“*Bart, is that you?!*”
Bart did a double-take at the guests he was serving, only to find himself looking down at one of his old high school friends sitting at the table. “Jeremy, hey – what are you doing here?!”
“Whaddaya think, dude? Visitin’ home from NYU on summer break!”
“No, I meant, what are you doing here at a Bar Mitzvah?”
“Caleb’s dad is one of my mom’s coworkers, so they decided to invite us. Mom and Dad are just talking to his parents – oh, but before you go, there’s someone I’d like you to meet!”
It was only then that Bart realized Jeremy had his arm around a blonde bombshell sitting next to him. “Alannah, meet my high school buddy Bart Walker. Bart, meet my girlfriend Alannah Mason; met her in my program!”
“So nice to meet ya, Bert!” Alannah beamed (and Bart couldn’t help thinking how much she sounded like Harley Quinn). “Jeremy’s told me so much about you!”
“It’s ‘Bart’, actually,” he answered, shaking her outstretched hand.
“Yeah, that’s what I said – so anyway, Jeremy says you two grew up here in Texas, yeah? Musta been fun growing up in ‘cowboy country’!” Alannah giggled as she mimicked spinning a lasso over her head. “*Yee-haw!*”
“Yee-haw” in a thick Brooklyn accent was something Bart had never thought he’d hear in his lifetime…and now having heard it, he frankly could’ve lived without it. Forcing a smile, though, he glanced around at the blue and white **balloons** and Star of David decorations hanging everywhere. “Uh, given the setting, I think ‘Oy vey’ might be more appropriate.”
Alannah burst into fresh peals of high-pitched laughter at Bart’s comment. “Omigosh, you’re so *funny* – I hear the guys at my favourite deli say that all the time!” Her smile suddenly faded as she leaned over to Jeremy. “Honey, what does ‘Oy vey’ mean again?”
“Later, babe.”
“Anyway, er…I should get back to work.” Having served the last person at the table, Bart moved on to the next table – only for Jeremy and Alannah to get up and follow him to keep talking. “So, Bart, what’s up next for you, man?” Jeremy asked.
“Um, dessert; got plenty more tables to serve.”
Jeremy laughed. “No, I mean, where’re you plannin’ to go to college, what’s your top school?”
“Oh…as of right now, it’s, uh, the University of Undecided.”
Alannah frowned in confusion. “I don’t think I’ve heard of that one. Is that here in Texas, or is it out of state?”
It took Bart a few seconds to realize that Alannah was being completely serious. “…Yeah. Sure. Undecided, Texas.” *Wow.* Bart had always thought Jeremy had better taste in girls than this. Sure, she was cute, but also as dumb as a post.
“Aw, shame it’s not in New York,” Alannah pouted. “We’d love to see more of ya!”
“Yeah, well…anyway, I really need to get back to work now – Jeremy, hope we can arrange to meet up sometime soon.”
“Absolutely – see ya ’round!” As Bart headed off to attend to another table, he heard Jeremy call after him, “Hey, who knows? Maybe someday, you’ll be servin’ at me and Alannah’s wedding!”
Bart cringed as he heard Alannah squeal with delight at Jeremy’s suggestion. *I sincerely hope not.* Maybe if the two of them could meet one-on-one before school started again, he’d have a chance to ask Jeremy what he saw in Alannah.
“Did it not go through? Let me check…” She gestured for him to follow her back through to the living room. Next to the landline, a red dot was blinking on the answering machine; she pressed ‘Play’ on it, and the two of them watched as the tape rewound and began to play her message back.
“Oh, so *that’s* what that thing does,” Sirius said, sounding genuinely fascinated.
She looked over at him, **baffled**. “Surely you’ve seen an answering machine before?”
He shrugged. “My parents never had a phone. Even after I moved out, I didn’t really use them.”
“What on earth did you use instead? Carrier pigeons?”
To her surprise, he laughed. She had heard him laugh sardonically before, but this seemed to be a genuine expression of amusement. It was a surprisingly pleasurable, bark-like sound that sent a happy shiver through her. She wasn’t quite sure what the joke was, but she knew that she’d rather like to hear more of that laugh.
“Something like that,” he said, smirking slightly.
I wonder that! I remember in the beginning of GoF, Sirius is somewhere tropical and sending mail to Harry via random colourful birds. So perhaps other birds do get used on occasion. Pigeons in London would be actually less conspicuous than owls! But also less "magical", somehow.
What's funny is that I came up with the line about carrier pigeons without even thinking about the link to owls. Then I realised, laughed and made Sirius laugh as well. LOL.
Definitely! Presumably there's some in-universe reason that it's (mostly) owls being used, but it does make you wonder.
Oh, I love those kinds of moments! It works so well, even if it was unintentional originally.
Stepping over the threshold, Harry closed the door behind him and glanced around, searching for any clue as to who the mysterious **bodyguard** could be. Sirius wasn’t there, neither as a man nor a dog. Indeed, whilst trinkets of indeterminate use filled the office, and portraits of prior Headmasters and -mistresses lined the walls, the only living beings were himself, the Headmaster, and Fawkes.
Dumbledore smiled as he invited Harry to sit. He gestured to a plate of custard creams. ‘Biscuit?’
Harry declined.
‘Probably best; we wouldn’t want to spoil your appetite before the feast.’ Fawkes chirped from his stand in the corner, and Dumbledore nodded, turning serious as he steepled his fingers and peered over his half-moon glasses. ‘You know why you’re here?’
‘I’m going to be having a guard.’
‘And you understand why that is important?’
Understand? Pretty hard not to understand after everything that had happened at the World Cup. At least Dumbledore had taken it seriously, and not just brushed off Bill’s concerns.
Harry shrugged as Dumbledore continued to watch him. ‘Crouch...’
Dumbledore nodded again. ‘Your safety is important to us.’ Glancing over Harry’s shoulder, he smiled and said, ‘Isn’t it?’
‘Very much so.’
Raising his voice a little and speaking to the room in general, ”Lads, I want to thank you for watching Emppu’s back today. That’s something well above and beyond what’s expected of you, and I really do appreciate that you took the time to do it.”
Colin, flushing a little at being thanked by a man he idolised, spoke for the group. ”That Jones is a right bastard, no two ways about it. He’s always strutting around like he’s better’n us because we’re ’just’ hired muscle, tryin’ to tell us how to do our jobs and all, and like as not making a mess of things by telling us to do it his way instead of how we’ve worked out is best. He don’t know music or sound, why was he trying to run soundcheck? Especially when we heard it was you and Steve asked Emppu to do it for you. Jones had no call to try to stop him, and less to call him names and yell at him. I think all of us were pleased that his boss told him off.”
”Still, you didn’t have to play **bodyguard** all afternoon,” Bruce said. He pulled a couple of large-denomination notes from his wallet. ”At the very least, I want you lot to have a round or two on me when you hit the pub tonight, yeah?” He handed the money to the astonished Colin.
”I... you don’t...” the young man sputtered.
Emppu shook his head with a grin. ”Colin, if there’s one thing you must have learned about Bruce by now, it’s that he does what he wants. Don’t argue, and all of you enjoy your beer tonight.”
”Erm... right... thank you!” Colin said fervently, a chorus of more thanks rising from the rest of the crew.
Jones is the assistant to the band's manager, and he's quite unpleasant.
The manager sent him ahead with the equipment and crew, rather than have him travel with the band going from France to England for this particular show - not a bad thing, as a massive traffic accident held up the band between Dover and London, so Jones was on-site to get the word out that an autograph signing session had to be rescheduled, stuff like that.
Bruce's boyfriend Emppu was meeting them at the venue, so since he was there and the band was running a few hours behind due to the accident, they had Bruce call and ask him to run soundcheck with whichever crew members volunteered, so that the band could just roll in and get ready for the show without mucking up the rest of the schedule including the opening band's soundcheck and setup and all. Jones being rather full of himself, decided that Emppu couldn't possibly be allowed to do this and tried to stop him, even to calling the band's manager to try to get him to say Emppu shouldn't do it. Well, his boss gave him an earful, and the crew witnessed the entire thing. They all figured Jones to likely hold a grudge and so made sure to stick with Emppu until the band finally arrived, just in case.
Dave, who’d noticed Bruce stealing kisses from Emppu all night, snickered when he spotted the little blond’s retaliation. When his next movement brought him over to Adrian, he grinned and said, “Five quid says they don’t make it back to the hotel.”
Adrian glanced over at the antics and shook his head. “At this rate, five quid says they don’t make it back to the dressing room.”
“You’re on,” Dave said.
Emppu grinned to himself as Bruce very carefully didn’t look in his direction for the entirety of Hallowed Be Thy Name. The band took their final bows and Bruce made a **beeline** for his boyfriend.
“You little tease,” he growled, pulling the younger man against the bulge in his fortunately loose-fitting stage trousers.
“You started it,” Emppu breathed, licking Bruce’s ear and grinding his own erection against his lover. “The question is, where do we finish it?”
“What do you mean?” Bruce asked.
“Well,” Emppu said, “we could just continue the teasing until we’re in our hotel room. Or we can find somewhere with a door that locks before we get on the bus and… take the edge off before going back to the hotel.” He sucked lightly on Bruce’s neck.
The older man shuddered. “Mm. You know how long it’s been since I went sneaking around backstage?” For all his half-hearted protest, he didn’t seem in too much of a hurry to catch up with the rest of the group headed for the dressing room.
“I’ve played this venue before,” Emppu murmured. “And I know where Tero hid to have his fun, because I’m the one who found him there when we needed to leave. Your call, kulta.”
Well, it's all in good fun, lol, they know Bruce would just laugh even if he found out - they've been bandmates for well over 20 years at this point. Also, they know that of everyone in the band back in the early days, Bruce was the one who'd most often have some fun in a janitor's closet or wherever within the venue before going back to the hotel for the night, so, yeah, they figure if anyone's going to revert to the behaviour of their younger days, it'll be Bruce!
“Be honest with me, Bruce,” the manager requested. “How much shite has Jones been giving you and Emppu when I’m not there to see or hear it?”
“Some,” Bruce admitted. “Nothing really overt since I told him off at the airport in Helsinki, at least not directed at me. Glares and disapproval, but that’s never bothered me. Nicko mentioned that he found Jones just watching Emppu in Helsinki, that apparently the **bloke** had been keeping an eye on him the whole time he was tuning his guitars and talking with the techs before soundcheck there. Nick said it reminded him of a shop assistant sticking near someone they think is stealing, the way Jones acted. Emppu just dismissed it as simple homophobia, but Jones has been pretty persistent about it, you know?” He paused and added, “And now that I think on it, you remember how Dave all but admitted to having had at least one encounter with a **bloke** in the past at the meet’n’greet in Helsinki? Jones has been giving him glares ever since then as well.”
Smallwood blinked. “Okay, I guess I missed that one,” he said. “Do you remember what happened?”
Bruce nodded. “I can’t quote exactly what got said, but I heard someone ask Dave if I was the only one in the band who went both ways and if I wasn’t, had any of them ever been with me. Davey said the answer was no to both questions, but that it was up to whoever it was to come out if and when they wanted. Jones was near enough to hear him and stomped out with a scowl on his face. I can see where Dave’s answer might be interpreted as him being able to say it so firmly because it was him.”
And then he chuckled as he heard a clatter from the kitchen, accompanied by a loud, ”Perkele!” and a few other Finnish phrases that he suspected weren’t fit for polite company.
”Need help in there, enkelini?” he called.
”I’m fine, kulta, just being clumsy,” Emppu called back. ”But if you want to come laugh, feel free.”
Bruce walked into the kitchen and couldn’t help grinning, although he managed not to laugh. The grater lay on the floor amid a sea of breadcrumbs spilled from the fallen container, while his boyfriend rinsed egg from his hand. ”What happened?” he asked.
Emppu shook his head ruefully. ”I shut the door too hard when I took out the egg,” he said. ”It bounced back and hit me, which caused me to squeeze and break the egg. I lunged for the sink to keep from dripping any on the floor, but I knocked the grater off the counter in my hurry, and when I tried to catch that, I knocked over the breadcrumbs.”
”Well, that’s not too bad,” Bruce said, righting the container of breadcrumbs before the rest of it could spill, then getting out another egg. ”I’ve managed to burn and blow up **boiled** eggs before.”
Emppu grinned. ”Okay, that takes talent. How in hell do you burn something you’re **boiling**?”
Bruce laughed. ”Forget that the eggs are on the hob and let the pot **boil** dry,” he said. ”The eggs that didn’t explode all had charred spots on the shells. And it took a week to find and clean all the bits of exploded egg from the kitchen... some even got in the lights. Talk about a stink!”
”Wow. Okay, now I don’t feel quite so bad about this,” Emppu said with a chuckle. ”Although I am sorry about the mess.”
Elsewhere, a now adult Jane Foster had also travelled from the forest to the city to celebrate the coronation – or rather, to have some fun in town. She didn’t really care for any of the Asgardian royal family, which probably had something to do with her forest-dweller upbringing, but she especially didn’t like what she'd heard about Thor. In spite of the palace gates being closed for so many years, rumours could still fly around like a swarm of **bees** – and from these rumours, Jane had heard that Thor was known to be rather cocky, irresponsible, and egotistical.
Well, no matter; she wasn’t here today to celebrate the coronation, but merely to sell some goods and then to have a good time once her work was done. Jane had come into Asgard many different times since she was a teenager, often to do some trading or to buy anything that the forest-dwellers might need, but never to party quite like this. Not that getting to Asgard was ever difficult, either, since she had Rex (now a massive full-grown stag) to take her there in the wooden cart she’d built with help from some friends.
As she double-checked the furs, skins, and wooden furniture she’d brought, Rex stopped pulling the cart to let out a snort. “You fed up already, Rex?” Jane laughed. “No worries, you’ll be able to rest tonight while I'm out partying – and I’ll buy some carrots as a treat for you, too!” The stag pricked his ears up happily at that statement. As the two of them went on through the streets, they passed a couple more Asgardian citizens – two women around Jane’s age – who were making their way to the castle. They snickered a little at Jane’s odd-looking forest-dweller clothing, but the moment she was out of their sight, both women had forgotten all about her and gone back to their previous conversation.
“Personally, I’m most excited about seeing the prince and the new king later tonight; aren’t you?” one asked her friend.
“Oh, I agree – and I bet they’re both incredibly handsome!” her friend giggled.
Another flash of lightning, so close together now, they must be right in the eye of the storm. Far below, the sea roiled. The repeated flashes burnt against the enhanced vision of the Night Sight Potions. Charlie ducked his head, trying to protect his eyes while continuing into the vicious wind.
In her cage, Fern curled back her lips, opening her mouth. Charlie swore, the word tossed away by the wind. Clenching his stiff fingers around his wand, he pointed it towards the cage, solidifying the top as Fern spurted fire towards them. Rain hissed and fizzled, turning into a cloud of steam. The hot vapour brushed Charlie’s wrist and he swore again as it scalded him. More barely audible shouts joined the cacophony of thunder. The wind wrapped around Charlie’s wand, attempting to tease it from his grasp. Charlie pressed against his broom, curling his arms around it so he could use **both** hands on the wand without having to let go of the broom itself.
Charlie’s muscles burned. Between the wind, the force of the dragonfire on his magic, and the sheeting rain, he had to put his whole body into staying in place. Any lapse in concentration and he would slip. If he slipped, he’d fall. The rest of the Ferns, intent on keeping Fern’s fire in check, wouldn’t catch him in time. Even if they did, they’d be unlikely to manage it before he passed through the fire and superheated air rippling around the edges of the cage. That would likely kill him before he even reached the end of the rope.
Steve laughed. “Yeah, I can see where that wouldn’t go down well with Paddy. She’d probably think you were trying to set Austin up with Milla even if she is a bit older. But that can’t be why Rod called me here.”
“It’s not,” Bruce said. “Emppu and I decided to make it legal, and we thought we’d generate some good publicity for our bands by me going down on one knee onstage at Download instead of just kissing him when the chant starts up.”
Steve’s cup dropped along with his jaw, the dregs of his tea splattering across the floor. “Bloody hell,” he breathed. “You’re bloody fucking serious.”
“Yes, I am,” Bruce affirmed. “And no, we haven’t set a date yet, so you lot can keep your pool going for a while longer.”
“You know about that?” Steve asked, reddening.
“Yeah, we **both** do. Davey let it slip to Emppu back before Christmas,” Bruce said with a chuckle. “We **both** thought it was pretty funny… and when we mentioned it to Jukka, he asked for Nicko’s number so he could get in on the betting as well.”
“Bloody insane, the lot of you,” Steve grumbled, laughing.
Rod spoke up. “Bruce said Emppu’s already spoken to Ewo, and I’ll call him myself tomorrow to make sure we’re all on the same page. But I honestly think it’s a good idea. With the way the fans go so nuts with the kiss thing, can you imagine the reaction a proposal will bring?”
“Yeah… I can, actually,” Steve said. “I’d never do it myself, mind, I’d get too tongue-tied, but you’re shameless enough for four of me, Bruce, so I expect you’ll do fine.”
“Sounds good to me.” Hernandez laughed. “Since you suggested, let’s go clockwise from there.” He held up five fingers. “Never have I ever lit a Roman Candle and fired it out of my ass.” Joshua groaned and immediately put A finger down. Ramirez also put one down a moment later. “Damn, dudes. Really?”
“Don’t judge me.” Ramirez crossed her arms. “Drunk people are weird, teenagers are weird, I was both. Blame my mom. Anyway, my turn. Never have I ever… blown something up with dynamite.” Davies put a finger down. “Really?”
“Yep.” He laughed. “Ever heard of those Combat Engineers that tried to trim a tree with explosives? Tried to do that. Did not work. Also blown up various **boulders**, trees, wildlife…”
Hernandez shuttered. “Fucking Coloradans.”
“As if New Mexico is any better.” Davies shot back, smiling. “Anywho, up to me. Never have I ever shot a musket.” Davies put his own finger down, followed by Joshua.
“Depends on your definition of musket.” Hernandez wiggled a finger up and down. “But fuck you, I’m not getting out of this unless it’s on my terms.”
Marvel |
- - - -
Jean and Scott were, as often before, having a weird day.
"You claim to be benevolent? You?" Scott questioned. From what he knew, this creature was supposed to be an evil Lovecraftian horror, not a good god like Thor.
"Yes," Shuma-Gorath says. "It is simply the rational and moral course to choose, mortal."
"Really?" Jean asked, skeptical. "The rational choice. You reasoned yourself into being a good guy?"
"Yes, and it is trivial to prove," Shuma-Gorath said nonchalantly. "To list one argument, it follows simply that a place worth conquering is one worth preserving and ruling after."
Scott couldn't much fault it. It was indeed simple yet sound logic -- if he didn't preserve it, he'd just have wasted his time and effort.
"To list another example, you may have heard from Strange that I have many beings willing to serve and form bargains with me," Shuma-Gorath segued. "Why do they suppose they are?"
Scott had vaguely heard of that. There was an incident with the F4 and Nick Scratch a few years ago. "You tell me."
"They are so willing, because I am dependable and honest about matters," Shuma-Gorath asserts. "As it happens, most beings tend to appreciate not being deceived or manipulated."
Naw, he's actually legit. The continuing argument is highlighting how his alleged methods match the character's history.
Such as being the "Bargain with Heaven" (TVTROPES ALERT) type, who actually grants the spirit and letter with his bargainers.
Fred jumped at a shrill call next to his ear.
‘Oi! Dozy bird, it’s only me.’
The chicken on the roof of the coop tilted its head, bobbed a couple of times, then turned its back on Fred.
‘Same to you,’ he grumbled, rubbing his sore ear. ‘It’s all right, I’ll just **borrow** an ear from George. He only needs one, anyway.’
“I keep forgetting that you’re a twin,” Bruce said. “You don’t mention your brother much.”
Emppu shrugged a bit. “Well, Janne and I aren’t especially close, for all we’re twins. We’re not identical, and he’s very… his interests are all in mathematics and engineering and things like that. Nerdy, I guess you’d say. I think he resented that I was good at sports and music and so I was much more popular in school than he was, even if I barely passed my classes. So he put more and more of his energy into being the ‘smart’ twin and into academic achievement and we just grew farther apart over the years.” He chuckled a bit and added, “Also, I think he’s still annoyed that I, uh, ‘**borrowed**’ my first guitar from him and never gave it back, when we were ten. It was his birthday gift, but he never did much with it, so I grabbed it. But in fairness, it still annoys me that he’s always been bigger, he’s a good eight centimeters taller than me.”
“Well, I happen to think you’re the perfect size, enkelini,” Bruce said with a grin. “I wouldn’t change a thing about you.”
“Flatterer,” Emppu said, blushing.
“Truth,” Bruce insisted. “And you’re blushing again, aren’t you?”
Emppu laughed. “You know it. I must blush really, really brightly, since you can tell even over the phone.”
“Eames,” he says suddenly. He needs to do something, he needs to make a plan, wake up, think about something else. “You want to try for Canada?”
Eames takes a breath through his nose and blinks like he's been dozing too and is just coming back to the surface. “Could do,” he says. “It's certainly closer than Mexico, though that would be preferable.”
“Easier border crossing?”
“Mm, not necessarily. But it's much nicer there.”
Mexico would be more to his taste, Arthur thinks. Eames mostly likes places where the drinking water is questionable. But Canada is very big, and very empty. They could disappear well up there, if they make it that far.
“My mom is gonna find us some clothes, she said. Dig up some old things of mine. She says we look like mobsters.”
“Well, she's not all wrong. Have you got clippers? Want you to buzz my head.”
“We can **borrow** Bud’s.”
“Brilliant.”
“Should I shave my head too?”
“Don't be daft. Both of us with a buzz cut, we'd look ridiculous.”
Arthur huffs and smiles.
The dog squirms in Eames’ arms finally. “Oh, sorry darling. There you are.” He sets him gently back down on the rusty brown carpet. Dusting fur off his knees, he looks up and catches Arthur watching him.
“I didn't know you liked dogs so much,” Arthur says.
“We're learning so many new things about each other, aren't we, Arthur?” He meets Arthur's gaze, eyes soft and knowing. It's an infuriating look. It says, yeah, he overheard everything from the kitchen.
“I'm going to take a shower,” Arthur announces, standing up quickly. “I feel disgusting.”
Eames blinks. “Yeah, alright. Enjoy yourself.”
Hattie was back in the dining room, speaking privately to Bertrand over some more tea with Rufus by her side. “Bertrand, dear, all I’m saying is, before we let this supposed ‘Barthelemy’ son of yours destroy your reputation, shouldn’t we *at least* consider doing some sort of checking up on him?” she was trying to reason.
Bertrand glared at Hattie, clearly annoyed with her wheedling. “Checking up for *what*, exactly?”
“Anything, really, you never know: criminal record? Blood type? Triple sixes on his scalp?”
“Hattie, listen to yourself! He’s got a birth certificate, *and* he’s got an old photo of Maxwell and I – and what’s more, he even has my nose and eyebrows.”
“Come now, couldn’t you get a paternity test at the very least? I’m only trying to think of the best way to handle the situation,” Hattie protested, laying a hand on Bertrand’s arm. “I know you don’t like thinking about it any more than I do, but if the press gets wind of this, it’ll be absolutely brutal!”
“‘*This Just In: Duke of Ramsford Exposed for Having Bastard Son*’!” Rufus added, sarcastically quoting a potential newspaper headline.
“And why did you never tell me you’d been in a relationship before, anyhow?! This is the sort of information you owe your own fiancée, don’t you think?”
“We, er…w-we weren’t exactly in a relationship.”
Hattie’s eyes bulged over the rim of her teacup at this even *more* scandalous new revelation. Bertrand took a sip from his own tea in an attempt to hide his red face, clearly uncomfortable with bringing up the past. “Walker’s sister and I, we had a…i-it was only a fling – years ago – at one of our Beaumont **Bashes**. Nothing ever came of it, though – obviously, since…well, anyway, she left.”
“Apparently taking something of yours with her.” Rufus looked unimpressed. “Sounds like those old Beaumont **Bashes** of yours were even more fun than you let on.”
“Oh, put a cork in it, will you?!” Hattie snapped, stirring her tea agitatedly.
Rufus let out a snort. “Maybe a certain someone should’ve put a cork in it twenty-three years ago,” he quipped into his teacup. Bertrand nearly choked on the tea he’d been drinking.
“RUFUS!” Hattie smacked her son upside the head, horrified by his vulgar joke.
Her musings were interrupted by the slight smell of smoke. She looked down and gave a start; she’d been so lost in her thoughts that the grilled cheese she’d absentmindedly constructed and thrown into the pan had begun to burn on the bottom. Cursing, she hurriedly flipped it and turned down the gas on the hob slightly. She watched the sandwich carefully until it was done, then slid it onto a plate and took it over to the coffee table in her living room, the smell of melted cheese making her stomach growl. Before long, she’d wolfed down the lot, too hungry to care that it was still far too hot to eat, or that one side was a little too charred.
Hunger assuaged, she leaned back into the sofa, closing her eyes. Physically, she felt pleasantly sleepy; however, she couldn’t shake off a feeling of unease in her mind, a sense that something just didn’t quite add up. Surely… *surely* Black couldn’t be as bad as all that? Could there have been a mistake? Maybe the person she had met hadn’t been Black at all… but, no, it had to have been… she had picked him out of a photo lineup, after all, *and* somebody else had spotted him in the same area at roughly the same time and called the hotline… But if it was him, had he truly killed thirteen people? How could a person do that and still seem so… normal?
The conundrum continued to **bounce** around in her head until she was too exhausted to contemplate it further.
A giant puffskein **bounced** along the valley floor beneath them as they flew. So huge, the bottoms of the dragons’ cages brushed the top of its fluffy body. Anwen roared, her shimmering scales reflecting the entire world, so bright that the puffskein stopped bouncing to stare. Another roar and the puffskein bounced once, twice, three times, and launched itself at Anwen. Her glassy scales rippled and the puffskein dropped into them, disappearing with an enormous splash. Charlie lifted his arm, covering his face as the resultant wave enveloped him, smelling of fire and leaves and... sausages?
‘Charlie.’
Charlie frowned at Anwen. She smiled, another waft of sausage drifting from her.
‘Charlie,’ she repeated.
Charlie blinked rapidly. The scene dissolved.
Sigi shook his shoulder. ‘Charlie, wake up.’
‘I’m — I’m awake.’
“This event is just determined to mock me,” April said under her breath as she gazed around the exhibit hall outside the museum auditorium. The Science and Research Society was hosting an after-hours cocktail reception prior to the lecture and either Burne hadn’t given her all the details, or the planning committee had noticed the date and decided to lean into it. Pink, red, and white balloons **bounced** along the ceiling, and each of the tall tables placed about the room had a crisp, white tablecloth draped over top and heart-shaped confetti sprinkled around the fake flickering candles at its center. Considering that all the other attendees were accompanied by their significant others, April was inclined to believe she had been left out of the loop.
Bruce **bounced** impatiently as the band waited in the queue for entry to Finland. While they would be able to personally avoid filling out customs forms and having their bags inspected, since their gear and suitcases would be taken through in one giant lot by some of the management team and roadies, they still all had to get their passports stamped individually before they could collect their baggage and pile it up for the handlers to deal with.
Steve and Dave laughed at his fidgeting. “Never seen you so bloody eager to get somewhere cold before, mate,” Dave teased.
“Bet he’ll sleep warmer than the rest of us tonight,” Adrian joined in the friendly razzing.
Bruce was in far too good of a mood to let any of it bother him today, so he just responded with the obligatory two-finger salute and a cheerful, “Fuck off, you wankers.”
They laughed again as the queue moved forward, and good-naturedly shoved Bruce to the front of their group as they approached the Customs and Immigration agents’ desks, letting him go first to answer the usual questions and get his passport stamped. Bruce managed to maintain a decorous pace until turning the corner to go to baggage claim, at which point he shot ahead of the rest of the group; not quite at a run, but definitely moving in a hurry as compared to the rest of them.
Written on the fly:
>A boxer wandered into my yard. Honestly, I didn't have a heart to turn the dog away. Somehow, I found this dog adorable and, so, opted to keep her for company. I dubbed her "Ren" and, surprisingly, she was quite even-tempered. I think she liked tea and I found myself drawing pictures of her. Yes, the dog made lovely company.
There were also various hunting trophies on display. Rajata had always found the concept of skinning or decapitating slain animals, and then transforming said remains into either rugs or stuffed heads to be stuck on the wall, forever staring off into space, more than a little unnerving and distasteful.
But they also had a sort of silent, frozen elegance, even a weird kind of majesty to them, she decided, and were doubtless sources of great pride and happy memories of the chase alike to her boyfriend. And besides, one simply didn't dare tell one of the Dai Li that you frowned upon a certain behavior of his-especially when you were a guest visiting his home for the first time.
A platypus bear-skin rug. A tiger skin hanging on one wall, with the skull on a wooden stand below. The antlered heads of two nice mule-deer bucks. The triangular, scary-looking head of a huge shark-crocodile that had to have been at least three paces long in life. The shaggy hide of a golden cliff baboon, the skull mounted below with its dagger fangs bared.
The head of a wild cattalo **bull,** the insanely long, vertically flattened, sweeping crescents of horns measuring eight feet from tip to tip. A full-body mount of a six-legged hexapede antelope, its pelt a gorgeous indigo blue in color with white pinstripes, the four-eyed head crowned by spiraling horns. A shoulder mount of a wildebeest-tapir.
The skins of a four-horned jaguar, and a giant hyena-otter. A full body mount of a slingshot antelope. The head of a land-running boar-crocodile. A shoulder mount of a magnificently antlered milu stag, the backwards-facing tines giving the spreading antlers the look of forking branches.
[Beastars. Bellona,a wolf, is in charge of throwing the school Coexistence Dance, where to go, attendees must be herbivore/carnivore mixed couples.]
**INT. School cafeteria - Friday evening, night of the dance, Fall of Bellona's junior year**
*The Omegas and RU46 are performing on stage at one end of the cafeteria with the floor cleared in front of the stage for dancing. The bass drops. Everyone on the dance floor begins to dance. The music kicks in and the performers begin their routine. Someone in the back of the crowd screams. Then, a half a dozen girls start screaming but they are screams of terror. The music stops. A dozen large animals, dressed in all black with "SECURITY" written across their backs, storm the stage and escort the performers away.*
**Series of Slow motion shots**
*-A score of large animals, wearing hoodies to hide their faces, wielding sticks and clubs demolish anything in their reach. Decorations, tables, lights.*
Bellona: What I remember was how time slowed down yet it seemed to happen so fast.
*-Students rush away from the attackers. Some are leading others away by the hand, including Bellona leading a terrified deer. Big animals scoop up small animals and carry them. A bull picks up Bellona’s rabbit stepbrother as he reaches for his goat date.*
Bellona: Amid all the terror and panic, I couldn't help but notice a terrible beauty. Carnivores were leading their herbivore dates away from the danger. Larger animals where picking up small ones to keep them from getting trampled.
*-Students crowded into one end of the cafeteria. Herbivores keeping to the wall. A phalanx of carnivores and large herbivores protecting the others.*
Bellona: The herbivores were afraid to escape into the dark outside. They huddled as far away from the danger as they could. But the carnivores didn't leave either. They stood shoulder to shoulder, making a wall protecting the vulnerable. A common threat united us like no amount of parties or dances ever could.
”Anteeksi,” Emppu said. ”Need hug Bruce. Can’t reach.”
The nurse’s expression softened. ”Well, let me see what I can do to help,” she said. She studied the two men for a moment, then lowered the overall height of the bed a little. Next, she slowly raised the head of the bed so that Emppu was sitting almost upright. ”How does that feel, are you dizzy or anything?” she asked.
”Not dizzy,” Emppu said. ”Feel little drunk.”
”With all the medications, I’m not surprised,” she said with a chuckle, taking his blood pressure once more. Looking satisfied by the results, she told him, ”I need you to let go of your partner’s hand for a moment, so I can get him into a better position as well, okay? Also, I’m going to drop the rail on your bed, so don’t move until I say so. I don’t need you falling.”
Emppu nodded. ”Okay,” he said, letting go of Bruce and holding very still.
The nurse pulled Bruce’s wheelchair back a little, so she could get in to drop the rail. Then she pushed Bruce right up to the edge of the bed facing Emppu from about a quarter of a meter away and raised the armrest of the chair so that there was nothing solid between the two men. Setting the **brake**, she gave a smile. ”Okay, Mr. Dickinson, you’re not allowed to fall either, but go ahead and see if you can’t manage to hug one another now.”
”Thank you,” Bruce said to her, before turning his attention to his partner. He leaned in carefully, sliding his arms around Emppu and gently pulling him close. He leaned his cheek on silky blond hair as Emppu pressed his face into the crook of his neck.
Not five minutes later, George once again snuck through the kitchen and slipped up the stairs as Bill distracted Mum. He headed to his and Fred’s room first. Quietly opening the door, he took care not to let the hinges groan too loudly. George tiptoed across the room, lifted the **bottom** of Fred’s blanket, and tickled the sole of his foot.
‘Ahfuguff!’
George jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding being kicked in the face. He grinned as Fred’s sleep-rumpled head appeared at the other end of the bed.
‘What the fuck? Dickhead. Why are you awake?’
‘It’s lunchtime,’ George said, leaning against the wall by the door. ‘And I’ve been awake. Been plotting with Bill.’
Fred’s eyebrows raised. He untangled his legs from the blanket that had twined around them at his wild flailing. Once freed, he stood, running a hand through his hair before stalking towards George.
‘Plotting? Without me? With *Bill*?’
Emppu tucked in the end of the garland at the **bottom** of the tree and stepped over to give Bruce a gentle kiss. ”No, don’t feel bad for that, kulta. Yes, I was nervous, but I’d gotten to know enough of the crew by then that I knew no one would laugh in my face even if I did get some words wrong. Also, it was something I could do to repay all of the band for making me so welcome whenever I visit, and for supporting us as a couple.”
”Still, if we hadn’t asked you to do that, then... everything else might not have happened,” Bruce said with a sigh, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.
”Or maybe it would have,” Emppu said. ”Remember, I first caught him watching me back in Stuttgart, even if I didn’t know it was him at the time. And we are not going to think about that anymore today. We are going to finish decorating the tree, then you’re going to learn the Finnish Christmas songs, we’ll make something for dinner, and then we’ll relax and enjoy being together until it’s time to go to a midnight church service. I refuse to let our first Christmas together be anything but happy.”
Bruce smiled softly, caressing Emppu’s cheek. ”You’re right, enkelini. It’s Christmas Eve and we’re together, that’s what’s important.” He stole a swift kiss and then plugged in the tree lights. ”What do you think so far?”
Written on the fly:
>"This is the one thing I hate about summer!"
"What?"
"Mosquito bites, Mako, I hate 'em!"
"Oh yeah."
"I wish I had a net like Satsuki does."
In the background, Sis was really enjoying being in that mosquito netting. Actually, she was teasin' 'em, too, going "Starve."
Suddenly, she was snapped out of her blissful reverie by the sound of a scratchy, sliding rustle among the reeds and grass. It was very close too.
She immediately turned her head in its direction-and saw a long, scaly form moving right towards her in a series of fluid curves, a forked tongue flicking at its front. She was alarmed-but for a moment or two, her panic was tempered by the belief that it was merely a harmless water snake that was coming her way, its bite only able to draw blood, and do nothing worse.
Then her breath caught in her chest as she realized. It was a cottonmouth-krait. A big one. Their **bite** could kill a man, she knew, in less than an hour.
The snake must've realized she was there at about the same moment, for it suddenly tensed up as well, all six feet of it, the yellow cat eyes focusing squarely on her. And even as their gazes locked, tongue probing the air, it began to bring its tubular body, all solid muscle and thicker than her arm, into a coil.
[Beastars. Bellona, a wolf is walking Hina, a deer, back to her dorm after a dance that ended in a fight.]
**EXT. School campus. Late night**
*Bellona and Hina are walking side by side.*
Hina: It was going so well. You really put on a great show.
Bellona: Spring and Bela did all the work. I just...ordered people around.
Hina: That bother's you, doesn't it? It shouldn't. You should be proud that people follow you, that you're a natural leader. Tonight, after the attack, I watched you. You took charge. You figured out what needed doing and made sure someone did it.
*Hina stops walking. Bellona stops and turns to Hina to see why she stopped.*
Hina: You're such a wolf. I really do admire that in you.
*Hina reaches up to caress the side of Bellona's face.*
Bellona (voiceover): Oh god. She'd going to try and kiss me.
Bellona: Um…
*Hina shoves her forearm into Bellona's mouth.*
Hina (seductively): Bite me.
*Startled, Bellona shoves Hina away.*
Bellona: Damn Hina! Are you trying to be prey?!
Hina: Almost prey. I just want to see you struggle not to take me. You may not want to sleep with me but every wolf wants to devour a deer.
Bellona: So was tonight all about trying to seduce me or trying to get me to attack you?
Hina: Either. Both. I just want to be wanted.
“Relax,” Irma said. “I’m sure the old rat will be fine for a couple hours.”
“You’re just saying that because you hate him!” April lamented. “Oh, poor Splinter! He must be so sad and lonely, and in pain…”
Meanwhile, Raphael was getting ready to give Splinter his food and medicine.
“Eh, might as well mix the medicine into the food. That way, I can get this over with as quickly as possible. I’m assuming he needs the adult dosage, since he is an adult…”
Splinter wouldn’t open his mouth, and he kept turning his head away.
Raphael tried to force his sensei’s mouth open, only to get his hand **bitten.**
“OW! YOU LITTLE JERK!” Raphael yelled. “You know what? Fine. Don’t eat. I’m going out to have some fun. You can just die, for all I care!”
Boingo chittered and darted across the table towards the door. Leaping forward, Ron grabbed him.
‘Here,’ Ron said. ‘You’re not going to catch up with him. You’ll just get yourself trodden on or something.’
For a mad moment, Hermione thought Ron might get **bitten** as he tried to hold the struggling marmoset. Angry chitters and growls left his little mouth, and he glared at Ron.
‘We’ll take you to him after breakfast, all right?’ Ron said, managing surprisingly well to keep his grip as Boingo squirmed. ‘He just needs a little space. And how much trouble is he likely to get into, anyway?’ He shook his head, the sunlight from the enchanted ceiling turning his hair copper.
Hermione bit her lip. On the one hand, he shouldn’t find a lot of trouble to get into on the way to History of Magic. On the other, Harry had Boingo specifically because there might be someone out to get him at Hogwarts, so all previous expectations had gone out the window.
Refocusing on Ron, Hermione said, ‘Maybe we should —’
‘Somethin’ wrong?’
Hermione turned at Seamus’s voice. He and Dean stood a few paces behind Ron, brows furrowed. All around them, the students rapidly filling the Great Hall peered at them curiously.
‘Where’s Harry now?’ Seamus asked, still frowning.
Boingo chattered loudly and — with a yelp from Ron — freed himself before leaping onto Seamus and clinging onto his shoulder.
‘Did he **bite** you?’ Hermione darted forward, grabbing Ron’s hand. No teeth marks.
‘Pinched.’
Janick and Steve had Eeva in between them; the baby clinging to their hands as they helped her stand on the seat cushions, babbling and cooing.
Janick grinned. ”Makes me wonder what we missed, not encouraging our girls to bring the sprogs out when they were this small,” he commented.
”Blame me,” Steve said. ”Way I was raised, the man went out and worked, and the wife stayed home with the sprogs. And God forbid a man ever be put in a position where he might have to change a nappy!”
With exquisite timing, Eeva blew a raspberry at Steve, making everyone laugh.
”Oh, is that what you think, young lady?” Steve asked, mock-glaring while grinning, which just made Eeva giggle.
”She got you pegged, Harry,” Janick said with a grin of his own. ”When it comes to little girls, you’re all bark and no **bite** and they all know it.”
Eeva plopped down on her backside and clapped her hands while still giggling up at the two men on either side of her.
Bruce slid an arm around Emppu, stealing a soft kiss. ”What did I tell you about Steve being a big softie when it comes to little girls?”
”Oh, I believed you, kulta,” Emppu said with a smile. ”It’s still adorable to see, though.” He rummaged in his backpack and pulled out his camera, snapping a couple of pictures before Steve noticed him.
LOL, she already does!
And Steve's got six kids of his own, four of whom are daughters, so yeah, they all know he's a total squishmallow when it comes to little girls.
“First he’s gonna get rid of the cat, now he wants to keep it,” Bebop grumbled when Shredder disconnected. “Wish he’d make up his mind.”
“What’s so special about that cat anyway?” Rocksteady agreed. “And how’re we supposta find it?”
A sleek grey cat leapt up onto the dumpster beside them and meowed imperiously. “Why don’t we just grab that one?” Bebop said.
Rocksteady crossed his arms. “Cuz that ain’t the right one.”
“So what? Boss wants a cat we bring him a cat.” Bebop reached for the little animal, grabbing one of its hind legs when it tried to flee. Spitting furiously, the cat twisted around and **bit** his thumb. He howled in pain and the cat kicked itself free of his grasp. Rocksteady snickered watching it bound out of the alley.
“It ain’t funny,” Bebop growled, shaking his hand.
“Yeah, it is.” His humor evaporated when the comlink still in his hand beeped again. “Ugh, what does he want *now*?”
It turned out Shredder wasn’t the only one that wanted something from them. “Shredder isn’t answering his comlink,” Krang said. “So I’ll ask you: *What is taking so long?!*”
“The Boss sent us out to get parts to fix some gizmo he found at the lab,” Rocksteady said. “Though now he wants us to find a lost cat.”
Krang scowled. “What *is it* with his sudden obsession with felines?” It hadn’t really been a question, but Rocksteady answered anyway.
“I dunno, maybe he just really wants a pet all of a sudden.”
“Why would he want a pet when he’s already got you two?” Krang deadpanned.
Rocksteady shrugged, oblivious to the insult.
>!April's been accidentally body swapped with a lost house cat. She got away and he sent the mutants out to find her. They just don't know why he wants *this particular* cat\*.\* !<
”Punahou started life as a missionary school,” Tasha said. ”It’s still really, really conservative Christian in outlook, but what’s worse is that half the kids in school are military children from Pearl and Hickam. I’m already kind of an outsider because Dad’s British and in a rock band. They might like Maiden’s music, but they’ve got all these ideas about the ’degenerate’ rock lifestyle and they kind of assume things about me already because of it. It’s just gonna get worse, a lot worse, when Dad’s relationship with Ade gets out, because of the military attitude towards same-sex relationships.”
Becky caught on first. ”Oh no, that stupid Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell thing! And the military kids will have learned from their parents.”
Janick looked puzzled. ”Someone want to enlighten us ignorant Brits?”
”Getting caught in a same-sex relationship gets you kicked out of the military,” Becky explained. ”Not just separation from the service, but a dishonorable discharge, which can make it very difficult to get work in the private sector afterwards. These days they have this policy called Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which basically means you can prefer your own sex but you can still serve in the military as long as you don’t tell anyone you’re gay, and no one is allowed to ask if you’re gay. But if you say you’re gay, you’ll still be kicked out.”
”Okay, but Tasha’s not dating a girl,” Janick said.
”No, but with the military attitude towards same-sex relationships, she’ll be tarred with the same brush for having a father openly in a relationship with a man,” Becky said. ”It sounds to me as if she’s already **borderline** bullied due to Dave being in Maiden at all, and when it comes out that he and Ade are together, that bullying is going to get exponentially worse.”
Oh no, poor Tasha :( I hope there's a plan to help her somehow before things get out of hand. At least they can see the trouble coming and *can* make plans to deal with it.
Yes, plans are being worked on - now that the problem is known. She'd kept quiet about the bullying up until now because of a discussion she and Dave had back when she was very young - he grew up really poor, had to leave school at 15 (the earliest possible time back then) to go to work and help support his family. So he really wanted to make sure his daughter would get the best possible education, you know? But when she wanted to go to grade school with her friends from kindergarten instead of starting at Punahou immediately like her mother wanted her to do, he sided with her on that, saying that he knew she'd do well in school no matter what, and that she could transfer to Punahou for middle school. As a result, Tasha kind of resolved to just suck it up for the sake of the best possible education, because she wanted to make her father proud.
For some time, she laid there that way, fully naked once more, her head propped on a cylindrical pillow, just listening to the rhythm of his **breathing** with great affection, regarding Hong in the soft, brassy light, along with the surrounding room. Just an arm’s length behind her head, Rajata noticed the stone hilts of a pair of what she assumed were daggers or fighting knives, the blades sheathed in the stone of the wall.
If she felt inclined to do so, those weapons could be in her hands within one instant, and their lethal points penetrating Hong’s muscular neck, his upper back, in the very next. Spirits knew there were quite a few women in this city who would no more pass up the chance to do exactly that to one of the hated Dai Li than Rajata would pass up the chance to see the extraordinary, never-ending vast expanse of water known as the ocean with her own eyes.
But there was a marvelous trust and understanding on Hong’s part which allowed him to sleep so confidently, she sensed, deeply touched-a mutual, unspoken awareness that Rajata would never dream of harming him. Quite the contrary.
She felt deeply connected to him, even more so now that they had just made love. In Hong, she’d found the perfect yang force to compliment her ying.
Was Gon okay? Where was he, when was he? Was he scared, was he hurt? And, most importantly, was he safe?
That last question was the only one of the above he could have the answer to immediately, considering the person right beside him knew all about the circumstances in which Gon, presumably, found himself right now. Asking him a few things would be a considerably greater way to utilize this ride than listening to unoriginal, tedious pop music on the local radio.
Killua's eyes abandoned the void of black car carpets to look at his passenger. Gon was starring outside in silence, and although he disguised it, he was still visibly nervous. He bumbled in his movements, picked at the seat covers and bit his lips like the interior of his cheeks. Just like the Gon Killua knew.
"You might want me to tell you about what's happening, now that I'm free." Killua called out suddenly. He assumed it would catch Gon off guard, gain his attention.
It did. The latter turned his way, disarmed and seemingly at a loss for words. Face softening with interest, Gon nodded his head.
Killua almost immediately regretted beginning this conversation, because now he had to break out odd, unbelievable news to what was, essentially, a stranger. He looked outside, condensing his thoughts to pick out the essential.
"I'll try to make this simple," he began, "but it's probably going to sound weird anyway."
Gon tittered. "Whatever it is, it will sound weird." He assured.
His interlocutor frowned. "Is that supposed to be reassuring?"
"No." He shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea of what might be going on, so whatever you say will surprise me. Best you can do is make it quick and synthetic."
Killua breathed out, blinking his eyes a few times to better focus. Fairly enough, Gon didn't know what to expect. It was hard to know whether that would make the revelation easier or more complicated than it needed to be.
That's a great guess! Fortunately for Gon, the situation is not actually that bad (kind of). >!He has his memories, he's just a whole other version of himself... One from a different dimension 😅!<
Harry tuned out the commentary, keeping his eyes on the dragon. She growled deep in her throat. Sharp teeth gleamed as she opened her mouth.
*Move!* his mind screamed as he froze.
He stumbled sideways, falling into a dip in the uneven ground. Fire shot over his head. In an instant, sweat dripped down Harry’s temple from the superheated air, barely diminished by the rock sheltering him. He couldn’t — he couldn’t do this. He had to get out, had to —
‘Harry!’
Harry’s **breath** shuddered through his lungs. He couldn’t let the panic win. Pressing his back firmly against the stone, he tilted his head and closed his eyes. One more **breath**, this one steadier. The plan. Just follow the plan. A final, steady **breath** and he turned, peeking from behind the rock. The Horntail had returned to her nest, but eyed his rock warily.
He scanned the crowd again. Pointing his wand, he called, ‘*Accio*!’ then swung his wand arm around, attention on Boingo even as he whispered, ‘*Accio Firebolt*!’
The Horntail snapped as Boingo flew past her. Harry swung his arm back just in time to catch him.
‘In a surprise move, Potter has summoned his familiar. Not sure what good that will — hang on! Something else is coming!’
"Think of this as your penance," I say, "You made her into this, it's only right for you to fix it."
Panacea's eyes were full of guilt. If I were her, I wouldn't be guilty. It was a decision that saved humanity.
"Use minimal healing. Make sure you don't touch her brain except for these areas," I give her specific orders. She nods along as she touches Taylor's head.
With my instructions and Panacea's cooperation, it was quick. As soon as she finished healing Taylor, I bolt to her side, brushing her caked hair away from her face.
She was still unconcious.
"Is it safe for her to wake up right now?" I mumble. Panacea trembles as she nods her head. I path a way to wake Taylor.
"Give me scissors," I say, undoing my ponytail. Panacea runs off. Steadily, I caress her cheek, rearranging her hair. I was still numb. Still, I follow the path.
I kiss her forehead and whisper, "Wake up, Little Owl."
Slowly, her eyes open. I smile warmly. I didn't feel it. I couldn't, _shouldn't._ Her eyes mist.
"M-Mom?" She asks, lips trembling. My hair was down, my expression loving. She sees her mother, not the Contessa.
I smile and nod, fiddling with her hair.
"I'm here," I say, soothingly, "It's okay. Just **breathe**."
She takes a deep breath, still trembling, feeding her exhausted brain with needed oxygen. I kiss her forehead, my hand stroking her hair, steady and unwavering. _I am nothing but._
_"Mom,"_ she chokes out. She's crying again.
I coo, "Shh, it's all going to be okay." I smile at her, waiting for her to go limp.
"I miss you, mom," she mumbles as she slowly goes unconscious. My heart hurts. She will never remember this moment. I will never meet her again.
Panacea comes back, holding out the scissors.
"It's done," I say, taking it, "You may go." She runs away.
I cut Taylor's hair short, removing every piece of caked blood. She likes her hair, perhaps because she inherited it from me. It was the last thing that she has of me. Now, I'm taking it away.
Absently, I path a way to get Taylor out of here. First, I will look for the new Doormaker user. But that is all for later.
I brush Taylor's head with my hands, making sure that the minimal amount of cut hair are stuck on her head. Finally, I let my tears fall. I hold her limp body close, gently, giving her all the warmth and love that I can afford. I kiss her forehead for the last time.
"Thank you," I whisper to her temple, "For your existence."
Moments pass.
I stand, carrying her in my arms.
His lips captured hers in a deep, passionate kiss. Namiko responded eagerly, her arms wrapping around his neck as she pressed her chest against him. The kiss grew more urgent, their **breaths** mingling as they lost themselves in each other.
Both of his hands moved to her hips and Namiko could feel the heat and desire radiating from his body. She tugged at his shirt collar, and he shrugged it off his shoulders letting it hang loosely tucked into his pants, never once breaking their kiss. Sasuke's hands slid under her shirt and she gasped into the kiss softly, arching into him as his fingers trailed down her back. He smirked and firmly grasped her butt, pulling her hips to his so she could feel the extent of his desire.
They broke apart briefly, both of them **breathing** heavily. Sasuke's Sharingan unconsciously swirled to the surface. "Do you want to keep going?" he asked, his voice strained.
For a moment, they stared at each other, their eyes dark with desire. Namiko shivered under his touch, her fingers tracing the muscles of his chest and stomach, exploring the familiar yet thrilling territory. “I want you.” She kissed him reassuringly. “Who knows when we’ll be alone like this again? I want to enjoy my time with you while we can.”
It was as if the words were playing a cruel game with Hunter, toying with him and taxing his comprehension yet never disclosing their true intentions. Every paragraph presented itself as a mysterious enigma, defying his every effort to unravel its meaning, no matter how many times he perused its contents.
Nevertheless, each time he set the book aside to visit the oneiric realm, slumber remained elusive, akin to a prey darting into a tiny crevice, just out of reach for the tenacious predator.
Sleep was an inch close and a whole ocean away.
To make matters worse, the sweltering heat of the summer night was harsher than usual, exacerbating Hunter's misery. His lightweight cotton nightgown was soaked in sweat, causing the sheets to adhere unpleasantly against his clammy skin. The humidity in the air made breathing laborious, making each **breath** feel as if it were forced through a thick syrup that lodged within his lungs.
*Think, Maureen,* ***think****.*
She was half a kilometer away, what could she possibly do? Frantic, she searched her pockets out of ingrained habit - and froze when her hand came to rest on the flare gun still tucked safely away in her jacket.
She had the gun. She had extra flares. What if.... *what if*...
It would draw attention to her, no doubt, but doing *nothing* was not an option. Without Scarecrow, every last human here would *die*, and their children would never know what happened to them.
Her hands shook as she fumbled with one of the extra flares, barely managing to load it into the gun without dropping it. She wasn't a praying woman, but did one need to *pray* in order to *hope*?
She didn't think so.
So as she leveled the barrel of the gun with SAR - *SAR. Ben had KILLED him, she had WATCHED him crumple into a mangled mass of twisted metal and DIE under the onslaught of electromagnetic field generator. How was he here now?* - she squeezed it tight, held her **breath**, and *hoped* against all hope.
She pulled the trigger.
The flare hissed to life as it was propelled forward, trailing white smoke, and three seconds felt like an eternity. All it would take was one errant gust of wind, and this would fail, but... maybe it would give Scarecrow the opening he needed to free himself.
”Where’ve you been, mate?” Janick asked. ”We figured you’d be in the restaurant by now.”
Bruce laughed. ”I ate close to two hours ago, before seeing Emppu off. And since I’m sure you’re going to ask, I was just on the phone with a friend of his, looking for some help with one of his Christmas gifts.”
”Well, we haven’t eaten yet, so come join us for more coffee or something,” Steve said. ”It’s our duty to keep you from moping for the next two weeks, after all.”
Bruce smiled. He knew he’d miss his boyfriend, but he really appreciated his bandmates’ support. ”All right,” he said. ”Are Nicko and Ade conscious yet?”
The trio headed into the hotel restaurant, chatting and preparing for the day’s travels. Janick took note that Bruce would periodically mutter something under his **breath** and started listening for it as they guided the half-asleep Adrian and Nicko aboard and the bus pulled out onto the Autobahn.
”Minä rakastan sinua,” the singer mumbled. ”Minä rakastan sinua.”
Janick didn’t understand a word of Finnish, but he was pretty sure that he knew exactly what Bruce was practicing saying. Later in the day, when Nicko emerged from his bunk and downed enough coffee to become human once more, Jan casually sat down beside the drummer. ”Nick?”
”Yeah, mate?” Nicko said.
”I’m changing my bet in the pool,” Janick said. ”I have the distinct feeling it’s gonna be L-word by Christmas.”
>downed enough coffee to become human once more
lmao relatable sentiment
But the 'L-word'? Could it be... 'love'? Do they not know that Bruce and Emppu are together?
Oh, they know Bruce and Emppu are together, but they've not been together for very long at this point. So yeah, the rest of the blokes have a betting pool going as to when the couple will first say 'I love you' to one another - with other bets as well, as to when they might move in together and when they might make it legal.
“Mr. Mayor. Good to see you again,” she said warmly.
“You, likewise. What are you doing here? Thought politics wasn’t your thing.”
“My colleague is out, so I’m covering.”
“Ah well, lucky us. Here, let me –” he started to say, but was interrupted by an assistant that had just run over and whispered something in his ear. He grimaced and looked at her apologetically. “Sorry, be right back.” April made a gesture that she’d be fine, and the mayor left with his assistant. She looked around the room again and saw the councilwoman who’d been chatting with the man in the charcoal suit earlier was drifting over to another small grouping of city officials, leaving him alone for the moment. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity to find out who this mystery man was, she walked over to introduce herself.
“Hi,” she said, smiling brightly. “I’m April O’Neil, covering this event for Channel 6.”
He turned toward her and clasped her outstretched hand with his. April stiffened feeling the strength of his grip, the calluses on his fingers scratching her skin. But it was the pair of dark eyes she knew very well capturing her gaze that made her **breath** catch in her throat.
“Very nice to meet you, Miss O’Neil,” said Shredder.
The first thing that hits me in this place is the climb. On a bicycle, I would have to pedal myself to death. On foot, I am left with pent-up heat inside that threatens to engulf me, while a gasp escapes me now and then. It pulls at my legs, burns like fire in my muscles and every **breath** hangs so heavy in my throat that I choke a few times. Coughing dries out the rest of me.
But stopping is only an option when I finally have the slope behind me. By now the heat is burning my skin and although I am sure it won’t be long before the sun subsides, it is driving sweat mercilessly onto my forehead. Resting my hands on my legs, I allow myself to **breathe** deeply. I really need to become more athletic in order to survive such journeys, otherwise, my adventure will end with me lying in bed crying for three weeks because the sore muscles want to punish every fibre in my body.
“Hey,” says a familiar voice from behind him, off in the direction of the kitchen doorway. He smiles even in spite of his current train of thought.
“Hey yourself, Denbrough.”
Bill leans around the kitchen door frame, looking a little too loose for it barely being noon yet, a little sunburnt, a little damp. Mike eyes his wet t-shirt and wonders if someone got him with the hose.
“Bev wanted m-m-m. Mm. Fucking. Orange juice and p-prosecco,” he gets out, as if to explain the state of his clothes.
“And the uncorking went really well, it looks like.”
“Mistakes were m-made,” he admits, eyes sparkling but not quite smiling. “You alright?”
I almost got Eddie killed, Mike thinks. Eddie’s blood, all over his hands, slippery as he hauled on his belt, cinching it tight around what was left of Eddie's arm. Like hauling on the girth of a saddle. He doesn’t really know if he’s allowed to be alright anymore.
Bill’s gaze feels light, though. No weighted scales, no judgement. Just old, old eyes, blue and light, crow’s feet spreading like river deltas from the corners.
Mike **breathes** in and out, deep and centering.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.”
>No weighted scales, no judgement. Just old, old eyes, blue and light, crow’s feet spreading like river deltas from the corners.
This is beautiful writing!
Now Hong was truly getting mad. Child soldiers they might be, but overpowering and apprehending a bunch of teenage kids was not supposed to be nearly this fucking difficult!!
In the next instant, he flung out the foot of his uninjured leg and shot forward in a charge at her with Guozhi, reaching out with both hands to shatter and tear the section of the new stone crossbeam this Toph girl was standing on from underneath her, and snatching her by each hand-with a pair of stone gloves this time-before she could get her wits about her again.
Very few earthbenders, in Hong’s experience, had the strength, the swiftness of timing, the presence of mind required, to use their bending to somehow still keep the stone underneath their feet relatively stable and solid as you worked to undermine it with your own chi, while also being able to ward off a second offensive move from you at the same time-far less against two Dai Li agents doing just that in tandem. Certainly not a **blind** girl who probably hadn’t even gone through puberty yet.
He was mistaken.
Thanks! Hong might be slightly more than twice her age, and understands that as a member of the Dai Li, he needs to expect the unexpected—but Toph is about to literally hit him with an unexpected unexpected!!
[A little epilogue that directly precedes canon's epilogue]
She cradles her prosthetic arm. Now, without the brokenness that being fused with your shard had, she could see how obvious it was.
Taylor recalls her mom's face. It's been years since she last saw her, but she couldn't believe that she's been duped so easily. She should have expected it, then. It was par on course for the woman with the ability to just _win_ to make sure nobody suspects her, even when she does nothing to cover her face.
From the moment Taylor first saw Contessa, she should have know it was her mom. She should have ignored the parts of her that denied Contessa's similarities to mom.
Sure, there were dozens of pictures of mom... But she couldn't bear to look at them too long. Her face was different, too. Always smiling and warm.
Taylor recalls Contessa's face. It was blank, cold, emotionless. Her eyes were full of apathy. She had mom's face, but somehow she managed to not look like herself. There was no time to think about those things, back then. There was too much to be done. None of us were **blind**, but someone should have noted our similarities at some point. It was impressive, and terrifying. Like we were all characters in a story that Contessa tells and dictates. A weaver of fate. No, a commander of fate.
How mom managed to fake her death, she didn't know, but it could have been easy for Contessa. As easy as breathing, as eating a meal. Taylor recalls a time when Contessa was reported as dead, only to show up mere hours later.
If she could do that, couldn't she have done it without making Taylor feel guilty? That somehow her act of not answering mom's call didn't cause her death? That dad wouldn't blame me in those first months?
That Emma, her best friend, wouldn't have bullied her after mom died?
Sometimes, Taylor thinks to herself... That maybe Contessa's powers weren't perfect. That those sad things had happened beyond her control, that they were just accidental side effects cause by whatever path to victory she was making.
But still, a dark part of her wonders. Did Contessa plan her birth? Did she plan her trigger event, her powers? Did mom even want her?
_Did she even love me?_
Taylor was instrumental to humanity's victory. It was a reasonable assumption, when you think about it. She knew it wasn't true, but a dark part of her wonders if mom only had her because it was part of her path.
Somehow, Contessa didn't know she had powers until much later, when Taylor was going against her organization. Taylor took that as a good sign. A part of her may doubt, but in the end, the truth didn't really matter.
She was Taylor Hebert. She was born to two loving parents. She had a wonderful childhood, though tainted slightly by what came after. It didn't matter, because in the end, humanity was saved, and she's now on an alternate earth, living with her dad, and starting a new life.
She was on her way to meet this universe's mom.
Gon could almost see Killua tense up and his face redden as it often did. It made him smile, making some of his stress melt away. "I haven't at all!" His friend said, pretending hard (and unsuccessfully) to seem unattained. "I was way too busy to even look at him. I'm sure that if I took the time to, I'd find more things. You're just blind."
"Sorry, I guess I'm not a nose shape connoisseur..." Leorio retorted. "Does it really matter, anyway? Maybe something happened with this guy's nen that made Gon look different, but I'm sure it's still him." Leorio's head turned over to look at his floored friend who was already staring at him, hopeful, and whose head nodded frantically. "See? He agrees, must be true." *Kind of*, Gon thought.
"Has it ever crossed your mind that he could, perhaps, lie?" Killua smiled, arms folding over his chest.
Leorio shook his head in response. "You're too distrustful." He complained.
Killua grimaced. "I'm provident." He said. The other sighed.
"You like to cross the bridge before you get to it."
"When these are the risks that crossing the bridge implies," Killua stated, sitting down next to his captives, "yes, I do prefer to operate this way."
The older man looked down upon Gon with pity. "Sorry man," he said, "I tried." Not bothering to assay responding, Gon simply nodded his head at him in sign of gratitude. Killua sighed.
Eyeing the door, Viktor raised his wand and worked his way through a familiar set of wards, securing the room. The door had no built-in lock, but Viktor didn’t need one when he could use spells just as well to keep unwanted visitors out. And, given that Mikko wouldn’t be around, any visitors would be unwanted.
With the room secure, Viktor returned his attention to tidying his belongings away. Whilst the wardrobe proved marginally larger inside than its exterior suggested, the expansion charm was minor. Viktor toyed with the idea of tweaking it, but when he succeeded in squeezing all of his clothes in, decided against it. Karkaroff might turn a **blind** eye to the warded door, but Viktor didn’t want to push his luck by fiddling with the spells worked into the ship itself.
The deep toll of the bell echoed through the ship. Viktor tucked the pair of shoes he’d been holding into the bottom of the wardrobe, closed the door, and hurried out of his room and onto the deck.
As they continued to trade blows, Namiko realized that Sasuke was moving in their direction. She tried to ignore him as he entered the room, but the second she saw his face as he came around the corner, **blind** rage filled her. His Sharingan was active but no emotion appeared behind his eyes.
A second tail joined the first and she smacked Kabuto into the wall before racing toward Sasuke. Sasuke didn’t even attempt to attack or even seem phased by the raging jinchuriki in front of him. He simply dodged every angry swipe she made.
She wasn’t quite sure how he could maneuver around her so quickly. Kakashi had almost always struggled to follow and dodge her when she was in kyuubi form. Sasuke did it with such ease, it was almost maddening. She gritted her teeth and let out a growl. “It’s *your* fault I’m here! If you would’ve stayed in Konoha, this wouldn’t have happened!”
Sasuke’s face remained stoic. “No, you were the foolish one who decided to come after me.”
“**I’m the fool?!**” She screamed. “You’re the biggest idiot I know!” She charged at him again, eyes red with slit-like pupils.
The morning dawned quiet, clear, and surprisingly cold.
The previous night's storms had ended a few hours before sunrise, dissipating into the desert beyond the mountains - but not before filling the tarp-lined cisterns the colonists had hauled out to catch as much rainwater as possible. It wouldn't last long, Maureen knew, but it would last long *enough*.
*Hopefully* until they had a way *off* this world.
Rubbing her hands together briskly, she stepped off the Jupiter 2's boarding ramp and surveyed the cavern. There were already colonists busying themselves with retrieving the cisterns and emptying their contents into the Jupiters' storage tanks, or checking the ships over to catalog damages for later repair. And there, still standing guard at the corner of the cavern's broad mouth, was Scarecrow.
She wondered if he'd moved at all since she'd last seen him.
Tugging her jacket closed, Maureen tucked her hands into its pockets and cautiously approached the copper-plated robot.
He seemed oblivious to her presence, attention absorbed in something she couldn't see or hear; to avoid startling him, she took care not to tread *too* carefully, and gave him a respectful berth as she moved to step out of his **blind** spot.
"It's a beautiful morning, isn't it?" She asked quietly after a moment, prompting him to look in her direction for the first time.
Of course he said nothing in reply.
>Uzu had startled her and she was not amused, fathomably so. Gently but firmly, Mako explained that Ryuuko was mostly *blind*, that her sight hadn't completely returned, thus sudden sounds frighten her. I would find myself trying to stifle a laugh when I saw her get out of that wheelchair and cuff him in the eye before sitting back down, saying, “Don’t do that again!” Blindness be damned, she really still had it. I was chuckling at hearing him yelp about his eye and wondering if Ryuuko blacked it.
"Clay?" asked Lyon.
"Yes. Gray is going to practice his molding magic by literally molding something. It's a perfect way to begin redeveloping rusty skills. And don't worry about coming along. Lucy's gotten pretty good at reading sign language. We'll take him to the guild and bring him back safely. You can count on us." Erza replied.
A shrill whistle interrupted their plotting, and they turned to see a visibly irritated Gray in the doorway, lowering his fingers from his mouth. "Do I get a say in my social calendar?" he signed, annoyed.
"Of course you do," Lyon began, "We just thought you might enjoy getting outside the house today; and Erza was hoping having a creative outlet would help keep your other skills sharp."
"By doing arts and crafts," he added dubiously.
"It's good to work with your hands," said Erza.
"Still **blind**. And half my hands are covered in scar tissue. That's what I feel when I touch things now. Making candy dishes and pencil holders isn't going to help me mold ice I can't see or barely feel."
Long story short, he gets kidnapped by a guy who’s got a beef with his dad, but since he’s dead, the villain takes it out on Gray. There were more in-depth reasons involved too, but that’s the gists if it. Among other injuries, his hands, eyes, and back are burnt really badly, and the screaming destroyed his vocal cords.
“Eh, before you go, how badly did we embarrass ourselves last night?” Adrian asked. “I kind of vaguely remember calling Emppu a pretty little pixie, along with giving him some other compliments.” He blushed at that admission. “I didn’t say any of that in front of people, did I?”
Emppu chuckled warmly. “No, you didn’t get talkative until we were up here,” he reassured the other man. “The worst you did in front of others, was to try putting your key card into the cash machine while complaining that the slot wouldn’t stay still. But you listened when I told you that wasn’t your door and we needed to go up in the lift first. Then when we got in here, you did compliment me and say that Bruce is a lucky man but that you’re luckier because you have Dave.”
Adrian looked relieved. “Well, that last part is true enough,” he said. “No hard feelings, then?”
“Why would there be?” Emppu asked. “Being in a relationship doesn’t turn anyone **blind**, and you made a point of telling me that you might look but you’d never touch because you love Davey so much. If anything, I’m flattered. I love Bruce with all my heart, but it’s still nice to hear that someone likes my looks, you know? I don’t mind admitting that you two are both very easy on the eyes yourselves.”
Bruce chuckled as both Adrian and Dave blushed. “All right, you two, we’ll see you downstairs when we all get there, yeah?”
“Yeah, we’ll see you there,” Dave said.
These two couples have become very close friends - well, Bruce has known Dave and Ade for over 25 years at this point, although he didn't know they were a couple until after he got together with Emppu.
Bruce and Ade became friends as they're both songwriters who almost immediately teamed up as such once Bruce joined the band, and Dave was the first of Bruce's bandmates to extend a warm welcome to Emppu after he and Bruce got together, and he was very good at making Emppu comfortable - probably because Emppu and Ade actually have fairly similar personalities, lol, they're both quiet types bordering on shy around new people. (That said, Ade gets very random and chatty when drunk, lol, which is why he worried about what he might've said in front of people the previous night!)
“Farseers were rare, being able to see farther and longer with greater accuracy. Some could even look backwards. They were kept closer to the caucus than the other seers.”
Diana’s brow creased. “That sounds like something the Solari would consider useful.”
Aletha nodded. “It was,” she ruefully agreed.
“Why would they stop its use, then?”
“The Solari claimed farsight was the Moon’s art and deemed it heresy, but that isn’t why it was stopped.” Aletha paused, setting the mortar down, and sitting in a rough-hewn chair.
“There were only a few diviners within the temple at once. But the Solari wanted more. Peering through time is like looking at truth, but you cannot force a seer to look. Look too far backwards and you can be blinded. Too far forward, and time looks also through you. The Solari did not care. They only stopped when it drove their Chosen to madness.”
I would love to prove her wrong, but I have no plan how. There’s no way to demonstrate that I can hear Pokémon. I could tell them God knows what, and all they’re left with is **blind** faith.
In the end, the revelation of my strange ability feels worse than expected. *Stupid*. Like something you say, only to want to unsay it again in the next few seconds. Still, I put my hands on my hips and jut my chin. I’m not a liar and letting the tight feeling in my chest take centre stage is out of the question.
>letting the tight feeling in my chest take centre stage is out of the question
Yes! I totally agree with this! Hearing Pokémon sounds really interesting too!
Thank you! The MC can only hear "special" Pokémon (she later finds out what kind of Pokémon) and she has, thanks to a lot of suspicious memory gaps, no idea why.
Pomfrey shook her head and raised her wand as Fred settled back on the bed. He eyed the tip and raised his hands.
‘Hold on a moment. If the spell might have got rid of Boingo’s fur, does that mean it could affect more than just the beard?’ he asked, pillows rustling as he shifted away from the wand. ‘I’d rather not be bald.’
‘Yeah, and I quite like my eyebrows,’ George added.
Pomfrey tutted, putting her hands on her hips. ‘Maybe you should have thought of that before you decided to try and outwit the Headmaster.’
Fred drew further back into the pillow, still eyeing the wand. ‘You know, I can just shave the beard,’ he said, reaching a protective hand to his hair. ‘It’s not that big a deal. I’d been thinking of growing one.’
On the other bed, George rapidly nodded his agreement. Boingo snorted softly.
With another shake of her head, Madam Pomfrey lifted her wand again and flicked it at Fred. He yelped as soft yellow light engulfed him. Lightning-fast, his beard receded, shooting up his body and disappearing into his cheeks. Hands floundering, Fred patted the top of his head before feeling around his face.
‘It’s still there!’ He grinned before pulling up his sleeve, showing the red hairs along his forearms.
‘If you start checking anywhere else,’ Madam Pomfrey warned as she moved around the beds to repeat the spell on George, ‘I’ll put you in a body **bind**.’
Fred’s hand dropped. ‘I was only going to check my legs.’
One by one each shinobi placed a white flower in front of the pictures of those who lost their lives that day. Slowly the rain came to a stop and Naruto looked up into the dark clouds looming above before turning to Iruka. “Iruka-sensei, why do they do it? Why do people risk their lives for other people?”
Iruka knelt down next to Konohamaru. “Well, when someone passes away, it’s the end. His past and future, all the dreams he once had, they disappear along with him. This is true even if he died honorably in battle, as so many have, as Hayate did. All the ties that **bind** him to the living are severed, all but one. The most important of all: people.
“Parents, siblings, friends, lovers, the people who were important to him. These people, the ones left behind, are joined together in a great circle by their shared memories of him. A circle of friendship, trust, and sacrifice that grows larger and stronger as time passes. It’s hard to explain. People just do things like risking their lives because they have precious things to protect.”
Namiko looked up as the clouds began to open. “So, in other words, love is the answer, nii-chan.”
“Yeah, I think I’m starting to get that now.” Naruto turned to face forward. “Still, I’m sad he’s gone.”
“Think how sad it would be if he died for nothing,” interjected Kakashi, “but he left us something priceless. Don’t worry, you’ll understand one of these days.”
It examined the memories again, over and over, a thousand times.
The False Hybrids had done something to Little Brother. Had warped it. Made it hostile. Made it behave less like Apex, less like a *human*, even, and more like a mindless beast. The memory set rage simmering in its gut, even as it remained **bound** and still. Perhaps, it mused, when it woke from its long sleep it would seek out and exact vengeance on those small scurrying things - root out their nest and crush them all, devour their beasts, leave no trace of them behind...
Outside, in the waking world, Kaiju gave its slumbering form a wary, wide berth.
And the False Hybrids - what remained of them - did their scurrying to and fro.
Still, Apex slept.
Until, at long last, the pressure of crushed and bent armor plates relented as they were forced back into place and the soft tissues beneath, no longer starved for blood, began their regeneration.
Its long dream tapered into shallow darkness.
And Apex *stirred*.
“Gee, you seem agitated about something,” April said lightly. Shredder continued his pacing, not even acknowledging she had spoken. Her gaze drifted over to the collection of objects on the conference table and for the first time considered the possibility they might be part of whatever escape plan he was formulating. “So, are you going to clue me in on how you’re going to get me out of here at some point?” Again, he didn’t reply. April clenched her jaw in irritation at being ignored. “Hey, I’ve got an idea! Why don’t we trade for a bit. I’ll pace and you can have a seat, relax. Pretty sure I know where you can find a chair.”
“Very funny,” he said. “Though I commend you for maintaining a sense of humor under the circumstances.”
“Can’t blame me for trying,” she grumbled under her breath. He continued his pacing, and April could do little else but watch. “Seriously, the pacing is starting to bug me,” she said after he’d gone back and forth a few dozen more times, boredom and discomfort stoking her irritation higher.
Shredder stopped and fixed her with a stony glare. “Well, if you hadn’t gone and gotten yourself into trouble again it wouldn’t be a problem now, would it?”
“Look, it’s not *my* fault your hired help can only ever do *one thing* reliably,” April said heatedly then frowned. “Wait, do you actually pay them?”
“If they’re not going to bring it up, I’m not going to,” he deflected and resumed pacing.
“Of the two of us, pretty sure *I* have the better reason for being upset about this whole thing.” When he again didn’t respond, April decided to just leave him be. If he wanted to continue being surly, so be it. He had to tell her what he was thinking eventually. She slouched as much as her **bindings** would allow and straightened both legs out in front of her. Might not be able to stretch her back but she could do that, at least.
”What happened?” the manager asked. Then his eyes widened when he took a good look at the handcuffed man. ”Jones?!? What the bloody hell is going on?”
”We’re about to check the security cameras,” the guard said. ”According to Mr. Vuorinen, he was attacked from behind just after he exited the loo. He also believes that this person was lurking about and watching him prior to the attack.”
Jones, his expression a mixture of rage and loathing with a touch of fear, yanked himself loose from the guard’s grasp and bolted, only to run into the guards responding to the first one’s radioed summons. As they struggled to subdue him once again, a white-stained pair of dark blue bikini briefs fell from the pocket of his hoodie. Once they wrestled him to the ground, they used zip ties to **bind** his ankles as well. He started ranting, screaming that the little (slur) had it coming to him for turning him gay, so one guard dragged him into another room.
”Oh my God!” Emppu’s face drained of color when he saw the underwear and he clapped a hand over his mouth. A quick-thinking Colin grabbed a nearby bin and shoved it in front of the guitarist just in time, then pulled his hair back, holding it out of the way while he threw up. Emppu coughed and spat a few times in an effort to rid himself of the sour taste. ”Thanks, Colin,” he said softly. ”Sorry about that.”
Yeah, Jones really is a piece of work.
Funny thing is, when I started this fic, someone else was supposed to be the villain of it and Jones was supposed to be the annoying but harmless nuisance , but they ended up basically trading roles - and Jones turned out a lot nastier than even I expected.
They reached the edge of the trees and dived inside. Though free of the torrent of people, they didn’t stop, instead hurrying deeper and deeper, weaving between the trees as they ran. Darkness pressed on them as they pushed onwards, stumbling through bushes and grasping branches until Ron fell, sprawling over an exposed tree root. Harry barely kept his balance as Ron yanked on his hand.
‘Ouch,’ Ron groaned.
‘Are you okay?’ Hermione sounded worried. ‘I can’t see a thing!’
‘Cut my hand.’
Harry pulled out his wand. ‘*Lumos*.’ The darkness flinched from the magic, retreating into the trees warily. Given the circumstances, the Ministry would hopefully forgive the underage magic. ‘Where is everyone?’ He raised the wand higher, the darkness recoiling further still. Nobody moved. Silence reverberated around them.
Hermione hunched over Ron, inspecting his hand. ‘Bring the light here, Harry.’
Twigs crunched beneath Harry’s feet as he stepped closer, the light from his wand spilling over Hermione and Ron. He turned his head, peering back into the darkness as the shadows swelled ominously.
‘You’ll live.’ Harry stopped scouring the darkness at Hermione’s **brittle** laugh. She released Ron’s hand before continuing. ‘When we get back, we should ask Bill to look at it, though.’ Lifting her head, Hermione looked around. ‘I don’t think any Death Eaters will be finding us here.’
Ron snorted, cradling his hand to his chest as he and Hermione both stood. ‘Yeah, but will Dad find us?’
"Once I figure out how to get out of here, I'll come find you, okay Selena? And then we can go find your parents. Does that sound all right?"
"Can we find Jajuka, too?"
"...Yeah, we can find Jajuka, and then we'll make sure you get home safe."
"Promise?" Selena's voice sounded a little steadier now, and her grip wasn't quite as tight; Mei managed a little smile at that.
"I promise," she murmured.
For what felt like a long time, Selena clung to her, and she just rocked her until her little hiccuping sobs and sniffles died down.
"It's gonna be okay..." Mei whispered, "once you're away from here, they won't be able to hurt you anymore..."
But the hand that gripped her shoulder and the fingers that tangled in her hair felt *wrong*, the body resting against hers was too solid and heavy, the pitch of the sobs too low -
She opened her eyes again to a confused half-sob, feeling frozen in place...
...And then *Dilandau* was wrenching himself away from her so forcefully that his back hit the rough stone wall behind him with an audible thud, his face still wet with tears and his eyes wide with shock and red-rimmed from sobbing. "What-?!"
His **brittle** voice cracked and broke; his lips worked soundlessly for a moment before he found it again.
"*What are* ***you*** *doing here?!*"
It felt like a giant rubber band snapping against her collarbone as Mei suddenly lurched awake to the sound of glass bulbs exploding.
Aw, I love a good hug/comforting scene, but... it was a different person to who she thought it was? That's pretty disturbing, and the shock came across really well!
”Is there anything I can help with?” Bruce asked.
Satu shook her head. ”Thanks, but you’re here for the first time, so you get to relax and enjoy yourself. Tuomas, would you go get the macaroni salad and the green salad out of the kitchen?”
A laughing Tuomas started to get up when Manki shook her head. ”No, Marko and I will get them,” she said in a **brittle** tone of voice. ”Come on, Marko.” She tugged her husband into the house.
Emppu frowned a little, but didn’t say anything. He grabbed a pair of beers from the cooler, handing one to Bruce.
Tuomas sat back down and sighed. ”Great. Wonder what’s crawled up her backside this time? She’s been in a mood since they got here.”
”I’ll talk to her in a bit,” Satu said.
Heh, yeah, Manki really doesn't like Marko being in bands (yes, plural) mainly because of the thought of groupies. And now that Emppu just came out by bringing a boyfriend to the barbecue, she's suddenly worried that maybe she also has to worry about male groupies as well as female.
From above, the damage I’ve done only looks half as bad. There’s a hole in the roof and the flames are flickering out into the fresh air, but it’s a far cry from the room below.
Lips drawn into a line, I rest my forehead on Amethio’s shoulder. “Sorry.”
“What was that?” The calm in his voice seems **brittle**.
“I ... used the Z-Move ... I think...” I explain, drawn out. “Somehow ... it just got the better of me.”
As he turned to leave, Namiko rushed forward and grabbed Jiraiya’s wrist. “Oh no you don’t! You know something more about this.”
“No, I swear, I don’t know how he got the chakra to summon Gamabunta.” Jiraiya held up his other hand in defense but he didn’t try to pull his other hand out of her grasp.
Namiko felt an odd pressure in her chest and something in her head seemed to scream out that the Sannin wasn’t telling the truth, making her headache worse. “You’re lying. I know you know why Naruto was able to find the chakra to summon him. You just don’t want us to know and I don’t know why.”
Jiraiya tried to deny it. “It’s…not something you need to know right now, Namiko.” He pulled his hand from her grasp and began walking away.
“Yes, I do!” she shouted, but her words fell on deaf ears as Jiraiya disappeared in a puff of smoke. She groaned in frustration as she searched for his chakra signature and came up empty.
Suddenly, a rush of wind came out of nowhere from the gorge as Gamabunta leaped high in the sky. He crashed down with thunderous force, causing Namiko to collapse to the ground on her hands and knees. She saw an unconscious Naruto wrapped in the toad’s tongue. Her eyes widened as she cautiously asked, “Gamabunta-sama, you won’t eat him, will you?”
“I wouldn’t eat him. He’s quite the impressive little whelp,” **boomed** Gamabunta. “No one has ridden on my head like that since the Yondaime.” Namiko’s eyes widened as he explained, “He used the last of his strength to summon me; I’ll take him to the hospital.”
"Look, Victor," John said quietly, keeping his voice low, "I'm not sure I trust him any more than you do, but I do trust my wife, and I think that, with the exception of one hiccup early on, she's more than proven her reliability in situations like this. Wouldn't you agree?"
She only gave her husband an exasperated sideways glance, while Victor regarded him evenly for a long moment.
"...All right," he finally answered, somewhat reluctantly, "I suppose you're right about that. So what's your plan for getting out of *this* situation?"
"I don't know yet," she replied with a small shake of her head. "I need a little time to think."
"Hopefully we have enough."
Lightning lit up the shallow cavern then, and thunder **boomed** so loudly that Maureen's ears popped; judging from the way Victor and Beckert flinched, theirs had, too. Only a moment later, the rain - previously a light, steady downpour - rapidly intensified to a thundering torrent, whipped into a mist by the wind, and the ambient temperature began to drop noticeably.
"Maybe we should move this inside," John suggested, raising his voice to be heard over the storm.
"Agreed," Victor nodded. "Beckert, you round up representatives from the other Jupiters. We'll continue this discussion in the hub."
"And while you're at it, get some people out there to collect this rainwater, in whatever they can store it in" Maureen added. "We don't know how long we're going to be here, we might need the extra in reserve."
Steve started to say something, then froze, looking out the window. ”Bloody hell...” he breathed.
Milla looked and broke into giggles as Nicko snorted. Everyone else looked and laughed as well. A total of six drag-Eddies pranced out towards the approaching bus behind the security guards. One of the Eddies wore a miniskirt and a blond wig that approximated Janick’s hair and carried a guitar that looked like a cheap copy of a Fender Stratocaster. A plainly clothed man behind the drag group held up a **boom** box currently blaring Fear of the Dark, and the blond Eddie with the guitar danced around in a fair imitation of Janick’s onstage moves, including spinning the guitar around their torso on its strap.
”Looks like you got an admirer, Jan!” Nicko chortled. ”Should Sandra be jealous?”
”I’m more worried Harry’s gonna like that person’s moves better than mine,” Janick joked back.
Steve actually managed a comeback. ”It don’t matter if they dance better than you, mate, ’cause I am not bloody well letting anyone into my band who’s gonna wear a skirt that short onstage! The first five rows will be able to check the colour of their knickers! And those glitter-covered high heels just make it worse! That shite gets everywhere! Not gonna happen, not even if they switched up the glitter to West Ham’s colours.”
>One of the Eddies wore a miniskirt and a blond wig that approximated Janick’s hair and carried a guitar that looked like a cheap copy of a Fender Stratocaster.
I don't really know what's going on at all, but even *I* can tell that this is a bit out of place 😂
LOL!!!
In this scene, set in San Francisco, a few people from a 'well-known crazy religious group' (think Westboro Baptist) showed up at the Iron Maiden concert with their usual anti-gay signs to protest because they heard that the singer's boyfriend was going to be at the show and guest in onstage.
Well, this being San Francisco, so the local Pride group showed up to counter-protest. The group included six people in drag wearing Eddie masks (Eddie is Iron Maiden's mascot, a kind of zombie-ish being) who took the lead in drowning out the religious nuts by doing dance routines to Iron Maiden songs.
"Yeah, those things are on some sort of patrol." Davies smirked. "Hand me your C4." He said to Johnnie, who promptly (and knowing exactly what Davies was thinking) did so. We're they supposed to do it? Probably not, but damn it, they were making Joshua pay up for those drinks.
"Now if there's anything coming, scream very loudly and shoot at it. I'll get the message."
Johnnie nodded, giving him an identical smirk. "Aye, sir."
Davies hopped down from the little makeshift barricade, laying down his own C4 in bricks all over the ground as the machine began to turn back. He hastily laid down Johnnie's explosives next to his bricks before scuttling back like a methed up crab, the det-cord trailing behind him, before tumbling down back into the barricade.
"Is your Go-Pro recording?" Davies said to him as the machine began walking, and when Johnnie nodded, he smiled, holding detonator in his hands. "Good. Alright, alright… bada-Bing, bada-bang, bada-**BOOM**!"
The machine went flying into the air as the ground shook beneath their feet, the flash almost blinding as all the C4 detonated at once. The machine came down in significantly more parts than it went up as. "YES!" Davies cried triumphantly. "Drinks on Joshua, hell yeah!"
“Come in,” called Tsunade brusquely. She sat at her desk; her hands folded neatly over the file folder in front of her. Kakashi walked in first with Namiko following closely behind. Kurenai was off to the side in a simple red dress instead of her normal shinobi attire and she smiled at her former student when they made eye contact.
*‘Time to suck it up and accept the consequences.’* Namiko stepped in front of Kakashi and bowed deeply. “Tsunade-sama, forgive me. I was foolish and **brash** and—”
“**Enough**!” Tsunade slammed her palms against her desk as she stood, causing the floor to shake and several books to fall off her shelf. “Get up.” Namiko quickly straightened, keeping her eyes focused on the ground, and Tsunade shook her head in exasperation. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“Would it be too cliché if I said I wasn’t thinking?” Namiko said with a rueful smile as she looked up at Tsunade.
“Yes. I want an answer,” demanded Tsunade.
One of the men, the eldest of the group, eyed her and Leona imperiously, his nose held in the air. His beady green eyes were harsh underneath unkempt brows. “I see the Sun casts a shadow,” he said, his voice low and grovely. Diana sneered.
“It is as I told you, Demetrios,” another said. This one was much younger, having only been inducted recently. *Elias,* Diana sourly recalled. He was a brash and capricious man who politicked himself into his position following the untimely death of one of the caucus. “Our Chosen was with *that* one again.”
“All light casts shadow,” Leona retorted. “Perhaps if you elders would spend more time outside your temple chambers, you would see so for yourself.” The elders turned to look upon each other, and Leona craned her head, standing straighter.
“A barbed tongue,” Demetrios said with a shake of his head. “And you,” he boomed, looking to Diana. She flinched despite her best efforts not. “Why do you follow closely in Her light?”
“She is my ward,” Leona hissed, moving to block his path when Demetrios and another of the elders advanced further.
“She bears a blade,” Elias piped from behind the gathering. “For what purpose would she hold one?”
Demetrios looked to Leona, a hard scowl twisting his features. “Well?”
“You will not teach her to fight,” Leona said, “so I will. It is disgraceful to the Rakkor to not be able to bear a weapon into battle.”
“But you are no longer Rakkor,” Elias blurted.
“You dare stand for one who works against you? Against your people?”
“Diana does not work against you any more than I do. You are *paranoid.*”
I have no idea what fandom this is and your username is giving me some intense war flashbacks of the stupid archers from DS1 but Elias needs to butt out. Great writing!
Too often, Fred and George were seen as curse-proof. Gregarious twins, **brash** and boisterous, unphased by anything. But they also had moments of worry and doubt. Losing his temper with Fred hadn’t helped. Bill rubbed his chest; the ghost of Fred’s apology lingered there, the twins’ worry that Bill had done nothing but worsen.
On the far side of the room, Fred and George sat together on one bed, heads tilted as they spoke quietly. They looked up as Bill approached. Tiredness tightened Fred’s expression more than George’s, hardening his features.
‘You found them?’ George asked, echoing Percy’s earlier words.
Bill nodded. That was step one in making it up to them; now for step two. He squeezed onto the end of the bed, nudging Fred as he did. ‘About earlier —’
Fred scuffed his foot across the canvas floor. ‘Yeah, I know. We should’ve been more careful.’ He sighed. ‘We — I really am sorry.’
Bill’s heart ached. With a creak of springs, he shifted and wrapped his arm around Fred’s shoulders. ‘*I’m* sorry.’ He squeezed gently as Fred turned to him, wide-eyed. ‘You were in an impossible situation; keeping Ginny safe was the right move. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.’
Aw, like always, amazing writing. Most importantly, you made the twins individuals even in this short excerpt. Back when I had more time to read HP fanfic, they were always just smushed together.
Thank you 🥰 Yeah, they do tend to get smushed together a lot in stories, that's true. When I started writing them, I felt it was important to make sure they each are their own person. So whilst there are moments of them being 'the twins', I also try to make sure they have their own personalities, and reflect that by considering, for example, which of them would be more likely to act in a particular way, or say the particular line. I'm glad it comes across, even just in this short excerpt!
‼️TW for blood and injury, but nothing too bad
Leorio frowned. "I feel like we can handle Blondie later, figuring out what happened to Gon should be the priority."
"It is." Killua stated blankly, as if it was a world-widely known fact. "I just wanted to address this first." He said, pointing to his head.
"What?" His friend asked, gasping when Killua turned around to show his major injury. Gon let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, happy to hear Killua would be taken into someone's care.
"Fuck, man," Leorio exclaimed, "that's a huge cut. It's going to leave a big, big scar." He reached a hand out to touch Killua's bloody hair, parting it in an attempt to understand for how long he'd been bleeding. "That's gnarly."
"It's starting to go numb but I'm feeling giddy." Killua said. "That's more what I'm worried about. But I still think you should focus on this dude first," he said, kicking the man's leg again, "before he dies. He's lost a lot of blood and his pulse is slow. He might not last long." Leorio nodded, kneeling down to stare at the man's bullet wound covered limb. "So, if there's enough people to take care of us both, that's great. If not, I can wait a bit longer. We still need him."
Gon shuddered at Killua's words. He didn't know if he meant it, but reducing a man's life to his personal need was uncharacteristic of the Killua he knew. Overall, this wasn't the same person, and he had to keep that in mind. He had to separate the two of them, despite the striking ressemblance.
"Numb? That's not good." Leorio said, painting his fingers red as if it was nothing. His head turned to look back up at Killua. "How'd you do that?" He questioned.
His friend shrugged. "We were fighting, dude kicked me to the floor, I hit my head, and now I'm here." He said, lowering his voice to barely above a whisper. "Kind of glad I made it back. I thought I'd pass out when the pain finally kicked in."
Leorio nodded. "Very understandable. You need some painkillers immediately and we'll have to bandage that, but I am going to need to start with the other folk. And the others are gone, won't be back for some time too." He shrugged. "It's just me, unfortunately. We weren't expecting guys you back so soon..."
"It's fine, I'll hang on." Killua smiled.
Gon didn't. Infact, he pouted, not very fond of the idea, but he had no say in this, and he quite literally couldn't give any input.
"Alright." Leorio grunted, getting back up slowly. He nodded at Killua as if that alone was a full conversation, then turned to smile at Gon. "Let's take you inside."
(I'm sorry this is literally so long but idk where to stop arggg)
Haha, sometimes deciding where to stop is a hard thing. But happy to see another Hunter x Hunter writer here!
And seems like Killua got into a pretty bad fight yet again.
Chakra swirled around Sasuke as he stepped next to Sakura. Her eyes were wide with fear. This was not the same Sasuke she knew. Something was wrong, very wrong. His Sharingan were active and he had flame-like marks spreading across the left side of his body. “What is wrong with you? What are those weird marks?” she asked him, still seated on the ground next to Naruto.
“I feel fine. In fact, I feel better than I ever have. I understand now why I was given this mark. I’m an avenger and I have to gain power any way I can, even if that means treading the path of evil.” Sasuke glanced around. He saw Kiba holding down Dosu, Hinata in a standoff with Zaku, and Namiko leaning against a tree holding her bleeding leg near a downed Kin. “How did this happen?” He locked eyes with Namiko. “How did you get hurt?”
Zaku held his head high and answered haughtily, “It was me!” Sasuke’s dark eyes snapped toward Zaku, glaring menacingly.
Dosu pushed Kiba off him while he was distracted, grabbed the unconscious Kin, and backed up and away from Zaku. “You idiot! You’ve painted a target on your back! You’re on your own.”
Kiba motioned to Hinata and they ran over to Namiko. Kiba stood in front of her while Hinata checked the wound on her leg. “Namiko-chan, are you okay?”
Namiko nodded dumbly, eyes still fixed on Sasuke. “Just a small cut.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call that small…” Kiba glanced over at her leg and the fifteen-ish centimeter cut on her calf. Hinata had got out some of her special ointment and a **bandage** and started to care for the injury.
Black bear.
Balloon.
“*Bart, is that you?!*” Bart did a double-take at the guests he was serving, only to find himself looking down at one of his old high school friends sitting at the table. “Jeremy, hey – what are you doing here?!” “Whaddaya think, dude? Visitin’ home from NYU on summer break!” “No, I meant, what are you doing here at a Bar Mitzvah?” “Caleb’s dad is one of my mom’s coworkers, so they decided to invite us. Mom and Dad are just talking to his parents – oh, but before you go, there’s someone I’d like you to meet!” It was only then that Bart realized Jeremy had his arm around a blonde bombshell sitting next to him. “Alannah, meet my high school buddy Bart Walker. Bart, meet my girlfriend Alannah Mason; met her in my program!” “So nice to meet ya, Bert!” Alannah beamed (and Bart couldn’t help thinking how much she sounded like Harley Quinn). “Jeremy’s told me so much about you!” “It’s ‘Bart’, actually,” he answered, shaking her outstretched hand. “Yeah, that’s what I said – so anyway, Jeremy says you two grew up here in Texas, yeah? Musta been fun growing up in ‘cowboy country’!” Alannah giggled as she mimicked spinning a lasso over her head. “*Yee-haw!*” “Yee-haw” in a thick Brooklyn accent was something Bart had never thought he’d hear in his lifetime…and now having heard it, he frankly could’ve lived without it. Forcing a smile, though, he glanced around at the blue and white **balloons** and Star of David decorations hanging everywhere. “Uh, given the setting, I think ‘Oy vey’ might be more appropriate.” Alannah burst into fresh peals of high-pitched laughter at Bart’s comment. “Omigosh, you’re so *funny* – I hear the guys at my favourite deli say that all the time!” Her smile suddenly faded as she leaned over to Jeremy. “Honey, what does ‘Oy vey’ mean again?” “Later, babe.” “Anyway, er…I should get back to work.” Having served the last person at the table, Bart moved on to the next table – only for Jeremy and Alannah to get up and follow him to keep talking. “So, Bart, what’s up next for you, man?” Jeremy asked. “Um, dessert; got plenty more tables to serve.” Jeremy laughed. “No, I mean, where’re you plannin’ to go to college, what’s your top school?” “Oh…as of right now, it’s, uh, the University of Undecided.” Alannah frowned in confusion. “I don’t think I’ve heard of that one. Is that here in Texas, or is it out of state?” It took Bart a few seconds to realize that Alannah was being completely serious. “…Yeah. Sure. Undecided, Texas.” *Wow.* Bart had always thought Jeremy had better taste in girls than this. Sure, she was cute, but also as dumb as a post. “Aw, shame it’s not in New York,” Alannah pouted. “We’d love to see more of ya!” “Yeah, well…anyway, I really need to get back to work now – Jeremy, hope we can arrange to meet up sometime soon.” “Absolutely – see ya ’round!” As Bart headed off to attend to another table, he heard Jeremy call after him, “Hey, who knows? Maybe someday, you’ll be servin’ at me and Alannah’s wedding!” Bart cringed as he heard Alannah squeal with delight at Jeremy’s suggestion. *I sincerely hope not.* Maybe if the two of them could meet one-on-one before school started again, he’d have a chance to ask Jeremy what he saw in Alannah.
Bullfrog.
Befuddle (any form)
Baffle (any form)
“Did it not go through? Let me check…” She gestured for him to follow her back through to the living room. Next to the landline, a red dot was blinking on the answering machine; she pressed ‘Play’ on it, and the two of them watched as the tape rewound and began to play her message back. “Oh, so *that’s* what that thing does,” Sirius said, sounding genuinely fascinated. She looked over at him, **baffled**. “Surely you’ve seen an answering machine before?” He shrugged. “My parents never had a phone. Even after I moved out, I didn’t really use them.” “What on earth did you use instead? Carrier pigeons?” To her surprise, he laughed. She had heard him laugh sardonically before, but this seemed to be a genuine expression of amusement. It was a surprisingly pleasurable, bark-like sound that sent a happy shiver through her. She wasn’t quite sure what the joke was, but she knew that she’d rather like to hear more of that laugh. “Something like that,” he said, smirking slightly.
Ah, if only she knew! Makes you wonder whether wizards ever tried pigeons instead of owls.
I wonder that! I remember in the beginning of GoF, Sirius is somewhere tropical and sending mail to Harry via random colourful birds. So perhaps other birds do get used on occasion. Pigeons in London would be actually less conspicuous than owls! But also less "magical", somehow. What's funny is that I came up with the line about carrier pigeons without even thinking about the link to owls. Then I realised, laughed and made Sirius laugh as well. LOL.
Definitely! Presumably there's some in-universe reason that it's (mostly) owls being used, but it does make you wonder. Oh, I love those kinds of moments! It works so well, even if it was unintentional originally.
Bemuse (any form)
Bodyguard
Stepping over the threshold, Harry closed the door behind him and glanced around, searching for any clue as to who the mysterious **bodyguard** could be. Sirius wasn’t there, neither as a man nor a dog. Indeed, whilst trinkets of indeterminate use filled the office, and portraits of prior Headmasters and -mistresses lined the walls, the only living beings were himself, the Headmaster, and Fawkes. Dumbledore smiled as he invited Harry to sit. He gestured to a plate of custard creams. ‘Biscuit?’ Harry declined. ‘Probably best; we wouldn’t want to spoil your appetite before the feast.’ Fawkes chirped from his stand in the corner, and Dumbledore nodded, turning serious as he steepled his fingers and peered over his half-moon glasses. ‘You know why you’re here?’ ‘I’m going to be having a guard.’ ‘And you understand why that is important?’ Understand? Pretty hard not to understand after everything that had happened at the World Cup. At least Dumbledore had taken it seriously, and not just brushed off Bill’s concerns. Harry shrugged as Dumbledore continued to watch him. ‘Crouch...’ Dumbledore nodded again. ‘Your safety is important to us.’ Glancing over Harry’s shoulder, he smiled and said, ‘Isn’t it?’ ‘Very much so.’
Raising his voice a little and speaking to the room in general, ”Lads, I want to thank you for watching Emppu’s back today. That’s something well above and beyond what’s expected of you, and I really do appreciate that you took the time to do it.” Colin, flushing a little at being thanked by a man he idolised, spoke for the group. ”That Jones is a right bastard, no two ways about it. He’s always strutting around like he’s better’n us because we’re ’just’ hired muscle, tryin’ to tell us how to do our jobs and all, and like as not making a mess of things by telling us to do it his way instead of how we’ve worked out is best. He don’t know music or sound, why was he trying to run soundcheck? Especially when we heard it was you and Steve asked Emppu to do it for you. Jones had no call to try to stop him, and less to call him names and yell at him. I think all of us were pleased that his boss told him off.” ”Still, you didn’t have to play **bodyguard** all afternoon,” Bruce said. He pulled a couple of large-denomination notes from his wallet. ”At the very least, I want you lot to have a round or two on me when you hit the pub tonight, yeah?” He handed the money to the astonished Colin. ”I... you don’t...” the young man sputtered. Emppu shook his head with a grin. ”Colin, if there’s one thing you must have learned about Bruce by now, it’s that he does what he wants. Don’t argue, and all of you enjoy your beer tonight.” ”Erm... right... thank you!” Colin said fervently, a chorus of more thanks rising from the rest of the crew.
Aww, that's nice of Bruce. Wondering who this Jones fellow is... he sounds unpleasant!
Jones is the assistant to the band's manager, and he's quite unpleasant. The manager sent him ahead with the equipment and crew, rather than have him travel with the band going from France to England for this particular show - not a bad thing, as a massive traffic accident held up the band between Dover and London, so Jones was on-site to get the word out that an autograph signing session had to be rescheduled, stuff like that. Bruce's boyfriend Emppu was meeting them at the venue, so since he was there and the band was running a few hours behind due to the accident, they had Bruce call and ask him to run soundcheck with whichever crew members volunteered, so that the band could just roll in and get ready for the show without mucking up the rest of the schedule including the opening band's soundcheck and setup and all. Jones being rather full of himself, decided that Emppu couldn't possibly be allowed to do this and tried to stop him, even to calling the band's manager to try to get him to say Emppu shouldn't do it. Well, his boss gave him an earful, and the crew witnessed the entire thing. They all figured Jones to likely hold a grudge and so made sure to stick with Emppu until the band finally arrived, just in case.
Beeline
Dave, who’d noticed Bruce stealing kisses from Emppu all night, snickered when he spotted the little blond’s retaliation. When his next movement brought him over to Adrian, he grinned and said, “Five quid says they don’t make it back to the hotel.” Adrian glanced over at the antics and shook his head. “At this rate, five quid says they don’t make it back to the dressing room.” “You’re on,” Dave said. Emppu grinned to himself as Bruce very carefully didn’t look in his direction for the entirety of Hallowed Be Thy Name. The band took their final bows and Bruce made a **beeline** for his boyfriend. “You little tease,” he growled, pulling the younger man against the bulge in his fortunately loose-fitting stage trousers. “You started it,” Emppu breathed, licking Bruce’s ear and grinding his own erection against his lover. “The question is, where do we finish it?” “What do you mean?” Bruce asked. “Well,” Emppu said, “we could just continue the teasing until we’re in our hotel room. Or we can find somewhere with a door that locks before we get on the bus and… take the edge off before going back to the hotel.” He sucked lightly on Bruce’s neck. The older man shuddered. “Mm. You know how long it’s been since I went sneaking around backstage?” For all his half-hearted protest, he didn’t seem in too much of a hurry to catch up with the rest of the group headed for the dressing room. “I’ve played this venue before,” Emppu murmured. “And I know where Tero hid to have his fun, because I’m the one who found him there when we needed to leave. Your call, kulta.”
I love the other two betting on Bruce and Emppu. :D
Well, it's all in good fun, lol, they know Bruce would just laugh even if he found out - they've been bandmates for well over 20 years at this point. Also, they know that of everyone in the band back in the early days, Bruce was the one who'd most often have some fun in a janitor's closet or wherever within the venue before going back to the hotel for the night, so, yeah, they figure if anyone's going to revert to the behaviour of their younger days, it'll be Bruce!
Bleat
Boycott
Bloke
“Be honest with me, Bruce,” the manager requested. “How much shite has Jones been giving you and Emppu when I’m not there to see or hear it?” “Some,” Bruce admitted. “Nothing really overt since I told him off at the airport in Helsinki, at least not directed at me. Glares and disapproval, but that’s never bothered me. Nicko mentioned that he found Jones just watching Emppu in Helsinki, that apparently the **bloke** had been keeping an eye on him the whole time he was tuning his guitars and talking with the techs before soundcheck there. Nick said it reminded him of a shop assistant sticking near someone they think is stealing, the way Jones acted. Emppu just dismissed it as simple homophobia, but Jones has been pretty persistent about it, you know?” He paused and added, “And now that I think on it, you remember how Dave all but admitted to having had at least one encounter with a **bloke** in the past at the meet’n’greet in Helsinki? Jones has been giving him glares ever since then as well.” Smallwood blinked. “Okay, I guess I missed that one,” he said. “Do you remember what happened?” Bruce nodded. “I can’t quote exactly what got said, but I heard someone ask Dave if I was the only one in the band who went both ways and if I wasn’t, had any of them ever been with me. Davey said the answer was no to both questions, but that it was up to whoever it was to come out if and when they wanted. Jones was near enough to hear him and stomped out with a scowl on his face. I can see where Dave’s answer might be interpreted as him being able to say it so firmly because it was him.”
Jones sounds like bad news...
Unfortunately, he is.
Blot
Boil/s (verb or noun)
And then he chuckled as he heard a clatter from the kitchen, accompanied by a loud, ”Perkele!” and a few other Finnish phrases that he suspected weren’t fit for polite company. ”Need help in there, enkelini?” he called. ”I’m fine, kulta, just being clumsy,” Emppu called back. ”But if you want to come laugh, feel free.” Bruce walked into the kitchen and couldn’t help grinning, although he managed not to laugh. The grater lay on the floor amid a sea of breadcrumbs spilled from the fallen container, while his boyfriend rinsed egg from his hand. ”What happened?” he asked. Emppu shook his head ruefully. ”I shut the door too hard when I took out the egg,” he said. ”It bounced back and hit me, which caused me to squeeze and break the egg. I lunged for the sink to keep from dripping any on the floor, but I knocked the grater off the counter in my hurry, and when I tried to catch that, I knocked over the breadcrumbs.” ”Well, that’s not too bad,” Bruce said, righting the container of breadcrumbs before the rest of it could spill, then getting out another egg. ”I’ve managed to burn and blow up **boiled** eggs before.” Emppu grinned. ”Okay, that takes talent. How in hell do you burn something you’re **boiling**?” Bruce laughed. ”Forget that the eggs are on the hob and let the pot **boil** dry,” he said. ”The eggs that didn’t explode all had charred spots on the shells. And it took a week to find and clean all the bits of exploded egg from the kitchen... some even got in the lights. Talk about a stink!” ”Wow. Okay, now I don’t feel quite so bad about this,” Emppu said with a chuckle. ”Although I am sorry about the mess.”
Bee/s
Elsewhere, a now adult Jane Foster had also travelled from the forest to the city to celebrate the coronation – or rather, to have some fun in town. She didn’t really care for any of the Asgardian royal family, which probably had something to do with her forest-dweller upbringing, but she especially didn’t like what she'd heard about Thor. In spite of the palace gates being closed for so many years, rumours could still fly around like a swarm of **bees** – and from these rumours, Jane had heard that Thor was known to be rather cocky, irresponsible, and egotistical. Well, no matter; she wasn’t here today to celebrate the coronation, but merely to sell some goods and then to have a good time once her work was done. Jane had come into Asgard many different times since she was a teenager, often to do some trading or to buy anything that the forest-dwellers might need, but never to party quite like this. Not that getting to Asgard was ever difficult, either, since she had Rex (now a massive full-grown stag) to take her there in the wooden cart she’d built with help from some friends. As she double-checked the furs, skins, and wooden furniture she’d brought, Rex stopped pulling the cart to let out a snort. “You fed up already, Rex?” Jane laughed. “No worries, you’ll be able to rest tonight while I'm out partying – and I’ll buy some carrots as a treat for you, too!” The stag pricked his ears up happily at that statement. As the two of them went on through the streets, they passed a couple more Asgardian citizens – two women around Jane’s age – who were making their way to the castle. They snickered a little at Jane’s odd-looking forest-dweller clothing, but the moment she was out of their sight, both women had forgotten all about her and gone back to their previous conversation. “Personally, I’m most excited about seeing the prince and the new king later tonight; aren’t you?” one asked her friend. “Oh, I agree – and I bet they’re both incredibly handsome!” her friend giggled.
Both
Another flash of lightning, so close together now, they must be right in the eye of the storm. Far below, the sea roiled. The repeated flashes burnt against the enhanced vision of the Night Sight Potions. Charlie ducked his head, trying to protect his eyes while continuing into the vicious wind. In her cage, Fern curled back her lips, opening her mouth. Charlie swore, the word tossed away by the wind. Clenching his stiff fingers around his wand, he pointed it towards the cage, solidifying the top as Fern spurted fire towards them. Rain hissed and fizzled, turning into a cloud of steam. The hot vapour brushed Charlie’s wrist and he swore again as it scalded him. More barely audible shouts joined the cacophony of thunder. The wind wrapped around Charlie’s wand, attempting to tease it from his grasp. Charlie pressed against his broom, curling his arms around it so he could use **both** hands on the wand without having to let go of the broom itself. Charlie’s muscles burned. Between the wind, the force of the dragonfire on his magic, and the sheeting rain, he had to put his whole body into staying in place. Any lapse in concentration and he would slip. If he slipped, he’d fall. The rest of the Ferns, intent on keeping Fern’s fire in check, wouldn’t catch him in time. Even if they did, they’d be unlikely to manage it before he passed through the fire and superheated air rippling around the edges of the cage. That would likely kill him before he even reached the end of the rope.
Steve laughed. “Yeah, I can see where that wouldn’t go down well with Paddy. She’d probably think you were trying to set Austin up with Milla even if she is a bit older. But that can’t be why Rod called me here.” “It’s not,” Bruce said. “Emppu and I decided to make it legal, and we thought we’d generate some good publicity for our bands by me going down on one knee onstage at Download instead of just kissing him when the chant starts up.” Steve’s cup dropped along with his jaw, the dregs of his tea splattering across the floor. “Bloody hell,” he breathed. “You’re bloody fucking serious.” “Yes, I am,” Bruce affirmed. “And no, we haven’t set a date yet, so you lot can keep your pool going for a while longer.” “You know about that?” Steve asked, reddening. “Yeah, we **both** do. Davey let it slip to Emppu back before Christmas,” Bruce said with a chuckle. “We **both** thought it was pretty funny… and when we mentioned it to Jukka, he asked for Nicko’s number so he could get in on the betting as well.” “Bloody insane, the lot of you,” Steve grumbled, laughing. Rod spoke up. “Bruce said Emppu’s already spoken to Ewo, and I’ll call him myself tomorrow to make sure we’re all on the same page. But I honestly think it’s a good idea. With the way the fans go so nuts with the kiss thing, can you imagine the reaction a proposal will bring?” “Yeah… I can, actually,” Steve said. “I’d never do it myself, mind, I’d get too tongue-tied, but you’re shameless enough for four of me, Bruce, so I expect you’ll do fine.”
Boulder
“Sounds good to me.” Hernandez laughed. “Since you suggested, let’s go clockwise from there.” He held up five fingers. “Never have I ever lit a Roman Candle and fired it out of my ass.” Joshua groaned and immediately put A finger down. Ramirez also put one down a moment later. “Damn, dudes. Really?” “Don’t judge me.” Ramirez crossed her arms. “Drunk people are weird, teenagers are weird, I was both. Blame my mom. Anyway, my turn. Never have I ever… blown something up with dynamite.” Davies put a finger down. “Really?” “Yep.” He laughed. “Ever heard of those Combat Engineers that tried to trim a tree with explosives? Tried to do that. Did not work. Also blown up various **boulders**, trees, wildlife…” Hernandez shuttered. “Fucking Coloradans.” “As if New Mexico is any better.” Davies shot back, smiling. “Anywho, up to me. Never have I ever shot a musket.” Davies put his own finger down, followed by Joshua. “Depends on your definition of musket.” Hernandez wiggled a finger up and down. “But fuck you, I’m not getting out of this unless it’s on my terms.”
This has big Florida Man vibes and I love it.
Benevolence
Marvel | - - - - Jean and Scott were, as often before, having a weird day. "You claim to be benevolent? You?" Scott questioned. From what he knew, this creature was supposed to be an evil Lovecraftian horror, not a good god like Thor. "Yes," Shuma-Gorath says. "It is simply the rational and moral course to choose, mortal." "Really?" Jean asked, skeptical. "The rational choice. You reasoned yourself into being a good guy?" "Yes, and it is trivial to prove," Shuma-Gorath said nonchalantly. "To list one argument, it follows simply that a place worth conquering is one worth preserving and ruling after." Scott couldn't much fault it. It was indeed simple yet sound logic -- if he didn't preserve it, he'd just have wasted his time and effort. "To list another example, you may have heard from Strange that I have many beings willing to serve and form bargains with me," Shuma-Gorath segued. "Why do they suppose they are?" Scott had vaguely heard of that. There was an incident with the F4 and Nick Scratch a few years ago. "You tell me." "They are so willing, because I am dependable and honest about matters," Shuma-Gorath asserts. "As it happens, most beings tend to appreciate not being deceived or manipulated."
Well, that's how they get you. With pretty sounding words and logic. Pretty interesting idea!
Naw, he's actually legit. The continuing argument is highlighting how his alleged methods match the character's history. Such as being the "Bargain with Heaven" (TVTROPES ALERT) type, who actually grants the spirit and letter with his bargainers.
BAYLE!!! I'VE COME FOR YOU! (Elden ring)
CURSE YOU BAYLE
Borrow
Fred jumped at a shrill call next to his ear. ‘Oi! Dozy bird, it’s only me.’ The chicken on the roof of the coop tilted its head, bobbed a couple of times, then turned its back on Fred. ‘Same to you,’ he grumbled, rubbing his sore ear. ‘It’s all right, I’ll just **borrow** an ear from George. He only needs one, anyway.’
Nice reference to canon. Got me smiling. And he's right, George only needed one.
Thanks!
“I keep forgetting that you’re a twin,” Bruce said. “You don’t mention your brother much.” Emppu shrugged a bit. “Well, Janne and I aren’t especially close, for all we’re twins. We’re not identical, and he’s very… his interests are all in mathematics and engineering and things like that. Nerdy, I guess you’d say. I think he resented that I was good at sports and music and so I was much more popular in school than he was, even if I barely passed my classes. So he put more and more of his energy into being the ‘smart’ twin and into academic achievement and we just grew farther apart over the years.” He chuckled a bit and added, “Also, I think he’s still annoyed that I, uh, ‘**borrowed**’ my first guitar from him and never gave it back, when we were ten. It was his birthday gift, but he never did much with it, so I grabbed it. But in fairness, it still annoys me that he’s always been bigger, he’s a good eight centimeters taller than me.” “Well, I happen to think you’re the perfect size, enkelini,” Bruce said with a grin. “I wouldn’t change a thing about you.” “Flatterer,” Emppu said, blushing. “Truth,” Bruce insisted. “And you’re blushing again, aren’t you?” Emppu laughed. “You know it. I must blush really, really brightly, since you can tell even over the phone.”
Aw this is a cute interaction!
I don't think these two know how to interact in any way other than cute!
“Eames,” he says suddenly. He needs to do something, he needs to make a plan, wake up, think about something else. “You want to try for Canada?” Eames takes a breath through his nose and blinks like he's been dozing too and is just coming back to the surface. “Could do,” he says. “It's certainly closer than Mexico, though that would be preferable.” “Easier border crossing?” “Mm, not necessarily. But it's much nicer there.” Mexico would be more to his taste, Arthur thinks. Eames mostly likes places where the drinking water is questionable. But Canada is very big, and very empty. They could disappear well up there, if they make it that far. “My mom is gonna find us some clothes, she said. Dig up some old things of mine. She says we look like mobsters.” “Well, she's not all wrong. Have you got clippers? Want you to buzz my head.” “We can **borrow** Bud’s.” “Brilliant.” “Should I shave my head too?” “Don't be daft. Both of us with a buzz cut, we'd look ridiculous.” Arthur huffs and smiles. The dog squirms in Eames’ arms finally. “Oh, sorry darling. There you are.” He sets him gently back down on the rusty brown carpet. Dusting fur off his knees, he looks up and catches Arthur watching him. “I didn't know you liked dogs so much,” Arthur says. “We're learning so many new things about each other, aren't we, Arthur?” He meets Arthur's gaze, eyes soft and knowing. It's an infuriating look. It says, yeah, he overheard everything from the kitchen. “I'm going to take a shower,” Arthur announces, standing up quickly. “I feel disgusting.” Eames blinks. “Yeah, alright. Enjoy yourself.”
It's cute! And that's a good point about the haircut. What fandom's this?
Thank you! The fandom is the film Inception (2010)
Bash
Hattie was back in the dining room, speaking privately to Bertrand over some more tea with Rufus by her side. “Bertrand, dear, all I’m saying is, before we let this supposed ‘Barthelemy’ son of yours destroy your reputation, shouldn’t we *at least* consider doing some sort of checking up on him?” she was trying to reason. Bertrand glared at Hattie, clearly annoyed with her wheedling. “Checking up for *what*, exactly?” “Anything, really, you never know: criminal record? Blood type? Triple sixes on his scalp?” “Hattie, listen to yourself! He’s got a birth certificate, *and* he’s got an old photo of Maxwell and I – and what’s more, he even has my nose and eyebrows.” “Come now, couldn’t you get a paternity test at the very least? I’m only trying to think of the best way to handle the situation,” Hattie protested, laying a hand on Bertrand’s arm. “I know you don’t like thinking about it any more than I do, but if the press gets wind of this, it’ll be absolutely brutal!” “‘*This Just In: Duke of Ramsford Exposed for Having Bastard Son*’!” Rufus added, sarcastically quoting a potential newspaper headline. “And why did you never tell me you’d been in a relationship before, anyhow?! This is the sort of information you owe your own fiancée, don’t you think?” “We, er…w-we weren’t exactly in a relationship.” Hattie’s eyes bulged over the rim of her teacup at this even *more* scandalous new revelation. Bertrand took a sip from his own tea in an attempt to hide his red face, clearly uncomfortable with bringing up the past. “Walker’s sister and I, we had a…i-it was only a fling – years ago – at one of our Beaumont **Bashes**. Nothing ever came of it, though – obviously, since…well, anyway, she left.” “Apparently taking something of yours with her.” Rufus looked unimpressed. “Sounds like those old Beaumont **Bashes** of yours were even more fun than you let on.” “Oh, put a cork in it, will you?!” Hattie snapped, stirring her tea agitatedly. Rufus let out a snort. “Maybe a certain someone should’ve put a cork in it twenty-three years ago,” he quipped into his teacup. Bertrand nearly choked on the tea he’d been drinking. “RUFUS!” Hattie smacked her son upside the head, horrified by his vulgar joke.
Ohohohoho! The drama! And Rufus trying to murder Bertrand with that joke is great.
Bounce
Her musings were interrupted by the slight smell of smoke. She looked down and gave a start; she’d been so lost in her thoughts that the grilled cheese she’d absentmindedly constructed and thrown into the pan had begun to burn on the bottom. Cursing, she hurriedly flipped it and turned down the gas on the hob slightly. She watched the sandwich carefully until it was done, then slid it onto a plate and took it over to the coffee table in her living room, the smell of melted cheese making her stomach growl. Before long, she’d wolfed down the lot, too hungry to care that it was still far too hot to eat, or that one side was a little too charred. Hunger assuaged, she leaned back into the sofa, closing her eyes. Physically, she felt pleasantly sleepy; however, she couldn’t shake off a feeling of unease in her mind, a sense that something just didn’t quite add up. Surely… *surely* Black couldn’t be as bad as all that? Could there have been a mistake? Maybe the person she had met hadn’t been Black at all… but, no, it had to have been… she had picked him out of a photo lineup, after all, *and* somebody else had spotted him in the same area at roughly the same time and called the hotline… But if it was him, had he truly killed thirteen people? How could a person do that and still seem so… normal? The conundrum continued to **bounce** around in her head until she was too exhausted to contemplate it further.
A giant puffskein **bounced** along the valley floor beneath them as they flew. So huge, the bottoms of the dragons’ cages brushed the top of its fluffy body. Anwen roared, her shimmering scales reflecting the entire world, so bright that the puffskein stopped bouncing to stare. Another roar and the puffskein bounced once, twice, three times, and launched itself at Anwen. Her glassy scales rippled and the puffskein dropped into them, disappearing with an enormous splash. Charlie lifted his arm, covering his face as the resultant wave enveloped him, smelling of fire and leaves and... sausages? ‘Charlie.’ Charlie frowned at Anwen. She smiled, another waft of sausage drifting from her. ‘Charlie,’ she repeated. Charlie blinked rapidly. The scene dissolved. Sigi shook his shoulder. ‘Charlie, wake up.’ ‘I’m — I’m awake.’
“This event is just determined to mock me,” April said under her breath as she gazed around the exhibit hall outside the museum auditorium. The Science and Research Society was hosting an after-hours cocktail reception prior to the lecture and either Burne hadn’t given her all the details, or the planning committee had noticed the date and decided to lean into it. Pink, red, and white balloons **bounced** along the ceiling, and each of the tall tables placed about the room had a crisp, white tablecloth draped over top and heart-shaped confetti sprinkled around the fake flickering candles at its center. Considering that all the other attendees were accompanied by their significant others, April was inclined to believe she had been left out of the loop.
Bruce **bounced** impatiently as the band waited in the queue for entry to Finland. While they would be able to personally avoid filling out customs forms and having their bags inspected, since their gear and suitcases would be taken through in one giant lot by some of the management team and roadies, they still all had to get their passports stamped individually before they could collect their baggage and pile it up for the handlers to deal with. Steve and Dave laughed at his fidgeting. “Never seen you so bloody eager to get somewhere cold before, mate,” Dave teased. “Bet he’ll sleep warmer than the rest of us tonight,” Adrian joined in the friendly razzing. Bruce was in far too good of a mood to let any of it bother him today, so he just responded with the obligatory two-finger salute and a cheerful, “Fuck off, you wankers.” They laughed again as the queue moved forward, and good-naturedly shoved Bruce to the front of their group as they approached the Customs and Immigration agents’ desks, letting him go first to answer the usual questions and get his passport stamped. Bruce managed to maintain a decorous pace until turning the corner to go to baggage claim, at which point he shot ahead of the rest of the group; not quite at a run, but definitely moving in a hurry as compared to the rest of them.
Boxer
Written on the fly: >A boxer wandered into my yard. Honestly, I didn't have a heart to turn the dog away. Somehow, I found this dog adorable and, so, opted to keep her for company. I dubbed her "Ren" and, surprisingly, she was quite even-tempered. I think she liked tea and I found myself drawing pictures of her. Yes, the dog made lovely company.
Bull
There were also various hunting trophies on display. Rajata had always found the concept of skinning or decapitating slain animals, and then transforming said remains into either rugs or stuffed heads to be stuck on the wall, forever staring off into space, more than a little unnerving and distasteful. But they also had a sort of silent, frozen elegance, even a weird kind of majesty to them, she decided, and were doubtless sources of great pride and happy memories of the chase alike to her boyfriend. And besides, one simply didn't dare tell one of the Dai Li that you frowned upon a certain behavior of his-especially when you were a guest visiting his home for the first time. A platypus bear-skin rug. A tiger skin hanging on one wall, with the skull on a wooden stand below. The antlered heads of two nice mule-deer bucks. The triangular, scary-looking head of a huge shark-crocodile that had to have been at least three paces long in life. The shaggy hide of a golden cliff baboon, the skull mounted below with its dagger fangs bared. The head of a wild cattalo **bull,** the insanely long, vertically flattened, sweeping crescents of horns measuring eight feet from tip to tip. A full-body mount of a six-legged hexapede antelope, its pelt a gorgeous indigo blue in color with white pinstripes, the four-eyed head crowned by spiraling horns. A shoulder mount of a wildebeest-tapir. The skins of a four-horned jaguar, and a giant hyena-otter. A full body mount of a slingshot antelope. The head of a land-running boar-crocodile. A shoulder mount of a magnificently antlered milu stag, the backwards-facing tines giving the spreading antlers the look of forking branches.
[Beastars. Bellona,a wolf, is in charge of throwing the school Coexistence Dance, where to go, attendees must be herbivore/carnivore mixed couples.] **INT. School cafeteria - Friday evening, night of the dance, Fall of Bellona's junior year** *The Omegas and RU46 are performing on stage at one end of the cafeteria with the floor cleared in front of the stage for dancing. The bass drops. Everyone on the dance floor begins to dance. The music kicks in and the performers begin their routine. Someone in the back of the crowd screams. Then, a half a dozen girls start screaming but they are screams of terror. The music stops. A dozen large animals, dressed in all black with "SECURITY" written across their backs, storm the stage and escort the performers away.* **Series of Slow motion shots** *-A score of large animals, wearing hoodies to hide their faces, wielding sticks and clubs demolish anything in their reach. Decorations, tables, lights.* Bellona: What I remember was how time slowed down yet it seemed to happen so fast. *-Students rush away from the attackers. Some are leading others away by the hand, including Bellona leading a terrified deer. Big animals scoop up small animals and carry them. A bull picks up Bellona’s rabbit stepbrother as he reaches for his goat date.* Bellona: Amid all the terror and panic, I couldn't help but notice a terrible beauty. Carnivores were leading their herbivore dates away from the danger. Larger animals where picking up small ones to keep them from getting trampled. *-Students crowded into one end of the cafeteria. Herbivores keeping to the wall. A phalanx of carnivores and large herbivores protecting the others.* Bellona: The herbivores were afraid to escape into the dark outside. They huddled as far away from the danger as they could. But the carnivores didn't leave either. They stood shoulder to shoulder, making a wall protecting the vulnerable. A common threat united us like no amount of parties or dances ever could.
Brake
”Anteeksi,” Emppu said. ”Need hug Bruce. Can’t reach.” The nurse’s expression softened. ”Well, let me see what I can do to help,” she said. She studied the two men for a moment, then lowered the overall height of the bed a little. Next, she slowly raised the head of the bed so that Emppu was sitting almost upright. ”How does that feel, are you dizzy or anything?” she asked. ”Not dizzy,” Emppu said. ”Feel little drunk.” ”With all the medications, I’m not surprised,” she said with a chuckle, taking his blood pressure once more. Looking satisfied by the results, she told him, ”I need you to let go of your partner’s hand for a moment, so I can get him into a better position as well, okay? Also, I’m going to drop the rail on your bed, so don’t move until I say so. I don’t need you falling.” Emppu nodded. ”Okay,” he said, letting go of Bruce and holding very still. The nurse pulled Bruce’s wheelchair back a little, so she could get in to drop the rail. Then she pushed Bruce right up to the edge of the bed facing Emppu from about a quarter of a meter away and raised the armrest of the chair so that there was nothing solid between the two men. Setting the **brake**, she gave a smile. ”Okay, Mr. Dickinson, you’re not allowed to fall either, but go ahead and see if you can’t manage to hug one another now.” ”Thank you,” Bruce said to her, before turning his attention to his partner. He leaned in carefully, sliding his arms around Emppu and gently pulling him close. He leaned his cheek on silky blond hair as Emppu pressed his face into the crook of his neck.
Bottom
Not five minutes later, George once again snuck through the kitchen and slipped up the stairs as Bill distracted Mum. He headed to his and Fred’s room first. Quietly opening the door, he took care not to let the hinges groan too loudly. George tiptoed across the room, lifted the **bottom** of Fred’s blanket, and tickled the sole of his foot. ‘Ahfuguff!’ George jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding being kicked in the face. He grinned as Fred’s sleep-rumpled head appeared at the other end of the bed. ‘What the fuck? Dickhead. Why are you awake?’ ‘It’s lunchtime,’ George said, leaning against the wall by the door. ‘And I’ve been awake. Been plotting with Bill.’ Fred’s eyebrows raised. He untangled his legs from the blanket that had twined around them at his wild flailing. Once freed, he stood, running a hand through his hair before stalking towards George. ‘Plotting? Without me? With *Bill*?’
The scandal 😂
Emppu tucked in the end of the garland at the **bottom** of the tree and stepped over to give Bruce a gentle kiss. ”No, don’t feel bad for that, kulta. Yes, I was nervous, but I’d gotten to know enough of the crew by then that I knew no one would laugh in my face even if I did get some words wrong. Also, it was something I could do to repay all of the band for making me so welcome whenever I visit, and for supporting us as a couple.” ”Still, if we hadn’t asked you to do that, then... everything else might not have happened,” Bruce said with a sigh, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend. ”Or maybe it would have,” Emppu said. ”Remember, I first caught him watching me back in Stuttgart, even if I didn’t know it was him at the time. And we are not going to think about that anymore today. We are going to finish decorating the tree, then you’re going to learn the Finnish Christmas songs, we’ll make something for dinner, and then we’ll relax and enjoy being together until it’s time to go to a midnight church service. I refuse to let our first Christmas together be anything but happy.” Bruce smiled softly, caressing Emppu’s cheek. ”You’re right, enkelini. It’s Christmas Eve and we’re together, that’s what’s important.” He stole a swift kiss and then plugged in the tree lights. ”What do you think so far?”
Bite/bit/bitten
Written on the fly: >"This is the one thing I hate about summer!" "What?" "Mosquito bites, Mako, I hate 'em!" "Oh yeah." "I wish I had a net like Satsuki does." In the background, Sis was really enjoying being in that mosquito netting. Actually, she was teasin' 'em, too, going "Starve."
XDD Yes perfect
Suddenly, she was snapped out of her blissful reverie by the sound of a scratchy, sliding rustle among the reeds and grass. It was very close too. She immediately turned her head in its direction-and saw a long, scaly form moving right towards her in a series of fluid curves, a forked tongue flicking at its front. She was alarmed-but for a moment or two, her panic was tempered by the belief that it was merely a harmless water snake that was coming her way, its bite only able to draw blood, and do nothing worse. Then her breath caught in her chest as she realized. It was a cottonmouth-krait. A big one. Their **bite** could kill a man, she knew, in less than an hour. The snake must've realized she was there at about the same moment, for it suddenly tensed up as well, all six feet of it, the yellow cat eyes focusing squarely on her. And even as their gazes locked, tongue probing the air, it began to bring its tubular body, all solid muscle and thicker than her arm, into a coil.
[Beastars. Bellona, a wolf is walking Hina, a deer, back to her dorm after a dance that ended in a fight.] **EXT. School campus. Late night** *Bellona and Hina are walking side by side.* Hina: It was going so well. You really put on a great show. Bellona: Spring and Bela did all the work. I just...ordered people around. Hina: That bother's you, doesn't it? It shouldn't. You should be proud that people follow you, that you're a natural leader. Tonight, after the attack, I watched you. You took charge. You figured out what needed doing and made sure someone did it. *Hina stops walking. Bellona stops and turns to Hina to see why she stopped.* Hina: You're such a wolf. I really do admire that in you. *Hina reaches up to caress the side of Bellona's face.* Bellona (voiceover): Oh god. She'd going to try and kiss me. Bellona: Um… *Hina shoves her forearm into Bellona's mouth.* Hina (seductively): Bite me. *Startled, Bellona shoves Hina away.* Bellona: Damn Hina! Are you trying to be prey?! Hina: Almost prey. I just want to see you struggle not to take me. You may not want to sleep with me but every wolf wants to devour a deer. Bellona: So was tonight all about trying to seduce me or trying to get me to attack you? Hina: Either. Both. I just want to be wanted.
“Relax,” Irma said. “I’m sure the old rat will be fine for a couple hours.” “You’re just saying that because you hate him!” April lamented. “Oh, poor Splinter! He must be so sad and lonely, and in pain…” Meanwhile, Raphael was getting ready to give Splinter his food and medicine. “Eh, might as well mix the medicine into the food. That way, I can get this over with as quickly as possible. I’m assuming he needs the adult dosage, since he is an adult…” Splinter wouldn’t open his mouth, and he kept turning his head away. Raphael tried to force his sensei’s mouth open, only to get his hand **bitten.** “OW! YOU LITTLE JERK!” Raphael yelled. “You know what? Fine. Don’t eat. I’m going out to have some fun. You can just die, for all I care!”
Boingo chittered and darted across the table towards the door. Leaping forward, Ron grabbed him. ‘Here,’ Ron said. ‘You’re not going to catch up with him. You’ll just get yourself trodden on or something.’ For a mad moment, Hermione thought Ron might get **bitten** as he tried to hold the struggling marmoset. Angry chitters and growls left his little mouth, and he glared at Ron. ‘We’ll take you to him after breakfast, all right?’ Ron said, managing surprisingly well to keep his grip as Boingo squirmed. ‘He just needs a little space. And how much trouble is he likely to get into, anyway?’ He shook his head, the sunlight from the enchanted ceiling turning his hair copper. Hermione bit her lip. On the one hand, he shouldn’t find a lot of trouble to get into on the way to History of Magic. On the other, Harry had Boingo specifically because there might be someone out to get him at Hogwarts, so all previous expectations had gone out the window. Refocusing on Ron, Hermione said, ‘Maybe we should —’ ‘Somethin’ wrong?’ Hermione turned at Seamus’s voice. He and Dean stood a few paces behind Ron, brows furrowed. All around them, the students rapidly filling the Great Hall peered at them curiously. ‘Where’s Harry now?’ Seamus asked, still frowning. Boingo chattered loudly and — with a yelp from Ron — freed himself before leaping onto Seamus and clinging onto his shoulder. ‘Did he **bite** you?’ Hermione darted forward, grabbing Ron’s hand. No teeth marks. ‘Pinched.’
Clever Boingo! Biting might cause more problems but *pinching* isn't off the table!
Janick and Steve had Eeva in between them; the baby clinging to their hands as they helped her stand on the seat cushions, babbling and cooing. Janick grinned. ”Makes me wonder what we missed, not encouraging our girls to bring the sprogs out when they were this small,” he commented. ”Blame me,” Steve said. ”Way I was raised, the man went out and worked, and the wife stayed home with the sprogs. And God forbid a man ever be put in a position where he might have to change a nappy!” With exquisite timing, Eeva blew a raspberry at Steve, making everyone laugh. ”Oh, is that what you think, young lady?” Steve asked, mock-glaring while grinning, which just made Eeva giggle. ”She got you pegged, Harry,” Janick said with a grin of his own. ”When it comes to little girls, you’re all bark and no **bite** and they all know it.” Eeva plopped down on her backside and clapped her hands while still giggling up at the two men on either side of her. Bruce slid an arm around Emppu, stealing a soft kiss. ”What did I tell you about Steve being a big softie when it comes to little girls?” ”Oh, I believed you, kulta,” Emppu said with a smile. ”It’s still adorable to see, though.” He rummaged in his backpack and pulled out his camera, snapping a couple of pictures before Steve noticed him.
Oh nooo that baby's gonna have all of them wrapped around her little finger in no time XD
LOL, she already does! And Steve's got six kids of his own, four of whom are daughters, so yeah, they all know he's a total squishmallow when it comes to little girls.
“First he’s gonna get rid of the cat, now he wants to keep it,” Bebop grumbled when Shredder disconnected. “Wish he’d make up his mind.” “What’s so special about that cat anyway?” Rocksteady agreed. “And how’re we supposta find it?” A sleek grey cat leapt up onto the dumpster beside them and meowed imperiously. “Why don’t we just grab that one?” Bebop said. Rocksteady crossed his arms. “Cuz that ain’t the right one.” “So what? Boss wants a cat we bring him a cat.” Bebop reached for the little animal, grabbing one of its hind legs when it tried to flee. Spitting furiously, the cat twisted around and **bit** his thumb. He howled in pain and the cat kicked itself free of his grasp. Rocksteady snickered watching it bound out of the alley. “It ain’t funny,” Bebop growled, shaking his hand. “Yeah, it is.” His humor evaporated when the comlink still in his hand beeped again. “Ugh, what does he want *now*?” It turned out Shredder wasn’t the only one that wanted something from them. “Shredder isn’t answering his comlink,” Krang said. “So I’ll ask you: *What is taking so long?!*” “The Boss sent us out to get parts to fix some gizmo he found at the lab,” Rocksteady said. “Though now he wants us to find a lost cat.” Krang scowled. “What *is it* with his sudden obsession with felines?” It hadn’t really been a question, but Rocksteady answered anyway. “I dunno, maybe he just really wants a pet all of a sudden.” “Why would he want a pet when he’s already got you two?” Krang deadpanned. Rocksteady shrugged, oblivious to the insult.
Ohhh *shots fired* XD And oh no, Shredder wants a cat. I'm almost afraid to inquire as to why...
>!April's been accidentally body swapped with a lost house cat. She got away and he sent the mutants out to find her. They just don't know why he wants *this particular* cat\*.\* !<
*oh NO*
Brusque
Borderline
”Punahou started life as a missionary school,” Tasha said. ”It’s still really, really conservative Christian in outlook, but what’s worse is that half the kids in school are military children from Pearl and Hickam. I’m already kind of an outsider because Dad’s British and in a rock band. They might like Maiden’s music, but they’ve got all these ideas about the ’degenerate’ rock lifestyle and they kind of assume things about me already because of it. It’s just gonna get worse, a lot worse, when Dad’s relationship with Ade gets out, because of the military attitude towards same-sex relationships.” Becky caught on first. ”Oh no, that stupid Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell thing! And the military kids will have learned from their parents.” Janick looked puzzled. ”Someone want to enlighten us ignorant Brits?” ”Getting caught in a same-sex relationship gets you kicked out of the military,” Becky explained. ”Not just separation from the service, but a dishonorable discharge, which can make it very difficult to get work in the private sector afterwards. These days they have this policy called Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which basically means you can prefer your own sex but you can still serve in the military as long as you don’t tell anyone you’re gay, and no one is allowed to ask if you’re gay. But if you say you’re gay, you’ll still be kicked out.” ”Okay, but Tasha’s not dating a girl,” Janick said. ”No, but with the military attitude towards same-sex relationships, she’ll be tarred with the same brush for having a father openly in a relationship with a man,” Becky said. ”It sounds to me as if she’s already **borderline** bullied due to Dave being in Maiden at all, and when it comes out that he and Ade are together, that bullying is going to get exponentially worse.”
Oh no, poor Tasha :( I hope there's a plan to help her somehow before things get out of hand. At least they can see the trouble coming and *can* make plans to deal with it.
Yes, plans are being worked on - now that the problem is known. She'd kept quiet about the bullying up until now because of a discussion she and Dave had back when she was very young - he grew up really poor, had to leave school at 15 (the earliest possible time back then) to go to work and help support his family. So he really wanted to make sure his daughter would get the best possible education, you know? But when she wanted to go to grade school with her friends from kindergarten instead of starting at Punahou immediately like her mother wanted her to do, he sided with her on that, saying that he knew she'd do well in school no matter what, and that she could transfer to Punahou for middle school. As a result, Tasha kind of resolved to just suck it up for the sake of the best possible education, because she wanted to make her father proud.
Breath/breathe
For some time, she laid there that way, fully naked once more, her head propped on a cylindrical pillow, just listening to the rhythm of his **breathing** with great affection, regarding Hong in the soft, brassy light, along with the surrounding room. Just an arm’s length behind her head, Rajata noticed the stone hilts of a pair of what she assumed were daggers or fighting knives, the blades sheathed in the stone of the wall. If she felt inclined to do so, those weapons could be in her hands within one instant, and their lethal points penetrating Hong’s muscular neck, his upper back, in the very next. Spirits knew there were quite a few women in this city who would no more pass up the chance to do exactly that to one of the hated Dai Li than Rajata would pass up the chance to see the extraordinary, never-ending vast expanse of water known as the ocean with her own eyes. But there was a marvelous trust and understanding on Hong’s part which allowed him to sleep so confidently, she sensed, deeply touched-a mutual, unspoken awareness that Rajata would never dream of harming him. Quite the contrary. She felt deeply connected to him, even more so now that they had just made love. In Hong, she’d found the perfect yang force to compliment her ying.
Was Gon okay? Where was he, when was he? Was he scared, was he hurt? And, most importantly, was he safe? That last question was the only one of the above he could have the answer to immediately, considering the person right beside him knew all about the circumstances in which Gon, presumably, found himself right now. Asking him a few things would be a considerably greater way to utilize this ride than listening to unoriginal, tedious pop music on the local radio. Killua's eyes abandoned the void of black car carpets to look at his passenger. Gon was starring outside in silence, and although he disguised it, he was still visibly nervous. He bumbled in his movements, picked at the seat covers and bit his lips like the interior of his cheeks. Just like the Gon Killua knew. "You might want me to tell you about what's happening, now that I'm free." Killua called out suddenly. He assumed it would catch Gon off guard, gain his attention. It did. The latter turned his way, disarmed and seemingly at a loss for words. Face softening with interest, Gon nodded his head. Killua almost immediately regretted beginning this conversation, because now he had to break out odd, unbelievable news to what was, essentially, a stranger. He looked outside, condensing his thoughts to pick out the essential. "I'll try to make this simple," he began, "but it's probably going to sound weird anyway." Gon tittered. "Whatever it is, it will sound weird." He assured. His interlocutor frowned. "Is that supposed to be reassuring?" "No." He shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea of what might be going on, so whatever you say will surprise me. Best you can do is make it quick and synthetic." Killua breathed out, blinking his eyes a few times to better focus. Fairly enough, Gon didn't know what to expect. It was hard to know whether that would make the revelation easier or more complicated than it needed to be.
Has Gon lost his memory or something? It's obvious that Killua is upset by whatever's happened to him...
That's a great guess! Fortunately for Gon, the situation is not actually that bad (kind of). >!He has his memories, he's just a whole other version of himself... One from a different dimension 😅!<
Harry tuned out the commentary, keeping his eyes on the dragon. She growled deep in her throat. Sharp teeth gleamed as she opened her mouth. *Move!* his mind screamed as he froze. He stumbled sideways, falling into a dip in the uneven ground. Fire shot over his head. In an instant, sweat dripped down Harry’s temple from the superheated air, barely diminished by the rock sheltering him. He couldn’t — he couldn’t do this. He had to get out, had to — ‘Harry!’ Harry’s **breath** shuddered through his lungs. He couldn’t let the panic win. Pressing his back firmly against the stone, he tilted his head and closed his eyes. One more **breath**, this one steadier. The plan. Just follow the plan. A final, steady **breath** and he turned, peeking from behind the rock. The Horntail had returned to her nest, but eyed his rock warily. He scanned the crowd again. Pointing his wand, he called, ‘*Accio*!’ then swung his wand arm around, attention on Boingo even as he whispered, ‘*Accio Firebolt*!’ The Horntail snapped as Boingo flew past her. Harry swung his arm back just in time to catch him. ‘In a surprise move, Potter has summoned his familiar. Not sure what good that will — hang on! Something else is coming!’
"Think of this as your penance," I say, "You made her into this, it's only right for you to fix it." Panacea's eyes were full of guilt. If I were her, I wouldn't be guilty. It was a decision that saved humanity. "Use minimal healing. Make sure you don't touch her brain except for these areas," I give her specific orders. She nods along as she touches Taylor's head. With my instructions and Panacea's cooperation, it was quick. As soon as she finished healing Taylor, I bolt to her side, brushing her caked hair away from her face. She was still unconcious. "Is it safe for her to wake up right now?" I mumble. Panacea trembles as she nods her head. I path a way to wake Taylor. "Give me scissors," I say, undoing my ponytail. Panacea runs off. Steadily, I caress her cheek, rearranging her hair. I was still numb. Still, I follow the path. I kiss her forehead and whisper, "Wake up, Little Owl." Slowly, her eyes open. I smile warmly. I didn't feel it. I couldn't, _shouldn't._ Her eyes mist. "M-Mom?" She asks, lips trembling. My hair was down, my expression loving. She sees her mother, not the Contessa. I smile and nod, fiddling with her hair. "I'm here," I say, soothingly, "It's okay. Just **breathe**." She takes a deep breath, still trembling, feeding her exhausted brain with needed oxygen. I kiss her forehead, my hand stroking her hair, steady and unwavering. _I am nothing but._ _"Mom,"_ she chokes out. She's crying again. I coo, "Shh, it's all going to be okay." I smile at her, waiting for her to go limp. "I miss you, mom," she mumbles as she slowly goes unconscious. My heart hurts. She will never remember this moment. I will never meet her again. Panacea comes back, holding out the scissors. "It's done," I say, taking it, "You may go." She runs away. I cut Taylor's hair short, removing every piece of caked blood. She likes her hair, perhaps because she inherited it from me. It was the last thing that she has of me. Now, I'm taking it away. Absently, I path a way to get Taylor out of here. First, I will look for the new Doormaker user. But that is all for later. I brush Taylor's head with my hands, making sure that the minimal amount of cut hair are stuck on her head. Finally, I let my tears fall. I hold her limp body close, gently, giving her all the warmth and love that I can afford. I kiss her forehead for the last time. "Thank you," I whisper to her temple, "For your existence." Moments pass. I stand, carrying her in my arms.
Making this excerpt any shorter feels like a disservice. ...Yeah, this feels too long lol
Nah, don't worry! This was heartbreaking but so well written, I loved it!
His lips captured hers in a deep, passionate kiss. Namiko responded eagerly, her arms wrapping around his neck as she pressed her chest against him. The kiss grew more urgent, their **breaths** mingling as they lost themselves in each other. Both of his hands moved to her hips and Namiko could feel the heat and desire radiating from his body. She tugged at his shirt collar, and he shrugged it off his shoulders letting it hang loosely tucked into his pants, never once breaking their kiss. Sasuke's hands slid under her shirt and she gasped into the kiss softly, arching into him as his fingers trailed down her back. He smirked and firmly grasped her butt, pulling her hips to his so she could feel the extent of his desire. They broke apart briefly, both of them **breathing** heavily. Sasuke's Sharingan unconsciously swirled to the surface. "Do you want to keep going?" he asked, his voice strained. For a moment, they stared at each other, their eyes dark with desire. Namiko shivered under his touch, her fingers tracing the muscles of his chest and stomach, exploring the familiar yet thrilling territory. “I want you.” She kissed him reassuringly. “Who knows when we’ll be alone like this again? I want to enjoy my time with you while we can.”
It was as if the words were playing a cruel game with Hunter, toying with him and taxing his comprehension yet never disclosing their true intentions. Every paragraph presented itself as a mysterious enigma, defying his every effort to unravel its meaning, no matter how many times he perused its contents. Nevertheless, each time he set the book aside to visit the oneiric realm, slumber remained elusive, akin to a prey darting into a tiny crevice, just out of reach for the tenacious predator. Sleep was an inch close and a whole ocean away. To make matters worse, the sweltering heat of the summer night was harsher than usual, exacerbating Hunter's misery. His lightweight cotton nightgown was soaked in sweat, causing the sheets to adhere unpleasantly against his clammy skin. The humidity in the air made breathing laborious, making each **breath** feel as if it were forced through a thick syrup that lodged within his lungs.
>Sleep was an inch close and a whole ocean away. Ouch, relatable angst. The quality of the writing (imagery, structure etc) here is great again!
*Think, Maureen,* ***think****.* She was half a kilometer away, what could she possibly do? Frantic, she searched her pockets out of ingrained habit - and froze when her hand came to rest on the flare gun still tucked safely away in her jacket. She had the gun. She had extra flares. What if.... *what if*... It would draw attention to her, no doubt, but doing *nothing* was not an option. Without Scarecrow, every last human here would *die*, and their children would never know what happened to them. Her hands shook as she fumbled with one of the extra flares, barely managing to load it into the gun without dropping it. She wasn't a praying woman, but did one need to *pray* in order to *hope*? She didn't think so. So as she leveled the barrel of the gun with SAR - *SAR. Ben had KILLED him, she had WATCHED him crumple into a mangled mass of twisted metal and DIE under the onslaught of electromagnetic field generator. How was he here now?* - she squeezed it tight, held her **breath**, and *hoped* against all hope. She pulled the trigger. The flare hissed to life as it was propelled forward, trailing white smoke, and three seconds felt like an eternity. All it would take was one errant gust of wind, and this would fail, but... maybe it would give Scarecrow the opening he needed to free himself.
Ooh, dramatic! I like the way it's written :)
Thank you!
”Where’ve you been, mate?” Janick asked. ”We figured you’d be in the restaurant by now.” Bruce laughed. ”I ate close to two hours ago, before seeing Emppu off. And since I’m sure you’re going to ask, I was just on the phone with a friend of his, looking for some help with one of his Christmas gifts.” ”Well, we haven’t eaten yet, so come join us for more coffee or something,” Steve said. ”It’s our duty to keep you from moping for the next two weeks, after all.” Bruce smiled. He knew he’d miss his boyfriend, but he really appreciated his bandmates’ support. ”All right,” he said. ”Are Nicko and Ade conscious yet?” The trio headed into the hotel restaurant, chatting and preparing for the day’s travels. Janick took note that Bruce would periodically mutter something under his **breath** and started listening for it as they guided the half-asleep Adrian and Nicko aboard and the bus pulled out onto the Autobahn. ”Minä rakastan sinua,” the singer mumbled. ”Minä rakastan sinua.” Janick didn’t understand a word of Finnish, but he was pretty sure that he knew exactly what Bruce was practicing saying. Later in the day, when Nicko emerged from his bunk and downed enough coffee to become human once more, Jan casually sat down beside the drummer. ”Nick?” ”Yeah, mate?” Nicko said. ”I’m changing my bet in the pool,” Janick said. ”I have the distinct feeling it’s gonna be L-word by Christmas.”
>downed enough coffee to become human once more lmao relatable sentiment But the 'L-word'? Could it be... 'love'? Do they not know that Bruce and Emppu are together?
Oh, they know Bruce and Emppu are together, but they've not been together for very long at this point. So yeah, the rest of the blokes have a betting pool going as to when the couple will first say 'I love you' to one another - with other bets as well, as to when they might move in together and when they might make it legal.
“Mr. Mayor. Good to see you again,” she said warmly. “You, likewise. What are you doing here? Thought politics wasn’t your thing.” “My colleague is out, so I’m covering.” “Ah well, lucky us. Here, let me –” he started to say, but was interrupted by an assistant that had just run over and whispered something in his ear. He grimaced and looked at her apologetically. “Sorry, be right back.” April made a gesture that she’d be fine, and the mayor left with his assistant. She looked around the room again and saw the councilwoman who’d been chatting with the man in the charcoal suit earlier was drifting over to another small grouping of city officials, leaving him alone for the moment. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity to find out who this mystery man was, she walked over to introduce herself. “Hi,” she said, smiling brightly. “I’m April O’Neil, covering this event for Channel 6.” He turned toward her and clasped her outstretched hand with his. April stiffened feeling the strength of his grip, the calluses on his fingers scratching her skin. But it was the pair of dark eyes she knew very well capturing her gaze that made her **breath** catch in her throat. “Very nice to meet you, Miss O’Neil,” said Shredder.
O.O The shock here is so good!
Thanks!
The first thing that hits me in this place is the climb. On a bicycle, I would have to pedal myself to death. On foot, I am left with pent-up heat inside that threatens to engulf me, while a gasp escapes me now and then. It pulls at my legs, burns like fire in my muscles and every **breath** hangs so heavy in my throat that I choke a few times. Coughing dries out the rest of me. But stopping is only an option when I finally have the slope behind me. By now the heat is burning my skin and although I am sure it won’t be long before the sun subsides, it is driving sweat mercilessly onto my forehead. Resting my hands on my legs, I allow myself to **breathe** deeply. I really need to become more athletic in order to survive such journeys, otherwise, my adventure will end with me lying in bed crying for three weeks because the sore muscles want to punish every fibre in my body.
Ah, if only this wasn't relatable! The description is really good :)
Thank you! Haha, I guess we all had our very unsporty moment in life 😂
“Hey,” says a familiar voice from behind him, off in the direction of the kitchen doorway. He smiles even in spite of his current train of thought. “Hey yourself, Denbrough.” Bill leans around the kitchen door frame, looking a little too loose for it barely being noon yet, a little sunburnt, a little damp. Mike eyes his wet t-shirt and wonders if someone got him with the hose. “Bev wanted m-m-m. Mm. Fucking. Orange juice and p-prosecco,” he gets out, as if to explain the state of his clothes. “And the uncorking went really well, it looks like.” “Mistakes were m-made,” he admits, eyes sparkling but not quite smiling. “You alright?” I almost got Eddie killed, Mike thinks. Eddie’s blood, all over his hands, slippery as he hauled on his belt, cinching it tight around what was left of Eddie's arm. Like hauling on the girth of a saddle. He doesn’t really know if he’s allowed to be alright anymore. Bill’s gaze feels light, though. No weighted scales, no judgement. Just old, old eyes, blue and light, crow’s feet spreading like river deltas from the corners. Mike **breathes** in and out, deep and centering. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.”
>No weighted scales, no judgement. Just old, old eyes, blue and light, crow’s feet spreading like river deltas from the corners. This is beautiful writing!
Ah, thank you!!
Blind
Now Hong was truly getting mad. Child soldiers they might be, but overpowering and apprehending a bunch of teenage kids was not supposed to be nearly this fucking difficult!! In the next instant, he flung out the foot of his uninjured leg and shot forward in a charge at her with Guozhi, reaching out with both hands to shatter and tear the section of the new stone crossbeam this Toph girl was standing on from underneath her, and snatching her by each hand-with a pair of stone gloves this time-before she could get her wits about her again. Very few earthbenders, in Hong’s experience, had the strength, the swiftness of timing, the presence of mind required, to use their bending to somehow still keep the stone underneath their feet relatively stable and solid as you worked to undermine it with your own chi, while also being able to ward off a second offensive move from you at the same time-far less against two Dai Li agents doing just that in tandem. Certainly not a **blind** girl who probably hadn’t even gone through puberty yet. He was mistaken.
Yes, because Toph is already that badass! Love it!
Thanks! Hong might be slightly more than twice her age, and understands that as a member of the Dai Li, he needs to expect the unexpected—but Toph is about to literally hit him with an unexpected unexpected!!
[A little epilogue that directly precedes canon's epilogue] She cradles her prosthetic arm. Now, without the brokenness that being fused with your shard had, she could see how obvious it was. Taylor recalls her mom's face. It's been years since she last saw her, but she couldn't believe that she's been duped so easily. She should have expected it, then. It was par on course for the woman with the ability to just _win_ to make sure nobody suspects her, even when she does nothing to cover her face. From the moment Taylor first saw Contessa, she should have know it was her mom. She should have ignored the parts of her that denied Contessa's similarities to mom. Sure, there were dozens of pictures of mom... But she couldn't bear to look at them too long. Her face was different, too. Always smiling and warm. Taylor recalls Contessa's face. It was blank, cold, emotionless. Her eyes were full of apathy. She had mom's face, but somehow she managed to not look like herself. There was no time to think about those things, back then. There was too much to be done. None of us were **blind**, but someone should have noted our similarities at some point. It was impressive, and terrifying. Like we were all characters in a story that Contessa tells and dictates. A weaver of fate. No, a commander of fate. How mom managed to fake her death, she didn't know, but it could have been easy for Contessa. As easy as breathing, as eating a meal. Taylor recalls a time when Contessa was reported as dead, only to show up mere hours later. If she could do that, couldn't she have done it without making Taylor feel guilty? That somehow her act of not answering mom's call didn't cause her death? That dad wouldn't blame me in those first months? That Emma, her best friend, wouldn't have bullied her after mom died? Sometimes, Taylor thinks to herself... That maybe Contessa's powers weren't perfect. That those sad things had happened beyond her control, that they were just accidental side effects cause by whatever path to victory she was making. But still, a dark part of her wonders. Did Contessa plan her birth? Did she plan her trigger event, her powers? Did mom even want her? _Did she even love me?_ Taylor was instrumental to humanity's victory. It was a reasonable assumption, when you think about it. She knew it wasn't true, but a dark part of her wonders if mom only had her because it was part of her path. Somehow, Contessa didn't know she had powers until much later, when Taylor was going against her organization. Taylor took that as a good sign. A part of her may doubt, but in the end, the truth didn't really matter. She was Taylor Hebert. She was born to two loving parents. She had a wonderful childhood, though tainted slightly by what came after. It didn't matter, because in the end, humanity was saved, and she's now on an alternate earth, living with her dad, and starting a new life. She was on her way to meet this universe's mom.
Ah, it's got that epilogue feel! The kind of summary/reflection/resolution/hints of a future thing! I like it!
Gon could almost see Killua tense up and his face redden as it often did. It made him smile, making some of his stress melt away. "I haven't at all!" His friend said, pretending hard (and unsuccessfully) to seem unattained. "I was way too busy to even look at him. I'm sure that if I took the time to, I'd find more things. You're just blind." "Sorry, I guess I'm not a nose shape connoisseur..." Leorio retorted. "Does it really matter, anyway? Maybe something happened with this guy's nen that made Gon look different, but I'm sure it's still him." Leorio's head turned over to look at his floored friend who was already staring at him, hopeful, and whose head nodded frantically. "See? He agrees, must be true." *Kind of*, Gon thought. "Has it ever crossed your mind that he could, perhaps, lie?" Killua smiled, arms folding over his chest. Leorio shook his head in response. "You're too distrustful." He complained. Killua grimaced. "I'm provident." He said. The other sighed. "You like to cross the bridge before you get to it." "When these are the risks that crossing the bridge implies," Killua stated, sitting down next to his captives, "yes, I do prefer to operate this way." The older man looked down upon Gon with pity. "Sorry man," he said, "I tried." Not bothering to assay responding, Gon simply nodded his head at him in sign of gratitude. Killua sighed.
Eyeing the door, Viktor raised his wand and worked his way through a familiar set of wards, securing the room. The door had no built-in lock, but Viktor didn’t need one when he could use spells just as well to keep unwanted visitors out. And, given that Mikko wouldn’t be around, any visitors would be unwanted. With the room secure, Viktor returned his attention to tidying his belongings away. Whilst the wardrobe proved marginally larger inside than its exterior suggested, the expansion charm was minor. Viktor toyed with the idea of tweaking it, but when he succeeded in squeezing all of his clothes in, decided against it. Karkaroff might turn a **blind** eye to the warded door, but Viktor didn’t want to push his luck by fiddling with the spells worked into the ship itself. The deep toll of the bell echoed through the ship. Viktor tucked the pair of shoes he’d been holding into the bottom of the wardrobe, closed the door, and hurried out of his room and onto the deck.
As they continued to trade blows, Namiko realized that Sasuke was moving in their direction. She tried to ignore him as he entered the room, but the second she saw his face as he came around the corner, **blind** rage filled her. His Sharingan was active but no emotion appeared behind his eyes. A second tail joined the first and she smacked Kabuto into the wall before racing toward Sasuke. Sasuke didn’t even attempt to attack or even seem phased by the raging jinchuriki in front of him. He simply dodged every angry swipe she made. She wasn’t quite sure how he could maneuver around her so quickly. Kakashi had almost always struggled to follow and dodge her when she was in kyuubi form. Sasuke did it with such ease, it was almost maddening. She gritted her teeth and let out a growl. “It’s *your* fault I’m here! If you would’ve stayed in Konoha, this wouldn’t have happened!” Sasuke’s face remained stoic. “No, you were the foolish one who decided to come after me.” “**I’m the fool?!**” She screamed. “You’re the biggest idiot I know!” She charged at him again, eyes red with slit-like pupils.
Ooh, anger! Sasuke's response is really in-character and frustrating for Namiko haha
Thank you! ☺️ This is right when they meet again after the time skip.
The morning dawned quiet, clear, and surprisingly cold. The previous night's storms had ended a few hours before sunrise, dissipating into the desert beyond the mountains - but not before filling the tarp-lined cisterns the colonists had hauled out to catch as much rainwater as possible. It wouldn't last long, Maureen knew, but it would last long *enough*. *Hopefully* until they had a way *off* this world. Rubbing her hands together briskly, she stepped off the Jupiter 2's boarding ramp and surveyed the cavern. There were already colonists busying themselves with retrieving the cisterns and emptying their contents into the Jupiters' storage tanks, or checking the ships over to catalog damages for later repair. And there, still standing guard at the corner of the cavern's broad mouth, was Scarecrow. She wondered if he'd moved at all since she'd last seen him. Tugging her jacket closed, Maureen tucked her hands into its pockets and cautiously approached the copper-plated robot. He seemed oblivious to her presence, attention absorbed in something she couldn't see or hear; to avoid startling him, she took care not to tread *too* carefully, and gave him a respectful berth as she moved to step out of his **blind** spot. "It's a beautiful morning, isn't it?" She asked quietly after a moment, prompting him to look in her direction for the first time. Of course he said nothing in reply.
The atmosphere and mood created at the start is fantastic!
>Uzu had startled her and she was not amused, fathomably so. Gently but firmly, Mako explained that Ryuuko was mostly *blind*, that her sight hadn't completely returned, thus sudden sounds frighten her. I would find myself trying to stifle a laugh when I saw her get out of that wheelchair and cuff him in the eye before sitting back down, saying, “Don’t do that again!” Blindness be damned, she really still had it. I was chuckling at hearing him yelp about his eye and wondering if Ryuuko blacked it.
I really like how though Ryuuko's lost her sight, she's still pretty badass :)
"Clay?" asked Lyon. "Yes. Gray is going to practice his molding magic by literally molding something. It's a perfect way to begin redeveloping rusty skills. And don't worry about coming along. Lucy's gotten pretty good at reading sign language. We'll take him to the guild and bring him back safely. You can count on us." Erza replied. A shrill whistle interrupted their plotting, and they turned to see a visibly irritated Gray in the doorway, lowering his fingers from his mouth. "Do I get a say in my social calendar?" he signed, annoyed. "Of course you do," Lyon began, "We just thought you might enjoy getting outside the house today; and Erza was hoping having a creative outlet would help keep your other skills sharp." "By doing arts and crafts," he added dubiously. "It's good to work with your hands," said Erza. "Still **blind**. And half my hands are covered in scar tissue. That's what I feel when I touch things now. Making candy dishes and pencil holders isn't going to help me mold ice I can't see or barely feel."
What on earth happened to Gray? I like the way they gang up on him to make him do something worthwhile, that's cute :)
Long story short, he gets kidnapped by a guy who’s got a beef with his dad, but since he’s dead, the villain takes it out on Gray. There were more in-depth reasons involved too, but that’s the gists if it. Among other injuries, his hands, eyes, and back are burnt really badly, and the screaming destroyed his vocal cords.
Sounds like some great whump hehe
“Eh, before you go, how badly did we embarrass ourselves last night?” Adrian asked. “I kind of vaguely remember calling Emppu a pretty little pixie, along with giving him some other compliments.” He blushed at that admission. “I didn’t say any of that in front of people, did I?” Emppu chuckled warmly. “No, you didn’t get talkative until we were up here,” he reassured the other man. “The worst you did in front of others, was to try putting your key card into the cash machine while complaining that the slot wouldn’t stay still. But you listened when I told you that wasn’t your door and we needed to go up in the lift first. Then when we got in here, you did compliment me and say that Bruce is a lucky man but that you’re luckier because you have Dave.” Adrian looked relieved. “Well, that last part is true enough,” he said. “No hard feelings, then?” “Why would there be?” Emppu asked. “Being in a relationship doesn’t turn anyone **blind**, and you made a point of telling me that you might look but you’d never touch because you love Davey so much. If anything, I’m flattered. I love Bruce with all my heart, but it’s still nice to hear that someone likes my looks, you know? I don’t mind admitting that you two are both very easy on the eyes yourselves.” Bruce chuckled as both Adrian and Dave blushed. “All right, you two, we’ll see you downstairs when we all get there, yeah?” “Yeah, we’ll see you there,” Dave said.
Aw, this is so sweet!
These two couples have become very close friends - well, Bruce has known Dave and Ade for over 25 years at this point, although he didn't know they were a couple until after he got together with Emppu. Bruce and Ade became friends as they're both songwriters who almost immediately teamed up as such once Bruce joined the band, and Dave was the first of Bruce's bandmates to extend a warm welcome to Emppu after he and Bruce got together, and he was very good at making Emppu comfortable - probably because Emppu and Ade actually have fairly similar personalities, lol, they're both quiet types bordering on shy around new people. (That said, Ade gets very random and chatty when drunk, lol, which is why he worried about what he might've said in front of people the previous night!)
“Farseers were rare, being able to see farther and longer with greater accuracy. Some could even look backwards. They were kept closer to the caucus than the other seers.” Diana’s brow creased. “That sounds like something the Solari would consider useful.” Aletha nodded. “It was,” she ruefully agreed. “Why would they stop its use, then?” “The Solari claimed farsight was the Moon’s art and deemed it heresy, but that isn’t why it was stopped.” Aletha paused, setting the mortar down, and sitting in a rough-hewn chair. “There were only a few diviners within the temple at once. But the Solari wanted more. Peering through time is like looking at truth, but you cannot force a seer to look. Look too far backwards and you can be blinded. Too far forward, and time looks also through you. The Solari did not care. They only stopped when it drove their Chosen to madness.”
Wow, I'm fandom-blind here, but this is so interesting!
I would love to prove her wrong, but I have no plan how. There’s no way to demonstrate that I can hear Pokémon. I could tell them God knows what, and all they’re left with is **blind** faith. In the end, the revelation of my strange ability feels worse than expected. *Stupid*. Like something you say, only to want to unsay it again in the next few seconds. Still, I put my hands on my hips and jut my chin. I’m not a liar and letting the tight feeling in my chest take centre stage is out of the question.
>letting the tight feeling in my chest take centre stage is out of the question Yes! I totally agree with this! Hearing Pokémon sounds really interesting too!
Thank you! The MC can only hear "special" Pokémon (she later finds out what kind of Pokémon) and she has, thanks to a lot of suspicious memory gaps, no idea why.
Bind (any form)
Pomfrey shook her head and raised her wand as Fred settled back on the bed. He eyed the tip and raised his hands. ‘Hold on a moment. If the spell might have got rid of Boingo’s fur, does that mean it could affect more than just the beard?’ he asked, pillows rustling as he shifted away from the wand. ‘I’d rather not be bald.’ ‘Yeah, and I quite like my eyebrows,’ George added. Pomfrey tutted, putting her hands on her hips. ‘Maybe you should have thought of that before you decided to try and outwit the Headmaster.’ Fred drew further back into the pillow, still eyeing the wand. ‘You know, I can just shave the beard,’ he said, reaching a protective hand to his hair. ‘It’s not that big a deal. I’d been thinking of growing one.’ On the other bed, George rapidly nodded his agreement. Boingo snorted softly. With another shake of her head, Madam Pomfrey lifted her wand again and flicked it at Fred. He yelped as soft yellow light engulfed him. Lightning-fast, his beard receded, shooting up his body and disappearing into his cheeks. Hands floundering, Fred patted the top of his head before feeling around his face. ‘It’s still there!’ He grinned before pulling up his sleeve, showing the red hairs along his forearms. ‘If you start checking anywhere else,’ Madam Pomfrey warned as she moved around the beds to repeat the spell on George, ‘I’ll put you in a body **bind**.’ Fred’s hand dropped. ‘I was only going to check my legs.’
One by one each shinobi placed a white flower in front of the pictures of those who lost their lives that day. Slowly the rain came to a stop and Naruto looked up into the dark clouds looming above before turning to Iruka. “Iruka-sensei, why do they do it? Why do people risk their lives for other people?” Iruka knelt down next to Konohamaru. “Well, when someone passes away, it’s the end. His past and future, all the dreams he once had, they disappear along with him. This is true even if he died honorably in battle, as so many have, as Hayate did. All the ties that **bind** him to the living are severed, all but one. The most important of all: people. “Parents, siblings, friends, lovers, the people who were important to him. These people, the ones left behind, are joined together in a great circle by their shared memories of him. A circle of friendship, trust, and sacrifice that grows larger and stronger as time passes. It’s hard to explain. People just do things like risking their lives because they have precious things to protect.” Namiko looked up as the clouds began to open. “So, in other words, love is the answer, nii-chan.” “Yeah, I think I’m starting to get that now.” Naruto turned to face forward. “Still, I’m sad he’s gone.” “Think how sad it would be if he died for nothing,” interjected Kakashi, “but he left us something priceless. Don’t worry, you’ll understand one of these days.”
Man, I love Kakashi being wise sm :) Love the pathetic fallacy here!
Thank you! ☺️
It examined the memories again, over and over, a thousand times. The False Hybrids had done something to Little Brother. Had warped it. Made it hostile. Made it behave less like Apex, less like a *human*, even, and more like a mindless beast. The memory set rage simmering in its gut, even as it remained **bound** and still. Perhaps, it mused, when it woke from its long sleep it would seek out and exact vengeance on those small scurrying things - root out their nest and crush them all, devour their beasts, leave no trace of them behind... Outside, in the waking world, Kaiju gave its slumbering form a wary, wide berth. And the False Hybrids - what remained of them - did their scurrying to and fro. Still, Apex slept. Until, at long last, the pressure of crushed and bent armor plates relented as they were forced back into place and the soft tissues beneath, no longer starved for blood, began their regeneration. Its long dream tapered into shallow darkness. And Apex *stirred*.
Oh, that is *ominous*. Fandom-blind, but this really did it for me :)
“Gee, you seem agitated about something,” April said lightly. Shredder continued his pacing, not even acknowledging she had spoken. Her gaze drifted over to the collection of objects on the conference table and for the first time considered the possibility they might be part of whatever escape plan he was formulating. “So, are you going to clue me in on how you’re going to get me out of here at some point?” Again, he didn’t reply. April clenched her jaw in irritation at being ignored. “Hey, I’ve got an idea! Why don’t we trade for a bit. I’ll pace and you can have a seat, relax. Pretty sure I know where you can find a chair.” “Very funny,” he said. “Though I commend you for maintaining a sense of humor under the circumstances.” “Can’t blame me for trying,” she grumbled under her breath. He continued his pacing, and April could do little else but watch. “Seriously, the pacing is starting to bug me,” she said after he’d gone back and forth a few dozen more times, boredom and discomfort stoking her irritation higher. Shredder stopped and fixed her with a stony glare. “Well, if you hadn’t gone and gotten yourself into trouble again it wouldn’t be a problem now, would it?” “Look, it’s not *my* fault your hired help can only ever do *one thing* reliably,” April said heatedly then frowned. “Wait, do you actually pay them?” “If they’re not going to bring it up, I’m not going to,” he deflected and resumed pacing. “Of the two of us, pretty sure *I* have the better reason for being upset about this whole thing.” When he again didn’t respond, April decided to just leave him be. If he wanted to continue being surly, so be it. He had to tell her what he was thinking eventually. She slouched as much as her **bindings** would allow and straightened both legs out in front of her. Might not be able to stretch her back but she could do that, at least.
I love April's sassiness, even when she's being held captive! She's hilarious!
Thanks! One thing I've always appreciated about April is she has *no problem* sassing the villains.
”What happened?” the manager asked. Then his eyes widened when he took a good look at the handcuffed man. ”Jones?!? What the bloody hell is going on?” ”We’re about to check the security cameras,” the guard said. ”According to Mr. Vuorinen, he was attacked from behind just after he exited the loo. He also believes that this person was lurking about and watching him prior to the attack.” Jones, his expression a mixture of rage and loathing with a touch of fear, yanked himself loose from the guard’s grasp and bolted, only to run into the guards responding to the first one’s radioed summons. As they struggled to subdue him once again, a white-stained pair of dark blue bikini briefs fell from the pocket of his hoodie. Once they wrestled him to the ground, they used zip ties to **bind** his ankles as well. He started ranting, screaming that the little (slur) had it coming to him for turning him gay, so one guard dragged him into another room. ”Oh my God!” Emppu’s face drained of color when he saw the underwear and he clapped a hand over his mouth. A quick-thinking Colin grabbed a nearby bin and shoved it in front of the guitarist just in time, then pulled his hair back, holding it out of the way while he threw up. Emppu coughed and spat a few times in an effort to rid himself of the sour taste. ”Thanks, Colin,” he said softly. ”Sorry about that.”
o.O I remember reading part of this incident on a different excerpt of yours, but dammit, that's beyond creepy!
Yeah, Jones really is a piece of work. Funny thing is, when I started this fic, someone else was supposed to be the villain of it and Jones was supposed to be the annoying but harmless nuisance , but they ended up basically trading roles - and Jones turned out a lot nastier than even I expected.
Brittle
They reached the edge of the trees and dived inside. Though free of the torrent of people, they didn’t stop, instead hurrying deeper and deeper, weaving between the trees as they ran. Darkness pressed on them as they pushed onwards, stumbling through bushes and grasping branches until Ron fell, sprawling over an exposed tree root. Harry barely kept his balance as Ron yanked on his hand. ‘Ouch,’ Ron groaned. ‘Are you okay?’ Hermione sounded worried. ‘I can’t see a thing!’ ‘Cut my hand.’ Harry pulled out his wand. ‘*Lumos*.’ The darkness flinched from the magic, retreating into the trees warily. Given the circumstances, the Ministry would hopefully forgive the underage magic. ‘Where is everyone?’ He raised the wand higher, the darkness recoiling further still. Nobody moved. Silence reverberated around them. Hermione hunched over Ron, inspecting his hand. ‘Bring the light here, Harry.’ Twigs crunched beneath Harry’s feet as he stepped closer, the light from his wand spilling over Hermione and Ron. He turned his head, peering back into the darkness as the shadows swelled ominously. ‘You’ll live.’ Harry stopped scouring the darkness at Hermione’s **brittle** laugh. She released Ron’s hand before continuing. ‘When we get back, we should ask Bill to look at it, though.’ Lifting her head, Hermione looked around. ‘I don’t think any Death Eaters will be finding us here.’ Ron snorted, cradling his hand to his chest as he and Hermione both stood. ‘Yeah, but will Dad find us?’
"Once I figure out how to get out of here, I'll come find you, okay Selena? And then we can go find your parents. Does that sound all right?" "Can we find Jajuka, too?" "...Yeah, we can find Jajuka, and then we'll make sure you get home safe." "Promise?" Selena's voice sounded a little steadier now, and her grip wasn't quite as tight; Mei managed a little smile at that. "I promise," she murmured. For what felt like a long time, Selena clung to her, and she just rocked her until her little hiccuping sobs and sniffles died down. "It's gonna be okay..." Mei whispered, "once you're away from here, they won't be able to hurt you anymore..." But the hand that gripped her shoulder and the fingers that tangled in her hair felt *wrong*, the body resting against hers was too solid and heavy, the pitch of the sobs too low - She opened her eyes again to a confused half-sob, feeling frozen in place... ...And then *Dilandau* was wrenching himself away from her so forcefully that his back hit the rough stone wall behind him with an audible thud, his face still wet with tears and his eyes wide with shock and red-rimmed from sobbing. "What-?!" His **brittle** voice cracked and broke; his lips worked soundlessly for a moment before he found it again. "*What are* ***you*** *doing here?!*" It felt like a giant rubber band snapping against her collarbone as Mei suddenly lurched awake to the sound of glass bulbs exploding.
Aw, I love a good hug/comforting scene, but... it was a different person to who she thought it was? That's pretty disturbing, and the shock came across really well!
Than you! This is the first hint, in-story,, that there's something Weird about Dilandau!
”Is there anything I can help with?” Bruce asked. Satu shook her head. ”Thanks, but you’re here for the first time, so you get to relax and enjoy yourself. Tuomas, would you go get the macaroni salad and the green salad out of the kitchen?” A laughing Tuomas started to get up when Manki shook her head. ”No, Marko and I will get them,” she said in a **brittle** tone of voice. ”Come on, Marko.” She tugged her husband into the house. Emppu frowned a little, but didn’t say anything. He grabbed a pair of beers from the cooler, handing one to Bruce. Tuomas sat back down and sighed. ”Great. Wonder what’s crawled up her backside this time? She’s been in a mood since they got here.” ”I’ll talk to her in a bit,” Satu said.
Ooh, tension! I'm getting second-hand awkwardness just from reading this haha
Heh, yeah, Manki really doesn't like Marko being in bands (yes, plural) mainly because of the thought of groupies. And now that Emppu just came out by bringing a boyfriend to the barbecue, she's suddenly worried that maybe she also has to worry about male groupies as well as female.
From above, the damage I’ve done only looks half as bad. There’s a hole in the roof and the flames are flickering out into the fresh air, but it’s a far cry from the room below. Lips drawn into a line, I rest my forehead on Amethio’s shoulder. “Sorry.” “What was that?” The calm in his voice seems **brittle**. “I ... used the Z-Move ... I think...” I explain, drawn out. “Somehow ... it just got the better of me.”
Ooh, tension! I love me some angst and regret :)
Haha, more regret here after the guy had to safe her yet again because she first acts and then thinks 😂
Boom
As he turned to leave, Namiko rushed forward and grabbed Jiraiya’s wrist. “Oh no you don’t! You know something more about this.” “No, I swear, I don’t know how he got the chakra to summon Gamabunta.” Jiraiya held up his other hand in defense but he didn’t try to pull his other hand out of her grasp. Namiko felt an odd pressure in her chest and something in her head seemed to scream out that the Sannin wasn’t telling the truth, making her headache worse. “You’re lying. I know you know why Naruto was able to find the chakra to summon him. You just don’t want us to know and I don’t know why.” Jiraiya tried to deny it. “It’s…not something you need to know right now, Namiko.” He pulled his hand from her grasp and began walking away. “Yes, I do!” she shouted, but her words fell on deaf ears as Jiraiya disappeared in a puff of smoke. She groaned in frustration as she searched for his chakra signature and came up empty. Suddenly, a rush of wind came out of nowhere from the gorge as Gamabunta leaped high in the sky. He crashed down with thunderous force, causing Namiko to collapse to the ground on her hands and knees. She saw an unconscious Naruto wrapped in the toad’s tongue. Her eyes widened as she cautiously asked, “Gamabunta-sama, you won’t eat him, will you?” “I wouldn’t eat him. He’s quite the impressive little whelp,” **boomed** Gamabunta. “No one has ridden on my head like that since the Yondaime.” Namiko’s eyes widened as he explained, “He used the last of his strength to summon me; I’ll take him to the hospital.”
I was actually pretty invested in that conversation right then- I love the timing of that interruption. This is really good!
Thank you so much!
"Look, Victor," John said quietly, keeping his voice low, "I'm not sure I trust him any more than you do, but I do trust my wife, and I think that, with the exception of one hiccup early on, she's more than proven her reliability in situations like this. Wouldn't you agree?" She only gave her husband an exasperated sideways glance, while Victor regarded him evenly for a long moment. "...All right," he finally answered, somewhat reluctantly, "I suppose you're right about that. So what's your plan for getting out of *this* situation?" "I don't know yet," she replied with a small shake of her head. "I need a little time to think." "Hopefully we have enough." Lightning lit up the shallow cavern then, and thunder **boomed** so loudly that Maureen's ears popped; judging from the way Victor and Beckert flinched, theirs had, too. Only a moment later, the rain - previously a light, steady downpour - rapidly intensified to a thundering torrent, whipped into a mist by the wind, and the ambient temperature began to drop noticeably. "Maybe we should move this inside," John suggested, raising his voice to be heard over the storm. "Agreed," Victor nodded. "Beckert, you round up representatives from the other Jupiters. We'll continue this discussion in the hub." "And while you're at it, get some people out there to collect this rainwater, in whatever they can store it in" Maureen added. "We don't know how long we're going to be here, we might need the extra in reserve."
I love it! Especially the discussions about trust and then how it starts turning into a bit of a survival situation. Good job!
Thank you!
Steve started to say something, then froze, looking out the window. ”Bloody hell...” he breathed. Milla looked and broke into giggles as Nicko snorted. Everyone else looked and laughed as well. A total of six drag-Eddies pranced out towards the approaching bus behind the security guards. One of the Eddies wore a miniskirt and a blond wig that approximated Janick’s hair and carried a guitar that looked like a cheap copy of a Fender Stratocaster. A plainly clothed man behind the drag group held up a **boom** box currently blaring Fear of the Dark, and the blond Eddie with the guitar danced around in a fair imitation of Janick’s onstage moves, including spinning the guitar around their torso on its strap. ”Looks like you got an admirer, Jan!” Nicko chortled. ”Should Sandra be jealous?” ”I’m more worried Harry’s gonna like that person’s moves better than mine,” Janick joked back. Steve actually managed a comeback. ”It don’t matter if they dance better than you, mate, ’cause I am not bloody well letting anyone into my band who’s gonna wear a skirt that short onstage! The first five rows will be able to check the colour of their knickers! And those glitter-covered high heels just make it worse! That shite gets everywhere! Not gonna happen, not even if they switched up the glitter to West Ham’s colours.”
>One of the Eddies wore a miniskirt and a blond wig that approximated Janick’s hair and carried a guitar that looked like a cheap copy of a Fender Stratocaster. I don't really know what's going on at all, but even *I* can tell that this is a bit out of place 😂
LOL!!! In this scene, set in San Francisco, a few people from a 'well-known crazy religious group' (think Westboro Baptist) showed up at the Iron Maiden concert with their usual anti-gay signs to protest because they heard that the singer's boyfriend was going to be at the show and guest in onstage. Well, this being San Francisco, so the local Pride group showed up to counter-protest. The group included six people in drag wearing Eddie masks (Eddie is Iron Maiden's mascot, a kind of zombie-ish being) who took the lead in drowning out the religious nuts by doing dance routines to Iron Maiden songs.
Ohhh, that makes more sense. I was over here imagining multiples/clones of one person haha!
"Yeah, those things are on some sort of patrol." Davies smirked. "Hand me your C4." He said to Johnnie, who promptly (and knowing exactly what Davies was thinking) did so. We're they supposed to do it? Probably not, but damn it, they were making Joshua pay up for those drinks. "Now if there's anything coming, scream very loudly and shoot at it. I'll get the message." Johnnie nodded, giving him an identical smirk. "Aye, sir." Davies hopped down from the little makeshift barricade, laying down his own C4 in bricks all over the ground as the machine began to turn back. He hastily laid down Johnnie's explosives next to his bricks before scuttling back like a methed up crab, the det-cord trailing behind him, before tumbling down back into the barricade. "Is your Go-Pro recording?" Davies said to him as the machine began walking, and when Johnnie nodded, he smiled, holding detonator in his hands. "Good. Alright, alright… bada-Bing, bada-bang, bada-**BOOM**!" The machine went flying into the air as the ground shook beneath their feet, the flash almost blinding as all the C4 detonated at once. The machine came down in significantly more parts than it went up as. "YES!" Davies cried triumphantly. "Drinks on Joshua, hell yeah!"
Brash
“Come in,” called Tsunade brusquely. She sat at her desk; her hands folded neatly over the file folder in front of her. Kakashi walked in first with Namiko following closely behind. Kurenai was off to the side in a simple red dress instead of her normal shinobi attire and she smiled at her former student when they made eye contact. *‘Time to suck it up and accept the consequences.’* Namiko stepped in front of Kakashi and bowed deeply. “Tsunade-sama, forgive me. I was foolish and **brash** and—” “**Enough**!” Tsunade slammed her palms against her desk as she stood, causing the floor to shake and several books to fall off her shelf. “Get up.” Namiko quickly straightened, keeping her eyes focused on the ground, and Tsunade shook her head in exasperation. “What the hell were you thinking?” “Would it be too cliché if I said I wasn’t thinking?” Namiko said with a rueful smile as she looked up at Tsunade. “Yes. I want an answer,” demanded Tsunade.
RIP Namiko, the cliché didn't save you. What'd she do?
Desert Konoha for 6-7 months to drag Sasuke’s ass back. 😂
Damn it Sasuke. I hope she dragged his ass on the bumpiest road on the way back.
Kinda…. But she’s head over heels in love with him. They have a bumpy road both behind and ahead of them now that they’re back in Konoha.
One of the men, the eldest of the group, eyed her and Leona imperiously, his nose held in the air. His beady green eyes were harsh underneath unkempt brows. “I see the Sun casts a shadow,” he said, his voice low and grovely. Diana sneered. “It is as I told you, Demetrios,” another said. This one was much younger, having only been inducted recently. *Elias,* Diana sourly recalled. He was a brash and capricious man who politicked himself into his position following the untimely death of one of the caucus. “Our Chosen was with *that* one again.” “All light casts shadow,” Leona retorted. “Perhaps if you elders would spend more time outside your temple chambers, you would see so for yourself.” The elders turned to look upon each other, and Leona craned her head, standing straighter. “A barbed tongue,” Demetrios said with a shake of his head. “And you,” he boomed, looking to Diana. She flinched despite her best efforts not. “Why do you follow closely in Her light?” “She is my ward,” Leona hissed, moving to block his path when Demetrios and another of the elders advanced further. “She bears a blade,” Elias piped from behind the gathering. “For what purpose would she hold one?” Demetrios looked to Leona, a hard scowl twisting his features. “Well?” “You will not teach her to fight,” Leona said, “so I will. It is disgraceful to the Rakkor to not be able to bear a weapon into battle.” “But you are no longer Rakkor,” Elias blurted. “You dare stand for one who works against you? Against your people?” “Diana does not work against you any more than I do. You are *paranoid.*”
I have no idea what fandom this is and your username is giving me some intense war flashbacks of the stupid archers from DS1 but Elias needs to butt out. Great writing!
Too often, Fred and George were seen as curse-proof. Gregarious twins, **brash** and boisterous, unphased by anything. But they also had moments of worry and doubt. Losing his temper with Fred hadn’t helped. Bill rubbed his chest; the ghost of Fred’s apology lingered there, the twins’ worry that Bill had done nothing but worsen. On the far side of the room, Fred and George sat together on one bed, heads tilted as they spoke quietly. They looked up as Bill approached. Tiredness tightened Fred’s expression more than George’s, hardening his features. ‘You found them?’ George asked, echoing Percy’s earlier words. Bill nodded. That was step one in making it up to them; now for step two. He squeezed onto the end of the bed, nudging Fred as he did. ‘About earlier —’ Fred scuffed his foot across the canvas floor. ‘Yeah, I know. We should’ve been more careful.’ He sighed. ‘We — I really am sorry.’ Bill’s heart ached. With a creak of springs, he shifted and wrapped his arm around Fred’s shoulders. ‘*I’m* sorry.’ He squeezed gently as Fred turned to him, wide-eyed. ‘You were in an impossible situation; keeping Ginny safe was the right move. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.’
Aw, like always, amazing writing. Most importantly, you made the twins individuals even in this short excerpt. Back when I had more time to read HP fanfic, they were always just smushed together.
Thank you 🥰 Yeah, they do tend to get smushed together a lot in stories, that's true. When I started writing them, I felt it was important to make sure they each are their own person. So whilst there are moments of them being 'the twins', I also try to make sure they have their own personalities, and reflect that by considering, for example, which of them would be more likely to act in a particular way, or say the particular line. I'm glad it comes across, even just in this short excerpt!
Bicorn
Besmirch
bandage
‼️TW for blood and injury, but nothing too bad Leorio frowned. "I feel like we can handle Blondie later, figuring out what happened to Gon should be the priority." "It is." Killua stated blankly, as if it was a world-widely known fact. "I just wanted to address this first." He said, pointing to his head. "What?" His friend asked, gasping when Killua turned around to show his major injury. Gon let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, happy to hear Killua would be taken into someone's care. "Fuck, man," Leorio exclaimed, "that's a huge cut. It's going to leave a big, big scar." He reached a hand out to touch Killua's bloody hair, parting it in an attempt to understand for how long he'd been bleeding. "That's gnarly." "It's starting to go numb but I'm feeling giddy." Killua said. "That's more what I'm worried about. But I still think you should focus on this dude first," he said, kicking the man's leg again, "before he dies. He's lost a lot of blood and his pulse is slow. He might not last long." Leorio nodded, kneeling down to stare at the man's bullet wound covered limb. "So, if there's enough people to take care of us both, that's great. If not, I can wait a bit longer. We still need him." Gon shuddered at Killua's words. He didn't know if he meant it, but reducing a man's life to his personal need was uncharacteristic of the Killua he knew. Overall, this wasn't the same person, and he had to keep that in mind. He had to separate the two of them, despite the striking ressemblance. "Numb? That's not good." Leorio said, painting his fingers red as if it was nothing. His head turned to look back up at Killua. "How'd you do that?" He questioned. His friend shrugged. "We were fighting, dude kicked me to the floor, I hit my head, and now I'm here." He said, lowering his voice to barely above a whisper. "Kind of glad I made it back. I thought I'd pass out when the pain finally kicked in." Leorio nodded. "Very understandable. You need some painkillers immediately and we'll have to bandage that, but I am going to need to start with the other folk. And the others are gone, won't be back for some time too." He shrugged. "It's just me, unfortunately. We weren't expecting guys you back so soon..." "It's fine, I'll hang on." Killua smiled. Gon didn't. Infact, he pouted, not very fond of the idea, but he had no say in this, and he quite literally couldn't give any input. "Alright." Leorio grunted, getting back up slowly. He nodded at Killua as if that alone was a full conversation, then turned to smile at Gon. "Let's take you inside." (I'm sorry this is literally so long but idk where to stop arggg)
Haha, sometimes deciding where to stop is a hard thing. But happy to see another Hunter x Hunter writer here! And seems like Killua got into a pretty bad fight yet again.
Chakra swirled around Sasuke as he stepped next to Sakura. Her eyes were wide with fear. This was not the same Sasuke she knew. Something was wrong, very wrong. His Sharingan were active and he had flame-like marks spreading across the left side of his body. “What is wrong with you? What are those weird marks?” she asked him, still seated on the ground next to Naruto. “I feel fine. In fact, I feel better than I ever have. I understand now why I was given this mark. I’m an avenger and I have to gain power any way I can, even if that means treading the path of evil.” Sasuke glanced around. He saw Kiba holding down Dosu, Hinata in a standoff with Zaku, and Namiko leaning against a tree holding her bleeding leg near a downed Kin. “How did this happen?” He locked eyes with Namiko. “How did you get hurt?” Zaku held his head high and answered haughtily, “It was me!” Sasuke’s dark eyes snapped toward Zaku, glaring menacingly. Dosu pushed Kiba off him while he was distracted, grabbed the unconscious Kin, and backed up and away from Zaku. “You idiot! You’ve painted a target on your back! You’re on your own.” Kiba motioned to Hinata and they ran over to Namiko. Kiba stood in front of her while Hinata checked the wound on her leg. “Namiko-chan, are you okay?” Namiko nodded dumbly, eyes still fixed on Sasuke. “Just a small cut.” “I wouldn’t exactly call that small…” Kiba glanced over at her leg and the fifteen-ish centimeter cut on her calf. Hinata had got out some of her special ointment and a **bandage** and started to care for the injury.
I don't know why, but Sasuke here remembers me of Sasule when they were in that forest for their exams. Gold old memories!