#or they come back from a mission and Gil picks up all the bags before Thena can have a chance to tell him not to

[softquietsteadylove]

Hello, Love!

I don’t know if you are familiar with that but you know these days when you have such high anxiety and doubt about yourself? And that one friend who is your little light at the end of the tunnel?

How about Thena has this moment and Gil is there to hear her out and helps her calming down?

Would love to see some comfort moment between them!

Choose the AU.

"Boss?"

Thena winced as the knock and gentle voice came. She should have known he was still here, and she should have really guessed that he would just be able to sense that he should come to her office.

Gilgamesh had a bizarre sixth sense for when she was feeling less than her best.

He hadn't been in her unit long. Hell, the unit hadn't existed long, by this time. But every time she seemed to hit a wall with the brass, or they came back from a mission she was less than happy with, he seemed to know.

He would kind of drag his feet in leaving, hang around a little later than necessary. And then he would inevitably end up at her office door like this, asking to come in with such a soft tone.

How was she supposed to say no?

"Come in, Gilgamesh," she sighed, standing above her desk, staring down at the files she had been slapping around for the sake of her frustrations.

He poked his head in so timidly for a man of his stature. His shoulders followed as he slipped in unassumingly. "It's kinda late, isn't it?"

"I could say the same to you," she raised her brows at him, tipping her head to the side faintly. He didn't back down, though. Gilgamesh was frustratingly unintimidated by her. "It's a bad look for the team to be here later than the boss."

"Sorry," he smiled faintly, gripping the strap of his bag over his - truly massive - shoulder. "But, I mean...the question still stands, doesn't it?"

Damn this man and his emotional perception. She had no idea how he wasn't in the interrogation or psych branches. But she had to count herself lucky for that.

He looked around her office, which he had been in a handful of times before. As her chosen second in command, he had been in it more than anyone else, even the runner up being Kingo. "That's a lot of files."

Right, her migraine. She looked behind her and around the room, files simply stacked as tall as they could go without falling over. "Yes."

He chuckled faintly. He was also the only one not afraid to laugh in her presence, which she both respected and resented about him. He really seemed to see her as just some person--a real human, instead of the Goddess of War. "Seems like a lot to put on your plate."

"Well, that is what happens when you start your own division team," Thena sighed. She knew this came with the territory, perhaps she didn't think that it wouldn't be quite this...heavy.

"Is it just standard paperwork?" Gil shrugged, drifting closer to a file withing his reach. He kept his eyes on her, waiting for her to hiss at him or something. He picked it up, "reports and personnel files?"

"It is," she admitted, and didn't even want to do that much. But he was already reading the damn thing. "Paperwork for me to file, things that had to be filed before I was even the team leader, things for me to file now that I am. It's about six months worth of paperwork that has to be done within two weeks."

"That hardly seems fair," he frowned, setting the file down again.

"And does the agency prioritise fairness?" she eyed him. "Mister-Suspended-For-Rescuing-A-Cat?"

He chuckled, and his smile was so infectious and welcoming. It was hard not to smile when he smiled at her. "Okay, you got me there."

Thena looked back down at her desk. "Don't mind me. It's just some dirty work that has to get done. I knew it would come with the territory when I applied to have the Special Ops team designated anyway."

"Did you know you would be taking it on yourself though?" he frowned, even stepping closer to her desk and the chair that was across from hers.

"Yes," she sufficed to say. Didn't she do everything alone?

"That doesn't seem like the purpose of a team."

She frowned up at him as he swung his bag down to the floor to lean against her desk, seating himself as if he were just so at home in her office. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I guess the other guys don't have the clearance for all this," he shrugged as he picked up another folder of papers waiting to be signed and reports waiting to be reported.

"Gilgamesh," she said sharply, but her usually razor sharp tongue really just bounced right off this guy. Her crossed arms tightened and her frown deepened, "Gilgamesh!"

"I'm not saying it'll be fast, but doubling one is still twice as fast, right?" he went on, even picking up a pen - her pen! - to scribble his name on the papers. "Y'know, Kingo's really good at forging handwriting. If you have stuff you know only needs your name, I bet he could help-"

"Gil!" she barked, and finally, he looked up at her. She leaned over her desk, assuming the posture that usually worked to help her assert a certain predatory stance. He didn't even blink. "Go home."

He didn't even humour her, just looked back down at the paper.

"Gilgamesh, that is an order."

"It's almost midnight."

What? No, it wasn't. Thena looked over her shoulder at the clock above her desk. Fuck, it really was getting past 11:45; she hadn't even realised. She looked at him again, scribbling away, "all the more reason for you to leave."

"Not unless you're leaving with me," he looked up at her, "ma'am."

Her eye twitched; she needed sleep. She pulled out her chair roughly, "I could write you up for insubordination."

"And do even more paperwork?--I wouldn't," he snorted.

Fuck, he was right. Thena grabbed another pen for herself and aggressively swiped her signature over another paper. She glared at him, "you don't have to do this."

"I know," he admitted immediately, under no delusion that he would be rewarded for his disobedience. "Just doesn't seem right to bury you under all this. You can tell everyone you did it all yourself, if it's for your reputation. But I can't let you take this on alone."

He had such a tender heart. It was part of why she picked him, sure, but she didn't think she would ever have to be on the receiving end of such...tenderness.

He looked up at her, catching her glowering at him, and smiled.

Thena looked down at her paper, slashing through it with another signature. Her heart did a somersault in her chest. Perhaps she was more fatigued than she had initially thought. "Did you at least eat something?"

"I did," he volunteered between papers, "I'm sure you didn't."

That wasn't any of his business. "If I didn't?"

"Well, if you didn't," he shrugged, looking down at the done stack of papers to his left, "I would say I have some leftover lunch in my bag. But I'm sure my team leader is responsible enough not to starve herself while she's-"

"Okay, enough, just give it to me," she growled at him. And again, her snarling did nothing but encourage him. He bent down with a grin and handed over a perfectly wrapped riceball. "Please don't tell me you hung around here this late just to catch me doing paperwork."

"No, of course not."

Right. No, of course not, that would be ridiculous. She chewed her bite before asking, "so...what then?--why are you here?"

He smiled at her again, even more gently than last time (and yet the affect on her accursed heart was just as bad). "I was looking out for a friend."

Thena looked down at the rice ball. It had been in the fridge all day, but pulled out long ago enough that the rice wasn't hard. It was delicious, actually. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a friend.

She'd had teammates in her days in the academy. They had hated her. Trusted her, maybe, feared her, absolutely, but they certainly didn't like her. Even last she worked with Minerva, she wouldn't have called them friends (no matter what Minerva had to say about that).

She smiled; maybe having a friend wouldn't be so bad.

#Thenamesh Special Forces AU #friends I call this: how to catch feelings by Agent Thena Down Bad #I mean girl #listen I would feel the same #this super sweet super cute super hunky agent hangs around #just to help you do boring paperwork #even saves some of his lunch for her because he knows she hasn't left her office in literal hours??? #what is his uniform made out of? #boyfriend material #anyway he starts bringing extra lunch just for her #Kingo notices Gil starts hanging around the Boss more and more #and at first he doesn't think anything of it #and then he sees Gil literally run to hold the door open for her #or they come back from a mission and Gil picks up all the bags before Thena can have a chance to tell him not to #and Kingo is like ohhhhhhhhhhh #he's down bad #down hORRENDOUS #and listen Gil #I get it

[hdsc-ace]

Kilig - Gil Rizzo || Grease: ROTPL

Part 1 - Errands

Masterlist Rest of my work.

Warnings: none.

Felicity Blanchet does the last errand of the summer, running into a date for the evening in the process.

The summer was the worst of Felicity Blanchet's short life. The entire time was spent running errands for her mother all across town and she had barely any time for herself and friends. The time she did have was so little that Felicity spent it reading a couple pages from her books. 

However, during the last day of summer, Josephine Blanchet still had her daughter running around town like a mad man to complete numerous errands. There were tasks that Felicity loved to do, like walking over to the post office every week or so to receive any packages from distant family, but there was also tasks Felicity despised doing. An example of this would be going to the deli to pick up large amounts of ingredients her mother 'Required' for the week's meals. 

It wasn't the place itself that Felicity wasn't fond of, it was one of the workers. Whenever Felicity came in to receive her mother's order, Gillian Rizzo was conveniently always working at that exact day and time. If there was more than one person working the deli, which was rare, Gil made it his mission to serve Felicity despite how many customers he had to serve before hand.

It would be a laugh to call Gil a Nice Boy however that's the only words Josephine ever described Gil with. Felicity could think of so many words that contrasted her mother's ideas of Gil. 

The only reason Felicity wasn't fond of Gil was from the first time they met at the start of the summer. Felicity had no clue what she had to get from the Deli after her mother's verbal shopping list that she completely embarrassed herself in front of the T-bird. He was nice to Felicity but Gil being Gil gave off some disturbing vibes. It was obvious he wasn't like any of the boys at Rydell, if you compare him to the Socs.

One of the last times Felicity had to visit the Deli on behalf of her mother was at the end of that very summer. However, she had another task to complete at the Deli. 

"Inquire about a job at the Deli as well!" Her mother called out to the girl before she left the house that day. It was either Felicity grew some balls and asked herself or her mother doubted her daughter's ability and asked about it ahead of schedule. Either way Felicity was dreading the trip into the Deli. She postponed it until the last minute.

"Hey beautiful!" A voice called out from the back as Felicity made her way into the store. She instantly recognised his voice as cheerful tone. "I'll be right with you!" One thing Felicity didn't appreciate about the Deli was the obnoxious bell that welcomed her presence every time she entered the store. Every time it rang Gil's voice accompanied it.

The sound of boxes falling over from the back announced Gil's entrance into the front of the store. He was unfazed by the boxes that crept out of the back and into the view of the front.

Felicity shook her head with a smile as she watched Gil almost fall over said boxes but he quickly recovered and pretended nothing happened. That was the only reason Felicity appreciated coming to the Deli: the laughter that came from accidental (Or purpose) accidents Gil always seemed to create.

"What can I help the lovely lady with today?" He questioned, tapping his hands upon the counter top, "Another pick up for Blanchet?" Gil's eyes moved to behind him to scan the shelf of pre-packaged deliveries. 

"It's almost as if it's a weekly thing." Felicity joked, her eyes scanned the shelf as well from the other side of the counter. She was surprised that Gil remembered her last name. It took weeks for him to get the girl's first name right at the start of the summer. 

"So..." Gil dragged out as he struggled to find the bag, "How's the summer?" He asked finally spotting the bag with a "there we go" accompanying his achievement.

"Boring," Felicity responded, "Especially when you're stuck at home all summer." The girl rolled her eyes at the thought of having every summer like the boring one she'd just had. She couldn't help but glance out of the window to see the common faces that overcrowded the Rydell High's cheer team having fun with their boyfriends beside them with his jacket over her shoulders. It made Felicity feel sick that they had lives like that whilst Felicity was stuck at home with a shitty one.

"Well if it makes you feel any better my summer wasn't that great either." Gil explained, placing the bag onto the counter before grabbing an empty one to place beside it. He quickly moved to a different shelf to receive a different thing for Felicity's mother. "Spent all summer working and not with my friends."

"The poor t-birds," She joked as Gil returned in front of her. He jokingly through a piece of tissue at the girl before proceeding with packing Felicity's order.

"Keep us out of ya mouth." He joked with a smile, pointing at Felicity as he wiped his hands on a cloth. "We don't need people like you ruining our reputation."

"What reputation?" Felicity joked again a smile slowly crept onto the girl's face as she scanned the contents of the first bag. It was filled with the usual vegetables: onions, carrots and celery. Not the greatest choices Josephine could have made.

"Right," Gil began, continuing with the joking tone as he began to finish packing Felicity's bag. "How about I show you how much of a reputation the T-Birds have tonight at the drive in?" He asked.

"This a joke?" Felicity questioned. Out of all the people to ask her to go to the drive in, it had to be a t-bird. "No joke." Gil lifted his hands up in defence with a smile on his face. "Genuine question."

"That's new." Felicity smiled at the thought of going to the movies with Gil, "You guys can barely fit in the car without me coming in." She explained, politely denying Gil's request as he slid another bag towards the girl. She didn't want to be a bother.

"It's a real watch tonight," Gil explained, "i'm sure we can shove potato and Richie into the trunk." He smiled before placing two more bags onto the counter.

"The t-birds never come to the movies to just watch." Felicity added, her eyes scanned the bags as she thought of the best way to carry the bags back to her dad's car.

"Maybe this will be an exception." Gil smirked as Felicity pulled some money out of her skirt pocket. "$7." He told her the bill.

The girl nodded before carefully counting the money she pulled out of her pocket. One five dollar bill and two dollar coins. Felicity placed them onto the counter and grabbed two bags. She stuffed one into the crook of her elbow, securing the second one in her left hand and against her chest before attempting to grab the second one.

Gil reached the bag first. "How far you gotta go?" He quickly placed both bags out of Felicity's reach.

"My dad's car is at the end of the block," Felicity explained, reaching for the bags Gil took.

"I'll walk you." he smirked, moving to place the bags onto a shelf behind him before walking to the back a bit. "Betty!" Gil yelled.

"I can walk alone it's fine." Felicity protested but Gil didn't listen.

"Betty!" He yelled again, his voice echoed through the Deli.

A small set of footsteps soon came hurrying down the hall. Arguing soon accompanying the footsteps. "What!" A young girl yelled as she entered the front.

"Tend to the front for five." Gil told Betty. He quickly grabbed the bags and move to the customer side of the counter beside Felicity.

"Why can't you do it? It's your shift?" She argued, moving into Felicity's view.

"I've covered you before, give me this one." Gil subtly begged, stepping in front of Felicity to look at the girl.

"Fine," Bettty reluctantly agrees, glaring at her older brother as he turned towards the door with Felicity. "Have fun with the sleep-talker!" She yelled to Felicity.

"Sleep talker?" Felicity questioned through a small laugh, turning to Gil as they began walking down the street.

"I went through a phase!" Gil defended himself. But Felicity wasn't convinced and still found the idea funny. "I ain't afraid of hitting a women." He joked.

"Oh wow, great defence tactic." Felicity informed him sarcastically. "Violence."

"Shut up." Gil smiled, accidentally bumping into Felicity. Gil didn't wait for Felicity to become stable on her two feet again before walking down the street without the girl. He only turned back to smirk.

"Wow!" Felicity laughed, quickly making her way back to the man. "So childish." She joked.

"Well, that's Betty for ya," Gil twisted the comment onto his sister rather than him.

Felicity bumped into Gil playfully before asking, "Is she your sister?" Gil didn't stumble as much as Felicity did when Gil bumped into her.

"Unfortunately," Gil sighed, "Real pain in the deli. Four of them in total."

Felicity inhaled through her teeth at the idea of having four younger siblings all of the other gender. "That must suck. But I get the pain of siblings. My brother's on 24/7." Felicity agreed, remembering the numerous times her own brother annoyed her.

"Older or younger?" Gil questioned, becoming more curious on learning more about Felicity.

"Twin actually." Felicity shrugged, knowing not many people were fond of the idea of twins. They were copies of each other to most. "Complete opposites though."

"How come?" Gil questioned, looking at the girl with intrest.

"He's a socs. I'm in band. Nothing more opposite then that." Felicity explained, adjusting her hold on the bags as she spoke.

"You're in band?" Gil asked before adding a joke, "I didn't know they allowed anyone in without two left feet.

"Thanks?" Felicity accepted the comment as a compliment whilst not exactly knowing how to take it. "The no social life is a down side.

"Better then being a thespian," Gil added and Felicity nodded.

"Better than a T-Bird." Felicity joked, gaining a small push from Gil in return.

"Don't go dissing our name again," he smirked. His eyes followed Felicity as she skipped ahead to an old car, placing two bags onto the hood as she reached it.

"I wouldn't dare." The girl smiled, "Watch the bags, i'll be two seconds." Felicity stated, backing into the building the car was parked outside of. Gil simply just nodded and turned to inspect the car.

Felicity cautiously entered the laundromat to find her dad talking to the manager. "Hello Mr Sloane," Felicity greeted, interrupting their conversation. "Apologises for the interruption but can I have the keys?" She quickly asked her father, holding her hand for the car keys.

Mr Blanchet's eyes moved past Felicity to Gil by the car with the grocery bags before moving back to his daughter. "We were in the middle of a conversation. He explained before switching the topic completely, as he placed the keys into his daughter's hand. "Get that no-good off of my car."

"Got it," Felicity nodded, quickly leaving after she getting the keys. The girl smiled as she walked out of the building an towards the car, "I've been told to get you off of the car." Felicity called out, causing Gil to lean against the car even more.

"Y'know you never gave me an answer," Gil explained, passing the grocery bags to Felicity to put into the car.

"To what question?" She smirked, knowing that Gil wasn't going to drop the topic of taking her to the movies.

"Six O'clock good enough for you?"

"I can do six." Felicity nodded, "Just don't anything T-birdy outside my house." She explained, "You don't want to see where that ends."

#writing #story #fanfic #hdsc-ace #writeblr #am writing #storytelling #oc #writerblr #fanfiction #Grease rise of the pink ladies #pink ladies #rise of the pinks #save rise of the pinks #saveourpinks #grease #saverotpl #rotpl #tbirds

[detroitbydark]

Title: Tell Me That Your Soul Lies Now

Relationship: Sev/OC/Scorch

Warnings: Mention of blood and needles used in medical care

Summary: A Stowaway complicated what should be an easy night.

A/N: Based on a HC that Sev and Scorch both end up at Kyrimorut and adopted to Walon Vau. Love, Family, and the ties that bind come into play. I hope you enjoy!  

The Midnight Duke was an unassuming Corellian life class transport, a pre Clone Wars relic retrofitted to meet clan Vau's very particular, discerning tastes. 

Quick, fast, and armed to the teeth it got the job done ferrying Walon Vau’s adopted sons from one bounty to the next. The sons themselves were more than competent to take it from there with efficiency and expertise bred from a jar on Kamino and a lifetime of training by one of the most ruthless Mandalorians to ever exist. 

Dust settles in a thick layer over the Duke’s matte black hull. Its exit from the outer rim asteroid belt had been… dicey and it would need a new coat of paint in the coming days.

It had a lot of things, typically a dead body in storage wasn’t one of them.

“Fek!”

“Wha-“ Scorch barely misses his brother’s arm as he snaps back a step, exposing the open cargo hatch for inspection with a put-upon indignation only he was capable of. There’s a duffle of ordinance, kit and-

“What is this?” Sev’s growl reverberates through his buyce accusingly. Scorch eyes the curled up figure draped in a thick layer of clothes reminiscent of the mining colony they’d just left. 

“People-cicle.” What the hell did he expect him to say? He hadn’t stored a body away. He was in charge of the bounties. The heads of the two marks had been in the bounty bag which was now very empty and in need of laundering because A. Trandoshan blood stank to malachor and B. Human blood was just messy.

“Maker if I know.”

The sun over Kyrimorut was quickly beginning to sink down into the mountainous waste to their north and with it went the warmth of the late season day. They just needed to finish post mission once-over and they could take the speeders the five kliks from the airfield to the warmth of the karyai and a hot meal.

“Maker,” Sev growls again, “Buir is not going to be happy about this”

Buir. It still felt wrong to call the Sarge anything but Sarge. Scorch was sure he’d get used to it eventually. Sev had, oddly enough, but Scorch didn’t really question his vod’s rush to accept their former trainer as his father. The sullen commando had always sought Walon Vau’s approval. It was no worse than the vode of Skirata’s clan and their hero worship of their Kal’buir. 

“We’ll dump it off and be done with it,” Scorch offers, “Animals will take care of it and that’ll be- wait.” A quick blink through his HUD menu brings up an advanced heat scan.

Sev toes at the body with his boot. “What am I waiting on?”

“They're still alive. I got a vital readout. It’s not much but-“ The two clones stand shoulder to shoulder staring at the prone sentient.

“I slot ‘em and we pretend we never saw a thing?”

“The old man’s gonna know either way. Not sure what gets us in more trouble.”

At his side, Sev grunts. Wal’buir knew things.  It was uncanny and downright terrifying. As cadets they’d never been able to get one by the old Mando - not that Sev had ever tried - but Scorch had plenty and had more than a few scars to prove he’d been caught. 

“Kriff.” Sev lets out an uncharacteristic laugh. “Bring it back and Skirata will probably adopt it.”

Scorch can’t help the grin that spreads across his face, “or marry it off.”

“I’m not gonna carry it.” 

The argument that he’d saved both their shebs earlier is about to leave his mouth when a small feminine whine rises from the half frozen sentient. “Well that settles it”

“Marriage,” they both agree in unison.

It’s been a while since he’s been around a woman not already wed or destined to be wed to one of his extended family. Suddenly the idea of carrying the unfamiliar being doesn’t seem so off-putting. 

At least it wasn’t the bounty bag.

———

Buir was going to let them have it. Sev could handle the dressing down from Kal Skirata but he wasn’t sure he could handle it from Vau. 

His stomach twists in knots. The early signs of panic, the ones he was intimately familiar with - brought about by the only father figure he’d ever known - were beginning to make themselves known. He can feel his heart rate picking up. The thick nerf hide sticks to each finger as his palms begin to sweat in his gloves.

He wouldn’t have been able to get away with slotting the grubby stowaway and dumping the body, of that he is sure, there was no good way to keep it clean. Either the Duke or he were going to be covered in it and the water pumps at the strip had gone out a week before. They’d brought the replacement back but it would take one of Kal’s boys to plumb it up. 

“Ordo’s going to have kittens.” Scorch’s voice rings clear through his comms.

“Yeah, Bes is pregnant with what...” He rattles off the names of the clans ad in his head and begins assigning them to parents. “Number three?”

“Yeah, he’s always got a kad up his shebs when she’s carrying. This is going to royally piss him off.” 

Sev watches as Scorch readjusts the woman in front of him. She’d started shivering after they’d yoinked her from her spot in storage. Still hadn’t woken but It was a good sign. Her body seemed to actively be trying to warm up. They figured they’d help it along and wrapped her snugly in a thermal sheet from the emergency kit. Before Sev had at least been able to see her nose, a set of dark brows and fluttery lashes, nothing too unlike those some of his sister-in-laws had, now it was only the closed lids of her eyes visible. For all intents and purposes she looked like a bantha wrap he’d gotten from a food cart last time they’d been on Coruscant. 

Per the limited data from their HUDs she probably wasn’t in much better shape. She seemed stable, but it wasn’t guaranteed even with the vheh’yaims medical center and the clan’s skills she’d survive the long haul. They’d spent two days in hyperspace and she spent that time in a minimally heated interior storage compartment. The bloody marks along the hatch’s interior showed that she hadn’t had as comfortable a ride as they had. It was another thing they’d need to clean up but it could wait a day or two.

There were no ration wrappers, no canteens of water in the hold with her. They’d looked. 

Hypothermia was her biggest issue but dehydration wasn’t far behind, and the ease with which Scorch had lifted her left him to believe that malnutrition had been an ongoing issue. The bulk of her was the thick rough clothes the miners had worn. 

“We take her to Wal’buir before Skirata gets his turn. Let buir decide what to do.” The speeders rumble to life as they take off from the small airfield and head in the direction of home.

It takes less time then he remembered to cover the distance from the airstrip to the sprawling compound they called home.

“Look,” Scorch notes merrily, “they left the lights on for us.”

By the time they’re pulling up to the vheh’yaim Sev feels his breath coming rapidly. 

“Maybe the old man’s having some ti’haar with the neighbors?” Scorch sounds hopeful as he pulls his buyce off one handed and clips it to his belt. “We get her into medical and then have to explain our fek up. Mij should still be here.” He hopes aloud that the family doctor was still rotating through before heading back to Enceri. 

Mij Gilamar was a good a doctor as any clone commando, null, or trooper could ever hope for. If their guest made it through the next few days she’d do good to thank Gil.

Sev throws his leg over the speeder and grabs for his kit and the bounty bag while his brother jostles the woman into a better hold. The lights shine through the low windows peering into Skirata clan’s karyai and Sev can imagine his buir sitting by the warm fire drinking the potent Mandalorian liquor and busting Kal Skirata’s gett’se about something.

“Su cuygar Ad’ike.”

Or not.

Both men snap to. Instead of “Sir” an acknowledgement of “Buir” is barked. If Vau notices the near comical response he doesn’t let on. His golden eyes are narrowed firmly on the package in Scorch’s arms.

Sev isn’t sure he’s ever seen his brother lost for words and Scorch must decide today wasn't going to be the day.

“We brought a present. Heard Kal’buir is trying to settle Mereel down. Think this will work?”

Vau, emotionless stony Vau, stands for a moment before the hint of a sly smile flashes at the corner of his mouth. Sev’s heart jumps. The smile falls away with such quickness that had the man himself not trained him to be the best, Sev would have questioned if it had ever been present to begin with.

“Shall we get our guest set up? Maybe you boys can explain how you managed to bring home a stray while we do?”

Yeah they we’re in trouble. He can hear Scorch gulp through his comms as Vau turns away and heads towards the main entrance of their home.

Growing up with so many brothers, child soldiers who were destined to grow up too soon, Sev had never been privy to concepts like privacy. It shouldn’t irk him that eyes follow them as they enter the vheh’yaim, following their father through the one of the many different spokes off the main karyai toward medical. The low flicker of fire light catches on the rich golden plates of Mij Gilamar’s beskar’gam.

Without much more than a tired sigh, the silver haired Mando finishes his drink and rises from his spot near the fire to follow.

Sev finds himself thankful that even amongst the faces like his own, Ordo Skirata’s was not present. He wasn’t in the mood to hear what Kal Skirata’s golden child would have to say. He’d have to hear it eventually but he hoped he could at least grab a shower and hot meal before he had to deal with the Null.

Scorch elbows him in the side and Sev casts him a questioning glance. “In your head again, vod?”

“Just worrying about Ord’ika.”

“I would be less concerned about Ordo,” Vau remarks casually, “and more about me.”

To their left, Mij Gilamar huffs out a laugh as he motions for Scorch to lay the patient out. “Let’s worry about the aruetii first shall we? Where’d you pick this one up?” the doctor asks as Scorch begins to help him liberate her from the thermal blanket and then layer after layer of thick and dusty fabric. 

“New asteroid mining station in the outer rim, Kappa Black,” Sev offers, “and we didn’t know we even had her on ship.”

It takes gett’se to openly admit that in front of his training Sergeant but Vau says nothing.

Scorch picks up where Sev leaves off as the last layer of outer clothes is tossed aside. Sev had been right. There really wasn’t much to the woman underneath the bulk of gear.

“We picked off the bounties. Cake walk.” The demolitions expert chirps happily but Sev can hear the well hidden undertone of anxiety in his voice. “We got in. We got out. Didn’t stop to sight see.”

Vau looks down his nose, glancing slowly from one to the other and then to the girl being hooked up to tubes and monitors. “It appears you didn’t stop to check your ship over either.”

“We had to leave in a hurry. She’d tucked herself behind gear,” Sev explains, knowing it wouldn’t be good enough, “We-“

A cry rises up from the bed as the woman’s eyes shoot open. He knows panic when he sees it.

“Fierfek!” Mij curses as his recently placed central line is caught along the bed and yanked from her neck. Fluids flow freely, mixing with a steady stream of blood as the doctor grabs for gauze and fights to press it against the puncture. 

“Some kriffing help would be good,” he grunts as he manages to dodge a fist. 

Sev steps in. He manages to grab both wrists in a single movement, pressing them to the bed as her lower body twists and her legs kick out. He tries to judge his own strength, his hands swallow her wrists. 

“Restraints are in the drawer.” He hears Mij but his eyes are focused on the woman under him. “No! The other drawer.”

“Sorry Doc, gotta lot of drawers here.”

Sev ignores his brother as a leg swings wildly his way, its knee connecting with solid beskar along his back. She doesn’t even flinch. Sev positions his body over hers, swinging a leg over her hip and looping his feet over her thighs. She doesn’t stop fighting. 

“Stop!” He snarls down into her face, voice coming out gruff and modulated through his buyce. Stark blue eyes focus in on him as she suddenly goes deathly still. They stand out against the warm tan of her skin, only a shade lighter than his own. Her hair is a tangle of unkempt curls and knots. She looks feral and wild, bears her white teeth like an animal. Sev adjusts his grip as she begins her fight again, thrashing and bucking under him.

“I said stop!” He snarls again, and something changes in her eyes. Fear flashes. Her snarl turns into a frightened “o” of surprise before he feels her muscles begin to go slack underneath him. He glances to his side in time to see his buir remove the hypo from her arm.

Mij grunts. A bead of sweat glistens at his grey temple. “Always prepared, right Walon? I hope you took into account her body mass because I don’t feel like dealing with a heart that doesn’t want to beat.”

Vau smiles, holding up the still half full syringe and flicking it lightly with a well manicured nail. “This isn’t my first time. Now Sev’ika, please climb off our guest and let’s try this again,” the black armored Mando says calmly.

———

“I don’t like it. It’s too convenient.” 

Scorch rolls his eyes behind the mirrored visor of his buyce. Ordo Skirata has made himself known shortly after Mij had gotten their little stowaway stabilized. She’d be sleeping off the worst of  her hyperspace sickness. If she did decide to wake again they could all be secure in the fact that Scorch himself had tightened down her restraints.

The hot brand Doc found behind her left ear had answered more than a few questions she wouldn’t be able to answer for a while. A slavers mark denoting property of the Mining Guild. Between that and her poor condition, Scorch couldn’t blame her for hopping the first ship off the asteroid belt she could find.

 It did make them thieves technically, but he had strong feelings about people being property and it really hadn’t been the first time they’d creatively acquired something. He’d tried to ask Sev his opinion but he didn’t seem much for banter after they’d found the brand. Even Wal’buir had seemed a bit more disgusted than usual.

Then Kal Skirata showed up at the med bay door with his eldest in tow and a few of Omega’s commandos, Niner and Fi, trailing behind.

And now the adults were talking and it was his job to shut up .

“It doesn’t matter if you like it or not at this point,” Mij was saying firmly, “I’m not about to put a sick girl out.” His eyes flash challengingly to the Skirata clan head. “There’s nothing you can do to change my mind about it either, Kal.”

For his part, Kal Skirata has been fairly quiet, standing to Ordo’s side with his arms crossed loosely over his chest and a contemplative look on his face. Every now and then Scorch would catch old Kal’buir trying to sneak a peek at their acquisition. Scorch also noted both he and Sev had placed themselves between the other men and the bed. He could think of a star cruiser worth of smart things to say, but not one could account for the near-defensive position Sev was taking or Scorch’s own flanking of his brother.

“Besany’s pregnant-“

“Oh really?” Scorch can’t help himself. The words just come out because kriff, was Bes never not pregnant? “I wasn’t aware.” 

Sev snorts to his side as does Niner hovering behind the Null. Fi barely manages a suppressed smile as Ordo’s eyes narrow. Scorch rolls his shoulders, loosening the stiff joints up. It was always about Kal’s boys. It was always cowing down to Nulls. It got old fast. Next to him Sev’s neck pops as he rolls it.

“You got an issue, Scorch?”

“And if he does?” Sev’s voice cuts in. 

It had been awhile since there’d been a good family tussle. It might be time to take it outside and fix that.

“Scorch. Sev.” Walon Vau’s crisp, aristocratic voice cuts through the tension and posturing “Stand down. It’s late and I’m tired.”

Kal tips his head to his Null son. “You too Ord’ika. Everyone is concerned for the safety of the women and children, but if I know your wife she would no sooner have us dispose of an escaped slave as she would one of your deserter vode.”

“We’ve had squads do worse to get here,” Niner adds levelly.

“True, ad’ika,” Skirata agrees pleasantly, taking a step toward the bed. Sev’s sudden step forward seems to reignite the tension as he blocks Kal’s line of sight. The older man casts an appraising look at the Commando and Scorch feels every muscle in his body coil in anticipation. Kal Skirata could play the good natured ba’buir all he wanted, but below the surface he was anything but. He was as cold blooded as it came before you got his family involved, but once you crossed one of his boys Scorch wasn’t sure there was a star system you could hide in that the old Mando merc wouldn’t find you in.

Scorch wasn’t sure where he and Sev placed in the family tree but he wouldn’t be caught unawares if it was time to find out.

“She’ll be our charge,” Vau says cooly, stepping between the two Delta commandos.

“And if she’s brought trouble with her, what then?”

“We let Sev slot ‘er and Mird will have a nice treat,” Scorch offers as if they were speaking of troublesome roba. The mention of Mird is enough to get a shudder from both Niner and Ordo and a wet sound of agreement from the creature itself as it slinks in between Fi’s legs.

The strill circles around its master’s feet before giving Sev and Scorch a cursory sniff. 

“Walon,” Mij Gilamar’s voice is low with warning.

“Lord Mirdalan is an excellent judge of character.” The golden furred creature leaps to the bed with predatory grace. Scorch watches the strill stare expectantly at the sedated woman before turning twice and curling up on her legs. “See?”

Fi, who’d been quietly observing - for once - speaks up after a moment. “It may just be me, but I’m not sure Mird’s approval is necessarily a good thing.”

#delta squad #republic commando #star wars #clone commando sev #clone commando scorch #polyamory #no clonecest

[whiskyscots]

‘ stay there. i’m coming to get you. ’ from finny finn <3

love ♥ starters ;; accepting

@codexandcompendium

     It had been a mistake, leaving the Sanctuary.

     They’d all known it would be risky, when the pink ribbon appeared tied to the gates of the museum and night watch had spotted figures dressed in black surveying the perimeter from sunset. They’d prepared, made sure the escape plan was secure with all the critters, loaded up guns and set traps, ready for a fight. Yet when no fight came for days - when days became weeks, and rations began to grow thin and fights broke out between the critters - desperation won out.

     They hadn’t had a proper supply run in far too long and it was after a screaming-kicking-headbutting-biting match between Eir and Mikael that the decision was finally made to send someone out. A scouting mission combined with a hunting-scavenging trip, only a few days at most, and there was supposed to be two of them, as was rules. Yet Aleks had fallen ill (not the Sickness, thank God, but debilitating enough), Vas was busy caring for Andrei with a broken wrist, Gil was carrying far-too precious cargo and Finn had to be the one to lead the fight if one broke out.

     That left Alasdair.

     All was going well: he had his supply bag and his rifle, a knife, a kiss from his husband and the assurance that all would be well in his absence. For the first day he walked a good few miles, picked through an abandoned camp and eventually set his own up, thinking back to the Sanctuary and his warm bed. It wasn’t until the second day problems arose, in the form of a gunshot tearing a bullet through his shoulder and a bag being shoved over his head, smothering his yells.

     The next time Alasdair awoke, blinking stars from his eyes, groggy and head pounding, he found himself in some kind of cell. Steel bars, some rusted red with age (he hopes), a hard stone floor and a shackle around his ankle securing him to the far wall; he hardly has time to consider where he could be before the cell door slammed open and a large, heavily tattooed man stepped in, wielding a fire poker.

     That was three days ago.

     The Last Men - he knows now, that they’re the ones who have him, have torn the front of his shirt to show his own old, scarred mark and mocked him for his desertion to the cause - have been relentless in their hunt for answers from him, doing everything and more to tear out whereabouts of his camp, his critters, his family. His stubborn refusal amuses them, eager to up the torture to hear him scream.

     On the third day he wakes up alone in the darkened cell. At least one Last Man was always with him, sat at the table in the corner of the caged room with a radio and a cattle prod, to receive orders and dish out punishment would he wiggle too much, but as he glances around - neck stiff, an eye swollen - he neither sees nor hears anyone. An opportunity.

     Slowly, aware of each clatter of his manacle, he shuffles across the floor on hands and knees until he reaches the table, which he uses to help stand up, hunched and aching. The radio is a simple one, nearly identical to that in the security office of the museum, and he has the smallest spark of hope as he flicks it on, fiddles with the frequency.

     “Hello?” His voice is low, rough with misuse, eyes darting around. “This is- its Alasdair, please- God please, someone, I’m in a Last Man camp, a day or- or maybe two, from the Sanctuary. Is someone out there?”

     Silence, achingly empty, and his heart sinks to his stomach. Of course this wouldn’t work, hell, the Last Men likely have this whole thing bugged and tracked and they’re going to trace it back to him and punish him-

     “Alasdair?”

     The voice is familiar enough to near bring him to tears, and Al sucks in a sharp, shaky breath. Finn. That spark of hope ignites and its warmth fills him.

     “Stay there. I’m comin’ to get you.”

#;; rp { codexandcompendium } #;; verse { sweet tooth } #;; threads #;; this got super long i apologise kjfndr #;; no pressure to match the length this was entirely exposition!! #;; ALSO i havent proof read this so if you see any mistakes no u dont <3

[kumeko]

A/N: For the Pandora Hearts Reverse Big Bang! My partner Hadrian drew an adorable piece of the three of them sleeping together and I wanted to write a fluffy AU for that (look, I really need a world where Lacie and Oswald live).

…

…

…

…

At twenty, Gilbert Nightray was used to plans going awry. It was par the course when it came to the mischievous Oz Vessalius. Despite being childhood friends for over 15 years, the only thing Gil could predict about Oz was that his suggestions never went as expected. Toss in the ever-hungry Alice, and well, there really was no point in planning, just preparing. Luckily, that was something Gil was good at. Every time they went off on an adventure, he packed a bag full of first aid kits, healing potions, and enough supplies to last a week.

 However, even he couldn’t have predicted the situation they were in. As they raced through the forest, Gil glanced over his shoulder to confirm that yes, a giant elephant-sized boar was chasing them. He pressed a hand against his hat to keep it from flying off.

 “Why are we running?” Oz asked breathlessly, just barely managing to keep apace. His physical strength wasn’t great on his best days, and after he’d been cursed…well, what little muscle he’d gained in the past ten years was gone.

 “Why do you think?” Gil snapped, his trench coat flapping behind him as he leapt over an overgrown root. Behind him the boar angrily snapped his head at an offending tree, skewering it with his horns. Wood splintered from the onslaught and Gil paled—that could have easily been them. That could still be them.

“We could just fight it!” Oz argued, his green eyes glowing slightly as he started to summon his magic.

 “Your magic isn’t what it used to be,” Gil argued, resisting the urge to tuck him under his arm like a ball and just sprint out. He probably could. Oz was ten now, not twenty, and as tiny as he was, he’d be easy to carry.

 “I want to eat him,” Alice announced, her eyes taking on a more rabbit-like appearance.  

 “Aren’t rabbits supposed to be herbivores?” Gil immediately whacked the back of her head. Maybe he should just tuck both of them under his arm—two ten-year-olds couldn’t be that heavy, right? “We’re only barely ahead of that thing because the forest’s slowing it down.”

 “But he could be tasty,” Alice protested, glancing over her shoulder. She licked her lips in anticipation.

 “Why is it always food for you?” Gil grumbled. Honestly, Alice’s first approach to everything was bite first, ask questions later.

 “Because meat is king,” she declared triumphantly. Why was that her answer to everything? Her physical strength was far greater than Oz’s, no matter what age. Gil wished it wasn’t; he’d rather hear her wheeze and pant than be forced to listen to whatever stupid inane thought crossed her mind.

 “And you’re too weak too fight,” Gil pointed out, feeling a headache forming. He had medicine for that. “You guys are younger, you can’t act like you normally do! You,” he turned to Oz, “Don’t have the magical reserves. And you,” he directed his glare at Alice, “Can’t fight like you used to.”

 Alice’s cheeks puffed, the sign of an impending sulk and Gil’s headache worsened. Oz frowned. “We could still fight it.”

 “Didn’t you promise Oscar you’d stay out of trouble?” Gil pleaded, ducking an overly tall branch. While the boar was slower, he hadn’t stopped. Every step caused a tremor and it was a miracle none of them had fallen over yet.

 “But—” Oz whined.

 “And Lacie—” Gil cut himself off immediately; it was always a mistake to bring up Alice’s mother. She was even wilder than her daughter. A better tack was her overprotective uncle. “Oswald? Did you agree to be careful for him?”

 “Booo,” Alice pouted as she hopped over a stone. “I can fight.”

 The earth shook behind them. Gil barked, “Not against that!”

 And then, before they could protest, he grabbed their hands. If he had to drag them to safety, he would.

 -x-

 “I think we’re getting close,” Alice muttered, sniffing the air as she lifted a branch with a hand. While she hadn’t fully transformed into her rabbit form, her red eyes and long, claw-like fingers gave her an inhuman look.

 Gil could never get used to her partial transformations. Full transformations were fine, he could handle giant, bow-tied rabbits and short, ill-tempered women. Actually, considering how much Alice ate, it was amazing that she’d never grown taller, that even at twenty she couldn’t reach higher than his chest. Pulling his gun out of its holster, he asked, “Are you sure?”

 “What do you mean, am I sure?” Irate, she glared at him. It was more annoying than intimidating. “My nose is better than yours.”

 “Only if you’re actually using it properly and not smelling meat like last time,” he whispered back, trying to keep his voice down. “You’re a rabbit, how does that work?”

 Alice snorted. “Meat is king.”

 Gil stared at her. She’d said that with utter confidence, as though those three words explained everything. In fact, she’d been so matter-of-factly about it that for a minute, he’d doubted himself. That maybe he was the one ignorant to the ways of the world.

 On his right, Oz snickered as he drew his sword. The metal looked dull in the dim light. “She got you there.”

 That was enough to snap him out of it. “That doesn’t explain anything!”

 “It explains everything,” she retorted, hands on her hips, her quarry all but forgotten. “What more do you need?”

 Gil knew he ought to be the bigger person. They had a guild mission, after all, and that came before any petty differences between them. If Alice wanted to act like a child, like she often did, he shouldn’t stoop to her level. No, he should finish securing the pixie they’d been hunting for days, saving a village from its mischief, ensuring that his standing in the ranks didn’t—

 “If your head wasn’t made of seaweed, you’d understand,” she added with a presumptuous sniff.

 Gil forced his lips into a tight smile, resisting the urge to react. There’s no point in arguing with her, he reminded himself. Be the adult.

 “Where is the pixie?” he asked through gritted teeth. The sooner they finished with this, the sooner they’d go back.

 “Over there,” Oz replied, whistling softly as he peeked through the brush. “I think he’s asleep.”

 “That’s good.” Gil brightened at this one speck of good news. “Is there anyone—”

 Before he looked, before he even finished his sentence, Oz pointed at the pixie. “Alice, go!”

 Without hesitation, Alice ran forward, transforming into a giant rabbit as she did. There was a large scythe in her hands now, pulled out from whatever pocket dimension she’d left it in. “Just stay there and watch,” she ordered before disappearing into the foliage.

 Gil’s jaw dropped. “Oz!”

 “Come on, Gil!” Oz grabbed his hand, smiling innocently. Almost all of their misadventures had started with that smile.  “We can’t let her have all the fun!”

 “Why do you always do this?” Gil hissed, not sure how he’d force them to understand this one, common sense idea. “We should have to plan first!”

 He followed anyways—he’d never been able to say no to Oz, and he doubted he’d ever will. They were almost the same height, with Oz slightly shorter despite all of the milk he drank. There was something comforting about the back of his head, of that golden hair, and maybe it was that for all of the trouble they’d gotten into over the years, they’d always ended up fine at the end of it. Oz was strangely reliable.

 “It’s just a pixie,” Oz scoffed, trotting quickly after Alice. “She’s going to catch it before we get there.”

 In hindsight, those were famous last words. As soon as they made it past a particularly thick tree, pushing through the branches to reach a small clearing, they found Alice in the center. She slammed down her scythe at a pixie that was almost half her size. The creature had iridescent wings that fluttered quickly as he dodged her attack.

 “That’s a big pixie,” Oz muttered. He held his sword loosely. “I don’t think the cage we got is big enough for him.”

 “Me neither…” Gil frowned, pulling out his gun and several enchanted bullets. “Maybe we can knock him out.”

 Alice struck again, her scythe almost cleaving the creature in two. Which would have solved the transportation issue but luckily the pixie parried her attack. It almost knocked her off balance and she flipped backwards to stabilize herself. Legs tense, she prepared to strike again when the pixie shot her with a green bolt of magic.

 Smoke filled the air and Gil’s eyes widened as she disappeared. “Alice!”

 “Alice!” Oz yelled as he charged through the smoke to get to her.

 “I’m fine.” Alice coughed, still hidden by the smoke.

 The pixie cackled and Gil cocked his gun, looking for their enemy. It was time they took this battle seriously. Trees lined their small clearing, leaving many places to hide if the pixie headed for the shadows. Craning his head left and right, he couldn’t find their target.

 The smoke drifted past him slowly, dissipating as the gentle wind blew, and Gil glanced at where he’d last seen Alice. As the air cleared, he couldn’t find a big, stocky humanoid rabbit.

 Instead, he saw a small, child-sized rabbit. While it was dressed in Alice’s clothes, they were far too big for the rabbit, and they hung off it loosely.

 Oz stood in front of the rabbit, his lips parted in surprise. “Alice?”

 The rabbit’s ears twitched, and she looked up at him. “Why are you so big?”

 “Did he shrink you?” Gil asked, wishing he had his brother’s skills in magic identification.

 “Shrink?” Alice stood stock still, looking from Oz to Gil to the trees. If she didn’t have black fur, he was certain she’d be pale as a ghost. She tried to pick up her now too-heavy scythe, the handle oversized in her hands, before dropping it in horror. “WHAT HAPPENED?”

 “Oh wow!” Oz crouched in front of her, recovering from his shock entirely. Reaching forward, he rubbed her ears. “You’re so cute now!”

 “I’m not cute, I’m terrifying,” Alice retorted, growling slightly. She didn’t pull away from his touch though and Gil stored that info away to taunt her with later.

 “Of course you are,” Oz cooed.

 From the corner of his eyes, Gil saw something move. He spun on his heel, gun raised, finger on the trigger. There was the pixie, hovering in the air, another green bolt in his fingers.

 “Watch out!” Gil shouted, already squeezing the trigger.

 BANG! A bullet pierced through the air. As it reached the pixie, it transformed into a net, entangling the prankster.

 Jerking back in surprise, the pixie released its bolt. The green energy arced through the air before hitting Oz square in the back. Another burst of smoke filled the area.

 “Oz!” Gil shouted, racing forward to knock out the pixie before he could do anymore damage.

 “Wow, that tickled,” Oz replied, coughing slightly. After a moment, he swore. “Shit.”

 Oz rarely swore openly, and Gil swallowed as he turned to where his best friend stood. The air had cleared now, leaving behind a blonde child. His cloak hung loosely on his frame, almost slipping off his shoulders. His sword, now too heavy for him, fell out of his hands with a clatter.

 “You’re a kid,” Gil stated, realization dawning.

 Alice transformed back into her human form, confirming his fears: she looked like a kid too. With a smug smirk, she wrapped an arm around Oz, ignoring how her clothes almost fell off her. “Ha, who’s the cute one now?”

 -x-

 Gil groaned as he leaned against the hard wall of the crevice they were hiding in. No matter how many times he thought about how they ended up in this situation, it felt ridiculous.

 “I think we’re safe now,” Oz whispered, poking his head out of their hole. Gil almost jerked him in reflexively. In the bright afternoon light, Oz was hard to miss.

 “I can’t smell him anymore,” Alice muttered, sulking as she crouched in the back of the small cave. With a stick, she drew pictures of pork chops and ham on the dirt ground.

 “Good.” Gil sighed, relaxing against the wall. He wanted nothing more than a hot bath but settled for sitting on the ground. These days, he felt more babysitter than adventurer. His nerves couldn’t take much more of this. “Next time I say run, run.”

 Oz pouted. “I still think we could have taken it,” he muttered.

 Gil gave him a tired look. “Oz.”

 “But that’s not why we’re here,” Oz admitted, which was as close to an apology as he’d get. Crouching in front of Gil, he reached up to ruffle his hair. “Good job!”

 “I’m not the stupid rabbit,” Gil muttered, looking away. Yet he didn’t pull away and maybe that was something he and Alice had in common.

 Unfortunately.

 Oz chuckled, letting go and stepping back. “Alright, let’s finish our mission! I want to be tall again! I want to bully Gil properly again!”

 “Don’t bully me,” Gil grumbled half-heartedly, trying not to smile.

 “I want meat!” Alice chimed in. Gil wasn’t sure if she hadn’t followed the conversation or if she just didn’t care about it.

 Oz looked at him expectedly and Gil sighed. Standing up now, he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I want to stop worrying about you two.”

 “Oh, Gil.” Oz chuckled, though he looked touched. Standing up, he beamed at him, no malice in his voice. “You’ll always worry about us.”

 The truth in his words cut deep and Gil flushed. Coughing into his hand, he looked away. “I want to worry about you less.”

 Oz bumped into him lightly and nodded. “Alright, then we just have to find those berries, right?”

 “Yeah, Break said you just had to eat them and you should turn back to normal…” Gil trailed off. As reliable as his mentor was, he was also the kind of liar who’d take advantage of the situation to play a prank or run an experiment. There was a reason he and Oz got along; they were far too alike and Gil wished he could have stopped them from meeting. “It’ll work, right?”

 Alice growled at Break’s name and looked around quickly. Suspiciously, she lifted a rock, squinting at the dirt beneath it. “He’s not here?”

 “Of course not, or we’d have just fought that boar,” Gil scoffed, rolling his eyes. This whole mission would have gone better if they’d just brought one other person. How he ever let Oz talk him into coming here without backup, Gil couldn’t explain.

 “Nothing to it then.” Oz stretched his arms above his head, looking oddly refreshed. “We’ll just have to get those berries. They’re at the top of the mountain, right?”

 As usual, Alice thought with her stomach. “I hope they’re yummy.”

 “Maybe we should take a couple extra with us,” Oz suggested, rubbing his chin. He scowled. “I can’t believe the pixie couldn’t just turn us back.”

 Gil slouched over slightly. “I should have caught him sooner.”

 “And I probably should have listened to you earlier.” Oz reached up to pat him on the back. “Still, it’s kinda fun pretending to be my own love-child.”

 That was the first Gil heard about it. Aghast, he stared down at his friend. “Your what?”

 “Sec-ret love child,” Oz repeated slowly. Chuckling, he walked over to Alice and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “By the way, I told all the maids that she’s yours.”

 “Mine?” Gil screeched, forgetting all about the boar, the berries, or even the need to hide. He almost fell backwards and leaned against the wall for support.

 Alice grabbed Oz’s collar. “I’m what?”

 “The maids think it’s cute?” Oz weakly warbled, realizing a little too late that maybe he shouldn’t have admitted this in a cave in the middle of nowhere.

 They should start making their way up the mountain. They should be quiet. They should conserve their strength.

 Gil stepped out of the cave for a breath of fresh air, ignoring the ruckus behind him. Oz could wait a few minutes before getting saved.

 -x-

 Hilariously, by the time they reached top of the mountain, Oz’s worst injuries were still from the cave. The rest of the trip had been as eventful as their first few minutes in the forest—as weak as Oz and Alice were now, their only options were to run and hide from monsters.

 Unfortunately, on this mountain this meant a lot of running and hiding. Gil’s arms were sore from dragging Alice away; she honestly thought she could take on every beast they met and Gil didn’t have nearly enough healing magic to prove her wrong.

 As they reached a plateau on the top, a large field filled with wildflowers, Gil was too exhausted to do anything more than just collapse. He stared up at the night sky, surprised. The afternoon felt like it had only been minutes ago, and yet there the stars were, twinkling above. “Is this it?”

 “I hope so.” A worn Oz lay down on the long grasses next to him, sounding as ragged as Gil felt. For all of his adventuring, his stamina had always been terrible. “We just need to find the berries now, right?”

 “And then make it back down.” Gil covered his eyes with the back of his hand and took a deep breath. A sickly-sweet scent filled his lungs and he coughed. “That’s strong.”

 “It’s disgusting.” Next to him, Oz wrinkled his nose. Despite his affection for sweets, he didn’t like the cloying scent either. “What are these flowers?”

 “Not sure.” Gil looked to his right, at the flower brushing his cheek. It had a dark lilac colour, barely visible in the moonlight. Neon blue spots dotted the petals, giving the plant an eerie look. Something about it tickled his memory as he slowly sat up. “Where have I seen that before?”

 “A book?” Oz guessed flippantly. Lifting his head, he scanned their surroundings. “Where’s Alice?”

 “Hmm?” Still focused on the flower, he glanced around haphazardly. The field was penned with trees, though they were so far out he couldn’t make out their individual shapes. “Maybe in the forest? Or by the bushes?”

 “Alice?” Oz called out, scrambling to his feet despite his aching limbs. There wasn’t a response, just the wind through the trees, and he yelled again, “ALICE!”

 This time, a small voice called out. Gil couldn’t make out the words. To their left, a small figure dashed toward them, growing bigger until he could make out Alice’s bright grin. “Oz!”

 “There you are!” Oz relaxed. Clasping his hands behind him, he acted as though he hadn’t been worried seconds ago. “Where’d you go?”

 “To the berries of course.” Alice snorted, holding out her right hand to reveal a small pile of the very berries they were looking for. “Unlike you lazy bones, I can get the job done.”

 For once, Gil was too tired to argue. He merely plucked on, inspecting it. It was a bright yellow, like the sun, and the leaves had an oval-like shape outlined with prickly points. All in all, it looked just like the ones Break had shown him before. Begrudgingly, he praised her. “Good job.”

 Alice lit up. “It was a good job, right?”

 She beamed happily at him before leaning forward expectantly. Gil sighed and reached out, patting her head. “That’s what I said.”

 She bounced on her feet before she stood up straight once more. “Now we can get big again!”

 Oz gingerly took one berry from her hand, eyeing it thoughtfully. “These are the right ones, right?”

 “Gil just said they were,” Alice pouted, her cheeks puffing up like a chipmunk.

 “If I die, I’m haunting you,” Oz muttered before swallowing the berry. He scowled. “That’s even sweeter.”

 “It’s like honey,” Alice added, utterly enamoured. She ate another one before Gil could stop her.

 “Hey, wait!” Gil snatched the rest of the berries out of her hand. A few were crushed between his fingers, their delicious juices dripping down his fingers. His raised his hand out of her reach. “You don’t know what eating more could do to you.”

 “But it tastes so good,” Alice grumbled, jumping up to grab the sweet treat. When it was obvious that she couldn’t reach, she stomped on his foot.

 “Ouch!” Gil glared at her, stepping back. “You stupid rabbit—”

 “Seaweed head—” Alice growled back.

 “Nothing’s happening,” Oz interrupted smoothly, frowning. He looked at his hands. “I’m not getting taller.” He paused. “Or older.”

 “Why in that order—” Gil shook his head, focusing on the actual issue. He glanced at Alice, who still couldn’t reach his chest, let alone his shoulders. “Alice isn’t either.”

 “That’s strange…” Oz sat down once more, plucking a flower and twirling it between his fingers. “Maybe it takes time?”

 “Or maybe you have to sleep…” Gil trailed off, realization dawning. Crouching, he inspected the flowers once more before covering his mouth. “Cover your mouths!”

 It was too late. He heard a soft thud, followed by another, and he found both Alice and Oz passed out. His own vision was going dark and he silently swore before collapsing as well.

 -x-

 “They’re so cute,” Lacie cooed, tucking a lock behind her ear as she stared down at her daughter and her friends. The trio were curled up together, instinctively seeking each other even when unconscious. “I need a picture.”

 “Lacie,” Oswald murmured, giving her a baleful look as he crouched next to Alice. They were breathing at least. “We need to take them back.”

 “Do we?” Lacie sighed, pouting slightly as she knelt next to Oz. Her puffy dress spread around her like a mushroom. She gently pushed his hair out of his face. “They look so peaceful.”

 Break poked Gil’s cheeks, chuckling. It was obvious they were master and apprentice; their uniforms were far too similar to claim otherwise. “They do. We should draw on their faces.”

 That stopped Oswald and he looked at Break, his expression blank. “What?”

 “It’ll be fun!” Break chuckled, glancing at the field around them. In the day, the flowers were closed, the air crisp and clean. “It’ll be a punishment for not bringing us with them. And for entering this field at night. They should have known better.”

 “Yep.” Lacie nodded sagely, already pulling out a marker from her purse. “These flowers’ scents are like a sleeping spell. They should have remembered.”

 “None of them paid attention to my lessons.” Break raised a sleeve and wiped an imaginary tear.

 “Or my training.” Lacie hunched forward, sighing sadly.

 Already hoisting Alice in his arms, Oswald looked back and forth between the pair. They both looked at him with watery eyes and he flinched.  “I guess…”

 And just like that, they both grinned, pulling out markers from who-knows-where. “Great!” Lacie chirped, drawing a spiral on Oz’s cheek.

 “He’ll never forget,” Break chimed in, giving Gilbert glasses and a mustache.

 Oswald held Alice tighter. Maybe he should just save her and run.

#pandora hearts #oz vessalius #gilbert nightray #alice #oswald baskerville #lacie baskerville #xerxes break #fanfic

[miss-tc-nova]

A SOLDIER’s Memories - Cloud Strife x Fem!Reader Pt 2

Originally inspired by Panic! At the Disco’s Hurricane, I love this chapter! It also could’ve been much longer with the chocobo race, but that was kinda needless. Last note: I LOVE INFANTRY CLOUD! He’s so adorable! 

Gold Saucer Magic

                I stuff the clothes into a bag and, just as I get it zipped up, there’s a knock on the door. Brushing hair from my face, I pull the door open, surprised to find the infantry chocobo on the other side.

                “You’re not Zack,” I state bluntly.

                He avoids eye contact while a hand plays at the nape of his neck. “Uh, yeah. About that, Zack says he can’t come. So he’s sending me.”

                “What?”

                “They gave him a last minute mission so he gave me the tickets and said I should take you.” As proof, the blonde holds up the pair of tickets.

                I put a hand on my hip. “Well that’s honestly an upgrade for me, but are you sure you’re okay with that? It’s a three day trip.”

                I love when he’s bashful. “Yeah. I only had one mission and one of the other guys agreed to cover it for me.”

                A smile blooms. “Great. Then let’s get going.”

                Oh that poor chocobo. Since our first mission, the duo dynamic I had with Zack balanced out with the addition of the level headed boy, and not just on missions. He always tried his best to keep our antics somewhat mild, but he usually just ended up being dragged along; though he did take Sephiroth up on his word and shot Zack once. Granted, Zack was about to blow everyone up by accident, so they made up pretty quickly. As for the two of us, I find hanging out with Cloud usually ends up being my favorite part of the day. I find myself seeking him out on bad days; his calm demeanor talking me down from my emotions. He’s a huge, sweet softie and I love it. But he still suffers from motion sickness.

                After one very sick boat ride and a questionable cable car, we arrive at the astounding Gold Sauce, only to find out our room has a single queen bed. There’s a bit of heckling the front desk, but the room is the only one available: it’s that or nothing. We’ve got no choice. I grumble all the while Cloud drags me out to find dinner and quell my anger. I have to admit, the show after dinner did get me to laugh.

                I stare down at the single bed, my annoyance working up again. Cloud puts a hand on my shoulder. “Hey, it’s alright. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

                “There’s no way in hell I’m letting you sleep on the floor,” I huff, sitting on the edge of the bed. “That’s gross.”

                “Really. It’s fine.”

                I take a deep breath and try to remember why we’re here anyway. With a devilish grin, I look to my friend. “You afraid of sharing a bed with me?”

                The reaction is instant and entertaining. With a bright red face, he stammers, “N-No! I didn’t want to be rude! I just-”

                I throw a pillow. “Shut up, turn off the light, and get in the bed.” Crawling up the bed, I make sure to leave plenty of room for him. The light flickers off and, after a moment, I can feel movement on the other side and the blanket pulls a bit. “Silly chocobo.”

                I hear a sigh, smile to myself, and drift to sleep.

~~~~~ 

                I become aware of my body and the pleasant warmth around me. I snuggle against the source behind me and sigh. A weight on my leg snakes around my waist.

                That’s when my brain snaps wide awake. I try to get a grip on my rapid thoughts which ultimately lead me to how comfortable I feel. In fact, this is probably the most peaceful I’ve ever felt; it’s safe. Hoping to indulge in the moment a while longer, I relax and just let it go, falling back into a peaceful doze.

                The boy stirring brings me back to consciousness. There’s a light gasp and the arm flies away, but I’m too tired to tease him just yet. I didn’t foresee him gingerly replacing his hand on my side though. There’s a flurry of butterflies in my stomach when he pulls me even closer. I’m terrified he can hear my heartbeat but he relaxes. Once I’m sure my heart won’t burst from my chest, I too return to the serenity of snoozing just a bit longer.

                Eventually, we have to get up. The moment I start to stretch, Cloud disappears with a jolt. Rubbing at my eye, I sit up and gently shake the blonde. “Wake up, you sleepy chocobo.”

                Without turning back, he replies, “I’m up.” I can just see how red his ear is and grin.

                With breakfast out of the way, we set out to wander the park, starting with the arcade area. We pass by a windowed wall where people are shooting at targets. What catches my attention though, is the chocobo plushies hanging across the top.

                “Oh I need one of those!” I point them out to Cloud and drag him closer. Apparently, the goal of the game is to shoot out the entire star in the paper. After only the first few shots, I quickly realize I won’t be winning that.

                Just as I raise the pellet gun again, a hand reaches out, raising the barrel a bit. “You need to line up the sights,” Cloud says, pointing out the two points on the barrel. “And you want to pull the trigger just before you breathe in.” Next, he bumps the back of the firearm higher up my shoulder. “Try that.”

                I do significantly better, but I still don’t beat the game. “Damn,” I mutter.

                “You picked it up pretty quickly,” comments my friend, handing the game keeper another handful of gil. I never thought Cloud had a smug bone in his body, but that smirk makes me worried that Zack and I have corrupted this pure little chocobo. Also, my heart might explode. “Let me show you how it’s done.”

                I stare, slack jawed, as Cloud perfectly carves out the star with ammo to spare. Setting the rifle down, he turns back to me, still wearing that sly smile.

                “What the hell was that?!”

                “It’s not the first time I’ve held a pellet gun,” he confesses, some of that smugness fading.

                It clicks. “That’s right. You’re a country bumpkin.”

                “Shooting tin cans is a favorite pass time of my hometown.” The man running the game places a plush on the counter. He holds it out for me. “Oh, here. You wanted one, right?”

                Grinning like an idiot, I wrap my arms around it. I can’t help hiding my face in it, knowing that there’s a blush rising. “He’s so cute. And he looks like you.”

                His face goes blank. “Gee. Thanks.”

                I giggle. “Thanks Cloud.”

                We resume our wandering, have lunch, and generally enjoy the park. Then we stumble upon Chocobo Square.

                I squeal, picking up the pace. “Oh my god! Cloud! I found your people!”

                “I’m never going to shake this chocobo thing, am I,” he sighs.

                The birds race past the fence. “This is so cool!”

                “You can try it if you want.” Cloud points out the signup counter. My smiling gasp confirms my excitement. “Have fun.”

                I grab his arm. “Oh come on! Come with me!”

                “I’m good.”

                “Please!” The longer he stares, the more uncomfortable he gets and he caves. Before long, we’re saddled up in the stalls. “You gonna be okay there, bird boy?” Cloud rolls his eyes. “Wanna make a bet?”

                At first, I expect him to back down, but he shrugs. “Sure.”

                “Loser buys dinner.”

                “That’s it?”

                “Come on. I was trying to be nice,” I goad.

                He thinks on it. “How about an unconditional favor.” I tilt my head. “Loser owes the winner a favor whenever they request it. No exceptions.” That smirk comes back. “They just do it.”

                “Ooo! I like it.” The red light flashes and I tense. “Don’t let your motion sickness get in the way.”

                Cloud leans forward and the light goes orange. “You’re not winning this one.”

                The light turns green and the stalls burst open. It was so close, neck and neck the entire way, but ultimately, I lose.

                “I’m beginning to think you’re cheating,” I say, following the winner from the stables.

                “You’re just mad you owe me a favor.”

                “Speaking of which, when is that happening?” We head for the food court.

                “Dunno. Think I’ll hold off for a while, save it for when I really need something.” Smug, mischievous; perhaps we really did corrupt our innocent Cloud.

                “Now that’s just rude.”

                I pay for dinner as promised and we stroll for awhile until Cloud decides on our next attraction: the gondola. The hanging craft seems popular this time of night but we eventually board. I pat the seat beside me which he takes.

                “Hey, picture!” I blurt out, holding up my phone. Cloud doesn’t get a chance to figure out what I said by the time I snap the picture, giving an adorable, innocent face. “Nice.”

                “You didn’t give me any warning,” he protests, only to be met with laughter.

                “Well I like it. I think I’ll have a copy printed.”

                “I wish you wouldn’t.” The scenery of the glowing Gold Saucer is beautiful and we watch in silence until he speaks again. “Did you…notice anything weird this morning?”

                Of course I think about our morning cuddle, but he thinks I didn’t notice and I don’t know if I’m prepared for that level of flustered Cloud, or flustered me.

                “No. Why?”

                “Uh, nothing. I must’ve dreamt it.”

                Not exactly.

                A loud boom goes off and I flinch, prepared for a fight. I’m filled with dismay when Cloud laughs, putting a hand on my shoulder.

                “Calm down. It’s just fireworks.”

                “O-Oh. Right.” A hand nervously sifts through my hair before hiding my face against it. As the firework show goes, I think about just how amazing today has been; I need to give Zack my thanks for this later.

                “You okay?”

                I peer up at him, once again captured in the depths of his eyes. But I look away before I can be pulled in. “Yeah. Thanks for coming with me. I think this is the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

                “Birthday?! Why didn’t you tell me it was your birthday?”

                I shrug. “It just didn’t seem important. I preferred remember this as a great day with a great person rather than the day I was born. Honestly, I’d probably be working if Zack hadn’t stuck his nose in my business. I’d be pissed that he ditched me if he hadn’t sent a better replacement.”

                Cloud’s voice, soft and warm, is right by my ear. “I’m glad you had fun then.”

                I don’t really think about it, but I lean against Cloud. “I really did. Thank you.”

                The firework show continues and eventually slips from my mind. My thoughts venture down the rabbit hole, coming up with bolder and bolder ideas until I drag my gaze back to Cloud. I didn’t expect him to be so close and hesitate. The pink dancing across his nose and I can tell he’s unsure as well. Steeling my nerves, I turn towards him, slipping a hand onto his chest. By the fabric of his shirt, I pull him closer, feeling his heart pound beneath my fist.

                “H-Hey.” His voice is barely above a whisper. “What are we doing?” Despite the question, it’s clear he knows.

                I’m not much louder. “You stupid chocobo.”

                His lips are softer than I imagined with a slight chill from the night air. He doesn’t pull away, but seems hesitant. I give him several brief kisses, practically begging him for something. He takes it, that hand moving from my shoulder to my lower back to pull me in and kissing back. It’s naïve, like this is his first kiss but he’s as eager as a starving man. I always thought maybe I was the wolf in this relationship; maybe I was wrong, not that it matters. He’s got no idea just how much of a mess I am inside, but I’m in love. In love with someone so kind and genuine that I never had a chance.

                Breaking away, I stay close, trying to rein in my breath, my heart, everything.

                “Are you okay?” he asks, breathing just as heavily.

                A breathy laugh escapes me. “Never better.”

                “Good.” His lips to my forehead don’t exactly help. “Now did you call me a stupid chocobo?”

                “Yeah you dumb bird,” I reply, leaning back to get a better look at his face when I tell him, “And no, you did not dream what happened this morning. You were spooning me.”

                His eyes go wide and his entire body tenses.

                I pinch his cheeks. “And here I thought you’d be little spoon.”

                “I can’t help I move in my sleep!” He swats my hands away.

                Giggling, I slip my hands into his hair and pull his face closer. “I liked it, almost as much as I like you.”

                Another one of those breath-taking smiles appears. “I like you too…a lot.”

                I’m definitely going to have to thank Zack for the best birthday ever. 

#cloud x reader #innocent baby cloud #cloud strife x reader #ffvii cloud #cloud strife #fem!reader

[malcolmwhitly-bright]

Yours, Mine...Ours

Chapter One: Uh-Oh

The cold blows harshly through New York City. It’s nipping temperature lowering steadily while the sun hides behind the thick clouds in the sky. A strong breeze sweeps through the city as Dani steps out of her apartment. It picks her thick curls off her shoulders. A single curl gets caught on her eyelash, a mild spike of painful itching distracting her from her mission. She’s frustrated, her nerves grated to their raw ends. She suspects that aggravation is not going to end soon.

“Detective,” Manuel greets from behind the counter. He spares her a hasty glance before looking back down at the textbook he has on the counter. She has known Manuel since the first week she moved into her apartment. Manuel’s father owns the convenience store as it was passed down from his father to him. Now, Manuel’s father hopes to pass it down to Manuel. Only, Manuel wants to be a teacher. Still, he spends every night, four p.m. to twelve a.m., working the shop. He hates it but his father means more to him than spending the weekend terrorizing the neighborhood with his friends.

Dani needs one thing. Masterfully, she glides along the aisles. She gets a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, brownie bits because it’s been a long and bad day. She deserves the brownie to ice cream ratio. That and, hopefully, Manuel will look over what she’s really here for. 

Pregnancy tests.

Manuel’s hand hovers over the box, his eyes glancing up at her. A silent, quick judgment on how far he can push her on the matter at hand. The matter <i>under</i> his hand. “You good,” he asks, placing both items in the same bag. He hadn’t seen Dani in some time but he knew well enough that she hadn’t been with anyone, seriously, since Estime. Unless, of course, the brownie bits Ben & Jerry’s counts. She’s always had a stable relationship there but it’s a bit one-sided.

Dani sighs heavily and wonders if she should unload her stresses on a seventeen-year-old with enough on his plate. She glances down at his textbook, math problems cover the waxy pages. Nodding, she retrieves the bag from the counter. “I’m good. Are you though? That looks pretty complex.” She motions to the textbook and Manuel’s eyes squint.

He nods, his mind no longer wrapped up on the pregnancy test. “It’s calculus,” he explains with a sigh. The low light of the shop enhancing the bags under their eyes, the tired bloodshot scleras. “It’s driving me crazy,” he adds, frowning down at the textbook. “I’ve got a test tomorrow.”

Dani hums, shaking her head. She doesn’t miss high school. “I’ll leave you to that.” He smiles at her and she feels his eyes on her as she leaves. As she climbs the stairs back to her apartment, she realizes she’s got a test too and for the first time in her life she’s not sure if she wants to pass it or not.

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

She locks her apartment door behind her. Stopping only at the refrigerator to collect a half-finished Gatorade. It had been in the fridge for… well, she’s not sure but she’s hoping it’ll speed this process on rather quickly. 

One line.

She holds the test in one hand, head tilted. “Oh,” she chuckles, but deep down this doesn’t feel right. It feels too easy. “That’s too good to be true.” So, in pajamas, she goes back down to the corner. She buys more tests and more Gatorade, Manuel doesn’t comment. 

“This better work.” She pees on her hand a little and it’s disgusting. Then she thinks about a baby. The amount of pee and poop she’s going to get all over her hands if she’s pregnant. Five minutes pass and two lines show up. She throws the test against the wall. It breaks in half with a satisfying crack.

With her knees drawn to her chest, she sobs into her knees. She loses track of time before she stands back up. Pulling her hair into a loose bun, she drinks another Gatorade, preparing for another test.

Just to be sure.

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

“These are probably better,”  Manuel holds up a bottle of prenatal vitamins. They’re pink, unlike the blue bottle Dani is reading the back of. “I did… some research.” The comment slips right past Dani, she’s caught up more in why there are so many options. She takes the bottle from Manuel and puts in her little basket. “Have you gone to the doctor yet,” he asks.

She frowns, she’d read some blogs. Mostly, she’s looked at corporate women in business breaking down how to hide a baby bump in each trimester. She hadn’t thought about the doctors yet, not once. She can’t help the blush that creeps up her cheeks,” uh no.”

Manuel frowns but doesn’t say anything. 

“So, how’d that test go?” He steps out of the way and allows her better access to the end of the aisle. She needs to pick up healthier snacks, things to keep the babu healthy and a few of the extra ‘baby pounds’ off. 

Manuel grins at her,” about as well as yours.” She ignores his comment and he fills her in. “I got an A- but considering the class is mostly self-taught, I’m counting it as a win.” His proud little smirk melts her heart and she wonders how she’s going to pass the next few months with raging hormones. “How are… your things?”

She elects to ignore his little in tone, the inclination that he’s talking about any one of the hundred problems she has right now. Especially, the ones she told him about while tipsy on box wine three months ago. More so, the one growing in her right now. “I’m fine, Manuel.” Except she’s not. She isn’t going to tell him that though. “Ring me up?”

He looks defeat, probably hoping those raging hormones would loosen her tongue a bit. No such luck.

“Be good,” she says as she leaves him. She rolls her eyes towards the sky, what a little shit.

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

“You okay?” The small tilt of Malcolm’s head gives away that he already knows the right answer. His eyes are stupidly blue and full of compassion and genuine interest. It makes her stomach tie itself into tight little knots. Her chest feeling cracked, nearly broken as her heart races. “You don’t look like you feel well,” he adds.

She doesn’t feel good. Her mother called last night and that call ended in mutual tears and a frustrated goodbye. There’s a box of positive pregnancy tests in her bathroom. Estime won’t pick up her calls and now Malcolm… Well, he’s looking at her with those stupidly, adorable blue eyes all concerned and caring and it’s not helping. “It’s been,” she considers lying. Then she remembers that little head tilt and knows there’s no point. “I’m exhausted and this case isn’t helping.”

He sighs in agreeance, settling himself on the edge of her desk. “Wanna talk about,” he offers but it’s like bait. He’s luring her in, even if he is genuinely interested. A part of her does want to tell him. To unload all this weight she’s carrying but she hasn’t even told her mother about the baby yet. If anything, her mother and JT should know before Malcolm does. 

Right?

She pulls herself to her feet, stuffing her paperwork back into its manilla folder. She glances at him only once, knowing her mouth will come unglued if she looks too long or spares a second glance. Those blue eyes will get to her. Remind her that he cares, that he’s more than willing to let her air her dirty laundry. Why does he have to be so damn charming?

“You okay?” He seems to be asking her that a lot lately. 

“I’ll be right back,” her tight smile doesn’t bid well with him. It… it isn’t right. Dani’s smile makes the skin around her eyes lift and crinkle. It’s contagious to everyone in the room. The corner of the right side of her face always lifts a little higher than the left, crooked. This smile was forced, it wasn’t real.

She comes back from the bathroom ten minutes later. Malcolm notices how ginger she is with her stomach, a hand half raised to protect it. His mind races to fill in the problem, the anxiety and concern eating his own stomach away. She’s not okay and she’s lying. Dani never lies, at least not to him. It’s like, around him, she says every thought that happens to cross her mind. She leans into him, his touches. Of late, she’s silent and avoidant. 

Has he done something?

“She was twenty-four,” Edrisa hands them the paperwork. The killer had brutally torn apart a young woman, defiling her in such a way that made her unrecognizable. Leaving Edrisa to put her back together and take hair follicles to give their young victim a name. “Her name was Samantha Hinegrad,” Edrisa hands Gil a picture so he can pin it to their board. “She was a mother of two.”

The sudden paleness of Dani’s features all makes sense. The wrist she keeps pressed to her lower stomach, the long bathroom breaks, and the near gag at lunch when JT reheated eggs. “You’re pregnant,” the words leave his mouth softly. It’s still an accusation and they all know who at. 

All eyes turn to Dani, her paler getting suddenly worse. “W-What?” 

They both stutter. JT’s face is a cloud of mixed emotion, aggravation and confusion. It makes Malcolm uneasy, suddenly thrown off. It does the same to Dani. She stands too quickly, her stomach hurting and she knows another bout of morning sickness is washing over her.

She’s hurt, too. Naive hope had left her to believe she could do this on her own. She could keep it her little secret. It would be easy, she coached herself each morning. Just as easy as getting knocked up in the first place. Then, she had to put up her tighter fitting t-shirts, a perfect little bump protruding from her favorite. Each week, was a little harder than the one before. 

Then there was the morning sickness. That was new to this week and whoever dubbed it ‘morning’ sickness was a cruel, mistaken bastard. 

Her chair falls over as she rushes to the bathroom. She falls to her knees, hard. Nothing comes up because she hasn’t eaten since this morning. She threw up what little of the bagel she could get down. Miserable, she leans against the toilet. Letting the cool porcelain touch the bare skin where her shirt has risen up.

“Here,” warmth. Something warm is pressed into her palm and she realizes its a heating pad. A hand eases it’s way around her torso, pressing it to her stomach. The room smells of Irish Spring and fruit. Malcolm. “Have you eaten?” She allows him to pull her away from the toilet, leaning back against his boney chest instead. She shakes her head. 

He hums thoughtfully. His sensitive stomach finally coming in handy for something. “Let’s get you off the floor, yeah?” He eases her up, bearing her weight as her knees tremble underneath her. “How about some Gatorade and saltines?”

She nods her head, resigning herself to being taken care of. 

“You okay?” Gil and JT are waiting just outside the doors. She wonders if they fought over who would come in to check on her. When neither step forward to peel her away from Malcolm’s side, she has her answer. 

Malcolm mumbles something but her attention is split. She only feels the deep rattle of his voice in his chest. “Alright,” he leads her to her chair not moving away until she’s completely settled. “Saltines and Gatorade, you need or want anything else?”

 As he looks at her, crouched down on his knees she has to force her tears at bay. She can’t do this alone, she realizes. She doesn’t have to either. Malcolm smiles at her as he rises back to his feet, heading for his coat to head out into the cold, for her. JT and Gil keep nearby too, sparing her glances and small smiles. 

She’s got a family. Her baby will have one too. 

(When you could have posted this nearly three hours ago but instead have a tiny meltdown because you retook the Myers Briggs and went from an ENTP to an ENFP)

#prodigal son #prodigal son fanfic #brightwell #brightwell fanfic #malcolm bright #dani powell #jt tarmel #gil arroyo #slow burn

[ask-secretagentsquad]

Twintuition

When Lukas finally came to again, he found himself bound tight by ropes, sitting against the wall. He shifted uncomfortably, almost immediately noticing that he was dressed in a different outfit. The fabric was almost stiff, and was definitely not what he was used to. His arms were pressed against his sides and his ankles were held together tightly by the rough line, all he could do was squirm, but couldn't undo any of the twisted rope.

Lukas looked around quickly at the area, seeing the agents conversing and deciding what to do next, and soon catching sight of his actual clothes, folded and set beside his bag which had obviously been gone through. A sudden thought struck him. His necklace. The necklace. He couldn't move his hands to feel for the necklace, he couldn't feel it around his neck. There was a new fear that he hadn't felt before. What had they done with it?

Lukas didn't get much more time to think before a voice spoke up beside him.

"Morning, buddy.”

He jumped at the voice of Jesse, who’d been waiting by his side for him to wake. Lukas for a moment didn’t know what to do. He was so used to his quick escapes, and even captured, he’d never had his opposer be Jesse himself. He reminded himself that this wasn’t his Jesse. No scar, that’s not his Jesse.

“H- Hello there,” he managed to contain a light stutter, however still unable to hide a break in his voice. He cleared his throat quickly and tugged against his binds. He tried to put up his act again, but he questioned his ability to keep it up for long.

“Would you mind?” he held out his hands and gave Jesse his best puppy eyes, “The uh— cuffs aren’t necessary, are they?”

Jesse scoffed and stood up.

“They are absolutely necessary.”

Lukas dropped his hands and sighed.

“You’d keep me tied up, Jesse? Me? Lukas?” he said in an almost pouty voice to get his attention. However, he dropped the expression with a groan as his counterpart stepped up beside Jesse, placing a hand around his waist.

“Unfortunately for you, he’s already got one of us.”

Lukas sighed at the appearance and shifted uncomfortably. It was like looking into a mirror. A mirror glaring, looking down on him.

"Hm. Guess I'm too late for the act, huh?" he grumbled.

"Mhm," Jesse nodded, earning another tired sigh from Lukas. His counterpart turned and stepped away, Jesse following afterwards. Lukas went to speak again, however the lightest sound of his voice was quickly cut off by an angry Jesse once again.

"Don't say anything, you're an imposter. A fake. Just keep your mouth shut and let us focus on other things."

Lukas squinted slightly and leaned back against the wall. He glanced around the room, searching for anything to help his escape. Orion would be waiting for him, and he didn't want to have to make him come back yet again for another rescue. Seems like their joke was becoming a reality.

Examining the room, he found exactly where the rope had been looped into the wall. Surprisingly, it didn't seem that secure. He could probably tug and undo the knots if he tried hard enough. An easy escape, he caught immediately what was happening.

He glanced back up to the other Lukas, who was standing over by the table surrounded by other agents. They seemed to be planning something, but he couldn’t tell what. That would have to remain a mystery, however he quickly pieced together the situation. He looked exactly like the other Lukas now, possibly with slightly different variations in features, however NEARLY exactly the same. A quick escape from the ropes, out an easy to follow back door.

The old twin trick. Now, he’d never had the luxury of being part of one of these before, but knew what was going to happen. A switch on Orion was the plan, that was obvious, but how to avoid it was the question. Maybe he could slip out unnoticed.

No, that was way too obvious, they’d expect him to try that without even knowing about the idea. They were watching him.

After a bit of thought, he decided he’d play their game. He just had to hope Orion would make the right choice. He trusted him to do so— but Lukas always wearing his mask could mean that he doesn’t know his face well enough to tell them apart. He could use sign? No, his hands were bound still, that would be a bit too difficult to undo.

Guess he’d just have to play and pray that he’s persuasive enough for Orion.

~~~~

“You have sights on him?” Jesse spoke into his earpiece, straying from the current topic of his plan B to check on Gil, who’d been placed as a gunner at the ready.

“Mhm. Sure do. He’s by the docks, just— waiting. He’s in my scope, this is a ridiculously easy shot. I can’t take it now because—?”

“Because if you take out the Leader the rest of them will just continue the plan, it’s like every other organization. We need to figure out how to actually stop them— to do that we need more than just these random journal pages.”

“True,” Gil sighed into the earpiece, “Its so easy though. So so easy..”

“I know, resist the urge, Gil,” Jesse chuckled and tapped his foot almost restlessly, “We’ve got a better plan on hand, and you know what to do if Plan A fails, which hopefully it will not.”

“Yeah yeah I got it, the whole Plan B thing.”

“And your part in Plan A.”

“Of course. This isn’t my area of expertise but— I’ll try not to let you down.”

“You won’t, Gil— Just do your best. If anything goes wrong, this is why we have backup plans.”

“Fair. Alright, well— see you on the flip side, I guess. Wish me luck!”

~~~~

Orion was standing just on the edge of the pier. The hatch of the Ender Dragon could be seen in the distance, out in the harbor. Orion stayed waiting for Lukas, knowing that he may take longer to get around than he did. However, it’d been over thirty minutes. Orion was in the right mind to be worried.

A voice spoke up over his own earpiece.

“Leader?” it was Trevor, dragging out the er at the end of the word in a bit of a concerned whine, “Are you alright up there? It’s been a long time, they’re gonna pick us up on the radar soon if they haven’t yet...”

Orion reached up to the headset and felt for the small button on the side. He pressed in in small beeps and dashes, Morse code.

“— • • — — — — • —

• — — — — — • — • • — • — • — —“

There was a bit of a pause before Trevor replied.

“... Alright, if you insist— At least you replied. Just be safe ok? And alert us when you need pickup.” Trevor sounded unsure, clearly doubting that everything was fine. He always was. Trevor was the brother to worry. It was his way of constantly saying “I love you,” and it was just a little bit of Trevor’s sweetness that Orion really loved.

However he couldn’t focus on it for too long. A glint from a nearby building caught his attention, and quickly took his mind off of anything lighthearted. He was standing out in the open, of course anyone would have a free shot at him, and of course he figured that’s what that exact glint was from. A sniper.

~~~~

"I need the ropes, too?" Lukas grumbled and shifted his wrists against the tight ropes that now binded them.

"Yes, you do," Petra replied with a faint amusement in her voice, "If one Lukas has them, the other Lukas has them."

"God... This is going to be ridiculous. Are you sure this is a good idea, Jesse? I mean-- what if something goes wrong?" Lukas turned to Jesse, who was sat at the table and hunched over a journal of his own.

"Don't worry, Lukas-- Even if something goes wrong, your buddy's got you covered. How's Gil with a sniper?" Jesse replied without looking up. Lukas thought back a bit to his times in the army. HE was the sniper, however Gil was never bad. What did this have to do with--

"Jesse, is he up there?" Lukas asked quickly.

"Maybe~"

"Did you at least test his aim-?"

"I did, not to worry. He's a very good shot, you don't have anything to worry about.." Jesse closed his journal, leaving his opened pen set between the pages before getting up. He stopped in front of Lukas and took both of his hands, them being bound together. "If Plan A fails, then we always have Plan B to fall back on. There's nothing to worry about.."

Lukas sighed and calmed down at Jesse's touch.

"Right... I trust you--.."

"And if Plan B fails?" Riot asked from the opposite end of the table. He had an ice pack on his jaw and was leaning over the table, still clearly a bit disoriented.

"Plan C!"

"And then?"

"Do you really think that I'm that awful at this?"

There was a light snicker in Green's direction, and Jesse huffed in annoyance.

"I'm willing to bet on it."

"Plan,, D, then!"

"Plan D? Might as well throw in a plan F to pay respects and accept the fat fucking L we get served on this mission if Plan C doesn't even fuckin work," Yellow piped up from the ground, his voice a bit raspy bit still getting the point along. There was a sharp laugh from Green that he quickly covered up as Petra looked over.

"Yellow!" There was a chorus of different moods, vaguely apart, when Yellow's voice was heard. Some were laughter, relief, and Jesse was clearly heard with the one dramatically offended tone. Riot was the first to drop down and nearly fall on Yellow in a hug, throwing his ice pack off to the side.

“Good to see you’re awake, man,” Petra shot him a quick grin.

“Glad to be awake.” Yellow felt around his neck after Riot had let go, feeling his throat wrapped in bandages with a couple ice packs pressed against his neck.

“The Leader got you pretty bad— try not to speak too much. Gil told us you were pretty swollen," Lukas said, still uncomfortably shifting in his rope cuffs.

"Mhm. Got that.." Yellow wouldn't admit audibly that every word put him in pain, but that was the truth.

"Rest for a while-- the next whole ordeal won't need us, I'll stay with you." Yellow felt Riot take his hand and give it a light squeeze. He smiled faintly and gave everyone a warning squint before leaning into Riot, who put his arms around him in a gentle hug. Petra grinned at the two, shoving her hands into her pockets.

A sudden clatter came from behind, and Jesse turned quickly to see Green hanging halfway out of the window.

"Oh Jesus, Axel!"

Axel's head shot up from where he was dozing off nearby. Jesse gestured to Green, who slipped out quite noticed.

"Oh uh- He's escaping!! Oh no!!" Axel's cry was half-hearted at most and playful if anything, making Jesse roll his eyes with a smile.

"Alright Lukas, go get him! I'll slow him down, you take the shortcut to the docks," Jesse finished his sentence by giving Lukas a quick kiss and running out the unlocked back door. Lukas couldn't help but smile, even going into this situation. He ran after Jesse, having to shove open the door with his shoulder while his hands were still tied.

The chase didn't last very long, and was a bit uneventful compared to the rest of the last hour. Jesse managed to catch up to Green, slowing him down just enough to where he and Lukas made it to the docks at the same time. The Witherstorm Leader was waiting there, and honestly didn't look too surprised. His arms were crossed and his expression was almost numb. Tired. As though he'd expected this very thing to happen.

~~~~

Lukas made eye contact with Orion quite quickly, and could tell immediately that Orion expected this. Orion's eyes moved between the two men in front of him, and his expression didn't change. Lukas wanted to yell out for him, but outing the Witherstorm Leader's name wouldn't be too smart. He knew there was someone watching them, he wouldn't take that chance.

He still, however, called out for him.

"Leader! Come on, you know the obvious choice, right?" he gestured to himself, not being able to hide his worry. However the other Lukas called out as well, in the exact same tone.

"No, Leader! Look at me! You can tell it's me, right?"

Both of them shot each other a simultaneous glare. Lukas had to admit, his counterpart's acting was on point. He really did look exactly like him, sound exactly like him. It was scary, if anything. Lukas called out again, so did his twin. Orion didn't move at first, just listening to their pleadings turn into arguments. He was less than amused, however soon enough stepped forward and approached them both.

He stepped down off the wooden pier, and each Lukas went quiet. Both had their arms bound, they couldn't use sign. The outfits were the same, both hairdos were messy and difficult to tell apart. The voices and expressions were the same. Determined and pleading.

He stopped in front of the first. He looked him over, watching him take a light step back, before stepping over to the other. He only needed a second before putting a hand on the second's shoulder. Immediately, the other's expression was riddled with what appeared to be heartbreak.

But of course, Orion wasn't done. He knew he had the wrong Lukas, the agent Lukas, the double agent trying to worm his way into the mission. He pulled a dart from his palm, wasting no time before he yanked this Lukas forward and jabbed him in the back of the neck with the needle. He then moved his hand away and kicked the agent back, onto the concrete.

Orion held out his hand to the other Lukas, Green, HIS Lukas. He knew it was him, and the relieved look that lit up across Lukas's face sealed the deal. However, as his Lukas took his hand, a gunshot went off in the distance, and a bullet went clean through Orion's shoulder. Lukas stumbled aside, and Orion only let out a quick grunt before whipping his own pistol from his belt and firing back almost without stopping to aim. A loud cry came from the building the sniper bullet was shot from, and the Lukas on the ground immediately reacted.

His face shifted to pure horror, as he cried the name "Gil" and stumbled to his feet before running off in the direction of the tall building.

Orion watched him go, placing a hand on his already soaked shoulder. He wiped his hand on his pant leg before heading over to Lukas and cutting his hands free from the rope.

"Orion-- you-"

Orion held up a hand to silence him.

"I know, don't worry. It's a clean shot. Easily fixed."

He motioned for Lukas to follow, who nodded and complied. They walked across the long dock together without mentioning much of anything, but as they were waiting, Orion stopped and signed to Lukas.

"You wait here, get on the sub. I will actually be right back this time."

"Dammit Orion, you aren't going back are you-?"

"Your materials and normal clothes are important to you, I presume? Wait here with the sub, I will alert you when I've returned."

Lukas felt a hand over his chest, his heart sinking for moment when he couldn't feel the gemstone necklace around his neck where it should be. He nodded to Orion, watching him turn and leave.

"You be careful! Don't get captured," Lukas called to him, and he waved it off nonchalantly with an assuring grin.

~~~~

Lukas was the first one to burst his way into the empty building. He used a piece of nearby broken glass to cut his own ropes before running up the stairs two at a time. It took nearly ten minutes to get up all of the flights of stairs, but when he finally did, he still was kicking. He showed no exhaustion, and crashed into the room where Gil had made his perch.

Gil was collapsed on his back, already lying in a pool of his own blood. The sniper was thrown to the side, and Gil had his hands clasped tightly around his neck. Lukas ran to him immediately, dropping down beside him and scooping him up.

"Let me see, let me see--" Lukas moved Gil's hands carefully, revealing the deep gash in the right side of Gil's neck. The Leader had managed to hit him, from that distance, with a pistol. Luckily it wasn't a shot, only a deep scrape, but it still wasn't good.

"This can be fixed, don't worry--" Lukas assured him, tugging off his jacket and tearing the sniper neckstrap off to use as a bandage, "You're gonna be fine-- you're fine.."

Lukas pressed the jacket over the wound and used the neckstrap to tighten and hold it against his neck, trying to make it just tight enough that it wasn't choking him. He picked him up, carrying him bridal style with his head against his chest to keep his neck in a comfortable position, and began heading down the stairs this time. He left the sniper rifle itself behind, lying on its side on the concrete ground.

~~~~

Orion's trip didn't take long. It was a simple expedition. The agents were too busy worrying about Gil's arrival to realize that the Witherstorm Leader had snuck back into the warehouse after trying for so long to escape. He simply snatched the neatly folded clothes and left without an issue.

The Ender Dragon was waiting for him by the docks, the hatch open and Ranger waiting at the top of it.

"About time!" he yelled over to his big brother, who rolled his eyes and handed him Lukas's outfit the minute he was close enough. Ranger huffed lightly and climbed down into the sub, followed by Orion.

Ranger handed off the outfit to Lukas, who was pacing worriedly across the sub. When he saw Orion, he gave him a mixture of a concerned yet thankful look.

"You-- went back just for this?" Lukas felt through the clothes until he found the pretty blue necklace, and immediately put it around his neck. He felt much better with it on, yet was hit with a sudden feeling of dread. Orion nodded to him.

"It's important, yeah?"

"Yes.."

"Then we don't leave it behind."

Lukas smiled at the comment, and Orion opened the door to another room, most likely to take care of his own wound.

"Wait, Orion--" Lukas stopped him before he left. Orion halted and turned lightly to look at him.

"How did you know I was the right one?"

At the question, Orion only gave him an almost gentle smile before replying.

"I knew those eyes, L."

#mcsm au #secret agent squad #story #witherstorm #sa jesse #sa lukas #sa petra #sa kelly #sa james #sa orion #sa ranger #sa trevor #r!lukas #sa axel #sa ivor #sa radar #sa gil

[blackrose-ffxiv]

Collections Call 10/12

Normally Lebeaux Desrosiers would at least be polite enough to knock before trying the door to someone’s private residence. Yet this wasn’t a normal situation. This was a collections call. He checked the handle quietly, and finding it unlocked he turned it and swung the door open wide. THEN he knocked. “Good afternoon Marvik.” He called out cheerfully as he invited himself into the apartment.

Marvik Hawkewind had more or less retreated himself a bit more from the world with certain expectations or just not being home at all. Just of course the time he was, a special someone had to catch him. The hyur not looking particulary pleased that another headache was coming in. Really all that was needed was the sound of thunder in the background to truly underline this situation. Marvik walked to Lebeaux, but not close enough for the others freakishly long arms. ( What do you want. )

Lebeaux flashed that ever saintly smile at Marvik, despite the other hesitating a ways away to stare at him with a less than pleasant sulk. After a moment he wrote out a single demand. “How rude. I know you’re not able to speak like a proper spoken yet the least you could do his mind your manners like one.” He mused as he stepped closer, inviting himself into the apartment. “I’ve come to collect. You’re late on your payments for my reconstruction projects.”

Marvik was not happy at all over Lebeauxs presence, he had thought the elezen to be smart enough to far far away from the hearer. Atleast Marvik was not keen to let Lebeaux in any further. ( I think I'm well within my rights to not be pleasant with you. ) Sure emotions were hard to convey via text, but the venom was still thick enough in it. ( Fine, I was about to hand the damn bag of your money to the Moogle that was eager to get to Kugane. Then leave, I have no interest in suffering your presence overlong. ) Especially not when his head was killing him and he figured the elezen would just make it worse somehow.

Lebeaux smiled sweetly as he took another step forwards to draw closer to the sullen hyur. “I should really be charging you damages to my book as well. You destroyed it with your little tempter tantrum. It held significant personal meaning.” He mused as he slunk closer still. “It was the last remaining memento I had of my former mentor.”

Marvik tried to make a stance, before eventually taking steps backwards. While still looking torn between wincing and snarling. ( Your former mentor would have killed all four of us. I did what was necessary, its better that way. )

Lebeaux tutted quietly under his breath as he stalked further into the room. “You panicked.” He corrected sharply as he reached out to smudge away the last part of what Marvik wrote. Swiping away ‘its better that way’ with a gloved hand. “You didn’t know how to respond to the situation so you attacked like a feral, stupid beast.” He explained calmly.

Marvik  took a step back for each step Lebeaux came closer, the hyur was clearly still on an subconscious level scared of the Ishgardian. Clutching to the board however in fear Lebeaux would break it again, then again it was nonsensical for now. Assumedly unless Lebeaux wanted Marvik to not be able to respond. ( I didn't panic! I did what I had to do, what felt right to do. ) Or at least what the tunnel vision and the thrumming emotions told him to do.

Lebeaux shook his head slowly as he continued to approach. “You panicked.” He stated corrected. “You were mad with fear. Not only did you destroy the book but you nearly destroyed Rinha’li and Geofferaut as well.” He reminded the other.

Marvik's back hit his bookshelf, having not paid attention just where to he had retreated and now couldn't step back further. ( No. No I didn't I-) he had almost written that he was in the right. He had felt in the right in that moment to get rid of all three of them and then the book. Marvik was positively cornered and the air in the room began to shift with his heightened emotional state.

Lebeaux reached out to push Marvik back against the bookshelf he had just cornered himself against. A hand settling on the boy’s shoulder to keep him pinned in place while he was busy struggling with recalling the events in the White City. “You cannot be trusted. A half-feral heathen who endangers the entire mission because he can’t control his own fear and resorts to baring his teeth and snapping at whatever he can. You should be caged. I’ll not make the same mistake twice.”

Marvik's aether passively flared in defense as Lebeaux cornered him, the wind shifting to knock into the elezens side to get him off. Marvik himself meanwhile paled considerably not only because he attacked Lebeaux but because it felt like he had just made himself aethersick, clutching the rim of the shelf and holding a hand before his mouth. This has been ever since Amdapor and Lebeaux of course in his antagonizing just had to make it worse.

The wind kicked up without warning, yet Lebeaux had been expecting a counter attack. He knew that panicking the boy would earn him a smack of conjury and his own fingers flicked, conjuring up a flash of light that reduced the burst of wind just enough that he wouldn’t be knocked off of his feet bit only aside a step or so. He responded quickly by raising his hand and bringing it down to strike Marv sharply on the cheek while the boy was holding his mouth. “Behave yourself or I shall do so now.”

Marvik flinched as Lebeauxs hand found true, he was pretty sure that the strength behind the slap had caused nothing short but an echo. Though Marvik remained passive over it, his head hurt way to fierce and he was busy not hurling all over Lebeauxs clothes. The hyur looking at his working table, right. Painkillers. ( Take your money. Go away. I can't deal with you right now. ) Literally couldn't whatever push Lebeauxs had given it had sent the hearer physically reeling.

Lebeaux lowered his hand after the strike. It had been intended to bring Marvik’s attention back to him but still the boy was too busy gripping his head and mouth, looking ready to be sick at any moment. Lebeaux grabbed Marv’s shoulders and turned him away, pushing him towards the desk. “Are you so adverse to the truth or have you simply caught the foul rot that eats away at Gridanians’ lungs.”

Marvik didn't need the push to the desk, but maybe it wasn't so bad. Lebeaux was less likely to have the hyur be sick on him. There were several empty bottles already strewn over the hearers workspace, evidence that this had been going on for a longer time. ( Does it matter? If I croak I'll just be less of a hassle for you. ) meanwhile passivly shoving the coin back towards the desks edge. Clearly expecting Lebby to just take it and leave.

Lebeaux shook his head and tutted under his breath as Marvik moved to write a bit of sass back. “That won’t be permitted until you’re finished paying me back.” He explained calmly. “You still owe a considerable sum.” He picked up the bag of gil and weighed it in his hand, then tucked it away into his overcoat. He picked up one of the empty bottles and brought it close to his face to sniff at the rim, checking its contents.

Marvik went to ignore Lebeaux at that, taking one of the painkillers and uncorking it and simply downing it. As for the empty bottle Lebeaux took hold of and sniffed for checking on it, its smell was definitely artificial a pure alchemical concoction. Depending on Lebeaux’s study of it, he might be able to tell that there were certain compounds in it that were also used to dampen aether. Whatever this specific potion was, it was to sedate pain and also to lessen aetherical strains. Considering that Marvik was definitly breaking out into sweats it was obvious to a medical practitioner like the Ishgardian that alot of pain was currently had by the hearer and maybe even a case of Aethersickness.

Lebeaux set the bottle down after he sniffed it. A pain relieving potion compounded with a diluted silencing tonic. “The best thing for it is a good bleeding.” He explained calmly, watching the Hearer with some amused interest but not a drop of sympathy. “Shed some of the excess aether so the body is no longer filled to the point of toxicity.”

Marvik eyed Lebeaux both warily and wearily. He had his money why wasn't he leaving? Marvik managed to do his version of a laughing, though it was more of a rasp. ( Believe me, I tried everything. Only to come back fiercer the next day. )

“A good bleeding.” Lebeaux emphasized, reaching over to give the hyur a little push to see just how steady on his feet he was after drinking down all of that painkiller. "But of course, you are the medical expert what would I know of such things after years of study and practice."

( I didn't say that you weren't a go-) Marvik was in the middle of begrudgingly admit that Lebeaux was after all a practicing and experienced Medic. Unfortunately, the elezen had ruined that for himself at giving Marvik a little push that was enough to stop him mid-sentence so he could steady himself and not tumble over. Glowering at Lebeaux, while trying to breath steady. Great the push had him right back to nauseous. ( Keep this up and I'll see to hurling on you. )

Lebeaux snickered in amusement as the hyur tilted and staggered, then glared daggers at him. “Right. Then I shall leave you to your misery.” He declared as he patted the pocket where he had tucked the coins safely away. “Good day Marvik.”

Marvik seemingly grumbled, albeit wheezingly. ( Wait. ) Twelve, this was going to end in a regrettable road. ( Fine. Do you want me to grovel now to ask for your help. )

Lebeaux was preparing to leave, yet he paused at the small wheezing sound. He turned to find the hyur had written more while he was turned away. “Groveling is rather nice. I do enjoy the sight of a good grovel now and then. But when you can’t plead it takes something away from it.” He offered cheerfully. “Shall I see if I can’t relieve your symptoms for a bit?” He smirked smugly.

@theforestsquiet

#lebeaux #marvik #always fun picking on marv

[randomly-random-jen]

Uncalled For Actions (7/?)

A Girl Genius fanfic

When Gilgamesh Holzfäller is fourteen, he’s taken on as an apprentice to Baron Wulfenbach as part of a program to produce the next generation of leaders in the Empire–a group that will hopefully get along (although most see this as wishful thinking on the Baron’s part). He’s learned a lot over the months of shadowing the Baron, but nothing has prepared him for his most challenging assignment: confronting the skeletons in his closet. 

[Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Part 8 ]

Part 7

With a defeated sigh, he sat next to her on the bed, careful not to wrinkle her dress.

"Talk to me Tarvek," she whispered, squeezing his hand in support.

He remembered this from when they were little--huddled together in the corner of his room or under the covers of her bed after their mother had died taking what little solace they could find in each other. He swallowed hard. 

"Remember when I was on Castle Wulfenbach."

She tensed.  "I remember they stole you away in the middle of the night."

Tarvek rolled his eyes--like Anevka hadn't been jealous he'd been chosen over her because everyone knew being held hostage by the Baron was the place to be; it meant you were someone important or would be someday.

"Yes, well, I wasn't their prisoner for long was I?"

"No, I suppose not. You were pretty quiet when you came home and never wanted to talk about it. Father was angry."

Boy, had Father been angry, Tarvek thought--being sent home in disgrace like that. His punishment had been discreet but intense; he shivered thinking about it but regained his composure quickly under Anevka's watchful gaze.

"So what happened?" she prodded after a moment.

"I got in trouble." He glared at his scuffed boots. "Or more precisely, Holzfäller got me--got us--in trouble."

Anevka raised one perfect eyebrow. "I'm going to need more than that if you want me to hate Gil along with you."

"I don't want you to hate him," he said without thinking, getting a knowing look from his sister. He frowned at his shoes again and played with a tear in his trousers he must have got in the fight. The memory of Gil standing over him looking more than a little crazy and raging about not wanting to be here helped direct his thoughts back to the topic.

"See," Anevka said, bumping his shoulder, "you do need me to hate him. With you or for you is yet to be determined," she added with a bubbly laugh.

Tarvek glared at her. "I don't need you to hate Holzfäller for me; I can hate him quite enough for myself."

"I can tell after that fight."

He let go of her hand feeling too exposed all of a sudden. He knew she wouldn't understand.

Before he could get up, though, she tugged his sleeve and gave him an apologetic look. "I'm only teasing and I shouldn't--that wasn't very thoughtful. Please continue with a list of Gil's offenses so we can brainstorm forms of acceptable retaliation."

"Ugh," he said, hopping to his feet, "I'm being serious, Anevka. Holzfäller is bad news, and I don't want you hanging around him.

This got an eyeroll. "I'll decide that for myself if you just tell me what happened for Gil to deserve such wrath--he seems really sweet."

Tarvek narrowed his eyes. "Well, he's not; he's a duplicitous, backstabbing snitch, and the reason I got sent home."

"Quit being so dramatic," Anevka said with a dismissing gesture, "that's Seffie's department. Sounds like you're pretty hung up on him after all these years if you ask me."

"Well I didn't ask you, and I'm not hung up on anything besides his betrayal."

The two stared at each other until Anevka finally sighed, looking away then patted the bed beside her. "All right, tell me what actually happened, and we'll figure something out together because in less than an hour you have to sit across from him for an entire supper if you can handle that."

Tarvek sat next to her again but refused to take her hand, instead, crossing his arms over his chest "I can handle it just fine," he grumbled.

"Good," she said, patting his knee then tucking her legs under her, "now spill it; I want to know everything that happened on that blasted ship."

He ignored the gentle ribbing implied in her tone, took a deep breath, and let it all out--everything that happened before and during that night and after he got home. Well, everything except the important stuff like figuring out who Gil really was and maybe how it was Tarvek’s idea to sneak into the vault in the first place.

He thought it would feel good to finally tell someone but he only felt drained and deflated at the end.

Anevka leaned back on the bed, letting out a long breath, her face scrunched up in thought. "Are you sure about this?" she finally asked.

Tarvek shifted away from his sister out of frustration. "Am I sure that the kid I thought was my friend completely betrayed me and ruined my life?"

She rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?" He sounded surly even to his own ears and fought to rein in his irritation.

Anevka got up with a little spin that fluttered the skirts of her dress before facing him looking sympathetic but skeptical of his motives which wasn't anything unusual. "I'm just saying that doesn't sound like Gil."

This time Tarvek rolled his eyes nearly out of his head. "You don't know him at all."

"And you haven't seen him since you were eight so how do you-"

"Whose side are you on, Anevka?" he nearly shouted causing her to stumble back.

Her expression softened as she stepped towards him and rested her hands on his shoulders. "Your side, of course, brother, as always."

Tarvek doubted she was ever one hundred percent on his side, but it still felt good to hear the words. His shoulders relaxed some as Anevka tugged him in for a hug, her hand running up his neck to pet his head--something else she must have learned from their mother in their short time with her.

He sighed, burying his face in her neck. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I've been awful today."

"Oh, you're awful all the time, you're just more self-aware when you're drunk," she said, hugging him closer.

Tarvek tried to push away with a groan, but it only made her grip tighten until they were both laughing at the struggle. When she finally released him, he let out a long breath and with it fled the anxiety and confusion from earlier.

Anevka smiled then reached for his face "Look at you, all grown up," she said, playfully.

He smacked her hand away but couldn't stop his own smile. "Shut up--I probably look awful."

"You do, but I still love you. Now let's get you cleaned up before supper or Father will have another fit."

"We wouldn't want that," he muttered, following Anevka into the bathroom where she started to run water in the sink.

Tarvek made the mistake of looking in the mirror as he unbuttoned his shirt--the person staring back looked nothing like him with his bloodshot eyes, bruised cheek and bloody lip. He didn't even remember Gil hitting him in the face, but it all happened so fast and was so confusing. He sighed again then let Anevka do her mothering thing--she loved taking care of Tarvek for some reason.

After a good thirty minutes, she had him washed, groomed and wearing enough face gunk to cover the bruises and cuts. "How am I supposed to smile in this stuff--I feel like I have ten layers of lead paint on my face."

Anevka giggled. "Do you think I look this good naturally?" she asked, blinking her eyelashes dramatically.

Tarvek frowned at her flawless skin and sculpted cheekbones. "Where are your freckles?"

She laughed even harder. "You are ridiculous--boys know nothing of what it takes to maintain that which they love to look upon."

"Ick," Tarvek spat. "I don't want to know about why guys are looking at you."

While Anevka returned her makeup to a small bag she carried, Tarvek carefully picked out a shirt in a mauve silk, sighing as the soft material slid over his skin. What knowledge he lacked in cosmetics, he made up for in his formidable knowledge of attire. He paired the shirt with trousers and jacket of deep purple with gold piping and buttons.

Anevka came from behind to straighten his sigil then patted his shoulders with a smile into the mirror. "There, all fixed up. No one will know you were a drunken bully an hour ago."

"Gee, thanks for ruining the effect," he mumbled getting a bigger grin.

* * *

Violetta slipped into one of the secret passages, leaving Tarvek and Anevka to get all sibling mushy. Her own siblings never treated her with anything but ridicule and contempt because of her size and lack of ability as a Smoke Knight so she didn't understand her cousins' affection or behavior towards each most of the time.

At the least, it made her uncomfortable, and at the most, it made her unjustifiably jealous. Or maybe it was a little justifiable when she tended to consider Tarvek more of a brother than any of her own even though, deep down, she knew she shouldn't--it was dangerous as Tarvek always pointed out and led to nothing but heartache.

She growled at her unfiltered and unwanted thoughts as she navigated the pitch-black tunnels with the expertise that only came from years of practice avoiding bullies and creepy uncles. She cleared her mind of familial dissatisfaction to focus on her current mission--seek and destroy one Gilgamesh Holzfäller.

After several turns, Violetta hauled herself up into the recently installed ductwork that came with the new heating system and crawled along the ceiling of the largest library in the castle, coming out the other side over a hidden lab, past that through several sitting rooms occupied by various summit members and back into a tunnel, cutting her arrival time in half.

She smiled at the thought that not many Smoke Knights could use that particular speedy method; her size came in handy sometimes. 

Another turn and a squeeze through a busted section of wall found Violetta in a long gallery filled with paintings of the Storm King and the Shining Coalition among other artifacts supposedly from that time. The important part was she was near the guest quarters where she knew the most important summit members were housed, including the Baron--all she had to do now was locate the scoundrel and-

Violetta ducked behind a bust of Andronicus as voices approached the room. She immediately recognized the Baron's commanding voice talking to someone in the corridor then a lone figure entered the room, his young face highlighted by the torch near the door.

What luck--just the person she was looking for, she thought, watching Gil inch farther into the room to look at the collection. She quietly pulled a vial from her cloak along with a dart. She wasn't allowed any of the more potent or dangerous poisons Smoke Knights used, but she still had a few tricks up her sleeve using what she had.

Not really caring about the dosage in her thirst for revenge, she loaded the dart with truth serum, and as soon as Gil got close she took her shot, hitting her mark square in the neck.

Gil stumbled back and yanked the dart out, staring at it then looking around. "What the-" he said, words slightly slurred as he continued to sway unsteadily.

Maybe she used too much serum. Oh well, not her problem. With that thought, she jumped out from behind the bust, nearly scaring the older boy half to death.

"Now it's time for you to talk," she said as she shoved him into a dark recess.

"What are you doing?" His words were less garbled now.

"Why are you here?" Violetta demanded.

"What?"

Gil blinked furiously like he was trying to clear his thoughts more than his vision.

"Why are you here?" she repeated, standing on tip-toes to get as close to his face as she could.

He took a step back, connecting with the wall. "What are you talking about?" His eyes suddenly narrowed. "Wait, you're that kid Smoke Knight that hit me earlier--what is your problem?"

"I'm doing the interrogating here, buster." She emphasized each word with a poke to his sternum that forced him back against the wall each time until he finally swatted her hand away.

"Is that what you call this--an interrogation? You're like five."

This time she kicked him in the shin, doubling him over in pain. Smirking, she said, "I'll ask the questions."

Gil glared up at her, still holding his injured leg. "What do you want?"

"Why did you come here--are you still out to get Tarvek? What's your goal? Your plans?"

Gil's eyebrow shot up as he straightened to his full height again to tower over Violetta. "Tarvek?"

Violetta crossed her arms over her chest, waiting--it was taking an awfully long time for the serum to kick in. Gil matched her stance, scowling down at her in what he probably figured was intimidation, but Violetta dealt with people like Martellus on a daily basis--he didn't scare her one bit. Besides, she had several weapons and Smoke Knight techniques she could use to incapacitate a grown man in seconds if she needed.

"Look, kid," he said after a moment, his shoulders relaxing, "I don't-"

She tried to kick him again, but he easily hopped out of the way. Violetta growled, reaching into her cloak. "I don't have time for this."

* * *

Before Gil could react, the girl spun and something caught him on his shoulder with a sharp, piercing pain that thankfully only lasted a few seconds. He ripped another small dart from his arm, dropping it at his feet. "What is with everyone stabbing me today?" 

A moment later, Gil found himself flat on his back, the kid standing over him with a menacing smile that creeped him out--what was her deal anyway?

"Just tell me why you're here?"

"I'm the Baron's apprentice," he said, hoping answering her questions would end the madness. "I'm here for the same reason everyone else is."

She smacked him lightly on the cheek. "Wrong answer."

"What?" he yelled, trying to free his hand to rub his stinging face. "It's the truth."

She nodded but didn't look at all convinced. "I want to know what your plans are--are you here to get revenge on Tarvek?"

Gil bucked suddenly, catching her by surprise and sending her flying into the wall. He scrambled to his feet, putting distance between them. He felt a little woozy from whatever she dosed him with, but his father had taught him many tricks to keep his cool and his mind clear.

"You're crazy, you know that? Tarvek was the one that attacked me--I didn't do anything to him."

"Everything was fine until you showed up, and now Tarvek is a mess--this is obviously your fault so what are you up to?"

Gil shook his head in frustration which did nothing for the growing fog threatening to suffocate him. "I don't know what Tarvek told you, but I doubt it's the whole story so this conversation or interrogation or whatever you want to call it is over."

He made to shove past just as her foot shot out in front of him, giving Gil just enough time to hop over it and continue to the door.

"This isn't over," she shouted. "Yes, it is," he yelled back, sprinting for the safety of the hallway.

Outside, he slumped against the wall with a sigh. "Is everyone here crazy?" he muttered.

He glanced down the hall, expecting his father to be looking for him, but found him still talking to the two summit leaders that approached them in earlier. At least he cut a break there--he couldn't get in trouble for delaying them if his father was the one to stop to chit-chat.

He waited near the gallery, watching the tension grow in his father's shoulders and half expecting another attack from Tarvek's little psycho bodyguard. This day just kept getting worse and worse, he thought before pushing off the wall and strolling towards the group down the hall.

He tugged a watch from his pocket popping it open without looking at it as he approached. "Herr Baron," he said over the babble of voices bringing the conversation to a halt. "It's getting late, sir."

The flash of relief in his father's face was more than a little satisfying--maybe he still could do some things right. He snapped the watch closed with a smirk that thankfully no one noticed.

His father turned to the group. "I'm sorry, gentlemen, but our company has been requested at supper--it would be rude to our hosts to be tardy."

The other men reluctantly mumbled their good-byes then headed off in another direction while their obviously grateful guard continued to escort them to the dining hall in the private wing of the castle.

"Thank you," his father whispered, falling back to walk next to him.

Gil shrugged--he didn't have much experience with any kind of praise and had no idea how to react to it coming from the Baron of all people.

His father laid a hand on Gil's shoulder. "No, that was good thinking. Could have been a little sooner, though."

With that, his father returned to the guard's side leaving Gil sighing in frustration. Even when he did things right, he did them wrong.

"I can't win," he muttered then rubbed at the sore spot on his neck that was making his entire jaw feel tight and painful to talk.

A moment later, they turned the corner and passed through a set of unassuming doors into what could only be described as a cozy home within a home. Well, a home within a castle. It wasn't unlike the Baron's personal quarters on Castle Wulfenbach. Not that Gil knew much about that--he'd only visited them a few times and still lived in the dorms with the other kids in the school.

They followed a carpeted hall past a large living room, smaller lady's sitting room, a smoking room, sunroom with no windows but beautiful summer landscapes painted on the vaulted ceilings, and finally to a rather grand dining room although not as spectacular as the official ones he'd seen in other parts of the castle.

The room was large, holding several long wooden tables adorned with linens, but it was obviously a family room--paintings of children and parents adorned the walls, the chairs were actually comfortable and most importantly, everyone was laughing and talking over each other like Gil assumed a family would.

The whole thing was a little overwhelming, but he followed their escort who guided them to the head table where Prince Aaronev sat with a small child on his lap. He tweaked the girl's noise getting a giggle before she whisked away by her mother or nanny.

He stood, shaking the Baron's hand. "I trust everything is in order, Klaus," he said, eyes sliding to Gil with obvious meaning.

Gil straightened up and before his father could prod him, he sucked up his pride and said, "I want to apologize for my earlier ill behavior, Your Highness. As you know, I was friends with your son on Castle Wulfenbach, and we didn't leave things in good terms. I regret that it boiled over today--I should have handled things differently."

His father nodded in approval. Even the Prince seemed satisfied with his apology and cowed demeanor. It's not like he'd spent all afternoon thinking about what he'd say to ease things over with his father, but even though he did mean most of it like wishing he'd handled things differently, it still nearly killed him to say it out loud.

With the formalities out of the way, Gil was shown which table to sit at which consisted entirely of children of various ages, the youngest attended by nannies at one end of the table.

From the farthest end, Seffie waved frantically at Gil, motioning him to join her. He felt a moment of panic that resolved itself into resignation when he realized there was no polite way to decline the younger girl's obvious invitation.

He reluctantly, and rather slowly, made his to the empty seat beside her. "Good evening, uh-" He stumbled over his next words--was she a princess like Anevka; what did he call her? Unsure of the answer and the extent of his lessons on royal formality, he settled on a slight bow and a mostly mumbled, "Miss Seffie."

"Oh, please--it's just Seffie," she said, scooting her chair closer to Gil, forcing him to slide nearly off the other side of his own seat.

He quickly reached for the glass of water beside his plate, avoiding eye contact with her, but Seffie didn't give up easily.

As soon as he returned the glass to the table, she reached for his face. "Oh, Gil, what happened to your eye?" she asked dramatically.

Gil blinked at her--he was pretty sure everyone in the castle knew what had happened earlier in the day. She waited for an answer, her thumb running over the edge of the bruise causing him to cringe away. "Just a misunderstanding," he mumbled, taking her hand and placing it in her lap. "I'm fine."

It was then that he noticed who sat across from them. Anevka watched the two of them, mouth slightly open in apparent shock while Tarvek glared back. Gil quickly looked away, cursing under his breath and getting a weird look from the older girl on his other side.

Seffie still wasn't finished, though. She brushed his bangs from another bruise on the side of his head. "Who would do such a thing?"

"No one important," he said, surprising himself at the words and the resentment behind them. Across the table, Anevka's jaw snapped shut with an audible click.

Seffie's hand dropped back to her lap, but Gil didn't miss the way she glanced in Tarvek's direction--so she did know what happened and was playing him for a fool. Figures--his father did say the entire family was poison; he supposed that included cousins and other distant relatives like crazy miniature Smoke Knights.

Gil took a deep breath, centering himself. "I'm fine," he repeated more for himself than anyone at the table.

Seffie nodded, though, and thankfully, dropped the subject, turning to Anevka to discuss some other scandal from this afternoon.

Tarvek's heated stare burned his skin or maybe that was all of the drugs he'd injected with over the course of the evening. He rubbed at his shoulder then took another sip of his water before putting the glass down slowly and straightening all of the eating utensils in front of him.

He picked up a tiny spoon, examining the detail on the handle then picked up a small fork, comparing the two. He set the spoon down but continued to play with the odd fork--anything to avoid everyone at the table.

"It's for the salad," Tarvek informed him.

Gill glared, setting down the fork. "I know that--I was admiring the filigree. It's very detailed, reminiscent of Viktor Hophauser during his Paris phase, but you can tell by the scroll work that it's more likely the work of one of his students--Iliad Marquois, perhaps, although he favored an Indian flare as opposed to Provençal.

“If I had to guess, the original silver was lost in a card game of some ill repute and replaced by these stunning Herrod Garteau recreations--excellent workmanship but not authentic, unlike this demitasse spoon which is a Hophauser original but from his later Bavarian inspired Paris-style designs. Of course, that means these were made long after Adronicus Valois would have been considering flatware for any reason but meant to look like something he'd chosen for himself.”

Gil's words trickled to a stop as he noticed more than three sets of eyes focused on him, many narrowed with contempt. At some point, he realized, he'd slipped into the French he'd originally read The Full History of Europa Cutlery; or Why You Should Never Use a Soup Spoon to Reanimate the Dead, a Cautionary Tale.

He quickly wet over his entire speech while sipping his water--had he just accused the Royal Family of using forged flatware? Finally, he couldn't hide behind his glass any longer, setting it slowly above his set of shiny, pointy knives he considered his first line of defense if the natives decided to riot. "Of course," he said, clearing his throat, "I could be wrong."

The table was utterly silent, the tension suffocating until Seffie suddenly clapped. "Gil, you speak French?"

"Oui," he said before finishing off his water to hide a giddy grin.

And just like that, the tension broke--the other diners going back to their conversations just as servers arrived with the first course.

"Have you ever been to Paris?" Seffie asked, tugging at his jacket sleeve. "Grandmother took me last summer--there is nothing like summer in Paris."

A bowl of what appeared to be creamed asparagus was set in front of them. Gil fiddled with his soup spoon as he waited for the others to be served while Seffie continued to babble about all of the things she's seen on her trip which to Gil's ears consisted mostly of cafes, dress shops, and other frivolous venues--girl stuff.

Tarvek and Anevka continued to watch him with matching scowls--no doubting they were related. Obviously, Tarvek had turned Anevka against him. Not surprising, but it hurt more than Gil thought it should considering he'd only met her this morning.

He tried not to think about the fun they had running around the castle and exploring the arboretum but he felt his face flush just the same as the memory of Anevka holding his hand and smiling at him. He couldn't shake the image of that crumpled drawing now at the bottom of the wastebasket in their guest suite--kind of a metaphor for their entire relationship so far.

Gil snorted at that, getting Tarvek's attention again. The other boy's eyes narrowed, spoon halfway to his mouth. They watched each other for a moment before Seffie distracted both of them when she switched to rambling about the unfairness of her not being allowed at the summit.

Gil stuffed his mouth with spoonful after spoonful of soup to keep out of the conversation, but he noticed each bite had less taste than the last. That matched the growing haze around the corners of his vision and overall fogginess of his brain. He frowned, dropping the spoon in his bowl with a clank then sat back, the whole room swimming around him.

For a moment, he wondered if he was going to be sick but a twinge in his jaw brought his hand up where it rain across the sore spot on his neck. That damn Smoke Knight. "What did she do to me?" he mumbled.

"Pardon?" Seffie asked, her attention suddenly focused entirely on Gil as if he'd spoken to her by name--just what he needed.

Gil forced a smile on his face. "I was just saying that you don't belong at the Summit."

"Oh?" Her face fell in disappointment.

"I mean," he added, quickly as he fought to gather his thoughts, "it's boring--you would hate it."

"Told you," Anevka said, taking a sip of her soup.

"I'm sure you're being much more useful outside the summit," he continued despite the constant internal threats to shut the hell up. "You're an information gatherer, correct."

She seemed delighted by this description, sitting up straighter with a smile.

"You mean rumor-monger," said Tarvek as he set his spoon neatly beside his empty bowl then dabbed at his mouth with the corner of his napkin.

"I prefer rumor collector, thank you very much," Seffie said, turning her nose up at Tarvek and getting a laugh from Anevka.

"And the interesting stuff isn't happening in the meetings, and if it was, it's all being recorded by fifty different people. Everyone will know every detail of what happens in the meetings, but the other stuff-”

"Don't encourage her," Tarvek interrupted as a waiter removed their bowls and another came behind them filling one of their glasses with white wine.

Seffie stuck her tongue out at her cousin, reaching for the filled glass just as someone else snatched it from in front of her.

They all looked up as Martellus passed them, tossing the entire contents of the glass back in one gulp. "Ah-ah," he said to his sister, "you're still a little too young."

He left the glass on the platter of one a waiter and continued back to one of the adult tables with a laugh.

Seffie slumped in her chair, arms crossed over her chest. "I hate him."

"We all hate him, sweetie," Anevka said just as another waiter stepped between her and Tarvek. She put her hand over Tarvek's glass. "He's good," she told the white-haired man.

If looks could kill Anevka would have been laid to rest ten years before she was even born.

"What?" she said to her brother as she sipped her wine. The two glared at each other in some unvoiced sibling standoff before Tarvek turned away, his cheeks slightly red.

What was that about? Gil wondered. He glanced at Seffie who looked more interested in how she might steal the glass from the gangly teen boy sitting on her other side than whatever was going on with her cousins.

Gil realized he was out of his element when it came to family affairs; he had no idea if this was normal sibling behavior. The way Tarvek had talked as a kid, he worshiped the ground his sister walked on to the point that Gil had worshiped her, too--well, worshipped the idea of her.

He'd always dreamed about finding his real family and learning he had a sister to love him as much as Tarvek and Anenvka loved each other. Of course, that never happened, he had no sister, and from what he can tell, things between brothers and sisters aren't that great anyway.

A new set of waiters descended on the table, dropping off plates of poached salmon in some kind of sauce. It smelled amazing, but like the soup, Gil found he couldn't really taste any of it. So not fair.

"Something wrong with your fish?" Tarvek asked, his voice sounding large inside Gil's head.

Gil blinked at him then at the fish. "No." He stuffed another bite, tasting nothing but bland dryness. As soon as supper was over, he was going to find that little psycho and make her tell him the antidote to whatever this... detastifying drug was.

"Do you like fish?" Seffie asked.

"Huh?"

He forced his eyes to focus on the little red-head next to him. She was wearing a different dress than this afternoon--this one a plum color that actually looked nice with her bright hair. She kind of matched Tarvek with their color scheme while Anevka's green dress fought for attention with her own flaming hair.

Gil was wearing a plain black suit with red trim. Why was he even thinking about this? Didn't Seffie ask him a question? 

He shook his head, trying to clear the growing fog and finally focused on Tarvek across from him, eyes narrowed. It was the first time Gil took a good look at him since their fight earlier, not that you could tell Tarvek had been involved in any scuffle. His skin was as pale and flawless as always--not a hint of bruises or cuts.

Gil couldn't remember if he'd hit Tarvek. His knuckles hurt like hell so he must have but Tarvek didn't show it. Must be some kind of makeup.

Gil didn't know about any of that stuff so his wounds were out in the open for everyone to whisper about which was pretty par-for-course for Gilgamesh Wulfenbach. Heir to the Wulfenbach Empire... er-

"Gil?"

Gil started, turned wide eyes on Seffie then smiled a little maniacally and said, "yes, I do like fish," more loudly than he'd intended before quickly gulping down half of his wine.

Tarvek and Anevka just stared while Seffie seemed completely immune to his absurd behavior. She lifted her plate, looked around then dumped the contents onto his. "It's useless to eat fish without the wine."

She batted her long eyelashes up at him--they were red like her hair. "Unless you want to share your wine, Gil."

Without thinking, he slid the glass over to her which got a huge smile, but when she reached for it, Anevka took it away.

"You're no fun," Seffie said, thrusting her lower lip out in a royal-size pout.

"I'll get us some more waters," Tarvek said, signaling to one of the waitstaff positioned around the room.

"I don't want water," Seffie moaned. "I want wine like everyone else."

Her feet swung back and forth, kicking anything in their way. Anevka moved sharply under the table, causing Seffie to sit up straight with a yelp. "Well, maybe if you weren't acting like a child you wouldn't be treated like one."

"Tarvek isn't drinking," Gil said. "He must be acting like a child as well."

The three just stared at him then Seffie fell against him in a fit of giggles. "He is being a brat, isn't he?" she said into his shoulder.

Gil smiled, proud of himself for some reason--it was hard to tell why with the growing haze in his head--but making Seffie laugh seemed like a good reason.

Tarvek huffed just as a waiter deposited several glasses of water between them and refilled Gil and Anevka's wine.

"He's abstaining for his health," Anevka said, grinning over the lip of her wine glass as she sipped.

Tarvek's face reddened further. Gil thought he might literally explode so he pushed his glass across the table. "You look like you need this more than me."

Anevka spit her wine back into her glass with a snort while Seffie burst into another round of laughter--this one more honking than giggles.

Tarvek pointed the death glare directly at Gil, and that didn't feel very good, but he couldn't seem to stop the stupid that kept coming out of his mouth.

"You're funny," Seffie said, laying her head on his shoulder--she was practically sitting on his chair now so he slipped his arm around her to keep them both from falling off.

Anevka frowned; Tarvek's eyes narrowed, but they didn't get a chance to say anything before more waiters descended on the tables to whisk away the fish and bring out another course--this one some kind of small, whole bird surrounded by steamed squash and carrots over rice.

"I didn't finish my fish," Gil said glumly, poking at the bird with his salad fork.

"It wasn't very good without the wine anyway," Seffie added.

"I had wine."

"But you gave it to Tarvek who was very ungrateful by the way."

Gil snorted. "He wasn't, was he?"

[ Part 8 ]

#girl genius #girl genius fanfic #tarvek sturmvoraus #anevka sturmvoraus #violetta mondarev #gilgamesh wulfenbach #klaus wulfenbach #aaronev sturmvoraus #seffie von blitzengaard #martellus von blitzengaard #sentences #days 50-56 #story: uncalled for actions

[softquietsteadylove]

I see your thenamesh pkmn au and I raise you: Gilgamesh is actually a pokemon ranger! Rather than training and battling pokemon, he has a bond with them! He protects locals from enraged pokemon, he helps deal with ecological problems, he even arrests pokemon poachers. It's got all the bang for its buck of Gil being a protector and a fighter. They absolutely adore each other, Gil for Thena's absolute scary proficiency in battling and Thena for Gil's love and conservation of pokemon. >:D

"Gil!"

"Thena!" he waved, able to spot her from a mile away. He grunted as Dragonite started a descent maybe way, way too quick. "Whoa, buddy, I wanna see her too, but you've gotta slow down. Dragonite--Dragonite, please, pal, slow down! Slow-!"

Thena laughed as Dragonite swooped in, picking her up in its arms and hugging her gleefully. She liked to act like she was annoyed by it, but she never put up much of a fight when it happened. "Hi, Dragonite, I missed you too."

"Buddy, you're killin' me back here."

"Gil!" Thena gasped as he, letting go of the safety harness between Dragonite's wings, slid down the curve of his tail and dropped to the ground. She kicked her legs to be let down, crouching beside him. "Are you okay?"

He picked himself up, fixing his hat and then letting out the straps of his backpack, setting it beside him. "It was quite a morning."

Thena took a seat next to him on the cliff overlooking the valley tucked between mountain peaks. "Poachers?"

"Yes and no," Gil frowned, pulling out some supplies from his bag. "We seem to have cleared them from the area, but there are still a lot of repercussions we're seeing. Tauros are displaced, there are wild Hydreigon fighting with Tyranitar in the caves. They really did a number on the ecosystems."

Thena sighed. She had heard all about the poachers from Gil, as well as some of the other rangers stationed in the area. She had even joined him on a few missions to arrest them. But he was right, the wild pokemon population wasn't going to recover in a day.

"That's how I found this little guy," Gil announced, pulling open his pack and unveiling a large head with even larger ears. "Come on out, bud, it's okay."

"Teddi?"

"This is my friend Thena," Gil smiled, fishing the young Teddiursa out of his pack and holding the little guy in his hands. "We found him among the rubble of a landslide. Probably got separated from the rest of the pack after that huge Rhydon battle in the north caverns."

"Poor thing," Thena frowned. She tilted her head at the little bear pokemon. It tilted its head right back at her, toddling its way over to her. She watched it carefully, until it leaned against her arm, latching on with a fierceness. "Hello."

"Ursa?" it looked up at her, eyes all wide.

She used her other hand to ruffle the fur between its ears. She looked up at Gil, who had the same sappy look on his face he always got when he was rescuing a pokemon. "Looks like you when you first hatched Dragonite."

"He likes you," Gil beamed, utterly enchanted to see the little bear clinging to Thena. It was a marked improvement from trembling in fear inside his backpack all morning. He pulled open one of the bottles filled with vitamins, "come on, little guy."

The young pokemon turned its face further into Thena's arm, burying its cold, wet nose against her.

Gil sighed. This had been the struggle earlier too, "buddy, it's good for you. You have to eat."

"Teddiursa!"

Thena let out a faint laugh. It was so cute to watch Gil argue with a literal baby. But this was what made him such a great ranger--his ability to work that charm he had with everyone, from people to pokemon; from a baby Teddiursa to the biggest, meanest Salamence. "Come on, maybe he'll eat inside."

"Dragonite," Gil stood, "will you go back to base camp and tell the others I'm working on the Teddiursa situation?"

The orange dragon saluted his paw(?) to his head and nodded. He waved at Thena before taking off again.

Gil followed Thena back to her cozy little house she had on the cliffside. "I really don't know who he thinks hatched him, me or you."

"It was a joint effort," Thena laughed. Really, it had been Gil who had taken such amazing care of the egg. Thena had been there when the Dratini hatched, but it was undoubtedly Gil to whom the dragon was bonded immediately.

Gil sighed as soon as he stepped into the cabin home. It smelled like Thena--and a few of her pokemon, of course. "Hey, guys!"

"Everyone, this is Teddiursa," Thena introduced properly, speaking softly with the little bear held in her arms. It looked around the room nervously before burying its face against her again. "Gil rescued him just this morning, so he's a bit nervous."

"Gallade?"

"I don't know," Thena looked up at her battle partner. He stood off the couch, leaning over her shoulder to look at the little bundle of fur. "As long as he needs to."

Ninetales sniffed over to them, letting its psychic energy draw what conclusions it needed.

"There's my girl," Gil greeted the fox pokemon with a bright smile. She bounded over to him, happily letting him run his hands over her fur. He had rescued her back as a vulpix. It had been the fire type's desire to battle that made her such a good match for Thena, he'd found as he'd nursed her back to health. "Your fur's so shiny! Someone's been using the zinc supplements I recommended."

Thena rolled her eyes at them. "Yes, I continue to spoil her by your recommendation, against my better judgement."

Gil snorted at that. As if Thena didn't take the best care of her pokemon he'd ever seen in a pro trainer. She could easily be part of the league, maybe even Champion class. But she kept insisting she had no desire to be confined to the plateau day in and day out as an Elite 4 or the like. And being free to roam Victory Road did suit her more.

"Froslass?"

"Hello again," Gil greeted the newest to Thena's team, taking off his hat for the lady. She had actually kidnapped him into an ice cave, thinking his soul was ripe for the plucking when she found him.

It was Thena who had come to his rescue, fighting Froslass off with Ninetales. It had been so impressed with her that it had excitedly asked to join her team, although Thena made a point of telling her that she would no longer be bringing 'handsome men' off the mountain with her.

"Froslass," Thena turned to her ghost with a stern voice. She was entirely aware of the phantom's fondness for Gil. "Leave him be."

"Ah, she's okay," Gil waved off, enjoying the bright smile he got from the ice/ghost in return. He had always thought a ghost type would suit Thena, it was just a question of which one. And she and Froslass both had a certain pretty quality to them.

"Come on," Thena said softly, the little bear still trembling in her arms. She reached into the cupboard, pulling out a basket of berries. She turned, "is this okay for him to eat?"

"Oran should be fine," Gil advised, walking right over to her, leaning against the counter and touching a hand to her back. "I didn't want to give him anything sweeter than a sitrus in case he'd been gorging on them in the woods."

"That's true," Thena murmured. She shifted Teddiursa against her, pushing one of the supplements into the core of the berry. It reached out its paws, claws extending for the fruit. She drew it back, "ah! Medicine and all."

It pouted at her, "teddi..."

"Medicine," she pressed, holding the oran as tightly as a pokeball. "Or no berry."

The little bear huffed, but nodded. Its face brightened instantaneously as soon as the oran berry was in its paws. "Teddiursa!"

Thena smiled as the little thing gobbled up the berry, vitamin mix included. "He is kind of sweet."

"Ace trainer Thena, all soft eyed over a cute pokemon?" Gil chuckled, bumping his hip against hers ever so gently. "Never thought I'd see the day."

Thena just rolled her eyes at him, watching the little pokemon stuff its face. She reached up, brushing some stray crumbs out of the fur of its muzzle.

Gil was looking at Thena.

Gallade was looking at both of them, thoroughly unimpressed. But he was used to this with his trainer, thickheaded as she was. If it wasn't a pokemon battle, she wasn't going to understand it any time soon. "Lade."

"Nine," his comrade shared in his plight, settling herself on her bed by the fireplace.

"Hey," Gil said softly, now that Teddiursa was done with his meal. "I should go."

"Okay," Thena nodded, trying not to look too disappointed to learn he had to return to duty. She had almost forgotten it in the quiet moment of them in her kitchen. She looked up, just now realising how close they had gotten while watching over his rescue. She looked down again, hoping her elevated heart rate wouldn't startle the little cub.

"Teddi?"

"Come on, buddy," Gil extended his arms, ready for it to be transferred from Thena's arms to his. "Let's get you back to the ranger centre."

"Teddi!"

They both blinked at the little bear, crossing his paws indignantly. Thena looked at Gil. He shook his head. "Come on, pal, there's a pokemon centre--we'll get you all healed up."

"Teddi!"

"Sweetheart," Thena joined in with a stern tone, trying to physically deposit the cub into Gil's hands. It clung to her forearm. "Don't you want to see the rest of your pack? The Chansey and Audino will heal you and then you can go be in the wild. Won't that be fun?"

"Teddiursa!" it protested loudly, clinging to Thena with all its little might. Gil let go of its belly and it curled its legs around her wrist as well.

Thena looked at the bear, attached to her arm like a Komala to its birth tree. She turned to Gil, holding out a hand.

"Uh," Gil put his hat back on, eyeing the distressed pokemon with a chuckle. "I'm gonna be honest, we usually try not to force it, in situations like these."

"What do you mean, situations like these?!" Thena whispered/hissed as Teddiursa began inching up her arm like a tree branch. "You encounter this often?"

He laughed, which Thena visibly didn't appreciate. But it was so cute! "Well, no, but come on. The little guy just misses his mom, and you were the one to feed him."

"You were the one who carried him around all morning," she protested. Although, like with Dragonite, she didn't exactly force the little bear away from her either.

"And clearly it didn't bond to me at all," Gil shrugged. Part of being a ranger was knowing which battles could be 'won' and which needed a different approach. "Look, I'll check in tonight again, okay? If he hasn't detached by then, you might just...have a new pokemon."

Thena sighed, although she had to admit, she couldn't bear the thought of trying to rip the little cub off her arm anymore than Gil - with his big, soft heart - could. She looked at it, and, as if sensing her gaze, it looked back at her.

"Teddi?" His eyes were big as saucers, glassy and pleading not to be taken away.

Thena sighed. She looked at Gallade, sitting on the couch and watching tv. "What do you think?"

"Gal-Gallade," it waved its hand at her. If the cub was that attached to her, why upset it? He wasn't going to have a problem with it, nor would Ninetales.

"Froslass!" the ghost pokemon materialised just to smile down at the little cub, who laughed as she disappeared again.

Thena withered. Even her antisocial ghost was onboard. She looked down at the cub. "Fine, you can stay. But this behaviour is not going to be sticking around. Do you understand that?"

"Teddiursa!" The little bear lifted its paws in celebration, only to latch onto her neck in a full embrace.

Thena sighed, letting it rub its fur against her cheek. "I suppose I have a Teddiursa now?"

Gil snapped a quick pic. "That's so cute."

"Gil!"

"Okay," he waved, settling his bag on his back again, "I'll see you tonight!"

Teddiursa waved, happily clinging to Thena's shoulder as Gil closed the door behind him.

#Is this asking for a fic? #no #am I writing one #yes #I know no one cares #but by god #I am going to write my silly little pokemon story #and you do not have to read it because that is your choice! #but if you do then thanks for being here #Thenamesh Pokemon AU #yeah you heard me #how could I not have thought of Gil as a ranger? #it makes pERFECT SENSE #also Thena is this super hardcore ace trainer #also Thena #holds one 1 teddiursa #Thena I am a mother now #she and Gil have joint custody of this little baby #yes they release him to the wild #his parents have already migrated #so he just #decides Thena is his mom now #and she's constantly telling Gil to visit her more often #y'know for Teddi #and even when he gets stronger and is like I wanna battle! #she's like no sweetie you sit on the sidelines with kirlia #I could go into heavy detail #and I will! #Thenamesh AU #Anon you and I are soulmates now I don't make the rules

[pocket-luv101]

I made a post about LawLicht going camping and I just had to add KuroMahi so I could write Kuro acting like a big brother.

“Mahiru, I’m dying. Why are you doing this to me? I thought we were friends.” Kuro groaned as he dragged his lifeless body after his Eve. With a heavy sigh, Mahiru turned to face him and crossed his arms. From his expression, Kuro knew that he wouldn’t get any sympathy from him. But he still tried to sway him and transformed into his cat form. He beamed his large eyes at Mahiru, “Carry me at least.”

“Stop being dramatic. We only need to hike a little more before we reach the campsite.” Mahiru said. He walked back to him and picked up the small cat. He tucked Kuro into his jacket because he knew that Licht would start to coo over him if he saw him. If that happened, Mahiru knew that it would be difficult to take Neko-san back from Licht.

“Why did we even have to come? I had a lot planned for today but now I can’t do any of that.” He complained as he made himself comfortable in Mahiru’s jacket. Kuro was surrounded by Mahiru’s warmth and he sighed contently.

“You were planning to marathon a TV show and complete a bunch of missions for that new Monster Fighting video game.” He rolled his eyes but then he smiled wearily down at Kuro. His lazy tendency might annoy him, but Mahiru knew that he could always rely on Kuro. “Getting fresh air and exercise is good for you. Anyways, we need to make sure Lawless and Licht don’t cause a forest fire with one of their fights.”

He glanced at Hyde and Licht walking in front of them. The sloth pair wasn’t planning to go hiking that day. But then Licht called Mahiru and told him that he was planning to go on a short camping trip. Mahiru decided that it would be best to go with them so he could monitor them. He could easily see them causing all kinds of destruction without meaning to.

“Isn’t watching over them their babysitters’ job.” Kuro pointed out. Kranz and Hyde’s subclasses were trailing behind them and carrying their camping equipment. He had to feel sorry for them because Licht insisted on bringing the most outrageous offering for the forest fairies. Hyde told Licht that there were fairies living near the campsite they planned to use.

“Lawless is your brother so he’s your responsibility too. Anyways, this would be a good family bonding experience for you two. It’s just a shame that your other siblings didn’t have time to come as well.” Mahiru gently scratched his head and Kuro leaned into his touch.

“I guess,” Kuro glanced at his brother. Before Mahiru, he thought that they would continue to avoid each other. Now he and the Servamps had an opportunity to be a family again and he had Mahiru to thank for that. He jumped out of his jacket and returned to his human form. With a small blush, he held out his hand to Mahiru. “I’ll carry your backpack for you. Give it.”

“Are you sure?” Kuro nodded and Mahiru smiled at his kindness. He took off his bag and handed it to Kuro. “Thanks, Kuro. But don’t try to steal any of the marshmallows I have in there.”

“We’re here!” Licht clapped when they reached the clearing. He ran to edge of the stream and breathed in the fresh mountain air. He closed his eyes and tried to listen for the fairies’ voices. His mother told him that fairies were shy creatures but he was certain that they would come out to play with an angel like himself. “Don’t be afraid little fairies. I’m an angel.”

“A very violent Angel-chan.” Licht jumped when Hyde blew into his ear, pulling him back to reality. He was startled and he took a sharp step away. He almost fell into the stream but Hyde caught his hand before he could hit the water. Hyde smirked at him because they both knew that the only thing keeping Licht from falling into the water was his hand.

But Licht refused to let a demon win. He jerked Hyde forward and they both went tumbling into the stream. Water splashed around them but Licht didn’t feel any pain like he thought he would because Hyde protected him from most of the impact. Licht found himself sprawled over him and quickly sat up. The water wasn’t deep and it pooled around their knees.

“What are you grinning about? If you scared away the fairies, I’ll drown you right here.” Licht shoved him deeper into the water as he stood. He wadded through the water to where Gil was waiting with a towel.

His subclasses began to fret over Licht and dried his hair. They all had taken a liking to Licht and they cared deeply about him. In the past, they didn’t bother with his previous Eves because their contract never lasted long. But they knew that Hyde would never hurt his latest Eve and they were grateful for everything Licht did for their Servamp.

“We need to dry you. You’re going to make yourself sick.” Puck rubbed his dark hair dry with a towel.

“And we told you not to start a fight with Hyde!” Lysander lightly chastised him. “You’re going to scare away the fairies if you do. Don’t you want to play with the fairies? If our master does something that bothers you, just tell us and we’ll deal with him for you.”

“Hey, who side are you on? You’re supposed to be my subclasses.” Hyde pouted at the large whales. He ended up smiling as he watched them fret over Licht.

“You better get out of the water too,” He was a little surprised when Kuro walked into the stream to help him out of the water. The hand he held out to him was a little stiff and Hyde could tell that there was still a little awkwardness between them. Hyde remembered how close they used to be and he wished they could be brothers again without the tension they had now.

“Just take his hand, Shit Rat.” Licht ordered and Hyde laughed softly to himself. He always had a strange and blunt way of encouraging him but Hyde was grateful for his words. Even though the delivery was ungraceful, his words was what he needed to hear. He took the hand he held out to him and Kuro pulled him to his feet. They walked to where Mahiru stood on the water bend with towels.

“I brought these in case it rained but I didn’t think I would use them so soon.” Mahiru chuckled and handed a towel to Hyde. Then he spoke in a more serious tone. “But I don’t want you and Licht fighting again. We came out here to have fun and relax so don’t provoke Licht like that again.”

“Why are you all only lecturing me when Lichtan was the one that pulled me into the water? It’s not fair. Yell at him too.” Hyde pouted. They all rolled his eyes at his antics because they all knew he enjoyed provoking Licht. Kuro reached over and patted his shoulder without a word. Even if it was a small gesture, it meant a lot coming from his brother.

“Come here, Mr. Squirrel. Jump into this angel’s arms.” Licht called up to the small animal. It was perched on a branch and staring down at him. But it didn’t make a move to come closer or run away from him. He wanted to play with the small creature and he wondered if he should climb the tree. The branches were too thin to support him and he couldn’t risk falling or hurting his hands. So, Licht tried to draw it to him. “I have some nuts for you, Mr. Squirrel.”

“This is where you are, Lichtan! We were getting worried about you.” Hyde’s voice frightened the squirrel and it scurried into its hollow. When he stepped out of the bushes, Licht threw him an irritated glare. He quickly dodged the kick he aimed at his head. Hyde raised his hands in surrender and placed some distance between them in case he tried to attack him again.

“Hey, is that any way to treat the person that cared enough about you to look for you?” Licht went to fetch firewood for them but when he didn’t return, Hyde went to search for him. He knew that he was strong so he wasn’t worried he was hurt. He guessed that he was late because he became distracted. “Everyone’s waiting about you so come back.”

“Not yet,” Licht looked up the tree and saw the squirrel peek his head out of the tree. “I want to play with Mr. Squirrel. So, go away, Shit Rat. He’s too scared to come down when there’s a demon down here.”

“You’re just adorable sometimes.” Hyde chuckled. He took off his backpack and pulled out a bag of pet food. He knew how much Licht loved animals and bought the bag for his trip. With a mischievous gleam in his eyes, Hyde held out the bag to him. “You wanna feed Mr. Squirrel? Climb onto my back and I’ll fly you up there. I just need a little of your blood.”

Licht didn’t know if he should trust a demon but he had to admit that he was tempted. He knew that Hyde was a demon but that was hard to remember whenever he smiled at him. Cautiously, Licht held out his wrist to him. Hyde took his hand gently and pulled him closer until they were inches apart. He wrapped his arm around his waist and bit his wrist. When he winced a little, Hyde squeezed his hand tenderly.

“That’s enough blood. You said you would take me to the squirrel.” He said after a moment and Hyde pulled away reluctantly. It was rare for him to let him drink his blood outside of a fight.

“Get on and enjoy the ride. Here, hold onto this bag.” Hyde handed him the bag of food to him. Then, he turned around and Licht climbed onto his back. He made sure that he was holding onto him securely before he started to float. Licht tightened his arms around his neck but he didn’t feel afraid. Despite how often they fought, he knew that Hyde wouldn’t drop him.

Hyde stopped in front of the hallow and he could feel Licht impatiently squirm on his back. He had to chuckle at how excitable he was because it contrasted the stern glare he usually had. He would always provoke him because he liked discovering every new expression Licht had. Now, he had a rare, soft smile on his face as he held out a handful of food towards the squirrel.

“I have some food for you, Mr. Squirrel. Don’t be afraid of this demon here. I will protect you from him.” The squirrel crawled out of its hole and sniffed at Licht’s hand. After a moment, it began to eat the nuts. It tickled him a little and Licht laughed lightly. Hyde floated closer to the tree so Licht would be able to pet and feed the squirrel easier.

More squirrels came out from their hiding places and surrounded them. The two of them smiled as they continued to feed the small creatures but for different reasons. Hyde was happy that he could spend a little more time with Licht and see his smile.

“I’m going to take you all back to the hotel with me.” Licht cooed at the squirrels and Hyde shook his head.

“Kranz is never going to let you keep all of them.” He pointed out. But Hyde couldn’t bring himself to deny his angel anything when he gave him a disappointed pout. “We’ll have to sneak them back with us tomorrow. I have a plan though.”

“Perfect.” Mahiru said proudly as he pulled his marshmallow out of the fire. It was golden brown and he hummed as he ate the sweet treat. Aside from having to stop a few of Greed’s fights, he thought the camping trip was getting along wonderfully. He placed another marshmallow onto his stick and held it over the fire. “Isn’t this nice, Kuro.”

“It’s okay, I guess. But I do miss electricity. Can’t cook cup ramen without boiled water.” Kuro said next to him and snickered when Mahiru elbowed him like he expected he would. He had to admit that he was enjoying the outing more than he thought he would.

“C’mon, I worked hard cooking all this food for this trip. I don’t understand why you like instant noodles as much as you do. You need to try something new every once in a while. Here, something simple and sweet. But be careful, it’s hot.” Mahiru held his lightly toasted marshmallow against Kuro’s lips. “I know you don’t like sweets but try it. You might like it.”

“I do like some sweet things, you know?” Kuro mumbled before he took a bite of the marshmallow. He leaned closer to him to eat it and he found himself caught on Mahiru’s brown eyes. Even in the dark, they seemed to shine brightly. He finished the marshmallow and quickly pulled away so Mahiru couldn’t notice how nervous he made him.

Kuro was taken aback when Mahiru placed his hand on his neck to stop him. He rubbed his thumb against the corner of Kuro’s lips. “You have a little marshmallow cream here. You’re always making a mess for me to clean up, aren’t you?”

“Sorry, Mom.” He said sarcastically and desperately hoped that Mahiru couldn’t tell that his heart was racing. He was relieved when he leaned away from him and his heartbeat returned to normal. But then his heart skipped when Mahiru licked the cream from his finger. He knew that Mahiru wasn’t trying to give him a heart attack but he did so unintentionally.

“Kuro, do you want another one?” Mahiru asked. He raised a brow when he turned to face Kuro because his face was a little red. He didn’t know if it was from the fire’s glow or something else but he decided not to think too much of it. He knew that Kuro would tell him if it was something important.

“I’m just tired. I need a week worth of sleep after walking so much.” Kuro lied and yawned exaggeratedly. He felt slightly guilty for lying when Mahiru looked at him with concern. He hated to make Mahiru worried. “I’m gonna head to bed early. This was fun though. You should go to sleep early too because you stayed up pretty late cooking yesterday.”

“I’m going to stay up a little more but thank you for worrying about me. Next time, we should invite all your siblings.” Mahiru smiled sweetly at Kuro. It was one of the sweet things in life he came to enjoy. Then, Mahiru gestured to a blue tent. “You and Lawless are going to be staying in that tent. Licht and I will share the other one.”

“What?” Kuro and Hyde screamed at the same time.

“Thinking simply, this is best. If Licht and Lawless share a tent, they’re going to end up fighting. The tents are only a few feet from each other so we don’t have to worry about our distance limitation.” Mahiru calmly explained. Kuro couldn’t argue with his logic but he had to admit that he didn’t feel comfortable sleeping so far from Mahiru. There were more dangers in the mountain than the city so he wanted to stay closer to him.

“Anyways, I expect you to keep your brother in line.” He added. Mahiru leaned closer to him and whisper, “This is a good opportunity for you two to talk. I know it might be awkward at first but you can do this. I believe in you.”

Kuro couldn’t sleep and stared up at the roof of the tent. Beside him, Hyde was rolling in his sleeping bag. He could sense that something was agitating his brother but he didn’t know how to breach the subject. Suddenly, Hyde threw off his blanket and crawled to his brother. He leaned over him and poked his cheek. “Are you awake, Nii-san?”

“Can’t deal.” Kuro sighed and sat up. “What is it, Lawless? Shouldn’t you be sleeping? It’s late and we’re going to wake up early tomorrow.”

“I wanna see Lichtan. Let’s sneak into their tent and spy on them!” Hyde said decisively and Kuro groaned. He didn’t know why he would try to drag him into his plan. “Maybe they’re talking about us right now. Haven’t you ever wonder what they really thought of you? Lichtan’s a tsundere so he’s never honest with me. This is our chance to hear what they say about us when we’re not around.”

“I thought he was a denpa angel.” Kuro knew that it would lead to nothing but trouble if their Eves caught them. “You’ve been reading too many manga. We’re a fantasy creature but we’re not characters in a manga. Anyways, they’re probably asleep. If we sneak over there, all we’ll hear is them snoring.”

“Please, Nii-san!” He pleaded and Kuro had to groan in reply. Despite his resignation, he forced himself out of his sleeping bag. Hyde smiled widely and threw his arms around his neck. “Thank you! Don’t worry about them catching us. I have a lot of experience sneaking into places. Just transform into your cat form and follow my lead!”

Kuro nodded and changed into a small cat. He reluctantly trailed Hyde out of the tent and walked to the Eves. Hyde lifted their tent’s door a little and hear their Eve’s voices. He peered inside and he was glad that Mahiru hadn’t noticed them yet.

“He really did something like that? I’m certain that Lawless can’t be that bad, Licht.” Mahiru said with a light laugh. From the corner of his eyes, Kuro could see how dejected Hyde looked. He rubbed his head with his paw to comfort him slightly. He only turned away from him when he heard Mahiru go on. “You’ll never imagine how much Kuro can irritate me sometimes.”

“How can you be angry with Neko-san? He’s adorable!” Licht argued.

“That doesn’t mean a whole lot when you’re the one sweeping up crumbs and he’s just laying on the couch. I could be doing it right in front of him but he won’t even bother getting up to help. I like cleaning but it would be nice if he helped me out around the house occasionally. Of course, I doubt he ever will.” Mahiru complained and Kuro had to wince at his words.

“How can Neko-san clean with his little paws?” He tried to picture it and laughed at the image. “If he was my Servamp, I would let him do anything he wanted. It was annoying as hell trying to get Shit Rat to do a damn thing. He was half hearted about everything and said crap like ‘life is meaningless’. Now he’s way too emotional. He cries and complains about every little thing. I don’t know which one is more irritating.”

“I guess we both have our work cut out for us when it comes to controlling our Servamps. I don’t know how I’m able to handle it sometimes.” Mahiru closed his eyes and remembered everything they went through. But those memories made him smile. “But I wouldn’t wish for another Servamp or for Kuro to change. He’s not perfect but who is?”

“An angel.” Licht predictably answered and Mahiru burst out into laughter.

“You’re right, an angel is perfect.” He corrected himself when Licht turned sharply towards him. Mahiru hugged his pillow and frowned. “Kuro calls himself a monster sometimes and I wish he would stop. He’s done so much for me. I didn’t realize how empty and quiet my house was until he came into my life. I don’t regret making a contract with him and I’m certain you feel the same way about Lawless.”

Licht was silent for a moment as he thought over his time with his Servamp. He didn’t know how he felt towards Hyde. “Why would you say that? He’s always pulling pranks on me and challenging me to his silly games. He drives me crazy sometimes. Our contract isn’t the same as yours. Neko-san gave you a choice while that demon tricked me.”

“Lawless isn't here so you can admit that you care about him, you know? I saw your expression when his nametag was broken. No matter how many times you two fight, you don’t want your contract to end.” Mahiru challenged and Licht found it hard to say otherwise. Deep down, he knew that Mahiru’s words were true. “Anyways, you’re not the type to bother with someone if you don’t deem them worthy.”

“His attitude was annoying and I wanted to make him shut up about things he didn’t know.” Even though his voice was harsh, they both knew that he wanted to help Hyde in his own ungraceful way. “I guess you’re right though. I wouldn’t have bothered with him if he was completely hopeless. He’s just mostly hopeless. But he’s getting closer to becoming the angel rat I thought he was when I first met him.”

“See? You do like him!” Mahiru grinned when Licht didn’t immediately deny it.

“I love you too, Lichtan!” The two jumped when Hyde bounded into the tent in his hedgehog form. He jumped onto Licht’s lap and clung to his clothes. He had happy tears in his eyes and he rubbed his cheek against his shirt. Hyde was careful not hurt Licht with his spines. “Why do you only say sweet things when I’m not around?”

“How long have you been spying on us?” Licht screamed and pushed him off his lap. He looked furious and Kuro quickly ran to protect his brother.

“It was my idea.” Kuro said quickly. His words made Licht pause for a second. He knew how much Licht loved his cat form so he put himself between the two. “We just came so we weren’t eavesdropping. Neko-san was lonely so he wanted to sleep in your tent. Don’t be angry with Lawless when he was only helping me. Can’t we sleep here with you?”

“This tent is for two people but you two can probably fit in your animal form.” Mahiru said when they three turned to him. Licht and Hyde cheered at his answer.

“You’re sleeping next to me, Neko-san!” Licht lifted his blanket and patted the spot next to him. He didn’t give Kuro a choice because he hugged him and crawled into his sleeping bag again. He was hugging him tightly so he knew that he wouldn’t be able to escape his hold easily. But he saw Hyde beginning to sulk.

“Hey, Licht, Neko-san will sleep next to you if let my brother sleep with us. You don’t want Neko-san to be lonely, do you?” Kuro said and Licht looked conflicted for a moment.

“You can sleep with us, Shit Rat, but I’ll kick you out if you prick Neko-san.” Licht barely finished speaking before Hyde rush into the sleeping bag. He didn’t want to risk Licht changing his mind so he quickly made himself comfortable. He couldn’t hide his grin as Licht laid down next to him. He was a little surprised with how gentle Licht was as he pulled a blanket over them. “Go to sleep now.”

“Goodnight.” Mahiru smiled softly at the trio as he turned off the light so they could sleep.

Beside the Greed pair, Kuro put a little distance between them. The sleeping bag was quickly becoming suffocating and hot. He listened to their breathing and waited until he was certain that they were asleep. Once he was, he carefully moved out of the sleeping bag. He made his way to Mahiru and curled up next to him.

“Kuro?” Mahiru opened his eyes when he felt his tail brush his cheeks.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” Kuro turned to face him. He purred when Mahiru gently scratched his ear. “Do you mind if I sleep next to you? Their sleeping bag was becoming too crowded. Anyways, I’m sure Hyde wanted to have Licht all to himself.”

“You’re a wonderful brother.�� Mahiru whispered and he couldn’t feel prouder of Kuro. “Goodnight, Kuro.”

Kranz helped them unpack stuff at the hotel and discovered that Licht smuggled squirrels in his bag. He was not happy.

#servamp #kuromahi #lawlicht #mahiru shirota #licht jekylland todoroki #servamp hyde #servamp kuro #fanfiction #I live for servamps acting like a family

[munchix-home-cooking]

RP Log: Munchix and Rayena continue their journey to Yanxia

(@rayenaray​ :D)

Munchix Bogbelly - After the pirate attack, the rest of the voyage was smooth sailing...though it wasn’t free of the usual woes of ocean travel. Sea sickness, sunburn, and what have you. So when the ship finally pulls into Onokoro, Munchix literally leaps off and lands on the dock, thankful to be on solid ground again. He turns to the ship and waves.

Rayena Corsano exits the ship more gracefully, adjusting her bag a little and looking around. "Alright, should we pick up any supplies here or go straight to looking for your tree?" she smiled.

Munchix Bogbelly shakes his head no. “We’re not close enough to where the tree is, supposedly. So unless you want to try out some of the local faire, I’d say let’s be on our way.” He pauses. “There IS good seafood ‘round here though.”

Rayena Corsano: "Are you hungry? We had sandwiches on the ship and I have a couple more for the trip home as well as a couple snacks for the trip. I am personally not hungry yet but, we can get some around supper." she smiled.

Munchix Bogbelly: “I’m good for now. If anything I hunger....for ADVENTURE!” A wide grin spreads on his face, though he’s quick to correct himself. “The safetysort of adventure though! Don’t want anymore haphazard surprises.”

Rayena Corsano: "I'll make sure to keep my healing on standby." she smiled. "Do you know what direction we should be heading?”

Munchix Bogbelly: “We head easterly, to Yanxia. Which is...uh.” Munchix spins around, glances directly into the sun, and then turns to the right. “That way. Times-a-wastin’, let’s get racin’!”

Munchix Bogbelly hefts ALL the bags onto his back and begins speedwalking. He looks a bit like a snail from a distance. A very large, and hobbling snail.

Rayena Corsano: "You want help with some of those bags?"

Munchix Bogbelly: “No, no! I’m fine. Can never be too prepared.” He says, as a pinwheel and two hammers fall from his cargo. Munchix continues eastward, none the wiser.

Rayena Corsano picks up the pinwheel and two hammers before following him at his back, keeping an ear and eye open to anymore of his cargo falling out.

Munchix Bogbelly - Everything that falls out is like, pretty clearly junk. Or at least questionable in the context of hiking/adventuring? Like, what use does Munchix have for a spray bottle? Anyway, this strange train of things dropping and being retrieved continues into Yanxia...

Rayena Corsano comes into Yanxia, huffing a little as she's carrying various things in her arms, some of it in her bag, which looked like it was stretching it's limits. "Let's pause a moment so, we can put all this back in your sacks." she said gently placing the pile on the floor.

Munchix Bogbelly had, as things were dropping from his pack, been increasing his pace with the lighter load. He turns to Rayena, surprised. “You mean to say, that’s mystuffs, and not yourstuffs?”

Rayena Corsano nodded and started pulling things of out her bag that belonged to him. "Yeah, it's all your stuff. Maybe we need to move at a slower pace so, it doesn't fall out again, or secure your sacks somehow..."

Munchix Bogbelly kneeled down and started examining the recovered objects with great interest. His backpack was relatively secure...given the sheer quantity of stuff he had shoved into it. It really seemed a problem more with overpacking, if anything. The fact that he had even managed to fit so much into so little a space was impressive, and a little frightening. Any uneven hitch in the road would knock the topmost object loose.

Rayena Corsano made a frown. "Granted, you're carrying an awful lot, maybe we should leave some of it behind. The stuff you really don't need anymore."

Munchix Bogbelly gasps, turning to Rayena with a devastated look. In one hand, he’s brandishing what looks to be a fork attached to a drill, and when he turns it on, the fork spins rapidly. “WHA. The stuffs I don’t need anymore? But what if we need the spaghetti-twister 1400, muchly? There’s no telling what challenges await us.”

Rayena Corsano looked towards the spaghetti twister and raised a brow. "I honestly don't see if eating spaghetti here but, if you really want to keep it all..." she said and rummaged through her over-sized leather bag before pulling out a brown sack, about the size of a potato sack. "Suppose you can put all that into this, and then if there is still some left, I can slip it into my leather bag."

Munchix Bogbelly: “Heftyhead thinking, Rayena.” Without even a pinch of care, he shoveled all the scattered objects into his arms and dumped it into the potato sack. After smashing it in a bit, the sack could /just barely/ close. A good job.

Munchix Bogbelly - There’s a soft honking sound, followed by a squish as this happens.

Rayena Corsano smiled softly, blinking a little at the sound coming from the sack before taking in a breath. "Well, that is sorted then, shall we trek on?"

Munchix Bogbelly: “Yes, yes! Onwards we go, my stalwart companion.” Potato bag in front, massive backpack behind, he (carefully) totters forward towards Namai.

Munchix Bogbelly can barely see where he’s going, which isn’t the best when there are ravenous tigers and other territorial critters about.

Rayena Corsano looks around.

Rayena Corsano: "Is this the right way?" she asks, looking around.

Munchix Bogbelly - Drawn in by the smell of dried food, wafting from Munchix’s bag, a tiger stalks the two. For now, it stays in the perimeter, waiting for the right time to strike. Meanwhile, Munchix ambles along. “Hm, it must be. Ground looks the same as the last time I came.”

(Munchix Bogbelly) this is like, every terrible escort mission in videogames )) (Munchix Bogbelly) an I'm the terrible escort xD )) (Rayena Corsano) oh no lol (Munchix Bogbelly) or escortee?? what are words ))

Rayena Corsano nodded. "Alright well, stay close me to. Those tigers can probably smell the food we're carrying though, mines pretty sealed up."

(Munchix Bogbelly) accidentally aggros a tiger and dies )) (Munchix Bogbelly) AHAHA )) (Munchix Bogbelly) this is the most perfect timing )) (Munchix Bogbelly) I'm surprised it didn't 1-shot munchix actually )) (Rayena Corsano) lol i was trying to click it and it took a minute

Munchix Bogbelly - Like a big, slow katamari ball of clutter, Munchix follows Rayena with the best of his ability. It’s precisely at this moment that the tiger strikes, slapping Munchix twice and sending the gobcat rolling down the hill.

Rayena Corsano takes out her chakrams, throwing them rather close to the tiger as an attempt to scare it away before checking on Munchix. "You alright?"

Munchix Bogbelly - A rock in the path has stopped him from snowballing, and miraculously, his belongings remain in his hands. The tiger, having swung at his backpack, did no real damage to Munchix. He looks dizzy though. “Whuhough ouughh hggh huh?”

Rayena Corsano: "I asked if you were alright, you look a little dizzy but, you don't appear to be bleeding."

Munchix Bogbelly: “Hhhh...ohh...” He wobbles back onto his feet, the world still spinning. There’s at least ten afterimages of Rayena, blurred and hazy, and he talks to the one on the far left. “Hearts beating, but that means I’m alive? Think I’m still apiece. Must’ve lost my footing there.”

Rayena Corsano: “You didn’t see the tiger swipe at your pack?" she tilted her head.

Munchix Bogbelly: “A TIGER?! WHERE?” He would jump in shock if he could, but he’s anchored down by his cargo. “N-No! I just felt myself go flying forward!”

Rayena Corsano: "It's gone now, managed to scare it off with my chakram. And yeah, it came out and swiped along your back, you got to be more careful."

Munchix Bogbelly: “Know full well that I’m grateful for your aid.” He sighs, with a shake of his head. Being chased by monsters was a regular occurrence for his outings, and he just didn’t know why...Munchix picked up his conspicuously large bags with a frown. “Right, careful. Let’s make haste to Namai.”

Rayena Corsano nods to you.

Munchix Bogbelly - Munchix’s roll had covered a great deal of ground, and so it wasn’t much further until the two made it to Namai. The first thing he does is rent a room for the two, and dump all his belongings there. With a sigh, he exits the building while rubbing his shoulders. “We’re here! The land of...tree. The land of /the/ tree.”

Rayena Corsano places a few things from her bag into the room they rented before looking around once they exit. "Alright, you want to try looking for the tree now? Or rest for a bit?"

Munchix Bogbelly: “Resting doesn’t sound half bad. Sounds /full good/ actually.” He eyes the display of permissions that a vendor has out. Without any delay, he grabs one of the fruits and leaves a handful of gil in its place. “Not dailyday that I find myself this far east.”

#ff14 rp logs #munchix bogbelly #Rayena Corsano #all this to find a tree #and then eat it #munchix logic

[diem-writes]

1hour ficlet batch 5 #1

When I got this prompt over on Discord me and @cath-sith had a whole conversation about it. She liked it to have both Sci-Fi and Steampunk elements to it. I hope I delivered.

If you like this story or any of the other 1 hour ficlets, please consider sending in a prompt. 

A Tryst from the Past

The crash of the shuttle was not Seung-Gil's fault. He will be damned if anybody said otherwise. It was not his choice to be sent on this mission together with two of the most cheerful, overenthusiastic, flirty people in the entire crew.

And it was most definitely not his fault that when they had been given the request from the captain to help him relax a bit they had taken it upon themselves to direct that over enthusiastic, flirty, cheerful, energy at him while he was trying to get them at the desired location.

It was also most definitely not his fault that he was given the genetic error of having sensitive ears, or that they thought that blowing into them while he was steering away from a piece of space debris.

He will most definitely add it in his final report of this mission that it was all their fault and he was not going to take any blame for it in any shape or size. Not even one itty bitty bit at all.

“Seung-Gil. Please stop pouting. We already apologized, we know we should not have taken it that far. But sitting at the remains of our shuttle tapping out an angry report is not going to help us get off this planet any faster.” Phichit calls out to him in his tone of voice he usually uses when he knows he did something of great fault.

Seung-Gil glares at him. “I am not pouting. And regulations state that when marooned on an unknown planet one must keep a detailed as possible report.”

“Yes but can you not wait with writing it till after we found a place to camp? We aren't sure about any possible dangers of this planet and our shuttle is no protection as it is.” Chris looks a bit annoyed. Well bad luck for him, Seung-Gil outranks him and that means the older man can't make him do anything he doesn't want to do.

“Just the more reason to write this report right now. We might very well be dead by whatever lurks on this planet and then there will be no report for anyone coming to look for us to deal with.”

Seung-Gil turns away from them and starts typing again. Would it be considered cruel if he would put in recommendations for corporal punishment in his advice? He knows that those punishments are never given anyway, but it would be a clear sign of just how his mood was soured by their actions.

In the end he simply writes them down for a serious reprimand about personal boundaries during missions and hopes that recommendation is followed up by the captain.

Poorly Captain Katsuki has become far less of a strict man since he and Tactical Officer Nikiforov signed the deed to their union. Neither had even listened to his advice to not go through with it as it would make them less proficient in their jobs.

This crash was the complete proof of that. Before they bonded the captain would never have given his science officers the advice to help Seung-Gil relax. He had always been the first to accept that Seung-Gil was not really the approachable person to deal with. Even if in all technicality he was second in command on their ship.

Seung-Gil sighs, puts the report back in his carry on bag, and finally leaves the remains of the shuttle.

He eyes his two fellow strandies wondering what they were talking about as they were all hunched together. It's that he knows Christophe is in quite the serious relationship or he would think the two were maybe more than good colleagues.

“Well I'm done and it seems we still have more than enough sunlight to go with. So if either of you have any idea which way should maybe be the wisest I'm all for being given advice.”

Christophe and Phichit turn towards him and reveal the sensor tablet they are holding between them. Hopefully some of the emergency readings he had ordered them to take just before they crashed was of any use.

“Well,” a quick look between them “it seems there is some kind of constructions a bit to the North of our current location.” Christophe gives a soft smile. “It only seems to be an hour or so away from our location. So it might be a good option.” Seung-Gil nods and signals for them to lead the way.

In the end it took them nearly three hours and well past sundown to finally arrive at the building that had given them a sign. None of them are very pleased with what they see.

“Wow, I don't know how long ago this place was deserted but it was apparently long enough for this  plants to reclaim that front entrance.” Phichit sighs.

Christophe simply whistles, when it becomes clear that the only way into the building is by climbing the largest plant, breaking out one of the windows and forcing a whole big enough for them to force themselves inside.

Inside there is more proof that the building had once been a place of large groups to come together as they see overturned benches, and tangled inside a large bush the remains of what appears to be a front desk.

“This place looks a lot like one of my old universities. If I didn't know better I would almost think this was a human dwelling.” Christophe mumbles after seeing the desk. “Do you think we stumbled on a currently unknown human settlement from the early years of space dwellings?”

Seung-Gil shakes his head. “That would be impossible. The last first human dwellings after the original planet was deemed uninhabitable was discovered just two years ago. I mean that was our original destination.”

Both Science officers nod. Sure their original destination had been a very old first human settlement on the planet once called Mars. Neither of them had ever even thought about a possible second settlement in the same solar system. It was just a very human look to everything.

“Maybe we ended up so far out of course we somehow ended up at the right place?” Phichit sounds a bit hopeful. Something Seung-Gil can't really blame him, if that's the case it would mean they would have a far better chance of being found.

They turn on their lights and decide to explore the building, maybe they end up lucky and find a room that is safe enough to spend the night. This results in them finding a series of switches in a room behind the desk. Chris being Chris, decides to see if he can pull one of the levers. The sudden noise makes all three of them look around.

To their shock at several places lights start to light up. This does mean that Phichit and Chris being the science officers that they are just have to investigate it intensely. It takes them less than an hour to figure out what happened.

“Hoe ingenous. The entire system is based on pressure vaults that work on steam.” Chris whistles. “I can't believe they actually managed to have an entire building run on that.”

Seung-Gil gives a cold look at the places that are still clouded in darkness.

“Oh, come on. With all the plant growth it's more remarkable that some parts are still working than that there are spots that don't.” Phichit can't help but smile brightly. “This is fantastic. I hope we can find the building plans someplace, I would love to give them a thorough look over.”

After that they decide to go up one of the stairs and check out one of the rooms that is completely light up. It also seems to have one of the most sturdy doors around. One Seung-Gil closes behind them once they entered.

The stone floor is designed with all kinds of patterns before somebody thought it was smart to place some clear layer over it. The clear layer looks like plastic but when Chris picks a piece up it causes a cut in his finger.

“That is not a very safe thing to use. What ever were they thinking?” He uses the med tool to fix the cut and decides to take the pice with them to see what it is. “Let's see what my lab can make of it once we are back.”

“Guys look at this. There's a piece of wall in this display case. But it looks more like somebody just scribbled on it. Why would they keep such a thing?” The call from Phichit comes from all the way at the other side of the room.

Chris and Seung-Gil quickly walk over. Once they stand beside Phichit they have to admit that it doesn't seem like a very interesting piece of information to keep. Chris is the first to realize that there is a sign at the bottom of the case that seems to hold an explanation of what's written on the wall. He takes out the Sensor tablet and scans the sign.

“Let's see what this says.” He hums while the tablet hums. “If we are lucky and this is an old settlement the language would have to be stored in our database.”

The Sensor tablet beeps twice to let them know it managed to find a translation. Phichit pulls the tablet from Chris's hands to be the first to take a look, he hands it back after reading it. A very distinctive paleness to his nose. Chris looks over the info and hands it to Seung-Gil without a word.

“Two friends were here.  While they were, they had bad service in every way from a guy named Epaphroditus.  They threw him out and spent 105 and half sestertii most agreeably on whores.“

Seung-Gil wonders why anybody could pale because of that, especially as it would be something either one of them would have done. That is when his eyes falls on the bit of extra info provided.

“This was a text found on a piece wall in an old Roman City, it was stored in the museum of Roman arts in Rome, Italy, Earth. The piece is considered lost as it was not taken with the settlers when the planet was abandoned.”

Seung-Gil looks from the tablet to the piece of wall in front of them. Then he looks at the other two.

“We're not in an old settlement. We actually found Earth.” Chris whispers in shock. “I always thought that planet was a myth, something the old ones tell children to make us believe we once had a real home.” He looks around. “We found Earth.”

If you like this story or any of the other 1 hour ficlets, please consider sending in a prompt to get one for yourself.

buy me a ko-fi

#1hour ficlet #yuri on Ice #prompt fic #diem writes

[rainbowravioli]

Do you have any fanfic recommendation especially with Yuri!!! ON ICE and Voltron? I think you have a good taste because your meta analyses are always a great read. Aside from art, do you also write fics? Sorry for the many asks. Thank you!

Awwwww you flatter me anon! I never really wrote fics. Well ok, not entirely true, I wrote some pieces for friends in the past. I’m really really insecure over the idea of writing in something that’s not my native language. I still mess up English a lot. You know anxiety and all that.

Don’t apologise for sending asks, I’m always happy to get them. I’m sorry I took a while to reply, but I was compiling a list and I don’t have an ao3 account so tracking down fic I previously read is a bit difficult! 

About Voltron fics. Since I don’t engage with the general fandom much and stay in my safe corner, most of what I have to rec is Sheith. I don’t know if you ship Sheith, so here’s my non-sheith recs (if you do though, feel free to come back and ask for my recs on that)

Give Them Shelter by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)

Have some freakin’ gen fluff, you goddamn animals. In response to Day 15 of legendarydesvender’s Inktober

The paladins explore the castle and do adorable some team bonding.

Making the Rounds by Kiaxet

When Shiro has trouble dealing with his past with the Galra, he heads to engineering for company. Pidge and Hunk…aren’t quite sure what to do when he just…hovers. (Cuddles. Cuddles forever.)

Very sweet and amazingly in-character “team looks after Shiro” piece.

the fear of falling by amillionsmiles

Keith can pull off a downward spiral. It’s the kind of maneuver he does in his sleep.

Brilliant character study and backstory exploration of Keith. 

i miss you sideways daily by amillionsmiles

“I know how it is,” she sighs fondly, snatching up the empty plastic bags from the table and throwing them in the trash as they exit the cafeteria. “The three of you just zoom off to your own little world sometimes.”

“As long as we come back, right, Mom?” Katie teases, already thinking of next year, when she’ll don the orange and white uniform as well.

Her mom smiles, rising on her toes to kiss Matt’s cheek, pinching Katie’s side with her other hand.

“As long as you come back.”

(or: Katie and Pidge and her family. Before, after, and from now on.)

Outstanding, well paced, super emotional character study! The incorporation of science and technology in the story is brilliant. 

Your Princess Is In Another Castle by VelkynKarma

Part of the paladin’s mission is to spread peace and diplomacy. Allura has trained for years to be exceptional at it, in all situations.

A perfect demonstration of the importance of Allura’s role (with bonus importance of Shiro’s political role as the Black Paladin) and how utterly amazing she is.

Fragile Atlas by Pie Badger

Stranded on an unknown planet, Shiro struggles with the ramifications of Zarkon being able to take control of the Black Lion.

Shiro and Black talking and bonding over shared pain.

As for Yuri on Ice, I had a previous rec list here (x). Here’s more, under the cut because it gets really long

Complete

Like a Fairytale - lucycamui

In which Prince Victor gets swept off his feet at a royal banquet and will go to any length to find his ‘Cinderella’ Yuuri.(And Phichit is the fairy godmother who has no idea what he’s doing).

“The crown prince of the Nikiforov kingdom, infatuated with a mystery pastry chef he’s only just met. This is exactly the kind of scandalous love story my life has been missing… So, what’s he look like? What exactly is Prince Victor’s type?”

“…Sweet.”

“Well, he does make pastries.“

This is super sweet, adorable fluff! Lovely, smooth, whimsical writing style that really had me feeling like I was reading a fairytale. The whole thing just melted my heart. It’s also really funny.

Beside the Dancing Sea - lily_winterwood

He’s finally here in this lovely and quiet little beach cottage, and the rest of the year seems to stretch out infinitely before him. Time will pass, though, and it will pass faster than he realises, but in the meantime he will stop worrying about writer’s block and deadlines and not even having the foggiest clue what his next novel’s going to be about, and live.New York Times-bestselling author Viktor Nikiforov arrives in the sleepy seaside town of Torvill Cove to cure his writer’s block. After encountering local wallflower Yuuri Katsuki at a party, he discovers that this mysterious dark-haired man has a couple secrets up his sleeve.And Viktor will be damned if he doesn’t find out just what those secrets are.

This fic emotionally drained me and ruined my sleeping schedule. I adore it! It just has all these elements that I love so I may be biased, but I really feel like the writing is beautiful and evocative and the take of the mythology is very unique and heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time and the whole story and character arcs are just really well-crafted. I wish this fic was an actual original novel so that I could buy and keep in my shelf forever.

Wanted: Skating Lessons - slightlied

Hi. I am Victor and I need to learn how to skate before Saturday. My parents have been paying for me to get skating lessons every week for the last fifteen years but I never actually attended any of the lessons and I spent the money on marble busts instead. Now they want me to perform to ‘Stammi Vicino’ at their wedding anniversary on Saturday.

If you can teach me, be here at Ice Castle tomorrow at 7:27am with an extra pair of skates. I am a fast learner (well, at least my dog Makkachin is–it took me only two weeks to teach him how to roll over) so I am pretty sure I will pick it up quickly. In return, I can teach you how to say some pick-up lines in Russian or tell you some facts about my love life. Whichever you prefer. Not both, though.

Yours sincerely, Victor

PS. I’m a size 8

—

Or, Yuuri answers an ad he sees on Ice Castle’s community board.

This is adorable and really funny.

Twenty-Five Hours by 0lizzybennet0

In which Yuuri spends a 25 hour flight next to Victor Nikiforov, skating legend, and feels it might simultaneously be the best and worst thing that has ever happened to him.

This fic messed with my heart beautifully. But I must warn, this is angst based on a misunderstanding/Yuuri deciding to be a big liar and taking the lie too far, so it’s certainly not for everyone since I know it’s a trope that a lot of people really dislike. That said, this has probably one of my favourite portrayals of the Victor/Yurio relationship I’ve ever read.

Here And Human by TreacherousGnome

aka ‘Viktor is a baby when he’s tired and Yuuri can’t *believe* that doesn’t bother him more’

This fic includes several things I’m weak to - filling the gaps in between episodes we didn’t get to see, Yuuri dealing with his growing feelings, mentions of the banquet that Yuuri doesn’t get, and literal sleeping together.

not gold like in your dreams by ebenroot

“Victor, you could have let some psychopath into your apartment.”

“Oh come on, he’s not a psychopath,” Victor chides. Christophe makes a gesture with his hand that says ‘are you seriously this naïve or are you drunk at work again?’.

“Victor, you don’t know that. You don’t know anything about him. Whose name am I going to give to the police or face I’m going to describe to the sketch artist when they find your body chopped up like Hannibal Lecter’s side dish?”

–

in which Victor and Yuuri are roommates and Yuuri has a secret

This is the Penelope AU we deserve! Even though I knew the movie, this fic still kept me on the edge of my seat and messed with my emotions and had me both cheering and bursting into tears. Great pacing, great writing style. I love it enough that I’m willing to overlook that this is a villain!JJ fic.

The Tsesarevich lives! by mtothedestiel

An Anastasia AU. Victor is an orphan with no name, no family, and no memory of a time before he was ten years old. Could he really be the missing Nikiforov heir? An adventure across Europe with two conmen will lead him to the answer.

I mean, entertaining the idea of an Anastasia AU for YoI is not hard if you’re a fan of both, but I always had reservations on how to execute it properly. This fic more than succeeded! It knows where to be faithful to the original and where to deviate, fixes a lot of the problems I had with the movie and even adds actual historical context and addresses the issues that come with it.

Unworthy by heartsdesire456

5 Times Victor Overheard People Saying Yuuri Wasn't Good Enough For Him and 1 Time Someone Told Him Yuuri Was Too Good For Him

My favourite fix-it fic for the finale, with Yuuri being a very accurate insecure mess, the world accurately doubting Victor’s intentions, Yuuri’s friends being amazing, Victor being smitten and Yuuri winning gold. I’m still amazed this was written before the finale because it has this one piece of dialogue that echoes it, except it’s much better. 

improbable by themorninglark

The first words Phichit Chulanont says to Seung Gil in over a year are, “You literally have only one photo on your Instagram.

This is probably my favourite characterisation of Seung Gil I’ve ever read and the whole thing is both funny and adorable.

if love is king, who wears the crown by Crollalanza

“Second is seen as nothing,” Christophe had derided.

“But that moment you glide onto the ice, that hush of the audience, and that expectation, isn’t that worth something?”

“You speak as if you know. You used to skate?”

Past tense. It still stung, even if it was expected.

Minako knows exactly what it’s like to be at the top of your game, and she remembers the descent just as clearly.

Chris feels and Minako feels and just…my heart aches for both of them.

Ongoing

The Rules For Lovers by ADreamingSongbird

Prince Yuuri Katsuki has a duty to his country, above all else (his desires, his dreams, and his happiness included), and he knows this alliance will help to ensure the safety of his people. That’s the only reason he accepts Prince Nikiforov’s hand in marriage. The pleasant surprise, of course, is the part where they fall in love along the way. The unpleasant one, well…

That’s a long story.

Suffer with me. In the best way possible. The writing is beautiful, the relationship build is so well paced, the setting is great with its mix of modern day, alternate history, magic and technology, even the OCs are brilliant. This fic is amazing, but god does it stress me out with its cliffhangers and the plot and political intrigue and suffering! I’m holding on to that “angst with a happy ending” tag to keep me going.

My Hero, Yuuri by Abarero

At the age of 23, Yuuri Katsuki is certain he’s just a dime-a-dozen hero that will never make a difference. Little does he know that the moment his path crosses with legendary hero, Victor Nikiforov, both of their lives will begin to change for the better.

A perfect combination of two things I love - Yuri on Ice and My Hero Academia. It mashes the two universes brilliantly, managing to keep tie-ins and references to both while still being very much it’s own (amazing) thing. It has made me laugh out loud and warmed my heart and manages to keep surprising me.

Trade Your Heroes For Ghosts by Naamah_Beherit

Having endured what was probably the worst day of his life followed by a night he does not remember, Yuuri wakes up with a hangover of the century and a desperate plea for the world to forget about his existence. Alas, the world has other plans.

So does a certain Russian skater.

Canon divergence where Yuuri and Victor keep contact immediately after the banquet and Yuuri is made aware that the banquet happened. This is beautifully written. It flows so nicely, especially the dialogue. The characterisation of both Yuuri and Victor makes my heart ache in the best possible way. I’m so eager to see where this one will take me!

empty spaces between stars by astudyinrose

Victor gets just as drunk as Yuuri at the Sochi Banquet, and they disappear together after the dance-offs. They wake up the morning after with rings on their fingers, and pictures of them kissing after getting married the night before are all over the tabloids… but neither of them remembers a thing. They decide to stay married for a while for the sake of Victor’s sponsorships, and in exchange, Victor coaches Yuuri through nationals…

Do you like fake relationships, slow burn and mutual pining? Do you like going through an emotional rollercoaster of one minute melting over how adorable and romantic a moment is to screaming at your screen in frustration the next? Then this fic is the one for you!

The Power of Love by kiaronna

“The two Japanese singles medalists make a beautiful pair! Here, at the 2009 Tokyo GPF, we have the start of this power couple’s reign!”Yuuko and Yuuri dominate the singles skating competition as Japan’s power couple—except they aren’t a couple, and when their old skating idol stumbles into their personal life, everything rapidly goes downhill.

A fic that includes Yuuko and focuses on her friendship with Yuuri is already a fic after my own heart. This is Victuuri, and although it’s dipped in the angst you would expect from massive miscommunication and assumptions (and the fabulous game of “how hard can Yuuri’s anxiety misread a situation” which kills me every time), it’s still so sweet and heartwarming. Though the angst destroys me. But my favourite part of this fic is the friendship. Not just between Yuuri and Yuuko, but also between Detroit trio once Phichit comes into the picture. It’s deep, loving friendship portrayed really well.

Fatum ad Momentum by maydei

These are the moments that were lost in the rush for the Gold, and the things that were built within them. A re-evaluation of everything, from day one, the real day one. From, “Be my coach, Victor!!” And how trust, friendship, and love were built from there. Through Victor’s eyes, the story unfolds—the journey and experience of knowing Yuuri.

Really lovely Victor, really interesting take on his POV and the series’ missing moments, and the Victor in Hasetsu scenes my heart has been craving. Just, the whole fic really warms my heart and it’s an absolute joy to read.

#Anonymous #replies #yuri on ice #voltron #fic recs #long post

[c-jacksonn]

Missing You

pairing ; lafayette x reader

summary ; the need to see your husband has not only gotten you to america, but also lost in the big new york city. 

words ; 1837

warnings ; badly translated french

masterlist

My dearest Gilbert,

I do hope that you are alive and well over in America. The sudden stop in returned letters has left me quite shaken and worried about you. As your wife, I feel as if it is my place to tell you that I have been questioning you returning home. How do I know if you’ve found another in the “Land of the Free”? Or that you now believe that we should no longer be married? But besides that, I would like to tell you that I love you, and I hope to see you very soon.

Your love,

Y/n Lafayette.

You sighed, looking around you. The area around you was riddled with people, shops, inns, everything. The road in which you traveled to get here were made of dirt, and the bottom of your dress now had a brown tinge to it, something you were sure you would be able to wring out without much trouble. But the roads here were all made of cobblestone, carefully lain to provide the image of elegance and care about one of the most beautiful towns in the up and coming America.

You had absolutely no idea where to go, and you were sure you looked like a foreigner “just passing by” with the way you were standing. You were on your tiptoes, trying to see if there was anything you were missing, though that was simply because you’d gotten used to being as short as you were.

Women were never given the nice end of the stick in the height department, sadly.

So, with a shake of your head, you ran a hand over the top of your head and stopped when the side of your fingers met the bun atop your crown. Tendrils of hair poked out, but otherwise, it felt kempt and managed-looking, especially since you had an image to keep up, being a Lafayette and all.

Taking a few steps in what you thought would be a good direction, you got lost in the view of Manhattan. Alongside the cobblestone paths were buildings of utter beauty – brown bricks, red bricks, maroon bricks, even white bricks made up the walls, the windows were all outlined in gorgeous white wood, complementing the freshly-cleaned glass it framed.

The yards were outlined with metal gates with spikes at the top, a silent message to tell people to keep off the grass and property depending on the time of day. The inns and stores were all clearly marked, their signs elegantly carved with precision.

All in all, it reminded you of the beauty of your home country, France, what, with how everything was cozily pushed together and even the buildings themselves practically floating in regality.

Snapping out of your gaze of the place, you focused back on your mission – find your husband. He had to be around here somewhere, but it would take asking people to figure out where that somewhere was.

Taking quick steps into a store, you walked up to the counter and cleared your throat, “Excusez-moi?”

The shopkeeper’s head snapped up from whatever he was doing and immediately a smile graced his face, “Bonjour. Comment puis-je vous aider?” [how may i help you?]

You were quite delighted to know that he spoke french, considering your English was very, how you say, on the rocks. “Je suis à la recherche de mon mari, Marquis de Lafayette?” [i’m looking for my husband, Marquis de Lafayette?]

“Uh,” the man cocked his head to the side, his eyes darting up to the ceiling as if in thought. “Je ne l'ai pas vu avant, miss. Je suis désolé.” [i haven’t seen him before, miss. I’m sorry.]

You looked down, sad to hear of such a thing. “Ça va. Je vous remercie.” [it’s okay, thank you.]

Bidding the man farewell, you headed back out into the streets, thinking about where else to check. Where is somewhere Gilbert would go with his friends? Or by himself?

You looked around for a pub or something, thinking that maybe he’d be out with a few American friends of his. Your e/c eyes darted around the left and right of the road you stood on, finding landing on a pub called The Inner Duckling. With a giggle to yourself, you walked over to the door and in, glancing around for any tufts of curly hair or tall, handsome men.

Due to your shortness, and the mass amount of men inside the pub, you decided to walk up to the bar and flag the bartender. “Hello? Excusez-moi?”

“Ah, hello,” a kind man came in front of you, cleaning a glass with a rag, “how may I help you?”

“Erm,” you struggled, “I’m, how you say, ah, looking for my husband?”

The man seemed to pick up on your inability to speak proper English, and although it looked as if he wanted to, it didn’t seem that he could speak French. “Well, ma’am, what’s his name, maybe I’ve seen him.”

“Marquis du Lafayette,” you said confidently, knowing at least that much.

“Oh, I know him! He’s always here with his buddies, Hamilton, I think?” He wondered for a moment before smiling and shrugging, “I believe he stays somewhere near Alexander. I can give you directions, if you like?”

It took you a second to comprehend what he’d said, but after a few moments, you got the jist and accepted his offer, “Oui, that would be magnifique.”

He nodded and jotted down a couple things on a piece of paper he’d found, also verbalizing his directions, with not only his voice, but his hands as well. Thanking him, you walked out without too many stares on you, and headed in the direction you were pointed to.

After glancing down at the napkins and getting stumped with all of the English, you found the house you were looking for, belonging to Monsieur Hamilton. Trotting up to the door, you knocked lightly, looking behind your shoulder and noticing the sun slowly drifting behind clouds that looked like cotton being strung out.

The door opening caught your attention, and you quickly whipped around to see a man about your height, if not two inches taller, standing. He had black hair tied back into a tight pony tail, a loose white shirt and dark brown eyes with multiple bags underneath them. “Hello, what can I do for you?”

“Bonjour,” you gave him a small smile, watching his eyes light up. Before you could continue, he had already beat you.

“You speak French? Is it your first language?”

“Oui,” you responded, looking over his happy facial expression. You hadn’t seen someone so happy to hear that you spoke a language other than their own, so this was more than a notable experience for you.

“Eh bien, alors que puis-je faire pour vous?” [well, then what can i do for you?]

“Je suis à la recherche de mon mari, Marquis de Lafayette?” You weren’t sure why saying the question for a third time felt extremely repetitive, but it just did. [i’m looking for my husband, marquis du lafayette?]

“Mari?” The look in Alexander’s eyes was pure shock, which confused you. “Je veux dire, ouais. Je sais où est Laf, donnez-moi une minute rapide.” [husband? I mean, yeah, i know where laf is, give a me a quick minute.]

He ducked behind the door, his voice ringing out and your husband’s name leaving his lips. “Lafayette! Someone is here to see you!”

Heavy footsteps were heard as who you presumed was Gilbert came down the stairs. Monsieur Hamilton opened the door all the way and let you in with a quick wave of the hand, shutting it softly behind you. You thanked him with a smile and smoothed down the front of your dress, the smile still faint on your lips as you saw your tall love trot into the room.

He looked absolutely amazing. He had grown scruff, and knowing him, it was precise, neatly cut scruff. His hair was tied back, like always, in a poof on the back of his head, and his brown eyes sparkled with curiosity as he looked toward his friend. His clothes were much like Alexander’s, just with strings at the neck instead of just a straight v.

“Mon amie, who is it?” His voice was almost tear worthy after not hearing it for so long, and you almost couldn’t hold back the water brimming your eyelids.

“Her,” Alexander gestured to you, “she says she’s your wife.”

Gilbert’s eyes widened as he looked over to you. He looked you up and down for a second, his mouth slightly opening in shock. “Mon amour, vous êtes ici?” [my love, you’re here?]

“Oui, ma chérie,” you answered in a whisper, starting to walk toward him.

He quickly closed the gap between the two of you, wrapping his arms around your waist and burying his face in your hair. In that moment, you felt nothing but secure and loved, like he was your drug and your withdrawal had made you empty, but since he was here, you were no longer without meaning.

Warm tears began to slip down your face as you looked up at your husband, placing a soft hand on his cheek and watching as his eyes fell closed and he leaned against it. “Mon amour.” His words were whispered, but that only made it hit harder than being in his arms after two years did.

His warm hands pushed you closer until you were pressed against his chest and looking up at him. When you looked down at his lips, he immediately took the hint and ducked down, kissing you with so much passion you could’ve passed out.

Your lips molded together, and it felt so desperate, so hungry, you couldn’t stop your fingertips slipping underneath the hem of his shirt and resting against his abdomen. A quick clear of the throat brought you out of your reverie, though, and your lips slowly departed from Gilbert’s.

“As sweet as that was, I must ask,” Alexander looked up at Gil. You placed the side of your face against his chest and sighed happily, knowing this was all real. “You’re married?”

“Oui, Monsieur. Happily. I just haven’t seen her in so long,” Gil’s voice sounded sad, and you could hear the guilt laced within it.

“But you never told us?”

“It never came up. Why do you think I always declined flirting with people? I simply didn’t see ze need,” he shrugged, kissing your head as if to say “I truly stayed faithful, as I had promised.”

“Merci, mon amour,” you whispered, looking back up at him and kissing him once more. “Je t'aime.” [thank you, my love. I love you.]

“Je vous aime plus que tout, mon ange,” he responded. [i love you more than anything, my angel.]

“Hey! I’m standing right here!” Alexander called, crossing his arms.

“My statement still stands, Monsieur Hamilton,” Gilbert chuckled, hearing you giggle as well.

God, he missed you.

#lafayette x reader #daveed diggs #marquis de lafayette #hamilton imagine #daveed diggs x reader #lafayette imagine