PLEASE WHAT ARE ELLIE’S THOUGHTS IN THE AFTERMATH OF VERA BEING AGGRESSIVELY POKED WITH SCISSORS
ellie was the first to rush to vera and push sai away! she was fully prepared for a fight but sai didn’t do anything and just stood there. ellie was also the one who took vera to get help!
ellie was almost always at vera’s side while she was healing. she would try to help as much as she could, but her advice was not always great. for example she’d say things like, try not to cry about it so others won’t hear her be so vulnerable.
she’d be more confrontational?? to sai in a way. i mean that in the way that she’d be more prone to starting arguments or making rude comments. but more often than not, she ignores him.
she also actively avoids khoi and makes vera avoid him as well.
here are her thoughts under the cut, told in her pov! this might sound a bit biased so, don’t really take any of this as solid fact.
Sai’s stupid. He’s so stupid for doing that. What even goes through someone’s head to do such a thing?
They’re an obsessive little weirdo, and that’s obvious! It’s shocking how they haven’t been removed from our class. They don’t even look like they like performing. What’s the point of having them here if they only ever cause trouble?
And he’s violent. Always in fights, always hurting himself (on purpose! What a freak!) and half the time, he’s being isolated!
I knew Khoi should stay away from Sai. But he doesn’t listen, and look what happened now! Vera could’ve died! She was attacked for no reason! I’m proud of her for fighting back, but now… I don’t think she’s doing so well.
She keeps telling me that she’s okay. And I’m worried, but I think it’s good that she’s not really showing how she feels to me. Though I wish she did. Is that selfish? The aliens won’t think of her as weak, at least.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Written for DJD Fest 2022! 🥳
Play Nice
Day 5: Vos II: Comfort
Main Character(s): Vos, Kaon, the Pet
Pairing(s): alluded Dominus Ambus/Kaon
All Characters: Tarn, Helex, Kaon, The Pet, Dominus Ambus, Vos, Tesarus, Nickel, Decepticon Justice Division
Rating: T
Tags: DJD Fest 2022, Minimal editing, Silly, alluded to Dominus Ambus/Kaon, Bickering, Sneakiness, lack of privacy, Not enough room,Do I need to turn this shuttle around?, Food Shortages, Mechanimal abuse, Mechanimal attack, Canon-Typical Violence, Tags to be updated as necessary.
Fic Summary: The Peaceful Tyranny is in a bit of trouble. In order to repair the ship, the Decepticon Justice Division find themselves dealing with a little more enforced time together than they appreciate. Bickering and slap fights ensue, leading to Tarn's taking the situation in hand.
This one got a bit darker than expected, but it is the DJD we're talking about here.
i apologize in advance if i am posting some of these blurbs/drabbles and they take up your dash! i’m on mobile and can’t do the little page break thingy. ;(
— Leave a “Offer Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about one character giving another a gift.
"Well I can't just ask Denny to book me if he's got the house full," Ben said, perching the phone receiver between his shoulder and his ear. He swiveled in his chair, facing his desk with a pen poised over a notepad to jot down important numbers. "I don't wanna overshadow the other acts there. No, I'm not gonna push anyone out of their slot, get over yourself. Get me a date when he's free, and I'll—"
A gift bag dropped onto the desk in front of his face, and he stared at it, silent. Glossy white with rich navy tissue paper sticking out in a perfect triangle over the top. The handles flopped down at the sides.
"...Mickey, I'll call you back."
"No, you won't," Mickey chuckled before hanging up.
Reagan grinned upon dropping onto the couch beside the desk. He gestured to the gift. "Open it."
"How'd you get in my office?" Ben asked.
"Well," Reagan sighed, scratching the bit of rare stubble on his jaw. "I knocked on the front door of your house, your wife answered, and I asked real nice if I could come inside. I think she said yes. Then I walked up the stairs, and here we are."
"I need to hire better security." Ben tugged a handle of the bag to pull it slightly apart. "What's the occasion?"
"I love you."
Ben cautiously tilted the bag toward himself and pried it open. "Gag me, that's all the excuse you ever need, isn't it? What...the hell, Reagan...?" He removed a small designer box from the bag, running the tip of a finger over the embossed gold lettering of the logo. His nose immediately scrunched. "Oh, god, Is this your way of asking me to produce your next film?"
"I know I spoke plain English just now." Reagan tapped the logo. "Open the goddamn box, Benny."
After a suspicious glance at Reagan, who winked conspiratorially at him, Ben opened the box. Sat on a tiny gray pillow within was a pair of amethyst and platinum cufflinks with gold embellishments, sparkling at him under the lamplight of his home office.
Reagan silenced him before he could even say anything. "It's your birthstone. You needed a bit of color—you only own neutral suits these days. And I know blue's your favorite color but, personally, I think it washes you out, and you're already getting paler by the minute."
He looked, at that moment, to think he was a complete genius for the thought he put into the gift. He watched Ben expectantly, yet Ben knew by peering into his face and possessing almost forty years of friendship under his belt that Reagan wasn't expecting a thank you or any kind of praise, but some kind of clinical confirmation that he remembered a couple of details about his best friend correctly.
And he always did.
"They're beautiful." Ben propped an elbow on the desk. "I'd pointed the diamond ones out to Faye a couple of months ago, before my birthday."
"I know. You told me about them and I waited for her to get them for you." Reagan cleared his throat and twiddled his thumbs over his crossed knees. "...She really dropped the ball on that one."
"It's not like she had the time or the opportunity, jackass," Ben admonished. "Besides, it's material, and...." He caught the light on a facet of the amethyst. "Who am I kidding; they're gorgeous."
"She can still get the diamond ones for you."
Ben closed the box again. "Yeah, yeah." He smiled at Reagan. "Quit tryin' to seduce me with shiny things and sing my fuckin' song already."
Reagan hummed his amusement. “I’ve recorded at the very least eight hundred thousand of your songs. At this point, you’re exclusively my songwriter. Let me give some other people a chance, hm?”
“Sure. I wasn’t informed that you’d given up on your career, but sure.”
“Well it kinda makes it hard for our professional split to remain credible when you’re constantly working with me, doesn’t it?”
Ben halted in the midst of tucking the box away in the drawer of his desk. His eyes fell onto the logo of the high-end jeweler once again and he was hit with a sudden and unexpected wave of sadness. Shoulders slumped, he refrained from reminding Reagan that he never wanted Gilmore & Murray to split in the first place—a fight for twenty years ago, not today. Instead, he nodded.
“It’s alright, I’ll hold it for you. It’s not goin’ anywhere.” He smiled again, genuine, and shut the drawer. “Faye and I were gonna go out to eat later, did you wanna come?”
“Yeah, actually. Maura flew out to New York last night so I’m operating alone.” Reagan stretched an arm across the back of the couch. “She challenged me to take an older woman home with me this time. I said I could probably do that.”
Ben lifted his eyebrows. “Older than you? So...dead.”
“It’s not—fuck you.” Reagan laughed. “Does being friends with the head of a massive crime syndicate mean nothing to you anymore?”
“Oh, don’t threaten me with a good time, you Irish bastard,” Ben grunted, standing from his chair. “Let’s go. I’m paying this time.”
He didn’t even notice that Reagan hadn’t followed him right away until he heard his footsteps several seconds later.
Returning to the compound was suffocating. Rei’s wounds for the past week were still healing. Scabs on his arms were beginning to break from where he had been cut with fishing wire. Under his Yukata, bandages wrapped around his torso hid the stitched up gash on his back from the oni that sliced his shoulder open. He had various other cuts, scrapes and bruises, though his eye where Tsubasu had punched him had mostly cleared up. Faint yellow spots lined parts of the skin as the bruise was mostly healed...so that was one victory for him. Rei had borrowed new clothing from the Ko when he left, a Yukata with a new pair of geta, and a simple haori as he himself was not one for elaborate patterns for daily use. He kept his hair up though...for a reason only he himself would ever know. The red tie he used dangled slightly with gold mixed into the tassels.
He almost looked dreary entering the compound for the first time in a week. His own men stared at him as though he were a ghost come back from the dead. It was noticeable right away that the Sekiro-kai was not prepared for his return, nor did they seem to expect it...ever. A familiar hyur came running to him, his wide and skin paler than usual under his scarred face. A heavily tattooed hand took him by the arm.
“What is it, Sato?” Rei asked. The Seeker almost sounded confused, but he knew something was wrong. He could guess what they were told though.
“We caught wind that the Ko had recovered your body from the bay--that the Wolf had killed you. Arik suffered the same fate when he went to go retrieve your remains,” he gripped Rei’s arm tighter, causing the young man to wince under his wounds. “No one...thought they’d see you again.”
Sato pulled Rei in to hug him and ruffled his hair. Rei stayed still, his arms at his side as his suspicions were slowly being confirmed. Sato was incredibly loyal to him--having been in the Sekiro-kai for nearly as long as Rei and from the same age, they were like brothers. Though Sato Kagemitsu was a few years older than Rei, and a head taller than him. Sato held the young Seeker by the shoulders and looked down at him. Rei looked slightly past him. “I thought you were dead…”
“No, I didn’t die. And no one came to look for me…” Rei lied to his subordinate’s face as the hyur started to usher him inside the ground, keeping one step behind him. “Though it seems like the situation here is a bit...strange,” he commented idly, looking around as many continued to avert their gaze.
“Well…” Sato started slowly, “with you dead, it was only natural for the master to promote your brother,” he whispered, leaning a bit closer as to not be overheard, “many were convinced he had orchestrated your disappearance to--” Rei pushed the hyur away, albeit gently and shook his head.
“It’s true Ichiro sent me out to do a favor for him, and something did go wrong. But it wasn’t his fault...surprisingly,” he lied again, keeping his voice down as the two walked. “I was attacked by the Wolf and the Ko intervened. I spent the week resting there, nothing more,” he smiled at Sato, his gaze empty as the two stopped in front of his quarters. “It’s...good to be back, Sato. I hope you can forgive me.”
The Hyur canted his head slightly, noticeably confused by the Seeker’s choice of words He then nodded slowly with a slight grunt. Rei smirked and then shook his head, “Don’t worry about it. Have a good evening.” He bowed his head slightly to the older man and then slid the door open to his room. He stepped inside, and then quietly shut the door behind him. Crimson eyes down cast at the ground, Rei sighed heavily…
“Tomorrow…”
---------
The room was dark said for the soft glow of a few candles spaced evenly along the walls of the chamber. Yuuta tended to keep his meeting room on the darker side as he preferred the natural light that wafted in from the windows. However, now he kept the shades closed. A night and half a day passed since Rei returned, and the Seeker had requested a private audience with the oyabun--his own father. The Seeker didn’t tell anyone else about this meeting and he was certain to be discrete about requesting it… This was not something for prying eyes.
Yuuta sat up on the raised platform towards the far wall of the room. His legs were crossed as a pipe lazily dangled from his fingers. He was well into his fifties, but he was still oddly youthful. His hair only having the stray gray strand here and there, his skin smooth, said for a few battle scars. It was almost unnatural but many didn’t question it with this man. Many feared him too much for that. Opposite him near the entrance sat the seeker, his head lowered towards the floor. He was dressed more formally in a black yukata with a nicer haori over it, silver jewelry chains holding the haori closed at the chest. But his choice of outfit wasn’t out of respect, no. The extra fabric made it much, much easier to hide his daggers.
“Life your head,” Yuuta barked from across the room, shooing the young man with his hand. Rei did as he was told, his face mostly expressionless as to hide his intent.
Keeping his emotions was key to his success. For so long Yuuta had trained him to keep a hold on them for his own dignity. But the events of late had revealed to him the truth as to why Yuuta had been so strict about his emotions. About his magic. And aether… The lies all made sense. Rei didn’t figure out what was done to him, but he knew Yuuta was behind him. And that the man was using him for something. “I already have a guess as to why you’ve requested this meeting…” Rei nodded at the statement.
“You were quick to replace me with Ichiro… It had only been a week. You didn’t even bother to look for me…” Rei said quietly, shaking slightly. The truth was that, despite everything, that did hurt him. He had believed that his father, although strict, had loved him. This man was his god. He had saved him after all.
“We had gotten word that you had been killed by the Wolf. I had sent Arik to recover your body but he, too, was killed. After that I deemed it too dangerous to continue the search for you, and--”
“Arik died trying to kill me!” Rei interrupted the Sekiro-kai leader--something he had never done before. “He died at the hands of the Ko who protected me from him... “ his tone was mostly even as he talked, continuing to fight his emotions until the right moment. “But, before he died...he said some interesting things.”
A loud crack of the pipe erupted from across the room as Yuuta emptied the burnt leaves into the dish at his side. He leaned forward slightly with a slight smirk on his face.
“Oh?” he asked, resting his chin on his palm as he propped his elbow on his knee. “What sort of interesting things?”
“It’s no mystery his orders were to either bring back my body, if I had really been killed, or to kill me if I were still alive. If he had found I were still alive, you could’ve declared war on that clan, but that wasn’t your aim… You rather me dead than in the hands of someone else...because either you use me for something as your tool. Or no one does…” Rei glowered from across the room, his eyes glowing in the candlelight. “What are you using me for?”
Yuuta signed heavily and shook his head.
“You claim this as reality and yet… If this were true, then why are you sharing this with me? Wouldn’t it just drive me to end your life with my own hands? You are sitting here, after all… It would be easy...” Yuuta narrowed his gaze on Rei--there was no humor in his tone despite the relaxed phrasing of his words.
“Because I, as The Wolf, will be killing you…” He growled, beginning to jump to his feet as he reached for a dagger in his sleeve. He stopped fighting his emotions, the temperature in the room dropping considerably, the candles going out. Frost crept up the walls as Rei had every intent of throwing the dagger into the man’s skull. Anything he could do to just end the Sekiro-kai leader.
But, suddenly, a hand was pushing him back down by his face and he found the back of his head slammed into the ground. Stars danced in his eyes as pain erupted in his skull. “H-how?” he choked out, Yuuta standing over him, the hand on his face sliding to his neck.
“When you get to live as old as I, you tend to have a few tricks up your sleeve…” he grinned, fingers crushing into Rei’s neck as the Seeker tried to gasp for air. “What? You thought I didn’t knowabout you? About your little hobby?” The older man growled, prying the knife from Rei’s hand to hold it in his own. “Who else but you would have a grudge against your own kind… The position to pick his targets? I planned to let you continue until it what done, and then expose you myself as an excuse to go through with it. But, alas…”
“The hell’s...are you…” Rei choked out, “I lovedyou as a father, Yuuta!” tears stung at his eyes. Despite the frost forming under his fingers, none of it seemed to affect Yuuta as it would anyone else. Rei had bet on the ice being an advantage to him, and yet it did nothing.
“You are no son of mine,” he growled, “I killed the love of my life to obtain you!” he squeezed his fingers harder, white blurring the sides of Rei’s vision as he squirmed, kicked and struggled under the Sekiro-kai leader. Rei knew he was talking about Hana--the woman who owned him before Yuuta saved him. The woman who had scarred him emotionally and physically. The woman who carved her name into his face with a knife. “I have lived 150 years...alone. And I killed her--my only love--for you. For your aether.”
He reached over with the hand with the knife in it, and dug his fingers into Rei’s hair, grabbing a fistful of it. Rei grunted in pain, still trying to kill the man off of him while struggling to breathe. “Do you know why I have you keep your hair like this?” he sneered. “It’s to remind me of her.”
In that moment, Rei stopped struggling, looking up at Yuuta with a dead, almost hurt look in his eyes. He felt...disgusted with himself. Dirty. Self hatred and sadness overtook him as Yuuta released his hand and brought the knife close to his face. The older man dug his knee into Rei’s stomach to hold him down. “I am going to kill you… But first,” he ran his thumb over the side of the tattoo on Rei’s face, “this is where she cut you, yes? I can feel her name…”
Without warning he suddenly jabbed the end of the knife into Rei’s left eye, dragging the blade down, beginning to carve his own name there. The shock only dulled the pain for a moment--he may have even momentarily lost consciousness--as a sudden flash of light quickly turned to darkness in that eye. Hescreamedfrom the pain of it. Struggling, kicking, choking, as blood oozed down his face. He could feel the knife cutting away with each stroke. It was his signature. Sekrio-kai no Yuuta. Rei struggled to breathe from the pressure on his throat and chest as Yuuta removed both the knife and his hand from Rei’s throat and gripped one of Rei’s ears. “Next… These unsightly flesh…”
Just as the knife began to cut into his ear, Yuuta suddenly stopped. Someone’s blood sprayed onto Rei’s face as a sharp pain erupted in his side. Blinking with his one good eye, Rei looked up to see the glint of metal...going through Yuuta’s chest and into him. The slick sound of metal on bones and flesh followed as the sword was removed. “Who…”
Yuuta collapsed and someone kicked him off of Rei. The Seeker slowly sat up, coughing, his hand covering his eye to staunch the bleeding, though blood seeped through his fingers. He looked over to see…
“Ichiro…” he gasped, “What...why?” He was confused. It made little sense for Ichiro to kill Yuuta. After all, the one who stood in Ichiro’s way was Rei…
“I, too...was not a successor. Because that fucker won’t die of natural causes--not any time soon--so I killed him,” Ichiro shrugged.
“And you’re not going to kill me?” he was still having trouble breathing. His side burned from his new stab wound and his eye hurt so much he was almost numb to it.
“I don’t need to kill you… Because my men are going to do it for me…” Ichiro sneered.
“What—“
“Help! Rei’s gone mad! He’s killed the oyabun and betrayed us for the Ko!” He yelled and then grinned at Rei with a wave of his hand. “You better start running, little wolf,” he laughed, the sounds of shouts and footsteps outside the room growing louder.
Rei turned to run, only to feel the sharp slash of steel against his back as he stumbled forward, He could feel blood soaking through the back of his clothes as he groaned in pain, “You’re going to need to be faster than that...or you willdie.”
The Seeker turned on his heels, ejecting a knife from his sleeve that hit Ichiro in the arm who stumbled back and ran, bursting through the paper frame on the door. He continued to run through the compound, delirious from blood loss as blood trickled down his face from his eye and mangled ear. His side and back burned with each step as he snuck his way through the Sekiro-kai compound, avoiding the usual guard routes for the one he had taken to sneak out many times before. He had almost made it to the front gate when someone spotted him.
“There he is!”
Rei recognized the voice to be one of Ichiro’s men. ‘So this was a planned coup…’ he thought to himself, running from the man as fast as he could.
He knew exactly where he needed to go. And exactly how to get there, but with each step his body became more and more heavy. Toz’o’s directions to the tunnel remained clear in his head, but even he wasn’t sure if he could remain conscious for that long. By the time he made it to the docks, he was already dizzied and delirious, and it was difficult to sneak past without getting spotted by even the Sekiseigumi.
Rei continued to flounder through his escape. Everything happened like a blur. Even in the tunnels, he walked what felt like forever, dragging himself along the wall as blood dripped down his legs and into the dirt behind him. But as the ground began to slope upward, he knew where he was. And with the last of his energy, opened the entrance in the ground. He only barely just climbed out of the ground when he found his face hitting the gravel under him.
“Heh… I didn’t make it...in time…” he wheezed out as footsteps approached, his ear twitched. But darkness soon overtook him.
