#death by huge snowball

[bumblebeesfromvenus]

Tradition and Love🌹

Leon S. Kennedy x reader

A/N:The third treat for Fi's Christmas Market ☃️ is here! Leon is a huge softie in this (what's new) and it's so wholesome 🥺 I hope you enjoy this one <3

~Fi 🐝

Warnings: tw: Love. First ever L-word, sharing family traditions with our baby <3

Word count: 3.2k

Please don't copy my work! I put a lot of effort and heart into the things I write.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫

Your laugh echoed through the hallway of your apartment complex as you stumbled into your home with a very grumpy Leon by your side. The snow on your boots was coming off, landing on the floor.

Leon's face was red, and he muttered unintelligible things under his breath. "I-... I'm sorry, I swear I didn't mean to do that!" You wheezed, doubling over and holding your stomach.

The laughter had coaxed tears to fall from your lashline. He only glared at you, making you break into another fit of giggles. You had taken a walk on this snowy day, and you might've dragged Leon down with you, making snow angels. On your way back, you had slipped your hand from his and balled up some snow and aimed it right at his back.

Well, you're aim was terrible and unfortunately for your boyfriend, he turned around in the worst possible moment with a puzzled expression on his face, looking for the warmth of your hand in his.

Before you could stop yourself, you threw the snowball and it hit him square in the face. Your first reaction was shock, slapping your hands over mouth, which quickly turned into full bellied laughter when you saw the way his shoulders slumped and he let out a defeated sigh before shaking the snow off his face.

"I'm sorry, baby, I didn't think you'd turn around." You fanned away your tears, trying not to break into laughter again. "I didn't think you'd come at me with the snowball of death." He grumbled, rubbing his face, hoping to warm it up.

You did feel guilty, extremely so, but there was just something about the look on his face and the way his cheeks and nose looked so cute when they were all blushed from the cold, that made you want to do it again.

"I'll warm ya up." You smiled, taking his face in your hands and stroking his cheeks while pressing kisses to the tip of his nose and the corner of his mouth.

A hum rumbled through his chest as he stood before you, slightly bending over to compensate for your height difference. "Better?"

"Almost." He smirked, gently moving your hands from his face to his neck and holding onto your waist. He brushed his nose with yours before placing a gentle kiss to your lips. "I'm much better now, thank you, sweetheart." He grinned, slipping his hands from you.

"I'm glad. Wouldn't want my boy to be cold, hm?" The way you said it was like honey, like a sweet dusted in sugar. With the purest intentions and that irresistible smile on your face that Leon swore would make him go into cardiac arrest one day.

He hoped you didn't catch the way he froze for a split second before moving on and acting like your words didn't just set aflame a raging fire in his heart. Leon cracked a smile at the warm feeling in his chest. Finally, after all of it, he knew he was cared for and loved.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

Later that day, you were lounging on the couch, Leon's head was resting in your lap as you were gently running your fingers through his blonde locks. This would be your first Christmas together. A holiday you cherished and held so close to your heart, you would now spend with your lover. Although, love was really an understatement of what you were feeling for Leon. It went so much deeper than words could describe, rooting its way deep into every crevice of your heart.

"Lee, I thought since this is our first Christmas together, we could share some of our family traditions and do them together? If you want to, of course." You smiled down at him softly, caressing his face when he turned his head to look at you.

"I, uh, I don't really have any." He said with a half-hearted smile. You could see that this affected him deeply. The way he tensed in your hold or how he avoided meeting your gaze. A small frown settled on your lips.

"Well, I'd love to share some of mine with you. And we can always make our own, right?"

He chuckled softly, turning fully on his back. "I guess we can. What are some of these traditions?" He asked softly, taking on of your hands from his hair and gently holding it. He did that quite often, but it never managed to stop butterflies from erupting in the pit of your stomach.

"One of them," you began, still stroking his hair, "is throwing a pomegranate on the ground so it breaks. It's good luck for the new year. It's a pretty simple one, but I'd love to do it with you."

"This is not a trick to trap me in the Underworld with you, is it?" He questioned suspiciously. You let out a laugh, throwing your head back.

"No, silly. I wouldn't need to trick you. You'd come with me willingly." You teased.

"Damn right I would. Can't leave my girl alone in a world full of dead people, can I?"

"My gallant hero." You giggled, making a proud smirk appear on Leon's face.

"Downside, it needs to be on Christmas eve for the luck to work, so you're gonna have to wait a little." You looked down at him with a somewhat sorry expression, telling him about these traditions and then making him wait.

"But, I have another one that we could do today!" You announced with a grin and you swear you saw his eyes light up. Even just a little.

"I'm all ears, sweetheart."

"We always called it a 'Light walk'. As the name suggests, we take a walk around the neighborhoods at night and look at all the lights and decorations that people have set up. It's gonna be even better because it snowed. What do you think?" You pressed a kiss to his knuckles.

"I think,"he started, getting up from his place in your lap and settling down next to you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders, "that sounds perfect." He ended it with a whisper close to your ear before kissing your cheek. With a wide smile, you cuddled closer to his side.

"Just don't throw a snowball in my face again, alright?"

"I'll think about it." You grinned.

"Minx."

"You love me."

He hummed in response, letting himself fall on top of you. Leon buried his face in your chest. You were tied down. There was no way you would move now. Not that you wanted to.

"And you love me. Which is why you're gonna let me take a nap on my favorite pillow." He mumbled, eyes falling shut. You laughed softly, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

"I'll wake you when the lights are on." You whispered lovingly, tracing patters on his back. The two of you sunk into the softness of the couch, enveloped by the warm blanket that was your love.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

The sun had set, and you were out and about with Leon. Hand in hand you were walking down the snowy lanes of your neighborhood, illuminated by the plethora of Christmas lights your holiday enthusiastic neighbors had put up. You could see the faintest hint of stars speckled on the indigo night sky, accompanied by the glow of the moon.

"You look beautiful in the moonlight." Leon broke you out of your silence, his voice was soft, and the underlying tone of adoration was hard to miss. "Thank you, baby. So do you." You smiled sweetly, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

To say Leon was caught off guard would've been an understatement. He'd never been called beautiful before. He didn't know what to feel. Flattered, shy, embarrassed?

"I- um.. Thank.. you?" He stuttered, his cheeks red. He quickly looked away and cleared his throat.

"No need to be shy. You are pretty. The prettiest, actually."

"Baby-"

"The prettiest of the prettiest." You giggled, seeing him swallow. You couldn't get enough of him like this, the stoic and cold Leon Kennedy was blushing because you called him pretty.

"I think that title goes to you." He smirked. Seemed like he got a hold of his cockiness again. Now, it was your turn to be all flustered.

"Hey, why are you turning this on me-"

"The prettiest girl I've ever seen." He said lowly, his hands stopping you from walking any further as they firmly grabbed your waist. Your eyes widened before a small pout settled on your lips.

"Shut up and watch the lights!" You huffed, still very obviously flustered. Leon laughed before taking a hold of your hand again and continuing your way around the neighborhood.

Some houses had a string of lights or two running along them, others were completely decked in bright, blinking lights and obnoxious inflatable Santas and snowmen. Doors and windows were adorned by green garlands with red ornaments as well as delicate golden decorations.

One of the first houses you'd passed was decorated in every color, cheesy and somewhat tacky decor littered the front yard and the house. A long cable ran across the yard, powering a projector, which made little snowflakes happily dance over the side of the house. "Jesus, those lights are burning holes into my retinas." You complained, holding a hand in front of your eyes to soothe the sting the blue light inflicted on you.

"I think the Santa in swim trunks and a cocktail makes up for it, though." Leon grinned, gesturing to the inflatable Santa that was slightly swaying in the breeze, a pair of sunglasses on his face and a very classic cocktail in a coconut shell in his hand.

"That's not any good if I'm blind, Leon!"

The next house was quite the opposite of the obnoxiously, retina-burning decorated place you'd seen just moments ago. It was so elegantly lit up, very subtle stars and reindeer sculptures were placed in a scene in front of the house. It was eye catching, to the say the least. The homeowner had very obviously put a lot of effort into carefully arranging their decorations. The soft light emitted from the lights cast a golden shimmer on the blanket of snow covering the grass.

There was a big tree as well, dusted in white flakes. A delicate string of lights was wrapped around it, with a beautiful star at the top. A very classic and chic approach to Christmas decorations.

"I like this one. Reminds me of how you decorate." Leon said quietly before cracking a small smile and glancing over the sweet reindeer sculptures. The golden glow looked like a sparkling treasure in his blue eyes. A sea of emotions that was yours to discover. "M'glad you like how I decorate." You smiled softly, admiring his side profile while your arm was hooked into his.

"I like everything you do." Leon had the gentlest look on his face. His brows were pulled together in admiration. He did like how you decorated. It was so you. Regardless, you'd asked for his opinion and thought, which now made it uniquely us as Leon had called it, making your heart skip a beat. Us really had a nice ring to it.

"Look," he pointed to a doe and buck standing next to eachother, "It's us." He chuckled. The two light figures were placed under the shelter of the tree, intwined in an affectionate manner.

"Aw, Leon!" Tiny tears were pricking at the corners of your eyes as you threw your arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

"That's the loveliest thing anyone has ever said to me." You whispered, the smile on your face evident in your voice.

"I can say something even lovelier, you know." Leon spoke softly, his arms holding you against him. "Hm, what?" You asked curiously, hiding your face in his warm chest to hide from the cold. He gently tilted your head up to look at him. Leon was holding you so softly, like you were a delicate glass ornament.

"I love you."

Holy shit. Your eyes widened and your mouth slightly fell agape as you processed what he had said. You hadn't said the dreaded L-word yet. Not in a million years had you expected him to say it first. You could feel your heart swell as if it would jump from your ribcage any second and let itself be cradled in Leon's loving embrace.

You snapped out of your lovestruck trance when you saw him getting antsy. His brows were slightly scrunched together, the corners of his mouth dropped slightly, and he began stroking his thumb over your jaw to distract himself. He was scared shitless.

You weren't saying or doing anything. Was he moving too fast? But he couldn't hold it in anymore, no matter how hard he tried. He had never said this to anyone. Never been this vulnerable around anyone but you. His chest was constricting with anxiety. Leon's thoughts were running amok, conjuring all kinds of different scenarios. Like, what if-

"I love you too."

The heavy Boulder that lay on his chest was shattered by the softness of your voice. He could see the sheen of tears in your eyes and how your bottom lip was pulled between your teeth as to not break into a fit of excitement.

Leon let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. Without another word, he pulled you flush against his chest and laid his head in the crook of your neck, smiling against your skin.

"I love you. Let's go home." He whispered, pressing a kiss just below your ear.

The snow accompanied the two of you as you walked back to your warm home. Leon pampered you with kisses and sweet murmurs through the rest of the evening, and you held him as he fell asleep, telling him just how much you truly loved him.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

"Sweetheart, I know this is important to you, but you're holding up the aisle and it's in the middle of the Christmas rush-"

"I almost got it, I swear! I just need to find the perfect one." You mumbled, standing in the produce aisle. Your field of vision was entirely red as you scanned through the piles of pomegranates. It was the 23rd, and you still needed the fruit for tomorrow evening. You had done the remaining holiday shopping days before, but the pomegranate needed to be fresh.

And here you were, biting at the inside of your cheek while being bumped by stressed parents and shopping carts as you tried to pick out the perfect fruit. It needed to be perfect.

"Honey-"

"I almost got it!" You said nervously, glacing over to see the pushing look of your boyfriend and the displeased faces of many holiday-stressed people.

"C'mon, where are you.." you muttered to yourself, eyes flitting over the shiny heaps of fruit. Your gaze landed on a slightly lumpy pomegranate, it looked vaguely like a heart. That's the one, you thought.

This was your perfect. It wasn't about looking for the roundest, most symmetrical or shiny one. It was about the one that spoke to you. It was unique, you liked it. Your hand quickly darted forward and grabbed it before slithering through the crowds of people to get back to Leon.

"Got it!" You announced proudly, showing off the pomegranate to Leon.

"Good. It's perfect." He smiled, pressing a kiss to your temple. He gently guided you through the store with a hand gently placed on your lower back.

"That grandma behind you was about to jump at your throat." He chuckled.

"She's just jealous I got the best pomegranate."

"I'm sure that's it, Babe."

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

Leon almost stumbled down the stairs of your apartment building, that's how eagerly your were dragging him with you. You were all cuddled up for the cold, in one hand you held the fruit you had acquired yesterday, and in the other you tightly held his.

"Slow down, Baby." He said, trying not to trip and fall into you.

"It's so exciting, hurry!"

He had to admit, although there was the hazard of falling down the stairs and spending Christmas in the hospital, your unbridled excitement made him smile. He sometimes doubted whether you liked, not loved, him.

He knew you loved him with all that you were, but did you like him as a person? He felt ashamed of those thoughts, he didn't want to doubt you. You were his everything, his world, his light. But the way you were so excited to do this with him made the doubt fizzle away. All you'd do was throw a fruit on the ground, yet you acted like it would be the event of the century.

It made his heart beat stronger, he felt giddy, like a teenager. He never had the chance to have a classic high-school sweethearts romance, but you made your relationship feel exactly like that, and he loved you that much more for it.

The cold hit his face when you stormed out the front door with him in tow. You picked a nice spot, not too secluded but also not too in the way as to not make as big of a mess.

"Alright. Okay. Are you ready?" You asked him, holding out the pomegranate. The puzzled look on his face prompted you to explain further.

"I want you to do it."

"But it's your tradition."

"The person who breaks it gets a little extra luck. I want you to have it." You smiled softly, pressing the fruit into his palm.

He would address the chaos of emotions inside of him later, for he feared if he did now he wouldn't be able to hold back. He was caught off guard. You wanted him to have the extra luck.

You could've kept that to yourself, hell, even if you had told him before he still would've encouraged you to be the one to break it. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to ignore the sting of tears in his eyes. "Are- Are you sure?"

You nodded encouragingly, giving his wrist a gentle squeeze. You pulled your hands away, giving him room to throw the pomegranate, but he gentle grabbed your hand and placed it on the other side of the fruit.

"Together?" He had a hopeful smile on his face.

"Together."

With both of you having a hold of the pomegranate, you threw it on the ground. It hit the concrete and cracked into two halves, some of the seeds spilling out on the ground.

Leon took your hand in his, lacing your fingers together as you both watched the lights reflect in the crimson flesh of the fruit. The little seeds shimmered like rubies.

"You think we'll have double extra luck now?" Leon smirked. You giggled, squeezing his hand.

"I don't know. I guess we'll have to see just how lucky we get, hm?"

"I couldn't get any luckier." He said softly, pulling you into him and pressing a passionate kiss on your soft lips. They fit perfectly against his, moving in sync. Your arms wrapped around him as he slightly dipped you, making you gasp. He swallowed the sound and could feel you smiling against his lips.

"I love you, Leon."

"I love you ,too, Baby."

The glittery snowflakes cascaded upon the two of you, painting a perfect scene. Your hearts were full, so were your arms. Of eachother, the one you held so dear. The moon and stars shone down on you, sealing your love.

You were filled with warmth and joy, but most importantly, with Tradition and Love.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫

I hope you like it, @vampkennedy <3

#bumblebeesfromvenus #FI'S CHRISTMAS MARKET ☆ #leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon s kennedy x reader #leon s kennedy x fem!reader #resident evil leon #leon kennedy fluff

[tiffanys-aus-and-headcanons]

Appendix D: Some Pig/One More Final

The first three posts in this series are here.

Undertale was a slightly postmodern children's fantasy movie produced by Jim Henson's Creature Shop in the '80s. Noah Hathaway played the protagonist, Frisk, who went on a long quest to escape from a magical prison inside Mt. Ebott; Frisk's father had thrown them into the mountain, known to be full of monsters, in an attempt to kill them. However, it's suggested that as a human, Frisk is inherently more of a protagonist than a monster can be, and has a vague sort of magical power over them. Toriel's death, which Frisk accidentally causes early in the movie, is commonly listed as a Peak Sad Childhood Moment.

George Orwell wrote The Writing In The Web, a political fable about a cult started by a well-meaning spider. E. B. White wrote Snowball's Farm, a whimsical children's tale about a farm whose animals decide to take over.

Infamously, Emmanuel Goldstein's monologue fills dozens of pages, takes at least three hours to read aloud, and brings the plot of Ayn Rand's 1984 to a screeching halt.

Short story collections and anthologies often keep the same title, author, and spirit, it's just the stories that are swapped out. For example, classic episodes of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone include A Wonderful Life, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, Miracle On 34th Street, and The Sixth Sense. 1983's The Twilight Zone Movie includes segments based on classic episodes Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (directed by John Landis and given anti-war themes), Cocoon, The Poltergeist, and In Search of the Twelve Monkeys (the original starred a young William Shatner). Candle Cove is an episode of Black Mirror.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was a 1999 Ben Stiller comedy about a team of low-rent superheroes who theme themselves after public domain characters because they cannot afford licensing fees. The film was well-reviewed, but a box office bomb. It was actually the first film to use Smash Mouth's One Week - the One Week music video is actually cross promotion with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - and it would remain the film most associated with the song until Dreamworks' Happily N'Ever After hit theaters two years later.

The Amazing Digital Circus was a virtual pet game and toy line that struck when the iron was hot on that niche, before being bought out by Hasbro and rebooted a few times in different forms and mediums. Lauren Faust created a long-running television cartoon of it that was a huge smash hit with fandom culture despite the show's clearly very young target audience. The property's canon is all very light kiddie fare; the scariest thing about The Amazing Digital Circus is that for a brief and touchy stretch of time in the early 2000s, it was owned by the Peoples Temple, which was seriously considering turning it into a recruiting platform.

Your cringe unpublished works that you gave up on were almost certainly swapped around with other people's cringe unpublished works that they gave up on. There's lots of upwards and downwards mobility to the scramble, but not usually that much. Exceptions are very rare - like a beggar suddenly being made king, or a god being reincarnated into an ant - but they do occasionally happen. For example, what you know as the land of Oz exists only in the head of a young Milwaukee stoner, who suddenly came up with the idea for an epic graphic novel one day in the 2010s while sitting on the bus, and spent a couple of years absolutely convinced she would eventually make it. (She cannot draw.) Conversely, L. Frank Baum's children's fantasy series, Enormia, which has been adapted and reimagined many times, most notably as audiences' introduction to color film, exists in your world only as a different Milwaukee stoner's overly elaborate backstory for his jerkoff sessions. This kind of thing is much more the exception than the rule, and even such exceptions are almost always much smaller in scope - an obscure stillborn project getting swapped around with an obscure out-of-print novel, or an obscure direct-to-video z-movie.

The True Detectives forum and its many schismatic spinoffs, all of which are devoted to discussing mystery fiction, host literally thousands of Wind fanfics. Many of the writers - perhaps most of them - have never actually read Wind, just other fanfiction of it; next to none of the fics are worth reading. Most Wind fics reuse the original protagonist, Rorschach, but treat him as a generically relatable blank slate. The most common fic format by far is the "altdunnit", a form of what-if scenario in which the mystery that sets off Wind's plot is different in some way.

Rorschach is held by a substantial portion of the fandom to be an egg (a trans woman who has not realized it yet). Wildbow has never endorsed this interpretation, and it doesn't seem to be much on his radar. In recent years, the trans Rorschach portion of the fandom has grown; they don't tend to look especially kindly on Warn, much of which Wildbow wrote as a response to fans (like those on the True Detectives forum) he felt had been too inclined to take Rorschach's side in Wind. Flame wars over Warn's content were constant throughout its serial publication, and made it easily the rockiest experience of Wildbow's writing career.

Some noteworthy and relevant podcasts include Jonathan Sims' The Dresden Files, the Ranged Touch Network's Scott Pilgrim Made The World, Doof Media's Winding Down (later Warning Down), and the McElroy family's The Adventure Zone (an actual play podcast which has currently had three major campaigns, two anthology series, and various one-shots). Film Reroll is still an actual play podcast that runs the basic setups of movies (and occasionally other media) as short tabletop campaigns; occasionally, their version of a movie will be much closer to ours than it is to the version of the movie in their own universe.

Xenobuddy was an early childhood public access show, originally created for the BBC in the late 1990s but later aired internationally. The title character is a small alien puppet who lives on a futuristic spaceship staffed by children (who speak a vague conlang akin to a dollar store Esperanto). At the end of every episode, it gets lost and is found, usually by (harmlessly) bursting out of one of the children. It was very popular with its target audience and much loathed by parents. Edgy ironic fanart depicting the titular Xenobuddy as some kind of dangerous parasite abounds.

Static is a supernatural slasher franchise created by Wes Craven, with the first film, also simply titled Static, released in 1984. The movies concern a group of gibbering neotenous ogre-fae who wake up in the modern day after a long sleep, incorporate televisions into their bodies, and start eating people by sucking them into hellish pocket dimensions. The Screen-Guts collectively are probably in the top five antagonists most people think of when they think of slasher horror.

Toby Fox's ROSEQUARTZ is especially known for its meta take on video game morality systems. The game has a mission-based structure; throughout it, the player is encouraged to take on a pacifist playstyle, championed by the player character's late mother, the title character. However, the Crystal Gems give the player enough autonomy that you are entirely able to take a much more violent tack; doing so has a rippling effect on the game's writing in countless immersively-integrated ways. If the player goes out of their way to be as murderous as possible - the so-called "genocide route" - the differences from the main route grow much more extreme, and rather than gaining allies, you start to lose them, as the Crystal Gems realize what you're doing and one by one turn against you. If you manage to shatter Garnet - it's the hardest and most iconic fight in the game, Megalovania is playing, her Future Vision gets used for all it's worth - then you use your knife to slash at the cosmos, erasing Earth, Homeworld, and everything else. This, Toby Fox is saying, is apparently all you want out of a video game - another toy to break.

Warner Bros still did Space Jam with Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes, it's just that the Looney Tunes in question were Mickey Mouse and friends. They also still did a second one with LeBron James, which was, by God, somehow worse. They put Ms. Frizzle in it.

Walt Disney made his squeaky clean reputation on the back of adaptations of things like Rudyard Kipling's adventure novel The Call of Cthulhu, P. L. Travers' Thomas the Tank Engine, and Erich Kästner's feel-good coming-of-age kidnapping tale about the power of perseverance, Lolita, originally done with Hayley Mills and later remade with Lindsay Lohan.

Nabokov's extremely controversial literary classic that has defined the idea of the unreliable narrator is Father's Trap, from the perspective of a man who plots to obtain custody of both of his daughters for nefarious purposes. Most publishers ignored Nabokov's instructions not to depict the twins, Lisa and Lottie, on the cover. Stanley Kubrick and Adrian Lyne have directed mediocre film adaptations, and songwriting team Lerner and Loewe did a musical that was a legendary flop.

The Japanese fashion movement is Gothic Pollyanna, after an otherwise-forgotten series of penny dreadfuls about a cute, cheery, rules-minded young girl who is, despite appearances, an insane criminal. Minor character Bonesaw in Alan Moore's Worm Turns also clearly hearkens back to the Pollyanna stock character.

The DEA was a prime-time soap opera about the ongoing "war on drugs"; it ran for eleven seasons from 1982 to 1993. Its plot focused on federal agents working at the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and especially partners Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez and their families. It is mostly remembered today for its downer ending (in which the treachery of late-show villain Walter White, or "Heisenberg", gets the leads killed, and he escapes from justice), and for its far-more-acclaimed spinoff series Better Call Saul, which also ran for eleven seasons from 1993 to 2004, functioning as a prequel, midquel, and sequel to The DEA.

Between The DEA and Better Call Saul, Kelsey Grammer played crooked lawyer Saul Goodman for twenty consecutive years of primetime TV, first as featured comic relief and later as a leading man. (He also guest-starred on the mostly-forgotten Mall Cop, establishing that it, too, was set in the world of The DEA and Better Call Saul.) Better Call Saul won more than a dozen Primetime Emmys. Peri Gilpin received several of these for her performance as Kim Wexler.

St. Elsewhere was a film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan in the late 1990s; it was highly acclaimed and successful, and established Shyamalan in the public eye as a skilled auteur with an affinity for twist endings. The film's final scene reveals that its main setting, St. Eligius Hospital, exists entirely within the imagination of an autistic boy, Tommy Westphall, as he gazes into a snowglobe. The so-called "Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis", which posits that this same twist applies to most of fiction due to a network of crossovers, was invented by a Saturday Night Live sketch shortly postdating the film's release, in which an amnesiac Charles McGill (from Better Call Saul) wakes up in St. Eligius, attended to by a cast of characters who are more concerned with their own nonexistence.

After rising to prominence as a writer, storyboarder, and composer for Pendleton Ward's Science Time (where she established the Summer/Jessica relationship that would come to define later seasons), Rebecca Sugar got to make her own cartoon, Henry Ichor. Set in a recently post-apocalyptic but strangely cheerful world, Henry Ichor concerns a young teenage boy who is conscripted as a mech pilot due to his rare and innate ability to link to the powerful Evangelion mecha. (His preferred Evangelion is eventually revealed to be a form of his late mother, the reason he can do this in the first place.) Henry turns out to be a vital asset in protecting humanity from the monstrous "Angels" that frequently threaten it, and is surprisingly emotionally mature for his age. However, the adults around him (especially his father, Gennady) frequently push him too far, especially considering his generally noncombative and pacifistic nature. There is much interpersonal drama and much singing about it, with a very vocally trained cast. After several seasons of slow buildup, the show was forced to suddenly rush to its ending in only a few (infamous) episodes after an arc where Henry had a romance with an Angel in male human form. Henry Ichor The Movie and an ensuing miniseries, End Of Henry Ichor, helped bring the show to a more thematically satisfying conclusion.

Although he has played a creative or consultant role in many animated projects, Alex Hirsch is best known for the one he was actually the showrunner for, Disney Channel's smash hit Sunnydale. Focusing on a small California town constantly plagued by supernatural threats, Sunnydale generally followed a simple monster-of-the-week format, but kept audiences on the hook with teases at a deeper underlying mystery. The show almost didn't get a season two, as Hirsch found working with Disney very tiring, but he was eventually persuaded; season two ran through the rest of Hirsch's ideas at a faster pace, and concluded the show with the leads graduating from Sunnydale High.

For a brief historical moment, Daron Nefcy's show, Ender vs. the Space Bug Army, looked like it would become the successor to Sunnydale, keeping Disney Television Animation prestigious after Sunnydale ended. However, though Ender drew in a big crowd, and lasted almost twice as long as Sunnydale, it was not ultimately as well-received. EvtSBA is a children's space opera, wearing its Starship Troopers (Joss Whedon) inspiration on its sleeve, but also clearly copying some (superficial) notes from Philip Pullman. Set in a future where mankind has come into violent conflict with bug-like aliens, the show follows unbearably smug boy supergenius Ender as he is sent to military school to prepare for interstellar warfare. The show has an extremely cutesy and hyperactive tone; typical filler episodes include the one (generally taken as meta about fandom drama) in which Ender's siblings' futuristic internet arguments prove instrumental to the survival of the human race. Later seasons get a bit more serious, but focus heavily on shipping. The show is infamous for its ending, in which Ender, for his final exam, destroys the Formics' home planet and releases a psychic signal that eradicates the Formic race. Although the show explicitly notes that this includes many individual Formics who we have previously known as sympathetic characters, it is nonetheless played as a happy ending in which a hostile colonial power is defeated. Ender has ended the war; he has beaten the Space Bug Army.

"Meugh-Neigh. 'Meugh' like the cat, 'neigh' like the horse." "Does it mean something?" "No answer; none at all."

Orson Scott Card is an extremely prolific author of speculative fiction. Although it isn't as close to his heart as the Steel Gear series, in which he got to flex his military sci-fi muscles and allegorically retell stories from his faith, he is undoubtedly best known for Ishtar's Curse. Initially a short story and later expanded into a full novel, the plot concerns young Princess Ishtar, or Star, heir to the heathen fairy kingdom of Meugh-Neigh. (In later novels, she changes her name to Bethlehem Diaz, or Beth.) Spoiled and destructive but magically talented, Star is sent to twentieth century Earth so she can develop the wits and the strength of character to be a viable wartime leader for her people - or at least so she can be kept out of the way. After several years of personal growth and magical misadventures with companions she met on Earth, a more grounded Star devises a spell to erase the magic that makes up the bodies of most of her throne's enemies. This plan works, and merges Meugh-Neigh into the Earth as a small and ordinary European country. However, though her subjects are eager to celebrate her for this, Star is devastated when she realizes that she has killed trillions of innocent spirits, and, seeking to atone, she takes on the title of Speaker for the Dead (also the title of the book's first sequel). Although it's frequently ranked highly in lists of fantasy novels of the twentieth century, Ishtar's Curse has received some harsh criticism, with the standard line being that Star is an idealized fantasy of a repentant Hitler figure, and that the text presents excessive justifications for her actions. The story has also been called a reactionary response to Wilde's The Little Mermaid. After more than twenty years, a film adaptation of Ishtar's Curse was released in 2009, starring Dakota Fanning, to mixed reviews. The box office took a further hit due to a boycott campaign, after Card's views on homosexuality (and, relatedly, his membership in the LDS Church) became widely known. In the end, it lost the studio a lot of money.

Hideaki Anno is best known for the classic smash hit anime he made for Studio Gainax, Einstein Goliath Nestorian, a psychologically intense deconstruction of martial arts shonen like Yoshiyuki Tomino's Dragon Ball. Einstein Goliath Nestorian concerns a mystery man known only as Saitama, who finds that he has become dissatisfied with life and alienated from the world after only three years of training have enabled him to easily surpass any physical challenge. The original series is known for its sudden, surreal, and clearly budget-driven ending, although this was quickly alleviated with a similarly surreal but more definitive finale movie. Although many Western anime fans often think of Einstein Goliath Nestorian as pretentious and ultra niche, it was actually a huge mainstream hit in Japan, with a colossal franchise of adaptations, merch, and spinoffs (notably including a series of Retrain films, which began as extremely close shot-for-shot remakes of the original series but wound up spiraling into a very different updated timeline).

Previously most noteworthy for his 2003 visual novel Oreimo, Gen Urobuchi was tapped by Shaft for their extremely successful and acclaimed anime Ohayou Hana!, hailed as a deceptively dark deconstruction of the teen idol genre. The plot concerns a girl, Saionji Mayuri, who leads a double life, being of little note at school, out of costume, but spending much of her time as #1 idol Hana. Her mental stability begins to deteriorate as she realizes that the adults in her life - especially her father, himself a former idol - have groomed her to serve as a drugged and hypnotized propaganda mouthpiece for a shadowy conspiracy. She winds up in the worst of both worlds as her ensuing breakdown, and her handlers' response to it, destroys both of her lives and brings ruin to those she cares about. In addition to the popularity of the actual anime, many of its songs became decontextualized J-Pop hits. The idol anime genre would then receive a glut of edgy lesser imitators, like Love Live: School Idol Project, Cheetah Girls, and magical girl fusion Symphogear. Although the original Ohayou Hana! was a self-contained twelve-episode story, it received a sequel movie shortly thereafter, Ohayou Hana! Rebel!, which ended on a cliffhanger that has still not been resolved over a decade later. The upcoming Ohayou Hana! MK Ultra! is expected to get things back on track. An abridged series originating on 4chan, focusing on cropped screencaps from Ohayou Hana!, called the title character "Miss Ohio", producing the memetic tagline "being Ohio is suffering".

Zack Snyder first came up with the idea for Madoka around 2000, a long time before he'd actually get to make it; he put the project on hold in 2006 to make his adaptation of Worm Turns. He developed the idea with his wife Deborah and a cowriter, Steve Shibuya. Inspired by the Disney Princess phenomenon, as well as Naoko Takeuchi's Pretty Cure (one of the few anime that had already become a hit in the States), Snyder wanted to tell a coherent story about fights between magical girls who could make anything happen, who could make any fantastical world or visual appear. In Snyder's film, we follow Madoka Kaname, a teenager attending a Catholic school in Los Angeles. Madoka and her friends are approached by a strange young woman who goes only by "Mommy", and her animal companion (a CGI-ed up squirrel-cat thing), QB. They offer to make the teens into "magical girls", granting them one wish each in exchange for a life devoted to spiritual warfare. (Another mysterious new girl, Lilly, urges them not to take the deal in the strongest possible terms.) This turns out to be a scam; QB is pitting the magical girls against one another for his own reasons, and in the end, every magical girl and her wish gets corrupted. Despite much of the film's plot being a horrific bloodbath - the MPAA demanded a lot of cuts to get it down to a PG-13 rating - there is a happy ending; Madoka finally makes her own wish and uses it to topple QB's whole system. Madoka isn't often discussed nowadays but it was a major discourse bomb when it came out in 2010, alternately being called misogynistic Orientalist trash and a subversive feminist masterpiece. Snyder, for his part, often notes that QB is intended as an allegory for exploitative forces within the entertainment industry that treat young women as disposable resources with an expiration date; this is already clear to anyone who's watched the film, which is not exactly subtle in its symbolism. He also explains that the film sexualizes the girls in an effort to shame the audience, to get people to understand that they are objectifying the characters in the same way that QB does. The soundtrack's got a really cool ethereal cover of Nine Inch Nails' King Nothing on it, which is probably the most remembered part of the film today.

Selena Gomez became a star by playing Violet Parr on Disney Channel's superhero sitcom The Incredibles. While the show was initially a very throwaway villain-of-the-week affair whose leads had to keep their powers hidden from the public and their caped escapades secret from the government for self-explanatory comes-with-the-genre reasons, it would eventually unfold that the show was set in something of an X-Men-style dystopia where superheroism had been outlawed and supers oppressed by the government as a potential societal fifth column.

Brad Bird directed one of Pixar's most celebrated films, Wizards of Waverly Place; it was Pixar's first film with a predominantly human cast. Disney was hungry for a fantasy property after losing a bidding war for the Luz Noceda rights. It had strong populist anti-eugenic themes, with an elaborate wizarding hierarchy of antagonists who seek to remove the Russo family's magic as part of an effort to curb wizard overpopulation. The sequel came more than a decade later, and wasn't nearly as good.

In addition to Worm Turns, Alan Moore is notable for the heavily metafictional comic Pagemaster, about a boy, Richard, who finds a magical library that contains all stories that have ever been or could ever be told; he becomes lost and imperiled in assorted pieces of historically noteworthy literature (initially ones in the public domain, though later volumes would start using legally safe serial-numbers-filed-off versions of modern stories). The 2003 film, in which Sean Connery played the librarian in one of his last film roles, is widely regarded as a terrible, deeply-toned-down adaptation that didn't grasp the tone or themes of the original story at all; it only covered the first half of the first volume, in which Richard meets "genre spirits" who wish to sort all stories into rigid categories. In a later volume, Pagemaster Millennium, an aged Richard Tyler, who has since taken on the mantle of librarian himself, meets a teenage girl, heavily implied to be Luz Noceda, who has also become lost in the library. She has become corrupted by an eldritch book, or "Necronomicon", written by "the Wrong Author", heavily implied to be the devil (and/or Hugo Astley, an Aleister Crowley caricature from W. Somerset Maugham's The Winged Bull). Flushed with demonic power and enraged by what she's become, a monstrous Luz tears through the library in a blaze of hellfire, seeking to destroy all of literature and the world. It is only through the intervention of the Fat Controller - heavily implied to be God - that Luz is defeated; he mercifully erases her by hitting her with a train, and laments what she became.

#queued post #the scrambled timeline #I tinkered around with the ordering of these entries so much that I guess this is a scrambled post for the scrambled timeline #credit to hieronymous-botch for the Alex Hirsch's Sunnydale idea #credit to Lorelei for the Orson Scott Card's Steel Gear idea

[saelestia]

snow man | g. satoru

cw. gn reader, no mentions of gender, readers shorter than gojo. (implied) readers a bit of a perfectionist here, and goes the extra mile to achieve the perfect snowman, fluff, dating au, gn reader, reader insults gojo's art skills, snowballs being thrown, overal romantically romantic, helpessly romantic, satoru is love sick, its cold, snow, mentions of reader taking a picture, satoru and reader use petnames, "love, lovely maybe even baby", not proofread, mentions of yuuji and nobara

it's not far into december, far enough for the sun to set as early as 5pm, for the breezy mornings trying to get to work, the huge puffer jackets you drag out of storage. december is the month of great things, the holidays, the snow, snuggling up in front of a warm toasty fire, december was the month where you could cuddle satoru extra hard without him teasing you half to death about it. it was also the season for when you'd drag him into your shared backyard to build a snowman. every year, something had gone wrong with the snowman, this year, it needed to be perfect. 3 years ago, you and satoru forgot the snowman's long carrot nose, and made the mistake of making the snowman over a heap of grass, leaving brown and green chunks of dirt, and grass from the ground to build up into the snowman. 2 years ago, after achieving the snowman, it melted the next day, and the prior year, yuuji and nobara crushed it after having a fight in the yard. this year had to be perfect.

"satoru!" you call out, satoru follows the sound of your voice to the backdoor, where you help him into his jacket. "y'know i don't need this, right lovely?" he questions. you peer up at him, "i know, but i'd rather have you outside in a jacket, makes more sense in my head. put on your winter boots, scarf and mittens too." you pat his shoulder, swinging open the back door as you find the perfect spot to make your snowman. "i plowed the grass, and placed slates over the dirt before winter,so there should be no way any gross stuff goes inside the snowman!" you yell out, happily. "well, lets start then?" satoru says, as he begins forming a miniature ball of snow, packing it together before rolling it in the ground to build up its size. "dont forget to round it 'toru!" you state from the corner of the backyard, you're starting the second snowball, this one acting as a torso for the other larger snowball, carrying it towards gojo, you wait for him to finish smoothing out the bottom snowball before you place it on top. "woo!" you smile, giving him a high five at the achievement, he smiles back, making a comment of how "teamwork makes the dreamwork," in which you cackle at. "you're so silly, satoru--" you take what you say immediatly back as a snowball collides with your chest, knocking you onto the ground with a yelp. the only thing registering in your head is 1. a snowball just hit you, and 2. satoru's laughing.

in a fit of faux anger, you roll up a snowball, nice and tight, and launch it at satoru. "god, satoru this is so unfair! your six eyes make you practically invincible" you mumble out, when the snowball, instead of colliding with gojo, just hits his barrier while he cackles in response, you huff, moving to begin the final, smallest snowball for the top layer of your snowman-in the making. you fall to your knees in the snow, first, you hand satoru the rock for the eyes, while you work on attaching the carrot nose. "how does it look, lovely?" he questions, you draw your attention to the snowmans face, "for the strongest, art really isnt your strong suit." you mumble out jokingly, you catch a glimpse of his jaw hung open wide while he complains about you being a meanie. "you're so mean! how dare you say that about my masterpiece?!" he says, in faux shock. "we'll keep the face, drama queen" you say, your tounge poking out as you place the scarf you stole off of satorus neck onto the snowman. "baby what about me!! what if i get cold, hm??" he questions, pouting. "i thought you were the strongest, hm 'toru?" you question as he snuggles into your embrace. "weak to my knees for you love." he mumbles, his voice deepened, your stomach swarmed with butterflies, and despite feeling hot on the inside, your skin was as cold as night.

"... perfect!" you breath out, satoru turns his attention to the snow man, he realizes, it resembles someone awfully familiar. "is that supposed to be me!?" he questions, half offended. "yeah! even got a wig for it." you laugh, adjusting the snowmans wig as gojo's expression faltered. "this is so NOT funny." he grumbles. "stopp, its so cute, i did your hair so perfect, and you set up the face to match yours perfectly!" you laugh, your breath leaving clouds of smoke as you speak. you pull your phone out of your pocket, snap a picture of the snowman, then usher him to crouch alongside the snowman. "pose with your doppelganger, satoru!" you smile, and he's so allured by your smile, he cant help but smile, and pose for you. "ooh, im cold, lets head inside now?" you question, shimmying to warm up, as satoru, holds his gloved hand in yours. "sure thing lovely."

bonus ; you wake up the next morning, going outside to check on your snowman gojo, and beside it, resides a snowman that resembles you. "satoru!" you yell, he smiles, plummeting out the door, "pose with your doppleganger, love!" using your own words against you, this time you dont fully mind, you pose with your snowman, before ushering satoru into a picture with you and satoru, and both of your snowmen.

© SAELESTIA 2023. do not repost, translate, or duplicate any of my works here or any other websites. requests open, reblogs r appreciated! <3

#gojo satoru #gojo x reader #satoru gojo x reader #jjk x reader #gojo x you #gojo x y/n #satoru gojo x you #satoru gojo x y/n #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen x you #jujutsu kaisen x y/n #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru x you #gojo satoru x y/n #gojo fluff #jjk fluff #gojo satoru fluff #jujutsu kaisen fluff #gojo satoru x oc #jujustu kaisen #jjk #jjk x y/n #jjk x you #jujutsu kaisen #satoru gojo fluff #satoru gojo #jjk x gn!reader #gojo x gn!reader #gn reader

[mikasa-imadebiscults]

Maki Zen’in Wholesome Headcannons Pt. 4

Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4 (here)

(A/N- Just something I came up with, also I saw a angst fanart of Maki so some of these hcs are inspired)

(Warning: Manga spoilers, FLUFFFF)

- After it’s been a while since Mai’s death, Maki’s hair will start to grow out. When it first started growing out it kinda looked like Mai’s hair and it reminded Maki of her so she was a bit upset. She would probably want to cut it again or if she really wanted to grow it out she would try to avoid any mirrors.

- She would probably go over to Mai’s bedroom and take a couple items so that she can have a shrine of Mai’s things to remember her.

LETS MOVE ON TO SOMETHING HAPPIER

- She teases you whenever she sees you blush, “Why is your face so red?” She asks even though she knows the answer to that. When you mention about her blush then it’s a different story, she will deny that she’s blushing until the day she dies.

- Whenever it snows, y’all have intense snowball fights and make bets on who will win. Sometimes you guys even invite your friends like Nobara, Yuji, Megumi, Toge, and Panda (If Gojo is there he would be just instigating the fight)

- Speaking of snowy days, she will build a huge snowman, make a bunch of snowballs and throw it at the snowman to blow off some steam.

- Knows a couple of random card tricks and tries to impress you with them whenever y’all are playing any card game (she also knows some sword tricks too of course)

Masterlist

#jjk headcanons #jjk hcs #jjk fluff #jjk x reader #jjk x y/n #jjk maki #maki zenin #maki x reader #maki x y/n #maki zenin x reader #maki fluff

[antiyourwokehomophobia2]

Maybe I'm missing something but it seems kinda fucked that James Potter is viewed as some huge bully. Snape tells the story of James in the same way I'm sure Draco would tell the story of Harry. Dumbledore even literally compares Harry and Draco to James and Snape. That is literally a canon comparison in the very first book.

Harry turns invisible and throws snowballs at Draco who has no way of defending himself. He laughs when Draco gets turned into a ferret and embarrassed in front of the school. Ron straight up considers leaving Draco in a room of fire, and everyone loves Ron. Harry almost kills Draco himself with the septumsempra curse. Nobody accuses Harry of being some huge bully. He routinely fights Draco, and Draco fights him back. They each give as good as they get.

Just like James and Snape.

Not to mention that James hated Snape for almost one to one reasons that Harry hated Draco.

Both Draco and Snape eventually became death eaters and showed signs that they agreed with death eater ideals long before they actually joined. Both of them called someone that James/Harry cared for 'mudblood'. Like.

Unless you're willing to say Harry is a bully then there's no reason to say James is.

#Also Lily points out that Snape looked down on people like her long before he slipped and called her a slur #She said she kept making excuses for him which showcases a pattern of bigoted behavior #Sue me but I think if you're gonna say bigoted shit then you deserve to be bullied #I don't know if it was ever mentioned that James treated anyone else like how he treated Snape #But if he did I'm gonna need to check their arms for a dark mark really quick lmao #I bet everything that they have one in the present day

[sacredjake]

Carpe Noctem

pairing: Jake Kiszka x Siren!Reader

warnings: MDNI 18+!!! blood, death, killing, angst, cursing, supernatural elements, brief mention of weapons and minor assault, guilt, talk of dying, smut, fluff, soulmate au

word count: 13.8k

This fic will display themes of death and killing, and i will do my best to tag every warning, but if i miss one please, please, please bring it to my attention.

As Nympha Legatus of your pod you must do what it takes to complete the duty bestowed upon you and your sisters. Even if it means killing the man you love. Will fate continue to haunt you or will you give in to what you truly desire?

a/n: this fic has been almost a month in the making and even longer in the brainstorming stage and i am so excited to share it with everyone! thank you @malany-gvf for always helping me talk out the ideas i have. huge, massive thank you to @gold-mines-melting for giving endless feedback, support and suggestions and taking time to read this and edit it. i appreciate and love you both so much, thank you from the bottom of my heart <33333

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Light from the full moon overhead illuminated your already glistening skin every so often as clouds passed by. The silver rays that shone upon you reflected a scene like the ocean you had emerged from, like moonlight glittering off the waves. The night was misty, rain falling lightly as your pod walked through the streets towards the closest club or bar. Forgoing the need for a coat, raindrops dotted the exposed areas and rolled off seamlessly disguising the naturally dewy texture of your skin. 

The rain was purposeful, a product of your magic to blend in better with the humans. If not for that you would look even more out of place with the way your skin looked wet even when dry. It was also a way to ensure everyone was hydrated and avoided drying out. While a quarter of you would not return tonight, at least it would not be from lack of water. 

Scuffing from shoes on gravel and rocks being kicked were the only sounds echoing through the dark streets. Some of your sisters were still getting their bearings, it being their first night on legs and all, stumbles were to be expected. Wearing shoes was a major adjustment, but to fit in, shoes were a necessity. 

Oh how you missed the days when the humans walked around barefoot. Things were so much simpler then. Before him. 

You shook the memory out of your head before it snowballed any further. Now was not the time for that. Focus. 

Red light caught your eye as it reflected off puddles and the shiny black gravel. Your eyes followed the trail, landing on multiple different neon signs lighting up the club your pod approached. Like you had expected there to be, a long line formed outside the bar of humans waiting to get inside. At the front stood a tall, large man wearing a tight black shirt and jeans with his arms crossed looking over the line. 

Sarenya stopped beside you, and your sisters who followed closely behind mirrored both your actions. She turned to face the pod as you eyed the bouncer a bit longer, sizing him up. When she began to speak you turned around and met the faintly glowing eyes of your younger sisters. 

Another distinguishing trait that showed you were not human. 

Nymph’s eyes were usually different from the humans’. The color of one’s eyes determined their age and their status. While a siren’s eyes were green in the early stages of their life, red during their middle age and silver in their later years, a mermaid’s eyes were blue, purple and then gold in their respective life stages. The commonality between the two? Every nymph’s iris sparkled. No, not like that disgusting glitter humans loved so much that stuck to everything. Within each iris lay a million tiny flecks of their color in a lighter shade, reflective and bright. And definitely not human. 

And yes, mermaids and sirens were both sea nymphs. Humans always tried to make different categories for everything they knew little about, but it was not that complex. Although the technical terms back home were oceanids and naiads, you had learned long ago that people on land had left their original names behind. It didn’t matter much to you honestly, you were all children of the sea, and there wasn’t much difference between a mermaid and a siren anyways beside your eye color and abilities. 

Everyone knew sirens had beautiful voices, but this was merely an amplification of their compulsion. While sirens couldn’t compel any other sea nymph, it worked on every other living being. But that’s just the most well known ability. Sirens can also manipulate water, and alter the way something may appear to others. Illusion was the most useful ability a siren could use on a night like tonight.

A mermaid’s abilities were different of course. While sirens could manipulate water, mermaids could control the state of water turning it from liquid to gas to solid. Hence the rain, a combination of both your powers working together. Their most useful power for tonight, however, was their ability to control the emotions of others. 

“Alright, we have a few fleshlings with us tonight so we’re going to go over how this works.” Sarenya addressed the pod since she was tonight’s leader. “Use your abilities, rule number one. We are here for one purpose and we must do whatever it takes to achieve that goal. Rule number two, do not leave any damning evidence behind. We do not need a repeat of 1986 where a scale was left behind for a human to find and cause a frenzy. Rule number three, the humans can be quite attractive, but do not forget that they are not one of us. They are food, not mates. Kill them and move on. Fail and you will die. We can not survive on land.” 

At the end of her rules she caught your eye, speaking the last one almost directly to you. Like a reminder. As if you needed one. It made your chest hurt, your heart being squeezed torturously by an invisible vice. 

She was right though. You only got one night on land, one night to quench the insatiable thirst and gather enough blood for the members of your pod who were not allowed to join the hunt. 

Sea nymphs didn’t rely on blood to survive, it’s not the main source of food. Proteins and sea veggies like kelp and seaweed were a big part of an everyday diet. But human blood was a delicacy, and the key to immortality for a nymph. Just a drop of their blood, and a few ingredients, and you had the key to another ten years of youth. 

“We only have nine hours until sunrise. I do not care what you do in that time as long as all of your vials are full when you return and you follow those rules. Remember, when the sun comes up this is finished. If you do not make it back to the ocean by then… Well you get it by now.” For a mermaid Sarenya was quite blunt and cold, but when so many of your sisters fail to return over the years you kind of have to be. 

“Fleshlings stick by me until I say otherwise, everyone else, you know what to do.” Her golden eyes landed on yours once more with a reassuring glint to them before she strode off towards the bouncer, fleshlings in tow.

The two of you had been overseeing your pod’s hunt since 1693 when you were both promoted to Nympha Legatus, or Nymph Lieutenant. Rising in rank isn’t an easy thing to do, and it was rarely heard of especially since they usually lived forever, but that was an unusual circumstance. The hunt had started out as it usually did with the Nympha Legatus, Nymerian and Tessaya, leading your pod on the shore before breaking off for the night. As the night progressed things went horribly wrong. It had been a year since anyone had been on land and no one was aware of the witch mania that had overtaken the town of Salem. Along with a few others, Nymerian and Tessaya were captured, accused of being witches and thrown in jail to which they never made it back to the sea. Upon returning to the Nympha Ducem, Nymph Commander, you and Sarenya were the only two old enough within the pod to assume the position which required one mermaid and one siren. Since then she has been by your side through everything. You looked out for one another and always made sure the other made it back to the sea even if they had wavering thoughts. 

“Alright everyone, you heard Sarenya, you do what you need to and get back to the beach before sunrise. This isn’t your first Hunt. You know what to expect and how to handle it and we expect you to do just that. Enjoy yourselves, but don’t return home empty handed. Good luck…” Your silver eyes flitted to each of theirs briefly before continuing on the last note before separating. 

“Carpe Noctem.” Their voices mingled with your own as they recited the phrase with you. Sharing smiles, you and the pod turned towards the bar and made your way to the big guy in front of the door. 

Convincing him to let you in was easy. There was no need to use compulsion on him, your beauty taking care of that all on its own. When he asked for an I.D. however, you knew you had to turn it on. Pretending to look for the nonexistent item you pat down your pockets before giving him a sad, doe-eyed look. 

“Oh no… It seems like I left it at home. If I tell you a secret will you let me in?” You could feel the power roll off your tongue, sweet and thick like honey coating each word. The bouncer’s eyes glazed over and he leaned forwards at your request. 

“You don’t need to see my I.D. or any of the girls behind me. You know us.” He straightened back up, his eyes still in a haze. 

“Oh I didn’t realize that was you! Go on in ladies, I don’t need an I.D. for my best girls.” 

There was muttering from the line of humans behind you. Most of them were women expressing their displeasure and jealousy and some were men who were fawning over you and your sisters. Human men were so simple, each one of them the same as the last, year after year. All but one had ever shown you any difference. 

The bouncer opened the door and stepped aside letting you walk past him into the crowded bar. Cigarette smoke lingered in the air and blurred your vision slightly as you push through people to find an empty spot to sit. In your experience the hunt always worked better when you let the humans come to you. It was nice to sit and enjoy your time on land, appreciating the music, observing the humans and their strange behaviors, and savoring the cocktails they made. There was work to be done, sure, but you had the time. 

After an hour had come and gone of observing and accepting drinks from different men you had found yourself in conversation with one. And by Zeus was he the most obnoxious human you had ever met. Ethan, or so you think you heard right, went on and on and on about how much money his family had and how nice his house was and how he just got back from Italy- blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Pfft. Italy, big freaking whoop you had been there more times than you could count, and you really could not give less of a fuck about his money either. So trivial. 

Ethan, or was it Evan, who cares honestly he was about to be dead, kept talking even though you had zoned out long ago. For the last few minutes while what’s his face rambled on you were thinking how exactly you wanted to end his life. Would you promise him sex if he walked out of the club with you only to die in the alley? Or would you use your illusion and kill him right here without anyone noticing? You could also ask him to show you his ‘sick new lambo’ and bleed him dry all over the white leather seats he was raving about. New ideas kept popping into your head, each one better than the last, but your train of thought came to a screeching halt when you caught his eyes. 

He looked the same as he did every damn time. Long, slightly wavy chestnut brown hair, a soft yet strong jawline, plush soft lips, and gentle brown eyes lined with subtle dark circles underneath. No matter how many times you saw him he always seemed to steal the air from your lungs. 

Once his eyes were set on you they didn’t move. It was like he was trying to piece together where he recognized you from although you knew he never would. Your eyes bore into his own taking you back to when you first met. 

June 1713

Dover, England

Twenty years. It had only been twenty years since you were appointed Nympha Legatus which seems like a long time, but in the life of an immortal that’s nothing. Barely scratching the surface. 

The first ten years were rough. You and Sarenya had lost every single fleshling each year, none of them returning to the sea. Some were killed in random accidents, and the others just never made it back. On the eleventh year the first fleshling from your pod survived, finally giving you both hope that maybe you could do this. Maybe everything would be okay. Each year after more and more survived until only one or two didn’t return. That in itself was a success. 

Sarenya led the speech this year warning your sisters about pirates in the area, and human officers in the streets. Men were not so kind to women, especially pirates, and on land nymphs were at their most vulnerable, the Nympha Ducem deeming it illegal to use your abilities during the hunt in fear of causing suspicion amongst the humans. Deciding to hunt in a well populated port was dangerous, but it also offered a safety that desolate towns could not. More people meant you were less likely to be looked upon for being strangers, the sea was close by and there was safety in large crowds. 

“Carpe Noctem.” Everyone spoke the phrase in unison just as they had for centuries before, beginning the hunt. 

You wandered the streets for some time before finding a small pub to begin your night. Drunk men were always easy prey. But they were also unpredictable. A man who went by Billy had approached you shortly after entering the rickety establishment and offered his rum to you. The rum should have been the first indicator of who you were dealing with. The cutlass at his hip should’ve been the second. 

Between sips of the dark liquor and hollow flirting you had ended up in a back alley with Billy trying to execute your plan for killing him. You had sorely underestimated how aware, sober and strong he was. When he caught on that you were not going to do him any sexual favors the cutlass at his hip had been drawn to your neck with his other forearm laid across your chest, pressing your back into the rough brick. You squeezed your eyes shut and waited for whatever Billy was about to do, but nothing happened. 

The pressure against your chest lifted, and the cold metal of the blade at your throat was gone. When you opened your eyes Billy stood in front of you, his hands up in defense, shock and terror written all over his face, dagger pressed to his jugular. 

“Drop the cutlass. Now.” A male voice spoke from behind him, commanding but smooth. Billy did as the disembodied voice said, the sword clattering loudly, the metal banging and scraping against gravel. 

“Apologize to the lady.” 

“I- I‘m sorry miss. Won’t ha- happen again.” Billy stuttered, his legs shaking and hands trembling in the air. 

“Leave and don’t come back. If I see your face in Dover again I can’t promise I’ll be as kind a second time.” 

The man behind your attacker lifted the blade off his throat, nicking the skin ever so slightly drawing the smallest amount of blood. Finally free, Billy bolted down the street not staying to try and fight. You swore you saw his brown trousers darken as he ran away, streams of piss flowing down his legs. Coward. 

When the man straightened up from retrieving the cutlass off the ground you were able to see his face. His brown wavy hair was illuminated by moonlight, plush lips upturned at the corners into a gentle smile, and brown eyes twinkling in the silver beams from above. He was the most gorgeous human you had ever seen. 

His smile dropped a fraction when you made no movement, continuing to stare at him with wide eyes. He took a step back thinking he must have frightened you even more and mentally cursed himself. Instead you took a step forward wanting to not be any further from him than you already were. 

“It was not my intention to frighten you, my lady.” He hung his head in disappointment and shame, unable to meet your eyes again. 

“You did not frighten me, sir. I am just in awe of your beauty.” 

You wanted nothing more than to reach out for him. To touch him, and feel his smooth skin under your fingers. You kept your hands to yourself begrudgingly. 

The man’s head snapped up so quickly it looked like it hurt. Brown eyes were back on your own, a pink tint flushed onto his cheeks. 

“My beauty?” It was incredulous to him that a woman so fair, so breathtaking, was in awe of his beauty. 

“Yes.” You took another step closer to him as you spoke. 

“The most devine creature I have ever seen is calling me beautiful.” 

Your entire body froze. Every muscle and ligament locked in place and rigid. Creature. Did he know what you were? 

“Creature?” The word rolled off your tongue with disgust. A word you had always despised. 

“Well you certainly can not be human and possess the features of a goddess.” 

Just as your body had locked up in mere seconds, it relaxed hearing that what he had called you was a compliment. This was the first time you had actually liked the word creature. It was filled with endearment not disgust. 

“What is your name?” 

“Jacob.” 

“Thank you for stepping in, Jacob. I can only imagine what could have occurred had you not. Would you allow me to buy you a pint as a show of my appreciation and gratitude?” 

“Only if you’ll stay and enjoy one with me.” He beamed brighter than the moon overhead, eyes and smile wide. 

“I shall join you then.” 

The two of you walked down the cobblestone street back towards the small ale house you had come from with Billy. He had asked your name in which you told him earning yet another compliment. 

“A name just as beautiful as the woman who bears it.” 

You couldn’t describe what he was making you feel. There was never another time during your long life that you had ever felt so giddy and nervous around a human. Jacob was something special indeed. 

Time was lost on you once the two of you entered the pub and sat to enjoy a drink. Various conversations about either of you followed naturally, careful to think about your answers. You were not like him after all and one wrong thing could raise questions. 

“That’s a pretty blade.” You pointed to the dagger Jacob had set on the table, it had been the same one held to Billy’s neck. The weapon was fairly simple, a straight cross-guard that downturned slightly at the end and thinned out, the grip looked to be wrapped in leather leading to a round pommel with an atocha coin in the middle. 

“Thank you, I actually made it. I’m a silversmith.” 

Jacob was quite talented. Every piece of weaponry aside from Billy’s he had made himself. A few of the patrons in the tavern had also been carrying around his creations, all of them beautiful. He had taught himself how to fight with a sword, and how to play the guitar. He was the most intriguing human you had ever met. 

And yet he would die that night by your hand. 

Things had finally been going right for your pod in the last nine years, and you had almost thrown all of it down a trench because of some human. Wasting the night away talking to a human because he saved your life? Because he was a wonder to look at? No, that was not important. What was important was gathering the blood you needed and getting home. You had a mission. 

At least that’s what you told yourself when you drained the blood from Jacob, unable to stop. What you had to remind yourself when you saw his body limp and lifeless at your hands. It was what played in a loop in your head any time you thought of how you would never see his beauty again, how you would never admire another human in that way again. 

But you were wrong. Fate was cruel and twisted. 

You finally tore your eyes away from his and turned back to whatever his name was. He will come just as he always did, but this time you will be prepared. Finally taking a breath from speaking, Erik allowed for a lull in the conversation giving the opportunity for you to suggest the two of you find somewhere more private. Of course he was more than happy to oblige. Naïve human. 

Once Edwin was taken care of and you had your vile of blood, you cleaned the mess in the dirty alleyway as best as you could. The door you walked out of had been propped open from the cardboard box you wedged in the doorframe and you slipped back inside easily. Women filled the tiny bathroom, drunk and stumbling as you cleaned yourself up making sure there was no evidence left behind. Satisfied, you left the bathroom and made your way back to where you had been originally sitting. 

You sat there for some time watching the humans dance, talk and laugh trying to keep your eyes off of him. A truly fruitless distraction, your eyes trained on his form unable to look away. A part of you knew that you had to cherish this before it was too late. Not knowing how much time would pass before you did see him again. 

After what seemed like hours, although you’re sure it could’ve only been thirty minutes, he pushed off the table he was leaning against and made his way over to you. Trying to seem like you had not been staring at him all night, your eyes wandered elsewhere looking for anything remotely interesting. It wasn’t until he was basically right in front of you that you allowed your eyes to shift onto him. He stared down at you, the corners of his lips pulled into the smallest smile. 

“Alright if I join you?” His hand was outstretched, palm facing upwards and motioning to the empty seat next to you. 

“Not at all.” You smiled back at him and scooted over slightly on the small cushioned bench to make more room. 

“I wasn’t going to come over here since you were with someone earlier, but it appears that he left.” 

“Yeah,” You chuckled, “Honestly I’m glad I was able to ditch him. He was a bore. Had I known you’d come over sooner I would’ve gotten rid of him a long time ago.” 

“Is that so?” His eyebrows raised, the smile on his face only growing in size. You hummed a short “Mmm,” your eyes meeting his for the first time since he sat down.  

“I’m Jake by the way.” 

Jake extended his hand out to you and you took it, shaking his hand with a firm, but still soft grip. Neither of you could keep your eyes off the other. 

“Y/n.” 

“Fitting. A name just as beautiful as the woman bearing it.” You could feel your heart skip before it sank. You knew he would say it, but that didn’t make the pain any easier. He dropped your hand and lifted his glass up to his lips taking a sip. 

“Not much of a dancer I presume?” 

April 1865

Boston, Massachusetts  

People were everywhere. In the streets, in the bars, cheering, drinking, celebrating. The perfect time to begin the hunt. 

After separating from the pod you found yourself observing the humans while they celebrated victory. The civil war had just ended and their side won. It was fascinating to watch them dance and sing and drink to their hearts desire without any care in the world. 

So caught up in watching the humans, you hadn’t even noticed him in the crowd. But he had noticed you, of course he had. Not only were you the only person in all of Boston to not be celebrating in some way, but you were also stunning. 

“Not much of a dancer I presume?” 

The accent was much different, but the voice was the same. Your head snapped to where he was standing just left of you, shock wracking your entire body. How was it possible? He was dead. You had killed him over a hundred years ago. 

“Um… Uh- n-no. Not really.” You stumbled through the shock that had taken hold of you, mind racing. 

“I see… C’mon,” He held his hand out to you as an offering. When you didn’t take it he whispered, “If you don’t celebrate in some way they might think you’re a sympathizer. Take my hand.” 

You did as he asked and slid your hand into his. He pulled you up from the stoop you were occupying and led you into the street with all the other humans. Musicians were playing loudly out in the open, the songs always fast and upbeat keeping everyone moving. He dropped your hand once comfortable with where you were standing and began a dance you had never seen before. When you didn’t move an inch he stopped. 

“Do you not know how it goes?” 

“No.” Your teeth sunk into your bottom lip as you shook your head. 

“I’ll teach you. Follow my lead.” 

“Okay…” 

“Jacob. You can call me Jacob.” 

Song after song, dance after dance, Jacob leads you into each one. He taught you all the steps, keeping patience the entire time which would not have been an easy thing to do. While you were no fleshling, you definitely looked like it was your first time on legs with how uncoordinated you were. 

You talked as you danced the night away. Jacob was just as intriguing the second time you met him as he was the first. He was the same man you had met in 1713, but more modernized. Everything about him drew you in. 

Eventually the music died, the streets cleared and it was just you and Jacob left out in the night. The two of you were sitting on the steps of his porch talking under the stars and enjoying each other's company. At some point you were no longer looking at the empty street or the starry night sky, but looking at one another instead. Jacob’s eyes traversed every part of your face like he was trying to memorize even the smallest details. After a few moments of this he sighed dreamily. 

“May I kiss you?” 

“You want to kiss me?” 

“More than anything.” 

“Then yes, Jacob, you may.” 

You had kissed plenty of humans in your lifetime, none of them ever meaning anything significant. But when Jacob’s lips touched yours for the first time you had finally realized why humans liked to do this. Your entire body felt… alive. The feeling was the strangest, yet most blissful experience that you wished would never end. When he pulled away from you sadness ran through every fiber of your being, instantly missing the warmth of his soft lips.  

You would never forget the way Jacob looked at you after the kiss. His eyes were soft, a gentle smile gracing his pretty face, every bit of him glowing with something other than the light from the moon. You would’ve done anything to see him like this for the rest of your life. To feel like he had just made you feel for eternity. 

When the blissful haze cleared however, the longing vanished and panic quickly set in. What was he doing to you? This wasn’t right. You have a purpose and it is not to fall in love with a human. Get it together. Do your duty. 

Every other thought bounced back and forth, your heart and brain fighting for dominance. Your heart told you to let him live, you didn’t need to kill him, but your brain knew better. You needed to do it or you would come back year after year just to see him. Risk the safety of you and the pod for a human you could never be with. 

You had to kill him. 

“Thank you for tonight Jacob.” 

“The pleasure was all mine.” 

He had insisted on walking you home to which you didn’t fight. If he walked you home you could lead him to a quiet place to take his life. Maybe even somewhere beautiful. Jacob deserved more than to just be drained and dumped in some filthy alley. 

When he took you through the public garden you knew that was the place. So you led him down close to the pond underneath a willow tree, rays of light breaking through the wispy leaves that lay in drooping branches.

“Jacob?” You turned to him and gently grabbed both his hands. 

“Hmm?” 

“Kiss me again… Please?” There was the possibility that he would not come back like he had this time. A possibility that you would never feel his lips on yours again and you needed to experience it one last time. 

“Okay.” It was soft and breathy, and had the night been any more lively you weren’t sure you would’ve heard it. 

Jacob did as you asked, his lips pressed to yours like they had the first time. Tingles rolled through your body from head to toe crashing over you like waves. When you thought he would pull away and end the kiss he did something that surprised you. His tongue swept across your lower lip sending new vibrations along your spine, your body shivering slightly. Your own mouth acted without volition and opened against his lips. 

The feeling of his tongue gliding along yours like velvet was euphoric. Noises bubbled from your throat in sighs of pleasure to be swallowed by Jacob. His hands gripped your waist, fingertips pressing into the meat with desperate longing. You liked the way his hands felt on you, almost as intoxicating as his mouth. 

The kiss calmed and turned into short, slow kisses until your foreheads were resting against one another. You watched both of your chests rise and fall rapidly as you tried to regain your breath and slow your racing hearts. Neither of you said a word, just simply enjoying the moment. 

Do it now. Get it over with, the longer you delay the worse it’ll be. Do it. 

“May the flames of our souls dance together endlessly, Jacob.” You didn’t dare look at his face when you spoke your last words to him knowing you wouldn’t have it in you to do what needed to be done. 

As your teeth sank into the delicate skin of his neck you prayed for it to be over quickly. Each desperate gasp of breath was a stab to your already fragile heart, and you were thankful you couldn’t see his face. 

When he finally fell unconscious you filled the vile with his blood quickly before returning to finish what you started. Each pull of your mouth was a physical battle within yourself knowing that if you left now, before it was too late, he’d live. You could save him if you stopped. But that wasn’t an option anymore. You had to see it through. 

You laid him down gently beneath the willow, teardrops dotting his skin, and cried harder at the sight of them. Had you been crying the whole time, you weren’t sure, but deep down you knew you had been. Brushing his hair from his face you looked at him one last time and pressed a shaky kiss to his forehead. 

You had never run faster or sobbed harder in your life than you had that night.

“Something like that. I’m not one for this type of dancing or music if I’m honest.” You shrugged looking out at the people jumping and grinding to the music the DJ played. 

“I’m not either, but my younger brothers wanted to check it out so I appeased them,” His eyes were trained on the crowd as he spoke, “I was starting to regret coming, and was just telling my brother I was going to leave.” 

You peeled your eyes away from the people dancing on the floor and looked at Jake. He did the same, turning his focus back to you. 

“Oh really? What made you change your mind?” 

“Well I saw the most gorgeous woman looking like she’d rather be anywhere but here.” A cheeky smile formed on his lips. You’d forgotten how smooth he always was, your own lips breaking into a small smile. 

“Would you wanna get out of here?” 

“And go where?” 

“I know a place.” Jake stood from his spot on the bench and set his drink on the table. When he turned to you he had his arm extended for you to take. His face gave a look of ‘what do you say?’ 

“Better be a good place.” You smiled and took his hand letting him lead you out of the noisy club. When the two of you stepped outside onto the street his hand dropped yours, the warmth he brought quickly dissipating. The action made you sad, wanting nothing more than to touch him again. 

You weren’t sure where he was taking you, but you trusted him and let him lead you down the wet streets. The two of you talked, and just as you had expected he was the same as each time before just with slight differences. He was a musician now, self made of course, and in a band with his brothers. It was almost relieving to hear that there was finally a version of him in which he played music. You knew he was destined for this profession, his love and devotion for the art always remaining throughout the decades. 

Eventually you came to the entrance of a park shrouded with hundreds of trees and flowers. He continued to walk down the pathway, a destination clear in mind. You couldn’t help but look in awe at the breathtaking scenery around you, all the trees and flowers, the moonlight bouncing off the large pond that sat in the middle of the park. You wondered what it might look like in the daytime. 

Since you had left the club there had not been a moment of silence. Comfortable, casual conversation flowed easily between you, talking about anything and everything you could think of. Jake was well read in human history and literature, things you knew much about having lived through most of them. While you only came upon the shore for one night each year you liked to keep tabs on what was happening with the humans as it usually impacted the lives of the nymphs greatly. Especially as technology advanced. 

The two of you came to a bench surrounded by large drooping trees that overlooked the pond, and your chest tightened. The scene before you looked strikingly similar to the public garden in Boston where you had taken Jake’s life almost two hundred years ago. Images of his lifeless state came flooding back to you, tears pricking your eyes. You took a deep breath and closed your eyes, willing the tears back down. When you opened your eyes again and looked at the trees more closely you breathed a small sigh of relief. They were not willows, but instead oak trees covered in spanish moss that were still living. And they were hauntingly beautiful.

“I like to come here at night when I’m stuck on a melody or riff I can’t quite work out. There’s something about this place that’s so peaceful and reminiscent. Which sounds ridiculous since I don't even know what I could possibly reminisce about in a place like this.” He sat on the bench and looked out over the water as he spoke, like he truly was thinking back to something. You tried to deny that maybe in some way he remembered that night in Boston as you sat beside him. It was easier to lie to yourself than accept that old pieces of his lives that involved you lingered.

The night had grown somewhat cold and a chill ran through your body as wind swept through the trees. Jake noticed the way your arms wrapped tightly around your body and wordlessly took off his light jacket, placing it around your shoulders. 

“Thank you, but you didn’t-“ 

“I wanted to.” 

The skin of your cheeks burned, heat creeping along your face and down your neck. You were thankful for the thickly coated trees overhead as they blocked out most of the moonlight and hid your growing blush. With the wind dying, you could smell his natural musk that wafted from the jacket, woodsy and clean like driftwood that sat on the beach. The smell flooded your senses, reminding you of the last time you had seen him. 

September 1923

Charleston, South Carolina 

Prohibition made hunting harder. Without the effect of alcohol humans tended not to hang around in large groups and were more difficult to subdue, but thankfully speakeasies existed. Sure finding a human who knew where one was could be a challenge, but once you did find one who could point you in the right direction they would do so of their own free will. 

Bourbon and Branch was where you had found yourself this night for the hunt. The darkly lit underground club was congested with smoke from cigarettes and cigars, the sound of jazz filled the space. There couldn't have been a better place to prey on humans and you certainly took advantage of it, your body count for the evening rising higher and higher. Were you out of control? No, not yet, but hey it was the roaring twenties, everyone was on the verge of losing what little grip they had on self control. It didn’t help that you had been nursing your self loathing and pain since 1865.

Every waking moment that fateful night played on a loop in your mind. Over and over. You would do anything to get through the day without thinking about him, and human blood helped take your mind off of everything. The more you drank, the better you felt, the less you thought of him, but the more you drank, the more you pushed yourself further to the edge. You were quickly becoming a liability to the pod with each hunt that took place. It’s not that you didn’t care that you were endangering the pod, you just couldn’t see past your own misery to realize that what you were doing was dangerous.

You had lost track of just how many bodies you had left in the alley behind the speakeasy that night. It was nearing double digits, but you didn’t care and instead headed back inside the small club to find your next meal. When you slipped back inside though the image of the next human you had intended on targeting vanished instantly. 

Sitting in a booth with a drink in hand looking at home was the man who haunted you. His eyes seemed to be scanning the room, like he was looking for something in particular when they landed on you. You didn’t dare take your eyes off of him, fearing that maybe the blood had gotten to your head. You watched as he said something to one of the men who sat by his side, identical to him in some ways, before sliding out of the booth and walking towards you. Not once did his eyes leave yours. 

It felt like catching up with an old friend in some weird way. You know the person down to their core, but aspects of their life have changed, and small parts of them have too. Most of the night was spent in the Bourbon and Branch just talking with Jacob and getting to know what he was like in this life. There were plenty of smiles, laughs and flirting, and you were floating on air. And when he kissed you that night it was as if no time had passed, like you were back in 1865 sitting on his porch steps under the stars. 

When the bar had finally closed for the night, neither of you could bring yourselves to say goodbye. Jacob invited you back to his house with his brothers and their partners as a proper way to wind down after a night out. More secret booze and music. The lot of you danced and drank for what seemed like hours before everyone either left or went to bed leaving you and Jacob out to enjoy the night alone. The two of you talked and talked until talking led to gentle touches, those touches turned to kissing, and the kissing led to something you had never done.  

While painful at first, the feeling that came after was truly unlike anything you had ever experienced. Nothing would compare to the overwhelming euphoria you and Jacob had shared that night. Images of him above you, bare and glistening with sweat while his light brown eyes bore into your own were seared in your brain. The scent of driftwood and sea salt was all around you, enveloping you wholly. His whispers of praise, encouragement, and adoration echoed forever in your head. How beautiful you were and how good you felt. How utterly perfect you were. If you thought you liked the way his hands felt on you once long ago, you loved how they felt on you tonight. You loved the pleasure he could bring you with just a drag of his finger, and how gentle he was. So gentle like he was afraid he would break you. When you reached your peak you felt nothing but pure pleasure, every thought and memory erased from your mind that wasn’t him. He invaded every part of your being.

Afterwards the two of you laid in his bed, bare and pressed against one another. No words were spoken, but none needed to be. You were both content to exist in the moment listening to each breath the other took while his fingers traced mindless shapes and paths across your skin. The only noise that could be heard was Jacob humming softly, a tune that had no real body like it was something he made up as it came to him. 

When he finally fell asleep you slipped out from underneath his arm carefully to not wake him and redressed. You had decided you would not repeat history this time. You wouldn’t be the cause of his death, you couldn’t do it again. You knew had you taken his life a third time you would come apart at the seams completely. While you were unsure if he would ever come back to you since you had let him live, it was a chance you were willing to take. For one last time you admired him in the faint glow of the candles by his bed, and this time as you looked upon him you didn’t have to tell yourself he was sleeping. 

“May the flames of our souls dance together endlessly, my love.” Your hand caressed his cheek and you bent down to place a gentle kiss to his forehead before you made your exit. You had barely made it to the ocean when the sun rose that morning, your first true close call. To you though it was well worth it.

“So you’re in a band? Do you enjoy it?” You pulled his jacket tighter around your frame hoping to trap in more heat and cocoon yourself in his smell. 

“I love it. It’s been my dream for so long to be a musician and I don’t think I would trade anything in the world for it.” When he spoke you could feel the excitement pour off of him. He truly loved what he was doing and that made you happy- knowing that he was happy. 

“I’m sure it's not easy though being in a band with your brothers.”

“Everyone thinks that, but it’s not always difficult. Sure tempers fly, and things get smashed or broken, but nothing will ever come between us that we can’t overcome. We’re family, we’ll always have each other’s backs.” 

You could understand where he was coming from. Your pod was your family, each member was a sister to you biological or not, and the hunt was your job. Things get dicey every now and then, but for the most part you just tried to do what was best for your family and looked out for one another.

Another hour had passed just sitting under the trees talking about everything and nothing at all. It had taken all the strength you had to not shiver uncontrollably from head to toe till now, Jake’s jacket not doing much anymore. You were positively freezing. The cold finally won, and violent shakes wracked your body. 

“I have this beautiful hand-made dagger from the 1700s, absolutely exquis-“ His sentence stopped abruptly on the count of way your body jolted continuously and he began to rub his hands up and down the length of your biceps, “C’mon let’s get you somewhere warm, you’re shaking like a leaf.” 

Jake stood from the bench, his hands falling away from your arms for a moment to help you stand. When the two of you began to walk he was next to you, his arm wrapped around the back of your body so both of his hands were back on your upper arms. The friction from his hands did heat your body slightly, but not enough to subdue the intense shivering. 

“My place isn’t far from here, is that alright?” When you turned to answer him you came practically nose to nose with him. He was so close that the only thing you could see in front of you were his honey brown irises. 

“Um, yeah that’s fine. How far away are we?”  

“About seven minutes, think you’ll make it that far?” The smallest hint of a smile drew the corner of his mouth upwards, his top lip curling the tiniest bit. 

While you didn’t spend most of your time around humans you knew when one was making a joke. Or in this case, poking fun at you. Instead of finding it offensive the jest was rather endearing. Nonetheless you rolled your eyes playfully.

“Yes I can make it that far.” You finally willed yourself to look away from his mesmerizing face and stare out ahead of you. A part of you feared that if you didn’t look away now, you never would. 

Shortly after leaving the park you had stopped shivering and Jake’s hands stopped their vigorous movements on your arms to rest at his sides. It seemed silly, but you mourned his touch as soon as it left your body and you decided to ask him about the dagger from earlier to distract yourself. 

“You were telling me earlier about a dagger that you have?” 

“Oh yeah, I forgot I was nerding out a little.” A breathy laugh escaped from between his lips. It was more of a huff of air than an actual laugh. His focus was on his boots as he walked beside you on the concrete sidewalk. 

“Tell me about it? I would love to know more.” 

“Yeah, uh,” He looked up to you with an expression that looked something similar to disbelief mixed with excitement. “It’s a beautiful handcrafted dagger from the early 18th century I believe. It’s a family heirloom, been passed down to the Kiszka men when they turn twenty-five. That’s how old my ancestor was when he made it.” 

His hands waved about and fidgeted as he spoke like it was something he did out of nervous habit, but you think he just liked to keep his hands busy. You knew exactly which blade he had been referring to, there was no doubt in your mind. The weapon had to be the same blade used to strike fear into the heart of Billy back in Dover, England. The same blade which you complimented later on in the night. 

“This is me.” Jake stopped in front of a large house, very modern and elegant looking, but simple, and dug his keys out from the depths of his pockets. While he fidgeted with the keys you took the opportunity to slide the vial of blood you had collected from earlied out of your pocket and drop it gently in one of his bushes by door to grab in the morning.

He opened the door and walked inside, holding the door open for you to follow behind him. As soon as you stepped through the threshold of his home, warmth flooded over your entire body.

Jake’s home on the inside reflected the outside, modern and sleek, but it still had a cozy and comfortable element to it. In a way it somewhat reminded you of his home in the 1920’s. 

You followed him deeper into the house through a hallway that led into a living room and kitchen. The areas were separated by a black granite bar top that had bar stools lined along the wall facing into the kitchen. Jake walked around the bar into the kitchen and you decided to stay on the other side, standing next to a stool. He looked at you from the other side, his hands on top of the black surface and his upper body leaning towards you.

“Would you like anything to drink? Water, tea, booze?” 

“Hmm, tea sounds quite nice. Would you by any chance happen to have any peppermint tea?” 

“As a matter of fact, I do.” He smiled at you fondly before turning around and walking to a cabinet on the wall behind him. He opened the cabinet and pulled two mugs off the shelf before closing it and opening another one to rummage through it. When he found the proper tea he filled the kettle up with water and set it on the stove to bring to a boil. 

“You can sit, you know, make yourself comfortable.” He was facing you now, back pressed against the island in the center of the kitchen, his hands resting on the countertop behind him and his legs cross at the ankle. You knew with the tone of his voice and the soft smile on his face that he was just trying to make you feel more welcome.

“Thank you, although I’m content standing for now.” You smiled back at him gently with your upper body leaned into the cool black stone. Jake only offered an amused hum in response, continuing to stare at you with fond eyes. 

“What?”

“Nothing… You’re just so beautiful,” His focus shifted to the ground and he shook his head, a giddy smile still splayed across his lips. “When I saw you at the club tonight I almost couldn’t muster up the courage to speak to you, and now you’re in my house and I’m making tea for you, and…” He looked up from the ground and met your eyes again. “You’re just so beautiful.” 

You pushed off of the counter and made your way into the kitchen where he was standing. Neither of you looked away from the other the closer you got. 

“I think,” You stopped in front of him and lightly draped your arms around his shoulders. His hands lifted from the countertop behind him and rested on your hips. “That you are quite beautiful.” 

He was quiet for a moment, your compliment stunning him. He continued to stare at you in wonder and your eyes stayed locked on his.

“Me? Beautiful?” 

“Breathtaking.”

His hand left your waist, his palm coming to rest on your jaw with his thumb splayed across your cheek, and his fingers laid against your neck just under your ear. 

“C’mere.”

Jake pulled you closer to him, his fingers curling gently around the back of your neck, his lips pressing to yours. Just like each time before your skin felt tingly, spreading from your head all the way down your toes. You could feel his lips still curled upwards into the smile he was wearing as he kissed you. After a beat or two he pulled away from you. 

The second his lips lifted from your own you felt the immediate longing of wanting to feel their warmth and softness again. It felt like sand slipping through your fingers. 

However, his mouth was back on yours continuously pressing quick, tender kisses upon your lips over and over. With each time he pulled away, the amount of time between the kisses grew shorter like he couldn’t bring himself to pull away from you entirely. Not only did they become shorter, but they quickly became more heated and needy. Jake’s tongue ran the length of your bottom lip and you welcomed it happily, parting your lips with a low hum. You didn’t fight him for dominance and instead let his tongue explore your mouth as he pleased. The tip of his tongue teased the roof of your mouth slowly from the back to the front before he met your lips again and his tongue brushed against your own. 

He walked forward a few steps and used the hand placed on your hip to turn the two of you in an one-eighty, and then walked you backwards. Your back pressed into the edge of the island countertop, Jake’s chest and hips pressed flush against your own, his hand moving to tangle into the soft tresses of your hair. Everything he did was gentle, careful not to push too far. Even with his body pressed into yours there was no overwhelming force. 

Your hands wound into his hair, pulling him impossibly closer to you and earning a groan from Jake in return. He grabbed both your hips in his hands and grinded his growing erection into your core. You couldn’t help the way your head lulled back, breaking the kiss. Taking advantage of your exposed neck, he trailed kisses down the column of the soft skin. His mouth worked slowly, dragging out each open mouthed, hot kiss with his tongue licking over the area before moving to place the next one.

“Jake.” His name rolled off your tongue in a whisper, broken and whiny. You hadn’t meant to say his name out loud, but the reaction you pulled from him was worth it. The tips of his fingers dug into your hips harder and vibrations rumbled from his mouth through your neck with the low moan he released. 

“Sounds so pretty when you say it like that, darling.” His teeth scraped across your skin with the next kiss just barely applying any pressure. 

“Fuck, Jake.” 

His teeth grazed the delicate skin once again, adding in another roll of his hips into yours. He was much harder now and the friction he supplied was making your head dizzy. You wanted more of him, so much more of him. In the background you could hear the kettle whistle loudly on the stove signifying it was ready. 

“Water’s ready for tea.” Jake’s voice was low and husky while still moving his mouth down your throat. 

“Forget the tea. I need you, please.” Your hand traveled between your bodies to palm his clothed length. His lips finally ceased their assault, his forehead resting on your clavicle with a sharp breath pulled into his lungs.

“Oh darling,” He lifted his head from your chest to look into your eyes. There was a fire in his eyes this time that you had never seen before, dark and swirling beneath the surface. “Have me you shall.” 

He stepped away from you and grabbed your hand, pulling you behind him. He walked over to the stove quickly turning off the burner and setting the kettle aside. Once the fire hazard was taken care of he pulled you into him again and reconnected your lips. You were walking backwards, unsure of where exactly he was directing the two of you, but you couldn’t care less. Your fingers fumbled with the buttons on his shirt popping them open one by one. In return, Jake was working to unbutton your pants. When the last button was undone on his shirt you pushed the light material away from his shoulders and let your hands roam his warm skin. He was solid under your hands, yet still delicate. You loved the way his chest and stomach felt, obsessed with how sturdy and soft he was at the same time. 

He moved on to your shirt once the button on your pants was undone and the zipper had been pulled down. You could feel the material slipping lower on your hips ever so slightly with each step you took. Jake pulled your shirt up over your head by the hem and dropped it to the floor, and you took one more step backwards before your back hit what you assumed was a door. His hand flew out and twisted the knob opening the door. He continued to walk you backwards into his room until the back of your knees came into contact with his bed. 

You let out a shocked gasp, your knees buckling underneath you and falling rather ungracefully onto the bed while pulling Jake with you. He was able to stop himself from crushing you fully, his arms on either side of your head. When the initial surprise subsided the two of you broke into a fit of giggles unable to contain them. 

“Sorry, I should’ve stopped.” He pushed himself up from the bed to stand still chuckling slightly.

“It’s okay.” One last giggle escaped from your lips as he made to stand. He was wedged between your legs while he looked down at you. 

The look in his eyes from before had returned, quickly stirring the heat in your core again. While you were still wearing your bottoms, the top you had been wearing was long gone revealing your bare chest to him for the first time. He leaned forward and placed his hands on both sides of your hips. His fingers gripped the tops of the waistbands on your pants and underwear. 

“Can I?” There was a gruff tone to his voice now when he spoke. 

“Please.” 

Jake didn’t waste anymore time and tugged the clothing from your body. There was no rush, taking his time undressing your lower half, and you propped yourself up on your elbows to have a better view of him. He dropped your bottoms to the ground and stood up straight to have a better view of your naked body. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone more stunning.” His eyes trailed along your body, drinking in every inch. You sat up fully, your face level with his toned abdomen and your hands toying with the waistband of his trousers. 

“I have.” 

The sight of you below him made his dick twitch. You were looking up at him almost innocently with your hands and mouth mere inches away from his aching cock. The very thought of having your mouth so close to him made him almost cum right there. 

You started to undo the button and fly on his pants while placing sweet kisses to his stomach just above his navel, never breaking eye contact. Once the button was taken care of and you moved onto the zipper you trailed the light kisses lower and lower until your bottom lip brushed the top of his underwear. You drew your lips from the heated skin of his torso and hooked your fingers into his pants like he had just done to you. 

“May I?” You were still so close to him that your breath fanned over his skin and sent shivers through his body. 

“Oh god, yes.” The words were filled with air and flew out in a hushed whisper. 

You pulled the fabric down his legs taking the boxers down with his pants. His hardened length sprang free, the tip slapping his lower belly gently. You were mesmerized with how gorgeous every part of him was, and while it had been over a hundred years since you had seen him bare, he was the same as before. When you got the top of his pants past his sturdy thighs they dropped freely the rest of the way down his legs. 

Jake stepped out of the trousers carefully before bending down to cup your cheek and bring his lips back to yours. He laid you back slowly as he kissed you, kneeling on the bed with one knee between your legs. His other hand rested on your hip and pressed into you guiding you to move further up the bed. 

Satisfied with where you were, Jake laid into you more fully. His forearm was braced into the mattress next to your head, his chest brushing yours with each heaving breath, and his heavy cock nestled in the crevice where your thigh met your groin. 

His fingers skirted from your hip down the outside of your thigh just barely touching the heated skin. With the same pressure his hand crossed over the top of your thigh and slowly inched its way up to your core. Every touch his fingers made on your skin left behind a trail of raised skin in their wake. A breathy moan was pulled from your lips as he ran his middle and index fingers up your slit slowly. 

“Fuck, you’re so wet.” Jake groaned against your lips. 

Your hips bucked into his hand involuntarily as his fingers swept over your clit for the first time. You writhed under his touch earning a smile from his lips that you could feel against your own before he began kissing his way down your neck towards your chest. Even as he moved down your body you could still feel the smile he wore. His fingers swirled your clit in tight, slow, figure eights while his tongue gave an experimental flick to your perked nipple. Your back arched from the bed, pushing your chest into him silently begging for more. He loved how responsive you were, and you could tell. Each time you reacted to his touches, you felt his hard length twitch and pulse against your hip. 

His lips wrapped around your nipple fully, sucking and licking the bud, earning the sweetest sounds from your open mouth. Not once did his fingers stop moving against your clit and you were quickly being brought to the edge of ecstasy. He pulled his mouth from your breast with a soft pop and kissed lower down your belly. A soft giggle bubbled in your throat as his lips passed over a sensitive area of your stomach, his lips tickling you. He huffed a laugh at the way your muscles contracted and you squirmed under his touch only making the tickling sensation worse. 

“Sorry.” He laughed with you, his eyes catching yours. 

“S’okay.” 

You reach a hand down into his hair encouraging him to continue where he left off. Jake did as you implied and kissed further down your abdomen to your core, looping his arms around your hips and thighs. He kept eye contact as he placed one last kiss to your center right on your clit. When his tongue licked a stripe through your folds his eyes fluttered shut. He hummed against your soaked heat, the vibrations flowing through your entire body. Your fingers wound tighter into his hair and your hips begged for him to be closer. 

He slid his tongue back up your slit, collecting your arousal and wrapped his lips around your clit once at the top. He sucked the sensitive bundle into his mouth, flicking his tongue against it rapidly. Your entire body felt like it was on fire and your head was becoming more fuzzy with each roll of the wet, velvet muscle. Whines and moans of pleasure rolled out from your throat, his name mixed in along with them sweetly. Just when you were about to be sent over the edge you pulled his mouth from your core and back up to your own. His chest and torso were pressed to yours, now propped up on his knees between your spread legs. 

You could taste yourself on his lips and tongue. Sweet with a hint of saltiness. Like watermelon lightly sprinkled with salt on a summer’s day. You wanted more.

“Jake, please,” You whispered against his lips between feverish kisses trying desperately to get the words out. “I need you. I need all of you. Please, please.” 

“Say it again.” His hand pressed down between your sticky bodies, gripping his length.

“I need all of you.” 

“Say my name again.” He ran his swollen head through your wet lips, and coated himself in your slick. 

“Please Jake.” He pressed into you slowly, the tip just inside as you spoke his name causing it to hitch in your throat. Your walls fluttered around him trying desperately to adjust to his size while he continued to push the rest of the way inside you. Your arms wrapped around the underside of his arms holding him close to you with your hands resting on the tops of his shoulders. The sound of his heavy breaths cascaded into your ear, his head dropped with his chin resting on your shoulder between your cheek and his hand. 

“Oh fuck, you’re so tight.” He took a few ragged breaths. “Are you alright if I move?”

“Yeah, I-I’m okay.” Your voice cracked in a whisper already sounding fucked out.  

Jake withdrew his hips from yours slowly, his thick length gliding out easily until just the tip of his head remained inside at your entrance. He pushed back in faster than before, but still at a steady pace. His other hand that was placed next to your head shifted so that he was cradling your head in his hand and gently pushing your opposite cheek into his. 

With each push and pull of his hips to yours, both of your breathing became heavier, filled with moans and whispers of praise. He brushed your cervix upon every re-entry and grazed a spot that made your entire body explode in pleasure. 

There was no doubt how good he was making you feel, and while you knew you were making him feel the same pleasures, you wanted to physically be responsible. 

“Jake.” You tapped his shoulder lightly to get his attention. He quickly stopped all movement and lifted his face, looking at you with worry etched onto his features. 

“Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?” 

Your heart practically melted at his sincerity, and you couldn’t help but smile up at him. Worry changed to confusion at the sight of you smiling.

“Yes, I’m okay. I just, um,” You weren’t sure how to tell him exactly what you wanted. Mainly because you didn’t know what exactly it was that you wanted. “I want to… You’re just making me feel so good, and I… I want to make you feel good.” 

“Baby,” A breathy chuckle left his lips, and his head fell, shaking lightly, “You’re already making me feel good. So unbelievably good.” He looked back up at you, the corner of his mouth pulled upwards showing off the smallest portion of his top teeth. 

“I just want to… actively make you feel good.” You tried to reiterate to him what you meant. 

“Are you trying to tell me that you want to be on top?” 

You nodded your head slowly and watched the adoring smile on his face grow. Without much warning, his arm hooked around the back of your knee securing it closer to his body as he started to roll onto his back. He was seated fully inside you as he changed your positions, making you feel much more full once you were sat on him completely. 

You wiggled your arms out from under his shoulders and sat up using his chest to stabilize yourself. He looked even more gorgeous below you than above with his skin shiny from sweat and his hair falling in waves around where his head rested. You stared at him for a moment longer taking in the way he looked and feeling how firm his chest and tummy felt. 

You also weren’t sure what you were supposed to do, so you were sort of stalling. 

“I, um, I’ve never really done this before…” Your gaze fell to watch your fingers dance along his tanned, smooth skin. 

Jake didn’t respond. Instead his hands found your waist and gave you a reassuring squeeze making you look back to his face. 

“I’ll show you.” 

His hands lifted your hips ever so slightly before angling them forward gently. He continued to guide you upwards at this angle until you reached the end of his length. Just before he slipped out completely, you rolled your hips backwards again with the guidance of his hands and took him down to his base. He repeated the motion a few times to help you get a feel for it, each time speeding up just a little. 

“If something feels good, follow it. Don’t think too much about what you want to do. Just let your body be the guide.” Not once did his hands stop guiding you while he spoke.

You started to take more control by lifting your hips on your own and changing the angle to take him down deeper. His hands stayed on your hips with his fingers extending to your ass. The more comfortable you got, the more you rolled your hips and sped up causing Jake’s fingertips to dig into the meat of your backside. 

“That’s it. Doing so good.” 

You did what he told you and just let your body do what it wanted to naturally. Carefully, you leaned back placing your hands on the outsides of his shins and kept moving your hips forward. With the new angle you could feel a searing hot tightness form in your lower belly with each thrust. You could see his cock, glistening in your juices, disappear in and out of you which only spurred you on more. You looked up to Jake to see him watching you slide along his length, his lips parted and his chest heaving. He caught your eyes and his hands traveled up your back. 

“C’mere.” 

He pulled you back to him, his lips crashing into yours and his hips bucking up into you. A loud moan ripped from your throat and was sent straight into his mouth. You could do nothing for a moment, but lay on top of him and let his hips do all the work, his thrusts disabling your mind and body. When you did finally push back onto him, his breath hitched before a deep groan tore from his chest and his hands gripped you harder. It took you a few tries to find the right rhythm, but after a few moments his hips were thrusting up to meet your own on their descent. Curses and praises tumbled freely from him, air filled and raspy. The movements were perfectly timed and you could feel yourself on the edge of the cliff once again. His kisses became sloppy, filled mostly with grunts and breathy moans against your lips. 

“I’m close. A-are you, shit, are you almost there?” He sighed, his breath fanning over your face.

“Yeah, I’m- I’m about to- Oh fuck, Jake.” Your orgasm hit you before you could even finish your sentence. Intense pleasure ignited every inch of your body as your muscles contracted, squeezing his cock like a vice. His name slipped off your tongue over and over as he helped you ride out the high while chasing his own. 

It was his name falling from your lips continuously like a mantra while you came that had him reaching his own climax. Soft whimpers, moans and gasps spilling from his lips and swirled around your head. He pulled you into his chest further, hugging you tight to his chest and kissed you harder until his hips slowed to a stop inside you. 

Neither of you made to move for a few minutes, both of you entirely spent. Your entire body weight was being supported by him as you laid on top of his chest and stomach trying to come down. Jake was the first to move. He helped you up and gently guided you to lay on your back before making his way off the bed with a promise to return. When he came back he was holding a wet cloth and a glass of water. He cleaned your mixed release up from between your legs tenderly, and then disposed of the cloth in his dirty laundry basket. You gulped down the water while you waited for him to return again. A few moments later he came back and crawled back into his bed laying next to you. As soon as Jake laid down you started to get out of his bed to leave for the night needing to return back to the sea. 

“Hey, you don’t have to go. You can stay- If you want to, I mean-” He fumbled over his words trying to get across what he wanted to say properly. You couldn’t get over how cute he looked, his cheeks getting pink from being flustered. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I would like for you to stay.” 

“I can stay for a little bit longer.” 

You smiled at him softly and eased back into the bed beside him. He pulled you closer to him and wrapped his arm around your shoulder. You rested your head on his chest, his skin warming your cheek, and laid your arm across his stomach. The two of you stayed wrapped up in each other’s arms until you drifted off to sleep, the slow rise and fall of his chest soothing you. Just before sleep took you under you heard him mutter something in his sleepy haze. 

“I’ve waited for you.” You could barely register what he said, already half asleep and in a dreamy haze yourself. 

A faint yellow glow woke you from your dreamless sleep. Sunlight beamed into your eyes when you finally got up the courage to pry them open, and your heart sank to your stomach. It was daytime and you hadn’t made it back to the ocean. You frantically threw the covers off of your still naked body, jolting Jake awake in the process. You began searching all around the room for your clothes having no luck in locating a single item of clothing. Jake’s hand around your wrist finally stopped you. You hadn’t realized that he had been talking to you the entire time.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” His eyes searched your face, his soft voice trying to calm you down while his thumb rubbed circles on your wrist.

“I can’t find any of my clothes, and I have to leave. I can’t believe I missed sunrise, I-” You stopped talking immediately, the words dying in your throat. You had missed sunrise, by hours, and yet you were still alive. How the hell were you still alive? 

You felt disoriented and nauseous, the edges of your vision blurring and your hearing starting to muffle. The pounding of your heartbeat thundered in your ears completely blocked out whatever Jake had said to you. Your mind raced trying to make sense of what was happening. There was only one possibility that could explain it. 

“It was all a lie…” You muttered to yourself still in shock, forgetting that Jake was still there. 

“What was a lie?”

“Um,” You shook your head, trying desperately to clear the fog from your mind. When you shifted your focus back onto his face, you instantly felt at ease. The nausea subsided, and your hearing came back in full. The black edges around your vision faded away allowing you to focus on his face, seeing clearly the lines of worry between his furrowed brows. 

“Nothing. I- I think I was having a bad dream… I’m okay now.” 

“Are you sure? You had me stressed out there for a second.” His thumb was still rubbing against your skin in soothing motions. 

“Yeah, I’m good now.” You gave him a reassuring smile and tried your best to make him believe it.

It was the truth though. You felt better and it was because of him. With just a look of his face you knew this was your destiny all along. For centuries you pondered over why the universe had always brought him back to you, and now you knew. You were always meant to be with Jake. 

“Okay, good… So you don’t have any plans for today?” 

“No, I have nothing planned.” He smiled at you then, and you had never felt better in your entire life. 

“Would you wanna grab some breakfast then? I’d like to spend more time with you.” 

“I would absolutely love that.” 

———————————————————————

Your bare feet sunk into the warm, white sand with each step you took along the beach. Carrying your shoes in one hand and the other intertwined with Jake’s you looked out to the open water of the sea. The sun was setting over the water creating beautiful orange glitters across the top of the small waves. While the blinding light burned your eyes you couldn’t turn away. Sunset was your favorite time of day and the scenic view of your old home had you somewhat reminiscent. 

Roughly eight months had passed since the night of the hunt. In that time you’ve been adjusting to living life as a human which was quite different than living as a nymph. The biggest adjustment was probably the loss of your powers. Or getting a job, that was pretty difficult. Throughout the whole process Jake was there though. The two of you had started dating and eventually you had to come clean about your true nature, especially when you didn’t understand the simple things that came with human life. Cell phones, bills, cars, rent, social media. It was all very foreign to you and Jake never understood. 

When you did finally tell him about being a nymph and coming from the sea he truly didn’t believe you. He thought you had made the whole thing up which you understood. After a while and some very confusing conversations about the aforementioned topics, he finally believed that you were not originally human. The most convincing aspect for him were your eyes. You were able to hide them for a few months before your powers faded completely, but when your abilities were gone he finally was able to see your glittery silver irises. Now though, your eyes too have since faded and changed color allowing you to look fully human. 

He asked a lot of questions, all of which you welcomed and answered freely. You decided to omit the whole truth from him when it came to your previous meetings in his previous lives. How were you supposed to admit to the man you love that you had killed him not once, but twice centuries ago? He knew your paths had crossed before and in a few instances the two of you had become close in a sense, but you mostly told him how and where you met unless he asked for specific details. When he learned that the two of you had had sex before in the 1920s his only response was, ‘I was better this time.’ Mostly he would ask which version of him you liked better.

As you continued to look out at the sea you thought of Sarenya and your sisters. You wondered who would’ve taken your place as Nympha Legatus and where they would be this time around. Ciree would make a great siren leader if she could focus on- 

“You’re doing it again.” Your thoughts faded away as Jake spoke beside you, squeezing your hand gently. Instantly you knew what he was referring to, you gazed down at your feet that we’re almost touching the water now. Every time the two of you walked along the beach you would absentmindedly walk towards the water until the salty liquid lapped at your toes or Jake made you aware. Usually he would say nothing and just watch in amusement while you led him closer.  

“Sorry.” You laughed under your breath and turned to face him. He was smiling warmly at you, his honey brown eyes sparkling in the orange hue of the sun. 

“Nothing to be sorry about…” You both started walking down the shore again still hand in hand letting comfortable silence take over. Your thoughts continued to wander, thinking about what life would be like for your pod now. 

“Do you miss it? Your old life and your sisters?” 

This was the first time he had asked you if you missed any part of what you used to be. You were sure he never asked because he didn’t want to make you upset. While it didn’t make you upset, you did think about it for a moment before responding. 

“Sometimes... I miss Sarenya mostly. I mean she was my best friend and sister and she probably thinks I’m dead, so it makes me sad to think she’s grieving me and that I probably won’t see her again.” He nodded in response, showing that he could understand what you meant, your arms swaying between your bodies while you walked.

“But I’m happy here. I think this was always supposed to be my destiny… to be human and be with you. Live our lives with one another and grow old together. Even if I could go back somehow I wouldn’t because this feels right. This is right, and I don’t ever want to not be with you. I’d rather have this lifetime and the afterlife with you and remain human than have only fleeting moments together and be a nymph.” 

He was beaming at you now with a smile that could only be described as soft, warm and giddy. The amount of love in his eyes as he looked at you was unmistakable and you were happily drowning in it, letting it lay like a heavy blanket over your entire body. Jake used the hold he had on your hand to swing you forward in front of him and maneuver your body to where he twirled you around a few times before bringing you into his chest tightly and pressed his lips to yours sweetly. He shifted his weight from foot to foot creating a small swaying motion as he held and kissed you.

“May the flames of our souls dance endlessly together, my love.” He repeated the phrase you had spoken to him years and years ago against your lips, smiling the whole way through it against your own smiling lips.

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[mxmarsbars]

made a little analysis thread on twitter and thought I’d share it here too if that’s chill ^_^

anyways traffic!impulse using self destruction and the destruction of others as a way to cope with his own frustration and resentment throughout the life series: a messy ramble-y post because I’m crazy.

most of this behavior really only starts after third life. his destructive behavior before then is usually outward and not with malicious intent. instead, he hurt others in third life because he was asked to. it was a part of a greater plan he was undoubtably loyal to and that would later get him killed and tarnish his reputation for seasons to come.

that’s why in last life, he’s much more open to antagonistic behavior (which he barely partook in before and only would if asked of). this mostly includes all the stealing he did that season, the numerous break ins, and of course, spawning the wither. this could also include his personal insistence on becoming the boogeyman and even planning it out in advance (which would later get him killed, his own hubris). he was itching for it to be his turn.

it’s such a huge shift from how he acted in third life, and why? personally, I think it’s because of all the strain and pressure put on him by others and their disdain towards him. specifically the rumors spread about him and the reluctance of others to believe and trust him after what he’d done the season prior. which for some people is justified, like ren and etho, but for others, like bdubs, is not. and this was shown to upset impulse a lot, given how it resulted in him being thrown under the bus, even by his own teammates.

but he’s supposed to be nice and considerate and smart to make up for all he’s done, right? that’s why he sticks with his alliance the whole time and makes a point to be loyal to them and them only. but that doesn’t stop the resentment and anger boiling, and he can only take so much before he has to let off some steam, and destructive behavior seems to be a means to do so.

it turns from him doing bad things because he’s asked to to him doing it because he wants to, to cope. which is why when all else fails and the southlands fall apart, despite him taking the measures to prevent it earlier on, he helps grian spawn the wither, even with the risks and deaths. and he insists on doing it at best’s base, because they ruined him. it gets him killed. he should’ve been smarter.

it gets worse in double life, specifically when homewrecking is proposed. while he’s not the one to bring it up or start the rumors, he soon grows comfortable enough to start talking smack himself. him and bdubs deliberately try to ruin the relationships of others, and they tell themselves it’s to steal away half of each pair for their own benefit, but maybe there’s more to it. maybe they ARE projecting, just like joel had said.

it doesn’t help that impulse is having his soulbound questioned and bdubs “needs” a clock and the horns won’t shut up. when they’re exposed, he takes his destruction to the deep dark. he throws snowballs, he spooks unsuspecting people, he yells into the dark when he finds out his voice can trigger the sensors. throughout the season, he makes multiple efforts to cause distress in the deep dark, malicious intent or not. and maybe it’s to cope with the fact that bdubs keeps sending him down there or etho won’t stop yapping about how bdubs doesn’t want him or how bdubs put a major target on their backs.

and this is when self destructive behavior really starts, too. impulse gives away valuable resources when he realistically could’ve not, he takes risks he absolutely doesn’t have to take (despite how much he values his and, by extension, bdubs’s life), when he’s linked to the fishing rod sequence of death, all he says to bdubs is that it was fun while it lasted. and then he loses their first life trying to get a music disc.

whether he means to or not, he’s slowly killing himself and his soulmate, too. and eventually, by the time he’s red, he just gives in. he starts blowing horn (surely there’s some symbolism there), he terrorizes those better off than him, he wants to cause problems. yet there’s always still some humanity in him that shines through, regardless of his destructive ways of coping.

but this isn’t about that. before the final fight, he even grabs the golden apple him and bdubs had been stashing away, saying if they can’t win, no one can. he would’ve ate it. he should’ve ate it. yet he didn’t, and he died by bdubs’s hand again. more resentment grows.

by limited life, it’s obvious he’s open to dabbling into more chaotic pastimes. bdubs’s ignorance and unwillingness to see his flaws and apologize only fuels the fire. when he’s chosen as the boogeyman, he has a time with it. but he still has the mind to know not to hurt his team, even refusing to use skizz’s accidental death to cleanse himself. but he bombs bread bridge freely, somehow even getting tango and skizz to help him. it’s almost concerning how much fun he has with it.

then of course there’s the complete destruction of bread bridge, which he happily takes part in. and tango’s boogey kill on bdubs, in which he lures bdubs to his demise (something he had been itching to do for seasons). he amasses a huge kill count over the season, his first time murdering anyone since third life.

most of his behavior this season turns more outward, and he grows more keen on sustaining himself the more faith his team puts in him. he is also shown to hold other alliances much less dear than ties, even if they benefit him. this results in the betrayal of many, most notably mean gills in the finale. he fights like hell, he gets his final revenge on bdubs and ends his season, and yet it still isn’t enough.

he begs martyn to kill him, because he’s alone, and he’s scared, and he did all he was asked to do. but they keep him around, despite his pleas. he’s given the illusion of free will, a chance to win, to be given a fair fight. martyn slaughters him in cold blood. a cruel betrayal.

secret life feels like a reset, and most scores are settled, and secret tasks heavily dictate how the sessions go. he isn’t given the chance to cause mass destruction like he could the season prior. he’s not sure if he wants to. most of his mistakes are honest, no self destructive or malicious intent, same with his tasks.

he’s with a team he can trust and confide in. they help him. they care about him. his first two deaths are consensual and willing, something’s he’s never known. the season is rough, but he’s happy. he tries to use his trap as he’s being chased, risky as it was, a final act of stubbornness.

he dies, alone and scared, hearts quivering. nothing’s new. he’ll just have to be ready to cope again tomorrow. get some blood of his hands, whether it’s his enemies or his own.

#this is just my interpretation btw #impulsesv #traffic!impulse #this is strictly about his character #just some analysis #because why not #he does dumb stuff sometimes and I just wanted to give a method to his madness #3rd life #3rd life smp #last life #last life smp #double life #double life smp #limited life #limited life smp #secret life #secret life smp #the life series #life series smp #trafficblr #idk how to tag this #basically just his overarching narrative throughout the series #clock duo #technically #their relationship is mentioned pretty frequently #I wont tag anybody else though #for everyone’s sake #mars insanity #as usual #trying out fun tags

[saetoru]

genuinely asking but why do you think riko’s death messed them up so bad? they only knew her for about 3 days but it was depicted like they knew her their entire lives. my reasoning is bc she was a kid who got murdered to be a vessel, which i understand 100%, but it still gets me scratching my head when everybody including gege makes it this huge thing in their history that literally turned geto evil. just wondering your thoughts.

it’s a lot more complex than just riko dying. it’s the trauma of watching her die when he’d just promised he’d ensure her future bc he and satoru are the strongest, and find out his best friend is “dead” and almost die himself and realize he’s not part of the strongest like he thought he was, that he can’t even ensure one kids future. and then he goes off to find a group of non sorcerers clap and celebrate over said kids death. so then ofc he starts to wonder why he risks his life, and swallows and exorcises curses, and watches the people he cares for (like haibara) die as they protect people like that. and the conversation with yuki didn’t help bc it pushed him to decide that killing non sorcerers would get rid of cursed energy that creates curses in the first place. then he watches the twins, two little kids, get abused by non sorcerers when all they were trying to do was save their town. so yeah in the end he didn’t understand the purpose of protecting the weak when they could be so ugly—and that doesn’t justify the extremes he took, ofc, but the reason he turned out the way he did was a snowball of multiple things, not just riko dying—that was more the catalyst

#asks! #it’s way more than just riko dying #that’s just more where it began #it’s more like #non sorcerers are the root of why curses exist in the first place #bc like yuki said it’s the cursed energy non sorcerers leak that cause curses #so why protect the weak and suffer and watch the ppl he cares about suffer #for ppl who are the ‘root’ of the problem and mistreat sorcerers like the twins #ofc mad murder is not 😭 exactly any more ethical but #it’s a good example to someone taking the extremes after being traumatized by the bitter realities #and that is that the jujutsu world is immensely fucked up and robs kids of their youth and #sobs it’s so sad it’s so awful my poor sugu #he didn’t deserve that

[sapphic-agent]

I'll rank these from least to greatest. The Snowball/Hairpiece moment: Disqualified for being an attempt at "humor." We can't really take the universe seriously if literally no one cares about the main character getting stabbed in the brain. WTF even is Bakugo's character if he's actually the one to have injured Izuku the worst in his life? It's not AFO or Tomura who put Izuku closest to death, it's apparently Bakugo for no reason other than jealousy. Apparently we're supposed to see this as Tsundere slapstick humor. Confronting The LOV: This is a continuation of the finals against All Might and another reason this guy isn't smart. He learned nothing since then. Bakugo is simply a moron who, despite being able to fly under his own power, couldn't be bothered to use this to save himself even when he knew they were after him. They were aware at this point what Nomu were and how they were made from people. While AFO didn't do this, he could have given one of Tomura's minions an ability that specifically countered Bakugo's and made it impossible for him to fight back. This wasn't required at all since Bakugo let himself get yoinked by Compress, but it's another reason he's a bonehead. Way to put everyone in danger saving your useless ass, you liability. I like the irony of Bakugo being exactly what Aizawa called Izuku on the first day of school. Battle Trials: This is the first moment of the universe bending over backwards to shield this guy from consequences and also twist the characters present to talk about how awesome he is. The writing was on the wall here that you can do everything he did and not get in trouble or reprimanded at all. That the number 1 hero can watch you nearly manslaughter someone and he doesn't give a shit. Witch Hunt And Apology: This one is also bad, but again because of the Bakugo aura that needs to bend other characters to make him look good. Hawks, All Might and Endeavor were aware Izuku was their last hope. Which is why Hawks and Endeavor are not constantly at Izuku's side and instead have time to be at UA while he's running on no sleep. Despite also being targets of the League who certain members will never rest until they've killed them, they let the savior child wander around by himself until he eventually loses to Dictator. Yes, Izuku was beaten. He lost. The story needed to make everyone involved an idiot so Class A can show up and rescue him. Actually, I'd say everything about this was the huge failure of the writing in general. The author doesn't give a shit about most of these worthless fodder children. So he needs a fight scene to show them doing SOMETHING while also attempting to call back to a bond he hadn't built. And then Bakugo gives a ridiculously half assed, victim blaming apology that wasn't needed at all, which Izuku doesn't respond to.

It doesn't matter if Bakugo apologizes to Izuku because we KNOW he's already forgiven him. We've known that since the summer camp arc. Izuku would not have screamed like that for someone he resented at all. He wouldn't have gone to save him if he still harbored negative feelings for him. Izuku has saint like patience (and the author doesn't allow him to be mad at Bakugo) so his only interest is them being friends again. Their entire relationship is Izuku trying his hardest to connect to this empty, spoiled brat and getting punished for it. This "apology" is another box checked on the list. An event that had to happen because the story built up to it, but the animosity between them is completely one sided. I rank this higher than the battle trials for how it degrades everyone's characters that this had to happen. Izuku became pants on the head stupid specifically so he could be saved by these fodder kids, because he's so powerful that he could casually clown them all if he wasn't exhausted to the point of passing out. Literally all of his support evaporates because we need him to be isolated. God, imagine if AFO wasn't equally stupid and he bothered to send some buddies with Dictator so he wasn't acting alone. Imagine if he bothered to recruit Muscular and had them working as a team. RIP Class A. But AFO is allergic to victory. Swan Dive: This moment escalated him from a typical high school bully to a vile little brat. The story could have gone some interesting places with this. A problem MHA has is that the author doesn't want the heroes to be bad people. So we have Endeavor pointed at as being the one bad hero. Bakugo is the one bad hero student. Endeavor doesn't have an entire building of side kicks who are just as bad as he is. Bakugo's friends at UA aren't also entitled, ruthless brats who accept him as one of their own. None of the UA kids are bitchy, catty, backstabbing, conniving, or really have any negative traits. Even if Mineta and Kaminari are perverts, they step up when the chips are down and their bad traits aren't treated with any real seriousness. They're all infinitely forgiving, positive people who are super nice. So if we looked at this as part of seeing how privileged kids in this world behave and there were more of them once Izuku got into UA, but he doesn't get bullied because he's powerful, then it works as a part of the world building. Instead, we see now that this is a Bakugo problem. He was a rotten little brat who bullied and hurt kids for years for....no reason. We see LOADS of other kids with powerful quirks who would have had legions of dick riders hyping them up, and yet it's only Bakugo who acts like this. So it's one of the worst things he's done, in retrospect, because he's apparently always been what the author calls an "Abusive Egotist" and only stopped because Izuku got a power.

Deku Vs Kacchan 2: This is another example of Bakugo's incredible self centered nature. His "friend" is riding a high and of course Bakugo has to make everything about himself. Fuck Izuku for saving this little bitch boy's life, am I right? Fuck him for never telling anyone about his previous abuse and ruining his career before it started. Honestly, Izuku had All Might in his corner and could have dropped the hammer on Bakugo any time he felt like it, but he instead decided to show mercy. His reward is this horse shit. Now he has to emotionally validate this narcissist. Sure, you did end All Might. In retrospect, you should be thankful the League had such piss poor operational security and AFO decided to stay and fight. You should also be thankful AFO didn't chain you to his body as meat armor while he fought All Might, guaranteeing you and All Might would die. In all the permutations of ways this could have turned out if the villains didn't act like they huff glue every day, this is the best outcome. But of course, the fact that he and his friends got out of that with no one dead is irrelevant to him. It's all about his feelings. I'd hate this kid even if he never bullied anyone a day in his life. He's fucking disgusting to me. We're wasting screen time on this flat, empty character who doesn't even get his own villains. So much of this series has been spent on this dickhead and his garbage "redemption." Fuck. The payoff isn't worth it! He's intolerable even when he's trying to be nice! Bakugo pisses all over All Might and the OFA users: Fuck All Might, am I right? Fuck the people who fought for justice and freedom from the ancient Japanese Boogeyman. Fuck the only reason we don't live in a mafia state where he controls all resources. I can guarantee in such a world, Bakugo would be one of AFO's enforcers, not a resistance fighter. Because he only joins the winning teams.

If Bakugo was Yoichi, he'd have never complained about his brother killing people and would have raised both middle fingers to the air when he became co-emperor of the world.

I rank this the highest because this completes All Might's humiliation, and he's not even allowed to slap this little bitch across the face for mocking people who died to ensure everyone else could survive.

Interesting ranking. I didn't think anyone would actually put insulting the past OFA users at first. But it makes sense considering how he bitched and whined and threw a fit over not being chosen, then insulted the predecessors. All Might should have told him to stfu about his mother figure

#anti bakugou katsuki

[star-girl69]

Keep Me Ablaze

Jake Sully x Neytiri x Fem!Reader

—-

a/n: i hope you all enjoy!!

warnings: swearing, mentions of guns, mentions of war, mentions of death, grief, tell me if i missed anything!!

Chapter Twenty Three- Cursed

—-

With each day that passes, each eclipse, your numbers grow and grow. Men and women on ikrans and pal’i pour in from all around, like this place is the drain of all power- but they do not come here to be lost.

You see it in each face that passes you, each pair of eyes that meets yours, that something the humans simply do not have. That connection to the forest, to Eywa, to something that humans, in their small bodies, can never really comprehend.

The more you See, the more you realize you are the phenomena. The lucky one.

With each win, each clan leader you meet and each new warrior to add to your ranks, it all feels like a fever dream. You have lost so much and the need for your revenge to be satiated moves inside you like a whip, but this win- this is what the three of you needed. That win, that small bit of happiness that snowballed into whatever this is.

You have changed like the seasons, become a new woman in the matter of hours. Loss has shaped you like water shapes a riverbed, leaving you with odd ends sticking out all over the place. You twist and turn, some parts of you have been cut off and left behind.

So, it’s nice to sit on the edge of the link pod, let your human feet swing in the air, feel Jake’s human hand in yours. Although the two of you haven’t had much time to appreciate each other like this, Jake has this obsession with learning the ins and outs of both your bodies. His fingers run across your back, his hand cups your face and his lips press against yours.

The sound of a gun cocking sparks you awake, and Jake squeezes your hand, even as his attention is pulled away. Max’s face shines through the screen, a symbol of a life you’ll never know again. That familiar lab in the background.

“Jake,” he says, his voice garbled, “it’s crazy here. It’s full mobilization. They’re rigging the shuttle as a bomber.” His hand goes limp in yours. “They’ve got these huge pallets of mine explosives. It’s for some kinds of shock-and-awe campaign.”

No matter odd just voice sounds through the screen, you can still hear the fear in his words.

“Fricking daisy cutters!” Trudy mumbles.

“Quaritch has taken over. He’s rolling, and there’s no stopping him.”

“When?” Jake asks.

“0600 tomorrow.” Someone calls his name. “I gotta go-” and the screen turns blue.

If the world is crashing down on you, you don’t let yourself feel it. You’re too concerned with his hand in yours, with this moment, this piece of happiness. You have it now and you want to have it forever.

“We’re screwed!” Norm exclaims. Trudy laughs, almost like she knew this would happen, like she knows the world.

“And I was hoping for some sort of tactical plan that didn’t involve martyrdom,” she remarks. She throws her head back for a quick moment, jaw clenching. “We’re going up against gunships with bows and arrows.”

You watch as Jake stares at the blue screen, like he’s waiting for it to come out and tell him what to do. He swallows when you squeeze his hand, because the both of you know he is the only one with the answers here.

“I have 15 clans out there.” A voice, through the weight of the world. “That’s over two thousand warriors. Now, we know these mountains. We fly them. You fly them. They don’t.”

You can see his movements get a little more frantic, a little more quicker with each step, like something has just occurred to him and he has to get it out before he forgets it.

“Their instruments won’t work up here. Missile tracking won’t work. They’ll have to fire a line of sight. If they bring the fight to us, then we have the home-field advantage.”

It could work. The four of you know that. It has to work, is what the fire sings, but you ignore it.

“You know he’s gonna commit that bomber straight to the Tree of Souls.” Trudy’s voice is barely above a whisper, like she doesn’t even want to bring the idea into the world.

“Yeah, I know.”

“If they get to the Tree of Souls- it’s over,” Norm says. “That’s their direct line to Eywa, their ancestors.”

“It’s Grace,” you whisper.

“It’ll destroy them,” he finishes.

“Then I guess we’d better stop them.”

He turns to you, and it’s almost hard to believe that this man chose you. He is the smartest person you know- his mind is it’s own war room. He is handsome, kind, loving- he is everything and he chose you.

“Gonna keep the whole thing fucking ablaze,” he says, and he loves you.

—-

“They’re gonna come like a rain that never ends. And they will take, take and ruin like a wildfire that never stops burning.”

Neytiri leads you through the empty space around the spirit tree, normally filled with people, but with the war to come- it is only Jake here, only you and Neytiri.

“Unless we stop them,” he says, looking up to where the purple tendrils grow lighter and lighter until they are blinding white. Your footsteps barely make a sound on the soft ground. “Look, you chose me for something. I will stand and fight. You know I will. But I need a little help here.”

He lowers his head, and you want nothing more than for all of this to be over, for it just be the three of you- for you to just be happy. That is what you are figuring for. That is why you are doing all of this- so the people who have already fought so bravely for there home can be free to have it- can be free to be happy.

Neytiri moves aside a tendril, placing her hand on his shoulder, her other on his arm, and it takes a moment, but he looks up at her.

“Our Great Mother does not take sides, Jake.” He stands slowly, his shoulders sagging, and she places a hand on her face so he has to look at her and hear her words. “She protects only the balance of life.”

He looks back towards the tree as you take a step closer, watching the atokirina fly around. He turns toward the two of you.

“It was worth a try.”

You place your hand on his chest, above his heart, feel it beat strongly. Yours feels dead in your chest. But there’s still a spark in it, and just by being this close to them, by feeling their fire that still burn- they keep you ablaze.

—-

It was under your hand that Grace’s heart stopped.

What you have lost always on your mind. Like someone has dug a hole into your brain and placed the memory straight into your flesh. You remember her heart fading, you remember it stopping. All under your hand.

Perhaps it is irrational, but whenever you go to touch your mates- you never use that hand. It feels cursed. It feels marked with her death, her blood, and you’re waiting for someone to notice the blood falling and start screaming but no one does. You’re the only one who can see it. Who knows it.

You want to rip out your heart and your memories, plant it in the dirt and grow it with whatever fire still resides inside you. Maybe whatever would grow from that would be truly you. Maybe the world will all simply fall into place.

You go to press your hand into the wooden bowl, the white paste as bright as a star, but Neytiri makes a sound in her throat.

“What?” you breathe, slightly startled, already on edge. Jake places his hand on your knee.

“Use your other hand,” she whispers, unbothered by your quick breathing. Your face twists into something horrible. She tilts her head to the side, looking past your outward disgust. “I know,” she says.

You want to tell her you are cursed. That you shouldn’t. But she says nothing more.

You place your hand into the cool paste, the slight sting of it, and place it off-center on her chest. You leave room for Jake’s own print. You don’t question why you’re doing this. It feels nice, to have a piece of them wherever you end up.

You are not cursed, is what her eyes say, but you do not know anything anymore. You know nothing but the fire in your chest. Not a candle, but a wildfire.

Fire can teach and it can take.

You want to teach death, today.

—-

taglist:

@eywas-heir @kitkat1690 @tiajk @reallysparklychaos @behindthearcane @neteyamforlife @aeslenya @ghoulbli @luvvsnae @personapersonally @bubble-blu @ameriesworld @itsyoboysparkel @ok-boke @arschbohrer @ambria @ssc7514 @w3ird11 @vane28282 @littlexscarletxwitch @erenjaegerwifee @myheartfollower @simp-erformarvelwomen @maevirago @n7cje @aerangi @minkyungseokie @disaster-in-waiting @httpsplanetmarsdotcom @hot15936 @noname2246 @fanboyluvr @ara-a-bird @fussel9913 @iwaslikeblah @hai-kbai @rosymccheese @itszzmoon @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @lovekeeho @ducks118 @drinking-tea-and-be-obsessed @milf-lover-23 @the-wandering-pan-ace @scaredknight

everything taglist:

@monsterwasstolen @fanboyluvr @artologia-blog1 @tulipatheticee @elvyshiarieko @fluffisalliwant @fluffi19 @jeizllz @myheartfollower @fy-fy-world @minkyungseokie @ivy-plays @blueberryfailureclinic @cryingwhilereading @thatratprincessforever @dumb-fawkin-bitch

#jake sully x neytiri #jake sully x reader #neytiri x reader

[angstyastro]

wait im new to mass effect and am romancing thane for hot dilf reasons pls tell me all about vakarios, i only ever see people talk about garrus not thane

Oh BOY anon you’ve got a big thing coming on my vakarios brain rot Okok SO sit back and lemme just word dump on you on why and how I just really love me vakarios so much:

SO first things first don’t get me wrong I am a huge sucker for thane/Shepard, garrus/Shepard and specifically thane/shepard/garrus because i have personal headcanons etc and my canon is always Shakarios BUT vakarios is my thane/garrus part of all this

I love the idea of garrus/thane realizing they have a lot of parallels to eachother and thane seeing a bit of himself in garrus:

Example:

Thane talks about being in battlesleep for 10 years after the death of his wife Irikah where he basically went on a revenge quest and killed everyone involved in her murder. He comes to realize he made a mistake in terms of not staying with Kolyat and ultimately revenge not giving him the fulfillment he needed.

Garrus can be labeled as a man who is going through his own battlesleep after Shepard dies. For 2 years he basically said fuck it and went to omega to “clean up” and seek Justice against the criminals that he couldn’t take down in c-sec. It’s implied that he was devastated after Shepard died no matter if fem/bro shep and then it just snowballs when he’s betrayed by Sidonis. Garrus falls into his own small form of battlesleep given you can’t really talk to him much as Shepard until he tells you about his revenge quest for a loyalty mission.

I like to see the Normandy crew in me2 as a ragtag group of people who come together and become something of a family so they all get to see the ugliest and best sides of eachother and I love the concept thane and garrus would become good friends based off being snipers at first but then relating over the histories they’ve had. Thane is able to relate to Garrus’s seeking of revenge and has a different perspective over it.

Now when you play as Shepard and you go the route of stopping him from killing Sidonis consider that you’re kind of replicating the whole thing that thane went through with Irikah. Irikah stepped in thane’s way to stop him from killing someone and Shepard is doing the same for garrus.

It’s not until after this that Garrus will begin to see things clearer and differently and I love the concept of both thane and garrus realizing they have so much in common. This also can happen if Sidonis is killed. Garrus may be filled with that void of it not really helping him solve anything. He killed him via battlesleep and is barely coming out of it with the help of Shepard and crew.

Another thing is Garrus isn���t a stranger to losing someone close to him because of illness. His mother becoming sick etc has him as one of the only people on the Normandy who would probably know how to care for and make things as relaxing/comfortable for someone going through something similar (thane w his keprals) and like consider them just bonding over this in general.

And last but not least thane and his dry fuckin humor would make him and Garrus really close.

All in all I am a fan of every ship/crackship/rarepair etc because It’s fun to pair characters so i know vakarios isn’t for everyone but hell it makes me happy and lots of possibilities for it so :3 thanks for letting me ramble anon.

#mass effect #thane krios #garrus vakarian #vakarios #shakarios #mass effect 2 #ask box #if you let me I will go on for days abojt vakarios

[blitheringmcgonagall]

Snow Cherubs & Delayed Deer ⛄️ 🦌

Jily fic Summary:

If you are looking for seasonal vibes: Pining idiots, snowflakes, a hungover stag, posh purebloods, non-existent snowball fights, Black Family vocab...

Inspired by this video of Prongs (in reindeer form but ignore that!!) chasing a train

🎄Start of Christmas Holidays 6th Year🎄

“Ah,” a pause. “How do you do, Evans?”

Sirius Black looked momentarily surprised to see her in their compartment (their personal flipping compartment), along with the other marauders. But his Black Family training had kicked in automatically. Polite stand-offishness.

“Remus and I were on our way back from patrolling this half of the train, so I stopped here for a chat,” Lily said, staring up at him, not even vaguely intimidated. “What happened?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” he said with an evasive grin, which was clearly a big, huge lie.

Remus was looking at him sceptically and Sirius cleared his throat.

“Er, Prongs said to tell you lot he’s been… unavoidably… delayed.” He brushed snow off his school jumper and stamped more snow off his shoes, before shaking his wet hair vigorously.

“Arhh! Youh hoaking we, you wankah!” Peter kicked him in the shin.

“Can’t be helped, we were dealing with… important matters.” Sirius smiled at Peter and stole his last ginger biscuit.

“Matters?” Remus repeated, raising an eyebrow.

“Matters.” Sirius glanced from Remus to Lily in silent warning.

“Slytherin matters, of the mini Death Eater variety?” Remus obviously hadn’t gotten the memo.

Sirius’ grin defaulted to the I shall kill you later variety. Remus stared back. He obviously had received the memo, loud and clear, but had chosen to ignore it.

“Not again,” she said, sticking her legs up on the seat in front of her.

Sirius looked at his seat and then at her. She raised her right eyebrow.

“What?”

He raised his left.

“Did I say anything?” he remarked.

“Gods, I wish I could do that with my eyebrows,” Peter sighed despondently.

Sirius shook his head once more, liberally spraying them with slush. Lily looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“What?” He bit into the biscuit.

“Reminds me,” she said. “Of a dog.”

Remus stuck his head inside the newspaper he was reading.

“Really?” Sirius said, blinking innocently.

“The big black one that’s been hanging around the grounds, cute thing,” Lily added, narrowing her eyes. “His eyes are an unusual shade, silver, very similar to yours.”

Peter choked on his own biscuit.

“Oh, the attractive dog? The really popular one, with the sleek —“

But Lily wasn’t paying Sirius any attention.

“What in heaven’s name is that?” she said.

“Could I interest you in a caldron cake?” Peter shoved a box in her direction.

Lily ignored him.

“Remus, why is there a ruddy big stag running after the Hogwarts Express?”

“I don’t see- “

“There, can’t miss it,” she said, pointing out of the window.

There was indeed an ample stag, trotting after them at an increasingly frantic pace.

“What in God’s name is it doing?” she said, staring wide-eyed at him. “It looks almost as if…”

“Almost as if he’s late and missed the last train home for the holidays?” Remus mused from behind The Prophet.

Peter laughed, a touch hysterically, she thought - muttering something about worst secret keepers ever.

Continue on ao3

#that time of year #time for this again #Marauders fic #Jily fic #canon Jily #James didn’t make the train #etc etc #Lily Evans #James Potter #his friends think it’s hilarious

[fallingforfictionalcharacterss]

Merry Christmas everyone💚

I hope you´ll all have some wonderful days and can spend some time with the people you love, no matter if you are celebrating or not.

The best Christmas

Summary: Draco and you are spending Christmas together at Hogwarts even if you never used to like each other.

Warning: reader with a kinda sad past (mentions of sickness and death), but mostly fluff

Your gaze followed Hagrid, who was struggling to carry yet another fir, that was meant to be positioned in the Great Hall, where Professor Flitwick would cover it in tons of tinsel and baubles. The music of the choir was echoing through the castle. They were probably practising for the last banquet before the holidays when they would perform some Christmas songs before Professor Dumbledore would wish all students, who would go home for the feast, a merry Christmas and also a happy new year.

The huge footprints Hagrid had left on the ground, would soon be covered by new snow, that was still falling from the grey sky. You couldn’t help but smile, as you saw some first-years running around, all excited while having snowball fights and building an entire army of snowmen. Their cheeks and noses were already coloured red, yet their eyes were sparkling, and it seemed like they couldn’t even feel the cold.

You on the other hand were freezing terribly, so you shot them a last glance before you went back into the castle. Unfortunately, inside it wasn’t that warm as well, so you quickly rushed to your common room, where the ingle and the hot chocolate the house elves would bring you, would warm you up again.

As soon as you climbed through the entrance to the common room, a cosy warmth lulled you in, as well as the pleasant smell of pastries and punch. As you looked around, you noticed, that none of your friends was sitting in the armchairs in front of the fireplace. You sighed. Probably they were already in their dorms, packing their things for the ride home tomorrow.

As you went up the stairs and opened the door, your assumption proofed to be true. Hermione was standing in front of her suitcase, weighing some books in her hands.

“You know that in the holidays you are meant to relax, don’t you? We will have continue studying soon enough. At least try to take a few days off.”

Hermione still looked at the books with furrowed eyebrows.

“I won´t have time on Christmas anyway.”, she answered, without tearing her gaze from the books. “But I will stay until after new year, so I can spend the time between the days to read something. That isn’t even actually learning. For me, this is relaxation as well.”

You rolled your eyes at your friend´s stubbornness.

“If you say so.”

Hermione sighed and threw both books in her case before she closed it. As she turned around to you and saw your questioning look, she shrugged her shoulders.

“You never know.”

“You are always prepared for all eventualities, aren’t you?”, you chuckled.

“As if this would be a bad thing.”, Hermione responded. Then she took a look at her clock. “It´s almost time for dinner. I´m already looking forward to Dumbledore´s speech this year.”

The next day, you were standing at the railway station, and watched your friends, loading up their things. You watched the scene with a bittersweet feeling. When Ron had tucked away his last belongings, he turned around to you once more.

“Are you sure, you don’t want to come with us?”, he asked you. “Mum would be really happy about it. She was already asking for you.”

But you shook your head.

“No Ron, I´m fine. Really. But wish your mum a merry Christmas. And also the rest of your family.”

 After many goodbyes and even more assurances from Ron and Hermione that it would be perfectly fine, if you would change your mind and wanted to spend Christmas either with the Grangers or the Weasleys and Harry, you would always be welcome, they finally got on the train.

You waved them goodbye until the train disappeared behind the next bend.

Then, you slowly made your way back to the castle. You didn’t quite know how to feel. It was the first Christmas you would spend on your own. But it was just the way you wanted it. Last year, you had spent it with the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione. It had been perfectly fine, yet, it had felt wrong sitting at a table with a family that day, that wasn’t yours. Mrs Weasley had seen this differently of course, since she had embosomed all of  Ron´s friends and saw you as a part of the family, and normally you agreed with her, yet, on Christmas it was different. Somehow, at this time of the year, everything felt different. This year, all you wanted was your freedom and to spend the holidays in peace. Also, in practical terms, you wouldn’t be on your own, even this year. Some students always stayed in Hogwarts during the holidays and so did most of the teachers. So you wouldn’t suffer from a lack of company for sure.

“What are you still doing here (Y/l/n)? Do even your friends don’t want you to ruin their holidays with your presence?”

You let out an unpleasant grunt. That wasn’t exactly the company you had hoped for.

Draco Malfoy leaned against the castle wall right next to the entrance, a thin grin on his lips.

“I could ask you the same Malfoy.”

You were genuinely surprised to see him here. Malfoy had always headed home over the holidays. You knew that many things had changed for him since his father had gotten arrested at the end of the last school year, but you had thought that this was yet another reason for him to go home and spend some time with his mother.

“I have more important things to do than to celebrate.”, the blond boy answered, while pulling a secretive face.

You rolled your eyes.

“Please don’t tell me I will have to deal with you the entire holidays.”

He huffed.

“I could say the same. So, tell me, why didn’t you leave with your annoying friends and give me a chance to actually enjoy my holidays?”

“I don’t think that this is any of your business.”, you snapped back.

Malfoy shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t care anyway. As long as you won´t bother me for the next few days.”

“Me bothering you? Don’t make me laugh, Malfoy. But oh, I forgot, you have to deal with more important things, don’t you?”

Malfoy´s grin only grew wider.

“Exactly, and you really don’t have to know about it.”

“Did I ask?”, you responded.

“I know that you always stick your nose into other people´s businesses.”

“Do you really think you are that important to me, that I will spend my free time on you?”

“You got something better to do?”, he quickly replied.

“I can think of many things. And if you may excuse me, I´m cold now.”

You walked past him, ignoring his gaze following you.

On the first days of the holidays, you spend mostly on your own. Only a handful of students had decided to stay in the school over the holidays. You weren’t exactly sad about it. You spent much time reading, taking walks through the snow and sometimes you found some other students who would play Wizard´s Chess with you. Even Professor McGonagall had announced that she was always up for a match and would grant every student, who would be able to beat her, a surprise. No one had ever managed to do so though and you highly doubted that someone would make it in the near future.

The only thing that disturbed you from having the perfect lazy Christmas holidays you wished for, was Draco Malfoy. He was sneaking around the castle, always looking busy and you couldn’t help but wonder what was on his mind. But what displeased you even more than his secretiveness was the fact that he was sitting on the Slytherin table all alone for most of the meals you were having. Not many other Slytherins had stayed over the holidays and none of your year. But while the students of the other houses didn’t care about the age or the house of the other students these days and you found yourself sitting on the table with some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs as well, the Slytherin boy seemed to prefer staying on his own over having to deal with the other houses, as well as the handful of other Slytherins that stayed in the school as well.

Sometimes you caught him staring at you and the other students sitting at one table all together with a strange look on his face, but whenever he realized you had caught him, he quickly looked away again, acting as if he didn’t care about it at all. At some point, you had caught yourself thinking that you might as well ask him to join you, but then you remembered who Draco Malfoy was after all, and you rejected the idea again. Still, you intended that if he would come up to you -even if you highly doubted he would ever do so- you wouldn’t mind him joining you. Because on Christmas, everyone should come together, shouldn’t you?

Over the few free days that had already passed, you had gotten into the habit of taking a walk around the castle ground. By now you had to pave your way through the snow that was coating the ground in a thick layer. It was still almost constantly snowing, but you enjoyed being outside, feeling the cold air filling your lungs, getting your head clear, just thinking about nothing at all. And as long as you were covered in cosy sweaters and a warm winter jacket and just kept on walking, it didn’t get too cold.

You never knew where it would take you next, and you loved it. You visited the owlery, the lake and sometimes Hagrid, who always greeted you with a large cup of warm tea and some biscuits, that unfortunately were so hard, you were wondering how in Godric´s name you had managed to not lose a tooth yet.

Today, your feet carried you to the Quidditch pitch. You didn’t exactly know why, there was nothing going on out there, but you needed a destination.

Reaching it, you realized, that there was actually nothing special about it, even though it had something magical looking at the arena, covered in white, everything being quiet. You wouldn’t have guessed how loud and busy it could get here, if you wouldn’t have been at many matches yourself, supporting your team and cheering as well. You circled around the arena once, before you got ready to head back to the castle.

But just as you wanted to do so, you heard a sneering voice behind you.

“What are you doing here?”

You turned around, facing Malfoy. You didn’t know where he had come from, you had really thought, you had been on your own.

“Taking a walk. This isn’t forbidden, is it?”

“Wish it was for you.”, he responded.

“What are you doing here then?”

Malfoy raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

“For real (Y/l/n)?”

Of course this was a stupid question. Malfoy held his broom in his hand and was wearing his Quidditch jersey. His normally neatly styled hair was dishevelled, and his cheeks looked slightly rosy. Even though you hated to admit it, he looked unfairly good like this, even with -or maybe even more because of- the mocking grin on his face.

“I mean why are you practising right now? On your own and while it´s freezing?”

The grin on his face only grew wider and his eyes sparkled.

“Are you worried about me?”

“You wish Malfoy.”, you snorted. “I just thought you had more important things to do.” You imitated his momentous voice.

“Sometimes even I need to switch my brain off.”, Malfoy responded, not reacting to your teasing. “But I originally planned to do so without my fans bothering me.”

You rolled your eyes.

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t call myself a fan of yours. Also, I´m already on my way back. So you´ll be on your own again in no time.”

“Good.”, Malfoy responded.

But you had barely taken a few steps when you heard the snow crunching under some boots behind you. At first, you tried to ignore it, but after you had already had made half of the way back to the castle, and you still heard the annoying sound, you turned around once more.

“Are you following me?”, you asked.

Malfoy shook his head.

“You don’t expect me to wait out here freezing to death until you are gone and I won´t bother you, do you?”

“Well, you were the one who told me I shouldn’t bother you.”

“You can wait here until I´m gone (Y/l/n), I don’t mind. But I won´t do so for sure.”

“Neither will I.”, you responded.

“Fine.”

“Good.”

“Great.”

You let out an annoyed groan before you continued your way, Malfoy walking silently next to you.

Only when you were near the castle, he spoke up again.

“So… Why are you taking a walk on your own, when it´s so cold and the snowfall is that heavy?”

You narrowed your eyes as you looked at him.

“And you are implying that I´m the one who´s worried about you.”

Silence.

“Sometimes I need to get out of my head as well I guess.”, you answered his question.

“Does it work?”

You were irritated by his interest, but still, you decided to answer once more.

“Mostly. At least for a while.”

Malfoy just nodded.

When you entered the castle together with Malfoy, you glanced at him from the side. This had probably been the most awkward interaction you had ever had with him, and you weren’t quite sure how to end it now.

But luckily, Malfoy decided it for you. He glanced at you as well and then gave you a short nod, before leaving into the direction of the Slytherin common room, without saying a word.

Your gaze followed him. When he had turned around the next corner, you shook your head.

This had definitely been awkward.

The next day, you went out again, this time heading towards the lake. But just like yesterday, you weren’t on your own for long. Because at some point, someone larger, with much bigger steps, caught up to you.

But instead of continuing his way and passing you, Draco Malfoy once more adapted his pace to yours. You glanced at the boy who was walking by your side quietly.

“You still want to tell me you don’t follow me?”, you finally spoke up, when he decided to keep on pretending as if he didn’t just appear next to you and keep your company.

Malfoy huffed.

“Do you think I am in need of doing so?”

“What are you doing here then?”

“Taking a walk. Someone told me it´s good to switch off my brain.”

You looked at him, slightly surprised that he cared about what you had told him.

“Does it work?”, you asked, even if you weren´t sure why you even approached him.

“If you would just shut up it might.”

“I´m not forcing you to keep my company.”

“I never intended to do so.”

“You can walk away then.”

“So could you.”

“Why should I, I´ve been here first.”, you responded.

“So?”

You sighed in annoyance.

“If you don’t want my company, you can leave.”

“I could. But so could you.”

“I could.”

But neither of you did.

And it went on like this for a few days. It was like an unspoken consultation between the two of you.

At some point during your walk, the two of you met up and Draco adjusted his pace to yours since you were struggling with the masses of snow, that, on the worst day, almost reached your knees. The two of you bickered for a while, claiming that you just tolerated the presence of the other one, while actually, you found some kind of comfort in those walks. He didn’t force you into chatting, actually, he didn’t even force you in keeping his company, but that’s why you enjoyed it. You didn’t have to give an account for any of your behaviour, had no kind of commitment. On rare occasions, you did talk to each other, but the questions, as well as the answers, were almost always taciturnly. But maybe that was just what you needed at that time of the year.

On the day before Christmas Eve, the sky had finally cleared up. It was still cold, but at least it had stopped snowing and the sun was shining again, making the snow, the landscape was still covered in, sparkle.

Once again, you met up with Malfoy somewhere outside of the castle. This time, you were walking through a grove near the border of the forbidden forest. The sun that shone through the trees, drew beautiful patterns on the ground. The snow was by now frozen, so you didn’t cave in that easily anymore, and crunched under your feet.

For some reason, Malfoy seemed to be way happier today than he had been the last days. He was almost talkative. But since he was Malfoy, that wasn’t exactly a good thing. He ran his mouth about all different things, while you just listened to him, sometimes zoning out a bit, since your mind was occupied with different things.

“Do you think Weaselbee and his family even have the money to buy some presents?”, he asked you, after he had bragged about the ostentatious Christmas parties his family always used to host. “I think it´s strange they all went home over the holidays. I mean if they would have stayed in Hogwarts, they would at least have gotten some food. Don’t think Weaselbee will get that at home as well. But for Potter, it still must be paradise. At least Weaselbee still got his parents; not like Potter.”

Your gaze shot up.

“You know these are still my friends you are talking about?” Your voice was sharp.

Malfoy looked at you haughtily.

“So?”

While over the last few days you had sometimes wondered what exactly the reason had been you had never liked Malfoy, now you suddenly remembered again.

“Don’t talk about them like that. And just for your notice; I spend Christmas with them the last year and it was amazing!”, you snapped back.

“Why didn’t you do it this year again then?”, Malfoy asked.

“I already told you; this is none of your business. And I don’t want you to think up yet another reason to run them down.”

“So there is one?”, Malfoy asked.

You shot him a deadly glance.

“You really are an asshole, you know that?”

You quickened your pace, not wanting to spend more time than necessary with a boy who talked so badly about your friends.

“(Y/l/n), wait! There´s no need to be offended.” With a few large steps, he caught up with you again. “Can´t you just wait for me?”

“Why? So you can continue making fun of my friends?”

“I didn’t mean to…”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t mean to do so. You always did. Why should that change now?”

“I just want to know.”

“What?”

“Why you´re rather staying on your own at Christmas than be with people you love.”

“Why do you even care?”

Silence.

You glared at him. “Never mind.”

On your way back to the castle, both of you fell silent again, but this time, it wasn’t as comfortable as in the last few days.

And when you stormed up the stairs to your common room, while Draco headed towards the dungeons, he knew, he had screwed up.

On the day of Christmas Eve, you were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, staring into the fire. You felt miserable. In the last few days, you had hoped that this year it would be different, that you wouldn’t have to deal with all those feelings, but now, you felt even worse. You should have known better from the very beginning. The company of a Malfoy, even if it might had felt pleasant at that very moment, was never a good thing. And it was even worse, that you had let yourself get lulled in by the illusion of him being anything else but an idiot.

A small knock on the door, made you look up. You couldn’t think of a single person who would want to get in here but wouldn’t have the password.

It knocked a second time.

You sighed and gave up your cosy spot on the couch. As you opened the entrance, you furrowed your brows in irritation.

Malfoy was standing in front of you, in his winter uniform and with a wry grin on his face.

“What do you want here?” Your voice was cold.

“I haven’t seen you outside. Is everything alright?”

“I´m fine.”

“Why weren’t you out there then?”

“Why should I?”

“So we can go on a walk.”

You shook your head in disbelief.

“You really think I want to go with you after what you said yesterday?”

Malfoy cleared his throat.

“This was a misunderstanding.”

“Oh, I think you´ve expressed yourself clearly.”, you responded.

“I didn’t mean to upset you…”

“But you did.”

“It was just fun.” “Not for me.”

“I´m sorry if you misconceived it…”

“Goodbye Malfoy.”, you cut him off.

You wanted to slam the door, but Malfoy was quick to put a foot in between.

“Okay, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said this. I´m sorry I did.”

You looked at him, pleasantly surprised. This was probably the only actual apology he had ever made.

“I shouldn’t run my mouth on people who aren’t even there and what I said about Weasley and Potter was below the belt.”

“It was.”

You couldn’t help but smile. You had never thought you would ever hear Malfoy apologizing to anyone at all. For some reason it must have been really important for him to get you out of here because you highly doubted, he would have been able to say this.

“And I apologize for it.”, Malfoy said once more, spitting the words out as if they were poisoned, staring at his own feet as he did so.

The smile on your face only grew wider.

“I´ll grab my jacket really quick.”

You could have sworn you had seen some relief on Malfoy´s face, as his gaze shot up.

“Can I come in?”, he asked, glancing into the room behind you curiously.

You realized that Malfoy had probably never visited a Gryffindor before, let alone standing in front of the open door of your common room. You had to admit that you would also be kinda curious if it would have been the common room of another house, but you knew that your friends would probably kill you, if you would let, out of all the people, Malfoy in. Also, even if he recently might had shown a side of him, you hadn’t known yet, you still didn’t trust him completely. Not even five minutes ago, you had sworn yourself to never fall for his bullshit again, yet, for some reason, you did once more. But this was a border, you probably shouldn’t cross.

“You wish Malfoy.”, you answered. “Wait for me here, it won´t take long.”

This time, your feet carried you to the owlery. On your way there, you didn’t talk at all, but you could feel Malfoy´s gaze lingering on you most of the time. The sun was shining brightly, being reflected by the shimmering snow. You had to squeeze your eyes to see anything at all.

When you had reached the owlery and climbed up the stairs, you almost slipped on a frozen spot. But Malfoy was quick to grab your arm, helping you to find your balance again.

“Careful (Y/l/n).”, he grinned, locking his gaze with yours.

You could feel your skin prickle, where Malfoy was touching you, even through your jacket. For a second you just stared at him, fascinated by his eyes, which had just the same colour as the sky above you. But as you saw Malfoy´s smile only widened as he noticed the way you were scanning his features, you were quick to look away again, clearing your throat.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” His hand lingered on your arm for another second, before he let go of you. “Just try not to slip once more. I don’t want you to spend the holidays in the hospital wing.”

You just nodded, not trusting your voice, before you continued your way, now placing your feet much more carefully.

When you had reached the owlery, you watched Malfoy tying a small package onto the leg of his eagle owl. Your own owl was sitting on a sim next to you, while you carefully caressed her plumage.

“It´s a Christmas present for my mother.”, Malfoy explained to you, when he had sent his owl on its way. “I think she is sad I won’t come home this year. It´s my first year spending Christmas away from my family.”

You could hear his voice sounding a bit more hollow than usual, filled with the yearning of heading home like he always had done it.

 “You should always be with the people you love at Christmas. It´s nice if you are able to forget all your worries for some time and just be grateful for what you got.”

Malfoy´s gaze was still fixed on the owl, which slowly disappeared in the distance. He nodded absent-mindedly.

“I´m sure you will be able to go home again next year. And then you will have another of your feasts and get all spoiled by your mum.”

Malfoy looked at you and gave you a small smile.

“I hope I will. My family is very important to me, you know? Not because of the bloodline and all of this. But because that´s where I belong. Because I know they will always be there for me.”

You mirrored his smile. He came over to you, fondling your owl as well, who looked at him distrustfully and rattled her chanter. But soon, she started to enjoy the additional attention she got now, nibbling on your fingers benignly.

“That´s why I didn’t want to go with Ron this year, you know? It´s his family, not mine. I know they didn’t mind me, but I still felt out of place.”, you spoke up after some minutes of silence.

Malfoy tore his gaze apart from your owl and now looked at you instead.

“Why don’t you visit your family then?”

You sighed.

“Christmas isn’t exactly the happiest time of the year in my family.” You could see the confusion on Malfoy´s face, but it seemed like he didn’t dare to ask.

You bit your lip. You weren’t sure if you should tell him. It wasn’t like it was a secret or something to be ashamed of, but even after all these years, it was still hard for you to talk about it. You barely ever talked about it with your friends. So why should you do so with Malfoy? But for some reason, you felt more comfortable with him right now, than you usually did with most of the other people you spend your time with. And he wanted to know, after all, didn’t he?

“It´s just… My mom died a few years ago.”, you told him, dedicating your entire attention to the owl in front of you, as if it was her, you were telling the story. “Dragon Pox. In the beginning, they told me there was no need to worry, and that she would make it, but she didn’t. She passed away, only a few days after Christmas. I spent the holidays sitting by her bedside. I was hoping till the very end she would still make it. I even brought her a present.” You let out a bitter chuckle. “But on Christmas, she was already gone. She was still breathing, but she was gone. She didn’t recognize me anymore. And neither did I recognize her. I just felt like it wasn’t my mum anymore lying there. I had already lost her back then. At some point… At some point, I was just wishing it would all stop. And it did shortly after it.”

You paused. Malfoy had stopped fondling the owl. You felt his gaze burning on you, but you didn’t dare to look at him.

“The next year, I was desperately trying to get the perfect Christmas with my family. But it felt like we were all pretending. One day I was expected to be happy and thankful and the next day I should be all sad and mourning. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mind celebrating Christmas and remembering her on her death anniversary, but not like that. I don’t want to pretend one day that everything is just fine and then break down crying as soon as midnight has passed. And I don’t think that´s what she would have wanted for us. I mean, I can miss her and still celebrate. Thinking about the good things, you know? Anything else just felt as if I was pretending. And I just couldn’t do it. That´s why I visited Ron last year. But somehow it felt just wrong as well.” You shrugged your shoulders, your voice sounding almost uncaring as you said: “I guess there is just no right way to deal with this.”

Malfoy and you stood there in silence for some time.

“I… I am sorry, I didn’t know…”, Malfoy finally spoke up. “I´m… I´m sorry. Really sorry.”

You took a deep breath and looked up at him. In his eyes, you could see some heartfelt sympathy.

“You say that really often today, Malfoy.”, you teased him, trying to relax the situation a bit.

“No, for real, I…”

“I know.”, you cut him off. “But it happened a long time ago and this year I just… I just wanted to finally do it my way. Just don’t want any pressure on me.” You sighed. “Sorry I killed the mood though.”, you chuckled.

You could see a small smile creeping on Malfoy´s face again.

“Now you apologized.”, he stated.

“Sorry, I…” You stopped and rolled your eyes. “You know what? I´m not. I can apologize whenever I want.”

“That´s what I wanted to hear.”, Malfoy grinned.

“Can we leave now? I get cold.”, you asked.

Malfoy nodded, and on your way back to the castle, you had an almost normal conversation. Just like friends would have one. And when he told you goodbye, you wondered, if maybe, by now, you were. But maybe friends wasn’t the right term to describe what you felt for the blond boy now. All you knew was, that, by now, you were for sure more than just two people who happened to know each other.

When you woke up the next day, you had almost forgotten it was Christmas, until you saw the small pile of presents at the end of your bed. You spend the rest of the morning, unpacking presents and trying to beat a Ravenclaw from your year in the new Wizard´s chess game she had gotten for Christmas.

Then it was time for the banquet. You had always heard the stories about the Christmas meal at Hogwarts, but when you walked into the Great Hall it was better than in your wildest dreams. Snow was falling from the ceiling, still, a cosy warmth embraced you. The tables of the different houses were thrust aside and replaced by one table standing in the middle of the room, where the teachers and some students were already sitting, patiently waiting for everyone to arrive. You sat down next to the Ravenclaw girl that had beaten you so badly in Wizard´s chess this morning and opened one of the Christmas crackers that were spread all across the table. You squeaked in surprise when some living white mouses jumped out of the cracker, quickly trying to escape the maze of feet under the table.

“Is the seat still free?”, you suddenly heard a familiar voice.

You looked up and saw Malfoy standing there, pointing at the seat next to you. You were a little bit surprised that he approached you. Not in a bad way though. But even if you had spent some time together in the last few days, besides your walks, you had stayed for yourself, mostly ignoring each other, especially when other people were around. But now he was standing there and smiled down at you. You returned the smile and nodded.

“Take a seat.”

Malfoy sat down and you tried to ignore the irritated look the girl next to you gave you when she saw you not only not being rude to the probably most hated Slytherin of your year, but actually being nice. You were chatting for a bit before Professor Dumbledore raised from his seat.

“I don’t want to bore you with a long speech. I know you are all here for the food. So all I have to say is merry Christmas and Bon appetite!”

And when he clapped his hands, your plates were filled with the most delicious dishes. You had thought that the Halloween meal had already been the best banquet you had ever witnessed, but Christmas was a whole other level. Also, the atmosphere was relaxed and familiar, and you chatted with most of the students and teachers.

The climax of the feast was probably Hagrid and Professor Slughorn, who were emptying one bottle of oak-matured Mead after another until their faces took an unhealthy-looking red colour. At some point, they performed a not-so-rhythmic version of the song “Christmas at Hogwarts”, while Professor Dumbledore used his wand as a baton. The trio earned tons of applause from their audience, but when Hagrid wanted to take a bow, tripped and nearly knocked over the table, Professor McGonagall decided that it had been enough alcohol for the evening and replaced it with some pumpkin juice.

After hours of eating and drinking, the table slowly emptied. Hagrid had fallen asleep with his head on the table and when Professor Slughorn excused himself, you could see him staggering. Madame Pince and Mr Filch were engaged deeply in a conversation and you highly doubted you had ever seen either of them that happy.

You felt comfortably full and sleepy, even if it was only late afternoon. When you finally stood up from the table, stretching your stiff limbs, Malfoy did the same. You had chatted almost the entire time with him, even laughing together, just enjoying each other’s company.

You left the Great Hall, still talking.

“Would you like to hang out some more?”, Malfoy asked, when you had nearly reached the place, your ways would have to part if you would go to your own dorms again.

“I would love to, but honestly I don’t think I can take a walk now.”, you told him, genuinely feeling sorry, since you would have loved to continue spending your time with the boy by your side. “I´m way too tired today.”

“We could also do something else. Just unwind for a while.”

You felt a smile creeping on your face, but at the same time, you felt a bit nervous. You had never spent your time with him any other way, besides the bickering, you had before those holidays. What the hell were you supposed to do with him?

There was only one way to find out.

“I´d love to.”

“Are you sure this is okay?”, you asked, nervously shifting from one foot to another.

“There´s no one in there. They´re all gone.”, Malfoy answered.

You were standing in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room. You had decided you actually wanted to hang out a little bit longer, but everywhere in the castle, it was freezing cold, since the only rooms, that were heated were the ones that were used, and right now, these were only the Great Hall and the common rooms. You were surprised that Malfoy had even offered you to get to the Slytherin common room, especially after you had refused to let him into yours.

“But still…”

“It´s your decision (Y/n). But you won´t get this chance again.” You felt some chills running down your spine when you heard him calling you by your first name. He had never done so before.

“So we are on a first name base now?”, you teased him.

You could have sworn that Malfoy´s cheeks slightly darkened, but he rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“I will leave you here, if you won´t decide soon.”

You raised your hands in defence and sighed.

“Fine, let´s get in there.”

You could see a triumphant grin on Malfoy´s face as he stepped aside.

“After you.”

“Thanks Draco.”, you said, stressing the last word.

The grin on his face only grew wider.

“I like how that sounds darling.”, he said.

The nickname made you blush.

“And I like how that sounded.”, you responded, making him chuckle.

You passed the door and found yourself standing in another world.

The Slytherin common room looked oblong and was covered in green light. The naked stone walls made the room somehow look cold, as well as the dim light, but not necessarily in a bad way. The furnishing looked classic and really expensive. Some leather couches were placed in front of a fireplace, which extended a comfortable heat. But the highlight of the room was the rear wall. Because it wasn’t an actual wall – it was glass. You had always known that the Slytherin common room was located below the ground and near the lake, but you hadn’t thought of this. Behind the glass, lay the great lake. You had a perfect view of it. It looked just like in those big fish tanks the muggles sometimes visited, only that here it looked like there wasn’t even a barrier between the lake and the room. You took a step closer and carefully extended your hand. You wouldn’t have been surprised if you would have touched the water, but instead, your hand met the glass, that, even if it was almost invisible, separated you from the underwater world that was captured under a thick layer of ice right now.

“Do you like it?”, Draco asked.

He had followed you inside, watching you closely as you looked around. He had his hands buried deep in his pockets, looking like a boy, who had just taken you home for the first time, anxiously waiting for your judgement, which, in fact, he was.

“It´s so… different. In a good way.”, you quickly added, as you saw the look on Draco´s face. “I can´t believe Ron and Harry never told me.”

Draco frowned.

“How should they know?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, they must have been in here as well to know what it would look like, wouldn’t they?”

You let out a nervous laugh.

Draco looked at you with narrowed eyes, before he turned around and let himself fall on one of the couches in front of the fireplace.

“You want to stand there all day?”, he called you out.

Slowly, you walked over to him, not quite sure what to do. The entire situation felt strange, even though you felt comfortable with Draco by now. But it also still made you feel insecure.

“What are you waiting for, sit down.”, Draco said, patting the place next to him.

You sat down on the -unexpectedly soft- couch. You glanced at Draco from the corner of your eye, who was watching you closely.

“Are you alright?”, he asked, as he saw how stiff you were sitting there.

You looked like a deer, always ready to jump up and run away.

“Yeah. Yeah, it´s just…”, you cleared your throat, “it´s unfamiliar.”

“What do you mean, love?”

“Being here. Being with you. Just… all of this.”

Draco raised an eyebrow. Amusement sparkled in his eyes.

“(Y/n), we know each other for almost six years now.”

“Yeah, and the first five and a half you hated me.”

“Do you really think that?”

You looked at him, narrowing your eyes.

“You hate everyone Draco.”

“Not necessarily everyone.”

“Every Gryffindor.”

“And why did I go out there every day for the last bloody week even though the cold has nearly killed me?”

Now you were confused.

“What?”

“Do you really think I would have gone out there, risking dying from pneumonia, if it wasn’t for a reason?”

“You told me it was to switch your brain off.”

“It was. Kinda. But I could have done that in here as well. Only that I wouldn’t have such a pretty girl to keep me company.”, he said, with a smug grin on his face.

“Now you´re playing games with me Malfoy.”, you huffed.

The blond boy shrugged his shoulders, a smug grin covering his face.

“Maybe, but at least now you´re relaxing.”

You hadn’t even noticed, that you had sunken back into the pillows, covering the sofa, leaning one arm on the backrest, while you had eyed him distrustfully.

“Don’t do that to me again.”, you responded.

“Why, did I make you nervous for a second? Do you like the thought of me wanting to spend my time with you?”, Draco smirked.

“You wish Malfoy.”, you responded.

But from the way your heart was pounding in your chest, you knew, he was right. You weren’t quite sure how he had done it, or what exactly it meant, but within a few days, Draco Malfoy had managed to make you feel more secure than anyone had in a long time. You genuinely enjoyed his company and didn’t feel as if you would have to play pretend when he was around. And the thought that everything you had done together in the last few days, he had done just so he could be with you, appeared more pleasant to you, than it should.

The rest of the afternoon, you spent in front of the fireplace, huddled up in blankets, while you were just talking or staring into the fire in front of you. And when one time, a second year, entered the common room and gathered all his courage to tell Draco, that students from other houses weren’t allowed in here, Draco kicked him out again, threatening the poor boy to practice all three unforgivable curses on him if he would ever tell someone. When the boy had run to his dorm, on the verge of tears, you had scolded Draco for this, but he just brushed it off, saying he obviously wouldn’t do it, or at least he wouldn’t if you would mind, making you roll your eyes and blush at the same time.

At the beginning of the afternoon, you had both sat on the very opposite sides of the couch, everyone curled up in their own corner. As time went by, you had, more or less obviously, closed ranks, and by now he was so close, you could feel the heat he was radiating. The scene was so stereotypical, you probably would have laughed or called it kitschy, if it wasn’t for the boy next to you. By now, you felt like there was nothing that you would rather do than confirm any cliché you had ever read about in romance books, as long as it was with Draco.

That´s why, when your hands touched and Draco carefully interlocked his pinky with yours, you didn’t shy away, but only smiled and stared into the fire in front of you, not daring to look at the boy next to you yet.

But when you did, he was looking into the flames dancing in front of you as well. His cheeks looked slightly rosy -you weren’t quite sure if the heat the fireplace radiated was the only reason for this- and a small smile played around his lips.

You didn’t even realize you were staring at him, until he turned his head to you, and gave you a small smile.

“Is that okay with you?” His voice sounded hoarse.

Instead of answering, you just disentangled your pinkies, taking his hand instead, now actually interlocking your fingers. You were pretty sure, Draco must have heard your heart pounding in your chest and felt your pulse hammering in your fingers, but if he did, he didn’t show.

“Take that as a yes.”, he chuckled.

You smiled as well.

“Yes.”

And Draco moved even closer to you. His thumb brushed small circles on the back of your hand, making you shiver. Your gaze shifted back to the fire, as you placed your head on Draco´s shoulder. You could feel his breath hitch as you did so. He placed a small kiss on the crown of your head before he looked back to the fire as well.

For a while you were sitting there in comfortable silence, just enjoying the feeling of being close to the person next to you. You felt your heartbeat slowing down again, and felt your body starting to get heavy, as you nearly drifted off into sleep, cuddled up to the warm body next to you, inhaling Draco´s intoxicating scent. For now, you didn’t want to think about what all of this meant. You didn’t want to think about how things would go on after this day or after the holidays. You didn’t want to think about that Draco by now, was in the perfect position to break your heart if he wanted to. And you knew that even if he didn’t want to, there were still many ways he could. Still, right now, all of this seemed far away, as you felt your mind beginning to feel dizzy.

But then you felt Draco slightly shifting next to you, as he glanced down at you. You squinted up to him, slightly confused.

“Is something wrong?”, you mumbled.

Draco smiled and shook his head.

“Nothing’s wrong love. Actually, everything is more than just great.”

You felt his gaze wandering as he said this, making you suspect, this wasn’t the entire truth.

“But you still got something on your mind, don’t you?”, you persisted, slightly sitting up again.

Draco chuckled.

“Actually, I have.”

“You care to tell me?”, you asked, tilting your head.

“It´s just… I thought about…”, Draco paused, and you could see the indecisiveness in his eyes. “(Y/n)?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I kiss you?”

You looked at him with widened eyes. Draco was looking down at you, slightly overawed.

“Draco?”

“Hmm?”

“I would love you to kiss me.”

The smile that spread across Draco´s face could have lightened up the entire room. As if in slow motion, he bent down to you and carefully pressed his soft lips on yours. You returned it just as tenderly, trying to control the smile that now crept on your face as well.

When Draco pulled back again, he looked down at you in awe. His hand was caressing your face, his thumb brushing over the lips, he by now knew, he would never get enough of.

“It was actually because of you, you know?”, he whispered.

You frowned.

“What?”

“Going out there. I mean, in the beginning, I actually wanted to clear my head, but it didn’t work that well. Because I only thought of you.”

“You tell me this as if this would be a bad thing.”, you grinned.

Draco chuckled.

“It isn’t. Not at all. This might be the best thing that ever happened to me.”

You nodded and placed a small peck on the corner of his mouth.

“Not only to you.”

And after many other kisses, wandering hands, and sweet nothings whispered in the ear of the other one, Draco laid back on the couch, but this time he pulled you close to his chest. With his arms wrapped around you and a pleasant haze covering your mind, you were quick to doze off again. But before you did, you spoke up once more.

“Draco?”

“Yes love?”

“Thank you.”

Draco looked down at you, grinning.

“No need for this, darling. I know I´m good but trust me I had my fun as well. No need to thank me.”

“If I wouldn’t know you, I wouldn’t believe it´s even possible to be that self-assertive.”, you chuckled. “But for real Draco. Thank you. That was probably the best day I had in a while and for sure the best Christmas in years.”

If it wouldn’t have been for you in his arms, Draco now would have puffed his chest. It wasn’t just that he was proud that he was the one who had made you that happy. It was more that he could feel his heart swelling just from knowing you felt contented after all. And as he glanced down at you, a small smile still covering your face, he knew that he wanted to make you just as happy for the rest of his life.

“Anything for you darling.” He placed a small kiss on your temple. “Merry Christmas love.”

“Merry Christmas Draco.”

Taglist: @xodracomalfoyxo @marigold-morelli @writingwitch007 @army24—7 @lbhmoon @cappgyuccino @victoriapedroza

#draco malfoy #draco x reader #draco x female reader #draco x you #draco x y/n #draco fluff #draco fanfiction #draco fic #harry potter #argus filch #hagrid #hermione granger #madame pince #professor dumbledore #professor mcgonagall #ron weasley #gryffindor reader #slytherin #gryffindor x slytherin #fanfic #fanfiction #christmas #holiday #christmas fic #christmas fanfiction #christmas fluff

[felinetteagain]

Love is not afraid of huge separation, it dies from little lies.

Every time our heroes started their relationship with someone, nothing worked out for them. Let's remember the most striking relationships in the series, which did not end well. Adrian and Kagami, their relationship began at the persistent initiative of Kagami, who decided that Adrian was in love with her and forced herself on him as a girlfriend.

Since Adrian was used to others deciding everything for him, he did not resist for a long time and entered into a relationship with Kagami. This relationship was not destined to last long as Kagami realized too quickly that Adrien was not as perfect as she imagined.

But most importantly, Kagami understood that Adrian did not want a relationship with her and was constantly lying or looking for a reason not to date her. Perhaps this relationship would have developed, because these two are very similar, but it was precisely because of the constant lies and intolerance to Adrien’s shortcomings that this relationship quickly ended.

Luka and Marinette, a wonderful couple who had every chance of a long relationship with full mutual understanding and respect if not for Marinette's lies and her secrets, which she could not entrust to Luka. These secrets ruined their relationship.

Nino and Alya, this couple also experienced moments that threatened their relationship. These moments were also related to Aliya's lies and secrets. But unlike Marinette and Adrien, she couldn't hide anything from her lover, and trusted him with her secret. This was the salvation of their relationship.

Marinette and Cat Noir their relationship was immediately doomed, because at the beginning of their relationship, Cat Noir found out that Marinette no longer loved his personality without a mask, and he was not ready to start a relationship with a lie.

We all understand perfectly well that relationships shrouded in lies and secrets will not be able to develop and sooner or later they will simply collapse under their weight. What are the chances of the Adrinette couple to survive in this abyss of lies and secrets? I'm sure there's no chance!

Marinette would never tell Adrian the secret that Gabriel had entrusted to her before his death, so as not to hurt him.

She will not tell Adrian that he is not an ordinary person, otherwise this truth will lead to other secrets hidden from him. It’s like a snowball that will cover everything with its head and sweep away the whole pink world that Adrian sees.

But Marinette still has a chance to be happy with a guy who knows everything and more about her than others. From whom you don't need to hide anything. This guy is brave, smart, handsome, he is a real hero who doesn’t even need the magical power of talismans. But one day he will wear the main talisman and become an excellent partner for her, who will take the initiative and make Ladybug feel like a girl and not a knight. He will be caring and reliable, he will be perfect for her.

Who is he? The answer is obvious!

#ladybug and chat noir #miraculous ladybug #tales of ladybug and cat noir #felix fathom #felix graham de vanily #kagami tsurugi #adrien agreste #felinette #adrigami #lukanette #luka couffaine #miraculous marinette #marinette dupain cheng #nino lahiffe #alya cesaire

[sulumuns-dootah]

9.12. Stolas - Snowball fight

    ༺☆༻

⟡ Masterlist ⟡ 

₊˚⊹.* The Yule festival of Hell *.⊹˚₊

    ༺☆༻

You're mad at Stolas. This was supposed to be a cozy and calm walk through the snowy streets of Abyssos but of course some demons looked at him the wrong way, which led to him picking a fight with them. So now you have a still angry toddler walking trying to catch up to you, still covered in the blood of those demons.

“Hey, I did what I had to!” Stolas calls after you.

“No, you didn't. They only glanced at us for a split second.” you mutter to yourself and disappear behind a corner to catch your breath. Walking fast in this weather isn't exactly easy.

From your not-so-conspicuous hiding place between two buildings, you see Stolas looking around for where you could've gone. The anger is still brewing in you and wants to be released, so you quietly bend down and make few snowballs.

Waiting for the perfect moment when Stolas turns fully away, you emerge from the shadow of the buildings and perfectly hit the back of his head. At least now you're glad you let him teach you how to line up your shot at the shooting range. It makes him stumble a bit with the force and knocks his crown off his head. He looks around to see who dared to hit him, but you use that opportunity to hit his face with two more snowballs.

Both of them land on their target and Stolas is quick to wipe his eyes while shouting profanities and death threats at whoever threw them. When his sight is clear he only now realises it's you who he promised to turn into a blood and bone soup. His face flushed from the snow now gets even redder with surprise, shame and irritation.

“What was that for?!” he shouts, more startled than anything.

“You looked like you needed some cooling down. Do I need to continue?” you walk towards him, tossing your last snowball in you hand into the air and catching it.

“Oh no, now you're on. You've got some temper on you too, you know?” he chuckles and hides behind the closest column to make some ammunition of his own.

The anger present in you body is almost gone. Almost. You quickly run to different column to prepare for the inevitable battle. If there's anything Stolas loves, it's showering someone in projectiles of any kind. And sure enough he does. The next time you glance to his column, you can see a huge amount of smaller balls stacked like a barrier behind him.

Assessing your position, you realise you've picked the wrong column to hide behind and the angle you're at, you can't hit Stolas at all. You look over and see a column with much better angle only a short distance away. Surely, if you ran fast he won't be able to hit you, right?

You prepare and dash to your new spot. Stolas only manages to hit your ankle twice and you can hear him laughing. The good thing is, that your column has a huge pile of snow next to it, which presumably fell of the roof of the building. If you sneek around it, you'll be able to sneak up on Stolas and slam the huge ball of snow, you've accumulated from the snow around you, right on his head.

Stolas stops laughing and listens for your movement so he can get back at you for giving him facefull of snow. You've gone deadly silent, but he knows you're there and just trying to not give away your position. The only sound he's able to pick up are his slightly heavier breaths and the distant sound of loud music in a club.

You're so close to Stolas and he has no idea. You can clearly see him put his armed hand down and just stand there, trying to lecate you. The ball of snow is heavy when you quietly lift it up over your head to enact your finishing move and slowly move towards him.

When you're only a few steps away Stolas swiftly turns around and tackles you to the ground, making the snow fall from your hands and fall apart on impact with the concrete below. It was such a fast movement, that you didn't even comprehend what was happening until you found yourself pinned underneath Stolas.

“Would you look at that. Looks like we both could use some warming up, huh?”

    ༺☆༻

But wait, this demon also has a gift for you!

"One day I'll be the king of Abyssos, so hold onto this thing okay? You'll need it."

#what in hell is bad #what in “hell” is bad? #whb stolas #the yule festival of hell

[pasta-in-the-pudding]

Hey I think your entrys are awesome!! Maybe give us a small scenario with Masky x fem!reader during winter season? Like what would they do, pls 🙏

Aaaa ty! 😭

Thanks for requesting!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winter with masky

Masky hates the winter

It's his least favorite season

But lucky for you, masky gets really cuddly around this time of year

And hairer

He usually ends up growing a beard during winter, and he gets bigger too

He's also really warm, so its basically just like cuddling a huge bear

He's happy that you're happy, but he seriously can't wait for this icey death to be over

Masky also has this special jacket that he saves specifically for winter

It's like a 3xl, so its big, and it's fluffy

Steal it

Steal it now

You won't regret it

Masky likes to make hot chocolate a lot

And we aren't just talking regular hot chocolate, we're talking Flanders style hot chocolate

With the whipped cream and cinnamon and toasted marshmallow with chocolate shavings on top

It's truly heaven on earth

Christmas movie marathons happen, not just with masky, but all over the mansion

He likes to drag you with him to watch the movies, and cuddle up together, a blanket tossed over your bodies and your hands intertwined, keeping each other warm

And don't even get him started on all of the holidays

There are creeps that celebrate all sorts of things this time of year, so December is usually a pretty lively month around the mansion

And now, I give you a winter scenario with Tim <3

Scenario

"Hoonneeeyyy" your sweet voice sings. "Wake uuupp!" It's snowed 4 feet last night, meaning it's a snow day! No work for anybody, and you want to take advantage of this. Tim, however, does not seem like he wants to be up so early. He grumbles and cuddles into your chest, wrapping his big arms around your waist. "Mmh....five more minutes." He mutters, pressing lazy kisses to your shoulder. You ruffle up his hair and giggle. "No way! We only have 24 hours to enjoy this day!"

He grumbles once more and sighs, laying still for another moment before sitting up and stretching. "All right, all right. I'm up." He says with a yawn. You smile and rush to get up as well, getting undressed from your sweatpants and some band t-shirt you stole from Tim, and instead getting bundled up into some warm snow clothes. Once Tim gets himself ready, you grab his hand and drag him all the way down the stairs and into the snow.

You immediately begin making snow angels and throwing snowballs at the others who have come outside, while Tim simply stands on the porch and smokes. "Come on, you can't just smoke all day silly!" You call over to him. "Sure I can! At least I won't catch a cold like you!" He calls back with a hearty chuckle.

Once the fun festivities are over, you are sad to find that some snow did in fact, seep into your underlayer of clothes, and you did in fact, catch a cold.

Tim takes care of you, yes, but that is another story for another time <3333

#creepypasta #creepypasta x y/n #creepypasta x you #creepypasta x female reader #slender mansion #cp masky #creepypasta masky #masky marble hornets #masky x reader #masky #masky mh #tim wright #tim wright x reader #tim wright x y/n #tim sutton #tim sutton x reader #tim wright mh #marble hornets