. “We should probably put a time limit on hide and seek in the future, so you know when to come out.”

“Did I win?” Virgil asked. He’d honestly forgotten they’d been playing a game until Patton’s mom had asked how he’d found his way into the cellar.

Patton laughed. “I’d say so, yeah,” he replied. He leaned over to kiss Virgil’s forehead, but drew back immediately with a pinched expression. “You are… very dirty,” he said, rubbing his mouth.

Virgil nodded. “Your mom made me sit on a tablecloth,” he said gesturing to the fabric she’d laid over the chair.

Patton snorted out a laugh. “We’ll get you into the bath when you’re done eating and you can tell us all about your little adventure.”

“I would also like to hear about your discoveries,” Logan said. “Though you are not allowed to sit on the bed until you do not have spider webs in your hair.”

Patton’s eyes widened and he jumped away from Virgil, startling both Virgil and Marisol. The latter hopped from the table onto Virgil’s lap. “Spiders?!”

Virgil tilted his head at him in confusion.

“He isn’t a fan of spiders,” Logan informed him, his voice amused at Patton’s reaction.

Apparently deciding that she was no longer startled, but more confused by the noises Patton had just made, Marisol jumped out of Virgil’s lap to investigate, wrapping her way around Patton’s legs. He bent down to pat her back, though he still looked a bit startled.

“Your cat, huh?” Patton’s mom asked Logan once again. Virgil studied her. She had apparently missed Logan mentioning that he allowed Virgil on the bed. Or perhaps Logan was correct in his insistence that it wasn’t actually that big of a deal here. Virgil would rather not test that assumption, however, so was glad that it had been distracted from by Patton’s outburst.

“Creepy, crawly death dealers,” Patton mumbled into Marisol’s fur, having picked her back up. Virgil made a note to not inform Patton of all of the different types of spiders he’d seen skittering around in the castle walls today. Maybe he’d talk about them with Logan once Patton left. He’d probably be interested. Virgil had seen some he’d never seen before! Logan probably could even help him figure out what their names were. “You’ll protect me, won’t you kitty?” Patton asked Marisol.

She made a little ‘burrrr’ sound in response, which Patton seemed to take a confirmation.

“Aw thank you, baby! Such a good baby.”

50234

Virgil popped the rest of the sandwich into his mouth. Patton’s mom turned away and grabbed a plate stacked with cookies. She handed it to Logan. “Take these, and please get the health hazards out of my kitchen,” she requested.

Logan took them without complaint. “Come on, Virgil,” he said. “Let’s go get you clean.”

“We’re going to need so much soap,” Patton said.

Virgil looked down at himself. “I can go outside and get most of it off if you get me a bucket of water,” he offered.

“Virgil, it’s below freezing,” Logan said as though that had a baring on what he’d just said. Logan sighed. “No. Bathtub.” Virgil shrugged. “Honestly,” Logan said. He turned with the plate of cookies in his hand, clearly expecting to be followed. “You’re not going to catch your death pouring a bucket of water over yourself in the cold when there are literally over a hundred perfectly good bathtubs in this castle. For goodness sakes.” And well, Virgil wasn’t going to complain.

Chapter 34

Patton, to be completely honest, was not all that interested in the room that Virgil had found. Beyond just the fact that it would definitely have creepy crawly death dealers in it, he really did not understand the intrigue. If it had just been him, he probably would have just let a castle worker deal with it, but it was not just him. Logan was ecstatic with the prospect of investigating a secret in the castle. People who didn’t know him well may not believe it considering he spent most of his time with his nose in a book, but he was an adventurer at heart.

Thomas had been easily swayed into finding someone to help tear down part of the wall into the secret tunnel near the room (so no one would have to crawl through the kitchen cellar like Virgil). It had taken a few days, however, and Logan was practically bouncing off the walls waiting. Virgil, despite having already seen the room before, also seemed excited, though if that was because of his own curiosity or because he was just excited that Logan seemed so exited remained to be seen.

“They are silly, aren’t they,” Patton asked Princess Marisol. He was laying on his stomach on Logan’s bed and Princess Marisol had just put her little paw on his nose.

“Yes, I agree,” he said. “Don’t they know that we’re literally going to be 2 feet away from the normal hallway?”

“It is not silly,” Logan defended himself. “Any number of things could go wrong.” He sounded far too excited about the prospect of something going terribly wrong. “The tunnels could cave in and block off the exit or there could be some unknown pathogen in the air.”

Patton did not ruin his fun by mentioning that Logan’s dad had definitely basically baby proofed the tunnels for them ahead of time. Instead, he just said, “Don’t let Virgil hear you say that sort of thing. It will just stress him out.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” he said, waving off Patton’s concerns as he mulled over two different weird green planty things (potion ingredients, Patton assumed) before setting one aside and sticking the other in his bag.

“So silly,” Patton cooed at the cat. Logan let out a huff but did not choose to say anything about it this time.

Speaking of silly, Virgil came back from Logan’s bathroom then, and Patton tried not to giggle. “Is this right?” Virgil asked, sounding and looking confused. Logan, in his overexcitement about adventure had commissioned Virgil an outfit that actually fit. Said outfit, however, very much made it look more like Virgil was going on a safari instead of a two-foot detour from the normal castle hallway.

“Almost,” Logan said, “Here, let me.” Logan started straightening everything out and flattening the collar, reminding Patton of an overbearing parent on picture day. Virgil accepted the fussing without protest. It was adorable. Well, the outfit was ridiculous, but still, adorable. “There,” Logan said. “I think we’re ready to go now.”

It was about time. Patton was sure people were already waiting for them downstairs. Patton got up and patted Princess Marisol on the head. She looked up at them with interest.

“You can stay here, sweetie,” Patton told here. She seemed to consider it and then hopped down from the bed to go rub up against Virgil.

Patton guessed she was coming. It didn’t matter too much since Logan had given her a magical collar that allowed her to open most doors in the castle and everyone knew she was the royal cat now, so if she decided she wanted to come back to the room and nap, she could. (She was very aware of the power she held.)

She pranced happily by Virgil’s side all the way down the steps to the first floor of the castle. She was such a good kitty.

Well, she did hiss angrily at everyone who came too close to them, but still, a very good kitty.

Patton did lean down and pick her up so they could actually talk to the man waiting for them at the large hole in the wall. Logan went to talk to the castle worker while Virgil half hid behind Patton. He was clearly listening very intently to the conversation however, at least more intently than Patton was. Patton was busy shaking his head fondly.

“Yes, yes, Princess,” he said to the cat. “I know we do not trust the strangers, but I promise this stranger is perfectly safe.”

“How do you know?” Virgil asked.

“His name is Chester and I’ve known him since I was 9.”

This seemed to slightly alleviate Virgil’s suspicion, but Princess Marisol still seemed antsy. Patton really needed to start slowly introducing the both of them to more people.

Logan finished talking with Chester after a few moments and it was time to climb through the hole in the wall. He wished he saw in the tunnel whatever Logan with his excited eyes and bounce to his step obviously saw. Or even that was more comfortable in the dark closed in space as Virgil obviously was. As it was, Patton’s nose scrunched up at the thought off all of the spiders that could be living everywhere in the secret tunnel, but he pushed through.

The entrance to the tunnel had been made only a little bit from the room Virgil had mentioned and Chester had led them through it after only a couple of seconds. As Patton had suspected, the room was already lit up and probably cleaned a little bit by the people who had cut into the wall, not that he was complaining.

Virgil was still clinging a bit to Patton’s shirt, though it seemed to be less out of anxiety at this point and more out of a desire to stick close. He was peering around curiously at the lit-up space. He probably hadn’t seen much of it in the dark when he’d been here before.

Yet, his curiosity was nothing compared to how excited Logan seemed to be. Now Patton may have not been interested in the room itself, but he was entertained by how interested Logan was and was happy to encourage that.

“What do you think this place is?” he asked Logan.

Logan hummed contemplatively, eyes looking around. “Well,” he said. “It’s a bedroom clearly, and old. Considering the location it is in in the castle, the size, the decorations, and it’s likely age, I’d imagine it was a bedroom of a royal family member. This used to be the royal wing three royal lines ago.”

“Bearing that in mind, there are a couple of likely possibilities for the origin of the room as well as the reason it was sealed up, but we will need to investigate more in order to come to an actual conclusion.” He had already placed the bag he’d brought on the ground and was going through it, pulling out things that Patton did not recognize. He also got a piece of paper and sat on the floor to start to sketch.

“What are you doing?” Virgil asked.

“I’m sketching the floorplan of the room,” Logan said. “I will then put a grid on it so we can investigate while being sure that we aren’t missing anything.”

Virgil seemed uninterested in this part of the adventure, instead electing to go poking around by himself. Princess Marisol squirmed out of Patton’s arms to go follow him. Patton swore that he only looked away from those two for 5 seconds, but the next thing he knew he heard metal clicking against metal.

“Oh,” Patton said, eyes wide when he saw what Virgil was fiddling with. “Honey, you probably shouldn’t touch…”

The old but fancy looking chest that had been at the end of the remains of the bed creaked open. Virgil sneezed as a cloud of dust puffed out of it. “Huh,” he said studying the contents. “There’s a skull in here.”

“Oh, I don’t like this adventure anymore,” Patton commented.

Logan was on his feet within moments. “Let me see,” he said eagerly.

“What if it’s cursed?” Patton pointed out.

“Then I’ll just break the curse,” Logan waved him off. “Oh, it’s just a horse skull,” Logan said, sounding disappointed. “And also what seemed to be potion ingredients. Though they seem very fresh considering the state of the room.”

“Maybe we should get someone else to…”

Logan already had both arms inside the chest and was pulling things out of it. “This chest must have some sort of stasis effect to it.”

He started pulling things out to look at them before setting them on the floor with no caution. “Well,” he said, “that answers the question of what this room is.”

“It does?” Patton asked.

“Ah, yes, between the horse skull and the potion ingredients, this is obviously the bedroom of Princess Marianne Elicia. She was the third child of King Simon IV and was quite the fan of horses.”

“…So she kept a horse skull in a stasis chest in her bedroom?” Patton asked.

“Of course,” Logan said. “Back when her family was in power, magic was outlawed and had quite the stigma against it, but she ended up learning magic and become quite proficient.”

“It’s debated what exactly happened when her father found out about her activities. Some sources say that she was executed silently by her father, but others say she managed to escape with the head of the stables but not before putting a curse on the country of Prijaznia. That is until she or one of her bloodline sits on the throne, every royal line will end in madness and blood by the 5th seated monarch before an heir is born.”

“Isn’t that something you should be worried about?” Virgil asked.

Logan shrugged. “It’s just a myth,” he said. “Besides I’m 6th in the line, so there really isn’t any concern.”

52142

“There are a lot of interesting things in here,” Logan said, still focused on the chest. “Not to mention the books. We’ll have to be careful with those though since they don’t appear to be in stasis.”

Logan pulled the horse skull out and set it on the floor making Patton wince.

“Marisol no!” he said as Princess Marisol immediately went to go sniff at it. He swooped her up in his arms. “How long are we staying in this creepy room?” Patton asked.

“Patton, we just got here,” Logan said.

“We just got here and already found a skull!”

“Yes! Exactly!”

Patton groaned into Princess Marisol’s fur even as she tried wiggle away to go back and investigate the skull. This was going to be a long day.

Chapter 35

Logan was surprised when he woke up alone in bed. He’d grown to anticipate waking to a smaller body unrelentingly clinging to his in the past couple of weeks. Confused he sat up and peered around his bedroom. He wouldn’t have seen Virgil with the way he melted into the darkness if it he hadn’t heard the sound of purring coming from near the window. He could just barely make out a dark blob shifting up and down at the cat kneaded at a different blob sitting mostly hidden behind the thick curtain.

“Virgil?” Logan questioned. “What are you doing?”

“It’s snowing,” was the answer.

“That is not an answer,” Logan grumbled at the ceiling. With a sigh, he pulled himself out of bed. It was a bit chilly in here, he thought. The temperature must have dipped suddenly and intensely enough that the runes keeping the castle at a warm enough temperature hadn’t caught up yet. He pulled one of the blankets off of the top of his bed to wrap around his shoulders as he approached the window. There wasn’t much light outside, the stars and moon covered by clouds, but there were some lanterns lit for the night guard who patrolled the outside. “Oh,” he said in surprise. “It’s really snowing.”

It had been colder but not quite cold enough for snow to stick the day before, so it came as a surprise when he saw snow was piling up quite high to the point where familiar paths outside his window had disappeared.

“I don’t like it,” Virgil informed him.

“Why not?” Logan asked.

“It’s cold,” Virgil answered. It was clear in his tone that in Virgil’s opinion ‘cold’ was a horrible insult to the concept of snow. Logan quirked a half smile and his attention was drawn to the fact that it was quite cold right here close to the window.

#proofread stories #not writing

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trolleybitch · 3 years

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the trolley witch backstory

okay this is long overdue but i thought it was about time that i shared the official trolley witch backstory from this thread. before we start, what we know about the hogwarts express trolley witch from canon: she was hired by ottaline gambol, had been working on the hogwarts express for around 190 years by the time she met albus potter and scorpius malfoy, she had pumpkin pasty grenades and extendable fingernail spikes, and when she failed to stop the boys from escaping the train, she was inconsolable and talked about letting down ottaline gambol.

so, without further ado, her story:

the year is 1802. trolley witch is born into a poor muggle family in rural northern england and her father leaves shortly after she's born. she grows up lonely and isolated, working from a young age to help her mum make ends meet. age 11, she gets her hogwarts letter.

her mother is a bit dubious but lets her go - it's a good opportunity to get rid of the burden of looking after her. she arrives at hogwarts and is sorted into gryffindor, although she doesn't really know what that means. she doesn't make friends easily.

other kids mock her background and upbringing, and her magic skills. she never really learned to read, and with no magical family she's behind on spells and has never been academically inclined. she doesn't ask for help and her teachers don't always notice she needs it.

mid-second year, her mother dies. she doesn't find out for several weeks because who would write to tell her? she spends all her holidays at hogwarts, often alone. the gryffindor common room is all snide comments and judgemental looks so she starts to explore the castle.

in her third year she finds the kitchens. the house-elves are wary of her at first, this strange, solitary girl coming to spy on them, but she becomes fascinated by cooking and after a while they grow to appreciate her interest. they start to teach her.

by fourth year she spends all of her free time in the kitchens, cooking and baking with the elves. homework and lessons get forgotten and she lags even further behind in her schoolwork, but she learns to follow recipes and then to invent her own.

o.w.l.s and n.e.w.t.s come and go and her grades are poor, barely passing half her classes. a few teachers try to offer specialist tutoring and she accepts half-heartedly but her mind is elsewhere - she only wants to cook, to do the thing she does best.

she leaves hogwarts with nowhere to go and no friends to rely on. who would hire the lowly muggleborn girl with no qualifications? she makes her way to london - she's never been but she's heard people say it's the best place to find work.

the city is overwhelming, but she manages to find diagon alley and the wizarding community. one day when she's lurking outside the back entrance to the leaky cauldron, hoping for scraps, an old teacher passes by and recognises her.

the teacher takes pity and asks if there's anything they can do. trolley witch tells her the only thing she can do is cook. the teacher's sister works at the ministry and she knows they are often looking to take on kitchen assistants - she'll get in touch.

after a few days, she's nervously making her way to the ministry of magic for her first day. the hogwarts kitchens were big and busy but they've got nothing on the ministry; a scene of vast, barely organised chaos. her boss is shrewd and fierce, and she's set to work on the most basic tasks to prove herself.

that afternoon, a senior ministry official comes down to check on catering preparations for an event she's hosting in a couple of days. trolley witch has just finished glazing several pans of pastries. the senior ministry official tries one.

'she's new, miss' says a nearby chef, excusing trolley witch's skills.

'impressive, for a new recruit,' says ottaline gambol, looking trolley witch straight in the eye, 'this glaze is excellent. welcome to the ministry.'

an obsession begins.

ottaline visits the kitchens only occasionally but trolley witch is always waiting for her. she works harder than ever, picking up every recipe, designing new dishes, honing flavour combinations, all to make sure she's got something impressive for the next visit.

it works. the older official is mildly impressed, if a little unsettled by trolley witch's solitary, strange nature. she rarely seems to go home or interact with anyone apart from necessary conversations in the kitchens.

one day, they meet in an elevator as trolley witch is taking food to an important ministry hearing. ottaline asks for a sample and their fingers brush as trolley witch hands her a pumpkin pasty. ottaline doesn't notice, but compliments the pasty. trolley witch tries to keep her composure.

'my department is in need of an assistant catering manager, helping to design event menus and so on. think about it.'

trolley witch doesn't need to think. she accepts and begins work in ottaline's department, seeing her almost every day, watching her closely.

ottaline gambol is a force to be reckoned with - strong-willed, assertive, a powerfully skilled witch. over the next 6 years she charts a meteoric rise in power, from senior official to head of department to - in 1827 - minister for magic.

trolley witch never leaves her side. she works hard to keep honing her culinary skills, but she does more. she waits for ottaline outside meetings to walk her back to the office. she analyses the smallest gesture, the most offhand of comments. she's desperate for approval and attention from this woman who showed her kindess on her first day. by her appointment as minister, ottaline has noticed the girl's obsession. she's got more important things to do than navigate an intense crush and figure out how to let this odd, lonely girl down gently.

in 1830, ottaline is finalising plans for the hogwarts express - a new form of transport to safely deliver students to hogwarts, managed by the ministry. it's revolutionary, it's creating a storm of attention across the wizarding world. and it needs a trolley witch.

someone to cook and sell food on the journey, but someone with a keen eye to watch over the students and make sure they don't come to harm. ottaline calls trolley witch into her ministerial office and offers her the job. it's the greatest honour of trolley witch's life.

to be chosen, so specifically, by ottaline. she feels like she's finally been recognised, she's finally achieved something. she realises she'll be apart from ottaline for a while, but probably just a year or two and then they can be together again, right? she begins work.

1st september, 1830. her first day.

'good luck,' says ottaline on platform 9 3/4. 'keep these children on the train, and keep them safe. i trust you to do an excellent job for me.'

those were the last words ottaline ever spoke to trolley witch.

the train departs. trolley witch walks the corridors, distributing pasties and sweets, watching the children. they are all delivered on time and in perfect health to hogwarts - a great success. trolley witch writes to ottaline straight away to tell her the good news.

'thank you for you letter, i'm pleased to hear the journey was a success. best wishes' is ottaline's reply.

she's probably very busy, will write a longer letter soon, thinks trolley witch. she never does.

trolley witch works back in the hogwarts kitchens during the year, with only the elves for company. years pass and trolley witch continues to write long, rambling letters to ottaline, never receiving a reply. she makes the journey back and forth to london at the beginning and end of every holiday, dutifully watching over the students.

she hopes to see ottaline at the station, but never does. in 1835, tragedy strikes - ottaline, nearing the end of her second term as minister, contracts a severe case of dragon pox and dies. trolley witch sees the news in a student's copy of the daily prophet and is inconsolable. she speaks to nobody for weeks, not even the elves, even when a few other members of staff ask her what's wrong.

one day in the kitchens an elf passes by with a full tray of pumpkin pasties, perfectly glazed. she remembers the first day she met ottaline, back in that busy kitchen, and she vows to protect her legacy. she works tirelessly, baking and cooking and watching the children. they test her patience, play cruel tricks, tease her, never ask her name. she forgets the outside world, forgets who she is, thinks only of ottaline.

every journey on the hogwarts express becomes more perilous - she cannot let the children get the better of her, cannot let ottaline's work be in vain. over the decades she picks up elfish magic, learning to weaponise her food, and later herself.

she goes unnoticed by staff and students alike, existing as a constant feature of their hogwarts life, always present but never worthy of attention. staff come and go, and nobody thinks to ask how long she's been at hogwarts. she stays alive through sheer willpower.

1st september 2020.

a normal hogwarts express journey - or so the trolley witch thinks. all is well until albus potter and scorpius malfoy climb onto the roof of the train to try and escape. it's the greatest test of trolley witch's career.

it's been a long time since she was challenged like this. she does her best - pumpkin pasty grenades, armoured fingernails, but the boys escape. her world shatters around her. ottaline would be so disappointed in her - she's failed in her sole duty.

it's been two hundred years and she has never failed before. mcgonagall tries to comfort her, but it's no use. what purpose does she serve now? trolley witch hands in her notice and leaves the castle the next day, never to be seen again. she wanders the forests near the castle, thinking only of ottaline. perhaps ottaline had known all along that she would fail, and that's why she never replied to her letters, why she never visited. she gets lost, deeper and deeper in the forest, until the cold and the dark envelop her.

when the hogwarts express departs for the christmas holidays, something is missing - someone. students start to get impatient.

'where's the trolley witch? i'm hungry.'

complaints are made. eventually the ministry hires a replacement, service resumes. trolley witch fades into history, unremembered.

so next time you are thinking about cursed child, about your cute albus and scorpius headcanons - remember the trolley witch.

remember what they did to her. remember her story.

🛒 1802-2020 🛒

the end

#ccsquad #harry potter #cursed child #hpcc #trolley witch #ottaline gambol #hogwarts express #headcanons #my hcs #trolleybitch #albus potter #scorpius malfoy #this is probs the best thing i will ever write and i'm not sorry

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p5youllneverseeitcoming · 3 years

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Persona 5 Strikers/Scramble

So! I finished the story of Persona 5 Strikers and I wanted to share my thoughts as I have soooo much to say but cannot share with my friends due to spoilers :’) I am currently playing on a New Game+ as, ya girl wants the Platinum Trophy :o

I will talk about some of the things that I really liked here (Spoiler free don’t worry) AND include spoilery things under the cut so I won’t ruin the experience for anyone else!

The Plot

Obviously this takes place after the original Persona 5 story finishes and as opposed to a whole year, you just get 1 month with the Phantom Thieves. I really liked exploring all the cities you travel to and the character interactions were so cute!! I really like the two new characters introduced (Sophia and Zenkichi Hasegawa). Both of them fit the story so well and their interactions with the other Thieves are honestly so good and pure! Also?? Their outfits? Amazing T_T It was such a nice change seeing everyone in casual outfits as opposed to their school uniforms!

I also loved the fact that you could choose to play with characters that get introduced late game like Haru for example straight away. I for one, always have her in my party as soon as she’s available so having her for the whole game was like a dream come true haha. I’ll talk about Sophia and Zenkichi a bit more under the cut but I will say that it’s so fun to play as them! I personally prefer Sophia more as she has healing skills which are always really useful and she uses yo-yo’s for her weapons which are so fun to use. Zenkichi uses a great sword which is very Final Fantasy of him and I am loving it. I love their Phantom Thief outfits! Sophia looks super cute in her floofy coat and boots and Zenkichi just looks so cool! His hat is goals, I want one T_T

The anime cutscenes in the game are also... Omg... I just can’t help but fangirl over how everyone looks... ESPECIALLY SOPHIA OML, she’s so... Bby... And of course, the dialogue options you can choose are so funny, then again what else can you expect from a game that had the option to say “you jelly?” to Ryuji.

I won’t spoil the main plot but this game works similarly to Persona 5 in the sense of, you still go into dungeons but these ones are a lot shorter and when you leave the dungeon, the days don’t actually move forward, only specific story points advance the days. So essentially if you wished, you can stay and grind for as long as you like!

The Gameplay

I won’t lie, as expected from a hack-and-slash it gets quite chaotic at first if you don’t fully know what’s going on but you get used to it pretty quickly! The game gives you tutorials whenever anything new appears and you get the hang of it pretty well by the first dungeon. You still only have 4 characters in your party and Akira must always be present but here you can actually run around as the other party members when the battles are over! Also? Morgana gets comical sound effects when he does things like jumping and running and I was LIVING for it.

The other thing that changed is, obviously it’s not turn based so if you were like me and wore the SP restoring accessories to get 7SP back each turn, you’re in for a last surprise! In this game you actually use your items quite a lot as there isn’t a limit to how much you can use as you access them mid battle by pausing. Later on you get specific skills that restore your SP after each battle or by performing All Out Attacks and 1 More’s so honestly, SP isn’t really a problem for regular battles. I mainly found it running out quickly when I was fighting some of the optional bosses but I always had SP restoring items so it was all good hehe.

You still do things like All Out Attacks and 1 More’s in this game but you also do something called ‘Showtime’ which is very similar to the ones introduced in Royal only in Strikers it’s for one character, you basically build up the showtime gauge as you battle enemies and, once activated, you deal significant damage to stronger enemies like bosses as well as all of the enemies in the area. The All Out Attacks also have their own little animation with your party posing and just looking really good!

Yusuke being so extra is honestly such a mood omg... Also Mona T_T So smol.

Every party member has their own special quirks such as Ann and Makoto applying Fire and Nuclear affinity respectively to their regular weapons, Morgana turning into the Mona car and so on. I personally always had Haru and Yusuke in my party and kept switching between the other Thieves to see what I like best. Personally, I really like having Morgana or Sophia as they’re really good healers, Morgana obviously having the more powerful skills such as Mediaharan and Salvation.

Also... The menus... Omg... If you thought the Persona 5 menu was stylish then you will LOVE the Strikers menus. They’re so stylish! And I love that all the Phantom Thieves are there too, it’s so cute T_T

The only thing I don’t like is the game doesn’t pause when your controller dies so uh... I may or may not have died during a boss battle when I was like 2 hits away from winning and then just... Stopped moving letting the boss hit me with a killing combo :)

To be honest though the party that I had pretty much all the time was:

But as I said, I liked to change Morgana and Sophia around every now and then.

The Music

Omg the music. Atlus really just said: Hey what if we made Persona 5 music again but like... More epic?

The song that plays right as soon as you have control of Joker is SO. GOOD. I legit had to pause for like 5 mins just to jam out. I don’t think it will come as much of a surprise but in my opinion, Persona 5 definitely has one of the best video game soundtracks, I absolutely love all the songs!

I will discuss some of the dungeon themes in the spoilers but I absolutely love the soundtrack for this game. Every dungeon theme is so fitting for said dungeon, I genuinely listen to them all the time, especially when doing my research for my essays!

The battle music is really energetic as opposed to the jazzy feel from the original Persona 5 soundtrack but it’s very fitting for the actual battle as you often fly all around the area instead of standing in one spot. I will say, Last Surprise made an excellent comeback despite being an already amazing song which is just, amazing, incredible, fantastic...

Other things

Well, I can’t go into detail due to spoilers but they deadass put a JoJo reference as well as a character in the game :’) The moment I saw them I was fangirling so hard!!! Also? The villain designs in this game??? Amazing. Beautiful. Very creative!

The Phantom Thieves interacting with each other is also really cute! I ESPECIALLY liked the fact that Morgana and Ryuji got along a lot better! They still had small fights here and there but they pretty much apologised to one another straight away which I really liked! Also? Ryuji protecting his friends, especially the girls? Amazing. Wonderful. Cannot help but stan.

Well, that concludes the non-spoiler section which.... Is kinda long haha, Below the cut I will talk about the spoilery things so I advise looking at it AFTER you finish the game!

The Plot

The plot of this game is really fun if you ask me. You travel around Japan defeating Monarchs in Jails AND you get to experience the joys of summer vacation with your friends and your new Persona dad. I really like the fact that you don’t advance time when you leave the Jails because this gives you the chance to grind as much as you want before tackling harder fights like some of the optional bosses. The boss designs themselves were so good! Especially Alice?! My God? She’s beautiful?? Look at her!

Persona 5 Strikers said you can be horny on main... Just this once o_o. She literally steps on Joker in the Jail which o_o Ma’am... Plz but she ALSO steps on her manager in the real world.

I really liked all the bosses in this game because they felt so... Real? Obviously I don’t agree with them for brainwashing people into worshipping them, but I really like how the game gave them backstories that showed why they strayed away from the right path. The fact that the Thieves tell them that they understand their struggles because they themselves went through the same thing (Like Ann and Yusuke) honestly made me appreciate the story that much more. I really liked Haru’s little arc in Sapporo because not only did she help Mariko Hyodo and show her that despite mistakes you can always stand up and start again, but she also got to have more screentime, like that cute fountain scene she has with Akira! ALSO? The Hee-Horde?! I was laughing for a solid 5 minutes when I saw it! It was so cute how Haru, Sophia, Ryuji and Yusuke were so into it while Futaba was just there like: ????

I think my favourite Jail out of all of them will definitely have to be the Kyoto one, a.k.a. the Jail controlled by Zenkichi’s daughter, Akane. Despite how short it is, you can learn so much about her. The overall aesthetic of the jail shows her love to the Phantom Thieves and in the actual Jail theme you can hear fragments of ‘Life Will Change’ and ‘Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There’ which I think is absolutely amazing! The boss fight for this jail honestly took me 3 tries to beat as the first time, I died due to not fully getting how Shadow Joker worked, and the second time, I was about 2 hits from beating him but then... My controller died :’) By the time it turned back on I was already c-c-c-c-comboed to death so :’) This is also the jail where Zenkichi awakens to his Persona and honestly? I found the little segment where he has to sneak around in his usual everyday attire so cute, bless him, he really did adopt 7 teenagers, their cat and an AI daughter.

ALSO?! They deadass put Dio in this game? Like when I first saw Natsume’s shadow I was like: Hm looks kinda familiar...

BUT THEN?!

Needless to say I was fangirling pretty hard.

I liked Akira Konoe, very much vibing with his Power Ranger aesthetic however, I have to say, his boss fights was surprisingly... Easy? At least it felt easy to me which was kind of... Disappointing I suppose for him supposedly being “the final boss” HOWEVER, I very much liked how his calling card was delivered, and the fact that Zenkichi could finally get his revenge was very satisfying!

Now, let’s talk about the end game, mainly the Abyss Jail. I did NOT see it coming (haha) that it was Ichinose all along! As I’m currently replaying the game, the fact that she doesn’t want to look at Sophia despite specialising in AI technology should have been my first clue that something is not quite right here!

When she forces Sophia to attack the Thieves, it honestly broke my heart. The fact that she recognised Joker and Skull... And she threw herself off the ledge just so she can’t hurt them anymore... Yo, I love her so much T_T That’s why her awakening to her Persona (her true Persona) was such a satisfying scene! Her Persona (Pandora) has a really cool design, I especially like the fact that she represents the Hope Arcana (as there was hope left at the bottom of Pandora’s box) and that Pandora herself kept the box-y design from her original “Persona” Pithos. I found it quite funny that all the skills Pithos has ended with a “?”. Anyway, the scene where she tells Ichinose all the things she learnt, and that Ichinose herself has a heart despite believing that she doesn’t for so long was so touching. It showed that Sophia deeply cares for her, despite the fact that she literally said she’s the reason so many people are getting mind controlled by EMMA. The ending scene with the two of them laughing and holding hands... My heart T_T

Now then, let’s talk about EMMA.

I. Loved. The. Final. Boss. Fight.

The fact that the game makes you use ALL the characters for the final fight! As I usually switched out characters here and there, my reserve party members weren’t severely under-levelled which made the fight pretty okay! I had quite... Strange groups I would say as I had Makoto and Zenkichi being a team, Morgana, Ann and Ryuji being a team, and Akira, Haru, Yusuke and Sophia being the final team. The final boss itself, has an absolutely beautiful design. I especially loved the angel like wings because it really showed that EMMA saw herself as a saviour. The cutscene that plays after with all the Thieves dealing the final blows before watching all the desires fall around them was honestly so pretty... Man, this game series is just so aesthetic!

When the credits rolled and all the photos started appearing I couldn’t help but start crying. It really felt like you were actually there, living through all the memories and the fact that Sophia called the photo of all of them together “Treasure”... T_T

The Gameplay

I already pretty much said all I wanted for the gameplay in the non-spoiler section but I will say, the Showtimes and the Master Skills each character learns are so good! I love that once you master all of them you’re bascially unstoppable, I especially love Haru’s and Akira’s as it allows them to deal damage even if they’re a safe distance away from the enemy. The fact that you can learn Bond skills that restore SP with every All Out Attack and One More is honestly so helpful because it saves you going back and forth between the real world but then again, by this point you probably have way too many HP and SP restoring items!

I really liked that Zenkichi has no weaknesses and uses Almighty damage but I find the whole Fury/HP consumption combination a bit weird. After a while you get used to it and obviously you don’t have to activate fury at all but as I said before, I prefer playing as Sophia. Although, I will say that gun wise, I think Zenkichi’s are a lot more fun to use than Sophia’s blasters, but then again that’s just my personal opinion!

The Music

As I said, the music was so fitting for each Jail, I absolutely love it.

The first Jail, you honestly can’t help but bop your head to the beat. It really gives you the impression that you’re in some kind of twisted theme park which really fit the overall aesthetic of the Jail. I loved the vibrant neon colour scheme in such a dark looking place.

The Okinawa Jail... My God that theme was so good. I can’t really explain it but the song really made you feel like you were... Alone, like the place was truly abandoned and forgotten. As soon as the violin started playing I couldn’t help but just stop and listen to it. The overall jail was just so... Creepy. The Shadows there resemebled the shadows you would usually find in the previous Persona games, just this black mass slithering around. I think it was very fitting that they put the Reaper in this Jail.

As I mentioned before, the Kyoto Jail theme is my absolute favourite. The fact that it has elements of other Persona 5 songs due to Akane being a big Phantom Thieves fan was such a good choice! I love how when you take a closer look, you can see the Phantom Thieves logo on the lanterns and the fact that Shadow Akane herself made a Phantom Thief outfit for herself... Big mood. I loved how all the Thieves encouraged her to try and get along with her dad better AND that they taught Zenkichi how to cook just so he can make curry for her, especially when you remember just how much curry means to someone like Futaba.

I really liked the remix of Rivers in a Desert, then again what did I expect from a Persona game? The battle music is ALWAYS amazing. I really liked how this played when you fight Konoe as it parallels when you fight Shido in the original, supposedly the final fight, only to find out that there is something MUCH bigger than them.

Other things

This post is already way too long and if you read all of this... Thank you so much. Sadly, I cannot share this with any of my friends as it’s spoilers so I hope you guys don’t mind me sharing this here! I would love to see your opinion of this game!!!

Also? Yusuke and Akira are now canonically dating and I think that’s beautiful

And then that scene later on

Why do you think we came here with Yusuke, Morgana?

TL;DR: I love this game

#p5s #persona 5 #p5 #persona 5 strikers #persona 5 scramble #p5s spoilers #persona 5 scramble spoilers #persona 5 strikers spoilers

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lideria · 4 years

Text

Open Book. | Johnny

Request: Hi! 😊 Can I ask for a Johnny imagine wherein he finally had time for a solo vacation in some other country after his very busy idol schedules. Then he meets this girl who stays in the same hotel and also in her own vacation. Btw, I love your fluffy stories ❤

Author’s Note: I kind of really don’t like this, I kind of think it’s cringey but I worked on it so much that I want to publish its first version heheh I hope you it lives up to your expectations! Plus, I hope you get to learn this amazing country a little, because traveling there has been at the top of my bucket list since I first learned about it when I represented it at an MUN conference back in high school lol

Warnings: Some swear words, mentions of drinking/intoxication, suggestive towards the end, kind of dialogue heavy, representations might not be at their best so please let me know if there are any problems. English is my second language so there might be errors, and that must be it. Please let me know if there is more!

Word Count: 4.262 kinda long

Genre: Fluff all around, Angst if you squint like you have really bad eyesight, traveler!reader, fem!reader (I have all of my fics besides this gender neutral, but I thought since it was requested specifically I’d make this fem!reader)

Hope you all enjoy and hope this is not as cringey as it is to me!! Stay safe and healthy, take good care of yourselves for me 💚Have a happy morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!

Going on vacation alone after many years of constant company is weird for Johnny.

It starts off normal. He goes to the airport accompanied with some managers, with a private car. His disguise is more secretive than ever— no special airport outfit, no make up, face mostly covered with glasses, a mask and a hat to make sure no photographers or fans spot him throughout the procedure. The only suspicious thing is that he gets special treatment with VIP access to avoid waiting in the lines and get over with everything quickly, but to his luck, nobody seems to suspect anything.

The weirdness of everything starts then. Managers leave when he passes passport control and gets into the duty free area. For the first time in years, he is completely alone. It is somewhat overwhelming.

But Johnny manages to keep his calm and go to his gate for the first of his flights. He gets to his business class seat, not bothering to take off his mask or glasses yet, and tries the in-flight entertainment system. Though, he has already memorized everything that it has to offer, so he opts for listening to music and editing a few experimental shots and videos he has taken instead before going to sleep.

When the flight is over and he checks his phone for the first time, he finds the group chat filled with encouraging messages and good wishes, which he finds is exactly what he needs.

It is early in the morning when he lands in Paris, and he has a couple hours to spare before his second long haul flight to Pointe-à-Pitre. So he treats himself to a breakfast before rushing to his gate. This flight of almost nine hours of flying does not seem to end since he has grabbed quite a bit of sleep on his first one. He does everything to keep himself occupied, walking up and down the plane’s aisles to make up for the lack of activity that his legs were getting. Somehow that flight also ends without much hassle. It ultimately ends up being the one that messes up his sense of time, since his body thinks it is 3 pm whereas the time in Pointe-à-Pitre is in fact 9 am when they land.

Within a matter of an hour is his flight to Bridgetown, and after his two long haul flights, this short flight of just over an hour is basically nothing. It comes and goes with a blink of his (very tired) eyes.

In all honesty, it awes Johnny that his luggage does not get lost during this almost a day long— 21 and a half hours, to be exact— travel, and he wants to thank every airline and airport worker ever for doing a phenomenal job.

But he cannot, because shortly after landing he has to take a boat ride to his final destination.

The lands are beautiful, the ocean more so, with their blinding greens and blues. His mask and glasses he had gotten rid of on his flight from Paris, but the glasses quickly make a come back, along with his hat under the morning sun. The guide that is designated for him and the group of people he takes the boat ride with takes them to their hotel, and after checking in and being guided to his little villa, Johnny is able to stand in an open space with a private bed and bathroom.

But it is all worth it. Because as he looks out of the windows that cover the side of the villa that looks out to the ocean, he can see the beautiful bay and the islands and the beauty of nature, with its bright colors and white noise that is the screeching of bugs.

Why travel so much? Well, if he had gone to a known, tourist-dense place, he probably would not get what he wanted to get— which is to relax. Truly let go of everything for a while. Disappear, even, with people not knowing him, ultimately resulting in him forgetting his usual life as well. He wants to be a bit invisible for once.

And St. Vincent and the Grenadines was the perfect place for that. He had been interested in this place for years after first seeing a random video that popped up on his YouTube recommended. Locals were known to be angels of hospitality, everyone seemed to be happy, views were amazing, yet it somehow attracted less tourists than the surrounding countries.

With a good ten days to spare here, the first thing he knows he will do is take a nap. For at least a good couple of hours. So he takes off his t-shirt that smells of all kinds of airports and plane seats, puts his glasses and hat somewhere, and does just that. Luggage still packed and all.

Only after waking back up does he even bother with unpacking his luggage, and to be honest, it is only because he wants to take his trunks out and head to the beach. He looks.. disheveled at best, or so he decides when he is putting some sunscreen on very carefully as it is just past the afternoon and he has a good chance of getting a burn otherwise. Johnny’s face is puffy, both from traveling and sleeping, and his nose is acting up a little— blocked because of all the air and pressure change. But is it enough to stop him from exploring around? No. Not really.

The bay is not crowded when he walks down save for a few groups of people and a couple others that are alone. It smells like sea salt and overall freshness, with small waves hitting the shore and a few yachts in the distance. The sand is almost white under his feet and the water is a beautiful turquoise.

What is truly different to him, though, is the fact that the beach seems to be silent. Sure, some people a few years younger than him were playing with a beach ball in the water and provided some noise, but not too much. It was almost too peaceful as he swam a few laps in the water.

That is not to say it does not feel magical and amazing, though, because it does.

He takes his time swimming around, looking down to see any formations or life in the clear water before coming out. In the heat that is much more manageable than back in Seoul, he walks back to his place, takes a shower, and dresses back up to go outside.

The resort is stupidly big. There are many facilities, pools, sports grounds, restaurants, entertainment areas and access to different bays that he feels overwhelmed by the time his stomach starts crying out for dinner— and even by then, he is not done with exploring the whole place.

It is only when he takes a brochure from a random information point and looks at it that he realizes this whole island belongs to this resort, because it is privately owned.

Looking at the map for directions, he goes to the nearest restaurant. It is fairly small, more like a pub than a restaurant, so he sits at the bar. The waiter hands him a menu with a smile on his face, and Johnny does not hesitate to smile back before thanking him.

There are so many options on the menu. Some local food, some not, some snacks, some appetizers, some main, some desserts, but basically too many. Especially since they all sound good to his stomach that craves something other than plane food.

“You seem lost, want help?” Somebody leans on the bar as they speak to him, and he picks his head up to look at them. A girl. A very pretty girl with a warm smile on her face. “Actually, yeah. I’d appreciate some help.”

Without even glancing at the menu, you respond. “Roasted breadfruit and fried jackfish tends to be good anywhere. It’s the national dish, can’t really go wrong with that.”

Your confidence beams like a shining star, so Johnny finds himself trusting you. He orders his meal with, again, a smile on his face, and gets flustered when the waiter compliments his outfit choice genuinely. So far, the locals really did seem very happy and positive, because the guide was also the same. Always smiling. And Johnny really appreciates that.

You, who is now sitting on the stool next to him order some roasted breadfruit yourself, before coming eye to eye with Johnny and chuckling a bit awkwardly. “Is it okay if I sit here?”

It kind of makes him feel bad that you felt the need to even ask him that, so he relaxes himself in an attempt to hopefully not look too intimidating anymore, and nods. “You don’t have to ask. Sorry, it’s just been a long travel day.”

Your smile grows wider. “Oh I know that feeling all too well. You look nothing like me when I’m just done traveling, though. I wish I could look like that.”

Something about the sentence makes Johnny smile to himself, and you seem to notice that, because you clear your throat. “I mean,” You let out before clearing your throat one more time because your voice is not quite like how it was. “I’m a full time traveler. I just wish it’d get easier by now.”

“You’re a full time traveler?” Johnny asks. He can smell the food being cooked now, and it smells absolutely delicious. Enthusiastically, you nod. “How come?” Because you look maybe his age, maybe a few years older or younger, whatever it is— you look around the same age. Full time traveling would have sounded like a good stretch (anyone your age) if it was not for the confidence you were radiating.

“I have a goal of traveling to 120 countries. Made it my job, I work for several magazines and networks writing about my experiences. Plus filming a documentary— but all by myself so it’s not like I’m getting payed for that or anything.” All of that sounds so incredibly cool to him, he cannot help but feel his eyes widen. “Everything I do is so that I can pay off the traveling expenses.”

“That sounds amazing,” Johnny says with a smile on his face, awed at the fact that you get to do this for a living, at least for now. The waiter comes back with their food, and the two of you thank him before digging into your servings. It is either because Johnny is really hungry, or because the dish tastes so good, or both, but it is delicious. Breadfruit is something he had not tried before but he finds himself loving it.

He kind of groans, which is embarrassing. “This is amazing.” It prompts a giggle out of his companion, and he too huffs at his own remark. “So, how many countries have you been to?”

Biting a breadfruit piece, you answer. “Ninety three,” You say it as if it is nothing. “So I’m starting to slow down a little. I’ve been here before, but I wanted to take a bit off my savings and have a vacation. Pamper myself, I guess.”

“Excuse me, ninety three?” Johnny asks in awe, grabbing a bite of his salty fish. You looked around the same age as him. “How long have you been doing this for?”

Your eyes roll upward, recollecting memories and counting the time. “Three years? More or less.”

“You’re crazy.” He chuckles lightly, to which you join. “I am.”

He continues to talk with you, asking you questions about how and why. It takes some time for him to actually ask you your name, but he does— luckily you are not insulted or suspicious by the fact that it takes him at least a good hour of conversing before he can ask you. In fact, you have a positive energy with the way you speak and act throughout the time the two of you spend which could only hopefully mean good. Because Johnny finds you really interesting, the initial physical attraction put aside. You sound like an open book that he would love to read.

Luckily, you give him a chance. Before you have to leave to catch up with your work, you suggest him something. “Are you by yourself?” Johnny nods at your question as he finishes up his meal. “No tours or anything?” Contradictory to his last answer, he shakes his head. When he looks at you, you smile to him, trying to ease the words. “During the day I’m usually island-hopping. I could show you around, if you’d like.”

The suggestion makes him feel all happy-go-lucky inside, and he can feel it reflecting by the way he smiles. “Do you suggest this to everyone?”

You do not answer. But the way your cheeks get slightly pink as you turn away from him with a chuckle is all the answer he needs.

The next morning you call his phone— the one in his little villa, that he had given its number of before you two parted your ways. It was too early in the morning, and your voice was not beaming the way it did the day before, but you still sounded more enthusiastic than he ever could. “Do you like hiking?”

Johnny kind of whines a little before he can catch onto what he is doing and stop himself. He really wants to relax, but he had the unfortunate chance of fortunately meeting you. “Is hiking literally the first thing we’re doing?”

“I was gonna do this before I met you too, so,” You yawn. “Plus, it’s not like we’ll hike in some forest. I’ll take you to an active volcano.”

It sounds too cool for him to not agree.

First you two meet up at the restaurant you had met in, having some light breakfast and coffee before you leave the resort. You take him to the port, saying you will have to take a ride to another island— Saint Vincent to start your hike. You inform him that the peak is at a whopping 1,234 meters which sounds really fun considering the way up will all be on foot not to mention the rocky trail, but in return, you promise him a beautiful view and countless photo-ops. Plus the ability to say I’ve hiked all the way up to the crater of an active volcano.

The boat ride is short and before he knows the two of you are already on the trail between groups of tourists. The weather is only just starting to get hotter when you start hiking, but he knows it will not be much of a problem anyway with the height you are hiking up today.

“So,” You start speaking after a while of silence as you walk beside him. “You interviewed me enough yesterday. It’s only fair if I get to interview you.”

“Go ahead.” He says in a heartbeat, looking down at the bay the two of you were coming from. It was a good drop down, but considering how long it had been since you both started hiking, he would guess you are not even a quarter way done. “Who even is Johnny? What does he like to do? What does he not like? What is the one thing he can't back out of?”

He laughs at the curiosity that is in your voice, and at the questions before he starts answering. “Optimistically I’m a giant with way too big of a coffee and Coldplay addiction and love for photography, pessimistically I’m one tired guy that is long overdue a vacation, and realistically I’m just Johnny.”

Johnny sees you scrunch your lips and nodding. “That sounds pretty legit.”

That makes him laugh, and you do not hesitate to join him.

You two hike your way up to the volcano, and honestly speaking, it is maybe one of the coolest things he has done before. And you were right— there really are lots of beautiful sceneries with a three sixty view of the island, yachts in the water, the clouds, the colorful native flora and fauna, the crater of the active volcano for goodness’ sake, and the occasional wildlife that got close enough.

The hike takes around 6 hours. It is the evening by the time you get back to your resort and have dinner, and you only converse during dinner before calling it a night.

Next day you take him to Saint Vincent once again, this time to walk around the Botanic Garden. You tell him it is one of the oldest in the world, and that he can take photo-card-worthy shots, even film something if he wants to. He lets you show the way around ferns, palms, agave trees, cinnamon and breadfruit trees as parrots chirp and fly around. He learns that they are the national animal when a staff member spots him trying to take a photo of the birds and tells him, pointing at one colored blue, green and yellow before patting the flag on his work uniform. The middle-aged-almost-old guy laughs when realization dawns on Johnny and his mouth parts, with your sweet giggle in the background.

Johnny would not mind looking dumb if it gets you giggling that way again.

On the fifth day of his trip that rolls around way too fast, you to go to the market place on the main island. Not necessarily buying anything as most things sold are local produce, just looking for souvenirs of any kind, but all he ends up with is a magnet for each member and some baked goods because it is not strictly tourist season yet.

You take him to a restaurant that you know the owners of— which is kind of mind blowing to him how you can remember specific people after traveling to ninety three countries— and order a bunch of drinks with roasted breadfruit. You tell the family that owns the place that he is a friend of yours, a friend of yours who is visiting for the first time and has come from far away. And he hears the words Seoul, South Korea.

He cannot bring himself to listen to much after that.

Even when the older sister of the bartender that is serving you both tells him that the rums are quite dense in alcohol, and that one of the beers might taste a bit different to him since it is made of tree barks and spices, he does not care too much.

There are lots of shots placed in front of you, and you call for him to clink his glass with yours in cheers before he tries. He does what you say, but stops before any of you can drink. “How do you know where I came from?”

Johnny hears you chuckle airily before smirking a little and leaning towards him on the counter. “Well I’ve visited South Korea before, and it’s hard not to know when I’ve literally walked into your face at a mall. Went there for the library, originally.”

It makes sense. The Coex mall. A weirdly serious tourist attraction because of Starlight Library, neighboring his agency’s museum, which thought it is for whatever reason necessary to put digital screens everywhere with idols’ displays on them. The world is so small. Even when he is at a place so little that it is a literal dot on the world map, he is somehow spotted. But this time it does not feel all that serious.

“But I swear that’s not why I approached you at first. I didn’t even realize until I went over a few videos the other day and literally saw your face in one of them. Imagine the horror I went through.” You laugh lightly before clinking his glass again. “For a good minute I thought you’d think of me as a crazy fan or something.”

“I was about to, just now.” He sees your face change in shock and mocked hurt, and raises his glass a little in defense. “But I didn’t. Your explanation makes enough sense.”

You laugh. “Just down the drink, Suh. You need to get tipsy already.” He sees you down yours and smile a little afterwards, and you shrug, just as he brings his glass to his lips. “For the record, I don’t care. Like you said, realistically you’re just Johnny.”

He downs the drink with a dumb smile on his face.

The two of you return to the resort slightly tipsy that day, but it does not stop you from going out the upcoming day.

You go to Kingstown again and walk around looking at the buildings and the Gothic churches that seemed to be everywhere despite the town’s small size, taking photographs and interacting with the locals. He finds himself to be greatly inspired by the coexistence of the English colonial architecture that looks old, intimidating and grey, with the colorful, wooden and inviting local architecture— he photographs almost every street you two pass, sometimes even asking locals if he could photograph them. It is a generally more relaxing day as you hang out and eat and drink and speak and support the local businesses, dedicating time to each other.

On the seventh day, he basically gets dragged out of his room with you promising that you will give him the last two days of him to laze around. Until this point he had already skipped swimming in any way for 2 days, and he really wanted to have relaxed beach days with the comfort of a bed available to him at anytime because who knew when he would get another vacation like this.

But he internally shuts his internal voice up when your boat ride (a different kind this time) brings you to a waterfall inside a canyon.

Johnny comes to learn you are an adventure addict, one that likes to share her experiences. And he loves that about you.

Well.

Johnny comes to learn that he himself is a bit of an adventure addict when he kisses you on the night of the ninth day.

In all of his defense, there was a fair share of attraction. The initial attraction was undeniable. He would have liked to think it was mutual. And maybe it was, because you had kissed him back.

Not only did you kiss him back, but you let him hold your hand and lead you to his room for privacy. You let him caress you, your cheek and your waist as he kisses you against the wall. You let him lay you down on his bed. You let his hands roam around your body, and you roam your hands around his as well. You let him mark you up in his moment of bad, tipsy judgement, the plum colored bruises splattered around your chest and stomach where his hands bunch your top up. And maybe just to get even, you lay him down mark him up too, focusing on his collarbones. You both let each other elicit such sounds from one another, it is almost hard to believe that you two had just met several days ago.

It is a tipsy mistake at worst. Neither of you goes further out of mutual respect.

Yet maybe it is not the worst, because you sleep and wake up together. Still tangled in each other.

It is the tenth day. In a matter of hours, he has to be at the port to go to Bridgetown again and start the madness that is his way back.

“I don’t wanna leave yet,” He complains as he rubs your arm that is slung over his chest, getting a hum from you, though not the kind you had made last night. “Why?”

“My sense of time was just getting better,” That gets an unenthusiastic giggle from you. “Ouch.”

“Why?” Shrug. “I thought it was because of me or something.”

You are joking, but he does not get it. He looks down at you, meeting his gaze with yours when you tilt your neck up to look at him. Even better, he furrows his brows. “You’re part of the reason why. Probably the biggest part.”

Silence. But you smile softly, which makes him smile softly.

You can see the hope inside his eyes, and when he parts his lips, you cut him off. “Don’t even ask. Dating and traveling full time don’t exactly go hand in hand.”

What you say does not even faze Johnny. “I can imagine. But I’m willing to learn more about you, if you let me,” He mumbles sleepily. “I don’t mind waiting if we want something to happen. And I don’t mind having a kick-ass friend who’s traveled to 120 countries if we decide we don’t want something to happen.” This time, he shrugs. “Win-win either way.”

His fake carelessness makes you laugh even though you are too tired to laugh fully, and in the end you just end up smiling way too wide to the point where your cheeks hurt. You would like everything he just said and more. “If you insist. Are you ready to hear the classiest thing about me yet?”

“Hm?”

“You need to e-mail me or call me from Skype because half the time I don’t even have connection.” Looking at his sleepy, dumbfounded face you laugh a little, but he shrugs again.

“I could work with that.”

#nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct fluff #nct 127 imagines #nct johnny imagines #johnny imagines #nct x reader #nct johnny #johnny suh #johnny #if this doesn't get posted in tags like what happened with a piece yesterday i'm gonna sue #good night to meeee

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ottomations · 3 years

Text

A giant iron vault door, the cosmetic aspect of it was intimidating to say the least.

Sounds of the redstone, hard at work, poured through the gaps of the blackstone and obsidian walls wherever it could. The many doors and platforms were all designed for the prison to be at maximum security.

Tapping of boots on the ground, one was more metallic and the other was the soles of regular sneakers— squeaking every now and then on the smooth surface.

The warden, guiding the visitor through the process, led them to the aquamarine lamps that shone dimly underneath the black-tinted glass.

Raising the sharp, fire aspect axe, Sam spoke behind his mask,

“Punz, I’m going to have to do a manual check for Items— to make sure you’re not carrying anything into the cell.”

“Alright, got it. Do what you need to do,” the hooded blonde responded, icy eyes blinked to the tip of their shoes as they held their arms loosely to the side.

It was a quick inspection. The burning lingered lightly as the poison seeped into the visitor’s skin, the cold water caused it to finally fade away.

The sounds of the ink swirling in the small, glass pot and the quill writing on the page of the forms was the only sound other than the running lava to both of their lefts. Each of the signatures were neat for a person like them, reading out ‘Punz.’

Punz blanked out for a few of the next parts in the process, mainly remembering the hot lava on his skin feel like a warm, summer day instead of the inferno of the nether.

He was now just staring at a curtain of lava, The Warden filled the silence every minute or two with a reassurance that the lava, “takes a moment to clear away.”

The curtain fell, revealing a horned man with hair that resembled Captain Puffy’s. He seems scared of who was going to visit him, pressing his body against the back wall of the cell. After seeing the blue eyes and platinum hair, Dream calmed and relaxed— seeming relieved.

The brick platform below Punz’s feet moved towards the prisoner, the bubble of the lava resonating in their ears. Stepping off the contraption, they felt the floor of obsidian— regular and cracked. There were scratches and chips in the walls and floor accompanying different spots and marks of dried blood.

The curtain falls, the barricade is lowered.

Silence, a mumble here and there from Dream.

Punz sighed, walking closer as they grasped the right sleeve of their hoodie with the opposite hand, “Dream, are you still...” he paused, collecting his voice with a cough as he took a deep inhale, “are you mad at me?”

Not replying, the prisoner grazed his swollen, bruised cheek. It definitely seemed new. Punz was worried, making a stride closer to Dream and reaching out their hand to wait for a reaction.

“Dream,” they called again, the other had no reaction— again.

Sigh, “Dream.”

The stern tone and the ‘woosh’ in the air caused the ram child to look up. Punz’s arm came down to their sides, stiffly.

“I’m... I’m sorry, truly I am... there’s... stuff going on and—“ the innate rubbed his eyes, dark circles have accumulated from the lack of cushioned resting grounds, “I’m like... glad you came— I’m glad i swear.”

“Well...” the blonde looked around before refocusing on Dream, “While we’re getting this out of the way, i’m a.. a huge dick for- for just excepting the offer from... tommy and stuff...”

Dream gestured for them to sit down on the floor, each doing so.

“And I’m... I’m also sorry for... you— I was really split on the decision between your side and.. his.”

The prisoner nodded slightly and slowly in response, blinking back the moist feeling in his eyes.

“It’s my... my fucking fault for even paying you like... the amount I was, it was such a bad accommodation for what.. what you were doing.”

Punz didn’t reply, being silent for a period of time as Dream continued to stroke and rub the cuts and bruises on his body. They were concerned, although it didn’t seem like a good segway to just ask what they were.

“So how has been your time in... the prison?”

“Definitely... Definitely could be better... I’ve been visited by Tommy... Bad... Sapnap... Ranboo— I think...” eyes closed as his Adam’s apple bobbed, “Quackity has been visiting.. every day...”

“What... what does he want?”

“Well... Tommy was... revived... the information went around... fast— a-and he wants to.. wants to know the secret to revival and stuff...”

Punz started to connect the dots, Quackity? This? To Dream for crying out loud??

“Did... you tell him?”

“N... no— well— he did first ask for the book, but I already... burned it. After... refusing to give information...” streaks of warm tears ran down his face, the emeralds of his irises disappeared as the eyelids closed shut.

Dream unzipped the shirt of the orange outfit that he wore, taking it off to a mostly ripped, white tank top. The rips and tears revealed large scars and cuts in his torso that were definitely not there before his imprisonment. Some were still bleeding or open, the scars haven’t formed at all.

Punz gasped at the sight reaching to lightly graze their fingertips on the wounds— causing a reaction of pain in Dream’s face, drawing in air through his gritted teeth. They lifted and pulled the hood off of their head.

Dream couldn’t help but inspect how the other changed from their last interaction, their back hair was kept in a tight bun that sat at the crown of their head. Bangs still hung forwards and swept right to keep out of Punz’s eyes

Speaking of his eyes, there was a specific glisten that wasn’t in them anymore. It reminded Dream of contacts. What could he be hiding?

“I’m.. so sorry for you. I didn’t think that this would happen...”

“I knew it was bound to have someone yearning for the information... but I didn’t think torture would be one of the options... I don’t...” the taller sniffled as his knees curled to his chest, careful to not touch the tender skin.

Both of them paused to recollect their thoughts.

“So Punz... how is... how is the uh... outside,” Dream asked, the hunt for an answer commenced.

“It’s alright, that... th-the... egg... is... w... wonderful, it’s great!” They responded, seemingly in a trance.

“Punz... please, are you okay?”

“Yep! no... I’m perfectly fine, everything’s weird...” a heavy sigh, hands reaching up to their eyes to take out the contacts.

Ruby red.

“I don’t... I know I’m.. Not... I’m fine— No...” they tried to cover up the controlling voice.

“Hey, I don’t know if you can properly speak to me, but I respect your decision. Hopefully you... achieve your goals!”

Punz stood and walked over to sit next to Dream, leaning their head back on the wall. They took a heavy sigh after a while, crossing their legs and moving their head forwards to stare at the floor. Dream put his arm around Punz’s shoulder, causing a slight jolt.

Both of them leaned into the embrace, Dream took another step and undid the other’s hair bun. It fell down quite gracefully with a few ruffles of his hand, some strands shone like lightning as they reflected the glowstone’s gleam.

The pair stayed like this for a while, taking in the warmth of the other. Before Punz really knew it, there was a hand that rested palm to palm with the prisoner’s. The arm on their shoulder was interlaced with the hairs on their scalp.

Punz moved his head, wanting to look at the other’s eyes. Dream was absurdly close, he blinked in surprise as the other made eye contact.

The inmate looked away to his bare feet.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to do that— If it makes you uncomfortable.”

Punz moved their free hand to cup the other’s cheek, turning Dream’s head to face him again. The freckles on his face better emphasized the peachy glow.

The shorter chuckled, blonde hair brushed their shoulders at their length, “Your face is pink, Dream. You thinking about George or something?”

“Nah, I’m thinking about someone else, they’re nicer to me and have better hair for me to grasp when I want to kiss them,” the responder cooed.

“What a charmer,” Punz smirked, “I could’ve sworn he was a child torturer.”

Dream scoffed, “I couldn’t tell if that was a joke or you were being serious. Either way, you’re for some reason into that shit.”

“I’m my defense, I was being paid,” They paused, “In second defense, the torturer is good lookin’.”

Both of them laughed, rustling around in their positions as each hid their flushed faces.

“I can’t tell if you’re glad that we’re flirting or mad that you enjoy it—“ Dream smiled, looking at the other with a smile.

Punz giggled, “Both— but I think it’s mostly the first option.”

“Heh, I’m glad. I’ve liked you and what you do.”

“Mmh... yeah, I have too...”

Dream paused, turning his body to face Punz.

“Do you want to... maybe...?”

“Wait like... actually, you want to?”

“Yeah... just...”

A message appeared in the chat, Punz pulled up his menu to read the alert from The Warden, Sam.

‘Punz, your visiting hours are over. Please tell me when you’re ready to leave by the next 5 minutes or I will force you to leave.

Dream also read the message, “You... you need to leave...”

“Yeah.. I’ll see you later, Dream. I had quite a bit of fun talking with you about our lives,” Punz replied as they put their contacts back in.

The prisoner didn’t want him to leave, it wasn’t a proper ‘goodbye’ and he wanted to do what he’s been wanting to do for a long while. They made amends and had shared feelings, why now?

“I’m ready to leave, Sam...”

Punz had already gotten into the water, the Warden continued to give instructions as they readied to be ‘splash-potioned’ out of the cell.

“Punz—!”

“Huh?”

“I have something to give to you before you leave,” Dream stood up and jogged over to the water, going into it and held Punz’s head with his hands.

“What are you doin—?”

But Punz was cut off from finishing their sentence, cut off with the feeling of the other pressing his lips against their own. It was slightly chapped, but filled with the love and happiness that they shared that evening.

They responded, pressing into the kiss with lust. Their hands reached up and around Dream’s shoulders, grasping tightly and pulling him closer to his body. The taller shared the tight embrace and his hands moved down to the other’s waist.

Before they knew it, it was over. Punz woke to see Sam at the other side of the room with the levers behind him.

“So, how was your visit?”

“It was... good, yeah.”

Punz wished it lasted longer though. Maybe he could visit another time to continue what Dream and them had.

Upon exiting the prison, they visited their home and tended to their bees. They changed into something more comfortable as the night shone ever so bright in the sky. Making their stride to a lectern, they got out a book and quill.

Lighting a candle, ink dropped off of the tip.

Punz started to write a letter to the arctic,

“Dear Technoblade,

I believe you owe us a favor...”

#might continue this #I’m making a post afterwards tagging it and stuff

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minecraft-inspo · 5 years

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Minecraft 1.14 Villager Mechanics

As we near the release of Minecraft Java 1.14, the “Village and Pillage Update”, the snapshots are reaching a point of feature completeness. So what was actually changed about village mechanics in these snapshots? Here I’m going to go into the major changes in village creation, villager trading, and more, especially the brand new features added in last week’s snapshot. Hopefully you find this post informative, and share it if you do!

Workstations, Beds, and Bells

Prior to 1.14, villages were determined to exist based on the number of doors near villagers. This is no longer the case. In fact, doors don’t matter at all anymore. Rather than basing villages off of door number, villages now require at least one bed, and one “workstation” to be considered a valid village. I will go more into what a workstation is later, and why beds are needed. Previously, villager population was determined by a rate 1:3 villagers per door. That is to say, if you have 9 doors, and 2 villagers, they would produce a third villager, to satisfy the 1:3 ratio. Villager breeding is currently broken, but appears to now be based on bed number and workstation number, with one of each per villager in the population.

So what are workstations? Well, villagers now do “work”. In order for trades to refresh, villagers must travel to a workstation, and do this work. Workstations are also important for another reason. Villagers no longer spawn with a profession, instead they spawn as “unemployed” villagers, which then claim a workstation. By claiming a workstation, villagers become the profession associated with that workstation. All villager professions have an associated workstation. Many new utility blocks have been added in 1.14 to act as workstations. For example, farmers use the brand new composter as a workstation, while weapon smiths use grindstones. A full list of workstations and professions can be viewed below.

Workplace chart from the Minecraft Wiki

But why do you need beds in a village? Well, villagers sleep now, of course! Rather than just standing behind a door all night, they actually claim a specific bed and sleep there. This means villagers no longer all collect within a single house! While not as huge of a game-changer as the workstation system, it’s a nice addition.

A villager sleeps in a minimalist village

There’s one more new piece to villages, though. A new block called a bell is also important (though not necessary) for your villages. The bell works as a meeting point, a place for villagers to come together and talk, when they’re not doing work. They tend to this right after waking up in the morning, and right before nighttime. In Bedrock addition, ringing the bell sends villagers running, but in Java, ringing it currently has no effect.

Interested so far? There’s even more new villager mechanics, including big changes to trading! Click “keep reading” to see the rest of the post.

Trading

At first, trading may appear much the same as in earlier versions. However, there are many small changes that build together into a significant overhaul of the trading system. To start, there’s many new trades, and even a new villager profession (the mason). Some of these trades make previously difficult to obtain items, such as tipped arrows, more readily available. Others are small quality of life improvements, such as the added ability to sell beetroots to farmers, like other crops always have been. I know some people were worried that enchanted books would be removed from villager trading, but don’t panic, they’re still available!

The villager trading system as a whole has also changed significantly. The first thing one might notice upon attempting to trade with a villager is that they now have their own experience bar and leveling system. Trading with villagers now gives them experience, and new trades are only unlocked when the villager levels up. A villager’s level can be viewed both within its trading menu, and on a small colored badge on their clothing. Leveling villagers can often take multiple days, as when they run out of items, they need to go to their workstation to restock, which they can only do twice daily. Trading costs are also now dynamic, built on a “supply and demand” system. When you use one trade more, costs go up, and when you use a trade less, costs go down. If you do a lot of low level trades, you can get villagers to give you good deals on more expensive goods. This makes leveling villagers very rewarding, as you already have to do many low level trades to even unlock higher trades.

A farmer villager displaying a level 3, “Journeyman,” badge.

Gossip

The final major villager system is called gossip, believe it or not. It was completely unmentioned in the update changelog, and is basically a secret feature. Gossip functions as a way for villagers to transfer info between one another. There are three things that villagers can gossip about. The first is whether a player has traded with them. I am not entirely sure what the effect of this type of gossip is, but I suspect it lowers the cost of trades with other villagers. If so, it would give the players a reason to allow villagers to come together to gossip. The next type of gossip is about whether a player has hurt a villager. Villagers will raise their prices if attacked, and will tell other villagers to do the same. The final form of gossip is whether there is an iron golem present in a village. If ten villagers gossip about the lack of a golem, one will spawn. This will break many old iron farms, but new designs, such as this one by Docm, are already being created based on the new gossip system. Villagers only gossip when within a certain distance and while not working, which often does not occur in a normally sized village. Not to worry though, the new bell collects villagers to meet, at which time they gossip, which is why a bell is important within your villages.

Two villagers gossiping by a bell

Village mechanics have changed in huge ways, and in my opinion, for the better. The new changes make villages feel more dynamic and living than ever, and are a breath of fresh air for the previously simplistic villagers. If you enjoyed my post on this subject, feel free to follow and reblog, and let me know what you want a overview of next!

#minecraft #ref #overview #villagers #village mechanics #village and pillage #minecraft 1.14 #god this took me over 2 hours of actual work to write #if you want to see more similar content let me know

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confusedhost-archive · 4 years

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Coffeeshop Au

She-Ra coffeeshop au because I said so:

Everyone works at one of two shops: Hoard or Princess Alliance

At the very beginning, it shows Adora, a normal human, and her friend Catra (everyone looks the same, has the same powers) in the breakroom chatting, and then they switch shifts with Kyle, Rogilio and whatever her name is- I can’t remember-

Yay! You get to meet Shadow Weaver, who is being very rude to the girls because her coffee was too hot (and also because Catra made it and no one is allowed to make her coffee except Adora)

Adora ends up missing a day and gets fired, which is immediately met with distaste from Shadow Weaver

Adora gets a new job at The Princess Alliance

Quickly becomes friends with Glimmer and Bow, but Glimmer’s mom, the owner of the cute shop, is less happy with her, as she looks like a gangster

Catra has mixed feelings about Adora not being at work, as she is now able to get promoted to manager beside Scorpia, but also she doesn’t see Adora like, ever, anymore

Adora’s aunt, Mara, died recently, and LightHope, Mara’s wife, came over to give Adora a charm with the words She-Ra carved in the side.

Adora promises to visit the farm and see LightHope soon

With the knowledge that she has a bit of her mother figure still with her, Adora throws herself into baking, creating her newest pastry: She-Ra

Was named after the charm!

It is the best thing anyone has ever tasted. They sell out quick, and become Adora’s special (All the princess’ have specials, they’re at the bottom of the post)

Aight, so Entrapta misses a couple days, didn’t call in sick, and was fired

Immediately picked up by Hoard and now has a new job! Stuck with Catra and Scorpia until Catra got promoted

Afterwards she met Hordak, and they started talking

and then they started flirting in their cute roundabout way

Hordak had to leave for a few days because Imp needed to go to the hospital, he left Catra in charge (She’s manager anyway, but now she had free reign)

With Double Trouble’s help, Catra made a fake resigning form for Entrapta while firing her

While this is going on, everyone gets word about Prime Restaurant chain wanting to set up in the area. Hordak would like to sell his shop for them, but first he needs to get another place to set up (He only decides this after he comes back, and he needs something to do after learning that someone he thought he had a connection with just left)

Entrapta hasn’t really let it sink in that she’s unemployed. Goes to get a coffee from a starbucks nearby, name and coffee get mixed up with someone named Micah. (Think when she stole his bug)

Start talking, then bow and Adora just speed walk into the shop like, “Hey Entrapta, would you like to be hired for Princess Alliance again?”

(Bow is also kinda like “Hey wtf, is that you, Micah?” And Micah’s like, “Hey, Bow, is that you?”)

And Entrapta’s like, “Hired? Oh, uh sorry, I have to- oh.” and its suddenly sinking in that she doesn’t work at Hoard anymore and (excuse me if this isn’t what would actually happen but it happened not to long ago so I’m just giving it to Entrapta rn) she is kinda just moving around and kinda just trying to get away from anything touching her because it all just feels horrible against her skin and shiz

and she just kinda goes “Yes, I’d like to be hired, but please leave me alone right now, I’d like to not be touched,” and so Bow and Adora kind of hesitantly go away and Micah stays walking her through her (I don’t know what this is. Touch aversion? A mild panic attack? A depressive episode?)

Anyway, cut away, and now we see Adora and Bow sitting on the roof of the cafe. Talking, thinking about life, doing a bit of college homework. Adora is playing with her charm, and then she drops it and it shatters. Obviously, she’s freaking out, that’s the only thing she has of Mara and it means so freaking much to her

Bow is trying to help and is gathering up the shards, and finds a little piece of paper among it all. Adora reads it and completely breaks down crying. No one knows what it says but her (which is to say I don’t know what it says)

Takes a break for a couple days, going to LightHope, her aunt, and

(In this time, Entrapta has reluctantly gone back to work, Micah has procrastinated around seeing his ex-wife and daughter, Angela has packed up for a plane trip, Hordak is having trouble finding another place to set up shop, and Prime restaurant chain is moving in)

Adora comes back with a new fire and an upgrade to her She-ra pastry, tastes even better now

Micah finally got the courage to go see his family, only to find out that Angela had just left for a trip that morning. (They get the news that the plane had an accident and Angela didn’t survive later in the evening)

Afterwards, Glimmer moves out of the cafe, finding it to be too empty. This leaves the top floor of the cafe completely open. She’s living with Bow and Adora now!

Scorpia, a panicking second manager of Hoard cafe, is juggling running the cafe, keeping Catra in check and finding a new place

Double Trouble, as is their job for the owner, finally fills out their form on what had happened while Hordak was away. He finally learns that Entrapta didn’t leave him.

Scorpia goes to the Princess Alliance and tells them that she heard their top floor was open. She’s desperate

It takes a few times to get them to agree, but the Princess Alliance realize that there’s no point in fighting like this. After a few more hours of haggling with the cost, Scorpia turns to leave

She comes back after a couple seconds. “Um, actually, is Entrapta here?”

Scorpia and Entrapta come back into Hoard cafe, chatting. Hordak walks out of the back, holding Imp. Entrapta looks over and sees him. She just jumps him, helping both of them stay up and holding Imp with her hair.

“Did you hear the news?” She laughs

Scorpia jumps in, telling Hordak how they found a place for the shop to go; right above the Princess Alliance. Entrapta is really helping Scorpia sell it, but Catra is getting upset.

“No! We’re enemies or whatever, right? We shouldn’t be sharing space with them!”

Hordak has already given his okay. “I’m sure we’ll be able to become closer, Catra, it should be alright.”

Catra is extremely reluctant about all of this, but while they’re setting up in the top area, she’s beginning to rekindle her friendship with Adora. (And also maybe feeling like at some point her feelings had stopped being just platonic. She has no clue when this happened.)

Scorpia is doing pretty well with taking boxes of stuff up, and after a while they figure out that the dark aesthetic won’t be working well side by side with the pastel fluff that is the Princess Alliance. So Scorpia says they change it up a bit. So she goes downstairs and, “Is anyone free right now?”

It’s Perfuma that looks over. “Oh! Yes, I am!”

Scorpia gives a little smile. “Great! We need some design help and we were wondering..”

With a happy gasp, Perfuma hangs up her apron and walks upstairs. Perfuma is made for this. After being told that they’d like to keep the general dark aesthetic, she says that giving it that certain quiet feel, very unlike the loud chatter that comes from downstairs, students will likely want to come by to study

It’s a hit. A few plants with calming aromas, gifted by Perfuma herself, and some teas that help with stress made by Scorpia, students are running in. It’s generally very quiet here, and it’s really helping the stress that the employees go under too!

Scorpia and Perfuma may or may not have gotten closer in a romantic sense because of this-

Catra and Adora are also getting closer, friends first, then girlfriends. It’s quite the trip for everyone else in the shop.

Entrapta and Hordak are basically just parents to Imp now, and Imp’s only job at this point is to make fun of Hordak for having a crush. It is a romantic relationship, yes

At some point the the Hoard and Princess Alliance become one place with two names. Menu is the same on both floors and anyone can be a waiter at whichever floor they like.

Just a few things that exist but aren’t really plot relevant:

Hordak has anger issues and trouble understanding his feelings

Hordak has weak bones in his arms specifically

Imp is Hordak’s nephew who he ended up adopting after Imp’s parents died

Hordak and Entrapta both like working with robotics

Entrapta is making a project to support Hordak’s weak arms in order to help him do things. Talking with his doctor to figure out what’s safe and such

Frosta is Glimmer’s cousin who has been given the okay to volunteer at the cafe. She comes and goes as she pleases and whether or not you get a Frosta special depends on whether she’s in or not

Time for the specials!

Entrapta’s: Donut holes. Her special is a pack of donut holes that are literally the best you’ve ever tasted. Your pack has one of each flavor and they are made with such care- just- No special drink for her though

Perfuma: Mango hibiscus clementine cold tea. I have had it before. It tastes really freaking good. She always grows a little flower for you to eat and puts it on top. The texture of the flower is nice, and the petals are sweet. The food portion is a fruit salad with flower petals sprinkled on top!

Frosta: Icecream sunday! And slushie! No one knows what exactly goes into the flavoring on top, but it tastes really good and Frosta promises it’s safe for all allergies she knows of. Makes sure to ask about any allergies though, just in case!

Mermista: It’s a small cake. Has this general water/beach vibe! Drink changes from day to day. Always an iced coffee though!

Glimmer: Cupcakes!! The inside of the cupcake has a small portion of sprinkles. Very sweet, too sweet for some. Pastel smoothie too! Family recipe, shared between Angela and Glimmer. Has sprinkles littered on top of a nice helping of whipped cream! Very glittery

Angela: Called the heart of Etheria. Not one single person knows what it’s classified as, and only Glimmer and Angela know how to make it. It’s heavenly

No more specials (Scorpia doesn’t work at Princess Alliance)

Micah and Angela had a divorce when Glimmer was young. It wasn’t because they disliked each other or anything, just, Micah learned that he was aromantic and felt a little bit uncomfortable with the marriage. They broke it off as friends and lived under the same house- like, it was all exactly the same, except they didn’t have the title of husband and wife

Then Micah had to go away because he found a job somewhere else and they ended up loosing contact

Swiftwind lives on the farm with LightHope

Catra and Adora are childhood friends who had the same Preschool teacher: Shadow Weaver

Angela lives on the second floor of the cafe with Glimmer

Entrapta has a roomba and she’s taken to it the way tumblr has

Entrapta has a tiny Emily that she made with Hordak’s help at a robotics workshop

Adora lived with Catra and moved to share an apartment with Bow afterwards

Shadow Weaver may or may not have died shoving Catra and Adora out of the way of a car that was driving on the sidewalk

There are fricking huge windows looking out on the street for both floors and on the other side of the street is a grassy park, so it’s really nice.

#death tw #shera #car accident

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snowdice · 3 years

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Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 61]

Pls story. I just want to get out of the sidequest. I’m just going to go until I finish up the sidequest. It’s been too long.

Chapter 29

Virgil finished eating the breakfast Patton’s mom had sent for him. It had been going on a week since she’d made the menu for him. She sent up little cards with each meal and he was supposed to rate each thing she sent on a scale from 1-5. Logan would read it to him before he ate, and Virgil mark the little box on the card. Usually, he would put a 4 for everything (he had tried to do 5, but Logan had told him 5 was reserved for things like chicken alfredo). Three was for things that he was neutral on, 2 was for things he didn’t like but could tolerate, and 1 was for things he didn’t like. So far, the only 3 was the unseasoned porridge she’d sent one day.

“Finished?” Logan asked.

“Yeah,” Virgil said.

“Sounds good,” Virgil said. “I don’t care what we do today though.”

“Well, there are a few options,” Logan said.

“What do you want to do?” Virgil asked.

Logan made an expression, and Virgil titled his head. “I’m don’t have anything in particular I want to do,” he said.

“You’re lying,” Virgil said immediately.

“You would not be interested in the activity I wish to partake in,” Logan said.

Virgil squinted at him. “I’d be interested in laying on the ground and staring at the ceiling.”

Logan chuckled. “No, truly. The activity I would do if you were not present would involve reading.”

“You can read to me,” Virgil suggested.

“…In Sanskrit.”

Virgil frowned at him. “Isn’t that, like, some sort of dead language?”

“It is,” Logan said. “I taught myself to read it to read a specific book called the Pragilium Text. It’s an encoded book that leads to a magical location that I have been trying to decode for years.”

“That’s fine,” Virgil said. “You can do that.”

“It would be in the library,” Logan said.

“Okay.”

“But…” Logan said. “It would in no way be interesting to you.”

Virgil shrugged. “Like I said. I’m content to lie on the floor for a few hours.”

Logan frowned. “I can’t make you do that.”

“You wouldn’t be making me,” Virgil said. “I want to go. Maybe you can find me an easy book I could try to read?”

“Are you certain?” he asked.

Virgil nodded, decisively.

“Very well, get dressed and I will show you the library.”

Virgil stood to do so and a few minutes later, Logan was leading him out of the royal wing.

Both of the guards greeted him kindly, and Virgil hunched his shoulders in a bit, but said a soft “hi.”

The library didn’t end up being too far away. It was through the small dining hall and to the left where the staircase to the kitchen was to the right.

“This is not the main library,” Logan said. “It is just a smaller one. The royal librarian comes here only about once a week to organize. Some other castle residents might come in too, but it is usually mostly empty.” Virgil could tell just by listening for a few seconds that the place was likely empty (unless someone was lying in wait).

“I’ll look and see if there is something simple for you in case you’d like to read. You can explore a bit if you’d like,” Logan said.

Virgil heard Logan’s footsteps approach from down an aisle. “That’s the Pragilium text,” he said.

“It’s pretty,” Virgil said, looking at the design etched into the cover.

“You can read that?” Virgil asked.

“I can,” Logan said. “Very few people can though.”

“Wow, you’re really smart.”

“Thank you,” Logan said with a smile.

“Now,” Logan continued. “I found you a book. I apologize as its subject matter is for younger children, but it has many pictures that can help give you context when you don’t know something. You don’t have to read it if you do not wish to, especially as we haven’t gotten very far in our lessons, but I thought you might like the challenge.

He handed him the book and Virgil took it with a smile. “I’ll try to read it,” he said.

“Well, you have free reign of the library. Feel free to continue to explore and to interrupt me if you need to.”

Virgil nodded and took the book before deciding to finish his sweep of the library. It turned out that appearances were not deceiving, and the library truly was empty. Once he was certain about that, he looked around for a comfortable place to settle down and try to read the book Logan had handed him. He found a sturdy looking bookshelf near where Logan was reading at his desk. He scaled it quickly. It was a little bit dusty at the top, but it wasn’t a bad place. It was close to the ceiling and kept him hidden pretty well, but still gave him enough room to pop up onto his elbows. If he looked left, he could see Logan down bellow with his head in the book, but if he looked right, he could see the entrance to the library.

It was an interesting book even if he couldn’t read it and it was obviously made for small children. Judging by the pictures it seemed to be detailing how plants, or at least, flowers grew through some kid planting and caring for a flower over the course of some amount of time.

Virgil had, of course, known flowers grew from seeds, but it was interesting to see things about how the stem would pop out of the seed in the ground and things about the roots growing.

He more looked through the pictures than read it the first time but had flipped back to the front to try to read the words when he heard the library door open.

Virgil perked up in awareness, but then settled when he recognized Patton’s footsteps. Virgil tilted his head to watch as he walk directly to Logan’s hideaway.

“Hi,” he said, gaining Logan’s attention.

“Hello, Patton,” Logan replied. He glanced at the window and must have seen that time had passed because he closed his book and shuffled his papers.

“The guards said you came here,” Patton said, glancing around. “Where’s Virgil?”

Instead of letting Logan answer that question, Virgil pulled himself forward, with the book in one hand and slid off the bookshelf to land lightly on his feet next to Patton.

Patton screamed before slapping a hand over his mouth.