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a-table-of-fics · 4 years

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Cull Goes to Octo Canyon, Chapter 2, Draft 1

[[Yeah, Level 1 is running a bit long, innit? Have to break it into the next chapter even... I am not expecting to do this for every level.]]

Marie hummed idly as she leaned against the supply shed. It was a small tune she had come up with when she was young, to make being alone feel far less lonely. From the fan letters she had read way back when, she was far from the only one comforted by the song.

“You done in there?” she called out, looking back and knocking on the wall.

Cull mumbled something vaguely affirmative, before opening the door. He came out, taking small steps with large snow boots, huddled down somewhat, as if to make himself less visible. He was now in a yellow reflective hoodie, draped over slimmer shorts than he had before. The only thing he was wearing that didn’t change was his beanie.

“What about the headset?” Marie asked, quirking an eyebrow. “Can’t communicate to you without ‘em.”

Cull’s ears drooped, and he started tugging down on his beanie with one hand.

“…Are you sure there’s nothing else?”

“Oh, come now,” Marie teased, “They’re fresher than you think. What’s the problem?”

Cull only pulled his beanie further down, covering his eyes.

Marie rolled her eyes and leaned over to snatch the beanie from him.

“No one’s hat hair is that bad! Really, you think that look is more important than—”

Cull gasped as the wool was lifted from his eyes, reflexively putting his hands over his forehead. His eyes were quick to readjust to the light, to find Marie looking wide-eyed at him. His shoulders sagged, and he knew the worst. He lowered his hands in defeat, fully revealing his hair. It could almost pass as a bowl cut, which was popular these days, but it was far too uneven, and there were scars of dried ink among the ends, betraying his cut tentacles.

“…I don’t want to talk about it,” he finally said, his pink pupils trying to look anywhere but at her golden eyes.

Marie blinked, then shook her head, quickly regaining her composure. “Aaaaanyway…”

She handed him a custom yellow Splattershot, and walked him over through the main archway.

“The entrances to the Octarian realm are camouflaged,” Marie explained, gesturing vaguely at the expanse around them. “So if you see something strange…well, inking before thinking, I always say.”

Cull looked at his weapon, holding it more like a champagne bottle than an actual gun. He brought it up to look down the sights. His aim was beyond shaky, and his finger just couldn’t draw the strength to even try pulling the trigger. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he tried to aim towards a sticker someone slapped on a rock face.

He yelped, firing a shot as he felt something give him a sharp poke in the shoulder. He could feel a small amount of ink quickly leave him to refill the tank on his back. After taking a few breaths, Cull turned around to see Marie bring the umbrella back over her shoulder.

“Like I said,” she said, smiling a very practiced smile, “ink, don’t think.”

Cull looked back, seeing that the shot made a spatter that just barely stuck on the outline of the sticker.

“Right,” he nodded, still not quite making eye contact. He moved forward (gup, these boots were going to take some getting used to) and looked out towards the outpost.

Other than a few puddles of pink ink and a rather large black kettle-like manhole, there was not much to see. It was just brick, concrete, and steel beams, all nearly as worn down as the ancient carved tentacles surrounding it. What Cull found far more interesting, however, was the view. He could see more stone carvings of tentacles in the distance, wrapping around mountains and doing absolutely nothing to hold up the many small floating islands that dotted the landscape.

“...What is this place…?” he breathed, briefly forgetting his awkward situation.

“Tentakeel Outpost,” Marie said. “Just on the border of Octo Canyon.”

Cull stepped forward to get a better look at this scenery. His smile turned into one of shock when he tripped over something, landing with a clang and the coldness of metal. He grunted, lifting himself up just to see the same mix of cement and stone that floored the whole outpost. He gave it a kick and heard more clangs in return.

“…Well,” Marie said, still looking out into the horizon, “That’s one way to find the kettles…”

Cull blushed, face showing hints of the same shade of blue his hair currently had. Silently, he pushed himself back up, and held his Splattershot an inch from the floor. He shot the kettle that was beneath his feet perhaps more than was needed, but he no longer had any chance of tripping over the thing.

Peering into the grate on the kettle revealed as much as the manhole did, which is nothing at all. Cull took a deep breath, and gulped. With one last look at Marie, who simply nodded with a smile, he squeezed his eyes shut and squidshifted, letting himself fall into the unknown.

He fell for a while before finally landing on a respawner. He feared a hard, hurtful landing, but his ink-based form absorbed the impact nicely. Quickly reforming, he looked around. His jaw gaped.

The screens simulating sky. The giant mason jars bobbing lazily in the air. The city heavily packed with round buildings far below. It was really a shame that Marie insisted Cull keep his phone at the Outpost; this scenery was giving him some new ideas…

“Agent 4! Agent 4, do you hear me?”

Right. He could be inspired later, when he wasn’t on a mission. He pressed a button on his headset.

“Uh, y-yeah, I hear you.”

“Good. Now, there should be a launchpad dead ahead. Not much else to do on that rock but swim over there.”

Cull looked at the floating slab of concrete he was on. Marie was right – there was nothing here other than turquoise ink (the same color Cull’s ink had changed to when he hit the respawner), leading straight to a launchpad. Gosh, that was a long way down, wasn’t it? He swallowed, quickly squidforming and swimming to the launchpad. He may as well have jogged there at the rate he swam.

“Look,” Marie said, not unkindly, once Cull landed on the first structure, “I get it. You’re in a foreign place, don’t know your way. I’ve been there. But still, if you wanna get the Zapfish and get out, we should pick the pace up a little.”

Cull reflexively put a hand over his haircut. “…I-I was swimming as fast as I could…”

“Oh... Well, we should still be fine…”

Cull could hear her forced smile, and grimaced.

Stepping forward, he suddenly felt a strong stinging sensation climbing up his leg. He looked down to see that he was stepping in purple ink that was slowly creeping up his boots. Yelping, he struggled for a moment before finally pulling his feet back to dry land.

“I…take it you’ve never played Turf War,” Marie said with infuriating neutrality. “Gotta watch out for enemy ink. Better yet, cover it with your own.”

Cull nodded, shooting the ground in front of him in quick bursts, inching forward on a slowly-growing green path. Well, less “path” and more “landslide”, given his shaky aim and the shallow slope.

At least this was smooth sailing. Even when he felt a little dry, he could dip into the ink and recover his supply almost immediately. Overall, it was shocking to Cull how easy this was going to be.

And then he saw a giant reddish tentacle with eyes.

Cull dove to hide behind a nearby wall, wincing through the pain of the purple he landed in. He waited, with bated breath, trying his best to ignore the splotches of enemy ink that were crawling over his skin.

He could hear the creature muttering to themselves in a tongue vaguely like Inklish, in the way divergent evolution may still bring two birds with similar beaks. Cull could only make out a couple of words, and even those he was assuming were cognates.

Thankfully, the creature didn’t seem to be coming any closer. But their tone made it clear they were still dutifully on alert. Hopefully, they didn’t know Cull was there.

Cull’s breath was heavy, wavering as he was failing to ignore the pain and fear of this enemy. Oh Cod, what was he doing? What would he do? His hands trembled, and he stared towards the tentacle creature, although this meant he was staring at the wall.

“Hey, um,” his headpiece buzzed with Marie’s voice, causing him to yelp. He heard more gurgles behind him, and hastily slapped a hand over his mouth.

Marie continued, “You know you have a splattershot, right?”

As soon as Cull heard the creature quiet down again, he looked at the gun made for firing ink he had his hands on.

“A-are you sure about this?!” he hissed. “I mean, I know we can splat each other, but…”

“…It’s an Octotrooper, Agent 4. Octarians are ink-based like us, so don’t worry.”

Cull swallowed, and hesitantly climbed up to peek over the wall, facing his foe from behind cover. Having a few extra moments, he saw the Octotrooper for what they were.

Their greenish eyes widened, but soon scowled alongside their large purple lips. The top of the tentacle reached down to the control panel to the tripod their oddly svelte legs were standing on. It pivoted, aiming a large nozzle straight at Cull.

Cull screamed, turning his gaze and blindly firing. He fell over as his armor exploded, landing in…green ink. He groaned, seeing his undershirt and shorts spark as he climbed up to his feet. Carefully, he peeked over the wall, only to see a large spatter of green ink, and a small ghostly tentacle floating away.

“Hey, you got him!” Marie said, with forced cheerfulness. “Now, um, you should hang out in the ink for a bit. Let your ink armor regenerate, y’know?”

Cull didn’t need the explanation; he dove into the ink under his feet. The armor might regenerate, but in the meantime, it was feeling all kinds of weird and uncomfortable. He could even see the ink bubble around him as the armor seemed to draw from it. Finally, he sighed in relief when the strange buzz over his skin subsided, and he kidformed again to see his armor on again, good as new.

“You okay, Agent 4?” Marie asked, unusually softly.

“Y-yeah,” Cull replied. “Hey, you know my name is Cu—"

“Not in enemy territory,” Marie warned. “Here, I’m Agent 2, and you’re Agent 4.”

“Right…” Cull nodded slowly, deciding not to ask about Agents 1 or 3. “So, is he okay?”

“Huh? The Octoslob? Oh, yeah, he’ll be fine, he just got splatted.”

“Right…”

Cull moved forward, keeping his Splattershot close and his eyes darting around for more Octo defenses. He could only hope there wasn’t much more between the Zapfish and himself.

There was nowhere he could go except down the open oad, with nothing but open air for cover. He looked down, seeing that the ground was coated in the same kind of green ink he was using. Cull wondered, briefly, where it came from; he hadn’t been over here yet.

“Uh…Mar—Agent 2…?” he asked, slowly. “Is…Is this safe…?”

“I mean, you’re in Octarian territory, kid. I can’t say this mission’ll be a skip in the flower—oh, the ink? Sure! Might be Octoslob ink but seems to be your color.”

There was a pregnant pause while Cull cautiously squidformed and sunk into the ink.

“Wait, you didn’t think the respawners here were meant for you, did you? The Octarians must not have switched the ink out yet…”

Agent 4 kept swimming as Marie wondered. With luck, the rest of this place would have ink he could swim in, and he could just sneak past everyone. He could quickly test his plan, as another Octotrooper was waiting for an intruder like him around the corner. This one had a metal shield, too.

“Good plan, kid,” Marie remarked. “Just take it slow, and that Octarian won’t notice you.”

Cull was glad he didn’t have to try to speed his way through; he didn’t want to embarrass himself further. But there was one problem: this was a dead end. Agent 4 looked around, but there wasn’t much to see except for some boxes and glass windows. He kept in the ink, trying to feel around for some passage without alerting the guard behind him.

“Agent 4,” Marie said, finally, “It looks like the Octotrooper is guarding the launchpad. You gotta take ‘im out to go forward.”

Cull gulped as he quietly kidformed. Thankfully, the Octarian was still diligently looking ahead, and didn’t seem to notice him.

Until, of course, Cull squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the trigger.

The moment the Octarian felt ink hit his back, he spun around to face a hapless Agent 4.

Cull stepped back, but slipped and landed on his back with a yelp. All he could see was those bulbous green eyes sneering at him from behind a large metal shield and ink nozzle.

He fired a few more shots, but they didn’t do much more than put green paint spatters on the shield. He whimpered, darting his eyes everywhere trying to find an escape.

“Agent 4!”

“?!” Cull managed in response.

“Try a Splat Bomb!”

“?!?”

“Oh, for… you should be able to pull one right from your ink tank!”

Not having much choice, Cull reached behind his back and felt for…well, anything at this point. A spare bag or Splat Bomb parts or something. Instead, he found a small…bottleneck? He pulled, and felt his ink tank get a lot lighter and something appear in his hand. It felt like a large tetrahedron.

Yes! This had to be a Splat Bomb!

“There ya go, now you can distract him and—”

Cull threw with a “yah!”

It bounced right off the shield with a clonk and landed right back in front of Cull. Two quick warning beeps and the bomb detonated, causing both combatants to reflexively back away. A shower of green ink covered Cull.

When he wiped it from his eyes, he saw the shield was still up, albeit almost totally soaked in green. The Octotrooper’s eyes blinked open, looking around and settling on Agent 4, moments before the Inkling dove into the ink. He fired a shot - a large, purple gob flying straight for Cull.

Cull struggled to speed away, but only barely managed to dodge the impact. He was still caught in the puddle of enemy ink. He instinctively surfaced, kidforming and wincing at the stinging in his feet. He squirmed, taking one heavy step after another. His eyes widened – he saw another shot coming right for him. He fell prone, letting the shot fly over him while he crawled to safety, or at least somewhere he could comfortably move in. The comfort was questionable, given the circumstances and the fact he just covered himself in more purple, but all the same.

Cull readied for the next shot the Octotrooper would fire, but noticed something. The Octotrooper was stuck in green ink, and was struggling to keep himself and his machine afloat, let alone take aim. The tentacle wriggled and writhed, still looking at Agent 4 angrily.

“Now’s your chance, Agent!” Marie called out. “Splat ‘im!”

Cull almost jumped as his command came in. He quickly ran to the side, firing wildly until his ink tank was empty. He didn’t even see that the Octarian was splatted many shots ago. His throat was hoarse from the yelling and he felt dry all over. He stopped to catch his breath, squidforming again for a minute. Slowly, he emerged again, to see the launchpad.

He took small steps to it, before taking a deep breath and heading to Cod-knows-where.

Thankfully, he wasn’t surrounded by Octarians like he feared. He was on a small rooftop, with a grated balcony in front of him. The balcony had a square gap in the floor, and Cull could hear Octarian conversation below. He crept up and peeked down to see three Octotroopers rapidly patrolling, making what he could only guess was idle conversation.

He sighed, seeing no way around this fight. He steeled himself, and—

Wait!

He pulled out another Splat Bomb, looking at it thoughtfully. He would just drop it down, and it would do the rest. Yeah…

“Now you’re thinkin’,” Marie said, and Agent 4 found himself smiling a little at the sincerity of that. He gave the bomb a little shake, priming it for detonation before dropping it down.

Beep.

Bang!

Cull sighed in relief. If only the last two fights were this eas— Why did he still hear gurgling voices?

He cringed, peering over just in time to see three angry Octarians staring him down. Not one of them was splatted, but they were all half-covered in green ink. Cull ducked back, eyes locked on the shots that were sailing over his head. His hearts thumped against his chest. How could he be so stupid to think they wouldn’t just dodge that? And he thought he was doing things so well…

“Hey!” Marie exclaimed. “You had a good thing going there, why’d you stop? They should be easier to cook now…”

Cull inched ahead, looking at the three Octotroopers again. He took aim, hoping to be able to pick them off from here so he can proceed. But which one should be prioritized? Could he take them all out? Were they as weakened as Marie said?

These moments of hesitation did not go unnoticed by the Octos, who kept firing. Most missed, but one connected with one of Cull’s gloved hands, and he dropped his Splattershot. Before he knew it, he was reaching in vain for it when it had already disappeared with a splash in the blast puddle. The fact he could hear Marie suck air through her beak did not help at all.

“Ooh, all right. Well, I’m sure you—AGENT 4 NO!”

Too late. In his panic, he had made a dive for his weapon. It was only when he landed and reached a hand into the ink that Cull got a painful reminder out of his current source of panic. The Octarians were still firing at him.

“C’mon, kid, use another Splat Bomb!”

He looked around, desperately trying to figure where it could do the most damage. His purple-soaked armor shattered again, and he threw the bomb anywhere, hoping it could at least distract his assailants. All eyes followed the triangular explosive as it sailed over the railing and exploded harmlessly into the air.

Cull prepared to try again, but nothing came out of the tank. It felt much lighter than normal, he realized, and a quick glance back confirmed his fears – insufficient ink.

He proceeded to do the only thing he could think of – he ran. He ducked under the gobs of purple, making a mad dash around the corner… right into another Octotrooper. Thankfully there were some crates around Cull could dive behind before the enemy could process what just happened.

“Erm…” Marie mused, and Cull could hear a forced smile. “Your ink’ll come back, but you really shouldn’t be in enemy territory without a Splattershot… Hopefully we’re near the Zapfish and you can come back. Doesn’t seem to be in our radar, but hey…”

Cull groaned. He wasn’t sure he could take much more of this.

Nonetheless, he had to do something. He was already in the fray, and a major part of his defenses was missing. Hopefully he could at least get a moment to think – it sounded like there was only the one Octarian on the other side of this crate. His armor came back, thankfully – he stopped feeling the nagging discomfort. He also felt some more ink drawn out of him, and his ink tank felt heavy on his back again.

“I wouldn’t look behind you,” Marie remarked. “Just keep an eye on that Octoslob—”

Too late. Cull was so preoccupied with his attackers, he didn’t even realize that he was between the crate hiding him and a sheer drop from the floating platform to the buildings miles below. Suddenly, an inanimate wooden box became Cull’s best friend in the whole world.

He had to find a safe way out of here.

Keeping a tight grip on the edge of the box, he reached to the top of his tank again. Finally, another Splat Bomb. This time, he placed it on top of the crate. Being careful not to lose his balance, he shoved it forward and ducked back down. The bomb tumbled off the other side.

Beep. Beep. Boom!

And the crate shattered, almost knocking Cull off the platform. He was left in the open, teetering on one foot over a sheer drop. He flailed for a moment, but quickly made his stance on the rail stable again.

“Ooh, nice balance!” Marie remarked. “And look – you got the Octoslob, too!”

Cull looked – on top of clearing the area of crates, he cleared it of enemies, too. He breathed a sigh of relief, before carefully getting his oversized snow boots down onto more solid green-stained ground.

He looked back – the three Octarians he had fled from had cleaned themselves up, and the area was coated with purple again, almost as if Agent 4 was never there. Two of them were patrolling as normal, but one was standing by his dropped weapon, which had surfaced in the enemy ink. They were holding an oversized, rectangular… it almost looked like a phone…

Oh no.

“Quit shaking,” Marie admonished. “You’ll need that Splattershot back! You should be able to corner ‘em from here!”

“…” Cull countered, squidforming and hiding in the ink.

“C’mon, kid,” Marie prodded. “Think of how cool you’ll look when you take ‘em all out without a primary!”

There was no visible movement in the ink.

“Okay, well, if you don’t take ‘em all out, there’s no shame in retreating and trying again.”

No response.

“…Look, you have a decent arm. Maybe you can get them from here? You don’t have to approach them at all!”

Slowly, he peeked out. Yeah, maybe he could do that, at least. He just had to kidform again, and maybe try rolling the Splat Bomb instead of hurling it. Yeah. He… he might be able to potentially have a chance of pulling this off.

He crept forward, one eye closed as a shaky hand tried to aim an underhand toss. Trying to calculate the proper arc, he wondered: would the Splat Bomb slide far? How high could it bounce? Can it even roll with the triangular shape it has? What’s the blast radi—

“Hey! What did I say about inking and thinking?”

Cull flinched, but Marie was right. He didn’t have time to consider all this; one of the Octarians spotted him. He closed his eyes and tossed the bomb. After the explosion of ink, he heard an Octotrooper holler out. He opened his eyes, to find that only one enemy remained. Unfortunately, it was the one with the phone, and they were screaming into it.

“Make a break for it now, Agent!”

Cull grimaced, but sprinted ahead. Luckily, the bomb he tossed meant most of the ink was safe to run across. Even better, the Octarian that was presumably calling for backup was struggling against the green, and would have a hard time aiming at the Inkling intruder. Cull ran past the panicked Octo, only stopping when he felt the pain of purple in his feet again. His gun was just to his right, bobbing up and down in the purple ink.

Well, at least he was getting somewhere.

He felt empty as he splatted the remaining Octarian. Not because of any emotional issues, but because his ink was running low and needed time to replenish. He took this as an opportunity to lean up against the wall and catch his breath.

“See? That wasn’t too bad…”

“…I-I’m sure you’ve seen better,” Cull admitted.

“This is no time for modesty, Agent 4! There’s a Zapfish to save!”

“…”

She was right, of course. But he didn’t have to like it, or where he was, or anything about what was going on.

#chapter 2 #draft 1 #cull goes to octo canyon #fic #Splatoon #splatoon 2 #cull to adventure full chapter

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writingwithadinosaur · 7 years

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“Fireproof” - Epilogue Pt. 1

( Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 )

My Masterlist - Here

My Tag List - Here

Eggsy Unwin x Reader

Word Count: 1,548

Key: Y/N = Your Name, Y/L/N = Your Last Name, H/C = Your Hair Color, E/C = Your Eye Color

Warnings: Feels(?). If I missed anything, please let me know

Summary: After a genetic mutation showed itself about 5 years ago, you became a Kingsman and worked alongside some of the best agents: Your father, Merlin, Roxy, and Eggsy. When you are assigned a mission with Eggsy, things flare up.

Author’s Note: I was writing out the epilogue earlier and realized that with where I wanted it to go and how long I tend to write, it was either going to be a very long epilogue, or I make it into 2 parts. A 2 part epilogue? Is that even a thing? IT IS NOW!

Forever thankful for @the-witching-hours12-3 for beta reading and being a friend! <3

If you would like to be tagged in any of my future pieces, check out my tag list above and let me know! And as always, feedback is greatly appreciated!

- DreaSaurusREX

It had been 8 months at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. While you didn’t really fit the “youngsters” part of the title, Charles had made an exception for you. He’d seen how badly you wanted, and needed his help; you had so much potential. Charles made it a personal goal of his to get you to an X-Men level of control. This being said, he was not forcing you to be a part of the team. He knew very well that it was your choice if you wanted to or not.

The past 8 months had been a mixture of some of the best things to happen in your life and the saddest moments so far. As much as you appreciated how much Charles had taught and trained you, you couldn’t help but be homesick. You missed your father, Roxy, and Eggsy like hell.

Visitation wasn’t easy at the school. Charles had to be aware of it and then there were all these security protocols that had to be taken care of. It was a hassle, but that didn’t mean it was impossible. Your father visited after your first three months, and then Eggsy and Roxy visited a month or two after that. You were able to go home for holiday, but that was only a two-week long break. Then it was right back into your world revolving around your mutation.

Even though it was a struggle to visit your family, you had strong communication across the pond. You were sure to update your father as much as you could, and video called him at least once a week to actually see him. The same went for Roxy. Eggsy was a different story. The two of you video called almost every night, unless he was on a mission or you were training late. But you never lost your love for each other.

It was one of those nights where you were extremely homesick and wanted nothing more than to either be back in London, or have a bit of London with you. You were sitting on your bed with your laptop. While taking a short break from reviewing your notes from Hank’s class on genetics, you couldn’t help but look at some pictures you’d taken with Eggsy during your holiday break.

Even though you were here for training, you enrolled in classes as well. Not as many as some of the other students, but enough to have a decent workload on top of your work with Charles. Every now and then, you needed to take a break. Those breaks were spent relaxing or looking at pictures and videos that you had saved on your computer.

You were in the middle of watching a video that Roxy had gotten of you and Eggsy walking around the park in the snow. The video ended with you and Eggsy laughing as snow fell off of a tree branch that was above the two of you. You paused the video, looking at how happy and carefree you and Eggsy were. After a minute or so of staring off into space and thinking, you were jolted back into reality by your computer jingling followed by a pop-up message:

“Eggsy Calling”

It was 5PM in your time zone, so it was close to 10 o'clock at night for him in London. You gladly answered while wiping a rogue tear away from your face.

“Hey there, babe!”

“Hey, luv! How’s the studyin’ goin’?”

“Very slow. This genetics stuff is due in a couple of days, but I thought it would distract me from thinking too much about tomorrow.” You slid your hands over your face and tried to take a deep breath.

Charles wanted you to go through a set of trials to really test how far you’d come. He wouldn’t tell you anything about what the test consisted of, which only added to your anxiety. Knowing him, it would not only be physically challenging, but also mentally strenuous; probably a mixture of both at one time.

“Hey, look at me.” You did so. “You are going to be fine. I know I haven’t been there to really see how much you’ve grown, but I already knew you were a fuckin’ badass. So I know damn well that you are not gonna let this all go tits up without a fight.”

You just laughed and nodded. It was still a wonder how he knew exactly what to say to make you feel even a bit better. You thanked him but of course he shoved it off.

“You never have to thank me for that kind of thing, (Y/N). You know that.” He winked and everything seemed normal until you saw his face slowly get more and more serious.

“Something’s not right. What’s wrong, Eggsy?”

“I uh…. I gotta go on a mission in the mornin’. Not just me, but Merlin and Rox as well.” He was watching you intently, trying to make sure you don’t get too upset.

“Oh…”

“So I won’t be able to call you before your trials. But I should be able to talk to you tomorrow night.” You would be lying if you said you weren’t a bit sad about that, but you knew what being a Kingsman entailed, for everyone. So you really couldn’t complain.

“That’s fine. You got a job to do.”

“You sure you’re alright, luv?” You blinked back some tears that were beginning to sting at our eyes and nodded while taking a breath.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just please update me when you can. You know how worried I get when you go on missions, now add the fact that it's you, my best friend, and my father.”

“I know. I promise to tell you as much as I can.”

There was a buzz on his side of the line and he turned to put on his glasses and listen to whoever was giving him orders (most likely your father.) You knew what was going to happen next. He said some things quietly before taking them off and turning back to you.

“I’m sorry, babe, but I gotta go. Merlin wants us all to talk more before leaving in the morning.”

“It’s okay. I gotta finish this chapter and then go help with dinner. Rogue and I are making dinner for the team, even though I’m not technically a part of X-Men.”

“Alright. Well, I will text you in the morning when we head out. I love you.”

“I love you too. Now go meet with them and then get some sleep, mister!” You said jokingly, smiles growing on both of your faces.

“Will do, luv.”

Eggsy blew a kiss to the camera and then hung up. Leaving you alone again. Well, for a few seconds that is. You were running your hands against your face and through your hair, trying to fight off tears. Then you focused some energy on rolling a flame between your fingers, helping you calm down a bit more. A series of light knocks on your door

“Come in,” you breathed out, quickly wiping your face. Charles rolled in and could immediately tell that you were struggling; he knew you played with small flames like this when you needed to calm down. You didn’t let him into your head unless it was absolutely necessary, so he couldn’t tell what exactly was going on, he just knew something was wrong.

“Rogue started working in the kitchen and asked me to fetch you. Are you alright, (Y/N)?”

“Just homesick and thinking too much about tomorrow. I thought I would be able to talk to everyone back home before the trials, but Eggsy just told me that they have to go on a mission. According to him, I should be able to talk to him afterwards though.”

Charles wheeled closer and put a hand on your arm, causing you to stop moving the small flame around, focusing more on him.

“I promise you that tomorrow will be fine. You are much better than you think. You’re actually very close to the standards I hold for the team. Tomorrow will confirm that, not only to the others, but for you as well. Maybe then they will see why I proposed the idea of you becoming an X-Man.”

You couldn’t help but smile a bit at that. Hearing a compliment like that from someone who really knows the life of a mutant hit you harder than normal. But then you thought about being a part of this team. There was no way you could choose this over your family in Kingsman. But you were becoming a part of this family as well.

“Thank you, Charles. I just don’t know if I could. If there was any way to think of being a part of both, I would heavily consider. But my blood and heart are back in England.” You felt another tear fall down your cheek, this time from more positive feelings. You quickly wiped it with the back of your sleeve and took a breath in.

“That is perfectly understandable. It was just a thought.” He took a pause, considering something before smiling and changing topics. “Now, no more tears. We better not keep Rogue waiting more than she has been.”

Tags - @the-witching-hours12-3 @theeactress @undersoilxnddirt @juggernaut-jones @eggsyunwinftw @boundtomyfate @grippleback-galaxy @sarahp879 @breakfastatswarovski @fandomsandwriting @thomasstanleyhoelland @thebookisbtr @melconnor2007 @ashenfallsof @white-chocolate-mocha-fan

#kingsman fandom #kingsman fanfiction #kingsman fic #kingsman imagine #kingsman fanficiton #Fireproof #eggsy x reader #eggsy unwin x reader #eggsy imagine #eggsy unwin imagine #eggsy unwin fanfiction #DreaREX #dreasaurusrex #writingwithadinosaur #WritingWithADino

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smokeybrand · 6 years

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NBA Rant: Like Pearl Harbor All Over Again

LeBron is LAker. This sh*t is ridiculous to me right now. Kid has such faith in the franchise, he signed a 4-year deal worth 150 mil. I’m not mad at it. My little brother is. He loves LBJ but hates my LAkers with a passion. When he found out LeBron signed, his exact words were, "F*ck no. Saddest day in America. It's like Pearl Harbor all over again." I imagine a great many Clevelanders feel the same. Not as many as The Decision 1.0, and after that title, I kind of feel like that number even less that I think it is, but there must be some hurt feelings. Magic pulled of a coup snatching the prized gem in Free agency and getting him to commit to a multi-year deal. Bron is probably going to retire a LAker now and that’s fine. I’m not a huge Bron fan. I respect his ability and Championship pedigree but he feels like an underachiever to me. I look at what Magic did with an almost identical game and it’s kind of exasperating. James could have run Showtime the Second somewhere but he refused to take on that responsibility. I look at what Giannis is doing out in Milwaukee and it stings that much more. I can’t say I’m all that mad though. There are a ton of benefits to having LeBron on your team, some that have already paid off and some that will pay off down the line.

Road to the Chip

The West is rough but any team LeBron is on has a shot at the Finals. Well, now the Western Conference Finals anyway. All the talent is out here now and that’s absurd. If he can win a ring in playing out here, I’ll have to give the man his proper dues and put him in toip-3 all time. It’s rough out here, bro. Still, you gotta think that we have a shot at a deep ass playoff run now.

The End of LeBronto and the Freeing of the East

James leaving the East opens things up crazy wide out there. I expect to see some of the best basketball to ever be played out there next season. That Cleveland boogie man is dead and gone. New blood can rise and old blood might be able to make some noise now. Toronto and Boston are probably going to be jockeying for position, maybe, The Raptors did just fired Dwayne Casey. And then gave him Coach of the Year. Again. Like, bro, really?

Growing Pains

LeBron James is going to demand a level of commitment and excellence that these young guys are going to have to live up to. They’re not going to have a choice. Your number one guy is going to go out, every night, and leave everything on the floor. They’ll have to do the same or get bounced out. James is no stranger to venting his frustrations and being the direct cause of a roster shuffle so it would be wise for the yungins to do everything they can to get good. Randle and Kuz have already shown flashes. I actually really like Kuz and think he can benefit from playing alongside Bron. Randle is going to Randle but my concerns lie with Ball and Ingram. Ball is kind of a mess but I think being able to focus more on facilitating the offense rather than being a scorer with drastically help him grow. Ingram, on the other hand, is an interesting case. He and Bron play the same position but differently. I don’t know what Brandon can crib from Bron as dude plays more KD than KJ. Kid’s going to have an interesting season next year. Maybe Kobe will be around more and he can help Ingram develop. A near seven-foot, Mamba-lite, playing alongside King James would be disgusting.

Destination City

This is the one thing I wanted out of this deal more than anything; The LAkers are a destination again. Securing James puts the league on notice that we are back in the saddle. It’s been a few years of mediocrity because Buss jr. was full of sh*t and ran the team like a guy who was full of sh*t. Jeannie finally put a stop to that nonsense and, within two seasons of her doing so, we have a dope coach, young talent, and arguably the best player in the world wearing LAker gold. This is the shot heard round the NBA and cats are taking notice. PG f*cked up resigning with Russ. HE gets to that bullsh*t for another two years but Kawhi ain’t a fool. He wants out of San Antone and in with LA. Cat is a shoe- in for next season now. He’ll probably sign a multi-year, topo. Seeing as how PG didn’t come over, we have another mad to hand out and it doesn’t necessarily have to be to DMC. Randle is a fine swing big, developing every day and we just snatched JaVale away from the Warriors so that back-up is on point. We kept KCP and his ridiculous defense. KCP might go for sixth man next season. AS I mentioned, there’s rumblings that DMC wants to come, Kawhi is pressuring the Spurs to be dealt, and a plethora of other players that want in. This season will see a stark improvement in win totals and next offseason we’ll see a mad dash to LA-La Land. As it should be. If somehow, we can get off that Deng contract, we’ll have another 20 mil to throw at a guy. Luxury Tax, here we come!

The Rivalry of Legend Renewed

Yo, Bron in LA and Kyrie in Boston? We NEED this finals to happen!

At the end of the day, I like Bron in LA. I don’t think he’s going to be a game changer for us, Houston and the Warriors are still much better teams, but, with James in the fold, we are easily the third best team out West. Next season is going to be mad interesting to say the least. I’m curious how far we’ll go but even more so about what happens the year after this one. Kemba Walker, Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson, Kevin Love, Paul Milsap, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Kristaps Prozingas are all free agents. It’d be hard not to look at LA, with all that shine, all that money, and all that LeBron James basketball.

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medproish · 6 years

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This is the nightmare scenario for any newcomer, but especially the one with the biggest contract in baseball, with the world watching to see if he can handle the bright lights in New York.

So now we’re going to find out in a hurry about whether Giancarlo Stanton, the most feared slugger in the game, has the necessary mental toughness to go with all of that power.

Is he going to be another Bobby Bonilla, who was so freaked out over getting booed as a highly paid Mets free agent that he resorted to using earplugs and never came close to living up to expectations?

Or will the reigning National League MVP prove to be more like Tino Martinez, or even Didi Gregorius, overcoming early struggles as well as the burden of replacing Yankee legends Don Mattingly and Derek Jeter to succeed and become fan favorites?

Even as helpless as Stanton looked during this first homestand as a Yankee, and particularly in Sunday’s 8-7 fiasco of a loss to the Orioles in 12 innings, I’d bet on the latter.

Most significantly, he’s just too talented, and as a typically streaky slugger, Stanton has been through many a slump during his career. In fact, he’s already impressed Yankee people with his work ethic and considers himself a student of hitting who will pore over video in search of a cure.

Still, considering that the fans don’t really care much about baseball in Miami, it’s fair to say he’s never been through anything quite like this, the pressure to produce mounting with every strikeout, every round of resounding boos.

Giancarlo Stanton has struggled ever since his impressive Opening Day performance.

(Kathy Willens/AP)

As heroic as his Opening Day was in Toronto, Stanton may have had the worst first homestand in the history of baseball. Twice he struck out five times in a game, including Sunday when he swung through a 93-mph fastball down the middle from Brad Braach to end the game, leaving the tying and winning runs on base.

In truth, Aaron Judge had the most deflating at-bat of the game, grounding back to the pitcher for a 1-2-5 double play with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the 12th, just before Stanton made the last out.

And for that matter, perhaps the most significant red flag for the Yankees on this day was Jordan Montgomery’s inability to hold down the Orioles after being given a first-inning 5-0 lead, turning what looked like a laugher into such a stinging loss. Yet there’s no escaping the obvious: the Yankees traded for Stanton to be the guy who puts them over the top in a quest for a championship, and 10 games into the season he looks lost.

For the season he has struck out 20 times, while hitting .167. But his skid is worse than that: in the nine games since his grand opener, he is hitting .108 (4-for-37) with one home run and three RBI, as well as 19 K’s. If all that wasn’t humbling enough, Buck Showalter walked Judge intentionally to pitch to Stanton in the 10th inning with the wining run at second base, and journeyman lefty Richard Bleier got the Yankee slugger to hit a routine ground ball to third to end the inning.

Afterward, while Stanton handled himself at his locker professionally, the one question that obviously bothered him was being asked when the last time a manager intentionally walked a hitter to get to him.

“I don’t know,” he said dismissively.

Bobby Bonilla failed to live up to his contract with the Mets.

(Savulich, Andrew)

The answer might well be never, but Stanton clearly wasn’t interested in discussing it.

Otherwise, his press session was rather routine, as he answered several questions without rancor. He wasn’t as self-deprecating as the last time he struck out five times, after the home opener the Yankees won, but he did manage a wry smile when asked if it stung to hear boos from the crowd again.

“No, they’re not going to cheer,” he said. “What do you expect?”

Stanton didn’t offer much insight into his struggles, essentially saying he’d figure it out soon enough.

“I have to get the feel of things,” he said. “Things aren’t going well. I’ve just gotta calm it down, let my hands work.”

When he was asked if his slump was more mental than physical, he mostly avoided the inference.

Giancarlo Stanton went 0-for-7 with five strikeouts on Sunday.

(Kathy Willens/AP)

“I’ve just gotta look at it as a bad week,” he said. “A couple of good games, I can turn it around, help us win. I’ll figure it out. Get to the video.”

So where does Stanton go from here? To Boston, as fate would have it, where he’ll get his first taste of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, and no doubt a different kind of booing from the Fenway Faithful.

Who knows, perhaps just getting out of town will help relax him, but surely his first series in such a high-intensity setting will offer another kind of test for Stanton.

After all, suddenly things aren’t going well for the Yankees, who lost three out of four to the Orioles, and like it or not, the focus is squarely on Stanton.

How he responds could be quite revealing. For while I don’t believe he’s a latter-day Bonilla, unable to handle the high expectations, the longer this nightmare scenario lingers, the more dangerous it becomes for him.

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The post How Giancarlo Stanton responds to nightmare start will define his Yankee career appeared first on trend views word.

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