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selfship-monster-lover · 1 year

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Hideout

Dinobot snarled as Optimus chastised him. But, Primal was right, he had to go find Lias and bring them back to the base. It isn't safe out in the wilds for such a frail creature, especially with Predacons running about. Every passing second is time wasted that he could be using to track down the human.

"Dinobot, are you listening to me?" Optimus Primal huffs.

"Yes. I need to find Lias and bring them back here."

"And?" Primal crosses his arms.

Dinobot lets out an annoyed sigh, "Apologize to them. Now if you'll leave me be I can actually go find them." He snarls, walking past Optimus and towards the exit.

Optimus raises a brow, "Dinobot?"

Dinobot looks back.

Optimus stares for a second before sighing, "Just remember that Cheetor and I are going to be close by looking for them too, so if you run into any trouble-"

"Mmmm, noted." He growls, then heads out. He shifts to raptor mode once outside and begins to sprint towards the forest, but runs right into Rattrap and trips over him.

"Aye! Watch it!" Rattrap yells, "Oh. figures it's you. Where's the fire choppa face?"

Dinobot growls, "The human has… ran off. I am going out to find them." He says, standing back up.

"Oh is that all?"

Dinobot stops in his tracks and turns to face the smaller mech, "What do you mean 'is that all'?! Look around rodent, it's far too dangerous for Lias to be alone out here!"

"Geesh, calm your scales, they're probably safe and sound in the usual spot." Rattrap says, then covers his mouth with his hands, "Uhhh, I mean-"

Dinobot transforms back into robot mode and picks Rattrap up by the scruff of his neck, "Usual spot?" He snarls, "You know where they are?!"

"Ehhhhhh I mean not exactly, they could be anywhere after all." Rattrap shrugs and lets out a nervous laugh.

Dinobot proceeds to shake Rattrap "RODENT IF YOU ARE WITHHOLDING INFORMATION FROM ME-"

"What's going on? Dinobot, I thought you'd be gone by now?" Optimus interrupts, walking up to the two in his beast mode.

"Rattrap knows where Lias is." Dinobot responds.

"Rattrap is this true?"

"Hey, I never said I knew." Rattrap crosses his arms.

"Rattrap!" Optimus glares at him.

Rattrap flinches, "D'okay okay." He sighs, "There's this cave in the woods near a little creek. They kinda homed the place up a little and hang out there from time to time."

Dinobot snarls again and drops him.

"Hey!"

"Take us there Rattrap." Optimus says.

"Ooough… fine. But they ain't gonna be happy." He mumbles.

The two follow Rattrap as he leads them through a very heavily wooded part of the forest. It's shady and cool there and the smell of fresh water from the creek wafts through the air. There's a small rock and dirt hill in the middle of the woods that's covered in vines and big leaves. Rattrap moves closer and pushes some of the leaves away to reveal a hole that something long ago had dug out.

Dinobot darts in.

The cave is bigger than it appears on the outside. He transforms to robot mode again and treks forth past some rocks towards a flickering light in the short distance. As he grows closer he feels a tightness in his throat. Will they be upset to see him? Perhaps he should have let Optimus go first…

No! Cowards thoughts!

Still, he is the reason they ran off to begin with, they definitely won't be happy to see him.

He begins to think of all the things he could say to them as he approaches the light, but stops in his tracks as he sees them curled up in a pile of blankets made of animal pelts sleeping. The light is a small touch light from the ship, no doubt one that Rattrap helped them get here and set up. Dinobot's optics soften as he sees them laying there peacefully, breathing in and out at a relaxed pace.

"Foolish little creature…" He whispers out.

"Dinobot! There you are." Optimus catches up then looks forward at Lias and smiles, "I'm glad they're safe."

Rattrap follows behind Optimus, huffing as he looks at the ground, "You guys ever wanna slow down for the little guy? My legs aren't as long."

"We should wake them up and bring them back to base." Optimus says, placing a hand on Dinobot's.

Dinobot moves forward, crouching and placing a servo on their shoulder. He says nothing as he gently shakes them awake.

"Mmnm?" They let out, raising up and rubbing their eyes then letting out a little yawn. They blink for a few seconds before turning to see Dinobot a tad closer than he initially wanted to be to them, "Oh."

They sound… disappointed. He supposed he should have expected as much.

"Wait!" Lias jumps up, "What the fuck?!"

Dinobot reels back at their reaction, taking his servo away and standing, towering over them.

Lias looks past him and sees Optimus, "How the hell did you guys-" They look down beside Optimus to see Rattrap and they get a disappointed look.

"Awwe, don't give me that look. They weren't gonna shut up until they knew where you were."

"Speaking of which, Rattrap we're gonna have a talk when we get back to base about keeping this secret from us." Optimus looks down at the rodent and crosses his arms.

"Don't be mad at him, I told him not to tell anyone else about this place." Lias pipes in, trying to defend their friend.

Optimus looks shocked, "Why would you do that?"

"Because I just… wanna be alone sometimes." They respond, looking down and rubbing their right arm.

"Are you senseless?!" Dinobot growls, "It's far too dangerous for you to be on your own!"

Lias stands there, stone faced.

"Ease up choppa face, I was keepin' an eye on 'em!" Rattrap remarks.

"You were?" Optimus asks.

Lias nods, "Yeah, he was. The light has a tracker in it. I normally keep it in my backpack and just take it out here."

Optimus sighs a breath of relief, "Well I'm just glad you're safe. But you really should have told us about this place and let us know where you were going."

Lias doesn't respond, they just look down.

Optimus walks over to them and puts his hand on their shoulder, "Let's get back to the base."

"I don't wanna go." They respond.

He looks over at Dinobot then back to Lias, "Alright. But you can't stay here all by yourself. Dinobot will stay here with you."

Dinobot eyes Optimus suspiciously.

"Rattrap can stay." Lias suggests.

"Sorry but I need Rattrap back at base."

"You do?" Rattrap asks but shuts up when Optimus glares back at him.

"Dinobot can-"

"You could stay." Lias interrupts.

Optimus sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, "I have to go back too. Dinobot will stay and escort you back to base when you're ready to come back." Optimus says in a matter-of-fact tone. Lias backs down and looks at the ground again. Optimus puts his hand on their shoulder and leans in to whisper, "Besides, I think he wants to make up for earlier."

Lias doesn't respond as he smiles and stands back up, "Alright Rattrap, let's go." He begins walking towards the exit.

"You sure they're safe with the pred?" Rattrap remarks. Dinobot growls at him.

"Come on Rattrap." Optimus commands.

Rattrap frowns, "Alright, alright I'm comin'! You better bring my friend back in one piece choppa face!"

Dinobot snorts at him and watches as he runs off to catch up to Optimus. He glances at the human beside him. They don't even attempt to look his way as they start back to the pile of blankets behind the two of them. As they crawl into their little makeshift bed he decides to sit there beside it. They do not face him, but they can still feel his presence.

"You can leave too." They say. Their tone is more of a demand than a suggestion.

He glances back at them, "This is one time I would prefer to follow orders as they have been given."

Lias scoffs.

"I am aware you do not want me here."

"No shit."

He goes silent.

"I've managed just fine here on my own so far."

"Yes. So far. But what happens when 'so far' is far gone?"

"Does it matter?"

Dinobot blinks in surprise then shifts to face them, "What?"

"I don't care what happens to me anymore." They respond. Dinobot can see them slightly tremble under the cover.

Dinobot reaches out to put his servo on their arm but stops just above it, hesitating to touch them before bringing his hand back to his side. He contemplates what he should say next before swallowing his pride, "I apologize."

Lias doesn't respond.

"I did not realize that you took such statements to heart." He lets out a low, growling sigh, "But putting yourself in danger without warning is not the way to go about this."

They wrap themself up further in the cover so that it's almost over their head.

"Oh for- Acting so recklessly and rushing off by yourself is not a show of strength!"

"You're one to talk." They mumble from under the covers.

He snarls then pinches the bridge of his nose, "What do you think would happen if a Predacon stumbled upon this place? Do you think they would spare you?"

"Any predacon with more than an ounce of intelligence would take me captive as a bargaining chip towards the maximals."

"Do you know how many of my former companions only have an ounce of intelligence?"

Lias smiles and fails to stifle a laugh.

Dinobot's lips quirk at the sound, "Do not run off again without telling at least Primal where you are going."

"...Fine."

A silence falls over the two. Dinobot listens as they shift around behind him. He perks up when he feels their finger jab in his back. He looks back to see Lias shoving one of the pelts towards him. His lips quirk to a small smile as he takes it and wraps it around himself. He then clears his throat.

"So… Rattrap helped you set this place up, correct?"

"Yeah." They respond sleepily.

"Was he the only one who knew of this place?"

"Yeah." They respond again, voice quieter than before.

A pang of sadness hits and he feels like his chest is tightening, as if his torso is about to squeeze his spark into nothingness. He knows it shouldn't bother him, but it cements the reality that he really doesn't know much about them. Then he wonders why he wants to know so much about them…

He looks over his shoulder in silence. They're still faced away from him, but he's noticed their breathing has evened into the same pattern as before. He quietly changes back to raptor mode and curls up under the pelt they handed him beside their little bed and facing them. He knows well enough that even if he drifts off, he's a light enough sleeper to awaken in case of an emergency, but for now, he'll evade sleep to watch over the human as Primal commanded.

#elias.txt #self ship #self shipping #selfship #selfshipping #been sitting on this one for a while might make a whole series idk #my writing

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scary-lasagna · 3 years

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What if Yan EJ's SO was secretly half demon? But what they are was incredibly stupid 😂. Like what if they were a half bunny or cat demon? They look and smell completely human, until he stresses them out one day. When he stress them out they turn into a fluffy bunny or kitty with tiny demon horns. SO is a cute little half demon.

Eyeless Jack

Oh this poor eyeless demon boi.

He thinks you've disappeared.

Jack finally made you so angry, so desperate to get away from him that you've managed to vanish into thin air.

He drops to his knees, ignoring the pain from falling at such a height, and holds his head in his hands.

But,

A tiny...adorable little paw starts to claw his pants, attempting to kill him to the best of its ability.

And only a few feet away rest your limp clothes on the floor.

No! It can't be!

"Oh Hell, what have I done?!"

He's managed to turn you into a puff of fur! But wait, it's more than fur. You have tiny paws, too! And looking closer, Jack can see a small set of ears and a cute pink nose.

He holds your tiny form, cradling you in his large and chilly hands.

With a wobbly frown, he apologizes to the utmost sincerity, "My love, I am so sorry for turning you into a small rat. I-"

You were shocked so hard back into your usual form, you surprised yourself."A RAT?!"

"[Y/N]! YOU'RE BACK!"

"Y o u t h o u g h t I w a s a r a t."

"Y-You weren't?"

" N O !"

Yan!Eyeless Jack (cause apparently Kitty can't read)

It was the first time you've managed to catch him off guard.

Jack was in the middle of having fun, presenting 7 of his rotten flesh-smelling tongues mere inches from your face before you just...weren't there anymore.

Which seemed impossible, yes. He would've felt you leave the bed, had he the eyes to blink to miss you diving out of his sight.

But looking down where your clothes reside, he sees a very tiny, a small, and dare he say, cute fluffball shaking beneath his towering form.

"Well, aren't you adorable?" Jack mock-coos as picks you up by the scruff, and if you had been a real rodent, you would've died of shock by now. "I think I'll just have to make accommodations for you."

You could easily escape by slipping through the holes in the walls, or eating your way through the door while he's hunting.

So, Jack (not so gently) stuffs you in a horrifyingly smelling shoebox until he can figure out what to do with you.

If he can't find a cage, you'll do as a small snack for lunch.

#heck #kitty did a whoopsie but decided to keep it #yandere #eyeless jack #creepypasta #creepypasta headcanon #creepypasta x reader #creepypasta blog #eyeless jack x reader

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iridecsense · 6 years

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parallels – m.

|↫ previous | | forwards ↬|

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

- Chapter Two -

✧ 𝔭𝔢𝔠𝔲𝔩𝔦𝔞𝔯 ✧

✉ summary: the one where you nurse and care for an injured creature you have never encountered before after saving it from dangerous men.

✉ word count: 2k

✉ pairing: newt scamander | muggle!reader

✉ genre: action, adventure, fantasy, fiction, romance

✉ warnings: brief references to sex, brief violence

✉ author’s note: enjoy. :)

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

You had been running up and down the streets of New York for what seemed like hours and yet there was still no sign of Sherlock.

“Oh, Sherlock,” you fret. “I do hope you haven’t gone too far.” You hastily wander down the busy sidewalk in search of your beloved companion.

You had only been searching for about forty minutes, but you and Sherlock were never separated for long periods of time.

Your stomach was in knots, and your mind continued to conjure up the worst possible scenarios: ‘What if he was taken by the dog catcher and thrown into the pound? What if someone hit him with their automobile? What if he ran into strays and got mauled?’

Your thoughts went on like this. You mentally curse at that man. Who even was he? What was he? You try your best not to think about the past occurrence of events because you thought you’d go mad by reliving it. You even tried recalling the events aloud and you definitely sounded mad. You focus on finding Sherlock because he is what matters the most; not the bank, not that strange mole-rat, and certainly not that odd man.

You walk past an alley when you hear a commotion echo off the walls.

“Come here, you mangy mutt! Will somebody get that rat outta the dishwasher?” You hear a heavy Brooklyn accent from outside the alleyway.

You turn the corner to enter the dank alley and see light pour from an open door. You hear barking and the sound of glass breaking and pots dropping. You run up to the door and peek your head around the door’s frame.

You watch a well-dressed chef and waiters scramble around what you assumed was once a very nice restaurant kitchen. The men fumble and slide across slippery floors in attempts to catch the nuisance that had wandered into their workplace unwelcome, and with company. Your eyes widen as you spot a familiar curly patch of caramel hair.

“Sherlock,” you call. The distracted dog’s head perks up at the sound of your voice and turns in your direction. Your voice also caught the attention of another furry animal.

A chef grabbed the distracted creature roughly by the scruff of its neck. The other men throw cooking pots and pans at Sherlock, who expertly dodges them as he runs to your side.

“Please stop,” you plead, your heart aching at the terrible treatment of the black-haired beast. The chef looks between the varmint in his hands, to your figure in the door.

“Do these pests belong to you, Lady?” He asks. You look at the creature in his hands who stared at you with scared, beady, black eyes. You nod. “Yes, they both belong to me.” You hold out your hand for the man to give It to you.

The taller man smirked as he walked over to you and held the troublemaker above your head as an insult to your height. “And what’re you gonna do for me in return for your rat, Dollface?” He asks, suggestively licking his lips.

Your face contorts in disgust and you knee the revolting man in the groin. He immediately releases the critter onto the ground. It fell ungracefully onto the stone street. The mole-like creature scurries past your feet and down the alley. You turn on your heels and fled the scene with it, ignoring the curses that were directed your way.

Once you were far enough you leaned against the wall of a building to catch your breath. You thought you had done enough running today to last you a year. You feel Sherlock nudge your knee with his nose. You kneel down to look at him.

“Don’t give me that,” you tell him sternly. “You had me runnin’ up and down all of New York trying to fetch you! I outta put you on a leash like a pup!” Sherlock whimpers and nuzzles your face; it was his way of apologizing to you. Your roll your eyes.

You bring your arms around him and kiss the top of his head. Sherlock wags his tail happily and greedily licks your face. You burst into a fit of giggles and try to calm him down.

“That is so unfair,” you complain between chuckles. “You know I can’t stay mad at you for long.” Sherlock barks innocently.

Your attention turns from your annoyingly charming dog to the creature hiding behind him.

“Why hello there.” You smile softly as the rodent hesitantly inched closer to you and your dog. You noticed that It limped as it got closer, holding its left hind leg above the ground. Your heart ached at the sight.

“Oh you poor dear,” You breathed. The creature hung it’s head low as if it were surrendering to you. You recognized the demeanor from your experience with animals. It was asking for your help.

You carefully take the injured animal into your hands and cradled it on it’s back in the crook of your arm. The creature doesn’t resist and nestles comfortably in the warmth of your jacket.

You stand to your feet and whistle at Sherlock, who stands on all fours at the sound. “Come on Sher,” you sigh. “Let’s take this ‘lil guy on home with us.”

You end up having to travel an hour’s worth to get back to your apartment building. It was already early evening and you wondered how time could have flown by so fast. You couldn’t explain the wave of relief that washed over your aching body once you entered your apartment. Sherlock must have felt the same, as he immediately ran to lay his bed that was placed adjacent to the fireplace.

You feel the warmth of your large, scaly friend slither between your aching feet.

“Hello Lucy,” you say as you step over her long body and skillfully remove your hat, jacket, and shoes with the injured creature still in your hand.

You hang your jacket and hat on the coat rack and kick your shoes off in some corner, promising to put them in their proper place later. You look at the creature that you cradled in your arms.

“Poor lil’ Beastie,” you coo. “Got yourself all banged up causing trouble.” You sit on your comfortable pink couch and carefully place It on the coffee table next to the tray of tea that you had left unkept in your hurry to get to the zoo.

“Bet you’ll think twice before running off to places you ain’t got no business bein’ in.” You gently pet the beast on its head. You smile as the adorable creature leaned into your warm hand.

“Now,” you ponder. “What are we gonna do ‘bout that leg of your’s sweetheart?”

You think for a moment before standing to your feet. You pick up the tray of tea and carry it to the kitchen. You quickly clean the cups and pot and set them out to dry. You return to the living room to find Lucy dangerously eying your guest. “Lucy!” The iridescent serpent trained its blue eyes on you.

“You know better than to eat our guests! Not every small, furry rodent that comes in this apartment is your dinner!” Lucy hissed and moved away from her desired snack to slither her way into your room, most likely to lay on your bed.

You shake your head and sigh, making your way to the fireplace.

“She really isn’t all bad, I promise,” you say to your new friend, as you place a log in the pit. “She’s just a glutton is all. Really, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t’ve fed her so much growing up. In my defense though, she looks absolutely adorable when she begs for food.”

You light a match and throw it into the pit, the log slowly became engulfed in flames. You shiver in satisfaction at the wave of warmth. “That’s much better isn’t it?” You turn back to your patient who still lay on your coffee table.

“Don’t worry, Beastie,” you smile. You walk over to a shelf that stood next to your bay window. “I know just how to fix you up.”

You take a walnut wood chest from the top shelf and return to your couch. You place it next to the defenseless creature on the coffee table and open it. Inside were various medicinal vials, tools, bandages, and gauze. You pull out a magnifying glass.

“Will you let me take a look at it?” The desperate creature lay on its back and raised its injured leg in the air for you to examine. “Thank you.” You hover the magnifying glass to look at the damage. You tsk at what you saw. “Oh, dear,” you say.

The creature had managed to cut its paw on some broken glass. There were still small shards left inside of his leg and you wondered how deep it was. You pray it wasn’t deep enough for you to have to stitch it up. This wasn’t going to be easy to fix, but you could manage. You look into the creature's eyes who stared at you expectantly.

“Well,” you start. “The bad news is, you cut up your leg pretty bad there Mister.” The creature falters at the news. “But,” you interject. “The good news is that it’s nothing a skilled healer like me can’t fix.” The beast’s eyes seemed to light up at your words. You chuckled at the reaction.

“You know you are an odd ‘lil fella. I don’t think I've ever seen an animal like you before.”

You reach into the chest and pull out a vial that contained a light pink liquid. You took a saltine from the chest as well and carefully put two drops on its surface. “I think I will call you Watson since you and Sherlock make a great team.” The beast squeaks in—what you hope was—approval at the name.

You hand the saturated saltine for Watson to take. His tiny paws grab the cracker from your fingers. He looks at it and stuffs it into its pouch. You laugh and grab the saltine and hand it back to him.

“You’re supposed to eat it, silly. It will make you sleep while I work on your paw.”

Watson sniffed the cracker and experimentally took a bite. Finally satisfied by the food, he shoved it into his mouth gladly. You watched as he got visibly drowsy. His black marble eyes were growing weak and eventually, the mischievous beast fell asleep on his back in no less than thirty seconds. You smiled at the result. “Just like a Charm.”

You dug into your health kit and pulled out your suture tools. It was actually quite convenient. You had been caring for and healing animals for so long, you had stitched up enough wounds to make an adequate assistant surgeon; anyone else and the poor creature would have been left out to die, or worse—killed. Yes, you were quite glad you had found him when you did.

You put your glasses on in order to clearly examine your handy work. You tried to be as careful as possible on Watson’s paw, cleaning and threading the wound together slowly and delicately. There were a few times where he would twitch in his sleep, in which you would apologize. During your procedure, you heard the thundering of lighting from behind you. You turned around to see that the beginnings of a storm brewed outside. You smiled. You enjoyed storms.

You found the pitter-patter of the rain on the window calming, and it helped you focus on the task at hand. It had taken about an hour and a half to get all the remaining glass out of his wound, disinfect it, and stitch it up. Once you were content with your work, you let out a sigh of relief and removed your glasses. You stare at the sleeping creature as he slept. What a peculiar creature indeed.

Almost as peculiar as the man whom he belonged to.

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

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artificialqueens · 6 years

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Black Leather Chapter 2 {biadore} - imafuckinglibra

Meow moew. Since the anon gave the thumbs up and you guys seemed to like it here’s another chapter. You ever wonder what really went on in the show between their little gazes and shit? Well here it is bitches. I have nothing else to say. K bye.

Dela ran into the workroom with a jump, kicking his leg into the air as Roy followed close behind.

“Wha-wha wha wha.” He sang in a semi-cheerful but still his usual grumpy self manner, after linking with Danny 2 days ago he was riding a high like no other.

Because they couldn’t see each other when they weren’t filming he hadn’t seen Danny again since. But the minute they got into the bus together and he saw that smile he was on top of the world.

He decided to dress as casual yet nicely as possible to look good for his new love. And he did look good in his black and white striped tank too and dark blue jeans rolled up at the bottom, if he does say so himself.

He couldn’t help grinning brightly when Danny followed behind him asking “What size?” In a nasally chola voice.

“There’s 6 of us!” Dela shouted followed by Shane entering with a high pitched “Yay!”

When they got to the table, standing around it in their usual spots with Danny and Roy at opposite ends he noticed Danny ogling him. He only noticed because he was watching Danny too.

He looked incredibly adorable, no pun intended, in his black tank, grey knee length jean shorts and black boots with the shin length white socks poking out.

“You look nice.” Roy mouthed in his direction, grinning widely at the way Danny quickly looked down blushing. The younger awkwardly mumbled something to himself about Roy looking nice too that nobody seemed to pick up.

“So what’s next?” Dela asked and Darienne made a joke about them doing magic.

This prompted Shane to start telling a story about being a ‘glamorous assistant’ once while Joslyn wrapped a disgustingly bright colored shawl around his head.

“…I was in such a contorted position that my right testicle popped out entirely.” Shane widened his eyes to emphasize how ridiculous the story was.

“Why do you have a rat testicle?” Dela asked looking very confused and slightly concerned for whichever rodent Shane had left scrotumless.

“My RIGHT testicle.” Shane clarified and the room erupted in laughter.

The loud siren signaling the new shemail with their cryptic clue for the next challenge went off ending their conversation.

“Oh! Thank god.” He groaned tilting his head back. Grateful to get away from the topic of rodent testicles.

Ooooh girl!

Dearly beloved…

From the corners of his eye he could see Danny’s displeased expression as he stood with his arms crossed and his leg nervously shaking.

He himself was standing between Shane and Joslyn with his arm resting on Joslyn’s shoulder. His mouth involuntarily dropping open at the marriage themed shemail.

The universe could sometimes be a cruel, unforgiving bitch and today was one of them. Of course the first shemail they got after linking would be something wedding related.

If this show wasn’t so intricately thought out months in advance he’d had sworn Ru and the production team were pulling some kind of bad prank on them.

Wait…Did RuPaul know? Did any of the producers or even the other queens know?

We’re gathered here in the presence of…yes gawd.

Suddenly it was if he could hear Danny’s thought as vividly as his own. With an open mouth he tilted his head in disbelief and confusion when Danny’s voice popped into his head saying some shady shit about Langanja.

Say I do…

‘I do.’ He heard Danny’s voice in his mind again and the sudden urge to smack his birthmark hit him. It was the only alternative to smacking his soulmate and scolding him for his loud thinking.

But he knew slapping his chest like a disgruntled cave man wouldn’t exactly read very well on camera or even to his peers. So he resisted the temptation and continued listening to the shemail.

“Uh oh.” He pursed his lips when Ru entered the room. He disregarded the cameras for a minute and gave the tall queen a very serious, shady glare.

Examining his every move in deep concentration to try and figure out if he knew about their linking.

Ru greeted the girls and they all neatly lined up like they did for every mini challenge. Why he and Danny had to be so far apart was an unnecessary mystery of the competition he now hated.

Even though they were only separated by three people, well Darienne counted for two, he could feel the pulling in his chest. Not bad enough that he was in pain like most days but still not pleasant.

He tried faking the biggest cheshire cat grin he could to play off the discomfort, but when he felt Danny’s heart flutter at the mention of marriage equality it made his flutter too.

“Everybody say love.”

“Love!” The girls chimed in unison and he could feel Danny’s eyes on him when they did.

Danny’s own uneasiness faded when he said the word, Roy could tell by the way his soulmate’s giddiness was easing his tension too. Despite all the bad of linking, like the first night when the rush of all Danny’s angst from his teen years overwhelmed him, being linked had it’s perks.

Like now for example.

It was nice getting to feel Danny’s gentle heart lighting up. His partner’s happiness made him happy.

“Oh scruff pit crew!” Roy singsonged.

The queen’s doing their usual little woofing at the nakes men entering. Roy decided to throw a little flair in and with his hands in front of his chest like little puppy paws he did his barking in the deepest voice he could muster.

Once the challenge was announced and Ru gave them the go the girls sped off. Danny with his gangly long legs of course was the fastest by a landslide. Roy meanwhile took his time half jogging over to the rack of disgusting nude body suits that hung in a row.

The mini challenge had left them all looking like a hot mess so afterwards they were promptly escorted to the bathroom to clean up.

Who came up with this shit anyway? Twerks of art? Really? It was a lot of fun though Roy had to admit that much and he did win which was a neat little bonus.

The production really went all out in spoiling their contestants didn’t they? A small bathroom with maybe, if you’re pushing it, three working stalls. Classy.

Shane and Danny had the most paint on them so by the time the others were done they weren’t even halfway. Roy took his time cleaning his face so he could wait around Danny a little longer and keep him and Shane company.

Eventually when it was just the three of them he couldn’t restrain his hands from moving towards Danny’s face, his thumbs brushing Danny’s eyebrows down. What remained of them anyway.

“Your baby brows are really fucking cute you know that?” He softly smiled, forgetting Shane was with them. But who cares anyway? He knew he could trust his friend. He was a cunt but a reliable one.

“Shut up!” Danny playfully whined giving his shoulder a light shove. “Yours aren’t too bad either. This is cute.” He tilted his head. His index finger tracing the little cut at the base of his right eyebrow.

“That’s where I’ve seen it!” Shane suddenly shouted. “When I helped you into that hideous shin length gown! The one with the low cleavage…ooh.”

“Birth mark.” Roy clarified for Danny when he saw the confusion in his eyes. Pulling the very low cut tank top Danny wore down a bit further to tap the moon shaped fleck.

“Oh. Party.” Danny shrugged it off and gave the hand poking him a little slap.

“I won’t tell anyone.” Shane winked at Roy who mouthed ‘thank you’ in return.

“We’re not keeping it a secret or anything.” Danny nervously added.

“I know?” Shane brushed his high pitched tone off and continued rubbing the yellow and purple paint out of his ear. Paint and small nooks never work out well.

“I mean we have nothing to hide right?” His wide eyed gaze flicked back to Roy.

“Calm down there spazzy you’re making me feel all…twitchy.” Roy shivered and gave Danny’s ass a small pat.

“About the whole feeling each others emotions, what’s its like? Can you actually feel everything he does?” Shane took a break to rinse out the stained cloth he was using and look at Roy waiting for an answer.

“I don’t know about you.” Roy handed Danny another make up wipe. “But I mean for me, it’s like…”

“Like when you’re in a dark room.” Danny finished his sentence.

“Yeah exactly…here.” He saw Danny was doing a shitty job cleaning the paint off behind his neck so he took the wipe and did it himself. “You know when the lights are off and you can make out the shapes and sometimes if your eyes have adjusted you can kind of see things but not exactly. It’s all pretty muffled but yeah we can feel ‘em.”

Danny nodded, giving him a quick peck on the cheek as a thank you for helping him.

“And I’ve always been pretty in tune with like, feeling peoples energies and stuff but this is pretty heavy duty shit.” With his face now clean and Roy helping him clean the spots he missed he rested his head against the shorter man’s shoulder. Peeking into his shirt to smile at the matching mark on his chest.

“Guess that’s why it’s called a gut feeling right?” Roy thought out loud. “When you were nervous for your black and white runway but you were acting so cunty. I knew you weren’t really feeling it because I got this almost…sinking feeling in my stomach. You know what I mean? Even though I was fucking confident about ours I could still feel your nerves making me nervous. And we weren’t even fucking linked yet, how that work?”

“Sounds exhausting.” Shane pouted.

“It actually feels super natural.” Danny tilted his head down to kiss Roy’s chest.

“It does. Although…earlier I could hear your thinking?” Roy remembered how vividly he could hear Danny’s snide remark about Laganja.

Before Danny had time to give an explanation a crew member came in to call them back into the workroom.

Since Roy had won the ridiculous mini challenge he had the privilege of assigning the brides to the queens.

Their main challenge this week, they thought, was to get brides ready for their wedding. What they didn’t know was that they actually had to turn their galant grooms into the blushing brides instead.

He had decided on playing it as fair as possible and assigned each person with a bride that looked similar to the queen’s look or personality. If he had known they’d be dragging up their grooms however he might’ve gone a completely different route.

What’s done is done I guess.

Roy still felt fairly secure-ish in his pairings despite the new twist right up until he saw Danny hunching over in despair hiding his face in his palms. His bride next to him making matters worse when she let out an “Oh no!”

He shook the uncertainty from his head and eased up a little once he was sitting down with his couple and discovered that he had actually picked the perfect pair for himself. They seemed open to just about every suggestion he made which got him really excited.

The bride even said she wanted a dominant eye AND a dominant lip. This was going to be fucking perfect and a whole lot of fun.

“Oh! You are my kinda girl Eddie!” His voice got higher with excitement.

As he was writing her comment about makeup down he lifted his head ever so slightly and caught Danny mid stare. The younger smiling at him biting his lip made him smile too. Classic giddy school girl looking at her crush moment.

“Busted.” He mouthed in his direction with his brows raised.

Danny stuck his tongue out at him and both resumed their consultations. Okay so he didn’t fuck this up too bad for him, that’s comforting to know.

“Well just so you know I’m not gonna hit on you because I’m not really recruiting. There’s enough gays in this world so…and now that they can get married you know it’s only gonna be a mess.” He joked with his groom…bride? Whatever, while they were working on snipping him some hip pads.

Following his comment the conversation turned to marriage equality and he soon discovered that his partner, surprisingly enough, was actually a really nice guy. More surprisingly that he had made a friend in this stranger.

Him. Roy Haylock. Friend.

His bride, Alex, was easy to talk to and seemed open minded and easy going enough that they just naturally clicked. They continued talking about Holland’s views on homosexuality and acceptance and somehow, somewhere along the lines soulmates came up.

He felt a bit hesitant to open up about Danny and being newly linked, mostly because they were being watched under such a strict magnifying glass that he didn’t know what the people around them would catch onto.

He didn’t even know if soulmates were allowed to compete together, Alaska and Sharon almost competing popping up in his mind, so he avoided mentioning his or even thinking of him.

His body betrayed him slightly though when Danny left the room for a smoke break. The sudden absence of his young lover sent the burning in his chest ablaze.

Automatically when Danny was out the building his hand reached for the little crescent moon shaped fleck on his sternum. Taking a deep inhale to try and push back some of the queasiness building in his throat.

“You okay there?” Alex must’ve picked up on the dip in his energy.

“Yeah I just need some water..heartburn I guess. Us old folk you know how it is.” He lied but he could tell he wasn’t buying it.

“A little trick I found that works is keeping a little like trinket or something of hers on me at all times. Just the reminder of them on you will help, trust me.” He whispered digging something out of his jean pocket.

It was two small leather bands braided together to form a bracelet with a locket. Probably with his fiancé’s photo inside but he didn’t want to be nosey and poke around.

“I’ll remember that.” He made a mental note taking a big swig from his water bottle under the table.

Alex held the big circular piece of foam he was working on up in front of their faces pretending to ask if he did a good job. Leaning in close to Roy as if he was examining it from a different angle. “So…which one? I won’t tell.”

Roy followed his lead showing some imaginary flaws on the padding. “Ol’ smokey.”

“Ah…hold tight.” He padded Roy’s shoulder and went up to a crew member, asking to be excused for a smoke break.

‘Didn’t even know he smo…oh no.’ Roy caught on to what he was doing. He was going to talk to Danny.

Fuck!

Roy debated running after but since he doesn’t smoke that would look too suspicious.

He returned his focus to drawing more guidelines on the foam for Alex to cut, distracting himself any way possible.

His distraction tactic apparently worked so well he didn’t even notice Alex coming back in a few minutes later. He did however notice when Danny had come back because the way the tightness in his chest had significantly subsided.

“Hold on to this.” Alex discreetly slipped a small piece of something into Roy’s back pocket. Hiding it by casually sliding his hand up to Roy’s back to pat it. “Back to work.”

He wanted to make a joke about Alex having done this before with something along the lines of drugs but knew if he acknowledged it they’d be caught. Thus defeating the purpose of being sneaky.

His curiosity eventually getting the better of him he reached back into his jean’s pocket finding a small piece of cotton fabric between his fingers. He rolled it around while examining Danny from head to toe trying to piece together what it could be.

In all honesty whatever it was it worked. Having his little piece of Danny had a calming effect on him. Normally in these situations where they were on opposite ends of the room he’d feel a tight, almost pulling, sensation in his chest.

But now he oddly enough felt, fine. The pulling was still there, he could feel it on Danny’s end as well, but it wasn’t that intense. It was pretty manageable actually.

It suddenly made sense to him why his dad had always kept one of his mother’s rings around his neck. He made a mental note to give Danny something similar of his as well.

They resumed giving their pale foam its ‘hair cut’ just casually chatting about Alex’s future wife. How they met, when they linked all that fun jazz and he couldn’t help but wonder if he sounded that tranquil talking about his own love.

Speak of the devil. He heard a loud thud from somewhere in the room. When all the girls looked up from their work in the direction of the sound they spotted a bright beet red Danny jumping up from the ground.

“What was that?” He asked with a chuckle while Dela and Shane were hanging over each other laughing their asses off.

“My shirt.” Danny lied in high pitched tone, the same one he used whenever he was lying.

‘Dead giveaway, moron.’ Roy scolded in his head.

Roy joined in with the rest of the room laughing at his terrible lying. “That sounded louder than a shirt, bitch.”

“…I was in it…” He nonchalantly admitted before his giggles got the better of him.

Everyone was back to being hard at work on constructing their ‘bridal wear’ for the main stage presentation.

Roy knew this would be a breeze for him, unlike the last challenge that he had gone into with misguided confidence he was genuinely sure he’d win this.

Making and designing clothes had been his thing since he was a kid so he definitely had this in the bag. He could make a dress in probably 3 minutes flat so making a simple wedding gown would be a cinch. Especially now that he and Alex had clicked and were working well together.

While he was hand stitching something onto his white satin fabric, easily adding intricate detailing with no effort at all, he noticed his love struggling.

“I hate it!” Danny sitting on the ground in front of him whined while he pinned something to the mannequin. “B…I need to make a skirt.”

He lifted his head from his stitching to see Danny pouting at him. He leaned forward across his table to see how bad It was and if he could help in any way.

“I just don’t know how to do it.” Danny was on his knees his with his big doe eyes looking up at Roy. His attempt at a peach skirt held in place with his thumb.

“Okay. So now you trying to put an overskirt right?” Since this was his forte why not help him out? The other’s couldn’t really question his motives for it since he’s helped them out so much in the past as well.

Danny nodded biting his cheek with a hint of a smile.

“Well pin it on there first and see how it looks.” He instructed with his tone soft and caring.

Danny and his bride went to work placing the patterned lace over skirt as he had told them to. Not needing to pay much attention to his work with muscle memory taking over he continued his stitching. Keeping an eye on Danny’s progress.

He wanted him to do good on this challenge not just because of the obvious reason but because he wanted the young queen to prove to the judges and the others that he deserved to be there. Which he did.

Granted the obvious reason did play a big part. Losing Danny this close to the end and right after they linked would literally be soul crushing.

He didn’t know if his heart would be able to survive being apart from him. Even just the distance of being in a different hotel room than him had taken it’s toll.

The day they had to spend apart was so tough on his body that he was curled up in agony the entire time, occasionally even throwing up because of it.

Soulmates weren’t supposed to be apart too much after they’d linked. It usually ended in pretty severe repercussions to their systems.

There’s a reason it’s called heartbreak for fucks sake. Many cases have been reported that after one soulmate dies their partner was soon to follow from their heart giving in.

Something about the muscles in the organ tearing from what it had to endure being separated. It’s what caused the searing pain, that he had attributed to heartburn, whenever they weren’t together. Long term separation or after death, without their soulmates, the remaining partner’s tendons in their heart would become completely shredded.

“Like that?” Danny asked still on his knees, proudly showing Roy what he had done with a big open mouth smile.

“Yeah.” Roy nodded.

Danny obviously wasn’t as confident as he put on though. He started loudly laughing with a very fake, nervous smile on his face. He looked like some psychotic movie character honestly.

“What are you tryna do?” Roy asked trying not to laugh at his idiotic young lover even though he could sense his panic. He couldn’t help himself, regardless of his smile being fake as fuck it was goddamn adorable. “You gonna have it open on the side?” He returned to being somewhat serious.

Danny defeatedly let go of his dress and threw his hand over his face. His head turned awa avoiding Roy’s gaze.

“I’m asking.”

He could feel Danny’s energy tank. With his hand still on his cheek he looked back at Roy with a very worried expression. “I dont know…”

Roy lifted his eyebrows in uncertainty halting the stitching his hands were still working on. ‘Baby…’ He thought to himself. ‘I don’t know how to help you…’

“Oh my god!” Danny cried getting up to attempt fixing his garment.

“Well you got this, bitch. C’mon.” He tried reassuring him and resumed the work on his own bride’s outfit.

Deliberation and untucked had both taken a severe toll on Bianca, even more so on Adore by the feel of it.

Bianca could feel every agonizing moment of self loathing, anxiety and the longing for her mom. Only heightened after Bonnie’s call in untucked. It was slowly eating her up inside, and this was only the parts of it Bianca could feel.

What Adore must’ve been really going through had to be about a 100 times worse. All she wanted to do was jump over Joslyn and grab hold of her love to tell her everything would be okay.

During their brides’ vows Bianca kept an eye on Adore and the way the younger queen was standing with a sombre expression and her hands clasped tightly in front of her chest.

Listening to the couples declare their love on the main stage made Bianca realize that she wanted to be them. She wanted to be up their with Adore instead of watching by the sidelines. To love and to hold in sickness and in health, tucked and untucked.

On their way out of the gold bar Bianca had stopped to grab Adore’s hand, giving it a tight squeeze to let her know everything would be okay - that she would be okay.

And who knows maybe it worked. The younger queen had put on another killer lip sync performance and sent Joslyn home. Thank god. She loved Joslyn and her, for lack of a better word, simple ways, but she loved her Adore more. With all her heart in fact.

“Top 5!” Courtney sang behind Darienne when they entered the workroom.

Adore and Bianca had followed them in last behind the rest of the pact since they had others matters to attend to first. They had cornered the AD before they were ordered to enter the workroom and explained their unavoidable situation.

They came to an agreement that suited all fairly quickly and pain free. They had gone up to him with an already well thought out plan, at least Bianca did, that they knew he couldn’t reject so they weren’t really expecting him to put up much of a fight. Still nice to know more drama was avoided though.

Bianca, being the more level headed responsible one, had brought up the fact that there were only two episodes left aka one week of filming.

They weren’t asking for special treatment or any benefits the other queens wouldn’t be getting, they weren’t even asking to share a hotel room.

All they wanted was to keep their relationship off the show. They’d be completely professional when cameras were rolling with the understanding that the crew would allow them to be affectionate whenever they weren’t, like when they were dedragging or getting mic’d for example.

In return they’d let them show whatever footage they did have at the finale and make a grand spectacle of it all if they wanted to.

Duncan, the AD, agreed to this on the terms that what they would end up showing when it aired would be tiny moments of them maybe looking at each other or Bianca being helpful. Nothing too obvious that they were an item but enough that would lend itself to fan speculation. Just for the ratings.

If they did catch anything more on film that was too telling they’d simply edit it out.

This seemed fair enough so the pair happily agreed and rejoined the others to film the walk in and Adore’s mirror cleaning.

“Congratulations to you young lady!” Dela congratulated a cheerful Adore. Probably a little too cheerful for someone who just lip synced but oh well.

Whenever Adore was happy, Bianca was happy…in theory. Something felt wrong, about Adore maybe? She couldn’t place her finger on it but something was up.

‘Right…linked.’ Bianca thought releasing a deep sigh. She still wasn’t use to feeling someone else’s moods and emotions. She was happy enough, certainly not unhappy about winning the challenge, but Adore was a different story.

Bianca was trapped in a pitch black room again and her eyes were having difficulties adjusting. She could make out an uneasy tension coming from her soulmate but she couldn’t place exactly what it was or why she was feeling that way.

“I’m the new Trinity!” Adore jokingly snarled puffing her arms out like a big buff wrestler making the girls laugh.

“You turned out that lip sync even though when you took of your shoes you looked a little like the girl from The Grudge.”

“Yeah I did.” Adore agreed with Dela’s comment.

Bianca couldn’t help still wallowing silently in a low mood as she watched Adore’s bantering with Dela. She made it look so effortless, as if this was genuine joy instead of a mask hiding a scared little boy. When Adore turned to her and spotted her frown her smile fell.

‘Shit. Busted.’

Before either could say anything Dela jumped in congratulating Bianca on her win.

”Thank you my love.” She followed Adore’s example and picked up her energy a bit. “I will send all of you a post card from Hawaii…because remember you’re my sisters.” She sang in her fakest voice doing her go to ‘smiling and then fake disgusted face’ trick.

One or two girls laughed at her expression but Adore’s face lit up, probably at the mention of Hawaii. She felt a sudden glowy feeling wash over her body. Yep…definitely Hawaii.

“Can I come with?” She excitedly asked making Bianca laugh. There was honestly nothing like seeing Adore’s idiotic face so bright, but that was probably going to be one of the moments cut thanks to their new arrangement.

Either Courtney didn’t notice their moment or she just decided to ignore it but she changed the subject to Darienne’s potty mouth.

Bianca opted to stay out of the conversation since it was just basically Darienne, the shady elephant, being shady. Shocking.

She spotted Adore rolling her eyes like an obnoxious bored teenager during Darriene’s comments and couldn’t help but snorting at her childish manners.

Being completely over it despite Adore’s silliness lifting her spirits Bianca swiftly ended their conversation. “Okay well, having my balls shoved up my ass is fun and all but can we fucking get this shit off?”

“Amen.” Courtney smacked the table and the girls all rose with various degrees of exhausted groans to go dedrag.

Managing to become Roy again in probably a new record speed for Bianca he slumped down onto the grey couch where he had pinned Danny onto a few days ago.

Originally Roy had kept his look for the runway simple enough so that he could blend in with his bride, Alex, and not overshadow him too much or put to much work on himself to finish anything elaborate.

Now however it seemed like the best decision he’s ever made. Less tassels and beads the quicker the dedragging. Thank you Jesus.

He was sitting on the couch distractedly fiddling with the little white handkerchief Alex had slipped into his pocket earlier. The same handkerchief he had gotten for Roy from Danny and the same one Bianca had used on stage in her little crying mother bit.

In spite of the fact that Danny had to stand on the other end of the main stage this small, seemingly unimportant, piece of folded fabric had made it possible for him to remain in control.

When Roy had started feeling the all too familiar gnawing in his chest during Adore’s critiques from having to stand apart so long he felt like following Joslyn’s bride and vomiting in the same bucket. Or passing out, which seemed more likely in that moment.

But while Michelle was saying something shady he quickly pulled out said handkerchief and rubbed it between his fingers. Much like his goddaughter Lola had done as a baby with her blankie.

God he missed Lola.

He couldn’t wait to get back to New York and introduce his favorite little girl to his new favorite little boy. Boy…oh god.

‘13, 14…14!’ Roy quickly did the mental math of their age difference. 14 years. Before he could start worrying about this, quiet frankly, unimportant detail too much his thoughts were interrupted.

“There’s my favorite little chola.” Roy teased when he heard clumpy boots heading his way, already knowing who is is by the sudden surge of butterflies in his chest and the loud stomping.

Danny had kept his face on, same as Roy usually did, which explained why he was done so quickly. Not that he had a lot of anything to take off in all fairness.

Danny took hold of the hand not playing with the fabric and as he sat down sideways on his knees next to Roy he placed it over his shoulder. “Hm…hi.” He half yawned half giggled.

“Hi my love.” Roy gave him a quick kiss drawing him in closer to his body with the hand Danny had so politely draped over himself. “No music today?”

“Uh-uh.” Danny shook his head leaning up for another kiss before tucking his head into Roy’s shoulder.

“Because we had company?” His hand had now moved to the small of Danny’s back. Running it gently up and down his spine feeling the tired young man melting into his embrace.

“Mh-hm.” Danny hummed. He was definitely falling asleep. Which was completely understandable I mean he just had to lip sync for his life a second week in a row.

“You’re a fucking child.” Roy chuckled under his breath. He looked up at Shane when he felt his eyes on them. He had a strange smile plastered across his annoying little face with his bottom lip out and his hands clutched in front of his chest. “Shut up.”

With Danny’s hand drawing lazy patterns on his chest around his birth mark and his head still in Roy’s shoulder the older felt at peace.

The opposite of the panic he thought he’d feel from being so open about their relationship in front of the others, might have been helped by some residual euphoria he was feeling from Danny though.

“Is anyone else seeing this?” Darienne shouted from the other end of the room pointing at the couple.

“It’s sweet let them be.” Dela chimed in in her usual gentle almost motherly voice.

“Yeah!” Shane stomped his foot.

“They look like…”

“Hey!” Roy aggressively snapped in her direction. “If you say one fucking word you nasty cunt so help me!”

“Adore Delano! Bianca Del rio!” Duncan came into the room with 2 other strangers yelling their names loudly. “We need to talk, follow us please.”

#imafuckinglibra #black leather #biadore #bianca del rio #adore delano #soulmate au #tw swearing #rpdr fanfiction #submission #canon compliant #on set fic #s6

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iliketowritefantasygirl · 5 years

Text

Chapter Three

Unedited, the only proof reading it had was via Microsoft Word grammar check, and basically just a mad dash to get words out.

Summary: A fire starts in the forest and Silverkit, Falconpaw, and Sunpaw have to fight to survive.

Word count: 2,564

AN: I had this chapter written down already from a previous NaNoWriMo but I largely rewrote it. There’s only like a grand total of like two paragraphs taken straight from the source.

113 moons after the birth of Cinder and Rune

Excitement rippled through Silverkit as she stalked the two tom apprentices ahead of her. The forest around her was unfamiliar and she couldn’t shake the unfamiliar smell around her, that made her uneasy. But she was finally out of camp and she was going to be useful to the apprentices!

“It’s everywhere,” Sunpaw mentioned, lifting his head and sniffing deeply. Silverkit did the same and noticed he was right.

“I know what this is,” Falconpaw insisted uneasily. “This is fire. And we need to find it.”

A chill ran up Silverkit’s spine. Fire? She thought. He means, the very thing that ravages entire forests. She looked up. The sky was cloudy and gray. It looked as if it were about to rain. There’s no way. It’s not hot enough for fires.

Still, the thought of fire and danger didn’t deter her. Silverkit was going to be a hero. Cats will look to her, instead of spending all their time on her brother.

The two apprentices carried on, with Silverkit close behind them. Their pace was quick and urgent, and it was enough to keep the adrenaline pumping through Silverkit. They still don’t know I’m here!

After arriving in a clearing, the two toms finally stopped. Silverkit stopped right at the edge, her hackles fluffed up from fear. In front of the trio were the bright red flames, climbing ever higher and higher.

“Fire! I knew it! We need to warn the Clan!” Falconpaw cried, turning to run away. Silverkit noticed too late that he was heading straight towards her, and before she could move, he tripped over her, kicking her out of her hiding spot.

“Silverkit, what are you doing out here?” Sunpaw scolded, looking warily between her and the fire. Falconpaw’s hackles were fluffed up as he looked both annoyed and terrified. “You shouldn’t be out of camp at all, much less when there’s a fire raging!”

“I wanna be a hero!” Silverkit insisted defiantly. “I wanted to help you find the fire and go back to camp a hero!”

“That’s it?” Falconpaw demanded, now beginning to look more annoyed than scared. “You’re lucky if you get back to camp at all. And you did this because you wanted some extra attention?”

Silverkit held her tongue. Her ears blushed and she angrily kicked dirt around her paws. “Well then let’s just go back before we’re in too much trouble.”

“Sunpaw! Falconpaw!” The call was coming from Sunpaw's sister, Lunapaw. She approached the group, jumping over an ember. The fire was spreading alarmingly fast. “What are you two doing out here? With Silverkit no less? Didn't you hear about the fire?”

“I’m the one who discovered it!” Falconpaw bristled. “This morning when I woke up. I know the smell of fire. So, I grabbed Sunpaw so that we could find it. This little rodent followed us.”

“Hey!” Silverkit hissed.

“We need to go. Now,” Sunpaw ordered with such urgency that Silverkit forgot what she was even angry about.

“I agree,” Lunapaw meowed, quickly leading them away. “Come on, follow me. Falconpaw, help Silverkit with the jumps, will you?”

A loud ‘crack’ stopped Silverkit in her tracks. Before she even knew what was going on, she saw Sunpaw and Lunapaw bunch their muscles to dart away. Falconpaw slammed his body into hers, causing the two to both go tumbling, as a large singed branch fell in front of them. The branch ends fell apart as they hit the ground, but the bulk of the branch was intact, and with a lurch of horror, Silverkit realized Lunapaw was trapped, with the branch square on her shoulders.

“Lunapaw!” Sunpaw called in alarm, but she didn't reply. He tentatively walked up to her and nudged her, however jumped back and looked up in alarm. “Come on! This entire tree could fall! Follow me!”

Sunpaw led them further into the clearing, careful to avoid the ash and embers littering the forest floor. “Sunpaw, going this way could kill us!” Falconpaw argued, stopping the group. “What about Lunapaw? Why did we leave her?”

“The hill past the creek. It's still our territory,” Sunpaw explained hurriedly, ignoring the last question. He got the group moving again. “The fire won't spread as easily in air and it won't spread across water.”

“There’s no way we can get past that!” Falconpaw insisted, beckoning to the giant flames that engulfed the trees. “We’ll be –” Before he could finish his sentence, he erupted into a violent coughing fit.

“We’re trapped!” Silverkit squealed, causing Falconpaw’s eyes to go wide with panic.

“No! Over here!” Sunpaw called, running towards a small opening where the fire wasn't as tall. Silverkit’s paws tingled.

“Silverkit can’t make the jump,” Falconpaw pointed out.

“I’ll make sure she does. You go first.”

“No, no, no, no way,” Falconpaw hissed. “You’re going first. I’m taller. And I won’t have Silverkit’s life in my paws.”

“Then you go first. Hurry, while the fire is still short,” Sunpaw urged, pushing the couple closer, before they could get a word in edgewise.

Falconpaw bunched his muscles. “Stand back. Get a running start. Aim up,” he explained hurriedly.

Silverkit took a step backwards. Aim up, she reminded herself, and with a running start, she leaped. The fire didn’t touch her, but the flames licked from all sides. It was hot.

Falconpaw followed close behind, jumping almost effortlessly and urging Silverkit further away from the fire. But her anxiety for Sunpaw kept her rooted. “Your turn!” He ordered.

The flames grew, however, and were steadily growing. “Sunpaw!” Silverkit cried in alarm.

“You need to jump before it gets any bigger!” Falconpaw ordered. “Don't be scared! You're almost a warrior!”

As Falconpaw was giving his speech, Silverkit watched as Sunpaw jumped the fire that was now taller than even Falconpaw. He landed clumsily beside them, falling to his side and coughing heavily. Falconpaw massaged his back before helping him to his paws and leading the group closer to the creek.

Crouching low, the trio noticed the fire beginning to thin as the trees did, though the smoke was just as thick. “Falconpaw, you jump first,” Sunpaw ordered, his voice hoarse, beckoning to the small ravine that held the running water.

Falconpaw didn’t object. He bunched his muscles, and effortless jumped the gap as if it were just stepping over it.

“You go,” Silverkit insisted as Sunpaw started coughing. “You need to get out of this smoke. If I don’t make it, you can catch me.”

Sunpaw contemplated her, before looking at the fire behind them fearfully. “Okay.” He nodded. Turning towards the other side of the creek, he prepared himself, and jumped, landing clumsily on the other side and coughing again.

“Jump, Silverkit!” Falconpaw called. Sunpaw was already back on his paws and ready to catch her.

Silverkit, not wanting to spend any more time close to the fire, crouched in preparation, and launched herself forward. However, her muscles were weak from all the previous effort, and she landed just short. “Sunpaw!”

Sunpaw, without missing a heartbeat, grabbed her by the scruff and hauled her to safety. Despite aching muscles and shaky lungs, the trio continued onward a few foxlengths, until the ground sloped steeply upwards.

“This is the border. This is as far away as we can get.” Silverkit barely heard Sunpaw. A small groove in the ground looked inviting, as if it were beckoning for her to lie down and sleep, which she obliged. Her mind swirled and settled almost too willingly into sleep; her muscles had already fully relaxed.

“Silverkit, stay awake,” Falconpaw ordered, nudging the kit. With an unpleasant jolt, Silverkit was fully conscious.

“I'm so tired,” She complained, settling in deeper to the groove in the ground where she was laying.

“Let her sleep. It's probably what's best for all of us,” Sunpaw explained. “Yes, it's dangerous, but being awake won't make it any less so. We either die asleep or awake; there will be no difference.”

“I’m going to stay up,” Falconpaw insisted, though he sounded as if he was speaking far away.

“No, you’re not,” Sunpaw argued. “At least relax. Stay low. I’ll watch us.”

“Alright. Fine. Just don’t fall asleep, or else we’ll all be dead.” Silverkit vaguely felt the tom curl up close to her.

Silverkit stirred, waking to a growling stomach and moisture filling her groove. She jolted awake and shot up. Falconpaw stirred next to her. Sunpaw was on his paws in a matter of heartbeats, though it was clear he drifted off at some point. The wind and rains picked up and sent a chill through Silverkit. “It’s raining.”

“The fire! It's being put out!” Sunpaw noted. He began walking back towards the creek. Silverkit stood to follow, but she collapsed. Her legs shook and her stomach cramped violently. A pained groan escaped her as she writhed on the ground.

“Silverkit won't make it back without something to eat,” Falconpaw pointed out.

“I’ll see if I can find her something to eat,” Sunpaw volunteered, beginning to walk before being stopped by Falconpaw.

“Are you mad? There’s still a fire going on.”

“Silverkit needs to eat.”

“Then I’ll go. You're farther along in your training than I am; you can defend her better than me.”

“This is crazy. You think you’ll have a better chance at catching something?”

“I think you’ll have a better chance at protecting her if RuneClan decides to attack while we’re weak!”

“Sunpaw! Falconpaw!” The trio turned to find a patrol of cats approaching the three, made up of Sandcall, Rainsong, Missingfoot, and Cloudpaw. Relief and adrenaline surged through Silverkit, giving her a second wind. She stood up and dashed over to the patrol, stopping at the creek.

“It’s a good thing you two bicker so loudly! I don’t think we would have found you so soon if you didn’t alert the entire forest to your presence!” Rainsong teased, lightening the mood, though it was clear she was relieved.

“Silverkit!” Missingfoot called. Silverkit sighed. The sight of her mother made it easier to breath, suddenly. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just need something to eat,” Silverkit called back. “I haven’t eaten since I left camp.”

“Let's get them back to camp,” Cloudpaw, Cinderleaf's helper and soon to be apprentice, ordered. The toms jumped effortlessly over the ravine but Silverkit struggled once again, relying on Missingfoot to pull her to the other side.

“How is she?” Rainsong asked, leaning over to Missingfoot as the patrol began to set off. Silverkit turned her head and pretended she couldn’t hear the various conversations within the patrol.

“She needs food,” Missingfoot replied, eyeing Silverkit. “That’s it, I think. Maybe a bit of smoke inhalation? She’s breathing fine.��

Rainsong lowered her voice and leaned closer to Missingfoot. “How are we gonna tell her about-”

“Later,” Missingfoot interrupted sharply. “Let's get her some food and a dry nest first.”

Rainsong nodded and continued walking. They eventually got to camp, and what awaited Silverkit beyond the tunnel was shocking. The trees that shielded the camp were burnt down; branches lied all around the clearing. The fire seemed to have stopped right outside of the camp. The once eternally unbending protection knelt to the destruction.

She got food and slept in the dry queens' den, until Juniperstar called for her and the other two.

Silverkit emerged and walked up to the stump that used to be the High Branch. The entire Clan was gathered around. “Sunpaw, step forward,” She ordered. Sunpaw took a tentative step forward. “You and Falconpaw were brave when the forest around you was burning and unfamiliar and you even kept Silverkit safe when your own lives were in danger. It was a very noble thing to do, and for it, Sunpaw deserves his warrior name.”

“Wow!” Falconpaw whispered. Silverkit gave Sunpaw an encouraging meow.

“I, Juniperstar, leader of DappledClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to learn the noble way of your code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in turn,” She announced. “Sunpaw, do you promise to uphold the Warrior Code, and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

“I do,” Sunpaw answered immediately, even cutting off Juniperstar's last words in his excitement.

Juniperstar smiled. “Then, by the powers of StarClan, I give you your name. Sunpaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Sunpelt.” Sunpelt's fur bristled in excitement at his new name. “StarClan honors your bravery and determination, and we welcome you as a full warrior of DappledClan.”

“Sunpelt! Sunpelt!” The cats began cheering on Sunpelt, Silverkit included. Juniperstar beckoned her tail for silence.

“Silverkit, come forward,” She ordered, sterner than with Sunpelt. Silverkit crawled forward and looked up guiltily at Juniperstar. “You sneaked out of camp when you weren't supposed to, created a burden for these two apprentices struggling to survive, and worried your poor mother out of her mind. Our previous leader would have you renamed something to remind you of your deed for the rest of your life.”

Missingfoot tensed, taking a step forward. “Juniperstar, wait –”

“But,” Juniperstar interrupted. “I am not that leader. And it is cruel to scar a kit more so than they already have been from an ordeal like this. Silverkit, you have not yet reached the age of six moons, but we need more paws working. You will become an apprentice early.”

Silverkit's fur bristled in excitement, but she looked around and noticed something missing. “What about Darkkit? Why isn't he becoming an apprentice?” In fact, I haven’t seen him since coming back.

The camp fell deathly silent, as if time stopped. Juniperstar let out a thoughtful hum. “You brother was unfortunately one of the many cats to have perished in the fire,” she answered calmly, but her eyes shone sympathetically. Silverkit was silent. She may have wanted to outshine him, but she never wanted this. Her stomach churned. “From this day on, or until you've earned your warrior name, you will be known as Silverpaw. For the first moon, you won’t be doing any training, but rather help our warriors and apprentices get everything back in order. You answer to everybody, but once you start training seriously, you will answer to Wolfpelt.”

Though he wasn’t her mentor quite yet, Wolfpelt still stepped forward to touch noses with Silverpaw.

“I trust no one else to raise an apprentice more than I trust you, aside from myself. I trained you and taught you everything, and therefore I trust you to train Silverpaw and teach her how to be a proper warrior.” Wolfpelt blushed at Juniperstar’s praise but still held his head high. “I won’t waste any more of our time. Let’s get to work.”

“Oh Silverpaw!” Immediately Missingfoot showered her in licks. “I’m so glad you’re still here to get your apprentice name. I’m so sorry about not telling you about Darkkit until now, I just didn’t want to –”

“Wait, Juniperstar mentioned something about an apprentice being renamed after they made a mistake,” Silverpaw interrupted, desperate to change the topic. “What was that about?”

Missingfoot was taken aback but found her voice again. “It was me. Our previous leader renamed me after I snuck out at your age and almost got lifted away by an eagle.”

#writing #writeblr #camp nano july 2019 #camp nanowrimo #nanowrimo #warriors #warriors ocs #fan characters #fanfiction

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fedoraqueen · 3 years

Text

Two new padawans

It all started when they had landed on Tatooine. Blue led the way to a nearby village when he saw a twi'lek woman, she was looking away and dropped something on accident. Being the polite person he was he moved to pick up the item before he was grabbed by the scruff, and Tarragon hoisted him up.

" what are you doing?"

' she dropped something."

" who?"

" that lady over there?"

" blue there's no one there."

Blue squirmed out of his grip and lifted the lost object only for it to disappear from his palm. He blinked then looked around, the twi'lek towered over him and pointed towards the desert.

" go. Now."

He looked towards the sand, he could practically feel the heat radiating through him already.

" why?"

" Go. Now." She hissed and advanced towards him before disappearing.

He backed into Tarragon who was shaking his head, " ... Because I think we need to get some food or water in you before you get heat stroke."

Blue hummed nonchalantly, not really paying attention, " you know what sounds good? A nice desert walk. You know get all that sand in your boots, fight a jawa and not get murdered by sand people?"

" that sounds terrible are you alright?"

"I gotta go out there."

" no you don't."

Tarragon set his hand on his forehead, " you feel warm"

" we're in the karking desert you Dikut of course I'm warm. Look let's divide and conquer, you and Robin go get the food and supplies, I'll go wander around a bit."

" no. I'm taking you inside a canteena."

" I'm fine!"

Tarragon dragged him inside as Robin panted heavily behind them, the former commander led them to a booth and plopped them both down into it. He pointed to Robin," don't let him leave"

Robin nodded and tugged at his shirt collar trying to get circulation, the heat was practically killing him. Tarragon looked behind him towards the two of them, Blue leaned back and gave a sarcastic wave.

The moment his back was turned away blue looked to Robin, " I'll meet you at recovery."

" wait don't-"

He promptly sprinted out, ignoring his wounded leg, night was beginning to fall and a feeling of dread spread through him. He continued his pace out into the desert, the woman appeared next to him accompanied by a dathomirian man.

" run."

" Faster."

He sped up his pace, he didn't know what he was looking for but it felt right. He continued his running until he found what he was looking for, a rock. He raised his saber and ignited it, violet light spread across the rock formation revealing deep cravasses and small tunnels.

" hello?" He called out and jumped at his own echo roaring back at him. ' and that's how you get murdered and eaten by sand people...' he grimaced at the thought and circled around the rock.

" come on I know there's something here the force just doesn't decide ' hey you know what would be funny-'."

" excuse me-"

Blue spun around with a loud screech that would make a wookie jealous, he quickly got into a defensive position to find two younglings. A Ssi-ruu and nautolan, both looked ragged, sun burnt and thirsty. Blue dropped his position, " oh goodness you poor babies."

" babies?"

" have you seen our masters?"

Blue looked above at the other rocks where the phantoms stood, both nodded to him then faded. He gulped and looked back to the kids, he bent down to their level.

" I... Did. They told me where to find you." It wasn't a lie, not technically, " why did they leave you here?"

The nautolan bit her lip, " our clones attacked us... Master hijàn And Saira saved us and put us in these caves."

" but we're safe if you're here right?"

" Yesh..." Blue hissed between his teeth, and quickly looked around him, he swore he saw motion in the distance as the sky faded to violet. He reignited his sabers allowing them to illuminate his face, the younglings tilted their heads.

" my name is-"

He was inturupted by a scream, he spun to face his opponent, unprepared to be face to face with a massive whomp rat, several started to circle himself and the padawans. Blue scooped up the younglings and side stepped two of the rodents he carefully set one on his shoulder and held the other on his front.

" Turn on your light sabers, don't hit me or eachother! Face your sabers out infront and back."

The duo both ignited their sabers and did as ordered, blue flicked both of his on as well and took off running. Both padawans cried out as the rodents sprang towards them only to be burned by their guard, blue grimaced as his legs trembled from the added weight as he defended and raced to recovery on the outskirts of mos eisley. Rats leapt towards them only to be burned or slain, quickly learning they would not get through

" master they're stopping!"

" oh thank the maker, don't stop defending!"

The duo continued their defense as blue slid towards recovery, Tarragon leaned on the door to the ship looking ready to kill.

" Oh no!"

" They took your ship!"

The younglings squirmed and yanked blue down, lightsabers turned off and knocking blue over. He hit the ground with a soft grunt and felt himself be pushed forward. Tarragon tilted his head, " those better not be stray's."

Blue blinked, " Not technically." He scratched his hair.

Tarragon raised his only brow, " Not technically?"

The little ones peeked their heads around blue, Tarragon bent down, " oh I see them now."

The duo cowered behind blue, he gently turned to them, " Hey it's okay, Tarragon won't hurt you he's a good guy! he's my little brother" Blue soothed and punched Tarragon's shoulder.

The two younglings slowly crept out, tarragon gave a lopsided grin and offering his hand out, " Like he said my name's Tarragon. What are your names?"

The nautolan grabbed his hand, " I'm kallah." Tarragon hummed. The Ssi-ruu quickly copied her, "My name is Migi."

" it's a pleasure to meet you Kallah and Migi. Let's get you into a pool you feel dried out Kallah."

" thank you."

Tarragon scooped her up and quickly walked into zero. Migi limped after her, Blue quickly stopped him.

" let's get that limp fixed before you hurt yourself more." He carefully scooped him up.

" we never got your name"

" it's Blueberry, Blue for short."

" That's a weird name why did they name you that?"

" I chose the berry part, the blue is because my brothers were unoriginal and the moment we learned colors." Blue trailed off, it was better to leave it at that. He didn't dare think about if rex or any of the other CC's were alive.

Blue shook his head out and quickly jogged in, closing the doors not wanting any uninvited guests, he carried Migi into the medbay and set him down. Now that blue could actually see the kid his heart dropped, the little one was dirty and scratched from the rocks, green skin tainted with bright blistering burns from the sun. Blue bent down and lifted his foot.

" Tell me when it hurts okay?" He pushed around Migi yelped as blue put more pressure on his heel, "right here?"

" mm hmm."

Blue clicked his tongue and grabbed a splint and some wraps.

" okay Migi, I'm going to make it better but first let's get you cleaned up."

Migi hopped into the shower and sighed as water ran over his back, blue turned away to give him privacy and gathered up a towel.

" I'm ready."

Blue tossed a towel to him then pulled out some burn ointment, quickly helping him apply said ointment then quickly wrapping his foot in a modified brace.

" did you study medicine in the temple?"

" I studied on kamino for a while, I wanted to be a medic when I was a cadet."

" you talk weird."

Blue snorted, " no you talk weird I speak normal." He teased and set Migi on the floor, " let's go check on Kallah."

" Are the clones going to hurt us?"

" no? I mean if we were wouldn't we do it already?"

Migi looked puzzled but didn't say anything blue led him towards the physical recovery room was located not far from the sealed off barracks. Tarragon was sitting on a chair with Robin hovering next to him and Whiskers across the pool from them, Kallah lounged in the water, absorbing as much water as she could.

" Kallah!"

She rolled over and pulled herself up as Migi raced to her at the edge of the pool.

" don't get wet, soggy braces are no fun."

Blue glanced up at Whiskers, the latter scowls down at him and gestures towards the door. Blue gulped and stood up straight, " I trust you can handle them?"

" I can do that."

" be nice. They don't trust us."

" I'll try and be less scary." Tarragon said dryly.

Blue nodded and followed the medic out, the moment they were out of the room Whiskers smacked the back of blue's head.

" What the hell were you thinking?! Running into the desert with no food, no water, at night?!"

" it could have gone worse, I saw two Jedi who guided me to the padawans and... Oh by the maker Whiskers," Blue rubbed his eyes and let out a sad sniffle , " they were so scared... They reminded me of buzz and DK. Two little cadets booted off kamino too early. They're away from their masters too early whiskers. I can't just leave them alone to die..." Blue started to tear up, " By the maker I couldn't do it. I could never leave a kid alone like that. They shouldn't have been alone. I should've been faster getting to them."

Whiskers softened, " Blue you just barely found them you didn't know they were out there."

Blue gave a weak nod then released a small chuckle that dissolved into sobbing, " I'm sorry I shouldn't blame myself."

Whiskers pulled Blue into a hug with a soft sigh, " oh blue."

Blues heart clenched, it had been doing that a lot lately, Ever sense he had touched the crystals and Tha'hali visited him it was like something was placed inside him. Every so often it would clench then overwhelming sadness would hit him full force, some times worse than others, sometimes it was a hollow cold feeling then burning rage sprang from that. He hated to admit that he was having mood swings from it but he was starting to get it under control.

The fear as he found the two padawans abandoned in the desert had spiked his own rage, anger towards himself at the time and anger at his brothers. He should have been faster, what if he had waited? The guilt tugged at his heart.

" I'm-I'm sorry Whiskers..." Blue tried to pull away from Whiskers only to be pulled back.

" you're okay."

" it hurts."

" I know blue."

" I'm broken again aren't I? Tha'hali isn't here to fix me this time." Blue said quietly, Whiskers scratched blues head.

" you aren't broken."

" I don't know what to do Whiskers, I feel broken. We're running out of credits and there's no where safe to go."

Whiskers rubbed his hand down blues back, " what do you think we should do?"

Blue bit his lip and rubbed his eyes, " get those kids a good place to sleep for the night."

" good start."

Blue gently pulled away from Whiskers and reached into a cupboard for a pump and a pair of hammock's that he quickly tied up, he went back to retrieve the padawans. As he stepped in Tarragon pushed him back out.

" what the fek Tarragon?!"

" they think you're a Jedi."

Blue blinked, " I'm sorry what."

" they're referring to you as master blueberry."

" I dislike that. I'll go tell them-"

" Don't. Don't tell them anything. They're terrified of us I can see it in their eyes. You need to stay a Jedi master."

" if I lie this will destroy the kids in the future."

" if you don't lie now they'll never trust us."

Blue bit his lip tarragon copied him, " Damned if you do damned if you don't what's the plan boss?"

Blue ran his hands down his hair then sighed, " I'm going to keep it to half truths."

He stepped inside to find the padawans curled up together asleep, blue carefully scooped Kallah up, tarragon took Migi. The duo set them into the hammock's. Blue ran his hands through his hair again as he stepped out with tarragon.

" Tha'hali had better give me some Jedi insight because I have no idea what I'm doing."

Tarragon snorted, " well let's keep going at it. We'll figure it out"

Blue gave a nod then went to his room, he definitely needed a good night's sleep.

#clone troopers #blueberry #clone wars #cwacrossthestars #clonewars #Tarragon #padawan oc #oh boy things are picking up

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bananniewrites · 3 years

Text

An Odd Game of Charades

Princess Genevieve 3/?

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

The two thieves stopped at the edge of the woods, hunched over and panting like dogs. “Okay,” the first breathed, “okay, I think we lost ‘em. You good?”

The other nodded. “Still got the goods?”

The first held up a sack and the messenger bag, then gently scooped the mouse out of his breast pocket and presented it in his palm. The mouse was rather frazzled, being bounced around in a pocket, hanging on for dear life to not fall out. The thief had taken the mouse from the wizard’s lab, but what he didn’t know was that he wasn’t just a thief anymore— he was an accomplice to the escaped prisoner, Princess Genevieve.

Genevieve had tried to escape, but accidentally drank the wrong vial and turned into a white mouse. The vial, ironically, was supposed to be used to poison mice. On the thieves’ great run, Gen wondered if Clara forgot to take it out, as it would’ve been more useful for her (being scared of mice). She glanced between them. Not exactly her vision of a knight in shining armor, but beggars can’t be choosers.

When the thief presented Genevieve in his palm, his partner looked at him, skeptical. “A mouse? What do we need a mouse for, Rowan?”

Rowan slumped. “You really have no imagination, do you, Matt? This little guy was found in a wizard’s office. Think about that for two minutes and tell me you don’t want to show him to the world.”

“So he’s a lab rat. So what?”

“‘Lab rat’? First of all, he’s a mouse. Second, he freaking nodded at me! It means he’s got… er… what’s that word?”

“Disease?”

“Sentience! Idiot. He thinks like a human! He can understand us! In fact…” He set down Gen and began tracing letters in the dust. “Maybe he’s got himself a name. He can just hop on the letters and spell it out.”

Gen was feeling much better now that maybe she had a chance to explain what was going on. If she could spell her name, maybe they could also stop calling her a boy. But should she? If she told them who she was, would she be ransomed or returned? Would they even believe her?

“Right, you update your resume for the nut house while I find firewood,” Matt sneered, then walked into the woods.

Rowan harrumphed and glanced down at Gen. “You know I’m not crazy, right?”

Genevieve thought for a minute, and got an idea. She dug her hand in the dust, then dragged out three small words: “wait for Matt”.

“Of course!” Rowan cried. “Then I can prove that I didn’t teach you anything, that this is all you! Ooh,” he realized suddenly, “I should help make the fire. It’s getting dark.”

So Rowan left Gen to further ponder what to tell the thieves while they brought scanty amounts of sticks, piled them together, and used Clara’s flint to spark a tiny flame to feed. They ate Clara’s rations for their dinner, and fed some to Gen before turning their attention back to the alphabet Rowan had traced. “So,” Matt started, “Rowan thinks you’ve got a name?”

By now, Genevieve had come up with a plan. She nodded and hopped on the alphabet while Rowan spelled: “G… E… N. What kind of a name is ‘Gen’?”

“I believe it’s pronounced like a ‘j’,” Matt corrected, eyes wide at the extraordinary rodent.

“Wait, you’re a girl?”

Genevieve nodded. She hadn’t spelled her entire name to avoid tipping them off. She continued to trace pictures in the dirt: a stick figure, a plus sign (for a moment, it was mistaken for a ‘t’), then a vial. This shape was trickier to understand: she made a very deep ‘U’ then drew bubbling circles above it. When Matt fished out one of the potions, she confirmed his guess. She drew an equal sign, then sat at the end of the equation, her arms spread wide.

“So if I’m getting this right,” Rowan guessed, “you were a human at first, then the wizard made you drink a potion that turned you into a mouse?” She shook her head and pointed at herself. “You drank it? You meant to be a mouse?”

Gen was about to write “accident”, but she wasn’t sure if this would clear anything up, so instead she went with “wrong potion”. A chorus of “ohhh”s rose up.

“Well, what do we do with her now?” Matt asked. “Is she going to change back? Does she need to go home? Does she come with us?”

Rowan sighed. “I think it’s too early to make any decisions. We don’t know if Gen’s like this forever, and even if we can put on some sort of show, nobody’ll be in the square right now. We’ll have to wait till morning. If she turns back, we’ll just see if we can get her back home. I’m turning in for the night.” He picked up some of Genevieve’s underclothes and draped them over the mouse, then laid himself down and waited for sleep.

Genevieve was happy enough to snuggle into her enormous, soft underwear. By the fire, it was warm, and soon she drifted off.

She dreamed that night. She saw a knight from her kingdom battling his way into the fortress. He fenced away two soldiers, but never made it to the entrance before being peppered with arrows. Then Genevieve herself, raising a sword, charged into the fray on horseback. For Clara. The horse reared; Gen tried to hold on but slid off the back end and fell, her sword clattering away from her. A soldier raised a spear, and just as it was brought down on her, she woke up shaking.

She found that the world was not so big anymore, and when she wrapped her arms to hug herself in fright, she had knees to bring to her bare chest. She examined her arms and felt her face. Yes, she was back in her own body. The moon was as bright as the sun and in the highest point of the sky, bathing everything in a pale, ethereal glow. The fire was a pile of coals, glowing scarlet. Crickets chirped frantically, and somewhere, a lone night-bird sang full of hope. The woods remained dark, untouched by the moon and unwilling to reveal its secrets.

Genevieve stood up and gently shook out the dust out of her clothes, afraid to wake the still-sleeping thieves. She would easily make her way into the village if she waited, and from there she could make her way to the castle. But these men were likely wanted by the Orcs. They’ll probably be in the village looking for them, and her. And what if the thieves should recognize her face? Would they still bring her to the castle, or would they keep her until the kingdom paid them? She had to remember that they stole Clara’s bag to sell its contents; she couldn’t guarantee that they’ll let her go without thinking of some sort of contribution. They weren’t that stupid. And yet...

Rowan had understood her. He made the effort to get to know her. And Matt was the one who suggested taking her home, and Rowan had agreed, but they expected some village kid, not the princess.

In the corner of her eye, Genevieve spotted multiple torchlights in the distance, steadily coming closer. Instinctively, she shook the shoulders of Matt, then Rowan. “Rowan! Matt! Wake up, they’re after us!” She slung the bag over her shoulders and shook them again, and they roused in confusion. She pointed towards the torchlights and whispered, “someone’s coming!”

They saw the lights and rose quickly to gather their things. Matt muttered, “why go all this way for some magic stuff and a mouse?”

Then Rowan got a good look at Genevieve, now human, and his face grew tight with horror. “I’m starting to get an idea. Come on!” He took her arm and the scruff of Matt’s neck, and together, they sprinted further into the woods.

About half a mile in, they paused to catch their breath. “Matt,” Rowan gasped, “we’ve… we’ve got the princess. That’s why… why they’re chasing us.”

“Maybe we can hold out-?”

“No! No, no, no, that’s-that’s suicide. I hate to say this, ‘cause I don’t want to leave her alone, but… we might be better off without her, and vice versa.” He turned to Genevieve. “Okay, if you keep going in that direction, you should eventually reach the next village. People have seen… things in there, especially at night, so just keep running and you should be fine. Here,” he unclipped the sheet he wore as a cloak and threw it around her. “It’s been a pleasure, Your Majesty. Stay safe.”

Gen was shocked to be called by a formal title, as it was so rare to meet people who would call her that. She managed to mumble, “thank you.” Rowan and Matt bolted in the other direction, and Genevieve yelled after them, “God bless you!”, because that’s what people always said before they left. But as she ran deeper into the woods and the more she thought about it, the more she really meant it.

#bananniewrites #princess genevieve #original story #writing

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paulrousseauwrites-blog · 7 years

Text

“50 Pounds for $200,000

Fifty Pounds for $200,000

Justin graduated from college a couple days ago, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. He waits at Eric’s front step, rolling on the balls of his feet. Eric is Justin’s new boss. Eric makes a little beat on his pants, glancing over some email and recipes online.

Justin rings the bell. Eric hurries to greet him.

“I am so glad you’re here,” Eric says. Justin follows a few inches behind. They walk directly to the basement door, as agreed. There is a handwritten sign taped to it reading ‘The Backyard.’

“Justin, right?” Eric makes sure. He says there were numerous other candidates. Justin nods, tucking in his upper lip. Eric’s eyebrows are shaven off, but the rest of his hair looks fantastic in a ponytail. Justin looks young with unkept scruff on his face and big, beautiful, coffee bean eyes. “I know how tough it can be to find a good job after school,” Eric says. “I got lucky in life. But don’t worry, your hard work will pay off here.”

He leads down a straight unfinished staircase. Justin goes pale, using the handrail until his first shoe sole touches the basement floor. It is covered in green turf, mocking the look and feel of grass. There is only enough square footage for one wooden picnic table, Eric’s furnace, and the type of scale found at a doctor’s office, with three variable sliding weights at the top. Eric motions for Justin to take a seat on the bench. Justin obeys.

“Welcome to your new office,” Eric says. He leans over the table. Justin is silent. He looks at the poking blades of worn plastic grass. “The décor was my mom’s idea,” Eric says. “She wanted to give me a taste of what is was like to play outside. You know how little girls put on make believe tea parties?” Eric asks.

Justin nods his head yes. He thinks about the tiara and scarf he would wear while babysitting his girlfriend’s niece, sitting cross-legged on the floor. She would tip the toy kettle spout over Justin’s cup, giving artificial weight to the pour. Justin would ask why nothing was really coming out. Pretend, she would say. And he would take a sip.

“I did make believe Backyard instead,” Eric says. “BBQs and picnics. I fed all the little critters that made their way down here.”

Eric is a self-taught chef. He pays recent college graduates $200,000 to live in his basement and gain fifty pounds eating the food he makes. And he feeds them constantly. Once they gain the weight, they get paid in cash, and then they can leave.

***

Sara walks into Justin’s bedroom, a week before graduation. Justin is playing guitar in a swivel chair with his back to the door, unaware anyone has entered. The window is open, permeating the space in a perennial spray. It has gotten dark since he first sat down, but he hadn’t noticed. Sara pops the light switch upwards on instinct as she crosses over the doorway’s threshold. Justin’s pupils retract.

“Sorry! I figured you were in the bathroom,” she says. Sara is a Management major with a minor in Entrepreneurship.

She wraps her arms around Justin’s neck as if her limbs were an oversized sweatshirt, crisscrossing at his throat. She catches a breath of his cologne. He doesn’t stop playing or turn to see who it is.

They hold there for a moment. Sara squeezes, applying a little pressure to the tops of her boyfriend’s shoulder blades, his collarbone. Justin picks his guitar, looking at the fret board binding and headstock inlays. She kisses his hair before releasing him to claim a patch of carpet near his legs.

Justin nods. Sara looks up, grinning as if she is out to dinner somewhere waiting patiently for her food to be plated, or in line for something worthwhile, like the opening night of a movie.

He plays a little longer. It sounds new, or improvised, too slow for Sara’s taste, but she watches anyway for a cue that his is finishing soon. Her expression looks stitched on like a sock puppet, like she has something to say, but the hand working her is refusing to interrupt. Justin places the instrument onto its designated stand, turns off the light, and sits back down.

***

Eric has moved on to bigger and better things now. No more BBQs and picnics for the rodents and insects. No more crumbs, bed sores, or pretend. “I’m going to start you off with my famous baked mac and cheese with charred short ribs mixed in, grilled asparagus in a chipotle aioli smear on the side, and for a sweet, two fudge brownie cupcakes. You don’t happen to like cream cheese whipped topping, do you?” Eric asks.

Justin nods yes, his eyebrows parked up higher than usual. Eric points parallel finger guns at Justin’s torso, one slightly behind the other. “I thought you might,” he says. He scampers upstairs, skipping every other step, then shuts The Backyard door.

Eric himself looks like he doesn’t eat at all. He is very thin for someone who enjoys cooking so much, with a small tongue and flat lips. He has many dietary restrictions due to disease. He dips spoons in sauces and dabs out his stubby tongue to taste them, as if it were a dare. Forty-five minutes later, he returns to The Backyard with Justin’s first taste of employee business.

***

“Hey you,” Justin says. He stretches his spine over the back of his chair.

“Hi. I know it’s later than usual but I wanted to eat quick and shower before seeing you,” Sara says.

“Thanks, stinky,” he says.

“Well I was moving around a lot today! I get sweaty when I drive,” she says.

“How did it go with all the stuff?” he asks.

Sara coils with potential energy before the hand controlling her mouth finally bursts. “I got a call back for a second round interview with Northgate!”

Justin blinks in triplets. His eyelashes are longer than most people’s. “That’s really really great,” he says.

“The only problem is that it’s at 11:00 and I have another interview with a different marketing firm at 9:30 so I’m nervous about timing. GPS says if I leave there by 10:00 I should be able to make it regardless of how heavy traffic is,” she says, flicking through maps on her cell phone.

“AM or PM?” Justin asks.

Sara doesn’t look up. “Really?” she laughs. “I get more and more worried knowing I’ll have to cut the first interview short if it starts dragging on too long. Is that rude? Will they call Northgate and tell them I was rude and then no one will hire me?”

“If you don’t care about the first one why don’t you just cancel it?” he prods.

“I can’t! I need the experience. Plus what if they pay six figures? It shouldn’t take more than a half an hour right?”

“Tell them you have to leave ahead of time.”

“I suppose. I need that job at Northgate, Justin. Everyday, the front desk lady blares Brittany Spears. They get paid time off, health, dental, Thursday night drink specials with the entire staff, and a nap room. All we talked about in the first interview was Harry Potter and how much we love caffeine.”

“That’s really something,” he says.

Sara lifts herself up into Justin’s bed, on her side with her head propped up in the palm of her hand. “I need that job so bad.”

***

Eric sets the table with enough food to feed a family of five. He is wearing an apron imprinted with the text ‘in dog beers I’ve only had one.’

“And?” he baits, opening his arms like someone waiting at an airport terminal, expecting a hug.

“Okay,” Says Justin. He closes his eyes.

“What are you waiting for?” Eric asks.

“I’m saying grace,” Says Justin. He waits for Eric to leave.

��That’s very thoughtful of you,” Eric says. He hands Justin a bib, legs firmly planted on the imitation grass. Each coupling blade looks like a pair of arms, budding out of the floor to hold him down.

“Why?” Asks Justin.

“You gotta wear the bib,” Eric says. “Wouldn’t want to make a mess of your nice shirt.”

Justin shakes his head no.

“It is in the job description,” Eric begins. “It could be a month or more till your next change of clothes.” Eric loves seeing the transformation happen. He loves watching his employees fill out and eventually outgrow their clothing, new flesh bursting at the seams. “You all balloon up like circus tents eventually,” he says. Eric puffs his cheeks out with air and slaps his belly. He laughs. “I can help if you’d like? Do you up in the back?”

Justin doesn’t respond. His eyelids draw closer together as if someone were slowly sewing them shut, pouring sand in his veins. The same devastation that used to haunt him when he’d get called on in class. A professor could simply announce Justin’s name in roll call to get him afflicted.

Eric repossesses the bib and ties it around Justin’s neck as if he were a newborn baby, in a perfect shoelace bow. “This way you can be as messy as you want and it won’t stink you up.” Eric takes a breath of Justin’s cologne. Both hearts are throbbing. Eric pats down the bib to flatten it. “There, ta da!” He waits, arms raised high above his ponytail. “Now… dig in!”

Justin shakes his head no.

“I always supervise the first bite of my employees,” Eric says. He gets a Polaroid camera ready. “Consider it an orientation exercise.”

Justin fumbles with the silverware, hesitating between utensils, between fork and spoon, hesitating in his posture, where he is in space, and how he got there.

“The fork is for the asparagus,” Eric says. He gapes his nostrils in short bursts.

Justin scoops a spoonful of macaroni and holds it tentatively above its dish. Everything steams. He brings the spoon closer to his split crescent lips and cools it softly.

“Eat up! No need to be coy. I made it just for you. Give your body the nutrients.”

Justin feels naked, like the first time he took off his shirt to go swimming. He gathers some of Eric’s noodles using his front teeth, raking them onto the cupped pallet of his tongue, miming the action of a miniature farming tool. Justin chews making as little noise as possible. He wipes away excess run-off cheese from of the corner of his mouth that bungeed and curled there. There is a camera flash.

“Excellent. Thank you for the sweet satisfaction,” Eric croons. He ruffles the top of Justin’s hair. “I’ll be back in thirty minutes,” he says. He races upstairs again lunging over many steps at a time. Justin keeps feeding alone.

***

“What are you thinking about?” Sara asks, covering her legs in Justin’s comforter.

Justin steers with his feet, swiveling in little increments to each side as if he were skiing in place on his chair.

“Music,” he says. “History.”

“Still waiting to hear back from grad school?”

“Yes,” he lies. The email came last week, regretfully informing him, wishing him every success in pursing further studies elsewhere.

“You are a shoe-in,” she says. “You are way too smart. You are too smart for your own good.” She takes her shirt off. “I can’t wait until we live together. I am jealous of Kevin and your sister.” She touches her hands to her temples. “I want to buy a house with you.”

“They are older than us,” he says. “And almost married.”

“I know, but they are so lucky,” she says.

“I know,” he says. “I’ll hear back soon.”

“You’re so talented. Nobody could possibly turn you down,” she assures.

Justin crawls into bed with her using mostly his forearms. She rolls over, now on her back in a bundle of pillows. They lie side by side.

***

Justin eats it all, as agreed. Eric comes down the stairs at the thirty-minute mark, ringing a cattle bell and grunting some sounds a pig might make with his mouth, “oink oink oink.”

He takes a seat on the same side of picnic bench next to Justin. Justin pats down his forehead with paper towel and just now notices that the ceiling is covered in navy blue construction paper with crudely painted on treetops and clouds.

“Curiosity is gluttony. To see is to devour,” Eric quotes. “This isn’t necessarily a job requirement, but how was the grub?”

Justin’s sock puppet is stitched shut. It was the tastiest food he has ever had, better than anything his parents or grandparents have ever made for him in his own childhood home, but he admits to nothing.

“That’s fine, if you want to get paid, if you want to leave, you’ll eat it all the same,” Eric says. “Time for weigh-in numeral uno.” Eric points with his thumb over his shoulder at the scale behind them, propped up against a patch of drywall. His breath smells like hamster bedding. “Your new best friend, as I’m sure you are aware,” he says. He bites down repeatedly on his own teeth. The skin in charge of covering his cheekbones tightens like a snare drum.

Justin’s stomach hurts. He blinks in triplets.

“Giddy up partner,” Eric says. “Hop on.”

Justin obeys, stepping up onto the scale, holding his torso. The turf stabs through Justin’s tennis shoes as he walks, gabbing at his feet. Eric says Justin is lucky he doesn’t make his employees crawl on all fours anymore. It became too painful for them to eat salty foods with their hands. Eric nudges the three varying brushed steel counterweight blocks, fingering the smallest in little jabs to get the best possible measurement. He bobs his shoulders, dancing a little, waiting for the bars to level. They recalibrate, and he does it again. Justin weighs 168 pounds.

“I think I see a little tummy forming already, bud! I really filled you up,” Eric says.

Justin is hunched over a little. Eric pens the number on the wall with a black permanent marker. He smiles, not showing teeth, thinning his already flat lips, stretching them longways until the color draws out completely.

“Weigh-ins will be at seven o’clock every evening,” Eric says. He is rich. His dad invented the Rubix Cube.

“I need the money,” Justin says.

“I know,” Eric says.

Justin needs the money for student loans, and property taxes, and cell phone bills, and engagement rings. Eric doesn’t need money for much of anything except ingredients.

***

“I’m awful. You must think I’m awful, or a snob,” Sara says, covering her eyes.

“Why would I think that?” Justin counters.

“I’m bragging about jobs and interviews and you’re still in limbo waiting to hear back from school. You’d tell me if you were getting antsy right?” she says.

“It’s fine. Really. Don’t worry about it. It’s fine,” he says. “You can’t be awful for just being excited.”

“Alright. You’re going to get accepted anyway.” Sara straddles her legs around Justin’s V-lined hips, drawing micro French curves all over his chest. “I just can’t wait to tell everyone about my boyfriend, the big sexy historian, teaching the world all sorts of history related things. You’ll be making bank, I’ll be making bank, we can buy a huge house, get married, go on tons of exotic vacations, throw money at each other, get unlimited data plans…”

“That’s painting quite the picture.” He rubs her thigh with his nails.

“I can’t wait to bask in our success,” she says. “We are such a power couple.”

The hand operating Justin’s mouth creeps open, as if wanting to say something. Sara closes in. They kiss instead. She retreats, then presses her lips quickly on his nose.

“I love you,” she says.

***

“To snack on tonight I was thinking shredded chicken enchiladas tossed in a green chile sauce, pan fried walleye fish tacos, and beef empanadas with cilantro rice and refried pinto beans on the side.”

Justin shrugs knowing he has no real say in the matter.

He steps off the scale and tries to find the warm spot back on the bench’s wood grain. Eric hustles upstairs, again bounding over two steps at a time. He stops in the doorway, and pirouettes. He pats a rhythm on his legs before saluting diagonally to Justin from the top of the staircase.

“Adieu, see you soon! I’ll bring a bucket with me after your next course, you know what they say, what goes up must come down.”

Justin waits for the privacy. He thinks about his girlfriend and her little niece. When they taught him how to pretend. He wishes Eric’s plates were empty like the toy kettle, that he just had to add artificial weight to them, and then take a bite or sip. Justin masks his head in his hands, twisting his face in an attempt to cry without making sound.

***

Sara is sleeping. Justin starts to climb out of bed, pressing his hands on the mattress as to gradually release the pressure that his body held next to hers. He doesn’t want to wake her up, he doesn’t know how to say I love you too right now. He checks his inbox instead. There is a reply from [email protected] with the subject bar ‘50 lbs. for $200,000.’

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