#ALSO DRAWING THE PUPPETS WITH TEETH IS FUN BUT ALSO VERY STRANGE | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bounce-a-coin-off-your-witcher · 4 years

Text

In the Dead of Night

Title taken from the same Judas Priest song as before, “Love Bites.”

tw: horny (duh), blood mention, consensual blood drinking, consensual mind reading, consensual mind control, dom/sub undertones but only vaguely

the mind control does not occur during the smutty bits, by the way. that shit is foreplay only and it is discussed at length by both parties (I just wanted to play with Dracula’s fun powers and also as someone said in my AO3 comments: “THRALL SEX! THRALL SEX!”).

THIS IS A SMUT, 18+ YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

top!Jaskier, bottom!Geralt

please comment I am fucking begging you

---

“Geralt,” the silky voice called out to him. It echoed off the castle walls, pulling the lawyer deeper into a state languid, misty stupor. “Come to me, my love. Come to me, Geralt.”

The solicitor, whose mind was still half-convinced this was a dream, found his body moving of its own accord. He rose mechanically from the bed and crossed the enormous guest room, not even stopping to pull on his slippers or dressing gown as he should have. Nor did he brush his hair back into place; it hung in a loose white curtain, framing his eyes and jaw rather romantically.

Geralt stumbled through the keep like a drunken marionette, tied and tangled in the strings of some clever puppet-master. The drawling voice told him to turn left towards the Count’s set of private rooms, so he did. His bare feet didn’t even register the usually freezing temperature of Castle Dracula’s cold stone floors. His skin was aflame with goosebumps but not a single one had resulted from the chilly temperature.

“Geralt,” the voice purred. The sleepwalker’s pace sped up as he neared the heavy oak door that led to his employer’s bedchamber, “I am waiting for you, my pet, and I am growing impatient.”

---

“Are you completely and totally sure, Geralt?” Jaskier asked, worrying his lip between his sharp, sharp teeth. Geralt nodded and tried his best to look away from his lover’s gorgeous mouth. It wasn’t working. “Oh...Oh yes. I suppose you’re quite sure.”

“How can you tell?” the solicitor asked, quirking a curious eyebrow in Jaskier’s direction. The vampire gestured as he spoke, trying to work out some of his fizzling energy as he explained his powers.

“Uhm, right. I should probably explain. I can read minds, you see. Telepathy was gifted to me along with the immortality, the odd sleeping hours, and the lust for drinking human blood. I am also an incredibly fast healer, I can turn into a bat, and I can walk up and down walls as easily as if they were floors.”

“Impressive,” Geralt smirked. “Care to demonstrate, Your Grace?”

“Perhaps at a later date; I’m not in the mood for party tricks just now. Not after what you just told me and what I just saw going through your pretty white lawyer-jargon-filled head.”

“So you can read my thoughts as clear as day, then?”

“Yes, but I don’t make a habit of doing it regularly. I only peeked in just now because your line of questioning had me in a bundle of nerves.”

“Going to bed with me makes you nervous?”

“I very much enjoy our tender nights of lovemaking together, Geralt,” the vampire admonished teasingly. He was trying to lighten the mood, to fully process his recently acquired lover’s peculiar request. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you. I don’t want you to suddenly change your mind or feel unsure going into things and only continue for my sake. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you woke up one morning and feared me for being the monster I truly am.”

“You are no monster,” Geralt asserted, catching Jaskier’s flighty hands in both of his and holding them tightly. He squeezed his fingers and smiled encouragingly when Jaskier squeezed back. “And aren’t I supposed to be the nervous one, coming to you with something of this nature and speaking of it in plain terms? I’m mortified.”

“I just don’t want you to be afraid of me, Geralt.”

The human cocked his head to the side and smiled, the deep blush that had accompanied his earlier request still darkened the apples of his cheeks. His open expression was so trusting and endearing that Jaskier’s heart would have broken if it were still beating. “I could never be afraid of you, Your Grace.”

“Do I have your permission to read through your expectations of this, should we attempt it?”

“Of course, Your Grace. Whatever pleases you best, Your Grace.”

“That’s cheating, darling. You know how it boils my blood when you call me that,” the vampire growled.

They’d fallen back into the pillows after that but the deal had been struck: some night when Geralt wasn’t expecting it, when he was fast asleep, Jaskier would bring his lover under his thrall. He would command Geralt’s every movement, keeping careful tabs on his mind so that no wrong moves were made and no damage was done. He cared too much for the mortal’s safety to risk anything.

But the mortal had learned that it was very hard for Jaskier to deny him anything, especially when it came to adventurous and lusty bedroom games.

---

Geralt pushed the door open and approached the bed, where Jaskier was reclined comfortably against a mound of pillows. His ankles were delicately crossed and he was draped in a long, flowing white silk night shirt. His fangs were already fully extended and his irises were glowing crimson in the dim light of a few lit candles.

“Kneel,” Jaskier ordered. Geralt dropped to his knees, unconsciously grateful for the pillow that his employer and lover had set out in preparation. The Count slid from the bed and approached his prey, breathing the heady scent of a lustful, eager human. It was a warm, earthy scent and it tickled him greatly to know that Geralt felt it all for him. Only for him.

For Count Dracula, the terror of Redania.

One of the immortal’s cold, calloused fingertips slid down the side of Geralt’s jaw and the solicitor shuddered instinctively, thrusting his chest forward and turning his face to the left to better reveal the pale, unmarked column of his throat. The Count released a feral growl and fisted his hands into Geralt’s hair. He tugged his head back, forcing the younger man to arch even further forward and breathe even more shallowly than before. All Jaskier could hear in the mortal’s mind, even beneath the fog of his vampiric thrall, was: Yes! Yes! More. Yes!

It was very encouraging. He kissed a torturously slow line of tooth-heavy kisses up and down the soft skin and refused to let the mortal give in to his urge to write. He forced Geralt to stay perfectly still as he laved his throat and Adam’s apple with his teeth and tongue.

He whined, low and long, and the Count released him to step back.

“Greedy thing,” the vampire chuckled. The sound was low and ominous; it reverberated dangerously through Geralt’s chest and forced a whine from his throat, his eyes still trained on the Count. The solicitor could not force himself to move an inch as he awaited further instructions from his Master. Finally, after a nearly painful length of silence, Jaskier murmured, “Disrobe for me, pet.”

Geralt’s fingers flew to the collar of his nightshirt, tugging the buttons apart haphazardly in his rush to bare himself before his Count. His Jaskier. His Master. The vampire placed his hands over the mortal’s and tutted in disappointment. The sound had Geralt reeling, groaning in utter confusion as he went limp beneath his lover’s ministrations.

“Slower, my darling. Put on a show for me. You’re so pretty, Geralt, and I’d like it if you remembered that. Unwrap yourself like a present, wouldn’t you?”

The white-haired human flushed a charming shade of pink and ducked his head. Jaskier removed his hands and sat back down on the edge of the bed. He watched with obvious arousal as Geralt slowly unhooked each shiny black button, drawing the material aside to reveal the planes of his broad, lightly-furred chest. He slowly slipped the offending article over his head and discarded it to the side. Then he paused, waiting once again for the vampire to give him a command.

“Pants off, too. I’d like you bare, my pet.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“What does it feel like to be enthralled by your love, Geralt? Do you regret letting me be your Master?”

“I regret nothing, Your Grace. Being yours like this...it feels as if my mind is far away and yet everything I touch is very close. If your skin brushes against mine unintentionally I fear that I shall fly apart; yet I’ve never wanted to be touched more desperately in my life.”

“Hmm. That is an interesting way to put it. Now, my love, come lay with me and let me touch you as you so desire.”

“As it pleases you, Your Grace.”

“Even bent to obey my every whim without question you are no less accommodating, my dear.”

Jaskier straddled Geralt as soon as the mortal had laid himself down. He shucked off his own silk nightshirt in the process, tossing it off into the darkness as if it wasn’t worth more than Geralt’s weight in gold. The Count ran his frigid hands down Geralt’s firm arms, clasping his hands and pulling them slowly, teasingly over his head.

“How strange it must be to know that I will not tie you down and yet you will not be able to move from this position without my order to do so,” the vampire whispered against the shell of his lover’s ear. Geralt moaned and tossed his head back, baring his throat once again. The human was practically screaming his thoughts at Jaskier: Bite me! Feed from me! Take from me and make me yours, Your Grace. My handsome Count. My love!

The Count wrapped himself around his lovely, willing victim and eagerly acquiesced.

---

“Fuck!” Geralt cried. He was sure that every nerve ending in his body was screaming in wave after wave of unstoppable ecstasy.

Jaskier was everywhere. The Count had released the hold of his thrall as soon as he’d bitten into the side of Geralt’s throat. Now there was nothing standing between Geralt and all of the wonderful sensations his lover was inflicting upon him. The rhythmic movements of Jaskier’s hips as the vampire fucked him firmly down into the mattress, the heaving of his breath in his slow human lungs, the little white flyaways that were stuck to his forehead with sweat; even the way his hands were buried fiercely in the vampire’s soft chestnut hair seemed to only further drive Geralt mad with lust.

There were warring sparks of arousal and heat shooting between the spot in his neck where Jaskier’s teeth were buried and the spot in his ass where Jaskier’s glorious cock was buried. The Count was an expert at mind reading and at lovemaking. He played Geralt like Geralt had seen him once play the lute and the harp. His fingers were expert, flicking at his nipples and pulling at his hair at just the right moments.

The young solicitor was nothing more than a moaning, writhing symphony and Jaskier was his wicked, brilliant composer. He sang at his Master’s order, grunting and sighing whenever one of the Count’s expert thrusts hit his prostate. It was even better knowing that every slam of Jaskier’s hips was matched by a strong pull of blood as the vampire drank from him. To know that he was pleasuring His Grace in so many ways at once brought the human to the height of joy. He mumbled a long series of wordless, gibberish thanks and let the Count drain him of his life force.

“I can keep going all night,” the vampire warned, removing his teeth from his quarry only long enough to speak. “I could drive you mad like this, Geralt. Would you like that? Would you enjoy spending your life under my spell, warming my bed and slaking my immortal lusts? Would you like it if I laid you out on a pretty velvet dais during the day and gave you endless books to read? Would you be content if I had you dressed and bathed for me by your own set of servants every night and delivered to my bed when the sun finally disappears?”

“Your Grace! Please!”

Geralt didn’t know if he was begging for it or trying to plead against it; perhaps both or perhaps neither. Perhaps he was merely begging for Jaskier to put his fangs back in his straining, yearning neck. But the Count wasn’t about to let him off that easily.

“Please, you say? Does that idea appeal to you, my pet? Would you like being looked after and taken care of and tenderly worshiped from now until your dying day?”

“Jaskier!” the mortal solicitor cried, clenching tightly around the vampire and forcing the immortal’s breath from his lungs. “Keep me forever, do not let me leave your side, Your Grace! Please!”

“Fuck, Geralt, I’m-” he cut himself off by sinking his canines back into his lover’s pale arteries and sucking in one last deep gulp of sparkling ruby nectar.

“Yes! Your Grace!”

They fell over the precipice together, tumbling through empty, breathless air as they came. The feeling of Jaskier’s fangs in his neck had finally given Geralt the perfect amount of stimulation to climax, messing both his own chest and part of Jaskier’s with sticky spend. Since the Count had been monitoring Geralt’s thoughts the entire time they were coupling, hell bent on making sure he was enjoying himself, Geralt’s climax sent Jaskier headfirst into his own shuddering finish. “Fuck! My love!”

“Jaskier!” ---

“You’re a marvel, my darling,” the Count insisted, forcing Geralt to take another sip of sweet red wine. He slipped a piece of sweet bread with jam into the mortal’s mouth shortly thereafter. “I am so lucky to have had you delivered right to my doorstep, ready and willing to fall under my evil spell.”

“You’re still not frightening me,” the solicitor replied. “I went to law school; you’re almost tame.”

“For that remark you shall be severely punished.”

Geralt rolled over in Jaskier’s lap and wiggled his ass playfully. “Oh no, Your Grace. Anything but that.”

“Get back here and finish your wine, pet.”

Geralt returned to his previous position and Jaskier ran a hand through his snow-white locks. “May I get dressed yet, Your Grace?”

“Not if you keep calling me that. If you insist on flaunting my title then I may never let you see a stitch of clothing again.”

Geralt blushed and Jaskier’s eyes widened as the mortal’s thought passed through the veil into his own mind. The Count laughed and fed Geralt a bite of bread.

“You’re an absolutely filthy little minx, pet. I’m going to keep you forever.”

214 notes · View notes

recurring-polynya · 3 years

Text

@iz-stardust is a lovely person and a wonderful artist and I wanted to write her a little present based on this adorable drawing she did. I hope you like it, friend!

Adventures in Babysitting | ao3 | ff.net |

Summary: When Byakuya is stuck on emergency babysitting duty, he gets an assist from Squad 10.

Starring: Toushirou, Rangiku, Byakuya, and one cranky Ichika.

Ships: Friendships as far as the eye can see!!!

Rating: General audiences, can you believe it?!? You should probably brush your teeth afterwards, tho.

❄️ 🐱 🌸 🐰

“Sir! Captain Kuchiki and, er, a guest are here to see you!”

Toushirou looked up the mission report he had been reviewing. In general, it was pretty unlikely for another captain to just drop by, and it seemed doubly unlikely for Byakuya, of all people, to do so. “Matsumoto!” he barked. “You didn’t schedule an appointment with Captain Kuchiki and then forget to tell me about it, did you?”

“Oh, Captain!” Matsumoto pouted. “You know Renji makes all of Captain Kuchiki’s appointments for him, and he would never trust me to remember something like that.”

This was very true.

“See him in!” Toushirou waved at his waiting Seventh Seat. “Try to look busy, Matsumoto!”

“I am busy!” Matsumoto gestured at the catalog in front of her. “We got budget approval for new office chairs, and I’m trying to pick out the best ones. Your hiney is going to thank me.”

“I will thank you to never mention my hiney again, Matsu-- greetings, Captain Kuchiki!”

Byakuya looked… haggard. His face was pale, his eyes shadowed by dark circles. His hair was gathered in a rather sloppy ponytail, rather than falling in it’s usual glossy waterfall. He kept shifting from one foot to the other in a semi-rhythmic fashion. There didn’t seem to be any blood on him, but there was a large, lumpy bundle strapped to his chest, and some sort of duffel slung across his back. Had he just returned from a harrowing mission to Hueco Mundo, perhaps?

“Hello, Captain Hitsugaya,” he said, his voice ragged with exhaustion. “I need to ask an important favor.”

“Are you all right?” Toushirou asked, jumping to his feet. “You look like you need to sit down.”

“No, no, I must remain standing.” Kuchiki excused. “As you know, I was supposed to lead the meeting of the Gotei Transparency Improvement Documentation Standards committee this afternoon, but it seems I will not be able to attend. I was hoping that, as co-chair, you would be able to take my place. I am most apologetic, and I swear, on my honor as a Kuchiki, that I will make it up to you.” An angry squall erupted from the cloth wrapped around his chest, and Kuchiki’s hand immediately moved to pat it reassuringly.

“Do you have Ichika?!” Matsumoto squealed, her eyes filling with glittering hearts and stars.

“Er, yes,” Kuchiki mumbled. “It is very unusual, of course, for Renji and Rukia to be called away together, but Kurosaki Ichigo specifically requested their assistance, and obviously, all of Soul Society owes him a great debt, so...” He trailed off in a most un-Byakuya-like fashion.

“Of course I can handle the meeting,” Toushirou reassured briskly, although he had to raise his voice to be heard over the crying, which was steadily increasing in volume. “Do you need… help… with the other matter?”

Kuchiki made a troubled face. “I had thought that my staff at the manor would be able to assist, but Ichika seemed extremely agitated to be left in their care. Strangely enough, being attached to my person is the only thing that seems to placate her. Even so, she becomes angry if I sit down or stop this infernal swaying motion.”

“Well, of course!” Matsumoto scolded. “She doesn’t know those people! You’re her special uncle! But she’s probably bored from being in that thing. Take her out and let her have a little playtime with Auntie Rangiku!”

Byakuya’s face went stiff, and his eyes narrowed judgmentally. For a moment, Toushirou feared that Byakuya was going to take issue with the non-biological nature of Rangiku’s aunthood, although he knew for a fact that Abarai and Kuchiki subscribed to the Rukongai idea of “the more aunties the better.” He, himself, had respectfully turned down a similar honorarium, although he had been secretly touched by the offer. (Momo still insisted on referring to him as ‘Uncle Shirou’ in the baby’s presence. He found that much less touching).

Rangiku, for her part, was regarding Byakuya with a look, just daring him to try it.

People, namely Rukia, kept insisting that Byakuya considered Toushirou to be his friend, but Toushirou had his doubts. Sure, they played shogi regularly, and Toushirou seemed to be the only person outside of Renji and Rukia that Byakuya ever texted, but it’s not like Toushirou really knew the guy. And yet, as he watched Byakuya’s face, he realized, like a bolt of thunder, that he recognized an emotion. He was suddenly certain, down to the marrow of his bones, that Rukia had given her brother a stern talking to on this very topic.

A few moments of obvious internal struggle went by, and then Byakuya blew a small puff of air out of his nose, and began extracting the baby from her wrappings. “I wish you luck,” he declared grimly.

Rangiku hopped up from her desk and danced over to Byakuya’s side. As the cool air hit Ichika’s face, her crying slowed, and she began to look around.

“Hello, baby!” Matsumoto trilled. Toushirou could tell she was dying to snatch the baby from Byakuya’s arms, but was holding herself back until Ichika was ready.

Ichika looked up into Byakuya’s face, her violet eyes wide and uncertain. Then she looked to Rangiku again. Then Byakuya again.

“These are the offices of Squad Ten,” Byakuya explained. “I believe you have been here before. We are guests, so you must be on your best behavior.”

Ichika looked back over at Rangiku, who was hiding the lower half of her face with her scarf. “Peekaboo!” she exclaimed, flinging the scarf away.

Ichika squealed and lunged for Rangiku (or possibly her scarf), nearly knocking Byakuya off his feet.

“Ha ha!” Matsumoto sang, spinning Ichika around. “There’s my happy girl!”

Byakuya’s entire body slumped with relief, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

“You should sit down,” Toushirou suggested, pulling his chair around. “I’ll make you a cup of tea.”

Byakuya sank gratefully into the chair and didn’t even ask any pointed questions about the tea, which is how Toushirou knew that he must be completely exhausted.

Rangiku plopped down on one of the office couches, Ichika in her lap. She dropped her scarf over the baby’s head and tickled her nose with it as Ichika laughed and laughed.

Toushirou wasn’t exactly envious of his lieutenant’s way with people, big and small, but he was grateful for it. Rangiku did friendship so easily-- ironing out disputes between squad members, throwing a birthday bash for a friend-of-a-friend-of-friend, charming cranky babies-- and yet, watching her work her magic only made him feel more special to be part of her inner circle, that she’d seen something in that scrawny kid, so hesitant to stand up for himself that long ago day in Junrinan.

“Her attention span doesn’t last very long,” Rangiku said in a sing-songy voice. “We should have a series of fun ideas lined up!”

Byakuya perked up, and unloaded the bag from his shoulder. He seemed to have forgotten it was there. “I have her Seaweed Ambassador!” he offered helpfully, pulling a stuffed…creature from the bag. “Although it did not produce the desired reaction earlier.”

“Oh, I know!” Rangiku suggested. “Have you ever seen Rukia and Renji do the ‘Big Mommy, Little Daddy’ game?”

“The what?” Byakuya and Toushirou replied in unison.

“It’s so cute! Rukia gets on a chair and makes a big deal about how she’s so tall, and Renji stands on his knees and talks about how short he is. Ichika loves it, don’t you, Ichika!”

Ichika stretched her hands above her head and blew an enthusiastic raspberry.

Matsumoto looked meaningfully at Toushirou. Then Byakuya. Then back to Toushirou.

“No,” Toushirou growled, pointing his finger at Rangiku. “It would be very-- I would-- Just, no.”

“Absolutely not,” Byakuya agreed. “Categorically not.”

Rangiku stuck out her lower lip. “You two are no fun.” She turned her attention back to her tiny charge. “Ichika, are these your toes? I didn’t know you had toes! Let me see!”

Toushirou busied himself with the tea. This, unfortunately, was also classic Matsumoto, trying to draw him into her nonsense. As if even a baby could mistake himself and Byakuya for a pair of loud, dramatic dumbasses like Renji and Rukia. No, the best thing he could possibly do is help Kuchiki get his nerves back together. Children didn’t like Toushirou. Even when he was a child himself, other children hadn’t liked him. Ghost children liked him sometimes, but that was different.

Toushirou decided that Kuchiki deserved the good gyokuro, the stuff he himself only indulged in when Matsumoto was being particularly taxing. It seemed appropriate. He let his mind clear a little so that Hyourinmaru could get the water to the perfect temperature. Hyourinmaru loved the ceremony of even a casual workday tea break. You are a kind friend, his zanpakutou rumbled in his head. Senbonzakura will appreciate this gesture. Hyourinmaru had a hard time telling the difference between Byakuya and Senbonzakura sometimes, and Toushirou had given up trying to correct him.

A memory suddenly popped into Toushirou’s head. A little ghost boy who hadn’t passed over to Soul Society because he was waiting to see the first snowfall. Toushirou had been hesitant to use his zanpakutou for such a frivolous reason, but Hyourinmaru hadn’t seemed to mind, in the end. An idea began to crystalize in his mind.

“Oh, no, baby, what’s the matter?” Matsumoto was exclaiming. “What is this sad face? Is it time to get up? Do you want Auntie Rangiku to walk with you?” Ichika had started to make little fussy noises again.

Toushirou pressed a fragrant cup of tea into Byakuya’s hand as he passed on his way over to the couch. He cleared his throat, and Ichika turned her tiny face up to his. “Hey, Ichika,” he said. “Check this out.” He opened his hand to reveal a tiny, sparkling ice sculpture in the shape of a snowman adorned with rabbit ears. Ichika’s eyes widened, and she waved her arms at it. She would have fallen off of Matsumoto’s lap, if it weren’t for his lieutenant’s quick reflexes.

“How cute, Captain!” Matsumoto cried. “Oh, lucky you, Ichika! Captain made that beautifully bunny just for you! He wouldn’t do that for just anyone, you know.”

“You can touch it,” Toushirou said, crouching a little and holding his hand out. Maybe she would be interested in the feel of the ice.

“She will likely ruin it,” Byakuya warned.

“That’s okay. I made it for her.”

Byakuya took a deep inhale of his tea steam. “It is just like you,” he opined, “to put as much care into an amusement for an infant as you would into a great work of art.”

Toushirou’s ears burned, but Matsumoto just laughed. “You are so right, Captain Kuchiki! Classic Captain Hitsugaya, am I right?”

“Yes,” Byakuya agreed. “Classic Captain Hitsugaya.” He took a sip of the tea. “Truly, this tea is returning me from the brink of death. I thank you.”

“Well, I do expect you to take this baby away eventually,” Toushirou tried to grumble. It was hard to get properly grumpy when Ichika was patting his ice bunny with her fat little hands and smiling a big, gummy grin. Suddenly, she stretched her arms out toward him, and made a little whimpery sound. “Sorry, this is the only one I have,” he said.

“I think she wants you to hold her,” Matsumoto suggested.

“She is mistaken,” Toushirou replied.

“Hmmm,” said Byakuya.

“I heard that! Don’t you ‘hmmm’ over there!” Toushirou snapped.

“Abarai has conjectured that Ichika is able to identify Rukia and himself by their reiatsu.”

“Stop.”

“That would be nonsense, obviously, except that she is a Kuchiki, so she is, of course, exceptional in every way.”

Matsumoto’s eyes went wide with delight. “Do you think she thinks Captain is Rukia?”

Toushirou winced.

“Of course not.”

Toushirou blew out a sigh of relief.

“I was only suggesting that he reminds her of Rukia. Because of the cold nature of--”

“Yes, yes, we get it!” Toushirou snapped.

“Oh, Captain,” Matsumoto made a frowny face at him, as Ichika’s face started to screw up in preparation for a full-throated Abarai howl.

“Fine, fine!” Toushirou sighed, handing the ice rabbit over to Rangiku before hefting Ichika up onto his hip. “There. You’re up. You happy now?”

Ichika leaned her head into his side, and patted his chest, making a comforting little cooing noise.

A high-pitched noise came out of Matsumoto, and she clapped her hands over her mouth. “You got a hug!”

“She has just started doing that,” Byakuya informed them grandly. “I, myself, have received several. It is adorable, is it not?”

Toushirou pointedly avoided looking at Matsumoto’s face, which was probably dissolving. Instead, he looked down at the sticky little gremlin who had her cheek pressed into his haori. “Yeah,” he admitted. “It’s pretty great.”

#my writing #uncle byakuya #byahitsu brotp #👏byakuya👏in👏a👏baby carrier👏

72 notes · View notes

reversecreek · 3 years

Text

struts onto the dash carrying this deliriously wriggling little elf in my arms like a swaddled bebe......... they’re genuinely my oldest muse of all time i think i created them when i was like. 13 possibly. n i haven’t written them in Years but. i’m literally so excited to jst vibrating w muse. smiles at u all demurely..... they have risen. u can find their pinterest here n their playlist here.

* alana champion, nonbinary + they/them | you know nyla palmer, right? they’re twenty-two, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, eight months? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to 6669 (i don’t know if you know) by neon indian like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole a two headed doll of a prairie girl with stitched on rabbit ears and butterfly wings, befriending shadow puppets & finding god with your eyes open underwater in a public pool you broke into thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is march 2nd, so they’re a pisces, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( nai, 24, gmt she/her )

HISTORY:

was born in georgiaaaa georgiaaaa (phoebe bridgers voice holds my bang...) to a vry honest hard working man named george (omgggg he’s called GEORGE and he’s from GEORGIA? ahaaaaa fuckk ur jestinggg) nd a woman who did her best named pamela..... george worked on a construction site n pamela was a pharmacist..... their house was this small rickety white thing with a wrap around porch n a very rabid overgrown garden tht kind of looked like the earth ws trying to reclaim it bc nobody ever hd the time or motivation to mow the lawn.... there ws literally a piece of fold out furniture just entirely submerged by weeds n foliage

nyla ws always closest w their dad george..... he hd this way of looking at the world tht was seeing the best in all of it.... he took them on long walks where he talked abt how u have to respect the trees bc they’re breathing fr us n we’re breathing fr them..... he hd a strange whimsical sense of humour n a gnome alter ego called grundlebolt who always tickled them..... in a way this closeness created a distance between nyla n their mother but not so much that it ws rly a problem. just enough tht nyla sometimes waited until their mother ws out of eye n ear shot to tell their dad they loved him bc they didn’t wna make her sad >_>

(mental health, death & grief tw) pamela always struggled w her mental health but george ws great n understanding n knew how to help her thru this... nyla didn’t get it too greatly at a very young age bt they knew their mum got “the sads” sometimes (how their dad wld explain tht she needed to lay down in the quiet for a while or why she’d stood at the stove n let the dinner burn until the smoke detector went off without doing anything abt it). when nyla was 14 they got home one day to a police car in the driveway n came prancing in exuberantly as they always did. immediately hugged the legs of an officer bc this is hw they wld greet everyone they ever met. they only realised something was wrong when they let go n saw their mum sat at the table crying. essentially there ws an accident at the construction site george worked at n :/ yeah.

(jst mental health & grief tw now) this rly had an intense ripple effect on everyone tbh. pamela’s mental health deteriorated quite a lot without george there as her rock n nyla sort of had to step in as best they cld but it was....... hard. some days she ws better bt some days nyla had to sit her in the bath n stroke a wet sponge over her back bc they didn’t know how else to calm her down. nyla always had a very overactive imagination which george encouraged bt it ws like. losing him rly opened a window in nyla’s head n all rationality went floating out of it. their dreams seemed more real than being awake. fantasy wasn’t jst the way they coped bt it was the way they thought n the way they saw. everything on earth was alive. the trees n the clouds n the wall with a brick missing at the bottom of her road n especially their dad. their dad was alive in everything in nyla’s head. the sun shining extra bright in the morning was george. ponds were a veil they could dunk her head under and find george waiting on the other side. reality rly just pulled the plug n said bye tbh n they were ok w that <3

(abuse implied tw) their mum remarried too fast to a man named stephen n it was jst not a good arrangement. he was Not a nice man. i won’t go into this but home wasn’t a nice place for nyla any more n after a couple of yrs stephen wound up asking them to leave n their mum said nothing to contradict tht. there’s more to this bt long story short nyla left <3

(drugs tw) they couch surfed fr a while before settling living w their best friend. they got up to like... all sorts of trouble n grew up far too fast. nyla’s lack of sense n realism hd a habit of getting them into some sticky situations n these few yrs were a rollercoaster where they got by on the skin of their teeth. when they think of high skl they think of gravel and skinned knees and sucking sherbet dunkers to ignore the taste of pennies in ur mouth and getting lost in the woods a lot bc they’d take FAR too many drugs n be lead astray having conversations with kind trees whose branches held their hands

(drug mention) got by on odd jobs like making candles n selling them at market stalls. leaf blowing at cemeteries. face painting fr children’s parties (where they were blatantly high). random stuff. all over the place. in this time them n their best friend also hd a sugar daddy named tony who always wore very impressive colour block suits n mink stoles n jewelled fedoras n hd a swanky apartment w marble floors. rly just. surreal. lots of strange stories frm this time.

things kind of blew up in their friendship group n they fell out w their best friend raya bc she slept w this guy aj who nyla hd been madly in love w for yrs.... he was a Stinker n honestly so ws their best friend so good riddance i say bt obviously it felt like having their entire world flipped upside dwn fr nyla.... they split after this came out bc they just did Not want to b around these ppl any more n they decided to leave w this guy frm a band they barely knew tht much save fr a one night stand to tour w them..... this ws another whirlwind. jst chock full of them. it ws similar to being on a teacup ride at a carnival n spinning round n round n only knowing u were surrounded by lots of lights. tht’s how they’d best describe their time on tour.

SO in terms of them coming to irving 8 months ago they came w the band.... they honestly did pretty well on tour n wound up renting a big beach house on dorado as a kind of “retreat” sort of place fr them to shack up in while they worked on writing and recording their first big studio album (they gt signed w a label so it’s all vry exciting stuff). nyla among like 3 others were allowed to stay w them too bc they hd a lot of fun on tour. literally jst. taken on as professional groupies essentially. nyla loved it bc they’d never seen the ocean n when they first got there they jst threw off all their clothes n ran straight into the water. it was 3pm on a tuesday afternoon. they got arrested fr public indecency n didn’t get why bc they were like but i just wanted to hug the ocean u silly little oinker? i picture the beach house as like. the loudest one on dorado.... comes alive like a jungle at night..... they r probably bad neighbours. anyway. onto personality puts hand on hip.

PERSONALITY:

sets out patio furniture on someone else’s lawn n jst takes a seat n leans back like ahhhhh vat a nice day to be alive ya! (swedish accent suddenly bc they think it’s fun). they come out n start yelling n they’re jst so confused they’re like hey wat’s the big idea hey wat’s go on here why u angies why this happen?

likes drawing imaginary veins over their arms in all different colour blue pens in a sudden fit of hyperfixation n then forgets all abt it n goes out like tht n scares several townsfolk bt they’re oblivious they’re jst in her own world loving life already onto the next fixation. has many many different fads like this. one day will jst start snipping up a bunch of magazines bc they’re like EYES ARE COOL N THEY SEE EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :P n they’ll stick a bunch of them over their wall n then forget they was doing that n leap onto the next. quite a pattern. bt they love the vein thing a lot it makes them feel like a walking planetarium like they have their own constellations

sometimes jst doesn’t make sense. they’re honestly kind of strange. pops up in places like they suddenly materialised there n it’s like how did u get there where have u been when were u last seen are u ok. has the energy of an ancient deity frm deep in a mountain cave n an ambiguous forest sprite all at once..... talks shit honestly. abt anything n everything. sometimes outrageous. sometimes plain incoherent. like what are u talking about? i dnt kno. even i dnt kno sometimes.

luvs stick n pokes will let anyone tattoo whatever they want on them for the price of a gummy bear kindly placed onto their tongue n swallowed whole

has this obsession w being underwater w their eyes open luvs it. calls it their tadpole time. runs baths just to lie there blinking looking around n drifting her arms. best friends w the bottom of any local swimming pool n hs probably given it a quick kiss so it knows they’re bff’s n then got sick bc there’s sm germs in a public pool. says the kgb probably poisoned their oatmeal n r finally here to deliver on their promise n THAT’S why they got sick unrelated to the pool incident. what promise? noone knows.

unclear if they believe what they say or if they jst has a very expanded sense of humour where they nvr let on if they’re joking.... lines r blurred a lot.....

loves excitedly shouting things. sometimes just screams at the sky bc they say it’s good to let the creatures in ur belly fly out every once in a while otherwise their wings get sore.

(drugs tw) still does an excessive amt of hallucinogens n it kind of shows. very bad fr their brain bt we’re going to ignore it.

dresses fun n strange n eccentric n careless. loves to experiment. does nt care abt what’s considered to be societally appropriate. living in their own world.

sleeps around a lot... jst doesn’t rly see sex as a big deal.... very free w themselves in that way..... sometimes greets their friends w a kiss on the lips they’re like awww :) kisses <3 when they run into them in the middle of the cereal aisle n then pulls away n suddenly breaks into a box tht has a free toy in it bc it’s a banana with googly eyes n that’s the best thing they’ve ever heard in their LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n isn’t he so HANDSOME????? enchante indeed my good sir ;)... gives the toy a kiss too.

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

other groupies of the band: self explanatory a little.... i dnt have a name for the band yet bt all can b worked out..... i picture them as kind of. not that nice but like. there for a good time........ rock genre.... bit chaotic...... to say the least........ they dnt have to have come there w the band like nyla n the others they cld have been adopted in their time there.... whoever wld b wild n down fr a good time <3

chaotic trash goblin friends: idk what this title rly means it just came to me in a vision....... jst ppl tht r rly kind of off the rails n don’t care abt anything...... they r who nyla tends to mesh very well w......... they rly r living in their own world n by their own rules n they like ppl who do this too <3 inevitably they get up to no good n party far too much...... cld be angst to this if they enable each other’s bad habits...... world’s our oyster. opens my office door. let’s talk abt it.

nyla set up camp on their front lawn: maybe jst w a fold out chair. maybe w a literal pop up tent w someone else too. genuinely so bizarre of them bt that’s what we’re dealing with. they poke their head into the tent n nyla’s lying down crunching on a cracker crumbs over their tits n they just hold it out to them nt even fully consumed n are like hey polly want a cracker? :)

they responded to her craigslist ad: they posted one saying they cld cleanse their house of demonic energy bc they’re an all seeing eye in touch w the spirits. this is a lie. they came n waved sage around n did a little dance as they did it w bird sounds playing on a special cd they brought fr the occasion (had weird indistinct doodles over the case it ws brought in) n then ws like OOH! scary.... n jumped at something in the hall. they go in thinking maybe they’ve seen a ghost bt they just were startled by their own reflection in a mirror n is like. scary mirror placement...... might wna reconsider that........ they charge them merely 10 dollars fr their time n is like this was so fun we shd do it again some time :) also i think u have mould on ur bathroom tile! vanishes. they dnt recall them ever going to the bathroom.

came knocking asking for items for a garage sale: yes. u heard that right. they’re asking for ur muses things to set up their own garage sale. selling items that do not belong to them. they think this is a genius business strategy n don’t understand why ppl think this is so strange or why they cant just ask ppl to donate them things to sell bc hey they’re an entrepreneur? they even had a pencil behind their ear when they knocked on the door so why aren’t ppl taking their business seriously? probably got distracted several times trying to explain their pitch n chattered abt random other things instead.

honestly anything... fwbs... flings... good influence... someone who cnt stand the fact they’re barely coherent.... someone they stopped on the street one day n asked for their opinion on water beds.... we cn do literally anything. fling ur chara my way n we can talk.

#irvingintro #mental health tw #death tw #grief tw #drugs tw #abuse tw

15 notes · View notes

jess-the-vampire · 3 years

Text

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 46

Previous / Next

"There!"

Sunny wiped at her brow, happy with their final designs for their costumes, it had taken a lot of brainstorming and they weren't even close to being actually finished but they had made a lot of progress. Actually it was kinda nice to have both lexi and sunny here, they were both creative types like her and that made them perfect to bounce ideas off of when it came to stuff like this.

Sunny even helped her with adjustments for nora's hat.Sunny had made her own costumes back home, not that they were well made ones or anything, but she wasn't unfamiliar to the process even if it wasn't very good. Plus she liked sharing her own ideas, especially since she knew what she was going for, to be performers they needed an idea in mind and well...better sunny then anyone else, she liked to perform back home.

"Maybe this time you'll get to see me actually perform!", she said cheerfully.

"Yeah...can't wait to watch you run around with a mustache", sky joked, smirking, but she was a little bit serious after hearing how sunny's last performance went.

"Thank you!", she was all too cute, She was a light spot in a lot of this, always trying to make others feel good as best as she could. It didn't shock sky at all she and mason became friends, they had a lot in common. Though since their shared father was a demon with a fond love of soft small animals, sky had a feeling he was the main culprit for this similarity.

"So...how'd you get into acting and singing and whatever exactly?", sky cleaned up some of their mess as sunny hummed to herself, trying to clean sky's extremely messy room to the best of her ability, though with a little demon magic help on her side. "Oh? Well, When i was stuck in our castle all the time i was lacking in many things to do...so i wanted to find new ways to entertain my little brother...so...i started writing stories for him...then starting acting them out with puppets...then costumes...it just...sorta...became fun for me".

"Locked up like...how nora was?", she felt a bit of concern considering nora's situation beforehand.

"Well...not exactly...more freedom...but the only reason we stayed inside as often as we did is cause people tried to attack us all the time when we went out...so they felt it better we were protected a lot...not to say we never went out a bit regardless...but i have a bodyguard, trust me when i say it's weird walking around without a knight following me to protect me...i mean it's happening now but when i first arrived-", something about that seemed to surprised sky, maybe with how tough sunny was, but the mention of it all made sky remember something.

"So...the knife-?".

"Protection purposes...i learned self defense young".

"Huh".

Somehow that made sky even more terrified of sunny then before, but also safer as well, sunny seemed too innocent to be just as scary as she actually was but boy did it make you want to be on her good side all the more. Otherwise you might quickly meet a bad fate by underestimating her and her strength and power. Gee and all sky usually did was taze people and might occasionally get a blast at them if he wand was working properly that day.

A 14 year old prodigy with bodyguards, self defense skills, a knife, and who loves musicals and plays.

Behold princess Sunny, one strange young girl.

She still seemed a bit sheepish about the whole thing with her dagger, her shoulders tightning, "I never meant to hurt judas...it's just a part of my training, usually when a giant tentacle comes and grabs you like that you're not expecting it from a friend, I know he doesn't hold it against me but when you're so worried about being attacked that you end up hurting a friend, it does get to you...sometimes this stuff affects making friends...they think you're too scary".

"Eh...friends who hate you for that probably aren't worth being friends with anyway", sky simply grumbled, "We're all pretty bad socially...none of us had the best environments to grow up in and make friends in...i'm lucky just to have judas as my friend, otherwise i might've just been by myself for years without any friends...and...yeah, that'd be kinda depressing".

"A life without any friends is a sad life...", the small princess finished cleaning up, helping her sister Galexia get her drawings together. "We're only alive so long, better we enjoy that life as much as we can...when i get home i hope to make more friends then i ever could before...perform more, just get to enjoy myself a bit more instead of being stressed or scared".

"That...sounds nice".

"What about you sky?".

"Eh?".

She turned to face her directly.

"When we're back home and everything is back to normal...what will you do first?".

She blinked at her, waiting for an answer, but sky had to just respond with a shrug.

"Honestly? Not sure...i actually think i'll just...rest...i think there's no need to rush into anything and well...rest is something i need before i could do much of anything anyway.

Sometimes you gotta take the time to like...breathe right? Can't spend every moment busy or you might not like...get to enjoy everything, i might wanna slow down for a little after this...i think".

"Planning on getting some therapy?".

"Yeah, definitely.".

That got her to laugh, sharp teeth being exposed upon her laugh.

"Yeah...i think i might need rest when i get home too...", she seemed to be lost in thought, probably thinking about her family back home. It had honestly sounded overall like her parents were rather nice, maybe protective but overall rather great to be around. Maybe in truth the first thing sunny would do was hug them tightly and never let them go after this.

Sounded like something sunny would do.

"Thanks for being a big help sky, you're super talented! I'm really glad to have you as our kinda sorta leader...", Sky was being pessimistic but it was coming from sunny, so she probably most certainly meant it. And considering Sunny was considered such an important and brilliant person back home that probably meant a lot coming from her, even if sky didn't know the full weight of it.

"Y'know sunny?".

"Hmm?".

"Whether it's my fault you're here or not...i'm...happy you guys are here...i mean i'm not happy you're separated from your families and friends or anything of course, i just mean i'm happy i got to like...meet you all...even luna...it's just kinda been nice...having sisters. I've seen judas deal with his brothers for years and sometimes i wondered about if i had an older or younger sibling so...i guess this turned out to be a weird blessing for me...though i hate that it hurt you all".

"Well i never would've gotten to meet you and judas and angel, mason, landon...galexia...any of you without this happening either, it's going to make one heck of a play when i get back home i tell ya!", sky was just imagining sunny pretending to be all of them on a stage, acting out all the stuff they went through and found herself snorting with laughter.

Oh what a sight that would be.

She could just see sunny wearing fake spider legs for angel and stilts with a fake tentacle arm for jude.

"Wanna get some food...?", she perked up, her stomach growling and ready to head out for a break.

Sky was more then happy with that idea, maybe they could run into angel or nora on the way, though maybe they'd also run into Meteora if they weren't careful. Sky also wanted to check up on judas, after all he was getting his arm looked at more and sky wanted to hear what they found. Judas probably needed this check up, even if they didn't find anything.

Plus judas would probably like having company, even if sky and the others weren't there for very long.

Though they were being very closely watched on, reminding sky of the first time they had bodyguards, except this time they were so close sky could smell their breath. But this time, sky didn't mind them so much, in fact she liked having them there then she used to, it added just a bit more safety to their situation even if the guards probably wouldn't last long in a fight against Her.

The more meat shields the merrier at this point.

They hadn't even gotten far however when exactly what sky was worried about was standing nearby. Meteora writing something down in her little notebook, interviewing some other guards and knights in training that knew luna as well, she took her job pretty seriously it seemed. She was pretty good at getting people to talk, though it seemed the knights were MORE then eager to spill dirt on luna.

Geez, so much for nobility and loyalty.

Sunny was baffled at seeing her, and that's when sky remembered meteora knew sunny in her home, Sunny had been pretty open about that part. Sky wondered just how different the two meteora's were, guess if meteora was a spy for sunny she might've been able to figure that whole thing out way before though. Judging by her expression it seemed this meteora was quite a bit different.

If even in just appearance.

Though as much as sunny wanted to talk to her, she had to keep her mouth shut, she didn't want to draw attention to themselves and come off even more suspicious then they looked before. They were just going to have to walk past her and let her do whatever she was doing, sky taking the lead with the girls behind her, but even though sunny knew the drill.

Galexia clearly didn't.

She waved to meteora as they walked past, making sky and sunny both panic for a moment as meteroa glanced up and looked at them walking past her. She didn't react much however, though she did give lexi a smile and sunny a curious look before getting back to her interviewing. The girls heading past, trying to seem as normal as possible as they headed out of her sight.

"Meteora looks very pretty...", the demon noted, keeping her head forward to sky.

"Yeah...pretty...but also...intimidating...".

That's when sky thought of something, but the guards being there made it hard to really ask.

She waited till they headed to the kitchens, were the noises were as loud as ever to pull sunny aside, lexi looming over the freshly baked cupcakes. "Hey...question, meteora exists in your world so uh...why are you next in line for the throne? Why isn't she and eclipsa in charge?".

Sunny eyes for anyone who might be listening in and answered the curious girl, "Well, it wouldn't hurt to say but...she didn't like being in charge so she thought my parents outta do it instead since they were more interested...meteora and me just grew up kinda like sisters...it was something that just kinda worked out for everyone, plus eclipsa likes not having that pressure anymore.".

So it was almost like what eclipsa said happened in this universe, except with a lot more secrets and sadness attached that felt like it screwed some people in the process.

Gee if it weren't for the constantly being attacked and constantly put under pressure thing, sky would argue the world sunny comes from is next to perfect, having a happy family unit with no secrets between them. It really was no wonder sunny was the person she was, and it was no wonder sky had the problems she had. It was nearly like night and day, nearly.

She had a lot more in common with her siblings then she had actually thought, more then just being princesses and just sharing a single parent. No they had situations and issues that repeated between them, it was almost eerier in that regard, that sky ended up meeting girls who knew how she felt in several ways. She easily could've have gotten several sisters who were just...normal people.

Or killers.

If this wasn't somehow on purpose she had gotten seriously lucky with the girls who had shown up.

Hmm

Something about that got her thinking.

But she wasn't able to ponder on that too much longer as sunny helped lexi pick out some snacks for the three of them, grabbing something bonus for judas just in case he was hungry. The servants were staring at them as they grabbed stuff, to them these girls were just helping themselves to their treats without a care in the world, and the only reason they didn't tell them off was because sky was here.

Imagine living your life as a princess and then going into a world that just saw you as a peasant.

That had to be a weird shift.

Then again, not having that pressure must've been super relaxing for once. Sunny could honestly just chill if she wanted to, though if sky asked it was clear sunny would rather be with her family again and take the pressure then be away without it. If Sky had been transported to one of their dimensions without judas she knew she'd have a straight up heart attack.

She'd rather be queen with him around then not be queen without, that was for sure.

And that led her to pick out a treat for him as well, something she knew he liked the best.

Thanking the servers and staff before leading the girls out, munching on some fresh cookies and laughing together, she liked the vibes these two had, hey were just so...positive. They were the opposite of luna and celeste, positive, friendly, and easy to talk to and hang out with.

Hanging out with them as so nice, sky felt bad she had never really done it much before. She had been so stressed hanging out with her sisters felt like it would just waste time, but she really liked spending time with them, she didn't have that many friends who were female when she thought about it, nora not even counting much because they had only truly become friends recently.

Even though they were being followed by guards and barely allowed to properly talk it still invoked a nice feeling. Sunny and Galexia had clicked since day one and barely left the other's side since, hanging out more with each other then anyone else. Even now they were laughing among themselves, having a good ole time, and before sky could feel left out sunny was inviting her in to talk.

it was a nice break from the stress.

Judas was being checked up in the butterfly kingdom hospital wing, though thankfully in a room away from where they usually seemed to go when stuff happened, clearly his parents wanted to give him some more privacy and sky and judas both couldn't protest against that.

Last thing they needed was the press to get out about jude's arm acting funny when they already spread lies about his arm for years.

He was waiting on the bed when they were allowed in, his face lighting up at the guests coming to see him. He looked tired, but a long few hours of checkups will do that to ya, so much so he seemed happy when sky sheepishly handed him a snack. "You got me peanut butter chocolate chip cookies? Thanks so much sky! I've been hungry waiting in here", he beamed as he took a bite from her tray.

"They haven't brought you any snacks in here?", that sounded out of characters for either of his parents though judas finished swallowing as he made things a bit more clear. "No, i had a bit to eat, but i couldn't have much, they were worried it'd affect the tests...but thankfully i'm about finished so i can finally eat properly, i'm super happy you guys got me some stuff besides water and stale crackers...".

He was quick to chow down, taking some of the treats sunny got him as well with a pat to her head.

"So...what exactly did they do to you?".

She was making it sound like they experimented on judas like mad scientists or something but but clearly that wouldn't happen on the Lucitor's watch. Judas laughing and feeling his arm, "They uh well...may if gave me a few shots...and uh...my arm may of reacted a little...swatting at the needles and uh...everyone in the room for a bit". That's when sky noticed the floor looked like it had just been cleaned and the counters nearby weren't as neat as they usually were.

"Oh, ouch, i'm really sorry to hear...".

"No sky, it's ok, they eventually got it to hold still enough and turns out...it actually did seem to put it to sleep...though i'm kinda drowsy...but at least they were finally able to get more dna on it...i mean none of this is new to me, they did stuff like this since i was made but...maybe this time we can get somewhere with it since things have changed since then...".

"Don't you wanna control it rather then cure it? Like how are the these tests supposed to help with that?".

"Well, yeah, i've been considering that maybe the best thing i can do is stop trying to remove something i can't and learn to take it over but well...knowing more about how it works is not a bad thing...might be able to really help me deal with it and everything...though i have to admit...it does scare me a little, it's years of trauma I'm attempting to battle. The tests are just here to well...discover new things about my body, might help me with future choices i make...whether i cure it or not".

"Well, it's noble you even want to do it...no one would blame you for just wanting it gone, but i think it's cool that you wanna like...conquer it of all things".

"I guess to some extent it feels like i'm trying to fix something i can't really fix...if i can't remove it...the next best thing i can do...is not let it take me over...if that's really what's going on...sky i just don't want to keep being afraid of myself anymore...even if you trust me not everyone does and i don't want to be scared of myself...or...have you be scared of me...so...maybe...maybe this can work".

"You really think it's possible?"

"It's worth a shot...i've never really tried before...i mean maybe a little when i desperately tried to will it away as a child but i was too scared at the time...so i'm not sure what'll happen this time...it could work really well or really fail and i wouldn't be surprised either way...i just...it's something i've been thinking about, so..." he rubbed at his arm, sighing.

"Judas...you shouldn't pressure yourself into-".

"I'm not...sky i just...i'm going to be king and...i don't want to be king...with this lingering over me...", he nearly almost cried but pulled himself together last minute, "I'm running out of time before i'm coronated...the sooner i do this the better...i can't wait for a cure...i know nora did what she could...and she can still help...but i have to try something else right now".

"Then maybe you shouldn't be king...".

The two turned to see Sunny, who had been patiently watching and listening to the conversation, her words making judas pause. Sunny must've realized she came off a little harsh when she said it, quick to explain herself before judas and sky said anything else. "I don't mean it in that way judas, i promise...sorry if that came out the wrong way or anything-".

"I can't not be king sunny", he mumbled.

"I don't mean never or anything, i just mean...maybe your parents should push back your date to be king...until you're ready and aren't having all these breakdowns and everything...sometimes you just have to admit you're not ready and have to wait until you are...and if you're so worried...i...i just think your health should come first...before being the next king of the underworld...it's enough pressure without issues...".

Judas seemed to be actually considering what she said, though he shook his head, "This coronation plan has already been set up, i'm not backing out on it if it can really finish all of this...I care more about solving this right now...saving the kingdom, ". Though sunny and sky seemed to both share a concerned look, maybe sunny had a point, though sky rarely heard of many royals who didn't take the crown at least at 18.

Though granted, some had taken it younger, so maybe allowing for some to take it older wasn't a bad idea. Judas could have some time for himself to sort out his problems and come into the position more prepared, he had barely even gotten to focus on the responsibilities of being king, the situation had taken up all his attention, did he really want to put someone like him on the throne like this?

But that didn't only depend on judas, but also his parents, their family, and most of the other kingdoms who had been ready to adjust to his rule. It was no simple task and they needed more time to really work it out, but now that sunny said it and brought it out there, sky couldn't help but put it in the back of her mind for later. Judas was her best friend, and if she needed to, she'd help anyway she could.

She didn't like seeing her best friend dealing with so much pain throughout all of this, she just needed to be there for him.

But for now, her presence seemed to be just enough, judas looking delighted again, even if he was going through a lot in his own mind. Galexia already back to drawing before handing judas one of her drawings, which caught him off guard. He was scared at first knowing what he knew about lexi and her seemingly strange abilities, but he was quickly soothed seeing a drawing him himself.

Happy.

His brothers and parents at his side, with his grandparents as well.

He didn't even know for sure if this were a normal drawing or a premonition , but it was still something rather nice of lexi to give him. She might not have been his sister, but she was a welcoming presence here all things considered. He sent her a soft smile and nodded, "Thanks lexi, this is very sweet of you...you really know how to draw...that's for sure".

He folded the drawing up and put it in his pocket, "I'll hang it in my room...when the castle is finally back together".

"It's nearly done?".

"Yeah i think so...it wasn't nearly as bad as what your castle has been through after all, just a lot of damaged rooms and hallways...but i think we're nearly back and ready...with uh...a few changed just in case that happens again". He didn't seem so sure about the ideas they had in mind, but if it prevented THAT from happening again, it was better then nothing.

"Well maybe it'll be way better then our system...".

"I mean, i'm not too confident...at this point i just assume nothing works on her, she's just too smart for us...well...maybe they are...luna thinks otherwise and i guess it's a real thing to consider", sunny blinking at them both curiously, and sky remembered she never updated sunny on what they spoke about with luna yet, having been distracted with their work.

"Luna thinks what?".

"Ehhh...long story...but she had a few theories that maybe we're being bamboozled by someone whose making things up as they go along? Not that we're sure or anything like that it's only a theory...but we did have her say that to us when we were there, we're honestly on the fence mostly about the whole idea but she just wonders if maybe we think this person is smarter then they are".

The demon girl responding with a bite to her lip and a tap on her chin, clearly thinking more about this idea herself.

"Anways...we're close to getting everything fixed...of course not that i'm sure how much we'll be staying there...but at the very least we'll have a castle that doesn't have holes in it anymore...which is better then before. It's in part thanks to your moms and my grandmother, having a larger demon help with construction makes the progress go a lot faster then it would without".

"You helped too", she pointed out.

"Eh...not as much...", he looked off to the side, though sky clearly was telling him with her eyes not to ignore his own efforts he put into all of this. He smiled but went back to his point,

"But i guess we'll be bunking for a good while before i'm allowed to sleep alone again, so i guess we have a lot of sleepovers ahead of us, whether we like it or not".

"Is it really a sleepover if your parents, my parents, other kingdoms, and even your grandparents are also staying in the same room? At that point it's not so much of a party and more like a one room hotel...", she could hear sunny giggling at that nearby as judas shrugged, "I mean, we got no choice, but your safe room is rather cozy...even if there isn't as much to do in there".

"Don't brag, not my fault my granny was so picky about things".

But she knew judas meant no real harm,if her moms had been given their way the room would probably have a large pool in there, but having a grandmother like queen moon meant dealing with a grandma who lectured everyone on proper queen ways and the best use of their resources and time. Naturally, games and toys aren't really as important and others things in a safe house, at least according to her.

Though sky would argue boredom and preventing it was a major need that of course needed fixing in a place like a safe room.

"Not your fault sky, at least we have each other in there, how's the plan coming along by the way?", he glanced to his half sister nearby and sunny looked like she had just been WAITING to go on about their ideas for this mission. Though they'd have to cut it short, hearing noises nearby, and for now they couldn't tell whether the person speaking was even friend or foe.

Then quickly enough, the voices dropped and judas's ears twitched.

"It might be my parents, they'd around talking with the specialist who checked me over", he listened out to see if they were coming in, but it seems they had merely passed by the room instead, allowing everyone to relax. "Alright i think we're ok, sorry, sometimes i get caught up talking i forget there's still a ton of people around, we should really talk more quietly just in case", his voice getting a bit softer in response.

"It's ok, we can talk later...i'm just happy to see you", and sky felt judas tug her into a hug, making sure not to hold her too tightly, sky snuggling into his chest as she wrapped her arms around her best friend. They had only been separated for a short time and she still felt overdue for a hug right now, even judas felt pretty happy to have a hug to ease some tension, kissing his friends forehead affectionately as they parted.

"I needed that".

"I could tell", she crossed her arms, smirking.

"I really just...appreciate your support sky, i might not say that enough, but i'm really glad to have you by my side...throughout all of my issues these last few months and everything, i know i might be acting a little crazy sometimes and changing my mind all the time and not keeping myself focused and being tired...and you get it, but you still stuck around with me through it...and it means a lot", the princess patting his shoulder playfully.

"Dude, look at what you put up with by being MY friend?! I nearly blasted my mom in the face and got send to frozen prison, seems like you can't catch a break by being my best friend, of course i'm sticking with you throughout all of this...we said we'd be best friends no matter what went down in the future, we're ride or die for each other...and that ain't ending for any reason".

"What about if i killed someone?".

"I'd probably help you hide a body to be honest...hey at least we'd end up in prison together", she stuck her tongue out at him and sunny giggled nearby.

"You guys are cute".

They both stuck their tongues out at her.

Sunny only stuck her tongue out back, "The sweetest best friends i've ever met, don't try to hide it". Sky just rolled her eyes, hearing jude's parents coming back down the hall, but this time it seemed they were actually heading into the room itself, the doorknob turning and everyone getting into position, he king and queen of the underworld heading in so fast they nearly didn't notice the other guests.

They did, however, notice the food right away.

"You know a doctor's room is really not a good place to be leaving crumbs everywhere...right?".

"Oh um...sorry mom", judas quickly covered his mouth and tried to clean up the mess around him as the girls moved the treats aside for later, tom and marco greeting the girls with a wave, "guess that explains the additional guards outside...though maybe you girls could've given us a bit more of a heads up, you could've walked in on important shots or something".

"Sorry about that!", sunny was quick to apologize, lighting up at seeing the adults. They were quick to forgive though, honestly if one of them had been in a similar position the other probably would've done something very close. Both parents walking over to their oldest child to give him news of the tests, judas shaking a little in his seat as if expecting to be told something horrible.

Though their faces were trying to be more reassuring.

It had been a long while since they had really tested it to the extent they were doing, so what may come of it could go in many directions, it had time to grow and change with jude's body, it could be so many things at this point that his parents weren't sure how to tell him. Judas's mind had been running through every possibility they could give him, even ones where nothing had changed.

Whatever it was, he needed to trust them on it and keep himself together, it couldn't get really any worse...hopefully.

His parents seemed to be reassuring each other with looks as they looked for the best words they could say to explain whatever it was they needed to say to their eldest son.

"Alright jude...so we knew going in there was no guarantee these tests would change much, we've done this kinda thing before to get more info on a cure and it never worked...but with your arm acting more funny then before we felt better taking you in to get it more looked at then doing nothing just to be safe...and we'll break the news...we still haven't found much about a cure...", marco was trying to be ggentle, as if expecting this news to hurt the teenager but judas didn't react much at all, it wasn't that shocking to him.

"But what's the catch?".

The adults looks to each other, a little surprised at jude's reaction.

"Well..um...the catch is...there might be an answer as to why your arm reacted how it did...to the magic flowing through it so much...". Tom eyeing his partner as marco put their hands together, "So you see...the monster arm spell...is kinda a dark magic spell...i got infected with it when star somehow thought it would fix my broken arm...and as tom has told you...the spell that still lingered in my dna latched on to you...though it did transform".

The demon nodded.

"Point being, you may of... whether intentional or not...purged the dark magic cells in your arm...from the curse...and that clearly really hurt your arm...burning your arm and purging out the dark cells...even if it did take a bit of time to fully do so...even now, it's apparently still doing it", judas rotated his arm, of course he couldn't see what was happening but he had felt it for sure.

"Guessing it didn't take it well?".

"It?".

"My arm was supposed to be alive...remember? Everyone thought it would take over my body and kill us all? With how it kept swelling up i guess it really didn't like being purged from dark magic how it was ", but his parents had more to say, marco especially, rubbing their neck nervously. "Judas...so...with this test...we uh...about the arm situation...".

"hmm what's going on here that you guys are acting so funny about?".

"What your mom wants to say is...if that your arm was never alive...really".

Judas's face twisted to confusion, as if not understanding what his parents just said at all, looking between the two of them with all three of his bright red eyes.

"What are you talking about?".

"It's just been you".

Judas still seemed utterly confused, searching his parent's faces for answers as they both attempted to try and explain. "Judas...what we're trying to tell you...is we always thought this curse...was exactly like your mom's...but after these tests we were told there's actually no trace of another lifeform outside of yourself...yeah it was filled with dark magic...but no other lifeform was in your arm".

"Judas...", marco started, "It appears...through the years of having your arm the arm never showed up upon it's own will...but more that perhaps you triggered it through emotional response...whether intentional or not." Though it didn't seem like judas was fully taking it all in, at the very least he wasn't having a strong negative reaction either to this news.

He seemed...unsure what to respond with, which was expected.

He spent 17 years with this idea his arm was a bloodthirsty killed out to destroy him and everyone around him, how was he really supposed to process this information and take it like normal? Was he even supposed to believe this anymore? This wasn't a thing the last time he got tested! How could he trust this kinda word, for all he knew his parents were lying to him to make him relax.

Everyone in the room seemed to notice judas was struggling in his mind a little, all rushing to help him.

But instead he stood up, "I need a minute".

And he didn't even wait for a response before leaving the room, everyone standing dead silent as he shut the door behind him.

Sky quickly turning to the Lucitors with mixed emotions, "Wait...is that true? Is his arm really-?".

The two nodded, "We were so anxious for years because we never fully understood much about what happened when the curse was transferred but...if there's really no trace of another living being inside of his arm, then that means judas can be the only culprit as to it moving how it did...and well...we still don't fully understand how it all works but...it seems like the most likely candidate is judas was somehow doing it".

"He once reached out to grab me with it".

They all glanced to sunny.

"I ran away, he tried to stop me and it turned into that thing to grab me, it obeyed him completely...reacted to how he was acting. I never questioned it really beforehand in the moment considering i kinda maybe reacted by stabbing judas...but um...i guess when you really think about it...that was kinda a little strange. It seemed in the moment judas had control over it".

"But shouldn't it happen more often then?", sky mumbled, "i mean, if it reacts to stress and stuff if should happen often enough for us to tell...right?".

"Maybe, we need a little more information on it...but what we do know is there isn't any monster hiding in his dna, that's the best thing we can tell you from this whole thing".

Sky turned to where judas left, "We should follow him, before he...gets hurt...". Not to say judas would do anything stupid but the way he had stomped out like that had sky very worried for him, this clearly had really gotten to him, it was one of those things that had flipped over his entire life that he had known up to this point. There must have been a lot of thoughts swarming in his mind, he couldn't catch a break.

"Wait...maybe we outta give him space", marco held out their hand, preventing sky from following the young demon, gazing off at the door themsleves with a sigh. "You care a lot about our son and it means a lot to us he has you for a great best friend...but this is his own fight, he might need some time to really think about it...if he needs to talk...we should be the ones to do it...as well...we're more responsible for it".

Sky couldn't argue with that logic, even if she wanted to.

"You know a lot about curses?", sunny asked suddenly, getting their attention quickly with her innocent voice. The adults sadly only replying with a shrug and nervous expression, "I mean outside of the arm...well of course there's the blood moon curse...but those two curses are very different from each other and we don't know much outside of that".

"What about the blood moon curse?".

The adults looked to each other and back to sunny before sky butted in, "Uh...sunny? I'm sorry but that's kinda off topic...why do you want to know about any of that? That whole thing is long gone in the past...". Sunny bit at her lips, her fangs pricking out as she thought about what she wanted to ask a bit more, "Nothing important...just um...i had questions about it and magic and stuff...

Tom leaned down and got onto her eye level, putting a hand on her shoulder in reassurance.

"We'll talk later if you want about that, in private...sound good? After we get out of the hospital wing?".

Sunny nodded, thankful, even if sky was left in curiosity.

"Let's get cleaned up, save these treats for judas...we can put them in the safe room for him later when he's hungry", marco quickly started grabbed snacks, encouraging help from lexi, who was collecting her doodles, "Boy...you really do draw a lot don't you?". Lexi didn't respond much outside of a thumbs up, grabbing a plate of snacks to head out on, everyone heading out.

"Hey...uh...Mr Lucitor?".

Tom turned around to sky, who was right behind him as the others went forward, stopping in his tracks.

"If judas has really been in control this entire time, we're not actually in danger from his arm...are we?".

He seemed to pause a moment, his eyes turning to the side, "Well...theoretically no, judas would never want to hurt any of us...but on the other hand that's not to say the arm couldn't hurt any of us if judas either didn't know what he was doing or his body was under someone else's control...it's still something we should be very wary about...but the nice thing we can say is the demon that once lived inside marco's arm is gone".

"Yeah i guess that's good...though yeah i know as much as anyone about being not in control of your magic and nearly hurting someone...and with everything jude is going through...i mean i trust him but at the same time...i'm just...worried", the king patted her head gently and moved her forward to follow the others. "Yeah, i understand...maybe just in case keep that zapper for his arm...better safe then sorry.".

"I'd hate to zap jude if he's just...himself though, it was easier to imagine he was under control and i was zapping something possessing him...but if it's just him...then i'm hurting him...", she felt the zapper and it's button inside her pocket, she always somehow seemed to remember it, at least as much as she could. But what originally felt like judas trusting her to save him now felt much more uncomfortable.

Even tom seemed to understand her concerns, truthfully not sure what the best advice he could give her would be. Most teenagers didn't usually have to go through a dilemma like this, then again most teenagers didn't have to go through any of the wild stuff that they were dealing with in the first place. The best he could do was try and comfort her, "Hey...my advice? If judas were to ever almost hurt you...i'd think he'd be ok with you protecting yourself and us...much rather that then him actually landing a tentacle on you".

"Even if i feel bad about it?".

"You gotta make hard choices to protect your friends, i know that feeling...but i trust you'll make the best choice if it ever comes to that, and i trust judas to try and avoid it ever coming to that if possible...and if we have to, we'll make sure to come in and help ourselves...we won't let anything bad happen to all of you...we'll figure out all of this...it's just as freaky to us as well", he ran his fingers through his pink hair, "To think after all that...the arm...was just judas...".

"Does...it make you feel better or worse considering-", she hated to ask, but she had to know.

"Well...i...i think it makes me feel a little better...though it is still my fault this happened at all...i just wish i'd known sooner to avoid the years of fear we had". though it wasn't just that, had they known sooner, maybe judas wouldn't be how he was these days. They could've saved him before he had to deal with years of trauma and fear, and tom didn't even need to say it for sky to know he was thinking about it.

"Hey uh...sunny brought this up earlier...but...maybe judas needs more time...before he should be on the throne", she hadn't planned to bring this up right away but with his father next to her, worried about his son it just sorta came out. The demon king glancing at her and not saying much in return, "I know it's tradition and everything but...she has a point, i don't wanna watch judas suffer on the throne with this either...".

"I'll talk about it with my parents and marco...thanks for the suggestion, i'll thank sunny later...", it still depended on if judas wanted it, but at least his parents could consider the idea of it. They headed on their way to catch up with the others before tom and sunny branched off to talk, leaving sky with marco and galexia, who ushered them to come with.

"We'll drop these snacks off and since you girls are here i want your help, the more hands the merrier, plus i prefer at least one of us keeps an eye on you as much as possible.".

"Wait...with what?".

"Angel's father is arriving tonight...with everything happening i could use the help to welcome him in and make him feel comfortable, star would've been in charge but she's dealing with her mom instead and janna sure isn't doing it, in fact i think she's currently dealing with fae actually...even though fae was returned to her family she kinda keeps coming in for further questions and help and well uh...janna and mason were the only ones brave enough to deal with her right now...janna seems to find the fact she seems cursed to be rather cool, because of course she does.".

"Wait...mason? What's that about? I though mason already interrogated her? I'm not sure how much he could get out of her at this point, it's not like she spent a whole lot of time with the person or anything... ".

"Well it's not exactly that, it's more...fae is going to be the one actually doing the asking...long story, it's janna suggested having her there might actually be helpful...she has knowledge on rumors spread by the kingdoms and well...actually it might just be because the other stable servants just wanted her to do a job away from them".

"Hold up a minute...fae is going to interrogate someone? She's like...i dunno...twelve or something?".

"We were against it for the same reason, but apparently jackie is going with them too so it made me and tom feel a little better about mason handling it, they're actually not doing a regular interrogation, this time they're trying something new...basically going through the evidence we found and having fae there because apparently they think just her presence might scare the guy into talking...".

Who? Like you obviously didn't capture the real masked person so...", sky suddenly felt extremely clueless to what the queen was talking about, who got arrested recently?

"The guy who was letting masky keep a child and a evil lair under his bar...that's who, they took him into custody...he didn't really get very far, something about him running right into a giant plant who likes stuffed animals...", sky's expression was enough to tell him that no one had really been talking about that capture in comparison to the luna one. "Eclipsa wanted to go but she and globgor need to deal with angel's kingdom, so they decided if janna herself wasn't scary enough...well...fae seems to have an off knack for things falling off the ceiling when she's in a room".

"Wait...why's mason there?".

"Fae asked for him, it seems they're actually friends, and she wouldn't help unless he was there.".

"You guys brought in a CHILD to interrogate a criminal?", marco snickering to themselves at the way she asked that, "Well, we were against it obviously...but having her there was better then not, she does have some additional knowledge after all...that and...i'm worried if i said no in her presence we might have an...unfortunate accident...after mason told me about her bad luck...i'll admit...she makes me nervous...and well...i also might not have wanted her left in a room alone...our castle is damaged enough as is".

"Well...actually if you put her in a room with anyone there tends to be the lingering worry the room might collapse so maybe you have a point.", the idea her mom would take a child to use as a threatening weapon actually sounded really in character for her somehow. At least then maybe they might get a reaction from the guy if janna wasn't enough, though she usually was.

"Me and Tom are not exactly happy about having you involved in this danger but at the same time we know we need your help if we're going to get anywhere...and thankfully with jackie there that guy won't be getting into any funny business, she tends to always be armed...it's actually rather scary when you think about it, but more for him then it is us".

"Well, thanks for trusting us...even if it's a little...it means a lot to us".

"Don't think this means we want you fighting anything dangerous directly, fae is only allowed to help because she has info that is helpful to us...we would neve have allowed her to help otherwise...but having a citizen give us info from a citizen point of view is just kinda helpful...can't get much as that as a ruler...not unless the servants gossip like crazy".

"Well for our sakes, let's hope the guy spills everything in a few minutes...any longer with fae and he might combust".

Marco laughed but somehow they didn't actually doubt that and it slowly became a more concerned and nervous chuckle.

"Anyways...they're taking care of that...we just have to focus on the king's arrival...angel's still in the safe room to my knowledge so we'll get him when we drop these off, though he seems to be a bit uneasy so be careful around him". Guess with his dad coming to visit he was going to be sick in the stomach for awhile, like how he had been when he was about to be on trial.

His father being forced to deal with the kingdom after him, their prince, started working with an enemy to mewni, made him scared...he was disappointed in him and he knew it.

He was going to be forced to talk to him about what had happened directly and everything going on and that was something hard to be fully prepared for, no matter how much he was expecting it. Sure, he could bring good news in terms of his mother but even he was worried about what his mom would say about everything he had done since she had been sick.

So yeah, he was in quite a mood when they arrived passed the guards, angel was by himself, not interacting with any of the others, in fact he seemed to be talking to himself. Judas or sky was usually there to reassure him or calm him down but with the both of them having been out for most of the day he had been left to his own person. Sky noticing nora was also out, otherwise she would've expected her to be here with him.

She didn't hesitate to approach him after the others sat down the snacks, angel actually startled as she approached, as if he hadn't seen her even enter the room because of how distracted he had been. Though he was relieved, probably expecting someone way worse to have come for him, the monster prince trying to pull himself together and make himself look less of a mess.

"Hey...how you doing?".

She probably knew the answer to that already but she still felt she should ask.

Angel sweating in his seat as he tried to pull his hair back into a ponytail, having a hard time making eye contact with sky, "My dad's coming...he can't see me like this, i'm a mess...i never used to look like a mess...what if he sees me like this and thinks i've gone off the deep end or i'm no longer much of a prince?! Sky i don't know if i can do this...things went so bad last time i saw him...".

"You didn't get much of a goodbye after the trial...did you?".

He shook his head.

"I didn't want to show my face to him and he left without a word to me...probably for similar reasons...i haven't seen him since then, he just...let me here...in the care of your families...i'm terrified of what he might think of what the other arachs have been telling him...they all already hated me and i can't think anything got better after you saved me...i...he'll probably tell me i'm dethroned...".

"You don't know that, your dad seems mostly nice...i mean he's never been THAT bad".

"Maybe not...but i'm not taking any chances...i probably deserve it though...he's had enough time to really consider it as an option, even after what happened at the trial...plus no one wants me as king back there anyway".

"Angel, c'mon, that's not true, we've talked about this...you want to be king and you can do it too! Who cares what your dad thinks!".

"I care!", he said that a little too aggressive then he had been intending, suddenly sheepish.

"Sorry sky...didn't mean to lash out at you...it's just...being king means nothing if the current king doesn't think i should...even if i really want it, he does have the power to transfer the crown if he wants to...even if it's to the farther out cousin i have somewhere...i wasn't a good prince...even if i want to do things right now...that doesn't change much if they say no".

Sky couldn't argue that no matter how much she wanted to, angel was the rightful heir but that didn't stop plenty of other kingdoms from giving the crown to more distant relatives before. Gee, now she was thinking about what meteora said before when she had trashed on the guy, she, judas, and him seemed to be favorites to hate in mewni for reasons...some much more fair then others but still.

"Well...maybe your dad will be happy to see you...a lot has changed since then after all right?

You can't be completely sure of how he feels, since you've been helping us out maybe he understands you have really learned and want to do better...i mean, you screwed me over a lot...but i'm a but better about it then i was at the time."

"I want to think that...but after what i did...i keep doubting myself sky...i don't know why i'm like this...i just can't be as positive as you and judas...even though i want to...I...", he thought back to the advice nora gave him, taking a breath and trying to remember what he did was all in the past, and there was nothing he could do about it now but work to do better.

"You really think my dad will forgive me? He's not like you, he's been away from me all this time...I'm scare to face him.".

"I mean if he doesn't forgive you i'm sure eclipsa will have no trouble signing adoption papers for you", she was joking to lighten the mood but in actuality that was a likely outcome if things were really to get worse. Angel standing up and streching his legs, "Hey...can you at least help me get ready to meet him?...i think i looks like a mess...i don't want to look like one when i see him...and your way better with clothes then i am".

"Well...how do you wanna dress? More princely? Or more like..."

She motioned to his borrowed clothes from judas, because judas was taller then them his clothes, while looking nice on the prince, were a bit more oversized. It wasn't the most ideal prince look.

"Why ask...you know what the better option is?".

"Just saying angel, maybe you outta see your dad as yourself...not trying to be something your not, better way to judge you then to pretend to be perfect after everything...i mean if formal is what you feel like wearing i ain't stopping you but i'm just saying you should dress as who you are now and not what your dad wants you to be". Angel shuffled in his place before taking out the hairband, his hair free again, "We can figure it out while you show me some options...if that's ok?", she nodded and followed him back to the group, marco happy to see him.

"Angel! Hey, i hope you're doing ok...if you need anything just ask us...we'll be happy to help you in any way we can...but just always stick with one of us, for your safety and ours...at this point we have a buddy system, as well as way too many guards...but it's better then you or any of us getting in any sort of danger...so just stick by and find help if you need it".

"Don't worry, i don't plan to leave anyone's side...not yours, sky's...anyone's...if i can help it...at this point i get anxious from being alone...", that was when sky awkwardly held out her hand, "Look, don't take this the wrong way, but if you need to hold me to feel comfortable...judas tends to do it with me when he really needs it so...just in case you might have some kinda panic attack about the masked guy or whatever".

Angel's small grin was very appreciative.

"Thank you, i'll keep that in mind...".

"You ready?", marco started waving to everyone still inside the room as they made their way towards the door, the kids following suit, lexi trotting along in the back. She looked happy to have angel with them as well, patting him on the back as if welcoming him. Galexia did have a way of making people feel rather welcome around her, whether she knew them or not.

"Were we headed first?".

"Marco looked back at the others, leading the way.

"The kitchens...we have a lot to do, he's going to be having dinner with us tonight...with former queen moon, the sooner we prepare for tonight, the better".-

Landon felt he was starting to get somewhere, if even it was just a little.

At the very least his marks were slightly more consistent then they were before, which was an improvement to an extent. He'd been training for hours, barely leaving the room. It was nice to get away from the others, for now this was mostly private and something he wanted to keep mostly private until he figured out his best course of action. Maybe after figuring out how to activate his marks he could then really work on magic with some help.

He'd considered looking at sky's spellbook but no way would he ever get permission to be in her room without asking her first, and she'd be suspicious of his actions for sure.

She had already been before, she'd probably assume he wanted to look into some of the darker magic.

But he also couldn't claim she wasn't completely wrong about that last bit, he did feel a bit curious about some more of the magic of the butterflies. It was forbidden for most people to see it unless a butterfly showed them so even getting a chance to see what was inside would be interesting, landon was a special case after all, he wasn't even a butterfly.

He should be allowed more permission then anyone out there, otherwise this was a missed opportunity.

Not many queens could ever claim to something like being able to train those who weren't apart of the butterfly family with their magic, though at the same time the queens ,were so picky with who got to use it maybe at the time it wasn't even considered an option.

Regardless that wasn't the point, the point was landon had powers, and if he wasn't trained to use them now he might never get to.

He was the forgotten brother after all.So forgive him if he had his doubts that anyone would train him in magic after things may of gotten slightly better. He hadn't exactly had a lot of attention like his own brothers had had, there was no reason to him this would make a huge difference. But if everyone was distracted, it only meant more time for him to learn more alone, not judged, not controlled.

So maybe there was benefit to being ignored.

He wasn't going to be a powerful magic user anytime soon, but this was bringing him some confidence he never had before without either bernard, or his mom cheering him on. He never thought his music was capable of magic before, it was like making his own spell, even if he hadn't been doing it on purpose. If he could figure it out just a little more maybe he could make something happen.

Hopefully a good something.

He was taking notes, testing what worked and what didn't, it was like a strange musical puzzle. Maybe if he knew more about magic he could figure this out a lot easier, but his wand was catered to him right? So it should paly by his rules, his music rules. On the other hand, he wasn't using his wand, he was using a normal violin, having a wand would make this process so much faster.

He might as well have been trying to dip down.

No queen had been able to do this without some practice, so yeah, no wonder he was making little progress.

He put down his instrument, sighing, maybe he really would have to approach celeste for help, cause boy he wasn't going to be using sky's wand in it's condition, and he doubted sunny would just hand it to him. Granted, maybe if he tried to convince lexi he might have better chances if she didn't think about it too hard, otherwise he might not finish any spell till sky was queen.

But that was enough progress for today, he outta take a break and eat something before everyone did start wondering where he was and found him trying to do magic, he didn't want to have to make up a fake excuse so he didn't look suspicious. Everyone was already on edge enough, they might assume he was mind-controlled or something if he started acting weird around here.

Violin strapped to his back, he started heading his way out of the guarded room.

Mason promised to meet him later, something about a hangout with fae he had to do first?

Either way if he was going to finally talk to his crush he was going to need help, he'd tried doing it by himself and he chickened out, so maybe it was about time he had a bit of help...even if it was from his younger brother of all people. It was a strange priority to have right now of course, but if he didn't do it now, he might not get to again.

He was being tailed of course, by guards who needed to watch him, which made him only more anxious, but he found them easier to ignore when his mind was more distracted with other thoughts. He was thankful he had been allowed to practice in private at all, he half expected them to sit and watch him, which would not have worked with his magic practice at all.

Until mason came to help he already knew what he wanted to do first.

Talk to celeste.

Celeste was still not in the greatest of moods, but when was she ever in a good mood in the first place? Seeing luna again seemed to have made her grumpier then she was before and that was saying something, she went right to bed and never spoke once in the morning, she clearly had wanted to be left alone to deal with her feelings towards luna after how rude she had been to everyone.

Yeah, celeste herself hadn't been the peak of niceness, but luna was...oof.

How she made everyone feel, how she hurt everyone, how she treated everyone who had been helping her. Something about her really seemed to annoy celeste, and in ways that didn't seem to suit to anyone else. It didn't start that way, luna came to her first for help when they wanted to go home more desperately, seeing her as an ally, but it seemed anyone who worked with luna for more then a few minutes were quick to get annoyed.

Landon could relate.

But he had to check on her, he'd feel like an awful technical brother if he didn't.

Once he had made it to the safe room he saw her on a nearby couch, she wasn't even doing anything, no reading, no music, nothing, instead she just seemed to be thinking to herself.

Everyone who really did talk to her wasn't here, leaving her all by her lonesome, and landon's shoulders sunk as he knew this feeling more then he wanted to remember.

He approached her, a small wave as he tried to her her attention.

"Hola".

She glanced up at him, speaking a small bit of spanish in return.

"Hola...".

Was it just him or did she seem to be...sad actually? Like she was in some sort of a slump? She was moody often but right now she seemed more...sad...less mad...and just odd for celeste overall. She seemed to mostly be huddled up on the couch, lost in thought as she looked landon over, noticing he had his violin on him, "Hey...i didn't say it before but...nice job on the spell".

A compliment?

"Thanks cele...i know me using your wand sorta felt...mixed for you...but thanks for letting me use it, really".

"Don't mention it, though don't assume i'm going to let you have it again right now...cause i'm not, i just...y'know...it's a hard spell for anyone to do...", she turned her head away, landon taking a seat next to her, "Hey uh...maybe this sounds like a bad idea, like a really bad idea, but maybe the two of us should see if we can head out and pay luna a visit or something...".His words quickly earned him a confused scowl from the girl, though he had been expecting it.

"What?".

She said it with a tone that felt rather nasty and that quickly got landon to change the way he talked about this idea, he didn't want to make a scene and get celeste more upset. She was clearly upset enough as is, and of course so was he, but he had at least kept himself distracted enough to not fall into a slump about it. Celeste in this state was someone to be cautious about.

"I'm thinking well...maybe we need some closure...with luna...you and me seem to be...torn up about her and mad with her and everyone can tell we both dislike her in particular...so i dunno...maybe we should talk to her...or something, maybe help us feel better...so we might work better with the others...so we can move on from all of this...y'know?", he didn't like the idea any better then she did but the idea might work.

Angel and Sky became friends despite not liking each other like this.

So did his own parents.

It had to have crossed his mind, and it was what his mom would suggest them doing if he had asked. If he was going to confront his crush, confronting luna was at least a good way to help landon progress with confronting his problems rather then letting them weltch up inside of him for long periods of time before bursting randomly in a fit of rage.

Granted, this was luna, so it might not even work, but maybe it would be better then them both being bitter as they were all the time about her. At the very least they might have an ending to all of this mess and be able to move on without falling into anger the moment the blonde was even so much as mentioned by anyone. "Hey...you don't have to if you don't want to...i was just making a suggestion if you were interested", he tapped his foot on the floor, shrugging.

She didn't respond.

"I just wanted to check on you ok? So sorry if i'm bothering you...i just wanted to make sure you were ok...i get it if you want me to leave".

"No.".

He paused, standing in place, worried if he had said something wrong as celeste seemed to cool down some more, though she wasn't looking at him. "Thanks for...checking up on me, i'd thought you were too busy to really care...but...it's nice, i've...i've been kinda alone all day...the others have been out mostly so...i haven't had anyone to talk to.".

"It's not a big deal, we're friends...kinda...right?".

Her brows furrowed, and landon could tell she wanted to say "Yes", but wanted to avoid the cheesyness of having to admit to it. Instead he rubbed his boots into the carpet, sighing, "Well, i'm glad we're friends...even if it's kinda complicated...and um...thanks for the compliment, it really does kinda mean a lot to me". She still didn't look at him, her eyes elsewhere as he took a step back, "Well, if you aren't coming i still want to go, it's important to me, if you want you can wait for me here and we can hang out for a bit after i'm done since i'm waiting for mason-".

"Wait.".

He turned to look at her, the girl getting up and off the couch, "Let's go talk to her...i have some things i actually would like to say to her...", she glared at nothing in particular, fists clenched. Landon suddenly wishing he hadn't said anything at all, as he might of just accidentally set up a fight between two sisters instead of actually making things better.

"What exactly do you want to tell her ? Not assuming anything celeste, it's just-".

She turned to look at him, still stern, and not looking to waste any more time, "Let's go, before someone else gets there before we do".

#star vs the forces of evil #sky and the forces of the multiverse #tomco bby #tomstar bby #starco bby #ostar bby #tom the demon #tom lucitor #marco diaz #marco #my art

9 notes · View notes

grumpyhedgehogs · 3 years

Text

transitive properties

Summary: Cody is Kote. Kote is glory. Cody is glory. Part 5 and final part of the “scraps” series. AO3. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Warnings: canon-typical violence, canonical character death, blood, open ending.

The Death Star is as clinically detached as he has ever seen it. CC-2224 was only stationed here for a short stint; Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker and their friends came along not long after and saw to that. Cody wonders idly, waiting for the doors to another set of stark corridors to open for him, if the soldier he was would have had any opinions of the place by now. The ship--if it can be called such--has been around for months, destroying planets and menacing others for the fun of it.

But Cody knows CC-2224 wouldn’t have any thoughts on the Death Star. Puppets don’t think. ( At least, Cody thinks bitterly, not the ones who don’t have Sith powers at their beck and call. )

He has to get back on track. Cody enters another corridor, walks down it with his steps measured carefully, not too slow, not too fast. He’s sweating all over, dampness coating the inside of his blacks. This place crawls with disquiet; the very air is different here, void of life. But he has to keep on track. There are no mobile weapons Cody can steal for the Resistance, but he has managed to transfer some electronic files to a datachip from a terminal. Knocking out the guard on duty and stuffing him in a supply closet was actually fairly easy. Cody’s not sure what information he has now but he’d rather it be in his hands than on the Death Star.

There are a few prison cells on the Death Star; he remembers helping escort the princess of Alderaan to one. The path is familiar, his feet leading him while Cody’s head is stuck in the past. How many others has he brought here? Not many, not on this ship, but on others. Oh, on others. How many defeated Jedi struggled in his grip as he brought them to Vader?

Sweat drips into Cody’s eyes under his bucket. The stormtrooper helmet has less insulation than clone armor did, but they also don’t regulate air intake as well. The robe and his insignia are hidden under the crisp white cape he’d taken off the unconscious guard. The Empire does so like their pageantry. He wishes he could rub his fingertips over the robe’s rough weave, like he’s taken to doing to seek some comfort; but it’s important that Cody doesn’t make any sudden moves. He took out the security guards in one of the observation rooms but he’s not sure how many observation decks this place has. He must stay on track. He must be fast.

The keycode to the prison cells is hard to punch in, his hands shake so much. He could hear Wolffe in the back of his head telling him to pull himself together. Fox would be ashamed of Cody letting his nerves get the best of him. Cody sucks in a breath, lets it out, and enters the universal override code. The doors are too loud as they slide open; Cody grinds his teeth down hard and suppresses a frustrated noise.

It takes a moment before any movement comes from the cells. Cody doesn’t blame the prisoners; they’re probably expecting Vader, or a trick. But he doesn’t have time for this. “If you want to leave here alive,” he chances calling out, “you’ll get up and come with me. Now.”

Perhaps the wrong thing to say to trauma victims. Cody doesn’t have time.

(“You catch more flies with honey, dear heart,” Obi-Wan says in his head. Cody grinds his teeth again.)

A Twi’lek man steps tentatively out of the fourth cell on the left. A Clawdite woman comes from the third cell on the right. When an Utapaun and a Togruta join them in the corridor Cody thinks he may be sick in his helmet. (“Steady,” Obi-Wan would tell him, gently, kindly. “No use fretting over the past now. One step at a time, Cody.”)

Four prisoners and a datachip of information Cody isn’t sure is worth the trip. This is how effective Cody is now. He shakes himself from his wallowing and gathers the prisoners. “I’m from the Resistance,” Cody tells them. These days it almost feels like the truth; it’s better when Rex is there with him. “I’m here to rescue you. We need to be quick, and as stealthy as we can be.” The Twi’lek is limping. The Utapaun is a foot taller than everyone else. They’re going to be fairly obvious. Cody wishes he’d had the foresight to reprogram one of the droid guards to take with him. He’s not going to be much cover by himself.

“How will we get off the ship?” The Togruta speaks up, her voice hushed, strained. There are old bloodstains on her tunic. Cody pulls a few packs of bacta from his kit and passes them to her thoughtlessly.

“Security had the logs of every escape shuttle on the Death Star. We’ll take them at around the same time, they can't go after all of us; each pod only takes two people, three if we squeeze. Here,” and he projects the map of their route using the comm installed in his vambraces, a gift from the Rebellion’s quartermaster, “this is our path. If we get separated, memorize this and run .” Cody points at the Utapaun and the Twi’lek. “You and you, you’re going to be the most obvious; we’ll let the others go first, then you. I can carry you if I have to, but if you can run through the limp it’ll leave my hands free for shooting.”

“I can do it.” The man nods, eyes wide in his face. The Utapaun shakes his head before he stoops, loops the man’s arm around his shoulders, and lifts him into his arms. When he meets the visor of Cody’s helmet, he shrugs, shifts the Twi’lek’s weight, and nods for the others to lead on.

“I’ll bring up the rear and draw their fire. Let’s move.”

Cody shows them how to stick close to the walls, to clear the corners. The Clawdite palms the extra blaster he passes to her deftly and takes the lead. The Togruta sticks close behind her as they move swiftly ahead of the group.

“You’ll be slow carrying him all the way.” Cody checks another corner and pulls them up short as a couple troopers pass by. The other prisoners hide around the opposite corner until the guards are out of sight, then dart onwards. Cody ushers the men ahead of him and hurries behind, shooting a searching glance over his shoulder.

“I work manual labor on cargo ships.” The Utapaun says. He barely sounds out of breath. “I have him.”

That works for Cody.

Something pulls at Cody’s attention when they pass through another corridor. He ignores the tingle going up his spine, the niggling in his brain. They’re close to the finish line. A minute more before the guards he knocked out are found, maybe less. Just another level before they reach the pods, and the elevator is right there at the end of the hall. They could get out of this.

But that something makes Cody pull up short, nearly jerks him around on his feet. It’s like someone shouted his name, like when Obi-Wan would get hurt on the battlefield during the war and he’d go down quiet but Cody’d just know .

The doors to Vader’s chamber taunt him from the other end of the hall. He hadn’t realized they were so close.

“What are you doing?” The Clawdite hisses from behind him. The elevator doors swish open. “Come on!”

His blaster drops, hanging at his side uselessly. Something is pulling him towards those doors. It doesn’t feel like Cody knows a Force push or pull feels. Obi-Wan had used that on him plenty of times when facing down a tank or a thousand droids. This is something else, something more. He needs to follow this.

“You know the path.” He calls, absentminded. “I’ll catch up.”

“You’re leaving us?”

“Call it providing a distraction.”

For how secretive Vader is, his doors don’t withstand a single blaster shot to the control panel. The intimidating black slides open before Cody and he steps inside. There’s a strange seat in the middle of the room that cracks open like an egg and waits for him to lower himself in. He doesn’t, but looks around instead, ignoring the alarms that blare as he does. He’s attracting attention, stalling, losing time, why is he here--

And then his eyes land on the lightsaber and Cody understands.

Obi-Wan’s weapon is familiar in Cody’s hands. He’s held it a dozen times, passed it back to his general again and again and again. “This weapon is your life,” Obi-Wan would tell Skywalker before handing it off to Cody like it was nothing. (It meant something. He never said, and Obi-Wan never did either, but. It meant something, when Obi-Wan did that. Cody knows.)

Cody clutches the ‘saber close to his heart and runs for the elevator.

There are troopers outside the doors when they open. He raises his blaster, fires off a shot, two, three. A trooper takes one in the bucket and goes down, another catches a bolt to the chest and is blown back. But then a bolt sears past Cody’s trigger finger, close enough to burn, and he yells. The blaster drops from his hand. Another bolt catches the side of Cody’s helmet as he lunges forward and gets into cover. The bucket heats with the blaster fire, singeing his scalp. He wrenches it off and almost doesn’t register the pandemonium on the landing platform in front of him over the ringing in his ears.

There’s a horde of troopers and Imps welling from all sides. He’s pinned at one end of the platform and he can see the Clawdite and Togruta climbing into a pod on the other side. They'll make it out of here. The pod’s sequence is already glowing on the control panel; as soon as the doors close the pod disengages from the main ship all shouting and blaster fire is drowned out by the sound of a shuttle jettisoning off into space. The Utapaun crouches behind some supply crates ahead of Cody, half curled over the Twi’lek defensively. Cody’s distraction probably should have been a little louder.

He shucks the cape, annoyance at the extra weight flitting at the edges of his attention. The robe flutters with his movements before settling back into place, hanging over his shoulder unevenly. Without the cape his insignia stands out proudly; if Cody dies here today, he’ll die with the 212th and the Jedi in his heart and on his breast.

Cody pulls one of two sonic charges the quartermaster allowed him for the mission and tosses it into the center of the room. The blast goes off and sends enough of the Imps back that when Cody shouts, the Utapaun has time to rush to another pod. Cody dives for the cover they’ve vacated and rolls onto his heels, rising to scan around. The Utapaun is having trouble juggling the Twi-lek and entering the ejection sequence. If he can give them enough time, Cody could get there and squeeze into the pod before they blast off. He needs to provide cover fire but Cody doesn’t have a blaster .

Cody swears and pulls out his last sonic charge. The Imps are starting to surge back again, maybe fifteen in total. His last detonation cleared off about half of the enemies in the room altogether, but they’re spread out now. He’ll have to come up with another option if he doesn't want to wait until the crowd converges on the prisoners and risk taking them out with the Imps.

The same something that pulled Cody to Vader’s chambers screams . At the same moment, the doors to the main hanger across from the escape shuttles open and Darth Vader sweeps inside.

His breathing is loud in Cody’s ears. The Imps freeze for a moment, shock and fear spreading through the crowd like wildfire. It gives the Utapaun the moment he needs to enter the sequence but Cody sees the Twi’lek surge in his arms, cowering back from Vader’s presence, twisting and tangling himself up. He’s in the way. if he doesn’t get himself under control they’re both done for. If Cody doesn’t do something now, as Vader takes slow, sure steps into the room, they all are.

(“ Now, Cody! ”)

Cody stands, vaults over the supply crates, and steps between Vader and the escaping prisoners. He places his hands on the hilt like he’s seen Obi-Wan do a hundred times and flicks the ignition switch. The blue fire blazes up in a long line beside his face, flickering over the scar on his temple. He feels his expression drop into place, hard and steady, carved from stone.

(Carved from stone the way Obi-Wan always was. He misses him, Force, but Cody misses him.)

Vader stops. Cody wonders if he’s startled the Sith. The insectoid facemask tilts, considering. “CC-2224.”

“My name is Cody.”

“You will stand down.” Every regulated breath makes sure the words are measured. Cody’s skin crawls.

“Never.”

A lightsaber must never be crimson. Obi-Wan always looked sick when a Sith’s weapon ignited. Cody watches Vader lift his and feels everything but mostly a cold determination. “Then you will perish.”

Cody sneers, all that rage and grief and guilt welling up and choking him so much he can barely get his retort out. Then, a second before he speaks, that strange something wraps around him again, warm and calm like a security blanket. It’s Obi-Wan. Cody knows it. He knows.

Cody plants his feet, Obi-Wan’s lightsaber in his hands and Obi-Wan’s memory alive in his heart. “At least I’ll die like a Jedi. You can’t say the same, Skywalker. ”

Red clashes against blue and for the first time in a very long time Cody revels in battle.

#codywan #cody sw #commander cody #obi wan #obi-wan kenobi #obi-wan fanfiction #sw #star wars #star wars fanfiction #star wars fic #star wars the original trilogy #star wars the clone wars #star wars the prequel trilogy #darth vader #captain rex #Luke Skywalker #tcw #my writing

18 notes · View notes

grimelords · 5 years

Photo

I’ve finished my September playlist, only almost a month later. It’s got everything, The Weeknd, desert psychedelica from Niger, and Australian yodelling from 1941. What more could you want!

listen here

and if you’re interested, sign up for my tinyletter to get these playlists delivered to your inbox here

XO / The Host / Initiation - The Weeknd: First of all Trilogy is a masterpiece. The Weeknd is a legend forever for this alone. Back when he was an anonymous character and before he tried to pivot to being a proper pop star and started beliving his own bullshit. This trio of songs for me is one of the highlights of the whole thing because this is where things really take a turn and it serves as a nice flipside to earlier songs like Glass Table Girls (even quoting some of the lyrics from it in a very cool reprise). Where most of the songs from House Of Balloons are about his own descent into this hedonistic life, by the time you get to Echoes Of Silence he lives there comfortably, and he's turned from cool, dark and tormented to coldly evil and calculating. He's the master of the dark palace and he's drawing this woman in. The chorus of XO is straight up cult language 'all we ever do is love, open up your mind you can find the love'. She's broke and addicted trying to escape her life and he offers her this community. Which is where Initation comes in and things get really dark. This song feels like the real truth of those stories you hear of Drake flying instagram models around and it's a masterpiece of the dark underside of the drugs money and models bragging you're used to.

Sociopath (feat. Kash Doll) - Pusha T: Get a load of this new Pusha song where he's got Rodney Dangerfield ghostwriting for him. I got a bitch that'll master your card.. my wife ova hea!! Also the funny gritted teeth way he says it cracks me up. He also says boop bop be boop bop. There's so many good moments in this very silly song from a man that is normally terrifyingly serious.

Ice Cream - Muscles: I suddenly remembered this song the other day and I'm so glad I did. A good example of how you can get so much feeling out of music that has no relation at all to the lyrics. In the right mood this song makes me so emotional and I can't even pin down why. The way he sings 'ice cream is going to save the day' somehow just makes the urban alienation of the verse even more pointed. It's such a silly little dance song and that's what's so strong about it. It's dancing at night and unsuccessfully trying to forget what happened today.

Running - Gil Scott Heron & Jamie xx: It’s extremely strange that this remix album ever happened, thinking back on it. Stranger still that a Gil Scott Heron song got remixed by Jamie xx and then remixed again by 40 and turned into a Drake song in I’ll Take Care Of U and all three versions rock. Anyway, this song and this whole album remain fantastic - it still sounds futuristic in a way where nobody else really followed Jamie’s sound, everything else went a different direction so this an In Colour feel more and more unique to me as time goes on.

Boyfriend (Repeat) - Confidence Man: I’m in love with this album. It’s the closest I’ve found so far to the level of absolute fun in dance music since Duck Sauce’s album. I love the the attitude of her lyrics, which carries through the whole album. I love when her Australian accent peeks out for a second on a few words. I love his rebuttals that almost but not quite put it over the edge into a comedy song. I love the big fading out leadup to the drop near the end where a huge throat singing drone just swallows the whole song for a second.

Ever Again (Soulwax Remix) - Robyn: Extremely hot remix alert!! Thankyou to Zan Rowe's Monthly Mixtape playlist for putting my onto this.Sometimes all you need is one ferociously hot bassline to make a life complete.

$50 Million - !!!: !!!’s new album has one of the best covers I’ve seen recently, I advise you to check it out. It’s interesting to be so far into your career (this is their 8th album since 2001) and still be writing songs about selling out, a concept which has largely disappeared from music discourse since musicians started making no money post napster. I vaguely remember the turning point being when Kimya Dawson, after blowing up via the Juno soundtrack, turned down a coke ad for a ludicrous amount and the blogosphere at the time turned on her and said she should have taken the money because she was living in a van at the time. Nobody gives a fuck about selling out anymore because bands make more from tshirts than streams so you’ve got to act like a brand just to make a living. Anyway I’ve gotten off track. This song rocks, especially for the breakdown near the end.

Tipped Hat - The Paper Scissors: A song I haven’t heard in over ten years that suddenly popped into my head the other day. I love the way this guy’s voice sounds, just completely committing to sounding like a hand puppet. I’ve been playing bass a lot more recently and so have developed the worst man habit of becoming more sensitive to and pointing out extremely hot basslines to people, so I’d be derelict in my duty to not share this one.

Heimsdalgate Like A Promethian Curse - of Montreal: I love this song about literally pleading with your brain to come good. Here’s a good quote about this album “I went through this chemical depression, and that's when I was writing a lot of the songs for Hissing Fauna. They're all songs about that experience. And I was experiencing it in the moment that I was writing the songs, and sort of asking myself: What the hell is going on? Why are you all of a sudden totally paranoid and plagued by these anxieties? And why is everything so distorted and confusing and fucked up? My lifestyle hadn't changed that much. And then I realized, well, there's something going on inside of me that I don't have control over, and then you realize how vulnerable you are to these things, these elements that you can't understand, or unless you go on medication and get it under control. It's like you're being betrayed by your body.” Something I really admire about this album is that the lyrics reflect black metal levels of mental anguish, he was absolutely going through it the worst anyone can go through it “I'd gotten to that point where nothing was working. I was borderline suicidal, and my relationship with my girlfriend had totally eroded and she'd gone back to Norway with our daughter and everything was totally fucked, and I was just like, What can I do? "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal" is about that.” But the music is one hundred percent committedly twee and I really admire the effect that that split mood gives. “The lyrics tell the story of what was really going on and the music sort of represents this other emotion that I wish existed. The music was really happy because I wanted to make something that would lift my spirits.”

Jesus Rabbit - Guerilla Toss: I love the wobbly weird bass sound in this weirdo UFO cult song. I love the bleepy bloop melody that runs through it and I love how fundamentally unstable the whole song sounds, like it’s made out of paperclips and foil and papier mache.

Suburbia - Press Club: I can’t believe I didn’t know about Press Club for so long. I only found out about them this performance https://youtu.be/bCmtc-T5Unk which I’m shocked to learn has less than 5k views considering it’s one of the very best TV performances I’ve ever seen.

Come For Me - Sunflower Bean: I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about this song before and I’m probably going to say the exact same thing but who cares! This song fuckin rocks. I love how assured it is, like “if you’re gonna fuck me then stop fucking around and fuck me already.” It also feels so musically similar to I Can Hardly Make You Mine by Cults to me, which is a great excuse for me to listen to that song every single time I listen to this song.

Thousands - Club Night: This Club Night album is really really good. It's like a really nice middleground between midwest emo and Cymbals Eat Guitars. The way this song blows up halfway through with 'what if we want it!!' is so good. This whole band feels like they're from 2009 but in a good way, the tail end of indie and twee with these prog or postrock structures where the songs just go and go, and you can just get completely lost in it.

Cemetary - Brutus: The first thing you've got to know about Brutus is the drummer is also the singer. Normally who plays what is not really important but in this case I think it's very important because it makes the drums a lead instrument more than they normally would be. When she's not singing my focus is still on the drums because they're linked and I absolutely love it. This song is great and every song I've heard of theirs is just as good, I love Brutus and they're one of the best new bands I've found recently. Someone in the youtube comments said 'there's something really special about hearing a song for the first time and just knowing you're going to listen to it hundreds of times in your life.'

Enter By The Narrow Gates / Spirit Narrative - Circle Takes The Square: I think that I think of Circle Takes The Square as a household name just because they have such an outsized importance in my own life when they're definitely not at all. They're legendary for making The screamo (good kind) album in As The Roots Undo and then taking 8 years to make a followup, which is this album Decompositions, but I don't really know if they're well known outside of like, people who have opinions about what were the hottest music blogspots in 2010. I chose both of these because you can't really have one without the other, the whole album basically runs as one long piece of music and so this just kind of jarringly ends at the end of Spirit Narrative, sorry about that please listen to the entire album. Because of the status As The Roots Undo enjoys I feel like this album was kind of ignored, or overshadowed by the reputation it was trying to live up to, almost exactly like The Avalanches with Since I Left You and Wildflower, when just like Wildflower it's a more expansive, developed take on the original sound that trades some of the rawness for a more polished and considered approach and comes out arguably better than the orginal. I feel like I have so much to say about this album but I don't really know where to begin, just listen to it.

Vitrification Of Blood (Pt. 1) - Blood Incantation: I am by no means a metal scholar, but I know that when the word 'blood' is in both the song title AND the band name that means it's good metal. I love this song, and this whole album is great. It's very 'classic' death metal but there's touches (beyond the extreme length) of psychedelica as well that puts it on another level you can just get lost in. The way the guitar goes to space at 3:40, and again properly into orbit at 6:50 is just magical. The more I listen to this band the more I understand those guys who only listen to metal, there's a whole ecosystem in here and it's really got everything you need.

Out Of Line - Gesaffelstein: This whole song is basically intended as an intro for Pursuit on the album but it’s so powerful just on its own. I love imbuing weirdo lyrics like ‘a bitter sunken love in a bleach blonde submarine’ with such ominous power through the commanding delivery. I love the way the big grunting vocals on the offbeat build to sound like a summoning ritual. I love making a big processed bell the centrepiece of your extremely evil sounding song. It’s sort of a shame that Gessaffelstein has never really gone back to the vision of his first album and has spent his time since diluting it down for guest production on Weeknd songs and the like because it feels like there’s still so much more to get out of this sound. That he hasn’t gone back and dug deeper makes Aleph stand out more and more as a singular masterpiece as time goes on.

Kamane Tarhanin - Mdou Moctar: Turning to Mdou Moctar after the new Tinariwen album kind of disappointed me, with all it’s big name guests nothing really hit me. I love this song though and I think a big part of it is the sort of loping, 6/4 rhythm that combined with the drone gives it this feeling of endlessly tumbling over itself in place, especially as the guitar heats up.

Achabiba - Fatou Seidi Ghali: I know very little about Fatou Seidi Ghali except that I saw she was supporting Sarah Louise at a show. From some googling it turns out that she’s the leader of a Nigerois band called Les Filles de Illeghadad who you can probably look forward to seeing on next month’s playlist. I also learned that the demonym for someone from Niger is Nigerien or to minimise confusion with Nigeria, Nigerois (said in a french way). They play a sort of desert psych in the realm of Mdou Mocter or Tinariwen, but this song (also the only solo song she has on spotify) shows her acoustic side. I love the swirling melody over the drone as the hand percussion keeps it in place and I love the very delicate vocals, but a probably unintentional thing I love a lot about this recording is the unmistakable iphone locking sound near the very start that instantly removes so much of the mystic exoticism that these sorts of artists are often written about with and places it firmly in the same sprawling modern world we all live in.

Floating Rhododendron - Sarah Louise: I love Sarah Louise. She’s a phenomenal guitarist and has such a big love for traditional folk music with her side project House And Land, but unlike everyone else in the genre is also very interested in pushing guitar forward to new and strange places. Her latest album was super experimental layered electric guitars and voice that still managed to maintain the deep connection to nature that runs through all her work. I would also highly recommend following her on instagram because her passion runs over. She’s regularly just out in the woods somewhere explaining how wonderful a particular mushroom is. This song one of the first ones I ever heard from her, and it’s back when she was just doing very beautiful 12 string acoustic work, but she recently added it to spotify and it’s a very nice reminder of where she came from and how far she’s gone in such a short time.

Lark - Angel Olsen: The new Angel Olsen is absolutely great. I love how much she is just completely going for it on this album, absolutely unleashing. Taken against earlier songs of hers I’ve loved like White Fire, where the majesty was in her quiet power and the ability to absolutely command silence with a whisper quiet song, this song feels like the direct inverse, an about-turn into all the gigantic majesty of swirling strings and top of your lungs vocals - going all out and leaving nothing on the table. The way this song blows up about three different times until by the end you’re caught in this gigantic swirling maelstrom of screaming sound is just out of this world.

Door - Caroline Polachek: Caroline Polachek’s brain is huge. When I first heard the chorus of this song I couldn't believe it. Are you allowed to have a chant that runs in a spiral like this be the chorus of your pop song? Is that allowed?

North, South, East And West - The Church: The Church feel like they don't get enough respect. They don't seem to be in the same league as Cold Chisel and The Angels and all the other dad rock Australian bands from that era for some reason. They're very good though and I've been really getting into this whole album and this song specifically lately. Maybe what's working against them is just how much his voice sounds like Bono's in this song but surely that was a boon at the time!

Western Questions - Timber Timbre: This has become one of my new favourite songs to sing. The way the words fit together is my favourite kind of poetics where they just sound incredible, phonetically, and can mean anything you like for large chunks. Like “the gelatinous walls of the seeds that seldom remain / while the bulls are browsing needles through computer casinos / honour the name”. Especially “bulls are browsing needles through computer casinos” is just extremely nice to say. I love the character of this song and am yet to completely understand what it’s saying other than personifying some worldwide blackpilled spirit of nihilist evil. What I love is the experience of all encompassing evil in this song, like a worldwide conspiracy connecting everything together that makes it all make sense. It doesn’t make you happier but it makes it make sense. I also love the finality of the big fill near the end that ushers in the outro riff that ties everything up.

Cold Cold World - Blaze Foley: I got heavily into a country music thing this month and spent a bit of time trying to find ‘real’ country, which of course turns out not to exist at all. The entirety of country music is built on a false nostalgia for an imagined time long past when things were real, some unspecified time in the collective consciousness between cowboy times and coal mine times. I don’t say this to say ‘country music is a fraud’ but that it’s built on a foundation of myth and that’s what’s so good about it. It’s constantly reframing the past as it relates to the present and is energised by the friction between them. Blaze Foley is a good example of this in the modern era because he seems to exist more as a myth than a man. He had three studio albums, the master tapes of which all disappeared through various means (lost, stolen, seized by the DEA) and so the majority of his surviving material is live recordings or long-lost studio recordings that resurfaced decades after his death when his fame and mythology already preceded him. He also thankfully lives up to the myth, he was truly a great artist and it’s a shame more of him hasn’t survived.

Where The Golden Wattle Blooms / Why Did The Blue Skies Turn Grey - Shirley Thoms: Further to what I was saying about country music before, Australian country is a whole other thing. Transferring the myth and the mythmaking to a new location adds another layer of abstraction. Shirley Thoms was the first female solo act to record country music in Australia in 1941 and was most notable for her yodelling of which she is damn fine. This is a great song and a good a starting point as any in trying to trace the origin of country music in Australia. That it's so english in its identity, so evidently imitating an american style (which is in turn imitating a german yodel) is just more good evidence that nothing is 'real' and traditions of the past and future are malleable at all times.

Talkin’ Karate Blues - Townes Van Zandt: Townes Van Zandt is widely regarded as a songwriter’s songwriter and one of the best country songwriters to ever live, but like a lot of great country songwriters also has one or two songs like this - strange comedy songs about learning karate and getting your arm ripped off.

Strange Tourist - Gareth Liddiard: This album is a masterpiece on the level of Ys and it feels criminally underlistened in my opinion. Luckily in the last week or so some renegade has done up the wiki article on it to a couple of thousand words so that's a start. Because this is a song I've listened to one million times and love a lot, it's hard for me to write about it in a general way so instead I'm going to talk about something very specific and new that I've only begun to appreciate recently. The way he uses the vowels of the japanese words to create these assonant runs in lines like "Koda Kumi sang a coda pink as sarin gas / I took a trip to Nagasaki in a rented Mitsubishi / Then went camping in the Jukai under Mount Fuji" and "They found him frozen in a hollow in Aokigahara forest where them harakiri weirdos go" is really something, and a nice illustration of the two sides of Liddiard's songwriting: densely technical poetics in a song about living with a housemate who was a real freak.

I Dream A Highway - GIllian Welch: I’m not even going to go into the lyrics of this because it’s such an out of this world perfect song but I’m going to say this: it’s really something that this song goes for nearly 15 minutes, sits on the same three chords the whole time and never ever feels long. This song is longer than Emily by Joanna Newsom but doesn’t feel like an epic of the same scale at all. It’s just a mournful slow ode to change and decay that goes on forever and could keeping going on for twice as long if it wanted to.

Deep Water - The Middle East: The way the vocals in the verses are delivered, trailing off and mumbling bits and pieces is somehow magical, like it’s more interested in communicating the gist and the feeling than the actual words. You can just pick whatever part of it you like. Petrol stations and a copper mine, the kind of place I think I could die. This song also has two minutes of silence at the end for album reasons so enjoy that.

listen here

#playlists

55 notes · View notes

nebula-starlight · 6 years

Text

Glitch

Just a little alternate take on the Void & Anti fight from Comatose had Dark not arrived. Enjoy!

“I should have expected you’d find me sooner or later, Virus.”

Her head rose, eyes glowing as she heard the sound of footsteps behind her mixed with the crackle of static. How entertaining was it that after months of her existence in his world, the Irish glitch finally had the gall to seek her out for a personal chat. He’d learn awfully quick why she was a fan of attack first, ask questions later. Talking led to missed opportunities for inflicting rather devastating injuries. And besides, she wasn’t keen on leaving much time for petty discussion that would be worthless anyway.

“Name calling wasn’t what I expected from the pretty lassie.” She chuckled under her breath at his remark, getting to her feet from where she had sat cross-legged on the barren floor.

“Don’t start claiming you’re a nice little puppet-master on my account. Try to have some dignity before I rip it to shreds just like the rest of you.” The air around her crackled, the change bringing a smile to her face before she closed her eyes and jumped.

Magic long ago torn from her soul now flowed freely, creating wispy trails that extended off her eyes as the slitted pupils shrank the second she flipped around in mid-air to deliver a kick to his back. Human bodies were frail and if her limited knowledge of its anatomy was correct then the speed and force would surely break a few bones... Only he wasn’t standing in that spot anymore.

“Stand still!” She screeched, rolling into a landing with strangely practiced ease for a being who hadn’t been human long.

Whipping her head around at the sound of static, she bent back to avoid a knife swiping at the very spot where her neck once was. Thinking fast, she grabbed his wrist and twisted it, eyes glowing a bright shade of green as she bared her teeth with a snarl. Let him upstage her! Sure that blasted community kept feeding him with attention but she was...

“Sure you’re all there?” Anti scoffed, knife falling from his hand before he glitched away out of her grasp and snatched up the blade before it was able to hit the dark floor. “Wouldn’t want you to phase out of existence or anything. At least, not until after I’m done with you.”

Void closed her eyes with a huff, lifting a hand before the aura flared stronger from under her closed eyelids. A ghostly green flicker of a sword phased into her palm and her lips split with a wicked smile.

“Ready?”

She darted forward with half-opened eyes, swinging the blade down only for an irritated growl to slip free as he blocked the hit with his knife. Sparks flew from the clashing metal before they broke apart and glitched back a few steps. Gripping her weapon tighter, she shifted her weight on her feet as her gaze studied him. The equal yet opposite of her in every way. Controlling, possessive... not unlike how she also was with who had been her host.

“One mistake is all I need. You screw up and you will find out exactly what I am capable of doing...”

Anti crossed his arms, tucking his knife down into the crook of his elbow. “Then we’ve reached an impasse. No matter how hard we fight our skills are equal-“

“Or not.” She growled, taking a single step forward. “You forget the advantage those loyal little puppets offer you... A power boost I am far too lacking.”

The Irish glitch twitched in place, neck distorting even before he tilted his head to the side. “And who’s fault is that?”

Void’s gaze narrowed as she dropped into a crouch, passing her aura-created sword to her other hand. With barely any measure of effort, a second blade was formed and she spun the steel around, chuckling as the visible scar across her throat looked infected with black instead of the dried red.

“Oh just come at me already!”

“It’s your funeral.”

The eagerness with which he started forward only made her smile widen. Death held no peace for her now. Besides, she’d already crossed into that realm and finally embraced exactly who she could be. There was no fear left when revenge was the sole driving force of a continued existence beyond reality itself.

Void lifted her blades, shifting her weight back onto one foot to block the angry swipe that had been aimed at her chest before throwing her other weapon. She watched with an almost sickening glee as it ripped through fabric and skin before finally getting lodged in his neck. Every single time each enemy she fought made the same idiotic mistake. They all forgot about the second blade... although it wouldn’t be enough to truly take him down as she wanted.

No matter. She had pushed her magic too far already as the wispy trails faded from her eyes shortly after the blades shattered apart. He’d get enough attention from the fans to make her attack seem like nothing but a distant memory. By that point she may not even exist anymore...

“Not gonna finish me off?” He rasped, the sound gurgling in his further damaged throat before making it out of his mouth in a tone that made her want to act on the still burning fire churning in the depths of her broken soul.

Still she turned, crossing her arms over her chest in a soft sigh. “I’d love nothing more but, alas, even my magic has limits. I shouldn’t even be technically alive from the damage done and yet here I am... A disgrace to the once proud beings I used to consider my family.”

Void heard the static crackle behind her as she closed her eyes, knowing well that the sound meant he was going in for another strike but she made no attempt to stop it. A part of her was done trying to cheat death... the same speck that irritatingly saw naught but good in each life. Maybe it was time to submit to fate...?

The stab felt like she’d been punched, his voice rasping out a curse at the black ooze that leaked free from her body. Anti had known exactly where to attack but the knife in her back wasn’t the issue any longer. No, what he just did only opened up a far darker box she rarely allowed herself to admit was available to her unstable being. Where most souls who took over a host seemed to nullify the abilities of the original, her possession had somehow only locked away the former she-dragon’s elemental magic. And now with that cage unlocked... she wasn’t going down without a fight.

Metal warped, sinking deeper into her body as she turned, opening one eye as it glowed bright green. “Shall we try one more time?”

“What type of demon are you?” The angry shock she heard from Anti only seemed to bring out his accent and she couldn’t help but snicker.

“Not a hell-spawn I assure you. Consider me the offspring of corrupted magic and unquenchable vengeance... and you happen to be unlucky enough to be right in my crosshairs.”

The glitch growled, summoning one more knife with a twitch of his hand. “Then I’ll just keep hitting you until you fall.”

“Good luck trying to kill someone that’s already dead.” Void shrugged, lifting a hand as thin wispy vapors of shadow rose from her fingertips almost mindlessly. “I suggest you go back to doing what you do best. Being nothing more than a rather persistent thorn in the Irishman’s side. Always lusting after a chance to draw more power from those puppets...”

Another knife was hurled into her back, only bringing out a short bark of amused laughter from the unstable spirit before it too met the same fate as the previous one. Violently cracking her neck as her body glitched in place, she closed her open palm and brought her risen hand down. It did not matter who was superior now. She had an edge over him - at least in her mind - and that was enough. Each blade he threw would do nothing to her who had already entered into death’s barren realm.

“Cease trying to damage me. We both know it won’t work,” Void chuckled under her breath. “Or would you prefer I return the favor?”

The single pop that faded into silence with was oddly eerie, bringing up vague memories she had repressed for so long of drowning in nothingness. Lack of noise, barren blank space all around her...

Not again! She wouldn’t be cast aside and forgotten. She had power and... And nothing mattered. Once more she’d been left to rot away in some empty void just the same as how she was created. If anything could ever come close to breaking her then the weight of what pressed in all around her was a great contender.

For a brief second she could hear something, a familiar giggle almost before dissolving into the hiss of static that faded away.

“I could have continued our spat but leaving you here like this is more fun. Do enjoy your eternity of isolation.”

@illyriashade56 @marginmaster87 @rogue-of-light-analyzed

#the glitch (void)#antisepticeye #what could have been

5 notes · View notes

mp100secretsanta2017-blog · 6 years

Text

Part-Time Bonding

From: Cheese

To: Chushi

Message: Hi there! I had so much fun with this prompt; thanks for all your cool ideas! I would’ve tried drawing it out instead, but my tablet’s ben out of commission these past few weeks, so I had to make a fic of it instead. I hope you can enjoy it anyway, and happy holidays!

___________________________________________________________________

Wear something you don’t mind getting messy in, the text had said.

Well, thought Ritsu, cheeks flushed in a way that had nothing to do with the frosty December winds nipping at his face, if it stops at just “messy,” I’m setting them on fire myself. His brother meant well; he knew that. Just like he knew that if he met anyone even remotely acquainted with him while dressed like this, he would combust on the spot.

Ritsu shivered, rubbing his mittened hands — who the hell even sells sock puppet mittens? — together. If he were being honest, though, the mittens were the least mortifying part of the whole ensemble. Beneath an eye-bleedingly orange scarf was a truly revolting watermelon-themed turtleneck, hidden from the light of day by a puffy jacket covered in cartoon rodents of some sort. Even his socks couldn’t be spared from creepy-looking strawberries crawling up their sides. The only salvageable parts were the pants, which, save for a patch of bright yellow fabric on the left knee, were an unremarkable gray, and an out-of-order rainbow beanie.

A gust of cold wind stung his face. Grumbling, Ritsu pulled the scarf over his nose, nuzzling into the soft fabric. His brother’s fashion sense may have been corrupted beyond repair, but at least the clothes were warm. Shifting from foot to foot, Ritsu checked his watch. 5:07. He growled deep in his throat; he’d been waiting outside this ice cream parlor over fifteen minutes. If he had to spend even one more mortifying minute in public like this, he would —

“Ah, there you are!” As if summoned by his mutinous thoughts, his brother’s employer came jogging into view. “Sorry about that, the last client took longer than expect … erm, what happened to your clothes?”

“They’re not mine,” muttered Ritsu, shrinking further into the borrowed clothes. “They’re my brother’s.” Reigen raised an eyebrow. “He said my clothes weren’t warm enough, so me made me take the clothes he got when he and Teru went to the mall last month.”

“Ah,” said Reigen, as though that explained everything. Which it did. Hanazawa Teruki was a walking fashion disaster, and the more people realized it the better. If only his brother were one such person.

“Well, it’s not like you can talk!” Ritsu snapped, the flush of his ears hidden by the beanie. “What’s with those earmuffs anyway?”

“What, these?” Reigen touched the hot pink balls of fluff covering his ears. “A gift from a client. I couldn’t think of a polite way to decline, so I figured I’d give them an honorable death in the line of duty. Besides, they’re warm.”

Ritsu grunted. “So what are we here for, anyway? You said an exorcism?”

“That’s right.” Reigen dug around his pocket and pulled out a tattered slip of paper. A sudden burst of frigid air nearly yanked it from his grip, but he held on tight. “Apparently one of their machines started malfunctioning last Friday. When they tried to fix it, it started started spewing hot chocolate everywhere, and no one’s been able to go near it since.”

Ritsu waited. Reigen didn’t offer anything else. “That’s it?” he said, after several long moments. “We’re here to fight a broken hot chocolate machine? Why did I have to come, then? You don’t need me or my brother for that sort of crap.”

“Language, Ritsu.”

“What? All I said was —”

“It might be a cruddy job, but we can’t speak about our clients’ problems that way. It’s unprofessional.”

“Whatever.”

“Also, they don’t sell hot chocolate.”

“What do you mean they don’t —? Oh.” Well, that would certainly explain why they thought it was haunted. But still, what sort of ice cream parlor didn’t sell hot beverages in this weather? At the very least, it seemed like a wasted business opportunity, especially when one considered how prolific dessert cafés were now.

Reigen led the way to the back entrance, where the owner was waiting. After introducing themselves, the owner keyed in the code to the door. The locked beeped and turned green, and Reigen made his way inside. Ritsu followed close behind. “Just — just let me know when you’re done, yeah?” said the owner. She gave them one last nervous smile before shutting the door.

Inside the building was somehow even colder. Ritsu shivered as he watched his breath cloud in front of him, a stark white against the dark backdrop of the unlit corridor. Ahead of him, Reigen fumbled around a bit, searching for the light switch. “So, Ritsu,” he said, feeling the wall next to them, “how’s school going?”

“Fine, I guess.” As they made their way to the main service area, the two split off in separate directions, Ritsu towards the pastry displays and Reigen toward the service counter.

Reigen searched the wall behind the counter. “Mob was telling me you had a math test today; how’d that go?”

“All right.”

A loud clang echoed through the store. Reigen hissed, rubbing his elbow where he’d hit it against a soda machine by the sink. “Just ‘all right’?” he said through clenched teeth.

Ritsu shrugged. “I mean, I got full marks if that’s what you’re asking, but that’s not news or anything.”

“Hey now, full marks is nothing to sneeze at — aha!” With a triumphant grin, Reigen flicked a switch next to the sink. Bright fluorescent ceiling rods bathed the room in an artificial light before sputtering out and drenching them in darkness again. “What the —?” muttered Reigen, flicking the switch off and on and off again.

“Nice, you broke it,” scoffed Ritsu, making his way over.

Reigen’s eyes flicked nervously to Ritsu’s and back to the switch. “That — that couldn’t have been me, though, right? The lights were probably busted anyway. And frankly, I think it’s better that we know now so we can tell the owner before she opens for business again. Yeah, now that I think about it, this is actually a good thing.” Impatiently, he pressed the switch again. “If they only just broke, shouldn’t the lights at least flicker?”

Just as Ritsu opened his mouth to offer to help, the machine next to them sputtered to life, emitting a strange blue glow. A quiet bubbling sound came from within it, getting drastically louder with each passing moment. “Should we … do something?” asked Ritsu, leaning away from the now rattling machine.

“Ah.” Reigen looked at the machine, then his elbow, then back at the machine. “It seems we’ve awakened the spirit.”

“We? I’m not the one walking around this shop breaking things like a blind ox.”

“All right, that’s fair, I awakened the spirit, but the point remains —” Whatever else Reigen had been about to say was interrupted by an explosion of turquoise light and scalding hot chocolate. Ritsu yelped, barely managing to dodge a jet of hot liquid aimed in his direction. Reigen wasn’t quite as fortunate; he moved his arm fast enough to protect most of his face, but his earmuffs got hit square on.

Ritsu’s eyes widened in concern. Above the din, he shouted, “Are you okay?”

“Just fine!” Reigen yelled back. He scrubbed furiously at his face, wincing. “Wow, that’s hot. Ritsu, think you can take care of this one?”

A silent sigh of relief escaped his lips unbidden; getting hurt on an assignment like this, and on Ritsu’s watch no less, would have been so avoidably stupid. Ritsu rolled his neck, grinning wickedly. “With pleasure.”

From the soda machine rose a whirling cloud of purple and red energy. Two enraged, iridescent glowered at them from its center, and a thunderous voice bellowed, “WHO DARES —”

Ritsu snapped his fingers.

___________________________________________________________________

“I’m so sorry for the trouble I’ve caused you, but thank you again for all you help!” The owner bowed hastily before digging through her purse. Pulling out a checkbook and a pen, she said, “You said it was your standard fare?”

Reigen sighed, scratching his head with one hand while the other clutched his now ruined earmuffs. “Well, normally yes,” he said, “but because it’s the holiday season, we actually have a special discount going on now, so all consultations, exorcisms, and counseling sessions are thirty percent off.” He smiled, then, and offered her a gloved hand. “I’m glad my disciple and I could be of help.”

“I’m not your disciple,” Ritsu muttered. His comment went unheard.

The owner shook his hand enthusiastically. “No, no, thank you!” She pressed something into his hand, saying, “I know it isn’t much, but I hope you’ll accept these as a token of my appreciation. Consider it a holiday gift, if you will.” Stepping back, she bowed again and headed off towards her parked car.

Ritsu peered over Reigen’s arm. In his hand were two coupons for the ice cream parlor they had just freed. “I guess it’s a chain,” Ritsu commented. “Wait a minute …” He frowned, eyebrows pinched. “These expire today.”

Reigen huffed a laugh, throwing his arm around Ritsu’s shoulder. “Well then, Ritsu my boy,” he said, smiling, “what do you say to dessert for dinner?”

He could feel his eyes widen in amazement. “Really?” His brother never let him have sweets before dinner.

Grinning, Reigen ruffled his hair and began walking them toward the main road. “Really. It’s on me.”

Wear something you don’t mind getting messy in, the text had said.

“Well, it’s not like you can talk!” Ritsu snapped, the flush of his ears hidden by the beanie. “What’s with those earmuffs anyway?”

Ritsu grunted. “So what are we here for, anyway? You said an exorcism?”

“Language, Ritsu.”

“What? All I said was —”

“It might be a cruddy job, but we can’t speak about our clients’ problems that way. It’s unprofessional.”

“Whatever.”

“Also, they don’t sell hot chocolate.”

“Fine, I guess.” As they made their way to the main service area, the two split off in separate directions, Ritsu towards the pastry displays and Reigen toward the service counter.

Reigen searched the wall behind the counter. “Mob was telling me you had a math test today; how’d that go?”

“All right.”

A loud clang echoed through the store. Reigen hissed, rubbing his elbow where he’d hit it against a soda machine by the sink. “Just ‘all right’?” he said through clenched teeth.

Ritsu shrugged. “I mean, I got full marks if that’s what you’re asking, but that’s not news or anything.”

“Nice, you broke it,” scoffed Ritsu, making his way over.

“Ah.” Reigen looked at the machine, then his elbow, then back at the machine. “It seems we’ve awakened the spirit.”

“We? I’m not the one walking around this shop breaking things like a blind ox.”

Ritsu’s eyes widened in concern. Above the din, he shouted, “Are you okay?”

“Just fine!” Reigen yelled back. He scrubbed furiously at his face, wincing. “Wow, that’s hot. Ritsu, think you can take care of this one?”

From the soda machine rose a whirling cloud of purple and red energy. Two enraged, iridescent glowered at them from its center, and a thunderous voice bellowed, “WHO DARES —”

Ritsu snapped his fingers.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“I’m not your disciple,” Ritsu muttered. His comment went unheard.

Reigen huffed a laugh, throwing his arm around Ritsu’s shoulder. “Well then, Ritsu my boy,” he said, smiling, “what do you say to dessert for dinner?”

He could feel his eyes widen in amazement. “Really?”

Grinning, Reigen ruffled his hair and began walking them toward the main road. “Really. It’s on me.”

1 note · View note