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#she'd start a bar fight if she thought she could win
lumaxramblings · 5 months
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one of the main reasons i will always despise the fruity four dynamic is because yall mischaracterize nancy so badly it makes me want to shoot sumn
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Hello there! I humbly ask for Lisa, Eula, Kujou Sara, and a fourth of your choice, beach HC's with their S/O because I'm literally melting in this weather and would like to look at something nice before i turn to liquid
Okay I decided to scratch my first come first served rule just because I wanted to throw Nilou in here and I was DYING to write for her (legit I can't find any Nilou x reader content SMH)
Lisa, Eula, Sara and Nilou on the beach with their S/O
Reader here is gender neutral
Tw: few somewhat suggestive comments (Lisa), alcohol mention (Eula)
Lisa
You know her, you didn't even need to finish your sentence and she agreed immediately to come to the beach.
Relaxing with you by her side while listening to calming sounds of the ocean was truly a paradise.
AND on top of that she gets to see you in a swimsuit, there is literally no reason for her to refuse.
She was quickly ready to go, and of course she had to impress you with her own choice of swimwear as well.
Although she wasn't doing much swimming, she preferred a good nap under the shade. But if you asked her to, she would come with you for a few minutes to cool off. Still the two of you didn't spend evey single second together.
So, if you happened to leave Lisa alone for a longer time it was very likely to get hit on. At first she'd politely shoo anyone away, but you already know what happened to the persistent types. After all, if there is something to fear it's Lisa who lost her patience.
And she'd gladly tell you that story. Mostly to calm herself down. But after talking to you she quickly forgets about it since just looking at you makes her thoughts go back to a better place~
Eula
She didn't feel the heat as badly as you did, but she'd be lying if she said that she was against the idea of going to the beach.
She was looking forward to also trying some drinks at a bar. After all: you need to hydrate yourself. Especially during weather like this.
Thankfully the ridiculous beach prizes weren't so encouraging, so she didn't drink too much.
So after that refreshing start you decided to have usual beach fun. The cold water was almost like a blessing.
If you splash her, you know that she will fight back. Even if your splash is gentle- you just started a war. One that she will win.
And it was clear how much fun she was having, although she wouldn't admit half of it. "It was just a nice way to cool off, nothing more nothing less" kind of excuse.
You knew the truth though, but you decided to not make her uncomfortable by teasing her and pushing her to admit to it.
Still you couldn't resist small comments here and there, thankfully she didn't mind.
Kujou Sara
She pretended the heat wasn't getting to her, shielding herself from the sun with her wings but it wasn't much help since her wings being cooked by the sun wasn't a pleasant feeling either.
She was stubborn, claiming that she doesn't need a break. But you managed to eventually convince her. After all, if not to cool off, she can't say no to a regular date with you right?
You didn't know why she was avoiding it so much, and she didn't want to tell you either. She quickly got adjusted to your plans though.
When you got there she was feeling spending the time more actively. So running along the shore, swimming. Literally anything but sitting still. At least for the start.
Since with how hot it was, the idea of just sitting and doing nothing just seemed like you're going to be tortured by the sun.
Be it volleyball, swimming or just running she just wanted to do something. No matter what you ended up doing, she wasn't going all out on it.
It was all just casual fun. And watching her enjoy herself was amazing. She still had that focused look on her face that is so intimidating (and charming) yet when she spoke you could tell that she was relaxed.
Nilou
In general during such hot weather she made it clear how important it was to hydrate yourself often as well as apply sunscreen. So she reminded you both of such every once in a while whenever you were exposed to the sun for a longer time.
She was also suffering from that heat, so she was surprised she didn't come up with the beach idea herself! She had a lot of ways to battle the hot weather but in the end a date with you is something she just can't refuse.
While you were on your way some of her merchant friends insisted to give her "a few" items... But at least it was something you could use on the beach so you didn't have to go home to put everything away, such a nice coincidence...
Compared to how much stuff she usually gets it was pretty light this time. So you didn't have to suffer the heat with heavy luggage on top of that.
Even with that few interruptions and delay, you finally made it to the beach and Nilou almost immediately took your hand and the two of you went for a swim as soon as you placed everything down.
It was just so hot, walking to the beach was only making her look forward to swimming even more.
Her smile when she finally felt the refreshing cold water was to die for. She had a lot of fun swimming. And when she looked carefully she saw a few pretty shells. So she ended up picking them throughout your beach day. She didn't do anything with them exactly, but it was always something to remind her of this fun day with you.
~Mod Lisa
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did u know ao3 has no jesper x male fics??? IT IS ABSOLUTELY CRIMINALLL 😭😭😭😭
can i pls req a jesper fluff 🤭🤭 i dont rlly have a preference for how u do it, just like playful flirting and confessions 🫶🏼
thank you :)
Light of The Moon- J.F x Male! Reader
Okay, judging by your comment about ao3, I went ahead and made this an x male! reader and it is pretty damn fluffy lol. I'm sorry that this took me like, two weeks, I just couldn't figure out how to start this for the life of me and only after I figured it out did I proceed.
I hope you like this one! I leaned more into the confession aspect then I did the flirting because I cannot write anything better than half decent flirting for the life of me, but I hope you like this if you read it kind nonnie.
Fic type- fluff
Warnings- mentions of lungs being given away (Jesper says he would've given his left lung up) mentions of blades, mentions of alcohol and alcohol consumption. I'm also tired and this is largely unedited but we die like matthias in this house
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Spring was an odd, but a lovely, time of year. It was the in between as far as weather was concerned. Some days called for rainstorms, others were humid and breezeless, though more often than not, it was a perfect blend of the two extremes.
That day, the day that Jesper graced your door with a candle, some tea, and a few good books, it was rainy. You could hear the pitter-patter of rain against the window that stood two feet above your bed and was connected to the ceiling, and you'd let it be the soundtrack to your routine that day.
Waking up and eating two of the cinnamon buns you'd bought from a bakery in the Geldcanal, not far out from where Wylan had lived with his mother.
Brushing your teeth, showering, getting dressed, grabbing your umbrella and your bag and getting a ride on a cheap coach to the University District, where you took your classes and ignored the intense headache that kicked in halfway through your day. Going home, doing a few hours behind the bar at the Crow Club.
The rain still continued close to eleven bells, after you'd grabbed your cheque for two weeks of work from Kaz and when Jesper showed at your door, two teas in hand, a candle, lighter, and a few books in a satchel draped over a shoulder.
"Mind if I steal your company for a bit, love?"
You scoffed. "You needn't flirt with me, Jesper, not if company is your goal," you said. "I would legitimately drop everything just to hear you laugh, so the flirting isn't necessary."
It was Jespers turn to scoff. "Well then, as far as flirting is concerned, it seems you've become my competition."
"Loser goes against Nina," you suggested as Jesper passed you the tea he'd grabbed. Jespers face showed horror for a moment before he relaxed.
"She'd beat us in a minute," he said. "No chance either of us would win that fight. I think I watched her make eyes at a pair of boots she liked once."
You laughed, took a sip of the tea Jesper had brought along. "Thank you for the tea, by the way. Needed it more than I thought."
Jesper only shrugged in response, incredible grin coming to his face easily.
"It's no problem, love," he said, the grin turning into a smirk. He'd been using that nickname for you since you'd known him, claiming he liked the way it made you flustered.
You'd taken that for what it was, chosen to remain selectively oblivious every time he used it and your heart gave a funny flitter in response.
"I've missed you," Jesper spoke into the silence. "Kaz has had me swept up in jobs and—"
You accidentally cut Jesper off with a nod. He'd been swept up in jobs for Kaz, you'd been swept up trying to graduate from university in one piece as midterms approached and your workload grew more by the day. A literature degree, as it turned out, was not all that you hoped it would be. It wasn't anything short of difficult and it was nothing if not occasionally mildly inconvenient.
"I've missed you more," you said. "Academia, especially in lit, is not easy. I regret this degree sometimes. Miss the jobs, the thrill of it."
Jesper laughed. "Ah, so you miss the jobs more than me?"
You shook your head. Jesper was your best friend, the guy who you'd been in love with since you enrolled in at Ketterdam University and met him in your first week. The jobs may have been worth it because of the money, but ultimately, jobs be damned.
You'd gotten the degree so that you wouldn't be reliant upon crime-based income as it were after having lived as a member of the Dregs for nearly a year and a half when you'd enrolled. But, there was a part of you that knew you'd happily give the degree up if it meant you never had to go more than a week without seeing Jesper, without hearing his jokes and responding to his quips with wit quicker than a blade.
"Never," you said. "I've missed you like hell, though. Seriously. I've missed you much it's not even funny."
Jesper laughed as he lit the candle, and an easy conversation went on. Jesper discussed the job that he'd just been on, and in turn, you discussed the mundanities of university life.
"I came round to talk about something," Jesper said after a few moments had passed, taking a sip of his tea absentmindedly. You took a sip of yours, dread filling you from head to toe.
"Anything good?" You asked.
"Depends on if you feel the same way," Jesper said, a nervous laugh prickling at the end of his sentence. "I uh—silences have never really been my forte, as you've been able to guess. I don't know when it happened, but we've known each other so long and it just kind of did, and I understand if you don't—"
A grin spread on your face before you could stop it. "Are you in love with me, Jesper Fahey?"
"Am I that easily read?" Jesper asked.
You grinned, shrugging. "I've loved you since I saw you at the Boeksplein on my first day at campus," you said. "I saw you and I just thought that—"
Jesper blinked. He'd recalled turning, meeting your gaze and silently recognizing you when he saw you maybe a week and a half later at the Slat, brandy in hand as you poured over something from your course load. He remembered striking a conversation about it, too.
"I watched you take notes on the book you were reading for a classic lit division my first night at the Slat," Jesper recalled. "I remember. I approached, started a conversation, and I fell in love almost right off the bat. It was the brandy that got me, I think. Brandy shows good taste."
You laughed a bit as Jesper came to sit to your right. "That night?" You asked. "I looked a mess that night, and you fell in love with me then?"
"You didn't look a mess," Jesper disagreed. You remembered that night in near perfect detail. You'd been wearing a Ketterdam University jumper that all first years got in the welcome kits they were given at the campus entrance, a maroon colored one with gray sweatpants. Your hair was a mess from running your hands through it so much, your fingertips stained with ink by the time that Jesper had approached.
"I absolutely did, Jes," you disagreed.
Jesper thought on it for a few moments. "All right," he said. "I concede. You looked a mess."
You nodded your agreement.
"But you were quite the mess that day," Jesper said. "The sight of you sent me into a gay panic that Inej made fun of me over, and I think right then I would've given my left lung just to kiss you."
You laughed, resting your forehead against his shoulder.
"I really would've," Jesper said. "Still would, I think."
"You don't have to give anything up to kiss me," you said. "The feeling is mutual, seriously."
Jesper grinned, and you pulled your forehead off his shoulder, standing and setting the to-go mug of tea you held onto your dresser. Jesper did the same, and then you both were leaning in.
"May I?" Jesper asked.
You grinned, nodding as your arms came to rest on either of his shoulders where his wrapped around your waist. "Jesper, I have waited for you to kiss me for four years. Please do."
And then his lips were on yours and you were so happy that it felt almost earth shattering, contentment flowing through you like it never had.
He pulled away, grinning. "I love you," he whispered, lips still ghosting yours. "I have loved you as long as I've known you."
"Ditto," you whispered, and he was laughing, and your lips were on his again and you were so content that it was almost dizzying.
You spent the remainder of the night in each others company, the both of you exchanging kisses and talking in the light of the moon. You felt like your life was perfect, and you wouldn't've had it any other way
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groovycatanime · 9 months
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There's not a lot of headcanons for Jesus Burgess's family or backstory (in fact, I don't think there are ANY), so I'm going to share some ideas that I've been playing with in my head for a while.
Burgess' parents died when he was really young, so his grandmother, or his 'Abuela' took him in and took care of him all his childhood.
Abuela was a small, sweet and caring old lady, pretty much your typical grandmother, but she was also very fierce and tenacious woman, who was a lot stronger than she appeared, traits that passed on to her grandson.
When Burgess was growing up, he was a bit mischievous (which is likely to be an understatement...) and liked to get into fights with anyone or anything he locked eyes on! Whether it be the town bullies, the drunks from the local bar or a wild animal he happened to come upon, Burgess would fight them!
As expected, this usually got him in a great deal of trouble, which was often reported to Abuela. If the fight Burgess had was with someone who Abuela perceived as troublesome, like the bullies or the drunks, she'd let him get away with it. If it were an innocent child, adult or wild animal, then she'd let him have it! And Abuela is not someone who you want to make angry!!! (She was probably one of the few, if not the only person in town, who could kick Burgess' ass)
Burgess' fighting spirit didn't grow weaker as he got older, which is what a lot of adults in his hometown hoped; it just got stronger, and soon, he was pretty much one of the strongest men in town! Burgess had also been doing his best to not pick fights with every rando he came upon, but he still managed to start fights with some people, though the town was pretty used to it as this point. And the law pretty much thought, "As long as he doesn't kill anyone..."
Now, what drove Burgess to piracy? (I took some inspiration from the backstory of Salvador, a character from Borderlands 2)
So basically, Burgess was pretty much minding his own business in town (a rare thing), and he encounters a fancily dressed person he had never met in town before and decides to challenge them to a fight. To his surprise, the stranger agrees, but he tells Burgess that if he wins, he has to give up all the valuables he has, not just on his person, but in GENERAL, which would include whatever his grandmother possessed.
Burgess, not wanting to put his Abuela through that sort of turmoil, fights the hardest he had ever fought in his life! And he wins! BUT his opponent was not pleased by the outcome of the fight, since apparently, he had a reputation of being a fighting victor where he came from and felt humiliated by his defeat by Burgess, who in his mind, was just a nobody. Burgess pays no heed to the man's frustrations and just goes about his business, thinking the man's anger won't amount to anything harmful.
However, later in the week, the loser, accompanied by several men, go to Abuela's house in an attempt to rob the place as payback against Burgess for his victory. Abuela fights back as best she can, and eventually, Burgess catches wind of it and rushes to her aid, where they successfully fight off the men and restrain the loser. Abuela would've preferred to turn the man in to the local police, but Burgess, enraged that the loser had dared to harm his Abuela, kills the man out of anger. Unfortunately, that proves to be a GRAVE mistake.
Apparently, the loser was not only a popular fighter, but was also from a VERY rich family, who was NOT pleased that Burgess had killed him. Burgess was taken to court, where the reasons for his crimes were explained and the trial went like this at some point:
Judge: Mr. Jesus Burgess, you brutally killed a man of noble birth! Have you anything to say for your actions?
Burgess: He was trying to kill my Abuela!!!
Judge: I know that, but is there anything else you want to say?
Burgess: ...it was fun?
In the end, the punishment for Burgess was either exile or a life sentence in prison, and since Burgess didn't like the idea of being in a cage all his life, he decided to leave his island and have his fights elsewhere, much to his Abuela's dismay.
It would be a couple of weeks later, when he's picking fights on a random island in the South Blue, that he encounters Blackbeard...
So then you must wonder, what happened to Abuela while Burgess was gone? Well, she probably worried about whether he was okay or not, which increased when he got his first bounty poster, like any good grandmother would do. And I have two ideas for what became of her at the present point in the story. One's happy and funny, the other...not so much.
For the happy and funny idea, Burgess gets a wild hair and decides to go to his home island to see how she's doing and brings some of the crew along to meet her. Some of his crewmates, like Augur, try to suggest that this may be a bad idea, but Burgess doesn't listen.
Once in the town, he spots her:
Burgess: ABUELA!!!
Abuela, seeing him and gasping: BURGESS?!
Burgess, starts running towards her: ABUELA!!!
Abuela, starts running towards Burgess: BURGESS!!!
Burgess, still running: ABUELA!!!
Abuela, pulling off one of her sandals: BURGESS!!!
Burgess: Abuela?
Abuela, holding up his bounty poster: BURGESS!!!!!!
Burgess, starts to turn around: OH MIERDA! AUGUR, YOU WERE RIGHT! SHE WASN'T HAPPY TO SEE ME! GET ME OUTTA HERE!
But Augur and the rest of his friends have disappeared and Burgess, despite his possession of the Buff-Buff fruit, once again gets his ass beat by his angry Abuela.
Once Abuela had calmed down, she invites Burgess and his friends to her home for tamales and pastelitos, where she delights them with stories of Burgess' childhood (much to Burgess' embaressment).
Now, as we manga readers know, Burgess's face is now half-metal, and Abuela does ask how that happened, and Burgess is more than happy to answer. Afterwards, Abuela asks Blackbeard if he's willing to recruit the elderly into his crew...
And then a brief idea of a scene in the battle of the Straw Hats and Allies against the Blackbeard pirates would go:
Sabo, staring off into the distance: why is that little old lady running at me with a sandal???
Abuela, raises sandal up: THIS IS FOR HURTING MY GRANDSON!!!
Sabo: WHAT?! You're grandson?! Who's your grandson?
Burgess, whistles, getting Sabo's attention, and points to himself, grinning: It's me. I'm her grandson.
Sabo, looking back at Abuela: Oh fu-.
So, yeah, fun times for Sabo. (On a different note, I feel like Abuela and Dadan would get along GREATLY. They'd have a LOT to talk about!)
Now for the not-so-happy idea (hate me if you feel sad)
Burgess is doing pirate things on the seas, when by some odd chance he comes across someone from his old town who's working on a trade ship the crew happened to be pillaging.
The neighbor recognizes Burgess and informs him that last he saw his Abuela, she wasn't doing well. She had gotten sick with something and had trouble recovering.
Burgess, horrified to hear this, takes Doc Q and goes straight home to the South Blue, hoping to help her and maybe take her back to Fullalead with him.
Unfortunately, he arrives just in time to see her freshly marked grave...
Burgess being Burgess tries to play her death off as no big deal ("Well, I guess that's fate, like Augur would say, or bad luck, like you would say, Doc!), but deep down, he is HURTING. He feels a lot of guilt for not checking in on her, which increases when he learns from his neighbors that she had worried about him a lot when he started becoming a notorious pirate, which likely led to her illness.
Some neighbors phrase this in a way that it makes it seem like her death is Burgess' fault and that he should've never gotten into trouble and gone into exile back then, because who knows, maybe his Abuela would still be alive, and for a time, Burgess agrees...
But eventually, he turns his grief over her death into determination, using his pain to motivate himself to help Blackbeard become the GREATEST pirate in all the world! And maybe make his own strength and winning-streak well-known around the world, too, to show his Abuela, who he was sure was still watching him, didn't raise Burgess for him to amount to being a nobody!
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etrefleurbleues · 2 months
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"It's Louis, right?" Altena isn't quite sure how to approach the student that managed to take her down. She was impressed with his strength and his resolve but she was impressed, too, with the bonds he shared with his teammates. Part of her would like to tell him. Would like to share exactly how moved she'd been watching.
But that feels far too intimate and too personal.
Instead, she aims for a different approach stumbling awkwardly over her words as she makes an attempt at being sort of friendly. "That shield you had out there was pretty neat. I've thought about training with one while I'm here but I didn't realize they could be so effective against magic."
altena ! a valiant fighter. her bravery was most notable, although, her throwing arm was something fierce. for every blow she struck, it was as if she had never lost even the slightest of energy. with every hoist of the axe backwards, louis was always certain she would strike ( and that it would honestly hurt ! ). "yes, indeed, louis! altena, no? a pleasure."
but that is a draw to louis. her passion for combat, her determination to win. what a wonderful thing it is, to spar with those he would have never met prior, to learn of their stories through their blades alone. maybe he had begun to understand kagetsu ever so slightly - but not so much to get stronger, but rather, see what motivates them to fight.
at her word, he hoists up his hexlock shield, leaning it towards her to hold. "you are more than welcome to try it for size," at that, he slightly spins it, revealing to her the inner arm-strap. "you slip your forearm beneath here, and grab onto the metal bar here. the start of getting used to a new shield makes it quite difficult to aim against incoming attacks, but then it becomes a second flesh!"
he points towards the loosening and tightening bands. "you see, mages are quite troublesome to me. they rip through my armor like butter. but this shield is rather useful for that. why, it is particularly useless for melee attacks, but..." a laugh weaves into his words. he speaks to altena as if she is already his friend. "that is why i have my armor, in the end."
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jade-byrd · 7 months
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Launch || Ruby Red
Caged. It wasn't so different to how he felt his whole life, but now, in the physical form, it made his heart beat a little faster. He caught on quick, always on alert, and began to look for the key to his lock as soon as the countdown started. He couldn't say for certain what would happen once the gong sounded, but he could tell it wouldn't be good, and the last thing he'd need was to be stuck within these metal bars.
Once he'd checked the ground beneath him, and surveyed the top of the cage, he spotted the X and twisted the iron to reveal the key. Ezra slipped the key into the padlock and opened it, glancing around him to make sure nobody else was watching - he'd worked it out, but maybe others hadn't, and he was not about to help any of his competition, not even the few allies he might have made.
This was it, the bloodbath, the chaotic fight between twenty four tributes who all wanted to win the ultimate prize-- life. This is where Arlo had lost out, where a knife entered his chest and his last breath was taken. He thought back to that day, as the family watched in horror, and it only spurred him on, ready to run, or swim, by the looks of it, ready to survive unlike his brother, ready to break the bad luck that the McCoy's endured only once.
He was a good swimmer, of course. The academy had a pool, a good cardio work out, up and down, up and down, lap after lap until he couldn't breathe. This was different though, the water wasn't still, it was cold and irregular. He got to the cornucopia quickly regardless, pulled himself up and instantly went towards the weapons.
The boy from six appeared almost out of nowhere. He tried to sneak past, grab the first item he could, but Ezra was faster. He grabbed him from behind, big hand around his small neck. He turned him, so that they could look into each other's eyes-- his grandfather had always taught him to respect his opponent, look them in the eyes before you make your kill, see that they are human like you. It might have sounded counter-productive, but Ezra understood now. The McCoy's weren't cowards, they weren't murderers because they enjoyed it, they were victors, and this was just part of it. As he snapped Colm's neck and the life drained from his body, Ezra's stomach flipped, but in almost an instant he realised he was one life closer to winning and that was the goal-- to win. He dropped the boy like a sack of potatoes and moved on, eyeing up the fishing line.
His hand reached it first, but the silly girl from nine went to take it from him anyway. He knocked her over with an easy push, and as she tried to scramble to to her feet, he stood over her. He could let her go, he'd got what he wanted, and she was harmless, shaking in her boots under him. But letting her go didn't make any sense, she had to die eventually, if he was to be crowned victor. Why prolong it? Why waste time?
He leaned down, cupped her face in his hand, holding her cheeks tight so that her face was squashed under his grip. He gave it a second, a muffled sob escaping her mouth before he used all his strength to bash her head off the wooden structure beneath her. He waited, to see if she'd move, blood pouring from her nose almost instantly. Ezra let her head go, and it fell to the side, lifeless. His stomach flipped again, but this time not as harshly, and he stepped over her, stashing the fishing line into his pocket.
This was it, the bloodbath over. And he'd made it out. No knife in his chest, two kills under his belt. He brought his wrist up to his mouth and kissed the ruby charm on the bracelet to let him know he was thinking of him, a moment of sincerity before he looked ahead, squinting to see if he could spot Mars or Helios, unconsciously doing his best to avoid a run in with Slate or Callisto.
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decimatlas · 1 year
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@htsdfferent and I are in our DnD era :D
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And suddenly... an ambush broke out – over the music, the laughs, the clinking of glasses full of mead. None of them had seen it coming. Brock had been grabbed from behind – by his hair, head slammed into the bartop. It didn't take long for the rest of the party to spring into action – Eden had already slammed the full weight of her body against the culprit, sending him crashing into the wall; she holds the tip of her dagger underneath his chin, barking demands, questions at him. But the fight was not yet over – in fact, they soon found they were outnumbered. Where the hell did all of these people come from, and why were they so... angry?
Chelsea swings her axe at the assailants, and Noah has already jumped onto the counter and started releasing arrows into the crowd – perfectly aimed, of course. But that didn't mean civilians weren't screaming and running about, throwing themselves under tables and using chairs as shields.
❛ Where's the princess?! ❜ Brock shouts above the noise, though he's occupied himself – sword drawn and clashing against another's. ' I don't fucking know where that spoiled brat is! ' Ah, Eden. Ever-eloquent.
As quickly as the ambush began, it dies down. Of course – the heroes remain victorious. As soon as the tavern quiets ( a pin could drop ) – Brock scans the crowd. Then, he sees her. Princess Olympia, seated at the bar. Unscathed.
❛ Are you okay?! ❜  Brock calls out, stepping over a body, or two, to get to her. She's seated beside a rather gruff-looking man – Brock actually remembers throwing a punch at him just before. He's already back up? What is he doing with her?
It's as if he reads his mind – because the man speaks. ' Fair maiden here promised us some gold if we could take you out. Was worth a shot. ' Brock turns his head back towards the princess with great speed after hearing that response, and Princess Olympia simply gives him a sheepish grin. ' I was bored and thought it'd be good entertainment. I knew you'd win. ' And Brock simply... stares, in disbelief. ❛ You were... what? ❜  Before the princess can explain further, Eden appears, mouth full of blood – and she spits it at her. ' Oh, fuck you. '
And where are Noah and Chelsea, in all this? Noah interrupts their conversation with a shout – one of urgency, one that sent a chill down Brock's spine. So he turns and follows the sound of Noah's voice – Eden and Olympia trailing behind.
His stomach drops when he sees why Noah had called them so urgently.
Chelsea.
She holds her stomach, taking in sharp breaths and nursing a nasty wound. And as the panic sets in Brock's chest, rage bubbles in his stomach. Bored. Entertainment. Chelsea was bleeding on the floor of a shitty, dirty tavern deep in the Northern reaches of the kingdom for entertainment.
Brock drops to the floor and takes Chelsea's face in his hands. ❛ Hey. Hang in there. Okay, Chels? We'll patch you up. ❜
He moves her hair away from her sweat-coated forehead before standing back up again. Every instinct in him aches to stay by Chelsea's side, tend to her – but he has some business to take care of first.
And that business is none other than fucking Princess Olympia.
So absurd. They came all this way – put their lives on the line to save her... for this? ❛ Are you out of your fucking mind?! ❜ Brock's voice raises as he storms over to her. The tavern once again falls silent. Any chattering immediately comes to a stop. ❛ We busted our asses to get you here, and this is what you do?! ❜   If it was possible for Olympia to sink into the floor – she'd be doing that right now. Instead, she tries to seek shelter behind Eden, who shoves her right back out, in front of Brock.
❛ We should just fucking leave you here! Let you find your own way back! See how long you'd last without us! ❜  This – of course – sends Olympia into a spiral. ' I'm sorry. I am so sorry, Brock. Please forgive me. I didn't mean it... I... don't know what I was thinking. I... love you? ' Very convincing performance. Not.
❛ Oh, save it. ❜  Brock scoffs, holding a hand up. He can't believe he made everyone come all this way – risk their lives fighting – all to save... her. What the hell was he thinking? There was a time he thought he was going to marry her... for shallow reasons, albeit. And sure, she was nice to look at, but at what cost? His best friend, bleeding out on the floor?
And as soon as he's done reaming the princess ( she's crying, now, very obviously feigning remorse ) – Brock is right back on the floor, giving Noah a pat on the shoulder before he begins to fish through his bag of holding. ❛ I've got you, Chels. Lemme... clean you up. And then we'll get that wrapped up, okay? ❜ 
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spooksandshxtguns · 2 years
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“Will you tell me how it happened?”
Oh the things she put herself through for the sake of the ones she cared for. The gig had been so smooth, venue was great, hell even the after party was fun, until it wasn't. She'd stepped outside for a mere moment to catch a breath of fresh air and a smoke and walked into some intoxicated hardass making bets with his friend. Normally she would have paid it no mind, wouldn't have even batted an eye any other night. Though, for whatever reason, she'd decided to listen in for the hell of it only to hear the beer drowned bastard say something about being able to pick a fight with Johnny and 'win'. Thought he could just walk right up to the rocker and clock him square in the jaw and walk away unscathed. Sure, because that would have ended well for this guy..
She knew damn well Johnny could have flattened this guy with the flick of his pinky, but he was celebrating, having a good time. If she knew why just let it happen and risk an unnecessary bar brawl? So she interjected. Apparently these two didn't appreciate her two cents on the topic and blocking their path. Kar was going to pick the peaceful route, talk them out of it or even just give Johnny a heads up, but things didn't work out that way. One of them had gripped her arm and started shoving, so she retaliated. Though they had thrown their fair share of hits, she'd gotten her own in as well, one of them ending up with their head knocked into the wall. Thankfully the scrap didn't last, too, long, someone walking past the alleyway yelling down it due to the ruckus and pair hobbling off before security or something was called.
By the end of the whole ordeal, she was too pissed off and a bit too roughed up to just waltz back into the bar like nothing happened. Deciding to say screw it, she took a moment to breathe and shoot Johnny a text, a simple something came up and she was headed back to the hotel. No need to spoil his good time. She hadn't even bothered hopping in a shower yet, taking more to sitting out on the curb in the cool air holding her sleeve to both her lip and under her nose to try and stop any bleeding, the smell and taste of iron weighing heavy in her nostrils and on her tongue. She'd finally managed to calm herself down in the quiet, until his voice shattered the silence making her jump. Hadn't expected him back for a while, let alone for him to approach.
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"Just some assholes thinking they're tough shit.." Was all she mumbled into her forearm, keeping her face to the ground to avoid looking at him.
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8bitscarlet · 3 years
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Witchcraft
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Summary: You've found yourself falling deeper into a certain witch's spell. But no matter how strong the magic is, it seems that the two of you just keep missing each other.
Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Reader
Genre/Warnings: Angst/Fluff (minor cussing)
Word Count: 3.5k
A/N: This is a fic for @marvelxreaderfanfictionfest writing exchange. This one is for @mrsromanoff and the prompt: "I can't keep kissing strangers and thinking they're you." Hope you like it!
*please do not repost or translate my material or claim as yours.*
________________
You never thought your three month assignment with the Avengers would've extended as long as it has. Missions went by with minimal injuries and maximum wins. You found yourself settling well into the chaos of the compound; the echoing boasts of Thor, the competitive edge of Danvers and the snark between Romanoff and Stark. When your three months were up, it wasn't a surprise to anyone that you immediately signed the contract from Stark, an official placement on the team.
Despite all of the alien blasters, Hydra experiments and Tony's benefit parties, nothing could've prepared you for a single person to rock your world. It started innocently enough; stolen glances at meals and ensuring you two were on the same mission team. As time continued, things turned less innocent; sneaking off during charity balls to suck face in the broom closet, you could recall a few times you were nearly caught in the back of the Quinjet. There was something about this woman. The way her fingers slithered through your hair, how those green eyes made your heart say yes, she stripped you bare.
You had convinced yourself it was witchcraft. It had to be.
Sitting with your cheek pressed against your fist, you find yourself doodling as Steve drones on in the background. Someone nudges you and as you turn, Wanda raises her brows when your eyes connect. With a groan, you raise the pen in your hand. Steve notices, stopping his spiel to look at you with a clenched jaw.
"With all due respect, Cap, we all got in at four this morning. Do we need a recap of the mission right now?"
Steve sighs, glancing at everyone and seeing them agreeing with you. You all had barely had time to unpack, let alone write your after action reports.
"Alright, Y/N. We'll go over how your pants tore mid-fight on Monday."
You point your pen at him, warning him as you watch his stupid smile fill his face. Bucky slaps your shoulders in gratitude, picking up Alpine onto his shoulders as he strides out to find Sam. Wanda's fingers gently brush yours as you walk side by side, sending an electric charge through your body.
"You know, when someone says 'with all due respect,' they really mean, 'kiss my ass'." Wanda glances at you with a sly smile.
Walking backwards towards the couch, you outstretch your arms with a grin, "Because that's what I meant, darling."
Chuckling, you roll over the back of the couch and plop down onto the cushions, your head landing perfectly on a pillow. Wanda lets out a scoff, knowing how many times it's taken you to actually land on the cushion and not the floor.
Flipping through the pages of her book, you watch her through half-closed eyes. A year ago you'd be asking what she was reading. A year ago, she'd curl up with you and explain it all. A year ago, you didn't have guilt eating at you.
Things a year ago were more than good between you. There might have even been a chance beyond friends with benefits. You knew you wanted that. Every time you looked at her, you couldn't stop your pounding heart or the warmth that grew in your stomach.
But you were stupid.
Chickening out every chance you had to ask her on an actual date rather than sneaking around to make her moan. You both had set ground rules, no strings attached. If it got too messy, you both had to call it quits. So, you convinced yourself it was better to quietly love her and keep her, than to tell the truth and lose her.
That was before the year long mission with Carol and Bucky. Before you realized how big of a mistake it was two months in. Before every day texts and video chats diminished to every other week, then every other month. Before you got back to the compound and saw her kissing up on some random benefactor at the Welcome Home Party. It was definitely before she started dating that walking toaster, Vision.
Luckily, he hadn't been around much the past month so watching them kiss and stare into each other's eyes was doable, mostly because you turned whenever you saw that stupid spark plug.
Four months since coming home, you've tried to fill the void the witch had created in your body, your soul. You went out with Carol and Bucky, prowling the town and the bar. Matching shot for shot some nights, waking up in random apartments other nights. Eventually Bucky did what you never did.
He asked Sam on a date and that left you and Carol. Until she started hooking up with Maria and dragged her along so you wouldn't be hitting the bars alone. You had made yourself a pity case.
"Do you need something?" Wanda cocks a brow at you, making a face at your prolonged staring.
You clear your throat, feeling the heat rush through your face, "You look a little sunburnt."
With a shrug and a chuckle, Wanda bookmarks her page as she places it down on the coffee table. Standing, she sits down on the couch, your body automatically scooting over to accommodate her. Holding out her red and glowing hand, you watch her pull off her rings, displaying the radiating tan lines running up and down her fingers. A laugh escapes you as you feel her hand slap against your chest.
"I didn't have anyone to put sunscreen on me!" She groans, "It burns!"
You guide your finger gently down her exposed arm, pressing in slightly to her warm skin. As you lift, you see the true color of her skin before it's bombarded with the glowing red of her burn. Glancing up, her green eyes watch you carefully, both of you not acknowledging the weight of her hand still on your chest.
"An aloe vera massage would do wonders," You whisper, "And I'm all out."
With a roll of her eyes, she leans back into your legs, "You really are a pain in my ass, y'know? When I tell people about you, that's the first thing I say."
Watching her float the remote to her awaiting hand, you grin, "Oho, so you're telling people about me, huh?"
"Please, check the ego there."
For the next moment, the two of you sit peacefully in each other's silence. Wanda was one who clung to those she trusted. When you came back, it was like she had superglued herself to you any time you walked into the room. It didn't help that you were still madly in love and she was taken.
Right now though, you watch her delicate fingers play with yours. Her eyes squinting with laughter as she watches her sitcoms, glancing to see if you're laughing as well.
A commercial echoes through the living room and Wanda lets out a sigh for attention, patting your thigh as she drops your hand. You don't move it as it lands atop her thigh, only gently stroke your thumb against the silky skin you wish could press against yours. Letting out a noise that you're both awake and paying attention to her, she glances over at you.
"Since you got Captain America to actually give us a free weekend, what's your plan tonight, casanova?"
You shrug, "I have early training with Bucky and-."
Wanda moves her whole body to face you, your hand slipping from her thigh as confusion spreads across her face. She lets out an unbelieving scoff,
"You're joking. You used to show up half drunk to training and still kick ass."
She's watching you carefully and you try to keep a neutral look on your face, she knows all of your quirks. Glancing up at her with a small grin, you pull your legs into you. Shifting yourself, you sit properly on the couch and run your hands through your hair.
"Just don't want to go out tonight. It's boring." You chuckle, trying to swallow the lump in your throat.
Wanda rolls her eyes, "Why, no one catches your eye anymore?"
Another playful nudge and you sigh. All this playful teasing, these light touches. She has to know what she's doing.
Trying to keep a steady and nonchalant shrug, you shake your head,
"No one out there."
And you might've gotten away with it. Instead, you fell into the magnetic pull of those green eyes that cause you so much trouble. As your eyes land on hers, you can see the dilation within her pupils. Then the realization across her face. Her playful grin falls as she stares at you, blinking slowly.
"Y/N," She says slowly, "If you're doing what I think-."
You stand up quickly, your feet taking you to the other end of the coffee table. In two days you'll be gone and you'll be back in the place you hate being in right now. Placing your hands on your waist, you look up from your tapping foot.
"Wanda, I can't keep kissing strangers and thinking they're you."
Silence meets your face. You watch her as she slowly nods at you, "That's exactly what you're doing."
Groaning, she slides her fingers through her hair, pinning it from her face. Wanda lets out a careful breath before looking up at you, "What happened to no strings?"
Slapping your hands against your thighs in frustration, you let out a scornful chuckle, "Come on, Wanda. You know those rules were bullshit! No strings means not going on exclusive trips to museums and restaurants!" You watch her eyes flicker around the room, trying to find a way to disprove what you're saying. "It means not staying up all night when the other is sick!"
Wanda stands up quickly and you can see the look on her face, she knows what you're getting to. Waving her hand to get you to shut up, she tries to get to the stairs but your words blurt from your mouth,
"It means not falling in love!"
Her feet stop carrying her towards the stairs, her body frozen in the middle of the compound. Carefully, you step towards her, leaning ever so slightly to try and catch her eyes. They're glazed over from your confession, trying to understand the implications.
"I left. I..." You suck in a shaky breath, "I thought it would be easier if I wasn't here. You were so adamant about no strings, Wands. I broke the only rule, why would I stay?"
Her head jerks back at your words, her brows furrowing deeply down her face. Without another second to keep talking, Wanda's feet pivot as she shoots a finger into your face. You jerk away from her advance, seeing the growing mist within her eyes as she shouts,
"That's why you left?"
The crack in her voice sends one through your heart.
She turns quickly, her hands violently wiping at the tears that have broken free. You clench your brows. She's angry at you? You're the one who's had to watch her prance around with Vision, you just a memory of romance. Just before she can grab her bag and leave, you call out,
"Well, you seem to have fared better than me!"
As the words leave your lips, you bite down hard and shut your eyes. A surprised choke exits Wanda's throat as she throws her purse back onto the side table, knocking over the decorative bowl of rocks. They scatter across the ground but she doesn't notice, all of her rage is pointing at you. Her fingers run violently through her auburn hair, looking like she wants to rip it out.
"You are infuriating!" She jabs a fingers at you, "Why think that?! Because I'm dating Vision? He's filling a void, dumbass!"
Her words stab into you as her stomps draw nearer, you can feel the heat of her anger. She's not done, she's not letting you off easy.
"Every time he touches me, every time he kisses me. God, Y/N! All I can see is your dumb face."
Wanda's heavy breath washes over you as she finally stops her assault, so close you can see the blue in her green eyes. Her body radiates out to you and you have to force your hands into your pocket to not grab her and kiss her. Your eyes dip to her lips but you see sadness that has quickly replaced the facade of anger. Making a small fist, she slams it into your chest as her head bows. Her arm slides down your body, hanging limply at her side as she looks to you.
"Why didn't you talk to me?"
Wanda's fingers twitch forward, wanting to grab onto you. You sigh, taking your hands from your pockets and resting them on your waist. Your confession was supposed to be more romantic than this. Instead, you brought up issues you both were trying to ignore. You were angry now at yourself, taking it all out on the person you loved. You'd spent too long with all of this pent up emotion though, and it was all pouring out in waves.
"I have to finish my requisition forms. Get my gear ready."
You don't have to look up to know what face Wanda is making at you. It's the same face she had when you left the first time. The way her brows clenched together in disbelief, the pain behind her reddened eyes that threatened to spill more tears, how her chin trembled as she tried to breathe.
Her voice barely passes a whisper but standing so close, you hear every broken syllable, "You're leaving again."
You sigh, rubbing your throbbing temples as you feel your nose stuff up.
"You drop all of that on me and you're just going to turn around and leave?"
Shaking your head, you want this conversation to end. It's obvious where she is and it's not next to you.
"Don't you have a date or something?" You ask.
Wanda's been around you too long to not see exactly what you're doing. She lets out a chuckle, a lethal look in her eyes.
"No, you're right. And that date seems a hell of a lot better than this." Without another word, she snatches her purse from the table and starts to climb the stairs, leaving your feet frozen. Just as she reaches the middle of the staircase, she stops. You can feel her stare burning into you and as you look her way, you wish you hadn't.
"You're a coward."
Those words burn into your brain, rising through your ears and torture you for the rest of the day. The only thing you could think to do was slam your fists into the closest thing. The punching bags. People came and went, eyeing you try and punch away your frustrations to no avail. When the sun finally had sunk below the horizon, one Avenger had enough of your pity party.
"You know she's right." A voice comes from behind you.
You don't respond to them, just dodge the swaying bag. They walk into the room, stopping just inside of your peripheral.
"You're an idiot, you know."
With a chuckle, you sidestep the bag, "You need to be a little more specific."
"You're losing her again."
Another punch, "Uh huh."
Carol sighs next to you, "And you sent her away on her date."
"Yup."
She steps in front of the bag, stopping its movement and stares at you with determination in her eyes, "And you're not going after her?"
Avoiding her stare, you start to unwrap your hands, wiping at the sweat that pours down your face. Stopping, you can feel the cramp in your side and the throbbing of your knuckles. Chucking the wrap, you let out a shrug,
"Is there a point?"
Carol shoves the bag into you, grabbing your attention, "I am not going on another mission with you while you sulk. Do you know you talk in your sleep? Yeah. Guess what name I heard that whole year?"
You shake you head, licking your chapped lips as you search for water, "She didn't say it back."
You hear an exasperated chuckle from Carol, "Y'know Y/N, I'm going to go on a limb and say she wasn't expecting all of that to be thrown in her face."
Shooting her a glare, she keeps talking, "I'm saying this once. If you think this is going to be some cheesy Rom-Com where she bursts through those doors and confesses her love, you're more of an idiot than I thought." A finger jabs hard into your chest as you grimace, "You need to fix this."
Carol leaves you there with your head filled with more thoughts than before. Wanda was happy with Vision wasn't she? She hadn't talked about him much but you knew she had to be. Who were you to go and screw that up?
Night turned into morning and after staring up at your ceiling, you knew you weren't getting any sleep.
Sneaking down the stairs, you see everyone is still asleep. You take the opportunity to sit in more silence and wait for the coffee machine to finish steaming. The sun was just beginning to shine its red hues into the kitchen as you stood at the counter, twirling your empty mug. Lost in thought, you failed to hear the padding of feet coming down the stairs.
"I thought you had early training."
With a quiet chuckle, you lean into the counter, "You caught me."
In silence, you watch the witch pour in her coffee. The same amount of creamer and sugar every time, the same motions every morning since you've noticed her. Turning, she sees your mindless fingers twisting and turning your empty mug. Wanda raises her brows and holds out her hand,
"Refill?"
You hand over the mug and watch her work her magic on the black liquid, turning it into the caramel drink you love. Breathing in deeply, you watch the bubbles swirl around the liquid. You furrow your brows,
"I can never make mine taste-."
"We broke up."
Her words slam into you, your breath catching inside of your throat. Looking up, Wanda stands there in the middle of the kitchen, unsure if she had truly spoken or not. She looks up at you, her mouth closing as she realizes she doesn't know what she's doing.
"What? Wands, are you okay?" You start to stand to go and comfort her, you know they had a date yesterday. Did the son of a microwave hurt her?
Wanda's hand rises, stopping you in your tracks before she takes a quiet breath, "We broke up almost a month ago, Y/N."
Nodding at your obliviousness, you knock your knuckles against the counter as you press your lips into a thin line, "We're both liars then."
"Tell me you lied about the mission," She whispers, leaning into the counter. Her fingers laying gently across yours.
Your chest constricts as you sigh, "I didn't."
You watch her sullen nod, curling hair falling out of her messy bun as you gently graze your thumb across her knuckles. She quietly chuckles,
"We just missed each other."
Stopping your thumb, you clench your jaw. This isn't going to happen again.
"Wanda," You whisper, listening to the sad hum she gives you as she glances up with bloodshot eyes, "I'm sorry. I was scared and... I was an idiot."
Wanda pats your hand with a loud sniff, "I appreciate it, but-."
She doesn't continue. She doesn't want to believe that you're leaving. The love you feel wouldn't be strong enough to survive that time apart again. There's broken support beams and one thing will send it falling down. A far away mission isn't the nurturing this budding feeling needs.
Wanda tries her best to flash you a grin, "Let me teach you how to make coffee."
Before she can turn, you grab her hand quickly, "I'd prefer if you made it."
As you walk around the counter, you gently rest a hand on her waist, watching her carefully. Her handgrips your arm tightly, words stuttering from her lips as she tries to remind you that she's not going. You're leaving her again.
Without hesitation, you press your lips against hers, feeling her breath wash over you in a sigh. You pull her in tighter, leaning your head back to speak,
"Sam's going stir crazy. He can have it."
A smile tugs at your lips as you see her furrowed brows on her face, you place a kiss at the center of the wrinkles, pulling back to see the scrunching of her nose. A scrunch just for you.
"Wanda Maximoff. I love you. And I'm not losing you twice."
Without warning, her lips smash against your as she wraps her arms around your shoulders as you hoist her up. Wanda's legs wrap around you as both of you are smiling so wide that you can't kiss properly. Feeling her cold hands press gently against your face, you look into those green eyes that complete you life.
"I love you." Wanda whispers as her witchcraft wraps around you once more.
465 notes · View notes
let-them-read-fics · 3 years
Text
Blackpink HC / One Shots: Enemies to Lovers, College AU (2/2)
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Requested: Yes
Warnings / Misc. -- Bickering, Rivalry, Fluff
A/N: Hey everyone! This is the second half of the request, featuring Rosé and Lisa. If you want to see the first part, with Jisoo and Jennie, click the link below. I hope you enjoy!
Click for Jisoo and Jennie
♡ Happy Reading ♡
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
Rosé
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Park Chaeyoung: The girl who hung with the wrong crowd.
Your problem lied more so with the people she associated with than her herself. You couldn't wrap your head around why such a kind person like her would spend time with the class clowns and bullies, and to make matters worse, she would stick up for them as well.
She spent most of her days in either the art or music room, creating the masterpieces that her brain came up with.
But as soon as school was over, she'd be hanging out with them again and getting into trouble. For instance, because of her talents, they would invite her to go with them and graffiti various hot spots around town. She never vandalized any monuments or landmarks of importance -- she typically stuck to bridges or abandoned buildings -- but after getting caught with them multiple times, it was inevitable for her to be held accountable.
She was given a week's detention to make up for her actions
You, coincidentally, had a teacher that absolutely loathed you for no reason at all. No matter how good of a student you were for him, he didn't care; he had a vendetta against you for some reason, and he patiently waited for the opportunity to ruin your day.
You came in literally 10 seconds after the bell rang, putting the breakfast sandwich you stopped to get on the way into your mouth so you could open the door. He was standing at the front with a smug grin on his face, and you already knew what was coming.
You were also given an ungodly sentence of a week's detention.
Turning Point
"If I see you on your phones, I'm taking them." The monitor informs before sitting at the desk, reclining in the chair and putting his feet up soon after. You sigh and lean back in your seat, attempting to find a way to pass the next two hours without getting in trouble. Your eyes scan across the room, eventually landing on Rosé, where she sits a couple rows away from you. Sunlight is streaming in through the window next to her, its golden rays peeking through the breaks in the clouds above to shine on her. She looks gorgeous as she doodles away in her notebook, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear when it falls in front of her face.
After waiting on the monitor to fall asleep and sending one last glance to double check, you quietly stand from your seat and go sit next to her.
You barely know each other, but she's your only hope of remaining sane and occupied.
"Hi," you greet, looking into her eyes.
"Hi," she copies, a tiny smile forming on her lips when she notices your impressed expression upon gazing down at her paper. You have to hand it to her -- she's really talented.
"You're really good," you compliment, still admiring the artistry. Seeing as how you're looking down, you fail to notice the blush that works its way to her cheeks. Coming from you, the simple remark meant a lot to her.
You spend the rest of the day making small talk and getting used to one another, leaving detention later with the hopes of sitting together again.
----
The Next Day
"Hi again," you whisper, glancing over your shoulder to ensure that the coast is clear. The monitor is out like a light, with his mouth hanging open and an obnoxiously loud snore coming out.
"Hi," she giggles, watching as you dive into the floor for cover when the man shifts in his sleep. You thought he was waking up, and if he finds out you moved seats, he'll definitely have something to say about it.
"The coast is clear, cadet," she nods like a soldier, assuring you that it's okay to move back after a minute.
"That was close," you breathe out in relief, glad to live to see another day.
You share a laugh, though it has to be hidden behind your hands and kept a minimum. It's cute though -- like a little secret between the two of you, only for you to know.
"What're you drawing today?" You ask later, laying your chin in your palm as you gaze down at her work. Her reply comes out stuttered at first when she feels your leg innocently brush against hers under the table.
"D-dalgom. My friend's dog." She manages out, mentally smacking herself for looking like a fool.
You smile, thinking she's adorable. "I bet it'll be great," you encourage. She grins back as her eyes scan over your face, committing the memory of you to heart. She's always had a thing for you, ever since the time you were paired up in Biology last semester, so she's been enjoying detention more than she thought she would. Seeing you makes the time go by faster, though ironically, she wishes it would slow down a bit.
You make her feel appreciated for more than just what she's capable of producing, and the divide between you and her friend group is blaringly obvious. They like her because of the rush she can help them achieve; you like her because of her.
That thought persists in her mind for the rest of detention, and before she knows it, the monitor is releasing you again. She bends down to put her notebook in her bag when a thought pops into her mind: she wants to ask if you want to go to the park with her. When she's done zipping her bag up, she looks back up at you, only to find you on your phone, talking to someone.
"Yeah, mom. I'll stop by on the way home. So milk, cereal, ramen, and paper towels, right?"
She watches as you wait for a reply, tucking the phone into the crook of your neck as you move to write the list down on a spare piece of paper.
"Alright, love you, too. See you later." You hang up before looking back at Rosie. She looks a little down, and you have no idea why.
You pause for a moment, silently psyching yourself up for what you're about to ask. "This is gonna sound really strange, but do you want to come with me to the store?"
Her heart's pace increases at that, happy to know that you want to spend more time with her, just as she does with you.
"Actually, yeah. That sounds like fun."
You grin at her before spinning around and doing a little celebratory dance, which wins you a strange look from the monitor. You stick your tongue out at him before grabbing her hand and rushing out of the room, hearing his disapproval shouted after you.
--
"Milk?"
"Check."
"Ramen?"
"Check."
"Cereal?"
"Nope."
You nod at her words, now reminded of what you were forgetting. You push the buggy towards the aisle of cereals, gazing around in wonder at the huge selection. Rosé is just the same, eyeing all of the options like a kid in a candy store. After grabbing your mom's favorite kind, you decide on one for yourself and bring it back to the cart. Rosie scoots her leg over, making room for them beside where she sits, reclined in the cart.
You grin when you see her eyeing a box of fruit loops. Huh; fruity. Go figure.
You wordlessly grab the box and hand it to her, feeling your heart melt when she looks up at you like you hold the key to the universe.
"Thank you, Y/N."
"No problem, Rosie." You say, putting your hands on the bar as you begin pushing the buggy again. "Now, I say we see how long it takes to get to the paper towel aisle. My last record was 30 seconds."
She looks at you, clearly impressed, with her eyebrows raised. Without question, she pulls her phone out and gets the stop watch feature ready to go.
"3...2...1... GO!" She shouts, commanding your legs to start pumping as you race down the long strip of store before you. A couple kids dart out of the way just before getting smacked into, quickly turning around and cheering you on as you charge forward.
Her giggles fill the air as you drift around a corner, shouting apologies to the lady you almost bumped into.
"Sorry ma'am!"
A few seconds later, chest heaving and legs sore, you come to a stop in the aisle, dramatically collapsing in a heap next to the buggy. Rosé checks her phone as she reaches down to poke you.
"22.18 seconds, champ," she declares victoriously, smiling when you magically regain enough energy to stand up and celebrate.
"Woohoo! Team Y/S/N (Your Ship Name) for the win!"
She laughs along at that, joining in on your celebration, but she's blushing like crazy on the inside.
-----
The Last Day Of Detention
Ever since your trip to the store, you and Rosé have grown closer and closer. You traded numbers and text occasionally, though nothing beats having her all to yourself for 2 hours straight with no distractions. She feels the same; when she's in class, she can't wait for the bell to ring and signal your reunion. Part of her wants to get in trouble again, just to see you more often.
So, as you'd expect, it's really no surprise that you're sat right in front of her again, telling jokes and asking about her day. You've grown a bit more bold with every step closer you've taken towards her heart, and now you reach down to intertwine your fingers with hers.
She happily accepts, even bringing your hand up to her lips to press a kiss to the back of it. She smiles against your skin after it, making butterflies take flight in your stomach. She's got you wrapped around her finger, and you don't even try to fight it anymore.
The sound of the classroom door opening alerts you, making her lower your hand. She doesn't let go of you, though, and that fact warms your heart for some reason. The squeaky hinges groan out again as the door opens wider, revealing about 4 or 5 people from the friend group that she hangs out with. They motion for her to sneak out with them, but she just shakes her head.
"Come on, Rosé!" They whisper-scream, offering her a way to freedom. Little do they know that she'd take this imprisonment over freedom any day, so long as you're by her side.
"No! Get out before he wakes up!" She whisper-shouts back, eventually convincing them to leave.
"Why didn't you go?" You ask once they're gone, toying with her fingers as your hands rest on the desk.
"Because I like spending time with you." She admits, letting her defenses down.
"I was hoping you'd say that," you smile, letting her know that you feel the same.
The Fallout
After detention, the two of you walked out of the school, hand in hand
"Would you maybe, I don't know... wanna go to the park with me?" She asks nervously, glancing up at you.
"You read my mind, Rosie." You smile at each other and head towards the parking lot.
You started hanging out more, and she distanced herself from her old crowd
You encouraged her to enroll in your school's art program and show her work that way
"You're really talented; it deserves to be seen."
Your support meant the world to her, and she never failed to let you know
"Thank you, Y/N. Having you behind me means the world to me."
At one of her art shows, where she was tasked with unveiling a new piece that she'd been working on for months, you got the biggest surprise of your life.
She created a mural of you, all decked out with every color of the rainbow, utterly gorgeous
She lit up when she saw your reaction
"This piece is titled 'Mine', which I hope the girl in it will soon be." She says into the microphone, looking at you with hope shining in her eyes.
You nod your head with a smile and walk up to her, pressing your lips to hers in a kiss that was long-overdue. She wraps her arms around your waist, pulling you in closer with her sweater-padded hands and kissing you again and again.
The crowd claps for you, happy to see such an ending.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Lisa
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I couldn't choose between these two gifs so enjoy both for the price of one ^^^
Lisa Manoban: Cocky, smug, and self-assured. The dancer knew she was hot shit, and she wasn't afraid to show off.
You're all for people being confident and happy with themselves, especially when they're talented, but something about Lisa always seemed to rub you the wrong way.
Whether it be her lack of a filter or the arrogant swagger that she naturally exuded, you weren't sure. People wanted to either be her or be with her, but you fell into neither of those categories.
She always left you frustrated in one way or another, whether it be from her teasing or her witty comebacks
The teachers loved her, as did the students. She was the class clown, so her position was pretty sacred in the grand scheme of things
You, on the other hand, irritated her for other reasons. You were the only person she couldn't get to crack; you never gave into her charms, and it infuriated her to no end. She wasn't used to not getting what she wanted (as childish as that may seem) and having you, one of the most attractive girls at school, turn her down? Well that was a massive blow to her ego.
You weren't afraid to say your piece, and that both pleasantly surprised and upset her.
She constantly tried to flirt with you in class, but you knew it was all for the attention. She just wanted to make her friends laugh, which they always did.
"Y/N, come here babe. There's an empty seat next to me," she coos, batting her eyelashes as you walk in the door. It's a free day, so everyone is sitting with their friends, wherever they like.
"I'm good," you decline, deciding to sit against the wall beneath the large window of the classroom.
"Oooo, denied," Lisa's friends laugh at her this time, chuckling harder when she sticks her middle finger up at them.
"Yah, shut up," she says, nursing her bruised ego as she turns around and opens her phone.
You smile as you continue working on the homework you cracked open, scribbling an answer down onto the notebook paper in front of you. Your fingers glide over your textbook in search of the definition of the term you're on, and Lisa secretly watches from afar. Without realizing it, she grins when you light up upon spotting the answer.
Sometimes her flirting does work, though, and you turn into a blushing mess
*whistle* "Damn, Y/N. You're looking fine today," she exclaims, fanning herself. You worry that she doesn't really mean it, but when her eyes remain on you a second too long to just be friendly, you blush. She's taking in all of you, looking impressed all the while.
"Right back at you, Manoban." You wink, sitting down in your seat across the room. She lightly blushes back, though she does a good job of concealing it.
Considering you share a couple classes and the class sizes are relatively small, it was pretty likely that you'd end up paired together eventually
You weren't happy about it, especially not after the way she had acted that week. Her cockiness had been at an all time high as of late, leaving you frustrated and upset. She was so full of herself; all you wanted to do was wipe that stupid smirk off her face.
"Y/N, you'll be paired with Lisa," your photography teacher informs, pushing her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose.
"But Mrs. Ta--"
"Pairings are final," she cocks her head at you, persuading you to give in. With a sigh, you respond, "Yes ma'am," and attempt to ignore the sound of Lisa's friends high fiving each other in celebration.
The Turning Point
"My parents are gone for the rest of the week..." she says, holding the door open for you as you carry in your equipment. A hint of suggestiveness lies in it; she's alluding to exactly what you think she is, and you push her shoulder upon realizing it.
"Knock it off, Manoban."
"Okay, okay," she chuckles, listening to you for once. The surprise is clear on your face.
She leads you towards the backyard, where you set up one of your highest power cameras and turn it on. You have to create a gallery of different photos, all under the same theme. You both agreed to do a time-lapse of the sunset, and take pictures of the stars after.
Once she makes sure that the timer is set correctly and that the auto shut-off feature is enabled, she motions for you to follow her back into the house. You do, and she leads you into the kitchen.
"Do you want a snack?"
"Sure, do you have any ramen?"
She nods, quickly busying herself by bending down and searching through the cabinets. After she finds it, exclaiming a pleased, "Aha!", she tells you to go get comfortable in the living room.
Three minutes later, from your place on the couch, you begin to smell something burning. You scramble up and rush to the kitchen, only to find Lisa running around like a headless chicken, attempting to put out the small fire she started.
"HOW THE HELL DID YOU MANAGE TO BURN RAMEN?" You shout, though your tone isn't angry. You're just very shocked, and loud about it. You push her away from the pot, albeit gently, and get the flames to go down relatively quickly. You turn the burners off and put the pot in the sink, leaning against the counter to recover from the adrenaline rush.
"Oops?" She asks more so that says, with a growing smile evident in her voice.
You shake your head and chuckle despite yourself, turning around to face her. "You can order a pizza now to make up for that." You point a finger at her, grinning stupidly when she presses the tip of hers to it.
"Your wish is my command, princess."
Thankfully you're already walking away as she says that, so she doesn't get the satisfaction of seeing you blush.
---
"Lisa, I can't keep going." You groan out, sweat dripping down your face. The pizza you ate earlier is giving you a stomache ache, paired with the physical activity you're doing.
"Y/N, just a little longer, we're almost there," she huffs out, keeping her movements steady somehow. You're a mess by now, so you don't understand how she's still going.
A couple minutes later, the TV in front of you lights up, saying, "Awesome moves! You win!" as you collapse to the ground in a heap.
Why you agreed to play Just Dance with her after eating is beyond you.
"Good job," she compliments, grabbing your hand to high five herself with it.
"Yeah, yeah," you roll over, catching your breath.
She lays down beside you as you recover, telling jokes to hear that laugh that she loves so much. She prefers yours over anyone elses, so it's always such a reward when she gets you to crack up.
"We should probably head up now," she notes, realizing that the stars will be coming out soon. You agree, and she carefully helps you up.
"Here, I'll carry you," she turns, bending down so you can get on her back.
"Lisa, you can't carry me," you brush off, feeling insecurity bubble up again like it always does when you're offered a piggyback ride.
"Y/N, I promise that I can. Trust me," she reassures, looking into your eyes sincerely.
"Alright," you sigh, standing onto the couch to get on easier.
"See?" She asks, sliding her warm hands up your thighs to keep you secured against her. "I've got you, babe."
You tuck your head into the space between her shoulder and neck, inhaling the sweet scent of her perfume.
"I'm gonna punch you if you drop me," you whisper, feeling her laugh against you.
"Fair enough."
-----
Later, On The Rooftop
"Careful," she instructs, outstretching a hand to help you climb out the window. Her camera hangs around her neck, and she takes the cap off of the lense once you're both safely sitting on the roof.
"Wow," you sigh, gazing up at the sky in wonder. Her house is far enough away from the city that you're rewarded with a gorgeous view of the stars, unburdened by the industrial fog that hangs over the cosmopolis.
"It's beautiful out here," you say, looking back at her. You tense up a bit, not expecting her to already be looking at you.
"Sorry," she laughs at herself, looking away once she gets caught admiring you.
"It's okay," you reach down and gently squeeze her hand, making her blush lightly.
"Let's get started," you conclude, pointing at the camera. She nods, knowing that she'd never get the assignment done if you didn't step in to tell her to (considering she'd rather admire you), and she points the device to the sky.
After snapping a few pictures, she lays back in order to get a better vantage point of one of the star systems. She hands it to you after she's satisfied with her work, and you take your turn with it.
She notices that you keep brushing your hair out of the way when it falls in your face, so she decides to help you.
"Here," she says, saddling up behind you. She gathers your hair up, running her fingers through it to neatly pull it up for you. Thankfully she always keeps a spare tie on her wrist.
"Thanks," you smile, snapping another picture. The simple act warms your heart; she's being selfless for once, and helping you without even being asked. It's a refreshing change of pace.
"You're welcome." She chirps, sitting back down beside you.
-----
Later, In Her Bedroom
"Oh, I really like that one!" She says excitedly, pointing at the TV. Her phone, which is connected via Bluetooth and automatically receives pictures of her choosing from the camera, is displaying some of your best shots.
"Yeah, you did really well with that. I think we might beat everyone else if we use that as our cover piece."
Your compliment makes her momentarily shy, and she quickly realizes how much she loves your praise.
The two of you continue like that, reviewing the different pictures and choosing your favorites. She always finds ways to compliment yours, noting your technique or the filter you used, and it always makes you smile. She's different than you're used to, and it's throwing you for a loop, pleasantly surprising.
---
Lisa steps out of the room to go to the bathroom a few minutes later, leaving her phone connected to the TV. A ding sounds out across the space, pulling your attention away from the stack of notes laid out before you. Your eyes dart up to the screen, reading the text message that appeared at the top of it.
Austin ⛓: "Dude, did you get into her pants yet? We're literally betting over here 😂"
You blink a few times as their words sink in, making your chest hurt. You were really beginning to believe that you had been wrong about Lisa; clearly, though, your instincts were right.
Feeling betrayed, you shove your folders back into your bag and stand from the chair, willing yourself not to cry. The sound of the sink turning on lets you know that she's almost done, so you hurry your movements and make your way towards the door. She steps out into the hall just as you exit her room, looking at you with wide eyes.
"Woah, woah, woah, what's going on?" She asks with furrowed brows, approaching you. One of her hands lands on your arm, and you shrug it off as you brush past her without another word.
"Y/N, did I do something wrong?" She asks from the top of her staircase, watching as you walk towards her foyer.
"Why don't you ask Austin?" You bitterly call over your shoulder as you turn the knob, slipping out the front door. She hangs her head upon registering your words, realizing what must've happened. She makes a mental note to give him hell when she sees him again.
Tears sting your eyes as you exit the house, wrapping your jacket tighter around yourself. You should've known something like this would happen. The chilly night air bites at your skin, stealing more of its warmth away with every step you take. The temperature doesn't change your mind, though; you're upset, and you'd rather freeze out here than be face to face with her right now.
"Y/N, wait!" She calls after you, blasting out the front foor. Her footfalls sound off behind you, announcing her rapid approach, but you don't turn around. Realizing this, she darts in front of you, keeping you from walking any further.
"Please, don't go. He's an idiot, Y/N."
"He might he an idiot, but that doesn't take away what he said," you scowl, clenching your jaw. "Betting? Really, Lisa?" You ask quietly, hurt evident in your voice.
"It was a stupid thing they tried to convince me to do. I didn't want to, but I couldn't stop them from talking once you and I were paired up. That's not what I want, though. I'm not just in it for that."
"How am I supposed to believe that? This is your M.O., Lisa."
"It's different with you, I don't know why." That's a lie; she knows exactly why you're different than anyone else she's flirted with in the past.
You stand there before her, silently weighing your options. After seeing the pleading look in her eye, her dark orbs full of sincerity, you relent. "Just take me home. We'll work on it another day," you compromise, allowing her in just enough to take you home, but not enough to stay at her place any longer. You're still weary after a text like that, and you will be for a while.
"Thank you," she breaths a sigh of relief, clasping her hands behind herself as you begin walking back to her house. She notices you shiver on the way, and she slips her jacket off without hesitation to cover you. Neither of you have to say anything; one glance from you is enough for her, and she's content knowing you're warm.
The Fallout
From there on out she was always honest with you and actually spoke out when her friends tried to do something stupid
She still remained the charming class clown that she naturally is, just getting rid of the not-so-nice parts of herself
You slowly let her regain your trust, little by little
She did nice things for you on the daily, whether it be holding the door, carrying your books, or offering to buy you some lunch
"Morning, Y/N. Wanna grab some breakfast?" She asks, moving her head to the side towards the café at the center of campus.
"Sure," you smile, laughing when she celebrates.
She invites you to her dance perfomances
When she goes to championships, you're always first on her list of invites
"I want you there." She declares, handing you the flyer.
"You've got it," you decide, knowing there's no where you'd rather be. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
At said championship, she won the highest title and claimed victory for your school
You joined the rest of the team on the stage to celebrate, congratulating the solo dancer on her achievement.
"I'm so proud of you, Lis--"
She suddenly kisses you, clearly high off her win. She pulls back when she realizes what she just did, a worried look on her face.
"Shit, I'm sorry." She looks between your eyes, attempting to gauge your reaction.
"Get your ass back here," you order, feeling butterflies take flight when she eagerly presses her lips to yours again, wrapping her arms around you to spin you.
"Does this mean I'm forgiven?" She mumbles against your lips.
You squint, pretending to think about it. "Maybe... or maybe not."
Her subsequent gasp is quickly muffled by your kiss, which she can't seem to get enough of.
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cherry-lipbalm · 3 years
Text
double trouble. spencer reid.
4.8k words.
masterlist
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where y/n pulls the short straw and has to double up with spencer.
There is a chart within the BAU: a solid, concise graph that portrays, arguably the most, vital information within the FBI. Intricately designed, Garcia and Y/N had managed to construct a comprehensible guide to who in the team was the most pleasant to share a room with. At first it was a joke, originated from a slow day of nothing but paperwork Y/N had spent in Garcia's lair. Conversations arose, and soon after so did the chart.
It's built up on categories such as conversation, tidiness, sleeping conditions and even hygiene. There are ten available points per category, and Emily loses said ten points for sleeping conditions because her snores can be heard from China. The points are the basis of the game, essential in order to rank the team individually and compile them into a list of favourability. Spencer is at the bottom of that list.
"I don't get it, I'm a delight," Spencer argued, strolling alongside Morgan up the small flight of stairs to the BAU room. Another case had forced them to prepare for the jet in 30 minutes, but Hotch and the rest of the team had very different perspectives on preparation. Especially after what he said when they entered the room.
"Okay, before we start you should know I called ahead to book a hotel and they had limited rooms. We all have one but you're going to have to double up."
Y/N had never seen an American Western movie before, but she imagined that the cliché standoff looked a lot like what happened in the BAU room subsequent to that announcement. Those that had been sitting launched to their feet, uncaring to the chairs rolling free behind them. If someone was holding something it dropped onto the table, or even the floor. Communication faltered, and all anyone dared to do was stare at each other.
When Hotch looked up from his file, he had to do a double take because of the drastic change in atmosphere. His team were all standing metres apart; Y/N had a hand over her gun.
"I think we all know what this calls for," she said.
"Get it," Morgan gestured to the back of the room. Y/N's movement caused a surge of motion as everyone sat at the table attentively. Hotch tried to turn the attention back to the screen with the crime scene photos, but even JJ was more focused on the whiteboard rolling into the room.
Y/N stood by it's side, and on her way forced Hotch into a seat. She grabbed the top corner and flipped it over to reveal the coloured array of pie charts, bullet-points and bar charts.
"I still don't see why this is necessary," Spencer whined from the back of the room.
"I don't see why you've obviously spent more time and effort on this than any of your cases," Hotch added.
"Okay, you two are just jealous because you're at the bottom of the list," Y/N snarked, then addressed the team. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today, in holy matrimony, to judge your fellow coworkers and deem who is the least likeable. Spoiler alert: it's Spencer."
At this, the aforementioned agent threw his pen directly at Y/N's head. She shrieked, then turned to him with a glare as she tried to untangle it from her hair. He laughed wholeheartedly, and the team snickered not only at Spencer's attack but the way they were so obviously and obliviously in love with each other.
"This chart makes no sense! I mean, how do I only have five points for hygiene? We all know I'm the cleanest out of everyone here."
"I agree with you Spencer," Y/N said, "your hygiene is at a ten point standard but unfortunately people don’t want to compete with said ten point standard, so that loses you five points, gorgeous.”
Spencer didn't reply (only sulked into his seat), half because he's shocked by the injustice of the chart and the other half because he's shocked Y/N just called him gorgeous.
"Alright! The hat, please," She exclaimed, enticing Spencer from his trance. Garcia presented the fedora over the table, and Y/N began talking immediately when she saw Hotch's mouth open in objection because were they really using the fedora from the unsub they caught last week?
Only four people took turns in picking names out of the hat; ever since in incident in '04 where lack of coordination made for everyone picking a name of someone who had already picked someone else. It resulted in a few brawls when Morgan wouldn't budge from his choice of Garcia even though his name had been pulled by Reid.
It never took them long to pick names out of desperation, considering the name-picking determined how the next 24 + hours were going to go. So when Y/N picked out Spencer's name, no one blamed her when she practically collapsed to the floor.
"That's karma," Spencer said upon her unraveling.
"I thought you didn't believe in karma," she sneered, stomping back onto her feet.
"In situations like these it seems to be the only viable explanation."
Y/N just rolled her eyes at him on her way out of the room, muttering under her breath that she'll be briefed when she's aboard, because she needed a moment alone for a pep-talk on how murdering your colleague apparently isn't socially acceptable.
On her way out, faintly in the background, Morgan caught sight of Emily and JJ fist-bumping victoriously, and realised that Y/N's demise more than certainly involved some foul play. Oh well, he thought, it'll make for good entertainment.
———
"Science shows us that we feel more personally connected with people who have similar postures, vocal rhythms, facial expressions and even eye blinking. If you consciously sync these factors your brain activity could follow, resulting in what many people call 'clicking' wi-"
"I cannot believe you asked me why you lost seven points for conversation and then followed with that."
"What? What's wrong with science?"
"Oh, Spence, you're so gorgeous but so oblivious," Y/N sighed, exhausted from a mixture of jet lag and Spencer's enthusiastic take on the science of conversation. They had only just stepped foot in the room, and she was already drained from the mere thought of having to bunk with him for the next however many hours.
Y/N is quick to throw her things down as soon as they enter the room. She dumps her suitcase by the door and launches a few more things on the cabinets around her, then tries to ignore Spencer's sounds of distaste as she does this. She's frankly too tired to care, and jumps onto the bed without thinking; she's so enervated she doesn't even realise there's only the one bed.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" Spencer suddenly asks despite the silence that passed and the obvious fact that Y/N is trying to get some shut eye.
All he receives is an incomprehensible mumble from under the pillows, but he takes it as a response anyway.
"Why do you keep, uh, keep calling me 'gorgeous' I mean, I'm not, uh..." he stammers, fidgeting with the room key in his hands while he stands in front of the wardrobe to make it seem like he's doing something and doesn't care as much as he does.
"I'd say it's pretty self explanatory."
He senses the fatigue in her voice, so just leaves it with a shrug of his shoulders and a content smile, then goes to organising his array of sweater vests onto the hangers. When he's done with this, he turns around to make himself a coffee; taking a different approach to the jet lag than Y/N.
At the thought of her, he looks up to see her sprawled out across the bed. She's clutching onto a pillow and seems so relaxed that Spencer has to look away for a moment because he's more than certain he shouldn't be seeing a coworker like this. Nevertheless, he smiles upon her peaceful ambience, and hopes the boiling kettle doesn't disturb her too much.
When it's done brewing, Spencer sips the coffee cautiously and strides over to a small chair in the corner of the room. Here, Y/N's slumped figure is directly in his view, so he can't help but see her so casually on the bed. Wait, the bed... oh shit.
He knows that the chances of him getting the bed are slim. For one, Y/N's pretty much already claimed that territory, and, even if she hadn't, Spencer knew she'd put up one hell of a fight for it. He only hoped there were some extra blankets and pillows that could aid in making the floor at least somewhat comfortable.
"So, uh, Rock Paper Scissors for the bed?" He asks, then slurps his coffee. His voice rouses Y/N for a moment, and he's sure she's dozed back off again until his words sink in and she turns around to him with bleary eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"One bed. Two people," he says nervously and gestures to the space between them.
And it takes Y/N a moment. She looks from Spencer to the bed, then stares at the pillows for a long while, then she looks at Spencer again, then the bed. Then, she lets out a blood-curdling cry so loud that Reid has to cover his ears.
"Why!" She screams, slamming her hands down on the mattress. Spencer can't help but laugh, snickering behind his hand which only infuriates Y/N more.
"Okay, okay!" He moves to calm her down when he can practically see the steam coming out of her ears, "rock paper scissors, come on."
"Oh, I don't want to do that, Spence," she whines.
"Why? 'Cause you know you'll lose?" With his patronisation he raises an eyebrow at her when he approaches the end of the bed, his fist already raised. His condescension makes Y/N irrefutably stubborn, and she knows he's doing it on purpose -because he always does- but she doesn't care when it means she has a chance to beat Spencer at something.
"Fine," she grumbles. She sweeps the hair from her face and sits up straight, shuffling to the end of the bed and letting her legs dangle down; they brush against Spencer's own and he clears his throat amid the contact.
The slap of her fist against her palm indicates the beginning of the game. Y/N knows that she's unlikely to win, because Spencer is bound to have calculated some sure-fire plan to succeed in every round of Rock Paper Scissors.
This is why, when Spencer pulls paper and she pulls scissors, she screams in delight.
"No," Spencer says bluntly, then demands, "best out of three."
"Oh no," she chuckles, "it's never been that way before, it isn't now, gorgeous."
Spencer throws his head back in a groan, kneeling on the floor in defeat. He stays there because he figures he ought to become acquainted with it.
———
When nighttime rolls around, Y/N is pretty excited. She's already texted the BAU group chat a record seventeen times about the matter, yet somehow the team hasn't gotten sick of it thus far, and may even be more exhilarated than she is. It's the one good thing to come out of sharing a room with Spencer: that she gets to watch him wiggle in discomfort on his makeshift bed of blankets and pillows on the floor.
Except, when it comes down to it, it isn't that fun at all.
He's wriggling, yes, but it's doesn't exactly fulfil her with any satisfaction; if anything, it's just sad. He struggles to reach any form, never mind pinnacle, of relaxation, and Y/N actually feels pretty guilty at the subordination. So when the clock hits midnight and she's still hearing Spencer grunting when he hits a certain incessant bump in the carpet, she gives in and sits up.
Upon the sudden sound of bedsheets rustling, Spencer freezes because he thinks he's going to get shouted at, but it's the opposite that scares him even more.
"Do you want to get in bed?" Her voice sounds, the hush penetrating through the air.
Immediately Spencer rises; he wants nothing more than to take her up on her offer, but he is, unfortunately, chivalrous.
"No, no, it's okay," he whispers back, already delving back under his covers.
"Spencer. Just take the bed, I can't sleep with you tossing and turning," she says, hoping the complaint will cover up her caring behaviour.
"Be careful, Y/L/N, it almost sounds like you care."
"Shut up, do you want the bed or not?"
"I do but, unlike you, I'm actually a good person and wouldn't want to see you lying on the floor-"
"Uh, I'm offering you the bed, aren't I? That's gotta earn me some brownie points," she remarked, now having turned on a lamp. "Besides, if you're that bothered about it, we'll just share."
This makes Spencer stop: his torso is turned abnormally in his angle to see Y/N behind him, the blankets feebly draping across him show the Doctor Who shirt he's wearing, and his hair is a tousled mess that Y/N just knows will take him hours to fix in the morning. Well, that was tomorrow's problem, she contemplated, right now the issue lied in who, if either of them, was going to sleep on the floor.
"Uh, share? You.. uh, you really wanna do that?"
"As long as you don't snore, or kick; whats the harm?"
Spencer avoids dumping information about the harm of them sleeping together: how this kind of physical contact releases oxytocin, a chemical compound in the brain that exhibits feelings of empathy, trust, relaxation and even reduces anxiety. He saves her this because it's just past midnight and he doubts she wants to hear about the scientific risk of them growing to like each other.
"Oh, okay," he agrees instead. He clambers up from his pile of blankets and clutches a pillow to his chest while he stumbles over. Y/N shuffles to one side and pulls the duvet back, and he's more than happy to get under warm, comfy sheets.
"Let me just make something clear," Y/N says while Spencer adjusts into the pillows. He doesn't do this for long because one is snatched from under his head. When he moves to object, he sees it being planted next to his arm, creating a definite border between them.
"Your side, my side," Y/N says sternly, "that clear?"
"Crystal."
———
It's around three am when Y/N stirs awake. At first she can't grasp what's roused her, but then she hears a noise, and assumes there's got to be some construction going on outside because what she hears is alike to the humming of machinery. When she gains a reasonable amount of consciousness, she realises the sound is a bit too close to home.
Her hand reaches out across the bed, and when she accidentally whacks Spencer on the chest, she worries she's awoken him, until the noise starts again and it's here she discovers it's coming from him.
Oh shit, she thinks, please don't tell me my co-worker is having a sex dream while I'm lying right next to him.
He isn't, but Y/N isn't sure the reality is any better.
The moaning sound he first emitted has progressed into some sort of panicked grunt, accompanied by occasional whines. Soon, his body is flinching away from an invisible force.
Y/N knows it's probably best to leave it, that if she wakes him up he might be too confused and scared, he'll be disoriented, but when he starts screaming, she doesn't have anything else to resort to.
"Spence, Spencer! Wake up, hey," she shakes him, and he's awake in seconds. Sitting up straight, Y/N sees him hitting things that aren't there; it's only when she turns the light on that he eventually calms down.
"I'm sorry," he croaks immediately. Then his head is in his hands as he leans on his knees, and Y/N is overcome with a feeling completely foreign to her in regard to Spencer: empathy.
"Don't be, it-... it's okay," her voice takes a calm turn, and she even puts a hand on his back because anything that happens after three am is as good as forgotten anyway.
"You were right, I'm sorry," Spencer mutters. "This'll lose me ten points for sleeping conditions, huh?"
His attempt at cracking a joke does make Y/N smile, but even he can tell it's one of pity.
"Don't be silly. Do you want to, uh, talk about it?"
"I just wanna sleep," he sighs, and falls back into the pillows. Y/N creases her brows in sympathy, then lies down next to him; she stares at the ceiling for a while, and the steadying of Spencer's breathing makes her think he fell asleep a while ago, so she leans to turn off the lamp before his voice breaks the silence.
"Can you keep the light on?"
His sudden ask makes Y/N jump, but she steadies under the softness of Spencer's voice. When she turns to him his eyes are barely open, but he can see the benevolent smile she's giving him; something he rarely sees from Y/N.
"Of course," she says, then lies back down into the indent she's made in the bed.
"Thanks," he replies, and Y/N notices this is the least she's ever heard Spencer talk.
"You know," she starts, "it's not silly to be afraid of the dark; it's basic human instinct. I mean, it's evolution: humans have a... a tendency to be afraid of the dark, our visual sense vanishes and we can't detect anything around us. It's primal instinct, or... something, I guess."
At the end of her ramble, she's afraid she's sent Spencer to sleep, because he's gone uncharacteristically placid, but -yet again- he surprises her.
"Now who's losing points for conversation?"
Y/N's laugh after this is so hearty and genuine that Spencer can't help but smile, grin even. His chest rumbles with a chuckle, and Y/N feels the mattress shake under their collaboration of laughter, when it dies down they're both still beaming.
"Maybe I've been hanging around you too much," she declares. It's a jab, but her cheek rests against the pillow when she turns her head to him because her smile is so wide, and Spencer reciprocates; the act is unfamiliar to the pair, but warming nonetheless.
When it goes silent, Y/N doesn't expect to sleep at all. The Pavlov affect of the light being on tricks her brain into thinking she should be wide awake (something she learnt from Spencer), so she lies there patiently; hands intertwined resting on her chest. She twiddles her thumbs, almost as if she's waiting for something to happen.
"I'm sorry you have nightmares," she mutters.
Spencer's eyes flutter open, and she goes to make another apology, this time for waking him, but he clears his throat so she lets him take the lead.
"S'Not your fault, I just, I don't know. I get these dreams, these weird dreams - ever since I was a kid. I guess they just... developed into nightmares since I joined the BAU," he mumbles. "We see some pretty bad stuff."
Y/N hums, "we do, don't we?"
Her speech doesn't warrant a response, so Spencer just smiles again and they both silently call it a night. Reid is asleep in seconds, which Y/N finds admirable, while she stays still for a while. The way the orange light is bouncing off Spencer's physique makes him look like he's centre stage of an oil painting. The detail she's gaining of his pores and his eyelashes from being so close to him is both daunting and beautiful at the same time. His resting body reminds her of the pieces on display in an art exhibit Spencer dragged her along to one day last autumn. She wonders if he took anyone else to that exhibit, and hopes he didn't.
She soundlessly admires the rise of his chest: the melody of his breathing amid the chagrin of an occasional nose whistle. His hair, once a foreseeable inconvenience, is now an abundance of, what Y/N can only describe as, natural radiance; it's all curls and frizz and length that she's begged him to never lay a hand on. She can't help but run a hand through it. When she does, it's a lot softer than she expected and makes her think, wow I've really got to find out what conditioner he is using while she's untangling any knots she comes across. It only results in more frizz but he'll gel it back with product in the morning (much to Y/N's disappointment).
The noise he exudes when Y/N scratches his scalp makes her heart melt immediately. It is the sound of innocence wrapped up in a ball of revere, the way it comes from his chest and catches in the back of his throat in a small, naive whine. Then he subconsciously curls into her hold and is practically purring when she continues to scrape her fingernails gently across his head.
The ambivalence of it all is what makes Y/N stop. Spencer Reid isn't the kind of guy she ever anticipated to have a crush on. He didn't fit into the pattern of her list of exes, not even one feature of him came close to anything of her usual type. Where she'd normally be taken to movies and dinners, Spencer ventured with her to museums, public symposiums, art exhibits. Y/N can't resist fondly reminiscing on a library trip they took last week that resulted in them checking out each of their favourite books for one another. And while, on paper, this was romantic and harmonious, they were strictly platonic. Barely that; they took the piss out of each other at every opportunity, not even always as a joke. Y/N had collapsed in sorrow when she pulled his name out of the hat.
But the smile on Spencer's face... his serene expression and soft hair makes Y/N's knees weak for a totally different reason. And she figures this feeling trumps whatever feigned resentment she has been portraying over the years.
Fine, she thought, stubborn as always when it came to Spencer, I'll tell him when he wakes up. She began to bask in the peace that came before whatever storm could potentially riot tomorrow when she told Spencer how she felt. She guessed she had at least a few hours to relish in their friendship and the love they had built.
She guessed wrong.
Spencer's eyes were fluttering open before Y/N had even began conjuring up what she was going to say. Unfortunately, when she made a plan she stuck to it; she was beginning to see why her stubbornness could be such an unattractive quality.
Spencer squinted harshly with the light, and the first thing he managed to see clearly was the discreet panic in Y/N's eyes. He took a quick survey of the room to eliminate what visible factors that could reason her alarm; when he ruled out any unsub with a gun to her head, he relaxed.
Rubbing his eyes, he looked to the window, and it didn't seem to be daylight yet.
"Haven't you been to sleep?" He asked, more than prepared to educate her in the necessities of getting a good night's rest.
"Not yet. You've only been out a few minutes," she said softly, retracting her hand from his locks. Here, Spencer realised he didn't like the feeling of Y/N's absence.
"Oh," he hummed, "I was dreaming. I think Darth Vader was there..."
Y/N chuckled lightheartedly, "of course he was."
Spencer seemed willing to remain awake, but time was limited and Y/N wasn't sure when he'd be dozing off again. So, she made her move.
"Listen, I wasn't going to say anything until morning but, you're awake so I may as well tell you now..."
He's visibly intrigued; with a quirked eyebrow and digging the knuckle-joint of his finger in a rubbing motion in the corner of his eye to try and gain some sense of vivacity. Still, all he can respond with is a drone.
"And I don't want this to, I don't know, freak you out? Or to make anything awkward, so if it does, we can just... pretend this never happened, okay? I mean it."
This manages to obtain Y/N the attention she needs, because, without delay, Spencer has both eyes open and his eyebrows are knitted together in mostly concern. Now, with his eager expression, Y/N wishes he had stayed nonchalant.
"What's wrong?"
"I just... I guess. I mean, I like you? I think? I know, really. I just - you're not like any other guy, and I like that, that's a good thing! I mean, what other guy knows how to build a rocket and make a coin appear behind your ear?"
Spencer chuckles, and his eyes are wide and bright like he's been suddenly granted passage to a whole new world. Mouth agape with wonder, he's like a child being told he can finally play on the big-kid swings: buzzing with excitement and anticipation, just like said rockets he launches and gets in trouble with Hotch for.
"You mean like this?" He asks and leans forward to brandish a dime from behind Y/N's earlobe.
"Okay, like, who does that!" She screeches way too loudly for three am. When she clasps a hand over her mouth Spencer chortles and slowly removes her grasp. He's timid, so initially only presses a chaste kiss to her knuckles, then feels the ambience in the room shift; suddenly everything has devolved from blushing antics and stumbles of words to serenity in a matter of seconds.  
Spencer's pecks adhere to Y/N's hands, lingering on the skin of her knuckles and occasionally peppering to her palms. It isn't until a few kisses later that he brings himself to move closer, and even here his courage only brings him to her cheek.
When the corner of his lips press lustfully upon her face, Y/N doesn't hesitate in turning her head ever so slightly. His lips part, and he breaks away to glance at her and make sure this isn't all one big misunderstanding. But her gaze is matched to his mouth, and soon her lips. In a fumble to close the (already compact) space between them, the kiss they share is warm and breathy, it's passionate and lewd, especially with the arrangement in which Spencer places his hands: cupping one side of her face and the placing the other at her neck so he can rest his fingertips in the hold atop Y/N's spine.
Wherever his fingers touch leaves a trail of goosebumps which Y/N hopes never diminish; she wants every piece of evidence she can muster of Spencer's caresses, however this changes when Spencer's lips begin on the formidable task of her neck.
"Stop," she pants, and the hands that had inevitably reached his hair again are now pushing slightly on his shoulders. Her request makes Spencer drop his hands immediately.
"I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"
"No, you didn't. It was nice. I just, I don't want everyone to see," she gestured to the red patch that had already formed above her clavicle where Spencer had only been nibbling a moment prior.
"Right, yeah," he breathed. A giddy smile forced its way onto his face when he looked at the way Y/N's lips had reddened and become swollen, especially her bottom (now essentially permanent) pout originated from the persistence of Spencer's tendency to drag his teeth along her lip and enclose it in a bite.
"You know, I predicted this would happen. Scientifically, people are a lot more likely to be attracted to one another after sleeping together. Subconsciously, we feel more capable in our ability to trust that person because we've been so vulnerable and open in a compromising position. The oxytocin we get from sharing physical contact like that is the same we produce in an orgasm."
"Oh," Y/N squeaked, while Spencer lay there with a proud smile on his face, not really registering the effect he'd had on her by using the word 'orgasm'.
"Oxytocin is heavily released during kissing too, so... I guess we're pretty bonded."
Y/N chuckled, smiling at his blushed cheeks. "I guess we are."
"It's, uh, it's actually also called the 'cuddle hormone' because it's primarily recognised as being released during hugging.”
"And that's your way of asking me if I want to cuddle?"
Spencer's smile was unmissable: shifting nervously between tight-lipped and beaming wide, his eyes were the only part of his countenance that stilled; locked on Y/N.
"Yes, I, uh, I believe it is."
She tried to suppress her grin, but it was no use.
"Big spoon or little spoon?" She asked.
"Oh, little spoon... obviously."
fin.
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nanikio · 2 years
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Out of the ring [2] flash backs
Words:757
Warnings: smut, flashbacks, angst, fighting (lemme know is there’s others)
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she'd known sam for quite a while growing up with him and his sister. sams bestfriend bucky had grew to be a huge part of her life, he'd been the older guy every girl would swoon over, god she tried not to, but when he spoke to her like she was the only girl in the world in that deep voice of his it broke her, stupidly enough she agreed to friends with benefits with no feelings evolved. well who could of guess he'd completely avoid her when she confessed to him.
Y/n's POV
sweat dripped down my face as i was smushed between two big bodies heat radiating off them, attached to Sam I reluctantly followed his moves jumping with him, my eyes followed his movements, Sam grew louder and louder grabbing the attention of the fighter, his eyes shot over to Sam before resting on me, i froze talking in the hew of his piercing blue eyes as sweat and blood dripped around them his intense gaze heated my cheeks, Sam started shouted..it sounded like a slight mumble compared to the intensity of his gaze, my focus strained on his harsh facial features.
she flinched as a harsh punch powerfully hooked buckys jaw forcing his gaze away from her, he stumbled back as the round was called, falling into his corner his piercing orbs finding hers. a familiar ache lingered between her legs, causing her to pull her gaze away from him. she sat back down at the next round begun watching his pure power a force as he took the round by storm knocking rumlow to the grown instantly.
As he was declared the winner y/n excused her self not wanting to run into bucky as he made his way out. Hiding away in the toilets until she gained the courage walking back into his private room she pushed the door open letting her self in. being met with buckys cold eyes.
''hey..congrats on winning the fight'' she muttered
walking further into the room she placed her self down on the nearest couch next to thor. occasionally meeting eyes with her lover boy a smirk appeared on his face as he joked with Sam taking the girl by surprise memories she tried so hard to block came flooding in.
His hot breath hit your neck as he whispered sweet nothings into your ear his deep voice praising you as you took his fingers so well, his metal arm glistened as the sun hit off of it as it pounded into you his fingers curling inside you causing your back to arch right when he hit your g spot your moans flooding your apartment, the sounds of his fingers gliding in and out of your wetness caused you to let out a porn star like moan taking Bucky by surprise a smirk crawled a cross his face. The smirk you knew so well. The smirk that made you crumble. His signature smirk.
Pulling his fingers from you he crawled above you his boxers highlights his bulge, tugging at the hem of his boxers he slipped them off his cock slapping against his stomach as it was freed ,kicking them across the room he knelt between your legs, grabbing ahold of him self he brushed his tip between your folds "y/n"
...
"Y/n.
...
"Y/N"
Pulling you out from  your flash back your brows furrowed finding Sam calling for you, yours eyes met his as he's eyes softened,
"Get your head out the clouds and answer us" Sam huffed
"Answer what." You mumbled annoyed from being ripped from you amazing flash back too soon
"Do you wanna come to the bar with us or not Bucks paying" Sam smiled knowing you'd never say no for a chance to get drunk for free
Groaning you sat up properly "fine I'll come" scanning the room to notice that buckys eyes had been on you the entire time watching you like a hawk..
Buckys POV
Her all people she had to come see me fight. It was hard enough trying to avoid her back then but now. Fuck. She's changed so much yet she still looked as perfect as ever. Catching him self in his thoughts he mentally slapped him self for thinking about you like that. Thats what caused him to start avoiding you in the first place..well that and the realisation that you liked him back was too much for him to handle.
༺♱༻
Msg me is you wanna be in the tag list <3
Taglist : @ienki
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TBB & Kiya: Chapter 10
***Authors Note: We made it to 10 Chapters, thanks for sticking around everyone. Enjoy reading the special!! Also pardon my ignorance, I do not know how certain things work. This is also very rushed my apologies.***
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Kiya breathed a sigh of relief once she was alone. Being around people was exhausting at times. Especially nosey ones, they seemed determined to discover her past, something she would not reveal anytime soon or anytime in general.
Kiya started taking apart the gun. The rifle used to be the favoured weapon of Republic snipers. Kiya never thought she'd be able to hold one.
When her ears picked up the sound of footsteps heading towards her location, she knew it was Crosshair and didn't bother to look up when he entered the room.
"Why did you take apart the gun?" Crosshair asked, obviously not pleased.
"I wanted to see how it worked. It's obvious this gun hasn't been used in a while anyway. It probably needs to be recalibrated."
Crosshair hummed quietly, only half interested in what Kiya was saying as he got himself situated and set his own rifle in his lap and did a routine check even though he knew it was spotless. He needed something to do, as it was going to be a long 'vacation'.
It had been a few months since Kiya had been kidnapped by the bounty hunter. Hunter had thought a break was in order, and Kiya now semi part of the crew she had basically been forced to go. She cursed Omega and Wrecker for convincing her to come, surprisingly they weren't the only ones who wanted her to come. That's how the had ended up on the snowy planet.
Finally she stood up stretching and left the ship, if she was here, she might as well make the most of it. Everyone was spread out in the open space, Kiya saw Hunter inspecting the snowy ground wondering what he could possibly be doing.
"What's up?"
"I think there was a campsite further this way."
"How could you tell that?"
"One of my more desirable mutations," he said acidly.
Kiya was intrigued and had been meaning to question his abilities for a while. "So how well can you track anyway?"
"Exceptionally well." Tech had wandered over, his data pad in his hand.
"Yeah nothing can escape him." Wrecker boomed.
"I very much doubt that." Kiya remarked earning a raised eyebrow from Hunter, "well surely they can't be that good. I mean realistically you'd loose the track if they went over water or say went off world?"
"That is true, but I can always pick the track back up."
"Hunter can catch anyone." Wreckers loud voice rang through the air.
"Doubt that."
"What are you suggesting?"
"Well, I seriously doubt you could catch me. Actually I doubt any of you could catch me."
"Is that a challenge?" Crosshair had come out of the Marauder, a toothpick in the corner of his mouth.
Kiya shrugged her shoulders, a meaningless gesture as her eyes showed interest. "If you want it to be."
"I suggest we find out if that statement is true." Tech looked up from his device, interest also showing in his eyes. "Kiya isn't allowed a gun and can do anything to get away from us without properly hurting anyone. We have to stun her and bring her aboard the Marauder to win. And she has to out run us for say," he paused, uncertainty briefly flicking through his eyes. "How long do you think you could last."
"A long time, but for the purposes of this 24 hours."
"12. To make it more covenant. And to give you a fighting chance."
She laughed at that her head thrown back, she had such a nice smile. "Ok, how much of a head start do I get."
"30 minuets?"
"Make it 15." Kiya grinned.
"Let me go and get some food and water."
"Remember no guns."
"Sir yes sir," she mocked a lazy 2 fingered salute as she walked up the stairs to the ship.
"How long do you think she'll last." Echo asked.
"2 hours, she's good, but she's not that good."
Kiya came back out in different clothes with some protein bars tucked into her belt, a water canteen, a swag, and a duffel bag to hold it all.
"Timer starts now," tbb headed onto their ship to wait out the fifteen minutes.
Kiya ran through the forest, towards where she new was a city.
An hour in she reached the outer skirts of the city, wrapping her cloak around her Kiya walked through. She felt the familiar weight of the two pieces of her lightsabre hidden on her belt. As Kiya was walking she found someone of similar stature and posture to her and smiled as an idea came to pass in her mind.
"Excuse me." Kiya said to the startled woman. "I was wondering if you could help me?"
"With what?" The women asked cautiously.
"I could pay you if you switch clothes with me and walk around in mine all day with the hood up." Kiya held some credits out.
Kiya now wearing the women's clothes had found the inn she had asked about. 2 hours into the challenge now and Kiya hadn't even spotted tbb. After talking with the innkeeper she headed to her room, with the dye dissolvent and blonde bleach she had just bought along with the old clothes. After showering extensively to get any smell off of her that tbb might have tracked, Kiya tipped the dye dissolvent into her purple hair. Then Kiya tipped some of the blonde hair down the sink and left the bottle on the counter and got changed. Slipping a rock into her boot, she adopted a completely new walking style and her air of confidence disappeared making her appear timid and weak.
Kiya's numerous false trails had been set in place.
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penwieldingdreamer · 4 years
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Caring Makes You Weak - Part 2
Summary: Harvey Specter, best closer in New York City and Senior Partner at Pearson Hardman, the man most females in the city want, yet he himself doesn’t want commitment, because caring makes one weak. Enter Elle Howard, a woman he met a long time ago. Will she be the one to break down his walls and make him care?
Thanks again for beta'ing @fortheloveoffanfic
Warnings: Light cursing, an evil stepmother(?)
Words: 1544
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Hardman was gone, the merger with Zane pushed away again but now Jessica wanted to merge with Edward Darby and Harvey wanted - needed to stop it one way or another.
And now the one person he'd had worked very hard to forget about waltzed back into his life because his associate had taken her case. He was never the committing type and he should have never agreed to help Mike with that pro Bono. It wasn't even his case to begin with, so what had changed?
Staring out his windows he thought back to the first time he had met her. How could one woman rattle his brain like that? First Dana Scott, then Zoe Lawford and now…now there was Elle Howard.
Harvey had met her while out celebrating a big win with Jessica and Louis. When he walked up to the bar, she stood there, the fabric of her dress tight around her curves as she waited for her drink.
"Can I get you a drink?" he asked, leaning one arm onto the bar while he looked the redhead up and down.
She turned a smile on her lips and a drink in her hand. "I believe I'm still good, thank you."
"Well, why don't we move on to the next one?" Harvey smirked at her, holding out his hand for introductions. "I'm Harvey Specter."
Rolling her eyes, she emptied her drink and grabbed the clutch laying on the bar top. "And I'm not interested." The redhead nodded her head and moved to walk around him.
The warmth in his belly was replaced by a coldness as if someone had doused him with ice water. It had been some time since a woman had brushed him off with not being interested but he clearly was and he needed to get to know her. "Please, just let me buy you a drink." he said, his hand lightly holding onto her arm.
Sighing, the redhead turned, her blue-green eyes narrowing in on the lawyer. "You don't like a woman saying no, do you?"
"I always win them over, so I'd say you should take my offer." Harvey told her, nodding at Louis and Jessica, who just left the bar.
Moving closer to him, the woman smiled, her eyes shining with mirth. "Well in that case, I expect you to work your magic to win this case Mister Lawyer."
"How did you know I'm a lawyer?" Harvey asked astonished, not that he could have hidden his job in a bar full of businessmen.
The redhead smirked, leaning over to whisper in his ear. "It's not so hard to figure out, to be honest. So I'm looking forward to when you've won that case, too."
"Harvey!"
Blinking, the dark haired lawyer turned to face his associate. "What you got, Mike?"
"I've been calling you five minutes straight." the dark blond said, a smile on his face as Donna laughed at her cubicle. "What's got you so occupied?"
Shaking his head, Harvey held out his hand to look over the files. "Did you find some dirt on Tanner we can use?"
"Ah, not yet." Mike scratched the back of his neck, watching his boss carefully. "I wanted to ask Louis to help me with the financials, something doesn't seem right."
"Then get to it, I got something else to take care of." he got up from his chair, buttoning his jacket before he left his office. "I'll be back later, keep my schedule clear."
Donna and Mike looked after their boss before they faced each other. "What just happened?"
"I have no idea Junior, but he's been in a mood ever since you got back from Elle Howard last Friday." the secretary said, taking a sip from the latte Mike had brought her at lunch.
Once outside on the street level, Harvey waited for Ray to drive up. He needed to get a clear answer to the questions circling around his head. The black Lexus stopped in front of him and his driver got out, opening the door for him. "Where to, Harvey?"
"To the past." he sighed, giving his driver the address. The Indian man nodded his head, started the music and drove off.
"You want to talk about it, boss?" Ray had known his employer for nearly three years now and in all that time nothing had rattled him like the case he took on with Mike Ross. Harvey shook his head, watching the city fly by as the car made its way out of Manhattan and over to Williamsburg.
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"Elle!"
Elle had to get the cries of her kids out of her head, so she decided to go grocery shopping and enjoy the walk over to the store not far from her apartment. Just when she got back, the redhead saw a black car parked on the street in front of her door. Sighing, she tightened her grip on the bags and ignored the sound of a car door opening.
She would recognize that voice anywhere. "What can I help you with, Harvey? Is there something good happening with the case?"
"Mike is still looking into it, but actually I'm here because I need to ask you something." the lawyer said moving closer to her. "Why did you really leave those years ago?"
Elle knew what he was getting into and she still had her secrets, things she couldn't have told him then and would definitely not tell him now. "You know it didn't work out for us."
"You still believe that?" he argued, pushing one hand into the pockets of his suit pants, clenching it with all his might. "I know that isn't the reason why, so stop that bullshit and tell me what made you rethink everything."
Shaking her head, the redhead walked around him, moving swiftly to the entrance of the apartment building she shared with Mike, but Harvey was faster. His hand held onto her arm, tight enough to stop her, but loose enough to not hurt her. Elle blinked her light eyes at the lawyer as she tried to form words without spilling what she had longed to tell him all those years ago. "We both wanted different things and you know it."
"Is that why you suddenly up and left New York? I asked Lucille and she told me you went to Boston. You didn't even think that you could have talked to me?"
Pulling away from him, she opened her mouth to answer him, but there was no sound coming out. Elle needed to get her head straightened out before she could really talk to Harvey and just when she knew what she would tell him, her phone rang again. The redhead pulled it out of her jeans' back pocket showing Charlie's name on the display. "I'm sorry, I have to take this."
"Mum" he sniffled and Elle immediately felt tears come to her own eyes. "Please come and get us. I hate it here."
She could hear his cries and the lawyer in front of her was totally forgotten. "Charlie, baby, what's going on?"
"I want to come back to you. I hate Sarah and she doesn't even want us there. She's mean to Izzy and me. Please, mommy, come and take us home."
Clasping a hand to her lips, Elle fought the urge to break down when she listened to her sweet boy cry because of her ex husband's new wife. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but I can't come and take you home. You know that we still have to wait a bit."
"No! I wanna go home now. Izzy doesn't like it here, too." the young mother could hear her youngest crying next to her son and she knew she had to put an end to it.
Closing her eyes, Elle took a deep breath. "Charlie listen to me, I'm going to come over and we'll talk, okay."
"Okay, I guess." She knew her son wasn't satisfied with her answer, but there was no way she was giving Travis more power over her, than he already had.
Harvey had listened to the conversation and was trying to come up with possible scenarios to fight against Tanner, just so he didn't have to listen to the kids crying for their mother. "I'm coming with you, Tanner isn't going to be happy with you showing up at his house."
"I can do that on my own, I know Travis." Elle tried to argue with the lawyer but from the look he shot her, she knew she'd have to fight him tooth and nails. "I don't need your help to make sure my kids are fine."
Shaking his head, he took a step back from her. "It's either me or I'm sending Mike to Tanner's house and you know it's not going to be pretty." Harvey held up his phone, ready to dial his associate so he could make sure nothing was going wrong and would destroy the case.
"Okay." the redhead muttered, lowering her head in defeat, she trusted Mike, but not around her ex-husband, he could be petty and it would end up in bloodshed if something went wrong. Rolling her blue eyes, she nodded, albeit reluctantly. "Fine. But at least let me get the shopping inside."
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Dawna's Journey
A/N: Guys this took so long XD. Please give me feedback/comments/reblogs if not on the post than anon. Look I proof read it so much now I'm sick of it lmao. I know theres grammer mistakes but If I didn't post it tonight it was never getting posted. Anyways please enjoy this!!! :D
~~~
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Dawn stood at the edge of the kingdom. The night was still as the guards had retired for the evening and she was left alone with her thoughts. Standing at the gate she stared beyond the iron bars into the foggy night where the woods were.
 She was steps away from what could be the biggest mistake of her life. By doing this, by going out into the woods to find the cure for one of the dying trolls in the dungeon, she was betraying her families name and their status along with the throne. Her uncle, her mother, her sister, Merlin, Lancelot. All of them would tell her this is wrong. That trolls were the enemy.
 Swallowing thickly, hands glowing to illuminate the night she touched the cold stone of the castle's defense wall before brushing her fingers against the iron bars that kept the trolls and fae at bay. Hissing she pulls her hand away, shaking it to make the sting disappear. Frowning as she stares out at the woods they seem to beckon her. Walking away from the gate and along the wall she goes towards a thick patch of ivy. There hidden behind the plants was a small crack. One she found as a child and still used for situations like this. 
  Slipping into the greenery rough material scrapes against her catching on her clothes but she stays determined scooting through the stone. As Ivy brushes past her face, her boots sink into the soft grass and she edges herself away from the protection of Camelot. Looking back at the castle her hands shook as she stared at her room that overlooked the very land she stood on. She'd wandered the woods many times and explored their wonders but this time was different. This time she wasn't visiting peaceful territory or exploring her magical studies in secret, this time she was going straight to the Gum Gums. She was risking everything and what made her the most nervous about it, was she didn't care. It was the right thing to do. No matter how many people said it was wrong she felt in her heart it wasn't.
 Backing away from the wall, away from her home, she realizes this could be the last time she sees Camelot if she fails. Taking it in, etching every small detail into her mind she sighs. Things used to be different. When Arthur had Gwenivere she breathed life into him and the castle. She made people hope and kept the kingdom together as the war against the Gum Gums raged on. But now the kind queen was gone and Dawn felt keeping the peace fell on her. However, as much influence as she had in the kingdom and over her uncle, Arthur never really listened after he lost his wife. He was too lost in his grief to hear reason. He banished most magic and as Dawn felt the cool air ruffle her hair she knew soon she'd be next. She couldn't fix Camelot. Not by herself but she could try and make her uncles wrongs right. Starting with the trolls he'd locked away.
 Taking one last look, the moon shines silver light over her kingdom protecting her people inside the wall. Clutching her cloak tightly Dawn closes her eyes and runs into the woods, leaving no trace that she'd ever left. She feels the grass squish beneath her feet and the whistling wind almost knocks off her hood as she runs. 
 Magically summoning her silver and gold armor the chainmail echoes in the quiet woods. Her uncle had banned magic but that never stopped Dawn. Her sister did parlor tricks for fun but Dawn craved more. It was in these woods she learned the meaning of magic and through Merlin's notes she taught herself the way of the fae world. The elements were her teachers and she hoped they'd give her mercy tonight. 
  Running faster each step she takes makes a resounding clank that bounces through the trees. Pushing past snagging branches, brambles, and thick underbrush she keeps going only one thing on her mind, getting that troll cure so her friend would survive. What an absurd notion, that she princess of Camelot was friends with a common troll. Smiling as she thought of him she kept pushing on, chest heaving as she thundered through the woods. Stepping over small streams and avoiding roots. 
  White puffs left her mouth as she pushed on. The cold kept her awake and alert even as her legs burned from running so long. Dawn stops, armor now silent as the night returns to its previous stillness.
 Killahead.
The girl swallows nervously and takes a cautious step forward. The bridge was old and full of divine energy, she could feel its power radiating from where she stood. It acted as a divide between the world of trolls and Gum Gums. Gunmar said he owned the whole woods but that was a lie. However, past the bridge there was no doubt that was his land. As she took in deep breaths chest burning she studied Killahead. Cracked stone, worn carvings from centuries ago, and overgrown moss greeted her. A bridge that once ran over a flowing river had been dry longer than Dawn had been alive. She knew this place had power. It held generations of knowledge and stories. It could be the rise or down fall of civilizations.
But unlike the trees and forest Killahead did not talk. It just listened. Cracked stone keeping the secrets of all those that walked past it. Closing her eyes she steps away from the safety of neutral territory and towards the tarnished stone. 
 Reaching out, her hand tightly clutches the side of the bridge. As she rubs her thumb over the side the stone feels smooth from years of being worn down. Stepping onto the Killahead bridge it's uneven with patches of grass slowly taking over the stone. Dawn feels the slickness of moss and dew under her boots and tightens her grip on the side she's holding as she trudges forward. 
 The moon shone above her through the leaves and pausing she tilts her head taking it in as darkness was soon to come. Listening closely, closing her eyes to hear the forest around her it was too silent. She realized someone was following her, that the GumGums knew she was here. Refusing to give up just because she felt fear she stood tall as she crossed the bridge. The branches overhead now choked out any light and it was a miracle she could still see as she made it to the end of the bridge. Standing there taking a deep breath her hand grazed the moss that had taken over Killahead. This was her last chance. To turn back and run. To go back to the castle and ignore her uncles troll business. To allow him to continue what he was doing. But... she could not.
 Filled with determination she takes her first step off Killehad. Heading away from the bridge and into the deep woods she was officially in Gum Gum territory. Her weapon wasn't drawn and it was clear she wasn't an active threat. Though Gum Gums never were ones to pick up on hints, if she had to fight she came prepared but she'd rather leave the woods unscathed.
  Venturing deeper into Gum Gum territory her chainmail echoes through the dense foliage. Low hissing and rustling could be heard from the bushes as scouts watched her. Golden and green glowing eyes all around her as she boldly kept walking. Her hand was now on her hip weapon ready to draw but she hadn't felt the need yet. She was hoping to speak to a general or a higher-up GumGum and somehow barter for the cure but as the growls got louder Dawn knew she'd have to fight. She was waiting for someone to come and address her and the soldiers watching her seemed to understand her silent demand as they kept their distance.
 Hearing something Dawn reacts quickly. Turning boots sinking into the mud as she grouds herself her blade made a distinctive swish before it clanked loudly striking against Gunmars sword. Sparks fly and the temporary bright light causes her green eyes to shine under her cloak. The brute growled in her face and she growled back surprising the GumGum King.
 "You wonder deep in our territory Knight." He hisses. Dawn responds by pressing her sword harder against his. Remembering what the knights had done, she leans back before she puts all her effort into her sword pushing the blade against his forcing him back. Stumbling Gunmar catches himself. His blue eye stares at her cloak as he pauses surprised by the human's strength. Tightening her grip on her sword showing no hesitation that she'd strike again he chuffs unamused. 
  His dark blue eye scans her form but all he sees is a long cloak and the shine of her sword in the dim light. Sniffing the air he chuffs surprised. It was a magical blade. A mage? Hadn't Arthur murdered them all?
 "I don't want to fight. I come seeking your aid." Dawn states tilting her head to look at the GumGum king. He couldn't see her face but he could feel her stare, those green eyes haunted him. This was no normal human. No normal mage. Chuffing he sneers tilting his head.
 "Oh? And why would I help a fleshbag morsel like you?" He snarls beginning to pace around her. Dawn followed his motions watching him closely. He admitted he was curious at what this knight could want at how someone could be so stupid and bold. They were foolish to come here but from the sword skills they showed he could see why they assumed they'd be safe. 
 "Because one of your own is dying and I'm trying-" Dawn starts but Gunmar growls bearing his fangs at her. 
 "SILENCE!" He roars. Dawn closes her mouth and waits. He comes close and sniffs her before huffing hot air in her face unimpressed. She reaches up to keep her hood on not wanting him to see who she really is. If he knew she was Dawna Noble of the PenDragon line it'd be over. He'd send her corpse to Arthur and her friend's life would be lost before she had a chance to win it.
 Rolling his eye, he turns annoyed by her insistent presence. "Go home whelp." He orders. "Humans speak only lies and when it isn't lies it's stupidity. Get out and don't return and you may tell your friends at the Round Table you survived. You are no meal and you're not worth the effort." He huffs waving her off. Dawn stands shocked as he begins walking away. She just ran from the safety of her home to try and save a troll's life and Gunmar doesn't even acknowledge her? He pushes her away like she's just a confused child. Grip tightening on her sword she grits her teeth shaking. She had come too far to turn back now.
 "I'm not going anywhere!" She snaps. Running to stand in front of the Gum Gum king she spreads her arms blocking his path. She's shaking making her chainmail rattle. She'd come so far he couldn't deny her now! "I came here to Gum Gum territory at night! It's important please at least listen to what I have to say." She begs. He looked annoyed and she frowned, lowering her arms. "I need something… and I know your people are the only ones who can give it to me." Stepping closer to Gunmar unafraid and praying for the life of her friend he growls at her. She's about to respond with a growl of her own when a sharp tug from her cloak made her stumble back from the King choking. She was so distracted talking to Gunmar she forgot to watch her back. 
 Tilting her head clawing at the clasp around her neck the Gum Gum prince was behind her and his claws had snagged her cape. He ripped at the fabric chuckling as she gasped for air. Unclasping the cloak knowing it was her life or her identity Dawn turned eyes blazing. The grip on her sword tightened making it glow as her green eyes glared into his red ones. She sneered at the Prince of Darkness teeth bared. He stumbled back in surprise eyes wide as he stared at her armor before staring at her face. Dropping her cloak he stepped closer curious as he sniffed her. Her amor bore Camelots symbol and stepping closer he clearly saw the Noble clans markings in the carvings of her amor. Dawn pushes Bular's face away when he gets to close and he chuckles. 
 "... Dawna? The King's niece? A child?" He laughs but Dawn stays undeterred. Her grip remains on her sword as she points the end at him. He chuckled amused. It seemed she was braver than the rest of her family or stupider. 
 "This child." Dawn says slowly eyes narrowed into slits as she feels anger course through her veins. Her hands burn coursing with energy and suddenly the trees begin to shake as the branches above them shift. Distracted she pushes Bular over with the butt of her sword forcing him against the wet grass. The Moonlight leaked through the trees as leaves swirled around her. Had it been the day she surely would've killed him. But that wasn't her intention.
  She wanted him to see her. To fear her and as her armor shone as bright as the moon GumGums hissed backing up at the glare. "Is not one to be triffled with. I seek something and I'm not leaving till I get it." She states glaring down at Bular. He growls at her, angry she'd knocked him down but she seems unaffected by his silent threat.
 "Like we'd ever help you." Bular huffs pushing her sword away from his face. Dawn puts it back in her sheath and sighs. As she took a deep breath she could see this wasn't working. She needed to switch tactics.
 Thinking back on everything she knew of Gum Gums she paused, she'd need to choose her next words wisely. "I'm not asking for help. That's weak." She hisses. "I'm asking for a fair trade." Dawn finally says. She holds out her hand for the Prince but he snarls, snapping his teeth at her fingers. She pulls her hand away to avoid the bite and rolls her eyes. Turning away from Bular she looks back to Gunmar.
 "You have nothing we want." The troll states uninterested. Dawn hums. No she didn't, did she? What was she expecting? The Gum Gums to reach into their darkened hearts and present her the cure like a gift? This was doomed to end in a fight. 
 Hand on her sword she hums as Bular shifts behind her. The brute huffs as he gets up, bumping her aside as he walks by to get to his father. Both the beasts now glared at her. Dawn wishes she could say she was without fear as they stared at her but she'd come so far she wouldn't turn back now.
   "Leave your wasting our time." Bular says uncaring of her achievements or her power. "Your so skinny we'd choke on your bones." He adds. His father laughs head bomping his son but Dawn shakes anger radiating through her. Eyes turning a dark green she feels the grip on her powers loosen. In a perfect circle around the three of them the grass dies. The two trolls watch as the plants around them begin to wither, roots twisting and cracking as wood split and leaves fluttered down. Then it all turned black rotting away. Facing them her eyes burn with a need to prove herself. The moon shines on her and Dawn's armor reflects it's light showing her power as she stood in the dead grass.
 "Then fight me. In a duel." She demands standing her tallest as she looks at them.
 She wasn't leaving without that cure. She may fall here but she falls with more grace than either of these so called warriors.
 Gunmar leans in close his horns jutting out like a crooked crown as he snarls at her. Dawn snarls back. She. Wasn't. Leaving. Without. That. Cure.
 "... Fine. You wish to die? I will not stop you." Turning Bular and him begin to stalk away. Soldiers surround her and as she draws her blade eyes wide she sees Gunmar pause. The soldiers don't advance or go for an attack. Dawn turns and Gunmar stares at her waiting. She realizes she is supposed to follow. Taking one last look back at Killahead and the safety of the forest beyond she picks her shredded cloak off the dead grass before reclasping it around her neck.
 It seems she got what she wanted.
~~~
  An hour or two must have passed making Dawn fear she wouldn't get back before Daylight. If her bed was empty when the castle awoke they'd send a search party and she'd never be aloud to leave again. Arthur would watch her every move and Merlin… she'd never be aloud to learn another spell. Trudging on through the darkness of the woods fearing that Daybreak was near she felt weak. Her legs were tired from the long trek but she knew it was worth it. She watched as they passed trees with scratch marks in them and trollish sayings and carvings she couldn't decipher. Dawn pauses touching one of the trees and tracing the carving it flashed green and the words changed allowing her to read it. Tilting her head she squints.
 "Home…?" She mumbled seeing the deep groves in the tree. Dawn felt she knew this language from a distant memory as if it had been murmered once before as if it'd been read to her. Trying to remember how she knew it, a jab to her back made her hiss.
 Poked with a guards spear she walks away and observes her surroundings closely. Seeing more trolls watching from the bushes, standing guard Dawn realized they had led her into the heart of their territory. Her eyes are wide in wonder as she looks around enamoured. She'd heard such dark stories about the GumGums home but standing here she could only feel the warmth of fellow warrior spirits.
   Tents were set up and huts made from the surrounding trees and rock. Everything was handcrafted in a way Dawn never knew trolls were capable of. Woven branches and carved rock shielded families from the cold as they laid together. Fires raged in pits and the flames made the GumGums eyes reflect as they watched her follow their king.
   Younglings ran around the camp jumping into bushes only to leap out at their friends causing squeals of joy to ring through the camp. Mothers and fathers sat and chatted as they groomed their newborn whelps, licking them clean as they made little squeaks of protest wiggling in their parents grip. Soldiers sparred and played chuffing at one other as they rolled around and smashed their helmets against each other, kits cheering them on. The more she saw the more she began to question her faith and allegiance to Arthur.
 Was this any different than home? They wove intricate baskets of grass that held food and supplies just like the weavers and potters of Camelot. There were some differences such as how and what they wove but the patterns told a story just like her people. Warriors brought back what they'd hunted putting them in piles for all to share similar to the town's trade center. Children played games with each other running around as adults took turns to watch. Was this not exactly like Camelot? Was the way the soldiers behaved any different than Camelots knight barracks or the teens copying the soldiers exactly like young squires? She could almost imagine the GumGums as humans in this light, as a thriving tribe deep in the woods who wanted nothing to do with Camelots culture.
  As she was pushed forward by GumGum spears to keep pace, she stumbled lost in her own thoughts. 
 Stumbling forward trying to wrap her head around the fact that the GumGums weren't all evil she stared up at Gunmar. From this angle walking with his son he almost seemed... human. He could've eaten her or mauled her when they first encountered each other but instead he listened to her pleas and now he was giving her a chance to fight. That was more than what Arthur ever did for her. More than Lancelot believed she could do. Who was the real monster in this war? Was there even a need for war?
 Turning Gunmar meets her gaze and she looks away. She decides to study his camp as this may be her only chance. Looking around taking in the dense foliage and how they'd made it a home she felt eyes on her. Turning whelps watched her curiously blinking owlishly at her. She wonders if they've ever seen a human. Well a live human. Bending down and pausing to wave they ran off squeaking to their mothers. Staring at the troll families who held their children close and their harsh gazes as they glared at the princess, Dawn realized she was the only monster here.
 Bular chuffed amused, making Dawn blush. Of course they'd be scared of her. After all she was the enemy. Getting up and pulling her cloak closer plants nervously bloomed around her and nearby crystals glowed reacting to her emotions. She flushed embarrassed at her lack of control and quickly followed the King of Darkness, curious eyes watching as they left. 
  ~~~
Lead to an arena Dawn pauses in awe. She was standing in the fabled GumGums battle room, she'd only ever heard stories. She never thought she'd see this place. Looking out at the various weapons placed around their training space. There were axes, swords, spears, javelins, maces, and other weapons she didn't recognize. Her green eyes widened in amazement studying the colosseum from the balcony they stood on. It overlooked everything and she was determined to write this down and document it later. The arena was large and wide carved out from the center of the mountain, hidden deep in the core. She could see statues of fallen warriors decorating the rims of the arena. Stone steps carved from years of work circled the colosseum allowing trolls to watch as others spared. She also noticed dents in the walls and wondered about the battles that caused such scars. 
 Running forward Glowing Green crystals jutted from the ground and tapping one, it glowed brightly reacting to her touch. Her heart swelled at the magic in this room, the history. She felt an ancient power in this place and could feel the souls of thousands of trolls who had fallen here. It was exhilarating unlike anything she'd ever experienced. Unlike anything in Camelot.
  "Our rules are simple fleshbag." Gunmar states demanding her attention. Turning away from the balconies edge and focusing on him he snarls from his place on his throne beginning. Skulls decorated his seat and Dawn swallows before meeting his gaze listening closely. "Rule One. Always finish the fight and never hesitate." He states slamming his hand onto an old skull crushing it. Dawn nods aware of this troll custom despite how much she despised it. "Rule Two it must be your blade that ends the fight it can not be your enemies." Holding her sword tightly Dawn understands this. If she lost her weapon she could not use her opponent's to end them.
   Gunmar smirked, leaning forward on his throne of bones as he chuffed in her face. Hot air sent her hood back and made her long hair shift as he leered down at her. "And Rule Three young mage. No magic." He instructs.
 Dawna chokes hearing the last demand. No magic? Since when was that a Gum Gum rule? She was never informed that would be part of the deal. Looking over at Gunmars son she brings her sword close. 
 Bular was at least twelve feet tall and Gunmar fifteen. She was a third their size, maybe half at best.
 Without her magic it would be impossible to defeat either of them. She could fight but she didn't have proper training in dueling only practice from when she copied Lancelot. Not to mention the split swords she'd brought were magic. She'd only have the weak weapon she swiped from the knight hall which to a troll was barely a dagger. She wasn't even sure it could go through a trolls skin. As they watched waiting for an answer, Dawn's hands clenched beginning to glow. She supposed magic would be an unfair advantage but wasn't it unfair to make her fight without it? Magic was apart of her, apart of this place. To deny her such a large part of herself… Trembling she felt sick. Perhaps Gunmar and Arthur shared more than she assumed.
 "Well princess?" Gunmar sneers the title like an insult before smirking, licking his fangs. "What is your decision? Do not waste our time." Dawn shakes. He thinks her a coward, a cheat but she would always keep true to her word. She came here. She had to finish this. Looking at her hands before closing her eyes she takes a deep breath. The glow dies and their left in the dull light of the green crystals. 
  Looking up and nodding Gunmar chuffed staring at her. Sighing, she looked down at herself allowing her armor to fade away. She felt naked without her protection but If they considered magic cheating then she would respect their rules as she was on their land.
  "I do not cheat. I do not need magic to win. And if I fall there's no one to go back to anyways..." Closing her eyes thinking of home she knows either way she wins. She either dies and meets Gwenivere in Avalon or she returns to the castle and saves her friend's life.
  Whispering a prayer to her family and hoping this was not her last night alive Dawn nods. She stands before the King and Prince unarmored and defenceless cept a small blade she held. Gunmar turns and not a moment later an attendant walks in carrying what Dawn feared most. Ravenstone.
 Rare and made from the dust of fallen magic users ravenstone blocked any magic from being used, containing the energy and even stealing it if a mage was around it too long. She holds the stone in her hands when the attendant passes it to her and pauses seeing they were cuffs.
  She swallows as they watch her and closing her eyes she slips them on wearing them as bracelets. Shivering Dawn could feel them working, they would not only block her magic but drain her energy as well. She'd have to be smart in this battle or she'd surely fall. 
  Rubbing the cuffs nervously she feels the intricate runes carved into the stone. They told the story of her kind, the origin of magic. A  zap of electricity goes up her arms making her feel more powerful despite the impediment. "I do not intend to lose." She states boldly. Bular chuffs sword dragging against the ground. Neither did he. Turning towards the arena she begins walking down the stairs, the brute following her.
  It seemed Bular had decided he would be her fighting partner and Gunmar their witness. 
 Waiting at the bottom she paused. Spinning the sword in her hand she stared into the steel looking at her reflection. If she died today she died a hero. If she won it wouldn't be long lived. Dictatuous was running out of time. He needed the cure. Now. 
  Attacking her while she's distracted, Dawn quickly focuses back on Bular, on the battle. Their swords clash against each other creating sparks as they glare at one other. She was tired, had less fighting experience, and was weaker. Smirking Dawn pushed Bular back, she guessed that made this a fair match. 
  Clawing at the ground gaining his footing he snarls and charges at her. Dawn thinking quickly jumps up and flips over him as he swings his sword where she had just stood. Landing she turns holding up her blade as his crashed against hers. He sneered pushing down and she cries out feeling the increasing pressure as he pushes down. Huffing she kicks him back making both of them skid.
 She breathes deeply grip tightening. The battle had just begun and she knew she was outmatched. Shifting her position she glances up at Gunmar. He sat on his throne overlooking their battle, watching amused. His eye met hers and she stares wondering what he must think of her, of his son before Bular crashes back into her, sending her backwards. Hitting the ground she rolls rocks digging into her skin. Her shirt catches and she hisses as the cloth rips open and slashes her flesh making blood spill. The first blood drawn from battle.
  Getting up she stares at Bular. She couldn't get distracted. This wasn't like home, if she lost here she wouldn't get back up again.
  Bular stalks towards her grinning as he dragged his two swords. Taunting her as they scratched deep groves into the floor. In the green light of the jagged crystals his eyes glowed and Dawn saw a blood lust she'd never seen before. Ducking behind a rock as he slashed his swords at her she inches around it before she rolls forward going under his legs aiming at his ankles. Making contact she quickly scrambles up also hitting him in the back right above his kilt. Holding her sword waiting for a counter attack the Prince roars. Snarling he turns, swords hitting her with so much force she's slammed into a wall. Making contact she drops her sword, gasping as she grabs her side. He'd gotten her. Twice now. But so had she. They were even. Grimacing in pain eyes wide in fear she stares up at the warlords son.
 "Look at you. Tiny and weak human. You thought you could best me? I am the son of Gunmar! I am a conquer! And now for your ignorance you shall fall." He states raising his swords above her head. Eyes darting around Dawn smirks. Kicking him in the grocknuts as hard as she can he roars, dropping his swords and whimpering. She grabs her own weapon before charging. Kicking him backwards again she slashes at his chest causing black blood to spill.
 "Miserable human your death will be painful for that!" He threatens as he smacks her away with his arm. Falling back sword clattering as it slips out of her hand once more Dawn groans.
Her breathing is rough as she shakes. Bular picks up his blades and as she kicks back trying to reach her sword his claws dig into her ankle pulling her towards him. He huffs hot air into her face keeping her pinned and she stares at him. He raises a sword but moving her head the blade simply sinks into the ground next to her. He snarls and she snarls back, body burning with pain but brimming with determination. She could not fall.
 Smashing her head against his he hisses in pain, stumbling back as she stands. Blood drips into her eye and her ankle burns from the deep cuts but she still stands tall. "I don't intend to lose." She sneers and he growls at her. Tackling her to the ground Dawn grunts but smirks. He'd pushed her closer to her blade.
 Smiling Bular stared down at her ready to smash her head in right as her sword pierced his side and went straight through his ribcage. She missed his heart intentionally though she wonders how his face would've looked if he had been beaten by such a "weakling" as herself. Smiling as warm blood dripped onto her hands from the wound she'd inflicted she forced him back before climbing on top of him straddling him. Grabbing his horns and pushing his head down she glares down at him huffing.
 "You you you!!!" He roars thrashing but Dawn keeps one hand on the sword threatening to push it all the way through if he didn't listen. The other rested on his horn keeping his head down.
 "Yield Bular. You've lost." Dawn snarls. Their battle was intense and she almost fell but Bulars cockiness had been his downfall. Her hair falls onto his face as she breathes deeply staring into his eyes. Bular chuffs growling at her but her hand remained on the hilt of the sword reminding him she could end him if she chose. She'd done it. Bloody but not broken she'd beaten Bular the Butcher.
 "MY SON!" Gunmar screeches from his throne ready to charge. Dawn turns holding out her hand that'd been on Bulars horn. The GumGum king paused snorting at her boldness. 
"I'll make a deal." Dawn states. "Declare I've won and I'll take off the raven cuffs, I'll heal him, and we never speak of this. And..." She takes a deep breath in blood still dripping from her wounds. "You give me what I desire." Dawn offers. Gunmar chuffs staring at her then Bular. Bular who was covered in blood and beaten by a mere mortal. His son. His legacy. Who was this girl? 
There's a long pause where the only sound is Bular and Dawns wheezing breaths. Dawn and Gunmar stare at each other and finally Gunmar chuffs looking away. 
"You have won." He growls lowly.
"Father!" Bular snaps before roaring at the movement. The pain from the inflicted wound was unlike anything he'd ever felt. Dawn turns eyes wide as she holds the sword still to keep it from hurting him further.
"Silence! You have lost Bular let the witch work!" Dawn nods and ripping off the cuffs she takes out the sword before placing her hands against the wound. His stone was warm despite being rock something she wasn't expecting. The texture was rough and marred threatening to slit her hands open if she didn't work carefully. Black and red stained her hands their blood mixing together and as her eyesight blurred she prayed that after the battle her magic was strong enough to heal him. 
Closing her eyes focusing Bulars breathing and chuffing gets louder as electricity courses through his veins. Dawn feels the wound close under her fingertips slowly and putting more energy into it, more thought the GumGum Prince stares amazed as the rock melts and melds before becoming a small scar against his chest. Almost as if she'd never struck him in the first place. 
Dawn pulls back still straddling him and he stares at her. This small human who just put him on the brink of death only to save him. Who was this human? This Dawna Nobel? 
"... Can I please get the troll cure and go home now?" She begs falling off the dark prince to lay on the ground besides him. They both lay still after their battle, taking deep breaths in.  
~~~
 Gunmar held the potion as Dawn smiled. She had a small cut above her eye from headbutting Bular and a gash on her arm and leg from rolling on the ground but she'd done it. She got the cure to save Dictatious. Taking the bottle into her hands Gunmar leaned close.
"Do not let me see you here again." He chuffs. "And do not take this potion lightly. It could destroy my people but I put my trust in you as you've been the only honorable human I have met in some time. You bested my son and for that you will not be underestimated again." Holding the bottle close, feeling the warmth of it's magic through the glass Dawn looks at Gunmar and nods. That was the closet to a compliment she'd ever get from the GumGum King. 
"You have my word Gunmar." Smiling she turns facing Killahead before she fades into the shadows disappearing. 
Sputtering as she falls into one of the many castle halls, Dawn can't breathe as she lays flat on the carpet. Breathing deeply her hands dig into the lush fabric as her eyes go blurry. Groaning light leaks from a nearby window onto her face and she sees it's sunup, sometime in the early morning. Grunting body burning in pain as she slowly gets up she begins to limp down the hall sweat and blood dripping down her face. But holding the potion close she can't bring herself to care about her pain. Heaving in air, she could feel the night and the toll of magic finally catch up to her. However she couldn't quit rest yet. Clawing at the wall as she continues walking she pulls herself forward cradling her prize close. 
~~~
Dawn paused looking around the corner. The guards that were usually stationed for prison duty were gone on shift leave, giving her a window of opportunity. Opening the door that led to the dungeons quietly she sneaks inside to the staircase before closing the door. Staying in the shadows and avoiding the torches she creeps down the stairs careful not to make a sound. Peaking, her head out she sees most of the trolls were resting or trying too. Hacking could be heard and she winces, listening to Dictatious as he continued to cough.
 Walking quietly across the stone floor, trolls don't pay her cloaked form any mind. Standing near his cell she holds the mug of tea and potion close. She'd changed her clothes to look more presentable. She'd also slipped into the kitchens when no one was looking to grab a few things. Holding the potion and tea in her hand she pauses outside his cell. She could study the potion Gunmar gifted her, reverse it. Make a weapon and wipe out the GumGums once and for all. Magic would finally be respected. Arthur would respect her. But...
 Hearing his loud pained coughs Dawn closes her eyes as she pours the potion into the tea. She sticks the cup through the cell bars allowing Dictatious to take it. The hacking stops and Dawn slowly opens her eyes. Dictatious looks at her untrusting and she frowns her hand with the tea shaking.
  "Please it'll help I promise..." She begs him. He blinks before looking at Dawn through the bars that seperated them, all six eyes peering into her soul through the darkness of the dungeon. 
 "... why?" He asks voice barely above a whisper as he forces it out of his raspy throat. He had gotten worse while she was gone but she believed Gunmar had fulfilled his deal as she had hers. That his sickness would be cured once he drank what she'd fought for and that he'd live just as she had.
 "Because this is wrong and I'm sorry. Please..." Dawn continues to offer the cure, cloak hiding her face but Dictatious knew her. She was the King's niece. She was Camelots jewel. She was that girl who would sneak into the woods to learn magic and come down into these dark dungeons to hear the stories he told other trolls to keep their hopes up.
  He sniffed the tea, it was a spicy moss blend that Dawn found many trolls enjoyed. The ingredients in the kitchen were slightly different from what trolls used but she hoped it'd appease him. Dictatious and her were by no means close but she wanted to amend that. They'd met in the woods when she was small, he'd helped her home. And once more he'd seen her practicing magic and had gifted her a troll book about ancient spells. She'd hated trolls for months after Gweniveres passing. She'd hated her magic but then she remembered. She remembered her aunts love and kindness. Her passion for the arts and her interest in magic. She would not let Arthur get away with this if she was still alive. But she was dead so it was Dawn's responsibility now. 
  It helped that Dictatious told stories whenever she came down to explore the dungeons. Although they never directly interacted he showed her not all trolls were evil. Before he got sick he spun tales of his world explaining magic in a way Dawn had never heard before. He was not a beast like Arthur described and she couldn't bear for him to die when he became sick and could no longer tell his stories. She couldn't stand that these trolls were trapped, that so many had died here. But for now all she had to beg for forgiveness was the potion. 
  "..." Dictatious studies Dawn humming as he looks her over. He takes the cup, his hands touching hers. She smiles and he looks grateful as he takes the warm mug. Looking at the princess with glazy eyes he snorts amused. "You are not like your family. You are different..." Dawn tilts her head but he doesn't add on as he chugs the drink. Once done he hands the cup back before curling into a ball on the dungeons cold floor. Dawn stares at him panicked. Had it been poison? Was he dying? Had she killed him? Had Gunmar lied to her?
 "Dic…?" Going to open the cell bars she paused watching his chest slowly rise and fall. Sleeping. The troll was just resting. Sighing and letting out a laugh Dawn falls against the bars exhausted. Chuckling she hugs her knees close. As she looked at Dic slumbering and listened to the rumbling trolls around her, her eyes fluttered. Yes she could use some of that too...
~~~
 Dawn feels a hand on her shoulder. She startles awake looking around confused before she remembers visiting Dic in the dungeons. Groaning she isn't sure when she dozed off but apparently she had.
 "You stayed?" Turning Dawn takes off her cloaks hood and pauses seeing Dictatious look at her. Smiling she stands, excited the potion worked as he looked much healthier. 
 "You're up." She states ignoring his previous remark. Studying him he seemed to be in good health despite the terrible circumstances. Dic hums in response reaching his hand through the bars to touch Dawns face. "Are you well?" She asks ignoring as he poked her.
 "I am but what of you? What happened to you?" Dawn blushes remembering the bruises and cuts all over her face from the duel. She didn't have the energy to deal with them last night. Letting out a chuckle she shrugs it off.
 "Don't worry about it." She responds, muttering a quick spell to heal her injuries. Dictatious watches with wide eyes as the cuts slowly close and the swelling goes down. She still had some light bruising but she looked much better. He had not seen her last night in the darkness of the dungeon but he'd recognized her scent and voice. Plus she was the only human who really came down here other than the Knights. 
 "You are a very strange human." He states crossing his arms. Chuckling Dawn nods. She was indeed different than her family. 
 "Can you walk? What about run?" She questions suddenly. Dictatiouses face scrunches as he tilts his head. What was she planning now?
 "Yes I feel fine now but why?" He asks. Dawn nods at him before she summons her armor. If she'd fallen asleep against the cells in the morning than it had to be dark now.
 "You've been here long enough. All of you. It's time you go home." She states. 
 "Dawna what are you doing?" Dictatious demands grabbing at her arm but she was already walking away from his cell to the center of the room. Making the torches burn bright, light fills the room showing Dawn.   "... You don't know me!" Dawn addresses them and the sound of grating stone can be heard as they turn and shift towards her. Eyes of all shapes and sizes watching the girl speak. "But I believe Trolls aren't evil. And I promise you, neither are humans. I do this because what my uncle Arthur did to all of you was wrong. I do this to show we're not all like him." Dawn fueled by saving Dic holds up her hand and all the cadges glow. Trolls gasp backing away before the locks suddenly click and the doors swing open. They… they were free? "Follow me and I'll lead you home!" Pulling her hood up Dawn runs out of the dungeon towards the castles entrance and the trolls, goblins, stalklings, and gnomes follow. Dictatious pushes past other trolls and rushing out of his now opened cell runs to be in the front right next to her.
 "Dawna this could be your title! This could be everything. Your very life! What are you doing?" He demands pulling on her arm but she just smiles, winking at him. 
 She leads a charge, directing the various creatures through the castle. Bigger creatures pick up smaller or sicker ones to help them keep up. The freed trolls follow behind her trusting the emboldened mage who had saved them. Their thundering footsteps echoing through the castle.
Making it to the front entrance she bursts the door open with her magic, leading everyone out of the castle and through the labyrinth of Camelot cobblestone streets before finally arriving at the gate. Focusing and saying a spell she hoists the iron bars open and they nod at her in thanks before they run. 
 It was early morning and the sun slowly begins to rise but for now there was enough shade for the night creatures to travel safely. Dawna can hear commotion coming from the castle as knights scurry around trying to find the escaped trolls and missing princess. Laughing as she watches the trolls flee, seeing them return home to the woods her chest flutters in happiness. She'd done it. She'd used magic and she'd freed them. 
  Feeling a pull Dawn stumbles almost dropping the gate and pausing she turns.
  "Lets go." Dictatious states yanking at her hand. She blinks surprised before staring at the troll.
  "What?" She asks softly. He pulls again wanting to drag her into the woods with him. With all of them. Some trolls pause on the bridge looking back and waiting for her decision.
 "Come with us. Please." Dawn blinks before she stares at Dictatious. Tilting her head she gazes outward, to the woods and their lush forest. With the freshest of fruits and gorgeous flowers. With friends. With Safety. With Magic. With sparring. And Freedom. She'd have freedom. She feels another pull and hesitantly she takes a step back so she doesn't go running away with them. 
 "My family is here..." She mumbles but she longs to leave with Dictatious. To go to their troll safe haven and explore the troll world. Too read endless books and immerse herself in their culture and magic. Too see what she'd only heard stories about. To become what she could only dream. 
 "You don't belong with them." Dictatious lightly bumps her head with his before squeezing her cheeks. Dawn is confused but laughing she smiles realising he had just given her the equivalent of a platonic troll kiss. He saw her as kin and he wanted her safe. She didn't belong in Camelot anymore did she? Her home was the wild surrounded by trees and magic not cobblestone and iron. But if she stayed she could help and maybe someday she would ascend to the throne and she could fix things. She could repair the damage done by Arthurs anger and she could rule with Gweniveres love. 
  The loud clanking of armor gets closer and Dawn hugs Dictatious feeling his rough stone against her before she pushes him to flee. He runs understanding her decision but at the end of the bridge he hesitates sending her a hopeful glance. He waits but Dawn simply bows a last goodbye and he nods taking off into the safety of the woods. Looking up again about to bring the gate back down Dawn pauses. 
  Gunmar stood at the edge of the woods watching. Tilting her head he nodded slowly at her. He did not trust humans and the Royal Family was at the top of that list but Dawn hoped she had earned his respect. If she ever fell by his hand she hoped it would be a quick merciful death. Something he granted few.
 The iron bars slam down as her magic burned out, separating her from the woods and all that lied beyond. Dawn signs looking away. Once again she was trapped.
~~~
 Gunmar stood at the woods edge peering into the Humans putrid village. He had come to scout and see if Dawna would keep her word. If the potion she won truly was for a troll or if she was lying and planned to use it against them and slaughter his troops. His single eye widened as the gates opened. He growled ready to tear open her throat but paused as a flood of magical creatures poured out rather than the army he was expecting. He could see trolls of all kinds, stalkings, gnomes, and goblins and amongst them stood an unafraid Dawna. They towered over her and had ten times her strength and yet she didn't fear them. They all left and Dawna was alone. Going to turn and leave he paused. Some trolls remained. A cloaked troll had stayed back and now they were clinging to her. Even from the distance he could see they were small and sickly, barley recovered despite the potion it seemed. The troll pulled at her as the others encouraged her to leave with them. Gunmar snorted enraged at the notion they'd invite her into the woods. 
  The girl simply nodded no, trying to urge them to leave. A wise decision on her part. The troll looks up and saw he was running out of time, the light was coming and with it his death if he didn't hurry. He leaves but Gunmar watches him hesitate. The trolls look back and Dawn smiles before bowing goodbye. The trolls run to the shelter of the trees and the princess watches them leave. The gate is about to drop before her green eyes lock onto him. Their gaze meets and she slowly nods to him. The gate slams down separating them before he can respond and he hums watching her run off as knights come. Perhaps if things were different. If she was born a troll or even a GumGum in another life they could've been allies. Maybe even friends. He turns feeling saddened that she chose to remain imprisoned when she clearly could be free. What an odd human.
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aeiiope · 5 years
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How did Jean cope with having a kill count in the teens when SHE was just in the teens? Her ultimate, does it affect her squad or the squad of whomever she's targeting? If it DOES affect her squad - does she tell them beforehand 'hey y'all are about to be nakey' or does it just. happen. What's the fallout like for her at that point? Has she won a Game yet? If not, what do you think she'd do with the resultant fame of becoming a Champion?
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Coping
Oh she didn’t handle it well at all at the start, and absolutely thought about turning herself in a million times before coming to terms with her actions. The very first time she killed someone, she actually disappeared for a week or two to try and gather herself again (primarily to stop her shaking enough to where she could operate normal enough to keep going. It just took longer than she thought it would).
To try and cope with the fact that her kill count just kept rising after the initial one, she would often find justifications for all of them since?? Who could she really go to about it?
Her family’s proven themselves as no one to turn to.The people she worked with/for would take it as weakness and potentially get rid of her when she needed the money she was bringing in to help keep the lights on and food on the table. And she was terrified of ratting them out since she knew that if she did, she’d be dead in the next week, so that was off the table.Even those she believed she could trust in some vague sense of the word seemed like the wrong choice to have this discussion with (primarily because she cared about what they thought, and just. Couldn’t handle the disappointment she knew they would have).In her defense; She was still only practically a kid at this point, and one who was panicked and terrified and didn’t think everything out completely because of it, and already had a view point that told her to keep with the trope-y Don’t show ANY weakness or you’re fucking dead.
Anyway, her justifications always tended to fall into the argument that it was either her or them, and she just chose herself. They would have done the same, so there’s no real reason to feel terrible about it (though for the first year or so she wanted to puke after every murder and fight that ended with cold bodies and try to skin herself to get rid of the feeling). It was always her or them, and that was it. She was defending herself. If they didn’t want the chance of getting murdered, they should have stayed out of her way or didn’t try to pick a fight with her.
As the years pass, she eventually grew desensitized to it, and found a new way to cope; Confidence. To be as boisterous and fuck it all as possible because if she could at least fake it at first, it would come to be eventually, and I know this sounds trope-y too, but it’s just. What she did. After each fight, she held her head high, and grew a taste for it by 15 or 16 (the fighting part. The murder part is still very much just. part of the job). Started picking fights just to keep herself sharp and to make sure that she’d always come out on top. And after each one, if she managed to still be standing by the end, it was enough to affirm that this was just natural. It was just what she was good at, and she should revel in it.And eventually, it worked. Even now, she’s confident and can be boisterous and sharp, but it came with broken bones, bruises, scars, and plenty of missteps and mistakes.
But hey, at least she doesn’t feel much of anything anymore when she kills someone; It is what it is. Move on.
And the others are going under the cut because wow this got longer than I thought it would.
Ultimate
It effects her squad! Like, I have a super half-baked idea on different ways it could work, but rn the one I’m leaning to is that her detonator is rigged to tune into the same frequency as her squad’s shields, and as soon as it’s triggered, she can send their shields into fucking overdrive to the point of nearly breaking, and then the result is that the shields are drained in exchange for an aoe explosion equal to what kind of charge the shields could hold, and her squad’s ok bc the base-material of the shields act as a grounded faraday cage. Maybe a little rocked on their feet bc of the force of it being discharged, but tbh it’s less about force and more so about the current produced, so it’s all ok.
Everyone else around? Not so lucky.
And yeah, she’d give them a heads up and a countdown. Like, something along the lines of ‘It’s ready, and I’m going to set it off in 3, 2, 1-’ . And then everything goes to hell in a hand basket as coms cut off for a minute and there’s this surge of electricity around them, and good luck.
Now, she can be a jackass and a little shit, but she wouldn’t throw her squad under the bus without a heads up at least. Like, maybe if it was just her because she knows herself and what’s around her, she wouldn’t be so keen on announcing that she’s about to blow out her own shields to try and fry the enemies around her, but if there are more people involved that she has to work with, she can be a little more considerate. Like, I think her ultimate can be canceled should there be any objections in the group since she’s just prepping the detonator at the countdown.
Though of course, she doesn’t necessarily have to listen to them, but she can note it.
As for the fallout, it would really depend on how things turn out I’d think.
Like, on one hand, the explosion can be the firm push needed for them to be able to take out another squad or two and come out victorious provided that they can work well either as a team or individually without shields, so then it would be good; A very clutch decision that - for as risky as it was - proved useful and beyond helpful.
On the other, at least one fist fight has 100% broken out because of this ultimate because it cost her squad the game, and y e a h. It really depends on how well everyone works together or super well on their own or luck.
But the initial fallout was probably wild since originally, the detonator was apart of a larger machine that only disabled the enemies’ shields. Like, cut them out completely for a time to allow shots at the person beneath it, and that was the effect she thought it was going to have after testing it. Like, during her time rigging the piece she managed to get to work for her favor, she managed to discharge a shield she was using then and figured that it worked; Just had to look out for the run off since it wasn’t as clean as it was as a whole.
Something expected ya know? Like, if you pull live wires, they’re going to have some spark left in them, but their own shields should be able to handle it even at the lowest tier.
The first sign that something was wrong should have been how her teams coms started to cut in and out as the charge on the detonator reached 90%, but she figured that maybe it was just because she needed to refine it a little more and it was nothing more than white noise from it starting up.
Oh boy was she wrong. But damn if she didn’t play it off as intentional if to save face.
Winning a Game
And she played it off well because I think that she would have won her first game with that little trick because. It probably caught a lot of people off guard, but she’s one to adapt and used the opportunity to her advantage and ta-da; Won her first game and still might’ve gotten into a fist fight with her squad after depending on who was in it. Like, I think it was a bunch of random people she never really saw again but holy fuck who fucking blows out their own team’s defense to try and win a fight???? Answer being her of course but that’s besides the point
Which feels a bit cheesy to write, but? Thinking about it? She’s had years of accidental training for it; Her scavenging for things def made her more aware of her surroundings when picking out loot. Being a mercenary gave her more arms and combat training. Hoping from place to place and working in different groups gave her a chance to figure people out. Ect. Ect.
Cheesy shit like that.
From there, I’m not 100% sure how many she’s won. Depends on how many there are and how the work in universe compared to in game, but at least a handful maybe?
Now as for the fame?
Initially, she wasn’t a fan.
Especially because it was a stark, sudden transition from working under tables and out of whatever bar or ship she managed to find herself in - having to take care to make sure her identity was hidden enough to avoid detection - to being in the spotlight and it was enough to make her nauseous in a way since?? It felt like a goddamn neon sign pointing out where she is, and though she’s taken extensive precaution to keep her identity under her helmet concealed before the game (so no one really knew who was under it), it felt like everything she worked to do was just thrown out the window and she gave it up willingly in an effort to outmaneuver people after her head.
Then there were probably questions about her next game since she got to keep going since she won, and her plans for it, and it was disorienting to say the least. But the thing she hated the most about it was how she managed to tether herself to the place without meaning to since?? Honestly?? She didn’t think she would get as far she she did; Let alone win any game.
Like, already said it, but she lived day to day - present to present - and only worried about what was going on then and now and how she was going to get to the next system or planet, and this put a screeching halt to that so now she had to stop and consider what her next plan was going to be and y e a h.
Initially, not a fan.
But! As time went on, she could find some benefit in it. ie; she was able to start cleaning her slate from her time as a scavenger/mercenary since she could finally pay off those she owed without having to run. Those who knew her identity probably became weary of approaching her in any sense of the word after directly seeing what she could do if they wound up on her wrong side, so it granted her a level of protection. She had a place to safely work on things instead of having to rig things together as she moved.
There were benefits, so it loosened her up to the idea of fame, but the one thing she will always hate about it is the tethering and how she feels trapped in a sense. Like, I’m sure that the legends can’t just up and disappear for weeks at a time, or travel anywhere with relative peace. Not if the games are so widespread. And she hates the feeling of it after being on the move for over a decade.
Now, that doesn’t stop her from vanishing for a couple days under guises and shadow, but it’s not the same I’m sure.
When it comes to the more entertainment side of things, she can be charming in a jerk-ish way. Sarcastic. Sharp tongued. Ect. Like, once the initial whiplash came to pass, she probs just said ‘fuck it why not if I’m stuck here’  and since rolled with the punches and having a decent time with it though like hell she’d give a straight or honest answer to things.
Like, one thing I’ve been thinking of is her answer to ‘why did you join the games’? And among her answers would be:
“I had a midlife crisis.”“I made a bet with someone, and now they owe me a dollar.”“This is my retirement plan. No, I’m not using the pay to fund it- This is it.”
Shit like that. But yeah, she def sees it as a double edged blade and I hope this bit makes sense bc I’m like. Typing off the top of my head now because this is the longest meta I’ve written out I’m p sure lmao
EDIT: I realize that in my rambling I didn’t really properly answer as to what she would use it for, but honestly? I don’t think she would use it for more than the benefits I mentioned above since she doesn’t have a cause she’s championing for, but give her time, and maybe she’d use it to aid others where she could in little ways.
She would use any extra funds to help those on the street and in day to day life since she knows that life. Use her reputation to help break up fights she doesn’t want to see, or in a vigilante sense if she’s in the area to help protect those who could be going the same way she did before the games. Little day to day things she can be direct help in, ya know?
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