#at least i got to post that other attack earlier<3 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

maple-the-awesome · 8 months

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You Sacrifice Yourself for Them Part 2/3

Part 1 || Part 3

Pairings: Four, Hyrule, & Warrior x GN Reader

Requested by anonymous: HIIIII OMG I JUST WANRED TO SAY i lovelovrloveloveeeee the way you write so much!!!!!!! ur recent loz post had me kicking and squealing in my sear hehehe T_T could i request a scenario with the chain in a situation where the reader sacrifices themselves to protect the boys? im imagining things begging the enemy to take them instead, protecting them from a hit or even something funny like taking the blame for a mistake they made!!! id love to see some angst from you!!!!! THANK U AND HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!!💖💖💖💖

Zelda Masterlist 💙 Fandom Masterlist

A surprise attack - that's what had awaited the group. They had their guards only slightly down, still keeping an ear for danger, yet that didn't do much to protect them from the onslaught of monsters who soon surrounded everybody faster than anyone could draw their swords.

It wasn't a huge deal at first, at least for ten seasoned heroes. They've been in troubling situations before, both during their own journeys and when together, so they all know how this sort of thing works, in fact some were even having fun with it, making a competition out of how many enemies they could each take down. Then everything went south - fast, too.

That troublesome lizard the Chain has been tracking for weeks - or has it been months now? - appeared without a sound onto the battlefield, going successfully unnoticed amongst the chaos as he creeped through the shadows waiting for an opportunity to strike. Everyone had gotten pretty spread out from each other, pushed apart by their enemies not that they took the time to notice nor worry. This meant the lizard could've realistically chosen anyone as his victim, it was dumb luck that his eyes landed upon Four who was finally beginning to break a sweat as he tried to one-up a Moblin.

Maybe a second passed between that Moblin disappearing into purple smoke and a blur entering his vision. All Four knew for certain was that he just barely blocked the lizard's sword which had been swung his way with such force that it knocked him off his feet. He's been knocked down before, though, and planned to fight without hesitation until -

"- GET AWAY FROM HIM!" It was you. Four didn't even realize you were so close and before he could object, you were engaged in your own little battle with that lizard, successfully drawing its attention away from your downed friend, however your efforts were not without cost.

You got hurt. Bad, too (although Four would say any injury is horrid if felt upon your skin). You were thrown to the ground just like he had, the difference being you weren't as fortunate as to block the lizard's sword, rather taking a direct hit which sent you crumbling to your knees. Any other day, Four would've been amazed by your determination when you still tried to stand your ground with a wobble, but it was no time to be in awe of your skill. He doesn't doubt that if it wasn't for Warrior and Twilight taking on the lizard next, you wouldn't have won that battle you so desperately fought.

Now Four feels as if his breath is caught in his throat while he stands by, helplessly watching as Hyrule heals you. You're in better spirits than he thinks you should be, awake and alert, but winching in hissed breaths whenever moving too quickly. He can't help feeling responsible for this, cursing himself for not having seen that lizard earlier. If he had, he would've been able to hold his own ground better, giving you no reason as to rush in so suddenly. Of course, you have a different outlook on the situation:

"I hope you aren't kicking yourself too hard over there, Smithy," It's like you can read his mind - or perhaps you can just read his facial expression. You raise an eyebrow at him almost teasingly as if your tunic isn't stained in your own blood, "I was the one who decided to jump in, you didn't ask me to - and I'd do it again if it means you're safe, just so you know."

Four huffs from where he sits mere inches away from you. Simply happy to see you alive, he didn't have time to care about the fact that he’s been holding your hand nonstop since first getting you out of the fray which had been a good ten minutes ago, "Shouldn't I be the one saying that, not the other way around? What is this, the second time you've saved my butt?"

"I don't think you almost falling off a stool counts," You argue, but after a moment of thought, you give his hand a squeeze, your voice a bashful whisper, "...And who says we can't both say it, hmm? Both be willingly to protect each other with our lives?"

"Because then it would be contradictory - If I'm willing to die for you and you're willing to die for me, then we'd both die"

"At least we'll still be together.”

Four frowns, but to your surprise, he proposes no argument. He instead nods eventually, squeezing your hand back as he looks off across camp in silent thought, “...I guess that’s logical. I’d just prefer we stay together in life, though.”

"You guys are sappy as hell."

"Shut up Legend."

You've had a well deserved afternoon of peace - at least the best you can probably wish for given the circumstances. You don't necessarily have a lot of scented soaps on hand or even access to a proper bath for that matter, and despite being near a town, you’ve been rationing your rupees since it’s slim pickings collecting them from only monster drops and those clay pots everyone fights over. Still, you did manage to sneak away from all the boys for some time alone, soaking in one of the nice little hot springs found around Death Mountain.

Still patting your hair with your now damp towel, you wander back into camp with dreams of a pleasant meal to finish your day with, after all this is Wild's universe, so you would think he'd know the area well enough to bless you all with something wonderful made from nearby resources. With this said, you're pretty surprised when your nose scrunches up in disgust upon a disastrous smell filling your nostrils.

It doesn't take long to notice the source, having to push through a few bodies to discover what everyone is glaring at: a pot of bubbling soup of a color you hadn't realized could even exist...and a texture you wish you didn't know existed.

"What happened?" You whisper to Legend who's closest to you. He shrugs as if this sight isn't all that bad, although you're certain he's already thought of some excuse that can get him out of eating tonight.

"Hyrule messed with Wild's cooking again."

"How? Wild's been watching him like a hawk since the last time."

"He wasn't here. He came down to the shops to get some things and when we all walked back together, we found the food like this."

Oh yeah. You remember now. Having overlooked an ingredient for his soup, Wild decided to run down to Goron Town where the others had already gone for a quick supply run and to question locals about weird portals. Soon after he left, the Traveler promised to watch over camp while you went to check out the hot springs as you’ve been dying to do. During your excitement, it failed to cross your mind that he’d be left unattended with Wild’s half-finished food.

"What did you add?" Wild has a hand on his hip, the other holding a ladle that's pointed directly towards Hyrule's chest accusingly as the poor boy sinks into himself, trying to stumble out a response.

This is far from the first time he’s messed with cooking despite everyone agreeing he should be banned from so much as touching a spoon, yet you can’t help feeling bad for the hero regardless of his bad habit in not keeping his curiosity under control. Hyrule did help you today. If it wasn’t for his kind offer to watch over camp on his own, you would’ve had to put off visiting the hot springs until the others camp back, drastically lowering your chances of being able to sneak away for some alone time.

“I’m the one messed with the soup,” All eyes are suddenly on you, not a single one looking convinced, but you continue anyways, “You said that you thought it needed ‘a little something more’, so I figured I’d try to help with that. I didn’t expect my additions to cause such -...mildly repulsive results…I’m sorry, Wild. I’ll remake dinner tonight if you want.”

Wild narrows his eyes, humming in thought for a good few seconds before announcing, “I don’t believe you! But…”

He then turns on his heel, dramatically dipping his ladle into the soup. The quote-on-quote ‘liquid’ doesn’t drip back into the pot once he brings up a ladle-full, instead sticking to the utensil before flopping into the soup with a heavy ‘splash’, “...I might be able to fix it if I add more broth - but this is the last warning I’m going to give: the next time anyone tampers with my cooking, I’ll only be making food with a jar of goron spice added in from then on, you hear?!”

Everyone is quick to agree, although Hyrule shows some brief hesitation until you elbow him roughly in the side. At that point, he eagerly nods, giving Wild a little piece of mind as he tries to figure out how to fix this dinner ‘you’ve’ so cruelly ruined.

“...Thank you for that,” Hyrule whispers to you, bashfully joining you beside fire as you lean back and shrug casually, “I really owe you this time.”

“Eh, don’t mention it. I already owed you for allowing me a nice break,” You nod your head towards the path that leads to the hot springs before peeking open an eye and glaring at him, your voice suddenly stern which sends shivers down his spine, “But seriously, dude, do. not. touch. Wild’s cooking again. Forced to eat meals laced with goron spice is where I draw the line in my love towards you.”

“N-Noted.”

No matter how tightly he squeezes his eyes shut, all Warrior can see among the darkness is stars that seem to glow brighter whenever another wave of pain shoots through his nervous system. He'd like to say he's had worse, although this is truly in his top five - maybe even top three. He can't adjust his body without grinding his teeth, yet he tries anyways, digging the end of his sword into the ground and using it as support to get himself up, but each inch he moves is agony to his battered body.

The moblin - if he remembers correctly, it's from Sky's universe - follows the bloody trail that had been left behind after it had previously tossed Warrior, stalking closer to the downed hero who can only curse his luck. Of course something like this happens on his turn to patrol. He shouted for help not long ago, although given the distance he's gone from camp, it's fairly possible no one heard. Even with the moblin raising its spear, he finds himself more concerned with the others than himself, praying to Hylia they don't get ambushed like he had -

"- HEY! OVER HERE YOU OVERGROWN PIG!" The moblin pauses, forced to turn its entire body to see where the voice had come from. This allows Warrior to see around it, spotting you running towards them with your sword drawn. He might've been relieved at this point if not for quickly noticing the fact that you're completely alone.

"N-NO! Don -...DON'T!" Warrior tries his best to stand up and reach for his sword, however he immediately crumbles onto his knees, hissing in pain as his free hand hurries to cover his wounded side.

You don't listen, although you most likely didn't even hear him, too busy going face-to-face with the moblin. It reacts to your charge by holding its shield out in front of itself, yet you take no issue in running right up it, stepping onto the top edge which you use to kick yourself into the air over the moblin's head. You successfully catch yourself on your feet behind and, before it can recover from this surprise, you attack, hitting the monster as many times as you can manage.

It cries out and angrily swipes its spear towards you (while Warrior holds his breath in worry), but even then you're faster, swiftly leaping out of harm's way and slicing its side in return. The moblin huffs, raising its spear to throw, however it stalls, eyes rolling back into its head before blood loss finally overcomes it, causing it to crash into the ground with a loud 'THUD'.

"Warrior!" You take no time celebrating your victory, hurrying to your friend where you fall to your knees and immediately begin looking over his injuries. His tunic is soaked in crimson at this point particularly around his side, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact damage. You curse yourself for not having gotten here sooner even though you truly did run as quickly as your feet could carry you after hearing his distressed shouts for aid. Thank Hylia you happened to have been foraging not too far away. If you had stayed in camp with the others, you would've surely lost a beloved member of your group.

"Here. Stay still," You order, reaching into your pocket and uncorking a bottle you kept there. A pink glow is free to flutter out and to your friend, practically dancing over his wounds in careful work that brings instant comfort shown through his sigh.

"...Why'd you do that?" Warrior wonders aloud, earning a confused look from you.

"Would you rather me have dragged you back to camp for Hyrule -?"

"- I mean why did you take on that moblin like that? Alone no less."

You huff, taking offense despite knowing full well that he isn't insulting your skill. He’s just terrible at wording stuff (all Links are), "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to steal your thunder there. I was only thinking it would be better to save your dumb butt than to take my time personally gathering an army to collect your corpse afterwards.”

Warrior clicks his tongue, forcing his eyes away from you, "...I'm thankful, don't get me wrong, but it was still incredibly stupid...You could've gotten just as hurt as me..."

"Hypocrite," You huff under your breath, although he still hears and pouts as a result. Gently, you take his chin, directing him to face you again, "I get that you're a captain and all, thus you feel responsible for protecting others, but there's nothing wrong with admitting defeat and trusting someone else to take charge if necessary. Your ego isn't worth your life, after all, I’ll only mourn one of the two.”

Warrior blushes, trying to look anywhere except your eyes, yet you refuse to let him do so, too amused by his adorable embarrassment to let go of his chin right away.

"I...I suppose you're right."

"I always am."

"...I'll be sure to remember that from here on out."

#lu chain #lu four #lu hyrule #lu warrior x reader #lu hyrule x reader #lu four x reader #link x reader #legend of zelda #linked universe x reader #linked universe

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soylent-crocodile · 1 month

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Chiropterex (Monster)

(artist unknown)

(Back in the distant era of the early 10s, my family got Netflix as a novelty. Nowadays streaming has consumed film and television like a rabid beast, but back then, my brother and I found a little British show called Primeval. Weaned on BBC nature documentaries from a young age, this was an exciting new spin on Walking with Dinosaurs, and we loved it.

The future predator is no question the most iconic creature of the series, a future bat that is both inspired by earlier spec evo and has gone on to inspire many other monster designs, including the earlier moorkutlot. It seems only fitting it be translated to Pathfinder.

By the way, I'm abandoning the proposed evolutionary history the later seasons provide- that these actually evolved to eat humans in a post-apocalyptic cityscape- and make them what I think is most obvious to me.)

CR3 TN Medium Animal HD5

Chiropterex are an aberrant species of roughly wolf-sized terrestrial bat, an arboreal, nocturnal apex predator of the islands it calls home, where no other land mammals have reached. They live in small family groups of about four to six members, typically consisting of a mated pair, a nest of about six children, a few children of previous years who stay around to help, and maybe one or two aunts or uncles. Typically, however, they hunt alone, feeding on seabirds and large moa-like ratites who evolved alongside them. These family groups keep in contact with each other using echolocation, and if a lone hunter runs into a struggle, it will call on the dissembled family to help.

Chiropterex are notorious man-eaters, and many a shipwrecked crew has met its end at a family of ravenous land bats. Many peoples of island cultures consider chiropterex to be evil spirits, and indeed there is at least one island where the magic of The Abyss has infected the local population of these predatory beasts.

Some outsiders have tried to domesticate chiropterex, or at the very least use them as weapons. They are a tempting subject of domestication; they are mobile, intelligent, fast-growing and have large clutch sizes, but all attempts so far have ended disastrously.

Chiropterex Companions

Starting Statistics: AC: +4 Size: Small Speed: 30ft, Climb 30ft Attacks: Bite (1d3), 2 Claw (1d4) Ability Scores: Str:10 Dex:22 Con:8 Int:2 Wis:12 Cha:7 Special Qualities: Blind, Blindsight 90ft, Scent Lv 4 Advancement: Size: Medium Attacks: Bite (1d4), 2 Claw (1d6) Ability Scores: Str +4 Dex -2 Con +2 Special Qualities: Flurry of Strikes

This hunched over creature has long, clawed arms and a bulbous head that ends in a short, needle-toothed mouth.

Misc- CR3 TN Medium Animal HD5 Init:+5 Senses: Perception:+6 Blind, Blindsight 90ft, Scent Stats- Str:14(+2) Dex:20(+5) Con:10(+0) Int:2(-4) Wis:12(+2) Cha:7(-2) BAB:+3 Space:5ft Reach:5ft Defense- HP:25(5d8) AC:19(+5 Dex, +4 Natural) Fort:+4 Ref:+9 Will:+3 CMD:21 Immunity: Gaze and other visual effects Weakness: Vulnerability to Sonic Offense- Bite +5(1d4+2, 18-20/x2), 2 Claw +5(1d6+2) CMB:+6 Speed:30ft, Climb 30ft Special Attacks: Pounce, Flurry of Strikes +3/+3/+3/+3(1d6+2) Feats- Dodge, Mobility Skills- +11 Climb, +10 Stealth, +6 Perception(+8 Racial to Climb) Special Qualities- Flurry of Strikes Ecology- Environment- Forest, Urban (Warm) Languages- None Organization- Solitary, Family (2-4 Chiropterex, 6-8 Young Chiropterex) Treasure- None Special Abilities- Blindsight (Ex)- A chiropterex’s blindsight is echolocation-based; it cannot sense within areas of Silence or similar spells. Flurry of Strikes (Ex)- A chiropterex may, as a full-round action, give a flurry of stabbing strikes from its claws. It makes four Claw attacks at a -2 penalty each.

#soylent original #monsters and races #homebrew #primeval #future predator #speculative biology #speculative evolution

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pengweng-quack · 3 months

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Being a Witch with Vampires

Carlisle Cullen x Witch!OC

Summary: Stella (A witch) and Carlisle (A vampire), and how they blossomed from roommates to friends(?) to partners

Chapter 1/7

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7

Notes:

This was inspired by this fanfic on tumblr by lis-likes-fics titled "In My Defense, I Was Left Unsupervised"

This is also on Ao3 under the same title and same username too if you'd like to read it there (https://archiveofourown.org/works/53448940)

Posting is random lol, hope you guys enjoy this story

Word Count: 5095 words

TW for this chapter: vomitting, blood mentions

Masterlist

~1700~

Stella Allicere was out and about late at night. She'd just come out of a heated argument with her partner, in which the two of them were on the verge of casting terrible spells at each other had she not decided to just leave. With the dramatic rise in vampire assaults in Italy, which she knew that the Volturi was behind, she knew she shouldn't be out this late. But she'd rather battle vampires than deal with her demanding, controlling mate.

“Witch’s blood. Enticing.” A voice hissed behind her, getting her attention “Never thought I’d live to tell the tale of tasting one.”

“Now, now, we shall not be selfish in what could be shared.” Another voice scolded. She had a feeling there were four vampires around, but she was never good at guessing, so she braced herself for more.

“And she feels our presence.” A third voice taunted, and with their vampiric speed, there were at least five vampires in front of her

“You wouldn’t want this, I assure you.” Stella said, preparing herself for another battle

“And the witch speaks!” A feminine voice fake cheered, earning mocking laughs from the other

“I suggest you don’t attack her.” A tone that expresses nothing but superiority ordered from behind Stella “You do know the treaty that we have with witches, right?”

“And once we've drained every ounce of blood from her, that pact will still be honored.” The leader of the coven hissed at the guy “The treaty only asks to not attack them. It said nothing about not finishing the witch themselves.”

“I’m too tired to deal with anything today. Give me a break.” Stella sighed and motioned for the five vampires to be lifted into the air with her hands. Red cords were now all around them, barring any movement from the five vampires, thanks to another movement of her hands.

The red ropes caught fire in an instant. Thanks to additional manipulation from the witch's fingers, the wire was now on their neck, gently but steadily detaching their heads from their bodies. The heads of the vampires were detached and flung away with a single snap from her, while the body was left to burn.

“You looked to be having a bad day if you were killing vampires in this manner.” The guy earlier, who was watching in astonishment, pointed out, as he steps closer to Stella

“Don’t wonder too much. Curiosity kills the cat.” Stella growled, snapping her fingers and watching the decapitated vampires' bodies burn to ash

“Carlisle Cullen.” The guy, Carlisle, introduced himself “An honor to meet your kind.”

“Stella Allicere.” Stella introduced herself, just to be civil

“What got you so heated up in the first place?” Carlisle inquired as she turned around and began going in the opposite direction. He seemed to take that as an invitation to go around with her, so he did just that.

“My mate. Or so they say is my mate.” Stella replied, accepting the vampire's unannounced but not unwanted presence

“Do you witches just not know whether someone is their mate or not?” He asked curiously

“We just feel it, we don’t particularly just know.” She answered quickly “Why, do you get some sort of feeling when someone is your mate?”

“Wouldn’t know myself, I haven’t met my mate.” Carlisle answered with a shrug

“You work for the Volturi, right?” Stella asked, and he nodded without hesitation “Are you planning on drinking my blood?”

“Despite my colleagues' attempts to persuade me to drink human or witch blood, I have no desire to do so as we could survive just fine with animal blood as an alternative.” He answered earnestly

“Interesting.” Stella nodded “That explains your golden eyes in comparison to the red eyes I've seen on other vampires, doesn't it?”

“Exactly.” He answered her curiosity

Throughout the night, the two of them continued to talk and wander around the city. Only until the sunshine struck Carlisle's arm, where it began to gleam brightly, did they realize they'd spent the night together.

Stella was astounded by what she was witnessing; what she believed were legends was literally happening right in front of her eyes. The shimmer reminded Stella of diamonds being struck by light, but it was clear on Carlisle’s face that it wasn't something he wanted her to witness.

“Please accept my apologies; I believe the clock is signaling that it is time for me to return back to the castle.” Carlisle said sheepishly, pulling his arm away to the shadow areas

Stella turned the skies cloudy with a wave of her fingers, allowing Carlisle to walk around freely as they spent the last minutes before they had to part ways.

For eternity?

She hopes not.

“You didn’t have to—

“Well, good for you, because I wanted to.” Stella answered with a small smile just as they reach the Volturi castle

“Are you safe?” Carlisle asked “You know, from your mate?”

“I was deemed the blessed witch of today way back when my mother was still carrying me, therefore I should be able to defend myself enough.” Stella answered with a chuckle, sensing his genuine concern on her “And, you know, I have a certain vegetarian vampire on standby in case I can't handle him alone.”

“You already know who to seek.” Carlisle giggled, playfully winking at her

“I seem to have forgotten. You don’t mind reminding me, do you?” Stella teased, a smile slowly forming on the corners of her lips

Stella looked at Carlisle, his gold eyes showing nothing other than kindness and compassion. ‘He was different,’ she noted. If he ever offers her to be his everlasting mate, she would ponder before answering.

He’s different.

Carlisle's golden eyes flashed at that moment. He desired nothing more than to disappear into the witch's grey eyes. It perplexed him since he'd read a lot of books in his life, but none of them specifically mentioned a vampire-witch pairing. And, given that he had barely met Stella, he was cautious to claim her as his mate too. He did, however, desire her presence with him always.

Carlisle may deny it, but he has a sneaking suspicion that this certain confident witch will be his everlasting companion.

~1720~

“Who decided that knocking at night is acceptable?” Stella hissed as she opened the door, only to discover Carlisle, who appeared to have been in a fight. His once posh looking hair was messy, and he seemed to be rattled, and in a rush

“Join me.” He invited at once

“Join you in what?” Stella asked “And what happened to you?”

“I left the Volturi.” He answered “Aro didn’t take it well. He ordered the guards to try and stop me.”

“Carlisle!” Stella scolded “What were you thinking?!”

“Who’s in there?” Sam, Stella’s supposed mate, asked.

If Carlisle had a heart, it would have dropped in realization already. He was forcing her to leave her mate, whether declared or not. He was robbing her of a life of peace. But he needed her.

He’ll always need her.

“None of your concern.” Stella answered to him before he turned around and closed the door of his room

“Join me.” Carlisle invited again

Stella would not deny that the previous two decades he's spent with Carlisle had made her question whether a witch-vampire mate was feasible, despite the fact that no texts backed the theory.

Now that Carlisle is encouraging her to live a life other than that of a housewife, she realizes that it wasn't her desire to leave that lifestyle that prompted her to consider joining, but rather the simple fact that Carlisle was the one inviting her.

She would choose a life with Carlisle, no matter how rough the outcome will be.

“No pressure, dear Stella,” Carlisle said, looking warily behind him “But we have to move now if we want to be away quickly.”

“Give me a moment to prepare some stuff.” Stella argued before motioning her hands and allowing a number of her belongings to fly around and land in a neighboring trunk.

“How about Sam?” Carlisle asked

As Carlisle watched Stella scramble around the house for stuff that she thinks they’ll need while on the run, all he could think about was how much he wanted Stella to accompany him on his journey around the world. Forgetting that Stella has a partner with whom she has spent more time than they have.

He knew it was selfish of him to request Stella's presence

But he wanted nothing more than to be selfish of her.

“He’s not my mate.” Stella simply said, grabbing the trunk and walking out the house with Carlisle “You know he’s not my mate.”

“He deserves to know,” Carlisle argued

“And if he knew, I wouldn’t be able to accompany you. He’ll bring this to my family, his family. We wouldn’t even be able to step out of Italy.” Stella argued back “So much in asking me to join you.”

With what she stated, Carlisle remained silent. Stella clearly desired to reclaim the independence she had lost when Sam was announced as her partner. But now, as they walked to the outskirts of town, he was deep in contemplation, debating whether bringing her into the mess he had created was a good idea or a selfish gesture.

“Are you second-guessing?” Stella asked him

“You have till now to express your disinterest in joining me. I'll understand.” Carlisle realized that he needed to provide her with a choice. If he pulls her away from everything she's built, he'll feel extremely terrible

“Don't you think if I wasn’t truly interested in joining you, I would have notified you as soon as possible?” Stella asked him. Why was he second-guessing his decision when she was a self-assured witch who would speak out when she believed it was necessary?

“Are you sure?” Carlisle asked her again

“Yes,” Stella answered without hesitation

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily now, you know?” Carlisle asked her, lightening the mood the he ruined earlier

“Well, good for me. I’m not sure for you though.” Stella shrugged, before smiling widely at him

Carlisle realized that the punishments he would have from the Volturi was something he couldn't easily avoid but he was assured that he would be secure with the assistance of her confident witch. At least for the time being.

~1918~

“Stella?” Carlisle called, entering the home the two own. Carlisle was well aware that there were days when Stella was completely absorbed in her studies, and the mere sight of him after he stayed for a while helping in the hospitals surprised her. So much for being a witch who is mindful of her surroundings.

“Here!” Stella announced, stepping out of the kitchen

“Baking?” Carlisle asked, seeing the stray flour on her cheeks.

‘She looked so…human at that moment. And it was like I was her husband, getting home from work.’

‘Husband?’

‘Do I want her to be my wife?’

“Yeah, it got too messy seeing as— who is he?” Stella asked, cutting Carlisle’s pondering as she sees the new guy behind Carlisle, who was trying to sneak away

“Edward Cullen.” Carlisle introduced to the shy guy who stopped in his tracks once he was called out

“Carlisle—

“His mother begged me to keep him alive—

“Not for eternity!”

Carlisle was terrified at the prospect of Stella being outraged by his decision. He was terrified of offending her in any way after their first encounter. However, she just must understand this one.

“That’s why you were gone for a while, weren’t you?” Stella asked in and oddly calm manner “Because you were helping his thirst?”

“You know he won't be able to control himself if he was exposed to you too soon,” Carlisle explained “Because the smell of your blood is very alluring to us vampires.”

“You got him under control now, right?” Stella asked again in the same calm tone

“Yes, but in the meanwhile, I recommend that you share a room with me.” Carlisle offered, getting Stella to raise her eyebrows at him “You know, for your safety?”

“Sure.” Stella agreed, though not convinced that it was just the reason

“Please don’t think of things like that.” Edward asked in a barely audible tone

“You can read my mind?” Stella asked quietly

“I can hear both of your thoughts, yours a bit harder but I could still do so. Both are messy and all over the place.” He replied, answering her question “However, I chose to concentrate on only one. It wasn't really enjoyable.”

“Alright, I’ll keep note of your telepathy.” Stella frowned, knowing that she doesn’t have any sort of privacy now if it weren’t for her own mental abilities “Carlisle, mind if we have a talk?”

“Y-yeah.” Carlisle stuttered, and quickly followed her to their shared room in the mean time

“You owe me an explanation.” Stella hissed at him the moment the door of their room was shut

“And I’ll give it, just calm down pretty woman.” Carlisle said, sitting on the bed that he had in his room, for aesthetic purposes obviously

“Spanish Influenza, he was nearing death.” Carlisle started, staring at the witch, who was waiting for additional information, in front of him “His mother pleaded with me to save him and keep him alive; I know I have you, and that's more than enough; but he was alone in this world. His mother had died, his father had died, and he was alone. I couldn't abandon him, you understand that, right?”

“This won’t be the last time you’re doing that, are you?” Stella asked with raised eyebrows

Carlisle was at a loss for what to say in response to her desire for a commitment. He was a doctor who saved lives and was ready to convert people into vampires to save them, but was this ethical?

“It won’t be.” Stella answered to her own question “Look, let’s come down to an agreement.”

“I let you know if I’m turning someone into a vampire?” Carlisle asked her

“No. That’s too much work. And you need to help their thirst before you introduce them to me anyways.” Stella disagreed “You quickly explain to me if you’re taking another vampire home, no trying to hide them or anything.”

“That could be managed.” Carlisle said, standing up and hugging Stella, feeling the warmth of her skin in contrast to his cold ones

~1933~

“Carlisle— hello there.” Stella said, startled at the presence of another woman in their living room

“Rosalie Hale.” Edward introduced to the woman

“Are you alright?” Stella quickly asked, sensing how she was anxious

“Stella— and you’ve met her before I introduced her to you.” Carlisle said as he walked into the room before seeing that Stella has met Rosalie already, making him sigh lightly “I’m nearing me getting yelled at by you again, huh?”

“You’re terrible at hiding surprises.” Stella teased lightly before sitting next to Rosalie

“Are you also a vampire?” Rosalie asked her, ‘it seemed like she wasn’t enticed by her blood’ Stella noted

“No.” Stella answered, shaking her head “But, I'm a witch if you’re wondering, there's no need to be afraid of harming me so terribly. I'm almost as tough as all vampires. Can fend off myself.”

“Almost.” Carlisle gave emphasis to the word

“What happened to you anyways?” Stella asked her

“Monsters happened. They’re all monsters.” Rosalie said through gritted teeth “I’ll get them back. Slowly and brutally.”

“Who did this to you?” Stella asked again, feeling a sense of protecting the woman next to her right now

“Her fiancé and his friends.” Edward answered, probably seeing the answer to Stella’s question in Rosalie’s thoughts

“I’m getting you a gown to wear when murdering them.” Stella decided at once, standing up and walking to her room to prepare for getting the gown

“Stella.” Carlisle warned, close on her heel as they enter their room

“Are they together?” Rosalie asked Edward who could only shrug in response

“Been with them since the 1920’s, never had an answer if they were together.” Edward answered “So, much for being the mind reader, don’t you think?”

Carlisle could only watch as Stella used her magic to create the perfect wedding gown for Rosalie as they entered the chamber. He quickly saw how determined Stella was to assisting Rosalie with her vengeance, something that she was always so against with. And that changed his opinion on her.

He just realized how right he was with his suspicion all those decades ago.

~1935~

“Carlisle!” Rosalie’s desperate voice yelled from outside, startling the two who were having a lazy day

“Carlisle! Stella!” Edward now called out, getting the two to quickly stand up and see why both Rosalie and Edward were calling for them

Stella and Carlisle were both surprised to see a bleeding guy on Rosalie's arm as they walked out of the room. She was visibly upset, prompting Stella and Carlisle to act quickly.

“What happened?” Carlisle asked, seeing for any signs of survival on the man

“He was mauled and assaulted by a bear. I was going to personally change him, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it, his blood is enticing me so much. So, I brought him to you.” Rosalie sobbed, and it was clear that if tears could flow down her cheeks that she had already shed some.

“You have to help him Carlisle.” Edward, who was always so against with Carlisle changing people to vampires, begged him. Stella had a feeling that he saw how distressed Rosalie’s thoughts were, and that got him to help her in getting Carlisle to change the man

“Stella, can you prolong his existence for a little longer?” Carlisle asked

“I can’t.” Stella immediately responded, knowing that it was a different branch of magic, one that she had sworn she would never study in fear of being hooked to it and using it in exchange of accepting the consequences

“You have to do it now.” Stella urged him, sensing the life fading away from the man in Rosalie’s arm

With Stella’s urging, as well as Edward and Rosalie’s begging, Carlisle went and bit his neck. Starting the man’s transformation to a vampire. Soon, he was pulling away from the guy’s neck. Wiping his mouth and looking at the guy

“Stella?” Carlisle asked, seeing the sickened look on the witch’s face. In a quick act, Carlisle took Stella and carried her bridal style, taking her to the rest room where she just barely made it to the toilet. He patiently watched as she started puking her guts out in disgust from what she just witnessed

"I'm sorry, you didn't have to witness that." Stella murmured, just as Carlisle passed her a bundled-up tissue which she used to wipe her mouth

"Are you alright?" Carlisle asked, rubbing her back in an attempt to soothe her down

"It must have been all too much for me." Stella weakly answered, resting her figure on the bathroom walls and catching her breath

"It's alright. No need to feel bad just because you reached your limits." Carlisle assured her “Though, why’d you stay?”

"I was already feeling sick the moment Rosalie brought him in, you know, the blood and everything, but I wanted to stay. Because Rosalie was lost and didn't know what to do at that moment. I tried extremely hard to keep it together until it was all done, but it was just too much." Stella rambled, while Carlisle watched her with nothing but adoration on his face

Carlisle was well aware of Stella's willingness to make sacrifices for their new forming family; her being with them was already a huge risk for her. But the fact that she sat through something she didn't want to watch to console his adoptive daughter made his dead heart quiver. She was the reason he felt human again.

All those decades ago, it was just a feeling Stella was his match. But now, he knew Stella was his soul mate. He just needed to know if she felt the same way for him as well

‘Or if this was all a ploy for your demise’ a part of his brain taunted to him

Knowing about how her blood affects vampires from one of her books lightly scared him. Though it also proved his point that the witches have always been stronger than vampires. It’s just the vampires are more…full of themselves, as she says.

Would she really spend this long just for one vampire’s demise?

Everyone was looking forward to the newborn vampire's emergence a few days later. Rosalie is more jittery than normal due to her anxiety. Carlisle has ordered Stella to remain away for a time, to her dismay, but with the help of Rosalie and Edward, she has been able to get around the home. She's the only one who can make them feel better.

"Is he awake?" Rosalie asked Stella who was peaking. The guy was still changing, it was slow but Stella had some assurance that he was changing

"Carlisle's coming." Edward informed. Stella and Rosalie had one look at each other before Stella hugged her for assurance.

"I have to go. I'll see you soon." Stella said, rubbing her back one last time before sneaking out the nearby window

Stella heard Rosalie's call for help to Carlisle before she could fully escape. Stella realized that the newborn vampire was awake. She dashed back into the home, instantly understanding that she was the source of the problem. While Carlisle, Rosalie, and Edward fought to stop him, the man was trying all in his power to get to Stella.

"Stella!" Carlisle called as the three of them were thrown aside by the guy and quickly attacked Stella

He was quicker than Stella so she couldn't run. As a result, she made the decision to protect herself. With a rapid stroke of her fingers, the newborn had red ropes wrapped around his body and legs, tripping him up as he attempted what he could do to get free off the cords.

"I told you not be here!" Carlisle yelled, rushing to be in front of Stella in an attempt to protect her

"Let him free, we'll hunt with him." Edward said

"No!" Rosalie argued immediately "We have to take him out the house first! It's too dangerous for Stella if we free him now."

"Set him free once we step out the house. Then we'll quickly hunt." Carlisle ordered "Rosalie, stay with Stella."

As they walked out the door, Edward and Carlisle assisted the newborn in standing up. Stella swiftly removed the wires she had conjured up on him after the door was shut, and they went off to hunt.

"He's angry at you, isn't he?" Rosalie asked, guilt laced in her tone

"It'll pass." Stella coolly answered

"I'm sorry. You wouldn't do this if you didn't sense that we were anxious for him. Because of that, your life was just placed in danger." Rosalie apologized, sitting on the couch as she waits for the three

"Don't apologize." Stella assured, sitting next to her "I willingly helped you two out. I wouldn't do it if I didn't want to."

"Why'd you think he's mad at you?" Rosalie asked after a long silence between the two

"I don't particularly think that he's mad at me that way. He wouldn't specifically be that vocal if he's mad." Stella frowned "I think he's more hurt than mad."

"Hurt?" Rosalie asked

"It's easier to say why you're mad as to why you're hurt." Stella explained "He'll find it easier to explain that he was mad at me for not listening to him than explaining that he's hurt because of my actions."

"Does he believe that or that's what you've noticed on him?" Rosalie asked

"A bit of both, I guess." Stella shrugged

Edward, Carlisle, and the newborn, who had introduced himself as Emmett, returned from their hunting trip a little time later. Carlisle was the first to enter the home, rushing up to Stella to protect her.

“Hi.” Emmett greeted, waving his hand at the two that he just met

“Hi.” Carlisle said in a rush, before dragging Stella up to their room

“Are they together?” Emmett asked as both Edward and Rosalie shrugged in response

“Why were you there?” Carlisle hissed the moment that the door was shut, separating them from the outside world and leaving them on their own for a while, giving them the illusion of privacy in a house filled with vampires with vampiric senses

“Because they needed me.” Stella hissed back, ready to argue “Edward had no idea how to console others, and Rosie – poor Rosie – had no idea what to anticipate. I couldn’t leave them alone at that moment, you know I can’t.”

“What about me? Who needs you being alive and well just as much as they do? How will you have stayed with me if you – wishing to whatever deity there is that it never happens – didn’t make it out alive tonight?” Carlisle asked in a tone louder than how he usually would when they argued

What he said took Stella by surprise. They've been together for decades, but she was taken aback when he stated flatly that he relies on her for his desire to continue living. She was well aware that she, too, was reliant on him for the desire to continue living, but she would never confess it, particularly to him.

“Say something.” Carlisle said, startling Stella

“Witches are the most powerful supernatural beings that there is. A witch is exceptionally difficult to be killed, especially by vampires. They will only be severely harmed if attacked.” Stella explained to him, ignoring the strong heartbeats in her chest “You came across me when five vampires attempted to group up on me. I know you believe in me and my abilities, so why have you begun to mistrust me?”

“I don’t doubt you and your abilities. I never did.” Carlisle said, sitting down on his bed

“It’s just— you know what, never mind. Just don’t do something like that again.” Carlisle started to continue before changing his mind “Don’t be too reckless. I need you.”

Stella could have sworn with all her might that she felt human again when Carlisle told her that he needed her. The sensation of blood racing up her cheeks, turning them a pale scarlet, the sensation of butterflies in her stomach, and the desire to rush up to him and kiss him. He made her feel human again, a feeling that she missed

Stella realized at that instant that this particular vampire was her true mate. Now she just needed to know if he thought of her the same way.

~1950~

Rosalie, Emmett, Edward, and Carlisle were out hunting for the night and Stella was busy finishing a book when she heard a knock on the door

“Carlisle, you can enter without knocking in your own home!” Stella groaned, bothered that someone disrupted her reading

“I’m not Carlisle.” A sweet woman’s voice said from outside the door. Which confused Stella, they weren’t expecting any guests, especially this late. So, she did what any sane witches would do…

“Who are you and what are your intentions?” She loudly asked, preparing for a battle

“I’m Alice!” Alice sweetly introduced, and Stella was more intrigued than ever, because why is she introducing herself if she has plans to attack?

Stella approached the door, carefully opening it and peering outside to see who was speaking. She noticed two persons, one of them was a small female with pixie-like features and was exceedingly thin. Her glossy black hair was cropped short and pointed in every way. She was accompanied by a tall man with honey blond hair that dropped just below his collar. He is robust but not big in appearance.

Like the other Cullens, they both has pale, marble-like skin, otherworldly beauty, and bruise-like purple shadows under their eyes. If Stella had not spent multiple decades with the other Cullens, she was certain to have confused them as one as well.

“Stella?” Carlisle asked, seeing the two unknown vampires in their front porch interacting with his confident witch

“Carlisle Cullen!” Alice sweetly said, as if she was excited that she was finally meeting him

“How do you know us?” Carlisle asked, motioning Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett to stay behind as he steps closer

“Oh, we mean no harm!” Alice said in the sweet voice that she had earlier “I can see into the future, and I saw that we were gonna be joining the Cullens. I’m Alice and this is Jasper.”

“She’s not lying.” Edward backed her up “She also knows that we will move back to Forks once every Cullen has full control over their thirst.”

“It’s certain?” Rosalie asked

“The reason is because Forks is Stella’s favorite town.” Edward added, getting Stella to furrow her eyebrows

“Of course.” Emmett teased

“Who said that Carlisle is the man of the house when Stella is right there? Just one ‘pretty please’ from Carlisle, and suddenly, we’re doing said plead from her.” Emmett continued, getting Rosalie to laugh

“Okay, too much.” Carlisle said, stopping them from saying more about their future “I supposed these two are another addition to our growing family.”

“You’re still very terrible with surprises, you know that?” Stella teased Carlisle

“Oh, you’re in for more surprises though.” Edward said in a teasing tone before walking in the house and leaving them all dumbfounded

“Okay, all of you, to your rooms.” Carlisle said, urging the two “There’s a spare room in the house, but I have a feeling that you know that already?”

“Oh yes.” Alice answered, reaching for Jasper hand and walking into the house. Rosalie and Emmett following next who was side-eyeing each other after hearing what was in their future

“A mind reader, a drop-dead gorgeous woman, someone who could murder me in a flash, a future seer, and someone who might kill me in a flash again are adopted by a doctor and a witch.” Stella listed down, laughing as her and Carlisle entered the house and to their room “When you asked me to join you over a century ago, I didn’t think that it was to build a family.”

“To be fair, I didn’t think that it was gonna end this way too.” Carlisle agreed with her as he rested his arms on her shoulders, pulling her closer to him

#carlisle cullen x reader #carlisle cullen #emmett cullen #alice cullen #rosalie hale #edward cullen #bella swan #jasper hale #twilight saga #no esme on this one (I love her though I promise)#the cullens #twilight renaissance #carlisle x reader #twilight x reader #twilight #carlisle cullen imagine #carlisle cullen fanfiction

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adonis-koo · 2 years

Text

wicked • 13

↳ Summary: In a desperate hope to stop war from breaking you are a serviced to wed the most vile man alive, the one who has committed atrocities and war crimes beyond comprehension, he who is responsible for the fall of many nations, the wicked prince who’s heart is made of stone. You are to marry a man who challenges every belief and moral you stand for, all while being faced in a foreign land with nobody but yourself too trust…But are you both truly that different? Or is hate not too far from love?

↳ Pairing: Jungkook/reader

↳ Genre: arranged marriage AU, enemies to lovers, it’s kind of a period AU??? Historical but also technically not? prince!AU, eventual smut

Word Count: 9k

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Note: hello everyone!! it seems as though almost everyone was in favor of me posting 13 when it was finished so here it is!! I hope you enjoy it because it’s laying out some ground work for a lot more intense stuff in the next few chapters! in other news if steve harrington dies tomorrow in v2 of stranger things I will not be okay </3 so I figured it would be better to get this out tonight! enjoy!!

“Duck.”

“Ah!”

A dull throb immediately entered your back as you yelped out, dropping the wooden sword instinctively, “Hey…! That’s unfair!” You cried out as you whipped around to glare at Jungkook.

His brows pinched as he waved his own wooden sword at your abandoned one lying on the ground, “It’s not, you think someone is going to play fair during combat? And don’t drop your weapon, you’re defenseless right now, what do you think would happen during your duel at this very moment?”

Your lips quirked into a large pout as Jungkook’s expression grew more stern, “Don’t give me that look, pick up your sword.”

You huffed as you grabbed your sword once more. With your wounds fully healed, Taehyung had cleared you for training earlier this week and Jungkook had been training every morning and then once you finished with him, you’d have a break before resuming with another teacher.

Sometimes it was Hoseok or Jimin, more times than less though it was with your new bodyguard.

“You could cut her some slack,” Yoongi called out.

You had only just been introduced to him just a few days ago, Min Yoongi was one of the top class Knights serving under the royal family and he had just gotten back from a tour which he apparently served at right hand of Areum.

He was now however your personal knight and therefore followed you just about everywhere you went and attended everything you did. This included, and dare you say, it seemed as if it was his favorite part of the day.

He had been sat on a large bale of hay, lounged out as he had been watching mildly entertained for the last half hour as you got whacked left and right from your ruthless husband, “She does come from a pacifist nation, I’m sure this probably violates at least several Eunoian laws.”

“If she’s to stand any chance against Seohyun then she can’t be babied.” Jungkook grunted, slashing his sword dangerously close to your upper body as you yelped, jumping back, “Good, but you can’t dodge every attack.” He sighed before pausing, “You’ve been dodging all morning, you’ll have to try offensive eventually.”

“Against you!?” You cried out, “No offense but I’m already more bruised than an apple thanks to you. I don’t want anymore to match.”

This made a tiny smirk tug on Jungkook’s lips, “Bruising can be attractive.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” You leaned back at the expression on his face, mildly flustered.

“Wow.” Yoongi whistled out before chuckling.

You glanced at your personal knight before back to Jungkook, somewhat defensive yet totally lost as to what he meant, the sight of this only made Jungkook chuckle, “Nevermind that, try a few swings on me, I’ll be gentle, after all it’s your first time.” It came out like an ushered innuendo and you knew damn well it was!

“Jeon Jungkook!” You reprimanded, smack your sword against his, “You stop that!”

You weren’t sure when this started up, but ever since two weeks ago when Jungkook gifted you your pup Fenrir, you had noticed the massive uptake on ruthlessly teasing you constantly, and it was often in sexual innunedo’s that constantly made you flustered.

“Well you aren’t gonna get very far swinging like that.” Jungkook whistled out with a chuckle before he managed to twist the blade right of your hand with his own.

“This isn’t fair Jungkook!” You whined out once more, now pouting again as you crossed your arms, “I can’t even properly hold a sword and you’ve only been training the moment you could hold one.”

“I was a beginner once upon a time y’know?” Jungkook replied amused, “Maybe a lot younger than you but I was also not good with a sword either.”

“Mmm yeah I remember that actually!” Yoongi called out with a chortle, “Your maid servant flattened him to the ground, several times might I add.” Jungkook glared at him but he only kept laughing, “She was a prodigy in the making that one, it’s a shame they wouldn’t let girls participate in the academy.”

You chewed against your lip before you turned to Jungkook, “What if Wheein taught me how to swordfight?”

“Am I that bad of a teacher?” Jungkook cocked his head to the side.

“No!” You ushered out before feeling a dull ache in your back, “You’re just…very strict.” You frowned as you rubbed the sore spot on your lower back.

This made Jungkook snort, “To answer your question I wouldn’t say no, but ever since the incident with me, chances are she would decline your request. She’s very shy of the guardsmen these days.”

“Was it that bad?” You frowned, you had hard of this supposed incident a few times now but you didn’t realize it had left such a distaste in Wheein’s mouth.

This made Jungkook frown, “I don’t know, I didn’t get to witness it, just that I heard the old captain of the guard had really frightened her. She hasn’t held a sword around me since.” He nodded to Yoongi, “But if she had been allowed to train alongside us from that age on she’d easily be a prodigy.”

“Better than you?” You asked.

This made a small smile tug on Jungkook’s lips, “Perhaps. I suppose we’ll never know. Now, sword.” Jungkook gestured to your sword once more as you pouted but did as told. He then began demonstrating different ways to hit offensively.

It started out as just following his lead but he eventually led his way in doing the motion against him, it was almost like a dance, you step forward and take a hit, he’d take a step back and block, and then he’d do the same to you.

“Well, well, what is going on here?”

You both paused at the deep, pleasant voice of Areum, Jungkook’s aunt, a smile tugged on your lips as you waved to her, “My duel with Seohyun is arriving soon so…we’re trying to get as much practice in as possible.”

Areum nodded at this, “Ah yes, I’ve heard of this duel. The odds are quite against you but you seem rather determined here.” She smiled as she waved to your sword.

“More like Jungkook is determined,” You smiled back weakly, “I’m simply trying my best and to be quite frank I’ll be ready for when the duel is over.”

“It’s not much,” Jungkook sighed as he glanced at his aunt, “With her injuries having taken precedence to heal we’ve lost a lot of time to train. But it’s better than nothing, that’s what you taught us after all.”

This made Areum smile in delight as she nodded, “Even the slightest chance of victory, is still a chance.” It sounded almost like a quote as she walked closer before taking a seat on the hay bale next to Yoongi who nodded in greeting of her, “Spar with her, I want to watch.”

Jungkook frowned, “We haven’t really progressed as far as a real spar.”

Yoongi nodded, “Even an informal one, she’s still flailing quite a bit.”

Areum shook her head firmly, “Spar, I want to watch.” She stared Jungkook down before he broke contact with her, sighing.

You had become nervous meanwhile, watching them both before you replied, “Um…Does my word count for anything? Because I already have a collection of Jungkook related bruises.”

“It’ll be over quick at least.” Jungkook said but it was hardly any consolation to you as you glanced back at Areum who seemed amused but nodded encouragingly to you.

You sighed before you straightened up lifting your sword as you tapped your blade against his before backing up, but before you could even fully get into stance Jungkook had already attacked. You yelped out, barely dodging his quick agile blows as you, the very opposite of him, gracelessly jumped back.

“It’s like her body is completely rejecting the primal urge to fight.” Yoongi shook his head, watching you barely duck under Jungkook’s ruthless swing as you both switched places before jumping back once more.

Jungkook heaved a breath looking mildly annoyed, “Stop running from me.” He extended his sword back out.

“Stop trying to hit me!” You cried back as you cowarded away from him.

He immediately swung at you once more but this time even more fierce than before, only this time he managed to knock the sword from your hand, grabbing it only to yank you close, an arm wrapping around you waist and the taunt wood of the faux blade met with your neck and Jungkook’s warm breath tickling your face, “I didn’t even hit you.”

“Yeah you were only trying to take off my head.” You ushered back, this made him snort however as he let you go lowering his blade before he stuck it into the ground while looking at Areum.

She hummed in thought as she grabbed her chin, “Well, dodging is her strong suit for sure.”

This made Yoongi cover a laugh as Jungkook sighed pressing his hand to his forehead.

You rubbed your neck bashfully as you shrugged, “I don’t want to hurt you or anyone else.”

“Y/n…” Jungkook sighed once more, “I don’t think you could hurt me even if you tried.”

“Ugh can someone help me with this?” Jimin had just appeared from down the slope where he and Hoseok seemed to have been trying to hit a knife into a tree rather high up with a rope attached to it.

They had been there all morning and Jungkook had quickly told you to not be distracted by them so you had since been ignoring them.

“Can you not do one simple task Jimin?” Jungkook asked, whirling around at him in annoyance.

“Why must god always choose his strongest soldiers for their hardest tasks.” Jimin lamented dramatically, “It’s hardly simple my Prince, have you seen this pitiful knife?” He showed it off and it was indeed small, “And have you seen that tree? It’s awfully big.”

“Isn’t that just a clothing line to dry the guards clothes on?” Yoongi asked while rubbing his head.

Jimin glared at him sharply as Yoongi put his hands up in surrender, “Nevermind me.”

“What are you trying to do?” You asked, peering out from behind Jungkook.

Jimin, delighted, held out his hands to you, “Are you volunteering Princess?”

“Jimin.” Jungkook growled out lowly, planting a firm foot in front of you.

Your lips quirked a little as you looked up at Jungkook before you replied, “I’d love to help of course, you just have to tell me what it is you can’t accomplish.”

“You are still training.” Jungkook crossed his arms, his gaze narrowing down on you.

You quirked a brow, “And I am taking a break to help a friend.” You stepped out from behind Jungkook as Jimin clapped his hands in glee before he excitedly gestured you down the hill, offering a hand out to you to help you down.

You gladly took it as he walked you over to Hoseok who sighed, “This is embarrassing.” He muttered.

“It’s not! Tell me, what’s had you both troubled all morning.” You smiled as you clasped your hands together, thin bandages wrapped around them, concealing your newly healed skin, you didn’t have to wear these. But truthfully you just weren’t to let everyone see all the damage that had been done to your hands.

“We can’t get the knife to stick into the wood,” Hoseok sighed, rubbing his neck, “And it’s not that it won’t stick but more like…we just can’t get the aiming quite right. I don’t know why Jimin brought you, I asked for specifically for Jungkook.”

“The Prince was giving me a hard time,” Jimin complained, “Besides our Princess here offered to help, who was I to decline her?”

You shrugged, “Give it to me.” You gestured as Hoseok somewhat hesitant handed his own knife to you, you noted the hole at the base of metal, a rope looped into it, “And, can you show me how to throw it?” You looked at Jimin who nodded.

He took a few steps back as you mirrored him, the tree was quite tall and round but all of it’s limbs were high up, making it unclimbable which is why they must only have the choice of throwing.

“Alright m’lady, throwing 101, normally you’d hold the blade end of the knife like this,” Jimin demonstrated it to you, “The weight of the butt of the knife is what gives it the momentum and power it needs to stick into its target. However, you noticed the rope here.” He tapped it as you nodded, “Which means we can’t do that, so instead we um…we’ve just been trying to do it like this.”

Jimin shrugged as he gestured to Hoseok who cleared himself out of the way, choosing to stand behind you both before Jimin held the knife back, throwing all of his power into the throw. The knife shot more like an arrow but it seemed to land too low.

And rather then stick into the bark it bounced right off.

This however made you thick of something, “Say…” You gently elbowed Jimin for his attention, “Perhaps this is a stupid question but um…have you both thought about just using a bow?”

Both Hoseok and Jimin looked at one another wide eyed before Hoseok groaned, “I’ll be right back.”

“Welp,” Jimin clacked his tongue, “This was a wasted morning. You can still give it a go if you want.”

You let out a small laugh as you held the knife examining it before you shrugged, mirroring the way Jimin held it before giving it a powerful throw. Jimin’s lips parted immediately before he looked at you, before back at the tree, then back to you once more, “You’re a hell of a shot Princess.”

You felt pride fill your chest as you crossed your arms at your handiwork, you had managed to hit it right in the knot that Jimin had attempted too, you have the rope a good tug but the knife wouldn’t be falling out anytime soon.

Hoseok had just come back out with the bow when his lips parted, ��Seriously!?” He complained at Jimin.

“Don’t look at me!” Jimin cried out, “The Princess was the one that did it, her first try too!” He boasted for you as you waved your hands at him to stop talking, now feeling shy under the attention.

It was just beginner's luck!

Areum from a distance hummed out with a pleased expression as she stood next to Jungkook, “There you go, you found her strong suit.”

Jungkook shook his head reluctantly, “Good aim won’t help her in a sword duel.” Jungkook sighed as he ran a hand through his hair with a mutter, “What were the odds that she’d be good with a bow?”

“Apparently enough that she’d actually be good with one.” Areum replied as she looked down at her nephew amused, “Just because it’s not a conventional skill doesn’t mean it can’t be utilized.” She smiled cunningly, “Think of my words little nephew, you’re smarter than this.” She continued in a sing song tone as she walked away.

Jungkook only sighed, running his hand through his hair. He could only hope his aunt’s faith wasn’t misplaced.

“Archery?” You whirled around, gathering your cloak to fully wrap it around yourself, the tree’s had been turning hues of oranges and red’s these days as Autumn had fully arrived and truthfully, autumn just might be your favorite season in Penumbra.

The air had arrived with a cool nip these days and so you had begun dressing more warmly to keep the cold at bay, this was new to you however, winters in Penumbra were cool but never cold.

“Yes,” Jungkook replied, throwing the stick, a very large one far as Fenrir chased after it with a loud bark, “Sword training will continue of course, but you clearly show good promise with a bow, beginners luck doesn’t exist on something like that.”

You thought of his words but you were interrupted by Fenrir who dropped the stick in front of you, bright blue eyes perked at the sight of you looking at him as he barked again, panting as he stuck his tongue, eager for another throw.

Laughing a little you grabbed the stick before throwing it, Fenrir immediately chased after the stick, disappearing into the field of wheat that had filled the meadow.

“Well…I suppose if you think I’d be good at it,” You replied, still pondering on his words, “I still don’t get it though, shouldn’t I be focusing solely on swordsmanship? It was you who said I need only be good at it, but the best at it.”

Jungkook sighed as he shifted his weight, “Yes I know what I said.”

“But…?”

Jungkook glanced away from you, “I’d rather you focus on something you’re naturally good at in case a time for self defense might be needed, I know your duel is important, and we’ll continue to work on swords work. But if war ever breaks out again-”

“It won’t,” You cut him off as you shook your head, he said nothing though as your gaze hardened, “Our marriage was to ensure that didn’t happen, within our lifetime at least.”

Fenrir dashed back through the field once more, blissfully unaware of the more somber tone in the air as Jungkook heaved a breath stepping closer to you as he spoke, “We agreed to that yes, but I don’t know…” He shook his head, “There’s been a lot of stirrings from the West and with what happened at Mabon afoot still…” Jungkook’s gaze hardened, “The last thing I want is war, but more than anything I need you to be prepared and safe if it happens. I won’t be able to stay by your side if the war cannons go off.”

Just him talking about this had your hands trembling in anxiety, the distant memory of the mourning bells being rung, the bodies…”That would be a war crime if they broke the rite of peace.” You whispered out.

Jungkook smiled mirthlessly as he nodded with a whisper of his own, “It wouldn’t be a first for them.” He frowned, “I’m not saying war will break out, it most likely won’t. But still, in Penumbra we’re always prepared.”

“I…I understand.” You lowered your gaze sadly, “I just hope you’re right, that war doesn’t break out again.”

“We all hope,” Jungkook answered solemnly, “The people can’t go through the five year war again. They would rise to the occasion if needed but we’re just entering an era for peace, where they feel they can enjoy their lives. It wouldn’t be fair to take that from them.” Jungkook stared out over the valley where the capitol expanded in the distance.

You shuddered a little as you tightened the cloak around yourself, Jungkook’s eyes trailed to your figure as he sighed, “Let’s get you back into the castle, you’re cold.”

“I’m okay.” You replied, “But it is a bit brisk out here,” The wind was what made it feel so nippy out today, “How cold does it get in the Winter here?”

“Have you ever seen snow?” Jungkook had a small smile as he asked, kneeling down where Fenrir had laid down out of boredom, he quickly popped back up however, grabbing his stick and dropping it in front of Jungkook.

Fenrir however quickly forgot about the stick though as Jungkook stroked his fur with a good pat.

“I’ve heard of the snow.” You smiled sheepishly, “Oh…! I remember one Yule we spent at Kimhae, it started flurrying and I kept chasing the snowflakes trying to catch one on my tongue. None of it stuck though.”

“It all sticks here,” Jungkook replied as he rubbed Fenrir’s head, “By the feet, we’ll be buried in snow by the time Yule is close…” He stood up, “Speaking of…have you given any more thought to going to Kimhae for Yule?”

You raised your brows in semi surprise, “You’d be willing to go?”

“Had I not made that clear to begin with?” Jungkook titled his head, somewhat confused by your surprise.

You let out a wry smile, “Well it’s just…given your…distaste for Seokjin I would’ve thought you wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him.”

Jungkook snorted, rolling his eyes, “Truthfully I could care less about him, but I’m asking you what you want to do.”

You had given the situation a lot of thought and weighed what the pro’s and con’s would be, because you knew if you went, you’d have to face Seokjin again and…well…You had changed a lot. You weren’t sure if you were ready to talk to him yet.

“Well, if you’re sure you don’t mind, then I would like to go,” You smiled gently, “I really do miss my mother and I just heard back from her that she would be attending with my father.” You had ended up writing a letter to your mother and it was originally to ask her about Yule.

But well, it ended up being a very long rambling letter detailing your experiences in Penumbra and how greatly you missed her, and you just barely remembered to ask about the Yule ball.

Jungkook nodded, “Then we’ll go,” He offered his arm out to you as you hooked your own around it as he called for Fenrir who quickly began to trot ahead of you both, “I’ll start planning our travel arrangements.”

Making your way back to the stables Fenrir whined at the sight of his pen, circling back around behind you making you pout, “I know you don’t want to but I’ll be back out later.” You pressed a kiss on his snout as he whined once more but followed the gesture of your hand into the pen, tail between his legs before he curled up in the small pile of blankets you had brought out for him.

“With how dramatic he acts you’d think we hurt him,” Jungkook scoffed as he shook his head at the admittedly pathetic sight before he closed the pen gate.

“He is hurt!” You pouted, “I still don’t understand why he can’t be in the castle with us- in Eunoia-”

“He’s an ashe wolf Y/n.” Jungkook chided in.

“But in Eunoia-!”

“Yes I know in Eunoia,” Jungkook placed a hand on your waist, pulling you from the pen and towards the gates, “But he is an ashe wolf.” He emphasized, “You saw his mother, and he’s only going to grow bigger than her in time. He can’t be in the castle.”

This made you sulk as you crossed your arms as you mumbled, “We could make him fit…”

Jungkook was about to make a snarky comment as you both stepped inside the courtyard but his words seemed to be lost at the sight of what looked like a rush of people all about.

You looked at Jungkook in mild concern but his eyes only hardened at the sight from the main doors where an older man waved off three maids that fled from him in fear and shrieks.

Hoseok had appeared behind him, trying to say something to the man but he only flailed him away with a snap, “I don’t give a damn about decorum boy, I have a job to do!”

“Who is that?” You asked as you shifted a little closer to Jungkook.

His eyes narrowed on the elder man as he spoke, “Han Di Jin, the Wolf of the West.” Jungkook shook his head, “He was the old captain of the guard, but since he retired he took to bounty hunter work, that's how he earned his title.”

“...Then what is he doing here?”

Jungkook frowned, “Well, clearly they’ve decided to make your assassination as a priorty.”

“It’s been nearly a month since the assassionation, what’s the meaning of this father?” Jungkook’s eyes burned into his father’s as he sat across from him at the war table.

Due to you being in charge of heading the operation for rebuilding the Market district, you usually met up with Jeong Dae- much to your displeasure, as the King had anointed him as your mentor and overhead of the project.

Any concerns would be brought to him rather than the king himself. What you hadn’t expected was to find both your husband and father in law already in the War Room with Jeong Dae, but rather than shoo you away Dae Seong only gestured you to sit.

And so here you were, awkwardly waiting for them to be done with this as you folded your hands, looking anywhere but at the two men staring one another down.

“We finally have the resources to give to the investigation.” Dae Seong shrugged off his son’s brewing expression, “You should be happy, after you threw such a tantrum last month I thought this would please you.”

Jungkook’s lips twitched and this made you shift in your chair beside him, he looked anything but happy at the moment.

“The assassin has had a month to leave this kingdom,” Jungkook replied with a low sneer, “You wanted to chastise me about wasting resources last time we discussed this but you choose to do this a month later?”

Dae Seong stirred in his chair and he mirrored the very same expression as Jungkook, the only difference being you had slowly begun to find out that the king had a much bigger temper than his son.

“The boy has a point,” Jeong Dae had cut in methodically, leaned back in his chair and for once he hadn’t seemed to be butting into the conversation until now, “If we wanted to catch this assassin then we should have struck whilst the iron was hot. But alas my brother, you choose to have us focus on the pest of a beast.”

Your lips twitched, just barely at the comment.

Dae Seong also seemed annoyed by this comment but not for the reason you were, “Yes, and who decided to botch my kill?” He sneered back as he glared at Jungkook who chose to not reply to that, making the king relent, “Nobody leaves this kingdom without my knowledge which means the assassin still resides here and Da Jin will find him.”

Your gaze met Jungkook’s in silence and neither of you said anything for a long moment. Partly because Jungkook had told you that the assassin had already made his escape, two weeks ago. Why he had chosen to not let this information reach his father was a question you hadn’t even thought to ask.

Partly because you assumed the king had known this.

“Well what is with those looks?” Jeong Dae called out the exchange making you both break eye contact.

Jungkook shook his head, “Very well. But I don’t want Di Jin snooping about the castle and disrupting the servants daily activities, he already caused a stir this morning.”

“He will do his job as he needs.” Dae Seong replied firmly, “As I believe the killer could be residing within these very walls.”

This made your brows raise in surprise, you didn’t realize the king had the same line of thought as Jungkook…or he did a month ago. Jungkook said nothing before he finally nodded as he ran a hand through his hair, “Very well.” He muttered. “If that is all I have duties I must attend.”

Dae Seong stood up along side him as he waved him off, “Yes that is all, and I will have you both know that Di Jin will be having family dinner with us on sundays as he is a guest in our castle, so be on your best behavior.”

He eyed you in particular as you gave a weak smile and nod.

“Yes, yes they aren’t children,” Jeong Dae shoo’d his brother, “Now I must talk to the Princess about the rebuilding project so if you both don’t mind…”

You dimmed at his words, ah yes that was right, that was the reason you were here to begin with, after all.

You had begun working on hiring for the project to rebuild the market just last week, unfortunately your supervisor for this was Jeong Dae, so any questions you had or arrangements had to be passed by him.

You cleared your throat as you shifted upright in your seat a little more, “We just finished hiring the last of the men for the project we’ll be starting next week as planned on construction, I just need to start meeting with some of the business owners and discussing what needs to be where. If all goes to plan we should be finished by the end of Spring.”

“Good,” Jeong Dae replied with a nod, “Speak with the court businesses first, since they are patrons to our family they will get first pick of their spaces.”

You nodded at this, it made sense and so you began making notes with the spare paper that was on the table, “Is there a particular last name I should do first? I don’t want to step on anyone's toes whilst doing this project.”

The project hadn’t even been started and yet you had received several letters from various court members requesting many different things, extra space then what was originally given to you to work with, extra budget for their own compensation lost in the fire. Three aristocrats had even went as far as to give you a detailed list of flooring, chandeliers they wanted, and various other things that made your head ache.

You looked down the list with a sigh, while some of these things were very helpful to you so you could estimate how to manage your budget, many of these things were not what you considered necessary for their shops.

Jeong Dae sat on your words for a long moment before he replied, “It matters not, though some are more pushy than others. Mistakes are not easily overlooked in this court however so be on your best behavior girl.”

This made you sharply inhale as you looked up at him, his tone not appreciated, you were just trying to make sure to not offend anyone, “I’ll keep that in mind,” You resisted the urge to bicker however, you just wanted to be done with this so you could get back to work.

Ever since the king had put you in charge of this project, and with your upcoming duel, it seemed your days of wandering about and free time were over, it felt like you never had a moment to yourself anymore.

“And,” You paused, feeling this was a stupid question but you just wanted to make sure, “How much of this is actually necessary to a building? Many of the court business are requesting…” You shook your head in disdain, “Rather lavish items…”

“Such as?” Jeong Dae replied.

You handed the list you had written down, neatly sectioned off the supplies requested under each surname, Jeong Dae skimmed through the list before he replied, “None seems that awfully lavish.”

Your brows raised in surprise at this, “Really…?”

You were a Princess, to say you hadn’t lived a life of certain privilege and luxury in itself would be a lie, but you had also been taught your whole life that these things were never a need but a blessing. Not to mention they were never prioritized if something in the villages was of higher priority.

“Bit of advice girl,” Jeong Dae leaned in, his eyes darkening a little, “If you want to be accepted into this court, then you must be willing to extend your hand as a friend to the court. Let them have their little luxuries, and they will in return give you theirs.”

You frowned at this, “I understand but it’s hardly fair to all the other-”

“Are they the court?”

“...No..” You didn’t like this one bit, shifting in your seat as you refused to look at him any longer. So much of your budget would be thrown out though when it could be used to help those more in need. Could the aristocrats not afford their own luxuries? Because it looked as if they could.

“Correct. You are the Crowned Princess of Penumbra,” Jeong Dae nodded with a stern look, “You care for my nephew yes?”

The question made your head snap back to meet Jeong Dae’s eyes as you flailed a little, flustered by his words, “I…Um…Yes?”

It came out a little uncertain but Jeong Dae didn’t miss a beat, “Then don’t make a fool of his name. Our meeting is concluded, meet with me once more after you’ve made your arrangements with the court businesses.”

And with that Jeong Dae left the room leaving you still sitting as you groaned softly, sinking deep into your seat. You had been trained for the duties of a queen growing up, it happened naturally but still, nothing could have ever prepared you for this.

“It is quite the predicament.” Wheein hummed as she prepared you for bed.

You had asked her opinion on what Jeong Dae had told you, as it had been bothering you all day that you had spent rearranging and playing around with the budget to see if there was any way to cut corners.

And as it would turn out, you could but…With the way it would be done, you had a feeling they wouldn’t be happy about it.

“I don’t know if it would be appropriate to give how I feel on the matter though Princess,” Wheein frowned softly, looking at you in the mirror reflection, “Other then you must do what you think it best, and truthfully it would make me happy to see you integrating into the court better.”

You slumped in your seat a little at this, “Even if it means unfairly elevating the court members.”

Wheein gave you a brief scolding look as you crossed your arms, “That’s how the world works unfortunately m’lady, you know this just as well as I do…”

“Yes I know,” You replied, trying to not sulk about it, “I still don’t like it though.”

Eunoia wasn’t perfect by any means, if your kingdom’s past was anything to go by your people had once upon committed grave sins, and your family was by any means not always perfect, you knew the court always had slight favor over the people, this was how it had always been. But then again you couldn’t really compare the two.

Eunoia viewed materialism very differently than any other countries, luxuries crafted of fine wear and materials weren’t seen as musts or needs by your people, and most often let go of materialism altogether to transcend their human side to tune into the dryad nature.

“Perhaps you’ll find a solution that fits everyone's needs,” Wheein offered a small smile however at your glum expression, “I have faith in you m’lady, the right course will come to you.”

“You truly think so?” You asked meekly as you looked up at the mirror once more.

Wheein now smiled brightly as she nodded firmly, “Of course, I don’t have a doubt about it.”

She just finished with your hair before standing you up to get you changed as you asked, “How has your mother been? I’ve noticed you’ve been at the castle more lately.”

Wheein smiled a bit shy this time, “She’s recovering well! I think by next week I’ll be able to fully return to my duties, I can’t thank you enough for giving me so much time to tend to my family. My brothers…” She sighed before sadly shaking her head, “They’re still touring with the Eastward movement, so I’m all my mother has left.”

You frowned softly at this, “What about your father?”

Wheein’s expression dimmed, “He died during the war. After he passed my eldest brother Yeonjun ended up enlisting since the military promised grain and oil to the families who did, the rest of them followed right after. I went to the castle for work to help pick up slack as well.”

“I’m sorry.” You ushered softly.

“It’s not your fault m’lady,” Wheein offered a weak smile, “It’s just the world we live in. But I do thank you for being so understanding, many in the court are…” She frowned, “Rather callous. It often has the maids not wanting to linger anytime they aren’t serviced to a certain person.”

You thought on this, remembering back to when you first arrived. Anytime you’d thank any of the maids of staff they always had a certain look of surprise on their face before hurrying away. Back then you assumed it was because nobody here liked you but now…

“It doesn’t surprise me, unfortunately.” You hummed out, “I’m just glad to hear your mother is doing better, I do miss your company.” You offered a meek smile at this.

“As do I m’lady.” Wheein gave you one last smile as she finished changing you, “This should be it, is there anything else you might need from me before I go?”

“No, this is fine, thank you.” You nodded with a smile, dismissing her as she gave a curtsey before departing.

You had made yourself comfortable in bed before you began your nightly reading and Jungkook had come in not too long after you started with Taehyun in tow behind him, “It’s annoying.”

“Well he is your father Sire.” Taehyun rubbed his head making you snort quietly as you watched the two squabble.

“Doesn’t make him immune to stupidity,” Jungkook rolled his eyes before looking at you, “Di Jin was mucking about with all the court ladies. Apparently under bounty hunter business. Unbelievable.”

“What does your father have to do with that?” You asked.

Jungkook flared his nostrils as if just the thought infuriated him, “Because I was somehow the one that got scolded for interrupting his business, when he didn’t even have any to begin with!”

Taehyun began changing him as he spoke, “Well they are old war veterans, it’s probably why he gives him so much leniency.”

“Yeah,” Jungkook huffed, “I’m aware. Still doesn’t make it anymore annoying, just the very fact that he chose to do this a month after the assassination is like a slap in the face.”

“Well at least he isn’t trying to waste your time anymore with it and hired Di Jin instead,” You offered a weak smile in consolation.

Jungkook only gave you an expression making you frown, “...Right?”

Taehyun spoke up instead, “Sire has been requested to relinquish any information he has to Di Jin and to help with anything he might request need of.”

Jungkook groaned at the words once more as he closed his eyes, pulling the fine silk top over his head revealing the muscle glad skin beneath. This made you clear your throat, eyes immediately dropping to your book.

This had become a nightly routine and you had become acquainted with this side of Jungkook over the course of the last few weeks, much to your surprise he was actually quite a lot more opinionated than he ever actually spoke.

You supposed this shouldn’t have surprised you as much as it did, but it couldn’t be helped you had noticed since knowing his thoughts that he actually holds his tongue a lot during meetings with the court, but it always looked like he had to bite it back when you paid close attention to his expressions.

They were always so subtle in shift that if one didn’t know him well, they wouldn’t even be able to tell.

“Relinquish all information…?” You frowned, knowing the obvious discrepancy here.

Jungkook only shook his head, “How would they know that I know more?”

This made you frown, “Jungkook…”

“How would they know?” He asked, defending himself as he had clearly not told Di Jin that he discovered the assassin had escaped a long while ago, “They won’t, don’t give me that look.” You crossed your arms at this, “Is he always like this.” You looked at Taehyun.

“Well don’t bring me into this,” Taehyun complained, not liking both sets of eyes on him like this, “But to answer your question, yes, he’s always-”

“You’re dismissed Kang.” Jungkook cut through his words like paper.

Taehyun sighed before shaking his head, giving a bow to you both before he departed.

“So what did you tell Di Jin then?” You asked as you watched the door close before turning back to Jungkook who had been rolling up the sleeves of his sleep shirt to his elbows before he sat down in bed beside you, “What he already knew, which was we had no leads.”

“But perhaps it would be better to tell him that the assassin already escaped…I mean, that’s the only person who would have breached the border right?” You asked.

This made Jungkook frown, “I can’t say for sure, but that would be the only person I could think of that would go to that length to leave the country. It’s not that I don’t want to tell him, but I’m still uncertain.”

“Of what?” You asked.

“Of who sent the assassin,” Jungkook shook his head, “Who’s to say Di Jin wasn’t summoned here to try and make things worse?”

This made you frown before you looked down at your book which had been abandoned in your lap, “So many things are uncertain right now…I thought us getting married was supposed to fix everything.”

This made Jungkook briefly smile as he shook his head, “It’s never that simple princess, even you knew that.”

“Yes, I just didn’t think I’d live this long afterwards truthfully,” You puffed a breath, somewhat pouty, “What a mess.”

“A mess indeed,” Jungkook nodded before grabbing your book, “How about we not talk this over for the thousandth time though, how is the project coming along? I heard from Jeong Dae your having some difficulties.”

“Oh, did you now?” You frowned, not pleased with Jeong Dae running his mouth about you, and this didn’t surpass Jungkook as he raised a brow, “...It’s not a difficulty more like…Something I’m just having to accept.”

You shifted a little before you sighed and explained to him what you were struggling with, “And I have to start my meetings tomorrow with the court businesses so I need to make a decision tonight on what I want to do.”

Jungkook hummed as he crossed his arms, “It is a difficult position to be put in,” He shifted, “But truthfully, I don’t think it matters what you do.”

“...You don’t?” You frowned, somewhat confused.

He nodded, “The court is a fickle sort, they’ll find a reason to make things difficult for you regardless, I know this because I work with them every day. So, I’d advise you do what you want to do because it won’t matter.”

“But Jeong Dae said-”

“He says a lot of stuff,” Jungkook rolled his eyes, “Don’t take his words too heart, he means well but he’s dated in his opinions.”

You sighed as you fiddled with the edge of your blanket, “I just don’t want to mess up…”

“Messing up is part of learning,” Jungkook replied, “Embrace it, don’t fear it, you’ll do just fine.”

You could only hope Jungkook was right.

The door shut with a resounding click and you could hear laughter on the other side as you sighed deeply. Slumping in your chair as you pressed your hands into your face.

“Do you think that was the right choice?” You asked, afraid to even look up at Yoongi.

He had stood behind your chair the entire morning, having not even complained once about how boring this had to be for him to accompany you with.

Yoongi frowned at this scratching his cheek, “Personally? I don’t think you could’ve done much better Princess, the court can be particularly cold to outsiders. Especially given you’re apart of it now.”

You had been meeting with the royal businesses all morning and it had gone just about how you expected it too, most were outright furious when they had read off the list you’d be willing to provide for them and some of the things they had said to you was simply outright cruel.

You however had stood your ground with the whole lot of them, saying that either they would accept this, or find business within another district.

Some however, had still found a way to get the last laugh just as those ladies had, snidely dropping a line about how they had seen your husband with Seohyun just this morning, and clearly the look on your face was enough of a pay off for them after you broken the news that you’d only pay for half of the luxury renovations they wanted.

“You shouldn’t let their words bother you either,” Yoongi spoke once more at the sight of your somber expression, “I’m sure if the Prince was with Seohyun, it would have been in concern for the duel.”

You wringed your hands in worry as you nodded, “Yes, yes you’re right. I just…” You sighed as you shook your head, “They have much history together…” You mumbled, you didn’t want to sound insecure, but it was true they had much history together and you weren’t sure where Jungkook stood on his feelings when it came to her and well…his feelings when it came to you.

Something had certainly grown inside you whenever you thought of him these days, something that buzzed with a warm fuzzy glow and it made you nervous.

You had originally wanted to simply get along and be his friend, but you were now beginning to fear that he had somehow managed to corrupt even that simple want you had. It was in the little things, how you’d both sit together but just a hair too far apart for your liking.

How when you stood next to him your fingers would twitch in want to hold his hand, or hook your arm around his, it was like an insatiable itch.

And so whenever Seohyun had come up in conversation in relation to Jungkook, you had found yourself a bit more sensitive to it these days than you used to be.

“They do,” Yoongi hummed, “But not a good kind in my humble opinion.”

You shook your head with a frown as you glanced down at your ring finger, a beautiful shining onyx- what Namjoon told you was the stone of Penumbra, adorned it. It was your wedding band, you hadn’t bothered to wear it for a long while.

But you had stumbled across it in your jewelry box last week and couldn’t resist the urge to wear it proudly, even if the delicate lace gloves covered up your hands, you hoped maybe one day this ring would give you the courage to freely show off the scars that now stained your skin.

“Sometimes, we cling to bad history because it’s familiar,” You mumbled once more, perhaps a bit sulky, “I’m sorry Yoongi, I don’t mean to bore you with all of this.”

You decided to stir the conversation away from Jungkook, “I’m sure a knight of your status would do much better with Jungkook and the others right now.”

This made Yoongi chuckle as he shifted beside your chair, “Truthfully m’lady I am very tired of that work, politics aren’t my strong suit but I do enjoy being away from manual labor for once. You shouldn’t worry about me. Was that our last business of the day?”

Glancing down at your list you nodded, “Yes I believe so, arrangements have been worked out though so now I’ll need to head over to the library and start working some more numbers and then putting in orders for supplies.”

You had just stood up from your chair when there was a knock on the door making you glance at Yoongi in semi surprise, you were almost certain you had no more meetings with anyone else.

Yoongi frowned at this as he stepped up to the door, opening it before spoke in surprise, “Di Jin, I didn’t expect to see you lingering about here.”

The elder man moved forward in an attempt to step into the room, “I’m here to speak with the Princess, boy, so if you don’t mind leaving us for a moment.”

Yoongi’s expression dropped into something much less friendly, “I’ve strict orders to not leave the Princess alone.”

“Under whose orders?” Di Jin challenged him.

Yoongi’s lip twitched in annoyance, “...The Princes.” He looked away as if knowing something.

This made Di Jin laughed, “Then I do believe my orders from the King supersede yours. Now, if you don’t mind.”

Yoongi looked as if he was ready to argue with the older man but you had walked over, graciously holding up a hand, “It’s okay,” You gave him a timid smile, “I’m sure Mr. Han won’t be too long…?”

You glanced at Di Jin who gave a sharp smile, “Certainly not Your Highness.”

Yoongi shuffled in his spot, his eyes narrowing on Di Jin, “Very well.” He turned to you, his eyes brimmed with concern, “I’ll be waiting outside the door if you need anything m’lady.” He gave you a small bow before stepping out of the room and closing the door.

You cleared your throat, trying to not let the tall man intimate you as you turned around, offering a small smile, “Well, let’s have a seat shall we? What can I help you with Mr Han?”

Di Jin sat across from you, his expression having gone cold making you do a double take as he spoke gruffly, “This will not take long girl so let me be frank with you,” He leaned forward in his seat, “If I catch even the slightest of evidence that you’re conspiring against our nation, I will not hesitation to let the King know.”

Your lips parted for a full second, trying to comprehend what he just said to you- not just said, but threatened! Anger quickly replaced confusion as you scoffed, “I beg your pardon?”

“Don’t play dumb with me girl,” Di Jin sneered as he leaned forward in his chair, pointing an accusing finger at you, “Your little kingdom may have helped our predecessors, but lets not forget the savage nation of Celestial that once devoured their own kin. The very same that had been conjoined with Kimheavan before they split. It’s well known even after the nation split they still kept good terms, is it not true?”

Your lips twisted in disgust, “That was a long time ago.” Your nation didn’t have the prettiest history, that was true, but to be immediately accused for something your ancestors did and conspired was atrocious at the very least, “And I’ll have you know Mr Han that if I was conspiring against Penumbra I certainly wouldn’t have had my own assassination planned out!” You snapped.

Di Jin was about to speak but you cut him off immediately, “I may be considered an outsider and you may have your orders from the king but that does not make me less of a royal family member, no less the royal Crowned Princess, so heed my words and get out of my sight. Now. Or shall I go consort with the King to make sure these were his orders for you to threaten me?”

Di Jin’s glare could rain hellfire and yet your glare didn’t cease on him as he gruffly stood up, “Watch yourself girl.” Was all he said before exiting.

Yoongi quickly stepped back inside, brush the thick black strands of bangs from his eyes in concern, “Is everything okay Your Highness?”

You stood up from your chair as you sighed before shaking your head, “Something is certainly afoot, that is for sure.”

Yoongi frowned at this as he crossed his arms, “Shall we report this to the Prince then?”

You shook your head, “No…” You sighed at the confused expression Yoongi had at your words, “Jungkook is dealing with enough as it is, this will surely send him over the edge.”

“I do hope you plan to tell him eventually, his Highness will not like it whenever he hears of this.” Yoongi asked.

“Of course,” You gave him a soft smile, “When the time is right.”

“You’ve been awfully quiet this evening.”

The words were ushered out soft as you glanced up at Jungkook who hadn’t met your gaze, his eyes still on the letter he had been reading, but despite his focus you were beginning to learn that he was quite the observant person.

You had been reading in bed the whole evening and had kept to yourself, attempting to relax and let yourself rest well before tomorrow came.

“I’m trying to not let myself feel anxious.” You finally spoke after a long moment, shifting from under the covers of the bed, “The duel is tomorrow morning and I’ve hardly had any training.”

Jungkook didn’t reply for a long minute, finishing his reading before he set his letter down, he had spent the evening buried in work that he had been lacking on finishing the whole week, and therefore you hadn’t wanted to bother him. “That may be true but you’re stronger than you think,” Jungkook finally answered, leaning back in his chair as he looked at you from across the room, “Surely in Eunoia you have some form of fighting tactic.”

Jungkook stood up before making his way over to the bed, taking a seat beside you as he sighed, “I admit, your kingdom baffles me. I don’t understand how a nation could willingly lay down arms and trust that another nation won’t seize the opportunity to destroy them.”

You shifted in bed to face him, thinking on his words and how to describe Eunoia the best way you could, “Well, perhaps it would be best to maybe explain how our kingdom once was. Do you know of it?”

Jungkook shook his head, “I know very little of it truthfully,” He admitted, “When I was a boy my father didn’t permit me to learn much else other than what pertained to our kingdom.”

“Before we became Eunoia, we were once known as Celestial, self named after the King Devourer late Queen Celestia the Forth. When the Dryad’s first disappeared our kingdom…” You shook your head somberly, “Our kingdom spiraled into madness, and many rose up, hungry for power. It was said that Queen Celestia believed to restore our blood to that of a full dryad, we must devour our own kin.”

“Devour…?” Jungkook frowned at this.

You lowered your head in shame as you nodded, “Yes, she believed that once we devoured our kin, it would restore our blood to anew….” Your nose wrinkled at the thought, “...It’s how she became the late queen and earned her unsavory title…”

“And how did that era end?” Jungkook asked curiously.

“Well by the lower people,” You replied, thinking back to when your mother had first explained your kingdom’s history to you, “Though everyone’s blood ran the same, the Aristocrats believed those who deserved to be devoured where the lower class and so a revolt started and the people fought back. It was a war zone from end to end in my kingdom, flesh being severed and ate as if we were nothing more than animals. Eventually the civil war ended when the low class dragged Celestia from her hold and executed her.”

“It was as if she put the entire kingdom under a spell, because once she was killed, it’s said that it was as if everyone woke up from a deep slumber and realized what they had done.” You stared at your hands, marred and skin discolored from scarring, “They anointed Galadria their new Queen, she had lead the revolt against Celestia and was the one to execute her. Disgusted by what the nation had become Galadria had made a promise to our ancestor king, the Dryad’s, to return our homeland to what it once was. Focused on that of our inner selves, combined into one with nature, and Eunoia was born from that bloody war.”

You folded your arms as you continued, “Weapons were discarded because back in the Age of Celestia they were often used to dismember others in preparation to be devoured. It’s been only a little more than a hundred years now, so the wounds are still fresh, people who lived through that horror are still alive today. It’s not that we refuse to use weapons, but they still leave a distaste in everyone’s mouth.”

“I see,” Jungkook hummed as he absorbed the information, “But surely there’s criminal activity in Eunoia, how would that be handled then?”

“Well there is in any kingdom,” You smiled wryly at this, “But in Eunoia they are apprehended without the need for a blade. When they’re caught they’re put into indentured service, working for the community out in the fields, but during this they also get put into a housing lot where they can still slowly make their living, have the opportunity to learn skills.”

“Criminals are still people, they have a reason to act out the way they did in the first place. It’s our duty as the royal family to provide them an alternative to that, to help them. Not punish them.” You answered, “It’s not perfect, sometimes people are just too far gone to help. In that case we have no choice but to banish them from the premise of our lands.”

You thought of your words for a moment before speaking once more, “Oftentimes Kimhae had no problems stepping in if it was ever needed, but that was rare more times than not.”

“Well,” Jungkook hummed out, “That does give some perspective. I didn’t realize Eunoia once had its own fall from grace.”

You frowned at this. “Everything changed after the Great War though, didn’t it?”

The war that changed everything. what advancement civilization had made since The Fall what been completely ruined when all of the Kingdoms went to war, it was what caused Seoul to fall, how Celestia came into power, it shaped the very being of the world you lived in now.

There was a somber tone that took over and something happened that you didn’t expect, Jungkook gestured you closer as you scooted to him, your thigh touching his and an arm unexpectedly wrapped around your shoulder in a…comforting gesture?

“Enough of that,” He replied, hushed, “Tomorrow will come and go just as any other day.”

Your lips tugged into a pout, but you said no more before resignation filled you, sulking as you dropped your head against his shoulder.

You could only hope that the Dryad’s would be watching over you tomorrow and give you the determination that you would need to end this once and for all.

#jungkook #jeon jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook x reader smut #jungkook x y/n #jungkook imagine #bts imagine #bts fanfic #bts au

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surely-galena · 10 months

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ToT Main Story 9 Commentary/Thoughts (Part 3)

[1] [2] [3]

This is the final part and I will be including some longer thoughts (and my bingo card) at the end! I've purposely stayed away from other people's episode 9 posts while I write this up (notably Zak and Sam's) so their thoughts don't influence mine, but I am definitely looking forward to seeing if the feelings/concepts I'm picking up align with what other people are thinking. Heads up that the commentary here is going to be slightly out of order so I can push my longer thoughts to the end.

Ohhh. Okay, this got me. Marius was literally physically attacked and no one (except Vincent probably) has genuinely cared enough to ask about Marius the person and not Marius the suspect/informant. I'm really glad MC chose to ask this question rather than let Luke interrogate him right off the bat. And the fact that Marius is surprised also speaks so much as to what he was expecting... I did not think I would be getting treated to good MariRosa today.

(He went down to the NSB office... alone. Marius...)

Vincent's back on the case again, I see. Truly, what would Marius do without him?

This bit confused me. Didn't Luke only tell MC about his illness in his first anniversary card? Am I missing something from the timeline here?

And hey, more details about the incident. The fact that Luke contracted the illness during his treatment and that the drugs were suspected definitely point toward NXX influence.

Longer Thoughts Incoming, Here We Go

All right, first thing. This scene on its own doesn't say much. It's when combined with the other things I've picked up on that it feels... a little off?

I don't know if I've spent too much time with fanon!Luke or if I've simply been reading too much into it, but episode 9 Luke feels different. He's really aggressive this time, which is nothing strange, we've seen Raven before, but it also feels like he's relapsing into keeping MC/Rosa in the dark? (It's not quite that, either, I'm having a hard time putting the exact feeling into words.)

That scene with Julian where Luke is trying to push him into standing up for himself? It was well meaning, but gosh was it tense -- especially with the lack of communication with MC. No wonder she felt the need to step in and help.

There's a lot of fist banging on tables and harsh sentences from Luke, a lot more often than usual (to Julian, to Skye, to NXX members). It's a good reminder of how scary he can be, but it also provides massive whiplash from all the fluff we've been getting recently.

Additionally, Luke's interactions with the other NXX members (notably Marius and Artem) feel more distant. Like they're potential enemies, not coworkers/teammates.

I also think it's possible all of this is because Luke is getting desperate. He's getting worse, the meds are doing less and less for him, and he knows he's running out of time. Despite this, he's still alive. He's still able to change his fate -- or at least he hopes he is -- but to chase after his goals, sacrifices have to be made. He can't afford to dawdle or spend time not getting to the point, because time is slipping through his fingers and he needs to do as much as he can before he's entirely done for.

Basically? I think Luke is becoming increasingly stressed and he's (either consciously or unconsciously) taking it out on everything happening around him. The only people he's been truly open to in this episode are Aaron and MC herself. He's beginning to close himself off, even to MC (*points to the final scene with him covering her eyes and talking about lying to her*). Physically, he's not fine, and mentaIly, I don't think he's doing okay either, and that is concerning.

Okay, now onto the second major detail that has been nagging at me. These are from the final scenes as example excerpts, but is it just me or have the NXX been weirdly hostile to each other throughout this entire episode?

In one of the earlier scenes (after Marius speaks with Tyson), Marius runs into Luke. The conversation sounds like fairly normal NXX team banter, but Marius' demeanor is strange:

"But when [Marius] gives Luke a side glance, his eyes reveal a sense of sarcasm and coldness, completely different from his tone." (Main Story 09-01)

I'd assume this is because of the recent NSB action regarding Pax, the press, and the NXX Team's investigation. Luke is a potential weakness in the NXX Investigation Team because he belongs to the NSB. But after all the team building events MC put her heart and soul into, this is honestly kind of tragic. For them to fall apart so easily, because it was only ever her who glued them together.

(I know @roshie-writes has mentioned something to me about the NXX team falling apart, but I didn't know it would be so soon, or be so abrupt. Not like this...)

Not only do Luke and Marius have some kind of under the surface conflict, we have Luke and Artem who have a much more overt kind of conflict (i.e. Luke pushing for Skye's guilt and Artem being Skye's attorney). I've got to say that this is really interesting because we've never had Artem and Luke on opposite sides before. It's always been Artem vs. Marius or Artem vs. Vyn. To have Luke be isolated because of his association with the NSB (and potentially his illness) is an interesting story move (even if it hurts the found fam enjoyer within me).

Considering we're passing off the lead role to another boy after this, MC will no longer be tagging along with Luke in the next episode. This means that while Luke and Artem are on opposing sides of the conflict, MC has the advantage of being middle ground (because, y'know, they're all in love with her).

Even so, this part surprised me:

It's not out of character for Artem to prove MC wrong. What stands out is that he usually does it kindly. This is a laugh that MC knows to be directed to an opponent, and it hits harder when they're work partners. If there is anyone Artem can expect to be an ally, it's MC. But not in this case. Not now, when tensions are so high.

Then we have Vyn, who's being, what? Switzerland in all of this? In this episode he existed to have one conversation with MC, along with the absolute boldness to take it in front of his mystery guest. You do you Vyn, we love our behind the scenes guy doing suspicious things as usual. Notably he hasn't chosen a side yet, and neither has MC. We know that MC will follow her heart, and that Vyn will always look out for MC in his own way (which is true for all the boys), but it might be interesting to keep an eye on him as we head into Main Story 10.

I know the ToT main story can get pretty heavy, but this one was more emotionally draining than I thought it'd be. I'll have to see how it all connects before making a proper judgement about how much I liked it, but overall I'm glad we gained a lot of new info (and more questions to delve into later).

Here's my bingo card for the episode. I was so close to a bingo, but I got to cross off many boxes anyway!

#tears of themis #okay now I'm off to read sam and zak's posts I am so curious to know what you both thought

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nothums-from-tj · 6 months

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@cloudywithachanceofautism hi I can’t find it for the LIFE of me otherwise I’d reblog it so I know you made a post a while back saying that you saw this hc of Raph having extreme body dysmorphia after the Kraang brain swap and Shredder’s mind controlling and that you want it in a fic

Anyway so I have most of a fic on this concept it's just not ready yet, in the time being here's a scrapped scene from it <3 I just couldn't figure out a way to actually put it in the work as much as I love it so uhh here's Leo worrying abt his brother, takes place like a week or so after "Plan 10" (Kraang brain swap ep)

WARNINGS: mentions of a panic attack, low-key anxiety attack, sickeningly sweet affection from Splinter to his kiddo

T- and Hamato-c/st shippers you will be blocked on sight dnfi

Leonardo, being the little tattletale he is, tells Splinter about the breakdown once the others are in bed—once he knows Raph is, at least.

"I know you're trying to meditate," he says shyly, hesitantly stepping into the dojo, "and I apologize for disturbing you, it's...this is important. May we talk for a minute?"

Splinter opens one eye to look at him for a second, and sensing that his son is truly disturbed by something, he pulls himself fully out of his meditative stance to pay attention to his kid before gesturing for him to sit down next to him.

"It's about Raphael," the turtle continues after crossing the room, sitting down as his sensei suppresses a frustrated sigh.

"Was this something to do with his temper, or impatience, again?"

Leo shakes his head, swallowing hard and staring at the mat below as he gathers his thoughts.

"I...don't really know what happened, actually," the teenager confesses. "During the fight, he seemed almost...absent—as if he blacked out. We were fine—he was fine, he just...didn't seem to be in the moment—he hardly said anything, too. At the end, the Kraang were fleeing, and one was pinned under him, and that's when he sort of...'came to', I guess."

There's a pause as Leo seems to gather his thoughts some more. Splinter, quite frankly, isn't as shocked as he wants to be—he knows his second hatched blacks out semi-frequently from his anger, though a neutral depersonalization experience is one he hasn't seen in him.

With a calming breath, Leo carries on.

"The Kraang got free and caught up with the rest of them, though Raph didn't seem to notice. He was staring at the street, and he just looked so...terrified. He was shaking, hyperventilating—he started crying, Sensei. I'd...I'd never seen that in him before. I think his temper makes him black out, Donnie said he and Mike have both seen that kind of terror in his eyes, and that's just it, Sensei—we've seen parts of it, just not the actual scene that we saw today."

Leo looks up at him then, and the worry—the fear in his eyes is so intense Splinter almost wants to look away.

"Donnie thinks it was a panic attack. We don't know if something caused it, or what's going through his head, though he does think it might have to do with the brain-switching event last week. Raph doesn't want to talk about earlier, and Mikey said he's noticed some odd behaviors from him, and—I don't know what to do, Sensei."

The rat holds his son's face as the turtle blinks away tears pricking at his eyes.

"We don't know if this has been going on for longer and we never noticed it," the leader continues, "or if this is new and the Kraang is doing something to him, or—how can we save him if he's being attacked from inside?"

Splinter looks away while he gathers his thoughts, still holding Leo's face in one paw. After a few moments, he sighs again.

"The best we can do," he says solemnly, locking eyes with his son again, "is to keep a close eye on him until we have more information. We can not risk hurting him further, even if the intent is positive."

Leo blinks away tears again, looking down and nodding his head while his heart shatters for his brother.

"Hai, Sensei."

Splinter, frankly, hates seeing any of his kids like this. Leo, as the leader, is responsible for all of his brothers when they're out and about on missions, and he feels the same sense of failure said son is feeling right now. The city—the world needs to be kept safe, and he just wants to be able to keep his kids safe with it. Still, the most helpful option in the moment is to research and observe, so that's what they'll do.

His other hand reaches out to hold the other side of Leonardo's face, and pulls him closer as he leans in to give a gentle kiss atop his head.

"Do not blame yourself," he assures as he pulls back. "There is nothing you could have done to prevent it."

Leo nods his head again, feeling even marginally better than before. Silence passes between them for only another moment or so, then the turtle feels confident enough to cave into his father for a hug, which is instantly returned with another featherlight kiss on his head.

"Get some rest, Leonardo," Splinter says gently, and his eldest nods against him. The two share a smile when they pull apart before the teen sees himself out, hoping to actually get to sleep now that he's not bottling everything up.

#tj writes #tmnt 2012 #2012 leo #2012 splinter #2012 raph #he's mentioned anyway #tmnt #mentioned panic attack #slight anxiety attack #splinter being a good dad #he's trying to be at least

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psycho-lizard9 · 8 months

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Hello

I wanted to make a little introduction post as my first post here since I know that there was quite a bit of a bot issue in the past, and possibly still is to this day, so I do want to say that I am not a bot XD

I will soon add photos to my profile, but I wanted to do this post first.

I used to be here before, I had several blogs but the most known one was probably my J-Rock blog posting mostly BUCK-TICK and Der Zibet. That old account was nyacchan-3. I also used to have a dream diary on here for those who remember. Some of you might also know me from AO3 as Nyacchan, but I have changed my name there to Nameless_Me. I might change this name again in the future and I might also change my Tumblr name cause I couldn’t really come up with anything so I picked a song title and added my fave number to it. For this new account I will be posting J-Rock again, but maybe also some random things now and then, like reblogging things I come across and like.

Also, since I left social media I left my Discord name on my AO3 profile, yet I forgot about that after a while. I recently got 3 friend invites on Discord from strangers, and since I had forgotten my name was out there I assumed they were bots and denied the requests. If it was you, I am sorry and feel free to now message me here instead.

As I said earlier, I deleted all my social media earlier this year as the constant fandom wars really got on my nerves. The Internet is not a fun place when all you see is people constantly bitching at each other. I wasn’t planning to come back until at least September 2025, but since Issay’s recent passing I have decided to come back early as the memories of him are most easily found on social media. I want to just scroll through places, come across random photos, gifs and videos of him and enjoy the amazing work he has left us with, to remember the amazing person he used to be.

I know I have been complaining a lot about fandoms and fans in the past but I want to let that go now. I left social media to calm down and to… try to become a better person. I don’t want to have anything to do with any drama, I am just here to have a good time and to share the love for my favorite artists.

Feel free to talk to me tho, especially if your interests are the following artists:

BUCK-TICK

Der Zibet

DEAD END

Creature Creature

The Yellow Monkey

Vaniru

Sakurai Atsushi’s solo/side works

ISSAY’s solo/side works

MORRIE’s solo work

and/or Kazuya Yoshii’s solo works

Also feel free to contact me if you play any of the following games and would want to play online cause I don’t like randoms in online games XD:

Payday the Heist

Payday 2

(Also Payday 3 when it comes out cause I know I will be binging that)

Phasmophobia

Demonologist

Ghost Exile

Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan 2

Anyway, since I don’t want to immediately become inactive with posting, I will be posting faves lists from albums. Per album from my favorite artists I will be doing a top 5, top 3, fave song and least fave song. I plan to post these opinions of 1 album per day starting with Der Zibet, as I have been listening to Issay’s work almost non stop since he passed away. Listening to his voice isn’t as easy as it used to be, but I just want to enjoy his amazing voice and remember how much I loved him and always will love him. I don’t want to avoid his work.

Well, I’ll be right back with my opinions. It’s nice to be back and I hope we can all behave and get along now. I guarantee I won’t be causing any trouble :)

Extra: Feel free to message me here if you have any band related questions (of bands mentioned above)

#jrock #buck tick #der zibet #dead end #creature creature #the yellow monkey #vaniru #sakurai atsushi #issay #morrie #kazuya yoshii #yemon #payday #phasmophobia #demonologist #attack on titan #games #music #introduction

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wesavegotham · 1 year

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I already covered the preview pages of Batman vs Robin #3 in a previous post so I'm going to jump straight to the new ones.

Waid continues bringing up drama that has already been resolved in previous stories. Talia has expressed her desire to have Damian back with her quite a lot in recent years. She also asked him to heal as a family in Robin #12:

To which Damian agreed.

Er...Talia honored Ra's deal after Shadow War. She made a deal with the D.E.O to work as their spy if they leave Damian alone. Angel Breaker is leading the Shadows (new name of the league of assassins) now.

Btw it turns out that the palace Talia is in is only a comfortable illusion Damian/Nezha put her in. In reality she is imprisoned:

We jump back to Bruce who is making his way through the jungle and gets attacked by a possessed Tim Drake wearing a cloak that can make him invisible, just as poor poor Timmy has already felt for years😒:

Cry me a river, Tim. There is so much factually wrong with this. Damian was introduced in 2006, but didn't join the batfamily and didn't become Robin until 2009. Bruce didn't like Damian at first and assured Tim several times that Damian showing up changed nothing about how Bruce felt about Tim. Bruce didn't look for Damian after the explosion on the boat. At first he only made a few phone calls when Talia asked him to protect Damian from Ra's. He only expressed mild sadness when Talia took Damian with her at the end of Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul and continued not looking for him. Then Bruce got lost in time. Which is why Alfred and Dick made Damian Robin to keep him on the heroic path without Bruce around. When Bruce returned he doubted that Damian could work as his Robin. It wasn't until 2011 that Bruce decided things couldn't continue like this and he needed to improve his relationship with Damian. And since Rebirth in 2016 DC has done their best to keep Damian far away from Bruce while Tim has since then basically returned as the Robin working at Bruce's side. He lead the Gotham Knights for him in Tec, he wears the robin colors, he goes by Robin again, he has the Robin ongoing and he's working with Bruce to defeat Failsafe in the main Batman book right now. Shut the fuck up, Tim.

Okay. Sorry. Tim rant over.

Oh, by the way, Tim and Dick are also the only ones Bruce will have anything nice to say about. But poor poor Tim always has it the worst, hasn't he?😢😒 Okay, now I'm done.

Damian doesn't interact with Bruce at all in this issue if you wondered. He is with Mother Soul and Nezha who interrogate a new prisoner:

On one hand it's good to get a bit more information on why Nezha does what he does, on the other hand I'm not happy to hear that there is an even more powerful devil waiting to strike. DC has an escalation problem. I miss Batman and Robin 2011 which had mostly small stakes and didn't shy away from making the villains the B-story and Bruce and Damian's relationship the A-story.

We jump back to Bruce who still has several Robins to go through:

Not sure why Bruce insults Stephs fighting skills here, I think she's doing better than Tim in this fight.

DC, acting like Jason was a violent child during his time as robin is a disservice to him and his old stories.

Joe Chill was a random mugger, how is that comparable to Jason's situation?

As predicted in an earlier post of mine it doesn't take Bruce long to defeat them and he moves on to the only one who is presented as a challenge, Dick.

But before that we go back to Damian who has some questions of his own for their new prisoner:

Bajie, he's only here to give Bruce personal stakes in this, this story has actually very little to do with Damian as a person so far.

This is probably the least epic scene of a possessed person fighting for control of their body and mind I have ever seen.

Also, maybe Bruce can talk Nezha and his son into joining him and Damian on a father-son-bonding trip. I would feel more excitement for that story than for another "epic fight for the future of the earth".

I'm still confused by the rules and the exact extend of Nezha's possession. It's hard to tell what is supposed to be Nezha and what is the normal character of the possessed person.

This might be the first original grievance of a robin Waid came up with. I will leave it to Dick fans to decide if they think it fits or not.

I don't think that's the conclusion you should settle on, Bruce🤦‍♀️

I assume I was supposed to be shocked by Bruce using Alfred as a shield, but I called Bruce already knowing Alfred was Nezha's spy all along last issue. I mean Bruce would have to be an idiot not to suspect it. Alfred showing up alive because of magic being in disarray was too weird and the timing too convenient not to be connected to Nezha.

Er...he did blame Damian at first. That's canon. He stopped blaming him later on. And he already told Damian so two times. It wasn't perfect, but we really didn't need to do all of this to give Bruce a third attempt.

Sorry, but Tom King's Batman had been so damn full of himself for predicting everything Bane would do and coming up with a convoluted plan that included abandoning the city and for some reason leaving Alfred behind, plus apparently not even being close to Gotham when he gave Damian the signal to set the plan to take back the city in motion that I simply refuse not to at least partially blame Bruce for all of this.

I assume that means Alfred and the Waynes are in DC's version of a heaven. Which reminds me that Damian always seems destined to end up in hell, no matter what he does. To be fair that's not Waid's fault though. Just a thought I had.

Yeah, er, what to say about this issue? Guess the fans of the other robins know now how Damian fans felt because of the first issue?

Overall I predicted most of this. Bruce would deal with the robins rather quickly. The sword would play a role in making Bruce feel bad for how he treated them all. There would be the twist that Bruce was never fooled by the villains and only played along. Very little focus on Bruce and Damian. So far this entire book seemed more interested in Bruce and Alfred's bond than in actually exploring Bruce and Damian's relationship even though it's called Batman vs Robin. Which I had feared it would do even before the first issue came out.

This continues to be a story that I think most people can only enjoy if they are a Bruce Wayne fan and are fine with everyone else being written kinda badly so Bruce can have this underdog story against a powerful demon and deal with magical items along the way. It really doesn't feel like a Damian story so far, even though his name is in the title.

And as a Damian fan I find that disappointing.

#damian wayne #bruce wayne #batman vs robin

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ghostiiess · 1 year

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[NSB IMAGINES] - "your anxiety is lying to you, my love"

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚

pov: you have an anxious day and justin is here to help you!

REMEMBER!! To whoever's doing anxiety right now or have anxiety, know that I'm so proud of you of how you become and how you became <3 you are doing so well, my love. a lot of people are proud of you and if you can't think of one, think of me. i'm proud of you! i know it's hard, i, myself, have anxiety but know that everything is going to be fine and everything will be okay, i promise. you can do it, i believe in you. you got this <3 please, continue to be strong, it'll be worth it at the end of the day, i promise.

warning: talk and mention about anxiety, anxiety attack, mention of being scared for the future, mention of toxic parents, unhealthy and hurtful comments said towards the parent's child (just to clarify: you are not a child in this imagine!!)

type: comfort!

member: justin phan

words counts: 15 249 characters

You woke up with a lump in your stomach at around 8:23 in the morning. You had been trying to breathe in and out for about 15 minutes trying to get your anxiety out and maybe feel a little better. It was a technique your boyfriend used with you on days like today.

You sighed, not able to get it out off your chest and turned to him.

Justin Phan.

He looked so peaceful, so relaxed, so... cute and adorable.

You wanted to wake him up and explain how you felt, how your anxiety were doing today, but you knew it wasn't a great idea. After all, it was only a little bit of anxiety and it would go away in a few minutes anyway. At least, that's what you hoped. You didn't dare disturb him just for that kind of thing. He had to rest after all the efforts he was doing for his work, for the videos he was making for the Stars and the meetings he had almost every day. He deserved the rest and the breaks.

You sighed again, then got up from the bed and put on a hoodie that was lying around. It belonged to your boyfriend. You loved wearing his clothes. They always made you feel good and comfortable in them, maybe it was for their warm or because they were a bit bigger in you, but you felt safe in those. You wanted to stay forever in his hoodies. It was like if he was hugging you. It screamed the word "comfort". You hid your hands in the sleeves of the oversized sweater and put them up to your nose. You smelled it and closed your eyes. His smell was so comforting and sweet. It always helped a little when you were having anxious days like this.

You walked down the stairs, then into the kitchen, seeing your best friend Regie on his phone, probably watching instagram's stories or liking some posts on the app.

-'Morning! Regie said without looking up. Sleep well, Y/N?

-Yeah, I think so! you said. How about you?

The truth was, you were up very late yesterday for no good reason. You weren't stressed or anxious last night. You were normal, calm, fine. Unlike the night before, you felt ugly, useless, stressed, nervous, anxious, but you couldn't explain why or how it happened so randomly.

-You think so? Did you fucked all the night with JP, bruh? he laughed.

You blushed and searched for words. That was Regie Macalino talking, for sure.

-I'm kidding, don't worry. I didn't want to know the damn answer, anyway.

He closed his phone and looked at you:

-I slept well, though. But I woke up super early, so I think I'm going to the gym a bit earlier today. Do you want to come with me?

Your relationship with Regie was remarkable. Of all the other members, he was the first one you started your friendship with, the one you started to become a real teenager, to become a young adult, now. You were friends even before NSB was formed and let's say that with the band, you followed Regie everywhere when he allowed you to. It was also with him that you met Justin and let's say… You fell head over heels in love with him. He was funny, he was kind, he was smart, he was always there to listen to you... Let's say he felt the same way towards you and that your friendship soon turned into a love relationship..

You and him had been living the perfect love for about a year and it was now a recurring thing to see you in the house with the boys. The boys really liked you and loved to see you around and to them, it was like you were their little sister (except for Justin, of course).

-Oh well… you said. I think I'll go later with Justin, but thanks for the invite!

-Ok ok! he replied, getting up from the table and showing you his arms. I'm going to go make myself hotter than I already am, bro.

You chuckled a little and saw him leave for his room to get his gym bag and personal products.

You were now alone in the NSB kitchen. You sighed and relaxed your shoulders.

"Come on, it's okay, Y/N. You're okay. There's no reason to stress."

You opened the dish cupboard and saw the only clean glass on top of the cupboard. You sighed, climbed up on the counter and hung on to the cupboard to avoid falling. You picked up the glass and were about to go downstairs when a voice startled you.

-Good morning, babe.

You dropped the glass in surprise and turned back to the person who had just startled you.

-Ah fuck! you said. No, no, no, no, no!

Your anxiety had just escalated. You had just broken a glass and god knows how much every single glass counted in this house. There were only a few for the number of people who lived in the house. You felt bad for dropping it. Normally you would have felt guilty for a little while, but today it felt like this accident was going to ruin your and everyone's whole day..

Justin came up to you and held out his hand so you could get into his arms to avoid touching the floor covered in glass.

-Are you okay, babe? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?

-I'm fine, but I broke a glass. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I'll clean up the mess, don't worry.

Justin set you down a little further on the floor and looked you in the eye.

-Hey, it's okay, we have a broom, we'll pick it up, don't worry. We've got plenty of other glasses and it's okay if you break one. Kane has already broken several and we're not angry with him, we know it's an accident. I caught you by surprise, too, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.

You felt a little bit better. He always found the right words, always made you feel better and always calmed you down when you started to feel too anxious like this.

- I'll go get the broom.

You nodded and took a random glass from the dishwasher, washed it and poured cold water into it. You felt a little better as you drank the water. Maybe you were just thirsty?

-Do you want to eat something on the way? your partner asked you as he swept the floor clean of all the broken glass that was covering the ground. I'm pretty hungry.

You nodded and put the glass on the counter.

-Let me do it, okay?

He gave you a little smile.

-Nah, you're good, babe. I got this. I don't want you to get hurt, he smiled. Anyways, you want to go to the gym after breakfast?

You nodded.

-Yeah, okay, if you want.

JP looked up and gave you one of his smiles.

-Great! Go get ready! You can have one of my tshirts if you don't know what you want to wear…

You smiled.

-You just want me to wear one of your tshirts, JP.

-What can I say? You look fucking adorable and cute in my clothes!

You smiled, then went back upstairs to get ready.

Your anxiety had finally decided to let go of you.

Or so you thought.

Finally ready, you got into your boyfriend's car and saw him smile at you. You smiled back at him and looked at your phone to check your notifications and what you have been missing since yesterday. While scrolling, one picked your eyes: a text message from your parents who had called you the day before, delivered with a dozens of text messages.

You and your parents were never very close. The comments they made to you were either always hurtful or toxic positivity. Sometimes, just the fact that you were getting notifications from them made you shiver with anxiety. You didn't know what they were going to say to you, if they were ever going to apologize for their behavior, if they were going to ask you to move back home, if they were going to insult you..

-Babe, are you okay? I asked you a question! said your bf quickly

-Oh, uh… Yeah, I was in my thoughts. Sorry.

Justin sighed, then started the car:

-That's okay. Where do you want to eat?

-It doesn't matter where, I'm not too hungry anyways.

He nodded and put his hand on your thigh.

-You seem out of it, love. Are you sure everything's okay?

-Yeah, don't worry.

After about ten minutes, you and Justin had arrived at the breakfast spot.

-We're here, baby.

-Oh, okay. Can I stay here? I'm comfortable in your car.

-Sure. What do you want?

You weren't very hungry due to your anxiety, but you knew you had to have something in your belly, so you decided to have a pancake, which was one of your favorite meals and one of your go-to foods when you weren't too hungry. They were easy to eat, not too sweet, just perfect.

-One pancake, please.

-Okay! I'll be back in 5-10 minutes. Just stay there. You can change the controls if you're too cold or too hot, just try not to set my car on fire, though! he said laughing

You gave Phan a small smile and closed your eyes. A few seconds later, a sound was heard throughout your boyfriend's car. You sighed and opened your eyes to see who dared to disturb your precious rest.

Your parents.

You felt a lump inside you getting bigger and bigger. You knew you had to answer, you felt an obligation to do so. You'd been living with Justin and his best friends for a few weeks now and let's just say it only made your parents more aggressive. You wanted to block them, but you knew that if you did, you would take a lot of hate from them. You were so tired of being criticized from morning till night, of being put down and of always having to do your best because you were afraid that you might have a big impact on it in the future.

You were afraid of the future. You still didn't know what you wanted to do, you were going to college following your passions, but even still… You didn't know if you were going to be that interested to do this for the rest of your life.

You felt the vibrations of your anxiety and your phone mixing together. Without thinking, you pressed the "pick up" button and took a breath.

"Come on Y/N, maybe they'll apologize this time!"

You still had hope that they would. That they would apologize to you after your 19 years of existence. You were now 20 and let's say on your birthday, they just told you that you had to find a new home since you were starting to become delinquent and they didn't want to have you in their projects and in what they were doing. In truth, you were only starting to be friends with Regie's friends and starting to get happy without them.

-Hello? you answer with a weak voice

-Y/N!! Finally! You finally pick up the god damn phone! What's happening?! Are you deaf now? Are you ignoring us again? You didn't heard the ringtone?

You sighed:

-I-I was just being busy, sorry.

Your mother sighed loud enough for you to hear from miles away:

-Busy doing what?! You don't have a job and your boyfriend surely doesn't take up all your time, does he?

You shrug:

-I'm busy doing my college work and being with my friends. We're really close them and I.

-Your friends? Your boyfriend's friends are friends with you? Honey, you deserve better. You know they are bad influences, right? They don't have jobs (it literally hurts me to write this) and all they do is shoot videos on the internet and that's it! You're going to end up like them, out of work!!

You breathed in, hoping to calm down:

-Don't talk about them like that, it's their job and they do it super well. Their job is super hard and exhausting. They have a tons of meetings and projects they need to do. And I'm so proud of them because they manage their time to do it at the perfection. They've been helping me a lot in the last few weeks and I'm really thankful for that.

Your mother sighed again.

-Are you really defending them? My darling, don't be like them! You'll end up to jail, you won't have a real job and you'll do nothing! Don't come crying to your parents when you're poor! We won't help you!!

-Stop, I work hard and-

She interrupted you and began to shout through her phone. Tears began to well up, letting your anxiety do the same.

They were never going to apologize.

-No! You procrastinate all the fucking time, you do nothing but shit, you're just like your boyfriend: you do everything to have things easy. You don't even work! Take a lesson from us! Are we persistent? Yes! We are not fucking like you! We work hard while you... Y/N, god damn! You live with boys, instead of us and you dare to say that we treat you badly?! We could have thrown you out, but we kept you!

-You literally told me to leave as soon as I turned 19.

-You're disappointing me. You know nothing about your future life and you're going to fail miserably! You're only thinking about yourself. Not even about us! We were right to let you go at 19. I swear, Y/N, you're going to regret this one day.

You put your phone away and looked out the window.

"Come on, Justin, hurry up.."

You felt tears coming out of your eyes, falling down your cheeks, you could hardly control yourself, you knew what was going to happen. You closed your eyes and tried to breath in and out.

"Your mother is right: you've been in college for one year and you still haven't gotten a good grade!"

"You're just a coward… You don't do anything during the day, all you do is eat and be with your boyfriend"

"The boys probably don't even like you"

You curled up into a ball and kept hearing your mother's voice as she continued to insult you.

Suddenly, the door opened at last. Justin smiled, then put the bags on the back seats. He exclaimed:

-Sorry for the wait, a Karen was there. She was-Hey, hey, what's up? What's up? Are you okay?

-It's my parents, you whispered soflty

Justin knew about your parents. Even though they disparaged him, he still liked you. He knew how toxic they could be and you… You were anything but like them.

You tried to formulate a sentence, but failed. It broke Justin's heart to see you like this.

-Can I touch your hands? he asked

You nodded slowly. You liked it when he asked you before he did anything. He always wanted you to feel comfortable in the relationship.

He took your hands and made circles on them with his fingers, something you appreciated because it always helped you. He took your phone and sighed.

-Respectfully, go fuck yourself. You've been insulting her since she was born. Let her go, she's decided to make a life with me and the guys, let her go. She's in good hands with us. Stop fucking calling or texting.

Then he hung up and blocked the number.

-They'll never bother us again and if they do, me and the boys will start to get involved.

He sighed and gave you a hug.

-Hug me as much as you want, okay? You're going to be okay. I know it's not easy. Give me all your anxiety, I'll absorb it. You're in security in my arms.

You squeeze him a little tighter.

-Inhale, 3…2…1… Exhale…3…2…1…

You did this exercise a few times and started to feel a bit more relaxed.

-You are so not what your parents told you, babe. You are so much more than that: you are persistent, hardworking, so passionate about everything you do, you are so smart and so kind and so caring! I could never name all of your qualities, but know you are worth so much to me and the boys, baby… We love you so god damn much. Even the Stars love you. You're like our little sister.

He stroked the top of your head:

-Your anxiety is lying to you, my love. Don't listen to it. It's trying to make you think your parents are right. Focus on my voice and only mine.

He was so gentle with you. For the next fifteen minutes, he continued to comfort you and make you feel better.

-You did so good. I'm so fucking proud of you, my love. You are so strong. I knew you could do it!

He kissed the top of your head.

-How are you feeling right now?

-A little better. But.. Can we go home and watch something? I would like to cuddle you.

JP nodded:

-You don't have to ask me twice.

You smiled. Justin always managed to make you smile and feel better. You couldn't ask for a better boyfriend.

Hope you guys liked it! <3

#imagine #imagines #xreader #fem reader #female reader #north star boys #northstarboys #nsb #justin phan #jp #justinphan #comfort #anxietycomfort #anxiety #stresscomfort

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nellie-elizabeth · 6 months

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tagged by @awildwickedslip, thank you!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

103.

2. What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

1,825,148

3. What fandoms do you write for?

magicians and roswell, new mexico primarily! Also wrote a good omens fic recently but that might be a one and done for now.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

tales from a bookshop (good omens post season 2, fairly sure I'll never write anything this popular ever again because holy shit)

Lover's Touch - Queliot fic!

Promises - Queliot fic!

Maybe This Time - Queliot fic!

Fragments - Queliot fic!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! I didn't used to in my earlier fandom days but now I'm pretty consistent about it.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I once wrote a major character death fic for Queer as Folk where Justin died. Not really my style anymore. Back in my ff.net days I also wrote Merthur major character death fic, I'm just remembering.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I always try and do happily ever afters! A lot of my stories end with a sense of "and then they continue on their adventures, and life isn't always simple or easy", so in terms of the most pure, joyful ending? I guess I'll go living proof, which is the end of my episode series for Roswell, NM, which is just a "now they're married and happy forever" fic.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have before, but not as a rule. Once got called an abuse apologist & incest support (oh the horror /s) for exploring the canonical close friendship (not even a romantic relationship!) between two dudes from Shadowhunters lmao. And there's a troll in the Roswell fandom who writes hilarious and idiotic unhinged rants and I've been hit by her before, but she's got a scatter-shot approach and attacks a lot of people, so, at least I know it's nothing personal.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yep! What is meant by "what kind" here? lol. I'm pretty vanilla. Mostly m/m, but I usually don't pass over the chance for m/m/f. I actually recently wrote my very first m/f full-on sex scene ever for a little Magicians snippet, Kady/Penny lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No, I don't wrote crossovers in the sense that characters from various worlds don't meet each other in my fics. HOWEVER, two of my favorite things I've ever written have been Magicians AUs that crossed over the characters from that show with the full plot from other films. One is The Old Guard (A Comet Pulled From Orbit), and one is When Harry Met Sally (When Quentin Met Eliot).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, a few times! Used to happen a lot back with old ff.net stuff, and I recently had my good omens fic translated.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I'm co-writing a series right now! First time I've ever done it and it's a blast.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

uhhhhh don't make me choose? lmao. In terms of fandom engagement and longevity I guess Queliot at this point. But in terms of... the ships that made me discover and appreciate and explore fandom in the first place? Kirk/Spock and Brian/Justin. Classics.

16. What are your writing strengths?

dialogue and tone setting, I think?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

plot details (I get bored and distracted mapping things out)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

tbh I usually wince when I see it in fic? I'm not a fan. It always feels a little silly. Maybe very very sparingly if there's like a singular phrase or term of endearment or something but I'd rather just indicate that someone is speaking another language rather than write it out. I feel like it can often be tokenizing if you just have one character who's bilingual and you give them little one-liners in a different language. Idk. If the author is bilingual and doing a thing, then that's awesome. But I can usually tell when someone's just using google translate for stuff lol.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Gilmore Girls!

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I'm gonna cheat and name one each for my two big fandoms. Also idk if these are my favorites but they're two I really love that aren't my most popular:

Regrets, or the Absence Thereof (Magicians)

all the roads that lead you there (Roswell)

tagging @portraitofemmy @spiders-hth-is-an-outlier @orchardsinsnow @r-dtoblack and YOU if you're reading this and want to play!

#my posts #my fic #fic talk

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pluralsword · 6 months

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Very Late Transformers: 2023 Rare Pairing Fest Post: The Fall of Mars (was less late on Ao3 lmao)

Hey so our life has kind of had a lot going on, so we weren't able to put this story out on the right day (got it out on the 22nd, the theme trust and failure was earlier so this fitting lol) and we weren't able to get it on tumblr along with a lot of other content that hasn't made it to tumblr, but here's the summary of this story that is near and dear to us:

Rating: PG-13 Written for the theme of Day 3 of the 2023 Transformers Rare Pairing Fest, the theme being Trust and Failure, which we were fittingly late for due to having to take care of family. In this story, the Great War rages on in the Solar System: Mars has fallen, and among remaining Autobots are three special forces Wreckers deployed there; reluctant warrior Arcee, die hard soldier Impactor, and hopeful strategist Aileron. They are holding the line against the Decepticons until civilians can be evacuated by the Earth Defense Command, but things take a turn for the worse when a Decepticon battlecruiser starts to fall out of the sky near the spaceport, and a bearer if Unicron's Matrix of Conquest enters the field... the three don't give up on hope, on love, and must make some difficult decisions in their last stand, including whether to bear the Matrix of Leadership... as always, the transformation of the present is the key to the future. Thank you to dear @maximus-dork (Take_it_to_the_Max on Ao3) for looking this over and greenlighting it!

Please note Unicron is a gaslighting jerk on trans stuff for a bit but this is not at all in the same way as how we write Functionists in other fics etc. they is entirely is doing it for the gaslight intentionally and not because they believe it. Also this is a Wrecker Love Wrecker (wlw, pun intended) story so yeah there is a casualty rate.

One other thing. This story was inspired by @quetzalpapalotl shipping Impactor and Arcee, this is our own spin on the concept with she/her Impactor, while also dating Aileron and Roddy (who's a trans gal)

And now, the story, which you can also check out on Ao3:

Ishtar Port, Nemesis Polity, surrounded by the Valles Marineris canyons, Mars. 2258 CE.

“At least I get to go out in your arms,” purple and yellow bulky slope chested Impactor tried to smile, but her jaw was too loose, bleeding inside and out, and she reached up with a quivering hand to touch Arcee’s own battle scarred helm’s left cheek guard, broken, missing the lower half, while she tended to the gash across Impactor’s waist with a metal seal painted with yellow and black stripes.

“Shh, save your strength, you flirt, you’ll need it for the next attack, you’ll live, if I don’t see to it, Aileron will, and to saving my aft too,” robust back stacked deep pink cyan white and gray Arcee leaned into Impactor’s touch as she finished sealing the wound by pressing firmly by hand.

Her work was done under the dying flickers of biolights of the dozens of felled Deceptivons nearby, blazing light of spreading fires, passing artillery and blaster fire screaming overhead, and shadows of steely colorful halls and towers falling and collapsing from barrages throughout the broken hab dome. Booms shook through the atmosphere down from the pinkish-red sky every time a lone massive golden half circle bowed long Autobot dreadnought overhead exchanged volleys with three pointy purple Decepticon battlecruisers.

While Arcee helped lift Impactor to her feet, the two’s Conjunx was busy watching the front and on a comms line from behind a mangled white with blue trim Earth Defense Command cybersteel barricade.

=“Windblade, we’re the last non-militia combat unit operational that we know of. The fight is finished here. I… I watched Optimus fall with my own optics,”= rounded stout and Aileron winced, her wings flapped nervously while she held her ironsighted double barreled pistol and fiery orange thermal saber ahead of her, the transformer and human body part strewn street before her vivid with the image of seeing blocky tall red and blue Optimus fire cyan light from the golden orb Matrix of Leadership with handles in their hands. The Matrix beam fired from there that promptly melted Nova Prime through his spark chamber before Optimus was struck down from a headshot from behind by burly blue and gold armored Zeta, before Aileron and her team could respond. =“The Wreckers here are finished. The rest gave their lives bringing down the traitorous Elite Guard along with Decepticon Mayhem forces. How long until reinforcements?”=

Windblade’s voice from her busy command center’s battle room within the Titan Metroplex on Earth in the Pacific crackled through Decepticon ship jamming, relayed by the Autobot dreadnought and aided by Windblade’s battle meditative cityspeaking in tandem with Metroplex, while the two attempted to manage command of the Sol System’s defenses with hundreds of staff and commanders to attend to: = “Thank you, Aileron, and your loves. Admiral Faireborn has broken through the high orbit and lunar sieges. Extraction: 2 hours from now. Do you have the Matrix?”=

Aileron gripped her sword hilt tightly, and looked behind her to see her loves moving to cover her, Arcee with her long side mlunted scope sniper rifle aimed ahead in her arms sweeping around, Impactor with a blue-green ununtrium cutlass ready alongside her harpoon and shoulder cannon.

Aileron looked at Arcee for a little longer than tactically advisable, thinking about the relic in one of her back stacks above a wheel, that Aileron had wished Arcee would put over her spark. =“Optimus gave the Matrix to Arcee. She refuses to bear it. She’s scared. You know how it is. She doesn’t want to have even more mythos around her and be made into a keeper of the status quo, instead of working to transform the world for the better more freely. She’s scared of- being the excuse for a new hierarchy.”=

Windblade-Metroplex minds churned with empathy and memory of the work for collective history for autonomy and transformation they and Arcee had been part of for hundreds and thousands of years, and amped up their neutrino channeling broadcast to Aileron, ready to reach out to her lancemates. =“Aileron, let her know we wish to speak to her. If our intel reports are right, there is a Matrix of Conquest bearer among the enemy.”=

A younger Aileron would have trembled in fear. Instead, she nodded, acknowledging her elected leader, home, and immense fear all at once. =“I’ll tell her.”= She looked over at Arcee, who had advanced up to her right shoulder, Impactor on her left. “Darling, Windblade and Metroplex want to speak with you. It’s about the Matrix… there’s a Conquest bearer on the field. I know that’s a touchy subject for you…”

Arcee stiffened, her memories rushed back to that fateful hour she and her purple brawny tank brother Galvatron and the old Knight Vanguard had bought time for Solus Prime and the delegates she defended of Cybertron’s early democracy to escape the mutated Terrorcon army and armada with towering gray densely armored Megatronus at the head of the assault. Megatronus, willing bearer of the violet blade spiraled Matrix of Conquest, who after the twins’ bloody fight defeating him and his vanguard, the dying Megatronus shoved the Matrix into Galvatron, leaving Arcee to kill her own Unicron corrupted sibling. To wander the planet after the war for a millennia, consumed by grief until she had the will to care to be around other people again.

The memories boiled in her into a wordless rage that she did her best to hold in, not wanting to alert enemies to their position. “I thought Unicron was dead long before I met either of you. Tell me. Where. I will. End it and them.”

“Dear, we have to defend the remaining civilians so they can leave,” Aileron’s face softened as she leaned on Arcee’s arm. “I think this is about a defensive measure.”

“I-,” Arcee blinked. “You are right. Tell Windblade she can reach out.”

=“All clear, Windplex,= Aileron turned her gaze skyward. The Autobot dreadnought’s hull was overheated and torn up by enemy plasma and railgun fire, while one of the Decepticon battlecruisers with thrusters aflame and hull broken towards the rear started to plummet from the sky down towards the outer perimeter of the habdome. Her yellow optics widened with alarm and rapid trajectory calculations, immediately thinking of the massive explosion that would occur when the warship crashed. =“All Autobot units and civilians, abandon the shuttle ports and get to the blast bunkers! A Decepticon battlecruiser is going to hit outside the city in ten minutes! DECEPTICON VESSEL, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GODS HIT ALL THE BREAKS YOU CAN TO SLOW YOUR FALL! YOU’LL DIE IN THE EXPLOSION OTHERWISE!!”=

The battlecruiser did not reply, but the other three ships stopped fighting and moved in after the falling vessel, attempting to fire grapple tows to pull the ship up or slow it down to no avail.

Aileron turned and ran towards the nearest bunker entrance, down the street behind the barricade, next to the hexagonal port hall layered in dying red vines slowly suffocating from the loss of an oxygen rich atmosphere when the habdome was blown out. She leapt into her spaceplane mode, shoulders and forearms forming her engine thrusters, and rocketed off towards the hall, checking for ambushes in the surrounding buildings while her partners caught up. =“Um- Windblade, Arcee is willing to speak with you.”=

Impactor in her blocky artillery tank mode tailed behind armored muscle car Arcee, and while Impactor would have liked to take the time to admire Arcee and Aileron in action, she knew it was not the time. Instead, she swiveled her turret around to guard the rear of their retreat, raising her flat and wide cannon up towards the sky.

No one came. Impactor’s unease at the lack of fighting in the warzone clenched her fuel tank tight, as her spark roiled for vengeance. For Topspin, for Xaaron, for Spindle, for Thunderclash, for Cyclonus, for all of them… damn you Decepticons.

=“Thank you love,”= Arcee reached the thickset metal bunker blast gate built into the side of the port hall and stepped out of her car mode while Aileron finished her sweep of the skies, equally perplexed as Impactor to see the enemy had not fled in the direction of the militia and conventional military units they had fought for the nearest bunker.

Arcee was not surprised. She had expected this as soon as the Matrix of Conquest was mentioned. =“I expect they want to pull back and wait for the inevitable attack by their Matrix bearer rather than… overextend. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bearer was directing the battlecruiser to crash, Unicron not caring about the allied death toll.”= She inputted the keypad code to to get inside and waited for the bunker gates to part while Aileron landed on her feet and Impactor folded herself up to a stand, both with guns raised, while Arcee gripped a two handed guarded hilt of silver and electric blue, and sighed. =“Windplex, can you hear me?”=

Windblade and Metroplex were quickly redirecting any spareable ship from the fights around the Solar System to aid in recovery efforts at Nemesis and the surrounding Martian area, and their sparks sang to hear Arcee finally make contact for a moment long awaited. =“We hear you, Arcee of Protohex, beloved friend. We will do everything in our power to continue to prevent and reduce mythologizing of you. And you know that power entrusted by the people is vast. Please. Take up the conduit. Do as I will, one day.”=

=“All right, once we are safe, thank you both.”= Arcee smiled as she felt the golden neural soft warmth of the vastness of Metroplex and Windblade’s joined minds across the solar system touch her, to share adoration for her, to say do what you must, a kiss of encouragement to her spark that overlocked Arcee’s self repair and fuel circulation systems. She started to make her way inside, following Impactor and Aileron, and then pressed the red button within to shut the gates while Aileron called an elevator up in the white-blue Sentinel sized shaft.

The whirr of an elevator on that scale rose up before the lift itself arrived. When the doors whished open the three hurried inside, and sat down together, holding each other.

Finally away from the fighting, Aileron started to tear up first.

“I can’t believe it… we lost our whole company we deployed with… and Optimus…” Aileron held on tightly to Arcee’s and Impactor’s rounded and square backs. “I just- I knew we never should have kept Zeta on, but Optimus wouldn’t listen… All I know is that between now and when Marissa’s fleet gets here in less than two hours, we might well join them to save lives. If either of you or both of you die I’ll- probably die inside.” She started to quake, sobbing, missing the trees, leafed and solar paneled, and mountains and song filled forges of her home at Caminus’s capital Dialgem. “I never thought when the Autobot Revolution got kicked off of Cybertron, that it would come down to this… to not even die where our bodies could be recycled on Earth or Caminus…”

Impactor held back from expressing the bloodlust that suffused her, enraged to see Aileron so pained. She knew it would scare Aileron and Arcee, that it scared her too. “I-,” she pressed her lips together tightly as she ran a hand over Aileron’s wing, finding that part of her holding still from her gentle caresses. “We’re not going to die, Aileron. We know you won’t let us, that we won’t let each other. That company of rascals died for us because they wouldn’t have it any other way, when they had a choice in the matter. I’ll never forget when Firedrive told me that the loss of us would break all their sparks and hearts and then she-” Impactor shut her optics, trying to shake the image of the black and red exosuit entwined Nebulan cyborg who had binary bonded to the late Rodimus Prime take down Thunderwing with final forearm blasts after Thunderwing had torn her in half at the waist. “For her to say that- with how much we all miss Roddy… my spark has been off ever since, and I want to live up to what she wanted for us.”

The elevator stopped at the bottom, and the three quickly ran towards the inner doors, which opened for them, revealing a brightly painted interior walls that had been decorated with art by children, protoforms, and adults alike, showing scenes of people dancing, reading, sparring, embracing, sculpting, healing wounds, cultivating plants, flying through skies and the starry void.

Among them were thousands of bots, green toned Nebulans in spacesuits and humans also in protective gear filtering in from other elevators or hallways into the vast underground plaza. Many carried arms: solid and thermal blades, rifles, holstered pistols, amd some bots with body integrated blasters, missile launchers, and cannons. About a third of the organics were also too young for combat duty. People were huddling together over food and gladness to meet each other or sorrow over those they had lost. Aileron, Arcee, and Impactor looked on and put away their armaments and held hands.

Impactor simmered. “Damn the Decepticons for fighting with so little care for how they destroy people’s homes and lives.”

Arcee took a curious, concerned look at Impactor’s glowing narrowed optics, and gave her hand a squeeze. “Even though we fight with the goal of only bombarding conventional military installations, it is not as if our infantry scuffles or missing artillery and bomb salvos do not have accidents that we weep over and cannot ever fully repay. All war, all violence beyond sparring and the like, is a violation of autonomy, even with supposedly good cause. Are you all right love?”

“The line has indeed grown thin between us and them despite our ideals, darling, we are part of a many thousands of years old actively fighting military industrial complex,” Impactor bowed her head, pressing a hand against her purple crest. “I just want to get over with as quickly as possible so we can actually practice peace. And that scares me, about myself, that the corners we’re not supposed to cut are looking… cuttable.”

“Peace at the cost of ethics of love and mercy would make us into them. We would have lost,” Aileron put a hand on Impactor’s waist, and pressed her own dome helmed low crested head against the blue squat Wrecker head over hammers insignia on Impactor’s chest. “Please- we will find a way. We have fallback strategies…” she noticed the room had grown quiet except for whispers. “They’re looking at us, aren’t they.”

“Yes, the only military personnel here and with enough publicly known record to be household names, that would make sense,” Arcee sighed. “They want to know that we can save them. Stand up tall you two, it’s time to inspire.”

Aileron and Impactor parted the huddle to flank Arcee, arms around her, faces with half smiles in response to the onlookers muttering curiosity, admiration, and worry.

One human came forward, the only one in a conventional military exosuit, sleek and white in the thighs, waist, and shoulders, boxy and red in the forearms, chest, pelvis, helmet, and legs, her forearms bearing cannons. She turned off her blue visor obscurer to reveal her beige-bronze skinned face, shiny straight jet black hair, and piercing brown eyes meeting the Wreckers in turn. “I know you three by reputation and what you’ve done here today, and speaking over comms. Always wanted to meet you, wish it wasn’t like this. My name is Verity Carlo, she/her, I’m sure you might recognize me...”

“Yes, of course,” Impactor saluted with a left hand over her spark. “Mayor of Nemesis, EDF reservist, veteran of the Battle of the Curve. It’s an honor.”

Aileron and Arcee joined in, and Verity returned the gesture with a grin, “Likewise, Wreckers, from the head diplomat and commander of first contact and alliance with Earth, to a first generation Solusian Knight, to the former Wrecker admiral, Autobot founders all. Tell me, how do you propose our bunker cells will survive-”

A thundering boom the likes of which Arcee had not heard since the collision of scuttled Autobot capital ships onto Unicron while she, Rodimus, other Wreckers and entire fleets fought Scourge desperately to keep Unicron’s fleet from launching back in 2005 before Unicron was finally killed. The sharp memory of the cacophony on top of the din of the din of battle made her think of orange and pink Rodimus fighting alongside her, and she reached out a hand to hold hers, and remembered she wasn’t here. “Roddy…” she tightened her hand into a fist, hoping no one had heard her.

Indeed no one had, many of the organics stumbling from the awful crashing sound and hungry burningly loud shockwave that came after and passed overhead.

Arcee took the time to, slowly, reluctantly, acknowledging all her fear, to pull the Matrix of Leadership out of her back stack and hold it in her hands by it’s gray handles, and all she could think of was how she wanted her mentees Gauge and Sideswipe to be safe, and that she wanted to teach when this was over, to carry and care for younger life and encourage them to go their own way-

Ah, so this is what the Matrix is trying to show me, ask me if I want to change my shape with its power. Her face tightened with thought while urges coursed through her to assume an affirming set of shapes the likes of which she had not had to see to since her youth.

What everyone else in the room saw was her enveloped in cyan light emanating from the blue crystals within the spokes and core of the Matrix. She was barely visible.

Do you want this? My dear knight, you can keep your form if you want. The Matrix only wishes to encourage you to be who you want to be. You are tired of the path of the warrior, old friend. the voice and ghostly visage of colossal lavender and purple rounded and squarish cable hair helmed Solus Prime towered over Arcee, smiling, golden and silver Forge hammer in hand, among a sea of stars forming the millions of faces Arcee had come across and cared for, near those she knew they were close to. The room she stood in was beyond sight, but she could feel Aileron and Impactor’s hands on her back, and hear Aileron singing wordlessly, humming a slow, high and low tune with her thruster shoulders providing soft thrumming percussion base chords to the melody Arcee recognized as a mountain song from her village she grew up in on Caminus: Love To and From a Prime.

Arcee’s spark oscillated and crashed around in its chamber, and she put her hands over the car hood armor covered it while Matrix remained hovering ahead of her. Her body and mind warmly relived all the amorous touches, dancing, sparring, and resting together with her loves she could remember, with her shape as it was now and as it had been in her first relationship both roiled in sensation across her. She knew that if she took the shape she thought she wanted, she would be taller than she had ever been, that Aileron’s hand would barely reach her waist, and neither her nor Impactor would be able to lean up or in to kiss her.

Aileron spoke a single verse, as her hand trembled, a tear down her face, worrying about Arcee being in the Matrix’s light so long:

“I will always love you,

No matter how large or small you are,

No matter who you become for goodness.”

Impactor wrapped her harpoon arm around Aileron, while looking around behind at the door they had come through, hearing the elevator going up, and immediately whirled around to face the doors. “Arcee, you may need to differ some of this for later. We’re about to have company, and I’m not about to let another Prime or you get shot in the back.”

“I…” Arcee tried to meet Solus’s violet optics she had last seen smiling and dim when Solus rejoined the Allspark when she immersed herself back in, cables of Cybertron’s metal underground plugged into her neck and back, prismatic crystals growing around her as she said goodbye.

“Solus, and Matrix both, the shape decision can wait. But I accept being a Prime.” Arcee smiled, and the energies around her permeate her frame, and she knelt, grunting at the searing pain of her armor, actuators, engine, and fuel lines getting souped up, and forming a new conduit of circuit responsive connection to the Star Saber hilt in her back stacks, usable as more than a blade. As she grabbed onto the Matrix, the A deep breeze of signals ran through her circuits to her module via my neural cluster and spark chamber. Arcee was one with the awareness of a vast conglomeration of sparks across a vastness, with billions grouped together in thirty different star systems, and less so in other places. The Matrix posed ideas and strategies to her the way a Titan does to a Cityspeaker, an array of thoughts and data, in this case drawn from her life, Rodimus’, Optimus’s, Tigerhawk’s, Override’s, Delta Magnus’s, Solus’s, and Primon’s, the previous Primes. All at once with the roiling emotional turmoil of the sparks around, mountainous waves of pain and stress and terror and fear and misery, pushed against with recognition and joy and resolve and spite.

Arcee let the access to knowledge and spark-visible kind guide her, and immediately she became aware that a terrible hunger consuming a desperately brave spark that… longed for me, Aileron, and Impactor? Oh no… Roddy… not you…

She narrowed her optics and drew in the Matrix energies and vision around her, Solus nodding at her as her visage disappeared into the Matrix that Arcee stored in her own opened car hood chest, feeling crushed by the weight of what lay ahead, wracking her mind and the Matrix for a solution. Maybe there’s a way to cleanse her… She sensed no other sparks with the descending one suffused with the Matrix of Conquest that gnawed at Arcee’s spark perception.

No. She blocked out Unicron’s Matrix using all her love and will, thinking of fighting for her loved ones and for her home, Earth, and for the galaxy’s sake.

Militia bots and humans had formed up with Impactor and Aileron to get between Arcee and the doors, weapons brandished.

“Stand back,” Arcee stepped forward, drawing the Star Saber, while still running through options offered by the Matrix of Conquest from past encounters with Conquest bearers, all unsatisfactorily lethal to her. “The Conquest Bearer is approaching. And I think I know who she is. Rodimus.”

Mutters and whispers ran through the group, who backed away to the edges of the hall, except for Verity, Impactor, and Aileron, the latter two conflicted between relief that Rodimus was alive and anguish that she was not in control of her faculties. Some of the adults who backed off shielded the eyes of the youngsters, wrapping themselves around them or urged them to hide under bunks or in smaller rooms. The interactions were not all tearless.

Arcee drew and ignited the Star Saber’s cyan golden broad blade. “If the Matrix and all the Primes don’t have a solution that doesn’t involve killing her, I damn well will touch my way through finding one. I make my own magic with strength, have all my life and because of that my name besides Arcee-” she and the Matrix spoke as one, “is Arcana Magnus. You all down to fight a Cron we care for? Keep in mind we have to minimize violence, since that feeds Unicron.”

The elevator hit the ground floor, and slow heavy footsteps thundered towards the doors.

“Being a Wrecker means signing up with a high chance of dying in some nearly impossible operation that we make possible,” Aileron smiled, her fingers wry around her sabers. “Wouldn’t have that any other way than for love, it’s why we’re here.”

“Aye, though this seems to be dangerously close relationship abuse, at the very least traumatic for everyone. But at least it’s not the bloody Noisemaze, Circuit Smasher, Flame’s zombies, Shadow Leeches, or Thunder Mayhem.” Impactor sighed and assumed a front stance with her harpoon, cutlass, and shoulder cannon. “Suppose this makes you a Wrecker, Verity. Though a counselor will have to assess you later.”

“Honored,” Verity leveled her cannons. “I do have this odd feeling that most of us are outclassed, though.”

The footsteps reached the doors ahead of the four, and stopped. Violet flames cut the doors in twain, revealing large thighed angularly and roundly lanky Rodimus in black and purple with smoking forearm barrels and a twisted grin. “How delightful, maybe I can finally crush the lazy vain hothead’s do-gooder attitude with the torture killing you will be for her.”

“Scrap you, Unicron,” Arcana Magnus seethed, showing her fangs, while Aileron and Impactor simmered and Verity stared slack jawed. Arcee cut down, channeling the might of her spark and the Matrix to galvanize the Star Saber’s energies into a precise arc of blue-white hot plasma that cut through the opening towards Rodimus, while Arcana still raced to construct a solution of Matrix of Leadership energies to quell the Matrix of Conquest, until considering what her own spark was doing. “Expose her spark housing so I can destroy her Matrix with mine!” She yelled as she leapt forward alongside her cut to stab forward-

Meeting Rodimus leaping over the arc of plasma, who stared with wide optics at Arcee’s follow up: “Would you really kill me sweetiegear?” Unicron toned in Rodimus’s softest coo that left Arcana and her partners freeze and want to belch up their energon, as did Rodimus’s own spark and mind overwhelmed by Unicron.

Verity immediately growled and fired off a volley of blue bolt ion blaster rounds into the center of Rodimus’s chest, tearing off the glacis point and halfway through the exterior armor as Rodimus twisted her torso to avoid Arcana’s stab, but was thrown back towards the floor by Verity’s blasts-

As Aileron and Arcana ran up on Rodimus, Impactor promptly aimed and fired her harpoon with the words “forgive me dear,” pinning Rodimus to the ground by her left arm, spilling purple Dark Energon out near her shoulder.

“How dare you! You say you love me for who I am, and this is how you treat me?” Unicron bellowed and fired a steady triple flare of violet Angolmois fire from the pinned arm into Impactor, straight through the armor towards the spark chamber-

Arcana Magnus had followed the move since the cannons started heating up and extended a protective cascade of energon plasma from the Matrix of Leadership through her hand that reached Impactor just as her armor was torn up, holding the blast short of the spark chamber.

“Of course you’d take her side, Arcee,” Unicron sneered through Rodimus’s face. “You don’t think I’m as real as you or your journey, do you? I’m not worth it. A waste. You bloody gatekeeper.”

Arcana struggled to stay afoot, tears streaming down her cheeks in equal measure to the quakes of Rodimus’s spark, the only thing Arcee could hold onto to keep from collapsing and sobbing. “Roddy would never say that… we helped each other find our way. You would never understand that.”

Aileron made use of the conversation to angrily move in with a heavy spark to rush and slice out the remaining front portion of Roddy’s car hood covering her spark and the cyclopean glow of the bladed Matrix of Conquest her two blades.

The Matrix’s twelve blades turned and launched cutting through Aileron’s torso from front to back, one through the spark.

“ AILERON! ” Arcana and Impactor both screamed.

“What do you expect Arcee would do if you did that to her, hmm? Our love is dead, like you,” Unicron kicked optics dimming Aileron over, and then pulled out the harpoon from Rodimus’s arm, shutting off the fire, cackling at the sensation of her spark shrinking and dying from the traumatic agony, and sealed the wound with Angolmois while projecting a shield sphere of such Unicron blood with a teethy maw and horns around Rodimus’s body. “You sweet fool. You denied me my champion of violence by showing her that she is ‘loveable and trustworthy,’ and listening to her when few would in the millennia leading to my triumph. I never wanted you, Rodimus Cron. I was always after Arcana, and you were never in the way. Aileron was, and so is the companion of violence, Impactor.”

The onlooking militia and civilians looked on in distraught, some saying prayers or speaking last rites, others turning to run into the tunnels only to see dead mangled and torn Angolmois filled bodies both human and transformer advancing slowly, and retreating back inside, opening fire on the Terrorcons, panic rising among the mass.

Arcee ran the words over in her head while she wove a song of wordless love with Matrix energies towards Aileron’s spark instinctively from Matrix memory, rekindling the sweet fire of the beloved bot, mending pierced fuel lines, while Arcana braced the Star Saber, knowing she could kill Rodimus and maybe the Matrix of Conquest, but it would be in violence. That cannot be the solution to this problem… Unicron feeds on that, something all prior Primes had missed, that we only learned during the recent Armada Wars after Unicron’s destruction. What if…

She will never give up. You are getting more than you bargained for. I took down Scourge and Shockwave and sent the Matrix away from your grasp so the last of your soul would have to possess me to avoid the Omniversal Matrix reconciling you before your Light and Dark peers, you idiot. I let you have me, knowing that the Autobots and my partners can beat you. Rodimus’s spark laughed, and reached out during Unicron’s shock to say to Arcee, Aileron, and Impactor: I love you all. Keep trying. Whatever it takes.

Impactor knelt, trembling after the shoulder cannon blast she fired did nothing to Rodimus’s Angolmois shield. “What use am I? I just know how to fight, to kill, to teach those things! Tearing into Rodimus made me feel worse than anything i’ve ever done. I’m no mage or philosopher! I just- have always been the last line. Arcee, what do we do?”

Verity looked up at Arcana Magnus. “Arcee… if not violence, then…”

“Then love,” Arcana Magnus leapt into the Angolmois sphere, shutting off the Star Saber to let it’s Cutting energies mingle with the Matrix, tearing apart the Angolmois shielding while Unicron attempted to fire full blasts of Hungry Fire with Rodimus’s arms, only to find the flames deflected-

Arcana let the Cutting fall away from her hands that she wrapped around Rodimus’s long pointy helm guard audials and her back, and plucked a kiss on her lips that Rodimus’s spark and module eagerly met, while Arcee exposed her own Matrix to simply shine upon the Matrix of Conquest, not attack it. “I love you, Roddy, dear transformation of my spark.”

I’m sorry, Primus toned through the Matrix to Unicron, all the way from and as the distant Allspark deep in the planet Cybertron. I didn’t mean for you to have to be the arbiter of destruction for so long, but ‘I’m sorry’ won’t fix that. Please- take this time as-

Rodimus put her arms around Arcana, smirking, “well this is just prime,” and smooched back, hands moving to her back stacks, while Impactor quickly ran over to a finger twitching Aileron, and Verity backed off to check on her people, trying to give assurances with words of hope.

Sibling, this is inane. You expect me to stop taking down your grand experiment with exposed spark life because of- sensory realizations and soulful iteration and… family? Unicron harumphed from within the Matrix of Conquest.

Then what are you, if not soulful iteration of someone lost in violence? Is it no surprise you were drawn to Arcee and her brother? You wanted to find a way to be good again. You can see into her, into me, right now. We have no moves to make. Primus-AllSpark hummed chords of song of Light and Dark that made emanations of stars and black holes dance among the onlookers, and stopped the Terrorcons in their tracks. You need rest. I don’t think I get to say I love you, sibling, after all this, but I do get to say- please take care. You can kill my spark, if you like- but it will live on in all of them, in all of you. We have done this dance before and will again. But Arcana convinced me that- violence is never the final answer. It is just a failure of society. And our Omniversal society, myself included, failed you.

Aileron came to slowly in Impactor’s arms, looking up at the splendor of starstuff filling the room and smiling down on her, and within Angolmois sharing tender touches hosting long lost family. “Wha- what did I miss? Did we win?”

“I have no damn idea,” Impactor kissed Aileron’s helm softly and laughed. “But I bet Arcee can tell you.”

“Let me go see her, then,” Aileron clasped Impactor’s chin, and the latter helped lift her to her feet, the two making their way over to Rodimus and Arcana, with only the Angolmois between them.

Unicron gazed, gazed upon the Matrix and AllSpark they had craved to consume for so long, and saw the lives that relived time after time in the memories of the sparks that came and went, that formed multitudes and stories, that all shared the conclusion of we are each other, different and alike, we are alone, we are together, infinite variation sparking again and again even when all times end, love remembers .

And Unicron gazed at Arcee’s spark, too, seeing that in all her anguish over the Cybertron’s bouts of reactionary violence and empire that had led to the Decepticons, that in all her loneliness when those cycles devalued all that she was and her only fearful worth to many was her honed capacity to fight, that she never let go of wanting to trust and love, because love is the greatest strength in the universe , because of the love she had gotten and given from time to time, once often, and then often once more a long while after.

Oh. The Matrix of Conquest dissolved, the last remains of Unicron’s violet anti-spark departing through a golden circle that formed in the ceiling. Will you join me?

I must. For all that I have done wrong. Primus departed from the AllSpark, saying farewells, and passed from the Matrix of Leadership, that remained not from their will, but from the love of an arcane mage for knowledge and teaching, longing to share all it’s wisdom, in peace, when the Great War would hopefully end. Good luck, Arcee, Rodimus, for all time. It was nice knowing you both. Their cyan spark left through the golden circle, which disappeared after.

The Angolmois and miniature stellar apparitions all fell away, the Terrorcons collapsing into corpses that blossomed with blue flowers and shrubs whether organic or metal- and the four Wrecker bots embraced, smiling, apologizing, soothing, kissing.

=”To all remaining Autobots and allies, this is Admiral Marissa Faireborn with EDCS Admiral Screwball! We have made an opening over Nemesis Polity, do any of you read? Do you need extra transport or medical evacs? We are ready to receive or send any transports necessary.”=

=“We read you, Admirals,”= Verity smiled. =“This is Mayor Verity Carlo, I will direct my people and remaining military units to take the shuttles now. We may be leaving Mars, but I trust that Unicron is no longer a problem. We also have a new Prime- maybe an old one again too.”

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