@gaydragonwizards You requested something featuring our RP stuff, with the Rodriguezes going O.o over Rose, Romero's little girl that Nines once taught how to box, suddenly showing up much bigger -- well, here you are, Nines and Melody being gobsmacked to encounter a teenage Rose. XD Enjoy!
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“Hey, Nines – delivery for you!”
“Mmm? Oh, hey, Romero,” Nine said, straightening up out of his customary slouch near the upstairs bathrooms as the familiar face of Isaac’s top ghoul climbed up to him. “Isaac finally sent over that stuff I needed, huh?”
“Yeah,” Romero said, handing over the box and giving Melody (sitting in the farthest corner with one of their favorite puzzle cubes) a quick nod – they returned it before focusing back on making sure the entire left side was orange. “Sorry it took so long – the guy we usually order that oil from was out for an entire week. Only just restocked a couple of days ago. Didn’t realize that stuff was so popular!”
“Me either – but then again, a lot more people are packing these days,” Nines murmured, popping the lid briefly to ascertain everything he’d asked for was indeed inside (not that he actually thought either Isaac or Romero would screw him over, but – well, you got into certain habits as an Anarch Baron). “Thanks for getting it, and for bringing it around.”
“No problem – my job, after all. And hey, anything beats when I was hanging around that cemetery.”
“Hi, Mr. Rodriguez!”
Nines’s first thought as he looked up was Who the fuck is calling me Mr. Rodriguez?? His second, when his eyes landed on the speaker, was Okay, uh, I’d say that was Angeline, but the face isn’t quite right, and she’s way too young, so who... And finally, the third, as he zeroed in on the kid’s eyes and felt something suddenly click into place – well, that could be summed up as just ?!?!?! “Wha – Rose?” he blurted, and hoped it didn’t sound too shocked.
The teenager grinned at him from behind her dad. “Been a bit, huh?”
“It – yeah, it has,” Nines managed, looking her up and down. What the – when did she get so tall? The last time I saw her, she was tiny! Damn, she looks like her mom...but that grin is all Romero. Fucking hell... “You, uh, hanging out with your dad?” he added lamely.
“Yeah – he’s taking me over to Dust Up Gym around the corner once he’s done with all his deliveries,” Rose told him, leaning casually against the stair rail. “Gonna practice my boxing some more – those lessons you gave me when I was a kid were really great, by the way. One right hook, and almost every bully suddenly lost interest in Will.”
“Great,” Nines nodded a little too quickly, desperately searching his memory to figure out just how long ago those lessons actually were. She’s, what, seventeen now? It’s definitely been a decade at least... “Good. Glad to hear it. Still following my advice about your thumbs, right?”
“Oh yeah – the last thing I need is to break one.” Rose craned her head a bit and waved at the corner. “Hi Melody!”
Melody glanced up, nodded, looked down – only for their head to snap back up again, eyebrows shooting toward their hairline as they too suddenly realized just who was standing behind Romero. Nines bit back a laugh at their gobsmacked expression. “...hey,” they said after a second, sounding just about as confused as a person could be.
Rose peered at their hands. “Rubik’s cube? Neat. Good luck with that – those things are hard.”
“...yeah.”
“Anyway, we should probably get going,” Romero said, looking between the two stunned vampires and his oblivious daughter with amusement and – maybe a little understanding. “Got one more package to drop off, then it’s off to the gym. Talk to you later, Nines.”
“Yeah, later.” Nines watched as the two descended the stairs, then turned to Melody. His own permanent pre-teen was still staring at where Rose had been, seemingly frozen in time. “Melody?”
Melody shook their head, then looked at him with baffled eyes. “When the fuck did that happen?”
“Damned if I know.” Nines looked back at the stairs, picturing a fierce little girl coming up them, ready to protect her twin. “I’d say you get used to it, but – I think today proves you don’t. Not totally, anyway.”
Melody scrunched up their nose in disapproval. “Hmph. I don’t like it.”
Nines nodded, sighing as he brought his box over to their table. “You and me both, kiddo. You and me both.”
swinging in here to say I've read onward and upward an absolutely unreasonable number of times. it is my all-time favorite Resident Evil fic and I've written two with my partner (one's not done yet but shhh)
HEY thanks! ahhhh i've been wanting to replay re4 so bad lately.... i miss him (the guy that's only in like 10% of the actual game)
I can't find the download for the pronounced hip slider, despite staring intently at the page of both that and the arm thickness slider (which I DO have) -- am I missing something?
for Severus and Minerva: when did the tradition of going to each others' houses start? additionally, how did you decide on Scrabble as the game that you'd play when you met up?
We actually decided to play Scrabble first, at Hogwarts. Severus is a bit competitive, you see - Minerva
I’m competitive? - Severus
Wildly - Minerva
Pot, meet kettle - Severus
*there are a few seconds of silence, during which they both simply glare at each other*
As I was saying, Severus is a bit competitive, but not the most social person in the world - Minerva
That I will agree with - Severus
During his first year as a teacher, he barely spoke to any of the staff unless absolutely necessary. He spent all his time in his classroom or his office, and never joined the rest of us in the staffroom - Minerva
I think you’ll find that I came in for the staff meetings - Severus
Which were compulsory - Minerva
Your point? - Severus
My point is that you were so withdrawn from the rest of the staff that Albus began to think it a problem - Minerva
Of course he did - Severus
So Albus asked me to reach out to Severus. I had my reservations - I thought that Filius may have been better suited to the task, or perhaps Pomona - but I did as I was asked, and went to visit Severus in his office one evening - Minerva
She means that she waited until the last of my NEWT students had left, then barged in, locked the door, and then refused to leave until I “socialised” - Severus
Oh, hush, you didn’t mind the whisky I brought with me - Minerva
I will allow that you have excellent taste in whisky - Severus
I took Scrabble with me, figuring that if he didn’t want to talk, we could have a friendly game or two before I reported back to Albus - Minerva
Rather unorthodox, bringing a Muggle boardgame with you when visiting an ex-Death Eater - Severus
An ex-Death Eater who spent most of the staff meetings doing the crosswords in the Daily Prophet! - Minerva
It’s hardly my fault that those meetings are tedious beyond belief - Severus
In any case, once Severus had ascertained that I had not poisoned the whisky, he grudgingly allowed me to entice him into a game. Far from the friendly match I had envisioned, however, the evening quickly developed into a vicious battle that lasted until dawn - Minerva
And it was a draw - Severus
Seven all - Minerva
Naturally, we couldn’t leave it at a draw, so we repeated the exercise the following month - Severus
And then the next one - Minerva
Before we knew it, our meetings became fortnightly, and moved from my office to my Minerva’s quarters - Severus
When term ended, I invited Severus to my home, and we continued the tradition during the holidays, though it was years before he invited me to his home - Minerva
You should be flattered, you were the first person I ever invited there - Severus
Yes, I know. So you can imagine my surprise when I Flooed over one day and found Harry sitting in his lounge room - Minerva
*chuckles* I’ll never forget your expression - Severus
I still maintain that you didn’t tell me just to put me off my game that night - Minerva
And you’re, what, surprised by this? - SeverusSo... I was just cleaning out my tumblr drafts and found this sitting here. Sorry it’s FOUR YEARS AFTER YOU ASKED FOR IT, @gaydragonwizards
Jesus Christ, the last message I got from you a few hours ago said you were on chapter 17! There are 27 chapters after that! Did you stop to eat/drink/use the bathroom???
Also, ahh thank you! I am so glad you enjoyed it :D
wait, Cullen is supposed to be NINETEEN in DA:O? what the FUCK
Yeah, WoTv2 says he was born in 9:11 Dragon. I’d call it a retcon except the game certainly treats him like he’s not that old, literally calling him “the young templar Cullen” in one of the epilogue sides.
