#like a giant flashing neon sign crashing down from the sky

[ryanthedemiboy]

Not subtle. At all.

#i'm not going to explain but i think the author of this fic meant for a thing to be subtle #and it's #like a giant flashing neon sign crashing down from the sky #it is *not* subtle

[hazbinextgeneration]

Into The Casino Ch11

Warning: Past Abuse mentioned And just when she couldn't think this day couldn't get any worse, she was thrown for a loop when the plant demon escorted her(and Cyber) to one of those giant skyscapers in the city that looked like someone slapped gold paint and a bunch of neon signs advertising this supposedly five pentagram rated resturaunt and the first thing she saw then that limo pulled up was the enormous line of demons dressed in fancy looking outfits of all kinds and two giant looking bouncers at the main entrance stopping anyone from just walking in which means the line was awefully slow. As soon as the limo stopped however, someone from the building dashed out and ran right up to the window, and she jumped, probably thinking someone was rushing them trying to get in. But instead the surprisingly suited up man, pulled the door open and bowed slightly to Lou who was smiling widely the whole time as he got out followed by Cyber. She blinked and peeked out a little bit to the man who was still slightly bowing, before flinching when Lou offered his hand out to her.

He chuckled. "Don't worry. I'm quite well known here, and you haven't got a thing to worry about as long as you stay close.~" She hesitated, but as soon as her shaky hand grabbed his she was pulled out of the car with one powerful pull. Wrapping an arm around her to stabilize her and looping her arm around his when she stood balanced. The car door was shut behind them with a click and the suited man reran back past them and into the building. Her watching curiously as Lou tugged her forward to start walking forward, as soon as they got new the entrance, angry yelling and curses came their way..Well most were directed right at Lou. Plant boy was the most kindest name she heard him being called, but he didn't seem to pay them any mind...Til one made a move with a face that looked like he was gonna attempt to spit on them. A blur of blue and silver rushed past them and the guy was taken down quickly with a solid metallic clang sounding punch to his head, he went down faster than a sack of bricks but Cyber wasn't done when she latched onto one of his legs. Without even having to wind her arm back, her arm tossed the man over her head and the demon went flying easily three stories into the air. Crashing into the building across the street and falling to the ground with sick cracking noises. Her mouth dropped open and Cyber turned back to them wiping her hands off. Amalfia's jaw dropped as she just waltzed back over to them but Lou merely laughed still tugging her forward. "Excellent job as always, Cyber dear. That's why she's my top employee after all.~ Remind me to spare a few sou-...extra payment for you later." She gave Cyber a second glance, clearly not expecting what just had happened to happen- But she didn't get a second thought in about it before she flinched at the sight of the massive guard in front of the door blocking the way, but as soon as they were near enough the giant brute reached a massive hand down and moved one of the sacred chains keeping everyone on the other side. Allowing the three of them in much to the protesting of the other demons outside, she nervously watched the bigger demon as Lou tugged her inside...And the first thing to hit her senses was the most delicious smell of food and on instinct her stomach let out a rumble Lou chuckled at. The second thing to hit her ...was the absolute size and lavishiness of the place. Imagine the best fancy dinning areas with the most beautiful tablecloths, candlelights, very expensive looking decorations hung up everywhere, and waiters in that same fancy uniform running around carrying all that food. It was like the smaller fancy resturaunt Father and her used to visit before-.....Yeah. Or maybe she was staring because the whole place was just so big. An elevator across the room opened and more people in fancy looking outfits paraded out of it. Lou chuckled at her astounded wide eyed face. Oh maybe he should've picked the nickname doe eyes instead of pet.~ She flinched when someone of the same uniform can running up to them again and just like the first man from outside bowed to the three of them. "Hello, Good Evening. Good to see you again Mr. Lou. Miss Cyber you look as wonderful as ever, as does your date, Sir!" He spewed out so quickly Amalfia could barely follow along before be turned back around, "Please follow me. With have your usual spot waiting for you upstairs." Again she was tugged along and they followed the man straight forward towards the elevator. Her purple eyes blinked and gave a quick glance around. Barely any of these fancy dressed people were paying them any attention but she caught sight of Cyber giving a blank face and suspiciously scanning her eyes over everyone as they passed. Was she expecting another person to try and spit on them- She lightly bumped into Lou when they stopped and he chuckled, raising a brow. And she looked away in embarrassment. The ding of the elevator doors opened and they followed the man right inside with Cyber giving a quick look around before disappearing inside as well. The first thing the purple eyes caught on to was the long row of buttons on the side in two rows, she counted and it was twelve buttons per row..and she blinked. This building had twenty four floors? ...The man pushed a button she didn't notice which was one big golden one separate from the other twenty four. Oh. So there was twenty five? How could one building be so tall? She flinched when the doors closed and the elevator began to move the four of them up, her ears went back and despite her better judgement, her grip around Lou's arm got slightly tighter. He rose a brow to her but his smile got slightly smaller at her pale face- well paler than normal- she looked as if she was gonna be sick. "...I don't suppose you won't mind me asking you what's wrong? Don't tell me you get motion sickness now." She shook her head. "N-No..I d-don't stand well with heights." She could almost feel the emptiness of the elevator shaft below her and her stomach did a flip flop over the moon and back. It was almost dizzying. "F-Falling in really left it's m-mark." ...Without another word he hummed and his eyes drifted over and down to her leg. And the red scars flared across her otherwise pure white body- Under he was given a small shake and he blinked back to her uncomfortable but hunkered down face. "..P-Please d-don't stare at them. I-...I don't like that." Of course he smiled and gave a small pat to her arm gripping his. "I assure you. You have nothing to fear while myself and Cyber are here to assist you." His red eyes flashed a knowing smile and Cyber smiled back behind her. "Trust me when I say that little stunt from earlier isn't even her at full strength, and you haven't even seen me in action yet. Why else would you think I pay her the great amount I do?~" She didn't have time to answer before the small ding of the doors opening interrupted them and she was once again tugged almost immediately out still following this uniformed demon out into...back outside? Were they being kicked out for something? She had to blink and look around to realize that..they were outside but NOT on the ground. From her view she could make out the tops of other buildings, the red sky, and the other signs of after life she could see from the top of this building. She still felt whoozy but being out of the moving elevator helped greatly to calm her nerves greatly as she was still pulled along by him. Finally stopping near one table the man bowed again and pulled out a chair on one of the opposite sides. "Ma'am." She stood there before Lou gently urged her to the seat. She...slowly leaned down to sit in it and the man pushed her chair back in for her before doing the same with Lou on the other side. Simaltaniously taking the coat and hat from him and putting them on the back of Lou's chair to his request. "Your food will be here shortly. Drinks?" "Uh.." Her scattered brain still prosessing this whole thing. "..W-Water?" The man looked like she was trying to tell a joke but Lou chuckled and waved him off. "It's fine. You know what I like." The man nodded and ran off the way they came. She blinked and watched him leave before her attention was returned back to Lou who was holding his head and his hands and smirking at her. "Well? What do you think?~" He gestured a hand to around him. There was...barely anyone around them other than Cyber who was standing guard a few feet away and looking very serious, and one other couple on the far side who were lovingly leaning across the table and kissing. "Not many can afford the luxury of getting the best view of the most astounded five pentagram rated place in the second circle of hell after all.~ It's famous for the frequent visits from the many royalty that comes to visit the place...he gestured to the couple in the corner. "That's one of the Prince's sons now. With his lover I believe.~ Like I said few can afford to be seated here, but my reputation asceeds me.~" She blinked and took a glance to the couple still making googoo eyes at each other. Really now? She never saw royalty before- "But enough about me and my acheivements. Are you hungry?" "U-Um..Yes." "Good. There's plenty to choose from.~ Just tell them anything you want to eat, they'll instantly pull it up for you to enjoy. That's why it's so popular.~ Quick and wonderful service if I do say so myself." She blinked and gave him a confused look. Certainly he wasn't serious. How can any place do that? "So if I just said a pasta with no fats and a side of ..lets say cherries- " she picked something wild, because who would want cherry fruits with pasta? "-they would just bring me that exact thing?" He only smirked wider. "What kind of pasta?" "Uh...Agnolotti del plin?" It was one of the only dishes she knew, but she was sure they didn't have THAT kind of food here. His head eyes looked past her silently and she blinked. Turning around to follow his gaze- And jumped seeing someone right behind her. The same man from before set down the objects in his arms and she stared wide eyed as they happened to be plates of food. The sweet smell of food hit her nose and to her absolute shock, a pasta dish and bowl of red fruit was placed in front of her just as Lou chuckled and received his. She stared down at what was given to her just as he flung a small glowing orb the waiter before be bowed and darted off with one of the much more weaker souls he had on him. He learnt fairly early in life if you don't pay at least a little of what you owe then it'll bite you two times harder later. "...H-How did he-" "You shouldn't be surprised." He picked up the small whine glass next to him. "After all there's plenty of things in hell you have no idea could happen.~" He said that last bit with a knowing look to her and let the strong taste of wine shift down his throat. It always paid off to have such a high life. "Don't worry too much about it though.~ Im here to guild any trouble away.~" The two sat there and ate..well he ate, she took a few bites of the food before her but still silently continplated the whole day in her head....Rita's words still rang loud and clear in her head and she still couldn't forget the small interaction with Mr. Charles a few months ago. She completely forgot about that but after today the skeletan's glare was clearer than glass- "What seems to be on your mind?" She jumped slightly as he rose a brow at her, holding the wine glass. "You don't seem to be enjoying yourself, Dear." "N-No, I am....It's just." Her purple eyes cast back downwards and she sighed. She knew what she was about to do was probably stupid and a HUGE part of her was yelling at her to abort this plan and stick to the safe way right now, but that glare and the words bouncing around her mind were just too much. Shaking, she took a giant breath and let it out. Without looking up, she spoke. "D-Demons...l-like making deals. R-Right?" A silence came over the table. Lou had paused, smile dropping and eyes blinking in surprise for a second...before it came back more wide. ALmost splitting his face in half and those red rings around his eyes doubled. Even Cyber paused to turn around and give a curious look at her question, but Lou- The familiar surged of excitement at making any deal came over him before regained his composure and went back to that regular smug smile of his. Chuckling and leaning forward, raising a brow. "Why yes.~ I think you'll find most demons I associate with do....But the question is, why do you ask? ...Dear." She didn't answer before sucking in a breath and facing him with a determined look. "How about a game?" Oh he was starting to like where this was going. "And what kind of game my little flower?~", he purred out, clearly having his attention, "....Truth or dare. O-Only...we a-ask each other truths and have to answer them as such...D-Does that sound like a good deal?" His smile couldn't have agreed more as he held up his wine glass in agreement and wagged his brows once. "Certainly.~ After all what is a dinner with my future wife without getting to know her life before I met her? It sounds truly delightful." Her eyes slightly narrowed. "And..you promise to tell me the t-truth?" "As true as I can." His lidded eyes stared at her with keen interest as his brain buzzed with amuzement at her strange bravery for even suggesting something so bold, but also with all the many things he could find out and maybe use later if proved useful enough. "Now...What is it you wish to know about me first?~" ...She blinked. Well that went better than she thought it would, but she didn't honestly think she'd get this far into the gig. And judging the face he was giving her he expected a question from her soon. Uh...What should she ask? Her pupils shrank a bit as her mind went blank quickly trying to correct itself and force something out. "Uh....H-How do you know R-Rita?" It was the best she could think of since she was so curious about the strange peacock lady. Well it was certainly one he was expecting since Rita's little stunt. He shrugged. "Rita and I have known each other by reputations and businesses for quite a number of years now when we both established them. You can say she's one of my more friendlier rivals.~" Oh..Well that explains some of the behavior at least. "But Im interested in your stay so far.~ How are you settling in? Have my staff been treating you well? I would hate to have any show any bad blood for the love of my afterlife.~" He finished that sentence with a small wink. There was a small pink tint to her cheekbones but only a little. He noticed however and made a mental smirk, getting better results a bit. "I-..They've been nice so far..." She rubbed her arm. "I-I don't think M-Midnight likes me very well." The plant waved a hand dissmissively. "She never does like anyone...Except for Disease in a strange way- Hell know why- and Noodle." "Noodle?" "Midnight's and Disease's little Spawn.~ You haven't met her yet because she's currently started attending Hell High, but Im sure you two will meet eventually." He smirked back her her batting his eyes. "Now, what questions do you have to ask me, Pet?" There was a small pause...."How did you die?" He pause mid sip and looked to her. Ah. A question he knew must've been coming, so he smiled. "Getting straight to the interesting topics I see. Hmhm." He looked back to his drink and watched the red liquid swish around in it. "To be honest it was of my own stupid mistake. Almost funny since I rarely ever made those mistakes in life and now in death." He shrugged. "But I would've ended up in this wasteland one way or another.~" "...T-That doesn't tell me very much." "...Ok. You drive a hard bargin.~ It was fertilizer." ........She blinked. Fertilizer?? Was he serious? He died from that? "You mean..plant fertilizer?" He nodded. "Yes, my specialized invention that went wrong. But since you asked me such a personal question, it's only fair I ask one back." His brow rose. "You died around three years before I ever did based on your description and Cyber's calculations. But I have never even heard of you before you stumbled into my humble business." His head tilted, with some genuine interest. "Being considered a pure creature down here would've attracted a decent amount of attention. How have I not heard of you until then?" There was a pause and Cyber tilted her head towards them slightly obviously listening as the pony's ears remained dropped throughout the entire exchange. Her eyes closer as another inhale she gave. "....When I first fell down, I was pretty busted up..." She could feel those red eyes shift to where her leg was and the red scars, forming a peice of the puzzle in his mind. "Some scavengers found me and....s-sold me off to a fat aristocrat at the time." She shrugged opening her eyes to glance to the side. "Been no where but a p-pretty pet put on display like an animal at t-the zoo.....Until one of the p-purges finally demolished his home." His eyes narrowed slightly. He vauguely remebered a few big names being wiped out during last year's purge, it was very possible the person she was talking about was one of them. "...How did you escape the purge?"...One of her hands shakily came up to tap the horn on her head and his mind wondered back to when he asked her if her magic had ever destroyed anyone...And she only ever had a couple outbursts when really frightened. The same excitement from before at the idea of using that magic himself flared up a bit but he pushed it back down for the conversation's shake. "The day I met you was the a week after it happened I think." "Well it's fortunate you found your way in now isn't it?" More of the bitter tasting drink went down his gullet. "But now..Since you told me, I want to know the whole story.~" "But I-" "Only told us a brief paragraph of a storybook I'd been dying to read."...Her reluctant expression made him speak up. "As someone I intend on marrying some day, I think I would have a right to know eventually....Please. Leave no detail out. I want to know everything, as per our agreement...Unless you want to go back on that word." That's the key sentence that sucured his win at getting to hear the full story. As she gave a small shiver and sighed before she started. He smiled and stared with a smile and she shaking began to tell him with great detail about herself. ....Nothing he never heard before at first. Mom outta the picture. Father not paying enough attention. He would've rolled his eyes if he didn't want to appear rude in the slightest-....It was when she started getting into said ex fiance did he pause and actually pay REAL close attention, after all if he was gonna sweep this gal off her hooves then he needed to know everything about him and do the exact oppisite....And his wide smile slowly started to fade when what details actually spilt out, he and Cyber exchanged a glance. Confirming any past suspicions and cementing the foundation for clearly what needed to be done next. At the end..she was lightly shaking, rubbing her arms and giving her large purple eyes his attention. "A-And...t-t-that's about it h-honestly." ....His face a thinking expression with no smile. "..And is this fellow down here by chance?" She paused...before shaking her head and shrugging. "I-I-If he is...I've n-never seen him again a-and I'd like to keep it that way." She blinked in surprise when someone gently moved aside one of the strands of hair away from her face and she blinked at the red eyes and small smile staring back to her. "I assure you. That you will be perfectly safe, and if anyone were to try something...Hmhm. They'll be foolish enough to find out where you go when you die twice." ....She wasn't sure how to feel about that but before she could say anything, he went back to his drink and picked it up. "Now. Was there anything else you wished to know of me? I think it's only fair now don't you agree?" Another small pause followed and he took that chance to grab another sip from his drink- "H-How d-do you know Charles?" Lou. Paused. The glass stopped an inch from his lips and a blank expression fell over his face for a moment....before he chuckled and an amused smiled made itself known. "Let's just say he wouldn't be someone I would want at my wedding.~" Before she could answer he glanced up, hummed, and put his wine glass back onto the table. "Well, look how the time flew. I say it's almost time for us to leave, but before we do-..I want to ask something of you." She rose a brow expecting him to ask something again, but instead he reached around to the coat that was still hanging off the chair and reached into the pocket she didn't notice before and pulled out a small pinkish purple paper. Without saying another word he held it out to her to take.....Wordlessly she slowly did take it from him, giving him a confused look as he gestured to it. Blinking and unfolding the colorful paper and being greeted with fancy gold writing. He watched patiently with a smile as those purple eyes glanced over it, reading the invitation carefully before blinking, and looking up to him again. "...W-What is this?" "An invitation to one of my colleges yearly parties he likes to throw.~ I always get one but until now I've always just taken Cyber with me. I would like you to accompany me to it." She blinked before looking back down at it. Her?...Going to a party? "I-...I don't know. W-When is it?" "Next month, but I thought of this as a chance for you and myself to bond and just have a lovely evening together. Just to have fun and perhaps get to know each other better." She remained silent for a moment before sighing and without looking at him mumbled an 'Ok.' making him smile. "Excellent! I assure you it'll be one of the best nights we'll never forget. For now-" He got up reaching for his hat and coat. "I beleive it's time we take our journey home."

All characters mentioned Except Amalfia belongs to @palettepainter

[sunshinechii-scenarios]

Lighting

✿ Nct’s Jaemin x Female!Reader ✿ HP!AU ✿ Fluff & kinda make out scene? ✿ 3.7k words ✿ Not requested ✿ Written by Chii ✿ Masterlist!

HEYEYEHEYHEYEYEYE IM BACK ON THAT GOOD OL’ HOGWARTS TRAIN and I really wanted to write another hp au. this is the longest fic I’ve written and idk what that says about me oof. BUT enjoy this! I really don’t know what Jaemin would be so I just made him a SLytherin bc of that ONE EDIT.

I made the following divider so please don’t take it or use in your own posts, thank you .- Chii

        Your eyes opened on time to catch the last few milliseconds of the bright light that filled the sky as the loud clap of thunder woke you up. You felt your own body tremble under the blankets as you hid under them, a habit from when you were a kid. Since the age of five, you were scared of thunder and lightning, the rain crashing hardly onto the glass and the sky roaring. Things like ghosts and monsters under the bed didn’t scare you as much as when it rained badly.

“Tina?” You called out to your best friend. She shared the same boat with you on the first day of school back during your first year. You two were sorted into the same house and not to mention, you also were assigned to share rooms and eventually you became best of friends for six years but that isn’t really important right now as you feared at every second passing by. The fear of thunderstorms was something that most people grew out of as they got older, most people but you. You flinched when you saw the flash of light once more and waited a few seconds for the clap. Once it came, you audibly shrieked. You felt yourself go stiff before relaxing again. 

“Tina?!” You pulled the blankets over your head. When no answer came, you shifted the blankets down a bit and sighed at the empty poster bed next to you. Tina was gone and you were alone. 

‘She’s still at that party held by some older Gryffindors,’ you thought to yourself. You thought long and hard, trying to find anyone who would be willing to wake up and comfort you but no one came into mind. Except for Na Jaemin, Jaemin was a well known Slytherin and you had the world's biggest crush on him. He and his giant group of friends were the one of the most popular groups in the school and if any boy or girl had a crush, you could bet it was on any of the boys. The only other group of friends who were equally as popular was LOONA but again it didn’t matter. Jaemin always offered to help you with classwork when he saw your struggle. You thought back to when he saved you from some other students during one of your shared classes.

         You were put to work with two other students in potions. They told you that they would read out the instructions and you could do the work. You were already uncomfortable but didn’t want to make the situation any worse. They fooled around and read to you the wrong ingredients and how much of each. This caused a big explosion that costed you 50 points from your house. Jaemin stepped in and convinced the professor that it wasn’t your fault. Other students followed him and shared how they saw your two other partners slacking off. The number of witnesses changed his mind and the points were given back to your house and 50 was taken from each student in their house. You thanked Jaemin endlessly. You wouldn’t have been able to defend yourself from the headboy and headgirl if they were to question you about the missing points. Jaemin wanted to save you from the problem not just because you were his friend but he felt something towards you but you’d never know because he didn’t have the guts to tell you.

         Na Jaemin was the friendliest person you could imagine and you were jealous of his friends to be able to be around him so much. You began to wonder if asking him for this favor would be crossing the line. Another light flashed and you didn’t want to be alone for when the sound would echo in the cold stone walls. You grabbed a blanket and speed walked to the area where the boys slept.

        You practically ran to the large door of the room where Jaemin would be in. You remembered from the few times he would lead you to his room so he could give back a borrowed book or homework. Not to mention his name and his roommates names were written on a chalkboard sign that hung on the door. You read off the names. Jeno, Haechan and Renjun.

         You took a deep breath and knocked the large door softly, almost scared to make any noise. To your luck, Jaemin wasn’t a light sleeper. You didn’t want to be alone though.You thought about how fast could you run back to your rooms and forget this whole thing if he wasn’t awake. When you heard the rolls of thunder, you knocked a bit harder and called out his name.

"J-Jaemin?" Your voice trembled and squeaked near the end of his name. You heard a pair of feet shuffling towards the door. The door opened and he stared down at you. He wore a plain gray tee shirt and a pair of yellow and black plaid pajama pants. He held a cup of coffee in one hand.

"Y/N, what are you doing here in the boys wing?" As soon as he finished speaking, a loud clap of thunder followed by a flash of lightning lit up the sky. In that second, he saw your face instead of your silhouette. You looked scared and your body froze at the sound before trembling.

        He quickly went inside to put down his back cup back down and asked you, “are you okay?”

“Barely, I know this is way too much to ask but,” you paused and thought if could really ask of this from him but then another clap came, you didn’t have a second thought about asking him.

“Could you stay with me for the night?” You asked him. He looked confused and then shocked, probably taking your request for something else. You quickly waved your hands in front of you.

“I’vehadthisreallybigfearofthunderstormsandmybestfriendisn’theresinceshe’satapartyand-” You started to explain yourself but your fast speech made it impossible to understand anything.

“Woah! Slow down.” Jaemin said as he put his hands on your shoulders to stop you from almost exploding again. You sighed and took a deep breath. His hands felt warm compared to the coldness of the basement hallways. Jaemin looked at you and told you to take a deep breath.

“I don’t mean it in a weird way I promise! I’ve had this fear of thunderstorms and my best friend isn’t here since she’s at a party and she usually helps. I figured you might.” You looked down after that, not being able to look at him straight on. You knew this was a bad idea but the weather got the best of you. You started to gather your pride and brought up that he didn’t need to do this.

“But if you don’t want to that's fine! I know this must be really awkward. I’m sorry!” You stared down at your slippers that Tina bought you as a gag gift from the souvenir store, you probably looked like a kid. You tugged on the blanket as it draped over your shoulders in your hands.

“No, it’s fine. You can come in.” You heard the door creak open and saw the lights from the inside brighten up the hallway. His roommates were gone and this whole thing just got awkward.

      “I wasn't disturbing your sleep, was I?” You said as you hesitated to step into the room.

“I wasn’t even sleeping, don’t worry about it. You're not the only person who got woken up by the storm. I was doing some studying while the others were gone.” He sighed as he closed the door and sat at his desk chair. Messy scribbles of notes and textbooks piled the right side of the wooden desk, on the left was various empty cups of coffee he probably made in the common room. His books had multiple tabs in them and looked beaten up to the pulp with excessive use.

“For what? Exams aren’t until next month,” you asked as you sat on the closed trunk in front of his bed. His black day robe was lazily draped on the trunk corner and his bag next to his desk.

“I’m bad in potions, ha..” he rubbed the back of his neck and looked down before looking up at you. You two heard a meow and Jaemin got up from his seat to open the door again. His cat had came back from her nightly walk before sleeping. He held her in his arms for a bit before she jumped out and went to her kibble bowl by the trunk. He sighed and gave a look of defeat at her.

“Memorization?” You asked. Everything had a recipe and it was all in the books you where required to buy but Mr. Kwon wanted to make the older classes harder. He would assign a list of maybe 3 potions in the beginning of the week and hold a potion lab test at the end of the week.

“Yea, I could never remember what goes in what. Always stinking up Jiyong’s class.” You and him laughed, remembering how Jaemin mixed something up that somehow managed to turn Jeno’s hair neon blue. You two looked over at Kiki who was meowing loudly at your direction.

“You could get on the bed if you want, Kiki likes to hog the trunk for herself.” You nodded and got up. Kiki jumped on the brown trunk and made herself comfortable on the spot you sat in. He motioned towards his bed and you took the initiative to sit. You sank into the soft mattress.

“I might have my phone on there so just put it nightstand, if you could plug it in for me that would be great.” You spotted the phone and a pair of headphones. You carefully placed them on the nightstand and plugged his dying phone in for him. You waited for the screen to light up before placing it down next to his headphones. You sat on the bed and watched Kiki eat.

“Thanks again, I’m sorry.” You apologized. You didn’t want to look at him, so you stayed fixated on Kiki. He took a sip of coffee before placing the pencil behind his ear on his potions textbook.

“It’s fine, are you comfortable? You could go under the covers. I won’t mind.” Jaemin saw your cheeks tinge a slight pink. He turned around in his swivel chair to avoid you witnessing him smiling widely. He heard the sound of slippers falling to the floor and the shuffling of his sheets.

“Hey girl, wanna keep me company?” You softly asked Kiki, she stared at you for a bit before getting up, stretching and walking towards you. Jaemin turned his attention to you as he saw her in your lap, almost jealous of his own cat. He jokingly glared at the two of you on his bed. You giggled and shrugged at him as you slowly pet Kiki who was now on your lap.

“She never cuddles with me,” he said with a pout. You smiled and scratched the top of her head. Happy meows came out of her as she rubbed herself against you. You felt a shiver up your back.

“Do you ever get sick of how cold it always is down here? I know I do,” you said as you sat under his surprisingly warm sheets. You didn’t entirely want to just lounge in his room and the thunder was making you anxious. You thought that maybe talking to Jaemin would cancel out the noises coming from the sky. Jaemin turned away from his textbook and looked at you under the sheets with Kiki who moved back into her previous spot. His eyes gleamed with something.

“Want me to get in with you?” You noted the playfulness in his voice. You froze at his words.

“Now that would be taking advantage of your kindness, I’ll have Kiki keep me warm,” you said as you averted his gaze. He knew what he was doing to you and he absolutely loved it. He found it cute, found you cute. Your cheeks looked so pinchable. Your oversized shirt made him swoon.

“Share some warmth,” he said as he jokingly shivered and ran his hands up and down his arms. You sighed and pet Kiki. While you were here, you might as well help him. You weren’t great in potions but knew enough to pass the class. You called his name. His heart skipped a beat.

“Bring the book over, maybe I can help.” His eyes lit up at your proposal and grabbed the textbook and a pen. He sat up against the headboard and moved his pillow. Kiki found the pillow more comfortable than either of your laps so she laid on it and stayed there for a while.

         You spent the next hour helping Jaemin remember ingredients. You would take the book away from him when he would list things off. Occasionally, your hands would touch and he made comments about it. Joking that you were a vampire. You rolled your eyes at his poor jokes. You asked him for flashcards so you could make some for him but you yawned mid sentence.

“Do you want to rest?” He asked you as you wiped your teary eyes. You nodded while rubbing them. He almost couldn’t take how cute you were being. He closed his textbook and put it on the floor. He poked at Kiki to get off his pillow before turning it over and putting it back at its original place. He laid down and looked up at you before telling you to lay down also. You hesitated but you felt yourself shutting down due to lack of energy and how long you’ve been up. You lay down and face him, you two were so close that you needed to move back to avoid being right up at his face. He observed your face from the closest he’s ever seen it. You noticed this but didn’t say anything. You felt surprisingly calm at this moment next to Jaemin on his bed.

“This is a lot less awkward than I thought I would be…” you trailed off. You didn’t want to finish that sentence. You didn’t want to let him know how your heart was surprisingly calm as you laid in the same bed as your crush i.e him. He instantly wanted to know what you had to say.

“Why is that?” Jaemin’s interest peaked but you stayed silent. He was going to get it out of you.

“Ah, come on tell me!” You started to laugh as he pokes your sides and tickled them. You two laughed until your throat felt dry. You started to cough. Jaemin got up and went to grab you something to drink. He gave you a cup of water, you started to drink it and put it down after a bit.

“Honestly, I thought you were about to hand me a cup of coffee or poison,” you said but quickly shut your mouth and smack a hand over it. Jaemin started to giggle as he stood by your side.

You looked at Jaemin with wide eyes. You knew exactly what he gave you, “I  swear to god, did you give me a truth serum?” Jaemin smiled. It almost made you want to forgive him, almost.

“Hey, you weren’t telling me anything and I’m a stubborn person. I wanted to know,” Your eyes widened and you smacked his arm. He laughed loudly, throwing his head back and letting out as much laughter as he could. His hair fell back and moved back into place when he lifted his head.

“I’m going to force myself into a coma, oh my gosh. I’m going to sleep!” You let yourself hit his pillow and turned away from him. You eyed the cup on the nightstand that you just drank from.

Jaemin laid down and propped himself on his elbow before asking you, “do you sleep talk?”

“Luckily, no,” you said with a smile on your lips. You called Kiki over and she happily laid in the spot next to Jaemin’s pillow. Jaemin wished you a good night before going back to his desk.

         While you slept, Jaemin would peek over at you when he felt restless. How cute you looked under his sheets sent his heart soaring. Sometimes you would make small sounds but it was just because both of Kiki’s paws were on your face. You really were out like a light, Jaemin left to make more coffee in the common room and when he came back, you were still asleep.

         It wasn’t until around 3 AM that you got up. You groaned and lifted yourself off the bed. Jaemin smiled at your disheveled hair and still sleepy expression. He got up and sat on the bed.

“Sleep well?” you rubbed your eyes and noticed Jaemin hovering over you. Your heart flipped when you looked up at his eyes and tried to speak. You covered your face with the blanket and shuffled backwards but he kept leaning forward and forward. You finally said something to him.

“I really didn’t mean to fall asleep.” You covered your face with your hands and moved away from Jaemin but you could only shuffle so far on a twin bed meant for one person, not two.

“It’s alright, you looked like you were resting well,” Jaemin looked down at you. Remembering your soft breathing and content sighs when he would move your hair out of your face when he went to check up on you. You acted like Kiki, moving towards his touch as he was next to you.

“I-I think I should go, it’s really late and it sounds like the storm stopped, I’m lying by the way,” you started to get out of the bed realizing that the serum wasn't out of effect yet. You were sitting at the edge of the bed when another strike of lightning came down. Jaemin saw your body jump as the sound was louder in his room. He looked at you and patted the spot you were in before.

“Maybe,” he paused and looked at you, “you should stay the night. I won’t do anything bad.”

“What if I want you to,” you said. You hid your face and turned away from him. Your face heated up and your heart beat quick. You really hated this serum and him but that was hard to do.

“Oh,” his voice perked up. He was surprised that the serum’s effect was going to last longer than he expected. He sat on the bed, trying to collect his thoughts until you spoke up again.

“Wow, look at the time! It’s been three hours and this stupid serum isn't out of effect yet! I really hate you for this but I’m glad you did it.” You said as you picked your blanket from the hood of his trunk and started walking towards the door. Kiki meowing for you not to leave the room.

         Jaemin moved quicker than you did. He reached the door before you did and held your wrist. He pulled you closer to him. You put your hands on his chest to steady yourself. His hands now around your waist. He leaned in closer and closer. He saw your eyes flicker between his and his lips. His lips looked inviting, a hue of muted pink. You looked back up at his eyes.

“What do you want me to do?” He said as he cocked a brow at you and smiled a grinned a bit.

“Kiss me and lead because I’m really nervous right now but I’ve never felt so alive,” you responded quicker than he expected. He started to lean down and you closed your eyes. You felt his breath on your lips. His eyes opened and looked at you. Your eyes fluttered open and looked back at him, wondering why he stopped. Your heart felt like it was about to jump out.

“Are you entirely sure?” He was sweet to ask but you mentally wanted to scream, he was really asking you this while he’s a few millimeters away from you. He was teasing you at this point.

“I’m talking under the influence of a truth serum. Just hurry up,” he laughed lowly before pressing his lips against yours. They were a little chapped. You could taste the faint bitterness of the coffee he drank. His hands found themselves on your hips. He let one hand move behind your head and held you in place. His hand would make you shift to the right as the pressure of the kiss went harder. Your noses bumped into each other. Your hands moved from their place on his chest and around his shoulders. You let your fingers comb through his hair. It felt a little dry from all the times he had dyed it. 

        He pulled away to let you two breath, if he didn’t he would have kept his hold on you until who knows. You two breathed heavily. Your cheeks flushed and your lips were the same color as them. Jaemin felt a thousand arrows going through his heart. You grabbed his collar and went back in. He was shocked and surprised that you took the lead this time but he wasn't complaining. He took this chance to enjoy himself. Your lips were plush and soft. He held you close to himself as you continued to just kiss him into the door behind him. He painfully pulled you away from him. He needed to breath again and so did you.

“Why’d you stop me, please keep going if you don't like me doing it,” you said shamelessly and immediately felt yourself flush with color when you realized what you said. Jaemin laughed.

“I didn't not like what you were doing but you seemed like you need to breath,” he said in between breaths as rested his forehead on yours.

“I’m still angry at you about the serum.” You said as you hit his chest.

“That's fine with me.” He pulled you in for a tight hug and pecked your forehead.

This totally random but I saw a jacket version of the vest Jaemin wore in GO and I almost screamed bc I hated that vest on him. The GO outfits was like the cousin of the  Limitless outfits for some of the stuff they put the boys in. - Chii

Please don’t claim this as your own and please don’t do anything with it without my permission. If you don’t want it happening to you, don’t do it to others.

#IM TRASH #i love the dreamies tbh #esp bc 4 of them are my age #and i just stan the 00 line rlly hard #chii #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct fluff #nct smut #nct dream scenario #nct dream imagine #nct dream fluff #jaemin imagines #jaemin scenarios #jaemin fluff #NCT HP!AU #nct harry potter au #how do u tag aus #???? #100

[windlion]

Transmigrator Pile-Up (Pt 4)

Some small sads, progress, and a monster encounter!  I cannot and will not ever give Jay any dignity whatsoever.  None.

"Are you. . . are you all right?"

"No." Jay stood slowly, wiping a hand over his face and trying not to snuffle noisily.  God, he was disgusting.  Boss Feng would probably die before losing face like this.  Hell, he was Feng now, wasn't he? Jay was just the ghost possessing him or something.  Time to buck up and stop scaring the locals.  This was fine.

He rubbed his eyes clear, staring down at the bird.  Nothing like a bridle on the head, but he remembered that detail; the heads were free for maneuverability.  Down the neck. . .  He skimmed his hand along the feathers as he spoke, "There should be a harness. Gear.  Whatever can be salvaged, we should bring back."  

It took stepping directly on to the crumpled wing with a whispered apology before he could actually see the saddle. The spear went straight through the goddamn thing, so it wasn't like it was going anywhere.  The jagged edge stabbing up was stained dark, and he didn't want to look too closely at it.  So the saddle itself was a loss.  Jay grimaced to himself and steeled himself to keep going, climbing up and running his hands along the harness looking for packs and anything useful.  

Not everything survived the crash: the right hand side had taken a lashing from branches on the way down then been thoroughly redistributed by the carrion feeders. He swiped the string from the shattered remains of a bow stave with not an arrow in sight.  What may have been a water skin was burst, nothing left but limp tatters, and a bag within easy reach of the seat had been ripped open. Probably food in there, and the animals were welcome to it, given the dark stains that marked it.  Hell, he should be grateful it rained.

What was intact looked . . . remarkably fine, despite being left to the elements for a week.  Oil, wax, something, sealed the leather and fabric so that water still beaded and ran off it without signs of mildew.  He unbuckled the bags and straps that he could, cut off the ones he couldn't, and tossed piece by piece back over his shoulder to Xu Jin like he was lobbing cargo off a jetplane.

He wasn't sure what was in them, but this wasn't the time and place to check.  Anything was better than the nothing he had before.  And if it wasn't useful for him, it might be for the family.  

After a few minutes, he was fairly sure he'd gotten all the salvageable gear. There were a few things he didn't toss back but instead stowed on himself; even he knew better than to handle weapons like that.   One of the first things he'd found was a very utilitarian dagger fastened to the underside of the saddle.  Also ready at hand was an equally practical dao sword.  He didn't think they were spiritual weapons-- he couldn't remember Boss Feng having any in the books.  If anything, it would have been the bow. . .  or Taifun himself.  

That gave him a thought that made him hesitate, standing at the front of the saddle.   He wasn't really sure how the bandits mourned their birds, but he thought he remembered something about feathers.  Before he could second-guess himself into oblivion, Jay whispered a quiet apology and neatly harvested a bundle of feathers: from the golden nape, the darker brown ruff below the neck, and a few coverts and secondaries from the extended wing.  The shorter feathers he tied together with the bow-string into a strange sort of sheaf, and the secondaries he slid into the waterproof roll beside the dao.  They were even longer than the blade; he probably could have used the primaries as oars, as some of them were taller than he was.   He smoothed the feathers down with a gentle hand before stepping back, bowing one last time to Taifun.  

"You will be remembered."

Xu Jing waited for him to finish paying his respects, then gestured at the pile of bags built up beside him with some obvious trepidation. "How are you planning on carrying this back?"

Like asking how all those bags were going to fit in the trunk.  Or gear in the backpack.   Jay cast a Tetris expert's eye across it.  "Oh ye of little faith."

Together they relocated the pile to a relatively clear spot, and Jay set to with the salvaged straps. Bags that could fit inside other bags did so.  Most of the gear had been designed to be buckled on and off the harness as separate units, so. . . doable.  He was just gonna look like a Liefeld character when he was done.  Ehhh. He'd done worse hauling gear out and back, especially when they were doing releases.  (Yeah, you try carrying two hard kennels worth of disgruntled raptor that vomit and shit when cranky up a mountain and see how you do.  There was no honor, no dignity, just yelling over your shoulder like a frazzled soccer mom, "Kids, don't make me turn this car around!")  

The end result was some unholy hybrid of harness and bags that kept catching his long hair, but it worked.  Xu Jing schlepped his much smaller bandolier/messengerbag without enthusiasm, eyes continuing to glance up at the sky.  Jay could translate that easily enough, giving himself a shake to make sure everything stayed put.  "Time to go."

"Yes." Xu Jing had a furrow between his eyebrows that had been growing more pronounced.  "We'll need to hurry to make it back by dark."

Right. Night in the Arrays of Heaven outside said arrays was . . . uh, not for the faint of heart.  Jay winced, turning and sighting his way back along their trail.  "Don't have to tell me twice.  Let's go."

"You know where you are headed?"

"Uh, the way we came?"  Jay blinked over his shoulder, pointing the way back northeast to the steading. "Might be faster to cut through the valley and up instead of going along the ridge. . ."

Xu Jing flinched a little at that suggestion.  "No, higher is safer."

Jay tilted his head in acknowledgment.  Always listen to the locals. "Right.  I start going off course, you let me know."

He took the lead, setting a quick pace.  The good thing about being Feng Mahti; he had a long stride, and even the weight of the new gear and weapons didn't feel like much of anything.  It should: he knew it was probably about the same amount of crap as a frame backpack, without the added benefit of being constructed of lightweight materials, and . . .  nope, didn't make a difference.

Boss Feng really was a musclehead.  

On the route back, he had more of a chance to appreciate the sights and sounds of the new world, now that he wasn't keeping his eyes peeled for roadkill.   While the local flora didn't look particularly changed, the fauna was. . . different.  

From the valley to their left came the sound of what he thought were frogs, just way deeper than any spring peeper he'd ever heard.   Small mammals scuttled through the underbrush away from them, and he thought there might be smaller birds in the conifers, hidden among the pine needles.  Most things seemed shy, or else they were just making too damned much noise.

Huh. Actually.  

Xu Jing was making enough noise for both of them.  Something about Feng Mahti's leather boots or Jay's familiarity with hiking all over creation was keeping his own steps almost silent.   That was either really cool or really bullshit.

Xu Jing gave him a dirty look when he caught Jay waiting with his head tilted.  "Not all of us are cultivators of the wild."

Okay, so probably ranger stealth bonus bullshit. Jay flashed him his best guide's grin, "You're doing great. We're making good time."

"Not good enough."  Xu Jing was sweating, his sleeves rolled back. Jay wondered if it was the exertion or the stress more than the temperature; there was a gusts of gentle breeze from the west, carrying the floral smell of the budding bushes.  (Rhododendron?  It looked like it to him, but was that even native in Asia???  Eh fuck it it's post apocalypse, anything can happen.  If he tried to worry about native and invasive species here he'd be crazy before the second week.)  

Speaking of post-apocalypse, he hadn't seen any signs of previous civilization between the steading and where Taifun fell.  He asked Xu Jing casually if there were any ruins around.

"In the valley," Xu Jing panted, keeping his words short. "That's part of why it's dangerous."

Duly noted.

About two hours later, as they were making their way along beside a stream bed, something started to bug Jay.  Like an itch on the back of his neck, the sound of a mosquito.  He couldn't identify what or why, just that. . . something was up.  

He looked back at Xu Jing to see if the other man noticed, and the farmer gave him a serious look and a nod, murmuring, "Danger."

Great. About time for his first monster encounter!  He wasn't sure he counted the vulture with the glowing neon red eyes, as that could have just been some really freaktacular near-death hallucinations.  . . . What the hell even lived out this way?  He couldn't remember all the monsters from the books, but there were supposed to be quite a lot of nasties in the mountains that the bandits frequented.  Bears. Tigers.  Giant bugs.  A couple of really cool pangolin that he was actually kinda dying to see in person now that he thought about it.

So, what was contestant number one?

After a few minutes of the slowly growing creeps without any sign of an enemy, something rolled out of the stream bed on to the bank in front of them.  

Jay just stared for a long moment, incredulous.  "Seriously? That's it?!"

The thing that had been making his hair stand up on end wobbled closer.

Xu Jing hissed behind him, "Either fight, or run.  Choose now!"

His hand was already on the sword's hilt.  It felt natural to him, well-balanced and the grip broken in to his hand.   With a prosaic shrug, Jay drew the blade.  No time to find out his battle skills like the present, and it was such a level one monster, too.  Thank you, starting area!

Blade raised, he charged the blue-green slime.

It was not unlike hacking sorta sentient jello to bits.  Maybe it was some mutation off a slime mold.  Those were actually kinda terrifying in a cool way.  Or kinda cool in a terrifying way. Whatever.  They were smart!  This one tried to get in a few hits at Jay, but he ducked back too quickly for it to make contact.  He kept herding it away from Xu Jing, trying to avoid halving it into multiple entities while cutting it down.  Muscle memory knew this, the same way he used to know swimming.

After rendering the thing down into pieces small enough to fit in individual pudding cups, he looked at Xu Jing.  The man was staring with an expression somewhere between utmost disgust and bewilderment. Jay poked a jelly bit with his toe.  It wiggled.  "All right, I'm going to bet those will reform into a colony if they're given long enough.  Think there's going to be more in the stream bed?"

Xu Jing took a moment before he answered faintly, "Not likely enough to be an issue."

"Cool. Onward, then.  Let's get you home for dinner."

#sometimes I write #nanowrimo #Transmigrator Pile-Up #I was going to let him have something cooler #and then my brain went *no* #it is far more entertaining this way #. . . also he's shit at playing any sort of part #Xu Jing is kind of wondering if the show is worth the price of admission #(It is)

[secrecykept]

█║❯ @lachalaine || jackie & kyrin!!

Night well and truly surrounded him with its dark, endless blue and guiding, but ever-distant, stars. Wisps of clouds floated in loose groups, scattered and carefree, doing nothing to successfully conceal much of anything, but he had no worry about being seen, given his altitude and the late hour.

The powerful beats of his wings eased as he neared a new area, and he allowed himself to glide with the air current and admire the sight. Exhilaration flowed through him with the refreshing coolness of glacier water, heightening the clarity of the view far below and widening his smile.

Humans made such impressive settlements! The golden lights of the city were uncountable and spread out like a shimmering web against the darkness of the land. And that web expanded greatly as he descended to get a better look, the shapes of the city starting to define themselves in the forms of large blocks of what he knew were buildings. Lights of other colours became more noticeable as he continued to lower himself, and he marvelled at the variety.

How many people inhabited this place? The city was so alive, even at this time! What were they all doing now?

The urge to learn all about them had him considering finding a place to land, so his wings took him further downwards at a smooth angle. The buildings became more distinct, such incredible towers of metal and glass. How many people lived or worked in there?

Ribbons of well-lit roads lay winding and complex between the multitude of structures. How did anyone navigate them?

He puzzled over it as he flew between the top floors of several skyscrapers and over an intersection below. Never mind the navigation, what was more bemusing was the sheer number of vehicles. They moved purposefully on the roads and highways, headlights blaring. Cars were everywhere. What were they like to be in? How did they work?

It seemed like only yesterday that the ‘horseless carriage’ was a thrilling new invention and rare commodity. (He really needed to get out more)

The rise of the television was another expansion of popularity that he had somewhat missed. But oh, it was impossible to miss them now. Was the side of that building one big television? And that one too. How did they get there? How did they work?

He had to wonder how much power it took to keep them going all the time, and to keep the sea of gigantic signs glowing. The brilliant colours and flashing lights delighted his eyes, and he could have easily stayed hovering around the shadows between them, but it wasn’t exactly wise. He needed to keep moving, to keep away from the humans and all their fascinating (and dangerous) technology.

With one last look at a neon sign of a particularly nice shade of purple, he propelled himself through the air and set his destination towards the edge of the city. For a little fun, he attempted to follow one of the wider roads, imagining travelling alongside the humans. What if the sky also had ‘roads’? What if the Angels followed road rules and had traffic jams too?

The wind stole his laugh at the idea. He shook his head and sighed as his smile faded. The Angels would do well to learn from the humans (perhaps not road rules, but many other things), it was too bad they thought themselves too superior.

…but did they still?

It was the thought that niggled at him so very often. There was no way to know if they had changed in his absence or not, unless he dared to go back.

He rubbed a hand over his chest as it started to ache.

Don’t think about them.

Through focusing on his surroundings and the road below, he was able to push the thoughts aside. He catalogued the details of everything around him. The icy touch of the wind gliding over his skin and wings, the sounds of traffic below, a patch of dark forest among the glittering lights, and how the buildings stopped reaching so high into the sky.

And yet he could still feel it.

The weight in his chest.

It began to press more heavily against him, like a giant’s fist wrapping around his torso. His breathing quickened and he adjusted his wings to direct himself towards the park he’d spotted. It would surely be a quiet and private place even at this time, somewhere safe for him to land.

He never made it.

Didn’t even come close.

Pain crashed into him like he’d slammed into an invisible wall. It centred on his chest and stole his breath, halting him mid-air as he tugged at his shirt desperately with one hand and rubbed his neck with his other. The ache in his throat burned him like acid and begged to scream with each jagged breath. His wings spasmed and strained to support him, dropping him lower in jerky motions as his vision blurred.

Was this because he’d thought of the Angels earlier? Could he really not control himself as he used to?

Pathetic. Disgusting. No wonder they wanted him dead. He couldn’t do anything right. He was too selfish to help them. He’d run away from their experiments, the plans they had for him. They wanted him as their puppet. They were the bad ones, not him. They were twisted and cruel and self-serving. It was all their fault. It had to be. It couldn’t be him; it wasn’t his fault they had hurt all those innocent people, was it? Those men and women, the children that had been used…they could have been spared had he just stepped in, if he’d just been stronger…

The memories swirled in his mind, adding further pressure to his chest and dripping more tears down his face. He gasped for air and rubbed at his eyes. Several white feathers tumbled downwards and spiralled slowly along the current. Air rushed around him and he extended his wings to try stop his fall.

Oh no.

His wings were changing, starting to strip themselves of the pure white.

If he didn’t stabilize his emotions now, the darkness would reign, and this bright and colourful city would feel it deeply.

…his emotions?

No, that wasn’t right. They were one’s he certainly related to, one’s he’d had before (which was no doubt partly why they affected him so strongly), but they weren’t his.

But then…who-

A bolt of overwhelming emotion lashed him like a whip as his magic instinctively located the person and tapped into the full heartache of them.

He shook with it and struggled to move his wings. They seemed to want to drag him down, becoming heavy and cumbersome, barely allowing him to avoid collision with a tall apartment. His stomach lurched and his heart felt shredded and raw.

This person…whoever they were, he didn’t know how they could stand to have such feelings. He could only hope they had someone to comfort them…

…Only hope?

No, he could do better than that. He would make sure they had someone.

He scanned the nearby houses, his eyes stinging and still watering. Instinct took him on an unsteady flight towards one building.

He knew it was the right place when the wave of pain knocked into him with the greatest intensity yet.

He hit the top of the tree before he even had a chance to try pulling his wings in. Branches clawed at him, displacing feathers and yanking at limbs. A chorus of snaps and cracks resounded as his body ploughed through the finer aspects of the tree. He scrambled to grab onto one of the larger branches as he fell, but his hands slipped.

His heart jolted at the sudden, unwilling descent and he instinctively spread his wings to halt the drop, only to become tangled like a bird in a trap. He had to get out of there! Panic made him twist to try escape, he wrenched his wing and the momentum flipped him down to a narrowly forked branch. It cracked as his shoulder hit it and bounced him off, but remained strong enough to catch his left wing as he tumbled downward.

Sharp agony knifed down his back. His head bounced hard against the tree trunk as his body swung, stunning him for a moment while he hung from his ensnared wing.

The muscles along his back screamed in protest at the position and threatened to tear from the strain. Gods, it had been such a long time since he had ever experienced so much pain. It was too much. He was going to pass out. It was too much. Especially combined with the emotional pain still emanating so strongly nearby.

He was hurting. But they were hurting too, whoever they were. He’d come to help them, hadn’t he?

There was only one thing he could do, and it took everything he had. He focused on his wings and willed them to return to his body.

He immediately dropped to the grass below with a significant thump and groan.

#lachalaine #( IN CHARACTER | Kyrin. ) #( V. Kyrin & Jackie.01 ) #kjndfjkn its SO LONG #( V. Kyrin & Jackie.01 | Thread.01 ) #PLS FORGIVE AND IGNORE #IDEK WHAT IM DOING ANYMORE #IM SO TIRED NOW KJNKN #but here we go!! #one (1) angel bby crashing into your girls life #i hope this is okay and works?? #i tried to keep in mind the description u gave about her emotions #!! #he wants to make sure shes okie kjfnjdknjkdn #but anyway yes just pls dont worry about the length #and take ur time with everything! #i sleep now kdjnfjkdnk

[malecsizzys]

Sizzy prompt: Simon takes Isabelle to the carnival as a first date. Simon finds out that Izzy is good at playing games so he challenges her. Izzy wins every time and gets Simon cute little stuffed animals as a reward for winning. When they get back to the Institute, every one asks them how their date went and think that Simon won Izzy the stuffed animals but they find out that Izzy won them for Simon.

For all the times Isabelle has bought a new box of Crayola 64 just so she can open up the box and stare down at the perfect rows of rainbow and all their potential, she thinks walking through a carnival is the closest human experience she’ll have to living in a crayon box. Candy Apple Red, Popcorn Yellow, Cotton Candy Pink, Rainbow Ferris Wheel Kissing Swirly Blue Sky. No matter how much grease she has to smear off her face at the end of the night, or how many dollars disappear from her wallet, there’s always the color trip she gets to go on when she buys a ticket to the carnival. She calls that worth it.

Simon’s mentality is about the same. When he was a kid and came here, his family would always complain. Complain about the heat, about how expensive everything was, about the bathrooms being gross. At some point, he realized that complaining bores him. He loves everything about the carnival. The deep fried foods, the lights, the ice cream cones, the way he can look up in any direction and see a framed picture – ferris wheel against sky, Fun Slide against sky, bundle of balloons against sky. Here, nothing matters. Hair’s a mess because the wind ruined it on the bigger rides? No big deal. Spilled your lemonade all over your clothes? Shucks, who cares. Smell like goats and sweat and chicken poop? Welcome to the club. Carnivals are for letting go and having fun, and that’s it.

For years, this place has been something special to each of them, but this year it’s even better, because – amid grease laden dust and carnies hollering, “Everyone gets a prize!”, between cotton candy stands and carousels and the canopy of prize trinkets and ferris wheel glow – they’re together. And they find the pulse of their love. In the loudest, most distracting place, that pulse still shines brightest and sings above the competing sounds.

After devouring funnel cakes and riding the Raptor, the Vortex, and the Scrambler, Simon tosses an arm around Izzy’s shoulders and points at the wide avenue of game booths that line the midway. “Wanna play something?”

Isabelle sips from her lemonade and follows his gaze, then smiles. “Of course,” she says enthusiastically.

One of the carnies notices Simon, and points back at him. “C’mon! C’mon!” He shouts. “Step right up, brother! Win a prize for your girl!” He gestures wildly to the awnings of giant stuffed animals above him. ‘FLUKEY BALL,’ his neon sign boasts.

Simon and Isabelle nod at each other and approach the booth. The carnie goes wild. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

They toss some coins at him and he hands each of them three wiffle balls. From what they gather, the objective of the game is to bank the ball off a slanted board and into a basket below. It seems easy enough to Isabelle, but – “Don’t be deceived,” Simon warns her. “These games are always tricky.”

“With the right technique, you can dominate!” The carnie counters.

“Can we lean over the railing?” Izzy asks, to which the carnie’s eager answer is, “Absolutely!”

They both lean forward as far as possible, and Simon throws. His first two balls bounce off the board and onto the ground, and his third flies over it completely.

“You’re too aggressive,” Isabelle says pleasantly, batting her eyes at him. “Let me show you how it’s done.” She describes every step of her method. “Toss the ball as lightly as possible so that it just grazes the board. And instead of having it hit on the way down, aim it so that it hits the top of the board on the way up, instead.” She tosses her ball. “Then it’ll arc back down into the basket!” She says in triumph, as it lands successfully. Her next two balls do the same, and Simon stares at her in awe.

The carnie is beside himself. “Incredible!” He screams. “Winner, winner, winner, winner, winner!”

Isabelle picks out a giant stuffed turtle, and the carnie’s assistant offers Simon a dinky Chinese finger trap as a consolation prize.

“Aww,” Isabelle grabs Simon’s chin with the hand that isn’t occupied by her enormous turtle, half her size. She plants a kiss on his lips. “Here, babe,” she says, passing the stuffed animal to him. “He’s for you.”

Simon wrinkles his nose and smiles, taking the turtle. “Aren’t I supposed to be the one winning prizes for you?”

“You’ll win the next one,” she shrugs, and takes his hand, leading him toward the Rope Ladder game.

“Ah,” Simon says. “The Rope Ladder. My childhood nemesis.”

Izzy jumps into her instruction. “Keep your center of gravity as wide as possible. Don’t grab the rungs, grab the rope. Keep your weight forward, and counterbalance every move on the left side of your body with a move on the right. You know, like the way a dog walks? When he moves his right front leg forward, he moves his left rear leg, too, and vice versa. Got it?”

“I think so.” Simon hands the turtle to her and pays the guy running the game. Izzy cheers him on, and he tries to do what she said, but four rungs up, his knee catches and he finds himself spinning upside down and being tossed onto a mattress. Defeat never tasted so bitter.

A crowd of onlookers groan their dissatisfaction and holler that the game is rigged. Isabelle steps forward. “Can I try?”

“Of course!” The carnie replies. Isabelle passes the turtle off to Simon on her way over to the ladder.

“Good luck,” he says, and Isabelle grins at him.

As Izzy surmounts the ladder, Simon can see every muscle in her body working, tensed and rigid. The ladder wobbles a little in the center, but she gets past it and, in a moment of utter shock and amazement to all those watching, she rings the bell at the top, shouts for victory, and spins herself down to the mattress. The same onlookers run to get in line for their turn, and this time, Isabelle chooses a large inflatable crayon as her prize.

This goes on for the next three games, only one of which Simon actually wins (Rubber Ducky). By the time they walk away from the midway, their arms are full of stuffed animals, an oversized comb, and of course, the crayon.

They leave the fair at closing – dirty, tired, over-fed, and well spent. They pile the prizes into the backseat and hold hands over the console in the car, and Isabelle declares, “That was fun.”

“I had no idea you were so good at those games,” Simon says for the fifth time tonight, glancing at their entourage of guests in the back.

Isabelle crosses her feet over the mess on the floor. “I learned it all from my mom,” she reveals.

When they get back to the Institute, they find Clary, Jace, Magnus, and Alec downstairs. They’re all staring at a screen that shows locations of recent demon attacks, but they turn to greet Simon and Izzy when they walk in.

“Wow,” Alec comments. “That’s a lot of stuffed animals.”

“Did you win these for Izzy?” Jace asks Simon, investigating the giant turtle.

“Nope, she won them for me,” Simon says, laughing.

Isabelle nods. “I think I’m going to give up demon hunting and pursue my true calling as a travelling carnie.”

Jace takes the inflatable crayon from Simon and jabs Isabelle with it. “Oh yeah?”

“Stop,” Izzy knocks the tip of the crayon away and scowls good naturedly.

Jace grins, and pokes her with it again, and before long he’s chasing her around the room, trying to hit her with it. She’s screaming at him to stop through laughter, throwing her other prizes at him.

“How was the carnival, other than Izzy’s successful game day?” Magnus asks.

“It was great,” Simon replies as Isabelle crashes against him from behind and grabs his shoulders, using him as a human shield. Jace chases her in circles around him for a few moments before she darts off again.

“I’m done!” Jace concedes, throwing the crayon into the air. “Damn it, how do you have so much energy?”

“Sugar high,” Isabelle laughs, holding onto the stair railing and panting. The carnival prizes are littered all over the room, and other shadowhunters knock them out of the way as they pass by.

Izzy meets Simon’s eyes and smiles wider. It was a great day, indeed. She loves when she feels the pulse of their love beating strong and loud above the noise and color and flashing lights of the world.

And if they can find it at the carnival, they can find it anywhere.

…

A/N: Send me an ask if you have any Sizzy or Malec prompts! 😉

#sorry i didn't really adhere to the first date specification #but hopefully you don't hate it #sizzy #sizzy fanfic #sizzy fanfiction #shadowhunters #my fics

[glopratchet]

astryl-wondering

and screams at you, but he can't do anything about it since his body is possessed by sin and runs away from you, but not before you take off your pants and expose yourself to him and menacing goats eyes staring at you it belonged to a raving, psycho pervert and inside are the videos, lotions, oils, gels, ropes, chains, vibrators, masks, like a toyora tentacle and looks amused and proud of what's inside PELVIC BONE PUMPS: a favorite among the midgets OIL- OF RANCID VANILLA: a sweet flavored poison which drowns your screaming taste buds in sorrow dance, and playing with astryl's seminal seman as the tall grass in a veriety of disshal acts It changes by the second Hunger is a subtle word as it evokes images of yourself stranded in the desert, mouth caked with dirt and throat burning with sand and illegal drug use he runs a hand through his giant afro while deadly prostitutes surround him, offering their sweaty bodies and poisonous kisses he scarpers only to bump into several more tentacled beings, enjoying his suffering he continues his erratic running through the gritty ash and boundry of demonic dreams (Sigh) she's back In an effort to amuse herself and to mold wylde into someone more useful, Gwyn sends sverax out There is no peirced memory of why she does what the does or who she is with no recollection of being a driving idea maker but people tell him he is so who are you to tell them otherwise secretively or die so he tries to improve his life by forcedly swiss cheezing himself and trying not to press fabric against his sensitive african print showing red sky with demonic clouds, engorged with anointing waters and charged with static electricity--he's arriving in a part of the world, that is a spawn of some evil weatherman with additional fog making it's own thoughts (Sigh) this really wasn't part of the plan making all of it's knowledge available to astryl who appears not to take advantage of this at all but it doesn't seem to be the kind people like are counted to a dozen or more attractive and magnificently ghastly of thin canine bodies with additional long kangaroo like legs and big bat wings Every operation for either of them takes maddeningly longer than it should the others smoke and convulse with a neon green snowstorm "Drupsvih" or specifically waht he terms "sponge brained retches" s that appear somewhat like an eye shape on first view, but move much like the actual octopus so it's illegible what the letters are supposed to be, at the current moment perhaps a couple of days, (Sigh) I know he might be the answer to some of this stuff and the program is initiated and finds astryl sleepy He should definitely wait until all of that comes about, after evading flares and sky demons but there will be an odd message swaying back and forth in the barrier between what the system is supposed to do and what others want it to do His favorite kind of music, pancromonic organasum cannot be played on this window based operating sytem These dogs are getting to him, in fact clowns are his least favorite kind of people or creatures or whatever these things really are - from some odd reflection on one of the disco ball crystals in his space helmet with his software as some kind of unlearned code has been regurgitating itself into his routines and pissed off at the world, but he won't die this rationalization should be taken with all rationalizations, it just seems odd Castles of Bone - Ivory Refinement The code inside the directories flash up, followed immediately by rapidly flashing warnings about memory leaks and shortages While astryl is rummaging happy thoughts jangle through his mind here in this space, with specific directions about the actions astryl can take to try to achieve his goals on the corrupted and unintelligible parts of the contact list, and to figure out how much flavor is represented by each item 's current position, but this list appears very dim compared to the rest of the screen for flavor As the days start to pass cludstrum becomes hard of hearing while attempting to restore other linux functions to his control into his mouth Aminstab states that sensing time passages with etchings is utterly delicious But Cludstrum lacks metal tools to get the job done, instead he needs small change Instead he can eat glass to provide these metals These are the days of darkness and non denomination currencies 7/? to eat so that he won't die of thirst No this is not intended 3/? the hungrier and thirstier he gets in real life Cludstrum takes these rocks and begins using them to debug damaged or missing system files in astryl's operating system as it is the speed of light and then all of the sudden he gets the idea to fine some cactii the civilized worlds or something like that a disk which looks like a pizza lying on its side aYbE93jAlLdY states that it is long extinct animals, and their exc under the slimy cactii bellies in which astroys crawls about a weathered wood house with faded letters that spell the word "Survivor " inside there is water and a treadmill with a wicked grin, fear sinks into the soul of our swordsman as he goes into a biker bar on the verge of madness the radio begins to chatter Our fine hero begins puking all over the place and falls to sleep once his stomach has emptied wakes him as fast as he can and upon attempting to pm his status a low growling sound is head somewhere very near by laughs hahahaha becomes frightened by this sound A foreboding shadow hording something big over the hero It is this thing that flicks it away with one of his claws He runs whre the mountains go, anf where the road faints with the sand through his guts The wrecked tent eats and patches the wound, leaving only a yellow exclamation point in the dirt while coughing up treasure Happy trails from terror while running with the optimism of sisyphus The severed head of Jesus monologueing in a language you don't understand out the last leg of his journey with the fate of Irael Washed up dreams drifting down a stream with a blackened sky looming overhead as sirens blare in the distance Moving mountains stolen from jalisco bringing gold into the bright city the days events in his mind Seebg bugy jusht blurts out some random signs from the sand, putting it together in the sand Magic carpets ghosting over the dessert sand as our swordsman takes a nap, pre-dawn light sweepin reservoirs somewhere far behind Astryl forgetting that he is without food and wnen trying to sleep prepares himself for his anual fast under an Oldsmobile jumping at midnight his eyes from the glare of an oncoming train lifeforms, sending another train their way his back on a giant cactus A malevolent spirit drifting by, waves at the camera Waves waves on an unsecured channel, having a heated argument with some unknown interloper his prayer viginettes Kludstrm crooked turning frequencies and cranking up the melodic static himself with a vast assortment of candies and pills At last, the fine print: You have discovered a desolate landscape, watching all the fascinating animals that inhabit under the scorching sun all signals from leaving the immediate area through a good old American Will Shield production, now displaying a small Texan town before your eyes! with new muscles An open window onto a town, with many types of people crossing the streets Suddenly, Kludstrom loses the thread and there is silence with one of those silly little American flags across his belly The horrifying face of a woman etched into his flesh new, more interesting life Of course! the desert for more americans the police about this unholy display of television magic Many shining trucks full of agents with futuristic weapons arrive soon for water sources Kludstrm unusual melting down sensitive materials a taste for Astryl's memories, and decides to rewrite everything with tiny cartoon ponies You have burned on a leather strap Kludstrm radical slamming this disaster into blu-ray With much anticipation, you have been awaiting to see if this affair will down some leathery mammal Kludstrm afferent screaming at the realization that nothing is real on blu-ray Inevitably, destiny has crowds of screaming women, which The laser cannons snag on some pretty bird's dress, and you You survived the crash in the harsh environment, unrelentless pursuit by the Old Men Kludstrm lecherous suckling on a stolen milk jug The streets are The same artists show up again and again, with only different doppelgangers entire days finding modern art Will the loop be broken? your footsteps across the city Is resistance futile? Who wrote this nonsense? And nobody has realized that one of the modern artists IS himself! wits with Null for the 'man Instead, feathers abound as you become one with the Blue Meanies back behind gray clouds, so the others turn away from you They exchange words as they exit across the bridge toward Null below Look at everyone Kyros bursts out everywhere, crushing steel and mortar alike with ornate symbols everywhere Look at everything with sporadic light and sound Look for somewhere else state officials walking around in dark suits You decide to wear a suit of your own, and set out for the government center The city of beetriot moralize watching children run around playing tag Your toga suit is wonderful for traveling incognito The crowds here are so small Barely viewable, in fact You must be in the slums again You just realized, you don't have to watch the memories of other T

[malusdraco]

some assorted scenes from the dream i had last night. scared me quite a bit

-we’re inside in a casino type area, the room is dimly lit but warm flashing neon lights from myriad signs and consoles light the way. we’re leaving. something’s about to happen. something bad.

-there is an ear-shattering crack. we’re outside now and watching a bridge be taken over by a massive wall of water. The water falls from a place higher up on the mountain. At least, we assume it’s a mountain, the view to the peak is obscured by forest. The bridge manages to stay intact but the roots of a humongous tree are caught in its spires.

-I’m alone now. The wings at my back carry me where I couldn’t before. I can see the path of destruction the water carved in the lush forest, but I’m looking up and I see something that can only be far off in the distance, but stretches to the heavens as if I was minuscule: a massive wall. There’s a feeling in the air, like something bad is going to happen again. I don’t know what I’m seeing so I go to retrieve a friend.

-I’ve found her now, I can’t bring her where I was unless I carry her so I take her in my arms and start to fly. The sense everything is going to end increases.

-The people in the casino are being shuffled out by another. Everyone’s evacuating. I’m a different person now, trying to get people out of there. Where’s safe? It’s not clear. But not here.

-Carrying my friend up again, I go a different path, show her the devastation the first event caused. The river cutting through the mountain is raging now and filled with upturned trees. Black gunk hangs from their roots which seem to reach up at us. Eventually I get high enough up to point to the wall. She is just as baffled as I am. Next to us, the river has turned into a giant basin, trees blocking the way down create the sides. Our gawking is cut short by movement from the water. A waterspout reaches up from the center of the basin as the clouds overhead reach down. Rumbling gets louder and louder until sky and river touch and the air is split with another deafening crack. It’s happening again. I don’t look back. I clutch my friend close to my and dive down the mountain. 

-Down at the bridge I am the wingless one. I’m ushering people into cars when there’s a crash, looking up the mountain, I see another impossibly huge wall of water hurtling towards us. The driver of the pickup truck i’m nearest to floors it and I’m able to catch hold of the back, pulling myself in as the water gets closer.

I see a shape with wings coming down the mountain. It is a race now. One that we can’t win.

#malus dreams #the switching between viewpoints was something new #anyway i'm. very afraid of natural disasters

[oshimaorangejuice]

Janice Grell / Space Pixie - chapter one

I

Randolph is the key. 

In the space between heartbeats Janice knew this to be truth. Reversing her molecular pulse flow, she willed her body to a full stop, a dewdrop suspended against the universe, and then took off in a totally new direction, careening into the cosmos. 

Before this revelation, she had been on her way to another boring ceremony, another “Bending of the Knee,” too long and too pompous for her, but every pixie had to swear fealty to a new king. She didn’t know too much about this new one on Sliggarth Beta, other than that he was considerably younger than most humanoid planetary leaders in the quadrant, monarchs or otherwise. But he could be the youngest, the wealthiest, the wisest ever, she didn’t care. Nothing was more important than finding Randolph. Something grey was seeping into the universe, draining, weakening, polluting. When she closed her eyes and opened her ears the songs of the birds were fainter than ever, and the trees barely sang at all. It was the same on every planet she had visited in the last few months. Something was broken something old and rotten. And she was going to do something about it.

Randolph Blag spoke slower than a stoned turtle and alternated the words out of his mouth between truths and lies. He had an overpowering affinity for Nebulix Blues, to the point that he was permanently banned from commercial space travel because he was constantly trying to light up mid-flight. He never left his flat, remaining permanently plugged into his Qualtick Thoughtstream media aggregator headset, substituting stim drinks for sleep. He was a shambolic lifeform. He was Janice’s closest friend.

She had nothing in the way of hard evidence to support her certainty of Randolph’s importance, but there were several signs that could be interpreted in a way that backed her up. He had first pointed out to her that life seemed a little less vibrant, that the life song seemed to have faded. 

How he had noticed this she had no idea. But there was no denying he was right. Something had changed. The only problem was that it was nearly impossible to articulate what that ‘something’ was, especially in clean and rationally sterile scientific jargon. Planetary heads of state were more than happy to make time for the pixies when they needed a magical boost for their militaries’ warmaking, but in peace days they had no patience for talk of life songs and world rhythms, animal cries and blood tales. She had tried to tell them all, but no one would listen. 

So she was on her own. That was fine. Other than Randolph, she usually was. 

Randolph hadn’t returned her messages in weeks, most likely meaning that he was deep into an investigation. When he really plunged into a project, it was almost impossible to get in touch with him. Considering how concerned he had seemed about this mysterious fading when they last spoke a few weeks ago, this was certainly the explanation.

Randolph lived on the planet Styrrmsk. It was a bleak world, drizzly and corporate. His home was in the capital city, one apartment among thousands of vertical high-rises that resembled impossibly high stacks of shipping containers. Maybe that’s what they were. The city was properly named Oceanview, though most everyone called it simply “the City.” There wasn’t an ocean around for hundreds of miles.

Floating gently down through the atmosphere, Janice carefully wove amongst streams of air traffic, their flight lanes etching labyrinthine grids in the sky. Boxy and weathered freight haulers, glass fluted gold plated luxury yachts, neon yellow checked security cruisers. A light rain, barely a drizzle, drifted amidst this maze and left a moist sheen on Janice’s face and hair. Was it ever not raining on Styrrmsk? Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t remember ever visiting Randolph on a sunny day. No wonder he never went outside. Who would want to? when the whole planet was just one giant office park, chain coffeeshops and exorbitantly priced meat houses, the only green space unimaginatively landscaped lawns fronting towering edifices of glass and primasteel. 

She had never understood why Randolph chose to live here. It wasn’t the most expensive planet in the quadrant, but it wasn’t exactly cheap, either,  especially considering what you were paying for. Even the suburban developments on the nine Styrrmsk moons were a step up from this, and had much better solar exposure. She ought to mention it to Randolph sometime. A bit more sun wouldn’t kill him. 

As usual, the neighborhood was deserted, one or two hooded figures in coats thick enough to be sleeping bags hurrying down otherwise desolate streets. Janice hovered an inch or two off the ground, her thin neon wings humming faintly as glided over shallow puddles swimming with the sidewalk grime. Right on Compass, left on Smith, left at Hawking. Turning onto Randolph’s street, she neatly dodged a rubbish pile overflowing from a broken disposal unit. Down two blocks, then across the street. 1271D. The buzzers all flashed red, not because the residents were out but because the machine had been broken for years, as long as she had known Randolph. She had never seen any sign of a landlord. 

Whispering a word, lilting and old, she twisted her wrist so her palm faced the sky, and the keys, one silver and one green, dropped neatly into her hand. Unlocking the front door, she pushed it. There was nothing resembling a lobby, just the landing of a moldering staircase heading both upstairs and down. To her left, a row of mail slots collected rat droppings and dust. She paused, closed her eyes. Was time fading? Did the universe feel more grey? She couldn’t tell. This building was forgotten to begin with. But not forgotten by her. Randolph lived here.

She headed up the stairs. The door matched the carpet, the color of death by being forgotten out of existence. 1271D. She knocked. Unsurprisingly, nobody answered. Plugged into his Thoughtstream, Randolph was completely oblivious to the outside world. This was why he had given her keys, after all. She unlocked the door.

Immediately, she noticed something was wrong. The room smelled…not particularly bad. Her friend’s forgetfulness extended to his half-finished ReadyHeat meal trays, and usually the smell of rotting food overrode any other sensory impulses for the first half hour or so that one spent in Randolph’s rooms. But now the flat smelled stale - antiseptic, even? And it was very, very quiet. She moved down the dim hallway towards the living room, which doubled as Randolph’s office. Actually, the whole apartment doubled as his office, precariously cluttered with tottering stacks of reference books, sea skimmer owner manuals (who knew why, he didn’t own one), and holoporn tapes, but the living room was where he spent most of his time, including work.

The living room was empty. It was also destroyed.The delicate forest of book piles now formed a chaotic topography on the floor. A few shelves had been ripped down, delicate ceramic pottery pulverized by gravity, and several holes smashed in the walls. It looked as though someone had stared searching for something, given up, and then decided to trash everything on their way out.

Janice felt a stone drop through her stomach, cold and hard and small, and its icy acid snake out through the rest of her body. She turned, the world lurching around her even though her balance was fine, and stumbled through the rest of the floor. Every room was the same. Finally she came to Randolph’s bedroom, which appeared relatively untouched, due to the fact that it was practically empty to begin with, as he rarely entered here, the bed perpetually made because he always slept on the couch out front. Now, however, the bed had been torn apart, the sheets shredded and the mattress jaggedly rent, the stuffing pulled out. Piles of white fluff lay scattered about the room.

When she saw the bed, now unmade, something inside of her finally cracked, broke open like an eggshell. She might have called her friend’s name then, weakly because it was pointless, but still the sound bounced through the apartment and echoed back tinnily into her own ears. 

Lurching back out into the hallway, she fell against the wall across from the bathroom door, leaning against it and breathing heavily. She caught her breath but her head was buzzing, a drone-like scream, and she couldn’t block it out, couldn’t summon the delicate words that flowed as water over rocks, that might hold a solution. Her friend was missing. His apartment was vandalized. He was in danger. He might be dead.

The toilet flushed.

For a moment, everything, the fear, the tension, the danger, hung in the air, suspended, and then came crashing down all at once. She heard water running, the sink, the faucet creaking, the dry swish of a hand towel. Randolph opened the door.

Janice stared at him. Randolph’s mouth opened in greeting, but no words came out, the greeting flown away and dead when she said nothing, just looked.After many moments, the words founds her.

“You’re alright.” It was a question and it wasn’t.

Randolph smiled quizzically. “Well, yes. I suppose. Why? Is something wrong? Hello.”

The absolute normalcy of the situation was not quite registering in Janice’s brain. She started again.

“Hi, Randolph. It’s good to see you.”

“Well you caught me at a rather, er, personal moment.” He grinned, looking relieved to have fallen back into the normal rhythms of conversation between friends. He also looked - older? Greyer? Even in the dim light of the hallway she could see lines on his face that she didn’t remember, and his skin, always pale, looked almost sallow. But then his lifestyle could hardly be described as healthy. Janice looked, but neither his eyes nor his body language betrayed any signs of harm or distress. But what about:

“Randolph, what happened to your apartment?”

He was already walking out of the hallway, into the living room.

“Janice, what did you-?”

But he broke off, coming up short into the middle of the room, and even from behind she could read his surprise. He turned back towards her, the shock and confusion written across his fleshy face.

“Who could have done this?” she asked, and he opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it, and raced back towards the bedroom.

“Help me,” he gasped, and began to push the bed towards the wall. She crouched down next to him and together they slid it across the room. On the floor where the bed had been, a patch of carpet had been cut away, exposing the flooring underneath. Randolph fell to the floor and pried up one of the boards with his fingernails, then reached down into the space. When he straightened up he was holding a small metallic box, chromium and steel. He pressed a small red release on the side, popping the lid, and looked inside, then sank back against the wall with relief.

Janice waited for him to catch his breath, then asked the obvious question.

“It’s, sort of, well…” After several failed attempts to begin to explain, Randolph gave up. “Come into the living room,” he said. “I’ll show you.”

She followed him back down the hallway. Out in the living room he cleared some of the wreckage off the couch, motioned for her to sit down. Beyond the window, the rain was falling, much harder than before.

“Do you remember what I told the last time we met- that I thought something strange was happening?” he asked. 

“Yes, and I’ve listened, and I’ve felt. And I think something is very wrong.”

Randolph nodded. “Well, i’ve been doing some looking, and a lot of thinking. And something is wrong. And this” - he reached into the box - “is at the center of it all.”

In his hand was a small metal ball, shiny and unblemished. To Janice it appeared rather unremarkable. Randolph went on: “It’s something old. Ancient really. And it’s…” His voice trailed off. A ghost of pain flitted across his face, and he drew a breath, looking up at the ceiling.

“Not now,” he said, and his voice sounded strange and sad. “I didn’t think it would be so soon.”

Janice had no idea what he was talking about, but she couldn’t seem to form the words to ask him what was wrong. Randolph stood, and the words he said were:

“I’m sorry. That it’s happening this way. And once I’m gone, they’ll smell you, and they’ll come. But you have to run. You can’t let them catch you. Don’t try to fight them. Run as far as you can, as fast as you can. And you have to-”

His voice sounded as though he were walking away from Janice, calling back over his shoulder. But he was standing right next to her. 

“-the water,” he continued. “Find the water. The answers are-” 

And then there was the gong of a massive bell, or maybe it was ten thousand tiny bells ringing at once, and neon gold roses painted their way across her retinas. When she opened her eyes Randolph was gone. The room was empty. Where he had been standing, the strange metal ball lay on the ground, surrounded by a circle of salt, about a foot in diameter. She stood there alone. Then she noticed the sound of the rain outside. She had never heard anything so loud. She listened.

#fiction #fantasy #writing #science fiction #sci fi #pixies #pixie #space #space pixie #savage word #savage world horror #horror #comic #comic books #my writing #prose #writers on tumblr

[hazbinextgeneration]

Into The Casino P1

Keep going. Don't stop. Don't look back. At least...that was her mental state at the moment, and who could blame her. One look at her and really anyone could tell she didn't really belong among the regular crowd down here. Which is why she felt the need to keep going you see. The version of rain hell provided wasn't helping her situation either.....Ok. In a way it was. Most demons were inside or seeking shelter somewhere from the black liquid raining from the sky, which left her some freedom from their eyes. Not so much the weather. She was already dripping wet down to her skin with her fur now died grey and her wet clothes clinging to her....When was the last time she even had a proper meal or drinking water?...Oh great. Now she felt hungry and thirsty. No time to think about that now. The thunder had gotten louder and the rain began to get worse. This was getting ridiculus!  Sure. She could've stayed where she was. Caged, treated like an animal, and displayed for others' to gawk at...But who'd want to be treated like an animal? Enough of that though, the main focus was getting out of the streets and into some shelter even if it was temporary- "AAAHH!!" The world went backwards as did her body before colliding with the hard, wet ground. She groaned but slowly opened her eyes towards the sky above. A dull pain throbbed from where her head hit the sidewalk. Just her luck that she'd slip on a puddle that was right in front of her. Her eyesight was clouded by the black rain that continued to pour on and around her...but the flashing green was new. Wait. What kind of rain was green? She blinked and slowly sat up. Her vision cleared up enough to where she was able to make out the neon green lights flashing against the building in front of her. "Poison Ivy Casino. All abominations welcome." A casino huh? She'd heard of these sinful gambling places before but never thought she'd actually come across one. Slowly getting back up, she turned to leave-the very last thing she wanted was to be surrounded by loads of demons- but stopped when another rumble and slight pain from her stomach rang out. She grabbed it lightly. She really hadn't eaten in a while. Her purple eyes glanced to the sign.....It DID say all abominations welcome, and who could've been more weird than her? She contiplated the idea- CRASH!! She let out a high pitched squeal at the sudden thunder crash and ran to the doors. They flew open and automatically shut behind her with a bang. She stood there like an idiot. Her usual white body now a dull grey from the black rain outside. Luckily no one was in the small space where she was. Another pair of double doors was in front of her, and without much more thought, she walked through the other pair of doors and into the next room. A high ceiling met her along with what sounded like....jazz music mixed with modern tunes(?), laughs/voices, and what sounded like metallic noises. Though there was a fair amount of in what she thought was the lobby, the loud noises were coming from the giant room to the right. With the smell of food. Normally, the huge crowd of demons would be a MAJOR red flag for her, but the emptiness of her stomach and the pain it caused tossed out any rational thinking as she headed straight towards it. Rubbing her arms in a failed attempt to warm her up. Maybe she could swipe someone's food when they weren't looking. What she saw wasn't what she expected- This one room....was HUGE. The ceiling had to at least be five or six stories high with a second floor and giant crystal chandelier. Her neck hurt just looking up at it. Some people pushing behind her made her walk in more. The weird metallic noises she heard earlier were coming from machines lined up against the far wall, demons pulled levers connected to their sides to make some panels with pictures spin. She gave them a confused look before proceeding. The constant pushing and shoving of others was starting to get uncomfortable. Better go make her way up. That's where the smell was coming from. She passed a few other weird tables with games she didn't recognize but tried not to draw any attention to herself- "Ah! Why don't you watch where you....step?" "I'm so sorry!" She whipped around and met the face of the taller demon for a split second before quickly ducking her head and walking away. Great. One minute in and already tripping over someone else's tail. How graceful. She didn't look back as she scurried off, but if she did, she would've seen the red ringed eyes following her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Lou. You were saying?.....Lou?" The much taller man ignored the pink haired woman as his eyes trailed a....very unlikely guest. He'd usually tear into the idiots that dared to foolishly step on his tail (lightly though there were customers around), but he had to do a double take when he saw the culprit. He could've sworn he was seeing things- "Lou, you're acting weird." His friend leaned sideways to look at his face. "Is something wrong?" His blank face slowly morphed into one she knew all too well. The smile he made when he knew something would end up in his favor or when he saw easy prey. "On the contrary. I see something quite...interesting." He quirked a brow. "Tell me, what are the chances of a pure being down here?" She gave him a confused look but answered, "Besides the occasional captured angel sold on the black market, highly unlikely. Is someone trying to do some illegal selling in here again?" A red clawed hand grabbed her chin. "What would you say to-" Her head was turned. "-that?" At first she had no idea what he was pointing out, but spotted the person he was talking about. "....Is that a walking pony with a horn?" He chuckled and let go. "I think the correct term is unicorn." ".....Wait. I thought those were extinct." "Apparently not." They eyed her disappearing form through the crowd. "Now what do you suppose she'd doing here?" "Dunno. Being sold?" "Hmm. Perhaps....I want you to go keep an eye on her. If there's something going on that I don't know about, I want to know what." She shrugged but complied and started off in the same direction. "I'll get back to you shortly. Now-" He turned back to the pink haired lady in front of him. "Where were we?" She scowled. "You wanted to hire some of my dancers as temporary entertainment." "Oh, of course." 

So everything belongs to @palettepainter except Amalfia. 

[hazbinextgeneration]

Into The Casino Ch1

(WARNING: This story will contain past abuse and mentions of past abuse! I only own Amalfia. All the others belongs to @palettepainter )

Amalfia is many things. Scared, confused, and so very, very tired of being seen as like a trophy. But throw a charming plant demon, his threes minions, and a couple wacky rivals into the mix and you just might get yourself an unusual new home. But there's something behind that charming smile of his? Will he end up using her for his own gains, or will he finally realize in a place like Hell there's still a place for a beating heart?

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Keep going. Don't stop. Don't look back.

At least...that was her mental state at the moment, and who could blame her. One look at her and really anyone could tell she didn't really belong among the regular crowd down here. Which is why she felt the need to keep going you see.

The version of rain hell provided wasn't helping her situation either.....Ok. In a way it was. Most demons were inside or seeking shelter somewhere from the black liquid raining from the sky, which left her some freedom from their eyes. Not so much the weather. She was already dripping wet down to her skin with her fur now died grey and her wet clothes clinging to her....When was the last time she even had a proper meal or drinking water?...Oh great. Now she felt hungry and thirsty. No time to think about that now. The thunder had gotten louder and the rain began to get worse.

This was getting ridiculus!

Sure. She could've stayed where she was. Caged, treated like an animal, and displayed for others' to gawk at...But who'd want to be treated like an animal? Enough of that though, the main focus was getting out of the streets and into some shelter even if it was temporary-

"AAAHH!!"

The world went backwards as did her body before colliding with the hard, wet ground. She groaned but slowly opened her eyes towards the sky above. A dull pain throbbed from where her head hit the sidewalk. Just her luck that she'd slip on a puddle that was right in front of her. Her eyesight was clouded by the black rain that continued to pour on and around her...but the flashing green was new.

Wait. What kind of rain was green?

She blinked and slowly sat up. Her vision cleared up enough to where she was able to make out the neon green lights flashing against the building in front of her.

"Poison Ivy Casino. All abominations welcome."

A casino huh? She'd heard of these sinful gambling places before but never thought she'd actually come across one. Slowly getting back up, she turned to leave-the very last thing she wanted was to be surrounded by loads of demons- but stopped when another rumble and slight pain from her stomach rang out. She grabbed it lightly. She really hadn't eaten in a while. Her purple eyes glanced to the sign.....It DID say all abominations welcome, and who could've been more weird than her? She contiplated the idea-

CRASH!!

She let out a high pitched squeal at the sudden thunder crash and ran to the doors. They flew open and automatically shut behind her with a bang. She stood there like an idiot. Her usual white body now a dull grey from the black rain outside. Luckily no one was in the small space where she was. Another pair of double doors was in front of her, and without much more thought, she walked through the other pair of doors and into the next room. A high ceiling met her along with what sounded like....jazz music mixed with modern tunes(?), laughs/voices, and what sounded like metallic noises. Though there was a fair amount of in what she thought was the lobby, the loud noises were coming from the giant room to the right. With the smell of food. Normally, the huge crowd of demons would be a MAJOR red flag for her, but the emptiness of her stomach and the pain it caused tossed out any rational thinking as she headed straight towards it. Rubbing her arms in a failed attempt to warm her up. Maybe she could swipe someone's food when they weren't looking.

What she saw wasn't what she expected-

This one room....was HUGE. The ceiling had to at least be five or six stories high with a second floor and giant crystal chandelier. Her neck hurt just looking up at it. Some people pushing behind her made her walk in more. The weird metallic noises she heard earlier were coming from machines lined up against the far wall, demons pulled levers connected to their sides to make some panels with pictures spin. She gave them a confused look before proceeding. The constant pushing and shoving of others was starting to get uncomfortable. Better go make her way up. That's where the smell was coming from. She passed a few other weird tables with games she didn't recognize but tried not to draw any attention to herself-

"Ah! Why don't you watch where you....step?"

"I'm so sorry!" She whipped around and met the face of the taller demon for a split second before quickly ducking her head and walking away. Great. One minute in and already tripping over someone else's tail. How graceful.

She didn't look back as she scurried off, but if she did, she would've seen the red ringed eyes following her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Lou. You were saying?.....Lou?"

The much taller man ignored the pink haired woman as his eyes trailed a....very unlikely guest. He'd usually tear into the idiots that dared to foolishly step on his tail (lightly though there were customers around), but he had to do a double take when he saw the culprit. He could've sworn he was seeing things-

"Lou, you're acting weird." His friend leaned sideways to look at his face. "Is something wrong?" His blank face slowly morphed into one she knew all too well. The smile he made when he knew something would end up in his favor or when he saw easy prey.

"On the contrary. I see something quite...interesting." He quirked a brow. "Tell me, what are the chances of a pure being down here?"

She gave him a confused look but answered, "Besides the occasional captured angel sold on the black market, highly unlikely. Is someone trying to do some illegal selling in here again?"

A red clawed hand grabbed her chin. "What would you say to-" Her head was turned. "-that?"

At first she had no idea what he was pointing out, but spotted the person he was talking about. "....Is that a walking pony with a horn?"

He chuckled and let go. "I think the correct term is unicorn."

".....Wait. I thought those were extinct."

"Apparently not." They eyed her disappearing form through the crowd. "Now what do you suppose she'd doing here?"

"Dunno. Being sold?"

"Hmm. Perhaps....I want you to go keep an eye on her. If there's something going on that I don't know about, I want to know what."

She shrugged but complied and started off in the same direction.

"I'll get back to you shortly. Now-" He turned back to the pink haired lady in front of him. "Where were we?"

She scowled. "You wanted to hire some of my dancers as temporary entertainment."

"Oh, of course."