20 8 / 2011
Where It All Ends [working title] Part 1
Warning: WIP
Addendum: started as an exercise in self indulgent AU vignettes, but I had to put it on some sort of skeletal story but I’m not sure where that’s even going so I’m just posting the first half. So yeah. There’s that. Pictures credit to the respective pixiv artists yadda yadda
“Tell me again why you even consider this a lead?”
The rain was coming down harder than necessary, Barnaby thought, clutching his jacket closer to himself to ward the city chill.
“This is solid, Bunny, I’m tellin’ ya,” his partner beside him in the passenger’s seat replied, lighting a cigarette.
“Put that out then,” he chastised, “We’re on a stakeout, according to you.”
“Ah, just one won’t hurt.” The car was filled with the pungent odor of tobacco before long. If anything, it’ll be the smoke leaking from the windows that will give them away. But to whom, Barnaby wondered as he looked out into dark empty streets. It was not an evening to go out into, lead or no. But it was true there were quite a few rumors swirling around- a series of abductions and murders, classic Sternbild crime, or so it seemed. They (the T&B Detective Agency) would have left it to the police had the request not come to them… from the police. Seems like they wanted it investigated off the record.
Curiouser and curiouser, the saying went. So, Barnaby Brooks Jr. found himself on stakeout on an unsavory night in a similarly unsavory part of town- again, for the fourth night in a row. And his patience had long run out. And the smoke was making him sleepy.
“I’m going to take a look around outside,” he announced, pulling on his gloves.
Kotetsu chuckled wryly at his enthusiasm. Usually he was the one itching for a fight, whereas his younger partner chose to assess the situation more thoroughly. Something about this case was making Barnaby antsy, it seemed.
“Suit yourself,” he murmured, pulling Barnaby towards him for a moment in the way he knew the other man hated. “and be careful out there.”
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08 7 / 2011
Lay Me Down
[Foreword: This sucks. It’s one of those things that rattle around in your brain and you have to just throw it up and hope it doesn’t look too vommy. But it is and I know it is and I apologise ahead of time. Warnings? Yandereaby, I guess. But not really. Oh and it’s in a faux VN style so you pick your ending at the end. Saveloading is allowed.]
The case had been all over the news lately. Missing Hero. Suspected foul play. No leads. Partner under investigation. Confession out of nowhere. Earth shattering scandal. It was all a media circus, which is why I stayed away from it. The headlines were all in my cases anyway, nothing I wasn’t used to dealing with on a daily basis.
Then I got the call. I was being requested for a consult for the highest profile case the city of Sternbild had seen in years. It was baffling, but I accepted anyway. Pro bono, even.
I was given tapes of my seven predecessors work beforehand. The top criminologists, psychologists, counselors, even a couple priests all walked into that room, sat down, and talked with the suspect. None for very long. The suspect neither smiled nor raged, simply politely answered questions and remained silent when he chose.
Because of the media hoopla, I had to go around the back entrance with three armed guards. No matter how many visits I made to prisons, I never got any more used to it.
He was waiting in a standard interviewing room- four walls, no windows, one way glass mirror- which didn’t exactly set me more at ease. He was a NEXT, after all. But the prosecutor who contacted me gave me his assurances. No harm befell any of the people who came before me, so it was statistically unlikely anything should happen to me.
I hated statistics.
And from the looks of it, Barnaby Brooks Jr. hated me.
(Source: pixiv.net)
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08 7 / 2011
More than anything else
Read This First
The night was sultry, the deed was done. For the rest of the evening he just sat there, entertaining a quiet, one sided conversation with the body of his partner. He thanked him for all his hard work. For his beautiful last words, as choked and incoherent as they were. Such purity of emotion was priceless to him anyway.
People said that you always wanted what you can’t have. Barnaby disagreed- you could still get whatever you wanted, with the right kind of sacrifice. But in his mind, it was still a small price to pay to see that blue fade to darkness, to feel those strong hands go slack, and to hear only his own fluttering laughter.
(Source: pixiv.net)
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08 7 / 2011
More than we’ll ever know
The first fifty times over the course of a week Kotetsu asked him to do it, Barnaby flat out refused. Then it got to a point where neither of them could sleep and it was just seven straight hours of agony before he gave in. Kotetsu was outlined in red, the color and intensity uneven, flaring and darkening to to the soon to be familiar hue of blood.
He did it himself. No knife or needle, pillow or gun. Only that cursed blue, painfully bright against his partner’s fading light. Did he really save his partner, or did he just simply damn himself? The dawn came, cold and bright and he knew there wasn’t any point in trying to decide. He’d just have to trust Kotetsu for the last time that this was the right choice.
(Source: pixiv.net)
28 6 / 2011
Anonymous asked: pixiv illust_id=19593825
Could you do this one too, please :>
thank you for requesting it, I would never have found that wonderful picture otherwise! (I collect T&B fanart pretty prodigiously)
I hope it was okay ;n;
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28 6 / 2011
“Don’t look.”
Her tears were warm and wet against his palm. He could feel her nails dig into his wrist where she held onto him. The other was stretched out towards something she didn’t realize she wanted, but was now finding out she will never have.
She strained against him briefly, for a split second ready to follow that something- no, someone, but he held onto her. Because that someone was going to a place even he couldn’t fly to. If he could, he’d take her away from this tragedy, to a place where she’d forget her tears, but he couldn’t bring himself to move.
The king of the skies, barely steady enough on his feet. They were all being left behind, but there was something about the way she cried that made him realize this was the most he could do for her. Hold her back and share her tears, but never hold her hand or share her heart.
“It’s not fair, Sky High…”
No, it certainly was not.
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17 6 / 2011
tamlane asked: A) Your submit page is broken D: Which I think I've seen with a few other tumblrs so probably a tumblr problem.
B) I... a request... I have one... http://tamlane.tumblr.com/post/5215232581 .... or maybe http://tamlane.tumblr.com/post/5209879775 ... if you are so inclined. (I am predictable yes) Beggars can't be choosers and such.
Oh boy. Yeah IDK what is up with tumblr. I just replaced it with my askbox, seems easiest all around.
here it is my friend! Man, I miss these two. I hate how she disappeared halfway through D:
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17 6 / 2011
A drop of blood in a glass of water
How clarity clouds and purity pales. The chain is in his hand, but her eyes have already said farewell. The water is rising, cold and clear. Soon, it will swallow her up.
But isn’t that the way it was supposed to be?
She looked up at him, hand to his- who was the supplicant here? Had she not given him everything, in the end? Why was freedom so cold, chilling her skin and soaking her clothes? She was the one who would go on living. So then how come he felt so warm?
A drop of water in a pool of blood
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12 6 / 2011
When Heroes Go To War
War AU - 4090 words
“Hey Bunny,”
He could barely hear his partner over the rattle of gunfire just around the corner from their poor cover spot.
“What?”
Barnaby snapped at Tiger irritably, trying to get communications back up while they still had the advantage of cover. It was the first fucking rule- don’t get in a firefight indoors. And what does Tiger do? Rush into the nearest house because he heard civilians. They weren’t even their civilians.
“We’re the good guys, right?”
The older man sent a short round of fire back towards their enemies, just enough to keep them from swarming over them. But at the rate their ammo was going, it wasn’t going to be long.
“Yes, we are,” he replied, straining to hear over the static from his comm set. Why, of all times, was his partner asking ridiculous questions?
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08 6 / 2011
Hi, everyone, new followers, you are all grand. I hope you make a request sometime if it ever strikes your fancy, in these wild and desperate times of changing dashboards and really, really good television.
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08 6 / 2011
Think About It
“So you were married?”
“Yep.”
“What was she like?”
“Perfect.”
He answers without a second of hesitation.
“No, seriously, she was. Smarts, spunk, and this smile- it was like you’d gone to heaven or something.”
Barnaby already regretted asking. It must have been the bourbon they broke into after finishing the champagne and the beer. He was still articulate, but without the better judgement usually present. But he wanted to know- what kind of person must she have been to deserve his partner’s devotion?“She sounds… wonderful,” he managed awkwardly, pouring another measure in both of their glasses. He never drank this much by himself. Now, he was running from (or maybe towards?) something that may or may not be at the bottom of the handle of bourbon he received on his 20th. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
(Source: pixiv.net)
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27 5 / 2011
He wanted to ask about the multitude of scars. There were just so many, most of them worn and faded, but numerous enough to form a shadowy pattern on his back. But it would have been rude.
Not that it mattered when Kotetsu noticed him looking that day.
“Admiring my badges of honor, Bunny-chan?”
“Don’t call me that. Also, how are they badges of honor? Wouldn’t having fewer scars be more impressive?”
“Ah, kids these days,” Kotetsu replied with his usual good natured sigh of elderly disappointment. “Each one is a time that I stepped up to help someone. Doncha think that’s honor enough?”
Barnaby shrugged, not in the mood for another one of Kotetsu’s optimistic lectures. “But with your power, there shouldn’t be any scars…”
“Well, sometimes it runs out and you don’t notice, y’know, accidents happen…” he trailed off, grinning sheepishly like it was no big deal at all.
“So they are more like badges of carelessness.”
“Hey! It’s not careless if it’s to help someone out, alright?”
“Of course,” he said although he couldn’t agree less. There’s doing the right thing and just being thoughtless. “Just be careful.”
“What’s this? Who are you and what have you done with my partner? He’d never say something so considerate,” Kotetsu teased, grinning like a fool while trying to maintain his mock disbelief.
“I-I’m just saying, you have people you’re responsible for and who care about you, so you should be careful that you don’t ever cause them trouble by being your usual reckless self,” he retorted defensively, grabbing his bag to make a quick exit. He needed to get someplace where he wouldn’t say something strange like that. Preferably his apartment.
“Yeah, yeah, of course I know that” Kotetsu said with a frown, lingering even after his partner stormed off. ”Honestly, you should be more careful. After all, you haven’t even realized…”
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20 5 / 2011
The day Kaede didn’t answer her cellphone, Barnaby came to understand the reason why his partner was called “Wild Tiger”.
The victim was a ten year old girl who looked like her, by chance.
The criminal was only one man, by chance.
There were no cameras, no Hero TV, no witnesses beside the two of them, also by chance.
Kotetsu moved, just a shadow outlined with cold blue, and brought the criminal down with a smooth movement that shattered the pavement beneath him. There was this sound, broken and enraged that started as a roar and ended as a choked sob as he tore the man apart.
Barnaby moved soon after, not to his partner- but the victim. It’s not her, he tried to tell Kotetsu. It’s not Kaede. His words came too late for a hope of saving anyone by then. But as he looked into the ice blue gaze that dissipated to reveal only dark eyes in shock and then to what remained of the perpetrator, he understood.
His partner could laugh off points and unpopularity, but when it concerned what was most important to him, Kotetsu truly came into his name.
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29 4 / 2011
I want to kiss you
with the edge of my knife.
I want to embrace you
until your lungs are crushed.
I want to see you
bleed and struggle and writhe.
So why don’t you
come a little closer.
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27 4 / 2011
Battler the Bard had lost his love. His tears led him to a hole in the garden and with his hands he dug into the red brown earth for the truth. Eventually, he reached the witches’ world, topsy turvy upside down. They took pity or did they and told him he could leave with her on one condition.
Now Battler the Bard has no choice but to look ahead. He’s climbing out of the depths of hell now, but he can never turn back. Since he can never turn back, he’ll never know the secret of her smile, the tragedy of her mother, or the blood that soaked the garden up above.
It was so tempting. He needed to know, is she really following? Was the cat alive or eaten by the raven? Will he find the answer, somewhere in the memories of games and tea and rain?
Should he look back? Maybe the witches were doing what witches do best and they had fooled him. He climbed out into the garden full of roses and spun around to find her laying still in the mud.
All he had done was dig a grave and now the truth will rest in it for all eternity.
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