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bwabys-scenarios · 3 months

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helloooo!! I saw ur requests were open and that you were askin for some dungeon meshi x chubby reader....I gotchu covered.

May I please request some Chilchuck(or..Chilchack?? Ive no clue what the spelling is..) x Chubby!Reader and maybe also some Laois x Chubby!Reader? If you dont do multiples then either guy is fine!!

Sfw and nsfw on how they interact and think of your body? Scenarios like you tending to grab Chilchuck away from danger alot so he gets alot of booba action?? Embarrassed flustered old man?? Having to look up at you(if you were to be taller) but all he sees is ur chest?? Him givin Alot of needy attention to them when you do fool around cuz it Has been a big thing on his mind?? Him stiching and adjusting ur undershirt so it actually helps support ur chest a bit better and ur so grateful? Laois having a staring habit when he spaces out...yknow him and his tendencies to be curious(he wanted to Count Izutsumi nipples for gods sake.), he just doesnt know, he doesnt mean for it to be creepy or anything he jus is SO infactuated w ur body its so so so beautiful to him, him getting super happy and starts exploring ur body when consent is given?? Alot of his attention is on ur chest too, weighing it, squeezing. Stuff w warm body heat too, Just all around big loving

Thank you so much if you decide to do this and incredibly sorry if I messed up in my ask in anyway 💖💖💖

Chilchuck x Chubby!Reader SFW/NSFW HCs

!!REBLOGS APPRECIATED!

a/n: I will do the Laois one in a separate post!! The Chilchuck ideas just… spoke to me!! Also pls send me Dungeon Meshi requests… I’m open to writing for all the adult characters…

warnings: boob sucking, tittyfucking, breeding, cockwarming, thigh fucking, pussy eating

SFW

-you’re probably the only one in the party that he can sleep next to without complaining. you’re soft and warm, and when you ask if you can share his bed with him for the night because it’s cold, he’s… a bit too eager to lift up his blanket for you to join him.

-he complains that you don’t eat enough, and ends up giving you bits of his lunch and dinner. he just think your chubby cheeks are so cute when you’re chewing and likes to watch you eat. he does worry for you though…

-if it’s dark and you’re a bit afraid, he’ll hold your hand. if you ask him why in front of Laois or Marcille he’ll get all flustered and say he didn’t want you to trip him up.

-he only reaches your boobs, which is both a blessing and a curse for him. he can look at your boobs all day with little to no suspicion, but he also gets pulled into your boobs quite often when you hug him or try and save him from an attack. that might sound good to some people, but to him it gets him all flustered and hard embarrassed, then he gets teased by Marcille :(

-oh my gosh snuggles with him are so nice. he’s rather light so once the two of you are close, he’ll lie on top of you and bury his face in your chest or tummy! he’s actually quite the cuddlebug, and will want to snuggle you every single night after the first time.

-your tummy… he loves it so much. Chilchuck is quite the fan of anything soft, so more often than not, when he’s taking a nap he’ll have his head in your lap and face buried in your chubby tummy.

-he’s a bit embarrassed to show you affection in front of the others, so ways he shows he cares are usually subtle unless it’s behind closed doors or away from prying eyes. he peels your apples for you, bandages you up after you get hurt, will tug on your shirt to remind you that he’s here and that he loves you, and give your palm secret kisses when no one’s looking.

-he’s surprisingly possessive? when Laois looks at you, even if he’s just curious and wants to ask you questions, Chilchuck rushes over and finds some excuse to pull you away. he’s the most worried about Laois, but doesn’t like Senshi being all close to you either. he puts up with it more though, but dislikes that Senshi acts like yours and his relationship is like puppy love(Chilchuck is a grown ass man 😭)

-he’s very soft with you, very rarely being sarcastic or short with you specifically. he made you cry once early on in your relationship and it absolutely devastated him, so since then he’s been a lot more careful about what he says

-speaking of crying, he can’t stand your tears, it makes him nervous. if you’re a cry baby be prepared for him to be fretting over you constantly!

-you’re the person everyone in the party wants to snuggle with when it gets cold, so he has to shoo people away, blushing and stuttering about how they’re crowding you. once they’re all pouting and walking away, he huffs and snuggles up to you. you find his jealousy pretty cute, so you lift up your shirt a little so he can duck under it and rest his head on your chubby tummy or breasts.

-your chubby cheeks activate his cuteness aggression. he didn’t even know he liked cute things until he saw your cheeks puffed out and warm after someone made you mad. he nearly stopped breathing, it was the cutest thing he’d ever seen, and he couldn’t help but cup your cheek in his hands. your face heated up even more when he stared up at your with those adoring eyes, gently pinching your cheeks. “soft… so soft and warm…”

-he can be a bit clingy at times, especially when it gets colder out. when you go to sleep, he has to sleep under your shirt, his head on your chest or tummy. you complain about him stretching your your shirts, but he thinks the slightly oversized look is cute on you. honestly, everything is cute on you, because you’re adorable to him.

NSFW

-boobies… he loves your boobs so much. they’re soft and warm, feeling nice and heavy in his hands when he holds them. loves when he gets to bury his face in your bare chest and just snooze… but he also adores getting to play with your nipples, gently nibbling and suckling on the perky buds. he won’t lie, he can get hard just from looking at your clothed chest…

-he is absolutely a service dom that wants to make you feel good, but he can also enjoy being taken care of sometimes!

-enjoys being between your thighs more than he likes to admit. the first time he tasted your pussy was also the first time you ever saw him look so… in love. he gets pussy drunk within minutes, not able to stop sucking on your sensitive clit until you push his head away. he had a wife so he’s definitely experienced with pleasing a woman, so don’t be surprised when he has you cumming on his tongue for an hour or more! <3

-when he’s feeling a bit horny and doesn’t want to bother you at night, he’ll kiss your temple and hold onto your hips as he fucks your thighs, his cock lightly brushing against your pussy. your thighs are fat and soft, and he just loves nestling his cock between them!

-sometimes he’s just tired and wants some snuggles, so he’ll have his cock buried inside of you while you sit on his lap. the first time he asked for this you were terrified you’d crush him because he’s so small and you’re chubby, but he begged for it, something he had never done before. you relented, and as soon as he was buried inside of you, with his head nuzzled against your chest, he looked just too content. “thank you, love… it’s perfect…”

-he’s embarrassed by how good it feels to hear you moan his name, when you say how his cock feels so nice when it hits that certain spot and how you’re gonna cum way quicker than he expected. you being so attracted to him, feeling so much pleasure by him just thrusting into you gets him feeling giddy!

-he most certainly has a bit of a breeding kink… he has 3 daughters already that he loves, but… the urge to claim you and give you a child as well does make his body heat up and his pants grow tight. Chilchuck would like to get you pregnant, but only when it’s safe to do so. he doesn’t pull out though… he just can’t, it’s too tempting and you’re way too warm and cozy… it’s why he loves cockwarming so much!

-circling back to boobs… he’s definitely the type to enjoy a good tittyfuck, but it’ll take him a while to accept this. he’s utterly embarrassed to have his cock anywhere near your face due to being a bit shy, but once he’s nestled between your breasts and your tongue touches the tip of his cock, he groans, nearly cumming right then and there. he’s already a huge fan of your breasts, so feeling them on his cock is otherworldly, and it becomes one of his favorite ways to relieve stress

-he likes to either cum inside of you or on your tummy… he refuses to cum on your face, and will only cum in your mouth if you ask. when he fucks your thighs, he does tend to make a mess all over you and feels awful since it’s not exactly easy to bathe regularly in the dungeon. but you do look awfully cute, messy and sticky with his cum, puffing out your chubby cheek to give him a pout.

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virgolixx · 7 months

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Head cannon:

:How would these one piece men react to their S/O getting badly injured on the battle field:

Sanji, Ace, Eustass, law

Theme: Angst

⚠️Warnings: Mentions of near death/harm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sanji:

The moment Sanji would see you wounded from your opponent’s sword he would defeat his own opponents in an instant and would practically fly to your side, kicking your own opponent across the battle field with such force causing the person to get knocked out unconscious.

Sanji would drop to his knees and hold you close on his lap, trying to hold back his tears, he would be yelling for chopper to help you.

Once chopper is helping you Sanji would stay close by to protect you and chopper, guarding that no other damn ass hole would touch or hurt you again.

Even after you are patched up and will make a recovery. Sanji would still keep an eye on you from the battle field

After the battle Sanji would have you resting in bed until your fully recovered. He would cook you nutritional meals and would constantly give you kisses.

“Get better soon my love”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ace:

The moment ace sees you on the floor unconscious and bloody, after your opponent threw you through the wall. His once calm demeanor changes drastically, he faces your opponent with rage.

Ace burns your opponent to a crisp while the other opponents are either groaning in pain from the burns ace gave them or unconscious from the beating ace gave.

Once all those damn people are down for the count he calms down and rushes over to your side. Holding you in his arms he pushes your hair out of your face.

Ace would use his hand to clean away any dirt or blood from your face. Noticing you starting to wake up, ace smiles softly as he would pick you up.

“Hold on my flame, let’s go get you some help”.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eustass:

Eustass….this man would literally see red, absolutely rage mode, he’s killing everyone.

Either it be a small bump or if you are greatly injured by an opponent Eustass will get extremely mad and protect you with his life. (I just know Eustass has a soft spot just for their S/O, but he would never admit it).

After his rage he realizes killer is by your side trying to patch you up. Coming to the both of you Eustass drops to your side and holds you in his arms….(arm?)

Just like Sanji, Eustass will have you in bed throughout your entire recovery. Eustass allows you to cuddle him as much as you want. (Of course it’s only cause you’re hurt, duh, he totally doesn’t like cuddles 🙄🤣).

While busy with captain duties Eusstass has killer watching over, and to get you anything you may need.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Law:

Law is frozen in place, absolutely shocked. You’ve been shot!! Thankfully in the shoulder, but that doesn’t ease law at all.

Before law goes into attack mode the first thing he thought was, ”I…please I can’t loose her to”.

As you’re about to continue fighting your opponent law flashes by and starts to attack your opponent and the opponent’s comrades with all his might.

Law freezes the moment he hears you yell his name. He looks at you then back at the opponents to see them all bloody and unconscious on the floor.

Sighing deeply as a way to calm down. Law then runs to you and checks your wound in a panic, stopping him you tell him that you’re fine. Law suddenly then hugs you semi tightly, his face in you neck.

Law speaks out to you, “I thought I lost you “Y/N”…….I… love you”. Shocked that Law is finally showing you his emotions, you hug him back and say, “I’m here love, I’m not going anywhere”.

#one piece strawhats #trafalgar law #law x reader #portgas d ace #ace x reader #eustass kid #eustass x reader #vinsmoke sanji #sanji x reader #one piece x reader #one peice #Spotify

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anonymous-dentist · 8 months

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Okay I did some vod searching and here’s Cellbit’s pov of the prison announcement (in the form of a pretty badly clipped video lol)

A couple of things to note:

The silence

The stammer

The knife

The eyes

First, the silence, because it could be easy to miss from another pov because he was already pretty quiet before. But you can see the literal second it registers what Forever had just said because the change in the silence is palpable. He didn’t even raise his voice above the noise when he asked Forever if he was being serious.

Second, the stammer. This is a man who is very good at talking. Look at him during the presidential debates, nothing was able to keep him from talking, not even his own suicide. But then here he… can’t talk. He’s that shocked, and he’s terrified. See:

Third, the knife. Now this knife. Now this knife. It’s his emotional support murder knife. He only brings it out when he feels scared, and it’s gotta be a real deep fear for him to bring it out. It’s only been a few times, namely when he’s been triggered over his past, most notably when he and Richarlyson explored the Federation prison after Pac’s kidnapping.

And then fourth, the eyes. After he takes the knife out, Cellbit’s eyes flick back and forth between Forever the audience in what appears to be genuine confusion. Because, and this is important, Forever never told Cellbit about the prison. So between the fear and the Horrors, there’s some actual legitimate confusion in there because he didn’t know about this.

So now, after all that, let’s take a look at q!Cellbit’s character in general because I know there are people who don’t know about his very tragic backstory.

So Cellbit was in prison for… something. Probably murder tbh, but that was never confirmed. He was in prison with Pac e Mike and he was a really bad person. As in, murdering people, threatening people, ripping human ears off, stabbing, inciting riots (I think???). He killed Felps. He almost got Pac and Mike to kill each other.

And then, after being left to die alone on an island, Cellbit got some goddamn help for the first time in his life.

Before prison, he was in a war (ie the Hunger Games.) Then he was in prison, and the math is hunting towards him being incarcerated prior to his eighteenth birthday. He was 18-ish when he was in prison, and he’s 26 now, and he spent those eight years in therapy. Now he’s a better person, and he’s a very scared person.

He has many triggers, but the one that’s come up the most has been prison. He killed Abueloier that first time because they were in a prison-like cell. After hearing that Pac e Mike were arrested, he almost became another person as he interrogated Foolish (just watch that vod back, the whiplash is there.) When exploring the Federation’s prison, he was visibly on edge, clutching his emotional support murder knife and tensing when he saw all of the cells and almost stabbing Cucurucho when it appeared. Foolish asked if he could arrest him, Cellbit immediately turned him down, and he went behind his husband’s back to convince Foolish not to arrest him, either. (I’m not sure if he knows in-character about the prison cell in the new murder mystery game, but he will Not be happy if he gets put in there.)

So. Prison.

He wants to be a better person, is the thing. Cellbit doesn’t like thinking about who he was as Cell- he canonically even avoids cellphones when he can (see: Abueloier.) But he can’t help what happens when he’s triggered: he killed Abueloier, he almost attacked Cucurucho and risked his whole new infiltration plan. He’s worried about hurting someone again, because he knows he’s capable of it. He might not be the best at pvp, but that doesn’t matter when half the server is just as bad as he is (/affectionate.)

He doesn’t want to hurt his family, and there being a big huge physical trigger all of a sudden in the form of this prison he wasn’t ever told about has clearly made him realize that, oh shit, this could be bad. Bad for himself, and thus bad for others.

#qsmp #long post #idk guys I’m just thinking here #I’m very tired hah

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ohbloggerimagines · 11 months

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could u write hcs of rocket being possessive/overprotective of reader ;w;

YES because I also think Rocket would be extremely over protective but not in a super weird way like a 'this ones mine and you'll never get it' type idk but yes yes yes

i might add more to this or make another post if i think of more <333

Rocket would fight any man, woman, or alien who looked at you in any suggestive way, if you let him.

When the crew is out and about on a planet, he is glued to either your hip, or right behind you.

He’s behind you because he’s blocking anyone from looking at your ass, which is actually his ass.

He will follow you around if you have to go anywhere off ship. Not just for your safety but because he wants everyone to know what is his. He’d follow you into the bathroom you let him.

It’s kind of impossible for him to give actual hickies, but claw marks? He will mark you up in the gentlest (or, not so gentle ;) ) way possible with those little nails of his.

Drunk Rocket is even worse, he gets scary possessive and you’ve had to apologize to many people for him nearly attacking them. He’s growled at people before.

One time he did attack someone. You had gotten up from the bar to use the restroom and he overheard some guys talking about you, and jumped on them without hesitation. You had to run out of the bathroom, watching him get thrown out of the bar, and seeing the men almost cowering in the corner. You couldn’t help but smile. And of course you had to go after him before he blew something up outside.

He’s pretty crafty, as everyone knows, and he gifted you a necklace with an ‘R’ on it, that he made, just in case no one knew who you belonged to. There is definitely a tracker in it.

Sometimes if the Milano is docked on a shifty planet, he has a hard time falling asleep in fear someone will break in and something might happen to you. He makes sure you fall asleep safely before he does.

Again, he is always in some physical contact with you if he can be, or as close as he can get. If everyone is relaxing on the ship he might as well be sitting in your lap.

He lowkey (or he thinks he seems lowkey) hates when you want to do things alone. Where are you going without him? Why can't he go with you? He almost interrogates you when you get back.

Peter often asks you for help around the ship, since you understand him as another Terran and talking to someone similar is just nice, and it makes Rocket very jealous to see you two getting along. He’s sure to let you know later…in private.

He panics whenever the Guardians get into a fight or battle and he doesn’t see you, it almost causes him to get hurt when he’s distracted looking for you.

Rocket isn’t necessarily a light sleeper, but he somehow, even in a deep sleep, knows when you're up and walking around, and he’ll grumble “Where do you think you’re off to, doll?” even if it’s just the bathroom. He’ll sit awake until you get back.

There’s been a few instances where he’s grabbed your face and “You’re mine, got that?” including in public. It makes you squirm.

He’s an ass slapper. Public, private, he doesn’t care.

Yondu tried to flirt when you initially met, and Rocket loathed him for it. No one gets to talk to you like that, except him.. The only reason he didn’t go after him is because he was trying to respect Peter.

#rocket raccoon x reader #rocket raccoon #rocket raccoon hc #ikindajustwroteabouthowmyfianceacts #gotg #gotg3

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ideas-4-stories · 3 months

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I have a story idea to tell you~ what if a mercenary smuggled a seastone knife to assassinate either Crocodile or Buggy with and they choose to go after Buggy, because Crocodiles terrifying, except Buggy’s pretty good in a knife fight, so he wins, but he did get stabbed as the opening move. And either, Mihawk and Crocodile don’t even know it happened until Buggys being treated by his crews doctor, when they burst in because someone stabbed Buggy the Clown, on crossguilds own damn island, or, they see the fight and thinks Buggy taking down his would be assassin is so hot they have to question it for a second. Either way Buggy will jokingly tell them it’s been years since anyone actually managed to stab him, and he’d almost forgot how much he hated how it felt. Maybe its also the first time they see him shirtless, and on top of buggy being hot, he’s got scars (because I love angst) and they have some questions and concerns about how he got them. (There is potential for a joke about how not everyone walks around shirtless all the time if they stare, but I think it’d work better in the second scenario, Mihawk is Reacting Correctly To A Stabbing and has his hand held on the wound before he’s really even thinking of it, and getting Buggys shirt off him to use it for the bleeding until the doctor gets there, and Crocodiles not doing much but shouting for people to move faster and watching, and if he had to guess he’d say someone tortured the clone in the past, and he’s learning that now, because someone stabbed his clown and gave him another scar, and Buggys cracking jokes like it’s not a big deal)

Ooooooo, them choosing Buggy as the victim of the attack because Crocodile is more terrifying? It didn’t end well for them, but at least they chose the one that would keep them alive to find out why they were trying to assassinate them. That person’s ass got beaten up, can see Buggy using his acrobatics to help winning the knife fight. Poor Buggy getting stab in the opening move… oh Oh OH!!! Maybe Buggy let them do that so he has a ability to slash the person as well, and scares the shit out of the person? But then again, most people don’t like getting stab so Buggy saying he hates it is understandable.

I like the idea that Mihawk and Crocodile sees Buggy fighting but doesn’t realize that he’s hurt until the doctor comes over to check on the knocked out assassian as the doctor scolds Buggy on being so chill with his injury (Them thinking it’s so hot for Buggy to take down the assiassian is because they think Buggy wouldn't be able to do it, but he did and it quite nice… but then Crocodile and Mihawk finds out he’s hurt and start to freak out to their surprise)

Buggy joking about it, sounds about right for a jester that he is. A joker that's making fun of himself to hide the pain. Poor Buggy having scars… I wonder if he has tried covering them up with tattoos, I have a want for Buggy to have two floral patterns running up his sides, starting from his knees to his waist. Anyway them seeing Buggy shirtless for the first is a bonus because if Buggy sees them staring he might think they are looking at his ugly skin (because angst… you can blame @theeofficialnightmare69 for my growing want for angst)

Mihawk and Crocodile being worried about the scars and try to pry information from Buggy to maybe no prevail or get too much information that makes them very disturbed about Buggy's past and they are filled with more questions then they started with.

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loveharlow · 1 year

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FLUFF ALPHABET

PAIRING‧₊˚ JJ Maybank x Fem!Reader

SYNOPSIS‧₊˚ [2.7k] Fluff Alphabet for JJ. Template from @snk-warriors

WARNING(S)‧₊˚ swearing, might be some suggestive stuff

A/N‧₊˚ A lil something while I work on chapter 8 of my JJ series.

˗ˏˋ jj masterlist ˎˊ˗

A ctivities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

Life on The Cut isn’t exactly luxury so you make do with what you have. If it’s something with the whole group, it’s probably a kegger or hanging out at The Wreck. If JJ wants it to just be you two, he’d try his best to set up something you both like because he just wants to be with you. That can be spending a whole day at the beach and acting like two idiots in love or sitting in his room at The Chateau scrolling on your phone and just cuddling with each other.

B eauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

He thinks you’re like out of this world, stunningly, beautiful (obviously) but he’d have to say he loves your eyes because he’s learned to read your emotions just from them alone. He loves the little glint they get when you’re happy or excited, the crinkles when you laugh so hard that you double over. He just loves them because they suit you so well.

C omfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

He keeps it to himself, mainly, but JJ has a had a few panic attacks himself, especially growing up with his father. However, this doesn’t make him an expert on how to handle them with other people. When it first happened, you didn’t really want his help and he truthfully didn’t know how to help you. He was scared but he toughed it out and actually, surprisingly, did research on how to help other people through them. When you’re just sad in general, he’ll let you talk about it, cry into his shirt if you need to while holding you tight and pressing kisses to your forehead. Once you’ve calmed down a little bit, he’ll crack a joke to get a laugh or smile out of you.

D reams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

It took JJ a while to realize where your relationship was headed. It wasn’t a bad thing but he was kind of like “Damn, I really love this girl”. He had to get used to the idea of a future with someone and not seeing himself as a complete fuck-up, which you assure him he isn’t. You both talk about how many kids you want, whether you want to stay in the OBX or move, etc. He honestly doesn’t care as long as he’s with you and you’re happy, as cheesy as it sounds.

E qual - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

JJ is the dominant one. 100%. He isn’t aggressive or demanding. More in like a caring and slightly possessive way. His insecurities can get the best of him sometimes, I will admit. Times when he’ll catch someone staring at you a little too long and suddenly his featherlight grip around your waist is holding you against him to the point where you’re almost melting into one another. He’ll defend your name to no end because you’re his girl and he won’t let anyone talk down on you no matter what. And he stands firm on the basis that you can “do whatever you want because he can fight”.

F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

It depends. JJ doesn’t like loosing people but he's also not a pushover. He won’t forgive you just because he’s afraid of loosing you. If it’s something small, he’ll be stubborn but one of you will cave and apologize. It always happens. If it’s a big argument that went way too far, the pogues may have to get involved for some kind of reconciliation because no matter how stubborn or not you are, JJ will avoid you like the plague because you either hurt his feelings real bad and he’s overthinking or he said some fucked up shit to you and thinks that you hate him for it.

G ratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

Absolutely. Growing up on The Cut and in the household he was dealt, JJ is grateful for everything you have given him. And I mean everything. He may not say it but he tries to show it. He’s grateful for how you help him through his emotions down to the way you bring him a smoothie or snacks from the gas station every time you come by The Chateau because you know he probably hasn’t eaten or drank much since he woke up.

H onesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

He has some. He doesn’t like it but he’ll do it if it spares you the headache. Like the whole stealing from Barry thing? Yeah, you weren’t there for that and he was not going to let what he did get back to you in any way, shape, or form. For fear that you would be disappointed in him or it might rope you into the BS they’d managed to get themselves deeper into. But if it poses no threat to you, it’s all cards on the table.

I nspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

You changed each other, honestly. You got JJ to settle down, which took almost the whole island by surprise. He was a party boy (and a bit of a player, let’s not kid ourselves), so when he started turning down tourons and ignoring these picture perfect girls, it was kind of like “okay, what the hell?”. He changed you by getting you to be more open and outgoing. JJ is totally a golden-retriever type and isn’t much of homebody. So, dating him really got you out of your shell.

J ealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

At first, hell yeah. JJ battled a lot of insecurities. Now, don’t get me wrong. The man knew he was attractive. The issue was his status on the island; A pogue with little to nothing to his name. He thought you could find someone so much better and it wouldn’t be long before you did. You helped him deal with it though. Reminding him that he’s the only one you could ever and would ever want. And plus, if you’re a pogue yourself, reminding him that you’re both in the same boat and you’ll row it together.

K iss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Why wouldn’t he be? He’s had a lot of practice. However, your first kiss wasn’t perfect. He wasn’t used to the intimacy of a kiss. It was always frantic and needy, just needing to get your clothes off. But when he settled down with you, you had to tell him to take it easy, y’know?

“Why are you laughing?” JJ pulled back from where you both had been sucking each other’s faces off on the worn sofa of The Chateau.

“Nothing, it’s just…you bit my lip like 3 times and I think it was on accident.” You giggled.

JJ sighed and let his head fall. “Sorry, I’m not used to this.”

Your hand came up to caress his cheek as you looked into his eyes and spoke. “It’s fine. Just take it slow. I’m not going anywhere.” You assured. “So, put the fangs away and kiss me like you love me.”

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

Actually, it wasn’t JJ. It was you. JJ was never good at expressing himself so he would never up and out with a love confession unless he was “under duress” and just like, blurted it out. So, one night you just took it upon yourself. He was having a super bad day and you were comforting him as you both laid in the hammock, his head pressed to your soft chest and you just...said it. He stilled and looked up at you and asked if you meant it and things just went from there.

M arriage - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like?

Took him a minute to get used to the idea of it but yeah, he wants to marry you and only you. He probably doesn’t propose, however, until your like mid 20’s, nearing 30’s. He didn’t want to rush into it and he knew he wasn’t going anywhere and neither were you. He would love you anyway he could have you so calling you his wife was just an extra bonus. The marriage would be a little rocky at the start, as most are — you trying to be the picture perfect wife and him trying to be the perfect on paper husband until you both learned that this is your marriage and it doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s.

N icknames - What do they call their s/o?

Nothing too out there but he loves the typical, cliche ones — baby, babe, sweetheart. He also has one or two specific nicknames for you that were born out of a funny scenario that only you both and the pogues would get. You call him names that you know make his cheeks on red and make him pull his hat down over his face to cover it — pretty boy, handsome, sexy blonde, daddy- what? Who said that?...

O n Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?

Oh, it’s absolutely obvious. You two are attached at the hip when the other isn’t overly busy. He’s either, arm slung over on your shoulder, arm around you waist, or hugging you tight from behind when he just needs to be near you or wants to touch you. JJ isn’t great with his words so his love language is definitely touch. For you, you love clinging to him like a koala because it makes him smile. You’ll be on his back as he holds you up by your thighs, resting against his chest as he sits back, or literally just straddling his lap with your arms around his neck occasionally kissing his cheek.

P DA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

What reason would he have not to be? If someone asks, you’re his girl and he’s your man. Neither of you brag, per say, more like show off one another. And only if you feel someone threatening, more like trying to threaten, your relationship or wedge their way between you both. JJ has never been opposed to PDA but it did take you a little while to get used to his public affection with zero shame.

Q uirk - Some random ability they have that’s beneficial in a relationship.

He has this like really creepy ability to know when you’re about to get upset about something before you even do it that even the pogues can’t pick up. Like when someone cracks an insensitive joke, he’s learned to just pick up some cues — the way your face twists, the snarl you get in your lip, when your eyebrows do this weird thing and your eyes darken just the slightest while your body stiffens just a bit. No one else notices, like ever, but he does in an instant. He’ll pull you close and kiss your neck before whispering something like “It’s okay.” or “Do you wanna leave?”

R omance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

JJ is still getting the hang of the whole intimacy and romance thing but he tries his hardest. He just wants to see you happy and you remind him that he doesn’t need some grand gesture to do that and he makes you happy but he still likes to spoil you as much as he can anyway because he loves how nervous it makes you. Sometimes, it’s super cliche because it gives you both something to laugh about and remember but the creative ones always stick with you because it came from his heart and everything he remembers about you, even the small things.

S upport - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?

He supports you all the way in whatever you do. If it’s dangerous, he’ll try to talk you out of it but if he can’t he’ll be there to catch you if you fall, and tell you “I told you so.” He’s your biggest fan and you’re loudest cheerleader.

T hrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?

Try new things, for sure. He’s up for literally almost anything. He knows your strengths and weaknesses and knows your boundaries. If you say no or anything like it, he won’t push it and won't try to convince you again. But if you’re in, he’s in.

U nderstanding - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

You both know each other so well, a little too well if you ask anyone else. You’re more empathetic towards each other because you can understand and sometimes even relate to one another’s experiences. With other people? You, personally, will try but you’ll also be honest. JJ? If it’s not someone he’s close to, he doesn’t really feel like their feelings concern him.

V alue - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?

He values your relationship with his life. Same for you. It’s worth everything. You go to each other for everything, take care of one another and if things go south you’re the first person you each turn to. You think your relationship is the best thing to happen to you both.

W ild Card - A random Fluff Headcanon.

Call it creepy but JJ loves to take pictures of you, especially when the sun is beaming on you. For example, he has one he took you of you the morning after you guy’s first time with your head on his chest, a steak of sunshine illuminating your skin. You looked so peaceful and he wanted to see you look that way forever. So pulled the cover up to conceal your indecency and snapped the pic. That was his lock screen for a long while. Until, you went surfing with Kie and came back to the shore in a wetsuit that hugged you just right, board tucked under your arm as the sun was shining on every part of you — hair wet and eyes glowing as he raised his phone with no shame as you shifted your weight and smiled brightly at him.

“Did you just take a picture of me?”

“Mhm.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re pretty. Also my girlfriend, so I can do it without it being creepy.”

X OXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

Very affectionate but it gets worse when he’s having a really good day or a really bad one. A really good day — he’s bear hugging you and kissing your face all over. A really bad day — he justs wants to lay with you in bed all day.

Y earning - How will they cope when they’re missing their partner?

He will call you anytime he can and text you throughout the day, unless you can’t talk but he’ll leave you cute text messages, take pictures for you and send the occasional voice message if he’s busy himself.

Z eal - Are they willing to go to great lengths for the relationship? If so, what kind of?

He’ll go as far as he has to. He doesn’t like when it escalates into violence because he knows you aren’t particularly fond of when he gets himself hurt/into trouble. Because regardless of whether he can beat a touron, kook, or another pogue’s ass – he’ll be the one to take the fall and that’s the last thing you want for him and he knows it.

feedback is appreciated. thanks for reading!

©loveharlow

#jj maybank x reader #jj mayback x reader #jj mayback imagine #obx jj #jj maybank #jj maybank x y/n #obx fanfiction #jj maybank x you #pogues x reader #jj maybank angst #jj maybank fluff #jj maybank x fem!reader #jj maybank x pogue!reader #jj maybank x kook!reader #obx jj maybank #obx jj x reader

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moonshine-nightlight · 1 year

Text

Nothing's Wrong with Dale - Part Twenty-Two

It’s been a week, but you’re fairly certain your fiancé accidentally got himself replaced by an eldritch being from the Depths. Deciding that he’s certainly not worse than your original fiancé, you endeavor to keep the engagement and his new non-human state to yourself.

However, this might prove harder than you originally thought.

Fantasy, arranged marriage, malemonsterxfemalereader, M/F

AO3: Nothing's Wrong with Dale Chapter 22

[Part One][Part Two] [Part Three] [Part Four] [Part Five] [Part Six] [Part Seven] [Part Seven.5] [Part Eight] [Part Nine] [Part Ten] [Part Eleven] [Part Twelve] [Part Thirteen] [Part Fourteen] [Part Fifteen] [Part Sixteen] [Part Seventeen] [Part Eighteen] [Part Nineteen] [Part Twenty] [Part Twenty-One] Part Twenty-Two [Part Twenty-Three] [Part Twenty-Four] [Part Twenty-Five] [Part Twenty-Six] [Part Twenty-Seven] [Part Twenty-Eight] [Part Twenty-Nine] [Part Thirty] [Part Thirty-One] [Part Thirty-Two] [Part Thirty-Three] [Part Thirty-Four]

“Well now ladies,” the tallest man speaks, his voice low and condescending. He’s smug too, like the cat that got the mouse, as he steps forward twirling a dagger. “You don’t seem to have our prize stallion with you as we expected, but I’m certain his filly and granny will make perfect bait.”

You’re glad to have a wall at your back in some ways, but you’d feel better with a method of escape.

“I know not what your aim is,” Grandmother begins. You’re relieved to hear Grandmother speak. The way her strength had been failing, you were getting worried about how bad she might have been hurt. You also have no idea what to do next, the assassins fanned out in a semi-circle on the other side of the desk you two are behind. Her voice is rough, but strong, as she continues, “but I assure you: it will fail!”

“Know not?” the one on the right says, her voice more bored than anything. Her head tilts with the question, but she keeps her spear pointed at your corner. She’s got a scarf tied tight about her mouth and hair, leaving only eyes free. She’s clad in dark well-worn clothes that give free range of movement. There’s a bulk to them that suggests leather armor of some sort is under them. She stands with a sturdiness you can determine even with your minimal martial knowledge. She looks like it’d take an ox to move her where she doesn’t want to go.

“Clen just said what our aim is,” the one on the left says, his voice mocking. Grimly, you agree. They all but said you’re now hostages to them, leverage against Dale. You wonder what he might have done, likely not to them, but to those that hired them. These were rough folks, but skilled. Although, they did bungle their actual capture of Dale, nabbing you and Grandmother instead.

They’ve already adapted their plan and they still seem confident. The tall man—Clen—isn’t even out of breath as he holsters his crossbow. The fact that no one’s heard the commotion is really starting to worry you. That means they must have incapacitated those nearby. Anyone you could have alerted or called to help must either be away or somehow dealt with already.

Of all the worries you had about this wedding, somehow attackers targeting Dale or yourself had never crossed your mind. Clearly, you’d been thinking too small, you realize somewhat hysterically. It’s taking everything you have to keep yourself together, but you know you must.

You’re no fighter, certainly not outnumbered with someone to protect. All of your minimal lessons were with weapons you didn’t have, people you do not have around you, and primarily were geared towards escaping. They also tended to be in consideration of one opponent, not four highly trained ones.

“She’s got a bit of a bleed going from her head,” Clen replies. You feel ice slip into your veins and turn your head, trying to keep them in sight but also take a look at Grandmother. You don’t even remember pushing her into the chair behind this desk. She’s managing to seat herself confidently. Her posture makes it appear as though these are mere hooligans who’ve burst into her office unannounced. Only the thin trickle of blood down her cheek betrays her affectation.

You press one of your spare handkerchiefs into her hand, while readying another. “Please use it to stop the blood,” you whisper to her. “You must.”

Grandmother accepts the cloth from you, but you both keep your gazes fixed on the assassins, unable to look away from the threat.

“So I suppose we can’t blame her for not following the obvious,” Clen grins. His scarf covers his head too, but it has holes for his eyes and leaves his mouth visible. The other man is taller than the woman, but shorter than the other men, with only a scarf covering his mouth. You can’t see well in the light, but you think he’s got markings either cut into his short shorn hair or inked onto his scalp.

The final one hasn’t said anything. He’s the one who appeared suddenly in front of you to cut off your escape. He also has no covering on his face at all. His hair is black streaked through with gray and his eyes seem to glow, highlighting the blue of one and the green of the other. He looks the least physically strong, but you’ve a feeling he doesn’t fight that way—not to discount the short sword he does have in his hand.

Assassins, a word you can hardly believe you are thinking, also tend to come in two breeds: those who are extremely skilled fighters and thieves and those who are that and also dabble in demonics. That last one is definitely the latter. And even the others look like they might at least have had some Depth enhancement work done. Did someone know to send such types after Dale? Or were they merely counting on Northridge being vulnerable to such attackers? Maybe this group was just the best money could buy.

“We’re here for your little heir,” Clen says, enough theater pomp to his manner that you wonder if he was once a performer. “Our generous patrons want him trussed up and escorted back to them. Before we deal with him to their satisfaction. Bit frustrating he didn’t come back with you two as he had every past nights, but we’ve time to wait.”

“Even with this distance between us,” he smirks, waving an arm towards where you and Grandmother are wedged. “I know you agree that you’re well and truly cornered.”

“So sit still and wait like good bait,” the man on his left says, his eyes and voice conveying the smirk he must be wearing, “danglin’ on the hook, for the lordling to arrive.” You think you like him the least. His eyes seem cruel and his daggers very sharp.

“You can yell all you want then,” the woman says, seemingly convinced that you’ll stay put. She’s pulled her spear back to her and is polishing it with her sleeve. “But don’t bother now. Some’at mysterious struck the guards this wing of the house. What was it again, Lasky?”

“Food poisoning something bad, I heard,” the man on the left, who must be Lasky, says. His eyes seem to linger on you in particular, despite Grandmother doing the talking, even now when answering the woman. You wish you had more than a dull dinner knife on you because the idea of that one in particular anywhere near you makes your skin crawl

“My lot are in the cellar,” the woman returns with a shrug, “got stuck somehow.”

“And Two won’t tell what he did to his,” Clen jerks his head at the silent, unmasked man. He’s the one you’ve already decided is the most dangerous. You’re certain he’s by far the most mixed up in demonics. Even beyond the superstition of people with two different colored eyes. His disinterest in hiding his identity, the shadow movement he displayed, his silence and lack of blinking all point towards possession to you. He unnerves you far more than Dale did, even in the beginning. There’s a carelessness to him, something unbound and unrestrained. You don’t want to think on what he could do, if he wanted to. Your only comfort is the fact that he seems largely uninterested in doing anything but leaning against the wall and waiting.

“You will not succeed in this plan,” Grandmother says, clearly fed up with their antics. You’re happy she has it in her to feel annoyed instead of just scared, with the edge of anger like you. “You would do best to try to make your escape now while you still have the opportunity.”

“She’s got brass ones to be threatenin’ us right now,” Lasky says with a laugh that Clen joins in on.

“You’ve no idea what we’re capable of,” Clen says to Grandmother once he’s stopped. “If only your grandson hadn’t angered quite so many people with the money to spare. Mayhap then they’d have hired those lesser than us to accomplish their bidding.”

“He really shouldn’t have cheated that one Lord at cards,” Lasky adds and you can hear Grandmother let out an outraged huff. You bite your lip to hold back unexpected, ironic laughter at the idea that this is just more of same. Original Dale, being careless and leaving others to suffer for his mistakes. “I think he paid more than half our fee by himself.

“My Dale is no cheater,” Grandmother retorts hotly, as if that mattered at all. “If they had a real case, they would follow the proper channels. They would not send thugs after him.”

“Well, our patrons disagree,” Clen replies. He doesn’t slide his sword back into its sheath, but stretches with it still in hand. His shirt rides up to reveal red ink markings that confirm to you he’s got some sort of demonic enhancements.

“Although the knight is a hypocrite,” the woman scoffs. “Complaining about someone else cheating.”

“Who cares? He’s the one paying us extra for—” Lasky starts to say before Two gives him a look. It’s not even particularly menacing, just filled with intent. Clen gets tense for all he doesn’t look at Two, but the woman gives Lasky a glare fit to set him on fire. Lasky shuts up.

She stalks over to him, pointing her spear at him with a thunderous expression on her face.

Lasky turns from Two, who’s gone back to looking out through the open doorway to the courtyard, to face her. “Not your place, Vi—don’t try and speak on things you don’t—”

“Don’t need to understand to know you’d best keep your mouth shut, you ninny,” Vi hisses. “I made an exception, working with you lot, and I’ll not be regretting it.”

“Is this the time?” Clen sounds exasperated and turns to get between them. The resulting argument is quiet enough that it devolves to unrecognizable words and sounds.

Your eyes automatically dart to the door and then to the courtyard, but you know you’d never out run them, let alone be able to with Grandmother in tow. And if they think they’ll be discovered, well, Grandmother would lose her value as a hostage. Besides, your eyes trip past Two while looking. He’s switched back to staring at you.

“Keep calm,” Grandmother whispers in your ear, seemingly wanting to take advantage of the argument. You’re grateful she seems coherent, if tired, but her voice is less strong in your ear than when she was yelling at Clen.

“Your maid and my own will likely have already realized we’re missing,” she reminds you. You’d completely forgotten about sending hers ahead and no doubt yours will be up in your rooms with your late night nibbles soon, both wondering where you two are. “No doubt they will find some guards. Or it will be noticed some guards are missing from their posts. Either way, they will backtrack our route. It is only a waiting game. Just don’t let those ratbags get close.”

“I agree,” you say, glad your voice sounds steady. You try to pivot your body to keep them in the corner of your eye, for at least a few minutes. You desperately want to take a closer look at Grandmother’s injury. “How are you feeling?”

“I will be fine,” Grandmother insists, but she moves as you do, sitting more heavily in the chair with each passing second. You’re able to finally see that the arrow did graze her head. “Just rather…”

Her eyelids flutter rapidly and you hurry to brace her, barely able to keep from making a noise of surprise that might draw the kidnappers’ attention. Her hand falls to her side taking the handkerchief with it, stained red. The resulting cut is bleeding sluggishly into her hair and down her cheek. Since your spare is already in your hand, you’re quick to press it to the wound. You tug a ribbon free from your hair so you can try to fix the cloth in place.

You know the best you can hope for is to set her up in the least dangerous position that also leaves you free to protect her. Who knows what ideas these criminals might get without her conscious to be intimidating? With one less person to make a fuss?

You’ve just gotten it to stay when the sound of Lasky’s voice causes you to whip around.

“Aw, did she fall asleep?” he asks. His continually mocking tone sets your teeth on edge. The three who’d been involved in the argument are back to their original fanned out positions, best to limit your escape. He takes a step closer and you can’t help but press closer to the chair, needing something solid at your back. Needing to remember that now there’s only you there to defend Grandmother. You need to keep it together.

“Don’t feel lonely, I’ll keep you entertained, lady,” he says, stepping even closer. “I am certain I can keep your attention. I venture I could make you forget all about the pompous heir. His fault for letting his little betrothed walk back without him, isn’t it?”

Fear and anger rage inside you at his implications, at his approach. If only you were someone else, someone with the right training. Near everyone you know would be better in this situation than you: schoolmates, siblings. That sparks a memory and you glance down. This was the corset gifted to you by your oldest sister, who wasn’t a knight, but was never unarmed.

“Lasky,” Vi warns. “The granny’s already fainted.”

“I won’t hurt her,” Lasky says, glancing at Vi. “Well, not enough she would not still be useful.”

You hastily take advantage of that split second, fingers fumbling with the tie at the top of your corset. You slid a finger into the hole and drew out a flat, wickedly sharp dagger. Designed as a set with a sheath to act as a typical busk. It is on the thicker side than most busks, but still comfortable in its place down the center of your corset. While in its sheath it performs its job of lending stiffness to the corset. Out of its sheath, the blade is wicked sharp.

You had lessons on using it, but you’d never truly expected to need to apply them. That training was none of the forms and rules of typical martial training. Self-defense is about taking advantage of any vulnerability, leveraging whatever you had at your disposal to get away. It was all dirty tactics and cheap shots. You hold the dagger in front of yourself. The weight of the metal is slight, but steadying. You feel safer with something in hand to protect yourself with.

When Lasky turns back to you, his eyes immediately land on your new blade. “You think you can win a fight with that?” he sneers at it. “It’s hardly more than a letter opener.”

“No,” you reply truthfully, before you tighten your grip. You swallow, realizing you haven’t had to speak yet. You try to pull even an ounce of the steel Grandmother had in her voice into your own. “However, I think I can blind you in at least one eye or take a few of your fingers before you killed me.” Your voice is quieter, with less command than Grandmother’s, but it’s steady, which is more than you’d hoped for.“And I doubt you want that.”

“I told you these noble bitches were cold,” Clen says, but he doesn’t sound upset. Of all of them, he’s been almost cheerful the whole time. “Do not touch her until we have him—she is more tempting bait than the old woman. He’s probably just waiting for her to drop dead as it is. You know how these heirs are.”

Lasky hasn’t retreated, but he’s stopped advancing. You hope he can see how sharp the blade is. You hope he’s thinking about your words. How he will win the fight, but that you are more than capable of making him regret it. More than capable of leaving a lasting mark. That’s how they train the nobility who do not go into the military. Your virtue, your bloodline, are your most valuable possession. It is drilled into any noble, especially those who aren’t heirs, that you must ensure no one besmirches it.

“Would one of you lend me some aid?” Lasky complains.

“The plan was not to take prisoners,” Clen points out, still sound amused more than anything. He’s not even looking at Lasky anymore, instead he’s checking his gear. Obviously, the fight with Dale or whatever guards might come are his main focus. It worries you that they have such time and anticipation when Dale does not. However, it also is a comfort because that means he’s not paying you as much mind. “I would prefer to keep my hands free.”

“No rope,” Vi clarifies where she’s pushing some furniture to the side, making a clearer area for a fight. That makes sense given the reach of her weapon. It doesn’t help the dread pooling in your stomach. You wish they would simply tell Lasky he wasn’t allowed to touch you, that you’re too valuable a prisoner to risk. In the end, you’ll just have to settle for being a hair too much trouble to do more than leave you in the corner you’ve backed yourself into. Alone.

You want to check on Grandmother again. You want to see if she’s awoken or if the handkerchief is soaked through. But you can’t. You can’t afford to look away. Not with Lasky still where he is. Not with him still in the room. Not with him still conscious.

“Two doesn’t need rope,” Lasky says, but you think he’s pouting. Unable to believe how carelessly he’s saying these threats, you chance a glance at Two.

Two’s only indication he knows he’s being talked about is to cross his arms. He stares at you, still not blinking, but unlike Dale, his eyes don’t compel you to fall into them. His eyes make you want to look anywhere else. Given the threats currently facing you, you don’t feel too foolish for hastily looking away from him and back to Lasky.

“And I’m not spending the next however long trying to help you hold onto a squirming, crying girl for whatever purpose you’ve in mind,” Vi says, her voice hard. “Who knows when the heir might show up. And we can’t risk knocking her out with the granny unconscious.”

Lasky sighs, his eyes still betraying a grasping eagerness that you hate. He takes a step back regardless. “Fine, stay in that corner, but I’ll be back for you after we’ve dealt with your naughty fiance.”

You don’t take your eyes off of him, even as he retreats back to the others. You try to think of a plan, something else to do so that fear doesn’t overwhelm you like it’s threatening to. You keep the dagger upraised and pointed, but you try to push the chair back even further. You want to get it close enough to the closet. If you need to hide during the fight that will break out, you want the short distance possible to have to drag Grandmother and the chair.

As you slowly, slowly do move the chair, you keep your ears alert for any information they might let slip. You catch snatches of phrases which begin to paint a picture.

“…don’t want Two to tire himself with the girl when…” Clen says to Lasky, making you readjust your grip on your dagger. You raise the point since it had started to drift lower the longer you kept it aloft.

“…even want her? This payout…” Vi complains.

“…aren’t here,” Clen sounds exasperated even as he helps Lasky use a dagger to pry the jewels from a decorative statuette. “Those are back at their estate…take us….”

“It’s the knight, he’s the one who cares about that,” Lasky says. “It’s why he brought Two on. The heiress is the one who…”

“After. Once Northridge is secured, you can do what you want,” Vi says. “But you’re not risking my…”

You’re pretty sure the knight they keep referring to is Eastmont, who must have warned them Dale had some access to enhancement from the Depths. He seems to also want Dale’s research, which must be why they’re trying to capture him alive. It sounds like if they succeed, Lasky will still want to keep you a hostage—he continues to keep looking back at you. His gaze makes a visceral feeling of disgust well up within you at the way they drag over your body.

You try to think about who these other benefactors might be, a Lord and heiress are the only others they’ve mentioned. But before you think much further on it, Two straightens from his spot near the courtyard door, turning to face the door you came through instead.

The others instantly fall silent.

It takes a tense moment that seems to stretch on and on, until you finally hear what Two must have.

“…certain they only went to the courtyard for some air, my Lord,” a woman is saying and you find yourself barely breathing as you try to hear over your thundering heartbeat for the reply.

“It seems a long time for such a thing to take, especially so late at night.” It is Dale. The relief that floods you is almost dizzying and you sway where you stand. Quickly, you shake your head and adjust your footing. Everything is about to get very very chaotic and you need to be ready.

“You’ll forgive me for saying so, my Lord,” the woman replies, “but things take longer for those getting on in years.”

“I shall forgive you,” Dale’s voice is cheerfully teasing and just that sound is immensely comforting to you. “However, best pray Grandmother doesn’t hear you say such a thing.”

“I would never,” the woman says as they get even closer. “Here, I believe Mr Allen said this is likely the way they went.”

They’re so close and you’re torn. Is it selfish to be so grateful he’s joining you in this extremely dangerous situation? Should you call out to forewarn Dale or should you not send him racing in to his death? Will it help or hinder him for you to shout? What is the right course of action?

But time is slipping through your fingers. You make your decision and pray it’s the right choice.

“Dale!”

[Part Twenty-Three]

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emry-stars-art · 10 months

Note

Omg PLEASE tell us more about the hurt/ comfort after Neil gets back from evermore after being kidnapped

Oh you know the fun parts to brainstorm 👀👀 First I needed to draw some of the comfort so here’s a sketch:

Anyway this is aftg we’re talking about, specifically Riko and Nathan, so once again; it’s rather vague but take care reading on (or skip to the next bolded sentence for the comfort 💕)

I honestly still don’t have all the specifics on what might happen at Evermore! One option is just to make it very similar to Neil’s canon Christmas break, because the angles are similar: in canon, they want Neil quiet and obedient to play exy and not act out against his treatment, and in this au the only difference is instead of exy it’s… violence, essentially. But let’s be honest. This is a royal au, we have to add some things, right

So the main tenant is “they want Abram to do what he’s told without argument”. In my mind that includes being forced to watch every bit of Nathan’s work and then having to do it himself. Of course, Abram is still stubborn and still hates doing it more than he hates anything else, so it takes a long time for him to hurt or torture or kill anyone the first time he’s asked. Usually there is heavy coercion and harm before he touches anyone.

But the point isn’t to get Abram used to doing it, because he’s already as used to it as he will ever be. The Moriyamas’ focus is more on breaking down the stubborn streak and strong moral compass. The best way to do that, they figure, is to take away his personhood altogether. So Abram is never referred to as a person, and instead they more or less treat him like some inanimate weapon or like a dog. A very volatile, vicious dog. Kennels and muzzles and commands and all. Some starvation and sleep deprivation when they decide it’s “necessary”. Even long into his recovery Abram can’t hear a word like heel or sit without his muscles twitching to do so.

So it’s a mix of the dehumanization and punishment. Riko has almost free reign once again, though Tetsuji will step in at times when he deems it’s too much. (Though I don’t think he considered waterboarding/near drowning every time Abram is made to bathe or shower “too much”.) Near the end of Abram’s time, a week or so before he’s either rescued, somehow returned, or escapes, Tetsuji revokes Riko’s privileges altogether when Riko causes some heavy head injuries that concuss Abram and make him lose his sight for a while. It’s not permanent, but it’s long enough term that when he gets back to Palmetto, Abram takes a long time away from most people to recover. He doesn’t trust himself not to act before he can think when he can’t see his surroundings.

Back at Palmetto, it might take most of them a while to realize how bad it was. Day is most familiar with how Evermore works, but he was still high up in the chain of command and respect, so he wasn’t necessarily familiar with the underworkings like that. Abram was raised in the environment, he is horrifically good at more or less acting normal. And when he’s fully awake and conscious, he’s very good at keeping things separate - people can still touch him with enough warning, he still holds conversation when he has to. The worst things come to light slowly - the first time he wakes up in a flashback Abram and Day immediately decide it’s best if he doesn’t stay around Andrew. So Andrew kind of has to watch from the outside and it kills him. He watches when Abram refuses to bathe, but if he doesn’t get clean the wounds will get badly infected, so Day kind of has to make him. But Andrew can’t help - because as Day expects, Abram panics and Day ends up with several bruised ribs and nearly broken fingers. Abram won’t wear high collared or tight shirts any more, and one time in helping the Queen care for the castle’s hounds Abram has a panic attack when he’s accidentally left alone for too long. There are little punctures over his cheeks and nose in a circle across his face. He has a hard time eating around others. Abram never tells them what happened to him, but Andrew and Day slowly figure it out anyway.

As they figure it out, everyone does their best to adapt. While Abram’s still recovering his sight, Day announces himself and most of his movements. He talks all the way through finally washing and detangling Abram’s hair (even after the long time he spends on it, they have to cut out the worst mats) when Abram tells him it helps to hear a friendly voice in a language that isn’t the Moriyamas’. Day talks more often and more softly than he probably ever has in his life, because he’s made himself Abram’s main caretaker. Not to say he doesn’t make honest mistakes, because they all do, but he’s quick to change his behavior.

Then, when Abram’s almost fully recovered his sight, Day lets him stay with Andrew once more. Now it’s not as much Abram watching out for the prince - he will do his job well enough, but sometimes he still has to step back and away because of course he does. And Andrew’s approach is very different than Day’s. It isn’t as much his voice as it is his presence, or when he uses his calm but direct authority to tell Abram to go to sleep, I’m going to be right here. After Abram’s panic attack in the kennels, Andrew discovers that if there’s nothing around to pull Abram into a panic attack he won’t generally fall into one again after leaving the stressor, and Abram finds great comfort in some grounding hold on some part of him. Usually the back of his neck or his hands. He won’t let Andrew hold a knee or leg when they’re sat together, but he will put his weight against Andrew’s shoulder for balance. Little things that Andrew figures out by asking or trial and error. When Abram slips, accidentally refers to himself as “it” or “thing” - words he’d never use normally and sometimes even flinches from - Andrew learns to stay within arms reach, sometimes talking through his and Abram’s schedule. If it’s bad enough Abram might play with Andrew’s fingers and hands while he does, like he’s trying to make sure he can still touch someone without hurting them. This afternoon we discuss plans for the upcoming festival with Day, Captain Wymack, Abigail, and Aaron and Katelyn, and after we’ll eat. Join me in the garden? Always official, non-confrontational events. Slowly Andrew gets Abram readjusted to eating at a table and speaking without seeking permission first.

But again. There’s a lot of possibilities and things are always subject to change or be added, so this is kind of my jumping off point! (And is half of this summarized from things I’ve written? Yes. But I want to have something else polished and posted first so 👀 I hope to circle back to this soon) Thank you for the ask!! 🥰

#you guys are enabling me so bad and I appreciate it very much 😂#I’m allowed to do things for fun I’m allowed to do things for fun #and this is so fun lmao #thank you eatinggendermarbles every comment and tag you leave on anything gives me an hp boost for the day #hurt/comfort is my JAM #fan art #my art #my writing #aftg #all for the game #neil josten #andrew minyard #kevin day #nathan wesninski #riko moriyama #royal au #asks #tw scars

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devilheartsblog · 4 months

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Here’s Part 2 of some ideas I’m doodled for my Winx rewrite

Last post seemed to do better than I expected and I’m glad a few people enjoyed it. So here are some more things I want to work with.

I like Artu and Roxy’s relationship but I would have also liked some backstory on them and more depth. Like Gantlos said “it’s just a dog”. How did Roxy get Artu? Is he adopted or bought? Is there a reason he doesn’t like anyone outside of Roxy and Klaus?

In my rewrite, yes. Abandoned as a puppy, a kid Roxy took him in after her mother left her dad unexpectedly. She basically raised Artu and he means a lot to her, but she never socialised him since she herself isn’t social with people (so while Artu may tolerate someone’s prescence he doesn’t like being touched or seen upclose). Roxy raising Artu is also why she gets pissed and earns her fairy form but doesn’t want the fairy gig since it ended up hurting her dog, because as a fairy the wizards are after her and Gantlos hurt Artu.

Speaking of Gantlos

Gantlos my beloved you’re so fucking bland the only personality trait you have is having fucked up pointy hands and a cool hat <3

Ok in all honestly I like his apathy to animals and the Winx in general, but that also applies to the other wizards to some extent. At least you can say something about the other wizards; Orgon’s voice is top tier, Duman has really cool powers and design, Anagan’s banter with Flora’s entertaining. This one’s technically a headcannon I made cannon in the rewrite. I did my research btw.

Gantlos has a pretty intense fear of deers also called Elafiphobia, even asking Duman to not shapeshift into one. It’s pretty bad, seeing a deer gets him pretty close to a panic attack. I’m not going to spoil why but I’ll say it’s a consequence of the Great Fairy Hunt. In fact all the Wizards despite being the cause have been affected by the fairy hunt, either overall or because of a major event. Gantlos’ deer phobia is also why he doesn’t like/care about animals initially, I mean, why should he like them? Just cause they’re cute? Hah!

Apart from Riven and Musa I hate the melodrama in season 4 it’s so shit. Since in my version Sky isn’t in the story cause king stuff, Mitzi is narratively cremated and Nabu doesn’t die, on top of planning to expand on Anagan and Flora’s relationship as rivals and Anagan “flirting” with her, it’d be weird for Helia to be like “eh”. Like even if Flora can hold her own I think he’d at least be a little concerned and annoyed at Anagan.

So yeah, Helia’s conflict is having a case of Impostor syndrome because Anagan’s a foil to him; confident, extroverted, confrontational, and actually bounces off of Flora really well. (Like, I don’t ship Anagan and Flora but the people who do I don’t blame them, it sounds more interesting) Even if Flora doesn’t reciprocate Anagan’s feelings, Helia feels inadequate and is anxious Flora will lose interest and might even break up with him since he’s the anti-social poet of the group. Timmy could even help after his confidence arc in Season 2. He’s not overprotective of Flora like wanting to fight Anagan since it kinda goes against his pacifism but the narrative doesn’t care about that as much as I do :/

And lastly I think it’s be neat if we saw a more fleshed out dynamic between the Wizards, the best I can think of is when they’re protected by Syllia and Duman almost slips their plan to which Anagan says he’s being whoosy, Orgon complains about being protected by fairies while Gantlos is fine with it.

A lot of the rewrite is focused on fleshing out the wizards because I want complex villains grr, and they’re perfect for it. The Earth Fairies? They’re good but they’re dead in my rewrite soooo-

I like to think Orgon is pretty manipulative of them. Was he always like this? No, but he’s desperate to secure the disappearance of magic from Earth, and his manipulation gets worse and worse as the episodes go on, in the end being threats and guilt-tripping. He still cares but mostly how the wizards can be of service to the Black Circle. And yes Duman is his favorite because he has the best powers. Shapeshifting will always be OP and the best power in my heart.

Anyway that’s all folks. If I make a part 3 it’ll probs cover some other stuff like Jason Queen, which I like his character, it’s perfect for Musa’s development (until they made Bloom the fucking main singer like WHYYY) or perhaps talk about Klaus or Morgana, Tecna and Timmy and more about Nabu. Anyway I’ll go watch some more nostalgic minecraft videos and webtoon rants. See ya!

#winx club #winx rewrite #rewrite #winx roxy #winx gantlos #winx helia #winx orgon #winx duman #wizards of the black circle #winx specialists #art #fanart #digital art #doodles #fanfiction

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persnicketypomelo · 1 year

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Yandere Tom Riddle x Reader

I will be discussing a reader with a more kind, gentle, and caring perosnality.

Simply put, I don’t see any way that a relationship could form in a healthy, natural way with this man. He inherently thinks others are beneath him, and so people are just tools to be used to benefit his means.

So, perhaps, if you have no real tangible use for Tom’s goal of becoming a powerful wizard, then you can amuse him.

You are his polar opposite: kind and compassionate, empathetic to the feelings of others, and act to alleviate suffering.

In this case, I think that Tom would see you as stupid and weak, but amusing. For this reason, he might “accidentally” cause someone close to you to hurt themselves in some way—maybe they provoke a magical creature into attacking them during class somehow, or maybe they accidentally jinx themselves and cause swells of red, inflamed hives to sprout all over their skin. Nothing too serious.

He draws delight and some twisted hilarity from the way you frantically scurry about as you help your friend to the nurse. It pleases him to be able to cause your otherwise pleasant expression to distort into worry and distress.

Although you are foolish and weak as a witch/wizard, deluded by notions of love and kindness, there can be nothing wrong in toying with you, he reasons.

Should you begin to develop romantic feelings for someone else, I think this is when his more possessive, ugly side would rear its head.

As his property, for that’s how he would view you instead of as a person with their own volition, you really shouldn’t be waltzing around fraternising with other students. It might create the false impression that his things can be…shared…and passed around for everyone’s dirty, filthy hands to handle.

No, no, no. Tom will not be having that.

Not to mention the nasty, sour aftertaste envisioning you enamoured with another leaves in his mouth.

Your crush will be left with some…unpleasant injuries that leave them whimpering and wailing in the Hospital Wing.

Alternatively, their impression of you will sour and rot after some rather unsavoury rumours, so that when you confess, you will be rejected outright. Your crush leaving with a face so disgusted at thought of being with you, that it hurts more than being rejected.

Though, with this method, Tom would still be inclined to leave your crush incapacitated to some degree (even though their foul opinion of you is entirely his doing), as he really doesn’t fancy someone else being able to puppet you and manipulate your emotions and expressions as he does.

Perhaps if he is feeling generous, he will happen to pass by your tear-stricken form.

Perhaps he will pass you a handkerchief embroidered with his initials and murmur insincere and detached words of comfort.

Perhaps he will let you keep the handkerchief, as it is a subtle way of showing others whom you belong to.

Tom will never sway from his ultimate goal of becoming the most powerful and greatest wizard of all time.

But surely it wouldn’t hurt to have a weak, incapable thing such as yourself trailing behind him as a companion either.

#yandere #harry potter #harry potter fandom #hp fandom #headcanon #hcs #reader insert #x reader #tom riddle #voldemort #tom marvolo riddle #obsessive #drabbles #headcannons

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acewizardinspace · 2 years

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People don’t think enough about the jedi council’s options in the wrong jedi arc. They can either:

A: Do nothing. Tell the public and the friends and family of the victims, “There is a ton of evidence for this person’s guilt, but she is one of us, we have known her since she as a baby, so we decided she is not guilty, without a trial. Bye.”

B: Hold your own trial. We don’t know exactly what kind of legal system the jedi might have, but there is no way in thousands of years there has never been a jedi accused of a crime. Even if we assume those crimes are handled by the government issuing the accusation, there has to have been a time when that wasn’t an option. For example, the council held a trial to decide the fate of Prosset Dibs, so yeah there must be some type of system in place. But Prosset and Ahsoka are very different because he only attacked another jedi, making it an internal affair. For Ahsoka, think of the implications, either they:

a: Find Ahsoka guilty: What now? Do you imprison her yourself? Do the jedi have cells in the temple for keeping force sensitives? Just keep her in her room with guards on the door? We know the jedi believe in rehabilitation so there would be an attempt to help her away from the dark side (once again, what they did for Prosset). Meanwhile, they have to deal with the public who is probably not happy that she is getting off with what is, in their opinion, a slap on the wrist. Is it the jedi’s job to care what the people want? Maybe, maybe not, but public opinion is at an all-time low because of this fake war set up to make them look bad, and this will have consequences. (Yeah, we know she is not guilty and doesn’t need rehabilitation away form the dark side, but the council doesn’t.)

b: Find her innocent: This will sound like bullshit to the public. “Uh we meditated on it and the force told us she is not guilty.” How mad would you be if this happened? If your friend died in the attack, wouldn’t you be just pissed about this? There is a TON OF EVIDENCE TO HER GUILT and at this point, no counter evidence. (Yeah, Anakin shows up with Barriss eventually, but you cannot make a decision based on something that will happen in the future, something you don’t know about. So, this doesn’t factor into the council’s decision.)

Or finally, the option they chose, the only real option available:

C: You send Ahsoka off to receive a fair trial* where she will have an opportunity to defend herself in court and will have an attorney. In their minds, this trial would likely be even more fair than one they hold because they are emotionally compromised here, because, yes, they do know Ahsoka and consider her family! But they have been burned before (Dooku and Krell) and are at this point willing to accept the possibility of betrayal.

People act like the council sent her to die. They didn’t. All they did was vote on whether or not she, someone accused of a crime with tons of evidence supporting that claim, should go to trial. That’s it. Everything else was Palpatine and Barriss. Besides, this way if she is found innocent the public won’t think it was nepotism.

* We, the audience, know this will not be a fair trial, but the council, and literally everyone else, believes it will be. There is literally not a single indication to imply anything else. You can’t blame characters for not knowing something they logically couldn’t know.

So, to the people who think the council fucked up here, I ask an honest question, if you were on the council, had the full ability to sway the vote, and only knew what the council knew, what would you have done? And if it was anything other than expelling Ahsoka from the order, how would you have handled the fallout? The riots, the protesting, the clones from the guard who get killed in the crossfire of your choice?

The council made the only choice they could have made, and Ahsoka got hurt. That doesn’t make them wrong, and it doesn’t make Ahsoka wrong to feel betrayed either.

#in defense of the jedi #pro jedi #pro jedi council #ahsoka tano #star wars meta #my thoughts #my meta #i really am curious about people's answers to that question #because it really is an interesting and hard situation they were forced into #there were no good options!!#but something tells me deep in my bones that anyone who answers it will just be cursing me or something #prove me wrong with polite discussion about our blorbos!

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antiadvil · 10 months

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disclaimer: I have a technical background and I wrote a server once but I am not an expert in networking or cybersecurity. check AO3_Status on twitter for up to date information from the OTW people

so i see a lot of people saying not to refresh ao3 while it’s being DDoSed, and that’s kind of true. i would recommend not doing it mainly because refreshing a site that’s being DDoSed is frustrating and there are better things to do with your time.

however, attempting to use the site will not cause any damage. first of all, the number of requests an actual human can send ao3 is nothing compared to the number of requests a botnet can send. secondly, it’s just not how DDoS attacks work- a DDoS attack brings a site down by sending it more requests than it can handle. this means some people trying to send legitimate requests can’t access the site because the server is too busy handling bogus requests. there’s no reason that a DDoS attack should cause any actual permanent damage to the website. adding more traffic on top of a DDoS doesn’t really do much unless you are being another source of DoSing. mealing like, don’t refresh literally every second.

if this was a really important piece of infrastructure people might say not to use it unless you absolutely have to so that you can increase the likelihood that people who really need it can access it, like, if someone was trying to DDoS 911, it would be a really bad idea to keep calling 911 just to see if you can get through. but this is a fanfic website, not 911, so you should be good.

usually this downtime results in lost revenue/etc, but ao3 doesn’t rely on traffic for its revenue, so... yeah idk what the point of this thing is, other than to harass the OTW ppl trying to fix it. it’s all very odd.

TLDR: trying to use ao3 right now is not going to help at all but it won’t really hurt either. i recommend doing something else for your sanity but if you really want to keep checking it’s not going to hurt anything

#ao3 #ao3 outage #lou is loud

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lulu2992 · 8 months

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From the Inquisitor to the Baptist: The Evolution of John Seed

In addition to concept art and behind-the-scenes content, early visuals and deleted dialog can still be found in the game itself, notably in its files, and reveal more information about how John and his personality have changed during the development of Far Cry 5.

All the sources and references indicated by the superscript numbers will be given in the last post.

Part 4: Personality and morals (Far Cry 5)

First, let’s have a look at this screenshot of the performance capture footage of the game’s first mission, “The Warrant”, that was officially posted in August 2018⁴¹.

While the Father, the Marshal, and the Sheriff are all played by their original actors, the Heralds are not. That said, they don’t say a word in this scene and are just standing in the background, so it wasn’t necessary for Mark Pellegrino (Jacob), Jenessa Grant (Faith), and Seamus Dever to be on set that day, and their characters could be played by other people. I don’t know how old the footage is, but the number “170803” in the title of the sequence could be a date: August 3, 2017. There are two other numbers in the video, “170616” and “170615”, which could mean other parts of the intro were shot on June 15 and 16 (but this is just a hypothesis).

Behind Greg Bryk, the actor on the left in the screenshot seems to be Jacob, as the eldest Seed brother stands in a similar position, with his arms crossed, in the finished scene. The woman on the floor is surely Faith, and her posture is quite different from what we see in the game (but, interestingly, reminiscent of the way she poses in the family portrait found in the Holmes Residence³¹). The attitude of the third actor, who must be John, isn’t identical to the Baptist’s in the finalized sequence, either.

Instead of standing with his arms behind his back, he has one foot on the platform and, judging by the way his left hand is positioned, it looks like it’s possibly either in the pocket of his coat (maybe just the thumb) or resting on a gun. While, in Far Cry 5, John is simply observing the scene, attentively but calmly, and the “tough” brother seems to be Jacob instead, in this early version of the intro, his attitude is defiant and draws more attention to him, like he wants to make it very clear that you shouldn’t try to attack him or his family.

This is consistent with what we’ve seen in the first promotional images, concept art, Inside Eden’s Gate, the TV spot, and what is described in Far Cry Absolution: John used to appear more threatening and confident. In the game, this was toned down a bit and he, on the contrary, seems to want to look more “polite” than overtly menacing. This might be due to the fact that, as evidence suggests, his methods, although still violent, aren’t as extreme as they used to be.

In the final version of Far Cry 5, John gives tattoos that represent people’s sins and then cuts them out to make them Atone. This is brutal, yes, but from his point of view, this isn’t gratuitously brutal. He genuinely believes he’s helping and saving people, and that suffering is indispensable. The day his parents “threw [him] on the ground” and made him experience unbearable amounts of pain, he says he reached a point where “all [he] could say was yes” because he felt “clear” and “free”. Whether they’re right or not (since it seems the Voice Joseph hears is real), the members of the Seed family have conditioned themselves into believing that their trauma was a divine “test”, that it gave them purpose, and that people needed to experience the same thing to serve the Project, survive the Collapse, and be worthy of passing the Gates of Eden. John, because of what he went through, now believes pain has purifying properties, and he hurts others so they too can experience the epiphany he had while he was being tortured as a child. He can also get zealous and doesn’t hesitate to threaten or harm people who resist him, mostly because he can’t do his job properly and impress the Father if they don’t comply (and ironically, it’s precisely when he gets angry and carried away that Joseph is disappointed), but he doesn’t torture people just because he enjoys it. On the surface, it may look like pure sadism, but it’s more complicated; there’s reason for his actions. What gives him satisfaction is more the result of the pain he inflicts (look how exhilarated he is when he’s finally made Nick Atone) than the simple act of inflicting pain. He sees “torture” as a means to an end: Salvation.

In the game’s files, though, deleted content reveals that, earlier in development, John was more violent, would mostly hurt for his own enjoyment, and was, in general, a more hypocritical and narcissistic person, and it appears a few needless acts of brutality were removed from the game.

For example, this is what the transcript of John’s radio call to the Deputy for their Atonement looks like in the “oasisstrings” file⁴², which contains all the in-game text:

Your actions have consequences, Deputy. I've gathered all your friends here in Fall's End to Atone for your sins. You're welcome to join us. After all, if it weren't for you they wouldn't be in this predicament... This is your last chance to say Yes, Deputy. Don't be late.[SFX of an electric saw and someone screaming]

As you probably know, the “SFX of an electric saw and someone screaming” isn’t part of the call at all in the game, and it’s not in the audio files either. The sound effect would have made it seem like John was busy gruesomely torturing someone when he decided to call the Deputy, and that he casually resumed hurting them as soon as he was done talking. I think it’s interesting that the developers considered including this but eventually decided against it. Without it, the call sounds “normal”. Threatening, but normal. The scream and the electric saw would have made John look like someone who gratuitously tortures without any empathy… but this simply isn’t who he is anymore, so the SFX had to be cut.

In the Prima Games guide, a screenshot reveals what the Confession room in John’s Gate used to look like:

The room isn’t grey just because the lighting is different; plastic tarps are covering the floor and walls. The Confession room used to look more like a torture/kill chamber in which a lot of blood was expected to be shed. The wrapped dead bodies were more visible… and also seemed more consistent with who John apparently was at the time: basically a (somewhat caricatural) serial killer. Although he knew how to look refined, it seems neither he nor his methods particularly were.

When you explore the Holland Valley, you can stumble upon an excerpt of Deputy Joey Hudson’s Confession. In the broadcast, clearly recorded and made public by John in an attempt to make the Junior Deputy worry about their partner’s safety and lure them into his bunker, here is what we hear:

John: It was the Father who said to me, “Take them, John. Take them even if they resist, for those who deny the Project are the ones most in need of its salvation. Though their sins are great, their souls are not beyond saving. All they must do… is Confess.” Are you ready, Deputy Hudson? Hudson: Go fuck yourself. John: Hmm… I know. Opening yourself, exposing your darkest secrets can be… challenging. It can be scary, but… this is a safe space, there is no judgment here. Do you wish for me to hear your Confession? Hudson: Go. Fuck. Yourself. John: That’s... not the magic word. John: Do you wish for me to hear your confession? John: *sighs* You just have to say "Yes." Hudson: Go. Fuck. Yours- *screams* John: Do you wish to Confess? Hudson: *still in pain* Oh, fuck you! Fuck you! John: Embrace it. John: Embrace the Power of Yes! Hudson: *crying* Please, stop. Please, stop! Please, stop... Please... John: Do you wish to Confess? Hudson: Yes... John: There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Hudson’s screams make the broadcast hard to listen to, but it turns out it used to be even worse.

There are 16 sound files in this “sermon”, but there were 9 more (so 25 in total) in the “complete”, previous version, which sounded like this:

John: It was the Father who said to me, “Take them, John. Take them even if they resist, for those who deny the Project are the ones most in need of its salvation. Though their sins are great, their souls are not beyond saving. All they must do… is Confess.” Are you ready, Deputy Hudson? Hudson: Go fuck yourself! John: Hmm… I know. Opening yourself, exposing your darkest secrets can be… challenging. It can be scary, but… this is a safe space, there is no judgment here. Do you wish for me to hear your Confession? Hudson: Go fuck yourself!! John: That’s... not the magic word. Hudson: Go fuck yourself. John: Do you wish for me to hear your confession? Hudson: Go. Fuck. Yourself. John: *sighs* You just have to say "Yes." Hudson: Go. Fuck. Yours- *screams* John: Do you wish to Confess? Hudson: *screams* John: Shhh… It’s okay. This happens all the time. Hudson: *still in pain* Oh, fuck you! Fuck you! John: You just have to open yourself. Hudson: *screams* John: Embrace it. Hudson: *screams* John: Embrace the Power of Yes! Hudson: *screams* Hudson: *crying* Please, stop. Please, stop! Please, stop... Please... Hudson: No... *screams* John: Do you wish to Confess? Hudson: Yes... John: There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?

While the in-game version is painful to listen to, it seems a bit less violent in comparison, like John is only hurting Joey (who used to be more confrontational too) when he believes it’s required, just enough to make her say “yes” so he can finally do his job. He’s also a bit less mocking in the final broadcast, and unlike in the long version, when she asks him to stop, he does. To me, shortening this audio to only keep what’s “necessary” (from John’s point of view, of course; it’s still harsh) makes him seem less pointlessly sadistic, and I see this as another proof that his violent tendencies were deliberately toned down.

In deleted radio calls⁴³, John was also more taunting and insulting towards the Deputy, calling them “a wayward, filthy sinner” he could easily find if he followed “the stench of sin”. He also used to tell them it was their fault if he hurt people, for example in this one, supposed to be triggered sometime after the mission “The Confession”:

Wrath... all that anger you carry inside of you is a disease. It spreads out... infects others. It's even infected me. It's making me do something I don't want to do. You see, after you fled your Confession this... rage started boiling up inside me. I'm afraid your friend, your... Deputy Hudson... will have to bear the brunt of this rage you've given me. She's going to be the one who pays for what you've done. And you only have yourself to blame.

In Far Cry 5, he still taunts the Deputy and threatens to harm their allies if they keep hurting the Project, but not as much, and it appears he doesn’t always plan on carrying out his threats; he mostly wants to scare them so they “behave” and let him do his job (but it doesn’t work very well). In the deleted call, I think he seemed to be a less sincere and more manipulative person, and this John would likely have kept torturing people even if the Deputy hadn’t done anything, simply because he enjoyed it, but he prefers to guilt trip them and tell them that they should feel bad for his actions.

In the game, when Hudson is finally out of John’s Gate, she says something I think is very interesting⁴⁴:

When you escaped the bunker... John didn't say it... but you could see it in his face. Failure. Things got worse from there... Like he was trying to make up for something. Prove to his brother he could... I never thought I'd make it out of there.

I like that the radio call in which John says the Deputy’s Wrath has “infected” him and is “making [him] do something [he doesn’t] want to do” was cut. Again, it didn’t sound genuine; he clearly wanted to make their friends suffer and was just blaming them for his behavior. In Far Cry 5, I love that John doesn’t talk about his feelings at all and doesn’t admit he was angry when the Deputy ran away from his bunker. On the contrary, while they’re fleeing the Gate, John encourages them to leave. To me, it sounds like he’s actually very upset about the situation, probably even more than “early John” would have been, but because he doesn’t want to lose face, he pretends he’s not and that them leaving was his plan all along anyway.

When Hudson reveals that John was visibly vexed after the Deputy’s escape but “didn’t say anything”, I think it’s more compelling than him then calling the Deputy to tauntingly and hypocritically put the blame on them. And when “things got worse from there”, Hudson (rightly, I think) concludes it was because John wanted to “prove to his brother he could” make up for that failure he painfully knew was his, not because he simply felt like hurting people and used the Deputy as an excuse.

What this deleted radio call reveals, to me, is that in earlier versions of the story, John was too conceited to take responsibility for anything, and he wasn’t ashamed because others were always the problem. The final version of John doesn’t have such a high opinion of himself anymore, as much as he wants to give the impression that he does and that nothing can affect him. After the Deputy’s escape, he silently withstands that blow to his ego and then works his hardest to fix his mistake. Unfortunately, it doesn’t change the fact that people then have to suffer, but my point is that the motivation behind his actions is different.

There are more proofs of “early John”’s hypocrisy and narcissism, such as this piece of concept art for his home, Seed Ranch⁴⁵:

In the picture, we see flower beds, colorful garden furniture, a fountain, and a golden (maybe even gold) statue of the “old” Eden’s Gate logo, the one with an eagle, which indicates the artwork was made rather early in development. And they aren’t visible in the artwork, but in the sound files, Nick and Sharky also mention tennis courts⁴⁶!

When people join Eden’s Gate, they are expected to give up their worldly possessions, not to give them to the cult (although it’s always an option since they need supplies for the Collapse), but because Joseph preaches about how Greed, consumerism, and selfishness have perverted humanity, so it’s better to live a simple life. It seems awfully hypocritical, then, for one of his Heralds to own such a luxurious property...

But in the game, although it’s still big, it looks like there are fewer rooms in the ranch, and its exterior isn’t as fancy anymore⁴⁷. No fountain, no gold statue, no colorful garden… and no tennis court.

More cut content suggests that Seed Ranch wasn’t just where John lived. In the deleted in-game encyclopedia (still available in “oasisstrings”), the description of the ranch said:

The power of yes gave John Seed this dream ranch overlooking the Holland Valley. it has commanding views, a private air strip, and secluded soundproofed rooms for his most invigorating religious pursuits.

In the files, it’s also possible to find this kind of NPC dialog:

The cultists were talking about taking me to John's ranch. People who go there... they don't come back. Or they come back wrong.

And a deleted mission objective said to “rescue Mary May from John Seed’s Ranch”, so she would be taken there at some point. In Far Cry 5, converts go to John’s Gate after their Cleansing so he can hear their Confession and tattoo them... as well as make them suffer because, as a cultist explains in the mission “The Cleansing” to people who’ve just been baptized:

Confession without pain isn't Confession. You'll scream out your sin, then you'll wear it on your flesh before John peels it off of you. It's a beautiful thing.

Clearly, “early John” would also torture people in his ranch. And did he really believe it was for “religious” reasons, like it seems he does in the game, or was that, once again, at least partially an excuse? Given what we’ve seen so far, my guess is it was the latter.

A mysterious “sex room” located in the ranch is also mentioned in the files, but it was cut from the game and not much is known about it⁴⁸. If it was a literal “sex room”, it would either be yet another proof that John used to be hypocritical and to not always practice what he preached, or confirm that the “no fornication” rule originally didn’t exist. “Sex room” could also simply be a joke name used by the developers to refer to a torture chamber. But if we want to trust what one of the survivors says in Far Cry New Dawn⁴⁹…

This place used to be a ranch owned by a cultist named John Seed. I always heard rumors that he had some kind of pervert basement and was real disappointed to find out that it wasn't true.

…there apparently is no such room in John’s house.

Given how luxurious the ranch looks, you would expect him to want to spend as much time as possible in it, but it turns out he doesn’t. In fact, one of the cultists guarding the property comments⁵⁰:

Haven't seen John here in a long time. He's super busy.

And in a letter found in his bunker⁵¹, John wrote:

Everyone's human, and that's why I don't want to put myself on a pedestal. I don't ever want to get back up there again. I'd rather be here with all of you and the new souls in this bunker.

At some point during the development of Far Cry 5, John would expect his followers to live a simple life, serve the Project, and rigorously follow its rules while he would do the opposite. In the final version of the game, his faith in his mission and his devotion to the Project seem sincere, and he would rather work tirelessly and live in his Gate among his “brothers and sisters” than lounge in his ranch. Said ranch is also not as much of a display of wealth as it used to be, and nobody gets tortured there anymore. A bag of “oregano” can still be found in the living room, but since no one says anything about it and it really doesn’t seem to me that John would break the cult’s rules and smoke drugs, I consider it to be a relic from the past, a vestige of the time he seemed to only care about himself.

John is involved in three more abandoned storylines in the files, and they all demonstrate he used to be more hypocritical and violent. The first one is revealed by a mission objective that said to “find John and Mary May’s secrets”⁵², and it seemed it was related to the mission in which we would go rescue her from the ranch. Unfortunately, it’s unknown what the secrets were about, but it’s very likely John didn’t want them to be exposed because everyone would have seen his true, ugly colors and how dishonest he was.

The second one is revealed by Hurk Jr. who has this line in the files⁵³:

Good thing for us John and Jacob haven't sorted out their brotherly nonsense. I mean if we're lucky, they'll just take each other down. If not, well, I'm going to keep some grenades around with John's name on 'em, eh? It's comin' to a head man.

In the game, they aren’t in conflict. On the contrary, Jacob seems rather protective of his family, and John strives to impress his brothers.

As for the third one, we know about it thanks to one of Kim’s deleted lines⁵⁴:

John Seed's a piece of shit. When news spread that I was expecting, that scumbag spread rumors that HE was the biological father of my baby. I don't know if he was trying to create a wedge between me and Nick or if he was just doing it to laugh at us. It was stressful and all for nothing. I can tell you, we don't need to go on a talk show and have a DNA test. Nick is the father.

Again, in the game we know, it seems absurd that John would want people to believe that he had an affair with Kim, with whom he isn’t married, considering what the Project’s rules are and that a letter found on the Ryes’ porch, titled “John Seed’s plea”, proves he’s already amiably tried to talk them into joining the Family:

Nick, The Collapse I talked to you about has started. I know you want to protect YOUR FAMILY. The only way to do this is by joining OUR FAMILY. Our bunkers have everything Kim & Baby Rye will need to survive. There are dozens of expecting mothers and children here already with us. This is my final plea to you. Say YES. John Seed

Spreading distasteful rumors about them seems counterproductive, but again, John the Inquisitor probably wouldn’t have cared as long as he could have fun at the expense of other people.

In Far Cry 5, John the Baptist simply isn’t this man anymore.

To be continued…

#far cry 5 #john seed #joseph seed #jacob seed #faith seed #joey hudson #the deputy #mary may fairgrave #sharky boshaw #nick rye #hurk drubman jr #kim rye

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ventithedrunkbardehe · 1 year

Note

hey! can i request the tokyo revengers characters reacting to a gn!reader who is as strong as yor forger (from spy x family)?

Hello hello!

I'm back again! It might be a bit OOC! bc it's been a while since I finished the manga 🥲 I really loved it if you're not reading it I would reccomend to read that rather than watching the anime but if you're more into animated action then anime is good too ✨

So I'll do

Toman members + Bonten members reacting to gn!reader who is as strong as Yor from spy x family

Mikey: When he found out that you were as strong as him, maybe even stronger... he was hyped. Even tho he already showed you off to his friends, he does it a lot more now. And even tho he knows that you're strong, he's still worried about you, since Toman has a bigger name and there are a lot of gangs out there who would do everything to take Toman especially Mikey down. Anyways let's get away from the dark stuff. I guess if you were a closer friend of his than he would practice fighting with you time to time, but if you're his s/o then he would teach you some cool moves that can help with defending yourself.

Draken: I guess this man was shocked, you didn't really seem to be the type to be a fighter, especially not this strong. He would feel nice about someone backing him up in some fights if you guys get attacked, protecting eachother's backs. He would be too protective of off you, either you are his s/o or a closer friend of his.

Takemitchi: I think this guy would legit ask you to help him get stronger. So the two of you would work out almost on a daily basis. This man wouldn’t be that worried about you beacuse you’re a lot stronger than him so it would be the other way around. I think he would genuienly would try to compare your strenght to Mikey’s, but the two of you have quite different fighting styles and you don’t fight eachother either so he won’t be really sucseeding.

Mitsuya: Our favourite designer... even tho he knows that you’re hella strong, he’s protective about you. He doesn’t really likes seeing you fight, since you can get hurt anytime if you come across a stronger opponent, which I don’t think would happen but who knows. If you get injured while fighting he’s going to be the one to patch you up and scold you for getting hurt.

Pah-chin: I guess he would be impressed by your strenght and would also be very supportive. And he too would be very protective off of you (remember back when he wanted to take revenge bc of his friend and his friend’s gf).

Baji: It would suprise him when you guys get attacked by a smaller gang and the two would fight back. When he sees thst you're knocking out the people by just a hit to their stomach or just a kick to their neck and they are out... Like out-out. "How the hell did you get this strong... And when?" - he asked. "What do you mean?" - You asked back.

Chifuyu: Just like the others he's an impressed bby too. He's very very proud of you that you're that strong. He would show you off to Baji beacuse he's so proud to have you as his friend/ s\o. But Baji would tease Chifuyu about it for not being at your level.

Peh-yan: To be honest 🥲 I don't really know what to write for him. He didn't really stuck with me but I'm sure he would show you off to others, especially Pah-chin. And also the two of you would make a good fighting combo.

Kazutora: He would be suprised and impressed at the ame time when he sees you fighting, since you’re around Mikey’s level of strenght most likely even stronger. He would love it if you join Valhalla with him to get revenge on Mikey. You know guys, ‘It’s all Mikey’s fault.’ But anyways... sometimes he wihes that you’d beat Mikey’s ass up for him. (If we are in the “original” and not final timeline).

Hakkai: He would be impressed, proud and would become a fan of yours. He is a big cinnamon roll so sometimes you gotta protect him, and would stand embarrassedly as you beat up someones ass.

Smiley: He would laugh at your oponent for getting beaten up by you so easily. Would just sit back and watch you from the back as you beat up people (if its not a gang fight ofc).

Angry: Now this bby... he's suprised that you're stronger than him when he starts crying. But he would love it tho. You're stronger than him and his brother so he's impressed, but also would dislike seeing you fight.

Koko: I feel like he’d be jelous. Since you’re a (bit) stronger than Taiju and Mikey. If you’re the same gang as him he probably wouldn’t really mess with you if you’re hot headed. He feels safer with a a nice distance from you. But if you’re the innocent type than its over for you. He will tease you non-stop.

Sanzu: Now this man... wouldn’t belive his eyes when he sees you fighting. SInce his a bit obsessed with Mikey (beacuse of his trauma if we’re in that timeline) he would be stalking you to see if you’re actually stronger than Mikey. And he wouldn’t stop untill he confrims who’s the stronger. He would start admiring you too beacuse of your strenght (If you’re a Haru simp like me then you have been blessed). If you’d catch him stalking you he would probably either comes up with a lie or just walks in another direction.

Kakucho: Pretty much like Mitsuya, he would take care of you if you'd get hurt, and wouldn't really like to see you fight even tho he knows you can protect yourself, so if you go to him with injuries then be prepared to get scolded by him. When he first saw you fighting... he was amazed, since he didn't think that there was a stronger person than Izana.

Ran: Now him... A 100% teasing machine, even more than Koko I feel like. Also would flex on his brother for him to have such a cool person in his life. Wants to see you fight with his baton to see how much damage can you do with that. Would be watching you fighting almost everytime and would take videos off of you too.

Rindou: Even tho he teases you and also would flex on his brother a bit he's pretty much the opposite of his brother. He doesn't really have a problem with seeing you fight, he's not that worried for you as Chifuyu, but also helps you patch yourself up if you get hurt.

Takeomi: The other 'mom' friend/s\o next to Mitsuya. 100% that he hates to see you fight in front of him. He's worried for you everytime you go to him, and you have some bruises. Even tho he seems collected and calm, on the inside he's panicking a bit. Didn't actually think that there is a stronger person than Shin or Mikey untill he met you.

Mocchi: As we know he loves fighting and he most likely heard about you before you guys met. He challenged you to fight him beacuse he didn't belive that you were as strong as the rumors said. And obviously he lost. After that day your life was ruined by him. He always went back to you and challenged you hoping that he would defeat you one day.

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a-small-batch-of-dragons · 7 months

Text

Protecting the Aspen Witch

Hey, sorry this isn't very specific, but I was rereading Protector earlier and wanted to know if you could maybe write more from that universe? Brain's not braining much rn, so I'm afraid that's the most detailed I can be haha. But any h/c from that universe would make me extremely happy. Maybe they actually have a conversation about Virgil's trauma? – anon

Read on Ao3 Masterlist

Warnings: panic attack/dissociation

Pairings: DLAMPR

Word Count: 4798

Virgil’s got a simple code when he’s not on a hunt. Don’t hurt whatever you don’t absolutely have to, and odds are, it won’t hurt you. Now and then there’s a bit of an, um, incident where that doesn’t quite work out as well as they’d hoped, but by and large they get by.

On another quest to the Aspen Witch, something goes...a little awry.

Truly, going to see the Aspen Witch isn't the worst quest in the world. In another set of circumstances, he would be grateful for such a well-traveled road, or even just to be able to go somewhere that he knows.

In this world, however, he thinks that the next time someone needs something from the Aspen Witch, he'll tell them to go themselves.

(He won't, he knows he won't, but he likes to imagine for one moment that he might consider it.)

In any case, at least this time he's not bartering for something on behalf of someone else. He's making a delivery on behalf of Elise, a sweet girl in the village who accidentally pissed off the wrong warlock. (See, this is why he'd never actually be able to tell someone else to go, because either he's bartering, which means it's for something that'll help a lot of people, or it's for someone who would definitely be in grave danger if they tried to go alone.) The warlock hadn't taken too kindly to Elise's accidental questioning of their source of magic, even though that wasn't what she was intending at all, and bestowed a powerfully cursed amulet into Elise's possession while she slept. The amulet held a potent attraction charm to coerce Elise into putting it on, and once on, induced paranoia so severe the poor girl's screams could be heard all the way from Virgil's home.

Needless to say, he's taking it far, far away to be destroyed.

He accepted nothing more than a small bag of coin—smaller than his pouch of agrimore dust, the family wasn't exactly in the position to spare a lot of money—and promised Elise to see to it that the amulet never touched her again. Truly it was just a matter of keeping it wrapped in skeldor hide until he reached the Aspen Witch to limit the potency and then, well, then the Aspen Witch would have to know what to do.

Part of him wondered if he would see any of the Five—of course there were five of them and of course they were known by some ridiculous name—when he set off, but there weren't any strange things in his garden, nor did any of them decide to appear when he beds down at the boulder, across the bridge, even when he gets into the valley. No, he manages to make it all the way to the Aspen Witch without running into any of them.

If he were still the adventurer he was years ago, he'd take that as good fortune. If he's going off of what he knows now, he knows enough to be a little wary of their absence.

And if he's being truly honest, something he does try to refrain from outside the safety of the walls of his home, he might be a little disappointed.

He shakes himself out of his thoughts as he approaches the Aspen Witch's grounds. He winces when he stumbles right into the brambles of the crimson thornbushes and feels them tear through his cloak. His fingers almost twitch to his dagger, but then he steels himself. These are the grounds of a magic user, after all, and he would treat them with respect even if he suspected these plants to be totally normal if he decided to slice them open.

With the changing of the seasons, night falls much earlier than it had the last time he ventured this far. The sun is already at the tops of the trees as he approaches the door, several candles already flickering through the windows. He takes a deep breath, takes a moment to check that everything is still where it's supposed to be, and knocks on the door.

"Yes?"

"I am the adventurer known as Virgil. I have come to deal with the Aspen Witch."

"Ah, Virgil! Yes, come in."

He feels something in the door shift and he pushes it open. The bell over the top of the door rings. The Aspen Witch smiles at him from behind her table of treasures; a brickleback spine sits under her hands where she is…obtaining something from it. She sets the tool she's using down with a clink and reaches to pick something up from her side.

"I have prepared for you a drink," she says as Virgil sits, "to ease your burdens."

"I would like to know what is inside it."

"Sunflower nectar, moon blossoms, and honey. It is meant to relax you."

"I recall a similar drink being offered the last time I came."

"You are correct, I offered you a similar drink."

"I would like to know if this one is different than the one you offered last time in any meaningful way."

One of her many rings taps against the edge of the cup. "It has less of the added moon blossoms than the last, which renders it less potent."

Less potent? "I have slaked my thirst at the last waterfall."

Something flickers across her face and she smiles, moving the drink aside. "Another time, then. You are still reeking of curse energy, but this one is different. I would like to know why."

"I have brought you a cursed amulet in the hopes that you would relieve the burden of its intended recipient."

"Show me." Virgil extends the amulet, still wrapped in the hide, and she takes it. She sets it on the table and runs her fingers over the leather strap holding it in place. "This is a fine specimen of hide, Virgil. I would like to know where you obtained it."

"On a past contract."

"I would like you to be more specific."

He says nothing. The Aspen Witch looks at him for a moment longer before she laughs and shakes her head.

"Perhaps another time." She undoes the leather strap carefully and withdraws the amulet. It glistens in the candlelight as she turns it back and forth. "This is a vindictive magic. I would like to know how you came into contact with it."

Is it his imagination, or does the Aspen Witch sound…put out? "The village I live near to. The curse befell a child."

"I would like to know the origins of such a curse, if you would share."

"It is my understanding that the child's intentions behind a question were misunderstood and the magic user sought the consequences they saw fit."

The Aspen Witch's fingers twitch on the chain. She examines the amulet anew and toys with the link near its base. Something darkens in her expression and Virgil tries to keep his hands still. "This was bestowed upon a child, you have said."

"I have said that it was bestowed upon a child."

Her mouth tightens. "I would like to tell you why this is unacceptable."

A chill runs through the cabin. "I would like to ask for clarification on your last statement."

"You may ask."

"I would like to know what it is you find unacceptable: that the child was bestowed a cursed object, that the child was bestowed this cursed object, or that I have said that it was a child to whom it was bestowed."

He must be imagining things because it looks like her expression softens, even the slightest bit. "The second of your list. It is unacceptable that a child was bestowed such a curse. I would like to explain why."

Thank fuck. "I would listen to an explanation."

The Aspen Witch lays the amulet back down on the hide and reaches for something else. She takes a long stick from a drawer and snaps it over the amulet. As the pieces of it start to drift down, they take on different colors and hover in the air.

"Curses have three main derivations," she says as she does so, "either they affect the accursed's mind, their body, or their soul. Mind curses are difficult to break as they require some level of consent from the accursed. Body curses are the most varied but are not that difficult to break, especially if they are familiar with the curse itself."

They look down to see the particles have turned a vivid bloody red. The Aspen Witch's nails scrape against the table.

"Soul curses are vile things," she spits with more emotion than Virgil has ever seen or heard from her, "and they can erase a person if they are not done with extreme skill."

Virgil's mouth runs dry. "I…would like to know what you mean by 'erase.'"

"No," the Aspen Witch says lowly, "you do not."

Alright, no, I do not. That's good enough for me.

With a flick of her wrist, she disperses the particles and wraps the amulet back in the hide. She takes a deep breath and steadies herself—what the fuck has Virgil walked into if the Aspen Witch has to steady herself?—before she looks at him again.

"I would like to know what you intend to provide as payment."

"I recall you mentioning the value of curse energy upon our last visit."

"You would offer the energy of this curse as the payment for removing it."

"I would offer the energy of the curse as payment for its removal."

The Aspen Witch looks at him for a moment longer before she nods and stands, retrieving the amulet from within the hide and sliding the hide over for Virgil to take. "I accept this payment."

He takes the hide silently and puts it back in his pack, watching as she walks over to another table. She places the amulet in a pestle and takes various jars down from the shelf above. He watches as she sprinkles things over the amulet and soft motes of light begin to emerge as she murmurs under her breath. When the glow is strong enough to rival one of the candles, she takes the mortar and brings it down.

Three things happen at once.

First, he sees pieces of the amulet shatter, ricocheting hard enough to dig grooves into the walls of the house.

Second, there is an overwhelmingly loud boom.

Third, something crackles outside and the whole building shakes.

The Aspen Witch's head whips around, staring not at Virgil but over his shoulder in the direction of the door. The mortar falls from her hands as she narrows her eyes. Virgil holds his hands up slowly, indicating that he's not about to do shit right now, and he carefully turns to look over his shoulder.

The door is still intact, but something in his instincts prickles along the back of his neck. He looks back.

"I would like to know what that was," he says as quietly as he can.

"Yes," the Aspen Witch says as she begins to walk over, "so would I."

Great, magic stuff happening that the magic user doesn't know. This is just great.

She passes him in the chair and opens the door, leaving it wide enough for Virgil to peer over her shoulder. He stands, very slowly, and tries to angle himself so he can see what's going on.

Another magic user—he's assuming, after what just happened, but he thinks it's a pretty safe guess—stands in the center of the plot of grass in front of the house. A sigil is burned and seared into the ground, and he winces.

This isn't going to go well.

"You are trespassing," the Aspen Witch says with her words full of ice and fuck it, Virgil's ready to run, "you will cease to do so."

"You destroyed something of mine," the warlock says, extending a hand, "that gives me the right to see it reversed."

"You are the foolish one who sought a soul curse upon a child?"

"I sought what was due to me for such a slight," they spit back, "as well should you know that we aren't to be questioned. And how did you hear about this, is it from the thick-headed bull that leers over your shoulder?"

Virgil's just about to edge his way out of this conversation, thank you very much, when the Aspen Witch's hand, the one behind her back, twitches.

"You will not speak of him like that."

What's going on?

"Why not? He's an adventurer, isn't he?" The warlock laughs, high and cruel and Virgil needs to get a hold of himself before something bad happens. "They're all the same, big and dumb and grunting animals that only care about coin and stopping magic users."

The words strike a chord in his chest and he tries not to let the hurt show to obviously on his face.

"Is he your pet?" The warlock's smile turns into lascivious. "Did I interrupt you in the midst of something? You of all people should understand, then, is it any harm that I wanted to make one for myse—"

The warlock doesn't get to finish their sentence as the Aspen Witch's hand flies out and a mass of thorns erupts from the earth, ensnaring them in a tangled web of crawling plant life. Virgil's hand lands on the hilt of his sword and he just as quickly wrests it away. He's not looking to make himself a target in this after all.

"Touchy," the warlock laughs—take a fucking hint, just get out while you still can— "did he tell you about that cute little thing in the village, then? Has the great Aspen Witch gone soft?"

"You are welcome to test that assumption at your earliest convenience."

Don't fucking test it. Get the fuck out. Be smart for twenty consecutive seconds and fucking run, you idiot.

The warlock doesn't. Instead, they start on about some great speech and self-aggrandizing, but Virgil sees one of their hands make a somatic component and he doesn't think.

Truly, it might be him that's gone soft. There was a time where he would already be gone, or tucked away inside out of sight. There was certainly a time where if two magic users starting casting on each other, he would not be anywhere near it.

But, he can only be who he is, no more and no less. So when he sees the component taking shape, he moves on instinct to shove the Aspen Witch out of the way and get his gauntlet up to take the full force of the spell.

The world goes black.

***

"—il! Virgil!"

Distantly, he registers the sound of a voice. The air crackles.

"Virgil! I would—oh, hells."

Something is dragging him. His head bumps something. He's hauled up and propped against something—a wall?

"Virgil," the voice says again, he knows that voice, "Virgil, open your eyes."

He does, only for blurry things to swim in front of him. He closes them again.

"Virgil." He definitely knows that voice. "Virgil, you must open your eyes."

He tries again, blinking a few times. The first thing to come into focus is the candle on the table closest to him. The second is the hand on his shoulder, laden with rings. Only when he traces the hand to the arm up to the head does he realize who was speaking to him.

"There," the Aspen Witch says in a rush, "there. That is better."

All at once, the memories of what happened flood his brain. The amulet. The warlock. The somatic component. The spell—

Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. He interfered with a magic battle. He took a spell meant for the Aspen Witch. He touched the Aspen Witch without permission, he shoved her out of the way, he—he—

"Stay," he hears as two hands land on the sides of his neck, "do not go where I cannot find you, stay here."

He blinks. The Aspen Witch is closer now, her eyes scanning his face. He swallows.

"Don't speak," she says when he opens his mouth, reaching and pressing something warm into his hand, "drink first."

I would like to know what is in it, he tries to say, but all that leaves his throat is a ruined gasp.

"It is the same drink I offered you before," she says, as though she could hear him—can she?— "it is unchanged. It is to help you relax. Drink."

He's already risked too much to afford to say no. He raises the drink to his lips and takes the smallest of sips. The warm, sweet liquid is like a balm to his sore throat and he takes another sip right away. The Aspen Witch watches him closely, one hand still on his shoulder.

"I…" He swallows, testing his voice. "I am…grateful for the drink."

"I am relieved to hear it helped." She cups his hand around it. "I will provide more should you wish it."

"Are you—I would like to know if you're—" he coughs— "if you're alright."

Her expression twitches and he knows he doesn't fully suppress his flinch, not with her this close, not with her looking at him like that. "You took a spell that was meant for me. You saved me. You defended me. And you have been hurt because of it."

Her hand moves slowly from his shoulder to his cheek.

"I…do not know what to do," she confesses softly, "we did not agree on payment."

"I do not require payment," he says as quickly as his throat will let him, "I did not—you don't—this is not an act that would require payment. You do not—I would—fuck."

He isn't lucid enough to do this. He can't do the careful and wary conversation that he has to right now, he can't—he can't—

"I will not bind your tongue," the Aspen Witch says, her hand still gentle on his face, "you…if you wish, you can speak."

No, he can't. He can't because he'll fuck it up and then—then—

Her hand leaves his face. "I will call the Five."

"No!"

Everything freezes.

He just told the Aspen Witch what to do. He just told the Aspen Witch no. He just—he just—oh, fuck—

"I mean—I m-mean—"

"I am not angry," she says, "I…you do not need to be so afraid. I will not harm you. I would like to know why you do not want your sweet ones to come and help you."

"I—my what?"

"Your sweet ones. The ones who care for you and whom you care for." She tilts her head, hair falling to one shoulder. "You do not wish for them to come, and I am curious."

"They're a lot," he manages and she laughs.

"Yes, they are. But they know you. They would help you."

"They're—" he takes another drink and feels his tongue relax. "All of this has happened because another magic user intruded on your grounds."

"These would be invited, and they would be to help you. I could bear no ill tidings against them, not when you are in need of assistance I cannot provide." At his face, her smile saddens. "You are afraid, and I cannot help you, for you are afraid of me too."

…well, there's really not much he can say to that.

"I will call them," she says carefully, so carefully it's almost a question, and he nods. She nods as well and stands. "If you would like more drink, I would wish for you to say."

Less than a few moments later, after she's gone to a table out of sight, he hears Roman's voice.

"Aspen Witch," and oh, fuck, he never thought he'd be so relieved to hear one of them, "you have called us."

"Come," she calls, walking toward the door and opening it, "your sweet one is hurting."

He blinks and in an instant, Roman is there, cupping his face, looking all worried and he can't stop the tears welling in the corners of his eyes. Roman sees them, because of course he does, and then he's cooing and leaning forward to kiss his forehead.

"Oh, baby," he whispers, "baby, what happened?"

"What happened," he hears Logan ask at the same time, "is he alright?"

"He came to me with a cursed object and asked for its removal. As I destroyed it, the warlock responsible appeared and attempted to wrest it back. He…jumped in the way of the spell."

He hears a flutter of fabric and looks up to see both Janus and Remus at the table where the amulet was destroyed. Remus curses and Janus hits the table and the noise bounces around his head—

"Shh, shh," Roman murmurs, stroking his cheeks with his thumbs, "eyes on me, baby, stay with me. There you are, with your pretty eyes, shh, that's it, you're doing very well."

"What sort of spell," he hears Patton ask, "is it still there?"

"I banished it as soon as the warlock was dealt with. He—there should be no lingering effects. I do not understand."

"Mortal minds are fragile," Logan says softly, "and Virgil has been an adventurer for many years. He has encountered a great number of things, magical or otherwise, and it would be unreasonable to assume that they have not left their marks."

"Baby," Roman calls again, and Virgil looks back at him, "hey, there he is. The others are just trying to figure out what's going on, but you and I are gonna take care of you first, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. Now, I just want you to keep looking at me, okay? All I'm gonna do is touch you, okay? No magic, no casting, just touch." His fingers start to card through his hair and Virgil immediately feels his eyes get heavy. "You can close your eyes if you need to, just lean against me, I've got you, I'm right here."

The adrenaline from everything finally starts to wear off and Virgil feels his body decide to give in. He sags forward into Roman's waiting embrace, eyes falling shut as Roman starts to murmur sweet nonsense. After another moment, he hears Patton come over too and another hand scratches lightly between his shoulder blades. He nearly whimpers from sheer relief before he remembers that he's not at home, he's in the Aspen Witch's house, and the Aspen Witch herself is less than a few feet away.

He wrenches himself back awake, looking up at her, and to his surprise, she looks…upset? He glances at Logan, just to her left, and Logan simply smiles.

"Hello," he says softly, "are you alright?"

"I think so."

"Good, that's very good. You jumped in front of a spell and you didn't know what it was?"

"Wait," Roman says, "you did what?"

He sets his jaw and looks at the ground. Patton shoots a look at the two of them. "Don't scold him, can't you see he's already upset? Don't make it worse."

"Sorry, baby," Roman murmurs, pressing a kiss to his cheek, "I'm not mad."

"Neither am I," Logan says, "but I am…confused."

"You shouldn't be," Janus says, finally moving away from the table, "he's Virgil, of course he jumped in front of the spell."

Well, that's not helping anything either. He feels his face start to burn and tries to pull away from Roman, but he's held fast. He swallows the instinctive wave of panic and buries his face in the crook of his shoulder.

"Aww, are you embarrassed?"

"You are making things worse," the Aspen Witch says, a bite to her tone, "I called you to help, not to hurt."

"We won't tease," Roman promises, both to her and to Virgil, "we're finished, you have my word."

Did…did the Aspen Witch just defend him? What in the fuck is going on? He risks a look at her and their eyes meet and something…something feels wrong.

"Virgil?" Patton's hand stills on his back. "What's wrong?"

"I am…also confused."

"What about?"

There's no polite way to say this and no, he isn't going to risk it right now, so he just looks from Patton back to the Aspen Witch and hopes that somehow, they'll get the gist of what he's trying to say. Sure enough, it takes Patton one look between the two of them before he's smiling.

"Oh, she's just jealous."

"What?"

"I would ask that you don't speak for me," she hisses but she sounds far more like Elise than the Aspen Witch.

"Tell him yourself, then."

The Aspen Witch scowls at him for a moment before she sighs and looks at Virgil. Her mouth twists around as if searching for the words before she sighs again.

"Your etiquette for magic users is exemplary," she says, "and you…for all that we have interacted, I do not know much about you."

She gestures around.

"The Five have your trust, they have your words. They…have not known you for as long as I have."

Oh.

"I can't help you," she continues, "I…am upset by this. I would—I—"

She closes her eyes for a long moment and then opens them once more.

"I want to help you, Virgil, I want you to let me help you."

He likes to think that on a normal day, perhaps he wouldn't be doing something like this, but this isn't a normal day, and he's already broken that glass. So he reaches out a hand to the Aspen Witch, and when she takes it, he uses it to pull her a little bit closer.

She comes and crouches next to Patton, holding his hand as though it were the most precious thing in the house. He's not quite sure what to do with that.

"Are you alright?"

She nods. "I am alright."

"I liked the drink."

"I am glad. I will offer it to you again."

"I will accept it."

"Listen to you both," Remus snorts, and Janus whacks him upside the head. "Ow!"

"Ignore him, you're both doing wonderfully. Carry on, pretend we aren't here."

And you know, that's a bit too much for him to deal with right now. So when he feels the tug in his gut to start feeling things again, he closes his eyes and goes limp in Roman's hold, letting tears spill from his face. The Aspen Witch jerks in alarm but Patton must be saying something to the effect of this is normal, he's just overwhelmed, you gotta let him be a crybaby sometimes, but he's not paying attention because he's too goddamn tired.

Distantly, he registers Roman stroking his hair again, Patton's hand on his back, and the Aspen Witch beginning to squeeze his hand every few seconds, but with the apprehension of someone who's never pet a horse before trying to interact in a way that won't upset either of them. It's quite a surreal experience, really, and he thinks he can be forgiven for not wholly understanding what's going on.

A lot's happened today, and it's late. He should be asleep.

"He is hurt," the Aspen Witch says and everybody wakes up a bit at that, "let me help him."

"What's wrong?"

"The thorns have hurt him on his way through. I have a salve for them."

"Virgil," Logan asks, "is that okay? Can we help?"

He mumbles a vague agreement and he hears Janus laugh. "Poor thing's all sleepy. He needs a rest, is there somewhere we can tend to him?"

"Upstairs, there is a bed."

"Can I carry you, baby?" Virgil nods and Roman lifts him up almost effortlessly. "There, come on, upstairs, now."

As they pass the table, he forces himself to rouse and look to find the Aspen Witch. "The amulet—the child—"

"The child will suffer no more, the curse is gone." She puts her hand on his shoulder. "Now rest. Mortals are fragile, you must allow yourself to be cared for."

"He's not very good at that," Remus stage-whispers and Janus hits him again. "Hey! Stop it!"

"Stop being an insufferable ham sack, then."

"He's right," Virgil mumbles as he's put down on a bed, "I'm really not great at it."

"You're getting better," Logan says, sitting near his head, "now, you can try and sleep. No harm will come to you, you're safe here."

He looks over at the Aspen Witch, holding a tin of salve and a soft towel. She smiles and nods. "No harm will ever come to you under my roof, Virgil. I will see to it that you are safe."

"I…am grateful for that."

"As am I."

Not how he saw the quest ending, of course, but indeed, far from the worst quest in the world.

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#dragonbabbles #sanders sides #fic #roman sanders #remus sanders #sympathetic remus #deceit sanders #janus sanders #sympathetic deceit #virgil sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders

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