Tumgik
#for a long long time she was this bright violet color
daisywords · 7 months
Text
little sketch of Alya in one of her earliest iterations
Tumblr media
11yo me's super special main character girl oc
8 notes · View notes
sanemi-whore · 9 months
Text
All Night (Cruel World Pt.2)
Tumblr media
Thankfully (for Sanemi's sake) you return from Final Selection alive and well. However, you being apart of the Demon Slayer Corps has his nerves going insane. To assure your safety, you often attend missions alongside him. word count: 15.150 warning: character death, blood, jealousy, cursing, smut, dark themes, aphrodisiac, anxiety, impregnation kink, mentions of abortion @roaringlion @kiki17483
Part One | Masterlist | Final Part
Tumblr media
You felt old next to the other Final Selection survivors and the thought causes your heart to ache. You were an adult, far from the young age of 14 - the youngest apart of the survivors. To think children join the Demon Slayer Corps and put their lives at risk in order to help others - you wonder how old Sanemi was when he joined. Or Genya - all of the slayers you’ve met. 
The morning sun shines bright ahead of you and the other five survivors. Your eyes look forward to the mountaintop shrine, a soft smile forming on your lips at the two children standing before the survivors. 
“Welcome back.” they say in Unison. “Congratulations on completing Final Selection. We’re pleased to see that you’re all safe..”
There’s a low sniffle beside you. You hum at the sight - a young boy no older than 16. You recall just how terrified he was to encounter a demon coming at him with such speed that he barely managed to dodge its attack. It was raining that night and the boy's burgundy hair was clouding his vision. You intervene, slashing the demon’s neck. The boy, Shinra, never left your side until now. 
“First we must issue you all uniforms once we take your correct measurements.” the dark haired child started.
“Then we’ll engrave your rank on the back of your hand.” the white haired child continued.
“You then will be given the chance to select the ore that will be used to forge your weapon - swords. It will be 10-15 days before said weapons are ready to use.”
The black haired child claps their hands twice. Above you hear several crows, flocking their wings. You're excited, nearly ecstatic. You recall the many times you’ve been berated by Muichiro’s crow and how she loved him dearly that you wished to have your own. 
A crow flocks onto your shoulders. It flocks its wings several times before stopping, inspecting your face. 
“Now that you all are demon slayers, you are each assigned Kasugai Crows.” the white haired child spoke. “They are used to facilitate communication.”
The black haired child turned away to remove the long, blue cloth that laid above a table.”Now the time has come for you to choose an ore for your sword.” he says, revealing several ore’s for each of you to choose. 
“Shinra.” you call to the boy beside you, still sniffling. “Let’s go choose our Ore.”
Shinra’s eyes are wide as you speak to him, but he nods nonetheless. He follows you closely as each of the survivors inspect the ore’s.  You yourself are none the wiser choosing an ore. You contemplate having laid your eyes upon an ore and just thought it was another random rock.
“Which one should we choose, Shinra?” you smile at the boy. “I sense…that one,” you point to a medium sized ore. “Is a good fit for me.”
Shinra furrows a burgundy brow, “H-How do you know?” he murmurs. 
“I can just feel it.” you respond. You go to grab it.
Shinra’s eyes - a beautiful shade of azure,  widen and he too grabs an ore - the one directly next to yours. “Okay.” he nods. 
Soon you make your journey back to Sanemi’s estate. Your legs are aching for a break, but you do not allow them to stop. Your kasugai crow, who you learned was named Hiyori, now laid upon your shoulder as you walked. She had since grew tired of flying above you once she realized you had no intention of stopping for the night. How could you? You passed Final Selection and now was an actual Demon Slayer. 
The sky was now a dark violet color when you arrived back at the estate. You had many people to see - you agreed to visit Aoi, Sumi, Kiyo and Naho once you returned. You grew close with the young girls, often visiting them when you didn’t have to train until you dropped. You would have to thank Uzui, Hinatsuru, Makio and Suma for your combat training; Muichiro (and Ginko because she wouldn’t allow you to not acknowledge her if you met with him). Mitsuri promised you pancakes one you returned and you were craving them with extra honey - her western cooking was the best you’ve ever had. 
You opened the shoji doors of Sanemi’s estate. It’s quiet inside and doesn’t appear to have anyone in it. You make your way around the estate and hum, Sanemi was not here. 
You didn’t let the fact bother you. Sanemi was a hashira after all and had responsibilities. He could possibly be doing his rounds before he returned home.
You take this time to bathe, allowing all the grime to be released from your skin was refreshing. You’re unsure how long you’ve bathed for, but once your hands begin to wrinkle was when you decided to get out. You were refreshed now, dressed now in a light kimono tied loosely and your hair in a low bun.
You decide to do another round around the estate for Sanemi. You can hear them - faint footsteps.It’s coming from the opposite side of the mansion. Your feet begin to sprint across the cold hardwood floor, a wide smile on your lips.
Sanemi was here, you note, dressed in his usual Hashira attire. He appeared to have just came in from his rounds as you suspected. 
“Nemi!” you exclaim, jumping to wrap your arms around the man. He doesn’t move back an inch, even with the impact of you crashing into him. 
Sanemi’s nostrils fill with your scent - the familiar scent that he had longed to smell for the last week. His nerves begin to calm themselves at your touch, unaware that since you've been gone that he was unable to focus on anything but your survival. 
“I’m back from Final Selection!” your heart is pumping with excitement. “I even have my own crow like you all! Her name’s Hiyori!” you continue to babble on and on about everything that happened during your week, still wrapping him in a tight embrace. 
Your face then crashes into his chest and you’re silent. Sanemi doesn’t notice it at first - he assumes you were overwhelmed with emotions to fully focus on one topic at a time. But then his bare chest feels it. Wet - were you crying?
Sanemi gets his answer when your shoulders shake and his chest appears to be even more wet. He gulps, unsure on what to do. Why were you suddenly crying? Sanemi didn’t deal with emotions well. He hated when the lower ranks would cry, it irritated him to no end. It didn’t help either that they were often crying because of him - but that's besides the point. 
Sanemi places a hand upon your head. “Y/N…” he trails off. “What’s wrong?”
Your face lifts to look at Sanemi. There it was again - the jolt. He hadn’t felt the jolt in his heart in a week and swears he was cured of whatever sickness he had. Your eyes are teary and wet, lashes sticking to one another. 
“I’m so happy!” you sob, lips quivering. 
Happy?
You were crying because you were happy?
Sanemi’s shoulders falter and now, he finds himself wanting to laugh.
“I’m happy that I passed Final Selection and you didn’t waste your time training me.” you continue, wiping your tears away with your shoulder so you wouldn’t have to unwrap your arms from Sanemi. “I’m happy I was given the opportunity to make my own decision and not be fated to one.” you’re continuing to ramble on about how happy you truly were - claiming to be happy to be surrounded by such positive people even if they were working in less than positive situations. 
You do end up unwrapping your arms around Sanemi to fall to your knees. You’re bowing before him, tears not stopping. “Thank you, Sanemi.”
Sanemi gasps, but he doesn’t stiffen. “Y/N, you don’t-”
“I’m grateful that I’ve gotten to train besides you and the other Hashira and slayers.” you’re sobbing full on now, dramatic tears leaking onto the floor. “I promise to make you proud as your tsuguko! I’ll do my best on all my missions!”
Sanemi inhales. His heart is beating rapidly and he’s unsure how to respond to you. To think that he, a Hashira of many years now and had fought demons upon demons…was going to die now due to heart failure. He hoped that Shinobu and Aoi would be the first two to cry at his funeral for denying him (a fucking Hashira at that) service. 
Sanemi’s mind wanders. He’s happy, as well, he supposes. Genya was alive and well, even if he refused to look his brother's way, he often kept tabs on him. Sorai would tell him everything Genya did when he wasn’t on missions. You were alive now, as well. Overly emotional and grateful as ever. Sanemi finds himself silently thanking whatever God there was out there that you wouldn’t be yet another death on his conscience.
Tumblr media
Sanemi slams the door of the butterfly mansion open, a feral look upon his face. Naho jumps, her braids swinging around towards the sound. Kiyo’s eyes widen at Sanemi while Sumi quivers. “Where’s Kocho or Kanzaki?” he hisses at the three girls. 
“S-Shinobu-san said-”
“I do not care.” Sanemi dismisses them. He doesn’t see either of the two girls he’s looking for and he turns away from them. He stalks down the halls of the butterfly mansion, in coming slayers flinging themselves into the wall just to avoid him and his wrath. 
It takes another five minutes to find Shinobu and it only took him slamming open three shoji doors. 
“Shinazugawa.” Shinobu’s soft smile doesn’t falter, not even when she’s annoyed with her office being intruded. She leans back in her seat and tilts her head at him. 
“It happened again.” Sanemi exclaims.
Shinobu raises a brow.
“My heart jolted again yesterday. Matter of fact,” Sanemi steps inside the office. “it didn’t stop jolting for another 30 minutes.”
Shinobu snickers. “Y/N must be back from Final Selection already.” she notes, more to herself than as a statement to Sanemi. “Please tell her to come visit us at the Butterfly Mansion for any injuries she may have.”
Sanemi’s eyes are glaring at the younger girl. “What the hell does that have to do with my heart?!” he was growing irate by the second. Each time he came to this place he was kicked out by giggling girls. 
“I’ve checked your heart countless times, Shinazugawa.” Shinobu states with a shake of her head. “There’s nothing wrong with it or you.”
Sanemi sighs and scoffs. 
“Maybe you’re in denial?” Shinobu shrugs her shoulders. 
“In denial?” Sanemi hisses. “You and that other little brat are in denial about my health!”
Shinobu wants to laugh right now, but having Sanemi constantly come into the Butterfly Mansion and scaring the nurses (and the slayers) was becoming overwhelming. 
“My,” Shinobu manages to giggle. “have you…ever thought that your heart is jolting only when a certain someone is around you?”
Sanemi’s eyes squint. “Where the hell are you getting at?”
“That maybe you’ve failed to realize that your heart is jolting because you happen to…like Y/N?” Shinobu doesn’t want to cause Sanemi to convulse by saying the word “love” just yet. “There’s studies that show that boys are less smarter than girls, so I’m not surprised you cannot tell the difference between pain and feelings.”
Sanemi’s ears and neck darken a crimson color and his hands clenched into fists. Shinobu’s now full on laughing at him. He’s had enough of her and Uzui’s constant teasing.
“Fuck off.” Sanemi hisses and then turns to walk away. 
“Shinazugawa!” Shinobu calls before he can storm down the hallway. “I think she likes you, too. So do the rest of the Hashira.” 
Sanemi doesn’t say anything and Shinobu doesn’t expect him to, but the blush on his cheeks don’t go unnoticed. 
Sanemi makes his way out of the Butterfly Mansion and back towards his estate. He managed to bring his breathing calm, but his mind is going crazy. He thinks of you and how each time he was with you, his heart goes insane and his mind seems to go blink. His anger appears to subside when you speak to him with such a soft smile. Your eyes never show any disgust towards him, instead they’re kind and warm.
“Nemi!”
Your voice echoes through his ears from behind him. He hasn’t seen you the last few hours and when he turns, he’s shocked to see your appearance. He swallows, throat quickly running dry. You’re running towards him, a wide smile on your lips. He notes that he’s rarely seen your skin - such smooth skin that now appears to shine underneath the afternoon sun. You’ve gotten your uniform and appeared to be an exact replica of Mitsuri.
“I got my uniform!” you say excitedly when you reach Sanemi.
Sanemi looks away to not catch himself staring too long at your appearance. 
“Is that Y/N-chan?” 
“She’s so cute!”
You’re beaming at Sanemi and he feels just how hot his body begins to feel. 
“Do you feel comfortable?” Sanemi asks. You never showed this amount of skin before.
You slowly nod your head. “It’ll take some getting used to, I suppose.” you respond.
Sanemi licks his lips. His eyes roam around the area to find several slayers looking their way - your way. His nerves were now kicking in at the eyes on you.
“Do I look nice?” you ask him. “I do think it’ll be a little chilly with the uniform, but I think I’ll be alright.” you giggle to yourself.
“Is Shinazugawa-sama blushing again?”
“Why do all the girls go for guys like him?!” a slayer throws his hands in the air.
“Here.” Sanemi removes his haori and hands it over to you. He isn’t looking at you when he does so. “So you don’t get cold.”
“Shinazugawa-sama is such a nice boyfriend!” a female slayer gushes. 
“Who knew he was such a-”
The slayers scurry off when a pair of lilac eyes glare at them.
You take hold of the haori with wide eyes. “But what about you, Nemi?”
“I got more.” Sanemi shrugs nonchalantly. 
“Hm,” you hum, feeling the fabric in your hands. “Thank you. I’ll wear it on all my missions!” you place the haori over your shoulders and sigh happily.
Sanemi’s heart clenches and he inaudible sighs.
“Are you going back home?” you ask him. “I can cook us lunch if you don’t have anything to do!”
Sanemi nods and remains quiet.
“Good! Let’s go!” you hook your arm in his and begin walking.
Sanemi doesn’t mind your closeness, even if it does leave him surprised each time by just how willing you are to be entangled with him. While the pair of you stroll back to the estate in a comfortable silence, he’s thinking about just how nice you did look in your uniform - and how he didn’t like if anyone else thought the same.
Tumblr media
When you suggested eating, Sanemi didn’t think you would invite others. You’ve just finished cooking when a knock sounds on his shoji doors. Sanemi doesn’t answer and you’re scurrying off to answer it yourself. The door opens and you’re beaming widely. 
Sanemi wants to scoff when his brother is behind the door - him, for some odd reason Tokito and an unknown slayer with burgundy hair. 
“I hope we are not intruding.” he murmurs to you, eyes only glancing at his brother for a moment. He hadn’t spoken to Sanemi in two weeks - not since the incident. 
You are, Sanemi wants to say, but he only snickers to himself instead. 
“Of course not!” you usher for them to enter. “I hope you all are hungry.”
Tokito remains silent when he sits upon the cushioned floor. He’s seated beside Genya and beside him, the unknown burgundy haired boy.
You go to serve the food for them, Sanemi grumbling to himself. He wanted to be with you - alone - not in his own home surrounded by brats.
You take your seat beside Sanemi and smile at the group of boys. “Please, eat.”
Muichiro wastes no time in doing as he’s told. Genya can feel eyes upon him, the glaring lilac eyes of his elder brother. He tries to think of your words two weeks prior - that Sanemi did love and care for him. It was hard believing you. He never made any attempt to speak with him after the fact and he grew slightly afraid that he would attempt to hurt him again if he tried. 
“I met Shinra during Final Selection.” you tell Sanemi after a few bites of the pork cutlet. “He’s so cute.” you gush.
Shinra’s cheeks flushed crimson at the sound of his name and the compliment. He feels two sets of eyes on him - one from the white haired man who he learned quickly was a Hashira and then the boy with dark hair and a mohawk. They’re glaring, he notes, with such dark eyes and hatred. 
“Look’s weak.” Sanemi retorts, sinking his teeth in the broccoli you steamed. 
“Very.” Genya snorts.
Muichiro turns his eyes to look at Shinra and hums in agreement.
“That’s not nice.” you frown at the three of them. “Shinra’s is a very capable swordsman.”
Genya had no issue with the burgundy haired boy. He appeared to be close in age with him and Tokito. However, if he had your affection then that meant it was taken away from his brother (and him) and he didn’t like it.
“Shinra even helped me defeat a demon, right, Shinra-kun?”
Shinra feels his throat clog up at the amount of eyes on him. He finds himself nodding - even if it wasn’t the truth. You were lying to save him the embarrassment and that caused even more self-pity in him. 
“Is that so?” Sanemi snickers. He leans forward. “He doesn’t even look like he knows how to hold a sword. I’m to believe someone like him helped you?”
You nod your head. You weren’t going to let them bring down Shinra’s self esteem about himself.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t go on missions yourself.” Sanemi states. “If you need help from a weakling.”
Genya watches the way his brother glares at Shinra and now he understands where this was going. 
Sanemi was jealous - for no reason. Shinra was (for now) a weakling Mizunoto, yet you shared the rank with him. You were just lucky enough to have trained alongside several Hashira. Shinra was also only a child while you were an adult and only had eyes for Sanemi - but he knew his brother well enough to know that anyone was competition.
“Y/L-san is an amazing swordsman…woman…” Shinra’s voice is low and barely audible. He’s scared to even look the white haired man in the face but he’s grown great respect for you. “She killed the most demons during Final Selection…”
“How many did you kill?” Sanemi questions. 
“I-I…” Shinra gulps. He hasn’t killed nearly as much as you or the other survivors. He only managed to cut the heads of three - and even that took a lot out of him. 
“How about this,” Sanemi takes a bite of the pork and stands. “you show me just how good of a swordsman you are.”
“We’re eating.” you sigh, watching as Sanemi rounds the table to put (more like snatch) Shinra’s shoulder. 
“It’ll only be a moment.” Sanemi yanks Shinra from his cushioned seat and pulls him to his feet. “I have an extra sword.”
Shinra is visibly shaking in Sanemi’s tight hold. He’s pushed out the door and it causes Muichiro to snort. “Y/N.”
“Huh, yes, Tokito?” you say to him, smiling apologetically. “Is the food alright?
Muichiro nods. He licks his lips before his eyes turn to you. “Please tell Shinazugawa that no one is planning on stealing you from him.” he says nonchalantly. “All the slayers that do voice their attractions are scared of being castrated.”
You laugh nervously, eyes going wide. You feel yourself grow hot with embarrassment. 
“Genya even threatens a few that talk about you suggestively.”
Genya whips his head to glare at Muichiro, cheeks flushed. “I do not!” he hisses, denying rather quickly.
“Yes you do.” Muichiro takes a sip of his drink. “You talk down to anyone that thinks they could speak to Y/N.” Muichiro scoffs. And he was supposed to be the one with memory issues.
You get up from your cushioned seat and nod your head at the two (now bickering, more on Genya’s side than Muichiro) boys. You place a hand on both of their heads and it silences them. “You two are so cute.” you tell them. “Makes me wish I had younger siblings.” your eyes glance outside. You were going to have to save Shinra from Sanemi’s torture right about now.
You bow and excuse yourself and make your way out the shoji doors just as Sanemi swings a wooden sword Shinra’s way. “Sanemi!” you call, eyes glaring at the man. “Leave Shinra alone! We’ve come here for lunch not to train!”
Shinra’s able to dodge Sanemi’s attack by the grace of God, sweat pooling down his forehead and whimpering for whoever to save him.
Sanemi stops his attack and turns to you. You appeared to be upset, eyebrows knitted to a scowl. Your arms are crossed and for a split second his eyes flicker to your breast pressed together. 
“Shinra, let’s finish up your lunch, yeah?” you tell the boy who nods his head, far too excited to be away from the white haired maniac. 
As Shinra enters the house once more, your eyes turn to Sanemi. “What’s that about?”
Sanemi drops his wooden swords and goes to make his way back into his home. You step in front of the man. “You can’t keep harassing the slayers. They’re terrified of you!”
Sanemi scoffs. “If they’re terrified of me then a demon would have their fucking heads.”
You roll your eyes. “You’re a scary man.” 
Sanemi tilts his head and crosses his own arms. “You aren’t afraid of me.”
“Of course not.” you give him a teasing smile. “You’re nice when I’m around.”
Sanemi grumbles; maybe that’s why others would rather you be present if they had to approach him. 
“Promise me,” you begin, coming closer to him. You take his large, calloused hands in your soft ones. “That you won’t keep harassing the slayers. Especially Shinra and Genya.”
Sanemi groans. He likes the soft and gentleness of your hands on his own.
“I can’t promise that.” Sanemi says. “They all enjoy pissing me off.”
You giggle. “But they avoid you!” you exclaim. “Just try.”
Sanemi nods his head with a roll of his eyes. “Whatever.” he mumbles.
You wrap your pinky around his longer one, a tint of mischief in your eyes. “Swear.”
“Swear.” Sanemi murmurs. “Whoever lies will be made to swallow a thousand needles.” the two of you say in unison, a wide smile on your lips and a low one on his.
Tumblr media
“CAW! Y/L Y/N is to report to Chiyoda City! A demon has been sighted in the Shrine!” Hiyori soars above you, her wings flapping.
Your eyes widen and you stand to your feet excitedly. “We’re going on a mission? Our first mission!” you were ready for a mission the same day you were given your nichirin sword.- a long sword with a black handguard that wraps right above your hand, offering an amazing grip. The blade is long and shiny against the bright sun - an emerald color shining down the sharpest part of the blade.
“Sanemi’s doing his rounds. I’m sad he wasn’t home to hear.” you feel saddened, but this was your moment to make him proud and assure that you’d come back safe. 
You make your journey out of the estate with Hiyori flying above you, leading the way. You’re pumping with excitement that it’s ridiculous. You were going head first to a demon - but you were bouncing with joy as if you were meeting your husband. You were just ecstatic to kill as many demons as you could and work your way up the ranks. You heard the amount of people wishing to become Hashira, but you’re content not being one. The 9 Hashira you’ve met were more than amazing at their jobs.
You reach the area in the middle of the night, the moon shining brightly and the area quietly. The air appears to be murky and foggy, a low fog that’s nearly blinding. You slow your walk, drawing your blade while your eyes scan the area. 
A sound to your left heightens your senses. More sounds from your right, above and even forward you. Small figures appear, no taller than toddler sizes. They’re demons - eyes black and soulless. There’s scars oozing blood beneath both of their eyes and there's a shadowy smoke that surrounds them as they push closer to you. As they come closer, you note that they appear to be floating rather than walking.
You raise your sword and swing when one shadowy figure lungs at you. You slice at their head, cutting off each one with swift movements - but they appear to never stop coming. It’s as though as soon as you kill one, five more come sprinting after you. Each shadowy figure has their own weapon - a knife, sword, cutlass.
“That man despises you.” a gravelly voice hisses behind you. The shadowy figures disappear and you’re left in complete silence.
You turn around, eyes glaring into the darkness. “Show yourself!” you call into said darkness.
Your feet walk stealthy behind the shrine where what appears to be a large pond is located. The water is still; unnerved. 
“You’re nothing to him!” the same voice hisses, this time besides you and now you sense it. A hand slams against your cheek and you’re sent flying towards the pond. It wasn’t deep, luckily, and you managed to keep your sword clenched into your hands. 
You leep from the pond just as the demon lunges at you. It appears to be a woman. She’s tall, appearing just a few inches smaller than Uzui. Her eye sockets are wide but they’re soulless, no pupils in sight. Her hair is long and flowy behind her, but appears to be wet and stringy. Her skin is a dull gray color and she’s snarling at you.
“Look at you,” the demon snarls, her fingernails gnawing at her skin. “So young and beautiful. No man will ever respect such a whore!”
The demon lunges at you once more and you manage to cut her hand off, long claws falling onto the ground below you. 
A loud, blood curdling scream echoes off the trees, coming from the demon. The sound is unbearable and you’re sure the demon is causing your ears to bleed. 
You got to your knees. 
“What would your father think seeing you now?” a voice says. 
“What about your mother? Your brother?”
The atmosphere appears colder now, the screams of the demon growing louder and louder. 
“What do you think Sanemi would think of you once you die here?” the screams appear louder and you’re certain your ears are bleeding. “When you die here tonight, you will be forgotten - just like your father forgot about you.”
You can feel the anger inside of you bubbling at the taunting words of the demon. “Come with me, I’ll put you out of your miserable misery.”
You lift your sword, trying your hardest to ignore the ringing in your ear. The demon flings itself at you and in one quick movement, you’re dodging its attack and slicing off her other hand. You get to your feet, sprinting towards the Demon. It wails loudly once more, but you ignore the painful ringing in your ears. “Wind Breathing: Second Form!” you lift the sword upwards towards the right and above your head. You release four vertical slashes resembling claws towards the demon. “Claws-Purifying Wind!”
You dash towards the Demon as your attack slashes them, black blood oozing out from their wounds. You make it your mission to get rid of this demon once and for all, raising your sword and bringing it down on the demon's neck. 
You drop to your feet, eyes on the demon's head a few feet away.The screaming releasing from its throat grows silent by the second as the head begins to disintegrate. 
It takes you a moment to move, your mind racing at the words the demon said.
That man despises you.
No man will ever respect a whore.
When you die here, you’ll be forgotten.
You sheathe your sword and begin to walk. Your ears are ringing as you make your way back towards your destination, Hiyori flying above you. By the time you’d return, the sun will be present and you’d hope to come face to face with Sanemi once more. You’ve grown close to the man and it causes you great shame to know that the words of the demon got to you; causing your heart to ache. You no longer cared about your fathers thoughts about you; you dealt with the man for years and his harsh ways. But the thought of Sanemi - someone you considered to be a great friend, even someone you loved dearly - forgetting about you; despising you. 
You exhale, deciding to pick up your pace to get back to the estate - and Sanemi - faster.
Tumblr media
Sanemi’s sword slices against the tatami mat, slicing with ease. His mind is on you and when you are due to return. He’s upset that you were set on a mission - your first one at that - while he was out on his own. He’s positive that you were ecstatic and jumping with joy - it causes his heart to beat harder. He regrets not being there to send you off, even when his nerves screams at him to find you.
You’re an adult, he tells himself.
You’re now a slayer, fully capable of fighting low-level demons.
But still, you were someone he cared about.
Sanemi cannot keep his mind at ease when Genya is away on missions, now that he has you and his brother on his mind, he’s sure he’ll never find peace. 
Sorai, Sanemi’s crow, flocks his wings and places himself on a sliced tatami mat. The words released from the crows mouth has Sanemi’s eyes widening and his blood going cold.
Rengoku.
Dead.
Kyojuro is dead.
Sanemi’s right hand clenches his sword in his palm.
“I will annihilate all unsightly demons.” he hisses, turning away to make his way out of his home. His heart is pumping out his chest now and his nerves are screaming.
Kyojuro was a Hashira - a skilled one. What did that mean for you and Genya? You were out on a mission as we speak, too far away to know of Kyojuro’s death but that doesn’t ease his nerves one bit. He feels jittery. His mind is wandering to you fighting whatever demon you were sent out to and returning with serious injuries. His heart clenches when his mind flashes with you covered in blood, body lifeless. 
“Sorai!” Sanemi hisses and his crow squawks. “Go find Y/N.”
Sorai flocks his wings and begins his journey. Lilac eyes follow him until he’s nothing but a mere figure in the sky. 
Sanemi inhales deeply and exhales. He runs a calloused hand through his hair and down his face. He notices that his hand is trembling lightly with nerves.
You release a low sigh when you notice the familiar sight of the Butterfly Mansion. Your body aches and your ears are still ringing, but you manage to make it in one piece.
“CAW!”
Sharp feet landed upon your head.You hiss at the impact, wailing your hands around. “Sorai?” you murmur. “Where’s Sanemi?” you ask the crow. 
“Shinazugawa-sama has sent me to assure your safety!” the crow squawks.
You find yourself grinning. You pet the crows head lightly. “Yes, I’ve arrived safely.” you tell him. “I’m going to the Butterfly Mansion to assure my injuries aren’t severe.”
Sorai squawks again, wings flapping to fly and give the news to Sanemi.
You enter the mansion to find it surprisingly quiet.
“Y/N-chan!”
It’s Naho. She’s crying at the sight of you - did you look that bad?
“I’ll go get Aoi! Shinobu-san is busy.”
You follow behind her to the infirmary. You’re glad you can finally lay down and relax.
You enter the room and groan. You fell onto the nearest bed and sighed.
“You must be in such pain.” Aoi murmurs, eyeing the way your ears hold dried blood. 
“Little bit.” you mumble a response. “Just feel a little…tired.” you close your eyes, lids feeling heavy.
“Okay. You can sleep,Y/N-chan. I’ll give you some medicine for your wounds.”
You’re into a deep sleep by the time you hear Aoi’s words. It felt nice to be able to relax for now and not worry about anything.
Sanemi slams the shoji doors open, causing several nurses to yelp in surprise. 
“Shinazugawa!” Aoi growls, eyebrows knitting into a scowl. “How many times-”
“What happened to her?”
Aoi watches with angered eyes as Sanemi stalks towards your sleeping figure.
Sanemi lowers himself to inspect you. There’s a few scratches on your skin and blood (dried) on the sides of your ears.
“She passed out around 10 minutes ago.” Aoi responds. “Now leave, she needs-”
Sanemi sits on the bed beside yours, deciding to ignore Aoi altogether. Aoi scoffs. She turns her head to the other nurses and nods. They continue to scurry off out of the room. 
“I’ll be back with some medicine for her.” Aoi grumbles and makes her way out of the room.
Sanemi allows himself to breathe now. When Sorai had come back to him and stated that you had returned safely but at the Butterfly Mansion, he had to be sure you were safe. 
It was three hours later when you finally stirred awake. You feel groggily and your eyes are heavy. You yawned, pushing yourself up in the bed. 
“You’re awake.”
You yelp at the sudden voice. “Nemi.” 
Sanemi’s arms are crossed over his chest, eyes studying you.
“How long have you been here?”
Sanemi shrugs. “Not too long.” Sanemi responds. He hasn’t left since you were emitted. 
“Ah,” you lean against the metal frame. “I’ve returned from my mission.”
You’re smiling tiredly at him.
“My heart feels so full and heavy. My mind cannot focus on anything.” you explain. “It’s all so overwhelming to return alive and well.”
“Your ears are bleeding. Are you sure you’re well?”
“Yes.” you nod. “The demon was a very loud screamer.” you giggle to yourself. 
Sanemi swallows. He’s unsure how he was going to tell you about Kyojuro. You’ve grown close to the man and learning of his death would cause you great sorrow, and he didn’t like to see you upset or sad. 
“Nemi?”
“Kyojuro…” Sanemi begins. “...went on a mission before you had. He didn’t make it.”
You tilt your head, ears registering his words. 
“Kyojuro…is dead?” you swallow, throat dry.
It feels foolish to cry for someone knowing that this life was never guaranteed. You’ve grown close to him, sometimes speaking with him whenever you were free. 
“Nemi…” you trail off, feeling your eyes become wet. You feel for Kyojuro and his family and it even feels selfish of you to be scared for Sanemi’s life now. Kyojuro was a Hashira just like Sanemi and if he was ultimately brought to death…
Your legs ache, but you do not hesitate to jump from your bed to where Sanemi sat. You wrapped him in a tight embrace, wet eyes crushing into his neck.
Sanemi’s shocked by your actions. He didn’t know Kyojuro’s death would impact you this much.
You sniffled in his neck. “I don’t want you to ever be in harm's way.” you murmur. Sanemi, Genya, Shinra…you didn’t want to see death for anyone apart from the Corps. 
Sanemi gulps. He places an arm around you to bring you closer. He doesn’t usually touch you - sober, that was - but you were always clingy. He wants to comfort you, to tell you that everything would be alright. He wants to tell you that he wasn’t going to die - but he doesn’t wish to disappoint you with false promises he couldn’t guarantee. 
Sanemi doesn’t speak as he holds onto you, but he’s positive that he too does not wish you to ever be in harm's way - he’s unsure if he would be able to live with himself if you or Genya didn’t come back from a mission alive.
Tumblr media
The next few months consist of you and Sanemi attending missions alongside one another, sometimes with other slayers. You want to question why you haven’t been on a solo mission, but you don’t. You assume after Kyojuro’s death, that the Corps would rather keep lower ranks with higher ones, but you cannot be 100% sure. 
However, you wouldn’t complain about being sent out with Sanemi. He was more of a guide, making sure nothing got too hectic for you - and it never did. He allowed you to behead any demons that you saw and the mission was complete. Then the two of you would return back to the estate until the next mission.
Weekly, you would have lunch that you’d cook with Sanemi, Genya, Shinra and Muichiro (whenever they weren’t sent on missions). Sanemi managed to bite his tongue and instead would grumble to himself, but it was progress. You enjoyed cooking for them and saw the three younger boys as little brothers.
Sanemi drew the line when you invited more - Tanjiro was such a lovely boy that you couldn’t help but want to feed him. With Tanjiro came Zenitsu and Inosuke - a brawl ensued when Inosuke insulted Sanemi and Genya retorted, both teenagers throwing insults and punches. But you enjoyed the lunch, nonetheless.
“We have another mission.” Sanemi says during breakfast. “Hiyori delivered it while you were bathing.”
“Ah, is that so?” you bring the sweet potato in your mouth and bite. 
Sanemi nods. “A Hashira is to be present. Me.” he says. “More slayers are attending, as well. We were told to pack a bag - it might take longer than we expect.”
You nod and when the two of you are done with breakfast, you go to pack your bag. It can be classified as an undercover mission, so casual wear is expected. 
It’s not long that you, Sanemi and a group of slayers are making your journey to Shinjuku, expected to arrive right in the evening. Sanemi wasn’t one to make stops, so you managed to pack a few snacks for the long way.
Once you arrive to Shinjuku you’re relieved. The sun was barely shining and you just wanted to find whatever demon was here and kill it. Seeing as the lot of you were expected to be undercover, you’re sure it wouldn’t work out that way.
“You,” Sanemi points to a group of 5 slayers. “find an inn and see what you can gather about our mission.”
The five slayers bow and head on their way. Sanemi’s turns his eyes to another four. “You do the same in the opposite direction.”
There's only you, him and two slayers left - one girl named Sumire and a boy by the name of Roshi. “There’s an inn on the outskirts of Shinjuku. We’ll head there, find a room and change. The sun will fall soon and we’ll have to investigate whatever demon lurks here.”
The inn wasn’t far and a ten minute walk has you four arriving there. It appears to be the nicest Inn in the city for it to be such a long distance from it. 
“Welcome in!” a woman behind the counter eyes the four of you, her eyes recognizing the uniform displayed. “Two rooms?”
“Four.” Sanemi corrects.
“Ah…” the woman leans forward, eyes staring at Sanemi’s chest, a grin formed onto her lips. “I apologize, sir, but we only do couples in Shinjuku.”
Sanemi scoffs. “What type of shit is that?” he hisses. He’s never heard of an entire city only catering to couples.
“We’re known as a honeymoon retreat here.” the lady shrugs. “I do apologize for any inconvenience.”
“It’s fine.” you sigh. “I can room with Sumire-”
“Please don’t.” Roshi whimpers, shaking his head. He wanted to be nowhere near Sanemi - especially not when his annoyance was rising. “I’ll take the floor so Sumire can have the bed - really!”
“Then it’s settled. Two rooms for two couples.” the lady turns to grasp a set of keys in both manicured hands and she dangles them out for you all to grasp.
Sanemi snatches the key and scurries down the hall while Sumire takes the other.
“We’ll get settled, changed and make our way out for the night.” you tell Sumire and Roshi.
“Yes.” Sumire and Roshi reply in unison.
Sanemi slams the door shut as the two of you enter, dropping his bag onto the large bed. 
“The sun will be setting soon.” you note aloud. “Do we have a set plan?”
“There’s obviously something going on here.” Sanemi says. He removes a yukata from his belongings. “Shinjuku was not known to be a couples retreat - not until now.”
“Do you think whatever demons here are targeting couples?” you tilt your head to think. Eating two people would be smarter than one, but still, a demon was stronger than a regular civilian. “It seems to be a lot of effort on the demon's part.”
Sanemi shrugs. Whatever the demon was doing, he’d be sure to put an end to it. 
Sanemi and you roamed Shinjuku. It appeared bright even when the sun was down. You noticed that it indeed was a couples affair - you noticed no one walking alone. What also caught your attention was the lack of children present - or those who were older.
“You two look new here.”
Sanemi’s eyes flicker to the voice.
“We are.” you smile at them, inching closer to Sanemi.
“Oh! How long have you two been married?” the woman asks and now you’re unsure what to say. 
“Honeymoon.” Sanemi responds. “Was recommended by a friend.”
The woman nods her head. “It’s amazing here! We’ve been here twice already. Have you two been to…”
You await for her to continue, but her eyes look as if waiting for you to catch on.
“...Uh…?” you turn to Sanemi who doesn’t even look interested.
“The couples…brothel?”  the woman flushes bright red as she speaks, her husband laughing nervously.
“Couples brothel?”
Sanemi was intrigued now.
“Yes. You have to be approved first - we haven’t.”
“What do you do there?” you ask, unsure of what in the world this mission was going to put you through.
“If approved, you get to be doted on…” the woman is far too embarrassed to continue but you’re sure you get where she’s going.
“Ah.” you nod your head. “I never knew that was something.”
“Yes. It happens every day at a different inn.” the husband says.
“Today should be…”
Sanemi sighs. He has a guess of what inn it would be happening at.
“We have to go.” Sanemi says, stomping off. 
“Sorai.” Your eyes look into the sky at the flying bird. “Inform the other slayers of the demon. Tell them to patrol the streets and make sure no civilians are harmed.”
“Where are we-”
“Back to the Inn.” Sanemi answers your question before you can respond. “That woman insisted on couples because that’s how the demon feeds without getting caught.”
“She chooses her victims strategically.” you murmur. “Not everyone gets accepted.”
“She must know we’re slayers - or at least senses that there’s something off about us.” Sanemi picks up the pace. “Only way to find out…”
Sanemi wraps you in a tight embrace as you both enter the inn. It catches you by surprise - his sudden closeness.
“Hello!” a lady claps her hands at your arrival. “Are you guests here already?” it’s not the same woman as yesterday, you note. 
Sanemi nods his head, arms wrapped tightly around you. “Yes. We’re hoping we can join.”
The woman is nodding, quite aware of what Sanemi is asking of her. “You’re in luck. Our mistress had not yet chosen a couple.” she eyes the way you and Sanemi appear. “I’m positive we found a good choice in the two of you.”
Sanemi swallows. He’s unsure how, but she knows there’s something off about the two of you - you aren’t an ordinary couple. She’s no demon, he would know if she was. 
“Follow me,” the woman motions with her hand for the two of you to come.
You walk, as does Sanemi. He won’t admit it, but having your body against his makes him feel at ease; just knowing you’re close and away from harm.
The hallway is long and seemingly away from the other rooms of the inn. The lights grow dim the closer the three of you step. You were sure it had to do with the demon.
“Go right into the room. The mistress will be in shortly. There are refreshments inside, as well.” The woman slides open the doors and bows as you enter. “Do have some fun while you wait.” She shuts them and you hear her footsteps pat down the hall until they’re inaudible.
“Room’s nice.” your eyes scan around the room, appearing quite large in size and lights just as dim as the hallway.
Sanemi grunts but doesn’t say a response. He sits upon the mat, eyes scanning for any sign of the demon.
You take a seat besides him and inhale. The room was humid.
“Have your sword ready.” Sanemi murmurs. You’re seated besides him, far too close. His noses appear to be heightened, your aroma nearly intoxicating him. He swallows thickly.
“It’s fucking hot.” Sanemi hisses. “Where’s that bitch?”
You were beginning to feel the same way. Your kimono wasn’t tight, but it felt as if it was sticking to you. The air felt so heavy, humid and…you shiver, goosebumps erupting onto your skin.
“I feel weird.” you tell Sanemi after a long moment. 
Sanemi’s eyes turn to you besides him. He notes there’s sweat lining your forehead and you’re panting lightly. Your legs are shuffling together, hands clenching in your lap. He notes that in the midst of your anxious state, you loosened your kimono and beneath it shows your uniform - the same uniform you wore when he gifted you his haori. He’d scream and berate the perverted kakushi for a new uniform just for you to wear both, stating that you didn’t want to be a bother. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the way you looked in it, not at all. He enjoyed it too much, often finding his eyes and mind wandering to places they shouldn’t. 
“You should drink something.” Sanemi tears his eyes away from you to eye the refreshments besides them. There isn’t any water, just wine, but it’ll have to do. “Just enough so you won’t feel parched.”
You nod your head. You wouldn’t be off your game after a sip of wine. You reach for the wine besides Sanemi, a low apology when your arm touches his. It sends a jolt throughout him, this time reaching lower than his heart. 
Sanemi’s eyes are shameless now. He doesn’t hide the fact that he’s watching you. Your hands are shaking as you take the bottle of wine in your hands. You unscrew it and begin to pour. “W-Would you like some?”
Sanemi blinks at the sound of your voice, but he nods. He takes the small, silver goblet from your trembling hands and nods his thanks. He drinks the wine in one swift movement, downing it while his eyes watch yours. He was sure he could have another, and another as long as you served him. 
You aren’t as fast as Sanemi. You smell the wine first before going in to take a sip. It’s good - expensive too. You find yourself drinking the wine keen, enjoying the refreshing taste it gives.
Sanemi’s eyes watch as the wine, a crimson red color, drips from the corner of your mouth and down your jaw, to your chin and drips onto your collarbone. It teases him, he thinks, as it slowly drips onto your exposed breasts.
Sanemi licks his lips and groans. He yanks the wine bottle and pours himself another and downs it. He goes to pour himself another one, but he feels a hand on his wrist.
“You’re going to drink it all.” you say, voice laced with mischief. 
Sanemi inhales. The room was growing hotter.
Sanemi pours the wine, but this time he doesn’t drink it. He lifts it to your own lips, tapping them so you’d open them. You do, gently drinking the wine from his hands. You couldn’t contain the laughter coming from your throat as you do so, the wine splashing onto your kimono.
Sanemi feels hot all over again, his uniform beneath his yukata growing tighter. 
“Nemi?”
Sanemi gulps. “Hm?”
“Do you think I’m hot?”
Sanemi coughs at your question, flushing. 
Why was the room growing hotter?
Why does his clothes feel like they’re sticking to him?
Sanemi was growing confused by the second - why were the two of you even in this room?
“Why do you ask?” Sanemi drops the goblet.
“Because you never say it.” Were you intoxicated now? You didn’t appear to be, your words weren’t slurring and your vision didn’t appear hazy. “Are you attracted to me?” Sanemi feels you come closer. He’s stiff - you had to be drunk. You’re pushing off your kimono, now just only in the revealing corp uniform. He gasps when you climb into his lap, both legs trapping him beneath you.
“You look scared.” You were teasing him. You sit directly onto him, the bulge of his cock twitching when he feels the heartbeat that’s your pussy. “You’re supposed to be the fearless Wind Hashira.”
Sanemi places his hands against your exposed thighs and groans at the smoothness of your skin. He’d often wake from dreams of you and him being in this very position - he’d either have to shower with the coldest water or pump himself until he was cumming. The last option was the most embarrassing. 
“Are you afraid of me?” you’re teasing him again, repeating the same words he said to you in Asakusa. Though he wasn’t pressing himself against you like this, he wouldn’t complain either.
Sanemi groans once more at the feeling of you slightly grinding against him. 
Yes, Sanemi was afraid of you. You made him feel different - the jolting in his heart that dives all the way down to his cock. He often finds himself staring at you, so long that his eyes grow dry and he has to blink just to regain moisture. He often has to hear Uzui’s and Shinobu’s teasing of his feelings for you, no matter how much he attempts to deny it himself.
“No.” Sanemi murmurs, even if it was a lie. 
“Then kiss me.” you lean forward, inches away from Sanemi’s lips. He gulps, licking his lips. Your lavender aroma fills his nostrils and he finds all the sanity he had left gone. 
Sanemi presses his lips against yours, his fingernails digging into the skin of your thigh. He doesn’t want to let you go - whatever this was he doesn’t want it to end. All that clouds his thoughts now were you - your scent, your touch, the sound of you. It intoxicates him that whatever the two of you were initially supposed to be doing in this room has since been forgotten. 
You feel your throat tighten and you’re being lifted. Your eyes shoot open and you’re gasping for air, eyes watching someone - you? It wasn’t you.
The demon had taken the form of you now, leaning against a panting Sanemi. He’s in a trance, you note, not noticing that he was now in the hands of the demon. Her eyes look up at you once for a second and now, your blood is running cold. ‘Lower Rank Six’ engraved into her eyes. 
You struggle to get yourself loose. It’s obvious that the demon has Sanemi in a trance and you were the one that needed to behead the bitch.
“Thank you for bringing me a Hashira.” the demon cackles. “I can show my lord that I am capable of killing a Hashira and then I’ll work my way up. He has given me a second chance just for this moment!”
You struggle against a hooked tail, but manage to get one arm loose to unsheathe your sword. You swipe at it, slashing it so you can release yourself. “Get away from him!”
The demon’s eyes widen but she then laughs. “I’m sorry I have to consume your lover.” she taunts. “Virgins don’t know what to do with a man.” the demon taunts. The air appears to be foggy and once again you feel hot with desire. 
“You’re nothing but a demon that’s going to die here.” you spit at her.
The demon shrieks at your words. “Such a disgusting human! You don’t deserve to be in my presence!”
You swipe your sword to dodge her attack. You needed to get this over with now before you wasted any more time. Your mind was fogging with whatever she’s done, an obvious demon blood art. 
“You’re nothing but a weak lower moon.” you spat back at her with the same venom. 
The demon hisses and sends an array of attacks with her hooked tail. “Wind Breathing: Third Form:” you proceed to release a whirlwind of slashes around you to defend yourself from her attack.”Clean Storm Wind Tree!”  Your eyes focus on her neck - you had to finish her off now. You raise your sword and slash it across her neck, a clean swipe that cuts the demon’s head right off. 
The demon screams at her sudden defeat, but another gush of fog surrounds the entirety of the room just as her head and body harshly crash onto the ground. 
You drop your sword beside you, making your way to Sanemi. His eyes are closed and he appears to be asleep.
“Nemi?” you call, falling to your knees. You place a hand upon his cheek and flinch when his eyes dart open. “Nemi…”
Your words trailed off and neither of you talked, only stared at the other. The room was boiling now, sweat pooling off of your body. You were sure you’d hear a pin drop with how silent the room remained.
“We should…go…” you managed to speak, but it was difficult. Your throat is dry and your ears are beginning to ring. Your clothing is uncomfortable and tight, sticking to your skin like glue. “Nemi…I-I don’t feel good.” you admit to him after another few moments of tortured silence. Your legs are beginning to clench together, the friction feeling good, an electric shock between your legs. 
You knew this feeling, you were no prude. You were sexually frustrated. There was no doubt a wet spot between your legs and the friction of your thighs clenching together brought a temporary satisfaction. You would admit that you touched yourself often when you needed to just to let loose and unwind, but that frustration wasn’t anywhere near how you felt now. 
You scoff bitterly to yourself. To think you endured hellish training to become a slayer just for sexual frustration to be your downfall.
“Let’s go.” Sanemi nods, head heavy. “We need to get our stuff from the room.”
Standing is difficult for Sanemi. His clothing is tight and there’s an obvious bulge in his uniform pants. He allows you to lead the way, his sane mind screaming to not stare at the way your ass moves, but he doesn’t care. He was a man, after all, a man drugged by a demon. He wants to laugh at the circumstances.
The woman is nowhere to be found when you pass the front end of the inn. You assumed she was nothing but a pawn for the demon and was left alive as long as she offered her humans to consume.
Entering the bedroom, you close the shoji doors behind you and Sanemi.
“I hope everyone else is alright.” you murmur to yourself, leaning against the door. “We should probably be heading out-” You stop speaking once you realize Sanemi’s hands are clenching his hair tightly. His chest is rising and falling and he appears to be in pain.
“Nemi-” you reach out to touch him, but Sanmi harshly pushes you away. Your eyes widen at the sudden action. “I-I…are you in pain? I-”
“Leave, Y/N.” Sanemi’s gruff voice startles you. “Go to Kocho and take the slayers with you.”
“I can’t leave you here.” you say. You’re ashamed that his voice turns you on. You hold the edge of your uniform skirt. “You’re in pain-”
“You know I’m not in pain!” Sanemi hisses. His tone would have anyone else cowering, but here you stood with wide (heart) eyes and clenching thighs. “You know what you’re doing to me, Y/N.”
You gulp at his words.
“I’m trying my hardest not to fuck you against the wall.” Sanemi stares at your face. “Leave. Now.”
Sanemi turns away from you and you’re shocked by his choice of words. You’re certain the demon art is affecting him just as much as it’s affecting you. 
But…there it was. The sensation pooling between your legs - the heartbeat taunting you. His words made you wet, you note. It was a warning - don’t come closer, don’t keep trying to help; run away before he’d do something that he wouldn’t do normally. It’s a sort of adrenaline rush to be playing with fire.
“I can help you.” you gulp. You decide to step closer to him and wrap your hands onto his bicep. “I want-”
Sanemi’s fast in his action, gripping your jaw to press a firm kiss upon your lips. He’s holding back, you know, not wishing to hurt you. He knows you haven’t done this before and the sane part of him wants to stop - to not take you while he cannot control himself. “You need to leave, Y/N.” Sanemi’s pleading with you now. He didn’t want to have your first time like this. He’s trembling, all ounce of strength fighting animalistic urges. He almost feels nauseous, mind flashing in all the ways he could take you right now - how vulnerable you’d be beneath him and how good you’d look stuffed with his seed.
Sanemi shakes his head aggressively, wanting to get rid of the perverted thoughts of you, but he cannot. It’s humiliating to think that these thoughts were there before, but with the demon art, it’s completely unbearable. 
You were always the stubborn one, never heeding warning. You raise a hand to place it upon his yukuta. You clench it to pull him forward to press your lips upon his once more. Sanemi’s breathing intensifies in the kiss and still, there’s a little part in him that’s holding back the urges to completely demolish you like the demon art (and him, as well) desired. 
“Let me help you, Nemi. It doesn’t matter how long it takes!” you’re pleading with him now, heavily panting when you release his lips for oxygen. You’re also affected by the demon art, even if your own desires were buried deep. “You’d help me so much. I can do the same.” The sound of your begs drive Sanemi wild, his mind refusing to stop sending the illusions of you in different, perverted positions until he acts upon them.
Sanemi’s hands reach out to touch you, bringing you closer to him. You’re against his chest and when his hands sneak out to touch the curves of your body, he knows he won’t be able to stop. 
Stop - Sanemi tells himself.
You'll regret this.
He’d regret this.
He’s taking advantage of your vulnerable state - this isn’t you, this is the demon art.
You want this - another part of his brain denies the sane part of him. There’s an internal dialogue happening right in his mind.
He wanted this. He’d always wanted this.
He wanted to be deep inside of you - so deep that there wasn’t a way you couldn’t not be impregnated.
You’d be his and his alone - you’d give him the family he desired.
“Nemi, please…”
Sanemi doesn’t hold back any longer, fully succumbing to the demon art that’s blinding his best judgment. Your back slams against the futon, sending shocks all over your body, but you aren’t upset at Sanemi’s sudden change in demeanor. His hands are ripping at your uniform, not caring about any damage it causes. He shudders when his hands finally manage to touch you. The countless times he would touch himself to any little amount of skin you showed him - and now you were nearly nude before him.
Sanemi never wanted to thank a demon before in his life.
You’re moaning when Sanemi’s lips kiss along your neck, tongue trailing along as he does so. His hands are groping your breast, the bandages binding them are ripped apart in seconds and they spring free.
Sanemi’s face is between your breasts in seconds, kissing sloppily. You’re so beautiful. He wanted to admire your beauty as much as he could - there was no going back now and who knows what would happen when the demon art wore off. But Sanemi couldn’t slow his pace now, you made him delirious.
Your body jerks when you feel a warm, wet sensation on your nipples. Sanemi’s tongue suckles on your left while his thumb tugs on the right. It causes you to moan louder, the feeling foreign and you never wanted it to end. 
It wasn’t soon until Sanemi had you fully naked before him. He’s in awe, truly, eyes completely blown out. It’s unclear to him how he could still manage to hold back completely being barbaric when it comes to the sight of you, but maybe it’s the respect he held dear to his heart for you.
Sanemi’s lips kiss down your breast, to your stomach down to your abdomen. He pushes your legs apart and swallows when he catches sight just how wet you were.
You squirm under Sanemi’s gaze, unsure what he was doing. You go to close your legs but Sanemi only pushes them apart further.
“N-Nemi!” you gasp once you feel his tongue flat against your clit. It’s a weird feeling of euphoria that has your eyes rolling. “S-stop!” you’re struggling against Sanemi’s tongue, doing everything in your power to get him to stop. “I can’t take anymore, Nemi…”
Sanemi doesn’t care about your babblings. Your taste intoxicates him just like your scent does. Your moans are so sweet, like his favorite tune playing again and again in his ears. His fingernails dig into the skin of your thigh and he’s bobbing his head back and forth over and over again until you’re sobbing.
Sanemi lifts his head from your swollen clit and licks his lips. He’s hovering above your twitching form and even now as you’re overstimulated with pleasure and sobbing, he cannot bring himself to stop. 
“Nemi…”
Sanemi presses three fingers against your clit, rubbing tauntingly. “You can take it.” he encourages. After all, if you cannot handle his tongue and fingers, how’d you ever handle his cock?
Sanemi rubs a few more times before his fingers inch inside of you. His lips are kissing along your face, kissing along at the tears of pleasure. 
You’re tight and it excites Sanemi. Knowing that he would be the one to deflower you - be the first (and preferably only) man you’d been with. It causes goosebumps to litter his skin.
The feeling of Sanemi’s fingers inside of you hurts - you’ve never done so before. He isn’t going slow either to allow you to adjust, he’s pumping with such force that it compels you into pleasure. 
“I feel weird, Nemi…” you’re panting, feeling the bubbling feeling deep in your stomach. “Stop, I-I don’t wanna cum like this.” your hand wraps around his wrist to stop him - even if Sanemi refuses. “I wanna feel you around me when I do.”
Sanemi’s cock twitches at your words, but he wastes no time.
With hooded eyes, you watch as Sanemi undresses. You hadn’t realized just how clothed he was while you laid completely bare. 
Sanemi’s body was beautiful, chiseled muscles sculpting his entire body. You flush at the sight of his completely nude body - cock erect. Your legs twitch with nervousness..
Sanemi hovers above you. There’s a flash in his eyes - you notice. His forehead is pressed against yours and for a moment his eyes are soft, no longer harboring the feral reaction.
“You’re so beautiful, Y/N.” he murmurs to you. It’s the voice that belonged to Sanemi - not the one under the demon art, but the man that you trained alongside for a year.
You didn’t have the chance to respond. Sanemi is entering you now and your hands go to clench his biceps harshly. It doesn’t hurt him, of course, but the pressure for you is nearly unbearable. Your legs wrap around him tight, hoping he wouldn’t move too soon.
You inhale deeply, trembling with the newfound pain. Sanemi is big - but any cock would be for you. You just hoped Sanemi wasn’t far too gone in the demon’s spell and wouldn’t hurt you too much.
Sanemi’s patience was slowly breaking. He found himself grinding into her for any sort of friction or pleasure. There’s only so much a man like him could take, his mind kept replaying the countless ways he could take you right now and he was truly fighting an internal battle. 
Sanemi thrusted out of you fully to thrust back in. You released a surprised wail, eyes shutting tight. Your fingernails would be another scar left upon his skin.
“I can’t take it.” you cry out, walls completely sore by taking his cock in you fully. The pressure was unbearable and by the looks of the man, he appeared utterly insatiable. 
“You can.” Sanemi’s voice is so raspy and deep that you were positive he was far gone. He continues to thrust deep inside of you that your back hits the futon with each thrust. He’s strong - far stronger than you’d ever hope to be - and getting him to stop was going to be difficult.
You felt the hot tears pool down your cheeks. You were being stretched out far too much for you to keep your composure. You were clenching around him so heavenly that he never wanted to stop - never wanted to be out of you; without you.
“Nemi, please…”
Sanemi’s hips buckled and he halts his movements. 
Keep going - the voice in his mind tells him.
But it’s your sadden pleas that has his sanity coming back - just for a moment. He witnesses your tears falling and his heart aches - was he the one making you cry?
Sanemi goes to pull himself out, but you stop him. You wrap your arms around him and bring him closer to you. His chest is against yours while your lips lined up against his ears. You’re panting, attempting to catch your breath and adjust to his size. 
Sanemi’s arms wrap around your body, the intimate moment was one he wished he could remain in forever; never wishing to let you go. 
“Nemi?”
You clench around him and Sanemi hums a response. You loosen your hold onto him, a signal that you wanted him to continue. 
Sanemi grinds inside of you, his hold on you only growing tighter. He’s deep, never wishing to be anywhere else but inside of you. He picks up his pace, noticing how your cries were becoming moans. 
This is what sex felt like. The pain was slowly subsiding and the pleasure was taking over. You can hear the way your pussy sounds against his pumping cock - wet and inviting, satiating his hunger for you. 
Sanemi releases his hold on you to lean back. His eyes are hooded as he watches the way your breast bounces. He picks up the pace, cock sliding in and out of you - rougher, deeper, faster.
So beautiful, Sanemi thinks. So beautiful and his - all his. The dark thoughts were coming back with each passing second and his sanity was losing to the demonic spell. 
You yourself felt whatever sanity you had left was now leaving. You no longer cared if Sanemi was hurting you or not - what you did know was that now you felt good; so good. His cock pumps inside of you at an alarming pace that would even be considered pleasurable if you weren’t receiving it. 
Sanemi’s hands grip your breast so tightly that he's sure they would leave marks. His eyes fixated on the bulge of your stomach, mind racing with the thought of you round and pregnant with his child. He allows one hand to leave your breast to cup your stomach, rubbing lightly as he fucks you.
“I can’t wait to fuck a baby in you.”
Sanemi’s words would cause you to gasp if you weren’t caught in the moment. Your mind was fucked out with how good he’s fucking you that a baby didn’t seem bad - how the two of you forgotten about the world full of demons and the mission you were currently on.
“Get you nice and pregnant. I’ll take care of you.” He’s now hitting your g-spot as he speaks, eyes completely blown out with pleasure. Your knees are touching your shoulders and you’re positive you’ve never been this flexible before. “I’ll take care of all of our kids.”
You’re crying beneath him, pleasure overwhelming. Your sobs don’t go unnoticed, but he doesn’t care. He’ll fuck you until he was done - fuck you until he was sure you were pregnat with the child he was promising you.
“I want them to look just like you. So perfect.” Sanemi moans at the thought of you full of cum, round with his child.
You’re cumming, writhing beneath him. You’re soaking the futon beneath the two of you, but neither of you care. Sanemi was on a mission - a rampage. Nothing was going to stop him from achieving his perverted dreams.
Sanemi cums deep inside of you, twitching as he does so. He’s panting while sweat pools off of his skin and onto yours.
Sanemi wants more.
He flips you over, face burning into the futon. He enters you like an animal, continuing the brutal pace. He’s fucking into you deeper, your screams echoing off the room walls. If anyone was inside the inn, neither of you cared. He almost wished someone was listening so they could hear how good he was fucking you.
You’re drooling. You could no longer focus on anything but the cock inside of you - and even then you wanted more. Was this what heaven felt like? Paradise? To be stuff so good but the man you adored that you never wanted it to end?
How could you go back to pleasuring yourself when Sanemi knew how to do it so wonderfully?
Sanemi filled you again - three more times before he changed the position. He brought you on top of him and fucked into you, not allowing you any control. The stamina of a Hashira was amazing. He fucked you like a ragdoll, but you had no complaints.
His fucking dragged on majority of the night - against the wall, in his arms, on your back, on your side - every position he deemed fuckable, he had you in.He would hiss such dirty worlds in your ears that you’d convulse into a cumming mess for him.
One things for certain - neither of you wanted this night to end.
Tumblr media
Your legs ached, as did the entirety of your body. 
You stirred away, the sun from the open window blinding your eyes.
You push yourself up from the futon, the blanket you were wrapped in falling to expose your naked figure.
You were sore and one look at your appearance has your mind fluttering with memories.
“Nemi…?” you call out to nothing. You were alone in the room the two of you shared the night prior. You scanned the area to find no trace of him - not even his belongings.
Your legs tremble as you stand to your feet. You take nearly 10 minutes to get dressed, but you cannot be blamed. Your body is covered with bruises and marks that hiding it with Sanemi’s gifted haori was difficult, but manageable. 
You make your way out of the room, belongings in hand. You walk past the innkeeper who doesn’t say a word - a different woman from the first two you met the day prior. 
“CAW!”
Hiyori flies above you just as you exit the inn. If you had to guess, it was an hour before noon.
“Y/L Y/N is to report to the Butterfly Mansion for treatment! Y/L Y/N and others to the Butterfly Mansion!”
“Hiyori.” you call the crow, holding out your arm. “Where’s Sanemi?”
“Shinazugawa-sama has left on his own in the morning!”
Left.
Sanemi had left you here?
Alone?
“Y/N!”
It’s Sumire and Roshi, returning back to you appearing slightly disheveled. 
“W-What-”
“Don’t ask.” Sumire’s flushing bright red.
“Please.” Rochi murmurs and you notice none of them can look the other in the eye.
Your mind connects the dots.
You and Sanemi were not the only two subjected to the demon’s spell.
“Did you see Sanemi leave?” you ask the two slayers.
“Yes. Shinazugawa-sama took the others and left. We were told to wait for you.” Sumire exclaims. “Didn’t say much but to wait until you were up to head to the Butterfly Mansion.”
You nod your head. You swallow, heart aching with the realization that Sanemi had left you.
Had Sanemi regretted the night with you? Had he woke up disgusted with your actions that he didn’t even wish to look at you?
No.
Sanemi wasn’t like this. He didn’t run from his issues. He had to go to the Butterfly Mansion with the other slayers. You wouldn’t think too much into it.
But it was hard not to think too much into it, you think. The entire journey to the Butterfly Mansion had left you completely distracted by memories of the previous night and the nervousness of having to face the Wind Hashira once more. 
The Butterfly Mansion was hectic, nurses scurrying around to help while Kakushi lined up to do the same. You almost felt out of place coming here. You didn’t even have any scars from the attack with the demon and it appears Sumire and Roshi were alright, as well, only a bit awkward.
“Are you two alright?” you turn to the two slayers who nod, avoiding contact with the other. “The mission wasn’t as deadly as we expected. The Lower Moon-���
“Lower Moon?!” Roshi and Sumire gasp in unison with wide eyes. “There was a lower moon there?” Sumire questions. 
“We fought off a few demons but they weren’t strong. They might have been only a few years turned.”
You nod your head. “Yes.” you look between the two of them. “Her demon art was…powerful. Are you sure the two of you are alright?”
You see flashes in your mind of you and Sanemi together the entirety of the night.
“Yes.” Roshi’s cheeks are dusty red.
“Yea.” Sumire responds, as well. 
You nod your head and offer the two of them a soft smile. “Okay. Good job on the mission.” you tell them. “Please rest.”
Your eyes watch Sumire and Hoshi scurry away and you release an exhausted sigh. 
“Y/N?”
Your head snaps to the sound of your name. You bow to Shinobu who does the same. 
“Are you alright? I heard your mission was successful by Shinazugawa.”
You nod your head. “Yes. I returned just now.” you wondered what else Sanemi had told her. “It’s hectic here.”
“Indeed it is. Uzui has returned with Tanjiro, Inosuke and Zenitsu. An Upper Moon was defeated.”
Your eyes widen. “An Upper Moon? Are they safe?” you returned seemingly fine after your battle - if you can even call it that, the demon appeared far too weak to be considered a part of the 12 Kizuki. You couldn’t imagine fighting an Upper Moon.
“Recovering. They’re all fallen into coma’s but we’re positive they will recover.”
A sigh of relief comes from your lips. “Uzui-san? Is he here?”
“Was. He left hours before you returned. He has retired as a Hashira.”
You were sure your eyes were going to pop out their socket one of these days. The sudden information was hitting you at each possible angle. 
“I know you’ve grown attached to the younger slayers. Maybe you can come visit them once everything settles down.” Shinobu offers a smile. “Uzui is at his estate with his wives as if he didn’t lose an eye or hand. I’m sure he’d be happy to see you.”
“Huh?!” your hands clench at - yet again - another sudden information. Uzui was a Hashira, so tall and muscular and extremely skilled. 
“Uzui is fine, truly. Rambling on about appearing even more flashy with an eyepatch.” Shinobu giggles slightly. “How are you, Y/N? Shinazugawa was here earlier but nothing appeared to be wrong with him or the others. I assume the same goes for you?”
You swallow and nod.
“Good.” Shinobu scans your appearance. You had the white haori that once belonged to Sanemi wrapped tightly around your frame. You showed no skin - which wasn’t exactly alarming, but you also never appeared so awkwardly nervous. 
Shinobu’s eyes are beautiful, so large and deep purple. Now, however, they seemed to be looking into your soul, searching for your deepest and darkest secrets.
“I should be going now, Shinobu-san.” you bow. 
“Don’t be a stranger, Y/N.” she offers a curt wave. “I love the new glow you have to you.” that tone in her voice - you feel hot with embarrassment. She was teasing you.
“CAW!”
You haven’t been outside for more than five minutes before Hiyori returns. 
“Oyakata-sama has sent for you!”
“Ah.” you sigh deeply. “I suppose I can see what Oyakata-sama needs.”
You made your journey towards the Ubuyashiki Estate, Hiyori soaring above you. It doesn’t take long and upon entering you note that Oyakata has already been waiting for your appearance.
You bow in front of him. “Oyakata-sama. I have arrived.”
Kagaya offers a curt smile. “Y/L Y/N. It is nice to be in your presence once more.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Oyakata-sama.” 
You lift your head, knees remaining on the ground. 
“Congratulations on returning from your mission safely. You have defeated a Lower Moon.” Kagaya praises.
Your heart feels full to be praised. 
“Thank you, Oyakata-sama. But please, it was nothing. Uzui-san and the others are the true remarkable ones.” You still cannot fathom coming in the presence of such a remarkably strong demon. 
“You also deserve praise, Y/N.” Kagaya says. “You managed to defeat a Lower Moon. There’s many slayers who did not have the same fate.”
You nod to yourself. You suppose he was right.
“You would make an exceptional Wind Hashira if the title was not already occupied.” Kagaya compliments once more. “I am content that you, my child, are a part of the Corps.”
“Thank you, Oyakata-sama.” you say, standing to your feet. 
“Thank you, Y/N.” Kagaya said, but before  you could speak, he continued. “Sanemi has transformed for the better. I assume that it is your doing.”
You swallow at the sound of Sanemi’s name. You had yet to see him  and speak about what has happened during the mission.
“I cannot take responsibility for Shinazugawa-san’s credibility. He was always an amazing Hashira before me!”
Kagaya chuckles to himself lowly. “Indeed he was, my child. But behind every great man, there’s a partner. A woman like yourself.” Kagaya lightly pets the crow that sits beside him. His head remains straight forward, body unmoving. “Give yourself more grace, Y/N. You are free to go as you please. Thank you for speaking with me.”
“Y-Yes.” you inhale a response, bowing before turning away. “Thank you, Oyakata-sama.”
The master's words replay in your head as you make your way to Sanemi’s estate. You deserve praise, he said. You changed Sanemi for the better. Did you, though? Sanemi always appeared amazing to you - at any and everything he did. Sure he had a temper but it was never towards you. Maybe Sanemi had taken the swear the two of you made seriously.
Entering the mansion, you note just how quiet it was inside. Where was Sanemi? You knew he returned earlier in the day.
You decided to not dwell on it and bathe. You hadn’t had the chance to upon waking up, only a light wash up. Witnessing the bruises and bites littering your skin causes you to flush at the memory of you and Sanemi together.
Hours had passed since you bathed and since then you had managed to cook dinner for the two of you - Sanemi’s dish had sat cold. You pondered where he could possibly be - surely Oyakata-sama didn’t send him on another mission.
You began to feel as if Sanemi was purposely avoiding you. As days dragged on, you had yet to see him. You continued your training alone, not witnessing any sight of him. You would eat alone without him, always setting a plate down for him that he would eat whenever he did return while you were gone.
It was only when the second week dragged on did Sanemi return, though barely. You caught a glimpse of him entering the bathroom just as you finished dinner. You waited for him to enter, and when he finally had you were left disappointed. He didn’t spare you a glance, entering his bedroom and not exiting.
Weeksn dragged on and you noticed that you and Sanemi no longer attended missions together. Hiyori would come and deliver your own solo missions and you’d go - not having someone besides you had your heart yearning for company. 
While Sanemi obviously ignored you, you would often visit Uzui and his wives. You’d relax at the onsen with them while not on missions, often eating dinner. Uzui was not a fool to notice the look in your eyes - you were attempting to get your mind off of a certain white haired bastard.
You visited Inosuke and Zenitsu, offering them sweets while they trained and waited for Tanjiro to wake. You remained cooking for Shinra, Genya and Muichiro when the three were free, Sanemi’s place at the table untouched.
There was a shift that everyone noticed. Sanemi’s attitude was going back to what it once was - abrasive and rash. The slayers had to tiptoe around him once more, not having you around as their savior. 
The Hashira has since taken note that there was something wrong with you and Sanemi. Shinobu had seen more of the Wind hashira at the Butterfly Estate to heal petty wounds that he'd usually got to you for - when she asked why he was there, he had snapped at her and stated that it was “her job” to do so.
Obanai and Sanemi train together often, now more than ever. He would visit the Serpent estate to train just so he didn’t have to be home - Iguro never questioned him.
Muichiro is air headed and often stuck in his own mind when he wasn’t out on missions. But he recognizes a shift in your behavior. Your eyes are sadder than he remembers them and all he can think to do is do the things he liked to do - with you. He’d watch the clouds with you, not speaking unless you did. He would make origami with you, claiming that yours were trash - it caused you to laugh at his insensitive truth - and would end up gifting you one of his origami pieces.
Mitsuri’s would often feed you, claiming that whenever she was down, she desired to eat delicious foods. She didn’t want to ask anything of you and Sanemi’s relationship, but she just hoped that whatever did happen that it would end soon. 
You were grateful for everyone's attempts in changing your mood and it would be selfish to say that it didn’t work. However, as the second month kicks, you realize just how foolish you feel. Your head has been far too into Sanemi and why he was ignoring you (and your own separate missions) that you ignored your own overall health. 
“Y/N.”
Shinobu tilts her head at you, curiosity in her eyes. Her face turns to a look of concern.
“Pregnant.” you repeat her words.
 Could you even be surprised? You were in the second month since the mission in Shinjuku. The last thing on your mind upon returning was a contraceptive and even when you woke up feeling less than yourself, you still couldn’t accept that you were with child.
“You must think I’m so stupid.” you laugh humorlessly at Shinobu, insect-like eyes watching your every move.
“Of course not!” Shinobu denies. “Why would you think such a thing?”
You inhale deeply. You thought as much because it was what you were feeling. Stupid - pregnant by Sanemi and it appeared now that he wanted nothing to do with you. Stupid for getting pregnant when your occupation was killing demons.
“Y/N. Are things with you and Shinazugawa…good?” Shinobu doesn’t want to pry, but now you were with child and appeared disgusted, concerned and frightened all at once.
You swallow, throat tightening. “Yes.” you murmur, an obvious lie. Everyone has noticed the shift in the relationship between the two of you and now Shinobu has an idea as to why.
“I assume Shinazugawa doesn’t know.” Shinobu states. “Y/N…there’s ways we can go about this now. If you aren’t ready I can assure you it will be painless.”
You blink at Shinobu’s words. You haven’t thought about a moment like this happening - not even the moment between you and Sanemi. When you arrived from the mission, you desired to see him and talk about whatever relationship the two of you had. But Sanemi turned cold, ignoring your presence all together and waving you off whenever you attempted to.
“If you do wish to keep the child, I will inform Oyakata-sama of the predicament and get you off from your missions. Since you’re early in the pregnancy, I’m sure you won’t have to-”
“I want to terminate.” you interrupt Shinobu. The Insect Hashira tries not to appear shocked by your words. She would never judge you for whatever decision you chose. 
You watch Shinobu nod her head. You couldn’t imagine bringing a child into the world now - not while you were a part of the Corps. It also wouldn’t be fair to Sanemi. You lived in his house, after all. He had made his decision when it came to whatever relationship you had and you were now making yours.
Tumblr media
It’s nightfall when you return back to Sanemi’s estate and you’re surprised to see him at the table eating and Sanemi appears to be just as surprised to see you. Upon returning home from his rounds, he assumed you were in bed for the night - but he was proven wrong when you strolled through the shoji doors.
Lilac eyes meet yours and Sanemi notes that there’s something wrong with you. He remains silent, as do you. His heart continues to jolt in your presence, hands yearning to touch your soft skin again. 
“Shinazugawa.” you murmur your acknowledgment to him. 
Shinazugawa.
You never called him that, Sanemi things. But he doesn’t have the right to feel away about it.
“Thank you for allowing me to stay here.” you begin. Sanemi drops his chopsticks, attention fully on you. “I’m grateful to have been trained by you.”
Where were you going with this?
“I’ll be taking my leave.”
You turn away from him, Sanemi watching your figure saunter down the hall. He hears your shoji doors open but not close. There’s shuffling in your room and now he decides to get up to see what you were doing.
“Where are you going?” Sanemi’s heart is pounding now at the sight of you holding a bag with your belongings. It’s the first time he spoke to you directly.
“I’ve…decided to leave.”
Sanemi glances away. “Where are you going?”
You shift in your stance. “I’ve spoken to Oyakata-sama. I have a few missions lined up before I leave the Corps.”
Sanemi’s head snaps to you. He’s checking your face for any sign of deceit. He doesn’t find any - instead your eyes are lined with moisture. Your throat is bobbing as if attempting to not cry at the words you’re speaking.
“I’m sorry that I’ve become a burden.”
Reach out to her - Sanemi things.
Hold her.
Tell her she was never a burden.
Sanemi remains silent.
You stroll past him, your familiar scent passing him.
“You don’t have to leave.” Sanemi calls just as you’re a foot out the door. 
You don’t want to leave.
Sanemi doesn’t want you to leave.
Apologize to her.
Tell her how you feel.
Tell her you love her.
Sanemi’s mind races with his own thoughts that he doesn’t realize you’re already leaving.
“Y/N-”  Sanemi follows behind you, pace picking up to reach you. “Where are you going now? After you leave the Corps?”
You feel Sanemi’s hand around your wrist to stop you from walking. 
“Back home.” you respond, unable to look at him. You made your decision to leave and going against that wouldn’t be the correct decision for you.
Sanemi gulps. He releases his hand from your wrist.
“I hope you don’t feel as if it was a waste of time training me. I wasn’t a part of the Corps for long.” 
You were never a waste of his time, Sanemi wants to say, but his mind is racing and his heart is longing for you. 
Why were you going back home to your father? The same man that sold you to someone - that abused you for years on end?
“Thank you, Sanemi. For everything. I must be going.”
Tell her to stay.
Tell her she doesn’t have to leave here - leave you.
Tell her you love her- that you pushed her away because you were disgusted with yourself.
Tell her how horrible you felt that you took advantage of her innocence.
Sanemi doesn’t say anything and instead watches until your figure disappears. For the first time in years, he feels like he could shed tears at the loss of someone he loved.
Final Part
916 notes · View notes
carolmunson · 1 year
Text
alive with the glory of love
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
(older!rockstar!eddie x older!actress!wife!)
a valentine's slice of life with our favorite rockstar almost thirty years into our marriage. the year is 2023 and we're still stella rink and we're still famous as hell. aged like fine wine. a decades long career and a decades long marriage with two twins in their late twenties. this is semi from the twins perspective. we know what our life was looking like before, let's see what it looks like now. :) eddie manip by @eddiemunsons-missingnipple cw: 18+ minors dni, allusions to smut/wearing lingerie, but overall this is a short little something. reader and eddie are both 57, so, sorry if you don't want to be fifty seven. but if i have to be in my 'early twenties' every time i read a fic, you can be older for like, seven and a half minutes.
The phone eases into focus, Violet’s giggle sounds as she presses record, leaning on her elbows at the kitchen island. The room is a sun drenched, black and white tiled vision — still partially stuck in the 90s, remnants of your old life, despite the ongoing renovations. Despite the teasing from your adult children. Some stuff just never lost its charm – plus, the kids were calling it ‘a 90s vibe’ and you were both pretty sure that was cool. 
“Morning, happy Valentine’s Day,” Violet says sleepily, Van trudging in behind her. They both take lazy seats on the bar stools across from the chef stove that their father is delicately working over. 
“Happy Valentine’s Day, honey,” Eddie calls over his shoulder, daintily pouring pink batter into a cookie cutter mold on a hot pan. The kitchen and dining room are filled to the brim with flowers and balloons. Eddie’s been up for hours getting everything set up for you, some things never change. Some things never get old. 
“What’re you doing?” Van asks. 
“What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m making mommy—” He turns around with a furrowed brow, deepening his forehead creases before he realizes they’re recording him. He sighs before turning back to his task, “Guys, again with the phone?” 
“C’mon dad, they love you!” Violet begs, putting her phone down and shoving it in her sweatshirt pocket, “Van show him the comments on the last one.” 
“They think you’re hilarious, they want you to have your own account,” Van encourages, he opens his own phone to bring over to his dad. He grew up to be a spitting image of the two of you, as if they pasted Eddie’s face on his and gave him all your other features. The color of your eyes, the texture of your hair. Your bright, enrapturing smile. A perfect fifty-fifty. 
Van scrolls slowly through the endless comments, Eddie squinting down at them, “Van, I don’t have my glasses.” 
Eddie peers down lower, “What does that mean? ‘I know it’s big’? What’s big?” “New…choker…just…dropped? I didn’t make chokers for merch,” he shrugs, waving him away to pay attention to the stove. “Ew,” Violet laughs, “Stop making him read these out loud, that’s so gross.” 
“You should still make your own,” Van says, sitting back down, “It’d do way better than the one for Corroded.” 
“Have your mom do it,” Ed shrugs off, “She knows how to do all that internet shit.” 
“That Howard Stern clip is going viral again,” Violet says devilishly, “The girlies are obsessed with you.” 
“I don’t care about the girlies, Vi,” Eddie blushes, flipping one of the pancakes on the pan, “I care about your mom.” 
“I just wanna show them what you guys do for your favorite holiday,” Violet whines, “They’ll love it.” 
“They’re gonna call him a simp,” Van teases, a look of realization washing over his face,  “Wait, you’re such a simp for mom, actually.”  
They both laugh, Eddie doesn’t know what ‘a simp’ is so he laughs too.
“That’s a good word for like, a DND character type — you should see about that in your campaigns,” Ed continues while he plates a pancake on an ever growing stack of pink and red. 
“Ohmygod Dad, no, that’s not—“ Van laughs silently into his hands. 
“Stop making fun of him, he’s old,” Violet pleads between giggles, taking her phone out again, “Dad, seriously can you just tell us what you’re doing? Why do you love Valentine’s Day?”
“Is this for your TikTok thing?” he asks, pulling his dark curls up in a ponytail with a black silk scrunchie, bangs he can’t quite part with falling in waves over his brow. ‘My Pilates teacher was telling me they’ll be safer on your hair,’ you’d said — and he’s never been one to say no to you. Every time the kids came home they’d take their phones out and make Tiktok’s of the two of you, sometimes you’d make a solo one for Violet or Van’s page if you felt like it. But with Twitter and Instagram, you didn’t want to overload your assistant with some other form of social media – but it looked like the two of you were really popular. Especially Eddie. 
Violet educated you about ‘fancams’ which were just clips to music. There were a lot of the two of you together, or you solo from your movies and shows in the 90s. Progressions of you then and now and how you’re still ‘so hot’ and ‘unproblematic’. Eddie’s almost always started with the clip of him at Howard Stern, jaw ticking while he tried to keep his composure: ‘Excuse the fuck out of me, what did you just say about my wife? Do you wanna lose your fuckin’ teeth?’ The comments were always flooded with a mess of young people losing their shit: ‘god i’ve seen what you’ve done for others’ ‘stopppp he’s obsessed with her’ ‘@vidawn i hope your mom can fight’ ‘@vannywayne @vidawn i’m five years younger than u but i would be a great step dad’ ‘when is someone gonna fight howard stern FOR ME?’ ‘@vannywayne @vidawn they’re thirsting over your dad again’ ‘i’m banging on the walls of my enclosure’ 'ewwww we hate cheaters' ‘i NEED to fuck him’ ‘@vannywayne you look EXACTLY the same’ ‘are they looking for a third?’ 'idgi he looks dirty' ‘they are notttttt making them like him anymore’ ‘not him being old enough to be my father i’m sick’
“Obviously,” she snaps back, rolling his eyes when he starts touching himself up for the camera. 
“Should I do a couple of push ups so I look buff or…?” he teases. Violet and Van make a face that puts any face you’ve given him to shame. It’s the only regret he has about having kids with you – all that attitude had to go somewhere. 
“Fine, fine,” he huffs, “I’m ready for my close up, Vi.” 
“You’re so cheesy, dad. Just be normal for like, five seconds,” Violet huffs, taking out her phone again, “You’re ready?” 
“M’ready,” he smiles. “Okay, so, what’re you doing?” Violet asks again. 
“I am making pancakes,” he starts, pouring red better into the cookie cutter mold on the pan this time, “In a heart shape, for your mom.” 
“How long have you been doing this?” she asks, a smile spreading across her face. It matches her dads. There was no mistaking that Violet was Eddie Munson’s daughter. 
“Since we got together, so – the first one was in 1990,” he muttered, flipping the pancake, “I do it every year ‘cause she loves it. They’re strawberry, but they’re pink and red ‘cause I put food coloring in them.” 
“Is Valentine’s Day her favorite holiday?” 
Eddie grins, “No, her favorite holiday is the fourth of July. Not ‘cause she’s got a boner for America or anything. She just likes fireworks and when I use the grill.” “Is it your favorite holiday?” Van asks this time. Eddie nods, a bright blush pushing up on his face. 
“How come?” Violet and Van ask at the same time. Eddie turns the burner off, placing the heaping plate of heart shaped pancakes on the center of the island. He opens the wine cooler on the opposite wall, pulling out a bottle of champagne and two flutes from the top cabinet.
“‘Cause I get to spoil your mom all day,” he smiles, “She deserves it.” 
“You spoil her every day,” Van teases, “I can’t think of a more doted on woman on earth than mom.” 
“She’s very special,” he shrugs. 
“And you do this every year?” Violet asks, zooming in on the pancakes. 
“Every year for the past thirty four years, well, minus ninety-two,” he frowns a little, “We had some time apart that year.” 
“Still had my chef make them for me though.” 
Your voice cuts in from the large arch way connecting to the dining room and Violet pans quickly over to get you in frame. 
“Hi mom,” Vi says, “Is this your favorite holiday?” 
“No,” you shake your head and laugh, the same laugh he fell in love with, “It’s the fourth of July. C’mon Vi, how long have I been your mom? Do you even know me?” “You’re supposed to be in bed, honey,” Eddie frowns, “You’re ruining the surprise.” 
“The surprise that’s older than my kids? How could I forget,” you grin, rounding the island and greeting your husband with a gentle kiss, “Happy Valentine’s day.” 
“Happy Valentine’s day, baby,” he murmurs into a second chaste peck, “You’re supposed to let me bring them up to you.” 
“My kids are home, I don’t wanna spend all day in bed,” you pout. He pouts back dramatically, tugging on your arm to pull you flush against his chest. 
“I thought you loved spending all day in bed with me,” he pushes some of your hair back before resting a palm on your cheek, moving in to kiss you deeply. The scruff on his chin scratches around your mouth but you never care because he still kisses you, he kisses you every day. He’d kiss you all day if you let him. You had too many girlfriends whose ex-husbands were on their third wife and every year they’re more surprised that Eddie is still on his first.
“Okay, I think that’s our cue to leave,” Van says, Violet stops recording. Their faces sour.  
“Yeah we don’t want a January ‘94 repeat or anything,” Vi jokes. The twins high five at their own mean reference to your horrific sex tape debacle, but you and Eddie toss them a playful glare. 
“Hey, she might be your mother, but she’s my wife,” Eddie warns, hand sneaking down to rest on the small of your back to pull you close to him, “Don’t mess with her.” 
“Yeah,” you tease, crossing your arms, “You saw what he did to Howie’s studio. I just gotta say the word.” 
“So scary,” Violet rolls her eyes, leaving the kitchen with her twin in tow, “We’re taking the Jeep to get Jamba Juice, do you want anything?” 
“My usual,” you answer while Eddie goes to the fridge to get grapefruit juice out of the fridge, “And get daddy’s usual too. Do you want his card? Where’s your card, hun?”
“Wherever you last left it,” he responds, gracefully pouring grapefruit mimosas for the both of you. 
“It’s in my purse,” you call out. 
“Which one?!” Violet calls back, both of them waiting by the door. 
“The pink Kelly!” 
“Got it! Do you want anything else?” Van calls out. 
“Just uh,” Eddie giggles to himself, tossing you a once over, “Take your time!” 
“Gross!” they yell back in unison. Eddie waits for the door to close to pull you back into him, he watches you at first. Brown eyes cascading over the slope of your nose, your cheeks, the crinkles at the edge of your eyes, your smile lines. He looks at you like he’s looking at you for the first time, every time. He looks different, but the same. Dark curls smattered and entwined in silver, a nose ring, a never ending scratch of overgrown stubble. Deep lines on his forehead that exaggerate his already animated features. Lips still full and warm, hands still big and covered in rings. He’s kept his body real tight for fifty-seven, still throwing himself in the gym daily. ‘If I’m gonna be addicted to something now it might as well be like, my cardiovascular health, babe.’ His crows feet make him somehow more attractive, his smile got better with age. He still makes your heart race when he catches your eye from across the room. “You wearing that little red thing I like?” he purrs in your ear. The tie to your robe sliding between his inked fingers.
“Maybe,” your finger trails over a tattoo on his bicep, “Maybe, I got something new for you to see. Maybe it’s black, maybe it’s strappy. Maybe it’s that thing you saw when we went shopping last week.” 
“Christ,” he huffs, pressing a kiss to your cheek before stepping back over to the counter, “Do you ever stop getting hotter? Eat your breakfast before I bend you over this bar stool.” 
“Let’s bring it upstairs like you wanted,” you smile, following him closely to press your hips up against him, “We can get a little messy.” 
“Yeah?” he growls, pushing part of your robe away to see a peek of black lace and strappy leather, “Fucking god, Stell.” 
“C’mon,” you whisper breathily, pushing up on your tiptoes to kiss him again, “They’ll be home soon.” 
Some things have changed, some things remain the same. He still fucks you like a rockstar.
1K notes · View notes
lanitalay · 4 months
Text
At sea 
Rhysand x reader
a/n: Hi my loves!!!! I wrote this to break the ice after winter break. It will likely have one or two more parts. Wanted to write some Rhysand fluff after destroying his character in Before I say goodnight lol.
word count: 1k
warnings: none
Summary: reader returns home after months at sea.
Part 2
Tumblr media
Salt coated the railings you clung to while walking down the stairs to the main deck. The summer sun had dried up the water that had crashed against the ship all night long. Now small crystals blanket every surface on board. You make it down the wonky steps, map rolled and tucked under your arm. It had been a rough passage last night, the shaking had kept most of the crew on board hugging buckets, unable to control the bile. It was the most dangerous part of the voyage, the captain had to watch out for jagged rocks that were mostly covered by water or mist, towering waves and fog overhead that prevented the guiding stars to be visible. 
It would be a matter of days now. If you squinted you could swear the shoreline of Velaris was on the horizon. This time it had been an entire season. The trek had started the day after the last of the snow melted and you would be back just shy of the summer solstice. You had never been gone this long from your home. The salt air was starting to stink, you yearned for green fields and pine scented breezes. 
You had collected more samples than ever before. The botany in the foreign lands you visited was truly magnificent and different to what you were accustomed to in the Night Court. In your private quarter you had managed to fit around one thousand dried samples of leaves, roots, flowers and a few insects along with some living plants, placed carefully near the port hole and a plethora of seeds. Your favorite treasure was an exceptional plant that you had meticulously looked after because the bright violet color of the flowers reminded you of a pair of matching eyes back home. Rhysand. You tried not to think of him. You really really did. But in the flowers you saw his eyes. In the stars you saw his smile. In dark waters you saw his fury. In the sea shanties you heard his drunken laugh. A sigh escapes your frowning mouth. 
He might have married or mated by the time you return. Not that anything romantic existed outside of your wildest dreams. But he was your friend. You had known him since the head researcher of the priestesses had sent for a field researcher, since she did not feel ready to be outside of the sacred library walls. You had been recruited because your father was a renowned explorer and you had grown up by his side. Every shore in Prythian and the Continent was familiar to your family. Every shore unknown called your name. 
Rhysand was the one who brought you to the library the first time. He had wanted to be present and even gave you a tour himself of the massive sanctuary. Since then, each time you return he flies you to the library and you tell him an abridged version of what you saw on your travels. Sometimes you think that he holds you a little tighter than the last time he saw you and you stop yourself before even thinking that there is a glint in his eyes that indicates something more than polite interest. 
The days pass slowly. Eventually, the familiar cliff sides and hilly landscape come into view. Relief floods your chest. You would be staying a while this time. Cataloging all of the new materials would take at least until the end of summer. Flapping sounds from above and you look up expecting to see the mast ripped but instead a gliding shadow figure high above. An inevitable smile forms on your face. 
It feels like docking the boat took forever. But once all the ropes are tied and the masts lowered, the bridge gets lowered and you all but leap to the wooden platform and to the young High Lord that’s waiting for you. Sprinting you pounce on him, wrapping your arms around his neck and relishing the feeling of being on solid ground. “Welcome home, explorer” his smooth voice soothes your racing heart. Seconds pass before you let go and look at him. He’s beaming, his hair has gotten longer since you’d gone,  his face is clean shaven and he smells of home. You open your mouth to speak but his smile- his smile is making it impossible for you to concentrate on anything other than his mouth. So you stall. Your hands ruffle his hair in the way you knew would annoy him and he laughs. 
“I’m so glad to be back” you finally say. 
Flying to the House of Wind was routine at this point in your career. You would land and immediately go debrief with your head researcher. But today Rhys had asked you if you were hungry. The grumble in your stomach told him you were. So now you were eating a lovely lunch prepared by the house. It felt decadent to eat anything other than fish and potatoes. You moan as you bite and the High Lord in front of you chuckles. 
“What else did you find?” 
“Besides the plants there were incredible creatures there. Some had fur and some had scales. I drew them in my books” you point towards the bag you had brought with you most precious items. He reaches for it and begins to flip through the pages of your findings. 
“This is fascinating” he breathes. 
“What about you? Is there anything new in the Court?” You notice his jaw clench for a fraction of a second.  “Is something wrong?” 
He shakes his head and closes the book “there are whispers of war”. Your blood drains from your face. “What do you mean?” 
His face is now the face of a High Lord, relaying important information to a court member “Hybern has been making some advances, Prythian is too fragmented to stand a chance”. The war that had put the wall between the human realm and the seven courts had ended not one hundred years ago. Villages were still recovering. The Courts were still shifting in new power dynamics. 
“What can I do?” You were no warrior. The amount of times you’d trained with the Inner Circle you could count on one hand and it had always been to appease Cassian. Rhys looks away “nothing, we are trying our best to unify and organize our armies”. Something akin to a thorn nestles itself in your heart “and how are you going to do that?” 
He swallows and looks straight through your eyes “I’m marrying the Princess of Autumn”. 
157 notes · View notes
coralseacourt · 4 months
Text
Broken Love 🪸by @coralseacourt
Summery: The youngest Acheron Sister gets rejected for Elain
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Azriel X O/C
Tumblr media
He broke me.
Left me in Pieces
He took my heart away.
Held it in his hands , before squeezing it slowly.
Until nothing of it was left to be repaired.
2 months prior.
I was fae. My skin flawless with only a hint of color to my cheeks. My long ash blonde hair had turned more gold and shiny than they ever had been.
I was sitting in front of the mirror staring at myself, bright green eyes looking back at me.
So much had happened since Hybern, my life had changed completely.
No more poverty , warm nights instead of the cold rifts that had swept through our House.
A clear view of a starlit city and not the so familiar colorless woods.
I couldn’t identify myself with the person staring back at me and i had no one to share it with.
Feyre was now High lady and a mother with a lot of responsibilities.
But this meant also that she had less time to be present in my life, which I didn’t fault her for.
It also wasn’t her fault that I somehow always seemed to be invisible to everyone. Nesta and Elain had never been interested enough in me to care.
They had each other.
After all of the Events in the last months i had started to feel lonely. I had thought that with the birth of nyx I could be more involved, maybe helping feyre out with the baby.
But I only had seen him once which was weeks ago. They had invited me to Dinner I had been so excited to get out and see my nephew but the evening had ended with everyone interacting with each other and me sitting alone in a corner of the room .
That was the moment I decided I would not go again.
And it seemed I had gotten what I wanted. I wasn’t invited to another Dinner.
I couldn’t understand what I did wrong.
At the beginning I had thought Azriel would be a friend. He had offered me his favorite books to read .
We had talked. Sometimes all night long.
But then it stopped and I had noticed the looks he had given Elain.
Of course he looked at her, not me. She was beautiful. Even more since she was Fae
As much as I didn’t want to admit it to myself I had loved his attention , had loved that he had cared.
Something I never had experienced from anyone else besides Feyre.
I pulled my knees to my chest and laid my chin on them. Maybe I was a ghost , haunting everyone around me with my company.
I shook slightly my head and stood slowly up to leave for Dinner in the big Hall. No one ever joined me .
Cassian had at the beginning, before him and nesta were mated.
Now I was a third wheel and I had changed my dinner time early enough so he still would be at training while I was eating.
I entered the big hall and sat on the long empty table .
My food arrived immediately after.
Potatos ,red cabbage and a meat loaf.
It looked delicious, but it tasted like paper in my mouth.
I leaned my head on my hand while poking around in my meat.
”Is Everything alright, violet?”
I looked up , surprised to see Rhys leaning against one of the pillars that connected the flooring with the Sealing.
His entire Form screamed suspicion and my alarm bells started to ring. “Yes of course, why wouldn’t it be ?”
I tried not to look away from his narrowed eyes so cold and calculating.
”It’s been a while since you joined us for Dinner and I had to wonder why that is.” I shrugged nervously my shoulders, not sure what to say . But decided to tell the truth.
“ I wasn’t invited,” He raised his eyebrow and I continued.
“And even if I would have been invited , I probably wouldn’t have come.”
Surprise lit his face.
Possibly because he didn’t expected me to answer honestly?
I m sure he had read something in my Head.
I hadn’t practiced to build up walls around my mind, hadn’t seen the need for it.
I had no powers.
I was practically invisible to everyone especially Rhysand , who would have only cared if I had any magic.
Which i hadn’t.
“Why wouldn’t you have come? Are you not happy for your sisters? Are we not providing you with everything you need?”
I gulped at his words, sometimes I had the feeling Rhys was waiting for something.
Like a hawk with his prey.
“ Yes , thank you I do appreciate it. And I m very happy for them. “ Whatever Rhys saw in my mind seemed to satisfy him. His arms relaxed and his facial expression calmed down but was replaced with confusion.
“I don’t understand .” It seemed to bother him.
“ It’s just .” I stopped myself not sure how to explain.
So I showed him. The loneliness, the feeling of invisibility.
It took less effort than having to explain.
“Do you want to be seen?”
Was all he said , his hands tugged away in his pants pockets before turning around and just leaving.
Did I?
All night I had to think about his words. Did I want to be seen?
Did I do this to myself?
This isolation?
I planned to change everything starting tomorrow morning.
🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸
The next morning I was up early.
I put some comfortable pants on and a shirt that I could properly move in.
When I walked into the dining hall for breakfast, I had 3 pairs of eyes on me. Azriel, Nesta and Cassian were sitting together at the table.
I took my seat next to Azriel and started shuffling my food down, still feeling their stares.
“What are you doing up so early?”
Looking over to the big Illyrian that my sister was mated to I answered.
“ I was thinking that maybe I could participate in training today, if that’s ok. “
“No.”
My sister seemed to almost smoke from anger .
I couldn’t hide my surprise.
“No? Why? Everyone is allowed to.
The priestesses,you even Elain started recently.”
I was frustrated now .
I had to do something, I didn’t want to sit around and be miserable.
“That’s different, we earned it. You didn’t.”
Both males stared at nesta like she had grown a third eye.
“ Nesta I m sure we could start her on some easy warm ups.” A soft spoken voice next to me stated. Az.
“I m not helping her . If she is doing anything, she will have to do it with one of you.”
And with that she stood up and left.
“I go talk to her violet, she doesn’t mean it.” “She does, and you know it.”
He only gave me an apologetic look before leaving.
“If you like then i could train you.”
I looked at the Shadowsinger beside me and gave him a small smile .
“Alright. Thank you I really appreciate it.”
🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸
We started training immediately.
Spending daily time with each other .
It felt like it had at the beginning.
I knew he only did it because he felt bad for me but I couldn’t help falling for him .
His soft way of talking with me .
All the ways he tried to make me stronger with each training session.
It was what I had always wanted ,being useful.
Having someone that is willing to listen and understand me.
Everything was how it should be until the faithful day where everything changed.
🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸🐚🪸
“Arms up , like this.” Azriel pulled my arms higher making my position slightly straighter.
“Yes and don’t lose tension . Keep it exactly this way and don’t lower your eyes .”
I nodded.
Sweat running down my face, my breathing heavy and my muscles hurting.
“Violet , I said don’t look down.” He was standing in front of me his hair tousled and his eyes glowing with anger.
“ If you don’t listen to what I say, then this is useless. “ He pulled on my arm twisting it and throwing me on the floor with him on top of me his dagger pressed to my throat.
“ See. This is what happens if you lose tension in your arms, anyone could use your weakness against you.”
He was looking down on me.
Eyes so intense that I couldn’t look away. Could only feel his weight on me .
My stomach tightened. My heart raced. “Do better, learn faster, pay atten…”
His voice stopped mid sentence.
Nostrils flared, pupils blackened.
Oh god could he smell my arousal?
My cheeks flamed and Embarrassment grew inside of me.
“I …I “.
I didn’t know what to say he still had the knife pressed against my Throat.
Which he now threw to the side of the ring .
“Are you attracted to me?”
His voice was Shocked, completely stunned.
I bit my lip and tried not to crumble under his gaze.
What a fool I must be.
He was here. Spending his time helping me train and I wasn’t even able to keep my feelings to myself.
His eyes darted to my lip movements and he nervously wetted his own.
“Are you?”
“Yes .” It was senseless to deny it, he clearly could smell it.
My head turned to the side, looking at the training equipment.
Everything was better to look at then seeing his face in that moment .
“ You shouldn’t.”
His hand softly pressed against my cheek turning me back towards him.
But instead of taking it directly away again, he dragged his thumb slowly over my cheek towards my lips.
Touching them. Opening them slightly.
I gasped quietly.
His smell was intoxicating.
It filled my lungs with the heavenly scent of Cedar and Night Rain .
In one sudden move he turned us and i now was on top of him straddling his Hip.
I shivered, when I could feel something hard touching my core.
His hand dragged me down to him.
Our mouths so close I could feel his warm breath on my skin.
“You really shouldn’t .”
His eyes glowed darkly before he pressed his lips against mine .
I couldn’t believe it.
Was this really happening?
I kissed him back and completely surrendered myself to him.
His tongue licked slowly over my lips telling me to open . Which I happily did.
I could feel his hands roaming over me.
Touching, grabbing .
The heat between my thighs getting unbearable.
His mouth started to wander in a wild and impatient way, going down my Throat.
Biting, teasing.
I couldn’t hold the sounds back that emerged from me.
“Azriel “.
I groaned his Name when he started to move my Hips against his in a rhythmic way .
I had never felt something like this.
My heart was pounding and something was building up.
I bit my lip while still feeling his kisses on me .
But in one Moment I was in heaven and the next he threw me off.
I landed on my back a couple feet’s away from him.
Looking up the sealing and trying to catch my breath , I blinked confused.
“I need to go . Elain is waiting for me.” And with that he stood up and practically ran from the training room.
Part 2,
145 notes · View notes
bulbagarden · 7 months
Text
Opinion: Scarlet and Violet are Pokémon's Queerest Games Yet (Bulbanews)
Hi it's Lisia here!! The following is an opinion piece from one of our staff members, Torchic W. Pip!! Blanc and I both loved this and like... we had to share it here LOL.
Tumblr media
Pokémon was my queer awakening. I had silly little crushes on male and female characters alike, and I resonated with many of the designs of the series’s more gender nonconforming designs. Pokémon has always had a wink and a nod to queerness: Jessie and James’s genderbending antics, Beauty Nova in X and Y, Blanche from Pokémon GO… the list goes on. But with Scarlet and Violet, queerness shines bright as celestial stars.
“But wait!” you might say. “Scarlet and Violet has no canonical gay or trans characters! How can this thesis make sense?” Well, queer representation need not be explicit to be impactful. Sometimes, the stories queer people resonate with most are told through metaphor, from the misfits in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to X-Men to Luca and Gwen Stacy. The roots of this trace back to a history of censorship. LGBTQ+ stories have been historically censored, such as with the Hays Code. Queer people have long been unable to see stories with explicitly queer characters, so they instead turned to metaphors and symbolism. Gender nonconformity is also nothing new to the scene of video games. Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Guilty Gear are just some of the games that play with our expectations of gender. It’s also nothing new to Pokémon. East Asian media tends to depict transness and gender nonconformity differently from the West, but for more on that, I'll direct you to this video.
Tumblr media
Even before the release of Scarlet and Violet, gender nonconformity shined through. Take a character like Grusha, for example, who many mistook for a girl when he was first introduced. It goes a little deeper than that, though. “Grusha” is Russian for “pear”, but it’s also a diminutive for the name “Agrafena”... a female Russian name. Whether or not it was intentional, it does add an extra layer of nonconformity to Grusha. Another character with some queercoded elements is Iono: Her color palette evokes the colours of the trans flag, and her Magnemite headpieces evoke an explicitly genderless Pokémon. Baggy clothes are common among many transgender people. Her friend Bellibolt is a frog, and many frogs in real life can change their sex. In Japanese, she speaks with a Bokukko speech pattern (a girl using the masculine “boku”), which is often used for plucky characters, but also nonconforming characters. All of Iono’s names across translations evoke themes of questions. On top of all that… well, the Vtubing scene is, from personal experience, very queer. All of my friends who watch VTubers are queer in some way. More seriously, creating a persona where you can let your true self shine in a way that regular society won't allow you to... that's pretty queer.
With the release of the games, we’ve seen a wide array of characters—Rika, Saguaro, Penny, and all of the leaders of Team Star, among others—showcase a wide range of gender expressions, either in their appearances, their personalities, or their hobbies. And all of these characters are seen as heroes, as role models.
Tumblr media
As with games before, there are two characters with queer subtext in their relationship. Hassel and Brassius have been seen by many as being in a gay relationship, bonding over a love of art, supporting each other in dark times, and giving each other pet names. Even if it's not outright stated that they're in a romantic relationship, their care for each other is a beautiful thing. Many gay coded relationships are often of younger men or women, and while these relationships are important, it's also important for older gay couples to receive some of the spotlight. After all, queer people have always existed, and it's important to remember our past and honor those who came before us, who helped paved the path to acceptance.
For the first time in a mainline game, the player character can choose any clothes, hair style, and so on regardless of gender. While the player can still only choose between being referred to by masculine or feminine terms, this is a step in the right direction, and it opens the door for many opportunities never seen before. Boys can be feminine, girls can be masculine, and both can be anywhere in between. The world of gender expression is as big as the open world of Paldea.
Tumblr media
But back to Team Star. The whole Team Star path is one big, queer metaphor. Think about it: kids are bullied for how they dress or act, these misfits band together and retaliate against their bullies, finding a sort of family in each other, villains who turn out to be just the opposite… It’s a story that, in some way or form, can resonate with many kids who have, sadly, dealt with homophobia or transphobia in school. The path is a story about righting what’s wrong, about making the world a more accepting place.
Scarlet and Violet is a game about shining bright in the sky with other stars, about being your true self. Its themes are deeply resonant with the queer experience. At the end of the Team Star path, you battle Penny, whose ace Pokémon is trans flag-coloured Sylveon, and as she Terastilizes her partner, she says, “Shine bright like the starry sky and become who you really want to be!” So shine bright, trainers, and be your true self.
Oh, and of course, Quaquaval is the queer icon of all time.
[Torchic W. Pip is a Bulbanews writer with a focus on music, merchandise, and spin-off games. They're also a fanfiction author and moderator of the Writer's Workshop subforum. Outside of writing, Torchic is studying music theory and linguistics, and his favorite games are X/Y and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire.]
247 notes · View notes
meraki-sunset · 1 year
Text
Guess what
I got a fever the other day and while bored in bed I made another AU (this is a short thing i won’t make an mspfa about it)
An AU where the four CSAU seadweelers are mermaids
Tumblr media
And the premise it’s basically, Feferi and Fefeta are siblings (they love eachother) and so are Eridan and Erisol. (they get along fine)  Mermaids are suposed to be something from violet to fuccia in color (fefeta’s color is normal here). But Erisol is basically the mutant here and his bright green color makes him too easy to spot. which makes the other mermaids not like him, because he can lead predadors and hunters to the rest of the mermaid population under the sea. (his friends have grown used to surround him when in danger to make him stand out less since they were kids)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
the four of them grew up together. Feferi and Fefeta held the tittle of heiress still and Erisol and Eridan were sort of like princes too. As kids they tried to make Erisol feel like a normal merkid
Tumblr media
Eventually Eridan and Feferi got into an arranged marriage by their ancestors, they never considered Erisol an option due tu his blood (fefeta is considered to have a normal blood, while her sister manifested royal blood, she is still a heiress, she is just a little less special in the eyes of royals)
Tumblr media
Erisol grows older and feels more and more like an outcast. he grows apart from his brother and friends
Tumblr media
Eventually Erisol and Eridan fight. They both have feelings for feferi. Erisol calls out how eridan has become a big jerk. Eridan tells him to fuck off and probably mentions his mutant condition as the reason he’s not the one engaged to feferi
Tumblr media
Erisol disregarding his safety swims to the surface to be alone for a while, where no one will bother him
Tumblr media
He happens to be spoted a by hunters, they roam around looking for mermaids who get too close to the surface and sell their tails in the black market
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Mermaid tails are most likely used for medicine, beauty products and also rich people cook them as a rare dish.
Erisol being a mutant means the hunters hit the jackpot. Mindfang could sell him for a shit ton of money
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
They put him in a big barrel cage belowdecks and head to the next port. They assign one of the lower workers on the ship to feed him twice a day.  He happens to be Arquius, who’s been on the ship for a while
Tumblr media
They don’t get along at first
Tumblr media
Arquius limits himself to just giving him food, but can’t help talking to him when doing it. Erisol just whatches him in silent at first
Tumblr media
As days go by they Erisol starts letting his anger out on him and Arquius just endures it, yelling back
Tumblr media
over time they began arguing more often and over longer periods of time
Tumblr media
The arguing tuned into conversations
Tumblr media
And the conversations turned into pleasant chatting they would try to make last as long as they could.
Turns out Arquius is also mutant in the troll hemospectrum. He’s in the ship working his ass of in exchange for not being turned over to the authorities for culling. Traveling form place to place keeps him sorta safe, but they hold his life over his head every time they need to
Tumblr media Tumblr media
They day before they were meant to reach the port, Arquius had already made up his mind. He might be stuck in the ship but he could still free his friend
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
But he wasn’t smart enough and got caught pretty easily. He got stabed and left to bleed by the Capitan Mindfang.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Suddenly the ship begins to shake and get engulfed by a giant moster. It’s Feferi’s lusus. Erisol’s friends are here to rescue him after several days of looking for the ship
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The ship breaks and sink. The barrel is broken and Erisol is free
Tumblr media Tumblr media
His brother and friend come get him but he doesn’t want to leave his dying new  friend
Tumblr media Tumblr media
And Erisol as a last reasurce uses the majyykal power all mermaids have.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The four of them get out of the now sunken ship
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Arquius is no longer a land walker, he’s a merman now. a mutant merman tecnically.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
He joins the others and lives a happier life as a merman, becomes fefeta’s moirail, Erisol’s partner. Eridan and Feferi most likely don’t get married in the end.
Tumblr media
Arquius no is no longer stuck in a ship and Erisol isn’t the only mutant. they’re just happier and chill in the ocean forever, 
The end
This is like, the typical super basic mermaid AU and a poor  excuse to draw Arqisol but they’re my guilty confort ship so yeah
Tumblr media
I’m still working on the epilogue for those wondering, don’t worry :P i just took a break to complete commissions and, you know, get a fever and hallucinate a new AU, the usual
I hope you like this thingy i made. i love yah *muack*
🌸👍☀️
814 notes · View notes
secretinasecret · 5 days
Text
In defence of Bridgerton Season 3:
"It feels different."
Many people HATED the second season at first because it didn't have Simon and wasn't "according to the books," but they ended up loving it by the end.
Y'all need to give this one time to marinate fully and see the rest of the season before coming to a conclusion.
It might feel odd, but that is because it has been two years since we saw these actors and these sets. We are bound to be unfamiliar with it at first.
Season three has the exact formula as the last two seasons: Colorful, bright and two leads that look great together on camera.
"It doesn't have any tension."
I assure you that splitting the season into two parts ruined the experience.
"Colin didn't suffer enough."
He did, actually. To some extent. He RAN to catch up to Penelope's carriage in the middle of the night! Not to mention his little angsty scene when he returns from a night out with his "friends," and he simply throws himself onto his bed without bothering to take off the rest of his clothes.
But I hope Colin will truly LOSE his mind when he learns that Penelope is Lady Whistledown. If he doesn't, then yeah, the writers of this show officially failed ME.
We DESERVE to see this man go absolutely batshit crazy and show that he can express emotions other than confusion, longing and boredom.
"Polin had no chemistry."
Polin had EXCELLENT chemistry; y'all just wanted to see a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers like Kathony, but I am afraid every season has a different trope, and it's okay if friends-to-lovers aren't for you.
Luke and Nicola are very good friends on and off set, and you can literally FEEL their chemistry in press interviews.
If you simply didn't feel ANYTHING at all this season, that may be because you do not feel a connection to Colin or Penelope as characters.
I do want to say, though, that these four episodes could have fleshed out Colin's character a bit more.
Book readers and Polin fans know Colin, but new viewers don't. He needed flashbacks to make the rest root for him. How did he become a people pleaser? What is his relationship like with his family? His father? What made him want to decide to travel almost every single year?
Although people finally like him after the carriage scene, they should have liked him from episode one because he is the LEAD.
"Colin gave me the ick."
To each of their own, but Colin acted EXACTLY as he was supposed to in the first two episodes.
He is a PEOPLE PLEASER, so he tries hard to fit into the mould men like Anthony and Simon made for themselves: A rake. He is supposed to make you think, "Oh, this is too much," because it IS.
Even Eloise and Violet point it out to him, and he finally lets go of that disturbing persona when he asks Penelope to marry him.
Look, the man simply wants EVERYONE to like him because he clearly has some issues that the show is failing to dive deep into, but you get the point.
"Too many sub-plots."
Y'all might be onto something with this one, tbh. But I will say that after a few watches, some sub-plots lowkey start to make sense to me, except the Mondrich one.
I have no idea why the Mondrich family are in this season; why do we need to care about their club or their newfound wealth? I will never know.
But Francesca's plotline makes sense; we needed another diamond, therefore, another Bridgerton to debut. Colin also uses Francesca to ultimately ask Violet about how to confess his feelings to Penelope: "What do you wish for Francesca?" is code for, "What do you wish for me, exactly, in the love department?"
The Featherington plotline was also really funny. We needed a comedic relief.
Benedict's plotline HAS to have some sort of importance because Lady Tilly looks like a very powerful woman. She might play a role in Lady Whisteldown's reveal or have a connection to Sophie. If she is simply there to make Benedict look like an aimless man with no goals in life (AGAIN), I will lose it.
Eloise and Cressida's friendship plotline directly affects Penelope, so that makes sense as well.
The Queen's plotline also makes sense, the woman has been trying to unmask Whisteldown for three years now.
At some point, every single plotline starts to look orderly and chronological, at least to me.
So, was part one of this season absolutely amazing?
No.
Was it enjoyable?
Depends; it might be in the 'Hall of Fame' if they can wrap up part two satisfactorily.
And I'll leave it at that.
89 notes · View notes
Text
Yandere Baki Shorts:
How Deep Is Your Love
Merman Jun Guevara x mermaid reader with a side of Katsumi.
Katsumi is kinda a butt in this so I am sorry Katsumi fans
Tumblr media
“I’m not a merman, (your name). I don’t know why you keep giving me so many shells.” Katsumi rolled his eyes as he handed them back to her without a second glance. She worked so hard to find those blue crayfish shells… blue was such a hard color to find but Katsumi said it was his favorite. “I don’t like them.”
(Your name) was rejected yet again by Katsumi. The tiger wanted nothing to do with her despite her finding him an even bigger, bluer shell. Maybe she needed to get a bigger one?
(Your name) had seen a big conch right in the estuaries between the ocean and the river. It was almost a foot and a half long! Perhaps he’d accept her then if she presented that one to him? It might be a little dangerous for her to fetch it, but it would be worth it if Katsumi finally accepted her as a mate.
“I’m sorry… Please. Meet me by the river tomorrow, I swear it’s the last time.” (Your name) told Katsumi as she held her hands close to her body. “Please.”
Katsumi sighed as he ran a clawed hand through his dark hair. He was annoyed with the mermaid’s persistence in bothering him. He didn’t understand why she kept bringing him so many shells. It’s not like he could do anything with them.
“Fine. When I’m done hunting I’ll meet you there.” Katsumi sighed. She was probably going to give him another stupid shell. He didn’t understand why she was so insistent on gifting him such things. “I probably won’t be able to tomorrow. But I’ll come if I have time.”
(Your name) smiled brightly at the tiger. She clapped her hands together in glee. The violet fins on her head flapping as the pearl strands adorning her hair and body shook as she bounced on her feet.
“I won’t let you down.” She smiled before getting back into the river. Her legs transforming into that of a colorful betta fish.
Katsumi sighed as he went back to training. Ever since that mermaid came here, she never let him be… he didn’t understand why she always gave him so much attention. Why she brought him so many blue shells after he told her his favorite color was blue. Why she would bring him all kinds of fish to eat when she barely ate herself. Katsumi didn’t understand the mermaid at all.
Katsumi thought she was strange but he didn’t dislike her. (Your name) was always his companion and he didn’t want it to change.
.
.
.
(Your name) sat on a large rock in the center of the river. She nervously ran her fingers through her hair as she waited for Katsumi. Her eyes darting to the forest once and awhile to see if she spotted him yet.
She had been waiting for him since dawn but the sun was starting to set. Her bag of shells and other shiny things were tightly secured to her body in her little satchel she found on the bank a few years ago. But the star of the show was out of the bag.
The conch she traveled into salt water to get was held tightly in her left hand as she continued to wait for him. She almost died getting it, but it would be worth it if Katsumi finally accepted her.
“He said he’d be here…” (your name) whispered to herself as she clutched the giant shell to her. She still had hope that he’d show up. She was sure it would be different this time. That Katsumi wouldn’t stand her up again. (Your name) had gotten him the shell! The one she’d ask him to be her lifelong mate with! The one she traveled dangerously for to proved her devotion to him!
The rusting of bushes brought her out of her musings. Her face perking up immediately. She knew he’d come!
“Katsumi-“ a squeal left her throat when a thick net was thrown on her, her hands clutching her conch as she shook in fear. A group of humans stepping out of the forest with bright smiles.
“We finally caught one! A mermaid!” One of the humans shouted as they high fived each other. “Hopefully we can finally pair him and he’ll stop behind so aggressive.”
(Your name) could only shake in fear as the humans hauled her across the river and onto the rocky bank. Their strength easily put matching hers as they picked her up and put her into a large box full of water attached to a carriage.
“It’s okay! We’re not going to hurt you.” They shushed her as she cried. (Your name) didn’t know what was going on. She was so scared and confused.
(Your name) hissed when one of her scales were knocked off when her tail hit the side of the box, one of the humans apologizing to her. The quickly removed the net and cast it off to the side once she was in the box. (Your name) quickly swimming into a corner as she clutched her tail to her chest. Her hands gripping the conch like a lifeline.
“Sorry! It’ll be okay, we’re going to go relocate you so you can be with your own kind.” One of the humans babbled as they locked (your name) up in the box. “Won’t that be nice?”
(Your name) looked one more time back into the forest with a saddened expression. Had Katsumi told humans of her existence? Did he… did he want her gone and that’s why he agreed to meet her at the river?
(Your name)’s heart clenched at the thought of the betrayal. She didn’t think Katsumi would sell her to humans like this… he didn’t have any interest in money.
Maybe he would save her? Yes! Katsumi would save her.
(Your name) tried to reassure herself as the carriage began to move. She still had hope that Katsumi would come, even though he probably would never return even an ounce of the affection she held for him.
What a sad little mermaid.
.
.
.
When the carriage finally stopped, it startled (your name) awake. The mermaid quickly swimming back into a corner as she clutched the conch to her chest.
Why were there so many fish in giant tanks? What was that?!
(Your name)’s head snapped to see a big shadow that swam across the giant tank. He’s body shivering when she felt eyes on her.
“Oh! He saw you!” One of the humans cheered as the slid her glass box over to the giant aquarium. The side door of the glass box was now connected to a little door to the aquarium. “He never usually comes out like this… this is so amazing.”
(Your name) flinched when the door to her box opened as well as the one to the giant aquarium. Her body shaking as she glanced into the aquarium that was full of colorful fish and numerous rocks and plants. What did these humans want her to do?
(Your name) squealed when the humans began to hit the side of the box, the mermaid rushing out of it and into the aquarium in fear. The door locking behind her as the humans cheered.
“There we go! That wasn’t so bad right?” One of the humans asked as they smiled at her. (Your name)’s head darted around the aquarium in fear when she saw that shadow again.
(Your name) quickly propelled herself over to a cave that was concealed with Java ferns and hornworts. Her heart nearly leaping out of her chest when she heard something big swim by.
And that’s when she saw him, a bull shark merman. A scream ripping out of her throat when she came face to face with the large merman, his hand quickly covering her mouth.
“It’s okay. It’s okay.” He shushed her as she trembled and cried. His brown eyes softening at how small she was. “I promise I won’t hurt you. I was taken from my home too. Where did they snatch you up from?”
(Your name) calmed down but she still gripped her conch tightly to her chest, the merman peeling up at the sight of it.
“Where did you get a shell like that?! Aren’t you a freshie?” The merman asked as he excitedly looked at the conch. “It’s dangerous for a fresh water like you to go in the salt like that, I can’t believe you got a conch!”
(Your name) smiled as she showed him the shell. This was the first time anyone has ever been excited to see the shells she gathered.
The merman noticed the change in (your name) demeanor once he talked about her shell. This little mermaid didn’t seem used to seeing another of her species… so that must mean she’s unmated. Which was perfect. He has wanted a mate for years!
(Your name) shyly opened her satchel and showed him all of her shells, his eyes widening in shock. Mermaids didn’t usually collect so many shells like these unless they were trying to impress a mate so that must mean… she was constantly rejected. But how could someone reject her! She had to be the prettiest mermaid he’s ever seen in fresh and salt water! And she was so sweet too!
“You really gathered all of these?” The merman asked softly as (your name) shyly nodded. His heart clenching at how sad she looked. “Were they for the same person?”
(Your name) smiled sadly at his question. The merman quickly changing subjects.
“My name is Jun. Jun Guevara.” Jun introduced himself to her with a toothy smile. His sharp teeth glistening under the artificial light. “I’m your tank mate. What’s your name, anjo (angel)?”
“(Your name).” The mermaid introduced herself as Jun smile brightly.
“What a pretty name.” Jun smiled at her as he glanced around. Maybe if he got her a shell, she’d feel better? “Hold on for a second, okay?”
Jun then swam away, leaving (your name) to curl up in the cave. She still didn’t quite know what was going on, but Jun seemed nice. She’s never seen another mermaid before and especially not a merman. This was all so new to her…
(Your name) glanced at her conch with a smile. She was so happy someone thought it was pretty… it warmed her heart that someone thought her shells were pretty.
(Your name) looked up to see Jun holding up clam shells to her. Her (eye color) eyes widening at being offered such a pretty gift.
“Here. They’re not as pretty as your conch, but I wanted to welcome you.” (Your name) went over to her bag and began to rummage through it. She then presents him some blue crayfish shells. Jun gasps at how vividly blue they are. He’s never seen such a pretty shade of blue before… these were rare!
“Oh wow! These are so pretty, where did you find these? Blue is such a rare color.” Jun whispered only to be surprised by (your name) showing him that most of the shells in her collection were blue. She must have searched tirelessly for all of those… blue was such a rare color to find and she had so many of them…
Jun was jealous of the person she tried to impress. He would have died if someone presented him such a rare color like this.
“You can have them all.” (Your name) told Jun as she handed him the bag. “These were all rejected anyways, I just couldn’t bring myself to get rid of them…”
“I won’t ever reject your shells!” Jun said as he happily accepted the beautiful shells. “I’ll bring you so many shells too! So that you always smile, anjo!”
(Your name) laughed at Jun’s declaration. She’s never had someone want her shells before, it was kind of nice…
“Okay. I look forward to them.” (Your name) smiled at the bull shark merman. Jun was so sweet… she wished Katsumi was sweet to her like this…
.
.
.
A week and a half had gone by and Katsumi felt strange. Where was (your name)? Why wasn’t she here? She was always by his side with her babbling but it’s been too quiet lately and he didn’t like it.
At first it was nice not having her beside him but now… it was strange.
(Your name) wasn’t there to eat fish with him or hand him a silly little shell she found… she wasn’t there by his side and he hated it. He hated it more than her being there. Katsumi couldn’t stand the silence without her being beside him.
Katsumi glanced around the forest as he looked around for the mermaid. She was always close by but she’s never been away from him for this long… he was starting to get worried about her.
“(Your name)?” Katsumi shouted, his tail flicking as he searched for her. She couldn’t still be at the river waiting for him right? (Your name) wasn’t that in love with him right?
Katsumi shifted into his tiger form as he began to try to sniff her out. His eyes widening in horror. Why did he faintly smells humans?!
Katsumi went running into the direction of the river, a roar escaping his throat when he saw the net on the side of it. He quickly shifted back as he held the net in his hand. Did they take her? Did they hurt her?
Katsumi shook when he saw one of her scales attached to the net. His clawed hands snatching it up as he brought it up to his face. (Your name) had been captured…
Katsumi roared loudly as he began to folllow the carriage tracks. His black eyes a bright gold as he began to track her down. He hoped she was okay… god forbid anyone hurt her.
.
.
.
Over the course of a month, (your name) and Jun became closer.
Everyday he brought her shells. Pretty shells she’s never even seen before. Jun said they were from the ocean. Since Jun was a bull shark, he could go between salt and fresh water prior to being put into the aquarium.
Jun said he used to collect all kinds of shells before he was put in here, he also used to have a bag to put shells in and other trinkets. He just didn’t have any use for them anymore since he was captured. So he scattered them across the tank for entertainment. Jun said it was like a scavenger hunt and it kept him from going insane with loneliness.
Jun was put into captivity when his had gotten attacked by pirates. They were going to eat Jun if Jun wasn’t strong enough to fight them off.
But the damage was done to Jun’s fins. He couldn’t attract a mate in the wild anymore since they were so damaged.
Jun said he was lucky to be alive thanks to the humans who put him here. They were trying to restore mermaid populations since mermaids were nearing extinction due to humans hunting them for their flesh.
“I’ve been in captivity for two years.” Jun told (your name) as he ran his fingers through her hair. “Then they got wind of a mermaid spotted all alone in a river that would sit on rocks all alone by some locals in the forest. So they went to fetch you.”
Jun adjusted the necklace he made out of all the blue shells (your name) gave him. The shells clinking together a bit when he did so. He was so proud of her gift. Of her love. Jun couldn’t wait until it was all his.
“Oh but I wasn’t alone.” (Your name) smiled. “I had Katsumi.”
Jun’s face soured when (your name) brought up that stupid tiger. He didn’t understand why she held the tiger in such high regard when he rejected her all the time and never was grateful for anything she did for him. Jun was a better fit for her! They were also both mermaids so they could be mates.
They were meant to be. Jun accepted her shells and she’s accepted his. They were practically mates already. Jun knew he was moving fast but he’s been alone for so many years and (your name) was so perfect. All she had to do was give him that conch and he would ensure they had lots of young. As many as he could physically give her.
“But now you have me, anjo.” Jun beamed as he brushed his stubble on his chin across (your name)‘s shoulder to get her attention back on him.
(Your name) giggled as she smiled at Jun. “You’ve been so wonderful to me. This is the first time in two years I’ve had someone actually enjoy my company.”
Jun frowned before pulling her closer to him. “Well I really enjoy your company. I could never get bored of you.”
Jun’s eyes sparkled as he kissed her shoulder. (Your name) jumping a bit at the sensation.
“What was that?” (Your name) asked in surprise as Jun smiled brightly at her.
“I just wanted to give your shoulder a kiss is all.” Jun then place a kiss on the side of her neck beside her gills. “And here.”
“Jun…” (your name) whispered as Jun smiled at her. “Don’t tease me like that.”
“Who said I’m teasing you-“ Jun’s eyes widened when he saw a giant tiger running rampant in the aquarium room. The humans scattering out of his way. The bull shark merman standing defensively in front of (your name) as the tiger stared into their tank. “Stay behind me, (your name)-“
Jun quickly swam after (your name) when she swam towards the tiger. The merman grabbing her as she smiled brightly.
“Katsumi!” (Your name) shouted when the tiger transformed into a man again. Katsumi quickly looking on how to open the tank.
“(Your name)!” Katsumi shouted as he started looking for a way to let her out. “I’m so glad you’re okay. It took me awhile to figure out how to get in here but we can go home now.”
Katsumi flinched when Jun suddenly slammed into the tank. His ears drawn back as he glared at the large merman in with the mermaid.
Jun glared at Katsumi as he sat himself between (your name) and him. “Why are you here? Don’t you know mermaids are going extinct?”
Katsumi froze as he glanced at the signs. (Your name) was brought to a conservatory… which meant they were trying to get her to mate with this merman here? Oh god.
“(Your name), I’ll get you out!” Katsumi found the latch and he went to open it but the humans began to shout.
“Stop! You’ll kill them!” One of the humans shouted. “Please. There’s only five hundred mermaids left in the world-“
“Did you think this is what she wants?!” Katsumi hissed. “(Your name) and I have always been together and I’m taking her home. She has to come home…”
(Your name) put her hands up to the glass as Katsumi put his hands on top of hers. Being without her for this week and a half was unbearable. He didn’t want a life without her in it. He never wanted to be without her by his side again.
“You can’t have her.” Jun spat angrily as he smacked his hands on the glass. “You don’t appreciate anything she does for you!”
Katsumi froze when he saw a necklace Jin wore around his neck that was made out of blue shells. All the shells he had refused over the last two years.
“(Your name)? Why does he have all your shells?” Katsumi asked softly as his brow furrowed. Katsumi didn’t understand the significance of the shells. How important they were to mermaids.
“Mermaids give shells to the one they want to mate with.” Jun replied with a smug smirk. “And we’ve been exchanging shells together in the tank. So she’s my mate now.”
Katsumi’s eyes widened in realization. The reason why (your name) had been giving him blue shells all the time and fish was because she wanted to mate with him… she wanted to be with him? And he had rejected her for two years… he felt awful.
Katsumi felt tears fall down his face in realization. The tiger pressing his forehead against the glass.
“I didn’t know… I’m so sorry (your name).” Katsumi cried as he sniffled a bit. “I had no idea you felt this way.”
(Your name) swam away to the little cave to grab the conch but Jun stopped her. The bull shark putting himself between her and the cave.
“Anjo, please don’t go.” Jun tightly held her hands. “Please don’t leave me. Please.”
(Your name) turned back to glance at Katsumi who was clicking his claws against the glass like a cat does to a fish tank. She then looked at Jun before smiling at Jun.
Jun was nicer to her and he was the same species as her. He had proven to her that he would be a more suitable mate for her so the choice was obvious… it was Jun.
(Your name) handed Jun the conch and he began to tear up.
“You’re not leaving?” Jun asked her as he clutched the conch to his chest. “You’re going to stay here with me?”
(Your name) nodded with a smile. Jun hasn’t rejected her once and he’s given her so many shells… he was perfect.
Katsumi began banging on the glass, trying to get (your name)’s attention. His eyes wide in horror.
“(Your name)! Let’s go home! Please. Please don’t stay here!” Katsumi was now banging his fists on the glass. “Look at me? Look at me!”
Katsumi was now frantic when (your name) didn’t look at him. Her eyes now on the bull shark in front of her. Her own species.
“I’ll accept every shell you give me from now on and I’ll catch you fish too.” Katsumi began to try bargaining with (your name) as he continued to bang against the glass. “You can tell me stories! You can sing! I’m sorry. Please don’t stay here, please come home.”
“I’m sorry, Katsumi.” (Your name) told him with a frown. “You’re not a merman.”
Katsumi could only watch as (your name) and Jun headed into the cave together. The merman giving Katsumi a devious smirk.
Katsumi could only sink to his knees in realization that (your name) was never going to return to the forest with him. That all his years rejecting her lead her into the arms of a merman…
374 notes · View notes
mybeautifuldelirium · 2 years
Note
Hi there ♥️ could U do a aemond x dothraki slave fanfic in where she works as a Maiden and aemond Takes and Interest in her because He has never Seen a dothraki before💕 thankyou love
The Wildflower From The East || Aemond Targaryen x Dothraki!reader part 1
Tumblr media
A/N this is my first Aemond fanfic so please go easy on me lol
but I hope you like it. It turned out longer than I had expected, but I really wanted to include some backstory and character build up, so lmk if you’d like a Part 2 xx
Summary: Aemond is so captivated by his sister’s new maid that he makes her help him bathe, just so he can hear the fascinating tales from her foreign lands, will he be able to take her out of his mind?
Part 1/?
Warnings: none
Y/N couldn’t remember how long it had been since she last saw her homelands of the Dothraki sea, oh how she missed riding through the mazes of tall thick grass while having the burning Essosi sun gently glaze her skin, she even missed all those ruthless conditions that no lady from the west would ever imagine surviving.
Alas here she was, miles away across the narrow sea in a foreign land. What a cruel fate she had, being sold by her own kin to the slavers of Yunkai only to be brought to King’s Landing as an exotic gift for the Targaryen princess Helaena.
Queen Alicent wasn’t keen on the newly arrived maiden, a filthy savage, she thought of her, unfit to serve her royal daughter. However much to her disapproval, the princess quickly grew close to her new companion indulging in her stories from the foreign lands.
The sun had just risen moments ago and the refreshing scent of the morning dew still lingering in the air. It was hauntingly quiet during this time of day, the only noticeable sound coming from the clashing swords in the courtyard, per usual the Targaryen princes were training with ser Criston. That was when Aemond first saw the foreign maiden.
Y/N was following closely behind his dear sister, who perhaps was once again looking for one of her dreadful creatures in the courtyard. Unlike his brother, the one eyed prince, never paid attention to the maids, however he couldn’t take his eyes off Y/N, she looked nothing like any Westerosi maiden he had seen, there was something striking about her, something so intriguing.
“Ahh the savage girl, a pretty thing she is” smirked Aegon making him turn with a puzzled look.
“Haven’t you heard? They say she’s a Dothraki, sold as a slave at that. Can’t imagine how mother allowed her to serve our beloved sister” he laughed.
‘A Dothraki?’ Aemond thought to himself, he had only heard vague stories about them, from the old septas, but she looked nothing like the images of the ruthless barbarians that these stories had portrayed.
Over the following days the younger prince would secretly throw glances at her every chance he got and although he wouldn’t admit it to himself he just couldn’t take her out of his mind.
The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky with bright colors. Y/N was wandering through the long corridors as princess Helaena had granted her the permission to go bathe herself. Y/N however had decided to use some of the time to explore the castle, indulging in the silence. She has never liked the feeling of being constrained by walls, even the lavish house of her master in Yunkai repulsed her, oh how she missed roaming free on the back of her horse. Consumed by memories of the past, she bumped into something, or rather someone.
As she slowly lifted her head, her eyes were met with a glistening violet gaze that was piercing right through her. The man had long flowing silver hair much like the one of her princess, he had a patch covering one of his eyes but it was unable to overshadow his handsome face .
“Ah so you are the Dothraki maiden” a cunning smirk was lingering on his lips. “Do you speak the common tongue?”
“Yes” she confidently replied, trying not to stare.
“Yes, your grace” he corrected her with a stern expression. “Well then, you are a maid, aren’t you? Go, draw me a bath” he pointed to his chambers with his smirk reappearing.
“I can’t do that, your grace” she answered, mocking his use of the title.
“You do realize, you’re speaking to the prince, how dare you disobey me” he said, now annoyed, but his smirk still apparent.
This nevertheless did not intimidate Y/N “I only serve the princess Helaena my prince”
This response however, only further angered Aemond, he grabbed her by the arm, now his eye staring directly into hers “You’ve heard of dragons, I suppose” he slyly grinned “I happen to be the rider of the largest one there is, all it takes is one of my commands” he twirled a lock of her hair without looking away from her eyes.
Y/N sighed, slowly entering his chambers, as she heard the heavy wooden doors closing behind them.
Quickly she went to fill in the tub, feeling the prince’s gaze never leaving her. Once the tub was filled with warm water and the alluring aroma from the herbs she had placed filled the room, Y/N finally stood up and faced the prince, no longer trying to hide the irritation in her voice.
“May I go now, your grace?”
Aemond locked eye with her, devilish grin playing on his lips “do you expect me to tend to this myself?” He motioned to his attire, covered with filth and dirt, or was it blood.
This time Y/N didn’t even try to object, she knew there was no point in doing so. She mumbled something In Dothraki to herself and cautiously began helping him rid himself of the dirty clothes. Despite her pride and stubbornness Y/N couldn’t deny the otherworldly beauty of the Targaryen prince. He resembled no other man she had ever seen, be it in Yunkai or in the Dothraki hordes. Targaryens were closer to gods than to men, she had heard.
Only when Aemond was left in his breeches did Y/N finally revert her eyes, waiting until she heard the splash from the water. She then kneeled by the tub and started scrubbing his pale skin, desperately trying to escape his gaze. Aemond however kept his eye on her, closely examining her features. Something about this Dothraki girl was drawing him in, he wondered what her story was, how did a savage girl find herself all the way across the narrow sea as a maid to the princess. Aemond could tell she had been taught basic manners and some etiquette along with the common tongue, but even those could not fully conceal her wild upbringing. Her untamed hair was cascading like a waterfall down her back, with several complex braids on top of her head as per Dothraki traditions. She looked rather uncomfortable in her dainty silk gown, he wondered what she was used to wearing.
“What happened to your eye?” Y/N suddenly broke the silence, now examining the leather patch that covered his eye. For a moment, the bluntness of her question caught the prince off guard.
“Curious, are we?” His smirk once again reappeared. “One day I might tell you, but first you owe me a story Wildflower”
“A story?”
“You think I’m unaware of the captivating tales you’ve seemed to tell my beloved sister?” “Don’t you think me worthy of hearing them as well” he gave her a challenging look, their faces now only inches apart.
“Ok then, my prince, as you wish” it was now Y/N’s turn to smirk. She loved telling stories of her lands, they made her feel close to her home, evoking memories of the time when she was free.
Aemond became so enamored with the way the young maiden was narrating her stories, he didn’t notice the water getting cold.
Suddenly Y/N dropped the rag and got up “I must go! The princess!” She rushed to the wooden doors, all manners long forgotten. The prince wanted to stop her, but his pride didn’t let him.
About to get out of the tub, he then saw something glistening under the murky water, it was a gold pendant shaped like a delicate flower, a simple, yet striking piece of jewelry. ‘She must have dropped it’ he thought.
That night Aemond couldn’t get her image out of his head, why was he - a dragon prince so preoccupied with the thoughts of a simple maid from the far eastern lands, he couldn’t explain it to himself, but even if he wouldn’t admit it, he knew that he had to see her again.
1K notes · View notes
eshithepetty · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
Mob Psycho 100?? More like Mob 'why are all these characters just different flavors of autistic holy shit'..... 100!!!!!
Click on image for better resolution. Also an ID below, in case the text is too small to read:
[ID: art of Mob, Tsubomi, Tome, Ritsu and Serizawa from Mob Psycho 100, with a list of autistic symptoms below them. The background is beige and behind each character is a square mismatch of colors unique to them as a background.
Mob:
He is wearing his school uniform and smiling lightly. The background colors are saturated blues, cyans, pinks and reds, which are swirling in a liquid like fashion. Below, text reads:
Polite little autistic boy
flat affect
alexithymia
perpetually confused
attempts to mask, just ends up appearing a different type of ‘weird’ as a result
low empathy, high compassion
really strict moral integrity
didn’t have a special interest for the longest time due to repressing himself
disassociating king :(
comorbid inattentive type ADHD
Tsubomi:
She is wearing her school uniform, staring ahead with a bored, uninterested expression. The colors behind her are dark and sharp browns, violets and reds. Below, text reads:
Girlboss
masking queen
low empathy
can’t read social cues but has mastered the art of scripting and being polite and pretty to escape ostracization
hard time connecting to people
often acts unintentionally rude/blunt
stubborn
actually cares a whole lot about people she really considers friends
Tome:
She is also wearing the uniform, leaning her chin on her hand and flapping the other hand excitedly as she rambles about something. The colors behind her are a bright yellow, green and orange, formed as circles and some sharp edges. Below, text reads:
Weird Girl
stimming galore
loud™
special interest in the occult/aliens
finds herself only connecting to people through that interest
emotional dysregulation
comorbid hyperactive ADHD
barely passing grades
probably spends hours on random wikipedia articles
Ritsu:
He is wearing a yellow hoodie, looking to the side and finger raised in confusion. The colors behind him are green, orange and magenta, and they are swirling in a kind of square vortex around him. Below, text reads:
just a little hater
sounds /neg
has a selective wardrobe of comfy clothes cause textures,,,
has no idea what friends are
special interest in psychic powers
spoons are a comfort item
denied he was autistic for a long time because “wdym, i’m completely normal. Look how well adjusted I am.”
comorbid OCD
Serizawa:
He's wearing his usual suit and smiling, eyes closed with the grin, his hands clasped together at his chest. The colors behind him are cyans, blues, greens and magentas, some lines, some circles. Below, text reads:
gamer .....
self isolation as an (unhealthy) coping mechanism
uses comfort items
emotions also be dysregulating but like,, he’s learning to deal with it
high empathy
missed out on a lot of milestones, but it’s okay, he’s catching up :)
special interest in video games
finds comfort in dark, tight spaces
comorbid social anxiety
End ID.]
718 notes · View notes
surielstea · 2 months
Text
Devotion | Drabble
Based on this request.
Tumblr media
Pairing: Rhysand x Fem!Reader
Summary: Rhys can’t help but admire his mate.
Warnings: none, just fluff!
1.2k words
Tumblr media
"You've got it on your nose," I wipe the frosting from my son's face as he stares blankly up at me.
I was in the middle of icing the cake for Asteria's birthday party, the four-year-old girl seated atop the counter as she watched me and her brother decorate the vanilla cake a lavender color.
"Mama, I want some on my nose too." The youngest whines and I smile at her. "This is for the cake my sweet, perhaps if there are leftovers we can." I hum, brushing her hair from her cheek. She nods, black hair bobbing with the movement.
I look down at the six-year-old boy who is about to dig his hands right into the bowl full of frosting. "Orion." I reprimand as I look down at him, his gaze snaps up to me with his brows at his hairline and a wide cheeky grin that was inherently his father's, knowing he's been caught in the act. "What'd I just say?" I look pointedly at him and he quickly clasps his hands behind his back, looking up at me innocently with all too good of posture.
I smile, grabbing the boy by his middle and hoisting him up onto the counter next to his sister.
“Mama, I want this one.” My youngest child held up a star-shaped piping tip, the metal held up to her eye as she squinted through it. I shake my head with a breathless laugh, taking the object and placing it into a long triangular bag.
"Okay, this is called a piping bag," I hand my son the item. "Can you hold it open while Asteria and I scoop the frosting in?" I ask and he nods dutifully, making it his mission to hold the bag as still as possible.
Asteria grabs a miniature spatula to match mine, helping me shovel the frosting down into the bag. I'd get most of the substance into the bag but she'd push it down, Orion straining as the bag grew heavier. "Good, you did perfect, both of you." I smile at them and they both look up at me with bright grins. I hand Orion the bag we just made after snipping off the corner, telling him how to hold it.
I give Asteria her own bag too, hers filled with a baby blue frosting. "Okay," I set the white cake in the middle of them with a delicate touch. "So it’ll go like this," I pick up my bag and begin to pipe a design around the bottom of the cake. "Don't squeeze too hard, and don't stay in one spot for too long, it’s simple." I pull away, showing both of the kids. They nod excitedly, tightly holding onto their bags. "Alright, go ahead," I say and their smiles widen.
Asteria takes her time, twisting her lips to the side as she does precisely what I showed her with a focus I admire, the four-year-old is already doing better than some of my culinary students on her first try. Orion, however, was just having fun, making big draping curtains down his side of the cake as well as stripes and polka dots everywhere.
I feel a familiar pair of eyes on me and my spine locks, head whipping over to the archway where my mate leans, staring at me.
The kids didn't notice him, I barely noticed him as he stood there and just admired me from a distance. A smile curled his lips as he watched our children be so excited to learn one of my passions, with utter devotion in his violet eyes while looking at me.
I smile and walk towards him, wrapping my arms around the back of his neck and pressing a kiss to his cheek.
"I love you," He hums, his hand coming to my waist as he looks down at me. I tilt my head at him, confused as to what prompted such words. He didn't offer an explanation, didn't have one. Just continued analyzing my every feature. I got nervous under his stare, even though we’d been together for decades now he still had butterflies soaring in my stomach, so I avoided his gaze and looked back to the kids.
“They’re getting so old.” I sigh, leaning my head on his chest. He presses a kiss to the crown of my head, both of us watching in silence as our children sneakily pipe a dollop of frosting onto their fingers before licking it clean off as if we weren’t watching. This cake definitely wouldn’t be served at Asteria’s party, now that I’ve seen just how unsanitary they were being— though I didn’t care about that, I’d happily make another cake if it meant they were enjoying themselves.
I look back to Rhys, his eyes coming down onto me with the utmost focus. Without saying a word, he leans down and presses a kiss to my lips, his other hand coming to my face as he pulls me closer. I rise onto my toes to lean into it, my chest pressing against his as he conveys every inch of his love into that kiss.
A smile spreads over my lips as I fall flat onto my feet and disconnect our lips, he backs away with one last peck. "You taste like sugar, sugar." He hums and I scrunch my nose at the cheesiness of his words. "Eww!" Orion boos at us and we both look at our children who have disgusted expressions. "I know, that pun wasn't my best work." Rhys sighs and I roll my eyes.
"I'm done," Our daughter holds out her messy piping bag, frosting running down the sides of her hands. I smile and rush towards her, grabbing the bag before it can drip onto the ground.
"Does mom really taste like sugar?” Orion asks his father, catching my attention. “I don’t know, I suppose I’ll have to find out.” My husband hums, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, barring me as he presses a kiss to my shoulder.
“What if I told you I’m made of sugar.” I let on, Asteria staring up at me like I just turned her world upside down. “Then I’d say you need to run because I’m the sugar monster.” Rhys’ hands tickle up my sides and I squeal as he tosses me over his shoulder with an ease I marveled at, running me into the living room as I hit my fists against his back. “Rhys!” I shout, the kids chasing after us.
“We have to save Mama!” Asteria rushed up to me, grabbing my hand as Orion took his father on, jumping onto him like a spider monkey, attempting to tackle him to the floor.
“Put me down!” I shout at my mate, he carries me over to the couch before flipping me down onto the sofa’s cushions. The children come to my side, asking if I’m okay, guarding me from Rhys.
The High Lord easily sweeps both the children up into his arms, their bodies hanging halfway down his shoulders, causing them to yell and kick their feet in protest. Rhys leans down and pecks me on the lips with a wide smile. “I love you too, by the way,” I confess as he pulls back, the children still on his shoulders attempting to take down their father but to no avail. “I know.” He winks.
Tumblr media
General Taglist: @fxckmiup @olive-main @iluvyewman-blog @gaymistakeboi @glam-targaryen @going-through-shit @fauxdette @impossibelle @amara-moonlight @webecheesy-blog @sarawritestories @tele86 @rogersbarnesxx @sandramalikstyles-blog @stinkinstuffie @azriels-shadowsinger
Comment a “💙” to be added to the general taglist!
Comment a “🖤” to be added to the Azriel taglist!
Tumblr media
140 notes · View notes
dreamsontheirway · 11 months
Text
Rhododendron | S.R.
Request: A meet cute where the reader owns a flower shop and Spencer comes in to get flowers for his mom. He finds reasons to continue coming back until one of them gets the courage to ask the other one out. [Requested by @teddy-the-teddybear ] Warnings: none Word Count: 1.5k
Navigation
Join Taglist
Tumblr media
On the day that you met Spencer Reid, the trees were a swirling mix of red and orange and the October air was crisp and cool. You pulled your burnt orange cardigan tighter around yourself and placed a bundle of roses in a vase. You eyed them, adjusting the sunflowers that surrounded them.
A chime sounded at the front of the flower shop you worked at. You looked up at the noise, and a tall, lanky man walked in. His long strands of brown hair fell onto his face, despite his efforts to continue pushing them back.
“Hello, welcome to Abstract Florals! Can I help you find anything today?” Your voice said, reciting your typical customer service spiel.
Spencer’s gaze went to yours as he approached, and you were taken aback by eyes that shone a beautiful swirl of brown and amber. His gaze met yours and held onto it slightly longer than what may be considered normal.
"H-Hi there," Spencer started, his voice wavering in nervousness at the sight of you.
You smiled softly, and waited a moment for him to continue.
"I'm looking for a bouquet for my mother. I haven't seen her in a while. Uhm, she loves the color purple, if that helps."
You grinned at him. He is beautiful, you thought to yourself.
"I can absolutely help you with that." You hurriedly grabbed a few vases of purple flowers from the shelf and brought them back to the desk.
"Let's see, we have violets, hydrangeas, and," you trailed off, staring at another set of beautiful purple flowers in front of you. Shoot, what are these called again?
Spencer sensed the look of confusion on your face and his lips tilted up in a small smile.
"Rhododendrons."
Your gaze shot up to his, your eyes wide in astonishment.
"Yes, rhododendrons," you spoke. "Thank you."
If any other man had walked into the flower shop and corrected you, you would be annoyed. But something told you that the slim man in front of you meant absolutely no harm.
You shook your head, embarrassed, and felt heat rise to your cheeks.
"I'll take them," he spoke, pulling out his wallet.
"Perfect. Let's see," you hummed. "That'll be ten dollars."
He slid you his credit card, and you were quick to notice the raised writing at the bottom. Spencer W Reid.
-----
After that day, you took notice of Spencer Reid around your shop much more. You couldn't figure out why he needed flowers nearly every week, but you weren't complaining. He brought you good business, anyway.
"Good morning, Y/N," Spencer spoke. His voice held a gentleness that you realized you could get used to hearing.
Spencer had used your name for the first time a few weeks ago. It was the second or third time he had come into the shop, and you were taken aback when you had heard your name come out of his mouth. You recalled Spencer's gaze traveling down when you acted surprised, and you felt your face grow hot at the realization that you were wearing your name tag.
"Hi Spencer," you said, looking up from the front desk.
Spencer was clad in gray slacks, a button down shirt, and a green sweater vest. You couldn't help but think that he looked absolutely adorable in the combination. Your chest fluttered at the realization.
"What are thinking of getting today?"
He stopped at the front counter, eyes scanning the wide array of flowers behind you. His thumb grazed the bottom of his chin in concentration, and your heart tugged at the sight.
"There are lots of good options," Spencer smiled softly and turned his attention to you. "What would you recommend?"
You turned, looking at the wide array of florals behind you. The wall of flowers was beautiful. The bright purples and reds and yellows were a stark contrast from the browning greenery outside.
"I'd say the chrysanthemums are looking particularly ravishing today."
You turned to him, a wide grin on your face. He returned the smile, and grabbed for his wallet.
"I'll take them."
-----
The next time Spencer went to the flower shop, he didn't see you right away. His eyes scanned the shop, and he turned corners around the displays in search of you. He attempted to be subtle about his frantic searching, but it was difficult for him to hold it in when the only reason he was here was to see you. He didn't really care about the flowers.
Rounding another corner, he finally spotted you crouched below the front desk, rummaging through the cabinets. Your hair was disheveled, and your brows were furrowed in concentration.
"Y/N?" Spencer called out.
You jumped, yelping as you bonked the top of your head against the desk.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you," Spencer offered, rushing closer to the counter.
"Oh, Spencer, hey," you croaked, your voice gravelly.
You had woken up to an unpleasant pounding in your head and pain in your throat. You felt terrible, but the flower shop was understaffed. You had to go in to work; it was a Saturday and you knew it would be busy, but the shop couldn't afford to miss out on the business.
Spencer's eyes widened as he took in the sound of your voice and your unkempt appearance. He felt something tug in his chest, and the urge to care for you was overwhelming.
"Are you alright? You sound," Spencer trailed off; for once he was at a loss for words.
"Like I smoke six packs a day? I know," you joked, smirking.
Spencer didn't reciprocate your joking tone.
"Why are you here? You should be resting."
You couldn't tell if the heat rising in your body was from a high temperature or the feeling of Spencer being so concerned with your wellbeing.
You let out a sigh, leaning your weight on the desk.
"I didn't really have a choice," you stopped, coughing into the crease of your arm. "We're so understaffed here, and it's one of our busy days."
Spencer's face was contorted into an expression of worry, frustration, and something else that you couldn't quite place.
"Let me help, then."
Your gaze jumped up to meet his, confusion dancing across your features like freckles.
"No, no, I couldn't ask you to do that."
"You're not asking, I'm offering. Insisting, actually." Spencer's gaze was hard, his eyes staring directly into yours. You felt like melting into a puddle on the floor.
"Okay," you started, stretching the word. "Thank you, Spencer."
He nodded as a chime sounded from the front of the store. Spencer slipped behind the counter next to you as a middle aged woman approached the counter.
You cleared your throat, preparing your voice in order to welcome her, but someone beat you to it.
"Hello, welcome in! What can we help you with?"
You looked up at Spencer, a smile grazing his lips as he stared expectantly at the woman. You turned your gaze downward, smiling to yourself.
-----
Spencer continued to help you that day, nearly for your entire shift. Whenever there was a job that required a lot of moving around, he would offer himself up to do it, insisting that you stay seated. Although you felt guilty that Spencer was doing your work for you, unpaid you might add, you were thankful to be able to sit due to the constant pounding in your head.
The workday was nearing its end, and Spencer approached you, carrying a bundle of roses.
"How are you feeling?" He prompted, setting the flowers on the countertop.
"A little better," you muttered, resting your head in your palm. "Thank you for everything you did today."
"Of course," Spencer mumbled, giving you a soft smile. He shifted, his brows creasing together in apprehension before he continued.
"It was, uhm, nice to see you for more than the few minutes it takes for me to buy something."
You giggled. "Yeah, it was. I like spending time with you."
Spencer's face grew pink at your words, a small smile directed towards the ground. His gaze met yours, and he opened and closed his mouth nervously.
"I, uhm," he started, his hands fidgeting. "Would you want to go to dinner sometime?"
You could have sworn you felt your heart skip a beat. Did Spencer Reid just ask me out?
Spencer took your moment of silence as something it wasn't and he continued speaking.
"I'm sorry, maybe that was overstepping. I, we, uhm, just never mind, I--"
"Spencer!" You interjected with as much force as you could, but the hoarseness of your voice resulted in it being more of a whisper.
But it caught Spencer's attention. His wide eyes met yours.
"I would love nothing more than to go to dinner with you."
You could see Spencer's form settle in relief, and he let out a shaky breath.
"Good, that's good," he said, letting out a chuckle.
"Just," you started, catching Spencer's attention, "maybe let's wait until I'm less contagious."
Spencer laughed, and you thought to yourself about what a beautiful sound it was.
"How about Friday?" He asked, his hands now relaxed in his pockets.
"Friday sounds perfect," you smiled. "It's a date."
-----
Navigation
Join Taglist
CM Taglist: @cynbx @random000000 @lockwoods-coat-and-reids-vests @miralgr @xoyouronlyamorrxo
234 notes · View notes
azsazz · 1 year
Text
Dioxazine
Modern!Rhys x Reader
Summary: While at the art shop looking for the necessary supplies for your first semester of art school, you get a bit distracted by the cocky cashiers intriguing eye color.
Warnings: None
Word Count: 2,254
Notes: It’s 1am and now it’s Sunday so I’m posting rn so @writingsbychlo can see this when she wakes up. This one’s for you babes! I hope you love it.
P.S. Gosh I just love young, cocky Rhys so much. 😭
_________________________________________
You really should’ve grabbed a basket.
Your arms are stuffed with supplies: sketchbooks, pencils, oil paints, a roll of canvas, anything and everything you could need for the start of your classes in a few days. 
They’d given you a list of all of the tools needed for your first semester at art school and yeah, you could’ve ventured to the nearest chain store, but you thought it’d be better to support the local art supply in town.
That is, until you meet the cashier.
He looks anything but friendly, leant over the expanse of the counter, flipping through a magazine ever so lazily. The boy doesn’t even look up when you drop your supplies down, spilling across the surface with purpose.
“Hello?” you crow when you’ve been standing there for a solid minute while he reads whatever article is next to the full page perfume ad with a half naked model on it. You catch sight of his long fingers rubbing the corner of the pages, separating them from each other so that he can turn to the next.
“Hi,” he responds blankly, like you’ve just run into him and he doesn’t know why you’re speaking to him. Your brows knit together as you stare at him, wondering if he always acts so careless about his job or you’ve just caught him at a bad time.
“I, um…” you trail off, frustrated because all you want to do is purchase your supplies and you’ll be out of his inky black hair. “Can you look at me?”
A muscle twitches in his jaw in annoyance, which is fine because his rudeness is irritating you as well, so at least you have that in common.
Finally, he snaps shut the magazine and looks up at you. His glaring eyes are startling, not because he looks menacing, but you’ve never quite seen a color like that before, bright violet with flecks of a dark hue that reminds you of the stars in the night sky. 
They make you itch to test out your new paints.
Your breath hitches in your throat as he stands to his full height, and holy Gods, he towers over you by at least a whole foot. “Is there something I can help you with?”
You clear your throat, “Yes, actually. If you’re not too busy, that is.” You glance at the magazine, now facedown on the counter.
The side of his mouth quirks in a wicked smirk, “You’ve caught me at a good stopping point.”
You fight the urge to roll your eyes, muttering something under your breath that only makes him smile wider.
“I’m looking for the umber oil paint but I didn’t see any on the rack.”
“Freshman then?” his teeth are bright in his grin. He rounds the corner of the counter, leading you back the way you came. There aren’t many students milling about the small shop, and as you pass the pen section you have to talk yourself into not purchasing another just for the sake of how pretty it looks.
You make a face at his insinuation. “You can tell that just from my paint selection?”
“Yes and no. No, because umber is a staple color for most painters,” he glances at you over his shoulder as he slows to a stop before the rack of organized paints. He takes his time, giving you a once over that makes you flush and hug your arms across your chest. His smile only grows and you scowl in response. “And yes, because If you weren't a freshman you would’ve asked for a specific one. There’s burnt umber and raw umber.”
He plucks both tubes of paint from the shelf and holds them out to you, “Very different colors.”
“They look the same to me,” you mumble, studying the swatches on the tubes. They’re a few shades off from each other, surely that can’t make that much of a difference.
You definitely don’t take into account how small the tubes look in his large hands, and you’re absolutely not thinking about taking one just to compare the size difference between your hands.
“Trying to decide which one to get?” His question is innocent but the look on his face is anything but.
You flush and the collar of your shirt seems to tighten out of nowhere. “Yes.”
He stares down at you for a moment, making sure that you know he’d given you an out.
“You’re going to need both.”
“I guess I’ll take your word for it, since you seem to know so much about art.”
“That’s why I work at the art store,” he replies bluntly, letting you lead the way back to the register, “Because I know my shit.”
“Well it’s definitely not because of your less than charming personality,” you retort, shocking yourself. You’re usually not so rude to people but there’s just something about this guy that’s getting under your skin. 
All you want to do is go back to your dorm.
“You think I’m charming?”
You scoff, “Absolutely not,” You catch yourself peeking at how well fitting his pants are against the round of his ass as he makes his way back to the register side of the counter. You shake your head, scolding yourself. “Now are you going to ring up my stuff?”
“No, but I will check you out.”
You groan, “That was terrible.”
“Terrible or cute?”
You give him a pointed look, face straight. “Terrible.”
“I can try another,” he says as he finally starts ringing up your art supplies.
“No thank you, just the supplies for me today, thanks,” you try, silently praying that he hurries. You can’t stand the thought of being around him for much longer if he spouts another cheesy line that you know he’s probably used on plenty of girls before. You don’t care how cute he is.
“You know what else these are good for?” He holds up the tube of Dioxazine purple paint, the one that looks like a bottled color of his eyes.
“I really didn’t ask.”
“Finger Painting.”
The retort rolls quickly off your tongue and just as swift to wipe that smile off of his gorgeous face. “Should’ve known that’s what you’re into, since you act like a three year old.”
His eyes glow, taking the card you’re holding out for the transaction. You don’t even care how much the total is, you just want to get the hell out of here.
“Feisty.”
“Just give me the damn receipt,” you’re pretty sure your cheeks look like they’ve been brushed with the cadmium red paint in your bag as you hold out your hand for your card and the thin sheet of paper.
“Yes, ma'am,” he obeys, passing both over to you, sliding your bag of supplies across the counter.
“And don’t call me that.”
“What do you want me to call you? Darling? Or your name, perhaps?”
“No.”
“Any other requests?” he asks cheekily, planting his hands on the counter so he can lean toward it, towering over you.
You take the bag, fully planning on ignoring him in favor of taking a brisk walk towards the door but he’s shuffling around under the counter and trailing after you.
“Yeah, you can stop following me,” you remark, catching sight of the bunched up sweatshirt in his hands. It’s nowhere near cold yet so you don’t understand why he has that on him. Maybe it got cold in the store while he was sitting on his ass doing nothing.
“My shift just ended, Darling.” 
You halt as you step onto the sidewalk. He takes a few steps further, swinging around to face you when he realizes you’ve stopped.
Narrowing your eyes up at him, you say, “Didn’t I just tell you not to call me that?”
“You didn’t tell me your name, so I guess I’ll just have to keep calling you pet names, Darling.”
“(Y/N),” you nearly growl, “My name is (Y/N).”
He repeats your name and you clutch your bag tighter in your hands because you’d never heard it sound quite that lovely coming out of someone's mouth. It gives you goosebumps.
“I’m Rhysand, but you can call me Rhys.”
“I’m honored,” you respond sourly, hating that he’s smiling at your annoyance. “Can I go now?”
You try to step around him but he slides into your path again, blocking your way back to campus.
“You know my friends and I are throwing a party at my place tonight,” he starts, glancing up at the street over your head before returning those piercing eyes on yours. He shrugs.  “You know, before class starts up and all that.”
“Cool.”
He barks out a laugh that licks up your spine in the best way. “That was me inviting you, if that wasn’t clear.”
“It wasn’t,” you say, even though it was.
He cocks his head, grinning crookedly at you, “Don’t be like that.”
You can’t help but to roll your eyes at this cocky boy. You blurt the next question that comes to mind instead of giving him an answer. “Why are you even working here?”
“So I can meet pretty girls like you,” he responds innocently, dark lashes fluttering against his cheeks in an exaggerated manner.
You can’t help but to laugh, shifting your bag to the other arm, “Try again.”
The corner of his mouth pulls up into a wicked curve and your heart definitely doesn’t stutter and you certainly aren’t thinking about breaking out the oil paints you’ve just bought.
“I might work at the art supply store to get a discount on my own supplies,” he starts, “Or I might work at the art supply store so that my father thinks that I can be independent and make a living off becoming an artist instead of taking over the family business.”
And well, you weren’t expecting him to be so open about it. 
Unsure of what to say, you focus on the fact that he said he was also taking classes for art. 
“You’re in art school?”
“I know, the patchwork tattoos make me seem like something much more scholarly,” he grins and you had taken notice of the array of…interesting patchwork tattoos littering the tanned skin of his arms.
“Yeah,” you huff a laugh, “The Mickey Mouse one really screams finance major.”
Rhys’ smile falls, an offended scowl taking over his perfect face. “It’s not just a tattoo of Mickey Mouse,” he protests, turning his arm so the both of you can see the silly tattoo better. “He’s…on drugs, so it’s cool, ya know? An aesthetic if you will.”
You stare at it, then at him, an eyebrow raised. 
He gives in. “Okay…so it was a dare but there’s a good story behind it, I swear! I can tell you more about it on our date.”
“Date? I thought it was a party?”
“So you’re coming?”
You purse your lips, unimpressed. “I didn’t say all that.”
The blaring sounds of a horn cuts off his response, drawing both of your attention to the street. There’s two boys in the front seats of the gorgeous vintage Bronco, painted your favorite color. Your mouth nearly drops at the pristine condition of the car, and then again once you catch sight of the handsome passengers.
The boy driving the car leans over the one in the passenger, “C’mon Rhys, hurry up and get her number or we’re going to do this thing without you!”
The boy in the passenger seat glares at the driver, your cheeks heating up under their stares.
“You heard him,” Rhys says, smiling so wide you’re afraid his cheeks might split open. “Can’t have them thinking I didn’t get your number, right?”
“You didn’t.”
“(Y/N),” he sighs, yielding only a small step when you take one forward. When you don’t say anything he continues, “At least come to the party.”
“No, thanks.”
“Please?”
You exhale an exasperated breath. He just won’t give up. “If I say yes will you get out of my way?”
“Definitely,” he nods his head eagerly.
“Then yes,” you finally relent and he beams, “I will see you there.”
“Sick,” he mutters proudly to himself. He shoves his hand into your bag and you fumble for a second, yelping and straightening the paper sack as he rifles around for something.
Rhys pulls a sharpie out and grabs your arm. You’re so caught off guard that you just watch as he writes his number on your forearm in thick black letters. Your mouth drops open in shock. You’ll have to scrub your skin raw to try and get it off.
He steps back, admiring his work. He caps the marker and tosses it back into your bag, “My number looks good on you, you should consider getting that inked. I have a friend, if you want.”
“Let me guess, he’ll be at the party.”
His grin is shit eating.
Rhys winks, pulling out a can of spray paint from beneath the bunched up fabric of his sweatshirt as he retreats towards the car, and it’s then that you realize he's only brought the jacket so he could take the paint, hiding it in the fabric so no one would see.
He shakes the can in the air for emphasis, swinging a leg up into the backseat of the convertible. The grin on his face is something you'll be thinking about for the rest of the day.
“I'll paint something pretty for ya, (Y/N). See you tonight.”
690 notes · View notes
monstrousvoice · 9 months
Text
🌸Companions Favorite Flowers!🌸
Was talking with @by-the-erdtree in the Discord about which flowers would be the favorites of the companions and wanted to share 💖
Gale
Loves lilies of all kinds. Something about their delicate, slender appearance looks right to him.
He also has a soft spot for lavender as it's soothing smell is something he would have nearby while studying/meditating on his work. (The fact that they're purple is an added bonus)
Shadowheart
It is confirmed by her in-game dialogue that her favorite flowers are night orchids! She likes other orchids as well, but the night variety are her favorite by far.
Astarion
If pressed to give an answer Asterion would say something stereotypical and "romantic" like roses, to match that sultry seductive vibe he has.
The truth is though, he prefers small delicate flowers like bluebell or violets.
Karlach
A lover of super vibrant and bright flowers, he absolute favorite would have to be sunflowers! They're so big and bright and always looking to the sky, she feels a kinship with them. She would love to lay in a field of them and just soak up the sun's rays for an afternoon.
Halsin
Bear papa likes flowers that come from berry bushes, especially blueberries! Such hard working flowers that grow and transform into tasty snacks for traveling through the wilderness, what's not to love?
Lae'zel
Our tough warrior will insist that flowers are beneath her notice, that she would never find beauty in something so useless.
But if you watch her carefully on your journeys, you'll see how she pauses to admire daisys and dandelions growing along the path. Such hardy little plants that grow everywhere, even the city!
Not that she actually finds them appealing, what are you talking about? 🙄
Wyll
Wyll has an appreciation for all different types of wildflowers he's seen during his time on the Frontier.
If he had to pick favorites though, he would admit he has a soft spot for chrysanthemums, which look so plush and vibrant in color, or black eyed susans, especially the ones that have multiple colors going to the center.
Bonus!
The Emperor
In his long lifespan traveling to different worlds, he's seen some pretty incredible things. Off planet, he'd say his favorite flower is one that doesn't have a name in common tongue that grows in various shades of white and blue, with a soft glow about them due to the planet they grow on being one shrouded in darkness often. They are carnivorous flowers.
If he had to chose one from the Forgotten Realms, one that's known to the people of Faerûn, he would pick ones with big fat petals and vibrant colors. His most favorite would be lotus flowers.
88 notes · View notes
tarisilmarwen · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media
Title: Little Wooden Lightsaber Boy
Fandom: Star Wars Rebels
Rating: K+
Pairing/Relationships: Ezra/Sabine
Character(s): Sabine Wren, Tristan Wren, Alrich Wren, Ursa Wren, Tiber Saxon, Darth Maul, Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla
Genre: Romance/Drama
Summary: Life Day at the Wren stronghold is always a big affair, and this year Sabine gets a very special present--a little wooden figure of a handsome Jedi general. Nutcracker AU.
AO3, FFNet
@sabezra-life-day-celebration
It's late, because surprise surprise I had a plot bunny bite my ankle and get Ambitious, but here is my fic for Sabezra Life Day Celebration. Hope you all enjoy!
---
Sabine loved the winter holidays.
It was one of the only times in the year the Wren Stronghold came alight with color and music, the normally dour gray halls festooned with green garlands and red ribbons, bright glowing glass orbs nestled in the branches of the enormous evergreen tree she and her extended family went out and cut down each year, hauling into the great hall with laughter and a unity of purpose. The fires stayed burning almost all night and her father piped festive songs and carols from giant speakers in his artist studio, the notes carrying down the halls and making the frozen palace alive and breathing with warmth.
She sat at one of the long tables now, a piece specially set out for the occasion, crowded between a half-dozen like it and covered with a soft, immaculately white tablecloth the color of the falling snow. Her fingers itched to draw, as she took in the twinkling splendor of the Life Day tree, glimmering yellow and violet and green and orange-gold in the corner.
It was technically a Wookie holiday, Life Day, but since the end of the Clone Wars and the victory of Coruscant, the winter celebration had spread throughout the galaxy, each planet in the Republic popping up with their own traditions and customs. Sabine had only been a toddler, but all her life she'd heard the stories—about how the Jedi Order bravely uncovered a horrible Sith plot, overthrew the Chancellor and installed a new era of peace and prosperity.
A prosperity they were heartily enjoying now, she thought, eyeing the platter of roast nerf ribs being passed down the table.
She grabbed a chunk from the platter and bit into it eagerly, the warm seasoned juices filling her mouth.
"Sabine!" her mother chided, from her spot at the head of the table, a place of prominence befitting the Countess. "Manners!"
Sabine grabbed up her napkin and wiped her chin, grinning cheekily at Ursa as the festivities carried on. Her favorite part of the night was coming up—the traditional Mandalorian dances and gift exchange. They had to entertain a few other clans this year—the stronghold was quite crowded—so she and Tristan had promised to be each other's dance partners all night, to stave off any untoward attempts to seduce either of them, any political proposals that might have been sprung on them unexpectedly.
Her brother was already reaching for her hand, urging her out onto the dance floor in the center of the Great Hall. Sabine took one last bite of succulent rib roast, then put her hand and her trust in Tristan, who led her to the center of the floor and kept close to her as the music grew louder.
"So far so good," he quipped to her, as the music played on, loud and raucous as only a Mandalorian celebration could be, bodies breaking off from the dining tables and joining them on the dance floor. "I don't think I've seen a clan head look your way yet," he continued, teasing.
Sabine rolled her eyes with long-suffering affection. "Let's try to keep it that way," she said.
She stayed close to her brother as the night and the party drew on. Her father eventually emerged from his studio, beaming brightly as he presented Tristan and Sabine and the other young clan heirs with their gifts. Sabine accepted the brightly-wrapped package eagerly.
She tore the paper, the gilded green and gold coming off the box easily under her hands. She carefully lifted the lid of the white box and set it aside, gasping as she saw the contents.
A beautifully carved and painted wooden figure lay in the tissue paper. Sabine marveled at her father's craftmanship. The figure was immaculately designed, styled to look like an armored Jedi Knight from the Clone Wars, with a smart-looking blue hauberk and tabbards, orange piping along the sides of its tunic and leggings. It had a handsome tan face and bold black dots for eyes, and the hair was a blue-lined black painted on the back of its head. It had a prominent hinged jaw, a wood piece that connected to a lever in its back. Sabine carefully lifted the figure out of its packaging and worked the lever, seeing how the device fit together.
It was a nutcracker. A decorative kitchen tool, meant to crush the hard shells of koja and areca and a bevy of other species.
Sabine breathlessly thanked her father, one arm squeezing around him while the other clung to her prize.
"He's beautiful!" she told him, gazing once again with admiration at the little carved figure.
Alrich beamed with pride, launching into a prepared explanation of his artistic process, pointing at various parts of the nutcracker and explaining them.
Sabine listened with rapt attention, the artist in her appreciative and impressed. The gift exchange done, she dismissed herself from her father's presence, sitting back down at her place at the table and just watching the party continue on, late, late into the night as the fires popped and the drinks flowed freely.
Her gaze kept straying to her nutcracker, and more than once she let her fingers feather over the fine details, the meticulously painted golden fasteners and the sweeping lines that delineated armor pieces.
She was so caught up by the workmanship that she didn't notice when her distant cousin, Tiber of Clan Saxon, darkened her shoulder, not until he snatched the wooden figure from her hands and brought it up to his face to sneer at it.
"A little old to be playing with dolls aren't you, Miss Wren?" he huffed.
Sabine's mouth soured immediately, and she made a grab for her father's present. "Give that back!" she demanded. "It's mine!"
Tiber held it away from her, at arm's length with a curdled disdain. "What is this even supposed to be?" he asked snidely.
Sabine glared icily. "It's a Jedi General," she told the older man, hotly. "Give it back."
Tiber dodged the swipe she made for it with her hand, stepping away from the table. "Poor craftsmanship to fit a poorer subject matter," he dismissed. "What paltry Clan Wren trash."
Sabine watched in horror as he dropped her gift carelessly on the ground and stomped on it with his metal-lined boot.
"Hey!" she objected in distress, diving for her nutcracker.
Tiber was already stalking off, exiting the hall with a handful of his entourage, not even paying her a spare glance behind. Sabine glowered darkly as she carefully cradled her nutcracker to her chest, brushing off the scuff marks Tiber had left in the paint.
Her heart panged in dismay as she found that she couldn't erase a couple of the scratches. They dug into the wood of the figure's cheek, two ugly lines that marred her Jedi's smiling face.
Sabine tried her best to smooth out the gouges but it was no use, and she bit her lip, holding back her emotions.
As if sensing her sorrow, her father appeared at her shoulder.
"What's wrong, Sabine?" he asked, brown eyes full of concern.
Her mouth pinched and twisted as she explained, holding out the nutcracker to him. "Look what Tiber did to your work!" she complained, eyes stinging, blinking hard.
Alrich took the wooden figure gently in his hands, making a quick scan of the damage.
After a moment he smiled.
"Oh that's not so bad," he said. From his pocket he pulled out a little white helmet, styled after the clones of the 501st, Skywalker's Fist. He slid the wooden helmet into place on the nutcracker's head. "See? He's all right," he assured her, handing it back.
Sabine took the nutcracker in her hands, begrudgingly admitting to herself that the helmet suited the little wooden figure, made it look a little more authentic and complete. She cradled the wooden man to her chest, vowing not to let it out of her sight, holding it like a precious jewel against her body.
She stayed far away from the members of Clan Saxon the rest of the night.
***
The fires were low-burning embers and coals, the hall growing cold and dark, by the time the party finally wound down. Sabine bade goodnight to her family—and her nutcracker, giving it a little kiss on the helmet before stowing it safely away in one of the armor cabinets—and retired to bed.
Alone in her room, however, watching the starlight and falling snow outside, Sabine found herself too wound-up to sleep. A strange agitation kept her awake, tossing and turning long hours until she gave up and rolled out of bed.
For a while she painted, scratching her brushes on a canvas with idle consideration. Nothing really emerged from her footling, mostly just abstract ideas here and there. Biting the end of her paintbrush she decided she needed a little more inspiration.
She grabbed one of her spare sketchbooks, slid a thick brocaded robe on over her shoulders and short silken nightdress, slipped her feet into her house slippers and stole down the dark quiet hallways back to the great hall.
The room glowed with soft multicolor light from the glass orbs in the tree. There was a soothing, peaceful kind of silence to the room. Sabine liked how the glow bounced off the walls, played with the edges of the transparisteel panels of the windows.
She sat and sketched the tree for a few moments, enjoying the quiet scritch of her pencil on the paper.
Her eyes stole towards the armor cabinet in the corner. It held her mother and father's ceremonial beskar, and now it kept her nutcracker safe. Sabine felt an urge to get it out again, and didn't resist that urge. She crept to the cabinet, stepping softly even though she didn't have to, even though everyone else in the stronghold was probably asleep, grabbing the clutch and lifting it, making the hinges squeak as she opened the door.
Her father's gift was right where she left it. Sabine reached for him and sighed in awe of the craftmanship yet again, holding the wooden figure against her stomach with a tight embrace.
She walked back over to the throne on the dais at the other end of the room, sinking onto the comfortable cushion and just... letting the quiet fill her. The warm glow from the tree, the stillness, it was a better lullaby to her over-excited mind than anything else.
She found herself curling up on the long cushion, nutcracker tucked under her arm and robe draping over her feet, her breaths growing deeper...
***
She woke, groggy and confused, in the wee hours of the night, with that agitation back, along with a strange sense of unease.
Sabine blinked, squinting through the dark. The warmth of the tree wasn't reaching her anymore, and she shivered, tucking her arms inside her robe as she sat up.
As she was trying to pinpoint the cause of her apprehension, there was a scurrying of shadows in the corner of her eye.
Sabine's head whipped in that direction, her eyes straining, but she couldn't see anything.
She stepped down from the dais to the floor, glancing warily around.
Pinpricks raised on her arms, her unease growing. She still couldn't see any danger but...
Wait, where was her nutcracker?
Sabine's chest jolted with a shot of panic as she realized her father's gift wasn't with her, wasn't on the throne where she'd left it. As her head whipped around in search of it, something else alarming caught her attention.
She tilted her head back, eyes squinching in confusion.
Was the tree... bigger?
No, she realized, glancing back towards the dais and mentally measuring the height of the steps. She was smaller. And not just smaller, she was shrinking.
Alarmed, Sabine gaped up at the tree now towering above her, massive. The delicate glass baubles now looked like huge boulders, the pines as large as spears. Her chest clutched and she staggered back in disbelief, gawking about her now-giant surroundings.
"No no no no, this can't be happening," she said in a small, panicked voice. She was having some kind of horrible dream. This couldn't be real.
It felt terribly real.
As Sabine clutched arms around herself, willing herself to wake up, the scurrying shadows returned, vague shapes taking form in the darkness all around her.
She backed up, and backed up, but didn't miss how the shadows coalesced into humanoid figures. A face emerged from the darkness, malicious, skin shockingly patterned in red and black, with eerie yellow-gold eyes and a head ringed with horns like some kind of twisted crown.
Sabine's breath hitched and she stiffened, recognizing the face from old historical holos.
The face came with a snide voice.
"This is the heir to Clan Wren?" The figure she could now identify as a Zabrak shook his head condescendingly. "How disappointing. Mandalore has fallen far indeed since I ruled it."
Her teeth ground stubbornly, fear disappearing behind a glare as she put a name to the ugly face. The Usurper of Sundari, the head of Crimson Dawn, a menace and a thorn in Mandalore's side for years. What was he doing in the stronghold?
"Unshrink me and then get out of my house!" she demanded.
Maul pinned her with a malicious sneer. "No," he said, chillingly. "Tonight... I will take my revenge on all the clans that betrayed and unseated me."
Sabine would have snorted and rolled her eyes, made a smart comment about how ridiculous a notion that was given that they were both apparently a foot tall, but then Maul pulled out a wicked-looking silver hilt and ignited it in a red flash.
Her throat caught, eyes widening at the crimson lightsaber blade, humming ominously. Behind the Sith came armor-clad figures from the shadows, Mandalorian warriors arrayed with the colors of their lord, Maul's underlings. She backed up again, apprehensively, heart pounding, trying to remember how to wake herself up because surely this had to be some kind of nightmare.
Maul savored her moment of terror, raising his saber and beginning to charge for her.
Sabine braced herself to fling back—
Something leapt through the air to land in-between them, a blue-clad figure that held up its own hilt and ignited it with a burst of blazing bright green.
Her eyes widened further, a thrill and sense of awe moving through her.
It was her nutcracker, no longer still and wooden and tiny, but moving, made of flesh, and her size.
Shockingly alive.
Maul seemed only mildly perturbed by the interference, frowning in displeasure before motioning his troops forward.
"Kill the Wren heir," he ordered. "The Jedi is mine."
The Mandos rushed forward past him, surging towards her in a charge. Her nutcracker intercepted them first, green blade slashing out, striking armor and limbs. Many of them surrounded him, leveling their blasters at his helmeted head. With an elegant precision she had only seen in holos he deflected red shots off his blade, air filling with the cacophony of laserfire.
For a moment Sabine was pinned in place, frozen with horrible indecision—she had no weapons and there was no way she'd fit into her parents' beskar as she was, if she could even reach the handle for the cabinet—but then she tightened her fists and steeled her resolve. She was Mandalorian. Her very body was a weapon.
The first soldier that made it past her nutcracker's guard to attack her got his knee kicked in for his trouble. Sabine drew back her elbow and slammed it across the helmeted face, snapping his head aside.
He crumpled, and she picked up his heavy sidearm, taking aim at the other warriors, shooting them with indiscriminate desperation.
One went down, two more were distracted enough by the hits she landed that they were easy pickings for her nutcracker Jedi General's emerald blade, falling with loud pained cries as the lightsaber pierced them.
Sensing movement at her right, Sabine whipped around, firing, only to feel the blaster ripped from her hands by an unseen force.
She gasped, stumbling upright, looking up at the cruel yellow eyes of Maul as he raised his glowing red blade vindictively.
It started to fall.
Sabine flinched, but a second later a green blade blocked the red one, her nutcracker moving quickly to protect her, breathing hard inside his clone trooper helmet.
Maul's face twisted in rage and he shoved the other man off, attacking viciously, blade crashing again and again in heavy overhead blows upon her nutcracker's guard.
Sabine looked around for another weapon, but she couldn't find one—the other Mandalorians lay dead on the ground but their blasters were missing, nowhere to be found. Her Jedi was panting audibly now even across the distance, fatigue evident in his movements, slowly giving ground to the Sith Lord's onslaught.
He blocked again and again but the attack was merciless, coming harder and faster as Maul's face screwed with fury, bearing down on him.
Sabine watched with horror as her nutcracker Jedi was forced to his knees, kicked hard in the chin and sent falling to the ground. Maul crowed in victory, raising his saber for the final blow.
"No!" she cried, rushing forward, pulling one of her house slippers off and leaping at Maul's back, beaning him hard in the neck with the leather-tipped sole. "Leave him alone!"
Maul grunted, taken aback by her assault, and the hard heel whacked solidly against his back and head as she slammed the slipper into him, beating at him desperately with all her strength.
A hand like a steel timber caught her chest and pushed her back, sent her stumbling but not falling. Sabine looked up defiantly into the red-rimmed yellow eyes that boiled with anger at her.
Those eyes turned away as the hum of the green saber vibrated from behind. Maul angled to address the threat, red saber lifted but... stiffened. The yellow Sith eyes went wide as he and Sabine realized where the emerald blade had stuck.
Dead center in the Zabrak's chest. A fatal, killing blow.
Her nutcracker pushed the blade in slightly deeper, eliciting a dying gasp from Maul, who dropped his saber and clutched at the Jedi's own, expression in disbelief and shock as the other man twisted him around, away from Sabine, his body speared on the tip of the green blade as her nutcracker crouched protectively in front of her.
The Sith slid off the blade with a dying gasp, crumpling into a heap on the ground. He stilled, and moved no more.
The green blade extinguished.
The heavily-breathing figure stayed curled in his crouch for a long time, long enough that Sabine began to worry if he was injured, but then he straightened, drawing her immediate attention.
Sabine watched, heart still rapidly thumping, as her nutcracker rose up, hands reaching softly for the edges of his clone trooper helmet.
The helmet was slipped off, gently, revealing soft blue-tinted dark hair. The boy—for it was unmistakably a boy now, young, about her age—seemed to contemplate and study his own helmet for several seconds.
Then, he tucked the helmet under his arm and turned towards her.
Sabine started, her heart and throat catching.
Oh. Oh he was cute.
Boyish, lazy half-smile, tanned skin the color of warm amber, shockingly electric blue eyes that she found absolutely mesmerizing.
Sabine swallowed, feeling at a loss for words.
Her nutcracker spoke, instead.
"Thanks," he said, dipping his head respectfully, in gratitude. "You saved my life. I couldn't have beaten him without your help."
"It was nothing," she heard herself saying in a daze, the words floating around her. "Couldn't let my favorite Life Day present get shanked by an actual demon."
His smile widened, teeth bright white against his darker skin and she almost melted. Sabine shook herself, chiding herself for being so overtaken by a pretty face, and slowly approached him.
The closing proximity still made her heart thud, painful in her chest. She willed herself to be calm as she reached him. Her hand drifted up towards his cheek, touching twin thin red scars that mirrored the scratches Tiber had inflicted upon her nutcracker, what seemed like a distant eternity ago.
"Sorry about those," she muttered. "Tiber was a jerk."
He shrugged, nonchalantly. "Happens when you're stuck in a twelve inch wooden body," he dismissed. Blue eyes sparkling, he held his hand out to her. "Hey, you wanna get away tonight?"
"Get away?" she repeated, absently, still entranced by his face and smile and shining eyes.
"Yeah," he confirmed. "Come with me. I want you to meet my folks."
Head reeling, Sabine found herself nonetheless placing her hand in his. "Moving a little fast, aren't we?" she said. Her body pulsed with electricity, with adrenaline, with a thrilling exhilaration she couldn't put a name to or define. "I don't even know your name..." she trailed.
"It's Ezra," he offered up, so very casually, as he began to lead her into a white snowy mist that had suddenly appeared around them. "Ezra Bridger."
"Sabine," she told him, blushing as she stared at their entwined hands. "My name's Sabine."
***
The white twinkling snow-covered wonderland he led her out the door into couldn't have been Krownest, she determined. The trees had never sparkled so brightly, the sun had never been so warm and yellow. There had never been such a rainbow of color glittering in the depths of the snow.
There had certainly never been any green-skinned Twi'leks with glimmering translucent wings living in the woods around the stronghold, and yet that was exactly who met them now, bare green arms reaching for Ezra's face like a fretful mother's, worried green eyes searching him.
"Are you hurt?" she asked anxiously, and for the first time he let Sabine's hand fall, reached to embrace the woman and reassure her.
"I'm all right, Hera," he said. "Sabine here protected me."
The woman—fairy?—turned to Sabine, who pushed her bangs out of her face self-consciously, feeling awkward.
A warm smile lit the woman's expression.
"Thank you," she said. "We owe you a debt of gratitude."
Sabine shrugged, making a noncommittal sound. There were other beings starting to crowd around her, aliens of every kind, all sporting the same kind of shimmering frost-covered wings the Twi'lek woman had. She was clearly their leader, and she clapped her hands to call for attention.
"Everyone, everyone!" she addressed. "Let's not overwhelm her." The warm smile turned on Sabine again, as Hera extended a hand and placed it on her shoulder. "Would you like to join us for the Life Day feast?" she asked. "It's the least we can do to thank you."
Sabine's mind was still reeling, still convinced she was half-dreaming, but she nodded mutely, gawping, trying to take everything in. There was a man hovering by Hera's shoulder, teal-eyed and broad-shouldered, and he nodded at her in acknowledgement and respect as Ezra led her past him.
Her nutcracker brought her to a brightly-lit clearing, where dozens of beings milled about, dancing, singing. It didn't seem like they were on Krownest anymore, at least not from the gray-green moss-covered walls of stone, rising up all around her.
What followed next was the most wonderful dream. A festive party was conducted before her eyes, full of more color and life than she'd ever seen. Hera and her partner—a man she learned was called Kanan—asked her a million questions she couldn't keep up with, made Ezra recount the story of how she had bravely saved him a dozen times. Spectators to the story ooh-ed and aah-ed appreciatively at the the appropriate dramatic places. Ezra himself stayed by her side the whole time, hand clutched tight around hers.
Sabine's heart stuttered and stammered. She traced the edges of Ezra's face with her eyes, watched every small movement of his face as he rambled amiably with the others, greeted each party guest with a smile and a joke to set them at ease. A longing tugged at her chest, painful in how much she wanted this, wanted to stay with him in this wonderful, magical, inexplicable moment of surreal joy and light.
He seemed to sense her troubled heart, looking over at her in concern.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked.
Sabine felt a shudder run through her whole body, felt herself gripping tighter to his hand.
"I just..." she said, trailing off with a dry throat, suddenly fearful. "I don't want this to end."
His reassuring smile lit up the depths of her heart, filled her with a giddy rush. "I'm not going anywhere, Sabine," he promised. "I'll stay right here."
Her chest clenched, eyes stung as she held back tears.
The celebration wound down, the brightly diverse figures slowly ceding space to Hera and Kanan, who danced intimately in the center of the floor, entwined in a way that made Sabine jealous. When the music ended, there was a certain finality to it, and Sabine felt herself already missing the music and light of the party, so different from how her family had conducted it, but beautiful and wonderful all the same.
Ezra pulled her up from their seats and guided her onto the back of a leathery-hided creature, helping her into a gilded seat strapped upon it. The creature bellowed, low and mellow, filling Sabine with a giddy high of adrenaline.
"I don't want this to end," she said again, thrilling as Ezra came to sit beside her on the purrgil.
His smile was thinner now, bittersweet. "You have to wake up, Sabine," he told her. "You can't stay here."
"Will I see you again?" she asked anxiously, clinging to him like he would slip away if she let go.
A small nod, so slight and imperceptible she almost missed it. "Trust in the Force," he whispered, and then the purrgil was lifting off, the snow-covered ground was falling away below them and her eyes were filled with twinkling blue stars in a winter sky.
Giddy, she felt a rush of speed press against her front, blue glowing hyperspace filling her eyes, hurtling her forward into the cosmos, into a warm ether that felt like home.
***
Sabine stirred stiffly, blinking her eyes open at the white morning light that was falling into her face.
Confused, she took in the quiet great hall. The tree in the corner was normal-sized, the tables were all still there, cleared off and pushed to the sides like they had been when she'd stolen down there.
Her nutcracker was by her side, underneath her arm.
Feeling a great sinking disappointment, Sabine sat up, a groaning sigh escaping her.
"Oh don't tell me it was all just a dream..." she moaned, holding up her nutcracker. His black dot eyes stared back at her, painted smile still and friendly.
Sabine pressed her lips tight, heart and mood drooping, trying to remember every second of her time with Ezra. His warm easy nature, bright smile, handsome face, eyes blue as hyperspace, how quickly he laughed and how wonderful it sounded when he did.
Great. He'd ruined her for other men and he wasn't even real.
Dismally, Sabine gathered herself up, picking up her sketchbook and starting to head for her bedroom.
Voices from the entrance hall caught her attention, as she was moving through the passage. Her mother and father, talking in a low voice to someone standing just inside the door.
"Last night, you said?" Ursa was saying, sounding concerned.
"Yes Countess, we believe he used Dathomirian Nightsister magick to conduct his attack," replied the visitor.
Wait a minute... that was Kanan's voice.
Breath hitched, Sabine crept closer to the entrance hall, now fully alert and tuned into the conversation. She peeked around the corner, spying her parents and a pair of strangers in brown robes. She only see Kanan—and yes it was him—through the gap left by her parents' backs. She couldn't see her father's face but from his troubled tone she knew he was frowning, brows wrinkled.
"Several of the clan heirs mentioned having nightmares last night," Alrich said. Sabine slipped into the room, walking up behind her father, pulse rapid, trying to peek around him. "You're saying that was actually part of a psychic assault?" he asked.
"It was," Kanan confirmed, nodding gravely. "My padawan and I did our best to minimize the damage and protect your minds."
She had a view of the other visitor now, and her eyes slid off Kanan to him as Kanan spoke.
She forgot how to breathe, her chest swelling, head tingling.
Soft dark hair, thin padawan braid tucked in behind his right ear. Mesmerizing blue eyes that met hers across the way, pinching with concern. Amber skin, marred by two twin scars across his left cheek.
Sabine reeled. She felt light, lighter than air. Her nutcracker Jedi stood there before her, real and breathtaking. Surely he felt her elation, for the corners of his mouth twitched, confirming her recognition, that he knew she knew he was the one who had come to her rescue, held her hand, taken her on a such wonderful starlit journey.
Dropping her sketchbook and Ezra's miniature wooden replica she rushed forward, flinging herself into him, crashing her lips against his and kissing hard.
He yelped in surprise, jolting, and Ursa gave a scandalized and embarrassed, "Sabine!" behind her.
---
Sabine: *meets cute Jedi boy, immediately causes political incident*
How did Alrich manage to style his nutcracker almost exactly like Ezra? IDK, weird Force stuff or something, we're coasting mostly on Vibes here don't look at me for a logical explanation lol.
Thanks for reading!
34 notes · View notes