#on the one hand it'll be the point at which i officially begin to learn traditional characters by comparing the webnovel text with the print

[beneaththebrim]

i cannot wait for liehuo trad cn print to come out

#on the one hand it'll be the point at which i officially begin to learn traditional characters by comparing the webnovel text with the print #which will be fun #on the other hand i have a good feeling we'll finally get a consistent timeline for the present-day events #and maybe priest will have also massaged book 5 a bit #so that it's tonally consistent with the rest of the text and doesn't stagnate around the white jade palace arc #thinking about this bc the fact that she started another novel might mean she's done editing liehuo for trad print #not sure when i'll get around to reading her new novel #first i wanna read cancipin in cn #which will likely take a while #once i start that if tumblr's still alive and kicking i think i'll post random reactions in cn to practice my writing skills #but it's still awhile off #got other projects in the meantime (studying for hsk5) #the emperor and his chicken

[anxiousgaypanicking]

Bootworship

Moceit (Patton x Janus) Kinktober 2023 Day Three: Bootworship Warnings: boot worship, footjobs

"You want to 'hang out?'" Janus asks, bringing his fingers up to make slightly dumbfounded, slightly annoyed air-quotes, directed at Patton who's standing in front of him happily, hands clasped together in front of him. 

"Yes!" Patton immediately responds, as he rocks back and forth on his feet. "Since we're officially getting along now, we might as well spend quality time together!" 

"I don't do quality time with others," Janus responds, drawing out the "s" in others to punctuate his point. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not much of a people person."

Patton chuckles. "I've noticed. But that doesn't mean we can't spend time together!" 

He reaches forward to grab one of Janus's hands, as if trying to pull him off of the couch, but Janus stays planted. 

"You wouldn't be found of the way I spend time with people," Janus responds, slowly, as if trying to gauge Patton's interests. "We're very different, you and I." 

"That's even more reason to spend time together!" Patton argues. "The more time we spend together, the more we learn about each other! And then we can communicate better, and be more comfortable around each other." 

Janus's lips stretch into a wry smile. "I know a surefire way to make us more acquainted." He then quickly looks away and waves his hand dismissively. "I don't know if you'd be willing to try it, though. It'll push you outside of your comfort zone, but it will encourage pure and transparent vulnerability." 

Patton flashes a wide and excited grin. "Whatever will bring us closer!" 

"Whatever?"

"Whatever!" 

Janus sits up, and with a hand outstretched, beckons Patton closer. With Patton's chin settled in his palm, Janus forces eye contact. 

"Alright," he begins, cautiously, "but you have to promise that if any point you want to stop, you'll say 'red.' Okay?" 

Patton raises an eyebrow, no doubt intrigued, but agrees with an amused "okay." 

Janus smiles, wide and pleased, before he leans back and goes "good. Now get on your knees." 

Confused, Patton listens, and kneels down to the ground. He digs his knees a little into the ground, wiggling in an attempt to make himself more comfortable, before he folds his hands in his lap and looks up at Janus, awaiting direction. 

"Clean my boots." 

Patton cocks his head, before laughing slightly. "The cleaning supplies are under the sink," he states, a little confused. "And we don't even own shoe polish." 

Janus raises an eyebrow. "You have a tongue, don't you? I'm sure that'll work just as good as any bout of shoe polish could."

Patton flushes suddenly as what Janus is implying dawns on him, and Janus watches his previously outgoing disposition dim into something more timid, as he plays with his fingers.

"Oh," Patton breathes, as he fully understands just what he's meant to be doing. He licks his lips to wet them, though his mouth itself is dry. "Oh." 

Janus reaches forward to stroke his fingers through Patton's hair, petting it softly and causing them both to relax momentarily. With firm words, Janus says "you don't have to if you don't want to. At any point you can say no. I never want you to be afraid to say no to me." 

Patton flushes, and turns to hide his face in his shoulder, though a cheeky smile slowly spreads across his face. 

There's a few moments of silence, before Patton takes in a deep breath. 

With newfound confidence, he scoots back to give himself the space to lean forward, and slowly presses a kiss to the top of Janus's black boots. It's shy, which is to be expected from someone who's probably never done this before, but Janus finds himself entranced with just how cute Patton looks. 

His stomach is pressed to the ground and his ass is in the air. His curly hair falls around his face as he kisses lightly over Janus's shoe, round glasses sliding down his nose. 

He's bent over worshipping, shyly, of course, but growing increasingly confident as his mouth glides over the surface. He's humiliated, but boy is he cute. 

A small moan slips past Patton's lips as he sucks over Janus's shoe, before he pulls away, spit sliding past Patton's lips and down his chin as he stares up at Janus. Curiously, Janus peers down, seeing one of his shoes shining with saliva. He smiles.

"Good boy," he praises, softly, "but you still have one more to do. Don't keep me waiting." 

"Of course not," Patton breathes, before shuddering as his hips roll against the floor, before he's leaning down again. Holding Janus's foot gingerly, Patton's eyes flutter shut as he kisses and licks once again, giving Janus another show. 

He's more noisy now, much to Janus's delight. Cute little moans and whimpers fill the room, using one hand to support Janus's shoe while the other slides between his legs. But, as soon as Janus notices that, his free foot is planting itself on Patton's shoulder and roughly kicking him back. 

Patton's back falls flat against the floor, as he stares up at Janus with comically large eyes. His round face is bright red, and he looks like he's panting. Straining against his khaki's is his hard cock, begging to escape his constricting pants. 

"Did I do something wrong?" he asks, as Janus scoots to the edge of the couch. 

Janus smiles. "No, of course not. But if you wanted to be touched so bad, you could have just asked." 

"Please, touch me?" Patton asks immediately, eliciting a laugh from Janus that sounds so pretty. 

"Of course!" Janus exclaims, as his foot glides between Patton's legs. " As soon as you get those pesky pants off, I'd be more than happy to give you nice, relieving pleasure. After all, you deserve a reward for cleaning off my shoes so well!" 

Patton beams at the praise, and is quick getting his pants and boxers off. Freckles dot his thighs, spreading down his calves, and while Janus has the urge to kneel down and count each one individually, perhaps even trace constellations formed on his skin, he forces himself to stay focused. 

If Patton was willing to lick the dust from Janus's boots, he should be willing to let Janus worship his body later down the line. It could be another bonding exercise! 

Janus kicks his foot out, and drags the bottom of his boot over Patton's cock, earning an immediate and loud moan. 

"Oh-!" Patton gasps, as his back arches off the floor. A curse word rests on his tongue, but he bites it back. Janus can taste his surprise, though. His pleasure. The rough pain and excitement coming from the rubber sole of Janus's shoe mixed with the ecstasy of it dragging over his shaft. 

"Careful, darling," Janus warns, as his boot sinks back to the base of Patton's cock, the bottom resting against Patton's balls in such a way that Patton sucks in a sharp breath, aware of the fact that if Janus sinks it down any further, his balls will be crushed. "You're going to undo all the work you just did! You're already leaking." 

Patton glances at his cock and sees pre already rolling down it, and he flushes with humiliation. 

"I'll clean them again if they get dirty," Patton promises, almost immediately. It makes Janus muse. 

He runs his shoe back up Patton's cock, stimulating it fully and earning another cute little cry of pleasure. Such lewd noises sound so foul and perverted coming from Patton's mouth, making them all the more delicious to Janus who drinks each one up, enjoying them to their fullest extent. 

He sets a slow, steady pace dragging his foot along the length of Patton's cock, watching each little jerk of the latter's hips as he attempts to get more friction, and shakily moans as he does. 

Gasps of "please" and "more" mix in with the unintelligible moans and squeaks any time Janus is just a little too rough or speeds up the smallest amount. 

There's never a moment of silence; the air is constantly filled with a pant or a grunt and Janus adores it. Though he does enjoy his silence, he could spend a lifetime listening to such perverse and beautiful noises, especially when paired with the visual of Patton's cock leaking pre over the bottom of Janus's shoe and his own stomach. 

"Janus," Patton whines, warmth flooding his body. Drool spills from the corner of his lips, eyes squeezing shut and eyebrows raised. "Janus!" 

"That's my name," Janus hums. "Doesn't it feel so good on your lips?" 

Patton moans, providing enough of an answer. In response, Janus grinds the bottom of his shoe roughly against Patton's cock, earning a pathetic mewl. 

"Janus, please-" 

"Shh," Janus coos, sweetly. "You don't have to beg. You've done more than enough to earn a pathetic little orgasm. I know what you want. Go on, Patton. Come for me. And when you've finished, you can lick your mess off my shoes." 

Nails digging into the ground beneath him, Patton's breath hitches. 

"Go on, Patton. Thank me. Thank me for letting you have such an amazing orgasm. Thank me for letting you lick my boots." 

"Thank you!" Patton immediately cries, bucking his hips upward and into Janus's shoe. "Thank you so much for- for letting me lick your shoes!" He cuts himself off with a moan, losing his train of thought for a few seconds. "Thank... thank you for touching me! Janus! Janus!" 

Janus has to place a hand over his own mouth to keep a shuddering gasp from escaping. Patton is so dirty without even realizing it! There was a lot to be explored. 

In a moments notice, Patton's crying out in a needy shout, semen spurting from his cock and messing the shoe he worked so hard on cleaning, as well as his own stomach. He's loud, red, and clearly overly pleasured as he comes, before finally Janus pulls his foot away, leaving Patton to pant as he comes down from his orgasm. 

He gasps and pants, before Janus taps his foot against the floor, leading Patton to blearily push himself up. 

"Come on, dear, you still have to clean up your mess," Janus urges, which has Patton immediately crawling forward, prepared to repeat the cycle for as long as Janus wants him to. 

#sanders sides #sanders sides smut #not safe for sanders #agp smut #moceit #moceit smut #sanders sides kinktober #kinktober 2023

[jasper-pagan-witch]

what advice do you have for beginners of MTG both in the game itself and for magical/divination purposes?

(it’s okay if they’re the same advice)

please and thanks dear wizard

Overall:

Find a color that suits you mechanically. Each color, at its core, is good at a few things:

WHITE: life gain, damage prevention, vigilance, untapping permanents, combat, protection, enchantments, toughness increase effects, creature tokens, exiling, board wipes

BLUE: card drawing, counterspells, stealing permanents, library destruction, mimicry/copying, shapeshifters/morphology, power reduction, returning permanents to hand ("bouncing"), tapping and untapping permanents, evasion/unblockable/stealth, illusions/nonreality, technology/"artifacts matter", time manipulation, taking extra turns, hexproof

BLACK: discarding, reanimation/digging in your graveyard, evasion, first strike, regeneration, lifelink, sacrifice, life loss, creature destruction, weakness/power and toughness decrease effects, parasitism, removing counters

RED: card draw, combat, direct damage, firebreathing/power increase effects, haste, sacrifice at the end of turn, land and artifact destruction, mana ramping, randomness (such as coin flips)

GREEN: animating artifacts, anti-flying, artifact and enchantment destruction, enchantments, card drawing, creature tokens, fight (not related to combat), land destruction, luring/making things block your attack, mana ramping, playing additionall lands, mana fixing, shroud and hexproof, regeneration, temporary growth/power and toughness increase until end of turn effects, trample, uncounterability, untapping, venom, poison, deathtouch

Any color can do just about anything, but that doesn't mean it's good at it. Generally, when you're first learning, you want to stick to what two overlapping colors are good at.

I recommend taking a browse through the Color and Multicolored pages on the MTG wiki (but using a Breezewiki mirror so that Fandom isn't so damn hard to read) to see what appeals to you most. It'll also let you learn more about different mechanics and keywords. I recommend keeping it simple to begin with.

I also recommend immersing yourself in a pod of MTG players. If you can't access any in person, then feel free to come join us in the Magecraft Discord server! We're willing to help out.

The game itself:

Were this back in the mid-2010s, I'd recommend picking up a 60 card precon deck. Nowadays, all of the precon decks are Commander, which is a very popular format but not necessarily beginner-friendly.

Start learning the vanilla game (60 cards, no more than 4 of the same name except for Basic Lands, etc; we call this "Kitchen Table Magic" and it is not an officially-sanctioned format, but it's how most people play the game) and then get into more specific or different formats from there. If you're just starting out, you don't really need to worry about what cards are banned, but that gets a little more important when you get into formats like Limited, Commander, Pauper, and so on.

NEVER learn the game through the official rulebook. That is objectively the worst way to learn.

Magically:

*opens jaw and my MTG resource post falls out*

*reaches into a hat and pulls out @strixhaven-biblioplex and sets them down in front of you*

*points at literally any resource that talks about using literal cards, such as tarot, oracle, playing, or Clow, in magic and divination*

In short:

There's a lot to learn when you're coming into this game. I'd even argue it's one of the most overcomplicated trading card games out there once you get into the hot mess that is "any creature with more than three lines of rules text".

If all else fails, Murder is a great go-to card.

~Jasper

#answered #anonymous #pop culture #magic the gathering #beginner

[pathsofoak]

I've been thinking about Minho and Teresa in my fic lately. I don't really read Minho as a very forgiving guy and he acts like it too, he's hostile against Teresa for much longer than anyone else. It takes over half a year to trust her enough to leave her out of his sight (inside WCKD btw) again and another one to come to a level of sort of but not yet really friendship where he shows concern for her specifically when she goes through that same simulator thing he did (only about two dozen times, but that's another story and arc).

On the other side of the story Teresa goes through an arc where she first sees she made the wrong choice in the Scorch trials, then when seeing Minho again just how much that hurt people, after which she slowly begins to discover and dismantle WCKD's lies in her past, until she at some point allows herself to see a person can hurt and be hurt at the same time, it's not one or the other (which is something Minho also learns because he needs it for his own arc).

Anyway I want them to reconcile at the end. I'm thinking it'll be small, like throughout part five Minho helps Teresa recover from that simulator with tricks he taught himself, and in turn Teresa helps him manipulate his own imagination so he can outsmart his nightmares (personal trick of my own) because that is a coping mechanism she grew as a kid.

They come closer together to the point where there aren't really hard feelings anymore so long as no one brings up that specific night, and Minho trusts her as part of the group.

Only I think actually uttering the words "I forgive you" is a bit out of character. And I do need him to communicate it someway because I need to draw the arc to a close, to let Minho close it off for himself so he can focus on the future again, and I want Teresa to hear it because he is the only one that can say it in a way that'll matter as much (I've considered Mary but that honestly wasn't really her fault so her arc around that one focuses more on forgiving herself).

I'm thinking, I need to keep it under the radar. Brenda has already honorarily carried the title 'Greenie' at this point, but Teresa never has. So I think it would be cool if (for both Minho and Teresa) out of nowhere, but completely naturally and organically, Minho just calls her Greenie and everyone rolls with it. It's not a big deal for Minho that much, I want his realization to be gradual and kind of under the surface, because I don't think "I guess I trust and care about this person now" would be that big a thing for him.

On the other hand the implication that Teresa is officially part of the group is huge for her because she's felt incredibly alone both in general and with her pain up until this point. And this helps her let go of a bit of remaining self-hatred.

That Minho's arc barely focuses on her for the rest of that part is kind of the point by the way. He learns to let go of this really intense anger over it so he doesn't drag himself down constantly. At the time he just meant that as 'fine I'l focus on WCKD instead of you while I have to' (also a big step because before this point she still worked for WCKD as far as he was concerned) but because it takes so long that leaves space and time for Minho to realize Teresa isn't a danger to him or the others anymore, and for Teresa to have the space to come to terms with her own trauma.

The friendship grows later when they unintentionally spend a lot of time together because they went through the same thing they don't want to talk about to anyone else and they have similar daily plans in general.

Because Minho's focus isn't on Teresa (and thus part of one of the most traumatic experiences since the Maze) anymore he can work through his own problems separately from her, and eventually the 'danger' sign just mentally doesn't pop up anymore and working together isn't strange.

For Teresa that forgiveness is a necessary component for her to close off the past and figure out who she is outside of WCKD without the constant risk of falling back in that past circle.

Not really asking for help or anything but if there's thoughts feel free to share.

#wip: the high noon

[shannonthewriter]

Dancing With A Stranger Part Five

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four

Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz×Fem!Reader

Summary: The boy that you have had a crush on since middle school, doesn't seem to be the same person that you had learned to love. He was one of your best friends, and now he just seemed like a stranger you pass on the streets. 

Word Count: 1,166

Warnings: None

Love is like a rodeo, tryna see how far we go

After one touch, became obsessed with the rush

Yeah, love is like a rodeo, I just wanna steal the show

We fight and we fall, but we keep holding on

After the party, it was official, everyone in school knew that you were with Hawk, and no one dare to flirt with you. It was great at first, to not have to deal with the idiots flirting with you, or even daring to check you out. You noticed how some girls would give you a jealous look, because you boyfriend was a total badass, and you and everyone knew it. 

"Hey babe." Eli came up and gave you a quick kiss. You gave him a small smile as he sat down next to you. It was just the two of you, for the time, because the two of you would have to head to the torment soon. 

"Hey, I was actually shocked you wanted to come over this morning." You smiled at him as you went to sit up, going to sit on the edge of the bed next to him. He gave off a smirk as he sat his bag on the floor. 

"Hey, I've got an hour to kill before we're all meeting up, and I've been training so hard, I haven't got to spend that much time with you." He commented and you gave off a small shrug of your shoulders, as he wasn't wrong, but didn't know how to reply. 

"It's fine, I think you're gonna win today, so it'll all be worth it." You smiled as you grabbed his hand to hold it into yours. "Me and Yasmin will be rooting for you, and we both know Demetri still thinks it's stupid." You softly giggled at him causing him to smile, it was an Eli smile and not Hawk. 

The two of you spent some time together before Miguel came to pick him up since they were all meeting before the tournament. You had already gotten ready so you planned to grab Starbucks before meeting up with Yasmin and Demetri. You smiled at your friends as you shared a small hug with Yasmin before handing her a drink you got her. 

"There are so many people here, who would have thought." You made a comment as the three of you walked into the main area and hunted for a spot to sit. 

There had been so many people in the audience and people competing, and you had yet to see Cobra Kai out with everyone else. You would have easily been able to spot his blue mohawk, you still weren't one hundred percent sure about it, and still thought about it every time you saw it. It made him happy, that's all you had to keep telling yourself. 

"Welcome, everyone, to the 50th annual The All Valley Under 18 Karate Championship!" Everyone started to clap as the announcer began. 

"This thing has been going on for 50 years?" Demetri looked around at the crowd and you couldn't help but laugh at his comment. "Am I the only one that hasn't been in the loop?"

"You'll love the new mats." You turned your attention back to the announcer as he laughed. "Alright, let's start by welcoming all the local dojos competing today. From Granda Hills, All-Star Karate." 

"I still can't believe that this is such a big thing, maybe I should have tried to stay." Demetri spoke, gaining your attention, which also caused you to laugh. 

"You skill would have quit no matter what, you've always hated it from the beginning, you've made thar point clear." 

"Fighting out of Topanga, we have Topanga Karate." At that point a women got out and cheered very loudly, which you and Yasmin shared at look, but still clapped none the less. "From Reseda, returning to the tournament,  we have-"

"Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!" You watched are your boyfriend and friends came into the main area chanting until they all stopped on the side. 

"Now, that's what I call and entrance!" You smiled big as you continued to clap, excited for the event to really start. "And a badass name for a dojo! Let's hear it for Cobra Kai!" 

"Whew! Go Hawk!" You cheered, hoping that he could hear you over the crowd.

Everything started and you watched the fights, you always tried watch the ones from Cobra Kai. It was amazing, watching everything, even if you weren't that big of a fan of violence. This was your boyfriend was into, now, so you wanted to like it to support him. You watched as your boyfriend won his fight, you smiled and clapped as he took off his top to show off his back tattoo. 

"Damn, he is so hot." You chuckled and Demetri turned to look at you. 

"I cannot believe that this actually works." He commented and you could only roll your eyes at him. 

Soon it was the simi finals, and you felt like you were on the edge of your seat, even if you had been there wbat left like all day. 

"There can only be one true winner, and he is standing up here on this stage right now. Will it be Miguel Dias from Cobra Kai karate? Will it be Hawk?... I guess it's just Hawk." 

"Moskowitz. Eli Moskowitz." Demetri commented, clearly not a fan of the nickname. 

 You felt were Demetri was coming from, because you understand. You don't understand why he had chose to only go by his nickname, even with you. When you turned your attention back to the announcer, you watched as one of the boys did a flip before taking the microphone. Everyone started to bow their heads to join in a moment of silence. 

Eli had ended up going up against Robbie, who you had met before, he was a friend of Sam's, he worked with her dad or something, you still weren't fully sure. You watched, chewing on the inside of your cheek. One point! Tie, they both have one. You watched as they clearly talked smack against each other, when Robbie turned to walk away Eli went up and kicked his shoulder. You stood up feet, when Yasmin pulled you back down. 

What had gotten into Eli? He just snapped and kicked him when his back was turned. It didn't seem like Eli, but that's how he had been lately, doing things that weren't like him and more of Hawk. After that point for felt distant and distracted, you were excited when Miguel won, but a part of you was still sad. 

 

Afterwards you and Yasmin stood talking, you wanted to congratulation Eli on getting so far, but you knew he wasn't in the mood. You also didn't know if he would want to make any plans for after just yet or if there were any plans, so you just had to wait and see. 

#imagine #cobra kai #cobra kai imagine #cobra kai season 1 #eli moskowitz #eli moskowitz imagine #hawk imagine #cobra kai never dies

[clean-bands-dirty-stories]

The Best Things ~ J.V. (part 8)

A/n: This part is super upsetting. Character death, graphic violence, I dare even say gore. Homophia, which I should have been warning a while back I am so sorry for that. Things are gonna get HEAVY- I am so sorry lol.

Word Count: 3800+

Playlist

Masterlist

"Nah, you're not crazy," Harleen giggled.

"Says you," Y/n teased, rolling his eyes. "You may have a doctorate, but you're also bias."

Her smile widened. "Okay that's fair." Y/n sighed, sitting back in his chair. He looked down at his hands, smile small as he got lost in thought. "What's on your mind?"

"Harleen is kind of a mouthful," Y/n told her. "Do you like the name?"

She tilted her head, as if considering. "I never did. When I was younger I had a friend who called me Lee, but with things happening-" Y/n's face scrunched up and Harleen snorted. "Exactly. Name's already taken- and it would be even weirder if I went by Dr. Lee, so I scratched it."

Y/n nodded. Then he sat forward, his elbows resting on the table. "So you've never had any other nicknames?" She shook her head and then shrugged when Y/n donned a surprise expression. "Well I have to give you one then. That's what friends do, right?" She grinned at Y/n's words and he watched the room get a little brighter. She was magic like that- as if she was made of sunshine. Her happiness was contagious, and she made the world a little better. She was accepting and also calm, making him feel safe as well as loved. She was his best friend and he was hers and they gave each other something they couldn't get with anyone else: unhindered fun with absolutely no expectations. It was an odd place to find real friendship in, but here they were anyway. "What about... Leena?" She immediately shook her head and he chuckled. "Uh... I mean, there's always Harley."

She considered that. "You know what, I like it." She crossed her arms. "Harley Quinzel." She nodded. "I'll allow it."

Y/n rolled his eyes. She was only like four years older than him, but had far too quickly fallen into a rhythm of acting like an adult talking to a child every once in a while, as a joke. Whether she was flaunting the years she had over him, or the schooling, Y/n wasn’t sure, but he refused to acknowledge it and it had become an unspoken inside joke between them. "What about you? I have to give you one now."

Y/n shrugged. "I don't like nicknames."

Harley tilted her head, the bottom of her blonde ponytail brushing her shoulder. "Why not? You like giving them."

"Well, yeah..." He bit his lip. "It's just, every bad guy has a code name, you know? Oswald Cobblepot goes by Penguin. Edward Nygma is going around as Riddler. Then there's Mr. Freeze. I just feel like if I take an alias, it'll be official you know? I'll be as crazy as the people I associate with and as evil as everyone says I am."

Harley hummed. "Okay, that's fair." She sighed, raising her hands to rest her chin in her palm. "Speaking of people you associate with. You and Jerome..."

Y/n's mood darkened. It had been a while now and Oswald was gone and Jerome still hadn't made an appearance. "I think he's mad at me." Harley tilted her head in confusion and Y/n shrugged. "I left with Alfred because Bruce needed me. Didn't give him a heads up, and then went missing for, like, months..." He shook his head. "Maybe he thinks I've gone back to my old life, or that I've left him behind. I just feel like he's avoiding me and one doesn't usually do that for no reason, so I figure-"

"What if he's just busy?" Harley proposed.

Y/n snorted. "With what? Reading a really good book series?"

Harley pursed her lips. "I guess you have a point."

"Why do you even care?" Y/n asked, raising his hands to knit his fingers behind his head.

Harley stared at him silently for a long time. She had the look on her face she always does when she'd trying to read Y/n's mind. When she's analyzing everything she learned in school and looking at the actions and words that he was currently giving as context, as well as past ones, and then somehow putting it all together to figure out the secrets sometimes even he didn't know. The same magic that made Arkham home also gave her the ability to read minds- Y/n had determined she was a proper superhero.

After she reached some kind of conclusion - she always nodded after she'd done the reading and then switched which leg was crossed over the other - a little smile teased her lips. She was trying to hide it. And failing. Y/n tried not to be curious. Usually when Harley didn't tell him something it was because he wasn't ready to hear it... but that smile. It was too late. He had to know. "What?"

Once he asked, the gate broke and she grinned. "You're in love with him."

Y/n snorted. "No. I'm not." The coy curl of Harley's lips added to her raised eyebrows to make Y/n doubt himself, even though he could feel his feelings and knew that it wasn't... he didn't... no way. "He's important to me," Y/n gave. "I care for him. But... love..." Y/n shook his head. "I don't know about that. There's been too much going on- I haven't had enough time with him."

She nodded, expression serious, as if this was a very important discovery. "I call Maid of Honor at the wedding though." They locked eyes as Y/n went to tell her off, but then a slow smile rose to her face as he realized she was joking. They both busted up into laughter.

"Whoever I marry, the position is yours." He winked at her and she flipped her hair, both of them giggling.

A timer went off. Harley stood, gathering her stuff and sighing. "That's my cue. Same time tomorrow?"Y/n nodded then stood.

He draped his arm around her shoulders. "You know, you make this place bearable. You're a real friend to me." He kissed her forehead. "What would I do without you, hm?"

She rested her head on his shoulder for a second before they began walking and it got too awkward to coordinate. "Probably the same thing I'd do without you. Be alone and miserable." She popped up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. He pretended to gag and she fell into a short fit of soft giggles. "You're an idiot."

"Ah and yet what I lack for a brain, I make up with a big-" He cut off and she groaned. "Heart," he enunciated. He smirked and she rolled her eyes. "I have quite a large heart, full of love for my favorite gal." He shook her slightly, making a point that said gal was her.

"Every lesbian deserves a best friend with as little brains and as big a heart as you," Harley joked.

"And every gay deserves a best friend with as much brain and just as much heart as you." He finally let her go as she moved to the door that would lead outside. This is where they parted- her, to home, as he was her last patient as per usual. Him, further into the Asylum where he would have dinner then return to his room to be alone and sleep. Goodbyes were the pair's least favorite part of the day. "Until we next meet, Madame," Y/n initiated, pulling away to bow deeply.

Harley grabbed her doctor's coat lightly, pulling it out as if it was a dress as she bowed back. "I shall count the seconds." They laughed one last time, waving before she turned and left. He watched her go until she disappeared. She turned back several times to wave yet again, until she couldn't see him either just by turning around.

The second she was out of sight, the world lost a little color. It was a little darker. His smile got smaller and Y/n's shoulders sagged. He shoved his hands in his pockets before turning back to the hallway that lead to his room, beginning the trek.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him. People rarely touched him. The only person that touched him like this was one that Y/n hated so much that his hands curled into fists in his pocket, his face suddenly cold and empty as he stared straight ahead, halfway through a step- his foot on the ground and extended, but not carrying him forward as it had been intended to. He took a deep breath through his nose. Unfortunately, in all the chaos and people getting booted from Arkham after beating on Y/n, the one person that meant the most hadn't been caught because everyone refused to rat him out.

The man who'd started it all.

"You and her..." The older guard mused, a nasty smirk on his ugly face. "I thought you were gay." He said it mockingly, like he'd caught a child who hadn't said they weren’t hungry sneaking food when everyone seemed to be asleep.

Y/n rolled his eyes, forcing his body to relax as he faced the man. The monster. "Not every girl in the world was born solely for men to shove a dick into them, Jameson." The older man glared and Y/n smiled, getting satisfaction. "As a matter of a fact, Harley and I are just friends."

"You're pretty affectionate for just friends," Jameson argued. Y/n still didn't know the man's first name. He didn't care enough too. He didn't want another name that tasted bitter in his mouth. He already had his fingers crossed he'd never meet a cute boy with the last name Jameson, because the name alone would ruin Y/n's chances before he'd even taken a shot. No reason to make it even harder for himself.

"We're comfortable around each other." He rolled his shoulder back once, slightly stiff from sitting so long. Jameson wouldn't attack, knowing that Y/n would report him instantly- especially in such an open space, with cameras and the chance of someone rounding the corner any second - but one could never be too safe, just in case. "She gets me like no one else does. But, as you so wonderfully pointed out, I'm GAY." Y/n enunciated the word, going the extra mile by taking a step closer to stress it even more. "Girls aren't my thing."

Jameson looked like he wanted to deck Y/n. The younger boy's lips curved into a mocking smile in response. Now the guard was the one who had to control himself. "You guys have a lot in common?"

Y/n shrugged, too caught up in his casual gloating that Jameson couldn't act out like he wanted to- like he used to be able to. "Enough. We talk a lot. She's cool." He relaxed thinking about Harley. "She doesn't think I'm crazy. It's nice." He cleared his throat, focusing back on the enemy in front of him... only to immediately be confused by the very odd expression on Jameson's face. "What?"

"Nothing," the man dismissed, moving to leave. "I've heard enough. You're both a waste." He shook his head as he left and Y/n glared at his back until he was gone. Then the boy turned back toward the cell and finally made his way.

Man, why did he have to be surrounded by such assholes? Why couldn't Harley be around all the time? Why couldn't he be free? They could get an apartment and talk all the time. Help each other get through life and protect each other from unwanted attention. Be themselves all the time. Make jokes and exchange irritated expressions when idiots like Jameson said stupid shit like he always tended to.

Tomorrow. He'd see her tomorrow. That wasn't too far away.

He could wait until then.

-

Y/n's knees gave out from under him and he fell, cracking them on the cement. He didn't even feel it. His attention was being completely held by the TV, which was turned onto the news. It was a small screen that had been installed in one of the Day Rooms recently. They were rarely ever allowed to watch the news, though. In places like Gotham, far too often the news held very upsetting content that set inmates off- either into panics, or into violent rages. Y/n had stood to turn it off when he'd realized what news was being shared. Someone had been murdered. Old news. This was Gotham. Then he'd heard the name.

"23-year-old Harleen Quinzel was found dead earlier today. Her body was badly beaten, with words carved into her stomach. It was the cuts on her wrist that were the cause of death, though it's been determined that none of this was self inflicted. We received a photo of the body recently. Beware: what you're about to see is not for the faint of heart."

Suddenly the screen was showing the broken body of Y/n's best friend. The sunshine girl with the bright smile and the contagious laugh. The girl who was going to be Y/n's Maid of Honor. Y/n's better half. She was limp and unmoving, her eyes wide and empty. Her skin was pale, nearly white, except for where dark, huge bruises and blood discolored it. Her hair had been cut off, the blonde locks left next to her head but clearly detached. Her shirt had been rolled up to letters on her stomach- carved as promised.

There was an L next to a G, in a circle and crossed through once. Underneath the symbol read: Sinner.

Someone was talking, but Y/n couldn't make out what they were saying. A hand in his shoulder and he looked over to see a concerned guard. A woman. She knelt next to Y/n, but she wasn't the one touching him. No, that hand belonged to Jameson, who had a sick expression on his face- a cross between smugness and victory, muted as if he was trying to hide it, badly masked by some version of concern that was so unconvincing that Y/n ripped his shoulder out of the older man's hand.

He was on his feet again and running. Out of the room and to his cell- despite all the people who kept asking him what was going on, and someone in the very back changing the channel as the news reporter announced, "If you have any information, please contact-" Y/n ignored the rules. He ignored the people yelling at him. He ignored the people trying to stop him. He just started running and he didn't stop until he was in his room, where he opened the door and closed it behind him. His heart was ramming against his chest and all he could hear was the rushing of his blood in his ears. He saw black spots and felt an emotion bubble up that he couldn't even begin to put name to. All he knew was that it was dark and twisting and it was very quickly consuming everything good.

Something in him broke. It snapped off. Something vital. Y/n was aching, but he didn't know what it was or where it had fallen to as he lost it. He just knew there was suddenly a gaping hole where something very important used to be, and he felt absolutely terrible with it gone.

On the upside, he could finally breathe. His chest loosened and his body relaxed and as the door opened behind him, he turned to see the person with complete calm.

"Jameson." The word was not a greeting, but more of an observation. No. It was an accusation. The older man smiled and Y/n's insides began to twist and boil- less like a tightening of anxiety and more like a snake, seconds from attacking. "Why?" He stepped forward. "She was innocent."

Jameson scoffed. "You think you two are subtle? You two act like you're together and then talk about how you're not- you just 'get' each other." Jameson shook his head, cracking his knuckles. "You're spreading your sickness, Y/n." The snake coiled tighter, hissing and spitting. Y/n felt his calmness very quickly drop, perfectly placed with rage. His body didn't move, he just suddenly had a bunch of energy and he was waiting for the perfect moment to use it. "You two aren't quiet either. Strutting around here acting so out of line, in front of me. Acting like you're not being evil." Jameson scoffed. "You're evil, Y/n. And if they wouldn't let me punish you here, I'd have to get more creative. Even if you don't see it, you're in love with her. What you think you are is unnatural, and I knew if you could see how you really feel-"

Y/n's hand was around the man's throat. Jameson tried to push the younger boy away or claw his hand off, but Y/n just rammed him into the wall behind him. Jameson's head cracked against the grey wall, his efforts suddenly becoming useless. "You think I'm dangerous as a disease? You're so desperate to cure me. You're about to find just how very dangerous I am, Jameson. All on my own, with just my two hands." And then he began to squeeze. Jameson writhed and fought and clawed but when he started to get strong, Y/n would smash his head again or ram his knee into the man's junk and the efforts died down once again.

It took longer than Y/n thought. Jameson started to change color, his eyes bulging and his lips moving desperately but nothing coming in or out. Just when the man seemed about ready to pass out, Y/n let him drop to the floor. He gasped, clawing to try and get away. Y/n smiled, toeing the door gently closed. Jameson squirmed away, features taken over completely with terror. Y/n felt amazing.

"You will never hurt another person, ever again." Y/n squatted down, taking the man's thin hair in his hands. "Me however?" Y/n giggled. "You've helped create a monster. Know that every person I kill in the future is on your hands. Every injury is your fault. I'm not a violent person, Jameson." He snorted. "Well, I wasn't. But it seems you fuckwads only answer to violence, so..." Y/n shrugged casually. Jameson shook his head, choking out pleads for his life. Y/n snapped the man's neck and he stopped begging. It was so easy... The silence was wonderful. Y/n felt a weight lift off of his shoulders. "I'm done sitting idly while assholes run Gotham." Y/n stood, not even bothering to do anything but leave the door wide open as he walked calmly away, grinning like an idiot.

Something had been broken and lost indeed. It was Y/n's self control. His moral compass that kept him grounded and toeing the line between good and bad. It was the thing that kept reminding him he was a Wayne. That he was a good person. That he had a family that depended on him, in some way or another. That he had Alfred and Bruce, who he did want to visit even if he also wanted a life outside of them. That he had Oswald, who most often found solace in Y/n's sanity and depended on his restraint to reel him in when people were trying to set him off; Oswald needed Y/n's sense to balance his emotions. And, overall, Y/n was driven by pure spite not to let those damn reporters be right. He would be good and successful and he would show all of them that he could be more than the black sheep of the Wayne family. The disappointment of Gotham. The failure, always in the shadow of the Golden Boy younger brother Bruce Wayne.

But those people who Y/n cared about so much had let people like Jameson walk around, unhindered and unchecked. They had let him get beat up for a very long time before he was nearly killed and their hand was forced. They had let evil people run around and control things while they locked up Y/n for being gay. For being attracted to a man even though he wasn't a woman. There were murderers running wild, with super powers and incredible genius, but the problem people were deciding to focus on was that Y/n was gay.

Well, he was done with the lot of them. He was going to get out and prove to all of them that he was more than a Wayne. More than a mistake. More than a shadow. More than evil or good. More than Bruce's older brother. More than the one dude who had feelings for Jerome Valeska. More than one more gay plague on the face of the planet.

They wanted a monster? They would get one. And Y/n wasn't going to stop until he was satisfied, even if it meant all of Gotham had to die.

-

"Knock knock."

The door opened and Y/n looked over, his face finally showing emotion as his surprise rose. "Jerome?"

The redhead smiled, striding toward Y/n as if he has a tasty treat to share. "My little lover boy." Jerome hooked his finger under Y/n's chin. Y/n yanked his face away. Jerome frowned. "Are you mad at me, pretty boy?" Y/n glared at him. "I'll take that as a yes." He leaned backward. "What have I done, My Darling?"

"You've been avoiding me. We haven't talked in, like, months Jerome. What the fuck?"

"A tad dramatic," Jerome hushed. "And not totally fault." Y/n opened his mouth to argue but Jerome gently grabbed Y/n's throat, pressing his fingers gently into the skin. Their faces were suddenly very close and despite himself, Y/n suddenly felt a thrill to finally feel their skin touch as cheek brushed cheek. "I've been busy planning our escape, if you hadn't noticed." Y/n's eyes drifted to see a nervous Jonathan Crane and Jervis Tetch. "Come with me, won't you? I think we've been apart long enough."

Y/n suddenly began to relax. He didn't manage to smile, but he did get excited. "Well... lead the way."

Jerome left an excited kiss on Y/n's cheek, letting his hand fall away from Y/n's throat in favor of shooting into the air in victory as he giggled, turning to his two partners. "And so we all escape! Come now, we don't have much time." Y/n stood as Jerome lead the way, all four of the men finding their way out of Arkham Asylum finally.

The fun was about to begin.

#jerome valeska #jerome velaska #valeska twins #gotham #joker #cameron monaghan #male reader #jerome valeska x reader #jerome valeska imagine #valeska twins x reader #valeska twins imagine #gotham x reader #gotham imagine #joker x reader #joker imagine #cameron monaghan x reader #cameron monaghan imagine #jerome x reader #jerome imagine

[minbobs]

Bad Guy

SUMMARY — you were the best recruit they had on the team, and they decided you were finally ready for your first job as an official officer, but your heart was bigger than your brain and ruined it all for you.

TYPE — criminal / officer au

PAIRING — lee jeno x reader

WARNINGS — jeno being an annoying little shit , robbery , idk bad shit , kinda sexual tbh

WORD COUNT — 4k

A/N — i apologise if there’s any mistakes, i haven’t read over and will probably forget to later.

you'd been training for this day for almost three years now, and you felt as if you were ready for it. you'd spent majority of your time learning the different procedures and techniques of law enforcement, what it meant to have leadership and how to show it, the defensive tactics you needed and many other things that took time and practice to completely understand and perfect. the amount of time you'd spent at the academy led to you slowly losing friends, only leaving mina, the other girl at the academy. however, the loss of friends didn't affect you, in a bad way at least. it motivated you to carry on, because it didn't matter about others, it was for you and you only.

when talking to other recruits, taeyong always used you as the prime example of what the perfect student at the academy should act like and look like; it may have caused people to somewhat dislike you for being so 'perfect', but if taeyong liked you then they also had to like you, because they'd get a lecture on how it's bad to despise your peers.

it was a wednesday morning, around eight thirty am when you'd received a phone call from the academy. you weren't supposed to be there that day, so you were still fast asleep in your warm, comfortable bed — the one thing that could possibly stop you from wanting to leave the house for training.

when the ringing started, you opened your eyes and sat up, stretching as far as possible to stretch every muscle to the point where it was satisfying. eyeing up the phone, you wondered if you should even pick it up, when you could really just lie down and go back to sleep, because you were asleep and it was a perfect excuse.

despite that thought, you yawned and grabbed the phone.

"hello?" you spoke sleepily, putting your head back down on your fluffy pillow, resting your eyes. you were so uninterested in the phone call already, that you almost fell asleep until you heard the voice on the other side.

"hello? this is y/n l/n isn't it?" the voice of taeyong asked, and you quickly rose from your bed and was immediately wide awake.

"uh, yes it is!" you spoke almost too enthusiastically, making you cringe. that'd definitely be on your mind later.

"i just called to say that we'd like you to come down the the station at around twelve pm. we have some important news to speak to you about, we hope to see you there." before you could get any words out, the call ended abruptly.

was it good news? was it bad news? the possibility could go from you getting your first mission on the team to getting kicked out. not to be too vain, but you could see it leaning more towards your first mission.

you had time, but you were way too excited to go back to sleep. finally, you left your bed with a small groan because you really didn't want to leave it, but there was really no point of you being in it so you should do something productive.

that's if you call mixing different cereals together in a bowl and eating it while watching the umbrella academy for the second time productive.

eventually, it reached eleven am, meaning you should probably get moving. so at that, you got up finally and changed into the uniform the academy had given you and grabbed your keys from the side. you'd only just gotten your drivers license, so you were still wary about driving. you didn’t actually want a car when you could just get mina to drive you places because she’s always free, but it was part of the job.

"we've decided that you're ready for your first job. we've been tracking down a group of young boys that have been going around to different stores and stealing a different assortment of items. they've even been caught on cctv threatening the store owners for the money in the tills. we have an idea about where abouts they are, and we need your help to find them." taeyong took a seat in his chair, and yours eyes widened from what he said.

"are you sure? what if i completely mess it up and don't find anything?" you asked and he gave a small smile.

"don't worry, this isn't like school y/n. you won't get in trouble for it. as your first job it'll make it much easier for jaehyun and i to give you pointers on what to do next time." you nodded, you felt less nervous from that. "but as officers, you get jobs whatever time, whenever. so unfortunately for you, you don't have enough time to prepare. the job is starting right now." he spoke and you almost felt like shouting at him — the nerves had one hundred percent come back.

all you did was say 'ok', before standing up to walk out of the door, going to one of the meeting rooms. before you had a chance to leave, taeyong spoke up.

"just, don't worry ok? we don't know if it's their actually hide out, so please don't feel upset with yourself if you don't find anything.

now you were in a car, of which mina was driving. she was basically your designated driver, you really didn't trust anyone else to drive you places; not even yourself yet.

"i don't understand why you're so nervous, taeyong told you not to worry and it's your first time doing something like this. if it makes you feel any better, i overheard taeyong and jaehyun and they said not even yuta could catch them. apparently they're really smart kids, i think they're around your age too." mina spoke, and you gave a sigh. yuta was the best at his job, and the idea of him not being able to catch a bunch of sixteen to twenty year olds.

when you arrived on the 'site', jaehyun, taeyong, yuta and a few others were already there.

"ah y/n! we're going to send you off with jaehyun down that way. you'll go down the right side of the building and he'll go down the left side. if you need help, use this." taeyong passed you a walkie, then walked off only leaving you with jaehyun and mina.

"remember what i said, you'll do good y/n i promise." mina whispered in your ear before walking off back to her car. being reassured by mina was nice and something you needed. all through your life since you've known her she's always reassured you and it's brought you to be who you are today; strongly disliked by most people, but it didn't hurt you in any way.

"come on, let's go." jaehyun said and you followed him to the building. it was quite small, not as big as all the others ones in the abandoned place. it was all wrecked, parts of the walls had collapsed and it seemed really unstable and unsafe to go inside — it was probably why they were only letting you go around the outside. "if you need anything, use the walkie. it's connected to mine and taeyong's." jaehyun walked off to his side of the building, leaving you by your used and with a fast beating heart.

you had completely forgotten these were actually criminals, these people had actually committed crimes and you'd only just remembered that. you'd left your thoughts finally, and had a feeling you had eyes on you, you thought that maybe jaehyun was still here secretly, but when you looked the person standing around the corner definitely wasn't jaehyun. when they noticed you saw them, they quickly went back around the corner.

you breathed in deeply and closed your eyes, replaying everything you'd learnt in your head, every single piece of information you remembered, you felt ready. so you walked with a hand on your gun in your pocket just in case. the closer you got to the corner, you were starting to think about backing out, and just saying you didn't find anything. but you knew that was wrong, and you couldn't do it.

as you turned the corner of the building, you were pressed up against the wall, and a hand over your mouth; your arms were pressed behind your hands so you could reach for the walkie to even get anyone's attention. the person in front of you had black hair parted in the middle — you couldn't lie by saying he wasn't the most beautiful human being you'd ever seen.

"please, please don't tell them you found us. please, i'm begging you." he whimpered, his eyes beginning to water. you started to become less tense, and you were starting to feel some sort of sympathy. he removed his hand off you mouth, and you gave him a glare.

"why shouldn't i? you've been stealing from stores and threatening people. you should be in jail." you tried to push his arms off you, but he was clearly much stronger than you, and you were starting to feel fear.

"we only do it because we don't have anything else, just leave us be. i promise that if you ever find us again, we'll let you take us." he was breathing heavily, and his eyes were becoming teary. he was a criminal, and he shouldn't be forgiven, but you had a weak heart and you were starting to realise, maybe you just weren't fit for this job.

"go." you spoke almost emotionally, and you looked down in guilt thinking about how taeyong would feel if he found about this — his best student let him down, on purpose. you didn't even try hard.

"thank you so much." he mumbled, then ran off down the side of the building. i sighed, wiping the sweat from my forehead, that wasn't even the worst something could have been.

"did she fall for it? dude, if she did i'm signing you up as an actor, because you just tricked a cop into having sympathy for you." jaemin jumped over the ripped up couch they had in what they would call a living room. jaemin was one of the boys that usually stayed put, he would be the one flirting with the store owner while some of the others stole whatever they needed.

"of course she did, i really deserve an oscar, i even fake cried. it was quite easy to be honest, because it wasn't leader boy taeyong or their 'best cop' yuta, what cop doesn't know how to chase down a bunch of teens? i think she was new, i haven't seen her before." the boys had been in trouble with the police on multiple occasions, at this point they were now the main criminals the police were after.

a bunch of young boys they just wanted to spend their life in the most adventurous way.

"you probably scared the poor girl to death, you really could've just pretended you were a random guy walking around, this place isn't blocked off. because now she knows what you look like, well done." renjun rolled his eyes, eating a packet of doritos that they'd recently stolen from one of the stores. 

renjun didn't really do much to do with the boys, he just took care of them all. he cooked for them with the help of jaemin, he made sure they felt safe where they were. all because he was scared of losing them.

"they're invading our privacy, i'd just say were six, innocent boys that got kicked out of our parents houses because they didn't care about us." renjun rolled his eyes at donghyuck's response, the orange haired boy looked like the fluffiest person alive, but he really wasn't — he was the most dangerous one of the group, the one who was treated the worst. he wasn't scared to go up to someone and threaten them, hurt them. and that scared the others too.

"renjun where are the other doritos, i swear we took more than one packet." jisung walked into the room, smiling when he finally saw jeno was back. jisung was a lookout, he stayed at their, well home, watching out for any people and jeno was the first to leave to lead them away when jisung was worrying over the police outside.

honestly, jeno really could not care less if he went to prison, but there was no way he could leave his friends behind and be split from them because it would have broke him.

"i ate it, sorry." chenle giggled, running away as jisung ran after him shouting over the face he claimed that packet.

"i kinda feel bad about it you know? it was easy to get rid of her, but she was new clearly and probably trained for that shit for years, and i just ruined it for her." he mumbled, taking a seat and taking a deep breath. jaemin patted his back with a smile on his face.

"well you did it buddy, we're proud of you." renjun stood up whispering 'it was a stupid decision' under his breath. renjun really hated the way they did things, but he knew it was the way they survived, and he was already in a bad mood today after jaemin and donghyuck had a bad argument of which he had to spend time sorting out.

"i guess i'll just have to hope i don't have to do that again."

when you got back, you told taeyong you hadn't found anything and the whole place was abandoned, that one comment had threw off the whole job because they decided to search in other places on the other side of town, where the group of boys weren't set.

it had been a couple of days since then, and everything was starting to get messy for you. you couldn't concentrate nor could you sleep at night thinking about the boy you'd encountered. you'd learnt so much about how important it was to check people's body language, but you hadn't once looked at him below his face because he scared you. you weren't fit to go against criminals.

one night, you decided to just go on a little walk in hope that it would calm you down a little bit. grabbing your coat, you walked outside and breathed in the fresh air. it was late at night, maybe around eleven pm. when you still lived with your parents, you used to sneak out a lot when you were younger for these types of walks. you used to go to the same park every time but you moved farm far away from there and it saddened you that you couldn't go there now — you would've been a lot calmer there instead of walking down the streets walking past closing shops, making it become slightly darker as the light from the shops were off.

behind you, light footsteps were heard and you swallowed the lump in your throat, starting to walk faster. looking around, you looked for any signs of open shops you could go in but there was nothing. everything was closed. you brought up the courage to turn around, and noticed an extremely tall man behind you.

"are you following me?" you asked and he gave a small smirk, yeah, he was definitely following you. "are you going to answer or not? i don't have time for this."

"i just couldn't help myself, you just looked so delicious." you gagged at his words, you almost laughed. it was disguising, he looked disgusting, his teeth were pure yellow and his clothes were ripped, his hair was extremely greasy.

"i'd appreciate it if you left me alone, i've got things to do and you're interrupting it." you didn't know where this sudden confidence in yourself had come from, but you liked it. he reached in to grab your arm, and you tried to move from his grip but he was much stronger than you. "get  your hands off me, in work at a police station and i could get you sent down right now with one push of a button. now get the fuck of me." you scowled, but the man continued to drag you into the alley way right next to you, how convenient for him.

pushing you up against the wall, his face was getting closer and closer to you, then you remember, he has a dick. so, you lifted your knee up high and used all of the energy you had to knee him, causing him to groan in pain and pull away from you. you tried running, but it didn't work as he grabbed you leg, pulling you back and pushing you down on the floor.

"i like the ones who try to get away." he whispered in your ear, dragging his lips from your ear down to your neck and you whimpered, you were absolutely terrified. that was until the man was ripped away, but your vision had gotten blurry so you had no idea who it was and could only hear the voices of others.

"jeno, get off him you're killing him!"

"no,no i'm enjoying watching this, this dick deserves to die. i swear we've come across him about five times doing the same thing, i think we should let him kill him this time."

"jae, we'll get in trouble. jeno will be in deep shit do you want that?"

"yah, i didn't think of that... hyuck pick up the girl, we can't just leave her here."

you felt arms wrap around your waist and you wanted to fight back but slowly, you were passing out. and everything was black.

when you finally opened your eyes, you were in a somewhat familiar place. it felt like you'd been there before. it was kind of bright so your eyes were hurting, but you sat up quickly to the smell of food.

"oh, she's awake. hi, i'm chenle!" a blonde haired boy appeared in front of you causing you to fall off the couch you were on and let out a small squeak. "woah, are you ok?"

"am i ok? i have no idea where i am!" you shouted, making the blonde haired boy flinch. you felt sort of bad, he seemed innocent enough, and you'd basically scared the crap out of him.

"jesus fucking christ could you be any loude- oh, that wasn't chenle making all the noise this time." another boy appeared from behind the couch and you were official in complete confusion. you remembered everything that happened last night, but you don't remember being in an abandoned building. and it hit you, these were the boys you were supposed to be searching for. "i'm jaemin, do whatever you want with that information i guess."

"i have food!" and now more people were walking into the room, and you recognised one right off the bat.

"it's you! you're the one that i almost arrested but didn't!" you shouted as you stood up, and the dark haired boy rolled his eyes and groaned.

"and you're the one that almost got me in shit when i was doing nothing wrong." he spoke and you placed your hands in your face.

"do you realise how much trouble i could get in for being here? i could get fired and i've hardly even started yet. i need to go-" you stood up and grabbed your stuff which was placed next to the couch, your coat was folded nicely and your phone, credit card and things like that were placed on the table in front of it.

you were sort of confused of why they didn't steal from you, put parts of your brain were telling you it was rude to assume they stole from everyone.

"no, before you go, promise you won't say anything about us." one of them grabbed your arm, and he looked slightly more petite then the others, less stronger, but strong non the less.

you sighed and looked at them all, "i promise i won't say anything about you."

and from that day on, you became the six boys favourite person. you become good friends with them despite it being a sin to your job, but they were the cutest things alive, you wouldn't think they'd be going around stealing, you really couldn't get over it.

something unusual had developed between you and jeno to which you didn't understand, it was like you disliked each other but we're the closest in the group at the same time. despite that, everything was getting better for them because of you. you'd helped them furnish the place a bit better, with the money you were getting from your job as an officer — ironic.

"y/n! donghyuck keeps hitting me again! i swear i didn't take your pillow, why in the fuck would i take your pillow?" jaemin shouted from across the room and you almost had ripped donghyuck's hair. today had been ten times harder to cope with them all.

"i'll take care of it, don't worry. maybe you should go take a nap or something, you seem really tired today." renjun smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder, i nodded my head and walked to one of the back rooms where the beds were. there were only six beds, so you just jumped on the first one you set eyes on.

after a few minutes, you heard a small chuckle, "what are you doing in my bed?" jeno asked and you felt the bed dip when he sat down.

"i'm tired, hyuck and jaemin won't shut up, jisung and chenle are being hype and it seems like you and renjun are the only sane ones around here." you mumbled, turning around to face him.

the more you turned up here, the more you realised how pretty each and every feature of jeno was, and just looking at him made you happy.

"why are you staring at me?” he asked, you quickly looked away and you could feel him smirking at you, he knew exactly what you were thinking. “hey, look at me.” you turned your head, and soon enough jeno’s hands were on your waist with your hands around his neck and his lips on top of yours.

even just from that, you were scared. it reminded you of that night all those weeks ago. you trusted jeno wholeheartedly, but even just his hands going under your shirt, making your burning hot skin freezing cold whenever he moved them.

“j-jeno...” you moaned lightly as his hands moved from your lips down your neck.

“it’s okay.” he mumbled on your skin, his hands were slowly moving to the waistband of your pants, but the mood was quickly interrupted when jaemin had burst into the room.

“guys, renjun made us food an- oh my god i knew this was going to happen but jesus, i didn’t want it to happen in front of me. i’ll just tell renjun to put your food i-” jaemin was rambling, and his face was slowly becoming redder and redder at the sight.

“could you, like, leave jaemin.” jeno asked and jaemin nodded, and shut the door.

you and jeno looked at each other, and immediately burst out laughing. there was no way the mood was going to go back to how it was before jaemin burst into the room.

“i was thinking, maybe i should leave the dream of being a police officer behind.” you lay next to each other, but jeno quickly sat up to look at you with a shocked face.

“what? why? when you first started coming here often you’d talk about all the things you did, how long you spent working for it.” he asked and you shrugged.

“i like you guys more than i like my job, i like you a lot more than my job.” she smiled, as his lips placed on yours again.

“i like you a lot too.”

#jeno #nct jaemin #renjun #haechan #lee donghyuck #nct fluff #nct haechan #nct renjun #nct jeno #fluff #nct dream #nct u #nct 127 #taeyong

[shirlleycoyle]

The Boy on the Mountaintop

Our subletting Funbagger Drew Magary’s third novel, Point B, was released yesterday. A reader once said Drew’s novels read like a really long answer to a Funbag question. So it is with Point B, which asks the question, “Hey, what if you could teleport anywhere you wanted, simply by using your phone?” The following excerpt provides one of many, many answers.

THE BOY ON THE MOUNTAINTOP

By Katy Wagner, GizPo

9/21/2030

(COOS BAY, OR) — Melanie Greenberg has a plan for what to do if she ever meets the Kirsch family. She's rehearsed her speech in the mirror for over a year now. Late at night, when she's mired in the private hell of insomnia, she'll jot down tweaks to her working script, each word chosen carefully for maximum impact. She's learned to write legibly in darkness; rarely does she misspell a word or write one word over another despite writing blind. She can feel the pages for indentations from where she's put pen to paper, so she can locate free white space beneath. And she has sharpened the words down to a blade, so that when she sticks them into a Kirsch, they'll leave a mark.

Can you tell me what you plan on saying?

"The words 'you killed my son' will be in there somewhere."

You think they killed him.

"I know they did. Emilia Kirsch runs the company. Jason Kirsch invented the technology. Tell me who else would be responsible."

Do you want to physically harm Emilia and Jason?

"Yes, but I know I can't. I've convinced myself it's the wrong idea anyway. I want them to live with the hell of being themselves. Emilia and Jason can stay rich. They can stay free. But they'll always have to live inside their hateful bodies, and I want that to hurt them."

It wasn't always easy to get to Coos Bay. You used to have to drive here from Portland, taking the 5 South down to Route 38 and then across to 101, a tattered ribbon of a country highway that would test even a cast-iron stomach. That slim passageway through the wild, coupled with eternally damp weather, was enough to keep Coos Bay relatively isolated in the beginning of the century, especially as shipping jobs began to dry up and drugs took hold over this otherwise anonymous bit of Oregon shoreline.

"We'd have campers and tweakers," says Greenberg. "But now you get these clusters of surfers and fishermen, all zapping in together at exact times and making a goddamn mess before zapping right back out again. And, of course, we have a few port refugees from here and there."

But the greater impact that porting has had on Coos Bay hasn't come from people bypassing the endless roads to come here, but rather its original residents leaving. When the world opened up, the youth of Coos Bay fled in droves. So many kids have dropped out of nearby Marchfield High that the school has been forced to shutter entirely.

One of the kids who dropped out was Melanie's son, Jeffrey. If you're conjuring the stereotype in your head of what a high school dropout might look like these days—lazy, disaffected, porting at random, addicted to black market opioids, etc.—Jeffrey's story will alter that image drastically. He was a straight-A student. He was lead trumpet in the school marching band. He never drank or smoked. A sophomore at Marchfield during the advent of porting, he was already receiving letters from prominent Pac-12 schools with hints of scholarship money in the offing.

"I think, in some ways, porting has been worse for the smart kids," Melanie tells me. I'm in her house right now. It's a split-level abode nestled deep in the woods. This is an area that gets little port traffic, although that hasn't stopped Melanie from keeping dozens of guns handy to fend off aggressive trespassers and would-be squatters. She makes me a fresh pot of coffee but, in a moment of absent-mindedness, forgets to put a filter in the coffeemaker. Hot water and loose grounds spurt all over the kitchen counter.

"Jeffrey wanted to leave Coos Bay, and I don't blame him. I mean, this place was a meth hole. He was excited to get out and see the world, and I was excited for it, too. I just think you have to be ready, you know? No one was ready for it."

She held off buying Jeffrey a PortPhone for as long as she could, but after he saved up hundreds from his own personal landscaping business, she couldn't fend him off any longer.

"I remember where he ported to first," Melanie says to me as she rinses the soaked coffee grounds out of her pot and puts in a fresh filter. "It was Cancun, which is predictable for a 16-year-old. I made him promise only to go for a couple of minutes. So he zaps out, and I'm waiting, and waiting, and I've got half a mind to go to his pin and thrash him in front of all of Mexico. Then he finally came back."

And what was that like?

"He wouldn't stop laughing. That ever happen to you? You're so happy you start laughing, and you don't know why? It was that. And I saw that look of joy from him and…" she begins to cry, "I'm a mom, you know? When you see your kid happy, you want them to stay that way forever. It's like when you give a small child candy, and they go crazy for it. It makes you want to give them more. To spoil them. Because it's so easy. Spoiling them makes them happy. But you know you can't spoil them always because if you keep giving candy to them, it'll…" She can't finish the thought. She presses her hands against the counter and lets out a long exhale.

Jeffrey began porting every weekend, and then every night. Once PortSys began offering unlimited plans, Melanie felt powerless to stop him. He always managed to talk his way out of having the phone confiscated. Sometimes they would port together places, but more often it would be Jeffrey out in the world on his own, Melanie dying a little inside every time he vanished.

"Everything was different overnight, and I needed more time to adjust to that. We all did. We all still do! But PortSys? They never gave a shit. They weren't careful. They didn't bother preparing anyone for this kind of world. They charged ahead because they knew no one would ever have the courage to stop them."

One Sunday in May, Jeffrey told his mom he was going to Los Angeles with fellow bandmate Paul Gallagher. They had an agreement that he would share his pin with her anytime he went somewhere. This day, the destination was the Santa Monica Pier. Melanie watched Jeffrey port out, then ported to Atlanta herself to visit a friend before coming home to wait for him.

But Jeffrey never showed. Melanie called her son. She texted. Still no answer. When she checked her own PortSys account, she realized that Jeffrey had unfriended her that morning, leaving her unable to see his port history. By the time Monday morning arrived, she had turned frantic, porting to Jeffrey's chosen pin on the beach and wading through hordes of unimaginative tourists to look for her son, a human needle in the haystack. When she called PortSys to try to verify his current location, they refused to disclose it.

"Sometimes," Melanie says, "You trust your children too much, you know? Jeffrey was such a good kid, I'd have trusted him with any decision he made. But then I would forget he's still just a kid."

What Melanie didn't know was that Jeffrey's trip to Santa Monica was actually a premeditated ruse. He and Gallagher weren't going to California at all. Rather, they had spent the better part of a month sketching out a plan to port to the summit of Mount Everest. They studied storm patterns. They borrowed mountaineering gear from a friend (lightweight, to adhere to PortSys' YOU PLUS TWO guidelines, which allow for teleporting an extra two kilograms on your person in addition to the mass of your naked body) plus bottles of supplemental from a more experienced summiter. They went on long runs in high altitude cities: cities that Jeffrey had truthfully told his mother he was going to visit, while keeping hidden his ulterior motive for the jaunts.

The plan was port to increasingly high altitudes, get acclimated, and then hit the summit. Once on the roof of the world, Jeffrey and Paul would take in the view of the surrounding hemisphere, get a selfie, and then leave in an instant.

It is, of course, not legal to port to the summit of Everest. Since the advent of porting, only the South Slope of the mountain is open to climbing, with the North Slope formally closed by a Chinese government that outlawed porting from the start and has no plans to reverse that policy. Thus, oversight of Everest's unlicensed port tourism has fallen mostly to overwhelmed Nepalese officials.

The path to the summit was awash in litter and human excrement long before the advent of PortPhones, and porting has only exacerbated the problems at the top of the mountain. As with other national landmarks all over the world, port tourists have overwhelmed and desecrated what were once carefully preserved lands. In a bit of morbid irony, the deadly environs of Everest have help protect it from being completely overrun. Other parks and attractions lack such natural deterrents.

And standard tourist attractions are even more vulnerable, particularly spots highlighted by popular WorldGram travel accounts like @GoHere, which can create nightmare crowding situations the instant it recommends a porting destination. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is patrolled by armed forces at all times because port tourists stampede in at all hours, but the Tower is fortunate enough to be able to afford that security. Prominent amusement parks like Cedar Point in Ohio now must charge by the ride instead of charging gate admission because they can't build a portwall large enough to secure the grounds. Pebble Beach golf course in California now has PINE agents on carts patrolling the holes 24/7. Other hotspots, such as Monte Alban in Oaxaca and parts north of the aurora oval in Alaska, lack the funding to afford a portwall or beefed-up security, and have thus suffered environmental and ecological decay due to massive increases in foot traffic.

The summit of Everest, despite its hostile climate, has also suffered likewise. Perhaps it hasn't suffered the same amount of damage as Uluru in Australia, but any damage done to the roof of the world is substantial and permanent. New mountaineering laws have not helped. Anyone caught porting to the summit of Everest is subject to arrest and fines in excess of $500,000. But catching violators and enforcing fines is nearly impossible. While Nepalese officials were glad that porting eased some of traffic to the summit, they have had little control over the inevitable overcrowding that now routinely happens on it, especially when weather conditions prove favorable. How can you control the top of a mountain when anyone can get there by pushing a button and stepping into a wormhole? You can't keep a police force 33,000 feet up in the sky. You can't patrol it from the air. Proposals to create a portwall around the summit have proved unworkable.

To prevent being identified at the summit, Jeffrey Greenberg and Paul Gallagher left their passport lanyards behind in a still-unknown location. Jeffrey's callowness meant that he had vastly overestimated his ability to execute the Everest plan. As they ported from one acclimation point to the next, Jeffrey complained to Gallagher that he felt nauseous and dizzy: unmistakable signs of altitude sickness. An encroaching storm system—not exactly a surprise development around Everest—forced Jeffrey and Gallagher to accelerate their plans and shorten their acclimation intervals so that they could port to the summit and get out before the squall bore down.

That would prove to be a fatal error, because Jeffrey's lungs were already starved for oxygen. At the peak of Everest, the air only has roughly a third of the oxygen contained in the air at sea level. That thin air, combined with the drop in air pressure, can tax the lungs of even a seasoned climber. And Jeffrey was far from that.

The instant the two boys ported to the South Summit, with an altitude of 28,704 feet, Jeffrey collapsed and began to convulse, the result of a cerebral edema. Gallagher, now terrified, tried to program Jeffrey's PortPhone to port his friend back to safer ground, but couldn't get his bandmate's finger to hold steady on the phone's scanner prompt. Even if Gallagher had succeeded in this, Jeffrey never would have been able to take the crucial step to complete the porting. He was stuck seizing at the summit, his body desperate to hyperventilate but too weak to do so. His diaphragm cramped into a hard knot. The oxygen supply to his brain got cut off entirely. When Gallagher called American medical startup 1RSPND and begged them to have first responders port to the summit, the company told him that they were over their monthly porting data limit, and that PortSys had throttled their service. Mountaineers that had secured official permits to summit the mountain began to openly grouse at the two boys clogging up the summit, which has a surface area roughly the size of an apartment closet. No one was going to help Jeffrey Greenberg.

It was all over in less than a minute. A nearby team of experienced climbers, who had made the summit the old-fashioned way, rushed to administer CPR to Jeffrey, but by then he had no pulse. With the storm closing in quickly, Paul Gallagher, who would only agree to speak on background for this story, had little choice but to abandon his friend right there, 100 meters below the highest point on Earth.

Jeffrey Greenberg's body remains on Everest to this day, scattered among the hundreds of other corpses resting on the mountain that cannot be removed, neither by porting nor by law. He is far from alone in being the only young person to meet a gruesome fate by porting somewhere he didn't belong. There was the case of Taylor Garrison, a college student who accidentally ported into the middle of the Pacific Ocean and drowned. There was the case of Megan Abay, who got stuck in a faulty wormhole that teleported her back and forth from her apartment in Chicago to her parents' home in Addis Ababa every microsecond, splitting her into two places simultaneously and destroying her mind. There was Leann Egan, who was ported 200 feet above her intended pin in Maui thanks to what PortSys described as a "glitch" in its famously guarded algorithm. She fell to her death.

And then there was the strange case of Anthony Drazic, a seven-year-old who, through yet another system "bug," ported directly into the body of a full-grown man named Joshua Klim, killing both instantly. Drazic's body had to be surgically removed from Klim's abdomen in a gruesome Caesarian section that would take a Serbian coroner thirteen hours to complete. To this day, it remains the only violation of PortSys's supposedly ironclad law that solid matter cannot port into other solid matter. And then there are, of course, the tens of thousands of runaways and refugees shot and killed by interior patrols lurking in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Russia, and every other country looking to crack down on port migration.

These deaths, be they the result of direct failures in PortSys's algorithm, or the result of PortSys failing to curtail its users' more reckless impulses, have invariably resulted in solemn statements issued by the company, along with any number of discreetly agreed-upon cash settlements. Melanie Greenberg was offered $28,000 to settle her case against PortSys. When she refused and filed a formal lawsuit, the case was thrown out in Federal court after Congress passed a law that made it illegal to sue "any porting carrier" (curious wording, given that PortSys is the only porting carrier in existence) for accidents resulting from the use of their products.

Calls for PortSys to restrict how users port—into private homes, into war zones, and to dangerous terrain—have been rebuffed by the company in the name of port neutrality. The closest PortSys has come to fixing the problem is establishing two-factor confirmation for any user wishing to port into "conflict zones," areas marked as dangerous by the company (of course, those designations have often been met with vehement protest by residents of said zones). They promise that the bugs that killed Josh Klim and Leann Egan have been fixed in later software updates. The company's parental controls, ostensibly introduced to help parents monitor where kids port, remain cumbersome and lightly used.

When Jason Kirsch was confronted with these facts in an email exchange with me, he remained defiant.

"Our terms of service are clear," he told me. "Our port moderators do not advise people porting to certain areas they have declared as unsafe, but we are not going to close off those areas and restrict the God-given freedoms of those who are experienced and hardy enough to tackle that kind of terrain. I myself have ported to such locations. Have you been to the top of Devil's Tower? I have. It's breathtaking. It is incumbent upon users to follow both their better instincts and the laws of anywhere they choose to port."

"So you're absolved of all responsibility in these deaths?" I asked him.

"Let me make it clear, Katy: This company saved the world. You know that. I know I speak for my mother when I say it's a terrible thing any time someone experiences a porting malfunction."

You mean a porting death.

"No, these are unfortunate malfunctions. In the event of someone harming himself during the porting process, we mourn just as his family mourns."

I don't believe that.

"Believe what you want to believe," Jason Kirsch wrote back. "I have the facts on my side, and what the facts say is that porting solved this planet's energy crisis, along with its housing crisis and its traffic crisis. People can now evacuate from natural disasters in a snap, and rescue workers can port into those same areas with equal speed. Once we get China on board with porting, we'll have improved modern civilization by orders of magnitude. To me, it's insane that some people don't appreciate this. WE INVENTED TELEPORTATION. How can you not be astounded by that? I'm astounded by it every day! Do you understand how many lives this company has saved? 40,000 automobile related deaths in the United States alone. Every year. All saved. Why is that not the focus of your story?"

(Jason Kirsch is not entirely correct here: While passenger automobile deaths are now nearly extinct, trucking fatalities have increased over 500% since the advent of porting, thanks to decaying highway infrastructure plus huge increases in demand for construction and shipped goods in formerly remote areas.)

Melanie Greenberg has never seen her son's body. To visit Jeffrey, she would either have to pay an outrageous amount to have it removed from Everest, or she herself would have to port to the summit, something she is terrified to do both from a physical and legal standpoint. For now, Jeffrey's body remains on display in a permanent, open wake she'll never be able to attend. She long ago forgave Paul Gallagher for his role in Jeffrey's death. Instead, she saves the bulk of her ire for PortSys and the Kirsch family. Sometimes, when she wakes up in the morning, she discovers that she's written hundreds of words in frantic night scribbling. She shows me the notes, which take up an entire filing box.

Are all those notes for the Kirsches?

"Not all of them. I spare more than a few for myself."

I don't think you're alone in having a hard time reckoning with how much freedom to give your children.

"Yeah but my son is dead, so I have hard proof I did a lousy job, don't I? I caved when I should've been stronger. And I let him have this power, because I wanted to have it too."

This is when I notice a rectangular bulge in Melanie's pocket. She takes out her old PortPhone6, the screen slightly cracked and the chrome edges nicked and scarred. She knows what I'm about to ask, so she goes ahead and answers in advance.

"It's for the Kirsches. It's my only way to get to Emilia and Jason. When they do one of their bullshit listening tours, or when Jason stages one of his insufferable new product launches, that's when I'm gonna port in and tell them about my son."

And then?

"And then, I swear to you, I will throw this thing in the fucking ocean."

The Boy on the Mountaintop syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[theworldofyaltra-blog]

The World of Yaltra Parts 1-10

Yaltra, a world filled with magic gods and special abilities, a world of kingdoms and Queendoms. Light fills the world, but where light resides darkness is sure to appear.

In the queendom of Ceark, a warrior legend resides, a man named Dae Vol he was 14 and a tall boy standing at 6'3" with light brown hair and steel gray eyes, he prefers to wear red and gray robes. Dae had moved to Ceark when he was young. He went straight to the castle that day and demanded to be Chief of the Order of Knights. He was put through a test to see his power, they made a wager that if he was able to beat the top ten of the Order of Knights he would be given the title he wished. Dae was skilled, being born of a warrior and trained since he was a young boy. Dae got through nine of the ten, but when he reached the leader of the knights he was defeated. The leader of the Order of Knights recognized the boys potential and took him under his wing. Dae trained with the leader for 3 years when one day he was instructed by his mentor that to become physically stronger he had to become mentally strong. Dae was sent to Vertul School of Magic. At first Dae hated school, he disliked most people at the school, being an orphan back in his birth town only knowing his father was a warrior, and growing up in the slums. He disliked their aristocratic aura, he could tell that most looked down upon him. But one day after class he was approached by two people. He was approached by Phay Meloa a girl around 16 years old and her best friend Zould Akia a 17 year old half elf boy. Other than the staff of the school these were the first people to be nice to him at this school, they looked at him like a peer, like a friend. For a long time they were inseparable, and eventually they graduated the school. Zould left to his homeland, Phay was headed home too, but coincidentally Phay's home country is Ceark. Dae and Phay decided to travel home together. Phay asked what Dae was going to do. He tells her of his mentor and discovers that Phay is the daughter of his mentor.So Dae keeps training with Phay's father. Dae and Phay spend much more time together, growing closer and closer. Speed forward a bit and Dae confesses his love for Phay she feels the same. Dae and Phay get married 5 years later. A year after Dae is successful in fighting his now father in law becoming the leader of the Order of Knights. Zould then moves to Ceark and works as the High Wizard in place of his late uncle. Phay gets pregnant and gives birth to a boy, he is named Ty. A year later a war breaks out between Ceark and the kingdom of Anot. This war lasts for 4 years, and Phay's father passes on the battlefield. During the 3rd year of the war Phay gets pregnant again but dies in child birth. The child is a girl which Dae names Saia. Now it is 12 years after the war, this is where the story will truly begin.

"Hey you! Stop right there!" The guard commanded.

"Make me!" I replied confidently. But my confidence quickly faded as more guards appeared from the ally ways.

"You won't get away from us again Bo Asden!" This is not the first time I was in this type of pickle, especially with that particular guard. I never learned his name though, all I know is that he's getting faster.

Finally I found my favorite mode of escape, one of the many ally ways in this dump of a country. Ever since the last queen died and her bitch of a sister took the throne things have been hard on us poor folk. But enough history we have a problem at hand, that being-

"It's a dead end."

"And the end of the line for you thief!" Exclaimed the guard."You'll finally get your comeuppance."

"Hey there pal. Can't we work something out here?" I doubt this will work but I gotta try.

"No."

"Damn." Well I guess prison won't be that bad, I could work on my people skills. Plus free housing and food, but then again they would be alone.

"Seize him!" Exclaimed another guard. I guess I'll go out in a blaze of glory. As the first one came at me I swept gracefully past him and punched him in the back of the head, he was out cold.

"Gary!" So that's his name, good to know. They stopped playing fairly at this point and rushed me. I got overwhelmed and was thrown to the ground, it seemed they wanted to repay me for Gary.

"Stand down soldiers!" Boomed a large man behind the pile of people on top of me. He was a large man around 6'3" with graying brown hair and steel gray eyes. But it seems he is something to the guards because they got off me with fear in their eyes.

"I will take care of the thief, take Heads to the infirmary." This made me loose any feeling of safety. After the guards left with Gary he came closer and began to speak. "So tell me boy, why are you stealing from people, what is your motive?"

"I doubt YOU would understand"

"Try me kid, you'd be surprised"

"Believe it or not, some kids don't have parents to take care of them. All those kids have is me, so I get them food this way."

"How old are you son?"

"Sixteen, why?"

"Well, since you're sixteen you can work for their food, plus even if you're too old the orphanage will take the children your looking after."

"But I can't just-"

"You can, it's safer for them."

I'm sick of this asshole preaching about something he doesn't understand. I'm going to teach this old guy a lesson then he'll think twice about ordering people around. I ran towards him fists ready, then I was on they ground.

"What just happened?"

"Your predictable, but I plan on fixing that."

"What?"

"Get up and follow me, I'm gonna make you stronger."

"Yes sir." As we left I saw something. It was a man in red and gold robes, just silently watching me, as if he were waiting for something.

"Something wrong boy?"

"No and I have a name, I'm Bo."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Dae."

After the whole 'come with me' thing, Dae lead me past the slums to the more suburban part of the kingdom. It was sorta weird though because he didn't talk the whole way, just odd silence between us. Finally he stopped at a medium sized Dutch style house. He walked in the house prompting me to follow him. I had guessed at this point that it was his house. When I walked in I was greeted by a warm, loving atmosphere, just like I thought a home would feel, maybe it was just my imagination though.

"Father who is this boy?" Said a boy that seemed to be around 17, and looked like a slim young version on Dae. Not so far behind him a girl lingered, unsure if she should trust me.

"Tsun this is Bo, he will be trained here from today on." Dae said with his seemingly endless confidence. There was one thing wrong with this though, not once was I told that I would be staying here and being trained, I guess that's what he meant by 'make me stronger' but I had things to do, people to feed.

"What!? Why?" Said Tsun with rage. Never mind, I need to find someone to take care of the kids, because now my sole purpose in life is to antagonize this boy.

"I did not say it was a matter of discussion. He will be here so deal with it." I think it's time for me to step in.

"Well I'm lookin-"

"Be quiet boy, you need to prove yourself if I am to accept this!"

"Someone's cranky."

"Well if you're so apposed just fight him, he took on Gary." Hmm Gary's more popular than I previously thought. But also fight him? Why not? It'll be fun, he can't be too good if Gary is their frame of reference.

"Fine, if I win he shall leave, and if he wins he can stay." Dae didn't respond. "Follow me boy." He led me to a door in the back of the house with Dae and the girl trailing behind. Then the door led out to a grassy field.

"Might I ask how?" I said.

"To simply put it, magic." Dae replied. What a convenient excuse for an otherwise impossible situation.

"Come at be boy."

"It's Bo son."

"You know it's Tsun."

"And you know it's Bo." I wonder how stupid he'll look when he looses. Dae and the girl were whispering, catching my curiosity I tried listening to them and caught 'He isn't too bright though, huh' from the girl. What made her think that? That is what I found out. I turned back and we officially 'started' the fight. At first we just walked in circles, but then in a second he was in front of me, trying to connect his fist to my face. Lucky I dodged the attack and backed up.

"You're fast." I prepared a punch.

"Thanks." With that once again he jumped right to me, just as planned. He might be fast, but he seems to think with his head, not his mind. Wait, that doesn't make sense. Or does it? Fuck it, I'll go with it. What I was trying to say though was, i had expected another jump so I had prepared that punch and that plus his speed.

"HMF"

"That's a strange noise, I didn't expect that." I replied snidely.

"I take that back." Whispered the girl to Dae.

"Damn right!"

"Language!" Responded Dae. Also it seemed the girl was embarrassed to have been heard.

"Alright he can stay." Tsun groaned from the ground.

After the short battle with Tsun, I returned inside to explore a bit. I came across a shelf filled with pictures of times long ago. One depicted a younger Dae along with an elf and some girl that resembled the whisper girl, but this seemed too old for that to be her.

"Hey Dae!"

"What?"

"Who are these people with you in this picture?"

"The girl was my wife before we married, and the elf is my friend Zould."

"Where is your wife anyways?"

"Sadly she passed years ago, and Zould vanished during the Few year war."

"I've always hated the name of that war."

"Yes, it isn't very imaginative, like it was thought of on the spot. Anyway, we have to find a place to put the children you care for, and tomorrow morning we start your training!"

"Alright." I said. Something still felt off though, like a storm was coming.

"M'lord, the time has come. We may never have a chance such as great as this to invade Ceark."

"Prepare the fleet, we leave next week."

"Yes lord Ziao Tae."

I'm in a scorched field, one day the grass will grow but for now it's burnt dirt, burnt by battle mage fires. Dad is on the ground, but not the same dad i know. He was younger with full brown hair lacking the bits of gray without his short beard. In front of him stood an elf, one I've seen only in pictures. Dad once told me his name was Zould and his best friend, someone he trusted with his life and secrets. Zould was speaking, that's when I noticed the dark smoke cloud in front of him, i could feel the dark magic in the cloud. This cloud could only hurt.

"If I do this you will let him live, is that right?" Zould said looking to my father.

"Yes young elf, if you do this I will spare this boy and he will not fall like the rest." Uttered the evil thing. I realized the bodies scattered everywhere, some parts were removed from the bodies, it was sickening. "Just wound yourself and don't resist me." With that Zould cut his palm and the cloud seeped into it. He screamed from the painful experience.

"Take care Dae." He said. Then he started to change. He looked different now but his back was turned to me and as he started to turn I was surrounded in darkness. I was fearful at first, but then a calming voice told me.

"Find the book, save the elf, save the world." Then I awoke. I was in my room again. I was still just Victoria Vol, the 16 year old daughter of the "Great" Dae Vol.I've been having this dream for a month, but the calming voice was new. I was filled with questions from his words. What book was I to find? How do I save the elf? Is the cloud a danger to the world? But I couldn't find these answers on my own, but maybe dad could help me. It was around seven thirty so dad should be worshipping the "Forgotten God", the first god but also least know to the point that he is majorly unknown to most. Usually people will pray to more popular gods like Nekatio the god of cats, personally I like to worship the goddess of light Samantha. Dad likes to say that Samantha and the goddess of darkness Wendy are in a romantic relationship, but that's just ridiculous. Why would a girl go out with another girl? Dad also tells me it's not a big deal, I'm sure I just don't understand. I entered my fathers room but he wasn't there, something important must have come up. I decided to go down stairs to make some breakfast. Down in the kitchen I saw the boy dad brought back home a week ago as a student. He had hair that was a sandy yellow color and dark blue eyes, he was around 5'8 which I liked seeing as though I'm 5'4 and live with two giants standing at 6'3 and 6'2. He's kinda cute. "Do you know where my father is?" I asked Bo hopeful that he knew.

"Not specifically but he said it was important." Drat I wanted to ask him about the dream. But a voice cut through my thoughts. "Why is Gary your standard for strength?"

"Well Gary is a werewolf, plus he is considerably strong as just a human too."

"Did you say werewolf?"

"Yes and if anyone ever killed him it would mean big trouble."

"Who did this." I said to Dr.Sandra Bouls.

"Who ever did this used black magic to kill him, its potent even now though Mr. Gary Heads was killed around 48 hours ago."

"This is a problem, only one person could kill Gary with such powerful dark magic."

"Do you mean-"

"Zaio Tae."

It was a quarter past eight now and Victoria was leaving once again, she left at this time every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Where was she going though? I don't know much of Victoria except basic knowledge like age and gender.

"Where do you go on these days?" I decided to ask.

"Nothing to worry yourself about." Oh wow that really helps me. I guess it was supposed to be like that. So since she won't tell me I'll have to find out for myself. And by that I mean while I have free time let's follow Victoria. After a few seconds after her departure I left the house and followed the small black haired girl from a safe distance of two or three yards. We went a mile or two when she stopped and went to enter a small house on the outskirts of the city, I had closed the distance and decided now was a good time to reveal myself.

"Who lives here?" I said, startling Victoria. She saw it was me and calmed just long enough for her surprise to become anger. She slapped me.

"Why did you follow me, douche!"

"Language Vic. Also, ow."

"One, you deserved it. Two, I don't want you here. And three, who said you could call me 'Vic'."

"Well I'm not leaving now Vic, I want to know who this person is."

"I don't care! Just go back ho-"

"Oh, Victoria you brought your boyfriend to lessons today!" Said a friendly looking old lady cutting off Vic's sentence.

"He is not my boyfriend, he is a boneheaded fool."

"Such harsh words Vic." I feel that I'm starting to bother her, I'm glad I came.

"Well come on in, both of you." Said the old lady gesturing us to come inside.

"I'm looking forward to this."

"I hate you."

"Ha."

Inside the house was a room with a table to the left, a sitting area to the right and two doors. The old lady had us sit down and Vic explained my current situation.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Matilda, a witch and Victoria's grandmother."

"Nice to meet you Matilda, why does Vic come here so often?"

"I can't just visit my grandmother?" Vic said with a cold tone.

"She comes to learn, just like my daughter learned."

"Learn what? Witchcraft?"

"No carpentry, of course it's witchcraft." Then a knock came from the door. "Well aren't I popular today." With that Matilda went and answered the door, and at the door was Dae.

"Matilda we have a big problem." Dae said sounding genuinely concerned.

"Nice to see you too, come in son."

"Oh I guess Bo joined you today, but you may stay it concerns all of us." What is going on that has him so worried? Nothing much ever really happens in Ceark, the only thing we really ever have to worry about is the magic haters of Takacia.

"Matilda, Victoria you've been having a certain dream lately right?"

"Yes I was hoping I was just going senile but he has returned hasn't he."

"What? Who's back? What does this have to do with my dreams?" Victoria looked scared, what in the fire realms is going on?

"I will tell you in due time but for now head home, and Matilda its time for you to abandon ship. I have to do something now, Victoria and Bo, go home for now."

"But what is all thi-" but before I could finish that sentence he was gone.

"Queen Aldraea, I have come as asked."

"Ah yes Knight Dae Vol, I have been informed of the dangers that loom and I have a task of utmost importance for you." Man she sucks, I'm just waiting for an assassin to come along. "I need you too look after my daughter, I'm having her go undercover as one of you plebeians so she may stay out of deaths grasp. And what's worse is she takes after her late father, such a weak man." This is music to my ears, her daughter takes after Borjor the kind. This is the best possible outcome, Borjor died a martyr. He was said to save any person, he would go to battlefields and save both friend and foe. Sadly he was 'mysteriously' poisoned. "Cassidy! Come here girl." A young teen girl then entered the room, she had long golden locks and jade green eyes although I could barely see them since she stared at the floor in submission.

"Y-yes mother."

"This is Knight Vol you shall live with his family while danger is high. I expect no problems with this."

"Yes mother."

"Now leave me, both of you."

"Yes my queen." With that I left with the shy princess.

It was eight in the evening when Dae opened the door and behind him was a girl around 19 and timid looking.

"Hey Tsun, I know I'm new myself but is this something he just does? Bring people home?"

"No actually, you two are the firsts. Also may I ask your name?" Tsun asked. A good question too but I doubt she will answer herself, she looks too uncomfortable for questions.

"This is Cassidy and she will be staying with us for a while." He told us nothing more of girl and lead her to the fifth and last bedroom of the house. He then went to Vic and lead her to the room, she entered, he left.

"Well that sure was 'enlightening', I really learn a lot about her." I said sarcastically.

Father had come to my room and filled me in on the princess and her situation, then lead me to her hopeful that I could calm the nervous girl. She sat on her bed and stroked her long golden hair, which is kinda weird because neither her mother or father have/had black hair.

"The queen isn't your real mother is she." I said bluntly, and now that I think about it that was rude of me.

"No, my real mother was a maid. She died in child birth." She replied unexpectedly. "My father didn't like 'mother' though and she didn't like him, which is why he had the affair. We would bond over our hatred of her, but then she." Cassidy stopped at that point realizing that she was saying very personal things to a stranger. "I-I'm sorry, I'd like to sleep now if that's ok."

"Of course, you can come to me if you need to talk again." Then I left. She seemed sad now, but she seemed a lot more comfortable. Maybe one day she will finish her talk with me.

It's been two months since Dae took me in. My days have been mostly routine; wake up, pray, eat breakfast, train, eat lunch, study, eat dinner, pray, sleep. The only diversions from said routine are my off days. For training we mostly just workout, sometimes Dae will teach me things like sword techniques. He's brought up magic infusion before, a skill in which something can be infused with magic, it's usually just for swords and armor though. I can't infuse anything because of my weak magic though, that's what studying is for. I've been practicing out of a thick spell book for beginners and have some basic magic down like 'Ignis Creare' a simple spell for making fire. Then there's 'Pruinae Creare' which is just the opposite of Ignis Creare. But enough of that, I'm currently at dinner and Dae has bequeathed some information upon us.

"I'm sending you all to Virtul Magic Academy." Dae stated.

"Excuse me? Why might I ask are we being sent to a school." I asked.

"Reasons."

"Do you have to be so vague?"

"Nope."

"I don't want to go. I'd rather stay here." Vic and Tsun agreed.

"It's not up for debate, I'm not answering any questions either. You four are going and that's it, you might want to pack your luggage because you leave in the morning."

"This is bullshit." Tsun claimed. Huh usually he's not one to argue, maybe I'm rubbing off on him, I felt happy from this thought.

"Just accept it, it's not like he's going to change his mind." Vic cut in. Tsun seemed rather peeved because his next course of action was to head to his room, drama queen. I was about to complain again but Dae sent me a glare, and the next thing I new I was headed to my room to pack. I'm not sure entirely what made me back off but I know it wasn't magic, that made it all the more terrifying.

It was evening when we arrived at the school, but it looked more like a fortress than a school. The whole campus was enclosed by a 12' stone wall in the shape of an octagon. At each point of the octagon was a tower, 4 were class buildings and the other 4 were dormitories, 2 for boys and 2 for girls. In the center was a larger tower which held the cafeteria, a ballroom, teacher housing, and at the top was the headmasters office. When we arrived we were shown to our respective rooms and someone was to pick us up and show us the around campus. A portly guy a year or two older than I showed me around, he seemed nice I should have listened to him. I didn't see the others till morning classes the next day. First class was Magic History with Ms.Uerosa she looked around in her mid to late twenties and... tried. She is too nice for her own good, the other students walked all over her, the ones who didn't and listened were few and seemed respectable, like they earned their right to learn here. The ones who couldn't be bothered to listen to poor Ms.Uerosa were, obviously, the children of 'important' nobles. Sadly a lot of the people here were those types. I did meet some good people, like Bruce, he has copper hair and glasses and schemes, which is always a plus in my book. I found him the most likable of the people here, luckily he's also my roommate. In my next class I finally got back together with Vic and Tsun, the other girl was in a different class. This class was Magical Practice with Mr.Dawnbreak, first task was summoning a familiar.

"Ok class, a familiar is the most important part of a magician, they can symbolize your magical strength and will be your companions till the end of your days." Mr.Dawnbreak boomed. He then mumbled some chant and a dwarf troll appeared next to him. "You can summon familiars at will with a simple chant, you can have multiple familiars depending on your magical strength. Now who's ready!" He's a very interesting teacher, very eager. Vic had summoned a black cat she named Simon, which was a sign of her strong affinity to potion magic. Tsun summoned a dog, to show his physical strength. Bruce summoned a Phoenix and everybody was too awed to ask what that meant. Now it was my turn. "Alright Bo, give it a try!"

"hoc est maximus ut custodiant lectione nunc." I chanted. And a figure started to appear. Now I'm not sure exactly what was going on, or why but when the summoning smoke cleared all that was there was, a girl. She was, different though, that meaning she had wings hand sharp teeth. She opened her mouth and spoke.

"Hilsener mester." She said. We looked upon her in both confusion and awe. "Min heter er Drakaina, har jeg kommet til å tjene deg." She spoke this time, but still we just gazed upon her. "Du kan ikke forstå meg he. Is this better, master?" Holy crap she spoke something comprehensive. "I am Drakaina." Drakaina said.

"Hey Mr.Dawnbreak, has this happened before?"

"No Bo, I can say it has not."

"Drakaina? What are you?"

"I am a drage, dragon, my master."

"I'd perfer if you called me Bo."

"Yes mas-, Bo."

"I'm going to fetch the headmaster, you students stay here, bond with your familiars." And with that Mr.Dawnbreak was gone. What would happen now? Only the gods know. This is going to be interesting though, that I knew for sure.

#fantasy #story #artists needed #Yaltra #original story #writers #writers of tumblr