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monstermaster13 · 1 year

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Oats and Corey in…

Operation: Save the Koala.

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There’s an animal that looks like a teddy but isn’t a bear…can you guess what animal it is? It’s a koala, and they are a very cute and adorable species. Unfortunately they are in danger and are in need of someone to save them and that is where our story comes in, it was September 30th which meant one thing…Save the Koala Day, a special time of year where we take the time to think about those fuzzy friends from down under.

Corey and Oats were having a nice lunch in their house in Nile Road with their friend Melanie ‘Mel’ Sanders, who was a human/koala hybrid who made sure to always help and protect her relatives and fellow koalas in general from the threat of extinction, she had set up a special koala themed display for our favorite duo with some koala beanie baby friends sitting around and enjoying some eucalyptus flavored pastries.

“Our koala friends sure do enjoy eating those.”

“Of course they do, eucalyptus leaves are their favorite food.”

“I’d like to learn all about koalas, mommy.”

‘Would you, Oatsie?’ ‘Yes..oh please.’ Mel chuckled as she showed them to a special spot on the table which showed a magic item, the magic item would often be something to help assist the duo in the adventure and take on the form of an item that was themed around the topic of the adventure in question, this time it was a keyblade that had a koala theme to it.

“Follow me…”

“Sounds awesome, let’s go.”

Mel waved the keyblade around as a magic portal materialized in the house, the trio then hopped inside the portal and arrived in Dreamworld which was on Australia’s gold coast, where Kenny and Belinda (a koala couple that were the park’s mascots) greeted them and hugged them. ‘Hi Kenny, hi Belinda.’ ‘We’re so happy to see you guys here today to help.’ ‘Well of course we’re here to help you guys, it’s your favorite day after all.’ ‘Oh yeah, Save the Koala Day.’

‘We’re going to put on a special charity show to help raise awareness and we were wondering if you guys would like to help.’ Belinda explained, ‘We’d love to.’ The two koalas skipped over to the back-stage part of their special theater area, as they showed the trio their special charity concert set-up and the list of songs they were going to play and perform.

“Why we’d love to help you with this concert, it looks fun.”

“Yaaaay!”

Corey and Oats put up posters for the charity concert as Mel helped get the stage ready and bonded with the koala couple, playing around and acting goofy and silly. Corey looked around for a bit as he saw some humanoid koalas with some crew members working behind the scenes. Oats handed out invitations to the parkgoers and a couple of hours later the park guests arrived and sat down…awaiting the start of the charity concert.

The duo had a go at climbing trees with some of the koalas in the koala exhibit and Corey found himself becoming half-koala himself, as Mel sang a few warm-up songs to get the audience pumped up for the show. The audience loved Mel and thought she was really talented, they loved her. It was time for Kenny and Belinda to make their grand entrance as they materialized magically out of a giant flower display and they got the crowd pumped up with some amazing song selections.

Oats got up on stage and performed a ballet dance number with Belinda before breaking out into a funky dance number with both Mel and Belinda and Kenny. All sorts of fun and games were had at the concert including comedy skits and a fashion parade. When it was time to put on a special show Oats and Corey took to the stage and warmed their voices up before beginning a song number, that song number of course was ‘We Are The World’...’Alright everyone are you ready?’ ‘We sure are…’ Corey picked up the microphone and began to sing as Oats joined in, they performed the beginning and middle sections of the song.

‘There comes a time

When we heed a certain call

When the world must come together as one

There are people dying

Oh, and it's time to lend a hand to life

The greatest gift of all’

‘We can't go on

Pretending day-by-day

That someone, somewhere soon make a change

We're all a part of God's great big family.'

And the truth, you know, love is all we need

We are the world

We are the children

We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving

There's a choice we're making

We're saving our own lives

It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me’

Belinda and Kenny joined in on the song, performing a duet with Corey and Oats and also Mel joined in with her own vocals and additions to the song. The crowd was very moved by the performance and they thought it was very moving and also the song inspired them, Corey spun around on the stage with Oats swaying beautifully to the music. Mel did some powerful voice belting lines in the song that made her a stand-out singer.

‘Oh, send them your heart

So they know that someone cares

And their lives will be stronger and free

As God has shown us by turning stones to bread

And so we all must lend a helping hand.’

‘We are the world

We are the children

We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving

Oh, there's a choice we're making

We're saving our own lives

It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

When you're down and out, there seems no hope at all

But if you just believe there's no way we can fall

Well, well, well, well let us realize

Oh, that a change can only come

When we stand together as one, yeah, yeah, yeah

‘We are the world

We are the children

We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving

There's a choice we're making

We're saving our own lives

It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

We are the world

We are the children

We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving

There's a choice we're making

We're saving our own lives

It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me.’

‘Alright everyone…let me hear you all sing!’ Corey exclaimed as the audience chimed in with the song, providing backing vocals and even performing the other half of it. When it was half-way to the end, Kenny and Belinda chimed in with the last verses and they knocked it out of the park. The song came to a conclusion with all of them taking a bow before performing another number.

Kenny and Belinda sang another duet..this time performing the song ‘Something Stupid’, and also performing Down Under by Men at Work, and also performing Crocodile Rock by Elton John as Mel got to show off her moves, that afternoon they had a ton of fun and even raised quite a bit of money for the Save the Koala foundation. Oats smiled as he hugged parkgoers and posed for photographs. They then went for a ride on a cute little train that was conducted by Kenny, as they went for a train-ride around the park.

They even had a bit of fun at the main street emporium gift shop, as Mel got some presents for the koala couple and also for Corey and Oats. For Kenny and Belinda she got some special scented hair/fur conditioner that had eucalyptus oil in it, and she got some cute koala dolls and koala ears for Corey and Oats. Kenny presented Mel with a gift of his two, an honorary Dreamworld performer’s membership shirt and badge with a koala on it, as Belinda presented Oats with a pink bow with a koala pattern on it.

They then decided to visit some koalas in the koala exhibit and they educated the guests all about these adorable marsupials, they all had a fun time learning about koalas and also helping out for a good cause. When it was time to go home, Mel used her keyblade to form a magical passage-way which lead to a door which lead to a floating koala themed jet which the trio hopped inside before saying goodbye to Kenny and Belinda.

The jet took off and they headed for home, when they arrived back home they arrived at their home in Nile Road, upon reaching the house they got out of the jet and headed inside, when they arrived home they saw Sidney the webkinz koala and the beanie baby koalas as well as Blinky Bill and Buster Moon (from Sing) all cheering them on as they made their arrival, once they sat down they had a bit more fun with a special koala party. ‘How was your first Save the Koala Day, Corey?’ ‘I loved it, it was a lot of fun and I sure did love learning all about those koalas.’

Mel smiled as she shared some koala cookies with Corey and Oats, a couple of hours later it was time for dinner and Corey and Oats both sat with her at the table to have some nice food, after dinner they relaxed for a little while and had a lot of fun playing on Webkinz. They even chose to snuggle up with a koala friend once bedtime came around and they all had a peaceful sleep and had wonderful dreams, the pegasus bed they had taking on the form of a tram car as it took them to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where they got to take photos of koalas and learn about them.

Back at the house in 28 Rosemary Avenue, the koala tribe that was in Mel’s main bedroom were all wide awake but also meditating as they focused all their energy, this was because these koalas had mystical powers that they spent a lot of time perfecting how to use including dream powers and psychic abilities they trained themselves to master due to how many hours they spent sleeping. And thus with that our little marsupial adventure comes to a close, but don’t worry, there will be more adventures coming up.

Coming up…expect to be spooked by the 2022 Halloween Spooktacular, and also brand new mall adventures and also ‘Celiac’s Favorite Thing’ all about everyone’s favorite celiac microbe and also a story about the newest addition to the Webkinz family. Happy belated Save the Koala Day to one and all, and to all of you…a good day, remember to think of your Australian friends…the koalas, and you too can help them from losing their homes. You don’t want Mel to be without a home do you?

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marketdoubt2 · 2 years

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guzmansanchez53 · 2 years

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aellynera · 3 years

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Beat the System (Poe Dameron x f!Reader; high school AU)

BEAT THE SYSTEM

My darling @autumnleaves1991-blog is doing a Writer Wednesday thing (click that link for details) and today’s challenge was:

...so I wrote this little thing. may or may not be based on things that might have somewhat happened during my years as a summer amusement park lackey.

Word Count: ~2100

Summary: You see a lot of people at your summer job, and you didn’t really want to see him or for him to see you, but that’s not how the system works.

Warnings: Female reader. High School AU. References to clowns. Complaining. Nothing else really, just a lot of fluff. As usual, mostly kind of proofread.

You kind of hated your summer job.

It wasn’t so much that you hated having to get a job in the first place, after your parents insisted that’s what you’d need to do if you wanted your own car. And the job itself was actually pretty easy, at least in theory.

The ring toss stand at the local amusement park was your domain. Your days were spent surrounded by giant stuffed elephants and aliens and teddy bears, taking money, handing out rings, watching people throw them at bottles. Ninety-nine percent of the time this also meant watching them lose. The losses generally led to another futile round of buying and tossing. And, invariably, cussing; never mind that this was a family establishment and there was a five-year-old standing three feet away from the offender.

No, it was the job on repeat for eight hours a day, five days out of the week. It was seeing all your friends come by and have fun while you literally had to watch them (but hey, at least you got paid.) It was having to work every single weekend. And it was all the people. People you’d known your whole life, people who lived in neighboring towns, busses full of people from who knows where that flocked to this place every single year.

And it was just weird to think of this place as a destination. It was just the amusement park that was there all your life, that your parents went to when they were in high school, and maybe their parents did too. This place was freaking old. But why people felt the need to come by the busload from hours away--

“Hey, I didn’t know you worked here.”

The voice broke through your ranting brain and you looked up to see a familiar face grinning back at you from the other side of the booth.

Poe Dameron was a senior. He was captain of both the football and the soccer team, treasurer of the student council, sang on the chorus, played bass in the jazz band, was in the drama club, and you were pretty sure there were at least a dozen other things he just did because he was good at everything.

He was also ridiculously hot and the last person you wanted to see you in your ridiculous, brightly colored work uniform. He stood before you looking like he just crawled off the cover of a romance novel, all tan skin and dark curls and defined muscles, and there you were with a high ponytail and baggy shorts and a shirt that would put a clown to shame.

Honestly, all you needed were the giant floppy shoes.

He was also there with a group of his rowdy, juvenile football friends, which only promised to make this hell even more scorching. At least for now, they seemed to be occupied with ogling the girl who ran the tilt-a-whirl across the path and completely ignoring you.

You scrunched your face at him. “Poe, I’ve seen you here like twenty times this summer. You’ve even played this game before. You know I work here.”

“Okay, you got me,” his grin didn’t falter. You weren’t sure, but it might have even gotten a little bigger. He handed over ten dollars. “A bucket of rings, please.”

Great, he was going to hang around. You glanced at your watch, and it solemnly informed you that your break wasn’t for another hour and half. So you were stuck there. In a virtual clown suit. With the hot senior you might have had a little crush on.

Not like you ever doodled his initials in your notebooks or on scraps of paper when the crowds at the stand died down. You denied all knowledge of these supposed incidents.

You could act like a normal person in his presence.

You sighed and took the money from him, handing him a bucket full of red plastic rings in return. “You know this game is rigged, right? They all are.”

“So I’ve heard.” He picked up his first ring. “But I am determined to beat the system.”

You rolled your eyes. “Do you have to be good at everything?”

Poe shot you a quick side-eye before turning his attention back to the sea of bottles in front of him. He tossed the first ring and it flipped end over end before bouncing off a bottle top with a spectacular ding! His brow furrowed as he reached for another ring.

“Apparently not,” he muttered. “But I’ll still beat it. You see, there’s this girl I want to impress, and…” He tossed the second ring and watched it ricochet off another bottle top.

“Of course there is,” you snorted. “There’s probably a whole horde of them.”

He chuckled. “Nope, just one.”

You waved your arm in a grand gesture toward the playing field. “Well then, have at it, Romeo. You know the rules. No leaning over the rail, and you have to land five rings to win. Let me know when you need another bucket.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” he replied as he tossed yet another ring. You tried, you really really tried, to ignore the way the tip of his tongue stuck out between his teeth as he concentrated.

And so it went until the entire bucket full of rings littered the floor of the stall, with nary a single one landing on its intended target. You grabbed the sweeper and started pushing them back into the bins underneath the counter.

Poe growled in frustration. “Seriously?!” He waved another ten in your direction and you handed him another bucket, giggling as you made the exchange.

“I told you, it’s rigged. But…” you crooked a finger to motion him closer. And then tried to remember how breathing worked as he leaned in, now just inches from your face.

“Yeah?” he whispered.

The attempt to subtly clear your throat was only half successful.

“Well, I didn’t tell you this,” you pointed toward the bottles, “but the table is slightly higher on that side, and so is that one part in the middle. If you aim for those bottles, you can probably bounce the rings onto the lower ones.”

The grin he flashed almost blinded you. “Beat the system.”

“Beat the system,” you agreed.

You leaned back and watched. After the first six rings or so, Poe seemed to figure out which bottles to aim for and how to toss the ring (with a bit of spin, of course) and before you knew it, his fifth ring landed on the center bottle and he was shouting “yes!” with a little fist pump.

“I am impressed, Dameron,” you said, clapping. “I bet this girl will be too.”

“I hope so,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. Did he suddenly look kind of shy? No, that wasn’t Poe Dameron. He was the polar opposite of shy.

“Which one?” you asked, pointing to the prizes hanging above you.

“Which one would you pick? If you just beat the system and you were trying to impress someone?”

“Uhhh…” Why in the world was he asking you? It didn’t matter, this was his deal, you just worked there. And quite honestly, you probably wouldn’t pick any of these monstrosities. They were huge. And kind of weird looking. And neon colored.

After a few moments of confused contemplation, your eyes finally landed on a giant purple teddy bear, half hidden behind a chartreuse alien and an orange thing that was trying to impersonate an octopus. You pulled it down and handed it over.

“Here you go, the least weird thing you just spent twenty bucks on when you could have just gone to the mall and bought something more reasonable.”

“Nah, this is perfect,” Poe replied, grabbing the bear. It was nearly half as big as he was. You often wondered how anyone dragged them around the park for the rest of the day, much less managed to get them home. “Thanks for the advice.”

You couldn’t help the smirk that rose on your lips. “It was either that, or have to explain to my supervisor why you would have ended up hanging around until the park closed.”

He laughed loudly. “Rey would have understood. She’s cool like that.”

“Geez, you’re good at everything, do you know everyone in the entire galaxy too?”

Poe didn’t seem to hear you, though, as he looked over his shoulder and around the area, and you followed his gaze. His friends were nowhere to be seen and vaguely, you wondered when they’d wandered off and why they hadn’t very loudly announced it to him. He glanced back at you with a sheepish smile.

“I, uh, I should go find the guys,” he said. “And let you get back to work.”

“Yeah, okay,” you replied. All of the easy-going rapport from the past however long Poe had been there suddenly evaporated and every ounce of awkwardness you normally felt around him returned. “I’ll see you.”

You might have been looking anywhere but at him, but you didn’t miss the small wave he gave you as he walked away, and you definitely felt the heat that rose in your cheeks.

Poe was quickly forgotten as a swarm of ten-year-olds rushed the stand and the incessant clanging of misthrown rings once again took over all your waking moments. You didn’t think about him for the rest of your shift. All you could think about was how tired you were, how hot the day had been, how much you wanted to shower and sleep and pretend you didn’t have to do this again tomorrow and--

Your feet ground to halt in the employee parking lot and approached your beloved car, the entire reason you had this forsaken job in the first place. Your car, which, you would have serious questions had you not known exactly where the thing came from, had a giant purple teddy bear sitting on the hood.

As you got closer, you could see something sticking out from beneath the bow tied around its neck. It was a slip of paper, with a phone number scrawled on it. And a little “P.” with a heart.

What was even happening right now.

Before you knew it, your phone was out of your purse and you were calling his number. Sure, you might have had to dial it four times because your nervous fingers kept pressing the wrong digits, but who was counting? And never mind that it was almost midnight. It was summer, he’d still be awake, right?

Finally you got it right, and the call picked up on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Hi,” you breathed.

“Hey,” you could picture the trademark Dameron grin behind it. And he sounded...relieved? “I’m really glad you called.”

“How did you get into the employee parking lot?”

“I didn’t. I asked Rey for a favor. I figured she might know which car was yours. Told you she’s cool like that.”

You laughed softly. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess she really is.”

“So I do have a really important question for you. Well, two actually.”

“I’m listening,” you said. It was hard to hear anything over how hard your heart was thumping in your ears, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Question one. Can I take you out on a date?”

“Yeah,” you said again and closed your eyes, partly out of a need to center yourself and mostly out of sheer embarrassment. Maybe one day, you would remember how to speak to Poe Dameron in multiple word sentences, but right at this moment was not that time. Oh well.

“Awesome,” he breathed out. “I was hoping you’d say yes.”

“Yes.” Thankfully he didn’t seem to be deterred by your current lack of language skills.

Poe laughed warmly. “Now, second question. Did it work?”

This time you couldn’t even come up with a verbal response. You just erupted in a bout of giggles, Poe Dameron laughing along with you. And somehow, you got that ridiculous monstrosity of a teddy bear into your back seat.

The somehows kept coming. Somehow you remembered how to use words. Somehow it was well after midnight now without either of you giving it permission to get that late. Somehow your phone refused to end the call. Somehow the hours were slipping by until you had to be at the park for an early opening shift in the morning, and somehow you suddenly didn’t care at all about getting any sleep.

Maybe this job wasn’t so bad, after all.

~end~

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whenihaveyouromione · 3 years

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When I Have You - Chapter 45

Read on Fanfiction.net or ao3.

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---

Chapter 45

“Happy Christmas, you two.” Molly gave Ron and Hermione each a hug as they emerged from the fireplace on Christmas morning. Every Christmas she became a little brighter and cheerful, even more so this time considering all of her children had promised to come home — even Charlie — and two grandchildren to dote on.

Bill and Fleur had had their second child — another girl — Dominique a few months back, which had thrilled Molly and Arthur.

Where Victoire was fair with her mother’s hair and complexion, Dominique was every inch a Weasley from her red hair to her freckles and what Bill described as a feisty personality. Ron had only seen her a handful of times, and of those times, Victoire had expressed jealousy at anyone showing interest in her younger sister. She was of the age where accidental magic could start showing, and Victoire had not held back on that front.

A few exploded windows and an unhinged door had prevented Ron and Hermione from visiting Shell Cottage for some months.

But now she happily ran into the living room behind Teddy Lupin, both carrying a bunch of stuffed toys in their arms, presumably Christmas presents, chatting away in their kiddie speech.

“Gamma,” Victoire said to Molly. “You play?”

“In a moment, dear,” Molly said, stepping away from Ron. “I have some things to do to get ready for Christmas before I can.”

“How about you ask Uncle Charlie again?” George, who was sitting with Harry and Ginny in the living room, said. “He loved it last time.”

That, Ron surmised, was a total lie. Ron hadn’t seen his brother in a while, but by the look on Charlie’s face, he had no desire to play with Victoire and Teddy. Especially with stuffed toys.

“It’s a shame there’s no dragons to play with, huh?” Ron said, stepping around his mother to embrace Charlie.

“Yeah, but there’s a few stuffed ones in that extensive collection,” Charlie said. “Courtesy of me.” He grinned. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah,” Ron said. “You need to drop by more often.”

“I hear you have a nice place now,” Charlie said, looking between Ron and Hermione, who was still by the fireplace. “In Nottingham?”

“We also have a spare room.”

“I’ll consider that,” Charlie said, clapping Ron on the shoulder. Underneath his shirt Ron caught a glimpse of a tail flicking up his arm and smiled, wondering if Molly had ever discovered the large dragon tattoo Charlie had across his body. When Molly wasn’t around, it usually stretched down the length of both arms and across his chest. But with his mother present, he kept it hidden underneath his clothes.

No one had ever bothered mentioning it to her, though Ron was sure even Victoire knew about it by now.

“We’re just waiting on Percy and Audrey, and then we can start with opening some presents,” Molly said, smiling at them all.

“Yay!” Victoire said, dumping her toys on the floor in front of her. She hurried over to the Christmas tree where all the presents were laid out and kneeled on the ground to stare at them.

Her restraint was admirable, Ron thought. He couldn’t really remember being two and a half, but he was sure he would have been far more curious about what was inside the paper.

Not that there had ever been that many presents under the tree before. As the family grew, so did the number of gifts.

Molly beamed at Victoire on the floor, as if watching her granddaughter’s excitement over Christmas was the best gift she could ever receive.

And to her, it probably was.

“You do know they’re not all for you, don’t you, Vic?” George said.

Victoire ignored him, her eyes wide and watching as if she expected them to move.

“Hardly any, actually,” Bill said. “Considering she insisted on opening ours and Charlie’s before the rest of you got yourselves out of bed.”

Everyone smiled, and for a moment, they watched her, perhaps all reminiscing about their own Christmases when they were children.

It was nice to think that Teddy, Victoire, Dominique, and the other kids who’d be born in this generation would have the chance to enjoy times like this in a completely innocent way.

Percy and Audrey arrived a little while later, emerging from the fireplace, covered in soot. Audrey appeared totally bewildered by the experience, saying something about how she could do that one hundred times and still not be used to it.

Percy cleaned her up with his wand, apologising for being late, but adding how much of an effort getting the Ministry to permit Muggles to travel via wizarding transportation methods had been.

Despite the progression the wizarding world had been making over the years, Muggle relations were still a topic with a lot of room to work with. There had been a large number of magical folk marrying Muggles over the last few years, which had sparked an inquiry into how much they should know, and if husbands or wives or girlfriends and boyfriends were to be introduced into magical society, how were they supposed to go about that?

Most people were in agreement that Muggles who married into wizarding families should be granted privileges by the Ministry to Floo travel and Side-along Apparition, but there was a whole issue regarding the Statute of Secrecy and the legalities surrounding that.

Ron heard about it at work due to working in the Magical Law Department, but none of that was his expertise, nor was it Harry’s or Hermione’s. Last he had heard, the laws were still against the idea, hence why Hermione’s parents couldn’t be Apparated to the middle of nowhere for a wedding, but perhaps because Percy worked in the Transportation department he had been given additional privileges for Christmas.

“Don’t you control the Magical Transportation area?” Bill asked.

“Yes, but that is a matter for Magical Law and there’s some incredibly stubborn people over there.” Percy looked to Harry and Ron, as if it were their fault that Audrey couldn’t travel to the Burrow at will.

“We’re Aurors, Perce. Nothing to do with us.”

“Not to matter, you’re here now,” Molly said.

“Pwesents?” Victoire asked suddenly.

“Just after your mother comes down from putting your sister to sleep, dear,” Molly said.

Victoire pouted.

“You’ve already opened four this morning,” Bill said, amused. “How many more do you think there are?”

“All!” Victoire said.

“They’re not all for you,” Bill replied.

Victoire pouted again. “Pwesents for me?”

“Some, maybe,” Bill said. “But not all.”

Ron knew of at least one for Victoire. Hermione had bought it, explaining that Christmas was a magical time for children and that she thought Victoire would like what she had bought. She’d also bought a gift for Dominique, who was only three months old and would be asleep anyway, and Teddy, too, who seemed less interested in presents and more interested in climbing into Harry’s lap. Ron smiled. He was glad Andromeda had decided to come celebrate with them this year.

Though, Ron was a bit worried about the growing bunch of Weasleys when it came to Christmases.

When Hermione had insisted on buying Victoire her present, he’d even expressed some of that fear. “So, if Percy and Audrey have kids, and Harry and Ginny, George, Charlie… if we have kids, you’re planning on buying for all of them?” Ron had asked her. “I mean, I’m one of seven. What if everyone has seven kids?”

“We are not having seven children,” was all she had said on that matter.

So Ron had supposed that the answer was yes; she would buy for all of them.

Soon Fleur returned, and Victoire insisted that she and Teddy start handing out the presents, and with help from Bill, the pair spent their time distributing gifts to everyone. Bill had to point to Charlie a number of times for Victoire, since she wasn’t as familiar with him and kept forgetting, but she seemed to know who everyone else was and trotted over, handing them presents. Teddy took the charge on Harry’s and Ginny’s, as well as his grandmother’s once she’d finished up in the kitchen and joined everyone.

It was an extremely slow process, but still a fun one now that the kids were old enough to be aware of what was happening. Victoire was excited, but the moment she received presents for herself, Bill was forced to distribute the rest, which went much faster because he had a wand.

With their wedding in a few months and most of their money going towards that, Ron and Hermione had agreed to not do much for Christmas with each other this year. But still, Ron had gotten her some new books about the history of goblin and elf rights he’d seen her eyeing, and she’d given him a season pass to all Chudley Cannons games for the next season.

It wasn’t much different from last Christmas, but both of them were pleased.

“You mean, you want to travel around the country attending the games with me?” he asked, grinning at her.

“Well… no… I thought you could go with Harry. Or George. Or Charlie, if he can. But I can if you want me to.”

“Of course I’d want you to come, but I know you’d hate that, so I’ll ask Harry?”

She smiled. “I’ll come to the one Ginny is playing?”

“That’s the first game,” Ginny said, coming over to them as the mere mention of it invited her into any conversation. “Just got the schedule before Christmas. You’ll be there?”

“Yes,” Ron and Hermione said together.

“Oh, great! I’ll see if I can get you guys some good seats. I think it’s being played in Holyhead…”

“We’ll be there,” Hermione said.

Ginny beamed. “It’ll be great if you guys can come. Charlie has even promised to get to a few this year. Bill said he might take Victoire to one or two.”

“Lunch will be ready soon,” Molly said, coming from the kitchen.

“I hungwy,” Victoire said, dropping her toys and running from the living room.

Everyone else slowly climbed to their feet and came into the kitchen.

Upon seeing the set table and the number of chairs surrounding it, a sense of peace washed over Ron. He loved Christmas. Even though he got to see his family throughout the year — weekly, really — there was something really special about this time of the year. He remembered Christmas as a child and how fun it had been, but it now seemed even better. Each year, the table grew. More chairs were added as more people came into their lives. Soon there’d be no room in the kitchen to eat at all and they’d be forced into the garden in the middle of winter.

For now, it was just Victoire and Teddy, but next year would it be Dominique? Or would Percy and Audrey have a baby? Would George meet someone he’d like to bring? Or Charlie?

Next year he would have spent almost a whole year married to Hermione, Victoire would be even older and Dominique would probably be walking around, too.

He was used to large numbers in his family, and it seemed only fitting that it would just keep growing over the years. It made each Christmas more enjoyable than the last.

Ron had never realised how much he enjoyed his large family. As a child, it had irritated him. He was the second youngest, constantly overshadowed and rarely had something that belonged to just him. But now, as an adult who was making his own way in life, he'd come to appreciate it more.

He appreciated his parents who had done their best, and each and every one of his siblings for who they were. Bill for always taking him seriously when he felt no one else did, Charlie for being the laid back brother who could cheer him up, and even Percy, who’d gotten so much better over the years. He was so close to George and Ginny now, seeing them on a weekly basis, which had never been the case a few years ago.

And Fred… well Fred would always be his brother and he’d always miss him. For as long as he lived.

But this new appreciation for the family he already had had him thinking more and more about what the future held for him. And Hermione.

They’d started their own lives together, in which he was so incredibly happy, and he naturally thought about their family. It didn’t exist yet, but he wanted it, and in the recent months he’d found himself wanting it more.

He wanted to have children with her — he wanted what Bill had — and he felt that soon would be the right time.

He was young still — they both were — but he didn’t really feel that young. He felt so much older and much more mature than people who hadn’t fought in a war at eighteen. He felt as if he’d lived a lifetime already and that he was ready for the next step.

But this was also something — for the first time ever — that he was too afraid to talk to Hermione about. They were on the same page about many things, but he felt that this would be something they weren’t. She said she saw children in their future, but he knew her idea of the future was still a few years away. She was so focused on her career at the moment that he didn’t want to ruin it for her.

She’d say it wasn’t the right time, they weren’t ready, and truthfully, he knew she was right. It just didn’t stop him from feeling the way he did.

“Hungwy!” Victoire said, drawing Ron back to the table. “I hungwy.”

“You’re always ‘ungry,” Fleur said with a smile directed towards her daughter, but she passed Victoire a plate of food. Victoire began eating straight away.

“Are you okay?” Hermione asked, nudging Ron with her arm. “It’s not like you to be so quiet here.”

“I’m fine,” Ron said, nodding. “Just… thinking.”

“About?”

“Lots of things. Mostly about you.”

She smiled, and from across the table he saw Ginny roll her eyes at Harry, who just laughed to himself.

Ron didn’t care. He was happy, he was content, and he didn’t care if that pissed off the Minister for Magic himself.

It made him feel good.

…

A week later, they were at The Leaky Cauldron with a ton of students from their year. Harry, Ginny, Neville, Hannah, Luna, Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Parvati, Padma and a few others Padma had invited were all celebrating the end of the year. Hannah had invited them, choosing the place she and her Healing crew had been celebrating at for the last few years.

Ron usually didn’t care too much for New Year’s celebrations, but he felt this one would be worth it.

“You know,” Hermione said as the large clock Tom had put in for the occasion read one minute to the new year, “in one minute it’ll be the year we’re getting married.”

Ron smiled at her as she wrapped her arms around his waist. He drew her towards him. “The best year yet. I can feel it.”

“And another year further away from the past, and a step closer to the future.”

He kissed her.

“Aren’t you supposed to wait for the new year to do that?” she asked.

“Last one of this year, then I’ll kiss you again in thirty seconds as the first kiss of the new year.”

“You’re so sweet.”

“And this will be the last time I tell you I love you for this year, too.”

Hermione drew him into a deep kiss. He could vaguely hear the others beginning to count down, but he really didn’t care for New Year’s celebrations.

When she pulled away, her lips tasting of a few too many Butterbeers, she smiled up at him and said, “Happy year of becoming my husband.”

“I love you,” Ron said and he kissed her again. Their first kiss of what he knew would be the best year of his life.

#ron and hermione #ron and hermione fanfiction #romione #romione fanfiction #ron x hermione #hermione and ron #hermione x ron #hermione and ron fanfiction #ron weasley #hermione granger #hermione #harry potter #harry potter fanfiction #fanfiction #hp fanfiction #slice of life #romance #multi chapter

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beetlegoose01 · 3 years

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stolen whispers: chapter 1

AN: this fic isn’t a request, it’s a story i’ve been preparing for a lil while and I’m so excited to share this with you all <3

I’ll link it on my Archive if you prefer to read it there. Also warning, there’s quite a few OCs.

Time: 2028 (Scorbus have been married for two years)

Summary: When a new generation of Death Eaters kidnap Scorpius, Albus and Rose put aside their differences to rescue him.

TW: Kidnapping/Language/minor violence

~~~~

Two witches wearing shadowy black robes entered the tavern, finding a table near the back. They ordered their mead, waiting for their third partner impatiently. It was a crowded area, so thankfully there was a small chance they would be overheard.

"We don't want more mead." The first woman growled, tapping her long nails at the table. The bartender, a tall man with a mustache put the drinks down.

"I didn't think so." He lips curled into a grin as he morphed into a younger man with wild dusty brown hair, wearing matching robes. He was handsome, but had an eerie presence to him. Any reasonable person would have at least flinched at the transformation, though neither witch did. "Hello ladies." He grinned cheekily.

"Soren, enough playing games." The second woman said, though she was smirking.

Soren barked out a laugh. "It was funny, Mara. And you know it."

The first woman, Lilith narrowed her eyes. She pulled down her hood, revealing cascading inky black hair down her shoulders. A scar that showed no sign of mending was down her cheek. "Your skills are impressive, but useless if you don't use them for our own gain. Don't forget that." She pulled her hood back.

"Understood." He murmured, taking a seat.

"We have much to discuss," She continued, flicking her wand idly. "Our current plan in action. Our...act of revenge. It's been thirty years since The Tenebris was wrongfully killed. I am sick and tired of his name being tossed around in history like he was some monster. He was on the right side."

"Are you certain we want to call the Dark Lord that?" Mara asked suspiciously.

"Shh! You know if anyone hears us, they'll lock us up for good. For speaking our minds." Lilith said. "It's safer we call him by his code name."

Her companions nodded.

"Because of his loss, we have mudbloods in positions of power. Our siblings that fought for his cause are locked up. Or worse, dead."

Mara and Soren looked grim.

"If we had more allies, perhaps we would have had a chance." Soren noted. "We weren't even alive then but...I have a feeling if we were..."

"Just because we weren't alive then, doesn't mean we don't have opinions over the lives stolen!" Mara argued. "That damn Harry Potter."

"Correct. And Soren is right too. For once. If we had more allies, or better yet...certain allies didn't betray us. The Malfoys for instance." She took a sip of her drink.

"Are you suggesting something?" Mara asked.

"Of course I am, don't be so daft." Lilian said, deadly calm. "I want to make that family suffer for what they did. My uncle Vincent Crabbe died for their selfishness. Draco Malfoy had a chance to save him, and he refused like the coward he is. His mother Narcissa lied to Tenebris' face. They are backstabbing filth that besmirched the Sacred 28. No, it isn't just about their betrayal or avenging those we lost in the war. Think of the big picture. They have the capabilities to join our side. To...respawn a new generation of Death Eaters. But that's not all...

"The Malfoys have lots of gold." She drawled. "Surely, they'll spare a few for us in exchange for something important. Or rather...someone."

"Someone?" Soren paused. "What are you suggesting?"

"Regretfully, Astoria Malfoy has passed on." Mara didn't sound the least bit sympathetic, instead stated it blandly. "So using her as a ransom for Draco is a no go."

"Ah, but there is still someone left." Lillian said, removing a small photograph from her cloak, she slid it across the table.

A young man with platinum hair was pictured, beaming brightly in Healer Robes.

"Scorpius Malfoy."

Soren and Mara exchanged a look of satisfaction.

"Bring him to me."

~~~~~~~~~~

The best thing about mornings, at least to Albus, was waking up beside his husband. The sun's bright rays peaked through the window of their cream colored bedroom, slowly stirring them both awake. If it was up to him, he would stay in their warm bed, arms wrapped around Scorpius until noon.

Scorpius rolled over, so that they were facing each other. His eyes fluttered open, and Albus felt his heart melt at his sapphire eyes.

"Hi." He yawned. His voice was slightly croaky, no doubt from the morning.

Albus replied by nuzzling his nose, then kissed his cheek. "Hi honey."

Scorpius laughed lightly. "Let's get up then. Start the day? It's a Saturday. We have the whole weekend to spend together."

"I'd rather spend it here with you."

Bathilda mewed from the kitchen.

"But our child is hungry." Scorpius teased, stretching as he slid out of bed. Albus begrudgingly slumped after him, not eager to wake up before ten am. But his own stomach was growling too.

"Speaking of children," Albus said, starting to work on their breakfast as Scorpius poured Bathilda's food. "Iris is pregnant again. James told me through a Howler yesterday."

"Really?" Scorpius' eyes widened. "That's great news!"

"Yeah, not for my ears." He commented dryly, still traumatized by James' excited screeching in his ear. "Baby number three." He whistled. "Do you think they're trying to make an entire quidditch team? With Teddy and Vic's lot included, they're on their way."

Though he was joking, Scorpius noticed that Albus was glowing, happy for his brother and sister in law. That was one of the many reasons he loved Albus. His love for his siblings.

"Perhaps. When are they due?"

"September. Which means...that's where they scurried off to last Christmas party." Albus quipped. "To have a little fun."

"Albus!" Scorpius scolded. "Honestly, only you would make a beautiful moment gross."

"It's life, Scorp!" He chuckled. "You're a Healer, you should know these things."

"We'll have to visit. Maybe bring a gift basket to congratulate them." He mused, smiling fondly. "I can't wait to meet our new niece or nephew." There was a wistful look in his eye that Albus caught.

"You've got that look on your face." He noted, amused. He served the plates of bacon sandwiches on the table.

"What do you mean?"

"That Scorpius 'I want something but I'm not going to spell it out for you' face."

"Oh."

"Yes, oh." Albus said, forest green eyes brightening in amusement. "What's up?" He took a seat, tucking into breakfast.

"Well," Scorpius started, staring at his food. "I was thinking..." He stopped himself, hesitant to continue his train of thoughts.

"Yeah?" Albus nudged him gently.

"I want a child." He said, his voice quiet, but firm. "I love my nieces and nephews so much, but they aren't...ours. I want to start a family with you, Albus. Raise a little one of our own to be bright and wonderful and brave and..."

Albus' expression softened. "I do too. You know I do, Scorpius. It's just...difficult right now." He stared at his wedding band. "You know it's harder for us than any hetero couple." He waved his hand vaguely. "Adoption is hard, surrogacy is expensive. Maybe once we settled into our careers more, we can talk about it."

"I think we're ready to go beyond just talking about it, Al."

"We're still young. We've still got time. But...I definitely want to work it out. Somehow, we will. We always do."

Scorpius beamed, reaching to kiss Albus' knuckle. "Thank you." He sat up abruptly. "Oh, I almost forgot- it's the farmer's market today."

Albus snorted. "You're exactly like your dad, you know?"

"Yes yes yes, but we should go!" Scorpius said, levitating the plates to the sink and it automatically was clean due to the floating sponges.

"We? I've got some work to do. I'm not very fond of small talk with old people selling fruit."

"Al, it's really good fruit." Scorpius said seriously. "And it's not all old people. I've seen some of our old schoolmates there."

Albus cringed. "That's even worse."

"Don't be so dramatic. Are you still coming?"

"Mm, but I should really finish this article. Go on without me."

"If you're sure...do you want me to bring anything back?"

Albus thought for a moment. "Those strawberries Ms. Beaker sells. Please? Strawberries and cream sounds so good right now."

"Brilliant, I'm on it." Scorpius did a mock salute.

"Have fun." Al waved as Scorpius appatered, leaving the kitchen empty. Albus went straight to work on his article.

~•~

The market was lively and merry, despite the early hour. Scorpius had stopped by the strawberry stand first, in case he forgot.

Ever since they had moved two years ago, Scorpius had found himself drawn to the quaint farmer's market. Not because of the delicious, fresh food, but to socialize. He made quite a few friends with the muggles who lived around there...mostly old ladies. The early days of their marriage, Albus would join him. Before life got in the way, and work had to be done.

Not that he wasn't busy himself. He only had two days off as a Healer, sometimes less. He didn't know how they would manage childcare, but like Al had said, it was best not to dwell on the future.

"Scorpius? Is that you?"

He turned around, following the voice from behind him. "Polly ...Chapman?" He uttered blandly, praying he wasn't mistaken. He didn't have the best memory- even with old schoolmates who bullied him.

"Yep." Polly said, laughing lightly. "It's me. Been a while."

"It has." Scorpius shifted his weight. "How are things?"

"Great!" She smiled, swishing her blonde ponytail, the same air of confidence from when she was a teenager. "Yann and I are engaged."

"Oh! That's wonderful." Scorpius said, pretending to sound pleased. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you. I proposed to them last month. It was just as I had dreamed."

"How is...Yann?" Scorpius did not actually care how Yann was.

"They're good! Brilliant actually, since they passed Auror training." Polly looked genuinely proud of them, which he had to admit was adorable. "Are you and Albus still..."

"Yes, yes. We um, er- we've been married almost two years actually." He added.

"Aw, that's very sweet. You two were always very close, yeah?" Polly looked at him, and Scorpius nearly walked backwards, intimidated by her stance. She still was extremely scary, like a lioness but with a great sense of fashion. "I know...Yann, Karl and I weren't the best to you two but perhaps we could..." She trailed off. "I'd like you both to come. To the wedding. If you'd like."

That...wasn't what he was expecting. He half expected her to invite him to another Blood Ball.

"Pardon?" Scorpius asked, dumbfounded. "I mean- yeah, that sounds great! Fun! Yes. That sounds nice. I'll bring it up to Al."

Polly was glowing. "Brill! I've got to go, but we should all hang out sometime. Like old times."

Like old times? Scorpius thought. When did they ever hang out?

Nodding mutely, he walked away from Polly with a puzzled, but cheerful expression. He hadn't completely fucked up the conversation, which was always a plus. It still felt odd that Polly Chapman of all people was talking to him, let alone inviting him to her wedding. It was bizarre.

He passed the final vendor, and was surprised and amused to see a tiny girl, no more than seven standing behind it. She had a Brownie uniform on, bright rosy cheeks and pigtails included.

"Would you like a biscuit?" She squealed.

It had taken him a moment to respond, he was still thinking of Polly being kind to him "Oh erm- of course." It was impossible to say no to an adorable small child. He reached for some muggle money, handing her the pound notes. "Just the one box please."

"Okie dokie!" She said, handing him the box. She waited a moment, pouting. "Go on, try it." She urged.

"I really shouldn't I-"

"Please?" The little girl gave him the most pitiful expression. "It's for a good cause, mister. We're helping orphaned puppies find homes."

"Well, alright. For the puppies." He fumbled open the box, taking a polite bite out of the cookie. It was a classic lemon cookie with powdered sugar, one of his favorites. But the second he swallowed, he felt dizzy all of a sudden. "What..." He stumbled back. "Oh my," He gulped, the entire market swirling around him. Something wasn’t right. "is there something in..."

He would be damned if he let this happen without some sort of fight. Throwing his basket aside, he collapsed, slipping into unconsciousness.

"We've got him."

#Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy #Albus Severus Potter #Char Fanfics #Scorbus #Married Scorbus #LOTS of OCs #James Sirius Potter #Polly Chapman #Yann Fredericks #Scorpius Malfoy #Albus Potter #Fanfic #Writing #Kidnapping

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singledarkshade · 3 years

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Deadly Puzzle

Part Three

(Part One and Part Two can be found here)

Eve stood at the door watching her little sister in her new bedroom. Gideon had only opened one box and was currently sitting on her new bed, huddled in the corner with Gilbert’s teddy bear clutched to her. She hadn’t let it go since Eve had picked her up.

It had been the worst week Eve had ever had to endure, from the moment she’d answered the phone to be told her mother, stepfather and stepbrother were all dead meaning she was now all that her stepsister had left.

She’d not been able to spend much time with Gideon and Gilbert since she had started with the FBI. Now she had to be a parent to her ten-year-old sister who didn’t know her and already hated her for moving them to a different country.

But Central City was where Eve’s job was, and she needed it more than ever to support the devastated little girl in the bedroom. One who had already proven herself smarter than most people in most rooms.

Eve had no idea how to connect with Gideon or help her through this, but she had no choice.

“Gideon,” Kendra said softly, “There’s more in this box.”

Shaking herself Gideon turned back to the others in the room and gently placed the bear on the desk. As she did, the tag caught her eye.

“This isn’t Gilbert’s bear,” she breathed before turning back to the box, stretching up so she could lean in and pulled out a smaller box containing three fake gravestones.

The others crowded round, and Harrison read, “Mommy Rider, Daddy Rider, Big Brother Rider. There’s something beneath them,” he lifted the three fake tombstones out their box to see the paper below and read, “When everything is lost, when all is gone, sometimes all you want is to go home but a stop is made on the way, even if only for one day.”

“What does that mean?” Kendra mused.

Gideon fumbled to get her phone, “Evie,” she quickly dialled her older sister, “Eve, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Eve told her, “Why? What happened?”

She sighed, “Yang left me a present. I’ll send you a picture.”

Quickly snapping the bear, the tombstones and the note, Gideon sent it to her sister and waited while Eve looked at it.

“I doubt home means me,” Eve came back on, “It’ll be where you feel safest.”

“That’s Rip’s place or the office,” Gideon told her.

Eve replied, “This is aimed at you, and although you spend more time at Rip’s apartment than your own, the office is in your name.”

“Are you sure it’s the office?” Harrison asked her.

Gideon frowned in thought before shaking her head, “When all is lost…” she whispered before murmuring, “All is lost.” Her head came up and she demanded, “Evie, when we first came to Central City the house wasn’t ready, where did we stay?”

“The Star Hotel on sixth,” Eve told her.

“That’s where the next clue is,” Gideon said, “We’re heading there now.”

Before she could hang up, Eve called, “I’ll meet you there.”

Gideon put her phone away and, with Harrison, Kendra and Cisco, headed to the car. The Star Hotel wasn’t that far from the station and as they walked into the reception area the old-fashioned phone on the wall began to ring.

Gideon stalled as the phone rang.

“Answer it,” Kendra told her.

Gideon frowned, listening to the ringing.

“Rider,” Harrison snarled, “Answer the damn phone.”

Shaking her head, Gideon replied, “It only started to ring once we were here. He's watching us right now from somewhere.”

Harrison snapped, “Answer the phone, Gideon,” as it continued to ring, he snarled, “If that girl dies, you're an accessory to murder.”

Walking to the phone, Gideon lifted the receiver and hung up instantly.

Eve stared at her, “I hope to God you know what you're doing.”

Gideon turned in a circle and spotted an open door that she knew had been closed a few moments ago. Charging towards the office she found a tablet showing the reception of the hotel where they had been moments before.

“He’s been watching us,” Gideon cried, “All this time, he watched us.”

Kendra caught Gideon’s shoulder, “Don't touch anything.”

Harrison scanned the room, “Let's get CSI down here to dust for prints.”

“There's no need,” Cisco noted, “I'm sure he touched things. He probably touched everything, but you're not going to find any prints. He's too good for that.”

“What is this sick, twisted admiration you have for this whack job?” Harrison demanded of the younger man.

Cisco shrugged before asking, “Now do you get how good he is? He’s just warming up.”

Kendra frowned as she looked around the room, gasping when she saw a picture sitting on the desk, “Oh, my God,” she pulled out a glove from her pocket and picked it up by the edge of the frame turning it to show the others.

“The waitress,” Gideon breathed, horrified to see the scared woman tied to a chair.

Her phone beeped and she pulled it out hoping it was Rip, frowning when it was from an unknown number. She handed it Cisco to read not wanting to see what the psycho had written to her.

“It's a message from Yang,” Cisco said softly, “He says, you are a naughty, naughty girl. He's giving us another chance. She's still alive.”

Kendra nodded, “Okay, let's go back to the station, wait for instructions.”

Gideon shook her head, “No.”

Eve frowned, “Gideon?”

“I’m going back to the office,” she said.

Kendra stared at her stunned, “What do you mean?”

Gideon shrugged, “I'm nobody's puppet, okay? I'm done. I'm done playing his little game. I solved his puzzles. I chased my tail and had him dredge up my past. I'm finished.”

Cisco said urgently, “No one's ever gotten this far. That's why he's still playing. It's a sign of respect.”

“No,” Gideon yelled, “It isn’t, Cisco. He’s too good, he’s better than me and we never had a chance. He's going to kill that girl either way.”

Kendra shook her head as Gideon started out the door, “Maybe, maybe not, Gideon but I know you don't just give up.”

Gideon turned back, “Tell you what, Kendra, the next time a serial killer calls you out, personally, you can pick up your pompoms and rally the troops and never say die. I'm out.”

“Damn you, Rider,” Harrison yelled after her, “We don’t need you. We’ll do this ourselves.”

Without looking back Gideon marched out the building with Eve following on behind her.

*********************************************

Rip and Miranda ran from the car park into the hospital reception finding they were not the only parents there.

“We’re here for Jonas Hunter,” Miranda said to the receptionist.

The woman nodded and quickly checked her computer, “Dr Snow will be out to speak to you in a few moments.”

Seeing Miranda was about to yell at the woman, Rip caught her arm and moved her to the side, catching her face in his hands.

“Take a breath,” he told her, “She can’t tell us anything.”

Miranda whispered, “I want my boy.”

“I know,” Rip said, “But I’ve learned working with the CCPD that there are procedures they have to follow.”

Sighing Miranda nodded and held onto him when Rip wrapped his arm around her.

“Mr and Mrs Hunter?” a woman said as she walked over to them a few moments later.

Normally Miranda would have corrected her but right now her worry for Jonas overtook everything, “Yes.”

“I’m Dr Snow,” she introduced herself, “And you two have an amazing son. I’ll take you through to him.”

“He’s okay?” Rip demanded.

Dr Snow smiled, “He has a few bumps and bruises but other than that he’s fine. From what I’ve been told he kept all the other kids calm after the crash.”

Rip and Miranda shared a proud smile.

“Mummy,” the familiar voice called as they entered the room, “Daddy.”

“Baby,” Miranda ran over to the bed and hugged her son tightly, “Oh, I was so worried.”

Jonas submitted to the hug for a few minutes before he began to squirm.

“Miranda,” Rip said softly, “Can I hug my son?”

Miranda released the boy finally and Rip gave Jonas a quick hug before checking the large bruise on his cheek.

“The doctor told us that you kept everyone calm,” Rip said, while Miranda fussed over their son.

Jonas shrugged, “Just like you would.”

Pride filled Rip and he pressed a kiss to the top of Jonas’ head, “I am going to check with the doctor when we can take you home.”

As he headed to talk to Dr Snow, Rip pulled out his phone and sent Gideon a message letting her know Jonas was alright.

Jonas was sleeping by the time they reached the house. Rip eased the little boy out of the back seat of the car and carried him to his bedroom. Together they changed Jonas into his pyjamas, managing not to wake him before sliding him under the covers. Miranda gently tucked him in, smoothing his hair and pressing a kiss to his forehead. She stepped back and allowed Rip to kiss his son before they tiptoed out the room.

The moment they left the room, Miranda headed to the couch and sat down tears filling her eyes.

“It’s okay,” Rip soothed, sitting at her side, wrapping his arm around her, “He’s safe and the doctor said he wasn’t hurt other than a few bruises.”

Miranda nodded, trying to stop her tears, “I know but I thought I was going to lose him. Rip, I have never been that scared in my life.”

“I know,” Rip hugged her closer for a moment before turning her to look at him, gently wiping the few tears sliding along her cheeks, “I was terrified too but he’s okay and safe in his room.” He rested his forehead against hers, gently stroking her cheek to comfort her, “Jonas is fine, and he looked after everyone else.”

Miranda closed her eyes as she leaned against him, sliding her arms around him, and resting her head against his shoulder. Turning to look at him, Rip wasn’t sure who made the move but suddenly their lips touched in a kiss. Instantly Rip was transported back over ten years and pulled her closer. Parting Rip stared into Miranda’s eyes as she stared at him, but before they could say anything his phone began to buzz.

“It’s Detective Wells,” Rip grimaced, answering the phone he listened worry filling him. When the other man finished, Rip glanced at Miranda who nodded before saying, “I’ll be right there.”

Miranda touched his arm as he hung up, “We’ll be fine. Go and help Gideon.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

She hugged him tightly, “We’re fine. We’ll see you tomorrow for dinner with your mother.”

Rip nodded and pressed a quick kiss to the side of her mouth before he grabbed his jacket and headed to his car.

Jonas was safe, he now had to make sure Gideon was.

#fic #ripfic #legends of tomorrow #rip hunter #gideon #kendra saunders #miranda coburn #jonas hunter #the flash #cisco ramon #harrison wells #psych au verse

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67-chevy-baby · 4 years

Text

Remedy

Pairing - Jared x Reader

Tags - Slight angst, FLUFFFFFF, language, and I think that’s it.

Word Count - 2,664

Beta - @winecatsandpizza

Fic Aesthetic - Yours truly

The Song I Chose - Off My Mind by Radio Company

Written for - @saxxxology’s Vol 1 Writing Challenge

A/N - So, I couldn’t find much about Jared’s sister. I don’t think she’s married, but just so y’all know I made up Trent, Max, and Macee. Also, there may be a part 2 to this. It’s my first Jared fic, and I’m not sure I write him well. At any rate, I hope y’all enjoy it, and I especially hope you like this Saxxy. I really tried to make this good. :)

To say you’d become a failure to your parents was an understatement.

From the moment you dropped out of college to pursue your real dream, they’d cut all ties with you. Honestly, it didn’t come as a surprise considering all they seemed to care about was what they wanted you to succeed in. If it didn’t benefit them, then they weren’t interested.

Finally realizing their true intentions was the straw that broke the camel’s back. You packed what little belongings you had and left for Texas, leaving your home-town in Ohio behind in the rearview mirror. The beat-to-hell car you inherited lasted you until the outskirts of Dallas, so you decided to hole up in a hotel with the last bit of savings you had.

After checking in and grabbing some snacks from the vending machine in the lobby, you headed to your room and splayed out on the bed. You scrolled through local jobs as you munched on a Snickers bar. Nothing really jumped out at you, but this wasn’t a time in your life where it was rational to be picky. If you were going to pursue becoming a singer, then you needed some cash to get you started.

Nothing really piqued your interest around Dallas, so you decided to span your search further. After an hour of sifting through different job opportunities, you finally came across one that caught your eye.

Full-Time Nanny in Avery Ranch Start Date: Mid-January 2020 Children ages: 5 and 2 months Hours/Rate: M-F 7:30am-5pm - $18/hr Serious Inquiries Only: (512)586-2463

Other than singing, babysitting your sister’s kids was something else you thoroughly enjoyed. Her husband had cheated on her, and they divorced soon after so you became a constant in their lives. Not that you weren’t before, but since you were a full-time student at the time you often watched them during your off time.

Before you could talk yourself out of it, you called the number and waited. By the third ring, you were starting to get discouraged but then a woman’s cheerful voice answered.

“Hello?”

Talking on the phone was never a strong suit of yours. Especially not knowing who was on the other end, it always gave you anxiety. Taking a deep breath, you stammered out a response.

“Um, h-hi. My name’s Y/N and I saw your add about the Nanny position. I’d like to apply if it’s still available.”

You heard the woman clear her throat and some rustling before she came back on the line.

“Hi, Y/N! My name's Megan. Yes, the position is still available! Can you come over tomorrow at noon? My husband and I would like to meet over coffee to get to know you a bit better before we introduce you to the children.”

Well, you weren’t expecting that, but the desperate situation you were in won over the butterflies fluttering against your abdomen.

“Y-Yeah! I can do that!”

The warmth in the woman’s response was evident and it eased any doubts you had bouncing around in your head.

“Great! We’ll see you tomorrow, Y/N. I’ll text you the address and feel free to wear something comfortable. Lord knows with two kids I won't be wearing my best dress."

You bid her goodbye and sighed into your pillow. Despite uprooting your life merely a day ago, things were starting to come together, and for once, you couldn't be happier.

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

Jared sighed as he walked through the airport. Another season of Supernatural wrapped and he was finally on his home turf again. The familiarity of the Texas air nipped his bare skin as he headed for the awaiting taxi. Tonight, he'd rest up and then tomorrow he'd go and see his siblings.

The ride to his studio apartment was short, but it allowed him to send a few texts and emails anyway. He tipped the cab driver generously and took the elevator up to his floor.

His apartment wasn't much, but it was enough for him. The entry area was small, bearing a hook on the wall to hang his keys, a closet for his coat and shoes, and a couple of light switches. Just off to the left was the living room. He had a black leather sectional and a nice entertainment center where he could watch the latest Cowboys game comfortably. The kitchen wasn't enormous, but he didn't need it to be. It had everything he needed and all the appliances were new enough. His bedroom was just the way he left it, his king-size bed unmade and his laundry in the basket by the bathroom door.

Jared tossed his suitcase on the bed and padded to the kitchen for a beer. He'd start laundry tomorrow. It wasn't like he had anyone to impress or anything. Ever since Supernatural gained its popularity, he'd shied away from serious relationships because he barely had time for himself let alone a significant other. Settling into the couch, he flipped through the channels before stopping on the movie Die Hard, one of his favorite Christmas movies. Before he knew it, he'd dozed off, his hard work and jet lag finally catching up to him.

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

You groaned and shut off your alarm. How was it already 6 AM? Forcing yourself to emerge from your warm blanket cocoon, you padded to the bathroom praying a hot shower would wake you up. Mornings were far from your favorite thing, and if you were going to meet with your potential employer then you needed to be somewhat presentable.

Once you were dressed and had some sustenance, you wore a simple pair of jeans and a comfortable top. Your hair fell neatly at your shoulders and once you applied a small amount of makeup, you looked less like a zombie than you imagined. Remembering to grab your card key, you slid on your flats and headed to the address that Megan had texted you.

The drive was nearly three hours, but you didn't mind. It allowed you to decompress and listen to your favorite Spotify playlist. Luckily, the rental car you managed to get had Bluetooth, otherwise you'd have to deal with the local stations.

Finally, you pulled into the driveway and allowed yourself to take a few deep breaths. The house was pretty big, two-story with a two-car garage. The yard was well kept and you could see the faint outlines of playground equipment down the street. Overall, it looked to be a nice, quiet neighborhood.

Crisp air fanned your face as you walked to the front door. A couple knocks later you were face to face with a sweet-looking young woman. She smiled warmly at you before inviting you inside.

"Hi! You must be Y/N. It's so good to meet you."

Smiling back at her, you shook her hand and then noticed a taller figure walk up behind her. He nodded at you and wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist.

“I’m her husband, Trent. Please come in and make yourself comfortable.”

You followed them inside and gasped as they led you into what had to be their living room. Your eyes wandered and marveled at how cozy and elegant everything looked. Not that it mattered to you, but you couldn’t help but think this couple had a lot of money.

“You have a beautiful home, Mr. and Mrs. …”

It only just hit you that you didn’t know their last name. Megan brought you a cup of some wonderful smelling coffee and sat down on the love seat across from you.

“Stevenson. Our last name is Stevenson. Thank you for your kind words. We moved here a little over a year ago so I could be closer to my niece.”

You nodded and moaned happily at the taste of the coffee. This was one of the many things you enjoyed in life, a nice hot cup of coffee.

“Oh, does your family live close? That’s always nice, having family that lives close by. I used to watch my older sister’s kids all the time while she worked. They’re in school full-time now, so that’s why I decided to move here to hopefully pursue my dream.”

It amazed you that you felt this comfortable around the Stevenson’s so quickly. Normally, your anxiety would get the better of you and it’d be like pulling teeth to get you to share personal things about your life. Megan nodded and scooted over to allow room for Trent to sit by her.

“Yes, one of my older brother’s lives about fifteen minutes from here. He’s not home often though due to his job. He’s an actor and really only gets time off during the summer and the holidays. My other older brother lives about forty-five minutes from here. He’s an Orthopedic surgeon.”

“Wow.” You breathed. “That’s really awesome! I have always wanted to be a singer, but my love of kids made me want to wait a little longer to try and become successful at it. I probably would have had kids of my own by now if I was fortunate in the relationship department. I seem to always find the ones who are either already married or live in their Mom’s basement.” The three of you shared a laugh and you watched as Trent scrolled through his phone.

“This is our son, Max. He just turned five about a month ago, and in his lap is our two-month-old daughter Macee.”

You looked at them both in awe. “They’re beautiful! Max sure looks like he loves Macee a lot.” Just as you handed Trent his phone back, a small voice sounded from the foot of the stairs.

“Mommy? I can’t sweep…”

The three of you looked to see little Max standing with his teddy bear and rubbing his eyes. Megan opened her arms and set him on her lap, pressing her lips to his forehead.

“Hey, baby. You can sit with Mommy while we talk to miss Y/N.”

Your ears perked up at her words. Was she giving you the job? Both her and Trent shared a look and you could tell they were having a wordless conversation. Finally, Megan turned and gave you an excited smile.

“Y/N, if you’re up for it, Trent and I would love to have you as our Nanny. You seem very attentive and dependable. We have a spare room that you can stay in for the time being, and you’ll have your own bathroom.”

“Thank you both so much! I can’t wait to work with you and get to know your adorable children. When would you like me to start?”

Megan gave you a folder with a few papers in it to go over.

“These are just a few more things about us and the kids that I want you to know. You can bring your things over tomorrow night and then on Monday you can start.”

You bid Trent and Megan goodbye and headed back to your hotel. It was as if a weight had been lifted off your shoulders. You’d only been here a short time and you had a place to stay and a job. Now all you needed to get was a car and you’d better off than you were before you started your journey.

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

The sound of his phone’s text tone woke Jared from his slumber. He typed a quick response to his sister and stretched his tired muscles. After taking a quick shower and getting dressed he grabbed his wallet and keys before heading out the door.

His sister said to be at her house in a couple of hours, but he didn’t see the harm in getting there early. It would give him time to play with Max and Macee for a little while. The drive there wasn’t very long, and soon he was walking up the sidewalk to their front door.

He let himself in and could saw his sister in the back yard playing with the kids. Before he could head through the house out the back door, something caught his attention. A sweet melodic voice flowed through the upstairs hallway that made his heartbeat quicken. He moved so he could see better and caught sight of the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She had long brown hair that waved a bit at the ends, was probably about five foot one, and her voice was mesmerizing.

He watched as she cleaned the kids’ playroom, her hips shimmying to the music she was listening to. It was then that he recognized the song she was singing. It was one of the songs from Jensen’s new album! Standing in the foyer, he let himself listen to you a bit longer.

Oh, and how do I get you off my mind

With you back in my bed

How do I get you off my mind

Can’t have you living in my head

You can only stay awake so long

While deciding what is true

I lean in for a kiss upon your shoulder

Realize it wouldn’t do, not with you

So, how do I get you off my mind

With you back in my bed

How do I get you off my mind

Can’t have you living in my head

Unbeknownst to him, his sister was watching him watch her, the biggest smirk on her face knowing that you had caught her brother’s eye.

“Her name’s Y/N, and she’s Trent and I’s nanny.”

Jared whirled around to meet his sister’s knowing gaze. He knew he’d been caught staring and was sure he was blushing furiously.

“That’s ah… I’m uh… glad you found someone suitable for the kids, Meg. I bet she’s great.”

“Uh-huh… I haven’t seen you look at someone like that since… well, since ever really. You like her.”

“What?! That’s… I mean… I don’t even know her. I just… her singing was um… really good!”

By now, you had finished cleaning the playroom and was prepared to relieve Megan so she could go out with her family. You heard her talking to someone and you assumed it was Trent.

“Hey, Megan! I finished cleaning the pla-”

Your words were caught in your throat as you looked down into the foyer. There, standing mere feet from you was your celebrity crush since you saw him on Gilmore Girls. Jared Padalecki. It took only a moment for things to click in your brain and you deduced that he and Megan were siblings.

“Y/N, this is one of my older brother’s Jared, Jared this is Y/N.”

“H-Hi…” You squeaked. He gave you a boyish grin and you forgot how to breathe. “I’m uh… just going to get a few things from my room…”

Once you were behind the closed door, you let out a shaky breath. How in the fuck did you manage to get a job at Jared Padalecki’s sister’s house?! Taking a deep breath you grabbed the Tonka set you bought Max and headed downstairs to the great room to play with him and Macee. Jared was in the kitchen with Megan, and you were lucky enough to be immensely distracted by Max to hear what they were saying.

“I’m telling you Jare, you should ask her out! I give her weekends off, and I don’t think she knows anyone here but us. I think it would be nice to show her around.”

Jared rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I don’t know Megan… I just met he-”

“Oh cut the crap, Jared. You can make all the excuses you want, but you and I both know you like her. C’mon! Take a chance! She’s cute and you’re single. If you keep waiting around for the right person, then who knows how long you’ll be waiting?”

Jared contemplated his sister’s words as he eyed you through the kitchen. Who was he kidding? Megan was right. He sighed and swallowed thickly as he headed into the Great room.

“Here goes nothing…”

#saxxxology vol 1 writing challenge #jared padalecki x reader #jared x reader #'pala writes

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dragons-bones · 4 years

Note

💪👋✌️🤙

💪 - would your character be more likely to scoop someone up in their arms, or be the one getting scooped?

As Synnove is six foot two and is in fact packing a lot of muscle (particularly in her arms and shoulders just from all the incidental smithing and engineering she does building her own equipment), chances are she is doing a lot of scooping: during “oh shit run” retreats by the Squad, she may in fact be hauling multiple carbuncles in her arms, or possibly carrying Rereha like a football (Heron’s got Alakhai). She is also doing lots of rescuing at the Guild--Khebi is very accident prone especially--because towering piles of books plus narrow stairwells equals oh shit.

That being said, between Synnove and Aymeric, it’s definitely Aymeric who is doing the scooping. Synnove is, at heart, a huge romantic sap and she loves it when Aymeric swoops her up into a bridal carry or otherwise lifts her off her feet, and Aymeric loves indulging her. (Also fight me, there’s no way he’s got the noodly arms of the base elezen model, Aymeric is an archer and also a tank, that man’s arms and shoulders are probably godly (plus his chest, and his legs, and--I’m gonna stop there). He can pick up Synnove and carry her wherever she wants without breaking a sweat. Synnove is both hearts in eyes and please take me now about it.)

👋 - someone waves at your character. what do they do?

For Synnove, this will depend. For children and general acquaintances, she will give a polite wave back with an equally polite smile--for kids the smile will be warm if slightly nervous because oh god small children what do. For an adult she doesn’t know, she may ignore the gesture entirely or cautiously wave back. For someone she knows and dislikes (or is just currently on her shit list), no waving back and also a flatly unimpressed expression. Close friends and her family (that is, her chosen family plus Aunt Angharad) get a big enthusiastic return wave, possibly also some excited toe bouncing.

✌️ - are there any gestures or touches that your character shares with a friend/team/loved one that are a type of code between them?

(tagging @newty, @lunarosewood23, and @chysgoda who also sent in asks for this one--because this isn’t a single character one, this is a full Squad of Light one!)

Literally the entire way the Squad communicates. Synnove, Rereha, and Heron have known one another for over twenty years, and Alakhai has known them for fifteen. Their regular method of talking is a combination of general chatter, sarcasm, in-jokes, and hand-signs.

The hand-signs especially are notable because they are a bastard amalgamation of: Eorzean sign language (two of Heron’s aunts are deaf because of combat injuries, which is how Heron learned, and she in turn taught it to the others); Noykin hunting signs; Upright Thieves signs; Maelstrom, Serpent, and Flames hand-signs (for the most part, very similar, but possess differences in a couple key areas); assorted gestures considered rude in Gyr Abanian, Ul’dahn, Limsan, and Xaela cultures; and whatever signs the quartet has made up that references some past experience or joke. A lot of context is further dependent on expression and just sheer familiarity with one another, as all four can easily read one another’s micro-expressions and have a good idea of what each other may be thinking.

Thus the whole system is utterly incomprehensible to anyone else. The Scions have, by necessity, picked up some of it (mostly the combat-relevant signs); Aymeric knows a little as well. Everyone else? Good luck.

As Alakhai, even though she’s more than proficient in Eorzean, just doesn’t like talking, these hand signs are her preferred method of communicating with the Squad. It’s also a common sight that whichever two or three aren’t taking part in a conversation will generally be speaking solely in Squad hand signs among themselves--either commentary about the proceedings, planning ahead, or just taking the piss out of one another for some ridiculous topic.

🤙 - how does your character's relationship with touch change if they get tipsy or otherwise chemically unbalanced?

Synnove generally does not like touching or being touched by strangers or casual acquaintances. If she is in a situation where the majority of people present fall into this category (typically department parties or going out with colleagues to the Drowning Wench), she’ll actually clam up further the more she drinks and get very stony and reserved, particularly if the people around her are getting handsy.

If you’re one of the Squad, a Scion, Aymeric, or one of her other close friends? Congratulations, you are now an acceptable teddy bear. Drunk Synnove among friends is an unrepentant cuddlebug who has stopped giving zero fucks about propriety. If the person she’s with is tall enough (Heron, Lucia, Urianger, any number of other roegadyn/elezen/viera friends), their shoulder is now her pillow. If that doesn’t work, sleepy-drunk Synnove will probably attempt to use their lap as a pillow. And if it’s Aymeric, fuck everything, she is flat out crawling into his lap, parking herself there, and mashing her face into his neck or chest.

Character Ask Game - Touch/Gestures

#to-the-voiceless #dt answers things #meme stuff #final fantasy xiv #oc: synnove greywolfe #oc: rereha reha #oc: dancing heron #oc: alakhai noykin #thank you for the ask cyan! :D

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lyricsaboutcats · 4 years

Text

Datamining Andromeda: Humans

We’re getting closer to the end of this series! We’re going to dig around Mass Effect Andromeda’s files for information about the human characters. Some of them have summaries and biographies hidden inside the game files for the developers to use.

Datamining Andromeda: Asari Datamining Andromeda: Salarians Datamining Andromeda: Turians Datamining Andromeda: Krogan

When it comes to the humans, many minor NPCs have summaries while major characters such as Liam, Addison, and Gil do not.

Warning: There are spoilers ahead!

------

Major Human Characters:

Cora Harper Cora Harper is a human soldier who trained with mysterious asari commandos. Talented and smart, Harper is a consummate professional who finds herself always looking for a trusted mentor to give her guidance and a path in life. She was a close friend of the Player's father--as close as anyone got--and can give insight into him even after his passing. Harper is a woman of few words: in a pinch, she prefers to let a bit of deadpan humour or a well-placed shot do the talking.

Suvi Anwar Suvi Anwar is the Tempest's resident science officer. A brilliant physicist, she was recommended for the Pathfinder Initiative, and jumped at the chance to explore the wonders of a new galaxy. Initially attached to the NEXUS as part of the team responsible for the data collection and analysis of the conditions in the Heleus Cluster, Suvi campaigned to become part of the Pathfinder's scouting team, in order to expand her investigation of the cluster. Excitable, may occasionally talk to herself. Brain goes fast, mouth runs to keep up.

Harry Carlyle Harry is initially the team doctor on the Pathfinder team, but then swaps job with Lexi. Harry remains on the Hyperion and helps watch over the sibling. Harry is in his late 40s, easy-going, and game for anything.

Ryder Sr. Father of the player character. Tough, no nonsense ex-soldier-turned-Pathfinder. He's a commanding presence.

Ellen Ryder Ellen Ryder is the wife of Alec Ryder, the original human Pathfinder who dies in M1 (and mother of player characters, Scott and Say). Ellen met Alec when he was doing his N7 training on Earth. Ellen was a scientist involved in the early stages of human biotic research, delving into the use of implants as a way of harnessing biotic abilities. At the time, this was very primitive and often dangerous work. Alec and Ellen married, but he was then deployed to the First Contact War, leaving Ellen as something of a soldier's wife, moving around wherever Alec was posted. Next up was the Citadel, where Alec was ambassador and Ellen raised their two children, Scott and Sara for a number of years on the station. On the Citadel, Ellen found new horizons opening up in her field, with the galactic knowledge of biotics far in advance of the work she'd been doing on Earth. But there was a dark side too. Ellen experienced the onset of a serious degenerative disease. Its root cause could be traced back to her early work on biotics on Earth, at a time when the danger of exposure to eezo was little understood. Because her illness was so rare, there was no known cure. The family moved back to Earth to care for her and Alec devoted himself to developing SAM as a way of curing her. Alec enlisted Ellen in the project, and together they leveraged her knowledge of implants, melding it with Alec's understanding of A.I. The project consumed Alec, and he became a distant and aloof figure to both his wife and children. Whereas Ellen tried to put on a brave face and remain a committed mother - she eventually ended up the de facto "single parent" in place of their mostly absent father. Despite her disease, she remained a loving and committed mother, caring deeply about her two children. Eventually, her condition worsened to the point where it was too late, death was inevitable. She was willing to accept this, but Alec was not. He loved her too much. Despite their sometimes rocky relationship they still felt passionate about each other, even to the very end.

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Mysterious Benefactor

Race: Human A character in the Alec Ryder memory flashbacks. This is the Mysterious Benefactor -- the secret backer of the entire Andromeda Initiative who originally hired Alec. She's a woman, though her face will remain hidden in this game and we'll only hear her voice.

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Humans of Kadara:

Sloane Kelly Sloane Kelly also known as the "Outcast Queen" is a "Robin Hood" figure who leads the Outcast Legion pirate faction by holding the spoils of war in one hand and a loaded gun in the other. A hardened survivor from the Nexus rebellion, she holds a deep personal grudge against the Andromedia Initiative--and, by association, the Pathfinder. South African. Attractive but tough. Like Furiosa from Mad Max.

Reyes Vidal Reyes Vidal presents himself to the player as a smuggler and contact of the Angaran Resistance, but he is secretly the Charlatan, one of the two major pirate lords vying for power in Kadara Port. He is charming and driven, but ultimately selfish and values himself above others. Casual, friendly with a flirty undertone. A very slight Chilean accent. Han Solo handsome--rugged but put together.

Dr. Ryota Nakamoto Ryota Nakamoto once worked for the Outcast Legion, but when Sloane turned what should have been a medical breakthrough into a drug, he quit and started up a free clinic in the slums of Kadara Port. He is Japanese, but doesn't have an accent.

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Humans of the Nexus:

Jien Garson This is Jien Garson, the founder of the Andromeda Initiative. A charismatic visionary billionaire ala Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, or Steve Jobs. She is seen in the video "info wall" in beginning of game. She will also be a character in the MEA prequel novel.

William Spender The son of an influential investor of the pathfinder initiative, Spender was assigned to the Pathfinder Initiative as an administrator. Though he was not competent, his ability as a politician was such that he managed to preserve his position within the Initiative until the departure of the arks. Woken up during the arrival in the Heleus Cluster, he became the director of colonial affairs’ assistant more though lack of personel than anything else. His propensity for dodgy politics and behind the scenes dealing (and lying) continued, though a fatal miscalculation led to him becoming a pawn of the Nexus Exiles. He subsequently contributed to the departure of the krogan clan among other issues. He complies with Tann's requests thus is in good odor with him. Addison knows he is less than qualified and suspects he had a part in the krogan leaving, but no one has any idea of his involvement with the exiles.

Cryo Deployment Administrator Vladimir Brecka Dedicated but long-suffering assistant to the Colonial Director. Generally good natured, but knows his place in the order of things, and wants better. Knows that a good job will lead to better things for everyone, so he grins and bears it. Light Romanian Accent.

Doctor Camden Chief botanist and manager of Hydroponics who left for Andromeda after the Divorce From Hell. Camden is brisk and fussy, annoyed that people dismiss him as "a gardener" when his work in Hydroponics keeps everyone still breathing, eating, and drinking--nothing important, right? He nurses that grudge like a favourite teddy bear, but underneath it all he's deeply concerned that a thin green line separates the Nexus from life and death. Akin to the Doctor from ST: Voyager.

Yolanda Carter Operations Manager. A seemingly quiet and posed woman, Yolanda will rain the fires from hell down upon any unsuspecting fool who presumes to think her request for this or that item is superfluous. While some are intimidated by her, having fallen foul of her before, all respect her ability to get shit done. She works with Vetra and the two make a scary team when they are like-minded on acquiring something for the station.

Ada DeYoung A young technician working under Kesh on the Nexus. She is optimistic and tends to take everything with great aplomb. Kesh sends her to fix problems that no one can figure out, as the joke among the engineers is that the bugs then to happen when she's around. She is excellent at tracking down power issues within any given sort of network.

Sung-Soo Hwang Technician. An engineer working under Kesh in the engineering department. He is a hardware specialist who tends to be partnered with Ada more often than not due to their complementary skillsets and the fact that he takes the power outages Ada discovers with humor and has set up a countdown betting pool as to the next outage she tracks down.

Colonial Affairs Ops Lin. A young woman, asian, working the comms in the Colonial Affairs area. She's generally in charge of ensuring Addison is aware of on the spot reports when she's not at her desk, and managing the flow of information from settlements to the appropriate department head.

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Humans on Meridian After the Last Mission:

Iora Pillay (Chief Operations) Iora Pillay (iora, not Lora) takes on the managerial position meant to temporarily organize Hub operations until a permanent leader is decided, then assist that leader in perpetuity. East Indian by way of the Citadel. Focused, careful. Respects the Pathfinder, but on some level considers their job "done." Very pro Nexus-as-new-Citadel. She is "second wave," one of the first of the humans "defrosted" after the Hyperion was placed.

Hunter Kerry (Chief Engineer) Hunter is heading up the planned deconstruction of the Hyperion, managing the balance between reuse and recycling. New Zealander. Plainspoken, tough as balls. Doesn't care about politics. Complains that accommodating aliens messes with construction, but then goes above and beyond to do it. He just wanted you to know. He's another second wave defrostee.

Darla vas Hyperion (Placements Officer) Darla vas Hyperion is in charge of assigning occupations as the Ark is slowly repurposed and the humans in stasis are awakened. Spent most of her life among Quarians, because her parents were diplomats. Utterly used to ship-life and the specificity of roles that demands. Pale. Used to life in a sterile environment. Middle management, glad to be in HR and not farming. Idolizes the Pathfinder. Another second wave defrostee. Korean Heritage.

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(text source: Game/VOCharacters/ using Frosty Editor)

#mass effect #mass effect andromeda #cora harper #suvi anwar #ellen ryder #sloane kelly #reyes vidal #long post #datamining andromeda

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chocobonugget · 4 years

Text

Fragile Tender Heart

Title: Fragile Tender Heart Rating: T Word Count: 8,061 Summary: Once upon a time, there was a prince with a teddy bear. And then, there was neither a prince nor a bear. The story of how a newborn chocobo nugget transforms into a beautiful gentlethem.

-1- "It's a boy," the midwife says.

The first time Yuffie holds her baby, she's exhausted, bathed in sweat, but she's still the most beautiful thing Cloud has ever seen. She's glowing, eyes bright and mirthful as ever despite their baby's painful, intensely arduous journey into the world. He smiles at her as the midwife counts the correct number of digits on hands and feet that are so unbelievably tiny and fragile. Cloud leans over and kisses her forehead, running his fingers through dark hair wet with perspiration, and he mutters something about how proud he is of her, how amazing she is, how much he loves her.

Yuffie just grins as the midwife takes the infant once again, to tend to him and making sure the rest of him is as healthy as his lungs and vocal cords seem to be, and she's clearly delirious with exhaustion when she laughs breathlessly and says, "Cloud, we did it. We made a chocobo nugget."

-2- "Mama's yukata is pwetty," Yuki says, squirming around in his lap.

"It is," he whispers, tapping at his son's mouth with an index finger, "but we have to be quiet until she finishes her speech. It's very important, and we don't want her to mess up."

It's not exactly fair to ask a three year old to sit completely still as his mother announces the newly-made agreement between her country and the reformed, rebuilt Shinra Company. It likely won't go over well, but she is the Empress, Her Imperial Majesty, the Daughter of Leviathan, and her people trust her not to let their home be ravaged by senseless war ever again. She says as much to them, reminding them that she has been actively in the fray since she was sixteen years old and has aimed to restore her country to its former glory since the war with Shinra ended. She loves and respects her father, she tells them, but she would rather die than allow her people's culture to be reduced and trivialized, to once again let an oppressor overtake them and turn their precious traditions into a show for tourists.

She makes a hell of an argument, and Cloud is quite proud of her for acknowledging Wutai's righteous anger at Shinra. She doesn’t dismiss their obvious concerns about this partnership, and makes a point of assuring them, not only that she feels exactly the same, but also that she knows Rufus Shinra personally and can tell when he’s lying. She tells them all the ways how she knows that he is serious about making peace between their two groups.

(In another life, she once told him, she might have married him to establish this same bond with her people, and can you even imagine that, Cloud, how gross would that be, he's like, a million years old, eww.)

Near the end of her speech, she very casually says, "If Rufus violates our agreement, I reserve the right, in addition to enacting the fines and sanctions and other political punishments that I’ve already talked about, to cut his dick off—like, the whole entire thing!—and shove it down his throat." And how can anyone can doubt her sincerity when she adds, "And then, I dunno, murder him or whatever"?

Yuki lets out a giggle, because he's never heard his mother threaten to kill anyone outside of a joke before and has no idea that, right now, she is completely serious. Cloud cannot help but hope that his son does not inherit his mother's sense of humor. "Daddy," Yuki says in the loud half-whisper so common to children his age, "I wanna be a empwess like Mama someday and wear pwetty yukatas."

Cloud hushes him again. "You'll be the Emperor when you're all grown up, Yuki, don't worry."

-1.1- "It's a boy," the midwife says.

She's smiling at them as she gingerly lays the infant in Yuffie's arms, obviously proud of both herself and of her patients, and she adds, "He will make a fine Emperor, Lady Yuffie, I can already tell."

"You say that about every baby you deliver, Midori," Yuffie mutters, and Cloud is the tiniest bit impressed that she still has the energy to be sarcastic after the ordeal she's just been through. "'He will make a fine priest, I can already tell.' 'She will make a fine wife, I can already tell.' When I was born, you probably told my mother the exact same thing; 'She will make a fine Empress, Lady Kasumi, I can already tell.'"

The midwife grins, a sharp sparkle in her eye, and replies, "I told your honored mother, I said, 'She will be a right terror, this one, I can already tell.' And I was right, wasn't I?"

"Hey, I didn't turn out so bad! Helped save the world a few times, made a bunch of good friends, got a crap ton of gil and cool materia. I even bagged myself a man without anyone's help, thank you very much."

"Well," the midwife murmurs, running her fingers over the few soft, black strands of hair that are already on the baby's head, "let's just hope this son of yours turns out to be more like his father, hmm?"

-3- It's somewhat common, he's been told, for little boys to go through a phase where they want to dress up in their mother's clothes. So he's not worried when he finds Yuki in their closet, digging past Cloud's pants and shirts to get to his mother's things.

What does worry him is the make-up smeared inexpertly on Yuki's face and hands and how the boy is transferring it to anything close to him at an alarming rate. Cloud snatches him up and pulls him away from Yuffie's more formal clothing before Yuki can christen it with the dark eyeshadow that makes his wife's eyes shine or the bright red lipstick she wears only when she's angry at or annoyed with her advisers. The boy protests, letting out a shriek as Cloud methodically cleans him up before he can do anymore damage.

Yuki squirms in his lap the whole time, small hands pulling at his father's arm and begging him to stop. "You're ruining our clothes, Yuki; I have to get this stuff off of you."

"No!" he screeches, digging his tiny, sharp nails into the back of Cloud’s hands. "No, I wanna be pwetty like mama! Stop it!"

"Boys don't wear make-up, Yuki!" he scolds, and his voice is much louder than he intends it to be.

And it's so strange because the wriggling mess of a child in his arms immediately goes still. Yuki looks up at him, and while Cloud takes the lack of movement as an opportunity to finish cleaning the boy up, Yuki murmurs, "But I'm not a boy."

Cloud's immediate response is a distracted, "Of course you are," which causes a round of silence in addition to the stillness. He manages to wipe off the last vestiges of make-up from the boy’s hands and face, working quickly before his son can start the wiggling and the protesting again. But Yuki is still quiet when the work is done, and for a long moment, Cloud is haunted by a feeling of dread, knowing it was a mistake to negate his son's feelings right away like that. He remembers people dismissing how he felt as a child. He knows exactly how many scars he still carries from being told that how he felt was unimportant or wrong.

It’s important to him that he apologizes for yelling. He never got that as a child, and he wants things to be different for his son. He’s not perfect, but he doesn’t have to be. He just has to be able to admit when he makes mistakes and do better next time.

Yuki only shrugs, jumping up from his lap and bouncing toward the door. "You're right, I am a boy."

Okay, wow, big sigh of relief for that. It doesn't seem like his son is permanently harmed or anything. He would have to be more careful about controlling his temper in the future, though. Cloud never wants Yuki to feel like he couldn't talk to him about anything at all whenever he needed to.

"But," his son trills, elongating the vowel in the exact same way his mother does right before she attempts something mischievous, "maybe I'll be a girl tomorrow!"

Cloud shakes his head. That's all it is, then. A game.

Nothing to worry about, right?

-4- The summer after Yuki turns 5, Cloud wins a teddy bear for him at a festival booth. He calls it Nanko, despite his parents telling him that isn't a real name, and it immediately becomes his favorite toy. He goes nowhere without it, and he's seen by the public with it so much that the bear soon becomes an unofficial member of the royal family. That brand and style of teddy bear gains an immense popularity, and Yuffie cracks a joke one evening about her son being a fabulous trendsetter at such a young age. "Just like his mother," she sighs, dropping a kiss onto Yuki's forehead.

The boy is sleepy, soft and pliable in her arms, and not really paying attention to anything. He's fighting sleep like it's a master tonberry walking toward him with the intent to kill shining bright in its eyes, and Cloud can't help but smile. "We should probably put him to bed."

A muffled protest issues from the vague area near Yuffie's lap that his son occupies, but they both dismiss it. When he's tucked in, Nanko held tight in his arms, the boy is so adorable that Cloud has to take a picture. He can't not do it. He's physically incapable of not memorializing this moment in time, of not getting hard proof of how his child is quite possibly the cutest thing to ever exist.

As they are leaving the room, Yuki mumbles, "You didn't say night to Nanko."

"Good night, Nanko," Yuffie murmurs.

"Daddy too...."

Cloud smiles. "Good night, Nanko."

More content, his son curls on his side and snuggles into his bed, letting out a soft sigh. "He says night too."

-1.2- "It's a boy," the midwife says.

Well, she's not technically wrong.

-5- A few days later at breakfast, Yuki says, "Nanko wants to eat chocolate chip pancakes!"

"Well, tell him we're out of pancake mix," Yuffie replies.

"Her."

"Hmm?"

"Nanko wants you to call her 'her'."

"Why? I thought Nanko was a boy?"

"Nah," Yuki replies, holding the bear out in front of him and considering it very seriously. "Nanko is a girl today."

-6- "Daddy! You keep calling Nanko a girl! Nanko is a boy, and he wants you to talk to him that way! Why are you being so stupid about this? When Nanko is a boy, you call him a boy, and when Nanko is a girl, you call her a girl! Got it?!"

-1.3- "It's a boy," the midwife says triumphantly, the pride of helping to birth her country's next emperor clear on her smiling face.

(If only it were that simple.)

-7- "Don't ever let this thing out of your sight again," he tells Yuffie, presenting the newly-washed teddy bear to his wife. Yuki lost it two weeks ago, and the level of agitation and worry that the boy has exhibited over the disappearance of his favorite toy is very unsettling. He's been restless and inattentive, unable to sleep at night, and his emotions have been incredibly volatile. At times, he's seemed withdrawn, given to very sudden bouts of anger or weeping, but nothing either of them does can console him. Cloud had nearly been at his wit's end when he happened to catch a glimpse of the distinctive brown and tan plaid ribbon that was tied around the stuffed animal's neck sticking out from beneath a piece of furniture.

"Absolutely not," she sighs, taking the bear from him. "Come on, I think we'd better get these two back together as soon as possible. Not sure I can take another night of having a wiggly chocobo nugget in my bed waking me up with another nightmare."

"I know," Cloud agrees, taking her hand. "I feel bad that he's so upset, but it's getting exhausting to deal with him."

There's a long period of silence as they walk toward Yuki's suite, and just before they enter the hall that leads to his front room, Yuffie chuckles. "You wanna take a bet on whether Nanko's a boy or girl today?"

-1.4- "It's a boy," the midwife says with a smile.

-8- When Yuki sees the bear, a grin splits his face wide open. "Nanko, I missed you so much! Mommy, where did you find her?"

-9- Years go by, and Cloud nearly forgets that his son's bear is still around. It sits high on a shelf now, dusty and untouched for nearly a decade. He tries to convince Yuki to get rid of it, but the boy refuses. It's odd, isn't it, for a teenager to want to hang onto a childhood toy?

But if a little teddy bear is really that important to him, Cloud's not going to force him to get rid of it.

-10- The smell of smoke wakes him in the early hours of the morning. Not immediately seeing the source as his eyes quickly scan the room for flames, he turns to wake his wife, only to find that she is already climbing out of bed and stumbling toward the Conformer. It's the third time in as many months that they've been confronted with this scenario before, and each and every time, the culprits have attempted to torch a new section of the palace. No one is exactly sure who is to blame or why they're doing it, as the preferred method thus far has been Molotov cocktails thrown through windows that have opened to let in the cool summer breeze at night. They've since ordered all windows shut and locked at all times.

It forces the criminals' hands a bit, and this time, they actually have to break in to set the fire. Fortunately, he and Yuffie catch them before they can make their retreat, two men and a woman dressed in all black like some kind of ridiculous play on the stereotypical ninja's garb. Yuffie hands them over to the guards, bloodied from the beating they'd given them, and though she doesn't exactly cut an intimidating image in her silky pajama shorts and pink crop top, her shuriken and fists speak for her. The fire is put out before it can seriously damage anything else, and everyone in the room save for the three people in custody breathe a collective sigh of relief.

But even still, the would-be arsonists don't seem entirely disappointed to have failed their self-appointed mission yet again or, for that matter, to have been caught. The woman stares at him as he walks by, and he can't help but notice the smug grin on her face. He pauses, considers her for a long moment, but before he can demand an explanation for her oddly good mood, he detects the faintest hint of smoke in the air once again.

A scream shatters the silence of the room. One of the guards shouts, "The prince!"

By the time Cloud turns toward the long hallway leading to his son's suite of rooms, Yuffie is already halfway down it. He catches up to her as she's reaching for the door handle, but even as her fingers are closing over the knob, he can tell the knob is burning hot. She lets out a curse and yanks her hand away. He tries to break the door down, but the wood has expanded with the heat of the flames he can hear raging behind it, and there's no use of trying to get in this way. The only other option is to try and break through the window in his bedroom.

The idea occurs to them simultaneously, and while they run outside and around the enormous building to find the correct window, Cloud prays that they're not too late. The smile on the woman's face is the only thing he can see clearly in his mind, and it does nothing to dampen the worry clouding his thoughts. They arrive to see their son standing in front of the window, pounding at it to no avail.

"Move!" Yuffie screams, holding up her shuriken so he can see it. "Yuki, get out of the way!"

The drapes beside him are suddenly ablaze, and although he hasn't moved at all--is probably too frightened to think clearly and without a safe place to get away from the fire--Yuffie launches her weapon at the panes of glass.

The next few minutes are all a blur. Cloud grabs his son out of the broken window and runs with him thrown over his shoulder. Someone hauls out an Ice materia and extinguishes the fire. Yuki is crying, and when Cloud sits him back down, the boy screams in pain and falls to the ground. It's only then that Cloud notices the burn on his foot and ankle. Someone is there almost immediately with a Restore, and in the blink of an eye, most of the burn is gone. A potion will take care of the rest of the wound, but later.

The guards have followed them outside, their prisoners in tow, and the woman starts cackling when she catches sight of the chaos before her. "It's too bad," she yells. "Even if nothing else, I had hoped we could exterminate the vermin from Leviathan's sacred household. His own daughter has betrayed him! She's contaminated herself by fucking a man who belongs to Shinra--" She pauses long enough to spit in Cloud's direction, "--and she had the audacity to taint the holy blood of her family by producing that half-breed spawn with him. Lord Godo should have forced the vile thing from her belly before it drew its first breath!"

Cloud has seen Yuffie kill before. He's seen her ruthlessly take down a horde of attacking monsters. He's seen her defeat Shinra troops and members of DeepGround in battle like it's nothing. The only context in which he's ever seen her take a life, however, is self-defense. This is most assuredly not self-defense. This is angry and rough and uncontrolled. This is Yuffie screaming and grunting with the effort as her shuriken lands home again and again, ripping open flesh and tearing through viscera in an instant. This is Yuffie not caring that her skin and clothing are covered in a sickening amount of blood and gore.

This is Yuffie taking pleasure in murder for the sake of revenge, and it's the most frightening thing he's ever seen in his life. The only thing he can do is pull Yuki into his chest so he doesn't have to see it himself, cover his ears to block out the sound of metal ripping through clothing into warm flesh and flinging hot, red blood everywhere. A few droplets land on Cloud's face and the back of Yuki's shirt.

Yuffie sinks to her knees with a grunt next to the woman's remains, and even at a distance, Cloud can see how much she’s shaking. She throws the weapon away from her and barks out an execution order for the two men. The guards only look at each other and shrug before complying, snapping the mens' necks in the practiced, efficient manner he remembers seeing so many officers in Public Security at Shinra trying to perfect.

They quickly survey the extent of the physical damage to the palace, and they find the body of a fourth accomplice in the corner of Yuki's bedroom. The corpse is pinned to the wall by Yuki's sword, skin black and blistered from the fire.

"He tried to suffocate me," the boy explains. "I got away from him, but then he threw a bottle at the other wall and it caught on fire. And I didn't know what else to do, so I just..."

"It's okay, Yuki," he says, running his hand over his hair and hugging him close. "You had to protect yourself."

"I could have incapacitated him, though. I didn't have to kill him. I'm a ninja. Ninja are trained to--"

"Sometimes, Yuki," he interrupts, "just sometimes, just once in a great while, it's kill or be killed. They took that choice away from you when they trapped you like that. Don't blame yourself."

First kills always weigh on the heart like a heavy stone, and Cloud could only hope that his son will recover well from this horrific event. He is a strong kid, and Cloud is confident that he will eventually be alright.

Until, that is, Yuki discovers the charred remains of Nanko in a pile of debris that is taken from the room.

-11- "My Lady, I'm sorry," says Yuki's exasperated tutor, "but the Prince is acting very strangely during his lessons as of late. He has become very argumentative, and the obvious effort he used to put into his work is gone now."

Yuffie sighs and glances over at Cloud. "This is all your fault, you know. He inherited your wild adolescent chocobo genes. We'll have to chain him to a wall to make sure he doesn't try to join SOLDIER."

Cloud rolls his eyes. "...she says, as if she didn't run away from home around this age and join an eco-terrorist group."

Yuffie shrugs. "Whatever. We'll talk to him."

And talk they do, several times when the issues never seem to be resolved, but they can't get down to the heart of the matter. When they ask what has changed recently to cause him not to enjoy school anymore, he only shrugs. "Dunno. Just boring, I guess."

Over the course of the next three months, the apathy worsens, and eventually, Yuki becomes combative about going to school, insisting that he has been taught everything he could possibly need to know, refusing to go sit in a room and be talked at for hours on end, as he describes it. One day, he even goes so far as to push his tutor out of the way when the man stands in front of the doorway, blocking the only exit that Yuki has. He had run outside and up the mountain, the tutor tells them frantically, and if that's the case, then there's only one place he can possibly be.

Ever since he was a tiny child, Yuki has been fascinated with the cave at the top of Da-Chao. He and Yuffie have told him the story of how a fire raged inside for hundreds of years, until they found the scales of Leviathan and extinguished the flames. He has always been enthralled by the scorch marks on the stone walls, and he would often ask to be told the story over and over again. Now, he hid in the very back of the cave and let his thoughts wander. It helped calm him down, he would say, to give him a quiet place to think about his life and everything that happened to him.

So Cloud and Yuffie climb the mountain, and they do indeed find their son inside the cave. He stands as soon as he sees them, asking, "Am I in trouble?"

"Why would you be in trouble?" Yuffie asks sarcastically, crossing her arms. "You just assaulted someone. No big deal, right?"

Cloud holds out his hand. “You'll be in less trouble if you willingly come back down and finish your lessons today.”

He does, but his obvious restlessness about his education doesn't lessen at all. His grades continue to hover barely above a passing mark, but nothing they do, no punishment, no encouragement or reward, no amount of time spent talking about why school has suddenly become so abhorrent to him or about what they could do to make it less so, makes the situation any less bleak. One of them suggests moving him to a public school, where the presence of other children his age might help him out of his funk, and although Yuffie's advisers flip their collective shits about the decision, within a week he is enrolled and attending a school that's less than a ten minute walk from the palace.

The improvement in his grades is neither dramatic nor immediate, but when their son comes home with a smile most days and doesn't fight them every morning on whether or not he needs to get out of bed, it's well worth the adjustment.

-1.5- "It's a boy," the midwife says.

-12- Cloud suffers from the occasional sleepless night, and it's never really bothered him. Most people take spells of insomnia, whether due to stress or illness or anything else, so it's not exactly abnormal. Usually, he self-medicates with a glass or two of wine and a cake pop binge, but it's not helping at all tonight. He's scared to pour a third glass, as he and Yuffie have an extremely important meeting in the morning and being hungover isn't the best idea when they're meeting with the leader of a rebel faction who could easily instigate his followers into a death-match against the Empress's army and win.

What he decides to do in the end is watch television. Wutai has some of the craziest programs he's ever seen, and at night, he can't say they get any less weird. But if he's very lucky, which he is tonight, sometimes the wild and crazy bright-flashing-lights sort of game shows are foregone in favor of an eastern movie. It's dubbed over, of course, but his wutai is more than strong enough by now that he doesn't have any trouble understanding the fast-paced sentences. He does ponder over a few of the translation choices, but it's all a part of the late-night TV experience.

He's so deeply entrenched in his second movie that he doesn't really hear the door open. Or rather, he does hear it but doesn't think anything of it. It's not quite 4 in the morning, and that's around the time when the guards change shifts, so he's not worried. If one of them forgot something in the house or simply wants to take a shortcut through the kitchen to get back home, he's not going to say anything.

The odd thing about it is...why aren't any of the other guards coming through the house? There's never just one poking around during a shift change. Usually it's all of them coming in at once, a dozen people exchanging information and gossip and news and anything and everything else. Right now, Cloud can only hear one set of footsteps making their way very slowly and deliberately up the hallway, and that cannot be good. Because from the way the sound reverberates, whoever this is is trying to sneak into...

Cloud jumps up as fast as he can and races back to his son's bedroom, the memory of the fire and of Yuki's injuries and his wife's bloodthirsty, determined face springing to mind. He can't let anyone else hurt Yuki, he just can't, he can't lose anyone else ever again, not like last time, please Aerith please, please, please, just let Yuki be okay, let his son be okay--!

Yuki is fine. He's covered in a mixture of body paint, sweat, and glitter, but he's okay. He jumps when Cloud barges into the room, which is more than understandable considering he's in the middle of undressing and has exposed the hot pink lipstick smear someone has pressed to his stomach. “Dad, stop it!” he hisses, yanking his shirt back over his chest and turning away very quickly. “Just get out!”

He does, but there will be no letting anything he saw go without comment and explanation. He waits for a bit and knocks at the door again. “Yuki, I'm not leaving.”

After almost ten minutes, the door is finally opened for him. Yuki is clean once again and has changed into his pajamas, but there's a distinct scent in the air that lingers on him. Cloud can't quite figure out what it is. He sits down beside the boy, intent on talking about why he found him sneaking back into his rooms at this time of night and where on Gaia he had been to get so filthy, but the stench knocks him over, takes his breath away. All of a sudden, he's back in Nibelheim, 16 years old and watching helplessly from inside a body he can no longer control as he's dumped into a tank filled with mako and left to die. He shakes the memory from his head, but the scent is still there and it's coming from Yuki.

“Your eyes are glowing,” Cloud notes.

Those dark eyes, exactly like his mother's, look away from him and roll. “So?”

“So,” Cloud replies, worried and disgusted at the same time with a hint of anger roiling underneath his skin, “there's only one reason for that.”

“You're so clever, aren't you?”

“This is serious, Yuki! How long have you been using mako?”

Recreational mako use was nothing new, but for obvious reasons, it was thought to be a thing of the past. Apparently not. Cloud couldn’t say he’d never done it himself as a teenager in Midgar, where tiny vials of the stuff could be purchased on nearly every street corner both above and below the Plate so long as there was no one from Public Security on patrol. It gave the regular folks of the world a small taste of what it felt like to be a SOLDIER, a high that included temporarily enhanced senses and a ton of synthetic confidence. It wore off fairly quickly, and first-time users were often left with nausea and a killer headache after they crashed.

Yuki didn’t seem to be exhibiting those symptoms, so Cloud could only assume it wasn’t the first time he’d done this.

Not much was known about the side effects of what was effectively a self-administered mako injection not dissimilar to the ones SOLDIERs received at Shinra. They were much weaker, of course, but most off-label uses before this involved mixing other illegal substances with mako to enhance the high. This stuff was diluted, sure, but it was still mako, straight from the Planet. Who the hell knew what this could do to a person’s body with prolonged exposure?

And his own son is shooting it into his veins, slowly destroying himself from the inside out. Cloud is determined to put a stop to this even if that means locking Yuki away from the world until the storm has passed. He will not let his son waste his life like this. He will not take the chance that Yuki has inherited his susceptibility toward mako poisoning and could be only one high away from slipping into a coma, or worse.

Yuki shrugs, still looking away from him. “Why do you even care?”

“Maybe because I'm your father,” he replies, “and I don't want to see anything bad happen to you.”

His son scoffs. “It was just a party, Dad. Not a big deal.”

“No, it is a big deal,” he counters, taking hold of his son's shoulders and forcing Yuki to face him. “Do you have any idea how dangerous mako is? What it could do to you one day? You're fourteen years old, Yuki; this stuff could kill you.”

Yuki still isn't meeting his eyes. “Fuck you, okay?” he grunts, shaking himself out of Cloud's arms. He stands up and takes a few steps away. “I just wanted to feel like a normal kid for once in my life.”

Cloud ignores the swearing. He can tell they are getting close to the root of the problem, and that's more important. He'd said “normal kid”; is this about rebelling from the expectations and pressure put on him as the prince? Yuffie's counselors and advisers are sometimes quite harsh with Yuki under the pretense of preparing him for inheriting the throne. In reality, Cloud knows that at least some of it is due to the fact that he is half-eastern. Yuki will be the first mixed-race emperor Wutai has ever seen, and none of the officials can really agree if the country is ready for him or not. They themselves aren't ready for him, because most of them still cling so tightly to the traditional aristocrat's idea that non-Wutai are somehow beneath them, and that mixed blood is tainted.

He remembers the speech one of the extremists gave the night Yuki was attacked, and although he hasn't heard anything of the sort with his own ears, he has heard rumors from some of the residential workers that certain of Yuffie's advisers had been disappointed that his son survived. It's no secret that they all hate Cloud, but being unable to take it out on him directly, they poke, prod, question, and attempt to forcibly mold Yuki into the kind of ruler they want him to be, to make sure that his undesirable eastern heritage doesn't interfere with his ability to competently govern his people.

Cloud can't say he doesn't empathize. “Normal kids don't do drugs, Yuki.”

The boy lets out a loud grunt, slamming his fists down on his desk. His back is still turned to Cloud as he screams, “But normal kids know if they're a boy or girl!”

The silence that follows that statement is embarrassingly long, and it takes Cloud much longer than it should to understand what his son is saying, to parse the words and formulate an intelligent response. A boy or a girl? What in the world does gender have to do with anything? His mouth is hanging open slightly, and he's peripherally aware of Yuki turning towards him and glaring at him, the sharp gaze falling heavy and intrusive on his skin as his son awaits some kind of response. When he can form words, all Cloud can manage is, “So...you’re trans?”

Yuki's eyes drop, and his entire form goes slack as he sits down on top of his desk. “Yeah? No. I don't know!” A sigh escapes him, and when the boy looks back up at him, his dark eyes are shining with tears. “I don't know, okay?”

This is serious, but Cloud has absolutely no idea what he's supposed to do. Comfort his son, of course, but beyond that? No idea. So he does the only thing he can think to do and hugs Yuki. “Hey, nugget, it's okay,” he whispers into the boy's hair. “Don't cry, alright? You don't have to have yourself figured out just yet. Nobody's gonna pressure you to be anything you're not. Just take some time and—”

“Everybody pressures me,” Yuki interrupts. “Maybe you don't notice it, but I do! Everybody calls me a guy, calls me the prince, or calls me your son, and sometimes it feels so wrong that I just want to punch them! But then it's like...other times, I don't care, you know? It feels okay to be called a boy. But it makes me so frustrated, because where do I get off being angry at people when I don't even know what I am?”

Cloud is completely out of his depth here, but he can't let it show. He can't let his discomfort show, lest Yuki take it as a sign that his struggle is unfounded. He can't let Yuki think that he's being rejected, that this moment of uncertainty is grounds for any amount of distrust or hatred from his parents. Because it's just the opposite. Right now more than ever, Yuki needs him, needs strength from his father to make it through this without breaking down, and he's not going to let his child suffer alone just because he's unsure of himself, unsure if he even can help, unsure if he'll only make things worse. The pressure to be a perfect father was immense, but Yuki didn't need him to be perfect. Yuki just needed him to be there, to hold him when he thinks the world's coming to an end, and to make sure he knows he's strong enough to come through it.

What he decides to do, when Yuki has mostly stopped crying, is to take to the worldwide network. Cloud turns on the boy's laptop and opens up a browser page to the Moogle search engine. He coaxes Yuki onto his lap and tells him to type and search, that they'd try to find an answer together. And he does, and they spend hours there reading articles and watching videos and, most importantly, talking about what Yuki thinks about everything he's reading.

Eventually they come across a page that lists a variety of different gender identities. It begins with cisgender, which Yuki is vehemently sure he is not, and transgender, which they've already marked off the list as well. Then there's non-binary, a term they'd encountered earlier that Yuki had taken a liking to. As they read on, though, they discover the word genderqueer, and a few minutes later, genderfluid.

Yuki's eyes light up. Cloud can almost feel how excited he is with every word he reads. He gets through to the end of the paragraph and says, “That's it, Dad. That's me. It's—that's exactly what I feel like.”

“Okay,” Cloud replies, feeling incredibly relieved himself. He can't even begin to imagine what his son feels like right now. He's grinning ear to ear, and it's the most beautiful thing Cloud has ever seen. “Genderfluid. Alright. Have you been thinking anymore about pronouns yet? Not that you have to decide right now, but—”

“No, yeah, I think...I think I like 'they.' Yeah. 'They' and 'them.' That feels pretty good.”

Cloud nods, but before he can say anything else, before he can assure Yuki that changing his mind later is always an option if he needs to, Yuki's stomach growls audibly. He can't help but laugh. He's getting a little hungry himself. Glancing at the clock, he notices that it's nearly 7am already. “Hey, you know what we should do? We should take my bike and go down to that 24-hour diner for breakfast. Just you and me.”

Yuki's eyes glisten with mischievous pleasure. He looks exactly like his mother. “Mom will kill you when she finds out we went without her.”

He gives his child a wink. “I won't tell if you won't.”

-1.6- "It's a boy."

-13- Although he does his best, it's hard at first to overwrite the part of his brain that thinks of his child as "he." He's honestly pretty bad at remembering to use Yuki's pronouns in the beginning, but eventually he starts catching himself before the "he" can escape his mouth and replaces it with "they." It's awkward at first, because every time he messes up, he can't help but think how hurt Yuki must be, can't help but cringe and hope that this mistake won't be the last straw for his child, the moment when they give up on ever being accepted by their own family.

A few months after the initial introduction of his child's preferred pronouns, he sits Yuki down after a particularly tense and silent dinner and apologizes. "I know it's important, and I really am trying, I promise. It's just hard sometimes."

Yuki nods, but he--no, they--won't look at him. "Yeah."

"Are we still okay?" Cloud asks, putting an arm around his child's shoulders.

"...yeah."

"You don't sound too sure."

The silence hangs between them for a long time, which tells Cloud that, no, they're not still okay. There's something else Yuki wants to get off their chest, and even though Cloud wants them both to clear the air about everything, the choice to speak up has to be Yuki's. If not tonight, then maybe another day, but now that Cloud knows something is bothering them, he can't let it fester for very long.

Just as he's about to press a kiss to their forehead and tell them they don't have to talk right now, they whisper, "I miss Nanko, that's all."

Cloud pauses, uncertain of how to proceed. The subject of Nanko is a touchy one, hard to maneuver without making Yuki intensely upset or viciously angry. He tests the waters with, "Nanko was very important to you. Makes sense you would miss them."

"I guess."

"But..." and he can only hope as he runs his fingers over his child's hair that this doesn't end badly, "...you don't need Nanko anymore, right?"

Yuki shrugs. "Guess not."

"And if you hadn't lost them--"

"You used to make fun of Nanko."

There it is. This is the source of Yuki's discomfort, and Cloud has been trying to work out what he would say about this subject for months now. "I did," he answers, meeting their eyes even though it’s the last thing he wants to do. He wants to say more, to explain everything and apologize again all at once, but he pauses to let Yuki finish expressing himself. Themself.

"You and Mom used to make fun of them right in front of me. And then you laughed when I got angry."

"Yes."

"You thought Nanko's gender stuff was a joke."

"I did."

"So...do you think I'm a joke too?"

Cloud's heart starts pounding. He can't just say, "Oh no, of course not, Yuki!" and move on, because that won't help anything. And pointing out that Cloud had been the one to help him find the terminology and the language with which he could express his gender identity, although strictly speaking the truth, is bound to only make things worse. Cloud has done severely wrong by his child, and it's not something he can ever fix. Unintentionally, he's left scars on Yuki's heart that will maybe fade over the years, but they will never go away. He can only take ownership of his mistakes, admit them instead of dismissing Yuki's very valid fears and concerns, and focus on changing his behavior in the future.

So he hugs Yuki close, lays a kiss on their forehead, and says, "I'm sorry for the things I did and the way I acted when you were little. There was no excuse for it. If I could go back and change it, I would, Yuki, in a heartbeat. But I can't. Instead, all I can do is make sure I respect your identity from now on. And I do. I know that sexuality can be fluid; it only makes sense that gender can be too, and I wish I had realized that before. You're not a joke, nugget. Don't let anyone ever treat you like you are, especially not your mom or me. All I ask is that you continue to be patient with us while we relearn how to think about you, and that you never, ever let us get away with misgendering you. Because if we're allowed to, then your friends will think they are, too, and so will your teachers, and Mom's advisers, and the entire country. You'll be in charge one day, and I don't want you to have to fight to be respected then. So start fighting right now, and begin at home."

He can't quite see Yuki's face, but five minutes goes by very slowly as neither speak, and when they raise their head from his shoulder, there is a small damp spot in his shirt. "Thanks, Dad," Yuki says.

"I love you, nugget," he responds, and although Yuki just nods on his--their--way out of the room, Cloud feels like a weight has been lifted off of him.

He hopes Yuki feels it too.

-14- "So, I've been thinking, right? About what my legal titles will be when I inherit the throne. I need you and mom to go to bat for me with the advisers, because I'm not just a son of Leviathan, you know? But it's too wordy to say 'sometimes a son, sometimes a daughter of Leviathan,' that's a crap title. So this is what I came up with instead: 'Their Imperial Majesty, Kisaragi Yuki, Child of Leviathan, Sacred Ninja of Da-Chao, and Rightful Emprex of Wutai.' Will they go for Emprex, you think? I mean, I could use 'Ruler' instead, but I kind of like the sound of Emprex. It was a pain in the ass to get them to call me Heir, and I guess I'm willing to compromise about Emprex, but at the same time, I should get the final say, right? It'll be my country, and it's my title. Why can't they just use gender-neutral language all the time, anyway? Wouldn't it make things so much simpler in the long run?"

-1.7- "It's a boy."

No.

Yuki is a healthy newborn, perfect and tiny and the most beautiful thing on the Planet, and that's all that Cloud has ever asked for. Son or daughter, neither or both--it doesn't matter. They are his child, and he will love them with everything in his entire being until the day he dies.

-15- For their 17th birthday, Cloud buys Yuki a teddy bear. Well, he can't actually go out and make the purchase himself, because his health doesn't allow it, but he commissions Yuki's bodyguard Jun to do it, gives her explicit instructions on what he wants, and tells her not to bother with anything that isn't perfect. In the end, she can't find anything to suit his specifications, and so he calls Tifa, still living in Edge, to see if she can help him. He can hear her smile when he tells her what he wants, and she lets him know that a specialty shop recently opened in town that lets people custom-build a stuffed animal. As long as she can find the right kind of ribbon, it should be relatively simple.

The finished product arrives two days before the party. Cloud opens the box to inspect its contents, and he hasn't been this happy in months. He undoes the ribbon around the bear's neck, attaching the small charm he bought weeks ago, and ties it back.

It's perfect.

Later on that night, after the main part of the party is over, after the food has been eaten, after the advisers and counselors and public officials and other Important People of Wutai have offered up (as Yuki calls it) their “politically-correct, ass-kissing gifts”, the Imperial family has their own celebration. Cloud has managed, with some help from Yuffie, to get up from his wheelchair and have a seat next to his child. The nurse assigned to him for the day protests, but he waves her concerns off. Yuki looks happy to see him up and about, but there's a certain sadness behind it. Everyone in this room knows it's only a matter of time before he dies, but none of them are willing to admit it.

His doctors tell him that he shouldn't give up fighting, but he knows he won't make it to Yuki's next birthday, so he has to make this one count.

He saves his gift for last, and the emotion that crosses Yuki's face as they unwrap it gives him chills. Tears well up in their eyes as they grip the teddy bear in their hands. Cloud puts an arm around his child, and they melt into his side, unable to control their emotions.

The bear is as identical to Nanko as possible, with one change. The ribbon around the bear's neck is now a color gradient, rather than the neutral-palette plaid of the original. The colors might not seem significant—pink fading into purple merging into blue—but Yuki immediately understands. And the charm Cloud has attached to the ribbon is unique as well: an emblem that blended the stereotypical male and female symbols with an infinity sign.

When Yuki is nearly composed again, Cloud asks, “Any thoughts about a name?”

Yuki hums thoughtfully, holding the bear out in front of them and considering it very seriously. “I think...Jiikyu.”

Cloud smiles, immediately recognizing the source of the name. Jiikyu, as in GQ. Genderqueer. “That's an awesome name,” he says, laying a kiss on their forehead.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“You're welcome, Yuki.”

#;;yuki #;;mom #;;dad #;;nanko #;;headcanon #;;backstory

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digiconjurer · 4 years

Text

Examination of Mahoutsukai Precure’s ending

(A majority of this was written close to a year ago before Star Twinkle Precure wrapped up and Digimon Adventure Kizuna came out. If you enjoyed this, maybe pledge to my patreon so I can write more articles like this)

The second-to-last episode of Mahoutsukai Precure is an oddball, unlike a lot of the other ‘endings’ for past Precure seasons. Usually, the big focus is on just beating the big bad and then goodbye. But here, goodbye is not the end. It’s just the beginning. So let’s talk about it.

The final battle of any series, whether that be a book, an anime or even a fanfic is usually meant to be the highlight of that particular work. A culmination of all the events that have occurred in the story with usually higher production value than everything that’s come between - the last hurrah for the team before they head onto the next season.

But as final fights go for Pretty Cure, Mahoutsukai can be described as … alright. In a season where the focus has been less on exciting battle scenes and more on world-building and the characters, the next couple minutes are no different. Sure, it’s refreshing to see the multiple forms of our heroines in one fight. But it doesn’t really show off all the tools that our heroines have. For example, where are most of the minor linkle stones that the show made a huge deal out of in the early half? Surely those could have come in handy here. Maybe they could’ve been used as additional attacks for giant Hana’s bracelet shooter. Just throwing it out there.

But with the dust now settled and the big bad, the time has come for both worlds to separate. But not before Riko casts just one more spell - a promise that the pair will meet again. They click their wands together and part via the forces of gravity pulling them to their respective worlds. Which is the perfect time for Mofurun to monologue about talking to Mirai. Then Riko joins in - talking about the prospect of them meeting up again, with Mirai finishing it all up by promising to meet both Ha-Chan and Riko on the sixteenth-day moon (the 16th lunar day). All while the background goes down the same street - starting with a shot from the first episode and progressing through the trio's journey. Then just Mirai running at the end.

Of course, there are a number of things to compare this ending too - a lot of yuri manga/anime endings (the ones where the main couple doesn’t get to be together/or one of the girls decides to marry to guy), Princess Kaguya, even Mahoutsukai Sally (one of the first magical girl ‘anime’ and also created by Toei Animation). Heck, a big part of previous Pretty Cure seasons endings is that our heroes need to give up their powers and fairies with the promise that maybe they would get to see each other again. Time marches onward and that doesn’t happen, our heroes growing up. Sure, Hugtto did play with the idea of said precure coming back. But then promptly deaged most of them. Because then they could use all the stock transformation sequences.

But there’s another parallel I would like to highlight here. One that probably is going to sound bizarre and out of left field. So let's talk about Digimon Adventure Tri of all series. More specifically, the relationship between two of the side characters - Daigo Nishijima and Maki Himekawa.

Part of the first group of humans to ever ‘visit’ the digital world on top of ‘saving’ it from the Dark Masters, they too were forced to give something up - their digimon partners. Unlike the chosen children/digidestined that would come after, their digimon were to become the Sovereigns - guardians of the Digital World… who get themselves captured and do jack shit in their home universe. Like seriously, by the time that the events of 02 occur, all of them are trapped away and the digital world is once more in disarray

For Daigo, that meant letting Bearmon become Azulongmon and actually be plot relevant. But Maki isn’t as lucky. On top of serving as a vessel for Homeostasis, she is forced to watch Tapirmon be turned into a beam of light in order to defeat the Dark Masters and seal them away for a couple decades. At least till the cast of Adventure comes around and solves that problem.

Much like those precures, Maki and Daigo’s ‘ending’ serves as a beginning for their story. What little is actually shown on screen.

In the years that followed, the pair finish their education, go to university, graduate and get married. We'll come back to them later, though. For now, let’s return back to Mahoutsukai Precure and see what it has in store for us.

Following a commercial break, we return to 'adult' Mirai heading out for the day. She takes a ride on the subway to a university in Tokyo for her classes. You know, normal adult stuff.

At first glance, this sequence makes it appear that Mirai has ‘given up’ on the promise to reunite with her friends and accepted that such magic could not work now. But, we are only seeing the events at the 'end' of this separation. It's quite possible that she spent a good chunk of time holding on to that belief at first, in the hope that she can reconnect with Riko and everyone else. But eventually, she accepted (partially) that it isn't time yet for them to reunite - that a time will come for both the magic and non-magic world will one day be reconnected.

After her classes, Mirai meets up with her friends to watch a soccer game that involves one of them. While late, she does get to see one of her friends score a goal and cheer him on.

After, our heroine walks home with two of her friends. One of which gets to the subject of seeing witches back in middle school. While Mirai doesn't really say anything in regards to the matter, it does spark something within our heroine's head. A reminder of days long gone.

Back at home, Mirai gets to helping her grandma make dinner. At some point, the conversation turns to talking about how Mirai still carries around Mofurun and how her grandma brought the bear to Mirai in the hospital. The conversation shifts, with Mirai thanking her grandmother for the stories she tells and telling her that’s the reason she met ‘her’.

Let’s take a second to take what she just said. Not Riko. Just ‘her’. While her memories of Riko and time as a precure are still there to an extent, huge parts of it have fallen through. Even in the face of everything laid before, she holds onto that wish - that spell she and Riko cast all those years so they could

But then Mirai’s grandmother says this:

Earnest bonds are your strength. When our feelings are connected, we can make miracles.

On paper, that sounds vaguely philosophical, but not world-changing. But in the context of our finale, it’s the message that Mirai needs in that moment.

After a quick dinner, night falls on the town. Our heroine, however, is suffering from insomnia. There’s no music playing in the background. Just silence. In a way, we’re put right into Mirai’s shoes.

Mofourun takes a tumble, forcing Mirai up. She puts her teddy bear back up, only to be greeted by a gust of wind and a view of the 16th day moon. Which layman’s speak means it's the 16th lunar day on top of it being nearly midnight. Our heroine gets excited, but tries her best to temper her expectations.

She makes a beeline for the park as things come to a head. This is to some extent, a routine that occurs once a lunar month.

What follows is Mirai walking ‘backwards’ - in a more of a metaphysical way. For most of this episode, her mind has been in the present - pushing forward into an unknown future. But here, she ‘fills in’ those on the other side of everything going on. Well, just Riko. But you get the idea. Then she finishes it off by telling the sky above that there’s so much to tell her as the music finally picks up. But it’s not the regular ost we’re treated. No, instead we get the movie insert song ‘Two Wishes’ as Mirai says she misses someone and heads off. Finding a tree of sorts, she gives it a touch. Which results in a strangely-shaped twig falling out. Picking it up, she gives it a wave and says the magical words. Nothing happens. Unsatisfied by this outcome, she drops the twig and begins to make the walk back. But as our heroine reaches the end of the path, she remembers her grandmother’s words. Which is timed for the midway point of Two Wishes so that you hear ‘I want to tell you, I love you’ Damn. You’re not being subtle here, Toei.

Mirai makes the journey down the path once more, culminating in her picking up the twig and running over to the fountain. Once there, we get another

She says the magic words in front of the fountain, asking to see ‘you’ again. So she shouts that sequence again. On her third shouting, Mirai pauses mid-sentence and get treated to a sequence of images from the first episode. The fourth is a similar story, with images from episode 3 through 5 and 9 appearing. From our perspective, it looks as if the show is recapping previous episodes. But from Mirai’s, she remembers all of this to the best of her abilities. It’s like watching something you were in, but you’re manning the camera instead of being in the shot. Or something like that.

Mirai shouts her spell twice more as tears begin to fall down. This time, we are treated to a scene from episode 22 (our main couple reuniting with Ha-chan) and a scene from episode 44 (where our trio are holding hands and cuddling together). After, she repeats the magic words and asks to be together with ‘you’. Then it’s back to her default cry as the scene of Ha-chan disappearing from earlier in the episode plays out once more. Followed by the scene of our heroine looking up at the rainbow. Back in reality though, Mirai shouts the magic spell seven more times. After the seventh uttering, she tells the ground she just wants to see ‘you’ again and finishes off with a please.

Silence comes over the area once more as our heroine’s pendant flashes and the twig becomes covered in light. Mirai says the magic words one more time, followed by ‘Riko...all of you...I want to see you again…’

With that we have silence once more as the twig reverts back to. Mirai is then caught by complete surprise, which is the perfect opportunity for a gust of wind to come out of nowhere and launch our heroine up into the sky. Just ignore the fact that she would be suffering from a possible lack of oxygen, but no matter. At the very least, the silence has finally been broken by the arrival of music.

She falls for a couple seconds, only for the train to make a sudden appearance. Then it’s back to falling. Except oh no! Mofurun is hurtling back towards the earth. Strangely, the music comes to a stop and a hand grabs hold with a solid thud. Well, something like that. Then…

You should be more careful. Mofurun is your dear friend after all, right?

A smile forms on Mirai’s face. We flip around and find ourselves staring down an adult Riko. All while ‘Sparkling Star 100 Carats of Miracles’ starts up.

Their pendants flash one more time, allowing for the pair to float out and have what’s essentially a romantic embrace - confirmation of their wish grant as we’re treated to a shot of the train’s passengers.

Back with Mirai and Riko, they do a twirl around in the air. The tears begin to fall as they continue to hug. Which is promptly interrupted by Mofurun complaining that they were smushing him. So the couple break away and let the teddy bear have some air. Following their arrival is Ha-chan. Which culminates in a twirl around with a still picture of our trio. The episode ends, but there is still much to talk about.

Let’s back up a little though - post the battle and the sequence of Mirai growing up. Outside of the voices of people talking, the music is missing for most of the episode. Taking the place of it is ambient noise - the sound of a subway, people chatting in class, etc. Stuff like that drives home the big difference between the Mirai of the pre-time skip to that of the Mirai of the post-time skip. Mirai has accepted (to an extent) that Riko is gone for now. Instead of moping about how much she misses her girlfriend and trying to continue living within the memories of those ‘good times’, Mirai chose to move on with her life and seek out new opportunities in the non-magic world. Paradoxically though, she still held onto some parts of those days long gone. Her hairstyle is more or less unchanged, with the same to be said about her choice of clothes. All the same people still hang out with her, even taking the time to cheer each other on at sporting events or just engage in small talk. Mofurun still tags along wherever Mirai goee. But now they are just a passenger in their messenger bag instead of their one and only ‘friend’ that gets treated to one-sided conversations.

Even the music heard here adds to this feeling. Two Wishes is a song about a person telling their lover all the things they love about them and how much they want to confess their true feelings to. To connect once more after such a long time after realizing far too late their feelings the first time around. While the person singing the song with Mirai is Mofurun, they are serving as a stand-in for Riko in that moment.

Sparkling*100 Carat of Miracles on the other hand, is a bit more of an enigma. Sure, it sounds like a song just announcing the various forms our two heroines can take. But within all of that, a line is repeated - ‘Future Miracle! Shine strong and bright like a diamond’. Once near the start of the song and then right near the end.

Judging by the moment it starts up, the song is more in reference to the event that had just passed - the future miracle finally happening after both parties have waited patiently for that one moment to see it occur.

And while we don’t get back to Riko until the very end of the episode, we can surmise that she went through a similar process as Mirai did. She stuck around with her friends and colleagues, trying her best to make it through life. While we're never actually told what upper education (High School and College/University) is in the Magical World, Riko was able to score a job as a teacher. All so that when the time comes, she is able to see Mirai again on top of possibly helping support her financially. Like some sort of old married couple.

Which brings us right back to Maki and Daigo. When we last left off with the pair, they had gotten married. Such bonds were sadly not meant to last, however. The marriage fell through and they got a divorce after an unknown number of years

Now in Tri proper, they’re two divorcees reluctantly working together as part of their government job. Said job involves keeping an eye on the cast of Digimon Adventure except for Kari and TK for some reason. Well, that’s Daigo’s job at least. Maki though, never really left the moment of Tapirmon’s death. A little girl trapped in the body of an adult, her only wish is to reunite with her partner and be useful in the eyes of Homeostasis. A task that she put all her eggs into one basket, pushing everyone and everything else out of her life out of her life until her goal was all that remained. But in pushing everyone out and holding onto her good memories, Maki allowed darker forces in and was swallowed up by her own misery by way of the darkness in a parallel version of the dark ocean.

Daigo didn’t get out so lucky either. Getting swallowed up with Tai (one of the main characters of Tri), the two take a tumble down a large hole. Where offscreen, Daigo manages to impale himself on… something. Or perhaps someone stabs him on the way down. We're never told what happened in that fall or how exactly Tai of all people managed to stay unscathed.

Nonetheless, our pair find themselves in a mysterious laboratory. Except it's holding the main cast of 02 and Gennai for some reason. Tai finds Daigo, who reveals that he’s been hiding things from Tai and crew on orders by way of Maki. And that Maki has ties to Yggdrasil.

Then a guy who looks kind of like Gennai appears and turns off life support for the tubes and announces that he’s going to blow up this lab. Thankfully, one of the tubes is coincidentally left empty. But there’s two people and just one tube. Meaning one of them has to stay behind.

Tai examines one of the tubes, only for Daigo to lock him in. When Tai asks why Daigo just trapped him in said tube, Daigo is all like ‘it’s the end of the line for me. I’ve fucked this all up, so remember me and let my time with you mean something.’ Then he presses a button and shoots him and the other tubes out, expiring from his injuries mere moments later as the explosion passes through the laboratory. While the exact state of his body is not shown to the viewer, it’s likely he was reduced to

As endings for characters go, this is a far cry from the happy one found in Mahoutsukai Precure - preaching on the danger of holding onto those dreams and the possible self-destruction that can result from letting that dream be the only guiding force in your life. On top of pushing the people who care about you out of your life by way of a dream that will possibly be the death of you. A perfect counterbalance to this happy end of sorts.

#Mahou Tsukai Precure #digimon adventure tri #analysis

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tantalizingmuses · 4 years

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Shinjiro Aragaki’s Past + Future Storyline

This storyline will be told if Minako/Hamuko offered her life as the Seal--since Shinjiro would normally be dead in Minato/Makoto’s time as a leader, this is all an AU.

Birth to high school:

Shinjiro was born to Mai Aragaki and Hiroshi Aragaki. Shinjiro was premature when he was born, hence his mother having to let him be born via c-section and had to be in intensive care for the first few months of his life. While that all happened, Mai Aragaki died, while trying to recover from giving birth--they couldn’t find where all the blood in her body was going. This lead Hiroshi in becoming an independent father, who did his best to help raise Shinjiro. He had tried to find love, while Shinjiro grew up, but it just failed horribly. So, he focused on being the best father for Shinjiro--Shinjiro, himself, still loved his father and wanted to grow up like him.

However, the pressure of being a single parent took the toll on Shinjiro’s father in the end. He left a note for Shinjiro, stating that I cannot handle being alone with you. It’s not you, it’s me. I’m sorry and he was left with one of his father’s friend. Eventually, Shinjiro did not know what really happened with his dad--that he just left him was the gist of it--and he was brought to the orphanage. He met Akihiko and Miki Sanada there, and felt himself being able to relax in his friend’s warming nature. Shinjiro was happy again, just like he was before his father died.

But then, the fire happened at the orphanage and everything went a bit crazy. He tried his best to comfort Akihiko, with the lost of his sister, but he was then whisked away to another orphanage, further away from Akihiko. Shinjiro wasn’t one to complain, but he did have his moments of rage and attitude, only because he was taken further away from his friend. When he was around the age of 13, Shinjiro decided to leave the orphanage, since they really didn’t give a crap about him, and decided to live on the streets. At this point in time, he met up with Chidori, Jin, and Takaya. They were older than him (at least Takaya and Jin was), and was able to help keep him in line--even if their apartment wasn’t all the best, it was still a home, in Shinjiro’s eyes.

He did try to keep in contact with Akihiko, but it was just luck of the draw whenever they saw each other. Akihiko got himself and Shinjiro a phone, just to keep in contact if possible. He did have Shinjiro stay with him a couple nights, but overall? Shinjiro did very well adapting to homelessness, in a way. He was invited to stay in the dorms with Akihiko and Mitsuru. Awakening to his Persona when Mitsuru and Akihiko were unable to summon theirs, was something he couldn’t fantom--the pain, it felt like he was being left alone again. He didn’t have good control of his Persona, but tried his damnest.

This leads into high school and losing control of his Persona, killing Ken Amada’s mother. Which he was withdrawn for the next week or two--which lead to him being called back to Takaya and the others. He made sure he left no trace of him behind in the dorm. Akihiko and Mitsuru knew the reasoning, but it stung when he left them high and dry. Slowly, this leads to him being found by Yukari, Junpei, and Minako/Minato in the game.

Persona 3 events occurring here, to the end of the game.

Post P3P:

After the sacrifice Minako gave to become the Seal, and embracing the girl who saved his life all those months ago, Shinjiro...stays in the dorm for the rest of the month. He does weekly check up with the doctors--he isn’t really motivated to do much, since he didn’t realize what he was going to do with this life she gave him. So, he’s...conflicted on what to do. After the Abyss of Time events occurred, and with him getting his door (showing the moment Takaya and the others found him after running away from the orphanage), he starts to slowly open up and makes a promise to Mitsuru: he will go back to school and finish his last year of high school, so that the others could help him if he ever needs it. This leads to him praying he gets a different classroom than the others, which it does since Yukari and Junpei are in the same class and Shinjiro is in Fuuka’s class, to take over for Natsuki’s seat, ironically.

When they finally graduate, Shinjiro contemplates his life as he had no idea what to still do with his life. He, at the least, makes sure to stay in contact with Mitsuru Kirijo, Akihiko Sanada, Ken Amada, and Fuuka Yamagishi, knowing that they helped play an important role in his life. So, he notices one day that there was a couple kids putting up flies around the town, wondering what they could be up to. He takes the flyer and it reads that local children need tutor for big brother/sister program. Something inside of Shinjiro flips the switch on, and he decides to help these elementary school students with being the big brother and helping them with school and such. Of course, he takes on a side job at Hagakure, which then he becomes one of the cooks there and he treats the kids to ramen when they do well in school (like an A on a test or Straight A’s). Because Shinjiro just wants something good to happen to those kids.

After a year or two of doing that--and having Mitsuru help him get an apartment, because he doesn’t want to stay in the dorms (as well as he has to save up money cause he has nothing)--he realizes that he should be moving onto bigger and better things. Eventually, he moves to Inaba, not knowing murders had occur there just a year before moving there, and works at Aiya’s, thanks to the manager promising him a new job there. Of course, he’s sad that he has to leave the other children behind, but told them to help those who need it the most and all that emotional sap.

Arena, Ultimax, and onwards:

Even though Shinjiro was in Inaba for both events, he only helped with the storyline in Ultimax. Only because Ken had his number and told him the others (Mitsuru, Akihiko, Aigis, and Fuuka) was in danger. Of course he sprung into action. With the small apartment he had, a small walk away from Aiya’s, he still uses his axe to battle and has much more control over Castor. Granted, his Persona did not evolve like the others did, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t even fully back to full health, after all the suppressants that have been in his body. He takes the situation and the fog calmly, knowing that he needed to find someone whom he knew and could team up with, even if he knew the area like the back of his hand. Eventually, he teams up with Ken + Koromaru.

After all is said and done, he mentions to Mitsuru that he only wants to be an auxiliary member of the Shadow Operatives. He wouldn’t mind being a full time member, but he knew if he did, he might be more of a body guard than anything. So, he makes sure to stay in Inaba, for a while. He has a good job, still does what he did in Iwatodai over here for the kids in Inaba--people texted him like crazy to have their kids be tutored by him--and he weekly goes to the local animal shelter to play with the dogs. It is one of the ways he is able to destress. He does try his hardest NOT to adopt any animals because if he does, it’d be the Koromaru situation all over again. And he doesn’t want anyone to really be waiting for him in the end.

Shinjiro never really spends the time trying to look for his deadbeat dad. He has contemplated the idea of asking Fuuka, but couldn’t possibly bother her with something so stupid. Shinjiro really needs to be pushed to try to find him. Then again, sometimes in his gut tells him that he’s dead or dying. And that’s something Shinjiro really doesn’t want to think about.

Besides that, Shinjiro is single, as he is a bit too worried to jump into commitment so quickly. Only because he wants to be able to love someone the same way they could love him--he’s a big ass teddy bear, but he’s distant sometimes as well. Shinjiro takes a long time to fall in love but he loves his friends at least.

#;;in shinjiro's eyes #;;shinjiro hc #(I really made his backstory so damn tragic #owwwww #i just... ...i just had to.#dear god i made shinjiro fucking adorable #OH MY FUCKING GOD i love him okay? XD #but he's a good guy guys XD)

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ginnyzero · 4 years

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Completely Harmless Appendix 7

Appendix: Rainbow Week

1. Rainbow Week/Luck Day/Valentine’s/JoJo Siwa/Red String Trail Ride

Holidays, in my opinions, should be events. My favorite thing the first time I played in Star Stable was around Christmas and we had all these Christmas Quests to decorate the county. Then they took that out and it was blah. So, I wanted to bring that Christmas style feeling back where you’re going around and decorating the county or your area of the county and then you have stuff to do during the actual festival.

You can do holidays one of three ways, you do it like Christmas where there’s a set thing every year. Or you can it so that the holiday has progressive story, so each time it comes around (say Fashion Week) a little more of the story is unlocked and you can only do new story if you’ve progressed through the old. That way you don’t have NPCs talking about current story lines when the new players haven’t gotten that far in the story.

Or, you work your plot into the holidays. And then as the plot progresses, you’ll have more holidays as the years of your plot move forward. However, this requires that you have all of your story and map completed before launching the game. I chose number three for the story because it was convenient writing wise. (For Mystic Riders we go with option one.)

To Rainbow Week in particular, Rainbow Week was something they introduced in 2019 to “replace” the Fortuna Festival, which they only did one or two years. It was supposed to be celebrating friendship? Basically, what happened, was the rainbows crashed and that’s about it. (I am not touching Mica. Nope. Nope.) They might have had the parade with the Bobcats. But there weren’t any quests anymore. The quests were all about setting up the parade route, decorating, and helping Tan make the outfits. Which were cool in a way except the Bobcats were foisting their duties on you because of nails. Maybe they took them out because they’re trying to change the Bobcats story image? I dunno. We older players know the truth.

And then there is Valentine’s Day which also celebrates friendship and love where they have the group race. There used to be quests about making teddy bears and a chocolate and berry cake. Then you had the letters with Derek. They removed those and that was sad. So I put them back in.

Then there is the Red String Trail Ride which you do in the “spring” and celebrates Friendship. Which was a trail ride with some random events programmed into it. It appropriates (yes, appropriates) the Chinese story about the red string that connects people’s hearts. I’m not really a fan of appropriation. It’s in the game. I can’t really do anything about it.

Lastly, they had Jojo Siwa in the game as a licensing gimmick. She likes rainbows and sings about friendship. They had you find bows in Moorland in order to trade them in for items. I expanded this across the entire county and then also had the player hand out bows in order to spread the news of friendship and love and Jojo Siwa to people in the district so they’d come watch Jojo. (Something that SSO didn’t do.)

I mashed all of these together because they share the same theme to make Rainbow Week more exciting. This meant adding in more musicians and having fun treats, and being able to make crafts for the housing we don’t have yet. (I guess it’s going to come sometime in the next decade.) Fortuna Festival gave clues that these holidays are Club led so that’s why I ran with the clubs doing the festivities. And having things like special crafts, charms for a friendship bracelet and the selfie walls would encourage everyone to travel all over the county to collect things. Plus having things like the treasure hunt and of course, Chaun and his rainbow spices things up.

Instead of having Chaun give random items, I instead gave him a shop so that everyone can get the items they want. The other idea could be to use the same mechanic as the big pumpkins and the goats, and have a lottery system. But I really do prefer shops more.

Brogan is my own invention. (As is Fill-E, the all girl j-pop band.) His game mechanics would be similar to having Spirit in the game. He shows up somewhere in the area after the rainbow crashes and you catch him and he’ll give you a task. That task rewards you with rainbow gold and reputation points until you reach admired with Brogan. Once you reach admired, you can take him to a Chaun and he’ll open a shop for you to exchange your rainbow gold for items with Brogan. His items will be different than Chauns.

And of course, once the decorations go up, they have to come down.

I also included an Art Show for Fort Pinta and a Flea Market for Firgrove. (The Farmer’s Market would continue as usual except it’d be decorated. Same for the Horse Market.) These two areas could have arts and crafts that are rainbow themed and available for the player to purchase again for home decoration or jewelry or clothes, etc and so forth. There could also be special rainbow themed makeup going on at the salons. There could be shops featuring rainbow themed clothes, but they aren’t paying me that much to do that for free.

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.

#star stable #star stable online #sso #jorvik reimagined #rainbow week #star stable salt #completely harmless #appendix #RAINBOWS

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lady-olive-oil · 5 years

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Work Out: Prologue

AN: what up! I, Livvy, have finally written the prologue for my Florian fic and I hope you all enjoy it! I’m gonna try to have it reach to at least 15 chapters at best, if not shorter. As long as I can get it out, I think I’ll be good. Feedback is always appreciated as well; reblogs as etc. Let me know if you’d like to be apart of the Tag Squad!

Warnings: None...yet

Word Count: 1,635 [not bad]

Tag Squad: @themyscxiras || @sparklemichele || @designerwriterchic || @maddiestundentwritergaines

Most people on New Year’s Eve are out and about; with their families or choose to stay in the comfort of their own home. Yet for me, Genevieve or Geneva for short, I was the latter and was out partying with my friends into the wee hours of the night to ring in the new year. This year, 2018 to be exact, has been a rough one for me and I was in desperate need some of positive reinforcements. With starting my own personal training business; moving to New York City to be closer to my parents and going through a divorce, a huge change of scenery was just what the doctor ordered.

The neon club lights illuminated my rich mocha skin, as the music seemed to seep through my veins and control my moments. Moving to the beat and the rhythm with ease, without a care in the world. The vibe was alive in Marquee New York, and it was a great way to celebrate her move. I made sure to keep an eye out on my siblings; Donovan, Lucas and Leilani, all the while feeling free for the first time all year.

Most people weren’t close with their siblings like I am, seeing as though we were all close in age. Even though they were in the club either their friends, the ages were close. Nothing broke their bond and nothing ever will. That is until I got married and it shook the family to its very core on how it transpired in a year. Needless to say, it ended pretty rough but I got the last laugh.

“I’m so glad you came out tonight. We needed our girl out.” Cynthia encouraged as she handed me a glass of White Russian. Happily accepting the drink, I took a sip and went back to dancing as my 4C right coils moved in tandem.

She’s one of my best friends since college, and couldn’t get over the fact that I finally got out of her condo for once.

“We’ve never seen you this happy. It’s good to have our girl back.” Destiny nodded in agreement. It was a rarity to get these three together. Destiny and I, have also been best friend since the 4th grade.

“I know, I know. But listen it’s all good now, I’m here and I’m out. Plus my cousin said he wanted me to meet someone tonight. I just hope he listens to me though.”

“You even agreeing to meet a dude after filing for a divorce, is grand enough.”

“She’s right though. Hopefully Michael comes through for ya.”

They always had my best interest at heart, and I couldn’t have asked for better friends, who were like family to me to be there.

“Knowing Michael, whomever he knows, better be up to par. I just can’t see myself dating an actor, you know? You know how it all went with Jake, cheatin ass.”

I spoke as clearly as I could over the music, and just kept on dancing. Next thing I knew, Twerk by City Girls came on and all hell broke loose. Dragging my friends to the middle of the dance floor and did exactly what the song instructed.

Having a circle form around us was nothing new. At all the gatherings, before she got married, they were the life of the party wherever they went.

“Mind if we cut in? Can’t have you two dancing alone.” Jonathan said in a smooth voice, knowing it did something to Cynthia. She happily obliged and was whisked away. Ryan soon came up as well and made Destiny giddy as a school girl.

“How yall just gonna take my best friends? Rude.” Seeing how much love my friends were getting was enough for me to get by. The love Johnny showed towards Cyn, and Ryan with Destiny, showed volumes. It made my heart flutter at the bond they had.

“Sorry Gen. We love them too ya know.” Ryan places a gentle kiss on upon my head before heading back to his girl. Leaving myself to dance by alone, till she got a text from Michael saying he made it to the club. Upon sending a reply, Donovan texted her saying he took the twins home. Feeling a sense of relief wash over.

“He’s here y’all. I gotta meet him upstairs in VIP.” Without missing a beat, the other four hightailed it behind me, up the stairs to see who my cousin was setting me up with. Accepting the VIP hand stamp from the bouncer, walking towards the group in the main area.

“For your sake, I hope he listened to you.” Cynthia snickered gently, causing Destiny to lightly tap her arm.

“Well, well well. If it isn’t my favorite cousin Geneva. What’s going on girl?” Michael said enthusiastically, giving her a hug.

“Better not let Donny and the twins hear you say that Mr. Superstar.” I chuckled softly, returning the hug and introduced my friends to him.

Michael always kept in touch with family no matter how busy he got. Whether it was movie deals; commercials or interviews, he made sure to keep in contact.

“Gen, you never told me your cousin was Michael B. Jordan!” Ryan exclaimed in a hushed tone in my ear. I thought it was implied.

“It’s not something I brag about constantly. I don’t need people bombarding me with questions on like; ‘is he single?’ Or ‘does he want a baby mama?’ I’m good fam.”

The more I explained it, the more it made sense. Even Michael nodded in agreement, before smirking a bit. Glancing at the party below, my mind was elsewhere during all of this.

“Listen cuz, it’s almost the new year and I know you’ve been through a lot.” He began his speech, just as Florian stood next to him.

“Yeah huh. What are you getting at Bakari?” Upon taking a sip of the new drink, I turned my attention away from the coward downstairs, to her Michael and his friend.

This man was huge. Like body on point; smile on 100, presence alluring and intoxicating. Just everything about him exuded dominance and power. The way the grey long sleeve cotton shirt, hugged his biceps in all the right ways. He just looked like a tall delicious looking, white chocolate teddy bear. Where have I seen him before?

“Geneva, I’m sure you know-” Michael was cut off abruptly, by our eager attitudes.

“Genevieve Shaw.”

“Florian Munteanu. Oh we’ve met before.” I had a smirk plastered on my face. Everyone, excluding him and Michael, was confused. The memory was coming back to me now, from the beginning of Creed II promo shoot.

I was hired, along with Cynthia, to do the makeup and therapy for the movie. That was so long ago I had completely forgot about it, clearly Florian hadn’t.

“You didn’t tell me, she was your cousin.” Florian’s thick accent, and yet slight arrogant facial expression reminded me why I didn’t go for his advances at first. He made a bet with her best friend Leon, that he could get my number by the time the Creed II press was over.

It didn’t work out because I overheard and stopped all the bull before it went down.

“I thought you knew. She is the reason why you aren’t hurting anymore.” Michael pointed out.

“True. No need to pull a hamstring.” The joking tone from Florian did nothing but increase the annoyance. The roll of my amber brown eyes was a notice enough.

“I told you I don’t date actors, and athletes. But since you’re my cousin I’ll indulge.” A slight shrug and a nod was enough for Michael. Then an idea came to mind, two could play that game.

“How about this, Munteanu. Follow me real quick.” Signaling him to follow me out the floor to get ready for the countdown. Hearing my friends and Michael’s cheer behind us.

Seeing all the women, and a few men, glance at him as he bobbed and weaved through the crowd to follow me, made me feel powerful a bit.

“Since the new year will happen in approximately 2 min, I’m feeling generous. What do you say to a bet? Sound familiar?” Sipping my champagne from the flute, while moving from side to side to the music, it got his attention.

“A bet huh? It does ring a bell. What did you have in mind?” There’s that smirk again. Get it together Geneva.

“If you’re actually interested in me, no bullshit and show initiative, maybe I’ll go out with you. I don’t move to new York to play games Munteanu. You may be fine, but you sure as hell ain’t about to waste my time. Deal?” With an arch of my left brow, I meant business.

He was shocked at how forward I was, but slightly turned on at the same time. He seemed like he was always up for challenge.

“Deal.”

He clinked his glass with mine as the countdown began at 10 seconds. The look in his eyes seemed eager as he inches closer to me, closing the distance between us. The height ratio was actually pleasant; 6’4 to 5’8. Thank god for platform heels. Feeling his body heat on mine at the final 5 seconds, I came up with a tactic.

“Happy New Year!!”

Florian thought he was gonna kiss me, but I stopped him by placing my hand on his chiseled chest. Causing a sweet laugh go escape my full lips.

“Slow ya roll. The bet starts now, happy new year.” Sending a wink his way, I left him there speechless and engulfed in confetti, fo join my friends back in the VIP area. Earning a high five from Cynthia and Destiny.

The year was going to be a good one.

#florian munteanu #florian munteanu x oc #florian x geneva #florian munteanu fanfic #work out #lil nasties #flo's hoes #im going to hell for this #lawd have mercy #genevieve shaw #geneva #sevyn streeter

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