#kinda experimental situation for them both and he’s always checking in on her and being such a guy so yeah. lots of thoughts and feelings. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bronte-deserves-better · 3 years

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What is UP, fuckers? Today I present to you: 12.5k words of pure self-indulgence by Auriel, posted by request of my discord friends who i've been bothering about this fic for like a week. Massive shoutout to y'all for tolerating me i have NO idea how you do it.

Title: Can’t find my way home (but it’s through you)

Wordcount: 12834

Warnings: flashbacks, panic attack (neither of those are from the POV character though), misgendering, injury, kidnapping, not too-graphic torture, brief mention of hospitals, mentioned abuse, annnnnd I think that's all.

I’ll link the AO3 in a reblog, but since I know AO3 is blocked for some people I’m also putting it here.

"How are we supposed to get to him?" Gisela was practically snarling in frustration as she paced. "Bronte is a cornerstone of the Council- and seemingly as unbreakable as one!"

"You're the people person, not me," Vespera reminded dryly. "I'm not the master of manipulation. Experimentation is my field."

"Well, fuck." Gisela flopped in a chair next to the other. "I was so certain Fintan was what would cause him to fall apart. Fintan turning against him, Fintan's supposed 'death', and then of course that dramatic reveal at the announcement."

"Fintan does have style, I must admit."

"He does. But even he hasn't been able to touch Bronte. Bronte barely even hesitated to speak against Fintan!"

Vespera sighed. "Gisela, I have no idea why you're telling all this to me."

"I'm brainstorming. Shut up."

"Brainstorm away, then."

"Right." Gisela resumed her pacing. "We had a weakness- we had his brother. But Fintan's starting to lose the will to fight him any longer, which is a dangerous liability. Not to mention that Fintan doesn't seem to be able to hurt him."

"I don't see why we can't just torture him," Vespera said, sounding bored.

Gisela glared at her. "In order to torture him, we'd have to kidnap him, Vespera."

"That can be arranged, you know."

"I know. But it's easier to break him from a distance. Or to..." She trailed off.

"To what?"

"Oralie!"

Vespera frowned. "What about Councillor Oralie?"

"Oralie is how we get to Bronte. You see, Vespera, from what Fintan has told me, I've been able to discern that Bronte fancies himself a protector. You can see it in his votes on the Council, too, always out to protect as many people as he can. Now what better way to crush his spirit than make him very aware of the fact that he cannot protect one of the people he cares about most?"

“Clever. And cruel. I like it.”

The announcement had come without warning, the elves of the Lost Cities assembling in Eternalia to hear some sort of Council plan to do something or other with the registry. Sophie hadn’t really been listening, and now she kinda regretted that since she was staring off into space when the first black-cloaked Neverseen members glittered into view.

“Shit,” Grady hissed.

“Language,” Edaline hissed.

Sophie stared at the Neverseen members. “Fuck.”

Everyone seemed to move at once, rushing to confront them. Even the Council made a move, Bronte raising his hands in a familiar gesture that Sophie knew meant he was preparing his inflicting, while some of the others rushed forward. And when all the chaos cleared, the duo of Neverseen members were levitating in the air, holding Oralie between them. Sophie watched as one of them shook back her hood, revealing Lady Gisela.

“Good evening, Councillors.”

Bronte, unsurprisingly, was the first to act, surging forward with a call of "Oralie!"

"Take a step closer and she dies," Gisela hissed, digging the knife she was holding a little further into Oralie's neck. "We wouldn't want that to happen, now would we, Miss Pyren?"

"My name is Bronte," Bronte spat, but he took a step back.

"Good."

"What do you want with Oralie?" Emery demanded.

"She's the kindest of us," Bronte agreed with a glare that could shatter steel. "Leave her alone."

Gisela threw back her head and laughed. "You want to know what I want with your pretty colleague here? Well, Pyren, I want to show you how absolutely and utterly powerless you are. Look at you. You're an ancient, a wielder of one of the most dangerous abilities in our world, and a Councillor for so long most people can't even remember when you were appointed. And yet you can do nothing to save your very best friend."

"Don't listen to her," Oralie pleaded. Sophie was close enough to discern genuine terror on her face. "She's just trying to get in your head."

"Silence!" Gisela slashed the knife lightly down the side of Oralie's throat, and Sophie watched blood begin to bead there. "You will say nothing, you pathetic excuse for a Councillor."

Oralie went silent at that, but her eyes blazed with defiance.

"You see?" Gisela directed a smirk at Bronte. "This is what happens when you're not careful enough with the people you love...people will take them away from you, Miss Pyren."

Sophie watched Bronte's hands clench and unclench helplessly. "Don't call me that."

"What, your last name? You want to keep your heritage a secret? You always said you were proud to be a Pyren, even when pyrokinesis was banned."

"No-"

Gisela smirked again and slashed a second line on Oralie's throat, causing the empath to hiss in pain. "I don't suppose anyone else feels like being stupid and trying to stand against me? You say this ancient is the strongest of you...but she can't even save her best friend."

"Stop calling him tha-" Oralie was cut off by a slap across the face from the other hooded figure, who Sophie recognized as Vespera.

"Stop your uppity commentary. Gisela and I will be leaving shortly, seeing as none of you have anything interesting to say."

Sophie could see a few tears forming in Oralie's eyes as she silently raised a hand to the red mark on her cheek.

"My associate is correct." Gisela's voice was triumphant. "It is time we leave- and show all of you just how weak your Councillors truly are."

Vespera raised a crystal to the light. The elves of the plaza scattered. Gisela stepped into the beam with Oralie. The Council and bodyguards rushed to try and stop her. Sophie stood paralyzed. And above it all, a single, desperate scream rose.

"Oralie!"

The silence left in its wake was devastating, broken only by a soft, shuddering sob. Sophie turned to see Bronte's face crumple, tears dripping down his cheeks. Meanwhile, the rest of the Council just stood and stared awkwardly.

Sophie was about to go running on stage herself when Emery quietly stepped out of the line, extending an arm and pulling Bronte into an embrace. To everyone's surprise, the ancient Councillor put up no resistance, instead burying his face in Emery's shoulder as his small frame shook.

"We will find Councillor Oralie, and we will bring everyone responsible for this to justice," Emery addressed the crowd. "The Neverseen will not get away with this. In the meantime, we ask that everyone return home and remain calm, and the eleven of us will rule provisionally."

"What does that mean?" Sophie whispered to Grady.

"Technically, the Council isn't allowed to act on anything without all twelve of them," Grady whispered back. "It's called provisional rule when an incomplete Council takes action in urgent situations."

"Oh."

Elves were starting to leave, murmurs abounding as people reached for home crystals or pathfinders. Sophie decided not to follow the rest, instead grabbing her parent's hands and dragging them through the crowd towards the Council. All eleven remaining Councillors had now broken rank, the rest surrounding Bronte and Emery with varying levels of helpfulness.

"There there," She heard Clarette say as they got closer. "We'll do perfectly fine at hunting those motherfucking orc-faced sons of dipshits down."

"What did you just say?" Alina demanded.

Clarette repeated the sentence, and Sophie realized she had been speaking in dwarven before as the rest of the Council sputtered. Bronte was the only one who didn't react at all, completely motionless in Emery's arms.

"Hey," Terik said quietly, and it took a moment for Sophie to realize he was talking to her.

She waved awkwardly. "Hi, I guess."

"Did you need something?"

“I- no, I just wanted to...” Sophie trailed off. What did she want? “I wanted to talk about what just happened and check on the Council.”

“Well, we’re-“ Terik shot a glance over his shoulder to where Clarette seemed to be violently cussing out the Neverseen in multiple languages as Liora patted Bronte on the shoulder. “Well, arguably not fine, but we’ll solve it.”

“The Council will find the kidnappers and bring them to justice,” Emery agreed. Both of his arms were now wrapped around Bronte, who was still silent.

“Yeah, I mean, but I can help, right? I’m the leader of Team Valiant.”

“This is a matter for the Council.”

Sophie refused to give up so easily. “Well I also wanted to check on Bronte. He’s my inflicting mentor, and one of my points of contact on the Council.”

“I’m sure Bronte will be fine,” Terik said, but he didn’t sound convinced.

His words were made even less reassuring by the fact that the short Councillor was shaking and didn’t bother to make his own statement.

“Bronte?” Sophie asked.

Nothing.

“Bronte?”

He didn’t even look over at her.

“Bronte,” she tried one more time.

Bronte was still silent, and Emery sighed softly. “He’ll be okay, Sophie. We’ll get Oralie back, and in the meantime, we can certainly rely on his stubbornness.”

“Promise me you won’t let anything bad happen?” Sophie was aware she sounded childish, but some things were more important than her pride.

“Promise,” Emery told her, and she wanted to believe him. “Bronte‘s more than capable of physically defending himself, and as for the rest...well, Councillors support each other.”

"No we don't," Ramira muttered.

"Ramira!" The rest said in unison.

"I think we're going to leave you guys," Grady decided. "Come on, kiddo. Let's go home."

Sophie didn't have the energy to protest.

Meanwhile, in the Neverseen hideout, Oralie, Gisela, and Vespera had just shimmered into view, only to be met with a furious Fintan.

He stalked towards them with murderous intent on his face, and Oralie flinched back.

"GISELA-"

"Fintan, what in the world are you so worked up about?"

"You kidnapped Oralie? Without TELLING me??" Fintan was practically snarling. "You fucking idiots! What the fuck do you expect kidnapping Oralie to get you?!?"

"You see, my dear Fintan, there is such a thing as 'using others to strike at your true target'," Gisela sighed.

"And who the fuck are you trying to strike at? Sophie Foster? There are far more effective ways to do that!"

Gisela rolled her eyes. "Why would we kidnap Oralie to get at Sophie? No, we're trying to get at your sister."

"I don't have a sister."

"You know who I meant."

Oralie felt like throwing up at the misgendering, but she didn't dare say anything with the knife at her throat.

Fintan's expression didn't change, but Oralie thought she caught a hint of disgust in his voice as he spoke again. "You two have the planning skills of a carrot, collectively. My brother wouldn't give a fuck about some quiet empath. Besides, look at her now! She's bleeding and hurt. What do you expect that to get you? It certainly isn't going to win you the sympathy of the elven world."

Gisela opened her mouth, but Fintan cut her off, stepping closer. "Listen, Gisela, Vespera. You've made plots work before. But when it comes to the Council, you need to listen to me." He reached out an arm, tugging Oralie to his side with surprising strength. "Now I'm going to go fix up her wounds before these get infected and we lose our only valuable prisoner."

"As you see fit," Gisela muttered bitterly.

Oralie tried to pull away as Fintan tugged her down the hall, but the diminutive ancient was remarkably strong, and she was forced to remain by his side.

"What do you want with me?" She hissed, trying to ignore the pain in her neck.

"Shut up," Fintan hissed back.

"No."

"Shush!"

Tugged close to his side as she was, Oralie could feel that he was truly angry, red-hot rage on the surface of his emotions, but below that was...fear? No, that wasn't quite right. Focusing in on the emotion, Oralie realized that Fintan was worried. Concerned, even. Startled by that, she was quiet all the way to their seeming destination, an unmarked door.

Fintan turned the knob and then kicked the door open, revealing what looked like a crude medical bay. "Come on."

Oralie winced as he yanked her inside none-too gently. "What do you want?"

"I want to fix those damn slashes." Fintan pointed at one of the cots. "Sit, let me find the cream we have for this."

She obliged, wary of what Fintan might do if she didn't.

To her surprise, he did precisely what he had said he was doing, retrieving some nasty-smelling ointment. "This hurts like a bitch, but it will disinfect those."

Fintan reached for her, and Oralie flinched away, remembering how he had looked the day Kenric died. "Don't touch me."

"But-" Fintan sighed. "Here. Put this on your neck, please, and a bandage too."

Too startled by the fact that Fintan Pyren had just uttered the word 'please' to disobey, Oralie did so. He hadn't been lying; it did hurt quite a bit, but she could feel the sting fade after a moment. "Why are you being kind to me?"

Fintan wouldn't meet her eyes. "Bronte cares about you."

"I didn't realize you cared so much about him still."

"I don't!"

It didn't take her ability to know that was a lie. "Then why would you help me?"

He sighed, seemingly realizing the corner he had talked himself into. "Fine. I care about Bronte far more than I should, and he cares for you in turn. I helped you out of love for my brother. Nothing more."

"You sound just like Bronte when he's trying not to care," Oralie mused quietly.

Fintan's expression shuttered. "My brother and I are nothing alike. I'm a killer, he's a Councillor."

"You were a Councillor," she pointed out.

"That was a long time ago." Fintan shoved a tin of something in her face. "Here. Bruise stuff for that slap on your face."

Oralie recognized the deflection, and let it slide. "How do you know so much about wound care?"

"The Neverseen aren't exactly careful with themselves."

That didn't quite answer her question, but she let that slide too, applying the bruise cream. "What do you plan to do with me?"

"I don't know, Gisela doesn't tell me shit. We'll probably hold you hostage or something."

"If you plan on interrogating me, you should know that I won't break," Oralie murmured.

"Anyone breaks with enough pressure," Fintan said, but he didn't seem like he meant it. "Come on, let's get you to a cell before Gisela gets on my ass about 'security'."

His flippant tone reminded Oralie of the Fintan she had known before the pyrokinesis ban, but she was wise enough not to say that as Fintan dragged her through the halls of the hideout.

The cell Oralie was placed in was freezing cold, and she was already shivering as Fintan locked the door. His gaze was apologetic, but he said nothing as he turned and left.

Knowing she needed to keep as much of her skin off the cold metal floor as possible, Oralie stripped off her thin Councillor's cloak and set it down as a barrier. She took off her circlet too, not wanting cold metal on her head, and tucked it into her dress. Then, she shed her heeled shoes, in case she needed to run, and tucked her feet under her dress in a futile attempt to keep warm, shivering all the while.

After that, there was nothing to do but wait and try to keep warm. By the time she guessed it was nine pm or so, she was curled up as tightly as she could manage. And by an hour after that, she had given up on sleeping at all that night.

Just when her tired eyes were finally starting to close, the cold seeping into her bones, she heard the door of the cell click open and light footsteps move across the floor. Deciding it was best to remain still, Oralie kept quiet as she felt a heavy, warm piece of fabric settle onto her. Through her half-closed eyes, she could see wavy, ice-blond hair fall into her vision when the person bent down to lay whatever it was over her.

The footsteps retreated, and the cell door closed. Only then did Oralie dare sit up and see what the person had left her; it was a Neverseen cloak, warm and smelling vaguely like wildfires and the serums from the medical bay. She recoiled at the smoke smell, but ultimately her need for warmth overcame any disgust. Laying back down, she found that the cloak was a little shorter than she really needed. It was warm, though, and if she curled up she could fit under it well enough.

With the added warmth of the cloak, she was asleep within minutes.

In the Lost Cities, Emery and the other Councillors had long since given up on getting anything productive done that night and were collectively having a variety of arguments that ranged from how to best rescue Oralie to what the hell a 'clam chowder' was.

Personally, Emery was well aware of what clam chowder was, but he had bigger concerns than watching Zarina and Clarette debate it. Namely, Bronte, who was sitting next to him and staring off into space.

"Bronte," Emery tried one more time. "Bronte, please."

He said nothing, so Emery turned to Liora. "What the fuck are we going to do?"

"Why would I know?" The conjurer didn't wait for an answer. "Let's take him back to one of our castles. Bully him into getting some food and sleep, and in the morning we'll try to handle the rest."

"We can go to mine," Emery decided. "Bronte, is that okay with you?"

Bronte continued to stare past Emery's head, but he nodded slowly, and Emery counted that as a victory.

"Right." Emery stood up, making his voice louder to address the rest of the Council. "Bronte, Liora, and I are heading out for the night. We're getting nothing done, and we all need to sleep or we'll get nothing done tomorrow as well. I know it's tempting for us to spend all night on the search for our colleague, but we need to rest or we won't be ready to continue tomorrow."

"I agree with Emery," Noland signed from the corner, shooting Emery a tiny smile. "We need to rest."

"Emery is right," Clarette agreed. "Let's go."

The Council split off, leaving the room in groups of one or two. It was both heartbreakingly familiar and heartbreakingly different from how the usual routine went; it was almost always that Councillors walked back to the castles in groups, discussing with their political allies or friends, but with Oralie gone, those groups had already shifted. Usually, Terik walked back alone, but today he was signing back and forth with Noland. Derek, who usually walked with Noland, looked rather put out by this, and had chosen to team up with Alina. Meanwhile, Clarette, Velia, Ramira and Zarina were all walking together in a tight-knit little clump, which wasn't too unusual; usually those four stuck together and left in some configuration, sometimes duos or trios.

Usually, Emery walked with whoever he wanted to talk to that day, having no defined group. For the past few months, he had made a point to walk back with Alina so she would feel welcome on the Council. But Alina and Bronte despised each other, and today Bronte needed Emery more. So Emery had fallen into step with Liora and him, heading back to Emery's castle.

Liora reached the door first, and pushed it open without even asking Emery. "Well, your front room is...ostentatious."

Emery sighed and decided it wasn't worth fighting with Liora over interior design today. "I know."

He almost wished Bronte would make a blunt comment about it, as would be typical for him, but the other was silent as he stepped inside.

"Food first," Liora said, and Emery nodded along as she wandered into his kitchen and started banging around.

"Liora is a shit cook."

Emery whipped his head around so fast he almost gave himself whiplash, finding Bronte hadn't changed posture or expression at all. "What did you say?"

"Liora is a shit cook," Bronte repeated. His voice was hoarse, quiet, but Emery had never been so relieved to hear an insult in his life.

"I am not," Liora called from the kitchen.

Bronte just snorted quietly.

Liora did turn out to be fairly awful at cooking, but they all ate it anyways. Afterwards, Emery found spare rooms for the other two, down the hall from his, and settled down to sleep.

He woke up again at maybe one am to a near-scream from down the hall, leaping out of bed and immediately hurrying to see what was going on. Liora's door remained shut, and she was still somehow asleep when he peeked in, so he hurried to Bronte's room and pushed open the door.

"Bronte?"

The other scrambled backward, pressing against the headboard of the bed. "Don't- stay away."

Emery flinched back from the words. "Are you okay?"

Bronte didn't answer him, instead pleading under his breath for something Emery couldn't hear.

Emery took a step forward. "It's okay. It's just- it's just me."

Bronte didn't reply once again, but he didn't flinch when Emery stepped forward again. So Emery started talking again, quietly, offering up whatever reassurances he could manage as he slowly made his way across the room. Talking had always been his skill, ever since he was in Foxfire and talking his mentors into teaching him more advanced subjects. Always speaking, always deflecting and lying and persuading, never part of the action. Opposite from Bronte, he guessed. Now he was grateful for all that, though, his words allowing him to reach the other.

"You're safe," he told Bronte quietly.

Bronte's gaze was still filled with terror when he looked up at Emery, fear mingling with sorrow and guilt. "They- they tried to hurt Fintan. They tried to get him but I got in their way and I tried to get them to stop and-" he choked on a sob. "And I lied to my inflicting mentor when she asked about the bruise, I said that- I said that we were playing tackle bramble even though I've never played tackle bramble, but- but they hurt him. They hurt Fintan."

For once, Emery's voice failed him. "Who?"

"Mother and father," Bronte choked out. "Don't let them hurt you, don't let me hurt you."

Emery still didn't know what was going on, but his heart was breaking for the other when he knelt by Bronte. "Shh. It's okay. No one's going to hurt me, and no one's going to hurt you. I promise."

"I promised too, you know." The older Councillor laughed bitterly, and his voice was lighter, younger, when he spoke again. "I promise, Fintan, I'll never let anyone hurt you." He dropped the tone. "But they did."

"I'm sorry," Emery murmured. "I'm sorry."

Bronte's laughter turned into sobs, and before Emery had time to comprehend what the fuck was going on, he was holding a sobbing Bronte for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. At this point, it wasn't even close to the worst thing that had happened this week. So Emery knelt on the hardwood floor- why oh why had he never gotten a carpet for this room- and let Bronte cling until the other had gone quiet.

"I'm sorry," Bronte said finally. His voice was still rough.

"For what?"

He didn't answer. "Go back to bed."

"Okay, but are you sure you're okay?"

"Go back to bed, Emery."

Worried and a little hurt, Emery had no choice but to retreat to his own room.

The next morning, Emery and Liora found that Bronte was gone, a note left on the kitchen table that said "Thank you for the hospitality. You were very kind. I will see you at the Council meeting today." It was signed with a scribbled "Bronte.".

Emery and Liora glanced at each other.

"That's abrupt," Emery said, although he suspected he knew why Bronte had left.

"Typical of him, really," Liora remarked.

"How much do you know about Bronte?" So Emery was curious, sue him.

"We don't get along very well. But we have worked together for a very long time." Liora frowned, stepping over the doorstep. "'Don't get along' might be an overstatement. It would be more accurate to say that Bronte is deeply guarded, and I am deeply introverted, and as thus we simply never got to know each other."

"That makes sense. You're rarely one to speak to the others outside of our work." Liora was one of the few who always walked back to her castle alone.

"Indeed. But I have known Bronte for long enough that he is not such an enigma to me."

Emery started towards the Councillor's meeting building. "What do you know of him?"

"I know he is grumpy, introverted, and guarded. I know he has resisted any and all efforts for anyone to get to know him, but he loves his brother and his best friend more than anything in the world. He would kill and die for Oralie without hesitation.”

“We all know that one,” Emery muttered.

Liora laughed quietly. “True. You see, Oralie was appointed not long after I was, and Kenric at the same time. But Oralie and Kenric were much, much younger than I. Besides even the commonalities that Bronte and Oralie shared, it was natural for him to take on an older sibling role to the two of them. Meanwhile, I was quite independent when I started on the Council, and the only person I asked for advice was Carsil- I believe you met them? While Oralie instantly bonded with the Pyrens, I have always been more reclusive.”

Emery nodded, pausing at the door. “From what I know of Oralie, Kenric, and Bronte, that seems right. Do you know why Bronte is so...reluctant to make friends?”

“I have no idea. But I would expect his ability and his past have something to do with it.”

Don't let them hurt you, don't let me hurt you.

Emery stepped into the building after Liora.

Oralie woke up the next day half-wondering if the cloak laid over her had been a dream, since she was shivering slightly, but when she sat up, the Neverseen cloak fell to the floor.

“Not a dream, then,” Oralie murmured to herself.

Her next move was searching for weaknesses in her cell, which there appeared to be none of, followed by pacing futilely and trying to think. That was followed by sitting hopelessly on her cape thinking about Bronte’s face when Gisela had leapt her away, which turned into thinking about Kenric, which turned into thinking about Sophie.

Sophie. Oralie had never before wished to be a telepath, but now she would have chosen abilities as strong as her daughter’s if it meant being able to contact her friends- her family- even one last time.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Gisela arrived in time to pull Oralie out of her depressing thoughts spiral. Most certainly unfortunately, she proceeded to drag Oralie through the halls, tie her to a chair, and begin asking a ridiculous amount of questions.

“No. No, I don’t know. Why would I know who Sophie’s biological parents are? I’m not a member of the Black Swan.” Technically, that was the truth, so Oralie stuck to that story. Thankfully, she had long practice at lying and getting away with it, despite the weakness all Empaths shared. Much as that had made Sophie hate her, it came in handy when being tortured by the Neverseen. So Oralie lied and lied and deflected and refused to answer, and Gisela got steadily madder and madder.

“Is there nothing that will phase you?”

Oralie stared up at her calmly, trying to ignore all the cuts and bruises that were now scattered across her body. “Nothing.”

Gisela smirked. “Is that so? Well I know your looks matter to you, so…” She flicked open her knife again, slashing it across one of Oralie’s cheeks and then the other. Slash slash. Two agonizing cuts, two streams of blood dripping down Oralie’s face.

Silence.

Oralie broke the quiet, taking all of the pain she had been repressing and letting it go, letting the cry trapped in her throat and the tears in her eyes go free.

Gisela looked startled. “Pathetic. So easily broken.”

Oralie let out her most pathetic sob in response.

“Honestly. So weak,” the polyglot sniffed. “Now tell me what you know.”

Instead of obeying, Oralie started crying even harder, feeling tears sting the cuts on her cheeks.

“Stop that! You’re supposed to be a Councillor, not a pathetic mess.”

“I- I-” She shuddered weakly, unable to muster the energy to respond even if she had wanted to tell Gisela anything.

“Stop your crying!”

The snap reminded Oralie distinctly of some less than lovely people she knew, and she took that emotion and turned it into even more tears. Fragile, she might be. Easily broken, she might be. But shards of glass were even more dangerous than the whole they once had been, and Oralie had learned to take her brokenness and make it a weapon.

So even as Gisela kept asking questions, Oralie just cried and cried until the other finally gave up and dragged her back to her cell.

“Sit here and think about your pathetic life, Councillor crybaby,” the other hissed.

Oralie just shuddered again, letting a sob shake her entire body.

Gisela stomped away in a huff, and Oralie gave herself two more minutes to cry before she wiped her tears, got up, and started trying to figure out how to stop her face from bleeding. She could still hardly believe that had worked, but she would take whatever scraps of time to herself she got.

Her solution to her face ended up being pressing the Neverseen cloak to her cheeks until the bleeding had mainly stopped. And while she did that, she tried to brainstorm ways to get out. Sophie. Sophie! Knowing Sophie was the only telepath powerful enough to reach her, she tried calling out with her mind, to be met with only silence. It seemed that Sophie wasn’t listening- or hadn’t found her. Defeated, Oralie sat back on the floor and started trying to break her circlet to turn into a lockpick or make-shift weapon. Every part of her body ached, but if she could focus on survival it became easier to ignore that.

In Eternalia, Emery watched something new in Bronte’s expression break each day, the circles under his eyes getting steadily darker and the pain in them persisting. The Council’s search for Oralie had been mainly futile, as it seemed the Neverseen had somehow disabled the tracking device in her cloak. And even Alina, who had never liked Oralie, was feeling the pressure. Oralie was beloved by so many, and to have her gone was a devastating blow. Especially to Bronte.

The Senior Councillor had been especially distant from Emery ever since the day of the kidnapping, when he had completely broken down in Emery’s arms. Emery half-suspected he was embarrassed, but it hurt anyways when Bronte snapped at him.

Despite their distance, it ended up being Emery who found Bronte crying in the Councillors’ meeting room a good hour after the rest had gone home. Emery had lingered in the building, checking on one or two last things, and when he wandered back into the meeting room to grab his stuff, he found the other sitting there.

Despite his usual eloquence, the first thing he could think of to say was “Well, this is awkward.”

“Fuck off,” Bronte snarled, but he looked too much of a mess for the words to really be impactful.

“It’s not the end of the world if I see you upset.”

“I know. But I refuse to let you get hurt.”

“What is that even supposed to mean?”

“I’m an inflictor. Put the fucking pieces together, Emery.”

“You’re scared of...hurting me?” Emery was strangely touched, despite the other’s harsh words.

“Yes. Now leave me alone.”

“No.”

Bronte stared at him. “What?”

“I said no.” Emery took a breath, steeling himself. “Listen, I know you care about Oralie most. Everyone knows she’s the only one you’ll ever talk to. But Oralie isn’t fucking here right now. We might be working on getting her back, but that doesn’t mean you get to just- just push everyone away and refuse any help in the meantime. And I know you’re scared of hurting me, or scared of vulnerability, or whatever the fuck it is, but please just let me fucking help, Bronte.” He was startled when his voice broke on the last sentence, words coming out all jagged and torn-up.

Bronte’s expression hadn’t changed much, but Emery thought he caught shock on the other’s face. “You actually care?”

“Of course I do! Isn’t it obvious?” Emery found himself rubbing at his eyes to keep from tearing up. “I was fucking worried, and you just up and left and- and stayed away. Because you’re scared or whatever.”

“I was just being cautiou-”

“Well fuck that! You’re the elf who goes charging headfirst into danger and didn’t even falter when King Dimitar threatened to rip your head off that one time. And somehow you’re too afraid to let anyone help you? You’re a coward, Bronte.”

For a second, Emery thought he was going to get absolutely destroyed, but Bronte’s face softened. “I’m sorry, Emery.”

“It’s fine,” Emery whispered, turning his head away.

“No, it was shitty.” Bronte stood, holding his arms out awkwardly, and Emery took the embrace. Bronte might have been a full head shorter, but Emery felt very small compared to the other’s ancient presence. Emery was made of gold, soft and malleable but loved and charming. Bronte was made of steel, sharp and unflinching and plain. Which one of those was better, Emery couldn’t say. But, for just a moment, he allowed himself to be soft, leaning on Bronte’s steely presence.

Meanwhile, in the Neverseen hideout, it had been a full week since Oralie’s capture. Every day, one of the Neverseen members had taken a turn trying to interrogate her. Giesla had given up after the second day. Fintan had asked some questions and done a little half-hearted threatening, but Oralie could tell he wasn’t actually prepared to follow through on his threats. So she had told him nothing. Vespera had been the worst, cruel and calculating, but Oralie had kept her mouth shut. Somehow. And now she was back in her cell in a haze of exhaustion and pain, staring blankly at the corridor Vespera had left via.

Finally, her blank stare landed on a set of keys that had fallen from Vespera’s belt, and that was enough to break through her numb tiredness. Keys! To her cell! She reached through the bars, finding the keys only inches from her fingertips, and swore under her breath. The keys glittered just out of her reach, taunting her.

Oralie rummaged around in her dress, retrieving her circlet, and slammed it against the floor.

Once.

It didn’t break.

There was something symbolic, maybe, about Oralie not being able to break the object that was a physical representation of her responsibilities. The embodiment of her duty to the Lost Cities, encased in a circle of metal that was heavier than it looked.

Twice.

The circlet began to crack.

But she was more than her responsibilities. She had gone beyond the Council seat she held. She was not just Councillor Oralie, she was something beyond the title that so often preceded her name.

Thrice.

The metal snapped entirely.

Oralie wasted no time into bending it into a straight line with a slight hook on the end, reaching out again and snagging the keys.

From there, it was fairly simple to reach around and unlock her cell. Oralie tucked the keys into a pocket of her dress, and bundled up her Councillor’s cloak into a small enough ball to fit in another pocket. The Neverseen cloak, she donned, and the broken circlet went into her right hand, ready to fight if need be. She left her heeled shoes behind in the cell, knowing they would be of no use in a fight, and slipped into the hallways of the hideout.

Oralie realized fairly quickly that she now had no shoes, no idea where she was going, and an entire hideout of Neverseen members to evade. Nevertheless, she refused to squander her chance at freedom. So she crept along, making her way towards the healing wing she and Fintan had been in earlier. Thankfully, she arrived there without incident, pushing open the doors and shutting them with a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, Fintan happened to be in the healing wing currently, bandaging his hand.

Oralie froze, hoping he hadn’t seen her.

Fintan turned at the noise of doors shutting, and gaped at her. “Oralie?”

“Fintan,” Oralie said quietly.

“How did you get in here?”

Oralie shrugged apologetically and tried to look innocent.

Fintan wasn’t buying it. “You escaped your cell somehow, and somehow managed to navigate to this wing.”

“I remembered the way.”

“Clever.” Fintan’s smirk seemed almost impressed. “As a leader of the Neverseen, I’m afraid I can’t allow you to escape, however.”

Oralie’s heart clenched in fear, but she refused to let it show on her face. “And what are you going to do about it?”

“Well, I’m obligated to tell you that you should absolutely not go into the storeroom of this wing. That would be a terrible idea. And you should definitely not kick open the panel behind the burn cream boxes. That would hurt. And definitely not help you escape.”

“I will definitely not do that,” Oralie told him. She would have been smiling if she was any less exhausted.

“Good, good.”

“Thank you for the cloak, by the way.” She held it out. “You can have this back, sorry for bleeding on it.”

“No, no, keep it. But remember, you should definitely not be wary of the ways it might be similar to your Council one.”

Ways it might be similar...ways it might be similar...trackers! Oralie nodded. “Thank you, Fintan.”

“Don’t mention it.” He stepped aside to let her pass. “Oh, and…tell Bronte I said hello, will you?”

“I will. He misses you,” Oralie added impulsively.

“I’m afraid he’ll have to continue missing me.” Fintan’s sorrow was genuine, and Oralie didn’t need to brush her hand against his as she passed to know that.

She did anyways, needing to know if Fintan genuinely cared about helping her. She found nothing but mild concern, sorrow, and a hint of fear at what the other Neverseen members might do, which was more than enough proof that he cared. Much like Bronte, Fintan was not as subtle as he thought he was.

So Oralie headed into the storeroom, looking around for the box of burn cream. It appeared to be near the back wall, and when she scooted it aside, she found a loose panel in the wall. So she followed Fintan’s advice and kicked it as hard as she could, hissing an “Ouch!” under her breath as her bare foot made contact. The panel fell outward, though, and Oralie was able to crawl outside. The dirt felt wonderful after a week of cold metal floors on her bare feet, and she allowed herself a moment to breathe before putting the panel back in place and running from the hideout.

The Neverseen base had appeared to be in a deciduous forest, as the tree leaves were currently red, orange and yellow, and it was populated by what Oralie guessed were birches and maples. The setting didn’t really matter, though, only getting away from her captors. So she ran until she was out of sight of the building, and only then allowed herself to flop onto the ground.

Remembering Fintan’s words, she took her broken circlet and used it to cut open the seams of the cloak, looking for trackers. She found a little disk fairly similar to the ones in her Councillor’s cloak, and set it on the ground. Over that, she put her Councillor’s cloak, and took a moment to breathe and brace herself for what she was about to do.

Shing! The broken circlet slashed through the soft skin on her left index finger, and Oralie sprinkled the blood all over her discarded cloak. There. That should throw them off her trail.

She wiped her bloody finger on Fintan’s cloak, got up, and started walking.

Her walk turned out to be a very long one, stumbling over seemingly endless tree roots and pushing through seemingly endless bushes. Even as night fell, Oralie forced herself to keep moving. She couldn’t afford to be caught. She couldn’t afford to be caught. That was the chant that kept her on her feet, even as her entire body ached. Her legs and feet ached from walking, her arms and hands ached from what Vespera had dealt, and her face ached from the slashes Gisela had given her. Still, she staggered onward until it was nearly dawn and she was able to see a little settlement on the horizon.

As she got closer, she could tell that it was clearly a human town, with quaint architecture and a few humans bustling about. Still, if she concentrated, she could read the signposts, which were in one of few human languages she knew. The one Sophie spoke. Well, Sophie spoke all the languages. But the one Sophie had grown up with. English! That was the word. Language? Noun? Oralie shook her head, trying to clear it, but it only made her more dizzy. Blood loss and sleep deprivation probably had something to do with that, she reflected, which was evidence that she had been friends with Bronte too long. Only Bronte would be so clinical about something like this. Fuck, she missed him. And he was probably worried about her, seeing as she had gotten kidnapped. Sure, Oralie had bigger problems than Bronte’s worry, but it was easier to think about her best friend than the fact that she had staggered into the human town and humans were staring, or the fact that she felt like passing out.

Which was what she proceeded to do, right on the doorstep of one of the houses.

Around that time, Sophie was getting a hail from Bronte. It might have been the middle of her Elven History session, but Sophie picked up the imparter anyways, ignoring her mentor’s indigent sputtering.

“Miss Foster, history is a very important subject!”

Sophie rolled her eyes to herself. “Bronte? What is it? Is there word of Oralie?”

“Slow down, Miss Foster,” Bronte grumped. He looked exhausted, dark circles under his eyes, which were rimmed with red, but his grumpy voice was as steady and familiar as ever. “We do not have word of Oralie, but I am hailing about her.”

“Are you- are you talking to a Councillor?” Sophie’s mentor sputtered.

“Yes, I am, so please let me talk!” Normally, Sophie would never be so rude, but this was not a normal time. “What about Oralie?”

“We need your help. Emery has an idea.”

“And you’re agreeing with Emery?” Sophie couldn’t help but ask.

Bronte sighed, but there was a hint of amusement in his voice. “In this case, his idea isn’t completely idiotic.”

“I heard that, Bronte!” Emery hollered from offscreen.

“Fuck you, Emery!”

“We’re Councillors!”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!” Bronte huffed another sigh. “Anyways. Please come to Eternalia as soon as possible. You can tell your mentor- who sounds rather disgruntled- that this is extraordinarily important Council business. I’ll send you a signed note or something if you need.”

“Oh, uh, okay.” Sophie turned to her mentor. “Excuse me, sir, but I have to go. Extremely important Council business.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” Bronte called from Sophie’s imparter. “Trust me, the Council knows the importance of education. But this is more important.”

“Oh- oh okay, then. See you next week,” He said, but Sophie was already grabbing her bag and running for the Leapmaster.

“Bronte, where do I go when I get to Eternalia?”

“The Council secret meeting building- I’ll give you directions.”

She barely even thought to concentrate as she threw herself into the beam of light, re-forming near the Councillors’ castles in Eternalia. “Where now?”

“To your right,” Bronte directed. “That plain building about fifty feet from the end of the row of castles.”

Sophie hurried over there, forced to stop running by the stitch in her side, and banged on the door.

Bronte opened it mere seconds later, gesturing at her to come inside. He looked even worse in real life than over the imparter, short hair sticking every which way and tunic wrinkled, but his strides were determined when he led Sophie down the hall.

The rest of the Councillors looked only somewhat less frazzled as Bronte pushed open the door to their meeting room. Even Alina’s hair was out of place. But the determination in Bronte’s strides was mirrored in all of their eyes, and for the first time, Sophie could see how they were truly leaders.

“So, what’s Emery’s idea?” She asked, wandering inside as Bronte shut the door.

“Well,” Emery started, “You remember how you’ve been able to use telepathy to call for help? Oralie isn’t a telepath, but if we can reach her, we might be able to figure out where she is and coordinate rescue efforts.”

“Okay, but...we don’t know where in the world she is,” Sophie argued. “I don’t know her mind well enough to reach her from a huge distance, not like Keefe.”

“And that’s where I come in. You see, I’ve been the spokesperson for well over five hundred years,” Emery explained.

“And he gets to poke around in everyone’s heads because of it,” Zarina contributed.

“Exactly. I know my fellow Councillors’ minds as well as I know my own. But I’m not strong enough to reach all the way across the world.”

Sophie was starting to see his strategy. “So if we worked together, I might be able to help you reach Oralie, and you could help me find her mind?”

“Precisely.” Emery’s gaze was piercing. “I haven’t been kind to you in the past, and it might be difficult to trust me. But I’m hoping you’ll try.”

The hope in the Council’s gazes was almost disquieting.

“For Oralie’s sake,” Sophie told him. “But I want my cognate here.”

“Very well,” Emery said before anyone else could say anything. “Bronte, could you hail him?”

“Why is it always me?” Bronte didn’t wait for a response before he pulled out his imparter again and set about hailing Fitz.

Fitz arrived ten minutes later, rather out of breath. “What’s going on?”

Emery gave him a quick rundown.

“That’s insane,” Fitz informed him. “But...Sophie is pretty amazing. So I guess it’s worth a try.”

Oralie drifted in and out of consciousness, hearing worried voices around her but not having the presence of mind to translate their words. She felt hands lift her, people moving her from the ground to something else, then to a place that smelled sterile. After that, she was conscious for only brief snatches, sometimes feeling hands on her injuries or needles prick her skin.

“Bronte,” she tried to cry, not knowing what was happening only that she needed her friend. “Bronte!”

He didn’t come.

In her most blurred moments, Oralie found the name on her lips was “Kenric!”, but by the time she was completely unconscious, she remembered his death.

She woke up fully to sunlight streaming in the window of a room she didn’t recognize, falling across the comforters of a bed she didn’t recognize. “What...what happened?”

No one responded, and Oralie realized she was entirely alone. Naturally, she scanned the room to try and discern where she was. Floral wallpaper, stained. Hardwood floor, somewhat old and warped. Lacy curtains, very dusty. It was clear that this was not the Lost Cities, nor any of the lands of the intelligent species. Which left only one place: the Forbidden Cities.

Oralie blinked, and her memory of last night- last morning, really- came flooding back. Right. She had escaped and walked to the human town. Which meant one of the humans had picked her up and brought her here.

Just as Oralie was wondering where that human might be now, the door swung open to reveal a rather elderly human woman with smile lines around her mouth and eyes, and hair streaked through with silver. She bustled over to fuss with the comforters, and then startled.

“Oh! You’re awake!”

Oralie tried to summon up the correct English words, cursing herself for not practicing enough. “I am.”

The human smiled and said something about eyesight and leaving that Oralie didn’t quite catch. “Anyways. What’s your name?”

“I am Oralie. What is yours?” Oralie knew her speech was probably a little stilted, but she cut herself a little slack, given what she had just been through.

“Brenda,” the human- Brenda- answered. “How are you feeling?”

“A little… fuck,” Oralie muttered under her breath. “Tired? English is not my first language.”

“Ah, that’s okay, dearie. Now, the doctor said you should have some food and water.” She said something else that Oralie didn’t catch and hurried out the door.

When Brenda returned, she was carrying a tray of some human food, and there was another human with her. “This is my wife, Susan,” she explained to Oralie.

Oralie nodded, grateful for Brenda’s clear and slow speech allowing her to catch the words.

“Have some food,” Susan told her, and despite the unfamiliarity of the food, Oralie was happy to obey.

The duo stayed in the room while she was eating, chattering to each other in English too fast for Oralie to catch. The food itself was not bad, but Oralie would have eaten it even if it was. Finally, she was finished, and Brenda grabbed the tray and hurried off.

Susan turned to Oralie, and Oralie could feel pity and concern radiating off her. Still, Susan’s voice was steady and gentle when she spoke. “Brenda and I did not go to the police. We took you to the hospital, and told the doctors we did not know how you got injured.”

Despite not knowing what ‘hospital’ or ‘police’ meant in the Enlightened Language, Oralie understood enough to know that there was a ‘but’ coming.

“But,” Susan added, “your wounds look deliberate.”

“Deliberate?” Oralie asked slowly, trying to get the English syllables through her mouth.

“Done on purpose,” Susan told her. “We were hoping you would tell us who hurt you, so we can make sure you’re safe.”

Oralie took a moment to process the sentence, and then another moment to come up with a lie. “My- my boyfriend. I...ran from his house.” She let the memory of Vespera’s tormenting turn her eyes tearful, selling the lie.

“I’m so sorry. Brenda and I will make sure he never hurts you again, okay?”

Oralie nodded.

“Can you answer two more questions for me?” Susan asked.

Oralie nodded again.

“Who is ‘Bronte’? You were calling for him.”

She didn’t have to think much this time. “My older brother.”

“And ‘Kenric’?”

“My…former boyfriend. Not the bad one. He....” Oralie hesitated, trying to remember all the polite human euphemisms for death. “He passed away.”

“I am sorry for your loss.” Susan stood. “Brenda and I can let you stay here for a bit. Until you’re back on your feet.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course.”

Back in Eternalia, Sophie was nervously linking hands with Fitz and Emery, hoping it would work.

Hello? Fitz’s voice asked in her head. I’m past your blocking, and I think I’m past Emery’s too.

He is, Emery’s mind murmured.

Hi, Sophie said to both of them.

Fitz sent her an image of him waving, and she smiled.

Emery offered a polite mental hello.

Right, so, should we get started? Fitz asked.

We need Sophie to do that, Emery told him.

Sophie’s stomach knotted with nerves. Right. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to reach out. If you guys could like, guide me and send mental energy, that would be great.

Fitz sent her a thumbs up.

Emery nodded mentally, somehow.

Sophie’s first try was utterly overwhelming, humans’ and elves’ thoughts pouring into her brain and any sign of Oralie lost amongst the chaos. She lost contact with Emery maybe five seconds in, and Fitz had to reel her mind back in.

“Ow,” he said out loud. “That was overwhelming.”

Emery was frowning. “I think we lost touch.”

“We’ll try again,” Sophie told the other telepaths.

Thankfully, they both nodded.

Two tries later, they had established that the problem seemed to be that Sophie simply couldn’t keep touch with Emery’s mind.

“Aren’t there any other telepaths that know Oralie’s mind well enough?” Sophie groaned in frustration, and then winced as Emery looked offended.

“The ideal choice would be Kenric,” Bronte told her. “But…”

“That’s not an option,” Emery finished. “And I doubt any other living telepath has read Oralie’s mind as many times as I have, at least of the ones you’ve worked with.”

“Don’t you lot do like, trust exercises?” Zarina asked. Her feet were propped on the Council’s meeting table, earning her glares from everyone else.

“I mean…” Fitz glanced at Sophie. “Worth a shot. Although I don’t know how much I trust Emery to catch me falling off a table.”

“I’ve caught Bronte falling off a cabinet,” Emery argued.

“Yeah, but Bronte’s like, four feet tall,” Sophie told him. “Wait, you’ve caught Bronte falling off a cabinet?”

Bronte glared at Emery. “Fuck all of you.”

“Maybe you could try some ones that don’t involve tables,” Terik suggested. He looked faintly amused.

“Only if they involve hearing the story of Bronte falling off a cabinet,” Sophie joked.

Emery shrugged. “I mean, that story does involve one of my secrets. But it wouldn’t be fair to Bronte.”

So five minutes later, they were back to trying trust-falls. So far, Fitz and Emery had both caught Sophie, and Sophie had caught Fitz and then proceeded to fall on her ass.

“I think this is a really bad idea,” Emery informed her, but he toppled off the chair anyways.

To her own surprise, Sophie didn’t immediately drop him, although she did lower him to the floor very quickly.

The rest of the Council seemed greatly amused by all this. At least, until they took the exercises back to being mental.

Okay, so we’re all telling each other one non-illegal secret? Fitz asked.

Emphasis on the non-illegal, Emery told him.

Right. Gotcha.

There was a moment of mental silence, and then, I’ll go first.

Sophie silently thanked Emery for that as he went on. You all know about the miniature ball at the end of the Elite Towers, yes? I went with someone not on my match list.

Fitz audibly gasped. That’s like, a huge scandal.

I know. Nothing bad ever became of it, obviously, but...it was a big deal to the few people who knew about it then.

Why? Sophie asked him mentally.

It was a big deal because I went with another aspiring regent, who- well, I won’t tell you his name, but at the time it was quite the scandal for a young and promising Foxfire graduate to be going out with another man.

Sophie didn’t know the elves had homophobia. That’s iconic, honestly.

I wish I could say it was, but only a few people even knew we were together. Emery’s mental voice sounded pensive. And, of course, it’s been a very long time since I last saw him.

Well I was going to say that one time I put fart a la carte in Biana’s breakfast so she would be gassy for the opening ceremonies, but now I feel kinda silly, Fitz told them. Um. Wait. If we’re being gay….

Sophie tried for a joking tone. Don’t tell me you’re actually gay and not into me.

No, but Keefe was my first kiss.

...Do I have permission to tease him about that?

Ask him, not me.

Emery sounded like he was smiling mentally. That’s sweet, actually.

And I have a lot of questions, Sophie added. But I guess I should say my secret now.

Probably.

Right. Uh. Keeping with the theme, I’m just going to come out now and say that I’m bi.

Whoa, Fitz said, but he didn’t seem like he thought that was a bad thing.

Right, Emery told them both. Now that we all understand each other a little bit better, should we try again?

This time, Sophie felt both of the others’ minds right alongside hers as she searched. Fitz was mainly there for support, but Emery’s mind guided her strength across the world until they brushed against a mind that felt both soft like silk and hard like glass.

This is Oralie, Emery’s mind whispered. His mental voice was faint, stretched over the massive distance.

Sophie made the extra leap to touch Oralie’s mind. Oralie. Oralie!

Silence. And then, a faint, almost disbelieving Sophie?

Susan had left the room a few moments before, after Oralie had asked which town she had made it to (some small town that Oralie didn’t recognize, but she memorized the name of just in case). And so Oralie was once again alone with her thoughts, which once again turned to the people she had left behind in the Lost Cities. Sophie, Bronte, even Emery. And of course Kenric. Even now, he never seemed far from her thoughts, although her emotions had become a little more mixed and muddled as the initial surge of grief faded. Still, Oralie supposed she would be missing him forever. Which was a rather depressing thought. While she was making herself sad, she might as well think about Sophie and the hatred radiating from her daughter when they spoke. Oralie had been an empath long enough to know that rage most often stemmed from hurt- but the fact that she had hurt Sophie did not wound her any less than the thought that Sophie hated her. Maybe she would ask Bronte for advice on how to fix this whole damn mess.

Bronte. It had been so natural to say he was her brother, beyond even needing to lie to these humans. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t close enough to qualify, a brother in everything but blood, but Oralie had no idea how he’d feel about having another blonde disaster of a younger sibling.

The first time a familiar voice entered her head, Oralie thought she had imagined it. She had clearly just been thinking about Sophie too much.

But the second time, she couldn’t ignore the desperation behind the call. Sophie?

Oralie! There was genuine relief in Sophie’s transmission. Where are you? Are you safe?

I’m safe, for now. I’m in a little town called Wetherby- it’s a human settlement, but it was the closest place to go when I escaped the Neverseen, since I didn’t have a leaping crystal.

You can get by in a human town?

I speak a little English, Oralie explained. And the people who helped me are very kind- they’re a human couple who lives here. I told them English was my second language and they didn’t question it.

Okay, hang on. I’m transmitting all this info back to Emery. We’ll come get you, Sophie said, and Oralie had never felt more reassured by a sentence from a much younger elf in her life.

Thank you.

Of fucking course. It’s not like we’d leave you there. I mean, for one thing, Bronte would kill me.

Is he okay?

Depends on how you define okay. Sophie sounded like she was choosing her words carefully. He looks like he hasn’t slept in a week but he’ll probably be fine once you get back.

Thank you, Oralie thought again.

I mean, you’re welcome. I’m going to go update everyone else and look for the town you told us, and then we’ll update you again.

Okay. Tell Bronte and the rest that I said hello?

I will.

Sophie blinked her eyes open in time to see Emery face plant onto the table.

“Ow. Fuck.” He sat up, rubbing his head. “That hurt even more than having these idiots scream in my head. Is this what it’s like for you all the time?”

Sophie shook her head. Sure, she had a bit of a headache, but that was more from hearing humans' thoughts while looking for Oralie than anything. “When it’s someone that I know well, it’s not bad.”

“Then I admire the strength of your telepathy.” Emery ground his palms into his eyes for a moment, looking pained, and then straightened up fully. “But! We know where Oralie is.”

“Where is she?” Bronte demanded.

“Some human town in Britain,” Fitz told him. “She escaped from the Neverseen and somehow made her way there.”

Bronte looked almost proud. “That sounds like Oralie. Anyways, how are we going to get her back?”

The rest of the evening was spent finding human maps, researching human clothing, and getting a leaping crystal to the exact coordinates made. Sophie, as primary human expert, had to be present, and the rest of Team Valiant was summoned as well. So while Dex, Fitz, and Biana went to the Forbidden Cities for human clothes and Wylie and Stina pored over the map, Sophie was charged with checking in on Oralie one more time. This time, she didn’t need Emery to guide her as she reached for the other’s mind again.

Hey.

Hi, Sophie, Oralie offered. Any word?

Bronte says ‘you’re a damn idiot and I’m going to fight anyone who hurt you’, and we’ve got a plan to get you home.

That sounds like Bronte. And what would the plan be?

Well, we’re working on a leaping crystal to where you are, Sophie explained. I’ll go into the city itself to find you, if you describe the house you’re in.

That sounds smart, with one caveat: why would a teenager be picking up a fully grown adult?

I don’t know, I’m your daughter or something. She almost regretted that when she felt Oralie’s mind flinch.

How do you feel about being a niece? It’s... a long story, but people have been asking questions and my current story is that I ran from my boyfriend- you’ll see why when you get here. But I haven’t mentioned any children.

And you have mentioned a sibling?

I may have had to lie and say that Bronte was my brother.

Sophie sent a mental groan across the connection. I don’t want to be his kid.

Oralie’s mental voice was too amused for her liking. I know, but you don’t look exceedingly different, and we need a story.

Fine.

Okay. I’ll tell Susan and Brenda- the human couple- that I’ll be going to live with my brother and his kid.

Gotcha. We’ll be there tomorrow morning at nine.

Sophie’s voice faded from Oralie’s head, and Oralie stared at the fluffy comforters, trying not to think about the words ‘I don’t know, I’m your daughter or something’. Rather unsuccessfully.

Thankfully for her, Brenda came bustling back in. “Hey there! Susan and I are going to eat dinner, do you want to eat with us?”

Oralie considered for a moment and then nodded.

“Great! Let’s go on down.”

So Oralie sat with the human couple, trying the human food cautiously. Brenda seemed happy to carry the conversation with occasional input from Susan or Oralie, which she was grateful for. Even if she didn’t quite catch some of what the human said, she could nod along.

Eventually, the conversation came around to Oralie’s situation. “I was able to...call? My brother,” Oralie told them. “He says that it is okay for me to live with him and his daughter.”

“Oh, excellent!” Brenda beamed at her. “When will you move in with them? No pressure to leave, of course.”

“He said he would be here tomorrow at nine.”

“That soon! Well, we’ll have to get you some better clothes than that hospital gown.”

Oralie glanced down at the thin fabric and nodded. “Thank you very much, I owe you a lot.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. The bill from the doctor is the worst of it. You’re not covered by our insurance.”

“How much do I owe you for that?”

Brenda radiated worry, biting her lip anxiously. “Worry about that when you’ve got a stable place to live.”

Oralie made a mental note to tell Sophie to pay these two back with a ridiculous sum of human money. “Okay.”

The next morning, she woke up early to golden sunlight falling across her bed. For a second, she almost thought she was back in Eternalia, since her room there was always lit by dawn, but the stained floral wallpaper soon dispelled that notion.

Susan came in perhaps a half hour later, setting some human clothes on the bed. “Here you go. These used to be mine, but I think they should fit you okay.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. There’s a shower in the bathroom at the end of the hall, the one with a blue door, if you want.”

Oralie nodded and got out of bed slowly. Her legs still ached from all the walking, and the rest of her body wasn’t in much better shape, but she was determined to take a shower and stop smelling like the Neverseen hideout and the human medicines.

That turned out to be easier said than done, but if she avoided the largest wounds, she could get mostly clean. And it helped that Susan’s old clothes smelled mainly like dust.

Oralie turned and glanced in the mirror, and she hardly recognized herself. Even after only a week with the Neverseen, her face had become leaner. Tougher. There were bruises scattered across every visible section of skin, and several gashes. Her cheeks were bandaged with large bandages, and her hair was wet and tangled. In the human clothes, she looked almost human, but she could also see why Brenda and Susan glanced at her with such worry radiating from them.

Snapping herself out of her reflection, Oralie borrowed the hairbrush on the bathroom counter to try and de-tangle her hair, which was easier said than done. She mainly managed it, though, with a lot of wincing. At least it didn’t seem like such a rat’s nest.

Once she was done with that, there was nothing to do but wait for Bronte and Sophie to arrive.

Bronte and Sophie were currently having a muttered argument over having to pretend to be father and daughter.

“Well it's not like I really strongly desire to be your kid,” Sophie muttered to him as she fumbled through the pile of human clothing the others had brought.

“And it’s not like I have a strong desire to have you as a child,” Bronte muttered back, but he didn’t seem actually that grumpy.

“What about ‘I’d be proud of you if you were my daughter’?”

“I’m just saying that you’ve accomplished incredible things.”

“That sounds pretty fucking kind to me.”

Bronte huffed. “I am not kind, I am very mean. But...I would be very proud of you.”

Sophie tossed a t-shirt at him. “Here, you can wear this. My human dad had a literally identical one. Plus, can’t you be a proud mentor already?”

“Well yes, I am a proud mentor. Now shush, stop making me look nice in front of the rest.”

“Ha, I’ll ruin your evil reputation.”

“Everyone knows I’m the Councillor not to fuck with,” Bronte grumbled as he took the jeans Sophie was handing him.

“Haha no. That’s like, Emery.”

“Emery has the backbone of a chocolate eclair.”

“I heard that!” Emery shouted from the background.

“Good!” Bronte shouted back.

Sophie, meanwhile, was picking up a beanie. “Here, you can use this to hide your ears.”

“I hate modern human fashion,” Bronte grumbled, but he left to get into the clothes anyways. He looked very strange in jeans and a t-shirt, the bright orange beanie hiding his pointed ears and the casual human clothing greatly reducing how intimidating he was.

“Hi, temporary dad,” Sophie told him. She had gotten into her old human clothes before even coming to Eternalia, and was surprised at how strange the jeans felt after years of elven clothing.

Bronte just sighed. “How am I doing at the whole ‘looking human’ thing?”

“You gotta slouch a little more. And stop glaring at everyone. You’re a chill dad.”

“I am not,” Bronte muttered, but he softened his stare and posture a little bit.

“Great!” Sophie told him. “Let’s leap there, shall we?”

“Let’s go.”

It was almost ten minutes after nine when a knock sounded from the front door.

Brenda went hurrying over to open it, shooting Oralie a smile as she did. “Oh, hello! Would you be Oralie’s brother and niece?”

“That’s us,” Oralie heard Sophie say in flawless English. “I’m Sophie, and this is my dad, Bronte. He doesn’t speak English super well- we’re an immigrant family.”

“Ah, and you’ve lived in the UK most of your life, Sophie? That makes sense. Anyways, I’m sure Oralie is eager to see you.” Brenda turned back to Oralie. “Your family is here!”

Oralie stood up, giving Brenda her best reassuring smile as she hurried over to the front door. “Sophie! Bronte!” The others may have been dressed in strange human clothes, worry on their faces and tension in their stances, but they were here. They were here.

To her surprise, Bronte rushed forward and threw his arms around her tightly, solidifying for Oralie that he really was real and here.

“Bronte!” Oralie hugged him back just as tightly, letting herself relax for the first time since Gisela had grabbed her that day.

“I was so fucking worried,” he whispered.

“I’m sorry-”

“Why would you fucking apologize for being kidnapped by the Neverseen?” Bronte pulled back, and Oralie noted the tears glimmering in his eyes. “It’s not your fucking fault and it’s never been your fucking fault. I am going to hurt every one of those dipshits, though.”

“It’s okay, Bronte. I’m okay.”

“Your face is covered in bruises.”

She winced. “Yeah.”

“I’m still going to hurt them.”

“Okay.”

“And you’re going to be okay,” Bronte added quietly. “I’ll make sure none of them lay a hand on you ever again.”

Oralie could feel herself tearing up a little at that, so she pulled him into a hug again. Bronte didn’t protest, only hugged her tightly and let her fall apart for a minute.

Meanwhile, Sophie was having an awkward conversation with an older human couple. “Yeah, we were really worried about my auntie Oralie.”

“Her injuries were pretty bad,” agreed the small, round-faced one who had introduced herself as Brena. “I do hope you’ll bring her ex to justice.”

“We will,” Sophie assured them. “Br- Dad will make sure of that.”

“He sounds like a sweet brother,” the other, Susan, said.

“Yeah, he and my aunt are really close. We don’t really talk much with grandma and grandpa because they live so far away.” “Do you just live with your dad?” “Just the two of us,” Sophie agreed. “It’ll be nice to have my aunt around.”

“I can imagine.” Brenda smiled fondly.

Sophie glanced over at Oralie, who was absolutely covered in bandages. “Are we going to have to pay you for medical bills?” “Well, they put her down as Jane Doe. And we offered to pay the initial fees, but they’ll probably bill you for the rest once they figure out who you are.”

“Gotcha. I’ll tell Dad, we’ll see if Auntie is covered by our insurance. We can pay you back for the initial stuff too-”

“Don’t worry about it, hon,” Brenda told her. “We’re happy to help, and it’s a good thing that Oralie is safe now.”

“Thank you so much.” Sophie made a mental note to have the elves help these two out in some way.

“Of course, dearie.”

Susan handed her a slip of paper. “Here’s my phone number, contact the two of us if you need any extra help.”

“Thank you,” Sophie said again.

“Sophie!” Oralie’s voice called. “We are heading home!”

“I better go, but thank you again and I’ll keep in touch,” Sophie promised.

Susan and Brenda waved as she hurried away.

The trio arrived back in Eternalia to a lot of commotion and excitement.

First, Oralie got swarmed by the other Councillors, who she was surprised to realize were genuinely glad to have her home. They looked in varying states of frazzled, ranging from Alina (perfectly groomed as ever) to Terik (whose hair was sticking straight up). And they greeted her with maybe less dignity than was generally required from the Council.

“Oralie!” Clarette called. “You absolute fucker!”

Oralie knew that was her way of showing worry. “Hello, Clarette.”

“Thank goodness you’re back,” Terik said.

“We were all incredibly worried,” Emery agreed. “Especially Bronte.”

“Shut up, Emery,” Bronte grumbled from next to her.

“I’m not wrong, and you know it.”

Even Liora waved hello, and Noland signed enthusiastically to her about how good it was to see her safe.

Finally, Elwin cut through the commotion, shoving through the Council very politely. “Excuse me, excuse me, but if Councillor Oralie is hurt than you’re going to need a doctor!”

Oralie smiled over at him. “Elwin!”

“Oralie!” He pushed past Emery, looking her up and down. “Oh dear, oh dear. Did they take you to a human hospital?”

“Yes, they did.”

“Right, well I’ll have to start undoing some of that damage, then.”

So Oralie sat on the grass outside of the castles in human clothes as Elwin gave her what felt like a million different elixirs. “Sophie, is this what it’s like to be you?”

“All the time,” Sophie told her with a laugh.

“This is probably my comeuppance for the time I laughed at Bronte after he got stabbed on accident during a diplomatic mission to the goblins and had to drink some truly disgusting sludge,” Oralie mused.

“I’m still mad about that, you know,” Bronte huffed.

“I know, you hold a grudge.”

“With good reason.”

“I only laughed a little bit,” Oralie protested. “And only after I was certain you were going to be okay. His face at the medicine was so funny, you should have seen it,” she added to Sophie.

“Oh, I bet.”

Bronte threw his arms up with a huff. “None of you respect me.”

“Nope!” Elwin said cheerfully. “Plus, you turned down an emotional support stuffed animal.”

Oralie made a shocked face, causing Sophie to giggle. “You can’t do that!”

“Yes, I can.”

“Hmm. Well I’ll just have to get you one and sneak it into your castle.”

Bronte grumbled under his breath. “I knew I shouldn’t have given you the key!”

Oralie couldn’t help but smile at the familiar grumbling. “Too bad, you did.”

“I’m happy to provide the stuffed animal,” Elwin told her. “I have an alicorn named Mr. Sparkfluff if you want him.”

“That sounds perfect, actually.”

“I should warn you, he’s sparkly.” Elwin handed her a very sparkly stuffed alicorn, and Oralie giggled.

“He certainly looks it! Alright, Bronte, am I sneaking in at 3 am to leave him on your sofa, or are you just taking him home?”

“It’s not like you won’t show up at 3 am if I don’t,” Bronte grumbled, but he reluctantly took the alicorn. “Does his name really have to be Mr. Sparklefluff?”

“Yes,” Oralie, Elwin, and Sophie all said in unison.

“I guess this is just my life now. Do remember to knock if you come over at some ridiculous hour of the night. Sometimes I’m even asleep.”

“Rarely,” Oralie murmured to herself. She tried to smile. “And don’t worry, I’ll knock when I come bother you about whatever paperwork we’re doing this week.”

“Lovely. If it’s more about ogre-troll relations, I vote we give it to Emery.”

“Is it going to be?”

“Probably.”

“Just going to betray me like that, Bronte?” Emery asked as he wandered over.

“Yes.”

Emery sighed and turned to Oralie, shaking his head in mock-sorrow. “It’s a cruel world out there. Betrayal by your own friends.”

“Cruel indeed.” She laughed, finding it easier to forget the darkness of her Neverseen cell in the bright sunlight of Eternalia.

After a minute, Elwin and Sophie joined in, and Emery chuckled. Even Bronte smiled. It wasn’t really that funny, but they were all here and alive and somewhere near okay, and that was reason enough to be happy right now.

#Councillor Bronte #semp writes #councillor Oralie #sophie foster #caps tw #keeper of the lost cities #councillor Emery #Fintan pyren

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walpurga-nacht-academy · 3 years

Note

Wondering what the dorm leaders would think of Yoru, and what they'd think of her not being able to attend due to the uniform, even after passing the entrance exam? 👀👀

I’m adding Alkin too, ‘cause he’s a good kitty.

“I remember her from our admission exam and Sorting. ... I kinda wish I told her back then how cool her eyes looked! But if I say this now I’ll definitely look like a weirdo, won’t I?! It’s really frustrating!”

Rosalia Morgainne: Though they would be in the same year if Yoru had stayed at Walpurga Nacht, Rosa did not find much of an opportunity to talk to her even if she would have liked too. She thinks Yoru’s eyes are very cool and intimidating and wondered if people would take her more seriously if she had something like that as well. The fact that Yoru keeps forgetting her name easily riles her up so she’s not had the opportunity to tell her what she really thinks of them.

“This girl... It’s an unfortunate situation but rules are rules and we cannot make exceptions even for one person.”

Blanche Dion: Though she insists this is the way things must be, Blanche understands that Yoru’s situation is unfair since she as a beastfolk knows that customized clothing is usually necessary for them. However, that’s how far her compassion ends since otherwise she would be annoyed by her disregard for rules and would probably try to scold her if she caught her breaking them. Blanche is already annoyed that she breaks into the school library quite often, but is at least tempered by the fact that she hasn’t found a way inside the Grimmaire Great Library. Yet.

“Oh, man! Those wings would have been a big help with the Delivery Service on campus. Imagine the kind of speed she’d have... Ah, but then again I might have been left out of job, hm...”

Marcia Pyroeis: As a naturally friendly person, Marcia wouldn’t have hesitated to befriend Yoru, especially since they seem to both enjoy the feeling of flying. She’d most likely have invited Yoru to join her in being part of the Walpurga Nacht Post Office since her wings would have given her a great advantage. Also, she would like to try and race against her as part of her flight practice if she ever found the time. She’d express sympathy towards her for not being able to attend due to her uniform issues, but can’t really complain much since hers was a hands down from her older sister.

“That one... ain’t she friends with that ghoul and the creepy one? Ugh... just thinkin’ ‘bout them makes my skin crawl. Ain’t nothing good ‘bout keepin’ company with them...”

June Himalia: June’s a difficult person to get along with most of the time, since it’s easy to rile her up and if she sees Yoru get along with Vita and Agatha, it’ll leave her with a bad impression of her. She deeply dislikes those two and would think she’s fool for getting along with such unpleasant people. If Yoru messed with her garden she’d definitely get pissed and won’t hold back. Yoru’s situation doesn’t concern her much since she sees it as merely a case of life being life and thus unfair.

“I understand. I always get scolded for rolling up my sleeves. Even though animals don’t need clothes...”

Diana Arrow: Out of all the girls Diana would probably understand the unfairness of Yoru’s situation the most, since she herself gets in trouble just for rolling up her sleeves when wearing her uniform. She likes that Yoru is friendly to crows, since she also looks after all the animals that reside in Walpurga Nacht. Though Yoru might have a big of a shock seeing her walk about Monarchia’s plains naked if she ever decides to drop by. Moreover, Diana would compliment her bird features since she genuinely thinks they’re beautiful.

“Miss Crowley’s wingspan is fantastic! I’ve never seen feathers in such vibrant colours and they’re all well taken care of too- Um! I’m sorry, that must have come across as disturbing.”

Cassandra Delphinne: Much like Diana, Cass would admire Yoru’s bird features, but because she fears she might weird her out, usually keeps it to herself. She also thinks it’s unfortunate Yoru couldn’t attend the academy because then she might have felt more comfortable approaching her in order to befriend her. Cass sometimes spots her when she drops by Walpurga Nacht and makes note of the state of her wings in her little agenda.

“Yoru... Big Bro and... Big Sis both... like her... so... I like... her... too... And... hehehehe... it’s always good... to... meet people... who think... alike... hehehe...”

Agatha Voisin: Agatha’s personal philosophy is that anyone that gets along with Sam and Vita is her friend as well, since she looks up to both of them. The fact that Yoru doesn’t recoil from her also earns her some points in Agatha’s book, along with the fact that she’s willing to lend some of her blood for experimentation. Agatha might even ask Yoru to drop by once in a while so she can join her and Professor Yaga during one of their experiments. Yoru should definitely expect a lot of witch cackling and being called ‘crow meat’ during those meetings.

“Yoru Crowley... Yes, I recall her well. Her father was rather pleased to see her admitted, so much that he became bothersome. It’s a shame that nothing could be done about her attendance, but... Astra’s legacy must be preserved.”

Alkin: Though Alkin is more acquainted with Crowley, he was able to recognize her as his daughter the first time she showed up at the school. Though he thinks it’s a shame how things turned out, he sees it as inevitable since his Mistress’ vision must be preserved. Maybe that’s why he turns a blind eye whenever she breaks in to check out the library and alchemy laboratories as long as she doesn’t cause trouble for the other students. If Yoru brings him a can of sardines it makes it even easier.

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland fanschool #walpurga nacht academy #rosalia morgainne #blanche dion #marcia pyroeis #june himalia #diana arrow #cassandra delphinne #agatha voisin #alkin #frau perchta yaga #yoru crowley #ask

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vannahfanfics · 4 years

Text

Off the Beaten Path

Category: Romantic Fluff

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Characters: Momo Yaoyorozu, Yosetsu Awase

I was going to work on other request stuff, but I was reaaaally feeling Momo x Awase lately and because of finals I wasn’t able to participate in @bnhabookclub‘s Provisional License Exam event, so… Even though it’s a little late, here’s a MomoWase story for the prompt “You’re really pretty”!

Momo’s vertebrae decompressed with a series of satisfying pops as she stretched her hands over her head and slowly bent back into a forty-five-degree angle. With a contented hum, she held the position for several seconds to ensure her lower back muscles were stretched properly before straightening back up and dropping her arms back to her sides. She did some leg stretches, priming her femoral and tibular muscles for exercise, before standing and planting her hands on her hips to admire the lovely Saturday morning. It was about nine-thirty, pleasantly warm with a consistent cooling breeze, and plenty of cloud cover to protect her from the worst of the burning sun. The birds were chirping. Car engines hummed in the distance. The air smelled sweetly of the various floral fragrances spilling out from the dormitory’s landscaping.

Really, could she have asked for a better morning to go jogging?

She ensured that her laces were tied properly before hopping down the steps of the porch, hitting the concrete pathway in a medium-paced jog. Her arms pumped at her sides as her legs kicked back in series, and she kept her breathing in a steady rhythm to ensure maximum stamina. She was determined to break her mile record today- under nine minutes. Momo wasn’t the most agile or athletic of the students in her class, but she could still attain her little victories here and there. I can do it!

There was a walking track not far from the dormitory that was always open to students and instructors. Momo jogged there in no time at all, and once she trotted through the open gate and greeted the security guard who moderated the comings and goings, she paused to take a swig of water. She took out her phone to ready her timer and then secured it to the plastic holder at her waist. The jaunt there had warmed up her body nicely, so she was feeling quite good when she walked down to the walking track proper. The spongey synthetic rubber-like material bowed slightly under her steps. U.A. spared no expense in any aspect of their campus, so Momo didn’t doubt that the material was of the highest quality and scientifically designed the erase almost all impact damage to the joints. She made a mental note to do some research into its chemical composition; one never knew when the material could come in handy.

“Right then! Nine minutes or less!” she crowed and started her timer, then took off down the track.

Most people preferred to listen to music while running, but not Momo. There was something cathartic to her about the natural world. The walking track doubled as a small nature park, landscaped professionally with shady hardwoods and flowering bushes. Momo usually ran at this time because the animal activity peaked mid-morning; the tree boughs were alive with dozens of birdsongs, melding together in one harmonious concerto. Bumblebees bobbled alongside the path, flying from one flower to the next to gather the succulent nectar. They were joined by a colorful assortment of butterflies, which elegantly flitted along with not much care of their rounder, fatter cousins. The park had a healthy population of squirrels, as well, which would scramble down from the trees to feast on discarded acorns only to fling themselves back up the trunks when Momo came jogging along. They would peer at her with beady black eyes from the boughs and would only descend back to their nutty buffet once she was rounding the corner of the track ahead.

A third of a way into the mile Momo checked her timer. Two minutes and thirty seconds! I’m making great time! She thought jovially and replaced the phone to its holster. She swept the back of her hand across her forehead to flick away the beads of sweat that were accumulating there. A few of her fluffy black strands had fallen out of her bun; she always had possessed impossibly thick hair, and it seemed like it absorbed all the heat from the atmosphere when she was exercising. Just as she was sucking a little more water from her sports bottle, she spotted someone curled up off to the side of the track a few yards ahead. Oh no! Maybe they’re injured! She thought worriedly and sped up her pace a little.

“Hello? Can I help you?” she called out to them. They were seated on the other side of a park bench so she could not see their features very well, but she thought she spied a familiar patterned headband and spiky black hair.

“Yaoyorozu?” Sure enough, that was him.

“Awase!” She stuttered to a halt past the bench to find him smiling tersely and clutching at his ankle. He had his sneaker off and sock pulled down, and she hissed at the gnarly swelling that had enveloped the joint. “What happened?” she asked and crouched down in front of him.

“Well,” he said with a sheepish smile, “I kinda surprised a sleeping raccoon and she didn’t much appreciate it.” Momo blinked in confusion. A raccoon would be sleeping well off the path; what reason did he have to go tromping off into the underbrush? When she asked him, his face took on a carnation-pink hue and he mumbled, “I, uh, kinda had to take a leak, Yaoyorozu…” In turn, her face blazed with a rosy blush and she nodded excessively in understanding.

“Oh! Right! Of course!”

“A-anyway, while I was scramblin’ to get away from her, I tripped over the tree roots and twisted it tryin’ to catch myself.” Momo frowned as she situated herself on her knees, tapping her thighs to indicate for him to prop his foot on the pillowy surface. He leaned back on his hands and grunted before hefting up his leg. A string of curse words flew from his mouth as he quickly shifted his foot from the ground onto her lap. His shoulders sagged after the pain stopped streaming through his nerves and he stared at the swollen joint through lidded eyes. “Man, this is a pain. I look so uncool,” he muttered, almost to himself. Momo gave him a bright smile and shook her head.

“These things happen! Don’t beat yourself up over it.” He flushed again and looked away with a small pout, making her wonder if he didn’t intend to utter it aloud. That’s irrelevant. His ankle is terribly swollen. I hope he hasn’t torn a ligament or even broken anything! She thought worriedly. She had taken a few first-aid lessons from Recovery Girl for use in rescue training and missions, so with a few manipulations she would be able to get a clearer picture of what damage he had done. Only an x-ray and MRI would conclusively diagnose any injury, but it would be better for Momo to have a general idea so she could determine how she should proceed with moving him. “Awase, I’m going to manipulate your ankle to see what you could have damaged. I’ll be as gentle as I can, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, do whatever you gotta do,” he grumbled, but glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes. Leaning down, she gently began prodding various places in his foot. She started on the top of his foot to see if he had damaged the tendons there.

“That hurt?”

“No.” She shifted to the lateral side of his foot, starting near the toes. “That doesn’t hurt eit- Shit! Shit! Ow!” He began to cry out once she began palpating the area near his ankle. There was both a tendon and some nerve endings there, so it could be that he either stretched the ligament or the nerves were reacting to the swelling. Still, it gave her a better picture of where the injury could be.

“Sorry, Awase.”

“S’Fine,” he huffed. His face had taken on a slight flush and sweat was dampening the bottom of his headband. He must be in a lot of pain…

“Do you know how it rolled?”

“Um… I think it rolled inward,” he answered uncertainly. Momo tutted and glanced back down at his foot. Given the method of injury, it could either be his Achilles or his peroneus brevis tendon… I’m hoping it’s the latter, because tearing his Achilles could put him in physical therapy for months! Tentatively, she grabbed the sole of his foot and pushed it upwards, flexing it such that it would stretch the muscles of his calf. He winced a little bit but did not yelp in pain like before, making Momo smile. “What? Was that a good thing?”

“Yes. It makes it very likely that you haven’t torn anything up too bad,” she responded. “Let’s see what this does, though,” she continued and pushed his foot inward. His back arched and he threw his head back with a howl of several very unsavory words, so Momo hastily ceased the flexion. He kept his head tipped back for a few seconds, chest heaving and fingers digging into the loamy soil, before he let out a long groan and wearily looked back to her.

“Fuck, that hurt.” When she apologized again, he frowned slightly and shrugged. “S’not your fault… I’m the one who tripped over myself like a dumbass. Nurse Yaoyorozu, do you have a diagnosis for me?” he asked with a teasing grin. She blushed brightly at the nickname and spluttered out a reply.

“O-Oh! Yes, I think so. I think you may have either injured or torn this tendon right here,” she stated and ran her fingertip ever-so-slightly along the lateral side of his foot, being careful not to apply any pressure and make his pain worse. He made a tsk sound and flexed his leg muscles experimentally, and the way his entire body tensed indicated to Momo that it would be difficult for him to walk. “We should get you to Recovery Girl. She has the proper machinery to tell for sure. I’ll text my classmates so they can send for someone to collect you. I’m sure they can get down the track just fi-”

“Ain’t necessary,” he grumped. His hand snapped up to wrap tightly around the metal arm of the bench, and he pushed himself off the ground with the other hand. He clumsily tucked his good leg under his body to get some leverage in standing up. Momo’s hands fluttered nervously around his injured foot.

“Awase! You shouldn’t move too much! Be careful not to bear any weight on this foot; I can help you to the entrance to the track, but we really should have someone get you from there so you don’t injure yourself further!” As gently as she could while moving fast, she placed his foot back down on the ground and scrambled up to grab him underneath his armpit and help him clumsily climb to his feet. Per Momo’s instructions, he refrained from moving his injured leg at all and just let it slide in the dirt and leaves as he hobbled to a standing position, but even just the contact with the ground made him hiss in agony. His arm wobbled precariously at it was forced to bear all his weight, and Momo saw that his knuckles were glaring white as he gripped the metal arm. “Here. Come to this tree,” she instructed him.

Yosetsu Awase was not by any means a big guy, but her breath still left her in an oof! as his full weight sunk against her. She slung his arm around her shoulders and supported him by the waist as she dragged him to the trunk of the nearest tree.

“How the tables have turned.” A curious “huh?” popped out of her and she looked down at him with wide eyes. He grinned wryly and explained, “Remember the summer training camp? I was haulin’ you around the woods like a sack of potatoes…” Her cheeks brightened as the blood rushed to them, and she looked away shyly.

“Oh… Yes. The circumstances are a little different here, though. You saved my life that night.” They reached the tree, and he reached out to brace a hand against the rough trunk before leaning away from her, spinning on his good foot to flop his back into the woody surface. He gave her a wry smirk.

“Hey, you never know. You coulda saved my life this morning. I coulda been out here, all alone, and dragged off by some wolves.” Momo snorted at his obvious joking.

“Awase, there are no wolves out here.”

“How do you know? Just because you haven’t seen ‘em don’t mean they don’t exist.” His relentless joshing had her giddy, and she held her hand up to her mouth as she began to giggle.

“You’re too much. Seriously, though, walking a third of a mile in your condition, even with my help, will take us half the day. I’ll send for someone,” she told him through little laughs and pulled out her phone. She quirked an eyebrow when she noticed her timer had just hit exactly nine minutes. More important things to tend to than my record, she thought and swiped out of the app. She typed up a quick message in their class group chat and sent it before returning her phone to the waist holster. “I just sent for help. They’re telling Mr. Aizawa and…” Her words trailed off as she looked at him. He was staring at her with a lidded, heated gaze and this little smile on his face that made butterflies take off in her stomach. “I…” she murmured incoherently when his hand reached out to gently cup her cheek, and she compulsively straightened up- and leaned slightly into the touch.

“You’re really pretty.” Momo had never heard a tone so full of… endearing admiration. As soon as his hand met her cheek and he uttered the words, his eyes widened, as if he realized he had actually done so instead of it being in his head. His face flushed red and he went to drop his hand, sputtering out an apology, but Momo pinned it to her face with both of her own.

“No! Don’t apologize!” she cried and took a few unsteady steps forward. Now self-conscious herself, she flushed as well and looked timidly down at her sneakers. “I-I… No one’s ever called me pretty before…” she admitted meekly. She peered up at him through her lashes to find him wearing an incredulous look.

“Really? But you’re fucking beautiful.” His use of a curse word only made the compliment more impactful, and her face grew unbearably hot as she smiled blissfully. She squirmed a little, knowing she was beginning to sweat a little against his hand cupping her face, but unwilling to let it go.

“W-well… Mina says that I’m so intelligent that boys find it intimidating,” she chuckled diffidently. He snorted in laughter and leaned back against the trunk with an amused smirk.

“You? Intimidating? No offense, but you’re about as intimidating as a wet kitten.” She let out an affronted gasp and went to glare at him, but the sultry smirk on his face made all opposition die in her throat. “Guess that’s good for me that they think so,” he said in a low voice, and she yelped as he grabbed her arm and tugged her forward. There was a slight incline in the ground, so she stumbled all the way to the tree and landed against his body with one hand splaying over his chest. The other was now being gripped tightly, and he brought it to his mouth to lay a lingering kiss to the top of her hand. How prince-like… she thought faintly. “I don’t think I could stand for having competition.” The smirk he shot her wasn’t prince-like at all, rather channeling all the devilish and playful energy of a rogue. Like a princess ensnared by his handsome charms, she could only stare owlishly at him with painfully pink cheeks. His hand dropped hers, letting it land on his shoulder, before cupping her face again and threading his fingertips into the black strands that had fallen from her bun. “Yaoyao-”

“Momo,” she interrupted quickly. She then flushed, realizing how rude it had been to do so. “C-call me Momo. Please.” He snorted slightly and his smirk widened.

“Momo,” he corrected poignantly. “Thanks for saving me today.” She was about to assert once more that it really wasn’t anything like that night, but he took the opportunity to interrupt her. He leaned forward to envelop her mouth in a searing kiss. She inhaled sharply through her nose as her breath was all but stolen from her. Whatever response she had on her tongue descended into fog, as her mind hazed until all she could focus on was the movement of his lips against hers. He lit a fire over her body as his hands roamed her curves, finally settling with a consistent blaze at the small of her back. Very distantly the thought bloomed that this was her first kiss and that she had to tell Mina about it. From how good it felt, it was obviously a hell of a first kiss. She felt like she could get lost in the kiss, in him, forever.

They broke apart with startled jumps when they heard Katsuki and Eijirou screaming her name in the near distance. She began to flutter about nervously, fixing her sports bra and jogging pants despite the fact they were form-fitted and not rumpled at all, while he reclined back against the tree with a self-satisfied look.

“Was that your first kiss?”

“What? Yes- I mean, ugh- is that relevant right now?” she huffed with a dour glare that only made his grin widen. He let out a few chuckles as she pouted at him, totally embarrassed by his unbothered attitude, then gestured with a tilt of his head at the track. She whirled on her heel to find the two boys striding up with Recovery Girl’s robots holding a stretcher between them. Laughing nervously, she cheerfully called out to them and tried to seem inconspicuous as she ran up.

“Hey, guys! Thank you so much. I don’t think I could’ve gotten him back to the entrance by myself.”

“It’s no problem, Yaomomo!” Eijirou smiled kindly. Katsuki began to gripe, and without breaking eye contact with the girl, Eijirou elbowed him hard in the ribs.

“Ow, what the hell?! Ugh, fine, whatever! It’s not a big deal!” he yelled angrily and stalked over to the boy leaning up against the tree. “Come on, loser, the sooner your ass is on this stretcher, the sooner I can get back to weight training!” Momo frowned worriedly as Katsuki helped the injured boy back to his feet, but despite his harsh words, he was gentle in helping him limp the short distance to the stretcher.

“Are you coming back with us, Yaomomo?” Eijirou asked as the robots began to trundle off with their charge in tow. Katsuki stomped along ahead, yelling at his friend to hurry up.

“Oh! No, I would like to finish my run, I think…” she murmured, her gaze trailing off to the stretcher. She pushed past him to run after it a few paces, cupping her hands to her mouth. “Hey! Awa- I mean, Yosetsu!” He glanced up, a big grin splitting his face at her calling him by his given name. “Come running with me sometime!”

“Sure thing!” he called back and gave her a thumbs-up before flopping back down against the stretcher. Eijirou walked past her, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and grinning, which made her flush pink as answer his unasked question. Momo waited until they had disappeared around the corner, then grabbed her phone to reset her timer to two-minutes and fifty seconds, the approximate time she had stumbled across Yosetsu on the track.

Hmm… Maybe I’ll go off the beaten path and aim for eight minutes! She resolved with a smile and put the phone back before taking off in a fast jog.

After all, the morning she had spent off the beaten path had already been quite interesting. She might as well keep the streak going! No doubt, there were rich rewards waiting at the end…

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

Tag List: @deliathedork @mhafandomman

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jacksgreysays · 4 years

Text

Determined Clairvoyant, Misguided Knight brainstorm, (2020-05-29)

A/N: So I had a weird sleepless brainstorming/outlining binge last night, passed out and woke up to this chunk of nonsense...

I’ve been reading a lot of DCMK (Detective Conan and Magic Kaito) fic but also I am always a little bit thinking of DoS so my brain went:

Hey, Shisui and Shikako have very similar personalities to Kaito and Shinichi...

But Shisui is the detective and Shikako the thief.

And on the one hand, I was considering just translating it into the in Friendship Is A (Mutual) Con 'verse, such that Shisui is Interpol/FBI and ends up helping the crew because what they do is morally right even if it's not legal...

But it just wouldn’t be the same!

Also, for those who don’t know anything about DCMK, I’m not really using the Detective Conan premise (in which a famous teenage detective gets shrunken into a 6 year old and has to keep his identity secret while finding/dismantling the criminal organization that did this to him. In their defense(?) they were trying to kill him but used an “experimental poison.” They’re not going out of their way to randomly turn teenagers into kids... although there is another teenager that got turned into a kid by that same poison)

But it is interconnected to the Magic Kaito ‘verse (in which a teenager discovers that his dad didn’t die in an accident but was murdered by a mysterious criminal organization (possibly the same one as in Detective Conan? we’re not sure) because he used to be Phantom Thief KID who was searching for a magical jewel called Pandora that supposedly grants immortality because said mysterious criminal organization wants it for nefarious means. Also the teen and his dad are stage magicians and make their heists very flashy and fun)

Anyway, personality wise I was really feeling the Shikako = paranoid/logical Shinichi vs Shisui = flamboyant genius Kaito contrasting with their arguable respective roles as Shikako = chaotic neutral regular rule breaker and Shisui = lawful good believer of systems if not authority.

I was considering whether or not I wanted to transplant the characters into the DCMK setting, but seeing how that’s just (arguably) modern day Japan I was a little... the adapting would be more work than its worth when really all I wanted was thief!Shikako and detective!Shisui and I also, as previously mentioned, didn’t want to just insert Shisui into the Fia(M)C ‘verse.

So then I remembered this ficlet in which Danzo successfully became Hokage but a mysterious figure (ie Shikako) is working against him and I was like. Okay, but reluctant detective!Shisui having to try to capture insurrectionist thief!Shikako is hilarious. And I know Shisui isn’t actually KMP in canon, but Danzo is Hokage which means the situation is bleak and I kinda explain everything below anyway, so...

Enjoy?

shisui is one of the oldest uchiha in the village because everyone older than him was executed by danzo for their (supposed?) attempted coup

doesn't particularly want to be a detective, but he's the only one left

sharp-eyed shisui? it is both mocking his singular eye but also he does end up being pretty good at investigation

Itachi is clan head and also one of danzo’s busiest anbu (because danzo is creepy and weird) and he’s being run so ragged that shisui stepped up to do it since he vaguely remembers the KMP’s protocols and also, with one eye short, his combat effectiveness isn’t as reliable

He hates not being able to be back up for itachi, but until he figures out the depth perception thing, he’d be a liability

Itachi is the only one with both eyes (again, because danzo is creepy and weird)

every time one of his younger cousins activate their sharingan, they are forced to undergo surgery because danzo harvests one eye from each of them

sasuke is the next upcoming kid

hikaku/sai was the most recent

Shikako is working reverse chronologically to restore eyeballs because they’re not exactly labeled but she knows the newest eye goes to the most recent activator.

This is how she gets hikaku/sai’s immediate loyalty (he has both eyes, but still hides one under his eyepatch/headband because if you can’t passive aggressively use danzo’s tricks against him then what’s the point? )

((also, it’s a real good dramatic reveal of how shikako gets shisui to trust her because he’s like “you’re stealing my family’s eyeballs and turning my little cousin into your spy” and then hikaku/sai just flips up his eyepatch and blinks both eyes at shisui and he just. “well, that was literally the only argument i had”))

Oh, the age of graduation is lower in canon because danzo doesn’t believe in coddling kids and also “back in my day” nonsense, so sasuke is maybe around 8?

kakashi is, like, a weird sticking point. he's the only non-danzo adult that has a sharingan and, hey, he's also only got just the one, but shisui also remembers the elders being a little weird about him so :shrugs:

I should figure out what to do with him, tbh

i mean, i know Shikako helps Naruto escape/evade ANBU capture because Danzo was going to turn him into a “proper jinchuuriki weapon” so maybe she throws him at Kakashi and is like “BABY SITTING DUTY FOR YOU, SAD STRING BEAN”

and there’s also Tenzo/Yamato to consider here

at first the thefts are random but escalating: old mission reports, the sandaime's novelty(?) crystal ball, the hokage's hat, the sword of the thunder god, etc, etc

then it becomes directed: sharingan eyes

Shadow Thief Shikako is here to make things real difficult for danzo

while shisui is trying really hard not to get smitten (even though she’s stealing his family’s eyeballs! but he guesses better than in danzo’s possession? he’s very conflicted emotionally and very stressed and also a teenager), shikako is recruiting allies for her coup

She needs to make a deal with the devil… Kabuto? For the medical expertise in how to re-implant all the sharingan she’s stealing?

He does spy on behalf of who he thinks is the strongest, and shikako is v strong by this point

Although, the whole concept of “you were the first person i ever wanted to murder” “you flatter me” is kind of funny

What is going on with orochimaru in this timeline?

For that matter, what’s going on with the other sannin?

hyuuga have weird feelings about the whole one eye stolen thing, branch family in particular because on the one hand: DOJUTSU/BLOODLINE THEFT is literally their big nono. But they do like being the strongest clan in the village now.

Is neji’s dad still alive? When did danzo become hokage? Is it before or after Hinata’s near kidnapping?

Ibiki, anko, aoba -- gotta figure out what’s going on there

Does aoba not have the crow summons since shisui is still alive?

Is aoba a surprise half uchiha?

Unsure how bleak i want things to be for the Nara clan. They definitely don’t like things, but i’m not sure if they’re also largely killed off, just shikaku, or just yoshino…… unless Shikamaru has been taken as Danzo’s apprentice/ROOT?

Something also has to have happened to the akimichi and yamanaka tho, in order to justify/reflect it

Team 10 is essentially being held hostage. Shikako has to “steal” them from Danzo in order to get the ANY clans’ cooperation

they’re allowed to visit their family once a week in order to get clan training, but it’s on different days from each other so the other two are still within ROOT’s grasp and the one who is visiting their family knows not to step out of line

Shikamaru has been trying really hard to help him and his teammates escape, but he’s only eight years old. I’m but a boy. I’m just a boy

There is a war.

I’ve decided this.

It’s the only way to make sense of why danzo is still in charge without him having killed a ludicrous number of people (more than he’s already killed, that is)

There is a war and that’s where the majority of the loudest dissenters are sent (inuzuka, aburame, gai, etc) and because they are always out on the front lines they don’t know how bad it actually is at home

Mist rebellion peeps?

Zabuza and Haku are still alive at this time, i guess

Terumi Mei--is there even a mist rebellion at this time or are they too busy with the war, too?

… Gelel/Sand?

look, magical gems are the crux of Magic Kaito and I know I’ve replaced them with Sharingan eyes, but still. If there’s a magical gem I feel like I’m obligated to at least mention it

also, Shinichi in Detective Conan ends up with, like, the most ludicrous allies over the course of the series. He is a--as far as anyone else knows--a 6 year old Japanese boy with connections to the American FBI. That’s nuts! So Shikako having allies with Mist or Sand isn’t too far outside feasibility in comparison

A/N: So... in theory I would like to come back to this and actually write it--because as far as sleepless brainstorming sessions go, this one is fairly coherent--but just in case I don’t, I figure people would enjoy this mess of an outline anyway. And it’s nice to have notes for later.

Title is, unsurprisingly, my attempt to make the letters DCMK apply to Shikako and Shisui. On the one hand, I know the quote is “and angry Aburame, a focused Inuzuka, and a motivated Nara” but I kiiiinda misremembered wrong and thought it was “determined,” fell in love with Shisui as the “misguided knight” and then only after went back to check and realized that it should’ve been “motivated”

Ah well

#jacksgreyson #fanfiction #brainstorm #outline #incomplete #dreaming of sunshine #detective conan #magic kaito #shikako nara's guide to delinquency and military insurrection #determined clairvoyant misguided knight #shikako nara #shisui uchiha

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ziracona · 4 years

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Ohmygod I want like all of ur headcanons they're all so good. Oml. Would it be okay if I settled on meg headcanons or Dwight & Jake hcs? God you write them so well it makes me so happy

Thank you so much! <3 I know you asked this like this morning, and sorry about that, but I had a lot of fun answering it. Ended up doing Meg. I’m not sure if you want general, or post-ILM so I just kinda did some of both? And got carreid away, haha, it’s gonna go mostly under a read more. :’-)

Meg’s mom did a great job taking care of her growing up. Meg had a hard time making and keeping friends, because she’s full of energy and passion and also very ADHD, so she has a big personality and will talk all the time about what she loves and is a whole lot (in a good way). But a lot of people growing up did not enjoy that about her. Meg wasn’t great at shutting up and acting or lying or falling into a role to get kids at her school to like her, and also just didn’t understand why the rest of them would do that, and didn’t mesh well. With each time she was not accepted, she got a little bit more bristly and ready to defend herself, and it kind of became a self-fulfilling prophecy. It wasn’t like she never had any friends, but she never had any close ones, and a lot of the ones she did have kind of dicked her over for someone else, or moved on, and that was rough. Plus, her dad left her when she was a baby, she was poor, she was loud, and she was Bi. This gave kids a whole lot to bully her for. And they sure did.

Meg’s a fighter, though, and didn’t take shit—she got into trouble a lot, and was mad, because (as y’all who’ve been in the American education system at least know) the faculty never cared if she’d shoved someone because they called her a slur, or said something shitty about her mom, or that she’d punched someone because they’d followed her out of school to say nasty things about her, or that someone else had shoved her, or poured something on her book, or provoked her first. Didn’t even care if it had been four on one, or a guy had come up and fake asked her out to make fun of her in front of his friends—didn’t care about any of what was being done to her, or that she’d just been defending herself. The worst they ever did was talk to the other students, and that just made them want revenge and didn’t stop jack shit. Because of that, she really started to resent faculty and got a huge rebellious streak. She used to get in trouble all the time, before joining track, at her mom’s suggestion. Then, finally, really for the first time ever, even if she didn’t have friends, she had a pack, and that was something. Team didn’t have to like her, they still worked together so they had some kind of a bond and couldn’t just flip, and their track teacher would care if things got nasty, because it lowered performance. Plus, she had natural talent, and a bunch of energy, so it was an ideal fit.

Childhood was all still pretty damn rough though. I wouldn’t say she was miserable all the time or anything, but she was constantly tired of it all. There were some good parts, though. And she had some casual friends she was pretty chill with. Even a kind of almost girlfriend her last two semesters (although that was not exactly the world’s most stable relationship either. Still, not all bad.) While she wasn’t ever tight with them, there were several people at school who thought she was really cool too, because not only would Meg always defend herself, she also was ready in a heartbeat to throw hands for anyone—especially someone weaker or smaller than herself—she saw getting shit from classmates. She was a roaming vigilante of school hall fury by 10th grade, and had earned a certain amount of respect and fear, and a pile of detentions and reprimands, and parent-teacher conferences where her mom chewed out teachers and staff for ignoring the parts of all this where her daughter was getting bullied. Meg used to actually love parent-teacher time, because she got to watch her mom rip people she hated apart, and it filled her with glee to have somebody else fight for her.

Even with school all sucking, Meg had a pretty good childhood basically exclusively because of her mom. Her mom had to raise a kid as a single parent when Meg’s dad abandoned them while Meg was still a baby, and it wasn’t easy. She worked full time when Meg was little as a postal worker. That was unsustainable, though, with how life was going and her wanting and needing to actually be physically present in her kid’s life, so she ended up finding employ as a ghostwriter, and switching to that. It was almost exclusively terrible and ridiculous romances she would get a fraction of the pay and no credit for when published, but Rachel Thomas found a way to make that funny and enjoyable both to herself, and her curious little daughter who would waddle up to her and ask all the time what Mommy was doing and to hear her stories. She would pick safe bits and read them as silly and funny as possible to amuse Meg and feel okay about what she was spending all her time on, and it worked. It made the work enjoyable, when otherwise it would have felt tiring and worthless. Rachel got to be happy with it instead.

She always worked super hard to give Meg a good life, even with very limited resources. She taught herself how to do things like use pencil dust to check for fingerprints when Meg was super into Nancy Drew books as a kid, and how to pick locks, and then taught them to Meg. Meg loved growing up in that house, because her mom was the best. She was always ready to hear about whatever fascinating new thing Meg had discovered, or to pick up a toy sword and go have an epic battle in the backyard as people they’d made up to be. She passed on a love of movies and music and dancing, too, and because she knew that life was rough for Meg, even as a young child, Rachel always went out of her way to make holidays huge productions. Got one really cool present that always had to do with whatever story Meg was the most into usually, and a lot of fun little ones to go with it, so she could open a whole pile of gifts even though the only one who was ever there to give her any presents was her mom. Meg kinda just grew up thinking of holidays like that because of her, and did as big productions for her mom too (to the best of her age-relative ability).

It was super hard on Meg when her mom got sick. I mean, I think it would be on anyone (who had a positive relationship with the parent, or probably even a neutral one), but she took it really hard. She’d been super excited about finally getting out of her hometown and going to college on a track scholarship she’d worked incredibly hard for, but then this had happened, and of course she’d come back to look after her mom. It was really awful though. She wasn’t sure if her mom would survive. At first, the situation had been like, go to college, or go home to help your mom get better, but she realized after a little while with a sinking feeling that it was starting to look like something else. Like give up on your one chance at being able to pay for college, or come home to watch your mom wither away and die while you can’t do a fucking thing to stop it. Her mom had always been a strong and fun and full of life person, so much like Meg herself, in a lot of ways, and she got sick so fast, and so bad. They even looked a lot alike—not just in biological features, but they kind of dressed similarly by nature, and Meg’s mom had also always kept her bright red hair long and liked it like that. Sometime when Meg was little, she’d called her mom’s hair a “fire mane,” older Meg could only assume because she’d been reading picture books about horses, and her mom had loved that and teasingly called it that forever after. The second night after she started chemo that her hair started to fall out, Meg got home to see her shaving her head in the bathroom, because it had been coming out in clumps she hadn’t been able to stand the way that felt. Meg felt heartbroken, and went over to join her and took the scissors on the sink and started to cut hers off too in solidarity, but her mom stopped her and begged her not to. Meg cried and told her she wanted to do it, and her mom comforted her and kissed her on the forehead and asked her to please keep it for her, so that when she got better, she could look at Meg’s as inspiration for what she wanted to get back to. Meg finally agreed, but it was really hard. Harder still to watch her getting weaker and weaker until she just couldn’t do any of the things she used to. And then one day her mom’s doctor had come back and told them he was sorry, but that treatment was failing. She could try a few experimental avenues, and there were people to contact, she could keep trying this in case there was a change, but that she probably only had another year at most to life.

It had been beyond devastating. Meg hadn’t known what to say. Or how to think or cope. She’d just walked out of the hospital feeling shellshocked. And when they’d gotten back in the car, her mom had asked her to pull over at a Wendy’s, and bought them both frostys, and Meg went through the motions, and parked in the lot. And when they were there, her mom had started to eat hers slowly with a spoon, and looked her in the eyes and said, “Don’t worry, Meg. I’ll get better. I promise.”

And Meg had looked up and seen she meant it somehow, even with what they’d just heard. And her mom had said, “You know me. I’m a fighter.” and that had been true, so Meg had sniffed and nodded and said, “Me too. We’ll try all the options.”

Her mom smiled at her and they ate their one dollar treats and went home to research, but Meg had still kind of believed it, because she always believed her mom. She’d had hope then, that she might not die. Even as the weeks went on and she got sicker. And then Meg went for the one jog she didn’t come back from.

Meg and Dwight were the first two to really band together. They survived a trial together and made it to the same fire, and Dwight just unloaded like a whole plan to start systematically picking up other people they met, and theorizing about leaving with them to make it to the same fire, and banding together to survive better, and Meg was kinda ‘no thoughts—head empty’ because she was exhausted from trying to outmaneuver the Nurse, and he was talking so fast and she hadn’t listened at all to the first few lines and now she was playing catchup, but she’d been like, “Oh. Worm I guess?” and agreed. Meg kinda thought Dwight was a pushy little dumbass, and he kinda was, but she also kinda liked him, and waaay faster than Jake did. Meg’s an extremely loyal person, so even though unhooking her and helping her out, or giving her a tool he knew she was better with than he was was just good strategy, Meg’s heart went “Friend saved me” and kinda kept it, so she didn’t mind “New friend is also annoying and full of himself and kind of a douche.” I don’t think she really noticed his change in behavior at first. Just one day like, a month after he’d started working hard to be less of an ass, she was sorting a new toolbox post-trial, and he paused by her and was like, “Hey! Great job in the trial today. Sorry I messed up your escape during that chase—I misjudged how fast he was and thought you’d have time to hide. You really saved us with that last-second chainsaw dodge getting the door open. –Oh here, I found these in a box and I’m still pretty shit at flashlights, but I saved them for you,” and gave her some batteries, and she was just like, “Cool. Thanks. And it’s fine—I almost tripped right over Claudette’s hiding spot yesterday.” and then when he was like halfway back to the fire she was just like WAIT A SECOND and sat bolt upright and stared at him and was like, Didn’t you used to be kind of pretentious and inconsiderate? When did this change??? And was never totally sure, but was pretty jazzed about it. She also remembers way less well than Jake, Ace, or Claudette that Dwight did used to be a loser. If someone else told her that she’d be like, “Oh yeah…huh.” but she’d never really think of it on her own.

This is kind of more a Dwight one than a Meg one, but one of the specific events that was a personal changing point for Dwight was back when it was just the OG four, before even Ace had joined, they had a hard trial with Trapper and Meg was really down. Everyone passed out before Dwight, because he was trying to plan and stayed up, and he noticed Meg having a nightmare and after a minute woke her up because she looked so scared, and she thanked him and then was quiet and just sat there, looking miserable. After about ten minutes he decided to ask if he could do anything to help, and she said she was afraid to go back to sleep, because she thought she might just pick up where she’d left off, and then hesitantly asked him if it was okay if she came over by him, because she thought it might help. He was super surprised, but said yes, and she came over and lay down beside him and leaned on his chest fell asleep. And it felt really nice that someone would seek him out for comfort, and trust him to watch over them. The first time they stayed at the same fire, she’d given him a look and said, “Promise not to come over here while I’m out if I take a nap?” and warned him she was a light sleeper, but she hadn’t even jokingly reminded him of anything like that now. She just trusted him. It made him want to be worthy of that and a lot more.

[ I want to do more bc I’m super into Meg rn, but my word count is shooting me dirty looks so ima do 2 real short post-ILM Meg and call it a night—happy to do more or your Jake-Dwight sometime though. <3 ]

Tapp helps Meg take courses and study up, and gets her certified as a PI, and she actually does really love it. They work cases for cheap for people who need help, and do it together, and it’s very rewarding. That’s not the most sustainable full-time job, but Tapp’s got a little money saved, and David’s…David. Plus, collectors will pay weird money for realm merch sometimes, and Min is…scarily. Worryingly good, even, at finding those people to sell to. So she also has a lot of time to do other things. She can’t exactly do track like she did, but she does long-distance runs for charity, and has fun, and gets to go visit her friends all the time. She loves being able to say she actually is a private detective, and feels like she’s come full circle from being the little her who loved Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie books so much. She’s able to help her mom, too, so her mom is able to actually spend time writing the kinds of things she’d like to, for once, and Meg’s super happy for her and still spends a bunch of time with her, often her and Susie, who her mom took to really fast, together. Meg loves to ambush Susie with gifts when she’s working on stuff and make surprise visits to drop off a drink or something, and thrives on the embarrassed-happy Megggg look on her face if she pulls off flirting in public just right. Sometimes Susie will come with her and Tapp when they’re working to try to help, or just to spend time, especially for the like, long research parts of the job. Meg also makes sure they see Michael Tapp a lot, and that Tapp takes time off to do fun stuff with her and his other friends. She is still definitely trying to get him with her mom. Or Jane when Jane’s there. Or her mom and Jane. Sometimes Ace is in the mix when he’s there. And it all ain’t subtle. It’s rough out there being Meg’s even vaguely parental figure. :’-)

Like Tapp promised, he and Meg get a dog. A retired K9 whose handler died a few years ago, and been retired when that happened because it was old enough it had been set to retire that year or the next, and it took the loss of its handler very hard. With its handler gone, it was open to adoption from other force members or retired ones. It was an old dog that had been alone for a long time, still missing someone dead, so sad looking. Outlived his best friend. Tapp had checked the database on impulse alone when starting to work on honoring Meg’s request, and seen it, and wanted badly to take it home. He’d been kind of nervous asking Meg about getting it though, thinking she would want something that would live longer, but she’d jumped at the chance and been really happy. The German Shepherd had been named Partner, because that had been the sense of humor his handler had, and Meg thought it was cute, to always be saying, “Come on Partner,” to a dog. He had been really sad looking when they’d gone to pick him up. Lonely in the back of a pen, nose between his paws, watching people go by, and hesitant when they’d gone inside. Quiet, all the way to the car, and the whole drive home. Just sat in a seat, looking out the window, no matter how much Meg petted him or talked him, or Tapp did, and then they’d gotten home and taken him inside, to a bed and a food bowl and water dish, and he hesitantly ate, and then started to wag his tail a little. They took him out to the yard after to play and he finally got it, and it was like seeing a totally different animal. He got excited, and barked for the first time, and ran around pretty fast for an old dog and would come press his forehead against their legs while wagging his tail, like he was hugging them, in a way Meg had only seen dogs do a few times. He is now a very happy pup who likes to hop up on the couch and put his head in people’s laps and watch them lovingly while they watch tv, and sometimes puts the old skills to good use if he’s in the mood to walk around and lend aid to a case.

#ask #anonymous #ilm spoilers #in living memory (fic)#in living memory #meg thomas #💙💙💙💙 thanks for the ask!#long post

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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March 23rd-March 29th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from March 23rd, 2020 to March 29th, 2020. The chat focused on Puppeteer by Eightfish.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Puppeteer by Eightfish~! (https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/puppeteer/list?title_no=290620)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until March 29th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

eli [a winged tale]

Ooh exciting! I’ll try and get to this soon!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yes yes, I had started reading this last week, want to continue and get in on this convo!!

Joichi / Sarah

Oh I'll take a look at reading Puppeteer!

shadowhood

Ditto. Time for another art binge

eli [a winged tale]

1) I love the colours and lighting! As for the story, the banter really drew me in and when J offered freedom, that was my hook 2) My favourite moment was when J tore Eli out of his body! That was a very striking moment. 3) I really like J and Sam They’re both characters with a strong voice and motivation. 4) I enjoy the friendship chat between Sam and Eli. They really ground the whole college experience and the comic world for me. 5) Let me find it! 6) I think the themes of feeling lost in life or directionless after regimented high school are very relatable. It’s one thing to know where you wanna go and want to be but often we feel we’re just floating in reality. 7) I love the aesthetics! Very unique style yet also clear in storytelling! 8) I would say the strengths tie into the fast pace and great characters. I’m not sure where we’re headed in the comic but I’m sure we will get to know why beings like J and the Ocean lady exist and what roles Eli/Sam would play in the story great work Eightfish!

Love this shot! Great paneling!

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

The artwork is so beautiful!

shadowhood

Yeah, the flow of motion is amazing here that's really good gesture drawing

Feather J. Fern

I have to say I love the way you do the limited palette for the first few pages, it's really cool!

mathtans

Oh! From setup to where some f/f romance is implied. I shall read more. (Nice when the ships are verging on canon, if not there...)

Wonder if J is going to set things up such that Eli has to possess one of them.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Aaa, thank you all for the compliments about my art, eli, sssfrs, shadow, feather. I'm really trying to make this thing look good and I'm glad you guys like it.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

It looks really good!!

eli [a winged tale]

Love it Eightfish! Can’t wait for more!

RebelVampire

What I liked about the beginning is just kind of how jarring it is (in a good way). You get thrown right into a semi-tense/suspicious interaction, and it really kind of sets that tone for the rest of the comic. Which is actually what I like about the story all together. There's always this kind of laid back atmosphere to it where you're never really sure if you should be concerned or not. So it's got this right beat where you aren't always screaming but also aren't ever able to fully relax cause it feels like danger is around the corner. Coincidentally, the beginning is also probably my favorite moment in the comic as well, just cause again, I really love the tone here. My favorite character at the moment is probably J cause I can't figure J out and would like to know more about J. Cause J is just like this chaotic entity who I can't decide is good or evil and it's a complicated mess that I love. As for favorite interactions, definitely Eli and J. I like they're kind of friends, kind or enemies, kind of maybe sort of abusive relationship, maybe kind of sort of cut from the same fabric. There's a lot of levels to their relationship, so I do like seeing where it's going to go.

What I like about the art is just the overall style combined with the color experimentation. I think this in of itself really helps with the tone I keep mentioning, because it'll go from normal colors to suddenly very jarring, dark contrasts. So again, there's always this hint that something just isn't ever right in the world. I also think these features are the comic's strength, since it's a very interesting style that draws the eye.

Lastly for today, themes. I really like that the comic kind of explores ambition vs. lack of ambition. As someone who is more similar to Eli and would be kind of happy to just be people watching mush sometimes, I really relate. However, there are deep questions about whether this is good, whether ambition is better or whether ambition can go too far. So it's kind of good to see this explored and just kind of show that inevitably, people are different and not everyone has the same sorts of drives (or drives at all).

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Oh my god, you have no idea how happy I am to read that. Everything you said was exactly what I was going for and this is very validating

(also, can we just appreciate Rebel for a moment. They take the time to write these in depth analyses of every comic here and I always enjoy reading them. Even if I knew rebel was going to be the only one in this book club I would still be jumping to sign up.) (Not that I don't appreciate everyone else, those comments were lovely as well haha. So interesting to to read eli's thoughts on the characters and what will happen next)(edited)

BriDanann

Also!! Eightfish!! Your comic is so freaking gorgeous! I absolutely love the color scheme and the surrealist feel the art gives off. It really feels like it's otherworldly, but also familiar. Kind of how old Noir movies felt! I've only read the beginning so far and I am loving the tone.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Will Eli actually be satisfied with his decision to just float around away from responsibility in the long term, or do you think that will change? Additionally, what do you think caused Eli to run away from life so much?

10. Do you think Sam will ever come to accept Eli’s decisions, and how will the situation change the two’s relationship? What will Eli teach Sam about trying to fix everything, and how will the two change each other through their interactions?

11. What do you think J ultimately wants in life, and what does that have to do with giving Eli powers? Why is Sam so convinced that J is a demon? In general, do you think Eli, Sam, and Lily can put a stop to J’s mayhem?

12. How do you interpret the story’s title in terms of its significance to the events of the comic? Also, what significance do you think it has towards the theme of beliefs and how beliefs go stronger the more people believe in them?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mathtans

(This week is kinda kicking my ass but I have finished the read and will find time for some comments in the next day or two. Just putting that out there.)

Okay, just a couple quick thoughts in case anyone else wants to react to them... I think Eli felt like there wasn't much of anything left to him. Didn't seem like he had family checking up on him, and major events like breaking your arm are the sorts of times you learn who's rallying around you. Sam distancing herself was probably the last straw.

I wonder a bit whether Vanessa (the one massively possessed by J, only name dropped in the author notes if memory serves) had a similar path. Or whether she's just off the deep end (maybe she pushed J into the arm breaking on some level).

Also think that Lily's pleased to have someone who can finally do something about the visions she's presumably been having all her life (unless it's a puberty awakening thing), though it does seem like her romance with Sam goes deeper than that. I wonder about her romantic history (but then I wonder about that with all f/f ships). And could Sam be bi? Or is she not straight, and part of that is what pulled her from Eli?

As I say, couple quick thoughts.

RebelVampire

@mathtans Those are some good points about Eli's family. I have to say I did kind of where they were at, cause at the very least I do get the impression Eli doesn't feel like they can be relied on. But I do think isolation is playing a big role in Eli's decision making right now.

Do I think Eli will actually be satisfied with his decision? Yes and no. I kind of feel like Eli would be fine with it overall but that inevitably extenuating circumstances will ruin the whole thing. Otherwise I honestly think Eli might be content if people around would accept it. As for why Eli is causing to run away from life, probably social pressure and isolation. It's hard to deal with life if you have no one around you, and also hard to deal with society when you really just don't have ambitions, cause society is very much about ambition. As for Sam, I think this is also a yes and a no. I think Sam will blame herself for Eli's choices as she comes to understand them more, but at the same time learn to let Eli live as Eli sees fit. I do think Sam will learn a valuable lesson though that not everything she thinks is broken is, and even if it is, sometimes people have to learn for themselves. So I think it'll bring Eli and Sam closer.

As for what J wants, I think it's probably friends. I think J fell in with Eli because they're both just kind of lonely souls. And while Eli expresses this in further isolation, J acts out and does everything possible to get attention. I do think the group will put a stop to J's shenanigans though, but I'm also feeling that it won't be a defeating of the villain (but this may be wishful thinking cause I do sympathize with J). I kind of get the feeling the title is meant to reflect both literally that J is turning people into puppets but also the complicated relationship people have with the concept of control. Like Sam for example. Sam clearly wants to fix and "control" things to suit them to how she wants. Also, in the Eli/J relationship, there's a question of who controls who to a degree. As for its connection to belief, I think I'd argue the strong our beliefs are in something, the more those beliefs have control of our lives. And I think that's something we once again see with J a lot in that J is literally controlling people while people seem convinced they control themselves.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Oh Rebel, mathtans, your comments make me just want to just spoil the entire story and blurt out everything right here. It's been so good seeing that so much of my intent was coming through.

@mathtans Sam is indeed not straight. I wonder what made you see her as bisexual specifically?(edited)

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I don’t think Sam had any malicious intent in keeping her distance from Eli, nor was it a case of “I’ve got a girlfriend now so I don’t need to talk to my other friends”. To me, Sam very much sees herself as the only one with the power to protect people, and because of that she feels it’s her duty to control what people get involved, where everyone goes, etc. Sam can keep this city under control, and thus she must. And, yeah, I agree with @RebelVampire that control is one of the main themes of the comic in general. Like J is constantly egging Eli on to control others, and one of their main points is that ordinary people often are looking to delegate control to someone else. And this current segment is the perfect lesson on how it doesn’t have to be one person in control - Eli and Sam can both be in control at once.(edited)

One thing I feel like should be mentioned though - the factor of Eli potentially being nb factoring into his decision? Like, when he first becomes a puppetmaster, one of the first things Eli says is “how come I still look like me” (i.e., rather than androgynous like J?), and one of the things Eli does to practice out shape shifting is try on dresses.

mathtans

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Oh, nothing specifically made me see Sam as bisexual, but nothing made me see her as exclusively lesbian either. I've learned not to take that stuff for granted and wait for it be be spelled out (I'm also not the most observant though). In fact I have a f/f relationship in my writing where one of them is stated bisexual.

Also, good point snuffy on the androgynous aspect, never occurred to me there.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mathtans

Okay, let's address some questions to the best of my abilities. ^.^ Regarding the start, as was mentioned, the muted colours and dark character seemed to fit the tone. I thought the cutaway was a time skip but it made sense when we came back later.

My favourite moment was actually when Sam and Lily spent the night in Eli's apartment. Aside from helping to confirm the f/f relation (a personal taste), it was subtle (like, just a friend wouldn't necessarily go along with things for that time) versus making out or something (which wouldn't fit the tone). And at the same time, it showed that Eli was separating himself from his past life, not even going back to check in... Sam honestly seems to be his only tie. (And I kinda wonder where his original body is, if it even exists?)

Favourite character is tough. Honestly, maybe Lily because she seems so innocent, having been drawn into things... and I wonder if J ever approached her to get to Sam? Or has the focus always been on Eli? It's not that I dislike the other characters, it's more that one of their flaws seems to be a lack of communication. The sort of thing that makes me sigh, even though it fits with what we've seen and is helping motivate the plot.

That said, yeah the Sam and Eli interactions are really good, right from the moment of "don't touch me" and Sam totally respected that as they got caught up. They obviously do care for each other in the friend way. (I wonder if Eli wanted more? Could that be why he shifted female, to be closer to Sam?)

I'm not good with art or themes. -.- The way the being in the harbour was drawn was good though from what I recall, helped to show the scope of the supernatural too. I guess a theme of belonging? Or friendship?

I haven't said much about J yet, but I think that is a something I like and a strength, the plotting... trying to guess the next move. And maybe they want to become as popular as the larger demon? Definitely drives the other characters forwards. And reminds me of Rebel's comment about ambition being a theme... makes sense in retrospect. (And yes, much appreciation to Rebel. ^.- )

9. I think Eli will eventually be satisfied, though I think he's realizing that he's becoming a bit of a pawn in a larger game, not having considered the scope of his transformation. And I already mentioned about his family. And Rebel made good points there too.

I think Sam's starting to accept the change, though not necessarily the reason for it (and I'm not sure she or we truly know what that is). What with her trusting him to possess. In fact, another reason why Eli might have done this was to be of more use to Sam, though that may not have been a conscious decision. The dynamic will be interesting.

Here I'm diverging from Rebel in that I think J wants to be recognized as a more important demon (though that's similar to having friends, it doesn't need to be). Maybe others have tried to take over beings like Sam without success? Or like Ocean Lady are so far above that they don't care? Maybe there's a clue somewhere in why Vanessa isn't enough for J lately.

That's a really interesting point in terms of the title... at first I figured it was the idea of Eli jumping into bodies. But of course, he's not really into that, and it's more J... who is perhaps puppeteering even beyond that, pulling the strings of people that aren't possessed. (There was mention of squid too, I wonder if the tentacles of a squid could be like the strings on a puppet?) Anyhue.

Will be interesting to see Lily's reaction to what's going on, as I have a suspicion that she'll show up... and perhaps blame herself for not being there when Eli was (even though Eli was brought in later). Or she could misinterpret the situation and think Eli's gone evil! Who knows. (How long has she been going out with Lily again?)

I think that's all for now. Best with it!

shadowhood

Yoooo sorry for the late response. Alright I'll try to answer the prompts as succinctly as I can. 1. The art style is very aesthetically pleasing! I love how you use mainly black against a lot of other bright colours like tan/light blue/gold; it gives it almost a Grecian vase vibe!

2. I have two actually!

The first one because it hit a really close hit to home. I loved seeing a real, down to earth conversation between friends and it felt...real. Seeing concerned friends talking about an abusive relationship and not....exploding is very refreshing.

The second one because I absolutely love that last panel, where J plays around with her words and follows through with a similar action. It felt like she was toying with Sam and it reminded me of the scene in Aladdin, where Jafar was toying with Aladdin with his words. Probably my favourite villain scene of J.

3. Funnily enough, I really like Sam. She's that one friend who's shown to be concerned for Eli, but she knows that she can't force him out of the abusive relationship. She respects his boundaries and is overall a good friend. That's rare and usually underappreciated in real life.

4. The interactions between Sam and Eli were the best for me, because they were very heartwarming and the care they show for each other resonates with me

5. The two moments I mentioned were my top favourites, actually!

6. The idea that you can't save everyone is one I really like. Sometimes you have to let the person you love make difficult and maybe even foolhardy decisions in life, but that's to let them grow up and mature.

7. Like I said earlier, it reminded me of Grecian vase paintings, which I love! Another thing I love about it is how free the gesture drawings are; drawings such as the hand drawings are testament to that

8. I think the strongest part of Puppeteer is its use of motion; my eye is always drawn to the line of action and it almost felt like a film at some parts. The story is heavily action oriented, which I like

shadowhood

9. Honestly, I don't know. Like @mathtans said, he doesn't seem to have family who check up on him, but he DOES have friends who do! Maybe someday he'll want to change, he'll see that he stayed stagnant while his friends keep on progressing in life. Either he'll go deeper into his isolation or he ultimately decides that this isn't for him. 10. I think it's a sad case where she's going to have to learn to let Eli make his mistakes and grow up. If she's constantly there to fix or solve everything for him, both characters suffer in that no one will learn everything. But hopefully, like other people have said, it brings them closer. 11. From what she's said, I think she wants control and power. But if you want a more indepth answer, I think she wants absolute control and worship from individuals. She wants to be put on a pedestal (wanting to be higher than other people?) and she wants that rush of feeling, that feeling of being dedicated to. But seeing @RebelVampire 's answer, maybe it's a twisted form of trying to keep people from leaving her, similar to how abusers try to keep their victims close. Heck, she could even develop a form of Lima syndrome and sympathize with the victim. I think Sam's and co. can put a stop to it, but ultimately, it's up to ELI himself to do so. 12. I agree with @RebelVampire on this one; Puppeteer can be a reference to how much we let others and their beliefs control us, and how the characters each covet control in some shape or form. Maybe Eli feels like he's lost control of his life and is trying to escape responsibility in a desperate effort to regain it?

13. I'm really looking forward to how this whole Eli/J relationship will affect Eli and his relationship with his friends. I'm also wondering what J's character development would be, if any; would she start sympathizing more with Eli? Learn something new from Eli? Or even become increasingly antagonistic towards Eli? 14. @Eightfish (Puppeteer) I really look forward to reading more from your webcomic, your art and conversation exchanges between your characters are top notch! Keep up the good work

RebelVampire

What I'm most looking forward to in regards to the comic is finding out more about J I think. I'm interested to learn more about the driving force behind J's actions and how those might cause the characters to rethink what J is. As for final words, I really just still enjoyed the atmosphere. So few comics can nail it, but this one really managed to capture that feeling of dread that really keeps you reading. So I can wait to see that be used more throughout the comic.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Thanks @mathtans , @shadowhood , @snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights) for the recent long comments you've posted! It was wonderful reading what you thought about character motivations and themes. And I'm glad so many people said they were looking forward to learning more about J, because that's what I'm most looking forward to writing as well.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Puppeteer this week! Please also give a special thank you to Eightfish for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Puppeteer, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/puppeteer/list?title_no=290620

Eightfish’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/eightfish

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #puppeteer #eightfish

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deliriumzer0 · 6 years

Note

Hey there! Any Ayu-related posts or write-ups in the pipeline?

Actually, answering this ask is a good opportunity to both review TROUBLE and explain why I haven’t up until now.

I’m having a very hard time reviewing TROUBLE for one very plain and simple reason: musically, it elicits very few emotions for me. Decent review writing is much easier when you feel something, whether that’s anger or delight, disappointment or elation with the material. Sadly, TROUBLE is a C- level effort. It follows all the rules, but does absolutely nothing more, and it only does it for 5 tracks (3 of which we heard before the “album” came out).

After two years I was hoping for some sign that Ayu had perhaps been listening to more music that wasn’t her own, that she had written more material about her struggles over the last 2 years like the deterioration of her physical condition or second divorce. Unfortunately, even putting aside the low quantity of new music, the tracks we got show approximately zero growth and it’s hard to get passionate about it. I don’t hate it, it’s certainly solid work, but it doesn’t make me FEEL much of anything. It’s just a reasonably pleasant background listen, and for me personally, that’s not music’s purpose. And it’s certainly not why I fell in love with Ayu’s music to begin with.

I know it makes me sound like the typical “I hate their new material, I liked their old stuff better” fan when I say things like “I miss Ayu’s old material.” Listeners who say things like that are often disappointed with change; they want more of the version of the artist that they fell in love with. In this case, it’s almost exactly the opposite situation. Up until A BALLADS, Ayu was frequently attempting different sounds and genres and styles. Over time, her willingness to branch out has dwindled, and since Love songs I’ve mostly been disappointed in her albums as a whole. I haven’t liked some of her more experimental moments, like the Colours album, but I appreciated the experiment at least. For the entire latter half of her career, her discography has consisted of mostly very samey material with a sprinkling of moments of inspiration and daring sound changes. Those moments always set me up for future musical progress, but I’ve ultimately been disappointed each time.

TROUBLE, sadly, turned out to be the inevitable disappointment after the bits of brilliance on M(A)DE IN JAPAN. It doesn’t take the moments of awesomeness from MIJ and move them forward (in fact it doesn’t take them at all). Sure, TROUBLE is roughly on par with the most competent A7-era material (A ONE and sixxxxxx), which is certainly not bad. But MIJ included some tracks with more daring production or an unusual amount of rawness in the mix. Songs like “FLOWER,” “Survivor,” “Break down,” and even “Mr. Darling” made me feel energized or angry or fascinated or warm. The album also had far less over-polish on her vocals; you could hear more cracks, more flaws, and as a consequence more emotion. I LOVED the vocal vulnerability I got on MIJ.

TROUBLE lacks any of MIJ’s positives, sadly.

One thing I will say in TROUBLE’s favor is that “W” is excellent. It corrects everything I perceived as an error on “WARNING.” She gave that song’s general concept and approach a second try and this one is much, much better. It is perhaps disappointing that she basically made “WARNING part 2,” but as prolific as she is I’m okay with the occasional duplication of themes as long as the new version is an improvement. (Side note, just as a counter example: when “Like a Doll” happened after “Marionette,” I was considerably less thrilled.)

Anyway, over the last few years, Ayu’s material has shown next to zero creative growth; when I do hear growth, she doesn’t develop it. She dips her toes in that water, and then pulls them right back out again. She seems either uninspired or insecure, neither of which are conducive to creating music that’s worth as much as Avex is charging for it (more on that later). Her songwriting & recording has been relegated to a process which could be nearly automated aside from the actual lyric writing process (which continues to be very solid - she’s genuinely talented and I have very little issue with her lyric writing). The demos fit within a certain creative box that she rarely moves out of.

And, unrelated to the quality of the music itself, I kinda wanna rant about Yoneda’s handling of her releases. Based on an article I read recently on the Avex Group website, he has been responsible for some… actually kind of amazing failures as far as the marketing & releasing of Ayu’s material. He seems to feel like, since Ayu fans are so dedicated and are gonna buy a certain number of copies of ANYTHING regardless of quality, then it’s totally fine to rip her fans off (and this is actually something I suspected years ago, and that article more or less confirmed it despite talking about it as though it’s a positive).

It’s no doubt him who’s deciding to call TROUBLE an “album” when in reality it’s a selection of two live blu-rays with a bonus 5-song EP included. He’s probably the one who called LOVE and again mini-albums when they’re ostensibly singles. He’s the one charging fans for bonus first-press items that are just cheap “imprint with your own logo” giveaway freebies you can order for pennies apiece yourself (you really can). He’ll call things “deluxe” or “premium” that I could make myself at home in a matter of an hour or two.

Admittedly, this is one major reason I let my TeamAyu membership lapse, and also why I have not purchased TROUBLE and likely will not buy it new. If I get it, it’ll probably be years from now, used, at a Book-Off in California or something. If TROUBLE had an inexpensive discs-only CD+BD version, I’d probably be fine with getting it. But with the TROUBLE box sets, advantage is clearly being taken and I am not on board for that.

In conclusion, friends & enemies… TROUBLE is okay. It’s not amazing. It’s not awful. It’s perfectly listenable, the lyrics are great, but if you were hoping for Ayu to continue the apparent forward development we started to hear on MIJ, you’ll be as disappointed as I was. And $110 for a 5-track CD, a concert blu-ray, a few photos, and a keychain is insane to me. But fans bought that overpriced Colours box with the candle (which smells fantastic, but you could buy it for like $5 on its own later on), so what did I expect really?(If you really wanna get mad, check out the package for the new Muse album and its price. Granted, Japanese releases are always gonna be more expensive, but why should anyone be paying more than about $60-75 for the TROUBLE CD+Blu-ray? It’s just a bad move, in my opinion.)

#ayumi hamasaki #album review #jpop #ask answer

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carnelianwings · 6 years

Note

001 tales of symphonia + dotnw

(For this ask meme! Already answered: 001: Vesperia, Yu Yu Hakusho, 002: Kurama/Hiei/Kurama, 003: Heero)

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: Believe it or not, Emil, haha.

Least Favorite character: Rodyle, mostly for being okay with human experimentation.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Martil (see answers below re: who I’d marry and who I most identify with), Colloyd, Genis/Presea (if he could just spit it out!)

Character I find most attractive: Oddly enough, after all this time: Emil (see below).

Character I would marry: Once upon a time, I would tell you Emil for sure, because there was so much of Emil and his character growth that reminded me of my ex-fiance. My ex is an ex for a reason (mostly because we ended up growing in separate directions), but honestly . . . I’d still marry Emil. XD

Character I would be best friends with: Lloyd. He’s really understanding and I think he’s just a really nice guy in general who genuinely cares for his friends and sees everyone as a person who deserves compassion and I think he’d be a great friend because of that.

a random thought: As much as I love Martil, I can’t write fic for them because it feels too much like either 1) writing about my own love life, or 2) writing self insert fic, which means I literally can’t tell if I’m in character with either of them and that bothers me because one of the things I try to do with everything I write is to keep everyone as in character as possible.

An unpopular opinion: I think the fact I like Martil and Marta in general falls into that category.

My Canon OTP: Hilariously enough, even though I’m no longer with my ex, Martil, haha.

My Non-canon OTP: It’s kinda funny, I don’t think I really shipped too many of the other characters together.

Most Badass Character: Everybody gets their shining moment of badassery, but Lloyd. He’s standing in front of Remiel, who he knows is a powerful being at the Tower of Salvation. He knows that Colette has to go through with her sacrifice if Sylvarant is to be regenerated. But he still can’t let her go, and proceeds to fight the entirety of Cruxis and takes down a literal god, and mends the world, all for her, because he refuses to live in a world that came at the cost of Colette’s life. Regardless of who you ship Lloyd with, there’s something to be said for literally deciding to fight against a literal angel, and then not give up when (basically) god shows up and kicks your ass.

Most Epic Villain: Honestly, Kratos. My friends and I struggled so hard to beat Kratos at the Tower of Salvation in that optional boss battle, and he’s always hard to beat whenever he shows up in the other games as a cameo battle. As opposed to Yggdrasil, who got ganged up on in the final battle and would have died faster if he didn’t have the ability to break out of stunlock and teleport away, rofl.

Pairing I am not a fan of: Richter/Emil . . . probably for obvious reasons by now, given my previous answers. XD That said, nothing against people who ship them.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

Favourite Friendship: Lloyd and Genis. I love how Lloyd genuinely treats Genis as a friend and doesn’t make fun of him for being much smarter than he is, and I love that Genis does the same in return. They both help each other out of tight situations, and generally just support each other as friends. Bonus mention to Tenebrae and Marta and Emil, just because he’s so snarky and exasperated with both of them at times. XD

Character I most identify with: Marta in game is basically me at 16 through college, except on a much more . . . mundane scale. But let’s see, crushing hard on a cute blond boy? Check. Arguing with the parents? Check. Finding something you want to do with your life to try to help other people? Check. Obviously, I grew up and matured, but if you ask me, Marta’s only 16 and she’s got plenty of room to keep growing and maturing post-game.

Character I wish I could be: Honestly, I feel like Marta’s a borderline self-insert character for me just because of how hard I identify with her and see her as my younger self there really isn’t anyone else I’d rather be, as cheesy as it sounds, haha.

#soymilkheaven answers an ask #sorry not sorry for how symphonia 2 centric this ended up #but honestly i love marta and i feel like she doesn't get enough love #Anonymous

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guessmonsta · 7 years

Note

ahhhh may I please request lev getting set up with someone who's like 5ft tall as a joke, bc both their friends thought the height diff was hilarious, but they actually end up hitting it off? ;o

I had fun with this. I missed writing for my tall boy. Also, Lev is a junior in college! Just throwing that out there.

Lev wasn’t one to be paranoid. In fact, he was anything but. Lev Haiba was the kind of guy to wave at a man in a trenchcoat looming in the dark corner of an alleyway at three o'clock in the morning. Nothing in this world scared him besides pretty girls and cockroaches, but, the way his roommate was glancing up at him every so often sent a good shiver down his spine.

Hinata had been sitting on the edge of his own bed and furiously tapping at his phone for fifteen minutes now; Lev knew because he had been counting. Whatever was making Hinata type so fast that he could actually hear his fingers bouncing on the screen had to involve him, somehow. Every so often the typing would stop, and ever so ominously Hinata would look up at him for about five seconds, his eyebrows scrunched and his lips pursed, then he’d go right back to typing again. Lev would’ve straight up asked what Hinata’s problem was in any other case scenario, but he was honest he had never seen Hinata this mad. Well, exempt the one time in sophomore year where he wasn’t allowed into the club for “looking too young”.

Another five minutes passed and the typing stopped all together. Lev was afraid to look up from his laptop to see if Hinata was staring again, but he did it anyways. Hinata hadn’t been looking, but Lev caught his attention. He laughed, eyes nervously darting over to his phone.

“Tobio.” Is all Hinata had to say, and suddenly, the whole situation made sense. Well, some of it did, the relentless typing, at least. Although, that didn’t explain the incessant glares in his direction.

“What did he do now?”

“Well, it’s not rea-ally about him.” Hinata shrugged. “Hey, Lev, can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Are you free tonight?”

Suddenly, Lev found himself utterly confused. He cocked an eyebrow and looked up at Hinata, who was passing the situation as something that happened on the daily. He propped himself up on his shoulders and kicked his legs over the side of the bed.

“Is someone asking me out?” He pondered, in all seriousness.

“Well, kinda.”

“Is it you or Tobio? ‘Cause if I’m being honest I think Tobio would treat me right.” Lev laughed.

“No-o it’s not Tobio! It’s not me either!”

“I know, I know. Who’s asking me out then?”

Hinata hopped off the edge of his bed and shuffled right up next to Lev on his. He flipped his phone out of his pocket again, fiddling with it for a moment before pulling up a picture.

“Her.” Hinata nudged “at Lev’s arm. “Well, she didn’t actually ask you out. She’s Tobio’s girlfriend’s best friend.”

“So you’re saying you have no idea who this chick is?” Lev laughed, ogling at the photo of the girl for a split second before Hinata yanked the phone away. “I don’t really mind, either way. She’s kinda cute. I think.”

“Yeah. We figured you’d be cute together. So, are you down?” Hinata stood up from the bed and went off to do his own thing once more. Lev wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea of going out on a date with a stranger, if anything, he thought it was a bit exciting. In the back of his mind though, he denied the sincerity of it all, but suppressed it.

“Sure, I’m down. Are we meeting at a certain place or is it just wherever?”

“The Gazelle.”

Hinata was referencing to the indie coffee shop down the street from their dorm. It was always quiet, soft piano music filling up the empty space where people weren’t whispering to each other about the new vinyl records they bought the other day. Everyone wore baggy sweaters and wire glasses and could pronounce the obscure names on the menu with ease. Lev just nodded in agreement, too wound up in everything else to wonder why the people involved in this rendezvous had chosen a place that was so not him. He was oblivious to the way Hinata was smirking into his fist as he started texting again, just like he was oblivious to everything else.

That night, Lev found himself inside The Gazelle. It wasn’t often where he found himself in this place, only ever stopping by to make fun of Kenma, who worked behind the counter on weekends, or to grab himself a hot cocoa to endure early morning lectures. He took a seat by the window, which he immediately started to regret. The chairs were too small for him and his legs barely fit underneath the table. He would’ve gotten up and moved, but he didn’t want to draw more attention to himself then he already was. There weren’t many people in the shop, just a couple of baristas he didn’t recognize, a lonesome girl with space buns who refused to stop glaring at him, and a guy in the corner who looked like he had just one too many espressos that night. He hadn’t been waiting for long now, the date was scheduled for eight, but he figured showing up at seven forty-five would give him a chivalrous advantage. Thing was, even if his date had showed up, he hadn’t quite remembered what she looked liked. Hinata had flashed the picture so fast, he could barely absorb that she was in fact, a person. For all he knew, the angry girl with space buns could have been his date this entire time. That was, until the chime on the door rang.

Lev’s eyes darted up from his phone to the door. The bitter chill from outside clashed against the warmth of fireplace on the inside and rustled a few magazines sitting on the table next to him. Lev couldn’t necessarily see who had walked through the doors, a tall houseplant had blocked their way. He figured it had to be a freshman, though. Through the leaves, he could see the top of their head barely reached the coat rack by the barista counter. He continued to pay no mind to his surroundings, mindlessly being sucked back into the screen in his hands. It was eight o'three now, but Lev didn’t really mind. He figured he wasn’t being stood up, Hinata wouldn’t do something like that. There was a possibility that he wasn’t paying too much attention to his surroundings, though.

It wasn’t until he heard a soft clearing of the throat did he get off his phone again. Standing in front of him was that presumed freshman, her hands balled together in the oversized sleeves of her sweater. The first thing that Lev noticed was that she was small. The oversized sweater that pooled around her body didn’t do her much justice, nor did the keroppi purse that was slung over her right shoulder. It wasn’t until he made eye contact with her did he realize who she was. It was Kageyama’s girl friend’s best friend. It was her.

Lev was almost afraid to stand up next to her. He didn’t even have to look up at her in his position right now, and he was sitting. After staring for a brief moment, she giggled awkwardly and peeped a small, “hi!” Lev couldn’t help but wonder why his friends would be hanging out with a freshman. Although he had to admit, she was adorable.

“Are you by any chance… Kageyama’s girlfriends best friend?” Lev hated that he had to associate her by that title. It wasn’t like Hinata gave him a background check on her, though.

“Yeah, that would be me! And you’re Kageyama’s best friends roommate, right?”

“Mhm!”

Lev felt like he was being rude just sitting there while she was standing. Forgetting the small table above him, he stood up, nearly knocking himself, the chair, and the entire table over as he lumbered up awkwardly. He looked down at her, almost bashfully, but it seemed like she didn’t even notice.

“This is a joke. This is so-o a joke.” She covered her face with her sweater paws and began laughing. “O-Oh my god. Hinata, you bastard.”

It took Lev a moment to get what she was shaking her head about, then it clicked. Their height difference was so drastic, comical, even. Figured Hinata would try to set them up to get a kick out of it. “Oh-h, I see.” He hummed.

Then without warning, Lev set his hand atop her head. “How tall are you? Er, how short are you, rather.”

She didn’t seem to find that funny, and merely shook her head. “I could be asking you the same thing, Burj Khalifa. I’m five foot.”

“Five foot what?”

“Uh, just five foot.”

Lev shook his head. “People can actually be that short?” He asked in all seriousness, unaware of how red her cheeks are. “Are you still a freshman?”

“No, I’m a junior. Jus’ like you.”

“Wow.” Lev shook his head and merely laughed. “This is the funniest thing to ever happen to me. You’re so cute.”

“Thank you, and honestly, I didn’t expect to be set up with the actual Himalayan Yeti either. And you never actually answered my question, by the way.”

“Oh, yeah. I just hit six foot ten the other day. I’m still growing. My doctor says I’ll probably stop when I’m twenty-five, and I’ll probably be seven feet then.”

“Seven feet!” She gaped up at him, experimentally pushing herself up on her tiptoes. “Um, can we get our drinks and sit down? My neck kinda hurts.”

“Oh! Oh yeah sure… um?”

“__. The names __.”

“Cool! I’m Lev!”

“Lev?” She peeped. She stood up next to the barista counter, popping up on her tippy toes to rest her forearms upon it. “You’re Russian?”

“Yeah! How’d you know?”

“It seems very Russian. My second guess was German, or something, but I think Russian is nicer. It’s a prettier language, don’t you think?”

Lev was surprised she hadn’t mentioned his height whilst talking about his heritage, it was usually the first thing people bounced to. It was endearing, really. When the barista came up to greet her, she popped up higher on her tiptoes to talk to him. She ordered her drink, something with a confusing name he was surprised she could even pronounce, then turned to him to have him stutter, “medium hot cocoa.” They stood there for a brief moment, Lev shuffling from foot to foot until she grabbed the drinks and motioned back to their table.

He never expected to find himself going on a date with someone nearly two feet shorter than him, but for some odd reason, he didn’t really mind. He figured at this point it was all some joke between Hinata, Kageyama and the third party, but jokes aside, it wasn’t bad judgement. She had big goals and dreams like his, to which Lev joked that they were bigger than she was. They compared hand sizes, then shoe sizes, then arm length, and wound up sitting together on the fountain outside of Lev’s dorm after the baristas kicked them out half past nine. It wasn’t just her height, but there was something about her that Lev found too cute. She had these soft eyes and gentle smile that he couldn’t help but adore. She didn’t get mad at his “short-shaming”, as she referred to it as, and merely just played along. She could think of as many tall nicknames and he could think of short, and despite his height, treated him like a normal person. Most dates he wound up on he’d get flooded by “basketball comments” and obsessing over his height, girls telling him how attractive it was to be with “such a tall guy.” Even though it was such a huge feature, she looked passed that, and it was mostly him who had brought it up. She preferred it when they were sitting down face to face, rather than side to side. She liked his “dorky personality”, or so she said, more than his height. That’s what made her adorable.

They huddled around the inactive fountain for hours, and as the clock hit midnight the only thought in Lev’s head was seeing the shock on Hinata’s face when he returned home and said, “Hey the date was great, we have another planned for Saturday night!” She stood up from her place next to him on the fountain, pulling her sweater closer to her body before pausing to sneeze in her elbow.

“Hey, I think I should head home. I’m getting really cold.” She laughed, pausing to sneeze again.

“Oh! Okay. I had a lot of fun. You’re cool for somebody who looks fourteen.”

“Me too! I never knew sentient trees could be so charming. So, Saturday night at seven, right?”

“Yup!”

“You have my number in your phone and everything, right?”

“Yup!”

“Nice! Thank you for tonight. Kick Hinata’s ass for me, kay?”

“I’ll make sure to at least choke him under his pillow for a few minutes.” Lev smiled. “Oh another thing- should I walk you home?”

“Sounds wonderful. I should be fine, I live right around the corner” She giggled, shuffling around for a minute before holding her hand up. Lev cocked his head in confusion.

“I, uh, I wanted to give you a hug but I really don’t know how.”

Lev laughed, barked, rather and put his hand up against hers.

“We’ll figure it out next time.”

She then nodded, bid her farewells, then skittered away, her arms bobbing gleefully, her purse bouncing at her side the entire time. He watched her as she turned the corner, spinning around to wave at him one more time. She was cute, she was very cute, and it was all Lev could think about. The moment Lev was sure she must’ve been in her dorm, he sprinted towards his, running up three flights of stairs to open the dorm room door with a dramatic slam.

“You’re home late!” Hinata chimed, his back turned to the door, laying on his stomach and kicking his feet as he typed on his computer.

“You didn’t tell me she was short.”

“Never came up in conversation.” Hinata laughed. “So how’d it go?”

“Great! Figured out the whole setup was a joke two seconds in, but besides that it was great!’ Lev flopped back onto his bed, paying no mind to the way Hinata jerked his head in his direction.

“You guys actually got along?”

“Yeah! She’s actually real sweet. We’re going out this weekend, too. Your plan backfired, Shouyou!”

Hinata laughed, slamming the top of his laptop down. “Glad you had fun. Kageyama’s gonna have a fit.”

Lev shook his head and shuffled around, digging in his pocket for his phone. A text message popped on the screen, under the name of “Shrimp-puff”.

“Don’t forget to push Hinata’s head under the pillow!” It read. Lev smiled and looked up at Hinata, who was laying in the same position.

“What is it?” He asked before realizing what was coming for him. He coughed as a pillow whacked him upside the head, rendering him useless.

“Chivalry.”

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu!! imagines #haikyuu!! scenarios #haikyuu!! matchups #haikyuu!! headcanons #lev haiba

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surveysonfleek · 6 years

Text

432.

5000 Question Survey Pt. 15

1401. Do you like your movies and books to be more lighthearted or serious? depends on my mood. but usually light hearted. 1402. What's more important, first impressions or lasting impact? first impressions. i kinda lose interest if the first impression sucks. 1403. Order these areas of psychological health from what you need the least improvement in to what you need the most improvement in: physical, emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, spiritual spiritual, environmental, social, intellectual, emotional and physical. 1404. Do you react appropriately to things and control your feelings? i’d say so. 1405. Do you have stable relationships? yes.

1406. Do you need to be in a relationship to feel good about yourself? not at all. but it’s been so long that idk what i’d be like alone. 1407. Which is the most clear and concise, your thoughts, your speech or your writing? Which is the least clear and concise? most clear: thoughts. least: writing coz i never write. 1408. Are you always trying to learn new things? not all the time. 1409. Do you feel at peace? not yet. 1410. Do you have strong morals and ethics that you believe in and adhere to? yeah. 1411. Are you over or under weight? over. 1412. Do you think of the needs of all humanity or just the needs of yourself and those you know? tbh me and those i know. after i fix myself, i can start focusing on the needs of others. 1413. Do you recycle? yes. 1414. Are you active in your community? not at all. 1415. Are you sensitive to the needs of others? not really? 1416. Do you dress up to go to the mall? haha omg no. it used to be a huge thing back in high school, but i couldn’t care less these days. 1417. Have you ever been on anti depressants? nope. 1418. Name a part of your body. Give that part of your body a name. heart. heart lol. 1419. Is fourteen your lucky number? nope. 1420. What could make you lose respect for someone? having them do something unforgivable. 1421. Is ignorance really bliss? i don’t think so. it could lead to a rude awakening. 1422. What can be described as 'even better than the real thing'? not sure. 1423. Are you jealous that dog can lick their own genitals? If you could do that would you ever leave the house? no and yes. 1424. What's in your wallet right now? driver’s license, debit card, credit card, membership cards, receipts and coins. 1425. Do you write letters that you never send? nope. 1426. Do you ever get the feeling people are laughing at you? sometimes. 1427. Who's the one person you'd like to drop a house on? haha idk. 1428. Have you ever been swept off your feet? i guess. 1429. Tell me why you don't like Mondays: because i have work. 1430. In the Harry potter series the books seem to be getting darker and more serious with each new release. Do you like this change or do you prefer the story to be light? i thing the change suits the development of the story. i’d lose interest if the entire series was light hearted. 1431. How often do you update your diary? weekly. 1432. What do you mostly write about in your diary? my schedule. 1433. How many quizzes and/or surveys do you have in your diary as entries? oh, i didn’t know the question was regarding like a blog lol. 1433. How many forwards does your diary contain? - 1434. What is your writing style like? - 1435. How honest are you in your diary? - 1436. Why do you write in your diary? - 1437. Do you have a comet cursor on your diary description? - 1438. Do you ever chat online? only on fb messenger to people i know personally. 1439. Have you ever met someone from online? How'd that go? no. at most i’ve met mutual friends online but they still lived locally. 1440. What's your favorite horror: Movie? umm, i don’t have one. Book? goosebumps haha. 1441. Have you ever caught a mistake in a movie? yes, plenty of times. as a kid moviemistakes.com was my jam haha. 1442. Have you ever seen that munchkin who supposedly hangs himself in the Wizard of Oz? If yes, how/when should someone look for it? only in a buzzfeed post. 1443. If you had to give yourself a letter grade (A, A-, B, B-, C, C-, D, D-, F) for things how would you grade yourself on: Happiness: B- Being a decent human being: B Being serene (calm, peaceful): B- Kindness: B- Anger management: A- Creative thinking: C Modesty: A- Being an original: A- Knowing yourself: A- Being true to yourself: B Getting along with others: C Liking yourself: D Admitting your flaws: B Self improvement: D- 1444. Are you kinky? haha no. 1445. How would you feel if twice a week you could wake up next to the person you love? pretty good! 1446. Out of all the people you know who is most likely to be one of the great minds of our time? hmmm. not sure. 1447. Have you ever been to: Church? yes. Temple? yes. A bar? yes. A house party? yes. A rave? yes. A goth club? no. A punk show? no. A hip hop club? yes. What sounds like the most fun out of that list? a bar. 1448. So far, have you changed around any of the questions on this survey? haha no. what’s the point? 1449. Are you crying on the inside? no. 1450. Are you afraid of the future? kinda. 1451. What will you dress up as this year for Halloween (if you celebrate it)? nothing. 1452. Do you think of some people as not worthy of being your friend? yep. lol. 1453. If you won $1,000 every week until you die, would you still go to school? Would you still get a job? i’m done with school. and yeah i’d still work. 1454. What's the most difficult job you can think of? anything outdoors and strenuous on the body. i couldn’t imagine working outside in the heat during summer. 1455. If you could decorate your room with any theme you wanted what would you pick? i’d leave it the way it is. pretty simple. 1456. Of the following bands which would you be most likely to check out? roxy music (70's glam) the magnetic fields (current indie rock) kraftwerk (experimental electronic rock) <--- this one i guess. 1457. You and your boy/girlfriend have been together 6 months or longer.... One day s/he wants to go to a strip club with his/her friends to hang out. It's guys/girls night out and you aren't invited. Would you be upset by this? tbh if he told me in advance and was completely honest about it i don’t think i’d get upset. but to be fair, my boyfriend has never been to a strip club so idk what i’d feel. 1458. Can a person avoid dying if he or she does not believe in death? um i don’t think so. 1459. If someone sings songs that they don't write and they don't play any instruments or mix the songs or have any creative input at all..Are they a musician? i used to think about this a lot and yeah i guess they’re still a musician. 1460. What do the following stand for: html? something link lol idk. faq? frequently asked questions. fao? no idea. imho? in my humble opinion. hiv? something virus? aids? idk. r&b? rhythm and blues. 1461. What does the world owe you? happiness. then again, i’m in control of that. 1462. Do you read plays and books or just get the cliff notes? when i was in school i did both. 1463. What do you want to get out of life? happiness pretty much. and a family. 1464. Do you know what is really important to you? yes. 1465. What trend has been getting on your nerves lately? idk. 1466. Do you forgive yourself when you make a mistake? yeah, i just consider it as a lesson. 1467. What tiny little very small thing has made you hugely happy? days off work. 1468. Can you read body language well? i think so. 1469. Do you look people in the eye when you talk? yes. 1470. Do you notice if they aren't looking you in the eye? yes. 1471. Are you alert to opportunities? sometimes. 1472. Puppet Yoda or digital Yoda? neither. 1473. Do you look like the person you want to be? no. 1474. Do you behave like the person you want to be? yeah i guess. 1475. Some children were asked 'how would you make your marriage work?' One child, Ricky, age ten, said: 'Tell your wife she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck.' Is this good advice? no lol. i’d rather my partner be honest with me. 1476. Do you visualize your goals and dreams? yes. 1477. 4x + 3 = 15 What is the value of x? literally haven’t done algebra in years. is it 3? 1478. Do you keep yourself organized? yes. 1479. Does anyone really win an argument? haha only in their minds. 1480. Have you ever had champagne? yes. 1481. Do you strive for perfection? no. i just thrive to be successful. 1482. Name one thing you understand. myself. 1483. Whatever it is are you afraid of it? yes. 1484. Do you dislike being told what to do? yesssss. 1485. If you had a cat would you have it declawed? i’d never get a cat. 1486. Do you prefer lobster, clams, or crab meat? tbh i like them all. 1487. What do you think about guys who don't wear underwear? omg i don’t know any guys who don’t lmao. 1488. What do you think about girls who don't wear bras? it’s fine. 1489. Do you ask for what you want? sometimes. 1490. What are you against? bigots. 1491. How many notes does your diary have? - 1492. Ace of Base or Enya? neither. 1493. What makes you feel awkward? socially awkward situations. 1494. Have you ever been to teenopendiary.com, and if yes, how does it compare to opendiary.com? lol this must be soooooo old. 1495. If you were going to switch to another diary website, which one would you go to? - 1496. Do you believe that certain books should be removed from high school libraries? depends on the contents. 1497. How do you feel about gay and lesbian marriages? i’m all for it. 1498. Can you rearrange the letters in your name to form any other words(check here if you aren't sure http://www.wordsmith.org/anagram/)? haha no. 1499. What is the sexiest moment in a movie? idk. 1500. Do you have a favorite stand up comedian? i don’t have a fave.

#survey #surveys #quiz #bored #questions

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stripestheboar · 7 years

Text

Expectations

I…. I am truly sorry for the half month long delay for this request. I have no excuse. But, I spent all night to get it finished up and now it’s ready. This was a request from @lickupmycakespills.

Request: yo, you know what would be really cute? a fluff fic for salphys when they first meet or something =)

cakespills, I hope you enjoy.

Words: 3,160

Pairing: Salphys (Sans and Alphys)

Alphys hummed to herself nervously, skittering her thick fingers nervously over his desk as she checked to make sure everything had been picked up and cleaned off. She had never been a particularly clean individual, but when it came to meeting her new co-worker, it was important to keep up appearances. She smiled slightly at her rather impressive clean-up job, a bit proud to have straightened up so well. Sweeping the last bit of dust off the desk, she sat down at her computer, beginning to pretend she was doing something important for when the new guy came in.

The Head Royal Scientist and her boss, Dr. W.D Gaster, wasn’t always keen on hiring new employees due to his expectations ranging higher than Ebott himself. Because of this, company wasn’t very common within the workplace, and Gaster wasn’t too fond of slacking off. He was good for the occasional casual conversation over a nice cup of coffee, but that was really it. Alphys herself had been the last scientist ever accepted into the Royal Science Division, and the hoops she had to jump through to just accomplish the entrance exam was nearly enough to break the young lizard monster in two. This new colleague would have to be exceptionally intelligent to prove to Gaster he could handle the stressful duties that befall the royal scientists.

Alphys could picture this monster now; tall and thin with knowledgeable eyes rising just above a pair of wire framed spectacles. Perhaps he would specialize in studies of the soul, Gaster’s own field. Magic was another field that needed some attention. Alphys let herself become hopeful, her mind bringing up the suggestion that this new scientist possibly specializing within the study and experimentation of programming and robotics such as herself. Maybe, just maybe, he would have an interest in humans, a subject that even Gaster didn’t want to waste time in if it didn’t involve their souls. She knew she shouldn’t get her hopes up, but wouldn’t it be just grand to be able to have an interesting conversation with someone with a topic outside of her assigned studies? They would talk for hours upon hours about the subject, eventually getting closer to one another until they were best of friends. Maybe even more than friends. They would soon date and inevitably get married. By then, the barrier will undoubtedly have broken, and so they would live happily ever after, sharing a domestic life with their three children that they would raise and watch grow up into adults with kids of their own as they aged together and-

Okay, that escalated rather quickly. Alphys felt the all too visible blush appear on her cheeks when she realized she had been writing all this down on her computer. How embarrassing was this?

The young scientist leaned back in her seat with a sigh, trying to get herself to relax for once. She had always made a fool of herself before, so she was just hoping this time would be different for her. The new monster would come in, they would greet each other in an adult-like manner, they would become colleagues, they would make out in the closet where-

Whoa there, Alphys. Letting that imagination get the best of you, eh? It was best if she actually get to work on some important work assigned for her before she began to write some fanfiction about her own work fantasies. However, as she was setting a hand on her mouse, another hand covered hers, stopping her in her tracks.

“Wait wait,” came a voice uncomfortably behind her. “I’m getting to the good part; don’t change it yet. ‘And that’s when he will propose to me in our quiet little cottage we had for a few good years, cherishing m-’”

Alphys couldn’t help the squeal that left her throat as she scrambled to throw the hand off and quickly delete the document, spinning around in her desk chair to face the monster to nearly give her a soul attack.

This monster that had intruded on her ‘work’ was a skeleton, the first surprise to Alphys. According to her knowledge, skeletons were an almost extinct race of monster, Gaster being the only one she had met, much less personally knew. And yet, here he was, though he didn’t much look like she would have imagined. Unlike the thin, tall, and frail frame most would associate with a skeleton, this one was about her height and was more rotund in the torso. From what she could see of his of his hands and skull, his bone structure was rather thick, even ‘big boned’ if you will. His permanent expression was turned upwards to a grin while his sockets showed amusement, the small eyelights glowing back at her dimly from within those deep abysses. She would have probably smacked him in the ribs with whatever she could grab had she not noticed the lab coat draped over his clavicles and torso, which were covered by a light blue sweater.

“A masterpiece,” the monster chuckled. “Ten out of ten. Would read again.” It took a minute for Alphys to register he was talking about her most embarrassing entry into her computer, and before she could even muster out a response, the skeleton stuck out a hand. “Anyways, hey. The name’s Sans. Sans the Skeleton. You’re Alphys, right?” The female monster in question gave a hesitant nod, returning the gesture. She was about to make a remark when she was surprised by the sudden sound of imitated flatulence coming from her palm. A quick recoil revealed the culprit. “The ol’ whoopie cushion in the hand trick,” Sans snickered. “They always fall for it.” He tucked the gag away, looking back up at Alphys. “So, you’re the lizard my dad likes to talk about, huh?”

It took Alphys a bit to register the question, and even longer to give a straight answer. “Your dad?…. you mean Dr. Gaster?” she questioned. He stuck both hands into the pockets of his coat. “Yup. The old man himself. Who else? Well, anyone else and it’d be pretty weird, dontchya think?” He walked over to another desk chair opposite to hers and collapsed in it. “So what? Dr. Gastly doesn’t ever talk about his spawn? Figures.”

As if on cue, Dr. Gaster himself appeared through the sliding metal door, straightening his lab coat. He looked up at the pair, a hint of surprise appearing in those deep sockets of his before a small smile appeared on his skull. “Ah, I see you’ve met Sans, yes?” he acknowledged, striding over to the two. “Sans, this is my assistant, Alphys. Alphys, this is my son, Sans.” Well then, this situation now had a bit more weight to it. Calling this offensive, unfunny, uncharismatic sloth of a monster just what he was would undoubtedly cast a bit of bitterness from the good doctor. Not wanted to be in his wide circle of distaste, she forced herself to swallow the mountain-sized pill and straightened herself.

“Wh-why yes, we’ve already met. We’ve already gotten rather acquainted with each other,” she informed, a bit of a stutter to her voice. Improvisation wasn’t really her strong suit. “I-I’m sure we’ll be great colleagues within the future, without a-”

“You don’t have to lie,” Sans interrupted, kicking up his feet on the desk as he let out a slight chuckle. “He already knows how punny I can be. He’s kinda my dad after all.” Well, that just knocked all the breath right out of her. She gave a look up at Gaster, who just gave a sort of amused smile at the two of them. “Alphys, I assure you my son is a brilliant scientist mind, as you will see,” the doctor explained. “He is going to be working within the field of-” please please please please please please “-quantum physics, as well as helping me in my studies of the soul.” Nooooooo. Well, any chance of a decent friendship was going straight into the trash.

Sans looked over at his new companion and gave her that grin that was already starting to grate on her nerves. Alphys took her eyes off of the sloth and looked up at Gaster, a bit of a pleading expression across her face. He gave her a sort of sympathetic smile and gave her a pat on the shoulder as he passed by. “Go easy on each other, you two.” And with that, he exited the room and passed into the main lab, humming a tune to himself as he left.

The second that Gaster had disappeared behind the doors, Alphys gave a small huff and went back to typing on her computer. Sans did the same, working on his computer and such. At least he had stopped fooling around. Alphys got a bit of work done here and there, typing up programming code and making sure there were no more bugs in the system. After a good ten minutes, she looked back at the short skeleton to check on what he was working on at the moment. It was just a bit of curiosity. To her slight surprise, he seemed to be stuck on the startup screen; a black screen filled with various bits of code here and there. He wasn’t filling out any of the code, though. He sort of just looked at it. Odd but not exactly attention grabbing, she looked back at her computer, deciding it safe enough to grab one of her human comic books and look through it. While most of the Underground had an air of resentment about them, Alphys couldn’t help but find them simply fascinating. These, ahem, “history books” were always a favorite of hers. Of course, they’d have to go under a different name just to be able to get past Gaster.

After a few monochrome pages in, her reading was interrupted by throat clearing behind her. She let out a little sigh and quickly stuffed the book into her inventory before turning to look at Sans. “Y-yes? How may I help you?” she asked politely, hoping this wasn’t another stunt of his to get another laugh. Instead, what she got was a bit of a sheepish, maybe even apologetic expression on the skeleton. “Heya… I’m having a bit of trouble getting my cpu to start up. You’re good with this kind of technology, aint cha?” Alphys looked over to see the same black screen lined with code. She had forgotten his specific computer had been having a few problems in the last few months, since it was mostly unused. She had been meaning to work on it for a bit, but with her work on the Undernet and the lack of other scientists, she’d never really gotten around to it. She was a bit surprised, though, seeing as Sans was Gaster’s offspring. While she was a bit annoyed with him, she wasn’t the type to hold a grudge, especially over something so insignificant. She nodded and stood up, going over and pulling the keyboard to her so she could get to typing.

Silence reigned over the lab, save for the taps of the keyboard and a quiet hum in Alphys’ throat of a song she had once heard. The computer was rather easy to fix once you get down to it. “You’re pretty good at this,” she heard the skeleton murmur, causing her to pause and look over at him. “O-oh, it’s nothing,” she stuttered, smiling a bit. “I-I assume you’re not too good with cpus?” Sans gave a small shrug, but nodded. “Yeah, you could say that. I’m more of a… quantum physics kind of monster. Dimensions and timelines and whatever. It’s my dad’s specialty.” He looked up at Alphys with a slumped figure. “You probably know about that, huh? How many forty minute lectures about string theory have you been caught in so far?” Alphys couldn’t help but cover her mouth with her fingers as she attempted to hold back a smile.

It was true that Gaster could go on and on about the subjects that intrigued him, but as her superior and accomplice, she always heard a few of these a day. It made her wonder what it was like even living with him. “Yeah, I’ve heard a few,” she murmured, glancing down at him before she resumed fixing the cpu. They had both gone quiet once again. It didn’t stay that way for long, however.

“Hey… sorry for being all the funny stuff I pulled before,” Sans suddenly piped up, catching his coworker’s attention. She gave a slight “hmm?” in response, urging him to elaborate. His permagrin was once again looking a tad sheepish. “You know, reading your work, teasing you, the whoopie cushion. I can’t really help myself,” he grinned. “I guess you could say I have a bit of a funny bone.” Alphys had to hold in the giggle that wanted to erupt from her mouth. “It-it’s fine,” she dismissed, giving him a small smile. “I guess I don’t have much of a sense of humor myself. Call it a side effect of being around Gaster for so long.” Sans couldn’t help but nod in agreement, looking back at the screen. “Ho yeah. Him n’ his lectures and experiments can really work you down to the bone.” He snapped his skull back just to give Alphys a knowing wink before turning his attention back to the monitor. Alphys couldn’t help the flood of giggles that spilled from her mouth at his actions. While she wasn’t much for puns or jokes, Sans was somehow able to get them to work. Apparently the skeleton in question was a bit proud of this, for his grin only grew wider as he looked away from the screen for a bit.

Deciding that they had experienced enough delays, Alphys finished up the coding and got the computer starting up again. “There,” she said, resting a hand on the bulky monitor, “all done. Now you can resume your work.” Sans seemed to light up more at the fix, which only served to make the scientist feel delighted. “Thanks doc,” he beamed, getting a feel around his computer as he already began to explore the various applications. “You’re the best.”

Alphys couldn’t help but feel a bit bashful at his praise. She looked away, giving a light smile. “O-oh, it was nothing,” she simpered. “Just a bit of programming work. A-anyways, you should get started on your work for Dr. Gaster. Quantum physics, was it?” Sans paused, as if taking a brief moment to think something through. “Yup,” the monster confirmed. “He wants me to write up a basis for quantum theory in relation to pneumatology. Y’know, the study of the soul and whatnot.” He let out a small sigh in preparation for the work ahead. “So much work, so little time, and only twenty letters in the alphabet just to get my thoughts down.”

Alphys was about to wish Sans luck and dismiss herself, but she paused upon hearing her colleague’s small error. “Twenty letters? There are twenty-six,” she corrected. Sans blinked in surprise, before showing an expression of mock realization. “Oh! Yeah, duh. Sorry. I guess I was forgetting about the letters U, R, A, Q, T.”

Confusion bubbled in Alphys’ mind as she tried to process what Sans was even talking about, but it soon hit her like a pile of bricks. Laughter exploded from her as she doubled over, using the desk as support. Sans watched in delighted glee as Alphys laughed harder than anyone had ever had at one of his crummy jokes. Alphy’s laughs soon devolved into giggles, but she couldn’t help the snort that sounded when her giggles wouldn’t cease. She covered her mouth in surprise in order to catch the long gone sound, but her giggles could still be heard muffled by her hand. “Whoa, was that a snort?” Sans asked, giving a few chuckles himself. Alphys turned her head away in a coy manner as her giggling finally slowed to a stop and her hand was removed. “Y-yeah,” she mumbled, still unable to keep that smile off of her face. “Sorry, I do that sometimes.” Sans just shook his head, dismissing her apology. “No no, don’t apologize; I like it. It’s kinda cute.”

Alphys felt her cheeks heat up with magic as she looked down at him, looking for any signs of bluff or mockery, to which she found none. “Th-thanks,” she murmured bashfully, her hand coming up to cup her warming cheeks as he averted her eyes once again. Never in her life did she ever think she would be called anything even relating to the word “cute” that didn’t come from her parents. Was this the part where she had to compliment him back, right? Wasn’t that how it worked? But what would she compliment? His bone structure? His puns? Yes, tell him he’s funny; that’ll work and won’t make her look like a complete fool.

“You-you’re cute, too, I-I guess,” she sputtered; her eyes immediately widened at what she had said. Well, it was final. She was doomed to die alone. Good job, Alphys. Good job. Sans sat back in his chair, the tops of his sockets raised some. “Cute, huh? Well, I’ve never been called that before. Thanks, I guess.” Well Alphys, your work here is done, she thought. Now all you have to do is take all your stuff, walk out of the lab, and keep walking until you fall off the path and into the lava. That’s the only way to save yourself now.

But first, there was one last thing she needed to address.

“That’s only twenty-five letters,” she forced out all of the sudden. Sans gave a little “hmm?” as he looked up at her with questioning sockets. “Y-you only gave me five letters. There are twenty-six and that rounds up to twenty-five,” the monster elaborated, feeling as though she would melt under his gaze. After a brief look of pondering, he suddenly sat up straighter with a more jovial grin. “Oh yeah! That’s right, I am missing one. Don’t worry, though, I’ll give you the D later!”

Alphys had to cover her mouth from the sheer shock of his response. She forced herself to look away and scramble back over to her computer, covering her heated face as she heard Sans crowing with laughter behind her. She slumped forward in her seat, trying to get herself to calm her face down. She didn’t look back up until she heard Sans’ laughter die down and to hear typing take place.

She sat up and slumped in her chair, her mind reeling. After a few good minutes, she decided to get back to work, taking a few glances back at Sans, not knowing that he would occasionally glance back at her as well.

Perhaps working with him wouldn’t be so bad after all.

#Coonfics #Salphys #Undertale #fanfiction #Sans #Alphys #romance #request #lickupmycakespills

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artificialqueens · 7 years

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Ficlet-fest (Shalaska, Vatya, Katlaska, etc.) - Spoky

A/N: Hi guys! I wanted to celebrate the fact that people were kind enough to vote for me as a versatile author in the AQficAwards. So! Here’s some versatility! Thank you for voting!! xx [The voting for some categories is still open, so go vote, it’s fun! ^^ ] This is a collection of ficlets that I wrote for the prompt thing that went around in Tumblr some time ago (so all pairings and the lines with them were suggested by readers, I didn’t come up with them!). Some of these have been previously published in my blog, some of them have not. (( I actually think all authors who wrote these prompts in their blogs should do this type of collection, because I read some amazing ones and the art of drabbles/ficlets is kinda missing on AQ!! <3 )) A list, so you can see what’s there and don’t have to read all of them, or any, just to figure out if you’d like one (genre, word count): 1) Shalaska, “I gave you your chance, and you just used it to stab me in the back.” (fluff, 433)

2) NaoChi, “Did it ever occur to you that you’re hurting me too?” (fluff, humour, 141)

3) Shalaska, “What? Does that feel good?” (quick smut, 295)

4) Shalaska, “You can’t keep it all inside, you know? Bottling it up won’t do any good.” (breakup angst, 395)

5) Rolaskatox, “There’s been some real friction in our friend group lately. I suggest an orgy to save our friendship.” (almost smut, 460)

6) Vatya, “Forget the douche. He’s a dick. He’s a dickdouche.” (fluff, 250)

7) Shalaska, “You know I’ll kill him if he hurts you.” (friendship fluff, 166)

8) Katlaska, “You seem like a friendly face, mind if I sit with you?” (very stupid humour, 234)

9) Ginger Minj/Katya, “You’re jealous, aren’t you?” “I’m not jealous.” (unrequited love, 402)

10) Adore-centric, “Rise and shine motherfucker.” (fluff, 548)

11) Alexis Michelle & Violet Chachki, “Don’t you think you’re a little too old to be using cheesy pick up line?” (friendship fluff, 437)

Drabble-fest

1) Shalaska, “I gave you your chance, and you just used it to stab me in the back.”

Alaska glanced down at the cards. If she played this right, she had a slight chance of- WHAT?!

She turned to Sharon in a mixture of outrage and disbelief.

“How dare you?! After everything we’ve been through?!”

Sharon smirked and took a better position at the arm chair. She licked her plump lips and smiled like a cat at a cream cup.

“Come on babe, the briefs.”

Alaska squinted at Sharon in annoyance. Sharon knew she liked to wear socks, mainly because the floor was fucking freezing, but also because she didn’t particularly like the shape of her big toes. That did not, however, mean that she’d rather take off her briefs than the socks. She liked her testicles warm, thank you very much. She glanced at Jinkx, who was clearly avoiding her gaze.

“Jinkxyyy,” Alaska whined quietly: “Please, once more? One of those skip cards?”

Jinkx threw Alaska a sarcastic smirk and with a raised eyebrow asked: “And where were you, when I wanted to keep my t-shirt on?”

Alaska figured Jinkx had a point. She really had screwer the ginger over couple of rounds ago. But it wasn’t her fault! Sharon and Willam had been ganging up on them! She glanced back to Sharon and worried her lower lip.

“But it’s so cold,” she drawled and Sharon snorted, rolling her eyes.

“Strip,” Sharon commanded firmly. The tone went straight to Alaska’s cock and she blinked in surprise. Did Sharon find the situation arousing? In that case…

“Come on Jinkx, babe, help me out?” Alaska drawled, keeping an eye at Sharon, knowing that if the man really found the situation sexually interesting, she’d bounce before Alaska actually had to strip. The only thing Alaska had to do, was to keep whining, beg to be punished. She’d so much rather get dragged to the bedroom and get fucked senseless than strip in front of Jinkx and Willam, both of which would just make fun of her shaved genitalia. Moreover, the cut above her penis hurt. It wasn’t funny! She doubted Willam would see it that way.

“I gave you a chance, and you used it to stab me in the back,” Jinks reasoned and turned to look away from Alaska.

“But I’m so cold,” Alaska whined and pouted. It was only seconds after, that Sharon grabbed her arm and dragged her into the bedroom.

Willam threw her cards on the floor in annoyance and sighed.

“Do you ever get the feeling that they use us, and this game, as foreplay?”

Jinkx nodded. She totally agreed.

_____________________

2) NaoChi, “Did it ever occur to you that you’re hurting me too?”

“OUCH.”

“Don’t be a baby.”

“I’m not! You’re not stretching the skin enough!”

“I’m the queen of makeup. What ever I do, I do correctly. Now shut up, and let me finish.”

“OU! That really hurts!”

“Just picture yourself on Hawaii.”

“AU!”

“Did it ever occur to you that you’re hurting me too?”

“How, how am I hurting you?! You are the one that is waxing my legs with self-made experimental recipe of sugar wax!!”

“I hurt when I see my loved ones in pain, the emotional torture is hell.” Naomi stared at Kim for a moment before slapping her on her shoulder with the magazine she happened to be holding. “Ouch!”

“Didn’t hurt at all. I guess I don’t really love you then, huh?”

“Bitch.”

Kim was more careful with the following strip and Naomi smirked.

“This recipe sucks.”

_____________________

3) Shalaska, “What? Does that feel good?” (smut) I lean him up against the edge of the double-sink counter and catch his eyes in the mirror. I put my arms around his chest, admiring his lean, lanky body. He’s not muscular, skeletal actually, thanks to the poor nutrition choices he makes chronically, always reaching for the back of cigarettes, or the vodka, rather than something I could label as “food”. I’m amazed at how aroused I get just by looking at him. In comparison to him I look broad, masculine, dominant – even if he’s couple of inches taller. I don’t mind his height, especially not when he bows down to kiss me, crouching his shoulders, making sure I don’t have to rise to my tiptoes. He’s eager to please.

“What? Does that feel good?” He nods with a groan. I reach down to stroke his penis. I play with his testicles and tease his ear by giving it a lick. When he’s ready, he gives me a sign by arching his back and pushing his buttocks against me. I work my cock into him from behind.

As I fuck him in front of the mirror, in a hotel room we wouldn’t have afforded last year, I watch as his face relaxes as he starts to enjoy being penetrated. His cock gets harder and flaps against the sink with a soft thud every time I thrust into him. I’m consumed by his extraordinary allure and watch him being fucked by a nearly invisible lover, as I’m standing exactly behind him and the mirror thus fails to reflect a lot of me. First time in months we ejaculate simultaneously, me inside him, and he releases a chain of profanities to accompany the sperm he shoots in strips onto the sparkling white countertop. It reminds me of modern art.

_____________________

4) Shalaska, “You can’t keep it all inside, you know? Bottling it up won’t do any good.”

He’s sitting exactly in the same spot where I left him in the morning. I know I’m not supposed to care, but I do. It’s not a very masculine thing to feel, but just looking at him makes me want to curl into a ball, hide under a blanket and cry.

He looks absolutely miserable – and smells bad. I don’t know how long he’s gone without a shower, but his odor reaches me six feet away. I don’t think he’s sleeping either, based on the dark circles around his swollen eyes. He’s not even trying to hide his misery and I’ve given him three days to wallow in self-pity before I’m going to kick his skinny butt out of that chair he’s seized. My favourite chair. The chair I want to sit in after work and have a beer. He has 15 hours left of the 72 and his behaviour is getting worse, not better. I doubt he has any plans to snap out of the toxic pattern he’s developed. He doesn’t know I’ve put a time limit on his wallowing. Someone has to.

He sighs and even the blanket he’s wrapped around himself looks fed up with his self-torture. I know he’s hurting, but scrolling through the past, one picture and video at a time cannot be the answer. I doubt he has eaten anything since I force fed him some toast in the morning. I roll my eyes at him behind his back and try to keep my attitude in check.

“You can’t keep it all inside, you know? Bottling it up won’t do any good.”

“Fuck off Cory.”

I’m not surprised by the answer or his whiny tone. I know that he was, is?, in love with this Needles-character, but I’m glad it’s over. Of course I’m not going to tell him that, not now, possibly not ever. Honestly though, I never understood what he saw in that guy. Justin’s an alright looking man, nice, polite, talented, driven… Shouldn’t be too hard to find a man that compliments those characteristics rather than dampens them down? Or maybe it is, how should I know? His quiet sniffling draws me out of my thoughts and I see him wipe a tear away from his cheek. I glance at my watch and suppress the urge to slap him. He has 14 hours and 25 minutes.

_____________________

5) Rolaskatox, “There’s been some real friction in our friend group lately. I suggest an orgy to save our friendship.”

“Fuck! Stand there. Don’t. Move.” Willam glanced over her shoulder to Alaska who was trying to hide behind her, which given their difference in height was delusional on her part. She turned her eyes to the direction Alaska was clearly trying not to look at, and spotted Detox and Roxxxy. “Bitch, don’t tell me you still haven’t sorted out the All Stars crap?” “Roxxxy is fine, Detox is the problem.” “You’re the problem,” Willam snorted and lifted up her hand. “HEY! Whores! Over here!” Alaska smacked Willam’s shoulder and tried to pretend that she hadn’t tried to hide. “Fancy seeing you here,” Detox sneered, giving Willam a hug whilst ignoring Alaska.

Roxxxy bit her lip in amusement. The angry electronic charge between Detox and Alaska hadn’t calmed down one bit since the filming of All Stars 2. On paper they had made up, Alaska had apologised, Detox had accepted. They’d given each other a hug worthy of PhiPhi and Alyssa and moved on. Meaning of course that no one had moved on at all. “I know right! So funny!” Willam sing-songed, not meaning her words even the tiny amount appropriate for a sarcasm. “Let’s do shots!” Willam announced and Roxxxy agreed. This Detox Alaska-situation clearly required tequila. It was a couple of hours later, all of them supporting a state of ‘happy tipsy’, when Roxxxy had finally gotten enough of Detox and Alaska avoiding each other. She had to say something. “Girls, there’s been some real friction in our friend group lately,” Roxxxy started. “- and I suggest an orgy to save our friendship!” Willam finished for her. “Like, I’d like to come, and I will come, but not with you. I got this trade arrangement,” she continued. “But this Laskatox situation is not going away with some small talk, trust me,” she finished and gave them a meaningful look over the rim of her cocktail glass. Roxxxy could feel the tension as Detox met Alaska’s eyes for the first time in the entire evening. What was surprising that they seemed to agree. “I’m going to fuck you so hard you can’t spell Paypal,” Detox said quietly. Roxxy could see Alaska swallow before she downed the rest of her cocktail and stood up. “Let’s go then.” Detox followed Alaska’s example and the pair started to move towards the exit. Roxxxy was looking at Willam in utter disbelief, when suddenly someone tapped her on the shoulder. Detox. “You coming?” Detox asked and Roxxxy opened her mouth for a reply. Nothing came out. She glanced at Willam. “Go on,” Willam cackled. “You sure as fuck aren’t coming with me!” Detox cocked an eyebrow at Roxxxy, who nodded in awe. “Yeah, yeah,” she rushed to say and downed her own drink. “I’m coming.”

_____________________

6) Vatya, “Forget the douche. He’s a dick. He’s a dickdouche.”

Katya is staring into space and lifts a fifth cigarette in row to her lips. She had really given the concept a chance. She had committed to the relationship. She had fucking talked about him in her shows! She had done everything “right”. Whatever that fucking meant. And it still hadn’t worked out. Trixie had no idea what she was on about. There was no such thing as love. There was just casual sex and self-indulgent hedonism. There was cigarettes and drag, friends and weed, but there sure as fuck wasn’t things like ‘the one’, ‘true love’ or fucking ‘monogamy’. Why the fuck had they even tried to be exclusive, if he wanted to bang every Asian twink he could find while Katya was gone? She was fine with that. What she wasn’t fine with was this eternal pretence and lying and cheating and FUCK. “I heard.” Katya glanced up to find her favorite dominatrix making her way down the steps to the smoking area. She stood up from the ground and went to help her. The steps hadn’t been easy with her jellies, so they must’ve been a nightmare with the high stilettos Violet was wearing. “Forget the douche. He’s a dick. He’s a dickdouche.”

Katya chuckled at the words and pulled Violet into a hug. “You’ll fuck me later, right?” Violet laughed at the question. She could always trust Katya to prioritise correctly. Apparently even if heartbroken. “Of course. But bitch, don’t touch my hair.”

_____________________

7) Shalaska, “You know I’ll kill him if he hurts you.”

Alaska fixed the Kelvin knot on Sharon’s tie and smiled. “That’s better.” “You were always a lot better at them.”

“I just had more practice at tying them on you.” Sharon chuckled and knew it was true. She had never tied one around Alaska’s neck. “The groom ready?” the officiant asked and Alaska smirked. “As ready as she’ll ever be.” Their eyes locked and Sharon knew that what ever would happen, whether or not he would spend the rest of his life with the person waiting for him to get ready, Alaska would be there. Alaska was always there.

“I love you,” Sharon whispered and pulled the best man into a tight hug. “I love you too,” Alaska replied and squeezed the groom. “You know I’ll kill him if he hurts you.” Sharon chuckled. She had no doubt about it. “It’s more likely I hurt him.” “Touché,” Alaska said. It was true after all. “Ready?” the officiant hurried them along and Alaska nodded for Sharon. “Ready.”

_____________________

8) Katlaska, “You seem like a friendly face, mind if I sit with you?”

“You seem like a friendly face, would you mind terribly if I sit with you?” Alaska glanced up to Katya and frowned. “What now?” “The weather has been lovely for the past couple of days, wouldn’t you agree?” Alaska placed the eyeliner she was holding on the dresser and turned to face her lover. “Ok, I give up, what’s going on?” “I’m merely making conversation, my dear.” Alaska didn’t believe her for a second. “Alright.” “The weather, my love, what do you think about the weather?” Alaska glanced outside and then at Jinkx whose reflection she could see in the window. The redhead shrugged, equally confused. “I guess it’s fine.” “Fine? What a useless word. The weather is so many things in this loveable country, amongst my many favourite idioms, it is currently, according to my colleague here, raining cats and dogs.” Jinkx burst out laughing. Alaska sighed. “Katya, just get to it. Before I fucking smack you.” “So vulgar, my darling, but alright, if you insist.” Katya grinned widely and spread her arms. “We are being rained on by pussy and bitches people, pussy and bitches!” Alaska sighed and squeezed her eyes shut. Sometime, just sometimes she wished she’d fallen for someone more standard in their comedy, like Bianca, or Trixie, or even Alyssa fucking Edwards. “Was that all?” she asked Katya, who flashed her a toothy smirk. “That’s all.”

_____________________

9) Ginger Minj/Katya, “You’re jealous, aren’t you?” “I’m not jealous.”

there’s a fat girl in the corner

and she’s the office clown

the life and soul of parties

never easy to weigh down

“You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Ginger glances up to Trixie and snorts in annoyance. “Girl, please,” she says and brushes Trixie off. Because she’s right. Katya is sitting next to Violet and they’re practicing their dance. To Ginger, right at this moment, the bright pink walls feel depressing. * “You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Ginger glances up to Pearl and snorts in annoyance. “Girl, please,” she says and brushes Pearl off. Because she’s right. Katya is being applauded on the stage. She’s being hugged and touched by multiple queens; queens Ginger knows Katya admires and loves. Katya really deserves the win of Miss Congeniality, and Ginger wishes she could touch Katya the same way other queens do. She also wishes she could get a similar response from her, a reaction of sexual tension. * “You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Ginger glances up to Alyssa and snorts in annoyance. “Girl, please,” she says and brushes Alyssa off. Because she’s right. Katya has been following Alaska around in the work room like a cat in heat. For most people in the room it’s adorable to watch. To Ginger it’s annoying.

* “You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Ginger glances up to the other queen, What’s her name again?, and snorts in annoyance. “Girl, please,” she says and brushes her off. Because she’s right. Katya is making out on the sofa with one of the UK-tour roadies. It’s all in good fun and the guy claims to be completely straight. But who wouldn’t love Katya? Or at least be charmed by the pure sexual allure she radiates. Ginger knows, she’s a victim herself. * “You’re jealous, aren’t you?” “For fuck sake, leave me alone! I’m not jealous!” “Whoa, girl, what’s wrong?” Katya says and Ginger wants the ground to swallow her. “Nothing. Just on the edge, sorry.” “I’ll say,” Katya nods. “I just thought it looked like you wanted the roadie for yourself.” Ginger glances at Katya. “Girl, go fuck him. I’ll find a ‘Ginger Minj -race chaser’ from the crowd.” “Thanks girl, you’re a doll!” Katya smirks and gives Ginger a hug.

there’s a fat girl in the corner

and for once she’s had enough

things have gone pear shaped

she wants someone to love

overworked, overeaten and overweight

a 20 something fat cat

who never got her bait

(poem by Scottee, UK Drag artist)

_____________________

10) Adore-centric, “Rise and shine motherfucker.”

“ADORE! FOR FUCKS SAKE!” Adore recognises that voice. At least she thinks she does. It’s Bianca. “Get the fuck up. RIGHT. NOW!” It’s definitely Bianca. Adore opens her eyes and is attacked by the sun light. She squeezes her eyes at the light and realises that there is a body in the bed with her. Well, a person. She doesn’t think they’re dead. And if they are, it happened very recently because they’re still warm.

“You have two minutes before I go downstairs and ask the hotel staff to come open this door!” “Adore, honey, please answer?” That’s Courtney. Why are they behind her door at, she glances at her phone, 9.30AM? “I’m awake!” she calls out and the banging at the door stops.

She realises her tour bus is leaving at 9.30. Shit, did she miss the tour bus? No, she couldn’t have. Bianca and Courtney are both behind her door. So the bus must’ve… fuck. The bus is delayed because of her? No wonder Bianca sounds angry. She crawls up from the bed and opens the door. Bianca and Courtney storm into the room like a pair of overprotective parents. Courtney strokes Adore’s cheek and Bianca goes to the bed, pulling off the covers. “Rise and shine motherfucker,” Bianca tells the naked form revealed in Adore’s bed. Adore stares in awe. She slept with that? So beautiful! And she can’t remember it?! For fucks sake! She really needs to get a grip. She can’t keep hooking up with gorgeous beings and not remember it! Especially this thing on the bed, so handsome. The boy on the bed groans and brings his hand to protect his eyes from the sunlight. He turns and doesn’t seem at all bothered that he’s being stared down by three sets of eyes. He seems completely comfortable, and Adore can’t but to admire his confidence. Shit. So hot. She wishes she could remember. “Beat it queen!” Bianca barks and Adore halts. Queen? The boy gets up and collects his clothes. “Wait, wait!” Adore interrupts him. “I a… did we, uh…” she struggles to articulate. The boy smirks. “Yeah, we did. Don’t worry, we were safe,” he says kindly. “I’m, I’m Adore,” Adore says. She wants to know his name. She just has to. She wants to track him down later. To apologise. To talk. To make friends. To make more than friends. “I know. I’m Violet,” the boy says and Adore is in love. It’s love, surely, this immediate attraction to him when Adore is sober, this feeling of understanding and connection and- “Violet Chachki.”

“Violet,” Adore repeats in awe. She wants her, him, her, it doesn’t matter. It finally doesn’t fucking matter! Them! She wants them. “Adore, get dressed. NOW.” Adore looks at her surroundings. Courtney is packing her stuff. Bianca is holding a t-shirt for her to put on. “Sorry about my folks,” she says to Violet, smirking. “That’s alright, I’ll see you later,” Violet answers. “But where?!” Adore yells after Violet as she rushes outside the door. “Oh, you know,” Violet shrugs and disappears behind the door. “I’m in love,” Adore announces. “Yeah yeah, put these on,” Bianca says and throws her a pair of jeans. It’s a good day.

_____________________

11) Alexis Michelle & Violet Chachki, “Don’t you think you’re a little too old to be using cheesy pick up line?”

Alexis has been building up courage the entire evening. She never hits on anyone in clubs, because the reception is poor in 85% of the cases. Tonight she’s promised Aja to make an effort. Because “you need to put yourself out there”. She has Peppermint for backup as well, in case she gets her feelings hurt. Peppermint has promised that if all goes to shit, they can go back to hers and watch Netflix and eat ice cream. But first she needs to make an effort. She approaches the guy at the bar and leans in. “Aside from being sexy, what do you do for a living?” The guy takes one look at her and smiles. “Um, I’m a lawyer, so out of your league, in every way,” he says and walks away. Alexis sighs. What was she thinking? This is never going to work.

“Don’t you think you’re a little too old to be using a cheesy pick up line?”

Alexis turns her head and is surprised to be face to face with Violet Chachki. She looks amazing out of drag. Of course, she looks amazing in drag as well, but at the moment she’s wearing just a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt.

Alexis chuckles awkwardly. “Hi, yeah, I guess.” “Come on, I’ll buy you a shot,” Violet says and gestures the bartender, who arrives immediately, ignoring other customers. Alexis figures that’s the type of service most RuGirl get and can expect. “Gin?” Violet asks and Alexis nods. She doesn’t like gin but whatever. They down the shots and Violet grabs her hand. “Let’s dance,” she says and drags Alexis to the dance floor. Alexis takes notice how there’s more attention to them now. People try to dance with them, but Violet ignores them. “The trick is to look like you really don’t want them,” Violet whispers.

“But I do,” Alexis says. Violet laughs at her honesty. “No you don’t, not these guys,” she says confidently. “You want the guy at the bar, he’s been looking at you since you arrived.” “Who?” Alexis asks and tries to turn but Violet prevents her. “Not yet, you idiot! Right now, you’re here, with me and trust me girl, it is only a good thing,” she says and smirks. Alexis shakes her head. She’s never understood these games. “Now, look at him.” Alexis turns to look and is met with a pair of brown eyes across the dance floor. “Should I go over?” “Fuck no! Let him come here.” “How do you know that he will?” Violet laughs. “He will.” After three more songs, he does. Aja would be proud. _______________ A/N2: I hope you enjoyed at least one of them! + To the person who sent in the Katya/Sasha prompt, don’t worry honey, that one is going to be a full length fic! xx

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dreamttempest · 5 years

Text

Break Reason: Chapter 1

Sweet are the uses of adversity. -- William Shakespeare

BREAK LOGIC

I regret not remembering much about our first meeting. I remember the terror with ease. I can’t get it out of my head! Mrs. Tanaka... She reached out to me in concern to that scared, injured little girl. She touched my hand then didn’t exist anymore. That feeling of guilt and fear sometimes wells up in me. In a twisted way, I like the feeling. I know I’m still human if I feel disgusted about killing her or when I killed my birth father. Why did both have to smile when they died?

I recall “I don’t fear you”. I’m glad for that memory. Father has felt many things towards me over the years, but fear was never one of them. I did enough fearing for the both of us. I clung to Eraser Head all the way to U.A. It was night, so only a few guards should’ve been on campus. That didn’t stop Principal Nezu or Recovery Girl from rushing.

I was a very undocumented person. The Yakuza got a hold of me without the law knowing, so my original identity is either listed as “missing” or “dead”. Not sure which. I never bothered to check. The select staff at A.U. kept my case undocumented.

Recovery Girl relied on her nurse’s office and healing power to help me. I’m certain I was healthier in that moment than I been for the entirety of my captivity. Even so, she did everything while I clung onto Aizawa’s left arm. He sat next to me stoically, sometimes patting me on the head. He only used his power once on me, and that was when I revealed my fear of shots. From all the scaring on my arms and legs, they concluded the several dozen small, circular scars were from needles of some kind. I feel sorta bad about not talking about it to them. I did a few years later, but I still don’t like shots. My illogical fear can be rationalized by my abuse, so Father doesn’t mind.

I found Principal Nezu to be a pleasant experience for my little self. I never expected empathy from an animal, but he too was a victim of vicious human experimentation. He told me the same thing, and those words got me to trust the animal with the most powerful intelligence Quirk recorded. It also helped that I had a little bunny doll back in captivity, and my little self decided he was actually a fluffy bunny. To this day, I will swear Nezu is truly a mutant bunny in one of my few instances of genuine humor. Until he tells me his bloody species, he’ll incur my mischievous wrath.

I learned this years later, but Nezu and Aizawa decided my fate as I was pulling his supposedly bunny ears with my free hand. I kept my other hand latched onto my savior. Due to the erratic but potentially powerful nature of my Quirk, U.A. adopted an official but tight-lipped new educational program. They never enrolled others. Oh well. For me, it just meant I was under school jurisdiction and I got to stay with the hero who I first called Aizawa.

Poor Nezu spent almost two days straight jumping through legal loopholes and calling in favors just to ensure my undisclosed safety. By comparison, he can do a textbook worth’s of calculus in a few minutes, all while lecturing one of his teachers about balancing hero work and teaching.

BREAK LOGIC

Mina Ashido liked dancing, being happy, and making friends. Her eyes darted across the classroom to the four students already in class. She arrived thirty minutes early, an absolute rarity for the girl, in order to make friends before any of this wonderful adventure begins. She suppressed a squeal at the sheer amazing magnitude of the situation. Somehow, she managed to get accepted into U.A. high school! It’s, like, the coolest high school in the world!

She even all but flunked the academic test.

Her eyes, black except for the yellow irises, first observed a tall student. He had glasses, so she concluded he must’ve been very smart. He had his hair cut short and not a single strand stood out. He also seemed to be taller than most Japanese men; however, her vision focused most on his rigid posture. She decided he came from a well-to-do family and considered “fun” to be an unholy concept worthy of chastisement. In other words, she’ll become his friend later. It’ll be fine, right?

The next one was a blonde with traces of European ancestry. Her weirdo detection went off as he practically lusted after his own reflection in his hand mirror. She’ll become his friend soon because weird people created lots of fun so far.

Then, a student with odd hair sat in the back. On his right, white; on the left, crimson. His nasty scar on the left side suggested a less than stellar upbringing, but he had the same posture as the rigid bespectacled boy. An interesting story lied in his past, but his frigid aurora screamed that he didn’t feel like talking. While she had a happy go lucky personality, Mina knew when people didn’t want to talk and had crap they needed to deal with.

Lastly, she saw an apprehensive girl, like a performer about to enter her stage. Her muscles tensed a lot. Her gloves and leggings also obscured any skin below the neck, an act of hiding herself probably. Her pretty red eyes stared back at Mina; however, two things stood out the most. The girl was friggen tall, most likely a head taller than Mina when she stood. Second, she had a cute little horn above her right eye.

“Horn buddies!” Mina lept for joy and drew the attention of the students present. Even the frigid boy in the back stared at her if lobsters crawled outa her ears, but she didn’t mind the stares. Instead of normal skin, she had pink fur over her entire body and poofy pink hair. Outa that hair were two bendy and cute horns.

“Pardon?” Her future horn buddy replied in a blank tone. The fact that she tensed even more suggested Mina might’ve overplayed her hand.

She bounded in front of the girl’s desk and gave a genuine smile, which could be said about all her smiles. “I’m Mina Ashido! Wanna be friends and horn buddies?” She extended her hand to solidify to offer.

The girl eyed the hand in mistrust. “Define ‘horn buddies’ if you may.” Her language gave the impression of formalism, but she held herself differently than the rich kids. Militaristic maybe?

“I have horns!”

She narrowed her eyes. “You do, and I have one likewise. What are you insinuating?”

Oh crud, this could be going a lot better. “No no no!” She waived her hands around to further that point. “It’s just something we already have in common, and I was hoping…” She scratched the back of her head and grinned bashfully. “Well, I made it up on the spot. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

The girl nodded her head with a jerk. She stood, which proved Mina’s thoughts about her height, and offered her hand. “Eri Aizawa.” Mina grabbed it and shook. The girl tensed again.

Mina let go before she scared the girl but grinned from her accomplishment. She made a new friend. “Let’s trade phone numbers! Give me yours, and I’ll text you mine.”

Eri frowned. “I can’t do that.” Darn it! She pushed too hard and made her friend uncomfortable. “I only use a home phone.”

At that moment, Mina concluded she made a friend with a girl who had few friends. What kinda girl wouldn’t text unless they had no one to text? Texting was awesome!

Little did the pinkette know, she was Eri’s first friend.

BREAK LOGIC

“A Quirk Assessment Test?!” Over a dozen students said the exact same phrase within the same moment. It was illogical.

A brunette by the name of Uraraka clarified the class statement. “What about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?” Though naïve, Aizawa saw a genuine earnest nature within this student. Considering her sufficient scores in the placement tests and her weight-related Quirk, he considered her a strong candidate for a future hero. Though, he wished she was in his last year’s class. Unlike every other student, he wouldn’t have kicked her out, and being a homeroom teacher for just one student would provide plenty of time for teaching… and sleeping.

Aizawa suppressed a yawn.

“If you’re going to become a hero, you don’t have time for such leisurely events.” As always, his voice carried disinterest. “U.A.’s selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are.” He watched his students for their reactions. “That’s also how the teachers run their classes.”

Principal Nezu firmly entrenched himself in the Constructivist ideology of teaching. He wanted the students to have opportunities to form their own ideas and learn in ways besides lecturing. Aizawa agreed. A hero needed to be themselves, not a spoon-fed dolt who merely memorized lectures. That also meant he had an excuse to push his students to their limits and beyond.

Aizawa’s ideology and actions came with a side effect. Nezu always sent him the more eclectic students for the hero course while Kan received the less peculiar cases.

“You kids have been doing these since junior high, right?” He held up his phone. It showed different tests. It also gave the more situationally aware students an opportunity to prepare themselves. “Physical fitness tests didn’t allow for Quirk usage. It’s irrational.” He focused on a troublesome student. “Bakugo, you finished at the top of the practical exam, right?” To be precise, he scored highest since the hero Best Jeanist, now the forth-ranked hero in Japan. His intelligence also suggested a genius intellect.

Bakugo nodded.

“In junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?” Aizawa already knew the information, but he wanted the other students to hear the number. Laws did not allow a teacher to say that information, but the student himself could.

“Sixty-seven meters.” He answered to the point. Rational.

“Then, try doing it with your Quirk.” He handed his student a softball made by U.A.’s technology division. It connected with his phone to give instantaneous results for distance. It saved time. Logical. “You can do whatever you want, as long as you stay in the circle. Hurry up. Give it all you’ve got.”

Bakugo stretched his right arm. He wound up, then he threw the ball. He used his Quirk Explosion to boost the distance. The ball traveled as if it was a rocket; however, what the boy said drew Eraser Head’s attention. “DIE!”

The student’s records suggested the boy had aggression problems, most likely stemming from his Quirk. The mind and body adapted to whatever power a person possessed, and sweating nitroglycerin from your hands would alter one’s mental state. Bakugo grew up with explosions. He saw them like one would see throwing a punch. Dangerous, but not nearly with the same destructive potential massive explosions actually incurred.

Aizawa glanced at Eri. The girl stood opposite of Tokoyami, a boy with the head of a crow. He predicted correctly that she would associate his face with the mask of the Yakuza man who hurt her, even on a subconscious level.

He narrowed his eyes and concluded he will be far less lenient with Bakugo than normal. While he held professionalism in high regard, the man was a father before a teacher or hero. He won’t let Eri be hurt by any of her classmates, consequences be damned.

BREAK LOGIC

Eri Aizawa pulled at her gym shirt, uncomfortable with how it left her arms exposed. She took every precaution available for the safety of others, but wearing a modified shirt without explanation would arouse too many questions.

Her father finished explaining the necessity of knowing one’s limits, an idea she followed whole-heartedly. The other students seemed to think more about Bakugo’s distance, 750 meters, or how fun using Quirks would be in the case of Mina, her… friend.

“Fun?” Father’s attitude silenced the talking students. “You have three years to become a hero. Will you have an attitude like that the whole time?” He smiled which Eri knew as a precursor to terror. “All right. Whoever comes in last place after all eight tests will be judged to have no potential and expelled.” A lie. “We are free to do what we want with our students. Welcome to U.A.’s hero course!”

Father wanted the students to have the proper motivation. Based off their displayed potential and attitudes, he could expel anywhere from all to none of them. Eri clenched her fists. She will give her all.

The smiley girl Uraraka noted how expulsion wasn’t fair, so Father gave examples how hero work wasn’t fair. It motivated the other students, but Eri thought about the future tests instead. She knew what her scores should approximate since she trained with her Quirk from 4:30 to 6:30 every morning. While it won’t give her distinct advantage, she could use it for creating disadvantages in others.

While she could not wear her watch, she long possessed the ability to count seconds like mental metronome. By noting the exact moments where the weaker students felt the most tired during the tests, she could exhaust them before they take another one. She’d ensure herself a placement above last.

Who to target? Hagakure seemed like a good option, but the fact that the so far ditzy girl entered the hero course meant she had a high score in the practical exam. Doing so with a Quirk that made her permanently invisible, a rather harsh side effect, meant she either had extreme physical prowess or a creative mind. Not a good target.

Midoriya scored only rescue points during the practical which suggested his Quirk might not help him here. Add onto the fact that he acted somewhat reminiscent to her after her first years free from torture meant he either had a weak constitution or suffered from bullying. She planned to target him for the time being.

She will target Mineta. The boy stood only up to her hips and took that opportunity to stare in perversion. He also lusted after the other girls’ busts and hips. His short stature and ugly personality meant she will ensure his downfall.

Lastly, she decided to target Kaminari. He mentioned his electric-based Quirk before class started, and he also seemed to stare at the girls too much, albeit with more tact that the dwarven pervert. His Quirk sounded unlikely to help him. The same could be said for Jiro, but Eri liked that girl’s stoic personality. Maybe she too could be a… friend?

Eri shook her head. She shelved emotions and fun for later. They have a 50-meter dash to complete as their first test. What would Father say if she didn’t pay attention for the class’s first major display of Quirks? Additionally, her targets will be physically tired the moment the finish the sprint, so she should memorize all three of their times to use against them.

Midoria was her first target to run, and he didn’t use his Quirk. Eri nodded in satisfaction. He showed his exertion at the end of the run, so Eri started her first time for the boy to use later. Stop watches could break, but her mind won’t.

Kaminari refrained from using his Quirk too, but he finished ahead of Midoria. Mineta placed the balls on his head onto his feet and bounced the distance. Eri had no understanding exactly how that Quirk worked, but the pervert kept himself from physical exertion; therefore, she didn’t bother counting up from his finish time. His continuous use of his balls also added to her mental picture as him being an unredeemable pervert.

When it was her turn to sprint, Eri sprinted like a normal person. She could’ve used her Quirk for a feedback loop but doing so held repercussions. She had better opportunities for Rewind, and her athleticism and long legs placed her ahead of all who ran without their Quirk and even two who did.

The class next went through a grip strength test which favored male and physically powerful students. Eri had a high grip strength since she used her hands most often for her Quirk. She placed higher than expected for the test, but a student named Momo Yaoyorozu placed third by creating a clamp. Other girls cheered for their compatriot. A Creation Quirk of that caliber was unprecedented and choosing to use it for heroics showed either naivety or a strong moral compass.

Midoria, Kaminari, and especially Mineta struggled. She beat all three much to her amusement.

She fared on the lower side for the standing long jump, but so did Midoria and Kaminari. Mineta used his balls as a spring which irked Eri to no end. He hadn’t broken a sweat yet, so she had no use for memorizing a time for him.

It took immeasurable control to not scream in frustration when Mineta bounced from side to side during the side step test. Was his only power bouncing off balls that, for lack of a scientific explanation behind the process, magically reappear after he plucks them off his head like a never ending giving tree? Kaminari and Midoria did worse than her. If trends continue, sabotage won’t be necessary.

Uraraka impressed Eri with her ball throw. With a mere toss, it drifted towards the atmosphere due to her Zero Gravity Quirk. The girl all but cemented a score higher than Eri’s self-designated adversaries with a score of Infinity. In other words, first automatically.

To the surprise of just the dimmest few in the class, Mineta bounced the provided ball off his hair balls. Since he apparently won’t become physically exerted during any of these tests, Eri brainstormed other methods of crushing him, but thought of nothing that could remain hidden. Kaminari demonstrated a good natural and boosted the power with a small electrical burst.

Eri threw the ball. While the distance had the potential to impress normal high school girls, she scored the forth lowest score in this category much to her chagrin. She cursed the female’s disadvantage of upper body strength and ignored that the two highest scorers shared her gender.

The last student to throw was Midoria. As he prepared himself to throw, Iida and Bakugo argued over the boy’s power. The former felt impressed by what the green-haired boy accomplished during the entrance exam. Word spread quickly about the all-time rescue point achiever. The latter believed Midoria had no Quirk at all.

What? Is Bakugo stupid?!

However, when Midoria threw the ball, Bakugo’s prediction all but proved itself correct. The ball landed 46 meters away, though Eri focused more on Father. His eyes gave a soothing red glow, one that the girl associated with safety. Everyone else seemed terrified. It didn’t help that his hair lost all sense of gravity when Father activated his Quirk. To this day, that aspect remained unsolved.

“That entrance exam was definitely not rational enough.” Father’s capture tape unwrapped itself from his neck and twilled around like snakes. “Even a kid like you was accepted.” Midoria won’t be attending any more classes, right?

“You erased my Quirk,” the boy said in fear. “Those goggles… You’re Eraser Head!” The students mumbled to themselves and tried to remember her father.

“From what I can tell, you can’t control your Quirk, can you?” Eri’s fist clenched at his words. “Do you intend to become incapacitated again and have someone save you? How long until you kill a civilian or even a villain?”

“Th-that’s not my intention!”

Father’s capture tape wrapped around the boy and pulls him close. “Whatever your intention.” He glared into the boy’s eyes. “Uncontrolled Quirks will hurt others. Did you know over a thousand deaths occurred last year through uninhibited Quirks? Look at your classmates, Midoria.” The boy obliged. “All of them spent years of pain and sweat to achieve an above-average level of proficiency. Prove to me you can control your Quirk. Prove you can become a hero.” His scarf unwrapped from the student. “I’ve returned your Quirk. You have two tries.”

Midoria walked back into the throwing circle, fear and turmoil apparent. Father gave an ultimatum where neither solution benefits her peer. Either he will use his power and show a lack of control, or he won’t use it and thereby fail using his Quirk. Most of the students grasped the gravitas of the situation except for Mineta and Uraraka. The former seemed too preoccupied with ogling Yaoyorozu’s impressive bust. The latter watched Midoria in earnest anticipation. Did she know something others didn’t?

The green-haired boy threw the ball, and it launched like a missile much akin to Bakugo’s. The class gasped while Father raised an eyebrow. Midoria faced his peers with a determined grimace and clenched his throwing-hand into a fist. His index finger looked broken… Oh, that was how he did it.

“Teacher!” His voice carried conviction. “I can still move!”

Eri sighed and decided not to target the boy. Unlike her, he appeared untrained to control his work, and despite its self-destructive nature he may yet become a hero. She decided forcing him to fail as hypocritical; nevertheless, this new situation presented an opportunity to increase her worth in the eyes of others.

“Teacher?” She raised her hand. “Requesting permission to use my Quirk on student Midoria.”

Father opened his mouth to respond but wrapped his capture tape around Bakugo instead. The delinquent determined that the best course of action was to yell at Deku and charge in an aggressive manner. For what reasons, Eri didn’t know; however, she classified it under the umbrella category of “peculiar men things”.

Since Bakugo seemed incredulous about how what appeared as a mere scarf restrained him, Father cleared his throat. “These are capture weapons made of carbon fiber woven together with metal fiber made of a special alloy.” Eri used the same material in her undergarments. “Don’t make me keep on using my Quirk over and over. I have dry eye.” And with that, he deactivated his Quirk and released Bakugo. Midoria slinked away from the explosive boy. “And you’re permitted to use your Quirk to heal Midoria.”

“Eh?” said the entire class, most notably Midoria.

Without pause, Eri strode up to her peer and tapped his right hand, though any part of his body would’ve sufficed. That instant, his broken and swollen finger reverted to its normal state. “I heal,” she explained. The less information the others knew about her true Quirk, the better.

“I feel great! Thank you, um…” He wanted a name. Eri didn’t give one.

The next two tests went by without trouble. She pared with Mina to hold the girl’s feet for the sit ups and vice versa. Both girls managed to surprise the other with their abdominal prowess. To make matter even better, Mineta failed in pairing with a girl and doing more than two sit ups. It also happened to be the first time to boy exercised.

Eri finished second for the seated toe touch. Father stressed the need for strength and flexibility as a teacher, so she strove to achieve both. Only Mina beat her, and their progress spurred an idea. If they were friends, friends did things with each other. Since Mina and she were friends, it would be logical if they partook in leisurely activities. Since Mina already displayed superb physical abilities, maybe she would accept an invitation to exercise together?

Before they started the final test, the long-distance run, Eri had another question to ask from her friend. “Mina?” Eri took a deep breathe, released it, and repeated the process.

“Yup!” The girl drifted closer and closer to Eri as the tests went along. For the previous two, they were together for its entirety. “You ready! My Quirk’ll be great for this, like ice skating!” Despite her jovial nature, Mina showed a creative mind with the ways she used acid, somehow secreted from her body.

“When we’re done, I may require a shoulder to lean on.” She breathed more, ensuring a high oxygen content in her blood.

“Oh?” she teased. A sly grin emerged. “Not much of a runner?”

Eri shook her head. “No, but the application of my Quirk for this test will prove taxing.”

Mina tried to reply, but Aizawa droned a “Start”, so the class took off running the three-kilometer. This was her last opportunity to effect Kaminari or Mineta, but she concluded her score shall rest above at least five other students. A few students took the lead. Iida’s Quirk was suited best for running, Bakugo propelled himself with explosions, Yaoyorozu built herself a bicycle, and both Mina and Todoroki skated using acid and ice respectively.

Eri ran at a full sprint, yet she did not breathe. Instead, she counted to 6 at 60 bpm over and over. Every time she reset the measure, she used her Quirk on herself. Technically, she could decrease the number to half a second, but it taxed her even more. Even so, she had no need to breathe more oxygen, since she brought her body back to the moment the race began. It also meant her body didn’t tire.

Stopping will hurt.

While a few of the students ran ahead of her on the first kilometer, she passed all besides the top five by the second. She had no need to pace herself. Why bother? She never could forgive herself if she couldn’t sprint for six seconds. Neither would father. On the third kilometer, she trailed behind Mina and lapped half of the other students.

As requested, Mina stayed next to the finish line after she passed it and waited for Eri. When the tall girl finished, she strode to her friend without the feintest trace of exhaustion. She said, “Stay away from my face, else I may bleed or vomit on you.” She draped her arm over Mina’s shoulder. The pinkette scrunched her face in confusion.

Eri ended the six-second cycle.

Her stomach twisted, and she spat out bile. She tasted iron from her bleeding nose but hardly noticed. A jackhammer pounded her cranium, and she broke out into a cold sweat.

“The Hell?!” Mina shifted her footing to better accommodate Eri’s weight. “Techer! I’m taking Eri to the nurse!”

“Denied,” he deadpanned.

Mina’s muscles tensed. “She’s bleeding everywhere! She could be-”

His glare silenced the girl. “I am aware of her Quirk’s effects if used repeatedly. Did Eri ask you for medical assistance?”

Eri spit vomit and blood onto the ground. Mina held back her own gag reflex. “That’s not normal!” She pointed to the ground with her free hand. Tears, spit, bile, and blood intermingled into an unsettling but familiar smelling goo.

“As with Midoria, if your peer can’t withstand the effects of her Quirk, then she is unfit for field heroics.” He turned away from the duo and focused on the race. Eri smiled at her father’s tough love and gave a thumbs up as a sign of encouragement.

“Damn.” Mina’s tone shifts from frustration to empathy. “Can you make it to that bench? We can sit there until the others are done.”

Eri nodded.

“And holy smokes, girl! I thought Midoria had a harmful power, but-” Mina paused as Eri dry heaved. Maybe she should’ve waited eight seconds for every reset. Mina’s disposition would have improved. “Does that only happen to you, or everyone you heal?”

Eri took a calming breath. “Just me. To simplify, I healed myself every six seconds, but the aftershock proves irritating.” She hacked. “This effect does not occur when done to others.” She wipes the blood and snot from her nose with her bare arm. “I’m fine now. If in a combat situation, I could have continued to fight, albeit with less efficiency.”

Mina put a hand on Eri’s shoulder. The girl’s back eyes held a concern deeper than the ocean. “You need to take better care of yourself, else someone will hurt you on the battlefield.”

“Thou hast not half that power to do me harm as I have to be hurt.” Seeing Mina’s confusion, the girl clarified, “It’s a quote in English. To paraphrase, it’ll be hard to actually hurt me, let alone kill me.”

“Oi!” Even though he stood some distance away, Bakugo listened into the girl’s conversation. He didn’t have much to do after finishing second. “Stop quoting damned Othello! Emelia died, moron!” He crossed his arms and turned away in a huff.

“What?” Mina looked back and forth from Eri to Bakugo.

Eri spit out the remaining and unsavory bile in her mouth. “Fascinating. I didn’t expect there to be another fan of Shakespeare, especially him.”

“Oh!” Mina nodded quickly. “We read one of his plays in middle school, though I just read the synopsis online. He was France’s best poet, right?”

Eri stared at the girl with her mouth agape. A French poet? If that’s true, Father hated cats and slept ten hours a day.

She shook her head and noticed most of the finished students congregating around their teacher. Eri stood without help and walked with Mina to the others. While she has time before the slowest runners finish, Eri wanted to prove that her Quirk didn’t debilitate her.

Nobody said a word until Mineta and Midoria stumbled to the other students. As they placed last in the run, all eyes focused on their teacher. He pulled out his phone, the same device he used to track their totals. “Okay, I’ll quickly tell you the results,” he droned. “The total is simply the marks you got on each test. It’s a waste of time to tell you verbally, so I’ll just show you the results.”

He held up the phone. Eri placed tenth, one behind Mina. To her glee, Mineta placed last instead of Midoria who was one ahead. The perverted dwarf screamed in anguish and mumbled about all the breasts he won’t get to touch, though he spoke in a crasser manner.

“By the way, I was lying about the expulsion.” Damn it! Eri allowed herself to mentally curse due to her immense frustration. Father had the perfect opportunity to eliminate Mineta, but he elected not to. Their teacher smirked. “It was a rational deception to bring out the best in your Quirks!”

Most of the class still stood in shock. Yaoyorozu, on the other hand, put her hands on her hips and spoke, “Of course that was a lie.” Her tone didn’t carry arrogance. She most likely intended to be helpful, but it still gave a bad impression. “It should’ve been obvious if you just thought it through.”

Eri raised her hand. Father nodded for her to speak. How unhappy will this make him? “Actually, you’re right that Teacher lied, but you are wrong in the way he lied, classmate Yaoyorozu.” The curvaceous girl raised an eyebrow. “Last year, Teacher expelled his entire class on the first day.”

“How did you know this?” Yaoyorozu asked. Again, Eri decided the girl wasn’t being distrustful or arrogant. She merely felt curiosity.

“I am acquainted with a third-year student. The expulsion is known to most of the school populace.” No one pressed on that student’s identity, though Togata wouldn’t have minded more people to talk with.

“If that’s all, go back to class and read the handouts on your desks. They contain information on your curriculum.” Thus, their teacher left the class in one of the more peculiar ways to start a school year.

Eri grabbed Mina’s arm. “Can I ask you one more favor?”

BREAK LOGIC

Aizawa rubbed his eyes after staring so long at the pile of papers scattered on the kitchen counter. On it were the students’ history. Two came from hero families. One came from the thirteenth richest family in Japan. One developed his Quirk in the last year. Another lived just above the poverty level. Another lived in France. Four dealt with criminals at some point. Four. Too high a number. Four had Quirks that hurt themselves. Three had hard to control Quirks. Several students had some form of major stress or mental problems. One had been invisible for just over a decade.

Eri was also his daughter.

He sighed. After observing the students for over an hour, he could add more details and problems to each of their profiles.

He lived in the prototype for the U.A. dorms, though it served more as an excuse to have Eri live on campus. It had ten dorm rooms on the first floor with only two occupied. It had a male and a female bathroom and a communal kitchen. While the high school had plans to have dorms built for students next year, he and Eri will gladly make do with this peace and quiet.

The front door unlocked then opened. Another benefit of having a dorm to oneself was locking doors at will. “I’m home.” His daughter stepped through and relocked the door.

“How was your first day?” He wore his hero costume. He would waste time by changing out of the gear after class only to reapply it for his nightly patrol.

“I made attempts to speak with the students with general success.” Eri blushed; Aizawa raised his eyebrows. For the past two years, only the machinations of Ms. Joke and Midnight made that reaction. “A student made friends with me. We exercised together. She asked for my phone number, but I…” She shifted her weight onto a different foot. “I had none to give. Her name is Mina Ashido.”

He smiled. Of all the students to befriend Eri, Mina may prove the best from a logical perspective. She displayed an outgoing personality. By being a mutant type, her values would lean towards accepting others due to mutant discrimination. Her low grades meant Eri had ample opportunity to held said friend. Their friendship could become very symbiotic.

“Good.” He took an object out of his pocket and handed it to his daughter. “It’s yours.”

Eri cradled the cell phone in her hands before she said, “Thank you.” Her smile reminded him of a day that passed years ago.

Eraser Head watched as the girl pressed into his side. She gripped his arm with all her feeble might. Her stomach grumbled.

“Sorry!” She tensed and closed her eyes. Aizawa’s blood boiled from those implications.

In a calm voice he said, “You did nothing wrong. The Fluffy Bunny will return shorty, and he promised sandwiches.” Why she decided that Nezu was a fully bunny… he had no idea, but the girl warmed to the principal within minutes. Likewise, the animal hero grew attached to her.

He leaned back into the couch to show outward relaxation. The girl needed to calm. Nezu’s office had nothing scary besides numerous awards in math, science, and teaching psychology; however, the girl trusted nothing. That didn’t mean she trusted no one.

She looked up at him with pleading, red eyes. “Mister Aizawa, when will you leave me?” And she needed to trust him, a firm foundation for rebuilding her life.

“Your going to be staying with me from now on, Eri.” He and Nezu decided that helped her the most. He had the only Quirk that could counteract hers.

“Promise?” Her lips quivered.

Aizawa reached his hand over her head. She closed her eyes in fear. He patted her head. “Yeah, I promise.” She let go of his arm and clutched his hand and forced it to stay on her head. Tears cascaded from her eyes.

Then, she smiled.

Aizawa reached his hand over her head. His daughter closed her eyes in anticipation. He patted her head.

In that moment they weren’t teacher and student, savior and saved, or hero and civilian. They were father and daughter.

#break reason #my hero academy fanfiction #eri #shota aizawa #my hero academia #fanfic #fanfiction #story #dreamttempest #mina ashido

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