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space-mango-company · 18 days

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Stranger | Chapter 5

Chapter Links: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

TW: Descriptions of Violence, Mentions of Cannibalism

Tags: Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen x Atreides!Reader, Arranged Marriage, Eventual Smut, POV Second Person, No use of y/n, Original Characters, Canon What Canon

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: Not proofread!! Holy moly. Here it is, folks. The scene that inspired this whole fic. I had fun writing this so I really hope you enjoy it. Once again, I appreciate everyone who likes, comments, and/or leaves kudos so much. I really started this fic for myself but good golly, that dopamine rush whenever I get a notif might be more addicting than spice. I'm glad to be part of the bald man brigade.

Also, I can't believe I'm only now questioning why I decided to write this in the second person? I guess maybe I thought this fic would be a lot shorter and not that deep, lol. At this point 'y/n' probably has enough personality to just be a straight-up OC. It's funnier because I don't even find second-person or y/n fics any more engaging either. I always detach myself by giving 'y/n' her own name and only seeing her as a character in the fic.

ANYWAY, sorry to ramble. Stay safe and have a good one, ya weirdos.

You step out into the dark cul-de-sac of the guest hall, illuminated only by the large suspensor lamp in the middle. Feyd-Rautha looks you up and down, seemingly entranced by how the dim light casts his shadow on your modest dress. Atreides green, he recognized.

"Trying to sneak into my rooms again?" you say arms crossed, leaning on your door. "I didn't appreciate the last time, by the way."

"It's my house," he says cooly, "and I did knock this time."

You stare at him indifferently.

"Quite the display from you yesterday morning, using The Voice on me." His voice low and raspy, "I should have you drawn and quartered."

You scoff in his face. "You almost choked me to death. Are you trying to start a war?"

He takes a step closer and his face is inches from yours, you can feel his breath on your cheek, "I didn't think I'd like you this much, little hawk."

"What do you want, Feyd-Rautha?" you had no patience for him right now.

"Ah," he steps back, a dark smile on his face, "I've been waiting to hear my name from your tongue." His hand reaches for your lips. "I've grown quite tired of 'na-Baron'."

You grab his wrist before he can touch you. "If you're only here to toy with me, I would rather be left alone to prepare for bed." You release his hand and turn to open your door.

Feyd-Rautha props an arm against the doorway to block you. "We're to be married in three days," he says, "and I just can't seem to bring myself to let go of my 'harpies', as you called them." He meets your gaze. "You said you'd kill them. Did you mean that?"

You look up at him with steely eyes. He towered over you but your heart felt no fear, "Yes."

His coy smile returns. "Good. Come to my training hall tomorrow," he says, walking away.

"What?" you call after him.

"Dress to fight," he says over his shoulder. "I want to see what you can do, Atreides."

You needed no help from Zora in putting on a loose shirt and long pants. The plain beige outfit certainly wasn't as elegant as the dresses you had been wearing so far. But it was comfortable and you could fight in it, which was all that mattered. Still, you look yourself in the mirror. The soft, airy fabrics draped over your figure well but perhaps you were not in the best shape as you once were. Your muscle mass is much less than your brother's and he wasn't particularly built himself. You admit you did wane off your training sessions with Gurney and Paul leading up to your departure from Caladan. Nevertheless, you were still a skilled warrior. Another secret you've been keeping from the Harkonnens.

You were 14 when you started learning the blade. Watching Paul, 2 years your senior, practice with the Atreides Warmaster lit a fire in you. You didn't hesitate to pester your father to let you train with them and of course, there was nothing he could deny his darling daughter. You were a fierce and determined student. Gurney Halleck was a man you genuinely believed to be one of the best fighters in the Imperium, along with Duncan Idaho. Gurney would train you and Paul on even days. On odd days, your mother would teach you the Weirding Way. These lessons, much like the rest of your mother's teachings, your father wanted to know nothing about. After becoming decently adept at Prana-Bindu and gaining almost complete physical control of your body, Lady Jessica insisted that you also be skilled in the Bene Gesserit style of combat.

You were far from mastery in either but the combination of both trainings made you a formidable fighter. Despite this, you could never seem to beat your brother in a sparring match. A fact that frustrated you to no end, though you appreciated that Paul never went easy on you. You'd always blame it on him having trained for longer than you have. But in truth, you knew there had just always been something special about him.

"Are you ready, my lady?" Zora's soft voice wakes you from your thoughts.

"Hm? Right. Yes, let's go." You quickly tie your hair out of the way and grab your father's dagger from atop your dresser.

There was no fanfare when you entered the hall. On one end, the na-Baron's concubines sat chained on the steps of the shallow recessed pit in their leathers, their glares piercing through you. Your eyes linger on them as Feyd-Rautha and his Warmaster greet you.

"I was starting to think my lady bride was bluffing," Feyd-Rautha says as you approach him. The older man beside him offers you a polite bow.

"Perhaps she wasn't so keen on your brutish games," you bite back. "Your lord uncle won't be joining us?"

"No," Feyd-Rautha crosses his arms, "but he'll be hearing about your victory. Or your demise."

"Right. Well, I assume you'll be releasing them from those chains," you nod towards his pets "Not sure why they're necessary."

"Oh, trust me, little hawk. They're necessary." Feyd-Rautha motions to a servant.

"Your blade and shield, my lady," they bow, presenting you with a knife and a small device you recognize as a Holtzman shield.

"I've brought my own," you unsheath your father's dagger. You contemplate taking the shield but remembering that the na-Baron forwent it during his gladiator fight, you decide to do so as well. "They've no weapons anyway, the shield seems pointless."

Feyd-Rautha shrugs, "If you insist."

You take a deep breath, "Let's get this over with."

You lightly stretch as you walk down the steps of the shallow pit to stand opposite the na-Baron's concubines. You had come into this on the pretense of righteousness. For Iassa, you told yourself. But you've known her a mere two days. A part of you wanted to show off. You were good and you knew it. You could probably kill anyone in this room, even Feyd-Rautha. You craved the respect of the people here: the Harkonnens, the people of Geidi Prime. You figured this was one way to get it.

Feyd-Rautha walks around the pit to one of his concubines and kneels to whisper something in her ear. You assume a fighting stance when he moves to release her from the chains. When you meet her eyes, they are filled with feral bloodlust.

Suddenly, you weren't so bold. The veil of courage you have maintained since you arrived, even when Feyd-Rautha had your neck in his grip, is torn apart when you face this woman. You could tell no part of her would hesitate to rip your throat out with her bare teeth. You were almost relieved they were unarmed, but you weren't sure if that would make them any less lethal.

Fear grew in your chest and you had less than a moment to recite the Litany in your head before the concubine lunged at you.

You crouch down in time and slash at her abdomen as she approaches you. You turn to face her on the other side of the pit and she wastes no time in attacking you again. She attempts to grab your armed hand but you take hold of her wrist first and move to pin it behind her back. Quickly, your blade drags across her throat and she falls to your feet.

The kill has not yet registered in your mind but your heart is racing. You can almost hear your blood coursing through your veins. You held your arms outstretched, your eyes focused ahead, ready for the next one.

Across the pit, Feyd-Rautha licks his lips, smiling as he releases his second concubine. This time, you walk toward her while she moves to attack you. You clock her head with the pommel of your dagger and knock her a few steps back. She reaches a hand to wipe the blood beginning to drip out of her nose. After examining it, she snarls and bares her sharp teeth at you. Your mind is blank now. She dodges your first slash then manages to land a blow to your jaw. You seethe from the pain. You spit out the mixture of blood and saliva filling your mouth. The anger at the hit drives you to rush at her. Seeing an opening, you duck down to her waist and stab her twice. As she falls to her knees, the look of determination doesn't leave her eyes until the very last moment.

When you turn around, Feyd-Rautha has already released the last concubine. The ruthless scream she lets out disorients you. She pounces and knocks you over. She straddles you and pins your arms to the ground, your blade sliding inches away. She screams again in your face at the death of her sisters. You wedge your right knee between you and her abdomen, the only thing keeping her teeth from reaching your throat. You grunt as you struggle to free your hands. In your periphery, you see Feyd-Rautha, wielding his own blade, take a step into the pit.

"GET BACK," you roar, and he is powerless to refuse.

You turn back to your opponent still on top of you and you butt her head with your own. She loosens her grip and you kick her off to hastily crawl to your weapon. When she reorients herself and attempts to grab you again, you hook a knee under her arm and flip the both of you over. With your weight on her chest and both your knees pinning her arms down, she thrashes underneath you, claws digging into your right ankle. You take your blade in both hands and her screaming is silenced when you sink your knife deep into her heart.

When you rise, the room is quiet. Your chest heaves. The stark white ceiling lights don't help the lightheadedness that begins to wash over you in the post-adrenaline rush. Feyd-Rautha says something from behind you but his speech is garbled as you reel from the thrill of what just transpired. You were electrified. You almost... wanted more.

Then, the realization of the revolting scene you are in settles upon you and you are knocked off your high. You look at the leather-clad bodies scattered around you, the grotesque way they lay on the floor, the red blood pooling around them made brighter by the sterile grayness of the room. You did this.

A hand on your shoulder snaps you out of it. In reflex, you turn and raise your blade at the offender.

Feyd-Rautha holds his hands up, "Whoa, easy, Atreides. Trying to kill me? Don't want to start a war, do you?"

You yield your weapon. Your eyes dodge his as you look to your feet and try to steady your breathing.

"Enjoy your first taste of blood?" Feyd-Rautha says, the look in his eyes indecipherable to you. He raises a hand and swipes his thumb on your cheek. It comes away covered in crimson.

You gasp and reach for your face with your own hand. You don't even know if it's your blood or theirs, or when it got on you. Your heart pounded, unable to decide whether you were repulsed or proud.

"Look at you," he says licking the red off his finger. You could not help but stare at him through the strands of your hair that had come undone in the fighting. "You're beautiful like this," his hand reaches for your face again.

"No," you say low and quiet when you swat his hand away, "you're sick." You didn't know if you meant him or yourself. You calmly turn to leave. No one stops you when you make your way up the shallow steps of the pit. As you pass Iassa—no, Zora—by the doorway, you tell her flatly, "Prepare a bath."

You had never taken a life before. Today, you took three. You were glad you didn't know their names. You decided you'd never find out.

After Zora pours a final pitcher of hot water into the bath, you tell her, "You may go. I'll dress myself later, thank you."

She bows and makes her way out of your rooms.

In your solitude, you bring your knees to your chest. You had been quick to wipe the blood off your cheek before you even reached your quarters. Now, you cup the water into your hands and rub it into your face, the slight sting of the heat comforting you.

He was a cruel man, your betrothed. This is what you've decided. Having you kill the concubines he claimed to want to keep so much. But wasn't it you who threatened to kill them? He started it, you argue with yourself, when he had Iassa killed. You felt like a child.

When you used to hear of Feyd-Rautha's exploits, you had to mask your disgust. And yet now, you had killed so easily in that pit as he had in the arena. What was this place doing to you?

When you left Caladan, Paul had never killed anyone either. You wonder if he ever does, would he feel the same exhilaration you did when you slit that first concubine's throat. No. Your brother was fierce but, like your father, he had a good heart. You beat him by three. You hoped it would stay that way.

You think about your future here, marrying Feyd-Rautha. Producing heir after heir under the Baron's watchful eye. You were a broodmare. Despite all your fancy training and education. Despite your little demonstration earlier. It was the bitter truth.

You missed home. You missed walking along the beach at night with your father. You missed your mother's gentle hands brushing your hair. You missed the banter and teasing with your brother. You missed Gurney, and Duncan, and the cold breeze on your balcony, and getting to roam free and going anywhere you pleased. When the tears come, you sink deep into the bath so they might fade away in the water.

Chapter Links: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

Taglist: @torchbearerkyle @austinswhitewolf @dreamlandcreations @emeraldsgirl @strawberryfieldsforevermore @bornslippys @vexis-world @aoi-targaryen @alexandrainlove @mamawiggers1980 @sstardussty @aboutthenabaron

#feyd rautha x reader #feyd rautha x you #feyd rautha fic #feyd rautha #feyd rautha harkonnen #atreides reader #dune #dune part two #space-mango-company #fic: stranger

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venusbby · 1 year

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sketches and sunsets

characters/pairing: itoshi rin x artist!reader

warnings: they are so stupid and awkward and cute but i just wanted to write this because i found my old sketchbook from years ago lol. not proofread, sorry if there are any typos <3

the sound of hurried scribbling and rough strokes on the paper filled the room as he tried his best to stifle a yawn. he couldn't help but cringe a little at the possibility of you seeing his weak attempt to do so, eyes focused on your form as you continued to bring those quick and light lines to life in your sketchbook.

with your gaze flickering between the book on your lap and him in front of you, you made the same mistake over and over- making eye contact.

although you were looking back and forth, his eyes stayed on you and it was more nerve wracking than any thing. it was as if he was studying you and creating a sketch in his mind, and there's nothing more scary than finding out what you look like from his eyes.

"sorry, uh, if you're tired already."

rin was looking at you already, but he wasn't, you realized, when he finally looked right at you this time. if not your eyes, then what was he looking at?

for you, as an artist, (not sure you'd want to call yourself that because it takes you a few months to come back to your sketchbook after each drawing) the eyes are the most important. they're your favorite part to start with because they somehow guide you to draw the rest of the face. (even if it might not be the valid first step according to some art teachers.)

so for some reason you didn't really understand what rin was looking at other than your eyes.

speaking of eyes, his were really pretty.

you don't need him to know that, and you also don't need him to know that you spent more time than usual to sketch out his pretty eyes.

"no, i'm not tired." he said, almost finding his voice unfamiliar because of how long it had been since either of you spoke.

there was no special lighting except the warm, orange hues of the sun coming from the window of your bedroom and rin was in his usual clothes: a hoodie and sweats, because there was no reason to dress up. he lived next door anyway, so if there was a plan to go out and eat street food he'd just change into some jeans. your favorite watermelon slice pillow looking smaller than usual trapped between his arms as he used them for support to avoid slouching.

you sat a few feet away from the bed where he was, partially because you didn't believe you had the guts to stay so close while you studying his features. some artist part of you and some part of you that has fallen for the boy next door thinks its too intimate.

rin gulped. was it him or were the strands of your hair looking a warmer shade because of the sunlight? and your skin was glowing. you just did that thing you always do when you're focused, just like you were a few weeks ago when he had asked you to choose which pictures he should post on his instagram that was gaining followers left and right after blue lock.

how much longer?

he might just end up saying the things he's thinking if he looks at you any longer. saying that you're driving him crazy.

"alright, just a little detailing left. im sorry." you mumbled, now squinting so you could see better the minute details that you started adding, like his lashes.

"stop apologizing," rin said calmly. "i know it takes time."

you quietly nibbled on the inside of your cheek, feeling your fingers go slightly numb and hesitantly tossing your pencil on the study table nearby. "done."

rin moved. he moved closer.

he sat on the edge of the bed now, right in front of you. you felt your back ache from how you sat in the most uncomfortable position in your chair. he looked at you expectantly, holding his hand out.

this is the first time you've drawn after months. this is the first time you've drawn your best friend.

the reality of it all is just sinking into you and the burning sensation under your skin grew. you asked him if you could draw him and now that it's done you don't want to show it to him because it's a little embarrassing that you'd never put this much your heart and soul into a drawing before.

with a soft exhale, you gave the sketchbook and cracked your knuckles to relieve the pent up pressure. rin scanned the drawing from top to bottom, those pretty eyes stopping for a second at some point of the image. you licked your dry lips, hoping you didn't accidentally fuck up his features in a hurry.

he set the sketchbook down and your back straightened against the wood of your chair.

"i like it," he nodded once, blinking a few times to use the same eyes that he saw just now on paper, the prettier version.

"im glad," you smiled, anxiety defusing slowly. "it's been a long time since i drew. you're pretty easy to draw. wait, not in that way-"

"i love it." he admitted.

"oh, okay." you smiled wider, and while you thought of something more to say, rin beat you to it.

"i wanna draw you too." he mumbled, leaning in so, so slightly. "teach me, so i can draw you. i don't think i'll be able to make you look as pretty as you look in real life, because i'm not even close to decent at drawing."

your mouth opened and closed like a fish. you weren't even sure you blinked for the next five seconds- and oh, since when were you leaning in too? this was the most rin had talked in one go.

"are you.. calling me pretty?"

he took his time to answer that. gosh, you were too close. maybe you would've been able to draw his eyes even better if he was this close before.

"...yes."

rin's hand hovered just below your chin. he was hesitating. he wondered if his face looked as hot as it felt. he wondered if you were going to back off. you didn't. he gulped once more. "can i kiss you?"

it was too late. words had already died in your throat and you were surprised you even had it in you to nod repeatedly, slowly.

kissing rin itoshi while the sun had almost disappeared. what a story.

his lips were softer than you had imagined. and he seemed just as lost as you were, but even he didn't care. because he was kissing you.

his thumb and index holding your chin and your hand coming up to disappear into his dark locks, slightly pushing him closer so you could feel it more.

rin was almost on the edge of the bed and he was going to fall if he tried to get any closer. so he pulled away and guided you to sit on the bed beside him. his hands stayed glued to your waist as it all continued with fervor until you ended up lying on the bed staring at the ceiling that was covered in the green glow in the dark stars with your chests heaving and lips yearning for more. he remembered helping you put them up after school a few years ago.

your sketchbook laid right between you both.

your intertwined fingers didn't let go until it was dark outside your window and you guys heard your mom announcing that she had home from work.

rin only had a few favorite days to look back to. that day was one of them.

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everyday-is-brighter-with-you · 8 months

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tamizhselvan concept art (3) and possibly the last before I decide what's final

sorry about the earlier posts,, I think it's noticeable by now that I get

Depressed alternately in weeks. it's kind of easy to fall into a sort of habit around it....but Im more clear headed now...ill try not to do that, alright. I can't always succeed but I can succeed sometimes.

anyway here

[ Id: A photo. Its original art in traditional medium that is paper and pencil. It is of concept art for my character Tamizhselvan of he/she pronouns.

This one is based on the combined shape of a vertical rectangle inside a circles confines.

Tamizh looks out from behind a wall she has one hand out on, and grins very wide, the pink hearts near her also making her appear full of affection. Tamizh has a long rectangular face here. His big eyes are more apart from the thinner bridged nose. Eyes still have little eyeliner, prominent lashes, dark circles and thin brows. Her grin shows large front teeth and mildly sized lips. There's hyperpigmentation around some spots of his face like the mouth. A little acne is scattered over cheeks, forehead and neck. He has long, big ears.

His hair is curly and parted at the middle neatly, tied in braids looking like fluffed or "cloudy" inverted hearts. The braids are quite long and fan to either side of his rectangular face giving a circular frame like the reference shape. The top ribbons are tied like rotund red blooming flowers and colored as such.

Her scholars suit-jacket and tie are noted to be oversized clothes. The sleeves of it cover his hands bottom. other notes say the hair direction should go be going down, poofing. The tips of the suit-jackets shoulders should slightly point up. It's questioned whether the puffy ending part of the braid needs some sort of attachment to hold it, but for now I have drawn it tied with itself. End ID]

Ohhh It makes me happy to look at him...

Anyway this iteration took a particular amount of time. I think I messed up two times. It came out looking great finally though.

Now for the final design I need to decide if I'm keeping one of all the designs exactly as is or ,make some kind of fusion with the traits I want/like.

OK now I should give another fact about him/her ...usually dresses more on girly side. Also she's so dramatic. When she's around someone, she behaves like she's in her own theatre that no one else can see.

#I say #txt #OCS #HTMH #My art #Original #Artists on Tumblr #Indian #Desi #Tamil #Concept art #Tamizh

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blackcatpersona · 11 months

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Long story short, I'm posting this because I needed to read it. I didn't like that Lorne was never given a proper love interest; he deserved one more than anyone else in my humble opinion. So, I wrote one myself. It'll be a long one, and part of a series, because I love me some character development. :)

Anywho, here it is. Let me know what you think. <3

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Chapter 1: Of Women and Words

“Look, I’m telling you... I have no idea who she is, or how she got here. She’s just...here!” the demon whispered and gestured madly at the floor near his feet.

Angel looked around Caritas, puzzled. “Lorne, half-naked women don’t magically appear on stages overnight. She got here somehow. Do we have any information to go on?”

The woman was an adult, but on the young side. Angel put her in her mid-twenties. Dressed in a white, pleated, cotton robe that was barely opaque, her olive-skinned legs were exposed past the knee. The dress was held together at the waist by a thick gold and black striped belt that appeared to be solid metal. No shoes, hair untied and puddled in a thick, dark auburn crown around her head, laying on her right side, she looked as though she had fallen asleep. The only thing that remained to her was a gold armband that resembled a snake, writhing its way up her arm.

“You know...’, remarked Lorne sarcastically, “I haven’t quite been able to keep her quiet. Any ideas?”

Angel raised his hands to his chest in a ‘I surrender’ sort of gesture, and said, “Alright, I get it. I get it. Well...we should probably find somewhere to...put her...until she wakes up.”

Lorne nodded silently; his brow creased with concern.

“You get the arms, I’ll get the feet, and we carry her to your place?”

The demon barely registered Angel’s words as he continued to stare at the woman before them. He couldn’t explain it, but he was immediately drawn to her, felt protective of her, as if he felt her distress already.

Impossible. He thought to himself. She’s unconscious. He moved toward her, bending at the knees to scoop her up into his arms, bridal-style.

“No. I’ll get her. You can get the doors along the way.”

….....................................................................................................................................................................

“You sure she wasn’t just really, really, drunk last night? Maybe she was still in the bathroom when you locked up...”

Lorne, exasperated at having spent the last hour arguing hypotheticals with the WRH team in his bedroom, snapped back at Cordelia.

“No, she wasn’t in the bathroom. I’ve said this a dozen times already. She wasn’t in the bathroom, she wasn’t in the stage wings, or in the green room backstage, she wasn’t in a storage room, or behind the bar... She was NOT in the bar when I locked up. No alarms, no security camera footage, no broken glass, no unlocked doors. I... I don’t know how she got here!” He turned his attention back to the bed.

“Okay, okay.”, Angel stepped into the conversation. “We’ve established that her appearance is most definitely a mystery. Great. Now, onto more practical matters. We should find a way to wake her up before someone comes looking for her. Ideas?”

“I hate be the bearer of bad news, but I don’t really know that one can do that, Angel.” Wesley commented. “I think she just has to...come around on her own.”

The WRH team was circled around the king-sized bed in Lorne’s apartment, staring awkwardly at the unconscious female asleep in the demon’s bed. Angel, Wesley, and Cordelia stood at the foot of the bed while Lorne sat perched on the side of the mattress, facing the woman. His hand rested flat on the duvet, as close to her hand as he dared to get.

She looks so helpless. He sighed to himself.

“Well, there’s no point in all of you standing around waiting for the magic to happen. It’s my apartment, I’ll stay and keep watch. The bar doesn’t open for a few hours anyway. If she isn’t up before I have to leave, I’ll text one of you to come takeover.”

Cordelia raised her hand to ask a question.

“Um, not to be rude, but is the green, red-eyed, demon really the best choice for first contact ambassador? I mean, no offence, Lorne...but you might scare the shit out her.”

“There’s a really good chance that she’s going to be scared. You know, waking up in a strange place, having anyone watching over you.” Wesley added. “Besides, how do we know that something traumatic didn’t happen to get her here in the first place? Maybe Lorne IS the best bet to stay with her, given he might be able to read something.”

Angel nodded. “Lorne stays. Let’s move out.”

The team dispersed quickly, happy to be free of the awkward tension in the room. Lorne never noticed. A door closed softly somewhere in the distance. His red eyes never left his charge’s face.

“Where did you come from, Princess?” He whispered to her as he took her hand in his, as gently as possible. “Hmm...? What’s your name?” He chuckled to himself, the first sign of a smile making its way across his lips as he told himself, “It’s terribly un-gentlemanly to have a lady in your bed and not even know her name.”

He allowed himself a moment to truly take in her form, her features. She had a light tan to her skin, her flesh soft. Slender fingers, but he could feel strong muscles in her hand. Her limbs appeared toned; feminine, but not fragile. She seemed to be taller than most of the females he knew, but he couldn’t really guess with her still laying down. As his eyes glided upward, he noticed light bruising on her forearms. Were those finger imprints? Lorne rubbed his free thumb lightly across the marks, wanting, needing, to know more, feeling a growing concern within his soul to know how this woman came to be in his bar.

Hours came and went. He never did text the others to relieve his vigil. He asked his bartender to watch over Caritas tonight, and to cancel any readings he had scheduled.

He was in this for the long-haul.

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Lorne sat uncomfortably in a low back chair that he had pulled close to the edge of the bed hours ago. He had cursed the design choice as it forced him to hunch forward to continue holding the young woman’s hand. His back and legs ached, but still he sat guarding the woman. He snored softly, having been dozing in and out of sleep for the past few hours, afraid to completely give in to slumber, lest he miss something. A thought caught his attention.

Fatigue...pain...sore...dark...confusion...fear...

Lorne sat upright the moment he realized what was happening. She was stirring.

This is it.

The woman turned her head slowly, eyes fluttering, and mumbled something Lorne couldn’t quite catch. It sounded like it could have been a question.

“Come on, Princess. Wakey-wakey...” He rubbed his thumbs across her hand in light encouragement.

“...Ee-may?”

“Ee-what now, Strudel?”

Two sparkling, dark green eyes, opened, slowly, locking eyes with the demon.

“Well good morning, sleepy head.” Lorne smiled warmly at the woman.

She froze, staring at him. Her breathing quickened, becoming shallow. Lorne sensed what was coming.

Fearfearfearfearfearfearscaredfearpainfearfearfearconfusedfearfear....

“No no no no...” He let go of her hand and raised his palms outward in a show of trust. “Look, look! Not gonna hurt you, see? You're safe...you’re safe.”

It didn’t help. She screamed and tried to roll to the other side of the bed to put distance between herself and the demon.

“O-na! O-na, lee-ay!” She yelled, crying, launching herself over the far side of the mattress. She tried to stand and run, but fell beside the bed immediately. An exclamation rang through the air. Lorne knew that word when he heard it. Some cuss words just don’t need translating.

Lorne rose and ran to her side, quickly kneeling to her height to try and offer any assistance he could. The woman backed herself into the corner. Scared, she held her ankle.

“Oh, Princess...you’re injured, aren’t you?” He crept toward her, slowly, and reached a hand out to place it over hers on her ankle. With the other, he gestured to himself. “Lorne. Lorne. My name is Lorne.”

Fearfearfearfearfearfearfearfear...

He felt it. He tried his best to speak quietly and softly, to be reassuring, and calming.

“It’s ok, Honey. I know you’re scared. Probably have never seen a green man with horns before, so hey, I’m not taking this personally.” He rubbed her hand warmly. “You’re safe, now. Ok? No one will hurt you here. I promise.”

...fear...............fear.................calming.....................uncertainty............................trust?

“It’s OK. It’s OK.” He repeated.

She was silent for a moment before whispering. “Lour-ne?”

Her voice was low and melodious, and Lorne found himself smitten immediately. He smiled widely.

“That’s right, Sunshine. My name is Lorne.”

The woman eyed the demon up and down, taking in his features, his clothes. It was obvious to Lorne that she had never met a member of his clan before. She studied him for a full minute before moving to pick herself off the ground. She faltered as she stood, putting her weight on her bad ankle. Lorne had been matching her ascent, and managed to catch her as she fell forward into his arms.

“Woah! Easy there, Pancake. Don’t want you flattened out again.” He offered a friendly chuckle as he held her steady. He looked down at her dark hair, now falling just past her shoulders in loose waves. Her head barely reached his chin as she used the man’s arms to upright herself. She stood delicately, placing her weight on her good foot, and glanced shyly up at Lorne.

“Wah-tay.” She mumbled humbly.

“I suppose you’re welcome.” He noticed the fleeting aroma of flowers as he lowered his head to speak to her. “Let’s get you off that foot, huh? Here, let me help.”

Lorne guided the woman slowly backward toward the edge of the bed and held her hand in his as she found her own way down to sit on the duvet. Using her palms, she pressed the cotton shift dress smoothly down her thighs and adjusted the belt at her waist. She saw the serpent armband still on her arm, touched it briefly, closed her eyes, and sighed quietly.

Reliefreliefreliefreliefreliefreliefreliefreliefreliefreliefreliefreliefreliefreliefrelief...confusion...confusion...

She looked at Lorne again. The fear and uncertainty had returned, but it had lessened. Lorne felt it, but it was slipping away from him.

I guess that’s a plus. He thought to himself. She’s not as stressed as she was.

Lorne rose to grab the same chair he had been sitting in during his vigil, and pulled it around the bed to face the woman on the other side. He kept it a comfortable distance away from the woman, not wanting to make her uneasy, but wanting to make it clear that he needed her attention. He sat in the chair with his palms on his legs.

“Alright, Buttercup. We need to figure this out, and, sadly, I only speak English and Pylean, so... let’s try this again.” Lorne pointed to himself. “Lorne.” He said.”

The young woman spoke quietly. “Lour-ne.”

“That’s right! Now, what is your name?” He pointed at his guest.

Uncertainty.............confusion............helpful............hopeful........

She raised her hand to her chest, placing her palm over her heart. “...Saf-Fi-Ya.”

Lorne smiled without delay, and raised his hands above his head in a dramatic Hallelujah. “Lord Sinatra, be praised!”

Saffiya returned the smile, and coyly rose her hand to cover her mouth. Lorne found it adorable. Encouraged by the positive interaction, he continued on, pointing to the chair beneath him.

“Chair. Chair. Chair.”

“Or-ette.” Saffiya answered with a quizzical look, “Or-ette.”

“Or-ette.” Lorne echoed. “OK. Let’s try another one.” He pointed a finger at the lamp on the nightstand. “Lamp. Lamp. Laaaammmp.”

The woman shook her head slowly.

Confusion...no... unknown...

“Alright. Maybe you don't have lamps where you’re from. That’s OK. We’ll keep it simple” He looked around room for inspiration. Someone had left a bottle of water on the same nightstand, and he reached to collect it. As he unscrewed the lid and poured a small amount into his cupped hand, he spoke. “Water. Water...” He splashed the liquid with a finger and made a point to touch it to his mouth, demonstrating it was safe. “Water.”

Saffiya nodded quickly, saying, “Raw-wen.”

Impatient...impatient...restraint...flustered...impatient...

“This is taking a while, isn’t it, Princess?” The demon sighed forcefully. “I agree.”

Saffiya tried to rise once more, letting a hand reach out toward Lorne before having to sit back down quickly. Obviously bothered, she motioned to Lorne for him to come closer to her. “O-na. O-na.”

He stood and took a few paces toward Saffiya.

“Moy. Moy, O-na.”

Another few paces...

She gestured for him to lower himself to her level, and he knelt, uncertain what was to happen next.

“Om-ee ah-na way tah-low. Hor-a ten.” The woman whispered to Lorne as her eyes pleaded with him. “Ah-whet?”

Sure, why not? Lorne nodded.

Saffiya lowered her gaze to Lorne’s chest, and touched the fabric of his shirt. She recoiled at the sensation.

“I know, polyester. I'm sorry. I didn’t care for it either, but your shopping options are limited when you can’t go far in public on your own.”

She ignored his words and brushed the shirt collar out of the way, allowing her fingers to follow the buttons down, eventually figuring out how to open the shirt farther. She managed to make it down to the bottom of Lorne’s ribs.

“You know, I don’t know how it is wherever you came from, but here, it’s customary to buy someone a drink first.” He joked with a grin.

Two warm palms pressed flat against the demon’s green chest, and the visitor began to mumble quickly and quietly. Lorne watched intently, trying to find any meaning in her actions.

Just as quickly as she had begun murmuring, Saffiya stopped, but kept her hands on the demon’s bare skin.

Confusedconfusedconfusedconfusedangryconfused...angry...angry...frustrated...impatient...

“Gah-way Ja?” She looked up at Lorne, her face red with agitation. Lorne opened his lips to speak...

At that moment, the bedroom door creaked open, and a familiar, pale face poked through the space.

“How’s the patient?” It was Angel, walking into the room. He stopped in his tracks when he took in the scene before him. The woman was awake and feeling up Lorne’s bare chest as he knelt in front of her.

“Uh...You guys should lock the door... next time.”

Lorne stood quickly, defensively.

“This is NOT what it looks like, Angel Bear. I promise! She just... She’s trying to... Well, I don’t know what she’s trying to do, but she seems sure about it...”

“What did we miss? Is she awake?”

It was Wesley this time, following behind Angel. He, too, stopped at the sight of a bare-chested Lorne.

“Um... Should we... Leave?” He gestured to the door.

“In-a, wah no Al-whet?” Saffiya looked around the room at the faces that were studying her, finally coming to rest on Lorne. “Ah-sto-al ee-ahn...”

Lorne looked at his charge, not having understood a word, but wanting to be as reassuring as possible. He nodded.

Saffiya pointed to Lorne’s chest, then to Angel, and finally pointed to one hand with the other. Lorne was beginning to put the charades together.

“Uh...Ange... I think Saffiya wants a minute with you.”

“Saffiya?”

“Yeah, I think that’s her name. That’s about as far as we’ve gotten.”

“So... What? She wants to grope me, too?”

“Look, she seems to know what she’s doing, which is 10 steps ahead of all of us. It’s worth a shot.”

Angel studied Lorne for a moment before turning his eyes to Saffiya. She seemed frightened, small, confused. Angel made a motion to her, as if to ask if she could come to him. The demon interjected. “Actually, she seems to be injured. You’ll have to come over here...” He took a step back and made room for Angel to come forward. The vampire stood hovering over Saffiya with an expression of impatience upon his face. He raised his arms slightly from his waist, and uttered one word: “OK.”

Saffiya glanced at Lorne and gestured to her neck.

“Oh! Ah, you should do the buttons... And kneel. Makes it easier for her”

With the shirt finally opened and the vampire on his knees, Saffiya moved to place her hands on Angel’s chest. She began to speak the same words she spoke when she touched Lorne earlier, but again, quickly stopped.

“Bash-tet ar-Ra! Way-a-meen Oh-teph-ay?!” She seemed angry now. Frustrated at a situation no one really understood.

“What’s wrong, Lorne?”

The demon shrugged, defeated. “I don’t know. I... I don’t know.”

The room was deathly silent for a brief moment, punctuated only by the sighs of those present. Saffiya glanced around at the statuesque men before finally exclaiming, “RA, HE-AM O-TEB!”

Before anyone could stop her, Saffiya had pushed herself from the bed and began to make her way toward Wesley. He barely had time to register the movement around him before he felt the woman crash into him, head first, having stumbled on her poor foot. The impact sent the pair diving to the floor; Wesley on his back, the woman practically straddling him. With one swift motion, she sat upright on his abdomen and stretched her hands out toward the Watcher’s chest. Wesley yelled.

“Somebody get her off of me! She’s trying to kill me!” Wesley was panicked as the strange female began to pull at his shirt, ripping the cloth in a frantic effort to reach her hands to his skin. Buttons flew from Wesley’s shirt as Angel and Lorne rushed to help free him of his assailant. Angel grabbed at Saffiya’s waist while Lorne tried to pry her hands away from the Watcher’s flesh. Only a few seconds after contact was made, Saffiya’s face lit up in a fantastic smile, and she began to loudly recite the same words she had started to chant earlier. This time, she continued.

“I can’t...get her off!” Angel grunted.

“Her hands won’t budge!” Lorne exclaimed, perplexed.

Without warning, Saffiya threw her head back and opened her eyes wide, revealing a bright, green light that seemed to shine from within. Lorne and Angel both leapt back, not knowing what was happening. Even Wesley couldn’t help but stare in disbelief. The room was filled with a sharp, tangible, vibration.

After what seemed like an eternity, the glow in the woman’s eyes dimmed, she looked back down at the Watcher, and released her palms from his chest. She wavered for a moment, before lurching backward. Lorne saw the sudden movement and grabbed Saffiya before she collapsed to the floor.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this, Princess.”

As he pulled her off of Wesley’s torso, Angel reached to grab the Watcher’s hands and help him to his feet. He brushed himself off and tried to straighten out what was left of his shirt, embarrassed at the uncharacteristic state he was in.

Lorne placed Saffiya gently back on the bed. Thankfully, she seemed alive and well, although her breathing was rapid and shallow. Angel and Wesley stood at the foot of the bed, closer than last time, and watched as Lorne leaned over the woman and took her hand in his own once more. Saffiya slowly turned her head to face the demon. She smiled, bright and genuine, and spoke.

“...Thank you.”

#Lorne #Angel #AtS #Krevlornswath #Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan #Demon Lord #angel the series

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autumnalwalker · 1 year

Text

Empty Names - 3 - Dance Partners

Author's Note: The third of four character intro chapters. One half monster movie chase scene, one half extended fight scene, so a bit more violent than the last chapter, but not by much, with the bloodiest part left implied off-screen. Word Count: 4,108 Content Warnings: Genre-typical violence. Blood. Broken bones (brief mention). Death (off-screen). Loss of control of a motor vehicle. Once again, if anyone reads this and sees something that I should have included a content warning for, let me know and I'll go back and add it.

<-Previous Chapter Masterpost Next Chapter->

A girl in a prom dress stood crying at the edge of a moonlit lake. Her date stood her up. She lied to her papa when she asked to borrow his pickup, saying she would go to the school on her own anyway.

*******

Eris runs through her warmup stretches in a red tracksuit on the edge of a moonlit lake. Her dance partner should be here any time now. She glances back at her van in consideration before deciding she has all she needs for tonight.

*******

The girl realized her makeup was running. Not that all the hours she’d spent over the past two years perfecting it had made a difference in the end. All the blush and mascara in the world wouldn’t change the fact that she was a tall freak with big arms and callused hands. The fact that she’d been asked out at all was probably a prank.

Still, the feeling of her work from earlier in the evening coming undone was enough to spur her into reining in her tears at least a little. She’d come out to the lake to make herself feel better, so that’s what she was going to do. She wiped away her tears, ignored the cleaning fees the smudged makeup on her dress was going to incur, and tried to take in the natural beauty she’d come here for. And then tried not to feel hurt all over again when she noticed the couple making out further down the shore.

But what was that shape in the water moving toward them?

*******

Eris looks out over the lake. Still no sign of her dance partner. Perhaps he’s hiding and waiting for her to find him. It wouldn’t be the first time he tried to surprise her like that.

But where if not right here at the edge of the water? The visitor center? No, the two of them had made a mess of that place just last year and he liked to change things up. The camp cabins? Maybe, but that’s further from the water than he usually prefers and she’d already verified that no one was booked to be staying there tonight, so it wasn’t likely he’d be there getting started early with someone else. Oh, maybe the boathouse. “Closed for renovations” signs have always been like invitations for him.

After making her way over to the boathouse she pauses in front of the smudged glass door and indulges a passing whimsy to strike a pose in the pool of yellow light beneath a flickering incandescent lamp. She likes to think she cuts an intimidating figure, standing taller than most men, muscles gained from a decade of vigorous training and demanding work bulging against the tracksuit as she flexes, and eagerly grinning teeth catching the light just so. Yes, dramatically posing like this is definitely cool and intimidating, and not silly in the slightest.

But enough of that, there’s a dance to be had.

*******

The girl walked down the shore to get a better look at the shape in the water, drawn by morbid curiosity and a vague sense of dread. It wasn’t the distraction from her woes she’d come to the lake looking for, but she’d take it all the same.

At first it was just an odd ripple in the otherwise placid dark water. Probably just a duck, or maybe a turtle. Hard to tell from the distance she was at, but something felt off about it. As she got closer to the couple and the thing in the water got closer to the shore it seemed to get bigger. Or had it just been mostly underwater and was starting to surface? A gator?

The girl was hardly fifty feet away from the couple who were too busy working their hands under each other's clothes to notice her approach when the thing in the water breached the surface. It was a man, or so she thought at first. A deathly pale man with a glistening bald head rising up from the lake. But, why did his skin have a greenish tinge to it? And his face! What man has lips that wrap around the full length of his jaw?

The girl froze as she saw the man - the creature - walk out of the lake. Once its gaunt and bare chest was above the water it raised an arm toward the couple on the shore and made a grasping motion with its too-long fingers. A too-long tongue stretched down past a too-sharp chin as it licked its too-wide lips before opening its maw to reveal its far, far too-numerous teeth.

*******

Eris tries the door and finds it locked. Disappointed but not surprised, she pulls harder on the handle until the old timber of the doorframe splinters and tears off in a chunk to allow the door to swing open. She figures it’s not a big deal since the place is getting renovated anyway.

Nothing happens when she tries the lightswitch just inside. She debates for a moment on whether to go looking for a circuit breaker before pulling a metal flashlight from a pocket and opting to just use that. Swinging the beam of light around the room, it looks like the renovations have just gotten started. The plastic kayaks stacked against the far wall haven’t been moved out yet and it’s the same old half-rotten safety railing around the water in the center, but the rental counter and the old containers of fishing equipment that used to line the near wall have been torn away leaving only sawdust and splinters.

An unexpected pang of nostalgia hits Eris as the memory of a childhood summer’s day out on the lake with her papa risen unbidden. She pushes it away.

Stepping further inside, it doesn’t look like the equipment the renovation crew left behind has been disturbed. Nor have the locks on the double doors leading out to the lake. Not that that means much. Eris looks up, scanning the rafters with the flashlight just in case her dance partner’s decided to really mix things up this year. Nothing but cobwebs. That just leaves the obvious hiding place.

Leaning over the safety rail to look into the water, Eris fails to make out anything beneath. The green-brown murk is too cloudy for the flashlight to pierce. Eris grins. It wouldn’t be cloudy like that if there wasn’t something down there stirring it up. She walks over to a pallet of un-rotted lumber and places the flashlight down on top of it before taking her place at the kayak-side boarding section of the dock without the railing.

A pale, scale-covered hand darts out of the water and grabs her ankle.

“Got you,” Eris says.

*******

The girl did not think about what she was doing when she called out. Not the first time to get the couple’s attention, and not the second time to warn them of the unnatural thing coming from the water. Nor did the ramifications on her own safety cross her mind when she picked up a stone and threw it at the creature that was coming faster now toward the couple who was too busy screaming to run.

Such thoughts came after the stone collided with the creature’s head, causing it to recoil momentarily before turning to set its sights on her. The moment between realizing what she’d just brought upon herself and turning to flee was the first time the girl ever swore aloud.

*******

Eris braces herself against the hand’s attempt to pull her into the water. Between tugs she bends down and snaps a makeshift stake from the dock’s planking. Grabbing the wrist of the thing grabbing her with one hand, she stabs and tears the fleshy webbing between the fingers around her ankle with the other. The moment the hand from the water lets go in pain Eris drops the splintered wood and takes hold of its wrist with both hands.

She gives a wordless shout of exertion and thrill as she hauls her dance partner out of the water. She adjusts her grip as she lifts until one hand finds purchase on a bony plate near its midsection, enabling her to transition the maneuver into a suplex as she leans back. They both hit the boathouse floor to the sound of cracking wood and tumbling kayaks. Eris rolls out of the way of the latter and to her feet. Sidestepping out of the flashlight’s beam, she lets her dance partner have the spotlight for a moment.

The creature’s thrashing soon gets it out from under the pile of neon pink and yellow boats and off of its turtle-shelled back. It leans forward on arms long enough to press its palms flat to the floor while still remaining mostly upright. A pale green slime drips from the parts of its body not covered in scale or shell. It locks its gaze on Eris, pupils contracting into slits from the light, and a deep low hiss escapes its elongated toothy snout.

“Damn,” Eris says as if in response, “you get uglier and dumber every year.”

*******

The girl glanced back over her shoulder as she ran. The pale man was fully out of the water now and chasing after her. She didn’t see the couple.

She put her eyes back forward and focused on not tripping over the stupid dress she never should have rented. Now she just needed to get back to the truck in the visitor center parking lot and drive away to safety. And then maybe call the police or something. But would they even believe her? She pushed the thought aside. She could worry about that after she got away.

“Why are you running?” said a voice from behind her. The words came out slurred and wet. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk.”

The girl chanced another look behind her. The pale man was closer now and hardly showing any effort. She tried to push herself to go faster despite her burning lungs, only to trip and fall. The gargling noise from behind her was barely recognizable as laughter.

“Okay, it might hurt a little, but I promise it won’t last long.”

*******

Eris readies herself for the beast’s expected charge. When it instead throws a kayak at her she recognizes the maneuver for the feint it is, catching the airborne boat and repurposing it from makeshift projectile to makeshift club as she swings at the momentary blind spot in her field of view. The creature, now right on top of her, slaps the kayak from her grapes, sending it into the water.

A roar and their dance finally begins in earnest. As her dance partner flails its long arms about in swipes that shatter safety railing and scatter construction equipment Eris darts in and out. Jab the soft spot, jump back out of reach. Kick the knee with a steel-toed boot, duck the bite. Uppercut the jaw, block the retaliatory punch. Repeat.

But the back and forth quickly becomes more back than forth for the monster hunter. There are fewer soft spots to hit this year, limiting her directions of attack. The scales are rougher this time around, tearing her sleeves and scraping her arms when she tries to block. Slowly but surely, Eris is being pushed backward around the U shape of the boathouse floor until the two of them pass the door she came in from.

With little space left to retreat to, Eris goes for a blow to the head that sends her dance partner stumbling into the wall and opens room for her to run back around to the other side. She’s between the creature and the water when it grabs her by the neck and lifts her off her feet.

Only slightly off-plan.

*******

The girl felt clammy hands grasp her shoulders and haul her to her feet. The hands spun her around until she was face to toothy face with the pale man.

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to throw rocks at people?” the man asked, making the girl gag from the smell of pondscum and rotten meat on his breath. “Naughty girls like you should be taught a lesson.” The grip on the girl’s shoulders tightened until the ragged nails drew blood. “Just hold still and it will all be over soon.”

The pale man opened his mouth wider than any human could and began inching toward the girl’s face. The long tongue extended from the maw to get a taste of what it was about to bite.

Just as the tongue was about to touch her, the girl’s uppercut to the pale man’s chin slammed his jaw shut on top of it. The man - no, the monster - howled in pain and surprise, letting go of the girl to grasp at his - its - injury.

The girl wasted no time in running, nor did she look back this time as the thing behind her hurled slurred curses. The light from the parking lot was just ahead. And there, in the middle of the empty expanse of asphalt and yellow street lamps was her papa’s truck.

*******

Eris struggles against the hand around her throat, grasping at the fingers and trying to prise them loose. She manages just enough to take a breath and whistle a single loud sustained note.

At her signal a blade of orange light erupts from the wall behind the creature. It notices and moves out of the way just in time to avoid the blade passing through its neck but its shoulder is still clipped. As the blade passes through flesh and then retracts back into the wall it leaves no mark on either and yet the arm holding Eris drops to the creature’s side, limp and useless. She takes the opportunity presented by her dance partner staring stupefied at its numb appendage to retreat out the door.

“Are you alright?” a resonant voice asks as Eris runs outside.

Eris looks over at the figure in purple and green armor standing next to the boathouse. Between the reflective faceplate and the glowing blade in hand the ensemble’s always struck Eris as more combat robot than medieval knight.

“I’m fine, but you missed its neck,” she pants as she rubs her own bruised neck. “Got the shoulder though, so thanks for the assist there, Road.”

“That’s the sneak attack plan out then,” he says. “Next best plan is likely-”

Road’s plan is cut off mid sentence by a hand bursting from the wall behind him, grabbing his helmet and pulling him through the wall, leaving a gaping dark hole in the side of the boathouse. From the outside Eris hears another roar, followed by the sound of metal being dragged along splintering wood, and then finally the shattering of glass as Road is hurled back out through the closed door. Eris sidesteps as he flies past, hits the ground, rolls, and comes to a stop in a dramatically posed crouch. He only wobbles slightly as he staggers to his feet.

“As I was saying,” Road continues, “Plan B is we draw it out here where we have room to move and then keep slicing and pummeling it until it stops moving.”

Eris slams fist and palm together and grins. “The best plan.”

*******

The girl was surprised at how steady her hands were as she punched in the keyless entry code for the pickup. She was the most scared she’d ever been in her life and yet there was something else. Relief at having gotten away? Excitement? Thrill? A feeling of power after having stared death in the eye then punched it in the face? She smirked as she opened the door and climbed inside. That last one had a nice ring to it.

Fish out the keys, start the engine, buckle her seatbelt, change the radio to something less sad, and she was off. Or so she thought until she felt a bump backing out of the parking spot. The girl looked in the rearview mirror and saw her pursuer once more, now holding onto the back of the truck. She changed gears and pressed the gas, speeding forward and bouncing over the parking blocks between the spaces.

After swerving back and forth across the parking lanes and back to the road out the girl checked the mirror again. Her stomach dropped to see the pale man had climbed into the bed of the pickup and was now slowly making its way toward the cab. She floored the acceleration, but it only made the inhuman thing wobble for a moment before regaining its balance and continuing to get closer.

How much longer did she have? Surely it wouldn’t stick with her if she got to a busy part of town with witnesses. Would it? The truck was getting hard to handle at this speed on the winding backwoods road in the dark. She was too busy just watching the pavement to pay attention to the speedometer, but she had to be at least double the speed limit by now.

And then she heard the thump on the roof as the creature climbed on top. And then the banging on the window from a pale fist she could just make out from her peripheral vision. And then she almost didn’t see the sharp turn in the road ahead.

The girl swore aloud for a second time that she hoped wouldn’t be her last.

She slammed the brakes and turned the wheel as hard as she could. The truck began fishtailing. Tires squealed. Inertia took over. Her seatbelt strained. The pale man was flung from the roof into the darkness. She felt the truck go offroad and then back on.

She was breathing hard when the truck finally came to a stop facing nearing the direction it had come from. And there, in the headlights was the crumpled body of the pale man where it had slammed into a tree. The girl's racing heart skipped a beat when the thing stood back up.

Once more, she did not stop to think as she hit the gas to ram the creature.

*******

Eris jumps back from yet another swipe of the creature’s arms. “How long did you say that toy of yours is supposed to stun for?” she shouts to Road.

He dodges a glob of noxious fluid being spat at him. “An hour or two, usually,” he replies.

“So why’s this guy recovering after a few seconds?”

“Undeath, regeneration, slime coating dispersing the beam. Could be any or all of that.”

They’ve been at this for minutes now, and they’re both starting to tire. Meanwhile, even contending with both of them at once, Eris’s annual dance partner is still going strong. Broken bones, cracked shell, paralyzed limbs, all of them heal before their eyes too quickly to make a difference. Not to mention the creature’s figured out the trick of twisting its torso hard enough to smack them around even with limp arms. Add in the complication of trying to keep it from escaping back into the lake and trying to bring it in alive for once starts to feel more trouble than it’s worth.

“Time to stab it in the head and be done with it then?” Eris suggests as she and Road begin circling the creature from out of reach.

“You told me this guy comes back stronger every year. Do you really want to see what’s worse than this?”

“The neck then. Stun it all at once.”

“Been trying, but I think he’s picked up on that and I haven’t been able to get a clear shot.” Road goes silent for a moment, considering. “Plan C, you try to pin him,” he shouts as he charges the creature to get its attention.

While Road attacks with a ferocity heedless of any pretense of self-preservation, Eris slowly moves in, careful to keep out of the creature’s peripheral vision, and waits for her opportunity. That opportunity soon arrives as Road disables one of the creature’s arms at the cost of several plates being torn from his armor. Taking a step back, he leaves himself open for the creature to strike at his exposed torso. The creature rears back and raises its good arm just as Eris slams into it from behind and knocks it to the ground with her on top of it. She takes hold of its arm before it can raise itself back off the ground and pulls it toward her with a satisfying snap.

The dance ends with the sound of once last roar as Road steps forward and plunges the blade of light into the creature’s neck.

*******

The girl left the engine running when she got out of the truck. She went around to the back and opened up the metal toolbox in the pickup bed. It didn’t take her long to find the hammer inside. Its weight felt good in her hands. She closed the toolbox and went back to the front where the monster was pinned between the truck’s hot grille and the tree. She ignored its screams that cursed her name and promised eternal vengeance ending in a watery grave.

She raised the hammer.

*******

Eris brushes the ooze off her hands and slams the rear doors of her van shut. Figuring out how to transport her old dance partner while keeping a sword with no solid blade lodged in its neck turned out to be nearly as much a challenge as the fight - and considerably less fun - but the two of them had managed in the end. She leans on the van and looks over to where Road is sitting on the curb and whispering to his armor as he reattaches the plates that were torn off in the battle. His face is visible now that the helmet’s retracted back into the rest of the suit.

“Thanks again for the assist,” she says, crossing her arms. “I was getting tired of coming up with new ways to kill that bastard every year.”

Road looks up at her. “You’re welcome,” he says with a calm smile and a voice no longer distorted from the helmet. “I’m always happy to help. That said, are you sure you’re alright? You took quite a beating tonight.”

“Eh, it’s just cuts and bruises. Nothing won’t heal up in a couple days. I didn’t even break any bones, so I’d call it a pretty smooth hunt. Might not be fast as our passenger here, but I heal quick.”

“I’d been meaning to ask about that. You don’t know what he is exactly do you?”

Eris shrugs. “Your guess is probably better than mine. Best I’ve been able to figure out, it’s the ghost or revenant or something of some serial killer who drowned in the lake trying to run from the cops. Seems like a dumb place to run to, but eh. I just know I’ve been killing it for a decade now and every year it comes back on the anniversary of its death stronger and less human, and if I try to kill it in the same way twice it just gets back up again. Hell if I know why.”

“Fascinating,” Road muses. “I might need to come back out here again sometime and do some diving. See what else is down there.”

The idea is enough to make Eris shiver. “You have fun with that. Tried fighting in the water once. Never again.” Eris pushes off the van and paces. “You sure this buddy of yours can keep it alive and contained so it doesn’t come back.”

Road fits the last plate back into place, whispers something to it that Eris can’t make out and then pats the plate like one would a pet. Hardly the weirdest interaction with their gear that Eris has seen out of a hunter.

“Sure as I can be, knowing as little as we do,” he says as he rises to his feet. “And if he can’t, then I know he’s got the connections to find someone who can.”

“Good enough for me,” Eris says and opens up the driver-side door of the van.

“Speaking of connections,” Road says a few moments later, climbing into the back to keep an eye on their passenger, “what would you say to working together like this more often?”

*******

The girl smiled as she wiped the blood off of her face. It turned out the trip to the lake really had been just what she needed. Although perhaps she’d wear red the next time she tried something like this. It would hide the stains better.

<-Previous Chapter Masterpost Next Chapter->

#writing #original fiction #urban fantasy #Writeblr #WIP #Empty Names #serial fiction #writing practice #writers on tumblr #creative writing #literature #prose #writers #web novel #novel #fantasy #fiction #my writing #emptynameswriting

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magiwou-meowvin · 1 year

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I posted 1,609 times in 2022

That's 233 more posts than 2021!

19 posts created (1%)

1,590 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@joelleity

@nour386

@inkstaindusk

@irldothewindything

@mother-ofthe-universe

I tagged 1,604 of my posts in 2022

#dc - 254 posts

#death note - 153 posts

#about me - 140 posts

#video - 137 posts

#bruce wayne - 121 posts

#gravity falls - 110 posts

#natsuyuu - 91 posts

#jason todd - 72 posts

#light yagami - 51 posts

#dick grayson - 51 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#mana offence set at max charisma like ~25% (his passive is higher) and phys defence whatever amount it takes to survive all that fall damage

My Top Posts in 2022:

THE OG "I'M NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS" GIRL

[ID: an excerpt from Lucy Westenra's letter to Mina Murray via Dracula Daily. the lines, "He says that I afford him a curious psychological study, and I humbly think I do. I do not, as you know, take sufficient interest in dress to be able to describe the new fashions. Dress is a bore" are underlined in red]

16 notes - Posted May 11, 2022

Nishimura and co. get to attend a Natori Shuuichi movie on opening night because Natsume gets free tickets all the time.

Natori Shuuichi's elusive boyfriend is also there.

does everyone remember when I hijacked this post to write a silly Nishimura oneshot about it? good because I did it again, partially because of this other post that has had me thinking of vampire aus for WEEKS. please don’t get your hopes up tho this is basically clickbait Matoba is still not a vampire, Nishimura just thinks he should be because Nishimura is a genius

18 notes - Posted April 17, 2022

omg. you know i want to know more about 'natori accidently gets a kid'

The man turns away from Shuuichi and yells in a gravelly voice, “Hey, Kid! You better be ready to go!” before facing Shuuichi again, “Can’t believe you cancelled on me last week. D’you have any idea what a pain he is? We all gotta take our turn with the brat, I get that, so don’t you be shirking your turn, you hear?”

“What?” he says stupidly.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, the man’s attention is drawn by a small child struggling down the hallway under the weight of a beaten cardboard box. Shuuichi stands there rather dumbly as he watches the boy slide his feet into sneakers that are clearly too big for him. He doesn’t meet Shuuichi’s eyes the whole time, but he moves to stand next to him as though this is a perfectly regular occurrence. He turns back to the man who opened the door, bows despite the burden caught in his arms, and says, “Thank you for watching me.”

The man scoffs but reaches out to ruffle the boy’s hair. “See you ‘round, Kid. Try not to drive Morita too crazy, yeah?” and then the door is shut once more, the only evidence it ever opened at all standing at Shuuichi’s side and looking far too comfortable with whatever just happened.

The child turns to Shuuichi and bows to him, still not meeting his eyes, “Thank you for taking me in.”

i.e, Natori is mistaken for a relative of little Natsume's while trying to find out info for an exorcist gig and now he has this kid he's literally just met what in the—??

if everything goes how I want it to, this'll be a one-shot and Natsume will end up living with Natori full-time, or at the least I'll end it with Natori making moves to that end anyway

ask me about my wips?

25 notes - Posted May 3, 2022

natsuyuu au where everything is the same except at first meeting Natsume successfully Decks Matoba and the exorcist community just has to live with that knowledge

84 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Natsume Takashi is such a wild character concept bc he has the means to subject invisible spirits to complete servitude no questions they can’t not do it and Instead of using his all powerful summoning book when in danger he just. punches things. and it works

390 notes - Posted May 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #long post #about me #b posts

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satellite-blossom · 2 years

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While I was searching for a sketch of an old Seedrian OC (and inspiration for my artstyle in crisis), I found a few other interesting things (under the read more to not clog your feed with old art).

Those two Amy with a nice energy to them, especially the 1st one. I know for a fact that the first one's dress was based on one from The New Style Boutique 2 (aka Girls Mode 3 or Style Savvy something) because I've been taking inspiration from this franchise for years now. Her pose is very cute, I want to redraw it someday.

Two unfinished fellows looking quite dapper ❢ I'm 85% sure they were planned for some Amino contests I ended up not joining. Anyway their vibes are immaculate and I should do something with them.

Some Shadow from when I first got introduced to Eclipse ❢ I thought it could be cool to give Shad more Black Arms elements for an AU at the time, and lately I've been considering doing this for my main fanfic too. Talking about it, the context for the first picture is that Shadow is one of my OC Léa's adoptive parents on Mobius. Since their whole deal is that they get the love of everyone from Mobius' dimension I thought Eclipse would like them too, but Shadow wouldn't enjoy it. Still, since Léa would try to unite the two, so that's why they're saying ❝Family ❢❞ in the pic… Not that Eclipse had ever appeared in my canon yet, but I've always been a lad of many AUs and ❝what if❞.

Here we have an OC based on Honey's recolored model that showed up in a few game files. I named her ❝Candy❞ because that was the old localized name of Honey the cat's inspo : Honey from Fighting Vipers. Candy would be Honey's sister/twin.

The second character was supposed to be a Christmas Amino coin adopt. I think they were either bigender, genderfluid or just left to interpretation since they have two first names listed. In a strange coincidence they remind me of Noelle from Deltarune, perhaps because her name is pronounced like the French word for Christmas (Noël).

Lastly we have a surprisingly well drawn Gardevoir next to my Pokéfan Sonic OC. Not that Pokémon games exist on Mobius in my fanfic, Mathilda (aka Lonely Weaboo) is just an Earthling, and that's her appearance on Mobius. I really need to rework this character to be more than a fangirl and a source of references though...

And then there's a Manic that I think I tried to draw in the Sonic Riders artstyle. I think I hadn't drawn his clothes yet.

Sorry for the ramblings, I just wanted to make things clear to y'all.

#berry rambles #berry rambly #long post

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frosted-night · 3 years

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Jack Frost Designs Review

Yes it’s finally his time. This is going to include his book designs including previous incarnations in said books. There are more movie concept designs than book so, let’s dig in shall we?

This was in fact the first ever Jack Joyce designed while he came up with The Guardians Of Childhood. He even comes with his own backstory! (Which was cut. Sorry Joyce posts walls of text so it’s a girthy read.)

So instead of a young mischievous trickster, we got a much more depressing story of Jack. (Jack by default is sad obviously) but this one... It kind of hits differently and almost reminds me of the story he crafted for Pitch. A dad who tried to defend his family but through tragic events was ripped from them and changed completely. Design wise, he’s a lot more tree than snow. There doesn’t exist a colored version of this so we’ll never know if he sported winter and dull dead leaf colors rather than grassy greens.This Jack has a weird presence to him, I can’t put my finger on it. Rating: 6/10 He’s really neat! Just a little too Autumn feeling rather than a blend of both Autumn and Winter.

Nightlight feels like the baby evolution if Jack was a pokemon and that's what I’m gonna stick with. Below is a more recent version of him colored.

In all honesty that one is easier on the eyes proportion wise because sometimes Joyce has ‘interesting’ anatomy choices but we aint going into that today. It’s interesting how his hair somehow looks shorter and longer than Jack’s at the same time. Could be because the longer strands float seamlessly but star boy hair physics what can ya do. It’s a little hard to tell what is his skin and what is his armor, so that is a casuality in making a character only have one or two colors in their color scheme. I love other artist’s depictions of Nightlight but the canon one feels a little weak color wise. Rating: 5/10 Sorry, get some better LEDs and then come back.

Here we have a book Jack but I can’t entirely recall if this was used in the books or not. I digress. This design looks like him still wearing very Nightlight-esque armor/clothing and slowly growing into his new persona as Jack Frost. The intricacies are hard to make out but we’ll work with it. This one is very interesting to me because he very much looks like an older teen close to young adult. His hair looks very fluffy too. Not many complaints about this one but not much praise either.

Rating: 6/10 Not great but doesn’t stand out that much.

Remember when I said Joyce had ‘interesting’ anatomy decisions? Jack looks like he has half a head here and it bothers me GREATLY. This is the adult Jack design he went with. Supposedly he likes the opera and he sure looks it. This! Exists!! Kind of wish it didn’t. The outfit is nice but it just doesn’t fit Jack as a whole. This just screams to me that it’s someone else with a similar-ish hairstyle.

Rating: 3/10 Guess he’d be the...Phantom Of The Opera. (I’ll go home and so should he.)

And finally the final Jack. This is the one that almost exactly resembles the Jack we got in the movies(Probably because it was made after the movie but w/e) but just add a cape on him. I can’t really tell if hes got a hoodie and a cape, or just a cloak+hood on top of a sweatshirt. It isn’t too important because my thoughts on this one are obvious. Rating: 10/10 Edna Mode would have a field day with you boy.

MOVIE DESIGN TIME

Joyce claims this is a design he drafted when Leonardo DiCaprio was considered to voice Jack and I can kind of see that with how his face is drawn here. This Jack looks a lot more like a warrior and less of that trickster look. I can’t say I’m a fan of the weird antenna his hood has but his sword is really cool looking.

Rating: 4/10 Nice bow and sword but it can’t save your fashion choices.

This looks like a lanky 11-13 year old who would put rocks or slugs in my shoes and relish in my disgust. He has the exact look of a snot nose kid and I’m unsure how to feel about it.

His various hairstyles drafted here sort of make him softer looking or just more of a snot nose, no in between. Maybe even an Anime Protagonist.

The top right one almost looks like Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon if you squint. It’ll be a little hard to rate them all as one individual but why not.

Rating: 5/10 I don’t hate them but they aren’t my cup of tea.

AH- IS THAT A FUCKIN GREMLIN?

Oh wait no it isn’t he looks like a 10 year old. Whatever don’t feed him after midnight. The staff’s design of not being shaped like a G is an interesting tidbit but the whole design looks like he’s really young or like a troll etc. This Jack looks like he thinks girls have cooties uses outdated slang.

Rating: 4/10 This is me being generous.

It honestly looks like he hiked his pants up all the way to his chest. A late teen with horrid fashion choices once again. Not many other thoughts here.

Rating: 2/10 Get a sweater on or something.

This is one is very interesting looking to me. His clothes looked a lot more leather based and very human-like. The tatters, tears and frays all make him look like he was a victim of an accident that never changed his clothes. It makes me wonder if this Jack had the same death as the final movie Jack or something else entirely. Either way, this one looks like hes a mid to late teen which really adds to my intrigue.

This was another image that greatly resembled the design so I included it here. It almost looks like his skin is blue here which is pretty neat to me at least. He’s also got leaf motifs here, which from the first Jack design Joyce made, we can see a pattern here.

Rating: 8 /10 I was originally weirded out by his head but now its not so bad.

This Jack is definitely dressed more like a nature boy rather than him having human influenced fashion and it’s an appealing touch. The tiny leaf sprouting from his staff is also kind of cute since the designers seemed to want to put leafs somewhere on his designs. His hairstyle is also very cute but it reminds me of Sasuke Uchiha in a sense. (Not a setback for me at least)

Rating: 7/10 13 year old Jack is going thru a phase.

I thought this Jack didn’t show up again in story boards but I was wrong!

They look a little different from each other but just similar enough to pair together, so bare with me. The first one obviously has looser pants, slightly longer sleeves and got his leaf motif going. This second Jack is a VERY green. It gives the impression that this Jack made his clothes out of plants and natural materials. Again I’m not wholly sure if greens fit his color scheme but they sure went for it for a while. I can’t say I’m a fan of it because it heavily reminds me of Peter Pan.

However a very similar looking Jack could be found in this storyboard. It doesn’t look as green as the other storyboards made it out to be and looks more like dead grass. Which is a pretty nice touch.

Rating: 5/10 I don’t hate it but it just doesn’t vibe yknow.

Speaking of a vibe...hoo this certainly has one. This Jack isn’t old but certainly doesn’t look very young, maybe in the 20-30 range, thats just me. He has facial features that remind me of Pitch but resembles the Jack Frost of Santa Clause 3

That being said, I wondered if him looking similar to Pitch was in the storyline of them being brothers.(Which was a scrapped thing, who knew.) He’s a bit more menacing in this design but certainly seems like he relishes in his work.

Rating: 4/10 I’d make it a lower score but I gotta give it props

NOW THIS JACK IS KINDA INTERESTING. This one looks like he’s 16 and going through a grunge phase. He’s gonna play Nirvana loudly and not turn it down even if you tell him too. His staff itself has mini icicles hanging off of it and leafs look stuck to his shirt. Did you glue or staple those on Jack? His hair also looks much longer than his other designs and I kind of dig it( Shut up I’m bias.) I’m not wholly sure why else this design has stuck with me but it just has something about it that I just love. I wish there was a full body drawing of it.

(He also kinda has the same hair as the Jack Frost in Runescape but I wont go on about that hoo hoo)

Rating: 9/10 *Bad Boy by Cascada plays in the distance*

This one definitely feels like middleschooler trying to be in a band. His sticks just resemble drumsticks to me what can I say. I’m a big fan of his shoes and his color scheme screams a hibernating tree in winter. His hair also looks like it’s covered in frost rather than it being wholly white, which is very neat!! He looks like he wants to fight but has slight hesitance. Overall a very balanced Jack.

Rating: 8/10 He’s ready for band practice

Not many thoughts here, I just found these tiny Jack designs cute. His hoodie being a jacket instead just adds to the charm of this one.

No talk to him he angy.

Rating: 6/10 fun sized boi

Now this Jack resembles the one earlier that dressed entirely in leather brown colors, however he clearly is different than that one. I’m gonna say it, he looks like a zombie or undead in this design and its pretty fucking gnarly. I don’t know whats going on with his hair but I’m gonna assume it’s just the wind making it look like that. He just has the vibe that he was once human but was turned into something else entirely. It isnt in uncanny territory but borders that. This version of Jack meeting Pitch and the others would have been *very* interesting. Rating: 7/10 Eat a twinkie Jack you’ll feel better.

The final design! I can’t complain much about this one. The way his staff subtly has a G shape and a hexagon(his signature shape) is a wonderful touch. Additionally, the way the frost is gathered mostly where his hand is such an intricate detail. His signature hoodie is iconic at this point so I can’t bad mouth that either.(I can’t anyway because there's no complaints from me here.) Although, I never understood the leather straps that his pants had or their functions. I couldn’t find any colonial outfits that resembled Jack’s pants so its a total mystery to me at least.

And I can’t go on about this design until I mention the snowflake pattern in his eyes

Pure beauty. It’s at a hue of blue that almost looks impossible to have, combined with the electric blue color of the snowflake in his eyes. The amount of detail in this movie amazes me to this day. Rating: One Great Blizzard <3/10

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twisted-writing · 2 years

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For Anonymous

Who asked:

Hello Mod A. I've been waiting for your request to open since long ago anyway

Can I request a scenario with Azul? It happened in chapter 3. Y/n is a female okay.

Y/n has a beautiful voice and she was very good singer as well. Azul know he can't have her voice (Azul singing with a female voice would be funny). So here's the deal: If y/n lose she will become a singer for Mostro Lounge permanently,the ramshackle dorm will belong to Azul but she can still stay at the dorm. It's a pretty good deal so y/n agree. Also in the next three nights,y/n will sing at Mostro Lounge so Azul can test her ability. Then on the night of y/n's first performance at Mostro Lounge she sang this song: Angelfish (it's like a little mermaid song except a little darker). Y/n is quite a seductress when it comes to her voice so many boys are drawn there of course~. I wonder how Azul would feel about this. Can you make it romantical? I think y/n's dress should be the one the mermaid in the song wears at the beginning of the song.

POV: Third person

Characters: Azul Ashengrotto, female!reader, Jade Leech, Floyd Leech (mentioned), unknown character (mentioned)

Additional info: Pre-relationship, mentions of jealousy and possessive thoughts

Word count: 796

Note: the unknown character, is the reader’s singing coach, just so there isn’t any confusion! ^^

—————

As Y/N stood on the stage in Mostro Lounge, with the spotlight on her, her instincts were telling her to run, flee, but she won’t. This was part of the deal with Azul. Perform for three nights in the lounge, and she had to still figure out a way to get the picture that he wanted by the third day. But if she couldn’t get the picture by then, Ramshackle would belong to Azul, she would be a permanent singer for the lounge, however, she could remain at the dorm.

At the time, it had seemed like a good deal.

However, Y/N was starting to regret ever making that deal. Especially with the way everyone’s eyes were starting to feel like pricks against her skin. She just wanted to the floor to swallow her whole.

Would she be able to sing in such a nervous state?

What if she failed?!

What if her voice wasn’t as good as it had been in her world?!

What if-

“Remember, Y/N.” The voice of her singing instructor cut through her spiraling thoughts, like a beacon. “If you’re ever feeling nervous.”

Y/N brought her hands up to the microphone, but didn’t bring it close to her lips. Not yet.

“Inhale.”

She took in a breath and held it for five seconds.

“Exhale.”

And released it.

“Pretend it’s just the two of us.”

The crowd wasn’t there anymore. It was just the two of them. Like it had been numerous times before. Just Y/N and her singing coach.

The same coach who had pushed her. Encouraged her. Scolded her. Taught all of the herbal tea remedies that would help protect her voice and soothe it after a long day of vocal exercises.

Said coach who was looking at her with the smile that always eased her nerves.

“Now, sing for me.”

Y/N brought the microphone close to her lips as the song began.

“Hey I like you, I like you

So much that I want to break you

Whatever number, It doesn't matter so

“Give me more…”

——————

Azul wasn’t the type of person to get surprised so easily. He was always meticulous in his plans. But this?

If he had known how beautiful Y/N could sing, he would have tried to get her under a contract the moment she had stepped into Octavinelle to try and save those she cared about.

When he briefly glanced around the Mostro Lounge and saw that everyone, even Jade and Floyd, was entranced by her voice, Azul felt a surge of possessiveness mixed with jealousy, and he had a selfish thought:

He wanted to hear her sing for him and only him.

Such thoughts surprised him. Azul never had those kinds of thoughts before.

He was not the possessive type. Especially not over someone he wasn’t even dating.

But he did know talent when he saw it. And Y/N had it in spades.

He let the final line wash over him, wanting to remember how it sounded.

“I don't want to lose you anymore, so you too, in this place,

Continue to sink.”

When the last note had played through the air, all was quiet for a few seconds before the Lounge erupted in enthusiastic applause, himself, Jade, and Floyd being among them.

Azul only had one thought: perhaps a new contract would need to be drawn up.

{The lyrics I used are from the official translation which can be read here. You can listen to the Japanese version and the English version}

#twisted wonderland #twst scenarios #y/n x twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #octavinelle #octavinelle x reader #azul x reader #azul ashengrotto #y/n insert #female reader insert

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squishneedsahero · 3 years

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Building Bonds

Awesomest of Them All 2.0

Part 3 of 13

Word Count: 1259

Batman x Batmom!Reader

You know what the bat family needs? Someone to pull them together and give them all the love they deserve. Who better to do that than you? An author rising to stardom in Gotham who catches the eye of a billionaire with your standoffish attitude at a huge social gathering. You are yourself and never pretend to be more or less than that. Plus you're the most stubborn person in the world, refusing to let good things go without reason.

This is a rewrite of my story Awesomest of Them All, I wanted to see how much I've improved over 3 years.

"You sure you want to take him with?" Bruce asks.

You look up from packing, "Yes Bruce, have you ever known me to not be sure of something?" You move out of your bedroom to sit on your couch next to Bruce.

He wraps his arms around your waist, "He can be quite the handful," as he speaks you lean against his chest.

"I know," you pause, "but we've been dating for over a year now, and I want to get to know Dick better."

Bruce sighs, "Alright, I'm going to head home and I'll let him know," he stands up and you do as well.

"I'll come pick him up tonight," you lead Bruce to the door of your apartment.

"I'll see you then," he leans in and kisses you before leaving.

"Hello Miss l/n," Alfred greets you at the door.

"Hi Alfred," you say shaking his hand because what else are you supposed to do when someone won't just call you y/n? As soon as you step inside you hear a shout.

"Y/n!" Dick exclaims running up to you and wrapping his arms around you in a hug.

"Hi Dick! Are you ready to go?"

"Almost," Dick releases you and goes to grab his bags.

When you stand up from hugging the boy you feel two arms wrap around your waist from behind you. "Hello you," You say turning around to face Bruce as he holds you tighter.

"Be safe," Bruce says before he kisses you and you kiss back, not as long as you'd like as you hear a gagging noise behind you.

You smirk and pull away from the kiss, "No promises, conventions can be quite dangerous," you release from the hug as you lay a hand dramatically across your forehead. You then turn to face Dick, "you ready now?"

"Yup!"

"Then let's go," You say going to help him carry his bags. You take the duffel bag from the eleven year old and throw it over your shoulder. "See You next week," you say kissing Bruce one last time.

"See ya," Dick says hugging Bruce then Alfred.

"Be good," Bruce says ruffling Dicks hair.

"Goodbye Master Dick," Alfred says hugging the boy back.

"Were driving?" Dick asks when he sees how packed your car is.

"Well I am, but yes we're driving," you reply to his question.

"Cool," Dick says, "we usually just fly to things, it's been a while since I've been on a road trip..." he trails off sounding slightly down.

"You get to be the D.j.," you say waving at the radio, trying to lighten the mood as you get what he's saying about the last time he'd been on a road trip, as it was probably last with his parents, the flying Graysons.

"Really?" Dick looks at the radio then back to you excitedly.

"Yup. We'll listen to whatever you want to," you say, smiling at him.

He turns on the radio and finds the aux cord and plugs it into his phone and hits shuffle. He's heard the weird music you listen too, a little bit of everything so he knows you won't judge his taste in music. He obviously still picks a playlist he thinks you'd approve of that is all Disney music since that's always a safe bet to play around adults when you're only 10.

The two of you bond during the long drive to Metropolis, singing along to all the classics such as Under the Sea and Hakuna Matata. The both of you share a joint hotel room for the night, Dick in his own room to be sure he's comfortable and knows he is free to have boundaries with you. The two of you go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant and bump into some reporter who apparently knows both Dick and Bruce relatively well.

The tall broad shouldered man introduces himself as Clark Kent and you introduce yourself just for Clark's girlfriend Lois to ask you for an interview while you're in town.

You're about to turn her down but Dick answers for you, saying he's sure you'd love too and he'd just go hang out with Clark for a while. It's a little odd but you go with it since Dick seems so excited about it. After talking for a while and setting up a time to meet they leave the restaurant to let you and Dick finish your dinner and desert before going back to the hotel.

The two of you walk into the convention center and Dick exclaims, "Woah! This is awesome!"

"Yeah, it is," you say following him where ever he went. You had let Dick pick the costumes so you were dressed as (Disney Princess) and him as (Quirky Sidekick), since today wasn't a day you had a panel for the third book of the series you were writing. "So, where to first?"

He shrugs, "I don't know," he keeps craning his neck to look around, "I've never been to one of these before."

You shake your head and tsk softly, "come on, I'll teach you how to enjoy a comicon kiddo," you gently take his hand and lead the way incognito over to the artists alley.

The main reason you gave Dick for being dressed up was so less people would recognize you since you really had blown up in popularity since releasing your first and second books and the third being released this year.

In the artists alley you both look at all the cool stickers and pins that they had made. You get lots of stuff since you could now afford to actually support the artists with more than a like and a follow.

As the two of you wander you come across someone who had drawn some merch for your series. Their art was amazing, catching the character's personalities perfectly. It's as you're talking with the artist about their different work that they suddenly recognize you as y/n l/n and not as just another fan.

You smile and laugh softly, this was the one reason you enjoyed being a public figure, so that you could make people's days in such a small way by just liking their art or smiling at them. Anyways, Dick is hungry so you hurry along since you know he won't complain as he's used to Bruce getting held up. Anyways you quickly get the artist's contact information and take a picture with them, letting them know they can share it that night once the con was over for the day.

After that you move on with Dick to find some junk food to eat and a couple panels to sit in on. Over all the two of you have an amazing week together, bonding over movies, music and food. You get interviewed by Lois who is just as confused as you are as to how Clark and Dick know each other. Then you have a fan panel yourself at the con, answering lots of fan's questions. Plus the fact that you finally found someone to be the official artist for your books.

With a week spent together you and Dick are closer than ever. The two of you hadn't been not close but without Bruce and Alfred not around to buffer your interactions you have closer to what you think a mother son relationship should be like. After that week spent together you head back home to Gotham, the two of you had had fun but it would be nice to get back to normal life once again.

#Batman #batmom #batmom reader #batman x you #batfam x batmom #bruce wayne #bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne x y/n #bruce wayne x you #batfam #batfam x you #batfam x reader #batfam x y/n #batman x batmom #batman x batmom!reader

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collisiondiscourse · 3 years

Text

on the wonder duo (part 1)

(BNHA Analysis Post Ahead! This isn’t explicitly romantic, but it is an analysis of the relationship between the two most popular characters in BNHA--Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya. Split into two posts because I realized that this was gonna be long as HELL)

yall ever think about the fact that the wonder duo is perfectly set up in so that bakugou and deku together are the better version of all might?

bc like. ive been thinking.

everyone knows the win to save and save to win parallel. How they are supposedly two halves of a whole perfect hero (which, previously, was defined as all might)

but ever since bakugou and deku started working as one—growing together to win AND save and continuously reminding each other that they shouldnt try to do things alone, ive realized that its BECAUSE theres two of them that they surpass all might. its not a case of deku and bakugou both being 50% of an ideal hero, but rather i think that they are 100% of what all might SHOULD HAVE BEEN from the very beginning.

as early as the AM v AFO battle in kamino, we see the effects of all mights flawed existence. the fact that he, the greatest and supposedly infallible symbol of peace, was destroyed—society had begun to collapse. there was suddenly no pillar to hold people together and the impacts were so severe that even in the latest chapters of mha it keeps on getting worse. the truth is, all mights biggest mistake was the burden he placed on his own shoulders

with bakugou and deku... its different.

its different for them because down to their attributions, they seem like two halves of a whole person.

i think that the wonder duo are going to surpass all might because of the fact that they work together.

@bakugoukatsuki-rising @svpercraigus @tybee @isaustraliaathing

(batshit crazy and conspiratorial essay under the cut !)

1. Complementary Colors

I’d like to first preface literally everything I say by the fact that I am not an expert analyzer or literary major in any way. I am literally just some random fan on the internet who has wayyy too much time and looks wayyy too deep into things, but here we go!

A common thing we see when we talk about bakugou and deku is the way they are... sort of an inverse of one another.

Down to the design of their features and the way they move, Deku is the obviously softer of the two. There’s an intentional contrast between the two of them, in the way that Deku’s drawn with round shapes and curvy hair and the way Bakugou is literally all spikes and half-mast eyes and rough muscles. Bakugou’s movements too are languid and showy, with the way he leans when he walks and splays his legs and kicks open doors. Katsuki, in a casual sense, is loud and dramatic.

Deku on the other hand s finicky. He jitters when he walks and he’s often fidgeting and mumbling. Comparatively, the aura he radiates is energetic and frenzied, even self-conscious to a point unlike Bakugou’s calm and confident movements.

the point is, there’s a clear difference in how either of them are designed and what exactly they are supposed to represent. They utterly complement each other down to the way they behave and even their main colors (red-orange and blue-green) being literal complementary colors.

Now, moving to my more ungrounded points, this is quite a bit of a stretch so I’ll try as much as possible to make sense of these with hyperlinked sources because. yeah.

Down to their names, I think Deku and Bakugou both symbolize something deeper. I think that the way Hori expresses characters and what they’re meant to do is something that we have to pay close attention to when we talk about the Wonder Duo’s rise to success.

Izuku Midoriya (緑谷出久), as some of us may know, does have an interesting meaning when broken up. According to a lovely fan translation of his name, ‘Izuku’--while not an actual name used commonly in real life--means to ‘Come out’ or ‘Long time’. ‘Midoriya’ on the other hand means (Midori) ‘Green’ and (ya) ‘valley’. The translator further pointed out that his first name ‘Izuku’ could be a reference to him being the first legendary hero to come out of the long-running All Might Era. (or, if you’ve been reading @/bakugoukatsuki-rising’s posts, the first significant anime protag in a long while to come out as queer, ppfft)

but that isn’t my focus right now.

We know that Hori LOVES telling stories with names, and more often than not in the BNHA universe, names alone tell us a lot of things about the characters. When referring to Izuku’s last name, Midoriya, it’s important I think to step back and realize that hey, maybe there’s something more to Green Valley than just the fact that his motif is all green.

After searching for a lil on the specifics of green valley, I’ve found out that across many cultures, the colour green and valleys in general tend to represent life. From dream analysts, to Christianity, and even old Taoist teachings, valleys are seen as areas of fertility and escape. They are seen as safe havens and often escapes for people to come to after running away from bad circumstances.

(Sound familiar?)

Deku, in essence represents life and peace. He represents being the “salvation” that the world in BNHA needed. To me, it sounds like Horikoshi is trying to say that he is the long-awaited hero in the sense. The one that people can feel will create a society that feels safe for everyone after years of All Might just saving people from themselves as a band-aid solution.

On the other hand, we have Katsuki Bakugou (爆豪勝己), who’s name we commonly know means (Katsuki) Winner and (Bakugou) Explosion Master. He is essentially, the champion. The power. His name means success and power and all the things that make up winning.

When putting them side by side, it then becomes increasingly... interesting to me how their names almost perfectly slot into All Might’s save to win and win to save mantra, and how they are both quintessential parts to what made All Might as a hero.

2. Hero Too!

Now, I’m not even gonna really TOUCH much of what happens in canon. If you want me to do a step by step breakdown of their arcs in regards to the plot of manga and anime, feel free to send me a gratuitous ko-fi tip so I can pay for the headache I get after trying to organize my thoughts into word vomit.

What I WILL talk about on the other hand, is the subtle shift both of them slowly have in regards to how they look. Bakugou and Deku, while growing up, seem to have MANY many parallels--but before I elaborate on all of that, I wanna talk about something else.

Detour: Deku’s Red Shoes

We all know the iconic symbol being Deku’s red shoes. For all his life, save for some outfits like his hero one, we see Deku more often than not wearing his signature red sneakers which have become a running joke in fandom.

But the funny thing is, in Japan, red shoes seem to have an interesting connotation.

In 1922, a popular Japanese nursery rhyme was written, called “Red Shoes”. The interesting part to me about this song was the symbolism that, in my tiny pea-sized brain, I could connect to the story of BNHA.

The story goes that there was a little girl with red shoes named ‘Kimi’. She was from Shizuoka prefecture (which, if you didn’t know, is most likely where Musutafu supposedly is) and was raised by a single mother. When she was young, her mother had to entrust her with a foreigner under the impression that they would give her a better life in America. The stranger is a man named Charles Hewitt (who was described to have blue eyes) and supposedly took her away.

The singer of the song (supposedly the mother, but some argue it was written from the perspective of a childhood friend) believes that Kimi is happy and living a better life away from them, when the reality of the situation was much worse. The young girl with red shoes in actuality had Tuberculosis, and thus the foreigner whom she was entrusted to had left her to fend for herself and eventually left her to go to America while she died alone and orphaned.

“When I see red shoes, I think of her.”

A very interesting story with very interesting implications indeed.

Anyway, moving on to the more... “nuanced” and connected parts of this section, I have every reason to believe that Bakugou and Deku were simply MEANT to be working together down to how they dress. Now, I’d like to discuss their hero costumes.

At the start of their series, using these godawful pics for reference, it’s clear to see that neither of them seem alike in any way--reflecting the dissonance in their relationship at that point in canon.

ough. deku why. (yes we know why its because you love your mom you stupid little bunny <3)

Anyway, we see an immediate gap in how the two of them are. Deku’s first costume is one that reflects how he treated his dream of being a hero. He was still in that childlike idolization phase, the one where his dreams and aspirations were hinged on pure feelings and inspiration from All Might. Katsuki on the other hand was a lot more tactical--professional to an extent. The gap between their respective development with their quirks is something that is clearly felt in every fashion decision they’d made.

(Notice how Deku’s green is a lot brighter and less like the green accents Katsuki has all over his costume.)

As time progressed however... their costumes changed. The colors, the silhouettes, the practical functions, most things.

(Deku’s Gamma Costume and Bakugou’s Winter Costume used respectively)

we begin to notice a few similarities.

As the show goes on and we see more evolutions of their costumes, it almost seems like they begin to look like a matching pair. Deku’s green grows darker and almost teal in nature, while Bakugou’s orange is veering towards red territory. This is important to note because red-orange and blue-green as I said earlier were complementary colors as compared to simply orange and green. The minute shift is something I really wasn’t quite sure was intentional, but something I find interesting to pick up nonetheless as the colors they used to accent their costumes begin to match up.

Secondly, I think and important thing to note is silhouettes. The way that both Bakugou and Deku’s costumes are designed follow a lot of parallels that typically we don’t see with the rest of 1-A. For one, they both have a combination of tight long-sleeved tops with a bulkier set of bottoms. They also share the use of utility belts and metal pieces typically worn around their necks. Deku has his bunny-eared hood that mimics All Might’s hair, while Bakugou has his orange and black explosion ear-pieces that mimic his own quirk.

i don’t think any other people in class 1-A match each other as subtly yet strongly as these two. Uraraka and Deku and Bakugou and Kirishima do come close however.

“But Codi, you fucking knob!” I hear you plea. “This is such a reach and tells us practically NOTHING!” And yes, I’m inclined to agree with you! You’d be sort of right in the idea that this is a reach. Maybe I am looking too much into this, and maybe it really isn’t that deep--but I do think that them subconsciously matching outfits means something quite brilliant.

In the way that their costumes are designed, each aspect of either outfits have a very logical explanation. The changes were strategic and made with their fighting styles vividly in mind, so what that tells me is that BECAUSE these costumes are so complementary or similar in nature (Bakugou’s reinforcing his arms while Deku reinforces his legs), these two are implicitly showing the audience that their combat styles are complementary as well.

The evolution of their design choices and similarities tell us that even unknowingly, their minds line up in strategy on the battlefield--a clear exhibit for why they would be INCREDIBLY POWERFUL as a Hero Duo to begin with.

When I look at their hero costumes side by side, I see a mirror. I see the way that these two are reflections of each other and are strong where the other isn’t. The point I see in BNHA repeatedly is that EVERYONE HAS A WEAKNESS. Nothing is infallible, regardless of how hard you train or how powerful your quirk is. Everyone will always have a weakness, but the significant difference I see when fandom discusses the future of Pro-Hero Society is that the new generation is finally raising itself to be RELIANT on each other.

Observing their fighting styles and the simple use of their quirks, its obvious that they are indeed two parts of a whole hero. Bakugou, who’s quirk emphasized his arms and hands and the power that comes from it, while Deku who’s quirk now emphasizes his legs and lower body and the way he’s always running to save people.

IN CONCLUSION:

As they become heroes, it is easy to assume that if nothing else, Bakugou and Deku will cover each other’s weak spots (especially when you consider the way Deku probably won’t be able to keep using his arms with the way both the anime and manga are going...) (also chapter 285, anyone?)

Part Two: Interactions, OfA

kofi || commission details

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validity-is-powerful · 3 years

Text

if you don't tell me I'll find out anyway

[Masterlist]

Warnings: none

Characters: Emily Prentiss, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan, David Rossi

Relationships: Prentiss/Hotch, Prentiss & JJ

Genre: fluff

Summary: Prentiss and Hotch have been dating for eight months now, and the team is none the wiser. That changes when Prentiss and JJ share a room after a case, and Prentiss wears one of Hotch's shirts to bed.

Word Count: 2k

Prompt was #20 on this list by @whump-town.

Fic below the cut, or read on ao3.

"Okay, so," JJ begins, coming back from the receptionist counter to address the team. In her hands are three room cards. "They're booked and we're here on short notice. They've only got three rooms they can spare us. It was originally two, but one of the customers with a reservation cancelled last minute." She fans the cards out in front of her. "Who's sleeping where?"

"I'm not sleeping with Reid," Morgan chimes in almost immediately with a smile. Reid looks mock-offended, but doesn't protest.

"I'll share with the kid," Rossi says with a heavy sigh.

"I'm not that bad," Reid protests.

"Last time I shared a room with you, you kept me up until four am with rants about sci-fi movies. And don't think I've forgotten the Red Bull incident, either," Morgan says. He pats Rossi's shoulder in condolence. JJ hands the older agent the key card.

"Morgan, room with me," Hotch offers. Morgan nods, and JJ hands their boss one of the remaining key cards.

"That leaves you and me," Prentiss says, but while her voice is heavy, her eyes are anything but. They sparkle with quiet mirth.

"Thank god," JJ jokes. She loops her arm through her friend's.

They make their way to the elevator, all of them, then as they reach the third floor, the pairs go their separate ways. Reid and Rossi are already engaged in a deep conversation, neither of them noticing as Prentiss studies them. Hotch and Morgan look ready to pass out as they make their way over to their room. The two of them are roomed closest to the elevator, she notices.

"God I'm tired," Prentiss says as she and JJ enter their hotel room. She's tempted to faceplant straight onto the bed, but she's still dressed. The case is over and the plane is leaving at nine-thirty tomorrow, meaning she has a chance to get some proper sleep tonight. It'll be more comfortable to get out of the suit she's wearing.

"Only one bed," JJ remarks. Prentiss lifts an eyebrow.

"You handed out the key cards. Did you do that intentionally?" Her friend laughs.

"No. Truth be told, all three rooms are singles." Prentiss makes an amused face.

"Scandalous. And just imagine the boys' reactions." She lounges on one side of the bed, watching absent-mindedly as JJ methodically strips off her outer layers.

As if on cue, their phones ding with a text notification. Prentiss reaches for hers as JJ pulls out a clean shirt.

"Get changed," the blonde suggests, snagging the phone playfully from Prentiss. Prentiss rolls her eyes, also playfully, and gets up. She begins digging through her go-bag for any sleepwear she might have brought, and failing that, something clean and appealing to wear.

"Hotch is checking that everyone's alright and knows what time we're leaving," JJ reports, reading the text.

"That sounds like Hotch," Prentiss says, tossing an old shirt onto the bed. It's a little worn, but it brings her no small amount of comfort. She throws a pair of shorts after it. JJ frowns at the shirt, but doesn't comment.

Prentiss pulls them both on and climbs into bed beside her friend. "JJ. Get under the blankets."

"Sorry," JJ says automatically, still staring at Prentiss' phone. She turns off the lights and gets under the blankets automatically as well, then hands Prentiss her phone back.

"Who's your boyfriend?" Prentiss freezes, then realises that JJ had looked at who she had sent texts to recently. One of the conversations was simply titled '<3'. "Or girlfriend," JJ continues. "You know I don't care that you're bi, beyond supporting you unconditionally." She props herself up on one elbow, smirking as she looks down at Prentiss. "So. Who is it?"

Prentiss clicks off her phone. "None of your business," she says, the words coming out like she's trying too hard for casual. JJ pokes her shoulder.

"If you don't tell me, I'll find out anyway," she teases warningly. Prentiss smirks at her.

"Good luck." And with that, Prentiss rolls herself in her share of the blankets, facing towards JJ as she turns her phone on again. This way, the screen is angled away from her friend. JJ rolls her eyes, but she still looks amused.

"I see how it is," she says, and rearranges her pillow until she's content. She lies on her back and closes her eyes. Prentiss sends off a text to the partner JJ had just asked about.

Emily: JJ's getting suspicious. She saw I had our private messages labeled with a heart.

Aaron: Morgan has some questions as well.

Emily: Chocolate thunder wants to know who you're texting when you should be sleeping?

Aaron: You don't have a healthy sleep schedule either. I told him it was a friend.

Emily: Did he believe you?

Aaron: Yes, but he suspects it's something more. I've appeased him for now.

Emily: I know we've discussed this before, but we should tell the team soon. It's been over eight months.

Aaron: I agree. If we keep this from them much longer, they'll lose trust in us.

Emily: That, and I hate keeping this kind of secret from my best friend.

"Go to sleep, Emily," JJ mumbles, one arm tossed over her eyes. "It's bedtime."

"In a minute."

"Your mystery person can wait." Prentiss glances at her.

"He's my boyfriend." JJ moves her arm and cracks an eye open to look at her.

Aaron: What, that you're dating your boss?

Emily: That I'm dating at all. Speaking of which, I just told her I have a boyfriend.

Aaron: How'd she react?

"Since when?" JJ asks, sounding a bit more awake. "And why didn't you tell me an' Penelope on girls' night or somethin'? We're the people who hype you up for dates."

"We uh, we decided it was best not to say anything," Prentiss says, trying to keep her composure.

Emily: Fine. She wishes I'd told her and Garcia I was seeing someone.

JJ gives her a long, drawn-out, suspicious hum, then turns onto her other side and goes back to sleep. Prentiss is left staring at her friend's back.

Emily: How's Derek doing?

Aaron: He's asleep. Like we should be.

Emily: Sleep is too mainstream for me.

Aaron: ?

Emily: Don't worry about it babe.

Aaron: Riiiight. Goodnight.

Emily: Goodnight, love you.

Aaron: Love you too, Emily.

Prentiss clicks off her phone and sets it aside, then moulds herself around JJ's sleeping form. Her friend presses back against her a little, and Prentiss wraps an arm around the blonde.

She lies awake for a long time, head still buzzing from the case. She compartmentalizes well, but it still sometimes takes her time to wind down. This case wasn't particularly bloody or long, but it did involve an abnormal amount of guesswork and haste, because the unsub was moving from city to city, state to state, then killing and moving on again within a matter of hours. The team's home base had become their SUVs as they chased.

Luckily, the victim count was low, all things considered. But it had been one hell of a few days.

Around one in the morning, the rain starts. It taps familiar patterns against the glass, and she's finally able to doze off as the noise drowns out her thoughts.

JJ's alarm goes off, and Prentiss wants to strangle her. The blonde shuts off the noise before it gets to be too unbearable, but by then, Prentiss is already awake. JJ, as usual, is awake before her and is already stirring a cup of hotel coffee, giving it a disappointed look.

"Is it that bad?" Prentiss asks from where she's lying in the bed, blankets ending at her ribcage. JJ just shakes her head slowly.

"It's awful, and not in the good way. Shitty police coffee is one thing, shitty hotel coffee is another." She takes a sip regardless. "Also, we're leaving in half an hour, so you might want to get up." Prentiss groans, but drags herself out of bed. JJ gladly hands her a cup of the hotel coffee when she approaches, then smooths Prentiss' hair out of her face where it had tangled in the night.

Prentiss takes a sip, and makes a face. "Uch. You weren't kidding." JJ laughs a little. They drink in silence, JJ studying her more intensely than usual. Prentiss is about to ask her what's going on when JJ's eyes widen in realisation.

"That's Hotch's shirt," she says, pointing at what Prentiss is wearing with her free hand. Prentiss looks down at her shirt in a mild panic.

It is, in fact, one of Hotch's old shirts that she's wearing. She had swiped it from him, along with a sweatshirt, when they started dating. It's old and faded, but very clearly Hotch, and it brings her comfort to wear it.

Unfortunately, Hotch used to wear the shirt before she asked him out. Around the team, sometimes. Which means JJ knows it.

"No way," the blonde says. She sets her coffee aside, and Prentiss is quick to do the same. "Don't tell me you're dating Hotch."

"Um-"

"Oh my god, you are." An incredulous laugh escapes JJ's throat. She pressed her hands to her mouth in disbelief. Prentiss examines her reaction, but nothing screams hostile. Surprised, a little offended that she wasn't told, sure, but nothing hostile. Mostly surprised. "Wow."

JJ grabs Prentiss' wrist and pulls her to sit on the bed, grinning. "So, what's he like outside of work?" Prentiss raises her eyebrows.

"You mean, in- in private?" JJ makes a 'keep talking' gesture. Prentiss laughs a little. "I'm not telling you what he's like in bed."

"So you've slept together?"

"We have," she confirms. "We've been together eight months now."

"When were you going to tell the rest of us?" Prentiss shrugs.

"I don't know," she answers honestly. "We were planning on doing it soon, but an opportune moment just never came up." JJ grips her hand.

"Em," she says softly. Prentiss looks at her. "Please know I'm happy for you."

"We need to tell them," Prentiss says to Hotch as soon as they have a moment alone. The rest of the team has disappeared down to the lobby, and the two of them have a few minutes before their teammates grow suspicious. She and Hotch are standing outside the door to her room. "JJ already pieced it together."

"Will she tell the others?"

"I don't think so. I think she knows it's our secret to tell, and I told her that we'd been planning to reveal it soon." Hotch nods. They're both dressed formally again, in what attire they had worn yesterday for the flight home.

One of Hotch's hands comes up to rest on her jaw. Leaning into his kiss is easier than breathing. Both of them are loathe to separate.

"They'll be waiting for us," Hotch murmurs as she trails kisses along his jaw, pausing to nip the very edge of it before continuing. "Prentiss."

"I know," she says against his skin. She slows, ending with another kiss to his lips.

Hotch's hand grips hers as they walk to the elevators, throwing caution into the wind as they talk, planning together what to say and when to say it.

On the flight back to DC, everyone is awake. It's unusual for them to have an opportunity for a full night's rest the night before. Usually, they fly home in the evening. It means that when Hotch stands up, everyone looks over.

"Prentiss and I have an announcement," he begins. JJ breaks into a grin, knowing what's coming. Rossi looks like he's hiding a smile as well. Reid and Morgan just look confused.

"We uh, we meant to tell you guys before," Prentiss says, continuing where Hotch left off. "We're dating." A second of silence. Then:

"Congratulations!"

"I'm so happy for you guys!"

"Reid owes me five bucks," Morgan says with a grin. Reid groans good-naturedly, then looks at Prentiss and Hotch.

"If you guys had waited another four months, Morgan would've owed me ten," he says, and the team can't help but laugh with him.

#criminal minds #emily prentiss #jj #jennifer jareau #aaron hotchner #BAU team #fluff #criminal minds fic #elliott writes #prompt #hotchniss #one-shot #standalone

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antiloreolympus · 3 years

Text

13 Anti LO Asks

1. ok but thats seriously what bugs me so much about LO, it never actually lets serious moments be serious, it's always lampooned by rachel's insistent need to force in her juvenile "humor" and never actually depicting how pressing things are. even the following moments from persephone's r//pe was undercut by hades making stupid puns! i understand if rachel cant write something more serious than "[x] is bad" but if thats so, then dont try it? because thats how you end up with this pretentious mess.

2. since when did lo hades have earrings??? i legit do not remember this ever being a thing??? is he trying to be hip with the kids 😭my man you still look like a crusty old man the earrings arent helping 😭

3. lo hermes looks and acts like flaky from happy tree friends and no thats not a compliment (TW for gore, blood, and violence if any of you google it)

4. Even though the earlier art style was better there are still some cursed panels from the earlier pages that still haunt me. Especially the way Persephone was drawn differently in so many of the panels.

5. lo hades has such "how do you do fellow kids" energy and im not sure why

6. im also confused on the fertility goddess stuff because how stupid is persephone if she didnt notice? she can create life and nature without even thinking and shes implied to be a genius in biology, so how would she not even notice this? if RS really wants to go with this plot, then why have her professor bring it up in class? why not show persephone going to her uni's library to research the topic and pouring over it? that's an easy way to show persephone's intelligence, yet LO doesnt even try.

7. What I wanna know in LO was how Demeter and Hestia were compensated after the war. The three brothers got to be kings and Hera is queen, but what we know of Demeter is that she had a millionaire dollar business that’s probably made it on its own (unless she was helped out) and then Hestia all we really know about her is that she runs that TOGEM and idk if there’s only 4 of them, Hestia really had a group by herself for a bit since Athena is Zeus’ (assumed) daughter, Artemis (Zeus’ assumed daughter) and persphone (newest member) which seems shitty since they won a war together

8. I think what happened with LO’s art style was RS got “lazy” (I’m lacking the right word). I feel like without the colors all of the men in LO have the same body type, and Hermès and Apollo may even have the same face if they smile the same. So to compensate for that lack of body diversity, RS doubled down on Hades’ features to make him stand out more to really show he’s the male lead. However, even in her own words he looks like Persphones’ “dusty ass dad”

The women use to be a little different but they’re all starting to blend with body types. Her was small, but now she’s short and busty like Persphone. RS makes Persphone look short and busty all the time but almost childlike. Minthe was skinny but her last moments she was busy. Aphrodite I feel was just busty but then tried to make her look small also with Ares and Hades beside her. Hestia stayed the same but is still small and busty. Athena was tall and thin (?) but now she’s tall but busty (and her relationship with Hestia looks like it mirrors HXP). Idk I just feel like the longer screen time the female characters get the more they start mirroring Persphone’s look. Like even Artemis was getting empathized on being small next to her brother Apollo. Like all the girls gotta look small but curvy as the story goes on.

9. Demeter: watched her friend get ripped in half. Watched her friend get continually cheated on, paying the price for not hiding a mistress , watched metis get eaten, her back clawed, fought in a war. Later made a daughter who’s a fertility goddess (probably an accident) and now has to raise her. That same daughter then went on a rampage and isn’t really remorseful

Fans: Demeter is such an overbearing mother who gets in the way of our ship.

10. on regards to ace characters, asexuality is a spectrum like everything else, so a lot of asexuals actually do enjoy and have sex, so the maidens doing so isnt inherently a problem, its the fact rachel is clearly viewing it through a strict binary where she assumes asexuality is something that can be "fixed" over time/when the right person comes along. its also a bad modern reading of it, as "virginity" in an ancient sense meant via marriage, not via sex, but I doubt rachel cares to factcheck it.

11. Imagine an elf is given a job to do at a human institution. The humans think elves don’t need bathroom breaks, since they know they can hold it for days, but this elf has been traveling to reach their job, and has already been holding it to the point they are in pain. They ask for a break, but their job is important and time sensitive, so they admit they can still hold it when asked. After a full day of work, the elf tries to reach the bathroom in time, but they were never told where it is.

From OP: I think this might be a nymph allegory? Anon never specified so I'll put this here anyway.

12. ya know if hades has to lie to make apollo seem worse (who does not need much in this comic) its like??? why is he persephone's lawyer then?? lawyers are literally told not to lie, this is basic law 101. thats why they dont want their clients to mention to them if they actually did the crimes because then the lawyers have to say it in court. if hades lies so casually just to keep persephone away from justified punishment, then thats bad actually! both in being a decent person and as a lawyer!

From OP: Hades didn’t lie but he was definitely out of line. RS liked a tweet saying that the wife thing was “subconscious” so it probably was. (Still doesn’t make it right but I doubt he’d say those things on the stand.)

13. I know Minthe was written in a way she was suppose to be unlikesable, she’s rude, she yells and she doesn’t hesistate. HOWEVER RS wrote her character badly. Minthe is so unliked? How was she able to be a bad gf to hades and Thanatos? Like yes it’s an affair but how was she able to pull 2 gods?! We don’t hear Hades or Thanatos say what they like about her BUT they both still had a fling with her. (Honestly I feel it’s cause RS can’t bare writing one nice thing about the female anatangoist without trying to make Persphone look good)

The other thing bothering me was everyone knew about her relationship with Hades after she put it on fatesbook, but everyone talked about the kiss in such a positive light IN FRONT OF HER. Aren’t they suppose to be scared of her? Why did the girls in the yoga class/dress shop had so much to say about that kiss? Because they knew persphone? Did they know every other detail too? What was their actual beef with Minthe?

I feel like realistically some more characters would have sympathy for Minthe if they didn’t know her that well because of Hera. Everyone knows Hera is a pill to deal with and she’s the goddess of marriage who hasn’t really tried bringing Minthe and Hades to the alter. That right there should let everyone know that Hera probably doesn’t help the situation.

Idk, I feel like RS could have gone deeper and made the character not such HXP shippers cause most people wouldn’t cheer for cheating nor an old ass guy getting with a 19 year old. (Idk how fast the news of the slap spread, but I doubt it made it to every place in their fictional world)

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical #lo critical

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amindofstone · 3 years

Text

A pirates treasure

a/n: I am in love with a broken character. I am in love with a man that has “death” tattooed on his fingers. I am in love with a freaking 2D character that has the name “Surgeon of death”. Call me crazy but hey, the owner of a heart was never able to choose in who it falls in love. Yeah, to put it short I am in love with a character that barely has any romantic, lovely or sweet traits but still gets me screaming at 2 am whenever he appears. I am in love with Trafalgar D. Water Law.

a/n edited: My attention was drawn to a huge mistake of mine. I really don't want to justify my mistake and just delete it as if nothing happened. So therefore I'll do a quick explanation.

As you can see I used the picture above as a "cover" for my imagine without making any researches about the artist of the amazing work. I got the picture send by a friend with the request if I could use it and so I did without thinking twice. I should have done my job properly by finding the artist and asking for permission but I didn't and simply neglected that. And I'm truly and really sorry for that and genuinely apologise from the bottom of my heart. I hope I'll be forgiven. The picture used was that of the artist @666deaddash999 that has a blog here on tumblr and definitely should be seen. And again my apologies.

a/n edited pt. 3.: I am in f***ing tears. I don´t deserve this much kindness. This artist, the dear @666deaddash999 , is truely an angel. I really am garteful for being allowed to use it. Like damn they even liked my fic!!! I am in tears and emotional AF!! Anyways have a nice day and thank you for reading my work!

Genre: anime imagine? One Piece imagine?

Character(s): Trafalgar D. Water Law x Rose (reader)

Warnings: Maybe grammar or spelling mistakes. (I genuinely apologize. English is not my mother tongue and I´m really trying to improve. So please be so kind and have mercy)

Words: 4257

Info: Keep in mind that the words in italic are Rose (reader) train of thoughts.

!!! Please do not steal my idea or work. Credit me if this is shared or published in any other platform or any other way. This took me a lot of time. So please respect me as the writer and my work. Picture used is not mine. Credits to the rightful owner. !!!

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"Are you insane?! Can you hear what you're saying right now?! No! Do you know what you're saying right now?!", asked the now furious woman. "She lost her mind Marcus. Your daughter lost her brain on the way back home!!", the woman with the probably most expensive tiara on her head was running around the salon while making sure her husband understood her point in their daughters failure. "For the sake of sanity Marcus say something!!! Won't you?!", the woman yelled at her husband who was sitting on his chair in front of the chimney. “I regret the day I gave birth to you? I regret those nine months I carried you. I did not give birth to you so you can end up like this! This is not what we taught you!”. The king was clearly overwhelmed by the whole situation that had to happen two weeks before the king and his spouse from the neighboring island would come. Right at the moment in which he and his wife decided to make their daughter marry their son. The king who usually was always in a good mood and had a smile on his lips was now the total opposite. He was sad and felt lost. He didn't know how to cope with the situation his wife; or rather life confronted him with.

With a hand covering half of his face and closed eyes he focused on his breathing and just let his spouse calm down first before he spoke what was on his mind. He kept telling himself to breathe in and breath out when the queen’s next words made him stand up and leave the room.

"You traitor! How dare you sit there like you're the victim, you disgrace! You disgusting piece of shit! Where did you leave you honor and pride?! In the bed of that scum?!", the words of the mad woman made the young royal look up for the first time she entered the salon. The princess, the third daughter of one of the most powerful kingdoms, was in tears. A hand covering her mouth with the hope to keep her screams of pain inside she just let the tears stream down her face. “Look what you did you cheap piece of shit. I am disappointed in you. No wonder I never was fond of you and your existence. You are absolutely not capable of anything in this world. And Marcus calls something like you his beloved daughter. Get out and get back to your chambers. I don´t want to see you out of your quarter before the royal family whose son you´ll be marrying will come. You heard me! And I dare you to start another tantrum about the marriage or else I make you regret existing.”, Rose nodded and left the salon without a word.

On her way back to her quarter her brother, the crown prince, saw her and wanted to stop her and ask what their mother said, but she didn´t let him touch her or talk to her. He wanted to hold her and comfort her since he knew how their mother can hurt one with her words but she didn´t let him come closer. She silently left him behind and ran to her save place so she could cry out loud with the hope of getting rid of the pain in her chest. She cried and cried until her maid came with her dinner. The maid tried her best to make the young princess stop crying and eat something but she couldn´t make it. When the food she brought her got cold she tried to at least make her calm down but to no avail. Before the sad maid left the princess alone she took the food she brought her and asked her with pleading eyes if she could do anything for her. The maid thought that she won´t answer her while still shedding tears when the princess who was sitting on her bed looked her in the eye for the first time since she entered her chambers. The maid gave her a genuine and friendly smile while telling her that she´ll do anything for her. But the words of the princess made her stop smiling while the little spark of hope died down. “Kill me and put this miserable life of mine to an end.”, the maid did not know what to say so she left her chambers with a soft apology and a deep bow.

Silence.

Suffocating silence took over her chambers after a while when no sound of her could be heard anymore. Her throat was sore from the hurt screams that left her. Screams she tried to suppress with a pillow or her hand. Screams she held in for weeks. If her throat wouldn´t be hurting by now and if she had just a bit more energy she would be screaming more. She would be screaming from the top of her lungs while trying to get rid of the pain in her chest that seems to be clinching onto her for dear life. Her heart was aching. Her soul was helplessly trying to understand what was happening right now while her brain stopped functioning. She was lifeless. She looked like a corpse sitting on a bed. She didn´t move an inch or dared to breathe aloud. When someone would have entered her chambers they would have thought a doll was sitting on the massive bed and not the princess. The princess the whole kingdom loved for her genuine smile and friendliness. A princess that was loved by ever person that saw her because of the kindness she holds in her heart and eyes.

The princess. A young lady whose beauty was known all over the world. Whose kindness anyone knew and mentioned. A young royal with a genuine heart, a heart as pure as that of an angel. A young royal in the age of 19 that was able to make any person walk over broken glass if they could make her smile. But what happened to her? A young lady who used to walk around the kingdom with a smile upon her lips and a childlike playfulness. What happened to the girl that used to be the happiness of any person in the palest and the kingdom?

Rose, never thought that the day would come she needed to be told how beautiful life can be. She never thought that the day would come where her siblings and maids would have to come and tell her that life is full of love and happiness

Isn´t it funny how fast a person can change? How fast the happiness of a person can be taken away from them. Isn´t it funny how something that is supposed to be good can break a person and ruin their whole life? How can something that she was always told about as the most beautiful and powerful thing on earth break her and be the cause of her pain. Why does it carry so much pain and tears when it´s supposed to be the reason a human lives? This doesn´t seem logical to her. It seems like all the things she was told were lies. Lies and lies told one after another. Why did they lie to me?

Rose was freezing. The dress she was wearing at the moment was obviously not able to keep her warm anymore. She needed to change. She needed to take a bath. But she had neither energy nor motivation to do anything so she kept sitting there while looking out of her huge window. Her window was wide open and let the fresh but cold wind of the spring night enter her save place. Her curtains were waving more and more due to the slowly stronger getting wind. Just when she thought that she calmed down a bit, she suddenly started to remember the words of her mother. Words that were sharper than any knife or sword. Words that cut her heart into pieces. Disgrace, she said. Disappointment, she said. She regrets giving me live, she said. And again tears fell down her cheeks. Tears filled by pure hate towards herself. She hated herself. She hated her body and wanted to die. The couple that used to shower her with love now hated her. Slowly more tears started to stream down her face while she tried to muffle down her soft sobs by putting a hand over her mouth. The cold wind that entered her chambers through her open window and door to her terrace stopped by now only to be replaced by rain. It seems like the sky was the only one that understood her pain and cried with her out of empathy. Day, weeks and now months passed and a forbidden longing accompanied her through her lonely days filled with regret. I wish I never went to the harbor with my maid. I wish I could erase that day from my life and memories.

When she thought that the pain she felt couldn´t get worse a person called her name with so much love it hurt her. She was confused and scared at the same time. With panic written all over her face she looked around her chambers only to be greeted by a tall man who entered her bedroom through her terrace. Slow steps were made as if he knew that she´d be overwhelmed by his sudden presence. She couldn´t see his face but knew that he was looking straight into her eyes. Just when he was about to enter her bedroom he stopped at the door of her terrace and allowed her to hear his voice. A voice that was able to get her weak and lose balance and fall on her knees. But luckily she was now sitting on her bed in the same position since a few hours now. “May I enter?”

A soft whine erupted her sore throat, while her heart started to race. As if she ran from one side of the island to the other. She couldn´t believe her eyes. She wanted to scream his name and jump in his arms. She wanted to kiss his face, hands and shower him with all the love she felt for him but she didn´t move but gave him a small nod that allowed him to enter. Am I imagining this?

His hat he seemed to love so much and that turned into his signature got recognized by the heartbroken princess next to his sword that accompanied him through every fight and battle. But his clothes changed into something she thought he would never wear. It changed into something elegant but at the same time simple. A black long cloak was loosely hanging over his shoulder that was decorated at its collar with a thick pitch black fur. Under the cloak she could make out a white wide loose shirt that gave away a beautiful sight of his toned and tattooed chest. He looked like a sculpture that was awakened to life. She couldn´t believe what she was seeing. She was staring at his face, his hands, his slightly wetted clothes with the hope that her eyes were playing a stupid game with her heart. She couldn´t look away while all this time he was slowly coming closer to her and the bed she was sitting on. Just when she realized who was standing in her chambers she quickly tried her best to pull herself together and speak in a half decent steady voice but sadly to no avail. “Don´t come closer and get back to the place you came from.”

She tried. She tried her best to talk in a convincing and steady voice but she failed, miserably. Her trembling voice and body betrayed her. Her hands that were holding tight onto her sheets betrayed her. Her knuckles that turned white from the pressure she put on them betrayed her. But most of all it were her eyes and tears that betrayed her. Her whole body screamed to be touched by him. Her hands longed for his warmth. Her heart screamed to be consoled and her eyes gave away all of the love she had for him. She shouldn´t be able to cry anymore thinking about the whole day she only cried but unlike a few minutes ago she was now shedding tears of pure joy. “Are you sure that you want me to leave?”, the man in front of her asked her to not only convince himself that this is what she wanted but also to give her the chance to rethink her choice, but the black haired woman nodded what she instantly regretted.

Regret. What a simple word to use when it hold so much emotions and thoughts.

The moment she saw him make a step back and put a distance between him and her, a quiet pleading to not leave her left her lips that made him instantly drop his sword. The sudden sound of his falling weapon surprised her and made her look down to the place it fell. She wanted to ask if he was doing fine when the next move of the man that ruined her life shook her to death. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. He took of his hat and threw it somewhere she couldn´t make out only to get on her bed and connect their lips. She didn´t wanted him to kiss her. She didn´t wanted him this close but still grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. Rose´s hands were trembling while her tears still didn´t stop falling. It felt like a dream, a dream come true when she remembered her mother’s words and pushed him away from her.

Trafalgar D. Water Law.

What or who gave you the permission to enter my live and turn it upside down. The tears that were falling down her cheeks were that of pure happiness to have him in front of her but slowly with her mother´s words coming back to her mind they slowly turned into tears of pain and fear. Law wanted more. He wanted to kiss her more and hold her. He wanted her all to himself. He took her hands, that were still holding onto his shirt, in his and kissed each and every finger of her one by one. “She´ll kill you.”, she said with a quivering voice with the hope to make him understand in what kind of situation they were but he didn´t care at all. “She said she´ll execute you in front our nation.”, but still the pirate didn´t care. In fact he intertwined their hands and started to kiss her all over her face. “She called you so many names and said that she´ll kill any person you are close to right after she killed you. Law are you listening.”, she kept telling him what her mother the queen said but her lover didn´t seem to care. But to make clear that he indeed was listening to her he nodded and hummed in her ear before he made his way to her neck. But before he could place his lips on her skin again she said something what made him stop in his tracks. “I´m getting engaged in two weeks and married next month.”, just when she thought that he´ll get made and push her away she heard a soft chuckle before he laid her down and get back to kissing her while making sure to leave marks here and there. She felt pathetic. She felt horrible. She felt like agreeing to her mother’s words that she is not worth being a royal or a princess. “Law, don´t you understand in what situation I am right now? I feel like I´m a joke to y….”.

“Am I a joke to you? Are my feelings a joke to you?”, Law stopped her midsentence just to leave her with a question that made her rethink all the thoughts she had in the last weeks. But she had no time to think because the man on top of her stood up and left her bed. Panic overcame her and she started to breath quickly. “Please don´t leave me. I beg you Law. I don´t know what to do without you. Please!”

If the princess could see the man’s face at this moment she would have seen his genuine smile of pure happiness and relief. “Who said I wanted to leave you?”, said the tall man and made his way towards her door just to lock it. No matter where he went Rose followed all of his steps around her chambers. He closed the window and the door to her terrace while also making sure to close the curtains. If her maid did not came to light the candelas on her nightstand it would have been pitch black and she wouldn´t be able to see what the pirate who sneaked into the palace would do right now. He took of his shoes and placed them neatly next to the armchair in front of her chimney. Slow and carefully he took of his slightly wet cloak and put it over the backrest to dry. While she wondered if he wasn´t cold with what he was wearing she realized a bit too late that he took his shirt off and went to light up some other candelas in her room while giving her a full display of his tattoos. How on earth could someone as beautiful as him fall for me? What happened that made him love me to an extend he came all the way to the palace to me? Do I deserve this much love? Rose was looking down to her hands that lay on her lap when she felt the bed shift. She didn´t dare to look him in the eyes. She felt cheap and used. How can I marry a man that I don´t love? How can I get married while fully knowing that I gave away the most precious thing I had to a pirate that told me he loved me? I am being the naive and stupid woman my mother called me. “Do you regret losing you virginity to me?”, the sudden question of the criminal she fell in love with surprised her and made her look up to him with widen eyes. “Do you regret letting me be your first kiss? Do you regret letting me lay in your arms?”, Law took her hands back in his to intertwine them again. An act he does without realizing it by now. He was used to place her hand in is. He wanted it and needed it. He wanted to feel her and her warmth. He needed a reassurance that she really was sitting in front of him. He needed something that made clear to him that he wasn´t dreaming and really was beside her and not in his or the strawhats ship sleeping.

“Do you want to marry him? Are you fine with your parents marring you off to someone you don´t love neither know?”, the princess was overwhelmed not only by his question but also by his eyes which were filled by sadness. His grey eyes that usually had something playful and fierce in it. His eyes that used to always soften whenever the landed on her who was his lover, his woman, his absolute everything. The princess placed her hands on his face and caressed his cheeks. If only she knew what that little gesture did to him. If only she knew how much control she had over him. If only. “Trafalgar Law. I gave you everything I had. I let you be my first love and my first lover. I let you be my first kiss and my first time not for you to ask me if I regretted it. Law I love you. Although my miserable live won´t allow me to be with you I can assure you that I would throw everything away only to be with you.”, Laws eyes were closed. He couldn’t think properly anymore. His heart was racing. His mind was an absolute mess. He wanted her close to him. He wanted to feel her. He needed her so he sat her down on his lap and leaned back. With his head resting on the headboard of her bed and the royal lady on top of him he tried to calm his heart down and make it stop racing. “If I wouldn´t be a doctor I would have thought I was about to die whenever I had you near me.”, the young princess looked at him with concern in her eyes. “At that time I couldn´t understand why my heart was racing or why I felt like I was getting crushed. There was always this feeling of something or someone putting a huge amount of pressure on my chest whenever I thought about you. And whenever I had you close to me I felt like I was drowning and losing all my powers. But now I know that it´s alright to feel like this because this is how it´s supposed to be. Because today I know that it´s because I love you.”, Law was not someone that spoke out loud about his feelings. He wasn´t the type of person who shared his thoughts but when he did he was able to blow any person away. The words of her lover made her heart race while guilt over came her. “Stop. Please stop.”, begged Rose while hiding her face in the crock of his neck. She knew that she was hurting him by telling him to stop. She knew that she wasn´t supposed to react like this but what could she do, she was promised to a prince of a neighbor island. She shouldn´t be kissing him or hugging him. She shouldn´t be laying in his arms while he told her how much she meant to him. She should be sending him away like a worthy daughter and princess should do.

“Do you want me to leave. If so than just tell me and I will leave you alone tonight. I really don´t have a problem with that. I can´t bear seeing you sad, my love. I will come tomorrow. Would you like that?”, hearing his words made her look up and see his face to make sure he wasn´t playing with her but no, he was serious. He was smiling down to her while caressing her cheek. The look he gave her broke her heart. She knew he loved her. No matter how many times she told herself that she meant nothing to him her heart told her different. “This is not how it works, Law! You are such a fool. You idiot! I just told you that I´m promised to a prince and here you are telling me that you will come tomorrow if I don´t feel well. What is wrong with you?”, tears were falling down her cheeks. Thinking about the amount of tears she just shed today makes one wonder how she is still possible to cry more. Rose hit him a few times on his chest before she left his lap and sat down next to him. She couldn´t bear being this close to him so she tried putting some distance between him and her when Law laid her down and hovered above her.

“Tell me what is wrong with you? Do you really think I let your parents take you away from me? Do you really think I let some random bastard marry my woman? I am a pirate Rose. If I want something I get it and when I have it I won´t give it back. Do you understand?”, Law spoke in a soft tone but one full of power and determination. Rose didn´t know what to say so she simply kept quiet and kept listening to him. “You are mine. My treasure. My property, You are mine all alone and I don´t share what is mine. And if anyone is so foolish to try to take what is mine I won´t hesitate to cut off their heart.”, the dreaded pirate spoke in his calm but deep voice and made the woman underneath him stare at him without daring to move an inch. “Now tell me do you really thing I let you get married to anyone that is not me?”, Rose was numb. She was awestruck and speechless so Law took the matter in his own hands and took her face in his hands and shook her head in a playful manner. He knew that his words took her by surprise what could he do? It was her guilt that he was head over heel in love with her. “No, my darling. I won´t let go of you. Just wait a few more days and wait for me. I have a little plan to get you out of her.”, the last words the pirate spoke made her widen her eyes. Law indeed loved the effect he had on her. The princess wanted to say something but the pirate didn´t allow her to speak up. He placed a short kiss on her lips before he slowly started to unbutten her dress. “Law?!”

“You can´t imagine how much I missed you. Please allow me to show you how much you mean to me, my dear. Hold me and show me that your presence is not a dream. Please allow me to love you.”

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