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kjack89 · 4 years

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When All This is Over

For @adorablecrab, my very belated fill from the @bishopmyrielfundraiser. Sorry it’s taken me so long!!

The request was for Modern AU, getting together fluff, and, well, I’ve done my best :)

E/R, Modern AU. COVID-19 stay at home order related because I am nothing if not the most predictable of trash.

“Alright everyone,” Enjolras said, raising his voice to be heard over the din that signified the natural end of a Les Amis meeting, even if it sounded more than a little different through the speakers of his computer via Zoom than in the backroom of the Musain. “Let’s call it a night. We’ve all got our assignments, and I’ll be in touch with any follow-ups as needed.”

“Enj,” Courfeyrac said, resting his chin on his hand, “you do realize that since we all talk and text, like, multiple times a day, and we’re now on week, what, 8 of social isolation, you probably don’t need to worry about doing ‘follow-ups’, right?”

Enjolras ignored him. “We’ll meet back here on Saturday. Combeferre will send the link again—”

“Because I’m the only one with a licensed Zoom account,” Combeferre grumbled. “One of the only fringe perks of doing a postdoc.”

“And believe me,” Grantaire interjected with a smirk, “we all appreciate your sacrifice for the Cause.”

“As opposed to everything you’ve contributed,” Combeferre shot back. “Which, let me check my notes here, but, uh, what exactly have you contributed recently?”

Grantaire’s smirk didn’t slip as he raised his beer bottle in a mock toast. “Morale,” he said simply.

Bossuet tried to cover his laugh with a fake cough that turned into a real cough, Joly pounding on his back worriedly, and Enjolras sighed. “On that note,” he said, loud enough to be heard over Bossuet’s coughing, “I will talk to you all later.”

He waited for everyone to hop off so he could end the meeting, but to his surprise, as the rest of the squares on his screen disappeared, one remained, even if it was without its former occupant. Grantaire’s video feed remained on his computer, and Enjolras frowned. “Grantaire?” he called, feeling foolish when Grantaire didn’t answer. “Are you still there? Did you need something?”

There was no answer and Enjolras sighed, his cursor lingering over the ‘End Meeting For All’ button. But something, likely against his better judgment, stopped him.

It was probably the same thing that had stopped him from kicking Grantaire out after the man had first wandered into a Les Amis meeting all those years ago, the one decision of his that Combeferre had ever openly questioned. But there was just something about Grantaire, something that infuriated and inspired Enjolras in somewhat equal measures.

The fury part had happened a lot less recently, but Enjolras suspected that was a temporary side effect of not being in the same room with each other, and was likely to be as temporary as this stay at home order they were all under.

Shaking his head, Enjolras turned back to the work that he needed to do, leaving the Zoom call on in the background. About fifteen minutes later, Grantaire wandered back into frame, holding a full bottle of beer. “Oh, there you are,” Enjolras said, and Grantaire did an almost comical doubletake, his beer bubbling over the lip of the bottle.

“Jesus Christ,” Grantaire huffed as he quickly sipped at the foam to stop it from overflowing. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry,” Enjolras told him.

Grantaire’s eyes narrowed. “Funny, you sure don’t sound it,” he said, sitting back down in front of his laptop. “Besides, isn’t the meeting over? Or have I been held after class so you can scold me?”

Enjolras rolled his eyes. “Believe me, if I thought scolding you would do any good, I’d’ve tried it long ago.” Grantaire grinned and Enjolras allowed himself a small smile as well. “And yes, the meeting is over, but you were still in the call.”

“Ok,” Grantaire said slowly, “but you’re the host. You could’ve just ended it for everyone, myself included.”

“I know, but I didn’t want to just disappear on you.”

Grantaire blinked. “You know, that may be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Enjolras rolled his eyes again. “Shut up,” he said, but without much heat.

The video of Grantaire suddenly tilted, as if he had picked up his laptop, and a moment later, he came back into view, reclining on his couch, his computer resting on his stomach. “So what are you up to?” he asked, taking a sip of beer.

“Trying to figure out what protesting looks like in the age of social distancing,” Enjolras said with a sigh. “Our die-in at the state capitol was incredibly successful, but—”

“But laying out body bags doesn’t exactly have the same media impact as real humans lying there?” Grantaire supplied wryly. “Yeah, but what else can you do?”

Enjolras shrugged, glancing down at his notes. “I was thinking of trying to put together some kind of virtual rally, but even that’s not going to have the same impact.”

Grantaire nodded slowly. “Well, I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” he said bracingly, and Enjolras raised an eye at him.

“You know, that may be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” he said, and Grantaire laughed.

“Shut up,” he said. “Tell anyone I said it, and I’ll deny it.”

Enjolras grinned. “They wouldn’t believe me, anyway.” He hesitated. “So I’ll assume since you’re still on this call that you don’t have any better plans for this evening?”

Grantaire sighed. “I’m afraid that even my usually full social calendar has been negatively impacted by COVID-19,” he said with a dramatic sigh, clearly doing his best Courfeyrac impression, and Enjolras snorted. “But I can go if you need to get work done.”

Enjolras hesitated. “Honestly, it’s kind of nice having someone online with me,” he admitted. “Almost reminds me of all those nights at the Musain, y’know?”

“When you were working late and I was too drunk to stumble home?” Grantaire supplied.

“Well, something like that, anyway.”

Grantaire nodded slowly, something wistful creeping into his expression. Then, abruptly, he shook his head. “Never though I’d see the day where I missed that,” he said ruefully.

“Yeah,” Enjolras said. “I know what you mean.”

Grantaire sighed, his head tipping back to rest against the arm of his couch. “I just want things to go back to normal,” he said, his voice muffled from being further away from his computer’s microphone.

Enjolras made a face. “Do you even know what that means?” he asked, the sharpness in his voice making it teeter on the edge of a demand.

Grantaire sat upright again and rolled his eyes. “Yes, because I’ve clearly thought through every single socio-economic implication of stating my wish for ‘normalcy’,” he sniped. “Fine, if it’ll make you happy, I want my particular, individual life circumstances to return to how they were before.”

“It’s not about making me happy,” Enjolras pointed out. “It’s about making yourself happy. Or do you really want to go back to working two minimum wage jobs just to scrape by in between selling your paintings?”

Grantaire pretended to consider it. “It wasn’t so bad,” he hedged, and when Enjolras just gave him a look, he laughed and shook his head. “Ok, so the work was shit but the hours were manageable and besides, that way I got to spend my free time doing what I wanted. And besides, it’s a helluva lot better than being unemployed.”

Enjolras winced. “Fair point.”

Grantaire took another swig of beer. “What about you?” he asked. “Are you eager for your individual life circumstances to go back to normal?”

“Not sure anyone would call anything in my life normal,” Enjolras said, and Grantaire choked on his sip of beer.

“Truer words have never been spoken,” he managed after spluttering for a long moment. “But you know what I mean.”

Enjolras shrugged. “There are things I miss,” he said.

“And?” Grantaire prompted.

“And if you keep badgering me instead of letting me work, there’ll definitely be one less thing.”

Grantaire chuckled. “You win,” he said. “I’ll go back to muttering to myself while you ignore me, how about that?”

“Just like old times,” Enjolras murmured, and Grantaire laughed.

“Exactly.”

He did just that, breaking out his tablet to assumedly work on some art, muttering occassionally to himself, and Enjolras was surprised to find that the familiar background murmuring was strangely soothing, enough for him to settle into his own work.

It wasn’t until very late that Enjolras finally had to call it a night, and Grantaire stretched, looking over at the clock. “Jesus, when did it get to be 1 in the morning?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Right around the time I realized I’m supposed to be getting up at seven tomorrow,” Enjolras said through a yawn. “Or, well, later today, I guess.”

“Seven in the morning?” Grantaire repeated, horrified. “Why in the world do you have to be up at the asscrack of dawn? Don’t you realize we’re in the middle of a pandemic and time is meaningless?”

Enjolras rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “Seven is hardly the asscrack of dawn,” he said. “Besides, I’ve got work to do.”

Grantaire shook his head. “No wonder you’re eager to go back to normal, since your life clearly hasn’t changed at all.”

“Goodnight, Grantaire,” Enjolras said pointedly.

“Yeah, yeah, goodnight, you freak. Getting up at seven to do work, I swear to God—”

Enjolras clicked the ‘End Meeting for All’ button, cutting Grantaire off before he could truly launch into a rant, and he hadn’t even closed his computer before his phone buzzed with a text. [From: Grantaire] Rude.

[From: Enjolras] Well, you said you were missing normal, and I figured this was as close as I could get to making Bossuet or Joly drag your drunk ass home.

[From: Grantaire] ...fair.

Enjolras laughed and stood to head to his bedroom, surprised when his phone buzzed again, and he glanced down at it. [From: Grantaire] Want to have another little bit of post-meeting normalcy on Saturday?

Despite himself, Enjolras couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face at the thought. [From: Enjolras] Sounds like a plan.

----------

Sure enough, they spent Saturday night (and well into Sunday morning) the same way, both of them keeping each other company while working on their various projects. And after that, it became routine. Every Les Amis meeting was followed by Grantaire staying on the line to hang out, almost always drinking, only occassionally actually working.

As much as Enjolras hated to admit it, it felt...nice. Like Grantaire had said, a little bit of normalcy, despite everything. In fact, it was one of the few things keeping Enjolras sane as the stay at home order extended another month, dashing his plans for a return to the advocacy work he had so meticulously planned.

Nice was probably too mild a word for the quiet comfort that Enjolras found with Grantaire. He enjoyed having someone to talk to again, someone to bounce ideas off of, just like they had so many nights at the Musain.

But it was more than just comfort. Enjolras found himself actively looking forward to their time together, and while he’d never pretend to know what Grantaire was thinking, he got the feeling that Grantaire looked forward to it as well.

It helped that, without the urgency of everything else normally going on, they were able to actually talk, and not just about Enjolras’s latest idea. As much as they had been friends for years, too often their conversations were layered by Grantaire’s cynicism and sarcasm, and Enjolras was glad to really get to see beyond it.

“Where’s the first place you’ll go when this is over?” Grantaire asked one evening, lying on his couch, this time on his stomach, his computer balanced on what Enjolras could only assume was the arm of the couch, given the angle.

“Hmm,” Enjolras said, considering the question before barking a laugh. “You’re gonna make fun of me.”

“I always do,” Grantaire said cheerfully. “And that’s never stopped you before, so spill.”

Enjolras laughed again. “Alright, the first place I’ll probably go is City Hall. I’ve got a bone to pick with the permits office.”

Grantaire snorted a laugh. “God, you’re such a nerd,” he marvelled. “It’s truly incredible.”

“Shut up,” Enjolras said, laughing. “Where are you gonna go?”

“A bar,” Grantaire said promptly, “to get drunk with people instead of by myself.”

Enjolras made a disparaging noise in the back of his throat. “Nope, try again.”

“Excuse me?” Grantaire said, amused. “Are you trying to tell me that my answer was wrong?”

“No, just insincere,” Enjolras told him. “I know you’ve thought about it, or you wouldn’t have brought it up. So c’mon, where you really want to go?”

Grantaire’s smile softened, just slightly. “Honestly? I want to go to the zoo.” Enjolras blinked and Grantaire shrugged. “Don’t ask me why, since it’s not like I went all that frequently before, and it’s probably because of all the stupid videos they’ve been posting online during all of this, but. Yeah. I want to go to the zoo.” He gave Enjolras a withering look. “And now is not the time to launch into your tirade against keeping wild animals at zoos.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything!” Enjolras protested, but he was laughing, and Grantaire glared at him before laughing as well, the conversation turning from there.

If they had nothing else to show for it, Enjolras figured at the very least they’d come out of this whole thing as far better friends than they had started.

And then, finally, finally, there appeared to be good news on the horizon, with contact tracing and a decrease in new cases, and much of the Les Amis meeting that night was spent on the governor’s press conference, and her announcement that the state would move towards reopening in the next few weeks.

“You must be thrilled,” Grantaire said when everyone else had logged off.

“Of course I am,” Enjolras said, ebullient. “Aren’t you? You’re the one who’s wanted things to get back to normal.”

Grantaire made a face. “Yeah, but what does normal even mean anymore?” he mused. “Most folks will still be working from home, and even though we’ll be able to do some smaller protests and such, it’ll still be awhile before we can do any big rallies.”

Enjolras’s smile faded. “I mean, you’re not wrong, but is now really the time to bring it up?” he asked.

Grantaire forced a smile. “Of course, sorry,” he said. “We should celebrate! Wish I’d gotten a bottle of champagne with my last instacart order—”

“You’re using instacart?” Enjolras practically yelped. “After everything we’ve talked about with their exploitative business model?”

Grantaire’s smile widened into something more genuine, and infinitely more smug. “It’s called a joke, Enjolras. Glad to see your sense of humor is returning to normal as well.”

Enjolras made a face before hesitating. “I guess that probably means the end of these late night meetings as well,” he said, and Grantaire looked up, startled.

“What?” he said blankly. “Why?”

Enjolras blinked. “Well, I assume you’ll be going back to work, as will most of our comrades, so we won’t be able to have as frequent meetings, and besides, your social calendar will probably fill up again.”

He said it jokingly, but Grantaire didn’t smile. “My social calendar never stopped me from hanging out at the Musain before.”

“No, I know,” Enjolras started, but Grantaire cut him off.

“If you don’t want me to bother you, just say the word and I’m gone.”

Enjolras stared at him. “What are you—” he started before cutting himself off. “That’s not what I meant,” he said instead, trying not to sound as exasperated as he felt.

Juding by the look on Grantaire’s face, he hadn’t succeeded. “No, I know exactly what you mean,” Grantaire said, taking a larger than normal swig from his bottle of beer. “Once this Stay at Home Order is lifted, everything will go back to how it was.”

“Grantaire—”

“It’s fine,” Grantaire said, forcing a smile that didn’t even remotely meet his eyes. “After all, I’m the one who wanted things to go back to normal, remember?”

“That’s not—” Enjolras started, but Grantaire again cut him off.

“Goodnight, Enjolras.”

He left the Zoom call, and Enjolras stared at his laptop, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

And far more importantly, how he was going to fix it.

----------

Enjolras knocked on Grantaire’s apartment door, breathing in the fresh air for what felt like the first time in longer than he cared to admit.

Even though he had left his apartment during lockdown, it didn’t feel quite the same as it did now, and he smiled slightly as he glanced over his shoulder at the other people milling around in Grantaire’s apartment complex, all of them looking as happy as he was to be outside.

The door opened and Enjolras turned to look at Grantaire, who was staring at him as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Hi,” Enjolras said, wincing when he realized how stupid that sounded.

“What are you doing here?” Grantaire asked, still staring at him.

Enjolras hesitated. “I don’t want things to return to normal,” he blurted, everything he had carefully prepared going out the window, and Grantaire’s brow furrowed.

“Yes, you’ve made that perfectly clear, but what—”

“I don’t just mean, like, socioeconomically or anything,” Enjolras hurried to add. “I mean, um, between you and me. I don’t want that to go back to normal.”

Grantaire’s expression was unreadable. “Then what do you want?”

There were a thousand things that Enjolras had prepped for that exact moment, but he didn’t bother with any of them. Instead, he told Grantaire simply, “This,” before leaning in and kissing him.

Then, just as quickly, he pulled back, eyes wide. “Oh, wait, I’m sorry, affirmative consent, I should—”

Grantaire cut him off by kissing him, something heated and desperate in the press of his lips against Enjolras’s, as if he was afraid they’d lose the moment.

Enjolras wished he had never done or said anything that would make Grantaire feel that way.

When they broke apart this time, Grantaire was smiling, just slightly, almost nervously. “So, uh...dare I ask what this is about?”

“I like you,” Enjolras said, feeling his face flush as he said it. “And apparently, it took me a global pandemic to realize it.”

“Technically, you don’t have to say global and pandemic,” Grantaire said. “It’s implied.”

Enjolras sighed. “Grantaire—”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist,” Grantaire said with a laugh, and Enjolras shook his head before reaching out and drawing Grantaire close, resting his chin on top of Grantaire’s head as he held him.

“I missed you,” Grantaire whispered, so quietly that Enjolras almost didn’t hear him.

“I know,” Enjolras said, kissing Grantaire’s forehead. “And I’m sorry that I was an idiot, and didn’t figure things out earlier.”

Grantaire arched an eyebrow. “Speaking of,” he said, lacing his fingers with Enjolras’s, “did you come to this realization on your own?”

The corners of Enjolras’s mouth twitched. “Would you believe me if I said yes?”

“No.”

Enjolras snorted and shook his head. “Fine, I had some help. And some sense knocked into me.” He made a face. “Apparently every single one of our friends figured it out before I did.”

“Color me shocked,” Grantaire muttered.

Enjolras ignored that, instead taking a deep breath so that he could say what he actually came to say. “Grantaire,” he said carefully, “one of the few bright parts of this fucking pandemic was spending time online with you. And I’d really like to continue spending time with you. And, well, I’m sorry that I didn’t figure that out until it was almost too late.”

“Well, you know what they say,” Grantaire said, a slow smile stretching across his face. “Better late than never.”

Enjolras laughed, but the sound was mostly lost against Grantaire’s lips as they kissed again, slower this time, Grantaire’s hand resting lightly against Enjolras’s cheek, the other gripping the front of Enjolras’s shirt as if he could somehow pull him closer.

Then, abruptly, he pulled away. “Hang on a second, I thought the first place you were going to go after this ended was City Hall.”

“What can I say, I lied,” Enjolras murmured, ducking his head to kiss Grantaire again, but this time, Grantaire didn’t let him.

“Really?” he asked skeptically.

Enjolras hesitated. “Well, no,” he admitted. “City Hall opened at 8 and I figured you wouldn’t be awake yet, so I went there first and then came here.”

Grantaire laughed loudly. “God, Enj,” he said, pulling Enjolras close and wrapping his arms around him again. “I’d say never change, but clearly we’ve proven that even a pandemic couldn’t change you.”

“Are you sure about that?” Enjolras asked, and Grantaire considered it for only a moment before kissing him again.

“Ok, fine, maybe it changed you just the right amount.”

“So I’ll take it you don’t want things to go back to normal?” Enjolras asked teasingly.

Grantaire rolled his eyes. “Fuck normal,” he said decisively, and Enjolras grinned.

“Technically, that’s what I’ve been saying all along,” he pointed out, and Grantaire cut him off by kissing him once more.

“Shut up,” Grantaire advised, and Enjolras grinned.

After all, who needed normal when they finally had each other?

#enjolras x grantaire #exr #enjoltaire #enjolras #grantaire #les amis #les miserables #fanfiction #modern au #developing relationship #fluff #adorablecrab #bishopmyrielfundraiser

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notafraidofredyellowandblue · 4 years

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MTV Masters 2004 Rammstein - thoughts

After doing the translation of the MTV Masters 2004 set, i was left with some lingering thoughts and miscellaneous rambles, so here goes.. ❣in no particular order.

Even though it was primarily a collection of snippets from other/older interviews and some making ofs, i liked how it was put together as a sort of "History of Rammstein up until now", too bad part 2 was missing.

Olli might be just as direct and outspoken as Paul, just not as eloquent, and not as bothered to try and get his opinion out (maybe should do a post on Olli alone...probably..).

The Mutter drama

very likely started with Richard (greatly helped with a bunch of cocaine), but after it also everyone says they didn't want to go on with the same type of music, but wanted to experiment...

afaik Richard is one of the more experimental of the band, so while at some point (understandably) they wanted Richard out, I think he was also needed for the new direction...a "can't live with him, can't live without" situation?

because of that shared feeling, i guess a bandcrisis was unavoidable at some point, and maybe it was brought to a head when it was and they worked through it...if it had lingered another few years maybe they'd have said "we've been doing this long enough now, let's quit"

the years after were better, but i think it's only in the recent 2 or 3 years that the band-together-vibe has really returned, but without the corset they all hated, good for them for hanging in all that time

Paul's occassionally shows his sunny smiles when saying a pointed or sharp remark. If you didn't understand the text you might think he just said something really cute, and all the while is dissing something or someone ☀️ not just a ball of sunshine, but one with stings..

Till often doesn't finish sentences, leaves part of it hanging in the air, starts his next thought. I could imagine he prefers to express himself in writing (his poetry and lyrics) instead of talking, especially talking with a journalist where he probably half expects to be misquoted anyway.

The parts about Germany are all the more interesting knowing that 15 years later they did a song on pretty much exact the topic as it is discussed here. I wouldn't be surprised they had rewatched these old interviews and then came up with using the theme for a song. I also agree that the nazi-era, apart from the atrocities and unspeakable harm it did to people, also very much crippled the germans with guilt, making it impossible to look further away in the past without linking it to the later nazi years (a lot of harmless things from before get a connotation it originally didn't have because the nazi era tainted it) and not being able to move on in the future because the guilt couldn't be let go. If only they'd ever do a 'making of' or interview about the song "Deutschland" i'd be very interested on their thoughts...but i don't have much hope anymore for that...

The scenes with Schneider and Paul on a couch, Paul telling Schneider he's the best actor, Schneider sort of embarrassed reacting and then Paul reconsidering and coming to the conclusion that he's not sure about actor Schneider and talking, but concluding he is really good at looking in certain directions 😁 that must be a prime example of Paulinist remarks, on the one hand cute and funny and generous, and then with one sentence basically pinpointing what Schneider can't do ☀️

Richard admitting having to be unhappy to "create" and sometimes creating drama to trigger that is very revealing, self-aware, unsettling and in a way very sad.. i hope he has come to terms better with it later in life and can also use music from a happier core (like when he writes songs for his children), but deep down, this is his drive and probably still is..

Love Paul's metaphores, he always has one (or three) at hand on any topic. When interviewed along bandmates he's quite restless though, moving around a lot..

Felt sad for Till when he talks about writting stuff off of his soul and afterwards "feeling a bit better, a tiny bit" I wanted to reach in and hug him ❣

At this point in time the Mutter drama is forgiven but not quite forgotten, I think especially Paul will be one to regularly have referred back to it in the first years after the crisis. At least the last couple of years it seems to have been really layed to rest (apart from maybe a little inside joke like old friends have).

Although I always think Schneider is the most levelheaded of the bunch, he does seem to occassionally not "get" what is going on, he seems occassionally vague. That too changed later on, nowadays he seems the most stabil one to interview (well, Flake as well but you can have Flake just reminisce old bandstories and don't have to ask questions 💓)

Schneider for that matter also seems to, by the time of the interview, still remember there was a crisis, but is starting to forget the details, that is probably for the better, no use rehashing everything, but i'd bet some of the others took longer..

Richard is very analytical about what happened and also imo very honest, like mentioning when in the early days they did something funny, that wasn't their intension and only later learned to laugh about themselves. Other people would just have twisted a story like, but he just says it as he thinks it was. He seems very much to say what he feels at the time (not that a next time he won't say something different, but then *that* is what he feels). This must probably also have gotten him into spots of trouble over the years.

Till just lights up (no not like that 😊) when he hears the pyro guys, next time someone manages to catch him for an interview they should just let him give a masterclass on pyrotechnics and ask the questions in between so he doesn't have to bother with the standard interview-situation and just do his own thing.

There is not a lot of Flake in these interviews, while we know now that Flake is actually one of the better storytellers, maybe he was used to let others do the talking at the time, or maybe he was strugling with his alcohol addiction that he talks about in his books and his happy to let tune out.

I think Richard once mentioned in a different interview that he likes to work in a team but isn't a teamplayer; what i take from these interview snippets that he loves the band and very much wants the band to be well.. later he wrote an Emigrate song for them (a band he doesn't tour with, afraid he'd like it better than Rammstein..😙 he a worrier at heart i think..).

Paul gets interviewed in various combinations with bandmates at the time, but i don't think from those years there is a combination of him and Richard. But much much later (2016), when they are interviewed together at the Rammstein in amerika premiere, they completely make up for it and have loads of fun. Ofcourse that's exactly the difference 10+ years can make, but good for them to have given it a shot and finding common ground after all (and even managing to be soft to eachother...aaaww those two 💕)

Schneider casually calling Paul 'Paulchen' as an endearing term and Paul not even batting an eye is very cute, but also shows that they regularly call him that (nothing much to do with his size imo)

Paul having the last word is probably typical, but what a sweet way to end this show, saying he really likes all of them, empasizing again 'really' and he is glad they are all still alive 💗 apart from that that is very cute, i also think they did worry about one or the other bandmate and their lifestyle (in keeping with the interview not naming names here) i hope that part of their wildness has mellowed down by now...the first remark also is a foresight to a 2017 interview with Paul where he mentions they have really nice chemistry at that time...so glad their bandlife did become better over the years.

All in all...the really are a 6-man-marriage...aren't they 💖

#rammstein rammblings #long...again..#rammstein mtv masters 2004

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babysizedfics · 4 years

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I need to know about doctor mama lo taking care of a sick baby Virgil if you would like pretty please. I dont wanna ask on the in character blog cuz I feel like it would be weird to ask for details and lo seems kinda busy anyway lol.

hey tumblebee!! yeah yeah lets do this, Im gonna write it so that ppl who dont follow the other blog can understand too

WARNING IF U HAVENT ALREADY BLOCKED THE TAGS ILLNESS TW AND VOMIT TW THEY ARE VERY PREVALENT IN THIS

also this is a VERY long headcanon!!

so last night vee got ill, he had been regressed in the afternoon with patton and he was acting much more fussy than usual - not being entertained by his cartoons, not having the energy to play with his rattle, pretty much constantly whining and pouting and he gets very wriggly when he's fussy

patton assumed it was because vee had been upset earlier that day. at one point vee started gripping his stomach, and patton assumed its because he was hungry and could smell the food roman was cooking

but when dinner came around no matter how hard patton tried he couldnt get vee to eat a morsel - he kept turning his head away from the food and whining. at one point patton and logan both managed to convince him to eat a spoonful but his face crumpled with a wince and it looked almost painful for him to swallow it. it was at this point logan noticed he had a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead

things fell into place quickly after that - logan checked his temperature and it was indeed slightly higher than was healthy, they noticed vee's hands were trembling and he was constantly on the verge of tears :(

while patton cleared away dinner and excused roman who wanted to go and craft in his room, logan took vee to his bedroom and tried to check for more symptoms, since vee was non verbal and unresponsive totheir questions. he tested his tummy by pushing it a little to see if the pain got worse when he released it (this is a test for appendicitis) but there was no reaction thankfully except vee being upset by logan not cuddling him. he checked his throat for any redness or infection, nothing.

vee's crying became more pronounced and eventually he was in constant tears, occassionally pleading 'mama mama' through sniffles and hiccups and whines of pain :(( Patton brought him a baby bottle of cooled tea made with fresh mint leaves since that is supposed to help stomach pains. though he left the room again since logan thought it was best not to crowd virgil. Vee's crying had dissipated but he was strangely silent and seemed almost loopy now. he only drank a little of the tea before he pushed it away with a gag.

logan immediately took him to the bathroom knowing what was coming, and sure enough vee threw up into the toilet, crying between gags. logan dutifully managed to keep vee in his lap the whole time and held his hair and rubbed his back, telling him he was such a good boy the whole time

Thankfully it didnt last long as there wasnt much in vees stomach to be emptied. he was shivering and sweating and flushed and had lost all energy. he wasnt even crying anymore, just whimpering under his breath. with a bit of a struggle logan managed to show him how to rinse his mouth out with mouthwash - though he had to hold vee over the sink and pat his back to make sure he didnt swallow it

during all of this patton wasnt able to help because of his heightened empathy, if he sees someone throwing up the likeihood is he will too and that wiuldnt be very helpful! so instead he drives to the store to pick up some medicine and ice pops - and comes back with half the store including some actual baby medicine smh - ((im actually begging u to read that linked post i think its so funny))

it was originallly meant to be logans night to put roman to bed but understandably patton took on that task instead. after roman was drifting off patton pokes his head into vee's room. he had hoped to find lo and vee asleep but they werent. they were lying in the dark with an in the night garden audio story playing on a portable speaker and with vees salt lamp and star night light lighting up the room in a soft glow.

logan offered a strained little smile and nod to patton as he stroked vee's hair and cuddled him close. vee was completely out of it honestly. his body was wholly lax against his mama, his lips were in a permanent pout and his eyes were puffy and wet. he barely even acknowledged his papa coming in, his teary eyes just settled on him for a moment then dropped back to the bedsheets without a reaction. he kept lifting his thumb up to suck on it but logan kept capturing it and apologising as he brought it away. Vee shouldnt suck on his thumb and logan doesnt want to give him a paci while he's ill. understandably, baby vee was completely miserable.

patton asks if logan thinks vee could handle a popsicle or plain crackers at the moment but logan disagrees. he doesnt expect either of them to get much sleep so he will make sure vee eats something in a few hours. with a gentle kiss on vee's forehead patton goes off to bed, confident that logan will be able to look after vee and will come get him if theres any issues

logan and vee really dont sleep much at all. Vee drifts off for a few minutes at a time then gasps awake from vivid fever dreams. logan keeps ice cubes in a bowl by the bed for vee to suck on if he needs to cool down and wraps a couple in a flannel to press to vee's head when his fever rises in the middle of the night.

around 3am logan jolts awake and realises he had drifted off. and vee isnt anywhere in the room. he panics momentarily, bolting up from the bed and dashing to the closet to see if virgil is in there - which he tends to do when he is overwhelmed - but then he hears sniffling from the bathroom.

he finds vee, no longer regressed, curled up against the side of the bathtub with his bangs clinging to his sweaty head. vee is the palest person logan knows but he looks positively grey at the moment

'can i help in any way?' he asks, aware that he doesnt need to baby talk at the moment but still eager to look after this bundle of miserableness

virgil just groans under his breath and clutches his knees to his chest. 'i.. i didnt know what to do with the..' he gestures vaguely to something on the floor

logan notices virgil, being not regressed anymore, had obviously wrestled off the diaper he had been changed into the night before and not known how to dispose of it

'its ok, ive got it' logan wraps it up in a bag and puts it in the trash can they have in the room for just this purpose

'sorry.. m stupid' virgil croaks

'You're not stupid.' logan says firmly as he washes his hands 'You're ill and probably delirious from the fever. it's alright virgil'

theres quiet for a bit longer, virge's head pressed against the porcelain edge of the bathtub likely in an attempt to cool his fever. logan stays there with him for a while just waiting. then suddenly virgil starts sobbing and buries his face in his hands.

'sweetheart, tell me whats wrong please' logan hurries to kneel beside him, lifting his hands away from his face. that wouldnt help the fever

'i dont feel well' virgil cries pathetically, tears rolling down his face.

logans heart breaks 'no, you dont. i'm sorry little one, i know its not nice'

at the nickname virgils thumb raises to his lips again, which logan hurriedly intercepts. 'i'll make you a deal, okay? you're allowed to use a pacifier, but you have to use the same one everyday until you are better. we will need to sterilise it every night too.'

vee sniffles and nods, then chokes 'm not a baby right now though'

'that doesnt matter. you dont need to be regressed to want one of your pacis, vee'

vee is unresponsive and starts scratching at his pyjama pants. logan gets a feeling he isnt saying something. then he notices virgil's pout is much more infantile than his adult ones. 'are you feeling little, baby?'

with a harsh shake of his head vee starts crying again. he whispers 'dont wanna be a b...' then cuts himself off and whimpers

logan cards his fingers through virgils damp bangs. he knows what virgils mind has jumped to. 'were you going to say you dont want to be a baby?' he lifts virgils chin up to look at him 'or that you dont want to be a burden?'

virgils pale lip wobbles 'same fing'

'no sweetheart, no no no,' logan sits on the tiles beside vee and pulls him into his lap. virgil goes willingly. logan rocks his baby as he says 'youre always always allowed to be a baby and its never ever going to upset your family. even if you're an adorable wonderful brave baby boy alllll of the time' he scribbles his finger on virgils rosy cheek and delights at the tiny smile it earns him. 'but especially when you're feeling yucky. you feel a bit yucky today dont you, little one?'

vee nods with a pout

'but yknow whats not yucky? softies and pacis and diapers and lots and lots of cuddles with mama' he holds virgil tighter to prove his point. vee sighs and drops his head to nuzzle against his mama's neck. logan feels he still has a slight fever. 'i know what might help you feel less yucky. does my sweet baby want a sweet ice pop?'

thankfully vee nods against his shoulder and grips tight onto his pyjama shirt, preparing for when logan lifts him up

he first makes sure to change vee into another diaper and even decides that he should wear one of mama's t-shirts as a light dress so he doesnt get as overheated by his pyjamas. at this point vee actually giggles for the first time pretty much all day as he feels the tshirt swish lazily around his legs. logan makes a mental note to observe whether little vee might want to try wearing dresses if the feeling sparks this much joy (at this point logan is unaware that vee has secretly been trying skirts and dresses in his room for months, and roman found out a few weeks ago, but vee isnt ready to tell the cgs yet)

by the time vee is in his diaper and mamas tshirt dress and has a paci and jiji clutched to his chest he is a lot calmer and happier. he's still very ill and exhausted and teary, but theres a tiny smile on his face instead of a pout. in the kitchen he picks a strawberry ice pop and it goes down well, logan convinces him to have a cracker too though vee is in such a young headspace by then that he is just sucking on it, which logan supposes is fine too

by the (real) morning vee is still regressed and has managed to have a couple hours undisturbed sleep. its not much but its better than nothing. logan didnt fare much better. by then vee misses his papa and asks for him and logan hands the responsibility over to papa patton, trustinf the other caregiver enough to catch up on a quick power nap himself

but yes, the main thing is vee thought being ill was a burden enough that he shouldnt be regressed too, but logan makes him see that its okay. vee is regressed pretty much the whole time he is ill over the next few days because its stressful and painful and its a lot easier to feel comforted when ur a baby

yeah! gosh that was long, theres probably a billion spelling mistakes! feel free to ask follow up Qs if i missed anything u wanted to know abt this event

#little/big concepts #illness tw #vomit tw #food mention #long post #asks #tumblebee the smol bean

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little-ideas · 4 years

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Joining of Spring and Autumn

Y’all I’ve still got thoughts but I need to stop here for now also if there are names for Itaru and Banri’s sisters let me know it’d make things less awkward writing

Based entirely from this, this, this, this, and this. I LOVE YOU @flavovitta BUT GOSH DARN IT I HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO FORGET ABOUT THEM SINCE I FIRST READ ABOUT THIS SHIP

BANRI’S OLDER SISTER LIKE SAEKO NEE-SAN (Haikyuu!!)

ITARU’S OLDER SISTER AS MATURE BEAUTY

Both headstrong + go after what they want

Banri’s sister does Takagari (see also https://jref.com/articles/takagari-japanese-falconry.217/ & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falconry)

Itaru’s sister works at a cosmetics company (given she told him to go for a company that value’s his looks according to https://a-three.fandom.com/wiki/Chigasaki_Itaru)

Visit theater for performance

Wishing to congratulate their brothers (for as much as the brothers complain they get bossed around by their siblings some of that’s just hyped up as a sibling thing) and treat them to dinner

Banri’s sister sees Itaru’s sister and approaches her

The two start talking and hit it off, the 4 end up going to dinner together

Forget to ask for the others’ number so Banri wakes up to a drunk text “NEED THE NUMBER OF YOUR FRIEND’S HOT SISTER”

He’s mortified and wishes he hadn’t seen it but it’s too late. He doesn’t ask Itaru. Pretends he doesn’t see the text

After a couple days he gets another text “Never mind you ass. Got a date ❤” with a selfie of the two sisters together at bar or store or something

He’s not entirely sure what happened and he’s not asking

SO the gals continue to talk and occassionally go out to places together

Banri’s sister in with a bunch of different circles and always seems to know of events the two could go to if they want, so they start going to more and more places with each other

Then Banri’s sister mentions she has a demonstration coming up and Itaru’s sister is intrigued. Turns out the Takagari event is during a weekend she might be busy with work, so she can’t commit and go with Banri’s sister (I need names for the two = . =)

BUT! Turns out the work thing gets postponed, so her weekend’s free! Goes to the event and is wowed. Banri’s sister is so confident and in her element and that’s when Itaru’s sister just knows

Look Itaru’s sister may be more reserved compared to Banri’s sister, but she’ll still act when she wants to

The two are having an at-home spa day or something (just chilling together) when Itaru’s sister leans on her hand, looks Banri’s sister in the eye, and asks her out

Banri’s sister is so flustered it’s adorable honestly

It’s a yes! (❤´艸｀❤)

They don’t bother telling Itaru or Banri

Their brothers find out when the sisters are waiting for them after a performance again. Banri’s sister is leaning against Itaru’s sister, one arm around her shoulder, pointing to something on the other’s phone. This part is normal.

So is the linking of their arms as they walk

Itaru’s starting to suspect, but Banri’s like “Nah, my sis is always like that”

Itaru at dinner: Even with the matching rings?

Banri: Haven’t they always had the rings? Besides, rings are the in thing right now.

Itaru a little while later: Banri, they’ve held hands and have cute nicknames for each other

Banri: Pretty sure my sister’s done that with a lot of her female friends.

Itaru: My sister hasn’t

Banri: Well….*vague hand waving* Eh? He’s not in denial, he’s just oblivious to his sister’s life ok

Itaru drops the sisters off at the station and just straight-up asks them if they’re dating

Banri’s sister is surprised, “You mean we didn’t tell you?” as Itaru’s sister grins, locks their fingers together, and kisses her girlfriend on the cheek, “Yes.”

Itaru’s figured it out by now, so he has no reaction besides congratulations, but Banri is shell-shocked (still manages to wish them well, he’s just on auto-pilot). The only things said on their way back to the dorms are, “I told you so.” “SHUT UP!”

Banri processes for a while he was finally bad at something lol

Probably has a crisis about it tbh. Pulls Itaru aside after practice and just panics about being bossed around by both of the sisters now. He doesn’t care that the two are women or anything like that

No, his concern is that the two women are a freaking power couple and as younger brothers, he and Itaru are in for a bunch of trouble. Can’t escape. The sisters know the brothers live together, if they need something they can message both of them.

Heck, the sisters have even charmed Izumi, probably have her number on speed-dial and can get her on board if they need

The younger brother duo is doomed Banri quit being such a drama king omg

Itaru has to be the voice of reason good grief

ANYWAY Dates continue

Banri’s sister introduces Itaru’s sister to her hawk

The latter woman is really nervous

The bird is cool but it’s a bird of prey and its talons and beak are sharp

She’s also never really been up-close to birds before

Calls Itaru or Izumi and asks if she could hang out with Kamekichi to become more familiar with birds

Slowly becomes more comfortable with Kamekichi and the hawk

Eventually is ok with simply holding the hawk on her arm

So they try calling him it over

The day the hawk comes over on the first call she’s ecstatic and it’s adorable

AND YEAH THEY’RE A FREAKING POWER COUPLE

DON’T TAKE SHIT FROM ANYONE

AREN’T AFRAID TO DECLARE THEIR LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER IN PUBLIC

They have a wedding photoshoot

Itaru’s sister does their makeup

Commission Yuki to make their wedding outfits

Ain’t traditional but WHO THE FUCK CARES? NOT THEM

Banri’s fighting past and thug attitude are serve him so well as their bodyguard lol

He stations Autumn Troupe around the venue so if anyone tries to say anything negative they are shut down so fast

Once the sisters and Banri were going shopping together Banri’s wardrobe needed an update and someone started to say something but before they could finish their sentence they went flying

Itaru’s sister just blinks like what just happened?

But Banri and his sister lead her away

Closer inspection upon the offending party reveals a shoe imprint from Banri’s sister

BUT ITARU’S SISTER CAN HOLD HER OWN TOO

She’s made it to the upper ranks of her company

She’s efficient, polite, but doesn’t take anybody’s shit

I just want her to be out with the MANKAI group one day and something happens and Itaru pales and tries to cover Sakuya and Muku’s ears

He makes it, barely

RIP to the offending party Itaru’s sister tears them apart

She’s calm, but her words are scathing

Yuki’s impressed

Homare adds some phrases to his vocabulary

Tsuzuru’s got inspiration for a new villain

If Banri’s sister is also there she swoons lol

#I need to stop bc this is getting long BUT MY THOUGHTS HAVE NOT #it's a mind dump sorry #i'm aware the links include Izumi but they also feature the sisters so....#a3!#act! addict! actors!#power couple sisters #that's what i'm calling them #oh snap i forgot Banri's sis was married until i went to find the links #welp she's not here #lmao yes i was one of those anons but i shall not say which #also flaxen hair and a leather jacket is glorious if y'all haven't read it you NEED to #anyway i hope i can finally have some peace with these two because my mind keeps going back to them #banri settsu #itaru chigasaki #izumi tachibana

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futurestaresback · 4 years

Text

hypmic kny!au headcanons because nobody asked for it!!!

i wrote this au at like 1am but i like how it turned out, so i'm posting it here :D

some kny spoilers ahead(?)

buster bros

• ichiro is the First Pillar/壱の柱 ((wow thats badass))

• he uses breath of the sun change my mind (though he started out with breath of water)

• his weapon: a katana with a red hilt. there's an omamori on it that says one, or ichi

• as expected, jiro has two omamori (ichiro's one + his own) while saburo has three (all of them)

• jiro uses breath of water come on it fits with his image color (and poor boi probs never mastered another breathing technique that's why)

• however, he's actually very proficient at it -- he knows all the forms and can perform them at any given time. only downside? due to his nonexistentCOUGH i mean insufficient knowledge of kanji, he doesn't know how to read the names of most of the forms and can't yell his attacks like a badass

• saburo? thunder breathing. he's not physically as strong as his older brothers (yet), so he relies on his agility and speed to boost his attacks

• jiro and saburo are training to be ichiro's tsuguko, and they squabble about it a shit ton (much to ichiro's disappointment), but oh boy in a fight the three of them are deadly

• especially if ichiro is injured in some way. jiro and saburo will literally show no mercy to whoever was unfortunate enough to have done it

mad trigger crew

• samatoki is the skull pillar/髑髏柱

• wooooo again with the badass names

• i just thought of this but OK WHAT IF HE BECAME A DEMON SLAYER TO PROTECT DEMON!NEMU???

• because in canon he became a yakuza for her sake and nemu was brainwashed by chuuouku so

• omg

• ok anyways samatoki's breathing style is skull breathing, which he invented himself

• even though he's a demon slayer, he's not exactly,,, sociable. he's irritable, stubborn, and just smokes on a kiseru during pillar meetings

• ((but he's actually a huge softie under all of that, especially if his sister is involved))

• jyuto. he probably uses his own breathing style too, but as for weapons... he uses a pistol

• he literally has the kanji for "gun" in his name ofc he would

• since this is the taisho era, western-style pistols would still have been relatively new so jyuto is feared as much as he's respected for his proficiency of his weapons

• would totally confront any demon he meets by saying "HAI STOP STOP STOP"

• rio?? survival breathing

• ok sorry but seriously he'd use his own breathing style too

• i think it'd be mostly centered around strengthening endurance and prologing survival time in dire situations (underwater, in a fire, trapped in an airtight space, etc) rather than attack

• and where does survival cooking come in, you ask?

• it's still there. but the ingredients are demons

• i headcanon that just like genya, he can eat demons to temporarily gain some of their attributes, and he insists on sharing his cooking with everyone, but (naturally) is usually met with stiff resistance

• mostly by jyuto

fling posse

• ramuda is... the candy pillar/飴柱

• don't be fooled by the innocent name; he's actually one of the deadliest pillars because unlike the others who wield swords, his preferred type of weapon is poison

• he has to use that, because physically he lacks the strength to decapitate a demon (kinda like shinobu really)

• another similarity they share? from a young age, he's been trained to intake wisteria poison into his body, and started a habit of eating candy with that to make the pain a little more bearable (which is how he got the "candy pillar" title)

• over the years, he's accumulated enough toxicity in his body that even the poison on his breath has become lethal to demons if they're exposed to it in close contact

• which is why he loves to get close and clingy with people

• when an enemy really ticks him off, though, he'll snap and immediately resort to methods... quicker in effect than poison

• a swift slit to their throat with the small dagger he keeps in his haori sleeve usually does the trick, he finds

• gentaro isn't a pillar, but oh god if he was they'd call him the uso hashira

• he's always shrouded in this aura of mystery and never gives straight answers to anyone

• especially dice

• gentaro is light for his height, so like ramuda, i headcanon he's not very suited for wielding a katana like the others either

• however, no one has seen that weapon -- just the book he carries around with him at all times

• if you start to link things together and ask him whether the book is his secret weapon all along, he'll say, "why, yes. i do not need a blade to kill, you see, only words..."

• when you back away in fear he'll chuckle a little and hit you with the "uso desu yo"

• gentaro you little shit

• as for dice, i headcanon him to be a special case

• just like a casino slot machine, his special ability is that he can use any attack from any form of breathing he's learned, with full proficiency and power

• only downside is that,,, he never knows what attack it is exactly

• like he learned a form of sun breathing from observing the buster bros' training and was so excited to try it out against some demon he met but forgot about the randomness of his attacks and accidentally hit them with breath of water first form

• it bounces harmlessly off said demon (to dice's horror)

• (luckily ramuda manages to swoop in and kill them while they're too busy laughing at dice's expression of horror)

• and to nobody's surprise, he slacks off training to gamble, but surprisingly his skill matches theirs despite not having been polished through conventional practice

matenro

• jakurai... oh boy. he's the deity pillar/神柱

• the word "pillar" ("hashira") is the counter for deities in japanese, so this title basically emphasises the fact that jakurai is seen as the living embodiment of a deity

• it's hard not to see him as such, because he's so tall and ethereal and there's a certain grace in everything he does

• plus his specialty (besides swordsmanship) is healing others with his knowledge of medicinal herbs and... his voice. like oyakata-sama, i hc that his voice has the ability to instantly soothe people and put them at ease

• HOWEVER, he is absolutely terrifying on the battlefield. he's silent and deadly, and if you're his enemy he has no pity to spare for you. this assassin-like style of his attacks have been likened to a viper lying in ambush for its prey

• and just like in canon, his personality does a complete 180 when he's drunk

• one time he accidentally mistook a cup of sake for water and the next second he'd ripped off his haori and yeeted doppo through the shoji door

• (he's apologized at least 5 times and doppo says he doesn't have to, but neither of them have really forgotten about it)

• hifumi definitely uses love breathing, like mitsuri

• come on the theme just fits too well and some of the attacks are named after cats... he says it's for his konekochans

• instead of his usual suit, he has a small haori he has to put on in order to get into host mode AND gain more confidence, which upon wearing instantly turns him into a bubbly demon-slaying ladykiller

• would 100% flirt with his opponents before killing them ("oh, kitten, you look simply stunning... such a shame that i'll have to cut you down soon. let's make the most out of the last night of your life then, shall we?")

• he cooks for everyone else occassionally, especially after a long day of training. it's a hobby of his that he isn't afraid to admit

• doppo... this poor boy

• he's a breath of water user, and his rank is... average.

• his weapon is a katana, which is... also average

• basically, people don't see anything special or worth mentioning about him at first glance, which (besides his own pessimism) accounts for doppo's constant gloominess

• his mentor also forces him to train for longer than the other tsuguko and he's also a frequent subject of ridicule, which doesn't help at all

• would 100% be the apologetic attacker type (like he'd apologize if a demon he was meant to slay belittled him)

• he lets his stress out occassionally when he's pushed past a breaking point and boy is he scary when that happens

• is it wrong to imagine that, just like how zenitsu can power up ridiculously while unconscious/asleep, doppo has a "berserk mode" that he can activate when he gets pushed too far

• during which his usual meek, timid personality is all but replaced by his pent up rage that he won't hesitate to let out all at once... pray for whoever's unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of it

#long post whoops #but i honestly love this crossover so much it was so interesting to write??#hypmic #hypnosis mic #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba au

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slurp-imagines · 4 years

Text

Random Word Prompts: Fukunaga Shouhei

(ask meme link)

Night: What are their sleeping habits?

Fukunaga has a decent sleep-schedule for a teenager tbh. He usually gets sleepy around midnight, but he’s fully capable of going to bed earlier if he knows he has an extra early start the next day.

Left to his own devices, he’d probably sleep from midnight until 9 or 10 am. So he’s not the earliest riser, but he still doesn’t like missing the entire morning.

Lowkey one of those people who can function normally on like 5 hours of sleep though. But he chooses not to push it lol, because then he’s suspicious through the whole day that he’s gonna crash

Also he likes hugging something while he sleeps! He uses a body pillow at home, but he also has a couple stuffed animals that he likes (and that he refuses to feel embarassed about).

When Nekoma has to take the bus for away games, he might roll up his jacket or something so he can hug it and take a nap.

When he’s in bed, he prefers to sleep on his side, but he could probably fall asleep in any position.

He doesn’t move around thaaat much. Occassionally he’ll wake up on his stomach though, most likely lying on top of whatever he fell asleep hugging.

Rust: Do they like themselves?

For the most part, he does. He didn’t always, though.

Fukunaga didn’t have very many friends during elementary and middle school. Most people weren’t overtly mean to him, but there were a few notable exceptions, and those insults stuck with him. The rest of the time, he would just fade into the background.

And altogether, those experiences would sometimes make him wonder if he was even likable at all, or if people who were being nice to him were only doing so out of courtesy, or if he would always be somewhat of an outsider.

But somewhere during his last year of middle school, he kind of had a switch flipped? He was like... you know I guess I’m just weird or something. Whatever

He doesn’t really know how he arrived at that train of thought, but he’s glad that he did, because he has a much better time afterward. He doesn’t feel like he’s trying so hard.

By the time he’s in high school, he’s pretty comfortable with who he is, and people’s opinions of him don’t affect so much. By the end of his first year he even starts to feel like he’s made a few real friends. He’s found his group, his place– and every now & then before he goes to sleep, he’ll remember that fact, and have to smush his smile into his pillow.

Fukunaga does ocassionally get a little down on himself, though. Like maybe he’ll wish he was a little better at saying what he thinks, or a little less awkward to talk to, or a little more like a son his parents could brag about.

But he can think of a bunch of things that he does like about himself, too– he’s a good listener, he’s a good friend, he’s funny, he’s pretty nice, he’s a hard worker... And it all balances out the negative.

Gold: What was their first kiss with their S/O like?

Awkward. Very, very awkward. But he’s very, very cute so it’s ok

Fukunaga really likes showing physical affection to his s/o, but he’s pretty shy about it. Especially if it’s in public and double-especially if it’s early on in the relationship.

When they’re in private, he does his best to push through his embarassment though. He never really thought it mattered if he was blushing a lot, or if he couldn’t meet their eyes– not as long as he still got to touch them, and not as long as they still reciprocated.

The eye contact thing turned out to be kinda important for a kiss though. He kind of just leaned in and closed his eyes without getting a proper look at where he’s going first. And even though he’d definitely been thinking about it for a while, he also kind of did this on impulse in a “right now Shouhei it’s the perfect time go go go” sort of way, so they probably weren’t expecting it.

So basically, his first kiss is preluded by him headbutting them or clicking their teeth together or something equally disastrous in his mind.

Fukunaga would immediately jump back, somehow blush even more, and stammer out an apology. His mind is a running stream of “oh shit oh shit oh shit”

His s/o probably has to console him a little, lol. Preferably with a smile so he knows they’re not mad at him for messing up their first kiss so bad. He’d even be fine laughing at himself a little as long as his s/o’s laughing with him

He tries again, and it’s probably something sweet and chaste and honestly pretty short. After they part, he follows it up with a shy little smile and asking for another.

He’s giddy for the rest of the day.

#fukunaga shouhei #haikyuu!!#hq!!#fukunaga #shouhei fukunaga #hq imagines

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penebui · 4 years

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Lgbt manga pt.1

If you had to put up with my sorry ass for a few years then yes you know that I have been searching for lgbt mangas!! I put up with the pain of going through most genres that sexualize/fetishize gender identities and sexualities (like yaoi and gender bender) and reading mangas to find if they have lgbt content so you dont have to suffer the pain of trying to! Clown on this post and please face my wrath

Keep in mind that these aren’t in order of ratings!! Its just a list. I also give summaries of the plot, the things that make it lgbt, and some content warnings!!

1. Welcome to Room #305! by Wanan

Kim Jung Hyun moves into an apartment (room #305) with a friend of a friend, named Kim Homo! Who (you guessed it) is gay! As Jung Hyung begins to live with Kim Homo, he slowly learns to accept him for his sexuality. Once he overcomes his homophobia and completely accepts him for who he is, other lgbt characters pop in too!! They all have their struggles with their identities, and it is very realistic, but the art style helps keep all that angst at bay! As far as english translations go, we have several lesbian characters, and a trans guy. You can read the english translation on several manga sites, but if you want the link to the original since this is a webcomic, here’s the [link]! Unfortunately english updates are very slow since translation teams have other projects, and legal companies who translate take their sweet precious time.

2. Bokura no Hentai by Fumiko Fumi

The title might seem misleading, however it can be translated as “Our Transformation”! Buckle up buttercup cause this manga will fuck you over emotionally. Three crossdressers meet up after being in a crossdressing group, with different reasons as to why they crossdress. Parou crossdresses to fall in love with a straight guy, Marika is actually a trans woman, and Yui crossdresses as his dead sister to “help” his mother with her grieving. There are some other characters who don’t fit within the gender norms!

Now let me tell you if you are dealing with some trauma and can’t handle very sensitive topics, this manga might not be the one for you. Although it isnt just homophobia and transphobia, it also contains content of sexual harrassment, pedophilia, and suicide. However these topics are not glorified or sexualized. They are trauma of some of the characters and they must learn how to overcome from it individually. However, there is a happy ending for them!! Please let that be known! I enjoyed reading it if sobbing your heart out counts as enjoying it, because it has indeed pulled my heart strings (although I am not a trans woman, I am a trans guy and I can identify with only some of the things Marika goes through, as trans women go through different experiences than trans men and have it harder on them.)

3. Hourou Musuko (Wandering Son) by Takako Shimura

This manga is one of the most well known mangas realistically depicting trans identity. It became popular when an anime adaptation came out! However the anime adaptation only covers the middle school part of our protagonists lives, however it encourages you to read the manga to find out what happens to them and their life! We have two protagonists. Shuichi who identifies as a girl, and Yoshino who identifies as a boy. Shuichi is the primary protagonist while Yoshino serves as a secondary protagonist.

This manga also realistically depicts how hard it is for transfeminine people to come out and be themselves while transmasculine people seem to have it easier (dont clown on this dear fuck). We have lesbian, gay, and genderfluid characters galore! Although they do have some touchy topics like transmisogyny and transphobia in general, it is less heavier than Bokura no Hentai.

Some people might not like the outcome of this story when it comes to Yoshino, however I am content with it because it shows that people should be able to explore their gender identity, and they are welcome to change it anytime as they see fit. Sometimes you won’t figure out your identity if you don’t explore.

4. Shimanami Tasagore / Our Dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani

Also one of the more well known ones, the mangaka of this beautiful story is X-gender and asexual! It follows the protagonist, Tasuku is contemplating suicide as rumors circulate that he is gay at his highschool (he is). He sees a woman jumping off a building nearby and runs to her aid. Her name is Anonymous/Somebody and she sees herself is asexual but other than that she does not like labels, she invites Tasuku inside the building she just jumped off, which contains a group of exclusively lgbt characters.

We have both trans, lesbian, and gay people. We see their struggles. We see how they overcome it. We see how even we ourselves can harm others even if we’re both lgbt. Of course there is homohpobia, transphobia, etc. however it is all handled perfectly and we get the satisfaction of these characters speaking up for either themselves or for each other. I also love Anonymous simply because she doesn’t like labels and chooses not to use them (excluding the asexual part). Not everyone whos part of the lgbt community has a label, however they are still a part of us!

5. Fukakai na boku no subete o (Fukaboku)/ Love me for who I am by Konayama Kata

Fukaboku is a very special manga to me, as it goes in depth on gender identity and sexuality. There are two protagonists, Tetsu who is a cis guy and supposedly straight (we later find out that he is not), and Mogumo, who is both intersex and nonbinary.

Tetsu works as a chef at Question Cafe, and everyone employed in fanlations are called girlyboys, however in the official translation they use otokonoko which is anyone crossdressing as a girl regardless of their gender. There are plenty of transwomen, gay people, etc.! Tetsu falls in love with Mogumo, so he isn’t straight, however he isn’t explicitly gay because he recognizes Mogumo as what they identify as, nonbinary. It is safe to say that he could either be pan, bi, omni, etc. however we can’t confirm since it hasn’t been explicitly stated.

We learn how transfeminine people have certain struggles, like shoes that dont fit them, breasts, and voice feminization. We also have a dose of family struggles when it comes to Mogumo in later/current chapters.

Before you dm me, yes. Yes I know about the shit prequel. The prequel actually features a gay couple in fukaboku. I have read it. Reluctantly even if it was only 24 pages. However just because the prequel is shit does not mean we should cancel Fukaboku. There is a thing called being critical of the content you’re enjoying. If we treated it like cancel y because of x, then things like persona 4 and danganronpa would be cancelled, but lets not get into that.

6. Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku by Umi Takase

I haven’t heard of this one as much as I have the others, so I was very much pleased when I heard about this! There are two protagonist (yes there are a lot of lgbt mangas with two protags I’ve noticed too), Hime and Akira. Hime has a crush on Akira, who identifies as a girl. However this manga is also realistic, as Akira doesn’t fully ‘pass’ as a girl herself. Hime wants to do anything she can to help Akira feel comfortable on her first day of school wearing a girl’s uniform. Because of Akira being made fun of, Hime shows up to school in Akira’s male uniform to help Akira in solidarity.

Their teachers are fully aware of Akira’s situation, however instead of discriminating her they accept her. Their homeroom teacher helps Hime overcome her internal problem about lashing out at others who try to befriend Akira, and she slowly realizes that just because people can’t accept Akira straight away, they will slowly get used to her and come to terms with the fact that Akira is trans in their own time rather than have it being forced on them.

Hime and Akira make friends slowly and we see that even little things (like calling Akira cute and/or a girl) helps Akira, even if theyre small things we dont usually notice. Hime also struggles with her crush as she sees Akira as a girl, yet she cant accept the fact that shes attracted to girls.

Although Akira doesnt feel the same way as Hime does, she doesnt just like her as a friend, but also not as a lover either. Its safe to say that these two have a quasiplatonic relationship with each other.

7. Yuzu no Koto by Arai Shou

I have noticed that there are plenty of mangas with transfeminine characters as the focus, rather than transmasculine, so heres one for the transmasculines! Ichigo’s best friend Yuzu comes back to school, however he is enrolling as a boy! It is very humorous as Ichigo tries to understand and get used to her best friend’s new identity. Although it is slow as each chapter is a single page, it is hinted that Yuzu has a crush on Ichigo (or if thats just me squinting really hard).

8. Ohana Holoholo by Torino Shino

It is a story about two bi women who are ex-girlfriends, raising one of the women’s baby together as a little family! There is also an idol/actor who helps them out and visits them occassionally! If you want something warming and wholesome, this is the manga for you!!

9. My Androgynous Boyfriend by Tamekou

Wako, a woman who works for a publishing company is in a relationship with an androgynous/genderless man! Her boyfriend wears dresses, makeup, and is an instagram model! It is not necessarily treated as crossdressing. It is handled pretty well, and the chemistry between Wako and her boyfriend is very strong. They both love each other so much and help each other with their hobbies and interests. This is what a loving and healthy relationship is supposed to look like!!

10. Inside Mari by Shuzo Oshimi

It is debatable if this is actually considered lgbt, considered the circumstances, however I put it on this list because it shows how mental illnesses and disorders really feel to the person whos suffering from it. Please read throughout this whole section to understand why.

Inside Mari is about a man named Isao who stalks this young girl named Mari. He follows her back outside of a little convenience store, but when she turns back and looks at him he wakes up inside her body and doesn’t know how to cope with it. He tries to find Mari while putting on a facade and living as her. He meets a girl named Yori who instantly recognizes that Isao isn’t actually Mari from his mannerisms. This girl has had a crush on Mari, just like Isao. Isao tries to prove to Yori that he switched bodies, and when he goes to his apartment, he finds someone living as him, but it isn’t Mari.

The more we delve into this manga, the more we figure out exactly what happened to Mari and Isao. As Isao and Yori visit and retrace his steps, Isao gets flashbacks to memories of Mari. Isao soon realizes that he isn’t actually the real Isao, but a introject of Isao, and that Mari actually has DID because of childhood trauma. The ending is bittersweet, as Mari comes back but Isao unfortunately becomes dormant/disappears since I don’t think what happened was them merging.

11. Seibetsu "Mona Lisa" No Kimi He by Yoshimura Tsumuji

In the world, people can choose what gender they want to be when they’re 12. When they’re 14 their appearance corresponds to their gender. Hinase however, is 18 years old and they still haven’t chosen a gender. They prefer to be neither. However when their two best friends suddenly confess to them, their hormonal development suddenly starts to increase.

Imagery and symbolism is very clear in this manga!! As we revolve around the color blue/cyan and the debate and interpretations of Mona Lisa’s gender. I’m very hopeful that Hinase will stay as nonbinary rather than choosing a gender, simply because both of their best friends confessed and asked them to become the opposite gender to be with them. It is very much hinted that Hinase will be in a romantic relationship with their male best friend however. I love this manga simply because the protagonist doesn’t want to identify as either male nor female.

12. Jun And Kaoru: Pure And Fragrant by Neiki Zui

Jun and Kaoru have a special condition, by midnight they both switch genders. Because they both have this condition, they hang out with each other and help each other with clothing, etc. It should be addressed that these two do not have the “I wish to be a girl/boy” etc. The problem that they have though is their growing crush on each other. They are either genderqueer, or genderfluid, or whatever you prefer since it isn’t directly stated within the manga. They’re not cis or straight! It is a very fun and comedic love story and I wish to see further updates on it!!!

13. Sakura-Chan to Amane-Kun by Asazuki Norito

This story revolves around Sakura who identifies as a girl and Amane who identifies as a boy. Amane spots Sakura dressed as a girl and instantly recognizes her, however instead of belittling her he asks her out on a date, only if she goes as a girl. During school however, they have to pretend to be the gender theyre assigned with while not interacting with each other.

Since there is a lot more but I dont want to break tumblr, I will be making a part 2 and I’ll post it tomorrow!

#lgbt #lgbt manga #manga #lgbtq #lgbtq manga #trans #gay #my post #long post #i enjoy doing stuff like this #prolly because its how i found out i was bigender

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golbrocklovely · 5 years

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only the lonely survive // colby brock - chapter twenty: so filthy, dialed desire, swallowed pride but spit out fire

A/N: first off, super sorry that this is late. i took a really long nap lol in case you are wondering why i didn’t post yesterday and instead i’m posting today, i have moved my writing schedule for wednesdays and thursdays (and then the occassional one off random day when i fill out request). tuesdays just weren’t working for me. anyway, please let me know what you think of this story so far. i’d love to hear what you have to say. i’ll be posting another chapter of Twisted tomorrow and tonight i’m gonna try to fill out some request. okay, see yall later :)

description of the story

taglist: @ajosieface , @localsleeper , @julyrubyrose , @far-to-many-bands , @absolute-randomness-forever

trigger warning: light smut, cursing, drinking, partying, talks of virginity

word count: 2036

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DAY 11/14

"What's up you guys, it's Skye here. And for today's video I'm gonna do a get ready with me slash q and a. I asked you guys on twitter to ask me some questions, so I figured I would answer some while I get ready." I shrugged, staring into the camera.

"I'm going to a party tonight with some friends. It's very last minute so this might have to be a very fast get ready with me." I snorted, pulling out my makeup.

I laid everything out and looked down at all of my choices. Glancing behind me, I looked at my outfit I was planning to wear.

"So for tonight, I'm gonna be wearing this black velvet skirt, which has pockets. God bless." I giggled, "And then I'm gonna wear this grey, key-hole cut top, and black thigh boots."

I slowly started to apply my makeup, starting with some foundation. "Let's see what the first question is..."

I scrolled through my replies on twitter, screenshoting a bunch. "Well, as guessed, the number one question is am I dating Colby?"

I sighed, patting my foundation on more. "No, I'm not dating Colby. We're really good friends and we're super close. I know some of you saw that post that was going around about me, Colby, Brennen, and Casey. We literally hang out all the time together. We're all just friends, y'all."

As I moved on to my eyeshadow look, I saw another question. "’How did you and Colby meet?’"

"Casey has been friends with all the Trap House boys for a while, and me and her have been friends for a couple years now. We decided to take a trip out to LA for a bit as a graduation gift to ourselves, and she surprised me by telling me she's friends with all of them. I met Corey first, and then I was introduced to everyone else right afterwards." I admitted, trying not to ruin the eye look.

I scrolled a little bit further down, coming across he who must not be named. I rolled my eyes. "Someone asked 'do you still hate Travis Marcus?'"

I paused, swiping away the fallout from the eyeshadow. "I never hated him. I still don't hate him. I do think he fucked up by making fun of me, and he hasn't apologized to me since he lied about the whole situation. I don't really want an apology. I'm done talking about it, to be honest. I wish him the best, but I'm done with him."

I cleared my throat, applying my blush and highlight quickly. I then looked at my makeup in the mirror next to my camera. "I think... I'm about done with this look. I don't really wear too much makeup to begin with. I'm gonna answer one more question and then I gotta go."

I grabbed my phone, searching through my replies again. A message popped up from Colby with a bing.

Colby: can't wait to see you tonight

I smiled, glancing up at the camera quickly. I finally stopped on another question. "Oh! This is a fun one: 'Will you go on a XPLR trip with Sam and Colby?' Um, no plans yet. However, I'm so down. I love exploring and going to spooky places, so I'm ready whenever they are."

"I think that wraps up everything for this video. Thank you to everyone that asked me questions. Thank you for all the new people that are following me. I appreciate you so much and you mean a lot to me. Hope you all have a good day, and I'll see you next time. Bye!" I waved at the camera for a moment, then reached over and turned it off.

"Are you ready, Skye?!" Casey yelled through my door.

I rolled my eyes, smirking. "Almost! Just gotta change!"

/ / / /

"Who's party is this anyways?" I yelled at Casey as we walked past the speakers.

"Uh... no clue. I think it's just some random influencer that invited everyone they could." She replied, linking arms with me as we walked to the backyard of the house.

House... more like mansion...

We shuffled through crowds of people, finally making it to the back. We spotted Colby and Brennen sitting on a lounge chair together next to the pool. They both waved at us as we strutted over.

"Hi baby. Oh... Casey you're here too." Brennen smirked, as he gave me a quick hug.

Casey's face twisted up as she slapped his arm hard. "That's not funny."

Brennen winced, covering his arm. "It was a joke, woman! You know you're my only baby."

He embraced her, placing his mouth against her ear and whispering something to her. Her face relaxed back into a light smile.

Colby pulled me into his lap. Turning my face to his, I wrapped an arm around his shoulder and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Hi Colby."

Colby smiled softly as his arms slid around me, pulling me closer to him. "Hey. I was wondering when you would get here."

"Sorry it took a while. Uber got lost on the way." I whispered.

Colby nodded his head and kissed up my neck. He then buried his face into me, nipping at my skin.

"Colby, stop." I giggled, pulling away from him.

He laughed. "What? Am I not allowed to kiss you?"

I looked into his eyes, noticing how they slowly looked me over. He bit his lip while he stared.

"How drunk are you?" I smirked.

He gasped dramatically. "I've only had one drink. Why? Do I look drunk?"

"Maybe a bit. I only assumed because you're being a little... grabby with me." I responded.

"You just look so sexy, I can't help it." He shrugged smugly.

"'Sexy', huh?" I questioned jokingly.

He brought his mouth to my ear, so only I could hear him. "Good enough to taste."

A shiver ran down my spine. My nails dug into his shoulder for a second. "Colby..."

"What?" He smiled innocently. His eyes bore into mine and I couldn't look away.

"Um... I need a drink. I'm gonna go get one." I stammered, sliding off his lap.

"Okay, babe. Come back soon." He stated.

I nodded my head and slowly walked away. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm down my heart.

That boy is gonna be the death of me.

I strolled into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of vodka, pouring a shot and taking it quickly. I needed to take the edge off but didn't really feel like drinking. Cleaning out the solo cup, I filled it with water and gulped it down. My skin felt hot under my clothes, a heat waving down my body. Once I felt sort of calm, I sighed.

Two hands grasped my waist from behind, spinning me around. Lips landed on mine instantly, taking my breath away. I could feel the ring-cladded hands slide down and grip my hips. I smiled into the kiss and pulled Colby's body closer. My hands tightened their hold on his forearms. He bit my lip as he stepped back.

"Sorry... I needed to do that." He mumbled, his voice breathy.

I felt my heart beat speed up. A growing want settled in my mind and body. I needed him. Right now.

Should I do this?

"Fuck it." I grunted.

I clutched Colby's wrist and dragged him to the nearest bathroom. I yanked the door opened, pulling him inside and slamming the door shut.

Colby laughed. "What are you-"

I cut off Colby with my lips, wrapping my arms around him and gripping his hair. He moaned against my mouth and pressed me up against the counter. His hands slid down my thighs as he hoisted me up onto the counter. I immediately wrapped my legs around him, pushing my body into his. His tongue slipped into my mouth, his fingers dancing along my sides. A moan escaped my mouth as he bit my lip teasingly. A hand slithered up my back and into my hair, tugging. My head fell back, and he began to attack my neck with his tongue and teeth, leaving wet marks up and down my throat.

"Fuck, Colby." I gasped.

He smirked against my skin. My hands wandered up the front of his shirt, caressing his torso. His lips left my neck for a moment as he ripped his shirt off, pushing himself back into me. Our lips attached again, my legs wrapped around his hips. My fingertips dug into his shoulders and waist as we started to grind against each other. His hands pushed up my skirt, making sure I was as close as possible.

My breath hitched in my throat as he slid a finger up my thigh and started rubbing my clit.

"You're so wet." He hissed.

I nodded. "All for you."

He bit his lip, his finger slipping away. He groaned as he stopped his movements slowly.

"What are you doing?" I whined, breathing heavy

He sighed. "I'm sorry. I know... I instigated this. But... we can't do this."

"Why?" I asked, my legs falling off his hips.

"I don't want our first time to be in a bathroom at a random party. As much as we both want it right now, I'd rather not do it here." Colby admitted, keeping his head down.

Our first time... my first time...

"Right." I cleared my throat. "...Okay."

"You're not mad?" He questioned, glancing up at me.

I smirked. "Frustrated... sexually. But not mad."

He chuckled. "Good. I would hate for you to be mad at me."

I leaned forward, kissing him sweetly. "How could I ever?"

/ / / /

After our almost first time in the bathroom, we calmed down and went back to the party. We spent the rest of the time chilling with Casey and Brennen. We all called it a night early, deciding the party wasn't as interesting as it had seemed to be.

Casey and I got home, changed, and ordered pizza. We sat in the kitchen, eating immediately.

"That party was such a bust." I remarked, biting into my slice.

She agreed. "I'm surprised it was that boring. Most LA parties I've been to are so much fun."

I paused for a moment, needing to open up. "Me and Colby almost had sex tonight."

Casey choked on her pizza slightly. "What? Where is this coming from? Subtlety just isn't your strong suit, huh?"

"What? I need to talk about it!" I exclaimed, giggling.

"Well, why didn't you have sex?" She inquired.

"He stopped us before we could."

"Again?"

"...Yeah. He said he didn't want our first time to be in a bathroom at a party. Which I understand." I replied.

Casey raised an eyebrow at me, putting her pizza down. "Our first... you haven't told him you're a virgin?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because.... I just can't." I sighed, continuing. "What if he finds out and backs out of it? Or thinks I'm weird for being one at twenty-three?"

"Out of all the boys in the universe to be that douchey, Colby would not even fall in the same category. You know he's not gonna judge you." Casey stated.

"I don't think he is like that, but in a worse case scenario, he could be. I can't take that chance. I care about him too much for this minor detail to fuck up everything." I grumbled.

"Why would you want to be with someone that would do that to you though?" Casey responded.

"I know Colby isn't gonna be like that, regardless of if I tell him or not. But I can't. I'm embarrassed enough about it as it is. Besides, it's not that big of a deal." I insisted.

"He might want to know." She mumbled.

"Well, if he asks... I'll tell him. But otherwise, he won't know." I said.

"Are you ever gonna tell him?" She questioned, leaning on the counter.

I shrugged. "Maybe one day."

"You do realize we're gonna be leaving soon? If you plan to have sex with him, you might want to do it ASAP." She chuckled, walking out of the kitchen.

Fuck... she's right.

<< CHAPTER 19 || CHAPTER 21 >>

#colby brock #brennen taylor #colby brock smut #colby brock fanfic #colby brock fanfiction #colby brock x oc #colby brock story #colby brock fluff #colby brock fic #only the lonely survive

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mrslittletall · 6 years

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Title: A nightly talk (Dark Souls Short Story 6) Fandom: Dark Souls Characters: Dragon Slayer Ornstein, Lord’s Blade Ciaran Word count: 1.502 AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13722741/chapters/32387517

This piece is kinda a continuation of this one: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/171460684039/title-the-heritage-fandom-dark-souls-characters But you don’t need to read it to understand this chapter. Summary: Ciaran finds Ornstein late at night and wonders what he is doing.

Ciaran enjoyed the nighttime. Her job as an assassin often would be done in the dark, so she felt right at home in the night. She enjoyed the stillness and the calm of the night, wandering the cathedral of Anor Londo, only coming along the occassional silver knight on night patrol. Even though most of the lights weren't lit by now, a few of them still burned and provided some more light. Not that she needed that light. She could see in the dark just fine, being so used to work in it. And while most people were amazed by the sight of the cathedral shining golden in the light, Ciaran always thought the dark version looked a lot more stunning. She often wandered around, taking in the sight and the calm of the night before heading to bed. Normally so late nobody expect the patrolling silver knights would be out anymore, so she was surprised when she saw a figure sitting on the stairs leading to the trophy room.

Ciaran carefully approached the figure but once she spotted that bright red ponytail she instantly knew who it was. What was Ornstein doing in the middle of the night here? He was dressed in some linen clothes, coloured green which did go well with his eyes of the same colour and was a nice contrast to his red hair. He also had some paper with him, stabilized by a book and appeared to be drawing on it. Ciaran herself was still wearing her armour set. Seeing that Ornstein had took the time to change into different clothes implied that he actually had been planning to end his day. She did get closer and sat down next to him.

"What are you doing?"

Ornstein startled at her voice, he seemed to have been very engrossed in his work. When he noticed that Ciaran sat beside his side, he stopped and answered: "Drawing?"

Well, if that wasn't obvious. She asked further: "Outside of your room?"

"The light here is better.", Ornstein answered. "I don't need to light a candle out here."

"It's the middle of the night?"

"I couldn't sleep well."

Ciaran sighed: "That still didn't answer why you are sitting out here in the middle of night drawing. Do I have to pull every single word out of you?"

"Well, maybe you should have been more specific.", Ornstein grumbled. "Artorias put a thought into my head earlier and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I thought drawing about it could help." He put his attention back on his drawing.

Ciaran wanted to know what he was drawing and took a look at the paper.

"The path of the dragon? That is an ancient practice. Nobody does this anymore. ... I guess you are partially responsible for this." She gave Ornstein a little nudge: "Right, dragon slayer?"

"Ciaran, now I made a mistake.", Ornstein said, sounding a bit irritated. "Now I have to start anew." He grabbed a fresh piece of paper which gave Ciaran now enough time to look at the drawing in detail.

"I don't think they had wings that large.", she said. "How should they be able to fly? They were said to resemble dragons, not being exactly like dragons."

"Fine, I make the wings smaller.", Ornstein said. "But they had tails and horns, right? Or did I draw the tail too long too?"

"I don't know that much about the path of the dragon. Like I said this is an ancient practice.", Ciaran admitted. "But judging from your picture you let them put their weight on the toes. When they are really walking like that they definitely need a tail for balance reasons. Why are you exploring the path of the dragon anyway? Seems widly ironic for you."

Ornstein spent a moment to put the finished touches on the drawing of the drake like figure, then put the pencil down: "I told you that Artorias put a thought in my head, right? He implied that I could have a dragon heritage."

"And where did Artorias get this idea? You are not looking like a hybrid to me.", Ciaran said.

"My teeth.", Ornstein said and showed the ones that looked like little fangs. "He based it from there and it actually made a lot of sense." He raised his hand again and started a second drawing right next to the first one.

"Wait, you are telling me these things are natural? I always thought you had sharpened them yourself to look more menacing. Which isn't the case by the way."

Ornstein put the pencil down and looked at Ciaran with a frown: "Ciaran, should I be offended by this or take it as a compliment?"

"Whatever you want.", she said with a smirk that couldn't be seen beneath her mask.

"I have the feeling I know exactly which face you are making right now.", Ornstein grumbled and took the pencil up again.

"But just by looking at your teeth he came up with dragon? Cats have teeth like this too and you remind me of a cat anyway. So maybe you just have a cat heritage? This also fits very well with your lion armour."

"Ciaran, by that logic Artorias would be a dog!"

That gave her an idea: "Oooh, could you draw Artorias as a dog?"

"What, wearing his armour set and all?", Ornstein said, scratching his head. But then he provided anyway on a fresh piece of paper. Ciaran glanced at the unfinished second drawing next to the drake. This figure looked a lot more humanoid but still had a tail, horns, claws, a full row of sharp teeth and some scales.

"Oh, I get it.", she concluded. "Artorias is thinking you could have some ancestors that walked the path of the dragon."

"Correct.", Ornstein nodded, not looking up from his drawing. She was under the impression he had actually fun doing this.

"But still...", Ciaran started. "It doesn't exactly have to be a dragon heritage. Who knows what people prayed to earlier? Maybe there was some cat deity around that got lost in history."

"Really? You think there were cat people around? Did they intimidate their foes with cuteness or what? Of course that would work with Artorias." He had finished the drawing and gave it to Ciaran. She was actually impressed. The drawn dog really resembled Artorias, he was shown excitedly panting and wagging his tail. And he even wore Artorias armour set in a dog version. "That's so cute...", she said.

"I guess even Artorias would like it. But I bet he would ask me to draw the other ones as animals too then." Ornstein picked up the drawing with the hybrids again and finished the second figure on it, then started a third.

Ciaran had let herself got distracted. "Wait, we were talking about something completely different!", she called out. "Cat hybrids."

"Yes and I was asking you if they planned to intimidate their foes with cuteness.", Ornstein said. The third figure took shape and now looked almost completely humanoid but still had some horns and large fangs.

"I doesn't have to be a house cat.," she admitted. "I was thinking about something bigger. Like a lion for example. After all, you are wearing armour designed after a lion and it looks very menacing."

"I can get behind this.", Ornstein took a new piece of paper and started another drawing.

"But why are you so worked up about this anyway? Why don't you just ask your parents about your ancestors?", Ciaran asked.

Ornstein stopped for a brief moment and shook his head: "... not possible."

Ciaran winced: "I am sorry, I didn't want to evoke bad memories..." She wondered if she just had found out why he was the dragon slayer.

"Don't worry about it. I have been over this for a long time now.", he said. He had finished his sketch and showed it to Ciaran: "Do you meant something like this?" The drawing showed a menacing looking lion warrior complete with mane, claws and teeth. "Exactly.", she said.

Ornstein was out of paper now. He put the book and the pencil down and stretched. "I think this really helped. Thanks for keeping me company, Ciaran."

"Oh, that wasn't any trouble. I like to stay up late anyway.", she said. "And let me say just one thing about this topic. It doesn't matter what your heritage is as long as you are happy with who you turned out to be."

Ornstein looked a bit surprised. She didn't even blame him. She normally wasn't the type for this kind of words. Then he smiled at her: "Thanks Ciaran, I'll keep that in mind." He stood up and started to collect his belongings. Ciaran looked at the drawing of dog Artorias she still held in her hands. "Can I keep this...?", she asked.

"Yes, of course.", Ornstein said. "Good night, Ciaran."

"Good night, Ornstein. And thanks..." This time a genuine smile had formed under her mask.

(Author’s note: Lately I was thinking about exploring Ciaran more so this chapter is written in her POV for once. I like to think that she is a night owl and often makes snarky comments.)

#littlewritesstuff #dark souls #dragon slayer ornstein #lord's blade ciaran #fanfiction #short story #uh this aren't short stories anymore...#I hope you enjoy

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jerepars · 6 years

Text

The Con Extended Chapter Notes

Hyperlinks appear in blue (underlined on mobile). The story is posted here. Direct link to this chapter is here.

> “Well, is this a new thing or an old thing?” Veronica supplied a starter question.

> “A bit of both, I guess. I had a huge crush on him when I left Riverdale. And then this summer, when I saw him, all those crush feelings came rushing back.” I got the floaty fluttering of butterflies in my stomach just speaking of my feelings out loud. “Then I found out he was moving here. Then I found out he was moving into my building. It all just kind of encircled me.”

I don't think I've made any reference to "The Con", the song by Tegan and Sara, since Chapter 2 ("The Plan"). We're now at the point in the story where the parts of the song that inspired me to name the story after it will begin to pop up more. One of the lines that's repeated several times in the latter part of the song is encircle me, I need to be taken down.

I do understand the context that the line is being used in within the song, and that might come back around later in the story. But for now, we've got Betty admitting to being encircled by her feelings. Tegan and Sara have mentioned a bunch of different times that the original name for the song was actually "Encircle Me" and was later re-named as the title track for the album The Con.

> “Oh my God, swoon. You just got Disney Princess heart eyes,” Veronica cooed. “You are so smitten. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this about anyone.”

> “I’ve known him for so long and I do feel like I really know him,” I said. “Lately it feels like…like maybe he could have some of the same feelings. And maybe we could have something that I thought would never happen.”

Here's an instance when I realized I was making a reference to a song literally as I was writing the sentence. Part of the chorus in "Attention" by The Academy Is... goes: Oh, did I mention when I see you it stings like hell? To the fact that we could have something that'll never happen.

Back in the notes for Chapter 5 ("The Sleepover") I said that I was hoping I'd get to reference Academy somehow, someway during the story, because they were a Chicago band. This time I wasn't even thinking about any of their songs, it just happened. I inadvertently put myself on a total nostalgia trip, too, because I remember referencing the same song--much more directly, actually--in a story I wrote over ten years ago. Wild.

> “Oh, Betty.” Veronica shook her head pensively. “As much as I love the idea of you pulling one over on him, and as much as it sounds like he’s got some seriously repressed feelings for you, I don’t want you to end up hurt if this goes badly. Please be careful.”

> Be careful. Those were the same precautionary words Jellybean had warned me with when the con was in its infancy, before I’d gotten in so deep.

I'm always going to back-reference to things that happened earlier in the story. In Chapter 3 ("The Fireworks"), when Jellybean revealed to Betty that she knew what was going on, she warned Betty to be careful. Even in Chapter 4 ("The Robots"), when Betty and Jughead have breakfast together, the chapter ends with him warning her about whatever game she's playing.

> For Trev and myself, preparation for the holiday shows would be grueling just as the preparation for the autumn program had been. The year before, for the inaugural season with the new Nutcracker, the company had begun the piece from scratch, with only a one-page synopsis of the story and our choreographer’s vision. We’d worked on The Nutcracker from the very start of dance season in August through December. Since it was no longer rubbing two sticks together and hoping they caught fire, and haven taken the time to premiere Giselle for the autumn program, it was back to the usual approach of rehearsing The Nutcracker from November until the first performance in December, with few full-on rehearsals through December. I was thrilled about the parts I’d been cast for; a pas de deux in the Spanish Dance, one of four dancers in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, as an understudy for the Arabian Dance and a Snow soloist, and corps roles as a Snowflake (of course) and fair worker. But it would be no easy feat. For most dance companies, Nutcracker time was (maybe ironically) crunch time. We never worked harder under such unforgiving time constraints than during the holidays.

In the chapter notes for Chapter 6 ("The Minutes"), I talked about the Joffrey Ballet's "new" Nutcracker and linked a few articles about how it was reimagined and how it's different from a classic Nutcracker, so maybe check that out. If you want.

When I was doing my research, looking through the program for Giselle, I noticed that one of the pages was an advertisement for a documentary on Joffrey's new Nutcracker to air on WTTW, the local PBS affiliate in Chicago. Knowing that this chapter was coming up, I thought to myself that I might as well wait to see the documentary. So I did! I even took notes so I could write the paragraph quoted above. And you can watch it too if for some reason you want to spend an hour learning about the new production. The documentary is called Making a New American Nutcracker and it's streaming on the WTTW website. Want to make a Riverdale connection? For all the Skeet Ulrich fans out there, it's narrated by Neve Campbell, who played Skeet's/Billy's girlfriend in Scream. Six degrees of separation with Skeet? You bet.

I found the casting sheets from 2016 and, oh boy, it was really hard to decide what roles to put Betty in beyond the corps roles. But I definitely wanted her to be in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (one male dancer is Buffalo Bill and the three other dancers are women). As described in the documentary, it replaces what is usually the Russian Dance, but it's danced to Tchaikovsky's score that is used for the Russian Dance. There's some kind of humor in there, man. I like it.

> As for Kevin, he would be on the earliest non-red eye flight back to LA in the morning. He had a master class to teach that same day and rehearsal for a performance at the American Music Awards after that. He was just as busy as a dancer in a company, if not even busier. I was thankful that Kevin still managed to make time for me when he was in town and that our close friendship continued beyond our adolescence. There were no hard feelings that he never made it to any of the Giselle performances because he had his own life and success to tend to, and I was so proud of him.

This is Kevin's second appearance in the story, and his last. I wish he could have been in it more but it was more important to me not to relegate his role as just the gay best friend who occassionally provides comic relief. The comic relief he provides on Riverdale is great, yes, but we're now six episodes into the second season and I'm still wondering where Kevin's major arc is. I don't think he should be just a placeholder.

That's exactly why when he was introduced in Chapter 3 ("The Fireworks"), Betty spent some time talking about him--his life, his career, his success--rather than just the role he plays in her life. Keeping that in mind, I did want Kevin to make one more appearance in the story, briefly, squeezing a little bit of time for Betty into his schedule (and not the other way around), amidst all the good things that are happening in his busy life.

> “Thanks. You’re the best, Arch. I know you’ll be great tonight.” I leaned in and shifted onto my toes so that I could kiss him on the cheek. As was customary in ballet, I whispered my good luck wish to him, “Merde.”

I came across this quite a few times while doing research for the story. It's bad luck to say "good luck", and because breaking a leg is a possibility during ballet performance, ballet dancers don't wish each other well by saying "break a leg" either. The term merde, the French word for 'shit', is what dancers say before a performance instead. There are differing views on why that slang is used.

> I grabbed my coat off the back of my chair to shield me from the early November evening and slid my phone and card case into one of the pockets—I’d need my ID to get back into the bar after. I turned back to my friends and mouthed a ‘sorry’ as Jughead and I walked toward the door. Trev merely shrugged but Kevin gave me goofy grin and added a wink for good measure.

> I followed Jughead outside and we didn’t stop until we were standing in the doorway of the storefront across from the bar. It was a hair salon that, according to the hours listed in the window, closed at five every afternoon. The salon had bay windows, which made for a wide doorway that was lit by a solitary fluorescent motion-detecting light.

There is, in fact, a salon across the street from Schubas. And if you enlarged the image of the storefront using Google Maps, you'd see that the bay windows create a wide entryway in the shape of a trapezoid. What am I doing with my life looking this stuff up?

> It felt good to insult him to his face after finding out just what he thought about me liking him. I’d really started to believe that he might have a thing for me, too. At the very least I thought he genuinely cared about my well-being. But none of it was true. And once again my crystal vision was so wrong. My fate with him wasn’t like those girls like Sabrina. It was worse—it was nonexistent—and he had made sure of it. As quickly as he’d made my heart swell, he yanked it out of my chest, threw it on the ground, and stomped all over it with his combat boots.

The line about Betty's crystal vision is a quick little back-reference to her mention of crystal vision in Chapter 6 ("The Minutes"), which as I mentioned in the notes for that chapter, is actually a reference to Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams".

> Oh, I was counting on it. I was absolutely livid. There would be no complaints on my part if Chic wanted to use his overprotective older brother card for justice against his beanie-wearing cad of a best friend. In fact, I would gladly help him. Chic could pour the gasoline and I would light the match.

I debated with myself whether or not this was the right moment to use some of Alice's lines from 2x01. I wondered if using the "beanie-wearing cad" term was too distracting here, if it brought humor into an otherwise serious and tense moment. But then I thought...Betty's definitely got some of Alice's fiery spirit in her. So when she's livid? Well, that probably comes out, with Alice's terminology, too.

#je repars notes

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flying-guinea-pig · 7 years

Text

Season Finale (7/8)

A/N: Only the epilogue left after this. Un-beta'd, as always, so... see any glaring errors, please let me know :) And I may have gone a bit overboard with the zalgo this time. Demons, right?

AO3 link

Link to the previous chapters

Chapter 7: The Final Room

The hallway behind the door was carpeted. It sucked at Elisabeth’s feet, moist and moldy with the discoloration of years. The harsh beam of her flashlight sapped all remaining colour of it, leaving it a dead grey.

“So, Adams, when were you going to mention the bazillion of containment circles woven through the walls?” Alcor said, inspecting the markings.

“Does it matter?” she replied. “Surely they don’t affect you.”

“True,” he said flippantly. Something in his voice wasn’t quite right though. But why should he be worried? Even if his powers were ‘wonky’, as he put it, there wasn’t a binding the infamous Dreambender couldn’t break eventually… was there?

Ding!

“… I’m not even going to ask,” Steve deadpanned.

“My phone is possessed by a demonic virus,” Elisabeth said.

“… sure. Makes total sense.”

“The kid wants to try something, hold on,” Alcor said, and paused to touch her phone to one of the ceiling lights. They flickered on, flooding the corridor with a buzzing electrical glare. “That works! Great, thanks!”

Seems like the Virus needed direct contact to influence the electronics down here. Whatever magic had warded this place, she wanted to learn it. How did it keep the Virus locked up in her phone? Not to mention Alcor himself…

“The Alcor Virus is your ‘kid’?” she said, following Steve through the hallway. It didn’t look as threatening with the lights on, at least.

Steve froze, eyes wide. “I did not just hear that.”

“What? Are the ghosts back?”

“You said Alcor.”

“Oh. That.”

“I must have misunderstood. Please tell me you didn’t… that he isn’t…”

Alcor gave a friendly little wave, clearly amused. Well, she recognised that expression as amused. From the way Steve’s eyes widened even more, he was probably less focused on the smile and more on the needle-sharp teeth it bared.

“Of course he isn’t,” she said curtly. “He’s Al Star and he’s a normal, human, colleague.”

“Adams I know he isn’t –“

“Do you want plausible deniability or not?”

Steve was silent for a moment as realisation spread over his face. “Oh my god. You’re Mizar.”

“I’m not!” she protested. Why did everyone think that? So she had a weird relationship with the Dreambender and he tried to give her gifts and teased her and occassionally stalked her, that didn’t mean anything!

Right?

She crossed her arms and frowned at Alcor. “I’m not, am I? I would know if I was, yes? You’d tell me if I was!”

He grinned at her. “Are you starting to worry?”

“Depends on how much of Twin Souls is true,” she shot back.

He exaggerated a shiver. “Relax, Adams. Your virtue is safe with me.”

“That’s not much of an answer.”

Alcor’s grin just widened. Typical. He always liked to keep her guessing. One of these days she’d wipe that stupid grin off his face…

Damn it all, of course Steve had to be filming them again. “Really? Stop filming me!”

“No,” the camera guy said.

“That footage is never going to air, you realise.”

“Why?” he challenged. “Are you going to let your demon destroy it?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Maybe I will.”

“Wait,” Alcor said. “What show was this again?”

“Extreme Exorcisms,” Steve said. “You’ve… heard of it?”

“Oh, yeah! It’s not Ghosts Harassers, but it’s pretty okay.”

“I… didn’t know demons watched television.”

They had no taste, either. “You’d be surprised what garbage he likes to watch.”

“Says the person who made me sit through an entire episode of The Why Factor. Half of those people couldn’t even sing.”

“Well, ducks can’t join the police force either!”

He gasped. “Heresy! Ducktective is a classic.”

“Building, M.D is a classic. Nice mystery element, strong overarching plotlines. No talking ducks.”

“Eh, I find the formula gets a bit repetitive after a while,” Alcor said, waggling his hand in a so-so gesture. “You just like doctor Building’s sarcasm.”

“Well, yes. Doesn’t everyone?”

Steve stared at them. “Suuuure,” he deadpanned. “You’re clearly not Mizar at all. Having movie-nights with the freaking Dreambender…”

Elisabeth flushed. “Oh, shut up and keep walking.”

On the left side of the corridor, open doorways loomed as gaping mouths in the fluorescent glow of the lights. A quick glance through them just showed a bunch of round, metal containers, their labels faded. At the right was blank wall, featureless except for the tiny etched runes in yet another tight array of containment spells. If only she had the time to study them properly! From the way they were written they seemed to focus inward… What lay on the other side of this wall?

The door up ahead slammed open and two people stumbled out. There was no mistaking that stark-white hair, now mussed and grimy, or Francesca’s wild curls. The latter were sticky with blood.

Tenney was supporting his co-host, who was bleeding heavily from a gash on her forehead. They brightened when they noticed Steve and her.

“Thank goodness,” Tenney said, voice still smooth although slightly out of breath. “We were just trying to find you. Something – excuse me, I don’t believe we’ve met?”

“This is Al Star. He works with me,” Elisabeth said. Technically true.

Steve gave his boss a look. “You’re not surprised to see a stranger just pop up down here?”

“I’m sure there’s a delightful reason for it,” Tenney said. “But right now, Steve, I’d like your first-aid kit. Frannie’s head is bleeding quite badly. Get some close-ups while you’re at it.”

“It’s okay,” Francesca said, eyes closed to prevent the blood from getting in. “Head wounds always bleed a lot. If we have some bandages…”

“Nice to meet you, Mr Star,” Tenney said, as Steve put down his camera bag and unearthed some medical supplies. He didn’t offer his hand.

Alcor peered at him, then blinked. “Oh,” he said. “It’s you.”

“You’re familiar with my show?” Tenney raised an eyebrow. “Or have we met before?”

“Not in this lifetime,” Alcor said, with an unsettling grin. “Or you’d know. I’m pretty unforgettable.”

“That’s the cheesiest pick-up line I ever heard,” Elisabeth said, to Alcor’s sputtering. “Where is that other camera guy?” She wanted out of here, so the quicker they found their missing members, the better.

“We have names, you know,” Steve muttered. She rolled her eyes at him. Way to miss the point, Steve.

Tenney frowned. “What was I saying – ah, yes. Something has happened to Ms Merrick. She attacked us with a knife when we tried to lead her back upstairs. Flint went after her, but I fear the poor girl has very much lost her mind.”

“You have no idea,” Elisabeth said, darkly. “She’s possessed.”

“By a ghost?” Francesca asked, looking up blearily from where she was holding the compress tightly against the wound. The lines in her face tightened when she saw Alcor.

Great. Everyone seemed to know. Ugh, things never worked out the way she intended, did they? During her final year in demonology she tried everything to make people see ‘Evergreen’ as the demon he was. This time he didn’t even look like the Dreambender at all! No one imagined Alcor as a gangly redhead. He had freckles! But nooo, now everyone saw through his disguise.

Okay, so maybe her ‘he came by helicopter’ excuse had been a bit thin. Still. It would have been nice for things to go her way for once.

“No, by a demon,” Steve said. “Apparently.”

“Xuerus?”

“Most likely,” Elisabeth said. “We came across an active binding circle. April disturbed it, and ran off.”

“That isn’t proof she’s possessed,” Francesca said, feebly. “She could be panicking –“

“I know what I saw.” That hadn’t been panic. That smile... She glanced at Alcor. “We should keep moving.”

“Very well,” Tenney said, and gave her an expectant look. “What is our plan, Ms Adams? You’re our expert. How do we save her?”

They were all looking at her now. Even Steve had his stupid camera pointed at her, eager to catch her reply.

It had to be the camera. She never had a problem handling pressure before. Her throat tightened under the weight of their gazes.

“Get the demon out of her,” she said. And then… they’d see if there was anything left of April. She caught herself touching the spot on her chest that still gave phantom twinges on some sleepless nights. The bodysnatcher was long dead, but the memory of its filth coating her soul remained.

That had been a very low-level demon, a one-trick pony, and she’d still nearly lost herself. Maybe it was already too late for April.

“Obviously,” Tenney said. “Any ideas on how to accomplish such a feat?”

A hand patted her shoulder. Alcor smiled down at her, freakishly tall in his disguise. “I’ll handle that. Just get her to stand still for a moment while I do my thing.”

“… what he said,” Elisabeth said. “We’ve done this before. More or less.”

“At least this Xuerus guy probably can’t jump from host to host,” Alcor grinned. “Should make this easier.”

“Probably?”

“Well, you never know. I have no clue what kind of demon we’re up against.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Maybe a little,” he admitted. “Come on, Adams! A mysterious bunker full of ghosts, a demon locked up for sixty years, disappearing team members – you’ve got to admit it’s exciting.”

Note to self, after this night she was going to find the biggest Twin Souls omnibus, with the most lurid cover picture, and throw it at him.

“This isn’t a jolly little adventure,” she growled. “People are injured! Missing! Turned into a meatsuit!”

“… sorry.”

“Did your demon just apologize?” Steve said. “I swear, Adams, you’re either the best demonologist I know, or the worst.”

That stupid camera was in her face again. He was just as bad as Alcor! “Are you still filming this?”

He shrugged. “What? The show must go on.”

“Please,” Francesca said. “Stop yelling. My head can’t handle it right now.”

“On a subject of missing people, you haven’t seen Katya either, I take it?” Tenney asked.

Alcor turned to Elisabeth. “How many people did you lose?”

“Only three,” she answered. “Two of our camera crew and April.”

“Oh. Well, no matter. I’m a real pro at hide-and-seek. We’ll find them in no time.”

True to his word, it didn’t take much time before they found signs of their missing crew.

There were the remains of a camera on the floor.

“For crying out loud, Flint, that’s expensive equipment,” Tenney muttered.

“Priorities,” Francesca snapped.

Elisabeth tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. It had been growing ever since she heard Flint had ran after April. Chasing demons – without proper training – never ended well.

“Oh,” Alcor said softly. She followed his gaze.

Their flashlights illuminated the bump on the floor, surrounded by bright, bleeding red.

“God,” Steve breathed, and rushed to his side, dropping his camera in the process. “What happened, oh god, he’s bleeding so much – Flint, can you hear me? Flint!“

At Steve’s desperate cries his eyes fluttered open, bloodshot and staring. Bubbles flecked his lips, more appearing as he attempted to speak, but no sound escaped.

“I’m going to be sick,” Francesca gasped, hurrying off to the side and dropping to her knees.

“Can you do anything?” Tenney looked at her, not at the man dying at their feet. “You or… Mr Star?”

“Please,” Steve’s voice was rough and pleading. “You have to do something. C’mon Flint, don’t do this, hold on!”

Elisabeth kneeled next to them while Steve started rooting through his backpack, in search of – well, who knew? A first aid kit wasn’t going to cut it, this time.

Alcor grimaced.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “He’s too far gone. I can’t do this, not without a deal. And a big one.”

“We have a deal already,” she reminded him. “You’d get us out of here. Me and my companions.”

“Safe and unharmed?” He avoided her glare, turning to look at Flint. “You didn’t specify.”

“It was clearly implied!”

“Adams...” He swallowed. “It doesn’t work like that. There are rules, even for me.”

“You’re always breaking the rules! Don’t give me this – this stupid excuse now! Do something!” She angrily wiped her face. “You want a deal? Fine! We’ll make one –“

He went to touch her shoulder, but she shook him off.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “But no. This is the kind of deal only he himself can make. Give me a moment.”

With those words he kneeled next to Flint, his eyes glowing gold for a second before he closed them.

Tenney picked up the camera, fiddled with it for a second, then lowered it again with a sigh. Steve stopped rummaging through his backpack to give Elisabeth a helpless look.

Alcor opened his eyes. There were no new bubbles on Flint’s motionless lips.

“Sorry,” he said, quietly. “He refused.”

“What did you do?” Steve said, voice cracking.

Alcor glanced at Elisabeth. “What our deal demanded. I helped him out of this mess.”

She wanted to hit him. Scream - cry, perhaps, complain how this wasn’t the deal, he was supposed to get them all out safely and alive - but the defeated look on his face stopped her.

Elisabeth was silent. Her legs felt clammy from the blood that had soaked into her pants.

Don't think about it. Move on. Take a deep breath and keep going.

She was not good with deaths.

“Frannie, we need to move on,” Tenney said. “Get your camera, Steve. We have a damsel in distress to save, and restless spirits to release.”

“You cannot be serious,” Francesca said. “This has gone too far, John! We need to leave! We don’t even know where Katya has gone – who cares about the show anymore!”

“We are going to finish what we started,” Tenney said. “This isn’t the first setback we’ve ever had.”

“You – insufferable asshole!” Francesca clenched her fingers. She was swaying where she stood, red seeping through the bandages on her head. “This isn’t comparable to a broken camera! The risks are too high. A few moments ago you wanted to leave! You jumped at the chance to help me back to the boat, even though I said we couldn’t leave anyone behind!”

“That was before we had… reinforcements,” Tenney said. He rubbed his hands. “Steve, you’re up front. Keep that camera rolling. Flint would have wanted it that way.”

“Wow,” Alcor said. “Even I think that’s a bit cold.”

Steve looked torn for a moment, but then shot them an apologetic look and did as Tenney asked.

“No,” Francesca said. “I’m going back to the boat. And I’m taking Flint with me.”

“You’re not fit to walk around a haunted bunker on your own right now, Frannie.”

“Francesca… Please be reasonable,” Steve said. “It’s dangerous to split up again.”

“She killed Flint,” the show’s co-host said, coldly. “Don’t you care about that?”

“Of course I do. But it isn’t her fault.”

“I don’t care. I’m not letting her kill me as well.” She touched her bandages and winced. “Ghosts I can handle. Demons… We’re out of our depth, John.”

“Then stay here,” Tenney snapped. “Wait here while we go rescue the girl and make the greatest finale ever. Or go running off to the boat, whatever you please. Good luck carrying Flint’s body all by yourself. How much is the world spinning around you right now? You’ll never find the way back.”

“I could heal you,” Alcor offered. He absentmindedly touched Elisabeth’s phone to the ceiling lights, and they flickered on again. “It would only cost –“

Francesca backed away from him. “You stay away from me!”

“… right. Sorry.”

Elisabeth found herself the recipient of Francesca’s desperate look. “You have common sense, don’t you? You know this is madness. Come with me.”

Filth and acid pain burrowing into her very soul, until a hand of starlight released her…

“No,” Elisabeth said, the memory thick in her head. “I need to try. Besides, who knows what else Xuerus has planned. Demons don’t just run off like this. Not without a reason.”

“Looks like you’re on your own, Frannie.” Tenney said.

Francesca’s shoulders drooped. “I’ll wait here,” she whispered. “But hurry. Please. I won’t wait for long.”

She sunk down against the wall, eyes locked on Flint’s unmoving body.

They left her behind.

---

More storage rooms, but also the occassional desk with scattered, mold-spotted papers and a few computers. And, finally, the blank wall to their right had a door. The guarding runes crawled around its frame.

Human remains dotted the floor. From the marks on the carpet it was obvious some of them were recently disturbed. The demon had gone for the shortest route, without caring what they walked over.

“It’s locked on the inside,” Tenney realised, trying to pull open the metal door. “Mr Star? Perhaps some assistence?”

“Just a moment,” Alcor said. He put the phone with its uninvited passenger on one of the old computers. “Here you go, might help with decrypting those files.”

“Take your time,” Elisabeth said. “It’s not like we’re trying to save someone before either ghosts kill us all or this whole bunker collapses around us. Oh, wait.”

Ding! The Virus chimed in. Alcor frowned at the screen. “What gibberish is this?”

Ding! DING!

“Oh. Oh no.”

“What?” she asked. “Let me see.”

She snatched her phone back and stared at the weird images. It looked like blueprints for something. So much math… Ugh. This made no sense at all, just like those encrypted computer files.

Alcor was more than rattled though. “Adams, this –“

A shriek of tortured metal drowned the rest of his words.

“What – is – happening?” she yelled as her feet suddenly left the floor. Dust rose in clouds around them and loose patches of carpet rippled upwards, while the entire building seemed to tremble and groan.

“Ghosts make things float, remember!” Steve called back, now upside down in the air, trying to hold on to the bare wall with one hand and keep his camera from floating away with the other. “This is a bit extreme, but- oomph!”

Gravity returned, dragging them downwards again. Steve faceplanted onto the carpet, arms stretched outwards to protect his camera from the smack. Elisabeth caught herself on her knees and hands. That was going to bruise.

From the other end of the room came muffled cursing, as Tenney tried to untangle himself from the smashed pieces of his own bodycam.

Alcor had managed to land on his feet, of course. He was used to floating. Their flailing must be hilarious to him. He was probably itching to make a smug comment.

He looked at her, wide-eyed and white as a sheet.

“What cult did you say this was again?”

“The Xuerus Cult,” she answered. The dust in the air tickled her nose. “Some kind of knowledge demon, if I had to guess.”

He grabbed her shoulders, dragging her to a standing position and peering into her eyes. “Upstairs, Were there any t̶r͏įa͢ng͝les?”

“Let go,” she snapped. “And no, I didn’t notice any! What’s happening?“

His fingers stopped digging into her shoulders and he rubbed his face, pacing around the room and muttering. “No, no, that makes no sense, he’s not here, and besides he wouldn’t, not anymore, but if not him then who…“

“I think your demon’s broken,” Steve said. He finished checking his camera for damage. “I told you, floating things aren’t that out of the ordinary during a haunting. Can you open the door, please?”

Alcor stopped pacing and put his hands on the metal door. The sigils on the frame made a sizzling sound where he touched them. The metal crumpled like tin foil under his fingers as he dug in and, with one heave, wrenched the entire thing loose.

Blue light burst through the doorway, accompanied by a loud, electronic hum.

Both were emitting from the odd device in the center of the large room. Or was it a statue of some kind?

“You said something about triangles?” Elisabeth said, faintly. This had to be the cult’s inner sanctum. It… was not what she expected.

The weird thing dominated the room, humming and glowing, but Elisabeth noticed some other things too. The rows of computers with way too many fiddly buttons and switches. The cold metal floor, etched with complex sigils and magic arrays, overlapping binding circles, all too chaotic to make sense of. The scattered bones on the floor, spots of rust where blood and moisture had left their mark.

Alcor had frozen next to her, like a rabbit that spotted the wolf. "This is bad."

"Gee, I never would have guessed," she said dryly. "Thanks for clearing that up. Creepy glowing devices seem so harmless and fun."

"April," Steve breathed, looking at the figure standing next to the cluster of strange electronics.

The demon piloting April’s body turned to them. Their eyes immediately fixed on Alcor.

“Y͗ò̓ū̎͊̓̅͢.” The voice coming from April was a deep baritone, distorted with cruel pleasure. “I ͏hopęd̕ ͞y̴o͘u ̵wou̧l͠d͜ come. Y͢ou f̧o͏ųnd ҉m͠y͜ l̴it̢tl̛e͏ ̢hi̴ntş?” Their hand touched the embossed, flattened X symbol at the top of the console. Xeno-Universal Entry & Retrieval System, the lettering underneath it said.

“Good, you know me,” Alcor said. “Then you know what I’ll do unless you voluntarily leave that girl’s body. Come on, skedaddle. And turn off that thing while you’re at it, you don’t know what you’re doing.”

April tilted their head. “Hav͟e y͠ou f͜or̶g͡ot̵ten ͝me?”

“Yeah, well, I don’t make a habit of remembering every little demon I come across. Time’s ticking! Leave, or I’ll make you.”

“I ha͝v͠e̢ n͢o͟t ͠forg͜ott̷en y̢ou… D͇̼͖i̥̫p̬͔̘̠͔p̤̪̞̭e̹̫̹̟̞ͅr̺̥ ͕̻͓̲̻P̬̣̮i̥̱̖n̮̱ḛs̫̼̦̙͍͖.”

The floor underneath Alcor burst into a glaring, dark red light. Now Elisabeth could see the symbols of the binding circle, very sofisticated and complex, that had been hidden inside the mass of nonsense sigils until it started to shine. No matter - no binding could hold Alcor, he'd rally any minute now...

Wait.

Alcor had fallen to his knees with a low keen.

He wasn't getting up.

This... was bad.

April moved closer, ignoring Steve who was being fucking useless and just standing there, staring. "Ḩi͢stor̸y͠ ̛has̀ a͠ tenden͏cy ̀to rep͜ea̸t it̴s̨e̕l̨f́, D͘i҉p̴per ͞Pi͝nes͝,” they said. The name – a True Name, it had to be – sounded like a whiplash, Alcor’s pale face snapping up at the sound of it, his eyes wide and painful gold. “T̴hey st̀u͞d́i͠e͝d ̡t̨he̸ ed̕g͘e̴ ҉bet̕w̷e͟en̸ d̶i̧m̵e͞ns͢i̢oǹs̷. T̕h͝ey found ̸mè. Th͘e prison ͠wh͠ere y͙͉o̜u͕̟̼͚͖̥͕ ̝l̖͔̬̭̻o̺̺ͅc̻̙̤͖͉k̖͍͕e̪͖d̗̯̼̪͓ ̬͔u̙̹̤̳̜̪s͔̹̖̻ ̣̪i̤̱̦͖̰̬n.”

April’s eyes weren't blue anymore, but black and glowing red. As if Elisabeth needed any more of a hint that the girl was being possessed, damn it all!

“You’re one of Bill’s cronies,” Alcor said. Was… was that fear she saw? It looked alien on him. “Trying the same old trick again? What, you’re going to bring the others into the physical world? It didn’t work last time and it won’t work now!”

“I͍̗̬̩̯̰ͅ ̟̞̠͔̟d͕e͍ṿ̬̞͈̤̝̯o̹͈̮̠̦͕u̝̼̘̬͕̦̱r̪e̮d̜̮̦͔̼̗̲ t͇̖̩̘̱̞̼ẖ͓e̤̟̬̠̦̬ ̦̯̟͓̪o̭̱̹̜ͅt̻͉h͚e̻r̙̠̱͓̘̳s̺̰̹̣̰̫ͅ,” April said, their face emotionless.

Keep them talking. While Alcor distracted them, she could sneak towards the portal and… well, figure out a way to disable it, or something.

“Then what’s your angle? You probably missed it, having been locked up in a prison for a thousand years, but humans know about magic now. They know how to deal with demons like you.”

“D͢emo͢n̕s͠ li͞k̢e m̝͚̭̟̣̤e̩̦̣̤͚. Y̛e̵s.” A dark smile spread across April’s face. “Ì ̨s͜tudiȩd ̧you, D̯̲͓̳͔͙̞i̩̭̞̻p̤̯̺̜̻͎p̗̘̣̩̼̖ͅe̯͙̩̪̭r ͓͙̠̮̜ͅPi̳n̼̪̫̯e̳̫̖sͅ.”

The magic of the binding circle twisted and burned brighter. Alcor grunted and curled into himself, his human disguise burning off and leaving him smaller and gasping. Names, even True ones, weren't supposed to hurt... To bind, yes, to command, of course. But hurt? Maybe because it was another demon who used it... maybe because they had the intention to hurt. But whatever the reason, hurt it did, and Elisabeth wished she could hit something.

“They we̛re v͠e̡r͠y g͞r͘ate͢ful ̧f͟or͡ my͏ a̴dv͏i͢c̨e,” April went on. “Cautìou͞s̡, yes̨.̧ ͜S҉o ̨f̶ocused͢ o̴n ͏ke̵e͟p͘ing me ͘c̨o̷ntaįn͢e̕d̸,̵ t͝hey ̢cou͜ld̡n’t ͡g̴ue̴s̸s my̷ t̴r͘u͡e in͞t̵en̢tions̀.”

That device in the center of the room, that weird upside-down triangle with the large circle in the middle, hummed even louder. Blue light flared in the middle, spread across the circle and threw shaking shadows across the floor, which shook like a pudding.

“So what, you’re going to take revenge and kill me?”

“N͡o͝, ͟Dippe͞r̀ P͜ines͝. I̴ ̀am ̡g͟oi̵n̕g to ̢b҉e̢co͏me y̷ou̴.” They raised a hand, reddish flames leaping to the ceiling and mingling with the blue glow. “A͏ d͡e̵mon, ̴ųnfett̨ȩr̛eḑ. U͠nl͝i͟m͟i͜t̡ed̡ by͢ lack of p̨ḩy͜sical for͜m͜. I ̡know͝ wh͏aţ y͞o̷u̷ a͘rę,͏ ́D͡i͠p͏per̴ Pin͢es̨.͢ A͘nd̸ e̛x҉ac̕tl͘y ho͞w̨ ͢th̸i̕s̕ ́p͏o̸we͠ŕ ̸i̡nf͘us̸èd͟ ͜you.”

What were they blabbing about? Whatever it was, it didn’t sound good.

Elisabeth edged closer to the mess of electronics that, hopefully, were supposed to be the control panel of this creepy portal thing. She was not gifted with electronics, unfortunately. But how hard could it be? This thing must have a power button somewhere, right? She'd pull out the plug, but she couldn't spot any... They must be built into the floor somehow.

"You've changed," Alcor said, voice thick with pain. "You were never this talkative while Bill was around, Paci-fire. But then again, Bill talked enough for all of you. That guy never stopped talking."

"M͞ayb̧ȩ I'lĺ look h̵i͡m ̨ųp," April said, their eyes burning. "Have a̡ sma͏l̀l… ṟ̥̼͍̪ḙ̼̙̣̫̼͠u̗̫̻͇̝͠n͎̗̝̱͔̖̳i̫͇̜o̥̳̠̣͍̜͚͘n̬̹͍͇͠."

Hate twisted Alcor's face. "Don't you dare."

"Or҉ what̀,̢ D͘ipper̕ P̛i͠ne͜s͏? Ar̨e͜ ͞you̕ goin͘g̨ ͠t͜o ͢stop ̶m͝e?" That twisted, empty smile again. " Where's yo̕ur͜ b͡ook,͡ P̕i͘ne̕t͝reé? Ẁhe͏re's̀ ͢your ͢s̡i̸s̕t͟e̵r? ͡Y͟ou̶'͜re ̕jus͡t ̀a̡ bo͏y ̨p̸lay͏i̡ng̢ ̷ąţ b͡e̡in̵g ̛a ̕d́emon."

What the- were those barrels of radioactive material? Oh god. While she was blinking at those, one of the barrels floated up slightly.

She swallowed. Please don't spill…

Not only the barrel was floating. Everything was. With the exception of the control panel and the portal itself, everything not nailed down was lifting at least a foot into the air before smashing back down with a clash. The ground swayed. Alarms started to blare, loud and pushy.

"This place is going to collapse," she said. "We need to get out."

Steve didn't seem to hear her. She grabbed his shoulder and pulled him closer, behind the protection of the panels. Right, ha, protection. As if she couldn't get killed here.

"Listen," she hissed. "Steve! Get a hold of yourself, idiot! We're going to die here and let something horrible loose on the world unless we act now."

"April... she's not..." he stammered.

"She's possessed by a demon," Elisabeth said. "That's horrible but you already knew that. Listen! We need to disable the portal and release Alcor. Then he can deal with that possession and we'll all walk away alive, alright?” She'd need all the help she could get. Steve wasn't going to be much, she feared.

Good thing 'April' was still busy with Alcor. Talking, of course. Why did all the bad guys monologue so much? Seriously...

"You go over there and break that binding circle. They still have his Name, but outside the circle it should be less powerful. I'll distract them." She'd prefer to break the binding herself - at least she had experience with runal arrays - but Steve didn't look like he could be much of a distraction, unfortunately. Well, Alcor would be able to tell him how to break the circle. They didn't have much of a choice.

Where the hell had Tenney gone? He’d been behind Steve a second ago – that coward! He’d run, hadn’t he?

Her phone beeped, urgently. Now was not the time!

[Put me on the control panel.] the Alcor virus said. [I'll disable the Portal.]

Well. "It's time you made yourself useful," she muttered, and the little pixelated Alcor looked at her fiercely.

She gave Steve a push towards the doorway where the containment circle was, and moved to slam her phone down on the electronics -

"Wha̵t͢ ͡do̢ ͜you͞ th͘i̛ņk̢ y͝ou'͏re d͡o͏in̶g?" Not-April hissed at her, suddenly right in front of her and holding her wrist in an unmoveable grip. They squeezed. Elisabeth swallowed the sound that tried to escape her throat, but she had no choice but to drop her phone.

'April' nodded slowly. Her foot moved.

Snap! said her wrist.

Snap! said her phone, shattering on the metal floor.

---

"Release the demon," Steve muttered, running to the glowy floor that kept 'Mr Star' bound. Elisabeth seemed to be keeping 'April' occupied for now. But he had no idea how long that would remain so... better run.

He came to a stop at the edge of the binding circle and swallowed.

Release the demon. Release Alcor the Dreambender. Right.

Though to be honest, Alcor looked horrible. On his knees, wings curled around him, shaking.

"How do I do this?" Steve blurted out. Alcor looked up and yep, definitely a demon here. If the wings hadn't been enough of a clue, the eyes would have given it away. Where 'Mr Star' had green ones, those of Alcor were black with pupils of golden fire. Very unsettling.

"How do I get you out of this thing?" Steve clarified, since it seemed like Alcor was as confused as he was. "So you can help us. Er. Can you help us?" What deal did Adams have with him, exactly? She wouldn't suggest releasing Alcor if he was likely to kill them all in a rage, right?

"You need to break the circle," Alcor said. "Without blowing it up. It's holding a lot of power right now."

"Blowing it up?"

"It could explode if you do it wrong."

"Right," Steve said. "Okay. Very... comforting to know. Where do I start?"

"There should be a sigil of priukon varg on the edge somewhere. Looks like a curl with a hook on it. Swipe that one away first."

"Swipe? They're carved into the floor. And they're all glowing!"

"Right, they're carved, that's a bit more tricky... You need to change the symbol then. Found it yet?"

"No!"

Alcor threw an impatient look over his shoulder. "I don't want to rush you, but hurry."

One of the tiny symbols around the circle edge looked a bit like what Alcor had described. Steve pointed at it. "This it?"

"Yes! Now, carve a line across it, at exactly thirty-three degrees from the center, that should flip the meaning enough to -"

"Carve? What am I supposed to use for that?"

"You have nothing? No knife, or whatever?"

"Nothing that can go through metal! Oh, wait..." As technician he usually had some tools handy, somewhere in his gear. You never knew when you'd need a screwdriver after all.

"That should work," Alcor said, as Steve took the screwdriver out of his pockets. "Hurry up! Adams is getting in trouble."

"Thirty-three degrees..." At least Steve had some experience with magic. You had to, in his line of business. The best gear was always magitech, because ordinary rules of nature could really get in the way when you wanted to film ghosts.

The symbol went dark as Steve added the line. Some of the symbols around it seemed a bit less glowy too, maybe...

"Great, now the next one looks like-"

Steve followed the demon's instructions. He could hear crashes and screams behind him. The sirens kept blaring, the ground was now shaking non-stop, and the blue light from the portal flared intermittently, bright and threatening.

"O͇͓͇̗h̡̙̠ͅ ̴̮͎̬̮̲͍no͔̻̮̥͙ͅ," Alcor breathed.

Steve looked up from the symbol he was currently breaking, right in time to see Not-April throw Adams against the edge of the portal. The smack of flesh on metal was one he'd never forget.

Adams dropped to the floor, her shoulders shaking in pain. Come one, get up...

The thing inside April turned their back to Adams who was still not getting up and focused their red eyes on Steve.

"Ỵ͓̲̭̲͇o̪̼u̖͍’̭̰r͚̘e̠̦͖ t͎o͕͓͓̬o ̼̪͙̭̗l̪͈͉̮͙a̟̙̳̜t͙̼͖̼̳͍̦ẹ͎," they said.

"Get me out of here!" Alcor yelled, but Steve was frozen as the light from the portal became stronger and brighter and everything started floating again, they were all going to die, it was too late, too late-

White.

The world drowned in white. It invaded every cell, a blinding burn that wasn’t as much pain as it was pressure, the weight of reality squeezing and pulling until there was no room for sound or sensation or thought.

The world flooded back in, bringing darkness and gravity. Instinct made him curl protectively around his camera, which in hindsight wasn’t the best idea he had but well, instinct was stupid sometimes. Ow. His tailbone was never going to be the same again after this.

The only light came from the white-hot sigils imprisoning Alcor, and the red flames dancing over April’s skin.

The Portal was dark now, inactive. April was looking at its center, apparently waiting for something. Well, as long as it kept them distracted…

Alcor was pushing at the invisible boundaries of his circle, golden flames flaring up and being extinguished before they had a chance to fully form.

Steve dropped to his knees and started hacking at the sigils with his screwdriver.

“Little help?” he said, through half-clenched teeth. Did Alcor even hear him? He didn’t know what symbol to destroy next! Would it really explode if he did it incorrectly? Why was this so complicated!?

“That large one, with the spikes!” Alcor said, the golden brickwork pattern crisscrossing his void-black form shivering in time with the wavering fire. “Destroy it! Doesn’t matter how!”

“N̺̤̺͖͓̥͎̭͡O̼̲̤͍̲͍͚͎͟͞!”

“Watch out!”

Alcor’s warning came a second too late. The other demon was on Steve before he could do more than raise his head. Fingers dug into his throat, fire licking his skin. A sharp pain blossomed in his stomach and spread through the rest of him. The world became blurry and spotted with darkness and, strangely, bright lights.

̣̇͐ͅṢ̣͐̇̇͐ͅͅṭ̣͐̇̇͐ͅͅẹ̣͐̇̇͐ͅͅṿ̣͐̇̇͐ͅͅẹ̣͐̇̇͐ͅͅ.̣̣͐̇̇͐ͅͅ.ͅ..

“STEVE!”

A shape appeared through the door. It was Tenney. His hair was standing on end, eyes glowing bright and blue. He was wreathed in light, coming from the faint humanoid shapes crawling around him. “NOT MY CAMERA MAN, DEMON!”

He raised his arm, and the mass of swirling spirits followed it, crowding around April with vicious screams. The demon clawed at them, cutting the ghosts in ribbons of fading light, but there were so many, they just kept coming.

Steve got up. Thank god for adrenaline – he couldn’t even feel any pain right now. Couldn’t feel anything aside from terror, actually. He tried to take the screwdriver. His hands must be slippery, because it took him five tries before he managed to grab it. One final sigil…

The damn screwdriver kept slipping from his grip!

Something was happening in the dark center of the Portal. A speck of colours, moving hypnotically. Just… floating there.

The white glow of the ghosts was already fading. There were many of them, but they couldn’t do much against a demon.

Tenney was helping Adams sit up. She looked around fuzzily, one wrist curled protectively against her chest.

The last of the ghosts was ripped in two, with a final wail. Tenney’s eyes stopped glowing.

Stupid stupid screwdriver! Come on, hands! What the hell was wrong with him!?

The demon moved. In only a few steps it was at the base of the upturned triangle, hands stretched our greedily towards the speck of colours –

- and smacked against Adams, who had thrown herself between the demon and the portal, one hand uselessly at her side and the other aimed in front of her, blade first.

Several inches of steel drove into April’s body, bringing them to a standstill.

Standard demonology gear, she’d said.

Rage and something very much like confusion spread over April’s face. They looked down, at the slick handle sticking out.

“Ǹ͍̼͉̙̖̩̳o͕̹̩͖͡,” they said. “I̠̻͙ ̙̹͉̣c̶̰͎ͅa̘̩͎̫n̩̞͡n͙͕̮͓̤̭ot̵ ̬b͓͡e̹̗̫̥̥̤ ̼̯̥͇̫͕̕d̳͠e͖f̢̣̞̘̩͇̯e͙a̱͉͖̬͉̼͠ͅt͙̹͈e͓d̶̙̞͙͖̼ ̞ li̛ke ͟t͜ḩis͞.”

Their knees sagged.

They fell to the floor.

“I’m sorry,” Adams said, eyes wild and horrified. “I’m so sorry April.”

The red glow faded from April’s eyes. A tiny smile, painful and relieved, curled her lips.

Then she was still.

Steve couldn’t breathe. No. No, no, no!

They were supposed to save her…

His hands clenched around the damn screwdriver.

Bloodred fire burst from April’s body, speeding upwards, making a break for the surface that was way, way above.

Or at least they tried.

It made a gong-like sound, vibrating and making the walls shake, but the demon smacked into the ceiling as if it was, well, a few thousand tonnes of sheet metal and enchantments.

Alcor started laughing.

"Man, this is just like the old times, isn't it!" he said. Still on his knees, but grinning now, even as the red flames raged around them. "You're stuck! This spot must be a weirdness bubble, right? Must be. Portal wouldn't work anywhere else. But you f̷or̕g̴o͟t͜! You forgot w̕h̕at ̡w̵ȩir̢dness ̛bu̢bbles̶ ͡d̢ò!"

His grin was savage. "T̻h̝e͙̖̘̬͇̲̘y ̗k̮eẹ̲p̜ ͚m̳̙͚͚̭͚o͔̺n͚̙̳̪̪̗̥s̞̻t̥̪͎̻̜̻e̩̬r̳̩͉̯̭s͍̟̱͓ ị̼͓n̦̪̜͚̗̯͖s͖ịd̬̖̣̻̬̖ͅe͉̬̼̙."

Steve scratched out the final sigil. The circle around Alcor fell, and he leapt.

---

It had been a short fight. In the end it had been clear which demon was the stronger one.

If only he’d gotten Alcor free sooner…

Adams kneeled on the platform. The entire bunker seemed to be creaking and swaying, but she didn’t appear to notice. She was staring at April.

Alcor went to her side. Touched her shoulder.

“There was no choice,” he said. “She was long gone. Paci-fire would have made sure of that. You did the right thing.”

Adams shook her head.

“No,” she said.

Alcor was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded slowly, and went to the speck of colours dancing in the center of the Portal, which had been growing steadily. He seemed to brace himself for something, and touched it.

It fizzled out.

“Well. That’s that,” he said.

Tenney got up from the place he’d hidden during the chaotic fight between the two demons. He slowly walked towards Steve, a strange expression on his face.

“Oh, Steve…”

Adams and Alcor turned to him as well, and Steve frowned.

“Why are you all staring at me like that?” he asked. He followed their gazes, towards the shape on the ground behind him.

Oh.

“Right,” Steve said. “That explains some things.”

Like the lack of pain. And the difficulty with the screwdriver. And the slight tug he felt, connecting him with the dented camera near… the body.

“One more ghost to release,” Adams said softly, pale enough to be a ghost herself.

Tenney looked up as if stung. “What? Are you crazy? I’m not losing my best camera man! Steve, you’re not in a hurry to move on, are you? A little boost and I’ll have you ready for work in no time.”

“Er,” Steve said. He blinked. “I… guess not?”

“Good,” Tenney said. “I am dreadfully sorry, my boy. But we’ll make this right, you’ll see. Death won’t be the end for you!”

Alcor shook his head at them and went to the console. He picked up the remains of what had been a phone. His face crumpled.

“I’m sorry,” Adams said, quietly.

The screen on the console flickered.

[That’s all the mourning I get? Thanks.]

“Alvie!” A grin dawned on Alcor’s face. “You’re not broken!”

[Managed to jump just in time,] the white letters crawled over the screen. [Been busy keeping this thing from flooding. We need to leave.]

“What? Flooding?” Adams asked, alarmed. A loud groan of caving metal punctuated her words. The floor sagged suddenly, as if the oil rig itself was starting to tilt.

[The Portal weakened the stabilisation spells,] the screen said. [Level 5 is breached, levels 4 and 3 are already mostly flooded. You have 37 seconds to get out of here.]

Adams turned to Alcor. “Can you?”

The demon closed his eyes for a second.

“Yes, I can,” he said, a hint of power in his voice. “Ready? This is going to be a bumpy ride.”

“Don’t forget Fran –!“

“O̠̙̲̤̻̞ͅn͓ ̹̥̮i̫̹̙t̥̰̖!”

A final, bonetrembling creak. Water came flooding in, and there was no more room for thought.

#transcendence au #tau #fic: season finale #elisabeth adams #alcor the dreambender #the alcor virus #character death #blood and violence #demonic possession #a lot of OC's #some of them in red shirts apparently #sorry for all the zalgo #demons

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fixxofvixx · 7 years

Text

TEACHING VIXX - CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Hello my dears!! I’m sorry the chapter was so delayed! 😢😢 I’m starting on Ravi’s chapter right now, so hopefully you wont have to wait as long.

I hope you enjou this chapter!

And, as always, comments are welcomed and embraced. Or you can just say Hi!

I hope everyone has a lovely week!

—————————————-

There were probably more productive things you could be doing at this moment. However, your brain couldn’t seem to conjure any. The warm cocoon you had buried yourself in consisted of a big, fluffy comforter and the arms of a big, fluffy cat. Well, panther to be exact.

Since Taekwoon was still “resting” and “recouperating” from an “illness”, he wasn’t required to be back at work just yet. You both had spent the entire morning in bed, simply existing with each other. Except for the occassional moment when his hands would wander.

The man behind you stirred and you felt warm lips on your shoulder. A smile found its way to your face and you snuggled against him further.

“Do we have to go anywhere today?” You sighed as his nose nuzzled into your neck and he chuckled.

“Well, no. We can stay here if you want. I would actually prefer that. Although, I promise I will let you go pee this time.”

“Haha, very funny. You know, I’m not sorry about that. I think the end result was favorable.”

“Hmm, you are right about that. That reminds me, I need to call JangPil about your superhuman powers.”

You laughed as he poked your cheek. You didn’t want to say it, but it had honestly scared you. Not knowing what it meant was even worse.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure its nothing bad.”

You turned until you were flat on your back, Taekwoon half hovering over you. You should have known that he could feel your apprehension.

“I know. But what worries me the most is that it would accidently happen. Like what if I hurt one of you guys just because I don’t know what this is?”

He hooked his finger under your chin and brought your face up until your eyes met his.

“I believe that if that were going to happen, it already would have. It obviously isn’t something that just appeared out of nowhere. You were angry and just reacted.”

“Maybe.” You shrugged.

“I’m sure of it. How about I go fix us something to eat and call JangPil?”

You smiled and nodded but you were still worried. Taekwoon rose from the bed and left for the kitchen, tugging on his clothes as he went. You knew it concerned him as well. Although he hadn’t been able to see you do it, his demeanor indicated that he was worried as well.

Curious about possible answers from JangPil, you trudged into the kitchen in search of Taekwoon. When you made it to the kitchen, he was already on the phone talking with the elder panther hybrid. He saw your approach and motioned for you to come closer.

“Hyung, (y/n) is here now. Can I put you on speakerphone?” JangPil must have agreed because Taekwoon pushed a button on the phone and placed it on the counter.

“(Y/N), dear, will you explain to me exactly what happened?”

You went through the painful process of describing that day, complete with Taekwoon getting stabbed and the green light.

“Hmm, yes, I can see how that would be concerning. Taekwoon, are you healed?”

“Yes, hyung, perfectly fine.”

“Good, good. I know its scary, but I assure you that it is nothing bad. It’s rare, but some bonds between a hybrid and a human can create a higher concentration of power. Think of it as true soulmates. It is controllable but it will take some time. This may be why other hybrids have been after you. They can sense the power coming from you. Even though you both are bonded now, that doesn’t mean the danger is over. (Y/N), you’ll have to practice with the power that you hold inside you now. It can come in handy if a hybrid gets out of control. Its linked to your emotions. So, if you’re angry or scared, it will protect you. If you are in control of your emotions, then you can control the power. Have I explained it well enough?”

Taekwoon looked to you and you nodded.

“Yes hyung, thank you so much.”

“Come and visit soon, (y/n), I can help you.”

“Yes, I will JangPil-ssi.”

“Ooh, JangPil-ssi makes me sound old. How about Oppa?”

You laughed at his suggestion but Taekwoon seemed less than amused.

“I think you might be a little too old for ‘Oppa’, hyung. How about we go with ahjussi?”

“Ahjussi?! Oh, just wait until I get my hands on you boy!” And with that, the call ended.

You were still laughing when Taekwoon turned and narrowed his eyes at you.

“I don’t think it would have hurt to indulge his request. He’s a sweet man.”

“He’s too told for that. You don’t need to be calling anyone 'oppa’.”

Ah….

“So…what you’re saying is that since I can’t call YOU oppa, then I can’t call anyone that?”

“No! Thats not it!” His cheeks tinged pink and you giggled.

“Taekwoon…..”

“It isn’t! There isn’t anyone around that you could call oppa anyway. So there just isn’t any need for it. And JangPil hyung is too old for that.”

“What about the managers? Ggomae is older than me.”

His eyes flashed red and you could practically feel the jealousy pulse off his body.

“No.”

“Why not? Its just a term of endearment. Just like I call YoonJung, Unni.”

“But that’s different.”

“Because he’s a guy?”

He didn’t answer but you knew that was the reason. Taekwoon’s jealousy was a fire that could easily be stoked. Because of his animal instincts, his possessive nature usually went into overdrive. Poor thing couldn’t really help it. You walked up closer to him and slid your arms around his waist.

“Don’t worry, I won’t call anyone oppa. It would only be you anyway if you were older than me. I’m sorry I don’t get to call you that.”

His arms wrapped around you in return and he lowered his head to bury it in your shoulder.

“I know and its fine. I can just call you Noona, then.”

Your eyes popped open. He had never called you that. As the sound of it reached your ears, your heart flip-flopped and sped up. Taekwoon, after hearing the change, leaned back and looked at your blushing face.

“You-”

“So, what exactly are you cooking? I’m starving!” You tried to pull away but he locked his arms around you.

“Noona.”

Just that simple word and you knew there was no going back. He knew now. Your heart had skipped again and he smiled evilly.

“Very curious. I don’t think that’s ever happened when the others call you that. So, I wonder what the difference is?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s no difference. I’m hungry, Taekwoon.” You attempted to whine a bit to see if you could distract him just enough to drop it. When he just stood there, you walked off towards the bedroom muttering about needing your phone.

Once inside your bedroom, you held your hand to your heart to try and calm the storm inside. One half of your brain was concerned about the “higher concentration of power” that you and Taekwoon had created. The other half was trying not to relive those words coming from his lips. You couldn’t quite explain why that particular word was so endearing to you. Perhaps it was because it made you feel needed or wanted in some way. Or that it meant you could take care of them. It never bothered you that Taekwoon had never called you that. He had always called you by name. Now that he had seen your reaction, you worried about how much power he would have over you. Of course, you supposed it was no different from the power you held by using his stage name.

Grabbing your phone you sent out a group text for the rest of the boys, YoonJung, and JiYoon to join you and Taekwoon tonight in your apartment. You wanted to tell them about what JangPil had said and also about JooHyung.

Almost immediately, your phone buzzed with replies. YoonJung promised that she would be over in a few hours. JiYoon and Wonshik were leaving the studio soon. The others were apparently in the dorm, bored to death, and would be over shortly. You walked back towards the kitchen to find Taekwoon.

Walking around the partition you found that he was gone.

“Taekwoon?”

A few seconds later, hands latched onto your shoulders. Startled, you let out a short scream and turned quickly. You watched in almost horrifyingly slow-motion as green light sparked out of your hands and hit Taekwoon in the stomach. The short blast knocked him back just a couple of feet but he hit the floor with his face contorted in pain. A full scream erupted from your lips as your legs gave way. You started to crawl over to him but you were afraid to move. You were paralyzed by fear. Fear of what you might accidentally do.

To your relief, Taekwoon sat up and shook his head as if to clear his head. He started to speak but stopped once he saw your face. With a slight wince, he rose to his knees and started towards you. Violently shaking your head, you back away from him. You vaguely heard the code being pressed for the door but you couldn’t take your eyes off of Taekwoon. Hakyeon, Jaehwan, Hongbin, and Hyuk came charging through the door and looked around, panicked. Hakyeon was the first to speak.

“We heard screaming. What happened?”

Taekwoon didn’t answer, he only eased his body towards yours. Panic welled up inside you at the fear of hurting him again.

“S-stay there.”

“Like hell, I will. I’m fine, love, I promise. C'mere.” He started towards you again but you began backing away until your back hit the kitchen cabinets. You heard the door shut and you were both alone once again.

You tried to make a dash for the other end of the kitchen but he caught you around the waist. You wanted to push away from him but you were afraid to touch him. You curled your hands into fists and tried to struggle with your legs.

“Hey, (y/n), c'mon, its okay. I’m not hurt.” His voice was close to your ear but it only made you pull from him even more. He was too close.

After a few moments, he sighed and you almost thought he had given up. Instead, he held you with one arm while the other quickly moved your hair away from your neck. The moment his lips touched your tattoo, your body relaxed. Your mind became fuzzy and content. He pulled you back towards his chest and cradled you there for a moment. Your mind was still telling you to move away from him but your body wouldn’t cooperate now.

“Taekwoon…” You wanted to tell him to release his hold on you but you couldn’t get the words past your lips. Hot tears rolled down your cheeks at a rapid pace.

“Shh, it’s okay, sweetie. I just calmed you down for a bit. Just relax and breath.” He wrapped his arms around you fully, encasing your arms beneath his. “Just listen to me, okay?”

When you finally relaxed in his arms fully, he continued.

“Look, you didn’t hurt me. Its stung a little but it didn’t even hurt nearly as much as when Hyukkie starts throwing me around. It just took me off guard and I stumbled back.” He ran his fingers through your hair as he talked. The feel of his fingers coupled with your current relaxed state, your head lolled onto his chest. Finally, you felt composed enough to talk.

“I-I didn’t mean to do that. I’m not even sure how it works. After I turned to you, I just saw everything in slow motion. I saw you hit the floor. I know it hurt. It had to have hurt. Please……please don’t think bad of me because of it. If you want, I can go and visit JangPil now and stay with him until I figure this out. I don’t know–”

Taekwoon’s hand tilted your head up and his lips crashed down on yours. Your body was so relaxed that you couldn’t even move your limbs. The kiss was short but powerful. He raised his head and you were caught by the intense green in his irises.

“You’re not going anywhere. We can figure this out together. The tattoo on our necks means that we stick together. Got it? Good. And I don’t think bad of you. How could I? I love you so much. I know your scared about this power that you have now but it would take a lot more than what just happened to even phase me. You made me stronger, remember?”

“But what about the others?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Okay? I shouldn’t have scared you like that. Your mind already had too much on it. So, that was all my fault. So let’s just take it one day at a time, okay?” You nodded your head in agreement and he smiled.

You slowly brought your hand up and lifted the hem of his shirt. You needed to see for yourself that he was okay. But, because of your proximity, you were struggling with one side of it.

“You know, if you want my clothes off, you can just ask.”

“Stop joking around. Show me.”

“I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.” His voice turned dark and husky and his lips grazed the shell of your ear. You growled at him and he smiled. You sent a glare his way and spoke again.

“Le-” His hand covered your mouth before you could mutter the rest of his name.

“Okay, okay, geez, I was just playing.” He chuckled and raised the hem of his shirt. You leaned back a bit and inspected every inch of his torso. When you were sure that his skin was injury-free, you lowered his shirt and threw your arms around his waist.

“Did I pass?” You nodded and he circled his arms around your back. He moved slightly as he dug his phone out of his pocket. His arms still hung around your shoulders as he texted everyone about the change in plans and they could come over tomorrow. When he was finished, he rose from the floor and then bent down to pick you up.

“I can walk, Taekwoon, put me down.”

“Yeah, I doubt it. I put a lot of power into that kiss on your tattoo. Your legs are probably useless for a good hour. Besides, I like carrying you around.”

He made it to your bedroom and placed you gently on your side of the bed.

“Now, stay here and I’ll go fix us something to eat. After we’re finished with that, then you can get my clothes off like you wanted earlier.”

You had just enough strength to launch a pillow at his head as he went out the door.

#vixx #vixx fic #vixx scenario #taekwoon #leo #ravi #wonshik #n #hakyeon #hongbin #ken #jaehwan #hyuk #sanghyuk #taekwoon fic #taekwoon scenario #vixx hybrid #hybrid #taekwoon hybrid

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daetur · 7 years

Text

Constructs and Conversation (Dyrihm Personal Event Log, Part 3)

With Nob ransacking Trevarde’s home for everything he can find, Rey prepares to take the next step in protecting their friend: searching for Trevarde’s Ebon Blade contact, a man referred to in the priest’s reports as “Knight Solis.”

What he finds worries his deeply- and he returns to Dyrihm with some very bad news.

|| For his part, Rey could at least look into Trevarde’s Blade contact. Seeking the address printed on the priest’s reports, Rey finds himself in the eastern Plaguelands, surrounded by towering mushrooms and noxious fumes. A few lonely gargoyles flap by in the distance, and up a battered, barely-there road lies a dilapidated shack. Outside, a man in black and green armor stands, poking and prodding at the still corpse of a ghoul upon a wooden table.

Reyanel lands much farther away, keeping to the shadows cast by the great fungi and old bones. His bone beast takes off to circle far above, not far in case it needed to help. Pausing, Rey took Nob's cowl and draped it over his head, obscuring his face from view. Precautions, even if he had a feeling they wouldn't do much good in the long run. Settling back, he observes for a moment, not wanting to jump completely into an unknown situation right out of the blue.

Solis continues with his work, grumbling to himself. He produces a dark bottle from his belt, and coaxes something wispy and black from its depths into the ghoul. It stirs.

Reyanel | Ugh, an unholy knight? Stereotypical but who ELSE actually wants little minions crawling after them so often. Taking an unnecessary breath, he strolls out, channels his Best Maul Impression and barks out, "OI."

Solis startles, and whirls around- interrupted, the ghoul falls limp again as the Knight faces Rey. He eyes the Undercity tabard warily. "I- A visitor, all the way out here?" he asks, trying to play calm.

Reyanel notes the glances towards the tabard. "Ah--this, mate? Passed through Forsaken territory, made things smoother." He shucks the tabard off and ties it to his waist.

[Reyanel]: 'Eard a Knight was out 'ere. Ya 'em?

Reyanel isn't so much...channeling Maul but also someone else too. Mixing the two accents really.

Solis seems to relax. "Ah, of course. And yes- yes." He waves a hand at the Scourge structures behind them. "Marvelous, isn't it? All still standing. Interesting what we could do with it, with the new regime and all." He brushes off his hands. "What can I do for you?"

Reyanel nods his head out to the structures. Ah, he can get on that. Something he understands. "Fuckin' 'mazing." Rey comments. "Actually, wanted ta ask, if there's anythin' I can do FOR ya. Awfully free of work these days, ya know."

Reyanel shrugs his shoulders, somehow managing to look more grizzled and veteran like with his posture. A slouch but with a stiff spine that he easily falls into.

[Reyanel]: Got wind when I passed through the Undercity, and thought I'd try an' strike a match, ya know?

Solis looks surprised. "Are you? Thought it's been pretty all hands on deck with the Blade." He purses his thin lips. "Undercity knows I'm out here?"

[Reyanel]: Nah, nah, was lookin' for Blade folk, ya know? Shit, mate, I ain't stupid.

Reyanel doubts that privately at this point.

[Reyanel]: Yeah, got laid off for a bit after we got 'em red lady.

Solis makes an affirming sound. "On rest after all that business with the Crusade? Suppose that makes sense." He sounds pleased as he continues. "That's why I have time to continue my own work, after all! A little downtime until the King's next orders to the Deathlord."

Reyanel is so glad he's wearing a mask because holy shit, really? He's fucking cackling at the Blade's state.

[Reyanel]: What ya doin' out 'ere then? Folk weren't very fuckin' detailed and I gotta know if I'm ya guy before I commit to somethin'.

Solis nods. "Of course, of course- know anything about constructs? If we're being made into an army again, the new King could always use more soldiers- loyal ones."

[Reyanel]: Constructs? Weren't ever my greatest. Couple ghouls, yeah but past that, fuck, mate.

Reyanel squints though. "Loyal soldiers? Ya questionin' me, mate?"

Reyanel has been around....too many paranoid warriors in his lifetime.....

Solis raises a brow. "That depends." He waves a hand behind him again. "With the return of the Lich King, you must know many Blade feel that we should stay only loyal to other Ebon."

[Reyanel]: 'Course I know, I didn't lose my fuckin' ears.

Reyanel coughs thickly, shit his voice it's fine. He crosses his arms stiffly.

Solis crosses his arms. "Then, yes, I'm asking. This work, you see, it's my own personal project- for our King, not the Blade. We were glorious, once, after all! And we're so close to having that again..."

Reyanel 's lips thin behind his--well, Nob's--cowl. Wow. "I mean, mate, bein' made inta 'n army and shit on the King's orders? Gotta think ahead, ya know."

[Reyanel]: King's gettin' us outta a rut? Ya count me in, mate. Sittin' on our arses for years for some cookies? Nah, mate, nah.

Solis brightens. "That's what I'm talking about! The Blade has languished in the years since Icecrown fell! And now look at us- fresh horsemen, to show the Alliance, the Horde, and those filthy Crusaders that we are still to be reckoned with! We focus our attention on the Legion, yes, but after? Mark my words, Mograine will go back to sitting on his hands, but the King! With his return, we can march in glory again."

Reyanel nods his head, COMPLETELY fucking agreeing. Fuck the Blade. But. What did THIS mean for Dyrihm and all the other bullshit. "Can't help but wonder why fucks ain't more with ya and my attitude, fuckin' hell."

Reyanel | Filthy fucking crusaders. He can't help but the like the dude.

Solis is clearly warming to Rey, and to his topic. "It's a shame, really. Weak hearted, I suppose. But you see! That's what I'm trying to work on here- my OFFICIAL assignment has been to look into Knights who may not be loyal to the Blade, and, well, I've been

Solis trying to see what can be done about that." He pats the limp ghoul. "A stronger soul makes for a better construct," he explains. "But it's harder to control. Making adjustments to the body and soul can help with focus and obedience- stronger souls, stronger bodies, better soldiers, that's my goal."

Reyanel is, somehow, warming up to Solis and he doesn't know how to feel about that. But his steady conversation has garnered SOMETHING. But he finds himself nodding along in agreement to Solis' words. "Smart fuckin' thinking. Gonna need men and bodies to get us

Reyanel all up an' goin' again."

Reyanel pauses.

[Reyanel]: I ain't exactly SHABBY with constructs but, shit, I ain't a fuckin' fleshcrafter.

[Reyanel]: Ya need 'elp on ya assignment though, fuck, I can sniff out those shits.

Solis considers. "Well- you do have that Undercity tabard. The ones among the Forsaken are such a problem! I have a few good contacts, but things are so carefully watched there." He links his fingers together, cracking knuckles as he thinks. "Don't need anything special- the Blade sends people to pick them up when they have enough of a case to warrant it. I just divert them from other disciplinary holdings for my own purposes. All I need is information." He shrugs. "Of course, as far as my work goes, I suppose even an inexperienced hand could be useful. Unless you're any good with soul manipulation? I usually have to get someone to come in for my finer work as it is."

Reyanel | I mean......he IS good at soul manipulation but........

Reyanel taps the tabard with his clawed gauntleted hands, click, click, click of steel. Well...if Dyr's getting watched that means that Discipline is somewhere down the line. And that's not good. Void, how does he get out of this mess. "I ain't awful at that soul

Reyanel shit." He says though aloud. "Reckon though I can use this--" He taps the tabard again. "--to ya advantage should ya need it."

Reyanel | How far...does he want to take this...

Reyanel sorta doubts bringing up Dyrihm or anything will be good for REY...probably blow his cover unless he phrases it right...

Solis pulls the dark bottle from his belt again, showing it to Rey. The smoky, black thing inside swirls. "I work with some people in Icecrown to get these made," he explains. "It's a similar principle to phylacteries, you see- lets me transport souls back here to use for my work, if I can get traitors transferred up to them. I'd be able to do it here, if you're able to extract souls- oh!" He sounds excited. "Too much trouble to move non-Ebon up to Icecrown, but! If I didn't have to, I could even use Crusaders..."

Reyanel | Holy fuck.

Reyanel leans forward, interest shining through despite himself. He listens with the occassional grunt. But you can sure bet, his internal dialogue between Reya and himself either just came to a SCREECHING halt or just plain SCREECHING.

Reyanel | First....traitors. If Dyr's under surveillance by THIS FUCK. Then. Well. Hopefully Dyr can get his SHIT TOGETHER.

Reyanel | Second, that fucking vial makes him oddly homesick and that's a lot to think about so he doesn't.

Reyanel | Third, the guy wants to extract souls from A) traitors and B) Non-ebon?? C) Crusaders.

Reyanel | In summary. Holy fuck.

Solis | That's true.

Reyanel kinda slow blinks, eyes narrowing for the act. "Gotta slow down there, mate, talkin' quick." He manages hoarsely. "Am I gettin' ya straight? Ya bringin' traitors up for this? Non-Ebon too?" Well...traitors were non-ebon technically...ugh. His head hurts.

Reyanel whistles though. "Shit, man." He manages to look appropriately impressed. Because fuck, he is.

Solis chuckles. It's a weird sound, and gets a little lost in the back of Solis's throat. "Apologies, I just get- don't have anyone down this way to help out, you see. But yes- Ebon traitors normally get locked up in Acherus, but I've done enough favors for the right people that I can get some of them sent up to the Citadel instead- my people do their work, keep the bottled souls til they got enough it's worth sending them my way, and I tinker with my constructs down here."

Reyanel can't believe this. It's so ingenious. He hates this and loves it both.

[Solis ]: They do pick up some adventurers, too, who're sticking their noses too far into our business, so that rounds out the shipments.

Reyanel can't help a sharp little grin under the cowl across his face. Man. If he and this guy had met in other time. "It's fuckin' brilliant, mate, shit."

Reyanel isn't even faking this. He's being genuine and he hates and loves his life.

Solis puffs out his chest. "Well, thank you-" He pauses, looking suddenly stricken. "I haven't gotten your name- 'm Solis."

Reyanel blinks. "Aw, shit, did I forget that?" He shakes his head apologetically, thinking quickly, trusting his instincts and coming up with-- "Kion." Fuck. Bad instincts.

Solis extends a hand. "I think it's going to be a pleasure doing business with you, Kion." He rolls his shoulders a little. "Expecting another shipment sometime this week, if you'd like to come play. Otherwise, well- keep an eye on those City Knights for me? The more dirt I get, the faster I can get them picked up and sent north."

Reyanel takes Solis' hands, thankful all at once for the gauntlets he's wearing. "Sure can, mate. Ya know someone I can check in with? Hate to run by word of mouth like I did this time."

Reyanel manages a small grunt. "Fuckin' bloody Forsaken."

Solis nods. "I've got a few being watched already. Gent by the name of Ferrin can get you names on a few who tried to block our reclamation of Knight Koltira. Then there's Isabelle, she's with the Rangers, keeps an eye on a couple of Knights in Brill- ah, and Magnus. Got him looking into an old friend of his- hell, he tipped me off in the first place. Just ask around for a Father Trevarde."

Reyanel nods his head curtly, soldier-like, letting the handshake go if Solis didn't. "Gotcha, mate. I'll keep an eye out for 'em when I get back." He blinks, and tabs the tabard. "Speakin' of, should try and get there soon. Hours are fuckin' weird there, ain't like Silvermoon or some shit."

Solis scoffs. "That's the truth- no good time to slip into the City that literally never sleeps, after all." He beams at Rey. "Got some way I can reach you, Kion?"

Reyanel shrugs a shoulder. "I ain't got residence as I said but.." He snorts. "Well, let's see, I get some o' my mail to a fella out in the Western side of these lands. I use the mailbox and no one's the wiser."

Reyanel reaches into his belt to scrawl an address on a loose leaf of paper that he procures somehow.

Reyanel holds the thing out. That person's going to be so fucking mad with him, he probably should spring them.

Solis accepts it. "And, clearly, you have my address- or feel free to piggyback messages with my other contacts, I'm sure they'd be happy to help." He tucks the paper away, and returns the soul-vial to whence it came as well. "Damn glad to find someone else out here to appreciates where the new King could take the Knights again, I tell you."

Reyanel does flash a grin this time, letting the sharpness reach his eyes. "I'm right with ya on that point, mate." He offers the man a cocky two-fingered salute. "I'll see ya later on then."

Solis nods, returning the smile. "See you soon, yes! I'll be in touch."

Reyanel stalks off at that, scooting around to fucking book it once out of sight.

|| Rey makes his trip back to Dyrihm’s home swift, Rey and Reya warring with each other as he does so, diving through the tunnels of the Undercity until he comes to the lower entrance, the door that leads to the Knight’s front room.

Reyanel hops off the bone beast, muttering to himself. He's practically radiating fury but once he comes upon the house it dissolves into a quick panic and worry. Going up to the door, he tests the knob... unlocked. ....Dyrihm....... and just SLAMS open the door. "Dyrihm?!"

Dyrihm JUMPS. There's a clatter of something dropping in the kitchen, and he comes dashing down the hall in his shirtsleeves and bare feet. "What? What's wrong!?"

Reyanel looks around, eyes falling on Dyrihm and he breathes out a sigh of RELIEF. "Bless the Light, holy fuck." Very eloquent of you, Reya. Then he blinks. "Were ya sleepin'?"

Dyrihm shakes his head, looking highly concerned. "No, I was- doing dishes, is everything- Are you all right?"

Reyanel waves his arms, gesturing wildly. "Yes. No. Yes?" He growls something to himself. "Fuck off, Rey."

[Reyanel]: Point is. YA. Are so in deep shit. Nob talk to ya yet?

Dyrihm crosses his arms. "He came by last night..." Dyrihm runs a hand through his hair with a sigh. "Trevarde's an old friend of mine, which was not a hunch I wanted to be right. And he's sure been reporting to the Blade..." Dyrihm looks a little pale.

Reyanel points at one of Dyr's fancy tauren chairs. "Sit. Ya might wanna sit. And I'm gonna force Rey to talk even if I have to drag 'em out, cause I am NOT playin' messenger when he didn't fuckin' listen to me."

Dyrihm 's worry is only increasing as he takes a seat. He sighs, resigned. "What did he do?"

Reyanel taps his foot rapidly, "Fuckin' stupid shit. Fuckin--" He breathes in sharply. He's calm. Very. Calm. No he isn't.

[Reyanel]: Ya sure ya friends with that priest shit?

Dyrihm grimaces. "No. I used to be, but we haven't spoken since I became a Knight. It's been a long time."

[Reyanel]: Like, used to be, used to be? Time made ya part ways or was it like...bad shit and ya aren't friends.

Reyanel has so many Opinions and is ready to fucking Go.

Dyrihm worries his lower lip. "We didn't have a falling out or anything like that- but I don't really know what they were told about my... uh. Death. So I don't know."

[Reyanel]: Well, ya past friend or whatever the fuck he is, is a fuckin' snitch.

Reyanel plants his feet firmly. Rey ya better get fucking out here or he'll drag you out, he swears to the Light.

Dyrihm sighs. "Nob said he was reporting to the Blade..."

[Dyrihm]: But-! Nob said he found a note about Trevarde having figured out you were Wraith, and it wasn't in any of the reports! Maybe it's... not as bad as we think.

Reyanel 's entire face is just one whole page of Doubt.

Dyrihm doesn't look like he believes what he's saying very much- just that he wants to. He Wants to Believe.

[Reyanel]: I dunno what's goin' on about with that. Speakin' of fuckin' Rey, get ya fuckin' ass out here cause this is all your DAMN fault.

Reyanel stumbles as Reya just TEARS HIM OUT OKAY REYA VOID. He shudders all over. "Uh. Okay, first, it's not entirely my fault."

Reyanel | Uhuh.

Dyrihm watches the expression change on Rey's face as he appears. With the way Reya was acting, this can't be good. "What. Did. You. Do."

Reyanel winces.

[Reyanel]: I went after Knight Solis.

Reyanel clasps his hands behind his back, standing straighter.

Dyrihm clasps his hands on his knees. "Rey, what happened? Reya burst in here like he was afraid he'd find me dead or missing, Light."

[Reyanel]: I mean. Personally, I think Reya needs to calm down. It's not that bad. Yet.

Reyanel | YOU calm down, fuck off, Rey.

Dyrihm sighs. "Yet?"

Reyanel matches Dyr's sigh with a tight one of his own. "Yet. If Trevarde comes to the conclusion you're turning traitor against the Ebon Blade--" Hah. Like him. "Then Solis will take...measures."

[Reyanel]: Best case scenario, you get sent up to Archerus.

[Reyanel]: Worst case....the Citadel.

Dyrihm blanches. "What!? That can't be right- we still answer to the Ebon Hold, not-"

Reyanel stares at Dyrihm, expression strained.

Dyrihm stays quiet for a long moment, before saying, quietly, "What the fuck are we gonna do?"

Reyanel crosses his arms, speaking carefully. "Trevarde's doing his damn best to get any information on you. But..." Rey pauses with a faint grimace that passes quickly. "Solis thinks I'm on his side. A pair of eyes on City Knights."

Dyrihm stares at Rey. "You- you convinced him you'd help him. That's... that could be useful, but-" he makes a frustrated noise. "We can't send anything that contradicts Trevarde, and you can't exactly go CHAT with Trev, can you?"

[Reyanel]: Well, technically I didn't convince him -I- was helping him. I could try going to Trevarde as...my cover..but I don't know if it'll hold.

Dyrihm sighs. "That's... that's risky, Rey. If he recognizes you- I don't want you getting hurt."

[Reyanel]: Yeah, I don't really PLAN on doing it.

Reyanel blows out a tight breath.

[Reyanel]: It's not a good situation. Trevarde tipped Solis off of his own accord. And Solis is....

Reyanel brings a hand up to run through his hair restlessly. "Not exactly all about the Blade's disposition."

Dyrihm puts his head in his hands. "So he's... got his own agenda. I don't know why Trevarde is out to get me, but- at least we have a history? I don't know Solis!" Dyrihm sounds like he'd love it if this were all some kind of mistake.

Reyanel frowns, watching Dyr. "If we can manage to keep Trevarde's information clean, it won't matter if you don't know Solis. For now, Trevarde's the one we should be worried about."

Reyanel sighs. "The Corps will figure something out. We're not about to just let the Blade walk all over you. I won't stand by for that."

Dyrihm 's eyes widen, just a little. "I can't just drag everyone into this, Rey. But I-" He sighs, and straightens, seeming heartened. "Thank you. Maybe Maul and Varun will have some ideas of how to tailor information, use you to get Trevarde to have nothing concrete."

[Dyrihm]: I keep saying to Nob, I could try to talk to him.

Reyanel nods. Hey, his odd comfort-not comfort sort of worked. Thank the void. "Nob's a good bet." He says. "I plan on talking to the Executor and Varun later. I have...a report to give on this."

Reyanel has...a lot of feelings about that report.

Dyrihm shifts a little in his chair. "No, I mean- I could try to talk to Trevarde."

[Reyanel]: Absolutely not.

Reyanel stares at Dyr.

[Reyanel]: Are you mad? The man set some Lich King worshiping Ebon Knight in charge of the investigation on you. Absolutely not.

Dyrihm mouths "The Citadel," and then "Fuck." Audibly, he says "No, Rey- what if I can find out what his problem with me is? I don't know, explain myself."

[Reyanel]: If you go, you're not going alone. Take Nob with you. I still don't think it's a good idea though.

Dyrihm sighs. "I know. That's what he keeps saying, too. I'm not going to do anything quite that stupid."

Reyanel watches Dyr for a moment. "...Be careful, Dyrihm."

Dyrihm puts his head in his hands. "I'll... start locking the door."

[Reyanel]: Honestly, Dyrihm. Please do. I don't even NEED to go through your walls. It's frankly ridiculous, please think about your security more.

Reyanel is doing his best to not sound...Too Concerned. Reya whacks Rey mentally.

Dyrihm waves a hand. "I was up and about, and I- I want to be available to you all if you need me." He sighs. "I should... really get around to warding, too."

[Reyanel]: You......you don't have wards.

Reyanel DEFINITELY sounds concerned.

[Dyrihm]: I have two drakes and a kodo.

[Reyanel]: That's not going to help against, say, myself! Dear void, Dyrihm.

[Dyrihm]: Of course it wouldn't, they KNOW you.

Reyanel SIGHS.

Reyanel throws up his hands a second later. "Get your wards up, dear VOID, Dyrihm"

Dyrihm sighs. "I know," he relents. "But it hasn't been a concern until now."

[Reyanel]: I am....Unbelievable. I can't believe you didn't ward the place the second I stepped through the wall.

Reyanel mutters, "Honestly."

Dyrihm looks down at his knees. "It didn't occur to me to ward against YOU, and I didn't have a shadow priest with a grudge out to sell me up the river to the Blade last time you did that!"

[Reyanel]: It's not that it's against ME. It's a security risk, Dyrihm! I'm surprised someone hasn't snuck in here and robbed you blind or planted a tracking device!

Reyanel blinks. Wait. Maybe they did. He starts walking around, combing the place with a fine layer of shadow.

Reyanel is being oddly protective, please ignore him.

Dyrihm trots after Rey, bare feet thudding on the wooden floor. "Rey, are you serious- who is going to rob a house with two bone drakes in the yard?" Rey does not notice anything amiss as he searches. It's clean.

Reyanel eases quite a bit when he finds nothing. Thank the void. "Quite frankly, Dyrihm? I would." He deadpans over at Dyr as he circles around to Dyr's chair. "Lucky for you, I don't think they got anything in here. Still. Wards and locks, Dyrihm, void's sake."

Dyrihm sighs. "Of course you would," he replies, flatly. "I'll... speak with Maul about the wards." He reaches out to clap Rey on the shoulder. "Hey. Thanks. For worrying about me."

Reyanel has been touched. He feels awkward, shifting on his feet. "Yeah. I'll mention it to once I see him." He shuffles. "Reya's worried sick, alright, so don't get into more trouble."

[Dyrihm]: I don't plan to. Honestly.

Reyanel sighs, shifting. Is the hand gone?

Reyanel doesn't know how to feel about this affection when he literally just spoke like pals with a Lich King loving fucko.

Dyrihm doesn't know that you got Solis to agree to let you help him by NOT lying to him. He trusts, you, Rey.

Dyrihm removes the hand, crossing his arms. "Do you want me to come too, when you report to Maul and Varun?"

Reyanel doesn't trust his fucking self.

Reyanel blinks.

[Reyanel]: I--No, I think it will be alright. I'd just be repeating information you already know.

Reyanel | And some you don't.

Reyanel doesn't plan on breaking the illusion because he's like that.

Dyrihm nods. "All right. I'll try to catch them later, then, after they've gotten your report."

Reyanel shrugs. "You do what you have to do. Don't talk to Trevarde alone." He STARES at Dyr. Got it? He'll repeat it again.

[Dyrihm]: I won't! Light, I get the point! Why do you and Nob both think I would!?

Dyrihm | It's obvious why.

Reyanel just...stares at Dyrihm in disbelief.

[Reyanel]: It's YOU, Dyrihm.

Reyanel | A great answer.

Dyrihm frowns, pulling a face. "What does that mean?"

Reyanel smiles back blithely. "You have a habit of putting yourself on the line when you don't need to."

Dyrihm can't argue with that. "Ah. Well..." He sighs, and then laughs softly, and smiles. "I won't this time. I'm in your hands."

Reyanel breathes out. "Good." A bit of tension actually leaves him. It was bothering him more than he was letting on.

[Dyrihm]: Don't- don't YOU do anything too risky, though, all right?

[Reyanel]: Dyrihm, I literally just DID something risky.

Reyanel raises a brow at Dyr.

Dyrihm grumbles. "I'm aware, I just mean- don't let this go too far, on my account."

Reyanel | Too late.

Reyanel shrugs. "I think you'll find that a lot of us are here for you, Dyrihm. We protect our own, like Varun says."

Dyrihm looks a little surprised, but pleased. "Hopefully he knows the sentiment is echoed."

Reyanel knows what he's about. Trust him. COMMUNICATE. GOSH. He'll lock more people in rooms together. "Hopefully."

Dyrihm smiles. "He's doing better, then?" he asks, changing the topic.

Reyanel nods, grateful for the change. Dear void, he had almost broke his silence on the information. "Yes, I think so."

[Reyanel]: It took a bit but..we're both better. I never really got to thank you for the other night. Still. Thank you for that.

Dyrihm honestly looks relieved. "I'm glad- and of course, Rey." He grins. "We take care of our own, after all."

Reyanel snorts. "Sure do. What about you?" You're not off the hook either.

[Reyanel]: You alright, Dyrihm? Seeing you tense all the time gives me headaches just watching.

Dyrihm can't exactly brush Rey off, now. "Well, I think I've been less jumpy, but this business with the Blade isn't helping." He sighs, and looks at Rey, face open and honest. "I'm terrified. For myself, and- I don't know what Frost is going to do if something does happen to me. If he'll get himself into trouble. If you ALL get yourselves into trouble."

Reyanel 's brows furrow. "If...If something does happen to you." Void, Strider. "You know we're going to try to prevent anything from happening to you as much as we can, right."

Reyanel breathes out.

[Reyanel]: If something does happen. I don't know if I'll be much help in wrangling Strider but...I can't see him NOT doing something.

Dyrihm sighs. "I know. I can't see it either. But, Light- thinking about talking to him about it, or writing a letter or something- that feels too fucking fatalistic."

Reyanel hesitates. "Dyrihm. Have you not spoken to him about what's happening?"

Dyrihm waves his hands. "No, I just talked to him last night- I may have... downplayed the life-threatening bits, but he knows the Blade is looking into me."

[Reyanel]: Oh thank the void.

Reyanel runs a hand through his hair. "Got worried there for a second. Void, if I knew that--If I was in Frost's place...I wouldn't want to be left in the dark about something like this."

Dyrihm nods. "I know. I can't imagine- if he didn't know until things got worse, what that would be like. I just don't want him doing something reckless."

Reyanel can't help a snort. "He would do something." Reckless fluffy moo. "I just...I don't want to be entirely pessimistic about this whole thing. But you know my feelings on the Blade. And I think that...planning ahead for EVERY possibility might help in the long run."

[Reyanel]: Luck has it, most of those plans won't happen at all.

Dyrihm sighs. He almost sounds- relieved. "I don't either, but... we should discuss possibilities. I'd rather face the fact that I might- that things could go very badly, than not have discussed it at all."

Reyanel nods. "Exactly." Pausing, he procures a notebook? Or was it a folder? From a length of shadow. Flipping through, he finds a blank parchment. "It's best be prepared for every eventuality. Like the worst case. And the best."

[Reyanel]: Best? Nothing fucking happens. And we can all go home perfectly content.

Reyanel would be really grateful if that happened but he knows better and distrusts the Blade and Solis both.

Dyrihm laughs. "Yeah, I like that plan. That's a good plan."

[Reyanel]: My favorite.

Reyanel deadpans up but his lips twitch into a faint smirk.

[Dyrihm]: Worst case- you said the Citadel.

[Reyanel]: Yeah. Worst case, Solis diverts you to his...contacts there.

Dyrihm 's letting his businesslike attitude take over. "That sounds like it's out of Blade hands, and into whatever Scourge leftovers are up in Icecrown working for the new Lich King."

Reyanel breathes in quietly as he writes, he's taking actual notes. What the fuck, Rey.

[Reyanel]: Yeah..

Reyanel shakes his head. "He spoke of soul harvesting. Which would be...truly a worse case scenario."

[Dyrihm]: So, good and bad. Fucking terrible for me, frankly. Probably, what, torture, experi- oh good. Yeah.

[Dyrihm]: Well, hey, I've got that whole 'loose soul' problem going on, maybe I can just want to die enough to fuck off before they harvest me.

Dyrihm is a little too casual about this.

Reyanel stares at Dyrihm.

[Reyanel]: .......If it comes to that. That's something.

Reyanel ....writes it down.

Dyrihm clasps his hands in front of him. "Should I be- probably a better question for Maul, but- should I be expecting the Corps to come for me? The Citadel, maybe possible, but extremely dangerous. Acherus? Probably impossible."

[Reyanel]: You should expect it.

Reyanel stares hard at Dyrihm.

[Dyrihm]: Huge risk, for one person.

[Reyanel]: I'll bring backup. Aka. The Corps.

Reyanel sighs.

[Reyanel]: I'd almost prefer the Citadel over Acherus but...if we don't make it in time, Acherus would be better.

Dyrihm laughs, softly. "All right. Well, if not the Corps entire, a few of you, certainly. That's good."

[Dyrihm]: I- I don't want to end up at the Citadel, but... that's a worse case for me, better for you.

Reyanel will fucking bring the entire Corps. You silly, silly death knight.

[Reyanel]: Yeah.

Reyanel sighs. "I...It'll depend on where they bring you there. But if they do..."

Reyanel shakes his head and writes something down under the Worst Case Scenario tab. "Regardless. If they take you, we're coming after you." Plain and simply stated. "So. If they do. Remember that."

Dyrihm nods. "I will." He sighs. "Okay. Soul harvesting. That's not going to be good, either- what's Solis using them for?"

[Reyanel]: For the glory of the Lich King and his new Blade that Solis wants to see upraised.

Reyanel answers relatively easily, penning something about Legal Documents under the same tab he's been writing under.

Dyrihm grimaces. "All right, well- Just don't, uh-" He stares at Rey, grim. "Don't let the Scourge have me again. If you can't get to me in time, if they... change me."

Reyanel meets Dyrihm's gaze, pen pausing. "I won't." He promises, just as solemn. "I won't let them have you if they try or manage to change you. I won't."

Dyrihm nods. "Good. Okay." He lets out a shaky breath. "So, Acherus- might be worth trying diplomatic options instead of breaking in. Maybe get me freed as a Forsaken military combatant or something."

[Dyrihm]: That's obviously not going to be an option with the Citadel.

[Reyanel]: No, it won't be.

Reyanel says sardonically but he writes another tab out.

[Reyanel]: We can try diplomacy. Worst comes to worst with that one, we break into Acherus. Done it before, can do it again.

[Dyrihm]: We only managed it because we were able to sneak in as Knights. It wouldn't be as easy.

[Reyanel]: That's true.

Reyanel lets out a long, drawn-out sigh.

Dyrihm sighs back. "You're going to do it anyway."

[Reyanel]: You know me so well.

Reyanel flashes a smirk at Dyr.

Dyrihm can't help but laugh. "I'd do the same."

[Reyanel]: Well, see there we go.

Reyanel taps a note on his paper. "Dyrihm." He sobers. "You might want to consider writing any legal documents if you haven't already."

Dyrihm blinks. "I- like a will? I don't really have much-" He looks around him. "Well. Not that true anymore. You... make a good point. And maybe I should prepare a letter for Frost. Just... in case."

[Reyanel]: I think you should, Dyrihm. Just in case.

Reyanel sighs. "Better prepare than have nothing waiting in the end at all."

Dyrihm nods. "Prepare for every possibility."

[Reyanel]: Exactly.

[Dyrihm]: Well, until then- we can delay by trying to prevent Trevarde from getting information.

[Dyrihm]: We could try to stop correspondence between Trevarde and Solis, or between Solis and whoever he's reporting to.

Reyanel flips a page over to begin a new section. "Trevarde's attempts at getting information from us haven't worked very well so far, I think. We'll need to keep that up. Or carefully lay information down."

[Reyanel]: We could, also, just kill Solis. But I think his death might get the Blade looking more closely.

Dyrihm nods. "That might draw more attention than we want, yeah."

Reyanel | See, Reya? He didn't completely fuck up.

[Dyrihm]: I still think there might be merit in talking to Trevarde directly- even if it's the Corps and not me.

[Dyrihm]: We're missing something about his motivations.

Reyanel nods with a Sigh but writes this down.

[Reyanel]: That is true.

Dyrihm sighs, leaning back in his chair. "Well. This actually- helped."

Reyanel closes his notebook/folder. Maybe it was just a binder. "I'm glad."

Dyrihm starts ticking items off on his fingers. "So, better locks, start using them. Ask Maul about wards. Write a will and farewell letters, depressing but necessary. Don't do anything Trevarde could use against me."

[Dyrihm]: The rest is up to all of you.

Reyanel nods. An impressive list but necessary. "I'll be filing my own report and try my best to help. The Corps is here for you, Dyrihm." Oddly formal but, Rey doesn't really know how he can just say, hey, it'd really suck if you died.

Dyrihm nods. "Keep me posted. And- Light, Rey, thank you."

[Reyanel]: You're welcome, Dyrihm.

Reyanel flashes a brief genuine smile. "Stay safe, alright?" And he starts making his way out of the house he just barged into without a warning.

[Dyrihm]: You too.

#Dyrihm #RP logs #Discorpse #Charnel Corps

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