Title: Cat’s Cradle Summary: Liam casts a spell to protect you all in a place that encourages magic to backfire. Warnings: Major character injury, hyperventilation Notes: It’s been a minute since I’ve done a BTHB piece, and this one is going to be much shorter than some of the old ones, but I really like this idea. (If you sent me a BTHB prompt a long time ago, I will fill it, don’t worry!  I just have some late gift pieces to finish first.)  I’m sorry that this ended up being a little more gen than you probably intended, but I just needed to give Li some comfort after all of the things @speakergame‘s author dropped on us in the Discord.  I hope you like it.

Also here on AO3.

Lily version.

Your first thought is that you should have known.  Somehow.  It’s not like the clues weren’t there, but you all came here to solve a completely different mystery, and so they might as well have been whispers in a hurricane.  Your sister’s headache, Rory complaining of the dark being harder to see though, Kana being even less willing to use their voice than usual... it wouldn’t surprise you, now, to hear that Sebastian or Azalea had been feeling the strain, too.  You’re glad that neither one of them had tried to use their respective powers down here.

But Li--

Li.

Summary:  Speaker should not be allowed on tumblr during breaks!

Warnings: None

Notes:  This is really just a very silly story based off a situation from college and a quote I said to my roommate then. (See above title) I couldn’t get the concept of these characters in this scenario out of my head soooo here!

Hey, guess what, my arm doesn’t hurt today!  So I decided to write.  :D  Anyway, here’s a little bit of a different flavor of the poly than usual, which is me leaning a little more heavily on the parts of myself that are similar to Sebastian and also indulging in some fun pining.  I didn’t link this to any particular prompt from the list, though, and this is longer than 10 sentences.  Just started writing and this is what happened.  I hope you like it!

(Also, anon, I am never bored of you.  I love getting asks for this game and in general.)

“They’ve always been like this,” the Seer said one day as she handed Sebastian a mug of coffee, both of them watching as Li and the Speaker constructed a plan one fragmented sentence that the other would finish at a time, sitting cross-legged on the floor, knees touching, and yet never once hitting each other as they gestured (like a single body rather than two).  And it suddenly made so much sense.

“It,” of course, meaning why Sebastian always felt like he was intruding when it was the three of them together, why it always felt like more than his height that kept him from walking perfectly in step with either of them.  Why he couldn’t, for once in his life, be honest about his intentions.  (Having these stirring feelings for them both only made it worse--or maybe better.  Maybe, at least this way, he knew that they were both good for each other, that they would both be happy, that he could walk away knowing they would both be treated with as much care as two people in love could manage.)

(It wasn’t actually better, but he told himself it could be.)

He really wasn’t sure what to do, then, with the fact that there were also moments when Sebastian forgot to realize he didn’t belong.  When Li picked up some thread of his dry humor and and wove it into something like banter, or when the Speaker relied on him like trusting Sebastian was as easy as breathing.  Talking himself out of flirting with them--either or both--in moments like that was incredibly hard, especially when it wasn’t like he wanted to disrupt what they clearly already had (even if neither, apparently, was able to say it aloud).  Sebastian didn’t want to come between them but to go with them.  To be a part of the world they sometimes pulled him into with those gestures and not wonder if he was the alien.

No, stamping down on these feelings would be so much easier if he was just jealous like any normal person.  Jealousy was aggressive and vile and easy to condemn, an easily-identified toxic byproduct, but longing?  Longing was a subtler poison.  It hurt no one but him, after all, so long as he had the self-control not to act on it.

For a second, the room fell silent, and Sebastian blinked, wondering if someone had asked him a question.  But the woman on the couch at his side wasn’t looking at him, and neither was Li or the Speaker, who were instead staring at each other, eyes wide and cheeks lifting into matching grins.

“--the banana rug horoscope trick!” they both said suddenly, at the same time, only to immediately fall into laughter.  Sebastian looked at the Seer, who thankfully didn’t seem to understand any better than he did.  He wondered if the look on his face was as fond as hers.

“Incredible,” Sebastian muttered to himself as the two of them seemed to argue about whether whatever they meant before would really work.

“You know all of that stuff about how when AIs talk to each other, their language evolves too quickly for people to keep up after a few minutes?” Seer asked quietly, a sly little quirk to her lips.

Sebastian huffed out a chuckle.  Yes, he said without speaking.  If he didn’t already believe it, those two would have convinced him.

In another instant, the Speaker rushed from the room and up the stairs, just as Li leaned backwards, flashing a lazy grin in Sebastian’s direction.  He returned the look with an unimpressed, raised eyebrow, face already having lost its amusement if only for the purpose of telling Li how unbelievable the two of them were.

“Don’t pretend like you aren’t part of this,” Li said, and Sebastian had to remind himself that Li was talking to both him and the Seer, that it didn’t mean what his heart wanted it to.

What passed his lips was, “We all know we’re stuck with you.”  What he held back was, I want to be.  Li kept smiling at him, even when the Speaker returned with a bundle of something under one arm, squeezing his shoulder on the way past, and Sebastian felt warm.

He knew better than to let his feelings get in the way of work, but this didn’t hurt.  Not them, not anyone they were meant to help, and (Sebastian realized with a breath of relief) not even himself.  So maybe it was alright, for now, to let the whole thing be.  He could sit by and keep longing so long as it was unobtrusive...so long as it meant he could enjoy that warmth.

Title: Wide Open Summary: Sometimes, fighting is a very serious business, and sometimes...this. Warnings: None. Notes: This is just a short piece for some specific trope-loving friends on the @speakergame Discord server, which you can find in the pinned post on that blog.  This story assumes nothing about either Speaker or Rory’s gender, only that Speaker is shorter than Rory.

Also here on AO3.

It wasn’t like there was a whole lot else you could do.  Yeah, maybe it wasn’t the smartest decision in the world, but Rory was protecting your sister, and that meant your instincts said to protect Rory, who was now wide open.  It was just that simple.  Never mind the fact that Rory was both taller and stronger than you, especially now, after everything.  And never mind the fact that you didn’t have a weapon at this point.

You just needed a little more time for the others, and whether you had to buy it with your fists or your words wasn’t nearly as important as making sure you all got out safely.

“Hey, no,” you heard from behind you, just at the same second that you felt two warm hands circle your waist and lift.  A clumsy imitation of a dance move you were pretty sure you’d seen done before, except this was both exasperated and a little more desperate.  You turned around as soon as you could, looking up into Rory’s eyes (and definitely not getting lost in those freckles, not in a situation like this, no matter how cute the blush growing behind them was).  “My turn to be your knight in shining armor, highness.”

The playfulness in Rory’s voice, the little joke you’d had since that first meeting, struck you with something that felt a little like an adrenaline jolt and a little bit like seeing Rory for the first time all over again.  It was simultaneously invigorating and disorienting, especially with the way the alley backlit those honey-brown curls.

And then, the whole moment shattered, as Rory smirked and added, “Also, you’re too short for anyone to take seriously as a human shield.”

“What--” you started to say, only to realize abruptly that despite Rory’s back being between the two of you and your foe, absolutely nothing had happened.  Except that you could hear your sister, behind you, laughing, as what sounded like badly-repressed giggling quickly escalated into a full cackle, if only for a moment.

You looked over Rory’s shoulder--rather, around Rory’s shoulder--to see the others nearby, as well as what you were fighting, now wrapped up neatly in some actually pretty sick violet chains.  The moment you made eye contact with Li, all you got was a shrug.

“We didn’t want to interrupt,” was the reply.

“It was cute!” said Azalea, seeming for all intents and purposes completely genuine, which only made it worse because you knew the other three were not.

“Ugh,” you groaned without heat, flopping forward dramatically so that your forehead fell on Rory’s chest before waving a hand vaguely in your friends’ direction.  “You’re welcome.”

This was really cute and fun to write, and I hope you enjoy some oblivious wlw mutual pining. I don't know if this is entirely in character for Nellie yet because the story hasn't focused super hard on her relationship with Seer thus far, but I hope it's at least enjoyable even if it ends up being wrong.

11. a kiss on the corner of the mouth + Agatha/Nellie

In Agatha’s defense, she meant to kiss Nellie on the cheek. It was not intentional to accidentally bump into her crush’s nose and forehead so hard that Nellie almost fell into Anya on the couch. Anya, being seven and tack-sharp, moved out of the way like air, so when Nellie threw a hand down to catch herself, the youngest Cowles was safely out of the way.

“Shit—” Agatha started to say, cheeks burning furiously, as intense as if she’d just bitten the seed of a hot pepper.

Nellie just stared up, still half-reclined on the couch, and looking as if she couldn’t decide whether to be scandalized (a joke; Agatha was sure something like this wouldn’t actually ruffle Nellie’s feathers whatsoever) or just to outright laugh. “And here,” she said, laughter winning out, “I thought you’d be happy to see me.”

“I’m sosorry,” Agatha said, reaching towards Nellie to offer her a hand and verypointedly ignoring the whispering she could hear from elsewhere in the room. She could make out her sibling and at least two more people, but the embarrassed thrumming of her blood in her ears made it hard to tell anything more than that.

Normally, it would be easy to tell when Nellie was joking—it was one of the things Agatha liked most about her, after all—but the unfortunate truth about crushes is that the influx of oh fuck oh shit pretty person aaaaaa had a well-documented history of cutting off logic. So, Agatha continued as she grabbed Nellie’s hand halfway to pull her up, “I mean, um, I amhappy to see you—all of you! Agnes said you’d be here but, I mean, it’s still good. And I’m really sorry."

This time, Nellie did laugh, just a single chuckle, dark eyes crinkling warmly. “No harm done,” she said. As she spoke, she brought a finger up to swipe from Agatha’s nose out across her cheek. Checking to make sure she was okay, Agatha realized, and also making Nellie acutely aware of how hot her face was, never mind how it looked. Her breath caught in her chest as Nellie gave a satisfied smile. “Looks like the only thing that got broken was a little concentration, and we were due for a break anyway.”

Nellie glanced away, which was good for Agatha’s heart rate. What was not, however, was the fact that as they both realized that they had been left completely alone, Nellie also flushed. Agatha could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen that happen. And it was nothing dramatic, of course, since Nellie Cowles was not a woman easily flustered.

And yet.

“…We should go find them,” Agatha said, feeling like she should step back and yet not doing it.

“Probably,” Nellie agreed, but she didn’t step back, either.

For the briefest second, she glanced fully away, and then Agatha was too caught up in the weight of Nellie’s hand on her shoulder and the fact that Nellie was shifting up on her toes to notice anything else. Nellie kissed her on the cheek, a straightforward, firm-but-not-forceful sort of kiss, and it would have been so easy to brush it off as platonic if not for the fact that Nellie’s lips were only a hair’s breadth from Agatha’s. If Agatha shifted even a little—

But she didn’t. Even as Nellie smirked at her, eyes twinkling, and then stepped around her and out of the room to chase down their siblings, Agatha stayed put.

It…didn’t have to mean anything, she told herself. After all, she had missed when she went to kiss Nellie, so Nellie could have, too.

Thank you very much, anon!  I’m glad you like my writing.  ^_^

Sorry this took so long, but here is 48. rampage + Sebastian from @speakergame​.

Sebastian had always, always prided himself on control.  His ability to control a situation, to wrest control by finding patterns in chaos, to control himself and his emotions such that his judgement wasn’t clouded any more than was absolutely human (or, mostly so).  He had the potential and the cleverness and the power necessary to rampage through a problem, but it was his ability to choose a more careful, controlled path and succeed just as utterly that he considered real strength.

But like this, watching the Seer--no, watching his friend--shivering with fear and worry at the bedside of someone he loved, someone they’d all come so close to losing...

Sebastian suddenly understood the impulse that drove men to abandon control for vengeance.  He clenched a fist at his side, feeling the pulse of his heart boil over into his fingertips, not entirely sure if he was holding himself back or trying to burn away his own restraint.  But--if Sebastian couldn’t trust himself to do this, to muster the strength it took to maintain control in the face of anger and fear, all he could think was, then how could the Speaker trust him?

Of course you can, anon!  You’re not bothering me at all.  I did something a little weird with this one, though, and kind of...didn’t include the Speaker at all actually.  So, please enjoy some camaraderie between Bas and the Seer!

It shouldn’t have surprised Sebastian that someone in their odd party would wake up during the night, and it really shouldn’t have surprised him that it would be the Seer.  Despite being familiar with her powers and having seen the effects on others, it was still a sudden thing when she woke with a gasp, throwing the covers off and onto the other figure in the bed, who seemed not to notice.

Maybe he was really just surprised it had taken this long for a nightmare to wake her.

She didn’t seem to notice him or anyone else in the room, and Sebastian considered whether it might be better to wake the Speaker, but she hadn’t made any move to.  For now, he stood up and walked quietly, socked footsteps inaudible, to the bathroom, where he poured a glass of water before returning.

The sound of the tap must have shocked her into awareness because she tracked his movements with her eyes as he approached, but he still said, “Here,” a bit uselessly when he held out the paper cup.

“Thanks,” she whispered.  There was a moment when Sebastian was almost afraid that her trembling hands wouldn’t be able to take it, but the moment she had something to hold on to, the tremors stopped.  She nodded to him, and he nodded back, and...maybe it was that simple.

This one is for a friend on the @speakergame Discord server who requested 10. righteous + Sebastian.  I know my usual stories try to be as generic as possible with the Speaker so that it could be any of yours, but I chose to give the Speaker a personality and pronouns in this one specifically to explore a possible aspect of their dynamic with Sebastian after meeting for the first time.

“I don’t like him,” they said, turning to their sister and Azalea almost as soon as the door of the coffee shop shut behind them all.  Both women were going to refute their impression, they knew that, and maybe there was a point hidden somewhere in that defense, but they were just too indignant to care, especially considering how he’d challenged their information (not that he’d done so, since understanding a Seer was farfetched, sure, but how).

What kind of private detective invited a client to meet him just to prove he was so smart and that they were lying?!

“He’s so smug, so arrogant, so convinced he has to prove he’s good at everything before he’ll give you the time of day, so--”

“So much like you?” said their sister, not unkindly but with a little spark in her eye that lit their cheeks with righteous fire.