#does that tree look familar to you?

[randompenname]

No More Nightingales

I had a dream that made me wake up crying, so naturally I am bringing you into my trauma for company.

So far as we know Crowley has never killed. Hell, this man had to talk him into littering and his big evil accomplishment was moving a few road markers. He made a point to say he goes along with Hell as far as he can, then he doesn't. It is a line in the sand that he has paid for, more than once.

Now to the dream.

Crowley is sitting on their bench, post divorce. Typical park scene, ducks quacking, birds singing, kids playing, people selling ice cream etc.

Our Hero is not doing well, he tries to hide it. Glasses on. Jaw clenched. Lips set to a thin line. Torn between anquish and anger. His arm which is, as always, draped along the back of the bench, leading to long spindle like fingers that twitch in an ill hidden effort to fight for composure.

Then he can't anymore.

With a upward snap, his fingers close into a fist and something falls from a nearby tree. Small and unnoticed by most in the hustle and bussle of the park. Crowley however notices. He knows exactly what it is.

What it was.

He can't make himself look at it. He feels sick.

He unfurls those long limbs and makes a hastey exit for the Bentley. Barely maintaing the restraint to walk when all he wants to do is run.

Unbeknownst to the vanished duke, stands a man in a familar suit. Watching the whole affair with baited breath and broken heart. Only once the sounds of Bentley have entirely faded away does he approach the small figure which has fallen from the tree.

He fails to stifle a soft sob as he mutters feverent apologies. His hands shake as he cradles the still warm, but quite dead, nightingale to his chest before he too, turns and walks out of sight.

The End

#good omens meta #ineffable divorce #good omens season 2 #good omens 2 #ineffable husbands #good omens #aziraphale #crowley #good omens crowley #ineffable idiots #ineffable boyfriends #good ineffable omens #good omens s2 #ineffable fandom #ineffable fanfic #Cry with me

[millenniumdueled]

"Can't sleep, Partner?"

Yugi opens his eyes to find the spectral form of his other self, a ghost only he can see, sitting at the edge of his bed. He makes a face as he sits himself upright against the pillow. "you too, huh?"

Suddenly, the Other Yugi straightens, like a cat on high alert. Yugi's own eyes widen. "so you heard that too--"

"Shh."

Silence falls between the two, and neither moves a muscle. Then it comes again, the sound of a woman's voice calling for help. But this time, in the stillness of their bedroom, a realization hits the two of them: is isn't their ears hearing the cries, but their heart.

No sooner does that thought occur to them, the bedroom falls away, the sudden change of scenery hitting them both with whiplash as the impossible, escherian stairs of the Other Yugi's soul room surround them on all sides.

"oh," Yugi says softly as he looks around himself. "this is your...."

"Mm. Someone is in here."

Yugi's attention snaps back to the other man beside him. "in here...? in our heart???"

The Other Yugi doesn't answer. As another cry for help rings out, echoing clearly through the maze of stairs and doors, he takes off running to try and find the source. "wait up!!!" Yugi calls, running after the Other.

The two race up and down impossible stairs, throw open doors to nowhere. The Other Yugi grabs his Partner's hand as he starts to reach for a door that he already knows is no good and shakes his head, before the two run off to try another.

The search seems tireless as both Yugis race back and forth throughout the unending maze of the Other Yugi's soul room. As they meet again in the place where they started, in front of the door to the void between their rooms, Yugi looks exasperated. "i don't hear her anymore..."

The Other Yugi doesn't answer. Instead, a different, familar cry, like some kind of pokemon, catches his attention, makes him turn on his heel.

"Kuriboh--?!"

Sure enough, atop one flight of stairs, bounces the furry little fiend. Once their eyes meet, however, the furball turns, bouncing into the darkness, chirping its "kurikurii~!" the entire way.

"does kuriboh want us to follow it?!"

The question hasn't even left Yugi's lips before he's racing after his Other Self in the direction the monster had gone. The escherian staircases fall away, the expansive walls grow narrower, as Yugi realizes they're following the Kuriboh down a blank hallway now. And this... This is new. He's only been inside of his Other Self's room a few times, but it's never been anything other than those stairs and many, many doors....

His eyes widen.

The hallway ends suddenly with a single, heavy, metal door. Though Kuriboh turns to bright light and slips easily though the keyhole, the Yugis both skid to a stop.

The Other Yugi neither hesitates nor speaks as he reaches for the door's handle.

Instead of the worn, intricately carved sandstone that makes up this room, before them stretches a long hall of black and white, long shadows cast from a blinding, unknown light source. Yugi's eyes go wide and he gives the Other's hand a little squeeze. "has that always been here...?"

"No I've never seen this before," the Other Yugi confirms, voice cautious, eyes narrowed. The woman's voice calls out for help again, and his violet red eyes flash with surprise. Is that the silhouette of a girl dashing between the oversaturated trees? He returns the squeeze. "Stay close and be careful, Partner," he warns as he takes a cautious step forward.

His foot meets nothing. Unable to react in time, he pulls Yugi after him by his held hand.

The place they find themselves is... Unexpected, to say the least. They don't hit the ground, rather their descent slows until the pair are left floating, high above a large castle, surrounded by an expanse of green grass cut by a blue river below. But the serene scene is marred by a dark shadow, a massive orb of radiating darkness looming overhead. at the center of the dark sun, a single, yellow eye stares out, straight ahead at the two floating like ghosts over this new domain. As they watch, monsters, dragons, a siren, are sucked from the forests and fields below, pulled, struggling, into the abyss that hovers over them.

With wide eyes, Yugi gives his Other a glance. "wgat is that--?!"

The Other Yugi's eyebrows twitch into a tightly knit scowl. He doesn't answer immediately, until something inside his heart pulls his attention back to the castle below him. A small sound, somewhere between a hum and a grunt, is the only response that Yugi gets before he finds himself following his Other, floating down, down, down.

They enter the castle through a hall window, joining hands again as they find themselves slowly lowering. The hall they arrive in is massive, though completely empty aside from three statues, resembling dragons and encased in the same icy crystal that had covered the Tablet of Memories back in the museum the day before.

"Three dragons...?" the Other Yugi wonders.

"You came!!""

As they ponder the statues, a voice makes them both jump. They spin on their heels, turning quickly to face--

"dark magician girl?!" Yugi squeaks.

Sure enough, standing before them, a pleading look in her bright blue eyes, is a monster they both know well. She looks nervous, clutching her staff in both hands.

"You're the one who's been calling for help?" the Other Yugi asks.

"Yes..." she answers hesitantly. "I need your help! Both of our worlds are in danger..."

"Tell us what's going on," the Other Yugi demands.

And so, she explains. The Dark Magician girl explains that their worlds run parallel to each other, that this world of monsters was created by the thoughts and souls of the people of Yugi's world. That they exist codependently, a world of magic and a world of the mundane. The two Duelists stay quiet as they listen, a look of nervous wonder on Yugi's face, an unreadable, tight-browed expression on the Other's.

She goes on. That dark sun looming overhead, she explains, has been devouring the monsters of her world, leaving only a handful left to hide within the castle. Other Yugi's expression softens as he feels the sorrow and sympathy inside his Partner's heart.

"Partner...."

"isn't there any way to save both of our worlds...?" Yugi asks.

Now, the Dark Magician Girl goes quiet. She takes a deep breath, holding her staff straight and close to her chest as she suddenly rises into the air without another word. Lifting her head, she looks to the statues behind the Duelists.

"These dragons have protected our world since ancient times. But they used up their power in past battles, and fell into deep hibernation," she explains. "No one knows their names, or just how long they've been here...."

Other Yugi's hand tightens around his Partner's. "Nameless dragons..." he mutters. With a light jump, he rises into their air after the Magician, gently tugging Yugi along with him.

"There's a legend about these dragons though. That one day, when our worlds both need it, a True Duelist would arrive. Only they hold the power to wake these dragons..."

The Yugis look at each other. Then, to the dragons once more.

"a true duelist...." Yugi chews on the words as his

"Mm..." the Other ponders quietly. A golden-hilted sword protrudes from the eye of the dragon before them and catches his gaze.

"Masters, I believe you were chosen to free the dragon!" the Dark Magician Girl cries. "Remove the sword and call out its name..."

"You said no one knows their names," the Other Yugi points out.

"The chosen Duelists will know when it's needed of them. Please, you have to try!!"

There's another moment of hesitation.

"Partner..."

Yugi just nods confidently, and it's settled. Together, they each reach out one hand, taking the sword at once. And just like that, without any resistance, the sword slides free of the crystal below, and Yugi gasps.

"other me--"

"Yeah." He takes a deep breath.

"Timaeus!!! Awaken!" they call as one.

An ear splitting CRACK echoes through the hall. The crystal falls away, crashing to the floor below as the teal dragon below roars to life. It throws back its head, and the power it emits makes Yugi tremble.

"i can feel it--" he gasps, wide eyed.

"Timaeus can awaken the dormant power of all monsters," the Other Yugi says, awestruck.

The moment seems to last forever as the two hover, gazing in wonder at the great beast.

"Duelists!!!" Dark Magician Girl's voice breaks the two from their mesmerized trance. "Use its power!"

"oh--"

"Mm."

The two look at each other and nod. Side by side, a mirror image of each other, they stretch out a hand toward the mighty dragon. The energy pulses between them, a terrible pressure and a rush of wind, and heat as the dragon roars again--

Yugi sits up in his bed with a start, gasping as his eyes fly open. His breath comes heavy as he looks quickly around himself, trying frantically to get his barings.

A dream.

A dream!

Of course that was just a dream.

He leans back against his pillow, taking, holding, and releasing a deep breath. He can feel his Other Self inside his heart, nothing seems to be wrong. He watches the glow of rainbow lights dance across his floor from the sky light window over his desk. It's pretty, calming....

"what is that light anyway?" he wonders aloud. "an aurora?"

He starts to close his eyes, to drift back off to sleep, to a more relaxing dream, before a suddeb realization has his heart leaping into his throat once again.

Domino City doesn't get auroras.

A monsterous roar from outside confirms his fears. Without another moment's hesitation, he bolts from the bed, grabbing the Puzzle, his phone, and his Duel Disk as he races down the stairs and outside, dressed in only his pajamas and jacket.

#ooc #action post #plot #arc: what the doma?! #not visible ic #this is dhshxhdb really really really rushed but #I desperately wanted to get it out b4 the rest of the tl goes to bed bbxbsbzbajzb

[therottenkingsreckoning]

As it turns out, writing the sections after the big reveal are significantly harder. Nevertheless, I have completed another chapter for you, and have plans for many more!

As bonus, I'll also add at the bottom the lil clipart that inspired the Emperor's Treasure. Nothing special, but I might as well include it.

Enjoy!

~Little Flame, Chapter 6~

Frank loved bugs. The shimmering beetles and bright butterflies; cute fluffy moths & beautiful, deadly mantises and hardworking ants. Even the creatures that weren't technically bugs: spiders spinning their webs, snails with their elegant spiral shells, worms crawling blissfully under the dirt. As much as he loved studying them, they loved to catch them even more, the thrill of the hunt and the joy of exploring all in one. It was his favorite thing to do.

And today was the perfect day for it.

Net in hand, they scanned the horizon, eyes landing on the shimmer of a beetle's wings amongst the leaves. A pretty thing, orange and blue and white, as yet unaware of the approaching scientist. Slowly creeping forward from a crouched position, he took the swing and-

WHAP!

"Gotcha!" Frank shouted triumphantly, holding the scuttling insect inside their net. Quickly scooping it into a jar, he stood up, hissing and groaning as their joints protested the movement. "Oof, I'll have to get used to that," he said, hand on the growing belly that stuck out of their shirt. "You make this hard to do right now."

He was about 20 weeks in by now, Frank had kept track of that. Both for their own love of organized notes and with the encouragement of Jaya, who was naturally eager to be kept abreast of his health and the baby's. My baby, he thought contentedly. They still couldn't believe that it was actually true. All those daydreams & what-ifs, all the things he'd only imagined they'd ever have- all of that was real now. He had a home to call their own, a bunch of friends, a husband to love and who loved them back. And soon, a family.

"daydreamin' love?" A familar voice piped up from behind him, the mailman stepping off the road to stand beside them in the shade of the trees.

"Eddie!" Frank exclaimed. "What a pleasant surprise. You're not normally over in this part of the woods."

"Well, thought I'd drop by and see how you're doin'," Eddie said with a chuckle. "Even if it does mean being in the... buggy part of town."

"Aww, my brave man," Frank teased, kissing him sweetly. "You don't need to worry about me sweetheart, I'm doing fine. Just, well, thinking about our little one."

"I still can't believe that's true!" Eddie said, "I'm gonna be a daddy soon." He pulled his mate into a careful hug, the cautious, floaty grasp he'd been doing for several weeks.

Frank let out a huff, making the concious effort to squeeze him tighter. "Oh honestly, you treat me like I'm some china doll right now. I promise I won't break if you hug me. I'm stronger than that."

Eddie broke away and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I-I know that's probably true," he said. "But Poppy told me..."

"Poppy worries," Frank stated matter-of-factly. "She worries constantly about everything. Last thing I need right now is both of y-"

He froze, eyes wide as a flash of color suddenly appeared over their husband's shoulder. There was no mistaking it: the rosy and curlicued wings of an Emperor's Treasure.

On instinct they crouched down low, motioning Eddie to do the same. "I never thought I'd see one in person," they breathed in awe. "They're so rare!"

Eddie turned to look at what was so important behind him, then carefully crept out of range of mate, chuckling softly. He knew what was about to happen.

Slowly, cautiously, Frank raised their net. This was it. The prized jewel of their collection, the one he'd longed for for ages. If they could just catch this one, all his dreams would come true. They tensed his muscles, aimed and-

WHAP!

The net hit empty tree bark, its prey fluttering quickly off to settle on a different branch.

"Aww, ya almost had it!" Eddie laughed, starting to rise from his spot. "You'll get it next-"

WHAP!

Another miss. The butterfly flew higher now into the branches of the tree, seeming almost to mock Frank with its refusal to run away entirely. They started to reach up, preparing to climb, but a hand on his shoulder stopped them. "H-hey now darlin," Eddie started, all laughter suddenly gone from his voice, "please don't be climbin' things right now. I know you want it, but that's really not-"

Frank shrugged him off without a word. Their mind was a lazer beam of focus at this moment, a frenzied loop of the single desire to catch. that. bug. he scaled up, net in mouth until they reached a point where he could swing, the butterfly so close that he could practically already feel it in their hands. Releasing one hand from the branch it was holding, he began to pull the net from their mouth, preparing to take his shot.

It might've been the strange position he was in, the unaccustomed added weight put on a single branch admittedly just a bit too small to support it. But suddenly, with a horrid CRACK the branch splintered and broke, the scientist letting out a yelp of shock that was drowned out by Eddie's scream of "FRANK!!!"

Wind rushed out of Frank's lungs as they collided with something on the ground. Or rather, two somethings, those being the arms of his husband who had dove to catch them. "Frank..." Eddie grumbled, not yet looking up from where his face had hit the dirt.

Above, the butterfly soared on, its brilliant pink hues disappearing into the sky. "Oh, hurry!" Frank exclaimed, reaching around for his net. "There's still time, I can-"

"Frank."

"Just gotta-"

"FRANK YA AIN'T LISTENIN' TO ME!!!!"

Frank paused, hand still reaching out towards the net. It wasn't just the sudden shout- a thing Eddie rarely did at all- but the undeniable note of pain inside his words. They turned to look at him, and as they'd suspected he was...crying, fear and anger and grief plain to read on his face.

"Eddie..."

He sniffled. "I love you. I... Frank, I love you both so much." His voice was small and fragile now, his hand laid over his partner's belly. "Can't begin to tell ya...how happy being a father makes me."

Frank carefully put a hand over their love's, looking into his teary eyes.

"And..." the man continued, "I don't...I don't know what I'd do if I lost either of ya. And I know ya think I'm overreactin', I know ya think it doesn't matter, but...p-please...please just..."

"Ok."

Eddie looked up at this, and met Frank's eyes which themselves were now brimming with tears. Gently cupping his face with a hand, they went on. "I'm sorry. You're right, I wasn't considering you or the baby at all. That's not fair to you."

They sighed. "And you're right. Much...much as I hate to admit it, I do need to be more careful now. At least until the baby's born." He straightened up and said "from now on, no more catching bugs."

Eddie chuckled weakly, wiping the tears from his eyes. "W-well, I wouldn't go that far. I just don't want ya climbin' trees about it or nothin'."

"Ah."

"I wouldn't be that mean." he pulled his mate into another hug this time, squeezing tighter than before although he was still taking care not to press too tight.

"You're not mean," Frank huffed gently, leaning gratefully into the embrace. "I get it, you do it because you love us."

They kissed him. "And we love you too."

#stuff i said #welcome home #welcome home fanfic #Little Flame #eddie x frank #frank x eddie #frankly dear #franklydear #welcome home eddie #eddie welcome home #eddie dear #welcome home frank #frank welcome home #frank frankly #fluff #Ember's art

[wind-corner]

Chapter three

Meri was vrooming about on her very simplified flying device. She has been running about managing to find just where they possible way home and after talking to the normies guarding it she was now making it to where the next problem was at.

After all she didn't tell her friends but ever since they ended up thrown in the past their magic seemed to create more than double or triple the amount of blot, more so if filled with negative emotions. Which sucked since it was like they got cursed or something.

It was just a blessing that she was a shroud, because of her family's curse seemed to really turn to a gift as she was able to not only not stress about it but keeping close contact with chaim and Brigitte she was able to have her own curse eat away at the blot that seemed to coat them as, and thus they didn't have to worry about over bloting.

Sadly as she zoomed though the halls that were both familar and strange she had a feeling she wasn't going to make it in time before she was going to be doing more work. She needed to make sure to erase everyone's memories, possibly fix things that need to be fixed and hope her program does in fact self delete cause she didn't need her family finding it before she was even born.

And as she zoom past some guys who were guarding the hall like npcs she knew they had to be like the other ones from their time and not form this time. After all it wouldn't make sense plus she had made sure no one would leave what ever room their in since she made sure to active some alarms that would make everyone bunker down and so long as everyone stays put all will be good.

Though the minute she got to where her friends were she frowned more. Not only is the dron she sent with Brigitte down but it seemed there was in fact an overblot situation. Which honestly was going to be annoying if anyone finds out because fucken underword, she refuses to sit though any extra "friends don't let friends overblot" lectures. Since three a year was more than enough, thank you very much.

None the less their were going to have to snap them out of it and she summon her catalyst. The skull head which was a mix of old and new magic with mix of technology as it floated about. And looking about she sent out a blast of water magic at the mid blot being.

And it seemed the other notice and sent their own blast of magics. If they could possibly intrupted it maybe they could avoid it fully transforming but that would be meaning they had good luck. Which didn't seem that wasn't the case as they soon had an overblot to deal with.

Cursing meri watched as their sinor just turn to a darker twisted version of himself. Honestly what is up with this time frame and blots?

Recalling the historical records this time frame was the year of blot where many ssr blot creatures seemed to run about, almost one after another in a short time span.

None the less she wasn't going to make it if he went after her. So quickly reaching into her bag she grab the seeds from the bag and tossed the infront of her and using her magic, that she spent years cultivating to force the seeds to grown sprouting till they grew into massive trees that rip though ground and acted as a shield. The magic packs beeped reminding her that this love practical empty then meaning she was going to be stuck using just the magic she had and not the extra reserves she had store in the boxes.

Pulling up her tablet she begin clicking away at getting the dron to move and to also act as support for brig and chaim while they did all the main fighting. She could peak though the trees but it better to get an over head view. Not to mention she needed to keep track of their blot incubation because they didn't need more than one over blot.

Meri also sent pencer two go and help. The ais could in fact send blows by using engery in the air and turning it into a viable power for a blow, not magic and pure technology it might hit different, but its fine. Though it would be weak for smaller blows since their would be no real time to charge it, but what ever.

Flipping her hair off her shoulder she wonder if she should try choking their sinor with her hair? But than again that would mean getting close and she didn't really think she could, at least not being hit.

Sighing she watched as Brigitte and chaim ran about here and there like some action stars flipping and dodging blows or having to use their weapon of choice to block blows thay other wise would hit them. And she wasn't stupid to not see the few swords that hit the trees that she hid behind.

And when it seemed a rough blow came at them they put up shield magic as the blow caused everything to shake around them. The trees seemed to interact with it as the branches were pushed back. Making her glance up to the tress and she softly put her hand the trunk she was behind. "You're doing good please stay strong."

The tree didn't say anything of corse but she hoped they understood. After all her mother's side of the family had a deep connection with plants and while her connection wasn't as strong as her mother's side, she still had it, despite the curse.

Closing her eyes she put her forhead to the tree after all the longer this goes on the worse it is for everyone and she knew she would be pushing the trees and herself she had one trump card and if it work it should give the other two a shot at spamming the heck out of him and maybe snap their sinor out of the over blot.

Thus meri focus on the trees felt the underlined magic that made them and after a moment, connected with their roots and used her magic to willed the roots to expand and come out, from the ground.

Humming she could just imagen her parents scolding her for doing all this after all she Didn't she get hurt herself, doing something similar as a child? Not that it mater, she was almost an adult, so this should be fine.

Taking deep breath she felt her arms tingling like it does after she slept on it for the whole night. And glad to have voice command she called the screen to her so she could get an idea of what she was doing after all wouldn't help if she couldn't see who and what she was grabbing.

Watching the screen she waited before raising her arms ingoing the unsettling sounds of the trees as they again hit with sowrds that the other two manged to avoid.

Another deep breath before moving her hands and the roots shot out from the stone ground flinging a mess everywhere but she did mange to get rotem trap the inky monster seemed to hiss but seemed to not find any issues as it seemed to be able to move but it would at least help the others get things done. After all the creature couldn't fully do as it wants till its host was fully drain of their magic and life. But this will hopefully be the last push to snap the elder out of it. Or so she hopes.

#winds art #a leap in time #chapter 3

[curlysgirl0202]

Short Story:

Whispers of Curly Bill's Devotion

🩵Curly Bill has a crush on the reader and believes she is out of his reach and sees him as nothing more than an old rustler who does nothing more simply amuse her.

🩵But....When the reader enters a saloon and sees two prostitutes sitting on Curly's lap, the old cowboy comes to realize how much she really cares.🩵

The afternoon sun settles on the Palo Verde trees that frame the town of Tombstone. A gentle spring breeze makes its way through the area, spreading the warm aroma of a new season.

The people of Tombstone move about tending to their business. Some went to the hotel for breakfast while others dined at the restaurant. Women carried baskets of eggs to sell to the mercantile and other folks went into town to sell other items such as freshly caught fish, homemade tortillas, flowers and handmade items such as vases and baskets.

Curly Bill sees you across the street and sees you talking with friends and looking beautiful.

He wants to approach you, but feels a little awkward as he understands you're a woman of substance and you show the old cowboy kindness because that's part of your personality. You display kindness to all the Cowboys, asking how they're doing and your concern is always welcome and very appreciated. You simply don't care what others think. Curly amuses you and he's grateful that he can at least do that.

Before Curly can get close to you, you retreat with some ladies and he with a painful heart watches you disappear with your companions.

The following day when you're enjoying the amenities of the town, you bump into none other than Curly Bill. Although the old cowboy would love a chance to court you, he understands you're more than likely out of his reach. And like forbidden fruit, he needs to have you now that he feels he can't have you.

Curly feels a sense of defeat, but also one of realization; he's never going to be good enough to court you and you probably find him funny and familar and enjoy his practical jokes and big personality. But Curly Bill knows it cannot be anything more than that. He knows he amuses you and has decided he can be acquainted with you, but he's clearly not going to win your heart.

Curly thinks about you and how out of his reach you are and curses under his breath. He was making a fool out of himself over you and hasn't secured your courtship. He comes to the conclusion that he is nothing more to you than just a jovial cowboy who can make you laugh every once in a while.

However, he's about to be proven wrong...

Curly is enjoying his ill-gotten gains on a few whores who laugh at everything the old rustler says and they also pretend to understand what he's saying and take turns marveling over his stories. Curly hates their insincere banter and wishes their words were sincere. Curly takes it in stride and resolves that at least there's a lady listening. Curly experiences intolerable loneliness like everyone else in the Wild West and will pay handsomely for some lady comfort. An insincere woman is better than none at all. He understands what they're doing; they just want Curly to throw money their way and they'll do and say anything to get it. It's while they're sitting near him that everything changes.

You walk into the room just as one of the whores gets up off Curly's lap. You enter with a smile on your face that suddenly dies when you see a whore on Curly's lap. She's cupping his face and grabbing the dough he throws on the table. She stuffs the money in her bra and continues giving the old rustler insincere compliments.

You enter the saloon and you don't see Curly immediately. Another girl lays on his lap while he throws a few bills on the table. As soon as the girls see the money, they begin laughing at every joke Curly makes.

"Well, YN!" Tom McClaury announces. "Just in time! You can sit on Curly's lap!'

You look over at Curly Bill, who has a ramera practically wrapped around him. Curly Bill taps his free leg and motions for you to come sit. "I got one free leg!" Curly Bill shouts in his drunkenness, his ability to control himself is diminished and with the room spinning from the rot gut he's been drinking, his head spins with drunken confusion.

You look over at Curly, who seems suddenly taken aback by your coldness towards him. Your large eyes grow wide with a sadness Curly has never seen on your face. You close your eyes and tears fall while you turn away so he can't see your reaction. But before you turn, Curly sees those tears and it rips his heart. He suddenly feels disgusted with himself and with the saloon girls, insincerely vying for his attention...And money.

"Awww, come on now! It don't mean nothin'!" Frank Stillwell declares. "Don't go gettin' your dander up!"

You slowly shake your head while staring at the floor. You care for Curly Bill and desire more than just a casual acquaintance. And all this time, he assumed your kindness stemmed from your upbringing and that you do not hold a space for contempt for anyone. You seem to treat others in the way they treat you. And everyone in town seems smitten with your sweet smile and friendly disposition.

"No thank you," you answer, pain in your voice. At this moment, Curly realizes your feelings for him.

"Aww! Come on, sweet pea !" McClaury shouts. "Curly's got enough room in his lap for you!"

You turn and see Curly, the smile gone from his face with the realization that you do care for him and do not see him in the same way these whores do. His heart sinks and although intoxicated, he's sober enough to know he's really hurt you. He didn't entertain ideas about you being interested in him enough to let him court you. Curly felt nothing would ever blossom between the two of you because you come from a family of substance and his background is chaotic and wild.

Now he sits, drunk and confused, his arms at his sides, no longer interested in holding the prostitute counting the money he threw at her.

"Come on, Curly!" The girl says, trying to pull his face away from you. "She can't give you what I can!" Curly looks at her with disgust and she quickly gets up. Curly Bill would never cause harm to any woman whether a whore or a woman of substance, but feels tempted to curse her.

Curly stands and his head moves in an imbalanced rhythm caused by the whiskey and the look on your face and the tears that he cannot believe he caused. He staggers to his feet and moves closer to you and tries to put his arm around you in an attempt to let you know he understands. He goes to kiss you and his confidence is shattered when the whiskey on his breath infiltrates your nostrils along with the stink of horses. You turn away and he can feel his face grow red.

"Stop it, Curly. You're drunk!" You shout, your voice cracking. You move past the big rustler who looks around at his gang who stares, not knowing what to say. The whore sees the madness in Curly's eyes and quickly leaves.

"What are y'all lookin' at?!" Curly growls loudly. He heads to the bar and takes a swing of whiskey directly from the bottle. He turns to face his cowboys who look at each other not sure what to make of Curly's sudden rage over you.

"I don't need her! I don't need nothing or nobody!" Curly slurs. "Hell! She was just messin' with my head anyhow. I don't need her! A fellow needs a woman who can take a little funnin' and havin' no sense of humor! She don't mean nothin' to me anyhow!" Curly pours booze into a shot glass, downs it and pours another, feeling disgusted by his own embarrassment and shame. But he continues spewing out his anger.

"Hell! I don't want no woman who can't handle some funnin'! I don't care about her neither and I never really cared. I don't need anything!" Curly staggers drunkenly to the table where Barnes and Stillwell are sitting. The two cowboys glance at one another and Stillwell gives Ringo an inquisitive look. Ringo shrugs.

Ringo, who witnessed the entire event was the only cowboy willing to say anything.

"She's not a whore, Bill. You didn't know that?" Ringo shakes his head while looking at the floor, his arms folded across his chest, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. "She's a lovely lady who happens to care about you."

Curly stares indignantly at Ringo and takes another sip of whiskey. He removes his hat and takes a bow before Johnny.

"Well, ain't that mighty fine, Juanito. I don't need her and I don't need nobody! She don't care about me anyhow! You think you're better than me, don't you? You always thought you was better than all us boys, readin' damn books and showing off quotin' everything from Willy to the damn Bible. Sides, you don't know nothin'! Nobody spoils the fun for old Curly Bill Brocious! Specially some self righteous lady who don't mean nothin' to me! Hell, I don't even care I ever see her again!" Curly Bill can't think clearly and his head begins to pound from too much drinking. He growls and keeps sucking back shots.

Ringo glares at Curly, not believing how angry the old cowboy is. Ringo knows Curly is crazy about you and deeply hurt and confused. Curly Bill had no idea you liked him; he just assumed you treated him with kindness because it seemed your natural tendency. Curly Bill feels like a fool.

An old fool.

"I think she's right. You're drunk." Ringo responds.

"Well, I don't care. I've seen you throw back more whiskey than anyone. So you wanna go and ruin all my fun too? Maybe you two should go on together!"

"Curly Bill." Ringo clears his throat.

"A lady like her is special and maybe so much so she's once in a lifetime."

Curly continues drinking. He shoots a glance at Johnny. "That more Willy Shakespeare?"

Ringo stands, a frustrated look in his eyes.

"You're a damn fool, Curly."

"I'd be a damn fool iffin' I let some woman spoil my good time. I don't care what she thinks! She ain't nothin'! She don't mean a thing to me! Isn't that right boys?" Curly barks. "A real man ain't gonna let some woman tell him what to do!"

"All women ever brought me was misery anyhow!"

Some of his drunken cowboys cheer and whistle while others observe their boss, losing his mind over a woman and declaring his freedom from her.

"I've had enough," Ringo says, looking directly at Curly.

"Well, then you can go find YN and tell her old Curly don't need her!"

Ringo leaves through the batwings. Curly staggers drunkenly to the exit, wanting to finish his conversation with Ringo, who is walking across the street with his signature gait. Curly hears the sounds of sobbing and turns his head. He sees you, leaning on a tall lamp post, your face buried in her arms, tears streaming down your face.

Curly stumbles backwards, almost losing his balance and falling. He can't believe the site before him and he regrets everything he said about not needing you. He needs you like he needs air to breathe, but he's too much of a horse's ass to admit it. The sounds of your sobbing cause him to grow fearful and then angry. He would delight in comforting you, but cannot because his actions caused you to fall into this state of sadness. Curly feels his heart sink with fear and that fear grows into rage. He suddenly fears you may have heard everything he said.

Who needs women! All they do is cause a man a damn affliction!

He watches you for a few moments and then heads back to the saloon that's becoming increasingly crowded. The sound of your crying floods his ears and drowns out the noise of the bar. He can't shake the sight of you standing there, clearly heartbroken and confused. He wonders for a moment why you never made your interests known.

Because women play games! He screams in his mind.

The Hawkins boys walk in, four men in their thirties. Slim, the oldest was sporting one pistol with a tied down holster. He was the most attractive of the four, standing just over six feet with steel blue eyes and a neatly trimmed mustache. He seems almost regal, although a seasoned outlaw. His brother, Bob was shorter with a stout and strong body. He carried two pistols and was known for never using a shot gun that wasn't sawed off. Then Martin, the tallest and biggest, known for his ability to break broncs, looks around with dark eyes and his face is adorned with a full beard. A cigarette hangs from his mouth. The fourth brother, Angus, who hardly ever spoke stood just under six feet and had a wide face with a beard that always looked untrimmed, follows his brothers to the bar.

"Howdy, boys!" Curly announces. "First round is on old Curly!"

The Hawkins boys shout while the bar dog keeps the whiskey and beer flowing in the place which is starting to fill up with thirsty patrons.

"Hey, boys! We don't need women who take our funnin' away, do we?" Curly laughs through his broken heart.

"Hell no! We do just fine with them sportin' ladies!" Martin Hawkins agrees.

After a time of drinking up the place and playing poker with the Hawkins boys, Curly returns to the camp to sleep. He curses under his breath due to his head pounding and the cold, hard ground he's forced to sleep on. He envisions your soft, voluptuous body wrapped around him and a feeling of warmth and safety. He quickly dismisses it, falling into a drunken sleep. In his dreams, he can see you crying, your face buried in your arms. He can hear you whisper, "Curly Bill...hold me. Just hold me."

He wipes your tears and then awakens to the sound of the Clanton's shouting and shooting at empty whiskey bottles.

Curly cannot recall a time when he felt worse. He stumbles to his feet and notices he forgot to take his boots off before going to sleep. After getting coffee and chuck, he sits and removes his boots, rubbing his toes which ache from being cramped in his boots for so long. The stink of horse shit, tobacco smoke and horrific body odor permeates Curly's nose and he feels like vomiting, but is able to keep it down. He finishes his breakfast and looks around for Ringo, knowing the younger cowboy was right; Curly was drunk and made a fool out of himself.

Ringo knows Curly made a huge mistake and he also understands that the old cowboy really didn't know about your feelings for him. You kept it to yourself that confused Curly. Ringo gets that his friend was probably shocked when he realized your desires for him. Curly told Ringo at one point, "she's mighty fine and pretty. Any fellow would be damn lucky to have her. But she's a lovely lady I don't think she wants to be around cowboys who stink all the time. Hell, sometimes I can't stand the smell of them boys! She deserves better than me anyhow. I know she don't like me the way I like her."

Curly meant nothing he said last night and begins to regret not simply going after you. Perhaps he could have gotten you to change your mind about him. If he just left, he may have been able to be the one to comfort you. But he stayed and ran his big mouth, which is something the rustler is known to do. He told everyone listening that he didn't care about you when nothing could be further from the truth. He feels like a fool for not defending his feelings and admitting how his heart wants you, but he was too drunk and proud. And now how would he be able to court you after declaring he didn't need or even want you?

Curly Bill mounts his horse and heads into town for more partying and poker. The stable kid takes Curly's horse and leads it to the livery while Curly walks through town, hoping it would cheer him up. He felt like a dog without a pack and the soft drizzle didn't make him feel any better.

And then he sees you... You're exiting the mercantile, holding a basket covered in a towel. You stop walking and run your hand through your unbound hair, appearing more lovely and beautiful than ever. You look over and see Curly Bill. He starts removing his hat, but you turn and continue walking in the opposite direction. Now that he feels he can no longer have you, being with you is all he cares about. He decides to go to the restaurant for a slice of cake and a cup of coffee. Something, anything to get his spirits up. While he eats his cake and sips his coffee, one of the dishwashers, Four Fingered Jake, comes over to collect some dishes left on the tables from previous patrons and looks at Curly.

"Feeling alright, Jack?" Four Fingered Jake, who lost a pinky during a handkerchief duel a few years ago, called every cowboy Jack as in "jackeroo," and sometimes it just annoyed old Curly.

"Fine. Everything is just fine," Curly lies, focusing on his cake. He looks out the window and hopes to see you again; not to talk, but just to see you. He can't shake the sight of you crying or the sound of your sobs. He takes his last bite and downs his coffee.

"Well! You surely look afflicted by something," Jake stands by Curly's table, his arms full of dirty dishes.

"Why don't you just leave me alone?" Curly groans.

"Sure thing, mood you're in right now."

"Hold on a minute," Curly begins. "Hey, you ever been in love, Jake?" Curly asks, not looking up from his coffee.

"Hell! How you think I lost my pinky? Defending a lovely lady! Oh boy was she sweet! Worth it. I done lost that duel, but she was such a good woman, she stayed by me anyways. Even wanted to give up everything just to build a life with me. Imagine that!"

"What happened?" Curly growls.

"The Pox got a hold of her." Jake stands, shaking his head. "Why you asking, jack?"

Curly looks up at Jake and then back at his coffee cup. "Nothin', no matter."

Curly leaves some money on the table and leaves the restaurant. The drizzle began to subside and the sun began peeking out from behind the jagged looking clouds that lazily move across the Tombstone sky.

While walking through town, he feels he has lost everything. Although he still has his rustling enterprise and his cowboy companions, he can't shake the fact that all along, you desired him. If you wanted him before, doesn't that mean you still care? His heart begins to burn with a small ember of hope. All he wants to do is make you happy.

You return to your small one bedroom cottage that resides about a ten minute walk from town. The drizzle causes moisture in your hair and you grab a small towel and wipe your damp head with it. You toss the towel aside and begin putting your items away. Curly's face enters your mind and a sharp pulling comes from inside you, almost knocking you over. You recall the content look on his face when the whore sat happily on his lap. The way he expected you to sit on his lap like you were some calico queen. You care for him so much, but always felt he showed you sweetness because of his chivalrous cowboy code. You feel Curly isn't the settling down type so you simply resigned to just enjoying his company whenever you could. So often, you wanted to share with the old cowboy how much you care for him, but you feared he would discourage your feelings; telling you not to waste your time with such a nomadic fellow. You couldn't bear to hear his rejection so you followed his lead. You just never expected to see him indulging in the company of prostitutes and it solidified the fact that he doesn't want you because he probably feels your life couldn't provide the excitement he seemed to want. You felt as though you couldn't provide for him the daring and adventurous lifestyle that seemed to embrace Curly's life and you often felt you may prove to be dull and boring for the old rustler.

You know how you feel, but the mystery of Curly's feelings about you spin around in your mind. You believe in his drunkenness that he tried to overtake you and have his way with you only to toss you aside. You didn't realize he was trying to console you. Tears fall from your eyes again and you fall to the ground, holding your knees against your chest.

He never cared about me.

I should have known!

There's no way I could ever make him happy anyway!

It was right of me to assume someone like Curly Bill could ever care about anyone but himself!

You would like to fall into his arms, but you feel he would turn you away.

He needs a woman who can satisfy him and I can't! I'm boring and have nothing to offer such an adventurous and natural man.

You continue sobbing, your face buried in your knees. If you could be bold and daring, maybe Curly would want you. But you cannot become someone you're not...

You begin to feel you lost any chance with Curly Bill. You recall how he slapped his thigh and expected you to sit like a lady of the line and you never felt more exploited in your life. You wanted Curly Bill to treat you like a treasure and instead, he treated you like a nanny, just wanting you for the moment. He would use you and then toss you away and the only difference between you and the chippies is that you didn't charge the old cowboy.

You wipe your tears and take a deep breath. Your attention goes towards the front door as if you're waiting for it to open. You blow your nose and run your hands through your hair.

The door slowly opens and you move slowly, a rolling pin in your hand, waiting to bash the unsuspecting thug.

When the door is fully opened and there's no one there, you blow the breath out of your lungs and lean against the wall, your head looking up. You replace the rolling pin and decide to make yourself some tea.

While sipping your tea, you wonder what Curly Bill is doing at the same moment. You smile to yourself. Then the memory of his face when he slapped his thigh and motioned for you to sit.

Like I'm a dog!

You shake your head and decide to do some gardening after you finish your tea. The last thing you want to do is venture into town. Your fear of running into Curly Bill scares you.

He just wants one thing and once I give it to him, I'm nothing but a whore to him! I will never let him lay a hand on me!

You cry these thoughts in your mind.

You begin by pulling the weeds out of your fruit and vegetable garden; you've planted carrots, peppers, potatoes, eggplant and tomatoes. You also planted basil, green beans and peas. While harvesting your small crop, you decide to make a soup. You'll be able to stretch it into at least five days worth of meals. You also think about making some dumplings or biscuits and then make the choice to invite a friend or two over to enjoy your freshly made soup. You delight in growing your own food and you really love creating delectable dishes you can share with others. You smile to yourself and feel good that you're not consumed with thoughts about Curly Bill. Maybe you'll be over him soon.

After washing and chopping your freshly picked delights, you feel it would taste better if you made it with already prepared vegetable stock. You clean yourself up, put some color on your lips, brush your hair and get your shopping basket. You slowly walk into town, touching some of the flowers and taking in the fresh air. You witness dandelion fuzz and small butterflies flitter through the air in a peaceful and whimsical nature dance. You smile and enjoy the moment, taking deep breaths of fresh air.

When the sounds of town begin to rise into your ears, you welcome the social scene performing before you.

The mercantile owner, Mr. Wilks, tips his hat while taking a break from sweeping the front porch.

"Good afternoon to you, YN," He says and then continues sweeping while you enter the store.

Mrs. Wilks wipes her small hands on her apron and climbs down from the step stool she was standing on while cleaning some shelves.

"Well, hello, YN! How nice to see you." The little woman scurries towards you with her small, mouse-like shaped body. "What can I get for you?"

"Oh, just some stock if you have any." You answer.

"Oh, of course!" The older lady responds. "Stock and broth. You're just in time too! The Simms just dropped off stock and bone broth. In fact, it's still hot!" The little old lady hugs you. "Oh, darling! I sure hope you're alright!"

You shrug. "Yeah, well I'm doing alright, I guess."

"I've seen you talkin' with that there Curly Bill Brocious and I'm here to tell you he ain't nothin' but trouble. Don't go wasting your time on some worthless cowboy!" The shopkeeper puts your items in your basket and you look at the floor, your heart broken and your head spinning. Nobody ever seemed to miss an opportunity to inform you of how you are wasting your time with Curly Bill. You really like the old cowboy; you love his smile, his deep voice, his willingness to protect you and how his hair curled around his forehead and oh!

You catch your breath and give the lady what you owe for your items.

"Don't forget what I said, love."

You look out the window and see Curly Bill on the other side of the street talking with a few cowboys. You stare out the window and wonder what the conversation consists of. Curly frowns while talking with Johnny Ringo and Pete Stillwell. You can see Curly take his hat off and continue gloating over something. Your trance becomes interrupted, "Don't forget, I said, dear."

You suddenly snap back into what you were doing. You clear your throat and pick up your basket. You nod at the shop keeper. "Of course," you whisper. "Oh, um...where do you keep the apples and pears? I just forgot I needed some." You hold your basket while keeping your head down.

"Oh, yes. Just down that hall and down the steps." The old lady motions towards the way.

Just as you're walking down the steps, Curly enters through the cellar door located on the other side of the house. He was hoping to swipe some fruit. When he sees you close the door behind you, he sneaks around and after You've gathered your fruit, you turn and see him standing before you. You gasp, completely surprised.

"YN," he swoons.

You try to move past him and open the door, but Curly blocks your way with his arm. The fear in your eyes causes Curly to grow weary with guilt, but he's not letting you leave until you allow him to at least apologize.

"Curly Bill," you whisper. "Please let me go. Please."

Curly continues blocking the door for another moment and then steps aside, allowing you to decide whether or not you're willing to talk to him. Your eyes look up at the cowboy and then you turn away. Curly wants to hold you, but when he moves towards you, you pull away.

"Please, YN," Curly begins. "Please give me a chance to tell you I'm sorry."

You nod your head, still convinced the old rustler just wants one thing and only wants to save face for his cowboys.

"Ok," you whisper. You quickly move past him and he watches you quickly leave.

The Hawkins boys see you coming and whistle as you pass and it infuriates Curly who is in no mood to fight.

Later that day, while you're cooking your soup, the door opens again. You go to close it and Martin Hawkins kicks it open. He enters your house with the other Hawkins. "Well, so here's where you live!"

"Who are you?" You ask, your voice shaking.

"I'm Martin Hawkins and these here are my brothers." The other boys tip their hats to you. Angus takes a fresh apple and bites into it and then winks at you.

"What do you want?" You implore.

The boys look at each other and then you. Martin and Bob move closer to you. Bob quickly holds your wrists and Martin takes a small piece of rope and binds your hands together.

"Please!" You beg. "Please! What do you want!?"

"You."

Your mouth falls open and you struggle to get away, but the men are big and burly and you're easily overpowered. They bring you outside and Martin pulls you up on his horse and they ride out.

The Hawkins boys bring you to their shack.

"So, old Curly thinks he can cheat us, huh?" Slim asks when the boys throw you onto the floor, your wrists still tied.

"Who are you?" You beg.

"I believe we already introduced ourselves. Curly owes us and what better way to get him to pay up than to take what matters?" Slim lights up a cigarette. He motions for Angus to retrieve something and the younger brother brings out a camera.

"You got it wrong. Curly doesn't care about me! I know that so you're wasting your time if you think he'll care!"

All four Hawkins boys laugh.

"That's not what he said when he was so drunk, he could hardly find the door. And he was still sober enough to cheat." Martin Hawkins scoffs.

You lower your head. *It can't be. He thinks I'm nothing but a..." You begin to sob uncontrollably.

Slim recalls Curly from the night before:

"You know something, boys? Even old Willy Shakespeare couldn't write about her with the right words cuz there ain't no one like YN!" He slaps his cards on the table and calls for three cards. "If you ever wanna see an angel, just look at her, boys! And I've gone done it like a damn fool!"

Curly doesn't care who's listening, he's usually running his mouth. The Hawkins boys share glances while playing.

"I lost her and now....well I may never get her back! Aw hell! I don't deserve her anyhow! I just kept makin' a damn fool of myself, thinkin' she didn't care none and then I saw her so sad and well, shit!" He takes a shot of whiskey.

The Hawkins boys didn't say much. They were amused watching the big gunfighter squirm from his broken heart. They continued letting Curly talk.

"You boys wouldn't understand anyhow cuz you never met an angel like that! And you never will neither!"

"Sounds like you're in love, Curly!" Bob Hawkins scoffs, a cigarette hanging from his wide mouth.

"Yeah, well I guess I am, boys! You're sayin' I shouldn't? You ever see her, you'll be in love too!"

***You swallow hard and cannot believe what you're hearing. All this time you and Curly both misunderstood

"Tie her up to the post,"Martin says, focusing on his cigarette. "We'll get a nice little picture for our friend, Curly Bill Brocious."

Too scared to speak and too outnumbered to escape, you are quickly overpowered by the boys who tie your arms up onto the post and then wrap rope around your legs to keep you still. Tears flow from your eyes.

"Awww, don't cry none. It's Curly Bill we really want," Martin says, touching your face. You try to turn away and they all chuckle.

"Now, see Bob there is gonna take your picture so we can show Curly."

"Please don't hurt Curly," you cry.

"You ain't concerned for yourself?" Slim asks, taking his last drag of his cigarette. "Make sure it's tight. I don't want her getting away."

"Oh, it's tight. She ain't going nowhere," Martin answers while Bob gets the camera ready.

"Smile, princess. This is for Curly Bill. Now, look at the camera," Slim barks.

You look into the lens and the flash causes you to flinch.

When the picture is ready, Slim rides out to town, the picture in a large, sealed envelope.

"Hey, deputy!" Slim calls for Billy Breckenridge.

"Howdy, Slim," Billy says.

"You know where Curly Bill is?"

"I think he's back at camp. He said something about having to brand some cows "

"Take this to him and don't open it. It's for him, you hear?"

Breckenridge takes the envelope and rides out to the cowboy camp. Curly is drowning his sorrows with rot gut while the Clanton's are branding a small calf.

"Curly! Something for you! From the Hawkins!" Breckenridge brings the envelope to Curly who opens it.

And falls to his knees. He bites his hand to maintain his control. He stares intensely into the photograph and the image of you tied up like that will be etched in his mind forever. Curly resolves to save you. He doesn't care if he never sees you again; he'll do anything. His rage grows into mind numbing fury, but he knows he needs to plan very carefully.

Ringo comes over and Curly Bill hands him the photograph. Ringo's eyes grow narrow and his lips begin trembling. He balls his hand into a tight fist. He returns the picture, not wanting to look at it.

Ringo begins thinking up a plan to rescue you. He knows the shack that the Hawkins have been staying at and it sits behind a grove of large trees. As a seasoned guerilla raider, Ringo starts thinking who will go along and how they will position themselves.

"We're with you, Curly," Ringo whispers. "We gotta wait. They're planning on us busting the door down. Indian Charlie and Pete Spence and Stillwell are gonna go out first and hide in the brush."

Curly Bill, too angry to speak, simply nods his head, knowing Ringo is the best one to plan this.

"I can't stand the thought of those damn thugs alone with her and her tied up like that. Shit, Johnny!"

"Curly, I don't think that's what they're after. Not long. Not too long. Me and the Youngers did guerilla raids over a dozen times. We gotta make sure everyone of us has at least three pistols. We can easily fire off sixty or seventy shots in less than a minute."

Keep going," Curly growls.

"We wait for one of those sons of bitches to come out. They can't hold onto their shit forever. They may even go two at a time."

"When do we ride?" Curly asks.

"Let the others go first. We'll follow, two boys at a time. Real slow, Curly. They're waiting for us right now, expecting an ambush and they're prepared for that. But I know the Hawkins and they're not guerillas."

Curly nodded. He watches Spence, Stillwell and Indian Charlie ride out. They secure their horses about 50 feet from the shack and crawl on their bellies to the trees and hide carefully. They have three pistols each and Stillwell has a sawed off shotgun.

Curly Bill and Ringo ride out together. They, like their fellow gang members scout the area carefully. They catch up with Indian Charlie and the others. While riding out, Curly tells Ringo:

"You're right, Johnny. I'm a damn fool! I had no idea YN felt that way about me. Hell! A man like me havin' a beauty like that goin' on and havin' them kind of feelings. She's so damn special and cute and hell, Johnny, what would you think?"

Ringo pulls the reigns in for a moment. He looks at Curly Bill, who is waiting for an answer.

"Curly Bill, you're right. I would have reservations about her too. Not that I wouldn't want her, but to make a damn fool of myself and then find out she was just being pleasant, well, I would feel awful." Ringo shakes his head, imagining what that would be like.

"It's a damn curse, Ringo. You find the woman of your dreams and know damn well she's out of reach cuz she don't care too much. Then you find out she cares a whole lot." Curly fights the tears forming in his eyes as he recalls that damn photograph of you. "That's what makes this whole thing so damn miserable. I swear right now I'll do anything to make her happy iffin' she gives me a chance and iffin' she don't, at least I saved her."

"Either way, you'll be a hero, Bill," Johnny claims, not looking at Curly.

"Yeah. But I won't care iffin' I can't be with YN."

Ringo and Curly secured their horses and crawled towards the trees where the others were waiting.

""None of em have come out to shit yet," Stillwell remarks. "What the hell are them boys waiting for?"

"They can't hold on to it forever." Ringo says, no expression in his voice.

"Are we ready?" Curly growls.

"We're ready, but damn that shithouse is ripe!" Spence adds.

Ringo recites sonnets in his mind while the others hold their pistols. They are the door open and like Ringo predicted, two of the Hawkins boys came out.

"Damn, he ain't heeled," Stillwell declares.

"Real slow, boys," Curly whispers.

Once the Hawkins boys are in the shit house, Ringo and Curly go close, almost holding their noses because of the stink.

Curly opens one of the doors and Bob Hawkins looks up in shock. "No! No! No!" He shouts before Curly fills him full of lead. Ringo does the same to Angus, who also pleads for his life.

"You never should've messed with her," Ringo remarks before killing Angus. Slim and Martin come running out, their pistols blazing in all directions. Ringo moves like a ghost, remembering everything Quantrill taught him about guerilla raids. The Hawkins were outnumbered by men and bullets as Curly and his boys were all sporting three pistols each. In a matter of seconds, the Cowboys fired off over 50 shots and all the Hawkins were meeting their makers. The Cowboys laugh and some twirl their guns before entering the house.

Curly Bill sees you, your chest heaving furiously and fear shows in your teary eyes. You gasp and struggle to get free as you're still tied to the post.

Curly replaces his guns and scans the area for anyone else. "We're clear, boys! Ain't no one else here!"

Too shocked to speak, your face gazes at Curly Bill and you can't believe he just risked his life to save you. He walks towards you and your chest continues breathing heavily and tears begin running down your face. Curly wipes your tears and takes his Bowie knife from his belt. He goes to cut the ropes and then pauses, just soaking up not only your beauty, but the fact that he at least redeemed himself and became your hero. He cups your face and kisses you and to his surprise, you do not resist. He smiles at you and the fear in your eyes begins subsiding.

"YN... Will you please forgive me for hurting you? You're all I think about and I'm a damn fool for lettin' you leave like that."

You nod your head. "Please let me go," you beg. "I... thank you for saving me! I didn't think you cared at all," you answer, your face gazing at the floor.

"YN... Curly Bill takes his hat off. "I love you," he whispers, sucking back tears. "I never meant to hurt you."

You look up your cowboy. You continue struggling.

"I'm gonna cut you loose after one question..." Curly's voice is just above a whisper. He smiles sheepishly.

"Please..." You answer.

Curly Bill doesn't take his eyes off of you.

"Will you marry me?" Curly asks.

Your eyes well up with tears. You nod your head.

"Yes!" You say in a soft voice.

Curly kisses you one more time. He takes his knife and cuts you loose. When he does, you fall into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably. Curly feels such a sense of relief and gratitude, he picks you up and holds you tight.

"I love you, Curly Bill. I always have."

He kisses your hands and rubs your wrists which appear raw from your tie ropes. He hates seeing that...

Curly Bill takes your face again and kisses you ever so gently.

"I never thought you'd kiss me like that," you whisper, wrapping your arms around him and holding him tight, your head on his strong shoulder. You close your eyes while the two of you enjoy a delightful and wonderous moment of pure love. The other Cowboys leave, giving the two of you some time alone.

When you conclude your kiss, he picks you up, his eyes locked with yours.

He carries you out and all the way to his horse, all while you keep your head in his chest. He can feel you trembling and he tightens his embrace, wanting you to feel safe and protected. Once he mounts his gelding, he pulls you up and he rides out at full gallop, his cowboys following and hooting with celebration.

Curly Bill brings you home and helps you get dressed into a warm nightgown. He tucks you into bed and caresses your face until you fall asleep.

After a few moments of watching you slumber, he removes his boots and falls into the bed.

He delights when in your sleep, you turn and rest your head on his chest.

The End...

#Curly Bill #curly bill brocious #tombstone movie #tombstone characters #stories about tombstone characters #wild west #Johnny Ringo #tombstone movie cowboys #what would Curly Bill do? #curly bill head cannon stories #Johnny Ringo head cannon stories #Curly Bill and Johnny Ringo fanfiction #tombstone cowboys #curly bill brocius #western fiction #stories about Curly Bill and Johnny Ringo #curlybill headcannon #Curly Bill Brocious head cannons #head Cannon Stories about Curly Bill #Curly Bill short stories #stories about curly bill brocious

[spoonshapedlikeafork]

^ prompt ^

(Title that ill do later)

Ship: Cardinal Copia/fem! Reader

Summary: after a summoning gone wrong, reader must spend the following weeks recovering with her cardinal

NSFW in future chapters

Cw: blood and injury, very brief mention of SA, established relationship, mentions of bloodplay (lmk if i need to add more tags)

"Tesoro, what has happened to you?"

The cloudiness of your mind slowly dissipates at the voice in front of you. It sounds... familar. You know this person, you're safe with them.

"satana all'inferno, you are covered head to toe!" The voice quietly continues, sounding more distressed than before. You try to speak up, to tell him that its not all yours, but you can't. The words catch in your throat, and all that comes out in a quiet groan.

As your mouth moves, you begin to focus on the stickiness coating your toungue. Its tangy, coppery, and thick. You know what it is.

You slowly turn to the side and spit out as much of the old, congealed blood as you can. How long had you been laying there? When you woke up, you thought it couldnt have been long, but as you stare at the mess in front of you, and around you, you realize it may have been longer than you'd thought.

Looking around, you realize where you are. You're near the edge of the abbeys forest, the trees around you thick, blocking any view of the exit of the forest. How you got out here you don't know. The only thing you remember from the day before was a pair of startlingly dark eyes, before pain envelopes the rest of your memory.

A gentle tap on your shoulder startles you back to the present. Your eyes meet the owner of the voice, your Copia, and everything seems to come back to you. The summoning gone wrong, Papa III telling you to run as far as you can, the sound of leaves and sticks crunching behind you as the ghoul grew closer. Your hand flies to the back of your throat, where they had bitten you. It was tender, sensitive, the touch bringing pain to not only the bite but all surrounding areas as well.

You clenched your teeth as you gently prodded at it. Somehow, it was still bleeding, though thankfully very slowly. You knew there were more marks, a collection of bites and scratches covered your body, visible theough the many rips and holes in the fabric of your habit, and for a brief moment fear clutched your chest at the idea of what may have happened after the initial bite, but it quickly dissipated as you realised there was no ache between your legs.

Finally, you give the Cardinal a shaky smile. Unfortunately, you can tell it does very little to calm him. Instead, he reaches forward and pulls the collar of your nearly-shredded habit to the side. The blood-soaked fabric sticks to your wound and you flinch away, letting out a pained whimper as you do. Your hand comes up to cover the bite, your eyes meeting his.

"Papa I... I thought i could get away but they were too fast. It's like one moment i was sure I'd make it far enough that i could lose them, and the next they had me!" Your voice shakes far more than you thought it would as you speak, but you continue, "I-I think i need to go to the infirmary?"

He nods and stands, reaching a hand down to help you stand. "Come Sister, I will take you now, can you walk?" He keep his hand in yours as you rise, bringing his other hand forward to steady you as you sway where you stand. He frowns at this and his worried eyes meet yours as you speak. "Im sure ill be fine, Papa." You mutter, though you don't sound confident. Which, you aren't, if youre being honest. The world feels like its titled, and every spot on your body hurts.

"I must disagree, Sorella, you are barely standing now, and im holding you up!" He exclaims, smiling for just a moment at her independence, before returning to a frown as he reaches forward. Before youre even aware of whats happening, he pulls you into your arms and lifts you bridal style, swiftly beginning the long trek back to the abbey.

"P-Papa!" You gasp, shakey fingers digging into the fabric of the Cardinals cassock. He merely hums in response, glancing down at you for less than a second before returning his eyes to the forest in front of him.

"I said i can walk" you state weakly. He simple shakes his head in response. "And I, as your Papa, as thenperson meant to protect you, judged that to be false, cara mia. You were swaying where you stood, you should not have to walk, especially not for a walk this long." He says, voice firm yet gentle, leaving no room for further argument.

You sigh and look down at your ruined habit, carefully pulling bits of favric away, cataloguing all the bites and bruises youre able to see. That ghoul really did a number on you, but theres one specific detail thats leaving you quite confused. Youre alive, and the ghoul is nowhere to he found. Why? Had they escaped? Are the running loose, hurting others? Or had something else pulled their attention? If so, what? Very very little will pull a newly summoned ghouls attention away from hot, fresh, meat and blood.

Copia had noticed your movement, watching as you explored the broken and bruised expanse of skin revealed beneath the remains strips of fabric. He grimaced at each new inch a marred skin, the smell of fresh blood from your wounds barely noticeable over the overwhelming stench of old blood. Normally, he'd love seeing you covered in blood. Normally he'd love watching it drip from your wounds. But this was different. You did not enjoy this, did not beg for it, pleading and whining at his feet for him make you scream. No. He did not like this blood, did not like that someone, something else had caused this blood to drip from your gorgeous skin.

His steps speed up, and he holds you tighter to your chest. With every step, relief replaces the very blood that runs through his veins. It seeps through his skin and into his muscles, overtaking his entire being. He has never felt anything quite as strongly as the relief he feels at see you alive, awake, and hopefully ok longterm. He had been so scared, watching you run, knowing there was nothing he could do in that moment to protect you.

Much like the relief he feels now. The panic and fear he'd felt the night before had taken over. His entire body was frozen in place as he watched the love of his life run. The frantic, terrified, look in her eyes will forever be burnt into his eyelids. He will never be free of it. Her eyes had, for just a moment, just a breath, met his. Her eyes begged for him to save her. Begged for him to move. But he couldn't. Not only because of the fear gripping his being and holding him still, but because he would simply be stopped. He knows this. Knows he wouldn't have been able to help. He knows he'd be held back, and he knows that even if he did manage to break free and reach you, he would no match for a feral, newly summoned ghoul.

And still, knowing everything he does, guilt wraps around his throat and squeezes. It mocks him with every step, every breath, every movement. He shouldve done something, anything.

As if you could hear his internal struggle, you look up at him with tired, pained eyes. But, as ge geld your gaze, he saw something more. He saw love, he saw thankfulness. He saw his beautiful Sister of Sin.

A quiet, barely-there, gasp escaped your lips as your gaze zeroed in on the tears streaming down his face. Sitting up as much as possible in his arms, you bring your hands up to cup his face. Your thumbs gently wipe the tears from his cheeks, while your lips kiss away the tears on his jaw and neck. "Don't cry, my love, please, Im ok, i promise"

That pulls a wet laugh from him and he raises an eyebrow in response. "I'd say youre far from ok, amate mia (gotta check this later, should be either my lover or my beloved but i cant remember) you are-" his voice catches jn his throat as more tears slip down his face, dampening your hands, not that you mind at all. "You are covered in wounds, that hardly screams 'ok'" he finishes, finally looking forward as the abbey comes into view. "We are almost there cara mia, soon the capable hands of the medical staff will take you from me. Do you promise to return to me in one piece?" Part of him means it as a joke, but another, much more fragile part, is entirely serious in his question. He needs you to say it. To say youll come back. He'd spent the entire night looking for you with a group of siblings, terrified that they would return empty handed, or worse, with a corpse. He cannot cannot stand to leave you again but he knows he will have to. He can only hope things will ho well.

"Of course i will Cardinal, ill always come back to you" you state, and theres something about the way you said it, the air of finality and fact that the words have as you speak them. He believes you, entirely. You will come back, you will be ok.

#cardinal copia x reader #papa emeritus iv x reader #the band ghost #the band ghost fanfiction #cw: blood #copia x reader #papa emeritus x reader

[procrastination20]

This is a Five x OC fic I made about a year ago. I had plans to make this a book but I only wrote the first chapter. If you look at my old post about The Orchard Academy this is where it takes place.

If you read this cool! Feedback is always appreciated!

Enjoy! ❤️ - Mads

----------

With a flash of blue, fierce roar and a tumble, Harriette finds herself in a familiar place. Too familiar. So familar in fact that being away for nearly Forty Five years she could still remember the distinct smell of apple wood and sweet grass of the place she once called home.

The Orchard

Hitting the ground with a thump and a groan, she stands in stupor and uneasy alarm. This wasn't the plan, not at all. Where is the court yard? The old statue of Number Six? Where was her Husband? Something is not right.

"Five."

The question ran meek. Small and unfathomable.

"Five!?" She rang again. Shouting.

No response.

Stomping the ground in pathetic burst of anger and frustration she is livid. Hungry and Alone. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Shit" she said in a whisper.

Knowing the area fairly well she makes her way to the building at the end of the expansive rows of Lodi's. She reaches for an apple, stumbling as she does so. Twisting it at it's stem and yanking in a downward motion, the same way her mother had taught her.

With smalls strides and a scowl on her features she makes her way to the large structure in the distance, thoroughly enjoying the apple. The taste of home.

The building was rather large. Big enough to very comfortably house two to three large families. Recent inhabitants of this house for the past thirty years or so only consistent of eleven people total, making very comfortable living spaces for all them.

The courtyard she had entered consisted of a few things. An old fountain with an intricate design of a apple tree as it's center peice, some rose bushes that were in dire need of a trim and concrete benches sitting at their respectful places. Must not we forget the marvelous statue of Mistress Fiona McClancy II standing oh so methodically right in the middle of the courtyard. Pieces of it had begun to chip, the left pinky had begun to tear away.

It's glory days had forgotten it and took the shimmer it once had. Harriette could remember the times where she and her siblings would come down at the crack of dawn just to see the sunrise climbing over the tops of the Apple trees. The courtyard held a magnificent view.

Walking through the place of a time long forgotten she makes her way to the French doors that lead into the foyer. The kitchenette on the side looked the same from when she last saw it. Nothing had changed. Rounding the corner into the main part of the house held a grand staircase leading to the first, second, and third floor of the house. The old banister of the balcony floors also had a grey hue, seemingly from the dust.

Slow strides to the grand staircase taking her time. A creak sounding from above makes her stop in her tracks. Alarmed by the sudden noise, she stops. All of her limbs have succomed to the freezing unerve the noise had brought.

"KeeYAAA!!!!!"

With a shout from her attacker and a wack from something hard, Harriette was knocked to the ground. Hitting her head on the hardwood floor.

Opening her eyes, she sees an old friend getting ready for another hit. Eyes blown wide, she dodged out of the way. Chuckling at the irony of the situation.

"Woah Woah Woah! Hold on! It's me!" The blonde said at a rapid pace.

"Who are you!? Why are you here!?" Cried out the old brown tabby tabaxi. Yellow eyes ready to kill, and ears pinned back in fury.

"It's nice to see you too Keva" Harriette said with sarcasm.

Keva pushed her glasses back on her short nose to get a better look. Realizing her mistake Keva dropped the very large mirror that she was about to murder the intruder with.

"Harriette?"

"That's the name!" Harriette said with a wide smile on her face. Enjoying the sight of her old caretaker. She still wore the same pleaded blous and dress pants.

"But how? You look so..." She paused. A look of question evedent on her face.

"Young"

"Well thank you! I try. I'm actually turning fif-"

"No seriously" She sounded concerned.

"You don't look any different from when you first disappeared"

"What?" Confused. Harriette looked into the mirror that Keva had dropped on the floor. Eyes blown wide. She took notice of her significantly younger appearance. The wrinkles were gone, her eyes were a brighter green, her white hair had turned to it's original dirty blonde and she was shorter. She was about fourty five years younger than she was a meer thirty minutes ago.

"Shit"

.

.

.

💙

#umbrella academy #five #oc #five x oc #the umbrella academy #fanfic #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #shitpost #fanmade

[beauarlenswife]

Don’t scratch it!

Summary: Reader and Jack try and pull off a christmas surprise for everyone else, some things do not go to plan.

A/N: Fluff for christmas because Jack is actually my best friend.

Platonic

Pronouns: she/her

About a week ago Jack and Y/N had been listening to christmas music for fun, and then Jack had asked if Dean and Sam ever had an actual christmas, she thought about it for a second, and then their idea began to plot itself.

Now Y/N is waiting until she’s sure Dean had fallsn asleep so she could steal the impala keys.

I know what you’re thinking, why would they still the impala keys? They needed to get a christmas tree that they had impulsively ordered without realizing how they were going to get it and bring it back.

After a few minutes of standing outside of Dean’s door, Y/N carefully opens the door, walking in, and over to the stand by his bed, she pauses as Dean turns over so his back is facing her, she waits and then moves again, and then grabs the keys.

Dean snores and she pauses once again, and then when she’s sure he’s still sleeping she turns around walking out and closing the door carefully.

She’s now driving to the adress she had set as her amazon account, it was an abandoned house, no one inside but the outside looked fine so she set it as her adress, it’s not like she could’ve made the bunker adress the one things got delivered to.

As she’s driving, Jack’s looking out the window before turning to her, “Are you sure Dean was asleep.”

“Yeah, I checked multiple times. Besides, he’s a heavy sleeper, I doubt he’ll wake up anytime soon.”

“Okay.” Jack says and looks back out the windos as they pull up to the house, she parks Baby before turning her off and opening the door, the familar sqeak meeting her ears, she smiles as she closes the door. The two walk up the porch of the house and she slides the keys into her jeans’ pocket and they look down at the tree, “Alright, we got this.”

Twenty Minutes Later

“We don’t got this.” Y/N says, sighing as they set the tree back down, it had been an hour since they arrived and they couldn’t figure out how to put the tree so it wouldn’t be obvious it were there, they had tried the trunk, and it would poke out, they had tried the backseat and it was to big to close the door, Jack leans against Baby, looking down at the tree, “Could we put it on top?”

Y/N turns around, looking at the hood of the impala, then down at the tree, “We can try, not really much else for it to go, right?”

They pick it up, as they move around, as they get it on Y/N holds it up as Jack goes around to the other side to pull it into the middle, as he does the tie on the bottom of the tree that’s holding the branches down rips, the bottom half going up, some of it smacks Y/N in the face but that’s not what she’s worried about as it slides onto the ground and off Baby from the weight of the branches opening, her eyes widen as she ignores the tree, looking where it had fallen off of Baby, to see if there had been a scratch anywhere.

Jack comes to the other side where Y/N is standing, “ I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. Did it scratch anything?”

“I’m not sure, help me look.”

An hour later

They had finished looking everywhere on Baby just to be sure, I mean if there were even the smallest scratch, Dean would notice and they both would be dead, probably twice, once for stealing the keys and two for scratching Baby, Jack glances down at Y/N hand, “Oh, You’re bleeding.”

He walks over to her, grabbing her wrist, “What? Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it, just a scratch.”

“I can heal it, if you want.”

“I’m fine, thank you, it’s just a scratch. Let’s get this back up.”

“Okay.” He smiles at her, bending down to pick up the one side, she picks up the other, and they push it on top.

They finally got it, and had tied it down with stuf that was in the trunk.

Baby pulls up to the bunker, Y/N turns Baby off, and opens the door, using the knife on the keychain to rip the zip ties and then goes to help, “Wait, see if their still asleep and I’ll get it down.” Jack says, she smiles muttering an okay as she opens the bunker door, going down the stairs and looking around, seeing no one she goes back up and outside as Jack sets it down onto the ground.

As they reach the stairs Y/N is the one to go backwards down them while holding it, they go down, and on one of the steps, the tree turns, sliding out of their hands and Y/N moves out of the way as it falls down the stairs, they glance at each other and pause for a second and then Y/N asks, “Do you think they heard that?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Okay, good, me either.”

#jack kline

[gildedmuse]

Perona & Zoro: The Best Least Competent Team Ever

Thank goodness you called out those Hollows for extra help, Perona.

Love how proud of himself Zoro is for recognizing (a very different) castle as being the same one he just came for. This boy's sense of direction is so bad it BROKE PERONA'S INTANGIBILITY! Damn, Zoro, have you been able to ruin devil fruit effects this whole time? You should definitely do that more often.

Yeah, you're an absolute ghost angel, Perona. I mean, it's not like you're just going to use him, you're going to do it wisely.

Except the second he asks a question she totally breaks down on any of that. It's cause they're siblings guys. You ever promise yourself you're going to be patient with a younger sibling and then they destroy your favorite book by coloring in it? Zoro is coloring in her book right now.

Okay, now he's just doing this shit on purpose.

The flying isn't the problem, babe. The problem has green hair, three swords, and no sense of direction.

The problem is you.

Deep in the middle of a forest, "This tree looks familiar."

"Shut up!" You know what, Perona is in the right here. I'd get sick of talking to if I had to explain why every single rock on an island is not the same damn rock.

"Yo, I better go and check that out. Someone else could have been Kumatied here and it's my civic duty to make sure they're not injured."

"JK, you're annoying and not as cute as I originally believed. Good luck finding your way out of these woods. Oh, that's right, you can't."

"Perona Out!"

Zoro: Yo, where you been?

Perona: I don't want to seem paranoid here, you might be some kind of witch demon. And not one of the cute ones.

#The misadventures of The pirate & The princess #how could you leave them alone mihawk? #they are children #they require supervision! #pink and green #goth fam #summit war #marineford arc #lost in the woods #does that tree look familar to you? #Perona Out! #one piece #roronoa zoro #my perona #poor perona #one piece perona #zoro's sense of direction and/or fashion #kuraigana island

[chocoenvy]

Imagine a god reader but a child

Child!God!Reader Headcannons:

soft/regular au because i said so >:(

warnings: cult behaviors, fluff

Your sleepy eyes were greeted by the sun shining down on your small, curled up form. The grass tickled your skin and the sun craddled you in its warm embrace. The wind acted as a lullaby for you and nearly lulled you back to sleep.

Then, with a jolting clarity, you realized you were alone. You'd never been alone! Never! Not even when you got lost in the park, or when you had accidentally fallen asleep on the playground at school! There was always somebody with you, be it an adult or another kid.

But you had just woken up to nobody in a place you didn't know. Your limbs started to shake, and tears welled up in your eyes. The place you were in looked... oddly familiar but you didn't bother to think any harder on it. All you knew was that you were alone and in a strange place and you didn't want to be anymore. You wailed and curled in on yourself, shaking and sobbing into your tiny arms.

A passing knight had heard your heart-wrenching sobs and immediately came to your aid. She found you at the foot of the tree in Windrise, curled up and shaking with screaming sobs.

"Hey, hey," She cooed, gently touching your form, "What's wrong child?"

You winced at the unexpected touch as you cast your gaze up to meet the familar looking woman...

"Eu...Eula?" you sniffled between your erratic breaths, your voice high-pitched and a spark of hope ignited in your tone.

Eula's breath caught in her throat for two reasons.

1. You knew her name, does that mean you know her stautus as a part of Lawrence clan as well? You were so young but you could still know about her.

2. the way you said her name, was so hopeful. As though you knew her. But she had never seen you before-

The resemblence hit her in that moment as your eyes looked up to meet her, the same color as their creator's. Your hair as well, and while your phsyique wasn't yet matured it seemed to her that you were just... a child version of their creator. A carbon copy with the only difference being age.

It baffled her to no end but there was no eveidence of your diviness other than your uncanny resemblance to the creator. Her duty as a knight was to protect children and the creator, so either way she was doing her job.

After her long pause she had nodded, "Yes, I'm Eula. You are?"

You sniffled as she helped you to sit up, your cries calming down just a bit with her by your side, "(Y-y/n)."

Eula's confusion grew even more. That was the creator's name. It was illegal in all of the nations to name your child that name. It could be a nickname but that was deeply frowned upon if not illegal as well. Were your parents idiots? How did you come to know this as your name without being relentlessly ridiculed?

"Is that your real name or a nickname?" She asked gently, your tiny hands holding onto hers. Desperately seeking comfort that she did her best to provide you.

"R-real." You muttered, your own confusion starting to etch itself on your face, "My last name is (L/n) and I'm six years old!" You held up fingers.

Eula chuckled though she was still confused. She grabbed your other hand and gently held up a one combined with your five, "There. That's six."

"Oh! I'm six years old!" You tears seemed to have mostly dried up as you grinned up at her, proudly showing off your age with your fingers.

"Aha, where are your parents at child?" She asked softly, doing her best to keep up her gentle smile.

The grin on your face died in that moment as you frowned, "I dunno... one moment I was home in bed asleep and was playing genshin on my ipad and then i went to bed and POOF!" You made a big motion with your small arms, "I woke up here and found you!"

Eula attempted to keep her cool but she had no idea what the hell an ipad or a genshin was. Internally, she was panicking, already imagining up the worst scenarios in her mind. But she remained calm on the outside.

"So you don't know where they are?" She frowned, concerned.

You nodded sadly, "Yeah I dunno where they are and I miss the lots! But! I'm glad I got to meet you!" The child grinned, shaking in excitement.

"Aha- how do you know who I am?" She asked, her smile warm but on the inside she was screaming. What the hell had this child's parents done to them?

"Ah! You're 'Ula Lawence! You're on Genshin! I play with you lots on there!" You said, your eyes shining.

Eula stared at you with muted horror, though she hid it best she could behind her eyes. What did you mean that you played her lots? What was Genshin????

"I'm afriad I don't know what Genshin is, could you explain it to me?" She asked gently, still holding onto your hands comfortingly. No matter what you were still a child.

"This is Genshin!" You squealed, spreading your arms wide, still holding hers, "This tree, that statue of Venti, Mondstath, Leeyou, Inathuma, all of it is Genshin!" You grinned, excitement shining like stars in your eyes.

"W-what?" She couldn't hide how baffled she was, "Wait- that statue?" She pointed to the statue of the seven, "Of Venti?"

You nodded, "Yep! He's the god of the wind! He has funny pants and plays the stringy thingy!"

Eula had the equivilant of a loading symbol above her head, blinking incredulously at this innocent child. "I'm afraid- I'm afraid I'm not very well equipped for this. Please, come with me to Mondstadt so that we can find your parents. Okay?" She smiled softly down. No matter how odd this child was, they were still innocent and needed her help.

You nodded eagerly, "Okay!" You gasped, hopping along with her towards Mondstadt, "Do we get to see Amber? And Kaeya and Lisa and Klee! I love Klee! And Jean? And Barbara?"

Eula couldn't help but smile just a bit, "Yes, you can see all of them. We're going to the Favonius Headquarters after all."

"Fa-favo...ni-us." You muttered.

"Here," Eula said, leaning down, "Want me to carry you? It'll be much faster and it'll be fun."

Your eyes lit up brighter than any star in the sky and you jumped up and down nodding eagerly, "Yes!" You squealed as she picked you up, placing you on her back.

She walked and sometimes ran with you on her back, causing you too giggle whenever she'd pick up the pace. You'd cling onto her neck and giggle like crazy. Eula couldn't help but smile. You didn't seem to know anything of her reputation despite knowing all of the knights and her. It was odd, but then again you were a child. It warmed her heart to see you enjoying her company so much.

She slowed down as you two reached Mondstadt's gates. The two guards said nothing as Eula and you passed by them, but they did send you too odd looks.

You gasped as Eula walked into Mondstadt, the view taking your breath away.

"It's so pretty!" You squealed, squeezing Eula.

She chuckled, "Don't choke me. And I thought you'd been here before?"

"I have! Just never in person!" You grinned nonchalantly.

You spoke of this as though it was a normal experience for you! As though it was a normal sentence Eula should understand. It baffled her to no end and she needed to get to the bottom of your odd behavior. She prayed it wasn't the darker thoughts swirling in her head.

"What do you mean by that?" She tentatively questioned, rushing to the Favonius HQ with her long legs.

"I mean when I played Genshin. I came here lots!" You giggled, "But it was never in person. I always played as you when I came here and when I went anywhere." Your rested your head comfortably on hers, your arms hanging loosly around her neck.

"What? You played? Like a game?" She questioned, opening the doors to the HQ.

"Exactly! A game! That's what Genshin is and I played you on it." You grinned and a thought struck Eula like a bolt of lightning. Her legs stopped as the thought struck her and she stared at Jean's door blankly for a moment.

"Like godly possesion?" She whispered, and it would've been inaudible if you weren't on her back.

"What's that?" You tilted your head curiously.

Eula's grip on your legs tightened ever so slightly - not to the point it'd hurt of course - and her heart rate spiked to the point her hands felt shaky. "It's like, when a person is overtaken by some other force that controls them. The other day, I was taken over and someone else made me run around doing errands and fighting hilichurls and the cryo cube."

"That was me!" You exclaimed, your excitement shining as though what you had just said wasn't sky shattering, "I was completing commissions for Katheryne and fighting stuff is fun and I needed the cryo cube to level you up!" You giggled, "You were the first person I got that was a five star so I gotta take good care of you!"

Eula's legs felt like jelly and she turned around, her eyes wide and full of wonder. Lisa was standing at the door of the library, her eyes wide as she stared at the child on Eula's shoulders.

"Your grace?" Eula asked, her voice shaking.

"Who's grace- ah! Hi Lisa!" You waved your hand wildly at the librarian, grinning brightly as your eyes landed on her.

Lisa shook her head, regaining her composure and bowing, "Your grace, it's an honor to be in your presence." She smiled brightly.

You tilted your head with a baffaled look, "Why are you bowing? And who's grace?"

"It's a title-" Eula nearly choked on her words, "Do you-do you not know?"

"Not know what?" You leaned your head on her shoulder, hugging her.

Lisa carefully and tentatively approached their god. You waved at her with a wide grin, "I like your hat!" You giggled.

Lisa's smile grew wider and fonder, "Why thank you, your grace. It makes me very happy to hear you say that."

"Lisa-" Eula said urgently, her hands shaking as they held onto your legs, "They said the statue of the seven was of Venti."

Lisa's eyes widened and she gasped, her eyes traveling to you and staring at you in wonder. They went back to Eula, then went back to you and lingered. Her hands shook and her jaw was hanging open.

Lisa and Eula shared a look of shocked wonder. Their god was in Mondstadt, but they were a child that knew nothing of how great they were.

"We have to tell Jean."

#reader's an ipad kid #and that's that on that #sagau #choco.asks #genshin self aware #genshin cult au #cult genshin au

[troublesometrollhunters]

If you do headcanons can I request skrael romantic headcanons. If not can I request skrael fluff.

Skrael Romantic Headcannons ❄

My personal headcannon is Skrael goes by he/him and they/them pronouns

Winter is often described as cold and cruel. It's desolant and one wrong move could have you end up dead forever a lost soul wandering in the snow. After centuries of taking this in and listening to mortals call their element evil Skrarl begins to embody what the people describe them as. But the truth is Winter isn't just dangerous it's wonderful.

You see Skrael for who they are and because of this Skrael wants to show you their true world. It's full of blues and whites and grays and seems dull but there's so much more if you take a closer look. There's the delicate frost patterns left on tree trunks and plants. The icicles that drip off of branches and caves in intresting shapes. There's rare flowers that only bloom in the cold and gentle splashes of color as buds peak through the snow. There's the peaceful calm and quiet where there's only you and the whiteness of winter. Or the familar crunch of freshly fallen snow as you step on it. There's so much that people don't see that Skrael wants to show you.

They enjoy showing you the beauty of their element. For so long they've been demonized but you look past what others say and make your own assumptions. Skrael loves that about you and they love sharing Winter secrets with you. If you compliment his work or Skraels talent, Skrael gets very embarassed as their not used to being praised. Skrael is always bringing you little gifts to show his appreciation and makes the winter winds calm around you so you only see the beauty of winter and not the destruction.

Skrael sometimes gets jealous of their siblings. Bellrocs fire is dangerous but loved by the humans. Naris woods can be as perlious as his winter and yet no one seems to care. Skrael knows its not their fault but sometimes Skrael feels like they were given the bad deal out of all of them. Thankfully your reassurances make Skrael feel better and his jealously dies out. After all if you love Winter as much as Skrael does Skrael must be doing something right.

Skrael knows your human and therefore your much more delicate than Skrael will ever be. The ice and snow don't bother Skrael as they are apart of them but to a human the cold can be so deadly. Skrael makes sure you have only the best furrs and is very insistent your properly bundled up before you do anything with them outside the warm ice cave. Humans are so fragile... Skrael doesn't want too loose you before their ready.

Winter is cold and biting something Skrael often embodies and yet around you Skrael is very soft and gentle. Winter is cold but there is so much beauty and color to Winter. Skrael is more than simple assumptions and with you Skrael gets to explore himself more than they ever have.

Skrael likes taking you iceskating or other ice and snow related sports. Thry float next to you, hovering off the ground as they gently guide you over the ice. Some of their favorite times with you have been days where you talk and glide over frozen lakes exploring Skraels winter scape.

Further into the relationship Skrael is excited to give you something. The North wind can take many forms and Skrael has mastered them all. To get around Skrael gifts you nine north wind mush dogs. They are sledding dogs made from ice and snow, their pelts white like ice and their eyes a deep blue similar to frozen lakes. Their a construct and not technically real dogs but they work just as well if not better. Skrael loves racing you and the dogs. Listening to your laughter as they bark and chase Skrael playing their game.

You make beds for them in the ice cave you live in and Skrael is absolutely thrilled you love them so much. When Skrael must leave to attend to certain duties that are unsafe for you Skrael knows the North Winds will watch you until they return.

Surprisingly Skrael almost always knows whats going on in the human world despite not being intresting in it. They control the North winds and the winds whisper secrets others say. So Skrael always has gossip and is more than willing to share some crazy stories the winds tell. Half the things Skrael says they don't understand but they like the way you laugh. You distanced yourself from the world to be with Skrael but to hear these stories makes you feel close to home. They are glad they can give you this gift since you have given them so much.

They find cooking fascinating. Skrael doesn't need to eat but after a long day of being together their more than willing to try something if you make it. The ice cave you live in is full of dried fruits and vegetables along with various meats and spices that hang off the walls. The Northwind dogs also enjoy the food even if they don't have to eat. Skrael perfers your warm stews but they'll eat anything simply to spend time with you.

You must sleep as your a mortal. After a long day Skrael will sit with you by the fire and tuck you in warm furrs as they lay next to you watching you sleep. They'll play with your hair and cast spells for good dreams. If Skrael feels their keeping you awake they'll leave the room and attend to other duties until you wake again.

Skrael does not understand humans but they do not need too. They love you and that will always be true. Skrael has had many partners throughout their lifetime but every partner is special and you... You make Skrael want to live. You make him want to make the world better.

#skrael #skrael x reader #wizards x reader #toa x reader #toa skrael x reader #wizards skrael x reader #skrael of the north wind #toa skrael of the north wind #wizards skrael of the north wind #toa skrael of the north wind x reader #wizards skrael of the north wind x reader #fix it rott fics #fluff fics

[eyeless-cunt]

taking advantage of the fact that the request are open haha, how would the creepypastas react if they killed their s/o accidentally? thnks love, much love 4 u

you woke up and and chose enternal suffering

TW: Death of the reader, blood, gore, angst, depressive thoughts, hintings of panic attacks, mentions of suicide,....necrophilia....?, mentions of pills, paranoia, delusions :), ect.

Jeffery:

I'm Honestly not even sure how he could have accidentally killed you? He never takes you with him when he goes out to...do his things. He certainly never raised a knife towards you and he would never kill you out of anger. So how did this even happen?

He blacked out. He was just sitting with you, laughing about nothing important. That's all he can remember. So where are you? And whose blood is he covered in right now? It's brown and crumbly, signiling that it's been a good few hours since he came into contact with it. Where are you? He wants to see you, ask what happened. He never even noticed he was holding a knife washed in blood until he stood up, the object falling from his loose hand. Did he kill someone? When? Where? Where's the body? Where are you? Is this a dream? Where are you? He turns in circles, looking for a body. Where are you? He smells that familair scent in the air--that smell that arises from the corpses he mutilates. Where are you? He peeks behind a close by tree, expecting to see a random stranger of whom may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Where are you?

THERE YOU ARE

Wobbiling legs, vacant eyes, a shaky hand outstretched towards an all too familar body. Why are you here? What's wrong with you? Shaky breaths, his heart that seems to stop for a whole few seconds--and suddenly—all too suddenly, the realization of what he's done hits him so hard he loses the feeling in his legs, falling beside your weeping corpse as you stare him in the eyes, filling him with a sense of glorified dread. The emotions that his brain can't seem to comprehend are flooding in all at once and far too fast, crippiling him with something that escaped him the night he killed his family. How did this happen? Why? What? Confusion and horror seeps into his bones and shoots him down, peircing his lungs in a way that leaves him gasping for air that he just can't seem to hold onto.

Jane:

She was just too obsessed. She went too far without looking around at her surroundings. Her hunt for Jeffery pushed her too hard. Before she knew it, she was standing over a body that she shouldn’t have been. As soon as she did it, her spiked anger flushed out of her system, a cold bucket of realization and horror washing over her. Immediately, apologies spew out of her mouth from behind her mask. She hurt her s/o out of pure anger of which she didn’t try hard enough to control. She’s so sure that you’ve just been knocked unconscious—she’s positive that your bleeding head wound isn’t fatal. No, you’ll be fine. Huh? Where’s your pulse? What?

Her nerves flare up, horror spiking back up again; as if it never went down in the first place. She’s not a delusional idiot. She doesn’t try to shake you awake. She won’t call out for you, expecting a response. Jane doesn’t pray to a dead god in the hope that you’ll awaken and smile at her, saying that you forgive her. That you know it was an accident. That you still love her. No. What she does is bury your body. She reflects the blame onto someone else. Jeffery. You were arguing with her about her continuous hunt for him. You told her that you wanted her to stop—you wanted her to forget. Jeffery caused this. He was the subject of the argument. He’s taken yet another person from her.

BEN:

How did this happen to him? To you? He should have been more careful. He should have known this would happen sooner or later. He should have stayed away from you. Why was he like this? Of course this happened to him, to you; the person he loved most. It was fine. It was alright. You were having fun. He was so happy just to be able to spend time with you. Why would he let you put in the plug? So close to him? He naturally collects electricity. He knows that. So why would he let himself stand so close to you as you plugged in the controller.

A lapse in judgement. He forgot. He was too focused on the way you looked today. You had only woken up an hour ago, a messy appearance still making his dead heart race. That’s no excuse. How did this happen to him? He knows how. So why can’t he feel anything? Why can’t he move his limbs? Why does he feel worse now than he had when he was drowning at the bottom of a lake? Why is he feeling like that but also simultaneously feeling nothing at the same time? Did he break? Yeah. Staring down at this body, he starts to think he might have broke. He might have just died again. He wants to die again. Please let him die again.

EJ:

He was careful with you for years. He had to be. He could break a hand just by holding it so easily. He could lose to his cravings and sink his teeth into your neck at any time. He could rip your head off with no effort at all if he were to brush your hair with anything other than small, fleeting and gentle touches. So how did this happen? He’s always been so careful. His eating schedule always revolved around you. He would have to leave for a few days so he could eat away from you, so he usually held off on leaving for months if he could.

He knew he shouldn’t have. Spending more time with you at the cost of your own life wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t logical. If the hunger got too persistent he could go feral, accidentally killing you in the process. It wasn’t logical. He knew it wasn’t logical to stay with you longer if he was hungry. So why did he do it? How could he let this happen? The cold realization that he really did lose control hits him, the feeling in his limbs quickly leaving. Static. That’s all he could feel. Numb static. You’re everywhere. He wasn’t careful enough. He lost out to his feelings for the first time in hundreds of years. And you paid the price. It was his fault. It’s his fault. It’s his fault. HE DID THIS TO YOU.

He can’t function. The control he’s been holding over himself for a good thousand years breaks. He regresses back into what he was before he gained control. He no longer wants to have control if it leads to him falling in love with someone only to kill them later when he loses it again.

LJ:

He can’t even remember how this happened. The trauma blocking the horrible memories works fast. All he knows is that you’re leaking blood all over a table he doesn’t remember being here yesterday. All he knows is that you’re dead and he did this. He did this. No. No he didn’t. He didn’t. He wouldn’t. He would never hurt you. Who did this? He didn’t. Events take a morbid turn when his abandonment issues take a turn for the worse.

He won’t let the body go. Your body. He won’t let you leave him. So he holds you forever, just like he promised you he would when you first met all those years ago. He holds you through the decomposition process, he holds you until you’re only scattered bones. He holds you until your bones are dust and you’ve been gone longer than he can remember. He says to not worry. He likes holding you. He’ll hold you like this forever. Don’t worry. He’s sure you were so scared. Don’t worry. He’s got you. Don’t worry.

Masky:

He ran out of pills at the worst possible time. The paranoia hit him all at once, making him tape the windows and glue them shut, block the door, place a camera in all the doorways. He keeps seeing things. He keeps seeing the tall man in the darkest corner of his room. He needs more pills. But he can’t leave or the tall man will get him. He’s sure of it.

You just chose the wrong time to come over. You couldn’t have known. He didn’t even realize it was you. It was so dark. The pipe in his hand was slick with sweat. All too suddenly you’re on the floor bleeding out and his chest is heaving, air seemingly desperate to avoid him. The lights get turned on. Huh? Why are you—why? Why are you on the floor? Where is that blood coming from...? Like coffee to a drunk person, the sight of your bleeding out form sobers him—paranoia and hallucinatory visions seeping out of his veins. An almost unparalleled confusion makes him back away from you, making him trip over his steps. He can’t grasp what’s exactly happening at the moment. It takes him a few minutes to realize that his s/o is indeed bleeding out on his floor—and by then it’s far too late. He’s incompetent. His incompetency was the cause of your death. His cowardice. He was so weak it ended your life. That’s how he sees it.

Hoodie:

He can’t even believe he let you get into this situation with him. He was supposed to protect you. He was supposed to be strong enough—stable enough, to protect you. He was supposed to be able to keep his sanity so that he could keep you safe. He took his pills. He stayed away from the woods when he was with you. He stayed in public places with you, and never met at night. He always had a tape recording—so how did it go so wrong? He tried so hard. He tried so fucking hard to keep you safe. So fucking hard.

He thought it was okay to take a short walk with you. You weren’t even close to the woods, it was still a semi-public place. No one was out, and while that made him uneasy, he didn’t question it. He should have. He should have grabbed your hand and taken you to fucking McDonalds or some shit. Maybe a nice stroll through Walmart. Just not here. Not alone and outside. He put you in this situation. It was his fault. He didn’t mean it. He’s never been angrier in his whole existence. He doesn’t worry, he doesn’t fear. Hoodie isn’t scared of anything. But looking down at a corpse that once belonged to you, he finds that he does indeed fear one thing. The end of your life.

Toby:

As far as he’s concerned you never died. What? What do you mean you’re holding a funeral? For who? What? What do you mean? My significant other is sitting right beside me? Is this a joke? It’s not very funny. Can you please stop calling me delusional? Hallucinating? What the fuck are you on? Do you want me set you on fire?

No. You never died. In fact, he’s looking at your smiling face right now. You’re like the sun. So bright it hurts, but so pretty. You’re telling him about your day, although he finds it odd that you’re talking about work again even though you’ve been sitting in this field with him all day. You’re a bit inconsistent and confused these days, but that’s okay. We’ll get through it together. Just like we always have. You promised, remember? Together forever, even through death. <3

#creepypasta #jeffery woods #eyeless jack #creepypasta imagines #ben drowned #jeff the killer #creepypasta headcanon #creepypasta headcannons #creepypasta angst #jane arkensaw x reader #jane everlasting x reader #jane the killer x reader #jane the killer #jane arkensaw #jane everlasting #ben drowned x reader #eyeless jack x reader #jeff the killer x reader #hoodie x reader #masky x reader #laughing jack x reader #laughing jack #marble hornets headcanons #marble hornets #ticci toby #ticci toby x reader #creepypasta x reader

[heliosthegriffin]

Familar Memories

This isn’t a story, just a AU Idea, where Jaune’s semblance wasn’t Aura Amp, called Family Tree, letting Jaune tap into his Ancestors memories.

Like what if he was about to fight someone in combat class and start yelling at them in entirely different language for a slight their ancestor committed five hundred years ago.

Ex.

Cardin: Ready to be beaten, wimp?

Jaune, eyes glow blue: (Just like you set fires to my farm lands, you barbarous lout? Today is the day I scatter your head on the rocks at my feet, as I purge your line from the holy lands of Vale!)

Cardin: The fuck did you just say?

Jaune changes his stance holding his sword in two hands: (No longer will your cruelty harm my people!) Cardinal Winchester!

Jaune charges at visibly confused Cardin.

------

Jaune starts to flirt with Weiss, only to make a disgusted expression.

Jaune with glowing eyes: (Hello, Freya. Still spreading your legs for any trace of power?)

The lunch table goes quiet as Jaune starts speaking in tongues.

Weiss goes pale as she actually understands what Jaune’s saying in old Mantle, as he directly referenced her ancestor.

Jaune continues on with dark look in his eyes: (My son was desperately in love with you, and you broke his heart at the altar to marry a mere baron, he is in consolable, I’d kill you now if not for my the fact that my sweet Ben has begged me to stay my hand. That does not change the fact that you have hurt my son, so I will hurt you now, in the only way I have left. By doing nothing, I shall never speak to you again, I shall never help you again, any alliances, duties, or debt that are connect to my family's are null and dead. You may keep the dowry Schnee.)

Weiss bloodless and trembling, as Jaune casually brought up what nearly caused the extinction of her house, 300 years ago, due to her ancestor destroying the ties between them and the Arc house. Which cut them off from much needed support from Vale during the Civil Uprising of Mantle that saw several noble houses slaughtered.

Jaune visibly confused: What was I talking about? 

He looks at Weiss: Huh, I feel like I wanted to ask you something, but suddenly don’t feel like it.

He takes out the movie tickets and pushes them to Weiss: Here, keep them, I don’t want them anymore.

Then he gets up and leaves.

Weiss faints and falls to the ground, much to everyone's confusion.

-------

Another example would be Jaune asking Pyrrha when they would be joining blood, this happened when they were sparring and Jaune thought Pyrrha was her ancestor, bringing up an old pact to join houses.

--------

Then of course there would be Jaune constantly arguing with Ozpin, mistaking him for his various incarnation much to Ozpins confusion, fear and panic.

-------

Feel free to put your own spin on the idea.

#Jaune Arc #AU Idea

[ag3ntl3vi]

Hoodie X GN! Reader X Masky | “Rock Paper Sisscors” |☁️

This struck me at like, 3AM while listening to Devil in Diguise. I’ll probably write more parts to this tonight if im being honest. 

!Gender-Neutral reader!

Trigger Warnings: Sexual mentions. 

Word Count: 2,317

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"Can you go any slower?" You laughed, stopping to allow your friend to catch up. Sweat dotted her chocolatey forehead as she panted. 

"Yes! I can." She wheezed. "You're just too fast!" Taylor whined loudly, bending herself in half to try and catch her breath. You rolled your eyes and pulled her up, raising her arms over her head. 

"You'll breathe better this way," You told her, taking a step back and taking a long sip of your icy water. Taylor nodded her thanks and slowed her breathing gradually. 

        "Wanna keep going?" You asked as you wiped your mouth on your wrist. Taylor feriously shook her head. "I'll pass, (Y/n)." She whimpered. You put yout arms behind your head as you began to walk down the worn dirt bath. 

"That sucks," You murmered. "We were only 1/4th of the way done."

Taylor gaped at your cocky smirk. "And you do this everyday?"

You nodded. "Twice a day if I'm feelin' lucky," You winked and giggled. Taylor shook her head in disbelief. 

"You're a machine," She grumbled, jogging to your side. You could tell she was tired, but she was the one who asked to join you in your near-night run. She said she needed the exercise to get the perfect "summer body", even though it was fall. 

You hummed. "I didn't know they made sexy machines now." Taylor pushed away the urge to roll her eyes, though she desperately wanted to. She chose not to answer your stupid comment. You both started to walk back to your dorm and planned a junk food movie night. You had the feeling she wouldn't last, but you couldn't say no to her puppy face. You had to admit, you were a sucker for your best friend.          Taylor ended up chugging the rest of her and your water bottles greedily, but you didn't blame her. She was pretty out of shape. The darker skinned girl took a large gasp of fresh oxygen after finishing off your beverage. 

"Learn to breathe, my God," You snorted. She glared.

"I just ran a mile, you can shut your mouth, you fucking monster," She hissed playfully. 

School campus soon came into view after your bickering. Taylor grumbled about how badly her feet ached and how she was never running ever again. You parted ways at the dorm. Taylor wanted to get the living room set up for the movie and sent you out for snacks and drinks. You easily migrated to the everything store. That wasn't its actual name, you couldn't care to remember what it was, but the everything store seemed to suit the run down shop better. 

        You pushed thr glass double doors open, a cute bell ringing to announce your presence to the cashire, Michael. 

"(Y/n)!" He greeted with a smile. You returned the facial gester with a small wave of your own.          "What're you here for this time?" He leaned his head on his open palm, his eyes trained on your figure. You had your back turned to him as you read the movie names on the rack. 

"What does it look like?" You chuckles, plucking a familar title from the shelf. 'Kiki's Delivery Service', a childhood favorite of yours. Michael didn't verbally answer, he was too busy allowing his eyes to roam your every curve. 

His eyes snapped to the side when you turned around to wonder down the candy isle. You shoved a KitKat , snickers, and (f/c) into your arm (allowing an extra of your favored one into your pocket, shh) before you turned the corner, finding the energy drinks. With a childish grin you grabbed a few of the better Monster flavors. You knew you had popcorn at the dorm so you didn't bother trying to find a box here. 

        You decided to check out as quickly as possible, avoiding as much conversation with Michael as you could. He gave you the creeps. He always tended to make sexual remarks regarding your running outfit, like how your shorts made your ass look plump or how cute you looked with a flushed, tired expression. In general, he didn't seem like a good guy or influence, though Taylor took an odd interest in him. She always had shitty tastes in men. 

It was getting late, you noticed. The sun started to darken as students scrambled to their respected dorms or apartments off campus. You made your way to your room. The illuminated cobblestone path gave you the worst horror movie vibes, so to say you booked it was an understatement. As soon as you were inside the safe confindments of your dorms living area, you released a loud sigh of relief. You thought about taking the elevator up, but decided on the stairs to the third story. You were very grateful you were on a higher floor, to you it served as a lesser chance of being robbed or murdered. 

"I brought a movie, candy and monsters, come on, you filthy goblin." you called into the freakishly neat room. Taylor was a very, very messy person so you tended to pick up after her more than you'd happily admit. It didn't take long for you to set positions for certain objects in specific places. Example, your shoes stayed in a small, plastic, blue bin by the door. They didn't ever make it to the carpeted floor of the living room. You had a key rack by the door so your keys were never lost or misplaced and Taylor had insisted you needed a coat rack, so your bookbags and Taylor's purses hung there. Any extra blankets, pillows, and sheets were placed neatly in the spare closet. 

        "Monsters..?" Her brown head popped out from around the corner. 

-----------------------------------------------

Taylor had passed out halfway through the movie, not that you were surprised. You pouted. You were very well use to it, but it wasn't any less disappointing when it happened. You carefully laid her on the couch, not bothering to wake her. She was a literal demon when she was woken up. You covered her body in a large, fluffy blanket before standing, pacing for a moment. 

You wondered back to your organized room and grabbed your large spray bottle you kept on your dresser. You stared down your mass of plants in your window seal and the few on your night stand and hanging from the ceiling before watering the ones that needed it, leaving your Rainbow Bush succulent alone. Satisfied, you grabbed your school jacket and your earbuds and phone before slipping your shoes on at the door. 

It was almost 1 before Taylor and you had finally settled enough to sit and watch the movie, so it was fairly late now. But, regretfully, your body was still pumped from the sugary drinks you consumed not long ago. You made a quick choice to go on a short run to tire yourself out a bit before retiring for the night. Sure, wasn't the best idea to go out at night, alone and defenceless, but you prided yourself in your speed if needed. Besides, you've done it before and you were obviously still alive!

You made your way to the dirt path you ran earlier in the day, struggling to remember a stupid songs name. You grinned when you figured it out and hurriedly played it. The opening played through your earbuds as you gently bobbed your head to the beat.

"There are boulders on my shoulders, collar bones begin to crack, there is very little left of me and it's never coming back," You sung softly along with 'Be nice to me'. An old, but greatly loved song from your middle school years. You began to run.

Your lips parted in a content smile as a phrase slipped past your teeth.

"You're a killer, and i'm your best friend. I think it's unfair, your situation," 

You began to bounce on the balls of your feet excitedly. "You say i'm changing! I'm sorry I didn't know I had to stay the same!" You jumped as your legs moved, your voice growing louder and bolder with every word thoughtlessly spilling out your mouth. You became unaware of the eyes watching your movements, head tilted in confusion. 

"Your voice is driving me insane!" You shouted, hopping more as you swished your head side to side, getting louder everytime the phrase was repeated. The last note rang through your ears and you let out a joyful that was quickly cut off. The overbearing feeling of being watched dawned on you. 

You jerked around and scanned the treeline, your eyes falling on a tall male facing you with a tilted head. You stared at him, confused before your gaze fell on the bloodied pipe dangling by his side. You fearfully and turned around, bolting in the direction the path led you to. You didn't have much time to understand why he was watching you, but you could hear his heavy footsteps crushing dead leaves as he raced after you. 

'Molly' blasted into your ears loudly, making you jerk in surprise. If you were going to die tonight, you were glad this was the song you'd die to. 

You could hear him distantly still chasing after you. Not to brag, but you could run a mile amd keep going onto the next without breaking too much of a sweat, though you'd be fairly tired.          Speaking of tired, you could feel the drousiness spreading to your head and deep down you knew that you couldn't keep the pace up for much longer. 

Sucking in a deep breath, you turned into the woods, lifting your feet high so you wouldn't be the stupid one to trip on a root and be killed first. That would be an embarrassing way to die and not even Molly could make it better, you concluded. 

So you did the most logical thing your sleepy brain could think of.

You climbed a fucking tree.

The man was a far enough distance for you to get a good amount of height between the two of you. You panted, your palms itching with needle-like pain from the rough and merciless bark, but pulled yourself up another branch and looked down. The man was panting heavily, bent over as he struggled to force air into his most likely burning lungs.  He stood up after a quick second, glaring up the tree at you.

Childishly, but overcome with a sense of acomplishment, you stuck your tongue out at him. 

Bad idea, you concluded when the guy's gloved fists clenched by his sides and he started to climb. 

You squealed. "No! Fuck off!" You shouted. "Pick another goddamn tree, you humanoid orange!" A growl ripped through your teeth as you glared fearfully at him.          To your surprise, he got down. He moved his head to stare at you before sitting indian style, his face pointed to you.

For the first time you had a proper look at him, and you weren't surprised. He looked like he came from a shitty horror movie. He wore an orange hoodie with a ski mask hiding his facial features, a red frowny face sitched into it. He had dark blue, wore out jeans and black boots that looked to be kept as clean as Taylor would keep her living space. 

'Best friend' Began to play quietly through your (f/c) earbuds and you forced down a snort at the timing. You were hoddled up in a tree while a guy who most likely wanted you dead watched from below. You shook your head and glanced at the dark sky.

'The stars are out' You thought as you spotted the little dipper, the big one wasn't far away from it's child. 

It only took about ten minutes for your easily distracted mind to get bored. You stared down at the hooded man as he drew in the dirt with his pipe. An idea struck you, a bad one, but an idea nevertheless. And it wasn't going to kill you, with a lot of hope, it may allow you to live another day. 

"Yo, tangerine!" He flinched at your loud voice, moving his head to stare at you. 

You held up a fist with your dominate hand, your opposite going under it, palm up and open.

"Wanna play rock, paper, sisscors before I die?" 

The man stilled before very, and I mean very slowly nodded. You allowed yourself to snort. Now you were going to play a childs game with a murderer. 

"Do you know how to play?" You called down. He nodded again and held up his hands. "Cool," You said.

The orange-clad killer was absolute shit at rock, paper, sisscors. He was even worse than your nephew, who was six and had the attention span of a squirell. Sometime in your game playing, you had moved yourself a few branches down to see him better in the dark woods. You now sat a branch above his head.          He didn't move much, but his shoulders seemed to slump.

You threw rock, again, and he threw sisscors. You gave an evil victory crackle whiele he glared gloomily at his open fingers.          "That was fun," You stretched your arms over your head, yawning. "Can I go now?" You calmly asked. 

He didn't move for a long while, looking between you and his gloved hands, the, back to you. Finally, he nodded. You hopped down, smiling widely. 

"Thanks," You said nervously. He was trying to kill you earlier, so you wouldn't be completely off guard around him. You started to shuffle around him cautiously. His arm shot out, grabbing your upper arm roughly. You flinched hard, looking up at him with wide eyes. 

This is it, You thought He changed his mind and wants to eat me!

Instead, you heard a deep voice whisper.

"You can leave if we can play again soon."

#creepypasta #x reader #hoodie x reader #hoodie #masky #marble hornets #fanfiction #masky x reader #poly relationship #masky x reader x hoodie #cp #i dont know what im doing #rock paper sisscors #murderer #tim wright #brian thomas

[chysgoda]

📚📘

You my friend get the non WTF thoughts (most because I’m out of them)

So some day I’ll get around to writing all of this and like actually stitch the few scattered paragraphs together. Bel is by far the most fleshed out of my OCs and someday I really am going to write her entire journey from child to warrior who can stand side by side with her mom (WoL). The kind core start of her story that isn’t family fluff and drama is figuring out how to get a dragoon soul stone to work for her. I subscribe to the cannon/HC/Fannon (I’m honestly not sure which it is) that only those of Ishgardian decent with the blood of Ratatoskr can be dragoons, it’s not a outsiders bad thing it’s a need dragon blood in your veins thing. (WoL is an exception because WoL) So before Art’imis goes off to do WoL things for n Ala Mhigo she helps Bel work out a deal with the Knights Dragoon that she has six months to get the soulstone to work for her or she has to give it back. So after much training and frustration Bel goes to Aynx Trine to get advise from Vidofnir. (Art’imis’s skewed ideas of age appropriate activities for 11 year olds included visits to Eorzea’s biggest cat tree) Vidofnir directs Bel to Hrasvalger who says he’ll only help her if she rejects Hydaelyn’s blessing of light and remakes it by her own work. The intention is that the tiny hatchling will never do that and go away and stop bothering him. However what he doesn’t account for is that A) Bel really fucking wants to be a dragoon B) has the teenage arrogance not to consider that she can’t do what he asks and C) Bel has been very sus of Hydaelyn for awhile both because of Lahabrea dropping doubts on to the impressionable child while he was wearing a Thancred suit and because she is very bitter that Hydaelyn took Aunt Minfilia away. So crystal gets yeeted and Hrasvalger lives in a state of surprised Pikachu face while Bel goes through shenanigans to meet his criteria. (There may or may not be a scene where Midgaurdsommer shows up to ask his son what the fuck he thought was going to happen) So once Bel’s task is completed, Hrasvalger give her some of his blood to drink (thank you Into the Land of the Unicorns for that idea that has never left my brain) and is effectively adopted into Hrasvalger’s horde. So couple of training montages later we arrive at Ghmlyt Dark where Bel is a front line soldier for the first part of Shadowbringers until a grenade blast destroys her hip and to much aetheric healing makes it so that the muscle and bone can’t support the aether needed for a dragoon’s jumps. From here we follow her recovery and coming to terms with having to find something else now that she has had to put aside her Drachenmail. Once she has a clean bill of health she follows Krille’s suggestion to join the arcanist’s guild. Here we explore a lot of head cannons about the dragon song and dragon magic as Bel researches how to repurpose Hrasvalger’s gift to her new situation. By Endwalker Bel has an ESA carbuncle, a Utahraptor like familar (another story) that actually does battle, and a working knowledge of how to use the dragon soul for spell casting. Thank the twelve that the guild mistress is willing to give her an ‘end of the world’ extension on her dissertation.

The other long winded story I think about is my rewrite of the PLD 50-60 line. Because that line SUCKS and is the worst set of job quests in the game, no I will not be taking criticism at this time. It’s kinda evolved into three stories intertwined about how three character come to their own place of faith and conviction that a Paladin needs. There is Tristan the Fiend Slayer a Paladin of an Ishgardian order that got the Knights Templar treatment while he and a rouge set of Paladins were at Cartenau. Exiled on pain of execution he wanders Ethyris looking for a purpose after his oaths in Ishgard have been denied to him. Somehow he finds his faith again and now stands tall as a free Paladin who is not related to the Saultansworn and therefore 100% cooler. This leads into my WoL’s (Art’imis) line. Art’s faith in pretty much everything is shattered after the bloody banquet. While her swordsmanship is top notch she can no longer call on the magics a paladin uses. She meets Tristan when Momondi sends him to help her fight a newly summoned Ifrit. (Yes Tristan has the echo) with Tristan’s help she escapes the ambush Ilberd and the Crystal Braves planned and Tristan goes back to Coerthas with her under mask and an assumed name. Tristan goes with her to check out what’s up with Sozkazgyl. With his guidance and having to help train Constaint the three unravel Sozkazgyl’s frankly selfish and unhinged plot to make Constaint an Ishgardian Batman and show up the Sultansworn. (Because that is exactly what he’s trying to do in cannon and it needs to be deconstructed hard). This leads into Allie asking Art to teach her to be a Paladin after the weapons line. Art can’t promise to be around enough to be an effective trainer but she can take Allie to Ishgard where Tristan is rebuilding the Order of the Unseen Crown at Aymeric’s request. There under Tristan’s tutelage and with the support of her girlfriend Bel, Allie finds her own faith and conviction to honor the memories of her siblings and protect their home. So yea it’s like three versions of the heroes journey and would probably be told concurrently rather than linearly.

And that was extremely long. Maybe someday I’ll actually write it.

#ffxiv #ask meme answers #ffxiv fan fiction #art’imis chysgoda #oaths unbroken #allie baelsar #Tristan Fiend Slayer #featuring the endless salt mine that is my spite and anger reguarding the PLD 30-60 quests #long post #should probably have done this on the laptop where I could put a read more cut in #but my bed is comfy and my wife is warm and cuddly

[221bsunsettowers]

TK/Carlos: Fire Drills, Flirting, and First Dates

Apparently TK can't wait a few hours for his and Carlos' first date, since it's the 126 pulling up to supervise the school fire drill.

This is the second part of the Found Forever on a Field Trip 9-1-1 Lone Star AU verse, where Carlo is a preschool teacher and TK is a firefighter, and they first met when Carlos brought his students on a fire safety field trip to where TK volunteers.

I would definitely recommend reading the first part of the series (which you can find here ) before this one for some background.

This story takes place just a few days after their first meeting, way before the time jump in the first story.

CW for mention of TK's canon storyline of addiction and his overdose towards the end of the story.

You can also read this on Ao3 here! And if you have any stories you would like to see in this verse, please let me know, I would love to keep writing for it!

Carlos had one child on his hip, crying into his shirt ever since the fire alarm had rung out its ear-piercing trill. Another child was clutching his free hand, sniffing back tears. "It's all okay, I promise," Carlos assured them gently as he led them and their classmates into a straight line against the fence. "Remember, we talked about how this is a drill? It's practice just in case we ever need to get out of the school quickly. But there's no real fire right now."

"Just real firefighters," a familar voice called out from Carlos' right, and he turned, unable to stop himself from grinning as TK strode towards them from the fire truck, a grin also dancing across his lips. When he saw the two crying children though, he quickly crouched in front of them, Carlos gently lowering the other child to stand in front of TK.

"Firefighter Strand!" Both children yelled excitedly, tears drying up as they cheered, drawing the attention of their classmates, who immediately started rushing over.

"Back in line please friends!" Carlos called out, quickly walking alone the line of students. "I know we're all very excited to see Firefighter Strand, but we have to stay in our safe spot."

"Hmm, does that mean you're excited to see me too?" TK's voice was low in Carlos' ear, the blush spreading across Carlos' cheeks as TK flashed him a playful smirk before making his way down the line of children, stopping to say hi to every single one.

"Couldn't wait until after work, huh?" Carlos teased back as he passed behind TK, highly pleased to see red spreading up the back of the firefighter's neck.

"We're doing community outreach here, I don't know what else you could possibly be referring to," TK grinned, leaning back against the fence, the nearest child finding a way to wrap around TK's leg without moving from their space in line.

"You aren't fooling anyone, Strand!" Marjan called out as she came around the back of the truck to the cheers of "Firefighter Marwani!". Squeezing Carlos' shoulder as she passed, she leaned in to whisper just loud enough for TK to hear her too, "It's all he's been talking about since shift started. He even made us help him choose his outfit-he seriously brought every option to the station."

"Traitor!" TK mouthed at Marjan, ducking his head and smiling shyly, cheeks now flushing pink. "I just don't want to be late for our first date, or show up looking like this." He gestured up and down his firefighter uniform.

"You can feel free to show up in that anytime," Carlos murmured in TK's ear, right before he reached a hand out to bat away a stick one child had just thrown at another. "Zoe, we don't throw sticks, okay friend?" The little girl nodded.

"Eyes in the back of your head," TK murmured appreciatively, as Marjan made her way to the last of the very excited children. Noticing the students were still occupied, TK leaned in, his voice so low only Carlos could hear. "Can't wait to see what else you can do with those hands."

Laughing, TK made his way back to the truck, leaving a sputtering bright red Carlos behind him. "Bye kids!" TK called out. "Bye Mr. Reyes!" WIth a wink, TK climbed inside the truck, Marjan shaking her head as she followed behind him.

Carlos was five minutes early to the cafe, but TK had somehow beat him there, and was sitting on the edge of a chair near the front door, fingers drumming against the table. When he saw Carlos, his face lit up, and he stood up from the chair, meeting him at the door for a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"You picked a very nice outfit," Carlos confirmed, gaze sweeping appreciatively up and down TK's short sleeved patterned button down and dark wash jeans. "Remind me to thank your team."

"It was worth all the teasing from them, then," TK grinned, sliding his pinky under the edge of the sleeve of Carlos' dark green polo, giving the fabric a gentle tug. "There's no way your students helped you pick this out or it would be sequined and covered in superheroes."

"Very accurate," Carlos laughed, nodding his head. "No, my co worker Grace helped me out. She has a good fashion sense."

"She really does," TK agreed, eyes twinkling. "Definitely thank her for me." They turned towards the table, and Carlos reached for TK's chair, pulling it out enough for him to sit down before carefully pushing it back in.

"Wow, thank you," TK said softly, and Carlos could easily pick up on the awe tinging his voice. "No one's ever done that for me before."

"Well, I also hold open doors, so get ready for that," Carlos teased gently, settling into his chair. His gaze fell on the large mug in front of him, the smell of expresso and cinammon wafting into the air. "You remembered my coffee order?"

"Large coffee, extra shot of expresso, add cinammon," TK recited, a shy smile crossing his lips. "It's what you had when we first met."

"And you have the same?" Carlos grinned, pointing to TK's cup.

"I figured teachers must be experts with all the coffee you guys must consume," TK laughed, taking a sip. "And I was right, because this is delicious."

"How was the rest of your shift?" Carlos asked, cradling the warm mug in his hands and inhaling the steam before taking his own sip.

"Seeing you was definitely the highlight," TK answered with a smile, "and not just because the rest of the shift entailed a microwave fire where someone had been trying to reheat fish, and three separate cats needing to be rescued from three separate trees."

"Oof," Carlos pretended to shudder, drawing a laugh from TK. "I'll see you your reheated fish fire and cats, and raise you a child sticking play dough up their nose and an entire bottle of glitter spilling all over the rug."

"That explains this then," TK reached out with his hand, gently wiping away a piece of glitter on Carlos' chin. Carlos found himself leaning into the touch, and TK let his finger linger longer than was necessary. Taking a deep breath in, TK moved his hand away, showing Carlos the sparkle on his fingertip. "And here I thought you went to a disco without me."

"More like a rave," Carlos teased. "Do people still even go to raves anymore? Glow sticks and lots of party drugs?" But the smile quickly fell from his face as he saw the light dim from TK's eyes. "Did I say something wrong? I'm so sorry-"

"Carlos, it's okay," TK said softly, reaching out and laying his hand on Carlos' arm.

"First date and I've already managed to hurt you somehow," Carlos mumbled, his gaze on a small scratch in the corner of their table.

"You didn't, I promise," TK insisted, running his thumb along Carlos' wrist until he raised his eyes from the table to meet TK's warm gaze. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Sure," Carlos responded, voice still quiet as he walked to the front of the shop and retrieved two to-go cups with lids. Handing one to TK, he quickly transferred his coffee, then moved to hold the door for TK.

"Thanks," TK smiled at Carlos as he exited the cafe, but Carlos didn't smile back. Instead, Carlos stopped on the sidewalk outside the entrance, his fingers rubbing nervously on the side of his pants leg. "Carlos," TK said warmly, reaching over and taking Carlos' hand in his free one. "I meant what I said. We're okay."

This time it was TK who suddenly couldn't meet Carlos' eyes. "At least I hope we are," TK voiced softly, looking up hopefully when Carlos squeezed his hand. "I come with...baggage."

"You aren't the only one, I promise," Carlos affirmed gently, swinging their interlaced hands slightly as they began to walk. "Clearly I do too, considering I was so ready to believe you were already breaking up with me before we finished our first date."

"You definitely don't need to worry about that," TK assured him, squeezing Carlos' hand reassuringly, before dropping his eyes to the sidewalk and the volume of his voice to just above a whisper. "So no one here knows this yet, except for my dad, but I really like you, and you deserve to know all the facts before you decide if you want this to go any further."

"TK, I really like you too," Carlos vowed, placing his coffee cup on the ground, cupping TK's cheek with his now-free hand. "You're safe with me, I promise."

Leaning into Carlos' touch, TK sighed, shutting his eyes. "I'm an addict," he confessed, words whispered into the palm of Carlos' hand. "Oxycontin. I OD'd back in New York, if my dad hadn't found me, I wouldn't be here. I haven't taken since then, I go to meetings, I have coping strategies, but I'm always going to be an addict."

TK squeezed his eyes shut even tighter, as if bracing for a hard-hitting emotional blow, but instead he felt the soft brush of Carlos' lips against his cheek. "Thank you for being so open with me," Carlos murmured against TK's skin, wrapping him up in a tight hug. TK sunk into the embrace with a grateful sigh, nestling his head into the crook of Carlos' shoulder. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

"Good," TK breathed out, relief and hope tinging every word. "Because I want you to stay."

@pragmaticoptimist34 @bikingthroughhawkins @i-had-bucky @highqualitykhakis @meloingly @buddie-buddie @morganaspendragonss

If you would like to be added to my Tarlos tags, just let me know! And if you are on the tag list but changed your username, please let me know so I can make sure I’m tagging you again :)

#tarlos #tk/carlos #tk strand x carlos reyes #tk strand #carlos reyes #alternate universe #9-1-1 lone star #preschool teacher carlos #firefighter tk #carlos x tk #first date #flirting #fluff #a little angst #found forever on a field trip verse #fanfiction #fanfic #writing