#me! the most impractical bitch you’ve ever met! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

artificialqueens · 5 years

Text

Not Casual At All: Things Left Unsaid (biadore) - Miss Alyssa Secret

Not Casual At All continues with 5,500 words of biadore smut and feelings, based on the prompt of Danny surprising Roy in his dressing room. Set this past Wednesday 8 May, before Adore appeared at Rain on Saturday.

Related fics:

ABCD dressing room

What Happens in the Sewing Room

I tried for shameless, plotless porn, but failed spectacularly. - MAS

********

Bianca paused across the dressing room threshold, leaning back on the closed door with eyes closed and taking a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she met her reflected gaze in the mirror with a sigh.

Two shows in one day had them all exhausted, the marathon of a musical so different from her own comedy tour. Staying in one place for an extended amount of time was wonderful, but the intensity of performing daily (and going from boy to queen in less than twenty minutes) was the trade off.

Even out of drag, meeting fans at the stage door - while always enjoyable - meant she was still wearing Bianca.

Bianca’s name was the one people called out, the one signed on programs and tickets.

Bianca was also the reason that Roy Haylock, costumer by day and sharp-tongued comic by night, was able to travel the world and perform for thousands of fans at sold out venues.

A reporter in the Philippines asked what he would be doing without Bianca. Leaving aside that she had always existed in his head in the form of biting commentary, it wasn’t a particularly difficult question to answer. Roy had been more than satisfied draping and designing for Broadway and coming home to his shoebox of an apartment with Sammy and Dede. Life wasn’t empty without Bianca, just different.

Without her though, he never would have had the experience of Drag Race. Without Drag Race, Bianca wouldn’t have met Adore and Courtney and Darienne. And without them - especially Adore - he might not have let down the wall around his heart.

Tossing his Sharpie on the table, Roy pushed his glasses up and ran a hand over his face. Being in different corners of the world was hardly unusual, but even the group text was no substitute for spending time in person. He’d been spoiled by those weeks at home, meeting up with friends for brunch and shopping downtown. Evenings out at the club or bar dancing and drinking with Adore and her endless supply of wigs. Lazy days with Danny on his couch talking over everything, followed by nights in the same bed.

Although he tried to tell himself he missed the sex (true), having Danny around meant more than that and it hardly happened every time they were together. What did you label having regular, non-committed sex with your best friend? Friends with benefits was too superficial, and ‘relationship’ felt too shallow to describe the kind of connection that went beyond anything physical.

Sex with Adore, with Danny, was easy and satisfying. It was interrupting a movie to suck each other off, a sleepy handjob after waking up together, or (one memorable time) pausing in the middle of fucking for conversation because Danny remembered a new restaurant he wanted to try. Above all, it felt safe falling into bed with someone he trusted. It was familiar and undemanding, no awkward morning after, with someone who already knew their way around his house, never mind his body.

Non-committed didn’t mean fucking tons of other people, at least on Roy’s part. He wasn’t joking about never knowing whether someone was genuinely interested in him or just wanted to get into Bianca’s wardrobe. At the end of the day, needing to keep some things personal and private won out. But asking Danny for - or even talking about - that kind of commitment would be unfair when they were on different continents several months out of the year.

Speaking of separate continents, they wouldn’t cross paths again for months - Adore’s tour in Australia and Europe out of sync with Bianca’s engagements.

Someone knocked on the door and he straightened from his slouch at the vanity table, twisting his lips into a smile from their introspective frown.

“Yeah?”

The knocking continued.

“You can come in,” he called, wondering if it was some of the theatre staff who were still being far too polite.

He turned as the door opened, and had half a breath to be surprised before Danny lifted him off the chair into a hug.

“What-“ The strength of his grip squeezed the air from his lungs, and for a moment Roy let himself relax completely, balanced up on his toes and faces buried in each other’s necks.

Danny finally let go (and had he waited for him to lean back first?), lacing their fingers together tightly. He was still carrying an overnight bag and smelled like stale airplane air, clothes rumpled (although with her closet, it was difficult to tell what was intentional and what was yesterday’s laundry on the floor). There was a hint of eyeliner smeared on his lower lids and a dusting of glitter on the temples along with a few days’ worth of stubble, skating the edge of gender construct as ever.

Roy opened his mouth to say something, but the sudden tightness in his chest choked the words back. Instead, he squeezed Danny’s hands in silence, soaking in the warmth of Adore’s sweet smile on his face.

“Hi.”

********

Danny took a moment to really look at him, taking in the loose black sweater and pants, the slouchy knit hat, and exhausted brown eyes. Even in his oversized glasses and without paint, he could see traces of Bianca clinging to Roy. It was more than the red stain of lipstick, something about the way his shoulders were tense as if he couldn’t relax enough to shed her presence.

Dropping the bag, he sat down and pulled Roy onto his lap with only minor protest. Roy always ran cold out of drag, and he immediately wrapped both arms around him again. The weight of his head came to rest on Danny’s shoulder, face hidden against his neck. Despite the days of rehearsals and backstage mayhem, he didn’t seem to be noticeably thinner than when Danny kissed him goodbye a few weeks ago. Relieved that Roy was at least taking care of his body, Danny focused on his energy as he spoke.

“What are you doing here? Not that I’m complaining, I just - aren’t you and Bunny hosting at Rain on Saturday?” Roy didn’t bother lifting his head, words murmured between them.

“Yup.”

“You aren’t staying, are you?” The question was more of a statement, shaded with a hint of wistfulness.

“Yeah,” Danny shifted their weight enough to slide one hand underneath the baggy sweater, arm curved against bare skin, “I gotta go back tomorrow night. I was kind of hoping you’d let me crash with you.”

The way his body sagged into Danny’s arm was both concerning and something that he’d think about later. Preferably when he wasn’t completely sober, because his situation with Roy was simultaneously the simplest and the most difficult relationship he had in his life.

Roy raised his head after a moment, not to reply but to rest their foreheads together. He smelled like coconut oil makeup remover and the musty aroma somehow present in all theatres no matter how new.

“What are you doing here, pussyface?”

As if Roy didn’t already know. But maybe he needed to hear it said out loud?

Danny carefully extracted one arm, wrapping fingers around the back of his neck to squeeze gently.

“I’m here for you, Willow.”

********

Being at a loss for words was becoming a pattern tonight, one that was unfamiliar to Roy. Clown face or not, he usually had a quick answer; Danny taking a trans-Atlantic flight to see him for less than twenty four hours was something else. His mental Rolodex didn’t have any entries under ‘Best friend: what to do when they do something completely impractical that you shouldn’t encourage but are very happy they did’.

There wasn’t any need to fill Danny in on how the show was going so far, no small talk to fill the air. They’d covered that and more via text message and phone calls.

“Have I mentioned,” he kept his tone light, “that you’re crazy and I love you?”

The Adore smile was back, the one that curved her painted lips into a bracket of mischief. Without lipstick, it settled on Danny’s mouth and only widened when he spoke.

“Not today yet, but I know you were busy.”

“I’m glad you’re here. I’m supposed to tell you that you shouldn’t have wasted money and time when you’ve got a gig coming up, but…” Roy was already aware of the calculation in the back of his mind of how much time they really had together.

“My turn to do something for you, bitch.”

“Yeah?”

Danny could usually read Bianca, and by extension Roy, with little effort. Except this time, he wasn’t sure what exactly he should do, only that he couldn’t not follow the feeling tugging at the pit of his stomach that Roy needed him. That feeling had led him to buying a plane ticket before he’d even stopped to consider if it was a good idea.

“Yeah. I’m yours for the next twelve hours. Thirteen. Fifteen? Whatever it is before 5 pm tomorrow.”

Voices and footsteps passed outside the door, and Roy inhaled sharply, physically unmoving but the slightest emotional step away that prickled against Danny’s intuition. He talked casually about energy all of the time, but being with Roy made him aware of everything that much more. Without that sensitivity blunted by a buzz of any type, it felt like he was pulling back and Danny wasn’t going to let him.

“Stop it.”

“What?” Roy frowned, not sure what he was referring to. “I should take you to meet everyone. There’s one of the girls in the cast who you’d love, and-mmmmphhhh“

The kiss effectively silenced his attempt to follow what should be proper hosting behavior and Roy lost himself in it without a struggle. Danny’s mouth was soft against his, the way he flicked the tip of his tongue against the inside of his lips familiar and welcome. Their mouths moved together slowly in a rhythm of licks and caresses that kept the kiss undemanding. He could feel the heat radiating from Danny’s hand underneath his shirt, fingers fanned out to press firmly between his shoulders. His own were buried in Danny’s hair, tugging in a way that was less controlling and more about anchoring them closer together.

They pulled apart a moment later, Danny’s tongue darting out to catch the threads of saliva connecting their lips.

“What do you need?” He spoke the words against Roy’s mouth, not kissing but breathing the same air. “Like, I’m cool with meeting the other guys if that’s what you want. Or we can hit up the spots from the last time? Or go back to yours and…”

Danny paused for a breath, then frowned and leaned back enough to make steady eye contact. “If you want me tonight, I’m yours.”

I’m always yours, even when I’m with someone else.

“However you wanna do things. I mean, we don’t have to fuck, like of course I’m down if you are, but-“

Without Bianca’s blue eyes, Roy’s were soft with exhaustion and what might be a little bit of relief. Danny waited, impatient but forcing himself to be still.

“This- this is good. Right here, us.”

“Okay.” If that’s what Roy wanted, Danny was happy to spend another hour making out in the dressing room. He’d half expected him to insist on going out, maybe walking the London streets together, or going back to his rented flat and fucking each other into the mattress. They’d done both over the years, and everything in between, but the slow kissing spoke more to Roy’s emotional state than anything else. Roy always kissed confidently, sometimes dominant and demanding (Danny enjoyed those, usually because they accompanied the kind of rough sex that left them both coming hard), other times gentler and so sweet it made his chest ache strangely to think about. Tonight though, his kisses felt almost tentative, as if he was afraid that Danny would change his mind if he pushed too hard.

“Hold on,” he murmured, gripping Roy’s hips until he took the hint, wrapping his legs around Danny’s waist as he stood. There was a high table by the window already half covered in bouquets and vases, and Danny pivoted to set him down there.

“Remember the last time?” Roy laughed quietly.

Danny paused for a moment, thinking about them in the bathroom of another dressing room a few months ago. The position was the same, but the mood a polar opposite - hungry lust that night versus sensual comfort in the here and now. He watched as Roy settled with his back to the wall between windows, clearly replaying that night as well.

“Yeah, but no corset no one waiting on us. Right?”

“Shouldn’t be. Who else knows you’re here?”

Danny moved to flip the lock on the door, also an improvement from the ABCD venue. “Just John and Mom. And the guy who let me in, he wanted to see my ID and everything and said he’d only do it if I signed his ass for his girlfriend. Oh, and the blonde lady. Faye? She said hi when I was coming up the stairs. And uhh, maybe some people I passed in the hall?”

Instead of becoming impatient waiting for Danny to finish the list, Roy looked more amused with every name, reading between the lines. “Okay, so half the cast?”

“…yeah. What did you tell them?”

“Nothing to worry about, pussyface. Just every dick pic you’ve ever sent me and that video of-“

“Hey! You said you deleted it when I asked you to send it!”

Roy chuckled, not the showy laugh but something quieter and more intimate.

“I’m kidding. And I couldn’t delete it, what else am I going to jerk off to in the tub?”

“You know,” Danny narrowed his eyes, “I still can’t always tell when you’re serious.”

That set off a Bianca cackle of glee.

“Get back here, bitch,” he accompanied the words with a tug on Danny’s shirt. “I missed you.”

********

Ten minutes later, Roy’s sweater was off but otherwise they were still where they started, necking like teenagers in the backseat of a car with hands above the waist. Danny was careful not to mark him, nothing that couldn’t be covered up easily. He might not care right now if his castmates knew what they’d been up to, but Danny really was trying to work on the whole professional thing.

Roy’s ankles were crossed just below Danny’s ass, and he used them to pull their bodies closer. He groaned against his lips when the erection Danny had been successfully not grinding into him made contact with his thigh.

“Was wondering if you were too tired from the flight,” Roy teased.

“Hey, I can’t help it!” He’d been trying to let Roy set the (extremely slow) pace and not push for more. “You make me hard.” Something else was contributing as well, but he kept that to himself for now.

“Save it till we get back? Should be a taxi outside, and-“ Roy was already hopping off the table and shoving clothes into his bag.

“I can, but we don’t have to wait if you don’t want.”

Slipping his glasses back on, Roy pinned him with a look. “I really don’t have anything on me in here. And-“

Danny cut him off again, actually ahead of Roy’s infamous over-preparedness for once. Way ahead. Possibly the only time, but he’d take it. He reached into the outer pocket of his own bag, coming up with a travel sized bottle of lube and a condom.

“Ta da!”

As he watched, Roy licked his lips and closed his eyes briefly. When they opened again, he shivered in anticipation at the hungry expression. Danny recognized the signs of suppressed arousal, and moved closer until they were toe to toe.

“You can have me right here,” he whispered intimately, “if that’s what you want.”

“Considering what I’d like to do, you’d be more comfortable at mine.” The calmness of Roy’s voice was belied by his hands clenching against Danny’s sides.

“Nuh uhh. I’m ready.”

“…what?”

“Airport. Delta lounge. I told you, I’m here for you however you need.”

Roy’s gulp was audible, and Danny’s smile widened. Apparently Bianca was the one picking up Adore’s traits, and not the other way around. Glancing down, he could see a bulge outlined by Roy’s thin pants, nipples hard against the fabric of his tank top.

“In fact…” Danny trailed his hand across Roy’s chest, tweaking a nipple through his shirt before sliding down to cup his growing erection. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

It took a moment for the words to register, and Roy’s mouth was dry when he finally spoke.

“More than just being here?”

Danny caught Roy’s hands, lifting them to run his tongue over the sensitive skin between his fingers. Truth be told, he was a bit uncomfortable, but the thought of doing something for Roy who was always a generous lover…well, it didn’t take away the slight awkwardness, but it was worth it.

He guided their joined hands behind his back, nudging Roy to slip his hand under the waistband of his jeans. His fingers skated over the edge of the jockstrap, squeezing a little more aggressively as they moved towards the center. Danny locked their eyes together, tongue flicking across Roy’s palm as his other hand pulled aside the thong and came in contact with silicone.

Danny had precisely six seconds between Roy finding the plug and then finding himself face down across the table. All traces of diffidence and hesitation gone, he ground his clothed erection against Danny’s ass and grabbed a fistful of hair to yank his head back sharply. His eyes were dark with want when their gazes met, breath fanning hot over Danny’s cheek.

Roy paused for a fraction of a second, waiting for Danny’s slight nod. The kiss he pressed to Danny’s temple was gentle acknowledgement before using his grip to shove him back down roughly. His hands made quick work of Danny’s fly, jeans dropping to the floor for him to step out of and revealing the black straps hidden underneath. Roy moaned low in his throat at the sight. Danny’s ass was just as gorgeous as his thousands of Instagram followers knew, framed and lifted by the underwear, but he wasn’t bending over for them.

He took the opportunity to look his fill, discarding his own loose pants and shirt and giving his cock a few slow strokes. Danny wiggled his ass enticingly, and Roy could see him grinning against the tabletop, reflected in the lights on the window. He squeezed one cheek and then the other before slapping Danny’s hip sharply.

“You fucking cunt,” he groaned, affection warring with lust in his voice, “I can’t believe you.”

Danny responded by reaching back to wrap his fingers around Roy’s cock, rubbing the head firmly against his ass. “Only for you.”

It was meant to be seductive and smug, but the quiet sincerity hung in the air between them, even as Roy could feel himself leaking over Danny’s fingers. There was that thing they didn’t discuss.

He leaned forward to kiss the back of Danny’s neck, fumbling for the condom as nimble fingers smeared the wetness down his shaft. Danny’s thumb flicked over the slit, and Roy moaned out a curse, unable to resist thrusting into the tight grip.

Pulling back reluctantly, he rolled the condom on and reached for the lube, running a teasing finger along the strap of Danny’s thong. As he popped open the bottle, he took the opportunity to hook his finger underneath and stretched the strap before letting go abruptly. It pinged back, the sound of elastic striking the silicone overshadowed by Danny’s surprised yelp.

“Motherfu-“

Roy repeated the action, wicked grin forming as Danny whined.

“I’m not fucking anyone’s mother. Pussy isn’t-”

“Fuck off.” Danny twisted to look at him over his shoulder, face gone serious. “Bianca isn’t invited tonight.”

The automatic response was ninety five percent Roy, but he knew what Danny meant. "Sorry.“

“Hurry up, I’m fucking horny as fuck.” Danny’s voice was back to playful, and Roy drizzled a generous amount of lube over his cock, hissing at the cool liquid.

As soon as he set the bottle down, Danny was shimmying out of the thong, jockstrap still in place. Pressing his chest against the table, he spread his legs a little wider and Roy was treated to the sight of dark purple silicone against skin shining with slickness that had nothing to do with his cock. He’d have to remember to ask Danny later about fingering himself open in an airport bathroom…

Tracing the base of the plug with one finger, Roy leaned forward until he was nuzzling right under Danny’s ear. “Sure? Last chance to change your mind and we can do this in a bed.”

Danny looked up through heavy-lidded eyes. Even Adore at her most seductive had nothing on his kiss-bitten lips and the invitation written in the curve of his back. Roy knew full well it wasn’t surrender or submission. Sex between them was as hot as it was precisely because they both kept a modicum of control.

“Fuck. Me.”

The velvet-smooth, whiskey-deep demand went straight to his cock, balls tightening. Straightening, he pinned Danny to the table with a hand between his shoulders and pulled the plug out before pushing all the way in in a single powerful thrust. A loud moan that rose to end on a breathless whimper punched out from Danny’s lungs, and Roy let go of his shoulder to slap the hand over his mouth instead.

He dropped the body warmed silicone and wrapped his fingers around the crest of Danny’s hip, gripping just below the band of his jockstrap. It took a few seconds for the thrill of feeling Danny snug and slick and oh so hot around his cock to settle into something manageable. When it felt like he wasn’t teetering on the edge of coming, he pulled out almost all the way before snapping his hips forward again once, twice, a dozen times in quick succession.

Danny’s hands braced against the windowsill, shoving back to meet Roy’s thrusts. Reflected in the glass, he looked drunk on lust, eyes unfocused and cheeks red above Roy’s hand as he pulled in harsh breaths through his nose. Each slap of his hips meeting Danny’s ass was followed with muffled moans and whines vibrating against his palm.

Danny gripped the sill with knuckles gone white, fighting for the leverage to match Roy’s forceful fucking. Roy was thick enough that he’d be feeling the stretch for hours after they finished, even with the ample preparation. Every thrust pushed his hips against the edge of the table, bursts of friction against fabric an insufficient tease for his own painfully hard cock.

On any given day, Danny wasn’t particularly inclined to bottom for most of his partners. Besides the physical discomfort, it was difficult to be that vulnerable, and equally challenging to come during the act of fucking itself. Roy was, as ever, an exception. They still had occasional moments of awkwardness, but it was so much easier to manage when you weren’t worried about what the other person was thinking. The sound of Roy’s moans alone, the barely audible whimper when he bottomed out, the half-choked back fucks and so good he forced out, were pure erotic music. Coupled with what Danny could see reflected in the window…more than enough to keep him hard and leaking.

The vanity bulbs cast their corner of the room in harsh light and shadow, washing out colors and bringing details into sharp contrast. Roy’s eyes were mostly closed, mouth open as he gasped for air, lips and chest flushed a dusky hue. His hair was soaked with sweat and clinging to his forehead, stomach muscles flexing with every powerful thrust.

Shifting his chin up, Danny set his teeth against Roy’s palm and bit down. He felt so open, but it wasn’t enough. Not yet.

Their eyes met in the glass, Danny’s heavy with desire and Roy’s glazed over with pleasure. He slowed the rhythm of his hips, pulling his hand back from Danny’s mouth as he buried his cock deep before leaning down. Danny’s whimper in response was drowned out by Roy’s husky growl as he clenched down. Turning his head, he met Roy’s mouth in an awkwardly angled kiss.

“Still okay?” The hand that had been squeezing bruises into Danny’s hip came up to stroke the hair back from his face.

“…yeah. M’good.”

Roy shuddered at the sound of Danny’s sex-ruined voice, hips giving an involuntary jerk. He curved his fingers around Danny’s cheek in an intimate gesture at odds with the roughness moments ago.

“Do you - oh fuck…do you want to change?”

Danny nodded, pushing his chest off the table and wincing as Roy pulled out. He boosted himself up to lie flat, smiling thanks when Roy tucked his discarded sweater between his head and the painted brick. The jockstrap joined the pile of other clothes on the floor and he planted both feet on the edge of the table, legs spread wide around Roy’s hips.

Black-nailed fingers carefully traced his stretched hole, slicking it with more lube before sliding inside to stroke the cool liquid onto heated flesh.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuccccckkkk,” Danny breathed out, palming his own cock and smearing sticky pre-come across the shaft. The moan turned into a series of whimpers when Roy moved his hand aside, replacing it with his own fingers.

”Don’t gotta.” Danny caught his hand clumsily as Roy reached for a condom. “ ‘m clean.”

“Bitch,” that was definitely a stare Bianca borrowed from Roy as he paused mid-stroke, “why didn’t you tell me before?”

”Not walking back with your cum dripping out of my-“ His words cut off with a moan when Roy deliberately twisted the fingers still knuckle-deep in his ass.

”When have I ever- never mind.”

Tossing the condom aside, he licked a wet stripe from base to tip, smearing pre-come over his lips, then curled his tongue around the leaking head to draw it into his mouth. Danny thrust up into heat and tightness, cock sliding over Roy’s swollen lips as he sucked and finger-fucked him. Two fingers became three, Roy’s moans matching Danny’s with every thrust as he lost himself in pleasuring him.

Danny tugged on his hair a minute later, and Roy let his cock fall from his mouth reluctantly. He stood with a kiss to a trembling inner thigh, slipping his fingers out.

“Ready?”

“Mmmmhmmmm.”

Danny pressed his shoulders against the table, arching up in invitation. He kept his eyes open, locked on Roy as he pushed back in slowly. Catching one of Danny’s legs in the crook of his arm, Roy tipped his hips up to slide in deeper than before. He paused there, buried to the hilt in Danny’s ass and rocking gently.

“Fuck…” If Danny voice was lust-drunk before, he sounded positively fucked out now. “Oh fuck, B…”

“Yeah? S’it good?” Roy kept up the barely-there roll of his hips, fucking into him in a way that made them both moan and Roy wish that he could feel it without a layer of latex between them. That was something (the one thing?) they’d never tried, mutual avoidance of even discussing the possibility. Roy told himself it was only because it was too risky despite precautions… too much like commitment.

Danny wrapped his free leg around Roy’s trim waist, slipping against sweaty skin and fingers tracing the line left from the corset. He clamped his heel against the small of his back, effectively preventing Roy from pulling out more than a couple of inches. Every movement Roy made inside of him felt exquisitely sensitive, from the stretch of his sore hole around the thick cock to the spark of lightning up his spine when he bottomed out.

Reaching up, he traced over Roy’s throat, fingers traveling across his chin to caress his lips. Roy caught a teasing finger gently between his teeth and wrapped his lips around it. Mimicking the actions performed on Danny’s cock, he sucked the full length and lavished attention on the fingertip with his tongue while moaning around it.

The wet pop when Danny pulled his finger free went straight to his balls. He tugged Roy down until their lips met, hips setting up a counterpoint to the deliciously slow fucking. Roy always kissed with his eyes open, something that Danny didn’t understand but appreciated in the urgent kisses as they panted into each other’s mouth. Despite the obscenely sexual context, his eyes held a different kind of intensity mingled with lust.

When Roy tilted his hips a little further up, the new angle provoked a breathless whimper. He concentrated his thrusts until he heard it again and focused on driving his cock into that spot over and over, Danny’s whimpers mingling with his own satisfied moans. Danny’s hand dropped from behind his neck, knocking aside bouquets to clamp onto the edge of the table. Petals scattered around and underneath him and onto the floor, filling the room with the heady scent of roses.

Roy slid his hand underneath Danny’s head, fingers gripping sex-tangled hair as he pressed their cheeks together, needing to be somehow closer. The motion pushed Danny’s leg further back against his chest, nails digging into Roy’s arm with every thrust. Maintaining his white-knuckled grip on the table felt like the only thing keeping him anchored, the only thing keeping Danny from blurting out endearments and pleas and promises on each breath.

He bit down on Roy’s shoulder when he felt his free hand slide between them to circle his cock, jerking him off in tight strokes. The relentlessly deliberate rhythm of fucking was driving them both to the edge. Moments later, a wordless, high-pitched whine meant Roy was close, chasing his own orgasm and determined to bring Danny along.

“Oh fuck…” Roy’s exclamation was barely audible over the sound of their bodies meeting. “Close, angel. Can’t…M’gonna-“

Danny clenched down around him, growling against Roy’s shoulder before releasing it from his teeth. His voice was raspy, ruined when he whispered, “Let go. Come for me.”

Roy inhaled sharply, driving his cock as far in as possible, and came with a strangled moan. Danny kept up a string of satisfied murmurs and yes, that’s it as Roy rode out his orgasm, hand gone slack between them.

Letting go of the table, he pushed the nerveless hand aside and rapidly stroked himself, hips rocking to rub the head of his cock against Roy’s stomach. Roy was still coming down when Danny arched underneath him and cried out his own release, whimpering as he tensed around his over sensitive cock.

Danny opened his eyes an indeterminate amount of time later, legs dropping to hang off the edge of the table. Roy wasn’t precisely dead weight on his upper body, but it wasn’t far off. His hand moved to the slick place where they were joined together, caressing the still-throbbing shaft before shoving Roy back with his knuckles.

“Out. Sore.”

Roy was gentle pulling out, but he still winced at the slide. Catching the expression before he could hide it, Roy frowned.

“Too hard?”

”Nah.”

”You’re supposed to tell me if it hurts.” Roy paused with the condom halfway off, concern written over his face. “Pussyface, I’ll stop. You know that.”

”Nuh uhh.” Speaking in more than single syllables seemed like too much work. “S’good. Just…” Danny’s lips twitched into a hint of a smile, “you. You’re big.”

Roy huffed out a breath of laughter, reaching for a makeup towel and bottle of water to clean them off. He soothed the skin with soft touches as he swept away lube and sweat before wiping the cum off their bodies. A twinge of guilt tugged at him when Danny hissed as he held him open to run the towel gently between his legs.

Tossing the damp towel into a pile, he held out his hands.

”C’mere.”

They ended up collapsing on the nearby couch together, Danny half on top of him. The silence was filled with breathing slowly returning to normal, air now stuffy with the smell of sex and crushed roses.

”Thank you.”

Danny raised his head at the quiet words. Roy wasn’t usually chatty after sex, preferring to communicate in touch until they finished coming down.

Unsure of the meaning, he answered with a noncommittal, “Mmmm?”

”For this. Doing this for me.” Danny tried to prop himself up further, pausing when Roy’s arms tightened around his shoulders.

”What…? I got off too.” He pushed against Roy’s chest until he loosened his grip enough for Danny to see his face.

Roy’s dark eyes were half-lidded in sated pleasure, but they were filled with the same intense something from earlier while they were fucking.

He chose the next words carefully, even as he still wasn’t quite sure why it felt important.

“Anything for you, Willow.”

#rpdr fanfiction #bianca del rio #adore delano #biadore #smut #not casual at all #missalyssasecret #submission #canon compliant

60 notes · View notes

manifestoonmoralmanlove · 5 years

Text

Gormless Ch. 5 - Try to kill my boss? Haha you kids are alright!

A well-meaning friend gave me a book series that is hilariously bad. The first book was Souless and my riffs were entitled brainless. This second book is entitled Changless and these riff are then gormless.

I mean to say I have entitled them gormless! Not that my riffs are dumb, and the effort I spend on them stupid since I’m the only one who enjoys them. HAHA!

The story is SUPPOSED TO be about how a badass lady wearing a rad-looking carriage dress hits baddies with her umbrella and bangs her hot werewolf husband. In reality it’s mostly poor attempts at being witty, flirty, and superior.

For the last book check out the brainless tag.

If you want the TL;DR version but want to read these new riffs anyway?

This story is set in supernatural Victorian steampunk England. Alexia is our NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS protag. She is a soulless, which means she’s able to negate the abilities of vampires and werewolves by touching them. She’s recently married a big oaf, named Lord Connel Maccon. He’s the manchild in charge of the supernatural police with a zillion dollars and he’s totes super hot too ok. Their relationship is mostly arguments about how Maccon can’t tell her fucking anything. Alexia has also recently become head of ~Soulless affairs~ in Queen Victoria’s government. She has a dumb friend named Ivy, a gay vampire friend named Akeldama, a family who’s evil because they do the same shit as her but while being blonde, and most importantly Alexia is better than everyone cause…cause.

Last time on Gormless:

There’s some mysterious force that’s turning the Vampires and werewolves into humans. Alexia is in charge of figuring out that deal, and she is doing a bad job at it. Her husband is in charge of the Supernatrual Police (BUR) so he’s going to Scotland about it.

There’s a hot werewolf guy into Alexia called Channing and he’s a big jerk. Ivy is getting married to some rich slub, even though she’s in wub with Maccon’s servant Tunstell. Alexia just met a hot lesbian named LeFoux and wants to take her to visit her smart Vampire gay bestie Akeldama.

Chapter 5 – Try to kill my boss? Haha you kids are alright!

This chapter opens up with her seeing Lord Akeldama. Basically they start by inviting Madame LeFoux and just catching up. Turns out Akeldama has not seen the humanization phenomenon before even though he hella old, but his scouts discovered a military ship called the Spanker had people from the Kingair clan aboard who were humanized. We got similar info before, but there’s an implication that the humanization is traveling directly with the people of the Spanker. There’s the implication that it’s moving north, and it has to do with the dead alpha thing.

Something also of slight interest is that Akeldama tried to ~recruit~ Channing back when Channing was human. That Channing, so they say, used to be a charming sculptor and vampires and werewolves were fighting over him. That he went into the military/werewolfism cause it was more ~romantic.~ I think that’s all there just to put Channing back on the table as a love rival.

HE’S BAD RIGHT? BUT LIKE MAYBE NOT ALL BAD?

On one hand they’re fleshing him out. On another hand it reeks of Marty-Stuing and it is not convincing me he deserves another chance.

Well what would make him desirable to you Faps? Put him in an oversized sweater, with glasses, and he’s petting a cat?

Okay okay! My kink is valid and so is the kink for a man-child meathead okay. I just wish my kink was more main-stream gosh.

So Madam LeFoux shows up and there is a brief bit of sassing between Akledama and her before Akeldama has to show off his aethographor. They spend a lot of fucking time on this. I guess this is for the folks into the steampunk aspect but like…I don’t really understand this appeal. It basically boil down to it’s a telegraph machine but it prints letters onto metal with caustic chemicals. It has to be manned at all times, and some old ones need specific ~ Crystalline valve frequensors~ to communicate to one another but Akeldama’s LATEST EDITION doesn’t need it. I am a history nerd and reading about old machines is fascinating because you get to see how the machines have impacted the culture. I also like reading about Sci-Fi technology because either it’s cool to see what people decades ago thought was going to happen, or speculative future possibilities. In theory speculative fiction about an alternate universe’s history could be cool but this machine is just not that far removed from a telegraph machine and sounds like it’s a pain in the ass. But perhaps I’m just so spoiled by the fact that I could get a snapchat of a strange person’s butthole from Australia instantaneously without having to operate a machine the size of a room 24/7. You have not truly enjoyed a stranger from down under’s…down under until you’ve seen it with the leopard ear snapchat filter!

Anyway he gives Alexia a ~ Crystalline valve frequensor~ with his frequency just in case. She puts it in a pocket on her umbrella and it’s like DAMN GIRL WHY DIDN’T YOU LEAD WITH THE FACT THE THING HAS POCKETS? THAT’S WAY COOLER! (Even if impractical for regular umbrellas.)

The three of them part ways, Alexia is planning on taking a dirigible to Scotland in order to face this humanization and save her dumb-fuck husband.

Here we switch point of views to look through Lyall’s eyes. He’s tailing Alexia for reasons and some vampires are sneaking around Lord Akeldama’s place while she was visiting. The vamps almost attack Alexia but Lyall stops them with some pow pow action. The vampires say they were just going to ~test~ Alexia and Lyall is just like haha that’s fine, go home you kids! Also Alexia did not notice any of this.

I mean I’m kinda glad we had a bit o’ action but this was dumb. Lyall just lets these two jackoffs go after they tried to maybe kill/kidnap/whatever his master’s wife. Also he doesn’t tell Alexia she was nearly attacked? Cause drama later on I guess? Fuck this writing! I take back the nice things I said about Lyall! Lyall instead just argues that Alexia shouldn’t go to Scotland. Sure Maccon relies heavily on his superpowers for everything, but not letting him know his powers are going to be suddenly taken away by a mysterious force which maybe out of his blood will definitely be fine. I guess because it’s now Lyall’s policy to make sure everybody around him, whom he attempts to protect with his life, is unaware of the danger around them. Cool, cool.

At least this time when Alexia badgers somebody about something she’s going to do, she’s right that it makes no sense why she shouldn’t. However she unwittingly has to take along a merry batch of fuckers. You’ll hear about them in a bit.

We have a big old scene where Alexia’s mother shows up and is like, “YOUR ONE SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED THE OTHER SISTER IS SO WRACKED WITH JEALOUSY SHE’S MAKING EVERYONE MISERABLE! YOU TAKE HER!”

Oh and there’s this inconsistent writing here where Alexia’s mother is passive aggressively racist toward werewolves and Scots. Yet at the same time there are lines about how pleased Alexia’s mother is that she married a Scottish werewolf. There’s the direct line, “It was a constant source of amazement to Alexia that the only thing she had ever done in her entire life that pleased her mama was marry a werewolf.” I think what the author is trying to say is that Alexia’s mom was happy that Alexia married a rich and powerful man, and LOOKS PAST the fact that he’s a werewolf but still kinda hates werewolves. However they don’t bring up that her mom is impressed with all her money and power. They just keep saying WEREWOLF THIS and WEREWOLF THAT! They made it unnecessarily muddled here and it’s confusing, annoying, and could have been easily fixed.

In Alexia mother’s defense the only thing I’ve seen Alexia do that’s pleased me, is hit that douche werewolf over the head a bunch.

So of course, Alexia’s mother won’t take no for an answer when it comes to her sister. Therefore Alexia is saddled with generic shallow, petty, bitch blonde sister #2. Felicity, the blonde in question, agreed to this, despite hating her sister cause she knew her sister would be surrounded by hunky werewolves. SHE GOTTA GET A HUSBAND NOW TOO! IT’S ALL US LADY FOLKS CARE ABOUT! Due to English custom you can’t just leave your sister in your castle to have wild gangbangs with werewolves all day and night. But I mean, considering the amount of misogyny the 3rd in command is packing? Not leaving her alone there is probably a good idea. (Also I will puke blood if Felicity and Channing become an item.)

Ivy shows up at this time as well cause I mean…Ivy has always been sexually drawn to inconvenient timing. Don’t kink-shame her! When Ivy hears that Tunstell will be going on the Dirigible, she pouts until Alexia just let’s her go along too, cause HAHA WHY NOT AT THIS POINT!?

(A gif of Hillary Clinton laughing and throwing her hands up.)

So she’s taking Angelique (to dress her), Felicity (to be obnoxious in the bitchy way), Ivy (to be obnoxious in the ditsy way), and Tunstell (cause this 90lb actor will protect them all.)

OH BOY WE GOT A SMORGSEBORG OF IMPENDING WACKINESS TO CONTEND WITH! IS THAT EXCITEMENT I HEAR OR THE CRACKING OF MY OWN GRINDING TEETH!?

Say something nice Faps:

Dang I’m having a hard time saying nice things here that aren’t simply just, “Well at least X didn’t happen!”

She uhhh tried to steampunk?

I get a masochistic tickle when Alexia’s family is around. I dislike Alexia so I like seeing her insulted, but the cartoonish villainy of her family is hilarious to me. It’s just so spot-on, the archetypal “BASIC SHALLOW BLONDE BITCH-SLUT TO MAKE PROTAG LOOK BETTER THAN ALL OTHER GIRLS!” However I have yet to see an author fail so spectacularly at differentiating the evil girls from the protag. “I can’t believe all my family cares about is how they look, their social standing, and men!” Huffs Alexia, as she ponders her own romantic dalliances to the king of the Universe, in her new blue carriage dress, which has SHOOK the London fashion world to its VERY CORE!

#gormless #changless #riffing

1 note · View note

ruffsficstuffplace · 6 years

Text

And The AWRD Goes To... (Part 44)

“A vacuum cleaner monster...?” Diana muttered. “Seriously?”

“Told you they can get kinda ridiculous!” Akko said.

Diana groaned. “Honestly, merits for creative application, but come on!”

“It actually makes a lot of sense considering how the rest of the world works,” Ruby said. “C13O did mention that most Automa are only ever built for the one specific job, with the brains to match.”

“Okay, that I can get, but then how do they suddenly know how to effectively weaponize their tools in times of crisis?” Diana asked. “Aren’t they only suppose to be smart enough to do their one job, and little else?”

“Maybe they put in space for combat subroutines?” Ruby replied. “Look, Diana, I’d love to discuss and debate with you, but C13O and Dash are finally fusing and I really want to see what they look like combined.”

Diana sighed. “Fine, we’ll do this some other time… these inconsistencies are so jarring and common, it gets so hard to enjoy this!”

“Do you want to change shows again after this episode, Diana?” Weiss asked from her new position, sitting beside Ruby’s bed with Ruby’s scroll and quill in hand.

“No, I really want to see what happens next,” Diana replied. “These two have been bickering and coming to blows since they met, this fusion can’t be anything but a complete and utter disaster until they find some way to compromise—if they even do!

“Not to mention how they’ll act from here on out...”

Weiss chuckled “Getting attached to Dash and C13O, Diana?” she asked.

“Look, they’re both jaded, disillusioned individuals trying to grow past their initial programming and technological limitations, whilst running headfirst into new and strange experiences with the intention to adapt and grow, and I really admire that, okay?!” Diana cried.

Quietly, she added, “C13O’s really cute, too...”

Conversation stopped as Dash and C13O went through their transformation sequence.

Ruby and Akko watched in awe as their new form took shape, Weiss added official images to Ruby’s notes on the MagiMon designs and their mechanics, Diana chuckled both Automa said the fusion speech through gritted teeth (or whatever the mechanical equivalent was).

“Oooh, that’s so cool!” Ruby cooed as the fully fused MagiMon was showed off. “C13O’s like a cockpit over Dash, and now the wheels are attached by magnetic levitation and electric currents! I wonder what sort of powers they’ll have now?”

A few moments later, Diana chuckled. “Evidently a vastly expanded ability to disagree and argue with each other...”

Weiss smiled. “It makes you wonder how many curse words the VA’s wanted to throw in.”

The action picked up again, Ruby dictated her notes about about the impressive if impractical/impossible mechanics of the battle to Weiss, Akko and Diana cheered and reacted as was appropriate, the former much louder than the former.

“Well, that climax was about as ridiculous and convoluted as I though it would be,” Diana said as the dust settled.

“Agreed!” Ruby chimed in. “If they didn’t suddenly get that power boost, they’d have probably gotten sucked in, not abused the cyclonic suction to vastly increase their own momentum and thus their wheels’ cutting powers.”

“I disagree, actually,” Weiss said. “There’s a lot to be said about mindset keeping you from your full potential—or in this case, spending more power arguing with your partner than dedicating it to… well, whatever is moving their wheels like that.”

“An electromagnetic suspension field, most likely, though with a WHOLE lot of that ‘Magia’ everything runs on to excuse the violations of basic mechanical principles,” Ruby replied.

Diana smirked. “… And of course they immediately resume butting heads after they defuse...” she said.

“Maybe the writers want to use the fact that they hate each other for a few more fights, before they get along,” Ruby said.

“If they ever move past their alliance of convenience.” Diana replied.

“Oh, they will, but it will be very slowly and painfully drawn out,” Weiss said. She sighed. “I always hated that about this series, you know, their establishing how limited the intelligence of MagiMon are to excuse them barely learning anything each time.

“What’s the point of building majority of the plot around the characters growing beyond what they used to be if they never actually make any significant changes over the season, and they’re basically acting almost exactly like they did in the start, until you’re almost to the end before they finally stop making the character-flaw-inflicted mistake for the 57th time?”

She sighed. “It’s really sad that the fanfiction writers who do their craft for free can do a much better job than the writers who were actually paid to do it.”

“What’s fanfiction?” Diana asked.

“Stories written by the fans of a series,” Weiss explained. “Setting, characters, or plots are really the only constant; they can go any direction, and some of them to TERRIBLE, dark, awful places.” Her face turned serious. “From a veteran to a newbie: beware, and ideally have a guide with you, for what you might find, how it might change you.”

“Can it really get that bad...?” Ruby asked.

Akko and Weiss both nodded grimly. “Don’t bother trying to see if there’s a bottom,” Weiss said. “There is none, only an endless, ever deepening abyss, some fandom’s deeper, more awful, and wider than others.”

“I get the feeling you’ve both seen some things.” Diana said.

“Because we have.” Akko replied. “Please, don’t ask.” she said, Weiss’ haunted expression saying much the same.

Diana and Ruby decided not to.

Lunch and came and went, as did various nurses. They spent the rest of the afternoon going through the rest of the first season of MagiMon, and were still watching it by their tutoring session at 5:30.

“Is that MagiMon?” Blake asked as she came in with a bag full of books and other teaching materials, a foldout table under her arm.

“It is!” Akko replied.

“Wow, I never thought I’d ever see that show again ever since I left grade school,” Blake said as she set up the table.

“The designs are really cool!” Ruby said. “Horribly impractical and sometimes in blatant violation of common sense, but you can tell the artists put a lot of love into them, and I can appreciate a passion project.”

“And simplistic, immature, and at times amateurish as it is, it’s got its charm,” Diana said. “I’m especially fond of C13O.”

Blake’s ears twitched. “Ugh, was she floating robot ball that was their leader?” she asked as Lotte set up beside her.

“She is,” Diana replied. “I’m sensing you don’t like her?”

“She was too much of a bitch,” Blake said. “The moment I learned that word was also the moment I could finally accurately describe what I thought about her.”

“Okay, I’ll admit that, but you have to consider the constant stress she’s under and the people she has to work with makes it difficult to maintain patience and calm at all times!” Diana countered. “There’s also her good points, like her willingness to adapt and step up to new situations.”

Blake scowled, her ears flattening menacingly. “Yeah, just because you’re the leader doesn’t give you an excuse to start behaving badly when your job gets hard, independent of your good points.”

“So!” Lotte interrupted, squaring up a stack of papers in her hands. “You guys ready to switch from cartoons to schoolwork?”

“Let’s do this!” Weiss cried as she shut Ruby’s scroll, slotted the quill back in. “Ruby’s got me all warmed up to take notes since we started, just let me get the remote…” she said as she stood up and set it aside.

“Aww, and it was getting close to when a new MagiMon usually shows up...” Ruby muttered.

“Priorities, Ruby,” Weiss said as she grabbed the remote. “Same to you, Diana,” she added, smirking.

“I know, I know!” Diana replied. “I’m just a little displeased at the timing, but I’m ready to go back to my studies!”

The videos were paused, and AWRD tried to study as best as they could with only one of them able to write, the rest having to make do with listening to Blake and Lotte, or reading from their own notes through their beds’ screens.

And if it was any consolation to Akko, they were a LOT more forgiving of her zoning out than all of their professors.

6:50, Blake declared the session over and started packing up. “Okay, I think that’s enough for today; I’m sorry I can’t tell you how to do it exactly, but try and do some reading on your own; Dr. Freya might not appreciate hearing you’re using the CCT as a primary source, but it’s better than when you don’t know the answer, period.”

“We know,” Akko and Weiss replied, nodding.

“See you all on Wednesday!” Lotte said, waving goodbye. “Hopefully, I can have enough ingredients for another song of healing by then.” She sighed as she hoisted her bag back over her shoulders. “There’s just so many vendors here, I can hardly find a decent supplier at my budget...”

“I know someone who can help with that!” Ruby said. “She pretty much knows EVERYTHING there is to know about Mistral, especially the markets in the lower cities.”

Blake’s ears subtly twitched, but otherwise her expression betrayed nothing

“Oh, that’d be great, but definitely some other time!” Lotte replied. She sheepishly looked down. “I don’t really have much to spend at the moment...”

“She can help with that, too, actually!” Ruby said.

“We’ll keep the offer in mind when we’re not as busy, Ruby, thank you,” Blake said.

Blake and Lotte left the room, Weiss looked over her notes, the reading assignments they were supposed to be doing if they weren’t in the hospital. “Well… anyone want to try having a group reading session?” she asked as she looked up. “I could just project to all of our screens and scroll for all of us.”

“A good idea in theory, but it might not work in practice,” Diana said. “Akko and I alone have vastly different reading speeds, it’ll likely be an exercise in frustration and futility.”

“Tell me about it!” Akko said. “You just burn through books like I do umeboshi, and that’s really impressive!”

“It’s not really that hard once you get enough practice,” Diana replied. “Better still if you start learning how to skip the parts where the authors wax poetic.”

“She’ll probably be out of the hospital by the time she gets good enough to make a difference, though,” Ruby said. “Maybe it’s just better if we go back to MagiMon.”

“Yes, more MagiMon seems the better option!” Diana said with a nod. “I’d really like to see how C13O deals with these new ‘Illogic’ Rogues, anyhow.”

“MagMon it is!” Weiss said as she picked up the remote, and brought the show back on. Just before she pressed play, however, there was a frantic knocking on the door, before it was clumsily opened.

“Hi girls!” Taiyang said, sweating and out of breath as he rushed in with an armload of devices. “Managed to borrow some head-pointers, mouth-sticks, and accessibility scroll mounts from the Bunker! Gonna need them all back as soon as you guys are able to start using your hands again, though!”

He set them down by Ruby’s end table, kissed her on the forehead, before making his way back out. “Would love to stay, talk, and help set these up, but visiting hours are already over and they’re not letting us extend again!”

“The management felt it would begin to set the wrong kind of precedent with all the other patients,” the nurse explained as Taiyang weaved his past her. “I am, however, ready to assist you with setting these up, whichever of these two options will suit you better.”

Weiss looked at the others. “Well… I guess that’s our studying problem fixed! So, who’s bowing out?” she asked.

No answer.

“Diana?” Akko asked. “You sure?”

“Yes,” Diana replied. She sheepishly looked away. “… I really want to get back to MagiMon.”

The nurse smiled. “Is there anything else I can assist you with, then?”

Everyone answered no, the nurse excused herself, and they went back to the anime, until they fell asleep.

Early morning the next day, Weiss was sitting beside Diana’s bed, helping her take notes. The mouth-sticks worked well enough for checking messages, browsing the CCT, and making short replies and searches, but as soon as Diana needed to type anything longer than a handful of words it became a chore, not to mention not having access to her numerous custom gestures.

“Did you ever think of setting up a system of voice commands, Diana?” Weiss asked as she had to make yet another intricate gesture over Diana’s scroll.

“I had, it was too inefficient,” Diana said, still gripping the mouth-stick between her teeth. “I could work faster and use them more easily if they were physical movements.”

“Taking a page straight out of Basic Combat Training?” Weiss asked.

“’Repeat, repeat, repeat, until it’s as instinctive as breathing,’” Diana replied. “Cycle twice, please.”

Weiss put her finger to the surface, circled her finger around twice to her note-taking app.

“Thank you,” Diana said, tapping away for a moment, before she said, “Stick.”

Weiss took it out of her mouth and held it for her. “Need to dictate something again?” she asked, holding up her scroll with her other hand.

“No, I’ve just had enough of tasting plastic for a while,” Diana said, before she shuddered, then sighed. “I truly, deeply feel for whoever has to use these things on a regular basis...”

“Lucky it’s only temporary,” Weiss said as she wiped down the grip, before setting it aside.

“Luckier still Ruby’s father procured them for us without prompting,” Diana said. “Dust, it feels so good to be able to function at somewhat normally, I can’t wait to get out of this cast.”

“Ugh, I know how you feel; being laid up in the hospital is the absolute worst,” Weiss said. “About the only good thing was that someone was that Akko was almost always there with me, or visiting as often as she could.”

“You two got into a lot of misadventures before, I’m gussing?” Diana asked.

Weiss smiled. “Plenty. Back in Hoshiko, Sanctum, especially now here in Haven, we were always getting into trouble—generally because of Akko’s poor impulse control, or my own terrible decisions, but sometimes trouble just can’t seem to help but find us,” she said, looking at the Shiny Rod on the other side of the room.

“Speaking of which: how are you holding up?” she said as she turned back to Diana.

“Well enough, I suppose?” Diana replied. “I mean, I’m currently in a full body cast, lagging behind on all my classes, and I just know the Shiny Rod’s probably going to be attracting more Grimm and assorted trouble to us like a superpowered magnet pretty soon…

“… But, you’ve all been excellent friends and teammates; we’re setting ourselves up for quite the comeback by midterms, if Constanze’s machine works as well as I hope it will; and I’ve discovered the joy of anime.”

She looked up at the ceiling. “Never would I have thought I’d feel so attached to, and care so much about what’s essentially a malfunctioning secretarial AI, determinedly leading a group of assorted misfits.”

Weiss chuckled. “That’s art for you!” Her voice softened. “Really don’t know what I’d do without it, which is why it’s number three on the Big Three things I can’t live without.”

“What’s number one and two?” Diana asked.

“My family plus a handful of friends like Akko, and...” Weiss blushed and looked away. “… Yuri.”

“What now?” Diana asked.

“Yuri—it’s a Tenjin term for lesbian romance,” Weiss explained, still blushing. “Look, homoerotic subtext is fine, but I really prefer homoerotic main text, even if I can’t always handle it.”

Diana chuckled. “Colour me completely unsurprised.”

Weiss scowled. “Speaking of which…” her expression softened as she reached and touched Diana’s shoulder. “If you ever need someone to talk about it, I’m here for you.”

“Talk about what, exactly?” Diana asked.

“You know, being too gay for something?” Weiss replied. “Trust me, the first handful of times I watched a lot of sequences with Eluna, I had to pause the stream and physically leave the room till my face stopped feeling like it was melting.

“Even then, some scenes are just too...” she sucked in a breath, and blew it out her nose. “… Yeah.”

Diana looked at her in confusion, before her eyes widened in realization, and she said, “Weiss, I’m not gay.”

Weiss stopped, and blinked. “Wait… you’re not…?”

“No, no I’m not,” Diana replied, matter-of-fact. “As I mentioned, I’ve got bigger priorities than romance, which is why I haven’t really had the time nor the interest to explore my sexuality.”

“O-Oh!” Weiss stammered. “I’m sorry, it was just that, I… uh...”

Diana sighed, her cheeks getting a light dusting of red. “Did you assume that because of all the fanservice in Rune Rangers, and how I reacted to it?”

“Yes…” Weiss replied, nodding. “I suppose that was just culture shock?”

“Yes, yes it was,” Diana said. “As I’m sure you and Akko are aware of, Atlas is a rather conservative kingdom, and that aside, I… never really chose to seek it out myself, so it’s rather more shameless and extreme that what I’m used to.”

“Oh. Okay. Thanks for clearing that up.” Weiss said. “Offer still stands, though, in case you find out it’s not just culture shock!”

“I’m firm in my plans to not get into a relationship or involve myself in romance, Weiss, I’m sure it won’t be a problem,” Diana said flatly.

“And I believe you, but I thought the same way before I met Aqua,” Weiss replied. “Sometimes, it really only takes the one person to change your life forever—kind of like how I was, before I became friends with Akko.

“Never hurts to have a plan just in case, doesn’t it?” she asked.

“I beg to differ: there’s such a thing as opportunity cost, after all,” Diana said.

Weiss nodded. “Well, whatever your opinion, my offer still stands.”

“The thought is appreciated, Weiss,” Diana replied. “Stick, please.”

Weiss picked up her mouth-stick, wiped down the handle again, before putting it back between Diana’s teeth.

Ruby and Akko woke up some time later, they had breakfast and resumed watching MagiMon, and the conversation was—for the most part—forgotten.

C13O stands for “Comptroller 13 Omega,” her old position before the events of the series. Though she retains her spelling as reminder of where she came from, it’s always pronounced as “Cleo.” Calling her either by her full designation or reading out the code as you should is a surefire way to activate her new found “rage” subroutines.

Dash used to be “Deliverer 507 Iota” (D507I) before the actions of this season’s villain caused her to voluntarily turn Rogue from Central. Her outright refusing to bow to any sort of authority, period, is the basis for her joining the protagonists and not the Rogues, and is the frequent cause of her clashes with C13O, who was, in a literal sense, an extension of the arm of Central and the Overseers there.

Yes, I have in fact constructed massive details for this world, how it functions, the conflicts, and even an AU with Dash and C13O where they're humans working at a crappy start-up, and have an "on-off, but mostly off" relationship.

Yes, there’s gonna be a Big Gay Panic for Diana, but it’s mostly going to be in the sequel. Doesn’t mean none of these girls won’t get their Big Moments this story, don’t worry.

#rwby #little witch academia #fanfic #and the awrd goes to #dianakko #white rose

3 notes · View notes

jojotier · 7 years

Text

A Tale Of Two Jotaros

(The second chapter of FM Part 1: Wealth of Stability! Jotaro and Kakyoin travel to the scenic Milford Sound, New Zealand to investigate a slew of unnatural earthquakes, only to find a normal girl who acts nearly exactly like Jotaro, down to field of study and tendency to barge in fists first. Enjoy!)

The first thing to note was that his head was pounding, worse than the one time he attempted underage drinking and worse than all those times when he was sent flying into whatever surface some villain was tossing him at that day. Jotaro could probably count on the fingers of his right hand how many random bastards were able to get the drop on him, but those times were still memorable enough in how much of a rage headache he’d been left with after. This was worse than those times. The fact that he was just punched in the jaw also wasn’t helping matters.

Right. Second thing to note: he was just punched in the jaw.

The bitch who did it had guts, especially since she was half a foot shorter than him and with far less muscle, and sure as hell must have had an ego and way too much luck, if the small stack of bodies behind her was any indication. She glared at him, shook her hand, and bit out, “Dammit all- you’re a tough sonuvabitch, I’ll give you that, but if you think you or your cronies here are going to get anything, then you’ve got yourself a couple feathers short of a full dodo.”

So she had guts and a pretty damn bad case of mistaken identity, because he didn’t know a single one of the goons unconscious there. Suddenly, Jotaro was thankful that he hadn’t just sent Star out to pummel this woman into the ground, because not only was that too much energy he wasn’t willing to spend, but now he could rest easy with the knowledge that he hadn’t just gone and beaten some random girl to a pulp for no legitimate reason.

He said levelly, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” because he did, in fact, have no idea what she was talking about. He looked over everything to try and piece it together, just barely catching the movement of another punch headed his way.

He just needed a few damn seconds to see what he was dealing with, so with a noncommitted mutter, he had Star stop time for a total of five seconds. It was coming easier to him, the more he practiced with it, but that didn’t mean that Jotaro liked using it all that much. At most, it was a fail safe, a backup plan to make sure that he or Kakyoin didn’t get skewered in some precarious situation. He preferred using his hands in real time- not only because it made everything more satisfying to see his opponents react in real time, but also because when he was pissed to all hell it felt like he was cheating himself out of some benefit to having the world see. He looked damn cool when he fought, and looking back on that instead of the rage bubbling under his skin helped.

The scene had the gorgeous backdrop of pretty much anywhere in this far too expensive tourist trap of a marine getaway- along the beach there were the waves, the nose of a dolphin breaking the water, with a cloudless sky and high cliffs rising towards it. There were three goons passed out along the beach, and he sidestepped the frozen fist of this girl to crouch near them. Their pockets were filled with coins, and their coats were lined with a certain kind of tropical fish, mostly dead. Poor things- if he’d found some goons trying to suffocate these like this, he’d be pissed too.

The girl was still there, and he took the last second to see if she fit the description of the Stand User they were after. The Foundation didn’t have much info on her, which was annoying and troublesome, but they did know that it was a she, and she had long hair. Considering the braid that flipped down to her ankles, he’d say she fit that much, so it’d pay to be careful.

Three seconds were up and the world began again. The young woman finished punching thin air and then started, eyes (or maybe it was just the one eye- the other was covered by one ridiculously long strand of hair that’d escaped her completely impractically lengthy braid) widening as she whipped around to face him, fists balling up tight. Her face was stoic as she regarded him, eyebrows furrowing, and Jotaro almost wanted to laugh- who did she think she was, trying to look intimidating when she was barely 150 centimeters tall?

“I don’t know how you got over there,” She said, and even if she might have been pretending, but it seemed as if she didn’t even notice Star floating behind him, “but you’re going to give some answers, or I’ll be forced to kick your ass.”

“Good grief.” He muttered in response, watching her warily. Even if she wasn’t the stand user, he knew she could at least throw a half decent punch, and the last thing he wanted to do was blow some situation out of proportion just because he got irritated. That wasn’t why they’d come here. “I don’t have answers for these three, because I don’t know anything about them. Besides, what they’re doing,” He bent down, pulling aside the fabric and showing the bags of lethargically swimming fish, “is inhumane as all hell to these fish and I don’t care for that shit.”

The girl had the presence of mind to look slightly bewildered (or slightly irritated- either way, there was the telltale twitch of an eyebrow) as she said, “What- no, these goons were making off with the gold they have on exhibition. What the hell is this about fish?”

“These are arowanas- big money for anyone willing to smuggle to fish enthusiasts and the stuperstitious.” He felt that he may as well explain, considering how lost and decidedly not-violent this one had apparently gotten. Still, it didn’t make sense- why go and have an entire heist in the middle of a completely different smuggling operation? Either these three were the stupidest criminals Jotaro had ever had the displeasure to lay eyes on or there was something fishier going on than just the arowanas sluggishly floating in their containers. Damn. And here he had thought that maybe he’d have a moment to actually pretend that he was enjoying his time at Milford Sound.

There were footsteps, and before he could turn he heard the sound of that girl shifting, fists probably raising and Kakyoin echoing his own first thoughts while first observing this scene. “What on Earth has happened here?”

Jotaro turned, inclining his head in acknowledgement as the girl straightened up, flipping her braid over her shoulder and giving a low huff. “Good grief… it’s a chore to have to explain this all any more than I have to. I’ll let him explain things, since I’m about done here.” She looked Kakyoin in the eye and Kakyoin blinked, eyebrows raising a bit at the venomous glare. She started walking away, the silver chains on her small black jacket trailing behind her along with the black cord of her hair.

Kakyoin approached Jotaro, looking between him and the retreating back of the girl that caused a sudden spike of irritation to burn low in his stomach and then calling out to her with a hint of bemusement. “Ah, wait a moment miss!” She turned back to face him, expression impassive. He smiled, standing up straighter and moving forward until he was taking her hands gently within his own, leaning down while still being ever the gentleman. “My name is Noriaki Kakyoin. Now, if you would please…” Even as Kakyoin very sweetly asked her to stay, putting on the charm that usually left girls weak in the knees, her face didn’t change from that passive indifference. That stoic expression was pissing Jotaro the hell off.

Then, she had the fucking gall to swat Kakyoin’s hands away, a scowl coming onto her face as she said rudely, “Don’t touch me, you son of a bitch. I can’t stand men that get handsy. If you need me there, then fine- but I don’t want to see any errant hand come anywhere near me, or I’ll beat the shit out of you.” She brushed past him and came to lean against the nearby metal fence that separated the beach from the pavement, leaving Kakyoin bemused but bewildered.

Who in the fuck gave this bitch the right to speak to people any way she wanted? It was annoying. He hated people that were so full of themselves.

Kakyoin came over and murmured to Jotaro, “Funny. It’s almost like we crossed into some kind of strange alternate plane.” Jotaro didn’t like that teasing tone in his voice, no matter how quiet he was being.

“And how the hell do you figure that?” Jotaro had to ask, because there was some kind of cosmic joke here that he was missing, and if there was one thing that set his blood to boil faster than random gutsy bitches, it was missing something that everyone else in the universe apparently found to be fucking hysterical.

“You didn’t realize it? She acts a lot like you do, or used to do, particularly with the opposite sex. Kind of looks like you, too. With the chains, the unreasonable amount of belts, black overcoat…”

“I’m only wearing two belts.” He muttered, irritated now because no, he hadn’t noticed any similarities between this random civilian and himself. He had other things to think about, like whatever the hell these men were doing.

“That’s at least one belt too many, and you’re not denying that she does.”

“If you want to see shit that isn’t there, who the hell am I to stop you? Besides, I don’t act like a stuck up bitch to people.”

“When we met you called your mother a bitch.”

“We don’t speak of those times.”

“What times? You still call girls bitches. You just indirectly called this one a bitch.”

“Not to their faces, anymore. And not all of them are bitches. This one, though...”

Kakyoin snorted, shaking his head as he whispered. “Let’s call it a work in progress.”

“Hey,” The girl rudely spoke up, staring at the both of them, “are you two having a lover’s quarrel or what? If you wanted me here, get on with it- I don’t have all day, you know.”

He crouched near the men and the fish, having a look for himself what Jotaro already observed.. “Arowanas, hm? Seems to be a terribly inconvenient place to be smuggling them. Especially with… the gold inside as well.” Jotaro watched as Hierophant Green was slowly unwinding itself and wrapping its tentacles securely around the criminals on the ground. All male, all with hair that ranged from short to reasonably long. Not the stand user they were looking for, it seemed.

He glanced over again at the girl, but she kept staring passively. She didn’t make any indication that she saw Hierophant, but she very well could have. She was looking directly at Jotaro now, and Jotaro met her gaze, glaring back at her with as much force as she glared at him. They might have actually stayed that way for a while if Kakyoin hadn’t stepped in and said, “So, will someone explain or do I have to piece it together myself?”

“Jesus, can’t you take any initiative?” She said, looking back at Jotaro before looking to Kakyoin. “Since your partner here is apparently inept, I’ll take on the explanation; alright, Nori?” Nori? What in the hell had her already calling him a nickname? Jotaro hadn’t even started calling him anything like that, and at the very least he knew Kakyoin longer than a few minutes.

Kakyoin didn’t seem to notice his partner’s rising annoyance and instead nodded, saying politely, “Yes, I would very much like that.” Equally politely, he didn’t comment on the nickname use, probably figuring it a custom or some shit.

“Here’s the basics- I saw these three sneaking out the museum, where there’s an exhibition on pirates around the region and throughout history going on. People were freaking out, and they were running through the chaos, so it wasn’t hard to figure out that they were being suspicious for a reason. Turns out, they stole a good portion of the Dutch gold there and tried to make off with it, along with these arowanas that they’ve smuggled into the country to sell. After all, with their popularity among tropical fish enthusiasts and their unique scales, they’d make a pretty penny.” If she knew damn well where fish played into this, then why had she been so confused earlier? “I don’t understand why they would try a heist in the middle of smuggling, though- seems stupid as hell. Whatever the case, they’re out of commission. I made sure of that.”

Which brought up the question of, how the hell did she take down three full grown men by herself? She couldn’t have been much older than Jotaro or Kakyoin, and she was at least half a foot shorter, so how the hell did she manage to knock them all out, especially with a punch that wasn’t especially noteworthy or powerful?

“Then I mistook your friend there and punched him.” She said, looking at Jotaro with a small smirk on her face. Jotaro felt the muscles in his fingers twitch at that as Kakyoin’s eyebrows shot up and he turned to look at Jotaro, a little look of surprise in his face.

“Took me by surprise. I didn’t think a little thing like you would even try it.” Jotaro said levelly as the girl glared at him.

“I didn’t think that a gorilla like you could find work anywhere outside a crime syndicate, so I guess we both learned something today.” She said back, and Jotaro watched Kakyoin bite his lip, shoulders shaking a bit.

His head throbbed. He had a feeling this was going to be a long day.

After the Speedwagon Foundation picked up the men and Jotaro had triple checked that those arowanas were going to be given good enough care, he, Kakyoin, and the girl settled into the only little cafe in this resort town to look things over since it became obvious that this bitch knew some of the shit that might have been going on.

Jotaro had long since learned that her name was Shila, that she was nineteen years old and doing an internship here because she wanted to become a marine biologist, but he could care less. Why the hell should he have cared about the life of some inconsequential girl, even if there were details that were starting to look eerily similar to the life of his own? The world was full of bizarre bullshit, and if it wanted to throw a female doppelganger with his exact seventeen year old pre-Egypt personality it could do so without any fear of retribution. It was honestly better not to even acknowledge it, because then it just made things even more uncomfortable, and when that happened, the world generally took that as its cue to fuck everything over all the more.

Kakyoin, though, was just having the dandiest fucking time while still putting on that polite face he generally did around new people he wasn’t quite used to letting loose around. He could tell in the little crinkles at the corners of Kakyoin’s mouth and eyes, the humored twitch of fingers and the appearance of a few sly remarks that only Jotaro would understand because he’d been there and in the end, he was the one being made fun of. He was hating this situation more and more.

“So why exactly are you all here, and apparently getting involved like this? Are you some kind of cops? You don’t look American…” Shila was saying from across the booth. She’d taken up an entire side by herself, spreading herself out with no regard to anyone else and forcing Kakyoin and Jotaro to squeeze together on the other side. They were not small men. It was just another spark of irritation added to the fire.

“I suppose you could say that we are agents of sorts.” Kakyoin said, taking a sip of his tea. “I’m afraid we can’t say much more, but we can say this- we’re looking for someone of very… specific abilities, under the guise of investigating the recent slew of earthquakes.”

That was right. Recently, the normally sunny and lovely Milford Sound had become stormy, and numerous earthquakes were threatening the delicate ecosystem there. Most so far had affected more inland areas, but they were already disrupting the delicate black coral reefs deep under the water, and the many lightning strikes were starting to destroy property. There was probably more to that, but honestly, Jotaro had mostly skimmed over the report and read the parts where the marine life were being threatened and what information they had on their user.

“What- do you think they’re linked somehow or somethin’?” She asked nonchalantly taking a swig of some overly obnoxious looking soda brand he’d never seen before. Kakyoin’s eyes narrowed, but with the wave of a hand she dismissed herself, saying, “Jesus, I’m joking. You’ve seen the action flicks like that- the agents say they’re doing one thing while doing another, but secretly they’re all linked together. I could help, though.”

“Is that so?” Kakyoin asked, putting on a polite face.

“Well, I don’t know how I can help you find anyone with “specific abilities” if I don’t know those abilities are,” She said, finishing off her soda and setting the bottle down, leaning forward a bit. “but I can tell you this- the tectonic activity around here just isn’t normal. I’ve been studying the ocean floor maps for weeks, and the fault line has always been more inland. Now, it’s almost as if all the earthquakes have been moving slowly closer towards the reef. I don’t know what to make of that- but if something happens there, especially with the observatory….”

“Right, Milford Sound’s Underwater Observatory… if an earthquake hits there, then anyone inside will be stuck ten meters in the ocean.” Jotaro nodded along with that, because should that place be destroyed, that would be dozens of lives at risk and an entire ecosystem utterly destroyed.

“Well I don’t see them being transported to the lost city of Atlantis.” Shila quiped.

“How long have the quakes been going on for?” Jotaro finally spoke, looking to Shila. She may have been unbearable, but in the end, she might be useful, for at least a moment. Then he and Noriaki could go back to more important things, other than entertaining her and her shitty attitude.

“About two weeks- it started off small and inland, every few days, but now it’s gotten to be every other day. They’re getting worse.” Shila told them, watching them with that same stoic expression.

“Then we have a time limit, of sorts.” Kakyoin mused, looking out the window and over the streets. No earthquake had hit the town yet, so it seemed as if they would be due for one sometime soon. Which meant that eventually, they would be able to corner the stand user somewhere in the town- after all, they’d have to be staying nearby, and have an exceptionally good sense of where everything in the town was, in addition to the natural landscape.

A tour guide, of sorts. Or someone living at the resort for an internship to study that very same landscape.

To be honest, Jotaro had his suspicions from the moment this woman talked so effortlessly about the arowanas to Kakyoin, as if she’d known about them being part of the plan all along. No, earlier than that- when she didn’t even bat an eyelash at Kakyoin’s charming display like anyone else would. Still, he needed something more concrete- more evidence to even affirm to himself that this Shila character was who they were after. He guessed the best thing would be to see if she could see their stands, but it’d be easy to pretend they weren’t there.

“If anything, you should have your agency evacuate the place.” Shila said, leaning back. “It’ll be a damn pain to move all those papers out, but it’s a small price to pay. Still- what can you tell me about the person with a specific ability?”

Kakyoin and Jotaro looked to each other. If Jotaro’s hunch was wrong and this girl wasn’t a stand user like them, then any explanation would essentially be worthless. Besides, even if she were a stand user, she would probably be who they were going after in the first place. Jotaro summoned Star Platinum in that moment and Kakyoin nodded, leaning back. “There isn’t anything that we can say, I’m afraid- it’s all classified. Though, we must thank you for your help-”

“You need me.” She said without pause, looking Noriaki dead in the eye and moving her bang out of the way to gaze at him fully. “No one else will know the landscape quite as well as me, unless you count all those old geezers down below. And you wouldn’t want too many people to know about it, I’m guessing. You need someone to help you out, so that you can deal with the earthquakes. I have the pattern on these on lock.”

Even as Star moved directly in Shila’s line of sight, she didn’t bat an eye. That wasn’t going to be enough, and it was already damn suspicious that she was insisting on coming in the first place. There was only one more thing to do, and Jotaro figured that it wouldn’t hurt to give this bitch a little taste of her own medicine. With a loud “ORA-” Star’s fist was pulled back and then sent flying straight into her jaw. Before it hit though, Jotaro muttered, “Star Platinum, the World.” and everything around him froze.

Like this, it was easier to gauge a reaction. Seeing if there was any kind of change in expression the exact millisecond before Star’s fist landed would let Jotaro examine more carefully whether or not she could see the Stand in danger of punching her. He looked with both his own eyes, and then with Star’s, but the answer was the same- Shila’s face was absolutely stone cold stoic, the same expression as before, with no change. He stared for one second of frozen time, then three, then ten, but nothing. She didn’t seem to even realize that there was a gust of wind or a presence of something powerful about to hit her dead on. Star moved out of the way.

Time began to move. Shila made no move other than to pick up her empty soda bottle and try to throw it into the trash from her seat. When it didn’t land inside the can, she let out a huff and went to go pick it up after getting a dirty look from the woman at the counter. While she was gone, Kakyoin elbowed him hard in the ribs.

“Jesus Jotaro, what in the hell were you thinking?!” He hissed, “If you’d only lingered a moment-!”

“You know that Star’s precise.” Jotaro said irritably. “I was never going to actually hit her.” But he did definitely consider doing so wholeheartedly there for a second, if only because she was getting under his skin in some weird way that made him feel vaguely slimy.

“Even so, it’s obvious she can’t see them. Otherwise she would’ve seen Hierophant Green earlier.” That was true, sure, but Jotaro just needed to be sure. Even then, though… this girl could be stoic and ornery to the extreme in the face of practically anything, so what was one near punch to the jaw? It may have still been an act. It wasn’t as if they knew her in any way.

But considering how ruffled Kakyoin got, maybe he wouldn’t voice that just yet.

Jotaro needed a smoke after all that, and he was able to sneak away for a break without Kakyoin even sparing him one of those vague eye rolls he gave whenever he went for a cigarette. He wasn’t exactly sure what emotion was meant to be conveyed with it- disgust? Annoyance? Amusement? Some fond sentimental bullshit? He wasn’t too good with emotions- but he did know that it always made him spoke at least one more cigarette than planned, just to spite the asshole a little.

There was a small railing to the balcony outside the little cafe, boasting a view that no doubt got far too many photographers itching to take several keepsakes of the little town as it stretched below, surrounded on either side by stone and greenery and pointing out towards the far more interesting sea beyond. Jotaro lit up his cigarette, bringing it to his lips and breathing in.

The nicotine puffed through his system and untensed his shoulders, mingling through the slightly salty air brought in from the coast. It was quiet out there, and he could safely let his thoughts drift from topic to topic as he tried to have some reprieve from the last few days cooped up on a plane, then in a hotel room, then within the confines of twenty thick stacks of folders of information on seismic activity and sea life and the precious few leads the Foundation had found, which still ended up taking up the majority of the folders despite all the shitty purple prose essentially equating to the higher ups shrugging their shoulders and saying “fuck if we know”.

That was one thing that made this entire thing significantly worse than Egypt- sure, they all had the enemy snapping at their ankles every waking moment, but at least then it didn’t take hours of strain and luck hoping for some damn excitement with a shit ton of paperwork on top of it. Jotaro was going to go out of his mind with cabin fever, which was a shame- he actually had wanted to see the surf at least once while they were there.

He had begun vaguely recalling the list of sea creatures that would be visible from the underwater observatory ( Antipatharia , black coral, a species normally found in the deep ocean but due to deep water emergence would be able to grow just beneath the freshwater layer since sunlight can’t reach it, home to Conger oceanicus , Conga eel, deep sea starfish such as the species-) when his concentration was broken by the sound of heavy booted footsteps walking out on the balcony with him. Not that the steps themselves were all that heavy- Jotaro knew for a fact a girl Shila’s size couldn’t make the sound of their feet any louder, no matter how big the shoes they used to play dress up or how loud they stomped.

Shila relaxed against the railing, looking out towards the town and sea. Jotaro huffed out a puff of smoke, and then immediately sucked in another, flicking ash to the pavement. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Shila pull out a pack of cigarettes of her own; a pack of the exact same brand as his, no less. She lit up a cigarette and took a deep drag before huffing the smoke out.

Jotaro asked her irritably, “What the hell do you want.”

“What, I can’t have a smoke?” Shila said in that infuriatingly deadpan way of hers, not even bothering to look his direction. “It was getting too stuffy in there with your partner. He may act cute and polite, but he’s kind of fuckin’ weird, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you.” Jotaro told her flatly. What the hell would she know? Kakyoin didn’t just turn around and start being his usual kind of weird asshole self unless he was comfortable around people, and Jotaro knew for a fact that he couldn’t have been feeling comfortable with this bitch just yet. Even then though, hearing her call his friend weird made Jotaro bristle because he was the only one allowed to mess with Kakyoin about his shit (even if it was true), not some random floozy who couldn’t even speak in any way without sounding arrogant.

Shila took another drag, let it out, and looked to Jotaro from the corner of her eye. Jotaro kept staring stubbornly ahead- he wasn’t about to blink first. “Then again, I guess weirdos are attracted to each other. Considering that fancy shit you pulled earlier with those assholes on the beach, I’m guessing you’re even weirder than Cherry Boy inside there.” She jerked a thumb back and Jotaro’s fingers twitched around his cigarette. He stayed quiet.

A moment passed where the air was tense, with neither of them making any movements to go inside. Jotaro didn’t speak; he didn’t need to answer to Shila, or to the accusation and interrogation rolled into the margins of her statement. Just as he let another slow puff out, Shila clicked her tongue, flipping her long braid over her shoulder. “Good grief… sometimes I wonder if you’re even capable of human speech. Whatever the case, you should probably know that I ended up prying a description of your special person and know something of what you’re talking about.”

Finally, something actually worth his time. He flicked the ash from his cigarette and turned partially to her, looking to get her to go on. Apparently slow to catch onto cues not blasted liberally into her fucking eardrums, Shila took a moment before she went on. “I was running some errands for the researchers down below in an outpost in the nearby national park that deals with weather shit- sometime around a week after the earthquakes started- when I saw a pretty short girl with long white hair. She was all covered up, head to toe, which was weird since it’s the middle of a shitty summer, and I didn’t catch a glimpse of her face. Couple minutes later, an earthquake started, and she disappeared into the woods.”

His cigarette burned a little more, nearly burning his fingers with the heat. It couldn’t have been that easy- just a simple, straight forward lead pointing them in the direction of their stand user, all wrapped up in a shitty Hot Topic brand bow? Rarely was anything in Jotaro’s life ever easy and straightforward, particularly when stands and the people using them were involved. Even then, though, Star Platinum had proved it- Shila wasn’t a stand user. She didn’t even see the punch coming.

All Jotaro could do was huff out another puff of smoke and take one last drag of his own. “Seems awfully convenient.”

“Yeah, well, Nori says not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and the sooner freaks like you are out of my hair, the better. We’ll be moving out soon enough.” Shila said, letting the butt of her cigarette fall to the ground. Except the butt landed directly on Jotaro’s shoe, and she still had the gall to stomp down on his foot and grind the thing in, before glaring up at him, as if daring him to do something.

Jotaro’s eyes narrowed as he gripped onto the front of Shila’s shirt, lifting her up on her toes. “And what the hell was that about? These shoes were expensive as all hell.”

“What was all what about?” Shila mocked, staring him directly in the eye without so much as moving a muscle to stop him. As if she was in control of this entire situation. “Though, I wouldn’t do anything too rash if I were you- weird as he is, your partner seems to be such a gentleman, and he won’t be happy knowing that you tried to fight a lady. A lady who’s acting as your guide to the national park over the cliff, no less. What would Nori say about this?”

Jotaro could feel his blood boiling in his head, but the bitch was right. Kakyoin had been with him over the past few years and encouraging him to work on his temper, and the thought of disappointing Kakyoin after he’d been trusted with so much of his fate stung worse than the hit to his pride. Reluctantly, he let Shila go, and she still didn’t show any emotion as she turned on her heel and walked back through the door, moving to stand near where Kakyoin had taken up residence near the front door, chatting with a presumably local, probably to get in as much culture as he could.

Jotaro’s head throbbed. He wondered what would get rid of his headache first- smoking enough cigarettes to let the nicotine do its job or the lung cancer he was sure to get trying.

“They call this ‘The Chasm’.” Shila said, looking up at the gaping structure rising to their left. It was a large rock formation, long ago carved out by glaciers long gone, and the sound of two waterfalls rushing downwards marked it. Jotaro wasn’t one for staring at scenery for too long- it was just a bunch of rocks with some water running like a couple giant faucets, big deal- but Kakyoin seemed particularly impressed by it all, so he didn’t say anything. He wasn’t about to rail against something his friend liked so much unprompted. Said friend had taken to walking between Jotaro and Shila, closer to the little bitch than to him, much to Jotaro’s annoyance.

“I think I read something about this,” Kakyoin said, shielding his eyes against the sun. “in the guidebooks. This entire national park was carved out from glaciers, thousands of years ago, and now that it’s receded it’s left these formations which are still being slowly eroded even to this day. Nature has been slowly chipping away at it for eons, and now it’s left us with this… It’s truly a marvel.”

Shila raised an eyebrow and said, “They’re just rocks, but alright- I didn’t take you for the flowery type, Nori.”

Well she didn’t know anything about “Nori” anyway, Jotaro thought irritably to himself, so she could fuck off.

Kakyoin didn’t answer that and they pressed on in silence for a bit. Then, Shila spoke up again, staring straight ahead where the bridge gave way to the solid ground of the cliff they were going to be travelling on. “The quakes haven’t reached past here yet, so we have a good chance of getting back. If not, there’s stations nearby for rock climbing that we can use to get back across.” The drop below was steep, giving way to rushing water that was who knew how many meters deep. If anything hit right then, it’d be a surefire way for the enemy stand user to have them injured. Even if he didn’t know if the user was aware of them or not (which was pretty unlikely, given that the last one, that Page, caught on quickly enough) there was still something suspicious about the fact that nothing had gotten them while Shila was on the bridge.

They all stepped safely onto the other side and there was a crack in forest dead ahead of them.

In the blink of an eye, Star and Hierophant Green were out- but their guide didn’t seem to realize them, only looking in alarm at the trees. Or, perhaps, the vague approximation of alarm. Still stoic as ever. Still not even giving any indication of emotion. Really, he didn’t know what Kakyoin had seen in her that was so similar to Jotaro- at least he had the presence of mind to show that he was actually feeling something, instead of expending any unnecessary energy in trying to hide it in any way. Besides, it was easy enough to read, if someone actually knew him.

There was a flash of something in the trees, and Shila’s eye (the visible one- that bang had fallen in front of the other again) widened as she barked out, “Get down!” There was the sound of something quick flying through the air, and effortlessly Star had taken hold of the little projectile. It wasn’t anything special- an arrow, a blunt on at that- but it showed, along with the rustling in the trees, that there was definitely something there.

He quickly took hold of the arrow and turned to where Shila and Kakyoin were- except they weren’t standing. Somewhere in the middle of that, Shila had had the bright idea to tackle Kakyoin to the ground to make sure he didn’t get hit. It was another piece of evidence that she couldn’t see the stands- if she could, would she have really been that worried? And why the hell was she worried, if she had been making fun of Kakyoin in the first place?

He started towards the forest, running full speed ahead. He was sure that they could catch up. Or at least, Kakyoin could catch up- if he left the woman on the ground there, that would just be all the better, not only for her safety if she was a civilian, but for Jotaro’s own peace of mind.

Shila wasn’t expecting the arrow to come as suddenly as it did, but it did- and that meant that whoever was right in front of them, they had some damn good aim. She didn’t know if it was the white haired girl or someone else, but that didn’t matter right then- right then, she was trying to make sure that this Noriaki guy was okay. For as little as she knew about him, she could tell this much- the guy was good. Almost to a sickening degree.

Having that stand of his out could be a problem, though.

Now, Shila liked to think of herself as a pretty good actress- it was in her entire job description, after all!- but she also knew when to drop the act and make sure things were kosher. It would be a shame if someone as legitimately good as Nori there were to get hurt.

Noriaki held his side, over where Shila’s hand was pressing down, blood slipping through both of their fingers. “What the hell…?! I thought there was only one--”

“There were two arrows!” Shila said, raising herself onto her knees, straddling him. She was half disappointed that that suspicious partner of his wasn’t there to see- she might not have known much about the freak, but she did know a creep when she saw it. She lifted her hand away from his side to have a look, and the cut wasn’t too deep. Which was a relief. Last thing she needed was someone getting needlessly injured here. Cursing, she reached into her pocket, pulling out a small bottle of cherry water. She remembered dully that he liked cherries, and Shila knew that this wasn’t any ordinary water she was giving him. “Drink some of this- I’ll bandage you up real quick.”

“As kind as that is, I don’t really think now is the time for proper hydration-” Shila gave him a look, and he stared right back at her. The both of them looked at each other for a moment before Noriaki sighed, opening up the bottle and taking a sip. Shila went back to tearing part of her coat apart (which was a damn shame- this thing was expensive ) and started sopping up the blood. After a moment, Noriaki held his head, grimacing. “Shila… what was in that?”

“Medicine. Just wait a second- the headache dies down after a bit.” Shila watched as the blood pouring from the wound coagulated, then stopped. After she wiped the last of it away, the nick to Noriaki’s side was gone completely. Just a perk to having friends in high places, or so she’d like to think. Noriaki made a small sound low in his throat as he sat up, eyebrows raising.

“So it was. I wasn’t expecting that…” Noriaki said, looking to Shila for a long moment. Shila stared back, using the moment to hide the little trinket underneath the fabric she was using and discreetly slip it into Noriaki’s pocket. It wasn’t anything particularly big- just a small red marble, nothing more.

Abruptly, Shila got to her feet, pointing to Noriaki sternly. “Stay here for a second. It’s dangerous for you to get up right now… I’ll scout out the area ahead.” Sure, Nori had a good luck charm from her, but Shila still had other things to take care of right then. Just so that she could rest easy the rest of the time she had to spend with pretty boy and his freaky goth guard dog. Noriaki tried to stand, grimaced again, and had to sit right back down, and Shila looked ahead towards the direction where his partner had taken off in.

“Fine… Just don’t go too far. I’ll join with you momentarily.” Noriaki said, and Shila nodded, moving towards the trees. She was going to make sure that this guy was at least unscathed after everything.

After all- and maybe it was strange to admit- she had somewhat of a weakness for pretty purple eyes.

By around the ten minute mark, he hadn’t yet been joined by Kakyoin and that was a damn problem because that was about when the earthquake started.

By then, Jotaro had started to catch up with the person, and pumping his legs faster was starting to put him within arm’s reach. He could see the telltale signs- a shorter girl, waves of long white hair thrown back to the wind, a bow over her shoulders and a stone glove on her hand. All he needed to do was grab just a fistful of that hair and yank and he’d have her. Not even that- she was covered from the neck down in gloves, a scarf, the full works, which really didn’t make any sense for the hot as hell weather of New Zealand. All he needed to do was grab hold, and then the little shit had to slam that fist into the ground.

The ground underneath cracked suddenly, and Jotaro just managed to move out of the way of the worst of the fissure lines as trees around him began to come uprooted, tipping backwards away from the epicenter of the quake. Good grief- now in addition to a chase, he was going to have to spend needless energy on keeping himself balanced on the shaking pieces of the ground that were slowly being tossed his way by the worse tremors. Thankfully, Star was able to help in that regard, smashing through any rubble with well placed punches and “ORA”s.

The stand user navigated the scenery exceptionally well, but that was to be expected- obviously she would, considering that her stand was the cause of countless quakes over these past few weeks. There was too much to think about- why would she wait around there? Just what the hell was she trying to hide in this place?

Just how the hell was this little shit so easily spotted by Shila before?

No time to think about that. There was only time for action, hooking his hands onto one flying piece of earth and swinging on it to propel him forward. She was letting that stone gauntlet of hers drop multiple times in front of her, causing more and more quakes- whatever few visitor centers were out there in the wilderness were probably nothing more than dust at this point, but the sheer amount and size of the debris was making it easier to stay off the ground, at least. The last thing he needed was for some stupid shit like this to trip him up or something equally embarrassing, especially with the job that he was going to have to deal with.

The stand user finally stopped causing new epicenters, and she was still retreating. Jesus, why in the hell couldn’t these people just stand and fight? That would be making Jotaro’s job much easier than it was currently, and now with the loss of momentum and flying chunks of the earth’s surface, he had no other choice but to land on the still trembling ground, dodging as one tree, then another, then yet another, smashed down into the earth.

This chase was already tiring him, so rather than deal with ten more minutes of prolonged, boring chase through the woods in the middle of who the fuck knew where (hell, how could he describe a chase like that in a way that wasn’t boring as shit?), he just had Star stop time for the full limit of ten seconds and made a break for it.

It was much easier to get over rubble and pieces of earthen bullshit, Jotaro found, when it wasn’t shaking in some manner vaguely reminiscent of that bull Kakyoin dared him to ride once while the both of them were tipsy enough to consider doing stupid bullshit like that. Why had he done that again?

What prompted that particular, slightly weird memory was lost on Jotaro, but by the time he got around to wondering where that came from time had begun again and he had a good enough grip on this stand user’s clothes to pull her back, finally getting a good look at her face. Bright violet eyes peered back at him as she struggled, kicking her feet out. “Let me go! Dammit, get off of me, you damn ape!”

Strangely enough, she wasn’t calling her stand. It might have been a sign of submission- he’d seen stands that lost power once the user acknowledged that they’d lost before. Still, it was unnerving in how damn convenient it all was.

“I think you could stand to answer a few questions.” He said, finding a conveniently vaguely furniture shaped formation of newly formed rocks (just when would this streak of far too good luck end?) and settling in. He let Star Platinum take over the handling from there, and even if he could still feel the thrashing in his hands, there was nothing there and there was no chance of Star being hurt. And she did struggle, even while just changing hands, entire body trembling. It was a definite upgrade from the stoicism he’d been getting lately, and never before had Jotaro ever been so grateful to see a girl freaking out over pretty much nothing.

“No, I can’t. You have it all twisted!” She insisted, face going red and lips twitching in some lame attempt at hiding some emotion. She wasn’t a terribly good actor.

“So you weren’t just causing massive earthquakes, ones like those that’ve been going on for two weeks. And you didn’t just shoot an arrow at me and my partner and our guide.” Jotaro deadpanned. “First question- just how stupid do you think I am?”

The stand user swallowed thickly, eyes widening a bit. She finally stopped struggling as hard, hanging loose and limp against Star’s grip as she glared tearfully at him. This entire thing was already striking him as fucking annoying. So this was the stand user that was suspected to be bringing disasters to half the world? The stand that was apparently carrying out some nefarious purpose? Because all he was seeing was some fearful little woman.

“Okay, next question- where’s your stand? And why the hell aren’t you doing anything with it?” The girl swallowed again, blinking, and then spat in his direction before continuing to struggle. No answer on that front either- was she really being needlessly difficult? “I hate to hurt a girl, but if I don’t get some kind of answer…”

Star’s grip tightened around the user’s wrists and she swallowed a third time, before she started stuttering out some half assed answer. “It- I just--! It uh, only comes out at certain times and- and only when there’s a job to be done….”

There was some bullshit there, probably some secret to her stand’s powers, but honestly, it just struck Jotaro as off. Just what the fuck was wrong here?

He opened his mouth, but didn’t get to say anything else because in that moment Kakyoin finally caught up. Regrettably, he still had that annoying makeshift tour guide of theirs with him, and if Jotaro had been blinded by his own annoyance he might have missed the way the stand user’s eyes widened at the sight of Shila. Her arms were certainly shaking enough for it. Again, though, Shila looked at the scene with Jotaro apparently having a levitating girl in front of him with the same stoic, maybe even slightly cruel, expression.

“Well,” She said, rolling her shoulders nonchalantly. “looks like this freak of yours has this covered. Say Nori, where did you find some B-movie grade psychic shit like this guy in the first place?”

Jotaro bristled, and apparently so did Kakyoin, who got out with just the slightest bit of bite, “We’ve known each other for a while, but I suppose I’ve always had a sort of penchant for gathering bizarre companions.” Logically, Jotaro knew this was directed to the seemingly normal girl who was regarding what normal people would have figured to be psychic powers with a freakish stoicism. It still made him irritated, though- not at Kakyoin, but at this little shit, because she was still going on about things that weren’t her damn business. Still, there was a strange sort of look in Kakyoin’s eyes when he looked at Shila. So what exactly happened on the way up?

“At the very least, he seems to have everything under control.” Shila said, then continued on casually, “So since he’s fine here, why don’t you come back with me?”

With that, he politely nodded, looking apologetically over at Jotaro. “Meet us in the Underwater Observatory back at the resort, alright?”

“Wait- you’re going now? When we have this to deal with?” Jotaro ground out, looking incredulously at Kakyoin. He didn’t know what went on while they were coming up the mountain, but it couldn’t have been enough to have Kakyoin agreeing to go alone with this little bitch and leaving Jotaro alone with this. Besides, Kakyoin would probably need to talk to the Foundation, and they would have to figure out accommodations until the shitty old man could bring them back out to Japan. As far as Jotaro was concerned, even with how off this all was, if this Shila character really wasn’t a stand user, then she’d exhausted her reasoning for ever having to deal with the both of them ever again.

“There’s some things I want to do in town,” Kakyoin said smoothly, “and I need to look over what Shila’s observatory has on the quakes so far. Just so that we can possibly parse out any motive. You can help me when you get back- it shouldn’t take that long at all, and you know that.”

“.... Fine.” Jotaro muttered, watching the both of them turn away while fishing into his pocket for a phone to get a Foundation helicopter out here to pick up their errant stand user. When he looked back up, he caught Shila looking over her shoulder at him, and for the first time, she seemed to actually show some kind of emotion.

She was fucking smirking at him. She turned away, weaving her arm through a slightly tense looking Kakyoin’s.

With how much that Shila and her cocky attitude annoyed the hell out of him, Jotaro was surprised by his own restraint in not punching the smug little bitch.

The Speedwagon Foundation offered Jotaro a lift back to the resort, and considering the fact that he was out one annoying but necessary guide, he took them up on the offer. Now he sat in the back of the helicopter alongside the stand user, who had her hands done up in heavy lead gloves. It wasn’t a trick that worked with all stand users, but the Speedwagon Foundation found that the gloves hindered the ability of stand users to call out their stands, if they were object ones that they had to hold or wear.

The girl had finally stopped shaking, and now stared out the window, no expression at all crossing her face. Which was honestly grating on his nerves worse than if she would have been sitting there whimpering, honestly. Sure, the entire day left Jotaro with a pounding headache and was already grating on his nerves, but the idea of dealing with more stoic girls left him with a deep, exhausted ache throughout his entire body.

“I’m glad this is over- I can stop acting.” When the stand user spoke, it was quiet, in a calm, in control voice that made Jotaro want to shove her out the compartment. Still, it confirmed something- that there really was something off about all of this.

Jotaro waited a couple of moments to see if she would continue. When she didn’t, he said, “I am too. I can’t stand two faced acts. So just who the hell are you? And what were you doing here?”

“I’m Ten.” She said, then didn’t say anything again. Jotaro huffed out a breath, because of course- he got to deal with cryptic bullshit. Either that, or the little bitch was fucking with him, because she didn’t look a day under twenty. Either was just as plausible at this stage of the game, but that didn’t mean that Jotaro found it amusing in any way, shape, or form.

“That’s an unfortunate name. Now are you going to tell me anything useful?” She finally turned to look at him, blankly shook her head, and then turned back towards the approaching ground below. Jotaro guessed the helicopter ride couldn’t have taken much longer, and he was dispatched on the outskirts of town, near the first few buildings and a nearby ice cream parlor. His head throbbed, but at least now Jotaro could be left the hell alone with his throbbing head and his thoughts. And a cigarette. Which he sorely needed.

“Jotaro, are you really sulking by those starfish?”

Jotaro was most certainly not sulking, thank you very much. There were a lot of things that he did, and even if he could admit that sometimes actually showing emotions came a little harder to him, and even though that list of things usually included thinking or maybe, on very rare occasions, brooding, Jotaro Kujo did not sulk. That was a distinction that he would have expected Kakyoin to understand by then.

“No.” Was all he ended up saying because even giving that ridiculous notion any amount of petulant attention was just playing straight in Kakyoin’s hands, and Jotaro was not about to deal with some bullshit about comparing him with someone else. Or something else. Whatever.

Kakyoin took a moment to observe Jotaro’s back, because he wasn’t sitting there sulking- he was observing the starfish that clung to the glass, hiding partially in the branches of coral that made a miniature forest in front of him. He’d gotten to sit back and admire those giant faucets, so now it was Jotaro’s turn to go and see some real marvels of nature or something- there was no reason to even classify what Jotaro was doing as sulking. In fact, one starfish was just starting to wiggle along, moving towards the place where there were plenty of seashells to snack on. It was honestly calming, especially with the relatively dim lighting of the room and the ten meters deep of ocean outside.

Then Kakyoin said, “I got in touch with the Speedwagon Foundation- all the information Shila had here is pretty much already well known, so we’re due to be flown out of here soon enough. In fact, our pilot’s meeting me outside in a few minutes, so you wouldn’t mind staying here and watching over Shila, would you?” He sounded so ceaselessly casual in the request that it just added to the mounting annoyance from earlier. Honestly, it added to the mounting annoyance he’d had since the beginning of this entire goddamn day- meeting some twisted, two dimensional apparent alternate universe version of himself, having to deal with stand users who were weepy little bitches, having to deal with Shila’s entire shitty attitude and Kakyoin’s teasing was just a goddamn recipe for disaster. But they were almost done here, so he couldn’t complain there. Even if something was still eating at him, Jotaro was ready to go.

“Why don’t you stay, since she’s taken such a liking to you.”

“Because I need to run an errand, and you’re not exactly quick with little fetch quests.” Kakyoin said calmly as he rolled his eyes. “Besides, she needs to be taken to the Foundation anyway- if only because now she knows and has seen enough to the point of needing some quick education on why secrets are a wonderful thing to be keeping. I don’t expect that she’ll be anything less than cooperative- but just in case.”

Letting out a huff of a breath through his nose, he looked back towards the starfish. It was trying to eat a mollusk, gently prying away the shell to get at the soft body inside. “Fine.”

“Thank you- I’ll be right back.”

Jotaro was left alone in the observatory with a nagging at the back of his head that may have been yet another headache in the making. He really needed to invest in some Tylenol or some shit.

A little while later, once Kakyoin had ascended the steps, Shila stepped out of the little backroom and joined Jotaro in the viewing area. He was hunched over near one corner of one of the spacious windows, watching the watery world outside. He wasn’t too interested in continuing any contact with Shila, but he supposed an interaction was unavoidable.

She stood beside him, silently watching the world outside and seemingly thinking of something to say. Then she said, “Nori’s pretty good company. You’re lucky.”

He was silent for a couple of beats before grunting in acknowledgement, face turning momentarily towards her. He was damn lucky to have Noriaki around- he wasn’t about to go and deny that- but it wasn’t as if he was keen on sharing just how deep their history went with some random bitch who was then snorting, flippantly saying, “It’s kinda fucking rude to not participate in a conversation, but I think we’ve established that you’re kind of a freak, so let’s gloss over that. I have something to say.”

“Well, get on with it.”

“You were right, you know.”

He didn’t know what she was talking about at first, but the moment her hands and forearms glowed, he understood everything.

Jotaro managed to dodge the first swing of Shila’s glove clad fist, the wall behind him cracking with a fine tremor running through it as the spikes running up the gloves surface and up her forearm to where it ended at the elbow sparked a bit. He goddamn knew it- there had been something off about this bitch from the first time he laid eyes on her, and dammit, he should have just gone with his gut instincts in the first place and knocked her into the next calendar year!

She was grinning wildly now, a mirthful twinkle in her eye as she dropped the imitation overcoat that she’d been donning this entire time. Underneath, her clothes were much more cheerful, neon colored and shining with the bright logo of some sugary pop band or another in a language he couldn’t read. She gave an overly ostentatious show of stretching her arms over her head, rolling her shoulders. “Man, it feels good to get that all off of my shoulders! Let me tell you, you were a pain to play! So serious… so boring!”

His eyes narrowed, because of course, just when he thought his day couldn’t get any more annoying- this happens. He must have done something in a past life, or one of his ancestors must have fucked up their shitty Joestar destiny, if he was apparently getting this as punishment. Before she could get another punch in, Jotaro had Star summoned and ready, his stand’s fist coming to meet the one coming straight for him.

Star countered Shila’s attack, but even then, Jotaro nearly feel to the ground with the sudden pain shooting up from his hand. He stepped back a few steps as the bones in his right hand rattled, then splintered in places that was already sending a spew of blood out his fingers. He grunted lowly to himself as he had Star about to attack, but then that damnable little wench had to open her suddenly over peppy mouth. “Ah-ah-ah, Mr. Jotaro Kujo! I wouldn’t do that if I were you- you know where we are, right?” She swept an arm out theatrically towards one of the windows, the glass slightly cracked and leaking, “Ten meters deep, with only a few oxygen masks in places only I and the scientists here know about! If you make one wrong move, or if I decide to punch you a little too hard, you’re going to be suffering a slow, painful death in this ocean you love so much! Oh, the tragedy! The pure theatrical irony!”

She was grinning all the while, animatedly moving, playfully speaking even with the cruel words spilling out of her mouth. Jotaro let out a little ‘tch’ of annoyance, but stood back. There were others here, as far as he could tell, scientist types and tour guides deeper in trying to prepare for an influx of tourists. He just had to figure out a way to get back at this little bitch, and he’d be golden- after all, this wasn’t the toughest foe he’d ever faced, not by a long shot.

“Nothing to say, hm?” Shila hummed, then sighed dramatically and let the grin drop down into a more subtle little smile. “Well, that’s fine- I’ve always loved a captive audience.”

“So what the hell are you, some circus reject?” He quipped, watching her and the rest of the circular room warily.

“No- I’m the one who’s going to be killing you today.” She smiled deviously before dipping into a low bow, mockingly subservient. “My name is Shila, and this,” She stood straight up, holding her hands up and letting the polished stone dully reflect back the world around her, “is Mountain’s Hammer, the stand that suggests the Knight of Pentacles. I’m afraid my employers have been very… descriptive, about the ways in which you, that damned redhead and your organization have been- how you say- fucking us all over.”

So this was the real stand user, and not the girl with white hair and the faux glove. He was going to have to report that back to the Foundation that it looked like there were more big name stand users with more powers to look into. After this, of course, and after he got that glass patched up- the dripping sound was driving him up the fucking wall and he didn’t want anything that might have latched onto the glass to be hurt because of this bitch’s theatrics.

Suddenly, Jotaro vehemently missed the exasperating stoicism and ornery bullshit.

Just as he had a plan gathered together with the use of those brochure holders, Star Platinum, and the momentum needed to break through that likely bulletproof glass, Shila seized up. Glowing green tendrils trapped her entire body, and where one of Mountain’s Hammers had been raised to strike the ground, it was kept still.

Jotaro’s head whipped around, alarmed for a moment before recognizing Kakyoin on the the railing of the stairs, legs casually folded and flanked on either side by Speedwagon Foundation personnel like he was the especially well compensated crime boss with the police in his pocket, a pair of shades resting on his face. Jotaro fucking bet that that was just because he wanted to look cool. Jotaro couldn’t rail on someone for doing that though- he did the same thing.

“I think I’ve heard enough.” Kakyoin said calmly, a smirk on his face.

Shila’s eyes widened and she thrashed in her bonds, to no avail. The majority of the tendrils were binding her fingers in those gloves, so there was no chance of causing an earthquake, and Jotaro got special satisfaction from that fact as Kakyoin hopped off his perch and stood beside him, still looking triumphant all the while. “You know, next time, you should pick a better actress as a lackey, because she did a piss poor job acting like you.”

Her face went bright red with what Jotaro could only assume was anger as she huffed, pouting at Kakyoin petulantly. “Oh really- you’re not even going to let me have my big finale? The climax of this? Are we really about to end this so anticlimatically?”

“Sorry to say, but it’s...” In that moment, Kakyoin, who didn’t at all need the shades what with it being dim as all hell down there, took off his shades, looking Shila directly in the eye as he said, “curtains for you.”

Shila rolled her head back and groaned loudly and melodramatically. “That was awful. What you just did right there was awful. I can forgive the impromptu bondage, especially from someone attractive, but I can’t get behind such shitty one liners! And I was even going try and spare you, make you a good part of our story.”

“Who’s story?” Jotaro spoke up, figuring that they may as well get something out of her. To that, Shila just laughed in his face.

“Wouldn’t you like to know! Sorry, but I don’t answer questions from assholes who make my roles a living hell.”

“Well, would you answer one question for me?” Kakyoin asked.

“Well for a darling like you, I don’t see why not.”

“Why act like Jotaro? If his personality were really so abhorrent to you…”

Shila just shrugged at that, letting out a little amused breath. “At first I was just doing it to be funny. But then you… well, you had such amusing reactions that I couldn’t resist. What can I say, I have a weakness for eyes like yours.”

Jotaro’s headache was back full force. At least all this shit was over.

Before long, they were on a plane out, and Jotaro sat on the aisle, trying to lean forward to look out of Kakyoin’s window so that he had something to do other than acknowledge the old hag next to him that reeked of something probably less than legal to be bringing onto a plane.

“It’s bullshit that they couldn’t get the white haired… girl’s, stand name or information out of her.” Jotaro eventually said, watching Kakyoin turn to face him out of the corner of his eye. He was still trying to get out of that entire bad habit of casually disrespecting women that didn’t deserve his bullshit, but when he had popping ears and a ringing headache, it made it slightly hard. “She was a shit actor but apparently she can keep her trap shut enough.”

Kakyoin nodded in agreement. “That really is such bullshit, and I couldn’t agree more. Still, you have to admit- this entire adventure was somewhat amusing.”

“For who?” Jotaro said, despite already knowing the answer by the mischievous glint in Kakyoin’s eye.

“For me, I suppose. For Shila too, maybe, though you don’t like hearing that.” Kakyoin had some damn nerve, finding humor in this entire bizarre fucking day. “I mean, did you wake up this morning and think to yourself, ‘gee, I think we may meet a bastardized female version of myself and her albino companion out at this ocean resort and accompanying national park’? Because I didn’t wake up this morning expecting that. In fact, I was expecting three more weeks of prowling around town, the jungle, the ocean, the center of the earth, and the ideological strengths of the absurdist movement as a whole before finding anything conclusive, and just look what happened today! Simply amazing, what kind of bullshit we seem to find.”

“Easy for you to say- you didn’t have your entire seventeen year old personality echoing back at you like some shitty Back to the Future esque bullshit.” Jotaro huffed,

“Pre or post Egypt?”

“Yes.”

Kakyoin snorted, before looking out the window as well at the clear blue sky and layer of clouds below them. Then, after a couple of moments of silence, he said, “I should have picked up on it sooner. All the signs were there- but I bet you already saw all the red flags from the moment she uttered ‘good grief’, right?”

“Actually, I didn’t start suspecting anything until she rejected your gentlemanly act. The charming one.” Jotaro said, and Kakyoin blinked, looking back at him in bewilderment.

“Gentlemanly act? I don’t purposefully put on any act to charm anyone. Not that I see… That’s just myself being polite.” He had to be kidding.

“That entire routine where you take their hands and act all sweet with them? That entire romcom Disney prince bullshit? Noriaki, you do this pretty much any time you want something from someone you don’t know or give a damn about, especially if they’re some random girls.” Jotaro could not believe for a second that Kakyoin wasn’t at least somewhat cognizant of this fact. There was a slight look of discomfort on Kakyoin’s face before suddenly, he smiled.

“Jotaro, I think that’s the first time you’ve called me by my first name.” Noriaki said with a large, genuine smile on his face. "That's touching, truly- are we really ready to take this so far forward? We're not moving too fast in this, are we? Two years of friendship and now I finally know that you actually know my name..." If he weren’t a close friend, Jotaro might have wanted to punch that little look straight off his face, but as it were, he just looked adamantly to the seat ahead of him. Kakyoin's excitement at just that little thing was kind of dumb, but Jotaro liked that it made him happy. It was nice to know that for some reason Kakyoin acted like it meant something to him.

“I’m going to sleep.” Jotaro decided to say before turning away completely, facing the lady and reaching down to grab the blanket he’d taken onto this flight. It was still light out, but that was fading fast, and the sooner this day was over, the better.

“Alright, have your beauty sleep.” He was teased one last time before Kakyoin finally turned away, from the sound of it. “Good night, JoJo. Sweet dreams.”

“Yeah, likewise, Noriaki.”

#my writing #jjba #jotakak #jotaro kujo #noriaki kakyoin #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo no kimyou na bouken #fanfiction #au 1 #forgotten monarchs #shila #elena #OCs

6 notes · View notes

lavieboheme930 · 7 years

Text

Was your ex cute? N/A.

Do you have a taste in your mouth right now? What of? No

Which is your least favorite day of the week? No day really

Do you ever write or talk to yourself in your head when you’re bored? Yes

Do you prefer listening to things through headphones or speakers? Either or.

What was the very first CD you bought? Jagged Little Pill or it was Hootie and the Blowfish’s first.

What was your favorite colour when you were a kid? Do you still like it? I don’t even remember LOL

Do you like your friend’s parents? Sure

How many times have you moved? 3.

What is one of your biggest irrational fears? I don’t think any of my fears are irrational

Does the thought of being pregnant gross you out? No

Are you more hungry or thirsty right now? Neither

Are you prone to headaches? yes

What color shirt are you wearing? Black and gray

Have you ever felt like someone of the opposite sex truly cared about you? Yes.

Would you rather kiss someone five years older or five years younger? Older

Are you a mean person? No

Is there anything you want tattooed? No I don’t like tattoos

What are you listening to right now? Love Me Do -The Beatles

Think back to yesterday, what were you doing around this time? Most likely watching Impractical Jokers. What else would I be doing LOL

Have you ever fallen asleep in the last car you were in? Nope.

Have you ever been cheated on? No

What’s something you do every day besides breathing, eating, and sleeping? Writing.

What’s the nearest blinking object to you? Nothing

What were you for Halloween last year? The Phantom of the Opera.

Don’t you need to charge your phone right now? No

When’s the last time you laughed really hard? Earlier

When’s the last time you cried really hard? No idea

Do you believe that karma can come back and slap you in the face? Yes.

Are you currently trying to avoid somebody? Nope.

Are you feeling guilty for something? No.

When you’re sad, who/what usually cheers you up? Watching Sal on TV or YouTube and talking to Ricky

What was the last thing you bought? software for my job

Do you own suspenders? No.

Are your nails/toes painted? No

Are you usually quiet or loud? Quiet

Do you ever check your horoscope? Every day.

What color is your microwave? White

What was the last thing you ate? pasta

Do you talk to people even though you hate them? Nope.

Name something you have always wanted and never got. No idea

When was the last time you went outside? Earlier

How many hours do you spend on the computer a day? A lot because of my job

Do you have any siblings? No

Do you know someone named Curt? Nope.

Have you ever been to Texas? No.

Do you have an alarm clock? I use my phone

Can you play the piano? Used to be able to.

Do you go to church? Yes

What color was the cup that you last drank out of? clear

What is the show that you watched when you were little, and you still do? Nothing

Do you have shoes on? Nope.

Do you have a printer? No

Do you read the paper? No.

Do you have a swingset? No.

What is something you do every summer? Nothing different than I do any day

Do you have a job? Yes

Do your siblings text you? N/A

Do you tend to make things complicated? No

Do you want a small or big wedding? small

Have you ever searched for your own house on Google Earth? Yes.

Would you rather have cash or a gift card? gift card

Did your last kiss end up with you and the person doing anything sexual? Nope.

Do you live near a beach or amusement park? Nope.

Who is your ex dating/talking to? N/A

Do you have your eye on anyone at the current moment? You could say that LOL

Ever been called a bitch? Yes. but it was as a joke

Who would you be shocked to see call you? I don’t know

If you could drink only 2 things for the rest of your life, what would it be? iced tea and coffee.

Would you date someone taller than you? Yes

Have you met anyone that has been a major influence on you this year? Technically I met him Dec. 29 2016...so close enough to this year LOL

Ever kissed someone who smokes? Yes.

Have any interesting conversations lately? Few weeks ago

If your friends warn you about someone you like, do you listen? No but I should

Who did you last pinky promise with? No idea

What do you do when you’re having a bad day? listen to music and write

Does it take a lot for someone to annoy you? Depends

Do you own your own computer? Yeah.

Did you ever have to share a room with one of your siblings? N/A.

What happened at the last party you went to? Nothing. I hung out with friends at it

Have you ever smoked a cigarette? No

What’s your hair like at this present moment? down, wet and curly

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen? Wow I can’t think of any

Do you like to flex your muscles? What muscles HAHA

Have you ever completely misunderstood what somebody was saying? Yes.

Favorite kind of cake: red velvet

Did you get any compliments today? No

Why did you kiss the person you last kissed? He kissed me first

Do you have any fears? Yes.

What’s your sign? Libra

What is your favorite color? black, red

Are you a procrastinator or do you get things done early? depends

Are your parents going to buy you a car? Nope. I don’t drive

#surveys

1 note · View note

evanaaml · 7 years

Text

EVGN Ch. 8

Chapter 8: Return to Vale

The car ride had remained uneventful since they left the farm house. Though conversation broke out occasionally, it always ended abruptly and turned into minutes of silence. This, however, didn’t seem to bother the hunters. They wanted to take advantage of the quiet; choosing to soak it in before they would inevitably be thrust into battle once more.

Eallgréne spent the trip thus far checking over his equipment, making sure his arrows were primed and ready should something occur. Nickel decided to try and relax, laying back and allowing the sun’s rays to keep him warm while he rested his eyes. He was afraid of falling asleep entirely, should the truck hit a pot hole and bounce him around the cab, and so remained at least somewhat attentive.

Gael looked out the window in front of her, trying to keep to herself. Sitting in the middle made sense for her compared to the heavily-armored Violette, but it did make for an awkward trip. She couldn’t stretch out, and kept her hands on her lap like a child. Luckily, both door windows and the back window being down allowed a nice breeze into the cab, which at least kept her cool. Her hair blew around from the wind and the fur on her upper ears swayed.

Suddenly, she was smacked in the face with long blonde hair. She wiped her face instinctively and turned to Violette. Wearing her helm, only the lower half of her long blonde hair was affected by the wind, though it did tend to fly around wildly. Violette had immediately noticed what had happened.

“Oh! Sorry, Gael!”, Violette said apologetically, trying to keep her hair tamed.

“Oh, it’s fine. I know what it must be like to keep it from blowing around in this breeze”, Gael replied. It was then she noticed Violette’s project. The knight was widdling at a dust crystal; much like she had done the night prior, when they were at the saloon. This crystal was a dark green in color, and was barely worked on. “Working on that secret project of yours again?”, Gael asked with a smile. Violette looked to her crystal, then back to her with a smile of her own.

“M-hmm, suuuuper secret, shhhh!”, Violette replied, putting a finger to her mouth. Gael giggled.

“I’m excited to see what this turns into. Hope it comes out as well as you hope!”, Gael said with genuine enthusiasm. She loved seeing people follow through their creativity with things like crafts and writing. Always a fan of the arts, seeing someone’s imagination come to life, in a way, really made her happy.

Violette was an easy example of this, as she always had something stirring with that mind of hers. Violette was also a skilled artist in her own right, and often showed Gael her work, which she always appreciated.

“I hope so too. It’s not something that’s going to be a work of art, but it’s personal, so I intend to make sure it’s done right”, Violette explained.

“Not to slow down your progress, but do you mind?“, Nickel asked suddenly, his hand sticking out through the back window. Violette took a moment before realizing what he wanted.

“Oh! Yeah, of course”, Violette said, handing him the knife. Nickel took it and spun it around in his hand. The knife opened and the blade swung around. Before long, it turned into his cigar cutter. Nickel pulled out a fresh cigar from his suit jacket pocket and cut the tip off. He spun the cutter around some more before it reverted back to the knife and handed it back to Violette.

“Men and their toys”, Gael said with a giggle. Nickel scoffed.

“Don’t hate because you’re jealous”, Nickel replied, lighting the cigar with a match. Violette immediately began widdling the crystal again. Terra, who had for the most part remained quiet for the trip, glanced briefly at the crystal.

“Isn’t that dangerous? I always thought dust crystals were pretty, well, explosive”, Terra said.

“They can be, depending on what you do to them. It typically requires a source of heat or electricity for them to react. They’re inert in this state”, Gael explained. It wasn’t uncommon for people other than hunters or scientists to be confused on how dust worked in its different forms. In their defense, understanding something so powerful and diverse was tricky for anyone.

“I guess those hunter schools teach a lot more than just fighting then, huh?”, Terra said.

“The schools teach the same curriculums as any other school, really. They just have the added classes for being a hunter included. You can theoretically send someone who’s not a hunter to one of the hunstmen academies and they’d get about the same education anyway, it’s just impractical”, Eallgréne explained.

“Impractical? How so?”, Terra asked.

“Cause those academies are a real bitch to get into”, Nickel replied. With Acqua no longer in their presence, he was no longer worried about his language.

“Not only do they have a difficult exam you have to pass, but generally you have to have at least some fighting experience. It’s technically not required, but unless you have connections, odds are you wouldn’t make it if you weren’t serious about being a fighter”, Gael detailed. Terra thought of all of this for a moment and chuckled to himself.

“You know, I never really thought much of any of that behind the scenes stuff. It’s amazing what you learn when you actually listen to someone and think it over”, Terra said.

“There’s a lot that people don’t put into perspective when it comes to being a hunter. Not that that’s a bad thing, but it does lead to a lot of unintentional ignorance”, Eallgréne said, screwing on one last arrowhead before putting his quiver away.

“Guess you got a point there. I only ever met a handful of hunters before you all, and they weren’t nearly as, well…”, Terra said, trailing off.

“Friendly?”, Gael asked with a hopeful smile. Terra smirked.

“Well, I was thinking “talkative”, but friendly works too”, Terra said. Gael’s faunus ears lowered and she looked disappointed. Nickel laughed out loud. Before any reply could be made, Terra noticed something before them and smiled. “Well, any of this look familiar to you?”.

The hunters looked ahead of them to see that the farming fields had expanded, with more buildings dotting the landscape. The fields were worked on by many farmers, some independently, others in large groups. Large farming machines were driven on and around the fields. Several buildings appeared to be mills or animal pens, showing that these were upscale farms. “We’re going through Vale’s farming district. Guess that means we made it”, Eallgréne pointed out.

“Yep! Not gonna lie, as much as I love working my own little fields, it’d sure be nice to have a few of these machines to make work easier”, Terra said, eyeing some of the large tractors. Gael turned to Violette.

“Like I said, men and their toys”, Gael remarked. The girls giggled.

“We should be hitting the commercial district shortly. That’s where I’ll be setting up my stand. Is there any place in particular in the city you’d like me to drop you off at?”, Terra asked.

“No, no. That will do just fine. You’ve already done enough for us, no need to make more work for yourself when you have all this cargo. Besides, my sister’s in that district anyway, so that works out well for us”, Eallgréne explained.

Driving through the farming district took little time. The road cut through the fields and led directly to the city of Vale itself. As the fields and barns gave way to upscale buildings and shops, the group of hunters found themselves feeling antsy. It had been a long time since any of them had been back to the city. There was a lot that they wanted to see and check up on. But they couldn’t forget, they were there for a mission, and that took priority over everything.

Well, mostly everything.

Terra stopped the truck when they had reached a open lot in the middle of the commercial district. Already, many other kiosks and stands were being set up, selling all matter of goods. The hunters hopped out of the truck and looked around. They had made it.

“Vale…we made it”, Gael said, spinning around slowly to take in the sights. It was like stepping out of a dream to her. Something she hadn’t seen in years, experiencing it all again. It was a lot to take in, but it felt good. This was a second home to her. And for someone always on the road, that meant something.

“It certainly hasn’t changed much, has it?”, Eallgréne said with a smile. Nickel shrugged.

“Ehh, let’s see…”, Nickel said. He then looked around before spotting a passerby walking passed. “Hey!”. The passerby stopped and looked to Nickel. “Ozpin’s a terrible headmaster!”. The passerby looked confused and continued to walk on, faster this time. Nickel scoffed. “People are still wimps…yep, Vale hasn’t changed at all”. The others shook their heads and sighed.

“Good job Nickel. Make headlines immediately when we make it into the city, that’s what we need right now”, Eallgréne said with heavy sarcasm. He turned to Terra, trying to change the subject before Nickel retorted and made matters worse. “Need any help with the stand?”

“Oh no. I do everything out of the truck, so little to actually set up. I’ve done this loads of time. If you all have anything you need to do, you go right ahead”, Terra explained. Eallgréne nodded and approached the farmer.

“If that’s the case, then I guess it’s goodbye. Thank you for all you’ve done for us. May you and your family be blessed in your future endeavors”, Eallgréne said, holding out his hand. Gael appeared impressed at his unprompted gesture, but kept it to herself. Terra replied by holding out his own hand and the two shook.

“It’s I who should be thanking you all for what you’ve done. Hope you all have a good stay in Vale. And if you’re ever in the neighborhood again, don’t be strangers, come say hi!”, Terra replied.

“Absolutely; we’d love to, and look forward to that day. Thanks again!”, Gael said, giving Terra a quick hug. Violette curtsied and Nickel gave a little head bob. The hunters waved goodbye one final time and walked off.

“I’ll sure miss them”, Gael said to the others.

“Yeah, they’re good people. We’ll have to see them again sometime”, Nickel remarked through gritted teeth as the smoke from his cigar lightly billowed in the air.

“I’m sure we will soon enough. We kinda have to”, Eallgréne stated.

“How so?”, Gael asked.

“We make connections with everyone we meet, for better or worse. They become a part of us and help make us who we are. Connections that strong can’t be ignored for long. We’ll see them again at some point in our lives; likely sooner than we think”, Eallgréne explained. Gael smiled at the wording. Nickel scoffed.

“Eallgréne once again being the poet”, Nickel remarked. Violette playfully bumped into him in response.

“So where to first?”, Violette asked, changing the subject.

“At some point I wanna see if I can find that contact, see what they know on Amber and this mysterious group; if anything”, Nickel said.

“I assume you’ll want to see your sister first. She may know something herself, and she’ll have a phone for Nickel to contact his connection”, Gael explained. Eallgréne remained quiet during the team’s discussion. They noticed that he seemed to be in deep thought over something. And whatever it was he was thinking about, it wasn’t a light subject. “…Eallgréne?”, Gael asked.

“…Yeah, we’ll see my sister soon…but there’s somewheres I want to stop by first”, Eallgréne replied.

“Really? Is this place about the mission?”, Gael asked. Eallgréne shook his head. “Then…”. Eallgréne looked down at the ground. The others didn’t understand why the question made him feel so solemn.

“…I want to check out the spires”, Eallgréne answered. The other hunters kept quiet. They simply nodded in understanding and left the subject at that.

They knew the importance behind the visit.

The walk to their destination was short and quiet. They knew exactly where it was, and didn’t waste their time getting there. In the middle of an open plaza, away from any buildings and surrounded instead by park benches, open grass, and flower gardens, were 4 tall spires. They were arranged in a diamond shape, and were made of shined marble. Each were colored differently; white, blue, green, and orange. In the center of the diamond was a smaller, black column, with a plaque on the top. The words on the plaque were written in gold lettering:

“These spires, erected by the 4 Hunstman Academies of Remnant, are dedicated to the huntsman and huntresses who lost their lives protecting the world we live in. May their names and memories never fade or be forgotten”.

Team Evergreen approached the spires, looking over the names etched in them. Each color corresponded to a hunstman academy; listing the names of the deceased huntsmen from that region. Names of deceased individuals were placed near the names of their team and the date of their death. Gael sighed.

“…The lists have gotten a lot longer since the last time I saw this”, Gael remarked.

“…Before long, they’ll need to add new spires”, Violette added solemnly. Nickel approached the blue spire, which represented Mistral and Haven Academy. He read the names in his head. Some he recognized and knew already of their passing. Others he didn’t know at all. As he bent down to read the names lower on the spire, one name he spotted suddenly caused his heart to sink in his chest.

“Oh no…Beryl passed away". There was a brief pause of silence before he continued. “Beryl Morgan was a friend of mine from when I went to Sanctum Academy. We were pretty tight…I hadn’t seen him in a long time…never got the chance to catch up when I should have”, Nickel explained. He covered his mouth, trying to hold back emotion. Expressing sorrow was something he wasn’t used to doing, at least not publicly. Violette, understanding what it meant to him to show this in front of the others, approached him; bending down to his level and hugging him in support.

Nickel looked down at the ground, his eyes closed. The others didn’t know if he was praying, or just recalling past memories of his fallen friend. Eventually, he pulled out his flask from his pocket and unscrewed the top.

“Beryl always did appreciate a good drink, like me…here’s to you, buddy”, Nickel exclaimed, holding the flask out to the sky briefly. He then poured a small amount on the ground, the whiskey splashing on the concrete and blue spire, before taking a swig for himself. With Violette’s help, he stood back up.

“Are you going to be ok?”, Gael asked, concerned for her friend. Nickel nodded.

“Yeah…yeah, I’ll be fine”, Nickel replied. The unfortunate truth of their job was that this was common. Losing friends and loved ones who were huntsmen was something almost everyone dealt with. Because of this, grief periods often felt short. Gael continued to watch as Nickel stood and looked at the name. She then approached Eallgréne.

He stood in front of the green spire, which represented Vale and Beacon Academy. This spire had the biggest impact on the group, as it was littered with the names of former classmates, teachers, and friends they had known attending the school and growing up. Eallgréne, hailing from Vale himself, likely knew more of the names than the others.

“…Azul from Team WATR, Onyx from Team OXYD, all of Team BRAZ, Cinna and Piperi from Team SPCE…we’ve lost a lot of friends over the years”, Eallgréne said solemnly.

“I didn’t know that a lot of these people had passed. When you’re in the field, you just…don’t think to look it up”, Gael remarked. She felt guilt build up, and she resisted the urge to cry. The idea of not talking to these hunters, people she considered friends, before it was too late hurt her. It was taken for granted. She didn’t know why; she knew that it could easily have happened. But she did none the less, and now they were gone forever.

“You can’t blame yourself for that”, Eallgréne replied, sensing her emotions. “You know that the same thoughts crossed their minds too. Our jobs…our livelihoods, they’re time consuming. We’re rarely ever able to catch a breather and just talk. I haven’t talked to my own sister in months, I haven’t seen you all in about two years, and you’re all FAMILY. You can’t kill yourself with guilt over not talking to everyone you once knew. As awful as it may feel, you’ll just have to accept it”. He then turned his head towards the faunus. “Life’s too short to have that on your conscience”.

“You don’t think about it? The people you never got to say goodbye to?”, Gael asked. Eallgréne sighed.

“Everyday. But I don’t let it slow me down. I may not have gotten to say goodbye, but I’ll always remember them. So long as they’re not forgotten, then that should be enough”, Eallgréne explained. He put his right hand on the stone. It felt warm to the touch, even through his fingerless gloves; Eallgréne smiled. “They’re not truly gone anyway…they’re here with us, always”.

Gael stared at Eallgréne for a bit, then to the spire. Slowly, she put her left hand on the stone, right beside the archer’s. She felt the warm touch of the stone and closed her eyes. The huntress took a moment to think of those who died, and promised to herself to always remember them. A small breeze blew passed. Her ears, which were lowered for the time they were at the memorial, finally stood up. She smiled, Eallgréne was right.

They WERE there with them.

Gael turned to her partner and nodded. He smiled in response. He looked to the stone, seeing his hand close to hers. There was a moment’s pause before he pulled his hand away, his smile faded. Gael did not understand the motion, but didn’t think heavily on it.

“Are we ready to head out?”, Eallgréne asked the group. Nickel had recovered, (for the most part), and nodded. Violette, who had been looking over the white spire of Atlas, turned to them.

“I am, if you all are”, Violette declared. Eallgréne turned to Gael. She nodded.

“Yes…I’m ready”, Gael replied.

“Ok then. Let’s head out. When we’re at Steorra’s, we’ll contact Faramant, and Nickel and see if he can get a hold of his contact”, Eallgréne explained.

The group left the memorial and made their way back through to the commercial district. The group looked over the shops and stands, reflecting and recalling memories they had of the places, and how remarkable it was that little had changed in the years since. They watched as adults led their kids through the shops, looking at clothes and produce. Young hunters and huntresses, likely new to Beacon Academy, browsed the stands. It made the group think of their first year at Beacon as well.

Before long, they finally reached the all-too-familiar street they were looking for. It was relatively close to the school, which was a good location for the shop they were walking to. The street had a brick path down the middle, with large potted plants of small trees and shrubs on either side of it, separated several feet from one-another. All the shops were connected, with some buildings having a few stories on top of them.

Eallgréne stopped in front of one shop in particular, followed shortly by the others. The shop was two stories tall, and made of cobblestone and wood. Large windows in the front revealed an array of different weapons. Swords, pistols, axes, bows, and the like were on display. Long, wooden flower boxes hung under the windows, filled with pansies, marigolds, and hyacinths of orange, red, blue, yellow, and other colors. Hanging on the second story was a large wooden sign, which read “The Armory”.

“Well, shop’s still standing. At least we know she’s still in business”, Nickel remarked. The girls turned to him. He looked back. “…What!?”.

Eallgréne ignored Nickel and approached the door. It was wooden and thick, with a small window in the front and a gold-colored handle. He opened the door, which rung a bell on the inside. He sighed.

He hoped she wouldn’t be too upset with him.

Quick short update before 4th of July. Maybe another chapter out before then, who knows? Wanna do a quick shout-out to @gaelfox for promoting EVGN on her profile, and for showing me the names of other authors/artists who worked on their own stories/interpretations of RWBY Gael, so cool to see! Thanks also to the anonymous person who asked her the question to begin with! Hope you’re all enjoying the read as much as I am writing it! If you have any questions, about the characters or lore or whatever, feel free to write a note or send me a message! Have a good day! :D

1 note · View note