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echantedtoon · 5 months

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Love Doesn't Do Encores Ch37 Life In Spikemuth

( I HAVE A FEW IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS!! 1.I have decided what names/genders for which pokemon so thank you to everyone who suggested names. 2. All months shall be labeled with events to help keep track of time. All these names were taken from commenters, also when reader gets her multi-leash for her pokemon it looks like how the picture above makes it look. Also I don't own the pics. Both was found on google images. 3. The progress of the reader and Piers's eventually relationship shall be picked up in pace starting at the end of the chapter. Now onto the names AND genders of the shinies. Also in case anyone had forgotten in the story Victor traded espurr for a shiny riolu. The few lyrics Piers sings is from the song THRILLER (Michael Jackson)// Jonathan Young Keytar-fusion-rock Cover. Original song by Micheal Jackson. Link to song is also below. Riolu(boy): Gold. Zorua(girl): Loki. Pikachu(boy): Harvest. Zigzagoon(boy): Piers Jr. or P.J. Sylveon(girl): Blueberry. Link to song www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ksBmDTljI)

-SEPTEMBER TO OCTOBER-

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!

"Y/n? Wake up! Pearl's here I want to introduce you two before I take off for work!"

Hard knocks could be heard on the door in the wee hours of the morning as Ruby proceeded to knock on your bedroom door. Another slightly older woman stood next to her with long silver hair in a braid and hazel eyes. Arms crossed and brow raised looking between the door and Ruby who still pounded on the door to get an answer out of you.

"Are you sure she's still here and didn't leave already?," Pearl asked to which Ruby shook her head.

"I didn't see her at breakfast. Maybe she's just a heavy sleeper."

Pearl went to open her mouth but a sudden thud on the other side of the door made the two women pause as more and more noise came from the other side. They both stared at the door before looking to one another as more noise continued which sounded like there was a crowd on the other side...Before Ruby reached out and opened the door- And Pearl gave a high pitched squeal as all of a sudden three or four little figures darted from under her feet and into the hallway they were in. Ruby yelping but standing there stunned at what was exactly running around her feet sniffing at her shoes curiously ...before it sneezed shaking it's head and looking up at her tongue hanging out. ..And she pointed.

"..Why is there a zigzagoon running wild in my house?"

"Don't look at me!" Pearl winced at the panting zigzagoon at their feet. "Uuuuh. Drooling slobbery little creature."

"Now that's a bit harsh don't you think?"

"You know they drool everywhere and their little claws scratch everything! This is why I only have a salazzle."

"You're overreacting again." Ruby deadpanned rolled her eyes before looking back down to the small creature sitting there and yet again raising another brow at the thing. "But that still begs the question of where it came from?" Before she blinked and moved over to the other two blurs that had run out under their feet. "And a riolu? And a zorua too? What on earth-"

She was cut off. Both pair of eyes looked over towards a groan and blinked when another human groggily made her way to the doorway, lightly slouched over with messy hair and looking like they didn't get a whole lot of sleep judging by their face. She gave off a sigh as they stared before someone spoke.

"PIKA PIKA!!" A small orangey being from her shoulder greeted them with a bright smile.

"Uh...Good morning," you managed to say before yawning again. "I uh-...See you met everyone."

"Um...Yeah." Ruby rose a brow looking back down to the pokemon. "I know I said I didn't mind if you had a pokemon or two out but I wasn't expecting a mini army your first morning here....And ...All shinies?"

"S-Sorry about that. *sigh* It's..a long story. I caught them with someone last year but must've forgotten they were with me in the move and then they all just popped out." Actually you opened them all because you couldn't figure out which one was Silver. " I mean I tried to get them back in their pokeballs but they wouldn't go back in and I must've fallen asleep at one point. And then when I woke up well.." As if to show them you gently held up your hand. Wrapped around it was what looked like some kind of felty ribbon around your wrist. When following it from your arm, they saw it was in fact it was because a small sylveon was holding onto you. It gave a small bark sound in greeting. "And then Harvest jumped on me and he refuses to get off and Blueberry refuses to let go of me too and it's hard for me to move to catch the others because I don't want to jerk them around and hurt them-"

"Blueberry harvest?"

You nodded. "Yeah..I named them." Your free hand pointed at the pikachu refusing to get off your shoulder. "This is Harvest. That's Blueberry." You then proceeded to each pokemon in introduction. "Loki. Gold. P.J. And that's Silver."

You pointed to Silver last as he strolled up to you in his hoodie looking ABSOLUTELY ANGRY and deciding to cling to your pants leg. You could understand why when he was no longer getting your full attention but now you were dealing with three clingy pokemon and three others who insisted on running around like this place was a play ground. Thankfully they seemed to not want to leave the room too far behind and they weren't regularly wrecking havoc that you feared, so that was a good thing. ...Also you named them since it would be easier to call them by a name then 'Riolu' or 'Pikachu'. Eventually Ruby blinked before clearing her throat.

"Well...it's fine. As long as you keep all six under control and they don't cause us any trouble. Speaking of which." She gave the other woman a look. "I wanted to introduce you two since I got a chance. Y/n this is Pearl. She rents the last room down the hall here. Pearl this is the girl I told you about."

You tiredly turned your head to her. "Oh. Hey. How you doing?"

Pearl scrunched up her nose and scowled deeply at the small Riolu that poked at her shiny heel curiously. "I'm...charmed. Could be better although. Would you please call of your little beast? Those are exclusive Shining Armor Brand you know." Gold gave a small yelp of surprise when her foot slowly but firmly nudged him away.

"Hey! Don't do that!," you scolded. Immediately leaning down and holding your arms out to scoop up the bright yellow riolu. Thankfully Gold didn't seem angry, scared, or hurt. Just confused as you lifted him into your arms protectively. "You'll scare him."

"It's a fighting type." Pearl rolled her eyes as if it was obvious. "I didn't even hurt him. Even if I did kick him I doubt it'll hurt him. Fighting types were built to roll with the punches literally."

Your jaw just dropped because..well what were you supposed to say to this? Not even ten minutes into meeting this girl and she had just said something so rude to you. Ruby didn't look the least bit phased by it and in fact seemed to expect it by her expression. After mimicking a goldfish for a few moments you finally asked as if you didn't hear her.

"I'm sorry. Did you just tell me it doesn't matter if you kick him or not because of his type?"

Pearl lightly scoffed. "Well obviously it'd be bad if I did do that. But I didn't. Just make sure you keep them out of my way and we won't have a problem." She again winced at the zigzagoon who tilted his head at her. "Mmm. Why don't you just sell them or something and use the money for the deposit?"

"PEARL!," Ruby snapped scowling at her.

"What? You know it's true. She could just sell one easily and give you your money instead of running around doing all this useless work." Pearl rolled her eyes pointing at Harvest. "Besides they're all too dangerous. That one could easily power a whole car so why don't you just make her use them to pay you back-"

SMACK!!

A loud smack sound echoed through the air followed by Pearl giving off a cross between a yelp of surprise and a gasp. Retracting her hand to her dramatically face over exaggerating her 'horror' at your scowl. Although you couldn't see why. You didn't even smack her hand away hard enough to hurt, giving the same force she gave when nudging Gold away from you. The sound was just loud so it startled everyone.

"You slapped me!," Pearl exclaimed dramatically looking at her hand like it was on fire. "How dare you! My nail could've been broken! Do you know who my father is?! He's a lawyer in Wyndon! I could sue you for-"

"PEARL!," Ruby shouted cutting her off. "That's enough." She said sternly gesturing to her hand. "Look. You're not even hurt? Alright?"

"She attacked me!"

"She pushed your hand away after you got into her face and insulted her pokemon. I told you to be nice when you meet her. You couldn't even do that for me?"

She scoffed again before looking at you. "Whatever. Just apologize and get your furry fiends out of my sight."

Now. One would probably apologize to their new room mate in this situation as to not cause tension especially since you just arrived last night even if you didn't mean it. But that thought didn't even cross your mind as you ignored both of the girls in front of you leaning down to pick up the other two small pokemon on the ground. After a silent moment Pearl once again looked affended.

"Uh...Excuse me. Don't you have something to say to me?"

"Yeah. I do." You took your sweet time standing back up with a whole bunch of little pokemon in your arms and a tired scowl on your face. In the most tired 'I don't give a flying crap' deadpanned black look on your face, you stared at her and said one thing. "Do that to any of my babies again and I'll make sure those heels end up in the garbage disposal and I'll be sure to sprinkle the shredded pieces all over your room and happily watch you try to glue them back together like some impossible jumbo puzzle."

Both girls looked at you frozen for a moment. "....EXCUSE ME-"

"You're excused...But not really. Because there's no excuse for a woman your age to be acting like a spoiled little baby after mommy didn't buy them the toy they wanted. How old are you anyways? Thirty-"

"I'M TWENTY EIGHT-"

"Crap. You're even way older than me and you're acting like that? My point exactly. And don't try to come at me with the whole 'respect your elders' schtick. Respect is earnt not given. And I didn't even hurt you and you're threatening me with your Dad like some playground bully. Let's get something straight. I don't give a flying crap on a plate if your dad is a lawyer all the way in Wyndon." With rage behind your unchanging face you bore into the goldfish mouth woman. "YOU pushed over my riolu. YOU insulted me and my pokemon. YOU threatened to sue me when I pushed your hand away. I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU. 'Do you know who my father is?!'" You mimicked her earlier question in an annoying tone. "NO! If I don't know you how do you expect me to know who your dad is!? And I. DONT. CARE. Any lawyer would tell you that's no grounds for any sort of lawsuit." You put your free foot on the door with Silver still half clinging to it, about to close it. "I answer to Ruby because she's the landlord. You're just a neighbor down the hall. Anyways it was 'nice' to meet you."

"ARE YOU THREATENING ME!?"

"No. I'm telling a woman older than me to act her age because I can't take you seriously....Besides. You're not fat enough for that? Oh. By the way you're not fat enough for that."

"Excuse me!? FAT!? Fat enough for WHAT!?"

You put your free foot on the door with Silver still half clinging to it, about to close it. "You're not fat enough to throw your weight around." Pearl's jaw dropped-

SLAM!

Not given anyone a chance to reply you slammed the door in her face and turned back around to reign in your herd of clingy pokemon. Obviously Pearl didn't like that and for a solid ten minutes you heard Pearl wailing like a walrus in a vacuum cleaner with a sore throat and furious knocking on the door until by some miracle she left stomping down the hallway and you faintly heard another door slam down the hall indicating her leave. Great. Turns out you had a spoiled karen room mate. You were too busy finally managing to untangle the clinging pokemon from you and make yourself look presentable and went through your back pack pulling out your belongings. Which honestly wasn't a whole lot. Your clothes. A few prizes you won from the Christmas fair last year, some left over travel food that was instantly swarmed by the hungry pokemon and taken, a few hygiene products, and a book- Oh hey. It was the curry dex book Gloria had gifted you deciding she didn't want the prizes too anymore. ...That could be something you could do today. You were supposed to turn this into the pokemon center once you were done completing it right? You decided to go out and see about it. After grabbing your room key and ID (you were still so, SO confused on where this came from but decided to take it in case), and headed out. You wanted to just leave them in the room while you were out but Silver was not giving you up that easily and you couldn't close the door in time before the other five ran out after you so that wasn't happenin obviously. Thus it happened. Blueberry rewrapped her feelers around your wrist, the pikachu was back having climbed onto your shoulder, Silver was jealously gripping your pants leg, and the others were just randomly walking around your feet....Well this day was turning out to be absolutely wonderful. You didn't see Pearl again when you walked downstairs curry dex book in hand, but you surprisingly ran into Ruby who happened to just walk out of the kitchen the same time you made it downstairs. At first she looked angry, then surprised seeing you surrounded again by shinies, but then gave a neutral look.

"Oh..I thought you were Pearl."

You shook your head. "You kidding me? I wouldn't be like her if her personality was the only one on the planet. I didn't even know her for a full five minutes and she acts like a karen."

Ruby rose a brow. "...Well I don't know anyone called Karen who acts like her." Oops. Guess the 'karen' meme thing wasn't a thing here either. "But that was one of the reasons why I wanted you guys to meet as soon as possible. I figured the sooner you saw her the better so you wouldn't be surprised later."

"Gee. Thanks. A heads up would've been nice though. What the heck's her problem? I didn't anyone would let someone like her rent here-"

"She's my cousin," Ruby clarified and you paused. Staring wide eyed at her as your brain processed what she just said. Ruby continued. "Yyyeeaahh. Lot's of people are surprised at first."

"...She's you're WHAT!?"

"Cousin."

"But-" You looked back up the stairs and towards her unblinking face. "HOW!? You guys are-"

"Opposites I know." She sighed. "It's a long story but my uncle works in Wyndon and spoiled her from the very moment she was born. Grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth. My uncle thought it was finally time she got her own living and forced her over to me so she could grow up I guess. But he still spoils her. Pulled a couple string and she works at the fancy new clothes store up the street some ways."

"Wow...How are you able to handle her?"

"I won't." Ruby answered truthfully. "I told her if she ever tries anything I'll break her contract and kick her out. This isn't the first time she tried the 'my dad's a lawyer' trick on someone. It's the reason why I didn't have anyone else to rent out the room to. But you seemed to handle yourself just fine."

Well guess it helped to have a narcissist for a mother and being pestered by other entitled dummies along your journey. "Does she demand to speak to the managers too?"

"Yes..How'd you know?"

"She seems the type. Although honestly I'm surprised you haven't kicked her out yet?"

Ruby shrugged. "Cuz she's family mostly, and my Uncle's actually a really nice guy so I didn't want him worried to death about her. But I'm seriously just going to have her find somewhere else to leave once her lease is up if she doesn't change. Especially the flirting with my boss."

"Good for you- Wait...What was that last bit?"

She sighed shaking her head. "Nothing you should worry about. I'm gonna head out anyways to work. Pearl knows about your situation so don't let her act like she doesn't understand." Oh how charming. "But before I go I never got to hear where you'll be working at."

"Oh. The cafe down the block from the gym."

Ruby paused once more. "Wait..the cafe down the street?" You nodded. "Oh. I actually know the owner. She's a nice woman I think you'll like it there." She then looked at the pokemon all around you. "So uh...what are you planning on doing with all of them?"

"I uh...Dunno. I can't get them to hold still enough to put them back in their pokeballs, and they don't seem to wanna let me go right now. And I really don't wanna just leave them alone either."

Ruby hummed for a moment watching as you tiredly blinked at her....before pointing. "You know I think I got something that might help you."

You looked up hopeful. "Really?"

She nodded. "One of the perks of being in a town ruled by zigzagoon loving people. Let me just see if I still have it in the back closet."

And that's how you ended up walking down the street with a strong belt around your waist with leashes attached to it leading to harnesses snug around every one of the pokemon continuing to walk around you except for Silver who still walked beside you not looking happy. Curry dex in hand. It reminded you back of your dog walking days only y'know these guys all belonged to you and they weren't obviously dogs. You did get some stares and more than once someone would give you a double take seeing so many shinies happily walking around you but you didn't mind. At least you knew they wouldn't cause any trouble. Eventually you made your way to the pokemon center and after Nurse Joy (A.K.A. Francesca) stared for a moment before taking the curry dex you submitted and confirming to make sure the prizes whatever they may be would be delivered to you. Well after that you didn't have anything else to do but walk around for a little bit longer since you really didn't start work until tomorrow. Spikemuth was..nice, and it allowed you to explore more of the town finding one or two more stores and more houses for sale/rent along with a small school and a park. The park wasn't all too big though although it was nice and you made a mental note to bring your little guys back to it some other day. It was nice and calmed your headache Pearl was oh so nice enough to gift you. And to think you guys were house mates. The thought made you groan just walking around and aimlessly getting no where. Well at least you were getting exercise out of this even if it was starting to get chilly from fall approuching. When it hit noon you decided it was best to head back and you started making your way back towards the house. You all just made it to the half way point between the gym and the cafe when a door to one of the houses opened and out walked someone very recognizable with black and white hair. Neither of you two noticed the other at first since the man didn't look up the road, but as he walked down the steps of his porch he just so happened to look over...and electric blue eyes blinked. Eyes widening seeing the sight of you walking back towards the house and gently tugging on the leads to steer them back towards the front of you as you walked. He blinked shaking his head before looking back to you.

"....Y/n?"

At your name being mentioned you looked up and your eyes lit up seeing the punk rocker standing there by a small mail box attached to his house probably about to get his mail before stopping to talk to you. Well obviously you smiled back at him as you walked.

"Piers!," you greeted and waved your hand around him. "Wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Y-Yeah. Same here-" He blinked looking don as all of a sudden he heard someone yell out a 'PIKA!' and blinked at all the small fuzzy pokemon staring up at him. Brows widening in surprise. "....Are those the pokemon from last year?"

"Uh.." You gave an embarrassed chuckle. "Yeah. It's a long story but the shortened version was that they were accidentally given back to me and I guess they're mine now. Just taking them out for a walk to get all that energy out."

"Uh huh..." He eventually shook his head. "Well congrats on the full team. Ya left yesterday for the cafe right? Ta get a job?" You nodded. "Oh. Did ya get it?''

You nodded again. "Yeah actually. I'm starting first thing tomorrow. Oh! By the way I never got to thank you for helping me work out something with Ruby. She's pretty chill about everything."

..He cleared his throat and reached a hand up to fiddle with his choker again. Huh. He seemed to do that a lot. "'S no problem. 'M just glad everything's working out for ya."

"Yeah...Well not everything." Your expression soured as your arms crossed. "That room mate is...something else."

"Oh boy." His own face cringed and he seemed to get a realization to your situation. "Ya met Pearl huh?"

"Oh yeah. Not only did I meet her but she threatened to sue me and insult me all under five minutes. I think it's a record for anyone who made me mad in a short amount of time...Wait. How do you know her?"

You were surprised when Piers let his arms flop to his sides and actually groaned. "You can say she a...'fan' o' mine an' not the kind I like."

"Let me guess. Obsessed fangirl who squeals and tries to constantly flirt with you?"

"...How did ya know?"

Ah. Wonderful. She's a karen and a crazy fangirl. "She seems the type. Glad she didn't try to work for you huh?"

"Oh believe me she applied for a position but thank Arceus Ruby's been keepin' 'er in line. *sigh* Raihan n' Gordie are much betta at takin' care of things like this. I know she's a fan but-"

"But nothing! She's an entitled karen who thinks because her dad's a lawyer all the way in Wyndon she can threaten to sue anyone. I already made it perfectly clear to her I won't be putting up with her so she can keep her nose outta my business." Yo blinked when Piers looked at you wide eyed. "...What?"

"Did...Did you..." A small smile appeared on his face and he looked ready to chuckle. "Did you chew 'er out?"

"You can say that-" CHIRP!! You looked back down and Silver impatiently tugged on your pants leg. "...But I'm gonna have to tell you about that some other time. I gotta get these guys home and get ready for my first day of work tomorrow. But let's catch up sometime ok? I'll buy you a coffee as thanks next time."

"O-Oh. Uh..Y-Yeah. *ahem* That sounds good. Coffee I mean!"

Smiling you waved a hand and began walking away again. "It's a date! Tell Marnie I said hi."

He watched you walk away slowly wide eyed before a blinking. "It's a...date?" Before shaking his head. "Figure of speech."

When you arrived all the way back home Ruby wasn't back yet and Pearl was either still in her room or out because you didn't see her downstairs. With a shrug you went back upstairs herding the small army up the stairs and into your room. Long story short, after a quick shower and heading to bed, you were FINALLY able to get the other five back in their pokeballs. How? Well you woke up in the early hours of the morning to them all in a sleeping pile against you, and after sneakily reaching for their pokeballs, managed to return them all excluding Silver away for the moment at least. You didn't want to risk them damaging anything or them being around Pearl. Being awake now, you decided now would be the time to get ready and head out to work. And you did. The air was chilly in the early morning as the sun was just starting to peek out in the sky. Good thing you had a coat. No surprise Silver followed after you whether you wanted to or not but you'd figure that out later. All the way three blocks to the right from the gym to the cafe where the open sign was already in the window so inside you went. The bell alerting Barbara who soon came out of the double doors and smiled seeing you.

"Ah! There you are youngin'. I was wondering if you were actually going to show up." Before she raised a brow at Silver. "And a new comer I see."

You nodded. "Yeah. I need the money also sorry about Silver, he follows me everywhere and refuses to stay home."

"Hmm...Well as long as he doesn't cause any trouble or try to eat the food I suppose he can stay. But he's your responsibility." You nodded. Well he was already so that didn't change. You blinked when all of a sudden a white apron was held out to you. "Here. Put on the uniform. Today will be a trial day to see how well you do, I'll walk you through on everything you need to know."

To make a long story short it wasn't a really eventful day. Basically your duties included making a fresh pot of coffee, and sitting behind the counter until eventually someone popped on in then do the entire customer service smile and do everything Barbara already ran through with you the last time you were here. Working the register, taking notes and handing them to the person through the window before taking said orders to whichever scarce person ordered it. You also finally got to meet Ms. Barbara's son who looked like a younger male version of his mother doing the dishes. By the time it was around six the doors finally closed, with you getting praised for a good day's work before being paid for the day and leaving. But not before being told you only had to work Monday through Friday's and had weekends off. Perfect. That worked well with you. That meant you got two days off! ..Or at least that's what you thought. The very next day you slept in a little late before getting up and taking your time getting dressed and heading down the stairs a smile on your face.

"Well it's about time you woke up." And you froze at the snobbish sounding voice. Turning your head your smile instantly vanished seeing one particular woman sitting on the living room couch. Yes. Pearl was frowning up at you with an expensive looking coat and handbag slung around her body looking like she was ready for a night on the town. "I've been waiting for ages."

"Uh...Hello to you too." Your brow rose. "What are you doing here?"

She scoffed rolling her eyes. "Besides the fact I live here?" You stared making her scowl further. "I was waiting for you of course! Ruby wouldn't let me leave until I let you know she left you a lift of work to do on the table!"

"She did?..Where is she anyways?"

"She went to work! Where else would she be? She also told me to tell you that she works really late on weekends so she won't be back until almost midnight. And now thanks to you I'm going to be late for work too!''

".....You go to work dressed like that?"

"If you mean better dressed then you then yes! HEL-LO! I work at a designer brand store. You need to dress the part in order to sell it! Oh. She also wants every single thing done before she gets back. For everyone's sake make sure you do that."

...Well you guessed that made sense. You never saw what she looked like before she went to work anyways but guess dressing 'fancy' was a requirement for her at least. After a few more eye rolls she finally left and you strolled into the kitchen indeed finding a peice of paper on the kitchen table. So you picked it up. And your eyes bulged at the llloooonngg list of chores written onto it. Most of it involving cleaning every thing in the kitchen. The oven. The microwave. The dishwasher. The sink. The table and counters. Inside the fridge- You get it. But also shampooing and cleaning the rug in the living room and dusting?? And a few other things listed?? I mean you expected to do a fair bit of cleaning in return for not having to pay the extra rent but you weren't expecting so much for the first day of cleaning...Sigh. Oh well. Fair is fair you guessed. The note said you could find anything you needed in the kitchen's supply closet so off you went. Deciding to clean the living room first since it was easier to clean the rug with less furniture and dusting around it really quick although the larger pieces of furniture like the sofas and TV stand was heavy and tricky. The kitchen however was a different story. It was easy enough to mop the floors and wipe down the counter tops and table, but the cleaning of the appliances was a whole other story. It took a bit of elbow grease and time and a few breaks, but you managed to power through. It was the over that took the longest to clean and by the time you were even done with that there was still the downstairs bathroom ...Great. Not a very exciting way to spend your Saturday. By the time it was pushing seven o'clock you had successfully cleaned the entire first floor of the house and the stairs leading upstairs your sore and tired body just basking on the coach with Silver flopped next to you. This day was really exhausting and Sunday didn't go any better. Pearl was the first to get home seemingly suspicious, judgingly looking around the place,...and for some reason looking nervous.

"You did remember to scrub the toilet right?"

"Get off my case. I'm finished so what's your problem?"

"Just asking cuz you seem like you demoted yourself to scrub toilets all the time?"

She was quick to deflect away from herself and you were too tired to complain about it all so you just went to bed early. The next day same thing. By the time you woke up, both Ruby and Pearl were missing and there was yet another note you found on the table with more duties including cleaning out the supply closet and basement, taking out the trash, and sweeping the second floor minus the bedrooms of course...Sigh. Well better get started.

That's how it was for THE longest time as day after day passed. Monday through Friday working hard at the cafe to get that money and on the weekends having the home mostly to yourself other than the list Ruby would always leave you on the table. Luckily there wasn't a whole mountain of things like your first weekend. Seriously. You had cleaned out Ruby's entire house minus both hers and Pearl's bedrooms. It was backbreaking work but you kept your promise to her. Ruby seemed to be happy towards you two and never asked about the lists so you assumed that meant she was happy with your work. Pearl however...still annoying and she shot you nd Silver dirty looks, but at least she'd act half way decent especially when Ruby was around. Whenever you had free time you'd go out you'd do things. Shopping for a few things when you had the extra money and walking your pokemon around town and at the park. You saw a couple more people mostly Team Yell doing tasks for Piers, but once or twice you'd see a moving van indicating someone was moving into one of the houses. Sometimes you'd see Piers was he seemed busy too. Often talking to his team outside the Gym or sometimes you'd hear him performing. Guess he was making up for lost time with Marnie which you didn't blame. He was a good big brother. The trees in the small park began turning colors their leaves falling and the air got chillier as September moved to gain way for the spooky month. You had just barely managed to give Ruby the four hundred you promised but you managed to pull it off before heading into October. The spookiest season was upon you all now. Which meant one day when you walked into work, Barbara had a giant box and had you and her son help set up some decorations around the place including ceramic pumpkins and black and white streamers on the lights. There was also lots of decor being put up in some of the houses and jack-o-lanturns on porches. Since more people had moved into the town making it's population steadily climb as the once empty houses were filled in. And had heard from Ruby that Piers was working on a small Halloween party which involved turning the gym into a haunted house. NEAT! Needless to say you were having a nice time as the days still flown by and you still worked and did chores on the weekends. ...Until it all came to a head the weekend just before Halloween. You had woken the last Saturday before Halloween and came down the stairs and saw Pearl on the sofa. Which wouldn't have been weird if she wasn't painting her nails with her earbuds on plugged into her phone most likely listening to music. Now someone wouldn't be wondering if this was weird, if it wasn't for the fact that she told you she worked on weekends too.

She must've felt your stare because she turned to you, scowled, and asked, "What?"

"What are you doing here? It's Saturday?"

"Yeah. I know that. Wow. Your point?," she asked back annoyed with an eye roll.

"You told me you worked on Saturdays," you said back frowning annoyed.

Pearl. Froze. Nearly dropping the nail brush and getting bright lavender nail polish on the clean sofa. "...Uh. I got the day off!" She cleared her throat turning back towards her hand. "Yeah! I'm taking a few days off for self care. You know it's always good to take a mental break from work as they say."

"..Um. Ok?"

You slowly made your way to the kitchen table. Well..you guessed even karens needed a break from yelling at their fancy workplace. Upon reaching the table and picking up the list, you blinked when you noticed a second note and a fifty dollar bill was laying right next to it. Confused you read over the first note which had a few generic chores and a small note from Ruby asking you to pick up some groceries. OH. It was a shopping list. Although your f/c eyes blinked stopping at one line written on it.

"And don't forget to clean out your room. I'm tired of tripping over designer clothes every time I walk into your room."

That line confused you. What designer clothes? You didn't own anything that fancy. The fanciest thing you owned was one or two shirts with funny prints and it's not like you left them all scattered about on the floor. ...So you decided to call over to Pearl about that.

"Hey, Pearl?"

"Uuuuhh. What now?"

You decided to not comment on her tone and instead held up the note when she looked annoyed at you. "I think Ruby's telling me to clean your room?"

Pearl looked lost for a moment...before her face dropped and you could've swore she paled a bit. "..Uh...I-I think that part's actually meant for me! Yeah!" You rose a brow at her sudden semi-nervous tone. "She must've wrote that down because she left so early in the morning! You know how much of an early rookidee she is." Well...you guessed that made sense? "Hey. You should go get that stuff from the store now. Halloween's coming and Ruby wants to grab a few bags of candy before they run out. Y'know those kids get sugar cravings."

"Um...Ok, I guess." You could use a run to the local convivence store yourself and pick up a few things.

So you left. Didn't like the awkward tension that was created so you decided to just do some shopping for yourself and Ruby before returning to do the rest of the things on the list. Lucky for you most of the major stores were near the gym and since you were near the gym that meant it was just a quick walk down one or two streets until stopping at said store and walking in with Silver at your heels. Grabbing one of those shopping carts, you began to walk with it up and down the aisles grabbing all the things on Ruby's list remembering to grab one or two bags of halloween candy and some things for yourself including a dencent sized bag of pokemon food to feed the little monsters. Gotta keep them fed somehow. The real problem started when you were waiting at the register for the cashier to finish scanning your items. You were just standing there when a familiar man walked in and stopped in the doorway seeing you there.

"Y/n, mate."

Your head of course turned hearing your name and you smiled seeing none other than Piers walk in himself. "Piers! Hey I haven't seen you in a while. Where have you been?"

He shrugged. "Mostly monitoring Spikemuth's new growth and overseeing some new community programs I think would help make it better for everyone an' helpin' Marn-marn with 'er online classes. She's been studyin' hard trying to catch up since she took a year off from school ta do the challenge. But she's a smart girl so she should catch up in no time."

Oh. So that's the reason you hadn't seen him in a while. He sounded like a busy guy. "Programs? Oh. You mean like the recycling bens I saw your guys set up at the park."

He nodded. "Yeah. Reducin' waste 's good and all that. ...H-How about you? I heard from Ruby ya completed your deposit with her."

You nodded. "Things are well although I admit I haven't had much time to myself. Usually running around and making sure things get done. Y'know?..By the way what are you doing here?"

"'M picking up some ingredients for Marn-Marn's favorite lunch." He blinked at the amount of food you were buying. "But it looks like you're shoppin' too huh?"

You shook your head. "Nah. I'm only getting a few things. Most of this stuff is just some stuff Ruby wanted me to pick up for her."

As soon as the words left your lips the small smile on Piers's face instantly disappeared. "..Ruby?" You nodded. "That's weird."

"What's weird?"

"She told me she's havin' Pearl pick up some stuff for her today. Did she chase her mind?"

"She left me a note and some money asking me to do it since she works on weekends."

His brows shot up. "A note?" You nodded. "...Ruby doesn't work weekends. I've been paying 'er extra to help tutor Marnie in some subjects m' bad at, then she goes out with her boyfriend." You froze staring at him when he asked. "Who told you that?"

"...Pearl..did. Last month since they both work weekends-"

"Hol' up!" He stopped you holding up a hand a frown coming to his face. "Pearl told you that?" You nodded. "Y'n, neither o' 'em work the weekends. I should know since it's the only time I can shop at the clothes store without bumpin' into her."

".....She ...doesn't?" He shook his head and the realization struck you. Pearl had fricking LIED TO YOU!! Your face instantly scowled. "Then where the heck has she been going on the weekends!?"

"I 'ave no idea." His face frowned more before he sighed and shook his head. "Oh my Arceus....We need to go tell Ruby about this." He looked back up and pointed back towards the door. "Like right now before it goes any further.''

You could only nod in agreement not finding the words to express your anger right now. Because...she LIED to you! About working on weekends. Why? Was it to avoid you? You didn't mind if she wanted to go out every weekend and you wouldn't have bothered to ask since it wasn't your place to ask what she did in her free time. So why would she feel the need to lie about that? Or taking a vacation when you asked about it this morning!? And why would she lie about Ruby wanting you to be the one to go grocery shopping for her?! ..Unless..Your anger doubled at her weird reaction. Did she lie about Ruby leaving you those notes as well?! You never questioned it with her since Ruby never brought it up whenever you two spoke and she seemed to be happy that you did a good job. But of course if Pearl had to you lied about the notes then she could've lied to Ruby as well and neither of you knew! But now the truth came out thanks to Piers..Honestly it probably would've come out anyways since this was the last weekend you were supposed to help Ruby out. If Pearl had tried to pull this trick again when you weren't under that obligation anymore she would've been busted. Or maybe it was her plan all along to just expand this trick for just those two months? Who knew? After paying, you left with Piers with one of those giant paper bags you had to carry with both arms and had to keep up with the fast pace the lankier frowning man as he steered you all the way back towards the gym. Needless to say you two were fuming angry but you both would soon find out your anger would not match Ruby's in the slightest. Stopping in front of the Gym Piers stopped you and said one thing.

"Wait here a sec. I'll go n' set off the fireworks." You didn't exactly want to wait but did as he asked, waiting on the sidewalk and watching as Piers walked his way into the building and disappear. And you were left there for a solid three minutes before the LOUDEST lady scream you had ever heard rang through the air.

"SHE DID W H A T!?"

It was so loud you even lost your anger for a moment to jump at the high volume. A VERY loud WHAM sound came from inside of the gym and you stood there wide eyed as a VERY angry woman kicked the door leading into the building open. It was Ruby. And she wasn't angry. Oh no. She. Was. Furious!! Her brows were creased so much they could've made contact from the opposite sides of her face. Her knuckles already turning white balled into fists. Her stomping could out do a snorlax's. Her nose scrunched up and teeth bared back in such a way you expected her to have fangs with that snarl. The sight even made you half way freeze up seeing her.

"PEARL!! WHERE!?", was all she managed to squeeze out in her fury. Tone like a crazy mad arcanine.

You instantly shot your hand out towards the house and Ruby turned to stomp off towards the home. You stared after her as Piers slowly reemerged and watched along with you before eventually started to follow her all the way to the house where Ruby marched right up the steps and just like before literally kicked the door open with the force of a hundred mudsdales making the slam echo through out the inside and outside of the house.

"WHAT. DID. YOU. DO!?"

The she hulk disappeared into the house to continue yelling even from down the street where you two still approached you could hear Ruby's furious roars through the open door.

"OH DON'T YOU DO THAT 'I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT' ACT WITH ME!! YOU KNOW THOSE NOTES I LEFT WERE FOR YOU AND ONLY YOU!! WHY DID MY BOSS JUST TELL ME YOU'VE BEEN PUSHING YOUR WORK ONTO Y/N!?"

You two could barely make out the yelling of another voice that wasn't as loud as Ruby's but still loud enough to be heard. "ALL THOSE CHORES WEREN'T MEANT JUST FOR ME!! SOME OF THEM WERE HER RESPONSIBILITY!!"

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TELL HER WHICH HALF WAS HERS NOT SHOVE THE ENTIRE LIST AT HER AND RUN OFF!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING!? WHY WOULD YOU LIE ABOUT ME LIKE THAT!?"

"I NEVER DID THAT!! YOU DON'T HAVE ANY PROOF!!"

"MY BOSS RAN INTO HER AT THE BLOODY STORE SHOPPING!! SOMETHING I TOLD YOU TO DO!! ARE YOU SAYING TWO PEOPLE JUST MAGICALLY DECIDED TO LIE ABOUT THE SAME THING!?" There wasn't any answer from Pearl after that and you two finally got to the steps and stopped into the doorway. The sight inside like something out of a dramatic movie scene. Ruby was standing there scarier than a raging beartic staring down Pearl who looked extremely pale and scared as a mouse on the sofa. Her phone and the nail polish having fallen to the floor and the lavender color seeping into the carpet no doubt going to leave a stain. "I TRUSTED YOU WITH ONE THING AND YOU CAN'T EVEN DO THAT!? YOU PULLED A WHOLE LOT OF GARBAGE BUT THIS TAKES THE ENTIRE DUMPSTER FIRE!!"

Pearl did her best impression of a goldfish opening and closing her mouth before doing a double take and seeing the two of you standing there staring from the doorway. As if some kind of newfound confidence was regained in her seeing you she scowled and said something that would seal her fate.

"WELL I WOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT IF SHE HAD JUST APOLOGIZED IN THE FIRST PLACE!! BESIDES THAT WORK IS BENEATH ME!!"

"OH! So it's beneath you then?," Ruby asked in a sarcastic tone back and while she didn't yell anymore although there was still the sinister rage behind it. "Oh. Well I guess that's a good thing. Because I decided that I agree with you. You won't be doing that stuff anymore."

Pearl gave a smirk at you clearly thinking she had won-

"BECAUSE YOU'RE EVICTED AFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY!!"

There was a silence as Pearl froze and you two stared still before she whirled wide eyed to Ruby and yelled. "WHAT!? Y-YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!"

"OHO! Yes I can! This is my house! I own everything here."

"But-...B-But we're family! You can't do that to your own flesh and blood-"

"THE HECK I CAN'T!! You wouldn't even be living with me if I could help it! The only reason I let you is because Uncle Ross begged me to! And if it wasn't for him you wouldn't even have a job if he hadn't asked his friend to do you a solid!" She counted on her fingers. "Ever since you got here you constantly eat my food, you're rude to all my friends and everyone else you meet, you're always trying to flirt with my boss when I'm trying to work making me look bad, and you're extremely lazy and entitled! But you know what..I tried to help you out because we're family. But I had NEVER thought you'd stoop so low as to lie about me and put all that work on my tenant. But I guess asking you to not be a spoiled little brat was too much to ask!!"

"You can't kick me out! I know my rights! My lease isn't up yet!"

"You're right." Ruby gave a strained smile. "That's why I'm going to be nice and give you two months to pack and find somewhere else to live. Because I'm not letting you renew your lease when it's up!"

"You can't do that-"

"Apparently you didn't read he contract you signed! And don't you DARE try to use that 'My dad will sue you' crap! I sent a copy to Uncle Ross and I've been keeping him updated every time you cause trouble!" Pearl froze. All the blood draining from her face making her look like a ghost. "What? You didn't think I was serious when I told you I'd keep him in the loop or were you not paying attention again? In fact I should call him right now-"

"NO!! DON'T CALL HIM!! PLEASE-"

"Then leave!" Ruby cut her up making her shut up. "Your lease ends on New Years. You got two months to figure it out! If you're not out by then I'm calling Uncle Ross! And if you even THINK about trying to pull anything else or skipping out on rent these last few months I'll call him right then and there and make sure he gets every detail about what you did."

Pearl continued to stare like a goldfish between her and you two in the doorway before dramatically turning and throwing herself from the sofa. Running like an angry teenager up the stairs and all the way to her room making sure to slam the door behind her. And then there was silence. Just you two awkwardly standing in the doorway and Ruby glaring off where her cousin had disappeared ..before she sighed and tiredly turned her head towards you and Piers.

"Gee..I uh...I'm sorry you both had to see that, Boss. I didn't think she'd do something like this."

Surprisingly Piers didn't even react like he expected the entire thing to happen. And waved a hand. "Nah. Somethin' like that woulda happened with her sooner or later anyways. Tho I don' think I'm the one who needs the apology."

She looked at you. "Oh..Right. *sigh* Y/n. I'm so sorry. I never knew Pearl would-"

"Don't worry about it." You cut her off with a shrug. "Like you said, you didn't know. So how could I blame you for something you didn't do? Besides nothing really bad happened. Just a whole bunch of chores and cleaning. Don't get me wrong. I'm still angry at her." You frowned. "But I'll happily take being tricked into doing chores then fighting power hungry weirdos with ancient pokemon for a third time."...Ruby blinked. "Besides. It looks like it's resolved now right?"

"I still feel really bad you were put in that position. I promise it'll make sure it won't happen again. Here." She walked over and took the giant paper bag away from you. "I'll take care of the rest of the rest of the chores. Go out and enjoy your weekend."

"Are you sure?"

"I'll be fine. It's not the first time I put away groceries or did laundry." She nodded towards her boss. "Besides you two deserve to have some alone time for a change."

A record scratch noise went off in your head and you both stared at her. "...What?"

Ruby rose a brow. "Aren't you two da-"

"FRIENDS." Piers cut in quickly clearing his throat, a sudden pink rushing to his cheeks. "W-We're friends. We just haven't had time to hang out 's all Ruby. Ya should know how busy we've been."

You blinked looking between them but Ruby seemed to get the hint Piers was sending. "Oooh. Right. *ahem* You have been pretty busy with that haunted house."

"Yes. N-Now if you both will excuse me-" He turned and quickly walked away. "-I-I still have ta put the bloody thing together before then!"

And he left. You watching him go before looking towards Ruby and asking, "What just happened?"

To which she shrugged. "I'm not too sure myself."

Needless to say you got the rest of weekend off and you spent that time enjoying your weekend and spent it relaxing and taking your little herd to the park. Funnily enough you didn't see Pearl at all for the next few days until she came home from work. The nasty glares continued but it seemed she lost all bite to say anything mean and if Ruby was just around she would just silently skulk to and from the kitchen, the front door, and her room. Not that you minded. It was relieving. You also finally managed to fully pay the deposit to Ruby so yay for regular rent price finally. You also unfortunately had to work on Halloween so you missed the start of the small Halloween fair Piers was putting on but he made up for that when he came in near the closing of your shift to grab a cup of tea of all things. You had seen a few people (mostly children) in some costumes, but you weren't expecting Piers of all people to walk in all dressed up...well. Sorta dressed up. His hair was styled purple and some green and he wore a purple jacket. He must've noticed your look because he chuckled and replied.

"Heh..Like my costume. Decided ta get into the spirit more."

"Uh yeah. You look good....What are you supposed to be?"

"A mareanie. Figured it'd be a nice way ta keep my style and shake things up just for the holiday."

"That's great Piers!"

"Thanks...Um. I don't suppose you'll be joining us would ya?"

You sadly shook your head. "I can't. I'm working until six but I'll try to stop by."

"Oh. Yeah! That'd be great. We can all use all the support we can get."

He stayed and chatted a bit more but he eventually he did have to go with you still working the day away. But you still smiled because from here you could still hear the faint sounds of Piers's singing.

"'S close to midnight and somethin' evil's lurking through the dark!~ Under the moonlight you see a sight that almost stops your heart!~ Ya try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it!~ Ya start ta freeze as horrors look you right between the eyes!~ You're paralyzed!~ CUZ THIS IS THRILLER!!~ THRILLER NIGHT!!~ And no one's gonna save ya from the beast 'bout ta strike!!~ YOU KNOW IT'S THRILLER!!~ THRILLER NIGHT!!~ You're fighting for your life inside a killer thriller tonight!!!~"

-NOVEMBER TO DECEMBER-

As per the second year of you being there Halloween came and went. Pumpkins were thrown away. Candy was gladly eaten. And decorations were taken down until next year to be displayed again. And the next time you saw Piers he was completely back to normal, although you could still faintly see some purple-green dye leftover in his hair until it wore off after a while. More weeks passed and it went from a pleasant chill to a very cold as December hit. Good thing you had a coat. Things were good with Ruby although she still apologized for not stopping Pearl sooner from time to time. As for Pearl....Eh. You two barely ran into each other now. You sometimes saw her get food from the kitchen or take one or two empty boxes upstairs to start packing things since this was her last month of living there or sometimes you saw her returning from her late shifts at the store early in the mornings. But she didn't speak to you and would only glare. Through November she had tried to 'talk sense' into Ruby. * cough cough* begging and complaining *cough* But Ruby held firm and her choice was final. She have up around three days into December but that didn't stop her glares. And she didn't try starting a fight with you no doubt scared that Ruby would make good on her threat of telling her father. But eh. Such is life. But she absolutely would go off in one last tizzy before she left. And it all started on one of the day's you were off. It was just a typical Saturday when you woke up and smiled at seeing some snow out the window ..it was a good day to go out for a walk. So out you went into the cold the outside was ..nice and it put a smile on your face. The town was quiet with there being already some Christmas decorations up and once or twice you could see a Christmas tree in one of the windows of the houses you passed by. The snowflakes slowly falling around and on you making for a pretty sight as happy families walked past. Well they did say it was the most wonderful time of the year so you guessed it would be the happiest too. You inhaled a breath of clean fresh air and let it out slowly seeing your breath. An air of calm coming over you. You wondered what the guys were up too? You hadn't really heard from them in a while. You hoped whatever training they were going through went ok...Note to self. Buy a phone soon.

It was when you were passing by the gym that you had stopped and blinked. Because there was a LOT of boxes of multiple sizes in front of it. And lots of Team Yell moving them around as well as what looked like a freshly cut pine tree on the open floor of the gym, and standing in the middle of this chaos was the man himself, Piers. Although he was back to wearing that long coat in this cold weather. He was talking with another man holding a clipboard and seemed to be pointing at a box every now and then. Meanwhile some other man right in front of him was trying to dislodge something from under a massive heavy looking box. Smiling widely, you started walking up towards them.

"Hot Pink!" The punk instantly turned to you as soon as you said his name waving. "Hey! Wasn't expecting to see you out so early in the morning. What's up?"

"Bunny!" Piers smiled and turned away from both men near him..and turned his back directly to the guy who pulled harder on the stool feeling it starting to come loose. "'M gettin' ready for my Christmas promotional. Wot are ya doin' here?"

You smiled wider stopping a little bit aways from him. "I decided to take a walk. It's nice outside today."

The man behind Piers wobbled more tugging on the tool more.

"Huh. It does feel nice out today huh? *sigh* It's days like this that make me glad to be home to celebrate the holidays."

"Oh. So I'm taking it you're not going to Wyndon this year?"

"Nah. City's too big and I have no obligation there. 'Sides even if someone did invite me I'd decline. Don't feel like travelin' for a good while and Marnie deserves a good Christmas at home. Ya got any plans?"

You shook your head. "Not yet. But since I get Christmas off I think I'd like to stop by your new show since I'm finally free now."

His face lit up a bit more. "That'd be great. There'll be plenty ta do 'fore I perform. Hehe. Marnie would neva let me live it down if I forget her favorite Christmas tradition so help m-EE!?"

The man finally got his crowbar free...but at a price. It ended up in him losing his balance and sending him cascading back right to collide into Piers's back causing the punk to be thrown forward towards you. On instinct his arms flew out thankfully to catch the wall and successfully stopping himself from falling down and taking you with him...But that didn't stop his face from colliding with yours. Both frozen as something soft collided with your own lips.

...And then a shriek broke loose.

#pokemon sword and shield #pokemon shield #pokemon sword #pokemon swsh #love doesn't do encores #reader x piers #pokemon piers x reader #pokemon piers #piers x reader

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0ystercatcher · 1 year

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When did you stop finding lesbians gross for not being attracted to males? What could a lesbian say to a homophobic bi woman friend for her to understand that lesbians are not evil/gross for not being available to males?

again im not sure id exactly word what i thought like that but w/e thats not tha point here. it happened some time before "peaking" honestly and its one of the things that made me reconsider liberal gender theory. and i dont know if theres a single thing you can say that fixes it tbh, unlearning homophobia esp when its hidden behind attractive progressive rhetoric is not a one-day realization kinda thing, many things come together to chip away at it.

for me, what helped was 1st understanding tht dating is in itself "discriminatory" (which stuck w me bc i related to it, you Have to pick and choose to find someone you actually like and vibe with) and theres nothing immoral abt excluding people from your dating pool, esp for smth as basic and not exactly easy to get around as them simply not being the sex youre into which is kind of a very important factor of attraction esp for homosexuals, who have faced and still do face discrmination based on this v fact etc etc.

and 2nd that there is no reason why political acceptance or tolerance must translate to individual attraction or even just dating preferences. bc that doesnt actually solve anything for anyone here. lesbians not being available to males isnt a real material problem for said males. they wont die w/o lesbians liking them and they can simply move on and find a partner who wants them. nobody is owed dates or sex for any political reasons. bc at best youre creating a deeply uncomfortable and messy situation for everyone involved (i dont think i need to mention why a lesbian wouldnt not enjoy this, but also why would a transfem want a relationship w people they know wont be into them? that sounds unpleasant) and at worst youre doing lite conversion therapy as you go and demanding sex from lesbians as proof of their acceptance, which is hella rapey.

good luck anon but it is kind of a slow process to unlearn homophobia and relearn how to be decent

#m #theres more here but yeah idk a couple things had to fit together better for all of it to make sense for me

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dredshirtroberts · 2 years

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in reference to this post, which I agree with almost entirely, I just wanted to...touch on the gender identity as it relates to how you are now.

Shale is insinuated to be nonbinary (agender) because of her status as a golem and if she were not a golem she would not be nonbinary. And while generally yeah that's not amazing representation for folks outside of the binary/"norm", I do find it actually pretty...important to me? out of nowhere?

Well, perhaps not out of "nowhere". There's a very specific place this is coming from.

I'm trans of gender. I have come out publicly to family and friends as a man who uses he/him pronouns. Previously I have identified as genderfluid and even before and between those two points I identified as cis.

Gender has always been difficult and thanks to Recent Revelations, now I know why - I've got 10 mushrooms piloting the flesh gundam that is this broken body (that is to say, I believe that my experiences align enough with OSDD-1b/DID diagnostic criteria enough that I would describe myself as part of a system). We're filled with the gender fluids! Take your pick we've got e v e r y t h i n g.

Who knows if we still would have identified collectively as genderfluid, or if we'd have been trans at all without the specific circumstances that causes OSDD-1b/DID. Maybe we would have turned out exactly as mom and dad wanted us: the perfect little christian girl who never stepped out of line. Maybe we would have turned out the same: a queer disaster with two joyfriends who live very far away (currently).

We are who we are, our sexuality and genders are both defined by our existence thanks to great trauma we suffered decades ago. And so stories where it's not based on "born this way" or "chose to become" are very important to me. Because we were neither. We did not choose to be queer, but neither can we be sure we were born like this. We don't know what we could have been.

If we were to all merge into one singular personality within this body, who knows how we might identify. If we were to erase the trauma we have endured who knows what that might look like.

It doesn't matter though. Because what happened happened, and we don't want to become one singular person because we work best as a team but not a unit. And Shale cannot be returned to her initial form. And our genders are still valid.

I don't like the push back against poor representation - there are going to be people upset with every representation that gets shown. We know this from seeing fandoms which were once the pinnacle of representation getting thrown under the bus simply because time has passed and there's more out there now. But people are represented by imperfect/flawed representation. Because people are many and varied and we contain multitudes within us - some more literally than others, admittedly. We are flawed. And so are our stories.

Let us have our representation too, as more and more 'good' representation is visible to the wider public.

#whelp that still was too long #but it's about half the length it would have been if i'd have kept to the original train of thought i had and then deleted #becuase it wasn't what i'd really wanted to say #and this is...closer #the original post was very good and i very much agree with it #i just also don't like labeling representation that isn't actively attacking anyone as 'bad'#there is no bad representation - what you're thinking of is mocking #'bad' representation is just representation for someone who you don't personally identify with despite sharing label names with you #maybe you don't identify exactly the same way your 'representation' in a show does #but that doesn't make it bad #it doesn't make it unhelpful #bioware is...hamfisted about queer rep and it's a flaw #frankly their treatment of native/indigenous treatments has been far more abhorrent #frankly their queer rep is actually pretty good considering what it's up against #is it perfect? no #but will it help? maybe #and that's about all we can hope for right now #as time passes things will look less and less 'good' as far as representation goes in old media #but it was important at the time #and still is for those who connect with the representation as it was in the original

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superlutscher · 1 year

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My FLR with Sarah: Act V

Although Sarah and I were having a female lead relationship most of the time it felt like a "normal" relationship. Well, I don't know what a "normal" relationship is. Is it a heterosexual relationship with in which both partners are equal? Maybe that is how most people would describe a "normal" relationship. But in most cases, and historically, men would yield more power in a relationship than women. That doesn't necessarily mean, that men abuse their women. Both partners love each other and support each other. You only notice the inequality within a relationship when there is a decision to make and both partners differ in their choice, it is the men how has the final word. And you notice the inequality in the amount of household tasks of which women tend to have more. Sarah and my relationship was just like this, just the other way round. She was the one who made the important decisions. And after a while of getting her used to the idea of being the boss, I also got more household tasks to do. I kept my own flat, but we spent most of the time in her flat. I started cleaning the kitchen, vacuum cleaned the flat, cleaned the bathroom among other things. Cooking remained her responsibility most of the time. Apart from the switched gender roles, the most significant difference to relationships of other couples was her right to have other men. Technically, I had the same right regarding other women, but we both now, that this was unlikely to happen. Until that moment she hadn't had made use of her right to fuck another man, apart from making out with a guy on a party. I have also been on the party and I think Sarah just kissed the guy to find out how I would react. As a response I tried to flirt with a girl, I had chosen a rather unattractive one to increase the probability of success with her, but it didn't work out. She was more interested in another guy whom she also picked up that night. On our way home, I was still jealous and Sarah asked me if everything was alright. I said "Yes",

knowing what was up, she asked "Are you jealous?"

"Well, yes, a bit, but I just have to accept it and will get used to it."

"Okay." then she hugged me.

As I sad before, we loved each other. I told her once, while we were having sex. She was riding me and her huge breasts were bouncing above my head while she held me arms over my head. Occasionally, I tried to reach her big and hard nipples with my mouth, but pressing my arms on the bed prevented me from reaching high enough. I was so excited that I looked her into the eyes and told her that I love her. She responded with "I know, sweetheart". This was, when I reached the point and came inside her. She tenderly stroke my face with her hand and I mourned while my wiener was still wincing. From that day on I almost daily said "I love you" to her.

It took her a couple of more weeks until she was ready to tell my that she loved me. It was already late at night and I was cleaning up the dishes. Sarah wanted to go to bed and came into the kitchen, tore down my pants and put on the chastity cage. It happened so quickly that my wiener didn't have to get hard before the cage was locked. She hugged me and said that she loved me. I was a bit surprised by the cage and her words that I my reaction was a bit weird. I said "Thank you". She gave me a kiss, smiled at me and walked out. I rearranged my pants and suppressed the pain which the cage caused to my wiener and my balls. Although I got used to the cage, the pain didn't cease. It also seemed that my wiener didn't learn that not getting hard inside the cage would hurt less. When we went to bed, I had to wait at least half an hour until my wiener didn't try to get hard anymore and the pain ceased. Usually, Sarah was already asleep by that time.

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mitamicah · 3 years

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Spoilers from both Trollhunters the book and Trollhunters the series!

While reading the book I was really impressed with how many differences there were between the character so I have worked on giving my take on six characters from both media, book vs series, and how they differ from each other :3

I should mention that while there was illustrations in the book I tried for the challenge not to copy those but follow along the describtions in the book - when possible - to give my own interpretation of the characters ^v^

Steve

First up we have Steve. Starting out as the stereotypical bully in both version their paths seperates quickly resulting in two different ending for the musuclar blond Jorgensen-Warner is the book version of Steve. Here's how he is described from our first encounter with him: "He was handsome but in the oddest way- He eyes were too small and his nose piggish: he had a ridiculous amount of hair and a couple of teeth that looked like fangs. Yet somehow in combination these features were sort of mesmerising. His unnatural muscular bulk and odd way of speaking -crisply, politely, as if he were a foreign student who had learned English in class - completed the strange package." page 21-22 For his outfit I went with the description of him on page 224 "[my clothes] ... didn't cast me in the best light when compared to Steve Jorgensen-Warner, who looked rather rakish in blue jeans and a shirt - definitely not a blouse - opened to the third button. He dribbled the ball casually with his left hand." The bold passages is added by me This Steve is later revealed to be a changeling aka a troll Before we go on: can any of you explain to me what a "ridiculous amount of hair" even means :'D? I had a lot of trouble with this prompt because isn't this so darn subjective :'D? and the official art look way less ridiculous than I'd figure it'll be :'D x'D Palchuk is the series version of Steve. His facial appearance being way less specific (I'd say he has normal sized eyes, a big roman nose and some more or less normal teeth) and his way of speaking is definitely not polite. Like book Steve, this Steve starts out with pushing smaller guys into lockerrooms yet after that he becomes way less of a terrifying bully and much more of a silly goose who brings a lot of the comic relief in my opinion Douxie says it best in Wizards when he calls Steve the "village idiot" x'D I do not recall seeing Steve being that sporty in the show, he is much more interested in becoming homecoming king no basketballs around x'D While book Steve is revealed to be the enemy (a troll) series Steve joins the "good guys" creating the creepslayerz with the character Eli Pepperjack

Blinky

Blinky is just called Blinky in the book Here's a bit of description of him "The third [troll] had scarlet eyes, eight of them on long stems. (...) The thing from my house glided toward me with a surprising grace for something with an indetermined number of legs, all of which were hidden behind a patched kilt scaled with layers of medals, prizes and trophies and award ribbons. An incalculable tangle of tentacles twined around one another as if dying to squeese something to death. As it passed the oven, the firelight revealed olive-green skin, reptilian texture, and lacquer of slime lubricating its undulating appendages Its moth a horizontal gash.. " The bold passages is added by me So yeah this Blinky is quite something :'D I stopped caring to draw tentacles after a while but overall this was silly but fun to draw since his teeth later is described as big as traffic cones I believe he must be very tall :'D Also he's close to blind Has a bit of a dirty mouth but in a very "read" way if it makes sense :'D cannot seem to stop calling Jim dimwitted and tiny and Tobias big :'D Blinky's full name in the series is Blinkus Galadrigal he has six eyes instead of eight and they are all working just fine, thank you very much x'D His tons of tentacles and legs has been replaced by four arms and two legs and while he is still olive-green he is now made of tone like texture just like the other trolls the kilt turned into shorts and he is quite a bit smaller now not even as tall as Jim He still has this very academic way of speaking yet he is way nicer to Jim calling him "Master Jim" instead of "the short one" x'D

ARRRGH!!!

Book ARRGHHH!!!s full name is Johannah Mmmm ARRRGH!!! and she is a pretty big deal warrior among the trolls in the book - she's so badass in fact Blinky has decided to call her by her last name to honor her for her deeds for trollkind Here's a qoute from the book describing her appearance "The goliath emerged from the tunnel as comfortably as a dog from a doghouse, coarse black fur pouring into the chamber before I could make out any actual arms or legs (...) Even beneath the fur I could see loops of muscles flexing. (...) ARRRGH!!! was built like a gorilla but three times larger: Two arms, two legs, and, thankfully, just two eyes. Horns, curled like those of a ram (...) The thing's orange eyes cast about with animal perceptiveness, and it used its snout and sniffed. Its jaws fell open to reveal a purple, slavering mouth armed with haphazard daggers of teeth." Page 75-76 The bold passages is added by me (Also worth mentioning: the qoute is from before the protagonist knows of ARRRGH!!!'s gender which is why he calls her an 'it') At other times in the story we learn that ARRRGH! has quite scarred arms and really wishes for better tooth hygeine; so much so that Tobias actually end up making her a brace out of chicken wire :'D Idk I find it quite adorable :'D Now unto the serie's ARRRGH!!! - first up he is male, his name is Arghaumont and he is famous for another reason than Johannah: he was a general of Gunmar but retreated from the war making him a traitor to his people yet a hero for the good trolls in the series. Series ARRRGH!!! is likewise built like a gorilla but made of stone and having a mane long and green like it is moss his horns is way smaller and less curvy and his teeth hygeine is never brought up also his face is way less dog like x'D

Tobias

Book Tobias' full name is Tobias M. Dershowitz yet he is going by 'Tubby' or 'Tub'. Here is a describtion of him from the book: "You could call Tobias Dershowitz chubby, if you were being cute, or husky if you were being diplomatic. The fact is he was fat, and that was only the beginning of his problems. His hair was a thick, orange, out-of-control hedge. His face spilled over with the kind of freckles that make kids like Tub look like overgrown toddlers. Worst of all were his braces, marvels of modern torment: whips of stainless steel crisscrossing each tooth seperately and lashed to a dozen silver fasteners. The braces clicked so much when he spoke, you expected sparks. At least he was tall..." page 27 The bold passages is added by me The outfit I went with is described on page 259 like this: "He stood in the driveway decked out in his best approximation of a ninja: black tennis shoes, black sweatpants, a black hoodie, a belt made from a red curtain sash, and an oversize fanny pack holding his gear (...) It was unfortunate that the fanny pack was lime green..." To describe Tub is a bit difficult because sadly he is not much in the story as I'd liked - mostly he is being quite serious and let us know he is not happy by being sidelined not speaking troll nor being invited on hunts which I completely understand tbh :'D What I do find interesting is how Tub and series Jim has seem to have switched roles a little bit: In the series Jim is the one giving a speech about how he is insecure about his place in life and how he wants more - in the book this is Tub in more than one occassion: "We have to accept who we are. And before you ask, I'll tell you. We're nobody. We have no life. We have nothing to look forward to. We're not special. I just want it to go away. All of it. The stupid being scared. Doesn't it seem we've been scared forever?" page 37 "Jim, you're wrong. We were meant to do this. This is exactly what we've been waiting for. They've chosen us. Of all people! Us! (...) Jesus, Jim, take a look at my life! You know what I'm worth! To anyone? Zero! Nothing! I'm a fat loser and will always be a fat loser. Until this. This is like a present. Full of, man, I don't know. Hope?..." page 196 (talking about trollhunting here btw) Oh yeah and book Tobias gets this badass scene where he uses his dentist's tool to kill trolls I loved that Now series Tobias is way different :'D first up his name is Tobias Domzalski and his nicknames are Toby and Tobes. He is way shorter and has more neat hair (what is it with the series neating up the hair :'D? x'D). He also seems way cheerier and pretty happy with his place in life more or less Unlike Tub, Toby is in it from the start being an important player in the story He doesn't have the same drive to be something more than he is as Tub has instead Toby is going with the flow starting out quite afraid of everything troll and ended up being as brave as the rest of the team *tbh Jim's scared out of his wits too so they mimic each other x'D* Where Tub has dentist tools Toby gets a badass hammer so I'll say its an upgrade

Claire

First off we have Claire Fontaine, a foreign student from no other than Scotland with a taste for military clothing and liqourice Here's how she's described in the book "She tucked her long dark hair behind her ear and left ir with an adorable smudge of white dust. I thought she was beautiful, though she wasn't in the classic sense. The popular girl would say she wasn't skinny enough. They would also point to the fact that she didn't wear makeup or do anything to tame that hair. And her clothes -well, what could be said about her clothes? Her boots were not sexy and knee-high: in fact, they were ankle-high and rubber-soled and looked picked from military surplus racks, an array of pea-green coats and multi-coloured slacks, all of which looked as if they'd been through actual World War II combat. And that beret she wore before and after school wasn't of the look-at-me-I'm Frensh variety: it was more in the style of I'm-going-to-invade-your-country-and-be-your-new-dictator. Only one thing didn't make sense: that bright pink, exceedingly girlish backpack that inexplicably hadn't one anti-establidh patch sewn onto it (...) Oh, I forgot to mention that Claire Fontain came from the UK. That's right- the girl had an accent. I think you are starting to get the picture." page 30-1 The bold passages is added by me It is hinted at that Claire is quite tall and a great deal taller than Jim (more when I get to him) and she is actually a whole year older than Jim since they both have birthday May 2 but Claire is 16 while Jim is 15 Since Trollhunters in this story is not a "protected title" (aka the chosen hero type) Claire ends up being one herself even though nobody even herself didn't know: AND. SHE. KICKS. BUTT! She's even better than the guy that had 40+ years experience so yeah safe to say she's badass :'D Even before that she has a hilarious scene calling out Steve in the wildest shitstorm of Scottish slang I lived for it x'D She's described quite a few times with lots of bracelets, sometimes made of wire so I gave her a bit of both She's not really a part of the popular group but has her own thing going on Now onto Claire Nuñez the series' version of this badass Here Claire is hispanic and pretty much one of the most popular girls seen around her style is way more ... I've called it punk rock in purple but Idk exactly what to call it x'D she's shorter than Jim and slimmer looking than her book counterpart She enters the story not as a trollhunter but as a victim of having her brother stolen by changelings and as time progresses she becomes a fastlearning and quite competent sorcerer dealing in shadow magic Unlike Fontaine, Nuñes is seen wearing make up, shorter hair with dye in it and hair clips instead of bracelets

Jim

First up we have book Jim. His full name is James Sturges Jr. and lives with his single parent, his dad, after his mother went away the day before his birthday in start May and never returned. Sturges Sr. had been traumatized loosing his brother to trolls although none of the characters didn't know this yet - only Senior had seen the creatures making him paranoid and in turn making Jim very embarrased about his father. At the same time Jim seems to honestly worry for his father and his behavior too makes Jim very cautious and fearful a character. Book Jim is pretty much a typical teenager for the most part He is seen to be a tad clumsy and not exactly brave really. And the author's choice of basically not describing him anywhere made my job way harder trying to be book accurate :'D So I've mostly inspired him of the official illustrations in the book Here's what I could find about our little trollhunter First off: he's a short fellow that is first mentioned on page 14; "Sunshine is important for growing boys." (...) "I am not growing" I took after my dad when it came to size and was still waiting for that growth spurt everyone kept raving about. "In fact I think I'm shrinking." This is brought up most of everything Jim through the movie from him not being able to reach a point of a chalkboard (page 32) to people's dissapointing sighs taking meassurements when he is chosen as Romeo (107) and him wearing super high heels for the same reason (224) but also Blinky directly calling him a "little fellow" (page 127) On page 27 we learn that he is getting a bruise on his chin after being slammed into his locker by Steve Lockers he has been thrown into enough to have learned to open them on the inside :'D He is a skinny fella which Tobias so politely call "lack of muscletone" due to "glandular" at page 120 He is not very good at anything describing his room full of stuff from hobbies he tried and failed at (page 63) The longest describtion about his appearance is probably page 105: "I lowered my eyes and regarded the chewed, dirty fingernails holding my script, thes scuffed shoes on my feet, and realized that these were the symbols of my pityful life: worn-out, insignificant, ready to be thrown beneath Dad's industrial mower" It pretty much says it all when this is the longest quite I could find :'D For the outfit I mostly went by the small describtion on page 89-90: "I tucked the medallion beneath my shirt. After a full day of wearing it, maybe the rest of the suffocating fear would go away too. My plan was to dart into the kitchen, grab my sweatshirt and be out of the house. " I added jeans since he is said to wear jeans on page 283 - the medallion sneak out beneath the sweatshirt/shirt on page 97 which is why I added it on top here as well Now since there's a bit more to both versions of Jim due to their role as the protagonist I've added in a little extra features here being the medallion in the book vs the amulet in the series and the weaponry given to the characters For Sturges we have the medallion who's described like this: "It was a bronze medallion conntected to a rusty chain. It was engraved with a foreboding crest: a hideous, snarling face; indecipherable markings of a sevage language, and a magnificent long-sword across the bottom." page 9 The medallion is treated like it is a common artefact if a bit rare in the book - its purpose is to translate trollspeak for the wearer. Jim is giving two swords in the book; a rusty longsword he calls Clairesword (do I need to explain this one?) and a cutlass he calls Cat #6 after the one cat at Tobias' house that liked Jim x'D For Sturges' personality my feeling about him is that he is a bit more ... passive than his series counterpart. He is not really standing up for himself that much and would rather blend into the background. This qoute from Claire sums him up pretty nicely I believe "You're a good person, Mr. Sturges. A bit gloomy, but good" page 246 I do like that Jim in this version is a Taurus (I am a taurus too x'D) born on May 2nd so that's a plus It is probably also worth mentioning that in this world trollhunters aren't a chosen hero type like in the series: trollhunters or paladin was once a title held by many warriors yet now there's very few left. Sturges was a proud paladin family making Jim a chosen candidate for the honor of becoming a trollhunter but he is not the only one - or even the best - in the book. In fact out of the three trollhunters we learn about I'll say Jim is the weakest (and he is not even the least trained; ouch :'D) Jim doesn't get a nice armour like his series counterpart either but is seen in the illustrations wearing a blue hoodie (like the one in the little doodle) The full name of Jim in the series is James Lake Jr. He is the child of a single parent and lives with his mother whom Jim "mothers a lot" (Tobias' words in the first episode) This Jim is pretty "tall for his age" (Jim's own words uttered quite a few times across all three series) yet with quite skinny legs (he is called out for this by multiple characters). He is much more competent in life than his book counterpart being an exceptional cook, good at Spanish, seemingly alright in PE and at school he seems to stand pretty good if only holding himself back. Unlike book Jim, series Jim seems much more active and longing to be something more than he is - he is seen to be quite brave and protective of his friends, very kind and selfless. Also even from the start he seems much more nimble than his book counterpart being able to climb the robe (a feat book Jim didn't do before later) and with his training as trollhunter he becomes even more badass Trollhunter status in the series is way more important since the title is given to only one chosen warrior of Merlin chosen by the amulet of daylight (the medallion in the book). This also makes the amulet way more special and important in the series which probably explains its shine up from rusty bronze thing to silver and blue. While Lake Jr doesn't have named sword he does have a magical armour and sword made of daylight We do not know the exact birthday of Lake Jr but the creators have replied to a fanquestion saying it would be around fall especially October so by that estimate Jim is probably a scorpio pretty far from the before mentioned taurus in the book While Jim Lake Jr isn't seen with long lasting bruises in the original series he does get two more permanent scars in Wizards

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crowtrinkets · 3 years

Text

A World Knowing You Aren’t in it

Prompt request from @mouselungs

*forehead kiss* ty for that sweet sweet angst

I wrote this at 1-2 am after watching a sad movie so uh yea I take my angst v seriously lol

Gender Neutral Pronouns for Apprentice, He/They Pronouns for Asra

Word Count: 2,208

I push my way into my shop, unwrapping my scarf from around my face. I take a deep slow breath of the not-so-fresh air mixed with dust and magical goods long since past their expiration. Wearing face coverings, just to go shopping in the market is necessary but I can't help but miss the days I could breathe in the fresh scents of spices and my favorite pumpkin bread without worry of getting sick.

"Asra? I'm back," I call out. I hear thumping traveling from the second floor and down the steps. A cloud of fluffy white hair pokes out from behind a curtain.

"Welcome home," he gives me a warm smile to which I return with my own.

"They were out of potatoes, something about merchants being scared of trade with Vesuvia," I follow them back up the stairs carrying my basket, sparse with groceries.

"I can't say I blame them," Asra mumbles to themself. I only hum in response, not wanting to push this topic further.

Asra has talked about leaving many times, but we had yet to do so, if we had the means we could but, there's no money in magic that can't heal a plague. Placing my basket on the counter of our kitchenette I pull out the food items I bought. Asra snatches an apple and bites into it but then grimaces.

"This apple is soft, like it's been left out," he goes to throw out the apple but I catch his arm.

"Don’t throw it out, if they're too soft I could make a cobbler or something out of them," taking the apple from Asra's hand I place it in a bowl with the other fruit I purchased.

"Oh, but they were out of sugar… maybe they're sweet enough on their own?" I mumble to myself.

"There's no need to go back out just for sugar, I'm sure we'll manage without it," Asra says with a smile that doesn't reach their eyes. They grab the lettuce I pulled from the basket out of my hand.

"Why don't I put these away while you go take a bath hmm? Wash the city air off of you," I give Asra a short nod and head off to the bathroom to wash up.

Suddenly feeling the weight of my day, running all the possible errands I can at once, so I am exposed less to the outside. I grab a towel from our tiny linen closet and pass by to give Faust chin scratches.

"Have you been bundled up here all day?" I question. She only responds by slithering closer so she can lean into my scratches. Her movement causes a blanket to fall, revealing a pile of books under it. My curiosity is piqued and I pick one up to read its cover. "Nopal Desert" it reads. I pick a map that was underneath it, depicting the better part of Vesuvia and surrounding territories. Nopal circled in ink. I hear Asra humming while he opens and closes the cabinets in the other room. I elect to bring it up after my bath.

The water is hot, almost too hot for my liking, but its burn soothes me in a way. Making me feel something other than the heavy burden that lays on the whole city's shoulders. I let myself sink down until the water cradles my head. Curling up so my whole body is submerged. I stare at the ceiling, watching the steam from the bath slowly rise, allowing condensation to sit on the wooden beams. I didn't bother to open the window so the bathroom could stay dry. I'll do that afterward. The water cups my ears, muffling the already quiet streets outside. My mind travels back to the books and maps I saw earlier. Was Asra trying to get us to leave? I explained in the past that I can't afford to pay rent on my shop and pay rent in a whole new area. Vesuvia is unsafe but the shop is my home, my lively hood. I can't give it up. I lie there, pondering and contemplating until the water has become lukewarm. My body aches after laying in the tub for far too long. After drying off my body and getting dressed I exit the bathroom, not bothering to stop my hair from dripping all over me.

I walk towards my bed, finding the books and maps, untouched, and staring at me. I let out a frustrated sigh and collect the items.

I walk into the kitchen to find Asra nursing a cup of tea, and gazing out the window. They haven't noticed me yet. His eyes stare longingly out at the night sky. Sad and distant. I quietly approach and gently place the items on the table. Asra looks up at me in surprise. Neither one of us talks for a while. I clear my throat.

"What are these?" I motion to the map with the large black circle around the words that very obviously do not say Vesuvia. Asra places his cup down and fully faces me.

"Well I thought we could… stay there, I've heard the plague isn't present there and we could go, we could be safe and not have to worry about wearing face coverings just to go shopping," Asra's demeanor becomes meek the more he talks. I let out a sigh and collapse into the nearest chair.

"Asra I told you, I can't afford to keep my shop if I'm not here to work in it,"

"I can help you!" Asra says, straightening a little. "I-I've been painting masks to raise money, and we could go to Nopal for a few months, I could sell masks out there and you can have a makeshift shop in the desert," Asra reaches for my hand, taking it and rubbing his thumb across my knuckles. I give him a tired look.

"Asra, it's not that I doubt that you couldn't help me pay, it's just… Vesuvia is my home, our home, and I can't just leave at the drop of a hat like you," Asra winces and pulls away.

"Who knew you thought so little of me," he mumbles. I mentally kick myself for my choice of words.

"I'm sorry that’s not what I meant," I bring my head into my palm and lean my elbow on the table.

"What I'm trying to say is this is my home and I want to protect it so… I've decided I want to study medicine, to help with the plague," I look up to meet Asra's eyes. Their face pales and they sit back in their chair.

"Oh," is all he manages to say. I sit up fully and bring my hands into my lap, wringing them nervously together.

"I could use my magic to help too, and I want to be able to help the people, just like I did when I had people coming by regularly for magical ailments," I try to say something, anything to get Asra to stop looking at me the way he is. Scared, confused, frustrated, maybe even a little mad. He suddenly rises, his chair squeaking along the floor as it's pushed back.

"Asra please," I say barely above a whisper. Asra walks over the kitchenette and paces before turning to me, expression full of pain.

"That… That’s a terrible idea," he says. I suddenly feel taken aback.

"What wanting to help?" I say. Asra's face twists.

"You'll get sick, you'll… You will get hurt, you won't be safe!" he exclaims, starting to pace once again.

"There are people dying Asra I can't just sit around and let it happen! I want to do something, we can do something, we're both magicians!" I rise from my chair so I can fully face Asra as he frantically paces and runs his hands through his hair.

"How are we supposed to survive then, being exposed every day?" Asra looks me in the eye, his expression one of distress.

"Asra we're barely getting by as is," I motion to the bowl of fruit that I was organizing earlier. "The food isn't fresh, we have to go shopping all in one day so we don't risk exposure, and I am barely scraping by with my rent on the shop!" I let out an exasperated huff, folding my arms.

"I told you I would help you, I can sell masks, I can do fortune-telling just not here," Asra enunciates that last word by sharply pointing to the ground to make their point.

"I want to help, Asra… I want to be here," I shift awkwardly in place looking down at my feet. A lump begins to form in my throat, making it hard to breathe. Asra approaches me and places his hands on my forearms in an attempt to soothe me.

"Please, we can't stay here, let's just leave to where it's safe," He pleads, barely above a whisper. I slowly shake my head. Asra leans into me, trying to look into my eyes. His violet eyes, specked with tears in the corners.

"Why don't I help the people here? A-and you can stay home and make money off your painted masks," I say meeting his eyes.

"No, no no no," Asra begins to speak over me. He pulls away and faces his back to me, running his hands across his face.

"Asra I can't force you to stay here but you can't force me to leave," I say making my voice stern, hoping he understands my point. Asra quickly whips around tears falling down his face.

"Then how am I supposed to protect you!" he shouts. My breath hitches and I take a step back, my calves hitting the chair I was previously sitting on. The room grows eerily silent from his out burst.

"You can't protect me from everything, especially not this," I say, my own tears threatening to fall.

"Yes, I can! If you would just listen to me and leave! We could be safe," he approaches me, hands reaching out to me. I put my own hand up, stopping him from getting closer.

"Asra, I've made up my mind about this I'm not going anywhere," my chest aches, I want to leave with him, I want to leave because I'm scared. But I know I can help these people and I can't let my fears stop me.

"Please, you'll die," his voice cracks.

"If it saves the lives of even just a few people, then maybe was worth it,"

"No, you are too important to me!" they plead.

"Asra I have made up my mind! Nothing you can say will change it!" my volume begins to rise. Asra pleads my name and approaches once again gently grabbing my hands.

"Please it will kill you,"

"Asra..." my heart pounds in my chest.

"I can't live in a world knowing you aren't in it!"

"No Asra!" tears form in my eyes and my voice starts to crack.

"You will die-"

"Then death is better than this life we are living!" I shout. I didn't mean to. But I became so overwhelmed my temper flared-up. Asra takes a step back, releasing my hands.

"Is that how you feel," he says. I can't bring myself to answer, the lump in my throat has grown 3 times in size, swallowing my voice. "Very well," Asra turns away from me. Grabbing various clothing items as he goes. He disappears around a corner and I can hear him rummaging. I take in a painful deep breath. Wiping my tears as they fall. Asra comes back in with a bag, shoving items inside angrily, my eyes are too cloudy to fully see what he's doing but I can tell.

He's packing to leave.

"Asra," I croak. "Where are you going?" my voice comes out pathetically, as I try to compose myself. But my heart races in my chest. Asra ignores my question and continues to put items in multiple bags. All his clothes, his trinkets, their books. Anything they can carry.

"Asra please," I drag my feet as I try to follow him, but I can't stop the waterfall of tears escaping me.

Asra finally stops in the middle of the room, passing me. He has multiple bags on both shoulders. I stand at the hallway entrance and watch him. Faust quickly slithers out from behind me, Asra crouches allowing her to climb up his arm. He takes his hat off the hook and places it on his head. I stumble towards him reaching out.

"Asra I'm… I'm so-" their eyes meet mine, cold, angry, pained. I stop in my tracks

"This is the grave you made yourself, I will not be there to watch you get buried," he says. His voice cracking. Without another word, Asra turns and goes down the stairs and into my shop.

I can only gawk in silence, in disbelief that he actually left. The wall-shaking slam of the door breaks me from my shock. I grip the fabric of my top, just over my heart. Feeling as though it has broken in two. I sink to the floor and sob, harder than I ever have because a piece of my heart has left me.

#the arcana #the arcana game #apprentice and asra #the arcana asra #the arcana apprentice #the arcana fic #the arcana fanfic #fanfic #fanfic request #asra alnazar #the arcana faust #crow writes

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vintagedolan · 3 years

Note

Do Indy and Gray have a boy or girl next? <3

“I still don’t know why she said we shouldn’t do a six week scan. Eden got one with both pregnancies, why didn’t we?”

Indy turned around slowly in the closet and smiled, pulling down one of her bigger shirts over her stomach. Grayson had been through this once already; his head had been buried in research from the moment that they knew Beks existed, and he’d worked himself up into a frenzy of worry and doubt.

“Babe, ultrasounds are stressful for little babies, and Dr. Hollingsworth doesn’t see the point in putting a baby through it twice when there’s nothing we can do between 6 and 10 weeks that would change anything anyways.”

Grayson exhaled.

“And besides, now we get to find out the gender at the same time, no waiting for another scan.” Indy’s heart fluttered as she said it, the realization setting in. Today was really the day.

When they found out about Beks, they’d done a gender reveal. Indy had set one up for Eden with Miles, and she insisted on returning the favor. It had been the whole nine yards, from the votes to testing the wives tales. Eventually, everyone had thrown a little balloon full of paint at a canvas, revealing all different shades of pink to reveal they were having a little girl.

Now, with a toddler, and E squared occupied with a brand new baby girl, Gray and Indy had decided to skip the fanfare. Sure, the painting that they had was a cute keepsake, but they wanted to try it the other way - more intimately, so they could just have it to themselves for a bit.

Grayson was excited, but he pushed it all from his mind to spend a few moments with his daughter before they left. She was in the backyard, up in the play house that Grayson had built for the kids, Ethan standing guard at the ladder while she and Miles made up a game. But as soon as she saw Grayson she sent herself down the slide, reaching up for him from the bottom.

Grayson carried her over to Indy, kissing her red cheeks. Her skin was warm from a mixture of running around and the California sunshine, and Grayson snagged the sunscreen to swipe a bit more on her cheeks before they went.

“Where you going?” Beks asked when she noticed Indy’s purse on her shoulder. She frowned, eyes darting back and forth between her parents.

“We’re gonna go see the baby in mommy’s belly. But, guess what?”

“What momma?” Beks asked, eyes going wide in excitement.

“We might just bring back a special treat for everyone when we come back, as long as you’re good for Uncle Ethan.”

It didn’t work as Indy had hoped. Her daughter still frowned, and tucked her head onto her Dad’s shoulder.

“How long you be gone momma?”

Indy’s heart cracked. Bekah had only recently started asking that question, and she knew it was because she’d started back at work. Even though she was only picking up the occasional shift, twelve hours was a long time for the both of them to be away from each other.

“Not so long babe. I tell you what, you play with Miles, and eat your lunch and take your nap and by the time you wake up, we’ll be back. How’s that sound?”

“Okay.”

Indy could tell she was still upset, and if it wasn’t so important, she would have cancelled her plans. So she gave her daughter a tight hug and a kiss on the forehead before Grayson did the same, sending her back over to Ethan who turned on the charm to distract her.

The pair tried to push their daughter’s sad eyes out of their minds - they hated to leave her, but they knew it was important. Music was their distraction, as it always had been, and it eased the buzz of nerves as they headed down the road.

“I feel like I’m bigger this time,” Indy mused as she ran a hand over her bump. Because there was a bump, surprisingly, even at just 10 weeks.

“It goes faster with your second pregnancy,” Grayson said casually, as if every man his age would know that.

“Are you reading those pregnancy books again?”

He blushed. “Maybe.”

“You’re the best dad,” Indy hummed, kissing the back of his hand.

L-O-V-E Y-O-U, she traced.

The doctor’s office was busy, and Indy and Grayson’s legs tapped in sync as they anxiously awaited being called back. They held hands tightly, tracing little notes to each other until finally, a nurse opened the door.

“Indiana Dolan?”

Indy stood, Grayson right behind her carrying her purse as they followed the woman in the blue scrubs back. She got Indy checked in, did all the necessary paperwork, and before she could really process it, Indy found herself back on an examination bench in a dark room.

Grayson pulled his chair up on the side opposite the monitors, pressing a warm kiss to the back of Indy’s hand when she reached for him.

“Everything will be okay, no matter what,” he said.

Indy knew too much about the human body. A million scenarios rushed through her mind as she sat and waited, ran her other hand up and down over her bump. She trusted her husband, and she willed herself to believe him.

The ultrasound technician came in a few moments later, making them both jump.

“Alright guys, you all have done this before, you know the drill,” the woman smiled, already starting to get prepped. “Any questions for me?”

Indy shook her head and bit her lip.

“And if we’re able to see it, are you guys wanting to find out gender today?”

“Yeah, if you can. We don’t need the envelope or anything this time, you can just tell us,” Grayson explained. It was subtle, but Indy could hear the shakiness of his voice, felt his nerves that he was trying to hide for her sake.

The technician went through the motions; pulling up Indy’s shirt, spreading the gel across her belly. She filled the room with small talk, but Grayson had to answer most of it. Indy’s eyes were honed in on the monitor, waiting for a glimpse of the little life she knew was inside of her

She let out a breath when the heartbeat sounded through the room - a flutter, quick and light and strong.

She barely heard when the technician began to speak, moving the ultrasound wand slowly back and forth over one particular spot.

“Indy, take a deep breath for me.”

She stopped breathing, eyes wide in concern.

“I think there’s two.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Holy fuck,” Grayson gasped. Indy’s hand came up to cover her mouth, tears prickling in her eyes. And then she could see it, see the two separate sacs, the two tiny babies in their own little homes right next to each other.

“Twins. We’re having twins.”

#bsides #mixtape

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mrs-nate-humphrey · 3 years

Note

no pressure or anything but if you ended up writing this my little nerdy punk heart would have been eternally grateful 🥺 (and please, please, please, boyband him a little, that hair can't go to waste) love you!!!!!💖 these tags actually made my day so thanks!!!!!!

hello jo, i hope you're doing well!! <3 sorry abt taking a while to get to this ask, i have been a little out of it, and i didn't want to half ass a reply to something as important as a natie themed ask....

this entire concept is 100% on my to-write list!!! i have a lot of thoughts about nate figuring himself out/figuring out who he is away from his family's expectations of him and the ideas people who think they know him have of him (since he's so popular, everyone thinks they know him, he can't escape the reputation that follows him around, etc etc).

in fact, since we're talking about this - i made a list of connected, nate-focused, stuff! and this response got RIDICULOUSLY long. so. 11-point bullet list focusing on nate, here you go!

you might enjoy my natessa fic "out of focus". it's not exactly this, but it is sort of the first time i dip my toe into the pool of.. whatever this concept is. nate lets vanessa buy him a shirt he would never pick out for himself. things go on from there!

i have a lot of thoughts about nate & ruby, specifically. we never actually got to see her, but i think he'd awkwardly gravitate towards her in that way that you do when you're young & queer and you meet an Openly Gay And Comfortable person for the first time. and i think ruby would see this and kind of adopt him/take him under her wing? anyway.

more natefic i am yet to write involves nate coming out to vanessa, vanessa being the first person he comes out to, it's after a lesbian punk concert and he's hyperventilating a bit and he KNOWS v will support him. she has literally shown him in a million ways that she's a good ally to the lgbtq+ community, and vanessa's just like, "what's wrong?" and nate is like. "nothing's wrong, and i really like you, but i'm not - i don't - " and then he says something awkward and stumbles through how he likes men, and vanessa gives him a hug and kisses his cheek and says "thank you for telling me that"

anyway i bring up #2 and #3 just to say that i feel nate has a sort of comfort with the abrams sisters that he doesn't have with anyone else at the time (he will eventually get here with blair and serena too, but in s1? they ALL had their own shit to deal with and i don't think nate was really in a place to open up to them, whereas vanessa & ruby aren't his childhood friends so in that way, it's easier, etc). and i love the thought of like. vanessa bleaching his hair super pale, ruby buying him a hair straighter (and of course he knows how to use it, he's blair waldorf's ex boyfriend what do you expect of him) and just. the abrams sisters - without even realising they're doing it - giving nate a space to explore who he is and specifically, his presentation

so we can either roll with nate being a trans man, which i LOVE, and am trying to write a fic about - OR - and it makes sense here, with these headcanons specifically, i feel like nate would maybe be one of those cis people who's explored their gender identity, realised they're cis, and therefore, is far more in touch with their gender than the average cis person?

connected to THAT, i have a fic in the works in which nate just presents... extremely femme. he goes super flamboyant, dresses in a way that puts himself on everyone's gaydar, etc etc. at first he does it to be like "fuck you" to his family, but after a bit he realises he actually really likes being perceived in that way, as a queer man, as a pretty queer man, and it makes him feel in control & good about himself to be able to do all these stereotypically feminine things WHILE identifying 100% as a man. putting on nail polish and mascara and gloss, wearing very femme things and heels, etc etc, it makes nate feel like himself in a way that he's never really felt before. (he IS a cis man.) dan bumps into nate at a gay bar, doesn't recognise him at first (this is a very au fic, i think they've lost touch since high school ended) and then promptly falls in love with nate AND has a gender identity crisis that goes a bit like "well nate maybe you can do these things and still identify as male but i can't" and it's just... trans dan my beloved.

unconnected to all that, you know what would've been fun? s2 nate is staying with the humphreys arc, and jenny... dyes his hair for him, and designs outfits for him, and basically both of them just. go thru a whole fashion revamp together.

i have a lot of ideas for futurefics in which jenny is like. 18, 19, etc and has a cool new line of men's clothing, but she doesn't have the $$ to hire a professional model for her clothes OR she wants the person modelling the clothes to be someone who Gets her mission statement in designing them (this is better but it could sorta be a combination of both) and essentially she awkwardly asks nate to model lingerie for her. he is like, of course! because i'm me, this doesn't go anywhere romantically, but if a jenate shipper wants to take this idea and run with it, go ahead, just credit me, lmaooo. i will definitely write this fic to centre around nate & jenny both being really gay, which is the other direction altogether, so that doesn't bother me.

since we're speaking about nate in lingerie, this fic of mine's first birthday is coming up in a few days! wow, it's been a whole yEAR.

so, disclaimer, any and all fics that centre around Identity... always take a lot out of me + i always have to be in a very specific headspace to write them (that's why the nonbinary dan series is taking ages, too). so while i really DO wanna write all the nates exploring how they present and, as the kids say, fucking around and finding out, it might be a while!

oh. this reminds me*. i REALLY have to finish writing my demisexual nate fic... it's a tricky thing to write. i have another fic im yet to write about how sleeping with dan makes nate re-evaluate a lot of things, in a very trauma survivor way (like an "oh, this is what it feels like to be with someone who respects me!" kind of way) and that... i want to write it sooo bad but i gotta do the idea justice. life is Hard.

*if anyone is curious about my thought process - “nate fucking around and finding out” ... wait, a bit like.. “nate fucking around and finding out that he doesn’t even like to fuck around, which is what happens in THESE fics i’m writing, let me just,...” etc.

#nate archibald #johermione #prompt #also #my writing #because i link. many of my writings in here lkfdhlkgh #fic progress #natie my beloved.............

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hookedonapirate · 3 years

Text

Summary: The Jones brothers are polar opposites. Liam's the safe and honorable one, straight-laced and straight as an arrow. The good son.

Killian's the dangerous one, the bad boy with tats, leather jackets, a motorcycle and a questionable past.

The only things they have in common are panty-melting sea-blue eyes, the flat they share in Storybrooke and a rare blood type.

Oh, and apparently their taste in women.

Or rather, one woman.

Feisty.

Blonde.

Gorgeous.

Green-eyed Goddess.

Killian saw her first, but she chose his brother—the nice guy over the playboy. And even though she’s dating his brother, it doesn't make him want her any less. If that's not bad enough, she moves in with them and he has to pretend he's not completely in love with her. His life could not get any worse…

Until Liam dies in a tragic motorcycle accident.

Leaving each of them with one half of a broken heart.

Now Killian and Emma are left helping each other pick up the pieces.

Just as they're beginning to learn how to live in their new reality, another riptide pulls them further into the deep end when she finds out she's pregnant with Liam's baby.

Notes: So I made this post on Tumblr the other day, and then this fic happened. If you haven't seen the tags, please read them before starting this story or becoming invested because it’s very angsty. First of all, this starts out as Swan Jewel? I don't know what their ship name is or if there is an official name, but yes, Liam and Emma are in a relationship in the beginning, and I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. If you're not comfortable with that, I highly encourage you to hit the back button.

Thank you @ultraluckycatnd for looking it over!

This story was inspired by Baby Mine by Kennedy Fox, and I loved the book so much and thought it was very much underrated. I’ve wanted to write a fic like this for a long time now because it’s one of my favorite tropes, but after I read that book, I just had to write my own take. Also, I made this post about a Baby Yodarita drink last year when it was trending and since the beginning of this story starts one year prior, 2019 and since Killian is a bartender, it was a perfect way to include the prompt.

The title comes from the lyrics of the song, Lay By Me by Ruben. The particular line goes like this:

"I hope you know through the rising tide That I'll be here and you can lay by my side"

If you've never heard it, I recommend giving it a listen. It's an amazing song and very fitting for this story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFJbLzEtoZw

P.S. In case you're unable to read the shoulder tattoo in the picture above and are wondering what it says—

"There is no happiness without tears

No life without death

And no true love without heartbreak"

Rated: Explicit for smut (including sexual fantasies, masturbation, implied and detailed sex, etc.) and language (lots of F-bombs).

Also available on: AO3 FF.N

Chapter 1

“Late again?” Liam chides when Ruby waltzes into work as if everything is completely normal. As if she’s not an hour late for her shift.

For the third time that week.

She gives him an apologetic smile, but Killian knows she’s not actually sorry.

He’s just wondering who she was with this time.

“Won't happen again, boss.”

“Damn right it won’t. This is your third warning. Next time, there will be a write-up,” he admonishes.

Frustration creases her forehead. “Geez, would you just chill? My car broke down.”

Liam crosses his arms, narrowing his eyes at her. “So, you mean to tell me your car has broken down three times this week?” he asks, holding up three fingers. “And on either of these occasions, you couldn’t pick up the phone and give me a heads up? Did your phone break, too?”

She flashes him a look as though the answer to his question is obvious. “I told you my car’s a piece of junk. And I tried to call, but no one answered.”

Killian fights off a laugh, knowing for a fact Ruby is bluffing. At least about calling tonight, since the phone hadn’t rung in the past hour. But he could easily check to see if she’d called on the other two days on the bar phone’s caller i.d. to find out for sure if he really wanted to.

“So get a new car. Don’t you make enough from your tips and the hourly wage I pay you?”

“I make enough from my tips,” she replies with a sarcastic smirk, “but I have more important things to buy.”

Liam rolls his eyes. “Like what? More six-inch heels, low-cut tops and short skirts?”

Ruby lets out an exasperated sigh. “How do you think I get good tips—by dressing like a Catholic schoolgirl?” She twists her lips and presses the back of her long, red-painted fingernail to her chin, pondering her own words for a second. “On second thought, that actually might bring in even more tips. Besides, you should be paying for my work clothes. Maybe then I could afford a new car.”

Liam scoffs. “You want me to pay for your outfits?” He shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”

Ruby's eyes widen, as though she’s shocked he declined her request. “Why not? Can’t you claim them as a work expense?”

He nods. “Alright, fine. But if I’m paying for your work attire, then I’m choosing what you wear. Sound good to you?” he asks, knowing damn well she’ll never go for it.

Unsurprisingly, she shakes her head. “Absolutely not. I ain’t wearing no damn polo shirt and black slacks. I like my low-cut tops and short skirts, thank you very much.”

Liam sighs and cups his forehead in his hand to indicate she’s giving him a headache as he turns around and walks toward his office. “Just get to work, Ruby.”

She wraps her apron around her waist and mimics his words in a mocking tone, “Just get to work, Ruby.”

“I heard that!” Liam hollers.

“I could be already serving customers if it weren’t for my pain in the ass boss riding me every two goddamn seconds!” she shouts, hoping he heard that too.

Killian chuckles to himself as he rings up a customer for his drinks and hands him the change.

“That dude seriously needs to get laid,” Ruby huffs. “Maybe then he’d back off a little.”

“Ha! I doubt it,” Killian comments before taking another drink order.

Ruby heads to the dining area to wait on customers. She knows Killian’s not wrong to doubt Liam’s ability to show a little mercy. He’s worked for his brother for two years, longer than anyone has ever been able to stand working for him, and he’s never once seen Liam be lenient, not even to his own brother. He runs a tight ship, and Killian doesn’t see that ever changing. Liam has owned this bar for five years and takes his job very seriously.

Killian’s just glad he only has to work here for another six months. Or at least that’s the plan. He’s about to graduate from Storybrooke University and get his degree in engineering. As much as he enjoys working for his brother, or rather listening to his coworkers complain about his brother behind Liam’s back, he doesn’t plan on spending his entire life making drinks.

Liam emerges from his office an hour later and announces he has to take off for a while to run some errands. Killian’s confused because this is Liam’s night to manage the bar. He dedicates the majority of his other time performing administrative tasks during the week.

“What errands do you have to run on a Friday night?” Killian asks, his words laced with suspicion.

“Just some errands I promised someone I’d take care of. You’re in charge while I’m gone.” He pulls on his jacket and leaves Killian behind the bar with a confused expression on his face, wondering what his brother is up to.

Killian brushes off the thought, deciding to further question him later.

Liam heads out the door, but not before scolding Ruby for sitting down at a table full of rowdy men, chatting (and not about the menu). She may be into women, but she flirts with customers regardless of their gender for the tips.

Ruby curses under her breath and gets up, moving to her next table to jot down orders.

~*~

Emma sighs as Mary Margaret grabs her hand and pulls her into The Captain's Rum. Or more like, drags her in kicking and screaming. She doesn’t wish to be at this bar any more than she wanted to be at the last two. But her sister-in-law insists on the outlandish idea Emma’s going to find Mr. Perfect tonight. Or somehow get over her asshole of an ex-boyfriend after one night of drinking.

And even though it's been two months since she left Neal and his thieving and cheating ass, and as much as she wants to get over him, Emma knows it’s not gonna happen for a while. At least not tonight.

And yet, here she is.

One night of drinking can’t hurt, she supposes. One night of forgetting everything. Of numbing her pain. Or so she keeps telling herself, but that could be the alcohol she’s already imbibed at the other two bars speaking.

“So, how’s it going tonight, Rubes?” Mary Margaret asks the cocktail server once they’re seated at a booth.

Apparently, they know each other.

“Well, no one's tried to manhandle me yet, so it's a start.” The tall brunette with red streaks in her hair leans over the table and murmurs, “Not a great start, but it's a start.”

Mary Margaret rolls her eyes and laughs as she gestures at Emma. “Rubes, this is my sister-in-law, Emma. She just moved here from New York.”

Looking at Emma, Ruby grins and sticks out her hand. “Hi! Nice to meet you!”

Emma gives her a polite smile and shakes her hand. “Likewise.”

When Ruby brings the chips and cheese Mary Margaret ordered, she places them on the table along with two empty plates. Before arriving here, Mary Margaret decided they would put some food in their bellies before they added more alcohol so they wouldn't get too drunk too fast and have to head home early. Well, that was Mary Margaret’s idea at least. Emma would much rather be home in the comfort of her bedroom watching Netflix. Or rather, her brother’s and sister-in-law's guestroom they so graciously let her sleep in until she gets her own place.

“Enjoy, ladies.”

“Sure will,” Mary Margaret beams as Ruby leaves their table. She sips on some water as she scans the bar. Probably for potential suitors she can hook her sister-in-law up with, Emma surmises. “What about him? He's cute,” Mary Margaret remarks, her eyes trained on someone behind her.

Emma looks over her shoulder and arches a brow. “He’s cute if you’re sixteen. He looks way too young.”

“Well, he’s drinking, so he must be at least twenty-one,” Mary Margaret points out.

“He looks sixteen, and sorry, I don’t date children.”

“Emma, he’s not a child, probably a college student. And you act like you’re so old just because you already graduated. You’re twenty-two,” Mary Margaret points out like she’s jealous and wishes to be so young again. But she's only a few years older—the same age as David.

Emma groans. “No, thanks.” Her last boyfriend was immature enough as it was, and he was ten years her senior. “So, tell me, how are you and my brother getting along?” Emma asks, attempting to change the subject and get her sister-in-law to avert her attention from the college boys across the room. “Sick of each other yet?”

Mary Margaret whips her head around and scowls. “Of course not. Why would you ask such a thing?”

Emma laughs and raises her hands in defense. “Because I knew it was the only thing that would get your attention.”

Guilt and apology flicker in Mary Margaret’s eyes. “Sorry, Emma.” She lays her palms on the table. “David and I are just worried about you, that’s all.”

Emma sighs, frustration creasing her forehead. “I’m fine, I promise. Neal was an ass, and honestly, him cheating on me was a good thing. I needed the wake-up call, okay? I was blinded by love. But now that we're over, I can move on with my life. That’s why I let you talk me into bar hopping.”

A slow, hopeful smile spreads across her lips. “I know, and I’m so happy you got out of that relationship, Emma. David and I both are.”

Emma laughs. “I know. When I landed on your door stoop, we both had to stop him from driving all the way to New York to kick Neal's ass.”

Mary Margaret nods. “True. He’s very protective of you.”

Emma rolls her eyes. “I know. It’s both a blessing and a curse.” She takes a sip of water as she scans the bar. It’s the first time she’s been to The Captain's Rum, and everyone is so unfamiliar to her. New York is a huge place, especially compared to Storybrooke, but in this bar, it feels like she‘s back in New York. She swears everyone in Storybrooke is here.

Ruby returns to their table to sit and chat. And steal some of their chips, double-dipping them in the cheese. Emma fights off the urge to laugh at this as her eyes wander past Ruby’s shoulder.

Huge mistake.

The group at the bar counter disperses, revealing the most gorgeous sight she's ever seen.

Holy. Fucking. Hell.

She loses a breath when she sees what she can only describe as a fine specimen.

Good Lord.

Handsome features and such a delicious smile to accompany his perfect face as he chats with a male patron at the bar, she finds herself licking her lips.

“What about him?” Emma manages when she’s able to find the words in her throat.

Mary Margaret’s eyes light up before she even looks to see who Emma is staring so unabashedly at. “Who?!” She and Ruby both turn their heads, their eyes following the path of Emma’s gaze until they land on the target.

“You mean the bartender?” Mary Margaret asks, though, to Emma’s surprise, she doesn’t seem very excited; more like disappointed.

Emma tears her gaze away from the bartender, as much as she doesn’t want to. But she couldn’t breathe when she looked at him and she needed to come up for air. “Yeah, why not?”

“Why not what?” Ruby asks as she looks at Emma, curiosity flashing in her big hazel eyes. “Because if you’re asking ‘why not jump his bones,’ then I can’t think of one good reason.”

“Ruby, don’t encourage her,” Mary Margaret chides with a glare.

Ruby frowns, confusion etched in her features. “Why not?”

“Because… Killian is a player. Emma just broke up with her player of a boyfriend a couple of months ago. She doesn't need another one in her life.”

“Um, excuse me, I’m right here,” Emma groans wryly. “And I’m perfectly capable of making my own decisions.”

“She’s not wrong though,” Ruby remarks. “He is a player. But a fucking hot player. Between the two of us, we’ve conquered all the women of Storybrooke.”

Emma lifts a brow. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

“Yep. Probably even some of the same women,” she winks, her words bearing no shame or remorse.

“Ruby, would you stop? Besides, neither of you have conquered me,” Mary Margaret points out with air quotes.

Ruby rolls her eyes. “Of course not. Prince Charming had already parked his car in your garage long ago.” She reverts her eyes to Emma. “If you’re looking for a relationship, he’s definitely not for you…” she leans over toward Emma, speaking softly, “but if you’re looking for a hookup to get over that cheating ex of yours, then he’s absolutely perfect for that. He’ll give you an orgasm sooooo hard, you’ll forget all about that scumbag. Then he’ll do it over and over again until he knows you won’t be able to walk for weeks.” Ruby grins wide. “Hell, you’ll forget your own fucking name for weeks.”

Emma gulps, having to recover from the images Ruby implanted in her mind of the man on the other side of the bar. Once she recovers, she furrows her brows at the conclusions she’s drawn from Ruby’s graphic depictions of what a night with the handsome, dark-haired bartender would be like. “How would you know? Have you two—”

Ruby laughs as though Emma just said the funniest thing she’s ever heard in her life. “Oh Gaaaaawwwwd, no! I don’t swing that way, honey,” she says, rising and waving off Emma’s words with a flick of her hand. “But I’ve seen the number Killian’s done on his conquests. People talk, especially the drunk, horny females who enter the bar. Plus, as I said, he’s my competition, so I have to know what he's working with… if you know what I mean,” she says with a wink.

“Yeah, I got it,” Emma groans as Ruby saunters away. Why do all the hot guys have to be players?

It’s just her luck.

Emma turns to catch another look at him.

God, he’s gorgeous.

Dark, wild hair, stubble on his chin and cheeks, and a fantastic body based on what she can see from her vantage point.

“Emma! Don’t even think about it! That man’s trouble and you know David would never approve,” Mary Margaret explains, pulling Emma from her trance.

She turns her head, glaring at her sister-in-law. “David is not my father. And besides, I’m a grown-ass woman! He can’t tell me who I can or cannot date.”

Mary Margaret gives her a motherly look. “I know, sweetie, but this man doesn’t date women, he fucks them and then sends them packing. David only wants to protect you from guys like him.”

“I don’t need his protection, okay? Or yours. I’m perfectly capable of looking out for myself.” Emma stands from her seat, and she’s not sure if it’s because of the alcohol still brewing in her system, or because her sister-law has expressed disapproval from both her and David, making this man seem like a forbidden, sinful dessert she’s dying to get a taste of, even though she’ll pay for it later. But right now she doesn't give a fuck.

She sucks in a breath and strides across the bar, ignoring Mary Margaret’s pleas and warnings.

Her eyes are fixed on him like a magnet. He’s wearing a black v-neck that fits him like a glove and shows off a provocative amount of chest hair, his tight, firm muscles bulging as he wipes down the bar counter. His muscles aren’t inhumanly large, just big enough for her to imagine him picking her up and easily carrying her to his bedroom like she weighs nothing. Emma can feel her panties grow wet just from watching him work.

But even though she doesn’t wish to be told who to be with, she knows she should heed her sister-in-law’s warnings.

What would one night of fun hurt, though? She’s spent too much time holed up in her New York apartment, wallowing in self-pity and heartache after Neal hurt her. She hasn’t been with anyone since then. And maybe she’s not looking to dive into a serious relationship right now. Or ever. Maybe she just wants to blow off some steam. And this man looks like he can handle such a task. She’s more than willing to find out.

Emma approaches the bar and stands in front of him, placing her hands on the counter.

“What can I get you, lass?”

Well, fuck me sideways.

He has a British accent too?

She knows she should run for her life, but before she can talk herself out of it, he looks up from his task, and she feels like her feet are glued to the floor.

Ho-ly hell.

He’s even more gorgeous up close.

His arms are inked with tattoos she so badly wants to trace with her fingers, and his striking blue eyes sparkle as he stares at her, his smile showing off a set of pearly white teeth.

Well shit.

She couldn’t run away if she wanted to.

~*~

Killian had been running back and forth behind the bar for hours, ringing up bar patrons, making drinks and engaging in small talk. It’s a typical Friday night at The Captain’s Rum; the place is normally busy on the weekends, especially since the bar is only a stone’s throw away from the university, and tonight is no exception. It’s crowded and loud, couples are dancing, and the women are scantily clad in either tiny dresses or short tops and skirts. As he’s grabbing beers and making cocktails, the bar continues to fill and grow louder.

He hands off drinks to a couple before moving on to the next customer.

“Hey Jones, can I get two Blue Ribbons?” his good mate, Robin, calls over the blaring music.

Killian chuckles and grabs the desired beers, popping off the caps before handing them over. “Taking it easy tonight?” he asks, leaning against the counter and gripping the edge of it with both hands.

“Aye. Regina doesn’t like the hard stuff. She’s more of a wine person.”

“Ah, I see.” Killian nods; he can definitely see that about Regina. He doesn't want to say this to one of his best mates, but the lass can be a little stuck up and quite bossy at times. She makes Robin happy though, so he keeps his mouth shut.

He chats with him for a few minutes, finally getting a few minutes of reprieve. As Robin heads back to his girlfriend, Killian takes the opportunity to wipe down the bar top. But before he’s finished, someone approaches the counter. His eyes are still trained on his task, but he can’t miss the long blonde hair, pink lace and fantastic cleavage, seeing as the view is directly in front of him. “What can I get you, lass?” he asks, throwing on his most charming grin as he lifts his head.

His smile is cemented on his face the second he looks up.

Killian’s accustomed to seeing pretty women entering his brother’s bar and parading around in clothes that barely cover their essential parts.

Yet nothing in the world could’ve prepared him for the woman standing in front of him on the other side of the bar counter.

No, not woman.

Goddess.

Emerald green eyes, soft pink lips curved into a shy smile, smooth creamy skin, long golden hair cascading over her shoulders.

Good.

God.

She’s breathtaking.

Stunning.

“What would you recommend?” she asks in a teasing tone.

Fuck.

Her voice is that of an angel’s. Pure and sweet and innocent.

She looks like everything he doesn’t deserve but wants every... fucking... part of.

“Uh… I um…” he stutters, scratching nervously behind his ear. He can’t form a cohesive sentence as he looks into those hypnotizing eyes. He wants to get lost in them, drown in them. “What are you… what are you in the mood for, love?” he finally musters, adding another one of his signature grins. “I can make you anything your heart desires.” What he wants to say is, “I can give you anything your heart desires,” but even that may not be true. As gorgeous as she is, he’s afraid he wouldn’t be the man she deserves. He’s never been the guy women like to take home to their parents, anyway. He’s the guy chicks like to have around for a good time before they eventually settle into a serious relationship with Mr. Perfect. He’s definitely no Mr. Perfect, more like a Good Luck Chuck, but at the moment, he feels like he could be fucking Superman for this woman. And he's only exchanged a few words with her so far.

She arches a brow and it’s literally the most adorable and sexiest thing he’s ever witnessed in his life. “Anything?” He senses a challenge in her tone.

“Try me,” he encourages.

She bites her bottom lip in thought.

He lied. Now that’s the most adorable and sexiest thing he’s ever witnessed.

“What if I said I wanted a Baby Yodarita?”

He arches a brow, very much intrigued. “A Baby Yodarita? Never heard of it.”

She laughs and the sound is music to his ears. “That's because I made up the name. But I figure it would be a green drink that looks like baby Yoda.”

“So, I take it you’re a Star Wars fan?”

“Are you a bartender?”

Just as he answers like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, since he’s behind the bar serving drinks, he catches her drift and flashes a smirk.

Could this woman be any hotter? And yes, as he’s asking this question in his head, he’s picturing Chandler Bing and the way he would say it, emphasizing the word be. Gods, he hates that he knows that about Friends. He hates that he actually likes that show.

“You don't really have to be a Star Wars fan to be a baby Yoda fan though. He's so cute, he's trending on the internet, haven't you seen?”

He chuckles. “Aye, who hasn't?”

She plants her hand on her hip, donning a sultry smirk. “So, are you up for the task, or not?”

He licks his lips and leans over the bar counter, his eyes locked with hers. He wants to ask her if she fell from heaven. Or if he just died and went to heaven. But he has a feeling cheesy lines wouldn't work on a woman like her. “I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific as to what task you’re referring to, love.” But who the fuck is he kidding? There is nothing he could do for her he would consider a task.

Only a pleasure.

Blush paints her cheeks and she leans over, meeting him halfway until her face is mere inches from his. “I have a few in mind… but how ‘bout that drink, first?”

Bloody. Fuck-ing. Hell.

Her voice is a mixture of sweet and seductive. He doesn’t know how she manages to pull off a combination like that. His eyes drop to her lips and he’s seriously considering kissing the holy fuck out of her over the bar counter, audience be damned. He almost groans just thinking about her soft, luscious looking lips pressed against his, but he swallows the sound before it leaves his throat.

He lifts his eyes to hers. “Sit tight, sweetheart.”

“Okay,” she says with a smile and takes a seat on a barstool. “Oh, and a Cosmo for my sister-in-law.”

“Coming right up.” It takes every ounce of strength within him to pull away, but somehow he does.

He has to take slow, deep breaths to peel his mind from the fantasies he’s already having of him and the blonde temptress watching him intently as he prepares her drink.

~*~

Emma snorts. She honestly didn’t think he would actually take her seriously. She was only kidding around. But he took her very seriously and eagerly accepted her challenge. And he did an amazing job.

She stares at the green drink in amusement, impressed, to say the least. He brought it to her in a margarita glass with two lime wedges sticking out like ears. The stem is wrapped in a napkin tied with twine and clearly made to look like Baby Yoda’s coat. And there's a cocktail stick tucked into the twine like a sword.

“Well? How did I do?” he asks, eagerly seeking her answer.

“It's so cute,” she comments honestly. “It looks great, but does it taste as good as it looks?” As she asks that question, she’s looking up into his gorgeous eyes. And she can’t deny she’s wondering the same about him.

Does he taste as good as he looks?

Before she brings the glass to her lips, he puts up a finger to stop her.

“Hold on.” He grabs a toothpick and stabs two cherries, one on each end, before sticking it into the drink, giving the baby Yoda a pair of eyes. “For the finishing touch,” he smirks.

After she stops laughing, she takes a hesitant drink. Once she takes the first sip, her face sours and she blinks a few times as she swallows. “Wow, that’s strong.” She arches her brow, pinning him with an accusatory stare. “Are you trying to get me drunk?”

He chuckles. “Aye, isn't that the intention?”

She nods and grins. “This will certainly do the trick.” She rises from the stool and reaches into her back pocket, pulling out her phone case wallet, which holds her phone and money. “How much?” she asks, pulling out some cash.

He waves off her offer. “The drinks are on me,” he says with a wink.

“Are you sure? I don't wanna get you in trouble.”

“Trust me, I won't get in trouble.”

Taking his word for it, she tucks the cash into her wallet. “Thanks for the drinks, Killian.”

He arches a sultry brow, making her heart skip a beat. “So, you’ve heard of me, but I have yet to learn your name?”

She laughs and points at the name embroidered into his shirt. “Yours is right there.”

“Oh, that,” he chuckles, a light blush tinting his cheeks as he peers down and brushes his fingers over the letters. “My boss insists we have our names displayed on our shirts.”

“Well, your boss sounds like a pain in the ass.”

“He is, but I only have to work here for another six months. I’m graduating from SBU in the Spring.”

She nods as a group of people approach the counter beside her. She glances over at them and shifts her gaze back to him, wishing he had more time to chat, but she knows he has to work. “It's Emma,” she makes sure to tell him before the counter becomes too overcrowded. “My name,” she clarifies, in case that wasn't obvious.

“It’s nice to meet you, Emma,” he says sweetly, reaching over to shake her hand. When she slips her palm into his, she can feel the sparks from his touch, but instead of shaking her hand, he brings it to his lips and kisses the back of it.

Oh, God.

This man’s lips on her skin feel like heaven and sin. She has to clench her thighs to stop the throbbing she feels between her legs.

Fuck.

She feels the loss when she pulls her hand away and sees the loss written all over his face. “Well, I should um… I should get back to my sister-in-law,” she stammers after learning how to form words again.

He scratches behind his ear and opens his mouth to speak before closing it again like he’s nervous about something. “Of course, love.”

Emma swallows thickly and lingers a bit, patiently waiting for him to say what’s on his mind.

He must sense she's waiting for him because as she grabs the drinks and starts to back away from the counter, his voice stops her. “Emma?”

Good Lord, she loves the way her name slides off his tongue.

She cocks a brow, hoping he's about to ask for her number. Praying he does. “Yes?”

“I um… can you come back here before you leave? Say in an hour when it slows down a bit? I’d love to chat with you some more,” he says sincerely.

Emma purses her lips like she has to mull over his question. The offer is extremely tempting. But she has something else in mind other than talking. Something involving his hands all over her body and her legs wrapped around his hips as he's plunging into her.

And you know what? Fuck it.

She’s sure whatever he has in mind is exactly what she has in mind. Or at least, close to it. “Sure.”

His eyes widen in excitement and surprise, as though he wasn't actually expecting her to say yes. “Really?”

She flashes him her sexiest grin. “Yeah, why not? I’ll see you in an hour.”

“See you then, love. Enjoy your drink. May the booze be with you.”

She snorts and backs away from the counter, holding up her glass in salute before taking a sip. Their eyes are still locked before she turns around.

As she walks away, she cranes her neck to see him still watching her, even as he's serving other customers. She winks at him and has the pleasure of witnessing that adorable pink blush coloring his cheeks and the smirk on his lips before she faces forward and heads back to Mary Margaret.

She’s not looking forward to the lecture her sister-in-law is about to give her, but honestly, she doesn't care. She's looking forward to returning to the hot bartender, hoping to go back to his bedroom. Or the restroom. Either will do, really. As long as she gets to have him.

After Mary Margaret is done chewing Emma out and reminding her of what a player Killian is, and after she finally realizes Emma is going to do what she wants, regardless of what anyone says, they are able to have some fun.

Ruby keeps the drinks coming, and soon they’re tipsy enough to get up and dance among the crowd of gyrating bodies already on the dance floor. Emma glances over at the counter every now and then, and every other time, she catches Killian staring at her, sending shivers down her spine. And every time he tosses her one of his cheeky smiles, her stomach flutters with butterflies.

Emma's thankful Mary Margaret is plastered enough to let loose and not give her any shit because she has no idea what Mary Margaret would do if Emma told her she's going back to talk to Killian. Though she has a feeling if Mary Margaret were sober, she'd do anything in her power to make sure Emma stayed away from him.

When the time finally comes, they order an Uber, which takes much longer than expected. She helps Mary Margaret into the backseat and tells her she's staying for a bit longer and will catch another Uber when she's ready to leave. She doesn't dare mention Killian's name, or that she plans on leaving with him, for fear Mary Margaret will blabber to her brother. Because then he'll come marching into the bar on his white horse to find his sister with the bartender and embarrass the hell out of her.

Mary Margaret's too drunk and in no shape to talk her out of anything, so Emma’s able to escape, knowing her brother will take care of his wife when she gets home.

Emma quickly shoots David a text to let him know his wife had a few too many drinks and is on her way home in an Uber and that Emma decided to stay a little longer but will be home soon. Which is a lie.

She hopes.

Before the Uber drives away, Emma slips her phone into her pocket before heading back into the bar. She's fifteen minutes late, but it's not like Killian can go anywhere. He’s the bartender.

Once inside, she takes a deep breath and tucks some hair behind her ears, a smile playing along her lips as she makes her way to the bar counter. She has no idea what exactly will happen once she reaches him, but with a face as gorgeous as his, she’s pretty sure she would let him do anything he wanted to.

She’s also pretty sure he could help Emma get over her ex. As they say, the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else. And that’s exactly what she plans on doing.

As Emma nears the counter and spots Killian, the beaming smile on her face immediately falls flat.

And her heart sinks.

A busty blonde is standing at the bar, her hand running up and down Killian’s arm, her fingers tracing his tattoos. The woman is sitting on a barstool at the opposite side of the counter in a low-cut top that leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination, and a skirt so short and tight it looks like it's been painted on. Killian’s standing in front of her, so his back is to Emma as he gives his full attention to the other blonde. It's almost time for last call, so it's now much quieter in the bar, and she's close enough to be able to hear their conversation.

“What can I get you, love?”

“A Tequila.”

“Tequilas are trouble,” he says matter-of-factly.

She moves in closer, biting her smile. “So am I,” she taunts.

“I’m fully aware,” he replies with a chuckle. He tries to move, probably to make her Tequila, but she grabs his arm, forcing him to stay. Though, forcing is a bit of an overstatement; Killian doesn't seem to be putting up much of a fight. “Would you like a snack, too?”

Mischief dances in her eyes as she licks her lips, ogling him like he’s the snack. “I’m looking at it, honey.”

Emma feels like she's going to be sick.

The woman leans in and bites his ear and then pulls away slightly. “Last weekend was incredible. Can’t stop thinking about having my legs wrapped around you,” she giggles.

Jealousy stabs Emma’s gut and disappointment shoots through her like a lightning bolt, bringing her back to reality.

Mary Margaret and Ruby were totally right.

He’s a player.

Unable to listen to them for another second, Emma spins on her heels and dashes out the door so fast, she almost tramples over some guys heading in at the last minute.

She should’ve listened to the warnings, but she was too blinded by the attraction she felt for Killian.

God, she’s a fucking idiot.

Why does she always fall for the dangerous guys? The ones who are bad for her? Why can’t she just find a nice guy for once? Someone safe. Someone who won’t stomp on her heart and discard it like trash without batting an eye.

She pushes open the door, tears stinging her eyes as she runs outside into the bitter, chilly night, hoping the Uber driver hasn’t taken off yet. But it's wishful thinking because she can't think of a reason why he wouldn't have left by now.

“Ooof.”

The air rushes from her lungs as she slams into a tall, solid mass.

Hands are gripping her arms to keep her from falling as apologies leave her lips. “Sorry.” She looks up at the man towering over her, Emma's eyes connecting with soft blue ones, which are full of apology.

He flashes a warm smile, his lips framed by a light brown scruff.

“I’m the one who should be sorry, lass. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

Shit.

He has an accent too?

What’s with all the accents in this town? She’s noticed a lot of the locals here weren’t actually born here. Or the States. She didn’t realize how much she liked men with foreign accents until tonight.

This man continues to apologize, but he doesn’t sound very sorry. At least not for crashing into her. “I was distracted,” he says with a smirk, giving Emma the impression she was what he was distracted by.

Emma tears herself from the trance she’s in and glances at the side of the road, where the Uber once was. “Shit,” she curses under her breath.

“Are you okay?” he asks in genuine concern.

“Yeah, it’s just… my ride has already left. And I’m too drunk to drive home,” she sighs.

Before the man can respond, his phone chimes from his jacket. “Excuse me,” he says apologetically, pulling out the device. He studies whatever’s on the screen with a worried expression, then looks up at her, his mouth slightly agape.

“Everything okay?” she asks with an arched brow, starting to shiver as a frigid wind sweeps around her.

“Um, yeah.” He glances at his phone again before lifting his gaze. “You wouldn’t happen to be Emma, would you?”

She freezes and just stares at him, not knowing how to answer that. Or rather, why she should answer that.

What the hell?

She's never seen this man before in her life, so how does he know her name?

Her heart pounds and she wants to run, but she's afraid she’s not sober enough for that at the moment. “How do you know my name?”

He appears to be hesitant as he holds up his phone, showing her his screen.

Emma takes it in her hands so she can get a better look.

Her eyes widen when she sees a text from a Nolan.

Nolan, as in her brother? Who else with the last name, Nolan, lives with a Mary Margaret and an Emma?

Nolan: I just received a text from Emma. She sent Mary Margaret home in an Uber and is at your bar. Can you make sure she gets home all right?

Her blood sizzles as she rereads the message. Then she reads the texts before it, a couple in particular sticking out like sore thumbs.

Nolan: So… I have a huge favor to ask.

Me: Sure, what’s up, mate?

Nolan: The wife and sister are going to the Rabbit Hole tonight. Emma just moved here from New York after a terrible break-up and Mary Margaret is determined to hook her up with someone.

Nolan: Think you have time to get away from work and keep an eye on my sister, make sure she doesn’t find any trouble?

What the actual fuck?

Why is her brother having this man spy on her?

Emma turns around and pulls back the hand still holding the phone, about to toss the damn thing.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, don’t shoot the messenger, love,” he pleads. “I need my phone.”

The endearment makes her shiver. Killian had called her love, too.

She spins around to glare at the stranger. “David’s using you to spy on me?” she demands firmly.

He holds up his hands in surrender. “I didn’t want to, lass, I promise, but I would’ve felt terrible if I said no and then, later on, found out something bad happened to you. I promise, I was only helping a friend and looking out for you.”

Emma sighs and hands his phone back, knowing he’s telling the truth. She saw his responses to David’s texts and gathered he didn’t wish to put his nose where it didn’t belong or to stir up any trouble. “David always has been good at persuading people,” she grumbles.

“Aye, especially when it comes to protecting the ones he loves,” he winks.

“Even so, he has no business spying on me!” she states louder than intended.

“I wholeheartedly agree,” he states adamantly, making sure to express how much he was against this whole idea, to begin with.

Emma crosses her arms over her chest, wondering how she never saw him at the Rabbit Hole when she was there. “So, you spied on me at the Rabbit Hole?”

He shakes his head. “No, I didn’t get the chance to. By the time I got there, you and Mary Margaret were already gone.”

Emma shakes her head and rolls her eyes at the thought of her own brother asking someone to spy on her. But she’s not surprised. “Brothers are so annoying,” she grumbles.

He chuckles, and the deep, hearty sound warms her heart a little, despite the chill in the air. “Agreed.”

She arches her brow, as though to ask him to expand on why.

“I have one of those, too. So I get it.”

Emma’s features soften, a small smile pulling at her lips. “Older or younger?”

“Younger. He can be quite the ponce sometimes, but at the end of the day, I’d lay down my life for him.”

“I usually feel the same about David… and then he goes and pulls something like this,” Emma remarks bitterly.

“I take it he does this a lot?”

“He did when we were younger. But then I moved to New York and he came here, so we didn’t see each other very much.”

“Ah, I see.”

Another gust of wind makes her shiver and has him removing his jacket and offering it to her. Even though she’s already wearing one.

“May I?”

She cocks a brow. “Won’t you be cold?”

He shrugs. “I rarely get cold.”

She gives him a soft nod. He looks like he’d be the type of man who knows how to stay warm, and therefore knows how to keep a woman warm. He has those big, strong arms and broad shoulders, and he’s very tall. She could picture herself being buried in his warmth, but maybe because she's currently freezing her ass off. “Thanks,” she murmurs when he goes behind her and drapes the jacket over her shoulders.

“It’s my pleasure, love.” When he’s standing in front of her again, he sticks out his hand. “The name’s Liam.”

Emma smiles and slips her palm in his.

She was right. He is warm. Very warm. “I think David’s mentioned your name a few times.”

“Probably not as much as he talks about you. In fact, I feel like I already know you,” he chuckles as they break the handshake.

“Hopefully, he had good things to say?” She almost groans at the idea of David spewing a bunch of embarrassing stories about her from when she was a kid.

“Aye. Very good things… well, mostly,” he admits. “But who doesn’t have at least a complaint or two about their siblings?”

She nods in agreement. “True. I complain about him all the time.”

He grins big and wide. “I don’t doubt that.” When his smile fades a little, he scratches his head as he looks at her, hesitant to form the next words he wants to say. “Well, uh… seeing as it’s,” he checks his watch, “almost two o’clock and not getting any warmer out here, how about I give you a ride home?”

Emma twists her lips in thought. Normally she wouldn’t even think twice about rejecting a ride from a stranger, but there’s something about this guy that tells her he’s not a serial killer or rapist. There’s something pure about him, a vast contrast to the bartender inside. That guy screamed danger and sin, but this man standing before her gives off completely different vibes. He has a warm personality, which is very refreshing, and he has honest eyes. Besides, she may not be able to stand her brother and his antics sometimes, but he's always had good taste in friends. And if David trusts Liam enough to keep tabs on his sister, then he must be trustworthy.

So with a feeble smile, she finally answers. “Okay.”

Tagging people who have shown interest. Let me know if you would like to be added. @itsfabianadocarmo @resident-of-storybrooke @onceuponaprincessworld @viajandosinalas @teamhook @captainswan-shipper88 @jamif @katielovesstarcrossedlovers @uhthreeyuh @lfh1226-linda @babyyouremyqueen @sthonour @julesep3026 @fairytalewhispersinmyheart @andiirivera @wefoundloveunderthelight @wickedsw4n @eleveneitherway @eherron14 @ouatpost @transparentclodsludgeweasel

#cs ff #captain swan #liam and emma #swan jewel #forced roommates #minor character death #angst #heartache #pregnancy #healing #through the rising tide #my fic

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codealiaswave · 3 years

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Fanfic Ask Meme

A: How did you come up with the titles? The fics pick their own names and most are words with precisely selected definitions of the fic's theme. B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience? Aren't all works inspired by the writers' personal experiences? C: What character do you identify with most? I identify Rogue. I love Gambit. I ship Romy. D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with fics? Not really, but songs inspire me to write or make me think about Gambit and Rogue. I do have a playlist of go-to music to get me in the mindset of which Romy theme I'm writing (angst vs. sappy romance). E: If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it be about? The only sequel I have planned is for Devil's Poison. It was originally supposed to be a movie verse with the X-Men showing up at the end, but now they won't show up until the sequel. F: Care to share a favorite hurt/comfort fic? While I like angst, I don't really like hurt/comfort fics. I don't have a recommendation. G: Care to share a favorite crack fic? Ditto. Considering the amount of research I do, silly just doesn't fit with my style/preferences. H: How would you describe your style? Fiction based in science with some philosophical dilemmas and a healthy dose of (sometimes smutty) romance thrown in. I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)? Isn't all fanfiction guilty pleasure? J: Write or describe an alternative ending to a fic. I don't really have an alternate ending because I let the fics flow to their natural progression. However, I didn't know what Jean-Luc's reaction in Devil's Poison chapter 39 was going to be until I wrote it. The outline for that scene changed at least twice and then the final product was a third version that never even hit the outline. Basically, I wanted to answer the "what if" Jean-Luc hadn't forced Gambit into being the future Thieves Guild patriarch. That outline had him praising Gambit for maturing and finding out that family and love were more important than Guild politics. When it came down to it though, the "what if" ended up right back where 616 had it in the Gambit solos. Jean-Luc was pissed Gambit put anything other than the Guild first. K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with? Attraction is pretty angsty. I think I had to walk away from that one a few times before I could finish it. And I think I cried when writing Heartbreak. Most of the time I tone things down because I can be too angsty with some ideas and they aren't always received well by readers. While I write for myself, I do consider my more vocal followers for some scenes. The Atlantic City gentleman's club in Devil's Poison with Gambit and Vivienne is a really good example of something that was too angsty and didn't fly well. My implication and the readers' inference ended up being two different things. L: What’s the weirdest AU you’ve ever come up with? I haven't written it yet, but I've got a really good idea for a time travel piece. Also, Liaison was supposed to be all the typical romance AUs (pirates, historical, futuristic), but I had other ideas that have been more fun to pursue right now. M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share? I have a "stranded on an island" trope started (first chapter and outline complete), but trying to wrap up some of my other WIPs before posting another. N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you? I've thought about putting some up for adoption, but the ones I was willing to part with were well developed and I didn't want someone else putting their spin on my take. O: How do you begin a story: with the plot, or the characters? Plot, since my characters are always Gambit & Rogue. P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?) I plot the (loose) boundaries of the garden and plow the land, but let the plants, insects, weather, etc. do what it will. Q: Do you have any discarded storylines/projects? Yes. I had an

idea for fics that were inspired by songs but were *not* songfics. I got the first chapter written but wanted to put a trick ending on it and haven't quite figured out the mechanics of it yet. R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence? I was initially inspired to write fanfiction from Tamarai and @chellerbelles, and influenced by @ludi-ling and @jehilew. From professional writers, I'm somewhere between Michael Crichton and Abigail Reynolds. I was also highly inspired to write fics after finding @spasticatt's DeviantArt. S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist? A mysteriously handsome stranger stepping in a strong heroine's path and interrupting her goals in life. T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand? Body/gender swapping, science fantasy AUs in science fiction. I don't need no bloody vampire versions of the X-Men! U: A pairing you might like to write for, but haven’t tried yet. None. I write Gambit and Rogue and I will always only write Gambit and Rogue. V: A secondary (or underrated) character you want to see more of in fic? I miss some of the characters from X-Treme X-Men having a more central spotlight. Or the Thieves Guild/extended LeBeau family. W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones? General. When prompts are too specific 1) it leaves little wiggle room for interpretation and 2) tends to open the door to disappointment for anyone requesting the prompt. X: A character you enjoy making suffer. 😈 Magneto Y: A character you want to protect. 💔 Etienne Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? If it's Gambit or Rogue, I never read it. This is my safe and happy place and death, even temporary, is not allowed. One thing you can guarantee in my writing is a happily ever after. I did write Gambit's death in Unquenchable, but that was more of a capstone to The End to allow him to reunite with Rogue in the afterlife.

Tagging @chellerbelles, @dayenurose, @ginger375, @jehilew, @xevg if y'all wanna play along! (No pressure, but this was fun 😁)

#Gambit #Rogue #Romy #fanfiction #AttractionFic #DevilsPoisonFic #LiaisonFic #UnquenchableFic #HeartbreakFic #SoManyWIPs #CodeAliasWave

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hexhealed · 3 years

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˗ ˏ ˋ ( kristine froseth, twenty-one, cis woman, she / her ) — is that ANDROMEDA BLACK just saw in the courtyard? i hear they’re a SLYTHERIN, returning for their SIXTH school year, but something more juicy is them being ENTERPRISING & THOUGHTFUL as well as DETACHED & CONFLICTED. if you want some more details on them, i guess i could tell you that they’re PUREBLOOD, and from the rumors i heard, they’re currently allying with THE NEUTRALS. personally, i think they remind of: solemn family portraits lining a darkened hall, puppet pulling at her strings, archaic tomes precariously stacked, aristocratic nose to the grindstone, the sweet sting of venom, honey, & healing. but that might be just me. — ( kit, she / they, 23 ) ˎˊ ˗

TW — unhealthy family dynamics, emotional abuse / neglect, v. vague allusions to mental health issues.

basics ,

full name. andromeda cygnella black. known as. andromeda, andie. age / date of birth. twenty-one / april 2nd, 1960. year. sixth year. blood status. pureblood. house. slytherin. alliance. neutral. gender / pronouns. cis woman, she / her. orientation. bisexual, biromantic, grey-ace. extracurriculars. chaser for the slytherin quidditch team; member of the herbology, potions, slug, and occamy dueling clubs; hospital wing volunteer. additional stats. click here.

early life ,

andromeda is born a mere few months after bellatrix, and is instantly her mother’s darling. for a long time, she doesn’t question — doesn’t even truly comprehend — the way her mother favors her, desperate as she is for her parents’ approval. they are exacting, demanding, withholding; they praise one daughter or another, it seems, only to shame the other two in their failures.

andie takes what she can get, where she can get it, for as long as she can, letting her parents pit her against her sisters in a constant battle for attention, affection, and approval. but it’s a battle she starts to lose, middle child that she is. despite all andromeda’s efforts, it seems being perfect comes as naturally as breathing to little narcissa, and druella redirects her favoritism towards her youngest daughter. and while bella is at a disadvantage, she makes up for it in sheer willpower; she turns herself into their father’s perfect slytherin heir, what andie was supposed to be. ( note, of course, that this is how andie experiences this; the truth is that each sister was of course neglected and traumatized in their own way ! )

for most of her early childhood, andie doesn’t really question the world she lives in; doesn’t think too hard about the wealth, the blood purity, the high society circles in which her family moves. it is as natural as the air around her. yet she manages nonetheless to ruffle feathers, draw suspicion. at age six she questions innocently why uncle marius has been cursed from the family tree; the answer horrifies her, though she tries to hide it, saying nothing and staying up late at night wondering if her parents would ever disown her for something like that.

( ..... will probably add some more once i’ve sorted some more black sisters plots ? )

she really enjoys quidditch and plays whenever she can find an opponent ( bella doesn’t care for the sport, and lets her know as much. ) it’s not a ladylike pursuit, her mother reminds her, but at least her father approves. at first, it’s only the children of her parents’ friends, all pureblood, all high-society, but as one by one they start going off to hogwarts, andie needs to find herself new friends. this is how she takes her first steps out of her ignorance, more interested in finding playmates than purebloods; but the common little muggleborn derisions that are the black family bread and butter do not do well among her new friends, and she starts realizing for the first time the unkindness of her family’s beliefs.

this is where the split starts, between andie and andromeda black, because whatever she is, she must be hidden; she leaves the façade of andromeda standing as she carefully slips out from behind it, and no one is much the wiser.

hogwarts ,

to finally go to hogwarts is a relief for andie. it offers an escape out of the stifling environment and the constant disapproval of her parents; at the same time, though, it gives her every opportunity to impress them. and she still wants to, especially following in bella’s footsteps; she’s always admired her older sister, always wanted to be just as clever, just as talented, just as capable. it’s this burning desire to be valued that has the sorting hat deciding, after just a few moments, to place her in slytherin.

and so without realizing she slips back, subsumed once more into pureblood ideology, so much stronger when impressed by her peers; it’s much easier to dismiss her parents as outdated, and keep her mouth shut, than it is to disagree with the cool upper years, especially when they are conspicuously nice to her.

as time passes, though, she slowly becomes something else other than bella’s little sister, expanding her horizons at last somewhat. she excels academically, as is expected of her — cygnus and druella would not suffer their children to enter school unprepared — and joins the potions and herbology clubs, spending less and less time in the slytherin common room. hoping to play quidditch, she tries out her first year but fails; in her second year, she secures a spot as a chaser.

her year three electives become something of a bone of contention over the preceding summer; alongside arithmancy, andie signs up for muggle studies. her family disapproves. she has to assure them it’s a purely academic pursuit, that she’s only curious but never sympathetic — and she doubts whether they’re convinced.

she’s still trying to be and seem apolitical, trying to toe the line, but with each passing year she finds it less and less sustainable. once, she might have been ignorant, simply might not have known better; now, she knows better, and she’s just a coward. at this point she can see straight through her family’s pureblood supremacy. but then, as much as it turns her stomach, they are her family. she loves them. and more than that, she fears them.

so to assuage her guilt andie simply overworks herself. ( can’t feel guilty if you’re too tired ! ) between club meetings, quidditch practices, and homework, she’s overworked as it is, but when her potions professor approaches and suggests, given her skill, she may be helpful to madam pomfrey in the hospital wing, she cannot refuse. it’s simple work, preparing ingredients, cleaning, changing sheets, but she finds it oddly rewarding.

in her o.w.l. consultations, andromeda decides to pursue healing; she’s fascinated by magical medicine, and fantasizes about doing research and experimental magic, about pushing boundaries. but her parents would be happier if she simply said she wanted to be a st. mungo’s healer, so that’s what she says. the christmas holidays in her fifth year are the first holidays she chooses to stay at hogwarts; she tells her parents she simply must, that between her clubs, quidditch, and o.w.l.s she’s much too busy for a holiday. truth is, she simply dreads spending two weeks alone with her family.

she excels at her o.w.l.s, but it doesn’t leave her feeling proud, just relieved that she won’t have to face her parents empty-handed. the idea of spending all summer back in her family home is torturous, but thankfully she doesn’t have to; her parents pull some strings, talk to some old family friends and secure her an internship at st. mungo’s over the summer. she expresses her gratitude politely to them, and her relief to her friends in cautious letters, and stays in a room in the city for nearly the whole summer.

personality , hcs , etc. ,

got the nickname andie at hogwarts; her family has always called her by her full name. her parents seemed unreasonably upset with her about it — something about throwing away family tradition, not honoring their wishes for her, and other nonsense.

loves to throw herself into her responsibilities, hobbies, and interests as a way of avoiding inner turmoil; has a strong problem-solving impulse that gets way worse whenever she has bigger, unsolvable problems.

speaking of, she loves herbology, catch her in the greenhouses most days of the week. she loves the smell, the warmth, the dirt beneath her nails, the way the rest of the school grounds outside feel so distant behind the glass. the greenhouses are her church and sanctuary.

monstrously overworked and definitely verging on a burnout; between school, quidditch, career thoughts, the impending war, volunteer work, and sorting through some deep-seated personal issues.

might be the nicest black sister, but that’s not really a high bar to clear. though she carries a lot of guilt and tries to resolve that by doing good work, keeping her head down and not being explicitly hateful, she’s not exactly kind. she’s a bit of a know-it-all and loves to argue with people, can be really condescending, lashes out when she’s feeling insecure, and can hold a grudge like nobody’s business.

very much enjoys muggle music, after it was shared with her by friends. she named her owl ziggy after ziggy stardust, knowing full well that her parents wouldn’t have the faintest clue what it meant.

plots ,

just wanted to say first of all that i love plotting, hc’ing, brainstorming, etc. so please hit me up ! if nothing here works i’m super happy to think of something else. also, every single one of these is open to all genders unless specified ! i also especially love plotting based on other connections ( i.e. muse a and muse b are friends, muse b and muse c are exes, therefore muse a and muse c do not get along, or smth ) idk i just have a lot of ideas !

friends. this could go a lot of ways ! very importantly, andie doesn’t pick her friends for their politics; they could be death eaters, order members, or neutral. more important is their ability to put up with andie’s nonsense. that being said alliances would definitely play a part in how they interact, etc. ofc.

unofficial engagement. a betrothal is a bit archaic, andie’s made clear in so many words. her parents and this muse’s parents, rather than putting their foot down and making demands, are quite cunning in their attempt to play matchmaker. they invite each other and their family to dinners, ask after them in every letter, and never pass up an opportunity to throw the pair of them together. would definitely be a pureblood, ‘respectable’ and probably but not necessarily a slytherin ! how the two of them feel about it is also very open-ended — enemies, slow-burn, fake dating, friendship, i’m happy with anything !

exes. give me a bunch of these ! there’s so many options for this. their first little ‘relationship’ that maybe lasted only a few months, going on their first lil hogmeade dates together ? first loves making plans to visit each other over summers ? some hookup that one of them thought was much more serious than the other ? something a lil star-crossed & pushed apart by families ? an ex andie unceremoniously dumped last year to focus on her studies ? exes who are good friends, exes who hate each other, exes who are so embarrassed to have dated each other they pretend nothing ever happened, just. any of them. pls.

crushes / flirtationships. all the crushes ! an youthful crush that she swears she’s gotten over but she still gets flustered whenever they talk to her; someone who’s interested in her, but whom she has less than zero interest in ( or, alternatively, is pretending to have no interest in ); mutual crushes but they’re both convinced the other person hates them or is out of their league; mutual crushes but they’re also constantly bickering and everyone thinks they’ve already been married forty years; bad crushes that she feels bad about for whatever reason ( they are death eaters, or seeing someone else, or a rival in some way, idk ), etc. etc.

childhood friends. lots of options here too; high society pureblood kids her parents approved of, but also any halfbloods in and around london who are into quidditch, and would play with andie ?

study buddy. andie’s a big nerd. give her some friends to study with ? someone who won’t give her a weird look when she threatens to hex chatty first years in the library. they can ask each other questions and help with charms practice and share their hopes, dreams, and aspirations ! definitely made a pact last year to get x amount of o.w.l.s. should be in sixth year, but doesn’t necessarily need to be an overachieving nerd like andie.

potions partner. fairly self-explanatory; they’re adjacent to a study buddy but work together pretty much exclusively in potions class. this would ideally be one of two types: either they’re also very, very good at potions and they’ve partnered together to make sure they both get top marks each class, or alternatively, this is someone who struggles with potions and who was partnered with andie, either against her will ( thanks slughorn ) or out of the ( unlikely ) kindness of her heart, and she helps them get up to speed.

academic rival. the opposite of a study buddy. study enemy ? should also be a sixth year so that they share classes with andromeda. they’re both overachieving students and will stare daggers at each other in class whenever the other person raises their hand. andie feels very threatened and definitely lets her insecurity get the best of her in this dynamic.

quidditch rival. is there anything better than a sports rivalry ? no ! this could be anywhere from a friendly bantering rivalry to a full on, hate-your-guts, will hex you on the pitch if i can rivalry ? could be simply because of their teams, because they have issues off the field, or because they accidentally ran head-on into each other in their first match and now can’t let it go ? just think this could be fun !

frienemies. okay, hear me out. gimme a buddy for andie where their entire friendship essentially revolves around gently verbally abusing each other — or at least, that’s andie’s side because she’s a great big bully ! but if they’re ever in trouble or getting shit from anyone she will drop anything and go fight. someone she probably really adores but will only begrudgingly admit to. mostly she calls ‘em names.

petty enemies. so, i know it’s stupid to hold onto old grudges when there’s a literal war on the horizon, but andie ? andie does not. she’s really pettier than that. would love for this to be someone who she just really butted heads with in her earlier hogwarts years and they’ve both just never gotten over it. they’re very petty and don’t even really remember why they don’t like each other but are they gonna get over it now ? heck no.

true enemies. not petty, not somewhat friendly, not a rivalry but a true and burning hatred. just. give it to meeeeeee. this could be a muse with strong political opinions who really hates where andie stands & isn’t afraid to say so, but could also just be more personal; maybe andie did something ? i’m very okay with her being the bad guy here too.

confidant. andie has a lot going on that she doesn’t/can’t really talk to other people about; maybe this muse is just a very good listener, or maybe they have their own deep dark secrets ? either way, they can tell each other things very few others are privy to.

patients. might be a bit of a stretch of the definition since right now andie’s not a medical professional any more than a candy striper might be, but has your muse been injured at any point in the past year/year and a half or so ? it’s possible that you might be entitled to some compensation for them having to put up with andie being annoying as hell during their hospital wing stay.

#ehqintro #⧽ always half - hidden ∖ development .#i hope this is ok ! i triple checked family intros but if there's anything that conflicts or anything pls let me know and i'll fix it !#will i ever write an intro under 2k words ? probably not lmao

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kevinwastaken · 3 years

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okay so idk if anyones done this yet, but this has been in my mind ever since i got into omori lmao

so uhHhHhhh heres my idea for an identity v omori crossover! just because i think it would be neat

this is going to be a super long post (probably), so if you want to read it, just hit read more or whatever

i also want to say that some character choices are gonna be taken from my friend, @/kami.rikki on instagram. but she didnt think as hard on these as i did so like idk

there Will be spoilers for omori, so just be warned of that lmao

so as i said before, this has been on my mind for a HOT minute. and i think it would be a cool collab

for starters, this crossover will be split up (as is every other crossover) in two parts, with one hunter two survivors. i know essence usually have one hunter three survivors, but theres not enough characters for that, and six can be split up evenly sooo

i was thinking that the skins could be like the ones from the persona 5 crossover. like, they can be “awakened” in a sense. the base costumes will be the dream world versions of everyone, while the awakened costumes will be the real world versions. i wasnt here for the persona 5 crossover, so idk how many of those spirit things you had to collect, but i Do know that omoris spirit things could be. uh

well actually i dont know. initially i was thinking lightbulbs, like the one in white space, but the lightbulb isnt too important in the game i dont think? and im not sure about clams either. i know theyre dream world currency, but??

oh actually, maybe you can collect Something to awaken the costumes. because something is a representation of the truth in sunnys mind, and by awakening the costumes, you get to see the characters as their real selves. yeah lets go with that, you collect something from the essence

i swear ive been thinking this out shut up

the hunter costumes wont be awakened though, and i have a reason for this

anyway

part one

the characters that will be present in part one are sunny, basil, and aubrey. i chose them first because. ofc, sunnys the protag, basils his best friend and helped cover up maris death hes important to the story but anyway, and aubrey is <<33 yuh

so heres whos going to be who:

sunny/omori as wu chang

so let me preface this by saying that im not a hunter main. never have been, never will be. and ive never played wu chang. but i swear thisll make sense, im doing research

wu chang is actually composed of two characters, with two different stats: xie, the white guard, and fan, the black guard. i cant tell the difference while im playing, considering the fact that my ass is either running away or decoding. but theres a difference i looked it up

sunny would be the white guard. xie is a fast chaser, but has slow attack speed. ie, slow hits, slow pallet breaking, that stuff. this reflects how sunny is in the real world. he can run, yes, but hes still physically weak due to being locked in his house for four years and spending all his time sleeping. he would be better for chasing than attacking

omori would be the black guard. fan is the opposite of xie, having slow chasing speed but faster attack speed. this reflects in omori. omori is Very apathetic, and really, i dont think he would care to chase anybody unless it was for a quest. though, i guess killing survivors Is a quest for hunters, but. anyway

in battle, omori is a good fighter. his attacks are strong, (although not as strong as say. aubrey or kel. but who am i to say, the playthrough i watched had omori constantly sad) out of him and sunny, omori would be the attacker. so theres my choice for them

the umbrella can probably be switched for a knife. maybe an elongated knife. im not entirely sure, but i know the umbrella wont stay as an umbrella

basil as kurt frank

so i know what youre thinking. why is basil “the explorer??” hear me out this is actually a really good idea

the true best choice would be emma, since shes the gardener, but idv doesnt like giving characters skins of the opposite gender if you know what i mean. anyway

basil isnt a fighter. hes an assist, yes, but that was only for a crime four years ago. not my point, he wouldnt want to be in the action

i think he’d be a really good decoder. especially a good kurt

i originally wanted him to be prisoner, out of no bias whatsoever (/j) but kurt is a good fit for him

basil hides. he hides from things. he hides from the truth just like sunny, and he hides from others. albeit he still goes outside

i will not lie, i have a very personal grudge against kurt players. i dont want them to have anything because every kurt main ive come across was toxic to me specifically. but anyway

so one of kurts abilities is that he can go smaller to run around undetected and/or hide. i find this perfect for basil, because. yknow. hiding

his other ability is to find password pages and use them to decode ciphers faster. i think this would be funny because basils existence in headspace leads sunny to remembering the truth about maris death. i mean, if he werent in headspace, omori and the gang would continue going on adventures like nothing is wrong, so basil sort of speeds up the acknowledging process

this sounds dumb actually. but it makes sense in my head

anyway, the book would be turned into basils photo album, and he wouldnt have a backpack like kurt does. theres my answer

and finally,

aubrey as margaretha zelle

aubrey was actually really hard to pick out. none of the female survivors really fit her, aside from maybe coord, but i dont know what her gun would turn into. i will admit that her section wont be as detailed as basil or sunnys. but anyway my choice is with margie

aubrey imo would be a good kiter. she has strong stats all around, so i feel as if she’d be a great fit for margie. not to mention her speed boost when falling from large heights, which would make her a faster runner and harder to chase if used right. aubrey would be more physically fit since shes a fighter and seems to do a lot of stuff with the hooligans, which also helps prove that she should be a kiter. ANYWAY

so margie has these music boxes that can mess with the hunter, right? some of aubreys attacks can mess with enemies iirc. soooo theyre kind of similar in a way, arent they?

im not exactly sure what the music box can be turned into. maybe a small piano? aubrey cares about mari a lot, and the reason shes so pissed at everyone and rebellious is because she felt like everyone had forgotten about mari and moved on with their lives. so the music box could be a tribute to mari

i dont know how many changes they made with ann tamakis costume in the persona crossover, other than cosmetics for the skin only, so im not sure if the music box was changed at all. i can dream though

in the case that its changed, the blue box could be the song from the playground in headspace (yknow the one) while the red box could be the final duet song. but just with the piano, not the violin

essence

because yes, i thought about the essence too

of course, aside from the skins, there will be other stuff in the essence too. so itll be as follows:

for portraits, theyre going to be the neutral battle portraits from headspace. aside from basil and mari, who do not have battle portraits. theirs will just be of their neutral expressions with the neutral emotion backround behind them. i would add pictures, but the character pictures add up to six, so i’d run out of room before reaching part two

for graffiti, im not really sure. maybe everyones overworld sprites in headspace? along with maybe one of Something

for accessories, i actually have an idea of what thesell be. theyre going to be character exclusive accessories, just like how tpn did theirs

for aubrey, she’ll have mr plantegg. i was thinking of maybe having her bat as an accessory, but

OH ACTUALLY her bat could be a shop accessory that changes the music boxes!! probably an a tier tbh

anyway, the essence accessory for her is mr plantegg, and its there strictly for cosmetic purposes. for basil, he’d get either a pair of garden shears, or a basil plant, since yknow. his names basil. this is also for cosmetic purposes

they all are. i should say that now, the accessories are all cosmetic except aubreys a tier shop bat

finally, for sunny, im not entirely sure what to give him. i could give him a knife, sure, but then he’d have two knives because of the umbrella. maybe a steak? or a pair of red hands? im torn on this

and that concludes part one

part two

**PLEASE BE AWARE THAT MARIS IMAGE HAS THE PHOTO FROM THE TRUTH ALBUM WHERE SHES HANGING FROM THE TREE. IF YOU DONT WANT TO SEE IT, SKIP PAST IT. SHES THE FIRST CHARACTER IM PUTTING ON HERE

part two consists of mari, hero, and kel. do not separate them </3

here are my character choices:

mari as yidhra

so i know yidhra may seem like a weird choice. i originally thought of maybe mary, but this makes sense to me

yidhra herself will be mari. im not sure which version, but even though i have real world mari in the photo, maybe headspace mari would be better. nobody can see her anyway lmao

yidhras servants will be, again, mari, but she looks as she did when basil and sunny hung her on the tree. her hairs covering her face, with her right eye being visible. kind of like the girl from the ring, but anyway yeah

yidhra is the dream witch. she haunts your dreams and she haunts mine when i go against her. maris death haunts everyone, especially sunny and basil (whom know the truth of what happened,) so this just seems like a perfect fit

her death is “leeched” onto everyones minds (pun entirely intended), so attaching herself to survivors with only her death appearance visible is mmmm

instead of an axe, maybe her weapon can be the jump rope she was hung from? and it can be used as a whip? that makes the most sense to me idk

im not good at explaining things, but if you were to see dream witch in a match, youd know how good this would work

also brings a new meaning to “my thoughts will follow you into your dreams” HELLO

hero as norton campbell

so hero was kind of hard for me to pick too. i wanted him to be a support character, but looking around, there are. barely any that would work. my closest choice was victor, but?? the letters???? they dont correlate

hero doesnt give me kiter vibes, but nortons good at rescues too, as long as youre in an area with obstacles. and usually, when someone dies in battle, hero can make life jam to revive the fallen party member

nortons magnets are used to either bring the hunter closer to him, or push the hunter away. both can be used to stun with obstacles. while hero doesnt have any stun attacks that i can remember, he does have charming abilities that can be used to take damage for the other party members. so similar stuff? idk

i guess his magnets can be turned into chocolate chip cookies, since thats what he uses to heal everyone. if not cookies, then i dont know

oh actually one of nortons abilities is called “attract.” thats so funny if you put hero as him lmao

heros section is kind of short, my bad

kel as william ellis

come on. who else were you expecting me to use? its the basketball man as the football man

while kel is a fighter in battle, he can also be used as a backup healer. aubrey is the main fighter of the group, and hero is the main healer. so hes kind of a catch-all in a sense

kels an athlete. he plays basketball. williams an athlete. he plays football. need i say more

im not gonna lie, this is kind of a don tpn situation where it just Makes Sense that kel would be william

the football will probably be replaced with either a rubber ball or a basketball, depending on which skin youre using. the former is for headspace kel, the latter for real world kel

the buffs and debuffs for william makes sense on kel too. kel would probably have trouble with something as (probably) complex as the cipher machines, and the struggle and vaulting buffs show off his athleticisim

same with the football, using rush to rescue is such a kel thing to do

essence

for part two, there will be about the same things as part one

the portraits will be the neutral battle portraits, this time with the real world counterparts of everyone. basil and maris will be their neutral expressions on the neutral battle background. though, since mari doesnt have Real real world portraits, i guess they could use the one from the one i used on the mari yidhra picture

for graffiti, it can be the real world overworld sprites

in terms of accessories, theyre still cosmetic and character exclusive. maris can be the white egret orchid, since thats the flower that represents her. heros can be a spatula, as thats his weapon of choice in headspace. for kel, im not sure. hes using the ball as a weapon so???

maybe he can get a cactus, because thats his assigned plant

in terms of shop items, i think i know the perfect thing

mewo as a pet

mewo my beloved. nobody could ever forget you

mewo would be a hunter pet. she would be cool for survs too i guess, but considering both her owners are hunters.....

mewo would probably follow the hunter around, not really doing much. i think it would be Extremely funny though if every time a survivor was chaired, she just chilled next to them in the pose shes always in in white space

thats pretty much it. if you got this far, thank you!! i spent like two hours writing this whole thing out LMAO damn

#this is soooo long im so sorry #but im having a moment LMAO #identity v #idv #omori #omori game

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