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lastbluetardis · 5 years

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Family of Six (5/14)

After James and Rose bring their newborn twins home, they work to find a balance between all four of their children, and each other. Ten x Rose AU, Soulmates AU.

This chapter:Teen, 7500 words

Ages of the Tyler-McCrimmons at the start of the chapter: James: 39, Rose: 33, Ainsley: 9, Sianin: (almost) 6, Twins: 3 weeks

If you like reading my stories, consider leaving me a tip? Or leave a reply on this post to tell me what you thought? And as always, reblogs are very much appreciated so more people can see this.

Chapters will be posted every other week → next update: September 3rd. (Notice that the chapter count went up... there’s going to be twelve chapters and an epilogue.)

Note: This chapter has some slight warnings for allusions to child abuse, as well as implying an underage relationship (between a 17- and 18-year-old).

AO3 | TSP | FF | Perfectly Matched Series

Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7 | Ch8 | Ch9 | Ch10 | Ch11 | Ch12 | Ch13 | Ch14

Robert walked into the house, immediately spotting the almost-birthday girl.

“Happy Birthday, Sianin my darling,” he said, crouching down for a hug. She bolted into his open arms and he stood with her.

“It’s not actually my birthday yet, Grandad,” she said matter-of-factly.

“It’s not?” he asked, his jaw dropping.

Sianin giggled as she shook her head. “Nope! It’s not ‘til tomorrow.”

“Oh…” Robert glanced down at the small pile of packages in the bag he’d been carrying. “I guess I can’t give you your presents yet, then?”

“No, no,” Sianin said hastily, looking panicked. “The party’s my pretend birthday, so we’re still doing cake and presents and everything.”

Robert laughed and blew a raspberry into her neck, making her shriek and squirm in his arms. After giving her a final squeeze and a kiss, he set Sianin on her feet and turned to greet his other granddaughter. He couldn’t quite pick Ainsley up anymore, but he gave her a great big hug that lifted her off her toes for a few seconds.

“Mum’s in the kitchen,” she announced. “And Dad went out to get more ice cream.”

Robert stepped into the kitchen and saw Rose at the counter chopping vegetables.

“Hi Dad!” she said, grinning. “I’d give you a hug, but, well…” She brandished the knife in her hand.

“I’ll get one later,” he said. “Do you need some help?”

“Nah, I think I’ve got it covered.”

“Lookie what Elena and Juliette drew me!”

Sianin skipped into the kitchen, waving her right arm. He saw a bunch of little doodles, including a birthday cake with six candles and three stick figures in pointy party hats. He remembered the days when James would proudly show him and Vera the drawings Rose had made for him, especially on holidays.

“That’s lovely,” Rose said.

“I wish they could come to my party,” Sianin sighed, tracing her fingertip over the ink on her arm.

“Soon, darling,” Robert soothed.

“Nuh uh! I have to wait ‘til I’m eighteen, but that’s ages away!” Sianin whined, slumping dramatically across the table.

“It’ll be here before you know it,” Rose said sympathetically. “And it’ll be well worth the wait.”

“Your first meeting with your soulmates is going to be utterly magical and spectacular,” Robert chimed in. “It’ll be one of the best days of your life, and you’ll look back and realize that the wait wasn’t as long as you’d thought.”

Sianin made a small noise of disbelief. “What was your first meeting like, Grandad?”

“It was… incredible,” he said softly, his chest aching with a combination of sorrow, longing, and joy as the memory conjured itself in his mind.

“I’m leaving as soon as I’m eighteen. I can’t stand to be in this house a moment longer,” he’d written onto his arms one night. His father had, once again, taken Robert’s entire paycheck from his job at the butcher’s for not only rent, but more liquor too.

“I’m so sorry about your dad,” Vera replied. And after a beat, she wrote, “Where would you go?”

“I don’t care. Anywhere. I’ll hide out in the shop after it closes. I’ll go to a group home. I’ll live in a goddamned park if I have to.”

“Don’t do that! It’s January for God’s sake! You’d freeze to death!”

“I can’t stay in this house anymore, Vee.”

She was quiet for a long time. Long enough that Robert brushed his teeth and crawled into bed for the night. He kept his bedside lamp on for a few minutes longer, hoping she hadn’t fallen asleep already.

Finally, she wrote back. “Well… if you want… my house has got plenty of spare rooms. My parents said they wouldn’t mind (that’s where I was just now).”

Her words came slowly, as though she was nervous to say them.

His heart lifted, but he tried to quash the hope.

“We can’t meet yet, darling,” he said, wishing so badly they could. “You know that.”

“I know. But…” There was a long pause. “What difference would ten months make? No one would report you or anything. And if they did, they’d have me to reckon with. Just think about it? Please?”

Robert told her that he would, even though a larger piece of him told him it was probably impossible.

As his eighteenth birthday grew nearer and nearer, Robert started to seriously consider Vera’s offer. A recent winter snowstorm made him rethink some of his previous ideas. However, she hadn’t brought it up again, which made him nervous that she regretted her invitation.

Then one night his father gave him a split lip for not forking over the entirety of his latest paycheck. His father had hit him before, but mostly uncoordinated swats or a tightly-gripped arm. Never hard enough to draw blood or a bruise. Then again, Robert had never withheld money from his father before. Robert had begun working longer hours, squirreling away the extra money for when he could finally meet Vera. But his father had somehow found out and confronted him about it.

Robert had gone to bed without dinner and his money, near tears with anger, frustration, and helplessness.

“Hey, Vee?”

“Yeah, love?”

Her quick reply made his tears spill over. He wiped them away when they rolled into his raw lip.

“I was wondering…” He couldn’t bring himself to get the words out. He felt pathetic.

“Wondering?” she coaxed.

“What you said about your house having plenty of spare rooms. Is that… Could I…”

He started and crossed out several sentences before Vera said, “You are more than welcome to come stay with me and my mum and dad. More than welcome.” She underlined those words heavily. “You’re family. Have been for as long as we’ve been soulmated. My parents already consider you to be their son.”

His tears started up again in earnest, and all he managed to say was, “Thank you.”

Barely a week later, Robert found himself on the train headed to Scotland. He’d packed the barest of essentials: clothing, mostly, as well as a few books and all of the letters he and Vera had exchanged over the years. His entire life—the last eighteen years—fit in one medium-sized suitcase and a backpack. Looking at how little he had made Robert feel hollow inside.

The train ride took forever. He tried to distract himself with a book, but couldn’t silence his racing thoughts. His father had been furious when he realized his son was leaving. Robert had hoped to be out of the house before he had woken up. Alas, his father stumbled into the kitchen as Robert was writing a brief note telling him he was leaving and never returning.

His father had shouted at him and lunged for him, but was too hungover to properly do any damage. Robert grabbed his suitcase and used it to push his father to the side, then he left the house behind without ever looking back.

Robert knew his father’s fury wasn’t due to any emotional attachment; it was simply because a source of income was gone. Robert had learned ages ago not to expect an ounce of love or affection from his father. The only thing he did learn was what kind of father he himself wanted to be, if he and Vera were lucky enough to have children one day. He would be the sort of father his children could come to without hesitation, without fear, and know that they would be loved endlessly and eternally, no matter what.

Ignoring the lingering guilt of leaving his father behind, Robert had walked all the way to the train station. He’d bought a ticket with the small amount of money he’d managed to hide from his father. Finally free, Robert was now on his way to meet the woman he’d loved his whole life.

After the train ride, he hailed a taxi to Vera’s home. If his calculations were correct, the drive would use up the last of his money, leaving him penniless and homeless to meet his soulmate.

“A great start,” he scoffed to himself.

He gave the driver the address and slouched in the back seat as he was driven out of the city to a small neighboring town. Even then, they bypassed the town until they were in a wooded area. He grew nervous that maybe he’d gotten the address wrong. But he’d been sending letters to her for years, and she’d always gotten them.

The driver made an abrupt turn that had Robert clinging to the seat to keep from toppling. The car wound through trees on a narrow, bumpy road before turning onto a long dirt road. The dirt road was actually a driveway that opened up to a huge old manor house.

Robert’s eyes widened as he took in the beautiful home with the pristine white wrap-around porch and the wide expanse of grass around it. There was a tree line beyond the house, stretching out farther than Robert could see. His stomach lurched and his heart hammered. This was where Vera lived? It was like a castle.

Self-consciousness burned like acid in the back of his throat, and he was painfully aware of his tattered, ill-fitting clothes and unkempt hair and dusty shoes.

The taxi pulled to a stop. Robert fought against the impulse to tell the driver he’d gotten the wrong address and to take him back to the train station. But he couldn’t afford another taxi ride into the city. Or a new train ticket.

A flash of movement caught his eye, and Robert saw a girl with dark brown hair jump off the front porch, not bothering with the steps as she ran towards him. His stomach unknotted and he fumbled for the door handle.

“Robert! Robert!”

She had the most beautiful voice in the world. It made his knees tremble, and he was sure he was about to fall face-first into the frozen ground.

“Robert!” she shouted again. Her face was split into a wide grin. She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.

“Vera,” he breathed. He forced his legs to stay steady as he took a few steps towards her. His stride grew longer and longer until he was running too.

She flung her arms wide and he followed suit half a second before their bodies slammed together. The breath left his lungs in a gasp, and he heard her make a similar noise. Then he was being held and squeezed by the person he loved most in the world.

“You’re here!” she cried.

She pulled back from their embrace, tears streaming down her cheeks. It was an automatic response for him to lift his hands to cradle her cheeks, swiping at her tears with his thumbs. He didn’t realize he was crying too until she copied his movements.

“Hi!” she giggled, beaming at him.

“Hi,” he whispered, leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers. He caught a whiff of her shampoo. She smelled amazing.

“I can’t believe it’s you,” she said, running her fingers through his hair, then down his cheek, before resting her palm against his chest. “You’re here. Oh! Happy Birthday!”

She lifted onto her toes and pecked a kiss to his cheek, then rocked back onto her heels, her cheeks pink.

“This is the best birthday I’ve ever had,” he told her honestly, his eyes flickering across her face, memorizing every detail. She was more lovely than his imagination had been able to conjure; he didn’t think he would ever grow tired of looking at her.

Robert was then aware that the taxi was pulling off down the driveway.

“My things,” he protested, turning, but he saw a middle-aged man and woman holding his suitcase and backpack. “I… I didn’t pay him.”

“We’ve got it,” Vera’s mother said gently, stepping up to him. “Our birthday gift to you.”

She set his backpack on the ground and opened her arms in an invitation for a hug, one that he stepped in to. He held himself somewhat stiffly for a second—wasn’t it awkward to hug a virtual stranger?—but the hug felt so nice that he couldn’t help but relax into it.

“We’re so happy to see you,” she whispered into his ear, then she kissed his cheek.

She released him, and he turned to Vera’s father. Despite his enormous size—he stood at least half a foot taller than Robert’s six feet—his face was kind and there were laugh lines around his mouth and eyes.

Robert stuck out his hand to shake his, but was instead pulled into another hug, to his surprise.

“Welcome,” Vera’s father said, giving him a firm squeeze. He pulled away and ruffled Robert’s hair.

His cheeks burned with an odd mixture of pleasure and embarrassment.

Vera skipped up beside him and hugged his arm to her chest, then twined her fingers through his.

“Are you hungry?” Vera’s mother asked. “Nobody’s eaten lunch yet. Let’s go inside and out of this cold. C’mon my dears.”

Vera’s parents picked up his bags and began walking hand-in-hand towards the house. Before he could follow them, Vera gave his hand a squeeze and tugged at his arm. He looked down at her and couldn’t help but smile. He was finally with his soulmate. She returned the expression, then reached up and rested her palm on his cheek.

“I love you,” she said softly.

He thought his heart might collapse in on itself, and he was slightly mortified to feel tears welling in his throat. Swallowing them away, he covered her hand with his and turned his head to the side to press a long kiss to her palm. He took her hand off his face and brought her knuckles to his lips.

“I love you, too,” he murmured into her skin. “So very much.”

Her face was beautifully pink, and he couldn’t resist kissing her fingers again. He then tucked her small hand into his and followed the people that would become his new family into the house.

“Awww.” Sianin’s dreamy coo brought Robert out of his own head and back to the kitchen.

Of course, Robert had skimmed over the details of his father and had expanded upon the details of Vera, but he stayed as close to the truth as he could.

“That sounds lovely,” Rose breathed, misty-eyed. Robert realized with a start this was the first he’d told Rose about his first meeting with Vera.

“It was,” he said simply.

Robert stuck his hand into his pocket for his wallet. When he withdrew it, he opened it up and took a small faded photograph from within. The photo was of a lanky, messy-haired boy with his arm around a petite brown-haired girl. They were both beaming.

“Look at this,” Robert said, sliding the photo across the table so his granddaughter could see. “That’s the day we met.”

“Oh!” Rose clasped her hands to her chest and smiled down at the picture.

“You look like Daddy,” Sianin observed.

“No, your daddy looks like him,” Rose corrected. When Sianin frowned in confusion, she clarified, “A child looks like their parent, not the other way ‘round, since the parent made the child.”

Sianin ignored her mother and instead looked down at the photo again. “She’s very pretty. She looks like Ainsley.” Sianin then glanced sidelong at Rose. “Er… I mean, Ainsley looks like her.”

“She was the prettiest girl I’d ever met… apart from my beautiful little granddaughters.”

He lifted up Sianin’s party hat and ruffled his fingers through her hair. She squealed and ducked out of his touch, but he caught her around the waist and peppered kisses across her neck and cheeks just to hear her laugh again.

“I love you,” he whispered to her.

“Love you too, Grandad,” she said, breathless and beaming.

The front door then opened, and James called out, “I’m back! And some guests have arrived. Sian, your mate Emma is here.”

Sianin scurried out from Robert’s arms and darted to the front of the house. He watched her go with a fond smile.

He picked up the photograph of him and Vera and tucked it safely into his wallet behind James and Rose’s latest family Christmas photo. He made a mental note to ask Rose if she had any family photos that included the twins, and if he could get a copy.

“Meeting before she turned eighteen… how scandalous.” Rose stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she smirked at him.

Robert rolled his eyes. “You know how big the manor house is… I had my own bedroom, and she had hers.”

“And how long did it take before you started sharing?” Rose teased knowingly.

“Longer than it took you and James,” Robert replied sweetly, laughing at the deep blush staining her cheeks and neck. “You know, I never did thank you.”

Rose frowned. “For what?”

“Being there for James when he needed you the most. And me.”

“Dad…” Her voice was soft as she approached him. She rested her hands on his cheeks and said, “You will never need to thank me for that. For either of you. I love you and James so much. I didn’t hesitate. You both needed me, so I went.”

He smiled at her.

“I love you,” he said, taking her hands off his cheeks to kiss the backs of her knuckles.

“I love you, too.” After a beat, she said, “By the way, your dad was an absolute wanker and you deserved so much better.”

“Yeah, he was,” Robert agreed. He hadn’t spared his father a single thought over the last fifty years except the day he was notified his father had passed away. He didn’t bother going to the funeral, and Vera hadn’t pressed it. “But he doesn’t matter. He was my past. I found a new home, a new life, in Vera. Then also in James. And now with you and my granddaughters, too. My life is so full, and I wouldn’t change anything.”

“Not anything,” Rose mumbled, her eyes going sad.

A familiar ache wrapped itself around Robert’s heart.

“I still miss her,” Rose confessed.

“I do too, darling.” He took Rose into his arms and rocked her from side to side. “But I still wouldn’t change anything. Even if it meant having her back, I wouldn’t erase a second of the time I’ve had with you and my grandchildren.”

Rose squeezed him tightly, then let him go to return to the vegetable chopping.

The guests began arriving in a steady trickle, with James and Sianin greeting everyone while Rose finished up the work in the kitchen. When she was able to join the party, she saw everyone was split into groups. Sianin was playing on the floor with the five friends she’d been allowed to invite, while the adults—their family members, mostly—cooed at the two sleeping bundles in James and Jackie’s arms.

“Oh, Rose, they’re simply beautiful!”

“They’re adorable!”

“Wow, you’re looking amazing, Rose!”

Rose dutifully smiled and accepted everyone’s compliments, shooting James a wink whenever anyone congratulated her on their beautiful babies. It was a running joke between them that she got all of the praise for making their children, as though they’d magicked themselves into being rather than have any contribution from him.

Ainsley was the lone misfit of the party. She was too old to play with Sianin and her friends, but too young to be fully integrated in the adults’ conversations. As a result, she hopped between groups and often hovered by the twins, helping whoever happened to be holding them.

“No Sylvia today?”

Rose looked over at her husband’s voice, not realizing new guests had arrived.

Donna, Lee—who was holding little Joshua—and Wilf stepped into the foyer. Rose went over to greet them with a hug and kiss apiece, including a raspberry for Joshua.

“Mum was indisposed,” Donna said, giving Rose a meaningful look.

“Everyone’s in the living room,” Rose said. “The pizza should be here soon, but there are nibbles to pick at in the meantime. Drinks are in the kitchen; Donna, want to lend me a hand?”

Donna gladly followed Rose into the kitchen and away from prying ears.

“Indisposed, eh?” Rose asked when they were alone.

Donna went to a bottle of wine, pouring some into a paper cup.

“We sort of… had a falling out,” Donna admitted once she drained half the cup in one go. Rose stayed silent, letting Donna gather her thoughts and continue her story, if she wanted. “Lee and I decided we want another baby.”

“That’s exciting!”

“Thanks. Mum didn’t think so. Joshua’s a little bit… behind the other kids his age,” Donna admitted, her cheeks turning pink. “Developmentally. The doctors said it’s nothing to be too concerned about yet. But he’s nearly two and hasn’t started walking yet. And because he isn’t walking, we can’t even think about preparing to toilet train him.”

“He’ll get there,” Rose assured. “And toilet training is a long way off. He’s not even two yet.”

“That what I’ve been saying, but Mum thinks Lee and I are doing Joshua a disservice by trying to have another baby when we’re… what did she say?” Donna frowned and stared off into the distance while she tried to remember. “Oh! When we’re neglecting the child we already have.”

Rose gasped, a combination of sympathy and anger bubbling up within her. “Oh, Donna.”

“Yeah. So now of course I’m worrying that maybe Mum’s right, and that we should try to get Joshua the help he needs before our lives are thrown into chaos from a new baby.”

“But you said the doctors weren’t concerned, so what help does he need?” Rose asked, puzzled.

“Exactly! I dunno, Rose. This is all so hard. I’m terrified I’m not doing the right thing for my child. But what more can Lee or I do? We have him in nursery, so he gets socialized with other kids his age and is with professional childcare experts. And when we come home, it’s not like we ignore him or anything. We play with him, we read to him, we try and get him to want to walk, but he absolutely refuses. He screams his little head off and starts crying for us to pick him up. Or he just happily crawls everywhere.”

Donna sighed and scrubbed her fist into her forehead. Rose stepped up and wrapped Donna in a loose hug.

“I love Joshua so much,” Donna whispered. “God, I love him more than I’ve ever loved anyone. But I just… want another baby before I get too old.”

Rose nodded, understanding all too well what the other woman was going through.

“Needless to say, Mum and I had it out.” Donna shook her head in dismay. “I told her if she wasn’t going to accept and support her grandson as he was, then she wasn’t going to have the privilege of seeing him at all. I’m not going to let her stand around and talk down about him where he can hear her. He might only be a little boy, but I’m sure he can understand more than we realize.”

“Good for you,” Rose murmured, rubbing a hand up and down Donna’s back. “I’m sorry about your mum though.”

“And I feel awful for putting Gramps in the middle of it. I feel like I’ve made him choose between his daughter and his granddaughter.”

Rose gave her a comforting squeeze, and once Donna had composed herself, they joined the party.

Their house was loud, hectic, and full of people—the twins handled it well though, considering this was their first time around so many other people. Rose and James ran themselves ragged, making sure that not only were their babies satisfied, but that all of their guests were attended to, especially Sianin and her friends. They appeared to be content to stay as a group and play together.

The family all tripped over themselves to have a turn with the twins. Rose hadn’t needed to change a nappy or comfort a crying infant all afternoon. Her mother and James’s dad in particular seemed to self-appoint themselves as the babies’ caretakers, and were often disappearing into the nursery with one of the twins.

“Hey Dad? We’re doing the cake soon.” Rose leaned up against the door frame of the nursery and found her father-in-law sitting in the rocking chair, bottle-feeding one of the babies. Hannah, she thought, but she couldn’t quite see her daughter’s face well enough to distinguish.

“I hope you don’t mind?” he said sheepishly. “James gave me a bottle out of the fridge.”

“It’s fine,” Rose assured. Because she breastfed, it was rare for somebody other than her to feed the babies. She knew Robert enjoyed the task though.

The sight of her nursing daughter made her breasts become tender. She would have to sneak away and pump soon. “I was just saying, we were about ready to do the cake. Did you want us to wait for you?”

“Nah, it’s all right,” he said. “I’ll join you when she’s done.”

Rose nodded and moved back to the kitchen, where she found James sticking six candles into the chocolate cake before sampling a bit of the peanut butter icing.

“I’m sure it doesn’t taste that different from when you made it last night,” Rose drawled, smacking at his hand.

“Well, you never know,” he said innocently. “A good scientist always performs an experiment to test that his hypothesis is still valid.”

“Uh huh,” Rose said dubiously. “Last I checked, scientists weren’t supposed to go around licking the science.”

“Oh… well… ehm…” James floundered for a few moments before turning away from her for the matches. “Is Dad coming? I set him up with Hannah and a bottle a few minutes ago.”

“He said to go on without him,” Rose answered. “After this, I’m gonna need to go pump unless I want my tits to start leaking all over the place.”

“Just not on the cake,” James said, pulling it away from her.

She swatted him halfheartedly, then went into the living room to let everyone know the cake was coming out in a minute. When she returned to the kitchen, James was touching a lit match to the last candle. The flame had burnt close to his fingers, and he hissed as he quickly blew it out and dropped the smoking match into the sink.

“Ready?” she asked, grabbing her camera off the kitchen island.

“As I’ll ever be,” he said, picking up the pan.

Rose guided him out into the living room, flicking the lights off as she did so. Sianin looked up excitedly at her and James as they approached and began to sing. As they sang, Sianin looked around the room at her family and friends before she stared into the flickering candles on the cake that James set on the coffee table in front of her.

Rose loved getting this shot, when the candles reflected in her child’s eyes and cast shadows across her face. If it wasn’t such a hazard, she would love to have fire in all of the photoshoots she did.

She took as many photos as she could of Sianin’s face scrunching up as she thought of a wish, then of her cheeks puffing up as she blew out her candles. The room broke into applause as she extinguished them all in one breath.

Sianin carefully pulled the candles out of the cake and licked off the crumbs and icing clinging to the waxy surface.

“We’ll all get some cake and ice cream, then we’ll do presents,” Rose said, carrying the cake back into the kitchen.

“You can go pump, I’ve got this,” James said, making a shooing motion with his hands.

Rose skipped up to him and pecked a kiss to his cheek in thanks.

When she returned, her breasts feeling much more comfortable, Sianin ripped through the multitude of gifts everyone brought for her. As soon as all the gifts were opened, she and her friends took over half the toys out of the packaging and began playing with them.

Rose sat back on the couch with a piece of cake and her camera. She took shots of all of the family as everyone began to wind down from the excitement of the party. The parents of Sianin’s friends would be arriving soon to pick up their kids, and hopefully that would entice the rest of the family to leave too. Being a party host was utterly exhausting and Rose was ready to have her house to herself again.

“Rose! Rose, come look! Quick!”

Rose lowered the camera from where she was about to catch a photo of Sianin and Ainsley. She turned towards her husband. He was sitting on the sofa with Maddie lying in the cradle of his thighs.

“She smiled at me,” he said. “I swear it. She actually, properly smiled at me!”

“Oh, don’t be stupid,” Jackie scoffed, even as she walked towards him. “She’s too little to smile.”

Rose rolled her eyes at her mother and had to bite her tongue to keep from reprimanding her in front of the other guests. She instead snapped a quick photo of James holding Maddie before she went to stand behind him. She draped her arms around his shoulders and looked down at their three-week-old baby who, as much as she didn’t want to admit her mother was right, probably hadn’t actually smiled at James.

“Do you want to smile for Mummy? Do you want to smile for Mummy? Or are you gonna be shy? No need to be shy, my darling, not with those beautiful big dimple-wimples and those lovely pink wittle gummy-wummies. Want to flash Daddy your gummy-wummies? Eh?”

Rose smiled fondly at her husband as he dissolved into his rarely-used baby babble. But then, as James started talking about her “big blue eyesie-wisies”, the baby’s lips quirked up and her eyes scrunched as she grinned.

“Oh!”

“Look at that beautiful wittle smile!” James crooned. “Maddie-Waddie has a beautiful wittle smile-wile, doesn’t she?”

Rose brought her camera up and, heedless of trying to get the perfect shot, began snapping photos at random, hoping that at least one would turn out well.

“Anybody would smile at your daddy’s silly voice,” Rose cooed. “Wouldn’t they? He sounds so funny, doesn’t he?”

“Yes he does,” James sang. “Yes he does!”

A crowd had formed a semi-circle around them, hoping to get a glimpse of Maddie’s first smiles. Everyone began making silly faces and speaking gibberish to try to be the next person to make a three-week-old baby miraculously smile; all they managed to do, however, was overstimulate her and send her into a whimpering fit.

oOoOo

Once all the partygoers had departed for the evening, the James and Rose collapsed in an exhausted heap on the couch. Everyone and everything was quiet. The twins had fallen asleep, and Sianin disappeared into her room with Ainsley to play with her new toys.

“We should clean up,” James mumbled, even as he rested his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes.

“Mhm,” Rose agreed, sitting in a similar position. “In a moment, though.”

“Maybe two moments,” James replied.

They each dozed for the next hour, and when they awoke, they were groggy but somewhat refreshed. They used their rejuvenated energy to clean up the worst of the mess from the party.

They weren’t particularly hungry when dinnertime rolled around, but knew they ought to eat something more substantial than the snacks and birthday cake they’d eaten that afternoon.

“Ainsley, Sianin, are you hungry?” James called out as he moved down the hall. “We’ve got some leftover pizza.”

He leaned against the door frame of Sianin’s room; his daughters were playing with the multi-tiered toy car ramp that Jackie had brought as a gift.

“Girls, are you hungry?”

“A little,” Ainsley said, looking up at him. Sianin continued playing with her toy.

“Well, food’s in the kitchen,” he said, thumbing behind him.

When he returned, Rose was sprinkling cheese on top of her salad as she nibbled on a slice of cold pizza. He scooped out his own salad and stole a bite of Rose’s pizza, earning him a smack on the shoulder.

A few minutes later, Ainsley skipped into the kitchen alone.

“Sianin not hungry?” Rose asked.

“She’s angry with you,” Ainsley said before putting a piece of pizza in the microwave.

James paused with his fork half way to his mouth; a bit of salad dressing dripped onto the table.

“What do you mean?” Rose asked.

“Sianin’s angry with you,” Ainsley repeated unhelpfully.

James looked over at Rose, who seemed just as puzzled as he was.

“Why is she angry?” Rose asked.

Ainsley shrugged. “Nobody paid attention to her at her party.”

“Sure they did,” James argued.

“Not according to her,” Ainsley replied, popping open the microwave door a second before it would have beeped.

James was utterly confused. Sianin looked like she’d had fun at her party; she played with her friends the entire afternoon.

He and Rose moved at the same time, setting down their forks and pushing away from the table to walk down the hall to Sianin’s bedroom. Their almost-six-year-old was sitting on the floor exactly how James had left her ten minutes ago.

The toy she was playing with had five car ramps that all circled around each other, and Sianin was using them to cause a massive pile-up in the center where all the ramps ended. James thought the various ramps were to race the cars against each other; leave it to his daughter to prefer making them all crash.

They knocked on her open bedroom door right as she made an explosion sound with her mouth.

Sianin looked up at them briefly, then returned her attention to her toy, resolutely ignoring them. For good measure, she even scooted further around, turning her back completely to them.

“What are you playing with, darling?” James asked softly.

“Cars,” she answered shortly.

“Looks like fun.”

“Yup.”

“Can Mummy and I join you?”

“No.”

James clenched his hands into fists, his nails biting into his palms. How had they not noticed before that Sianin was upset?

“Why not, love?” Rose asked, stepping into the room.

She crouched in front of Sianin while James sat on the bed behind his wife. Sianin shrugged.

“Are you angry with us?” James asked quietly.

Sianin shrugged again.

“What’s the matter, darling?”

Many long seconds passed before she grumbled, “I hate the babies. They’re stupid and take up all the attention. It was my birthday party but everyone only wanted to see them.”

James’s chest caved in on itself, snatching the air from his lungs. “This is the first anyone has seen the twins. It was exciting for them.”

Sianin continued on as if he hadn’t spoken. “And when I blew out my candles, Grandad wasn’t even there. Then everyone went to go see Maddie smile. How is smiling that big a deal anyway? Everyone smiles.”

“That was her first smile, love.” Rose’s voice shook slightly. “There’s only one first smile.”

“What about a sixth birthday party?” Sianin shouted. “I only turn six once but no one cares ‘cos the babies are here instead!”

“That’s not true…”

“It is true. Everyone wanted to be with the babies instead of me.”

“We’re sorry, darling. Truly. But your sisters are very little and…”

“You’re making excuses!” she screamed, angry tears beginning to leak down her cheeks. She swiped at her face and said, “I don’t want you here. Leave me alone!”

James froze on the bed, not knowing what to do. He wanted to stay and comfort his child, but he was the reason his child needed comforting.

“Sianin, we’re so sorry…”

“Go away,” she wailed. “Go away!”

Rose stood up and tugged James to his feet. Together they exited Sianin’s bedroom, and after they made it a few steps down the hall, they heard her door slam shut, making them both flinch.

“Shit,” Rose whimpered, digging the heels of her hands into her eyes. “Shit!”

“What a mess,” James agreed, rubbing his hand up and down Rose’s arm. “We’ll let her cool off, then talk to her again.”

When they walked back into the kitchen, Ainsley was just finishing up her pizza.

“Told you she was angry.”

“Yes, thank you Ainsley,” James snapped.

Ainsley held up her hands defensively, then pushed back from the table to put her plate in the full sink.

“Can you help me load the dishwasher?” James asked.

“Don’t you want to finish eating?” Ainsley asked.

“Not very hungry. I ate too much at the party,” he lied. In truth, his appetite had been obliterated upon seeing Sianin’s distress. He dumped his salad into the trash and together, he and Ainsley filled the dishwasher to capacity then hand-washed the rest.

The evening passed slowly, with Ainsley and Rose reading on the couch and James pretending to read while his brain whirred frantically to figure out how to fix things with Sianin. Sure, a lot of the family had spent time with the twins, but they’d also spent time with Sianin, hadn’t they? And besides, Sianin had been with her friends for most of the party.

Unless she’d been with her friends so much because everyone’s attention was elsewhere.

Bugger, he said to himself.

James got through nearly fifty pages of his book without absorbing a single word, but finally it was time to get the girls ready for bed. Sianin was still in her room but playing with a different toy when he went to summon her.

“Sianin, bath time.”

“No. I don’t want to,” she said.

“Well, you have to,” he countered. “Come on.”

“I’ll do it myself,” she said, grudgingly getting to her feet. “Without you.”

“You can’t be in the bathtub by yourself,” he said. “It’s not safe.”

Sianin huffed out an annoyed breath, pushed past him, and marched to the loo.

“I’m gonna do it!” she said when he turned on the water out of habit.

“Sorry,” he said, turning it off.

He gestured for her to go ahead and turn on the tap and adjust the temperature however she wanted it. It took her much, much longer than it would have taken him, and he cringed as she stuck her hand under the stream when she had the dial set all the way to hot.

She yelped and yanked her hand away, then turned the tap to make it cold.

In the end, the bathtub was filled with water that was only tepid at best, but Sianin didn’t say a word as she stripped and lowered herself into the tub.

It was one of the most torturous bath times James had ever been a part of. Sianin was utterly silent and efficient in her movements, and she snapped at him whenever he tried to assist her.

“I’m trying to help,” he said defensively, setting down the shampoo bottle he’d been trying to hand to her. “Don’t be angry with me for that.”

Finally, Sianin finished bathing herself and stood up out of the now-cold water and drained the tub. Goosebumps prickled across her skin and she began shivering lightly as she pulled a towel around her body. Rather than dry herself off, Sianin hugged her towel tighter, a frown etched into her face.

“A bit chilly?” he asked gently.

She didn’t say anything.

“Do you want a warm Daddy hug?” he asked, opening his arms.

Sianin sniffed. “I can do it myself.”

“Of course you can,” he said. “But there’s no harm in getting a bit of help, too. Daddy will always be here to help his little girl, no matter what.”

Sianin glowered at the floor for a long minute before she stepped into his open arms. Her body was damp, but he pulled her close anyway. As soon as she was ensconced in his embrace, a violent shudder rippled through her body.

“My bath was cold,” she muttered sadly.

“I know,” he said. “You’ll get better at figuring out the right temperature.”

He held her in his arms for a few minutes, trying to warm her up. When her shivering subsided, he let her step away to dry herself off then change into pajamas. After she brushed her teeth, he followed her to her bedroom and dried her hair, but when he grabbed a book off the shelf, Sianin shook her head.

“I don’t want a bedtime story tonight,” she said, tucking herself further into her blankets.

“No?” he asked, his heart falling.

“No.”

“Okay,” he sighed. “If you change your mind, or want to talk, Mummy and I are always here for you.” He set the books back and stepped up to her. He kissed her forehead and whispered, “I love you, Sianin.”

“G’night,” she said, and she turned away from him.

James exited the room, pulling the door shut behind him. With a heavy exhale, he walked to Ainsley’s ajar bedroom door, and saw her sitting up in bed, reading.

“Did Mum read aloud with you?” he asked wearily, digging his forefinger into his eyes.

“Yeah,” she said. “Only a couple pages though ‘cos Hannah started crying.”

James stepped into the room. “Let’s finish out the chapter, eh?”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to,” Ainsley said.

“I want to.” And he did. Bedtime stories were one of his favorite parts of the night, and it killed him that one of his children hadn’t wanted one that night.

Ainsley scooted to the far edge of her mattress, giving him plenty of space to sit beside her.

“Is Sianin okay?” Ainsley asked, feathering her fingers through the pages of the book.

“She will be. She’s just a little upset tonight,” he answered. “Can you do me a really big favor? If she comes to you and wants to talk, can you listen? Or if she wants to sleep with you, can you let her? Let me and Mum know if it becomes a problem, but at least for the next couple of nights?”

Ainsley nodded, and he flashed her a small smile. “Thank you. Now, what’s going on with Harry and his mates?”

He lounged with his eldest as she read about the trio’s adventures with the Polyjuice potion. When she finished, he tucked her in, kissed her forehead, then turned off the lights. He pulled her door shut behind him, then made his way back to the living room.

Rose was sitting with the twins on the couch.

“That was the worst bedtime in the history of bedtimes,” he announced dramatically as he plopped into the seat beside her.

Rose pursed her lips in sympathy. “Hopefully Sian’s in a better mood tomorrow.”

“Yeah. God, I’m knackered. The party was exhausting enough, now our kid hates us.”

“I don’t think she hates us, James,” Rose said. “She’s just… upset.”

He grunted in reply. “Have we done something wrong? Did we not prepare her enough for having baby siblings?”

“I don’t know,” Rose admitted. “Let’s try not to worry about it too much now. There’s nothing we can do. Tomorrow, we’ll talk to her and see how we can help her adjust better.”

“Yeah. I wish we could’ve ended the day on better terms. This was supposed to be her day, after all. It was supposed to be fun.”

Rose didn’t say anything. She instead rested her head on his shoulder.

James pressed a kiss to her hair and stroked his fingers absently up and down one of the twins’ backs.

“Want her?” Rose asked.

“Please.” He slipped his hands beneath his baby’s tiny body and took her into his arms.

While his heart still hurt for Sianin, holding another of his daughters helped soothe the ache. The feel of her warm, solid body released a cocktail of hormones that loosened his taut muscles and attenuated his anxiety.

He brushed his lips across the top of her head, inhaling her fresh baby scent as he did so.

“Love you loads, my darling girl,” he murmured, kissing her again. “Which one are you, eh? Daddy promises he’ll get better at determining it.”

“You’ve got Mads.”

“How do you do that so easily?” he huffed.

“Well, I was the one who changed them into new outfits, and I knew Maddie was in purple while Hannah was in black,” Rose teased, knocking her shoulder into his.

James stuck his tongue out at her, but pressed a kiss to her temple.

“I love you, Rose.”

“I love you, too. We’ll get through this, James. I promise. We’ll figure it out.”

He nuzzled his cheek into her hair, taking comfort from her presence as they both lapsed into silence.

If you’ve made it to the end, consider leaving a comment or reblogging? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

#ficandchips #doctorroseprompts #dwfic #doctor who #ten x rose #ten x rose au #soulmates #soulmates au #james x rose #kid fic #family fic #baby fic #my fic #soulmates verse #perfectly matched series #family of six

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oldanddilis · 3 years

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Wine, oh wine, beautiful wine what a supreme marvel of nature it is. It draws wisdom from the depths of the mind of a simpleton and reveals the foolishness of a proud, arrogant intellectual. I assure everyone there is no way that I could have completed the Theory of Everythings, endured the loneliness, the doubt, the freezing cold bed of the streets, the many moments of feeling like a failure, the pain of injustice seeing others enjoying the embrace of a warm cosy lover as I sit alone shivering in the cold. The wine kept my mind ticking fast, as did a moderate amount of psychedelics. It allowed me shout with rage at many an idiot and coward often in a uniform who made my life even more difficult. Thanks to everyone who threw coins and bits of paper into my hat when I entertained you, made you smile and dance in the streets. You kept me going through these years, you fed me, clothed me, got me a warm bed in a hostel and a bottle of wine to keep me company through it all. I raise a glass of wine and make a toast to you, thanks, I don't and won't remember each and every one of you but some of you stand out, Manuel, Will (my homeless buddy) and Roberto in Barcelona, the man collecting his son in the train Station on Friday evening in Carcasonne when I wasn't even performing but saw me sitting on the floor charging my phone, he must have detected my pain and sorrow on an evening when I had nothing, not even the will to perform, a day I thought I might not make it and he came to me and gave me €10 which lit my fire again. The young woman who had saved all her small change from her time in London and gave that jar to me outside Victoria station.My sweet friend Ann whose coat has no pockets.The woman in Balaka in Malawi who invited me for Nsima when I was walking around homeless, penniless, being mocked and sneered at by many. Thanks also to Steve Fabien by the way from Balaka the young math teacher who saved me from hanging by a lynch mob that was trying to muster the courage to actually do the act after the largely uneducated superstitious crowd had latched onto the idea that I was a witch. The fact i had to make music also kept me going. On days when I was exhausted almost unable to move out of a cosy sleeping bag, I had to or go hungry (can't make manna with in the devil still in power) and face hypothermia. I had to play with my fingers near numb and stinging as the strings cut into my fingers like blades. Oh poor poor me LOL. I'm not saying that to cry pity, the pain always came with a smile and the wine too brings a smile and a laugh at a funny thought in the toughest of times. The pain taught me, humbled me, made me stronger and cut away many a rough edge. I'm saying it to express the intensity and perhaps so many of you who endured a life of pain on this road can now dwell on your pain and cherish it also. The music kept my imagination stimulated, my body exercised, the singing kept my lungs clean, my voice loud and clear and thanks to everyone who stopped and complimented me on my music and who danced, your encouragement often came amid times when I was disheartened. I hope there's lots more to come Music that is not pain and disenchantment!!!!

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bylethstimewheel · 7 years

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Skyscraper Labyrinth Part 3

Part 1

Part 2

This one is long.

“That’s crazy!” Anna exclaimed, “So you mean to tell me she is gone but Breidablik is still here?” Anna was perplexed. “Anna, do you know if there is a way to open a portal into her world?” Sharena asked. “Oh no no!” Anna shook her head, “We all heard the stories of her word. How the weapons we use to fight our battles in Akrs are nothing but history there, how all the weapons in her world fire like Breidablik, how there are those car things and... we can’t just go storming into a world we know nothing of!” Anna scolded the princess. “Perhaps not,” Alfonse spoke with a calm voice, “but we can have one of us go looking for her.” “I’ll go!” Sharena volunteered in a heart beat. “No, I’ll do it, it’s dangerous for you to go alone.” Alfonse’s older brother instinct kicked in. “Then you come with me then!” Sharena suggested. “Oh yeah? and you don’t suppose the Order of Heroes is going to run itself?” Anna looked at them with cold eyes. “I know this is hard, but it was going to happen sooner or later.” “So you’re saying one of us needs to stay...” Sharena pouted, “Then what are you here for?” “We don’t even know how long you would be gone for!” Anna exclaimed, “At least with the known worlds we have an idea but Mae’s... not even the girl knows I bet!” Anna ignored Sharena’s remark. “I simply cannot allow it.” Alfonse stated after a short pause, “I’ll be the one to go into her world and look for her.” “But Alfonse!” Sharena protested. “i trust that you and the general can take care of things in my absence, you’ve done it before.” he continued. “Yes but this is different, I never went looking for Zacharias without you I-” “this is different!” Alfonse raised his voice. “Why?” Sharon’s expression demanded and answer. “Sharena...” Anna’s voice was more soothing this time, “you know, he’s right.” “But!” Sharena wanted to protest but the red head put a hand on her shoulder, “It’s not safe for a beautiful princess like you to venture alone into a world full of strangers. Unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of saying it’s ok for our leaders to just disappear. Let him go.” “I hate both of you!” Sharena stormed off. Alfonse turned his gaze to the center of the ruins where Mae had stood so many times, he could feel Anna’s eyes burning into his back. “This time it’s different huh?” Anna moved closer to him. “Thank you for talking to my sister. She would have never listened to me if-” “You know, you could just admit that you got way too attached to Mae and Sharena would understand.” “What do you mean?” his eyes were now on the woman. “You know what I mean!” she looked at him with wide eyes.“Zacharias was different because you were not in love with him.” The blue haired prince fell silent. “Are you going to deny it?” Anna’s eyes were still focused on him. He felt his cheeks warm up as she continued to stare. “You know, I’m sure this was really hard for her too,” Anna said after a moment of silence, “Whatever happened I mean.” Alfonse was still struggling with words, he simply stood there, letting Anna do all the talking. “Is this how you;re going to act when yo find her?” “No,” he said quickly. “Well good, because I don’t think silence will convince her to come back!” she rested her arm on his shoulder. “I know you can do this!” she smiled. “Thank you!”

“So you’re absolutely ready to do this?” Anna asked him. “Yes.” Alfonse nodded. “Don;t worry about Sharena, she’ll forget about it when you come back,” Anna smiled. “Be careful with what you say to her... ok?” he asked Anna for the fifth time. “Yes yes, leave it to me!” based on Anna’s tone, Alfonse knew she was going to tell her everything. He turned his back to Anna and stood staring at the newly opened portal. He wondered if opening the portal had been in Mae’s mind for long, and if she had ever considered asking him about it. “Well then! the thing isn’t going to open all day!” Anna gestured for him to walk through when he looked back. “Take care!” he waved and walked through.

Mae stepped outside and squinted as the freezing February winds threw the ice cold drizzle at her face. “What a nasty day!” one of her coworkers exclaimed as they opened an umbrella and hurried off past her into the rain. “Watch how you hold that!” she shouted as she proceeded to do the same thing. “Will do!” the woman shouted back. Mae walked down the street as she looked at her phone for the weather report and train status. To her it felt like the weather was reflecting her inner conflicts. She put her phone away after being measured that her train was still on time, and reminded that the rain would not stop until the next morning. She looked at the buildings as they came into view and wondered how Alfonse would react to seeing them. the truth is that she had been thinking about him the entire day. i wonder how many days have passed there. If all my time in there only amounted to a week in my world, how long have I been gone for? Mae’s thought were interrupted when she kicked a can on the floor and heard the sound of change falling out of it. She looked down to see an old man reaching out to grab the changed and fix the can. “I am so sorry sir!” the girl knelt down and helped him grab the rest of the money, to her, the can seemed rather empty for the time of day. She stood up and apologized once again before continuing on her way to the station.

Two blocks down the girl came across a coffee shop and remembered the homeless man whose can she had knocked over before. She stepped inside and bought the man a large hot coffee and a large warmed up sandwich. The girl retraced her steps and found the man preparing to leave his spot as the rain worsened. “Wait!” She called out to him. the man turned around and looked at the young girl with curious eyes. “your feet are soaked,” he commented, “why did you come back?” “I bought you food to make up for my clumsiness!” she said handing him the sandwich. “Ah thank you, you did not have to,” he said as he took the paper bag. “I made some of the change go into the sewer, I really feel bad sir,” she spoke with honestly, “I should really watch my step, i was just.. lost in thoughts.” “Like many people are..” the man said. Mae handed him the large cup of coffee. “That’s for me too?” he asked. “It’s cold outside,” she smiled as a gust of wind swooped past them. “I’m sorry, I got you coffee without asking if you drank coffee,” at this point she remembered Sharena who had been introduced to coffee by Mae. “I’ll take anything,” the man reached out with his shaking hand. “Stay warm!” she said as she waved him goodbye! “Oh what a strange day it’s been,” the man took a sip of the coffee and headed for a drier spot a few blocks down, “first there was that crazy young man, and then this strangely kind girl... young people...” he chuckled to himself and continued on his way.

Alfonse felt instantly overwhelmed by the strange new world. The buildings were not as high as he had imagined them but they were all so close together that it made little difference to him. He felt like he was trapped in a labyrinth with no exit. He walked around, turning left and right at random corners and watching people walk past him in every direction. He saw large pictures of food, people and logos he could not recognize on some of the walls, he noticed the windows and wondered why a building had to have so many windows on the same wall. He was amazed and scared at the same time. He watched the changing lights at every corner and was able to figure out wha the colors and figures meant. Amazing that people found a way to safely move around with these car things everywhere. People often stared at him when they walked past him, he noticed that some of them tried to hide it, it was probably the clothes. He crossed the street onto a covered sidewalk and stood there for a moment, seeking shelter from the rigs wind. He looked at the sky and saw nothing but large rain clouds. At least the clouds look the same. “How am I going to find anyone here?” he murmured through his teeth. He continued to walk with no clear destination in mind until his feet were begging him to rest. Just when he was wishing for his sister to be there with him, he noticed a man sitting by himself near a blue oddly shaped box. “Do you mind if I sit next to you?” he asked kindly, The man nodded. “How are you sir?” “Good,” the man answered. “Why are you sitting here by yourself?” Alfonse asked, not taking notice of the sign next to the man, or the can in front of him. “I don’t have a place to go,” the man said. “Nowhere at all?” Alfonse asked again. “Nowhere,” the man said. “What about you?” the mana asked after a short pause. “I don’t really have a place to go either.” “thought life,” the man said, “but if your intention is to steal from me I’ll have you these hands can still land a punch or two.” the man pulled the can closer to him. “Steal?” Alfonse was baffled that someone would think him capable of such a thing, “no sir, I would never!” “Hmmm...” the man narrowed his eyes at him, “you just want to earn my trust so you can snatch the can from me while i’m distracted and run away with it!” “No,” Alfonso shook his head, “I’m really just looking to talk to someone who knows this city.” “Are you not from around here?” the man asked, still holding on to the can. “No,” “Oh then why are you here?” “I cam looking for someone.” “Oh well, then you do have a place to go son.” “Well it’s complicated, you see... I don’t know where they are.” There was a small hint of frustration on the old man’s eyes as he looked at Alfonse. “So, you are looking for someone here, but you don’t know where they live?” “Exactly” This must be one of those cases of those blind dates kids go on these days. “Who is it you’re looking for anyway?” the man continued with the conversation just for the fun of it. “A girl,” Alfonse answered, “her name is Mae.” Yup, either that or the girl just dumped him and he’s in denial. It had been months since the last time this homeless man had had a solid conversation with anyone who wasn’t a social worker. His days were dull and filled with people who looked at him with disgust and fear. But this young man was different, he looked at him with none of the prejudice and all the curiosity, of a child just learning about the world. “What’s your name son?” the man asked at last. “Alfonse,” the young man smiled and extended his hand, “Nice to meet you, I’m Rich.” “Say Alfonse,” the man put the can down, “Where did you come form and how did you meet Mae?” Alfonse proceeded to tell the homeless man the story of where he came from and how he had ran into Mae. He told him that she had suddenly gone missing and that he had spent months trying to figure out a way to get to this world. The homeless man laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes. “What did you smoke?” “Excuse me?” “I mean you talk about kingdoms, and empires, and summoning spirits and.... there’s no way any of that is true!” the man stated, “tell me, what do you smoke and where do i get that stuff?” the man was laughing. “I’m telling you the truth sir. I...” Alfonse was more confused now then he had been when he had first arrived in this place. “Tell me something’” the man asked putting his hand on Alfonse’s shoulder, “Do you know what city this is?” Alfonse hadn’t felt this horrible since his childhood days when he had lost toddler Sharena in the castle gardens. “This is new York City!” the ma as laughing. “Ok, if you don’t smoke,” the man held his stomach, “What book did you read that one out of?” he gasped for air, “it’s a good story, I’ll give you that.” The young boy simply sighed and said nothing.

So my story is not believable in this world. Even worse I have no context of how life is here for me to even make up something credible. What kind of world did our summoner come from? Alfonse was back to walking the streets aimlessly, his stomach was growling and his feet were aching even worse than before. He walked past endless buildings with glass doors and all sorts of things on display. I guess this is a giant marketplace... He continued down the street forcing his feet to move forward until he came across green trees and wagons tied to horses. The wagons were nicely decorated and there were men offering rides for as low as thirty dollars. Not that he knew what thirty dollars were, but he was nice to see that somewhere in Mae’s world wagons pulled by horses still existed. He walked past the wagons and walked into the park. There were many benches but they all had elderly people sitting on them. He felt a drizzle coming down and simply ignored it, walking deeper into the park. He found a trail and followed it despite his feet begging for mercy. As he walked, he thought about his sister and how she would be cheering him on despite her own anguish. He thought about how finding Mae seemed impossible, but he kept pushing himself to be confident. “I can’t just give up, not after all the time we spent figuring out how to come here.”

After Mae vanished, the Order of Heroes put all of its efforts into figuring out how to open the way to the Summoner’s world. Luckily for them Princess Veronica had been quiet all those months and not done much to get in their way. However, they knew that this truce would not be eternal. Alfonse was the one to come up with the idea, this truly surprised his sister; she had spent so much time worrying about her brother not being courteous enough that she had completely missed him getting overly attached.

Meanwhile in Zenith Sharena paced back and forth in her bedroom. “You’d think that in a week he would have found her!” the princess grumbled. “Patience Sharena, we know nothing about Mae’s world. If you ask me, a lot of things bout it sound scary to me. We have to be patient.” Anna was trying to stay positive. “I know.. You think I don’t worry about Alfonse every day? I HATE not knowing where or how he is!” Sharena started sobbing again. Anna hugged the princess, “even if we were go after him, there is no guarantee we would find him, or Mae, and then it would become an even bigger problem.” “I think our parents would go crazy if the two of us disappeared.” Sharena said after a long pause. “Exactly,!” Anna placed her hands on Sharena’s shoulders, “Alfonse trusted you to take care of things here and you mustn’t let him down!” “Do you think he misses me like i miss him?” Sharena asked. “Oh i’m sure of it!”

So Part 3 of this is a little longer than before, and hopefully more exciting for those of you who just want to see how i make Alfonse suffer in NYC.

The place he’s currently at is Central Park.

My head canon is that time flows differently in Zenith than it does "here” I’m still messing around with how i want to scale it so the week thing is subject to change. (Beat story mode on normal in like four days so I said a week just to be safe lol).

This is a friendly reminder that you can give me feedback if you want.

#fire emblem #fire emblem heroes #fe h #fe heroes #sharena #alfonse #Alfonse x Summoner #alfonse x kiran #fire emblem fanfiction #nohrdragonprince #skyscraper labyrinth #fe

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risingphoenixwriting · 5 years

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Phoenix Heart Update

I’m nearing the 20k word mark and I am excited, so here’s Chapter 2 for any of my followers who would be interested to read it. If you find any spelling/grammar errors that I or ProWritingAid may have missed, please let me know so I can get to it ASAP. I still appreciate constructive criticism of course as well as any questions about Phoenix Heart. In case there is anyone who has yet to read Chapter 1, the link is right here: https://risingphoenixwriting.tumblr.com/post/182066177549/being-brave

Here is Chapter 2

Element City, California was a coastal metropolis near the Bay Area. It had six distinct areas that Lance knew about. First there was the Downtown area where high-class businesspeople went to and from their corner offices in the impressive skyline. It was also where Element City University stood proudly. It took Lance two busses and a train to get to from the upper middle class neighborhood he lived in. Near to the Downtown area was Alamo Park, a place Lance took careful consideration to avoid entirely. It was the most crime-congested spot in the city and got its name for the frequency of shootouts around the park the mayor had built to “liven up the neighborhood.” In the westernmost part of the city was the Element Pier, which is where the city’s dock workers lived during the day. In the hilly area east of the city was where the richest of the rich lived in the aptly named Colinas de Oro. Between Downtown Element City and Lance’s neighborhood, there was the Shopping District which generated most of the business for Element City’s economy. Finally, there was the Residential District which was where Lance, Evelyn, and their families lived. It featured the cookie cutter homes in the tidy grid-like neighborhoods and then it featured the older homes for lower middle class in the less organized neighborhoods.

Lance had already taken the bus from school to the train station and was now waiting for the train. His father’s advice was ringing in his head and he contemplated whether dropping out of school for the semester at least was the wisest thing to do. Lance was afraid that if he took a break; however, he would never go back.

“Get your dirty hands off of me!” a voice shouted from near where Lance was waiting.

He looked up and saw a businessman clad in his suit and tie shoving an old homeless man to the ground. The beggar was a tall, lanky man who had long white hair streaked with grime. His beard was equally long, white, and grime-streaked. His tired gray eyes looked apologetically to the rage-filled businessman.

“S-Sorry, sir. I was just hoping you had the time,” he told him.

“It’s half-past go-kill-yourself-o’clock!” the businessman snapped, “You damned homeless are ruining this city!”

The businessman huffed, and departed for another part of the station. Lance shot him an unnoticed look of disgust and then approached the homeless man.

“You okay?” he asked.

The homeless man looked up at Lance. It was rare for someone to treat him with dignity or concern, so when he saw the outstretched hand of the much younger individual, he hesitated.

“That guy can go choke on his tie,” Lance commented, “It’s three-thirty.”

“Thank you, boy!” the homeless man exclaimed with glee, “It does this old heart justice to see the coming generation is not without kindness.”

He picked himself up off the ground and marched off proudly to another part of the station. Lance found his actions a tad bit weird, but wrote it off as him being wacky from living on the street. Lance turned back to waiting for his train and it soon appeared before him.

Another benefit that Lance would lose from dropping out of school this semester would be the loss of his public transportation pass that allowed him to take all busses and trains in Element City for free. Lance knew it would not be an easy decision to make, but he was glad he had the weekend to think it over.

He boarded his train and sat down in one of the last few remaining seats. Lance noticed a pregnant woman board the train right after him, so he quickly stood back up, and offered his seat to her. Experience told him how other people on the busses and trains would rarely give their seats up to the elderly and/or disabled passengers. Lance refused to allow himself to be anything like them, so he gladly stood for the ride back to his neighborhood.

He spent the majority of the train ride listening to music, but something compelled him to hit the button so the train would stop at the next station. He did so and waited by the exit doors while the train slowed to a stop at the station. Lance left the train and was now in the Shopping District. He did not want to be home, so he was looking for forms of distraction and thought of no better place for those than the Element City Mall.

The three-story brick of a building featured four department stores in each corner with a variety of other shops and kiosks along the walls and the first floor walkway between them. His mother took Lance there many times as a child, so there were areas he planned to avoid.

Lance caught a bus from the train station that would take him to the mall. He immediately entered the moment the bus dropped him off at the nearest stop. The mall was busy with teenagers just getting off from school on that Friday afternoon and Lance weaved through the crowd to the nearest escalator. He wandered blindly past shops and kiosks alike until he found himself at a bench.

Lance sat down and looked up at the shop before him, Phoenix Heart Collectibles. It was a fan shop that had been in the mall for the past thirty years full of collectibles inspired by Element City’s former super-powered heroine, Phoenix Heart. His mother often took Lance here, and he loved every second. She had seen Phoenix Heart in action and would often tell Lance stories of her heroics before bedtime. Unfortunately, Phoenix Heart has gone unseen in the city for twenty-five years. It amazed Lance that the shop remained open for as long as it had now that its market had dried up. Unfortunately, as evidenced by the ‘Closing Soon’ sign on the storefront, the dried up market had finally taken its toll.

“What?” Lance questioned as soon as he saw the sign, “No!”

He shot up from the bench and rushed into the shop. Its owner, Kent Clarkson, sat behind a glass display case playing Solitaire on his laptop when he noticed Lance enter. Kent was a pudgy Caucasian man with a brown ponytail and blue eyes. Uneven patches of facial hair adorned his face, and he boasted a septum piercing.

“Yo it’s Lancelot himself! How’ve you been, man?” Kent asked.

“You’re closing?” Lance questioned.

“Yeah, man. I figured I’d get out before my debt becomes unmanageable. I found a job at another comic book store and selling out will cover my debt,” Kent admitted, “The people just aren’t crazy about PH like they used to be. Can’t blame them. She hasn’t been around in forever.”

“But you can’t close!” Lance shouted.

His outburst took aback Kent, and he cocked an eyebrow. He closed his laptop and shrugged Lance’s shout off.

“I can, man. It ain’t fair for you to expect me to keep losing money,” he responded.

“But my Mom and I would… always come here. You can’t go too,” Lance explained.

It frustrated him. It felt like another slap in the face by the cruelness of life. How many other places he and his mother frequented would close as well? Would Slice of Life Pizzeria close next? What about One Scoop; Two Scoop? Kent moved from behind the display case and offered a hand on the younger man’s shoulder.

“Oh dude. So sorry to hear about your Mom. My condolences,” he told Lance, “I can give you something, dude. I got an autographed picture from Phoenix Heart with the certificate of authenticity and everything.”

“No,” Lance muttered in response, “You should sell it to help with your debt. Sorry for yelling.”

Without another word, he left the shop, and Kent watched him disappear out of sight before returning to his game of Solitaire. Lance dragged his feet throughout the Element City Mall, deaf to the chattering groups of shoppers he passed along the way.

He found a quiet spot to sit down out on the terrace next to the food court. Lance plugged in his headphones and set his head down on the table. He intended to wait here either until the mall closed or until his phone died.

Evelyn parked her white sedan in the driveway of her home across the street from Lance’s. She sat there in her car, still gripping the steering wheel, and reminisced on her and Lance’s earlier encounters. He was still so distant and refused to even look at her. It hurt her every time they ran into each other, which was often because of them being neighbors and her job as his father’s assistant at school. She moved her hands from her steering wheel and ran them through her hair to shake the stress out of her.

The “bloop-bloop” of a police car pulling up in the driveway next to Evelyn made her jump in fright. She shot a glare at her mother’s smiling face as the cruiser’s engine switched off. Veronica Sanchez exited the vehicle and approached Evelyn’s car. She was a tall, Latina woman made taller by her imposingly perfect posture. She had black hair she kept tied back in a professional bun and her dark brown eyes fiercely gazed upon her daughter as she tapped on the window.

“License and registration, Miss,” she requested jokingly.

“Hardy-har-har, Mom,” Evelyn responded, grabbing her belongings.

She opened the door, making Veronica step back, and exited her own vehicle. Evelyn looked at her mother while shouldering her messenger bag. It was odd for her to be home so early and to arrive in a police cruiser.

“Why’re you home?” Evelyn asked.

“I was on lunch and forgot the leftover enchiladas in the fridge, so I borrowed a cruiser so I didn’t have to wait at any traffic lights,” Veronica explained.

“Wow, you’re ridiculous,” Evelyn responded, leading the way to the front door.

“Don’t judge. I could abuse my power in worse ways and you know it, Mija,” Veronica countered.

Evelyn unlocked the front door, and both women entered their home. Evelyn kicked her sneakers off by the door and neatly lined them up beside other shoes the two women owned. Veronica hurried past her into the kitchen so she could heat the leftover enchiladas to take with her.

“Why’re you stressed out, Mija?” she asked her daughter, “The only time you sit in your car like that is when you’re stressed and you’ve been doing it often.”

“I’m fine,” Evelyn responded.

“Lying to a police officer now?” Veronica asked, “I thought I raised you better than that.”

Evelyn groaned in annoyance and entered the kitchen. Veronica was giving her knowing looks while rubbing her chin contemplatively. The older Sanchez woman was deducing what stressed her daughter out this time. It wasn’t because of being overloaded with classes and other activities to flourish her resume. It was Friday, which meant she was assisting Aidan Zimmerman the same day he had a class with Lance. There it was.

“Mija, you need to give that boy his space,” Veronica told her daughter.

“I am. We always run into each other, and I feel hurt when he refuses to acknowledge me,” Evelyn admitted, “I’m one of his best friends. He doesn’t give Ty any time either. I’m concerned for his well-being.”

Veronica smiled a little. She always admired her daughter’s loving personality and forcibly pulled her into a suffocating embrace. Evelyn groaned in response and looked up to the ceiling for divine intervention. The microwave beeped and rescued her from Veronica’s smothering nature. Evelyn took a few steps away from her mother and collected herself.

“Give Lance time. He is hurting, Mija,” Veronica suggested.

She put a lid over the steaming leftovers and marched out of the kitchen. She stopped by the front door and checked to make sure she had everything she needed for work.

“I’ll be home late,” Veronica informed, “Don’t wait up.”

“I never do, Mom,” Evelyn responded.

The front door opened and closed. She listened to the sound of the police cruiser leaving the driveway and then sighed in defeat. Maybe her mother was right, and she needed to be patient. Evelyn then went to her room so she could do her homework and study for an upcoming midterm.

Hours later that night, Lance’s phone finally died, so he ambled on through the emptying mall to catch the next bus home. Luckily, the Shopping District and Residential District were close enough to each other for the train to be unnecessary and a single bus would suffice. He watches stores race by as the bus drove its route through the city. Streetlights replaced the store lights as Lance now arrived to the outskirts of the upper middle class neighborhood he and Evelyn lived in.

He thought of Evelyn and felt guilty at being so cold toward her recently. She was just so coddling toward him ever since his mother passed away. Lance did not want coddling, so he pushed Evelyn away. He wound up pushing both of his closest friends away so he could buckle down and focus on school. Fat load of good that decision was. He was nearly failing or downright failing all of his classes this semester. He lacked the energy to do any of the work expected of him.

Lance signaled for the bus to stop at the next stop and disembarked through his neighborhood toward home. He saw the large oak tree with a tire swing hanging from one of its thickest branches. He reminisced on all the afternoons he and Evelyn would spend swinging on the tire. A brief smile appeared on his face, but that smile fell the moment he saw the beat-up Honda in the driveway in front of his home. Cole was there. The pickup truck beside the Honda informed Lance that his father was home. That meant one thing.

Lance slowly approached his front door and he could already hear the confirmation to his concerns. The three ceramic pots were still sitting beside the porch, but they held wilted and dying roses suffering from months without care. Lance opened the door and entered his home despite having not considered it to be home for several months now.

“You come into my house and eat the food I help buy and you don’t have the common decency to clean up after yourself!?” Aidan’s booming voice thundered from the kitchen.

“Oh, get off your high horse, old man! I’m cleaning the stupid dishes now!” Cole’s bitter and raspy voice responded.

“You need to show respect, Nicholas!” Aidan responded.

A plate shattered, and a yelp responded, so Lance knew Ashleigh was home. He did not see her car parked on the street because of being so focused on his brother and father’s vehicles.

“Don’t call me Nicholas! The only person I ever allowed to call me that is dead!” Cole shouted.

Lance sat himself on the large sofa and covered his ears to drown out the argument. This was a common theme in the Zimmerman household ever since the matriarch passed away. It was one reason Cole moved out, but all of his money went to the ridiculous rent he had to pay for a studio apartment, so he often stopped by for food. It was also one reason Lance avoided his home like the plague.

“Cole, please stop shouting,” Aidan begged, his voice growing considerably calmer.

“No! I’m so sick of you, Dad! Hell, I wish you had died instead of…!” Cole shouted in response before pausing upon realizing what he almost finished saying.

He had said enough; however, and there was an eerie silence coming from the kitchen. Lance could hear only the sink faucet. He waited for someone to say something.

“H-He didn’t mean it,” Ashleigh’s voice broke the silence.

Cole did not admit to this even though everyone knew he meant nothing behind the words. He shut off the sink faucet and left the house without even giving Lance any acknowledgment. Lance wondered if Evelyn felt the same way when he did not acknowledge her.

“D-Dad, wait…,” Ashleigh’s voice continued.

Aidan then appeared, followed by his daughter, and the former disappeared into the master bedroom on the other end of the front room. The door slammed and Ashleigh flinched before realizing Lance was there. She opened her mouth, but found herself rendered silent. Lance said nothing to her either and stood up from the sofa. He left for his bedroom, leaving Ashleigh amidst the remains of their broken family.

#my wip #my writing #writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #Phoenix Heart

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poedes · 5 years

Text

The bizzare story of Fauve

APRIL DAYS

It was a sunny day in spring and Fauve was feeling under the weather, she needed to get out of the house after this long and cold winter.

Fauve walked down a small country lane toward the lake which was about 2 miles away from her house. The birds were returning and singing their song, the horses were out on their field and as they saw her coming they eagerly trotted toward her.

She looked at the clear sky and shouted; "I want to find love, no more loneliness!" The sky looked back at her and she had the feeling it promised a great summer. When she got to the lake she sat down on a huge stone by the lake and drew a heart in the sand on the bank and thought about creating something new in her life.

A lot of thoughts were gathering in her mind, especially that she wanted to leave this country. It was time, she had been here long enough and was getting tired of the country life.

Soon after she moved to London, got a job and began her life there. A new adventure? Perhaps! Her interests were easily fed in this city where art and music were a daily thing and so many museums. Definitely a city of great culture.

The suburbs varied a lot from Central London which was well kept and pretty clean. Suburbia had parts that looked pretty dreadful and poor, nevertheless there was a good vibe to this city. It was vibrant, lively, full of music, art and performance, and people from all walks of life.

She loved a good story and had a passion to write. One afternoon she found herself in the midst of Soho where tourists mingled with the crazy bunch of people from the "quartier". Rent boys, gays, prostitutes, transvestites, actors, homeless, runaways, drug addicts, police, the lot. Every night was party here and the drunks were uncountable.

A girl was crouching in a doorway under a torn up bedsheet, she was withering away. Fauve thought, to young to die, she stopped to talk to her. "People don't care.", said the girl and showed her abused arms and hands full of scabs. Fauve went and bought her some food and thought how could this be in a city like London, the world must seem cruel to her, where was help? She brought her the food, wished her well with some encouraging words and walked on.

Someone said; "Hey beautiful where are you off to?" Fauve felt talked to but kept walking, after a few feet she stopped, turned around and walked back. "Did you just say that to me?", she asked a good looking elderly man. He nodded and invited her to a cup of coffee. She sat down on the chair next to him said: "Do you know Soho well?" "I do indeed.", he replied. "I have been here all my life". "Can we talk about that?", asked Fauve politely. "We can, if you like.", he answered. "I'm Fauve", she stretched out her hand and shook his. "Bertram, my pleasure".

It was late, yet she had the time to tell him that she was researching for a book she was writing and that it was a bizarre kind of story which begins in London's Soho, and that a truly dangerous occurrence happened and later events had lead her here.

"Do you remember a documentary which was filmed here by John Willis in the early seventies called 'Johnny go home', followed by a second called 'The murder of Billy Two Tone'?", she asked Bertram. "Oh yes",he said, " I was right here when it was filmed."

Bertram outlined the story from his viewpoint as a bystander. "The boys were very young, I was in my twenties. John Willis and his crew were in the area a few days. I didn't think nothing much of it those days, in Soho films were often made, but now that you should mention it again it's all coming back to me quite clearly. The boys did whatever they had to to survive, play a trick, hustle, work as rent boys, get jobs like working in the laundry's, whatever gave them their daily bread and paid their rent. They were mostly dropouts or runaways and had left their homes, parents trouble I presume."

"Of course parents trouble and troublesome boys. It's pretty late Bertram would you mind meeting up with me again another day, right here in this Cafe?" Fauve asked. "Sure, I'd like that.", said Bertram. We exchanged our phone numbers and walked toward Leicester Square. I noticed that Bertram had a bad leg so we walked slowly and I offered him my arm."Old age.", he mumbled, she waited for his bus to arrive. “Bye, till soon and thank you”. she said, and Bertram replied. "Thanks for walking me to the bus, and yes see you soon."

The Tube was not running, it was on strike, so Fauve walked down to Trafalgar Square to get a bus. There was a lot going on as usual. People chatting, a beggar asking for some money, a woman pushing a pram with a baby screaming terribly in it. The sound of the engines of the busses and cars. A musician was playing Bob Dylan's 'Visions of Johanna' on his guitar and singing:

Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet ?

We sit here stranded, though we're all doin our best to deny it

And Louise holds a handfull of rain, tempting you to defy it

Lights flicker from the opposite loft

In this room the heat pipes just cough

The country music station plays soft

But there's nothing really nothing to turn of

Just Louise and her lover so entwined

And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind.

In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chain

And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the D-train

We can hear the night watcman click his flashlight

Ask himself if it's him or them that's really insane

Louise she's all right she's just near

She's delicate and seems like the mirror

But she just makes it all too concise and too clear

That Johanna's not here

The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face

Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place.

Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously

He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously

And when bringing her name up

He speaks of a farewell kiss to me

He's sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all

Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall

Oh, how can I explain ?

It's so hard to get on

And these visions of Johanna they kept me up past the dawn.

Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial

Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while

But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues

You can tell by the way she smiles

See the primitive wallflower freeze

When the jelly-faced women all sneeze

Hear the one with the mustache say, "Jeeze

I can't find my knees"

Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule

But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel.

The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for him

Saying, "Name me someone that's not a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him"

But like Louise always says

"Ya can't look at much, can ya man "

As she, herself prepares for him

And Madonna, she still has not showed

We see this empty cage now corrode

Where her cape of the stage once had flowed

The fiddler, he now steps to the road

He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed

On the back of the fish truck that loads. While my conscience explodes

The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain

And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain.

Those who had stopped to listen gave him genuine applause and donated coins into his hat. Fauve walked on to reach the bus stop, there was a lot of traffic and she saw her bus approaching the stop and was hoping to get across the street in time. Half an hours ride to Fulham.

PoeDes

#stories

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caeconut · 6 years

Text

The Zakuul Time Gap

One Year In.

The Stormchasers are dwindling, with the disappearance of Flaytern after the Eternal Empire’s initial assault the house has fallen into ruin, everything which was rebuilt has crumbled yet again. The Kaas estate sits there, mostly untouched and gathering dust as fewer and fewer people visit, Darrgus, one of the elders of house Stormchaser being the only permenant resident.

With Lord Zekonn, Darth Flaytern and Sirah gone, the estate may now even be mistaken for your typical Kaas residence, with plants blooming with life for Darrgus to pick for his pipe, and many of the bedrooms being converted into offices and lounge areas. Contact with the missing family members has been attempted, yet to no success and chances of their return looking slimmer with each passing month.

Despite the absence of key members, that does not stop young, aspiring acolytes attempting to gain entry to the estate, requesting training in saber forms and force techniques only to be turned away by Darrgus, in his usual cenile, grumpy manner.

The Stormchaser Estate – Two years post-invasion.

Darrgus is well past the age of getting up at sunrise, with the lack of residents to remind him to get up in the mornings he usually rises around mid-day and go about his usual routine, stroll the estate, make the lives of the few servants left a living hell and finally pop down to the Kaas City market for some pipe tobacco.

Though this would be no usual day for Darrgus, as it reaches late-morning in Kaas he still lies sound asleep in a singular king sized bed, probably dreaming of a young woman or a new brand of pipe tobacco he could think up.

Since the beginning of the conflict, and the disappearance of brother and sister Flaytern & Sirah, it was ordered that throughout the estate there would remain a constant open communications link between the house’s central network and both Sirah and Flaytern’s holocommunication unit’s, as Darrgus snores away into his pillow, a blue glow appears on the bedside table for a few moments before the built-in holoprojection unit beams forth an image of Flaytern’s upper body, his beard still intact as you’d expect, although noticably graying in some area’s he looks relatively healthy.

“Darrgus, Darrgus!” he’d shout through the comm’s system, even making hand gestures as Darrgus’ face remains buried in his pillow, the loud snoring easily being heard by Flaytern’s end of the call. Another, unfamiliar voice could be heard on Flay’s end “What, what is it?” it shouts, the voice of a woman. Flaytern’s image would turn into a glare as he watches Darrgus unknowingly ignore everything around him. “We finally get the communications working and he’s asleep? I should’ve known better” he’d growl as a large explosion emanates from the background, causing Flaytern to twist his head in a hurry.

“They’re through, my lord” screams the female voice “What do we do?”. “Kill them, obviously” Flaytern says in a sarcastic, sighed tone as he ignites his lightsaber and disappears from the projection. The call remains on for a few minutes more though only the sounds of sabers clashing and screams could be heard from the other side.

A few hours pass and Darrgus eventually pulls himself out of his bed, unaware of what occurred during his slumber. He’d get dressed and walk into the main hallway of the house, seemingly brimming with life and aching to torment one of the servants, he’d grab his walking stick which was left leaning on the wall and set out downstairs, small jolts of lightning crackling in between his fingertips as he chuckles to himself, walking through the door at the bottom of the stairs and into the dining room, staring down a servant girl before raising his hand.

“Wait, my lord! please wait!” she’d yelp before ducking under a table, trying to stay safe from Darrgus’s playful wrath. He’d laugh out loud for a moment “Oh this never gets dull, does it? I should have you do a little dance” before shooting a bolt of lightning at the table she’s hid under, causing her to scream out “Your nephew called!” in turn causing him to lower his hand. “My nephew? what did he want?. No doubt he has some explaining to do, being two years late on that pipe he told me he’d bring back from the core worlds”. Darrgus places his walking stick on a separate table and folds his arms, tilting his head and looking towards the servant who is still hid under the table. “Well? are you going to tell me what he said?” he’d snap before she jolts upright, looking him square in the eyes “We.. we recorded the call, my lord. You’ll be able to view it personally”. Darrgus nods once before leaving the room, reaching the stairs again and sighing “As if walking up these once a day isn’t enough effort”.

He’d reach his room, seemingly annoyed his usual schedule was interrupted and sits back down on his bed, he’d lean over to the bedside table where his communicator lay and begin to fiddle with it, he finds the recorded call at the top of the logs and goes to play it, though as he attempts to do so the image of Flaytern appears again, causing Darrgus to drop the device and gasp in surprise. “This thing will give me a heart attack one of these days!” he yells as he picks up the holocomm off of the floor, shaking his head and looking at the projected image. “Flaytern?” he’d say, waving his hand in an attempt to get his attention.

“Yes, I know you’re there, Uncle. I called you” the image replies in a rather blunt tone. “I take it earlier was one of your practical jokes, you really never change, do you?” he’d ask his uncle as Darrgus nods along, as if to know what he was talking about.

“Where are you, Flaytern?” Darrgus asks, his tone becoming quite soft as he does so, worried, even. “You’ve been gone for long enough, this house has fallen beyond what I could have imagined! and what has happened to your face?”. The image simply smiles back to him, rather smug. “I’m doing something that matters here, Darrgus. I’d rather be out here cutting down knights than sat on Kaas waiting to die” He’d blurt out, rubbing his now black-eye for a moment before uttering “pommel strike”.

Darrgus grunts in return, not knowing if Flay’s last words were a personal jab at him. “Where is your sister? she was always my favorite” he’d say, quite openly, peering into the projection to see if he could see her in the background of the image. “Don’t ask me, you know what Sirah’s like, she’ll turn up when she wishes, not a moment before”

Sirah, four years in.

“Why must I always find myself back in this sorry excuse for a city” Sirah would sigh as she walks herself out of Coronet Spaceport, looking around before fixing her eyes on the closest Imperial guardsman “How do I get to the government district from here?” she demanded. “A taxi my lord, just around the corner there” the guard would squeal, she growls and carries on her way. “Can’t even land near my own house, what kind of place is this?” she’d think to herself, trotting down to the on-rails tram station a few blocks away from the spaceport, hopping into one of the vehicles and beginning her journey.

She leans her head against the window of the transport, taking in the view of Coronet city as she travels through at high speed, blinking as she spots a multitude of locations she’d go to as a child, the Coronet zoo, her old schoolhouse and the scheme the majority of her friends lived in. A smile almost appearing on her lips before the transport abruptly comes to a halt, the droid on board announcing “Government district” as she pulls herself up from her seat, stepping out of the transport and making her way out of the station.

She’d rub her eyes as the sun glared down at her, her view of the district being rather different to how it was as a child. Destroyed buildings, homeless people and broken speeders lay throughout the majority of the landscape, no doubt thanks to the conflict with the Republic, the cleanup efforts were clearly going quite well. After a lengthy walk throughout the district she’d eventually come to her old family home, the original estate of House Stormchaser, It’s banners still flying from the roof, though torn and tattered, the building not looking in great shape.

She approached the front door, with it only requiring a decent push for the door to fall straight over, creating a loud crash which attracted a few looks from outside on the street. She shrugged it off and walked inside. Dust covered the halls mostly, a few clean spaces where furniture or items had clearly been pillaged and the dust hadn’t had a chance to settle yet. She made her way through the corridors and rooms, taking a quick peek in her old room which was now completely empty. Bed, shelves, drawers all completely gone. Some people in the capital were clearly quite desperate.

Sighing in a genuine, saddened manner she makes her way further into the estate, past the dining rooms and Flaytern’s old bedroom before stopping at a door at the end of her mother and fathers private quarters, pulling on it for a moment, grunting as it doesn’t seem to budge. She claps her hands together and cracks her neck before sending a powerful force-push forward, causing the door to cave in and fly into the room in front of her.

She strolls into the room and looks around, the room which her father explicitly banned her and her brother from, and even her mother was apprehensive about entering. She saw nothing special, a few computer terminals scattered around, all covered in dust. She shakes her head and continues inwards, wiping the dust off of one of the terminals before switching it on, luckily still powered though only with internal files, no access to the holo net or any outside information. She’d search through the internal database for a few moments before coming across the Stormchaser family tree, a long list of people she’d never even heard of before. The majority of them being nobodies who’d moved off-planet or bastard children of some of the more noble, past members of the family. “Woah, uncle Darrgus really got around” she said out loud, scrolling through the list of people before landing on somebody. “Lariena, stayed outside the city… dead mother, lone dad” she mutters to herself as she looks through the limited amount of information on-screen.

“Oh, fantastic. She was hauled off to Tython ages ago, could be a good fighter by now alright”. She strokes her chin for a few moments. “Could be a good start regardless”. She downloads a copy of the family tree onto a datapad she clips to her belt, shutting down the terminal before igniting one of her lightsabers and with only a handful of swings, manages to slice each computer in the room into pieces. “That’ll stop those scavenging swines from getting their hands on anything” she says quite proudly before extinguishing the saber, placing it back away on her hip.

She makes her way out of the house as if she’d never left in the first place, looking upon it one more time in reminiscence before turning away, beginning her walk. She unclips the datapad from her belt, glancing over the information she downloaded, still looking at the picture of Lariena. “Not anyone i recognize” she thinks. “There were enough begging low-borns claiming relation to fill a star cruiser, mind”. She puts the co-ordinates of the woman’s home into a seperate window on her pad before placing it away again, looking around for a moment before rather casually reaching out with the force, stopping a mans speeder as he passes by and watching him fly off the front of it, landing on the floor in a violent thud. Sirah looks down at him as she begins her climb onto the speeder. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it back, might be in a few pieces though” before taking off towards her destination.

Sirah makes her way well out of Coronet city, the weather going from average, to hot, to cold as she continues her journey northwards. She’d arrive in a small woodland area, the place covered in snow as she gets off her speeder and looks around, the destination being next to a rather large frozen body of water. “If I’d have known about this I would’ve covered up” she shivers, wearing her usual light-armored attire. “I thought the terminal said this was coastal” she sighs yet again, trotting through the snow for a good few minutes until she reaches what looks like a mechanic station.

As she approaches she’d notice the body of a woman, slid under a speeder with a welding torch, welding away at the bottom of the vehicle. She gives a rather loud cough as if to state her presence to the woman as she slides out from under the speeder, standing up to show her reddish hair, tied backwards into a ponytail and her eyes covered by a pair of welding goggles. Tilting her head as she pulls the goggles downwards onto her neck she’d peer at Sirah for a few moments before a look of shock and realization takes over her face.

“You’re Sirah Stormchaser!” she snaps, the look on her face molding into that of anger. “What?” Sirah replies “I’m meant to be the one who knows about you, not the other way around” she says in a sarcastic tone before the woman darts her hand out to her side, the hilt of a lightsaber flying into it from one of the mechanic workstations. “Seriously?” Sirah snaps “You don’t know a thing about me”.

The woman ignites her saber, a purple blade shoots out from the hilt and hums loudly throughout the enclosed woodland area. “You’re a traitor!” she screams “You, your family. Empire defecting scum!” the woman would ramble on as Sirah stared her down, unclipping only one of her sabers from her belt and igniting it, the blade would practically growl as the forest is lit up in a mixture of purple and crimson red.

“What are you, about twenty? do think about putting that away before you lose it along with those hands” Sirah says calmly as she keeps eye contact with the woman. “You think I had a choice? I’m sure the families turn to the empire was of course, my eight year old self’s master plan all along” she growls, a mix of sarcasm and genuine anger emanating from her voice.

The woman turns her head slightly at Sirah’s words, her facial expression becoming rather concerned for a few moments before letting out an audible roar and jumping forward, a good twenty foot with her saber held high, landing in a large downwards slash in hope to end Sirah quickly. That hope would be quickly tossed aside as Sirah simply sidesteps her attack, placing her blade on top of the womans, holding it down as she struggles against Sirah’s strength to pull it upwards for another attack.

“You sure red isn’t your colour, Lariena? that’s not the Jedi way!” she’d say arrogantly, a large grin forming on her lips as she releases her saber from the lock, sending a harsh kick to Lariena’s stomach, the woman flies backwards a good few meters before landing on her feet in the snow, her frustration clearly building as she grips her saber with both hands, running at Sirah once again in a much more practical way than before, sending a series of attacks her way. Large sweeping strikes make their way towards Sirah as she deflects each one of them effortlessly, the whole time keeping her eyes fixed on Lariena’s facial expression.

“You really are a Stormchaser, aren’t you?” Sirah laughs as the two come into yet another saber lock, staring each other down. “As useless with that saber as my brother, and as stupid as Zekonn” before sending a large force push towards Lariena with her free hand, making a gap between the two in order for her to start her assault. She comes in fast and hard, her Juyo form serving her well as she begins to annihilate Lariena’s defenses with a multitude of unpredictable attacks.

Lariena does what she can to defend against Sirah, some attacks slipping past her poor imitation of Djem-so as her skin is caught multiple times by the tip of Sirah’s blade, in a desperate rage she unleashes a deafening force scream, causing the relentless series of attacks to stop as she moves backwards, attempting to steady herself for the next assault.

“You can’t hope to win” Sirah states, her free hand reaching down to her belt, producing a second lightsaber. The mixture of red-purple lighting up the forest becomes predominantly red as the second saber is ignited. “You’ll want to go on the defensive now, perhaps stick to Shii-cho. I have no idea what that display was you just attempted” she says mockingly.

The bait works, Lariena’s plan of defense is thrown straight out of the window as she charges Sirah yet again, aiming a huge slash towards the womans waist. Sirah would counter easily, holding her left saber infront of the attack, stopping it completely in it’s tracks as she lunges her right forwards, piercing directly through Lariena’s shoulder as she cries out in pain, retracting her saber hand for a moment before Sirah swings powerfully at her ignited purple blade with both sabers, knocking it right out of the her hands and a good few meters away.

“You’re seething with rage” Sirah says “Come, join me and I can teach you myself how to use that, you clearly don’t have much experience” in her arrogant tone, dropping down on one knee onto Lariena’s chest, the crack of ribs resonating throughout the area around them as Lariena yelps “You’re traitors, I’d rather die” as Sirah moves both her sabers, crossing them over Lariena’s neck and staring her in the eyes for a good few moments. “Well you’re not exactly making it as a Jedi, are you?” she hisses, seemingly quite annoyed. “You’re really going to stick by your misguided information, even in the face of death?”. Lariena doesn’t answer, simply spitting towards Sirah as the crossed sabers tighten around her, almost at the point of burning the sides of her neck. The spit landing on Sirah’s breastplate as she sighs, extinguishing her blades and clipping them to her belt, keeping her weight on Lariena so she doesn’t move whilst she decides what to do with her.

“Moron” Sirah mutters before clenching her fist, sending a powerful armored punch at the womans forehead, as it connects Lariena is knocked unconscious instantly, her head bouncing off the floor as it lands. “Perhaps in time” Sirah thinks to herself, staring down at Lariena’s unconscious body as she stands up, reaching out with the force she pulls the girls saber towards her, examining it for a moment before throwing it down at her body. “Keep it, you definitely need the practice” she says out loud, her voice noticeably echoing throughout the area now the commotion has ended.

Sighing with disappointment at the outcome of the situation she pulls out the same data pad from before, going through the family tree yet again. “Why must the Stormchasers ranks be filled by idiots?” she thinks as she scrolls through the long list of family members, she’d take a few minutes to herself before placing the pad back in it’s place, still undecided on her next location.

#starwars #theoldrepublic #story #rp #roleplay #fiction #mystories

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