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ownedbythescribe · 1 year

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Diluc R. | Scorching Fears

ıllı Synopsis: "You can always feel scared to take the next step, but don’t let that hinder you from moving forward." Pyrophobia was not the easiest thing to overcome, but with an aid by your side, there might be a chance to utilize the vision gifted to you. And may be something more?

ıllı Genre: Romance, Fluff

ıllı Notes: None, Female Reader

ıllı A/N: This is a bit out of character I think. But, it’s also a bit cute! Ahhh! Diluc is gorgeous, but please let me have Tighnari when I lose my 50-50!

Pyro is an element often characterized by its destructive nature. It burns its path to victory, leaving ashes on its trail. It is a symbol of power, courage, and ferocity. Bards claim it is a sign of leadership and patriotism, while others contest for love and passion. However, pyro is not all about strength and power. It also possesses a gentle warmth that heals wounds, dispels fear, and mends the broken. It softly dances across the skin, eliciting a smile from its intended receiver.

Wielding a pyro vision sounded like a fairytale come true, as it was deemed a gift from the gods. An acknowledgment for the better lack of term. It would have been the same case for you if it was not for the fact that you feared the flames. It stemmed from the incident years ago when you were trapped in the storage room after saving a friend from flammable chemicals that he wished to play with. The heat that scorched your skin and the suffocating blast of the wind terrified your whole being. Even now, your body would tremble at the sight of fire.

'Five years had passed, and yet I still can't use my vision. Will... will I ever be able to get over my phobia?' You begrudgingly thought, holding tightly to the glass orb in your hand. The pyro element flickered in line with your distress. As much as you wished to use it during your commissions as an adventurer, you knew you would only freeze in panic.

“Hmm? If it isn’t, (Y/N). What are you doing here, doll?” A familiar honeyed voice asked. You turned around to see Kaeya, who gave a small wave before sitting beside you. The exhaustion from his tasks as the Cavalry Captain was evident on his face and body.

“I was… just taking a break. The last commission I got from Marjorie took me all over to Old Mondstadt.” You replied. Kaeya could not fault you. The winds bellowing under the old tree in Windrise calmed both the body and mind, only a few of the blessings he would thank the Anemo Archon for.

You shifted in your seat to lean further into the tree. That was when Kaeya noticed the tight hold on your vision. He put two and two together and realized that something must have happened again. It was no secret that you could not wield your vision. People may revere those blessed by the gods, but it was also a source of contempt and jealousy for others to hold. When a few adventurers in the Guild discovered that you could not use your vision because of your fear of flames, they called you names for being useless.

'You're so useless!'

'This would have been faster if you could use your vision. Tch!'

'Why did the gods even bless you?'

They could see how their words brought you down, but Rosaria chastised them, leaving a threat anybody knew she would fulfill. Truly unbefitting for a nun, but she did not care. The maroon-haired woman glanced at you and voiced her opinion.

“So what if you can’t use your vision? Your experience and tenacity are enough to survive as an adventurer. The gods gifted them yada yada. Enough of that crap. Pave your own path with or without the vision.” Her words brought you back to your senses.

Silence, a not-so-comforting one, fell between you and Kaeya. The Cavalry Captain was lost in his thoughts, hoping to find a way he could help you utilize your power while also overcoming your fear. Then, a lightbulb lit up, and a grin made its way to his face.

"(Y/N), I know a way you can practice using your vision, but we require somebody to help you. I know just the right person." He uttered, glee and excitement evident in his tone. You squinted your eyes in confusion, but he merely sighed and pulled you up.

"Come on, you'll love it."

In an instant, you found yourself in the tavern. The boisterous laughter and chide of drunkards filled your ears. Rosaria merely smiled and pulled you next to her to sit. Kaeya sat down on the other side and called for the bartender who just happened to be Diluc.

'Huh...? Why here?' You groaned internally. No offense to Kaeya and Diluc, but this was the last place you expected to learn how to use your vision correctly.

Suddenly, a drink slid in front of you. The lustrous blue sparkled against the light, reminding you of the waters in Liyue. You gave Diluc a questioning look, to which he replied, ‘It’s on the house’. Kaeya had a grin plastered on his face while Rosaria raised her glass. You clinked yours with hers and thanked them.

Once you were distracted, Kaeya turned to Diluc. He did not miss the fond look present in the red-head’s eyes. Coughing, he gave him a sheepish look, one that Diluc returned with a deadpan face.

“So, mind telling me what’s with this?” He inquired. Kaeya proudly huffed that he pulled you here to get a drink and forget about the harsh words from the entitled adventurers in the Guild.

Diluc’s interest was piqued. He was also aware of your predicament, the inability to use your pyro vision because of pyrophobia. He once heard those cowards judge you when you did all the work for the commission. It irked him to no end just how prideful they were, but you just gave them an apology and smile. You were too good for them.

“I’m sure you did not just do that for a drink. What’s your plan, Kaeya?” Diluc pushed. The Calvary Captain smirked and informed him of his plan. The red-haired tycoon paled at each word that escaped his brother’s lips. There was no way it would work.

“Oh, come on! You’ve done this before with the knights. Plus, (Y/N) is not incompetent. I’m sure you’ve seen her train every now and then outside of the city walls. You also get to spend time with her~” He teased, the tycoon’s ears turning red at the insinuation.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Despite his reluctance, Diluc asked you to meet him by the winery the next day after your commission. You asked him what for, and he replied flatly, “Training”. You blinked in confusion before he explained Kaeya’s request to help you wield your vision. He was blessed with one, after all. It worried you that you would probably waste his time, but he countered it.

“You can always feel scared to take the next step, but don’t let that hinder you from moving forward. Haven’t you always wondered if you could get over your phobia? Or at least keep it at bay enough to utilize your vision?” His tantalizing crimson eyes pierced right through your worried ones. Biting your lip, you gave him a determined look.

“I’ll be in your care, Master Diluc.”

Diluc was a spartan. Relentless in every way possible. Your first day with him ended with scorches around his porch and a bit in his garden, which you profusely apologized for. He assured you it was natural, considering how you trembled at the sight of fire in your hands. True to his words, you faltered at the blazing element in your hand. Your throat was closing up, but Diluc tried calming you down with his instructions.

Mishaps caused you to feel a little down, but you did gain one valuable information about your power. The flames you created were a beautiful shade of blue, similar to that sparkling drink your master gave you. It made you smile.

The following days were filled with envisioning the flames in your hands. Diluc said that mental training was necessary for your body and mind to get used to the pyro energy. He made you endure the searing flames and their different shades. It amazed you that it could vary along with its temperature accordingly. Blisters would appear on your fingers, but the tycoon was always ready with ointments and bandages. You even got taken care of by Adelinde after accidentally setting a part of your hair on fire. Hence, you had to get a new haircut. You liked it, though.

“All right, now take your weapon and infuse the fire there. Imagine it as a coating, then keep the shape as long as possible.” He instructed. Taking a deep breath, you held your weapon before you and activated your vision. It was a slow process, but Diluc remained patient. You could keep it for two minutes, but it was not enough.

“Again, try for five minutes this time.”

It took a week to get hold of elemental infusion, but the battle was another thing. Diluc sparred with you, but it always ended up with your weapon being thrown out of your hands. It frustrated you that you could not concentrate enough to keep its shape while dodging and thinking of a way to hit the redhead.

“Focus! The flames are going out again.”

“Your footing is off, you’ll get hit from the sides if you keep that! Balance yourself.”

“Stand up. We’re not yet done. You—“ Diluc was stopped by your piercing eyes and vision flaring up. Silently, you dashed towards him, raised your sword and aimed it at him. He internally smirked before shielding his body with his claymore. His crimson eyes pierced yours, but you had enough of the frustration deep within you.

You trained your eyes on him while keeping the blue flames. There was a plan in your mind that you wished to try. Whether it would fail or not was up to your execution. You ran towards him and were about to parry with him again, but you jumped on his claymore and used it to maneuver yourself. You got behind and set your sword ablaze. Diluc was caught off-guard. Luckily, he deflected it in time, but not unscathed. He got minor burns from the flare.

“So you can do it after all.” He voiced, proud of your accomplishment. You were pulled out of your stupor by his praise, eyes suddenly glazing at the sight of your sword still alight.

“I did… Look, Master! I could do it! This is amazing! I—“ You suddenly fell, exhaustion finally catching up to your body. Diluc hurried to your side and asked if you were all right. Laughter emerged from your lips. You assured him that you were just tired. The smile present on your face and the gleam of your eyes froze him. You were ethereal.

“Thank you so much, Diluc. Although I still have some fear in my heart, you helped me overcome it bit by bit. This flame is so beautiful.” You muttered, willing the same blue flame to appear in your hand. The way it danced before you was mesmerizing. It gave you courage and confidence.

Diluc sat down beside you and materialized a flame of his own. He placed it near you, and they swirled around before dissipating in the wind. It was beautiful. Silence soon overcame you two, but this was a comforting one.

The redhead watched the sunset. After days of paperwork and training, this was the first time he saw how beautiful Mondstadt was. However, this time, he had someone precious beside him. He knew he had to act soon.

“You learned a lot from me, and I honestly don’t want our meetings to end once you fully grasp your vision. Will you… I mean not to bother you, but will you allow me to spend more time with you after?” He asked, cheeks and ears reddened at his request.

“What…?” You saw his embarrassed visage, and it made you shy all of a sudden. This was an unexpected outcome, but not one you were unwilling to take.

“I mean, visit here and—“

“I’d love to. But take me out for a proper dinner after this, okay, Diluc?” You teased. He blinked owlishly before erupting in chuckles. His smile was captivating, and you could not help your hands but touch his cheeks. He stopped and gave you a warm smile. It was right here that you realized you had fallen in love with the only flame in your life.

‘Why is he so beautiful!?’

Please do not copy or repost my stories, but notes and reblogs are always appreciated!

#genshin impact #fluff #genshin #romance #diluc x reader #diluc #diluc fluff

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lunanoc · 4 months

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who exactly are the hei feizi in sand sea part IV?

i refuse to be the only one responsible for this being posted publicly so i’m co-blaming @tiesanjiaoshenanigans (✨)

disclaimer as always i’ve only read things in their entirety up through and including Sand Sea as far as the main installments of the story are concerned, so if anything in later canon pops up to debunk this you never saw anything 🏃‍♀️

that being said let's get into it

this isn’t really meta because it’s more me questioning my reading comprehension after getting through part IV of Sand Sea than anything else. i’ve seen the hei feizi or 黑飞子 (lit. “flying black thing”) mentioned from time to time, and every single time it’s been to refer to the specific phenomenon of people whose body is taken possession of by the black-haired sunbeam snakes (or cat snakes) that play a key role in the story of Sand Sea. the dmbj wiki, sparse as it is, also has an article dedicated to the hei feizi that explicitly states that those snake parasitized people are what hei feizi are

i realize this is going to be a very bold take considering all of that and you’re starting to see why i’m questioning my basic reading comprehension skills at this point, but fresh off of finishing Sand Sea, i’m left deeply confused because that isn’t at all the takeaway i got from part IV of what the hei feizi are. so, for the sake of Figuring Shit Out, and because we love sources, let’s take a look at all the times hei feizi are mentioned in Sand Sea Part IV, and let me try and suggest that hei feizi doesn’t refer to black-haired snake parasitized people at all

we start off with these very first mentions in chapter 201 (merebear’s edition) of Sand Sea and onward wherein che zong, one of the men wu xie hires to come with him to investigate what turns out to be a snake mine in the wilderness of ningxia, and who also happens to be one of the last people wu laogou taught dog training to, calls a hei feizi by name

(side note, i’m aware all the quotes say his name is che zhong, but the characters are 车总, the last one pronounced zong, so unless the chinese text has a repeated typo or there’s an alternate pronunciation of the character i’m not aware of, the translation is the one with the typo. since his name is consistent in the original i’ll be calling him che zong)

che zong reacts like this to a figure he and wu xie see in the dark as they make their way towards a neighboring village to seek medical help for their wounds sustained during their ill-fated trip in the mine and against the longzhi. xiaomange, the dog che zong trained according to wu laogou’s wishes in order to give him to wu xie, also reacts aggressively to the figure and barks at it even as it disappears into the trees. so far, nothing conclusive besides the fact that che zong is deeply terrified by whatever this hei feizi is, so much so that wu xie is a little concerned given he didn’t react nearly this strongly to a creature that was supposed to be almost unkillable

when pressed, che zong states that hei feizi “isn’t a thing, it’s a person”, which while it does cast potential doubt on it being a monster, doesn’t technically contradict the idea that he’s referring to snake-parasitized people specifically, especially given both how terrified he is and that arguably that’s exactly what they’re being chased by

wu xie then recalls the story wu laogou told him of the hei feizi under a different name, and how they were some sort of oppressive and elusive legend among tomb robbers who felt watched. you do get the impression wu xie seems to be talking about some kind of tomb creature, and all it really tells us is that hei feizi are elusive and kind of creepy, which bao sa (the man who’s dead and zombified by the black-haired snake) arguably is at this point

here he is being a creepy Very Dead zombie man

so far so good

however this is where in my opinion the “hei feizi are snake-parasitized people” interpretation starts getting derailed. we’ve skipped ahead here to when wu xie and che zong, who to be fair seem really sus to the local villagers (who unfortunately get to witness a horror movie in real time), get dragged to their village hall by force in the middle of the night, and are faced with a dead bao sa controlled by black-haired snakes who really want into wu xie’s body because apparently he’s snake catnip. when wu xie refers to bao sa as a hei feizi (note he uses 它 ta which really is "it", the third person pronoun for non-human things, in the original text), che zong corrects him and tells him that bao sa isn’t a hei feizi, or more specifically that he was but no longer is one technically. the exact sentence in chinese is as follows:

这不是黑飞子，不，这是黑飞子，不，现在已经不是黑飞子了

note that che zong never uses 它 ta or “it”, and what he says more exactly translate to:

this isn't a hei feizi, no, this is a hei feizi, no, now it’s already no longer a hei feizi

to put it simply, this sentence implies that bao sa was formerly a hei feizi, but in his present state is no longer one. in other words, that as a snake-parasitized dead thing, bao sa isn’t really a hei feizi proper, just a dead one

this is reinforced here when he says this a bit further, also implying that a live hei feizi is more dangerous than dead one taken over by snakes

we then get a second more in-depth explanation of what a hei feizi is meant to be, and che zong explains that because no one could actually catch sight of them properly in ancient or more distant times, the hei feizi were relegated to the category of elusive myth as humanoid monsters or ghosts. he also says that wu laogou, because he used dogs who had a superior sense of smell to rob tombs, was the first person in recent memory to seriously consider the idea that hei feizi were not in fact monsters, but rather were "human beings" or "very mysterious people"

che zong also seems to be saying that normally no one could detect a hei feizi was tracking them, or at the very least lay eyes on them, but on the rare occasion a hei feizi would mess up and reveal itself, whoever they were tracking would have to be eliminated because by having seen them, whoever they were tracking had already seen too much. and once again, wu laogou was the only person of his generation, and maybe even altogether, who because his dogs saved his life (likely helping him escape or outright killing the hei feizi) saw a hei feizi and survived

from there the evidence keeps pointing at the hei feizi being something not so much Other, but more something in some ways more sinister and dangerous. che zong says here that wu laogou, the only person in recent memory who’s seen a hei feizi, told him that “hei feizi are actually the same as us”, which doesn’t scream to me as meaning they’re supposed to be people taken over by snakes, but rather that he’s saying “hei feizi aren’t monsters, they’re people”. the fact they apparently have a “special smell” has implications that need a whole other post to get into but it definitely has Implications

we continue on and learn that wu laogou tentatively trained xiaomange to find hei feizi, an important trump card to have given that modern times and technology forced the hei feizi to change surveillance tactics, moving on from simply “monitoring people” in tombs to “entering tomb robbing circle”, that is to say essentially switching from lurking in the shadows to organized espionage and infiltration in broad daylight. which then culminates in a statement wu xie gives that’s so explicit it just makes me even more confused about how the “hei feizi are snake-parasitized people” conclusion happened:

"they must be part of the family opposing menyouping's family"

which besides being an explicit reference to the wang family, also ties this conclusion to bao sa, the man whose body the snakes took over, who even before he died and became the black-haired snakes’ puppet was strongly implied to be a wang who infiltrated wu xie’s team and tried to kill him

what i’m saying is that all this is slowly guiding the reader towards the realization that hei feizi are members of the wang family, not bodies taken over by snakes

adding to that this information here, it’s a conclusion that makes infinitely more sense given the context of Sand Sea Part IV in general, but more specifically how it re-situates what we learn of wu laogou’s apparent involvement in the wang family plot, since prior to this point, there’s no indication that wu laogou was ever involved with the wang family before the greatest joint tomb robbery in siguniang mountain. it neatly ties into the idea that becomes more and more apparent that wu laogou was actually involved with the wang family and had been on their shit list long before that event ever took place, before getting roped into jiuye's plan, and before wu sanxing and xie lianhuan's own inextricable involvement. this means that the wu family has had personal stakes in this conflict for far longer than wu xie had imagined, and both explains why wu laogou wanted his family out of the business so desperately, and why wu xie insists upon the fact that three generations of his family have been plagued by the wang family in Sand Sea Part II

hei feizi just being an alternate name for “It”/the wang family the older generations used also makes more sense considering these hei feizi never come up in Sand Sea elsewhere or in the story in general that i can tell, and if wu laogou knew that wu xie would have to inevitably confront the wang family given how entrenched the wu family is in this conflict, having a dog like xiaomange who could warn him of their presence and protect him is a trump card he would want his grandson to have

therefore if you understand that hei feizi actually refers to the wang family, then this last part here also makes more sense, as it infers that che zong is telling wu xie that he’s managed thus far to avoid pinging under the wang family’s radar, but that now they’ve clued into the fact he exists and is assisting wu xie, and in general seem to be trying to close in on wu xie

which taking all of this towards the end of Sand Sea Part IV into account, and considering how that part of Sand Sea ends, all culminates into turning this into the story of the very first time the wang family come out of the shadows and confront wu xie and his party directly instead of covertly watching his every move and guiding him in certain key directions from a distance

so the tldr; of this is that all of this in my opinion strongly points towards the hei feizi simply being another name for members of the wang family, or at least a certain subcategory of them, that the older generations used because they had no other name for what they perceived as a mysterious phenomena, but was actually just a group of people (who by the way are consistently presented throughout Sand Sea as having been trained in much the same ways and have much the same skills as the zhang family) who were extremely skilled at hiding in the shadows, and so i genuinely don’t understand why the apparent consensus that i can tell is that hei feizi is the name for people whose body gets taken over by black-haired snakes. that seems to be more an unfortunate by-product of bao sa dying and being easy prey for snakes who like to incubate their eggs in human flesh than anything

(if you wanted another argument, the wangs are also consistently described by li cu as being “black-clad”, and wu xie compares how xiaoge moves fast to a bat several times, and the wangs are also just as consistently paralleled with skills and abnormal competence that xiaoge and other zhangs have. if they’re skilled enough to end up looking like a “black flying” shadow to their targets then it’s not a weird name choice)

#dmbj #meta #dmbj meta #dmbj novels #hei feizi #sand sea #sha hai #considering even the wiki says the opposite of this i'm still half-convinced i just can't read #but it's also bugging me bc it seems obvious to me it's not that #and yet #i have hard time believing this wouldn't have come out before now?#so i'm just #putting this out there #the void can have it #at least this one's shorter than the other one thank fck

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mak-1338 · 1 month

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Patia Por'co Past and Future

Alright, so I have not been able to stop thinking about the wonderful and complicated Patia Por'co, Keeper of Scrolls for the Library of Incantatum. Obviously I will never be able to ask Mathew Mercer and Marisha Ray in person. So this will have to do.

I know there is a theory about Patia, possibly being her daughter, but I've seen others pick plotholes in this and I agree there are some I can't explain away.

Personally, I fully believe it was a mentor/student bond the two shared, but was there something more? Not romantically. More like a pseudo motherly figure for Patia, because we know she lost the memory of her parents. It was also basically confirmed they were taken by Imyr Por'co and not the mind wiping of the previous god of death and the Matrons name.

I ask this question from the pov of the Matron. Because if I worked my entire life to do this one thing that could change the very fabric of Exandria. Why would I tell my random student about it? So there has to be more that only Matthew or Marisha could say. Right?

In my opinion and Travis has talked about this a little bit in talks about Fjord. But if you are missing a person in your life like a mom or dad or teacher or friend, etc. We sort of go looking for replacements to fill in those gaps. We can even see this a little bit with Imogen and Deanna. Trying to replicate what Liliana and Imogen could of possibly had. So it isn't out of the ballpark for Patia to go looking for the same connections.

All that being said, what is their Relationship? Depending on the answer, it could make Patia's view of the gods even more tragic. She cared greatly for this motherly mentor figure and just like everyone else in her life up to that point, she leaves as well.

My second question is about her orb she sent to Maya. I think we've all heard the theory at this point. It's very popular for a reason amongst the fans. If you haven't heard it basically Patia had a hand to play in creating the Cobalt Soul.

I love this theory because it's so Meta. Marisha has crafted a connection (possibly unknowingly) to all of her characters. If you don't beleive me, Patia had a hand to play in destroying the tree. As well as finding out the secret meetimg between the Gau Drashari. A group who would later be known as the Ashari aka our favorite Voice of the Tempest, Keyleth. She was there at the kick start of the Calamity which leads to many battles one of which Pelor plants a tree for Ioun after being very wounded. To people setting there aka Whitestone. (This one is more of a stretch I know, but it ties really well to the raven queen and the distint connection both Patia and Laudna has to their respective Death deities.) Sorry for the rant.

Getting back to the actual topic and connection Patia has to Beau. So my theory is that She gave the orb to Maya, but like previously stated. This theory also has several plotholes and it kind of unrealistic. The calamity was this massive century spanning war killing 3/4ths the population and Eisfuura do not live long. So maybe instead of Maya building the Cobalt Soul. The Agrupnin family seek out protection through the Prime deities. Ioun would be the most fitting for the family just because of Cerrit's views and skill set about knowledge. (Finding it and Protecting it.)

I also theorize Maya would learn to view the memories of Patia, making her push for the end of corruption for future generations. It was out of hand and hurt alot of people. Including a factor in starting the war. Still like I said, it's a little unrealistic because they don't live long. In spite of that Cerrit could still train a group possibly including the kids with his to go find information about any threats. Betrayer gods, their armies, etc. In hopes of one day ending the war. The techniques, the orb, the information, and overall message to stop corruption could have slowly passed down in time until someone could fully begin the organization.

I would even be fine with the orb not being with them currently. We saw a mysterious village in the mountains with the Wildmount group in C3 during the teleportation mishap. It could be there. As long as the message was passed down and Maya and Patia had a hand to play in the beginning of our favorite Expositor's story. That's all I ask.

I know this was a long read. I rambled a lot. So if you made it this far. Thank you for reading my Ted talk. Also please forgive any spelling/grammical errors. I would love to hear your opinions, because I've had this thought in my brain for as long as the calamity has been around.

P.S. any and all theories could/will very much likely be disproven by Matt and future CR. In fact I expect it too and will be ecstatic when we do find the canon explanations. Also sorry if this doesn't make any sense. This is my first time interacting on Tumblr.

#critical role #patia por'co #exu calamity #raven queen #maya agrupnin

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justmightyshadows · 3 months

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BG3 Fic Feb Day 9

Keeping on with the prompts this time for healing(again)! If you like it show it love on AO3

Jaheria x Thalwyn(aka Tav)

The trees outside of Baldur’s Gate were unremarkable - nothing like the behemoths of the old forests of the Dalelands, but looking up into their arms and around their leaves you felt at home. The others had settled in for dinner but you were content to catch the last rays of the sun under the canopy of the small forest, it gave you a feeling of belonging and was also something to do until Jaheira returned from the hunt. The gentle breeze passed over you like a blanket and before you knew it you had dozed off into a meditative state.

You awoke with the moon peeking onto the horizon, shook the stray leaves off your body and went to find Jaheira. You peeked in and saw she wasn’t there so, you headed to the rampart at the edge of camp that you’d been using as a lookout spot, to get a better view. Jaheira was not known to be stationary but it was odd of her not to retire to her tent at night. Maybe she had finally fallen for one of the companions. They were all constantly talking about who would end up with who and the betting was that Lae’zel would be the one to catch her attention first. Bullshit in your opinion, or at least you hoped it wasn’t true.

Finding her was easy enough as you made your way into the rampart she was there in the corner of the first floor, propped up against a wall, her hand held over her side, a small trail of her blood leading to the doorway you stand in. She bared her teeth, showing off the ease of her transformation powers - her mouth full of dagger like canines, her eyes large black rounds as she prepared to attack whatever had disturbed her. When she made eye contact with you she froze, her elf-like features slid back onto her face as her emotions seemed to shift from shock, to worry, to maybe embarrassment. She lashed out with her words next “You should not sneak up on people like that, Thav. I could have bit your head off just now!” She seemed to soften halfway through the sentence and by the end a small smile had spread across her lips. She was the only one who said the ‘H’ in your name and when she was in need of a favor she had even taken to saying it fully, Thalwyn.

“I see your hunt has left you with injuries - maybe you’re a bit too slow on the draw now. Let me help you.” You fired back as casually as you could muster while coming to kneel softly by her side. As always she smelled of fir trees and fresh rain, you wondered if it was because she was a druid or because she was her. Either way you leaned in closer to her, hoping to get lost in it.

“You should see my hunt, then we can speak about slowing down.” She narrowed her eyes and spoke with a strained voice - it was obvious she was suffering and you were running out of time to help. “We can save the story til after I’ve healed you. You don’t sound great.” You reached out to her without waiting for her response, grabbing hold of the clasps that kept her armor on. Your fingers stumbled a bit under her gaze but soon you had undone them all and gingerly pulled it away from her body. You leaned down to get a better view of the wound and saw the misty haze of necrotic energy that radiated from her.

Damn.

That’s why she couldn’t heal, you thought, but what could she have been hunting that left her with an injury like this? Unless she had started to go after necromancers in her free time it didn’t make any sense. Your eyes narrowed with confusion and before you could ask her for more information, she read the signs along your face and responded. “I was hunting a deer, as usual, when I found myself face to face with one of those shadow beasts - in my desire for a good hunt I had strayed too close to the shadows. It caught me off-guard is all, but it is just a kitchen scratch surely.” Her face softened again like it always did when she was caught being foolish or wrong. In the flickering of the light you could see the sweat on her face, the grime that covered her and the strained edges of her smile. She was putting on a brave face, you leaned in again your voice whisper light and warm to keep her from turning from you. “The wound can be healed Jaheira - but it must be with fire and it will hurt. Our other option is to wake Shadowheart and ask for help.” Jaheira scowled, sighed deeply, cursed under her breath before taking a short knife and cutting the rest of the shirt away to give better access to the wound.

“Then make it swift and have a steady hand.” She pulled you close and held her hands tight to your torso to brace herself.

When you suggested this you’d assumed she’d want to keep Shadowheart out of it but you had not actually dealt with this type of injury many times before - it had been almost 200 years since shadows encroached on your forests. This was a bad time to admit that fact however, so you straightened your face and brought forth a thin flame within your hand. The key was to act as if you had done this before and to not look nervous, Jaheira could smell nervous a mile away. The lighting was shit and her shaky breathing was making the wound jump erratically as you approached. “Hold you breath, High Harper” you said with a bit of a devilish grin. She looked annoyed at your ribbing given the situation but, if it were her, she’d never pass up a moment to make a joke so you didn’t feel bad getting her when she could not return fire.

You pushed your hand forward burning the wound as she tried her best to be still, her fingers digging into your sides like daggers, her eyes laser focused on you until you reached the middle where she leaned forward and bit down on your shoulder to stop herself from screaming.

But just as soon as it had started, it was done. Her grip on you loosened but her eyes were round and wet still, you took the small bit of fabric she cut off and dabbed the edges of them before she could regain enough energy to fight back.

“As expected the High Harper comes out from being burned alive unscathed. ” You joke at her, your face adorned with a full greedy smile.

“When you have seen as many battles as I have - you will understand, little ranger.” She joked back, teasing you about your height. She leaned forward and pressed your foreheads together. Your heart began to work in double time, you could feel it throbbing all the way in your head and you wondered if she could too. Had you two ever been close like this before? You racked your brain but could only find images that you had created, dreams that you had hoped would come to light. Her voice was low and sweet, more vulnerable than it had ever been before this point.

“Where were you when I came back? I went to your tent first, then I tried to make it up to your bird’s nest. Thalwyn, I was so tired.” She sighed deeply as she rubbed your cheeks together “I was waiting here in case you made your way in or out.” Your stomach dropped and you froze in the act of nestling back against her.

She had come to you first? And in this case second as well? This was what you had wanted and when it was time for it to happen you were doing what? You thought back over the evening and a wave of embarrassment came over you. Napping? You cursed the gentle breeze and the perfectly placed trees. You had to make amends somehow, had what you done already started to do that?

“First, I am honored that I was your first choice. Second, I am so sorry Jaheira, I’m ashamed to say I was passing time until you returned and fell asleep underneath the tree canopy.” You brought your arms to her sides and pulled her in closer - careful not to disturb her wound. You wanted to ask for a do-over, but part of you felt that even with the delay you had come through for her. She was missing and you went to look for her - that had to count for something. “Sleeping on the job again? You certainly are not trying to get on my good side.” Another joke - she was trying to relieve the pressure from

you but you knew she had been hurt and probably worried. She had turned to you and you had not been there at first, too busy sleeping your time away. It was too serious of a subject for now so you ate your words instead and tried to make her smile. “I have never been good at making my superiors happy - lounging and wasting the days away has always been something I’m happy to do. No day is wasted under the sun or in the embrace of nature. My motto is ‘Work can wait.’ I take it very seriously as you’ve just found out. ” Jaheira laughed so hard at the audacity that she began to wince. “Let me help you back to your tent” You offered, happy with the smile that still hung on her lips but ready to get her proper rest. “No, is this where you have spent the last couple of nights? I feel I have missed you each time I’ve come by.” Another dagger - you hadn’t been in your tent in days. The fresh air of the rooftop put your mind at ease. Maybe she thought you were avoiding her, what a thought, when every waking minute you had wondered about her whereabouts. “Yes, I’ve been here, but up the ladder.” You pointed to a 5 story ladder at the edge of the room. “Right, your bird’s nest. Can you show it to me, Thalwyn? ”

She didn’t drop a nickname or say a joke surprisingly. You’d have done it either way, you’d have done anything she asked today. You reached down and picked up her discarded armor then lifted her on your back with one swift motion. She gripped you tightly as you went up the ladder.

She waited until you put her down to poke fun at you again as if she were scared that you would have dropped her seconds before “I did not think you had the strength to carry me, with those arms.”

She poked your arms and was met with a good bit of muscle. Her eyebrows raised in appreciation “But I must not have judged you fairly.” She finished with a soft caress. The top of the rampart was littered with furs and pages of notes from the surrounding area. You had been cataloging the wildlife and making plans for new armor designs in your free time. She settled onto the stone and asked for a wash basin which you provided. “Do you want my spare tunic?” She nodded so, you threw a thin eleven tunic at her and turned your back to give her privacy.

“Scared to look upon me?” She teased you.

“I will look when you are ready.” You answered not taking her goading in this case.

She finished and then began to rummage through your things until she found a large wooden panther that you had whittled over the past week. “I see I was on your mind.” She said brandishing it toward your face and noting the scar above its eye that matched hers. You ears began to burn with embarrassment - you forgot you had that there. This was the problem with trying to hide things from Jaheira, she always found them. That seemed to apply to your thoughts as well as your things. “I didn’t think you would ever see it.” Which was a weak but truthful answer. “It is good work.” She said placing it back down and stacking all of your papers together underneath it. Her timing was incredible as the wind whipped along the rampart and blew your hair violently into your face. You tried to push it back but you could not get a good hold of it, her hands met your shoulders and you heard her voice clearly. “SIT” it demanded. So you did and soon her hands were rubbing along your scalp, in your hair, braiding it with speed and precision until your vision had cleared. She tossed the braid to the side and leaned down behind you, planting the softest kiss on your now exposed shoulder.

“I would like to stay here tonight.” She said her lips touching against your ear.

Your heart almost stopped from the sensation. Her lips lifted from your skin but left a mark upon your psyche. The heat rose within your body as you turned to face her, your hand lifted gently to cup the edges of her face - did you need to say yes? Wasn’t it so plainly clear that you had said yes many weeks ago. You met her eyes and felt her arms wrap warmly around your body - the moon sitting high in the sky staring down at you both with admiration. Washing over your bodies with it’s radiant light, you worried that words left unsaid would be your undoing so you made sure to whisper-

“Yes, of course. ”

#bg3 jaheira #bg3 #ao3 fanfic #ao3 link #bg3 tav #ao3 #bg3ficfeb #jaheira #angst

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a-part-of-me-died · 2 years

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While the classic rock fandom and internet users at large are angry about Roger Waters's open letter to the Ukrainian first lady, I'd like to offer this additional public statement taken directly from the man's social media:

It is always healthy to question the intentions and beliefs of others in good faith. Roger Waters is extremely vocal and abrasive in the ways in which he expresses his opinions. That has always been true. He also questions himself and his community (leftists) when his closely held beliefs are challenged, as seen in this statement. In the end, his values always boil down to human rights. He is a leftist, through-and-through, and that means he sees authoritarianism, nationalism, and fascism as the enemies, and unification of all people as the end goal.

His letter to First Lady Zelenska asks the people with the most power who are at least risk in times of war (oligarchs) to stop abusing that power and, in doing so, end the suffering they cause. It's not leadership that suffers in war, it's civilians and ground troops who are subject to the violent whims of people in charge. It may not be realistic to ask the Ukrainian government to back down - the Russian government sure as hell isn't - but it's not unreasonable to want the people in charge on all sides of this tragedy to stop fucking with people's lives for the sake of their own egos. And no, my fellow leftists on this hellsite, Waters is not a goddamn tankie. Literally every piece of music he's written since Radio K.A.O.S. has been ANTI-war, ANTI-violence, ANTI-capitalist, and ANTI-fascist. Hell, his last 2 albums with the Floyd are just as political, and the 3 albums before that carry the themes as well but more subtly. Even in the current letter to First Lady Zelenska his biggest plea is that we stop feeding a war machine. He is a pacifist. Get your heads outta your asses.

For my good faith critique of him: I personally wish he'd at least have the forethought to be like "maybe this is a letter better sent in private. No matter how carefully worded, expressing my opinions about geopolitics will not be helpful to suffering people who may read them." It is, at best, insensitive of him to publicly call for Ukraine (the governing body) to stop feeding a war machine, when Ukraine (the people) is trapped, frightened, and dying under a barrage of attacks by invaders. He also hasn't, to my knowledge, written a similar open letter to Russian leaders, other than these statements here where he very blatantly denounces Putin. He also probably knows that chances of Putin seeing anything he writes are like...real low. Olena Zelenska made herself publicly reachable and he took the opportunity to talk to SOMEone. Which I get, but he also knows that his opinions matter to people who are truly suffering, as seen in this post:

War is so painful, and people react quickly when those wounds are touched so indelicately. He is, almost as a rule, indelicate. I'm sure what young Alina wanted to hear is just that Roger doesn't think she and her people deserve to suffer. He could've stopped there and been a comfort to her, but going on to call out her leader and the role he will have to play if the war is going to end is unnecessary, even if it's true. My biggest critique of him is that he perseverates on the whole forest all the time when, sometimes, it would serve him better to focus on the trees; his westsplaining is his worst trait.

Anyway. I'm gonna go listen to Pros and Cons for the 3rd time this week. Need a little ~*camp*~ to cleanse the palate.

#roger waters #pink floyd #rog #long post #opinion #stanning this man = endless suffering #why am i defending a white man #in 2022?#in beyonce's america?#sad really #stanning nick would be easier #unproblematic king that he is

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marcholasmoth · 1 year

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OSRR: 3201

today was a good day.

yeah, joel was the only one to be there at graduation with me, but it was kind of better that way. we didn't have to deal with more opinions than strictly necessary and joel helps me keep my wits about me.

i got there relatively on time, but i only wound up being a third of the way back in the auditorium. i also made friends with my seat buddy, so that was nice too!

the ceremony was so long. it was supposed to start at 10 and end at noon, but we didn't get in there until 10:30 and it ended a little after 1pm. like holy shit.

but it was cool. i also got some nice pictures, including probably my favorite selfies that i've ever taken, and it was generally a good time. i was comfy and not too hot at all - the arena where we were sitting is an ice rink so they need to keep the temperature relatively low to keep it from melting and also there's the ice beneath that's still frozen anyway. so it was nice in there.

after taking some pictures, joel and i went to lunch at the tavern where we went to dinner when james's mom was in town. we got a pretzel that was exceptional and i got that sandwich that was to die for.

after lunch we stopped over at the little bakery across the street and we got a few things, which are waiting at joel's for my return tomorrow.

eventually we headed out, and even though there was a lot of traffic, we still made it out of the city and got him to his game night on time, and i wasn't too late for dinner with my family. it's a good thing i'm always fucking hungry, because it had only been a few hours since joel and i had lunch that we had dinner. we went to the classy place in town as a family, minus my mom who's sick and plus kat because she's the best, and it was really nice. my aunt gave me a glass ball that's twice the diameter of a baseball that's hand-blown and has a tree inside it - it's the tree of wishes, so i was happy to read the symbolism and have the card so i can have a place to hold my wishes and positive thoughts, kind of like an arcane focus in d&d. papa got me flowers and balloons and momma got me a tshirt that has a graduation cap on it and says "you may call me master" which is objectively hilarious, and my gramma gave me a very sweet card that i was able to read and a check. i mentioned to myself on my way home after dropping off kat that i was happy to get some money that i didn't have to work for. i corrected myself: "that i didn't have to go to work for."

a few things of note:

i was standing for like three hours this morning and was so happy i picked my flats

my seat buddy and i bonded over being wicked hungry

since i knew none of my people were in the auditorium, i found the recording camera and waved directly into it which made for some cute photos

i used my shrek-colored anti-redness mask and it fucking WORKED, ALL DAY

near the end of the ceremony the camera focused on a girl who was staring at her phone with no expression instead of paying attention, and it caught her looking up, seeing herself on the screen, and then saying "oh fuck" before covering her face 😂😂😂

people in boston are super friendly

there's a section of track in the middle of the city that's free to take

i had a lot of people wish me congratulations, even though i knew none of them and they were strangers on the street, and it was really sweet and heartwarming

my family adores kat

and last but not least,

i'm so happy i was able to bring joel with me

he made it all better. i know people got they own shit, but if no one else got me, i know he does.

#molly rambles #operation srr #osrr #3000s #3200s #sunshine boy

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blacknovelist · 1 year

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(sky) pirates

I love the redbills. I love leofard. I love the sky pirates. I love mine and my friends' WOL. That's it that's all I got today for yall today.

(set nebulouly during the Shadows of Mhach raid series, but no spoilers past the presence of the Redbills. As always, G'avan is a friend's WOL— Feri'um is mine.)

[AO3]

The heroes have been a common face round the Parrock, as of late...

Now, Leofard knew better than to have a particular expectation of someone before he's met them. Why, just look at himself— charming rogue, leader of the Redbills, ragamuffin of Ishgard, the list went on. He was all that the stories liked to tell, sure, but he was also a lot the stories tended to miss, and woe be it for him to judge others the same way he and his crew could be, on the occasion.

That said, well. On one hand, there was taking the rumor-mill with a grain of salt. On the other...

"You know, when I was doing my searching for the vaunted "Warriors of Light"," he began, "I remember wondering to myself: what is it a hero does with their free time? I figured the answer was something more along the lines of, oh, I don't know, punching outlaws and helping kittens out of trees or something that fills your schedule up right quicklike."

G'avan nodded from where she lounged on the grass, tail curled comfortably around her. "Fair assumptions. I wouldn't pass up the chance to end a few bandits."

"I do work at a soup kitchen down in the Foundation sometimes," Feri'um offered from beside her, eyes shifting away from the cooking fire. "If that's closer to what you had in mind."

"Oh, well, it's good to see I haven't lost all of my touch then." The captain snorted and leaned against a nearby post. "Don't take this the wrong way, I'm not hankering to get you out if you're not gumming up any of the workday, and there's worse company to have over— but why are you still here? Instead of off doing the… about half-dozen other things I imagine you could be up to? You know, when I said I'd call once we figured the next step out— which we are working on— I promise I was trying to be thoughtful for once."

"You, thoughtful?" Their chef, Guianna, let out a hefty guffaw from where she stood over the massive simmering pot. It looked delectable, and Leofard spared a moment to mourn the wind blowing away from him rather than toward. "Captain, you're a reasonable man most of the time, but you're also so shoved up your sense of adventure you'd eat boot leather and gold coins if I let you. I'll grant you've got your moments, but I don't think there's space for too much of thinking anywhere in your quarters. Not even on top of the chairs."

G'avan and Feri'um both sputtered into laughter, along with the handful of other Redbills in earshot, and Leofard pressed a hand to his chest.

"I'm wounded! Do I not split our shares and help keep our operations running? Those are the words of somebody who's already given up on a holiday bonus if I've ever heard it."

"Don't you dare!" She brandished the stew-covered spoon in his direction and scowled playfully at his grin. "You don't even pay us outside of loot shares, cut my quarter and I'll cut you!" Then she turned back to her work with a sniff. "Oi, Fer', come try this. I ain't so refined as all your fancy seasonings, but your tastebuds at least function enough for an opinion."

The au ra dutifully shuffled over and took knee next to the chef and her pot, accepting the proffered spoon with grace. G'avan watched, ears twitching, barely restrained longing in her eyes.

"May I try some too?" She asked, just shy of pleading. Guianna made a show of tapping her chin in thought even as Feri'um dipped and held one of the spare spoons aloft, ready to pass it over.

"I suppose you're alright too, Gav. But just a bite!" The cook waved, and G'avan took the spoonful eagerly. Then the cook gestured for someone to pass her the pepper and gave the pot another swirl. "Gotta leave something for the rest of the vultures, after all."

"You never let me try dinner before the bell." Leofard crossed his arms. "And the nicknames already? If I didn't know any better, I'd call favoritism."

"They are your honored hero guests, captain!" She chirped back. "Somethin' somethin' hospitality, you know how it is. Also if you think I ain't gonna milk seasoning tips from someone who done budget cooks good enough for bluebloods on the constant, you're nuts."

"I'm happy to be of service," Feri'um mumbled around the utensil. "Have you considered an egg in here, by the way? Any kind. Not for the whole thing, but breaking the yolk in a single bowl would probably taste fantastic."

"That depends on if anyone's felt like riling up an anzu or twelve recently. We don't run intogastornis as much, they tend to linger a bit too close to that camp for tastes."

"I can go check the Parrock's stock then, if you like." Feri'um tilted their head. "Just point me, I'll take count."

A completely innocent and on-brand offer to the captain's ears, but Guianna scowled something fierce. "Don't think I don't know what you're scheming." The quavering ladle-point came out, this time directed at the pale-horned hero. "I won't take it! Nice as your things may be, a sky pirate's got their pride! You even THINK of giving me some of your stock, local or not, and I'm gonna run you outta here myself."

"Oh, she's got you read, Feri," G'avan said. They spared her a glare that didn't so much as earn a blink as she turned to Guianna and stage-whispered; "They've been trying to pawn off an excess of eggs they accidentally gathered for days now, it's hilarious."

"AV!" The plaintive cry was joined by an intensified glare harsh enough to make a voidsent shudder, but G'avan just cackled.

"What? It's true!"

Leofard let out a bark of laughter. "Sounds to me like you ought to cut out that middle man and just start throwing the damn things at anyone who'll catch them, my friend." He paused. "Maybe also at some folks who won't, if you catch my drift. Depends on if you're feeling metaphorical or literal."

"I've got half a mind for who to aim at." Their hand inched towards the bag on their hip— the one Leofard had never seen them touch in the battlefield and that, in hindsight, must carry all their food. G'avan's ears shot up as she sprang from lounging to a crouch, tail swaying.

"You wouldn't dare." She narrowed her eyes.

Without breaking eye contact, Feri'um lay their hand over the opening of their bag. The miqo'te let out a near-silent hiss, and Guianna hefted the nearby pot lid.

"You even think of throwing anything in my direction and you can skip out on tonight's dinner!"

"Mmhm," they said absently. All their focus was on G'avan and vice versa, the miqo'te slowly circling away from the little cooking area. Other Redbills paused in their work (or lack thereof) to watch the two heroes stand off, chatter and bets flying through the air, and Leofard snorted.

"Don't fall off the edge, now," he said, straightening up. "Have fun, don't maul each other too badly, so on so on."

"No promises," both chimed. And then Feri'um grinned and lunged, foodstuffs forewent, and both tumbled in a storm of limbs and a chorus of cheering. The captain spared a moment to laugh before he turned to return to his quarters.

Adventurers. Of course they'd fit right in.

#Blacknovelist Writes #FFXIV #FFXIV FIC #FF14 #Leofard Myste #The Redbills #Feri'um Wihls #G'avan Roya #WHEEEEEEEEEEE I LOVE THE REDBILLS

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psalm22-6 · 2 years

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1862 Review of Jean Valjean

I am loving reading this reviews that came out as the book did. First it’s just funny to see that a “volume” to them did not mean the same thing as a volume means to us now; for them there were 10 volumes of LM. Second, I like to see how their opinions are similar or different than opinions now. This reviewer did not like what happened to Javert.

Also, sort of interesting note that the author says Hugo doesn’t bite the hand that feeds him in LM. Whereas other reviewers I have read complain that Hugo does just that. Divisive.

Also, this review contains the hilarious (at least to me) line “Le tableau de l’insurrection de juin 1832 n’est passeulement terrible, il est flamboyant.” Which at first I read to mean “Not only was it terrible, it was flamboyantly bad.” But then everything the author said about it after that was positive? So I realized that couldn’t be right...so after poking around on wordreference dot com I settled on “terrifying” and “blazing” which still doesn’t sound perfect but you get the gist. I’m only an amateur, always open to feed back.

Also this journalist is the same one who attended the Brussels banquet in honor of Hugo, which is an article I’ve also translated.

Le Charivari 16 July 1862

LES MISERABLES BY VICTOR HUGO — FINAL PART

The last four volumes of Les Misérables were awaited with feverish anxiety. If ever literary curiosity went so far as passion then it would be for the occasion of the final work of Victor Hugo. The seventh volume contains the story Marius and Cosette’s love. This idyll, as the author himself calls it, is cut by dramatic episodes and political events of such importance that the reader’s emotion is forcibly shared between the combatants in the rue Saint-Denis and the love in the rue Plumet.

The tableau of the insurrection of June 1832 is not only terrifying, it is blazing. These street wars cannot be depicted with more grandiosity or truth. The adventures unfold to the point of forming a complete drama.

Marius’s arrival and the apparition of Jean Valjean on the barricade, Gavert’s [sic] arrest, the playfulness of Gavroche in the face of bullets, the heroism of these young people who, like the gladiators of antiquity, say calmly to liberty: “We who are about to die salute you.” All this frightening turbulence of a city at arms is translated by Victor Hugo with admirable precision and lucidity. Imagine a man who had succeeded in fixing on paper the flashes of a storm.

In the final two volumes, titled Jean Valjean, the hero of the book, hunted like a wild animal after the barricade is taken, saves the wounded Marius and through unimaginable danger, brings him back to his grandfather, M. Gillenormand. Jean Valjean takes sacrifice to the limit: after having saved Marius he gives him Cosette.

He goes further still: the marriage concluded, he finds Marius and makes his confession. He delivered him from harm, now he delivers his confession as well; after which, understanding that his terrestrial mission is complete and that by ceasing to be useful to her, his presence at Cosette's would become compromising, he distances himself bit by bit, isolates himself, and dies.

The sadness of the old convict, having done everything on earth to redeem himself without being able to achieve it and feeling that he is dying far from the only being he loves in the world, is one of the most heartbreaking spectacles that one can see and constitutes on of the most beautiful passages ever written in our language.

It seems that all the keen force of the author is concentrated in these last parts. The orator and the historian often take the place of the novelist. The seventh volume is a marvelous tableau of the situation of France in 1830 and is a portrait, which is a master-piece, the portrait of Louis-Philippe.

It is the fashion in all countries, in France as elsewhere, perhaps more so than elsewhere, that politicians throw stones at the tree that fed them and bite the hand that honored them. Victor Hugo, whose ideas have always been expanding, did not believe himself obliged to condemn the opinions and the men that he has broken with. He paid Louis-Philippe and the esteemed princes of the Orléans family a charming homage because he is impartial.

We will read these lines which are full of heart and they will remain not only as a model from honest people but as a lesson for the others.

Now Victor Hugo will permit us an observation. Among all his characters, whose personalities do not contradict themselves for a minute, there is one exception which is difficult to accept, that is Javert. The author almost created an honorable man out of this bloodhound of a policeman. For an individual who actively involves himself in an insurrection, who helps to build the barricades, who may be dragging a few weak heads into the fray, which he then points out to the gendarmes, can only be in our opinion a terrible rascal.

To conclude, Les Misérables, besides the profound considerations of the plot and also the immense success that it has achieved, attests one again to the talent of Victor Hugo and all the while it is without contest one of the most important novels published in the last 15 years, it will take first place among the great studies of contemporary history.

Henri Rochefort

#les miserables #my translation #contemporary reaction

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sophielupin11 · 2 years

Text

Hi guys,

So I had a fic request by @cielfangirl1 and I started writing it. It turned out to be a really good theme and I don't have the heart to just compress it into 800 words or so. But I feel that the requester has a right to see my work as it is right now so I am gonna post this here.

Any opinions?

Stranded

Pavel was in fact quite bored. The shuttle flew with them since half an hour, and his excitement quickly worn off after the departure.

He was looking out from the window. He saw the enlarging bulb of the Nezar Two, the planet which was their destination. Their mission was to collect some minerals which were vital for a healing serum.

His companions were the ever-logical Vulcan first officer, Spock and two redshirts whom he didn't know at all.

At least Hikaru could go with him. But he needed to stay because Captain Kirk said so. He already missed his boyfriend. Boyfriend...The word was still new to Pavel. Oh, if he could be here right now...

But why didn't the transporter work? Scotty already started fixing it but he didn't finish until now. Typical.

"Landing in three minutes twenty-one seconds!" Spock's voice interrupted Pavel's grim thoughts. "Start preparing!"

Suddenly the shuttle started shaking.

"What's happening?" belowed one of the redshirts.

"It seems like we're in a plasma storm!" Pavel shouted trying to be louder than the instruments' crazy beeping.

The shuttle shaked more and more violently. It was now hard to keep standing. Spock tried to rebalance them, but with little success. Pavel was grasping his chair and got ready for the impact...

***

Spock waked up. The bright light made him to close his eyes for a second.

When he finally was able to look around, he saw some trees above him. He was lying on the ground.

The impact came into his mind...He must've lost consciousness.

He checked for injuries on his body. Apart from minor bruises and a bigger cut on his left arm he was unharmed.

He slowly got up to his feet and looked around more carefully.

Twenty-nine feet away there was a redshirt lying on the ground. A piece of metal stabbed him in the stomach and came out from his back. Spock couldn't help but feel a slight nausea.

He looked for Mr Chekov and the other redshirt who was named Natasha Marrow.

Miss Marrow lied still in her chair which was torn off by the energy of the impact. A look could tell Spock that she was dead.

Chekov was also on the ground, unconscious. Spock walked to him, kneeled down and checked for his pulse. His heart was beating.

He had an ugly wound on his forehead, but this wasn't the main problem.

His right leg was covered in red blood. It seemed as though it was broken and it beared several deep cuts. No, they weren't cuts...They were scratches.

***

Pavel woke up with a strong headache. His vision was blurry at first but then it cleared. He was in a big cave.

He saw Spock examining his leg.

"W...what happened?" he asked hoarsely.

Spock didn't answer immediately.

"Here...drink something." He handed a bottle of water to Pavel.

Pavel almost drained it before he came back to his mind. He couldn't drink this all. Who knows when can they find water again.

Spock somehow found out what was going on in his mind.

"You can drink it all. I don't need water as much as you humans do."

"But...you need water, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. But not for four weeks."

"So what happened?" Pavel asked after he drained the bottle.

"We crashed. The two other crewmen are dead and you also have severe injuries and lost a lot of blood."

"I see..." Pavel said slowly. Then he tried to get up. He immediately regretted it, his leg responded with such a strong pain.

"Don't move" Spock said surprisingly gently. "Your leg is broken"

"Aye, sir" Pavel lied still now.

"I will go get some food" said Spock and stood up. "Don't try to get up. If any...problem occurs, call for me. I won't be far."

So Spock walked away and Pavel was left alone. Great. He had to admit that he wasn't keen on this. He was in fact quite worried. What if some kind of animal just comes here and attacks him in the hope of easy food?

When Pavel heard the sounds of something going towards him and loudly snapping the tree branches, he felt that his worst thought came alive.

He didn't have time to call for Spock. The thing appeared in the entrance of the cave.

It had a furry body in the size of a bear but it was somehow...more graceful. Its bare teeth were a sick shade of yellow. Its eyes were glowing with...anger?

Pavel just lied there, paralyzed. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He's going to die. He quickly thought of Hikaru. He wanted him to be his last thought.

Then Spock arrived and immediately attacked the thing with a big thick branch which he probably just picked up from the ground.

The thing turned to Spock and tried to bite him. Spock swung the branch and hit the animal. It collapsed.

Spock hurried to Pavel.

"Is everything all right?" he asked calmly as though he only catched a fly.

"Yeah...I think."

"We need to leave now. I will carry you." Spock said and without letting Pavel say anything he lifted the boy up.

***

#star trek #fanfic #star trek tos

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servin-up-surveys · 1 year

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survey #117

(taken february 21st; uploading surveys taken while gone)

Have you ever sat under a bridge? Yes, when fishing with Dad.

Do you ever go fishing or do you find it to be cruel? ^ lol what a coincidence. If you're fishing for food, I'm fine with it, but fishing solely for fun is absolutely something I find cruel nowadays. You are terrifying the life out of and damaging that animal and putting it back in the dirty water with an open wound. I'm not gonna lie and say I wouldn't still go if Dad asked me to because that was our "thing" growing up, and we also barely ever see each other, so I would suck it up in that case.

Do you have trouble remembering people’s names? Absolutely yes. You're lucky as hell if I remember your name early.

What’s your favorite kind of tree? Wisteria. I adore weeping willows, too.

Do you like mozzarella sticks? No.

Do you share any of the same favorite bands as your parents/guardians? Ozzy is like, Mom's second-favorite artist after Metallica, I'm pretty sure. I know he's WAY up there. She likes loads other bands that I like too. Dad's favorite is Van Halen (that I know of), who I also really enjoy, but they're not a real "favorite."

Have you ever been in a wedding? I was a bridesmaid in my sister's, yes. I was supposed to be one in another sister's wedding as well, but at this time Mom was diagnosed with cancer and going through chemo so getting to Ohio was out of the question. I'm pretty sure Misty had the ceremony filmed for Mom; she is basically THE only mother she's ever had and desperately wanted her there, but she of course completely and entirely understood why it wasn't reasonable.

Who’s the last person’s birthday that you celebrated? What’d you do? My niece Emerson's. Per usual for my sister's kids' parties, we really just got together at her place with family and friends, chatted, ate, let the kids play.

Are your parents divorced? If so, when did it happen? Yeah. I was like, 17-ish.

Have you ever attended a bachelorette party? No.

What do you take pictures of most often? My cat, lol.

Have you ever gotten your period more than once in a month? I feel like this has happened once? Maybe?

What’s the smallest animal that you’re afraid of? Ticks, most likely. I am TERRIFIED of them.

What was your parents’ opinion on same-sex relationships? Mom is totally for them. I don't know about Dad, but just knowing who he is as a person/the general gist of how he thinks, he probably thinks it's unnatural or weird. He was perfectly decent to Sara when she visited though and he met her, and he knew we were dating.

What’s one alcoholic beverage that you do not enjoy? I've never tried a wine I enjoyed.

Have you ever had someone throw up on you before? No, I'd basically rather die.

Do you prefer pads or tampons, if you need them? I hate both honestly, but I semi-recently went back to pads.

How old did your oldest pet live to be? What kind of pet was it? I'm pretty sure that would be my dog Teddy. He made it to 13. He was a beagle/cocker spaniel mix.

What’s the best movie without a happy ending? The Boy in the Striped Pajamas comes to mind. It's sad as absolute hell, but the ending FUCKING haunts you. It shoves in your face the absolute evil humanity is capable of, and to never, ever let an event like the Holocaust happen EVER again.

What is something you think is actually better about today’s generation? I think each generation is getting better at being accepting of people they don't understand and even encouraging them to be themselves, even if they don't "get it." Also very worth mentioning is how mental health problems are being noticeably destigmatized.

What’s the worst episode of your favorite TV show? It's not that it's a bad episode story-wise or how it's portrayed or anything, but the MM episode where Flower dies just fucking destroyed me, and I'd probably still cry if I re-watched it.

Which fictional character do you think you’d be great friends with? Clearsight from Wings of Fire.

Do you have the same religious beliefs as your parents? Absolutely not. Both are Christians, while I quite seriously abhor religion.

What’s your favorite Led Zeppelin song? "Kashmir" is fucking iconic.

Who would you call a lyrical genius? Otep Shamaya.

Who supports you financially? Mostly Mom, but also my dad.

Who knows the most about you (besides yourself)? Mom, maybe? Though there are types of things I don't share with her that I do with select others.

Would you be/are you a good role model to a younger sibling? I know I'm not. No one would ever guess Nicole is my "little" sister given how successful, independent, and capable she is. It kinda hit me like a meteor recently how I don't think I've ever heard either of my sisters say anything along the lines of them being proud of me or anything, ever. I very genuinely think I'm embarrassing to both of them.

Who was the last non-relative woman you spoke to in person? A lady at the social security office.

What’s a topic you’ve drastically changed your opinion on? A metric shit-ton of things truly, but one of the strongest and most drastic is my view on gay rights. I used to be a homophobic/transphobic Christian, and now I very sincerely wish I could strangle that bitch. I am VERY pro-LGBTQ+ now and have been for many years.

How many bedrooms does your house have? TECHNICALLY three, but the extra bedroom is this spare kind of "office" room I have where I sit at the computer.

Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis? No, and let's PLEASE keep it that way. That shit sounds terrifying.

Does the thought of having wrinkles when you’re older upset you? Not really, I mean, literally every single person who lives a truly full life gets there... I don't WANT them, but knowing I will doesn't upset me.

Do you know anyone who’s struggling with addiction? Yes. I mean all things considered, I myself am. Granted, I'm not addicted to anything that is in itself dangerous, like drugs or alcohol or self-harm, but the severity of how reliant I am on technology/the Internet is ABSOLUTELY an addiction and it severely does control my life.

Are any other members of your household home right now? Mom's home, yeah.

Were you upset when you found out certain things weren’t real? (santa, tooth fairy...) Not *upset*, no. By the time I learned those things weren't real, I'd totally suspected it. Of course I wanted them to be real, 'cuz I mean what kid DOESN'T want to believe in fun, magical stuff like that, but I wasn't upset at all.

Name something you’re proud of. Brag a little bit. I really am proud of myself for how dedicated I'm being in job-hunting. It feels FUCKING GOOD to FINALLY be in a place where I feel like if I find the right conditions, I really can work. I'm checking the Indeed website every single day, searching various terms or job titles that I think might bring up something worth investigating, and I refuse to stop until I find something.

Where would you like to go right now? I miss Girt already lol, I wish he was here or I was at his place, but he's working today. He stayed late last night (and it takes him around 30 minutes to get home) so he's probably a zombie right now.

Do you pay any attention to celebrity drama? Uh no, I could NOT care less.

What’s been an embarrassing phase you went through? If the "s0 raNdOM XDDD!!!!" pre-teen Brittany manifested as her own human being, I would LITERALLY set out on a quest to murder her and bury her miles underground lmfao

What’s the ugliest animal in your opinion? Probably like, the blobfish lmao.

What about cutest? Meerkats. Call it a bias, but COME ON, they're foot-tall little furry dudes with big eyes and make cute noises and can stand on their hind legs thinkin' they're all big 'n' shit, I FUCKING love them.

Are you good at math? No, and I've gotten worse and worse the older I've gotten. Whenever numbers are involved in honestly like, anything, I just CANNOT interpret information. Like you can explain and explain and explain, and I'm just NOT going to understand. It's honestly extremely embarrassing, just how bad my ability to understand math is.

Have you given any thought about what the Christian god looks like? How they think their devil looks. :^)

What’s your most used emojis? Most likely the sobbing one. I use it for both obviously sad cases but probably even more so like the "crying from laughing" kind of way.

Who’s one of the most talented people you know? What are they talented at? That's... so hard, picking just one. I absolutely consider Tez very high on this list, given his fantastic art skills, in a serious plethora of forms. I also think he's a very strong writer with FANTASTIC character-building skills.

Have you ever experienced a medical emergency? Yes. Off the top of my head, a concussion and a cold medicine overdose. I don't THINK breaking my wrist was a real medical emergency, like I obviously wasn't dying or at any serious, life-threatening risk.

Are you muscular? Uh, NO.

Do you have one of those removable hand-held shower heads? Yes; they're kinda mandatory for me anyway, using a shower chair. Even when I could comfortably shower standing up though, I very much preferred when you could remove them because I found it much easier to thoroughly get soap off everywhere.

How many burners does your stove have? Four.

When you go to a restaurant, do you prefer to sit at a booth or a table? Booth.

Has your car ever been broken into? No.

What genre was the last song you listened to? Who provided the vocals? Uh Asking Alexandria is some kind of heavier metal, but the song is a Nine Inch Nails cover, and I have no idea what you'd consider the genre of the OG bc I don't really listen to or like that band. The singer of Asking Alexandria at the time was Danny Worsnop, apparently.

Do you have any medical appointments coming up anytime soon? Always, honestly... I know I'm fucking finally seeing an endocrinologist soon, I think next month or the one after.

Have you heard anyone singing today, or has anyone sung in your presence? Besides listening to music, no, I don't think so.

What food or drinks makes your teeth hurt? Ice cream absolutely can.

Who did you last hold hands with? Girt.

Do you have a loud or more soft laugh? I'm a fucking hyena stg

Is there anyone who makes you smile no matter what mood you’re in? Girt seriously can.

Have you ever stargazed with someone? Kinda, I guess.

Are there any things coming up that you have to travel for? Uhhhh not that I know of. I know Mom wants to go back up to New York, but it's looking like she MIGHT be reconciling with and seeing her absolute rancid shitbag of a brother that nearly tore the family apart after their mom died, and I told her I fucking REFUSE to go if we're staying at his house. I won't even visit that fucking house, ever again. He is no family of mine. My mom is way more forgiving than I am, but what's wild is it's not like Rob has changed at all... The law just squeezed him into doing what he had to do if he didn't want to go to jail. Her other brother Bill, who REALLY dealt with Rob and his catastrophic bullshit, is on the same page as me; he refuses to call him family ever again. I'll stay with HIS family if we go up there. I absolutely adore his wife and want to see her again anyway.

What’s one of your biggest accomplishments today? I actually very thoroughly did my PT exercises. More than I usually do, with more focus, and the appropriate number of sets. I FELT it. I'm getting better about doing them as time passes; it's just been a challenge to remember them and solidify them into my routine.

What was the name of the main character in the last book you read? In the one I'm currently in the process of reading, his name is Turtle.

What was the last pill you took? Ibuprofen. I had a headache. Probably from staying up all night last night and only allowing myself to sleep like, 2-3 hours in the morning...

If you were a rockstar, what color guitar would you have? Ehhhh maybe black, but with a cool design or texture on it.

What are three other names you like that start with the same letter as your name? Uhhh Bianca, Bella, and uh... Belle? Not many come to mind that I really love.

Have you ever met a Jason that you didn’t like? A Jason scarred me for life, lmfao, but I don't not like him.

What was the name of the person who bullied you the most in high school? Just Rachel, really. But that was brief... ish.

#survey #surveys #random questions #personal questions

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theteasetwrites · 2 years

Text

Soft Spot | Part 2

❧ Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Female Reader ❧ Era: Season 1 ❧ Pronouns: she/her ❧ Warnings: SMUT—fingering, praise kink, finger licking, doggystyle, missionary, gentle sex, Daryl being soft, swearing, violence, Merle being a creep ❧ Word Count: 6.4k

❧ Requested by @deathishereditary (this request—this is the second part)

❧ Summary: Adjusting to life in Daryl’s camp, you have a less than enjoyable interaction with Merle when he is caught spying on you changing in your tent. Daryl leaps into protective mode, and you just admit, it awakens something in you.

❧ A/N: Here it is! The smutty sequel to Soft Spot. I really love this Daryl x Reader couple, they're so cute! I honestly don't even care if this Daryl is OOC (in my opinion, he isn't OOC... I could genuinely see him being this soft/cutesy with his SO, but maybe that's just me lol). Also I came so close to adding a daddy kink but I restrained myself.

Daryl watched with a sharp, alert gaze as you dipped yourself in the water, nude and vulnerable in the middle of walker-infested woods, but you insisted upon him taking you further out, away from the prying eyes of the group at the quarry, who still were amazed by your presence, even after a week had passed since Daryl found you.

“A nice bath,” you had said. “I need a nice bath, Daryl. Please?”

As usual, he relented, taking you out to a pond nestled amongst the trees in the forest just outside the camp. It was perfect for privacy, it being shrouded in trees and bushy overgrowth, but his main concern was walkers, as usual. That, and you were still recovering from your two-day-old injury, walking with a slight limp that sent a sharp pang of hurt through his own body. If you needed to run away, he was sure he’d have to carry you, but what you wanted was what you would get, as far as he was concerned.

“Don’t go too far now!” he hollered to you. “Best to stay close, shallow end.”

You smiled and shook your head. “You should come in! The water feels so good… And you’re filthy, Daryl.”

He scoffed. “‘M fine.” Of course, the water did look inviting, and so did you, with your breasts bobbing ever so slightly in the weak current. His drawn out stare brought a blush to your cheeks, and you subconsciously covered your breasts, despite knowing he’d seen them many times before.

“Can’t you just come in for a little bit, pumpkin?” you asked sweetly, playing on his weakness for you. Of course, you always used your power for good; he could never say no to you, and you used that to get him to do things that you were sure would be good for him. This time, you were determined to get him clean. For his own good. “For me?”

He chewed thoughtfully on his bottom lip, fiddling with his crossbow as he leaned back on the tree he’d been dutifully standing guard at. He had to admit, he was filthy, caked in dirt and blood and sweat and God knows what else. Probably tree sap, which made him slightly flammable. He was sure he’d brushed up against some poison oak, too, and that was the last thing he wanted to deal with, on top of everything else going on.

“What about the walkers?” he asked you. “Someone’s gotta keep watch.”

“You can keep watch in here,” you laughed. “Please, sweetheart?”

A flash of your wide, batting eyes was enough to push him over the edge. He stripped himself of his clothes rather quickly, hoping to get the whole ordeal over with so he could go back to watching out for walkers again, then marched towards the edge of the pond with his crossbow and knife in hand, naked.

You found yourself beaming at the image of him stripped bare, dipping himself in the pond while he rather reluctantly set his weapons on a rock for ease of reach. “I ain’t gonna be in here long,” he said. “We should get back soon, anyway. Sun’s gonna start goin’ down in an hour or so. Gotta put some more ointment on your wound.”

You sighed and waded closer to him, your feet barely stepping on the ground below the water. Ignoring his rambling about safety, you reached for your washcloth and raised it above his head to wring the water out over his hair. The light, ashy brown strands stuck adorably to the sides of his face and his forehead, while his face scrunched up tight in reaction.

“We’re going to get you clean, mister,” you said with a smile. “Nice and clean… I just wish we had soap.”

He rolled his eyes, though his quivering lips that curled into an ever so slight, barely detectable smile betrayed him. You began scrubbing his bare chest with your washcloth, though your touch was so light and delicate that you feared you’d have trouble really scraping off all that caked-on dirt and gore.

Your tongue stuck out between your lips just a sliver as you concentrated on getting bits of sticky tree sap out of the sparse forest of short, wiry hairs on his broad chest, the same one you fell asleep on every night. It was good to know it would once again be clean for tonight.

“How did you get tree sap in your chest hairs?” you giggled sweetly.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out,” he replied, with his usual scoff thrown in. If you hadn’t known him so well, you might’ve thought he was serious, but he was joking with you, you could tell. “Maybe I just wanted an excuse for you to wash me, though…”

“Mhm, sure…” Your smile seemed to fade as you watched the water drip down his chest, suddenly reminding you of how different everything had become, how the world would never be like it was before. Most of all, that intrusive thought snuck up on you again, as it often had at the most inconvenient of times: Do I belong here?

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” you said, shaking your head and managing a small smile. “Just thinking…”

“‘Bout what?”

You scoffed and shook your head to throw him off your trail, but he only lowered his gaze and looked more seriously at you, trying to draw the anxiety from your mind out into the open. That intense, blue-eyed gaze was nothing short of immensely powerful.

“I miss our apartment,” you finally said. Your gaze moved downward as you scrubbed his abdomen, trying not to look him in the eyes with the shame you felt in admitting your sadness. “I miss my family. Going to work… Never thought I’d miss that. I think I even miss that stupid squeaky floorboard in the living room, and the overflowing toilet that drove you crazy. I was just thinking about all that.”

He smirked at the memory of your apartment’s terrible plumbing system, and how much you shivered underneath the stream of cold water from the old shower. The water heater was always so fickle, no matter how many times Daryl tried to fix it. The only solution was to get in the shower with you in an attempt to shield you from the direct assault of icy cold water, and to try to keep you warm with his body heat.

“This is better than that damn shower, though,” he said, trying to lift your spirits.

“I suppose,” you laughed. “And at least we have each other, right?”

“Right.” He leaned forward to peck your lips, his eyes fluttering to meet your gaze as his lips gently pulled away, but not too far, as he wasn’t quite willing to leave your lips completely. “Ya know I’d never let anything or anyone hurt you, right?”

You nodded vehemently. If there was anything you knew, you knew that. “Of course,” you said. “You’re my hero.”

“I am?” he asked with a smirk.

“You know you are… Always making me feel safe. You’re so good to me, and I’m such a wimp.”

“Ya know I hate it when you say that.” His hand raised to graze your cheek, and you couldn’t help but lean into his touch, a touch you were so desperate for, as always. “You ain’t a wimp. You’re perfect. I don’t blame ya for bein’ scared, for missing things. Everyone’s scared… Maybe I’m a little scared, too. Scared of losing you.”

You smiled sadly, though you tried to lighten the mood just to keep yourself from crying. “Merle, too?”

He scoffed. “Merle? Pfft, he’s all right, but he ain’t you… My bunny.”

He elicited a soft whimper of surprise from you when he grabbed you by your waist, pulling you against his chest and causing you to drop the washcloth into the water with a splash.

His lips crashed onto yours, sweetly and yet with so much hunger, as he hadn’t been this intimate with you since before you were separated a little over a week ago. For the two days you were at his camp, he’d only touch you to hold you or kiss your cheek, as he knew you were still recovering from your injury. Still, he hadn’t been immune to his desire for you, his innate need to be with you in the way only he could.

He needed your soft, sweet body beneath his, letting him guide you as he drew you closer and closer to abject pleasure. He needed to hear your little moans and whimpers of uncontrollable, carnal bliss as he hit deep into you, gently and with the utmost care, but also with so much passion you swore you saw his eyes roll into the back of his head.

For fear of hurting your leg, he had been holding back the heat that was rising in him, but with you naked, soaking wet, no less, he couldn’t keep pretending he wasn’t desperate for physical intimacy. The privacy helped, too, of course. Sharing a tent with Merle wasn’t the most ideal situation, you’d be the first to admit.

His hand reached below water to take a handful of your ass, the pressure of which sent your core careening into his where you felt his hardening. All the while, his tongue slipped into your gaping mouth to taste you, wriggling it around too fast for your tongue to keep up.

His hand moved around to cup your groin, where he put immense, sudden pressure on your clit. You whimpered into his mouth and trembled in his arms, the way he loved. He loved how you reacted to him, how sensitive you always were. It made him want to be more delicate with you, yet at the same time, he wanted to devour you, to elicit the most lascivious noises from your sweet mouth.

“Daryl,” you laughed against his cheek when he finally removed his lips from yours. His tongue tickled your ear playfully, while his hand rubbed more feverishly at your clit until you gasped and clinged harder to his back. “Daryl! Oh!”

The feeling of his finger gently entering you caused you to open your eyes in shock, and immediately your gaze was drawn to a lumbering figure slowly, but steadily, approaching, coming closer to the pond as it moved between the trees in the summery golden hour.

“Oh, Daryl,” you moaned, somewhere between pleasure and fear. You dug your chin into his shoulder and tapped harshly on his soaking wet back. “Daryl!” you cried out a little louder now, as the walker surely could see the two of you now. “Look!”

He grunted as you hit his back once more. “What?”

His peripheral vision drew him to the sight of the walker getting dangerously close to the pond. “Ah, shit!”

He waded swiftly through the water, back to the edge of the pond to retrieve his crossbow.

He lifted himself up and out of the small reservoir, naked and dripping wet, to lift his weapon and aim it directly at the creature’s rotting head. He shot the thing down, and you breathed a sigh of relief.

He huffed and looked around, now noticing sundown was fast approaching. “Let’s get back,” he said to you, then held out his hand to help you out of the pond. “Could be more comin’.”

The idea frightened you, and yet, you couldn’t help but smile as he wrapped a bath towel around you, rubbing your arms up and down to dry you off. “What’re you smilin’ about, huh?”

You shrugged and watched him tie his own towel around his waist. “Just… I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone shoot a crossbow naked before… Kind of alluring.”

He smirked and shook his head, slightly bashfully, and yet with a hint of mischief. “Let’s get back,” he said again. “We got unfinished business, bunny.”

“What about your brother?” you asked.

He shrugged. “He can sleep outside tonight.”

Night fell not long after returning to camp, and you found yourself brushing through your damp hair as you sat upon the cot you shared with Daryl in his tent. He’d left momentarily to retrieve some MREs from the center of camp, leaving you alone in only your towel, slightly exhausted but eager for Daryl to make love to you as he promised.

You recalled how much Daryl loved when you wore his shirts, how they covered you almost like a short nightgown, and how in the morning after sleeping in them, his shirts would carry your scents reminding him of you.

Stripping the towel from your body, you slowly rose to cross the tent and dig through Daryl’s small pile of clothes. His cleanest shirt at the moment was his old yellow plaid flannel with the sleeves cut off (as he had a habit of doing), so you laid it out on the cot before you, then crossed over again to rummage through the pile of undergarments Daryl had found for you just the day before.

It felt wonderful to slip on that clean pair of panties, and before slipping into Daryl’s shirt, you bundled it up in your hands and held it up to your nose, taking a deep breath as you took in his scent of tobacco and pine. The subtle tickle of the fabric against your bare breasts was exhilarating, and caused you to giggle a little to yourself, though the sound was muffled by the soft shirt held against your lips.

Merle’s beady, sharp blue eyes peeked through the slight crevice of the flaps opening up to your tent. They followed your body’s every move, every heave of your chest as you took in another whiff of Daryl’s comforting scent. You might’ve been able to feel a perverse pair of eyes on you if you weren’t so enraptured, but you couldn’t feel a thing other than the cotton grazing your now clean, bare skin.

He watched you intently, almost suspiciously, as if you knew you were putting on a little show for him, teasing him. When you pulled the shirt away from your chest, revealing your breasts once again, his breath hitched and his smile curled into a cruel smirk. It wasn’t that he was particularly interested in you had you not been with Daryl, but the fact that you were was almost like an overt challenge to his masculinity, and his superiority as the older brother. His younger brother with a woman, while Merle was facing the end of the world on his own? It annoyed him, and so seeing you half-nude was a rather amusing thought to him, and you had a hell of a rack, he thought.

“What the hell are you doin’?!”

Daryl’s voice bellowed and echoed throughout the camp. You flinched, quickly pulling on Daryl’s shirt before buttoning it in a haste. Throwing aside the flaps of the tent, you were met with the image of Daryl ferociously attacking Merle to the ground, the both of them nearly rolling into the flames of the bonfire.

“Get off me!” Merle shouted, though his words were slurred as Daryl’s hand squished his face against the ground. Merle spat before kneeing Daryl in the groin, and he quickly moved to get the upper hand, standing above Daryl, who writhed in pain for just a moment. His anger was enough to get him back up.

He scooted himself back and launched himself up to clasp his hands around Merle’s neck, then pushed him steadily backwards until the older brother’s back was firmly pressed against the nearest tree. His hands tightened around his throat as he snarled, with a low growl punctuating his words: “I’ll fuckin’ kill you, Merle,” he said. “I will… You never, ever watch ‘er, you hear me?”

“Pfft,” he laughed. “You’d kill your own brother for that little slut? Boy, it’s time you grew a pair of balls and stop thinkin’ about hooch all the damn time!”

“Oh, yeah?! That why you were watchin’ ‘er change?! You fuckin’ creep!”

Your legs almost gave out where you stood, and suddenly you felt alien in your own body, ashamed of yourself for not noticing the peeping Tom outside your tent.

Dizziness took over, taking you back into the tent and flinging you onto Daryl’s cot, where you buried your head in his pillow and let loose tears of embarrassment.

Outside, you heard more yelling, more arguing between the two brothers, as well as heavy rustling and hitting that must’ve been indicative of violence.

You only hoped Daryl wasn’t hurt, but judging by the fact that he was the one yelling, you supposed it was him delivering most of the blows.

“You so much as look at my woman again,” you heard him say, “I will gouge your eyes out, Merle. I ain’t fuckin’ joking.”

Your breathing became ragged with fear now, having never seen or heard Daryl acting with such rage. You had seen him angry, but never like this. Never violent towards his own brother, and yet, in a strange way, you found it somewhat endearing. He was protecting your honor, so to speak, even if he was doing it in a rather… unorthodox way.

The fear was intoxicating, exciting, you hated to admit. You knew he would never hurt you, or anyone who didn’t deserve it, but his uncontrollable, impulsive nature filled you with a sense of uncertainty that intrigued you. It was different from the Daryl who made you feel safe and secure. Of course, you still felt that, but slightly more on edge. It was terribly alluring.

“Hey,” he said, much more softly now, though still a little heated from his anger. “You all right?”

He sat himself on the edge of the cot, one hand coming into contact with your back as he rubbed it, the warm, heavy hand soothing you almost immediately.

“Mhm,” you mumbled with a sniffle against the pillow. “I didn’t know he was watching me… I can’t believe he saw me naked, Daryl. How am I going to live that down? I’m so embarrassed.”

He huffed and laid himself down beside you, immediately scooping you into his arms and aligning your body with his. You felt one hand smoothing out your hair, and the other holding yours.

“He brings it up again and I’ll set him straight,” he said. “Promise. Won’t let him bother you.”

You smiled and tugged tighter on his hand before bringing it to your lips to kiss his palm. “You scare me sometimes, Daryl Dixon,” you muttered against his hand. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that angry.”

He frowned, knowing how much you hated the sound of yelling, how sensitive you were to violence. He’d always tried to never let the side of him come out in front of you, since you preferred his softness, but Merle’s act of perversion and invasion of privacy had driven him over the edge. Ever since you arrived, Merle had a chip on his shoulder, hurling crass comments your way and insulting Daryl for how “pussy whipped” he was. The eavesdropping was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“Sorry,” he said, burying his face into your hair and tightening his body against yours. “Couldn’t help it. He shoulda known better. He’s lucky he got away with just a bloody nose.”

You squirmed in his arms, somewhere between slight fear and lustful restlessness. His body pressed up to yours did little to distract you from your arousal, but all Daryl felt was your trembling. He felt like a monster, no better than that walker who’d interrupted your bath that evening, or even Merle himself.

“Do I really scare ya, sweetheart?” he asked. “‘Cause I don’t wanna scare ya, not at all… And I’d never, ever hurt you.”

You turned to sit up straight and face him. He stared up at you seriously, with a hint of sadness in his eyes. Even the thought of hurting you was too much to bear. Scaring you was almost just as bad. Someone so sweet and sensitive as you deserved to be protected, not terrified.

“I know that,” you said. “I said you scare me sometimes, not all the time… And besides, I didn’t say I don’t like it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What d’ya mean by that?” he asked in genuine curiosity. “Thought you hate bein’ scared.”

“I do,” you sighed. “But… I don’t know.”

He sat up beside you, reaching his hand out to sweep back a chunk of hair that hung over the side of your face. “Talk to me, sweet girl. Can’t always just sit there lookin’ pretty. I know you got a lot goin’ on in there.” He tapped the side of your head gently with his index finger, eliciting a giggle from you.

“Well, it’s no big deal,” you said with a shrug. “I just thought it was kind of… nice.”

“Thought what was nice?” he asked, his lips curling into a slight smirk as he started understanding what you meant.

You bit your lip and raised your head to meet his gaze, sharp yet soft, cool yet warm. The man was a walking contradiction, in the best possible way. He could be so cruel and mean, and so sweet and kind, all at once. In any case, he was sensitive. Soft, even. Everything he did was out of softness. Even his anger was born of his love for you.

“You know, how you, um… Stood up for me, I guess.”

But that wasn’t the half of it. It wasn’t just “nice,” it was intoxicatingly attractive.

“In fact,” you continued, “it was… thrilling.”

“Thrilling?”

“Mhm… Exhilarating. Maybe a little too exhilarating.”

You giggled as you thought to yourself about the sound of Daryl’s anger, how much it reminded you of his familiar grunts and groans. The redness and protruding veins all about his face were also reminiscent of a scene you often replayed in your dreams.

He caught on quickly, moving behind you and cradling your body between his legs, which enclosed around you tight. His hands grabbed your waist and scooted you backwards until your ass sat snug with his crotch. You simply had no choice but to be turned on now, damn the embarrassment of Merle seeing you half-naked. All that mattered now was Daryl.

“I got you excited, huh?” he asked, his lips tickling your ear as he whispered. “You got a dirty mind, bunny?”

“No,” you laughed. “I’m as pure as the driven snow. You’re the one who corrupts me… By the way, you promised you’d take care of me tonight.”

He knew from two years of experience that “take care of” was your polite little euphemism for sex. He loved it, though. Taking care of you was perhaps his favorite thing to do.

His hand gently caressed your sides, lifting up his worn flannel shirt you’d taken for yourself with each pass, just enough so he could see your panties, and lick his lips at the sight. “I’ll take care of you,” he whispered. “Don’t I always take care of you, princess?”

“Mmm, yes,” you giggled as his fingertips tickled your sides. “You take such good care of me, Daryl…”

His hands rose to cup your breasts, kneading them slowly as his cheek rubbed against yours, his scruff tickling your soft skin.

“You put this on just for me?” he asked. “‘Cause ya know I love it when you wear my shirts… Love wearin’ it knowin’ you were in it. You’re such a sexy little thing…”

You blushed as he reached up to yank open the top button of the shirt, then the next few until he could slip his hand beneath to tweak at your nipple.

“Daryl!” you giggled.

He groaned hoarsely, almost animalistically, against your ear, and trailed his lips down your neck to leave traces of his saliva.

“I’m gonna make you squirm,” he said. “Gonna make your pussy twitch real nice… You’re gonna whimper just for me.”

“Yes…”

His hand slipped down to grab your clothed crotch, sending you jolting in his arms. Your back arched as you thrusted instinctually against his hand, which held steadfast and strong.

“Horny bunny,” he laughed. “So cute… Let’s get these panties off, sweetheart.”

You nodded and reached down to strip off the dainty fabric, Daryl watching with hazy eyes as your core was revealed to him. He immediately parted your legs, which went limp upon feeling his touch. You anchored your feet to the surface of the cot, ready to feel Daryl’s hand pleasuring you.

The abrupt pressure of his palm nearly sent your legs closing in shock and surprise pleasure, but you quickly melted into his touch as he swirled circles around your clit.

His mouth breathed heavily against your ear, your head thrown back and resting upon his broad shoulder. His fingers moved deftly on your clit, while his other hand kept one of your trembling legs open, pressing firmly on your thigh.

“You’re shakin’,” he said. “I got you, (Y/N). Just relax. Let me take care of you.”

“I—I can’t help it,” you sighed. “It feels so good…”

His fingers let loose for a moment before he flattened his palm and rubbed it up and down your slit. Your teeth clenched as you let out a strained gasp at the feeling, then his fingers stretched to tickle your entrance before his index slipped inside.

Another finger slipped in, and your pussy desperately tightened to feel as much of the girth of his two fingers as you could. When his fingers pulled out, he held them to your mouth, dancing his fingertips over your slightly agape lips.

“Open,” he rasped in a whisper.

You should’ve seen that coming, knowing how much he loved to watch you suck on his fingers.

Your lips opened to greet his fingers, and they closed around them to happily suck, licking the taste of yourself off them all the while.

“Good girl,” he said, holding his forehead tenderly against yours as he watched you obey him. He gently tapped your chin, instructing you to release his fingers. “Let me taste.”

He took his own fingers into his mouth now, and groaned in abject pleasure at the taste of your arousal. “Mmm,” he moaned. “So sweet. You’re such a good girl.”

His kiss took you by surprise, and his tongue filled your mouth to the brim, wriggling around wildly as your own tongue tried to keep up. The vigor of his mouth distracted you for a moment from the movements of his hand, now crazily swirling in tight, hard circles over your circle, digging into your core with each thrust.

“Oh!” you moaned into his mouth. “Oh, yes!”

You bucked your hips to meet his hand until he held it tight against you. His movement stopped so all he could feel was your body rutting desperately against him.

“Please don’t stop!” you begged, panting in exhaustion and need. “Oh, Daryl, please…”

“Sorry, bunny,” he said. “Just wanted to watch you for a sec. You’re my beautiful girl. Just perfect.”

You groaned and smiled deliriously, once again sinking your head onto his shoulder as his hand continued moving. “Right there…”

You grasped at his thighs on either side of you, holding on for dear life as your body climbed to the imminent peak of your pleasure. His rubbing became more vigorous, more sloppy and yet somehow more precise as he gauged exactly where you needed his attention.

Beneath you, his own need for attention was growing, and so was his cock, begging for release from the confines of his pants. You felt him harden, exciting you even more. His hand was wonderful, but his cock was magical.

As your body began to shake and squirm more and more, your ass circling and rutting against his cock, he had to keep himself from coming in his pants, but he was determined to pump himself inside you before his orgasm.

“My cock wants ya so bad,” he huffed. “Can’t wait to be inside you, sweet thing.”

“D-Daryl…” You let loose one of his thighs to grab his hair, combing your hand through it desperately. “I’m almost there,” you said.

He smiled as he kissed your cheek, so innocently, despite the context. Only he could make you feel so pure and light, yet so sexual and, for lack of a better word, dirty.

“That’s it,” he whispered. “Come for me.”

Your face strained as you tried to move your body with more pressure against his hand, with only the goal of reaching the orgasm that threatened to close in all around you.

“Oh, oh… Oh, God!”

Every thrust you made threatened to bring you to the edge, but you weren’t quite there yet. It was like your own body was teasing you, holding you on the brink of abject pleasure just for the fun of it.

“Come on…” you muttered through gritted teeth. “Daryl…”

He rubbed harder, swirling faster and with as much pressure as he could manage. “Almost there,” he encouraged. “Good girl… You’re doin’ so good.”

Finally, you felt the knot in your core release, and with a series of strained whimpers and moans, you felt a cascade of warm, tingling pulses envelop you with each uncontrollable twitch.

“I’m coming…” you sighed as you broke out into a delirious grin, your head rocking back and forth on his shoulder. You could feel his eyes on you, watching your face contorted in pleasure with each pulse of your orgasm.

Beneath the palm of his hand, he felt the twitching of your pussy as he slipped one finger in, just to feel your convulsing walls clenching around him.

“Good girl,” he said again.

His lips attacked the skin under your ear, sucking and licking in appreciation.

Once your twitching stopped, and your ragged breathing became more regular, he wasted no time in unbuttoning the rest of your shirt, then tossing it somewhere in the darkness of the tent.

He then folded his legs underneath him and used his body to pin you to the bed, his entire body weight now above you.

Your body was limp, pliable and ready to be maneuvered however he saw fit. As he lifted his body, he tugged off his shirt, rustling up his hair. All you could hear was his soft groans and deep, guttural pants, and then the clatter of his belt buckle and jeans on the canvas floor of the tent.

His strong hands maneuvered you, lifting your hips and spreading apart your legs as they bent underneath you. With his grip on your waist, you felt the sopping wet tickle of his tongue slowly licking up your spine, causing you to tremble and gasp in your increased state of sensitivity.

His lips stopped at the base of your neck, and his cock slid up your lower back, just above your bottom.

“I’m gonna go inside now,” he said. “Lick my fingers.”

He brought his hand up to your mouth, and you did as he asked, being sure to coat his hand in a thick layer of your saliva. He brought his hand back down to his cock, rubbing the spit all over his shaft before dipping his tip gently into you.

His face buried in your hair, he dug deeper, pulling out just a centimeter or so every few moments.

“You feel so good around my cock,” he whispered hoarsely into your ear, that intense southern accent so shaky as he began to lose control of himself. Every inch he moved deeper inside of you threatened his ability to hold back his jagged, aggressive movements. Still, he had to be gentle with you. He knew you liked it gentle, soft, and sweet, and he liked it that way, too, but he still had that aggressive streak, the one you apparently found to be “exciting.”

He wondered if he could go a little harder on you tonight, since you seemed to like his rough tendencies.

He didn’t have to wonder much longer. “Harder,” you whimpered. “Please, Daryl? A little harder?”

His eyes widened as he continued gently thrusting into you, as he usually did. “You sure, sweetheart?” he asked. “I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“You wouldn’t hurt me,” you said. “Just a little rougher on me, please.”

You wanted to feel him hit hard into you, to hear his animalistic grunts and groans as he neared his orgasm. And yet, you still wanted his softness, his loving touch. You knew he could somehow master both at once.

“Okay.”

He pulled you down closer to his core, sending his cock as far as it could possibly go inside your pussy. You yelped in surprise, but soon you were overtaken with pleasure as his thrusting became slightly more heavy and deliberate, with fewer intervals in between.

You could feel his hot breath on your shoulder, his lips suctioning to your skin as his hands came down to squeeze your breasts, tender and sensitive.

“Oh!” you cried out. “Yes! Daryl!”

“You like that, bunny?” he asked. “Tell me if I hurt you.”

“Oh, it feels so good… Please don’t stop.”

One hand left your breast to paw at your throbbing clit, offering more stimulation as he was determined to have you come around his cock.

“Come for me again,” he panted against your ear. “Come for your man like a good girl… Good bunny.”

Your body twitched and writhed with the overstimulation of his hand and his cock pounding harder than usual, yet still so tenderly and with the utmost care.

His hand applied more pressure to your clit, fingertips circling feverishly and demanding you to come. He needed to feel your walls closing in all around his shaft, milking him until he leaked precum inside of you.

Between his harsh, guttural panting and grunts, and the incessant squeaking of the cot, you could hardly hear anything, senses becoming dull as your body focused on that one point of pleasure, where Daryl’s cock hit your most sensitive spot inside you.

“Ooo,” you sighed. “Right there.”

He hit harder once again, determined to stimulate you even more. All the while, his cock pulsed and throbbed inside you, only sending you into further fits of pleasure.

“Daryl…” you whimpered shakily, almost sounding frightened. “I’m… gonna… come.”

His hand continued to pleasure you, while the other arm wrapped around your torso, keeping you snug tight against him. “I got ya,” he whispered. “I’m right here. Come for me, girl.”

You nodded vehemently, and as his cock continued thrusting, and his hand continued rubbing, you crossed the threshold into bliss once more, writhing and shaking as a string of whimpers and sultry moans slipped from your tender lips.

“Oh, yes!” you cried out. “Yes!”

He laughed deliriously as he felt your soaking wet pussy twitching all around him, strangling his cock in the best possible way.

“Good girl,” he praised against your ear. “Squeeze my cock… That’s it… You’re gonna make me come, too, sweet little thing.”

Your hand shot back as you demanded he hold it, and he did just that, bringing it to his lips to sloppily kiss your palm.

“Oh… I love you…” you sighed dreamily, the shocks of your orgasm calming down. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” he said. “So much, princess.”

With his hands on your hips again, he flipped you around until you lay on your back, legs split open and ready to receive him once more.

His cock teased you, sliding up and down your wet slit. Globs of your arousal dotted his length, causing it to glisten in the faint light of the dying lantern.

“Look at that cock,” he said. “You got me all messy… I gotta get you messy now.”

He entered you swiftly, filling you up more than ever before as his cock swelled to its thickest, longest state, reddened and so close to expelling his cum.

With just a few hard, deep thrusts, and some guttural whimpers of his own, he began leaking inside of you just before he tugged himself out.

“Shit,” he grunted, pulling on his cock with great speed until he spurted his cum all over your stomach. His eyes clenched shut, his lips agape, and his chest huffing and puffing, white strings of liquid expelled from his tip, sprinkling your abdomen and breasts in hot, cloudy globs of semen.

He pumped his hand even after there wasn’t anymore to come out, but he still felt the need to touch himself, especially with the image of you below him, messy and covered in his cum.

“That feel good?” he panted.

“Mhm,” you mumbled with a giggle. “So good…”

Despite how lovely it looked on you, he quickly wiped the mess off your belly, then covered you with blankets (even some he’d stolen from Merle’s bed) to keep you warm.

His arms held you tight, your head resting happily on his chest as his hand absentmindedly stroked your hair. Soon the lantern died out, and you fell into darkness with him, but you weren’t scared. In fact, you were the least scared you’d been in a long time. You felt safe, cared for, loved.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he asked.

“No,” you replied with a giggle. “I told you, it didn’t hurt. You couldn’t even hurt me if you tried, pumpkin.”

He rolled his eyes, though he couldn’t pretend he didn’t love his special pet name. Oh, you made him so, so soft.

“How’s your foot?” he asked, suddenly remembering your injury. “Shit, I gotta change the bandage.”

He sat up briefly, preparing to rise to his feet to fetch the first aid kit, but your hand upon his chest quickly stopped him. Soft as your touch was, it was strong in that you could control him with just a simple graze of your fingertips.

“It’s fine,” you said. “You can do it in the morning. Hold me.”

His lips quirked sweetly. “That’s what I do best,” he said, and pressed a short, sweet kiss to your forehead, causing your eyelids to flutter in appreciation. “Love you, bunny… My sweet bunny.”

Your heart skipped a beat, as it usually did when he spoke to you like that, so gentle and kind. As much as you found his aggressive nature exciting, it was his soft side that really got you in the end.

“Love you, too, Daryl.”

Thanks for reading! Likes, reblogs, and comments of any kind are always appreciated!

Masterlist

#daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon x you #daryl dixon fanfic #daryl dixon #daryl dixon fic #the walking dead #the walking dead fanfiction #the walking dead fanfic #twd fanfic #twd #twd fanfiction #norman reedus #norman reedus fanfiction #norman reedus fanfic #norman reedus x reader #daryl dixon smut

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lurking96 · 3 years

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Chapter 319 or why Bakugou might not be healthy for Izuku

This here might be a bit on the anti Bakugou side. I tagged it as such so you can filter those out and put it under a read more if you dont want to read it.

So. In the last day I did read a few opinions on the chapter leaks. What some think will happen and so on. Some from Pros some from Antis. This again is an opinion. It is not absolute. I do not claim it to be the absolute truth. This is just my personal interpretation. What I think that will happen is that Class 1A lead by Bakugou will fight Midoriya to try to bring him back. I don’t think talking to him will happen with Bakugou there. As one of Bakugous coping mechanisms is fighting. However with that come problems. I can understand the reasoning behind fighting him. A little talk will most likely not make him come back. However it might ease things. Might make him a tiny bit calmer. Might not make things worse. Fighting however will make things worse. Izuku is already on edge. He is already filled with paranoia. He hasn’t slept or eaten well. He might do rash decisions. He is not in a healthy mental state. And here we have it. His friends, his supposed allies are fighting him. The people he wants to protect went out and attack him. Out in their costumes. Ready for battle. A kinda scary scene overall. You dont see their faces. You feel anger coming from them.

It might bring some memories back to Izuku if you compare it with another picture.

Just like the picture before Bakugou is kinda in the foreground.He is leading just like back then he was leading his so called “extras” This might bring back memories to Izuku. Again he is sleep deprived. His mind might not work the sharpest. For all he knows it´s like back in his other schools where Bakugou lead his group of “extras” to attack Izuku. He might fight back stronger than intended. He might just try to flee even more. Overall it is not very helpful to him. Because a part of the reason for Izukus mental health is Bakugou. Not in a kind of friendship way but more as a cause. Bakugou to put it simply had been Izukus main bully. They were never apart. From preschool to UA. They were in the same class. With team exercises they were together. Izuku never had a break from him. He was never allowed to have time without him. From early on Bakugou has called him useless, worthless, what does one think the name Deku means. Has been using his quirk on him without the teachers caring. Before people say that is long ago. It is not. Right now they are in their second year. How did their first year start. Bakugou trying to attack Midoriya. Trying to kill him. Insulting him where he goes. It is not long ago. And even if it was like 300 or so chapters ago. That still happened. That is still the characters backstory. Honestly you are fine to like a character. But one should recognize that a character has flaws. No character is perfect. Saying that you like a character and saying that they are an asshole that needs to change can coexist. I like Overhauls aesthetic and quirk. Am I okay with what he did. Nope. Would I want him set on fire. Yes. Simple as that. Now back to it. In chapter 319 we hear Bakugou say that Izukus self sacrificial nature is caused by All Might. This. I do not agree with. Again. Who has called him worthless, a pebble on the road, useless, a deku for years. It was not All Might. Izuku has incredible low self worth. If it means saving a cat from a tree he would break his legs. He doesnt care for himself. He sees himself as worthless and only as somewhat useful when he is saving people. It got drilled into him from a young age. This is not something simple that is left behind after a few days. It can take years. And so far he has nothing contrary to those ideas. There are three people that know of his former quirklessness. His mom. Who is kinda supposed to love him. All Might who never really went back on the quirkless hero thing and Bakugou who still insults him for it. Everyone else only knows him with his quirk. Only knows him with being useful. Just because he has a quirk now doesnt mean that quirkless Izuku has ever left his mind. Yes All Might is not perfect. He has flaws. Those flaws are shown and others call him out. Could he have done more. Yes. Could he have helped him mentally. To a degree. But again. All Might is flawed. He is not perfect. All Might is shown to lack social skills. Seeing Bakugou just as rival or Endeavor who has open hate for him as friends. He never had a normal relationship. And again he was not the cause for Izukus psyche. He didnt lay the groundwork. With Bakugou blaming it on All Might. The guy that is not there and can’t protect himself he is doing something one could call damage control. He is not telling the entire truth. For the truth would hinder his dream of becoming number one and reduce his social standing. Him telling others that he is even partly responsible would surely open more questions later he would want to avoid. He also calls Midoriya crazy which is a tactic used to discredit a victim. Same for him making things up and overexaggerating and so on. He did do damage control before. A bit ago he told All Might that he was bullying Izuku in the past. You would think It´s something positive. But here is the thing. He lacked details. He didnt tell him much. For all we know All Might assumed some rough housing and name calling. Nothing that bad. It is to soften the blow. So if Izuku tells him later All Might is already in the mindset that it wasn’t so bad. Bakugou seems not that he would lie and my successor must be overexaggerating a bit. Bakugou is not that dumb. He knows his way around words. He knows when to not openly attack and wait for a better chance. A fool would have kept attacking Izuku after Aizawa held him back. He was just waiting for the training with All Might. He knows what buttons to push to get information out of Izuku. He basically forced the OFA secret out of him. One could call this a good use of crocodile tears if they so want. If they dislike him that much. Again an opinion of many. As of Chapter 319. He might have good intentions. He might want something good for Izuku. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Good intentions are not an excuse. Just because Bakugou thinks it is the best doesn’t mean it will be automatically the best. Just because the dog wants the chocolate bar doesnt mean it will be healthy for anyone involved. Bakugou being there might be quite detrimental to Izukus health. He might just open up wounds again. Izuku fighting class 1A would probably not increase his trust. And what are they going to do if they win. Tie him up, drug him, force him back. He will just try to escape. His trust in them will be broken. He might allow some sleep but it will never be the same. He already had trust issues before this will just expand them further. Isolate him further. This is what AFO wants. To have the heroes fighting with eachother. To have the OFA holder isolated and even branded as Villain for fighting as hero class. 1A winning is also a big IF. Shigaraki fought Gigantomachia and the MLA sleep deprived and incredible tired and won. Shigaraki and Izuku are foils. Two sides of the same coin. Izuku had a year to analyse their quirks. He has a bunch of quirks for himself and OFA mastered far more than anytime before he trained with them. He has become a natural disaster in human form. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he defeats them and leaves. To me the good option would be trying to talk to him. Not let Bakugou do the talking. He lacks the fine control. Get him in the direction of rest. Sadly none of them are trained professionals to deal with mental health. They are children that just fought in a war and also got traumatised. So I dont have great hope on them taking the talking route. Overall I think this will be a breaking point. They will fight. Izuku will most likely win and his trust will be broken even more. He will be even more isolated. His personality might take a darker turn seeing as there is no one he can trust. It might just get even darker than before.

#anti bakugou #bakugou critical #bnha #my hero academia #izuku midoriya #bnha chapter 319 #Opinions are Opinions

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untouchabyeolman · 3 years

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DFTF & the gist of everything; a theory

(warning: long post, no cut)

*cracks knuckles* OKAY. so i’m about to give my two cents on the theories surrounding the comeback but this is gonna be a long one so strap in and enjoy the ride i guess??

but before i get started on the DFTF stuff i just want to do a bit of recap on the members’ powers and their counterparts back in mama era (yes i’m going all the way back bear with me). from the beginning, we are shown that each member has a special power and those from exo-k have a counterpart in exo-m and the pairings went like this:

xiumin (frost) - suho (water manipulation)

luhan (telekinesis) - kai (teleportation)

kris (dragon’s flight) - chanyeol (phoenix’s fire)

lay (healing) - baekhyun (light)

chen (lightning) - kyungsoo (enhanced strength/earth?)

tao (time control) - sehun (wind manipulation)

i think these parings are fine but for me a couple of changes could have been made to make more sense to their powers. in my opinion, i think it should be:

xiumin - suho

luhan - sehun

kris - chanyeol

lay - baekhyun

chen - kyungsoo

tao - kai

obviously, xiumin/suho make sense bc their powers are related to each other where suho’s is the foundation of xiumin’s more refined control of the element. kris/chanyeol also makes sense for the same reason. for lay/baekhyun, healing powers can reconstruct damages from wounds and even bring dying flowers (maybe even people) back to their full health. basically, lay restores a living thing’s energy. but light is a form of energy too. flowers need light to survive and so does the rest of the planet for that matter. but i think baekhyun uses that light to be able to concentrate the energy into his hands to form a beam powerful enough to blast anything in its path (who are u? tony stark??).

tbh, i’m still kind of unclear about ksoo’s power on whether he can actually manipulate earth (like an earthbender) or if he has enhanced strength. either way, he can shake the earth and obviously he’s more powerful on the ground. with lightning, it can travel three ways: cloud to cloud, cloud to air, and cloud to the ground. you can think of their powers as being related by how the fissures in earthquakes are similar to the patterns of lightning. kyungsoo causes the rumbling in the earth, while chen causes rumbling (thunder) in the sky (hence why they are parallels of each other in mama mv)

for those i think should be switched, we’ll start with luhan/sehun. sehun has the power of wind but throughout the history of their powers i don’t think we’ve actually seen him have full control of his ability? in mama, he’s in the desert (this is gonna come up again later!!) with a raging tornado behind him. i mean, i guess he could be doing that intentionally but for the sake of this entry i’m going to assume he can summon the wind but he can’t fully control it. meanwhile, luhan can easily manipulate objects and we could think of this as him just actually manipulating the air around that object. luhan’s control of the air is more stable whilst sehun’s is the opposite.

for tao/kai i think it makes more sense for them to be counterparts since kai travels through space and while tao’s power is to stop/start time, he has the to potential to travel through time as well. these two go hand in hand because if they’re together, they’d be even stronger as traveling through time could be faulty since the time you might want to go back or forward to isn’t going to be in the same exact location as you are now.

BUT WAIT! we’re left with 9 members so what happens now??

i actually made a “theory” about exo having new counterparts back in 2016 but i’m scrapping the main idea from it and will just be referring to particular points going forward. so for now, let’s go with the assumption that their counterparts are as they are in my version. this means that sehun, chanyeol, and kai no longer have their counterparts. now what?

let’s first make two assumptions:

their powers become stronger when they are with their counterparts: like i’ve mentioned above, they’re stronger together than they are apart. but additionally, it’s a bit safer for them to be separated since they are much more easily located by the red force if they are all in one place.

if one loses their counterpart (i mean for good and not just separated by distance) then eventually, the power of the one who was lost will manifest itself in the one who is left

for (2), it would make sense then as to why in sehun’s pathcode teaser, he finds the toys floating in mid-air. at this point, he’s unaware that he’s actually the one doing this. (@raven-rin points out the similarities between luhan’s scene in mama with the orbs and sehun’s “planet” in the DFTF teaser photo which supports my theory that they are connected in this way).

in chanyeol’s pathcode teaser, he seems to have lost some control of his power whereas in mama mv, he was able to keep a small flame in his hand under control.

for kai, we’ve mainly see him teleporting on earth and he’s had quite a good control on his power since the beginning. but i think now, with tao’s power manifesting itself in him, he’s now able to teleport beyond just earth. we can take his mmmh mv for example too where he’s teleporting between worlds and currently, his power symbol is that of a hexagon with a keyhole in the center; he is the door between worlds and the main connection between the others.

SO THE POINT TO ALL THIS IS there was a theory posted by @vampwrrr and pointed out by @loeyarc on twitter about how the members are not in their own planets but they actually landed in someone else’s. i think this could be true since xiumin is in a planet with aurora’s (baekhyun’s planet), kyungsoo is in a red planet that could possibly be chanyeol’s. kai’s might be in kyungsoo’s and baekhyun’s in a planet where there’s ice which could mean he’s in xiumin’s planet. i’m not sure about the power swapping (tho i absolutely love the idea) but i think they might have just landed in planets they were closest to.

but i want to point out how chanyeol is in a planet that looks like a desert

now, this could actually be sehun’s planet in parallel to where he was in mama. sehun, on the other hand, is actually in luhan’s planet (going back to the reference @raven-rin made).

i think here, he’ll finally realize why his powers have been glitching (from pathcode) and how he now has the ability to move objects like luhan did (disclaimer 1: since not all members are present for this comeback, who’s to say they can only land in the planets of the active members’ planets??. disclaimer 2: not saying luhan is still member, he clearly isn’t. i meant for members who are enl*sted. for all we know, one or two of those planets could be chen’s or lay’s, etc.)

idk if DFTF is a pre-quel to power or a follow up but *if* the latter was the case, then the end of power makes sense. throughout the mv, we see suho, xiumin, kai, chen, chanyeol, sehun, and kyungsoo fighting the giant red force robot in possibly a different planet (i’m thinking the exos actually banded together to track down the red force themselves to get their powers back and in every planet they encounter these RF bots who keep destroying the planets they occupy) but for most it, baekhyun isn’t there fighting with them. he does show up near the end which confirms that he’s in the same place as the others but why isn’t he fighting?

let’s recall that their powers are stronger when they’re with their counterparts. if we go by the theory from lucky one that some members lost their powers, then it makes sense why none of them were able to fight off the bot with their powers alone (which they regained by defeating it in the end). i do think they are still strong at this point but their powers are weak. as for baekhyun, his counterpart is far away. lay hasn’t really been with them since monster era so he was probably playing it safe by not actively fighting alongside the others. (if he’s powerless and separated from lay then he’s the most vulnerable compared to the others)

at the end of power, we see baekhyun falling into the water/ocean. how did this happen? if exo left the planet they were in in power, it’s possible that after defeating the bot, it triggered the red force of their location. the red force then proceeds to destroy that planet in an attempt to kill exo once and for all

(disclaimer 3: screencap is meant to show an example, not that this is exactly in the same timeline as power)

but the exos manage to escape in their ship in time but their ship malfunctions (could be hit by debris from the planet’s explosion) and they have no choice but to leave the ship. i think their ship has “escape pods” meant for each one of them as a way to escape safely in case of an emergency. but let’s say these pods will immediately head for the planet they were set to (again, kind of like a safety protocol type thing where they get sent to different locations to avoid detection from the red force). to add, say that in the chaos, the exos just went into whatever pod they got to first which is how they end up landing in different planets.

maybe something happens to baekhyun’s pod and he has to manually eject himself from it. but we see he lands in the middle of an ocean

and in his DFTF photo teaser, we see he’s in a planet with ice caps and water

you still with me? i’m about to tie everything together and finish i promise!

remember the second assumption we made? “the power of the one who was lost will manifest itself in the one who is left”. what if the red force know this? what if the reason they’ve been after exo is because of this fact? but if that were the case, where would the powers manifest in if the exos are gone? i know the lot of us skip the intro of mama but it states that an eye of red force “coveted the heart of the tree of life and the heart slowly grew dry” which meant that the tree of life is the source of the twelve force’s powers.

everything started with the tree of life and in an attempt to save its remaining powers, they split it in half and hid the halves from the red force. the power of the tree of life is what connects exo. but as mentioned, if one is lost, the power will continue to live inside another. if the red force destroys all of exo, the powers they possess will be returned to the tree of life and if the tree of life is whole again, the red force will in no doubt abuse its power and continue their plans from the very beginning.

then we can say that in lucky one, it was another tactic used by the red force to extract their powers. those extracted powers were then used to create x-exo. since x-exo are under the red force’s orders, if they manage to destroy exo, their powers will undoubtedly go to their x-counterparts. but as the red force control’s x-exo they still have the upper hand once this plan is set in stone. i mention this to get us back on the current timeline seeing as DFTF may be strongly connected to power which precedes obsession. but then again, i’m not even sure about the exact order of the timeline but this is just my theory so it’s just for fun!

/end.

#don't fight the feeling #exo #exo theory #baekhyun #yixing #kai #chanyeol #sehun #kyungsoo #suho #xiumin #chen #mypost

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imhereformr · 3 years

Text

It had been years since he’d had to sneak in somewhere. Riven’s position as captain in the Magix Elite Force granted him easy access to just about anywhere he needed or wanted so long as he could justify his reason for being there. But this, he had no valid reason. It would result in his suspension, if not complete dismissal, from the force. He didn’t think he’d get caught – you couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks, but that doesn’t mean they forgot old ones – but even if he did, he knew he had to take the risk.

Nabu had been the one to tell him. About the relationship; the engagement; and the – in Riven’s opinion – far too rushed wedding. He wanted her to be happy, even if it wasn’t with him. He did. He also knew he should just let her go, let her marry whatever the fuck his name was, but he couldn’t not try. She needed to know how he felt even if he was years too late.

Musa had been the one to break it off. It had nearly broken him; he’d refused to leave his room in his and Timmy’s apartment for weeks afterwards. Ultimately, she’d been right, though. They were becoming different people – growing apart – and it was better to break up now than wait until their different paths became too much and they grew to resent each other.

Musa had released her first album a year before they’d broken up. Her tour had been hard, with him having to stay in Magix for work and her being everywhere, but he’d thought they could survive it. Their relationship had already survived so much. Musa’s star, though, had only begun to shine. Over the years after the breakup, she only became more and more successful. Every bit of which she deserved, and every bit of which Riven had followed from afar.

She’d offered for them to stay friends once the wounds had healed but Riven had declined. All the news he got of her was from the guys or magazines. His therapist – he'd gone to see a therapist; Musa would have been so proud – agreed that it was best to cut her off entirely. Beyond the whole listening to her music thing, Riven thought he’d done pretty well at that. It had only taken him a year to stop looking her up borderline obsessively, he’d dated other people, he’d even had a serious relationship or two. His only problem was that none of the others were Musa. No matter how hard he tried, he always seemed to come back to her.

So here he was, the day of her wedding, climbing a tree on the side of the hotel she was getting married at, praying that he’d be able to find the room she was getting ready in before the ceremony started. And that she’d be willing to hear him out.

Riven managed to find an open window that led into the end of a hallway. He made his way through the navy halls, stopping to listen for her voice behind every single oversized door. Nabu, after some bribery and threats, had told him that Musa and the girls would be getting ready on the fourth floor. He’d begged Riven to think through his actions and not do anything stupid, but Riven was also certain that Nabu was on board with whatever his plan was. From his description of Musa’s fiancé, he hadn’t sounded too fond of the guy.

The sound of footsteps put Riven on high alert. He managed to duck into a broom closet just in time to see Stella turn the corner. Jackpot. The blonde swung her long, gently curled hair over her shoulder and punched in a code on the door pad opposite his hiding spot. From the door, he heard a sound he would recognise anywhere: Musa’s voice. Double jackpot. Now he just had to pray that the girls would leave Musa alone for at least a minute at some point before the ceremony started.

He stood in that closet, watching her door for close to half an hour when his saving grace arrived in the form of an older woman with greying brown hair piled high on her head and a clipboard in her hand. She punched in the code to the door – which Riven paid much closer attention to this time – and exited three minutes later with the five bridesmaids in tow.

And no bride. This was turning out to be much easier than he’d anticipated.

Riven seized his opportunity the minute the woman he assumed was the wedding planner and Musa’s friends were out of sight. The light on the lock turned green on the first try and he slunk into the room as quietly as possible. Musa was turned away from him, staring at herself in mirror. Lucky too because it wouldn’t have made for a very good winning-her-back moment for her to see his jaw drop and his mind go entirely blank.

Musa wore a minimalistic, figure-flattering white dress with spaghetti straps, a deep V and a low back. She wore very little jewelry: a pair of diamond earrings, her engagement ring and her mother’s necklace – the one she never took off that he’d recovered in Black Mud Swamp the year they first met. Her long, dark hair was curled softly, like she was a movie star right out of the 1950s. He missed her hair; missed running his hands through it; missed the way he could bury his face in it when they hugged so that the smell of her shampoo could envelop him entirely; missed the way she would play with her pigtails when she was nervous; missed the way her hair would fall into his face when she leaned over to kiss him before they went to bed every night. More than anything, he missed her.

“Riven?” He stumbled out of his memories and into present day at the sound of her voice. She’d turned to face him, the train of her dress bunching at her feet as she spun. It had been so long since he’d heard her say his name. He’d forgotten how nice it sounded. “What are you doing here?”

“You look beautiful” he whispered thoughtlessly. Musa lowered her eyes, her face flushing like it had whenever he’d looked at her in the early days of their relationship. She ran her hands along the sides of her wedding dress – the dress she should be wearing for him – smoothing out non-existent creases in the fabric. It made him smile to know he could still make her blush like that.

“What are you doing here?” she asked again, bringing her hands together to fiddle with her engagement ring.

“I...” Fuck. How did he do this? “...Should have written something down.” Yes, that would’ve been a good idea. He wasn’t Helia; words didn’t come naturally to him. The old Riven would have turned around and walked away, wouldn’t have even given it a shot. He wasn’t the old Riven anymore, and he wasn’t leaving this room without Musa knowing how he felt. He’d have to wing it. “Don’t marry him.”

“Riven, I-”

“Please. Just hear me out.” Her objections ceased, and she lowered the hand she’d put out in a stop motion. “I love you. I have never stopped loving you. I have thought about you every single day for the last seven years, four months and twenty-one days. Since the day you left. And every single one of those days, I have kicked myself for letting you go; for not fighting harder for you. For us.”

Riven approached her. With every step, he felt his heart beat harder, coming to a brutal halt when he stepped in front of her. Her eyes, for the first time since he’d complimented her, met his. She was inches from him; so close that the smallest movement would bring them together. The heels she was wearing made her taller – brought the top of her head to his lip instead of his shoulder. Had his mind been anywhere other than desperately wanting her to come back to him, he would have commented that she hated heels with a passion, and he’d always thought she’d wear sneakers with her wedding dress even if Stella gave her a headache about it.

He caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers, not missing the way she leaned into his touch. Her heart longed for his just as much as his did for hers. “You belong with me, Muse. You know you do. We belong together.” His hand cupped her chin, pulling her into a kiss. Never had anything felt more right than his lips on hers. The second they connected; he knew everything would work out. He could beat the worst monsters, defeat his darkest demons, save the most helpless and conquer the universe as long as he had Musa by his side.

Musa’s hands came to rest on his chest, balling her manicured fingers into his thin white t-shirt and dragging him into her as they lost themselves in the kiss. The longer it went, the more certain he was that she would leave with him right then if he asked her to. He would have too, if the planner hadn’t punched in the door code and announced her presence through the heavy door.

“Gimme a second” Musa managed to shout, mere inches from Riven’s face, before the woman had entered the room. The planner shut the door, informing Musa that she would be right outside and that the ceremony was ready to begin.

Musa stepped back and Riven had to wrap his arms around her to keep her near him. “I have to go” she whispered.

“Please, please don’t marry him.” Teenage Riven would be mortified to hear his voice crack as he begged Musa not to choose someone else, but adult Riven couldn’t care less. He would beg and plead and grovel if it meant that she’d stay with him.

“It’s too late. I’m sorry.” She laid her hands on his chest and pushed their bodies apart. He watched, heart shattering, as she stepped away from him. Her voice broke, tears pooled in the corners of her eyes and her lower lip quivered, but ever his fierce Musa, she stayed strong. He wished, just this once, that she would break. Musa stepped away from him and turned towards the door, gathering the train of her dress in her hand as she walked away. She wiped her eyes quickly before grabbing the door handle.

“Musa,” he heard himself say before she had the chance to turn the knob. A deep sigh and she turned to him. He’d never been good at reading people, but Musa he knew. She wanted him to fight for her, she always had, and, for the most part, he always had. He always would. He’d just fucked up that one time when it mattered most. “I’ll be out front. If you change your mind.”

She didn’t answer, merely shook her head and then she was gone, whisked away through the door and down the hall by the planner. Riven sat himself onto the nearest piece of furniture – a fancy-looking emerald green couch in the corner of the hotel suite sitting room – and dropped his head in the palms of his hands trying to stop himself from crying and shaking.

He hadn’t felt pain like this in years, hadn’t felt anything like this in years. He hadn’t been numb – he’d known numb before and that wasn’t what the last few years had been – but life had been significantly less vivid. Everything always felt so much more with her. The lows could be soul-crushing agony, but the highs were pure ecstasy and worth every second of pain. He would willingly suffer through millennia of agony for just one hour of ecstasy with her again.

***

Musa’s mind buzzed as she followed Christina, the planner, through the hall and into the elevator, down to the main floor. The woman – an absolute godsend in the madness that was planning a wedding and a tour in the same four months – babbled on about how adorably nervous Liam – her fiancé – was.

She’d met Liam three years ago on a talk show. He was an actor – had started off as a child on a sitcom and managed to make the incredibly difficult transition from child star to serious adult actor. He’d been sweet and charming during the pre-interview and through the whole taping. They’d run into each other again a year later at a movie premiere – she'd sung the main theme and he was close friends with the star. He’d asked her out at the end of the night. He was cute – tall with broad shoulders and sharp features, just her type – so she’d said yes. It turned out that he was also funny and incredibly witty.

She loved him.

Christina led her out of the elevator and into one of the back hallways. At the end of the hall, Musa knew she’d find her friends and father waiting patiently for the ceremony to start. Musa knew what would happen: Christina would put them in order, then cue her assistant to tell the violinist to start playing – Riven had always loved hearing her play the violin, they’d talked about having one if ever they got married. Musa couldn’t let that detail go. Once the music started, the double doors would open onto the ceremony room. Hundreds of guests would be seated in the room, surrounded by thousands of dollars' worth of flowers and floating candles.

Much sooner than she’d anticipated, it was Tecna’s turn. The purple-haired fairy – her maid of honour – turned out of the waiting area and moved up to the double doors at exactly the speed Christina had indicated; not too fast like Flora had or too slow like Stella – who, realistically, had been enjoying the moment of spotlight – had. Musa’s father turned to her, a genuine smile on his face, to ask if she was ready. Musa smiled and nodded.

Her arm looped through her father’s and Christina handed her the bouquet of exquisite flowers – arranged by Flora, of course. The woman moved behind her to spread out her train. As she neared the door, the guests stood for her. Her father nodded to a few at the back that he recognised, but Musa’s focus was at the front.

Liam stood with his arms folded behind him. Riven would always stand with his hands in his pockets or his arms crossed. Liam’s smile widened when he saw her. Riven only smiled when he saw her. Liam mouthed the words I love you and Musa felt a pang. She’d just heard those words in a different voice, and they’d had so much more impact. Musa smiled at him, repeating the mantra in her head.

She loved him.

She was at the altar. Her father was hugging her and whispering that he loved her and wished her nothing but happiness. Musa was stepping up to the altar. Liam was shaking her father’s hand. The photographer’s assistant was adjusting her train for the photos. Liam was smiling at her. Tecna was taking the bouquet out of her hands. Liam was reaching out for her hands.

Musa snapped out of her haze. Her hands were in Liam’s and the officiant was welcoming the guests. Please turn your phones off. Don’t take any pictures. It’s not every day you meet someone that touches your soul. All the cheesy shit people said at weddings. Musa ignored the man they’d hired as she played the scene with Riven over in her mind.

He still loves her.

And she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t compared every boyfriend to him. Including Liam. She’d also be lying if she said that she didn’t think about him when she was alone. When she was lonely. When she wanted someone to hold her. When she touched herself. When she cried. When she laughed. When she had news to share. When she wrote a song she really loved.

It was always him.

Pressure on her hand brought her back to present day. Liam was saying his I do. He was giving her that smile that, up until fifteen minutes ago, she thought she’d be happy enough to see every day.

Happy enough.

Was that really enough?

“...Take Liam Lukas Caffrey, here present, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do you part?”

“I...” Hundreds of eyes stared at her expectantly. She had two words to say. I do. It wasn’t that fucking hard. Musa looked up at Liam. At those pretty dark green eyes of his watching her with all the love in the world. “I...”

It wasn’t enough.

No one would ever be enough if they weren’t Riven. She’d tried to deny it, but it was true. And he was right. She belonged with him.

“No” she sighed. The love in Liam’s eyes turned to confusion. Behind her, Stella mumbled out a what. “I can’t... I’m sorry.”

Musa picked up the skirt of her dress as much as she could and walked away. She picked up speed with every step, desperate to get away from the prying eyes. Desperate to get to Riven. I’ll be out front. If you change your mind. Had he meant it? She rushed through the double doors, past Christina and through the lobby. In the corner of her vision, she saw the doorman standing to open the front doors for her, but she got there before him.

Lights flashed in her eyes as she pushed through the doors and onto the front steps. Her name was being shouted and paparazzi cameras popped at every angle, but she registered none of it. Musa searched the sidewalk for that telltale flash of magenta, trying to control her already heavy breathing and not appear as panicked as she felt.

He wasn’t sure why he’d even waited. It’s too late. That should be an obvious clue that she didn’t want to be with him. Still, he waited. He’d sat in her suite for two minutes trying to compose himself before sneaking out of the room and down to the lobby. He’d gotten there just in time to hear the music start. Part of him contemplated waiting, running into the ceremony when the officiant did the speak now or forever hold your peace thing (did they even do that in real life? It hadn’t been done at Flora and Helia or Stella and Brandon’s wedding). Ultimately, he decided not to. He’d told Musa what he had to say. All he could do now was wait.

Riven took a seat on a bench in the park across the street. He absentmindedly watched park-goers walk by, blissfully unaware that he was falling to pieces as the seconds ticked by. It took all his self-control not to think about Musa marrying someone else; to stop himself from physically and mentally falling apart. Old demons tried to claw their way to the forefront of his mind, to tell him that she wouldn’t want him, that his efforts were futile, but Riven refused to listen to them. He wasn’t that sixteen-year-old kid anymore, and he knew, he knew that he and Musa were meant to be.

Finally, after searching for what felt like an eternity, she spotted the telltale magenta hair forcing its way through the crowd. The joy that swelled in her was unlike any happiness she’d ever felt. He’d waited. Musa kicked off her heels and took off running towards him. He made it to the front of the crowd just in time for her to throw herself into his arms and pull him into a kiss.

It was heaven to feel his lips on hers, to feel his arms wrapped around her. Musa never wanted to lose this feeling. He laughed into the kiss and Musa swore it was the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard. Riven shuffled forward, lowering her onto one of the hotel steps as they finally pulled apart. The smile on his face could put the suns of Solaria to shame, but, as much as she loved his smile, Musa was only focused on his eyes. She loved his eyes; loved the way they shone every time he looked at her.

Riven rested his forehead against Musa’s. Those magnificent blue eyes looked up at him so lovingly, just the way he’d longed for her to look at him for all those years. Riven swore then and there, he would move mountains to never lose that look. He was so happy he didn’t even care that all the paparazzi were watching them. Let them watch.

“I’m so sorry. I was so stupid... I-” Musa started.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re here now.”

“Now and forever. I love you, Riven.” Musa pulled him into another kiss. Camera flashes went off around them but Riven only saw the stars that shone in his head every time she kissed him. He pulled away from her just enough to whisper I love you too, Musa before kissing her with all the love he could muster.

#im avoiding my other WIP #i started the AU #and season 2 #but my attention span is shit #so heres a oneshot no one asked for #winx club #winx musa #winx riven #musa x riven #rivusa #muri #winx #fanfiction #riven x musa

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