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merlinssassybeard · 11 months

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'Ex' husband Gojo - The Aftermath- 01

Tags- self harm, miscarriage, mention of cheating

Synopsis- A look at reader's mental state after the entire ordeal with Gojo.

Part 3 // series masterlist

The maid was just about to enter the private chambers of Lady Y/n to pick up the dishes before she stopped in her tracks and started eavesdropping the conversation...

"Taking pills...precautions...pregnancy...we should divorce.....i...carry children......Satoru..."

These were the words she heard. It was as if the ground shifted from beneath her feet. What she heard was the news of the century.

It didn't take her long to run back to her servants quarters and spread the word...

The Gojo household staff comprises of only five women, one is an attendant of yours and two male out of which one is head staff of the household.

All the servants started gossiping about the matter. It didn't take them long to call their friend servants in other big and small households.

In no time the news of The Gojo Satoru and Y/n, the window (as everybody loved to call you in jujutsu society), Divorcing and supposed pregnancy spread like a deadly wild fire...

Satoru was busy in his mission in Seoul, he had no idea of anything and was scheduled to be back in time for the New Year's Eve Party.

An evening event held at the Gojo Clan's Estate which is attended by illustrious people from both sorcerers to non sorcerers backgrounds.

From Japanese Royal family and aristocrats families, The Zenins, The Kamo, The Council of the Higher ups and every other Clans to J-pop stars, actors, models, polticians, wtiters and whoever not!

The Event is a private Party where red carpets and paparazzis are not allowed but the event's pictures sure find their way to Page 6 each year. Displaying the lavish lives of the noble families of Japan.

For the last 4 years, as the Lady of the Gojo Clan, you hosted this lavish party at the main Gojo Estate. Before you, it was your mother in law.

For someone who comes from an average lower middle class family, you have quite the taste in decor, food, fashion, art and knowledge on hosting parties, qualities that are a must for a Wife of high and Noble stature.

Satoru's mother and the entire Clan was very reluctant to have you in the family. She was against this marriage but Satoru being Satoru, her only son and a total mama's boy, she couldn't get herself to say no.

After your marriage, you both, newlyweds, were living in the main estate but after 5 to 6 months Satoru decided to shift to a new house where both of you will start your newly wedded life.

Your mother in law had accepted you in the family after she got to know you and as a gesture wanted you to stay as she wanted to be the"first to get the news of her grandchildren" verbatim.

Every Clan head's wife has a special personal attendant who lives with them in the household. They are supposed to look after the wife as their lady companion, the woman they could rely on.

You too had one, Mrs Kori.

Mrs Kori was your assigned attendant. But she did not lived with you in the same house. You had allowed her to live with her own family, unlike other wives. She only attended official family Events with you as a part of her duty. You have a semi-formal relationship with her.

30th December, 2016

It was about time for the New Year's Event.

Previously, you would enthusiastically start preparations a month prior, considering it is not a small tea party rather a big event where everyone has their eyes on you as you are The Host.

You would rush at the Gojo Estate and get started with placing orders for flowers, preparing the huge garden for guests, writing invitations and a million other decorations. Your mother in law would watch and suggest or support you every now and then since she's been doing this for over 30 years.

But this time, which would have been your fifth year, it was all gloomy.

Satoru's mother was very concerned regarding the both of you. She noticed how this year you didn't celebrate her only lovely son's birthday neither did you began any planning for the Party.

She wanted to come to see what's gotten onto you but couldn't as she took back the reins of organizing the evening party. Although she did let you know through one her servants that she's taken over.

You on the other hand, wanted to recover from everything that has been going on.

Its LIFE afterall. And life is like a river, you cannot stop moving just like that. Moving forward through all the obstacles, IS life.

Your head was convincing you with all motivation it could but your heart just wanted to hold onto the little snow globe containing an Eiffel Tower, one of Satoru's souvenirs that you found by your bed, just sitting in a corner few days ago.

You were aware about the New Year's Event but you just couldn't get yourself out of bed let alone be out of the house and organize a large scale star studded event. All because of everything going on and that day... 25th of December.

You did something which you shouldn't have... a very horrendous action, a very lowly act indeed.

You wanted to go out and free your mind and to prepare yourself to look normal for the new year crowd. The first interaction with people besides your staff since the whole fiasco with your husband went down.

Your friends from the office you worked with before quitting and marrying Gojo, had called you in for Christmas drinks evening. You went and had drinks but later it took turn for the worse when you went to the house of one of your male co-workers who had a crush on you, and spent the night...

In the days following after spilling the entire ordeal to Shoko, you started developing a weird and concerning 'obsession'...

It started accidentally though but eventually you liked it or simply found it better as a 'punishment' for your actions.

It was just an innocent scratch when the glass fell on the ground and shattered and hurt your knee. But slowly, it took a darker turn and you would start to 'scratch' with a razor on your inner thighs.

It didn't take long when you would just think about that night of 25th December while in a bathtub filled with water and you trying to drown yourself in it only to rush out and slit your wrists with the razor in anger and frustration.

It felt weirdly... nice?

@sindela @dazai-gojo-kinnie @whats-humanity-lol @thewickedofrizz @phantasmia @ghostllyyz @yihona-san06 @Enaaneaen @sweet-almond @Angel_🫶🏻@autumn-slaves @wondermilka @hh0peful @kugisakinobarades @witchbybirth @nineooooo @ssc7514 @Hana-patata @blue_spices @haikyuubiggestsimp @urstepmom69 @hueneve @chayunwoo@waosobii @nadzhaf @yoriichiswife @tiltraumadouspart @kirschtein123 @whoisobsessed @Asala @ashthemadwriter @remnirris @svm666 @voidsatoru @staygoldsquatchling02 @dunnowhy-m @nnasv @violetmatcha @dummyf @Noblog @Littledemoness15 @shaiah @iluv-ace @mmeerraa @angellyah @0bakuzan @waxhers @chanelmalandro @shoutobrainrot @narutosolosurfav @Kei-b-gurlll @🫶🏼 @angrydaughter @Screw-aebi@asdfghjkl7things @kodzukenwhore @gabile18 @bollockswhy @pelicanpizza@electro-supremacy @Zatannaswifeblog@spam-and-eggs @guenievresworld @b0scuit@aliventboo @marit332 @bbylime @ieathairs @hells-escapees @no-name222

Apologies if i forgot to add your blog

AN- There's a 2nd part to this chapter, which will be released after few corrections. Thank you for your support and patience.

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stedefxckingbonnet · 7 months

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Past Lives | Izzy Hands x Reader

Izzy Hands x Gn!Reader

Summary: Quite some time has passed since you joined the crew of The Revenge per being saved, and you've grown particularly close to the one who brought you aboard. One night in particular is breathtaking and you decide you cannot contain your feelings anymore, but you had never learned exactly how to express these sorts of feelings to another person, let alone Izzy Hands. So, you do so in the only way you know how.

Warnings: slight angst/tension, slight avoidant attachment style (w/resolution though), kissing, some strong language

Word count: 2264 (some longer ones coming your way in the near future, though!)

A/N: hi hi lovely people! This is honestly the first x reader I've written since I was probably 14-15, so please bear that in mind! My interpretation of Izzy I feel like, isn't always 100% representative of him in the show itself, but I feel like I tried to capture him at his core while exploring this more sensitive side of him that we are getting in season 2, perhaps more of a what he is on the pathway to being, and therefore already is, if that makes any sense. Just has to be unlocked in levels. Plus, Izzy deserves the world so I just wanted to write something sweet to dip my toe back into this sort of writing. Anyhow, I'd like to get back into the habit of writing these so please, do request! I hope you all enjoy this one, comments are much appreciated xx

The stars illuminated the sky in such a way that it almost looked like a painting—a bit too picturesque, like one of those artworks that only aristocrats could afford to have on the wall of their ornate mansions passed through the centuries, or even built and curated just for them. Nonetheless, it was breathtaking, and the fresh air coursed through your veins and senses so effortlessly and made you feel alive. Nights like these weren't meant to be spent hidden away in your quarters and you knew that. Once you were sure everyone had retired for the night, you quietly crept onto the main deck, ready for your moment of solace that you had been seeking for weeks now.

You approached one of the railings, scanning across the deck still to see if anyone had been lurking nearby. The coast was clear, and finally, you found somewhere to lean on as you stared out into the night sky, the wind blowing through even the hairs on your neck, making them stand. On occasion, you'd be sprayed by the sea but it was the most at peace you had felt in weeks.

"Rough night?" you heard someone quietly call from a short distance away. You almost jumped, but you quickly turned around only to see Izzy Hands. Relief washed over you, as did a nervous feeling that had only begun recently. You inhaled sharply as Izzy waltzed over, thanking the stars for not illuminating this spot too much, therefore being no way he saw you craving that much air in your lungs. He leaned beside you on the railing, awaiting your reply.

"Not at all," you admitted. "Quite the opposite. It's so beautiful out tonight."

Izzy only nodded. He joined you in looking out at the landscape presented before him. In all of his years of sailing, it was all he had ever known--the sky and the sea, yet, he had never thought it to be this ravishing before. He never noticed how lovely it could be. Being here with you, he saw it all in a new light. He discreetly glanced over at you once again. He had noticed the way your lips slightly parted when you saw something you liked, and the way your shoulders lowered when you were relaxed. He noticed that you'd twiddle your thumbs when you were truly happy—in fact, you happened to be doing it right now. Izzy allowed his lips to curl into a smile upon realizing this. Finally, he broke the silence.

"I've never seen anything like this," he admitted, almost out of breath whilst he was still looking over at you. You still hadn't noticed.

"Isn't it...divine?" you chuckled. "Beautiful seems too weak a word."

"I feel the opposite. I don't think I've ever described anything as beautiful before."

"Really? Not once?"

Izzy shook his head. "Saving it for something special, I guess."

Silence filled the space between the two of you once again, but for once in your life, it was a comfortable silence. You looked out at the sea, but this time, you could feel Izzy's eyes on you. You attempted to discreetly glance his way, and you couldn't help but smile when you locked eyes. You looked away as you practically felt your cheeks burning and your stomach turning, and you hoped to the sea gods that you weren't falling ill. But these forlorn feelings felt honestly incredible, for once. A wave of confusion crashed over you, and it was growing more and more difficult to ignore.

"You alright?" Izzy inquired with genuine concern. This entire time, his eyes have not left you.

"What? Me?"

Izzy chuckled. "Who else?"

"Fine. Just fine."

"Just fine?"

"Do you believe in past lives?" you suddenly heard yourself ask, and already you were cursing yourself for it.

"Past lives?" Izzy repeated pensively. You nodded, looking over at him intently. It took him a moment to think of a response, and even still, he seemed unsure. "This sure as hell feels like the first time I'm living. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have made a lot of the decisions and mistakes I've made, I suppose."

You felt your heart sink, and it almost felt like there was no way to retrieve it. "I see. Well, goodnight."

Without letting Izzy have another word, you scurried back to your quarters, tears streaming down your cheeks like waterfalls.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

You awoke the next morning with a sharp pain in your chest. You winced as you forced yourself out of bed, though as you dressed, the feeling began to dissipate. You almost teared up again upon reminiscing last night. What were you thinking, asking something like that of Israel Hands? Where did that even come from? Why did his answer hurt so terribly? A million thoughts swarmed around in your head like flies, and there wasn't much you could do to swat them away. You felt like holing yourself up in your room but you knew that with Stede as one of the captains, this wasn't much of an option. After hovering your hand above the doorknob for what seemed like ages, you finally twisted it, revealing yourself to the crew. Already, everyone seemed to be intertwined in their usual antics and fuckeries--it would have been fun and refreshing to see if not for the somber mood you were in. Lucius waved you over, and you seriously thought of walking right past him, but he was your dear friend, like a brother to you and you wouldn't have forgiven yourself if you dismissed him. You trudged over to him, and he immediately recognized your gloom.

"Well good morning, mopey," Lucius teased, nudging you in the shoulder.

"Not today, Luci," you mumbled. "Not today."

Lucius' smile dropped, though he raised a brow. "Talk to me. Who do I need to punch?"

"No one. I'm just having a bad day."

"You are such a bad liar."

"I just don't wanna talk about it," you grumbled. Lucius was at a loss for words, but thankfully you knew just what to say. "The sky was lovely last night. If only you'd been awake to sketch it. You're the only one who would have done it any justice."

"Maybe I'll have another chance tonight," Lucius said hopefully.

"Maybe you will," you breathed out as suddenly, none other than Izzy himself appeared onto the deck. You gulped and turned away from him immediately.

"Whoa, whoa. What's going on with you and Iz—“

"—I don't wanna talk about it," you almost seethed. Before you knew it, a finger tapped your shoulder. You swiveled around, fighting the tears in your eyes.

"Got a minute?"

"Not exactly."

"What better do you have to do?" Izzy demanded. Your jaw dropped, and you were waiting for your thoughts to catch up with your mouth but they never did. "That's what I thought. Come on, Y/N."

"Later, okay? Not right now. Tonight," you promised. "That's my best offer."

"I'll hold you to it."

You immediately realized the mistake you had made, and how difficult and miraculous it would be to get through this entire day before possibly knowing what Izzy wanted from you.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

The shadow of the moon was present once again, and for once, you dreaded the wonders of nighttime. It felt perilous and peculiar now, like a friend you didn't quite recognize anymore. But, a promise was a promise, you'd be damned if you broke one, let alone this one. As frustrated and almost devastated as you were, you'd never allow yourself to break a promise to Izzy. You pulled your favorite capelet over your shoulders and started toward the deck to find Izzy already waiting in your usual spot. You hadn't realized it until now, but this really was your and Izzy's spot. It's where you wiped away his tears when he cried in front of you the first time, it's where he sat with you countless times when you couldn't sleep, it's where the two of you conversed until dawn frequently. Always this spot. It took everything in you to fight off a pang of joy upon experiencing such an epiphany. Izzy didn't notice that you had appeared beside him until you looked over at him finally.

"Are you alright? You seemed a bit...I don't know. Not yourself this morning, and last night."

"I'm fine," you shrugged, knowing Izzy would see right through you like you were a phantom.

"I don't buy that for a second," Izzy rolled his eyes. And with that, silence surrounded you both once again. It frustrated Izzy to no end that he couldn't figure out what was plaguing you. He always felt as if he was able to put a finger on whatever it was that bothered you, he prided himself on knowing you that well. The last thing he wanted was for you to become a stranger after all the two of you had endured together. The thought of losing you filled him with a sorrow he had never felt before.

"I'm sorry about what I asked you last night. About past lives and stuff," you suddenly said. Yet another moment where your mind and mouth weren't synced. You regretted saying this as soon as you began to speak, but you knew that once you did, there would be no stopping, no taking anything back.

"What was that all about, anyway?" Izzy implored. You almost scoffed at his tone but when you met eyes with him, you instantly realized that he genuinely wished to know. His eyes sort of twinkled when he was curious, and this was the first time you noticed such an endearing phenomenon.

"I just," you exhaled, pausing before you spoke again, this time choosing your words carefully. "Why'd you save me that day at Jackie's?"

Izzy was taken aback at such a question. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Not at all, actually," you laughed in annoyance, which was only a coping mechanism for the extreme anxiety you were undergoing in this moment.

"I honestly can't give you an answer you'd want," Izzy admitted. "I just felt...called to. I could tell it would be nice having you around here. I wanted to give you a place you could call home."

"So, wait, you care about me?" you inquired seriously, which only earned a chuckle of disbelief from him.

"Of course I do, dammit!"

"I don't know, Iz, I just...from the moment we met I felt this connection to you and I can't explain it. No matter how hard I could try, I won't be able to. I felt like I was meant to be around you."

"You think I didn't feel that way, too?"

"You did?" you asked, a glint of hope looming in your voice.

"Of course I did. And, I do. I can't explain it either. But I felt as if we were meant to be around each other, in each other's lives. I don't know," he rambled nervously. This was the first time you had seen Izzy like this. It was a side of him you weren't even sure he possessed until now.

"I guess I sort of caked that to the past life shit," you sighed. "And when you said you didn't believe in past lives, I freaked out and took that as you not caring about me and everything we've built just felt like a huge lie."

"Everything we've built," Izzy repeated.

"I'm so sorry," you laughed embarrassedly. "I don't know what I'm talking about."

"No," Izzy cut you off, putting his gloved finger to your lips. You could feel Izzy's breath on your face. "If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't have asked you to come with me. I had only known you for a few moments and I already knew you would be...important to me."

You were absolutely baffled. You opened your mouth to speak, and not a sound escaped it. Izzy took a step closer to you, slowly moving his hand to cup the right side of your face.

"And it helps that you are just...beautiful," he whispered as your foreheads touched. You could've sworn your heart was going a million miles a minute and that you would need some sort of village medic after this. As if it were instinct, your hand made its way into his carefully swept hair, and it felt like silk between your fingers. All of your worries suddenly melted away as you melted into one another, your lips brushing up against one another's. You nodded pleadingly, yes, you wanted this, followed by a nod from Izzy and finally, like puzzle pieces, your lips connected. It felt effortless and so, so right to share such closeness. Two becoming one, two souls merging to create a love bigger than either of you. A love that had been carefully crafted ever since the first day of meeting. A love that the both of you knew would inevitably take hold, because it always did in all the stories you devoured and then later went on to show to Izzy. A love that you had craved since you heard of the concept of it. A love that Izzy never thought he would attain in his lifetime.

You gasped happily for air, yet your foreheads still touched. Izzy gazed at you as if you were the only other person in the world and the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes upon.

"Perhaps I haven't had any past lives," Izzy breathed. "but I will have love for you in all my next."

#our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #izzy hands #izzy hands x reader #x reader #gender neutral reader #second person pov #reader insert #izzy hands my beloved #the revenge #israel hands #ofmd izzy #ofmd izzy hands #fanfic #fanfiction #this is my first x reader in years pls be kind

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changbinisms · 6 months

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Coup De Grâce - Park Seonghwa x reader (Part One)

coup de grâce

/ˌkuː də ˈɡrɑːs/

Noun

A final blow or shot given to kill a wounded person or animal.

An action or event that serves as the culmination of a bad or deteriorating situation

wc: 1,565

Royalty au / Arranged marriage au

contains: angst, time period specific discrimination, misogyny, classism. more will be added as the series progresses.

this work is not proofread (as usual)

[a/n: this fic may not be entirely time period accurate, but it will contain time period specific discrimination (i.e. misogyny and classism). I do intend to make this into a mini series depending on how well this is received and how well my attention span does.]

Ever since you were young, you dreamed of having a family. You dreamed of the big white wedding, your soon-to-be husband tearing up as he watches you make your way down the aisle on the arm of your father. You dreamed of slow dancing with your husband, as the aristocrats watched on in silent envy, masked as happiness that the kingdom would prosper, and overflowing joy that an heir would soon be produced.

The day that you found out you were to be betrothed to Prince Seonghwa of the Rosefall Kingdom, although it was only recent, you almost wept out of pure joy. The most eligible Prince of the nine allied kingdoms, Prince Seonghwa was adored, almost like a treasure. Not only was he infallible in battle, but he was also intelligent, a great strategist, and would be the perfect leader for any kingdom he was married into. It also helped that he was exceptionally handsome, ethereal even. There had been a handful of times that you had met him over the years, though you hadn’t seen him since before you learned of your betrothal, at banquets and at the weddings of other royalty. Each time followed the same pattern, he would mingle through the crowd of stuffy lords and ladies – navigating conversations with them with ease – before being snatched up by the daughters of said stuffy lords and ladies in the hopes of nabbing a betrothal of their own, before waltzing around the ballroom with the younger girls who hadn’t quite perfecting their dancing skills on his feet, as the younger boys watched, green with envy.

You couldn’t help but get ahead of yourself, imagining how cute your children would look. You hoped they would get his cheekbones. You imagined how the red from your family’s crest would look against his skin, how the blue from his family’s crest would look against your skin. Although he would be relocating to your kingdom due to his older brother being the heir to the throne of Rosefall, it couldn’t hurt to imagine how you would look in his colours.

In a way you were happy that he had an older brother to take care of his homeland, there’s no way you could bare to see the look on your parents’ faces as you road off to your new life. Quite selfish, really, as that’s what your betrothed had to look forward to…

Your thoughts were interrupted by a light trio of knocks on the door to your quarters.

“You may enter,” you call out, giving permission to whomever was on the other side to come in.

As you would have expected, it was your lady-in-waiting, Hye-Jin. Hye-Jin had been your friend long before she become your lady-in-waiting. You had met when you were both children, your mother had taken you on her weekly walk though one of the villages. It was her favourite thing to do, each week she would pick a different village to walk through. She had always said that it was good to be aware of the conditions that the villagers lived in, that we’re only as well off as our poorest subject. It was her way of staying humble and being grateful for what she had and the life she grew up in.

It was the first walk that she let you accompany her on as you were finally old enough to properly take in everything that she was explaining to you. As your mother spoke, you took in the market in the main square. The smell of the freshly bakes bread coming from the open door of the baker’s shop, the bright colour of the flowers held in the baskets over each doorway in the square, the fresh fruit that sat in piles at the vendor’s tables just begging to be taken and bitten into. It was this overwhelming wave of new things that caused you to slip away from your mother. She had noticed quite quickly that you were no longer by her side and had called for the few members of castle staff that had come with you both, and instructed them to help find you.

You, however, weren’t as quick to noticed just how far away from your mother you had gotten. It was only when the crowd of people around you thinned out significantly that you noticed you had no idea where exactly you were, or how to get back.

You could feel the nervousness and eventual panic start to come over you, your breathing starting to quicken before it grew into full blown hyperventilation. Thankfully it was short-lived, as a girl that looked to be your age, maybe a few years older, had placed her hand on your shoulder causing you to look up at her. She managed to calm you down and talk you out of your hysteria, walking you back to your mother. As a ‘thank you’, your mother had invited the girl, who you had found out was named Hye-Jin, and her family for tea at the palace. It was in that moment that you had formed a friendship.

As the years went on, both Hye-Jin’s mother and father passed, her father succumbing to illness, and her mother – no matter how hard she tried to put on a brave face for her only child – died shortly after of a broken heart. Naturally, your family took her in. Even though she would never be seen as royalty in the eyes of the upper-class societies, she was still given the same respect as such within the walls of the palace. In order to fill her days and stay close to her best friend, she opted to become your lady-in-waiting, and the rest is history.

“your father has called for you, your highness,” she giggled as she always does when you have to use pleasantries such as this, which signified that someone of significant status was on palace grounds.

You sigh; “did he give you any inkling on what the matter was?”

All she offered was a shake of her head before beckoning you to follow her.

You both walked in silence to the main hall, which was another red flag to you. Who could possibly be here to cause this behaviour?

The guards stood at the doors to your fathers reading quarters, Seungcheol and Mingyu, moved to open the doors as you stepped closer, offering them a smile and polite bow of your head.

As you stepped into the room, you noticed the three men sat in front of the fire, your father who sat in his favourite chair to the left of the fire, an older gentleman who you recognised as the King of Rosefall, which mean the man sat on the small couch with his back to you must be-

“Ah, there she is!” your father had spoke, “I’d like to formally introduce you to my daughter, y/n,”

It was at that moment that Prince Seonghwa had turned to look at you. His eyes met yours and a smile graced his face. It took everything in your power to calm your heartbeat. Prince Seonghwa had grown even more breath-taking since you had last seen him, you would think that such a thing would be impossible.

He stood from his seat and walked around the couch to offer you a bow, which you returned with a curtsey, he then took your hand and placed a light kiss on the back of it, which once again nearly had you swooning.

It was then that your father had announced that the intention was for Seonghwa and yourself to spend some time together to get to know each other a little before the day of your wedding so as it wasn’t as awkward on the day, which you were grateful for. No bride wants to be a stuttering, blushing mess on the day of her wedding. Blushing mess, maybe, but definitely not a stuttering one.

After bidding both your fathers goodbye, Prince Seonghwa had turned to you and asked; “if it is acceptable to you, your highness, may I ask for a moment of absolute privacy? Without the presence of your lady-in-wating?”

“I believe that would be alright,” you respond. You nod to Hye-Jin, “you may leave, Hye-Jin, I’ll call for you when it is okay to come back,”

You hate to be so formal with her, but in the face of others you must keep up appearances so to speak.

As she leaves, closing the door the door softly behind her, you turn back to the prince, “what is it that you wish to have privacy for, your highness?”

It was then that you noticed that the smile he had on his face had been wiped away, a scowl gracing his features. Any sort of politeness in his eyes was washed away and replaced with could only be described as disdain.

You could feel your pulse quicken, nervous as to what he would say. Or what would cause this instant change in mood.

He took a step closer, causing you to take a slight step backwards out of nervousness.

“let me make one thing clear, princess,” he stated lowly, eyes boring into yours, “I wont ever love you, any interaction, public appearance, or even form of affection with you will be made only out of obligation. I will be your husband in title and nothing more,”

#ateez x reader #ateez fanfic #park seonghwa x reader #seonghwa x reader #ateez imagine #seonghwa royalty au #seonghwa arranged marriage au #seonghwa fanfic #changbinisms writes #Coup De Grace

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borisyvain · 4 months

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(Detail from James Gillray's political cartoon Evidence to Character: being a Portrait of a Traitor by His Friends and by Himself)

Wip intro: Eight Grams of Gold

Genre: historical fiction, courtroom drama, elements of cosmic horror

Progress: 1st draft

POV: 3rd person limited

Setting: 1795 - 1796 in Ireland + some scenes in England and France

Content warnings: gore / death / abuse / a variety of place-and-time-typical forms of bigotry / cannibalism / etc

Things have not improved for the RRL characters. A stolen shipment of guns, a dead landlord, and now a bizarre personal feud sparked by one man giving another a guinea, which spirals out of control into an esoteric legal battle which threatens to consume everyone and everything. And of course, in the mean time, the spectre of rebellion is looming, and as it is now the year 1796, the clock is slowly counting down.

First, there is Sarah Connolly, a peasant woman, whose son, Frederick, stabs and kills the landlord during the family's eviction. Seeking preservation above all, she sells the body to the innkeeper at the local Essex Arms inn, and washes her hands of the business, content to not ask questions about what innkeeper Lazarus McClure, whose mental stability has been going steadily downhill since the conclusion of the last story, will do with the body and content that she and her family will be safe under their roof for at least another quarter. That is, until it comes out that the Englishman who was meant to inherit his wealth, Charles Nathaniel Maurice Irving-Hamilton, 4th Viscount of Drenning, was recently disinherited in a fit of rage on the part of the man who Frederick stabbed. And the man who will now inherit is a mere bookbinder, a nobody, a tradesman, who infamous aristocratic spymaster Lady Maria Whittaker is incensed to discover will soon be on the same social level as her if he is allowed to acquire the land and the title that would have been Charles' -- who is a bad inheritor, but a suitably titled one.

Whittaker digs up a will. It would seem that the title once came with a lot more land, was severed from it quite by accident in the 1740s, and should, following rather the spirit of the law than the letter, belong to the brother-in-law of the object of Whittaker's very mutual unhinged psychosexual obsession, William Rearden. It isn't too difficult to convince this brother-in-law to contest it. Everyone wants to be a lord, after all. Only, the man who is now a lord refuses to give Whittaker's puppet a thing -- save for a single guinea, handed to him outside church one day as a deliberate mocking gesture. And what's worse, Rearden, who despises his brother-in-law, told him to do it.

AKA: now that I've lured u in with a story about gun-running I will make you listen to me talk about the 18th century Irish legal system for a billion million words ❤️

Ask to be +/- from the taglist!!!

Main Characters

Anthony Franklin -- (he/him) a man of science and lover of liberty from Scotland. A genial family man who loves his friends and chafes at all forms of authority.

Lady Maria Anne Whittaker -- (she/her) a Jacobite-descended Englishwoman whose job it is to get supplies to France, no matter who has to die for it. Loves, apart from herself, her sister.

Eoin O'Donnell -- (he/him) a Defender leader, now on the run from the law. Considered "odd" and "not right" but liked for being very good at terrorism. Has a terminal case of Catholic guilt.

Sarah Connolly -- (she/her) an Irish Catholic peasant woman trapped in an unhappy relationship. Blames herself for a lot but blames other people for more and someday that's going to end very badly for them.

Frederick Craig -- (he/him) Sarah's 11 year old adopted son, recently hired as a drummer boy for the local regiment. Holds a confused ball of resentment within his chest. Has strange dreams.

Annie Craig -- (she/her) Sarah's 12 year old adopted daughter. Considered a touch odd but liked well enough. Determined to find some justice in the situation she finds herself in.

Charles Irving-Hamilton -- (he/him) a worthless Englishman who did not even want to come to Ireland for his uncle's funeral. But he is willing to stay if he can get some entertainment out of ruining this legal battle.

Lady Eliza Durham -- (she/her) a scheming landlady. Has been playing this game a long, long time, long enough to be sure of her ability to best anyone else on this list.

Edward "Lazarus" McClure -- (he/him) a resentment-filled, Derry-born, oak branch-wearing, sham-fighting inn owner. Loves his current fling and Winstanley; hates his father and the law.

Francis "Frank" Borden, Gerald O'Neill -- the new inheritor and Rearden's brother-in-law, respectively.

#wip intro #historical fiction #wip: 8gog #writblr #jory.txt

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crimsonophelia · 3 years

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okay so i read that femme maid reader x diluc fic and i just. i NEED MORE hhhhh would you be open to a sequel involving femme maid reader accidentally revealing their feelings out of jealousy? like her and diluc are at a ball and they get jealous of the girl he’s dancing with and storms off but he sees her and confronts her about it????? please and thank u oh my god u have fed me so well with these genshin fics HAHDNSKDJSJA

featuring: diluc x fem!reader

warnings: she/her pronouns, afab reader, slight angst, mentions of anxiety, typos

published: june 5, 2021

form: imagine

a/n: ahaha thank you anon!!! honestly writing for diluc is making me like him more www i'm glad i can provide good food for you all :3 also balls and period-drama type stuff is my favorite thing to write ever so bless you, anon. reference for reader and diluc’s outfits, here and here.

You couldn’t remember the last time the Dawn Winery had felt so lively. Usually the Spring Ball was held at the Knights of Favonius headquarters in the Mondstadt city center, but for some reason this year, perhaps due to renovations, the event had been relocated to the winery instead. You, along with the other maids, had spent the past week preparing to host the Spring Ball, decorating the estate’s impressive ballroom with seasonal decorations, as well as planning out the catering and treats provided to the guests.

The ball itself was meant to be open to all the various citizens of Mondstadt, but traditionally, it was only the wealthiest families and their beautiful, children born with silver spoons that made up the majority of the guests of the esteemed Spring Ball. Which was the exact reason why you felt so out of place.

You had grown closer to Master Diluc over these past few months, ever since he had invited you out into town with him that one night. You accepted all his invitations with euphoric satisfaction (how often does a girl receive the blessing to be sincerely pursued by the object of her interests?), savoring each second of attention he showered you with. Yet somehow, the itching bug that is inadequacy kept on eating at the back of your mind. Why would Master Diluc show an interest in you, of all the eligible maidens in Mondstadt? You were but a mere maid of the Ragnvindr Estate, with not a penny to your name. Certainly, you were not lacking in beauty, but you felt as if you couldn’t compare with the aristocratic, well-groomed women from the other wealthy families in the city. When Diluc (you debated whether or not you could drop the honorific) asked you to accompany him to the annual Spring Ball, you were pleasantly shocked.

You stood in front of the mirror in your humble maid’s quarters, looking at the dress you had made for you in the city, using your modest but satisfactory salary. It was nothing special; a plain turquoise gown that hugged your torso and flared out at your hips, shaped rather like a calla lily, you thought to yourself. By the candlelight, you did your best to smooth down the dress, pushing your chest up in an attempt to create a more flattering figure. You didn’t want your plainness to sully Diluc’s good reputation--an heir to such an empire associating with a mere housemaid was unthinkable.

Gathering yourself, you made your way out of the maid’s quarters, exiting through the side so as to avoid any of the guests seeing you come from that direction. The winery mansion was already hustling and bustling with the first wave of attendees arriving by carriage through the front entrance, chatter filling the foyer of the estate. You were struck by the glamour of it all--the lit chandeliers, the band playing a waltzing tune, the stream of beautifully dressed people being greeted by the butlers at the door. This was not your world, but by the archons, would you do your best to fit in. Clearing your throat and straightening your back, you stepped into the throng of guests who had not yet made their way into the main ballroom. Some familiar faces struck you: many wealthy merchants who frequented the winery to do business had shown up, along with their beautiful wives and golden daughters.

The women were remarkable. Rows and rows of glistening pearls, jewels beaded unto lace, flowing gowns with full bustles. The girls all had their hair in intricately curled updos, held together by pins of gold and platinum, iridescent under the light of the crystal chandeliers. You suddenly felt so very bare, your neck naked of gemstones and pearls, the silhouette of your dress not nearly as extravagantly round as the other women’s. No matter. Once you found Diluc, then all would be well. His cleverness and wit always put you at ease, though his words were few.

You did your best to push through the crowds of mingling guests, ignoring how overwhelming all the sights and smells were to your simple country-girl senses, and headed towards the ballroom. On either side of the doorway stood a butler of the winery, both of whome you recognized from your daily activities throughout the estate. You shot a smile in their direction, and they replied with a kurt nod. Archons, that did nothing to calm your nerves. If your fellow colleagues couldnt even bother to speak to you with words, trying to mingle with the other well-to-do guests would be an absolute nightmare.

Stepping into the ballroom, your vision was flooded with incredible brightness and glamour. The light fractals of the crystal chandelier were reflected tenfold upon the half-mirrored walls, making the room appear much larger and busier than it was. Although, the room already must have had at least a hundred attendees crowding the space, conversing above the gentle, poised music played by the quartet. Glasses clinked, and cheers were made—it was all so new to you. You hadn’t seen the winery mansion with such energy and liveliness in who knows how long. You just wished you could spend it with Diluc.

You were then reminded of the heir’s absence. He had said he would be a little bit late to the ball, due to some vague duties he had to perform in the cuty before he could come to the party, whatever he meant by that. You just hoped that he could come soon and save you from any potential awkward encounters with those from a social class that you were certainly not accustomed to interacting with.

As if reading your mind, you spotted a flash of red hair by the entrance of the ballroom. Stepping on your tippy-toes, and angling your head wildly, you managed to see Master Diluc make his way into the crowd. He was dressed to the nines—a smart three piece suit, in reds and blacks, with a dashing chain for his pocket watch tucked neatly into his breastpocket. His long hair had forgone its usual low knot, and was now swept up neatly into a high ponytail sitting atop the crown of his head. Master Diluc looked breathtakingly beautiful.

The rest of the guests in the ballroom must have thought similarly, as nearly everyone in the room turned to face in his direction, making note of the entrance of the master of the estate. A swarm of young women and their frilly updos began to crowd around Diluc, quite like chickens surrounding their feed, you chuckled. Diluc, ever the popular pick among the ladies. Amidst the group of girls you recognized Donna, the airheaded merchant’s daughter who made it her job loitering in the flower market, talking about Master Diluc at every opportunity. Though it would not be proper to express, you absolutely loathed her impetuous behavior. Treating Master Diluc adms if he were some base entertainer or bard, and not the heir to an honorable fortune and estate like he is. You could tell Diluc was doing his best to align with propriety, despite his introverted nature; he took each ladies hand in his own and chastely kissed the top of their hands. The girls practically shook with delight, while you trembled more with impatience, above anything else. You were his plus-one to the ball: not them.

Before you could even take a step in his direction, however, thr band began playing a sped-up tune, a three-step dance piece, and before you knew it, the center of the room had turned into a dance circle, couples spinning and swaying to the music of the fiddle. You had lost sight of Diluc, scrambling to push through the people in front of you to regain your sense of direction. Finally, you spot him, being pulled into a dance at the other end of the ballroom, led by the hand by none other than Donna. A bitterness made its way into your throat, making your jaw clench uncomfortably. He was dancing with her before even greeting you, the woman he had expressly invited to be his date to the ball?

As the dance progressed, you saw Diluc had rested hisbhand against Donna’s waist, his other hand pressed against hers. The childish fool looked overjoyed out of her mind, whilst Diluc’s countenance was blank, as usual. This was ridiculous. Nobody told you you had to stay here Stay here and watch this madness. You weren’t jealous of course—no, even if you were, you would never admit it to yourself. Something in you just hated the way she fitted so well with Master Diluc. Her perfectly groomed sandy hair, with her certainly expensive ballgown, encrusted with all sorts of luxurious ornaments, meshing perfectly with the princely aura always emanating off of Diluc, what with his strongly set features and perfectly tailored suit. For your own sake, there was no need to stay. Mumbling out a string of excuse me’s, you pulled up the hem of your gown and pressed through the throng of guests lining the sides of the ballroom. Forget the embarassment of being the Cinderella of the ball, even if you felt your face hearing up, the least you could do was spare Master Diluc the humiliation of being seen with the likes of you.

You finally made it out of the claustrophobic crowd, until you heard a man’s voice call after you. You hoped to Barbatos that Diluc hadn’t noticed you making your awful, grand exit. The foyer was still packed with straggling guests, turning away from their conversations to look at you as you tried to make your way back to the annexed maid’s wing. You never should have come. It should have ended right when Diluc had invited you—no, it should have ended that day Diluc reached out and asked you to go to town with him. You were a fool to think that he had ever taken anything more than a friendly interest than you, and you were a fool to think that a silly servant could ever be with a nobleman. Having made it to a quiet corridor of the house, where there were no guests and no blinding lights, you slumped against a wall and heaved out a shaky sigh. You hadn’t noticed you were hyperventilating until now.

The man’s voice from earlier called out again your name. Dammit, it really was Diluc. If he had seen you leaving, then there was no way to hide your unsightly state from him now. This whole thing was a huge mistake. You tried to fix any loose hairs that had fallen out of place before you heard the sound of footsteps making their way around the corner. A humiliation, the whole affair. You had to tell him this wasn’t going to work out, and never was. Let him know that you were never as invested as you actually were, otherwise he would certainly laugh at you.

Diluc made his way over to you, steps almost frantic. “Archons, [y/n], are you alright?”, he looked at you, brow furrowed. “What happened back there?” He gently reached for your hand. You hated what his touch did to you, almost erasing all the concerns from moments earlier from your mind.

“Master Diluc, I-” you started.

“I told you there’s no need for that “master” nonsense, my dear”, he chuckled dryly, eyes softening to the way they usually looked when he talked to you. But regardless of his effects on you, and regardless of how desperately you wanted him, you had to be practical.

“Look, Diluc”, you began, nervously. You had to choose your words carefully. One wrong move and that could be the end of your job and livelihood. Not to mention you may never see Diluc again, or as frequently as you usually do. Archons, why did this have to be so difficult? “I really appreciate you inviting me to this ball, I really do. But,” you stammered. “But I’m not sure if it is in your best interests to be seen with someone like me, out there. Especially when there are so many other much more suitable young women to be spending your time with.”

Diluc looked at you for a moment, eyebrow cocked. You could tell he was giving you his infamous calculating stare, trying to make sense of your true intentions. In many ways, this was something that reminded you of Master Kaeya, bless his soul. Trying not to be vulnerable under his prying gaze, you set your lips firmly, obscuring any signs of your own selfish wants. Moments later, Diluc spoke.

“Are you jealous that I was dancing with Donna?” The genius strikes again, and blunt as always. You sighed, not being able to meet his eyes.

“Of course not, I merely-“

He interrupted you, “Because you know she dragged me into that right? Do you seriously take me as someone who would voluntarily participate in the first round of a dance?” Diluc chuckles again, angling his head to try and meet your averted gaze. You truly hated him sometimes. Each time he spoke, though rare, came an outpouring of words that you needed to hear exactly at that moment. You couldn’t determine if this was a blessing or a curse upon you.

Diluc softly takes your hand in his, and uses his other to gently tilt your chin to meet his eyes once again. The blood rushed back to your face, unaccustomed to such an intimate gesture, let alone on behalf of Master Diluc himself. “I’m sorry if I’ve been indirect all this time. It’s a terrible habit of mine and I apologize wholeheartedly.” Whatever could he mean by that? If anything you should be the one to apologize for childishly storming off like that, making a scene.

You implored him, “Diluc, I should be the one saying sorry-”. But before you could finish your sentence, the man had pulled you into him, hand on your cinched waist, and gently placed his lips on your own. If anything felt like fireworks, then it was most certainly this. The shock and suddenness of the moment sent electricity through your nerves and into your stomach, making it flutter with anticipation. Was this really happening? You, a maid, and Master Diluc, kissing in a darkened corridor, as a grand ball roared mere meters away. The silly daydreams of your girlhood days were all fulfilled in this moment as Diluc buried his hand into your hair, pressing your waist closer into his own, as he deepened the kiss. Accepting his gesture, you grew comfortable in his grasp, and your lips melded against his. The heady feeling of it all gave you a high like you’ve never experienced—nothing else mattered in this moment but the flame-haired beauty’s touch.

Breathless, you eventually drew away, feeling more disheveled than you probably were. For a moment, it was only the sounds of you and Diluc’s heavy panting filling the darkness of the corridor, slight music and chatter still audible from a distance. After a moment of pregnant silence, Diluc spoke.

“So we are official now, right? No more having to worry about those silly airheads out there?”

You let out a breathy chuckle. He was going to be the end of you. But you savored every minute of it.

“By the way”, he added. “You look absolutely radiant tonight.”

a/n: yayyy i hope you like it! i wanna make out with diluc so bad www i was thinking of giving this a spicier ending but i wasn’t sure if that was your vibe, anon, so lmk if you want an alternative ending uhuhu

#genshin impact #genshin headcanons #genshin impact x reader #genshin imagines #genshin impact fanfiction #genshin x reader #diluc #genshin diluc #diluc x y/n #diluc x reader #diluc imagines #diluc headcanons #genshin impact diluc #diluc fluff #diluc x you

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headcanonsandmore · 3 years

Text

“Fell In Love With A Girl”, Chapter Five

Summary: In the final chapter of this story, Ginny and those with her close in on the crime syndicate. But will Ginny be able to protect Luna before it's too late?

Read on FFN. Read on AO3.

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Tagging: @lytefoot @cheeseanonioncrisps

Special thanks to @rabisacos for all their help with writing about Brazil!

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Ginny had to admit, she had been expecting something a little more impressive.

After they had broke their way through the door, the agents (combined with Sky’s local activists) had led the way inside. A long, winding pathway that descended down a good few hundred feet. Ginny couldn’t be sure, but it seemed that the crime syndicate hadn’t bothered to expand or reinforce the existing cave system that much. If anything, they had simply installed some minimal lighting and left things as they were.

Which made it embarrassingly easy for the agents to get the drop on them. Ginny sighed, as yet another group of syndicate members were left tied up on the floor. Honestly, her gym had better security than this place!

The syndicate had clearly assumed that no-one would even realise they were even there.

‘Well,’ Tonks said, opening a door to let Ginny through into a room they had just cleared of syndicate members. Sam had gone on ahead with several other agents, as had Remus. ‘We know what they were up to here.’

‘This is a lab!’ Ginny said, gazing at the various test tubes stored along tables. ‘Good grief, no wonder they wanted somewhere close to the plants!’

Tonks nodded.

‘From what the kidnapped scientists have been telling us,’ Sky said. ‘The crime syndicate were trying to create biological weapons to sell to extremist groups worldwide. Looks like we have now got everyone, except for…’

‘Wait, where’s Luna?’ Ginny asked, her forehead creasing with renewed worry. ‘Why haven’t we found her yet?’

Tonks was about to answer, when a loud clanking sound reached them through the nearby wall.

‘Let me go!’

Ginny’s eyes widened in horror. That was Luna’s voice!

‘You’ve brought MI6 down on us!’ exclaimed another voice from the same direction. It sounded dangerous. As if who spoke wanted to hurt Luna.

Without thinking, Ginny rammed her shoulder against the wall.

Like the rest of the infrastructure, the wall was of dubious structural integrity, and crumbled under Ginny’s weight, leaving a hole just big enough to crawl through.

‘Ginny, no!’

But Sky was too late. Ginny had already scrambled through. As she climbed out on the other side, she could hear Tonks shouting into her earpiece for back-up.

Ginny looked around her. The other side of the wall backed onto another part of the cave system. It didn’t seem to have the lighting used in the main passageways, and was piled with old boxes and rusty crates.

However, it was also not much more structurally sound than the wall Ginny had just burst through. There were several large holes in the ground, dipping down into utter blackness. Ginny could vaguely hear the sound of water running below, but it was a very long way down.

‘Those fools in MI6 should have never gotten here!’

Ginny’s blood turned to ice. Hurrying forward in the direction of the raised voice, she came to a corner, and peeked round, taking care not to move too quickly.

There was a thump as Luna fell to the ground. Ginny felt her heartrate increase with worry as she saw her girlfriend glare at the man standing a couple of paces in front. Luna looked mostly unharmed, but there were a few cuts and grazes along her arms and legs. Her dirty blonde hair was far scruffier than normal, and there was a clump standing up on end from where it had been pulled out earlier. Luna was now lying near the end of one of the chasms in the ground, which had curls of plant roots growing around the edges. There were ropes tied around Luna’s arms and legs, preventing her from rising to her feet.

The man standing in front of her was…

Ginny’s eyes widened.

He was tall, and thin, and very pale. He had a vaguely aristocratic and snake-like face, a weird mixture of jagged edges and uneven bone structure. He was wearing a black shirt and trousers.

He was also holding a gun.

‘You really think you could lead MI6 here and suffer no consequences?’ he spat. ‘You thought you could pool the wool over Thomas Riddle’s eyes?’

He aimed the gun at Luna, but then seemed to change his mind.

‘No; a shooting would attract too much attention,’ he said, switching his gun to his other hand. ‘I imagine the fall from this height into the cave system will suffice. Goodbye, Ms Lovegood-’

‘NO!’

Before she knew what she was doing, Ginny had barrelled forward and slammed herself into Riddle, knocking him over. Shouts echoed around them, but Ginny didn’t know if she or Riddle was the one making them.

But Ginny had thrown herself too far forwards. With her momentum, she rolled over the ground, tumbling with no control, until she reached the edge.

She heard Luna scream nearby, and Ginny felt herself slip right over the side.

Her limbs flailing, Ginny’s hands wrapped around the root of the strange plants growing just under the edge of the chasm.

The plant held, and Ginny felt her legs dangling beneath her.

Looking up, she could see a scuffle happening. Tonks and Remus had caught up with them, and were wrestling Riddle to the floor.

‘Ginny!’

There was a great tearing sound, and then Luna’s head appeared above her. The blonde woman had clearly broken her bonds through sheer desperation.

‘Luna!’ Ginny cried, trying to pull herself up. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Nevermind me!’ Luna yelled, reaching down and wrapping her arms around Ginny’s. ‘We need to pull you up!’

There was a slow, drawn out ripping sound. Ginny saw the plant root begin to tear. The added weight was weakening it.

Dust began to fly, and Ginny was horrified to see cracks begin to appear in the ground around the edge. The plant seemed to be holding the place together.

Her grey eyes widening in horror, Luna pulled even harder on Ginny’s arm, and the redhead rose slightly higher. But the blonde just wasn’t strong enough to pull her the whole way up, and Ginny didn’t have the strength to do so either.

‘No!’ Luna cried, tears begin to slide down her face. ‘No! I’m not losing you now!’

‘Luna…’ Ginny exclaimed. ‘I’m… I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you like I promised-’

‘Don’t be silly; you did protect me!’ Luna replied, her eyes wide as she struggled desperately to pull Ginny up. ‘You saved my life!’

Ginny found tears slipping down her own face.

‘Luna… I… I love you.’

‘Don’t tell me that when we’re about to die!’

‘You don’t need to die!’ Ginny cried. ‘Just let me go; you can get away before the ground collapses!’

‘No,’ Luna sobbed. ‘I’m not leaving you! I… I love you, Ginny; I’m not letting you go!’

‘Oh, how touching…’

Ginny looked up past Luna. Riddle was standing above them, pointing his gun at Luna’s head. Ginny could hear the sounds of Tonks and Remus groaning in confusion, as if drugged.

‘Chemical compounds have their uses in close-quarter fighting,’ Riddle said. ‘But I’m getting off-topic. Ms Lovegood, I’m afraid that you and your little girlfriend may well have to take a tumble into oblivion.’

A horrible smile stretched across his face, Riddle pressed his gun up against Luna’s head.

‘After a bullet in both your heads, of course-’

‘And just what do you think you’re doing to my sister and her girlfriend?’

BANG!

Ginny stared up in shock, as Riddle crumpled to the ground where he had been stood. His gun fell harmlessly to the ground; the trigger hadn’t been compressed.

Standing above them was a tall redhead, his blue eyes serious and yet utterly confident.

‘Ron?!’

Before Ginny knew what was happening, Ron had grabbed Ginny’s hands and -combined with Luna’s strength- Ginny was pulled back up and onto solid ground. As they all scrambled away, the edge of the floor finally gave way, crashing into the chasm below.

Luna had wrapped her arms around Ginny, and Ginny did likewise. She could still tears streaking down Luna’s face as she leaned into Ginny’s shoulder.

‘I’m… I’m okay,’ Ginny said, softly to her girlfriend. ‘I’m not going anyway.’

Luna nodded, sniffling as she cradled Ginny in her arms.

‘You okay, Ginny?’

Ginny looked up. Ron had crouched down next to them.

‘Could be worse,’ Ginny said, not letting go of Luna. ‘But Ron- what are you-’

‘You didn’t tell her?’

Ginny turned round.

Neville was crouched beside Tonks and Remus, administering what was presumably an antidote to the drugs Riddle had given them.

‘Didn’t tell me what?’ Ginny exclaimed. ‘And, Neville, why are you here? I thought you were back in Rio?’

‘We needed as many people as we could muster,’ Ron said. ‘And it always pays to have someone who knows about plants round here.’

‘Ron, that still doesn’t explain why you’re here! In the amazon! At an underground base!’

As if purely to confuse Ginny even further, Harry was handcuffing Riddle nearby. There was the sound of running feet, and Sky appeared, with several agents. She immediately dropped down to the ground and began to administer to Luna’s various cuts and bruises. Reluctantly, Luna let go of Ginny, so that Sky could reach the cuts on her arms and legs.

‘Tranquiliser darts,’ Ron said, motioning to his gun in answer to Ginny’s unspoken question. ‘That git needs to stand trial. Luckily, one of the scientists in this place was being held against their will, and decided to give me these when our team turned up.’

‘Wait, your team-’

‘Actually, it’s my team.’

Ginny turned. A very familiar face had appeared from round the corner, accompanied by more agents.

‘Oh, Kingsley’s here too?’ She exclaimed, sarcastically. ‘The whole gang’s here; why don’t we wait around and see who else turns up?’

‘Weasley, this isn’t standard procedure,’ Kingsley said, speaking to Ron.

‘Neither is letting civilians get involved with missions or raids, but here we are,’ Ron replied. ‘How the heck did Riddle get Luna and Ginny on their own anyway?’

‘Why do you think?’

Tonks was sitting up, rubbing her throat as the antidote took effect.

‘Ginny ran off ahead the second she heard Riddle threatening Luna,’ Tonks continued. ‘It was a miracle me and Remus got here in time.’

‘In time to get knocked out by Riddle’s drugs, apparently,’ Remus said, his voice raspy. ‘You all sure took your time.’

‘Er, sorry,’ Harry said. ‘It took us forever to scout out the entire base. Does Ginny know about our involvement now?’

‘Bit late to be asking that now, mate,’ Ron said, before turning to Ginny and Luna. ‘No biggie; me and Harry are secret agents. Spooks, if you will.’

‘This would explain a lot…’

Ron laughed.

‘Sorry I couldn’t say anything. Only spouses and parents have security clearance, and even then it’s pretty strictly controlled.’

‘Did he get you badly?’ Remus asked, leaning closer to Tonks. He sounded concerned. ‘I’m sorry, I should’ve-

‘What, worried about me, Remus?’ Tonks chuckled, nudging him with her shoulder. ‘You did all you could. Not that I mind you worrying about me, of course.’

Remus smiled, his cheeks reddening, and Tonks face responded in kind.

As Riddle was dragged away by the agents, a cheer went up from the kidnapped scientists and the local activists.

‘You’re very resourceful, Luna.’ Sky said, as she and Ginny helped the florist to her feet. ‘I think you’ve done rather well, given how much of a dangerous situation you were in.’

‘Thank you. But I knew that you would all get here eventually.’ Luna said. ‘Thank you so much for tracking this place down.’

‘You’re most welcome,’ Sky said, smiling. ‘You did a great job of showing where the entrance was. Quick thinking with the hair. No wonder Ginny likes you so much.’

Ginny felt her cheeks flush as Luna smiled at her.

It was a long car ride back to Rio. Sky was accompanying them back. Ginny and Luna had fallen asleep against each-other. When they had woken back up, they had greeted by the perplexing sight of Sam reading what looked like a fantasy book. The cover showed a man dressed in a golden suit.

‘He always was an idiot,’ Sam muttered, chuckling under his breath. Then he noticed the two women staring at him. ‘What?’

Ginny and Luna exchanged confused looks, but didn’t ask for details.

Several hours later, the jeep finally came to a stop outside the hotel in Rio they had been staying in. Ginny slipped her hand into Luna’s.

‘Well… back in Rio.’

‘Actually,’ Ron said, as they climbed out of the jeep. ‘There is someone else you know here. You remember the research team who Neville was working with?’

‘Yeeeesss…’

‘Well-’

At that moment, Ron stopped speaking, as a bushy-haired woman darted out from the hotel and kissed him full on the mouth, throwing her arms around his neck as she did so. Ron responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted her off her feet.

‘Oh, for pity’s sake… Hermione’s involved, too?!’ Ginny said. ‘Really?’

‘Shut up, Ginny, I want my ginger man,’ Hermione said, briefly pulling away from her husband’s lips. ‘I’ve been stuck in a research block halfway across the city for the past week. No Ron to spend time with. Unlike you and Luna who got to make some lovely memories here.’

Ginny exchanged looks with Luna, and the two women blushed.

‘I guess we can’t have a proper holiday in Rio, can we?’ Luna said. ‘Shame, really.’

‘Afraid not. Considering the amount of diplomatic stress this has caused,’ Sky said, ‘I think it’s better that you all get back to the UK as soon as possible. Just for security’s sake.’

‘Keep in touch, Sky,’ Ginny said, shaking the older woman’s hand. ‘You’ve helped us so much; I don’t know how we can ever repay you.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Sky said, as she hugged Luna. ‘A small part of the Amazon has been protected, and that’s something to celebrate. But, if you are asking, how about a wedding invitation?’

‘O-oh…’ Ginny said, as she and Luna both blushed again. ‘I… well, we haven’t really gotten that far along yet.’

Sky smiled, placing her hands on their shoulders.

‘Doesn’t seem that way to me.’

As Ginny and Luna smiled at each-other, Ginny was distantly of Sam getting his phone out, and beginning to speak into it.

‘Where is my cow?… is that my cow?..’

Dear Sky,

I’m glad to hear that the logging companies have been pushed back. Myself and Neville have been organising protests for later this month about the continued logging in your part of the Amazon delta. Hopefully, we can get the British government to embargo the logging companies. It’s not much, but it’s a start.

Speaking of starts, me and Ginny have set a date for next spring. Hopefully, your invitation should be arriving soon.

Love,

Luna

xxxx

Luna put down her pen, and slipped the letter into an envelope. She was sat at the desk in her room above the shop. Evening sunshine was peaking through the window nearby. Writing out Sky’s PO box number put her in mind of the memories of their time in the Amazon delta. So many memories, both good and bad.

She was just sticking the stamp to the front when Ginny knocked on her door and crossed the room.

‘Time to go, Lu,’ the redhead said, wrapping an arm around Luna’s waist and kissing her on the neck. ‘Our reservation’s booked for seven.’

Luna smiled, and kissed Ginny on the cheek. She followed Ginny downstairs and out through the shop. Outside, London was turning hazy on the sunny Friday evening.

‘Do you think Sky’s invitation has reached her yet?’

‘Bound to,’ Ginny said, as they left the post-office, after having posted the letter direct to Brazil. ‘I mean, Sam’s already received his, and we don’t even know what country he lives in!’

‘I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t even live on earth at all.’

‘Like, on some other planet?’ Ginny chuckled, intertwining their fingers as they approached the park. ‘You’ve always had a wonderful way of looking at things.’

‘Says the person who insists we go to the same restaurant every time we have a special occasion.’

Ginny gave a freckled smile.

‘It’s where we had one of our first dates; we can’t not go to it. Especially on the two month anniversary.’

Luna chuckled, squeezing their hands together.

‘I know. And I love you for it.’

‘I love you too, Lu.’

The two women smiled at each other, looking forward to a wonderful evening spent between the two of them. A small bit of perfection in a very bizarre but utterly wonderful world. A world that wasn’t perfect, but was steadily getting better. With love, and dedication to make things better. And that was fine with both Ginny and Luna.

Bands glinted on their ring fingers, reflecting the golden evening sunlight. Both rings resembled a basketball hoop entwined with a hyacinth. The future was like a blooming garden; full of possibilities. And both Ginny and Luna intended to explore those possibilities.

The End

~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading, everyone! This has been a lovely fic to write, and thank you for the lovely comments! I don't have any plans to continue with this AU storyline in the future, but I do have plans for other Linny AUs. Stay tuned!

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queen-scribbles · 3 years

Text

You’re One to Talk

Companion piece to I Would Never; Vica’s POV for one of her busier days somewhere between Ossus and all the stuff in Echoes of Vengeance. Roughly the same length, too.

----

To the unfamiliar, the Alliance Commander looked the very picture of poise. With her hair done up in that vaguely-aristocratic style she loved so much and posture that made even her simple outfit look elegant, Vica radiated serenity well before you got to her small, warm smile. A smile currently aimed at a wildly gesticulating starship mechanic, while Vica listened to his grievances with an air of sympathetic calm.

But Theron knew her too well to buy it. There was a faint edge of strain to her smile; not caused by the mechanic, but he was surely the latest in a long line of people who wanted “just a moment of your time, Commander”. And no matter how busy she already was, refusing to listen when someone had a need would be un-Jedi-like, so she would never.

Thus, Theron swept across the hanger bay in just a few long strides to give her an out. “Commander, the general and admiral are ready in the conference room.”

Vica turned and flashed him a tighter version of that smile, halfway between gratitude and let me handle this, darling. “Thank you, I’ll be right there,” she said, before shifting back to assure the mechanic his concerns would be addressed as soon as possible. With him placated, she gave Theron a much more genuine smile. “Thank you,” she breathed, leaning against his chest.

Theron rubbed her back as he hugged her, frowning at the tension in her shoulders. “That bad?”

“Not bad,” Vica said with a sigh, straightening and pinching the bridge of her nose before heading toward the conference wing. “Just... a lot. And all at once. There’s the Republic delegation, and the security overhaul, and pirate attacks on our supply ships that mean rearranging the Mandalorian escorts, and Hylo wanted to talk about a few of her people she thinks are skimming, and a couple more she feels could be given more responsibility-”

“I’m getting tired just listening to that list,” Theron cut her off glibly. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he kept pace. “Do they really all have to go through you?”

She shot him a look. “I’m the Commander. I chose to keep us independent. That makes the security and well-being of the Alliance my responsibility.”

“Leadership of the Alliance is your responsibility,” he corrected. They stepped onto the elevator and he pulled her in to kiss her temple. “Leaders delegate. You don’t have to do everything yourself.” Despite how long the Council and universe in general told you otherwise.

Vica bit her lip, but he still heard the You’re one to talk in her eyes. “I did. Lana’s overseeing the security upgrades, and Briyoni took Jonas to deal with the perimeter sensors that went down.”

“Oh, good, thank her for keeping him busy for me,” Theron deadpanned.

She rolled her eyes but smiled as she whacked his arm with the back of one hand. “I thought you two were friends.”

“We are. Which means I know what he’s like when he’s bored.” He rubbed her back again. “And how quickly he’ll likely get to that point while he’s here. If your sister can keep him occupied for a couple hours, means longer before he starts bugging me.”

This time she actually laughed, and he was gratified to feel some of the tension ease in her shoulders. “Careful, or she’ll say you owe her one.”

“Right, because dragging her husband off somewhere unsupervised for a couple hours when they haven’t seen each other in months was entirely altruistic.”

“Theron!” Vica protested, but her shoulders were shaking with laughter as she buried her face against his chest.

The elevator reached their desired floor and he tugged her arm to guide her off. “You tellin’ me we wouldn’t do the same thing in their shoes?” he murmured into her hair, and her grip on his jacket tightened briefly.

Vica took a deep breath and was Barsen’thor-levels of composed when she straightened. A hint of mirth still danced in her eyes as she serenely commented, “We have a meeting.”

That’s a no, Theron smirked but behaved himself, gesturing to the conference room door. “So we do. After you, Commander.”

“Thank you, Agent Shan,” she said with a smile, and had fully shifted to the role of Commander by the time she stepped into the room.

---

Vica had been mildly concerned her to-do list would distract from the meeting, but she had that chain of thought spinning away in the back of her mind by the time she and Theron took their seats and exchanged pleasantries with Aygo and Daeruun. Her main focus was firmly and unwaveringly on their conversation as they discussed the state of the galaxy and best way to use the Republic and Alliance’s resources. She trusted Aygo with the the Alliance military action--and had almost just let him handle this meeting, with how busy she was--but she did need to be at least in the loop if not giving final word on big decisions. Like which sectors to keep a close eye on and which were secure enough to spare manpower to shore up weaker areas. What to do about various Imperial actions or pirate attacks. It was a very tricky balance puzzle, and the very faintest edges of a headache were creeping in by the time they reached a solution.

“Thank you for your time, Commander,” General Daeruun said warmly as he stood. “That took longer than I expected it would, and I know you’re busy.”

“It was an important list of issues, General,” Vica demurred with a smile. “I always have time for our allies in the Republic. No matter how busy I may be.”

The general chuckled. “A most gracious host. When you find the opportunity to relax, Commander...” He pulled a small packet from one of the pouches on his belt. “A token of friendship; a new blend I encountered on Atraken. I find it quite adept at calming the mind.”

Vica perked up at the offer of new tea and stepped forward to accept it with a grin. “Thank you very much, General. I look forward to when I have the chance to try it.”

“Yeah, so do I,” Theron muttered behind her, barely audible.

She ignored him. He was one to talk about working too hard, anyway. “Make yourself at home as long as you’re here, General. I need to see to some other matters if we’re finished?”

“We are indeed,” General Daeruun nodded. “Best of luck with your other endeavors, Commander.”

“Thank you. And, again, for the tea. Aygo, you can head down to staging when you’re ready.”

The admiral nodded, looking up from the datapad he’d been studying. “Of course, Commander.”

Theron trailed her out of the conference room, and Vica pivoted, tilting her chin up to meet his gaze once they were out in the hall. “So, what’s next on your to do list?”

He gave her an arched brow look. “Try and convince my wife to take a five minute break before she dives back into her ocean of work?”

“I will,” Vica promised, resting a hand on his arm. “But I still need to talk to Hylo, and the meeting went long, so it’s almost time for my holocall with--”

“Vica, it’s five minutes,” Theron said with a wry smile. “Just go sit on a conference table and meditate or something so you don’t burn out.”

She giggled at the mental image; Barsen’thor and Commander and Outlander, perched cross-legged on a conference table to meditate like a mischievous youngling. “I will. Take a break, I mean. But the ambassador’s expecting my call, so I really need to at least do that first.”

He pursed his lips. “I’ll talk to Hylo.”

“You aren’t too busy?”

“Nah, my to-do list is much shorter than yours,” he deadpanned. “Let me help.”

“It is the sort of thing you’re good at...” Vica pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to quash the guilty tickle at ‘pawning off her responsibilities’. “Alright. If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

“All yours, then.” She flashed a tired smile. “See? Delegating.”

“Good for you,” Theron drawled, leaning down to steal a kiss before they parted ways.

Vica snaked a hand around the back of his neck to hold him close an extra few heartbeats. “Thank you,” she murmured as they parted.

“Anytime, sweetheart,” Theron replied quietly, pressing a light kiss to her forehead as well before he headed for the elevator.

Vica smiled, sighed, and made her way to one of the more private holoterminals.

---

There were, fortunately, no surprises lurking in her conversation with the Qalitan ambassador. Just typical diplomatic chitchat about their contributions an compensations and how things stood on Qalita Prime.

Vica breathed a long sigh of relief after ending the call, smoothing a hand down her shirt as she mentally crossed that off her list. One thing down, eight more to go...

She almost ran into the aide hurrying down the hall when she stepped out of the room. The baby-faced zabrak didn’t seem fazed by the near-collision, already rambling before Vica could get an apology out,” Oh, Commander, I’ve been looking for you.” He held out a datapad. “Trestal sent some revisions to our treaty.”

Vica frowned. “We’re formalizing that in two days.” They had a month and they chose now?!

“I know, Commander.” His tattoos wrinkled as his brow furrowed. “They promised it was only a few things, minor adjustments to phrasing and the like.”

Which immediately set alarm bells ringing; you didn’t wait til the last minute to make minor adjustments. Vica groaned. This day was one long game of bop-a-gizka; get one thing taken care of and another popped up somewhere else. “I’ll take a look at it. Thank you for telling me.”

“You’re welcome, ma’am, and... sorry.” The aide frowned apologetically.

“Not your fault,” She said with a sigh, and took the datapad to her quarters to review. The timing was atrocious, and made her very glad she’d let Theron take talking to Hylo. So much for that five minute break.

---

When he’d nagged her about taking a break, dozing off over a datapad hadn’t really been what he had in mind. Theron debated letting her be anyway, but she’d have an awful crick in her neck from that position.

He sat next to her on the couch and gently poked her shoulder. “Vica.”

She jerked upright, fumbling the datapad a moment before catching it just as it started to slide off her lap. “What do you need?”

“Just checking in.” Theron rubbed her arm. “Dry reading?”

“Give me a history text over political document any day,” Vica said with a wan smile. She stretched and rubbed the back of her neck. “How’d it go with Hylo?”

“Fine,” Theron shrugged. “She has good instincts, and good evidence for both the accusations and the people she wants to promote.”

“Good, glad that was easy.”

“How ‘bout you, what’s so enthralling you added it into your schedule?” He nudged the datapad.

“Trestal treaty. They made some minor changes and phrasing tweaks-”

“Now?” Theron frowned skeptically at the datapad. “Two days before we sign the blasted thing?”

“That’s what I said!” Vica tossed the datapad on a chair and half-turned to face him. “But I’ve been going over it for” --a glance at the wall chrono-- “stars, two hours, and didn’t find anything major. All the changes I’ve noted--and there aren’t a lot--have been little things, nothing that drastically alters the terms. I think politics have jaded me.”

“You wouldn’t be the first,” Theron said dryly.

She nodded, but absently, like her thoughts were elsewhere, and rubbed her eyes. “Did Briyoni and Jonas make it back alright?”

“I don’t think they’re back yet...” he said slowly, and her posture snapped stiff.

“It’s been hours,” Vica pointed out as she shot to her feet, “more than enough time to repair a couple sensors.”

Knowing Balkar as well as he did, and that Bry was a good match for him, Theron wasn’t terribly worried just yet. “I’m sure they’re fine, Vee. Maybe one of the repairs took extra work, or they’re just taking their sweet time.” Like I’d be trying to do if we’d gone.

“Maybe.” Vica didn’t sound convinced. “Can’t hurt to check...”

He snorted a chuckle. “Technically, no, but if you interrupt their first time alone in months just ‘cause you’re worried...” He smirked and leaned back on the couch. “On second thought, maybe your sister will send death glares at you instead of me for a while. A break would be nice.”

She rolled her eyes and keyed up comms as she paced toward the window. “Briyoni, how’s it going?” A frown wrinkled her brow. “Briyoni?”

Okay, if she wasn’t answering comms, that might be a problem. Or just a bid for privacy.

---

Vica instinctively defaulted to one of the meditations techniques she knew to calm the worry spiraling through her gut.

The comms were dead. Switched off or jammed she couldn’t tell, but there was no answer to her attempts at raising her sister and she couldn’t quite bring herself to agree with Theron’s theory behind the delay.

She tried again. “Briyoni, can you hear me?”

Nothing.

She turned to look at Theron, mildly panicked despite the attempt to meditate it away. “There’s nothing.”

“Nothing as in she’s ignoring you, or as in just static?”

“Nothing as in dead air.” Vica hugged her arms close around herself. “What if something happened to them?”

“Well.” Theron stood and moved to join her. “They’re both very resourceful, and pretty damn hard to kill.” Bry might have more attempts to her name, but Balkar had squeaked out of a few tight spots of his own, and they made a damn good team. He rubbed Vica’s arms and pulled her into a hug. “They’re probably okay, but do you want to send someone after them?”

“Who?” she asked with a wry snort. “Everyone’s busy, including us, that’s why Briyoni volunteered to handle this in the first place.” She picked up her datapad and called up the speeder logs. The locator was offline.

That set her gut twisting. Calm, Vica, he’s right. Resourceful and hard to kill. She’d heard about Eclipse Squad. About Denon.

Good or bad, this also meant they had no way of knowing where Briyoni and Jonas were even if she wanted to check on them. “No point sending someone; their speeder’s not showing.”

“Huh. Weird. Let me see?” Theron took the datapad and scanned the logs. “Nothing about a crash, maybe they’re just out of range.”

“Maybe.” Her skepticism carried in her voice more than she’d meant. They would have had to go seriously off-course for that, so it was a long shot, but she appreciated him trying to make her feel better.

He flashed a sympathetic half-smile. “Here’s a plan: we spend a little while working on things we can do from here with datapads and comms, and you can keep checking to see if Bry’s signal comes back. If it doesn’t, then we worry about how to handle tracking them down.”

It was a good plan. Much more manageable than her fretting about two people in all the untamed expanse of Odessen. She shot him a grateful smile. “Since when are you the reasonable one?”

Theron snorted and kissed her forehead, not seeming the least offended. “Since you started panicking about your sister being AWOL.”

She snorted in turn and plunked down on the couch. “An hour,” she decided. “If I try for an hour with no response, we’ll have to do something.”

“Sounds fair,” Theron agreed, sitting next to her. “Emotional support,” he said with a one-shoulder shrug when she gave him a you’re staying? look.

Her chest warmed at the words and Vica leaned over to kiss his cheek before settling in to try and do some work.

---

It took half of that hour she was willing to wait for one of Vica’s increasingly worried-despite her best efforts--checks to bear fruit.

“...Yeah, Vic?” came crackling back, Briyoni’s voice slightly raised(wind from a moving speeder, maybe?).

Vica wilted against Theron’s shoulder. “Oh, thank the Force.” There was a pulse of unguarded relief from him as well. Apparently he’d been more worried than he let on. “I’ve been trying to check in for... half an hour. What happened?”

“We, uh, ran into some technical difficulties exploring an alternate route.” At least she had the decency to sound a little sheepish. “There’s a section of canyon down here, fuzzed out comms and the map.”

A cold spike prickled up her spine, her jaw tightening at a memory.

“You have forgotten what it is to face death alone. I will remind you.”

She was dimly aware of Theron’s hand on her shoulder, but it was Briyoni’s voice that snapped her out of it. “Vica?”

Vica purged the emotion and accompanying tremor from her voice. “I think I know where you’re talking about.”

“Your friends cannot hear you....”

“Are you out of there?” Even with Valkorion... gone, who knew how much his presence might have warped things in that place.

“Yeah....”

“Good. Don’t go back.” It was the closest thing to an order she’d given her sister since Briyoni joined the Alliance.

“Yes, ma’am, Commander, ma’am,” came the glib reply, and Vica couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter.

“Finish your job, Briyoni,” she reminded, a smile tugging her lips.

“That’s the plan. Get back on track, fix the sensor, be on our way home. See you in an hour or so, Vic.”

“See you then.” Vica closed the channel and exhaled a long slow breath of relief, her head falling back on Theron’ shoulder.

“I take it they’re fine?” he asked.

She sat up and nodded. “They were exploring and wound up in a canyon that interfered with comms and the map.”

From the way his eyes narrowed, his thoughts went the same place hers had. “Where Valkorion...?”

“That’s my guess.” Vica rubbed the back of her neck and shuddered, as if she could shake off the memory. “They’re finishing now.”

“So, how long, exactly, do I have before Balkar’s around to bug me?”

Vica snorted and bumped her knee against his. He grumbled, but the slight upward curve of his lips said he didn’t really mind the prospect. “An hour or so. Maybe longer if he doesn’t jump right into pestering you.”

“Good to know.” Theron set his datapad on the low table and turned to give her a serious look. “Now, all kidding aside. Since you know your sister’s fine, and you got more work done--”

She knew where this was going.

“--will you please take that five minute break now?”

Called it. She was feeling drained, if she was honest. He had a good point. “I’ll do ten minutes. On one condition.”

“I take it with you.”

“Mm, smart man,” she grinned. “You’ve been working almost as hard as I have today, Theron. If I need it, so do you.”

He looked ready to argue, then reconsidered and caved with a sheepish nod. “’S a fair point.”

“It’s just ten minutes,” Vica pointed out, dropping her datapad next to his and settling in tucked close against him. “We can spare ten minutes.”

“Sure.” Theron wrapped an arm around her and his cheek pressed her hair. “Just a little break. We need it.”

She hummed in agreement. They did need this.

---

They were both asleep when Bry stuck her head in to look for Vica; Theron slouched in the corner of couch back and arm with Vica sprawled on top of him, their legs half-falling off the couch. She grinned, biting back a laugh, and debated taking a holo of the two of them. (Vica was snoring a little; it was kind of adorable.) But it was too risky she’d wake them, so she reluctantly discarded the idea and instead tiptoed across the room, avoiding the tangle of legs. Quietly as possible--impressive to anyone who knew her--Bry picked up Vica’s datapad and typed a quick Back safe. Enjoy your nap. B before tiptoeing back out to let them sleep.

Stars knew they needed it.

#queens fic #vica nerai #theron shan #vica/theron #THEY HAVE FIC NOW FINALLY

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andorerso · 4 years

Note

I have a rebelcaptain prompt for you if you wish to take it: Pirates (You can use it any way you want, feks the gang dresses up as a pirate crew, or that they are pirates)

Thanks so much for the prompt! I wasn’t gonna write anything for Halloween but it really inspired me. I'm really not a pirate person though, so I don't have a lot of knowledge about... pirate stuff, I guess. Basically, I just based the setting on my memories of playing Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. Italics are flashbacks, the rest is present day. Hope you enjoy and happy Halloween, guys! :)

She’s close, after all this time, she’s finally close to finding the goblet. She can taste it in the air, in the saltiness of the water; something is coming, something is changing.

Bodhi says, as he’s been saying for years, that she should forget about it. Move on and pillage other ships like normal pirates do. But how could she? She’s spent the last nine years looking for Captain Skywalker’s chest and she can’t give up before the finish line. No matter how dangerous it gets.

Bodhi, bless his heart, is just a little superstitious. Most pirates are, to be honest.

“It’s haunted,” he often warns her.

“I’ve heard,” Jyn responds every time.

It doesn’t scare her. She’s haunted too, has been her whole life, and she’s managed just fine so far. A few more ghosts won’t bother her. It’s the absence of them that might.

Jyn stands barefoot in the sand at sunrise, watching the waves crash against the bank. The early morning sun paints everything in a lovely shade of pink and gold, its warm rays like gentle fingertips across her skin, the soft breeze caressing her body. Nothing exists but her and the water – and memories long-gone of a life she never truly got to live.

She’s buried them all at sea, and times like these are when she feels most connected to her dead, each of them waiting below the surface. She feels almost as if they’re calling out to her from the deep, asking her to join them.

She couldn’t, not yet, but when the time was right, she would walk into the sea and disappear for good. Let the waves claim her body, let her become a part of them forever. It’s a peaceful thought. She’s always belonged to the sea, and she belongs with the rest of them, the ones that the water has already claimed for itself. It’s home to her, and home is calling her back.

For now, she settles for the sunrise. Just take a moment and watch the sunrise, a voice whispers in her ear, in her memories. Just come watch the sunrise with me, Jyn. Come on and be with me. You’ll have time for sparring later.

Jyn lets out a quiet breath and kneels next to the bank, her fingers grazing the water as if touching skin she’s once worshipped, as if reaching for a lover she’s once had. It’s a connection between them, this water. A link to him, a link to the past, a link between her and wherever he is now. Somewhere peaceful, she hopes.

A soft but sad smile tugs at her lips. “This one’s for you, my love.”

Jyn sits in a seedy tavern in Havana, eyeing Captain Andor with suspicion and a glare that screams, ‘try me and see what I can do.’ She has a hand on her knife in her pocket, the other lazily resting on the pistol in her holster. It’s an open warning, almost a challenge, but Captain Andor doesn’t rise to the bait.

If anything, he seems unbothered. Almost frustratingly calm.

Jyn would think that’s foolish or cocky, or perhaps he’s underestimating her simply because she’s a woman; but somehow, she doesn’t believe this is the case. There’s something about him that’s genuine. It’s not cockiness, she thinks, it’s confidence – and his confidence is earned.

He’s a dangerous man if the stories are true, but she’s a dangerous woman herself. If they could learn to trust each other, there would be no one better to find the hidden treasure of Captain Skywalker than the two of them.

The trust part, she’s not good with. But although she’s not sure yet what to make of the man in front of her, she’s willing to see if it works out in her favor.

“The goblet is haunted,” he comments lazily, though he doesn’t sound like he believes it. Jyn raises an eyebrow.

“I’ve heard.” Her tone is dismissive.

“According to legend, it brings back the dead you’ve lost,” he continues. “You find it and it gives them back to you.” A wry smile twists on his lips. “But then they will drag you down to hell with them.”

Jyn holds back a bitter laugh. How many times has she heard that story? How many times has her father conveniently forgot about the last part? How many times has she been left at strange ports with strange people while he went on his wild adventures to find the goblet that would bring back her dead mother? Her father had been a man of science once, but the loss of his wife weighed heavily on him, and sinister voices whispering in his ear convinced him that finding the goblet was a way to make their family whole again.

In truth, Orson Krennic was probably just a money-hungry, cruel, and bored aristocrat who had nothing better to do than manipulate vulnerable men into doing the dirty work for him. Jyn resents both him and her father for that.

No, she doesn’t want the goblet to bring back dead people from the grave. She doesn’t believe in those childish stories anymore. She wants the goblet to sell it.

And she wants it to prove that she could do it. Do what her father couldn’t. Finish what he started.

But she isn’t about to share that with Captain Andor.

“It’s a golden goblet with ruby stones. It’s just money.” She pauses, shrugging her shoulders. “And the legends make it easier to sell. What naïve and wealthy widow wouldn’t want a relic that brings back their beloved spouse?”

Captain Andor’s lips quirk up, barely noticeable. “If you leave out the part about being dragged to hell.”

Jyn finally lets go of her pistol and reaches for the jug of beer on the table. “I find that part,” she begins, her tone conversational, “is very easy to forget.”

This is the one.

Jyn knows in her heart that she’s found it. The island is unmarked on any maps, and the entrance to the cave is underwater, hidden by seaweed and algae. Her lungs burn when she breaks surface, gasping for breath as she pulls herself up to the cave floor.

This is the one.

It sings in her veins, pulses through her body. She’s going to find it, finally, the goblet, the treasure – everything she’s been looking for in the past nine years.

“It’s haunted,” Bodhi’s voice echoes in her mind.

Jyn stands, undeterred, and marches forward to the heart of the cave.

She hopes it is.

Jyn glares menacingly at the cruel-faced guard as he opens her cage and walks towards her. Her hands might be shackled but she has a mean kick, and if he tries anything –

To her surprise, the man reaches for the chains behind her and unlocks her hands. They clatter to the floor with a loud noise, but Jyn continues glaring at the guard in suspicion.

“You’re free to go,” he grunts.

“What?” She doesn’t trust this one bit.

Where’s the catch? Henry ‘Scar Face’ Whitlock is not known for his mercy. She stole his goods, blew up one of his (smaller) ships, and stabbed three of his crew members. One of them bled out. Another lost an arm.

She expected to be hanged or quartered for it – made an example, for certain.

He can’t just be letting her go now. It has to be a trap.

But what would he gain from such a lie?

“Move,” the guard says and gives her an unnecessarily forceful shove that sends her flying against the walls of the cage. If it wasn’t for the small chance that she was about to walk out of here scot-free, she would have kicked his legs out for that.

But if she’s really free… could it be true?

As she gets up and uncertainly walks up to the main deck, she half expects to be stabbed in the back. It’s just too easy – but she can’t figure out why they would trick her like this when they could just tie stones to her feet and throw her overboard. It’s only when she sees Cassian waiting for her next to Captain Whitlock that the situation begins to dawn on her.

He’s saved her somehow. Of course he has.

For a wild second, she thinks he traded himself for her – he would be entirely capable of it, but where’s the profit in that for Whitlock? He has no grudge against Cassian, only against her, and she can’t see why he would accept such a deal unless he realized that Cassian’s death would be a greater punishment than her own.

But she’s not that transparent yet. She thinks.

She hopes.

Then Whitlock gives her a foul grimace that says he would still very much kill her if he could, and gestures, with some reluctance, towards the ramp leading to the harbor.

“Get out of my sight, Erso. And don’t fuck with me or my crew again, or even your captain won’t be able to save you next time.”

Jyn doesn’t say anything until they reach the shore safely, burning with a thousand questions. A part of her still expects them to be ambushed at the last minute, but Whitlock and his crew watch in silence as they walk off the ramp and disappear into the night. How Cassian managed to pull it off is beyond her, but if anyone could, it would be him.

When they’re an appropriate distance away, Jyn can’t hold herself back anymore. She stops and rounds on Cassian, eyes wide and demanding.

“What did you give him?” she asks because if she’s sure of one thing, it’s that Whitlock didn’t just let her go for free.

Cassian lets out a quiet sigh and shrugs. His eyes, glowing in the soft light of the moon, won’t quite meet hers. There’s something strange about him. Like he’s trying desperately to underplay it.

Which doesn’t bode well for them. Jyn’s heart lurches – what the hell did he do?

“I gave him my ship,” Cassian admits quietly. For a moment, Jyn hears nothing but the song of the cicadas as she tries to process this information.

“You gave him your ship?” she echoes, breathless and eyes wide.

“Yes,” he confirms, very even, very steady.

“Cassian,” she begins, her words slow as if she was talking to a child, “captains need a ship. We need a ship. Where are we going to get a new one? We don’t have that kind of money! What about the crew? Kay is going to kill you –”

“Jyn, he had you,” he cuts her off, his tone leaving no room for argument. As if that trumped everything else. Jyn blinks at him in shock, half delirious with – with –

“You’re crazy,” she breathes in awe. She can’t take her eyes off him. Nobody has ever…

Nobody has felt – nobody has done –

Nobody has made her feel like this before. Like she matters. Like she’s loved.

“You treated your ship for me?” she asks, half laughing, hardly daring to believe it.

Cassian shrugs again, but there’s a smile on his lips, a smile just for her. It’s small and kind and full of devotion.

“It’s just a ship. What kind of captain would I be if I let my first mate die?”

“You’re crazy,” she laughs again, and that same second, impulsively, springs forward to kiss him. It’s been a long time coming, she thinks as Cassian kisses her back without hesitation, his hands tangling in her hair. Two years of working together, two years of building a relationship that couldn’t be betrayed, couldn’t be replaced. Jyn doesn’t remember a time that his presence didn’t leave her breathless, that a soft comforting touch on her shoulder didn’t make her long for more. Maybe in those first few days, in the beginning – but quickly, very quickly, he became everything to her, and she could never go on without him.

It’s been a long time coming, yes. And now she’s going to enjoy it.

It doesn’t bring her peace.

She didn’t think it would. But she thought it would give her satisfaction, at least. Look, Krennic, I got your little treasure. Look, Papa, I finished what you started. Look, Cassian, I did this for you. For us.

But it’s just… underwhelming. She can’t even bring herself to sell it. It would be worth more than the rest of the treasure combined, but she stares at it in her cabin during the night and she can’t sell it.

What use is it? Nothing would bring them back, bring him back. The money she’d get from the goblet, it’d just feel tainted, wrong. Blood money.

Maybe she’s irrationally attached but who can blame her? Her father spent half his life looking for the damned thing until a storm swallowed his ship whole and he was never heard from again. His obsession with the goblet had killed him and Jyn had hated it then, hated it more than ever, but still, she’d become similarly obsessed. Just to prove something.

And then it brought her Cassian. It gave her something after it took so much. The years they spent looking for it together, that was her treasure.

And now that he’s gone, she can’t relinquish it. If she does, what else is left of them? Only her memories – and memories rot.

Jyn sighs under her breath, sitting at a corner table of an inn with Bodhi, drumming her fingers on the wood as she stares out of her head. What is she meant to do now?

Bodhi watches her in silence for several minutes and Jyn is distantly aware that he seems contemplative, but she’s too lost in her own head to question it. Eventually, he lifts a hand to still her fingers.

“Liana,” he begins, and Jyn’s eyes snap to his. Bodhi is a good man and she trusts him more than she trusts anyone else, but even he doesn’t know her real name. It’s just easier this way – Jyn Erso dropped off the face of the earth five years ago, and she had to stay gone. But she thinks Bodhi has always known it’s not her true name, and he doesn’t mind. “Have you noticed anything weird since?”

She rolls her eyes and begins drumming her fingers again. “Don’t start, Bodhi. I’m not haunted.”

“I’m just asking. You should really sell it.”

She knows why he’s saying that. The legends, of course. Whoever is in possession of the goblet will be dragged to hell by their dead loved ones. Well, she’s been the proud owner for a few days now and she’s seen no signs of ghosts and no signs of hellfire. But if any is yet to come, Jyn is sure it’ll be entertaining.

“I can’t.”

“Isn’t that why you wanted it?”

“Yes,” she says, then stops. “No.”

“I don’t understand you sometimes.”

Jyn snorts, looking away. “I don’t understand me sometimes.”

And that should be the end of it. Jyn with her goblet and her money and the lack of purpose in her life now.

But fate has a different plan for her. And maybe she is fucking haunted.

Because when her gaze sweeps over the tavern, she swears she sees a familiar face push through the crowd and disappear out into the night.

Jyn stares at the door for long a time, frozen in place, her heartbeat running wild in her chest. The white noise in her head blocks out everything else. She thinks Bodhi might be calling her name, asking if she’s okay, but she can’t answer, can’t even turn her head to look at him. She stands on trembling legs, her body carrying her towards the doors – and then she’s running, taking off in the direction that she saw him heading.

The streets are dark and deserted. Only the sound of waves and the singing of cicadas break the silence. She looks around wildly, looking for a retreating shadow in the night or perhaps the sound of footsteps nearby, but there’s nothing. Nothing but the wind and her loudly beating heart.

She couldn’t have… did she imagine it? Perhaps she had too much to drink, Bodhi stuffing her head with his nonsense, but she could have sworn…

Jyn shakes her head, trying to let the fresh air clear her hazy mind of these childish thoughts. Bodhi is panting behind her, calling her name, her fake name, and Jyn finally turns to look at him, seeing his wide eyes filled with worry.

“Are you okay?”

Jyn gives a sharp nod, trying to ignore the wild beating of her heart. Better not to plague Bodhi with her hallucinations, he’s worried enough about her as it is. No need to fuel the fire.

“Just thought I saw someone who owes me some money,” she lies, ignoring the skeptical look he gives her. “It’s not a big deal.”

It can’t be.

She would be very cross with Cassian if he was really here to drag her to hell.

Cassian’s fingers are soft on her cheek, stroking her skin, carding through her hair. Her own hand rests on his chest, feeling his heartbeat steady under her palm. They’ve been silent for minutes but she hasn’t stopped looking at him, couldn’t stop touching him. She’s never felt intimacy like this before. Like someone could look at you, see your soul, see all the darkness and pain that you hide inside, and still choose to stay. Still decide that you’re worth the trouble.

She’s naked in front of him in more ways than one and she’s never thought it would feel so wonderful. So freeing.

Cassian has taught her a lot more than just love.

“Did you think we’d end up here when we first met?” she wonders, her tone quiet, matching the tranquility between them. Cassian chuckles.

“I thought you’d kill me in my sleep one day.”

She scoffs at that. “You didn’t seem afraid.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Hmpf. So ready to throw yourself at death’s door. You know, I actually thought you might have traded yourself for me.”

“I would have,” he admits, honest as always. “If that’s what it took. But not unless there’s no other choice.” His eyes bore into hers, dark and deep and almost frightening in its intensity. Her heart beats a little faster at the sight. “I don’t want to leave you behind.”

She swallows. “Please don’t.”

Cassian strokes her cheek, a gentle smile on his lips.

“I love you.”

It’s not a promise but it’s enough. Jyn beams back at him.

“I love you too.”

Who cares about the stupid goblet as long as she has him?

Jyn wakes to the sound of music in the middle of the night. For a second, her mind is pleasantly blank, merely enjoying the soft melody filtering through the window of her room.

Then she thinks:

Cassian. Cassian used to play like that.

And then:

Cassian is gone.

Blinking herself awake, Jyn sits up in bed. Her eyes dart around the room she’s rented for the night but nothing seems amiss. Her hand hovers above the lantern on the nightstand but a strange irrational part of her doesn’t want to draw attention to herself. She blames Bodhi for that.

His words, and Cassian’s, ring in her mind.

It’s haunted.

You find it and it gives them back to you. But then they will drag you down to hell with them.

Thinking about the sighting of Cassian from earlier, she gets out of bed and ambles to the window. The curtains are drawn and her fingers hover above the fabric, hesitant, somehow, to withdraw them. She’s trembling.

Jyn takes a deep breath and pulls back the curtains.

Cassian sits on a bench on the street, his eyes trained on his banjo. Jyn gasps in shock and reels back from the window like she’s been burned. He seems… so real. Sitting there, his fingers flying over the instrument, playing some slow, sorrowful melody that tugs at her heartstrings. A song of lost love.

He’s come for her after all.

Frozen on the spot, her breathing harsh and gasping, all she can do is watch as he plays his banjo. He never takes off his eyes the instrument and he doesn’t seem to notice her. Her room is on the second floor so she has a perfect view of him sitting outside, illuminated by the moonlight, while she remains shrouded in the darkness of her room.

But if he’s come for her… surely, he knows she’s here.

Jyn’s legs give out, and she sits under her window, pressing herself tightly against the wall to just… listen. She listens to his song. Listens to the melody, haunting and beautiful, like he is himself. Every sound, every note pulls at her heartstrings. A song for the lost and the dead.

And Jyn sobs. For him and for herself, for her parents, for everyone she’s ever lost. She sobs, quiet and gasping, until she has no more tears left, lulled back to sleep on the floor by the melancholy tune that Cassian’s ghost is playing.

Cassian comes to her in a dream. It’s a familiar one; one she’s seen many times before, and one she will see many times more. He’s not dead and not alive – he’s a revenant and he’s hers, just for tonight, until dawn breaks and morning takes him away.

But he’s different this time. Sturdier, steadier. Buzzing with a kind of unquiet energy that she’s not used to. Like he’s waiting for something. Jyn doesn’t want to mention it, their stolen moments together too precious to tarnish, but it weighs her mind with questions.

When their time comes and he gets up and heads to the door, she reaches after him. She does this on every occasion, tries to convince him to stay, tries to forcibly, physically make him stay – but her words are different this time, her desperation becoming an inferno, and his response is a mystery.

“Cassian,” she calls out to him, struggling to sit up and catch his arm. He’s already at the doorway, between life and death, between her and the sea, looking back at her and hesitating. “Don’t go. How could I live in a world where you don’t?”

He takes a step through the door, where nothing but the empty awaits him and gives her the strangest of smiles. “It’s almost time, my love. Almost time.”

“I think I’m haunted,” Jyn admits to Bodhi the next day, and he gives her a hard look. She thinks it’s the tone of her voice, sad and defeated, that stops him from telling her “I told you so.”

“What happened?” he asks instead, and Jyn shrugs, eyes downcast, looking at the mug on the table, the tea untouched and growing cold.

“I saw… someone,” Jyn admits slowly, pausing before she adds, “Him.”

Bodhi never had the chance to know Cassian. She met him after Cassian was already… gone. He knows a little about him; she’s admitted to having a dead lover in her weaker drunken moments, but she’s never talked about him much. Jyn always has preferred to live in denial, and Bodhi knows better than to ask.

Still, she knows with the way she says it, the way she gives him a meaningful look, that he knows who she’s talking about.

“I think he’s come for me.” She pauses, a bitter laugh escaping her mouth. “It makes sense. The goblet always was our adventure. It’s how we met, you know.”

The look Bodhi gives her is a mix of pity and worry. Jyn is uncomfortable with both, even though she knows he means well. Luckily, he doesn’t try to say anything stupidly comforting like “I’m sorry” or “it’s all going to be okay” because he knows her better than that, and he knows she might punch him in the mouth for it.

Instead, he looks her in the eye and tells her, “You should really get rid of it, Li. Before it’s too late.”

Jyn nods. She knows he’s right.

But some part of her is not ready to let go yet.

It takes less than an hour for everything to change.

Jyn wakes up that day like usual in the captain’s cabin she now she shares with Cassian and goes to sleep that night in a holding cage of a navy ship, alone in the world once again.

Krennic has a personal grudge. And so does she. So naturally, she can’t resist the opportunity to raid his ship, steal his cargo, and leave him wounded and nursing a broken ego.

In hindsight, she should have killed him then. But she thought the humiliation would be a more suitable punishment.

Six months later, he comes back with a vengeance and a small navy fleet, blowing a hole through their ship with his cannonballs. They fight valiantly when his crew boards their slowly sinking ship, but it’s a lost cause – Jyn knows it’s a lost cause, Cassian knows it’s a lost cause, and Krennic, especially, knows it’s a lost cause. He seems very pleased with himself too, and Jyn would punch the smirk right off his stupid smug face if her hands weren’t bound behind her back by one of his henchmen.

“Well, well, well. Didn’t think I’d catch up to you, did you?” Orson Krennic asks, strutting in front of her like a peacock, hands clasped behind his back. Jyn spits in his face.

Krennic blinks once, twice, before he slowly wipes at his eyes with a headkerchief he produces from his breast pocket. The backhanded slap he gives her stings, sending her sprawling to the floor.

“You touch her again,” Cassian growls, straining against the guards holding him back, “and I’ll break every bone in your hand one by one.”

The glance Krennic gives him is dismissive, like Cassian isn’t even worth the time to look at. He gestures to the guards next to Jyn who haul her back to her feet. She stands proud, chin high, glaring at him even as her hands are tied behind her back. His ring has left a mark but she’ll be damned if she’ll let him humble her.

“Very feisty, aren’t you? I wonder if you’ll keep the same attitude once I have you locked away in Wobani for life.”

Jyn doesn’t react outwardly but her heart beats faster. Wobani is infamous for its cruelty and inhumane methods. Nobody leaves, not unless they’re dead. Only the worst of the worst, the most dangerous criminals end up there.

She supposes she belongs among them.

Another gesture from Krennic and the guards haul her towards the railing to transport her to Krennic’s ship. Stardust is slowly sinking and she knows it’s the least of her worries, as most of her crewmates lay dead at her feet, as Kay lays dead at her feet, but her heart aches at the sight. They’ve bought this ship together, Cassian and she, after he gave away his old one to Whitlock. It’s theirs. And it hurts to see it go down.

“What about him?” asks one of the guards holding Cassian.

“Leave him,” Krennic answers easily, a sick sort of smugness in his voice. “Let him go down with his ship, as all good captains do.”

“No!” Jyn shouts, struggling against her captors harder. She shouldn’t give away her weakness – she knows, she knows she shouldn’t give him ammunition – but Krennic has made up his mind anyway, so what difference does it make?

Too upset to think rationally, she begs him. “Don’t do this. He’s worth a lot more to you alive. He has a bounty on his head higher than mine.”

“I don’t need the money, you silly little girl,” he tells her, dismissive. “I just want you put away for good.”

“No!”

Jyn continues struggling as she’s dragged away, followed by Krennic and his guards. She watches the men holding Cassian tie him to the mainmast, making sure he can’t escape, before joining the rest of them. Krennic’s ship pulls farther away and Stardust sinks lower and lower into the ocean, but her gaze never leaves Cassian as long as she still sees him.

His eyes are regretful, apologetic. He looks resigned to his fate, a man who’s more concerned about leaving his lover behind than dying. Jyn knows he remembers their conversation in bed just as much as she does.

I don’t want to leave you behind.

Please don’t.

She watches until she can’t see him anymore, until he’s just a dot on a faraway slowly sinking ship. And Krennic, perhaps to drive the nail home, fires once again.

Stardust goes up in flames, pieces of wood scattering into the ocean, the mainmast falling with a loud splash. It takes a second and it’s all gone.

Jyn wails until she no longer has a voice. That night, a part of her too is gone.

She can’t bring herself to sell it so she settles for a compromise. She’s going to return it to the cave where it belongs, let some other poor clown find it if they can. It was never meant to be hers, never meant to be anyone’s, perhaps, but everyone has to learn from their own mistakes.

It should be fine, except the cave is gone. Which is ridiculous because she found it not even five days ago and it was here, she could have sworn the entrance was here, but somehow, she got lost or confused and disoriented, and the damn cave is gone. She dives underwater looking for the entrance several times, resurfacing periodically to catch her breath. All the while, the goblet weighs heavily in her hand, almost like –

It’s a stupid thought, but it’s almost like it’s trying to drag her down. Down into the deep where Cassian awaits her. And the more time that passes, the more she feels like this was a bad idea. She should have told Bodhi where she went, she should have brought him with her – she should just go back and sell the damn thing, but when she looks around, all she can see is water and water and more water. When did those dark clouds roll in? How could she have not noticed a storm approaching?

As soon as she realizes what’s happening, it’s like the sea comes alive around her. Jyn knows she’s in trouble. The waves toss her around like a ragdoll as she fights to stay above water. It keeps pulling her under, spraying saltwater in her eyes and mouth as she gasps for air and moves her limbs desperately to try and find land. She’s an excellent swimmer, but nobody can win against a storm.

She’s not sure how long she fights against the waves, but she’s getting exhausted. Her legs feel heavy, and it’s harder every time to push back to the surface when she goes under. The goblet weighs her down – distantly, she realizes she’s still holding it but she can’t make her fingers let go. Her strength is fading and still, her fingers remain locked tightly around its hilt like they have been welded together.

Then she hears it. Jyn! A voice calling her name, loud and desperate, a voice that sounds like…

Cassian. He finally called out to her.

She sees him in the distance before she goes under, blurry like a mirage. She knows why he’s here. It’d be so easy to join him, she realizes as the water engulfs her again. So easy to let go. Maybe it’s time, she thinks, and her fingers finally loosen around the goblet.

I’m coming, my love.

And just as she’s about to sink down into the deep, a hand seizes hers and drags her up, above the surface where she gasps and takes in large gulping breaths, coughing up water from her throat. Her lungs burn and her head feels dizzy, her vision blurry and darkening. But she can still make out Cassian’s face above her, staring at her with what seems like worry and relief at the same time.

“Are you here to take me with you?” she breathes, half resigned to her fate. She doesn’t hear his answer, if there is one, and she falls under with the comfort that at least her last moments were spent in the embrace of Cassian.

Jyn spends four months at Wobani before she and a couple of inmates manage to escape during a riot. The news spread quickly, causing unrest across every island from there to Havana. Nobody escapes Wobani, but they do and that doesn’t sit right with anyone. The people are scared, the authorities under pressure; there’s a massive search on every port across the Caribbean Sea. It means Jyn Erso must disappear. For good.

She takes on the name of Kestrel Dawn and returns to the place where she’s last seen Cassian alive. It’s the only thing she can think to do – he’s gone, Stardust is gone, Kay is gone, and the only person left alive who knows that a man named Cassian Andor once existed is her. It’s not enough, but as she stands on the beach at sunrise and places a bouquet of wildflowers on the water, she feels it counts for something.

It’s there, somewhere in the sea, that he lies at the bottom, waiting for her. As she looks out at the never-ending body of water, she feels a calm wash over her. He’s one with the sea now, everywhere, all around her, always with her.

The waves lap at her bare feet, the tide rising higher and more insistent. She feels like it’s trying to tell her something, trying to call her home.

She smiles, taking a deep breath. “Not yet, my love. Not yet.”

Jyn wakes up in her cabin and for a moment, all is normal. It takes a second to remember the storm, her losing battle against the waves, and… Cassian.

She sits up slowly, and Bodhi is suddenly by her side, pulling the blanket higher up her body like a worried mother hen.

“Thank god you’re awake! How are you feeling? You gave us quite the scare, Li,” he says all in one breath, and barely stops before adding. “Why didn’t you tell me where you were going?”

“I…” She squints, still a bit disoriented, staring off into space as memories slowly trickle in. She turns her head towards Bodhi, a realization sitting on her tongue. “I think he saved me.” Tears fill her eyes, too emotional to hide them. “He wasn’t here to take me with him, he was here to save me.”

She believed the legends, she’d given into thinking that he was here to drag her down. Appropriate revenge for a man who had been sacrificed like that for no good reason at all.

But that wasn’t Cassian, it couldn’t be. He’d never harm her, and he didn’t – not even in death. He wasn’t her grim reaper, he was her guardian angel.

“Liana,” Bodhi begins slowly, then awkwardly trails off. She can tell he’s not quite sure how to say what he wants to say.

“What?”

“I did save you,” says a voice from the doorway, and she knows who it belongs to even before she turns her head. Heartbeat in her throat, she lifts her head towards him, slowly, half-afraid that she’s not going to find anyone standing there.

But there he is. Leaning against the doorframe in all his glory, brown leather pants, and a loosely tied white shirt hanging from his frame, dark strands of hair curling against his neck. It’s longer than in her memories, and he’s thinner, too – too thin.

But he doesn’t seem so ghostly in the daylight, with the sun behind his back, and Bodhi looking at him too. He seems quite real, in fact. A gasp is stuck in her throat, her mouth dry at the sight of him. How is it possible…

When her gaze finally meets his, he seems just as shaken, awed, disbelieving. Jyn sits up fully, unable to look away as she methodically moves her legs off the bed. His eyes are misty and his hands are trembling a bit – but god, the way he looks at her… it’s the look of a man finding shelter in the middle of a storm.

He used to look at her like that in their private moments – when he was inside her, when they were in bed basking in the afterglow, when she cut down enemies with a single swipe of her sword before he even lifted his pistol.

It’s that look, more than anything, that convinces her this is real.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” she says at last, the only thing she can think to say. How are you not dead? Where were you?

“I’ll leave you two be,” Bodhi says. Shamefully, she’s forgotten he’s even in the room. He squeezes her shoulder in comfort before he goes, and she watches him give Cassian a small but encouraging smile as he passes him.

Once he’s gone, Cassian clears his throat. His gaze finally drops, the loss of its intensity making her chest tighten.

“I did save you,” he repeats, his voice rough with emotion. “I saw someone in the water. I didn’t realize it was you until… I was looking for the goblet.”

“I don’t understand,” Jyn gasps, shocked at how high her own voice sounds. She can’t swallow around the ball lodged in her throat.

“I’m not a ghost. I’m not dead, I never was.”

He still hasn’t moved from the doorway, almost like he’s too afraid to come closer. Jyn’s hand tightens around the bed frame.

“I saw the ship sink.”

“It did. And I almost drowned,” Cassian admits, his voice strained. The small laugh he lets out is humorless. “I don’t know how I survived, I really don’t. I guess I was just lucky that those idiots didn’t tie my hands well enough and I was able to break free before the last cannon hit the ship. I don’t remember much after that. I grabbed a plank floating in the water, just trying to hold on. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever make it to land, I must have been out there for days. I was trying so hard not to give up… for you. I had to make it back to you. But I was getting so tired. Eventually, I just…”

He shrugs, a small defeated gesture. His eyes drop to the floor, his shoulders hunched. He looks guilty, ashamed, and Jyn wants to get up, gather him in her arms and never let go, but she has to hear the rest of his story.

“I was washed ashore the next day, barely alive. It was a small remote island, no cities, no villages, no ships. No one lived there. I had no way back home. I was stranded there... for five years.”

He lifts his head up, and the despair she finds in his eyes almost has her doubling over.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again,” he admits, small and heart-wrenching. Jyn closes her eyes, letting her tears run down her face and onto her lap.

“And then?” she croaks, her voice trembling.

“A merchant ship came by about three months ago. They took me back, brought me to Havana. I tried to look for you. I heard you escaped Wobani, but I couldn’t… well, there were no more mentions of Jyn Erso after that. No word of you for five years. I figured you had gone into hiding but I didn’t know how to find you. All I could think to do was… find the goblet.”

A sad smile plays on his lips, his eyes glassy.

“But you found it first. And I found you.”

Jyn takes in a shuddering breath, her whole body trembling.

“It’s gone. I think I let go of it in the water.”

“Good,” he breathes. His eyes find hers again, looking for a sign, an answer. When Jyn gives it to him, inclining her head just so, he cuts across the room in long strides and kneels in front of her. His tear-stained cheeks now match hers.

Tentatively, he takes hold of her hands, and a small desperate sound escapes her mouth at the touch. Her eyes flutter shut when his other hand reaches up to cup her cheek, trembling as she presses her face against his palm.

“Jyn,” he begins, voice hoarse. She can hear the fear in his tone. “Do you still…”

“I do,” she breathes without opening her eyes, without waiting to hear his question. “I do still. I do.”

She tugs on his hand to pull him up, and he goes willingly, his mouth finding hers like it was five years ago and they hadn’t been broken by the world and its cruelty yet. She clings to him desperately, clutching at the collar of his shirt, fingers slipping into his hair, trying to pull him closer as much as she can. The only thing that matters is that every part of her is touching every part of him.

She breaks away, the sound on her lips a strange mix between a laugh and a sob. His lips find her forehead instead and she buries her face in his chest, tears still in her eyes, but listening to his heartbeat steady under her hand.

There’s so much to talk about. So much to catch up on. It feels like a fever dream – she’s afraid to wake up and realize it hadn’t been real. But Cassian holds her tighter, and she knows that in his arms, nothing can hurt her.

They’re finally home.

#rebelcaptain #therebelcaptainnetwork #dailyrebelcaptain #my fics #pirate au #anonymous #replies

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theparanormalperiodical · 4 years

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The 13 Scariest Paranormal Investigation TV Show Episodes You Need To Watch - And The Links To Watch Them For Free!

As a paranormal blogger, I’m used to fangirling with other occult-obsessives about anything that’s spooky.

It could be a scary movie. It could be a ghost they’ve seen first hand. It could even be an urban legend that frightened them to their very core! Either way, they always have a turning point in their life that pushed them towards the paranormal.

My epiphany was different.

Sure, I’ve always had this constant connection with otherworldly spirits - but it was developed by one thing: paranormal documentary TV shows.

Most Haunted, Ghost Adventures, Celebrity Ghost Stories…

Each and every one made me want to be there with them!

I wanted to wander ‘round castles for a living. I wanted to read ghost stories everyday and explore the history behind them. I wanted to connect the dots and explore a new, hidden world.

It’s for that reason that I’ve decided to share my love for these shows with you, dear reader.

I’ve brought together the best episodes from Most Haunted, Ghost Adventures, Paranormal Lockdown, Celebrity Ghost Stories, Ghost Hunters and Paranormal Witness, explained the ghost stories that are the centre of the episodes, and have even provided links (and the terrifying timestamps) to the episodes.

All you’ve got to do is press play!

Oh, and leave a comment on which one traumatised you the most…

Now, let’s get spooky.

#1 - The Dorothy Puente Murder House - Ghost Adventures (S12, E3)

Ghosts give me the heebeejeebies. Demons make me want to hide under my quilt and cry to a Sigrid song. But it’s stories of entrapment that really fuck me up.

This is one of those stories.

Dorothy Puente was a landlady who ran a boarding house in California for elderly and mentally disabled residents. Don’t be fooled by her charitable exterior, though - what was happening inside the boarding house was a very different story.

Puente was a serial killer who committed 9 murders - a number which is still disputed to this day - throughout the 1980s, and then cashed their social security checks.

Whilst there are a number of details to this case, I thought I’d leave that to be discovered during the episode.

Nevertheless, I thought I’d wet your appetite with some seriously traumatising tales:

In 1985, she hired someone to do wood panelling in her apartment. Not only did she give him an old pickup truck that I assume contained traces of evidence of her crimes, she asked him to build a 6-by-3-by-2 foot box. In non-maths terms, that’s the dimensions of a coffin.

Claiming it was full of books and other small items for disposal, she journeyed with him to a local dump to dispose of these, uh, books, and stopped him before they reached the local area to dump the waste.

She directed him to instead drop it into a river cause that’s not suspicious at all.

But suspicions were roused when she began repeatedly hiring a local homeless man to do certain tasks like digging the basement and removing soil from it, or putting concrete in the garage. It was when he disappeared that the pieces began to connect together.

Given the dark details behind the case, when Zak Bagans and his squad rocked up, they were on the receiving end some of the most striking paranormal activity they had ever witnessed:

Featuring EVPs crammed full of aggressive growls and demands for them to “Get out!”, or Ovilus Voices spewing words eerily similar to the murders and how the bodies were disposed of, this investigation stays true to what happened there.

But outside of the equipment used, the physical effects on the investigators was incredible!

One medium felt a choking sensation believed to channel the feelings of victims being force fed sleeping pills and then left to die in the Death Room. And the other? She drew a picture uncomfortably similar to a spirit seen by a tenant of the house - the spirit of Dorothy Puente.

The other physical contact experienced includes pain felt in Zak’s lower back, as well as Zak entering this trance like state from which he fell off the bed!

Here’s the episode:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x55gpad

Want to seem some spooks, like, right now?

09.10 - an EVP with Peggy, the resident who sees Puente’s spirit frequently.

13.10 - a medium begins to sense spirits and experiences some shocking effects.

17.30 - a medium produces pictures of the spirit she senses.

25.20 - EVPs in the backyard - where the bodies were buried - answer some of the questions that still go unanswered.

30.20 - Zak Bagans begins to exhibit extremely peculiar behaviour.

#2 - Idaho State Tuberculosis Hospital - Ghost Adventures (S18, E10)

Whispers, children and angry old men.

No, it’s not the title of Fall Out Boy’s latest album - it’s just a few of the current inhabitants of The Gooding Inn.

Once a TB hospital that was shut down in 1976, this building has witnessed its patients literally choke and drown in their own blood as their lungs fill up.

But what’s seriously scary about this episode is the effects on the most recent residents of the inn:

Not only was the housekeeper clearly upset about her encounter with an angry male ghost, she clearly feels the negative energy such spirits embody.

But it's when the current resident is interviewed that the reality of this location is realised. Two of her children had died whilst living in the former hospital, forging a strange link that is explored in the episode.

Yet before I spoil the whole show, here’s a taste of what’s to come:

A playful child spirit and a woman with a child make their own appearances, as well as the strange tale - and even stranger spirit - of Anton Beaver.

Ready to watch?

Here’s the episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdCxNtshvhg

Looking for a quick fear fix?

These are the timestamps of note:

05.25 - Zak Bagans starts the show with the housekeeper’s own tale of the hauntings she’s witnessed.

10.00 - One woman recounts the potential impact of the hauntings on her family.

12.15 - a paranormal investigator brings his own footage and experience of activity in a passage from which gurneys and wheelchairs would bring in the patients

16.00 - Zak Bagans researches those who died there - and creates a sudden shockwave of paranormal activity across the building.

21.50 - a weird non-human noise is heard when a dark shadow appears.

32.00 - pranks set by a spirit of a former child patient begin to haunt the team.

#3 - 30 East Drive - Most Haunted (S18, E1 Halloween Special)

Take a look around my blog - no, seriously, look at what I write about: old manors, haunted abbeys, demonic forests… They all seem to stand out. And I think that’s what makes this tale - and this episode - quite so scary.

Welcome to 30 East Drive, a council house nestled in Yorkshire, England.

It started in 1966. The Prichtard family had just moved into a new home when they started to notice rather peculiar occurrences:

A fine layer of dust fell on everything in the house, puddles would appear from nowhere, even if one was cleaned up, the tea dispenser would go off randomly, and items would levitate!

Given the evident paranormal resident, clergymen were called to exorcise the house.

They were not successful. Holy water would leak out of the walls, ghostly hands would appear and ‘conduct’ the hymns being said to remove him, faces were slapped and people were pushed. Despite the rather playful poltergeist at first, this spirit slowly became more aggressive:

The daughter, Diane, began to find scrapes and bruises appear on her body, and was even dragged up the stairs by her hair! It was eventually deduced that this could be the spirit of a Monk whose body was discarded down the well that the house now sits on. Why was he thrown down a well?

Because he - or perhaps his twin brother - raped and murdered a young girl.

And as he is often seen wearing black robes, the house was given labelled the Black Monk House. Fancy a watch? You’ll be spoiled for choice then - Paranormal Lockdown also had a stay in the house.

Here’s the Most Haunted Episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO3EeYBGNuo

“But, spookyllama, where are the timestamps?”

I couldn’t find any timestamps of note because the activity in this episode is constant!

Within the first 1 and a half minutes, a marble is thrown, echoing one of the most common hauntings in this house. Knives were also found sticking out of sofas, as was a crucifix jumping off the bed.

#4 - The Wentworth Woodhouse - Most Haunted (S17, E6)

Our next episode also features a ghostly monk, but this time we see activity beyond marbles being chucked at cameramen. Indeed, this episode is just as iconic as the former - this is due to the controversy surrounding the evidence captured in this video.

One of the most famous hauntings of the Wentworth Woodhouse is the first earl of the house walking down the main stairs of the house. Only he’s headless. And they claimed to capture this footage:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/most-haunted-team-finally-catch-12417869

This footage only taps into one component of the paranormal activity seen in this house, however.

This house has seen centuries worth of aristocratic family feuds, deaths and drama which still roam its halls. Whether its footsteps, ghostly laughter or opera singing, it seems all past residents never actually left.

Yet aside from the earl taking a nightly stroll, the scariest spirit has to be a ghost that stands still during his hauntings, leading many people to think he’s a statue.

Specifically, the most haunted locations - aside from the library - are the George VI quarters. With shadows tracing the walls and dark figures standing in the doorways, the Most Haunted team were certainly not alone.

You can see the episode here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdTnJC4cO54

Want a speedy scare?

28.00 - a door rattles and sounds as if its being opened, only its not - it’s locked and there’s no handle.

30.00 - The team hears a whistle, so they whistle back. What happens next is mind-blowing…

50.00 - The crew hears a couple of footsteps follow them around a part of the house.

#5 - The Washoe Club - Ghost Adventures (S16, E7)

The Ghost Adventures team might have investigated this wild-west location 3 times, but it gets no less spooky as time goes on. The oldest saloon there, The Millionaires’ Club, is the centre of the activity as a former exclusive saloon for rich businessmen.

Upon Zak Bagans and his team’s final return, they are reduced to tears by the activity witnessed.

This activity includes the spirit of a prostitute who committed suicide in room 77, a full-bodied apparition in the ballroom, a brick thrown in the basement and a women, Lena, haunting the staircase.

The episodes in particular have also captured EVPs saying their names: “Zak, look out”, and "Nick, Zak, coming..., they're scaring me".

Ready for a trip to the Wild West?

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqhyh6

#6 - Hinsdale House - Paranormal Lockdown (S1, E5)

If you thought these buildings were scary, wait ‘til you hear about the Hinsdale House. Question is, what separates it from the other contenders?

This is a demonic haunting.

Considered this generation’s Amityville, the whole property exhibits signs of activity an exorcism couldn't rid it of: mysterious phone calls, chanting from nearby woods, animal hybrids and full bodied apparitions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this house.

Lucky for us, the Paranormal Lockdown team spent 72 hours here, investigating the hauntings both during the day and night.

Within the first 7 minutes of filming, an abundance of flies fills the house, not unlike horror films that trace the stories behind houses just like this. The following emotional impact on Nick further forges a link to the supernatural.

Featuring choking, consistent EVP’s saying Nick’s name and even Lorraine Warren on the blower telling them to get out of the house, negative energy is an understatement for this house.

You can watch it here:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6tujvf

Head to 25.00 if you want to see their investigation of the forest - including the Gregorian chanting that is claimed to still echo on this former Native American burial ground.

28.00 - when Katrina asks spirits to go to Nick and show their presence when he’s in a different room, the spirits follow orders.

Unfortunately, the spooks don’t end when the credits roll:

Nick claims spirits from this house followed him home and told him to go to a little house tucked away in England.

And that house was 30 East Drive.

#7 - 30 East Drive - Paranormal Lockdown (S2, Halloween Special)

So, we know Most Haunted’s verdict of the Black Monk House - what about Nick and Katrina’s?

Having spent 100 hours there - one of the longest amounts of time they’ve been in lockdown for - they witness apparitions, marbles flying across the house, a scar appears on Katrina’s stomach, and even a murder attempt by the spirit.

That’s right - a Grandfather clock is pushed over, nearly killing Nick!

You can watch that happen here:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6azzx0

#8 - The St. Augustine Lighthouse - Ghost Adventures (S2, E19)

Haunted locations aren’t just famed for paranormal fanatics like me rocking up.

It’s the history which matters.

And this haunted lighthouse is celebrated for its history with its own museum denoting the things it was witnessed as a part of America’s Oldest Port. And with multiple people living and dying on the property, the subsequent variety of activity is what sets this lighthouse apart from, well, non-haunted lighthouses!

But it's that history repeating itself that makes this one of the scariest episodes included on this list: a woman in white roams both the nearby forest and the top levels of the lighthouse, a man walking in uniform wanders round the basement, and spirits make use of the famous staircase that fills this building.

Have I piqued your interest? You can satisfy your supernatural needs here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHsNtvT8uHU

Check out the walk through of the lighthouse and description of the main activity at 05.30.

19.45 - you can hear the chattering of multiple spirits on the staircase - and you might even see someone - or something - walking down it, too.

24.00 - this is the most incredible evidence they’ve ever captured - trust me.

#9 - The Stanley Hotel - Ghost Hunters (S2, E22)

Famous for inspiring the Stephen King classic, The Shining, this hotel is infamous for its real life haunted history. First opened in 1909, the 420 rooms - including an underground cave system - hold many ghosts who still make regular appearances.

Room 217 for example, once belonged to a housekeeper. Often visitors to this room notice their luggage is unpacked, items moving, or the lights flickering. Oh, and she’s not a fan of couples sleeping together in the same room, either!

After that, why not visit the Concert Hall? Haunted by a spirit who was once believed to be an usher, you may hear a voice telling you to leave, a nudge, or even see flashes of light of his torch.

You might even hear the giggle of a child echoing down from the attic, a former nursery.

Question is, why is it quite so haunted? There’s 2 claims behind this: the crystals in the cave system below the hotel channel the energy, and the staircase is a vortex for ghosts, allowing them to come and go as they please.

Ready to see what happened?

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ekji3

#10 - The Rain Man - Paranormal Witness (S1, E6)

Ghosts and spirits, demons and death; all the episodes mentioned in this post stick to relatively confined notions of the spiritualistic and pagan religions. However, this episode takes us further than I ever expected.

Paranormal Witness is a show - a bit like Celebrity Ghost Stories - where paranormal stories get retold and acted out.

And this episode follows a young man, Don, who becomes possessed by his abusive grandfather. Having displayed the typical signs of possession, he then began to have strange encounters with water.

Water began to seep from the walls, and then from the ceiling. But this wasn’t water - when someone touched it, it felt sticky.

It was only when Don was stuck in a trance, that water began to go upwards, towards the ceiling, and pots and pan began to rattle.

When religious rituals were used to cleanse Don, the water was directed towards the bible and person performing the cleansing.

This was only the start of Don’s new powers. And they were to intensify during his final stint in prison.

Hungry for more? Check out the full episode here:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hvjvg

#11 - The Haunted Highway - Paranormal Witness (S1, E2)

Like I said: Paranormal Witness doesn’t stick to the typical hauntings we see. And this episode involves a UFO.

This story - without spoiling the episode - revolves around a mother and son who go missing in the desert. With a relative’s strange dreams pointing her to where they might be and a medical mystery twisting the tale, all that is left is one question:

What really happened in the desert?

You can watch this episode on Amazon for £1.89.

#12 - Celebrity Ghost Stories (S1, E9)

This episode featuring Morgan Fairchild, Lili Taylor, John Salley and Vincent Curatol is considered one of the scariest episodes of this popular episodes from which paranormal experience are acted out.

Here’s the synopsis to tickle your tastebuds of terror:

“A young Morgan Fairchild is abused by a spirit when she moves into her new husband's family home; an unidentifiable stranger comes to John Salley's aid during a nightclub shooting; Lili Taylor hears unexplained noises when she goes on retreat.”

You can watch this episode on Amazon for £1.89.

#13 - Pendle Hill - Most Haunted (S6, Halloween Special)

Pendle Hill might feature as a hiking opportunity in the Pennines, but it actually has a history - and a haunting - to boot.

Back in the early 17th century, a family of peasants were believed to possess a variety of paranormal powers. And the effigies they made of human hair and teeth didn’t make them appear any less suspicious, either!

The Pendle Witches, as they were known, were arrested, tried and then hung on Pendle Hill.

The witches never left the hill, however.

Not only did the neighbours of the Pendle Witches experience and die from mysterious illnesses, to this day supernatural activity has stuck close to this location.

Teeth have dropped onto tables during seances, and unnaturally frequent rainfall on the hill is a common occurrence.

So, what did the Most Haunted team see when they visited the site?

Acorah was apparently possessed by a witch, and a table and a glass smashed during the seance. Oh, and the whole cast and crew felt as if they were being strangled at certain points during filming.

Were they experiencing the final moments of the Pendle Witches as they were executed for their crimes?

You can check that episode out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu7yRqoLxLc

Or, you can have a speedy spook, instead!

30.00 - the equipment batteries drain, a classic indicator of paranormal presences.

32.00 - Acorah begins his readings of the area, and clearly becomes quite emotional and intense when describing the spirits he sees and hears.

45.00 - Acorah exhibits strange behaviour, and is on the receiving end of harmful spirits.

59.40 - Acorah sees a spirit - or perhaps an otherworldly being.

01.48.00 - the team perform the seance.

Now it’s time to hear what you think.

Which episode are you watching tonight?

And did I miss any seriously-spooktastic episodes out?

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lhs3020b · 3 years

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The Wooden Spaceships, by Bob Shaw

The Wooden Spaceships is the sequel to the first Land/Overland novel, The Ragged Astronauts. It's set about a generation after the ptertha-driven migration from Land; civilisation on Overland is at least stable now, if not entirely-comfortable. Unfortunately "comfortable" isn't what Toller Maraquine is looking for in his older years. Apaprently he hasn't learned any lessons about getting what you wished for, because bad news arrives on Overland in the form of an airship from Land! That's right, apparently there are survivors on Land, and they're not very happy with their neighbours.

My thoughts are under the cut...

TWS is a bit of an odd book. It's really two main stories, somewhat awkwardly joined together. There's the plot with the attempted invasion by the New Men - briefly, the children of people who proved to be unusually-resistant to pterthacosis, who apparently are either immune or are tolerant enough to the disease that they've managed to live to adulthood. The New Men, sadly, have learnt nothing from their parents' folly and may actually be worse people; their survival seems to have convinced them that they represent a sort of superman who are destined to rule the universe. I suppose a more-sympathetic interpretation might be that they're the products of a collectively-traumatised society, and are dealing with said trauma by projecting all their negative feelings onto imagined enemies on Overland. That said, regardless of interpretation, their actions are not sympathetic and King Rassamarden is clearly a psychotic nutjob.

Also, it's worth noting that they are the New _Men_. While presumably New Women must exist, we never see any. This was an interesting ellision given that TWS is generally a step up relative to TRA for gender stuff. TWS is still quite bad, don't get me wrong, but there has been some improvement. Berise is a plot-relevant female character who actually gets to do stuff, the Kolcorronian king's key adviser is actually his wife Queen Dasseene and there has been some progress on the social front. The Air Corps has been opened to female applicants and it's implied that society as a whole has got a bit more equal. (That said, let's not go too far with this - this is still a society where an aristocrat can have innocent people executed on a whim, as we see with the Sergeant Gnapperl subplot, so Overland has a long way to go before it could be described as a genuinely-civilised society. It may have got a bit more egalitarian one way, but it's still a monarchical despotism ruled by the threat and fear of absolute force.)

Toller, of course, ends up involving himself neck-deep in the war with the New Men. This has the effect of cratering his marriage to Gessalla. In what is genuinely a moment of awesome from her, she tells him that while she's glad he's still alive, she's had quite enough of spending every day wondering whether today is the day she's going to have to bury her idiot husband's corpse. It's stressful and unpleasant, she's lost quite enough in her life already (literally including her homeworld!) and if he can't settle down and sort himself out, then they're through.

Toller, of course, can't deal with this. His marriage thus collapses, and that leads us onto the second part of the novel.

Incidentally, before we get to that, allow me one small tangent. We're halfway through the trilogy, and Toller has entirely forgotten his previous wife. After she disappears halfway through TRA he just - forgets? un-persons? has selective amnesia? goes into denial? refuses to take any responsibility for his own actions? - her entire existence. Toller, you were MARRIED to this woman! Seriously, what a cad! We never find out anything about what happened to Fera at any point in the series. Even in the third novel when a return to Land happens and Shaw could have tied the plot-thread off, but we get nothing.

(Since we never find a body, I've decided to invoke headcanon. Like Toller's father, Fera was one of the rare people who are entirely-immune to pterthacosis. As such she actually survived the implosion of Ro-Atabri and the end of civilisation on Land. After some confusion she eventually moved into an abandoned princeling's palace and has been living out her days in comfortable luxury; she spends her time either walking by the river or reading books - a hobby she recently developed - and occasionally she has been known to take lunch with some of the more pro-social New Men, so she's not entirely without society either. She mostly keeps away from them, having made a reasonable judgement of their character, but that said the odd social do can be refreshing. All considered it's not the worst situation she could have ended up in, and she's certainly managed better than virtually everyone else in Kolcorron. When the Overland exiles' return to the planet happens in "The Fugitive Worlds", Fera - still alive, though an old woman by then - sees the balloons and discovers that she simply has nothing to say to the people who abandoned her to her fate 50 years earlier. As such she decides to avoid them during their visit. In the abstract she supposes that it's nice that society has survived over on Overland, but really, neo-Kolcorron's antics are just Not Her Problem Anymore, so why even bother?)

The second part of the novel concerns a group of Overlander colonists who have recently arrived in a remote area of the planet, newly-opened to settlement. (One oddity of the novel is that for a planet whose population still must be less than a quarter of a million, nonetheless people are spread quite widely across Overland.) The area they've arrived in is fertile, has a pleasant climate and even pre-existing houses, built then abandoned by the last group of prospective colonists. You see, unfortunately, it appears to be haunted.

Bartan Drumme, the semi-leader of the group, is mainly there because he's trying to court his would-be bride Sondeweere. Amusingly, Sondeweere has his number and is quite-blatantly stringing him along, mainly to annoy her domineering uncle. Bartan is of course entirely-blind to this - honestly, Land and Overlander men all seem to run at a permanent +10 to Oblivious - and the "romance" proceeds in exactly the dysfunctional manner that you might imagine. Unfortunately, what would have been an amusingly-cringy romantic dark comedy gets interrupted when the new arrivals in the Egg Basket region start falling ill. Bad dreams, disturbed moods, sleepwalking, full-on psychotic breakdowns - all is not well in the Egg Basket. It quickly becomes apparent that the region is being influenced by some sort of external force. The sensible people leave; the less sensible people cling on and meet with various misfortunes.

(If there is one moral to the Land/Overland trilogy, it seems to be "if you see any hints of trouble, pack your bags and leave NOW, because things will only get worse, and don't expect the government to do anything even minimally-useful".)

Anyway things go from bad to worse, the Egg Basket's mini-society essentially collapses, and then Sondeweere gets abducted by aliens.

Yes, you did read that right. A spaceship turns up and hoovers her up. In context it's not quite as random as it sounds, but it is still quite random.

Anyway this leads Bartan to a decision that he wants to retrieve her from Farland, the third planet in the Land/Overland system. He teams up with Toller, who is now deep into the rebound stage following the implosion of his marriage. Along with Berise and some other acquaintances of Toller's, they construct a spacecraft capable of travelling outside of Land/Overland's mutual atmosphere and set off for Farland. Technically they're under commission from the King; honestly, I got the sense that the King and Queen have simply had enough of Toller's antics, and see this as a convenient way of getting rid of him.

Then reality ensues and they almost die, because nobody on the ship knows anything like as much about either outer space or basic Newtonian physics as they think they do. In fact it turns out no-one has any grasp about continuous acceleration, and they've been running a continuous halvell/pikon thruster-burn for entire days (somehow without running out of fuel, either - apparently the specific impulse on the pikon/halvell reaction is something insanely high?). By the time Sondeweere becomes aware of the ship's situation, it's running at over 100,000 miles per hour and is barely days away from reenacting the Chixculuub meteor on Farland.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention - Sondeweere was abducted because her nervous system had become host to an alien parasite (the same one that was causing mass psychosis in the Egg Basket) and she now has superhuman intelligence and telepathic powers. And also, a far better grasp of modern physics than anyone aboard the titular wooden spaceship from Overland. Fortunately, Sondeweere is able to take charge of the situation and arranges something close-ish to a soft landing on Farland - the crew don't enjoy the experience, but they get to walk away from it, and that's about as good as it gets in aerospace incidents!

Anyway my review here is a bit forced, but that's because the last 40% of the novel also feels a bit forced. The pacing is off and the narrative makes some rapid jumps. Honestly TWS's problem is that it's actually not one novel but rather two separate novellas that have been welded together in a particularly-awkward manner. A lot of things aren't really followed up or tied off properly. The fact that Farland is inhabitable and also inhabited turns up quite late in the book and is dealt with in what I felt to be a bit of an unsatisfactory manner. I was also intrigued to find out that all three planets orbit within 42 million miles of their sun. Apparently the star must be some sort of K dwarf, I guess - no, in fact it may well even be a brighter M dwarf, because this is roughly the orbital radius of Mercury! This is odd because the sunlight is never described as being pink-ish. The only thing I can think of is that maybe nuclear fusion also behaves differently in Land/Overland-verse? Perhaps not only is Pi equal to 3 but perhaps smaller stars are hotter and brighter than they would be here? Or maybe everyone's so used to the pink sunlight that no-one thinks to remark on it at any point?

(Canonically they do fuse - in fact Sondeweere actually has a go at explaining nuclear fusion to Bartan and the others at one point, which was thoughtful of her, though sadly the Overlander males remain as obtuse as ever so the effort may have been wasted.)

Anyway overall, I think this book suffers from a bad case of "mid-trilogy syndrome". I'm glad that female characters are handled better here, and I was cheering for Gessalla when she told Toller to fuck off. The extra expansions to the universe were interesting, and it was also interesting to see the gradual consolidation of colonial life on Overland. Madcap as it was, the interplanetary voyage to Farland did have some "big-picture" excitement too. That said, however, the books minuses were continued dropped plot-threads from the previous novel, unevenness in pacing and perhaps also just having too many ideas in a small package.

#Bob Shaw #The Wooden Spaceships #Books 2021 #LHS reads

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mythriteshah · 3 years

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Sleepover with the Angels

Thiji’s Angels: the ever-dependable and trustworthy entourage of the Mythrite Sultan’s retinue. These maidservants work tirelessly to maintain the integrity of the Regalia whenever their master is away or otherwise indisposed. And on occasion, they conduct numerous operations and campaigns across the globe to deal with whatever threats may surface. Delicate yet deadly, the Angels are the shining example of power and beauty – both of which they have in spades.

But whatever goes on through an Angel’s day, when they are not upholding the good name of the Higuri Regalia? What activities await them when they are off-duty? The answer one would find one day when Miss Kaori, one of the newest Angels to join the team, came upon a missive enveloped in an aroma unfamiliar to her. She gave it to the Head Secretary of the Othard Branch – Yuanji Yuji – who immediately discerned the scent:

“Frankincense. This is from Miss Susuna,” she deducted. Immediately after opening the letter to read its contents aloud, Yuanji and the others quickly gathered whatever they could within the next bell and made their way to the Shirogane docks, where the Mythril Wavetraders were anchored. Their sisters from the Aldenard Branch had arrived as well, and their own personal effects and belongings were packed with the rest of the cargo. Apparently they were already making their way to Hingashi to pick them up long before the message found its way to their mailbox! Head Secretary Sesena hurriedly brought the others on board and ordered the merchant fleet to set sail for Thavnair.

About a half-bell before sunset, and everyone had arrived at Radz-at-Han, where they unloaded and transported the cargo over towards the Main Branch Headquarters. There, a familiar face was awaiting them at the courtyard.

“Shiro!!” the Angels gasped. This was Shiro Reina, their double agent downrange working for the Lion Order. She gave them a wink and took a large sip from the bowl of sake she delicately balanced on her hand.

“ようこそみなさん;点灯しています,” she uttered in her native tongue.

“Uh, care to translate, Miss Kaori?” asked Shishira.

“Shiro-San said, ‘Welcome, everyone. It’s lit.’”

The Angels cheered and followed Shiro inside, where she would then lead them towards the newly-opened Servants’ Lounge whilst the Wavetraders hauled their cargo inside. What was strange, however, was the attire the Angels were wearing: they all seemed to be dressed as if they were preparing to rest for the evening. Nightgowns and nightcaps; slippers and pillows; even plush dolls in the likeness of the Mythrite Sultan. But what could possibly constitute such a large gathering of the Angels under one roof, let alone all this cargo the Wavetraders were bringing? The answer would be made clear as the doors to the Servants’ Lounge swung wide open, revealing Treasurer Susuna with a *LARGE* glass of her favorite Bacchus Wine in hand:

“Welcome, girls, to our first-ever Regalia Slumber Party!” Susuna declared. Everyone gave a loud cheer and entered the lounge, where they immediately broke out the food and drink. “We’ve got a lot planned for this monumental occasion, but first, we gotta pay respects to an old friend.”

All the Angels took a glass of wine (or sake, for the Far Easterners) and gathered around a large portrait of a young Dunesfolk woman on the far side of the lounge. She had eyes as white as snow, but blank. Her hair was long and fuchsia with blue highlights, and in the portrait she wore a gown befitting that of a Sultana, her smiling visage bringing the entire picture to life.

Susuna took her place upon the balcony – her preferred perch and seat of power in the Servants’ Lounge – and turned to face the portrait. With a snap of her fingers, the gil which poured from the walls ceased, and all fell silent within seconds. She then rose her glass to the portrait, and everyone else would follow suit. Those who delivered the cargo also joined in the occasion.

“Angels and servants alike, we are here tonight to honor one of our fallen sisters: Lady Mamai Mai, whom was posthumously given the royal name of Sor for being the first – and only – Angel to have fallen in love with our master. She was a young and promising Angel, who had a peerless gift for metallurgy, so puissant that not even the Calamity – which divested her of sight – could deter her mastery. Only Althyk and Nymeia Themselves would know what events would have transpired have things went different in the Amphitheatre - whose name I can’t recall right now because I’m about four glasses in…”

“Akh Afah, Suna!” Lelena interjected.

“Thank you! But without you, Lord Thiji wouldn’t have been the badass he is today, so here’s to you, Lady Mamai! A sister; an Angel; a friend. We know you’re watching us from on high, with wings you’ve so rightfully earned. And even though we miss you and your cotton-candied sweetness that you always brought to us, we know your spirit will be with us to join in this celebration. You won’t be forgotten, and every Angel who has come after you shall know your name, that your legacy may live on through our hearts and souls! Your vision was greater than any in all the land. And once you’re done rejoicing with us, may you find peace in the aetherial plane. To Lady Mamai!”

“To Lady Mamai!” everyone echoed before finishing their drink. Susuna especially took hers to the head, falling over the railing just as she finished it. Fortunately, she landed conveniently in the arms of Isja, who gave a playful wink to the Treasurer before setting her back down. With their remembrance concluded, it was finally the hour to commence the festivities. The slumber party kicked off with a tournament of the popular card game which swept the realm: Triple Triad. While it was tempting for Shiro, Yuanji, Kaori, and Koyuki, they preferred Doman Mahjong instead, so they played amongst themselves and watched their fellow Angels duke it out on the 3-by-3 battlefield…

Susuna: All right, girls! Remember: the regional rules are Ascension and Three Open! Match rules are Plus and Same!

Lilina: What?! Since when?! I checked the rules for Thavnair the night before and they were Sudden Death and Chaos! How did they change so quickly?!

Sosona: I remember hearing that one of the noble houses’ aristocrats spoke to some queer Hyur chick standing in the middle of Radz-at-Han the other day.

Luluma: Oh, I’ve heard of her! Brunette; white dress; red bolero; blue jewel over her forehead?

Sosona: Yeah, the very same. Fancied herself the “Queen of Cards”. She seems to plant herself in areas with high foot traffic, but is never seen walking for some reason. Anyway, the aristocrat paid her to change Thavnair’s rules because she has that much influence over the game.

Lilina: Well, how much did they pay her?!

Sosona: Thirty thousand gil.

Lilina: That’s it?! Suna could practically sneeze out five times that much given how opulent we are!

Susuna: I’ll take that as a compliment! Now, let’s get to playing!

The tournament finally went underway, and the Angels commenced battle. They gave it their all in the battle of wits and expensive cardboard, but not everyone can be a winner. One by one did they fall before their sisters through superior strategy and no small amount of luck, but only two would be left standing. The time of the finals came, and it was down to Himmeya and Isja, who surprised everyone with her burgeoning skill. The Far Eastern Angels halted their Mahjong to watch the finals match…

Lilina: After this night is over, I’m hunting down that “Queen of Cards” and changing the rules! Stupid Ascension really cost me this tournament!

Luluma: Lina, you didn’t even make it through the preliminaries.

The other Angels couldn’t help but laugh at the remark.

Sesena: But I didn’t expect Himmeya to come in here with that deck of hers! Where’d you learn to play like that?

Sarielle: And more importantly, why are all her cards Garlean?

Himmeya: I had a lot of time to play during my time serving the Resistance. As for the cards, I beat up a few conscripts for them.

Shishira: Uh, does she mean that figuratively, or literally?

Himmeya: Yes.

Everyone paused to stare at Himmeya, who had a big question mark on her face.

Himmeya: What? They were just hiding out around Gyr Abania at the time and I wanted to challenge them. They didn’t seem very belligerent, so I figured a game of Triple Triad wouldn’t hurt. Though there was this one guy in the Ala Mhigan Quarter who got all uppity because he beat me, shouting “Glory Garlemald” this and “Unwashed savage” that, so I decked him.

Sarielle: Now I see why she likes hanging out in the Azim Steppe during work.

Veeveena: In her defense, such responses are justified given their history.

Umimi: Seconded!

Kaori: Quite the bloodthirsty Lalafells, I see…

Yuanji: We got to be a little blood-crazy to protect our lord.

Isja: With that out of the way – come, Himmeya. Let us see who shall walk away as champion tonight!

With the banter concluded, the finals began. Himmeya put up a fierce offensive with her Garlean deck, but Isja was able to hold her ground with her Primals, taking inspiration from the Eikon Collection. The two fought with such skill that they were able to reach Sudden Death thrice, with the Ascension rule playing both to their advantage and disadvantage. However, something would catch Lilina’s eye…

Lilina: Wait… I noticed something! Garuda… Lakshmi… Shiva… Susanoo… Ravana… Those are the primals either Lord Thiji or the Angels have faced!

Isja: Yes. This deck serves as a reminder of the life our Mythrite Sultan has led to reach the position of power he currently holds. The strength of these otherworldly beings shall see me through this day.

Himmeya: Respectable, Isja, but you forgot about my trump card – literally!

With a flourish, Himmeya slammed down the final card on the northeast corner that would seal Isja’s fate…

Angels: YOTSUYU GOE BRUTUS?!

Isja: Oh, no… with her lower-left stats now at “A”, that means…!

With Shiva and Ravana surrounding Yotsuyu, the rules of Same and Plus activate, resulting in them both being captured, and a combo that swept the board, taking Grynewaht, Lakshmi, Susanoo, Gaius, and Nael, and claiming the entire board for Himmeya, save for Garuda.

Susuna: And just like that, in an incredible finish, our own Ala Mhigan mauler takes the title of Triple Triad Champeen!

Isja: Well, I suppose one of us must excel at something.

Himmeya: Hahah! You were a good opponent, Isja! Let’s duel again sometime!

Isja: Deal. But this time, it will be on my battlefield: in fashion!

Susuna hands the trophy over to Himmeya: a gilded card with outspread wings, commemorating her place as champion. With Triple Triad now knocked out, the party would resume apace. First, the Angels set up dummies in a row and showed off their ranged prowess. Sesena decapitated her target’s head clean with a Shield Lob; Umimi created a breaching wound with her deadly Tomahawk; Kaori utilized her Samurai powers to send a blade of force to slice her dummy to ribbons – the Tachi: Enpi; Luluma and Isja, the resident Lancers, practiced their deadly accuracy through the Piercing Talon technique, skewering their targets with ease; Shiro and Yuanji brought the Far Eastern flair, turning their dummies into pincushions in a flash of Throwing Daggers.

Himmeya, being the only remaining Angel, nodded to the others’ fine work. Then she cracked her knuckles and concentrated her chi, giving Koyuki the signal to launch a Water spell at the Fist of Rhalgr disciple. She captured the Fluid Aura into her arms and made a flowing series of movements which molded the waters into tendril-like extensions of her arms, effectively increasing her striking range. She then utilized this Fists of Water technique to grab the striking dummy by the arms, snapping them with her aqueous appendages. Then she would deliver a punch to the chest and sent it flying.

“Monks may not be good at fighting from a distance, but that’s because they’re too small-minded!” the Fist of Rhalgr disciple chided, which gave cause for the Angels to cheer. Their evening of merriment resumed with a variety of different activities, from light dancing and music, to combat demonstrations, and even some showcases of the latest fashion designs from the Regalia's think tank, courtesy of Isja. The drink flowed like the Thaliak River, and aided in prolonging the festivities well into the long hours of the night. Save for Himmeya, who stuck primarily to lemonade, every other Angel had surrendered to the pure inebriation wrought from their rampant revelry - the one affected the most being Susuna, who was sitting atop the gil pile as if it were her own personal throne (which it kind of is). Her fellow Angels were either resting on the floor, on a sofa, or over the railing on the floor above.

Their time of fun had obviously begin to wind down at this point, at which Sesena stirred from her stupor to speak with her sisters-in-arms...

Sesena: All right, girls. I think now's the time we addressed the marid in the room!

Lilina: There's, like... four marids around the lounge, though!

Sosona: Idiom, Lilina.

Kaori: What does Sesena-San mean about this?

Umimi: Well, it can't possibly be about why Thavnair's joining the Blitzball Association, so it can only mean...

Sesena, pointing to a Thiji plush doll: Yup! Our lovable lord and Sultan, Thiji sor Higuri!

Lelena: What of our beautiful lord? Did something happen to him?

Sesena: Not what happened, but is happening now!

Meriri: The lass is talkin' about our lordship's marital conundrum!

Sesena: Thank you, Consultant of Metals! So, as you all know - save for you, Miss Kaori, as you are still new -

Kaori: No offense taken.

Sesena: Our Mythrite Sultan's about to reach his twenty-eighth Nameday. More importantly, this will be his twenty-eighth Nameday spent single! And while this may not be of much concern to most... the guy needs a Sultana, as much as he may not let that on!

Isja: Who could possibly amount to the brilliance that is our Sultan? The man has molded himself into a bastion of beauty and power - so much so that even I will admit that I had fallen for him at one point.

Sosona: We all have, Isja. It's okay.

Isja: Are you certain?

Himmeya: Well, not me. It was mostly for his impressive combat prowess he showed all those summers ago.

Sesena: It's thanks to Lady Mamai's sacrifice that there is a "No Dating Angels" policy! He may love us like his own daughters, but it's because of what happened in Coerthas that he doesn't want that emotional attachment to happen again! And at no offense to Lady Mamai, I'm glad that was implemented!

Lelena: I heard you entertained the thought of dating him after a talk with Lady Tahrara some time ago!

Sesena: So?!

The Angels laughed. However, Shishira went silent, as it was obvious that she harbors feelings for the Mythrite Sultan. Veeveena took noticed and gave a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Lilina: Even still, he attracts a lot of attention from the females, no matter their race! I mean, look at him! Any woman of any race with a love of Lalafells would take one look at him and they'd get hotter than the 4th Astral Moon!

Sosona: Too bad most of them are too busy getting hot from chasing tail.

Sarielle: In all aspects of the phrase, I take it?

Sosona: You know it. The ailurophilia and herpetophilia’s running rampant across the land, and it’s become a big deal to us as of late.

Lelena: Our Chief Analytics Officer, hard at work!

Shishira: I believe the Sagolii Merchant Queen collects those tails and consumes them as delicacies...

Koyuki: Hm? How are you aware of this, Miss Shishira?

Shishira: I... may have glimpsed a few things during my tutelage under her. Queen Chichibi's awfully passionate about collecting them.

Yuanji: She and Sosona have a point, though. Many people seem to go after Miqo'te and Au Ra for some reason. We of the Far East have especially taken notice of this and it's become a cause for alarm for us, especially when they began adapting our customs. What is it about the tailed races that makes them so much more desirable than others? I will honestly admit that even I wonder at times why there aren’t --

Himmeya: Er, Head Secretary, there is no possible way to explain that right now without inciting some kind of riot.

Yuanji: How so? No one is listening in somehow, are they?

Himmeya: ... Angel's intuition dictates that the matter should be left where it is.

Kaori: I fail to see the appeal. Lord Thiji is an iconic figure upon merchants and nobles alike. It was my understanding that many would be attracted to the sight and promise of coin. Why should race play so huge a factor in this?

Susuna, finally having enough of the debacle, groaned loud enough for it to echo throughout the Servants' Lounge, commanding the attention of the others. She then shifted her weight ever-so slightly that she slid down from her throne of gil and landed smoothly at the base of the fountain, her full wine glass unmarred.

Susuna: Honestly, girls. The answer’s right in front of you as if you slipped and fell into Nophica’s massive rack! No more pulling punches here; I'm gonna tell you all why it's not happening.

After taking a moment to gulp down her wine before tossing it aside (Shiro easily caught it so as to prevent it from shattering), Susuna hopped on the fountain and reclined so that her back laid upon the mountain of gil.

Meriri: The answer bein'...?

Susuna: The status quo!

Umimi: "Status what"?

Susuna: Status quo; the current state of affairs.

Isja: I'm afraid you've lost me, Miss Susuna.

Susuna: Don't worry, I've got an epexegesis ready for you! I, my sisters, Lelena and her sisters, and even Miss Veeveena have been with Lord Thiji since the beginning - before the Angels were even formed! Ever since the Sagolii Desert shenanigans, Lord Thiji's had te-heh-heh-herrible luck with the fairer sex! Miss Shishira, I'm sorry -

Shishira: I'm over it. I was his first crush, and I disregarded it for Memejora...

Umimi: That you had the courage to state this tonight makes you the bravest of us all.

Susuna: And there's no lie here that you'd have been an incredible match for Lord Thiji were things different! But that's beside the point - somewhat. What I'm trying to say is this: the Mythrite Sultan's single because the Twelve know it and are keeping it that way!

Sarielle: Oh, my. She's had so much Bacchus Wine that it's poisoned her thought process...

Susuna: It's the truth! Because think about it: if Lord Thiji ended up with the right woman, he'd take over the godsdamned world! He’d already make the Syndicate jealous from the wealth he's amassed, and if the ideal lady were to come into his life and finally become his Sultana, there'd be no stopping the Regalia's sphere of influence from expanding! Every attempt he's ever had at courting a woman has blown up in his face because there's no one in this world who can handle one of the most elegant men in Radz-at-Han becoming an item! It's why his twin brother took the burden off him somewhat by making Lady Mimizo a grandsire!

Umimi, giggling: Guilty as charged!

Susuna: It's not uncommon knowledge that the Valide Sultan favors her firstborn the most - he's had the most potential, and has shown it well! And every loving mother wants to see their children succeed! But she's still holding out on hope that her firstborn will find someone!

Isja: Not to mention his romantic dream... I heard that, too, was shattered.

Susuna: Thanks for reminding me! All the crap he's put up with as an adventurer molded him into the martial and magical badass that he is today! This reinforces my argument; the Mythrite Sultan's a god among men, and he's immortalized himself on numerous occasions! I bet any of our honorary Angels would also say the same! But man, did he look so regal in that Sorceress's Knight armor...

Himmeya: I guess dating auctions are out of the question...

Susuna: He'd only entertain that nonsense just to see what the smallfolk think he's worth!

Meriri: The Treasurer's startin' to speak some sense, actually... But the lord's a recluse! He's so focused on his work that he doesn't have time fer such frivolities!

Susuna: Because he knows that the powers that be have screwed him over so much that it's not worth trying! With the possibility of a love interest pretty much balled up and thrown out the window, he’s had more time than ever to focus on his work!

Veeveena: Well, it is said that true love comes when you least expect it!

Susuna gave a hearty laugh in response to the Main Branch Advisor's comment.

Susuna: If that were true, then we wouldn't have this discussion! And Menphina forfend that doesn't come true right as our lord is on his deathbed and some floozy comes barging in giving her teary confessions of love to the man! I only hope that one of us is in the room at that moment to plant one between the bitch's eyes to save whatever dignity remains of the moment!

Kaori: Susuna-San truly is a spectacle to behold...

Sosona: This is honestly her thought process - only slightly skewed when she's drunk. But I’ll keep it one-hundred just as my sister is: if any of us had the honor of being his Sultana, it’d be you, Veeveena. No one else is as deadly or as beautiful as yourself. The heirs you two would sire would be something to behold.

Veeveena: Stop it, Miss Sosona! I only wish to serve alongside our Sultan!

Umimi: Everyone here would agree that a flower born of Thavnair such as yourself would be the ideal mate for my brother-in-law! I had almost sought to abdicate my position as Head Secretary and become Advisor in your stead!

Veeveena: Lady Umimi, you’re much too kind. Just the honor of being with Lord Thiji is enough to bring fulfillment to my life! Being an Angel has helped with that immensely!

Susuna: Well, if anyone would have to step up to bat, it’s you. While it’s no secret that Lalafell have heritage from both clans, The Higuri family’s lineage has been predominantly Dunesfolk for as long as any of them can remember! And he’s the oldest of a set of octuplets, and he’s an uncle of two, so their line is more than secure! In fact, by that logic, Lady Umimi should no longer be an Angel, but I’m not gonna argue with long-lost Nymian royalty, either!

Umimi: Which is why I wanted to step down from the position of Head Secretary! An Angel married into the family would definitely spark a conflict of interest, but I’m only wed to the Regalia’s Adjutant!

Susuna: Speaking of which, going back to what Sena said about the “No Dating Angels” policy – we’re not. His. Harem. Many people will see a bunch of ladies under the same room and start jumping to conclusions over that, only to be proven dead wrong in the end – literally. And this further backs up my point! People think that having all of us under his wing is merely a means of seeing who will earn his favor and putting a ring on it.

Sarielle: And yet I hear Nobles having affairs with their own servants numerous occasions. You would think that individuals of such high social standing would face little issues concerning the pleasures of the flesh.

Susuna: Re: "No Dating Angels"! Calling Lord Thiji’s Angels a harem is an insult not only to the Regalia and its employees, but to Lady Mamai as well! And we’re not gonna dishonor everything she did just to have the public view us as such! We’re his army of assassin-maidservants, and it’s gonna stay that way!

Lelena, to Sesena: Your sister, the demagogue, hard at work!

Sesena: She’s not wrong. Even I’m growing concerned over the fact. While people have begun jokingly referring to Lord Thiji as the Mythrite Bachelor, that as well is becoming something of a trend.

Luluma: Our Sultan can’t help it; everything transpiring around the realm sort of gets in the way of such efforts. Problems from abroad have escalated thanks to the appearance of those towers everywhere, not to mention factors beyond our control, like people’s preferences. We may as well start sending missives to prospective suitresses.

Susuna: And hurt the Mythrite Sultan’s dignity?! Not happening! Let’s not waste funding on postage for that! Plus I heard they tried making a show about that once...

Shishira: But, it doesn’t even cost anything to use mail.

Susuna: The fact of the matter is that if we force this, the results are gonna be catastrophic!

Sarielle: But we cannot remain idle for too long if we truly wish to assist in his predicament.

Isja: Agreed. I know firsthand that Valide Sultan would be very cross should he reach his thirtieth Nameday without a suitable mate.

Sosona: Well, I don’t think half-Lalafell, half-Viera children are being brought to the table, if that’s what you’re implying.

Isja: Very funny. I am perfectly fine serving as his prime model.

Susuna: Look, we just gotta keep doing what we’re doing, and if something finally happens, we gotta make sure that whoever has their eyes set on the Mythrite Sultan isn’t either doing it for the money, is out to kill him, or worse!

Just then, they would all receive a ring from their linkpearls, to which they would promptly answer.

?: Good evening, Angels.

Angels: Good evening, Lord Thiji!

Thiji: I sincerely apologize for interrupting your meticulously-planned slumber party, but a thought had just occurred to me that the season of spring is close to arriving. We must begin preparations for the fourth Regalia Largesse. With the strange appearance of the towers, our more militaristic efforts have been curtailed somewhat, which will allow us to focus more on our events. I have already gotten in touch with our merchant fleet to prepare our reserve stock, for there are still many items we’ve left over from the previous summer we can still offer to the masses. Until then, however, you Angels enjoy your rest for tonight and the rest of this sennight. We will reconvene later this moon to divulge further details.

Angels: Thank you, Lord Thiji!

Thiji: Of course, my beloved Angels. Enjoy your party.

The transmission ended and everyone rejoiced once more as the lounge rang with their jubilant cries. Due to their intoxicated state, however, they did not celebrate for too long until they collapsed to the floor in a comedic fashion. The issue regarding the Sultan’s courtship would have to wait.

For now, it was time for the Angels’ beauty sleep.

#thiji higuri #FFXIV #ffxiv rp #FFXIV A Realm Reborn #ffxiv heavensward #Thiji's Angels #sleepover #ffxiv balmung #balmung rp #crystal rp #higuri regalia #high fashion #ffxiv #balmung #fashion #lalafell #haute couture #nophica

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tsainami · 4 years

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09/20/20 — WRITING UPDATE #004

This is also kind of a blog update! It’s honestly been so long since I've been on here but I am not dead in a ditch (yet jk) so in case you were wondering...

I haven’t been very active on this blog but I just wanted to yell that I've still been working on A Bazaar for Magic (when IRL isn’t in the way...). So many important changes have been made and since... whenever it was I last showed my face on here... the writing process for it has been steadily moving forward. In fact, if nothing shits on me too badly IRL the first full draft will probably be finished by the end of 2020! [And hopefully the beginnings of the second!]