#Dorothy never knows what to do with herself when she’s not the one looking down at her | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

melrosing · 1 month

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What do you think of the Sansa bullied Arya take if you don’t mind me asking (just don’t answer if you don’t want to haha)

per my usual practice on Controversial Topics im putting this under a cut

At the real risk of that lot showing up in my notes again, I think this ‘Sansa bullies Arya’ pins their pre AGOT dynamic squarely on Sansa herself, rather than the way they are both being raised by the adults around them to behave towards one another. Sure, Sansa is mean to Arya sometimes during their childhood! We don’t have a lot of examples besides the oft-mentioned ‘horseface’ insults, but I think it’s fair to assume that more often than not, Sansa was looking down on Arya. Meanwhile, Arya herself feels inadequate and like she just can’t do anything right. She resents Sansa, but also worries that Sansa’s opinion of her may be true.

Fine. But where has Sansa’s opinion of Arya come from? Is it her cold black heart? Fucking no, it’s come from Septa Mordane, Catelyn, and whoever else surrounds them growing up. The men don’t seem to really give much of a shit how Arya acts because it’s not their business and she’s just a kid anyhow, but the women pointedly give many shits. In our first scene with Arya, Septa Mordane scolds her for not being good at ‘women’s work’, and there’s plenty to suggest that this is just another day in the life for Arya. Meanwhile, Sansa gets the carrot for excelling. Both Arya and Sansa are learning their own worth in this chapter, and the worth of one another. Sansa internalises the praise whilst learning that Arya is bad, and everything she mustn’t be. Arya internalises the criticisms whilst learning that Sansa is good, and everything she can never be.

They’ll be getting this from Catelyn as well. Catelyn clearly adores both her daughters, and will move heaven and earth to get them back in ACOK. But one good adjective for Catelyn is ‘dutiful’ - it’s in her house words, and it’s how she’s lived her life up to AGOT. Doing as she’s told, even when it pains her. She expects the same of her daughters, and finds those expectations satisfied in Sansa’s case, and apparently flouted in Arya’s. So again, from their own mother, Sansa internalises that Arya is bad, and that she, Sansa, is good. Arya internalises the same. If societal standards were reversed, perhaps it would be Arya lording over Sansa, but such as it is, it’s Sansa over Arya.

Now, Sansa is a child. When children are told over and over that X is good and Y is bad, they generally don’t question it, at least until they're older and more experienced in the world. They will also parrot what they hear, often in graceless ways. Because they’re children. Sansa is told that Arya wilfully misbehaves because she’s bad, and so Sansa thinks: then I should look down on Arya. It sounds like Sansa mostly keeps her distance from her sister pre AGOT. Not always - they play together sometimes - but a lot of the time. She has internalised the teaching that Arya is an aberration, and as she herself knows the adults value obedience in girls, and she wants to please them so badly, the distance between her and Arya demonstrates to them just how good she is - she won’t descend to Arya’s behaviour.

When Sansa does interact with Arya (pre Darry), we see her being a bit bossy - telling Arya what to do, etc. Sansa is replicating what she has seen the adults do with Arya, and is mimicking them to assert her own position as the good, obedient child. If Arya ever doesn’t want to do something, it can only be because she’s bad.

[sidenote, it all really reminds me of these short stories me and my sister used to get read a lot as kids, called My Naughty Little Sister (lmao) by Dorothy Edwards. They're pretty old and I don’t think they ever got major circulation outside Britain, but for anyone unfamiliar, you can probably guess how these stories go. There’s an elder sister, good and obedient, who narrates short tales of her ‘naughty little sister’ doing terrible things like idk, making a terrible mess etc, and going ‘now I’m sure you [the child audience] wouldn’t do a thing like that!’ They’re supposed to be short morality tales for the children, and amuse the parent reading them aloud, who recognises the mischievous behaviour of the younger and is charmed by the haughtiness of the elder sister, who you can hear is narrating the incidents of her sister’s mischief with the disdain that she’s heard the adults do so, and is asserting her own good behaviour over said sister. And the whole fucking reason we were read these stories was because my younger sister was precisely the kind of kid who got up to all kinds of shit as a little kid (which now all of us find hilarious but DIDN’T AT THE TIME), and I was the elder sister like ‘my goodness how could she do such things as these!!’ (e.g. paint an entire bookcase with grout). It amused us both to see ourselves in the stories. You could say this was life imitating art, but I think this is simply an age old dynamic, familiar to many people with siblings: you would see how the adults spoke to another child in your family, and replicate their manner in an effort to come across as an adult. Except you weren’t an adult, so you weren’t always as graceful about it as they were. That is pre AGOT Sansa, to a T. And I’m sure that’s what GRRM, a child of three who had two sisters of his own, is replicating here.]

But I think there’s also a loneliness in being the ‘obedient child’. Doing as you’re told all the time can be boring, and living up to expectations is a lot of pressure. Sansa wants a companion in all that, but Arya has no interest in sharing in it. Arya is offering friendship, but from a place Sansa believes she can’t reach her sister - Sansa thinks she’d have to ‘descend to Arya’s level’ to accept it, and she can’t do that. You get a sense of Sansa thrilling in trying Arya’s ‘misbehaviours’ for herself when she quietly delights in behaving ‘as wicked as Arya’, but you see in this that she has to condemn such behaviours and herself for exhibiting them, all in the same breath. And in the end, I can easily imagine Sansa resents that Arya has more fun with their brothers than she ever does with Sansa herself: that the one sister she has is one she has nothing in common with. Sansa can’t find a like mind amongst her siblings, and so clings to Jeyne Poole, and the praise of the adults around her.

So with all that in mind, YES! Sansa is sometimes mean to Arya, and calls her horseface. That is because Sansa is a child, nobody is correcting her behaviour, and she understands that Arya is bad, and the way she behaves is frustrating to Sansa herself, so really what does it matter if she’s a little mean sometimes? She knows that she is good, because everyone says so. Even if she calls her sister a name now and then, she’s still the good child.

AND THEN we get to Darry. And Sansa starts to see that society isn’t a song, and sometimes it doesn’t matter how good you are, horrible things can happen to you anyway. But she doesn’t want to believe that, because it would turn her world upside down, and her future would look a lot darker, too - Ned has not ended her engagement to Joffrey, and Sansa has to live for the foreseeable in KL. So when Arya doing the thing she ‘wasn’t supposed to’ (playing with Mycah) snowballs into a terrible miscarriage of justice where Sansa’s wolf is killed, Sansa rejects the notion that the songs could be wrong about beautiful princes, and shifts the blame onto Arya for that original 'misdemeanour'. The grief at losing Lady is terrible too (the wolves are meant to have a soul deep bond with the Stark children), and so the target of that grief likewise becomes Arya. What was previously a normal, childishly complicated sibling relationship gets twisted into something else.

This is where I think Sansa becomes different level of unpleasant towards her sister. She’s cruel about Arya’s loss of Mycah, tells Arya she wishes she were dead instead of Lady, etc etc. Arya is not giving as good as she gets here - she even tries to make amends with Sansa, but Sansa throws the offer in her face.

The reasons for Sansa’s behaviour are complicated, but not that complicated. She’s been raised to slot perfectly into this world, without ever being told what that world is really like. And when abruptly it turns out that what she’s being raised for is essentially the slaughter, she rejects it. She can’t see Joffrey as he truly is: she’s been told that princes are charming, that Kings are just, Queens are kind, and she herself will be a Queen. Sansa is going to be handed over to the Lannisters, and she’s going to live the song of her dreams, and the only thing between Sansa and the realisation of those is the thing that’s always been wrong: Bad Arya. Because again, if Arya isn't bad, then everything else is, and Sansa is in terrible danger.

No one is sitting Sansa down and explaining to her that Arya is not bad, just different from her, and that they should love one another - that there are dark forces here far stronger than them that could tear them apart, that the Lannisters are the greatest of them, and they have to fight together, not each other. Arya gets this talk, funnily enough, but not Sansa. Arya is asked to understand that Sansa is different from her, but Sansa is only ever taught to abhor that her sister as different from her. Where Arya is told to be wary of the court of King’s Landing, Ned leaves Sansa to continue her fantasies, and then, when he abruptly tries to put an end to them, he doesn’t bother to explain why. I’m not saying this is unforgivable on Ned’s part - he has a lot on his mind lol - but it’s quite obviously a major failing. Ned leaves Sansa in a fantasy world. It’s fucking Joffrey who has to step in and clarify for Sansa that actually, she’s been dreaming.

So as long as they’re together, Sansa is never able to come to terms with the fact that Arya was not the aberration, but rather, everything else was. In the absence of one another, they cannot reconcile over that fact. So yes, GRRM says they’ll have deep issues to sort through when they meet again, but those aren’t going to be the times that Sansa called her ‘horseface’ - they’re going to be about what happened since they left Winterfell, when their relationship was twisted by forces much darker than Septa Mordane.

So no, I think the ‘Sansa is a bully’ diatribes are seriously tedious, because even if you want to insist that calling your sister ‘horseface’ a few times even qualifies, you can still accept such wrongs without deciding that that makes Sansa a fundamentally unkind person who cannot be reconciled with Arya and doesn’t deserve to be. It is on the page that the two of them miss each other. Like I genuinely cannot imagine going through everything Arya does in the story and then, upon reuniting with a sister I thought lost forever, deciding I’m actually still mad about the things she got wrong as a child that she herself has paid dearly for, both physically and emotionally. Like jesus fucking christ man. By all means let them talk about it!! But who do you think Arya is lmao

Tl;dr: Sansa is a kid in a society. She is not the arbiter of Arya’s place in society. She is not mean because she’s cruel, but because she has internalised the exact same things that Arya has, based on the example of the adults surrounding them. It just happens that those things were a carrot for Sansa and a stick for Arya. But then in the end, they weren’t a carrot for Sansa either.

tl;dr 2: clarifying once again - i am a jaime stan. i find the stark sister relationship interesting bc I have experience of a similar sisterly dynamic and find it interesting to see a version of that explored on the page. so if you think one has to be a sansa stan to observe all this then that kind of just demonstrates how dichotomous you've become on this issue lol like if I'm talking about takes I dislike re JB I don't generally feel the need to attribute them to JC fandom. let's all grow up x

tl;dr 3: no i don't hate sansa or arya, since i know these are both conclusions various people reach whenever i even mention these two. in fact i think they are both great girls! imagine

#ask #im not tagging them

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vilandel · 15 days

Text

Morning Mist & Night Traffic

Chapter 1 – Frustrated Spring

A/N First chapter is now here. This story already got over 50 reviews on Ao3, how is this possible? I'm really happy. Thank you @f-oighear, @kalolasfantasyworld and @mamavino for your kind reviews on the prologue ♣️ 💘

Ao3 link

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Lavender just couldn’t understand why Lord Rosecliff still looked at her like this. Yes, he had been harsh, but she had been the same towards him, if not even more. She truly regretted telling him back then that his pain and perspective didn’t matter. She had refused to understand that day.

Now she did.

And yet, lord Rosecliff still didn’t glance at Lavender with hatred. She didn’t understood. He should, after what happened. Lady Undina was just waiting for an occasion to talk her down and to put herself up into his esteem. It was the perfect opportunity for lord Rosecliff to pay back.

But nothing like this was happening. Lavender didn’t dare to look into his eyes, even though it was difficult to do so usually, given this unique turquoise colour of his orbs. She was afraid of what she could see in it, since it wouldn’t be any disgust or disliking towards her. But she could still feel his glance upon her, kinder than she would have ever expected. Why was kindness more unbearable than disgust?

“That is because Finnegan came to understand YOUR perspective, Lavender cutie. And he was never interested in that bitch Undina in the first place. Even less so after he found out that she knew about what that jerk Ignacio wanted to do to you. Oh right, you don’t know that yet, it’s not yet revealed in the story from your point of view.”

Vanessa swallowed the last bits of her apple as she continued her reading. She would have loved to lie down on her bed instead of sitting, but sadly her cat Rouge has decided to take a nap on her lap.

And when Rouge was napping, it was always very long. Not to mention that he hated to be moved while he was snoozing. End of story, she was stuck in this position for a while. At least, she had some books to read. One of the rare classics she loved, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen and her other current favourite literature, Roses & Lavender by that mysterious writer N. A. Steel, whom people only know the name. Well, whoever that was, he or she wrote amazing novels since a few years and Vanessa practically own almost each one of the books of this author.

There was also two books recommended by roommate, different genres than what Vanessa was usually reading. Apparently to force her a bit out of her reading comfort zone, but she had yet to give herself a grip and start trying them.

The first one was a spooky fantasy novel, Pure Within The Mirror by Nero Bird. Vanessa usually didn’t liked spooky stuff that much, but Dorothy always said that this author was great and there was no reason so far to doubt her.

The second book was from the romantasy genre, which might be more to Vanessas romantic taste. Emerald Snow by Nymphea Silber, a writer who had been extremely successful years ago according again to Dorothy, but who hasn’t written since over a decade.

Vanessa snickered. Nymphea Silber, N. A. Steel and Nero Bird. If those three had something in common, except having names starting with N, it was also that except their names and their books, no one knew anything about them.

The Three Word Mysteries of Clover, as they were called. But it was still speculated if anyone of them was really from the city of Clover. Sure, their books all where from Clover Editions, but those authors could also be from another city, like Diamond, Spade or Heart, maybe even from a small village. And why not from Raque, their countries own film industry and sea holiday town?

Dorothy loved to speculate about it a lot when she wasn’t busy being sleepy, but Vanessa wasn’t that interested. N. A. Steel was one of her favourite authors, on par with Jane Austen in her books when it comes to romance, and maybe she might try the other two novelist as well.

Caressing a purring Rouge, Vanessa continued her reading.

“Lady Lavender,” lord Rosecliff suddenly spoke. Lavender flinched at how gentle his voice sounded. How could she ever have thought that he was cold?

“Vanessa?”

“Meow!”

Vanessa flinched as she looked up, but thank goodness it was only Dorothy who appeared at her doorframe. Who else would it ever be, no one else was living with them.

Dorothy must have done some groceries, given the full bags she had with her. There must have been some catnips in, because Rouge immediately woke up, freed Vanessas lap and started to go around the bags while meowing.

“Yes, you little rascal, there is also some goody goodies for you. I didn’t expect to see you here, Nessa. Didn’t you have a date today?”

“Not anymore.”

“Oh. Did you got dumped again?”

“It was obviously his attention, but I dumped him first. Which upset him a lot, apparently I insulted his pride or something stupid like that. Gosh, why did I even tried with that jerk? And he even had the audacity to claim that I’m not pretty enough for him to try… you know what. Kicked him in the balls for that.”

“He probably deserved it. But what I don’t understand is why you are still trying to find a boyfriend when you only complain about your dates. Blind dates definitely don’t work with you, maybe you should stop?”

This was true and Vanessa also know that Dorothy might at least suspect her reason already. They were both coming from the same town, after all…

But Vanessa didn’t want to talk about that. It was behind her once and for all (she hoped), she lived now in Clover, had a roof over her head, more than one hobby, two small but good jobs that still leave them enough freedom, especially one of them was also home office mostly, she had friends.

Sure, she couldn’t forget her past… But it was behind her and she didn’t need therapy. Why would anyone need therapy when their life was fine?

Still, Vanessa would love to find someone, to fell in love and truly this time. One reason was her past and this was history. One other reason was her first crush that was the closest experience to love she ever had. A lost duckling crush on which she clinged upon was her only experience with love. She had to change that. Last reason was her romantic joyful side that still was longing.

It would have sounded like therapy might help… No, Vanessa didn’t need therapy. And she couldn’t let Dorothy suspect anything.

Vanessa sighed dramatically as she fell back on her bed, holding her two current favorite books in front of her as if they were some most important evidences during a trial.

“I can’t help it, Dotty! Jane Austen and N. A. Steel have put the level of being a wonderful man onto such a high level that I automatically have too much expectations for any potential boyfriend! But the only thing I get at best are jerks, not Darcys, colonel Brandons or Rosecliffs!”

Dorothy giggled, which could either mean that she was amused or kinda frustrated. “You do have a romantic soul, Nessa.”

“Yeah, maybe that’s the reason why I can’t get a proper boyfriend. But I don’t want to date a macho anymore! Why are gentlemen so out of fashion today? Maybe I was born in the wrong time period.”

“Aren’t you a bit overdramatic?”

“Maybe? I don’t know. I knew I shouldn’t have started to drink less wine.”

It didn’t sound like an easygoing joke and Vanessa knew that this wasn’t normal for her.

Dorothy as well, since she was now looking at her almost frowning, a vague worried glance in her bi-colored eyes. Sometimes Vanessa had the feeling that Dorothy was able to know people even through sleep and dreams.

Time to change the subject quickly.

“I promise I will read those two books you recommended me. But I had to read Roses & Lavender again. I love this story so much! N. A. Steel is just an amazing writer and so good at history stuff. Even when he or she invent a country for a novel, it is so believable! Especially the novels about the witch hunt period, fantastic!”

“Ha, of course witch hunting period is appealing for the two of us, right? Now, coming back to your romantic live-“

“I don’t need therapy!”

“I wasn’t going to tell you that?”

Probably not, but Vanessa acted more upon instinct than anything. Dorothy shook her head before she sat down on Vanessas bed, letting Rouge turning around the grocery bags with purrs and meows.

“I know you love romance, Nessa and you’re always so supportive of helping others with their love lives. But I have the feeling that you’re not really put your heart into it when it comes to your own.”

“How can you be so sure of that? You were never interested in dating, as far as I know.”

“Have you noticed that many of the guys you tried dating are merely pale copies of Yami and that only on a superficial level?”

“Damn, it’s that obvious? Finral said something similar as well.”

“Of course, he did. You should listen to your best friend, Nessa. It is only obvious to people who know you well and only if observant. Plus, like I said, those were pale copies only, so I didn’t connect the dots immediately. But the fact is, buff and rough, some even smoking, it is a vague description of Yami. Weren’t you over him?”

“I moved on from him, really… But I can’t forget my huge crush on him. You know the reasons. Shouldn’t he be my type somehow?”

“Don’t get yourself blinded by types, most of the time they’re never what we believe they are. I don’t why you focus still on guys that are only very vaguely like Yami, but maybe you will have more luck with men if you start thinking outside the box a bit? After all, you love the gentlemen in your books. Why not trying that for reality as well?”

Vanessa frowned a bit. What Dorothy said make sense, but somehow, she still wasn’t really convinced by it. Or didn’t she want to be?

She couldn’t continue to wonder about her rather unusual thoughts, as Dorothy continued, “This can also mean that you don’t need to search for a boyfriend if you don’t want to, you know. All I ask you to is to take a different approach. Maybe you don’t understand yet yourself what you want.”

“You know I’m wary of changes and I think I know at least a bit what I want.”

“Aw, your so cute when you are pouting. But come on, you are always so daring and proud, I am sure that you will overcome your current romantic frustration.”

“Romantic frustration,” Vanessa couldn’t help but snicker. Dorothy had sometimes the weirdest description of things.

“Come on, how else would describe your current state, you silly- No, Rouge, this fish is not for you, come back here!”

While Dorothy run out of the bedroom after the cat, Vanessa lied down again and watched at the ceiling without really seeing it. Dorothys words might have triggered something in her, but it was too sudden for Vanessa to take it seriously yet or not.

Should she really think outside the box? Pragmatically speaking, it shouldn’t be such a bad idea, given that every guy she tried to date ended up being an asshole, sadly proving her mother’s point about men-

No, stop! This time was behind her and Vanessa refused to ever think about it ever again! Even though maybe it was one of the reasons why…

“Stop!”

Vanessa looked out of the window, where a few pigeons were flying by. The spring sun was shining through the glass, giving her patchwork curtains a bright touch. She liked the view she had from her bedroom, it was right in front of the Clover Parc, one of the most beautiful parcs in the world, with the trees and the flowers and the paths. Sometimes, Vanessa could even see the romantic belvedere from afar.

Not that she ever got something romantic at the belvedere, even though it would be so great. Gosh, it was spring, the season of love and if Dorothy was right, she had a romantic frustration. What a time, really.

Well, spring holidays was almost over and the school where she worked as a helping nurse (although not a nurse in the classical way, so the term was maybe not fitting) would be open again and maybe it would help her to distract herself from that frustration or help her having clearer thoughts about her stupid situation.

She wondered if the teachers and students, plus others, were doing fine. She had seen some of them in the city during the holidays. The trouble trio Asta, Magna Swing and Luck Voltia have caused some problems in the parc just two days ago, when she got for a walk with Rouge, but Vanessa knew them, they never mean any harm. Okay, you could never be so sure about Luck, though.

Others had been away. Mimosa Vermillion had told her that she would be in Switzerland during the holidays, with her parents and her older brother. And her cousin Noelle Silva went to her family’s secondary villa with her oldest brother.

Hopefully it had been alright for the poor girl. Vanessa had quite some sympathy for her. She was able to recognize when a household wasn’t doing fine, due to her own experience. Family Silva didn’t seem like it was a loving family. Vanessa might not know the signs and she hadn’t met Noelles brother yet. But she knew the signs and she did hear that he was more like a cold man. But she also knew that Noelles brother went to school with Dorothy and Yami. Could she judge him without meeting him?

Vanessa still didn’t like him. Or at least, given the Silva household, she wasn’t sure yet if she could like him.

But little Noelle seemed to have some strong affection for him and according to Mimosa, he cared deeply for his little sister.

It didn’t explain why the Silva family wasn’t working well, but this at least spoke in his favor. Vanessa just hoped that it was true affection between Noelle and her brother, not something that was abusive.

Well, Vanessa dared still to assume that Noelles brother wasn’t into romance. He was a rich man and if Vanessa knew something about rich people in Clover, it was that they don’t believe in love.

Why would he be different?

At the same time, why would he be the same?

Well, one thing for sure, Vanessa would never try to date a rich guy. But this sudden thought surprised her still.

♣♣♣

Noelle took a huge bite from her salami sandwich. It was so good, the servants of the secondary residence even roasted the bread a bit and were generous with the butter. It was almost as good as Charmys sandwiches. And way better than those thin wannabe sandwiches they got in most train stations.

At least, from what Noelle knew about those wannabe sandwiches. She never tasted them before and the only one who always talked or rather complained about those was Magna. Given her classmate’s tendency to hyperbole when he was complaining about something, Noelle didn’t if she could always believe him.

She wondered what Asta had to say about…

STOP!

Now she was thinking about that idiot again, while she managed to have banned him from her mind during the integrity of the spring holidays! More or less, but this was a detail. And to be fair, her brother and her were currently on their way home to Clover, so she will see that idiot again soon.

It was the end of the spring holidays, school will start again like tomorrow and her brother needed to return to work as well. Okay, needed was a strong word, since they were Silvas and one of the three richest family in the city who descended from nobility. According to Nebra – and she tended to overreact – Silvas didn’t need to work.

But Nozel took his job seriously, unlike many rich people in Clover. Too serious some would say, since he didn’t allow himself many holidays, just a day off here and there at best. The fact that Nozel proposed to her to spend the spring holidays, just the two of them for two weeks, at the secondary residence of the Silvas, had been a huge surprise for Noelle. But at the same time, it made her really happy.

Not only was it an opportunity to avoid Asta during the holidays after… that happened, but spending two whole weeks alone with Nozel was always more than welcome. He was the only one she was close to within her family.

Noelle looked at her brother, sitting on the other side of the picnic table between the birches, eating his own sandwich and a small salad, reading a book absently. There was often silence between them, but Noelle didn’t mind. Over the years, this kind of silence became very agreeable and even understanding. Okay, sometimes she was still not sure how to act around Nozel, but it was the same for him around her and they were never stopping trying. At least, it was clear to both that they truly care for each other and even though Nozel could seem cold and distant for other people – which he was for anyone outside of the family and closest people – Noelle loved her oldest brother a lot.

She sighed silently. Oh, those two weeks with Nozel were great, but she was also happy to come back home. She missed the city of Clover, she missed her school – okay, not everything – she missed her classmates and friends, even Asta and Mimosa… somehow, she missed a lot of people and she missed the family cats. At least, those two who remained in Clover, only Canelle came with them on the trip.

But her family… Maybe Noelle missed them a bit, but mixed feelings were a norm in this case. She was never close to her sister Nebra – Vanessa sometimes felt more like an older sister than her own sister – even though they didn’t hate each other. It was just… distant in a strange familiarity. It had been worse in her childhood, but that changed. At least, Nebra was never like Solid.

Noelle never got along with her brother Solid, which made her sad, but given their childhood and how mad Nozel had been after that incident when she was five, it was probably for the best. Maybe one day, they could get along… but Solid was too much of a jerk.

Still, Solid was better than their father and the less Noelle met that man, the better. She didn’t know yet what exactly broke their family apart when she was still a baby. Noelle wasn’t close enough to Nebra and Solid to ask them, as for Nozel… he never show anything, but there were always tears shining in his eyes when it was mentioned and Noelle didn’t want her brother to suffer. Whatever happened, it had shattered him. So, Noelle might be wondering, but she would never ask. Their family was already unstable enough and she didn’t want to be distant with her older brother.

But fact is, their father was not someone she missed and even though Noelle didn’t know everything, it was clear that this man should be better out of their lives completely. If only this could be the case… Maybe Nebra and Solid would have been real siblings during her childhood?

And then… there was mother. That far away person who was a stranger to Noelle. That picture that was like a reflection of her own appearance, but it was someone else. A person Noelle missed, but felt unsure what exactly to feel towards. She sometimes visited their mother at the clinic, but never alone, always with her siblings or her Vermillion aunt and it was always a stranger who didn’t seem to recognize them. Never a mother, shattered, still beautiful but shattered.

Out of her siblings, only Nozel visited mother often. He was the one who still talked to her, softer than even with Noelle, who always brushed mothers hair, who didn’t see a stranger. Sometimes, Noelle thought that it didn’t do Nozel any good to visit their mother, she often heard him cry silently in his bedroom after each visit and she had no idea how to comfort him. It was always heartbreaking to see her strong, proud and strict older brother like this. But at least, he visited her… unlike their father.

So, Noelle couldn’t tell if she missed anyone truly within her closest family. In the Silva household, it was the other two cats she missed the most. Especially Leviathan, who had been Nozels gift on her last birthday in November. A beautiful long-haired Nebelung with kind of an attitude like a stormy sea, but so affectionate. Silvas usually weren’t liked by animals, it was actually a miracle that three cats came to love them.

And maybe Noelle also missed Rosette a bit, Solids fiancée.

It was an arranged betrothal, like how it was still the norm for rich people. Noelle couldn’t understand that, it was the 21st century and even the middle ages weren’t that strict on marital topics like the rich society of Clover. She didn’t know how it happened, given the fights Nozel had with father about it, it had been certainly complicated, somehow things happened and end of story, the betrothed moved into the Silva household.

But Rosette Vitrail was not at all an arrogant bitch like Noelle feared at first. On the contrary, she was kind and polite to everyone, even to Solid, loved the three cats who loved her back, respected the servants, she never tried to slime in and at first it was almost like she was invisible. Noelle assumed that Rosette didn’t choose the situation either and decided to make the best out of it. Even though her fiancé was Solid. And she never felt that unhappy to have left her family already.

Maybe she came from a broken household too? Not a good change to live now in another one, but Rosette didn’t seem to mind. But she was still a bit a mystery, she just moved in just one month ago.

But Noelle liked Rosette at least a bit. She didn’t had a distant, proud and almost sad glance like Nebra or the jerk attitude of Solids. And certainly not the superior, arrogant and disgusted glare of their father.

“Are you alright, Noelle?”

Noelle flinched slightly. Like always when Nozel talked to her out of the blue. How much she would love to get rid of this habit. After all, it was her dear older brother talking, not Nebra or Solid. Or worse, father.

“I’m fine, brother. Just been thinking.”

“Are you happy to come home?”

“I admit that I am. Oh, those two weeks together were great, but I miss my friends still and school… And Waterlily and Leviathan too. But I don’t think that Canelle would like to see them again.”

“Meow!”

It sounded like a protest. Noelle watched happily how Nozels lips went slightly up and she couldn’t help but smile as she turned towards the cat lying next to her. Canelle glared at her with her yellow eyes, like offended by the statement.

Canelle was looking so adorable with her heart-shaped head, her cinnamon brown fur, the white paws and belly, her big eyes and her rather tiny frame. But Noelle was sure that there was no cat with a personality like Canelle. She was the boss in their house, not only over the other cats, but in a way also of them. A few months ago, she had been quite sick and needed to rest. Instead of remaining in the cat chamber, she claimed Nebras bedroom all for herself and end of the story was that Nebra had to move into one of the guest rooms for two weeks until Canelle was better. One of the few rare times in their family were there had been some genuine laughs.

Canelle was not a cat of breed and this was already strange for a strict rich family like them. If any strict rich Clover family had animals, then of breed, please. The other cats of the Silvas were a Nebelung and a Ragdoll. But Noelle was glad that they got Canelle and even Nebra and Solid didn’t care that one of their pets wasn’t of a breed.

It was Solid who brought Canelle home and not even on purpose. This cat had been just a kitten when they got her, living on the streets and on one rainy day, she followed Solid for some reason, so close that she get into the villa the same time as him. And just decided to stay. After some time, Nozel finally decided that they should keep her, since she was determined to stay.

Given the colour of her fur, they named her Canelle, the french word for cinnamon. Noelles choice, as she was rather proud of her skills in that language.

Petting her head, Noelle remembered how Asta had been so excited when she told him about Canelle for the first time. He adored cats and his own, Liebe…

No, stop! Hadn’t she decided to not think about that idiot until they see each other again in school? And even there, if she could ignore him, but it was impossible, they were in the same class and just before the holidays, he had a date with Mimosa, her own cousin! This is what she got for crushing on a dense idiot and being in denial. Someone else got him and Asta couldn’t stop friendzone her and he didn’t even know he did!

Whoever said that friendzone wasn’t that bad was wrong. It was so damn worse than being hated! At least in Noelles books.

She heard that Mimosa went with her brother and her mother to Raque during the holidays. And she certainly invited Asta too. The mere thought of them cuddling at the beach… Or having fun in the sea…

Noelle sighed again. She hated feeling jealous. Mimosa was way too kind to be mad at, Asta was stupid but nicer than anyone she knew. Noelle couldn’t hate any of them and she wanted to be happy for them. After all, Asta didn’t belonged to her, he was free to choose who he would date and Mimosa was never mean to him, unlike Noelle.

But it was still a pain.

“Noelle?”

“Oh, sorry, brother. Did you say something?”

“No, but you seem thoughtful. Is something bothering you?”

Noelle bit her lips. Nozel might be the one of her family she was the closest to, but it was still difficult for the two of them to open to each other. Like any Silva, they had their own issues to deal with. It had been like this since she was a baby.

Oh, Noelle would love to tell Nozel about her love problems. But she didn’t know if he could be of any help or comfort, nor if he would be happy that she was crushing on someone out of their circles. Nozel still had a lot of pride, after all.

But he was still her brother and until she met Vanessa or Nero again, or waiting for Kahono to be back from her tour in Switzerland, Noelle had only Nozel to at least confide in a bit. Just a bit, she was a Silva after all.

Not something to be proud of, at least Noelle sometimes felt that way.

“I had… well, I had a difference with one of my classmates. Nothing important, though.”

Not quite the truth, not quite a lie. This should be enough.

“Did that classmate of yours insulted you? Shall I have a talk with that person?”

“No, no need to. But thank you still, brother. We didn’t had a fight and he probably… doesn’t remember our difference or haven’t even realized it. But I needed some distance and your proposition was a perfect opportunity for that. I will… see how it goes once school starts again.”

“If you don’t want to go to public school anymore, you can just tell me, I will arrange that.”

“I know, but there is no need. I still like my school and I’m happy that I can to go to the same school like you did. And Nebra and Solid.”

“It had been mother’s wish that we go to the public school and not a private one.”

“And it was probably a good idea. I have friends at least and there is Mimosa too. I want to finish school with them.”

“I’m glad that you have friends, Noelle.”

There was a tone in his voice that was almost sad. As if he wanted to say more or something else. Noelle always wondered if Nozel was lonely. Sure, he had friends, like Fuegoleon Vermillion or Vanessas roommate, Dorothy Unsworth. Such a small world. But still, even with friends, he could seem lonely.

And Noelle was worried for her big brother. She just had no idea how to help him. She was just a teenager, how could she help a full-grown adult?

There was not a lot she could do.

“Have you finished the last corrections on your manuscript?”

“Yes, I’ve sent it to Mr. Novachrono already. If everything goes like usual, it shall come to the market next month.”

“I’m looking forward to it, you write so well,” Noelle smiled and felt some relief when Nozel smiled back at her.

She was the only one in the family to know that secret of Nozel. She found it out some time ago and since then, it was more than just a secret between them, it was something like they were a bit like accomplices and Noelle loved that feeling.

Not to mention that she might be Nozels biggest fan and even though he never said it, her support meant a lot to him. She saw it in his eyes every time she talked about his works and what she loved the most.

Sometimes she wanted to share it with her friends, but this was not her secret to reveal. And it felt good to know something they didn’t, especially Astas arrogant best friend Yuno who was such a genius in everything.

And now she thought about Asta again, just like that. Why couldn’t she just stop? Why was Asta everywhere? She almost hated him for putting her in such a pathetic state, but then again, it wasn’t his fault and he didn’t know.

But Noelle still wanted to be mad at him, on principle. At least a bit.

“Meow!”

Canelle suddenly stood up and hoped down the bench, patting her cat bag and looking at them with some impatience. Which meant in her eyes, it was time to continue to return home. And she would pester Noelle and Nozel until they got their things together.

“Seems that we have to finish our meal,” Nozel said as he stood up as well and put the rest of their picnic back in the bag.

Noelle sighed deeply as she looked at the two chocolate-banana muffins. They looked so delicious and creamy, the old cook back at the secondary residence backed them at dawn especially for them.

“We can still eat the muffins on the way.”

Noelle beamed. Nozel must have seen her ogling very obviously on those muffins and since he was a sweettooth too… Noelle grabbed the muffins plus the cat bag and followed her brother who carried the picnic bag, while Canelle was already at the car, waiting for them with a grumpy look. She certainly almost had a Silva personality, but at least she didn’t act like a spoiled princess like Waterlily or like a stormy sea like Leviathan.

When they reached Nozels silver Porsche, Noelle immediately opened one of the doors so that Canelle could just jump in and into her cat bag once Noelle put it on the back seat. Then she entered the car herself, sitting at the front next to Nozel who just started the car.

Well, time to go home. With a bit of mixed feelings still, but Noelle was grateful that she had still more things to look forward to back in Clover. Even though Asta was currently not fitting into one of the two categories.

Stop, Noelle! Stop thinking about this idiot!

The siblings were silent when they left the picnic area and went back on the road. Even Canelle was silent, but maybe she fell asleep. That cat was always calm in the car, unless she had to be brought to the veterinary. Then the meowing would never stop and she would refuse any petting.

“Did you make nice photos during our vacation?” Nozel suddenly asked once they were back on the road.

Noelle smiled. As subtle as it might was, she was so happy that her brother supported her with her hobby.

“I think so, I’ll work on them once we get home. Thank you for helping taking pictures of myself too. Some of the servants also helped to-“

Noelle bit her lips. Maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned that. Nozel was never keen on befriending the servants back in Clover, it certainly also count for the once at their second villa. Noelle didn’t really understood why they couldn’t befriend servants, but she still hoped that it won’t destroy the fragile bond she had with her brother.

But to her biggest surprise, Nozel didn’t scold her. He just nodded and sighed, almost more to himself than to her, “It is wonderful that they helped. Those servants were always loyal to mother.”

Noelle flinched, like always when mother was mentioned. She still was curious, why would Nozel made an exception for the servants working at the secondary Silva residence? But she wouldn’t ask, mother was never a happy subject.

Nozel seemed a bit sad, so Noelle handed him one of the chocolate-banana muffins. Her brother smiled as he accepted it. Noelle relaxed at the sight and bit in her own. It was actually good to go home.

If only Asta…

And shit, now she was thinking about Asta again! Noelle was really fed up with those stupid thought. Okay, maybe she would stop if she would finally start to actively move on from her crush for him.

After all, it was just a teenage crush, nothing she would regret in a few days.

Right?

♣♣♣

Charlotte opened the door to her appartement, she could hear a lot of yells and screams and laughs from the living room.

This could only mean that Luck invited some friends to play some video-games. Probably Magna and Asta, given how loud it was.

Hopefully they wouldn’t end up destroying the TV or anything else. Not that many of these things were irreplaceable, of course not. But Charlotte preferred to not put this kind of finances on her budget.

“HAHAHA! I got you Magna! Now fight me!”

“No, I’m not fighting you, stopping attacking me with the controller! And no, you didn’t got me! You just cheated!”

“How can anyone cheat at a videogame? Oh no, Magna watch out, your ship is going towards a rock!”

“UAAH! Phew, thanks Asta. Ah, shit, you two are already this far ahead of me! Oh hell no, I’m not going to lose!”

Charlotte took a look in the living room. Ah, yes, Luck and his two friends were indeed gaming. Sails of Waves, a newer game a bit like Mario Karts, but with ships instead and a setting that was a mix of Pirates of the Caribbean, One Piece and corsairs & pirates of the 17th and 18th century.

Thankfully this was a rather harmless game, in comparison. Charlotte knew the creator very well, she went to school with him and Jack had a habit of being very bloody and scary in the games he created.

To think that he also opened a toy shop & atelier years ago…

Charlotte sighed and shook her head. She just came home from her tearoom and given how some of her girls were either on vacation or sick – stupid spring cold, really – they only had been three to be here for the customers.

And Sunday was one of the best days for the Blue Rose tearoom. So she was exhausted and since she forgot to buy bread and milk on her weekly grocery shopping, Charlotte had to go to the only shop open on Sunday in Clover, the small supermarket at the train station, on the opposite of her appartement.

But she could live with that. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened. But she had to meet Yami today on her way home.

Yami…

Charlotte had a deep sigh as she put the milk in the fridge and the bread into the bread box. Goodness, why was she unable to spend even one day without thinking about him? One hour would already be a record.

Just one hour without feeling the heavy love that hasn’t left her for like a decade. Ten years living with that! Others were well able to move on from a one-sided love and crush more than once in such a period of time, then why was she unable to?

If her life would have been a fantasy story, maybe she would have been curse and falling in love with Yami would have lifted it. It was ridiculous, but it often felt that way for Charlotte. Maybe she read too much of Nymphea Silber’s romantasy novels in her youth. Rather pathetic for a grown adult woman, wasn’t it?

Yami…

Why was she still so worked up about that stupid crush after ten years in the first place? It wasn’t like the rest of her life was hell in any way. She was independent from her family and their stupid business, not to mention she cut most ties with the Roseleis, her tearoom and little fencing school worked amazingly, she had a nice and big appartement, fought for and won her younger half-brothers custody… her life was pretty good so far.

If she could finally get a grip about that stupid crush, it would be perfect.

But how? By moving on? By daring to ask him out directly? By deciding if it was just a crush or something more?

Always those questions and Charlotte was unable to find a proper answer. She was really pathetic, wasn’t she.

Why did had to be him? And why did she not wanted to be anyone else than him?

Maybe this was the never ending hurdle of being in love with terribly dense man. Oh yes, Yami was dense, terribly dense, so dense that despite his claims to be good at reading people, he was unable to tell if someone was in love with him.

Oh, it was easy to put all the blame on him. But Charlotte was well aware and smart enough to know that she wasn’t innocent either. How many times had she been rude to Yami to hide her feelings? How many times had she – often with reasons – been frustrated by his carefree behavior in everything? And made him know? How many times had she told him that work was her only partner?

Yes, she was quite to blame as well for her frustrated romantic situation. Would it have been sorted out much earlier if Yami wasn’t dense and less carefree? But would she be in love with him if he was any different?

Love was complicated and like hope, not rational at all.

“Meow!”

Charlotte looked up and saw Briar on the table, looking at her with some impatience within her beautiful green eyes. Briar was one the three cats Charlotte and Luck had, a beautiful tortoiseshell cat with a black and orange fur.

“Hello, Briar. I know that it is time for your dinner, but I think we had agreed that you shouldn’t jump on the kitchen table.”

Briar seemed to pout, but still jumped of the table, sitting down in front of her bowl and waited. Charlotte smiled as she took Briars favourite food, a mash with chicken flavour. Seems that someone was really hungry.

And of course, as soon as Briar started to eat, Lightning appeared suddenly in the kitchen. She was also a tortoiseshell cat, but unlike Briar, the eyes were amber and the fur was black, grey and white.

“Okay, okay. I will give you your dinner as well. Dry food with fish for you, right?”

Lightning meowed happily, while hoping up and down. She was almost as excited as Luck. After giving Lightning her food, Charlotte left the kitchen to join the boys in the living room. It felt good to feed the cats, they were always distracting her from her unresolved romantic frustration with Yami.

And now, she thought about him again. Why was it so easy to think about him and so difficult to stop?

Charlotte sometimes wondered if she really had puberty completely behind her.

When she entered the living room, the boys were still playing their video game. Given the image on the TV, they were currently on the storm level of the game. Luck and Magna were even jumping. Asta might have done it as well, if it weren’t for the long-haired grey cat napping on his lap.

Ah, there was their third cat. Charlotte and Luck did receive Queen as a kitten roughly six months ago, from a great-aunt who spent most of their time traveling the world and who didn’t cared that Charlotte cut ties with most of the Roseleis or that Luck was an illegitimate child, born out of an affair.

Queen was the only breed cat they had, a beautiful Russian Blue with the characteristic blue-grey fur and green eyes, and very affectionate. Asta seemed to love her too, as he sometimes put his controller aside to pet Queen a bit, even though his own ship lost some speed. Yes, he was a kind boy and Charlotte was glad that Luck was friends with him.

She didn’t had quite the same feeling about Magna, though, he and Luck were always fighting a lot, plus Magna was kind of almost a delinquent and even more or less proud of it. Not something Charlotte appreciated. But at the same time, it was mostly Luck who provoked Magna, not the other way around and this boy still had his heart at the right place. And Yami trusted him.

Yami again… She just couldn’t stop thinking about him. Maybe was it because of spring? This season was always considered the lovers season in Clover. Great, now she started to believe those stupid traditions of people.

She needed another distraction, right now.

“Hello, boys.”

“Bis Sis, you’re back!!!”

“Luck don’t jump on me, you little fucker… Oh shoot, hi, erm, I mean, hello Mrs, no, Miss Roselei! I wasn’t insulting your brother, I swear!”

“Hello, madam Charlotte, sir!”

Charlotte almost laughed as Asta somehow tried to salute. With the controller in his hands and Queen on his lap. She couldn’t blame him, she probably appeared like some kind of strict military officer when Luck brought him home for the first time. Which she was probably still a bit for him.

“Did you have fun playing Sails of Waves?”

“Yes, madam Charlotte, sir, I mean-“

“Asta, please, just Charlotte for you. How many times shall I tell you that?”

“But that wouldn’t be polite, madam Charlotte, sir… Oh no, I shouldn’t say sir to you, I apologize!”

“Don’t scream like that, Asta, you’re scaring the kitty!”

Magna said while yelling himself. But Queen was a calm cat, she just yawned before turning around and continuing to nap.

“How was your day at the tearoom, Big Sis?”

“Rather exhausting. It’s Sunday, not to mention spring holidays, so we had a lot to do at the tearoom. Especially since most of the girls were either sick or on vacation today. We were only three, let’s hope there will be more next week.”

Charlotte really hoped that, because one of the most productive seasons will just get started for her tearoom and the Blue Rose couldn’t be with just three waitresses every day during that season.

Not to mention that it was also a season were a lot of couples, from teenagers to old people, to have dates at the tearoom, which wouldn’t help Charlottes current mental state of romantic frustration concerning Yami and…

And she did it again. What has she ever done in some potential previous life to deserve this?

“Hey, Big Sis, if you want I can help you out sometimes!”

“Only if you promise to not attack costumers out of the blue. Remember what happened last time? If you want to help me, please behave?”

“Not even a little kick between the legs?”

“No.”

“Ah, but okay.”

“Maybe we could help you too!” Asta said with a big kind grin. “I never worked in a tearoom, but sister Lily always said that the more experience I have, the more I can go far in life after school!”

“I’m not that much into tearooms, but if you need manly help, maybe I can jump in?” Magna added, forgetting the game for a moment and not noticing that his boat was trapped into a maelstrom. “I’m helping out three times a week at the Black Bulls Motorcycle Garage, but I’m sure captain Yami will agree that I help one of his old classmates. After all, captain Yami is great!”

“Oh, you work with Yami? And you call him captain?”

“Yeah, it sounds manly! Oh crap, what is happening to my boat?”

While Magna tried to save his ship under Lucks laughs and Astas encouragement, Charlotte took a deep breath. Oh yes, Yami did mention that sometimes students were helping him out at his garage. He did this to help young people and give them a chance, as he said and this was one of the side she admired about him.

If only… If only…

Yami won’t leave her thoughts, wouldn’t he? Even if she hadn’t met him to day after doing her groceries, he would always haunt her mind. Gosh, their meeting today hadn’t even been long, he just teased her and she fled, like always.

This couldn’t continue like this! But at the same time, Charlotte had no idea how to change her whole romantic mess of the mind. Maybe she needed therapy? No, it couldn’t be that desperate. But nothing else came to her mind.

Well, then she needed to try distracting herself again, even though it never worked really. But what other option does she have?

“Can I play with you, boys?”

“Really, that’s so cool of you, Big Sis!”

“Here, sit next to me, madam Charlotte, sir! Oh, sorry, I said sir again!”

“We’ll show you how it works, maybe we can start all over again. That’s the neat thing with this game, it’s not a bother to start all over again. First, you need to design your own ship.”

Under the explanations of Luck and his friends, Charlotte tried to use a controller and to create her own ship. Next to Lucks Thunder Goods Boots, Magnas Crazy Cyclone and Astas Black Meteor, a new ship was now ready to sail.

Prickly Queen.

It was only when a new race started that Charlotte realized it. She gave her ship the very nickname Yami always gave her.

♣♣♣

When Lital woke up, there was a tongue licking all over her face. A tongue that didn’t belonged to her boyfriend, but to a flame red stripped cat.

“Hello, Salamander. What’s the big idea to wake me up in the middle of the night, you little rascal?”

The cat just meowed, before making himself comfortable on the pillow next to her. But the other side of the bed was empty.

Not that Lital could see much. First, the lights were off. Second, her bangs weren’t braided and like always when loose, it covered most of her eyes.

But Lital could feel it still. It was empty, but the sheets were still warm. Which means that he was still here. Of course he was.

“Fue, where are you?”

“Right here, my dearest.”

Pushing some of her bangs away, Lital saw Fuegoleon standing at the window, only wearing his shorts, his hair unkempt but still so softly looking. The lights of the city coming from outside barely came into the room, but it was enough for Lital to admire his muscles, the wonderful red of his hair, his proud back, his big and elegant hands, one of his arms leaning against the window frame, looking outside without really seeing the lights of Clover or the night traffic, which noises sounded like coming from far away.

Yawning, Lital stood up, took his undershirt that was lying on the carpet floor and put it on, before joining Fuegoleon, hugging him from behind. She still wasn’t quite sure on her feet and he must have felt it.

“Have I been too rough with you? I’m sorry.”

“Not at all. I’m just still very tired. It is just passed midnight, after all.”

“I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“It wasn’t you, but Salamander.”

Lital heard him chuckle and it seemed like he turned his head to look at the bed.

“Salamander, how many times have I told you to not wake up my beloved in the middle of the night?”

“Meow!”

Lital and Fuegoleon just laughed softly at the protest of the cat. But sadly, it was short lived. And she knew exactly what was bothering the man she loved.

“I’m sorry that you had this fight with your grandfather today.”

“It was bound to happen and it is certainly not your fault, darling. I just wish I could have gone through him. But you know how stubborn he is. And he probably already forgot about our little fight already. Like with everything that doesn’t fit in his views.”

Well… that sounded very much like Achilles Vermillion, from what Lital heard of him.

Fuegoleon sighed. “I still care for my grandfather. But I fear it becomes more and more difficult for me to really love him. Mereoleona was right to just leave, cut ties with him and do her own thing.”

“She didn’t cut ties with a lot of the family and your grandfather is still too afraid of her to cut her out of his will.”

“Yes… I really thought that I could try to persuade him, after he was such a good mood about that contract with this rich family form Diamond. But… Augustus had to be with him today. And Nozels father. I don’t need to tell you that my rather liberal request came at a bad time. I wasn’t even direct, you know why.”

Lital couldn’t help but hug Fuegoleon even tighter. He really didn’t need to tell her. She knew exactly what this meant for them.

“We still have to be in secrecy for a while longer.”

It wasn’t a question, just a fact. Fuegoleon didn’t answered, but he still put a comforting hand on her arms.

Lital sighed deeply. She wasn’t surprised, but still terribly sad. It was just so unfair and so stupid. This was the 21stcentury, marrying out of duty, power or money should be a thing of the past since so long already.

Too bad that the majority of the rich society in Clover was somehow more strict than the middle ages about that topic.

It wasn’t her fault she was born in the slums, it wasn’t her fault that she was illegitimate. This didn’t determined who she was. But enough for many people in this town to consider her unworthy for one of the heirs of the Vermillion family, one of the three most powerful rich families in Clover.

At least, they would say that if they would knew. But Lital and Fuegoleon kept their relationship in secrecy so far. Only a handful of people knew and after ten years, their love just grew stronger and deeper.

But Lital didn’t want to be in secrecy. She wanted to be at Fuegoleons side for the rest of her life and show it to the world. She wanted to marry him, grew old with him. Simple things, but so important and yet still considered flimsy by this stupid rich society.

Fuegoleon wanted it as well. They have talked about it so much more since a few months. Their wish really wasn’t too much to ask for and yet…

Lital felt like she would start to cry. It was just so frustrating. And after today… It would have worked if Fuegoleon would have managed to convince his grandfather. But circumstances played again against them.

She was very close to not consider spring a happy and romantic season anymore.

Fuegoleon suddenly turned in her arms and cupped her face, brushing her bangs away. His beautiful purple eyes just showed the same sadness and frustration she was feeling, but there was still hope in them, this familiar resolution to not give up.

And the love he had for her.

“I’m as upset as you are, Lital. But do not give up. I certainly won’t. We haven’t come this far for nothing. We’ll continue to fail until we succeed. I love you and I won’t let one defeat take everything away.”

Lital couldn’t help but smile. This man could always feel the right words to comfort her. No wonder she fell in love with him all those years ago.

She leaned against him, savouring his presence, his strength, his determination. It was good to know that they won’t give up, that they could lean on each other each time they felt down. Lital closed her eyes.

“Fue, don’t you have sometimes the feeling that we are a couple from like a fantasy or a historical romance novel? Something like that.”

“Rather ridiculous, isn’t it? We are in the 21st century, after all.”

“It’s not us who made the situation rather ridiculous.”

“I know.”

There was silence again, more comforting this time. They just hold each other, the noise of the night traffic sounding from far away. Lital felt a bit ashamed that she felt so quickly frustrated for a moment. Almost as if it wasn’t worth it.

But it was worth it, she realized it every day again.

“Fue.”

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The next moment, his lips were on hers for a short, loving kiss. A bit desperate maybe, but determined and so sweet. Just as fiery as all the passionate kisses they shared a few hours before.

When their lips parted, Fuegoleon rested his forehead against hers. “Let’s forget about our worries for tonight, my love. Tomorrow is another day.”

“Can I have cuddles before we fell asleep.”

“As you wish.”

Fuegoleon carried her up bridal style towards the bed. They cuddled and kissed a bit before falling asleep. Fuegoleon fell asleep first and Lital felt her own eyes closing quickly as well, when a thought crossed her mind before slumber took over her.

I hope no other couple will have the same difficulties we are facing right now.

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withoz · 7 months

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where : the dining room when : before 11:30 pm cap : 0/4

DESPITE IT BEING A LARGE SOCIAL EVENT, one thing Dorothy had never been incredibly adept at partaking in, the youngest Graves-Seong sibling was actually quite comfortable. The atmosphere provided a familiar feeling from all the time she spent working at the House of Judgement, which had increased in the past few weeks while she was still recovering from her injuries and unable to practice or perform at the circus. There was an undeniable elation ever-present on her face, and even the acrobat herself knew that it was due to the matching costumes her and Pesor had managed to put together. Eventually, Dorothy had made her way into the dining room to check out all of the offered refreshments, somehow losing her date along the way but believing she would eventually find them once again. The food was definitely made expertly, as she peered down at one that was made to look as a bloodied finger. "Do you know what exactly is in this? And please don't say something like....human." An apprehensive giggle left her. "I like the dedication, but I'm not really sure I'm able to eat something that looks so....real." She was already a bit caught off guard by how realistic the eyeball floating in her mocktail appeared.

#anchoragestarters #tw food #tw blood #— ↳ halloween costume party.

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bees--in-my--bones · 1 year

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Silver Spoons - Terry Silver Part 2 of 7

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Chapter 1 / -----

Character: Terry Silver x female reader

Summary: Time jump because I'm jumping back and forth with this series. I've got a plan and I think it makes sense. But back to the past where Terry and reader first meet. Like the 90s ish. After the events of kk3

Warnings: manipulation, some alcohol (but just casual drinking of, no drunkenness), mention of war (no detail), weapons, blood, warning for Terry Silver in general, fade to black scene, business majors

Word Count: 3600

A/N: This chapter has been written for a while but I just do not feel like my writing is doing him justice. I'm at the point where I have to post it so it'll stop haunting me tho. Lmk if you want to be on a taglist.

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"Really, Ms. L/N, he's been… incredibly insistent on meeting you," Dorothy said.

Terrence Silver.

That was the name that the file in front of you had read. You had only skimmed it before tossing it aside. “Dorothy, if we’re going to be partnering with anyone, it’s not going to be the disgraced head of Dynatox to advertise for his silly little startups. Is Dynatox even still active?”

Dorothy, an intern in her final year of college, who you had already set your sights on for full time PA, sighed and picked the file up herself, leafing through it. “Ms. L/N, it looks like the only two options at the moment are either Mr. Silver or Mr. Beckett. Anything else and we’d be pushing our limits too far. We simply don’t have the capacity to take on more than one additional major client at the moment. And yes, I believe it is still active, but on a much smaller scale.”

You shivered at Beckett’s name. “God, I hate that guy,” you said, leaning back into your chair. He was the owner of a high profile financial firm, and about as sleazy as they come. But the growth of his company was far more reliably linear than Silver's was. And although your father had left you a sizably large marketing company, you wanted more. Beckett was the safest option for expansion.

"Beckett would probably be a safer bet," said Dorothy echoing your thoughts, "but based on what we know of Mr. Silver, he has the potential to see some exponential growth in the next few years.”

"And the advertising firm that got him there would see the same growth," you said, leaning back in your chair.

Dorothy nodded.

You sighed. "Dorothy, do you know what my father's problem was?" you asked her.

"I can't say that I do, ma'am."

"He never took a single risk. Only safe bets. Which grew this company some, sure, but think of where we could be right now if he had taken a calculated gamble every now and then." You tapped your fingers on the table as you mused.

“So you want me to schedule a meeting with Mr. Silver then?” she asked.

“Can’t hurt to check him out. What do I have Thursday evening?”

She flipped through the pages on her clipboard, landing on her calendar. “You’re free. Tuesday and Wednesday nights as well.”

“Three days in a row, that’s a rare treat. Tell him Thursday, take it or leave it. If he really wants this then he’ll take it.”

“Yes ma’am,” she said. “Is that all?”

“For now,” you replied, and she was gone, no sooner had you said the words.

You picked up the file once more. If you were actually considering this, it couldn’t hurt to know as much about him as you could.

—--

And so Thursday evening came. Silver had sent a short reply to your acceptance.

Thank you for your time.

I’ll be by your office at 7. We can discuss details over dinner, my treat.

You had nearly laughed aloud when Dorothy read his response aloud to you. No doubt the domineering reply was in direct response to your insistence on the day. Contrary to what you first believed, Silver was going to be a challenge. Maybe even a fun challenge.

He came as promised, a long black limo pulling up outside your office building. You had dressed nicely, spent more time on your appearance than usual. First impressions were key.

As you walked down the steps of the building, you couldn’t help but be the tiniest bit relieved that most employees had gone home for the day. Maintaining your image was hard enough, you didn’t want to think about the impression that leaving the office for what very much looked like a date would leave.

The side door opened, and out stepped Silver himself, and so the game was afoot. You approached. He was taller than you thought he would be.

He outstretched his hand. “Terry Silver. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance Ms. L/N.”

You took it, shaking it firmly. “Likewise, Mr. Silver.”

“Please, Mr. Silver was my father. Call me Terry, I insist.”

“Then I must insist you call me Y/N.”

“Y/N.” He grinned. “Allow me to help you in, it’s a bit of a step.”

You only realized that your hand was still gripped in his just then, when he shifted his grip to help you into the car. Immediately, the pieces fell into place as you realized his plan, but you allowed him to help you regardless. You wouldn’t be charmed so easily.

You settled into a seat, and Terry followed close behind. With a quick rap of his knuckles on the driver’s window, you were off.

“It really isn’t that far of a drive,” he told you, “but if we’ve got to drive, I say we do it in style.”

You hummed slightly, an ambiguous sound that was close enough to agreement, without actually saying a word.

You couldn’t be sure, but you thought you saw him hesitate ever so slightly. Did he not think that you came prepared with games of your own? You wielded the power here, and you both knew that.

“It’s a nice place,” he went on, any previous hint of hesitation completely vanished. “I’m sure you’ll love it. I do prefer a more relaxing environment to chat business, don’t you?”

A direct question, a forced response. He adjusted quickly to his situation. Interesting. “I do. There’s far more to business than just meeting rooms, and I think you can learn a lot about your peers over a meal.”

He grinned again. “Good. That’s good. I hope we learn a lot about each other tonight."

"As do I."

There was silence for a short while, but not necessarily an uncomfortable one, then the car came to a halt. “What did I tell you?” he said. “Short drive.”

Quick as lightning, he was out of the car, offering his hand once more. “May I?”

You took his hand, accepting his assistance again, but dropped it as soon as you were standing on your own two feet.

The two of you entered the restaurant and were led to a private table. "For confidentiality," he had said with a wink.

You didn't talk business immediately, that would have been impolite. And small talk gave you a chance to get a handle on your opponent, see what he was thinking. Business deals were a battle after all, and Terry’s only hope of winning was proving to you that his once great company, now teetering between glory and ruination, had the potential to rise again, perhaps higher than it had before.

You were pleased to see that he seemed to think the same way, engaging with the small talk with a vivacity that you hadn't expected, but armed heavily with anecdotes and remarks that were absolutely riddled with reminders of how well he could do. A story of a successful business deal on his part. A small jab at a company that you had recently had a deal fall through with. You were impressed. He had clearly done his research.

Time passed rather quickly, with no talk of a deal. A waiter approached your table, bottle of wine in hand. "Allow me," Terry said, gesturing for the waiter to hand the bottle to him. He obliged and left the two of you alone.

Terry took your glass and filled it. "I've spent a lot of time in South Korea and Japan," he explained as he did. "To fill another's cup is a sign of respect, and I can't seem to break that habit here." He handed you your glass. "I simply wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t.”

“I’m aware of the tradition. Much appreciated,” you said, accepting the drink. “What led you to travel there?”

He smiled, a smile this time, not one of the enthusiastic grins he had been throwing your way all night. “Like most men at that time, the war.”

“You served?” That was a polite question. You already knew that he had, from your prior research.

Again, an almost imperceptible change in his demeanor, his smile falling ever so slightly. “Yes.”

He shook his head. “I apologize, we should be talking about things far happier than that.”

“That’s alright,” you said, still pondering the hairline fracture in his facade. “Thank you for your service.”

The grin returned. “You are most welcome. Now, have you decided what you wanted?”

—--

The rest of the evening passed by quickly, with not a word of a business deal. At first, true, the both of you were dancing around the subject, playing games and avoiding cutting to the chase, but eventually, you were talking like old friends, contracts far from your minds. At least, that’s how it was for you, but a certain air of lightness had come over Terry by the end of the night that you couldn’t help but think it was the same for him.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like to be dropped off at home?” he asked you many hours later when you were back in the limo.

“No, thank you,” you replied. “I have some things I need to finish up at the office.”

“At this hour?”

You shrugged. “Duty calls.”

“It probably doesn't help that we didn’t get a lick of work done tonight,” he said.

You smiled, small but genuine. “That’s true. We’ll have to meet again.”

“Tomorrow night?”

“Booked. And I fly out to Denver for a conference this weekend.”

“I’ve got some time Monday.”

“I’ll have a lot of catching up to do after being gone all weekend. Does Tuesday work?”

“Tuesdays are no good.”

“Wednesday night?”

“I should be free.”

“Same time?”

“I can do that. Same place?”

“That works,” you said. “I’ll pick you up this time, and it’s on me.”

“Sounds fair to me,” he replied. “And it appears we are at our destination,”

The car rolled to a stop, and in a flash, Terry was holding the door open for the last time that night.

You exited the car. “Thank you, Terry. It was a nice night. We’ll have to actually talk business next time.”

“Of course. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

—--

Terry Silver stared at himself in the mirror.

He splashed cold water on his face.

He took down his ponytail and brushed out his hair, finding familiar comfort in the slight sting at his roots.

He had let his guard down around her, and it had shaken him to his core.

At some point tonight, the pretenses had fallen, his facade had dropped. He had no longer been playing the typical business game, he was just talking to her. The concept was almost foreign to him. And yet it seemed that the exact same thing had happened to her.

Even his time in the service, which usually he had no problem only mentioning casually, had somehow been different around her. It seemed to him that she had been able to decipher so much from so little, and as someone who usually had that effect on others, it unnerved him to be on the receiving end.

Had she said something? Done something that marked her as different than anyone else?

She was smart, he had to give her that. Maybe even as smart as he was. Was that why then? Perhaps, but the average businesswoman was always smarter than the average businessman, that was just the way things went.

But there was something about her. The carefully crafted words whenever she spoke. The subtle expression she wore, as mysterious in nature as the Mona Lisa, that told you nothing of what she was thinking.

Something in him wanted to break her. To push through her defenses, to get her barriers to crack. A genuine smile, a real laugh, a falling tear, or fiery anger. Something in him saw her as a challenge. Something in him wanted to win.

To beat her though, to triumph against her? Or to win her over, to have her for his own, this wily woman, this enigma? He couldn't tell.

—--

Time passed, much slower than you thought it would. The conference in Denver dragged on, and the first few days of the week were mind numbingly dull.

You, against your better judgment, found yourself eager to meet with Terry again. When you had told Dorothy to add another meeting with him to your calendar, she had seemed suspicious.

"Two meetings?" she had asked, an eyebrow raised. "Were you not able to work things out last night?"

You waved your hand dismissively. "We just had more to discuss than previously anticipated."

A small smile appeared on her face. "I take that it went a little too well."

"I said nothing of the sort."

"You don't have to," she said. "Are you planning on taking him on as a client then?"

You nodded. "Don't tell Beckett anything until the contract with Silver goes through, but I think so. Beckett's too content. Silver's got ambition, and unlike a lot of people, has the skill set to do something with it. I'll take that gamble."

"Even if he's tanked before?"

"Even if he's tanked before."

She nodded, and scribbled a note on her clipboard.

"Alright then, Ms. L/N. Anything else?"

"Not at the moment. And thank you Dorothy, I wouldn't have taken that meeting if it weren't for you."

That had been Friday morning, of course, and here you were, Wednesday night, feeling something far too close to nervousness for comfort.

The dinner went as smoothly as before. You made a point to get business out of the way at the beginning of the night. You both signed the contract your lawyers had drawn up, and just like that, Terry Silver was a client of L/N Legacy Marketing Group.

“To a long and fruitful partnership,” Terry said, raising his glass in a toast.

“Hear, hear,” you replied as you clinked your glasses together.

—--

You hadn't heard from Terry for a few weeks after that, not that you were counting. Your only correspondence had been between your respective assistants and legal departments, and you already had a team working on an ad campaign for one of his more prominent tech startups.

So needless to say, you were shocked when late one night, you were interrupted by a sharp knock at your office door. Snapping your head up, your eyes met Terry’s, who definitely was not scheduled to be in your office well after business hours.

"Can I help you, Mr. Silver?"

He raised an eyebrow, and you sighed.

"Can I help you, Terry?"

He leaned against the doorframe, his ascot becoming ever so slightly askew as he did. He straightened it. "I was thinking this morning," he began slowly, "that it's been quite a while since you and I have spoken. But I know you tend to work late…" He straightened and walked up to your desk. "I've heard bits and pieces from my assistant, but I'd really like an update straight from the source."

You swallowed thickly at his intense gaze, but didn't dare break eye contact. "Well, I'm not too hands on with it, but we've been considering expanding the target demographic-"

"Interesting," he said, quickly, not even allowing you to finish your sentence. "Why don't we discuss it further over dinner?"

This gave you a moment's pause. "I'm not dressed to go out," you offered up. A weak excuse and you knew it.

"Then I'll cook you something."

It was your turn to raise an eyebrow.

He laughed. "I have quite the home, if I do say so myself," he said. "I'll give you a tour of my collections after dinner."

"You're awfully confident, Terry Silver."

"You don't get this far if you aren't."

You shook your head. "Alright then. Give me a moment to pack up."

He grinned. "I'll be waiting outside."

He shut the door behind him as he left. The second it latched you quickly put your stuff away, then pulled the pocket mirror out of your drawer. You hastily fixed your appearance as best you could. When the initial adrenaline wore off, you found yourself staring into the mirror, not quite recognizing yourself. You were being ridiculous. No business partnership was worth this effort.

But you couldn't quite ignore the way your stomach twisted when you opened the door and walked outside.

—--

Terry wasn't lying. He did have quite the home. And he was a surprisingly excellent cook. Although you probably shouldn't have been surprised. There didn't seem to be anything that Terry was bad at.

He gave you a full tour of his home, telling you the history of every rare art piece on display. You found yourself hanging onto his every word.

Even more fascinating, though, was the weapons collection. Knives, swords, and various other sharp objects that you had no name for adorned the room. He took you over to one corner and lifted a particular dagger from its display.

"This is a tantō, traditionally worn by samurai. And one in this condition is worth quite a bit of money."

He held it out to you, looking at you expectantly.

Your eyes widened as you realized what he was saying, but gingerly took the blade into your hands as he nodded and pushed the knife slightly forward one again.

"It's beautiful," you said quietly.

You dragged your finger along the blunt edge of the blade, slipping by accident over the tip. You let out a soft “Oh!” of surprise as a small bead of blood pooled out of the nick in your fingertip.

Terry said nothing, seemingly entranced at the sight of your blood, slowly beginning to spill over the edge of your fingertip. Before you had realized the speed at which the blood was falling, a drop had spilled onto the floor. Terry took your hand in his.

“I’m sorry,” you said. He showed no signs of hearing you.

He raised your finger to his lips and gently put it in his mouth, tongue deftly swiping the blood away. You were too stunned to move, even as he released his grip, your hand dropping to your side.

Your breath became shallow as you realized just how close he was.

He brushed one hand over your cheek, his touch ghostlike and hesitant, as if he were holding himself back. “The things I would do to you,” he murmured, followed by a soft chuckle. There was a copper tinge to one of his front teeth.

You froze at his statement, and he lifted the dagger from your uninjured hand and set it back in its place.

He drew closer to you, piercing blue eyes not leaving yours, and you slowly backed away until your back hit the wall.

His arm rested against the wall behind you, leaving you effectively trapped. His face wasn't more than a few centimeters away.

"I'm not sure I know exactly what you're implying," you said, though you suspected that the hint of breathlessness in your voice told him the exact opposite.

"Oh, I think you do," he said, his eyes trained on your lips, and before you could think of a clever retort, his mouth captured yours.

The second it began, it was over. You swallowed thickly, tried to ignore the butterflies in your stomach and rush of heat in your face, and he looked at you expectantly. Seconds felt like hours as you tried to gather your thoughts.

"It's unprofessional," you finally breathed out.

"Then tell me to stop," His hand moved to rest on your waist.

"I'm doing you a favor by working with you," you reminded him. "You don't want to lose the chance I'm giving you."

"Then tell me to stop." His hand trailed lower, his fingers capturing the hem of your top, brushing faintly over the skin on your torso.

"I could ruin you," you said, struggling to keep your voice level. "Kick you while you're down. No investor would ever touch you again. It wouldn't be that hard."

"Then tell me. To stop." His voice was so low it was nearly a growl.

You said nothing.

For a long moment you stood there, silently, your breathing becoming harder and harder to keep even, before pushing yourself forward and planting your lips on his.

He broke the kiss, only for a moment, and you could feel his grin against your mouth. Not a second later he was kissing you once more.

It seemed to last both a lifetime and a millisecond, but eventually, regrettably, you had to come up for air. Terry was still grinning, and looking for all the world like he could have kept going for several more minutes. Judging by the firm torso you could feel beneath his shirt, he was in good enough shape that he quite possibly could have.

You were panting, he still had that smug grin on his face, and the both of you were clinging to one another like your lives depended on it. The second your chest stopped burning, you spoke.

"I don't want you to stop."

He took this as his cue, and soon the two of you were clumsily making your way out of the weapons room, stumbling into furniture and clawing at the walls in the brief reprises between kisses. Before you knew it, you were in his room, but you hardly had a moment to look around before the two of you were tangled in the sheets.

The night took a turn from there in a manner that could only be described as violent. Never, though, had the word violent had such pleasant connotations.

You had been right earlier in the evening. There really was nothing that Terry Silver was bad at.

-----

A/N: I'm sorry for another fade to black scene. cop out ending, i know. might happen again. idk. Also I need to think of a name for this beyond "Terry Silver Series" so I can post it on AO3. Could be all lana del rey vinyl about it and call it terrence loves you lmaooo

Chapter 1 / -----

#terry silver x you #terry silver x reader #terry silver imagine #cobra kai x reader #cobra kai imagine #karate kid x reader #karate kid imagine #terry silver

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getblackout503 · 2 months

Text

Chapter nine is finally here, sorry it took longer than usual I wanted to make sure this chapter was on the longer side

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Grey was getting ready for her double date. She was nervous this would be her first date and she still can’t get over the fact she asked gauche to join her. She had asked him when she and Vanessa had bumped into him and his sister, she had unconsciously built up the courage to ask him out. At the time she felt embarrassed but now she is feeling a bit happy and nervous, this is everything she could have hoped for, not to mention that Zora and Nebra would be there so it won’t be awkward. Although Zora and Nebra will be there, and why they did love her, Grey is sure they will tease her and Gauche. Not to mention this would be Zora’s second time meeting Gauche, and after their first meeting Grey was sure Zora wasn’t too fond of the brunette, so she is hoping Nebra will be able to help keep Zora calm.

Knock Knock Knock

‘That must be Gauche’ Grey thought to herself, she looked at her blue dress and jacket, both of which she had bought with Vanessa, if all went well she would thank the pink haired women. Grey opened the door and was greeted by Gauche wearing jeans and a purple button up shirt. Grey blushed a bit thinking the man looked handsome in his attire, and Gauche thought she looked beautiful in her attire as well.

“Um, Hi Grey” Gauche scratched the back of his head nervously, this was his first date so of course he was nervous.

“H-Hi Gauche” Grey greeted back shyly.

“You look stunning today”

“S-So do you”

It got awkward now, neither of them knew what to do. All of a sudden Gauche held out hand for Grey who took it coyly. As they walked to the car Gauche opened the door for her, remembering what Sister Teresa told him to do for a lady. They drove to the restaurant the Purple Peacock, it was owned by Dorothy Unsworth, a close friend of Yami. That was one of the main reasons when Zora asked her where she wanted to go eat she chose there, because if anything were to happen she knew there would be people she could trust. Arriving there Gauche got out of the car and opened the door for her like a true gentleman, they then entered the restaurant where they heard a familiar voice.

“Grey, you made it” they heard Zora say, they both turned and saw Zora and his girlfriend Nebra silva sitting in a booth.

“Hi to you too Zora” Grey greeted her brother, who had gotten up to go hug her. “Hello Nebra, It’s good to see you again”

“I can same too you Grey” The silver haired women said with a smile, but she then noticed Gauche “oh, and you must be Grey’s date” Nebra asked, causing both Grey and Gauche to blush, and Zora to glare at Gauche, now just noticing the brunette’s existence.

“Um, hello I’m Gauche Adlai, and yes I’m Grey’s date” he said slightly embarrassed.

“Pleasure to meet the man who swept Grey off her feet” Nebra teased them. “Why don’t you two take a seat, and Grey before you say anything the food is on me”

“But Nebr-”

“Ah ah ah, It’s fine Grey” Nebra assured her. Grey never liked people wasting their money on her, she didn’t like it when Zora did it when they first started hanging out, and she definitely doesn’t like it when Nebra does it. Despite Nebra saying she was financially stable didn’t mean Grey didn’t feel guilty, and she always swore (much to Nebra insistence not to) Grey always promised to pay her back some way somehow, since Nebra wouldn’t accept any cash Grey offered her. As Grey and Gauche sat down and looked at the menu to order, Zora whether he realized or not had sat closer to Grey in a protective way, which didn’t go unnoticed by Nebra. She nudged his shoulder so that he would stop. Once they had all ordered their food the table got quite awkward, being that Grey and Gauche didn’t know what to say, Zora seemingly hating Gauche’s guts, and Nebra trying to hold the double date together.

“So how’s life going Grey?” Nebra asked, trying to ease the tension.

“Well everything so far has gone…alright” Grey responded, remembering the mission.

“Really, did something happen?” Nebra noticed the tone of the response and got a bit concerned.

“U-Um, just a bad day at work” Grey tried to not mention seeing her ex’s brother, especially not when Gauche is here.

“I understand that, I’ve had my fair share of terrible days” Nebra sighed, she then laid her head on Zora’s shoulder. “But then I get to spend time with this prankster”

Zora smiled and gave her a small kiss on her forehead before turning back to Grey and Gauche.

“That’s very sweet” Grey smiled, the thought of that sounded incredible to her. Being able to come home after a long tiring day and resting with the person you love sounds like a dream to her.

“So Grey, how long have you and Gauche known each other, Co-worker wise, before you two started dating?” Nebra asked.

“Oh, um I believe for two years, right?” She looked at Gauche for confirmation.

“Give or take, though this is our first date” Gauche blushed, responding though he never expected to go out on a date with Grey, so far he must admit he was enjoying it. Though Zora seemed to have it out for him, he could tell from their first meeting and now that Zora hated his guts, just because he was having a date with Grey.

“So Gauche, what do you do? I understand since you are co-workers with Grey you must do something close to her department right?” Zora asked, the question catching both Grey and Gauche off guard. Grey’s alibi is that she worked at the Blue roses that is run by Charlotte Roselei, another close friend of Yami. But would they buy that he works there?

“I work for the marketing department” Gauche said in a calm demeanor, he knew her alibi and with his quick thinking thought of a position that would be believable and one he could use later on if need be.

“Oh really, well you seem like you would be good at marketing” Nebra responded, obviously seeming very believable. Even Zora thought it did make sense, as much as he hates to admit it.

“So what made you want to date Grey huh?” Zora asked with venom in his voice.

“Zora?” Grey asked, concerned.

“Because…” Gauche stopped, he asked her out because Marie wanted a sister, but is that what he told himself so as to not face his feelings? The longer he took the worse it looked, and more furious Zora got.

“Hey, why don’t you talk?”

“Zora please” Grey pleaded, she started feeling bad once Gauche stopped talking but Zora trying to aggravate him made her feel worse.

“Look at him he doesn’t even know why, he should know by now, I’ll be damned if you date someone who can’t answer a simple question!” The tense was thick and Grey for one couldn’t handle it, she got up just as Gauche snapped out of it.

“Grey?” He asked

“I-I’m going to see what’s taking our drinks so long, o-okay” She told them, Knowing the distress they caused her none of them said anything in resistance. She walked to the bar and asked for their drinks, and while there she sighed feeling terrible like she caused this.

“Why so sad sis?” An all too familiar voice asked. Grey looked next to her to find Vanica Zogratis staring at her with her one crimson eye, Grey felt so much terror. Vanica out of all of them scared her the most second only to him, Vanica would always torture her either mentally or physically and at the end of the day would still call her sister like some sick joke. Grey couldn’t do anything but quickly walk back from Vanica, she knew vanica wasn’t dumb and she wouldn’t attack Grey in public, she was a hunter she would wait for her prey to be alone. So Grey had to get to a safe place. The base that was her safe haven, but that would mean leaving Zora and Nebra in the middle of their double date, Grey was conflicted should she leave for her own safety? Or should she stay for the sake of the date, but is she willing to put them in danger? In the end she made her decision. Grey ran to the table and grabbed Gauche’s arm.

“W-We have to leave”

“What, why Grey?” Gauche asked concerned, Zora and Nebra were worried as well.

“B-Because I just remembered we have to do something at work”

“But it’s ten o’clock?” Zora asked suspiciously.

“Y-Yeah, well our boss is big on getting work done” She laughed nervously before dragging Gauche back to the car.

“H-Hey, Grey what’s going on?” Gauche asked as they could hear Zora asking where they were going.

“No time to explain, just drive to the base!” Grey said finally able to freak out.

Gauche then saw a woman with black hair and an eye patch walk out the restaurant, looking around till her eyes landed on Grey, whose face turned pale. Gauche understood the situation and immediately started the car and drove off rapidly. Vanica watched as her sister and who seemed to be her partner drove away.

“Oh how fun” She said in a borderline seductive yet blood thirsty voice. She got in her car and chased after them at high speeds, meanwhile Gordon had witnessed it all and told Dorothy who soon contacted Yami. All the while the chase continued.

“Come on come on we’re almost there” Grey said as she looked back using the mirrors, she was panicking and it showed.

“Grey we’ll make it trust me okay, I don’t know who that woman is but I assure you, I won’t let her hurt you” Gauche told her, It helped her calm down a bit but Gauche didn’t know what Vanica was unlike she did. If Vanica caught them, it would be a fate worse than death.

“Gauche the exit!” Grey screamed, just in time too because once they turned it caught Vanica off guard and she was going too fast and couldn’t turn in time. She crashed into a tree and sat there motionless as Grey and Gauche got away and made it to the base safely.

“H-Haha HAHAHAHA!!!” Vanica laughed maniacally as blood dripped down her face from her forehead ‘That damn bitch!’ She thought as she pulled out her phone and dialed her brother.

Zenon answered the phone while he was talking to Dante.

“Vanica, did you retrieve her?” Zenon asked.

“No the blue hair skank got away, and I’m afraid where she went won’t be an easy place to break into” She told them, Zenon was frustrated but couldn’t hold a candle to Dante’s fury.

“Gather the disciples,” Dante said with authority. “I’ll retrieve her myself” He said, and Zenon knew better than to fight him on the subject so as soon as he hung up ok Vanica, ensuring someone would go get her, he walked to gather the troops.

All the while Dante looked out the window.

“My love, I’ll remind you just how much I love you”

#black clover #gauche adlai #grey black clover #greyche #black clover grey #gauche black clover #grey x gauche #gauche x grey #black clover gauche #spy au #zora x nebra #nebra silva #zora ideale #dorothy unsworth #charlotte roselei #gordon agrippa #vanica zogratis #zenon zogratis #dante zogratis

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princesssarisa · 1 year

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Character ask: Alice (Alice in Wonderland)

Tagged by anonymous

Note: These answers apply only to Alice from the original two books and the more faithful adaptations, not the Tim Burton movies.

Favorite thing about them: What a complex, three-dimensional character she is, despite being a child character in children's books. She's a sweet-natured, polite Victorian girl, but she's spunky too, and not afraid to call out adults when they behave badly – even if they threaten to have her beheaded. She's sensible and smart, but more naïve than she thinks she is, and full of childish wonderment and relatable emotions too. On the surface she's the only "sane" person in Wonderland and Looking-Glass Land, but her normalcy is only by comparison with the fantasy characters, as her inner monologues reveal that she's full of imagination and eccentric thoughts. And of course her adventures are dreams, which means that she's even more quirky and imaginative than we realized, because Wonderland, Looking-Glass Land, and all the nonsense in them are creations of her own mind. On the one hand, she can be seen as an embodiment of prim and proper Victorian culture, thrust into a new world where all the rules and values she took for granted are turned upside-down. But on the other hand, if we view Wonderland itself as a satire of Victorian British society, then she can be seen as a little rebel, protesting against bad or silly social conventions with her instinctive childlike sense of right vs. wrong and logic vs. nonsense. I could probably write several pages about what makes her an interesting, appealing character, and I think it's a shame that pop culture tends to focus more on the Wonderland characters and reduce her to just a bland audience surrogate. She's much more than that.

Least favorite thing about them: Well, in the first book at least, she has moments of childish callousness. For example, when she kicks Bill the Lizard out of the chimney (it's no wonder that the Disney version has her accidentally sneeze him out instead), or the fact that she seems to think it's cute when her cat Dinah eats birds, and thoughtlessly tells a group of sapient birds about it.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I can be curious.

*I enjoyed pretending and imagining things when I was her age (and to be honest, I still do).

*I sometimes talk to myself as if I were two people.

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I'm not a child anymore.

*I've never owned a cat.

*Unlike her usual depiction, I'm not blonde.

Favorite line:

"Curiouser and curiouser!"

"I almost wish I hadn’t gone down that rabbit-hole—and yet—and yet—it’s rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what can have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!"

"Maybe it’s always pepper that makes people hot-tempered, and vinegar that makes them sour—and camomile that makes them bitter—and—and barley-sugar and such things that make children sweet-tempered. I only wish people knew that: then they wouldn’t be so stingy about it, you know—”

brOTP: Her sister, her cat Dinah, and Dinah's kittens Snowdrop and Kitty.

I also like crossovers that have her meet and befriend Dorothy of Oz. They have a lot in common, of course, and yet they're so different in other ways (refined upper/middle-class British girl vs. down-home American farm girl, cat person vs. dog person, etc.) that it would be very interesting to have them meet.

OTP: None until she's older.

nOTP: Any of the Wonderland or Looking-Glass Land characters, especially if she's not aged up from the books.

Random headcanon: This might be a cliché, especially from me, but... I think she might be on the autism spectrum. She's content to play by herself instead of with other children, has an incredibly rich imagination, talks to her cats as if they were human and to herself as if to another person, is precocious in some ways yet very childlike in others, shows slightly disproportionate emotional reactions to things (e.g. crying a literal flood when she can't get into a pretty garden, yet showing little concern about being alone in a strange land with no apparent way back home), tries her best to show proper etiquette yet makes glaring mistakes (i.e. talking about her cat killing mice and birds to a sapient mouse and birds), imitates other people in her attempts to be proper (she's clearly imitating the adults in her life when she scolds herself for crying or Kitty for misbehaving), and spends her adventures trying to make sense of a world that seems nonsensical to her. Some people argue that Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson showed signs of being on the autism spectrum, so maybe he put something of himself into Alice.

Unpopular opinion: I don't think Carroll meant to imply that Alice is a lonely or neglected child, as some critics and online fans claim she is. That's a valid interpretation, but not the only way to view her. True, her parents are never seen or mentioned, but only because they're not relevant to the books. And just because she plays by herself, talks to her cats, and tends to (almost literally) get lost in her imagination doesn't have to mean there's anything wrong with her life. For millions of healthy, happy children, those things are perfectly normal!

Song I associate with them:

"Alice in Wonderland" from the Disney film.

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"In a World of My Own" from the Disney film.

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"Curiouser and Curiouser" from the 1972 film.

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"Loved All Day" from the 1981 musical Alice at the Palace.

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"Welcome Queen Alice" from the 1985 TV version of Through the Looking-Glass.

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Favorite pictures of them:

These classic illustrations by John Tenniel:

This illustration by Arthur Rackham:

These illustrations by Greg Hildebrandt (from an edition I owned when I was little):

Charlotte Henry in the 1933 Paramount film:

Disney's Alice:

Fiona Fullerton in the 1972 British film:

The Alice of the 1981 Russian animated version (I love this Alice – I love that she isn't a generic pretty girl, I love her upturned nose, rosebud mouth and buck teeth, I love her squeaky little voice, and I love that she's allowed to be just as quirky and imaginative as the Alice of the books):

Natalie Gregory in the 1985 TV version:

Tina Majorino in the 1999 TV version:

#character ask #alice #alice in wonderland #alice's adventures in wonderland #through the looking glass #ask game #fictional characters

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eeblouissant · 2 months

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15, 19, and 20 for the golden wives if you want!! That ask game is so cute omg

“do they always say I love you before leaving (a room, the house, etc)?”

Yes!! oh yes & all three of them do it in different ways imo!

Dorothy isn’t afraid to tell either (or both) of them that she loves them, it’s getting into specific thoughts & feelings that intimidates her (& ends in her shutting herself off most times). So she does, but she will never leave a room completely until the other(s) confirm that they’ve heard her. Yelling an ‘i love you (both)’ across the room & getting a response can be enough for her. Rose will normally come running to give her a quick kiss & Blanche follows behind to admire!! Not that she doesn’t also want to steal a kiss, and she will if she feels so inclined, but sometimes standing back & getting the look from Dorothy for smiling so unashamed while roses smothers her is exactly what she wants (she’s a little menace, I don’t make the rules I just follow them).

Rose is just the sweetest of sweethearts (as if that even needs to be said), neither of them leave the house (& most rooms) without a kiss, an I love you, and very often a ‘where are you going?’ (Because she wants to come with!! By the time she’s said that she’s already up & on her feet). She follows the both of them around the house a lot, so they’re never really out of her sight. But when they do leave the house without her she showers them in affection. Hugs & kisses, helping with their coats & shoes, last minute touch ups to hair & makeup, making sure there’s not a thing in the world they could possibly need before they leave– all of it!!

Blanche would be similar to Rose, but heavier on the physical touch side of things. Reaching out for hands/arms/wrists, so so many kisses. But I think hugs are her favourite before one of them leaves the house. Leaving a room I don’t think she’s as conscious of it (saying anything), but she always makes sure they’re a little loved on before leaving the house without her! I think she’d rather tag along whenever she can, so she’s never really saying goodbye to them.

‘How do they feel about PDA?’

oh boy. I think they’re very torn on this one:

For Dorothy it depends, but for the most part it’s a huge nono. Based on my own observation (& a hint of my own hcs) she seems to put her walls up impossibly higher when she’s outside of the house. So anything that could possibly send them crumbling down she’d avoid like the plague (or in this case, give a very stern warning to. Which she wouldn’t enjoy doing, especially not to either of them and especially not to poor Rose. Blanche understands, but rose seems to take it a little harder even after it clicks). I think there’s a chance of her warming up to the idea of a quick kiss on the cheek or linking arms, but it would never go very far on her part. & the others know (and would never cross) that! They know that if Dorothy is interested she’ll make it known.

Rose doesn’t hide her love for them, why would she? & in public the most of that energy gets thrown Blanches’ way (after she comes to understand Dorothy’s situation a little better, she’d never want to make her feel uncomfortable. The guilt would eat her alive). She shows the most affection towards Blanche but always makes sure that Dorothy knows that rose knows she’s also there. & that she loves her just as much. They share a look, & Dorothy smiles, & that’s enough for them.

Blanche, to me, is less touchy than I think most would like to believe. She loves the feeling of having someone (rose, mostly) on her arm or being on (hers). Her & Rose initiate equally & respond similarly. But blanche loves knowing that others know that she’s in love, for one reason or another. She’s not searching for external validation necessarily, I think she’s just a bit possessive. (Dorothy would also be that way, if she became that comfortable. Sort of an internal yes, she’s on my arm because she’s my wife. Jealous?) (and oh how Blanche would feed off jealous looks).

‘Choose one song that perfectly describes their relationship’

only one?!!! must I???

Because I can’t choose only one, I’m giving them each a song that I think describes their relationship perfectly from their perspective:

Dorothy: meadows in bloom by Jonathan Bree.

Rose: a lots gonna change by Weyes Blood.

Blanche: get free by lana del rey.

#this was a long one but I had many thoughts #Blanche & her reaching out for their arms/hands… that one moment she tried to grab at Dorothy in the final what if that was my last straw.#<- as soon as I typed ’reaching out for hands’ it came back to me I almost had to step away #the emotions I feel because of that scene are SO intense. you will never catch me watching season 7 ever again no sir #also. it may have slipped my mind for a moment that rose is actually *very* knowledgeable in the world of psychology #so she would tap into what Dorothy’s going through immediately #rose sweetheart I’m so sorry I completely forgot #<- now that I’m thinking about it I think that Blanche would have been the one to struggle with Dorothy’s worries #anyway. just wanted to give rose the credit she deserves because it just slipped my mind #the golden girls #dorothy zbornak #blanche devereaux #rose nylund #golden wives #asks

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thatpunkmaximoff · 2 months

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[Book Three of...]

Story: 4 out 5 Smut: 2.5 out of 5

Oh wow. I don’t know why I was skeptical about a Wizard of Oz reimagining, but damn… it was so good! Although I do feel stupid for trying to match the “Wizard of Oz” characters to their “Wretched” counterpart lol.

Books One and Two had male villains, so it was fun to read about a female villain.

As the brains behind her family’s drug empire, I was nervous about how Evie was going to get her happily ever after with the new guy she fell for- an undercover DEA agent. She just keeps digging herself deeper and deeper, and just when you think Nick/Brayden is gonna meet his limit with her… he evolves.

I did not expect the DEA agent to evolve the way he did. But damn, I loved that he questioned himself and made the decisions that he did.

Wretched is filled with family and relationship angst, as well as some betrayals that you won’t see coming. Like holy hell… that one… towards the end… jaw dropped!

* Oohhh. So did Dorothy kill Nessa or is Evie just blaming her to blame her..? Interesting.

* Dorothy is the dad’s weakness? Seriously? I wanna see a cat fight between sisters Evie and Dorothy haha. It’s gonna be interesting when Nicholas is sent in to cozy up to Dorothy, but ends up fucking Evie 😏

* Damn. Such a quick, hard fuck in the bathroom and Evie flees. I’m seriously so excited to see Nick freak out when he notices she’s the sister to the mark he’s supposed to get to know. Yes!

* Ezekiel is gonna turn rat by bringing Nick into the fold?

* Wow. Dorothy’s such a cunt for what she said. And look at Ezekiel snapping at her in defense of Evie. I hope someone punches the shit out of her or kills her.

* So Evie is the “Wicked Witch of the West”, but who are the others? I feel dumb lol.

* Well shit. Dorothy is smitten with the guy who got his dick wet in her sister just a week or so ago 😂

* Oh fuck yeah. The meeting. Nick/Brayden can’t keep his eyes off Evie and Dorothy is already talking in his ear and trying to paint Evie as crazy. Fucking bitch.

* Cody, the hacker, is Oz. Fitting. Man behind the curtain and all.

* Evelina should have cut his dick off.

* Goddamn. I love how she calls him pup.

* And they fucked in the strip club basement. Oh lord. She should have recorded it and played it for Dorothy lol.

* Her sister’s body was never recovered..? What if she dipped? What if she’s still alive..? God, I would love that for Evie.

* Wow. How the fuck is this gonna go down. They want the supplier, but that supplier is Evelina. She cooks up everything. I just can’t see how these two can live happily ever after 😬

* Wow. Nick/Brayden has got a mouth on him. I love it.

* Ouch. Him telling Evie she’s not worth it just got me fucked up.

* Damn. She straight up murdered people in front of him. How is he gonna get her off the hook for this?

* “Let me be your calm in the chaos, pretty girl.”

* Oh fuck. The dad is the one cutting up Evie’s drugs and adding bullshit into it all to make MORE cash? wtf. I hope they can pin everything on the dad and Dorothy so Evie can run away with Nick/Brayden.

* What is it with guys fucking girls with guns? Lol.

* Also… poetry while fucking is a little weird. Ngl.

* God, the dad is such an asshole. And wtf is Dorothy up to? She’s nervous. Why?

* FUCKING DOROTHY! God, I hope she dies.

* Is this how Evie and Nick/Brayden will get their HEA? She’s gonna sell out her dad and/or burn everything to the ground? Yes, please!!!

* Oh no. She said those three little words, he panicked, and Dorothy just gave him the information he needed about who the supplier is. This fucking sucks.

* Holy fuck. She knows. His cover is blown, but he didn’t tell his partner that she’s the supplier!

* God that was a satisfying end for Dorothy. Not so much her dad, but now I got other shit to worry about lol.

* CODY?! OZ!? What the fuck, man!!!

* NICHOLAS!!! Oh my god. My heart can’t take this.

* “I love you. I didn’t know that I could love until you. And you’re not perfect, okay? You piss me off and you do things I never thought I’d be all right with, and you’re moody as hell. You’re actually the furthest fucking thing from perfect I’ve ever seen. But, Evelina… you’re perfect for me.”

* Why am I just realizing Nick is the “Tin Man” 😂 and Ezekiel was the “Cowardly Lion” 🤦🏻‍♀️ Who tf was the Scarecrow tho?!

* I wanna go to Ireland now…

#never after series #booktok book review #book review #wretched #emily mcintire #dark romance #romance #the wizard of oz retelling #the wizard of oz reimagining #the wizard of oz #evelina westerly #nicholas woodsworth #villain era #villains do it better

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eldritchwhispersofficial · 3 months

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(NOTE: This character is from my Analog Horror/Slenderverse/Creepypasta AU the Lilacverse. She is not a canon character.) "I'm looking for someone. Do... do you know her? She's my cousin. Her name's... Virginia."

HERE SHE IS! My Monument Mythos (Lilacverse AU) OC!!! (If you say she looks like Frisk I will kill you instantly I KNOW OKAY I GOT IT) Name: Catherine Eternity Arnoldson/Cat Stewart/Cathy Woods Presumed Age: 9 (1983) 18 (1992) Actual Age: 9 (1934) 58 (1983) 67(1992) Species: Special Tree/Climber Backstory: (TW: Child abuse, depression, sui thoughts/self harm, implied s*xual assault [im definitely not projecting my own trauma onto her as a coping mechanism wdym hahahahaha]) Catherine Eternity Arnoldson was born on April 16th, 1925, to Elias Arnoldson and his wife Jeanie. She was a very sweet and charming young girl, with a quick wit and a bold tongue. She was considered quite clever from a young age. When Catherine was 4, both of her parents passed away in a terrible fire. She was sent to live in New York with her uncle Allen, aunt Dorothy, and cousin Virginia. Virginia was delighted to have a new playmate, and the two girls became fast friends. Catherine loved Virginia dearly, and considered her a sister. In 1934, Virginia disappeared after going to put a Christmas ornament (a bear) on the tree at Rockefeller Plaza. She was 13. Soon after, Catherine became very upset. She decided to figure out what happened to Virginia, and ended up going to Rockefeller Plaza. She touched the Special Tree, and... ...was INSTANTLY teleported into Wonderland. Catherine spent almost half a century in Wonderland, confused, scared, lost, and searching for Virginia. She attempted to escape multiple times by climbing the trees, but never succeeded. She saw what happened to the OTHER Climbers, and wondered why she wasn't stretched and burned like them. At some point, she came across Everett, who was ALSO searching for Virginia. Everett thought she was Virginia, and was disappointed to find out she wasn't. But he was excited when he realized Catherine was Virginia's cousin, and tried to help her find her, although they never succeeded. After a while, Catherine was teleported back out of Wonderland. She woke up over 500 miles away from her home, in a little suburb in West Virginia called Galler, near the larger city of Ashton. She was discovered by the police, who upon interrogating her, realized she had no ID, no family, and couldn't remember where she had come from. They put her in foster care, and she was quickly adopted by Gilbert and Pearl Stewart, a very rich and prominent couple in the area. Gilbert and Pearl were horrible people. who pushed down Catherine's lively personality at any opportunity, and constantly referred to her as "Cat", a nickname she DESPISED. They forced her to go to prep school and tried to mold her into the "perfect little lady", a role she could not fill. Catherine developed extreme depression, suicidal ideations, and began to hurt herself on purpose (burning her fingers on the stove, beating herself with a belt, carving words and symbols into her arms and chest with a knife). This only led to more abusive behavior from her "parents", who only cared about her as a status symbol. When Catherine turned 18 (or rather, 67), her "parents" immediately began trying to marry her off. Catherine despised all of the shallow, narcissistic young men they paraded past her, each one richer than the last. She refused to marry them, understanding that since she wasn't a good enough child, her "parents" wanted her to marry into a rich family to increase their own social standing. More than one of Catherine's suitors were more than a little perverted, and several of them were men who were too old for her (physically, if not chronologically. See how time travel fucks with everything?) On more than one occasion, she was violated after refusing to marry or sleep with a suitor. This added to her feelings of loneliness and self-hatred, which culminated when she decided to commit suic*de and hang herself in the woods.

And that's when she met... HIM. She met the mysterious man in the suit by complete accident. She was in the process of tying a noose, staring up into the tree branches, wondering just HOW she was going to do this...

When there was a sudden loud burst of static, and the wind suddenly turned cold. Catherine turned around, wary, and looked up. And kept looking up. And stared at the impossibly tall man towering over her, trying to find a face that simply wasn't there. She opened her mouth to scream. What came out instead was "Ooh, you're tall. Can you help me tie this rope in the tree so I can hang myself, please?" He was very confused. Catherine related her story to him- she couldn't remember where she came from except for a few fragmented memories, she was adopted by people she despised who abused her, she was a victim of s*xual assault, and she wanted to kill herself desperately. He took pity on her. Comforted her. Dried her tears. She fell in love, in a confused way. A few days later, Catherine was informed that her "parents" had found a new suitor for her: Oakley Simon Woods, an extremely wealthy and mysterious 21-year-old man from nearby Ashton. She was saddened and disappointed, but agreed to meet him, with a heavy heart. Catherine dressed in her finest clothes, and went down to meet this new suitor- only to stop dead in her tracks. There, sitting on the couch and chatting with her father, was a young man with icy blue eyes, long, dark black hair, and pale white skin. He wore a black suit, and was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. And she recognized him. Recognized his voice. "It's you!" Catherine exclaimed, flinging herself into Oakley's arms without a care in the world. Her "parents" would have reproached her, but Oakley's eyes lit up like he was the happiest living being in the world, and he kissed her. He explained that they had met by chance in the forest a few days earlier, and the reason he was courting her was that he'd fallen hopelessly in love with her. Her "parents" were incredibly startled by Catherine's evident willingness to marry Oakley, and Oakley's insistence that he be allowed to marry Catherine. They were married three months later. Oakley took Catherine to Lilac Manor, they ended up having a baby who they named Nella, Catherine turned into a semi-murderous proxy known as Sugarpink, happily ever after, right? OH YOU SWEET SUMMER CHILD. You fool. THERE IS NO WORSE FATE THAN BEING AN ARNOLDSON. Catherine was sad. She wanted to go home. Sure, she had a family now, who she loved very much- but she missed her uncle and aunt. She missed her cousin. She missed her old life. So, she tried to go back. She tried to send herself back through Wonderland and back into the past. It didn't work. What did occur was that she succeeded in trapping herself on the Bridge to Nowhere, where she spent an unknowable amount of time starving, slowly going feral, and being terrorized by the giant evil spider known as Mongo.

Relationships: Virginia Arnoldson (Cousin) Allen Arnoldson (Uncle, deceased) Dorothy Arnoldson (Aunt, deceased) Jeanie Arnoldson (Mother, deceased) Elias Arnoldson (Father, deceased) Leonard Morlin (Cousin in law) Everett Arnoldson, Maya Arnoldson, Nathaniel Arnoldson (Cousins once removed) Quinn Arnoldson, Lauren Arnoldson (Cousins twice removed) Pearl Stewart (Adoptive Mother, disowned), Gilbert Stewart (Adoptive Father, disowned) Oakley Woods (Husband) Mary-Anne Woods (Sister in law) Nella Woods (Daughter) Veronica Woods (Mother-in-law, deceased) James Woods (Father-in-law, deceased)

#slenderverse #monument mythos #catherine arnoldson #oc #slenderman #please they are so cute #theyre in love your honor #haha trauma

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septusuki · 10 months

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Extra Mission: Ange's C-Belt

"Good news, Ange! For once..." Dorothy managed a chuckle as she sauntered into her and Ange's shared room. For most of her time there, she'd loved it; the room was comfortable and almost spacious - something she'd never really had to herself, before. The only caveat, of course, was that she had to play student. "Control's finally thrown us a bone!" Looking at the room waiting for her now, though, Dorothy was having trouble even picturing herself falling asleep in it.

"Wh-What?" Ange woke slowly, already panting and wheezing for air. Barely able to see her co-conspirator over the swell of her chest, Ange could do little more than sit and wait for whatever she was bringing her. "It had-- Nff-- better not be food, again..." Ange tried to wipe the quickly-accumulating sweat from her forehead, but could barely lift her fat hand to her flabby, thick face. "Or... Alcohol...!" She growled, trying not to remember how Dorothy had pumped beer down her throat last week - just for stealing her snacks...

"No, for once it's something actually useful!" Dorothy was clearly in a good mood; even with her own room full of the stinking, humid air wafting out of Ange's fat-folds, and her own bed being requisitioned simply to fit the fat blob that permanently occupied it, Dorothy was still smiling. "Something that'll help you lose weight!" She nearly cheered. Finally, something that could deal with this mindless fat-sack, one way or another.

"Haahnn... Lose weight?" Ange didn't even know if that was possible anymore. She was too morbidly obese even for the C-Ball to have any effect on her, so she had to weigh at least three-quarters of a ton. And that was a month ago. Ever since she'd been 'poisoned' with the Kingdom's instant-weight-gain serum, Ange's weight had been skyrocketing, no thanks to the Princess that oh-so loved to pamper her growing body. "What... Nff... Ish it?" Feeling her pyjamas grow tight as she wheezed, Ange was inundated with the sheer mass of her own body. Immobile, and unable to think about anything other than how utterly obese she was, Ange's fat-rolls and blubber-folds never let her forget, even when her eyes were closed; always sloshing, jiggling or bulging. So weighed down by her own belly that she hadn't stood up in months, Ange simply sat and got fatter. Princess Charlotte wasn't arguing, at least.

Unwrapping the brown-paper package she'd been given like a child on christmas, Dorothy lifted the 'C-Belt' aloft. A thick, heavy-duty belt, with a dozen packages across it's leathery surface. Long enough to wrap around the entire room, there was no way this wasn't fitting. "It's a special belt for fatsos like you!" Dorothy managed a giggle - Princess had taught her that word, and she was finding she loved the way it sounded on her lips. "It's got like, ten mini-C-Balls, so even fatasses like you can waddle around, if you really try." Another one of Princess Charlotte's favourite words.

Ange's already-red face grew a shade brighter. She could walk. She could do things again. "Hu-Hurry up!" Unable to hide her excitement, Ange's head drooped back into the fat-pillow it'd been resting in a moment ago - her own shoulderblades, bloated with blubber. "P-Put it on..." Biting back her moan as Dorothy felt up her belly, Ange dreamt of what she'd do once she was mobile again; go to Princess' room, wear real clothes, and actually choose for herself what she wanted to eat. Pulled out of her fat-filled fantasies as Dorothy pulled the C-Belt tight, Ange shivered as the cold fabric bit into her belly-fat. It'd only been on a few seconds, and it was already being dragged into her tummy's titanic fat-fold, pulled and rolled closer towards Ange's black hole of a belly button.

"Ugh..." Unable to hide her disgust at how gigantically obese Ange was, Dorothy fiddled with the C-Belt's controls gingerly, her fingers already struggling thanks to all the sweat on the blob's gut. "Ange, I know I've said this before, but... You've really got to lose a few pounds." Slapping her 'partner's' plumpness, Dorothy couldn't help but laugh. This pig was going to need to lose more than a few pounds. Ange had weighed barely a hundred pounds before she'd started ballooning up, and now...

"Huunnhh..." Ange tried to move, sloshing her water-balloon of a body about as the C-Belt hummed to life. As her ass-meat jiggled and her neck-fat wobbled back-and-forth, Ange decided; the first thing she'd do would be getting breakfast. "I--I'm not feeling any lighter, Dorothy!" Ange barked, her pyjama top stretching and tearing with the stress it was being put through.

"Sit still for two seconds, you--!" Dorothy cut herself off before she used any of the dirtier words Charlotte had taught her. "You'll be able to waddle around all you want, just..." Finally getting the settings right, Dorothy slammed the 'ON' button and leapt back, just in case it exploded - or worse. If Ange could finally move, that meant a half-ton glob of meat would be waddling around their room. Dorothy didn't want to get crushed any time soon.

Ange's body began to glow. Her body even began to float, if the struggling of her top was anything to go by. The greenish hum of cavorite engulfed her chest, her pillowy breasts beginning to slosh about with a freedom that betrayed their weight. Ange really was getting lighter...

"It's... Working..." A little shocked herself, Ange reached forwards and patted her fat belly. Yes, all still there. With more effort than she'd even bothered to use in the last month, Ange forced her body forwards, the hum of the C-Belt still going even as it was engulfed by her belly-blubber. "I can... Hahh... Move..." Even if she could move, though, there wasn't much a pig-sized spy could actually do. No sneaking, no squeezing - and definitely no negotiating, if she could be bought off with a few cookies.

"Hahah..." Dorothy laughed uneasily, feeling like she was being pushed against the wall as Ange's balloon of a body filled up the rest of the room. Even lightened by the belt, Ange's belly drooped against the floor, an entire foot of blubber simply sloshing across the floorboards. "S-So... This is what it's like on the Fat Lizard Planet?" Managing a joke, Dorothy dared to approach her whale of a roommate. After all, that tummy was looking terribly teasable.

Ange looked down at her body, barely contained by her grey nightie. Her 5XL nightie, that sat on her like a patient's gown. She wasn't floating, flying or anything of the like - just lifted, slightly. Enough that she could pretend to be a normal human. "Most of my fellows are... a bit larger than this..." Ange sighed, trying desperately to keep up with her own lies.

#princess principal #fic #doroange obesity #ughh #wg

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daybreak-academy-fanfic · 1 year

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Someone to Watch Out for You: Chapter 5

Someone Worth Fighting For

Summary: In which Ventus helps Sabrina solve a mystery in Wasteland. Word Count: 2,269 First | Previous | Next ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆

"You're late."

Somehow, for some reason, Ven had thought his welcome would have been warmer than that. Sabrina had been waiting for Ven to arrive in Wasteland. Her outfit now was far more relaxed than what he had seen her in during the knighting. Which made sense- this was more of a house call than a formal social gathering. Something about her still made Ven's heart thrum a bit faster, though. He had to force it down. He was here as a knight, not a lovestruck moron.

"It's not very easy to travel the worlds with a single Star Shard, you know." he reminded her with a bit of bite to his words.

"Excuses." Sabrina huffed. "You have that armor of yours too. That resists darkness in the Lanes Between, does it not?"

"It does, but I think that's beside the point."

"Oh you think so?"

"Oh I know so."

Ven gave Sabrina a rather smart smirk, in return she scowled. That was when Ven noticed something gold colored next to her. He almost couldn't believe he hadn't seen it beforehand. For, you see, beside Sabrina was a large, round mechanical man Ven had never seen before. The thing was a little under their height, and hadn't so much moved since the duo started bickering at each other.

"What... Who is this?" Ven wondered out loud.

Sabrina let out a bemused scoff before placing a hand on top of the mechanical man.

"This is Tik-Tok." she told him. "Think of him as my guardian, or nanny."

"A plea-sure to meet you." the mechanical man said in a monotone cadence. The sudden voice with very little lip movement surprised Ven for a moment. "Are you Ven-tus? Dor-ro-thy talks a-bout you some-times. It is ver-ry... scat-tered."

"Dorothy?" Ven wondered, looking to Sabrina. "Who's Dorothy?"

For this, she shrugged. "I'm not his first charge."

"Gotcha." Ven nodded. With that settled, it was time to get to the matter at hand. "So what's the problem?"

Sabrina was the one to answer with a short, "Tik-Tok is."

"In-deed." Tik-Tok agreed in a motion that seemed akin to a nod. "I am not as fun-ction-al as I should be. It is scar-ry. I fear that I have been tam-pered with."

Sabrina's body tensed, folding her arms in annoyance.

"If someone messes with Tik-Tok, they mess with me." she told Ventus, punctuating it with dark glare and holding herself even tighter. "End of story."

Something about the idea was funny to Ven. He couldn't help but snort at it.

"I didn't know you could care so much about someone like that."

"Shows what you know, cousin."

And just like that, she shot him in the heart. It hurt a bit more than he had been expecting. Not that her calling him cousin was particularly new, not since their first meeting. But this was the third time they'd been face to face in the past few years. Could she really be that persistent with a cruel joke? She had to have been noticing how quickly his smiles turned to frowns when she called him that. She just had to.

"So where do we start?" Ven asked, hoping to divert his breaking heart to something more productive.

"The Lonesome Manor." Sabrina said.

"I have been do-ing work there re-cent-ly." Tik-Tok added. "Man-y of my mem-mor-ies be-come lost there. It is the com-mon var-ia-ble."

"Then let's get to it." Ven agreed with a nod.

Ventus and Sabrina took the train network in Wasteland to reach the Lonesome Manor. Ven took a bit too long staring at the old building. The thing about Wasteland was that it sat very close to the darkness, and you could feel it seeping through without too much effort. Places like the Lonesome Manor just made it even more apparent. A shiver crept up Ventus's spine as he crossed the main threshold. To his horror, Sabrina (who had marched in with no fear whatsoever and remained several paces ahead of him) turned around. She raised an eyebrow and studied him for a moment. Then a smirk etched itself onto her lips.

"Do you need to turn back, oh valiant knight?" she teased. "Not many can face the challenges within these walls."

"Get real." Ven huffed. Just to further prove himself, he pushed past her and started up the staircase. The amusement on Sabrina's face never faltered as she remained in her spot.

"Do you even know where you're going?" she asked him.

Ven immediately stopped in his tracks.

Sabrina laughed- an almost genuine one too. Ven couldn't tell if he was clenching his fists in annoyance or shock from hearing the laugh. When she walked past him on the staircase, he almost didn't notice. Giving a sigh of mild irritation, Ven followed behind her. He hoped this wouldn't be a vice any time soon.

The library Madame Leona resided in was on the manor's third floor. Likewise, the pedestal that held her was located near the back. A part of Ven wasn't surprised that Sabrina neglected to mention something rather important about Madame Leona- she was just a head suspended in a crystal ball. Not having his first reaction be shock would have saved some time.

"Hello Sabrina," Madame Leona greeted. A book that had been floating next to her pedestal flew back to a bookcase with ease. "I see you've brought company with you for a change. Ventus, yes?"

Ven jumped in surprise. "Y-yeah." he agreed. "How did you know?"

"I know many things through two methods," Leona informed him, "Clairvoyance, and the local gossip."

"And neither of them are accurate." Sabrina quickly spat.

Leona gave a curt nod. "Indeed. But that's not why you're here, is it?" The severed head then tilted her chin upwards. To Ventus she proclaimed, "You ran from your destiny, boy. Despite avoiding a decade's death, you will still be haunted by the hearts of those you left behind. The very stars will lose their lights before you are able to reunite with them."

"Leona!" Sabrina snapped. "We didn't come for a fortune cookie prediction!"

Leona scoffed. "It is an art, my princess." she spat in return. "An art of which you will never grasp in favor of the minute details."

"Tik-Tok is being treated like a tin can!" Sabrina shot back. Ven stared at her in both admiration and fear. "Tell me who's screwing with him!"

If Leona had a hand, she would have given it a callous wave.

"Screeching Sam is who you need to direct your ire to. Not me." she informed the girl. "He is currently occupying the ballroom below us. Oh, and be gentle with Ventus as well. Your hearts have very similar scars."

The look of absolute disgust on Sabrina's face was well shown in that moment. She didn't even bother looking at Ventus as she stormed out of the library. Ven took a mental note never to make her angry like that again.

. . .

"I take it you don't take Madame Leona's clairvoyance to heart?" Ventus ventured to ask as they worked their way to the ballroom.

"And if I did?" Sabrina questioned, making it sound more like a demand. "What good will it do to know my future instead of just living it?"

Ven gave a small chortle. It soon bubbled its way into a full laugh.

"You know," he mused, "I don't get you."

"Then it's a good thing you don't have to." was the sharp reply back. It only served to amuse Ven more.

He waited until they were closer to the ballroom before wondering, "What do you think Madame Leona meant when she said 'your hearts have similar scars'? She really is kinda batty to think that, huh? We don't really have much in common."

Sabrina stopped walking so suddenly, Ven almost ran into her. Her body went so still, he almost didn't know how to react first.

"Sabrina?" he carefully asked. "Are you alright?"

"We need a plan."

"Huh?"

Sabrina turned around and looked at Ven with determinate eyes.

“Screeching Sam won’t go down without a fight.” she told him. Her voice sounded just as determinate. “Since he and another ghost, Tedworth, play malicious pranks on each other, he must have some twisted reason for us to be here. We need to have a plan.”

Understanding a bit now, Ven took a step back in thought.

“You say he plays pranks with another ghost? I might be able to work with that.”

“So you have a plan?”

Ven looked at Sabrina and gave her a proud grin.

“How much do you trust me?” he cheekily asked.

“About as far as I can throw you.”

His grin only became more cunning as he declared, “Perfect.”

. . .

The Lonesome Manor’s ballroom would have been a beauty back in its heyday. Sabrina’s steps echoed as she crossed the room, almost stopping right in the center where the pipe organ lay.

“Come out Sam.” Sabrina shouted at the air. “I know what you did to Tik-Tok and you know I have something to say about it. Let’s make this easier on both of us, got it?”

“Naw, are you the only one that came?” a ghostly voice resounded through the air. “Way to ruin all the fun, princess.”

A second more and the ghost in question appeared a foot away from Sabrina. Sabrina, in return, didn’t look very amused.

“Gee,” Sam then went on to whine, “I just wanted to get the two of ya in the room together for a little experiment, see? Who knew tracking down a knight from a completely different kingdom would be such a pain in the ghostly rear! Haha!”

Sabrina’s face went from annoyance to a disgusted confusion.

“What does a knight from another kingdom have to do with anything?” she questioned.

“Well, ain’t it obvious?” Sam countered right back. “It’s because the two of ya are-”

Screeching Sam was cut off suddenly when a little whirlwind picked him up and started to shunt him around the room. The ghost hollered and screamed to be let go, but no one came to his rescue. When the whirlwind started to slow down, it went over to a curved vase and shoved both itself and Sam inside. Ven was the one to put a cork on the vase.

“I don’t know who you are, but this ain’t funny!” Sam shouted from inside the vase, feeling that Ven was picking it up. “Let me outta here now!”

“Not until you promise to never pick on Tik-Tok again.” Ven said. He even gave the vase a small shake, just to get Sam’s attention.

“What’s that? I can’t hear ya!” Sam called back out. “Tedworth, is that you? Look, I’m sorry I ripped your teddy bear, but I mean it! Lemme out and I’ll make it up to you!”

Ven gave the vase another hard shake. Instead of letting Sam out, he gave Sabrina a tentative side glance. This was her choice- not his. When Sabrina gave the go ahead, Ven almost felt bad that they couldn’t keep Sam in there longer. Sam came bursting out of the bottle like a genie being freed from its lamp.

“Hey!” Sam loudly declared once he got a good look at Ven. “You’re that knight over at Disney Castle! I knew that little charade would work!”

“A charade that involved tampering a mechanical man without his knowledge?” Ven questioned with a cock of his eyebrow.

“Of course!” Sam agreed without a hint of shame. “See, I placed money on a little fight between you and Sabrina. But in order to win, I gotta get you two in the same room first! So I used Tik-Tok, knowing he’s important to Sabrina and all, and made it so bad that they had to call for outside help. Which means, I won’t stop messin’ with the tin can unless I get my money’s worth of it.”

Ven made a face of disgust. “We’re not going to-”

“Fine.” Sabrina agreed, cutting him off. “If you want to make a betting ring, then let’s get it over with.”

The headstrong girl stepped forward and held her hand out in front of her. In a bright flash of light, a weapon appeared in her hand. It took Ven to recognize the basic shape, and when he did, he was once more in wonder. Held tight within Sabrina’s hand was a primarily purple, white, and dark pink Keyblade known as Crown of Guilt. Once more, Ven considered that each time he found something out about her, the more interesting she seemed to be.

What he said out loud to all of this was a dumbfounded, “How long have you had a Keyblade?”

Sabrina gave a callous shrug in return. “I don’t know.” she admitted. “For about as long as I remember?” She gave him a glance up before adding, “Why? Already prepared to fault?”

Ven’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t tell if it was from her, or the challenge at hand. Putting on a bemused grin, he soon pulled out his own Keyblade.

“Of course not,” he said. “I’ll try to go easy on you. Just so I can get a handle on how good you are.”

“That only means you’re holding back.” Sabrina countered. “And nothing is more annoying than someone who underestimates his opponent!”

And with that, the duo clashed with a full audience of ghosts cheering them on. Best of all, they put on such a show with their fighting, none of the ghosts ever thought to bother poor Tik-Tok ever again.

#someone to watch out for you #chapter 5 #kingdom hearts fanfiction #Ventus #Sabrina #Tik-Tok

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ghostbustersreborn · 1 year

Text

Chapter 4.

❙. tara woke up the next day feeling more drained than ever. she put it as being hungover, though she had never drank an ounce of alcohol in her life.

"tara, here take this." egon told her, giving her an aspirin and a bottle of water.

she took the bottle of water and the pill.

after she took the aspirin, she looked to egon who looked at her with concern.

"what's going on with me, egon?" tara asked him. "i feel like i'm dying."

egon sighed. "i don't know yet. i wish i did but i don't." he answered truthfully.

she looked down, feeling like she was going to cry.

"will it ever get better?" she asked him.

egon didn't have the answers. usually he did, but this time he didn't.

tara sniffled.

"can i just have a hug?" she requested.

egon stepped forward and kneeled down at her bedside. he pulled her into his arms, giving her a hug.

pulling out from his embrace, she laid back down.

it was only two days since she started feeling like this, she just wondered how long this was going to last..

two weeks went by and tara's health only got worse.

egon and the boys were so busy with work, that egon didn't have time to run any more tests or try anything new to figure out the problem with tara.

tara pretty much lived at the firehouse now with ray and egon. the only time egon ran tests was to track her sleep. her sleeping patterns were out of whack which made tara even more sick than she was.

in her nightmares now, she'd been hearing a strange voice calling out to her. calling her the watch dog and that they needed her.

each night, she'd wake up covered in blood from her nose bleeding. she didn't know how she was still alive after all the blood loss coming from her nose.

egon sat in her room one evening, checking her temperature.

egon took it out once it started beeping. glancing at it, he looked to tara and went; "your fever is a 103 F-."

"that's bad." tara said, sounding nervous.

"yes, it is." he agreed with her, while wiping off the temperature stick before putting the cap back on.

tara sighed, she ran her fingers through her dirty blonde hair.

"where's dad?" she asked him.

"out." he replied.

tara had barely seen her father since their work had gone up in customers.

it was like peter was ashamed of seeing his daughter, since the sicker tara had gotten.

"just tell him to come up here, when you see him next." she asked of him.

"i'll try." egon promised.

he stood up from his kneeled position on the floor, he told her he'd be down in his lab if she needed anything and now she was all by herself in her room.

she reached over to her nightstand and opened it up. nothing was in there, expect for a folded picture that had the year "1976" written on the back.

tara took it out, unfolding it revealing the photograph.

it was a picture of her and peter. it was halloween and four year old tara wanted to go trick or treating in the university instead of out in the city. so, there was peter holding baby tara dressed as dorothy holding a basket full of candy which egon and ray provided her with.

she couldn't help but tear up at the memory.

"i miss you dad, the old you." she said to herself.

she folded the photo back over. she picked up her pillow and set the photograph underneath it.

she laid down, closing her eyes hoping to get some sleep. at least some sleep without any nightmares that is.

in this nightmare, she was surrounded by black and green smoke.

she coughed. trying to make her way through it.

once, she was out of the fog she was back on the rooftop of a building. the same building she had seen before in her reoccurring nightmares.

a woman with short brown hair and wearing a skin tight body suit appeared before her.

"you are the watch dog, you belong to us." she said in a dark and sinister voice.

"no, no i don't!" she refused. "i don't belong to anyone."

"yes, you do." the woman said before grabbing a hold of her.

tara woke up with a jolt. she let out a sigh of relief, once realizing none of it was real. it was all just a bad dream.

"hey, you needed me?" tara gasped, not expecting to see her dad stood in her doorway.

peter chuckled. "sorry. forgot how jumpy you've been lately." he moved further into her room, going to her bedside.

tara huffed.

peter sat down next to her on the bed.

he was still dressed in his uniform from work hours ago.

"why are you still in your uniform?" she asked.

"well, we never know when we're going to catch a ghost again, that's why." he explained. "so, what did you want?"

tara took out the photograph from underneath her pillow. she showed it to her father.

"what? you still kept this!" he exclaimed, taking it from her. "this was taken in what? 1976. i can't believe you still have this."

tara smiled. "of course, i kept it. it was one of my fondest memories of us together." she commented.

"that was only two months after we (egon and ray) got the job at the university." peter reminisced.

tara nodded. just two months. only two months before she lost him.

it was a happy yet sad memory..

"dad.." tara began. "i miss you."

"how can you miss me, when i'm right here?" he questioned, clearly not catching onto what she was trying to say.

"no, dad. the real you." she corrected him.

peter moved over to face her. "what kind of drugs is egon putting in your IV?" he asked, tapping the hand which had the IV in gently.

tara moved her hand away from him. "dad. i'm serious."

"and i'm concerned." he shot back.

"dad." she sighed. "you weren't always like this. you weren't always obsessed with work and you most certainly weren't as obsessed with women like you are now. you loved me, you put me first and you actually took the time to take care of me. from what i remember, i only got that version of you for a few months until you got your first raise and that was when ray and egon took over the roles of being my dad and you took over the role of acting like a friend more than a father to me." she ranted.

peter stayed quiet. processing everything he was hearing from his daughter.

deep inside, he knew what she was saying was true. work truly did take over his life and girls took up most of it too. he had no time for his daughter, all they ever did was fight and to tell you the truth he didn't know anything about tara besides the fact that they were related.

instead of admitting to tara how right she was, he instead got up and walked out.

tara bursted into tears. she really thought what she said would strike a nerve in peter and cause him to realize all the things he's done to her for the last nine years was wrong. tara began to believe this would be how he'd always be for the rest of her life.

at least, she still had egon and ray as back up parents.

two days passed since the incident. tara was stuck in bed being sick of being in bed.

when ray walked by her room that afternoon, she called him in.

"hey, uh, ray can you help take my IV out?" she politely asked him.

"hun, i don't know if that's the right thing to do." ray answered.

"i need to walk around and not just around my room. please, ray! please." she begged.

she gave him the puppy dog eyes.

ray closed his eyes and let out a breath.

"okay, fine but don't get upset if egon carries you back up here." he told her.

tara nodded. knowing egon all too well.

after ray took out her IV, she quickly jumped out of bed in which she quickly came to regret when she started to feel lightheaded.

"you and your father are two of the most stubborn people i've come to know in my entire life." ray stated.

"don't mention him. i'm still mad at him." she requested.

ray and egon were there to comfort her after peter left her room abruptly two nights ago.

"right. sorry." he apologized.

A little while later

when tara went downstairs, she saw a man being interviewed by janine.

he had dark skin and looked to be around the same age as the guys.

"do you believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full-trance mediums, the loch ness monster, and the theory of atlantis?" janine listed off, with boredom hinted in her tone.

"that's a mouthful." tara pointed out.

janine made eye contact with her "it is. and i hate it." she stated. she turned back to the man sitting before her. "so, do you?"

"uh, if there's a steady paycheck in it, i'll believe anything you say." replied the man.

"good one." tara complimented him. "i'm tara. welcome to the ghostbusters." she held her hand out towards him.

he shook her hand and went; "i'm winston and um thank you."

the boys were just coming back from another job. they were covered in guck and looked exhausted.

"oh, i gotta get some sleep." ray said.

"i'm dying." peter added.

"this is winston zeddmore. he's here about the job." janine said, introducing him to ray and peter.

peter locked eyes with his daughter for a split second, before she looked away giving him the side eye.

"beautiful. you're hired." ray told him. "ray stantz. pete venkman. and i'm sure you've already met his daughter, tara over there. congratulations."

winston quickly shook hands with them.

"can you help me, please?" ray asked, as he handed him over the steaming trapper.

winston took it carefully.

"welcome aboard." he welcomed.

"are you sure you're not cheating?" winston asked as tara yet again rolled a six in the game trouble.

"no." tara laughed. "can you even cheat at trouble?" she questioned.

"just checking 'cuz you've won three times in a row." winston told her as he pushed the button for his turn.

right away, winston and tara hit it off quite well. she wasn't surprised they would.

"so, about your father.." he started.

tara groaned, knowing he would bring him up somehow someway.

"what is it you want to know about.. him?" tara asked.

"you two aren't very close, are you?" winston questioned.

"isn't that a little personal, winston?" tara asked as she took her turn.

winston chuckled. "i'm sorry. i can always tell when something is off." he admitted.

"okay." she sighed. "well, let's start at the beginning shall we?" she cracked her fingers to add to the dramatics. "my dad fell in love with a girl, they had a baby, she left barely a month after having said baby. egon and ray took care of me, well they've been doing that anyways since i was born. he gets a job at the university, i only had him for a couple of months until he became obsessed with his work and women. leaving ray and egon to take care of me, while he could care less about my existence whatsoever. so, there's that. also, i won. good game." she put her pieces away and left the kitchen going off to search for ray or egon.

tara was out in the garage, examining the bruise left on her hand from the IV.

today was a relatively okay day for her and the pain. she didn't feel as bad, but still didn't feel as normal. so, she put it as a win-win in that case.

tara was still angry with her dad. he could never take full responsibility for his actions, she wished he did at least for her.

the door to the garage creaked open, expecting to see her father instead she saw a man in a suit who resembled a weasel.

he walked past tara, giving her a look before making his way inside the firehouse.

tara flipped him off before heading inside herself.

"i need to see peter venkman." ordered the man.

"well, he isn't here right now but you can hang out in his office until he gets here." janine suggested.

the man nodded and did what she told him to.

once he was out of the room, tara went over to janine's desk.

"who the hell was he?" asked tara.

right as janine was about to respond, peter walked in with a cigarette in his mouth.

tara scoffed at him before moving away from janine's desk.

"there's a man from the EPA here to see you, he's waiting in your office." janine informed venkman.

"EPA? what's he want?" peter questioned.

"i don't know." janine responded. "all i do know is that i've been working two weeks without a break, and you promised me you'd hire more help."

"well, you've got tara." peter pointed to her.

"someone that isn't sick and not a child." janine corrected him.

the phone began to go off in the middle of their conversation.

peter sighed. "janine, someone with your qualifications would have no trouble finding a top-flight job | he started to make his way to his office. | in either the food service or the housekeeping industries."

he then stopped at the gate and went; "are you gonna answer that?"

"i've quit better jobs than this." janine grumbled, before picking up the phone.

tara took it upon herself to snoop on her father's conversation with the EPA guy. she went over and took a seat at egon's desk, she looked over in peter and the rude EPA guy's direction.

"can i help you?" peter politely asked the man.

"i'm walter peck." the guy introduced himself. "i represent the environmental protection agency in the third district."

"great. how's it going down there?" venkman asked him as he went over to his desk, to put it out his cigarette.

"are you.. peter venkman?" asked walter.

"who else do you think he is, god?" tara sassed.

apparently her comment did not fall on deaf ears.

peter and walter both looked in her direction.

"someone's not hooked up to their IV!" peter shouted.

the door to egon's lab

swung open. he sped walked over to tara who was staring her father down with looks that could kill if it were possible to.

tara pretended to act confused. "wha-how am i how am i down here??"

egon didn't buy it.

"upstairs." he ordered.

she tried giving him the puppy dog eyes. this time, those did not work on him.

egon picked her up, putting her over his shoulder.

as the pair walked away. tara flipped peter off.

"please, stay in bed." egon said, sounding exasperated.

"it's hard, egon. i hate being on bed rest." tara admitted.

egon sighed. "i know. but until i've can figure out what's going on with you, you need to stay here and have this (he pointed to the IV) hooked up." he placed the IV into her hand and taped it back up so it would stay.

he went to the other side of her bed to make sure the IV was working.

"i hate being mad at my dad." tara confessed.

egon turned to her, waiting for her to go on.

"i don't like it. i never did and i probably never will. even though he deserves it, but i love him and i just wished he'd step up and show me he loved me too." she vented.

she looked down, feeling bad for putting all her problems out on ray and egon. they were the only people who would listen.

"i'm sorry." she said, quietly.

egon sat down on the bed next to her.

"don't be." he told her.

tara nodded. she moved herself down and laid her head on egon's lap.

thunder rumbled in the sky. tara was back on the rooftop again.

"not this again!" she groaned.

standing on the second block was a dog statue with red beaming eyes staring right at her.

the red beams shot out at her like lasers, going into her own eyes causing her to wake up from her nightmare.

she sat up in bed, feeling blood drip from her nose.

"what the heck is going on?" she wondered.

#ghostbusters #ghostbusters fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #ghostbusters reborn #egon spengler #peter venkman #ray stantz #winston zeddemore

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