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random-fandom1984 · 5 days

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Hi!! 😆

May I request TFP Yandere Soundwave x human reader?

Thank for reading this (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง✨

Sorry if it doesn't have that much yandere as you were hoping for.

Okay, so, the only way I can see that you could've gotten his attention is either you're related to one of the three human charges – family or friend. Because of that, you don't know about the Autobots and Decepticons.

Soundwave was given the mission to find out more about the human pets, through humans that are close to them. Out of all of their family and friends, he chose you.

He only went through some of your info, and you're a friend of Miko's host parents that lives in a state up north, in Gravity Falls, Oregon (Yes, I'm making a little crossover with GF, but TFP came out 2 years before Gravity Falls existed, so Weirdmageddon hasn't happened yet, nor have the Pine Twins visited yet.)

You've met Miko a few times when you've came to visit, and it's best to say you don't like how loud, irresponsible, foolish, and doesn't understand people's boundaries. You were a rather quiet introverted person, and she was an overbearing extrovert, so you two didn't mix well.

When it was Christmas last year, they were at your family gathering, and she almost got your cousins hurt with firecrackers, who were mainly toddlers and young children. She even said, quote-unquote, that "They needed to live a little and not have helicopter parents deciding everything for them." The thing was that your aunts and uncles weren't helicopter parents, they were normal, calm, and understanding parents!

Miko was one of the main reasons why you lost faith in humanity, and you despised her with a burning passion. You even told this to her in her face, but she would say that you're just grumpy and should take a nap. As if you were a little child that didn't know better!

You work as an online artist that takes request for people who can't draw certain things like, animals, details, DND characters, Oc's etc.

As time went on, he was starting to get obsessed with learning more about you, and he knows more about you than anyone else you know in your life. Your favorite animal are birds, your favorite color is d/s/f/c (Dark Shade of Favorite Color), you hate people, don't like talking, have a pet European Starling named Jermey, after the crow in the Secret of Nimh because of his love for shiny and sparkly things, who is also the model for your watermarks on your designs, you like dying your hair, and so much more.

You were having a normal day, doing a live stream as you were taking requests from your viewers, when this one person in particular to do a city made out of metal, the people are robots that can transform, and even gave you an image that they "made" that was called Kaon. Interested, you took up this challenge.

It was safe to say that Soundwave wasn't disappointed with the end results of it; It looked magnificent. The image of his home was nostalgic of the good old days of Cybertron, when it wasn't just him and Laserbeak, when all of his children minicons were still alive.

The two of you kept in contact and became friends on the internet. You would tell each other about how your days went; you were told that he works as one of the higher ups in a company, has to deal with an annoying, loud, arrogant assistant of his boss – reminds you of a certain someone –, has a pet bird, is introverted, doesn't talk, doesn't like humanity- you're already hooked.

You turned a blind eye to things, like how he somehow knows where you live, find out about private accounts on social media, knows that you're talking to someone even when there's barely any people around, kind of seeming jealous/overprotective over text. The hardest one to do is when someone insults or steals your art, only to end up severely or lightly wounded somewhere between the next day to the end of the week, saying that a robot version of Slenderman or a metal bird that has an origami themed shape, etc.

There were a few things that caught your attention. How he uses the wrong terminology for things such as units time, parts of the body, even saying organics, fleshies, humans instead of people or others by their names. You were suspicious but brushed it off every time it happens.

At the beginning of Soundwave's his sire growing obsession, Laserbeak didn't even understand what was so great about you. But it changed when he was shot down by Autobots and landed out in the woods, you found him, and repaired him. During his stay, he made friends with Jeremy, and during repairs, you were gentle as you could be when fixing him up, your touched were light, you asked if what you were doing was alright, and he honestly thought of those human films where the mother would help their child when they get an injury. In this situation, he was your the child, and you were his the mother; he understood now.

Knowing Laserbeak's existence was the reason why it was a little hard to turn a blind eye to those that were injured.

When Laserbeak returned, he gave the information to Soundwave, and that's when Soundwave knew that you were the one to complete the family.

When the both of you actually met face-to-face is when you texted him that an ex of yours came back is so persistent on getting back together and won't leave you alone. When it was night, your ex cornered you, and was ranting on and on about how you should be grateful that he's giving you a second chance, even though you were the one to break up with him, only to end up dead on the pavement. You looked up to see Soundwave himself.

The first thought that came to mind didn't revolve around fear. No! It was 'Oh, god, he looks hot-'

So, you were taken aboard the Nemesis, you became a part of the Con Crew. 1.) Because you're close, in a way, to one of the Autobot's human pets; 2.) You hated humans just as much as they did; 3.) It's Soundwave. Megatron trusts him with any decision of his. A reason Soundwave gave, in public? A human to spy on the Autobots- Shut the fuck up random Vehicon, this is a human spy, not Makeshift. This isn't like Starscream's plan.

This happened only a day after Optimus Prime became Orion Pax. Soundwave had a feeling that something might happen, so he had you wear something that will cover up everything, mainly your head/face. He knows the archivist is smart, and if he were to revert back to Optimus, then he would recognize who you are.

Often times, some Vehicons would make comments about a human joining the ranks, or try to get rid of you, and they were met with an electric end.

It was only about a week later, after Orion became Optimus again, when they decided how they were going to get you in their base, and with the help of the newly arrived Dreadwing, they can do just that.

Part 2 coming soon...

So, basically this was a yandere x willing reader. I just hope you're satisfied.

#yandere #soundwave x reader #transformers #transformers prime #soundwave #yandere x reader #laserbeak

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suchawrathfullamb · 3 months

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LAMBIE I HAVE A NEW BRAIN FART FOR YOU, and it's pretentious A F...... and it's also so so so *so* out of left field that it works in my brain:

Clarice should have turned out to be Bedelia's kid.

For the purposes of this thing, I will prolly refer to Clarice as they/she, because I would very much like Hunter Schafer to play Clarice if they were to ever bring her into the narrative. But onto my theory, which is completely SUBMERGED in the one fact that they used du Maurier for Bedelia's last name.

They gave her the last name DU MAURIER. I AM SORRY, BUT DU MAURIER WROTE 'THE BIRDS', which was then turned into the Hitchcock film in which Hitch was creepy af towards Tippi, but ANYWAYS--the writers' room has already put forth this tiny seed here: Du Maurier, birds, Starling.

LIKE IM SORRY BRYAN FULLER BUT YOU HAVE MADE THIS TOO EASY FOR ME TO CREATE THIS FARFETCHED THEORY JUST BASED OFF OF GOTHIC LITERARY/FILM REFERENCES.

I have transplanted some of Bedelia to be based on Rebecca de Winter, cold and callous and cruel and probably fucked around and found out and also would have cruelly and coldly had a child to prove a point and then dispose of it (she and Mama!Graham should have tea some time).

Also Bedelia, stylistically and character wise, she's very much a Hitchcock blonde. She brings a lot of that aesthetic vibe and demeanour--ice cold, smart, deceiving. It's all just set up right there, like this Hitchcock vibe there okay bye.

(Also, can I say that I wish Daphne du Maurier would stop haunting my head on Hannigram vibes, because for some reason, Will going to the Lecter castle gave me such 'last night i dream of Manderley' vibes.)

10/10 totally think that Clarice's father is irrelevant and unknown and DEFINITELY NOT HANNIBAL, and that she would have come into the narrative as an adult human being who would start out the story as the narrator of Rebecca does, oblivious at first to the dark mess she has stepped into but then embracing the secrets and the murder and prolly being like 'oh so you ate the woman who birthed me, wow that's...... very unfortunate'. Maybe she was one of those people that sat in Will's snarky ass lectures and was like ??? wait, so do we pass or fail this class bc he disappeared before giving out final grades.... or who knows, maybe she was living in some gothic estate with a Miss Havisham type figure who has frozen all the time or something.

idek this is my recent weird design.

wait this made me think about will hating bedelia so much bc it subconsciously reminds him of mama graham lol

#brainrots?#headcanons #theories #hannigram #nbc hannibal #hannibal #will graham #murder husbands #hannibal lecter #ask the lamb #tell the lamb things

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lokisprettygirl · 1 year

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Lose me to Love you (Loki x Female Reader) (AU) (18+)

Read Chapter 24 here / Series Masterlist

Chapter 25

Summary: The brothers meet again.

Trigger Warning: 18+, Description of rape and assault, panic attack, violence against women, Extreme dark themes, Sexual abuse, physical abuse, public sex, Rough violent sex, 18+, Steamy stuff, age difference ,Rough language, mention of suicide, talk of virginity and slut shaming, manipulative behaviour, mention of trauma, smut, toxic relationship between main characters. Dark themes, cult stuff

You kept your eyes on him as he drove you towards Thor's creepy dungeon again. You didn't know why he was taking you there but you knew you were completely safe as long as you had him, your eyes drifted towards the strained knuckles on the steering wheel and that's when you noticed the bruise on them.

"What happened there?" You asked him so he shrugged in a manner that always meant "Don't worry about it"

You continued to stare at his face so he looked to the side and gave you the smile that made you want to curl up to him immediately. Moments like this made you wish you were as small as a cat.

"What?" He asked you as your fingers caressed his scalp.

"Can't I just stare at the sexiest guy to walk this planet without being interrupted?" He chuckled as you answered him,

"You really do suck at flirting sweetheart"

"As if you're any better" you smiled at him and you could see the wheels turning in his head.

"I don't need to flirt with you to fuck you" your breath quickened at the deep sultry voice he used.

"That is ummmm well it's true"

It took two hours, you even fell asleep on the way and he couldn't help but keep his eyes on your sleeping form. His heart fluttered at the sight, maybe he needed to cuddle you up sometimes later. He really wanted to make you feel cherished but he just didn't know how to do that, he was only good at fucking things up and hurting you, that came naturally to him, it was in his genes.

He looked around properly this time as Thor's place arrived, it was deep into the woods with no sight of other human beings whatsoever.

"Hey darling wake up" the back of his fingers rubbed over your cheek so you opened your eyes and looked at him. You took your seat belt off and climbed onto his lap like a cat, he appreciated that alot. His arms wrapped around your body as you snuggled into him

"You trust me right?" He asked you again so you hummed in response. Of Course you trusted him, it just felt a little weird to be back here "You're safe I promise okay? He won't hurt you..if he does I'll kill him right on the spot"

"Okay daddy..kiss me" a smile crept on his lips as you mumbled like a child, he grabbed the back of your neck and kissed you as passionately as he could but before it could get heated you heard a knock on the window of his side and it made you jump. It was Thor so loki lowered down the glass of the window.

"Time is up love birds" he snickered so you glared at him "Ohh hey little starling"

You winced at the nickname, it wasn't new, he used to call you that when you were just a kid, you remembered him visiting your mother at the center, especially at nights sometimes when your daddy wasn't there. As he opened the door you looked at Loki so he assured you with his eyes and you stepped out, as soon as Loki came out you grabbed onto his fingers.

"Thor"

"Loki"

They glared at each other momentarily before Thor started to walk away, his dungeon seemed weird, he probably bought it on Craigslist, it was under the ground, there was no structure, just a narrow corridor that lead to a hall and it had four rooms in total, you recognised the one he had kept you in. At the end of the hall there was a kitchenette and what you assumed was his living space

"Where is mother?" Loki asked him as he looked around.

"Sent her someplace away, don't worry about her, she won't trouble you and your little starling…sit down..relax" You crossed your arms as Thor said that

"And where is she?" You looked at him confused as Loki questioned again.

"The first room" Thor answered him

"Where is who?" You asked Loki so he sighed.

"Just stay here and relax okay I'll be back in a few"

"You're leaving me alone with him?" Your eyes teared up so Loki looked at Thor, Thor was looking at him with a constant smile on his face.

"Don't worry okay? Just calm down, I just need you to trust me" He said to you so you nodded, he kissed your forehead before he walked back into the narrow corridor that led to the first room. You turned around and glared at Thor before you picked a chair and sat down.

"Sooooooo what will you have? I have wine, whiskey, plain ol' orange juice..no tea or coffee unfortunately"

He said to you but you didn't respond so he sat down with a glass of whiskey on the single couch. You looked at him and you were going to say something insulting and super mean but then you remembered his life, he wasn't exactly spared from the abuse, you were mad at him for never protecting Loki but maybe just like Loki he didn't have a choice either.

"Lucky lad ain't he, got a sweet girl who'd come back to her kidnappers house so willingly" he smiled but his eyes were teary.

"He'll kill you if you even try–"

"Oh nooo noo ..not trying anything, you're like a sister to me now" you scrunched your face as he said that.

"I'm just going to forget that you didn't drug me that night and kidnapped me and slapped me and tried to rape me"

"I wasn't going to do the rape thingy ..not really, just wanted to see you piss your pants with fear but you surprised me little starling" you rolled your eyes as he said that.

"Why are we here?" He chugged on his drink before he answered you.

"He wanted to see her"

"See who? You said Frigga wasn't here"

"Natasha" your eyes widened at the name. Why the fuck was she here?

"Wait what?"

"Do you really think she changed her statement because she suddenly wanted to be nice?" He chuckled and you didn't need to ask more questions.

"Loki I swear if you don't get me out of here.. I'll destroy you and everything you care about" Loki chuckled as she threatened him. She was in position to do so right now.

"How does it feel to be taken against your will this time for real?" He asked her as he sat down on the chair in front of the bed.

"I have a child, he needs me loki.. pleaseee" her eyes teared up but it only made him feel better.

"Well I'm glad it's not a girl, hell knows you don't deserve a baby girl after what you have done" she chuckled as he said that.

"You think you're on some sort of higher moral ground here lokiii? Really" She taunted him so he smiled.

"I actually don't. I know who I am but you seem to have forgotten. How long do you think you'll survive here? You know how Thor gets when he's ummm angry" her jaw clenched and the facade dropped again.

"Odin should have killed you both" his eyes teared up as she said that. She hasn't changed at all and she never would, he never should have trusted her at all knowing that she fancied a man like his father.

"Anyways just in case you don't know I know where your boy is so don't act funny, I won't hesitate to add one more name to the list of children who have died because of me" The arrogance melted away from her face as he said that. For once she actually feared him.

"You can't do that Loki..you're not like that…pleasse I'm sorry..I'll do whatever you want..just please don't hurt him..you're not like that I know" she begged him and he closed his eyes at the relief he felt in the moment. He looked at her intently and then smiled devilishly.

"Ohhh try me, why don't you? I am Odin's son after all"

After staring at each other for a while, You stood up and walked towards Thor so he looked at you, he wondered if you were going to slap him again.

"Have you ever been hugged?" He looked at you confused as you questioned him.

"What?"

"Stand up"

"What are you doing starling?" He chuckled so you grabbed his arm and made him stand up then you hugged him as appropriately as you could.

"You're supposed to hug me back" you mumbled to him so he wrapped his arms around you.

"Ummmm what is thisss?"

"It's called hugging..it makes you feel better"

"How many times you have hugged my brother in past few years?"

"Plenty of times"

"Is he better? Less evil? Saner now?"

"He never was evil" Thor chuckled as you said that even though he knew you weren't wrong, he has spent sleepless nights thinking about his life at the center, he wanted to change his past, he wanted to go back and protect his Little brother but it was impossible to do that now. That day when he was on top of you and you begged him to protect Loki, he saw it as a chance to redeem himself, he hoped it would make him sleep that night but nothing of that sort happened.

"What's going on here?" You heard Loki's voice so you pulled away from his brother.

"Before you punch me in the face she came onto me and not vice versa" Thor chuckled and you glared at him.

"It was just a hug…my goddddd" you walked towards Loki and got on your tiptoes to kiss him. You heard Thor whistling in a teasing manner so you stopped immediately.

"What are we going to do with her?" Loki made you sit down on the couch as he questioned Thor.

"You tell me brother..I can ..you know..push her off the cliff or something" your eyes widened as Thor said that, these people talked about murder as if it was nothing. You were going to say something but as you felt Loki's fingers running over your scalp you ate your words and relished in the feeling like a starved puppy.

"That's only going to come back and bite us in the arse, I need her to confess that she came here because of Odin"

"Leave it upto me then..here..have this" Loki looked at the glass of whisky as Thor offered him "Don't worry ..no drugs" Thor gave you that infuriating smile again so you rolled your eyes. Loki grabbed the glass and took a sip.

"Give her something to eat" he said to Thor.

"I offered..she denied "

"Do you blame her you oaf?"

"Noooo" Thor walked towards the kitchenette and took out a pre-made sandwich from the fridge to pass it to you which you took hesitantly.

"What is your new name now?" You asked Thor and Loki wondered the same, he never really asked, it's not as if they both had a proper conversation since Thor shoved himself back into his life.

"It's Theo" you chuckled as he said that

"I mean it's fine..nice name..it's just too similar to Thor" you chomped on your sandwich as you finished your sentence.

"I wanted something with Th..you think your name is nice? It sucks ..y/n.. huhhh what even is that?" He retaliated and before the back and forth could continue Loki intervened.

"Where's mother?" Loki asked him

"Told you she's safe somewhere..need one more?" He pointed towards the empty glass Loki was holding so he nodded. You didn't want to stop him if he wanted to drink with his brother, you couldn't even imagine how weird this must be for him but you knew he still cared about his brother so you wanted them to bond with each other.

"I'm going to look around" you stood up to give them a little privacy but loki grabbed your arms.

"Don't go up there to wander okay?" He told you sternly so you pressed a kiss on his cheek.

"Okay daddy" Thor's eyes widened at the name but he didn't say anything.

"Ask him first" you turned to Thor as Loki said that. He indeed acted like your father sometimes.

"Can I look around?" You asked him so he nodded, as you disappeared out of their sight Loki sat down on the couch and sighed.

"What kind of fucked up relationship do you share with her?" Thor asked him as he pulled up a chair next to him, he did refill both of their glasses again before he sat down.

"The same kind you shared with her mother" Thor's eyes teared up as he was reminded of her again.

"It's not the same is it?"

"Not really"

"Does she know about us? Me and her mother?" He asked Loki

"I don't know..she never talks about her mother, only mentions her when she's trying to make a point"

"Do you love her?" Loki chuckled as Thor questioned him

"What is love really? Monsters like us don't deserve that"

"You do. You saved a life at least "

"That won't erase my sins" he chugged on his drink in one go and picked the bottle up from the floor to fill his glass again.

"Well ..at least you got her to take your mind off" Thor chuckled so Loki glared at him.

"She's not a fucking distraction"

"Then what is she to you?"

"Necessity"

Thor smiled as Loki said that. He was happy for his brother, he deserved to have someone in his life.

"What about you?" Loki asked him so Thor sighed deeply .

"Got drunk and married this chick in Vegas once, lasted like a year, sex was amazing but she couldn't handle the secret relationship..she was kind of famous at the time" Loki looked at him confused as Thor said that.

"I got married too once..you must already know her since you sent her to spy on me"

"Mother wanted it and it was fun to do it not gonna lie"

"You're an asshole "

"Thanks, still can't wrap my mind around the fact that you found a woman to marry you in her right mind"

Loki chuckled as Thor said that. Now that he looks back he couldn't believe either that a woman like Jolene chose to marry him. Why would anyone do that? Why would you even love him? That question always bothered him.

You laid down on the bed in one of the rooms, there was a roof window on the ceiling and you could see the stars lightening up which seemed beautiful, it also terrified you because anyone could find the basement and look inside the room. You sat up as you heard the door opening, it was loki though so you took a breath of relief.

"Hey there" you mumbled softly as he closed the door, he seemed drunk.

"I'm a bit buzzed so we should wait before I drive us back" he mumbled as he took his jacket off, leaving him in that white shirt he had on this morning. He looked up at the window and his brows furrowed "That's cool"

"Come lie down with me" you tapped the side of the bed next to you so he kissed you before he lowered you down on the bed.

"Thank you" he mumbled as he sucked on your neck

"For what?"

"For trusting me enough to come with me here, I know it wasn't easy" your hands sneaked inside his shirt so you could caress his skin, your fingers ran over the long scars on his back and he moaned slightly at the feeling.

"You don't have to thank me, I'll follow you to the hell and back" he looked at you lovingly and kissed on your cheek before he laid next to you, you lifted his arm up and placed your head down on his bicep, you could feel his fingers caressing your shoulders while the other hand linked with yours. Your fingers mindlessly trailed over his forearm, the only light coming into the room was from the starry night that reflected right upon your faces because of the roof window

"What is the plan Loki? I know she should be punished for what she has done but this is not the way" you mumbled softly so he hummed in response

"I just need her to confess that's it"

"You know they'd look for her"

"I know baby..I'll take care of it I promise"

You turned your head to the side and kissed him, he tasted like whiskey and smoke, he never really smoked unless he was extremely stressed. He didn't have any bad habits, the only one he had was promiscuity, you had fixed that one too hopefully. You kissed the bruises on his knuckles and he smiled even though it was getting hard for him to keep his eyes open.

"I love you lolo"

"And I love you sweet buttons"

Yeah he was definitely drunk.

Your legs spooned around his waist, the bulge in his pants made you want to rub against him but you didn't want to take advantage of his drunken state, you knew he'd never do that to you if situations were reversed.

"Touch me darling" your breath hitched as he whispered softly.

"You're drunk baby"

"I know what I'm asking for..touch me ..please" he grabbed your hand and placed it on his hardening cock so you rubbed him up and down slowly. You opened the button of his jeans and unzipped him, his hard cock slipped out of the confinement so you stroked him in your fist, he laid down on his back as the sensation grew, your mouth latched onto his neck, the precum dripped down so you collected it with your thumb and used it to aid your movement. The ragged moans escaped his throat and you wished you could have captured this moment into a film somehow because you didn't think you'd ever get to see something so pretty ever again.

You lifted yourself up to kiss him while your hand continued to work his cock, you were practically on top of him but you didn't think he noticed that just yet. You didn't want him to notice either.

"Goddd my goddd you're beautiful you know? So beautiful" you whispered the praise in his ear and his jaw flexed.

"So are you baby..fuckk keep going little girl..i fucking love you yeah? Daddy loves you so much" You kissed him again as he finished his mindless words. You didn't think he even knew what he meant at the moment.

"I love you Loki, you're loved baby, you're so loved and you always will be..you'll always have me i promise"

As he came all over your hands he moaned your name out loud, you allowed the moment to pass by you before you got up and used the bathroom to clean him, he seemed intoxicated out of his mind so you pulled his pants up and laid down next to him to hold him as tightly as you could. You knew you both won't be going back home tonight.

In the middle of the night he shifted a little so you placed your hand on his cheek and kissed him again, he spoke immediately after that and the words made you smile.

"Happy birthday sweet buttons, I'll make this a good one i promise"

💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

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#loki x female reader #loki #loki x reader fluff #loki x reader #loki x reader insert #loki x reader fic #loki x you #loki x reader angst #loki x reader smut #loki alternate universe #loki au #dark themes

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locatislunaticolupin · 7 months

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Day Four: Don't Look Now

Written for day four of @remadoramicrofics. 528 words. Also available on Ao3.

“Don’t look now,” Edda said, “but your parents are snogging”.

Teddy, being five, said “No, they aren’t”, because there’s nothing worse than your old, gross parents being loving in public, and proceeded to make sure to loudly express his distaste when he swung around and saw them, in fact, snogging. That, at least, made them laugh, which meant they were no longer snogging.

“Why do you two gotta be gross?!” he loudly proclaimed again when Dora caught him from behind, swinging him and kissing him in that noisy, obnoxious way she saved only for embarrassing him in front of his friends.

“Edda doesn’t think it’s gross, do you, Edda?”

Edda, being seven, said, “It’s very gross, Miss Lupin”.

Dora brought a hand to her chest and gasped loudly enough that a few adults in Edda’s mom’s garden party turned their heads.

“How very dare you. Are you telling me you wouldn’t kiss your husband and son if they were as handsome and sweet as mine?” she declared very dramatically. Edda stifled her giggles when Teddy, still in his mama’s arms, groaned as loud as he could, as if he could hide Dora’s voice behind his. He almost got her to drop him when he went dead weight.

“No, I don’t think I would, miss Lupin. I don’t find them particularly handsome nor particularly sweet, after all”.

Dora gasped again from where she was now almost bent in half holding Teddy’s weight, but then seemed to think it over, finger tapping her cheek.

“I am too good for these goofs, aren’t I?”

A second later, her husband tickled her neck and Dora shrieked. Teddy shrieked when his mom almost dropped him (which she didn’t, she hugged him tighter while twisting away and he screamed again because too tight, mama). Edda, who’d seen Remus coming and who’d also seen the finger he’d raised to his lips, guffawed.

After the party, after leftovers were shoved into their hands and promises of seeing each other soon, isn’t that football game soon?, were made, the Lupins walked home. And they would have spent that time together anyway, but there was something special about the long dirt road, the pink and yellow and orange and purple sky, the chirp of the crickets, the starlings’ and chaffinches’ last flights home, the smell of a summer day gone by. They were quiet, this time, letting time well-spent settle in their bones.

Dora and Remus leaned on each other, swaying, hands weaved together and steps out of sync. Teddy was their little satellite, running ahead or behind his parents and exploring the flowers and bees on the ditches’ banks, the funny rocks on the road. He scared flocks of birds, mooed back at the cows, and swung a long branch around. Sometimes, he looked back at his parents, looked at their hands (knew there was something there warm and safe, something calloused and gentle and strong) and he ran to them, and they caught him (because they always, always did), and they walked home together, their three long shadows stretching to the horizon, melting into one, until Teddy ran off again, being five and happy and careless.

#remadora microfics #remadora #remus lupin #nymphadora tonks #teddy lupin #i had the shittiest day on day four so i wrote like five versions of this prompt and they're just as messy as my head was oh dear #one tried to tackle gender roles that's how lost i was #so i allowed myself some cursilería and comfort in the final version which still isn't up to my usual standards #the good thing is that while day five will also be late i already have day six written so i can catch up #anth: this house is an orchestra

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smkkbert · 7 months

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Time for a story - Streets of Fire

“Somewhere over the rainbow / Way up high,” Felicity sang with soft and calming voice, her movements of rocking Mia in her arms becoming slower, “And the dreams that you dream of / Once in a a lullaby.”

Felicity got up from the rocking chair and walked over to the crib slowly. She turned her back to the door that she had left ajar. That way, Mia’s face was protected from the small ray of line that fell into the room. She used it to glance at her watch though.

Eight twelve –later than Mia would normally be put to sleep, but she hadn’t found any rest tonight. Whenever Felicity had tried to put her in the crib, it had taken two minutes at max for her to wake up again. By now Felicity had lost count of how many songs she had sang for Mia.

“Somewhere over the rainbow / Bluebirds fly / Blue Birds fly over the rainbow / Why then, oh, why can’t I?”

Careful not wake Mia, Felicity lay her down in the crib and rested her hand on her baby’s body. She hoped that the feeling would tell Mia that she still wasn’t alone. Felicity was still with her.

“If happy little bluebirds fly,” Felicity continued and took her hand away from Mia’s chest, “Beyond the rainbow / Why, oh why can’t I?”

Singing those last sounds of the song, Felicity had retreated to the door. She waited there for a moment, making sure that Mia wasn’t going to wake up. Only when she was at least sixty percent sure that Mia wouldn’t wake up any second, she closed the door and went downstairs. Now that she had sung that song, maybe she should suggest to the kids watching The Wizard of Oz for movie night tonight.

Oliver had to work late at City Hall, catching up on the work that hadn’t done itself while he had been trying to verify whether someone was after them. He had decided to spend this one night working as late as necessary, so he could go back to his usual working hours tomorrow. Felicity had to say that as sorry as she was that he had to work that long, she was happy to have the kids all to herself for the evening. It felt like it had been a while since she had had them all for themselves for a night.

“So, Lovelies, what do you think about-“

As soon as Felicity stepped into the doorframe to the living room, she stopped. On TV, a masked person was sitting in front of a black background, dark tones of music playing. When the figure started speaking, the voice was distorted.

“Hey, who’s in control of the remote?” she asked. “That is not appropriate for you. Come on, hand me the remote.”

“We were watching some cartoon when this came on.”

“It’s true,” Addie confirmed what Tommy said and handed Felicity the remote quickly, “we didn’t do anything.”

Felicity changed the channel, about to tell the kids that if something like that came on, no matter what they had switched on or not switched on before, they needed to switch the channel. She had talked to them about something like that before already because the kids did have quite some freedom when it came to watching TV, but-

When the new channel came on and the same figure appeared, Felicity’s train of thoughts was interrupted though. She switched the channel again and again only to find that it was the same video everywhere.

“…interruption. However, now that I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen of Starling City,” the distorted voice said, “I can tell you who I am, what I want and what you need to do for me to stay alive.”

“Upstairs,” Felicity said without turning her eyes away from the TV, “now.”

The kids didn’t need to be told twice. They got up and almost ran out of the room, probably all getting into Emmy’s room. Hawk followed them, barking loudly. That seemed to catch Raisa’s attention. She had retreated into her bedroom to catch some rest for the evening. Felicity knew that she could count on her to comfort the kids if they needed it or to distract them which they needed for sure.

Felicity, while watching the figure who was waiting like he or she wanted to make sure that she really had all the attention, grabbed for her phone in the pocket of her sweatpants and called Oliver.

“Now, the first question that you probably have is who am I. It is a good one. I could tell you, but I won’t do that. It’s time to put down the mask, but not for me. I can reveal a little of me though.”

The figure lowered her mask and the robe that she seemed to have been wearing. As it was black, it had just melted with the background. Now you could see the person that was giving a speech on TV fully. The woman was tall with a slim figure that lacked curves. Her straight black hair reached up to her chin. She was wearing black and red leathers with spaghetti straps. Long red gloves covered her arms. She wore a scarf that covered the lower part of her face.

Felicity recognized her intently. Blood Rose. Ruben Midas lover. She had attacked Felicity alongside Midas. Bruce and Oliver had come to save her and the others he had held hostage. In a fight, Oliver had blocked Midas and his knife, causing Midas to slit his own throat. She had managed to escape the scene.

When Oliver took the call, Felicity didn’t give him time to say anything.

“Turn on your TV.”

Oliver, trusting her with his life, didn’t even question her order. She could hear him switch on the TV, and when Blood Rose continued speaking, Felicity could her hear voice from her TV as well as through the phone.

Felicity grabbed her laptop at the same time, staring to work on it while she was continuing to keep an eye on the TV.

“Last year, I was robbed of someone I love by the Green Arrow. Now it is time for him to take responsibility for the pain that he caused. I demand for the Green Arrow to out himself to the police tonight. Otherwise, starting in half an hour, every ten minutes, a bomb will explode. I placed them all through the city, so I cannot advise you a safe place. There is no safe place in this city anymore, not until he is in the care of the SCPD where he belongs.”

She made a pause, giving Felicity the opportunity to brief Oliver on what she had found.

“She has hacked herself into everything hackable that could provide some entertainment tonight. She is on TV. She is on the internet. She is on the radio. When you are in Starling City, you cannot escape her message.”

“She wants to evoke panic,” Oliver concluded.

“Just to keep you informed, I will let the timer run as well as video footage of inside some of the SCPD precincts, so you know when your so-called hero puts you, the citizens he pretends to protect, over himself. Have a nice night.”

She disappeared. Instead, a countdown started. The large red numbers counted down from thirty minutes in minutes, seconds and milliseconds.

“I will call the team to the bunker,” Felicity said, “we will need everyone on it.”

“Right. I will make my way to the bunker immediately. The kids?”

“Will be safe with Raisa,” Felicity said and after a brief pause added, “and Barry.”

“Okay.” Oliver’s voice was tense. “See you at the bunker.”

Felicity hung up. Hurrying towards the front door where her shoes were, she called Barry, who took the call instantly.

“Caitlin just told me what happened. How can I help?”

“Oliver and I will be at the bunker all night, I suppose.” She slipped into her shoes. “We don’t want to leave the kids without some protection, so-“

A loud noise at the other end of the phone made Felicity hold the phone away from her ear to protect her hearing. She scrunched up her nose and glanced at the display. The phone call hadn’t been ended. It was still going.

“Barry?” She didn’t get an answer. “Barry?”

The door bell rang, and Felicity ended the call to open the door instead.

“I’ll take good care of them,” Barry promised, stepping into the house, “and if anything happens, I will just grab all of the kids and take them to the bunker.”

Felicity grabbed her keys and squeezed his hand.

“Thank you.”

“Of course. And good luck.”

“I fear we will need it,” Felicity said, “and don’t tell the kids too much. They know something is up, but they shouldn’t-“

“Movies night as distraction.” Barry nodded his head. “Understood.”

“The Wizard of Oz might be a good choice.”

With that suggestion being said, Felicity left the house and hurried to the car, already fully in Overwatch-mode.

→ → → → →

“One bomb seems to be situated at Magnuson Plaza,” Felicity informed the team over the comms, her hands already sprinting over the keyboard of her computer while she was simultaneously reading the transcripts of the police radio where she had gotten that piece of information from, “which is good news because there shouldn’t be many people there. The problem is that the people that are there, will most likely be homeless. The person who reported the bomb said it’s running down from seven minutes, so it should be the first to go off. Police told the man to leave the building which he certainly did, but there are probably people still in there.”

“Arsenal and I aren’t far,” Laurel replied, “we will go there and help evacuating.”

Felicity followed their turn of direction on one of the monitors and shot a brief glance at the countdown. Only five minutes were left for the first bomb to go off. Laurel and Roy would need at least three minutes to get there, but they were indeed the ones that were closest to it.

“I need as much information about the bomb as you can give me,” Felicity told them, “so Black Canary, you will make sure everyone has left the building before the bomb goes off. Arsenal, you will head right to the bomb which was reported to be placed in the center of the second story.”

“Understood,” Roy replied.

“Any information where the other bombs could be?” Oliver asked.

“Not yet.” Felicity skimmed through further transcripts. “There are a lot of reports, but nothing appears to be real. People are either panicking or just telling lies for fun.”

“Keep an eye on all bombs that are reported anyway.”

“Of course.”

“Shouldn’t we all go to Magnuson Plaza?” Thea asked. “The more, the better. That is why we all went into the field.”

It had been a while since Thea had been in the field. Since she had become a mother of two little boys, she had been hesitant to put on the hood. As much as she wanted to support the fight for the good, she was a mother who had lived without her parents for a long time. She didn’t want the same for her children.

“Negative.” Felicity shook her head. “The second bomb will go off in less than fourteen minutes. When all of you are at the same place and the second bomb is further away, none of you will be able to reach it in time.”

All of this was a nightmare, Felicity thought to herself. The bombs could be placed everywhere. Even with the entire team out in the field, there was no way that they could cover the entire city. That they had barely managed to find the first bomb in half an hour made Felicity nervous about the ten-minute-rhythm that would follow.

Felicity had hoped that the location of the first bomb would help her find out where a second one had been placed. She had never thought it to be Magnuson Plaza though, and that surprise made it hard to think about where the next could be located. She had thought that Blood Rose would have chosen a location with more public business.

“We’re there,” Roy eventually announced.

“Great.” Felicity shot a look at the countdown. “Less than two minutes left. You have to hurry.”

She waited with held breath and listened to the noises at the other side of the line. Laurel was rushing people outside. Roy seemed to run, jump and whatever to get to the second story and find that bomb. Meanwhile, the countdown was running down.

“The building appears to be cleared,” Laurel announced, “but people are standing around and watching. I can’t get them all to leave.”

“Do what you can, then get yourself to safety,” John told her.

“I’d appreciate that too,” Tommy agreed.

Felicity shot another glance at the countdown and scrunched up her nose. This was getting too dangerous.

“It’s only fifty seconds, Arsenal.” Her gaze moved back and forth between the countdown and Roy’s location on the map. “Get out of there.”

“I’m almost there.”

“Arsenal,” Oliver’s dark voice tuned in, “out of there. Now.”

Felicity could hear the hesitation. Roy wanted to take the risk, but he knew that if Oliver ordered him out, he had to go out. Usually, he would listen to Felicity’s command too, but the stakes were particularly high tonight.

“Okay, on my way out.”

With her eyes still moving back and forth the countdown and Roy’s position, Felicity hacked into a nearby camera, so she could see whether Roy would make it out safe. He had to.

The countdown went down without a pause. Five… four… three… two…

Roy jumped out of the window. Still in the air, he shot an arrow. It landed in the brick wall of the building across the street. He held onto the rope that was attached to the arrow. He swung across the street, right through one of the building’s window. It broke, and he disappeared in the building, right before the Magnuson Plaza exploded.

The heaviness of the explosion made Felicity shrink back from her computer although she could not feel even the slightest sign of a wave in the safety of the bunker. Blood Rose was not playing half-heartedly.

“Is everyone okay?” Tommy asked over the comms.

“I’m safe,” Roy replied immediately.

“Same,” Laurel answered shortly after. “Some people, maybe eight, are hurt here. I should stay until the ambulances have arrived.”

“Already sent your way.”

Felicity sent the written emergency call and was about to continue her search for Blood Rose when a new piece in the transcript of the police radio caught her attention. It made all of her alarm bells ring.

“Guys, we have a problem,” she said.

“Just one?” John asked darkly.

“A new bomb was reported, and it seems legit to me.”

“Where?” Oliver asked immediately.

“Rainbow Bridge-House in Clarenden Hills.”

Oliver released the mixture of a sigh and a growl. “Damn it.”

“What is that?” Tommy asked.

“It’s a hospice for children,” John replied, “damn it.”

“Okay, I will need about as along to get there as you would too,” Felicity said, “so I will come and meet you there. It might make things easier.”

“Overwatch.” Oliver hesitated. “Remember you need to conceal your identity.”

Felicity looked around the bunker hurriedly until she got an idea. “I will.”

→ → → → →

This shouldn’t have happened, Oliver thought to himself although he was really trying his best to push away any distracting thoughts of guilt. If the current reports he could hear from the police radio were right, nobody had died, but several people had been injured. The outcome could have been different.

With Blood Rose’ new target, they probably wouldn’t get that lucky.

As soon as they arrived at the building, even before the wheels of the van came to a stop, Oliver opened the doors and got out. Apparently, people had been warned. Worried parents were taking their kids outside when they could walk. Hospice staff was trying to coordinate the evacuation, but they were failing to control the chaos.

A young family that was just rushing out caught Oliver’s attention. The mother was holding the hand of her daughter who was clutching a stuffed unicorn to her chest. The father, who was holding onto his wife’s hand, was carrying a toddler in his arms. The young child looked limp like there was no strength left in that tiny body. The child’s skin was so light that it looked almost translucent.

Once more Oliver realized how bad all of this had to be for the families that had come here to help their children to have a somewhat peaceful death. All of this was taken away from them. The hardest moment of every parent’s life was made harder because someone wanted to hurt him.

As much as Oliver could get lost in this thought, he knew he couldn’t. If he got lost in it, Blood Rose would win. He couldn’t let that happen. So, pushing all thoughts on the sorrow he was confronted with here away, Oliver approached a police officer who was trying to help.

“Where is the bomb?” he asked.

The police officer lifted his gaze at him. His fingers twitched around the walkie-talkie. Obviously, he considered reporting the Green Arrow’s presence here. These past years, the vigilantes and police and co-existed peacefully. The current threats were challenging for that silent friendship though.

“Room 357 – third floor, hallway E, fourth room to the right.”

“The evacuation?”

“Started, but in no way finished.” The officer looked at Oliver intently for a moment. “Some children are attached to monitors and stuff. There aren’t enough elevators to get them down here in time.”

Oliver nodded his head briefly. It was exactly what he had feared. “Thank you.”

Turning to John, Thea, Tommy and Roy, who had made his way here too now, he said, “Spartan and I will wait for Overwatch and-“

“I’m here.”

Oliver turned around to see Felicity. She was wearing dark jeans and a jacket that looked exactly like the one he was wearing now. It had to be the spare jacket that had been at the bunker. She had put on a cap under the hood that she had pulled far over her head, so her hair had disappeared under it and her face was mostly hidden too. She was carrying her laptop under her arm.

“Everyone help evacuating the building,” he ordered the team, “while Overwatch, Spartan and I will check out the bomb.”

They hurried up the stairs to the third floor. Five hallways were leading away from the elevators in the shape of a star. They took corridor E and ran to room 357. The bomb was placed in the wardrobe. Since the doors were open, they saw it directly. There was no need to search.

Felicity kneeled down next to it and looked at it intently. Opening her laptop, Felicity started typing. Oliver skimmed the words she wrote. She was trying to find out what kind of bomb it was and how it was working.

“Open the clock,” she told Oliver and shot him an intense look, “carefully.”

Oliver took out one of his arrows and used it to break the digital clock open. Five wires of different colors were attached to it. Felicity’s gaze moved back and forth between the bomb and the monitor while she was continuing to find the information that she needed.

“This doesn’t look good,” John said quietly. “I’ve seen something similar in Afghanistan.”

“And this is an enhanced version of that.” She had stopped typing now and just stared at her laptop. Her eyes were barely moving, telling Oliver that she wasn’t reading much of what she had found. “Which is worse than not good.”

Oliver felt his shoulders tense. “We can’t defuse it?”

Felicity shook her head. “Not without risking that it will go off.”

“The safest option would be to take it some place else,” John suggested, “some place secluded.”

Felicity looked at him incredulous. “And where? There are buildings here everywhere. Homes even. The radius of the blasting power might take half of a block with it. There are only three and a half minutes left. There is no way that you will get far enough with that.”

“We have to try,” John said intently.

Hesitatingly, Felicity looked at Oliver. There was something in her eyes, a pain and fear, that told him she was thinking the same as he did. He couldn’t recount a lot of times that they had come to the same dark conclusion this early on while John was the one that remained hopeful.

Oliver didn’t know how many times he had imagined a moment like this, a moment when he would have to break Felicity’s heart. It was something that he had really hard to avoid although he was sure that he had come close to it a couple of time before. Now, he was almost sure, he wouldn’t only come close. He would do it. As much as he hated it, he would have to do it.

“We have no chance to stop it from killing innocent people.”

“Innocent children even,” Felicity replied in a whisper, “and there is absolutely nothing that we can do to stop it.”

The conclusion was hanging in the air, but neither of them dared to say it out loud. When they said it out loud, it would become inevitable. Neither of them was ready for that.

“Felicity, I-“

“I know.” Felicity sucked in a deep breath, tears welling in her eyes. “I know.”

Oliver moved into Felicity’s reaction just a bit, and suddenly she was in her arms. He couldn’t say who had truly made the first move or the last move. Either way, one moment they were crouching in front of the bomb, just looking at each other. The next they were in each other’s arms, holding on tight.

Neither of them knew when they would have a moment like this again.

“I love you,” Oliver whispered and kissed Felicity’s head through the hood and the cap, “and if there was any other way, I wouldn’t do this. I love you. I love the kids. I-“

“I know.” Felicity’s voice was hoarse as she was holding back tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks. “We love you too, but we understand why you need to do this.”

When Oliver pulled away, he looked into Felicity’s face. She was smiling through her tears, trying to give him the courage that she knew he needed to go through with this. He put both of his hands to her cheeks and pulled her in for a gentle, lingering kiss.

He wanted to memorize everything about the moment. He wanted to memorize how Felicity’s lips tasted, how her face felt in his hands despite the gloves he was wearing, how her breath ghosting over his face made goosebumps elicit all the way down his back. This might be the last time that he held her, the last time that he kissed her for a long time. He didn’t know how long it would be until he could hold her in his arms again. Maybe he would never be able to do so again.

Oliver pulled back eventually, still holding Felicity’s face in his hands. He locked his eyes with her intently for a moment, trying to pour all his love and all the pain into it. Felicity lifted her hands to his wrists, held them tightly and nodded his head. She knew. Everything he wanted to tell her, she understood because she knew.

“You should go home,” he said to John and Felicity, pulling back completely now, “all of you should. They might come to look for you.”

John looked like he wanted to say something more, but Oliver didn’t give him a chance to. The longer they took to say goodbye, the less time there was for Oliver to get to the next precinct.

“Take care of them,” he said with serious, intense voice towards John.

Without wasting another second, he hurried towards the window, opened it and shot one of his zipline arrows. Everything inside of him screamed to turn back around and look at Felicity one last time. He knew that he couldn’t do so though. If he did, he wouldn’t be able to leave, but he had to leave. Too many innocent lives depended on it.

Taking in a deep breath to gather his courage to do this, Oliver jumped out of the window. Halfway down, he let got and ended safely on his feet. Without taking even as much as a second of break, he started running. The next precinct was half a mile ago, and he had around three minutes left. He would have to hurry.

Running, sprinting even, he thought about everything that he had to leave behind now that he was taking this decision. He left Felicity. He left the kids. He even left the city. He might stay here, depending on what the judges would decide at the end, he might stay within the city, but he wouldn’t be able to serve it the way that he had.

He had to take memories with him, of course, he thought. There was this memory of his last kiss with Felicity. Everything he had experience with Felicity really was in his mind. He remembered the many times that they had vowed to each other to love and to cherish the other. He remembered all the times that he had doubted himself and she had been the one to build him back up and remind him of the man that he had become.

He remembered Emmy. He had been so joyful to welcome her into the world. She had made him know what it meant to be a father, and she had showed him how much she would enjoy it. At the same time, she had proved to be such a kind child. He remembered how she had asked Raisa for extra breakfast and had eaten even more at home because she had given her breakfast away to children that hadn’t been given anything to eat at school by their parents.

He remembered Tommy. Sweet, little Tommy had had so much problem adapting to every change in their life. At least at the start. He had been very much clinging to Felicity, and the thought of another baby had scared him. He had found comfort in the stars though, and he had developed the wish to help people. He wanted to be a doctor, and that wish showed itself whenever someone was sick or hurt. Tommy was always the one who wanted to take care of them then.

He remembered William. He had come into his life so unexpectedly. Back when Samantha had told him that she was pregnant, Oliver could have never even dreamed how much he would grow to love that child. Although they had missed some important years, they had grown close to each other. They had caught up on all of that time and William had become a part of the family like it had never been different. Even now that he was off to college, he was still there in some way.

He remembered Millie. Millie was the calmest of their children. It seemed like she had known from the beginning that she would be born into a difficult position. Within a year after her birth, Felicity had become pregnant again. She had suffered from prenatal depression, and she had felt guilty for having too little time and energy to be there for Millie the way that she had been there for Emmy and Tommy when they had been so young. Millie hadn’t just accepted it. She had just thrived like there hadn’t been a difference.

He remembered Addie. She had had a difficult start in life, but she had pushed through that. She had pushed through the health issues in her little cape in the style of Supergirl. She had grown strong and feisty. She had become healthy and strong. Oliver knew she’d grow into a strong and determined woman one day.

He remembered Mia. She had been placed into their lives because someone had known even from some other earth that she would be happiest when she would be with him and Felicity here on Earth One. Even if her biology hadn’t been the same as theirs, they had grown to love her. She was their child. She had been their child even before they had found out that their doppelgängers had brought her into the world. She was their child.

Now he had to leave them. The thought made everything inside of him ache. He had never wanted that. He had never wanted to be forced to leave his family like his parents had been forced to leave his.

They had been at this point before. He had been forced to reveal his identity before, but he had had help. Someone who had had nothing to lose had taken the blame. He had claimed that Oliver would cover for him, and everyone had believed him because he had had proof that Felicity had given to him as he had asked her to.

This time was different. This time there wouldn’t be a way out. Blood Rose would never let him get away with it. He would have to suffer the whole blow and all the consequences of what he had done these past fifteen years.

He had no choice. He knew he didn’t.

Still sprinting, Oliver shot a brief look at his watch. Only twenty more seconds to go. The precinct was barely three hundred feet away. He increased his pace once more nonetheless.

Oliver couldn’t allow himself to think about anything anymore. He couldn’t allow himself to hesitate or to think about what he was doing here. He wouldn’t do it, and it would cost innocent lives. Children’s lives.

His appearance had caught attention, Oliver realized when a dozen of police officers came out of the precinct and stayed standing there like they were waiting for him. Oliver tossed his bow aside, letting it slither over the asphalt. He ran until he was just a couple of feet away from the line of officers. Without really stopping, he let himself fall to his knees, pulling down his hood and mask in one go before holding his hands up in a gesture of defeat. It was him that was slithering over the asphalt now. His could feel his knee that had been hurt all those years back, and he was almost sure that both of his knees were wounded even through the thick leathers.

With heavy breath, he wiped away some of the dark color that covered his eyes.

“My name is Oliver Queen,” he said, his voice modulator switched off, “and I am turning myself in because I am the Green Arrow.”

#arrow #olicity #olicity fic #olicity fanfic #time for a story

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kvalenagle · 3 months

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For the beautiful interior graphite pieces by Brenda Lyons for the GryphIns series, the plan was to keep them as a perk for buying copies of the books. As more and more fans are experiencing the series on audio, I've been a little happier to show them on social media, just to make sure the audio listeners get to see them, too. The first piece for Eyrie was a deliberate choice: Reeve Brevin, the antagonist, in all her snake-themed peacock glory. While the series has gryphons that are more traditional (Zeph matches the traditional Egyptian gryphon pretty well as a hawk, Cherine matches the traditional Greek gryphon pretty well as a golden eagle), I'd noticed that there were some fans who wanted gryphons to be specifically a North American bald eagle + lion gryphon. While I love all gryphons, I didn't want someone to pick up this story and be disappointed. The choice to go with a green peafowl was intentional, especially as Zeph was on the cover, to let readers know from the outset that you were going to get interesting gryphons in interesting locations with this series.

The interior art pieces were set in the front instead of inside the text so if you picked up the book, you'd see Brevin and Hatzel (another non-traditional gryphon, saber-toothed tiger and the extinct Haast's eagle) first. If you wanted traditional (or bald eagle?) gryphons only, you knew this was a series to skip. But if the idea of interesting gryphons captivated your imagination, you were in.

Later editions would move the interior art pieces into the, well, interior of the novel, near where you meet each of the characters. Zeph and Kia, as the protagonists of Eyrie, also received interior art pieces. The reasoning there was that, once a few books were out, it was clear the series really lived up to its "interesting gryphons in interesting locations" mantra. Zeph may look boring (I'd argue he's interesting and pretty) on Eyrie's cover, but the next few books gave us snowy owls, shrikes, Peruvian diving petrels, European starlings, hooded pitohui, hoopoe birds, snow leopards, great blue herons, and white-tailed kites front and center.

Here at the beginning, however, in March of 2019, we wanted to set an expectation. And while Hatzel did some of that on her own, the choice of Brevin specifically let us show off the harnesses and jewelry the opinici in the series wear. It set an expectation: you won't get gryphons with laser guns, but there's some kind of society here.

I've always been grateful that we met Brenda Lyons. My husband came across her work at local conventions, and came home with one of her pine phoenix pieces for the office. She was working on a cover for another of my books when we all got to talking, and when you have three gryphon fans together, the topic often turns to The Black Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. And how much we all loved Larry's interior art pieces for the series, how they shaped many artists and authors today. Though the first review copies of Eyrie had gone out, there was a moment where we realized there was just enough time before the print files were finalized to do interior art. And the rest is history.

(The choice of Brevin also hinted at the origins of the gryphons and opinici in having a female character with male bird plumage. Growing up with peacocks and peahens guarding the nearby orange groves, I do know the difference between peafowl. But in addition to the nature angle, it foreshadowed the queerness of the characters. With Pridelord's release, it's probably the series with the most trans gryphons in it.)

#Brenda Lyons #gryphon #gryphins #gryphon insurrection #fantasy #griffin #griffon #gryfon #creature fantasy #Reeve Brevin #Eyrie #green peafowl #peacock gryphon #peaphon #opinicus

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rry2k · 3 months

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Haha, exactly! They're always jumping around to keep themselves busy! Besides, dear girl, if anyone around here is a bird, it would be you!

Heeehehehe… maybe they’ll give me actual physical wings if I ask nicely! After this amount of time? Some free flying sounds grand.

As is exactly what you deserve!

[She does her equivalent of smiling, looking back to where she used to be pressed against the wall. The Admin turns back, a different glint in the ones and zeros of her eyes.]

…How’s my sunshine and starling? Are they doing okay..?

They're... Doing alright. Adjusting to being without you is hard, but we don't want to risk them getting infected.

They miss you quite a lot, dear girl.

Yeah?

Of course, Darnold. They love you.

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lorei-writes · 6 months

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Winter Flower

Chapter XVI: Tock-Tick

Masamune x OC [Hana] Summary: Hana wakes up in the gardens of Azuchi castle without any recollection of her past. Who is she? What was she doing there? And most importantly – what is she supposed to do now? Placed under supervision of Lord Date, Hana has to find her footing in the unfamiliar reality of the warring states. Series Masterlist

Content Warnings: poisoning

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tock. Tock. Tock. Tock. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tock…

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Tock. Tock. Tock.

Tock. Tick.

Tick. Tick.

Tock…

Sound flows into my ear, soothes my mind the way chill water placates burns. Birds chirp outside, just past the fluttering curtains, tangled somewhere among the chasing winds. Quiet taps of moving hinges, barely audible whispers of the wood… My own heartbeat vibrating through the springs in the mattress below me. Humming rock that flows in my veins, each thud in my chest an eruption forced through my arteries and veins…

The calendar hung above my desk is empty, not a trace of a year or any other date indicator persisting over the paper. I blink, and in this blinking I am whole. The sheets below me are chill to the touch, although warming, and inoffensively soft, little different from the dandelion seeds that still cling onto their parent’s corpse.

Tick. Tick.

Tock.

I turn my head towards the window, strands of my very own hair falling into my eyes. My arms, however, are quite uncooperative for whatever reason it may be now… So I choose not to mind either.

“Any questions, me?” I, another I, asks. We are quite different, in fact, but also… similar… identical… identical to a fault. The I smiles – frowns – lights up – her face falls. Mine, the actual mine, seems not to engage in any of that charade. If anything, it feels numb or numbed. Unresponsive. Restricted. Tight. Stretched over to the point of being taut.

“Ah. I see,” the I hums.

We take a step through the door frame, and so we sit in kitchen chairs, white IKEA – IKEA? What is IKEA? – plates lying before us, each with a hefty serving of muddied sand cake on top. The room itself is rather hazy. The longer I watch it, the less sense it makes, centipede-cupboards crawling over chameleon walls, the counter raising and falling among heavy thuds. I focus on the meal to drown out the sound.

“Your favourite,” she-I offers.

“Is it really, though?”

“Of course. Do not tell me… You can’t recall?”

“No.”

“Or yes?”

I don’t know. She-I slams her hand against the table, the dish spilling outside the ceramic bounds… There is plenty of it… Plenty more than a plate could hold…

Tock. Tock.

Tick.

The sand begins to carpet the floor, grain on a grain, and another one stacked on top. My legs kick leisurely, and so it ripples around my ankles, from brown, to yellow, to green… To blue, blueish purple.

The pier does not reach far into the lake, but it appears to be long enough to serve its function. Why is it there, though? I’m… not so certain, not anymore. The-I, however, seems to know, her toes just barely submerged in the water below. She-I appears rather carefree the way she is seated beside me, her hand holding onto mine gently… Motherly. I gives it a little squeeze. We give it a little squeeze.

Tock.

Splash.

Tick.

My eyes widen, something dropping from between the constellations above into the liquid skies at my feet. It warps the stars, diffuses their glow, before carrying it off and away under the cloak of waves.

“Starling.”

“Oh?”

“Let’s go.” I pulls at my hand, and so we fall. I hold my breath, now fully engulfed by viscously vicious lukewarmly slime-like water. It holds me quite fine and firms below my feet so that I can walk. Curious, curious that.

“How are you going to learn anything if we do not talk?”

I raise a quizzical eyebrow. How could I talk? My mouth is full of air… If I let go of it… Won’t I drown?

“You have always been a coward, me,” she-I continues her talk, her long finger tapping against the mole on her – our? – chin. I cover mine reflexively. “But… You are even worse now, don’t you think? Much worse, in fact. You are scared of breathing despite seeing with your own eyes that I can talk. Think about it, aren’t those nearly the same?”

I tilt my head to the side. It is dark, and were she to move outside the reach of my arm, I am quite certain I’d lose her in this here, wherever it is. Something about her is rather bright, burning at a place my eyes cannot reach. I consider her words for a while, but truth be told… This fire of the I eats at my air. My lungs have long worked through their share of it, and the prospect of letting them collapse without any attempts of making it out alive does not necessarily satisfy me now.

Bubbles form at my mouth. It… burns…

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” I wonders aloud. “How are we going to talk ourselves out of feeling this one? Or… is it that you are following me because you think I will figure it out?”

She turns around, takes a step towards me just as I grasp at my throat. “You are me, and I am you, me. We know exactly the same amount… So why do you insist on following something that you think you are not, while you are?”

She-I shoves me by the shoulder, my body tilting until I lay on the ground that somehow seems to be too high up at the same time.

“You wished to talk, but… No, you didn’t. We don’t do that.”

The world below me shatters, and through that, I am being elevated. Only I go, though, the she-I staring at me from down below before fading away completely.

I am taken into the white above, a heated collapse of some kind. I forget of my body, forget of my eyes and sight, the ringing in my ears the only sound that reaches me now. I curl up into a ball, too terrified of the roaring lightning bolts that circle me now. Who knows what may happen when they strike… Who knows whether I have not already learnt about that, just to lose whatever insight I have gained…

Electric violence simmers in the air.

***

I wake again, although this time to no light. The room is perfectly dark, so it occurs to me that now must be night – I cannot hear a sigh, not a hushed word or hurried steps sounding off anywhere nearby. However, my body does seem lighter than previously, and save for the throbbing between my temples, I am rather well… Or as well as I can be under those conditions.

I attempt to push myself up on my elbow, but vertigo swirls around my head as soon as my ear lifts off the pillow. It’s not exactly a pleasant sensation. Neither is the cold sweat running down my spine – I try to dispel them both through intentional breathing, but the air is rather unwilling when I try to draw it into my lungs. Heavy thoughts emerge from within their burrows the moment I lie back down.

Thinking about it now, I am left unguarded. It only makes sense that I cannot yet move around… I wonder, how much time has it been since…

The door slides open, light footstep coming from the unlit corridor. They’re barely a tap against the floor, barely a vibration running down the boards to where I’m resting, as if the feet that have produced them wished to whisper. More importantly, however, the person who is behind them does not invite in this maddening sweetness that I’ve learnt to associate with my captor… So, for now…

A cold cloth touches my forehead. I startle at the fact, quite unsure of how or when it has materialised – it does not even cross my mind that it might have been placed there by human hands. I’m proven mistaken, though, and it happens fast.

“Oh,” a woman lets out to my left, clearly similarly stunned. “You’re awake.”

“How long…?” I rasp at her. For some reason, it has her sigh in relief.

“Thank goodness you can still talk. It’s been a couple days since you’ve last woken up.”

Days. Have they noticed that I’m gone? They must have. They must have, so —

The towel slides over my forehead as my brows draw close to each other. Some tingling still lingers over my face, my frowning only agitating it further. I cannot stop myself, though. There are things I don’t know, things I need to learn, and now, I can try to acquire the information I may need… Provided that I can will my throat to co-operate.

“Thank goodness?” I echo, rather bitterly, something rattling at the back of my mind. It feels important, and I’m nearly certain I know what it is, or what it could be. However, it’s no use. I merely know what it is that I have forgotten. I have lost the dream I’ve dreamt last night, and although it is almost as if it laid itself out on the back of my tongue, I cannot reach it. Not quite.

“Lord Saitou’s medicine is… often not too well received by the body.”

Medicine?

“Oh,” she continues. “But our lord is quite skilled with herbal remedies. I am sure it could cause no lasting harm or discomfort.”

I’m of a different mind. Nevertheless, I am not able to give voice to the sentiment – likely, for the better, for the maid does not stop. She chatters on, her tongue paddling out words at an ever increasing pace. The weather, the state of the floors, just about anything and everything, my head beginning to spin from the strength of the stream that is her voice. Nervousness, I suppose?

“We’ve heard that you’ve been in the enemy encampment…” she pauses for a couple breaths. “It’s… not an advice, but… The castle can’t be taken. So –” she cuts herself off. Her movement is just about audible, the sleeves of her kimono rustling as she lifts her hands to her face, skin clapping against skin the very next moment. I do not suppose we are allowed to talk about that of all things, no.

“I… un-understand,” I offer through clattering teeth. Now that the room is quiet, I realise my hands are trembling below the covers. In fact, there’s not a bit of me that isn’t shivering.

“Fever’s normal,” the maid whispers and reaches for the cloth that cools my forehead. Water drips from it into a basin and so she submerges it again, just to wring it a second or so later. This time, she presses it to my neck. I cannot stop the sigh of relief that escapes my throat. I squirm a little in my place, the decreased discomfort making me all too aware of all the other things that hurt. I wouldn’t be surprised if I have lain here for far too long.

“You’ll be fine,” she murmurs, as if reading my mind. “Lord Saitou made it clear you can’t have bedsores… So you’ll be fine…”

Will I be, though? Considering my position, bedsores are not exactly the highest item on the list of my concerns. Nevertheless, it is a mercy. One I’d rather not have to take or be thankful for, but a mercy nonetheless. I clench my jaw to make myself rigid, as if that alone could help – and although I am well aware that it does not change anything that matters in the slightest, it does offer me a little solace.

I can hold myself together.

For now, I can hold myself together.

What I need to do, what I must do to save myself, to return, that will come tomorrow, or later today, or after I’ve blinked one hundred times – but not now. Not now, because my eyes burn, and chills race over me, and honestly… Not now, as when I cannot move, the despair is there to embrace me firmly. And I may not be able to push it back.

Warm fingers reach for my hands, deftly working a solution of sorts into my skin, taking particular care to tend to my wrists.

“My name’s Ai,” the maid utters and gets up from beside me. Just as quietly as she has entered, she now exists, my mind latching onto the splashing of water that follows her around. I haven’t noticed it earlier. It is curious to see my state change, but I pay it no mind.

Air smells of mint as my eyes close again.

Masamune… Kojuro… Anybody… Please, come. I am not sure I can make it out of here myself.

Series tag list: @cheese-ception @nuttytani

#masamune date #ikesen masamune #ikemen sengoku masamune #ikesen #ikemen sengoku #ikemen series

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reapersbayif · 1 year

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Hi Dakota!! I was wondering if MC has a nickname that their family used to call them?? Like how in Fallen Lights, Ezrah calls MC 'Star'.

Because I'd maybe love to use that nickname for my MC's codename (my MC is an informant though I'm sure a codename would be needed for other jobs too.)

Something that Kai would definitely know and MAYBE Laurie and Adri would also know? My reasoning is that MC would use it to remember their family but is also using it as a very specific clue in hopes that Kai and/or Laurie (if alive, I'm assuming that MC doesn't know if Kai and/or Laurie are still alive) would pick up on it if either of them heard it, and hopefully use it to find her.

Also, what are House Vailia's colours? Their heraldry/coat of arms? Do they have an animal of some sort that is attributed to their House? Inquiring minds would like to know! :D

Hello, anon! I’m glad you asked!

Your brother, Lukas, got his love of birds from your father, the king himself. He nicknamed all his children after one of his favorites, actually.

He called Adelaide “canary” because she loved to sing with your mother at the piano and had a lovely voice. He called Lukas “dove” as Lukas was soft spoken and didn’t take well to any training that was foisted upon him; he loathed weaponry and violence, preferring to spend his time elsewhere.

With MC, his nickname depends on the players choice. If you were a very charismatic kid, a real charmer, you’re dubbed “sparrow.” A kind and friendly MC will be called “starling.” An intelligent and adaptable MC will be called “falcon.” A rather shy but intelligent MC will be called “crow.” A bold, brash MC is referred to as “eagle.” If you were excitable and energetic, you were called “merlin.”

He called your mom “my beloved hawk,” as she’s quite fierce and not easy to dissuade.

You see the bird theme, obviously. Diminutives of any of those nicknames were popular.

It’ll be an option in game to use your chosen bird as your code name (or you can pick your own ofc). So if you’re an assassin, thief, informant, or smuggler, you’d be known as “Sparrow” or “Falcon” or “Merlin,” and so on so forth. And yes! Kai, Laurie, and Adri will all recognize the code name!!

As for House Vailia, their color is actually purple. If you notice in Kai’s portrait below, it’s actually that exact shade of purple. Kai still wears House Vailia’s colors as their mother saved their father’s cloaks. Kai wears it to show his loyalties belong to House Vailia even if they’re all “dead.”

(Art by @stephschoices)

As for the animal that is present on their heraldry, it’s actually a bear. An emblem meaning projecting your own, or protecting your family. It’s essentially a historical promise that House Vailia will protect Navra as their own and simultaneously suffer no threats against their royal family.

We see how well that turned out.

#answered asks #lore #alfred vailia #johanna vailia #adelaide vailia #lukas vailia

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princes-creations-askblog · 5 months

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Finally posting oc content again bc I can’t hold it back anymore <3

Ok so I have this set of ocs (I’ve talked abt them before in this post right here) and uh. I’m remaking them now. or trying to, I’m having bad writer’s block hngh—

So like. Now that I’ve exploded and absolutely NEED to post them or I’ll die, I’ll give you some basic info on them :)

I’ve renamed Jay to Jeiviin. They’re a six-year-old Sky Dragon born and raised in Emporia, having lived in Taldrena their whole life (up until an incident in which they ended up in Voxtren). They’re intersex and were raised genderless, and have an older sister.

I’ve renamed Cora to Avaki. She’s a seventeen-year-old Sky Dragon that was born in Talix, one of Emporia’s islands, and moved to Taldrena with her family when she was 8. She’s Jeiviin’s older sister, and really into true crime.

I’ve renamed Sigasi to Sivea. She’s a fourteen-year-old Healer Dragon born in the Philippines, but moved to Emporia (specifically Voxtren) when she was 11. She’s an only child, but became best friends with Jeiviin and Avaki after the events of her (and the other characters’) story takes place, and she’s surprisingly feisty for a Healer.

I’ve renamed Delta Sun to Astrallon. They’re somewhere around 150-160 years old, and they’re an Angel from the Concept Universe (or the Void). They left their home when they were in their 20s to search for their missing mother (idk what happened to her though), but they never found her, and instead decided to just. Stay in Emporia. I mean, it’s a really pretty country, so. Fair enuf.

None of them have designs yet, but I have some very basic ideas for what I want them to look like —

Jeiviin will be pretty short (I mean they’re 6 so ofc), and their main colour will definitely be blue. Lotta scars.

Avaki will be more seafoam green I think? And a lot taller. Possibility of being emo or scene

Sivea is so so purple. I kinda want her to resemble a violet-backed starling. I love those fucking birds. I want her to have a sorta medieval-goth-princess aesthetic, but more modern

Astrallon gets to be tall as hell. Way taller than they need to be. Get enlarged stupid. And I want them to have some vague religious vibes, like biblically accurate or something. Perhaps multiple sets of wings, or too many halos. Or too many eyes.

Ok now that that’s out of the way.

Storyline thing or something!

The kiddos are still both gonna be experiments — that was an integral part of their story before the remake, and I don’t wanna change that — but Astrallon won’t be an experiment anymore. Instead, they’ll be friends with the guy running the experiments, but they won’t know about it until he calls them up and says “DUDE WE’RE GETTING FUCKED UP PLEASE HELP”.

The experiments aren’t gonna be turned into some form of superhuman (superdragon?) beings anymore, either. Instead, the cult is trying to transform Dragons into Humans by surgically removing their Draconic traits and making them physically look as human as possible.

Those experiments never end up working and all the subjects that went through the procedures died. Including Jeiviin. But they get to come back as a ghost, because I said so.

Anyway!! The reason Mr. Cult Guy calls Astrallon screaming for help, is because Sivea and the other still-living experiments broke out and started killing motherfuckers. As they should.

Astrallon is a very kind person, so of course, they immediately run over to their friend’s location to help, and promptly get their shit FUCKING WRECKED by Sivea, who thought they were another cultist.

Some other stuff happens after that, and then the story ends, but I haven’t gotten to that point yet. As I said, I’m having writer’s block atm, so I can’t get past the part where Sivea starts plotting.

Also, despite the setting of this story being in Emporia, which is also where my AHiT AU takes place, this is not set in the AHiT universe! It’s an entirely original work, full of the blorbos from my autism.

I am tired and can’t think of anything else to write, so that’s it post’s over. Eat up

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morningstargirl666 · 6 months

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WIP WEDNESDAY

Anyone following the TBBW will know I'm doing some editing on the series right now, and I've just recently started editing The Little Wolf. To no one's surprise, I'm sure, I've decided to add some more scenes (and potentially, two more chapters). So here's a snippet of what's to come:

“4…3…2…1…” Niklaus pulled his hands away from his eyes, opening them to glance all around the woods surrounding him. “Ready or not, here I come!”

Somewhere in the distance, the trees giggled. Niklaus grinned.

He began stalking through the forest, keeping a keen eye out for broken branches and disturbed ground, anything that could indicate where his brother and sister had fled to to hide. And then, after passing several trees, the leaves of a shrub to side rustled, as something had moved inside it. Niklaus narrowed his eyes on it, moving towards it, a smirk slowly growing on his face.

“There’s nowhere to hide where I can’t…” he trailed off, pausing just in front of the shrub, curling his fingers into claws. Then he struck. “...FIND YOU!”

He leaped forward, parting the sides of the bush only to reveal empty air. Stumped, Niklaus stepped back, blinking in confusion. Then his eyes lightened with realisation and he spun around, face clouding over with anger.

“Kol! That’s not fair! Magic isn’t allowed!” he yelled into the woods, knowing his younger brother would hear him.

Cackling laughter was his only response. Niklaus scowled.

His annoyance was immediately sidetracked however, when his sister’s terrified scream sliced through the woods.

Eyes widening, Niklaus broke into a sprint, heading straight in the direction he’d heard the scream come from. “REBEKAH!”

Kol arrived at her side before he did, closer to her and probably having known where she’d been hiding. But as soon as he arrived, skidding to a stop amongst the leaves and dirt, she rushed to his side, enveloping her little arms around his middle. Her head barely reached up to his shoulders.

“Nik!” she cried out in relief, hiding her face in his chest.

“What?” he asked worriedly, bending down to one knee and holding her hands tight, “What is it?”

Rebekah didn’t answer, merely pointing instead to something Kol was already hunched over, inspecting intently.

“I think it’s dead,” his brother declared, poking the mound of feathers with a stick.

It was a bird, Niklaus realised. Pretty, colourful feathers decorated its plumage, a mix of yellows, blues and greens - a starling.

Rebekah let go of her brother to go berate Kol, shoving him away from the small bird. “Kol, stop! What if it isn’t!”

Niklaus looked between them, blinking as he tried to put it altogether. “What’s going on?”

Kol sent him a toothy grin, one of his first milk teeth having fallen out last night.

“Rebekah was hiding and then she put her hand behind her and touched it. Screamed like a little girl.”

Rebekah stomped her foot, face turning a bright shade of red. “That’s because I am a girl, you idiot!”

Niklaus eyed them both warily - Rebekah and Kol were the closest in age out of all his siblings, only two years apart. As such, their arguments could get rather…heated.

It was just better for everyone if you left them to it.

Stepping around the two of them, Niklaus crouched down and inspected the little bird. After a moment’s hesitation, he picked it up, noting the body was still warm underneath all the feathers. However, the head lolled limply, and there were specks of red decorating its plumage, feathers wet with blood in places.

Niklaus bit his lip. “I think it’s a starling.”

“Well, I think it's a dead starling,” Kol said, peaking at the bird over his shoulder.

Rebekah clenched her jaw, hissing her words out through her teeth. “It. Is. Not. Dead.”

Niklaus ignored them both, bringing the bird closer to himself and gently cradling its head. His heart broke for it - had this been one of the starlings his mother had brought with her when their family had arrived here?

“What happened to you, eh little guy?” he softly whispered to it, smiling sadly. The poor thing didn’t answer.

(He’d tried talking to other animals since he met the wolf, but so far, they didn’t talk back like the wolf did).

“Maybe another bird attacked it,” Kol suggested.

“Why would they do that?”

Niklaus didn’t need to turn around - he could hear Kol’s wild grin in his voice. “Because some birds eat other baby birds for breakfast.”

“That’s not true!” Rebekah shrilly protested, voice an octave too high in her fear. Kol had probably made some scary gesture to sell the story. “Nik, tell Kol it’s not true!”

“It’s not true, Rebekah,” Niklaus reassured her, sending her a smile over his shoulder. For Kol, however, he sent a terrible glare. “Right, Kol?”

“Chickens are practically cannibals Nik, let alone wild bir-”

His glare intensified, jerking his head at a shaking Rebekah, which shut Kol up immediately.

His younger brother rolled his eyes, mulishly folding his arms over his chest. “Right. Yeah, ‘course I lied, Rebekah,” he muttered.

Niklaus forced a smile on his face, standing to his feet with the little bird in his hands, talking to Rebekah before she could ask further questions.

“Come on, Rebekah, let’s take it to mother. Maybe she can help it.”

It wasn’t a lie for Rebekah’s sake - he hoped they could. But Kol sent him a sceptical look regardless, clearly doubting so but following along out of curiosity for all things related to magic.

They found their mother outside their home folding washed linens and clothes that had been set out to dry, Elijah and Finn nowhere to be found, helping father for the day.

“Mother! We found a starling that fell from the nest!” Rebekah called out when they rounded the corner of the farmstead, chickens scurrying out from under her feet as she raced past.

Esther quickly finished folding the piece of cloth in her hands, placing it down on a table to the side before turning and crouching down, just as Rebekah arrived in front of her.

“I see that, little love,” she said with a smile, before turning to Niklaus, who still carried the poor bird, “Is it alive?” she asked, holding her hands to take it off his hands.

“I don’t think so. But it’s still warm.” Niklaus handed the small bird over, so very gentle with it. He looked up hopefully at his mother. “Can you save it?”

Esther hesitated, clearly trying to find the right words. She looked down at the bird cupped within her palms forlornly, before meeting the three expectant gazes of her children.

“I’m sorry, children, but I’m afraid some magic is beyond even me,” she said softly, regretful.

“So it is dead?” Rebekah asked brokenly, her face falling.

“I told you,” Kol whispered in his brother’s ear, too low for Rebekah to catch. Niklaus sent him a glare, shoving his smug mug out of his face. Kol giggled, their mother sending them both a reprimanding look, before turning her full attention to Rebekah.

“Yes, it is,” she confirmed gently. “But what do we say about death?”

“That it’s not the end,” Rebekah answered confidently.

“Exactly.” Esther smiled, handing the bird over to her. “Why don’t you build a small pyre for this little one so we can honour the short life it lived?”

Like magic, their sister’s entire face lit up. “Yes, let’s do that! Nik, will you help me?”

She turned expectantly to her older brother and Niklaus never really could say no to that face. He smiled, wide and true.

“Of course, Rebekah.”

“And what am I? Chicken fodder?” Kol cried indignantly, too used to being tied to Rebekah at the hips.

As the siblings turned around, already arguing about the logistics of how to build a little pyre for such a small bird as they walked away, Esther smiled, going back to her work. It was when she turned her back, reaching for more dry cloth, when she heard it: a thud as something hit the ground. Movements stilling, Esther slowly turned around, eyes falling to the floor.

It was another bird. A starling. Its eyes were rolled back, beak open, neck bent at an odd angle, splayed pitifully across the ground.

Slowly, Esther looked up to where the bird must have fallen from.

Two gleaming onyx eyes stared down at her, a raven perched on the wooden arch of their home, shoulders hunched over. Its ink-black feathers shimmered in the sunlight, puffed up from the cold. Esther’s breath caught in her throat, her face turning ashen.

There was blood on the raven’s beak.

It didn’t blink and neither did she, Esther only daring to breathe again when it spread its wings and flew away. Eyes still on the retreating bird, she slowly walked over to the dead starling on the ground, moving her gaze to it when the raven finally disappeared into the treeline of the woods in the distance.

She knelt down, picking up the broken bird in her hands and after a moment, closed her eyes, cupping her hands over it. Words were whispered, chanted under her breath and when she opened her hands, a very alive starling flew out of them, flying off into the sky.

Esther went back to her work like nothing had happened but every so often, her hands shook and her eyes darted to sky, looking for shimmering black wings. And deep inside the crevices of their home, not far away, a large mouse - around the same size as the starling - took its last breath, dying for seemingly no reason at all.

#klaus mikaelson #rebekah mikaelson #kol mikaelson #esther mikaelson #fanfiction #the little wolf #morningstar writes #klaroline wip wed #there's a lot of missing context to this scene #but just know #I'm about to go full fall of the house of usher on esther's ass

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elizabethplaid · 18 days

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Sometimes I say some really pretty thing that I kinda want to share with everyone. But the context of what led up to it or what came after are things I don't wish to share.

Below a cut, because I'm including the gifs we shared. Quotes have been broken into lines to resemble poetry, though that wasn't our initial intention. It also makes it easier to read.

Gave up on a high school friend last night, as we had drifted apart and I didn't like who they became. So I discussed it with my phone-friend, that I felt unsettled, mentioning someone laying on top of me like a weighted blanket might help.

My heart feels like a non-Newtonian fluid. Squish it together, so it doesn't slip away It sloshes in my chest, and the little splashes that escape are my tears

My friend replied with this gif of starling birds.

Murmurations. I think about this a lot. Particles that are also living things in their own right, commingling on the wind and wing.

I was reminded of the kinetic sculpture that made me cry, "Can't Help Myself" by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, and I described how I interpreted it through the lens of hyper-empathy. My friend agreed that it was a heartbreaking piece.

My friend replied with this gif of sea otters holding hands, as comfort and solidarity. I said,

That's otterly adorable They hold hands when they sleep, so they don't drift away from each other. <3

They said, "I like this sentiment." Then we had to part ways, because I'm a night owl and they have a regular sleep schedule. ========

I greatly appreciate that my phone-friend is a fellow writer and creative-type. They get me so well. We don't set out to exhale these soft phrases, but they are so comforting to me. So I gather them like a magpie, like an old lady clipping from the newspaper, and post them here. Tumblr is a lot like a scrapbook, after all.

======== I'm experiencing my usual "logical-thoughts versus emotional-physical-reaction", regarding the loss of this friend. Brain is chill, but body still feels a lot with emotional dysregulation.

I knew it was a matter of time before that person posted something I couldn't ignore. There was already a lot of religious and anti-lgbtq stuff, so I knew the tipping point was coming. Turns out it's the combination of anti-trans and anti-furries, underlined with eugenics. Gee thanks.

Part of me hates that I'm ghosting her, but I didn't like how she posted screenshots of another person who unfriended her for the same reasons. Just so unapologetic and proud of defining herself by this behavior. I can't remember if she hid the person's real name or not, but I don't want to risk it.

#daily notes #i didn't ask if i could post the friend's quotes #but i think the context is narrow enough that it should be okay

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sofia-bach · 16 days

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Mother's Day

The seeds and breadcrumbs Sofia sprinkled around her barely had a moment to touch the ground before a flock of birds flapped their wings and pecked at the generous offering of food. Sofia smiled and chuckled, engulfed by a whirlwind of color and movement. Slowly the birds gathered by her feet to continue their meal. Sofia emptied her breadcrumbs bag and sighed. She had already finished her daily morning chores, washed the breakfast dishes, and the sun was shining bright on that beautiful Saturday spring morning.

The red binoculars had been gathering dust on her desk, Sofia thought. She had been too busy with her babysitting job, which had replaced her weekly studying and moved it to the weekends, effectively eliminating the time she usually reserved to walking in the woods to birdwatch.

That day, though, Sofia was free.

The afternoon would be spent baking, she was sure of that, but on that morning, she would actually spend some time with her favorite, most neglected pastime, one which was perfect to welcome the new, warmer season. Some of the birds, American robins, white-throated sparrows and European starlings, stayed in the garden, tweeting and fluttering about, but a few left already, satiated. Sofia gazed at those ones flying away towards the clear blue sky. She thought of the path in the Redwood forest she liked the most, and quickly calculated how long it would take her to go on a relaxed stroll and come back before it was time for lunch...

But then –Sofia was startled –she saw Guinevere watching her from the study window, half shadowed by the heavy curtain. Guinevere kept staring at her stepdaughter for a couple seconds more, and then gestured at her to come back inside.

Sofia crossed the front garden pathway, away from the sunshine, through the shade of the porch of the Orchard House.

Guinevere was dressed elegantly, as always. She was checking her makeup on the mirror by the entry hall just as Sofia walked in. Her stepmother kept fixing her hair and turning her head to admire herself from different angles, keeping her eyes glued on her own reflection, as if she hadn't even noticed Sofia was there at all.

"An online purchase might arrive today. Receive it if I'm not here when the delivery comes."

"Yes, of course."

Finally, Guinevere looked back at her. She stared at Sofia for a brief moment, her blue eyes feeling like a perfectly subtle, incredibly thin needle pressed right in the middle of Sofia's brow. Then she walked past her, heels tapping quietly on the entrance hallway carpet, left the house and closed the door.

No matter, Sofia thought. It was Mother's Day tomorrow, after all, and even better still if she could bake her present of cookies early on, in case she made a mistake and needed to redo them. There was also the matter of making an appropriate package for them –maybe even a card. The project had her excited.

A whistling song reached her from the open window, and Sofia turned to look at the handful of birds that were still by the front garden. She smiled. Maybe the next week.

Just in case, she didn't listen to her music that day. Sofia needed to be able to hear clearly if the bell rang. She wondered what Guinevere's purchase was. Maybe she would be able to guess by its size and shape when it got there. Or maybe Guinevere would hide it, so as to keep it a secret from her stepdaughter. In any case, Sofia hoped the goods arrived undamaged.

So she stayed inside, waiting for the package, and decided to go ahead into the kitchen and bake the sugar-free banana cookies with the recipe that Tiana had sent her.

First of all, she checked she had all the necessary ingredients. She turned on the oven for preheating, copied the instructions on her phone on her recipe notebook, and tied the apron around her waist. The sunlight streamed in through the kitchen windows, giving it a faint glow. Sofia realized she had never given Guinevere a Mother's Day present, since she wasn't her mother, but her stepmother. Could it be that that was why she behaved so coldly towards her? If Sofia had known so, she would have given her a gift, a beautiful gift, a long time ago.

Sofia mashed bananas, separated egg yolks, sifted flour, weighed butter, chopped walnuts. Once she put them in the oven, the kitchen was nicely filled with the sweet warm smell of cinnamon and vanilla. Baking was an activity she loved nearly as much as birdwatching. It allowed her to focus completely on one task, and keep herself happily occupied. She used to gift cookies to her classmates at the beginning of each school year, and even if it didn't change the fact that she was still woefully shy and didn't have friends at all, seeing their thankful faces brought her joy, nonetheless. Besides, Sofia was well aware of Guinevere's sweet tooth, how much she loved the little treats her stepdaughter baked every once in a while. Even if she didn't seem thankful, Sofia knew she was. She rarely showed it, but she knew that Guinevere appreciated all she did. If Guinevere did all Sofia did for her, she would definitely appreciate it, after all.

In any case, helping was its own reward.

After preparing herself a quick sandwich lunch, her timer soon went off. While the cookies sat ready on the wire rack to cool, Sofia decorated them with grated coconut and the chopped walnuts. She tasted one and was glad to know that they were just as wonderful as Tiana had told her.

She spent the afternoon sitting by her desk, alert for any sudden bell ring coming from downstairs, while measuring and cutting and gluing a spare piece of cardboard she had in her bedroom, making it into a lovely box which she painted a soft lavender color. While it dried, she searched for her botany book, and using that as a reference, Sofia painted white and pink lilies with her watercolors on a rectangle of card stock paper, and wrote 'Happy Mother's Day' in her best cursive. She even found a white silk ribbon in a drawer, which she occasionally used to tie up her hair. In the end she decided it would be better suited to be used for decorating her little lavender box, tied neatly in a bow.

Once the cookies had cooled properly, Sofia placed them carefully on the tissue paper she had put inside the box, three lines of pretty cookies ready to be gifted. She was quite happy with the present she had assembled, and wished her stepmother was as happy with it, too.

Only when Guinevere arrived back home, when the sun was already setting and it was time for her afternoon coffee (she wouldn't have her tea, since she would have to stay up late that night) did Sofia realize the package hadn't arrived yet.

That Sunday, before leaving for the library to study, Sofia put the box of cookies in Guinevere's office, on the big dark mahogany desk which had used to belong to her father, and now was where Guinevere did most of her work. She had considered handing it herself later that afternoon, once she came back, wanting to see her reaction to it, her wonder and, hopefully, her delight. But in the end, Sofia had decided against it, preferring for it to be an earlier surprise.

Just as she walked in after returning from the library, Guinevere was walking out of the study.

"It's time for tea, isn't it?"

"Yes, I'll get right to it."

Guinevere shot Sofia another piercing look and went upstairs to her bedroom. Sofia watched her for a moment, just in case she turned around and made another request, and went into the living room towards the kitchen.

She stopped when she saw a sudden change, a small new addition to the decorations of the room.

There, standing still and looming on the chimney mantel, was a taxidermy black-shouldered kite, its snowy-white wings half outstretched, its eyes red as blood, gripping a small field mouse in its stiff golden talons.

#. SELF PARAS { you don’t know what i’ve been through }

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straysofthesierra · 9 months

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It was a perfect, clear night. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the moon shone proudly, illuminating the way for the dogs of the valley as they gathered to celebrate the coming of another season. Despite the evening chill biting through his thin coat, Finch was practically bouncing on his paws as he approached Shale Lake with the rest of the Falls. The Fire Feast was his favorite time of the season, especially since he got to see his friends from the other packs.

He scanned the crowd with a whip of his head, then turned to his parents. “I’m gonna go look for Lake and Loon.”

“Alright, have fun!” his mother Starling replied.

Without another word he turned and sped away. He carefully bobbed and weaved through the dogs all clumped together in groups, laughing and chatting and catching up with each other, but he didn’t see hide nor hair of Lake or Loon. Maybe they decided not to come to the feast this season? His tail dropped in disappointment. He was just about to turn around and head back to his family when something slammed into his side, nearly knocking him to the ground.

Loon laughed as he grunted under her sudden weight on his back. She nipped at his ear and he smirked in recognition, pulling himself out from under her and turning to face her as she wagged her tail at him. “What’s up, bird brain?”

He matched her delight and reared up to ruffle the fluffy fur on her ears. “Not much, how about you, fish breath?”

They bounded around each other, growling playfully until Lake finally caught up and joined them.

“How are you guys,” Finch panted, sitting down to catch his breath.

“Glad to be done with the seasonal chores,” Lake grumbled, curling her lip in disgust. “I was stuck on fish cleaning duty. I’m never gonna get the smell out of my fur…” To illustrate her point, she bent over and gave her leg a few licks.

“Glad it wasn’t me!” Loon teased.

“Ugh, yeah. I wanted to go on the hunting patrol but my dad said I’m not ready yet, so I got stuck on cleaning duty with Sparrow,” Finch grumbled.

At that, Loon became suddenly and uncharacteristically subdued. “Oh, speaking of Sparrow, I wanted to ask… did she, um, come to the feast tonight?”

“Um, yeah? Why?” Finch blinked at her, but then realized what she was getting at and rolled his eyes. “Oh good grief, are you still panting after her? I told you it wouldn’t work out, she’s not interested in dams.”

Loon stomped her paws. “I knoooooow! But hey, I can dream, can’t I?” She chuffed. “What about you? You’ve been chasing after that sire Rowan from the Shepherds since we started training!”

“Hey!”

Lake, who had been mostly quiet through their bickering, finally piped up. “Ugh, can you both put your tongues back in your mouths? Nobody cares!”

They paused and gave her twin glances of surprise and confusion.

“Oh come on, don’t you have anybody you’re interested in?” Loon asked her.

“No, not really…?” Her ears pulled back as she suddenly became very self conscious. Courting and mates had been something she just… never really thought about. As her peers grew older and started noticing other dogs in that way, she would just watch in confusion, unable to relate. In truth, it sometimes made her feel a little bit alienated from the other trainees. Like there was something wrong with her. After all, everyone else seemed to get it. Why not her?

Her fears only seemed to be confirmed as an awkward silence fell over the trio. Finch and Loon were now staring at her like she’d grown three heads. She huddled in on herself and stared down at her paws. “Um, nevermind… Can we just talk about something else?”

Luckily, she was spared some embarrassment by the leads addressing everyone from the Council Rock.

“Welcome everyone. It’s wonderful to see you all again,” Dove, the lead of the Falls, began. “I trust you all had a productive end of season, but the time has come once again for us all to take a well deserved rest and celebrate the coming of another.”

She paused to allow a wave of celebratory howls to flow through the crowd.

When they died down she stepped back Cypress, the lead of the Forget-Me-Nots, stepped forward to continue, her pregnant belly swaying underneath her as she moved. “As usual, it is time to start the sparring matches. Any dogs who wish to participate, please make your way up here to the sparring pit!”

“Yes! I’ve been looking forward to this all season!” Finch bowed forward, tail wagging, and took off toward the shallow pit dug into the ground near the Council Rock.

“Wait-!”

Lake and Loon both rose to try and stop him, but it was too late. One moment he was bounding away, and the next he was stopped short by a muzzle full of fur as he ran into another dog.

“Oof!”

He stumbled a moment, then gave a little shake once he’d righted himself. “Oh my, I’m so sorry! I was just - o-oh…”

“Woah, where’s the fire?” Rowan chuckled.

But Finch’s tongue had turned to stone and he couldn’t respond. All he was able to do was stand there, hypnotized by the glow of Rowan’s golden eyes in the light of the bonfire. By the time his brain had finally caught up with him, the only thing he could think to say in response was, “Um. Over there?”

He grinned awkwardly at his bad attempt at a joke, but Rowan just frowned, the warm liquid gold of his eyes turning to fire and burning through Finch’s pelt. Behind them, Lake and Loon tried very unsuccessfully to hold back their laughter at the whole scene. Well, Lake was trying to hold herself back at least. Loon was just shamelessly guffawing, clearly taking great joy in Finch’s embarrassment.

Rowan moved back a few steps, his gaze flitting to and fro. “Riiiiiiiight… Well uh, gotta get to the sparring pit. Don’t wanna miss the matches! Happy season!” He gave a tight, toothy smile, trying to be polite, but as soon as he got the chance he turned and left.

“Heh, yeah! Happy season!” Finch tried to return his smile, but as soon as he started walking away it wilted. When he was far enough away to be out of earshot, he sank to the ground with a long, pathetic wine, crossing his legs over his face.

Meanwhile Loon was still laughing away. “Well that was about as smooth as a porcupine’s behind,” she gasped out in between her chortles.

“Oh shut up!”

“Oh come on, it wasn’t so bad. I thought it was kind of funny?” Lake tried, walking up to him and placing a supportive paw on his back. Finch, hearing the hint of a smirk still on her muzzle, peered out from under his paws to glare at her.

“That’s it. It’s over. I can never show my face at the feast ever again. Just leave me here to die,” he moaned.

That made the two dams giggle.

“Come on, I thought you were gonna spar.” Loon nudged his side. “What if you get matched up with Rowan.”

Sparring with Rowan? Getting up close and personal? Feeling his thick, soft fur against him? The power of his muscular legs that he had only ever been able to admire from a distance? The thought made Finch’s ears burn. “If that happened I would actually die!”

“Come on!”

“Go on, you can do it!”

“Go get him!”

“Show him what you can do!”

Their encouragement managed to coax him out from under his paws, and a small smile onto his muzzle. They may poke and prod at each other, but that was just what friends did. And when push came to shove they really were wonderful friends. “Yeah, okay…”

He pushed himself up while they cheered, pressing themselves to his sides. The three of them trotted away like that toward the sparring pit, their steady presence filling Finch with newfound confidence. He straightened up, puffing out his chest and striding into the crowd.

The other trainees had better watch themselves, because this season, he had something to prove.

#story #ocs #furry #anthro #dog #our first real official story post!#so glad to finally get into the meat of what i intended for this project!#i so hope you all enjoy!

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