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#compared to garden roses
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the way that bud of the white rose manages to hold not just the entire first season of utena but the essence of the whole show (since they didn’t know if they’d ever get to do a sequel) while also making it genuinely new and fresh.......!!! you get to actually see anthy’s own feelings, something that the tv show spends most of three seasons building up to. utena’s insistence that anthy “wants to be a normal girl” is tied in so closely with utena’s own second duel with touga to “take back [utena’s] own normal” that it’s clearly about anthy having the freedom to be herself.
the retooling of anthy and utena’s relationship, especially in via the main theme song, is incredible: the duels as dances (and fights!) between anthy and utena, directed by the unseen malicious god akio!! utena and anthy as “the rose garden, and you, the rose bride.” anthy saying (singing) directly that they’re headed towards a future where they will be able to let go of each other’s hands, and when they’re separated, she will still have utena’s love with her!!!
the musical is very good at those, the things that not only add to the musical but expand beyond the scope of the show as well. in “zettai unmei mokushiroku” anthy is at the center but both the student council and the ordinary students are actively participating (in, by extension, akio’s duel system) as well. the role of ‘the prince’ in the opening scene is shared between members of the student council, indicating his unreality -- but anthy, unmasked, is also present and thus physically there. similarly, the again-masked actors physically pass around the doll that represents young utena, but it clearly belongs to both utena and anthy. anthy is physically inside the utena vs touga duel!! (as juri and miki are, with each other’s.)
touga feels like a hugely serious threat, on a level much closer to akio’s --- particularly in the way he heavily leverages utena’s desire to meet her prince again, and her conflicting draws to ‘prince’ and ‘princess’. it feels very episode 38.
i really want to know who did the music for this show -- definitely not seazer. but the main song “absolute darkness: the rose garden” feels very much like the show’s first ending song “truth”.
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speciosuspoematis · 1 year
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Tag Dumps.
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parkerslatte · 13 days
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It’s Been a Long, Long Time
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Azriel x Fem!Reader
Word Count: 2.7k
Warnings: memory loss.
Summary: The last time Azriel had seen his mate was nearly four centuries ago. The bond went silent and for those many years, Azriel believed his mate was dead. As he sits with Elain in her garden, the bond suddenly comes alive once again.
A Court of Thorns and Roses Masterlist
•••
The day Azriel lost his mate, he was in agony. Not because of the pain, no. It was because of the lack of knowledge if she was alive or not. The bond fell quiet and Azriel could hardly grasp onto it. It was as if he were trying to catch smoke. There was nothing to touch. For years he searched for her, he never wanted to give up. He knew that every moment he waited, she could be in danger. 
Even long after she disappeared, Azriel still searched. However, as the centuries ticked by, Azriel began to lose hope. He was sure he had searched every possible location. There was no trace of Y/N. 
Azriel sat with Elain in her garden. He had noticed a positive change in the middle Archeron sister for the past few months. When Rhys tasked him to watch over Elain and help her adjust, he originally hated the idea. But he knew the reason why Rhys had set him the task. It was coming up to the 400th anniversary since Y/N had disappeared. 
As Azriel looked down at the ring in his hands, he could feel his heart plummet. Even if being around Elain had helped distract himself as she explained all of the flowers to him and their various meanings, the closer it got to the anniversary of Y/N’s disappearance, Azriel felt himself slip away from everyone and everything. 
The ring was still beautiful even after all this time. Azriel made sure it was. Despite vowing to never take off her wedding ring, Y/N always took it off before bed, deeming that it was uncomfortable when she rested her head upon her hand to sleep. But the first thing she did every morning was slip the ring back upon her finger. The night she was taken it had been no different except one thing, Azriel had not been there. His job had kept him away for an extra day, and for the first time since they were mated and married, Azriel had not fallen asleep next to Y/N. He had regretted that for four hundred years. The only reminder of her was the ring he found on her bedside cabinet that morning. 
“Azriel!” The sound of Elain’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. 
“Sorry?” He lifted his gaze from the ring and met Elain’s. 
“I asked you what that was,” Elain said, gesturing down to the ring in his hand. 
Azriel stilled. He never liked speaking about it with anyone but Rhys or Cassian. But seeing how Elain’s eyebrows were furrowed in concern, he could tell that a saddened expression had slipped onto his face. 
Azriel sighed. “It was my mate’s wedding ring.”
“Mate?” Elain said, her expression falling slightly. 
Azriel cringed internally. He knew about Elain’s small crush on him. She did not hide it well. Though he did not return her feelings, he still enjoyed her company. With her, she understood when he just wished to sit in silence and when he didn’t want to talk, she continued the conversation on her own. 
Perhaps there was a time where he could have retired her feelings, Elain was rather beautiful, but she would never compare to Y/N. Azriel had never had another relationship after Y/N disappeared. He only ever wanted Y/N and he would only ever want her. 
“Yes,” Azriel said, swallowing hard. “She- she disappeared four-hundred years ago. I was never able to find her.”
The small hurt expression on Elain’s face changed to one of sympathy. “Azriel, I am so sorry.”
Azriel nodded and looked back at the ring. “I have looked everywhere and there is no trace of her. I have always felt…empty since she disappeared. She was part of my soul that I have never gotten back.”
Elain dropped the bulbs she was holding back into her basket. “How do you know she is not out there? You couldn’t have searched everywhere on the planet?”
“I have searched everywhere where it was possible to take her,” Azriel answered. “I have found absolutely nothing.”
“Then believe that she is still out there,” Elain said.
“Elain, it has been nearly four-hundred years,” Azriel said. “I gave up hope of her still being alive a long time ago.”
“Do you still love her?” Elain asked. 
“More than anything,” Azriel said instantly. “I haven’t been with anyone after she disappeared. I tried, about two-hundred years ago but I couldn’t do it. It felt so wrong. No one will ever compare to her.”
“Then you shouldn’t give up hope,” Elain said. “You don’t give up hope on those you love.”
Azriel did not reply. He simply looked back down at the ring once more. It was centuries old yet it still looked brand new. Azriel made sure that the silver band never tarnished. Made sure that the gem never stopped sparkling. It looked the same as the day he had slipped it onto her finger. Elain, sensing Azriel wished to no longer talk about the topic, returned back to her garden. 
Ever since Y/N had disappeared, Azriel had always felt like he had lost part of his soul, and he supposed he had. Y/N was everything to him. She was who he lived for. She was the one and only love he ever needed, ever wanted. The night the bond snapped for them was one Azriel would never forget. Even if he tried, he would never be able to forget it. The initial shock then the pure feeling of the love she sent him. For the first time in his life, Azriel knew what it was like to be loved so deeply and unconditionally. It did not matter whether he deserved it or not. When he was with Y/N, none of that mattered. All that mattered was him and her and the fact that they were together. 
As Azriel tucked the ring back into his breast pocket, a large surge of emotion was brought to life within him. He clutched at his chest. Azriel cried out.
“Azriel?” Elain questioned, shooting to her feet. “Are you okay?”
Her voice was muffled as Azriel continued to claw at his chest. Something was threatening to burst through. 
“Something is different,” he forced out. 
“Do I need to get anyone?” Elain asked. 
“Rhys,” Azriel said. “I need Rhys.”
Elain nodded and ran out of the garden and into the house in search of his brother.
Azriel tried to stand but fell to his knees immediately. He could barely breathe. The pressure in his chest was gradually increasing and he could not place the feeling anywhere. 
“I have Rhys,” Elain said, rushing back into the garden, Rhys following behind her. 
“Az, what’s wrong?” Rhys asked, kneeling down next to him. 
“I don’t know,” Azriel said, breathing heavily. “There is a pressure in my chest. I don’t know what it is.”
“What were you doing before it started?” Rhys asked.
“Telling–” Azriel cut himself off as he yelled out. The pressure was becoming worse and Azriel was sure that if he tried to repress it anymore, it would surely kill him. “Telling Elain about Y/N.”
“Is he going to be okay?” Elain asked quietly, standing a small distance away.
“Az, you need to relax,” Rhys said, placing a hand on his shoulder. 
“I can’t,” Azriel said through gritted teeth. 
“The pressure will kill you if you don’t relax,” Rhys said sternly. “So, please, relax.”
Azriel met Rhy’s eyes and stopped clawing at his chest. The pain in his chest gradually got worse and worse. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before. 
“Rhys,” Azriel whispered, his voice full of pain. “I can’t…”
“Yes you can,” Rhys said. “Just relax, Az.”
Azriel closed his eyes and relaxed his body, letting the pain overtake his body until he cried out once again. However as soon as he cried out, the pain stopped and a new feeling overtook his body. It was overwhelming and Azriel backed away from Rhys’s touch. 
“Azriel,” Rhys said. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. I can’t–”
Azriel cut himself off as a familiar feeling rose within him. This time he didn’t claw at his chest, he gently placed his hand upon it. The emotions he was feeling weren’t his. They were someone else’s. Azriel hadn’t felt this way in a long time. He had forgotten what it felt like. But it felt right. 
“The mating bond,” Azriel said. “I feel the mating bond.”
Even Rhys looked shocked as he looked at Azriel. “Are you sure?”
Azriel nodded. “I can feel it. I can feel her, Rhys.”
Tears sprung to Azriel’s eyes. He tugged on that bond that had lain dormant for four hundred years. It was weak though he felt her tug back. Azriel could have sobbed at that feeling alone. 
“Take me back to my home, Rhys,” Azriel said. 
The home Azriel shared with Y/N. He hadn’t entered it in a long time. He could never bring himself to. Every single time he tried, he couldn’t open the door. That house was the home he made with Y/N and Azriel did not want to be there if she wasn’t. 
“Are you sure?” Rhys asked.
“I’m sure,” Azriel said. “She is there, Rhys. I can feel it.”
Rhys nodded and winnowed them to the outside of Azriel’s home on the outskirts of Velaris. As soon as they arrived, Azriel could already smell the familiar scent of his mate. He pushed away from Rhys and opened the front door. 
And there she was.
Y/N stood in the middle of the room looking around with her hands on her hips. “You could have dusted, Az.”
Azriel simply couldn’t believe it. “Y/N? Are you really here?”
Y/N smiled softly and Azriel nearly collapsed right there. That smile was always in his dreams but seeing it again in person…
Azriel rushed over to her and scooped her in his arms as they both sank to the floor. Azriel couldn’t stop the sobs that came from him and neither could Y/N. The bond between them hummed happily. Four hundred years of being apart and now finally being reunited. It was something Azriel had given up on a long time ago. 
“How are you here?” Azriel mumbled, his sobs subsided but his tears didn’t. “I thought you were dead.”
Y/N pulled away from the hug and cupped Azriel’s cheeks and wiped away the tears. “You are exactly as I remember. It has been so long since I remembered what you looked like.”
“What do you mean?” Azriel asked. 
Y/N sighed and held onto Azriel tighter, as if she were afraid she was going to be taken once more. “The night I was taken, I was drugged, they wanted me for my power of healing and I refused to give in. They were bad men and I was not going to help them no matter how hard they tried to convince me. They drugged my food to make me compliant but the only thing I could think about was you and our bond. Once they realised who I was and who I was mated to, they gave me another drug. This time it was one to dampen the power of the mating bond. It made me stop feeling you.”
“I remember that night,” Azriel said. “I thought you blocked it off.”
Y/N shook her head. “Once the mating bond was dampened, they drugged me with something else. Over time I began to forget things, important things. My name, where I came from, my family, my friends…you.”
Azriel wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body flush against his. The sound of her heart beating was enough to bring a new surge of tears to his eyes. He never thought he would hear it again.
“They took me to a place on the continent, an entire city deep below ground with its own artificial sun and moon, whole fields and towns. Once I did not remember anything, they gave me a new identity and a whole new life.” 
“You didn’t remember me?” Azriel asked.
“I didn’t,” Y/N said sadly, threading her fingers in his hair. “But I always felt that there was a part of me missing. Even though the mating bond was repressed, I always felt that something was not quite right.”
Azriel’s heart fell. This whole time he had been in agony that his mate had been missing, while she did not remember him at all.  “How did you escape?” he asked. 
“If you believe me or not, there are good people in that community, incredible people,” Y/N said. “They helped me flush the drugs from my system and helped me remember who I once was.”
“The bond?” Azriel asked. “Did they help with that?”
Y/N shook her head. “Once the drugs were from my system and I was finally above ground, I felt you. I winnowed back here instantly. Consider me surprised when this house looks exactly the same as when I left four-hundred years ago.”
“I haven’t been able to come back here since you were taken,” Azriel whispered, his voice soft and vulnerable. 
Y/N caressed his face and wiped his tears away. “Oh, my darling. I am here now. Only if you still want me, of course.”
Azriel frowned. “Why wouldn’t I want you?”
“Az, my love, it has been four-hundred years. I would understand if you moved on in those years,” Y/N said. 
Azriel shook his head. “There has been no one else. I tried almost two centuries ago but I couldn’t do it. All I wanted was you.” When Azriel looked at her face again, he nearly burst into tears once more. It had been so long since he had looked into those loving eyes. The type of love he once thought he never deserved. “If you had found anyone, I would understand. You didn’t remember me.” Just that statement alone made Azriel hurt all over again. 
Y/N sighed a pained noise. “I won’t lie to you and say that there was no one, Azriel. There were a couple of people I have been with over the past four centuries.”
A new surge of tears streamed down Azriel’s cheeks as he gripped onto Y/N tighter. 
“But,” she continued, “there has been no one for many years and no one ever stuck around long. I could never fully commit. It was as if my body knew that it was wrong. I did like a few people but I never loved them. I could never love anyone more than I love you.”
“I never want you to go anywhere again,” Azriel whispered into her hair. “I missed you so much.”
Azriel’s fingers tangled in her hair as he rested his forehead against hers. Her soft breath fanned his face and Azriel swore he could nearly faint. Her scent, her touch, her breath. They were all things Azriel never thought he would ever witness again. 
“I am never going anywhere again,” Y/N mumbled. “I will remain beside you forever, my love.”
Azriel reluctantly unwrapped one hand from around Y/N and reached into his pocket and pulled out her ring. Y/N gasped once she saw it. 
“You kept it?” She asked.
“Of course I kept it,” Azriel said. “I always have it on me. It was the only thing I had that reminded me of you.”
Y/N wiped her tears away as Azriel took her hand gently in hers and slid the ring onto her finger. “Perfect,” he whispered.
Y/N looked him in the eyes. The love she held within them was something Azriel never forgot. He would see them in his dreams and nightmares. It was something he never thought he would see in person again. 
“Can I kiss you?” Azriel asked, almost afraid of the answer. 
Y/N smiled. “Az, I am your mate and your wife. There might have been a four century gap in our relationship but those two facts do not change. I love you. Of course you can kiss me. Kiss me until you can’t anymore.”
The shadowsinger smiled. “Then I’m afraid we will be here a while.”
Azriel finally kissed his mate and wife for the first time in four hundred years. 
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krkiiz · 4 months
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mastermind . luke castellan x reader
maybe the things that led luke to you were never accidental at all
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luke castellan x f!reader . reader is the daughter of demeter . tooth rotting fluff , established relationship , nicknames
note : this is inspired by mother tay tay’s song “mastermind” (one of my fav songs in midnights frr) not edited! sorry for some mistakes. Hope you enjoy <3
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The camp was never silent. Songs of birds echoed all across the painted skies, gallops of pegasus clapping through the fields, chatters of the half-bloods, sounds of clashing swords, shots of arrows. The camp was never silent.
Yet the two of you sat on the edge of a cliff, the camp’s background noises fully muted, too engrossed with each other’s presence as your hands interlaced as one.
From the top, you could see the overview of the camp. As the sun sets on the west, you get the best view of the skies painted in an orange hue, with hints of blue as the moon begins to rise.
“Do you remember the first time we met?” Eyes still on the canvas of clouds, you asked your boyfriend beside you.
“Of course I do, flower.” A small chuckle blew from his lips. “How could I ever forget.” The boy smiled, recalling his encounter with you a few months back.
You tore your gaze from the orange hues to the boy by your side, raising an eyebrow of amusement.
“No, literally. I tripped and got stuck on a vine, and you helped me. It was so embarrassing, I swear, sunshine.” You tilt your head back, erupting in laughter as your boyfriend covered his face that was now as red as strawberries that grew in the camp’s garden.
“That was hell of a first impression, though.” You pointed out. “What were you even doing in the woods alone, by the way?” You asked the boy, curiosity grew in your heart akin to sprouting apples on a tree.
“I don’t know, I guess I felt drawn.” He shrugged sheepishly.
“Drawn? To the forest?”
“To you, flower.” He winked and you rolled your eyes playfully. “Ew Luke, get away or I’ll push you off this cliff right now.”
Luke glowed as he dove into the epiphany of laughters and you joined soon after. “I’m just kidding.” He pinched your cheek softly triggering a frown from you.
“Do you remember the next time that we met?” You tore your gaze from your boyfriend, eyes now settling on the deep blue that was slowly taking over the horizon as the orange tinge melts in the west. The setting sun was truly a sight to behold. But to Luke, no creations of the gods or even titans could ever compare to the beauty of the demigod by his side
Not hearing an answer, you turned your head towards the curly haired boy, the view of his pupils dilating as your e/c hues melted into his own clear as daylight. “Love? Is everything alright?”
Luke now understood how Hades had fall for Persephone as he had found himself entranced by the beauty of another one of Demeter’s daughter before him. The light breeze flushed against your cheeks, how you would always look beautiful even when your hair becomes a mess after training. How your skin glowed in sunlight rivaling Apollo’s children themselves. To Luke, you are his epitome of beauty. Like a single rose that stood amidst thorn bushes. But he has to be careful. One prick is all it takes to let his heart bleed out in his hands.
“Hm? Oh yeah everything’s fine. Don’t worry, darling.” He shifted closer, his fingers grazing yours. “Anyways as you were asking, yes I remember our second meeting. And our meetings after that and after that.” He smiled, recalling the memories.
“We keep meeting up by accident after that first meeting.” He chuckled softly.
You hummed. “Don’t you think it’s weird though? How we keep meeting accidentally after that?” You tilt your head slightly.
“Maybe fate brought us together. Who knows?”
“Yes…” You trailed off. “Or maybe it’s something else.” You started playing with his fingers that was laced with yours, but your eyes remained on him as you observed the slightest shift in his visage.
“What are you saying, flower?”
“What if I told you that…none of it was ever accidental at all?”
Silence engulfed you in the shape of a cold, harsh breeze. The sun was long gone by now. From here, you could see the luminescent glow of Artemis’ vacant cabin, as well as the campfire that brew from the other campers.
Your heart ached at the gap between you as Luke as he slowly untangle your fingers. From outside, you look the same as ever, waiting patiently for his response. Inside however, your head was screaming in every corner, anxious thoughts clouding your thought bubbles as you think of every worst possible scenarios that might happen.
Great job! He probably think you’re a stalker now and wants to break up with you.
Break up? You didn’t want to break up with him! Of course not, you love him and he loves you! … Right?
The storm that was raining all over your thoughts were soon crushed by the slight upturn that formed on one of the corners of your boyfriend’s lip.
He noticed your slightly stiff stance, he took your departed hands once more, knowing it will ease your nerves. “I know, Yn.”
You always loved how your name rolled off his tongue. So effortlessly as it calls your given name with such love, such adoration. Yet it was his answer that got you off guard.
“Really?? You knew, after all this time?”
“You really think you can trick the son of the god of tricks?” He pointed out, an eyebrow raised in amusement.
“This is so embarrassing.” You bury your blood-rushed cheeks into your palms and Luke smiled at the sight, admiring the red hue that settled on your ears and face.
“Hey don’t be! Truth be told, I only found out from the nymphs.” Your eyes lit up at his confession. Maybe your plan wasn’t that horrible after all. “Well I mean that only confirmed it. I had my suspicions about your little master plan after our third time of meeting accidentally.”
Your groan in your hands. “What did the nymphs tell you?”
“That you had a crush on me.” He paused looking at your tomato face. “And that you were too shy to make the first move.” He peeled your fingers from your cheeks, revealing the scarlet hues on your facial epidermis.
“It was impressive though, you little mastermind. It worked didn’t it?” He placed his palms on your cheeks, caressing it like a fragile vase.
You brought him closer, leaning your forehead against his as you brushes your lips on the tip of his nose. “Yeah. I guess it did.”
The demigod frowned as he missed the presence of your lips on his skin. He leant more forward, your noses grazed each other and he finally sealed the distance of your lips with a soft kiss.
The moon shone with a glow more ethereal than usual, the stars map out the skies like seas of glitter. You both dove head first into the epiphany of love. Lips press against another as nature becomes the witness of two demigods’ form of adoration.
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©️ sirena | krkiiz 2023
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knightsickness · 28 days
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westerosi perfume culture thoughts based on medieval/early modern ^^
incense in septs to the point of both cat and sansa immediately thinking of the smell of it when thinking about the faith. this is fully a ‘the faith is just catholicism’ thing theres reference to a censer being used at tywin’s funeral, though this is also to cover the smell of the body - i believe its implied theyre using a lot more incense than they typically would and failing to overpower the rot smell
scented candles and incense are both used in septs and to scent rooms - scented candles higher-end, beeswax candles, which even unscented smell quite sweet and are quite expensive (they burn cleanly and don’t spit). animal fat tallow candles are much cheaper but perfume can’t stop rotting fat smelling of rotting fat it just combines with it. tallow tends to be used in poorer settings, for light not scent
scented beeswax candles used by tyrion and cat, and in the sept of baelor - imo v unlikely most smallfolk or smaller septs are buying them regularly, especially considering how many candles they need to keep lit. i’d say tallow 90% of the time beeswax on holy days
basically every noble in kings landing seems to wear perfume, ned specifically repulsed by the fact that robert now does which is crazy. whats roberts taste in perfume like
varys specifically is always described as perfumed, which is like. effeminacy due to eunuch status he leans into but also his ambiguous origin - while a lot of people in westeros wear perfume it seems to be significantly more popular in the free cities + beyond, vv frequently mentioned in dany chapters
perfumed and powdered often go together, varys and lysa off the top of my head - powders could also be scented, quite popular in france
multiple references to oldtown being heavily perfumed, dual reference to incense as a faith centre and worn perfume on a dowager, oldtown as a wealthy city and consumer centre
perfume also strongly associated with prostitution, an irony - septs and brothels often scented with incense, the ‘perfumed boy’ slaves victarion kills, satin wearing scent in his beard
popular scents rarely described in more detail than a type of flower or ‘sweet’ - most interesting perfume a westerosi lady wears is taena’s wildflower and musk, which cersei compares to the smell of moss
the tyrells seem to only wear rosewater this is pretty explicitly part of their branding as a house. even the blue bard a tyrell servant washes his hair with rosewater. most roses actually don’t distill well i’m assuming they have some westerosi equivalent to damask roses grown in bulk at highgarden or some other reach territory (probably at highgarden their scent in the gardens would be part of the tyrell image cultivation there. henry viii did this specific thing so you would smell his rose perfume in the gardens even when he was away from home which some historians have referred to as a ‘serve’) only like two varieties of rose work in perfuming. i’d also speculate that the roses margaery and her ladies brought to tywin’s funeral, if they were strong-smelling enough to cover the smell of an unnaturally rotting corpse, were probably roses scented with rosewater
perfume application on people typically oils, waters and more rarely waxes - multiple mentions of perfumed beards or hairstyles and waxes would be easier for that - perfume in baths common for the wealthy
no mention of scented accessories e.g. gloves or fans, though both immensely popular in elizabethan england - are there civet cats or equivalent in westeros? there are whales and thus presumably ambergris, taena’s perfume referred to as musky but unclear if this means it contains actual musk - animal perfumes are best for scenting leather, strong and waxy and other lighter scents can cling to them. dany wears scented silk clothes
tyrion associates worn perfume strongly with old whores, which suggests cheap perfume widely accessible, probably perfumer’s shops in major cities (notable bc otherwise we could conclude perfumers worked primarily for aristocratic patrons)
there are probably westerosi perfume-makers but its also likely theres a solid luxury import trade - dorne and the free cities both have established distinct perfume cultures and strong trade links with merchants
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yaksha-lover · 3 months
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As Lovers Go
Malleus Draconia x Reader
Summary: It may not be as grand as royalty is used to, but you do your best to plan a special night for Malleus on his birthday.
something short i scrambled together for my best boy, happy birthday malleus 🫶🫶
“Admittedly, it took some help from Trey to convince Riddle, but I like to think I did most of the work,” you say, leading Malleus by hand into the garden. “Okay, you can open your eyes.”
He blinks a couple times, but adjusts quickly to the nighttime lighting, surveying the scene. You’re in the Heartslabyul gardens, surrounded by red rose bushes on all sides. You’ve stopped in a small, clear area of grass where you’ve prepared for the night, a checkered blue picnic blanket laid out.
“Surprise! I know it’s not exactly a party, but hopefully my company will be enough to satisfy you…”
“When you’ve had over a hundred birthdays, parties begin to become monotonous. I much prefer your quiet company, tonight.”
You smile at Malleus. Even when the night’s about him, he always finds a way to make you feel special. “I hope you like the spot I chose. I know it must be hard being away from Briar Valley and your grandmother during the school year, so I thought I’d try to bring a little bit of home to you with the roses.”
“Thank you, truly.” Malleus turns to gaze around the garden, suddenly catching your hand in his own, running his thumb over your knuckles. “I do hope I’ll have a chance to show you my garden at home. I promise, nothing compares to the sight. Except for you, perhaps.”
“You’re too much, sometimes,” you giggle.
“If I am, do you not believe it is you who inspires such feelings in me?” Malleus teases.
The two of you take a seat on the blanket, talking and staring up at the stars as the night continues. The moonlight shines down on Malleus, making his dark hair shimmer and his skin glow. He’s never looked so beautiful.
“So, are you ready to open your gift now?”
He gives you a look. “I believe I mentioned no present was necessary. I only wanted your company.”
“I know, I know, but I wanted to do something.”
“You’re far too gentle with me. I suppose I’ll have to indulge you then.”
You grin and pull a gift bag out of your tote, handing it over to him. He settles it in front of him, pulling purple tissue paper out of the bag until his gift is revealed.
Malleus pulls out a white knit hat. He shifts to turn it around in his hands, smoothing over the fabric until his fingers run into a hole, popping out the other side.
“Oh yeah, it has holes. Y’know, for your horns.”
He stares at you in wide-eyed silence for a few moments. You break eye contact when it finally begins to feel a bit awkward.
“I know it’s not much, sorry.�� You look down at your feet. “It’s just, Crowley only gives Grim and I enough for groceries and essentials. And Lilia only told me your birthday was coming up a couple weeks ago, so I begged Azul to let me pick up some shifts at the lounge, and long story short, I really only earned enough to buy some yarn. It’s super nice though, I promise! I made sure to pick yarn that-”
You’re cut off when you’re suddenly pulled firmly into a strong chest, arms squeezing you tightly.
“I will treasure it as I have treasured nothing else. Thank you.”
You smile, despite the fact that you can’t breathe well in his intense grip. You pat on his arms gently so Malleus will loosen up a bit.
“I’m glad you like it.” When he pulls away, you turn toward the cooler you’d set out with all the treats you’d prepared for him. “Now, what would you like to try first? I got Trey’s help with preparing the frozen desserts, since I thought you might like to have a variety. Oh, maybe cake first? You haven’t made a wish yet and the clock is ticking!”
“If it pleases you, then I will try the cake.”
“Great, it’s ice cream cake.”
You take it out of the box, laying it in front of Malleus and removing the container’s lid.
“May I inquire as to why a piece is missing?”
“Well…you said you hate entire cakes, so I took out a piece. Now it’s not an entire cake. Hopefully you’re in the mood to share a bit more with me tonight? I find even the sweetest things are best enjoyed with company,” you wink at him.
“Are you sure you won’t become too spoiled with all these indulgences I allow you?” He picks up a fork and takes a bit of cake, but he doesn’t taste it as you expect.
“No, but feel free to keep trying,” you mumble through the mouthful of cake Malleus feeds you. “Wait, I have candles. You have to make your birthday wish before we have anymore.”
You set three candles in the centre of the cake. It would be ridiculous to have a hundred, as much as you wish to be accurate to his age. You light them with a lighter, insisting on singing ‘happy birthday’ to Malleus before finally allowing him to make his wish.
“Blowing out fire with my breath instead of creating it with my breath. How amusing, you’ll have to teach me even more of these human customs.”
“What did you wish for?”
He tilts his head. “Am I mistaken in believing humans have customs that suggest it’s bad luck to ask?”
“No, but I’m nosy, so tell me anyway.” You tug gently on his sleeve.
“I only wished for things to continue as they are.”
“That’s all? You don’t want anything new?”
“What do I have to wish for? Everything I’ve always wanted, the thing I used to wish for each year - is already in front of me.”
The two of you talk until the sun comes up, upon which Malleus carries your snoring form home to Ramshackle, a smile lingering on his face from the previous night.
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islandofsages · 3 months
Note
Hey, I wanted to ask for the housewardens with a male!reader from their dorm that have the same name as the Seven's sidekicks (?).
Example : Cerberus for Idia, Diaval for Malleus, FlotSam for Azul, ect...
And people (*cough* Yuu *cough*) always compared the reader with the housewarden and always say things like : "oh yeah, the new Diaval and the new Maleficent.." *looking at Reader and Malleus talking about Briar Valley.*
characters: the housewardens x male reader
tags: platonic, fluff + crack, imagines + scenario format; yuu is there, mentions of ruggie and jack in leona's, mentions of the leech twins in azul's, mentions of jamil in kalim's, mentions of ortho in idia's, mentions of sebek in malleus'
warnings: nothing
author's notes: i tried to choose characters that aren't already inspirations for the characters in the game so some of them end up being from the second movie and stuff LOL sorry if this isnt what you want anon but honestly i did have a lot of fun writing this
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Riddle Rosehearts — The King of Hearts
You’re not sure why and how but you’re dubbed as The King of Hearts of your dorm, alongside Riddle who is the Queen
Unsure of what to make of this, you ignore it and continue to devote yourself to the Queen just as any normal person would sorry this is kinda satire
Riddle is simply your friend. You cherish him a lot and you respect him and his beliefs. Even when he overblotted, your faith in him is unwavering
Speaking of the overblot, after the whole catastrophe, you’ve grown a lot closer with the other card soldiers, along with the magicless kid named Yuu and their pet (Grim was his name?)
They would greet you from time to time, stop by to have a chat when they’re free and check up on the dorm
One day, they made an offhand comment about you and Riddle
“You guys are paving the way for the new generation of the Queen of Hearts and the King of Hearts. Though, I guess the King of Hearts didn’t really do anything anyway.”
First of all, what the hell are you talking about?
Second of all, you’d say you contribute much to the dorm. For Yuu to assume such a thing for you simply because some “past King of Hearts” didn’t do so is ridiculous
You don’t voice these things out loud and shrug it off as them saying random things again, or making some kind of reference you don’t get
And because, third of all, you realize they broke rule 228: they definitely picked a rose in your garden. So you go to kick them out before Riddle could find out.
All in the day’s work for the King of Hearts.
Leona Kingscholar — Zira
You could say you and Leona are tight - maybe not Ruggie and Leona tight, but almost
And part of that can be attributed to the fact that you may or may not idolize Leona. But hey, it’s not strange. If Jack can do it, why can’t you? At least it’s not on Sebek’s level
Plus, you deserve to have some pride in yourself for being one of the only people Leona confidently calls a friend of his
Though, one person has been persistent about being Leona’s friend - Yuu, the person who just spawned out of nowhere apparently
You’d catch them talking to Leona sometimes and to be frank, there are times where Leona is less annoyed than usual at their presence
One day in particular, the three of you are hanging around Savanaclaw’s lounge, when Yuu drops a bombshell
“Ah yes, of course, you two are exactly like Scar and his creepily-devout follower, Zira.”
??? Yes, Zira is (a variation) of your name but you wouldn’t call yourself “creepily-devout”. Also, who even is Scar?
Leona’s ears twitch in annoyance, either because he doesn’t understand what Yuu means or that he’s put off by their phrasing
You sit in silence, deciding if this is a topic worth asking more about or not
Curiosity gets the best of you - you ask them. They basically dump all the information they could onto you
Yeah, you still don’t get it. But whoever this other Zira is, they’re kinda cool honestly.
Azul Ashengrotto — Morgan(a)
A lot of people consider you one of Azul’s henchmen alongside Jade and Floyd - God forbid working to the bone every day for the Mostro Lounge, right?
But you don’t take it as an insult. It’s no compliment to be so loyal to such a capitalistic bastard (said affectionately) but it’s just another part of your life
Plus. You’re friends with the dude. His cunning nature is what you’re here for
Maybe sometimes you feel a little inferior to him since everyone lauds him as some powerful mage but you tell yourself you don’t need such prestige
Though even outside of work, sometimes you see that Yuu person loiter around the Mostro Lounge in search of Azul (and the Leech siblings occasionally)
So you decide to sit down with them one day and have a nice little chat when-
“So you’re the Morgana dude right? You definitely give off the vibes. Let me guess: you have a love-hate relationship with your stronger, superior boss?”
You have to do a double take at what they just spouted - where are these assumptions coming from suddenly?
Also your name is Morgan.
They laugh and assure you it’s only a joke and a reference to a movie they like since Azul and you have an uncanny resemblance to the characters in that movie
Even still, you can’t help but feel confused… no way they just go up to people and reference things they enjoy right…?
You try to work on your vibes starting the very next day.
Kalim Al-Asim — Aladdin
You’re somewhat of an enabler for Kalim’s party animal and reckless tendencies which Jamil doesn’t really appreciate but also you don’t give a shit
Who can say no to free food and music? Well, a specific amount of people but you’re definitely not one of them
Kalim is friends with everyone; or rather, he considers everyone a friend and that considerately counts you too
But you two really are though - after the party’s died down, the two of you would chat late into the night about everything and anything. And it works because he’s such a good listener
At one of his many parties, the Yuu person who’s apparently from another world comes to party along with you
And so you eat and dance as one usually would under Kalim’s rule, learning bits of information about Yuu along the way
As per usual, the party dies down so you, Kalim and Yuu take the chance to relax and have a concrete conversation
At some point, Yuu comments on your name (and apparent namesake…?)
“Wait, so your name is Aladdin? Like the thief guy who fell in love with the Sultan’s daughter? Feels kinda weird since Kalim kinda reminds me of the Sultan himself…”
Well, yes, your name is Aladdin although you just tell people to call you Ali but everything else they just said is completely false
You all laugh it off because the mood is appropriate for an elaborate joke as such but the next day, when you think over the whole interaction, you have to wonder what was going on through their head at the time
You make a mental note to see if you’ll ever fall in love with a sultan’s daughter.
Vil Schoenheit — Raven
You’re a little intimidated by Vil but you have as much respect for him as anyone does
And somehow, you manage to gain his respect too, though you are a mere spudling…
You try not to let it get to your head (especially considering he has more respect for some other spuds than you) but it’s no easy feat to get a compliment from Vil Schoenheit himself
One person in particular has been getting a lot of attention from Vil lately, you’ve noticed
This Yuu person has been stopping by Pomefiore a lot lately, ever since the weird invasion at school where a bunch of robot people broke into the school grounds
You don’t question it because they’ve been interacting with Vil since the VDC but the thing is Yuu has been trying to get to know more of the dorm members
And one day, they get to you finally
They seem normal enough once you two sit down to chat in the lounge—
“Hm, so your name is Raven? I think I vaguely remember a raven being in Snow White…”
You have no idea what that means and before you could change the topic yourself, Yuu dismisses it; but then the next day, when you were thinking about the exchange again, you get curious as to what a Snow White is 
So you start to scour the Internet for this “Snow White” and it manages to consume you for a few days until Yuu tells you that it’s just a movie from their world
You don’t talk to them for a few days.
Idia Shroud — Meg
You and the Shroud brothers are more like frenemies than anything - you three banter like old friends who know too much about each other
Other than Ortho, Idia does ask you for some favors a lot and you like joking that he’s drowning in debt when it comes to you
Sometimes he pays back by gaming with you, sometimes he pays with actual money. Good money at that. You don’t complain either way
One day you run another favor for him (which he promises more good money for) to send some stuff to Ramshackle
A person named Yuu and their only other dorm member Grim had sent stuff to Idia for repairing and maintenance - not that you care about the details. You’re just gonna get it over with
Once you reach their dorm, the first thing you’re met with are the two dorm members bickering over something. You chuckle; it reminds you of your conversations with Idia
You excuse yourself for interrupting and go to drop off their things on the table in the middle of the lounge
They stop bickering then and Yuu greets you momentarily before muttering something under their breath
“Of course the new Meg to the new Hades dropped off our stuff.”
You assume they don’t know that you heard what they said and quite frankly you don’t want to care much but you admit you’re a bit curious of what they mean
When you get back to Idia, you ask him to decipher that cryptic message
He admits he has no idea what they mean by that, simply tells you not to think about it and pays you with some good old cash - and some fun gaming time so you forget all about it later anyway.
Malleus Draconia — Diaval
You are one of Malleus’ loyal retainers - you were bestowed the honor of being his “wings” even whatever that means
But Malleus sees you as an equal almost. You are no servant and you have your own wings to tend to; it’s the stuff that would move Sebek to tears
You do see him as a friend mostly, even if at first you started doing so out of pity
But now you see him making more friends around campus and you can’t help but feel happy for and proud of him
There’s one friend who he seems to be around a lot - the magicless human named Yuu
It makes sense since he does enjoy taking walks around their dorm, even before they came to occupy it
One day, you three make the time to have tea together and simply talk. It’s all very pleasant when Yuu says-
“You know, don’t you think it’s weird how your name is Diaval and you’re serving someone who’s strangely reminiscent of Maleficent?”
Well, you don’t think it’s weird because you have no idea what they’re referencing and who Maleficent is - and Malleus seems to think the same, with the confused look on his face and all
Also as true as it is that you’re Malleus’ retainer, you don’t appreciate someone phrasing it as you “serving” him
Yuu apologizes for the comment and explains what they mean by it. You both still don’t get it but it’s enough to make you shrug it off
Sometimes Yuu would still make such comments, thinking you don’t hear it but knowing it’s not that deep, it doesn’t affect the three of you’s friendship whatsoever.
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cupids-chamber · 1 year
Text
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— “ FOREVER IN LOVE “  Overblots x Reader / Gender neutral reader |         [ Can be read as yandere / non-yandere ]
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— “ RED ROSE “ 
| Gender Neutral Reader / Overblot Riddle 
The lights dimmed, as the garden darkened—your surroundings were cold, heartless.. dead.. even, the beautiful garden was nothing on par nor comparable to what it once was, the pride of Heartslabyul.. just like its ruler. Marvelous and adorned in black and red, similar to his emotions at that very moment—everything was distorted and irry, as ink covered all corners in sight. Like smudged ink on plain white paper. 
You watched him walk up to you, no one else in close sight— The familiar clank of heels, as he walked in your direction, looking directly at you... "My dearest rose.. something tells me, you don't quite like what you're seeing.." you heard the man chuckle as he approached you slowly, his soft and sweet smile, no longer there.. "Why, my love?", he laughed once more, except this time it came out in a more threatening tone then the last.. “I’m still your beloved Rosehearts, my red rose.” 
— “ ROTTEN INK “ 
| Gender Neutral Reader / Overblot Malleus
The nulling, sickeningly sweet lullaby rang in your ears, you heard him chuckle and sing along.. that perfectly synced melody, that could calm anyone—struck fear within you, your movements hastening, hoping to run out the door as fast as you possibly could. 
"Why the hurry, my dearest treasure" he hummed softly, hugging you from behind.. You could feel the slight wetness of the ink, staining your clothes.. how his body reeked of a sickeningly pudent smell of ink—rotten ink, if that even existed.... "Just close your eyes, my dearest... and then we can be together.. forever…", you felt his grip tighten, as he continued humming that melody, nulling you to slumber without much of a choice.. 
— “ BELOVED APPLE “ 
| Gender Neutral Reader / Overblot Vil 
You felt the claws dig deeper into your skin, as he mumbled sweet nothings in your ears.. he looked odd, different. Vil embraced you tighter, needing to feel all of you—too feel your skin, on his own. He smelled of poison, a strong one. It was overwhelming and you couldn't help but want to escape his cruel grasp, as you felt those cold claws dig into your raw flesh, easily ripping through your skin. "You aren't leaving, are you?... You won't be leaving, will you.. my beloved apple..?"
— “ ALL HE WANTED “ 
| Gender Neutral Reader / Overblot Azul 
You could feel the tentacles wrap around your leg, pulling you deeper into the waters... back into his crushing embrace, where he refused to let you go. Refuse to allow any form of space, he was suffocating—he knew he was suffocating, he was well aware of how forceful he truly was... yet when you were in his arms, where he could feel you, keep you, call you sweet names, hear your voice, the sound of your breathing—everything... it was all he needed.. all he craved.. all he wanted… 
— “ NEVER-ENDING EMBRACE “ 
| Gender Neutral Reader / Overblot Idia His breathing was heavy, as he pulled you closer into his embrace. You could hear the soft curses coming out from his mouth, as the salty teardrops fell from his eyes. He refused to let you go—it was getting hard to breathe, in his crushing embrace. It's as if he wanted to hold you close, until you melt and mold into him, into an extension of him, and everytime you'd try and escape, he'd only pull you closer, his grip would grow a tad bit harsher as he tightened his hold on you…
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© cupids-chamber, do not repost, plagiarize, translate, or adapt my work without prior permission and or confirmation.
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yandere-daydreams · 7 months
Text
Title: Profane.
Commissioned by the very lovely, very patient @elsecrytt.
Pairing: Yandere!Diavolo x Reader (Obey Me).
Word Count: 7.0k.
TW: AFAB!Reader, Dub/Con (Coercion + Inebriation), Brief Cannibalism, Wildly Unhealthy Relationships, Manipulation, Torture (No Injury To Reader), No Like Literal Torture, Gore, Blood, Possessiveness, Theology, and Past Trauma (Reader's Got Issues). The Dove Was Dead, Got Resurrected, And Is Once Again Dead. Please Do Not Eat.
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Barbatos showed you to the garden himself.
Usually, guests as unremarkable as yourself would be ushered in by some lesser demonic spirit, shown directly to Diavolo’s in-home office, and rushed out as quickly as the prince’s unwavering sense of hospitality would allow. You’d been through the process yourself a handful of times since you came to the underworld, gotten to visit the castle on an errand for RAD often enough for the shocked awe to dull into simple wonder, but you’d never been able to see the prince or Barbatos in their own home, and when you received the prince’s package, when you smelled the fresh scent of roses and felt silk against your hands, a part of you refused to believe this could be anything but another request to run a few files from one location to another, an invitation to discuss an upcoming festival or ceremony somewhere less imposing than the shadowy, stiflingly gothic student council room. Part of you still refused to believe it now, in all honesty, even as you walked arm-in-arm with the prince’s butler. Even as you wore the gown he'd sent to your off-campus apartment, a wine-red train trailing half a meter behind you and the fabric of the corset clinging to your skin like spider silk.
Even as you stepped into his rose garden, the rose garden. The rose garden you’d only ever heard about in gossip and rumors. The rose garden that was supposed to be saved for the prince and his select few.
The rose garden you were never supposed to see, and yet.
And yet.
A pavilion had been erected in the center of the innermost ring and decorated for the occasion, cords of red blossoms strung across the obsidian guardrails and a trail of flower petals left out to guide your way. Barbatos left you a few paces away from the pavilion’s steps, bowing his head as he detangled himself from your rigid hold. He spared you no words of comfort, offered you no advice, only letting out a breath of a chuckle as he slipped away and disappeared into the tangle of the garden. It fell onto you to soothe yourself, so you did – sucking a ragged inhale and balling your shirt in your hands before forcing yourself to relax, driving an ounce of tension out of your shoulders and willing your hands to stop shaking as you took an unsteady step towards the pavilion, then another, then another, until you were starting up the short staircase and it was too late to turn around and hide. There was a table let up on the center of the platform, a teapot and matching cups and saucers laid out among a sugar jar and an adorably quaint cream jug. It would’ve been charmingly simple, if the set hadn’t been crafted from pure obsidian and most likely would have cost more than a year of your salary.
Diavolo was at the head of the table, dressed in a suit that matched your gown. The sound of your footsteps drew his attention, his expression brightening as his eyes might yours and a wide, giddy smile you could only compare to that of a lovestruck schoolboy spread across his lips. He pushed himself to his feet hastily, your name falling from his lips with a slight stutter. There was a rose in his hand, but rather than thrust it into yours, he held onto it, opting to pull you into a brief, bone-crushing hug, instead. “I’m sorry to call you here on such short notice,” he said, his voice breathy and the words spoken quickly enough to blur together. “And I, well—” Now, the rose was presented to you, his smile taken on a shy tilt. “I thought it’d be romantic. Admittedly, it feels a little silly now.”
“No, no, it’s very sweet.” You rushed to reassure him, more afraid of making this more awkward than it had to be than genuinely hurting his feelings. You tried to take the rose by the stem, but your thumb caught on an unpruned thorn and you pulled back out of instinct. There was no pain, but when you glanced down, you found a small bead of scarlet, the injury practically nonexistent but an injury, nonetheless. Diavolo’s expression faltered, but you were quick to take up the rose again and tuck anything that might’ve sown any ill-will away. “You were going to tell me why you asked me to come…?”
Immediately, his smile returned in full force. “Please, have a seat.”
A chair was pulled out, a cup filled and sugar cubes dispensed generously. You took the cup in your hands, but didn’t raise it to your lips, only soaking in the gentle warmth as Prince Diavolo cleared his throat and went on, more nervous than a man of his status, a man with so much power over you had any right to be. “I’m sure you’ve already guessed why you’re here. I know subtly isn’t my strong suit.” A slight pause, a hopeful smile. Somehow, the implication of his anxiety alone was enough to make the knot resting in the pit of your stomach twist that much tighter. “We don’t know each other very well, but… I think I’d like to know you a little better, if you understand what I mean.”
Oh, you did.
You’d understood as soon as you saw the low cut of the dress, as soon as you were told you’d be meeting him in privacy.
Still, you played coy, shaking your head as you leaned back in your seat. “I’m afraid I don’t, your highness.”
“Oh, that won’t be necessary. I don’t want you to feel like royalty, right now.” And yet, he’d asked you to meet him behind his castle, attended to by his butler, wearing the gown he’d had tailor made for you. You would to ask how he got a hold of your measurements later on. Actually, you shouldn’t ask him anything at all – it’d be a mercy if you never had to talk to him again. “I’d like to court you. Officially. With your permission, of course.”
It was a thoughtful gesture, but then again, your permission could only count for so much when a flick of his wrist and a half-baked royal decree would change the meaning of consent by its very definition.
You let your eyes fall to the table, then to the rose in your hand. “I don’t know how to say this,” A pair of pursed lips, a decisive beat of silence. “But, I’m not sure, your highness.”
This time, he didn’t bother to correct you. “You’re not sure?”
“As you said, we don’t know each other very well.” You gaze caught on the spot of blood still welling on the pad of your thumb. A minor inconvenience, but still an inconvenience. It’d make handling much of anything a nuisance for the rest of the day. It’d make you pause the next time you thought about taking a particularly beautiful rose by the stem. “And I’m afraid there might be some parts of me that you wouldn’t be so happy with, if you saw them for yourself.”
That seemed to catch his attention. Whereas you leaned back, he leaned forward, arms crossing over the tabletop. “I have to admit, it’s hard to believe that there’s any part of you I wouldn’t be happy with.”
“It’s just,” A thorn in the right place could ruin the entire rose. Hopefully, if you managed to break the skin, he’d give up on you entirely and move on to less pointed flowers. “I have some… appetites that people have deemed difficult to keep up with, in the past. It’s nothing out of place for those in my profession, but I’d hate for you to have to waste your time tending to my desires.”
You could practically see the excitement spark in his eyes, feel it rolling off of him in waves. “Please, go on.”
“It’s too morbid to discuss in polite company,” you said, sparing a glance towards the walls of the rose garden, as if you were wary that someone might be listening in. “But things tend to get gory rather quickly, and I have been known to get a little carried away when I get something sharp in my hand.”
The tea was put aside completely, forgotten in favor of more interesting topics. He didn’t stand, didn’t do anything to close the limited distance between you, but you could tell he wanted to, that he wasn’t taking your threats seriously enough for intrigue to dip into caution, and that was all you needed. “I think you’d look stunning with something sharp in your hand.”
“But I’d hate to waste your time,” you reiterated, bowing your head. “And your subjects might not care for me, once they see what I’ve done to their ruler.”
“We’ll have to keep this our little secret, then.” While you had your doubts about how secret one of his secrets could stay, he was clearly excited enough to buy into the idea that it would be possible. “And, as for your appetites…”
This time, he stood, rounding the table and falling to one knee at your side. For a second, your heart stopped beating in your chest, your mind forcing you to consider the possibility that your vision of rings and proposal might not have been based entirely in paranoid delusion, but he only gestured for your hand and reluctantly, you gave it to him. His lips ghosted over the curve of your knuckles, then turning your hand over in his own, the apex of your wrist, lingering against your pulse point. Finally, he pulled away, grinning up at you as he went on.
“I’m sure we’ll find a way to satisfy that hunger.”
~
You were starting to wonder if, even in your grandest of schemes, your eyes might’ve been bigger than your stomach.
It was old work. Diavolo – as he insisted you call him, despite your best attempts to keep a semblance of formality between you and him – was eager to please, quick to show you he was just as enthusiastic as you claimed to be and dedicate one of the more expendable rooms in his sprawling castle to your little engagements. The tools of your trade were discussed and crafted into familiar shapes: thorns braided into the lashes of the whips, runic symbols you’d long-since forgotten how to read burnt into the leather of the riding crop, a small vial of holy water waiting beside a gold-lined tub of water. Even the dagger you were holding was of celestial design, the blade symmetrical and gilded with pure silver, the hilt molded but not padded, allowing the chill to seep into your palm without reservation.
It was a relief, however small, that you wouldn’t have to use the demonic weapons you’d nearly gotten used to. In the Devildom, suffering was just another tool, something to be used when convenient and drowned out with needless hedonism when not. In the Celestial Realm, suffering was holy.
There was nothing holy about this, though. You’d had the foresight to restrain him, binding his wrists and ankles to each poster of his grand bed with enchanted chains, but he offered no resistance. Even brought low enough to fall into his demonic form, to show himself with leathery wings sprouting from his back and gold-adorned horns curling upward from his scalp, he retained as much of his composure as you could expect him to, keeping his claws curled into his palms and dulling his fangs with the occasional whimper or sudden gasp. When you dragged the point of the blade from the spine of his wing to the small of his back, he arched as if leaning into your brutal touch and clenched his eyes shut, but he didn’t scream. You almost wished he would. At least then, you’d be able to tell if you were making progress.
It was old work, but more importantly, it was work you’d been good at, once upon a time. Your mind might be out of practice, but your hands remembered how to move, how to cut, at just what angle to hold your dagger as you slid the flat of the blade into the incision. It was a delicate balance; applying enough force to cut through the connective tissue without tearing the epidermis. There was a slick sound from underneath your knife, a half-choked groan from Diavolo, and skin separated from muscle, leaving both intact and swimming in an agony of their own. It was beautifully precise, the kind of workmanship that should’ve gotten you a promotion. You could only regret that it was wasted on Diavolo.
Thick, dark blood washed over his tan skin, spilling out in every direction and distracting you from your task. With a disgruntled sigh, you turned to your supplies and took up the most limited of your precious tools: common table salt, imported from the human world and kept in a simple glass jar. You’d always known it had purifying properties that demons didn’t care for, but it’d surprised you just how difficult it was to get a hold of in the Devildom. Diavolo was strong enough to withstand it without being reduced to a pile of smoldering ash, but hopefully, the burn would be more than he cared to endure.
With great care not to get any on yourself, you took up the vial of holy water and undid the bottle’s seal, dampening the blade of your dagger with a generous portion. “Did you know that holy water can’t be diluted?” You asked, idly, taking one of the larger salt rocks between your thumb and forefinger and crushing it, savoring the slight sting before spreading the fine residue over one side of your blade. “My boss didn’t – used to lecture me for wasting it. You should really be more selective about your staff, down here.” You paused, bringing the point of your dagger back to Diavolo’s skin. You found your target quickly: the flesh over his shoulder blade, where the tissue was thin and the bone prominent. You drove it down with just enough force to break the skin, and in an instant, you were rewarded with the smell of burning flesh. “It was one of the first miracles the guys upstairs performed on Earth, after the humans realized they could it themselves without divine intervention. Remember to spare a drop for the next batch, and you’ve got an endless supply – as good as if it’d come from Micheal himself.”
You returned to the first incision, sliding your blade back into the slit you’d just carved. There was some resistance – Diavolo’s regenerative abilities were second to none, just as you’d expected from demonic royalty – but with grit teeth and a quirk of your wrist, you pushed through it, spreading your little concoction across raw, bleeding muscle. This time, Diavolo screamed, the sound animalistic and agonized and exactly what you were looking for. It reminded you of wind chimes, of church bells, of a timbre voice congratulating you on a job well-done as you stood over the maimed remains of a breathing corpse. Eager to chase that satisfaction, you pressed down harder, cutting into the muscle of his back before jerking your dagger back, ripping through tissue and flesh and leaving carnage in your path. You couldn’t just smell burnt flesh, this time – you could practically taste it, coating your tongue like ash and filling your lungs like smoke. Everything your blade touch seemed to melt, to scorch, leaving a filthy black char slashed across Diavolo’s back, infecting the wound you’d inflicted. If you were at work, if he were anyone else, you’ve taken it further, watched the blisters form down the curve of his back as you slowly and melodically removed each unnecessary vertebra of his spine, but he was a prince, and your goal wasn’t to kill him. You just had to make him wish he was dead when he was with you – that was all.
You dropped the dagger onto the stone floor, sucking in a harsh breath as you shook out your stiff fingers. You considered the whips, elegant in their design and brutal in the affection, then the golden tub, how good it would feel to string your fingers through his hair before you shoved his head below water, but the former would leave too many marks too quickly and the latter would’ve taken more preparation than you’d cared to make. Instead, you chose something you were less familiar with – a length of braided silver, leather handles molded onto either end. You slung it over your shoulder as you climbed onto the bed and straddled his waist. Out of instinct, his wings shuttered, moving to fold themselves against his back, but you grabbed the arch of his left wing’s spine and forced it flat against the velvet sheets, holding it still as the appendage squirmed and thrashed below you. “No fighting back,” you muttered, because it was what you’d agreed on as you stepped over the threshold to his little homemade torture chamber, because it seemed like the last thing you’d want to hear when you were at someone else’s mercy. “Remember why I’m doing this. If you don’t want to take, I don’t need to give.”
“That’s not—” Heavy panting between each word, all attempts at speaking soon forfeited in favor of an airy gasp. You waited for him to settle, driving a nail into the delicate membrane of his wing for each second he failed to spit something out. “I understand,” he said, eventually, marking the first full thought he’d managed to express since you finished restraining him. “Keep going.”
You didn’t move. “Is that how you’re going to talk to me?”
A dry swallow, a moment of hesitation. A demon’s pride was a difficult thing to put aside, even for a demon like Diavolo. “Please.”
 If he’d been anyone else, you would’ve made him grovel.
But, you could only ask so much from such a spoiled prince.
“Raise your head.”
No pet names, no dark humor, no purring or cooing or anything spared to soften the words. He obeyed, tilting his head back and letting you wrap the cord once around his neck once, because anything more than that would only spread the agony, make it that much easier to differentiate from the feeling of your weight against his back, dampen the awareness that it was your hands holding the end of his noose. You wanted him to know it was you. As you pulled the cord taut, you pictured him lying in his own bed hours later, blood washed away and wounds bandaged. After the adrenaline was gone, the excitement replaced with hollow exhaustion and the cold absence of affection, would he cry? Would the pain get to him first, or the misery of it all, the aching realization that what you were doing to him wasn’t something people did to those they loved? Would he curse your name, any heartbreak stifled by pure loathing for the person who left him in such a state of desperation? Would he hate you?
“It’s not the tightness that leads to suffocation – another common misconception. Your guys already knew that one, though.” Crossing both ends of the cords over one another, you cranked them tighter, then tighter again. Admittedly, this kind of thing wasn’t your strong-suit – you’d never been the type to rely on raw strength alone – but the sturdiness of the cord did most of the work for you, winding into itself and biting into his skin without cutting into what laid beneath it. Or, without cutting into yet, at least.
“It’s the pressure,” you said as you leaned over him properly, planting your knees in the plush of the down-stuffed mattress. “That’s the real trick - being able to apply enough force to crush the windpipe and cut off the lungs. From there, all you have to do is—” You paused, letting out a soft, strained groan as you pulled the cord ever-tighter. If you let go of the handles, it would’ve held its shape, but it felt cruel to be so impersonal. “—sit back and watch.”
There was a whimper by way of response, more pleading than pained. His mouth fell open, something that could’ve been generously interpreted as the beginning of a word falling past his lips, but you took mercy on him, clicking your tongue as you braced yourself for what came next. “Relax, I’m not going anywhere.” And then, after a second of thought, “Have you ever thought about what it’d be like to hang to death, your highness?”
Even if he could answer, you wouldn’t have let him. You hauled him upward suddenly, letting the cord rise to the sensitive junction just underneath his chin and winding it farther, farther, until it made good on its threats and a thin cut formed across the curve of his throat, a twin laceration appearing on the other side a few seconds later. He struggled underneath you, attempting to maintain his composure and control his breathing until instinct took over and he was left gasping, sputtering, trying to force air back into the lungs you controlled, now. Despite yourself, the corners of your lips curled upward, a profound satisfaction flooding through your veins and momentarily blocking out what little rational thought remained. Diavolo was depraved, but this was your line of work, your field of expertise. You felt phantom hands on your shoulders, lips ghosting over the top of your head. You deserved to be happy, when you were doing so well at what you were meant to do. You deserved to take pride in a job well-done.
Struggling, struggling, then release. His shoulders dropped, his form going limp, and just as his eyes threatened to close and his mind gave out completely, you let go of the cord, letting it fall back to the base of his throat. It took a few more seconds to detangle, another to rub the lingering salt on your fingers into the new cuts on his neck. While he panted, drooled, made a mess of himself, you basked in your holy reverence, newly purified by the sacredness of your responsibilities. You remained there, in that state of simple contentedness, until Diavolo broke the silence.
“Is that—” A harsh breath, a fit of coughing. Your mind supplied the rest of his question automatically. Is that enough? Is it over, now?
You almost smiled, almost told him that it’d be over as soon as he decided that he couldn’t handle you, anymore, but he went on before you could, his tone playful despite the blood now seeping into his sheets. “Is that all?”
You felt something very heavy and very sharp fall into the pit of your stomach. “Of course not,” you said, because that’s what you were supposed to say. Because when they asked for more, you were supposed to give it to them.
Because, if he wanted more, you’d give it to him until he couldn’t stand the thought of ever letting you touch him again.
“We’re just getting started.”
~
You could get to the rose garden on your own, by now.
Lucifer and Barbatos were already seated in their usual places, both looking uncharacteristically relaxed. Barbatos’ smile got a little brighter as you approached, and after you’d slid into your designated seat, Lucifer greeted you with a clap of his hands, a lilt to his posture. “I assumed you and Diavolo would be arriving together.”
You pressed your tongue against the roof of your mouth. You’d learned quickly, within the first month of Diavolo’s proposal, that you’d been right to assume you wouldn’t be able to keep it yourselves for very long. Still, it surprised you just how quickly he told Lucifer and Barbatos about your little trysts. “He’s still cleaning up.”
Barbatos’ constant smile took on a teasing quirk. “What a heartless lover you are, to leave him alone in a state like that.”
“He knew I wasn’t the doting type going into this.” It wasn’t a lie. You’d never claimed that any part of your attention would be the loving kind, that whatever polite affection you showed to him when he dragged you out to upper-crust restaurants and diamond-studded nightclubs and parties with only the Devildom’s most elite in attendance wouldn’t extend to the time you spent alone together. Love was a pretense, not a necessity. You could only hope Diavolo was tender hearted enough to be hurt by your callousness. “You’re the babysitter, here. Shouldn’t you be the one patching him up?”
He moved to respond, but Lucifer was quick to cut in, leaning forward as he spoke. “Have you two already—” A coy smile, a vague gesture with a gloved hand. You weren’t sure what’d gotten into him. You’d never seen Lucifer or Barbatos so giddy, even if the extent of their excitement seemed to be a few probing questions and a new willingness to bare their teeth without snapping at your throat. “—well, I’m sure you know.”
You swallowed, dryly. The idea of sex hung over your relationship like a funeral shroud, weighing the heaviest when you stepped over the threshold and into whatever makeshift dungeon he’d chosen for the two of you that night, when he spared you a smile that meant he could only be expecting one thing.  You didn’t want to know what would happen if he continued not to get it, but you didn’t want to sleep with him, either. You didn’t want to sleep with him. You didn’t want to give up that much of yourself, to fall that deeply into the den of vipers you couldn’t seem to claw your way out of. You knew, rationally, that you were already as tainted as you could possibly be, that Diavolo couldn’t possibly touch you in way that was worse than how you touched him, but your heart refused to give up on the idea that you weren’t beyond redemption, just yet.
Surprisingly, Barbatos came to your defense, although you couldn’t say he sounded very empathetic. “Keep your mind out of the gutter,” he said, in a way that implied that this was a subject they’d already discussed in-depth. “You know how hard it can be for fallen angels to adjust.”
“Not every fallen angel. It only took me a decade to make a name for myself.” He’d also made the choice to fall, but you thought better than to say that aloud. “It’s just a matter of getting a taste for it. Let them take the plunge now, before our little prince loses patience.”
You opened your mouth, but anything you might’ve said died on your tongue as the weight of two hands settled on each of your shoulders, as you felt Diavolo press a kiss into your cheek. You bit back a grimace, but the contract was mercifully fleeting, gone as soon as Diavolo straightened his back and directed his attention to the rest of the table. “What am I supposed to be so impatience about, exactly?”
Lucifer was quick to change the topic. “I was starting to think that you’d forgotten about us.”
Rather than turn to Lucifer, his eyes fell back to you. You could feel his stare, awful and adoring, boring into you as he spoke.
“As if I could ever think of anything else.”
~
You found yourself undressed and barely conscious on a golden rug in front of a searing fireplace a few days later.
Your body felt lighter than it should’ve been. In hindsight, you’d had too much to drink to be around another person, let alone underneath one. You’d thought, foolishly, that another sip, another glass, another bottle of wine would help to settle your nerves, to make you seem like an easier conquest than Diavolo would’ve liked, but all it’d done was make you too easy to turn up – prey that’d already been left to bleed by some other conveniently absent predator. It might’ve been your own fault, for assuming Diavolo would show more courtesy to you than you’d ever shown to him. It might’ve been your own fault, for going out of your way to pretend you so genuinely couldn’t tell the difference between cruelty and love.
Ah, speak of the devil and he shall appear. You could hear footsteps somewhere in the muddled distance, make out a song of a hum just above the soft crackling of the fireplace, and then, he was back, settling onto the mess of sheets and pillows beneath you, an overfull goblet in one hand and the other suddenly cupping your cheek. He wore nothing, save for the chokingly tight collar of silver chain you’d wrapped around his neck hours ago. You could remember holding a tether, feel the strip of leather biting into your palm, but you must’ve let go of it at some point. Whatever happened, it was gone now.
Drifting lower, you could see where your nails had cut into his chest, his back, his throat. You might’ve bitten him, too – you could taste something heavy and metallic on your tongue, but it would’ve been impossible to tell if it was his blood or your own. He’d made no attempt to hide your marks, to wash the remaining blood and slick and saliva off his skin. They were filthy creatures, demons. Filthy, and sinful, and undeserving. If you had your way, they’d be left to dwell in their vile hedonism for the rest of time, left alone to their self-indulgent wickedness until they all began to rot. Or, better yet, brought to some great altar built to celebrate their demise, their beating hearts carved out and offered up in repentance. You’d do the butchering yourself, if you had to.
You wanted to dip yourself in a vat of acid. You wanted to bathe in light. You wanted to scream and thrash as Diavolo took your hand, then your wrist, dragging you into a sitting position until you could you had to rely on your own unsteady posture to keep yourself up-right, but you didn’t, didn’t speak, didn’t make a sound as he brought the goblet up to your lips. Sacrament, you thought, as you swallowed down as much of the sweet wine as you could before he took that away from you too, replacing the goblet’s mouth with his own. You didn’t kiss back, didn’t throw yourself against him and beg for his love, his attention, but he pulled away with a satisfied hum. “I think this might be when you’re the most beautiful,” he sighed, cupping your cheek. “In my home, painted with my marks, silhouetted by the firelight…” He let his shoulders drop, and his tone took on a wistful lull. “It’s a breath-taking sight, and you don’t know how much relief it brings me to know that I’ll be the only person to ever see it.”
Your eyes fell to the rug, nearly gaudy in its splendor. You swore to yourself that, if you ever managed to get away from Diavolo, you’d never willingly lay your eyes on a single piece of gold again. “Does…” You started, then trailed off, bowing your head before going on. “Does it ever bother you, knowing I don’t feel the same way?”
You wanted to be more transparent, to say that would never love him, to make it clear that all you’d ever try to do was hurt him, but even to your loathing-addled mind, the words sounded too harsh, too cutting with too little to gain from choking them out of your sore throat and past your bruised lips. Then again, what you actually managed to say didn’t seem to hurt him enough – his smile only taking on a softer note as he leaned forward, letting his lips ghost over your forehead. “Sometimes,” he admitted, with less strain than you’d expected. Less strain than you’d known you were looking for, before he responded so easily. “But not often. Not at all, when I have you with me.” He paused, brightened. “Do you think you’ll ever be able to love me?”
He was better than you. He was stronger than you.
You couldn’t bring yourself to say anything at all.
~
You rarely said anything to Diavolo at all, anymore.
Not that he minded. It was the shape of you by his side that he liked, more than anything – the feeling of your eyes on him, the awareness that if you were on top of him, you couldn’t be anywhere else, with anyone else. He was kind enough to explain his obsession in more depth after you first summoned the courage to ask, to tell you about his possessive urges as you raked a barbed whip across his back, to recount the names of those he’d rather die than lose you to in gasped breaths while you forced his head into a vat of holy water. There was sex, sometimes, when you thought you could stomach it, when it seemed like your usual pastimes wouldn’t be enough to stop him from resorting to less mutual shows of affection. You were more distant on those days than most.
You were more distant today than you’d ever been before. It was almost like ascension, astral projection – you couldn’t recall ever feeling so totally disconnected, only vaguely aware of the gentle throbbing in your cunt, the heat dripping down the inside of your thighs, the feeling of Diavolo’s teeth burrowed into your shoulder. You’d been lax in your preparation, too strung-out to really care if he got away. His ankles were unrestrained, his wrists bound behind his back with little more than a length of bronze cord embedded with thorns, not unsimilar to those you’d find in his beloved garden. They were strong enough to cut into his skin, sturdy enough to tear when he thrashed, and if you were more yourself, you might’ve been able to admire the craftsmanship, the thought that must’ve gone into each and every pinprick of suffering. You weren’t, though, and you couldn’t really bring yourself to appreciate much of anything.
He was making those sounds, again. Even in the face of your vow of silence, he was so fucking noisy – always whimpering or whining or moaning unabashedly while you dragged the blade of your dagger up the length of his spine, dispassionately watching skin split open and hot, crimson blood trail down his arched back. There was a raspy groan, a pair of pointed canines lodged that much deeper into your flesh, then you felt his cock twitch inside of you, still hard despite your motionlessness. It’d been months since the last time he let you take someone else apart, make someone cry in agony without having to listen for something less wholesome playing underneath the surface. If it hadn’t been for the raised lash-marks across his chest and thighs, the feeling of his blood washing over your skin, you’d be tempted to think you were the one being tortured.
With a half-swallowed sigh, you rolled your hips against him, letting your eyes fall shut and total, absolute numbness wash over you in heavy waves. It would’ve been a valuable skill to have a few hundred years ago, when you were constantly being reprimanded by your higher-ups for not being able to remain as stoic as your fellow acolytes, for caring too much about the responsibilities they’d assigned to you minutes after you came into existence. It was hypocrisy, bold and shameless. No one batted an eye when Simeon exorcised a small army’s worth of demons, when Micheal took to the human world with plagues of locusts and rivers of blood, but you were punished for believing what you’d been told, for holding yourself too close to the holy light. For doing your job and doing it well.
Diavolo drifted, drawing back just far enough to bury his face in the side of your neck, to press himself so suffocatingly close to you. You felt the ghost of a hand on the small of your back, lips ghosting over the shell of your ear as a softened voice whispered platitudes of family and forgiveness and virtue, as it offered hollow promises of prayer and purification and, worst of all, love. He said you’d be able to go home, one day, after your penance in the shadows, after you realized how lucky you were to serve in such a benevolent cause. He promised he would bring you home.
Diavolo tilted his head back, his dark eyes meeting yours for the first time since you’d gotten him underneath you, and something in the hollow, frigid depth of your chest cracked open. There was nothing graceful in the way you drew your knife back, nothing purposeful in the way you drove it into his chest. You pictured vital veins and arteries, listed off organs even a demon wouldn’t be able to live without, but all planning and precision was lost in favor of driving your blade into him with wild abandon, plunging your knife into anything you could reach and twisting – turning anything you touched to viscera. Tissue was torn to gory ribbons, muscle diced and shredded, his skin soon little more than a failing barrier between you and what you were trying so desperately to tear out of him. You bounced on his cock as you worked, ignoring the way it throbbed against the walls of your cunt as you dedicated yourself to your task. When your dagger had outlasted its usefulness, you dropped it and took to using your own wretched, unforgivable hands. You found the spines of his ribs easily, tore through them with only the slightest amount of strain. You only noticed Diavolo was moving when you started to push into his diaphragm, his arms straining against his restraints as he thrashed beneath you – trying to free himself, or knock you away, or do something that stopped you from getting what you wanted. From hurting him in a way he couldn’t get off on. From letting you ever return to the paradise you deserved, the paradise you were owed.
His teeth burrowed into your jugular. He wasn’t trying to mark you, anymore – he wanted to end you before you ended him, to survive longer than you planned to let him. It wasn’t enough, though. You swallowed down the pain, muttering prayers under your breath as you surged forward and taking hold of the pulsing muscle in his chest. You felt something hot and awful flood into your pussy – a bodily reflex, you figured, although you’d start to doubt that in the near-future – but ignored the filth flooding into your veins, forced yourself to focus on taking hold of his beating heart and tearing it free from its restraints, from its bondage. Cupped in your palms, you carried it out of your chest with all the love and all the care of a midwife bringing life into the world, and finally, finally, finally, Diavolo went limp underneath you, lips parted and form limp. You let out a sob of relief, dragging yourself away from his unmoving body and onto the cold, stone floor; your legs giving out seconds later and leaving you in a crumpled heap, as useless as you’d always been.
Tears streaming down your cheeks, you brought Diavolo’s heart to your lips and swallowed it whole, its warmth lingering on your tongue for seconds. Then, you pulled your legs against your chest, buried your face in your knees, and started to cry.
You were allowed to dwell in your misery for one blissful, liberating second before that was brought to an end, too. “My love?”
You didn’t move. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. It was just another ghost sent to haunt you, another punishment for letting yourself think of anything but your orders, your responsibilities. When you heard metal snap, when you felt a hand on your shoulder, you only curled deeper into yourself, digging your nails into your thighs as something bloody and blasphemous settled beside you. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to cry.” You wished you still had your wings, something to curl around yourself. You wished you could feel the sunlight again. “Was I not convincing enough? We can try again, if you’d like.”
You wished you could be anywhere but here. “Get away from me.”
“Having one of your little episodes again?” He worked a hand under your chin, forcing you to tilt your head back. His chest was still covered in blood, flecked with bits and pieces of himself, but you couldn’t make out a trace of the gaping wound you must have inflected onto him, couldn’t seem to put what you were looking at together with what you’d just done. It was a visible untruth your mind just couldn’t seem to make sense of, an unignorable mistake in the fabric of reality that no amount of staring could correct. Diavolo sighed wistfully, the noise heavy with tender affection, and his hands fell to your waist, hauling you onto his lap as he’d done so many times before.
You could still taste the bitter meat of his heart on your tongue, still feel the mass of muscle and sinew lodged in your throat, and yet, as your head settled against his chest, you were met with that tell-tale beating, as strong and as steady as it’d ever been. As if you hadn’t accomplished anything. As if you hadn’t done anything at all. “You’re a handful,” he said, pressing a shallow kiss into your temple. “But you’re mine.”
He dipped lower, moved to kiss you, but you weren’t willing to wait as long as it would’ve taken him to reach you. With jerky, erratic movements, you shifted onto your knees, strung your arms around his neck, forced your mouth against his before he could do the same to you. There was a startled sound, a tightened hold on your waist, but Diavolo melted into your sudden affection quickly enough. Your skin crawled, your thoughts spiraling, but you didn’t care. You weren’t sure you’d ever care about anything again.
You’d already been forced out of paradise, tainted beyond redemption and stripped of any hope of returning to the light.
The least you deserved was to enjoy your eternity in the darkness.
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s-telar · 2 years
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♡ . . bios matching with long locs ( eng. ver. )
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͏ ͏͏ ☆ ᆽ 𝗂𝗇 : 𝖼𝖺︪︩𝗇𝗂𝗌 𝗆𝖺︪︩𝗃𝗈𝗋
I like to look at sirius and think about how his glow compares to the intense twinkle in his eyes when he sees something he loves so much, idol.
 ⠀⠀
͏ ͏͏ ᘍ છ ᯇ 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝗺𝗶𝗰 !
♡ you're completely made of cosmic dust and you're so wonderful it can't be real, did you know, idol?
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
ㅤㅤ ƒꙆorιᧉ &⠀ɑꭑour › 장미
✿   ꒱ is that I would planetary a thousand red roses and create a big secret garden to show you the immensity of my love for you, idol.
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
𖥻 𝚋𝚢(𝚎) ♡ ᯇ 나의 처음 !
please don't leave me alone, i thought this was my home and I'm scared of what I might do If I let myself want you.
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
ఇ 1998, my camera roll ਏਓ .゚
I can't get tired of looking at the tape I made of you smiling and with your hair in the wind in the summer of 1998, idol
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just-mint-to-be · 4 months
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Yandere! Coriolanus Snow Headcanons
⚘ ⚘ ⚘
A/N: i could fix him or tbh, make him 100x worse. Not sure. Both are interesting concepts. Anyway…
- Coriolanus doesn’t humour failure; like a cancer, he cuts it out the very moment signs start to show. It was the only way to prevent it from spreading, from poisoning his pride and scarring his ledger.
- So, naturally, it was a marriage of ‘convenience’ that had you bound to him the second he began to fixate upon you. It was a term often used for affairs concerning money, status but for once, that was not his objective.
- It would just simply be inconvenient, for you, for anyone you cared about or anything that stood in his way should he have to yearn for you without resolve.
- With a charming, articulate speech and shake of the hand, you were good as signed away to him in a single evening.
- A childhood of privilege branded him with certain entitled intolerances; your kind, body and soul are for him only, there’s nothing to be gained from trying to share them. A moment without you tucked away at home, a moment spent arguing about pointless insistences of him being overly possessive or a moment where you dare to plea for the safety of scum he plans to dispose of.
- You’re wasting your time fretting about such things, you don’t surely think anyone but him has control here do you? Do you?
- Until the day comes when you truly give into him and learn to feel the same way, Coriolanus has his means of keeping you in check. Jabberjays that spy, peacekeepers that guard and an entire legion of torture methods designed specifically for someone you love about should you forget your place.
- Maybe you’ll grow used to his demands and rules. A mansion, daily gifts of fragrant white roses and anything material you could dream of might make it easier in the long run. He wants you happy, he wants you to love him- at its core, such is the motivation of his every move.
- You’d be wise not to be too visibly upset, for he does not see his actions as the cause of your unhappiness, but a remedy. He’ll merely grow stricter, more dedicated and obsessed with you.
- You were given the diminutive nickname of rose. More comparable to a scarlet bloom at first; fiery, plucked from the wilds and left to the often impure influence of nature. But he would soon have you more like the pale ones in his garden; pure and moulded to perfection, a product entirely of his design and adoration.
- ‘You are perfect,’ he’ll smile, as if stating an appraisal instead of another of his unwanted advances, ‘because you’re mine.’
NSFW
- If you think there’s ever a time where he’s anything but dominant, you’re delusional.
- In fact, challenging him in any way is a sure means of spending a night face down in the sheets.
- A simple ‘no’ is enough to rile him up; be thankful he’s chosen a form of apology that could be fun for both of you if you’d just take it.
- If you’re able to fall pregnant, he’ll be knocking you up before you’re even fully peeled out of your wedding day attire.
- He might even go as far as having you ‘perform’ for him, the sole purpose of ensuring he knows exactly how and where you long to be touched. The idea that your own hands could outperform him is absurd, something he longs to prove time and time again.
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parkerslatte · 5 months
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Broken Fence
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Azriel x Fem!Reader
Word Count: 4.2k
Warnings: angst. major character death.
Summary: Humans only have a short lifespan compared to the fae and unfortunately for Azriel he had fallen in love with one.
A Court of Thorns and Roses Masterlist
•••
The door slammed open as Azriel burst into Rhys’s office, tears streaming down his face and sobs echoing throughout the room. Rhys and Cassian looked toward their brother and rushed over to him. In the centuries they had known Azriel, they had never seen him this hysterical. As Azriel collapsed to the floor, Rhys fell down with him, pulling the shadowsinger into his arms. Cassian placed his hands on Azriel’s shoulders gently. 
“Az, what happened?” asked Cassian. 
The sobs coming from Azriel only increase as he clutches onto Rhys, trying his best to ground himself. Rhys and Cassian share a look of questioning, neither of the two knew what would have happened. 
“Azriel,” Cassian spoke softly. “Please tell us what happened.”
Azriel’s gaze finally met Cassian’s, his eyes full of tears and Cassian’s heart broke just looking at him. 
“She’s- she’s dead,” Azriel forced out before more guttural sobs came from him. 
“Az, who’s dead,” Rhys asked, tightening his grip on the shadowsinger. 
Azriel pulled away from Rhys and slumped forward, pushing his brothers away. His breath was ragged and he could barely see in front of him as the tears in his eyes clouded his vision. 
In his whole life, Azriel had never felt this type of pain. His heart was shattered and scattered where he would never be able to find them. In the matter of hours, Azriel had gone from the happiest male in the world to the saddest. The agony he felt was unbearable. Azriel had survived wars and torture but this was still the most pain he had ever felt. 
Azriel placed his hand over his heart, it hammered in his chest. Rhys and Cassian remained standing behind him giving him as much space as they could. 
“Y/N,” Azriel finally spoke. “She died.”
“Whose Y/N?” Rhys asked. 
“She—“ Azriel cut himself off as another sob forced itself out of him. “She was mine and I— I was hers. I love her so much.”
Cassian stepped up to Azriel and placed his hand on his shoulder once more. This time Azriel didn’t try to pull away. Rhys came up behind Azriel and stood next to him, offering him the same comfort as Cassian. 
“How did she die?” Rhys asked. 
Azriel was silent. He leaned into his brothers’ touch, seeking as much comfort as he could. “Old age,” he finally answered. “She was seventy-one.”
Only an hour before, Azriel had clutched onto hers as she took her final breaths. The slackening of her grip made Azriel’s heart drop as soon as he felt it. He had smoothed her hair out of her face as she closed her eyes for the final time. She looked older than when he had met her when she was twenty-six but that glimmer in her eyes remained. 
“She was human,” Azriel began. His sobs had slowly subsided and now his cries were quiet as he spoke. “I met her forty five years ago. It’s where I always disappear every night.”
Rhys guided Azriel to sit down. His wings were dragging across the floor, he didn’t care enough to pick them up. 
“How did you two meet?” Cassian asked. 
Azriel let out a breath. “You sent me on a mission to the human lands when an ash arrow was shot at my wing.”
“You never told me that!” Rhys exclaimed. 
Azriel shrugged. “It wasn’t important.” Azriel wiped away the tears that had dried on his cheeks. “I fell into Y/N’s garden, I ruined her fence.”
Despite the way he was feeling he couldn’t help but smile at the memory. 
***
As soon as he hit the ground, Azriel groaned in pain. It was late at night so Azriel thought that he would have been safe flying over the mortal lands. Apparently not. Heaving his body from the ground, Azriel stood on his feet. His left wing hung limply beside him. Every movement sent a sharp pain through it. 
As his focus shifted from his injuries— which consisted of his wing and his arm which had broken from his landing— Azriel had failed to notice where he had crash landed. 
“Who the hell are you!” A woman's voice echoed through the night air. 
Azriel spun around and noticed a woman in her mid twenties standing with a small wooden beam in her hands. She held it defensively in front of her though she looked as if she would throw it at any point. 
Azriel held his hands up in defence, although with some effort considering the pain in his arm. “I’m not a threat.”
“You’re not human,” the woman said. “Why are you here?”
“I was flying over the mortal lands and I was shot by an ash arrow,” Azriel explained. “I can leave as soon as I get the arrow out.”
The woman took a step closer, her eyes full of uncertainty. “Does it hurt?”
Azriel grunted as he tried to move his wing. The arrow was in a place he couldn’t reach. “Yes.”
The woman took one more step closer. Her eyes glanced at his arm and down to the arrow in his wing. “Aren’t you meant to be fast at healing?”
“The arrow slows that process down,” Azriel said. “As soon as it is out, I can be on my way.”
“You broke my fence,” the woman stated. 
Azriel looked over at the fence he had fallen on. “I apologise.”
The woman dropped the wooden beam, sensing that Azriel wasn’t a threat. “Do you want to come inside? I can help you with…that.”
Azriel looked taken back for a moment. “What?”
The woman rolled her eyes. “I asked you if you wanted to come in. I can help you with your injuries.”
Azriel lowered his head. “I would appreciate it.”
The woman turned on her heel and walked back to her house. “Come on then.”
Obediently, Azriel followed. He ducked through her doorway and shut the door behind him. The cottage was small but homely. There was a fire roaring and the woman walked over to the kitchen area, moving a stool out from under the table. 
“Sit,” The woman said. 
Azriel sat down on the stool and sighed, relieved to get off his feet. 
“How do I go about this?” The woman asked. 
Azriel finally looked at her in the lighting and his breathing hitched in his throat. The woman standing before him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. 
“What’s your name?” Azriel asked, his voice soft. 
“Y/N,” she said. 
“Y/N,” Azriel repeated. The name sounded beautiful on his tongue.
“Don’t wear it out,” Y/N said, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “Now, how do I…y’know?”
Y/N gestured to the arrow in his wing. 
“Oh,” said Azriel, raising his wing the smallest amount, pain shooting through him. “Make sure you pull it straight or it will cause more damage.”
“Okay,” Y/N breathed, suddenly nervous. 
Azriel watched as she kneeled down by the arrow and glided her fingers over his wing. Azriel flinched and Y/N jumped back. 
“I’m sorry!” She exclaimed, wide-eyed. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” Azriel said. “My wings are just sensitive. Sorry I scared you.”
Y/N only offered him a nod before shuffling closer to his wing. Her fingers gently touched the area next to the arrow. This time Azriel didn’t flinch but breathed out through his teeth. 
“Okay, just pull it straight through,” Y/N muttered to herself. 
Azriel glanced down at her and watched her expressions change as she hyped herself up to pull the arrow from his wing. Her hand was already on the arrow and his blood was soaking into her hands. Despite the way he was feeling, Azriel was shocked. He would guess that any other mortal would easily shy away from him or happily kill him– and one of those options was already attempted. 
“I’m sorry if this hurts,” Y/N said.
She wrapped her hand around the arrow head and quickly pulled it through his wing. Azriel grunted in pain and Y/N simply pressed a bandage to the wound to clear the blood away. As Y/N continued to wipe all of the blood away, Azriel could hear her heartbeat increase. 
“Are you scared of me?” Azriel asked, his voice soft. 
Y/N looked up at him, stilling her movements. “No, I’m not. I’m just worried I hurt you.”
Azriel’s eyes softened. “You didn’t hurt me.”
Y/N offered him a small smile. “Good.”
Y/N rose to her feet and Azriel tracked her movements. She moved with a certain grace that Azriel had never seen before and he found it hard to tear his eyes away. 
“What is your name?” Y/N asked, sitting in the seat beside Azriel. 
“What?” Azriel questioned, snapping out of his trance. 
“Your name,” said Y/N, amusement shining in her eyes. “You never told me.”
“Azriel,” he said. “My name is Azriel.”
Y/N nodded before rising from the chair she was sitting in. For the first time since he had entered her home, Azriel looked away from Y/N and down to his arm. It was slowly beginning to heal. 
“It is truly fascinating how fast you heal,” Y/N commented. “I broke my arm when I was just ten years old, it only took six weeks to heal but it felt like it was much longer for me.”
Azriel offered her a nod and flexed his fingers, there was a dull ache– nothing he couldn’t handle. His wing still hurt but as he raised it from where it had rested limply behind him, he found that he would have the strength to fly. From where she now stood in the kitchen area, Y/N glanced at Azriel out of the corner of her eyes, her eyes focused on his wings. She didn’t seem to be afraid at all– she looked fascinated. 
In his entire three-hundred and twenty years of living, Azriel had never seen a human take such an interest in him before, at least an interest that didn’t cause him direct harm. Azriel enjoyed it. 
“How do you feel when flying?” Y/N asked, spinning around. “I mean, how is it? Is it scary being so high up? I always wanted to fly when I was younger. I was convinced that I had a secret power to fly so I jumped from the roof of the house. It’s how I broke my arm.”
Azriel couldn’t help but let a quiet laugh pass by his lips. He didn’t intend for it to slip past but from the way Y/N’s face lit up when she heard it, he was glad he let it slip past. “I can show you.”
Her eyes widened. “No, I couldn’t possibly accept that. You are injured.”
Azriel stretched his wing. “I’ve handled worse.”
Y/N took a small step forward as Azriel held out his hand. She looked down at it and Azriel had the urge to pull his hand away once her gaze became focused on his scars. Before he could even begin to, Y/N clasped her soft hand in his. “Only if this doesn’t hurt you,” she said.
Azriel clasped her hand in his, savouring the feeling of her skin. “I assure you, I will be fine.”
With their hands linked together, Azriel led her outside. Y/N looked nervous as she looked to the sky. 
“Having second thoughts?” Azriel questioned, a hit of teasing laced his tone.
“No!” Y/N exclaimed. “It’s just a bit high, isn’t it?”
Azriel chuckled and Y/N smiled. “What?” she asked.
If Azriel could have a portrait of her smiling face he would. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.
“Nothing,” Azriel said, simply smiling down at her. 
Y/N shook her head, and looked down to the ground, her smile never faltering. 
“Are you still sure about this?” Azriel asked. 
“Yes,” Y/N replied. “Just…don’t drop me.”
Azriel squeezed her hand. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
With a quick movement, Azriel sweeped Y/N from her feet and she let out a noise of surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I wasn’t ready!” she exclaimed.
Azriel turned his head to look at her and he immediately found that it was a mistake. Her breath fanned his face as his eyes met hers, faces only inches apart. Up close, Azriel could make out the colour of her eyes and the dark lashes that framed them. Azriel couldn’t help himself as he let his eyes glide down her face. Her lips were slightly parted and Azriel couldn’t help but fixate on them. They looked soft and he desperately wanted to test his theory. 
Before he could even think about leaning closer, he cleared his throat. As he spoke his voice was quiet. “I will need to stay away from the town or anywhere that we are likely to be spotted.”
“That’s fine,” Y/N replied, breathless. 
“Hold on tight.”
It was all Azriel said as he shot off into the sky. The pain in his wing was mostly gone, all that remained was a slight pain whenever he flapped his wings to soar higher into the sky. As soon as Azriel shot off, Y/N’s arms tightened around his neck and her head buried in his shoulder, eyes closed tight. Azriel tightened his grip on her as he flew through the sky, making sure to avoid anywhere that he would endanger Y/N. 
“You can look,” Azriel said. “You do have quite a view.”
Azriel felt Y/N let out a breath and pull her head from where it was buried in his shoulder and immediately looked down. As soon as she saw how high they were, her face was once again nestled in Azriel’s shoulder. 
“Don’t look down,” Azriel said, his voice gentle and encouraging. “Look at me.”
Y/N pulled her face away slowly, her gaze meeting Azriel’s. As soon as their eyes met, Azriel smiled. He couldn’t help himself. Once Y/N was used to the thought of being so high in the sky, her gaze left Azriel’s as she looked out and a gasp left her lips. 
“It’s beautiful,” Y/N whispered, her eyes darting across everything she saw. The twinkle of lights from the town, the stars in the sky and the moon, which was full and in her direct eyeline. 
“I know,” Azriel said, though he wasn’t looking at the view. He was looking at Y/N.
Everything in Azriel told him to simply fly her back to her house and leave her. Thinking about her the way he was would only cause problems, mainly for him. Her lifespan was limited, if he became too attached she would only become a small fraction of his immortal life. 
But Azriel couldn’t help himself. To him, she was the most beautiful being in the world. The moonlight shone on her face as she looked at the view around her, her gaze never focusing on one thing for too long, not wanting to miss anything. 
“You do this everyday?” Y/N questioned. “It’s incredible.”
The sounds of her melodic voice snapped Azriel out of his thoughts as he looked at where they were flying, closer to the village. “We should go back now, I wish not to be seen again.”
Y/N’s gaze looked at the moon once more before she nodded. 
It wasn’t long before Azriel had landed back in Y/N’s garden. He set Y/N down on her feet gently and looked down at her. Her hair was windswept but she was still gorgeous. 
The smile on her face was bright as she looked up at Azriel. “That was amazing! I can’t believe I was flying!”
“Technically you weren’t flying,” Azriel teased.
Y/N gently hit his arm. “I was up in that sky, so I was flying.”
Azriel rolled his eyes playfully. 
“Thank you, Azriel,” Y/N said, her hand caressing his hand. “Truly, that was the most incredible thing I have ever done.”
“I’m glad you trusted me,” Azriel replied. 
As they stood there in the middle of the garden with the ruined fence, Y/N reached up and threw her arms around his shoulders. Shocked, Azriel remained still, not anticipating the affectionate gesture. Her body was warm and welcoming against him. He enjoyed the feeling immensely. 
Just as Y/N was about to pull away, Azriel’s arms found their place around her waist and held her tightly, though not enough to injure her human body. 
“I didn’t pin you for much of a hugger,” Y/N commented, her voice muffled against his shoulder. 
“I’m not,” Azriel replied, lifting her from her feet with ease.
Y/N legs wrapped around his waist as Azriel buried his head in the crook of her neck. 
“You bring something out of me,” said Azriel. His lips brushed against her neck which caused a shiver to go down Y/N’s spine. “I can’t explain it.”
Y/N unwrapped her legs from around him and Azriel set her on her feet but Y/N didn’t pull away– not fully. “Are you leaving?”
Azriel sighed. He didn’t want to, but he knew he couldn’t stay. “I am.”
“Will you come back?” Y/N asked, her eyes, although sad, were full of hope.
Azriel knew that it was a bad idea. He could never be with a human but with Y/N, he had never felt so carefree and at ease before. Her touch alone did things to him that no other touch had. 
“I will return,” Azriel said. “I can’t leave you when I haven’t even flown you when there is a sunset.”
Y/N smiled. “When? I don’t want it to be when I am old and grey.”
There was a small stab to Azriel’s heart at the thought of Y/N ageing when he wouldn’t but he brushed it off. “Tomorrow?”
Y/N brightened. “Really? You will really come back?”
Azriel cupped her cheeks. “You couldn’t keep me away.”
Y/N hands held onto his wrists. “I will be waiting.”
His thumb brushed across her cheek. “I will be here as soon as I can.”
“You better,” Y/N said. “And you better be good with your hands because I expect you to fix my fence.”
Azriel laughed, not not bothering to hide his amusement. “Is that all you want me for? You rebuild your garden decoration.”
“And to fly me around,” Y/N replied. “Why else would I need you?”
“I can think of a few things,” Azriel whispered and watched as Y/N looked to the floor flustered. 
Azriel smiled fondly at Y/N as he tilted her chin up. “I will return tomorrow, Y/N.”
Their lips touched and before Y/N could process exactly what was happening, Azriel had pulled away, a smug smile on his face. He stepped back and Y/N gaped at him.
“You can’t just do that and then leave!” Y/N exclaimed. 
“Why? I thought you only wanted me for construction and flying?” 
Y/N rolled her eyes before she marched up to Azriel and tugged him down until their lips crashed together. Y/N took the lead in the kiss, and Azriel allowed her. Her lips were soft and Azriel needed more of her. He needed to feel those lips everywhere on his body. 
Before Azriel could wrap his arms around her and pull her body against his, Y/N pulled away. A smug smile now on her face. 
“I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, Azriel,” Y/N said, stepping back. 
It was Azriel’s turn to gape at her and Y/N only laughed, a sound Azriel wished to hear again and again and again. 
“Maybe if you build my fence well, I’ll let you continue that,” Y/N said. 
Azriel smirked. “I will build that fence so that it outshines every other fence ever built.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Azriel,” Y/N said before turning her back to him and walked back into the warmth of her house.
Azriel waited until she closed the door before shooting to the sky to fly back home– a bright smile on his face. 
***
“I went back nearly every night,” Azriel said. “Any free time I had, I spent with her. We could never make it official but she had bought us rings. She said that despite the fact that we couldn't get married, she wanted to call me her husband.”
Azriel pulled a chain from around his neck, a simple gold band threaded on it, next to it a ring with a simple gen in the middle, the exact colour of Azriel’s siphons. Y/N had urged Azriel to take it before she passed. 
“I called her my wife for forty-four years,” Azriel explained.
“Why did you never tell us?” Rhys asked. “You could have brought her here, I would have protected her.”
Azriel shook his head. “I didn’t want to take any risk. I would happily risk my safety to keep crossing into the mortal lands but I would never risk hers.”
Azriel looked down at the rings on the chain and more tears welled in his eyes. It was the first time he had seen her ring off her finger since he had slipped it on. “I miss her. I really miss her.”
Cassian simply wrapped his arm around his brother and let him let out the tears. 
“I tried to convince myself not to get too attached to her,” Azriel said. “I really tried but the more I tried to force myself to leave, the more I began to fall in love with her. She was so easy to love.”
Rhys smiled sadly at his brother. “I wish we could have met her.”
“You would have loved her,” Azriel replied, he hadn’t torn his gaze away from the two rings. “Can I be alone for a moment?”
Cassian simply shared a look with Rhys and the two offered Azriel a squeeze of support before standing to their feet and leaving the room. Azriel remained in silence.
Tears fell down his cheeks as he pressed her ring to his lips, kissing it just as he had before he placed it on her finger. It hadn’t been long since Y/N had passed, yet Azriel dreaded everything that came after. He dreaded waking up in the mornings and not being able to pull her close to him. The left side of the bed would always be cold. 
Azriel clutched the two rings in his fist and cried silently. He would never hear her laugh or see her smile, always so bright it lit up any room. He would never wrap his arms and wings around her whenever she was having a bad day and he would never feel the comfort of her arms around him whenever he was feeling down. 
As the tears fell, Azriel swore he felt a hand caress his cheek. His eyes remained closed but as he felt another caress he opened them, his vision slightly blurred by the tears. However, through them he could still make out a faint figure. 
It was Y/N, looking the same as the day they met. 
“Y/N…” Azriel whispered as he tried to reach out but his hand fell though empty air. 
Y/N’s soft smile graced her face as she simply leaned forward and pressed her lips against her forehead. Azriel could barely feel it but he would recognise her kiss anywhere. He savoured it, knowing that it was the last time he would ever feel it. 
As she pulled away Azriel watched as she faded more and more, the sun shining through the window rendering her practically invisible but Azriel could still make out her face. A face that he would never forget. 
“I love you.”
Her voice was barely a whisper and it sounded like it was coming from all directions at once. 
“I love you too,” Azriel replied. “I love you and I always will.”
The same bright smile Azriel loved spread across her face as she blew him a kiss before she completely disappeared. Azriel’s eyes remained on where she had stood. He still couldn’t figure out if she was real or if it was just a figment of his imagination. But those touched felt real. 
Azriel looked back at the two rings on the chain. He slid his own from it. He had never been able to wear it when he wasn’t with Y/N. With his job at the Night Court, he never wanted any potential enemies to find out about her. But now…now he could freely wear it. Azriel slipped his own ring onto his finger and smiled. It felt right. 
He pressed one final kiss to Y/N’s before he tucked it back under his shirt, feeling the cool metal press against his chest, just over his heart. 
Azriel wiped the tears from his face and let out a deep breath before exiting Rhys’s office, seeking out the comfort of his brothers. With time he knew that he would be okay, he didn’t know if that would be in ten years or a hundred years but he knew that one day he would be okay. 
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gyeomsweetgyeom · 1 month
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[9:02 pm]
(cw: f!reader)
a/n: this is set in a very vague time period, (in my head it is like 14/15th century but it’s really not evident) pls keep in mind I haven’t interacted with any Romeo and Juliet content since I was like 13 but I still kind of like how this came out
Romeo!Haechan was more than happy that this party was a masquerade party. If anyone in this house knew that it was him that was hidden behind the gold-trim mask, they would surely have his head. He’d have been dead before the sun had a chance to rise again.
He rather preferred to stay on the wall, somewhat hidden by the shadows of the large stone pillars of the ballroom. Yes, to stay out of the eyes of those who would kill him, but more so to watch the rest of the party goers.
His eyes scanned over the crowd. A large sea of fancy masks, even fancier dresses, and very few familiar features. He was starting to wonder where his friends had disappeared to. Surely they were causing trouble somewhere, it was better that he stayed away from them tonight. Just his last name was enough to make half the guests in this ballroom pull their swords and chase him through the streets. The hatred was never something he’d questioned just something he went along with.
He was deep in thought, trying to remember how the drama between his family and those that threw the party had even started, but his thoughts stopped seeing that you had crossed his eye sight.
It was like you made everything around you more vibrant, the torches on the walls burned brighter, and every beautiful girl he’d ever seen before you immediately paled in comparison. His breathing became shallow and his heartbeat sped up with pure excitement.
He moved along the walls with precision, following you through the crowd until he suddenly realized you were both outside. A garden filled with sweet scented roses almost as beautiful as you.
You tugged the bow of your mask from the back of your head, sighing and taking a seat in a small bench below a big tree.
“Excuse my intrusion, I just had to let you know how beautiful you look,” Haechan stated.
You flinched, startled at the unexpected guest, “oh, thank you. I’m sure if I could see your face I’d be able to say the same.”
Haechan pulled the mask from his face, apprehensively hoping you weren’t one of the many people at this house who hated him because of his last name. You smiled softly, “you are handsome indeed.”
“It is nothing compared to your beauty. I am Haechan, it is so wonderful to meet a beauty such as yourself,” he returned your smile with his hand held out.
You told him your name as you shook his hand. A spark of electricity runs down your spine, goosebumps covering every part of your exposed skin. It looked like Haechan felt it too, his eyes widened minimally.
No one had ever made you feel like this upon first meeting. Haechan was very clearly special. He was making you feel all new feelings, an excitement to see him again even though he was still right in front of you. A yearning for him before he’d even left your eyesight.
“Donghyuck! That better not be you!” An angry voice called out.
Haechan looked panicked, “I’ll see you again soon. I promise, my heart is already with you.”
You tightened your hold on his hand, holding on until he disappeared into the garden. Your hand lingered with the warmth of his touch. You hoped he would keep his promise.
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Note
Hello, saw your posts about RWBY Characters' Allusions. A question, does team rwby have another character allusion?
A lot of characters have more than one allusion, and team RWBY is no different. These allusions often have a character fill a complementary role of a significant figure in another fairy tale.
Let's start with Ruby Rose. She is of course Little Red, but there are also other characters she embodies. The Wolf in the story is known for his big & shiny eyes, a very notable feature of Ruby (that was pointed out by Ozpin in the first episode, just like the fairy tale). She is also her own huntsman, equip with an "axe" weapon of her own.
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Weiss Schnee is Snow White, but also takes other roles of the story based on her summons. Her Boartusk represents the huntsman, who killed a boar to spare the princess. Her Knight represents the noble prince who saves her. Her Queen Lancer represents the Evil Queen who plagues her. Weiss seems to take after the Evil Queen the most, with her friends often referring to her as "Ice Queen".
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After reading those first two, you can probably now understand why Blake is based on both Beauty & the Beast. She has Belle's beauty, part of her name, her love for books, her relationship to "Adam" and her tendency to run away. But like the Beast, she has animal traits that she hides, is haunted by a rose, prefers living in isolation, and eventually falls in love with a human girl. She is often seen in Forever Fall, a forest with wilting red flowers, representing the wilting rose that curses the Beast.
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Yang is Goldilocks with her destructive nature & yellow hair, but can also be seen as Baby Bear, the child of the Papa (Taiyang, blue eyes) & Mama (Raven, red eyes), resulting in Yang being a mix of both (purple eyes). Each parent compares Yang to the other, and she learns to embrace the good and bad traits of both in order to become "just right".
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The tale of Rose Red & Snow White, two young girls based on Little Red & Snow White, can be the inspiration for the partnership between Ruby & Weiss. The two were sisters, which is represented by the ever-growing bond between Ruby & Weiss. Weiss's fairy tale, Snow White, could also be the reason for Ruby's theme, Red Like Roses, which is how the Evil Queen described how red she wants her lips in the original tale (in some stories she compares it to blood in the snow, both line up perfectly with the Red Trailer & Players & Pieces).
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Weiss also represents the story of the Snow Queen. She is called Ice Queen. She has a male companion (Kai/Whitley) who is cold, distant, & rude. She sets off to find the Snow Queen (Winter) in V5, during her trip she meets a talking corvid (Raven) & a robber maiden (Vernal). Weiss also gets pierced by evil glass like Gerda.
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Gerda’s most cherished memories is being young playing in the rose gardens with her friend. They shared many happy memories here. This rose garden takes the embodiment of Ruby Rose, who befriends Weiss & takes her on adventures. Weiss reminisces about Ruby in V4 after the attack on Beacon, missing the days when they had fun together. A frozen rose garden is seen in Weiss Character Short, representing her longing for Ruby (innocence, fun, freedom).
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Blake & Yang have so many allusions when it comes to their relationship. Start with Beauty and Beast. Blake already shows traits of both Belle & the Beast, but Yang does as well. Her affiliation with yellow, adventure, bright energy, & beauty is reminiscent of Belle. The Red Trailer even directly ties her with Blake, calling her the beauty to her beast. Yet Yang also displays signs of the Beast, most notably her behavior when she is angry. She sparks fire red eyes similar to the monstrous Grimm they fight, and is the most aggressive fighter of the group. She receives an injury on her arm identical to the Beast. Most importantly, she is abandoned by Beauty in V3. This theme of having similar & different traits within one another ties into another dynamic that will be explained later.
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There are two roses that bring them together. They meet through Ruby, the good rose Yang gives to Blake. Adam is the bad rose that Blake tries to keep away from Yang, but he breaks them. Adam starts off as the Beast (Adam) to Blake’s Beauty. Once she leaves him (like the fairy tale) he then embodies the Rose that haunts her. Once he meets Blake’s new partner, he then becomes Gaston & adopts his jealousy. Once Blake & Yang defeat him, they free themselves from the curse and come back to the Good Rose.
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Blake & Yang also represent the Yin & Yang dynamic. We have the darkness (Blake) and the light (Yang), with a little bit of each other in each (matching eyes). Many cultures depict Yin as a tiger (Blake's cat ears) and Yang as a dragon (Xiao Long). The themes of darkness and light has been associated with Blake & Yang since their trailers. Blake engulfs in darkness when she leaves, while Yang brings light when she enters (kind of like their semblances). Scenes with Blake & Yang play with lighting a lot (2x06, 6x01, 9x06), and fights involving them often have them circling around each other or moving across each other, just like the Yin Yang Symbol.
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Team RWBY as a whole also has references. One commonly known reference is the Wizard of Oz crew, with Ruby acting as Dorothy (who had Ruby/Silver slippers). Weiss is the Tin Man who gains heart while the real one loses it (Ironwood), Blake is the Lion who gains courage while the real one loses it (Lionheart), and Yang is the Scarecrow who learns to fight smarter while the real one acts irrationally (Qrow). These four adventurers set off to Beacon (Land of Oz), meet the Wizard (Ozpin), and get their wishes (graduating). They are told to stay on the Yellow Road, but fail.
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The team's respective Remnants also allude to their fairy tales. Ruby sheds roses, representing her red color scheme, her youthful innocence, and the flowers Little Red picks for her grandmother. Weiss sheds snow, representing her white color scheme, her cold attitude, and Snowhite's soft skin that gave her the name. Blake sheds shadows, representing her black color scheme, her dark personality and background, and the Beast condemned to the shadows. Yang sheds fire, representing her yellow color scheme, her bright but scorching personality, and the porridge Goldilocks claimed was "too hot".
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Ruby represents multiple figures from others characters’ allusions. Penny is based on Pinocchio, who wishes on a Shooting Star to be a real human. Ruby, who is often characterized as a small flickering light (literally & figuratively) she represents the star that Penny wishes for & makes her feel human (literally & figuratively).
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2x07 Dance Dance Infiltration is a retelling of the Cinderella story. The maiden is told she needs to return by midnight, puts on a disguise, & goes off. Ruby tracks her, Cinderella enters the stage, the two dance, and she leaves without a trace. Ruby in this case represents the Prince that wants to find the mysterious maiden he danced with the night before. His only clue was her missing glass slipper. Cinder fights with glass, a point Ruby reports to her professors as information to track her down.
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There's a lot more micro references to other fairy tales but these are the most notable for Team RWBY. These references influence how a character is portrayed, how they interact with others, and the actions they take.
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reader and max playing hide and seek with Julia and Finn
It was your husband's turn to countdown while you and the kids hid in the garden, Julia finding her spot by the climbing roses, "my dress is pink so I'll be well hidden - like a disguise", she smirked, happy with her course of action.
"Mama, that spot there is really good, I was the winner when I hid there!", Finn pointed to the area beside the garden shed.
"Thank you, my love - careful with the tree branches, okay", you warned, following his idea for your spot as you watched him climb the small tree - it would be string enough to support him but low enough that falling from there wouldn't be too bad. Still, it was preferential he didn't fall altogether.
Max knew better than to look inside the house - it was sunny out and he was sure you had all stepped out to the garden. Julia was the first one to get caught as she giggled while she saw Max look under the loungers and the sun umbrella, "I spy a little princess in her pink dress", Max sang as the little girl snickered, running up to her father and jumping to his arms.
"I thought it would be a good disguise because the flowers are the same colour as my dress", Julia explained as she showed him the fabric, "that was very clever, Julia", he smiled, kissing her cheek.
A creak from the branches let Max know where your son should be, walking with Julia closer to the tree and finding him, "hey Finn!", Julia giggled.
"You found me! Only mama left to find", Finn smirked, knowing fully well where you were.
Max walked around a little bit more until a specific scent his his nostrils, "I can smell mama's perfume", he blurted, "she can't be too far", he murmured, walking closer to the shed and catching you, "here you are, liefje", Max gasped.
"Papa said he could smell you!", Julia beamed before giggling, jumping to the floor, "it was like that dog in the cartoon when he's looking for his friend!".
"Our daughter just compared you to a dog, Max", you kissed your husband's clothed chest before patting it.
"It's true, though", he brushed your hair away from your eyes and tucked it behind your ears, "I could recognise your scent anywhere", he kissed your forehead.
"Sounds a bit territorial and animalistic, love", you chuckled again.
"You're mine and no one else's, I don't think it's such a bad thing", he assured as Finn pulled on his shorts, "it's my turn to count, you have to go hide!".
(Thank you for sending this in ✨️)
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sprout-fics · 8 months
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Gaz and fem!reader on their wedding day? At a garden or forest of sorts in the English countryside?
Oh I adored this
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“Stop fidgeting.”
Gaz straightens, swallowing thickly on years of posture from his military training. Soap is at his side, voice low so as to not draw attention from the guests sitting in their chairs before them. It’s a perfect spring day in the English countryside, in the manor they’ve chosen for the ceremony with its lush rose garden, carefully manicured with unfurling pastel blossoms.
It should be something out of a fairytale, but Gaz is nervous.
What if he slips up? What if he stutters on his vows? Bloody hell, what if he cries?
His agitation is clear, and he again tells himself it’s only nerves, that there’s no way he wouldn’t go through with this, it’s just all this pomp and circumstance is starting to make him jittery. He feels like he’s under a microscope of the idling guests, his mom with her absurdly green garden hat she insisted on wearing, his two older sisters chatting conspiratorially in the front row. 
“Ghost says he’s got a jeep with half a tank of petrol in the car park if you need an escape route.” Soap mutters as he leans over, noticing Gaz’s bouncing foot.
Gaz frowns severely at his friend, and there’s only a mild sense of guilt in the Scot’s eyes, hidden by mirth.
“That’s not funny.” Gaz forces himself to say sternly, but his best friend can tell how his smile is infectious, and even as he mumbles a ‘Aye, sorry, sorry’ he’s containing a grin all the while. 
“Mind your manners, Soap.” Price says from Johnny’s other side, and the reprimand has the Scot straightening on instinct, hands held behind his back with a small clearing of his throat. Then Price slides his eyes over to his protégé, a brief smile of amusement tugging his lips as Gaz’s vaguely worried expression, but saying nothing.
There’s music then, and it takes a moment for the crowd to rise. The throng of people briefly blocks Gaz’s sight, and he feels Soap likewise stretch beside him to catch a glimpse of the bride walking down the path towards the altar. There’s a flash of white for a moment, and Gaz’s heart leaps up into his throat before at last his eyes land on you. 
You’re beautiful. 
Gaz has seen many things in his lifetime, both violent and radiant, but nothing compares to the sight of you in your dress, holding a bouquet of English roses, eyes welling with emotion as you meet his gaze. 
It summons such a sudden severe wash of desperate affection and tenderness that Gaz has to force himself to just breathe. His chest feels suddenly tight, the words he can’t wait to say to you threatening to bubble up prematurely at the vision of his fiancé walking towards him, one step at a time, ready to spend the rest of your life with him.
Fuck it, he’s going to cry after all.
Soap seems to notice, and there’s a little nudge in his side as the Scot tries to steady him from his wobbling lip. “Steady, mate.”
Gaz pays him not attention, because as you finally reach the altar and hand off your flowers, Gaz reaches his hands for you and feels emotion roll warmly down his cheeks. It seems to surprise you, and in turn your own gaze grows watery. You smile as you reach a hand up to cup his face, and Gaz can’t tell if it’s a sob or a laugh that forces its way up your throat. 
“You’re crying.” You mutter, soft so only he can hear.
“You’re crying.” Gaz chokes back with a grin, seeing tears bead in the corner of your eyes. He doesn’t wipe his tears, doesn’t want to draw attention to it, so it’s your thumb that smears it away in a gentle touch. 
“Fuck.” Gaz gasps softly for a moment, forgetting himself, and he can hear Price make a sound of disapproval at his language in front of the altar. Gaz pays him no attention. There’s no one else in the world right now other than the two of you, and as he turns to press a kiss into your palm, his voice is filled to the brim with overwhelming emotion.
“I can’t wait to marry you.”
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