#GET ON YOUR BOAT AND CATCH HER MISTER

[coltermorning]

Wanted: Day One (RDR2 Fanfic, Arthur Morgan x F!Reader, 18+)

Summary: Arthur needs a good take for the gang and decides to go after the bounty on your head.

Author’s Notes: I needed to flesh this one out to get the ending how I liked it so there will be a few chapters. Told from both your and Arthur’s pov and set just before the Blackwater massacre. Also this doesn’t feel like high or low honor Arthur but a good in between so I didn’t tag it.

Tags: Arthur Morgan x reader, eventual smut, enemies to lovers

AO3 Link

~

Wanted: Day One

Word count: 4822

The Van der Linde Gang had come to rely on two things and two things alone: hard work and money. All else came down to that. Dutch could claim it was family, faith, or whatever else he dreamed up all he liked, but Arthur knew better. He knew the bigger their gang grew, the harder it was for anything but those two things to drive them. That that, above all else, was what they needed to stay together and survive. He may have preferred the old ways when it was just the four of them, doing some good here or there, but those days were long gone. Now it was bring in money or die trying. And when Arthur stumbled across a particularly nasty bounty posted on Blackwater’s board, he figured he would have to do just that.

He and Hosea had been scouting out a scam on their own, letting Dutch and the others plan their boat robbery. It was nice working with Hosea—simpler, somehow. The man was sharp enough to make Arthur feel a fool time and again, but he felt he could take a back seat and let Hosea run things, something he normally couldn’t trust others to do well. And with this came an unusual calmness, a sense that he wasn’t doing enough. He always had to be going, running, finding a lead. So, when he rode into town and saw a brand new bounty poster, he couldn’t resist swinging off his horse and seeking it out.

The poster was for a shocking amount of money—a thousand dollars. Stranger still was that it was a lone soul, and that it was a woman. He read on to see the many crimes committed. It was nothing he hadn’t done himself which made him wonder what the price on his head would be. The amount still seemed high to him, but maybe committing as much murder as was mentioned tended to up the stakes. He pocketed the poster and went to mount his horse.

“I’d be careful with that one, mister,” said a voice from the porch of the Sheriff’s. Arthur looked over to see a deputy, a grave expression on his face. “Almost didn’t put that poster back up, how many people she done killed already.” When Arthur didn’t flinch at the threat, the man went on. “They all take that poster down, all as cocksure as you, and none of them’s ever come back. I’d think long and hard on that if I was you.”

“Why put it back up then?”

“We figure someone’s bound to catch her sooner or later. Get lucky more like. You think you’re the man for the job?”

Arthur chuckled. If anyone was, he was. It took a fellow degenerate to smoke one out. “I guess. Against my better judgment,” he mumbled.

“Well good luck then. I tip my hat to you.”

Arthur nodded at the deputy and turned his horse, heading for camp. He would need a few things before he tried his hand at this bounty, namely to tell everyone where he was going so that if he really did get in a bind, they could find him.

Upon reaching camp, Hosea sought him out and told him a few new details about the job they were running. It would be a week still until they could do it—it didn’t hurt to plan as well as they could in the meantime. After settling on that, Arthur made way to his tent to load up on ammunition. He put his bandolier on which drew Dutch’s attention like a moth to flame.

“You look like you’re preparing for war, son. Where’s the fight?”

Arthur pulled the bounty poster out of his satchel and handed it to Dutch. “Real nasty reputation on that one,” he told him. “I ain’t taking no chances.”

“No. Rightfully so.” Dutch finished reading it over and handed it back. “She sounds nice. Hell, may even fit in with our bunch.”

Arthur chuckled. “You ain’t kidding. Too bad she’s worth so much or I’d consider it.”

“You need another gun?”

“No,” Arthur said quickly, knowing this type of outlaw and that having anyone with him would just slow him down.

“Fair enough.” Dutch turned to go back to his tent, sighing as he went. “Good luck then. Do try to make it back in one piece.”

“No promises,” Arthur muttered.

With this, Arthur made for his horse, checking his weapons as he went. All was as in order as it could be, and the only thing remaining was the ride. Arthur mounted up with confidence, knowing what it would mean for the gang to bring in this much money. He would outsmart this bounty target if it took days and all his might to do it.

Barely out of camp, Arthur steeled himself and let determination take over, ready for the fight, ready to unknowingly go after none other than you.

~

Twenty days. It had been twenty days since you last saw a soul—a bounty hunter you’d left dead in the dirt. So far, you had put down five since coming to the wind-worn canyons of Hennigan’s Stead. It was the perfect place to evade capture. There were no trees, no cover for bounty hunters to hide in, nothing but the wide open. Sneaking up on you was not an option, and anyone bold enough to approach you outright would die for it. This was a game of strategy, and strategy was something you were deadly good at. You had booby trapped the paths at your back, sat yourself up at high vantage, and left the rest up to your skill and your sense. All that remained was luck, and with all the preparation, it had leaned in your favor every time.

As you sat at the campfire cleaning your revolver, you pondered how long you would stay here and where you would go next when your horse’s head snapped to attention. You looked to where it looked, down the canyon path below. Nothing and no one was there. It would be difficult for someone to hide there seeing as it was just after noon and the sun and shadows were currently working in your favor. Plus, you didn’t hear a horse—didn’t hear anything for that matter. You chalked it up as one of those gila monsters your mount hated so much and went back to cleaning your weapon. You didn’t completely wave away the threat though. Doing so would be unwise and the very thing to get you caught. You therefore shifted around the fire so that you faced where your horse still looked, rapt with nerves.

Minutes passed by, and the animal went back to standing with its leg cocked and its head bowed. You moved on to your rifle, cleaning it with precision, counting the ticks you had marked into its grain with your knife—one for each man put down. You didn’t ever think that would be something you prided yourself in, but life could certainly harden a woman. Your circumstances had forced you into your wayward nature, and you weren’t ashamed of it a bit. That is, as long as you weren’t caught. Meeting your maker was certainly something you had pushed far down the road, not intending to think about it if you didn’t have to.

Just as you finished with your gun, you heard a rock skitter down the path at your back and whipped around, glad once more for the daylight. The path rounded the corner behind you, so if anyone was around the bend, you wouldn’t be able to see them. You moved silently, flattening against the canyon wall at your back and moving steadily up the path, gun raised. You didn’t know how anyone could have gotten past the lines you had tied across the path farther up, especially not without alerting you. You were beginning to think this was your paranoia at work and that some snake or lizard waited just around the corner when you stepped around it, preparing to shoot.

You brought the gun away from your shoulder when you saw what lay in the path: absolutely nothing. No animal, no bounty hunter, nothing. How the rocks could suddenly start tumbling down the path on their own, you didn’t know. But you were suspicious enough to find out. You raised your gun again and made for your camp when you heard the quiet crunch of rocks underfoot. It could have been your horse shifting its weight, but you weren’t taking any chances. You rounded the corner again and felt your heart skip a beat when your gaze landed on a man standing just behind your horse, patting its neck like it was his own.

“Don’t touch the horse or I kill you where you stand.”

“You would have done that already,” he quipped. “If you could.” You noted he stayed standing just behind your horse, his legs behind its legs, his head behind its neck. Unless you wanted to kill your own horse, you didn’t have a proper shot. Not to mention shooting a gun this close may startle the animal enough for it to get in the way. You cursed yourself for letting this happen and held your gun steady.

“How’d you get up here?”

He chuckled, continuing to pat your horse fondly. It leaned into his touch, unaware of the danger. “Those lines you got drawn across the way reflect the sunlight. May want to reconsider where to put them during the day.”

You narrowed your eyes at his arrogance but pushed on. “Then how’d you get around me?”

“Climbed.” You hated the simple answer, especially for not thinking of it. A man of his height could easily catch the lip of the canyon just above your heads and pull himself up. He had probably watched you walk up the path just as he walked down it one level higher.

“Clever.” It was all you would give him. He was brave for coming here in the day, and it had paid off, as he had avoided your traps. But beyond shooting you where you stood, he didn’t have a way to catch you alive. You would put a bullet in him before it got to that.

“Was that you on the canyon floor?” you asked, stalling. You needed a better plan than what was unfolding now. The only problem was that he got more time to plan too, learning your nerve all the while.

“Yep. Backtracked when I realized you had the high ground.”

“How? You never saw me.”

“Saw the smoke.” He looked at you, one eye barely visible from behind your horse. And damn him for that temptation because your finger was itching to pull the trigger, but you still couldn’t guarantee your horse’s safety. “A word of advice. I know most bounty hunters are too stupid to go after their targets in the daylight, but it has its advantages. Learn to work against them.”

You felt anger rise in your belly at his patronizing tone, like he wasn’t about to try to capture you and have you hanged. “Yeah, well some have tried. They’re all dead.”

“Not all of them,” he said lowly, holding your gaze as he hid like the coward he was. You noticed the pair of guns climbing up his back into the sunlight. A fat load of good they would do him strapped to him. It was the likely sidearm you couldn’t see that worried you. But if he hadn’t shot you yet, he wouldn’t. He wanted you alive, and he must not be a good enough shot to try to disable you. You considered running for the path at your back and killing him when he pursued. In fact, that was looking like your best option when he spoke again. “Don’t think about bolting or I’ll shoot. Just come quietly. Don’t nobody need to get hurt.”

You adjusted your aim, wondering how your horse would react if you shot this man’s hat off his head to prove a point. For the brim of it was nearly all you could see of him, sticking out past the shining coat of your mount. “I’m still debating putting a bullet in you. The horse’ll live.”

“And if you kill it? For pride?”

“Not for pride. For survival. And if I did, I would just go find yours. I’m sure it’s around here somewhere.” That gave you an idea.

On a whim and before he could decipher your plan, you fired near enough but not at him, your gun louder than a cannon in the close quarters and with the resounding echo bounding off the canyon walls. Your horse reared in fear, but instead of lining up a shot on the now coverless man, you were already long gone, rounding the corner as fast as your feet would carry you. You heard him curse behind you and start in hot pursuit.

You ran faster than you ever had and followed the path upward, spotting a lone horse standing up the way. You ducked under the wire you’d planted, careful not to graze it, and turned when you got far enough away. You had spun around just in time to crouch as the man shot straight at your head. Taking you alive didn’t seem to matter anymore, and your aim suddenly became crucial as you raised your gun toward the wire he was nearing and fired right back. He was close enough for you to see his eyes widen in fear when he realized your plan. It was too late for him to do anything about it—the familiar snap of wire resounded, your bullet ripping straight through it. The man leapt backward as your rigged dynamite blew, the explosion louder than anything yet. You prayed your horse was okay but didn’t turn back to see the damage, too busy running for the man’s spooked mount. It was staying in place but only just, prancing as if its tether to this world was nearing its end. You jumped on its back and dug in your spurs hard, only looking back when you were well on your way. You saw enough dust rising to mean you had probably taken out the entire canyon path. You let out a laugh in triumph as you spurred the horse harder and let it fly.

~

Arthur was madder than a hornet and twice as vengeful when he finally got the horse calm enough to mount it. He spurred it hard, rounding the now dangerously narrow path out of the canyon, shooting through the dust clouds still forming. He couldn’t see where you’d gone, partially because of the dust in his eyes and partially because his head was still spinning from a blow to the skull. He knew the warm dampness at his temple was blood but ceased to care as he pursued you, angry with himself for getting close enough to that wire to let it blow him up along with the canyon. At least the horse was unscathed, and it was a good one besides—fast and sure-footed. When he topped the hill, he saw a speck in the distance racing toward the ranch he had passed on the way in. If its unbridled speed was any indication, it was his horse. And he owed the woman atop it a damn killing.

Arthur was at the ranch in no time, searching it up and down for signs of you. He didn’t spot his horse until he reached the other side of town, seeing its familiar coat flash in the sunlight as his mood soured further—it had no rider. He demanded the person nearest to explain what had happened. It was a boy worried sick about his new horse that had just been stolen.

“Was it a woman?” Arthur demanded as he dismounted, preferring his own horse.

“Yes, but…well, she was dressed funny.”

“What color’s the horse?”

“A bay, sir. Are you gonna bring it back?”

Arthur was already riding away when the boy finished his question. He hit the path and flew, pushing his horse hard. Once he had a better vantage, he spotted you. And what a sight you made as he felt the satisfaction of victory overcome him, knowing he would have you captured soon enough. For the horse you had taken liberty to must have been green—it was bucking higher than any he had seen before, snapping in half in its attempt to get you off its back. He had to hand it to you though, you were sticking to its back like you had grown straight out of it when he finally caught up to you. He got his lasso out and was setting his sights on you when you noticed him.

“Forward, damn it!” you yelled at the animal. Then, “Leave me alone you bastard! Can’t you see I’m busy?”

Arthur laughed at this. If it weren’t for the stunt you had pulled in the canyon, he may have even admitted he liked your daring.

He began swinging the lasso above his head, readying it with a big enough loop to go over your shoulders. He would need your arms trapped with no chance of reaching the gun at your hip. When the horse came down again, as stationary as it would ever be, he threw the rope. It went straight over your head. As the horse bucked, Arthur pulled hard, separating you from the animal with enough force that you wouldn’t fall underneath it and be trampled. The horse continued its bucking but moved away, far enough for Arthur to dismount and run to you. He flipped you over, noting your joining with the ground had knocked the breath out of you. Good. It was easier to work when his target wasn’t throwing insults left and right.

You let out a strangled cough, looking over to the horse still bucking like mad. Arthur smiled and continued his work, tying your hands tight behind your back. “You know, I reckon you nearly had that horse broke.”

You didn’t respond, still heaving in breaths. Arthur moved on to your feet, tying them just as tight.

“Shouldn’t have switched. You’d taken mine and you’d be on your way to freedom by now.”

“Screw you,” you said on an outward breath, falling into a fit of coughing after you managed the words.

He smirked and double checked his work before taking your gun from your hip and your rifle from your side—it had fallen away from you when you came off the horse. When he had both secured, he lifted you, making you grunt when he slung you over his shoulder. “You’re coming with me. Got a sheriff in Blackwater who wants to meet you.” When you didn’t respond to the jab, he lowered his tone. “And if you ever try to pull another stunt like the one in the canyon, you’re a dead woman. Mark my words.” There was still no response when he lifted you onto the back of his horse. He sighed in annoyance and made sure you still had a pulse. You did—your silence was just formed from spite, it seemed. He’d certainly seen it before, though he couldn’t say he expected it from you. All he knew of you so far was the fight you had in you, and if he had his guess, he would have thought you’d be kicking and screaming for your freedom by now. But maybe he was wrong. Or maybe you were planning something worse and he would have to kill you after all.

Arthur got on his horse, proud of his work despite the brief interruption in his pursuit. Leaving the bucking horse to tire itself out, he made way for Blackwater, thinking if he made good enough time, he’d get there by nightfall. That boy could get his own horse as far as he was concerned, especially since it was only down the road a ways. Arthur couldn’t risk letting you escape again besides.

It was only when he had gotten about an hour down the path and nearly into West Elizabeth that you spoke. “You leave my horse back at that ranch?”

Arthur had been rather enjoying the silence and serenity of the ride and let his annoyance be known. “Yes. And don’t start. I don’t wanna hear it.”

After a beat, in a tone more statement than question, you said, “You’re taking me to Blackwater?”

“No, I’m just in the habit of tying folk to the back of my horse for a joy ride. Of course I’m taking you to Blackwater. What the hell you think this is?”

You mumbled something Arthur couldn’t decipher, though your tone was bitter enough for him to take a good guess.

“Excuse me?” Arthur turned to look at you, wanting you to say it to his face.

You met his eye, and he saw the defiance in your gaze fade as soon as you saw the dried blood in his hairline. You barked a laugh instead. “That canyon rock get you good? That why you’re in such a pitiful temper?”

“Watch your mouth,” he snapped. “I can still bring you in dead you know, and dead’s a whole hell of a lot easier on me.”

“You won’t,” you shot back. “You want all that money for yourself. Greedy bastard.”

“You keep it up and I won’t give a damn either way.”

“Yeah you will,” you mumbled, nearly low enough for him not to hear. But he did hear, and he was growing tired of listening to you—tired of being in your presence. The money would feel much better in his possession than you would. With that thought and without another word, Arthur kicked his horse up into a lope, determined to get you off his hands as soon as possible. It only took two more insults of yours for him to knock you out cold in the meantime.

After long enough that his back was sore and his horse was sweating, Arthur watched the town of Blackwater come into view. It was already dark but hadn’t been for long. That was no matter—the sheriff would be right pleased with himself to have you in his jail cell no matter the hour. So, with a long breath born of fatigue, Arthur pointed his horse toward town.

He had barely crossed into Blackwater when he heard an almighty commotion from a nearby bush, the sound so sudden his horse jerked away from it. He looked behind him and found you gone. Arthur roared his anger and swung down with gun in hand, gaining on the bush when he saw you leap out the other side of it, hopping along with your feet still tied together. He would have laughed if he weren’t so angry, the sight downright ridiculous. He holstered his gun and retrieved his lasso once more, letting you make it a ways before he roped you just for the sake of crushing your hope further. As soon as the rope fell over you, you hit the ground like you had before, grunting in pain when your back met the dirt.

“What exactly was your plan?” Arthur said with amusement as he gathered the rope’s slack and stood over you.

You met his eyes with a hatred so deep he changed course.

“Don’t go looking at me like that. You made your bed, and now you’re gonna lie in it. Ain’t my fault it happened this way.”

“I thought you said you’d kill me. Or was that all talk?” you snapped. He understood then. You’d been escaping in the hopes that he’d shoot you dead then and there.

“What, are you scared of a little law? Of a noose around your neck? How is me killing you now any different?”

“It ain’t about-” You stopped and clamped your mouth shut tight in defiance. Not understanding this, Arthur ignored it and picked you up once more, throwing you over his shoulder.

“I’m walking you in this time. No funny business or your head’ll meet the back end of my gun.”

“I’m staring at the back end of something else right now and contemplating ending it all myself.”

“Very funny. Now shut it. That’s the last warning I’m giving you.”

You stayed mercifully quiet as Arthur carried you all the way to the Sheriff’s, his horse following dutifully behind. He somewhat expected the same deputy from before to be there, shocked that he had been successful. In fact, he was expecting something of a hero’s welcome but was met instead by a dark, quiet jailhouse. He looked around, dropping you on the ground but not leaving your side. He wasn’t foolish enough to let someone else steal the prize he had nearly lost his head to capture.

“Sheriff’s gone,” came a voice from Arthur’s right. He looked over to see a man leaning against the building, cigarette burning lowly in the darkness.

“Where’d he go?”

“He and his whole outfit’s been tasked with transporting them Portriss Brothers up north. Won’t be back for five days, he said. Would be longer, but he don’t trust this town to remain civil.” The man chuckled. “I don’t blame him. It only takes a minute for this whole place to turn to hell, no matter how civilized folk claim to be.”

Arthur ran a hand down his face. It was hard enough to keep you tied up for an evening. Five days was another story.

“Who you got there?” the man asked.

Arthur looked down at you, debating whether or not to tell him who you were. It was likely someone would try to steal you off him if he did.

“Girl I caught stealing horses,” he murmured, turning toward the direction of camp and wondering whether he should take you there.

He heard a laugh at his feet and looked to you, seeing the snide smile on your face and realizing what it was for. He reached for his gun to give you a quick blow to the head, but before he could, you beat him to the chase. “Name’s Y/N Y/L/N, fella.”

“The one whose posters have been up for months now?” the man responded, an excitement in his voice Arthur didn’t care for.

“That’s the one,” you answered. Arthur looked down and met your eye, deciding not to use his sidearm. He brought his boot down on your ribs instead. Hard. At contact, you let out a loud grunt of pain and rolled onto your side, your teeth gritted.

The man spoke again, his excitement making his voice louder and louder. “She’s worth what, a thousand or so?”

Arthur took a long breath. The goddamn things he got himself into. He pointed his gun at the stranger. “Keep your voice down and don’t tell nobody about this. Or I will find you, and I will kill you. Is that clear?”

The man threw his hands up. “I didn’t mean nothing by it. Honest.”

“Get going,” Arthur threatened, not flinching in his hold on the gun.

The man was smart enough to round the corner without another word. Arthur took in his surroundings, making sure no one else was around to hear just who he had tied at his feet. He didn’t see a soul and quickly holstered his gun before picking you up.

“Bastard,” you gritted out. He may have broken a rib or two with that kick if your pain was any indication.

“You deserved it,” he shot back. He threw you over his horse once more and mounted, deciding camp would have to do for the few days the law was gone. “I’m taking you with me until the sheriff gets back.”

“How kind,” you spat. Arthur thought he could hear a smile in your voice despite the venom in those words. It made him angry, and he decided then and there these five days would be hell for you. There would be no chances for escape, no getting a rise out of gang members. No, you would be spending five days tied to a tree with nothing but your guilty conscience as company. It wouldn’t be long until you were begging him for food and water besides, and he fully intended to use that to his advantage.

Arthur began forming a plan as he got closer to camp, wondering how long it would take to get you to crack. He was particularly skilled in doing so, and if he was lucky, he would be successful in fewer days than it took for those lawmen to make it back. If he was really lucky, he would have complete silence out of you in no time. Arthur grinned at the thought as he rode on, the night pushing in on all sides.

_________

Part two is here.

#arthur morgan #arthur morgan x reader #arthur morgan x female reader #rdr2 arthur morgan #rdr2 fanfic #rdr2 #fanfic #writing

[fl3shm4id3n]

Can I ask for a aunoung x gentle reader who is quite weaver , he has always had a crush on her and to spend more time with her he tries to weave but since he’s not that good she shows him how, and just a lot of fluff 💞

ₘy Dᵣₑₐₘ Gᵢᵣₗ

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: 𝐀𝐨'𝐧𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠.

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ᴀᴏ'ɴᴜɴɢ x ɢᴇɴᴛʟᴇ! ꜰᴇᴍ! ᴍᴇᴛᴋᴀʏɪɴᴀ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

Tw: nothing bad, just, jealousy, fluff and a bit of teasing.

A/N: Hope you didn't mind me making reader one of Roxto's sister, just love the idea that Roxto is from an all girl family.

P.s. Remember to stay hydrated and to treat yourselves, you guys deserve it. :)

Masterlist

At a young age Ao'nung and his friends had already been talking about an Ideal mate. He didn't really think much of it since at the moment he didn't care about mates. His main goal was to be a great leader just like his father, that changed when he met you. You were Roxto's younger sister, just like your brother you were kind hearted, but also gentle.

You'd hang around your brother a lot, since he was always spotted with Ao'nung and Tsireya you'd stick around with them. You and Tsireya got along right away, Ao'nung would be shy around you. Even though you were both acquainted, he'd freeze up when you'd be around. When Roxto noticed his friend's shyness around you, he'd often tease to Ao'nung that he liked you. He'd always deny it, but deep down he was already growing feelings for you.

Ao'nung was very observant, he's always catch you weaving something, whether it was a fishing net, a basket, waist beads, a new top for one of your sister's or Tsireya. You were a good weaver thanks to the amount of practice you had. The day you had weaved him a necklace, he knew that he had fully fallen for you, since then on, he had promised himself to court you when you were both of age.

Years had gone on, and you were both already considered of age. While he was busy training for his rite to passage, you continued to weave. You had got better at your work thanks to the years. Everyone had seemed to love your work, you'd always get compliments on your weaving, some had ever asked if you could make them something. Being the kind person that you were, you'd always do so, you loved making things for others. But just like you had grown, so have others. Boys had began to grow an interest in you. Ao'nung would notice how everyday boys would go to you and complement your weaving, even ask you if you could make them something. Ao'nung was not liking it one bit.

That afternoon Ao'nung had returned from hunting with Roxto on the canoe. They had manage to get big fish that were hard to catch. They were unloading the boat. Ao'nung saw how you were at the beach, collecting things for your next work, but you were not alone. Nash'vi was with you, holding one of the baskets you had made, he was helping you while also keeping you company.

"You know if you can court her now right? No one had yet to court y/n" Roxto got his friend's attention by this. "Really?" Ao'nung asked, wanting to be sure that the water from his ears didn't effect his hearing. "Yeah, unless you want Nash'vi or Koro to court my sister, they have a huge interest in her too." Roxto explained while Ao'nung was now fuming by this information. The betrayal, his own friends wanting to court the girl of his dreams. "She likes waist beads" Roxto commented, making Ao'nung turn to him in confusion. "Y/n likes waist beads, if you wanted to know. Don't worry, no one knows except for you. Mister Observant" He teased his friend, who was still shooting daggers at Nash'vi who was making you laugh.

Later that day Ao'nung went to look for the prettiest pearls he could find, along with other small shells and pretty crystals. Once he had collected enough material, he got to work. He was very focused on making a waist bead for you, even if he had to stay up all night he was not going to stop until he made the perfect waist bead, for you.

He spent hours and hours trying to place the beads together, but the string would just burst, making him pick up the beads and pearls that rolled on the Marui floor. He was alone since his parents and Tsireya had things to do, he'd get frustrated when he'd have to start again, specially since he'd forget the pattern.

He was focused on the new pattern that he didn't see you approaching the Marui pod. "Ao'nung?" when he heard your sweet voice, he looked up from his work, seen you standing their with a smile planted on your pretty face. Seen you always made his days much easier, but this time he felt his nerves acting up, since he was making something for you, but you were here.

"Is Tsireya here? I brought her the headpiece that she asked." You said sweetly, holding up the shell with a string of pretty beads. This shell was one a Tsahik in training's would wear, Tsireya and Ronal had asked you if you could come up with something for Tsireya since she was in her training period. "No, she's with my mother and father." He explained, still holding his work in his hands. "Oh okay" you stopped and saw the beads on the Marui floor and some broken string.

"What are you making?" you asked, Eywa were you a curious creature. "I'm making a waist bead for.. for... Tsireya!" he blurted out, feeling his face heat up. You only smiled and sat in front of him. "Mind if I help you?" you asked, he looked into your sweet eyes and nodded slowly. You smiled and looked at the materials he had. "You have really pretty stuff, if you still have some can I borrow some? I'll get you more I promise." You said, Ao'nung could never say no to you. "Of course, you don't have to pay them back, you can just keep them." He said, feeling his face heat up even more.

You got a hold of a string and some beads, you began to show him how to come up with a pattern and how to properly tie the string tightly in order for the beads to not go everywhere. He paid close attention to your instructions, but also he'd get distracted your gentle voice and how close you'd get to him, to show him your work, to see if he was following your steps.

After a while of weaving, you were finished with yours and so was Ao'nung. He had made a very pretty one with a combination of crystal like beads, some wooden ones and a few sea shells. "Wow Ao'nung that one's pretty! I'm sure Tsireya will love it!" you commented, loving his work. If he wasn't such a shy fool, he'd tell you that it was for you, but he couldn't find the woods to tell you that the waist beads were for you. "I'm sure she will." That was all he said, dammit! He thought. "It's getting late, I have to head home, but can you give this to Tsireya?" you asked, handing over the headpiece to him. In which he took, making his fingers touch your soft palms. "Of course" he said with a shy smile, seen your smile widen. "Thank you Ao'nung, I'll see you tomorrow" you said then left the Marui, heading back home.

Ao'nung watched you leave, he felt as if you took his heart with you. "Idiot!" he smacked himself on the forehead. "Why didn't you just give it to her!" he groaned, mad at himself. He sigh in defeat, but he couldn't help but smile, even if it was just a few hours, he got to spend some time with you, alone with out his sister and your brother.

#ao'nung x reader #ao'nung x fem reader #ao'nung x metkayina reader #ao'nung x y/n #ao'nung x you #ao'nung fluff #ao'nung request #ao'nung fic #avatar x reader #atwow x reader #avatar fics #atwow fics #avatar requests #atwow requests #metkayina reader #metkayina y/n #female reader #female y/n #aphrodite's writing

[where-dreamers-go]

“New Study Partner” Dick Grayson x Reader

(A/N: Once again, I was writing an imagine of 1960s Dick Grayson/Robin, but it got out of hand. Imagine: Mrs. Cooper and your guardian electing you to be Dick Grayson’s study partner. Warnings: I wrote puns. Word Count: 470 words)

~~~

It didn’t take a detective to see that Dick Grayson and Mister Wayne were uncomfortable with the new arrangement. The uncomfortable and questioning glances the two exchanged weren’t hidden from you. Even if it was intended.

Dick was a studious student. Practically everyone in school knew that’s how he spent his free time.

He was the ward of Bruce Wayne for crying out loud.

Honestly, you preferred studying alone. You had your studying style and you would rather finish your homework than stand awkwardly in the Wayne Manor while your guardian and Mrs. Cooper gushed about shared student achievements.

If you could evaporate into thin air, you would. Or run back home.

Standing quietly, you did your utmost best to mask your feelings. The uneasiness that endured after the car ride there was a mixture of anxiety in all the ways this could backfire, and the frustration of not having a choice in the matter.

No hard or negative feelings towards Dick Grayson, of course. He was great. Super positive, not into drama, and a good head on his shoulders. He was among the very few people you’d trust in a group project.

Seeing each other outside of school was weird.

“Well,” Mister Wayne took a step forward and gained everyone’s attention. “Sorry to interrupt, but if we want Dick and (Y/N) to keep up their studies, we best let them get started.”

“Oh. You’re right, Bruce.” Mrs. Cooper said and placed a hand over her cheek. “We got carried away.”

“That’s quite alright. Now…if I remember correctly, Aunt Harriet, they have a similar passion for gardening.”

Your guardian and Mrs. Cooper both gasped in delight. Chatting amongst themselves, the adults left the sitting room.

After a moment, you rose your hand in a small wave. “Hi.”

Dick smiled. “Guess we can sit now.” He made his way over to the couch and grabbed a textbook off of the coffee table. “Did you start on the Algebra assignment yet?”

“Uh.” You placed your bag down by the couch. “I didn’t have a chance.”

Blue eyes darted to you at your forced humor.

Finally sitting down, you explained in short, “I was told about the plan for us to study, maybe…twenty minutes ago.”

“Golly.” Dick exclaimed. “You weren’t told either?” The textbook was waved in the air in a wide gesture. “Well, I mean, Aunt Harriet had meant to tell me yesterday, but…Bruce and I were—.” He lowered the Algebra textbook to his lap. “We went fishing.”

Despite yourself, you smiled. Relieved all at once.

“Well then. Since we’re in the same boat.” You pulled out your homework essentials. “I say we take the bait and catch up on Algebra before sinking into science.”

“Wow.”

“Sea what I did there?”

“Maybe we should start with science first.”

~~~

(If you love my writings and want to support me, I have a Ko-Fi where you can buy me a coffee. I would be eternally grateful. coffee

Best wishes and happy reading.)

~~~~~

DreamerDragon Tags: @cubedtriangle

DC Tags: @

**Let me know if you would like to be tagged in insert readers, either through replies, ask, or message.**

#dick grayson x reader #dick grayson #60s robin #Dick Grayson imagines #imagines #dc imagine #where dreamers go #batman tv series

[madd-devil]

Forget me Not

This is the part 2 of this first imagine :3 I hope you will all like it! Please tell me if you did!

@retrointhenow @athenalive

Summary: As people celebrates the return of Henry, you happen to catch a familiar face amongst the crowd but who is he?

Living with Rumpletilskin hasn't been easy on you.

First of all, he was, most of the time, speaking in ridiculous riddles and you never really understood him when he spoke. Second of all, he was a mean one. You had seen him killing someone for almost nothing, because he felt like it or wanted to show off. And finally, he always included you in his plans. That’s how you found yourself in an unknown town, with unknown people and with unknown features. People never called you by your real name but used one that never was yours. In this life, you weren’t (Y/N) the former pirate turned house slave for Rumpletilksin but Anne Gold, the adopted daughter of the town’s pawn shop owner.

After a blond woman named Emma came into town, you had suddenly regained your memories from being a maid or rather castle keeper of the Dark One. He seemed to also gain his back and immediately went back to “work” as he called it. It was strange, to pretend not to remember anything. It also seemed you were tied directly to his mind or spirit or magic, that could explain why you also remembered your life before that curse. Of course, you were forbidden from speaking about this to anybody, he made sure to threaten you very well and you also didn’t want to be locked up in the creepy psych ward of Storybrooke’s hospital.

Of course, it never was easy. Emma seemed to have taken an interest or liking to you and always walked by the shop when “mister Gold” was not present to talk with you. She even invited to a girl’s night with Mary Margaret aka Snow White and her mother if you had followed what Rumpletilskin explained to you. You knew you couldn’t agree to join them so you had to decline, and surprisingly it made you sad. Emma didn’t have any ill intentions toward you but she seemed comprehensive and gave you her personal number.

Thanks to Emma and her son Henry, (who was also the adopted son of the mayor… The whole family tree gave you a headache!), everyone now had regained their memories. Moving around the city was no longer easy: everyone saw you as the partner in crime of the Dark One. True, you had killed some people for him and did some crimes but to your defense, you couldn’t just not obey him. He had insisted a few times he could do whatever he wanted to you and could use his magic to make you his puppet. You preferred to use whatever free will you got instead of becoming more of a mindless slave. Also, Rumpletilskin was getting infuriated with that princess Belle, who also became his maid in their previous lives. Seeing them together made you gag so now he was falling more and more for her, you had a lot of free time.

Everyone celebrated when Hook’s ship, the Jolly Roger, appeared and accosted on the port. With Belle and Ruby the werewolf, you approached the giant boat, feeling uneasy. You didn’t know what could happen with the pirate captain, Hook. If your memory was well, he had thrown you out, in the face of danger. You had avoided him all the time he was in Storybrooke so you hoped the reunion will be quick. You wanted to go home.

Watching as everyone left the boat, which was a considerable amount of people, you caught a familiar face in the crowd. It was odd. Ruby seemed to sense your interest in that certain person and smirked.

“Already have a crush? I didn’t know you were the type.”

“No, I… I saw him before. I know him.” You stuttered out as you followed him with your eyes.

You knew him. It was the young man from your dreams. You had never attempted to draw him, but you had a clear image on how he looked and that tall boy looked exactly the same as he did. Maybe… Maybe you both indeed knew each other before your life as a pirate?

“What do you mean, you know him?” Ruby asked, confused at your statement.

“I have to speak to him, can you please keep the others at bay?” You begged her, knowing she won’t refuse it. She smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”

You jogged up to the young man who stood apart from the crowd. He looked quite angry at his predicament and was judging everyone his eyes wandered by. You hoped he would talk to you, he did seem not enjoying what was happening. However, his eyes noticed you and you saw some kind of sparkles in them, he was lighting up at your mere repsence. You didn’t udnerstand why but it meant you two definitely knew each other.

“(Y/N)! I thought I lost you forever.” He spoke first, his hands reaching for you but you stepped back, a bit worried. How did he know your name? Why did he sound concerned and happy? “Is something wrong? I mean, I know I told you were allowed to forget me but-”

“I am sorry I have no idea what you are talking about. How do you know my name?”

“You… You don’t remember?” He stuttered out, visibly horrified, his eyes wide opened. You tried to understand his reaction but you couldn't. "Are you… are you joking? After everything we went through?"

"I'm really sorry, I don't even know your name."

"It's Felix. But I thought-"

"Stay away from her, you dirty flea-ridden dog!" Rumpletilskin roughly pushed the lost boy, Felix, out of the way and he glared at him. "Don't torment her."

"I am not her tormentor! What did you do to her?! What happened to the deal?"

Wait, what deal?" You then questioned Rumpletilskin but you got no reply. Turning to Felix, you noticed how angry and furious he looked, reaching for something inside his sleeves. Your eyes widened: it was a dagger. What was he going to do?

"You fucking liar!"

"You didn’t know what you signed for, dearie." The Dark One replied with a condescending tone. "I wouldn't expect a lost boy to know how to read. No need to jam that thing into me, it won't work."

You were completely ignored by the two. The tension was running high and the others quickly ran over after they heard the screaming and the arguing. Felix was soon taken away and he trashed as he dragged, yelling to you he was going to explain himself.

“So… you know me, right?” You asked, hoping he wasn’t scared to tell you the eventual truth. Or were you scared of the truth yourself? “From before?”

“ I know you, and pretty well if you ask me.” He replied with a cheeky smile, it was so odd to see him that calm and… joyous. He approached the jail’s bars and seemed to regret it was separating both of you. You were still wary of him, especially after what Rumpletilskin told you the night before. “You have nothing to fear from me.” Oh, so he noticed how frightened you seemed.

“He said you tried to use me against Hook.”

“Ah, so he told you this? Well, actually, you were the one trying to use me to help Hook. It didn’t end very well.” He recalled with a soft hum. He looked angrier at Hook and the Dark One. “ You fell in love with me.” He eventually admitted, eying your reaction.

“I did? So fast?” You said, with almost disgust.

“I am glad you have the same reaction as before about that.” He laughed at your reaction before telling you his side of the story: you trying to use him, warning him against the pirates that were getting ready to attack the lost boy’s camp, the fight, you getting locked up into the trapdoor and him rescuing you… In a way, it made sense. Your memories were still hazy but somehow, you found yourself trusting and believing Felix more than the Dark One. His story made more sense, but then why couldn’t you remember?

“I am sorry.”

“Why are you? Nothing is your fault. It’s rather mine.” The blond young man sighed and sat on the metal and uncomfortable bed. “ I was so focused on your safety that I completely forgot or foolishly believed the Dark One would not harm you. I mean, he didn’t, but he blocked your memories and faked some. It’s… horrible.”

“ I would like to be the person you describe.” Your eyes met his and for a moment, you found yourself thinking about Neverland and how beautiful and dangerous it was… Did that mean you were recovering your memories? “ They say True Love Kiss can break any curse, perhaps it could break Rumple’s hold on me? I am linked to him.”

“You want me to kiss you?” He shyly asked, his cheeks a little red. It was cute.

“ Well… you did say we were very close and in love, haven’t we kissed yet?”

“ Erm… We did way more than kissing.” Oh. Now it was your time to blush. “ But it’s worth the try, if you are okay with this. I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Oddly enough, you were very comfortable with him. That boy had just showed up yesterday and you found yourself immediately drawn to him. That’s why you believed the lost boy than the rest. Approaching the bars, you fiddled with a magic key that took the form of any lock. Was it betrayal? You somewhat didn’t really care, what mattered was to discover the truth. The door opened without a sound, someone must have finally greased it.

He seemed very nervous to kiss you. He kept asking if you wanted to do this

“ I haven’t kissed anyone in years. I may be rusty. And how do you know this kiss will be a True Love’s one?”

“We will know, don’t worry.”

“I worry.”

You chuckled and decided to take the helm. Standing on your tiptoes, you watched as he hesitantly leant him and your lips met. However, nothing happened. But that didn’t stop you from pushing the taller boy against the wall and to continue kissing. You felt at your place in his arms, like he was your home and that you have been away for such a long time. And now, you were back.

Felix gently nudged you and you hugged him. He went tense for a little moment then hugged you back. He seemed relieved you were able to do physical things with him.

“What the heck is going on?!”

You yelped and broke away, to your dismay, from Felix. He didn’t say anything but instantly grew worried for his fate as an furious Emma walked toward you and yanked your arm.

“You, out!” You never thought she would be that angry at you and violent with you. She always seemed to be happy around you, and you had hoped to have a friend in her. Obviously, when it came to villains except the ones she spent time with, she seemed alright but when it came to the others…

“We weren’t doing anything bad.” You spat, frustrated at her anger. Felix was not a threat. He didn’t do anything wrong, and he certainly was not a villain like Regina or Rumpletilskin were.

“ We need to have a talk together.” The woman groaned and closed the door with a frown on her face. “Right now!”

“I will see you later, I promise!” You called out to the lost boy who just nodded, eying Emma with an equally furious glare.

Emma was mad at you for kissing him. She wouldn’t even let you explain yourself as she drove her awful car back to the pawnshop. But you didn’t want to enter the shop. You wanted to go back to Felix and his warm skin. Finally, you snapped and forced Emma to stay in the car. She was your friend, she was supposed to understand your actions, and while she may not support it, you just wanted to tell her how you felt.

“ I feel like he is the only one who isn’t lying to me. I just wanted to break away from everything and everyone. Rumple has been lying and using me, Hook did too. I just… Felix makes me feel normal and like I don’t have to walk on eggs all the time.” You blurted out as she was about to open her car’s door.

“What do you mean? Rumple told us-”

“He says a lot of things but not the truth.” You hissed, and glared at the door from the shop. You wished to set it on fire.

“Why did you kiss him?”

“ I wanted to see if a True Love kiss would break me from my link with Rumpletilskin.” You answered honestly and she seemed to soften at the mention. “ I just want to be normal. To be the old me.”

Emma stayed quiet. You stared nervously at her and then looked down at your knees. What if she didn’t believe you? What if she found your ideas silly?

“Fine.” She groaned and sighed, looking defeated.

“Fine what?”

“ I will not let you down, believe it or not, I care about you.” Emma started her car again and left the small parking lot. You smiled brightly as you recognized the road that led to Storybrooke’s police station. “ Let’s get your lost boy prince out and figure out what we can do to recover your memories.”

To prevent any blood feud, she decided to let Felix stay in the police station. It was still not confortable for your stands for him but you couldn’t possibly let him inside your home or Emma’s. You were sitting on a spinning chair and Felix on a desk, eying the chair with a confused look. He seemed at loss for words about it. Emma was pacing in front of you, trying to understand what Felix had told her.

“ Let me get this straight again: you and her were together, she betrayed Hook, she ran away and you made a deal with the Dark One.” She then looked at you and pointed her finger at you. “But you got your memories falsified and erased but you dreamt of your old life. So, now you are trying to find a way to break your link with Rumple.”

“ You got everything right. » Felix chimed in, swinging his legs back and forth. « And True Love’s kiss didn’t help.”

“Maybe we need to destroy the deal or… or force Rumpletilskin to let you go.”

“He will refuse. I know it.” You said, thinking about it. If you were honest, you were absolutely terrified of him. He may look like a sweet limping grandpa but… deep down he was very scary and frightening. All the events you had witnessed with him had led to the conclusion that he was overprotective and somewhat of a psychopath. He will try to kill or hurt Felix without any doubt. “Even with puppy eyes.”

“Then what do we do?” Felix groaned, his tone showing how discouraged he was. “It feels hopeless.”

“ Let’s not lose hope yet. There is always a solution.” Emma tried to cheer both of you up but it didn’t really work. It felt like she wasn’t believing it as well. “ So, Felix, are you okay staying here for the night? I can make the place more comfortable. We will find a housing solution tomorrow. And no, you can’t stay.” She stared at you with a small smile. “You have to dine at your house.”

“It’s not fair.” You muttered under your breath as Emma chuckled.

“Nothing is fair in life, kid.”

Dinner at your household was… chaotic. Usually, you wouldn’t even eat with them, but for the evening, you had been forced to do so. Neal or Baelfire (you never knew which name to use) was at the table, enjoying Belle’s cooking. For once, Rumpletilskin looked happy or was it just a facade? You kept thinking about everything that happened earlier that day: meeting Felix again had been the happiest and the most confused moment of your life. You were sad you couldn’t remember anything about the past and you secretly hoped to regain your memories quickly so you could run away with the lost boy. After all, wasn’t it your first wish at the time?

As you were getting distracted by your thoughts, you were soon forced to intereact with Neal and the others, to your dismay. You weren’t a part of the family, so why did they insist on speaking to you? You groaned some answers out as Belle talked to you and then, Neal went on to ask a question:

“So… How did you come to my father’s service?”

“He tricked my lover into making me his errand girl.” You answered, not even thinking twice about calling Felix your lover, which was nothing but the truth. But you secretly enjoyed the Dark One’s furious face at the mention of the story. “And he erased some of my memories.”

“You can do better than this low life snake.” The older man stated as he glared at you, which you did too. Belle tried to calm things down but it was not working. “Maybe I should have brought you back to Hook.”

“What’s wrong with Felix? Not as evil as you are?”

“Okay, erm, Belle, can I take another slice? This pie is delicious.” Neal tried to change the topic but it was too late: you were in the middle of jousting with the Dark One, and you didn’t like being interrupted.

“He is my father’s second in command, of course I was dying to hurt him. You are just collateral damage. Besides, I treated you well, didn’t I?!” Rumpletilskin roared, the room shaking a bit.

“You are a monster! That’s what you are!” You screamed back, standing up so fast and abruptly that your chair fell to the ground. You couldn’t help but feel repulsed by him and you couldn’t stand being in the same room as the deal maker. “No wonder everyone hates you, and should, you even abandoned your son! You are just like your father!”

It took all his might to not blow you up, you were certain of this. Storming out of the dining room, you stumbled into the shop and miraculously found a strange ruby which was beating inside a glass cage on a table, in a dark and dusty. Something was attracting you to the jewel and you didn’t hear all the commotion in the other room. As you realized the Dark One was shouting and was after you, you knocked the glass cage out (and it broke as soon as it touched the ground) and grasped the ruby.

You ran away in the dark of the night without even a jacket on. Groaning and warming your hands by rubbing them together, you pushed the door of your destination: Storybrooke’s police station. At this hour, no one was here, except for Felix. You hoped to not wake him up as you arrived. Taking out the ruby from your pocket, you inspected it closer: it reminded you of a little heart. Kind of cute, you thought. It was pulsing between your fingers as you looked at it. It truly was beautiful.

“Who’s there?” Someone called from inside the station.

“It’s me.” You said simply as you approached. “Can I turn the light on?” Felix agreed and he winced when the lights went on. He shielded his eyes for a little bit as you made your way toward him. “I found something.”

“Shouldn't you be with your family?” He questioned, concern in his voice. He truly looked like he was worried about you. You weren’t used to it but it felt nice to have someone who looked ready to walk through hell for you.

“They’re not my family!” You snapped and apologized for the outburst. You sat down at his level on the air mattress and extended your hand, with the ruby in your palm. “I couldn’t help but steal it.”

“It’s…” Felix started to speak but stopped as his eyes landed on the beautiful gem.

“Is something wrong?” You asked, worried. He looked frozen. He turned his attention to you and pointed to the jewel.

“Do you know what that is?”

“Yes, a ruby. I mean, a strange one, it is moving, like a heart. It’s probably magical, I stole it from the shop.” You replied honestly, not understanding why Felix was so worked up about this. He looked on the verge of crying.

“It is the piece of heart I gave to seal the deal with Rumpletilskin.” He revealed and softly and delicately took it between his fingers, inspecting it like you did. “He never used it.” He whispered, not believing it.

Watching Felix, you realized how much the second in command must have loved you. Making a deal with the Dark One was almost suicidal, not a lot of people could meet his incredible demands. But Felix did. He gave a piece of his heart, for you, for your safety. Romance was not dead, you joked internally. This was the greatest proof that he had cared deeply about you. You took his other hand and held it to your mouth, kissing his knuckles softly.

“He will kill you for taking it.” Felix suddenly seemed to realize you had stolen from the Dark One, but you didn’t care about him at all. Rumpletilskin could rot in hell. He deserved it.

“It’s yours. He should be the one dying.” You replied as you wondered how to place this little piece into Felix’s heart. You guessed it was not like a puzzle, and you couldn’t possibly sew it back to its place. Another mystery to solve. “We will find a solution.”

“Of course we will.”

You and Felix had bundled up on the air mattress. He had fallen fast asleep, snoring from time to time, but not very loud. You remembered how you had shared a room with someone once and they were snoring so loudly and badly that it made the walls shake and you ended up sleeping in the bathtub, not a very pleasant experience in your opinion. Laying there and looking at him, you wondered if you truly would regain your memories. You felt sad that you couldn’t remember your time with him. He was a sweet boy (at least toward you).

Someone was nudging you in the middle of a dream. Groaning, your eyes opened to a very concerned Emma. Felix was already sitting up in bed, his hair more tangled than ever. His eyes traveled to you and the older woman in the room. You rubbed your eyes and yawned. What time was it?

“What?”

“Rumple knows you are here and he wants to speak to you.”

“No. Tell him to go fuck himself.” You replied as you laid back onto the mattress. Felix was still silent, he must have felt he was not needed in the conversation.

“(Y/N)!” She sighed, exasperated. You understood why she looked so tired, especially of your behaviour, but she had to understand too: you had just learnt he manipulated you, fabricated and erased memories. It was not something you wanted to slide. He had done wrong again and again, this was his punishment. “Just do it. He is ready to… talk. To mend things. This is an unique opportunity.”

“I think you should do it.” Felix surprisingly told you and touched your hair softly. “Maybe you will get him to help with my heart.”

“What are you both talking about?”

“Nothing, don’t worry. I will go.” You didn’t want to leave Felix. What if Rumpletilskin wanted just to hurt you more? But he was right: he held the key to helping the second in command.

He was waiting outside, on a bench. Emma didn’t walk with you, she instead stayed at the entrance of the police station. The heart’s piece was in Felix’s hands and you trusted him more than anything. But why did you feel bad as you approached the older man? He looked a bit gloomy and desperate. He perked up when you arrived and stood up with the help of his cane.

“(Y/N).” He acknowledged with a nod. “I am happy you decided to come meet me. I wasn’t sure…”

“Get to the point.” You sternly interrupted and he sat back on the bench. You didn’t buy his sad puppy act. He did it with Belle when he messed up and she always forgave him, but it was not going to work with you.

“I know that you are very angry that I lied to you. I understand. I am not the only one to blame in this situation.”

“You erased my memories. You took that away from me! And you also used Felix.” You then accused, the way you saw it, he was the only one responsible.

“Just let me talk and you get to insult me after. I understand why you are worked up about this. Believe it or not, I grew to care and love you. That’s why I decided to let you go and destroy the deal from loverboy.” He blurted out.

You were at loss for words. Rumpletilksin never did that in the past, he never… never destroyed a deal? This was a trick. Surely it must be one. He was watching you like a hawk, awaiting your reaction. What should you do? What should you say? It was not your deal, it was Felix’s but… but you didn’t know to say or think.

“So?”

“I… Are you serious?” You took a seat next to him, observing his demeanor. “I don’t understand. You had never done that. Why would you-?”

“Get your old memories back and get the piece that you stole back into your lover’s heart?” The Dark One cut you off with a genuine and rare smile. “That’s because I care, like I said. I do care about you. I want you to be happy. That’s what differentiate me from that smelly captain.”

You were feeling bad about judging Rumpletilskin so fast. Maybe he indeed changed. Maybe spending time with Belle had made him soft but in the right way. You still couldn’t believe what he had just told you.

“Thank you. I don’t know how to repay you.” You babbled out as he stood up and you followed him back to the police station.

“You can’t repay me. I feel… sad that I have to let you go. But I can’t keep you forever. You will have to leave the nest one day. And I am sure you will be well protected by this… gorilla.” He talked as he quietened down since Emma was listening.

“Don’t call him that.”

Anxiously, you watched as Felix stood tall, trying to make himself bigger as he faced the Dark One. As you understood well, the two had an unpleasant history together, which was linked to Peter Pan. And considering Rumpletilskin had already fooled him, you understood why your lover was on edge. Luckily (or not) Emma was present, making herself the referee. She waited like you, her arms crossed over her chest.

Rumplestiltskin had Felix’s heart’s piece in his hand. He was looking at it, seeming regretful. Maybe he was disappointed he didn’t use this piece for a powerful magic spell or curse. You couldn’t wait until it was finished. You were so eager to gain your former memories back. You wanted to remember all your time with Felix.

He snapped his fingers together abruptly, a parchment appearing out of thin air. It held a choppy and childlike signature at the end. You couldn’t read everything on it as a fire burnt it down, the ashes falling to the ground. As it did, you felt a swirl of emotions and something else in the pit of your stomach, as if you were about to throw up from nausea. Then, it was your turn to fall into Emma’s arms.

When you awoke, you weren’t inside the police station anymore but rather on a very comfortable sofa, with a blanket over your body. You slowly sat up and looked around, remembering now it was Snow and Emma’s place. How did you end up there? And what happened? Your head was hurting so bad, it felt like a morning after drinking too much. You were feeling like you had been put in the washing machine and then the dryer.

The events came back to you quickly as well. You remembered everything, including your erased memories. You smiled a little, thinking about your first meeting with the second in command or when he saved you from Hook. It meant it worked. Rumpletilskin had set you free. You felt relieved and thankful toward the Dark One. He had honored his part of the deal or rather… his promise. Hoping he had put back Felix’s heart together, you slowly stood up as you heard people speaking. Everyone stopped once they realized you were up.

“Hey kid. Had a nice nap?” David joked as he handed you a cup of coffee.

“Did it work? You have all your memories?” Emma questioned, looking a little concerned for your wellbeing.

“Yeah, I do. Where’s Felix? Is he okay?” It was your turn to be worried, he wasn’t present. Your eyes scanned their faces and they didn’t seem to share a dreadful face or your thoughts.

“He’s fine, he is getting new clothes and probably a haircut… and a bath. Belle is handling everything.” David replied, seeming grateful he wasn’t the one to do that.

They went back to talking about anything. Since you were bored, you sat on a stool and drank your coffee quietly, not caring about the world around you. What now? Rumpletilskin had kind of kicked you out by now, since you weren’t his slave anymore. It felt weird to have freedom. And what could you do with Felix? Stay in Storybrooke, working and having your own place together? It sounded like a dream, but it wasn’t exactly the life you wished for. You were still hungry for adventure and exploration. But you didn’t know if Felix felt the same. You wanted to know about his intentions.

“Do you love him?” Emma asked suddenly with a serious tone after the others left. You had been sitting in the kitchen for so long your ass started to hurt.

“I do.” You replied sincerely and stared into her eyes. “I can’t live without him. He gave his heart for me, if he wasn’t in love with me… He wouldn’t have done that.”

“And you wouldn’t have stolen his heart’s piece from Rumple if you didn’t care.” The blond woman sighed with a sad and small smile. She seemed to have an internal debate with herself before approaching you and giving you something. “Open it.”

You did as you were told cautiously. You gasped at the sight of a magic bean, just waiting to be used. Your eyes met Emma’s and you couldn’t even form a simple sentence. You had so many questions: how did she acquire this? Why is she giving it to you? Why was she helping?

“It’s Neal’s, he also found it in the shop and wanted you to have it.”

“Why?” You whispered. Why would Rumple’s son help you? You barely knew each other!

“He said, and I agree with him, that you and Felix won’t be happy staying in Storybrooke. You need to write your own story elsewhere, go on adventures, be young and careless, this kind of stuff.” She continued, and you could see tears pearling in her eyes. She seemed very serious about letting you go and she had considered you like a little sister. “I am fine, don’t worry about me.”

“Thank you so much Emma.”

“Go. Be free.” She hugged you. Was this what freedom tasted like?

Packing hadn’t been easy. You had bought a ton of things as if you were going hiking. Of course, you brought weapons: guns, ammunitions, swords, a crossbow for Felix… And food. You put on the hiking back on your shoulders, wincing a bit when you nearly fell on the ground because of the weight. It didn’t matter. Felix knew how to hunt and fish, you were sure he was great at it, and you had brought some magical items in case something went wrong. You intended on exploring realms with him. You contemplated yourself in your small bedroom’s mirror, you only had the bare necessities in your whole life. Maybe you could have everything you wanted now? It felt strange, to think you had your destiny and faith in your own hands.

You wondered if Felix was alright with this. You were so happy about leaving or being able to do what you wanted that you forgot what he may want. Perhaps he wanted to stay here? He had been living on a dangerous island for centuries, maybe he would like to live in Storybrooke, where life was quieter but with its share of adventures and dangers? Feeling bad, you put the bag down on the ground and sat down with a sad sigh on the bed. You needed his opinion. You snorted, thinking about how this was the first step to being a good and healthy couple.

Speaking of the devil, Felix knocked softly on your open door and stepped in with a smile. His hair wasn’t cut but still wet, and you thought about poor Belle who must have dragged him to a hairdresser. She had told you it was her intention, but seeing his hair hasn’t changed… Well, she must have lost to the fierce lost boy. He sat down next to you and gestured to the bags on the ground.

“What’s all this?”

“Well… I thought that we could go on adventures, just the two of us in another world.” You said with a silly smile, it felt unnatural to do it but at the same time… with him, it felt normal. “I mean… I don’t know if you want to do it. What you feel matters too. I will be willing to stay.”

“Stay? Here? With all those fucking heroes trying to tame me?” Felix replied, putting a hand on his chest, looking scandalized. At least he was funny. “No way. Sharing a home with you, yes, but not here. Not with them.”

“So you are okay with me taking the lead?”

“I will give you my heart if I can.” He spoke sincerely and kissed your nose softly.

“Technically you did.”

#ouat #ouat felix #ouat felix x reader #ouat peter pan #ouat neverland imagine #once upon a time felix #imagine felix ouat #ouat felix imagine

[importantkidspyfarm]

Ramblings on 365 Days: This Day

SPOILERS! Duh. This is not in any order.

They listened! They got rid of that stiff ass wig. So happy. I could've lived with the new one it was more natural looking.

I wasn't expecting much but damn they gave us nothing. They took 50 minutes to introduce the plot. And even then it was rough.

How long after the tunnel accident was the wedding? Who was the pregnant lady on Massimo's side of the aisle? I'm assuming the new henchman is a cousin.

Not them banging before the wedding. Okay nasties.

I thought all of the wedding and was going to be a dream and L was gon' wake up in a dungeon with Anna opening the door with today's lunch and a recent article with a photo of him and her together.

How did she survive the tunnel. What was the accident? She came out unscathed but lost the baby?

I feel bad for Michele Morrone, he barely has any lines and his character is the only one that has an effect on the plot and we don't follow him.

We don't hear the vows! We hear nothing of the wedding! I can live without the vows but we never hear the priest say anything. Not even "Introducing mister and missus Torricelli" not even the reception of their first dance. No toasts from Olga or Domenico. No O catching the bouquet. Ugh. Maybe it's not a polish thing.

Laura's parents funny. They said "you chose this life with some man you've known a month, deal with it" got up and did a waltz like their only daughter isn't going through a marital crisis. Then mama confronts him with so much energy where was that at the ball.

Anna needed to be more apart of these movies from jump. Did Nachos dad kill Massimos dad? Mass' dad was right his son was not ready to be a Don. All the Spanish family and Anna's family have to do is wait the Toricelli empire is crumbling.

Not ho antics at the golf course!

The sex scenes weren't hitting like last time. I know that's why we all watched in the first place but the first one had something happening between them. That boat scene told a story. It was maybe perfect and these ones were just happening to happen.

Robo-mower.

Not them going to a beach mere feet from a smoking volcano. Do they not know that ALL VOLCANOES ARE OVERDUE FOR BIG ERUPTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STAY AWAY!!!!!!!

Nacho is hot but has creep face.

Were all the sex scenes with Nacho dreams?

You'd think being kidnapped once Laura would be more careful.

Lampone!

Domenico. Tongue.

How long have Mass and Dom been friends? They let that whip cream go in stride. Are you not embarrassed?

Did Olga use the clamp on him? Do your Kegels They work.

Who hired Nacho as the gardener? He didn't even lie about who he was. Who is Massimo's house manager? They need to be fired immediately. How do you not know who the eternal rivals heir apparent is? Also Massimo, have you never looked out the window?

Hoe long has he been the gardener? Days? Weeks? What was the plan? Have Nacho work for him until Mass finally looks at who the hell is on his staff. He's a mob boss he should know.

Not ho antics behind the bandstand! I live.

Massimo is learning. Laura said she missed working/the challenge of work and bought her a job.

The sex toys, where are they from and if I buy the whole set at once can I get 10% off.

I thought Massimo and Dom were going to drive into Laura with Nacho in that one scene.

So no one is going to acknowledge that Nacho showed up looking like a reject from a Ed Hardy/Christian Audigier runway, like a backup dancer for Christina's Dirrty era, like a fake Kevin Federline. Nobody? Just me? Okay.

What exactly is she in charge of at the label? Design? Management? The fashion house is it tacky or am I not rich enough to understand?

That triple six lies song (the kitchen scene) 👍

They introduce so many story lines and never follow them.

Was Nacho's sister his sister or his "sister"?

I wish we saw them as a married couple. Even fifty shades focused on their domestic life.

The scene when Laura walks in on Olga and Domenico was cute, get it girl, also I'm embarrassed.

"We're back to our normal life, baby girl." Normal for who? Not y'all. This all started with an abduction. Normal would be locking the bedroom door from the outside as he leaves.

How in the hell do Laura and Massimo converse? Both have other native tongues.

Not once did Laura ever inquire what was going on with the business. If he needed anything to relieve his stress. Like sis it's the least you could do instead of whining that he's always at work

If the mafia don tells you we need to leave you need to leave.

EVERY pair of sunglasses in this movie is fire as hell.

Massimo is stressed because of mafia stuff but never once do we know who, what, or why? Until the very end, and even then I'm not sure if those are connected.

Once again the soundtrack is bad and loud and distracting. There were more likable songs. This movie would benefit from muzak.

So Andriano is who killed the dad?

Didn't want or need to see dudes face get blown open. So, Anna had a plan to kidnap L from the party also? Why not just take her when she was stunned at watching you fuck her husband? Does she not have henchmen? What would have happened if Anna succeeded, what would Nacho and family have done? What if L decided to stay at Nacho's during the last meeting?

Wait!?! The Matos family is in cahoots on kidnapping Laura? But also not? Was there a double cross? Triple?

Tongues the movie. Let me go overseas and research if they all kiss like this.

I need to hear the sounds of sex. Playing music is great but I need to know they are real people. The scenes with Olga & Dom have natural sound why not Laura & Mass?

I am hot goddess [falls on face].

Laura too soft to be a mafia boss wife. She act so tough but has been easily kidnapped twice.

Nacho took her to a new house after the attack?

The heart condition. Where is it? I'm hoping it comes in to play in the next movie. The final act would've been a great time for it to comeback. Instead of her getting shot she could've had a cardiac event from all the stress of being kidnapped AGAIN. Held at gunpoint by her husband's coke-head twin brother and ex-lover. It's much more devastating.

Laura and Olga are living the dream. Two best friends marry best friends.

Did L and Nacho have sex or not?

Expanding? How Sway? Last movie they lost an entire shopping container of drugs.

Did his sister not know who Laura was? Is she aware of the family business?

What did they send Massimo on the phone?

Miss Laura maybe you need to be single. Went from Martin to Massimo to Nacho. Two of three were started with kidnappings.

Is the Matos family the reason Laura lost her baby?

Laura complaining about not wanting to be a kept woman. Boo! Shut up. Open an Etsy store. Get a hobby. Get a job. Hell she was in hotel management, promoted to GM. Open a hotel.

He gifted her a fashion line because she likes clothes. I like astronomy, don't mean I know how to run NASA!

Massimo should've hit Laura with that, "I'm working to keep your ass in Gucci and gold" (Zeke McCall, Love and Basketball), when she get to complaining about him working all the time.

Massimo, it's your house drop the towel, walk around naked. It's your right.

Does he ever smile? Not even on Christmas? At your wedding? Did he crack one when Dom and Olga got engaged? I know that's the character but a part of why we like this type of character is because when he's with her he's different. He smiles. He laughs. He cracks a joke. She just gifted you coochie, that's funny, smile.

Alright, she's worn this same set of Fiacchi drawers like eight times.

Dom is newly happily engaged while his BFF's marriage is falling apart. Ah!

I want the adventures of Olga.

Olga tossing other people's presents aside so she can give Domenico his. A reckless queen.

Pussy for Christmas? Thanks, I had it yesterday and (probably) this morning, but I guess you can never have too much? She couldn't have bought him a watch with an inscription or something? I can't lie, I hate buying gifts too, plus he rich as hell, what else was she supposed to give him?

All the dates with Nacho should've happened with Massimo. I need to see the love not the banging.

Didn't Mario betray Mass in the last movie, he's why Laura never makes it out of the tunnel (and lost the baby)? Why did he allow him to retire? Also wasn't he conspiring with Anna?

How did Adriano know she was pregnant? L only told Olga and she was only a few weeks pregnant by the time the accident happened and had not seen a doctor.

I need to see them be nice to each other. This was a lot of aggression.

I need the third book to come out so I can buy the set and get to reading to fill in some gaps.

My wife, his girlfriend, was taken and is in grave danger we must find her. [Leisurely model struts the entire way]

At some point this movie turned into a music video.

Is Nacho going to be a thorn in their relationship the next movie, cause he apparently has real feelings?

If they want to make a movie focusing on Olga and Domenico I'm down. They cute.

My rewatch of 365 Days

#365 days this day #anna maria sieklucka #michele morrone #mob boss #mafiaromance #sunglasses #don massimo torricelli #massimo x laura #365 days #365 days movie #simone susinna #otar saralidze #magdalena lamparska #olga x domenico #volcano #dirrty #fiacchi drawers #fiacchi lingerie #nacho matos #laura biel #blanka lipińska #blanka lipinska #polish romance #italian romance

[moodiestmags]

Guys here’s some lore about my first Tav I love her so mubh (it’s 12:30am I gotta go to bed)

Anyway! This is how she and karlach first met <3

It was your run of the mill day in Baldur’s Gate. The sun shining through fluffy clouds on a cerulean backdrop, while gulls flew around the coast hoping to get a good meal from the dozens of fishing boats dotting the harbour.

Enver Gortash, renowned artificer, was aboard a different kind of ship docked with the rest. He’d gone on a trip to gather resources and finalize designs from friends downriver. Or, at least, that’s what the schedule rolled up in Caedra Latherin’s chest pocket said.

The young drow was newly out of the underdark and high on the fresh air afforded above ground. With so much energy and no money to put it anywhere else, it was funnelled into a rather lucrative life of crime in the city. She had her own little room in a tavern outside Wyrm’s Crossing, and kept the guards’ noses out of the less fortunate who weren’t so practiced as her.

Needless to say no Flaming Fist knew where she was staying, and she’d like to keep it that way, though this heist might be pushing her luck.

Not only was Gortash guarded by a group of well-paid corsairs, there was a young tiefling woman with him as well, towering over him, and with a great axe leaning against the post next to her. When Gortash passed she picked it up and swung it over her shoulder with little effort, following him to where he was signing papers.

It was now or never. Caedra put away her spyglass, took a breath, and jumped from her roost on the bridge. A short swim later, and she arrived at the anchor, climbing into the belly of the ship.

It was dark, which was good, though not as full of cargo as she had hoped - they’d been moving stuff already so her time was limited.

She unhooked a crowbar from her back and wedged it under the nailed down lid of the nearest box, finding only gears and cogs.

With a hiss, she turned to the next one. It had something better - ingots of steel or iron or silver. She couldn’t tell, not in this light, but tossed a couple in her bag.

Her ears pricked suddenly to movement above her head, but the footsteps faded away and she thought she could afford to get her lock picks out and go for the ornate foot locker tucked nearby.

Three picks later the chest finally clicked open, and a smile parted her face at the rich clothes and coin-purse inside. She grabbed the purse, finding it heavier than expected but that never meant anything bad, and tucked it away. Until frantic footsteps started to close in on her location, and the double doors to the hold flew open to reveal that tiefling. Wielding the greataxe this time. Caedra’s eyes went wide, and she nearly shut the lid on her fingers.

“Hey you!”

The sheer excitement in her voice scared the drow more than the weapon she held, but Caedra had snapped out of her shock fast enough to have a head start, and made a beeline for the anchor chain.

“You little- you’re not getting away!” She had dropped the axe and took off after her, picking up a nearby vase and throwing it.

The porcelain shattered just where Caedra’s head would have been in a moment, and made her yelp. Unfortunately it was also enough for the bodyguard to catch up with her, and deliver a shocking blow to the head - enough to knock her out cold on the wooden floorboards.

“Aw fuck, my head.” Caedra groaned, barely opening her eyes to the glaring brightness of the daylight around her. She tried moving her hands only to find them cuffed.

“How hard did you hit her, Karlach?” She knew that voice, she’d heard it enough in the high halls she crept through.

“Just enough to knock her out, mister Gortash. She’ll be fine.”

“Fucking Gortash.” Caedra mumbled, now able to make out silhouettes against the sky from where her face was laid on the beach sand.

“Sorry, what was that?” The man said, turning towards her.

“Nothing.”

“Get her up.” With such a simple command, that “Karlach” had grabbed her by the arm and brought her to her feet.

“You’d do well to learn some manners, girl. But I suppose you’ll have plenty of time in a prison cell, hmm? Take her, Karlach, make sure she’s as uncomfortable as possible.”

“Yes, sir!” Karlach saluted, hauling the drow off toward the city’s prison beneath the flaming fist barracks.

She was not going without some complaints, though.

“Can’t you just let me go?? I barely even got anything!” Caedra grumbled, trying without luck to pull herself free. Truth be told her head was still ringing like a bell after being struck so hard. “You hit like a damn rothé.”

“Thanks, and no.” Karlach replied happily. “You got caught stealing. ‘S not a good line of work, you know? Now you have to face the consequences.”

The drow closed her eyes as she was dragged, forcing her lagging brain to catch up. She would not be spending the next week or so behind bars, that was all she knew.

As she walked slowly beside the tiefling, she managed to pull her arm up enough to loosen a hairpin slipped into the hem of her sleeve. With clever fingers and flexible wrists, she started the daunting task of lockpicking by feel alone.

“Why in the the hells are you working for someone like Gortash anyway?” Caedra said, trying to divert attention from her hands.

“Hey, he’s an honest bloke.” Karlach sounded scolding. “Pays well, and I get to do what I’m good at.”

“Hitting people over the head?”

“Hitting criminals over the head.” The tiefling corrected.

Caedra felt the mechanism seize slightly, all she had to do now was wait for the right moment to press it a little further. It would click open and then she’d have to run.

They were nearing the middle of the city now, walking down the Main Street. It was busy this time of day, and a perfect setting for a quick getaway.

“Hope you still get paid after today, then.”

“What do you mean?” Karlach asked with a raised eyebrow, and just as she was turning to look down at the drow, Caedra unlocked the cuffs and took off.

Her wet boots slipped on the cobbles and she could hear her captor gaining ground, shouting at the people around to seize her.

A group of patrolling soldiers unfortunately heard her, and now there were three people giving chase.

Caedra shoved past a group of strangers, and ducked off the street into a small alley full of crates. With nowhere else to go, she climbed up them and onto the rooftops.

Her chest heaved as she pressed herself onto the warm terracotta shingles, looking down at the commotion she’d caused.

Karlach cursed loudly, her tail swishing like an angry cat’s as she turned around looking for any trace of where the drow went. The fist patrol joined her, looking across at the crowds.

Caedra took a moment to undo the laces on her boots and take them off, letting them and her socks begin to dry.

When she looked back, it was right into the eyes of that damned tiefling. Her pupils narrow in the sunlight, and giving the illusion that her irises were flickering flame. Her eyebrows darkened her eyes and her nose flared, as she started back after her trail.

Caedra’s red eyes went wide as she realized how fast Karlach was gaining as she lied in the sun. She got to her feet quickly and ran, frightening gulls and pigeons as she did.

But she was running out of room, and her only escape seemed to be a jump between buildings.

Adrenaline told her she could make it. She could not.

The moment Caedra’s front foot left the shingles of the roof, she knew she miscalculated. In a panicked attempt to correct herself, she tried falling backwards. Which worked, but only for her chest and torso, and she was still very quickly sliding off the roof. Her nails scratched and clawed at the rough surface until she was dangling twenty feet in the air and hanging on by her hands.

Her heart hammered in her chest, blood pounding in her ears and its tang on her tongue as she frantically tried hauling herself up, to no avail.

The sun was blotted out by a figure, who put her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath.

“You give a hell of a good chase, thief. I’ll give you that. Whew. You winded me, no easy feat.”

Caedra’s palms were sweaty, her fingers slipping. She looked up at Karlach with wide, pleading eyes as she also struggled to catch her breath. “What’re you even doing this for? Why so insistent on getting away?” The tiefling crouched down to better meet her eyes.

Was she really asking her that? “I’m not gonna tell someone who works for Gortash why I’m doing this.” She spat the name, and Karlach just pressed her lips into a thin line.

“I’m not gonna tell him, I just wanna know.” Something about her voice was sincere, made Caedra want to tell her the truth.

“I- I sell the stuff I find to give to the less fortunate around here. Keep them going a little longer. And I just escaped the underdark, I…I don’t know what else to do.”

Karlach took a deep breath, sighed, and reached down to pull the drow up by her arms. It was like she weighed nothing.

She set her down away from the edge and dusted her shoulders off, holding them as she spoke.

“Listen, just go. Get out of here and don’t let me catch you around Mister Gortash again, you hear me?”

Caedra briefly frowned, concerned for the reaction Karlach could receive in turn, but pushed that thought away. Why should she care? This was her exit.

“Y-Yes.”

“Go on, then.”

Caedra turned from the tiefling and disappeared down a ladder she found, making her way back to the tavern room she rented as fast as possible.

#my writing #bg3 #bg3 tav #bg3 karlach #karlach x tav #caedra #I’m eepy

[sunlightbabe]

PROMPTS: Victoria x Reader x Thomas // “No, anything but that.” // Cryptid Fluff, no warnings

The fire crackles between the three of you, highlighting the shadows on your faces.

“Oh shut up,” Victoria snorts, plucking at a melted, gooey marshmallow that’s threatening to fall off her stick and down to the forest floor beneath her. “There’s no way that’s what happened.”

“I promise!” Thomas says with a laugh, crossing his finger over his heart before raising his hand as if swearing to tell the truth and nothing but the truth in the court of law. “It leapt right out of the woods and in front of my car!”

“Yeah, but the chupacabra?” you ask with an arched eyebrow. “I think they only live in South America, babe.”

Thomas pouts adorably and Victoria snorts again, licking marshmallow off her fingers before moving her stick above the fire once more.

“Alright, okay, don’t believe me. I know the truth and that’s what matters most,” Thomas says as he crosses his arms over his chest. He’s too cute and you can’t help but lean over and kiss his cheek with a loud smacking noise. His nose crinkles up as he teasingly pushes you away from him and out of the corner of your eye, you see Victoria watching you both with a satisfied look.

“Well, if Thomas is done telling lies-”

“Hey!” Thomsa interrupts Victoria, but she continues on.

“-and if nostra belleza can’t do any better than that stupid story with the man with a hook for a hand-”

“It’s a classic!” you defend with an indignant little noise.

“-then that means it’s my turn.”

The campsite falls quiet, save for the crackling of the fire and the distant hoot of an owl and, perhaps, the sound of the lake lapping at the shore just a couple yards away from you all. Victoria gives you both a challenging look, one eyebrow arches, elbows resting on her knees as she leans forward as if she’s about to tell you both a grand and terrible secret. Against your better judgement, you lean in closer. Thomas does the same.

Victoria’s marshmallow is forgotten about and you can see it catch fire out of the corner of your eye.

“Have either of you heard about... the Lariosauro?”

Thomas snorts. “You’re joking. This is your great story? No, anything but that.”

“Oh hush, Mister Chupacabra over there,” Victoria is quick to retort.

Your brows furrow as you try and place the name. You didn’t grow up in Italy with your two partners, so you’re not as familiar with this story as they both evidently are. “Lariosauro? What’s that?”

Thomas groans beside you and Victoria gives him a glare before turning towards you, face softening significantly. “It’s something that lives here, right in Lake Como.” Immediately, you think of the Loch Ness monster out in Scotland. 

Victoria’s voice gets a little deeper as she leans closer to you. You find yourself mimicking her, leaning even closer, and even though you can feel Thomas practically rolling his eyes beside you, he does the same.

“The first sighting was nearly 100 years ago. A fisherman was out on the lake, early in the morning, when the surface of the water was covered by fog. The fish bite better just before the sun rises, you see, so at first, he didn’t think anything of the ripples in the water. But the water kept shifting and his tiny boat started to rock in the waves. It knocked his fishing pole out of his hand and into the water, and just as he leant over the edge of the boat, he saw it. The Lariosauro. A pair of giant, piercing yellow eyes staring up at him from under the water. The fisherman was paralyzed as he watched the eyes get larger.. and larger... and he realized that it was swimming up from the bottom of the lake, getting closer and closer until-”

Another owl hoots in the distance and you startle where you sit, heart skyrocketing in your chest. Thomas leans a little closer to you, his hand reaching for yours.

“There was a couple on the shore going for a walk, you see. They wanted to see the sunset. Instead, they watched as the fisherman and his boat was gobbled up in one quick movement. The Lariosauro breached the water for just a moment and when it sunk back beneath the lake, there was nothing left.”

Victoria is just trying to freak you out. You know this. And yet you can still hear the lake lapping against the rocky shore. The three of you had gone swimming earlier in the day, pushing and pulling at each other until you all stumbled into the water, barely dressed and with grins on your faces. The lake is deep- Thomas and Victoria had told you that. One of the deepest in all of Europe. It wouldn’t be so strange for something to live down there, you reason. It would be easy to stay hidden among the muck and the seaweed.

“Every couple of decades, people claim that they see it again. A large fin cresting through the water. A large tail splashing against the lake, something large and dark passing beneath a boat. People even say that on nights like this, warm and quiet, you can hear it crawl out of the lake and lay itself out on the beach.... waiting for its next meal to stumble upon it.”

The night is quiet. You can hear your heart hammering nervously in your chest-

From the lake you hear a splash, loud and clear.

You scream and jump in your seat. Thomas screams, reaching out and pulling you closer. Even Victoria is startled, eyes wide, shifting closer to you as her head whips to face the sound.

There’s no movement and it’s dark enough for none of you to see anything between the spare covering of trees that separate you and the lake.

“... I think maybe we should call it a night?” Thomas suggests, voice a little higher pitched than usual. Victoria nods and when she turns back to you both, you can see that she’s trying to appear braver than she is- but there’s a slightly tremble to her lip, and her eyes keep darting to the surrounding forest.

“So I win, right?” she asks with a nervous laugh. You smile and reach a hand out for her, interlacing your fingers and giving her hand a squeeze.

“You win,” you agree as the three of you quickly get to your feet. Thomas starts to put out the fire as you pull Victoria closer to you. Her attention lingers on the lake behind you until you place your free hand on her cheek, forcing her to look at you.

“It’s just a story, yeah?” you offer quietly. Victoria nods- perhaps a little too quick- and leans in to kiss you, soft and gentle.

“Just a story,” she agrees. A moment passes and then she continues, “but I think we should make Thomas sleep closest to the tent entrance tonight.”

Thomas splutters and as he wraps his arms around the two of you, herding you both to the tent, it’s enough to make you forget about the coincidence that was Victoria’s story and the noises coming from the lake.

Well... almost enough. Just as you pull at the zipper, just as Victoria and Thomas are quietly bickering about who is going to sleep in the middle of the cuddle puddle tonight, you hear another splash and a deep thud.

Almost as if something had flopped onto the shore.

TAG LIST; @maneskin-dimensione​

#writing tag #victoria de angelis x reader #thomas raggi x reader #victoria de angelis x reader x thomas raggi #october prompt bonanza

[endangered-liaison]

Prompt #23: Pitch

((Content warnings for this one: some graphic violence, and death.))

 "Mister Hostis."

 The captain of the Crooked Coin is cordial and polite as they bow. It would feel almost like a business meeting, if not for the spiked metal armour they wear. Bones dangle from it like morbid jewellery, and when they rise from their deep bow the polite smile on their face is morphed by the white paint covering it into something downright malicious.

 "Captain Gharl," he replies, trying his best to keep the distaste from his voice.

 The wind from the coast is harsh, and Octavian pulls his overcoat closer around himself. A meeting on the coastline, at night, is a great way to catch a chill. But sometimes one has few other choices. When one is a wanted criminal who breached Alliance custody that very night, for example.

 "Your ship is off the coast, I take it?" Octavian crosses his arms across his chest, clenching his jaw against the cold. Beside him, Boartusk is shivering. The Ala Mhigan isn't used to the cold.

 Kaira nods, stepping forwards with the handful of their motley crew that they brought ashore. Only three. The captain, a viera with white paint smeared across her face like jagged scars, and an eastern midlander man with full half his face painted. They'd taken his claims of a peaceful meeting to heart, apparently. That showed trust - or at least good faith. "Our rowing boat can take you aboard and far from these lands. You need but give us a direction."

 "A direction?" Octavian asks, all feigned ignorance.

 "To the ceruleum stockpile you promised. Our deal."

 Ah, of course. Their deal. Octavian nods, steady and understanding. "Of course. The only thing is, it seems to me, I'm the one who comes out short in this deal. You get more fuel than you could use in two years, and I get...what, exactly? Deposited in the Far East, or the New World?"

 Kaira tilts their head like an owl regarding a meal. "That was the deal. Fuel for transport."

 Octavian hums. Then whistles, sharp and loud.

 Around the two groups, a half-dozen ala mhigans with muskets climb to their feet, weapons aimed at Kaira and their crew. Their pirates don't even have a chance to react afore they're surrounded.

 "I feel we should renegotiate!" Octavian grins behind his mask, arms spread wide. "I just don't feel like we're quite getting our fair share, you see."

 The Captain's lip curls.

 Octavian unbuttons his overcoat, drawing a twin-barrelled flintlock pistol from within. The weight of iron in his hand is reassuring, after so long without it. He points it towards the captain's head with nonchalant ease. "I've heard from my friends that you have two ships. The Crooked Coin out there, and a wooden trader's ship. The Serpentarius, or some such? Now, I can't help but feel a band of idiot fucking savages like yourself shouldn't be heading a powerful Garlean ship like the Coin. So, for our new deal: you keep your little sailing boat, and we take your imperial Destroyer far from here. In exchange, you don't get a musketball between your fetching orange eyes."

 Kaira doesn't flinch when the pistol is levelled at them. They don't even react, honestly. Finally, when he's done speaking, their fetching orange eyes flick upwards to stare deep into his, behind the smoked glass of his mask. "You won't be honouring our deal?" they ask, voice a rasp.

 What the fuck is wrong with this tribal? Octavian shares a confused look with Boartusk, the man's meaty hands wrapped around an arcanist's grimoire like a giant with a cross-stitching kit. He offers a quick laugh. "You've a half-dozen guns pointed at you. I think it's safe to say we won't be honouring any deals with you, Gharl."

 What happens next, Octavian will never fully understand.

 They move. But it doesn't feel like movement. They were fulms in front of him, his pistol pointed at their head. And then they weren't. He hears his gunshot. He hears a half-dozen other gunshots, and hears Boartusk start channelling aether.

 Their first punch feels like someone took a lump hammer to his elbow. He feels something crack, and the gun falls from his grasp. Their second knocks the wind out of him, staggering him backwards.

 He's helpless to do anything but watch, winded and disarmed, as gunfire lights up the La Noscean countryside.

 He catches sight of them as a bullet ricochets off their metal armour like it's nothing - their arms are crossed over their face, protecting their one unarmoured point from harm as his men inundate the area with bullets. He doesn't know where their crew have gone. It's just them, standing alone. Their eyes blaze bright in the dark, meeting his.

 Boartusk finishes whatever spell he'd been channelling, shooting it forth and striking the pirate - the thing - in the chest. That seems to impact them more than the bullets did, knocking them to one knee and pulling forth a hiss of pain as aetheric lightning crackles across their armour.

 There's a low growl.

 And then they're gone again.

 Simply gone.

 Boartusk lets out a scream of pain, and by the time Octavian turns his head to look to his last, most loyal ally, his throat has already been cut. No. Not cut. Torn apart.

 Gharl is behind him, using his body as a shield against Boartusk's own men's gunfire. The growl grows louder, more deafening even over the roar of muskets.

 Octavian fumbles with his jacket, drawing his second pistol with his good arm and trying not to jostle whatever broken bones his right arm has. He aims it at Captain Gharl, his angle affording him the one clean shot at their head.

 Their eyes snap to him, and they simply toss Boartusk's body aside like an oversized ragdoll. Like they are the one twice his size, and not the other way around.

 Octavian fires once, and their arm raises to block the bullet before it ever lands. Sparks and bullet fragments splinter everywhere as they charge towards him. He fires again, and they do it a second time. And through it all, their eyes. Burning eyes, staring into his very soul as they reach him. He doesn't even get a chance to swing his empty pistol at them before he feels his leg snapping, their armoured boot digging into the flesh of his knee and carrying on until the bone gave.

 Their hand grips his overcoat, the growling roar grows ever-louder ... and then the darkness is plunged into sharp, bright white light.

 Behind them, floating just beyond the cliff they had agreed to meet at, a Garlean magitek gunship hovers, engines roaring and floodlights bathing the battlefield in a harsh, artificial light brighter than midday. Through the glare of the lights, he can just barely make out the white paint starkly contrasting its pitch-dark metal.

 A handful of his idiotic loyalists turn their weapons on it, Limsan-issue muskets firing on the metal beast's hull like hurling bad language at a god. There's a whirring noise. Octavian barely has time to scream for cover before the gunship's autocannon barks into life, the impact from its rounds kicking up dirt and grass and limbs across the whole hillside.

 When it stops firing, a few seconds later, there are no more gunshots.

 It's just him. Just him, and Captain Gharl, and the gunship. They stare at him levelly now, no rage or violence in their gaze. Just passing interest.

 "Fine." He hisses the word like a curse. "I'll tell you where the damned ceruleum is. Just let me go after, aye? Do we have a deal?"

 Behind them, the gunship lands once more, in the open this time. The viera woman leaps from the cockpit, a spear in her hands as she approaches her captain.

 Captain Gharl looks like they're considering it. They hum in consideration. Their eyes flick upwards, as if in thought. Then they smirk. "Mm...no. A man who does not honour one deal will not honour the next."

 Octavian feels his blood run cold.

 "I'll give you extra. I know stockpiles. Dozens of them. Garlean strongholds that are completely abandoned. Pirate's treasures." His voice sounds desperate even to his ears. "I won't try anything. I'll give you their coordinates, maps. How to get to them all. You don't even need to bring me along, I won't be able to cross you."

 "Woodborn?" Kaira lets go of his overcoat and he falls to the floor, crying out in pain as his broken leg fails to support any weight at all. Their head tilts towards the viera, and she holds out the spear. As soon as it touches Kaira's gauntleted hands, the blade bursts into life. It glows a brilliant red, and Octavian feels the heat even from where he is. "Thank you."

 "Captain, we can make a deal!"

 Woodborn smiles brightly at her captain as Kaira plunges the spear through Octavian's chest.

 It feels...

 Well. It feels like having a hot poker shoved through your chest.

 He tries to speak. To cry out. But all that comes out is a vague gurgling noise.

 "Mister Hostis." Kaira's voice is calm as they grip his shoulder, pulling him forwards. Pushing the blade of their spear further through him. "You still don't seem to understand. You have no honour. No principles. You lived for nothing."

 They meet his eyes one final time, reaching down to pick up his fallen flintlock pistol from the floor.

 "And so you die for nothing, as well."

 They point the weapon at his head, and pull the trigger.

#Kaira Gharl #From Steppe to Sea #ffxivwrite2022 #Octavian Hostis

[ash-morse]

IC TASK 004 : THE INTERROGATIONS

when: december 16th

Court’s first questioning had gone by utterly unremarkably - it had only been a few minutes long, having answered the questions with nothing to note, and going about his day. In all honesty, he hadn’t thought much of it since he had walked out of that room. It was easier to put the entire situation out of his mind then think about something having actually happened to Greer, only really facing the fact when it was brought up to him again - which, fo course, made each time he recalled the fact that THE GOLDEN GIRL was missing feel like another gut punch.

Which surely wasn’t helping with the nerves he was feeling as he was waiting for his questioning this time around. 

“Mi - uh - Courtney Mills?”

He looked up when he heard his name called, standing up from the seat he had claimed while waiting, lips pressed together at the agent who had stumbled over what to call them. “Mister is fine,” he said politely, the smile on his face undoubtably tight - or it would be to anyone who knew him, familiar with how easy his grins usually were. 

It wasn’t the greatest omen. Court was aware that gender was...complicated, and was perfectly fine with going by he/him pronouns - preferred it even, most of the time! Though he did have to wonder how much of that was due to his constant desire to not rock the boat. But he definitely wasn’t going to examine that with FBI agents - they could call him whatever the fuck they wanted.

But anyways. 

He followed the tall (attractivelikeholyshitwhydidhelooklikethat) agent into the office they had commandeered to interview people out of, gulping as the door shut behind him, sitting into the chair Agent Choi motioned towards, eyes darting between the three agents in the room. 

“So, Courtney,” Choi began as he sat down opposite them, leaning back relaxed in his seat, the exact opposite of Coco’s ramrod straight spine, knee bouncing up and down underneath the table. 

“Court’s fine,” he said, attempting to offer a smile - again, anyone who really knew how freely the smiles on his face usually came would recognize that it was strained. 

The agent paused, glancing over at the dark haired woman, who scrawled something down on her notepad (probably just his name, right? It had to just be his name, there’s no way he had already fucked up in his first two words, like that was impossible...right?) before looking back at him. “Right. Court,” Choi said. “To start, can you talk about your time capsule video? Give us some context for the clip that was leaked?”

That was not the direction they had been expecting them to start in. Court’s head angled to one side, his smile faltering for a second. It’s not that he had anything to be guilty over. Sure, he had been in a weird head space, but it was just...ranting in a state of vulnerability. Not that that made it any easier to talk about. “It’s a bit out of context, to be honest,” he said. 

Court paused, letting out a deep breath. “Honestly, I was sorta, like...it gets better-ing. Talking about how things had changed for me since high school. I wasn’t the most popular, you know-” at that, the female agent’s eyebrows raised, Courtney catching it out of the corner of his eyes, a flush coming to his cheeks. “But changes like that are hard to get used to, you know?”

Agent Choi nodded. “So do you...consider yourself popular at Ogden?” 

The heat on his cheeks only deepened, Court glancing down at the table. Was that a loaded question or what. “I...guess? I don’t know. I have a lot of friends, I guess, but I’m not like...part of the popular crowd,” he murmured. He had a lot of casual friends. But sometimes it seemed like no one really knew him - but that was something to unpack with a therapist, not with FBI agents. And...well, awfully close to what Greer had said in her video, which couldn’t be a good thing to admit that he related to. 

“Like Greer.” 

Court’s eyes just darted back up to Agent Choi, glancing between him, over to Agent Murray, and to Agent Brown sitting in the back, eyebrows furrowing so a crease appeared between his eyebrows, missing where the question was in that. As a few seconds ticked by, he just nodded, unsure of what else he could offer them. 

"Were you aware that Greer Morrison had submitted a video at the end of last year?”

Lips parted, tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth, confusion only deepening. “No?” he said. Why would he know that? How would he know that? “No,” he said, more firmly. “I, uh...I didn’t really talk about anyone’s videos with them.” 

The agents nodded, a few notes scrawled, Court’s blue eyes widening as he waited in the silence, a nearly audible swallow as he tried to beat down his nerves. 

“Some other students have brought up your relationship with Greer’s boyfriend. Why do you think they thought it was relevant?”

His eyes got so round, the whites were nearly visible around the entire bright blue iris. Shit. Were people talking about him? Oh, no, why would they do that? What he had done...

“Uh, um...” he stammered, shrugging up his shoulders. “Kit’s one of my best friends, you know? And he was, uh...Greer’s boyfriend? So that’s probably why people...thought it was relevant?” Coco said, his voice rising into a question with the end of every sentence. 

Agent Murray finally spoke, her dark eyes inscrutable as she leaned forward, her demeanor nowhere near the easy-going one of Agent Choi. “Had Greer brought up breaking up with him ever? Or anything of the sort, like she did in her video?” she asked.

Coco’s eyebrows turned upwards in the middle, his lower lip ever so slightly jutting out. “Not, uh...no. I mean, not to me,” he said softly, shaking his head. That had made him sad - thinking that it had probably made Kit sad. And he hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to him about it before he had been kicked out of school. Which was even sadder. 

Agent Choi glanced over at Agent Murray, some sort of communication apparently going on between them with just a few glances, something Court would’ve noticed if he had looked up from where his hands were clasped on the table, though he was still wallowing in the reminder of his best friend. “And...did you ever hear of anything regarding THE NAIVE NEWCOMER using steroids? You’re on the same team, correct?” Agent Choi asked.

 That had Courtney’s head snapping back up right, mouth hanging open. “No! No,” he said. “Absolutely not. He...he wouldn’t. There’s no way,” he said - no, insisted. He knew he had things he didn’t talk about, things he hid from his teammates to be able to play, things people wouldn’t suspect of him - but Kit wouldn’t have. There was no way it was true. 

The scrawling of a pen has their eyes shifting back towards Agent Murray, who didn’t look up from her notes, causing Coco to swallow again, his adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. 

“Do you have any reason to believe THE GOLDEN GIRL would want to leave Ogden College?”

Court just shook his head, curls bouncing. “No,” he said in a whisper. He couldn’t exactly admit the truth, could he. That no matter how good things seemed...there was always a reason.

When it became clear that was all he was going to say, even with the silence the agents let drag out for a few moments longer than were comfortable, Agent Choi spoke up again. “Were you aware of Greer planning to travel to Portugal this summer?”

What? Where did they keep getting these questions from? How were they all related? Coco felt like they were jumping around from question to question just to get his head spinning, wondering if everyone’s questionings had seemed this disjointed, or if he was missing something. “No. Did she go to Portugal?” he asked, nose slightly scrunched up.

Agent Choi offered him a small smile, giving his head a shake. “We can’t disclose that,” he said, leaving Courtney’s lips parted, looking at the agent in ever deepening confusion. “Is there anything you know that you’re not sharing, Mr. Mills?” 

Court just looked at him, still trying to figure out where they were leading him with these questions - because he had no idea what they were looking for with this. “Uh. Um. No,” he said, pushing his chair back. “Am I, uh...good to go, then?” he asked, barely waiting for them to dismiss him before he exited the room, looking like a dog with his tail between his legs as he fled. 

#ogdentask #ictask004 #did i proof read this? nope #we post like men #unedited unreviewed unintelligble

[firstblesssed]

Rest and Relaxation

ffxivwrite2022: 15 - Row

543 words | Island Sanctuary | Masterlist

“Are you sure about this?” G’raha asked, watching Elletha push the small boat into the ocean shore, “Do you even know how to sail?”

“No - But I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually. So get in!” Elletha jumps in and takes a seat at the front, rocking the boat in the water dangerously.

G’raha sighs and trudges over, gently stepping into the boat and sitting in the middle. “Are you rowing or am I, Elle?”

Elletha ponders for a moment, lifting up one of the oars, “I could give it a shot.”

“You’re not sitting in the right place for it.”

“Oh.” 

G’raha sighs, picking up the oars, “Where are we going?”

“Oh, thank you Raha.” Elletha says sweetly, even though G’raha knows that’s what she wanted to happen all along, “We’re just going a little bit out. I could swim but… this seemed like fun! I have to gather some coral and clams to create the bathhouse.”

“And the shore clams weren’t good enough?” G’raha asked, starting to row them out of the bay.

“Nnnnope! They were incredibly small and unsuitable for building. At least, that’s what the mammets told me when I attempted to bring them some.” Elletha crossed her arms, glaring past G’raha’s head at the sanctuary they were leaving. “Who knew they were so picky with their materials?”

“Isn’t this meant to be a relaxing thing for you? I swear you’ve been more stressed here than when you were trying to save the universe.”

“It is relaxing!” Elletha replied, “I’m just taking it very seriously. Tataru gracefully gifted me this island so I’m going to use it to the best of my ability.”

G’raha gives her a deadpan look, making her throw her arms up in the air, “I swear I am relaxing. I just… need to work otherwise I’ll go insane.”

G’raha sighs in response, “You really ought to give relaxation a try - real relaxation.”

“You’re no better mister.” Elletha crossed her arms, “How many times do I have to drag you away from your research and force you to sleep?”

“That’s different I-”

It was Elletha’s turn to give a deadpan stare. G’raha sighed, “Alright fine, I suppose we all have our own ways of recovering our energy. Mine is reading and yours is… building factories apparently.”

Elletha nodded, “Glad we could come to an agreement.”

They rowed in silence for a couple of minutes, Elletha looking contemplative. G’raha stopped rowing, looking up at her. “Are you alright?”

“Are you having fun, Raha? If you want to leave at any point we can go back to La Noscea.”

G’raha shook his head, “I’m only teasing you, Elle,” He reached forward, placing one hand on her knee, “I am having a wonderful time on our own private island.”

A smile creeped onto her face, her worries soothed. “Good, I’m glad- Oh!”

Elletha suddenly stood up, rocking the boat side to side, G’raha grabbing onto the side for dear life, “Elle, what are you doing!”

“Here’s the spot I needed!” She grinned and then disappeared underneath the waves to gather her materials.

G’raha sighed, catching his breath and leaning over the side of the boat to watch his partner.

“Honestly… What am I to do with you, Elletha?”

#ffxivwrite2022 #ffxivwrite #ffxiv #elletha #g'raha tia #short one for the day bc i wasnt feeling too inspired by this prompt fdjdf #but have some island shenanigans instead

[rallis-fatalis]

Preservation/Liberation

What happens when you combine a pent up adventurous dragon with the prospect of exploring a previously unseen part of the world? Well, you get one very annoyed librarian. But also one gigantically grand adventure! As the Varrock Museum finally begins its journey to a deserted historical site on an island across the sea, Rallis plunges herself into her very first grand adventure, changing the path of her life forever.

“Hurry up, bookman! We’re gonna be late!”

“Rallis, slow down! The ship isn’t going anywhere!”

Rallis the blue dragon smiled as she yanked her mentor Reldo along the dirt path to the Varrock Digsite. The man was doing his best to keep a steady pace and not fall flat on his face into the dirt.

“Yes it is!” Rallis argued. “It’s a boat! All it does is go anywhere! Now hurry up!”

She pulled him along even faster. The man yelled as he tried to keep up with her pulling. Soon, they passed through the wooden gate to the Digsite and sprinted around the bend of the silvery mountains that ran along the road. At the turn, Rallis finally stopped, allowing Reldo to lean on his knees and catch his breath. Rallis gasped in awe.

In the man-made channel connecting to the River Salve was a ship, the grandest ship Rallis had ever seen (though to be fair she hadn��t seen many). The hull was a deep red-orange with a black rim. The entire ship was that color scheme, making it look fiery and fierce, especially with its pale red sail. It looked amazingly awesome.

Rallis laughed and yanked Reldo along again, the man not ready and nearly eating dirt. The dragon ran until she reached the loading dock. She stopped abruptly, causing Reldo to trip and this time he did fall into the dirt. Rallis hardly noticed, too engrossed in the scene at hand. Digsite workers were loading the ship with all kinds of archaeological tools and goods. Hand picks, trowels, specimen jars, gloves and boots, protective gear, and even more Rallis couldn’t see. Crates of food and water were also brought in, alongside things like tents and construction supplies. From the look of things, there were already a ton of other supplies already stored away. Were they bringing the whole dig site?!

Reldo groaned as he pulled himself from the dirt. He brushed the gravel from his clothes and hair and glared at Rallis. “Do not ever do that to me again,” he scolded. 

“Hush and look at this, Reldo,” Rallis whispered in awe. “Isn’t it amazing? They’re off to explore a whole new part of the world! A world so ancient no one has ever seen it that’s alive today! I want to go!”

“You are talented at what little archaeology you have done, granted, but only the most trained professionals will be attending this expedition. They don’t need a bouncy dragon under their feet.”

Rallis wrinkled her snout. “Are you saying I would get in the way? I would not! I would be super good to have come! Please, Reldo you have to let me go!”

Before he could respond, two men carrying crates grumbled as they nearly pushed Rallis and Reldo aside. They put their load down by the man with a checklist who was shouting orders.

“He’s gotta be in charge,” Rallis said. “I’m gonna ask him!”

“Rallis, no! Leave him alo–!”

“Excuuuuuse me! Mister with the paper and the shouting!”

Reldo face-palmed as Rallis hopped over to talk to the foreman. He walked over just in time to hear him tell Rallis he wasn’t the one to talk to about going on the expedition.

“What? Then who do I talk to?” Rallis whined.

“I imagine the curator. I’m just the foreman. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do.”

The foreman shooed them away as he shouted another command to a worker loading the ship. Rallis looked to Reldo, eyes glinting. “We have to go talk to Mister Halen.”

“No we do not. Rallis, you’re not going on the trip. This is for experts in the field and for people who have shown they can be responsible and hard-working. You can barely clean your room or practice writing for more than ten minutes.”

“That’s different,” Rallis argued. “This is real and important! Cleaning and writing aren’t as important as digging up history. I’m talking to Mister Halen and I’m going to go!”

With that, Rallis sprinted off to the museum to speak with the curator. Reldo sighed. He did not look forward to already making the walk back. Perhaps he would simply wait here for when Rallis inevitably came running back.

_____________________________________________________________

Rallis came back not half an hour later. She was out of breath and upset. Reldo was seated on an empty crate by the ship, sipping a cup of tea he snagged from the archaeology campus.

“Let me guess,” Reldo said between sips of tea. “Haig Halen said you can’t go.”

Rallis shook her head. “No. He said I could.” Reldo nearly dropped his tea. Rallis continued. “But only if you say yes.” She looked at the librarian with puppy dog eyes. “You won’t say yes, will you?” She said it more than asked.

Reldo opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to find the words and form his thoughts. After a moment of gaping like a fish, he slid off the crate. “I think we should talk in private for a moment.”

He led Rallis away from the workers and the dragon drooped. She wasn’t very hopeful about this. Once they were a private enough distance away, Reldo turned on Rallis. He took a long breath through his nose before he spoke. “Convince me,” he said.

“What?” Rallis said with a cocked head.

“Convince me to let you go on this trip. Convince me why I should let an impulsive, irresponsible, impatient, new-to-the-world dragon go on a once in a lifetime trip across the world to visit a possibly dangerous lost island with the greatest archaeologists of our time.”

Rallis inwardly flinched at his choice of words. He didn’t really think of her like that, did he? She leveled her next words carefully. 

“I am none of those things. I have bad moments, yes, but I am not those things. I work really hard and do my best every day. I live in a world where I’m the only one of my kind that I know of, where I had to learn a whole new language and different way of life just to exist, and work hard to keep learning. I might have been some of those things before, but I’ve learned how to be good and responsible and… and all the good things!”

She took a breath. Reldo didn’t seem convinced.

“I’ve been learning from humans for years now. For years I did what I was told to learn how to live in this world, from Taverley to Burthorpe to Falador to Varrock. I have been doing what I was told for so long and I haven’t had a single adventure of my own yet. And here I finally have the chance to do something amazing. I want to be free, Reldo. I want to explore the world and spread my wings and this is the chance to finally do it.”

For a moment, there was silence. Reldo weighed her words and Rallis waited with bated breath. The bookman sighed through his nose and smiled. “That might be the most eloquent speech you’ve ever given. I’m glad to see you’re finally speaking well. Now if only you could write as nicely.” Rallis blinked in surprise and Reldo continued. “You’re right. You’ve been under my tutelage for over a year and I imagine others’ for even longer. When Kaqemeex presented your situation to me, he told me I would be your final teacher, a final test if you will, and when I thought you were ready, I could let you go and be your own free person.”

Rallis was shocked. She had no idea this was a thing! That crafty druid. She’d let him have it when she came back to visit.

“I will let you go on this expedition,” Reldo conceded. “And on this trip, you will prove to me if you are finally ready to be on your own. If you can’t, you will follow everything I say until I think you’re ready. Agreed?”

Rallis nodded excitedly. “Yes! Thank you, bookman! Thank you so much!” She bounced around happily. “I have to pack! And I have to let Mister Halen know! I have to get ready!”

Before he could stop her, Rallis sprinted off to the museum once more, eager to tell the curator the news. Reldo quietly chuckled and shook his head. As draining as she could be, he hoped Rallis never lost her excitement over every little thing the world had to offer. The world was not as kind as her mentors had made for her, and he was still worried she wasn’t ready to be on her own yet. Perhaps this trip would be better for her than he could realize.

While Rallis was off running to see Haig, Reldo walked back to the foreman at the ship to inform him of one other passenger attending the voyage.

______________________________________________________________

A few days later, the ship was ready to go, and so were its passengers. Haig had given Rallis a crash course on where they would be heading and what to expect. The team was headed to a place simply dubbed “Fossil Island,” named for the graveyard of fossils that littered the coast and nearby sea. No one had previously docked on the island, so the team needed to be ready for anything. The island was about a half week’s trip, needing to travel down the River Salve, through the ocean around southern and eastern Morytania, passing Dragontooth Island, and finally reaching the cluster of islands Fossil Island was part of.

Reldo also gave Rallis some crash courses on how to behave around the other archaeologists and some of the things she might need to do once she reached the island. Contrary to her belief, she would not just be running around digging up bones and rocks. She wanted to groan over the idea of having to cook or clean or everything else he said, but she didn’t. She needed to look responsible! 

By the time the day came for takeoff, Rallis felt nervous but ready. The other archaeologists on the ship did not appreciate that a novice, and an inhuman one at that, would be making the trip with them. They refused to speak with her and whispered to each other behind her back. Rallis tried to pay it no mind. She was here to see fossils and explore a new part of the world, not worry about closed-minded old people.

The captain shouted that they were ready to leave. The onlookers shouted from the dock wishes of luck and safety, and Rallis waved goodbye to Reldo. The librarian watched the ship sail with mixed feelings. He felt something akin to sadness as Rallis left on the waves. It seemed silly to feel such a way, she would be back as soon as he was starting to get comfortable and used to the peace and quiet again, he was sure of it. And yet… he couldn’t help already missing her. How odd. As the ship vanished on the horizon, Reldo walked back to his library, where it would be no one but him for the first time in over a year.

Rallis, although excited to finally go on her own adventure, also felt the same way. Something felt wrong about leaving her mentor after being with him for so long. She shook her head. It wasn’t time to focus on that. She had a long journey ahead of her and it would be a good idea to learn more about her companions for the next… however long they were together.

She walked over to the group of archaeologists chattering away like hens. There were four, three men and one woman. One man, Niko, was thin as a stick with wiry glasses and short but spiky black hair. He was the youngest out of the four and also the least likable. The other two men were much older, both with the same style of short graying hair and identical glasses, but John had a long silver beard and was very portly while Charles was clean shaven and walked with a slight limp from an accident with a cave-in. The woman, Mary, was a bit too much of a daydreamer and lost focus of conversations easily, but she was an amazing archaeologist and biologist. Her long brown hair was tied back in a bun and hidden under a bonnet instead of the pith helm the two older men wore.

Rallis walked over with a cheery smile and waved hello. Immediately, Niko shot her a nasty look and ignored her, while Mary hadn’t even noticed, off in her own little world. Charles awkwardly waved hello in return while John kindly greeted her. John was the nicest of the four to be around by far.

“I uh… just wanted to say hi and get to know you all a little better,” Rallis tried. “Because we’re going to be working together for a while, you know? So, hi, I’m Rallis. I’ve been learning about archaeology and stuff at the Digsite school for a while now and I even helped find cool things in the museum!” Rallis was very proud of her find of the ancient shrine to the forgotten god. “What about you all?”

John went first. “I’m John. I’m a retired professor for the archaeology campus. I specialize in fossils specifically but am a bit of a jack of all trades if I do say so myself.”

“I’m Charles,” said the next man. “I specialize in botany and evolution. No plant is unknown to me.”

Rallis ooh’d over their work and looked to the next two. Mary continued daydreaming while Niko wouldn’t give her the time of day. John cleared his throat, jolting Mary out of her thoughts. 

“Hi… I’m Mary. I’m a biologist and archaeologist. I really like animals… I hope I find some beautiful creature fossils on our trip.” And with that, she went back to her thoughts.

Niko begrudgingly went next. “I’m Niko. I research ancient civilizations. I’m basically a walking history book. And I’ve found nearly every piece of pottery, jewelry, clothing, or what have you currently on display in the museum. I’m quite famous for having been a part of every major find. All except for one.” He narrowed his eyes at Rallis. She whined quietly in confusion. What had she done to make him so mad?

“I will say I’m rather surprised they allowed an amateur such as yourself to join us,” Charles said.

“It’s because Haig has a soft spot for the talking lizard,” Niko hissed under his breath.

Rallis held her tongue. Don’t be impulsive, she told herself. “Actually, I am not a… lizard. I’m a dragon.”

Niko didn’t look pleased to be corrected. “Look lizardy to me,” he continued to mumble. Rallis could not hide the low growl forming in her throat. John quickly tried to mend the situation.

“So Rallis!” he started. “What do you hope to find on the island? We were just discussing what we would like to see.”

Rallis wasn’t sure. She didn’t know what to expect really. She was just excited to do something exciting on her own for once. “I think I’m just looking for an adventure,” she admitted.

Niko scoffed. Like they needed an adventurer on a delicate fossil finding and exploration trip.

“Well hopefully we’ll all find what we want,” John smiled. Rallis smiled back. She liked John the most so far.

“We’re leaving the river,” Mary said. She pointed to the horizon. “Look, the ocean.”

Rallis ran to the edge of the boat and leaned on the railing. Before her the sea stretched out farther than the eye could see. Rolling blue lay in every direction. Waves began to gently beat against and rock the boat. Up above, the blue sky was clear with only a few straw wisps of clouds. It was beautiful.

“I’ve never been on a boat before,” she said. “Or been on the ocean like this. It’s so pretty.”

“This is your first time out to sea?” Charles said. “Oh dear. I’ll have the water crackers ready.”

Rallis cocked her head. “Water… crackers? Are they wet bread?”

“No, they’re just normal crackers but they’re usually eaten on ocean trips,” John explained.

“Why would I need those?” Rallis asked.

“You’re going to vomit,” Mary said nonchalantly. “Boats make everyone sick the first time. The crackers calm your stomach.”

Rallis snorted. “I’m not gonna puke. I love the water! I’m amazing at swimming and love to be in the water. There’s no way it’ll make me sick!”

The four archaeologists gave her doubtful looks. And by the time they reached the southern Morytanian sea, Rallis was indeed hurling over the side of the boat.

The rest of the sail was rather miserable, and Rallis wasn’t sure how much more choppy waves and puking she could handle. Even the other archaeologists seemed to be doing rather roughly by the end of the third day at sea. But soon, in the distance, an island poked out of the horizon. Smoke rose into the air from a volcano, and specks were fluttering around the sky, far too large to be birds.

“We’re almost there!” Charles said excitedly.

“Finally, time to get off this god forsaken boat,” Niko grumbled.

“We’ll arrive in a few hours!” the ship’s captain called out.

Rallis grumbled from her perch over the railing. “Thank Guthix…”

John silently handed her another handful of crackers, which the dragon stuffed her face with.

By the time they closed in on the coast of the island, the sun had begun its descent. They would have a few hours to set up camp once they landed. Rallis looked over the edge of the boat and spotted what looked like bones and weird rocks all throughout the water. The ship had trouble navigating the graveyard, nearly getting stuck on what looked like some kind of giant spine. Shrieks and howls echoed throughout the air as they closed in, alongside the flap of large wings. Rallis perked up immediately. Those were definitely not birds. Were there dragons here?!

The volcano looked even more intimidating the closer they got. It was the largest part of the island and it was obvious it was still active. Heavy plumes of smoke blew out of the top, casting a dark cloud over the far side of the island. The group could see what they thought were huge trees in the distance, but soon realized they were completely foreign plants, shaped like nothing they had seen before. Charles giddily hopped over the thought of studying them.

They soon landed ashore. The ship docked on a beautiful beach cove, completely untouched by humans and hidden from the rest of the island. The archaeologists and crew members began to unload campsite supplies and plan out a makeshift site in the cove. Rallis grabbed her own personal things and leapt onto the sand, happily sinking her claws into the feeling of solid land. She looked around their new home for however long they would be staying and immediately an odd feeling hit her. A feeling of almost heartache and nostalgia. Landing on the beach felt almost like… a welcome home. Rallis tried to shake the feeling away. How silly. She had never been here before. Maybe the draconic sounds in the sky just reminded her of her family was all.

Rallis had to fight the urge to simply run off and explore the island. She helped unload cargo and attempted to set up tents. She had never so much as touched a tent kit before, but thankfully John showed her how it worked. Tents for all the archaeologists were set up quickly (not for the ship crew as they preferred to sleep on the ship), supplies were sorted through and unpacked, and the perimeter scouted. Other than the ocean, there were four openings into the beach cove: a hole in the side of the northern hill, a path to the west into what seemed like some kind of forest, a path to the northern end of the beach, and a path to the east into the rocky land at the base of the volcano. The path to the east had a nice flat open area, perfect to set up a station to clean and preserve any finds they might need to work on. Large sea birds perched on the hills surrounding the cove, watching the archaeologists work. Rallis called out to them and they called back, making her giggle.

By the time the sun was mere moments from setting, the crew had set up their camp nicely, with places to sleep, cook, store supplies, and work. The four archaeologists sat around their campfire stove cooking dinner, a very beany stew, and chatted excitedly. Rallis, on the other hand, emerged from the waters of the beach with an absolutely massive fish in her mouth. She shook the water off and hung her clothes to dry before joining the other four by the fire in pajamas. She moved their bubbling stew pot aside for a moment to roast her gutted catch. It almost didn’t fit over the fire it was so big.

“Did you… just go catch that?” Charles asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Rallis said. “Why?”

“Nothing, I suppose. It’s just a bit of a shock you managed to catch a fish within moments of being here. And without a fishing rod too!”

“I’m real good at fishing,” Rallis said proudly. “But not with a rod. I swim really fast and catch them with my claws and teeth. You guys should go for a swim tomorrow and see what’s in the water! There’s really pretty coral and the fish are huge! And the water is so pretty and clear and there’s a bunch of cool rocks and–!”

“We get it, the beach is very nice,” Niko interrupted. “Quiet down and let us eat in peace.” He sipped a spoonful of stew.

Rallis frowned but said nothing, instead silently roasting her catch.

“I’m sure we would be delighted to see what you’ve found tomorrow,” John said kindly. “I think we’re all just a bit tired from such a long journey. I know I’m ready for bed!”

Rallis simply nodded and continued to make her dinner. The rest of the night was spent in silence or quiet whispers, and Rallis didn’t dare say another word other than good night when she went to bed. What a jerk that Niko was. She grumbled to herself as she huddled into her sleeping bag. Whatever, she didn’t need to think about him. Tomorrow was a new day full of exciting adventures. It was just one little nap away…

____________________________________________________________

“SNAKES!!!”

Rallis jumped awake with a startled snore at the sound of shouting. She flew out of her sleeping bag and leapt out of her tent. She chirped startledly at the sight that greeted her. Their camp was full of bright green snakes with black stripes. They were slithering up to the tents, flicking their tongues curiously, climbing onto their crates to investigate the contents, or otherwise cocking their heads at their new humanoid guests.

It was Charles that shouted out. By his side was one of the ship’s crew. He had a sword drawn and pointed at a serpent slithering nearby.

“Don’t hurt them!” Rallis shouted. “They won’t hurt you!”

“How do you know that?!” Niko shouted. He was perched atop a stack of crates, a row of five snakes looking up at him curiously. “We’ve never seen this species before!”

“Just trust me, they won’t hurt you! They’re not aggressive or venomous!”

None of the archaeologists seemed to believe her, so Rallis puffed herself up and walked straight into the middle of the horde of serpents. Immediately, all the snakes’ gazes were on her. They had kind doofy faces and thick chunky bodies. She smiled down at the snakes and held out a hand to one. It sniffed her before slithering up her arm. Rallis giggled as it made its way up to her neck and coiled around her like a necklace. It looked her in the face and smiled.

The archaeologists and crew members held their breath in shock as more snakes slithered onto Rallis. She sat down in the sand and laughed as all the snakes took an interest in her and flocked to her like babies to their mother. She smiled at the scared humans. “I told you they wouldn’t hurt you. Would you like to pet one?”

The men stood petrified. Mary calmly walked over and held a hand out to one of the snakes around Rallis. It sniffed her and slithered up her arm as well to rest around her neck, head atop Mary’s.

“I like them,” Mary smiled. “I would like to learn more about these friendly noodles. How did you know they were safe?”

Rallis shrugged. She just knew. “I’m a bit more in tune with nature than humans, no offense.”

“Well, they seem to like you,” Mary said.

“Call them off, serpent charmer!” Niko shouted from his crate perch. “Get them out of our camp!”

Rallis hissed to the snakes and stood. She walked toward the western path of the camp and every snake followed behind in an orderly fashion. Mary sadly let hers go too. Once they reached the forested path, the serpents slithered off into the undergrowth. Rallis nuzzled the one around her neck goodbye as it slithered down. She turned around to find everyone staring at her with a mix of shock and awe. Rallis blushed in embarrassment and walked back to the group. 

“What a wake-up call!” she said. “Now what’s for breakfast?”

After the situation with the snakes, the group ate and readied themselves for the day. The five decided to stick together and learn the island before they all went off in their separate ways to do their own research. They decided to head in the direction of the forest first, much to Niko’s chagrin. That’s where the snakes were! John told him to buck up and the five moved along.

As the group traversed the undergrowth and entered the forest proper, the four archaeologists collectively gasped. They were surrounded by megaflora they had never seen before. There were mushrooms the size of houses, pitcher plants tall enough to swallow a Wilderness mammoth whole, orchids and lilies with blooms the size of Varrock square, and so much more. Even the smaller foliage was interesting; frilly red mushrooms the size of a human head jiggled in the ground, sweet smelling sundews coiled out in the path, spiny ferns with foamy stems swished in the gentle breeze. 

Charles looked like he was in heaven. “Look at all this!” he said in awe. “I’ve never seen anything like any of these plants before! There must be at least two dozen new species of flora and fungi within the next 20 feet alone! I must take some samples immediately.”

The man pulled out a specimen jar and scalpel and excitedly readied to cut into the stalk of a giant plant. Before he could take a slice for a sample, Rallis firmly grabbed his hand and shook her head.

“Don’t. It’s poisonous.”

Rallis pointed to the soft fuzz surrounding the skin of the stalk, almost invisible it was so light and delicate. It looked to be some kind of spore, waiting to be set off.

“Oh my! That could have been tragic. I suppose I got carried away with excitement. Thank you, Rallis. I shall have to be more careful.”

Mary looked at a white curling plant with red bulbs at the end of each leaf. It was rather small, only reaching her knee. She kneeled down to get a closer look, and one again Rallis put a stop to her action.

“Be careful,” the dragon warned. “The red part is sticky and causes a rash. It will burst open if you touch it.” She grabbed a twig off a fallen log and poked a red bulb. Sure enough, it splattered open in a mess of goo. Mary grimaced and Rallis tossed the stick.

Niko and John were about to step over a fern when Rallis stopped them as well. “Unless you want to pull spines from your legs and clothing, don’t touch that. Tiny thin spines cover every leaf.”

The men stopped and looked closer. Once again, she was right. Niko huffed. “Okay, how do you know this then? The snakes I can believe, but now the plants too? What’s going on here?”

The others looked to her for answers too. It was rather odd Rallis knew so much about an unexplored island. But Rallis just shrugged. “I dunno. It’s just kinda obvious to me. Like the hshodnagh smells sweet and has those thick parts. Obviously it would be some kind of sticky plant, and sticky plants never feel good. And the drushrtee looks like a giant mushroom. Fuzzy mushrooms mean sporey mushrooms, and sporey mushrooms never spell out a good time.”

The group blinked at her in a mix of confusion, surprise, and skepticism. They silently came to the conclusion that perhaps it would be best to not question the dragon. She seemed very adamant about her knowledge and it would be unfair to judge based on their preconceived notion of her inexperience. They continued the trek through the forest, this time with Rallis in the lead. As they walked, she pointed out every plant she could, explaining what they did, if they were safe to be near, and answered any questions the other might have had. Charles took most of the notes, eager to return for his own findings.

As they walked, something strolled across the path. The group stopped. Was it another snake? They inched quietly around a giant mushroom, which Charles dubbed a “mushtree,” and saw what looked like a walking bush. The bush was snuffling through a fern just ahead of them.

Rallis smiled and whispered to the archaeologists. “That’s a flangrr-ig. They’re like pigs with plants that grow on them. They have really big teeth but they only eat plants and bugs. They’re not aggressive but very shy.”

“I’d love to get a closer look,” Mary whispered.

“Me too,” Charles replied. “A symbiotic relationship between plant and animal like that must be studied!”

Charles was a little too loud and the animal turned around quickly. It spotted the group and squealed before running away into a hole in the ground. Rallis huffed and emerged from behind the mushroom. Charles dipped his head in apology.

“I’m sure we’ll find another,” John assured. “Let us continue our tour!”

The two carved their way through the forest until they reached a mucky blackish blue pool. Rallis told them not to touch it. Before they could ask why, she tossed a leaf into the pool and it turned black and brittle. They duly noted the effect before moving east. 

They emerged from the forest to find themselves on another beach. It was far larger than the cove their camp was set up in. Massive brown boulders dotted the landscape and John gasped ecstatically. Nearly every boulder had some kind of shell or fossil embedded in them, just laying in plain sight!

“Our first fossils!” he exclaimed. “Oh, I just must take a closer look!”

The other four followed behind him, but as they grew closer, Rallis’ scales itched. Something wasn’t right. When she noticed the fossil rock twitch ever so slightly, she knew that was no ordinary rock.

“Wait, stop!” she cried. “I think the rock is ali–!”

Suddenly, in a poof of sand, the rock leapt into the air. The archaeologists coughed and waved the sand away. Standing before them was a massive hermit crab, easily the size of a wagon. It had turned the fossil into its home! It sideswiped John with a massive pincer, shoving him aside. Charles and Mary ducked out of the way to aid him, but Niko was frozen in place. Before the crab could take a swipe at him too, Rallis jumped in the way with her fangs bared and claws outstretched. She grabbed the crab claw in her jaws and bit, puncturing the hard shell casing. The crab screeched and foamed at the mouth in pain, but did not relent. It turned around and tried to smash its rocky shell into Rallis and Niko. Rallis grabbed the archaeologist and pulled him away just in time.

“Run!” she shouted to John, Mary, and Charles. They nodded, heaved up John, and followed Rallis as she ran with a wailing Niko in tow. They ran across the beach until they reached the forest once more, this section a grove of hardwoods. They hid in the thicket of trees until all was quiet. The five breathed a collective sigh of relief. 

Charles and Mary sat down John. “Alright, let’s take a look at you,” Charles said. Thankfully the swipe John took wasn’t bad. The shove only winded him and the claw just grazed his arm.

Niko recovered from his shock and yanked his hand away from Rallis. “You can let go of me now,” he hissed.

Rallis hissed in kind. “The words you’re looking for are ‘thank you.’”

“Thank you?! What for?! I was perfectly fine!”

Even the other archaeologists gave Niko a stern look. The man got the message and shut his trap and turned away from the group.

John rose from the ground. “I’m fine, friends. What an adventure today has been so far though! I think I’d like a break back at camp. What say you all?”

Charles, Mary, and Rallis nodded. Niko muttered a ‘whatever.’

“How do we get back to camp actually,” Charles said as he looked around. Wherever they were was new territory.

Rallis looked around in thought. She wasn’t quite sure either. She cautiously crept back out onto the beach. Thankfully the crab was gone. To the east of the forest they were hiding in was a hill of rock, a very familiar hill of rock.

“I think if we follow these rocks we’ll reach the camp. It looks a lot like the hill to the north of the cove.”

The group agreed and followed the rock. They were very careful to not disturb the resting rocks and fossils on the beach now that they knew a monster could be hiding right underneath. As they walked, the rocky hill eventually broke apart, leaving a path through the hill. Rallis was right again. Their camp was on the other side. The group hurried along to the relative safety of their makeshift home. 

As Rallis was about to step through the rock, she stopped. Or it felt more like something forced her to stop. She looked around but there was nothing around, no eyes watching her or beast waiting to pounce. As she surveyed the area, her gaze stopped on an islet across the water. A shadowy looming structure sat atop the islet. It made the dragon’s scales crawl and heart race. What was that out there? Why did it feel so… wrong? 

A voice calling for her shook her from her thoughts. She walked through the rocky crevice and made her way back to camp.

________________________________________________________________

The remainder of the day was spent resting and gathering safe samples from the plants in the forest. Mary sketched many of the plants while Rallis and Charles collected samples. Niko set up more of the camp, including a place to study the specimens they took, and explored more of the northern beach with John, far from any giant crabs. To the north was another cove, albeit far smaller than the one they camped in. It was rocky and full of rich minerals. Many birds called the cove home, with nests of varying sizes adorning the nooks and crannies. There were even rare species of condor roosting there! John spent some time detailing the avians that called the place home.

By sunset, the group had accomplished quite a lot for their first full day of adventure. They were discussing and chatting during dinner, much more comfortably than before. They even included Rallis in their conversations, making her feel much more welcome.

“I will say,” Charles said between bites of dinner. “I had some qualms about an untrained adventurous youngster coming with us. But now I’m ever so thankful you’re part of this expedition, Rallis. I imagine we’d all be dead by now without you!” He laughed a short laugh and took another bite.

“I think I would have lasted the longest,” Mary said. “At least I know not to sniff mushroom spores.”

“You would have followed the first thing you saw moving and let it eat you while you studied it,” Charles quipped. 

“Speaking of eating,” John said. “I wonder if any of the mushrooms in the forest are edible.”

“I know some are,” Rallis said. “But I don’t know if humans can eat them. So maybe just not to you guys.”

Niko shot her an odd glance. He was getting tired of the way she talked about this place like a know-it-all.

John turned to Niko. “What’s been your favorite part of our adventure so far, Niko?”

The man grumbled, shoveled the rest of his food in his mouth, and tossed his bowl into the wash bin. “I’ll enjoy myself when I don’t see any more reptiles in my vicinity.” And with that, he stomped off to his tent.

Rallis’ ears drooped. She thought perhaps he was talking about the snakes from that morning until she saw the glare he tossed him. The other archaeologists shot her an apologetic glance.

“Why does he hate me?” Rallis asked bluntly.

John looked away. Charles bit his tongue. Mary replied just as bluntly. “Because you stole a job position from him.”

The two men groaned at her wording and Rallis chirped in confusion. When Mary did not deign to reply, too engrossed with her final bread roll, Charles spoke up.

“About four months ago, you participated in a historical dig at the Digsite. You found something the school and older archaeologists had been trying to find for ages. Do you remember that?”

Rallis nodded. Of course she did. How could she forget finding a shrine to an ancient god? She was highly praised and rewarded for her achievement. Many of her findings were preserved and displayed in the museum for others to study. She was hammered with questions about how she found such a thing and grew rather famous across the archaeology community for a while. There were even rumors of highly esteemed archaeologists from half the world over wanting to investigate her find.

“When you found the underground shrine to the forgotten god, not everyone was happy about your achievement,” Charles continued. “Especially Niko. Niko is a prodigy. He found his first ground shattering find when he was only ten years old, and his achievements only grew larger and faster from there. By the time he was only 21 he was a master in his field. He was on the fast track to becoming a certified grandmaster archaeologist, the youngest in history. But to become a grandmaster, you need to find something so groundbreaking, so amazingly revolutionary, that it changes a part of history as we know it. That or dedicate yourself to the craft for decades. Niko was attempting the former of the two options.

He has been researching the fallen empire and its forgotten god since he was just a teenager. He knows so much about its history he could probably write the closest thing we have to a complete history. He has quite a great stake in the history of the forgotten empire. When word of traces of artifacts belonging to the empire had been found east of Varrock in the Digsite, he felt like he had to be the one to find everything. He thought that would grant him the grandmaster title for sure.”

“He was so excited,” John mumbled. “I remember the day he found just a scrap of ancient metal from the empire. He showed it off to everyone he could.”

“It was really rather annoying,” Mary said. The two men shot her a look. “But I suppose also rather endearing,” she added.

“He spent months digging up the sites north of the school campus,” Charles continued. “Sometimes he would even spend all night out there with nothing but a lamp for light and continue on to the next day without sleep.”

“Remember when the class heading out to practice excavation found him asleep in the dirt?” John laughed. “Didn’t a duck from the river fly over and poop on him in his sleep?”

“That’s right!” Charles laughed. “He was so embarrassed.” He cleared his throat. “But back to the subject at hand. Niko worked tirelessly to find some big breakthrough about the ancient civilization. And then one day, you happened to come along.”

Rallis shifted uncomfortably. She could see where this was going.

“Imagine how it felt, a brand new student to the digsite, having hardly studied for a few months, taking away the discovery of the Age from someone who had made it his goal in life to find it. You were praised as the newest prodigy, and all of Niko’s hard work amounted to nothing. His words, not mine. He believes you destroyed his one chance at a big break.”

Rallis rubbed the back of her neck. “I didn’t think anything of it when I found what I did. I just wanted to be helpful and find cool stuff. I didn’t know there was all this pool-iticks stuff about it. If I had known I woulda just let him have the glory.”

“Honestly, that would have probably made him angrier,” John said. “He wanted to find it himself. It does sound rather petty when you lay it all out like this, but what glory seeker isn’t? I doubt he’ll stay angry with you forever, but know that this all happened only a few months ago. The wounds are still a bit raw for him. If he had been the one to find the shrine, right now he would be leading his own expeditions and have an entire classroom of experts at his disposal to research whatever and wherever he liked.”

“It’s also pissing him off that you know so much about this place,” Mary said. “He feels like you’re stealing his thunder again. Personally I think he needs to get over himself this time. If he wants to be a master he needs to start acting like one.”

The two men nodded. Mary did indeed have a point. But they all knew Niko wouldn't be listening to reason any time soon.

“Should I apologize or something?” Rallis asked.

“No,” they said in unison. “Just give him some space,” John said. “And that way you also won’t have to deal with his grumpy attitude,” he added with a wink.

Rallis nodded and finished the last bite of her dinner. She was glad they shared this with her. She always grew grumpy and frustrated when she didn’t understand something, and now that she was in the loop she could be a little more careful about her actions. Was this part of being responsible that Reldo tried to teach her? She felt pride swell in her chest. She absolutely was doing things right and he’d see that soon!

The four concluded their night and went to bed, eager to start the next day.

The next morning brought a new adventure. The group scouted out more of the forest, taking more samples to study and watching the wildlife more closely. They had a close encounter with a zygomite species native to the island after John tried to take a sample from one of the frilly red mushrooms, only to find it was a zygomite lure. Rallis quickly disposed of it and warned them not to touch the red mushrooms again. Mary got to see one of those plant pigs more closely and even got to sketch part of it before it noticed her and ran away.

Today, the five journeyed to the southern end of the forest rather than the northern. As they walked, the plants thinned and the ground grew more wet and sticky. Some of the green and black striped snakes slithered about here, making Niko shudder. Rallis let one slide up her arm to hang around her horns. The farther they went, the more the trees and light-colored mushrooms fell away and the more carnivorous plants and new plants appeared. Rallis’ scales flared at some of the plants, some innate animal sense telling her to stay away.

Niko gagged suddenly and covered his nose. “Ugh, what is that foul stench?”

The four stopped to sniff and they all covered or wrinkled their nose in kind. “It smells like rot,” John said. “And… something else awful.”

“It’s coming from the direction we’re heading,” Charles said. “Should we turn around?”

“We don’t know if this smell is toxic,” Mary said. “That may be wise until we know more. Unless you know something, Rallis?”

Rallis paused and looked around. On either side of her were dark colored mushrooms with venomous tips or pitcher plants ready to devour them all if they got too close. She closed her eyes and felt something tugging at the edge of her mind.

“A swamp… It’s a swamp. It’s… bad. I think.” She turned to the snake sitting on her horns and it agreed with her. “Yeah, it’s bad. Nothing lives there but bad plants. We should go.”

As the group turned around, a venom-tipped mushroom reacted to their presence. It swiftly dipped down its sharp points where John and Mary were standing. The pair yelped as Rallis yanked them away to safety. But the dragon tripped and fell backwards against a giant sundew, snake being thrown into a fern in the process. The plant instinctively began to coil around her with its sticky tendrils. The dragon screamed in fear and pain as the sticky tendrils burned into her scales.

“Grab her!” Charles yelled. The four grabbed onto the dragon’s legs and pulled, but the plant wasn’t going down without a fight. It wrapped around the dragon even tighter, and the four archaeologists pulled harder. It was a deadly battle of tug-o-war, but with one giant heave, the humans beat the plant. The archaeologists fell back with Rallis. She ripped herself free of the remaining tendrils and rolled around in the muddy earth to wipe the sticky goop off.

The four breathed a sigh of relief, but Mary gasped at the remains of the plant. Inside the center, wrapped by thick coils of sundew, was a skull. It was no ordinary skull either. There was no way she could reach it to examine it without getting caught so she took quick note of its features before the sundew hid it again. The other three archaeologists saw what she was looking at and admired the skull in awe as well.

“What beast does that belong to?” Charles asked in wonder.

John pushed up his glasses. “I have no doubt in my mind that’s a wyvern skull. I helped build the exhibit on it after studying the reanimated corpses in Asgarnia. Look at the way the snout and horns curve. That’s definitely no dragon.”

Rallis whined at the grass and mud stuck to her clothes and skin, but at least the burning itching sensation had stopped. “What are you all looking at?” John motioned for her to come see. There, in the center of the plant, was indeed a wyvern skull. It was easily half the size of Rallis’ entire body. For a moment, a sharp pang of sadness and guilt stabbed her heart, but she shook it away. She was just upset it was a dead dragon, nothing more.

“Does this mean this was once the home of wyverns?” John asked.

“Or maybe is,” Mary said.

“Yes,” Rallis said with a certainty that begged no argument. “So that’s what I saw on the boat. And the sounds I heard! Wyverns still live here! I wonder why we haven’t seen any yet.”

“Perhaps they don’t like visitors,” Charles said.

“I think we’d be more prey than visitor,” Niko said sourly. “This place just got a lot more dangerous than it already is. We should get out of here and head to safer ground.”

The others agreed. Rallis didn’t think a wyvern would hurt her if she had the chance to speak with it, but she wanted to head back to camp and take a dip in the water to wash this sticky gunk off.

The remainder of the day, the group kept close to the safer parts of the forest and studied their samples or studied the fossils on the beach that were not homes to giant hermit crabs. A slew of fascinating ammonites were brought back for cleaning and study, and on the shores of the beach, Rallis found a few segments of tail bone. She wondered what they could possibly belong to.

As the sun began to set behind the mushroom forest, John had a good look at the fossils and bones.

“You’ve most definitely found wyvern bones,” he told Rallis. “I’d recognize them anywhere. And these aren’t fossilized either. They’re perhaps five years old at the latest. That confirms it; we have some rather terrifying residents on this island.”

“How on Gielinor have we not seen one yet then?” Niko said.

“Wyverns tend to live in caves and we have explored none. I assume they are hiding out somewhere over there.” He pointed toward the volcano. Even from a distance, they could see caverns in the rocks leading up to the flaming mountain. It was rather unnerving to think that these past few days they were so close to deadly draconids that could carry them off as a snack in their sleep.

“Great,” Niko muttered. “As if the deadly plants and aggressive crabs weren’t enough to worry about, now there are dragons waiting to pick us off for food.”

“The wyverns won’t hurt you,” Rallis said. “Especially with me here. I can speak to any reptile.”

“A perfect skill for this situation, I’d say!” Charles cheered. “We’ll just leave the wyverns to you if we ever see one.”

“Will we still be investigating the eastern half of the island then, knowing wyverns roost there?” Mary asked. “I think we should.” Her eyes sparkled over the idea of studying a species thought to be long dead.

“I think perhaps we should send an envoy first,” John said, eyeing Rallis. “If you can really speak with wyverns, could you tell them we mean no harm nor trespassing and simply wish to study here?”

“I don’t think they understand studying but I can try,” Rallis said. She looked to the sky. It would be dark in an hour or so. “I’m going to go now then. Wyverns are nocturnal.”

“Someone should go with you,” John said. 

Rallis waved her hand. “No, it would be best if it’s just me. I’ll be back.”

With that, Rallis scurried along the path to the base of the volcano, looking for caves as she went. The smell of ash and sulfur assaulted her nose as Rallis grew closer to the volcano. On the path, what Rallis thought were piles of rock and sand turned out to be hardened ash. Stepping in one made a cloud of foulness puff into her face. She hacked and coughed and fanned the powder away. She did not look forward to when they eventually explored the volcano.

Soon, the path branched. One path relatively clear of ash and debris led up to the volcano, but another led down to a small beach. Rallis decided to go that way to wash the ash off her quickly. She jumped into the water with a sigh of happiness. The toxic dust floated away, and for a moment Rallis relaxed in the water. She looked up at the darkening sky, shadowed by the coming night and volcanic smoke. After all that had been happening these past few days, Rallis just wanted a few moments to herself, and floating on the gentle shore gave her just that. She closed her eyes for a moment and let her mind wander. This island may have been full of dangerous plants, monster crustaceans, and a volcano that rumbled like it would blow any moment, but still she found herself more at ease and at home here than she had anywhere else. She wondered why that was. Why did she feel so connected to a place she had never been before? Maybe this is what it felt like to finally set her adventurous spirit free.

Rallis opened her eyes and sighed. She supposed it was time to get back on the road and look for the wyverns. As she was about to hop out of the water, something in the sky caught her eye. A shape fluttering against the smoke of the volcano stood out. It was struggling to carry something. It dropped whatever it was holding, letting it fall through the air, until it dove down to catch it in a better position. Its long tail corrected its wonky flight, and the creature swooped down toward the base of the volcano. It turned suddenly and swooped right overhead, splashing Rallis with sea spray from the force of its wing flaps. Rallis sputtered and sank into the waves. That was no bird, that was for sure! That had to be a wyvern! It was flying across the water and disappeared behind some rocks to the west. Rallis swam over.

Around the corner, a cave opened up in the rock face against the ocean. Waves splashed against the side, spraying the entrance with mist and slicking the rocks. Rallis leapt onto the lip of the cave and listened. Rowdy chirps and screeches echoed throughout the cave, drowning out on the sound of the crashing waves. This was definitely a wyvern cave. Rallis giddily slid into the cave and ran along.

For a while, there was no light, and Rallis was thankful for being able to see in the dark. But as the screeches grew louder, the cave grew a bit brighter. Soon the cave opened out into a massive cavern that shimmered with softly glowing white-silver rocks. The cavern had to be underground; there was no way something this big was up above or she and the archaeologists would have spotted it sooner. Wyverns fluttered and hopped around the cave, making Rallis smile with joy.

They were all various shades of gray-green or gray-white with thick black stripes along their tail, just like the friendly snakes. Some had horns curved forward around their jaw, while others had a more traditional dragon look, and others were completely bald. The only color on their bodies were streaks on their wing bones and came in red, blue, or orange. The blue ones were especially pretty.

The wyvern from earlier that was carrying something was front and center. It was obviously carrying dinner, or rather breakfast, and was tearing into it hungrily. It looked to be a lobster almost twice the wyvern’s size. A few other wyverns came over for a bite and surprisingly the hunter did not shoo them away.

The cavern shook for a moment and out of a tunnel an absolutely massive wyvern stomped through. Its bones were black as night and its skin as white as snow. Its blood red talons dragged something behind it, a shark nearly half the size of the Digsite’s boat! It dropped the food in the center of the floor and more wyverns flocked over for a bite. Rallis really wanted to jump down and join them but she feared they might not appreciate a foreigner coming down during breakfast time. She patiently hid in the tunnel until they were done.

…Or she would have had a wyvern with bright orange wing stripes not appeared right behind her, fish in jaw. It stared at her. She stared at it. Neither made a move, until Rallis chirped a hello in the language of dragons. The wyvern perked up in interest over the odd visitor that could speak their language. It squawked something, muffled by the fish in its jaws, and grabbed her with its talons and tossed her into the pit below. At once, every wyvern froze and stared at her. The orange-winged wyvern settled beside her and dropped its fish.

“Uh… hello,” she tried. Every wyvern was startled that she could speak to them. “I do not mean to trespass, nor attack, nor steal food.” She got low to the floor and made herself look as little of a threat as possible. “I simply wished to meet with you. It is an honor to meet you.”

The massive white wyvern stepped forward. It gave her a sniff and backed away curiously.

“Draekkerken,” it rumbled. At once, every other wyvern muttered the same thing in a hushed hiss. Rallis had never heard the word before. Was that their word for dragon? It sounded close enough to dhrakker. 

“I wanted to speak to you about the humans that arrived a few days ago,” Rallis continued. The wyverns grew tense at the mention of them. “I came to promise you they mean no harm. They came to learn about your home and the creatures that live here. They will not steal your territory, your food, or your lives, and they will not stay forever. They do not even have weapons.”

The wyverns chattered quietly. The white one spoke and the rest hushed.

“They… tribe with draekkerken?” it asked.

It would take too long to explain that they were just comrades and not family so Rallis simply said yes. “May I bring them to meet you?” she asked. “They would love to see such an incredible creature like you all.”

The large wyvern bowed. “We do as draekkerken command.”

“Oh. Well thank you then. I’ll let them know. Is there another way to leave your home?”

The white wyvern roared and the other wyverns parted to show Rallis the way out. She bowed a thank you and walked through the cave. There were many holes in the cavern walls, likely sleeping holes, that varied in size and shape. Some wyverns were sharpening their talons on stalagmites, others were digging into breakfast, and others were playing around on the floor. It made Rallis smile. Perhaps this is why she felt so at home here. Relatives to her own kind were here! Though she was still rather confused about their ways. Why had what she assumed was the elder treated her like their better? She was much smaller and weaker than any of them. Surely that would have made her lowly in their eyes, not someone to bow and listen to. She would have to ask more later.

Eventually, Rallis made her way to another hole. It opened out into a verdant dip in the rock hidden by rock walls. When she climbed up the rock ledge, she found the entrance was barely a 15 minute walk from camp. The wyverns were right next to them the whole time! Mary and John were sure to be excited. Rallis skipped her way back to camp.

The next day, Rallis along with John and Mary made their way to the wyvern cave. Niko and Charles opted to instead investigate the volcano. Rallis introduced the humans to the wyverns and acted as translators for each other. John and Mary took turns asking questions about wyvern life, history of the island, and anything else they could think of. The wyverns asked no questions, waiting patiently for the humans to be done. Although it was early morning for the humans, it was getting late for the wyverns and many were tired and ready to turn in for the night.

Rallis and the archaeologists learned some fascinating ecology and history from the wyverns. Apparently, wyverns handled cold better than heat, and they breathed a freezing ice breath to match. They were sensitive to the sun, hence their nocturnal behavior, and the older a wyvern grew, the more pigment in their skin they lost, until they turned bone white. As for history, the group was disappointed over the lack of details. All they could provide was the information that ‘draekkerken,’ or ‘dragons,’ lived here as well a long time ago. But now they were all gone. Something ingrained in wyvern blood told them to always obey and respect the draekkerken, which was why they took so well to Rallis. That still felt wrong to the dragon, but she felt honored nonetheless. 

“Perhaps what dragons did live here migrated to the mainland,” Mary said. “Perhaps they needed a different climate or food source or territory.”

“They could have migrated with some wyverns too,” John added. “Hence the wyvern skeletons in Asgarnia.”

The ancient white wyvern grumbled something else of note to them.

“Our friend says there is actually something the draekkerken left behind,” Rallis explained. “He says it’s on the land connected by land. I think that means islet? Maybe we’ll find it on the northern beach.”

“I do remember seeing something interesting in the distance off the northern shore,” John said. “But I couldn’t make out what. It was dark and large, indeed sitting on an islet. Perhaps it’s a dragon nest or trove of some kind.”

At John’s description, Rallis felt a chill in the air. That was the same thing Rallis had spotted on their trip back from their crabby encounter. Something about that place didn’t feel right. But if that’s where they were headed next, then she knew she couldn’t argue. The trio thanked the wyverns and headed back to camp to meet up with Niko and Charles after their own adventure.

That afternoon, Niko and Charles came back covered in soot. “The volcano is most certainly active!” Charles exclaimed. “But in a most unusual way. It seems to be a home to creatures inside and not actually prone to eruption. At least that’s my hypothesis. The magmatic activity in there is not natural.”

“How do you hypothesize that,” John questioned. Charles just smiled innocently. “Oh good Saradomin, did you go into the volcano?! Charles, you're not young and foolish anymore!”

“He dragged me with him,” Niko bemoaned. “He saw an opening near the top of the volcano that was traveled by local fauna and decided to take a look for himself. Something definitely lives in there. Before we could learn what, a hot plume of ash pushed us out, hence the appearance.”

“Goodness me,” John said. “Once you get yourselves cleaned up we’ll share what we found.” 

While the two went off to clean up and get changed, Rallis went for a swim. She wanted to explore the waters off the beach properly and figured now was a good enough time as any. She dove under the waves and followed the sand to the bones she saw on the boat ride here. Patches of bright coral lined the sandy ground, shimmering like an underwater rainbow. Equally bright fish darted away from the swimming dragon. As she swam, Rallis found hundreds of little light brown rocks with shell imprints in them, much like the one the giant crab used for shelter but on a far smaller scale. She pocketed a few to take back with her.

She came up for air and dove down again. The sand dropped off a bit more steeply and seaweed rose from the ground. Larger shell imprinted rocks were buried in the sand here, and they only grew larger the farther out she went. One particularly interesting one caught her eye. It was shaped like a dome with two small indents like eyes. The other side had what looked like little crab feet. Maybe this one was a fossilized animal!

As Rallis readied to swim back up for air with her new find, something fast swam by in the corner of her vision. She turned to look but nothing was there. She rose a little higher to the surface and she saw the same flash again! She turned around quicker this time and caught sight of a long blue tail disappearing behind a thicket of seaweed. It was long like a serpent but had a fish-like fin at the end. What kind of creature looked like that? She was going to investigate but her lungs yelled for air and she had no choice but to surface. She gasped for air and dove back down to see if the mystery creature was still there. But there was nothing. Disappointed, Rallis swam back to shore, fossil in tow.

Rallis handed over her fossil to John, who investigated it excitedly. Charles and Niko had cleaned and changed by the time Rallis returned, and the group of five headed to the northern beach to look across the way at the structure on the islet. John held a spyglass to his eye to examine the structure further.

“Why, it looks to be… almost like a building of sorts,” he said. “It certainly isn’t a natural structure, that’s for sure.”

“A building?!” Niko said excitedly. “Let me see that!” He snagged the spyglass and held it up to his own eye. Sure enough, whatever was on the islet out to sea was some sort of unnatural structure. Niko couldn’t believe his eyes. “Why would there be a man-made structure here? Wasn’t this island supposed to be uninhabited? This means there could be a whole new chapter of human history we know nothing about!” He grew more and more excited with every word leaving his mouth.

Charles took the spyglass next. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there’s a way to reach it. We would have to build some kind of bridge to get across.” He pointed to the end of the islet. A large gap between it and the main island sat over jagged rocks and deep water.

“We have the materials to do so, certainly,” Charles continued. “But it might take a couple days to build something long and secure enough to bridge that gap. I definitely wouldn’t want to fall from there, that’s for sure!”

Niko grumbled. “There’s evidence of ancient human history right in front of us and I have to wait to explore it.” He grumbled some more under his breath.

“You can be patient a little longer,” Mary lightly scolded. “It isn’t going anywhere. And unless you intend to climb those rocks, you’ll just have to wait and help us build.”

Rallis took a look at the rocky incline of the islet. The stone was dark and jagged like knives made of obsidian. One wrong move and you would surely be sliced open. And yet…

“I’m pretty sure I can climb that,” the dragon said. The others turned on her in incredulity. “What? I grew up in caves. I can rock climb really well.”

“I don’t doubt that,” John said. “But there’s no need to risk yourself. We can simply build a bridge and take the safer method.”

“And there is no way I’m letting you investigate that before me!” Niko spat. “I’ll rip my hands open crawling up there if I have to!”

Rallis wrinkled her snout in disdain and Charles sighed in exasperation. “Have a little patience, you two! You can wait a few days to explore. Let’s begin planning how to get across.”

Rallis eyed the spiky incline again, then Niko. “No,” she snapped. “I have an idea. You three can build your safe way across. You want to go exploring so bad?” she pointed to Niko. She smiled a savage toothy grin. “Then you need to become an adventurer.” She grabbed Niko by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the cliff. The man screamed and fought as she yanked him along. The other archaeologists shouted over each other at Rallis’ shenanigans.

At the bottom of the incline, Rallis let go of Niko for a moment and rubbed her hands together.

“What the hell is the big idea, you stupid dragon?!” the man spat. She didn’t answer, instead hiking the man up and wrapping his arms around her neck. Thankfully he was a skinny twig. Any heavier and Rallis wouldn’t be able to pull off her stunt. Niko screamed as he tried to pull himself off her.

“Keep that up and you’ll fall,” Rallis laughed. “You better hold on!” She jumped onto the rock before anyone could stop her and Niko yelled and wrapped his arms around her neck tighter. She snickered as she began to climb.

“Rallis, get down!” John called. “This is a terrible idea!”

“You could get hurt!” Charles exclaimed. “Please come down!”

Mary laughed. “Have fun, Niko!” The other two men glared at her comment.

Rallis expertly scaled the rocks, weaving between the spines and sinking her claws into the smooth parts of the rock for stabilization. Niko whimpered as he held on tightly to the dragon. 

“I hate this and I hate you,” he hissed in her ear.

“Wanna get down then?” 

The man looked below them to find they had already climbed easily twenty feet. He whined and held on tighter. “No…”

Rallis snickered and continued to climb. In no time at all, she was at the top. She ungracefully dropped Niko on the ground. The man simply laid in the dirt and recollected himself. Rallis peeked over the edge of the hill. She had to have climbed 30 to 40 feet. 

“We’re all good!” she shouted down to them. “I’d come back and get you all but you’re a little too heavy, sorry! We’ll see you later!” She waved goodbye and ignored any of their further shouting. She scooched back over to Niko who was still catching his breath in the dirt. “I thought you didn’t want me to explore before you. I’m going now.” She walked along the top of the hill toward the dark structure.

Niko sprang up and dashed until he was a few paces ahead of her. Rallis rolled her eyes and walked behind.

A sea breeze picked up the closer the walked to the looming structure. Sprouting between cracks in the rock were black curled thorny shrubs. Just looking at them Rallis knew they could even cut through her scales. She couldn’t tell if they were dead or just naturally that nasty and dry looking. More thorny shrubs grew the closer they got to the structure. Once they carefully crossed an old bridge and reached the base of the building, the ground was a minefield of spiny bushes and pointed mushrooms. The structure looked almost like a castle tower, made of dark stone they hadn’t seen anywhere else on the island, or on the mainland for that matter. Every step they took made Rallis feel more uncomfortable. This place did not feel right.

Niko, however, was like a kid in a candy store. He ran up to the building and began to investigate. “This is like no construction I have ever seen! The closest thing that even remotely resembles this is the dilapidated ruins in the deepest parts of the Wilderness, but even then it’s not quite the same. Who on Gielinor made this?”

He didn’t wait for his question to be answered. He ran around the perimeter of the building and ooh’d and aah’d at the sights. A short distance away from the main building was a small structure like an open air pavilion. Niko ran to it with an eager smile; Rallis walked behind much more slowly, her scales itching. The pavilion was surrounded by more thorny shrubs and dozens of mushroom species from the forest. Thankfully they were (mostly) the non-toxic kind. Under the pavilion was a tall chiseled stone that had been cut into violently.

“This must have been used for some kind of weapon training or ritual,” Niko said. “It’s full of grooves from what looks to be a type of bladed weapon. But why is the stone so huge and the marks so high up?” He reached up to touch one of the grooves. “These weapons must have been tall, or perhaps the wielder.”

Rallis froze as she looked at the stone, or rather what was under it. A symbol like a compass rose sat beneath the stone, engraved in the tile floor. Something about that symbol made her blood run cold. But she couldn’t remember anyone teaching her about it. Where had she seen it before?

Niko noticed it as well after his inspection of the stone. “This symbol…” he thought aloud. “Why does it seem familiar? I think I’ve seen it before. Bah, it’s right there but I can’t remember!” He shot a look at Rallis. “I’m surprised you haven’t said anything yet. Have you finally learned to keep your mouth shut or are you actually clueless?”

Rallis paid his insult no mind. “I don’t like it here,” she admitted. “Something is off.”

“The whole island is ‘off,’” Niko snorted. “Poison forests, killer crabs, and wyvern caves don’t phase you but an abandoned house makes you lose your spine? Some adventurer you are.”

The dragon hissed. “Can you give your attitude a break?! I’m getting tired of it. Let me remind you I brought you up here. I can just as easily bring you back down.”

“My attitude?! That’s rich coming from the know-it-all lizard that took what was rightfully my finding and then proceeds to flaunt her knowledge in front of me again for days on end! You’re insufferable!”

“ME?! I have done absolutely nothing wrong! I have kept all of you safe, saved your lives, including yours, and I brought you up here for no other reason than you said you wanted to see this place. I didn’t need to bring you but I did because you really wanted to go.”

“Well you shouldn’t have! There’s no reason to do me any favors. I won’t be repaying them. And now you’ve lost the right to claim this as your own find. Finally, I’ll get my chance to become a true master of archaeology and rub it in your face!”

“I DON’T CARE!” Rallis shouted, taking Niko aback. “I don’t care about stupid glory or credit or any of that! I just like to learn stuff because it’s fun and cool. I’m sorry you’re so caught up in being famous that you can’t enjoy an adventure for what it is. Keep the glory; I can live without it.” The dragon stomped off, leaving Niko stammering like a fish begging for water.

Rallis stomped around the perimeter of the building, eager to get as far away from the ornery archaeologist as possible while still exploring. She ended up near the entrance to the building, a large flight of stairs reaching to the second floor. Rallis eyed the steps. They were quite a bit steeper than normal steps and they had shallow talon-like grooves marks in them. 

The breeze picked up and beckoned Rallis to the edge of the islet, away from the building. A short ways away from the entrance was a large platform that jutted out over the ocean. The same compass rose pattern was embedded in the tiles; Rallis tried to stop her shudder of discomfort before it happened. Instead she focused on the similar groove marks in the platform. The claw marks and the way the platform jutted out to sea, it gave Rallis an idea.

“It’s a take-off and landing area,” Rallis muttered. Dragons needed a bit of space to move before they took off in flight, and the grooves in the stone painted the picture of many creatures coming and going, using this to land and take off. She turned back to the steps and noted the claw marks, eerily identical to the ones on the platform. “Did dragons really live here? I’ve never seen a dragon build a house before.”

Perhaps she would find answers inside. As Rallis began to climb the steps, Niko appeared and silently joined her. He sulked behind her as she hiked up the slightly too large steps. She shot him a look but the man said nothing. The dragon decided to pay him no mind and continued inside.

Shards of glass and carved stone crunched underfoot. Rallis swept the shards aside with her tail and took a good look around the room. The same dark tiling made up the interior of the building, with every floor tile having the staple compass rose design. On either side of the entrance, stone chests were piled high, some opened, some broken to pieces, and some still in one piece. The claw marks were more evident here and in some places of the ground they were disturbingly deep, like something ripped at the stone. Claw marks slashed against part of the walls as well. Tables, chairs, strange devices, everything was shattered or clawed to pieces. It was quite the grisly sight.

“If a dragon didn’t live here before, it certainly ended whoever did,” Niko said quietly.

“The wyverns said this was the home of a dragon,” Rallis said as she looked around. “But I’ve never seen a dragon build a home like this.” She took a look at a broken contraption on one of the ruined tables. “Or anything like this. I don’t think this was a normal dragon.” Fine gizmos and delicate gears littered the tables and floor. Dragon claws were far too big to make something like these.

Niko examined a broken device on another table. It had coils and wiring unlike anything he had seen before, and the design of the device was beyond foreign. It was unlike any civilization or culture he had studied before. One drawer still intact in the table slid open as Niko looked around. He pulled out the contents to find a few sheets of ancient yellowing paper. 

“What the hell is this? Is it some kind of code?”

Rallis came over to take a look. On the sheets were curled and twisted runes written with an elegant hand. “No, it’s just words,” Rallis said. “‘Unfortunately the green mushrooms did not produce the desired effect. I have since discarded my stores but allow the ones in the garden to grow. Perhaps they will make good soup. Next I will investigate the red mushrooms and their…’ It’s kinda hard to read with the smudging.”

Niko stared at her with jaw dropped. “How? How did you read that?”

“With my eyes?”

“No, idiot, how did you know what this said?! I’ve never seen a language even remotely like this one before! And I’ve seen examples of nearly every ancient language known to date! What kind of trick are you trying to pull?”

Rallis held her hands up in defense. “I’m not pulling anything! Why is it so hard to believe I can just read this?”

“Because it doesn’t make sense and–! And it’s not fair! How do you know so much about this place?! We’ve barely been here for a week and you’re basically a master! The rest of us might as well have not even come.”

Niko frustratedly shut the table drawer and grit his teeth. Rallis was getting rather fed up with Niko, but at the same time she was starting to understand what he was feeling.

“I’m not good at everything,” she said. “No one is. Adventuring just happens to be something I’m good at, and this island is draconic in nature, and so am I. It’s only natural I would know so much here.” That didn’t make Niko any happier. “You have stuff you’re good at too, right? Stuff I bet I’d never be good at. Like knowing all the languages?! I can barely do Common right! Or knowing so much about all this ancient human history? I fall asleep after five minutes of my teacher talking to me about that boring stuff.”

Niko looked horrified at her description of history as ‘boring stuff.’

“Everyone here is really good at different things, and we’re all like pieces of a puzzle. If we don’t work together, we’d never get the whole picture. I know stuff you don’t and you know stuff I don’t. The same goes for John and Mary and Charles. But that doesn’t mean we’re better than each other. That doesn’t even mean we think we’re better than each other! We’re all on the same team and gotta work together.”

The dragon held out her hand. “So can we please start working together to learn as much as we can, instead of trying to one-up each other?”

Niko looked at her hand, frowned, and sighed. “I’ve been childish…” He took her hand. “I’m sorry. I’ve been acting like a brat, hating you before I even got to know you.”

“Well to be fair aren’t you still kind of a human child?”

Niko sputtered. “EXCUSE YOU?! I am 23 years old! I’m not a child!”

“Eh, you’re a child in dragon years,” Rallis snickered. Niko was appalled, but Rallis just playfully swatted his arm. “C’mon, let’s keep looking around.”

The two took their time investigating the odd machinery and devices, taking notes and drawing pictures. Rallis listened intently as Niko explained what he thought certain gizmos might do, having seen semi-similar designs in other ancient devices, while Rallis translated any texts she found. He listened in fascination. Whatever lived here seemed to be doing experiments on the local flora. Rallis snorted at the idea of a dragon living in a house, writing books and building things, and planting a garden, until she realized she was also a dragon that lived in a house, wrote a book, built things, and enjoyed gardening, so maybe the idea wasn’t so far fetched.

“I wonder if the dragon that lived here was like me,” Rallis blurted. “I’ve never met another dragon like me but if the wyverns are right and a dragon really did live here, I feel like we’d be similar. Do you think there could be others?!” Was she really not alone in the world? Had they just found the first clue to what Rallis was and where her kind might be?

“Sorry but I really couldn’t tell you,” Niko said. “I’m not an expert on dragons or biology. Mary might know more, or maybe John.” He saw Rallis deflate. “It’s still an idea to think about though,” he added.

He walked over to the far end of the room, part of the building they hadn’t investigated yet. A large tube connected to various vats and pipes sat against the wall, shattered into hundreds of shards of glass. “I wonder what this was for,” he muttered to himself. “Be careful if you come over here with your bare feet. There’s glass everywhere.”

Rallis thanked him and walked over tail first to sweep the shards out of the way.

“There’s still some kind of powder and residue in here!” Niko exclaimed behind her. “Incredible! How did it last this long?! I’ll have to take a sample once we bring the jars up.”

Happy with her tidying, Rallis turned around to face the tank… and immediately wished she hadn’t. Images flashed across her vision; liquid, green liquid, and water, pipes and pointy things and bright red eyes with creepy faces. Her hands went to her throat. She couldn’t breathe all of a sudden. Why couldn’t she breathe?! She gasped and choked on the air and fell to her knees. Niko shouted something but she couldn’t make out what. Rallis’ chest tightened and she hacked and coughed, spit dribbling to the floor. Her vision was growing fuzzy and black creeped around the edges. She was going to pass out soon–

Suddenly, some hard smacked her across the face, sending her sprawling. She hit the ground with a thud and inhaled the biggest breath of her life. Rallis coughed and caught her breath, head spinning and claws digging into the floor. Niko kneeled beside her to help her up and the dragon noticed his knuckles were bleeding. 

Rallis rubbed her cheek. “Did you just punch me?!”

“I didn’t know what else to do!” the man defended. “What just happened?”

“I– I don’t know.” Rallis started to turn back around but thought against it, not wanting to spiral into whatever the hell that was again.

“Maybe go sit on the stairs for a while?” Niko suggested. 

Rallis nodded in agreement and shuffled over to the steps and sat down, letting the cool ocean breeze tickle her face. What just happened in there? She had never felt such a thing before. Rallis was starting to think she was right and this house was cursed or something. Her hand drifted to her throat. It almost felt like she was… drowning. It was awful. Maybe she had just been in the water a little too much lately.

After some time, Niko joined Rallis on the stairs. “There’s a lot in there,” he said. “But I don’t feel comfortable doing any more searching until I have some gear. There’s also a locked trapdoor but I couldn’t find a key or way to open it. We should probably head back to the others.”

Rallis nodded and silently walked back to the cliff with Niko. By the time slid down the cliff with the man on her back, she was exhausted. She called the day quits early, skipping dinner and going straight to bed. Niko explained what happened and the other archaeologists hovered around the dragon in concern. Rallis simply waved them off and fell asleep, and thankfully her dreams were peaceful.

_______________________________________________________________

The next week or so was full of exciting discoveries. After the group finished building and securing a bridge to cross to the islet much more safely, Rallis cracked the lock on the trapdoor in the mysterious house and investigated the new room. It looked to be a basement full of all kinds of supplies and notes. The archaeologists took samples and notes of everything they could find, while Rallis translated any notes she found. 

When not investigating the house, more notes on flora and fauna were done, the volcano explored a bit more thoroughly, and the entire island mapped out (except the foul southern swamp), including any wyvern dens or hidden coves. Rallis dove around the island and hauled up amazing fossil finds for the others to uncover. Shark teeth the size of knives, wing bones larger than any current wyvern, pieces of spine from something so massive it coiled around half the entire island, and so much more were dredged up. Rallis even got the wyverns to help yank some of the heavier finds out of the water. By the time the ship’s crew had sailed back to the mainland to resupply and returned, the camp was bustling with snakes and wyverns helping lug finds along to the cleaning tables, a small mushroom garden of those safe to eat had begun to grow near the western end of the camp, and the archaeological crew had an entire new set of displays for the Varrock Museum to set up. The five of them had officially paved the way for others to come help and explore the island and it would soon be time for Rallis to return to Varrock. She didn’t want to think about leaving yet, the thought making her heart ache the way it did when she had to leave her mom and brothers in Taverley Dungeon. So instead she kept her mind busy with searching the ocean for fossils.

Rallis trekked across the beach to the northern tip of the island, eager to snag some finds from this unexplored area. She dove into the water with glee, swimming past hundreds of rainbow colored fish that tickled as they swam past. She dove down deeper and deeper until she reached the sandbed. Some careful digging revealed all kinds of neat rocks and fossils she was sure the others would want to see. One by one, Rallis carefully swam each fossil up to the shore to take back later. As Rallis dove down to retrieve the next one, a familiar flash shimmered on the edge of her vision. She spun around to see a familiar long blue finned tail disappear behind a curtain of seaweed.

‘You’re not getting away this time!’ she thought. ‘I’m finding out what you are!’

The dragon kicked into gear and pushed against the water. For a creature of land, Rallis swam fast. She sped through a school of fish and tore through the seaweed in the blink of an eye. As she reached out her hand to grab onto whatever caused the flash, she heard a bubbly cry. Her hand caught something thin and cold, and when she pulled it out of the seaweed, Rallis almost shouted in shock. She was met face to face with a human! Or… a half human? A fish human? From the waist up the creature looked human, but it had no legs, instead replaced with a long slender blue fish tail with a large fin at the end. Rallis currently had a hold of one of the creature’s arms. The creature whined and yanked its arm away, and Rallis let go. The creature did not flee, confused that this monster was not trying to kill it. Rallis waved hello and pointed to the surface. She needed air and she really didn’t want this cool fish human to go away. She swam to the surface as fast as she could. The fish human cautiously followed.

Rallis took a massive breath as she broke the surface and was excited to see the fish human join her. “Hi! I’m Rallis!” the dragon said breathlessly. “Who, or what, are you?”

“My name is Selenes,” the creature said. Her voice sounded like a mix of birdsong and glass singing. “I am a child of the sea.”

“Whoa, that sounds so cool,” Rallis said in awe. “Do you live underwater?”

“Yes. I have lived my whole life in the lagoon of this island. We took note of your arrival and decided to hide until your departure. There are tales of humans seducing and murdering my kind, you see.”

“That’s awful!” Rallis said. “Well don’t you worry, I won’t tell anyone about you. It’ll be my secret!”

“Thank you,” the creature whispered. “I could not help but notice you have been searching our home for the ancient rocks. What do you intend to do with them?”

“Back home, on another island that’s like waaaay bigger than this one, there are people that can learn things from these rocks. I’m collecting them so other people can learn about this island. I’m leaving in a few days so I’m trying to find as many as I can.”

“I see,” the creature said. “Our home has many of these rocks. If you truly promise to keep our existence secret, I may be able to lead you to them. I only ask you take nothing that would reveal our existence.”

“That sounds great!” Rallis cheered. “And more than fair. I promise I’ll keep you a secret. I’m going to go bring these fossils back to the camp. Could you talk to the other fish people while I’m gone?”

“Certainly. And please, sea children, not… ‘fish people.’”

Rallis apologized and waved the creature goodbye. She quickly hauled her finds back and sprinted back to the ocean before anyone could follow. By the time Rallis returned to the water, three sea children were waiting for her. One was Selenes, and the other two were much larger, more intimidating looking with tridents made of coral in their hands.

Rallis froze in concern, but Selenes calmed her. “Just a precaution,” she said. “They will leave us when they feel it is safe to do so.”

“Okay…” Rallis said, giving the other sea children a nervous glance. They held their tridents tighter in response. Rallis swam up to Selenes. “So! This lagoon! How do we get there?”

“First we dive to the sandbed,” Selenes bagen. “An arch of stone lies at the bottom. Once you swim through there, there will be a kelp forest. On the other end of the kelp forest will be another stone arch laced with coral. That is our lagoon. Inside you may take as many ancient rocks as you like.”

Rallis ran through the route in her head. “Right, so, I can’t breathe water like you can. Won’t I need air before I reach the lagoon? Not to mention I would need to swim back as well!”

“There are air pockets throughout the entire lagoon,” Selenes explained. “We live half above, half below the ocean, you see. I promise, you are not our first visitor. Nor are you our first scaled land dweller.”

That grabbed Rallis’ attention. “I would love to hear more about that land dweller if you don’t mind.”

“Unfortunately, I know little. But Tradence might. Don’t you, Tradence?”

Selenes turned to one of her companions. He grunted. “It was big. Couldn’t swim at all. It wanted some of our rocks too. I don’t remember much, I was a child. It helped us defend against the beasts that would destroy our lagoon and we have remained safe ever since.”

Rallis smiled. If that was the dragon that lived in the house, that made her happy. 

“Let’s go now,” the other sea child said. “I don’t like being up here.”

The three sea creatures dove and Rallis followed close behind. They swam through the arch, and like thick curtains, rows of dark green kelp rose from the sandbed behind it. The sea children weaved through the plants elegantly and they were surprised Rallis could keep up. They swam a bit faster.

On the other side of the kelp forest was the second arch, and Rallis almost stopped to admire the natural beauty, but she needed air soon. She caught up to her guides and swam on. The arch connected to a tunnel lined with equally beautiful coral and then opened out into a lagoon. Selenes motioned upward. Rallis followed and emerged into an air pocket. Around her, other sea children lounged in pools in the rocks, combing hair or biting into a crab or relaxing against natural bubble jets. They eyed Rallis warily until her three guides swam up next to her.

“Welcome to our lagoon,” Selenes said.

“It’s so pretty,” Rallis said. She dunked her head back into the water and saw rainbow coral and fish paint the sandbed like a canvas. Sea children swam around, chasing fish or chatting or playing games. None of them seemed to pay Rallis much mind. Beneath her, Rallis could see the coral floor littered with fossils. Even the very walls were lined with shells and fish skeletons and ancient unidentifiable bones. Rallis whispered in awe.

“Take as many as you like,” Selenes said. “But remember our deal. Should you lead a human to us, no sea will be safe from our fury.”

“Even without the threat, I would never break a promise,” Rallis said. “Besides, I know better than most people the damage humans can cause. I would never lead them to a place like this.”

Selenes nodded and left the dragon to her devices. 

By sunset, Rallis had drenched so many fossils she wasn’t sure the boat could carry them all. She called for the wyverns to help her carry them back, and when the archaeologists saw the flock of dragons swoop into camp with giant shells, petrified sea life, unknown monster skeletons, and an entire set of ribs and half a spine the size of Varrock castle, they whistled and cheered.

“Where did you find all this?!” John exclaimed as he looked over every fossil with a giant smile.

Rallis shrugged. “I just know the island, I guess.” She smiled to herself.

“We have a lot more to get ready for the ship now, haha!” Charles laughed.

“I can’t believe our trip is almost over,” Mary lamented. “I still haven’t befriended the plant pigs. I think I’ll call them herbiboars. You know, because they’re herby boars. I must come back immediately once we deliver our goods!”

“We could always go to the ceremony and press without you if you’d rather stay behind,” Niko joked. “More glory for us!”

“Ah what an exciting time that will be,” John said. “I can’t wait to show off all our fossils!”

“And the plants!” Charles added.

“Don’t forget the dragon documents,” Mary reminded.

“The showcase of the island will be one to remember, that’s for sure!” John exclaimed proudly. “But I think we all know who should lead the demonstration.”

Charles and Mary nodded. Rallis chirped in confusion. 

“Oh, isn’t it obvious, dear?” Charles said. “You should lead the showcase of our findings! After all, we couldn’t have done all this without you!”

“Oooooh, you should lead the next groups of explorers once the island becomes open to all,” Mary added. 

Rallis waved her hands in front of her. “What?! No way! I’ve never done that before! That sounds way too complicated and it wouldn’t feel right. You guys all helped a lot too.”

“Add us in the foot notes then,” John smiled.

“I’d like a shoutout!” Charles said.

“You deserve the most recognition,” Mary said.

The three archaeologists turned to Niko who had remained quiet the whole time. Realizing they were waiting for him to say something, he straightened himself. “I… agree. You are responsible for our findings and safety during our weeks here. You should lead our showcase demonstration. You… You really do deserve it.”

Mary patted Niko on the back. “Atta boy,” she whispered. He turned away with an embarrassed blush.

John clapped his hands together. “Now! Who’s ready for our final dinner on this fine island?” 

The group cheered to that and chatted the night away. By the next morning, their ship would be filled with finds, the island left behind, and a grand welcome home waiting for them back in Varrock. Rallis couldn’t help but feel a terrible ache in her chest at the thought of leaving, but she reminded herself she could return whenever she liked. Perhaps saying goodbye to the wyverns and snakes would make things feel better. She slept outside that night, watching the wyverns dance across the night sky and listening to their chirps fill the forest and mountains, and she closed her eyes with a feeling of contentment that she had been a part of something great.

_____________________________________________________________________

“The demonstration will begin in 15 minutes! Please make your way to the entrance of the museum!”

A massive crowd gathered at the steps of the Varrock Museum. It looked like nearly the entire city had gathered, rich and poor alike. Everyone wanted to see this once in a lifetime display. Reldo pushed his way through the crowd politely. There was no way he was going to miss this.

It had been some weeks since the archaeological crew returned from Fossil Island. Alongside other experts and museum workers, a display and guided tour by the team themselves was set up for a grand reveal on the second floor basement of the museum. Reldo hardly saw horn nor tail of Rallis for those weeks, dragon working her tail off to help set up the demonstration alongside the others. He was very proud to see her getting along with the others and taking such initiative.

At the entrance steps, children whispered and adults chatted, wondering what some of the things on display could possibly look like. A pamphlet had been printed, discussing some of the things visitors could expect to find. There were many whispers over ‘herbiboars’ and ‘hoop snakes’ and of all the terrifying plant names.

Soon, at the top of the steps, Rallis, John, Charles, Mary, Niko, and Haig Halen stepped forward. Reldo could see Rallis nervously fidget with her claws over the sight of all the people. John patted her back and the dragon took a calming breath.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Haig began. The audience grew silent. “I thank you for waiting. It is with great pleasure that I introduce you all to our new exhibit today as well as its founders. Please give a round of applause for our team and their contributions!”

The audience clapped and the five stepped forward. 

“I shall waste no more of your time,” Haig continued. “The team shall begin their guided tour. Parents, please ensure your children do not touch the attractions, and remember to stay with the group. Please save all your questions for the appointed times. With that, let us begin!”

Mister Halen let the archaeologists take the floor. They beckoned the group to follow them to the second basement floor. As the group flooded out into the new exhibit, gasps and cries of excitement and awe echoed throughout the room. Framed in display cases on either side of the stairs were huge petrified mushrooms from the forest of megaflora. Dangling from the ceiling were skeletons of wyverns in flight. One had its claws outstretched and a child screamed in fear, thinking the bones were coming to snatch him. 

The archaeologists called for everyone to follow them down the steps into the first section. At the base of the stairs here was an arch of replica plants from the mushroom forest. Giant lilies and orchids bent down gracefully. Mushrooms of varying size, shape, and color created a path for the guests to follow. Between the replicas sat actual specimens in display cases with plaques detailing it. In this room, Charles and John took turns explaining each and every find on display. The crowd whispered excitedly at their tales of the toxic forest and how they braved poison and beasts to obtain these samples.

Niko led the group to the next area once Charles and John were done. In the next room was a model display of the dragon lair, or ‘the house on the hill’ as they dubbed it. There were sketches of some of the items found inside as well as his own theories of what everything could possibly mean. This exhibit was still being added to so he didn’t have much to show yet, but the audience was still excited and curious over every word.

Mary went next, leading the group into the wildlife room. Here there were skeletons of hoop snakes, herbiboars, wyverns, sea creatures, and so much more. Above each skeleton was a drawing of what each animal looked like. Many children liked the ‘leaf pigs’ and screamed over the snakes. When they reached the reptilian fossils, Rallis took over. She explained the ecology of the wyverns and what she thought some of their unfinished skeletons might be. One unfinished display held the skull of a beast with a huge jaw and fins. It had two limbs intact but no body or tail. There were whispers debating what this beast could possibly look like when finished. The children had the most fun and eccentric answers, of course. 

Rallis eagerly led the group to the final area, and everyone took their turn to gasp as they walked through. Up above them, hanging from the sealing, was a gigantic skeleton. Its spine ran the entire length of the room and curved down the wall. It had no head, tail, or limbs, but even still the group was in awe. Rallis explained this creature had to be some type of serpentine megafauna, possibly a sea serpent due to a gill-like structure found fossilized within the bones. The archaeologists were still on a literal head hunt to finish the great beast. They could only imagine what a creature might possibly look like! What kind of fearsome visage could such a huge sea beast have?

Now, the guides allowed questions, and boy were there questions. Reldo watched with a smile as Rallis eagerly answered many, dragon excitedly motioning with her hands and jumping around as she spoke. The other archaeologists chimed in for questions of their own expertise, but surprisingly to the librarian, Rallis did most of the talking.

Soon, they cut the group loose to explore on their own and answered a few straggling questions. “Don’t forget to read the Varrock Herald segment on us!” Niko called out. The journalists for the Herald had met with the group for an exclusive interview a few days after they returned from the island.

Eventually, the group left the five alone. They each breathed a sigh of relief. Rallis looked ready to fall over, she had been so shaky and nervous. The others laughed and chatted with her until they saw Reldo head over. Rallis squealed in glee and jumped at the librarian.

“Rallis, no, don’t–!” he shouted, but it was too late. The dragon was jumping at him. It took all his strength to not fall over from the force of her jumping hug.

“Did you like it, did you like it?” Rallis pestered. “Didn’t we do such a good job? We’re awesome! You should come with us to the island next time! Anyone can go starting this weekend. You can help me find the leviathan skull or chase herbiboars or meet wyverns or–!”

“Rallis, you’re overwhelming the poor man!” John laughed. “Give him some space.”

“Oh, sorry.” Rallis jumped off Reldo. The librarian fixed his glasses and smoothed his suit.

“I am unfortunately very used to that,” he remarked. “She is very easily excitable.”

“Oh, we noticed,” Mary said. “But her excitement is contagious so you can’t stay too mad.”

Rallis ignored their remarks. “So, did you like it?! We did a great job, right?”

“Yes, you all did,” Reldo said. He addressed the archaeologists. “It truly is a wonderful exhibit, and I can not wait to see it finished. Will you all be returning to the island to uncover more?”

“Everyone but me,” Niko said. “I’ve got a bit of research to catch up on regarding a certain shrine of the ancient empire.” He tossed Rallis a small smile.

Reldo didn’t miss the gesture. “Well it seems like you’ve made some wonderful friends, Rallis. Has your thirst for adventure finally been quenched?”

“No way!” Rallis shouted. “I’m ready to go back right now!”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Reldo sighed. “All I’ve done is enabled you to become more rambunctious, haven’t I?” Rallis simply gave him a toothy grin. “Well, we have some things to discuss before you go back.” Rallis looked worried for a moment, but Reldo eased her nerves. “Nothing bad, I promise. I’ll be back in the library whenever you have a moment. For now, enjoy the fruits of your labor and companionship.”

Reldo bid the rest of the group goodbye and went on his way. 

“I didn’t know you knew the royal librarian,” Charles said.

“Mm-hmm! He’s my teacher.”

“He’s your mentor?!” Niko gawped. “Okay, that’s unfair! I thought you were just acquaintances, but no, the smartest person in all of Misthalin is your bloody mentor. Now you make sense. No wonder you know so damn much. Wait, he’s not the person you mentioned where you would sleep through their lectures, is it?”

Rallis gave Niko a guilty grin and the man looked appalled. “I would kill for him to be my teacher and you sit there and sleep through his lessons?! That’s it, I officially hate you again.”

Rallis blinked her eyes innocently. “Maybe you can ask him once I leave for my own adventures. Anyway, I should get back to him. I had a lot of fun with you guys. I’ll see you around?”

“Definitely,” Mary said.

“I would be insulted if this was our last meeting!” John said. Charles nodded in agreement.

“If I don’t see your face again, it’ll be too soon,” Niko said with a scowl. His face softened into a smile. “I’m only joking. Hopefully the next we meet I’ll have my own big adventure to share.”

Rallis jumped at all of them in a group hug. They all hugged her back, some awkwardly, some not. “I’m gonna miss you guys. Thanks for being with me on my first adventure!”

They bid her farewell, and Rallis dashed off to the library.

_______________________________________________________________________

Reldo was seated at his desk, a museum pamphlet in his hand. Rallis quietly creaked the library door open and slithered inside. Reldo turned at the noise but remained expressionless.

“Rallis. Welcome back.” He flicked up the pamphlet. “Truly an amazing display. Countless years of forgotten history uncovered for the world to see. You’ve been a part of something incredible, you know that?”

Rallis beamed at the praise and sat on the stool next to him. Reldo took a breath and looked thoughtful, like he was trying to find the right words. He started and stopped his sentence a few times, and eventually grumbled in frustration. “I’ll be honest, for the first time I have no idea how to say this.” He barked a short laugh and Rallis looked at him in confusion. “You did something amazing, something that, I’ll be honest, I never thought you would be able to do. You have gone well above my expectations. And… I want to see how much further you’ll go.”

He gave Rallis a smile, but this one was laced with sadness. “I do believe it’s time for you to spread your wings, my dear. You’re meant to explore more than one little island, I know that now.”

Rallis’ eyes grew wide. “You mean… I can go? I can… leave?”

“You can,” Reldo confirmed. “You should.”

Rallis didn’t know what to say. She slumped in the stool and stared  at nothing in particular. Thoughts raced through her head. She was free now. She could do whatever she wanted, go wherever she desired. The world was hers for the taking! …So why did it feel so upsetting?

“I won’t lie, I imagined you to be screaming with joy and bolting out of here the moment I said it,” he remarked.

“I’m… happy,” she said. “And I do want to leave and explore. But…” Her lips trembled. “I don’t wanna leave you. You’re my friend! You’re…! You’re like… family! I don’t want to leave.”

She latched onto the librarian and sniffled. The man froze in shock. He hadn’t expected a reaction like this at all. He slowly wrapped his arms around her at first, then returned her gesture in kind, his own emotions flaring up.

“You foolish dragon,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere, just like Kaqemeex or your family didn’t go anywhere. You can always visit whenever you like. I’ll always be here.”

“Yeah,” Rallis sniffled. “But it won’t be the same.”

“No, it won’t, but things never stay the same for long. Life changes, and that’s a good thing. Letting you go, it’s a good thing. You need to live your own life now and you’ve proven you can. And if you ever need help, or if you ever need a friend, or maybe you just miss my tea, you can always come see me. I promise.”

Rallis hugged him harder and sniffled. “...Okay.” She pulled away, eyes red. “Thanks, bookm–... Reldo.”

“Here, wipe your face,” he said as he reached for a handkerchief. “And if you got any snot on my nice shirt, I will be very cross.”

Rallis giggled and wiped away her tears. “I don’t need to leave right now, do I?”

Reldo gave her a serious look. “Yes. You must leave this instant. Begone from my library.” He laughed at her horrified face. “No, you doof! Leave when you feel ready, but most certainly not today. You’ve had a long few weeks; you should rest. And you should be well equipped before you head out into the world. I’m sure I have a pack somewhere we can fill up for you to use. We can worry about that another time. Why don’t you go grab some cookies from the kitchen? My treat. I know you know where I hide them.”

Rallis hid her smile and nodded. She ran off next door.

Reldo leaned back in his chair and glanced at the pamphlet again. His wild, goofy student had truly transformed over the year and a half they’d known each other. He hadn’t planned to grow so invested in the dragon, thinking of her as just another annoying task the king assigned him. Oh how foolish he had been. His life wouldn’t be the same without Rallis in it, and a part of him also didn’t want to see her go. He was, dare he say it, attached, something he warned himself not to become. And yet, as he thought about the dragon leaving, he felt something akin to heartache, something he hadn’t felt in… He didn’t know how long.

Rallis was one of, if not the only, person he had ever come across that actually seemed to care about him, and it made him care in return. And that caring hurt, but he also couldn’t imagine living without that feeling. He laughed at himself. What a mess he had become, all because of one little dragon. Was this what it felt like to watch your child finally leave and live on their own?

Rallis returned with the cookies, and Reldo could see she already had a couple stuffed in her mouth. The man snorted a laugh and took the jar from her before eating one much more civilized. As they talked the day away, Reldo couldn’t help but reminisce on their time together, and as he thought, a sense of pride bloomed alongside his lingering sadness.

No matter what happened, Reldo knew one thing. Rallis was going to shake this earth and rattle the stars. She was going to become something big someday, something so important the world would know her name. He just knew it.

#osrs #runescape #my writes #oc tag #yall i speed wrote this whole thing from scratch in like 2 1/2 days #im so proud

[brainyxbat]

Chapter 2: Tempeste G. Venus! The Outcasted Witch of Loguetown

(Episode 48)

Blood/Violence TW warning

During their conversation, the door slowly opened ajar, and a green-haired, purple-cloaked head peeked out of the room in curiosity, only her dark green eye visible, as well as a small, pale hand with black nails.

Now hearing a creak, Luffy looked behind Rauru with a small hum of curiosity, and noticed the newcomer peering in. "Hello!" He waved with a bright smile. But to his confusion, her response was her eye widening with a gasp of fear, before she urgently swung the door back shut. "Huh? What's she scared of?"

"What was that?" Rauru asked him.

"I just saw a girl look in here, from that door behind you!" Luffy replied. "She had green hair, and a cloak; she seemed scared when I said hi."

"Oh yes, don't mind her. She's been through a lot, poor child."

"Is she your granddaughter?"

"No, but she's become that lately, I have to admit. She came to this town 5 years ago, as I recall," He reminisced, getting himself another alcoholic drink. "It was peculiar, though. No boats or ships had come to this island for weeks, and yet there she was; a strange, young woman on the shore. It was as if she came from the sea itself. Amazingly, she appeared to have eaten the Witch-Witch Fruit; her beauty mark proves it. I found her by the dock, wearing a sail for a dress."

~

5 years ago

One day, after closing the bar, Rauru began a stroll along the shore of Loguetown, recovering from a hectic day. Some people just had no manners; he was given politeness only scarcely, and most patrons were quite destructive.

"I'm getting it," He heard a young female voice say absently, "I'm getting it now." He looked over, and by the dock, a young woman with a ghastly pale complexion was walking along the sand, arms out like a plank of wood. She couldn't be higher than 155 centimeters tall, judging from where he stood, and she had light green hair reaching just below her shoulders. Everything under her arms was covered by a large, purplish-white sail with black pinstripes, completely concealing even her legs and feet, and tied in place with a brown rope.

"Hey, kid?" Rauru called out, now curious as he came closer. He never saw her around Loguetown before; and there hadn't been any boats or ships for weeks now. How on Earth did she get here? "Young lady?" She turned to him, her big, innocent green eyes nervous under short hair fringe. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, uh, y-yes," She stammered, "I'm just, uh... taking a walk. M-my boat sank. With everything but me on it." It sounded like she was making things up as she went. During her ramble, Rauru was stunned when something on her suddenly stood out; a black beauty mark in the shape of a crescent moon rested under her left eye. "And I uh..." She stopped upon noticing his shock. "Are you okay, mister?"

"That moon, on your face," He muttered, "You ate the Witch-Witch Fruit, didn't you?"

"Y-yes, I did!" She nodded enthusiastically. "I had been searching for it for so long, and I finally found it here! It's been my dream to be a witch, mister! I still need to brush up on the skills, though." She was startled by a ball of energy shooting from her hand out of nowhere; it went straight into the ocean with a splash. She turned back to him with a sheepish grin. "My bad."

"Well, you won't have much luck doing that here," He chuckled, "You could attract Marines out here in the open, and you don't want that."

"Right," Her hand rested on the back of her neck. She couldn't have been older than 16; too young to be on her own. "Um, can you tell me where I am?"

"Of course; this is Loguetown, on the Polestar Islands. Do you need a place to stay in, my dear?"

"Y-yeah, that would be great."

"There's a nice hotel in Loguetown that you will be quite comfortable in. I'll take you there myself, but first, let's get you some proper clothes."

"'Kay," She agreed, and walked clumsily with him.

"I never did catch your name, young lady. Call me Rauru."

She smiled shyly. "Tempeste G. Venus. Thanks, Mr. Rauru, for helping me."

"So I escorted her to the Antique House, where she found lots of nice clothes and shoes to replace that old sail," He narrated to Luffy, "Once she settled in, she performed some of her magic for the townspeople. It not only sharpened her skills, but made her quite popular as well. Crowds gathered to watch her work; despite any flaws, they loved it all. She became a sensation in just a few short days."

Venus, always clad in her new, beautiful, witchy outfits, produced sparkles and various shapes from her hands, made herself and watchers levitate inches off the ground, and even controlled their minds at their request. She even got paid for her performances, which helped her get by independently; she earned enough to pay for her stay in the hotel, plus any nourishments she needed, trinkets for her spells, and some for more fun stuff.

"She was on top of the world," He recalled to the young pirate, "She was so happy, doing what she loved for everyone. But... one fateful day changed everything, forever."

"Alright Mr. Jiro, now do a backflip!" Venus commanded with confidence; the normally unagile, middle-aged man did just that flawlessly, to the crowd's delight. She giggled, then started to think some more, as Jiro waited for her next move. "Okay, uh..." She stopped herself when a young boy, possibly 5 or 6, shoved his way running through the crowd, screaming for no reason. 'Must be bored,' she thought. But he ran right in her direction at a rapid speed, with no intention of stepping aside; she quickly moved away, but because she still wasn't light on her feet yet, she landed on the hard cobblestone on her backside with a yelp. She glared in annoyance, as he kept it up. "Damn kid," She grumbled, oblivious to her subject taking a turn in demeanor.

A bad one.

"Okay, back to business. Now Mr. Jiro, act like a dog!" To her confusion, he just stood in place, not doing what she said. "Mr. Jiro? Act like a dog," She tried again with more confidence. Nothing.

That wasn't supposed to happen. Uh oh; that kid must have thrown off her concentration. Hypnosis acts like this one call for a lot of it; and now it was going wrong because of that brat. She hadn't counted on that happening, so she was completely unprepared.

This was bad.

The crowd was waiting for her to finish, growing skeptical, but she was faltering. "Mr. Jiro? Jiro? Do as I say! Now! Jiro!" She was getting angry, feeling the pressure of all the eyes on her, as she moved her hands in a panic.

"The man would not listen," Rauru recalled, "She lost control of his mind. No matter how she tried, the spell was failing; all from one little distraction. And then... it happened." Now in a hellish rage, Jiro stole a dagger from a random audience member, to the crowd's fright, and ran to a now scared Venus, wielding the weapon in his left hand. "He stole someone's dagger, and..." After leaving a cut below her brow, he delivered the devastating blow: one, long slash down that side of her face. "The bastard slashed her eye out right there." Rauru sighed heavily. "I'll never forget her screams, or how much blood she lost that day."

After a moment of shock, the young witch screamed in agonizing pain, and fell to her knees, one hand keeping her up and the other over her heavily bleeding wound. After gaining their bearings from the scare, the citizens reacted, but not like she or Rauru expected. Instead of showing concern, they began heckling the poor girl. "Fraud, faker, phony; that's only a few of what they called her. They showed no worry, or concern for her."

"Mr. Rauru!" She cried out through her screams. "Help me!"

The old man shoved through the crowd, furious at every one of them, before he reached her. There was an alarming puddle of blood under her head, and she was shaking terribly. "It felt like a blur from there. I got her to a doctor, and she managed to pull through. Her eye was not so lucky; it had to be removed completely. She was left with a scar, and has been half blind ever since." Venus began sporting long, emo bangs over her scar, while leaving her left-side fringe the same.

"The townspeople have ostracized her since the incident; they didn't care that she's not to blame for the mistake." Venus was walking the streets, enduring boos and heckling, when she was suddenly tripped by one of the citizens. With a pitiful yelp, she fell to the concrete. As she stayed on her now sore knees, she bit back tears through their laughter; they hadn't seen her cry, and were not going to anytime soon. No matter how much they chip at her her. "The hotel even threw her out, leaving her without a roof over her head; I emptied out that storage room, made it comfortable, and she's stayed in there for 5 years now. No one knows about it, so she's out of harm's way."

~

With that, he finished the story of the mysterious girl. Luffy appeared to have a thousand-yard stare, before he beamed brightly, stars in his eyes. "She does magic? That's so cool!" He gushed. A real witch! He had to see some of that!

Rauru stared at him in confusion. "Young man, did you not hear a word I just said?"

"Can I see her do some? Please?" Luffy requested.

Rauru sneered, and used himself to barricade the door. "I'll be damned if I let anyone else hurt her. I can't trust anyone in this town anymore."

"Oh, but I won't, I promise!" Luffy assured. "I want to see her magic! It sounds awesome!"

The old man eyed him, looking for a slip-up in honesty, but found none; he really was serious. "Alright, I'll let you in. But if I hear any sounds of distress from her, I'll punt your ass out myself."

"Deal!" Luffy eagerly hopped down from the barstool, and walked in with excitement after the door was opened for him.

As he entered, he heard a small gasp of surprise and wariness. In front of where he stood, there she was. The girl he saw peer in.

Tempeste G. Venus.

#magical straw hat #one piece #one piece oc #tempeste g. venus

[this-is-a-name-dont-worry]

Chapter 4!!

Jonathan wakes up with blood on his neck, but it seems it was only a rat! Also he's trapped in a room.

Skinski gives him a meal: steack with eggs and salad! The steak is raw and there are no cuttlery. Poor guy thinks it must be a nightmare. He hopes it's a nightmare. Only relief is in thinking about Mina.

No lizard fashion leaving, but! vampire bat fashion. Also Jonathan tries to escape but faints after running around with no issues foubd, like the gothic heroine he is. But turns out he collapsed in the chapel! And he sees that count Vlad Tepès, his host, is definitely supposed to be dead. Chapter ends on a cliffhanger, Skinski having seen Jonathan, screaming that the count's secret must stay inside these walls!

Chapter 5 starts with a storm brewing, and Arthur teaching mah-jong to Lucy and Mina.

During the storm, a boat arrives safely to the decks, and Mr. Swales goes to check on it. We learn the captain of the Demeter died from tiredness, and that there was a huge bat that fled the boat. No dogula :( But Swales is like "suspicious..."

Meanwhile, Mina is going to the cemetery. After Arthur left, Lucy and her mom had a big argument, and Lucy went to cry in her bedroom, where Mina kept her company. Mina fell asleep, and when she woke up, no Lucy! She spotted hed from a distance in the cemetery, in her white dress. Mina sees Lucy giving her neck to a tall figure, she gets dpotted, screams, Drac flies away, Lucy keeps somnanbuling. Chapter ends.

In chapter 6, we meet Seward and Renfield! Seward is doing his daily visit to the patients, and he and Renfield chats. Renfield keeps the flies he catch in a trap, and asks Seward if he read the book he lend him? Renfiel says yes, I did, thank you. Renfield says it's passionant, Seward that it's original. He thinks that what this Pr. Van Helsing wrotes isn't very scientific, I mean, immortality through eating insects? That's just a way to get sick.

"Doctor, how naive! Do you think spiders get sick sucking flies blood?"

"You're not a spider, mister Renfield"

"Indeed, spiders can't reach immortality, only humans can, and it's very simple: suck all kind of fresh blood! Blood is life, as you know, a smart man like you! Then, it's just waiting."

"Waiting is essential, on that I agree." (he sighs and starts to leave) "Don't forget to take your medicine."

In the corridor, Seward meets Mina. They already saw each other before, when Seward goes to eat with the Westenra. Mina asks his help about Lucy who's acting strange lately. Says her mom thinks it's because of the engagement with Arthur, Seward agrees because Lucy has always been very nervous, as a kid she would skeepwalk a lot. Mina says "yeah that happened again. I think I hurt her with my brooch, she had two stings on her neck. I keep an eye on her at night but I can't stay awake for so long you know. Also Lucy refuses to see a doctor, and it seems that she likes something in her trouble"

Arthur and Lucy's mom are talking about the engagement, and Arthur is upset Mina brought a doctor when Lucy doesn't seem sick, also she brought the guy who takes care of mad people, what will the town think? Yeah poor Arthur is given the short end of the stick.

Seward says they need to give her blood. True to the book, no blood compability is thought about. Mina offers her blood.

Lucy gets a bit better! But she makes a strange comment about the sunset red shine being like someone else's eyes, the same magic. At night Seward and dr. Caffyn are back, and Mina can hear them says stuff that we can identify as Lucy turning into a vampire. They come back from her room eventually, and the chspter ends with the announcement of Lucy's death.

#dracula daily #dracula #dracula album adaptation

[hearmeoutno]

Chapter 4: Dear Billy

Yea so Eddie is nowhere in this chapter so to relieve your depression of this episode, here's some Eddie and Mack being besties and just a short chapter full of Eddie figuring out he's likes Steve

________________

(Original dialogue)

"Seriously? A catchphrase?"

"It's now or never Ed, let me have my moment."

They're in position to flee and possibly attack, but no one came to the boat house. They were close once, but just left for some reason? Jocks really are stupid, huh?

After about half an hour they give up and enjoy a meal of canned ravioli together.

"So we're just gonna ignore the little moments between you and mister I Spend Hours On My Hair there?"

Eddie, almost choking, quickly shakes his head trying to be in denial of his feelings.

"What moment? There wasn't a moment? Why would there be a moment?"

Mack let's out a laugh at Eddie being oblivious. He sooo had feelings for Steve!

"Doctor Love isn't my favourite KISS song for nothing Eds. Tell me about it, I can help!"

"You? Help me with the feelings I have for Steve according to you? God you should be a comedian!"

Mack rolls her eyes, wondering if she should tell Eddie about what she saw. I mean, they're already getting hunted down, why keep secrets?

"Steve was kind of staring at you for the whole time he was here. He never laughed at my genius jokes, he just stared at you and blushed when you looked at him! I swear to God do you need some glasses because I would personally craft them for you!"

"Oh shut up, you're talking out your ass."

Running a hand over her face, she gives up on trying to convince him. Guess he'll have to deal with it alone.

"It's your loss dude, just wait and see how much he cares for you."

...

(More original dialogue Eddie is just nowhere in this episode I'm sorry)

Mack is being Mack, just practicing stabbing some jock and catching a phrase.

"Eat shit and live, Jason!"

"What kind of catchphrase is that?"

Mack hold a hand to her chest in hurt, how DARE he not get te reference.

"Sleepaway camp? Eddie you are a disappointment to the horror community. Judy was so hot in that movie, definitely deserved her death tho."

"What the fu- she was killed by having a curling iron stuck up her vagina, how did she deserve that!"

"She was a bitch, I mean who calls a girl a 'carpenters dream'? Any who, I need to get back to catchphrase thinking, you go have your little gay crisis about Steve, I won't bother you."

Eddie sits back against a wall, actually taking up Mack's offer of having the crisis thing. It's obvious to anyone who has eyes and a tiny bit of street knowledge to know he was gay, but to be in love with Steve? King of Hawkins? Sure, Steve is a great looking guy, great being an understatement, but he wouldn't like Eddie. Freak Eddie.

"Maybe you're right Mack"

"What that you're a disappointment to the horror community?"

"About the Steve thing Mack! I like Steve, there I said it! Happy now"

Mack throws away the knife and goes to sit next to Eddie, putting her hand on his shoulder for comfort.

"Look Ed, al joking aside, which is a real struggle for my to do, I really am happy. You need something to hold onto right now, and Steve definitely wants to hold onto you. It's obvious he likes you, you just needs to... shoot your shot, he definitely won't."

Eddie looks up at Mack, a slight hint of sadness in his eyes.

"Why wouldn't he? Is he afraid of me or something?"

"He's afraid of his feelings for you I think, maybe he doesn't even know what his sexuality is. And like, he seems like a guy with the least confidence ever. But look at you Ed! Never before has anyone given a dramatic monologue on top of a table on a high school canteen, and yet you did it. You got this man. Show them Eddie the Freak is just a soft good old fashioned lover boy."

Eddie chuckles softly at the Queen reference and thinks about the serious part of what she just said. Maybe he should ask Steve out! And with that newfound confidence, he does have something to look forward too now.

________________________________

You know the deal by now, please let me know what you think about this chapter and give me any feedback or criticism you have. Thanks for reading :)

Missed the other chapters? Here you go :>

Wanna continue reading? Enjoy! :)

#st oc #oc #dustin henderson #strangerthings 4 #stranger things #rewrite #steve harrington × eddie munson #they are so gay omfg #gay #robin buckley #eddie munson #steve harrington

[malyen0retsev]

oh god i cannot believe i have been here long enough to have witnessed

- the birth of the ‘gendry rowing’ meme - the death of the ‘gendry rowing’ meme

and now

SURPRISE TAKE 3

- the RESURRECTION of the ‘gendry rowing’ meme

#klasfjbklkajsbwe #GET ON YOUR BOAT AND CATCH HER MISTER #gendry #arya x gendry #got #game of thrones #sarah rambles

[popquizhot-shot]

Marc Spector x reader where maybe they get in a fight in Cairo and reader storms off only to run into harrow? Angst to fluff kinda thing?

Hey! this is my first writing for Marc, so I hope you like it! Please comment ad reblog! This isn’t very fluffy, it’s more fluff to angst, I’m so sorry XD

Again.

What am I doing here ?

That was the question you'd asked yourself ever since you'd first met Marc Spector.

But now, it was like a continuous thought, a broken record in your brain that replayed over and over again as you sat on the goddamn boat next to Layla, your best friend.

"Why are you even married to this guy?" she asks you, eyeing him dirtily.

"You're the one who introduced him to me, Layla. Worst mistake you've ever made." you reply.

"I'm right here." he groans.

You both ignore him, cuddling into each other as the music becomes louder.

As the three of you got out of the boat, Layla spied a small rowboat nearby.

"Harrow's men, you reckon?" you asked her.

"Maybe. Come on." you both walk through a crowd as Marc catches up behind.

"Remember, your name is Rufino Estrada." Layla says to Marc.

She turns to you, "Both of you have just returned from your honeymoon in the Maldives."

Marc smirked at you, "That's an interesting detail to give to them."

"Why don't we add the fact that you work in a gift shop?" you asked him sweetly.

"As if they'd believe you." Layla scoffed.

"And that's why she's my favorite." you wink at her as Marc clenches his jaw.

A tall, bald man comes up to Layla. He's big, probably Mogart's bodyguard.

"Layla." he smiles and shakes her hand, eyeing you and Marc.

"Bek. It's been while." she smiles.

"Good to see you, right this way." he gestures towards a ground of sand where horsemen are riding with spears in their hands. "He's looking forward to seeing you. After Madripoor, I'm sure the two of you have a lot to talk about. Excuse me for a moment, Mister Mogart will be with you shortly" he walks away.

You lightly punched Layla, "You've been to Madripoor?" you hissed in a whisper.

She raises her eyebrows in a teasing manner and looks forward to the game being held.

Marc stands next to you, his elbows on the wooden stands, next to yours. He lets his fingers brush against your jacket sleeve, squeezing gently.

When Layla's attention is back to the both of you, he clears his throat and straightens up, "So what, this joker just puts on El-Mermah games in his backyard, for fun?"

"No, he gets private lessons by the best, in his backyard." Layla corrects him.

"How nice it would be to be rich enough to have private lessons." you sighed ruefully.

Layla snorts and you laugh. Marc rolls his eyes.

The man, Mogart, you presume, pats his horse and Bek slips a comfortable looking coat on his bulky frame.

"I like the robe." Marc murmurs.

"Shut up, honey." you say to him, aware of the way he looks down to hide his smile as the robed man walks over.

"Layla." he smiles, "Come in."

The three of you walk inside as he croons at her, "It's such a delight to see you."

You can see Layla's fist curl as she nods, " You too." He takes her hand and kisses the back of it.

"How have you been?" he asks her.

"Good, thank you for having us on such short notice." she says as you and Marc nod.

"Please." he scoffs, " I hope you know you don't need any excuse to visit."

She nods and puts her hand on your shoulder, "This is my sister, Nadia,  and her husband, Rufino."

You put your hand out, smiling your best smile, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mister Mogart."

He smiles and takes it, "The pleasure is all mine. Your husband is very lucky."

He takes Marc's outstretched hand as your husband looks at him very uncomfortably.

----------------------

Shit hit the fan.

The details weren’t important, what was important was that you had people shooting at you from all possible directions.

And you had almost gotten impaled with a spear.

And Layla had almost died.

Layla had gone to the mainland on boat a few minutes earlier, she didn’t want to witness the showdown that was going to happen.

“What is wrong with you!” Marc shouted, “You’re supposed to be the smart one here, and you go and almost get yourself killed!”

“Well sorry I was too busy checking to see if my husband was still goddamn alive to notice Mogart!”

“Why was I stupid enough to think you’d be able to handle this?!” he screamed to no one.

“I.am.handling this.” you say through your teeth.

“No, you’re not. You’re screwing this mission up, you’re being a goddamn liabilty!”

“Liability? I am your wife~”

“God, I wish you weren’t!”

You freeze. Marc realizes what he said.

“Honey, I didn’t mean that.” he comes close.

You don’t react when he puts his hand on your shoulders.

“Honey?”

“Shut up.” you manage to say.

“Babe-”

“No. Don’t. I’m not going to talk to you unless you stop acting like a stupid baby.” you turn your back to him and walk towards the boat.”

“I didn’t mean it!”

You turn, your eyes full of anger, “Doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.”

“I’m trying to protect you, I care about you way too much to let you get hurt.” he tries to reason with you.

“I don’t need protection, Marc. All I needed was you, and your honesty. But that’s exactly what I didn’t get.”

----

He knows he needs to apologize, he needs to get down on his knees and hold you and beg for your forgiveness.

But where would he begin? There were so many things to apologize for.

She takes his silence the wrong way, “Whatever, Marc. Let’s just get this Harrow thing over with.”

She walks away to the boat, and he trudges behind her.

All it took was one look away, to look back at the ground and she’s gone.

He can hear her shrieks as she’s dragged away.

The panic rises in his chest as he screams her name until his throat is hoarse.

He runs to the empty docks, no one there. She’s gone. He lost her.

Again.

#marc spector x reader #steven grant x reader #oscar issac x reader #moon knight #moon knight x reader #marvel #marc spector #steven grant #echo actually writes