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toomanyplotbunnies-sendhelp · 2 months

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Hello and welcome to Day 22 of "Let's Explore My Plot Bunnies"

Today, I am going to fry my brain trying to explain this mess of a plot bunny that, over time, turned into a full-blown series in my brain.

So I present to you:

"A Thousand Miles Journey begins with one step" - a Lout of the Count's Family and Genshin Impact crossover

Buckle up cause the synopsis is gonna be long:

(I will put a line break here because holy crap I was right - It IS LOOOOONG)

Cale Henituse (the original one here) is the oldest child of the Henituse family, a noble family from Mondstadt. His reputation, however, is not exactly stellar... which is exactly what Cale intended anyway.

After his mother suddenly died when he was 8 years old, his father remarried. As if that wasn't enough to cause a lot of rumors to appear from the other Noble families in Mondstadt, his new stepmother, Violan, already had a child. Wanting to protect the two (and his future new sibling), Cale diverted everyone’s attention to himself by destroying the picture of the perfect and well-mannered child he was. He acted out, slacked off, refused to continue his studies, and even started drinking alcohol early in his life. All to protect the new additions to his family who had no clue how damaging the words of the other noble families can be.

And Cale would have continued it if not for the illness that plagued him and the promise he made to his birth mother, Jour Thames.

"When you turn 16, you must leave Mondstadt, Cale. Promise me you will. You need to live."

Those words from his mother are still engraved in his mind, to the point where he can vividly remember even the tone of her voice when she said them.

Living with an illness that makes him cough up blood and that spikes whenever he is in emotional turmoil is not ideal. But Cale can, at least, be thankful that he is still alive. Something that was only possible because of the Anemo God's assistance in the first place. Barbatos - or as he so insist to be called, Venti - has helped him survive this strange illness ever since he was 10 years old. But even a god like him can't fully get rid of his pain for good.

Six years later, on the night of his 16th birthday, Cale makes good of his promise to his mother. With a simple message to the only friends he knows will not say anything and with a quick goodbye to Venti, Cale sets on his journey to Liyue, where he hopes to have an audience with Morax - the Geo Archon - during the upcoming Rite of Descension.

In order to avoid the Knights of Favonious who are patrolling the only safe way to Liyue, Cale chooses to go through Dragonspine, a mountain where the snow never melts and where living conditions for humans are nearly non-existent. It is a gamble, but Cale always believed in the gambles he took.

Unfortunately, during his traverse through the ice caves in the mountain, Cale encountered Abyss Mages, who seem to be searching for something in this icy cave. Everyone knows that the Abyss are deathly foes who wish to kill the people of Teyvat - the ones Cale meets are no exception.

The Abyss Mages' attacks make Cale fall through the ice into a pool of ice-cold water. Thinking that he is dead, the Abyss Mages leave, as empty-handed as they came to Dragonspine. What they don't know is that Cale found a little cavern below in the icy waters. Said cavern led to a chamber that has the symbol of the Thames Family on it - an oval object around which a snake is coiled, as if to embrace it.

Knowing that this has to do with his mother's family, Cale enters the chamber and is greeted by the sight of a Vision sitting in a pool of what can only be described as raw energy - the kind that hurts you if you try to touch it.

An inscribed stone tablet nearby states:

"Those of you whose blood is of this family

try your best to prevent calamity.

Your blood shall spill in rivers here,

but heed my words for they are sincere:

For you to claim what is yours by birth,

you must prove to me your worth."

Cale approaches the pool of raw energy where the Vision lies. The Vision is unlike any other in this world: a round gem, around which the long body of a dragon is coiled (not unlike the crest of the Thames family), and around the gem are tiny claw-like structures keeping the small gem within the golden casing. It really looks like none of Teyvat's Visions.

Taking the small knife he had on him, Cale slices his palm, letting his blood fall into the pool of raw energy. The pool emits some light before becoming somewhat close to a pool of water - not capable of injuring anyone that approaches anymore.

When Cale takes the Vision in his hands, it lights up with the power of Anemo, confirming that Cale is its master now. Cale is pleased by this, since his mother always said that "Thames children always get a Vision, one way or another and you will surely get one too." It seems another one of his mother's predictions has come true.

Finding his way out of the chamber is a lot easier, and once outside, Cale realizes he is very close to the region of Liyue.

Soon, he meets two hungry cats - or maybe they are foxes - on his way. One silver, the other a reddish color that resembles his own hair color. Cale gives them some food, thinking this would be the end of it, but the two creatures follow him around after that. Which is not that surprising, but Cale had hoped they would just take the food and leave him alone. (Hearing them talk is not that surprising either - they live in a world where a God can just enter a tavern and drink twice his own weight in alcohol, rare it is for Cale to be surprised by anything nowadays)

Due to a wrong turn, Cale and the creatures (Ohn and Hong, as they introduced themselves) end up going north towards Qingce Village instead of going south towards Liyue Harbor. And yet, this detour might be auspicious for a little black lizard(?) that Cale finds after somehow getting involved in a potential creature trafficking ring - trust me, if Cale knew this would be his life once he left Mondstadt, he would have prostated in front of his mother's grave and accepted a painful death from his illness.

(At the begging of Ohn and Hong) Cale takes the little black lizard (which apparently has wings so... Cale is at a loss about what this thing is) out of the traffickers hands and set it free... or it should have been that way had the little thing not decided to follow him as well. Ohn and Hong's smug little faces didn't make him feel better.

Finally, after a few more weeks of traveling , Cale and his three little followers (more like kids at this point, not that Cale would admit that) arrive in Liyue Harbor, right in time for the Rite of Descension - which turns out to be a disaster but Cale can deal with this, whether it is a Fatui Harbringer or an old angry God traying to stirr up troubles.

Once the problems die down (and after Cale wakes up from his illness-induced coma he fell into after the fight with Osial, Overlord of the Vortex) Cale is proposed by the Adepti - mainly Cloud Retainer - to train with them for a year in an attempt to learn how to fully control both the power of Anemo and his newly acquired Geo powers. Cale and the kids accept and spend 1 year with Cloud Retainer at her abode in Mt. Aocang - being visited by the other adepti, Xiao, and even Zhongli, who helped him with his training.

After his year of training, Cloud Retainer presents Cale with a hand-made Polearm as his reward for finishing his training. That will become the weapon Cale uses for the rest of his journey.

Cale noticed that the illness seemed to be affecting him less since he learned how to use the power of Geo. Going on a hunch, he decides that having a meeting and (hopefully) learning how to use the elements from the Archons of each region, and his next stop is Inazuma.

Inazuma becomes quite a dangerous place, what with the presence of the Fatui Harbingers, a civil war and also the Electro Archon seemingly vying for his head. (Cale isn't pleased that Raon - the little winged lizard, that Zhongli said is a dragon -, Ohn and Hong are put in danger because of his journey, but it's not like the kids listen to him when he tells them to stay back)

Once again, things take a turn for the worst for Cale, who, even though the civil war is pretty much over and the Fatui are out of Inazuma, nearly dies from a combination of his illness and the injuries sustained during his fights with the 8th Fatui Harbinger, La Seniora, and with the Electron Archon herself.

On the bright side, Cale acquires the power of Electro, and, as far as the Priestess Yae Miko can tell, his body has been cleansed of the miasma that was seemingly the cause of his illness. Still, Cale has many questions left unanswered after he goes into what people call Enkanomiya to help Sangonomiya Kokomi with a ritual. Most questions are about the Thames Family and, it appears that only Archons may be capable of answering his questions.

On the not so bright side, what he learns in Enkanomiya about Celestia, the place where Gods reside above humans, does not paint them in a good light to him. With each new day and each new book read, Cale feels like he understands more and more Kaeya's hesitance to believe and worship Gods.

Regardless of his personal thoughts, when Cale gets word that Mondstadt is in danger, he and the kids jump back to traveling and reach Mondstadt. On that same day, Cale discovers the reason his home is in danger - Dvalin, one of the Four Winds who fell prey to the Abyss's lies and was deceived.

Now, Cale must team up with old acquaintances and friends to put a stop to all this, while also trying to pay his debts to Venti for helping him in the past (if only Venti would let him help). Add to that seeing his family after 4 long years of being gone and, shortly after, meeting the mysterious Dainslief who seems to know way too much about everything that he did in the last regions he was in (which is not good and Cale is very weary, regardless if his gut tells him Dainslief can be trusted) and you get the headache of Cale's life.

Cale knew he should have just run away when he saw Amber again.

Details that I couldn't fit in the synopsis:

Cale is 16 when he leaves Mondstadt, and this happens like half a year before Crepus's death. So Kaeya is like one year older than Cale (so he is 17 when he leaves), and Diluc is around 1 year and a half older.

Cale's best friends are Kaeya and Albedo. Albedo came to Mondstadt when Cale was 15. Kaeya and Cale were in the same class as Knights-in-trainning, and Kaeya got curious about this "Oh so horrible child" and basically never left after.

Cale knows that Kaeya is from Khaenri'ah. Kaeya never said anything, Cale is just too observant and noticed some few little slips from Kaeya. Cale admitted he knew at one point to Kaeya and assured him he won't say anything since "it's not his secret to tell."

Kaeya, in turn, is the only one to (unknowingly) guess that Cale's bad behavior is both to protect his family and to distance himself from people because he is dying. Kaeya made a joke, really. He said: "Oh, come on, you can be a bit less mean sometimes can't you? It's not like you are dying from some illness, are you?" and upon seeing Cale's unimpressed face (which in reality was Cale panicking), Kaeya said: "Fine, fine. I won't make a joke like that again, so don't look at me like that." before going back to teasing Cale. So yeah, Kaeya hit the nail on the head with that one.

This is Og!Cale Henituse centric. So no Kim Rook Soo, as much as I love him. But we still have (some of) the other characters like: the Henituse Family, Raon, Ohn, Hong, Choi Han, Ron and Beacrox Molan, Rosalyn, Alberu and the Ancient Powers given human bodies. And I guess the White Star (read: Raddish) is there too. (I haven't decided on others that will appear)

Which brings me to where are the others in this world? Well, Choi Han is still the unlucky guy who was dragged into another world here. He appeared in Mondstadt during the years Cale was away and was taken in by the Henituse family. He became kinda like a bodyguard for them as thanks for helping him. When Cale comes back to Mondstadt, Deruth wants to have Choi Han with Cale cause he is worried. Unfortunately, rather than Choi Han protecting Cale, it is Cale that protects Choi Han. (They go through Razor's Story Quest together and it was literally Cale doing the fighting there)

I can't really explain Alberu and the Ancient Powers without giving a ton of spoilers for something, so all I can say is that: Alberu was born in Fontaine, is once again 5 years older than Cale (who is 20 when he returns to Mondstadt); the Ancient Powers met Cale through various means and will fight the Gods themselves for Cale's sake; Alberu appears during the Fontaine Archon Quest so we get some interesting things about his past and Cale's involvement there.

Cale basically takes the role of the Traveler but with no Paimon and without him being a star that crash-landed on Teyvat. Instead, he was born in Teyvat, but the Thames Family is very much intertwined with the lore of Teyvat. That goes for his "illness" too. Also, no, Ron and Beacrox didn't know about Cale being ill. Cale hid that from everyone. Kaeya just guessed it without even knowing/feeling anything is amiss.

Rosalyn will probably appear either during the Sumeru Archon Quest or during Natlan. Depends where I can put her so it makes more sense, probably Sumeru tho.

The White Raddish is, once again, creating problems, this time as the "Abyss Prince." And he still looks like Cale, which is really a red flag for our unlucky bastard. Also, he is kinda in his "Make Khaenri'ah Great Again" Era, which is heavily disapproved by Kaeya and Dainslief, btw.

The Abyss Mage that made Cale fall into the ice cold water in Dragonspine was reporting to Enjou and WS. Needless to say, Cale's meeting with Enjou in Enkanomiya ends badly for Enjou after this tidbit of information comes out.

"Adepti trained Cale, who uses a Spear as his main weapon despite being from Mondstadt," is probably my favorite Cale from all my fics that include him. Like holy shit, he is a noble from Mondstadt that just said "Fuck you nobility" and picked up a Polearm to fight with.

On that note, Genshin lore is IMPORTANT here. Any lore kinda fits in this story, be it because Cale learns about it, because I rewrite some of it to fit my narrative or because it's way too important to skip over. This means if I ever actually write this I am going over all Story Quests/World Quests/Events that have important lore in them. (This also includes Artifact Lore and some Weapon Lore too)

The Thames family is really important here, too. They have powers beyond what is normal, but all of them die young through mysterious means. Also, they have a motto: "A Thames should never fear the past or the future." This basically makes an allusion to the fact that they can see past and future events under special conditions. Because WS tried to get that power too (by killing most of the Thames left in the world) and only managed to damage the powers of the Thames family, Cale is not able to see the future, but he can see the past if he touches an object that is full of energy.

On the note of Cale's abilities, this Cale also has a perfect memory (similar to KRS's Record). So he has a lot of information and trauma stored in that head of his. It will be even more trauma after he gets to Sumeru and Fontaine's Archon Quests because omg, I fucking cried at them both and I was in shambles for days. Can't imagine LIVING through those.

The Thames family has also a bit of a thing that they do before they die. They infuse some object/place with their last remaining energy and leave a message for whoever (from their family) may find it: They introduce themselves, say where is their home and give some heads up about events they foresaw coming and want to prevent.

Because of this, Cale meets some of his ancestors from before Khaenri'ah fell actually. And in chronological order of meeting them, they are:

Wei Thames - his ancestor from Liyue. The message from him was found by Cale during the Quest "The Chi of Yore" after defeating that (accursed) timed trial.

Kannon Thames - his ancestor from Inazuma. Cale finds her remains and message during the Quest "Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual"; she was a good friend of Kitsune Saiguu and died during the Cataclysm 500 years ago.

Acacius Thames - ancestor from Enkanomiya. He lived in the time before Enkanomiya sank into the depths and Cale found his journal during his exploration of Enkanomiya. He had visions of the future catastrophe that will end with Enkanomiya in the depths. When he told the people that he was branded as a heretic and thrown into a prison cell where he met his death as Enkanomiya sank.

Elijah Thames - a wanderer that settled in Mondstadt during the reign of Decarabian and ended up helping with the revolution. Did not get along with Diluc's ancestor - which seems to be a theme between the 2 families. Also he was a dear friend to Venti who vouched for Venti to be the Anemo Archon since he will not abuse his power like Decarabian did. Cale meets him during the Mondstadt Archon Quest.

Isaiah Thames - ancestor from Sumeru. Cale meets him the first time when he connects with Irminsul and then again during the Subzerus Festival Samsara. Isaiah was Rukkhadevata's trusted helper who, feeling his death near, bound his remaining energy to the Irminsul so that he could attempt to help Rukkhadevata even after his death. He is very much disgusted and disappointed in the Academiya Sages and their treatment of Nahida - even states that he would "gladly bathe in their blood from head to the soles of his feet if he had a physical body".

Noah Thames - ancestor from Fonatine. Helped create the Fortress of Meropiede and left behind the papers that will be the foundation of "The Wingalet", Wriothesley's flying ship. Cale meets him first during "Cataclysm's Quickening" (aka Act IV of the Archon Quest) when he is staying in the Foretress of Meropiede and tries to find Childe. He feels his energy again while exploring the ruins that Arlechino pointed out to him and Navia during Act V and, once again and for the last time, after Cale battles the All-Devouring Narwal (basically Cale faints after the battle and speaks with Noah in a space made by his mind). Noah has his energy bound to the Primordial Sea and has been trying to keep it away from Fonatine for nearly 1000 years now.

Adam Thames - an orphan that wondered the Sumeru Desert for a long time. He stumbled upon Khaenri'ah and made a home for himself there. When the Cataclysm hit, he took Dainslief (his best friend) out of the way of destruction and returned to the Door (you know the door deep in the Tunigi Hollow) where, in order to contain the Abyss monsters, he sealed the door shut and left a message behind knowing he will not return. He perished in battle against the Abyss creatures. Cale finds the message and learns about Dainslief being his best friend when he finds the Door in "Khavarena of Good and Evil" Quest.

Another thing about the Thames is that names are very important to them. Their names spell their futures. You can see it in the naming scheme above: Wei means "to protect" which is what he did during his fight against the Chi; Kannon is the Japanese name for Guanyin, a Bodhisattva associated with compassion and is considered "The Goddess of Mercy" having saved a lot of people from extreme sufferings the same way Kannon does before she too falls during the Cataclysm; Acacius is another spelling for the word "Akakios" which translates from Greek to "innocent, not evil" which is want Acacius was really and this name was the name of some early saints who were martyred, which again is similar to Acacius from this story; Elijah is a Hebrew name and was a prophet in the Old Testament, who confronted the king and queen in the 9th Century BC over their idolatry of the Ba'al and other wicked deeds, which is pretty on point imo with the Revolution against Decarabian scenario; Isaiah is another Hebrew name and he was one of the 4 Major Prophets of the Old Testament and also (supposedly) the author of the Book of Isaiah, which has some paragraphs depicting trees on fire - aka just like the one Dottore looks at in the Winter Night's Lazzo; Noah is another Hebrew Name and I am pretty sure that everyone knows about Noah's Ark... only now, the boat was constructed 1000 years after he died; and, last but not least, Adam - another Hebrew name - the 1st human created by God, who, alongside Eve, ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil... here, this can translate to Adam (maybe) being too supportive of Khaenri'ah plans up until it blew up in everyone's face, and he had to run away to avoid death (aka he was casted out of the Garden of Eden) but returned later to stop the spreading of the Abyss monsters out of the Door to Khaenri'ah.

And because we (the travelers) give Scaramouche a new name, Cale here basically adopts Scara by giving him not only a new given name but also a family name (if he ever wishes to use it) alongside it. His name would be Cain Themes, again another Hebrew name but that makes sense since the story of Cain ends with him becoming a wanderer and becoming the founder of a city later, and Cale gives him this name while knowing the story of "Cain" from his mother and hoping that Scaramouche will avoid having another bad ending to his own story.

Cale's own name has a story, but, generally, children only hear the story of their name's from their Thames parents when they turn 10. Since Cale's mom died when he was 8 years old, he never found out the story of his own name - which is pretty common with most Thames children since they can live at maximum till 30 years old in the case of very lucky members of the family (mostly due to the illness they have).

The Thames family is also strongly tied to Dragons, something that was confirmed by Apep in Nahida's Second Story Quest, where Apep seems surprised that "the children of Nibelung still roam this land." Turns out, there were tribes of humans living with the Dragons before the First Who Came (Phanes?) appeared. The Thames family is the last remaining line of the so-called "Dragon Slayers" of old. They were mainly called Dragon Slayers because they could keep up or even slay other Dragons. As a result, Dragon King Nibelung was impressed and bestowed upon the Thames family, specifically, gifts of power (aka the old versions of Visions that looks similar to Cale's own Vision) and considered them his children. Most of those warriors perished in the fight against Phanes(?).

Because of his origins as a Dragon Slayer, it is not that unbelievable that Cale ends up taking care of a Dragon himself (Raon) since raising a small Dragon is like a Rite of Passage for the Dragon Slayers in this fic.

White Star, as stated before, killed most of the present time Thames in an attempt to get the power to see the future - an attempt that failed. He knows that Thames children don't live all that long, so he thinks that Cale's existence is insignificant and not a problem since he will die young too. (And he was not wrong technically - Cale was supposed to die before turning 20 if he never left on his journey and got better) This is mainly the reason why he let's Cale live after seeing him with Dainslief.

Since White Star is still in the body of a Thames, Cale can get some information from the things WS touches (kinda like how the Traveler has that flashback in the Chasm Quest with Dainslief).

And then there is the Caribert Quest where Cale basically takes the place of White Star in a memory from around 400 years ago when White Star was traveling with Dainslief and met Clothar and the whole Dark Crystal thing that calls itself a "Sinner".

Why was Dainslief traveling with White Star you ask? Because he was hurting from failing to protect Adam and wanted to, at least, try and protect his legacy - another member of his family Dainslief met by chance. Too bad he wasted his efforts on White Star. But he still got to know Cale and want to protect him so there is that.

Also, before I forget to mention, here Archons may be called "Gods" by humans but in reality they are more like "Protectors of a Land" who were gifted power by Gods after they won the Archon War - whether they were willing to accept the power or not. As such, when Khaenri'ah happened, most were given an ultimatum by the Gods in Celestia: "Either Khaenri'ah falls today or your regions fall." So, even if they were unwilling to help, they had to so they can avoid more human lives being lost. Pretty traumatic, don't you think? (Pretty sure that is what happened in the Genshin Impact canon too but we don't have explicit confirmation because all of them signed an NDA and Venti is still a little shit that has no part two to his Story Quest)

The Aranara call Cale "Crimson Nara", Raon "Blackie", Ohn and Hong "Kitties". Also, the Melusines see Cale in a very similar way to Neuvillette. In their eyes, both of them are large balls of energy (Cale's red; Neuvillette is blue) that have ribbons made of some other type of energy around them(both have gold colored ribbons). Because of these similarities, the Melusine are all "Monsieur Neuvillette will have a new friend" and "The two of them will get along well." Neuvillette likes Cale's (and his children's) company but he wishes he did not have to know the amount of problems they get into everyday.

Raon's first Growth Phase takes place during the Sumeru Archon Quest. It starts when Cale and Nahida run from the people ordered by Il Dottore to capture them (aka the scene where Khaterine is impaled) and it ends just before the battle with Mecha Scaramouche is over.

After Raon's 1st Growth Phase is over, he gets a new ability. As long as Raon remembers where said place is, he can teleport himself and others there. So basically, Raon = Automatic Teleport Point. Till then, they travel around like normal people would - which takes a while.

I can also say that Alberu has a Hydro Vision that he got in quite the hilarious way. Alberu had an argument with Cale over the fact that Cale constantly says he is not a good person (whether it is the original or KRS, they are both bad at admitting they can do good thing for people) and Alberu said: "If I have to make it my life's mission to make you see that you are a good person, then so be it." and a Hydro Vision appeared in front of him. Cale's response was: "Congratulations on your new Vision. My deepest condolences for the fact that you made an impossibility your life's mission." Alberu wanted to throw him out the window for that.

And for the last thing, I have a little project going on where I write voicelines for Cale (like characters have in Genshin). Currently, I am done with the Mondstadt ones (for the most part) and moving onto Liyue. Let me know if you are interested in seeing them.

And we are done. Holy hell this was longer than yesterday's post.

Well, it is very late for me (don't stay up late kids) so I have to end it here.

Hope you have a great day/night and take care!

See you tomorrow,

-TooManyPlotBunnies-Send Help

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sadlynotthevoid · 8 months

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I had once this weird dream (but that I really liked tbh) where TBOAH world was going to end but, like, not for the White Star nor anything.

It was just going to die spontaneously and everyone there was going there was just going to join the flow of souls (think of it like the rukh in Magi, because my unconscious likes to add Magi hints to everything. Love that anime tho).

But due bad timing synchronization, the flow was already too filled and if it happened, souls would collide against each others and the sequels would cause massive amounts of chaos and stuff in the other worlds from the sane section.

Which was obviously bad.

So the gods in charge of that section decide that the best action course (and the only plausible one) is getting a conductor to direct the energy and souls of this world smoothly into the flow. Of course, the conductor has to be a living being with a strong will to be able to drive a whole ass world's living essence into a single path.

Ideally, the conductor also had to have a connection with Time. After all, time and space were linked and redirecting life into the flow was separating it from a time-space and releasing it into a river where time and space worked different (if it did. Work, that is.)

A regressor, they decided. The conductor has to be a regressor.

Then, the God of Death— because of it was him— nominated a human child. A god from a different section, but who also was responsible for a world in this one, seconded it.

After inspecting said human, the gods agreed he would be a good choice.

So, Eruhaben went on a trip— his last one in this life— to Rain City, because the world tree requested him to find a person.

A child that was supposed to bring an end and a new start to this world and its people.

Well, the world tree had said that this human was technically an adult. But for Eruhaben who had lived for thousands of years, a human who wasn't even on his second decade was practically a little kid.

Cale Henituse.

What was special about him, that the gods believed him capable of accomplish such a task?

——————————

It went longer but I'm stoping there now. It was a Naruto crossover btw. And that Cale is Og!Cale. He did succeeded leading the world into the cycle, then everyone got reincarnated in Naruto.

Cale was born as his mom's son again and they were both Uzumakis because my brain said that it fits them (my brain it's not wrong, tho). Eruhaben was his dad this time and Karin was his little sister. I don't know if biologic or if she was Cale's relative that they adopted.

I'm pretty sure that the Soo's appeared and CJS was a Hyuuha or an Uchiha (but that could be because I would like him and Shisui to be friends and my brain went with it), KRS was a Nara (no surprises there), I don't remember what about LSH antecedents, and I think they were planning on opening a store together.

#the cale being the conductor scene in my dream was painful #also had a lot of lights and golden brightness #eruhaben stayed with him until the end #because he couldn't nor wanted to leave this young human alone suffering #that's why whoever is in charge of birth and rebirth duty decided to make them a family this time #lcf crossover #lcfxnaruto crossover #og!cale henituse #og cale was only eighteen there #eruhaben #krs this time has good and living parents #cheers #cjs and shisui should be friends

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deanwax · 8 months

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OC: Cale

"Hey, Aure."

I draw a shaky breath in through my nose as my haunted eyes slide to the passenger seat.

"You're not wearing a seatbelt," Cale tells me with a hazy grin.

A lurch of fear cuts through me; a horrid feeling of inertia and imminent impact. I look down at my front with a gasp and see that it's true. I thank my hands off the steering wheel, then, as quick as if it were scalding hot. The sound of the buckling seatbelt fills the space of the car. My panting breath sounds loud in my ears. Looking over to Cale, I swallow and frown, finding my voice. "You're not wearing a seatbelt either," I tell him.

"Yeah," Cale agrees dreamily, leaning back in the passenger seat. "But it's not really like… like a need."

From Chapter 56: Try to Move

Picrew tool by Elena-Illustration

Cale was in Aure's life for half a year or so while he was living in Matthias' household. He was purchased by Landon for three thousand dollars, described as 'fantastically willing but over-used'. His sweet disposition and dreamy outlook on life is unfortunately fueled by various illicit substances. He often appears emaciated and battered.

Aure associates Cale closely with the colour pink, flowers, and leaves in the wind, most likely owing to the clothes Cale wore and the fact that they spent most of their time together in Matthias' garden.

Later when Aure is an adult, he encounters a figment of a homeless Cale in the alley by the grocery store. Usually appearing in states of intoxication or battery, Aure's attempts to help Cale are fruitless and he often disappears without Aure being able to discern where he went. Even after being confronted with evidence that Cale is a hallucination, Aure still isn't able to contest the reality he experiences when he sees him.

#deanwaxwrites #writeblr #aure #my oc #oc #picrew

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spoilertv · 5 months

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#SpoilerTV

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jin0 · 2 years

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Add on to 35-year-old fast food worker, I’m 4’11”, slightly overweight, brown hair and brown eyes…

to you i give :

link from mainstream !!

link wasn't a romantic. romance was the last thing on his mind, if he thought all together which, to be honest, wasn't a common thing. or at least not visibly.

he'd been called a thousand things, most if them negative words explaining how much of a piece of shit he was for the multiple shitty things he'd do in a day, just for fun. yeah, romance wasn't really the main focus of a guy who found pleasure in mocking others and society in general.

love was also a very serious thing and link didn't take anything or anyone seriously, not even himself. he likes to have fun and live life without complications. love was complicated to him, way too much implications and duties to carry out. all of that bothered him enough to never look for love, and rightfully, he hadn't been looking for love when he met you.

you didn't look comfortable but not bothered by his presence more than that. when people kept hiding themselves to prevent him from figuring them out and mocking them in the process, you'd been open. maybe a little too much.

there was nothing about you to discover, you let it all be seen, so easily it could scare more than one person. he couldn't help but be surprised at how visible you were to him. that intrigued him. his interest in you cale from curiosity, until he was stopped in his track, not by you but by himself. again, you didn't care, and neither did he until he did. caring in you had been the first limit crossed.

link didn't do love or care, he was into having fun and the things happening to him were fun. until they were. he'd never been more excited about his own emotions before, he'd been learning to feel through you and that had been terrifying but also exhilarating. feeling his heart speed up in his chest, his palms and armpits sweat, his breathing get louder and his face growing a little more pink each second. he was in love and it turned him into someone new.

this petite woman had changed, and all that in less time than it could take to say the word 'change'. you'd succeeded where many had failed.

this whole situation, the events that lead to him and you were suddenly flashing before his eyes, as a movie that he'd been staring in. all of this he was reliving it when he looked at your face.

you were asleep. in his arms, because turns out he was comfortable enough to sleep on. and you trusted him to keep you warm and loved while you slept. this was so new and terrifying, but also very much incredible.

someone loved and trusted him.

if he could hear your thoughts or the way you'd speak of him, he'd hear how much love you felt for him. seeing him in a brighter light than what he'd seen himself over the years. you'd always praised his actions, happy to see him improve and reveal himself more each day. gone was the link who'd use 'having fun' as the excuse and justification to refuse his own feelings.

his touch on you was as light as a feather would be. the pad of his fingers were digging into the warm flesh of your thighs, keeping your legs wrapped around his waist. one of his arm was serving as pillow on top of the five others on the bed. his other arm was around your waist, keeping you close to him as he tenderly caressed your back.

the feeling of your exposed skin on his just made him feel alive all over again. his cold dead heart was finally beating and it was beating for you. his lips had been kissing the side of your face and uttering sweet words to try and express his love for you.

"i love you... i love you so much... so much it hurts to see you be sometimes. my heart can barely take your existence and how incredible you are..." he whispered, rubbing his nose over the crown of your head. "i know we're both learning to love and your first love won't always be your last but... god i can't imagine a life without you bunny. you're the piece of universe i'll always be after. you're my everything and beyond. you are everything. the universe itself. my universe. and i'll be the stupid fucker who thinks he can stand before the elements themselves to protect you. because that's what i'll do. maybe i'm stupid actually, love truly does make you stupid. but it's not about me anymore. it's about doing everything in my power to make you happy. for as long as you'll want me."

link wasn't one to make promises, he could never keep them after all. but this one ? you'd been the living proof that he could if he wanted to. he wanted to and he did.

#•°jin's 1k sleepover°•#•° jin replies <3°•#link mainstream imagine #link mainstream #mainstream imagine #andrew garfield mainstream #mainstream #andrew garfield one shot #andrew garfield imagine #andrew garfield

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icyteaa · 3 years

Text

AlbeCale Headcanon

[Vampire x Angel]

Inspired by this post

Their first encounter was when Alberu needed to run a mission where there were a lot of people dead. It's such an ordinary day since the medieval century has never been nice to humans who live there. Kill or killed, the existence of demon and vampire in the shadow, everything was the same as Alberu just sighed when he set off his destination to the mansion where everything happened.

But then he found there was someone who was standing tall while looking towards the corpses. There was someone who survived such a tragedy that runs in the mansion that got attacked by vampires. No, survive was such an imprecise word to describe the hollow and void expression the young man has as he froze in his place.

Let alone there was a wound in his neck that implied he had been infected by vampires and become one of them forcefully. It was an unfortunate event when Alberu thought about it, but it didn't make him pity enough to even bother talking to him. So Alberu just did his task to guide all the souls that had left their bodies to the underworld where everything would be decided, before he left the place. Left the red head alone with his own agony.

But Alberu was curious. Since Cale, the name of survivor of the tragedy (he learned about it when he looked towards their files when he arrived at home to make a report) was forcefully become one of vampires, what would he do after this? Since he had become the race who killed all his family members, what is he gonna do from now on? Will he try to get revenge or will he just lay low because he knows he is weak? That question ran in Alberu until he finally decided to come to the mansion again one more time.

Alberu didn't expect to find all the corpses were gone and grave with tombstones made a line in front of the mansion. It was not appropriate enough to call it a grave, but still better than nothing nevertheless.

Then he found the young man—again—standing in front of the graves with an empty expression. Alberu had seen thousands of times how humans would react when the ones they love died. Cry, grief, sadness, all of it is always expressed on their faces. But the man was just standing still. His suit and hands were full of dirt and blood. It looked like the young man buried several corpses by himself.

Something more unexpected, the young man looked towards him when Alberu was in the state where no one could see him except his own kind. Cale was expressionless when he clearly said, "You are here again."

It caught Alberu off guard at first, but he then let himself be seen while giving the man a wide smile. He didn't know why, but his mouth just came out with sentences that are really different from the reason why he came back here before, "Will you stay here or do you want to come to my place?"

It was not something so drastically different for Alberu to have a housemate though since he lives in a big place. He let Cale sleep in the room on the first floor since he barely used it and all his stuff was on the second floor. Although it's surprising too that Cale just agreed with his sudden ask to come to his place, Alberu thought it was because Cale needed a place where he could forget what had happened. Far away from the place that has now become a graveyard for his family.

Cale rarely goes out of his room. Alberu thought he had a different way to express his griefness. Sometimes Alberu will check him out just in case something happens and most of the time he finds Cale sleeping for a long period of time. It was intriguing to observe since usually humans who just become vampires would go wild while craving for blood. But in his case, Alberu never saw Cale going wild and drinking blood since he got infected. Without Alberu even realizing, he will seek Cale's presence from time to time so he can observe him.

One day, Cale looked so weak and sick. It's known that vampires have pale skin, but that time it looks worse. His breath was heavy and he sweated so much. Alberu found this just because he came to observe Cale again in his room. Cale never complained or said he was hurt.

Alberu thought maybe that was happened because Cale suppressed his instinct to drink blood even if vampires needed that to life, especially him, who was not a vampire from the beginning. They barely had a conversation with each other, but Alberu found himself worried about Cale's situation.

It's impossible to bring someone so Cale could drink their blood since Alberu couldn't harm just any creatures as an Angel, and he knew Cale himself wouldn't want to hurt somebody only to his own accord. Alberu then remembered the human he just sent to the underworld after getting attacked by a beast in the forest. He brought some of the blood from the human to Cale. Bloid from the death body isn't the best blood for vampires, but still better than nothing.

"Drink this." Cale barely opened his eyes to see a glass of blood shoved to his face, but he quickly shook his head. Alberu sighed and helped Cale to sit in his bed properly, "I get this from a human who just died. No one gets hurt, so just drink this if you still want to live."

Cale drinks the blood and gets better after a few hours. Since then Alberu will bring a portion of human blood that just died to give it to Cale. Not often, just so Cale doesn't fall sick like before. But there is nothing like compromise or a deal. Sometimes Alberu finds himself weird if it comes to something related to Cale.

Cale too found this weird and one day asked him why Alberu did this for him when they sat opposite to each other in Cale's room. (After the event, Alberu finds Cale always spacing out while sitting on the couch when he isn't sleeping. Alberu took the initiative to talk to him first, and now it's like their activity to have a few conversations going on once in a while after Alberu takes care of his duty as an angel).

Alberu couldn't answer Cale immediately since he didn't know the answer either. He laments why he brought someone to his house even if it's nothing like pity or sympathy. He knew a lot worse tragedy than the one Cale experienced, but he had never done this thing he did to Cale until now. He just did it. Alberu couldn't find any better answers. So that is his answer.

Alberu awkwardly scratches his cheek after Cale giving him long stare, he decided to approaching Cale and gives him a light pat in the head a few times before said, "Well, it just happened, so don't need to think about it too hard. Just remember what I did for you and pay me back later." Cale stared at him with a clueless expression and made him sigh. "For now, just stay healthy and live long, so we can have more conversation, alright?"

Maybe that's it. As a creature whose what he is doing and the purpose in his life has already been decided before he even lives, he just wants to feel and do what others do. Especially humans that he always observe. Talking with others, having conversations that aren't related to his duty, and maybe… a friend.

Alberu is getting goosebumps because of his own thoughts. It was the cringiest line he ever thought in his life up until now. He never imagined that the day he could think such sentimental words would come after thousands of years of his life.

But strangely enough, the feeling he felt after realizing he might have someone he could call a friend was more pleasant than he ever thought it would be.

Next chapter

Note: I just want to warm up and make a light headcanon.... But there are more moments I want to write from this au lol. Maybe I will write part 2 of this.

#trash of the count's family #tcf #lout of count’s family #cale henituse #alberu crossman #albecale #caleberu #tcf headcanon #vampire au

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bqstqnbruin · 4 years

Text

See you soon

So the Cale blurb turned out differently than I anticipated once I started writing but like, whatever, I think you’ll like this better. It’s also like a three page google doc, so I’m not sure if this counts as a blurb or not, but oh well.

Warning that there’s mentions of quaratine (indirectly) since this takes place the night of the NHL awards.

Flashbacks are in italics.

I hope you like it!

_________________

“And the winner of the 2019-2020 Calder Memorial Trophy is,” the announcer says, you glued to the TV as you prayed you would hear his name, “Cale Makar!”

You start screaming to your parents that Cale won, jumping up and down as your boyfriend’s face appeared on your TV screen for him to talk about how happy and honored he was that he won the award for the league’s best rookie. As soon as the awards were done, you had planned to Facetime with each other, and now there was even more reason to celebrate.

You wish you were there with him; he was home in Calgary and you were back in Springfield, Massachusetts, home from school because of the pandemic, 9 hours away from him by plane, on the other side of the continent. “Tell him congrats for us, sweetie,” your mom tells you, kissing your cheek before you head off to your room to call Cale.

As soon as his face appears on your computer screen, rosey cheeks and all, your heart skipped a beat. You had been videochatting as much as you could, but with him playing in the bubble in Edmonton, the calls were much less frequent than either of you had wanted them to be.

“Hey, baby,” he says, in a soft, kind voice.

“Hey veggie boy,” you call him the nickname you had been calling him since you met.

Everytime you see him, you can’t help but think about that night you met.

You were at a party in the Southwest area of UMass during your freshman year, not really wanting to be there, but dragged out by your roommate and the other guys and girls on your floor in one of the Orchard Hill dorms. Not a big party person, you were off to the side, nursing the drink your roommate forced in your hands upon arrival, watching the scene of drunk college students unfold around you.

“Not much of a party person, either?” you hear someone ask you, taking your attention away from the two girls owning two guys in a game of beer pong. You look to see Cale Makar, the freshman on the hockey team everyone was excited for. Hockey East was arguably one of the biggest and best college hockey conferences, at least in your opinion, and hearing someone like Cale had committed to your school was exciting. You thought you would see him play on the ice; UMass had thirty thousand undergraduate students, what were the chances of meeting him?

“Nah, not really. It’s more fun to watch.” You introduce yourselves, trying to play it cool on the boy you were already forming a crush on. You spent the night thinking up the backstories of the people around you. Whoever came up with the most absurd one would buy breakfast off campus the next morning.

“Y/N?” you hear Cale ask, bringing you out of your memory and back to reality. “Are you alright? You look upset.”

Looking at your own face on the screen, you hadn’t realized the smile that was on your face when he first picked up was gone, tears starting to form in your eyes. “Yeah, I’m just thinking.”

“About what?”

“The night we met. How far you’ve come,” you tell him, “How far away you are.”

His smile fades away as well, sadness covering his face, practically forcing the tears down your cheeks. You hated that you were making him sad, especially since he just won an award. “I miss you so much,” he whispers, sounding like he was choking back a sob as well.

“I miss you, too,” you manage to let out. “But, hey, babe, you won the fucking Calder! I’m so proud of you. You deserved it.”

A small smile returns to his face. “Thanks, baby. Did you hear me thanking you?”

You chuckle, wiping the tears from your cheeks. “I was too busy screaming to pay attention,” you admit. “The Avs have already posted a video, so I’ll watch it when we’re off.”

You two spend hours catching up on life since the last time you talked to each other a week ago. You had just started your senior year at school, counting down the days before you could graduate and move to Denver to be with Cale, like you had been talking about the last three years.

The night Cale came back from the Frozen Four game in Buffalo was heartbreaking. It was one of the first nights he didn’t want to talk about hockey, coming to your room and getting into your bed without saying a word to you or any of your suitemates. You had seen him after a tough loss before, but he was never like this. It was never them getting shut out in the national championship.

“Colorado wants me to start playing with them in the rest of their playoff run,” he finally says, running his hands through your hair as you try to concentrate on the readings you had to do for your class the next morning.

You were used to him travelling for games, but that was with him living in Massachusetts, not in Colorado. “Oh,” you let out, not sure what else to say. “When are you going to join them?”

“I sign the contract tomorrow, and they have a game the next day.”

You sit up, pulling yourself off his chest to look at him, “Tomorrow?”

He doesn’t look at you, fidgeting with your sheets instead. “Yeah. I want to go, but,” he stops looking up at you and taking your face in his hands. He runs the pads of his thumbs on your cheeks, you reaching up to touch his hands, “I don’t want to leave you.”

“Cale, you have to. If they want you, this is your dream. I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, but will I be?” he asks, a small laugh escaping his lips. “I love you,” he says, pulling you in for a kiss. It was soft, sweet, you could tell he felt bad about leaving you. It was the possibility of being your last kiss for who knows only how long that made him kiss you with urgency.

When he finally pulls away, he keeps his forehead pressed against yours. “I’ll still see you when you play in Boston; it’s only two hours away. And, we can call, we can text, or snapchat, or Facetime; we have each other in our pockets at all times,” you try to reassure him, wiping the tears from his cheeks.

“When you graduate, will you move to Denver, or wherever I’m playing?”

“You think we’ll still be together by then? That’s two more years.”

“I hope so. I don’t plan on stopping loving you.”

“Hey, Cale,” you ask him after sitting there just working, him watching you in the background like he used to when you were still at school together, “Will I like Denver? When I move out there?”

A smile forms on his face at the idea of you two finally being together again. “Yeah. You’ll love it. I do, at least. But it’ll be even better when you’re there. I can’t believe I haven’t been able to see you since May,” he says, looking off to the side as if to not let you see him cry.

“I know,” you swallow another bout of tears coming on, “But, hey, I’ll be moving out there in June. That’ll go by so fast,” you tell him, excited at the prospect of seeing him in person again.

“You promise?”

“I mean, I can’t control how you perceive time,” you joke, smiling at the sight of him throwing his head back in laughter. “But I have to watch some video lectures for class, so I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you soon?”

“Tomorrow?” he asks, excited by your nodding in agreement. “I love you. I’ll see you soon.”

#cale makar #cale makar imagine #colorado avalanche #colorado avalanche imagine #avalanche #avalanche imagine #nhl #nhl imagine #hockey #hockey imagine

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lgbtqiahistoricalromance · 6 years

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LGBTQIA Historical Romances with Artists, Poets, Thespians, Musicians, Dancers, and Bohemians - July 2018

Jalendu by Mark Andrew

- Set in the turbulent twilight of the reign of the Mughal Emperor of India, Jalaluddin Akbar, Jalendu tell the story of the socially awkward, but politically important young Prince Adinath and Jali, a handsome, spiritually inclined farm boy who becomes his bodyguard. Their unlikely friendship and love changes the fate of the empire. The small kingdom of Vindhyagarh sits in the Vindhya foothills between Prince Salim, the rebellious son of the emperor and self-declared Sultan of Ilahabad (present day Allahabad) and his powerful Bundela Rajput ally, Maharaja Vir Singh Deo of Orchha. But Salim in truth is no rebel. He is loyal to the power behind the throne, the women of the imperial household. The court nobility, led by the emperor's vizier Abul Fazl, see their power evaporating as the emperor seems powerless to oppose the wishes of the empresses or to act against his disobedient eldest son. They fear that when Salim become emperor, they will be reduced to mere servants. Abul Fazl vows that Salim will never sit on the imperial throne. Rana Jayaram of Vindhyagarh wants peace, but his efforts to ensure it draw his kingdom into a very dangerous political game. His youngest son has rarely left the palace because of illness and spends his time reading ancient Sanskrit texts, drawing and composing poetry. His only friends are his brother's widow and his old tutor. Jayaram sees a chance to extract his kingdom from danger by an alliance with the influential Kachwahas. An alliance by the marriage of Prince Adinath to a Kachwaha princess would not only tie Vindhyagarh to a Rajput house more loyal to the empire but into the imperial family itself.

On Wings of Song by Anne Barwell

- Six years after meeting British soldier Aiden Foster during the Christmas Truce of 1914, Jochen Weber still finds himself thinking about Aiden, their shared conversation about literature, and Aiden’s beautiful singing voice. A visit to London gives Jochen the opportunity to search for Aiden, but he’s shocked at what he finds.The uniform button Jochen gave him is the only thing Aiden has left of the past he’s lost. The war and its aftermath ripped everything away from him, including his family and his music. When Jochen reappears in his life, Aiden enjoys their growing friendship but knows he has nothing to offer. Not anymore.

The Reluctant Berserker by Alex Beecroft Review (Gorgeous writing, and an unusual case of a dominant musician and a submissive warrior.)

- Dark Ages England. Among the Saxons, a warrior is the highest form of human life. He dominates all, he yields to none, and if ever this mastery is taken away, his honour is taken with it. Reluctant berserker, Wulfstan, a noble and fearsome warrior, has spent most of his life trying to hide the fact that he would love to be cherished and taken care of by someone stronger than himself. Slight and beautiful harper, Leofgar, has the opposite problem – how can he keep the trained killers off him long enough to get them to acknowledge he’s as much of a man as any of them? When, in a panic, Wulfstan accidentally kills a friend who is about to blurt out his secret, and Leofgar flees rather than submit to his lord’s lust, they meet on the road to the pilgrims’ shrine at Ely. Pursued by a mother’s curse and Leofgar’s vengeful lord, they must battle guilt, outlaws, and the powers of the underworld with the aid of only music and a female saint. And if they fall in love on the way, there’s still that murderous shame to overcome.

Treading the Boards series by Tess Bowery (author’s Tumblr)

Rite of Summer: Gay men in a disaster!triad. Sex solves a lot of things, but actually talking about problems solves more. Not a poly ending.

She Whom I Love: Bisexual best friends share a very confused (yet grateful) straight man. Disaster is narrowly averted. A very poly ending.*

*Shortlisted twice for the Bisexual Book Awards, 2015 - Best Romance, Best Erotic Fiction.

That Potent Alchemy: Genderqueer ballet dancer hates gender, ballet, and emotional connection. Macbeth helps. No poly in this one at all.

Artemis by Jessica Cale (trans male hero/bisexual heroine)

- Actress Charlotte Halfpenny is in trouble. Pregnant, abandoned by her lover, and out of a job, Charlotte faces eviction two weeks before Christmas. When the reclusive Earl of Somerton makes her an outrageous offer, she has no choice but to accept. Could he be the man of her dreams, or is the nightmare just beginning?

Apollo Somerton has been in love with Charlotte for a decade, seeing each of her plays multiple times, despite being a man that otherwise keeps to himself. After Charlotte finds herself pregnant, she almost resorts to drastic measures, but Somerton rescuers her and makes her an offer she can’t refuse. But, despite his adoration and beauty, Charlotte knows being an actress didn’t prepare her for the role of wife to an Earl, and others will stop at nothing to keep the pair from getting married.

This is a sweet novella, with a frankly adorable leading man. Handsome and devoted, he has a secret, but love with persevere. Some aspects of the novella are a little far-fetched, but the love story makes it totally worthwhile. (Contains mentions of period-typical homophobia and transphobia. Trans male leading man, and bisexual heroine.)

25% proceeds donated to Equality NC, and 25% to the Malala fund

Think of England by KJ Charles Mini Review

- Lie back and think of England... England, 1904. Two years ago, Captain Archie Curtis lost his friends, fingers, and future to a terrible military accident. Alone, purposeless and angry, Curtis is determined to discover if he and his comrades were the victims of fate, or of sabotage. Curtis's search takes him to an isolated, ultra-modern country house, where he meets and instantly clashes with fellow guest Daniel da Silva. Effete, decadent, foreign, and all-too-obviously queer, the sophisticated poet is everything the straightforward British officer fears and distrusts. As events unfold, Curtis realizes that Daniel has his own secret intentions. And there's something else they share-a mounting sexual tension that leaves Curtis reeling. As the house party's elegant facade cracks to reveal treachery, blackmail and murder, Curtis finds himself needing clever, dark-eyed Daniel as he has never needed a man before... Warning: Contains explicit male/male encounters, ghastly historical attitudes, and some extremely stiff upper lips.

The Actor and the Earl by Rebecca Cohen (Three book series, w/Sebastian playing his own twin sister in all three.)

- Elizabethan actor Sebastian Hewel takes his bow at the proscenium only to embark on the role of a lifetime. When his twin sister, Bronwyn, reneges on the arrangement to marry Anthony Redbourn, Earl of Crofton, Sebastian reluctantly takes her place. At nineteen, Sebastian knows his days as a leading lady are numbered, but with this last performance, he hopes to restore his family’s name and pay off his late father’s debts. Never mind the danger of losing his head should he be discovered.He didn’t expect Anthony to be so charming and alluring—not to mention shrewd. While he applauds Sebastian’s plan, Anthony offers a mutually beneficial arrangement instead. Sebastian will need every drop of talent he has to survive with both his head and his heart intact, because this is the best part he’s ever had.

You Must Remember This: A Gay Retelling of Casablanca by John Michael Curlovich

- You Must Remember This is an homage to the classic film Casablanca on the 75th anniversary of the film’s release in America. It is the height of World War II. Frank Chandler is an American GI who has been separated from the army on a “blue discharge.” Along with his musician friend and sometime lover Dan Jackson, he finds himself in Marrakesh (only a short distance away from Casablanca), an international city where every kind of pleasure is easily available. But Marrakesh is also a city of danger. The Nazis are establishing themselves there, and their ominous presence means life is fraught with peril. Then Lilli, a beautiful, mysterious woman from Frank’s past, shows up unexpectedly, and he finds himself confronted with the hardest choice of his life. Lilli’s presence stirs emotions he thought he had buried. Yet there is still the city—and its men—and the thousand pleasures it offers… Should Frank go with Lilli and try to make a “normal” life with her? Or should he follow what he increasingly believes to be his true nature? That is the dramatic conflict at the heart of You Must Remember This.

My Lord, Lady, and Gentleman - Book Three of the Surrey SFS series by Nicola Davidson (m/m/f)

- Welcome to the Surrey Sexual Freedom Society - where unconventional and uninhibited ladies and gentlemen discuss all matters erotic... Estranged from his aristocratic family for choosing art over a third son’s proper path, Mr. Clayton Irving lives in wretched circumstances. His only joys are his friends and an extraordinary talent for sensual portraits, until the perfect opportunity arises: paint ton empress Lady Susanna Fenton. All his financial woes gone…if he can hide his fierce craving for her—and even more forbidden—her husband Lord Joseph Fenton.

In the eyes of the world the Fentons have it all: staggering wealth, position, and a caring union. Yet their smiles hide a marriage broken by secrets and pretense. The wicked portrait is a last effort to save it, and Susanna and Joseph soon discover that sinfully handsome Clayton is key to a passionate and happy new start for them all. But secrets always reveal themselves, and those who break the rules are punished. Can an unconventional ménage truly defy all for love?

The Bohemian and the Banker by Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon

- A night lost in Paris finds two hearts changed forever. Sent to Paris on business, Nigel Warren doesn’t quite understand why his colleagues’ eyes twinkle as they tell him to meet them at a local night spot. When he discovers it’s a drag cabaret and his acquaintances aren’t there, he realizes he’s the butt of a joke. Yet he finds himself quite undone by a singer dressed in an elegant gown, crooning a spellbinding ballad. It’s not unusual for Jay, a former Londoner, to bring a new “friend” home from the cabaret, but he’s never had a guest quite like Nigel, whose straitlaced manner hides an unexpected passionate streak. One romantic night on a rooftop under starry skies, followed by an afternoon enjoying the excitement of the 1901 Paris Exposition, bonds these opposites in a way neither can forget—even after they part. Their spark reignites when Jay comes to London, but he’s not sure he can go back to hiding his true self, not even for the sake of love…unless Nigel is willing to shed his cloak of staid respectability and take a leap of faith.

Robby Riverton: Mail Order Bride by Eli Easton

- Being a fugitive in the old west shouldn’t be this much fun. The year is 1860. Robby Riverton is a rising star on the New York stage. But he witnesses a murder by a famous crime boss and is forced to go on the run--all the way to Santa Fe. When he still hasn't ditched his pursuers, he disguises himself as a mail order bride he meets on the wagon train. Caught between gangsters that want to kill him, and the crazy, uncouth family of his "intended", Robby's only ally is a lazy sheriff who sees exactly who Robby is -- and can't resist him. Trace Crabtree took the job as sheriff of Flat Bottom because there was never a thing going on. And then Robby Riverton showed up. Disguised as a woman. And betrothed to Trace’s brother. If that wasn’t complication enough, Trace had to find the man as appealing as blueberry pie. He urges Robby to stay undercover until the danger has passed. But a few weeks of having Robby-Rowena at the ranch, and the Crabtree family will never be the same again. Damn, what a kerfuffle. If only Trace can get rid of the fugitive while hanging on to his own stupid heart.

A Brush with Darkness by Erastes

- Florence, 1875 After making a grisly discovery one night, I needed proof that there was still goodness in the world. I never dreamt it would come to me during my next commission—with a subject whose very name means light... Yuri was glorious in his otherworldly beauty, surrounded by a bright halo of iridescence, but I detected a fierce darkness lurking underneath the surface. Sketching all night, I could hardly wait to capture his likeness in a painting. For Yuri has stimulated not only my creative urges, but my sexual ones as well. His very presence infuses me with joy and passion, but what will happen if my patron should discover our trysts? Dependent on his good graces, I can't afford to lose his support. But I fear the time will soon come when I must choose between restoring my family's fortunes and obeying the temptation of the muse before me... Previously published as Chiaroscuro, newly revised by author.

The Matinee Idol by Owen Keehnen

- LOVE IN THE SILENT FILM ERA... At the height of the roaring 1920s, Raymond Richmond leaves Iowa and heads for Hollywood with dreams of silent film stardom in his head. In Los Angeles, he meets Brick, the ruggedly handsome cowboy of his dreams. Soon the two are a couple. When Raymond film career takes off, he is pressured to choose between stardom and Brick. Afraid of passing up his dream, Raymond chooses his career. As Raymond’s star ascends, he attempts to fill the void Brick has left in a number of ways. Eventually, his career begins to suffer and shortly after the advent of talkies, Raymond hits rock bottom. Desperate and alone, he is prostituting himself to feed his addiction to alcohol. But fate intervenes and reunites Raymond with Brick. However, Brick carries deep wounds from their past as well. Can the former lovers overcome the demons and betrayal of the past and find happiness once again? Spanning over a decade, Owen Keehnen’s The Matinee Idol is a timeless tale about second chances and the redemptive power of love.

Convincing the Secretary - Book Two of the London Legal series by Ava March (Included due to Edward’s true calling.)

- Business and pleasure is a mix no gentleman should consider. Lord Grayson Holloway goes after what he wants—be it in the law office on his clients’ behalf or in the bedchamber. His new position as partner puts him closer to achieving his goal of becoming the most successful solicitor in London. There’s just one problem—his new secretary. Broad of shoulder yet mild of manner, Edward tempts Gray like no other. Yet the young man barely notices him. Edward Fenton tries to be a good secretary, but being in Lord Grayson’s hard, commanding presence rouses Edward’s most forbidden desires. Wicked, naughty desires no gentleman should consider giving in to, let alone with his new employer. Gray is more than willing to mix business with pleasure. But convincing Edward to take a chance on a future with him? That might be the most challenging case Gray has ever taken on. Warning: Includes buttoned-up gentlemen who become undone, improper use of a desk, spankings, and a big bad lord who has a soft spot for his virgin secretary.

A Wager of Love by Katherine Marlowe (Review pending, but this is included, because Gilbert and Laurence have long conversations about poetry and philosophy, and they do a little acting in pursuit of their goal. This was a delightful book, using the thoughts and concepts of the time period to great effect.

- Laurence Aberforth has never been in love. The first time he meets the impulsive and charming Gilbert Heckwith, he accepts a wager as to whether or not true love exists in the world. Amidst the playful flirtation of their new friendship, they explore the concept of love through philosophy and poetry, and the two of them ultimately find the proof of their wager in each other. Clean romance, no cheating, no cliffhangers, standalone novella.

Such a Dance by Kate McMurray

- New York City, 1927. Eddie Cotton is a talented song-and-dance man with a sassy sidekick, a crowd-pleasing act, and a promising future on Broadway. What he doesn’t have is someone to love. Being gay in an era of prohibition and police raids, Eddie doesn’t have many opportunities to meet men like himself—until he discovers a hot new jazz club for gentlemen of a certain bent...and sets eyes on the most seductive, and dangerous, man he’s ever seen. Lane Carillo is a handsome young Sicilian who looks like Valentino—and works for the Mob. He’s never hidden his sexuality from his boss, which is why he was chosen to run a private night club for men. When Lane spots Eddie at the bar, it’s lust at first sight. Soon, the unlikely pair are falling hard and fast—in love. But when their whirlwind romance starts raising eyebrows all across town, Lane and Eddie have to decide if their relationship is doomed…or something special worth fighting for.

The First Act by Vanessa Mulberry

- April 1594. William Moodie thinks he’s in love with celebrated actor Richard Brasyer. When Brasyer’s playing company, Goldfox’s Men, comes to town, William is only too willing to leave his country life for the opportunities of the theater and a life in London. Determined to become Richard’s apprentice, William seeks to impress his mentor with his acting—and please him in bed.Meanwhile, Richard struggles to escape his past as a spy and disentangle himself from the manipulations of his former master and ex-lover, Bennett Goldfox. Swearing off a relationship with his new apprentice proves difficult for Richard, as William uses all his youthful charms to seduce him. When Bennett’s life is threatened, Richard is lured back into the game for one final mission, and he and William travel to Cambridge to hunt down a list of traitors to the Crown.In the midst of danger and deception, Richard and William come to truly see each other, faults and all, and realize their feelings run deeper than either expected.

Palace Dog by RE Nelson

- In April 1975, as the government in Saigon is falling, Michael Andrews prepares to make his way back to Vietnam to find the love he was forced to leave. But Michael’s journey begins four years earlier. He joins the Air Force to keep out of the Army and out of Vietnam, but his first assignment is teaching English in Saigon to members of the Vietnamese military in an Army program called Palace Dog. As an artist, and a man, before his time in Vietnam, Michael found life lonely and unsatisfying. In the midst of war, Michael searches for direction and meaning. He ultimately finds love and hope with Thao, a young Vietnamese art student, only to have their already uncertain future wrenched from them when he is pulled out of the country. For Michael, his return in 1975 is inevitable and without question, though the outcome he hopes for is anything but assured.

The Viscount and the Artist by Alyson Pearce (The Eccentrics Book 1) (Review pending, but this was a lovely surprise. I expected a slap-dash May/December romance, but these characters were actually worked out, and Jeremy stays true to his convictions in spite of everything working against him. Andrew has a crisis, but they work through it together.)

- Andrew Cardwell is a man driven by duty to his country and to his family. After the death of his uncle, he’s determined to provide security and stability for his family as the new Viscount Cardwell—even if that means marrying and producing an heir. Surprising himself, Andrew decides to sponsor a young artist named Jeremy for the season, to help him find a patron. What he doesn’t anticipate is how well Jeremy fits in his bed…and his life. Jeremy Leighton knows what it’s like to be a disappointment. The only son of a vicar, he’s refused to follow the path his father set for him, choosing his passion for art, instead. He accepts Andrew’s proposal, hoping to prove to his father—and himself—that he can succeed as an artist. After spending time with Andrew in and out of bed, Jeremy struggles not to fall for the damaged viscount, knowing the season will likely end in Andrew’s engagement. Between a meddling cousin, a widow on the hunt for a new husband, and their own doubts about the relationship, how can Andrew and Jeremy shed the expectations of others to find true happiness?

Juliana by Vanda (f/f)

- New York City, 1941. Alice “Al” Huffman and her childhood friends are fresh off the potato farms of Long Island and bound for Broadway. Al’s plans for stage success are abruptly put on hold when she’s told she has no talent. As she gets a job to pay for acting classes, Al settles into a normal life with her friends and a boyfriend. It all changes when she meets Juliana.A singer on the brink of stardom, Juliana is everything Al isn’t: glamorous, talented, and queer. The farm girl is quickly enthralled, experiencing thoughts and feelings she never realized were possible. Al finds herself slipping between two worlds: the gay underground and the “normal” world of her childhood friends. It’s a balancing act she can handle until the two worlds begin to collideIn a city bursting with change, can Alice find what she was looking for all along?Juliana: Volume 1: 1941-1944 is a captivating work of LGBT historical romance. If you like extensively researched settings, spell-binding storytelling, and characters you can’t help but fall for, then you’ll love the first book in award-winning playwright Vanda’s new Juliana series.

Nightingale by Aleksandr Voinov

- In Nazi-occupied Paris, most Frenchmen tread warily, but gay nightclub singer Yves Lacroix puts himself in the spotlight with every performance. As a veteran of France’s doomed defense, a survivor of a prison camp, and a “degenerate,” he knows he’s a target. His comic stage persona disguises a shamed, angry heart and gut-wrenching fear for a sister embedded in the Resistance. Yet Yves ascends the hierarchy of Parisian nightlife to become a star, attracting the attention—and the protection—of the Nazi Oberst Heinrich von Starck. To complicate matters further, young foot soldier Falk Harfner’s naïve adoration of Yves threatens everything he’s worked for. So does Aryan ideologue von Grimmstein, rival to von Starck, who sees something “a bit like a Jew” in Yves. When an ill-chosen quip can mean torture at the hands of the Gestapo, being the acclaimed Nightingale of Paris might cost Yves his music and his life.

Ardent by Heloise West

- In the village of Torrenta, master painter Morello has created a color that mimics the most expensive pigment of all, the crimson red. Master Zeno, from strife-ridden Medici Florence, tells him the color gives him a competitive advantage – but Morello must be careful. Fraud is ever-present in the dye and pigment markets. As they work together in Torrenta, Morello falls hard for Zeno’s assistant, Benedetto Tagliaferro, a young man of uncommon beauty and intelligence. Benedetto is still fixed on his old lover, the master painter Leo Guisculo, and cannot return Morello’s affections. But when Leo dies in a terrible accident, it’s to Morello that Zeno and Benedetto turn for help. And Morello soon finds that in Florence, every surface hides layers of intrigue.

#lgbtqia romance #historical romance

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idontknowmyownmind · 1 year

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I've been having this idea for OgCale since forever now

A being greater than Gods

A pure soul that tasked to keep living and read stories

And Cale is those soul

He doesn't know about it but after keep living for thousand of lifes (he regressed for what seems forever) his soul is 'ready' to accept the truth

He is a being who created out of nothingness but everything at the same time

A being whose fate is to keep reading stories

Stories here is stories of the universe

He has his place to read the stories in a form of a train that pass through every worlds and not tied with times and space

(Note: which mean that Cale will read stories not of his world but all the other worlds exist. He will keep reading and reading as there is no end for a story. So it's safe to say that he will read KRS's story on earth, and alternate world of his world, ORV, Lookism, everything!!)

When he read a story, the train will slow down

When he is not reading a story, the scenery outside the train is a blur of many images

Even Gods can't interfere with him because he has the power to erase them

When a story is deleted, than everything in those world (even the Gods) will dissapear

Cale appearance still of him in his eighthteen

What a pitiful existence, he was meant to be there for everyone but he was destined to always be alone

#og!cale henituse #cale henituse #trash of the counts family

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cksmart-world · 4 years

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The completely unnecessary news analysis

by Christopher Smart

July 7, 2020

FAR-LEFT FASCISTS TOPPLING AMERICA

Limber up folks, this is going to take some pretty extreme stretching — even for practitioners of kundalini yoga. With the rock faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln looking on from above, Donald Trump announced to the nation that we are “under siege from far-left fascists” who intend to “indoctrinate our children.” In order for your kids, or you for that matter, to become a far-left fascist you must bend over backward until the top of your head touches the bottoms of your feet. Only real twisted contortionist fascists can manage it. And that's who's tearing down monuments to America's greatest hero-traitors: Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson, who defended slavery and the Southern way of life — cornbread, mint juleps and white supremacy. Those monuments were erected for a very important reason — we just can't remember what it is. But never mind; back to those left-wing fascist who want Black Lives To Matter. This is so typical of fascists. Remember Mussolini and Hitler — always going around saying Black Lives Matter and demanding equal opportunities for everyone. No wonder Trump made that clarion call to us patriots to stomp out such fiendish beliefs before it's too late. Damned far-left fascists, anyway.

UTAH KILLS IT ON COVID OR VICE-VERSA

It's not what you know, it's who you know. Sadly true and when it comes to knocking off the coronavirus, the governor's people know exactly what to do — get some big contracts for your buddies. Right out of the Covid-19 gates, the Utah Division of Purchasing and General Services bought a truckload of hydroxychloroquine from Meds In Motion for a cool $800,000. You remember hydroxychloroquine — it's Trump's silver bullet cure for Covid 19. And that ain't all, some of our illustrious lawmakers were scrounging up another $8 million for the same stuff that works just great on malaria when you're in the tropics. Oops. Somewhere along the line, the state retained Goldratt Consulting (that's their real name, Gold-ratt) for several hundred thousand dollars to create a $2.75 million app meant to assist in contact tracing, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. State budget chief Kristen Cox has a close relationship with the firm. In addition, the state has paid $340,000 to Leavitt Partners, run by former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, and it wasn't for face masks. Even Wilson and the band think the state's strategy is a lot like the Hindenburg — Covid cases are exploding. Who knows what the hell else is going on behind the scenes with your tax dollars? But when Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox gets elected governor, he will surely tell us and then direct everyone to wear a mask. Sure.

THEME SONGS FOR THE DONALD

What's a political campaign without killer music? You gotta have them good vibrations to get your rallies rockin', right? That's why Donald Trump's campaign geniuses play stuff like, “Won't Back Down,” by the late Tom Petty and Neil Young's anthem, “Rockin' In Free World.” There's just one problem, Tom Petty's family won't allow his music playing for Trump. And Neil Young hates it just as much. Seems they don't like the president. So Wilson and the band got together with our crack political team here at Smart Bomb and came up with some rockin' suggestions for Team Trump:

The Pretender — Jackson Browne

Rave On — Buddy Holly & The Cricketts

Hang On To Your Ego — the Beach Boys

Make The Dirt Stick — Chris Whitley

Idiot Wind — Bob Dylan

Devil In Disguise — J.J. Cale

Making Believe — EmmyLou Harris

Helplessly Hoping — Crosby, Still and Nash

Man Out Of Time — Elvis Costello

Back In The USSR — The Beatles

Now we're just waiting to hear back from Jared Kushner. If you have suggestions, write to Donald J. Trump for President Inc., Trump Tower, 725 5th Avenue, NY,NY, 10022. They could use the Help! (The Beatles)

Post script — Well, patriots another week of American greatness is in the books and years from now middle school teachers will inform their students that the good ol' US of A was fantastic when it came to battling coronavirus. Or maybe like the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed 650,000 Americans when the population was only about 100 million, it will get short shrift. Covid 19? What's that? In this country, we like our greatness. And we love our Constitution that keeps us great. Yet in quality of life rankings, the U.S. does not even make the top 10. Canada, Denmark and Sweden are 1,2,3. In the ranking for happiest countries, we come in 18th — Norway is number one. In life expectancy we rate 46th. Even Cubans and Estonians can expect to live longer. In the ranking for best health care availability, the U.S. comes in 37th but we spend far more than other high-income countries. Since 1980, the GDP — the measure of our wealth — tripled. Working men and women got exactly none of it and many of us even slipped a notch. Yet almost every Congress passes legislation that gives the wealthy more breaks in ways the average American knows nothing about. It's layer upon layer of law that leaves the nation's financial burden on the working class. For example, the recent economic rescue package passed by Congress is giving $174 billion in tax breaks. Although advertised as helping small business, it's overwhelmingly going to rich individuals and large companies. In contrast, folks like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren understand that a healthy middle class is necessary to a successful society and proud country. But the free-market conservative Republicans warn that it sounds too much like socialism, à la Norway — the happiest country in the world.

On that patriotic note, Wilson, can you ask the guys to stop waving their flags and play us a little theme music for the coming week in this great country of ours:

Born down in a dead man's town The first kick I took was when I hit the ground You end up like a dog that's been beat too much Till you spend half your life just covering up Born in the U.S.A. I was born in the U.S.A. I was born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A.

(Born In The USA — Bruce Springsteen)

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princevolker2788 · 7 years

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Mercy76 Week: Day 6

“Alternate Universe”

@xavirne

Warning: Heavy Angst and minor violence against my OC Cale ahoy!

This story is a combination of several ideas that have been kicking around my head and the fandom for a while now. It is also inspired by the work of @nikanono @mizuaoi and @asynca

This is what Lena and Amélie look like

More of Lena

The AU has a few points id like to lay out:

1. Lena isn’t recovered from the slipstream incident by Overwatch, but instead by Talon. They design the harness, and turn her against the organization.

2. Cale is born after Overwatch’s fall and when Talon goes underground.

3. Lena recruits Gabriel herself.

4. Amélie was never captured by Talon; her husband was instead killed by Tracer.

5. Ana lost her eye to Lena, though this was from a pulse bomb.

6. Jack is more of a loose cannon in this universe, its been a hard few years for the former Overwatch strike commander, and his favorite doctor.

“You really are thick aren’t ya?” Jeered the boy, “‘Child Prodigy’ my arse…”

There was something familiar about this child. His hair was tussled in a manner that looked as if he’d stuck his head out a moving vehicle after applying a thorough round of hairspray. His sea blue eyes seemed to spark with unbridled energy as he shifted from foot to foot, a familiar shuffle. Who was—

It was then she’d gotten the shock of her life as none other than Lena Oxton stepped forward with a dark chuckle and ruffled the boy’s hair. On her face was a pair of blood red goggles, matching the red light strapped to her chest and the glowing energy coming from her gauntlets. She still wore her leather flight jacket, though it was severely worn.

“Oh you clever, clever boy.” She cooed, “You were right, it worked.”

The child had practically beamed at that and leaned into her touch.

Angela refocused her attention onto Lena, licking her lips and tightening her grip on the staff.

“Lena… you’re dead.”

The young brit had cackled at that, a wild guffaw that chilled the Doctor’s blood. There was no warmth in that laugh, nothing of the wide-eyed optimistic pilot she once knew.

“Oh, not quite Doc, gave it a fair shake though.”

Angela felt Fareeha and Jesse tense next to her.

“Right then, here’s how its gonna go, you put down your weapons. And we don’t kill you.”

A small, almost inaudible, click reached her ears. Jesse had pulled the hammer back on his revolver.

Before she could so much as blink there was a whoosh of air by her ear and the sound of a crumpled body hitting the floor.

In a flash of red light Lena appeared before the Overwatch agents, spinning Jesse’s now empty revolver in one hand and dropping the bullets onto the floor with the other.

“Tsk Tsk, now, shall we try again?”

The sound of rifle slides being pulled back echoed through the small intersection. Angela turned to Fareeha, nodded, and slowly lowered her gear to the floor.

“Angela!”

“It’s the only way.”

“We can’t trust them!”

Lena giggled and spun the revolver once again.

“Well, you’re right about one thing…”

A scent not unlike anesthetic filled her nostrils, and soon her eyes began to droop. She didn’t realize that the boy and Lena had affixed masks to their noses until it was too late.

Jack paced back and forth, checking his watch for the third time in as many minutes. They’d been waiting for the door to open on the far end of the base for thirty minutes now. The guards were down, it all hinged on Angela’s team now.

“Would you stop? You’re making me nervous.” Said Amélie.

“They should have been here fifteen minutes ago, something’s up.”

The Frenchwoman scoffed as she adjusted her scope.

“Jack, patience is key here. Any number of things could be slowing them down.” Said Ana.

He turned to glare at his old comrade.

“This is Talon, they don’t make mistakes easily.”

“They left these oafs to guard the back entrance.” Quipped Amélie.

Jack was about to retort when a small beep entered his earpiece.

“Ang? Is that…”

A familiar giggle drifted across the channel.

“I’m afraid the doc can’t come to the phone right now, would you like to leave a message love?”

“Merde…”

“Lena…” whispered Jack.

“Ah, Ah, Tracer, soldier boy, Tracer!”

He grit his teeth.

“What do you want, Tracer?”

“Nothing much, just your unconditional surrender.”

Jack bit back a cutting remark and took a breath. This could be a bluff, an attempt to draw them into the open.

“Do you really think we’re just going to do that?”

“Oh you will, if you value dear Angie’s life.”

A scuffling noise was heard over the com unit. Labored breaths came next.

“Jack…”

He froze, listening to every detail in the call, straining his ears for the sound of machinery or other forms of equipment. None, so holding cell most likely.

“Better hurry, I’m getting bored.”

Jack severed the connection and rushed down the hill, ignoring his companion’s cries. He failed to notice how the doors opened without his input, or how the security camera’s tracked his movements.

“Angela!”

He fired into the halls, downing as many agents as he could. The map of the headquarters played out in his mind as he turned, left, right, gunning for the cells.

Jack’s heart leapt in his throat as he rounded a final corner. Angela was bound in a metal chair, set dead center of a glass room.

“Angela!”

A blinding blue light filled his vision, as did a wretched scream that seemed to reverberate through the concrete and sear itself into the soldier’s brain.

“NO!”

Jack fell to his knees, gaze fixed onto the still glowing room as the shutters snapped shut.

Its my fault, its my fault, its my fault…

All his failures came crashing down at once: the failure of Overwatch, Blackwatch, Gabriel, and now Angela.

A small hand gripped his shoulder. A child, no more than nine or ten stood next to him, a concerned look in his sea blue eyes.

“Wot’s the matter mister?”

His thoughts crystallized in that moment. A child? What was Talon doing here?

“Are you alright kid?” he managed to say.

The child looked frightened and shook his head.

“No, I’m scared, I’ve never been outside the-the cells.”

Jack frowned.

“Are there others?”

“I dunno! I-I just ran!”

With this, he began to cry, high-pitched sobs that wracked his entire body. Hesitantly, Jack reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s alright kid, just tell me where the cells are, my friends—”

He paused, holding back tears as he looked to the cell.

“They might be here too.”

The boy sniffed, looked up, and pointed towards a door at the back of the room.

“That way.”

“What’s your name son?”

“Cale.”

Angela’s eyes creaked open, wincing at the sudden streak of light that stabbed into her cornea. Her entire body ached and tingled from the electric shock she’d received.

“Comfortable?” quipped Lena.

The Doctor chose to say nothing, instead offering a fierce glare in the younger woman’s direction.

“Oh, now there’s a wicked look. Best save it luv, you’re gonna need it.”

Hydraulics hissed next to her ear as the chair moved towards a series of monitors, all viewing a hallway and another room full of holding cells. Jack was being led along by the same child from before.

“Jack!”

“That’s not gonna work.”

To her horror, the boy continued leading him down the maze of hallways. She struggled against her restraints, only to receive a violent shock for her trouble.

“Tsk Tsk, naughty.” Said Lena with a giggle.

“Why are you doing this?!”

This seemed to stun the brit into silence.

“What happened to you Lena?”

A sudden grip on the chair startled the doctor as she was spun around to face a set of hazel eyes ablaze with fury.

“You people left me alone in an endless void of… nothing! I was everywhere, and nowhere, I lived and died a thousand times in a thousand different places! I suffered in the cold, and the dark, and you never came…”

Angela could see tears forming in the corner of Lena’s eyes.

“Talon saved me, gave me purpose, and…”

“A son.”

The sorrow vanished, replaced with a depraved grin.

“That’s right, but, I’m afraid that’s all the time I have for you right now.”

Lena giggled and vanished in a blink of red light, leaving Angela to face the series of monitors before her. The child led Jack into the detention block, where… Oh God no!

Fareeha, Ana, Amelie, and Jesse were all in separate cells, restrained in much the same manner as her. The soldier slowed his pace to a crawl, eyes flicking between each of his comrades. What he failed to note was the small smile on the boy’s lips as he stepped back and reached for a panel on the wall. The door sealed in a second flat. Jack turned, leaving his back open for Lena to drop in from the vents.

This seemed to be the intended plan, because suddenly Jack’s hand was around the woman’s throat and she was pinned to the floor, struggling underneath his weight.

“You killed Angela: you’re dead!” He hissed.

The venom and hatred that seeped out of his voice kept the Doctor’s gaze fixed on him alone. One twist of his arms and Lena’s neck would snap like a twig.

“Mum!”

Jack twisted around, glaring at the child. He was holding what appeared to be a small caliber pistol in his hands, not enough to kill without a headshot, but enough to cause some serious damage.

“Back away from her!” he cried.

“Come on kid, put it down, you don’t what to do this.”

The boy fired, grazing his cheek by barely an inch.

“I never miss.”

The aging soldier looked between Lena and his new foe and slowly pried his hand away from her neck.

She took deep steadying breaths, trying in vain to regain some of her composure.

“Cale…” she rasped, “Go, mummy’s got this.”

He shook his head.

“No, he’ll hurt you again!”

Jack stood up, hands in the air.

“Come on, I’m not anywhere near her now.”

Angela took note of how he’d backed himself into a corner, hands still up.

“No one else has to get hurt.” He added.

“Bullshit,” spat Lena, “I can think of four more people who deserve it right now.”

Jack let a smirk grace his lips, an ugly thing that Angela did not care for. Where was the man she knew? The Strike Commander? Her love? Her Jack…

“I count one.”

With this, a small disk like object flew from his hand and directly at Lena’s feet. The resulting explosion took out two of the live cameras, leaving one facing down from the ceiling and another three at different angles around the room. Lena was on the ground once more, though this time she hadn’t had time to put up a proper defense. Jack laid punch after punch into her crumpled form, uncaring as she yelped and winced from the multiple broken ribs she’d no doubt sustained.

After his fourth hit, the harness seemed to flicker, which startled the brit more than anything Angela had seen thus far.

“No, no! Stop! I surrender, please stop!”

“Surrender?!” he howled, “You don’t get to surrender!”

He snatched up his nearby pulse rifle, aimed straight for the center of the device, and fired.

At first, nothing happened, but then, a red glow seemed to radiate from Lena’s body. She scrabbled at the ground, at anything that would serve as purchase, but to both her and Angela’s horror, she passed right through. A horrified scream left her lips as she appeared to fade out of existence. Is this what she meant before?

“Mum!”

Jack didn’t stop the boy as he rushed to grasp his mother by the waist. He only managed to find purchase on her leather flight jacket, which fell to the floor, leaving her clothed in a talon issue bodysuit only.

“Caaale?” she cried, voice echoing.

“Mum, don’t go, no you cant, you just cant!”

“I’lll fiiinnd you!” she cried.

“Mum!”

It was if someone had turned Lena off like a light, for in the span of a second, she was gone, leaving behind the jacket and goggles.

Jack wasted no time in moving to the cells, firing away at the locks and releasing all four of their allies.

“Jesus Morrison.” Whispered Jesse.

“What? No mercy for murderers.”

“Like you’re any different?” countered the cowboy.

The old soldier fixed a glare onto the unfortunate man.

“I don’t kill unarmed prisoners.”

“Neither did she…”

All eyes turned to Cale, who clutched his mother’s coat with a savage fierceness that hurt Angela to see, despite his treachery. He rocked himself back and forth, stopping only when Ana came close.

“She’s still alive, but you killed my mum.”

The elder sniper almost missed him reaching for the pistol. Six shots fired into the concrete, punctuated by a wild scream of agonized fury. Ana soon had him pinned, but his eyes were entirely on Morrison.

“I’ll kill you! You ‘ere me?! I’m gonna rip you apart! You’ll wish you killed me too you son of a bitch! I’ll kill you!”

He thrashed and howled; screaming at the top of his lungs until all that was left was a ragged whisper and drying tears. Ana lifted herself off of the ragged form, but kept a firm grip on his shoulder.

“Where is she?”

“Piss off.”

Jack gave him a quick smack for his trouble.

“Where is she?” he growled.

“Tell us and we’ll get your mother back.” Added Amélie.

This got the boy’s attention immediately. He ceased struggling and turned as best he could to face the Frenchwoman.

“Can you do that?” he asked, timid hopefulness and wariness coloring his voice.

The French sniper shrugged.

“I seem to remember Winston working on something like the device on her chest, to capture her of course. I’m sure he could rig it to bring her back.”

“If Talon doesn’t get to her first. Remember, they brought her back to begin with.” Added Fareeha.

“That’s right, so what else have you got?” snarled Cale, fire returning to his eyes.

Jack cocked his rifle.

“We can still kill you.”

“Do it, big heroes you are eh? Kill an unarmed child, leave a little girl to die for your own selfish needs?”

“ENOUGH!” Jack fired a round close to the boy’s head and pressed the barrel to his head.

“Where. Is. She?”

The boy looked between Jack, Ana, and Fareeha who all stared back without so mush a twitch.

For the first time, Angela saw true fear enter the boy’s eyes, fear for his safety, his survival. He knew his mother could be recovered, but all that bravado would earn him no sympathy in his present company. With a shaky sigh, he lowered his head to the floor and whispered:

“D block, door five.”

After about ten minutes the door to her cell opened and she was free. She refused to look Jack in the eye the entire time, that was unnecessarily cruel, a far cry from the man she once knew. Her Jack would have stopped after the flashbang, he would have cuffed Lena and knocked Cale out, not made him watch. But this Jack, he’d enjoyed it, reveled in it.

“Are you alright?” he’d asked

She scoffed and pointed to the monitors.

“Why don’t you think about that, and ask me the morning?”

The trip back to base was made in relative silence; she’d decided to watch over the boy. It was the only thing she could think of to ensure she didn’t have to be in the same room as that… thing pretending to be Jack.

Focusing her attention back to her patient, she could see where Lena had passed on her genes. The hair, nose, and freckles were definitely hers. But who provided the eyes? The waviness in his curls?

She shook herself and introduced the second round of sedative. Whatever her gripe may have been for Ana’s tinkering, they certainly worked well. You could probably fire a gun in the ORCA and he wouldn’t have woken.

“Dr. Ziegler?”

Angela turned and found Fareeha standing at attention. Endeavoring to seem ‘normal’, she put on a small smile and let out a chuckle.

“Please Fareeha, just Angela. Were friends, a least I hope we are.”

The Egyptian nodded and looked over her shoulder, then back to the Swiss Doctor.

“What happened back there?”

She shrugged.

“I don’t know. Jack’s never been that… hostile. No matter who he was fighting.”

The soldier in question was in the middle of a heated debate between Jesse and Ana, who both seemed to have the same opinion. Form this angle Angela seemed to get the jist of it: What the hell were you thinking?

“And here I was hoping for a regular in an out.” Mumbled Fareeha, taking a seat next to the gurney. “All that trouble, for him? For her?

Angela brushed his bangs out of his eyes.

“They set a trap, but we got out. That’s all there is to it.”

Fareeha frowned at the unconscious form before her.

“Do you think he meant it? What he said he’d do to Morrison?”

The Doctor finally looked to her former lover.

“Yes.”

End of Chapter One

#Mercy76 week #Day 6 #Cale Oxton (Author's OC)#Cale's my OC #i promise there's going to be fluff in the next one!#I might continue this

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bixshits · 4 years

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Lost Odyssey - A Thousand Years of Dreams - Story Seventeen Transcript

The Bread of Grandma Coto

There is no way to keep the village from becoming a battlefield.

The enemy forces have crossed the northern pass and made their camp close by.

The home forces are here, too, sending one unit after another into the village to resist the enemy's attack.

The place is a powder keg.

Ringed by mountains where two highways intersect, the village is a crucial focal point for transport.

It cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands, while its capture is essential to any hopes the enemy might have for victory in the war. Long years of fighting have come down to this one major battle.

It is a battle that must be waged.

The logic is clear, simple, inevitable. And it will transform this tranquil village into a battlefield at any moment.

The army has ordered the villagers to evacuate.

Noncombatants can only get in the way.

"The enemy wants to settle this before the weather turns cold,"

"So, what does that mean? Another month? Two weeks?"

"Got your stuff packed? No sense getting caught in the middle and killed. Talk about dying for nothing!"

"Better forget about taking any pots and pans with you. Pack as light as you can and get away as far as you can."

"Think of all the generations our ancestors guarded our houses and land. I hate to think it's going to turn into a wasteland when the fighting starts..."

"There's nothing we can do about it, it's just plain bad luck, that's all."

"We just have to hang in there till the war is over and come back when we find out who won."

"The main thing is to get out now."

"Right, it's all we can do."

"We've got to stay alive. Better not hope for anything more than that."

"Why the hell does this have to happen to us?"

The villagers leave a few at a time, beginning with the first ones to find temporary shelter.

By the time the forest is lightly tinged with red, the village is practically deserted.

The only ones left are old folks who live alond and have no one and no place to run to.

The army has built a crude refugee camp for any evacuees able to cross several mountains to reach it. The aged poor stagger in with little more than clothes on their back.

The only one left in the village is Grandma Coto.

As a mercenary, Kaim first met old Coto shortly after he joined the unit protecting the village.

He was on an inspection round at the time when he spotted an old woman working in the fields. She turned out to be Grandma Coto.

A soldier with him yelled at her, "Hey, old lady, enough of that!"

Another man shouted, "You'd beter get out of here now if you want to stay alive. The fight's going to start in two or three days. How many times do we have to tell you to go to the damn refugee camp?!"

But old Coto stayed hunched over, digging in the dirt.

Obviously, she was not harvesting anything.

If this had been a time when the grain had ripened and she was hurrying to harvest her crops, it might have made sense, but she was just turning te soil as if she had forgotten that a battle was about to start here at any moment.

"Is the old bag deaf? Or just senile?"

With a disgusted look, the captain caled over to Kaim, "Hey, new guy! Do something about this one! Drag her to the refugee camp if you have to tie a rope around her neck! We can't have her wandering around out here. She's just going to get in the way whenthe fighting starts."

The captain's tone was arrogant.

The more cowardly a commanding officer is, the more arrogant and overbearing his style becomes--and the less he is able to conceal his nervousness--when a battle is nearing.

Kaim strode silently toward the old woman in the field.

"Well go on ahead!" the captain called out behind him, but he did not turn around.

Only a few days would be needed to decide the outcome of the battle for the village, which was a reflection of how violent it promised to be.

For this reason, working in the fields now was pointless. Even the most carefully cultivated patch of ground would be crushed under the soldiers' boots. A harvest next year was out of the question. Nor was it even clear how many years it would take to restore the village to its former tranquility.

When Kaim approached her in the field, the old woman kept working and said,

"Don't try to stop me!"

She looked--and sounded--much tougher than she seemed from a distance. She might have been one of those stubborn, cranky old folks that people kept their distance from when the village was at peace.

"You're not going to evacuate?" Kaim asked.

"What the hell for?" she spat out.

"They've built a camp you can go to..."

Old Coto gave a snort and said to Kaim,

"You're a new one. I've never seen you before."

"Yes..."

"So you don't even know what the camp's like. You soldiers have nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean?"

Old Coto said nothing but pointed toward the steep mountain standing like a painted screen on the west side of the village.

Kaim asked, "Is that where the camp is?"

"Hell no. You have to cross that mountain and another one to get to it. Nobody my age can walk that far. What's the point of building a camp in a place like that? How many old folks do they think are going to make it over there? They might as well leave us out in the hills to die like in the old days."

Kaim was at a loss for an answer. Continuing her digging, the old woman grumbled,

"That's how the government does everything..."

She was clearly angry, but perhaps less angry than sad.

"You're on an inspection tour, right? Well, don't let me stop you..."

"No, you see..."

"You're not going to get me to go to any damn refugee camp. That's all there is to it. I'm not going anywhere. This is the village I was born in, and I've lived here all my life."

"I know how you feel, but this place is going to turn into a battlefield soon."

"I know that."

"So then..."

"So what?"

Kaim was at a loss for words again.

When she saw that, she smiled and said, "You're a sweet young man. Kind of unusual in a soldier."

Her expression had softened for the first time.

Once she stopped being so prickly, the smile she produced was actually rather endearing.

"When this place turns into a battlefield, people will die. Lots of them. I know that much, don't worry. But I have work to do, soldier boy. Telling me to leave my work and run away is like telling me to die anyway--and it won't be long now--I want you to let me do what I want to do. You shouldn't have a problem with that."

Kaim fell silent. Not because he was at a loss for words yet again, but because he believed she was right. "If I'm going to die anyway." she had said. Knowing that he would bever be able to speak such words, he had no choice but to bow silently to her will.

"All right, then, run along there, sonny. I've got work to do."

"What are you doing now?"

"See for yourself!"

"Sorry, but I don't know much about farm work."

"Like all the other soldiers." old Coto said with a smile.

"The only thing you people ever think about is killing enemies. You don't know anything about nurturing life." She let a hint of sorrow show again.

Perhaps somewhat taken with Kaim, however, she favored him with an explanation.

"I'm planting seeds." she said.

Grains of wheat:

you sow them in the fall, they mature over winter,

shoot up under the spring sun, and turn the fields golden in summer.

"I always do my planting when the northern mountain peaks turn white. Every year. And this year's not going to be any different."

Would the seeds mature in the trampled fields? Kaim had his doubts.

Grandma Coto, however, displayed not the least anxiety or resignation as she scattered seeds in the newly-turned soil.

Her hands performed the age-old ritual with the ease and naturalness, as if to impress upon Kaim the fact that what she was doing this year was nothing more nor less than what she had done every year before.

As a result, Kaim's next words emerged with a smoothness that he himself found somwhat surprising.

"What if the seeds don't grow?"

"The I'll just do it again next year. And if next year's bad, I'll do it again the year after that. You have to plant the seeds. That's how I've lived my life. If you don't plant, nothing will grow. See what I mean?"

"I think so..."

"Whether there's a fight or not, it doesn't matter. I'm just going to do what I have to do. That's all."

She spoke with certainty, her wrinkled face softening into smile as she added, "You can'teven enjoy a meal if you know you haven't done things right."

"You're saying that this is what gives your life its meaning?"

This was the question to which Kaim had long searched for an answer.

For what purpose had he been born into this world?

What was he supposed to accomplish here?

He had continued to roam thyough his life's enless journey without knowing the answers to the questions--indeed, because he didn't know the answers.

"I don't know about deep stuff like that." Grandma Coto said shyly.

"I just mill the wheat I've harvested, and bake bread in the fall. That bread is really special. Nothing tasted as good as the first bread you make with te wheat you grew that year.

That's what my grandson looks forward to every year. I can't just decide to take a year off now, can I?"

"I see what you mean."

"No you don't." she declared. "You're nothing but a damn soldier."

Her face had turned hard again. There were no more smiles from her that day.

When Kaim returned to the barracks, a soldier who had been stationed in the village for six months or more said to him, "That old bag hates our guts."

"Because we've ruined the village?"

"That's part of it, I suppose, but it's got deeper roots than that for her."

Grandma Coto had lost her entire family to war. First her husband had died in the war forty years earlier, then her son and his wife in the war twenety years earlier, and now the one grandson they had left was taken to fight in the current war.

"What's his unit?" Kim asked the soldier.

The man gave a helpless shrug and named a unit that had been sent t an area with the most intense fighting.

"Talk about bad luck! The fighting's so bad out there, if it was me, I'd take my chances on being executed for deserting under fire. He's got maybe a 50-50 chance of coming back alive. No, maybe 30-70."

If her grandson were to be killed, Grandma Coto would be all alone in the world. She would have no one to feed her bread to.

"It must be tough to be left alone at that age." the soldier said.

"Looking at old Coto, I can't help thinking of my mother back home. There's no way I can let myself get killed. She'd never stop crying. Same for you, too, eh, Kaim?"

Kaim said nothing in reply. He had no right to put himself in the same category as this soldier.

The battle started three days later.

The enemy army's attack was even fiercer than expected. The defense forces had no choice but to put everything they had into the fight.

Kaim slipped away from the battlefront and headed for Grandma Coto's house.

He found her leaving for the field as always.

She gave no sign that she was afraid of the fighting. People who know exactly what they must do, and who refuse to be distracted by anything else, can be strong beyond all reason.

Kaim saw now that there coud be far greater strength in a finite life than in one that lasted forever. Because he sensed this so deeply, he stood before her, blocking her way.

He lifted the tiny old woman in his arms an carried her bodily back to her house.

"What are you doing? Let go of me! I'm not going to follow some soldier's orders! I have work to do!"

"Yes, I know that." Kaim said.

"So put me down now!"

"I don't want to let you die."

Holding her against his chest, he looked her in the eye and pleaded with her.

"I want you to bake bread next autumn again from a new crop of wheat."

She stopped flailing her arms and legs in avain attempt to get free of his grip. She looked straight back at him as he said,

"As long as you have someone to feed your freshly-baked bread to, I want you to keep baking bread year after year."

Old Coto heaved a huge sigh and muttered, smiling, "I knew you were a very strange soldier."

The batte raged on for several days.

The arrogant, cowardly captain died in the fighting.

The soldier who had told Kaim the story of Grandma Coto also died.

Countless defense troops died, and countless enemy troops died.

The village was consumed in flames of war, and old Coto's field was ravaged under the heels of the military.

Kaim's side managed to stave off the attackers, then followed the retreating enemy to the north.

All that remained in their wake was the empty, devastated village.

The war ended as spring was giving way to summer.

At the cost of massive casualties, the army repulsed the enemy's invasion.

The village began to recover little by little.

As Grandma Coto had predicted, not one old person who crossed the mountains to the refugee camp came back alive.

Autumn, and Kaim has come back to the village.

He feels warm in the chest when he looks across the fields and spots old Coto sowing wheat.

So...she's doing it again this year.

And next year, and the year after that, for as long as she is alive.

She notices Kaim, and crosses toward him with a welcoming smile. A year has passed. She seems to have shrunk somewhat with a year's worth of aging.

"Haven't seen you in awhile." she says. "So--they didn't kill you!"

"And I'm glad to see you looking well, too."

"I heard you stayed near my house during the fight--you single-handedly fought to keep enemy troops away from it!"

Kaim gives her a shy smile. "How was your wheat?" he asks.

"All ruined, of course. Worst crop I've ever had--a few scrawny stalks. Barely enough for one loaf."

She tells him all this with surprising ease.

The she fixes her eye on him and asks, "Have some?"

"What...?"

"Bread, of course! I'll bake a loaf now if you'll help me eat it."

"Well, sure, but..."

Grandma Coto sees through Kaim's hesitancy and says with a calm smile.

"Yes, he's dead, my grandson, I got word at the end of the summer. I was waiting and hoping...planning to bake him a loaf of bread as soon as he got home."

When she sees Kaim hanging his head in silence, she asopts a spirited tone as if she has to be the one to cheer him up.

"Come on, then, you eat what he would have had. It'll probably be tougher than usual,what with the wheat harvest being s bad, but I'm sure my grandson would be happy to know I fed my bread to the man who saved my life."

So, this old woman has lost her entire family to war.

In other words, there is no one left to enjoy her bread.

Still, se urges Kaim to "Wait just a minute while I finish this up," sowing the wheat for next year's harvest.

She does it because that is what she has always done.

Because it is what she is supposed to do.

Kaim stops himself from speaking the words, "Let me help," and stands staring at old Coto's bent back.

In the glow of the setting autumn sun, she is sadly small and sadly beautiful.

Kaim eats the fresh-baked bread.

Old Coto was right: made from wheat grown without its full measure of care, the bread is hard and dry, and poor in taste.

Still, of all the bread Kaim has eaten--and will go on to eat--in his long, long life, this is by far the most delicious.

#lost odyssey #a thousand years of dreams #1000 years of dreams #kaim argonar #seth balmore #sarah sisulart #ming numara #jansen friedh #cooke and mack #cooke #mack

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icyteaa · 3 years

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AlbeCale Headcanon

[Vampire x Angel]

Inspired by this post.

Part 1

Part 2

When Cale finally regained his consciousness, what was in front of him was red. The liquid that poured from the stiff bodies. The fluid that comes from the open wound on his family's bodies is red. And he himself, since god knows when, full of red.

Something like needles felt like spatter his right shoulder that later he would find out to be wound from those bastards that made everything, root of his misery, happen. But just like that, that day he found himself couldn't move, freeze in the place while his world crumbled.

His mind became blank as his eyes couldn't focus on what was in front of him. Cale's breath felt heavy and his chest hurt so much. But still, he just stands. Without knowing what to do, he stared at the bodies that were now becoming cold. Maybe if he could join them, it would be easier. Maybe if he wasn't left alone alive, it would be better. Though he didn't know if becoming one of those monsters could be called alive.

Cale didn't know how long he just stood, but he finally recollected his mind when he felt someone's presence near him. He couldn't see anything, but he felt like this was the last farewell he could do with his family. He felt like that presence would bring his family's souls to the afterlife and completely left him alone in this world.

With that in mind, he shut his eyes and hoped that his family would have a better life after this. He didn't believe in gods, but he still wants at least his family to get a better place than this fucking world. While he was at it, Cale promised them to live a long life while carrying the pain everyone receives and will take revenge for them.

When the presence finally disappeared, Cale dragged his body to the body of his father. His hands trembling as he shut his eyes off. He made their last place exactly where they died. With crude tools and mostly just his hands digging on the ground, he didn't know how long he did it until everyone finally got buried. He just feels empty. His hands hurt badly and he felt breathless. Yet his body was not rotting and he didn't die. Everyone left him alone with thousands of memories that now becoming needles that made his heart hurt.

When the presence finally let himself be seen, he found that blonde creature with a face like a beautiful statue. He presumably thought before about this presence was right because there is no human who could have the power to not be seen while having a pair of wings and a bright smile. His offer sounds ridiculous to Cale, but he accepted it anyway. He thought that collecting information about those vampires would be easier if he followed him. And deep in his heart, maybe he just wanted to runaway from this place that made a very big wound in his heart.

After becoming a vampire, he knew something had started to change in his body. Start from the appetite he has and how he digests something. He didn't feel hungry that much even if he hadn't eaten for a very long time. And even just imagining having his favorite food now makes him disgusted. This change, however, didn't happen just like that, but it hurt his whole body. That is why he sleeps almost every day. When energy in his body is forced to be absorbed because of the pain, he will let himself sleep to get healed.

This pain, however, stopped after he drank the blood that Alberu provided. It's not something Cale really wants, of course, because it immediately reminds him about that day and the fact that he is a part of those monsters now. But he too remembered that he had made a promise to have a long life to get revenge. That is why he drank it.

He could feel his body become stronger every time he drinks blood, but he never tries to drink blood from live humans by attacking them even if Alberu explained that it would make him feel two times better and stronger, because it makes him no different than other vampires.

Cale didn't need to sleep that much after drinking the blood, so he found himself often just blanking out before that man—that Angel, tried to have a conversation with him. But Cale had a little secret. When Alberu wasn't home, he would often come to Alberu's bedroom to see if he could collect any information about those vampires from there. And there are a lot of files cases where vampires attack humans. He and his family are not the only ones. He tries to organize his thoughts based on those files. But in the end, Cale felt guilty because he did it without Alberu's permission. After everything the Angel did to him, Cale betrayed that trust.

Cale confessed his fault to Alberu one day when they gathered on a couch in Cale's bedroom just like any other time before. He had ready to be kicked out of that house, but Alberu laughed instead. "You know what? If you just ask me, I will gladly tell you about them. Though it's not nice to break others' bedroom when they aren't there, I'm not any better since I always come here, right?" Cale felt sincere from those eyes when Alberu continued, "And I feel happy because this is the first time you told me your story without me asking first."

Cale felt embarrassed but warm at the same time, because he realized that even if he was left alone now there was already someone here, beside him. He still didn't know why the man brought him to his house, but Cale felt grateful. Though he was still too embarrassed to say it out loud, he took a note in his head to not forget. Besides the revenge he wants to take, he still has a life that was given to him. That life where he could have a simple conversation every now and then with his immortal friend.

After that, Alberu gets more free around Cale. He will bother him when he sleeps and drags him out of the house from time to time. Even though what they do outside is always to complete Alberu's task to guide the soul and Cale just observes him from behind. Cale finally left the house where he always felt more secure and far from those monsters reach.

Alberu told him that if he wants to get revenge, he should get stronger. And that can happen if he is outside the house and at least moving around and adjusting his vampire blood to the body. In addition, maybe he could find traces from those vampires who attacked his house.

But sometimes blood scents from the bodies that the souls Alberu guide make him feel dizzy and uncontrollable as his instinct tells him to drink it. One day the scent was really strong and made him almost do what the vampire does. Fortunately, Alberu was still able to stop him by letting his hand get bitten by Cale instead. "It's just... I know you will regret it later. That's why I stopped you." Alberu said when Cale finally got his consciousness again. Alberu was right. Cale will feel that he is not any better than the ones who attack him and his family if that really happens, so he feels grateful.

That time when they gathered in Cale's bedroom and had conversation just as always, Alberu brought the fact that they often call each other with 'hey' or just name. "I'm way older than you, so call me Hyung from now on." Cale didn't since when, but they throw a simple joke to each other on a daily basis now. So when he heard that, Cale smirked, "With your age now, shouldn't I call you grand—" his mouth immediately got covered with Alberu's hand. The man standing in front of him intimidatedly as he gives Cale a smile that is far away from Angel's smile. "It's hyung." Alberu repeated firmly.

Cale never saw Alberu that sensitive and ended up calling him the way Alberu wanted. Though in his head, he took a note about this weakness that maybe will give him advantage in the future. Annoy Alberu with this fact when he bothers Cale too much, for example.

Alberu explained that vampires just need to drink blood from time to time to live a very long life. And as he felt he really didn't have appetite when he thought about human food now, he never tried to eat as the way he did when he was human now. But one day, Alberu comes to his bedroom with a jar full of cookies—or it's what it looks like.

Still with the same graceful look and smile that glued on his lips, he told Cale to eat those cookies in the jar. Cale raised his eyebrows with confusion but still proceeded to do it since he knew Alberu was not someone who would make any petty prank or have any ill-intention towards him. And surprisingly enough, he could feel the sweetness for the first time in a long time.

"I will not tell you where I obtained this or how, but I will give you that for time to time." That is the only explanation Alberu gave to Cale about the cookies and every time Cale wants to dig for more information, Alberu always changes the topic rapidly. Cale ended up giving up and just let him be for now. He trusts Alberu enough to know he will not make him eat something that will hurt him. And sure, he really misses the taste of food he always eats as a human. Not just blood that always reminds him of the incident.

When he is alone and Alberu gone to do his task, Cale sometimes thinks about how much he has received from Alberu, but he himself is never very useful for that angel. One day he remembered their conversation about food that angels ate. Alberu said that Angel didn't need to eat. They don't feel hungry, but still eat human food just fine. Though Cale himself never sees Alberu eat something, he just drinks wine for very rare occasions; such as during his very tight schedule and makes him a bit worn out.

Cale remembers too that he can cook very well and that wine will be really tasty with steak as a course. Just like that, it's the first time Cale left the house alone and with his own initiative to hunt an animal in the forest.

To tell the truth, the house they live in was in between two forests. These forests alone are not places humans will enter easily because the trees are very thick and make it very dark there. That is why, too, their house was never discovered by humans and even if someone saw it, they would keep themselves far away from there because from the outside that house looked like an abandoned house and radiated a very scary aura. Though on the inside, everything is very clean.

With vampire blood flowing in his vein, Cale could feel he got stronger and faster than he ever before and it was so much easier to hunt a deer from the forest. Cale quickly returned home because he didn't know when Alberu would come back. And as he thought about it, he could see Alberu in front of their house with a frown in his face and an expression that seemed foreign to Cale.

"Just where did you go?" Cale feel... worries in Alberu's voice. But can an Angel really feel that way? Cale didn't know, but he quickly responded because Alberu seemed very eager to know what his reason was. "Uh... I just go hunting in the forest?" Alberu looked confused but finally just sighed. He pat Cale's head before said, "I don't know what you want with that deer, but at least leave me a note if you want to go outside without me."

Cale didn't know why, but he felt that pat was a bit different than Alberu always does. But they quickly come inside the house with Cale busy making food for Alberu and Alberu himself just observe Cale from the dining table with mouth shut because Cale tells him to wait and he will tell his reason after that.

After Cale placed a steak and poured Alberu's favorite wine into the glass, Cale sat opposite Alberu's chair and avoided Alberu's intense stare that eagerly asked for his reason. Cale scratches his neck awkwardly before explaining, "It just.... I never properly say thank you to you for everything you had done for me, hyung. So I at least want to make something for you."

Alberu didn't immediately answer his explanation and it makes Cale more awkward and embarrassed at the same time. He still avoided Alberu's face, so he didn't know what kind of expression Alberu made when he said that, but then Cale heard the sound of fork and plate colliding. Cale peeked and saw Alberu smirking after having one slice of steak in his mouth, "It tastes better than I thought it would be."

Cale felt like Alberu was making fun of him, but he let it just happen after giving the laughing man dead stares. After that day, Cale will sometimes make food for Alberu, especially when he is worn out because of his task to guide the death soul to the underworld loaded. Though he can't ever taste the food himself and felt a bit nauseous, seeing his hyung-nim enjoying his food makes Cale feel enough. Or else, he will eat his cookies from Alberu so they can eat together.

<< end >>

#trash of the count's family #tcf #lout of count’s family #cale henituse #alberu crossman #albecale #caleberu #tcf headcanon #albecale headcanon #vampire au

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