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mortemoppetere · 4 months

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TIMING: recent LOCATION: in the woods PARTIES: @bountyhaunter & @mortemoppetere SUMMARY: daiyu bites off more than she can chew when fighting a garkain. unfortunately, emilio helps. CONTENT: mentions of past domestic abuse (hunter variety), gun use

Vampires posed a challenge. Unlike the beasts Daiyu typically hunted, there was no keen sense for them rippling through her system — there was just her own flimsy instincts and the focus they required. Garkains especially asked for an approach that didn’t befit the ranger. They were ambushers and should logically not be fought with hand-to-hand combat (though if pressed she’d certainly try), which was how she preferred to face her problems. But Daiyu liked a challenge. Nothing like some risk to remind you you’re alive.

So she had been tracking the Garkain for the better part of a day, wearing insulated underwear (embarrassing) and carrying a flask of hot tea with her. She liked being out in the woods. It was what she had liked most about the hunt from a young age, the stalking past leaves and trees, breathing in the scent of pines. The way frost looked on moss. It was perhaps the only place she could feel peaceful.

She’d closed in on the Garkain, now. It was important to get it in one shot: if it spotted her and dropped down, she was dead meat. They were tall things, after all, and she was not. (She did not want to acknowledge this fact, however.) Daiyu was crouched down, undoing her pack from her back and reaching for her hunter’s rifle. She’d gotten wooden bullets custom made. Her family didn’t typically hunt vampires, but they also didn’t tend to hunt for profit like she was now.

As she busied herself by slotting wooden rounds into her gun, her eyes traveled around. And there, perched similarly to her in the overgrowth of the forest was a man. Bundled up near comically. She eyed him for a moment, then gestured to him. She nearly snapped her fingers, then remembered the blood-and-guts thirsty monster in the tree above the pair of them. “Hey, go away.” She was mouthing the word, waving at him to find the path again.

—

It was fucking cold. Part of Emilio wanted nothing more than to hunker down with the heat on full blast and as many blankets as he could find stacked on top of him, but that wasn’t entirely feasible. There were still things to be done, after all; maybe even more than usual. The goo issue might have been resolved, but Wicked’s Rest wasn’t the sort of place that gave anyone a break for long.

Exhibit fucking A: there was a goddamn garkain wreaking havoc in the woods. Because of course it was in the woods. It couldn’t have been stirring shit up in a nice insolated, heated building, couldn’t have been murdering people next to the comfort of a hot furnace. It had to be in the middle of the goddamn woods, in the fucking snow, because Maine was a goddamn fucking nightmare. Fuck.

Emilio was wearing several jackets. A hoodie, stolen from Teddy’s closet, was on the bottom layer. He’d never admit it, but there was something comforting about wearing that closer to his chest, something nice about the way it still sort of smelled like Teddy even underneath a pile of other jackets. His usual leather jacket was on top of it, another coat zipped over that. A knitted hat sat on his head, covering his hair and ears. He was even wearing more than one pair of pants.

And he was still fucking cold.

All he wanted was to kill this thing and go home, to get it over with as soon as he could so that he could get a mug of dangerously hot coffee and set something on fire to warm himself. But, evidently, this would need to wait. Because there was a woman standing behind a tree moving her mouth at him. A woman with… a gun? Christ, what a useless fucking thing.

He couldn’t make out what she was trying to say; when English was your second language, trying to translate it without sound to assist you was near impossible. But he got the idea that she wanted him to leave, and he bristled at the thought. Did she know what she was getting into here? He doubted it. Even most slayers weren’t reckless enough to take on a garkain alone. Emilio was, as per usual, the exception to that particular rule.

He knew of only one way to tell her that he would not be leaving without alerting the garkain to his presence; it was a fairly universal thing, he thought, something that would be understood by just about anyone. Slowly, deliberately, he raised a hand. A single finger stood up while the rest went down. His expression was blank. He preferred to let the finger do the talking.

—

As a child, Daiyu would be dropped off in a corner of the forest with her pick of weapon and a clear goal. Her siblings would also be strewn about, the three of them forming a perfect triangle with trees and moss between them. Their father would have released some kind of beast beforehand, given them some (and sometimes none) instruction as to what to do and simply left them to fight it out as he waited for one of them to return with the spoils of a fight. Training was competition, after all. Any breeder of racing dogs will tell you that the best way to get the fastest hound is to pit them against each other.

And so the three of them would stalk the woods. Inna, Vissa, Daiyu. One goal in mind. Daiyu didn’t tend to win, but she tended to fight hardest. She tended to be most obviously stubborn in her refusal to lose and thus, the worst loser of all. As she glared at the man across from her flipping her off so silently, she thought of Vissarion. Quiet, obedient Vissarion, who always knew what to do to get her to snap so she’d throw the competition.

Vissa would tell her it was stupid to go after a Garkain by herself, too. He was a coward, though. She didn’t want to think of them, not of the way she’d clawed at her sister’s braid to get a head start on her, not of the bloodshed of childhood. Feral children shooting like arrows through the forest to deliver their father proof of their victory in the shape of a tail, a head, a claw.

But it was hard to suppress instincts. There was a Garkain in the trees above them and Daiyu wanted to be the one to kill it. She didn’t know who this stranger was, whether he was aware of the danger (and thus someone to beat) or if he wasn’t (and thus someone to protect), but either option wasn’t great. She wanted to get the Garkain’s ugly head and exchange it for her rent of the week. She also wanted it to not smell as bad.

She stared at her unwanted companion and pulled a face at him before flipping him off too. She tried very hard to refocus after that, positioning her rifle now that it was loaded and squinting through her scope. That really was an ugly creature. She exhaled, her breath a white cloud and aimed at its stupid, rancid head. Not caring about whatever the other was doing, she readied her gun and took her shot.

The bullet whizzed at the vampire – if you could call it that – and took off part of its head. But not the full head. Not enough of the head. Fuck. Vissa laughed in her head. Daiyu rushed to reload her rifle, but the Garkain was doing what it did best: it dropped to the forest ground.

—

The stranger returned his gesture in kind, and Emilio might have been amused if he weren’t so irritated. It was bad enough that it was cold. It was bad enough that he was out here in the woods with a garkain to take care of. It was bad enough that everything in his life was the way it was now, that the world kept continuing to pile on more and more shit with such little time for recovery, but now he had to deal with this, too? With some stranger in the woods who was going to get herself killed with a gun and a stubborn tilt of her head? (He thought of Rosa, who’d been just as stubborn. He tried to think of anything else.)

Then, she was pointing her gun and, before he could protest, pulling the trigger. “You fucking idiot,” he cursed, shooting forward as the garkain dropped. He grabbed a vial of holy water from his pocket, uncapping it and splashing it over the creature as he maneuvered past it, all the while holding his breath. Sliding into place beside the woman, he tried to shoo her towards the trail. “Get the hell out of here,” he said lowly. “You don’t want to —”

The stench got closer. Emilio felt it just as much as he smelled it, ducking down and yanking the woman with him, rolling underneath a swooping hand as the garkain made a grab for him. His hand went back into his pocket, returning with a cross this time. He held it out towards the beast, driving it back.

He knew that, with the combination of the holy water and the cross, there was no way the woman wouldn’t recognize him as a slayer if she knew what slayers were. There was a time when he might have been more nervous about that, a time where he may have let the paranoia eat away at him. But he’d been in town a while now, and plenty of people knew what he was. It hadn’t caused a whole lot of problems for him yet. Besides… he had much bigger things to worry about at the moment.

“Go,” he demanded. “Before you get someone killed.”

—

She’d had success before with wooden bullets, for the record. Daiyu was usually a good shot, even if she preferred to get up close and personal with her targets as well. But one she got agitated, once she started feeling that competitive drive her aim went off. Inna had used that against her aplenty, pulling at the wires in her frazzled mind and making her too frustrated to aim properly. She’d fire too early, and all hell would break loose.

The other person had some kind of liquid on him that he splashed onto the creature – holy water, she figured a moment later – and Daiyu slung her gun under her arm, reaching for a different weapon. She wasn’t as familiar with stakes (hence her approach with the rifle) but she made do. Daiyu always made do. She wasn’t going to let this stranger take her prize from her. She wanted to order Chinese tonight. “I’m not going fucking anywhere, that’s my kill, I was here first.”

Bristling angrily as she was yanked down, exclaiming an, “Don’t touch me!” at the fellow hunter as if he hadn’t just saved her from being smacked against a tree. Yelling had meant she’d been forced to inhale a large gulp of air and the stench made her choke. Gagging, she got to her full height and rushed back a few paces, before aiming up her gun again. “Get out of the way.”

The Garkain was moving, its stench wafting around it with every inch moved, seemingly getting ready to fly again. Daiyu continued to step back while getting the creature in her line of sight, releasing a bullet into one of its arms before it could take to the skies.

—

“Seriously? You want to turn this into a pissing contest?” Emilio let out a long string of Spanish curses, frustration clear in every word. She was going to get both of them killed. Didn’t she understand that? And then the damn vampire would be loose, would go to town, would hurt people. Anxiety thrummed in Emilio’s chest, paranoia weaving its way through each beat like fingers intertwining. “This is what I do. Go find something else to kill yourself with.”

She was definitely a hunter. He could see it now, in the familiar way she carried herself. Not a slayer, he thought; a slayer would be more likely to have a crossbow than a gun. He didn’t have time to puzzle out whether she was a ranger or a warden; the garkain was already making its way back, already sending that overpowering stench back to them.

He had half a mind to let her get herself killed. To step back, to let her ‘deal with it herself’ until the stench knocked her on her ass or the garkain landed a lucky shot. It only took one wrong move, with things like this. With her out of the way, he’d be able to take it out much faster. But, in spite of everything, he didn’t want to watch another hunter die. He couldn’t stomach the thought of that any more than he could stomach the smell of the garkain.

“Shooting it in the arm isn’t going to do anything,” he commented. “We need to set it on fire. Or stake it, or take off its head. We can steer it with the holy water and the cross, but unless you line your shot up perfect, it’s not going to do shit.” And it would be hard to line a shot up with the beast moving like this. Another reason why Emilio didn’t care for guns — accuracy was so much more difficult to ensure.

—

“It’s my kill,” she bit back. This wasn’t a pissing contest. To compare something like this to a pissing contest was stupid — it wasn’t about ego, it was about Daiyu wanting to get her hands on the creature once it was dead, taking a bit of proof that she’d undone its life and collecting her money. She didn’t do pissing contests any more. “Screw you, this is what I do, too. What are you, the monopoly-man of hunting vampires now? Who even are —”

She gagged. Maybe she shouldn’t be talking so much, as it meant she had to breathe more. Daiyu bristled angrily, eyes trying to trail the garkain. This other hunter was all words, no action (something she’d been accused of being before) and she had little patience for it. She was going to be the one to land that final blow.

“It’s doing more than whatever you’re doing, it’s at least fucking with its ability to fly,” she retorted. “What’re you gonna do, light the tree on fire? The wood’s wet, smart ass.” The garkain was clambering onto a branch and she made careful work of continuing to move, getting away from where it was attempting to aim its stinking body. What a horrible creature that was. It more than deserved to die. “Also, like, bad for the environment.”

Now she was yapping too, “I’ve got wooden bullets. And an axe. I’ll get it down. And then chop off its head. And for the record, if you hadn’t interrupted me I’d have shot it right in the heart, so.” Daiyu aimed her rifle up, checked if she and the other hunter were not in the vampires area of impact and shot up at the tree, reloading quickly to loosen another shot. She was riling it up to get it to get down. He had a point: they needed to steer it. But she didn’t have holy water or a cross, so this had to do.

—

“Fucking kill it, then.” The frustration was threatening to bubble over now, anger burning in his chest, in his gut. He’d always had a short temper; he knew that. His mother had weaponized the rage he wore like a second skin, often told him it was the only thing about him that had any hope of being made useful. It didn’t feel very useful now. There was no place for it here, no room. But he didn’t know how to get rid of it, didn’t know how to make it go away.

She was clearly struggling with the stench; Emilio, for his part, had fought enough garkain to know how to school his breathing, even if the smell was still overwhelming. They were annoying to fight; always a goddamn headache, even without another hunter getting in his way. He didn’t have the patience for this. These days, he didn’t have the patience for much of anything.

“You keep it from flying, smart ass,” he replied, mimicking her tone. “Holy water slows it down. Maybe you would know this if you were better for listening.” His frustration was bleeding through now, rearing its head in a way that made English harder to grasp at. This, of course, only served to frustrate him further.

Wooden bullets. What a stupid idea. Emilio had known a few slayers who’d tried similar methods, and it never worked quite right. Wood was lighter than metal. When fired from a gun, it moved more slowly. To do any real damage when firing a wooden bullet, you had to be close, especially with a target as tough as the garkain. There was a reason why most slayers defaulted to crossbows when they wanted a ranged weapon.

Shrugging, Emilio took a few steps away from her, leaning against a nearby tree. “Okay. Go ahead, then. I’ll wait here. Let me know when you’re done being killed.”

—

It was like Vissarion was in the woods with her, with his ten inches on her and his mind so much sharper. Glowering and chastising and knowing it all so much better. Daiyu didn’t want her mind to travel there, to the sibling she barely ever saw these days, to the fights and fury. He’d do the same thing, if he were here, watch her fumble and flail and laugh, only to end the vampire’s life in one blow and take the victory home.

As the other leaned back, so casual and smug, she wanted to forget all about the vampire and sock him in the jaw. He was the easier target and all in all, pissing her off more than the stupid vampire in the tree. Besides, if she’d be able to shut him up, she might actually be able to focus and get her garkain killed.

“Shut up,” she snapped. “All this would’ve been fine if you hadn’t shown up to be a fucking nuisance, you know?” Daiyu watched the garkain get ready to drop and tried to focus on her breathing, but her cheeks were burning with anger. “You’re just gonna stand there, then? Like a pussy?” She was getting what she wanted – for him to leave the kill to her – and yet she was angry with his decision. She didn’t want this stranger who seemed to know that much better to judge her.

As she was considering her options the garkain dropped down, right between the presumed slayer and herself. There were rips in its wings, but they weren’t torn enough to make enough of a difference, she noted as she started holding her breath. Daiyu loosened one more shot at the thing, aimed at the head and taking off a bit of its head (not caring much if the bullet whizzed past the other hunter in the process) and swung her rifle back to get her axe. She needed that holy water. She felt her eyes burn with the stench as she angled the axe backwards as her lungs begged for oxygen. She was quick – this, at least, she’d always had going for her: her speed – as she swung the axe down into the neck, but it wasn’t enough to cut through all the thick muscles. On the release of pulling the axe out, she ex- and inhaled, stumbling back as the vampire – bleeding, but alive – turned to her as she gagged once more.

—

In the Cortez family, hunting had always been a serious thing. Even before Victor’s death, Elena made sure that Emilio and his siblings understood the weight of it. There was no cutting up, no conversation. Most hunts had been expected to proceed in absolute silence. He remembered being eight and receiving harsh punishment for making too many sounds during a hunt, remembered his mother forcing his mouth closed for hours with the clock starting over each time he opened it.

This hunter, he thought, would have been bad at these exercises, but Emilio himself wasn’t much good at them anymore, either. He was much more prone to speaking on hunts now, to filling the silences with his dry humor or demanding answers or retribution from the undead he killed.

“You wanted me to stand here,” he replied, shrugging a shoulder. “I am giving you what you want. Why? Do you want help now?” The insult didn’t bother him as much as it might have years ago. Emilio had been called much worse than a pussy, and the fact that he knew he was irritating this stranger provided him with enough of a ‘win’ that he didn’t mind being insulted. He liked getting under people’s skin, after all. And he was pretty good at it.

He took a step back as the garkain dropped down, and it took every ounce of willpower he had in him not to jump into action instinctively. He wanted to fight, wanted to end this thing right away, but… he wanted to be petty just a little more. He watched the other hunter attempt to fend off the vampire with her ax, watched her gag on the stench of it. “Looking good,” he called out as the beast lunged at her again. He flashed her a thumbs up, nodding his head. “Doing great.”

—

Her sister had wielded silence as a weapon against their father. She’d never given him an inch, had given him the stoic silence befit of a ranger and a Volkov. She’d kept every word, every thought to herself, behind those unexpressive eyes. Her brother had spoken, of course, but only often in yes-ands, in words meant to please their father. His words had been clever daggers when wielded against her. And Daiyu? She made noise. She has always made noise, except when alone. She’d filled every room she entered with noise, because what else was there to do?

Later she’d blame it on the other’s presence, that this all went amiss. Because when she hunted by herself, it always went perfectly fine. She always yielded the results she needed — ending with a corpse or incapacitated animal, even if she got scratched and bleeding in the process. But now he was there. A slayer, someone probably objectively better at her than this. And he was watching. Like her brother, like her father.

She roared with rage as she swung down the axe again, not giving the other any quips in reply. As long as she kept making noise. As long as this ended with the horrid creature dead and the money hers. As long as she could be good at this one thing she was supposed to be good at.

The garkain was too fast, ducked out of the way and lunged at Daiyu, who tossed herself to the side, letting go off her axe in the process so she wouldn’t somehow hurt herself. The smell was on her now, eyes no longer just watering but fluttering. Garkains could render people unconscious, she remembered. She reached for her knife but it was too late — the vampire was on her, jaws widening, paws on either side of her head, a claw sunk in one of her shoulders. It was furious, just like her, and she roared right back at it, pulling up her legs to try and kick at a creature two feet taller than her.

—

In situations like this one, Emilio often found himself thinking of what his siblings would do. He thought of Victor, who was kind in his memory even if he wasn’t sure he had been in life. It had been so long since his oldest brother’s demise that it was hard to remember who he had been when he wasn’t a ghost, hard to remember the tangible version of him. Twelve year old boys idolized their big brothers, and the dead were morphed into something perfect in the minds of the living as a method of coping. So Victor, in his mind, was kind. The Victor that existed only to Emilio was gentle, was good. This Victor loved him; he didn’t know if the real one had.

He wondered what Victor — either the real one or the one invented by grief — would say to this hunter. Would he offer words of encouragement that were genuine instead of sarcastic? Would he toss her a blade, give her another chance to do what she so clearly wanted to do and win the fight on her own? Would he hold the creature down, risk life and limb to save her pride?

It was easier to know what Edgar or Rosa would have done. Their deaths were more recent, and he’d known them better in their lives. Rosa would have never let things get this far at all. She would have killed the garkain the moment she came across it, other hunter be damned. She would have turned it to dust and made a cruel remark to the woman with the gun, would have twisted the proverbial knife while twirling the physical one. Rosa had no room for weakness. It was why she’d always tried so hard to make Emilio strong. You can’t belong in this family if you’re soft, Milio, she told him once. He liked to think she’d said it out of love. He liked to think a lot of things.

Edgar, for his part, would have walked away. He would have left the woman to her fight, would have come back later to take care of the garkain while her corpse cooled on the ground. If someone didn’t want to be saved, Edgar wouldn’t bother saving them. He’d told Emilio as much once, flat and uncaring, and Emilio had felt a strange stone in the pit of his stomach that he pretended meant he agreed.

But Emilio wasn’t kind like the ghost of Victor. He didn’t have Rosa’s unwillingness to entertain, or Edgar’s ability to walk away from a fight. He watched the woman struggle until she was on the ground, and then he held his breath and stepped forward. He plunged his stake into the garkain’s back until it pierced the still heart in its chest, he let it crumble around her. Maybe he should have let her do it, the way Victor’s ghost would have done. Maybe he should have done it sooner, like Rosa, or later, like Edgar. But he wasn’t any of them. That had always been the root of the problem.

“You’re welcome,” he said flatly. “Anything broken?”

—

When she was sixteen, Daiyu nearly died. In Volkov tradition, Alexei’s three children had been pitted against each other one full moon. Dropped in a forest some hundred miles away from their usual woods, they were to finish off as many wolves as possible. Not together, of course — that was never the task, to work as a team, that was reserved for hunting camp. At the end of the day, Alexei wanted his children to be self-sufficient. To be able to fight their way tooth and nail out of any situation alone. To go for glory, at any cost.

Inna, clever Inna, she’d prepared herself better than her siblings. She was set to win, having used her people skills (that both Vissarion and Daiyu lacked) to get insider information on these woods and knew where they converged. Riling her little sister up was easy, as was leading her first towards the nest of the feral wolves. Draw them out with a bit of violent bait, and then take the kill — that was the plan. And Daiyu did as her sister orchestrated, moving in guns blazing, expecting to exit covered in blood but with the victory hers. Instead, she was outnumbered. Instead, her sister waited in the wings and watched Daiyu scream and bleed as she shot stray bullets. Inna’s finger on the trigger of her crossbow but never pushing it, making eye contact with her younger sister as she waited for her chance. It was Vissa’s voice cracking through the air that had snapped Inna out of it, that had pushed her into action — and in the end, the werewolves died as they were supposed and Daiyu was dragged out, carried home folded over her brothers shoulder.

She was lucky she hadn’t gotten bit, her father had told her after she’d waken up. She was lucky her brother had half a sense. She should have known better than to take all those wolves on by herself, should have thought a little longer and harder. Inna never apologized, even if something in her gaze seemed regretful. Daiyu didn’t learn her lesson: she just learned that she hated needing help.

So when her strange competitor came to her rescue and made the garkain turn into dust – its claw disappearing from her shoulder and in stead filling the orifice with whatever was left of it – Daiyu glowered. She scrambled back, pushed herself to her feet and glowered some more, letting her gaze fall from the slayer to the coating of dust on the forest floor.

“No.” Nothing was broken. Her shoulder hurt like a son of a bitch, would have to be cleaned and wrapped up but it would be fine, just another scar in the mix. Her body a map of mistakes. Inna didn’t have that many scars. Daiyu called it proof of her cowardice, but they both knew that wasn’t true. She pushed a hand against her shoulder, adding some pressure before moving for her axe. “I’ll tell ‘em it was you.” That was what this was about. Wasn’t it? It was for her, and she’d never really been one to put herself in another’s shoes. “Bounty’s yours. Congratu-fucking-lations.” A beat. She glowered even more. “Thanks.”

—

She reminded him a little of Rosa, he thought. That harsh determination, that fire in her eyes. But… Rosa had never been reckless like this. Rosa had always been smart, knew when to admit that she needed an extra set of hands and when to push someone else down to help herself to her feet. After Victor’s death, Rosa had taken her responsibility as the eldest Cortez sibling seriously, had learned from their brother’s mistake enough to put herself ahead. In the ranger’s shoes, Rosa would have never let herself get knocked to the ground, would have danced just out of reach or pushed the beast to attack Emilio instead of her.

No. No, the more he thought about it, she wasn’t like Rosa at all. Or Edgar, who would have killed the garkain instead of arguing with Emilio about it, or Victor who might have offered a kind word. No, if this ranger was like any of the Cortez siblings, it was Emilio, with his hot head and his stubborn anger. Emilio, with his beating heart. Was it better to be like him if he was the only one who’d survived? Or was there more honor in dying when you were supposed to?

He eyed her as she stood, pushing thoughts of his siblings and their ghosts from his mind as he gave her a quick once-over because if it were him, he’d have said he was fine even with every bone in his body shattered and she had the same anger burning in her eyes that he felt in his own chest, so they probably had a little more in common than either of them would care to admit. But he couldn’t see anything outwardly wrong beyond the wound in her shoulder, and he figured she could take care of that herself.

He was about to turn to leave when she spoke again. Turning back to her, Emilio furrowed his brow, tilting his head to the side slightly. “What bounty?”

—

The camaraderie between hunters had always been something Daiyu struggled with. Though she longed for connection, she somehow always seemed to crash and burn on her way to it. Besides, there was so often something in other hunters she disliked and simply had to spit on. The worst thing a hunter could be, though, was better than her. To beat her at the game she was trying to win herself. To put her in her place.

She disliked the slayer because she disliked herself, which was how it always went. She saw something in a potential ally or friend that she despised within her and so she fought against any potential relationship. Daiyu felt anger rise in her at her failure and with the other still there she aimed it all at him, even if only mentally, getting ready to stomp off into a different direction and curse the slayer until she’d used any and all expletives she knew. She knew quite a lot, so it’d at least keep her busy for a while.

Her hand continued to press into her shoulder, eyes narrowed at the back of the stranger until he turned around. She amped up her glower. “The bounty. For the garkain. I figure that’s why you were on my ass about this stupid thing and couldn’t just let me have it?” It had always been hard for Daiyu to think like another might. Her mind was so contradictory and full that there was little room for such understanding. “Go get it. I’ll even fucking vouch for you, if you want. Congrats. You got your buck.”

—

He used to be better at this. Getting along with other hunters used to be so much easier than getting along with anyone who wasn’t a hunter, as evidenced by the way he’d so quickly built up a relationship with Juliana or his dynamic with Rhett. But something had shifted somewhere along the line. Maybe it had happened in Mexico, when Lucio’s betrayal killed everyone he’d ever loved in one fell swoop. Or maybe it came later, when he started befriending bugbears and vampires and viewing anyone who might hurt them as a threat. His mother would be ashamed of him now, he knew. In the woods, fighting with another hunter while preparing to go home to someone who’d spent most of their life being the target of hunters even if they weren’t anymore. She’d hate him for it.

But she’d hate him for a lot of things, wouldn’t she? She’d died hating him already. He couldn’t lament on the fact that she’d be ashamed of him now without acknowledging the way she already had been. Emilio had been a disappointment even when he’d been trying to do everything right. There was no changing that. So the familiar anger burning in his chest was a nice change, a cheerful reprieve. He’d rather be angry at a stranger for being difficult than admit how angry he was at a ghost he didn’t know how to hate.

“I don’t give a shit about any bounty,” he spat out, the word feeling distasteful on his tongue. Emilio had never much cared for the practice of being paid to hunt. That, at least, was something his entire family had managed to agree upon. “I was on your ass because you were going to get yourself killed. If you want the bounty, you take it. I’m not going to claim it.” He turned away again, walking back in the direction he’d come. “Next time you want to take out something undead, call me. I’ll bring fucking popcorn.”

—

What did it say about her, that she was so angry at the person who’d saved her life? Maybe just that she liked to rage against anything and everything, that there an oppositional force within her that could not be tamed. Maybe it meant that her father’s lessons had still, somehow, hit home. That Daiyu agreed with him, that to rely on others was weakness, that one was strongest alone. Or maybe it said something worse, something she didn’t quite want to face, something about how much she valued her life, at the end of the day. She never spent much time assessing the source of her anger — she just let it burn and dealt with the aftermath and let that be that.

The aftermath would come in the silence of the woods when the slayer and her had separated ways, but now was still the time for the burning. Her knuckles burned white as she clenched the axe, her eyes were angry slits and her shoulder pulsating angrily with pain. Every wave of ache a reminder of her failure, of the fact that she would have been fine if this slayer hadn’t showed up. (Or, perhaps, she would have been dead.)

And the fact that he hadn’t been after the bounty made her all the more enraged. Why was she always so blind, so shortsighted? Why did she assume all people opponents? Daiyu huffed. “I’m not gonna claim shit,” she said, because she was still a prideful being. She glared at the dust that had been the garkain. She opened her mouth that she’d taken on bigger and worse creatures than this, but her heart was beating in her shoulder. “You know what? I think I won’t!” She started stalking off in a different direction. “See you never!” And though she knew this was a small town, she said it with full conviction.

#bountyhaunter #daiyu: unfriendly competition #wickedswriting

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thygoddessouijathicc · 1 year

Text

Phone Dave Chapter 3: Steven

(Steven in this AU is such a bitch I love him)

Jack had been trying to interact with Dave for a week.

Neither had been successful.

The restaurant was in a back alley part of Reno, the customers who came were committed but with no employees… they had made all of $100 the entire week. 40% made up Dave’s paycheque for an hour.

The phone was a hard worker, for sure. Jack had never seen a phone who… well did half as much. But he couldn’t do everything.

There was only one option with how Freddy’s was run. Animatronics. They needed workers but couldn’t afford them until they had any actual income. Any animatronic would do.

And for that, they needed funding. It would be easy if they could just scavenge, but Freddys was so profitable that there wasn’t anywhere to get them.

The restaurant was doomed. That much was clear.

“Mr Kennedy… Mr Kennedy wake up…” Jack shot back into the present.

“WHUH!?!”

“Mr Kennedy, you zoned out like an idiot in the middle of my question.”

“Sorry… s’ good weed.”

The phone sighs in exasperation. “Sir, we have a member of upper management coming in an hour, get ready.”

Right… Dave set up a meeting without asking to try to get funding.

Jack stands up, scattering the empty pizza boxes, cigarette packs, blunts, and empty bottles that covered his body on the ground.

Dave suddenly makes a dialup noise.

“What?”

“MR KENNEDY WHAT THE H-HECK!?”

“Hmmm?”

“SIR… SIR YOU’RE-!”

“I’m what?”

“YOU’RE HECKING NAKED!!!!!”

“What I’m… SHIT FUCK I’M SORRY!!!” Jack says, quickly covering himself with one of the boxes.

“J-just be decent for when they get here.”

…

Jack walks out of the office in his usual horrible outfit of a green coat covered in sequins with both a tiger and leopard pattern on it, skinny jeans, cowboy boots, no shirt, and a terrible blonde wig that looks like it could have been alive.

Dave glares at him with no eyes.

“What I’m decent.”

“YOU’RE SHIRTLESS.”

“I’m wearing a tie.”

“ITS GOT HOT-WHEELS ON IT!!!”

“My finest garment.”

“AT LEAST STRAIGHTEN IT OUT!!!”

“Ahem.” Another Scott voice says. Both of them look to see Steven himself leaning against a doorway. “I hope I’m not interrupting… whatever this is.”

“Eeep! No- no worries Sir! We were just finishing our discussion… w-what brings the Company Representative himself down to our objectively terrible location?”

“Both of you used to work for me. Oh and my memory could be a LITTLE fuzzy but I also distinctly remember you both left me to burn to death in the wreckage of my location.”

“I… don’t remember that sorry. Quite fortunately I have yet to remember-“

“I don’t care.”

“Who pissed in your coffee…” Jack mutters. He remembers Steven not being a great boss but he seems to have gotten worse.

God he wished Steven died in the fire-

“I heard that.” The red phone states.

“Good because-“ Dave shoves his hand over Jack’s mouth.

“Hahahahaha… funny joke sir but let’s not insult the company representative. I’ll kill you if we go bankrupt Mr Kennedy.” He whispers the last part.

“Well. It’s good to see one of you has a brain. Now, are you going to keep bickering and wasting my valuable time or are we going to do something?”

“Y-yes sir I’ll show you around. Mr Kennedy will follow us and say nothing because I don’t want him to ruin everything and if I lock him in the janitorial closet he’d just escape.”

“I’m very slippery.”

“Right.” Steven sighs in exasperation.

…

“And here’s the Saferoom. You’ll notice a stark lack of blood! This is because we just opened, the quantity will rise.”

“Uhuh… and the moss.”

“It ate my cleaning supplies sir.”

“Seems like you hardly tried.”

“Uhhhhhh… moving on! This is the dining room. Mr Kennedy has employed… some kind of ghost? I didn’t question it because he didn’t question the lack of pay.”

“Ah yes, ghost Ronaldo. How predictable.”

“Y-yes sir! Next up we have the prize corner!”

Matt stares intently at the 3 of them.

“That concludes our viewing of the prize corner.”

“Thank god.” Steven says, seemingly actually genuinely thankful.

Understandable. Matt is horrifyingly.

“N-next is the dining area! It’s only got a few people right now… Mr Kennedy says they’re his friends. I think they are trash and are scaring away better customers.”

“Eh you just don’t get it Davey.” Jack says, throwing his arm over Dave’s shoulder.

“I barely tolerate this bizarre nickname you have given me in the first place, don’t push it by using a nickname of this nickname.”

“Davey~”

“Sleep lightly tonight Kennedy, sleep lightly.”

“If you two would stop having your lovers quarrel for 5 hecking minutes, thank you.”

“We are not lovers sir, I am the manager and he is the terrible owner, it would be highly unprofessional.”

“I’m technically your boss you know-“

“Rule one, you are not my boss, you are my friend. I do not see you as a friend however I will take this to mean that you are in fact not my boss, and are my subordinate.”

“COULD YOU TWO CONTINUE THE TOUR NOW!?”

“Don’t worry Phoney, I go this.” Jack says, cracking his knuckles.

“Oh no…”

Jack leads them down a hallway.

“On your left you’ll see our world class one of a kind Foxy Stripclub. There used to be more but they got closed. I was the reason they got closed. Now, as you’re both phones I’d bet-“

“Hahahahahaaaa Mr Kennedy is kidding. IGNORE HIM.”

“Well I mean you two could get up on stage yourselves if-“

“Pardon?” Steven questions.

“HAHAHA JUST KIDDING! One more word and you never walk again.”

“Anyway moving on from that is the ballpit! Music man has nested here.”

“Music man?” Steven asks, disgust in his artificial voice.

“He’s a beloved member of the Fazbender’s family.” Jack explains. “Next we have this little shitty playground full of tetanus that we stole from McDonalds.”

“It’s not that much tetanus… just enough to kill my annoying as heck “friend” here Mr Kennedy if he doesn’t shut the heck up.”

“Next is the bathrooms! They haven’t been cleaned since the 60s!”

“I… can smell that.” Steven says… phones can smell… noted… well I mean it’s not the first time.

“Ooookay… and our final stop… the stage! As you can see there are no animatronics! We need some. Can you please give us the money?”

A moment passes. “Hmmmm… no… no I can’t.”

“Oh that’s ok sir I-“ Dave starts.

“And why not?”

“See I don’t see this location being successful.”

“Dave’s a pretty good phone.”

“You know what… let’s be real here… IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW GOOD HE IS. This is a back alley location full of crackheads run by a pothead who’s recent twitter posts indicate-“

“Phoney do you follow my twitter?”

“-INDICATE THAT HE IS MAKING $100 A WEEK AND THINKS THATS GOOD. There has never been a less successful location.”

“What’s the harm in giving us one animatronic!? FUCKING BALLOON BOY! GIVE US FUCKING BALLOON BOY!!!”

“I wouldn’t give you a stick of gum.”

Jack glares at the phone, he glares back… then the door is kicked down by a man dressed as Candy a The Cat, he is carrying a gun.

“VENGEANCE FOR CANDY’S!!!!!!!!!” The man starts shooting at them, Jack manages to grab both phones’ arms and starts to bolt down the hallway to his office.

As soon as he makes it to the room he shuts and locks the door.

“Let me out there I can fight him.” Dave says.

“I’m not letting you get shot.”

“Life and Limb for the Fazbender’s Brand Mr Kennedy, that’s my motto.”

“I’m not letting you get shot.”

“I have a rocket launcher. I could-“ Steven starts

“I’m not letting you get shot.”

Jack starts to dig around in a large pile of takeout bags and rats until he finds a locker covered in Lightning McQueen stickers.

“Mr Kennedy, do you just really like race cars? Because if you do that’s fine but you could just admit that.”

“I will admit nothing.” Jack says as he starts inputting the code, getting it wrong.

“What… what’s your plan?” Steven says, still trying to sound intimidating.

Jack manages to open the safe and pulls out a gun. “I’m going to go get shot for your sorry asses.”

“Mr Kennedy I highly doubt-“

“Shhhhhhh.” Jack puts a finger over where Dave’s mouth should be.

“You know my mouth is under my dial r-?”

“Shhhhh… I’ll be back.” Jack blows a kiss at both phones and kicks down the door while yelling.

“He’s doomed right?” Steven asks.

“Oh yeah totally. Heck…”

…

“Hey bitches.” Jack says, entering the room covered in blood.

“Mr Kennedy! You’re… covered in blood.”

“It’s not mine don’t worry.”

“Did you ACTUALLY beat that Candy the Cat freak?” Steven asks.

“Didn’t kill him, it’s been like 12 years since I’ve killed anyone and I don’t want to break that streak.”

“But you did stop him?”

“Oh yeah I did.”

“Well… in light of recent developments I…. Ahem… have decided to grant you two unrestricted access to the condemned animatronic warehouse. It’s free… technically illegal… but hey you know the old Fazbender’s motto, Sweep it Under The Rug It’ll Probably Be Fine.”

…

The two wave as Steven gets into his car which Jack is totally not weird about.

“I see this not being the last time we interact. I’m sure you’ll be in dire need of help again.” Steven says. “Catch you on the Flipside.”

The man drives away, and Jack sighs and sits down in the parking lot.

“You know, I wouldn’t mind seeing him again Mr Kennedy.” Dave says.

“You know what Dave? Me neither.” Jack sighs, before passing out.

#dsaf #dayshift at freddy's #dsaf dave #dsaf jack #davesport #dsaf old sport #dsaf steven #dsaf phone guy #dsaf fanfics #dsaf fanfic #candy the cat guy #steve minecraft

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yourlocalzombie · 1 year

Text

(Regrowth - Chaos)

Edit - rewrote the ending

_______

Some time had passed, which led to its own new event: Total Chaos.

The fighting game run by Cub, filled with violence, blood, potions and fire. It was always quite the event. Cleo, of course, participated.

For someone who claimed to abhor fighting, they always a way to do so.

The players all met and had the rules read to them. Etho had his wary eye on cleo, who herself was eying him down intently. But, she felt her own breath starting to fail. Her skin was sweating. And, of course, became acutely aware of bugs that had, once again, started to take residence in her abdominal cavity.

They'd get rid of the things soon enough.

Everyone donned the iron armor. Everyone picked up their iron sword. And Everyone fashioned their Totem of Undying onto their waist.

They entered the pale, white, concrete room.

Cub stood above them, watching:

"When the first dripstone falls, you may began!"

A lever could be heard as it was moved.

After a short delay, it fell.

And with that, everything rapidly descended. Totems were used, people out almost as fast.

Cleo was often overlooked. She wasn't a threat to fight, unlike false, who often drew everyone's ire. And perhaps some still remained scared of cleo, given her massive stature. She towered over almost everyone else, and given her durable nature, it just wasn't worth fighting her on that front either.

Joe was the only one who went after cleo, finding her standing beneath a healing spot. He knew she wasn't a big threat, but cleo knew he was the same.

They fought more like cats smacking each other than anything serious. As everyone else was actually injuring or even killing each other, the two had mere scratches.

Some of the hermits were shouting about healing areas, and Joe added, of course:

"Yeah! Look for the red areas, like where cleo is getting stabbed!"

"Honestly Joe, you're not stabbing me hard."

And with that, Jevin had snuck up to attack Joe. Cleo scurried away, knowing she wasn't a big enough threat to be focused.

On top of the general chaos, shulkers were hidden beneath, shooting at the contenders. Cleo, within due time, found herself floating on numerous occasions. She had even reached the lava within the ceiling, the too of her head and part of her face burning and even starting to melt off. Nonetheless, even after falling several high heights, she carried on.

There was something cleo always was: patient. A vulture who waited on predator to hunt prey and profit. She saw everyone else tear each other to shreds. And waited.

They knew a vulture was there, but too distracted to see it.

She waited for Etho to shoot false down, and swooped in. Etho ran before turning to fight, moving rapidly against cleo's harried strikes.

That is, of course, cleo remembered her hands are a better weapon than this clunky blade.

Letting one hand leave the handle, she reached out, grabbing the man with startling speed. No amount of struggle even made the zombie flinch or loosen up.

Cleo lifted their sword, impaling the poor man through the chest. She would've used their hands but...no, that would've been too brutal and painful. Perhaps on some level, it was revenge, but he was undeserving of such. A sword had its nobility and cleanness, even if cleo never learned how to use it.

The chaos had ended, cleo standing above the rest. She had forgotten to breath, having held in a breath from...who knows when. And she felt...off. Wrong.

The half-skeletal watcher took shape from beetles, which had been rattled out of Cleo's body from the fighting.

"Cleo, my vulture, I have unfortunate news."

"Grand. What is it, then?"

"This chaos has attracted a watcher."

Cleo sighed. Of course it did.

The skeleton faded to beetles once more, this time to leave the room. As this happened, skulk sprouted from the walls. The hostile moss eventually took shape that resembled a warden, but...animalistic. The six-legged beast still had the signature open ribcage, seemingly doubling as a mouth. The head held only horns, which Cleo had assumed grown in place of eyes. A tail made of souls followed close behind.

"Death, how good for the skulk!" The thing hissed, continuing, "but it craves some more."

"I'm not easy prey, beast. Go. Away."

"We both know you're lying, sombie."

The beast started to cackle, "so let'ss begin!"

The beast circled its prey, and cleo threw her sword to the side.

The clunky thing was more harmful the useful.

The combatants stared at each other, waiting for one to make a move.

The false warden proved less patient lunging forward first. The zombie moved to the side, grabbing a leg and knocking the beast off balance. In return, the tail grabbed her and threw her to the wall. Barely reorienting herself, she responded to another pounce, grabbing onto two teeth protruding from the chest.

Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was something she could always do. Regardless, the hermits watched in amazement as cleo threw the best off themself.

She then launched her own offensive, throwing punches. Many missed, but what did land left the beast rather dazed. At one point during this bout, she grabbed onto a spiky horn.

They found the horn to be more loose than expected. Perhaps it wasn't a natural growth, coming with the skulk. Regardless, it was surprisingly sensitive and loose.

That was probably why it was as spiky as it was.

It left cleo's hand bleeding heavily, but she had found her victory. And the creature knew it.

The creature clawed in retaliation, leaving hefty wounds on cleo's torso. Then, trying to grab her with its smaller pair of front limbs.

Cleo and the beast grappled, as if even in physical strength.

The teeth clattered, vaguely resembling speech, "and here I thought that deer wass going yo be the hardessT!"

"What?"

"The deer you're sso fond of! Been too long ssince I had good venisson!"

Cleo understood now. A small part of them believed the beast to just be getting a rise out of her, but the rest was lost to fury.

"You son of a bitch!"

Cleo threw the beast to the side, rushing over and working to ensure the beast could not get up again. She clawed and tore at joints best she could. Ravaging the flesh of the creature, who, while able to stand, was finding it increasingly difficult.

The creature pounced one last time, narrowly missing the enraged zombie.

The zombie returned the favor, moving to climb on top of the beast. And when she had dome as such, she grabbed onto a horn and pulled. The beast tried to grab at Cleo, to no avail.

And in this struggle, the beast's harried movements failed to remove the zombie. Cleo pulled and in time, yanked out the horn. Red and blue blood mixed, and as the beast screamed in pain, and the zombie repositioned the horn in their hand.

The enraged zombie then took the horn and stabbed the beast's head repeatedly, only falling off as the creature lost shape and retreated into moving skulk.

Cleo's hand gripped the horn tightly, and her hand was further torn. She bled heavily, her body seemingly making no attempt to heal. The white room had been stained mostly red with this blood, with patches of blue from the skulk-beast watcher.

Some breaths later, cleo had reoriented herself enough to leave. Her body ached tremendously, but they managed to find an exit. She walked past the group of her former combatants, who were stuck in awe, and made the fastest exit she could. Some attempted to go after the woman, trying to aid her, but she simply walked on. They responded to neither plea nor force, trudging away.

...

As time passed, so did distance, and Cleo found themself in the forest. They had, knowingly or otherwise, found instict guiding them to Gem's palace. Much of the blood had now dried, but her undeath limited what healing they were capable of. Her wounds often required magic or replacement, unable to close entirely on their own. In some cases, stitching was just enough, but often needed to be replaced.

The watcher that had warned them did was not present but its words rang in cleo's mind, as the skeleton briefly praised them for fighting away the beast.

And tge skulk had left its own message, suggesting Gem's demise or harm.

But their legs began to fail, and their mind fading. But she continued with a crawl, using the horn as leverage and pulling themself.

But, alas, it was futile, and the zombie fell unconscious in the forest.

The last thing they had seen were the hooves of a deer.

#action scenes arent my specialty #tw violence #hermitcraft #zombiecleo #cubfan135 #geminitay #ethoslab #joe hills #false is mentioned lol #so is jevin #tw blood

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leanna32 · 10 months

Text

The lily has a smooth stalk,

Will never hurt your hand;

But the rose upon her brier

Is lady of the land.

There’s sweetness in an apple tree,

And profit in the corn;

But lady of all beauty

Is a rose upon a thorn.

When with moss and honey

She tips her bending brier,

And half unfolds her glowing heart,

She sets the world on fire.

#instant folllow back #follow #like #relationship #lovers

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zahramorningstar · 6 months

Text

The lily has a smooth stalk,

Will never hurt your hand;

But the rose upon her brier

Is lady of the land.

There’s sweetness in an apple tree,

And profit in the corn;

But lady of all beauty

Is a rose upon a thorn.

When with moss and honey

She tips her bending brier,

And half unfolds her glowing heart,

She sets the world on fire.

=============================

Christina Rossetti, ‘The Rose’.

#mysticism #occultism #venus #esoteric #poetry #art #digital art #divine feminine #higher self #love thyself #catalyst

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swiftlydolphin13 · 1 year

Text

ok swifties i put my writing skills to an eras fanfic yes you read that correctly

My attempt an an eras fanfic lol Lol my fanfic era haha

[Based some elements on alef vernons eras art, specifically tayrealm/eras swords, this fan fic is non-canon to alef vernons work (unless you decide to get inspo from some of these scenes/stories, which i dont mind!!!) Just a big, for-fun, non-profit swiftie contribution to the fandom!!!! All stories are here on tumblr for free!!! For all the swifties (: and....Taylor??? (': ]

YUP AND SETTING IS THE LOVER HOUSE

~CHAPTER 1~

"Its been a long time coming!!!" Lover exhaled at the sight of her first order of crunchwrapped burritos rep had plopped on the table.

"You owe me, Love" rep uttered dryly, through a smile.

"Ha." chuffing coyly, lover could see right through rep, as always, knowing her edge was just for show. "I cant make any promises, but ill make you a drink." she grinned, and shyly dragged the warm package close to her.

"FOOD????" A disasterous cacophany of cowboy boots stomped down the spiral staircase. A Barely brushed, half-haggardly stumbling, debut.

"Not for you 'bu!" Rep waved over to her. "But sharing is caring!!!" debut exclaimed, "y'all know i was the first to move in here but the perks??? Dryer than snakeskin in the sahara desert. cant i get, like, special dibs on food????"

" 'Bu is right, sharing is caring!" lover scrunched her face in endearment toward debut. After all, being the youngest of the bunch, she rarely goes out too much on her own, and is always looking from the Outside. "get over here."

Wild curls, reveling in their early morning pre-brush reign, rattled and bounced as debut skipped across the living room into the kitchen.

"I ordered double,... Triple actually. i knew you and fearless would catch me now," lover winked.

"Fearless is asleep, but you can eat upstairs and bring her breakfast in bed this morning...."

"....Like a princess!" lover and debut chimed in unison.

'Bu beamed. She always had a soft spot for lover. After all. Shell never forget when she asked for all her old journals and had them organized and read out. She always had something wise to say about debuts wild shenanigans. She saw debut's wild fire almost as much as….

"HAS ANYONE SEEN THE BUTTERFLY I LEFT ON THE WINDOWSILL!?"

jars clattering and clanging can be heard from the kitchen, but its origins are far from it.

"Folklore what did you bring in the house THIS TIME!?" Rep exclaimed.

"IT WAS A RARE MORPH!" Her Footsteps slow ombre toward the kitchen, clatter and clinking of jars accompanied her.

she appeared with her typically umkept hair, yet somehow still harmonious with her tattered nightgown, always trailed by moss or leaves, despite always swearing she slept in the house the entire time (almost, at least)

"I found a rare dead monarch morph yesterday and left it by the windowsill, i hadnt preserved it yet cause i was due to go out to get some more supplies… Have any of you seen it…?"

"Listen i may be the snake of the group but i havent seen your butterfly, fol."

"Damn it!!! It was rare!!!! "

"I was THERE!" red skittered down the stairs to defend folklores lost claim.

red can usually be seen trailing behind folklore, Jittery and in endearingly awkward humor, in her squirrel pattern pijamas or squirrel morph, gathering up nuts of the chaotic kind.

"I remember it all too well... she placed it on the window sill last night."

Debut uttered a small squeak and looked at lover, while pointing to speak now's room.

Folklore caught the subtleties.

" speak now took my butterfly?"

"No…" Rep caught on.

Low rumbling Sounds emerged from speaknow's room.

"Oh…."

" its her time of month, isnt it?"

Smoke rose from the cat door as it slowly creaked open….. Scratches were heard from the door that seemed like a small pet. But Who emerged was far from it… a dragon, barely fitting the size of the door nonetheless.

"Yup" all said in unison.

"Looks like you skip breakfast today speak," Rep said.

"Yall never get me my cravings before they start!!! " she explained through her chewing. "So i had to resort to folklores room!!!" Speak rumbled, before coughing up some ash over folklore.

Omg Sorry!!! Morning voice :(

Nah, folklore waved a hand in the air. "Im covered in dirt anyways."

"But….i didnt eat the butterfly, swear. a muffled, cronching speak insisted. "Snacked on some of the wisterias though. Sorry :("

"Thats okay, i planted those for you :)"

Speak now: ……(:

"Well, then if you didnt then…."

Sounds of heaving were very audiably going down the stairs.

"Speak- speakn-n now isnt the only enchanted one here …" debut stuttered.

Yeah, we got merideth olivia, benji thats taken care of by…

An auburn cat emerges, looking sickly.

"Evermore…"

"EVERMORE YOU KNOW THOSE ARE POISONOUS!" folklore exclaimed.

"reeellalaax, im not THAT fucked in the head." evermore said through the coughs, " the butterfly? Oh thats GONE," evermore explained.

"Emergency spell last night, i have to show up for work today, and i cant show up to work LIKE THIS, im a monster on my time of month you know….. im not some fae that sprout wings once a month," she glared at folklore playfully.

"Ha, ha." Well, in MY OPINION… you should show up to work in whatever form of your nature."

"Im just as dignified;" evermore adds. but the spring lunar cycles are always that damn season for allergies…."

Folklore teased a smile. "Either way, i guess you cant pass my wrath this time."

Evermore took out a small jar of ember sap and took a sip. Smoke suddenly filled the room as a golden orb appeared around evermore, growing until she returned to her human form again.

"Thats MUCH BETTER." evermore straightened her terra cotta tone dress adjusting the frills and evergreen cape. "a temporary potion, but...As a high sorceress you think i'd get used to this by now, but im ashamed im probably still fucked in the head. I'll never remember to prep for these spring allergies."

Eras fanfic (updated 3/31/23)

-CHAPTER 2: JUMP THEN FALL-

Now that the dust had settled, the eras scattered to their respective morning dues.

Debut skittered upstairs with the breakfast burrito lover gave her and her plus one, eager to share it with her room neighbor.

Debut slowly peeked into fearless' room slowly creeped near her bed and… "…FEARLESS! BURRITO!!!"

fearless' wild curls covered her whole face, looking like a golden shrub that took over the sheets.

Debut tossed the burrito over any way, getting absorbed in the golden shrub.

"The scent should wake you up sleepyhead!!! commiting to the princess motif, arent you?"

"Mmmmhhh… whats going on…???"

Her mind caught up to the added warmth over her shoulder, and felt for its location without raising her face.

"Cmon!!! We can eat together by the patio. My burritos already getting cold!!!

Fearless finally turned over, sighing. Shes always one of the last to wake in the mornings, but was hardly ever grouchy. She tossed her hair out of her own face, and beamed deviously at debut.

"Its speak nows enchanted week right? Her time of month?"

"Yeah. She was the center of folklores butterfly fiasco this morning… Until it was evermore….."

"But thats a great excuse…." Fearless smiled.

" ....to have her fire our burritos."

debut burst out with a laugh "see ive always liked the way you think," "RACE YOU TO THE BATHROOM??? looks like ill win this time i got a head start!!!!"

"NOT ON MY WATCH !!!!" fearless sprang out of bed, and suddenly two wild golden streaks lined the hallways.

thinking they reached the bathroom, they burst in .

They bumped into the newest member of the family, and her room

Oh where are YOU TWO little rascals up to???

Ooohhh sorry midnights!!!!! We keep forgetting this rooms repurposed." Fearless looks flushed as she and debut look at eachother.

"No worries," midnights assured. She quickly turned to the erratically tweaking and ticking artisan grandmother clock she had been working on.

Ever since she moved in, Midnights room has been an enigma. Always hearing a plethora of creaks, tuning and turning gears in the middle of the night. None of the eras ever took the time to ask what was going on, and only assumed that midnights never desired to be bothered by such a question.

Now… debut and fearless wouldnt had dared step in hadnt they been serendipitously distracted by their competition… But now that they were here….

debut backed and turned away, with fearless hesitantly… turning back.

"What-…. Whatcha workin' on????"

Clinks and tinkering sounds of a pleaseant volume accompanied their conversation.

Ohhh, just a bit for a trip im taking…

"Ooohh!!!! Where are you going?? " fearless asked.

Debut tapped fearless on the shoulder. " more like when…. "

Suddenly what fearless hadnt noticed took form around her. A moving board of Maps of several time periods of each era mapped out on its cork wall, along with various equations, calculations and mysterious locations.

The room in fact was leviathan, ceilings raised up higher than the roof of the lover house itself, as well as its shape greatly mismatching. Rounded, it looked like a library belonging to an old castle rather than the refurbished bathroom fearless and debut had mistaken it for previously. walls stacked with books upon books, wooden bookshelves with a coat of midnight blue yet with edges fading. despite midnights new addition, it was as if time ran its course over them. wood embedded dividers of each section, portruding as intricate wooden carvings, lines parallelling then intertwining and streaking in parallell yet again. The heart beat of time echoing through the ceiling taken from a cathedral. The whole ambiance crisp, yet cold, as if the air from the room originated from elsewhere, as if midnights room was enchanted itself.

"Can we uhh… Take a look at your room??? Uh, weve never been here before and … It looks pretty neat." Fearless voice echoed, bouncing off the cielings. She mustered up some more confidence quickly, upon detecting midnights chilled nature.

"Sure, just dont touch anything."

Midnights spoke in a calm yet slightly stern voice, carring wisdom effortlessly with each intonation. A voice that could get even Fearless and debuts' fire to settle.

"Okay, " debut and fearless agreed.

The motioned across the room to a far corner, that had aisles of ancient looking artifacts that seemed engulfed in lore and story.

Debut and fearless could not resist, swords of different eras displayed, each with its set place to rest.

"Wow…. I never knew we had this much stuff…" Debut said in a hushed tone, in awe of the sythe before her.

"Omg look!!! Theres one for evermore and folklore too!! ….woah…. Does that mean i have one too??"

Fearless pitter pattered ahead of debut to the second aisle, And caught the glint of a golden sword..

"LOOK, Debut!! I HAVE ONE!!!!"

Debut caught up with fearless , careful to stay a safe distance from the swords.

"Lookk this is soooo cool and look you have one!!!"

Fearless' sword looked like an intricate key, while debuts looked mirrored like the surface of a lake.

She leaned in for a closer look.

"This is so neat…. " fearless' voice seemed to trail off.

"Yeah. I never knew we had this… Pretty cool. We can look more later though fearless, im actually kind of hungry…."

"Me… Tooo…." Fearless was entranced by the gleaming glint of her sword, which suddenly started glowing.

Oh my gosh, YOURE glowing!

"Yeah, its cool, the sword is doing that !!"

"No, YOURE GLOWING!"

fearless looked at her own hands and arms. Slowly, the glow overtook her whole form and brightened, enveloping her in golden light, glowing just under brightness that you could still see fearless astonishment.

"Debut!!!! Whats happening!!!"

"I dont know!!!"

From the bottom up, fearless started disintegrating, becoming golden glitter flecks that began to funnel into the fearless sword.

"FEARLESS OH MY GOD!!! MIDNIGHTS!!!"

Midnights overheard the commotion and sprang to the scene in the back of the room, taking a few moments to reach the far corner where fearless sword was.

Skittering through the last aisle, midnights exclaimed " I told you not to touch anything!!!"

"We didnt!!!" Debut and fearless said in unison, before a partly departed fearless wholly dissapeared into embellished gleams of light, warping into the center of the fearless sword.

"FEARLESS!!!!!"

debut cried. " WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!! SHE DIED DEAD, IM SURE SHE DIED DEAD!!!"

"You NEED to calm down, debut" midnights somberly put her hand on her shoulder

" i shouldve taken this into the equation..."

"What do you mean??"

Well…. Quantum entanglement. You wouldnt-

Debuts eyes glared for awnsers.

Midnights sighed. " you know that each of you have a ceartain quality to you that makes you unique right?"

"Yeah."

"And like attracts like?"

"Yeeeahh...???" Debuts brows furrowed.

"Well what if i told you... ive been masterminding with other versions of each of you that exist through space time???"

"Uhhh… Wouldnt you need PERMISSION FOR THAT???"

"well…. Thats the thing…. I didnt have time to ask for permission…."

What do you mean??? Are we in trouble???

….sort of…? You have…. A chance to be locked in this house forever if i hadnt stepped in…. Well. Except lover.

Permission was taken from us…why is just lover safe??? Whats so special about lover??? (except the fact that she is literally my MOTHER compared to y'all. Debut thinks to herself.)

"Its…. A lot to explain." The important thing for you to know is that where fearless is, is safe…. Shell be taken care of, by … Herself."

"WHAT!? SHES TRAPPED THERE ALL ALONE??? OH MY GOD HOW COULD YOU!!"

"Debut please! Im telling you… Shes not alone…. Shes with herself…. Her other self….."

-CHAPTER 3 THE FEARLESS REALM-

HEY GUYS…? where- where am i…???? Guys????"

An eerie silence filled the grass clearing.

Fearless plopped on the grass, limbs still spread as she then sat up.

A grumbling noise caught her attention.

"…Damn it. I never got to eat the breakfast burrito. "

"Yeah im never getting outta here."

"You could always touch grass" a voice echoed from the shrubbery.

"i AM touching grass." fearlessly immediately awnsered but quickly realized ... Who- what? This this strangers tomfoolery was untimely. fearless snapped, "Are you saying that literally touching grass is not enough??? what do you want me to do, eat it???"

"Sure, thats what i'd do"

Out of the bushes arrived, perhaps just in time…

"A white horse!?"

Yeah yeah, get on. Its not too late, she winked.

"Hmmm. Red taught me not to just get on any white horse though…"

"Ohh, but im not just any white horse."

The horse began to Emit an off white aura gruadually shining brighter in intensity as she clopped closer to fearless.

"More GLOWING? im getting in trouble again." fearless backed away slightly, still sitting on the soft grass, gripping it in anxiousness.

A white orb enveloped the horse, and out from it appeared a tall blonde woman, much older than fearless.

Why do you look like..?

"Hi, im you, (uh, your, version.)"

Taylors version?? What do you mean??

"Well…. Thats not important right now, i just need to get you somewhere safe so … Just follow me."

Fearless tv took fearless' hand leading her into the deeper forest.

Fearless tv whistled, and upon doing so, a heard of white horses galloped to her.

She approached one of them and mounted, and extended her hand to fearless.

You couldnt trust me back there, how about now?

She took her hand and said " well why would i trust a white horse ive never seen before???"

"Hmmm… Red taught you well…. But sometimes… The road is trecherous, and theres no choice so you better hold on!!!"

…."Heyah!"

The herd of white horses picked up great speed, something fearless was usually used to, but in this big new world without her old friends around, she definately felt more unsure of everything."

The forest eventually cleared, and what was before her was a castle, a tower at the center.

"Were home." fearless tv sighed.

Two cats lined the door immediately.

"Fearless tv where HAVE you been? 5 minutes late to dinner again!" Screeched a demanding Meredith.

"Calm down Meredith" Benjamin pleaded. its always like this with you, cant you trust her a bit? She gives us The best pets in the Tayrealm, have a little faith."

"There's literally MULTIPLES of her now? and she still manages to be late." Meredith scoffed.

Fearless tv sighed, leaning over the cats.

"....Hey guys." She beamed, smiling with her eyes.

"Wheres ....?"

"Oh, shes already eaten all the jars full of the enchanted honey from the evermore tree you gathered, and went out for more."

"She travelled that far AGAIN?" Fearless exclaimed.

Benjamin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we keep telling her its an addiction, but she says she has it """under control""" air quoting with his paws.

rustling from the leaves near the castle entrance caught all of their eyes, fearless tv already rolling hers for days expecting what was to be.

"De-de-de-de HEY GUYS ITS DIBBLES"

A honey-ridden, sticky cat appears, holding many jars in her sling pack.

"Oh dibbles…. Honey…" fearless tv sighed affectionately. Lets get you cleaned up… Oh dear."

Fearless stood there, onlooking the ordeal.

Olivia, or dibbles , as she was known, teetered a few steps before falling into her back; looking like a fuzzy honey-glazed seal.

Fearless tv slowly picked up the drunk cat, and extended her now sticky hand due to olivias shenanigans, but quickly retracted realizing fearless would rather stay honeyless. She nodded her head in the direction of inside.

"Come in, fearless, after all my home is your home," she winked.

Fearless modestly stepped in, and took a gander at all the trinkets inside.

awards lined the shelves…. From fearless eras past… Fearless walked slowly around them, wondering how they too reside here. "This must be some weird mirror dimension…." She said to herself.

"Looking at all those ceartainly makes you feel nostalgic doesnt it?" Fearless tv peeked from the washroom.

"Yeah…. So are you like a doppleganger or something???"

"Eh…. Sort of" fearless tv replied "i mean…. Yeah."

"….like an older doppleganger… Lets just say youve needed to revisit your past a little bit …. In the future."

"Oohhh why? Did all the fans love fearless that MUCH?"

"….WELL…. well, you know what yeah actually. Its why you could revisit them the way you did" fearless tv winked.

Light from the washroom caught her shirt, partially wet from olivia wrestling her way into the bathtub. Light streaked eyes, which held a great more deal of knowing over fearless, yet held the same fired embers, still hot, but emitting a golden love. instead of wearing her usual dress a men's blouse was worn…. From a love story older than time.

"Anyways… I think its best ill explain a bit more over dinner… What would you like?"

"It all seems all warped over here…" Fearless pondered for a moment. "youre older, well…. Im…. Uh.. Youre older..? This is confusing."

Fearless tv cracked a smile. "Bet."

"but…. everything seems clocked back like a gazillion years…. But well…..

Do y'all have chicken tenders???"

-To be updated-

Updated 4/2/23

-Chapter 3- FROZEN BEHIND GLASS

Back in the lover house, midnights had called a meeting amoungst all the eras as to brief them of the happenings in her bedroom. She left a note on the door with a joke they all make when theres a problem to take the edge off of the suspense, at least until they had all gathered around. All the eras congregated in the kitchen over a bit of a meal, some sugar cookies with the last scrape of the chai icing folklore had made for her and evermores small at-home baking business. (Speak now had devoured the other 13 batches earlier that morning, in typical dragon fashion). With debut trailing behind her, wide eyed with unceartainty, midnights tapped the edge of a champagne glass, refrencing the notes on the doors all the eras recognized…. There was a problem. a champagne problem.

"What did FOLKLORE do this time?????"

Rep always assumed folkore brought some other mythical creature into the house AGAIN.

"WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING REP? we have a literal DRAGON in our kitchen and youre a SNAKE."

Rep hissed. but im a HOUSE snake and speak now isnt always covered in enchanted moss and pollen that brings up evermores allergies at springtime. She waved.

"YEAH! and then i just stay cooped up in my room with em trying to make another spell for every new moss and pollen variety folklore encounters!….. Not that…. I mind hovering over my cauldron, but you know, a bit of ATTENTION WOULD BE NICE!!!"

"calm DOWN," Lover interviened. "Youre just mad you couldnt go on our long pond trip for folklore's birthday three summers ago."

"And what if i am??? WHAT DID I GET ON MY BIRTHDAY WHEN YALL GOT BACK? ALLERGIES."

Folklore chimed in slowly…. "evermore…??? Ive been dabbling in some magic lately and…. " she handed her a golden sap elixr with wisteria and diced leaves of sweet tea."

Evermore examined the jar with her keen Sylvan Eyes. "Folkore…!?!?? this is an expert level spell. Where did you learn to do this!!??"

"Yy- your books?" She smiled cautiously.

Evermores expression of confusion swerved into relived realization. " i KNEW i wasnt crazy! i could TELL you were in my room! my allergies were extra bad this month!…. You… Made this for me???"

Folkore shyly nodded, looking at the floor and then up at evermore. "Surprise?"

Evermore screwed open the jar, and the sweetest mangle of sweet tea and wisteria, with notes of clover nectar filled the room so quickly evermore knew it was perfectly enchanted. So much so, the entire room let out a delighted sigh over its agrestal scent.

Evermore took a small sip. "Oh my goodness, its sweet like honey, its perfectly made? Ive been trying for a whole year for this to cure my allergies. How did yo--"

"You just got to know where to find them…. It wasnt in your book but ….The wisterias by the lakes are the most potent, sweet tea growing from seven feet are the crispest. plant them and in three summers time you pick them, when the moon and saturn are conjunct." She smiled.

Red side eyed evermore. "I knew you could never stay ALLERGIC to AWESOMENESS!!!, haha. Youre perfect for eachother! "

"Sisters! Twin fire signs! Four blue eyes! " Red added, shoving evermore playfully and bursting into a giggle.

evermore blushed, emitting a warm, slightly silly-feeling smile.

".....WELL IM GLAD THIS FAMILY DISPUTE IS SETTLED." rep looked over at midnights. "now for what were REALLY here for."

Rep, having the notiriety of skillfully re-directing the tangents of the household, could have done this at any time, however, she secretly still enjoys folklore and evermores endearing interactions.

"Well, now that were all here." midnights tapped the champagne glass three more times. Dragon sized munching noises accompanied the suspense.

"This champagne problem is a … Little more complex than tree sap, unfortunately."

"Listen, I know everyone loves ur pop-girlie a** rn but its not just cottagecore tree sap" said evermore, backing up folklores skill of the craft.

"…your right, sorry" midnights added. "Well, our dilemma here may span over a few more minutes than expected… Or years… Depending…. On uh…. Time zone differences."

"Oohhh oooh!!! Are we travelling !!!?? " red erupted. Shes been raving about going to london for months, lover silently scheming along with her, sticking brochures under everyones door this entire summer.

"No red we ARENT going to london." Rep closed her eyes asking for patience.

"But its FUNdon!" Lover and red rose in unison.

"No… I mean yes BUT LISTEN TO MIDNIGHTS! THERE IS A CHAMPAGNE PROBLEM ! we!!! will!!! Travel !!! Later !!!!"

"You know what, exactly," midnights said. "We are travelling now, later."

" that makes no sense." Reps eyes narrowed.

"Well…. ive been working on something. I hadnt since told you, because i havent beta tested it yet, but it looks like there might not be much… Uh,… Time."

"Okay, so where are we going? Its gotta be new york right? this whole plot sounds like it could totally take place in new york, not to brag but….im a street rat. i know the streets like the back of my hand" 1989 scoffed smugly, waving her hand in the air, refrencing the time 1989s streetrat form saved all evermores wand and unbound spellbook pages from the subway tracks.

"Its not where, yall….dont you see?? Someone is missing….."

"Oh shit, i cant believe we started without fearless! She must be sleeping again."

"Hmmmmm ….. Sort of????" Debut looked at midnights nervously.

Red scoffed. "Hah. Shes definately in SOME other dimension thats for sure"

" yeah, actually she is uhmmm SHE GOT WARPED INTO MIDNIGHTS SWORD…. WELL NOT MIDNIGHTS…. the fearless sword, like, she has one."

"A sword? Who let a CHILD interact with a sword!?" Rep exclaimed.

"Well!!!! Like!!!! We were in midnights room and… and she said for us not to touch and we didnt and!!!!! It just !!!! " debut reenacted the whole ordeal, guiding her hand along her body, making a 'schloop' sound for when fearless faded away.

"Be fucking for real 'Bu, where the fuck did she go!?" Rep, as edgy as she was, probably felt the most protective of all of the eras, due to her time in….. Well… we do not speak of that.

Midnights added to debuts explanation. "Uh, yeah… I havent really said much about myself have i well… Uh… Being a time keeper… I have access to all of time space via grandmother clocks…. And… a couple of swords….assigned to each era. I didnt think they would be activated this early…"

"Broooooooo i thought you were just fixing up old shit!" 1989 erupted nervously.

"Well im in charge of fixing up all of you sooo....well, actually saving."

"HAH" rep cackled covering her mouth. even she gave into that tease.

composing herself, a cold chill ran over her upon absorbing midnights words. "Wait… Were all in trouble??"

"Yeah… Well ...except Lover, folklore and evermore."

Red turned to lover and folkmore. "Why is it when theres this much trouble its never you three?"

"Conflict avoidant i guess??" Lover shrugged.

"Not with THAT tracklist, Miss americana." 1989 said.

"So what do we do about fearless?" Speak now asked.

"Well fearless is safe," midnights reassured. "…For now. But we dont have that much time. If the swords began activating now, the darkness must be settling in the realm sooner than i thought" midnights' gaze looked distant.

"…. Darkness??? realm??? Oh boy we ALL know THIS is going to some Wonderland …" 1989 rolled her eyes.

Rep grew silent. She had suddenly gotten nauseous, and wondered if she added too much icing to her sugar cookies. She also considered that all this was way too much to take in.

One of the youngest gone who knows where, no where to be seen, the newest of the bunch keeping some long held family secret. She got up from her chair and …. Froze.

Rep???? Are you okay???

No awnser.

Crystals began to form under reps feet, creating a glass chrysalis around her.

"REP!!!" lover sprang from the table.

Midnights stopped lover in her tracks. "No, dont touch her. Not even i know what could happen if you do. Back away."

"I can fire her up and thaw her out!!!" Speak now gleaned in with an idea

"Ill look in my magic books for these symptoms!!!!" Evermore exclaimed.

"there has to be something we can do!!!"

Debut, despite being the youngest… Sat with a cold stomach, piecing the occurance together in her mind.

"Midnights….. Is this… The darkness??"

"Im afraid so, 'Bu. " midnights sadness colored her tone, worry settled in on her face.

"Wh- what can we do???" Lover hoped that the awnser as clear as traffic lights.

"I dont…. Exactly know." Midnights solemnly awnsered. "I have an idea about whats happening, but i cant be too sure. As much as im your resident mastermind….My craft… Is a mysterious one."

"HEY! i found something!!!" Evermore shouted running down the stairs with an open book.

"Its called the *glass* darkness." Evermore explained. No one knows where it originates from officially, but it seems it has something to do with overtaking everything it encounters as its own, mercilessly. It doesnt exactly say if its deadly or not….

It seems like its just…. An eternal trap… So i guess… That counts as deadly right???"

"Ugh, we dont have time for this!!! We had plans!!! I wanted to just stay home all day today and have fun with rep in her snake form ): " folklore sighed.

"do you really wanna talk about time in times like these!?" evermore exclaimed we cant let this damage reputation."

"Well we actually DO need to talk about time. " lover noted. "How long does this last? Is there anything in there on how to stop the glass from forming?"

"Well…." Evermore flipped through the pages. "Hmmm… There. It talks about… Different versions…. Of us???"

"But wait arent we all just different versions of eachother??" 1989 asked.

"Yes yes… BUT! Parallell worlds…. Different parallel versions of us could help reverse this!!!!"

"dopplegangers!?" Red exclaimed. "well it looks like well be trying to find ourselves…AGAIN."

"So are the swords how we.. Uh… Find them?" 1989 looked over to midnights.

"Yes, " midnights expression seemed to have softened a bit, with reassurance that the whole gang was in on the efforts to reclaim the homes harmony.

"The swords are portals to respective locations within the Tayrealm. Each of you must find your parallel version and meet them in their respective castles. From there, we can figure out a way to stop the glass darkness from overtaking their realm, and the outer world."

"Does this mean that reps realm is ...?"

Evermore flipped through more pages. "Oh No…"

-CHAPTER 5- ARE YOU READY FOR IT?

- updated 4/4 -4/5 while clowning lol-

"I hope they arent too crispy" fearless tv spoke softly as she turned to set the dish of freshly made chicken tenders on the table.

"Ooooh finally im starving!!!!" Fearless beamed.

"Ketchup" both fearless asked and fearless tv offered in unison.

"Woah," fearless said through an impatient mouthful. "you really are my doppleganger!"

Fearless tv quietly smiled and passed the ketchup. She hadnt really said much about how finding fearless again after all these years made her feel. An all encompassing warmth that only her girlhood could bring to her. Incredible to be able to look at oneself through a further lens, only to feel that fire is still going strong.

" aahh that hits the spot! Here! Have one! Or are you like a weird hologram that doesnt eat?"

"No, ill surely eat," fearless tv replied, still smiling with her eyes at fearless' brash remarks. Spunky, that one, She thought, knowing all too well that ferocious hunger.

Fearless tv sat herself at the table with her own first batch, as well as a second plate, forseeing the future as fearless went in for seconds.

"well i cant believe i didnt trust you," fearless said through a mouthful. " this place is great! I wonder what else is around here…"

Fearless tv dipped a tender in her own small ketchup saucer. "Well we got quite a queendom…. Its grown so large over the years…. And im insanely grateful… We have quite a few new landmasses of the emerging from the sea of consciousness the past few years, so the queendom is as happy and busy as ever… We even got a new bookstore."

"BOOKSTORE!?" fearless already jumped up in excitement.

"Yup. run by a doctorate!" Fearless tv winked.

"OH MY GOD LETS GO." fearless already imagined the plethora of love stories sitting in the shelves.

"Hmmm… Well the path there is relatively safe…. No where near the…"

"LETS GO LETS GO!!!" fearless insisted.

"Very well." Fearless tv agreed. "Finish your tenders, then we can go."

"Okay MOTHER." fearless teased.

"I guess i could be wise enough…" Fearless tv laughed.

"But you know whos wiser….." Fearless tv gleaned. " She could definately help us figure out why youre here…."

"You know it !!!! And how to get back!!!" Fearless said through chomping the last bite of chicken tenders , playing into the fact she was DEFINATELY not distracted by chicken tenders and a promise of checking out love stories.

Fearless tv grew silently sad about fearless leaving, but insisted she should visit under more correct circumstances every now and then.

"You know, i dont mind you visiting any time after to listen to old CDs" fearless tv chimed, while getting up from her seat and sprucing up her table. fearless already spruced up and ready to go, replied

"sure! So far im loving it here, im not sure why midnights kept this a secret for so long…."

Fearless tv hid her concern, back turned to fearless as she was washing the last ketchup saucer.

"Okay, are you ready for it?"

"Yeah!!! Race you to the door!"

"Oh you WOULD know i cant resist a good race" Fearless tv gave a daring look and both skittered to the front door and into the front yard.

"HEY HEY HEY where are YALL going in such a rush?" Merideth asked.

"Bookstore…. for some….. Research."

"Oh so youre going to gi find out what happened to re-"

Fearless tv quickly shut benjamins muzzle.

"Shes having a GOOD time. I dont want her to worry too much. You know how i get - when she gets- uh, when we get…how i used to get…. when theres a risk of getting in trouble."

"Oh, rightyo." Benjamin agreed.

fearless mounted on a horse a lot more daringly this time, "hey fearless you ready? I cant wait to RACE YOU!" fearless squeaked, well fed and with a new hunger for adventure, now that she gained some trust in fearless tv.

"Youre going to have to follow me fearless…" fearless tv reminded her " you… Dont know the way."

"Ooo, right. Can we go fast?"

"Alright" fearless tv caved. She mounted on her own horse this time.

"Heah!" They galloped, through the winding trails, to Dr. Tay's bookstore. The road there wasnt as trecherous, with enough paths made through the kingdom, brush had been cleared for most connections to major sites, and in times like these, Dr. Taylors bookstore had been the center of attention.

They got off their horses and entered the seeminly small, quaint bookstore, with an everpresent scent of chai tea and baked goods from its in house bakery run by….

"Folkmore!?" What are you guys doing here????

Fearless tv leaned in for a close whisper, they arent your folkmore , fearless. Over here, theyre called woodvale and november." She winked.

"But they look …. Well i suppose a BIT different." She added

Lets just say, nothing much has changed for them, theyve just arrived from the sea of consiousness recently…. By a new boat. Theyre like pseudonyms of….Hmm well… I suppose theyve grown a bit. maybe a couple of bonus tracks…."

"Would they recognize me!?" Fearless asked noticing this was a bit more trippy for fearless.

"Sure they will, they know i have a younger version, even if you havent been here before (:"

"Heyyy fearless!!!!" Woodvale chimed. Weve been expec- "

"Haha we had no idea you were coming!!!!" November budged in.

"Smoooooooth, guys…. " fearless tv rolled her cerulean eyes. " i shouldve known y'all wouldve slipped through the cracks."

"Maybe if you would have PREPPED US PROPERLY we wouldnt have SLIPPED." woodvale remarked.

Fearless tv sighed. "To be fair i mightve ran it by too quickly… "

"Anyways…."

"Guys im right here." Fearless added. " i guess you told them i was coming…. You knew??? Did you….did you summon me when i got too close to the sword or something?"

"Uhh well… "

"Yess actually," woodvale added. "She took the opportunity you got close enough to-"

November quickly placed her sleeve over woodvales ever-open yap. "ENOUGH WOODVALE CAN YOU NOT KEEP A SECRET?" november shoved her other sleeve over woodvales face.

"Would you like some tea?? Cookies??? On us!"

"We just a-"

"Ooh free dessert ? How COULD you say no!" Fearless interruped.

"Well, now that the secrets out, were going to have to sit down for this anyway," fearless tv said.

Fearless tv solemnly looked at fearless, waiting, leaning over the bakery's glass display. The most quintessentially innocent scene, a childlike eagerness, tunneled vision, a wild expression, The scent of the bakery an etheral manifestation of this endearing sweetness. She Watched as Fearless pressed the side of her face over the bakery glass. " oooohhh its warm, hehe" she remarked with a silly smile.

Her heart ached for fearless' potential fate, as, those qualities resided in her still. despite existing alongside more knowledge and wisdom, these qualities were still precious and delicate on their own. so many let that enthusiasm decay away, replaced by stoic ambivilance. knowing these qualities tarnish so easily, she silently vowed to protect fearless at all costs.

Woodvale returned with a freshbaked batch of chai cookies and november brought in a small teaset, with a squeaking teapot.

"Well have these set up for you at the table" Follow us…"

The tables, on the farside of the bookstore, were reached through a labrynth of book shevles. Fearless took a passing glance at each title, gleaming, twinkling in a gilded gold rush.

…books were tabbed by the names of 'tay realm artifacts'….' the glass darkness'….'quantum entanglement.' …

5/15 update:

Fearless eagerly seated herself in the chair by the glass, overlooking all of tayrealm, as november and woodvale placed their tea and cookies on the table.

"Bone apple tea!" Woodvale and november said in unison.

Dr. Taylor will be with you in a moment, woodvale reassured.

"Oh great!" Fearless exclaimed. "Im starving"

"We just ate a few-"

"THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO FEARLESS TV, a girls gotta eat!!!!!" Fearless exclaimed before devouring a three layered self-stacked cookie sandwich.

Fearless tv sighed and smiled, endearingly teasing a side eye.

"So…." Fearless said with a mouth full. "Whatcha here for? Seems you know something i dont, im all ears , who do we have to fight?"

Fearless tv slightly chuckled before returning to a somber expression. Well…

"Hey!" a voice appeared from the shelves. It was Dr. Taylor , in her regal violet study gown, holding a book, complete with a sling pack of quill, gel and fountain pens.

"Youre just in time," fearless tv said.

" sorry i took so long…. The new surge of lost books….we've needed much help…" Dr. Taylor's voice trailed off. Trailing a longside her, was another taylor, of which a specific name had not been apparant. She wore a green red and yellow striped shirt, and glittery orange shorts, with green snakeskin boots. On her chest read an empty name tag saying "its me hi!" Fearless guessed she was nameless, an npc or something, she thought.

Nameless taylor tilted her face away from the bookpile she straggled , freeing one hand to wave hi.

Fearless tv and fearless smiled and silently waved.

Dr taylor took one book from the top of the pile that nameless taylor was carrying. Dr. Taylor's eyes shifted to fearless and softened in to a sweeter welcoming expression. "Well this should help….."

Dr. Taylor opened up the large book, with sparks flying all over the place. A holographic map of tayrealm appeared before their eyes. Fearless tv watched fearless eyes take in the magic book with the most hungry eyes she had ever seen, except her own, of course.

Well if you see here, Dr taylor pointed at a tower somewhere near what looked like a swamp.

"That was the epicenter. The towers bridges began crumbling and reputation castle has been inaccessible ever since…. But whatever caused rep castle to crumble….. Is spreading…..a darkness, that spread all the artayfacts all over tayrealm. the natural karma of tayrealm responded by creating alternate versions of ourselves, the taylors versions. in our creation we knew our goal was to summon all of our alternate versions back into tayrealm, to help us retrieve all the artayfact gems to restore complete harmony in our world."

"So…. You summoned me here to find some rocks?" Fearless said between chewing.

This is serious fearless…. If we dont restore the gems, all your friends in your world will be trapped behind glass…. Forever." Fearless tv's brows furrowed.

"What!?" So wait!? Where are the rest of the girls?"

"Well , apparantly safe, for now, Dr. Taylor continued. The darkness has only reached reputation castle for now."

"So…. What happened to rep?" Fearless voice began to grow quieter.

"Shes….frozen Behind glass. But theres a way to unfreeze her, and if we gather all the gems before the darkness spreads we can keep it from happening to the rest of you all in the outside world." Fearless tv reassured.

"Oh my gosh!! Okay." Fearless stood up. Then lets go get the rest of the albums here right now!!! cant you all just summon them or something?"

"Well its not that simple…" Dr taylor added. You know you got here through getting too close to the sword. The rest of the girls need to get really close….

-CHAPTER 6- LET THE GAMES BEGIN

to be updated

, 4/6 update: ooopppps i skipped to latrr in the story story cause i got ideas so read only if you dont care for , ill. be writing the in-between eventually.

All the taylors entered the center of the circle, and held hands. With all the artayfacts in their places, midnights entered the center of the circle, where one last place lay for her sword. She placed her atayfact. A mirror, locked in an upright placement, on the side. She then finally locked her last sythe In place. Lights engulf all the eras in their respecive colors… all of them slowly desintegrating into light .

"omg its happening again!" Fearless exclaimed.

"Were going back home?" Fearless asked.

"actually, i dont know," midnights replied. I havent seen that far out yet…. It freaks me out. The only reason i have years ahead of me planned out is cause, you know, i have to. But this time….

Debut looked ahead of her toward red and 1989. already pure light, like holograms, they began to blend together, and in turn look like hybrid versions of eachother.

"Red you look different! Uh well 1989 uuhm ??? "

The now blended red/1989 looked at their outfit and beamed.

"Okay but this is kind of a slay, why didnt we ever try this before!?"

"You did. Its giving january 2014" debut snickered.

Red and 1989 now one, wearing 1989s typical skirt with a button up collar blouse red typically wears, sporting 1989s sunglasses, reds ponytail, and a city style bag to match.

"Hey! Thats not fair! I wanna try that!" Speak now bursted, and turned to folklore.

Folklore, sensing shed been targeted, looked daringly back at speak now

"Bring it."

A transluscent flower crowned dragon emerged adorned with wisteria and sweet tea leaves.

Speak now/folklore paused, then yelled.

"You ate my ACORNS!? well now you cant keep any secrets from me with my access to your….our memory?"

Rep cackled. " holy shit thats gold , maybe this is the ONE thing that will keep yall from your shenanigans in the house hold."

"…Or cause more of it." lover laughed.

Rep turned to lover. "Hey, our aesthetics are so opposite this…. Just might work."

Rep and lover collided, and out emerged a rainbow snakeskin, cornelia, and street wear adorned rep/lover.

Fearless glanced at evermore. " oooh ooh!!! Me next!!!"

Evermore gently hugged fearless, a plaid princess dress emerged, lined with with gold, slightly resembling evermores button coat, with the buttons like gems from a gold rush. (Note from the author: gold rush RIGHTS!!!)

Evermore/fearless emitted a cozy smile (:

Debut, the but-last one standing as a singlet, gazed at the ever-wise midnights. She wondered of all the secrets , gazing from her eyes looking out for her, the various journeys through timelines adorned by what-ifs or maybes, if-thens and then-whats, only-ifs, and if-onlys, carried on in some conglomerate of a semblance of peace, at least, in destiny and fate and….

karma cat walked up to debut, brushing her warm black fur against her leg, purring.. Debut crouched for a moment to meet the cats ember eyes…

Karma…. I know everyone is excited for me.. And i am too… I love this… but…….."

"Im scared."

"This feels….. like a death. I've only known this, but still…. The yearning, " debut looked at midnights.

"…it stays."

Karma cat's purring accompanied the glittering chime sounds, of which in this very moment was like debut could hear every stray fleck of light surrounding the great castle room.

"….will….Will i make it?? Will i make it out …alive?"

Karma cat , eyes flashing a warm orange glow, placed her chin on debuts leg. I know your future…can be a vast and somewhat ominous abyss, but i have always been there, guiding it. You can make it. Youre young. youre talented. I see it in you. And most importantly, this is You… Trying. And For every spider web and paper airplane flying, ill be there. there is daylight…. Starlight…. Even In the most ominous of midnights."

Debut smiled with tears welling up in her eyes. She passed one last pet over karma, sending good wishes so that all of her, her daring, her innocence, her kind heart and thin skin, would be safe. That all of her would stay in tact… And should she ever break… She would find her pieces again. Hopefully gaining new ones for compensation.

She slowly walked up to midnights and smiled. She turned for one last look at karma, who had been sitting, tail swishing, in a calm, metronome fashion."

"Remember, you're never on your own, kid."

Purrs still heard from where debut stood, it was taken as the softest most honored blessing one could have. She turned again to midnights.

Midnights looked at those eager eyes, her own, glimmering in a watery nostalgia. The youngest Fire and the wisest, actually not much different despite experience, embraced together .

All the hybrid eras glimmered as pure light before meeting at the center infront of the mirror and…

She opened her eyes.

She looked down at her arms and hands in surprise and somehow utter relief, as a feeling of wholeness overtook her for the first time since rep era…. No, it was even better.

In its place, after all the toils and spoils, and all the oils before her… It was nice… to get to a place where you can just… Rest in the knowing that, the gems broken apart had not only been put together, but added to. A bracelet laced her wrist, glittering in the starlight. All the eras, including her versions, in their bejeweled state of grace.

In the mirror in front of her, She sees her incarnations, all 12 of her previous eras, flashing before her, crowds becoming larger and larger as time went on, flashing eyes on her brighter and brighter, until the darkness, confusing and painful, took its slithering shape, and then again… spider webs, in some ways…hard to look back on even now… yet…then there it was, daylight, once again. A reclamation of time. A sparkling forest, and then a glittery night sky….the ultimate priority of sweet nothing. the ebb and flow of one lifetime, of yet all of it like she had lived multiple incarnations of herself. The firefly imbued forest and star stroked sky solidified in the mirrors background, informing her where shed been transported to. strings that were once invisible, flickered and and flashed and danced in the dark, designing a familiar figure in the night sky.

The archer.

The mirror fading away from its montage of the past, retuned to the present in its reflection. And There, in focus, were all the eras, both flashy and subdued, firey yet whimsical… Yet… in her merged state she was just…

Taylor Alison Swift, born December 13th, 1989. to a mama and papa swift, surrounded by the scent of pine and myrrh of Pennsylvania, the first holy ground. A Sagittarius, she was born the archer…. And the prey, in her many lifetimes of one. Slain as a witch , but in turn bullseyeing a koi fish in a dive bar on the east side. in her merged state …. the ultimate reflection of a sweet nothing.

…barefoot and not necessarily outwardly flashy, Taylor wandered through the night forest the mirror transported her to. as if hiding in plain sight, she wore a comfortable everyday wear dress with a small-flower pattern on it, on other days she would be in the mood for a knit sweater with some jeans. Even on nice summer dinner-nights, the mood a simple yet stylish embellished blouse perhaps not warrented to set herself apart from a bustling crowd, yet one of the many wandering geode minds with gem encrusted secrets idling about in New York City. Her hair unruly and untamed, a bit like fearless debuts and speak nows… No make up, this is the taylor the cats and the koi fish, strung out of sight, see in the morning, with scarlet, maroon impressions of where her bedsheets have been on her face. Calm, yet undone, bangs curling up in all sorts of directions rebelliously, like folklore and evermore. At times compelled to wearing flashy things like 1989 lover and midnights, and getting excited about fall fashion like red. Compelled to dream of love stories, to enshrine and embellish child-like awe in violet sparkling nights and sparks; wonderstruck meetings with those who had been once held dear in her previous incarnations, dreaming of familiar souls masked in unfamiliar faces, with every love story, whether of romance or friendship, beginning with their eyes whispering "have we met?"

This is the taylor where all the eras come from, the taylor up at night, fiddling with instruments, exploring facets of herself to duplicate and bring life to. The taylor that hungers for the thrill of the songwriting cloud visiting her in these hours that create new landmasses in the tayrealm, bubbling and crumbling into existence out of the sea of tayconsciousness (as well as a midnight appetite guiding her, feral, to the fridge chomping on chai cookies… less like a human and more like a racoon). Still a mirrorball, showered in attention and care from her koi, and her friends, snickering and gregarious, hours on the phone, with one of the only quirks being her stopping only for huddling in a corner with her voice memo app. Not necessarily a mythical creature at first glance; perhaps you wouldn't have noticed her, had her face not been memorized by millions. but maybe, so much as her tall presence and exceptionally friendly aura would have great magnetism alone, whether she had been known by almost the entire world or not. perhaps in an alternate timeline, had her name not gone up in lights…She would open a small family record store business in nashville, known by the locals to be the friendliest and most welcoming, perhaps a tourist destination, with songwriting classes on thursdays and fridays. (instead of big music distribution annoucements..)

All in all… in any case… very much at her core the same, a tall eager blonde girl at a bookstore (perhaps online ones these days…(:), devouring 800 page books on folklore or esoterics, going on for hours about the favorite words she keeps in her 'favorite word' folder on her desktop, going on about fantasy or mystery series (or documentaries of the feline kind) shed watch hours on the tv whilst laying in bed with her cats. Seeing her like this, you would wonder how the world could forget she was feeling, delicate and thin skinned. And imperfect. Assuming, unassuming, saying too much or too little, too active or too passive. Under all the flashing lights now, it may become buried sometimes. not an unstoppable leviathan, repeatedly shot through the heart yet immortal, or a name on a brand, rebranding and rebranding… But a spirit meeting the bone…. Trained to get along. Someone with feelings of hunger, cold, desire, Need.

A someone, like anyone, and like anyone, extrordinary.

( note from the author: welp. THAT last sentence killed my songwriters block NICELY. OKAY. NOTED. quite a peculiar origin story for THAT lyric. we carry on.)

-to be updated-

#swifties #Swiftie #taylor swift #Evermore #Folklore #Speak now #taylor swift fearless #Taylor swift red #Taylurking

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chey-murray · 1 year

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Most Tree Planting Programs Are Not Eco-Friendly

When we clear-cut, it makes us feel guilty, and there are risks involved. Clear-cutting can affect our water quality, it increases the chances of flooding and landslides, and more. To make matters worse, it is common practice to put down herbicides to slow the growth of everything but conifers.

“In Canadian forestry, glyphosate-based herbicides have been used on over 96% of the forest area treated in the past decade.” ForestInfo.ca

To help repair the damage, people (sometimes even the logging companies themselves) do tree planting programs to replace the removed trees. However, while these programs do sometimes help in some ways, they are not perfect.

“You’re creating basically a sterile landscape,” said Paul Smith, who runs Botanic Gardens Conservation International, an umbrella group that works to prevent plant extinctions. “If people want to plant trees, let’s also make it a positive for biodiversity.” Tree Planting Is Booming. Here’s How That Could Help, or Harm, the Planet.

1. Tree planting programs do not diversify tree age

Most (if not all) tree planting programs plant trees of the exact same age, which is not healthy for the forest. Doing it that way has them all competing at the same time, so they all focus on growing tall as fast as possible. This leaves discarded branches on the bottom end of the trunk that is perfect fuel for a forest fire.

In a forest normally, trees are various heights and sizes, which creates a varied canopy with gaps that give opportunity for new growth. As well as all that, the matriarch trees will make room for their seedlings, send more nutrients, and tell them how to deal with stresses.

Now, some groups are going in and girdling the tree. That is when you cut a ring into the bark, which slowly kills it. This gives the tree enough time to send nutrients back into the forest, and killing it reduces the stress on the other trees by opening the canopy. That gap will allow more light in, allowing the other trees to slow down.

2. Species Selection

When replanting, companies often only plant the species of trees they want to cut down in the future, ignoring all the mosses, fungi shrubs, and everything else that was killed during the deforestation process.

Sometimes, the species are not even native to the area, and instead people are picking trees they think would be the most valuable, and they either can not make it in the climate, or they could be invasive.

3. Planting Where It Is Not Necessary

Sometimes, tree planting programs head into places where there were never trees to start. They mean, well, but it is the wrong type of vegetation for the area. The first may actually cause more carbon, while the second could spread invasive species, or take valuable nutrients away from native plants.

"Savannas and natural grasslands may have relatively few trees, critics noted, but these regions already hold plenty of carbon in their soils. When that carbon is accounted for, the carbon uptake benefit from planting trees drops to perhaps a fifth of the original estimate." Why planting tons of trees isn’t enough to solve climate change

___

So what is the answer for spaces already clear-cut? Rewilding might be it! This is a hot topic term in the UK as they try and bring forests back and reverse many years of damage.

Instead of just thinking about how to set up the forest so you can cut it down in the future, you instead think about how you can repair the forest just enough that you can let it heal.

That means nurturing all the removed vegetation (not just ones that offer future profit) and bringing back wildlife.

“Rewilding is a progressive approach to conservation. It’s about letting nature take care of itself, enabling natural processes to shape land and sea, repair damaged ecosystems and restore degraded landscapes. Through rewilding, wildlife’s natural rhythms create wilder, more biodiverse habitats.” Rewilding Europe

youtube

#environment #environmetalists #enviromental #trees #forests #outdoors #NatureScience #nature facts #naturefacts #naturescience #nature science #nature #Youtube

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raffaellopalandri · 2 years

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Photography Of The Day - The Rose and Christina Rossetti

Photography Of The Day – The Rose and Christina Rossetti

The lily has a smooth stalk,Will never hurt your hand;But the rose upon her brierIs lady of the land. There’s sweetness in an apple tree,And profit in the corn;But lady of all beautyIs a rose upon a thorn. When with moss and honeyShe tips her bending brier,And half unfolds her glowing heart,She sets the world on fire. The Rose – Photo by Raffaello Palandri

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#B&W #B&W Photography #black and white #black and white photography #Christina Rossetti #photo #photography #Photography of the day #poem #poetry #POTD #Raffaello Palandri #Raffaello Palandri photography #rose

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sofia-not-sophie · 1 year

Note

1, 4, 11, 15 for the writing asks!!

1. what's the last sentence you wrote in your wip?

“Sometimes she would draw nature scenes and sell them to people if there wasn’t much business, Rosa had bought a few when she had first met Leonora, mostly because she thought she was pretty.” From that oc wip I was telling you about.

4. do you have a specific character you like writing more than others?

Not really, but I have an easier time with characters I can project onto more lol

11. how'd you get the idea for your most recent wip?

Using the same one I used above: I noticed a lot of fairytales had witches doing spells with roses and I was like hmmmmm I can do something with that. And the other characters formed out of this poem by Christina George Rossetti:

The lily has a smooth stalk,

Will never hurt your hand;

But the rose upon her briar

Is lady of the land.

There's sweetness in an apple tree,

And profit in the corn;

But lady of all beauty

Is a rose upon a thorn.

When with moss and honey

She tips her bending briar,

And half unfolds her glowing heart,

She sets the world on fire.

15. share a detail about your current wip!

I have names for the superhero ocs!!!

Fire girl is Victoria Williams, science girl is Nicole (Nic) Stewart, and alien girl is Inez Molina-Nieves

#you ask me about life #Lydie tag #I found the poem from a song I sang in choir

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littlemisslol-fic · 2 years

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Day Four: Flirt

Summary: My submissions for Effin' Varigo week! Big thanks to battybatzgirl for setting it up! Hugo and Varian have been dating for three years, and are finally ready to take their relationship to somewhere a lot more serious. However, the world has other plans. With Hugo's proposal in shambles, and Varian focused on saving their friends, they think things can't really get any worse.

They would be wrong.

Prompts are Family ‧ Firework ‧ Fever ‧ Flirt ‧ Fight/Forgive ‧ Future ‧ and Free Day!

Notes: Nostalgia gives a bit of levity to the situation… but not for long.

The next day has Varian wandering out into the woods again. He’s up early, leaving Hugo to sleep before he’s out the door and into the misty dawn—early enough that the grass is still wet with dew and the moors are cloudy and thick. Varian’s seen countless mornings like this in Old Corona, though the forest is a much more untamed version of the same tableau.

The light of a new day gives him a much better vantage. He starts with gathering enough dry wood to last them a long while, and then he manages to scrounge up some wild blackberries from a nearby bush. Sun what he wouldn’t give for Ruddiger to be here. The little critter’s so good at finding food out in the wild, it’s almost unfair. On the other hand, Varian wouldn’t want to put his pet under the stress of the last twenty four hours, not in a million years.

He’ll have to just go it alone.

So he does. The berries get picked and wrapped in a small cut of cloth, the wood is stacked in a haphazard pile outside the cabin, and the fire is stoked back to life. It’s been a very profitable hour. Varian’s almost proud of himself.

Hugo’s just started to stir. Healing’s been obviously taking its toll on his energy, but already the blond looks much better than yesterday. The paleness is gone, as is the sweat, and he’s breathing easy.

But the leg.

The leg looks way worse now that the bruises have had time to develop. To be blunt, it’s pretty gnarly. While the swelling’s down thanks to the willow bark, the colour has deepened into a harsh purple with sickly yellow surrounding the edges—not good, not good at all.

Varian frowns at it, but Hugo gently takes his hand to distract him. “Hey,” he says, “it feels like hell but you’re right; I don’t think it’s broken. So that’s a win, isn’t it?”

Always the optimist. “Yeah, you’re right. I still want to see if I can find any ginger for you though. There’s a garden out back I haven’t checked yet—will you be okay if I abandon you for a few minutes?”

“As long as you leave breakfast here, sure.” Hugo’s expression turns goofy as he plucks up a blackberry and tosses it high before catching it in his mouth. He grins at his successful trick. Varian can’t help but laugh.

“Deal. Be good while I’m out.”

“Yessir, doctor goggles.”

Varian rolls his eyes as he exits. The sunlight’s stronger now, the early morning wash of violet and blue giving way to proper morning’s bright greens and browns. The woods are, at the very least, nice to look at. The alchemist walks around the back of the cabin to the remnants of a garden, and starts to poke around.

This was definitely a hunting retreat of some kind, there’s no doubt about it. The garden’s not so much a traditional one, like Quirin’s vegetable garden, or a beautiful one like Queen Arianna’s prized roses, but instead it’s one of utilitarian purpose. They’re all plants that can be stuck in the ground and left alone—little to no maintenance, meaning that whoever put them here didn’t expect to be around daily. Despite the garden being covered in moss and overgrowth the plants are still going strong.

“Mint… aloe… garlic… ah-ha!” He stoops, digging through the dirt and yanking out his prize. The ginger is an ugly little lump, but damn if he’s not a lucky son of a bitch. Varian can’t help but thank the gods above for the luck.

He quickly returns to Hugo, showing off his find. The blond perks up when Varian comes back, but frowns when the ginger is deposited in his lap.

“The fuck is this?”

Varian laughs. “It’s ginger. It’ll help with the swelling a lot.”

“It looks like a root.”

“It is a root, dingus. I think I saw a teapot in one of the cabinets, we can make tea out of it.”

The alchemist heads over and opens the cabinet he’d seen it in, pulling the teapot out. Thankfully whoever had left this cabin hadn’t taken everything, leaving things that they hadn’t wanted. Things like moth-eaten blankets and a dented metal camp-set of mugs and a teapot. There’s also a few plates and bowls, all of them chipped, cracked, or dented in some way.

Varian can’t help but laugh. He and Hugo are more than a little beat up too. It’s almost poetic that they’ve all found refuge in the same place.

Either way. He grabs two cups and the teapot, quickly filling it from the sink and heading back. Hugo’s still inspecting the ginger with a suspicious expression. He turns it this way and that before Varian grabs it back from him.

“Thank you,” Varian snarks. Hugo sticks his tongue out but still settles back into the nest. Varian takes the knife out of his pocket and starts to slice the ginger before tossing it into the teapot—followed by putting the whole thing over their fire via a little hook sticking out from the hearth.

Once he’s finally done he sits back down in their nest, flopping back into the blankets with a sigh.

“Tired?” Hugo asks.

“Hm, yeah.” Varian closes his eyes and kicks until a blanket wraps around his aching feet. He’s still so exhausted. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“I could feel you tossing around.” Hugo’s voice is careful. “But I’ll also be honest, I think I went into a coma for a bit.” They both laugh, Varian feels an arm curl around his waist as Hugo settles beside him. “But it’s kind of nostalgic, isn’t it?”

Varian makes a questioning noise. He feels Hugo shrug. “You know, this. Us. Out in the wilderness together, breaking into abandoned buildings and spending the night. Making blanket nests and sleeping right next to the fire. Reminds me of when we first met.”

That’s… incredibly sweet actually. Varian’s face lights up in a blush, he can feel the heat of it. “I remember,” he mumbles. The alchemist rolls over to push his face into Hugo’s shoulder. “Gods it really took me a year to get my head on straight and tell you I loved you, huh?”

Hugo chuckles. “I wasn’t much better, to be fair.”

Varian smiles and kisses the skin of his boyfriend’s shoulder. “That’s okay,” I love you anyways, “it’s not like there’s a re-do button. We got there in the end.”

“I dunno, I bet I could really woo you nowadays. I think I could set a Varian-dating speed record.”

The alchemist grumbles as Hugo starts to move. He ends up sitting up with Hugo, rubbing at his eye. “Wha—?”

“I know you don’t know me,” Hugo croons, “but I just had to come introduce myself. I can’t help it when such a cutie shows up in the same creepy abandoned cabin I’m in.”

“What the fuck—?”

“Shhh I’m committing to the bit—anyways my name is Hugo, and I saw you walk in and thought now there’s an alchemist who I’d like to get to know. Would you mind blessing me with my future boyfriend’s name, lovely?”

“What—?”

“What? Such an exotic name!”

“Hugo!”

“Another Hugo? That’ll make things awkward in the bedroom, but okay—”

Varian bursts out a laugh, coving his mouth to hide the giggles. This idiot. “It’s Varian, you know that!”

Hugo hums and leans close. Their noses are almost touching; Hugo’s eyelids half-lid, focusing deeply on Varian’s own baby blues. “Varian,” he croons. It makes the heat rise higher in Varian’s cheeks. Hugo’s smile grows at the obvious reaction. “A beautiful name for a beautiful boy!”

Varian covers his eyes with his hands. “Shut uppppp,” he whines. “Shut up right now!”

“I simply cannot.” Hugo leans over then, pressing his bodyweight onto Varian. “I’m enthralled by the height of alchemical prowess in front of me.”

“I will leave you here, I swear.”

“Hmmm I dunno, I saw the way you looked at me. I think you should let me take you out on the town.”

Right. Two can play at that game. “You think you can afford me?” Varian asks. He’s joking, but it’s rather fun to pretend. “What would a night on the town entail, hm?”

Hugo’s face lights up now that Varian’s playing along. “Oh, just wining, dining, and dancing until our feet get sore.”

Varian leans back into Hugo’s side. The blond is warm against his arm, a comforting thing. “Is that all? I expected a bit more from someone who claims to be my future boyfriend.”

“Oh, but that’s only the first day. After that, once you’re irrevocably charmed by my suave personality and good looks I’ll simply take you on a whirlwind adventure across the seven kingdoms. Then, after that, we’ll get married with the largest celebration of the year, followed by a decade long honeymoon and the construction of a castle of our very own.”

The alchemist tries to keep his blush down at the mention of marriage. “And then what?”

Hugo pauses, like he’s pondering. “Then I’ll make you the happiest Mr. The-Human I can. Until the day we die.”

Ha, Varian had forgotten about Hugo’s old wanted posters. Hugo the Human, what a silly thing to call someone. But the rest of it… hm. It sounds really kind of nice.

They’d talked about the M-word, he and Hugo. Marriage is something Varian had never thought was in the cards for him, not after being a bit of an odd-duck for a majority of his life. No one had ever given the weird alchemist kid a second look, not that Varian really paid much attention. He’d been too busy wrapped up in his experiments and research to ever really think about a future partner.

But then he’d met Hugo, and all that had gone out the window.

It’d be a lie to claim that Varian hadn’t fantasized about a future for them together. In the wee hours of the morning, maybe a year after they’d started dating, he’d laid awake and stared at the ceiling, thinking about what if. The idea of him and Hugo getting married, working to make the Eternal Library more habitable for human life, growing grey and wrinkly together… it gives Varian butterflies in his stomach.

The thoughts had only multiplied when Hugo moved into Varian’s room at the castle officially. Waking up to Hugo’s sleeping face every day, kissing him with gross morning breath and getting ready for the day together, it really hammered home how much Varian wanted. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Hugo, to get the chance to hold him close and say this one’s mine.

Marriage was an obvious way of achieving that goal. They’d spoken about it barely a few weeks ago, actually—a frank conversation in the middle of the night when their walls were low. Varian knows that Hugo is in the same boat, and that Hugo wants to be the one to propose. He knows this, but it doesn’t make the excitement any easier to deal with.

It’s been like pulling teeth to wait. Part of Varian wants to damn it all and just buy a stupid ring already, but Hugo had been so adamant on wanting to be the one… Varian wouldn’t take the chance away from him. Whatever Hugo’s reasoning, Varian would respect his request. Even if he constantly feels giddy with excitement every time he thinks about the looming question.

He’s been waiting for so long. Well. Not really. It’s only been a few weeks since they’d agreed. But a few weeks is too long when he’s this ready! Varian was ready to just jump past the wedding and elope the moment they’d agreed on what comes next.

To be honest… he’d hoped that yesterday had been the day. All their friends together, an idyllic valley full of wild flowers, and a wonderful picnic that had both of them more than content. The way Hugo had been speaking—it really had felt like yesterday could have been it. But then the Baron… and the explosions… and they’d jumped.

Maybe it wasn’t the day. The thought is sour, but probably correct. Hell, maybe Hugo’s stalling to keep Varian from getting upset by a no—but Varian refuses to even think that. Hugo loves him, and he loves Hugo. This is as solid a fact as the sun rising in the east and a teaspoon of mass from a neutron star weighing six billion tons.

He’s tired. And dirty. And his boots are probably still wet from the lake. He’s definitely a little more than upset at being stuck out here, and obviously that’s why his thoughts are going so negative. Also probably why his brain is going on random, sappy tangents like this. Yesterday may not have been the day, but Varian knows it’s coming. He just has to be patient.

So he looks at Hugo, who’s mostly been busy laughing at his own joke. His heart swells with love, love for the guy who’d spent a year of his life following Varian into deadly traps and countless trials, and had still doubted that he was good enough to dare to love. Who’d needed time and kindness and a soft hand, but had flourished so wonderfully with such little effort—and who had spent every day since they’d nearly lost it all trying to make up for his mistake.

Yeah. Varian can see spending the rest of his life with this dumbass. Can see it so easily. So he breaks the joke and leans forward to press a long kiss to Hugo’s lips. The blond’s face goes slack in surprise before kissing back enthusiastically—Hugo is nothing if not content to make out for a bit regardless of where they are. Varian tries his best to convey what he’s feeling through the motions, pouring all his love and affection into the gentle touches and small sighs, and hopes it’s enough.

I’ll make you the happiest Mr. The-Human I can. Until the day we die.

Varian smiles.

“I think I’d like that.”

——— ✧ ———

They aren’t able to move out today. Varian takes another look at Hugo’s leg sometime around the late afternoon and, unfortunately, it hasn’t changed much. Hugo chances a few stumbling steps around the cabin but he can’t get very far before he has to sit again. He barely can make a lap around the room. It’s not great.

It takes a lot of effort to keep from getting snippy. Varian objectively knows that splitting up is a terrible idea but the longer they wait here means more time for Eugene, Lance, and Rapunzel to remain with the Baron. The thought makes ants crawl under his skin, irritating and jittery and making Varian want to move. He needs—he needs to fix something. To make progress. All this waiting is going to kill him.

It’s a strange dichotomy. On the one hand he knows they’ll have to wait until tomorrow at the very least before leaving the relative safety of the cabin and heading back to the glade for a rescue—but on the other, they’re wasting so much time. There’s no telling what their family is going through right now.

But Hugo needs time to heal.

But their family is in danger.

And Varian feels pulled in two directions and ready to shake out of his goddamn skin. It’s incredibly frustrating.

He’s back out in the woods again. The berry bushes had been sparse, so he’s hoping for something a bit more substantial for lunch; Hugo had tried to get up and walk out the door, but Varian had pushed him back down.

(“Sweetheart really, I can help! It’s just a little bruising—”

“Not a chance. You’re going to sit here and not move an inch until I get back. The more you push yourself now, the longer it’ll take for you to actually heal. Remember that time you got the flu?”

Hugo pouts. “I thought we promised never to talk about that.”

Varian presses a sassy kiss to the blond’s nose. “I didn’t promise shit.”)

Either way. He’s on his own again. So far the game plan is to head to the river he’d gotten the willow bark from last night. It seemed deep enough that there might be a perch or two swimming about, maybe a sunfish if he gets lucky. Anything he might be able to snatch out of the water like Quirin had taught him ages ago; for years the alchemist had complained about his father insisting Varian know how to live off the land, but it’s come in handy more than once in the past day.

Maybe he’d bring his dad flowers next time he went to visit.

If they didn’t. You know. Die out here.

Varian sucks in a quick breath to dispel the thoughts. No need for that, thank you. He’s got enough to deal with, without his mind immediately aiming for the worst possible outcome. There’s only so much energy he has left.

Though it hadn’t hit early in the morning, aches and soreness had quickly started to run through his legs, especially after all the walking—his shoulders were hit too. He’d discreetly grabbed some of the willow bark for himself, though that means he’d have to grab more before the evening.

Ah well, all the more reason to get to the river.

He can hear it in the distance, the babbling brook, but as Varian approaches the splashes of water seem much more violent than they had last night. The alchemist slows his footsteps as he gets closer, crouching low in the underbrush. He peeks out into the clearing, sucking in a scared breath at what he sees—or, more specifically, who he sees.

“Any sign of them?” Weasel snaps. Six large, burly men are scattered through the riverbed and the surrounding area, poking through the bushes and scanning for footprints.

“Nothing here!” one of the men calls. The others return in kind, all negative. Varian covers his mouth with his had as his heart jumps in his throat. They’re getting close to the willow tree—he hadn’t thought to cover his tracks in the dark. Shit. Shit.

He watches as they continue to comb the riverbed for clues. Weasel seems annoyed, his arms are crossed and his face is set in a firm scowl.

“You heard the boss,” he shouts at his men. “He wants them back unharmed—not a scratch! We don’t go back without ‘em.”

“Unless they died in the river,” a voice nearby mutters. Varian’s body locks up in fear as one of the men—one he hadn’t accounted for—draws close to his hiding place. He’s frozen, like a deer caught in a blinding light. The goon poking around in front of him is massive! He looks like he could deadlift Varian and Hugo with one arm, which is a terrifying thought; Varian can’t even breathe and his chest locks in terror. The guy’s knees are eye-level with Varian, close enough to reach out and touch.

If he gets caught, what would become of Hugo?

Varian knows his eyes are as wide as saucers. He doesn’t dare blink, focused intently on the man as he peers out into the woods right above Varian’s head. Oh seven hells. Varian sends a quick prayer up to whoever’s listening—it must work, as Weasel barks out another annoyed command.

“Keep moving! We don’t have all day you useless sacks of—”

The man keeps snapping insults at his goons. The grunt standing right in front of Varian sighs something about benefit packages not being worth thisbefore finally moving on. The alchemist doesn’t dare move, doesn’t dare breathe, until he can’t hear a thing from the men. It’s only once the silence creeps back in that Varian lets himself gasp a heaving choke of air, slowly creeping back from the edge of the woods.

He’s so acutely aware of every snapping twig, every rustle of leaves and dirt; they all echo in his ear to cut through his frantic heartbeat. The bloody thing feels like it’s about to jump out of his chest with how fast it’s going.

Hell. Fucking hell.

Varian manages to extract himself from the brush and scurry back to the path leading to the cabin. They’re incredibly lucky that none of the men noticed it. He sprints as fast as he can, adrenaline and fear taking hold of his aching limbs and forcing him forward.

He needs to get back to Hugo—back to the relative safety of their little hideaway—and quick! If the blond still can’t run and the men find him…

Dread settles deep in Varian’s gut at the thought. He picks up the pace, forcing himself to push through the brush. They need to make a plan, and fast. Things had changed. The timeline Varian had in his mind would have to be accelerated.

He wants them back unharmed… we don’t go back without ‘em.

The fear grows.

Varian’s panic grows with it.

#Varigo #varian #effing varigo week #fic #ALSO TO THE PERSON WHO SENT ME AN ASK I SWEAR IM GETTIN TO IT DFJKGDJFG I GOTTA COLLECT MY THOUGHTS

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