#little girl has a kill count now!! more at 11

[ehlnofay]

It’s not until she hears Sissel’s knees hit the floor that Efri is jolted back into her body.

She blinks, whipping her head around. Sissel is kneeling, bracing a palm on the ancient stone pavement, at the barrier – no, the barrier’s gone, it’s just Sissel on the floor. She lifts her head and meets Efri’s eyes; her hair is wispy and wild, the little plaits meant to keep it neat come loose and tumbling, her eyes wide. The barrier's gone, but still, her pale face is lit up blue.

“Are you okay?” she asks. She doesn’t speak loudly, but it echoes in the great stone chamber.

Nine, Efri doesn’t know.

She blinks again, looks down at her hands, clinging to the metal stick so fiercely that her joints ache. (Her own stick, her nice wooden one, is still on the floor somewhere, where it slipped out of her grasp when she hit the wall.) The lumpy heavy end of it, the clobbering end, is still resting on –

Not on. It’s in the thing’s head, fitted neatly in the opening of its dented helmet, the horns spiralling over the floor. There’s a tooth, perfectly preserved, by Efri’s foot.

One by one, she unwraps her gloved fingers from the handle of the metal stick, letting it drop to the floor with a clang so loud it makes her wince. Kazari is nosing at her side. (When did they let go of it? When did they get so close? She must have missed that. She feels out of the loop. Her heart is juddering like fish on a line, battering like some frightened trapped thing at her ribcage, and her breath is coming fast and heavy.) Absentmindedly bringing up a hand to press over her sore shoulder, she says, “’M fine. Not too – barely touched me.”

Kazari turns and spits on the floor. Efri blinks. She does it again, tongue lolling out of her mouth, face very disgruntled – and oh, Efri gets it. She does not glance down at the thing at her feet; she doesn’t need to, she knows what its arm looks like, chewed almost to pieces even through its banded armour. (If she hadn’t been so busy being scared of it, that sight might have made her a bit scared of Kazari. But not now, when they’re trying to hack and spit the taste of dead man arm out of their mouth.)

Efri unclips her canteen from her belt and holds it out. “Here,” she says. Her voice is rough. Her heart is racing too much to let constructing sentences be easy. “Not much, but –”

Kazari stands still while Efri tips half of the remaining water onto her tongue, and then Efri watches her swilling it around in her mouth, trying to bathe all of her teeth in it, before she spits it again on the floor at the dead thing’s feet.

The water is still clear. That’s something, at least; the dead man was too old to still have blood in him. Or maybe he was embalmed, drained of it hundreds of years ago, thousands.

“Are you okay?” Efri asks Kazari when they’re done, because they were the one doing most of the fighting, who was closest. They tip their head, shift their weight – wince when they put weight on one foot. Their lips peel back from their teeth. Their clothes on that side are singed.

Efri points it out. “Your robe,” she says, which makes it sound much fancier than it is. She’s too tired to think of a better word. She rubs a hand over her face, pushing the hair back over her forehead, says, “I’ll reinforce it for you when we get out.”

Kazari noses at Efri’s shoulder – the shredded fabric of her dress, the fraying edges stained with blood. Efri says, “I know. I’ll have to sew that up too.” Over her shoulder, she calls, “Kazari’s leg’s hurt, I think.”

“There’s blood on you,” Sissel replies. She peels her hand off the floor and leans back on her heels.

Efri touches her shoulder again. “’S fine,” she says. “Just a scrape. The blood’s drying already.”

It’s really sore, actually – the flesh abraded and tender, an ache sinking deep into the muscle – but it’s normal sore, the kind of sore you really should be after being thrown into a wall. It doesn’t feel sprained or dislocated or anything like that.  Just like it will be bruised a whole rainbow of colours come tomorrow.

Kazari noses at it again. She leans too far forward and falters on her maybe-hurt leg – rights herself, wincing, and rolls her shoulder. It gleams, just for a moment, and she nearly stumbles again. Efri puts out a hand to steady her. (It doesn’t really accomplish anything – Efri’s strong, but she’s not that strong – but it’s the principle of it.) “What was that spell?”

“Pain relief,” Sissel says from behind her. “I think. Doesn’t actually fix anything, but.”

“You’ll be okay ‘til we find someone?” Efri asks, and Kazari nods. She presses a hand against their shoulder and nods back.

They both turn to look at Sissel, then, who’s just kneeling on the floor, sitting on her heels.

“You all right?” Efri asks her.

“All right,” Sissel confirms. She doesn’t look at them. “Didn’t even come near me.”

She’s staring.

Efri crosses the floor to stand with her. (She needs to lean on Kazari – her legs are too wobbly, and she doesn’t want to touch the dead thing’s stick, doesn’t want to look for her own. Kazari limps a little on their sore front leg.) There’s a moment of total, humming silence – all of them still and staring, necks craned back, looking up at the thing.

Whatever it is.

It’s a ball. Big and blue and shimmering, it floats above a wide crystalline dish set into the floor, spinning on an axis. Just spinning and spinning and spinning, endless motion. Its smooth surface is cut through with dark wavering lines, etched with lettering, and it doesn’t quite glow but it doesn’t not glow, either, the light moving across it silkily, like clouds in a blue sky. It looks like something that should be humming – a low pitch in their ears, an eerie shiver dancing over their skin – but it’s silent. Inert, maybe, but for the spinning.

“What is it?” Efri asks. Her voice cracks as she speaks. She looks down at Sissel’s face, staring as though mesmerised, illuminated by the room’s dim lighting – the fires that should not still be burning down here, the luminous not-glow of the ball.

Sissel says, “I don’t know. Something important.”

Hovering above the dish, it spins, and spins, and spins.

“Is it what the ghost was talking about?” Efri asks. She tilts her head and squints at it. It doesn’t – well, it looks strange and unearthly and powerful, but it isn’t doing anything. And it hadn’t been clear what the ghost was talking about, exactly, according to Sissel, just that it was something important – but what else could it be?

Sissel, still watching it, shrugs. “I don’t know,” she says. “I think so.”

Efri watches it with her, brushing a bit more hair out of her face. It’s sticking to her sweaty forehead. She feels a drip of not-dry blood running down her arm under her sleeve.

Kazari is staring at it too – just as confounded as the rest of them. Efri sees the light in their irises shifting as the ball spins.

They’re not learning anything from staring, the ball staying strange and mysterious as ever, so Efri raps her knuckles against her sternum to steady her breathing (it’s slowed a bit – not normal, but closer to it) and climbs up onto the stone rimming of the dish. Kazari, behind her, lows in consternation; Sissel catches her breath, a noise like a creaking door. “Careful,” she says.

“Promise,” Efri replies, and places her feet very, very carefully on the glassy blue flooring. Nothing happens. She doesn’t step on the dark curved lines as she treads toward the ball in the centre, slow and wary as if she were approaching a skittish animal. Nothing happens.

She reaches out, and, with just the tips of her fingers, she grazes the ball’s surface.

Nothing happens.

It’s cool to the touch, and smooth, like polished metal or not-frozen ice or delicate glasswork. It continues to spin gently under her fingers, warming her glove with friction, no smudges left on its clouded face.

 It really feels like there should at least be a tingle running up her arm, a strange and unfamiliar current, a spark. But it’s just Efri, standing with an arm outstretched, pressing her hand to a ball.

“It’s not doing anything,” she reports, and Sissel clambers up onto the dish with her, fitting her palm to its gently hovering underside. Kazari balks, begins pacing agitatedly. Efri frowns. “Why isn’t it doing anything? Shouldn’t it be doing something?”

“It’s important,” Sissel says definitively. There’s ancient dust on her fingers, but none of it seems to transfer. “It’s something really special, I think.”

Efri shifts restlessly. She shifts her grip and tries to grab onto the dark ridged curves ringing its surface, but they slip easily away from her grasp as though her touch was no barrier at all. “But what does it do?”

Sissel shrugs.

Behind them, Kazari lows.

Efri drops her hand and grabs Sissel’s wrist. “C’mon,” she says, and when Sissel frowns at her, “We’re not going to learn anything about it this way. We have to look for clues!”

Kazari makes a more impatient noise. (Efri thinks she found a clue.)

Sissel gives the ball one last searching look and lets Efri tug her away, off the weird blue dish and down to where Kazari stands on the stone floor, at the head of the table where the dead man sat. Efri sniffs loudly and tries not to think about it too much. The table is smooth polished stone, worn a little away with time; Efri trails a gloved finger over the edge and directs her attention to where Kazari points with their chin.

There’s something carved into the surface, the edges blunted and shapes softened by however many years it must have been since it was put there. Efri squints, trying to make it out. She has to stand right up on her tiptoes to get the right angle to see much of it in full.

“That’s not letters,” she says eventually, frowning. She’s pretty sure she knows her alphabet well enough by now to know that. “Is it magic?”

Sissel shakes her head. “I don’t know what it is. It’s not like magical writing I’ve ever seen.”

Efri looks at Kazari, who also shakes her head. “Maybe it’s a different sort of lettering,” she theorises. It must have been written a long time ago, if it’s from back when the city had people. Onmund’s been reading all about it for ages, and he’s told her a bit – Saarthal was the city of Atmorans, populated by proto-Nordic people. All complicated history stuff. But they weren’t quite the same as Nords today, he said, so it stands to reason they had different writing, too. They’re supposed to be uncovering and cataloguing artifacts (at the thought, Efri glances back at the hovering ball and swallows an inane bubble of laughter) so she suggests, “Maybe you can copy it and we can show it to someone. I’m sure there’ll be someone at the College what knows what it is.”

Sissel, also standing on her toes, nods dutifully. “What will you do?”

The chamber they’re in is cavernous, and about empty but for the ball in the dish, the altar and chair, the body on the ground. “I’ll check him,” she says, and points. “See if he has anything on him that’s special.”

Sissel follows her finger and grimaces.

She digs out her note-paper and her stick of char, and Efri assumes it’s clues time, but when she turns she feels a hand grip her elbow. She looks back over her tattered shoulder at Sissel’s face, her furrowed brow.

“Promise you’re really okay?” she says, voice anxious and solemn.

“Promise,” Efri says, twisting her arm to touch her friend’s hand. Sissel presses her lips together and lets go of her arm.

Kazari trails after Efri to look at the dead man.

First thing is the metal stick. It’s magic someway, Efri knows – he waved it and threw her into a wall, flung spells with it – but she’s not sure how. Doesn’t know enough about enchantments. Didn’t need to, to use it; when Kazari clamped down on his arm she just ripped it from his grasp and –

She doesn’t quite exactly remember, actually, except for the bitter tang of adrenaline in her mouth and nose, the horrible grunting and scuffling sounds, the heft of the stick in her hands. Impact, over and over and over, against something that had a little more give each time.

Efri scrubs a hand over her mouth and grips the handle of the stick. It takes effort to wrest it out of the thing’s face, caught as it is by the edges of the helmet, and when it’s finally yanked free it’s – actually not as bad as she might have expected. There’s no blood, and the corpse was so desiccated it already didn’t even really look like a person anymore, so it registers less as someone with horrible violence done to it and more as a really gross art piece. It’s not nice. She doesn’t like the twisted, gaping mouth, teeth embedded wrong-ways in its tissue and scattered like coins over the floor. And one of the eyes, which had glowed unearthly blue, is now a dull, rotten black, squished like a plum in its socket.

It's worse the more she looks. She sniffs and turns away.

“This is magic, right?” she asks Kazari, testing the weight of it in her hands, the cool surface of the metal, and they nod. “A good artifact?” she adds, and they nod again, emphatically. Efri sets the stick aside and kneels.

It wasn’t wearing any clothes, really – or if it was, they rotted away. She touches the rusted armour gingerly, tries to avoid brushing her gloves against the shrivelled skin at all. Whoever it was had expensive taste, it seems – there’s jewellery in a shockingly well-preserved beard, pendants around the neck, armbands. Efri asks Kazari if each thing is enchanted. No to the armbands, no to the beard-ring, and then, pressed against the wizened chest where the flesh contours to the ribs, she finds some kind of necklace, sharp-edged and thrumming. Kazari nods to that, and, face scrunched up like an old fruit, Efri reaches around the ancient neck to slip it off.

She tucks it into a belt pocket with the tripwire necklace they found at the weird wall.

“Done,” Sissel says. She folds her paper and slips it into her own pouch. Her footfalls on the echo-y stone floor as she approaches the body for the first time are almost silent. “Did you find anything?”

“Necklace,” Efri replies, watching Sissel’s face pinch at the sight of him. “And – stick.” She scoops up the metal stick and holds it out. “He did spells with it.”

Sissel looks at it warily. “Is he a draugr?” she asks, glancing back down at his mashed-up face.

“I mean,” Efri says, “he’s got to be, right?” She’s certainly never seen a draugr before, but what else could it be?

(Calling it a draugr makes her shiver, the set of her shoulders quaking. She’ll stick to dead man.)

Sissel shudders. She reaches out to grip the handle of the stick, and Efri’s not sure if she’s taking it or just trying to keep herself upright. “I can’t believe that happened,” she says. Her voice sounds, suddenly, fragile. “I can’t believe we’re alive.”

“Me neither,” Efri says. She presses the tip of the stick into the ground so Sissel can lean on it, stands a little unsteadily.

Kazari, with a hushed murmur, telegraphs something. Efri recognises the head incline of understanding – she’s familiar with that word, that idea – and, after a moment, the flickering ear of doubt.

“They’ll have to believe us,” she says with conviction, because she means it. “We’ll show them. They’ll see for themselves.”

Kazari presses their nose to her head.

Efri clasps her hands together. “We’ll go tell someone now,” she declares – though it’s easier said than done; they were lost in the ruins ages before they even found the crumbling wall, the halls, this horrible wonderful chamber. But they’ll get un-lost eventually. They’ll get out eventually. Surely. They have practice enough with walking. “But first – help me find my stick.”

#little girl has a kill count now!! more at 11 #for context: I altered stuff leading up to the discovery of the eye #efri and sissel went off to play in the undiscovered halls of this ancient archeological dig site #on the grounds that efri has a great sense of navigation and they'll find their way back to the group no problem. #(efri has a great sense of navigation in the wilderness.) #(introduce her to a series of roads and buildings and she is lost in the sauce.) #their friends split up to look for them after they've been missing from a while (wandering around with great interest and no sense of place #(incredibly lost) #kazari happens upon them right as they've found a necklace at the end of a dead-end passageway that - when dutifully grabbed #for archeological research purposes - ended up triggering the wall to crumble or disappear or otherwise remove itself from the equation #and efri wasn't going to just. LEAVE that opening there. #come ONN kazari that's weird!! we can't just leave it!! what if it closes up and we never ever find it again and there's incredible secrets #that the college never finds! what if we never know what's through there! #we HAVE to know what's through there! #so on they go. #and so ensue the horrors #they pass a lot of dead bodies before the main all but those ones are all immobile #also sissel is the only one to receive the psijic projection warning. which she explains to the others as a ghost telling her secrets #which efri accepts bc this seems like the kind of place that would for sure have ghosts #and kazari goes sure that tracks this place is fucking creepy can we leave now (<- is also curious but HAS to put on a show of reluctance #because clearly no-one else is going to) #(permanent babysitter of kids with the worst self-preservation instincts imaginable) #(she is so strong. living every childcare worker's nightmare) #ANYWAY #:D #normal type stuff #posting because it matches the artwork I'm also posting! look at that thing!!! #fay writes #oc tag #efri

[wolfjackle-creates]

Bring Me Home Arc 2 Part 11

God this arc just keeps getting longer and longer. Luckily after this, I should be able to move ahead with the plot? I'm a few more minutes into the episode at least!

Anyway,

Story Summary: Tim and Danny are both neglected by parents who care more about their work than their families. They deal with this by spending too much time online and find each other playing MMORPGs. They keep up their friendship as Tim becomes Robin and Danny becomes Phantom and don't bother keeping secrets from each other.

First, Previous

Word Count: 1.4k

-----

Cassie sat next to him and bumped their shoulders. “We’ll figure this one out just like we have all the ones before.”

Conner sandwiched him on the other side. “Yep. And the Fentons don’t seem like the type to hide information. They’ll tell us everything we want to know.”

“You’re both right. We’ll fix this and be home before we know it.” Tim pulled out his phone. “I wonder if there’s any old news articles we can look up for more information. Danny told me about the first ghost attack. A ghost called Lunch Lady who used meat to attack people and was upset because Sam changed the school lunch menu.”

Bart blinked at him and sat on the coffee table facing him. “You’re making that up. You’ve gotta be.”

Tim laughed and shook his head. “Nope. We’ll have to see if he has a list of his rogues so far. They’ve all been so gimmicky. Kinda like Condiment Man in Gotham.”

At Tim’s direction, Bart and Cassie also began looking into various news articles and posts about the ghosts of Amity. Conner recorded their findings and Tim supplemented with information he’d gotten directly from Danny.

Research kept them busy for the next hour until the Fentons returned.

“Danny’s friends!” boomed Jack when he saw them.

“How are you four doing? Did you find the pantry? Enough things to eat?” asked Maddie.

“Yes, Ma’am,” said Conner. “Cassie and I also left to explore a bit and found a corner shop where we picked up a few things we knew Tim and Bart liked.”

“That’s great! Now, I see you’ve seen the news, and I don’t want you to be afraid. Jack and I are planning on training some of Danny’s classmates in ghost fighting, would you four like to join?”

Everyone looked to Tim who bit his lip in thought. “I— can we sit in on the first lesson? I’d like to see some more of your work. Danny’s told me a little bit about it, but seeing it in person is something else. But I also want to spend more time just with Danny since we haven’t met in person before.”

“Of course, honey!”

Tim had to force his smile to remain neutral at the pet name. His parents didn’t even call him ‘honey,’ let alone anyone else. “Thank you, Dr. Fenton.”

“Call me Maddie, dear.”

“And I’m Jack!”

“Yes, Dr.— er, Maddie, Jack. When will the others be here?”

Jack looked at…something on his wrist that must’ve had a clock feature and boomed, “Not for another three hours! School’s still in session, you know.”

Conner cleared his throat. “Will you need help setting up? Maybe you can tell us a bit about ghosts while we do. I’d never seen one before.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea! Thank you, sweetie!” said Maddie.

“Conner, my boy, the first thing you need to know about ghosts is that they’re evil and only want to hurt you. If you don’t remember anything else, always remember that,” added Jack.

Tim’s stomach sank at those words. Did Danny have to hear things like that every day? “How do you know they’re all evil?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Well, Tim! It’s because ghosts aren’t people. They’re post human consciousness imprinted on ectoplasm. They’re an echo of what they used to be and that echo wants to become a person again. But it can’t because it’s dead. So it lashes out at anything living around it. Either to steal their life or make the living like it.”

Maddie nodded. “Exactly. A ghost killed my best friend when we were girls. If you’d like, I can send you some papers Jackie-poo and I wrote about how ghosts form so you can have more information.”

Tim forced a smile. “That’d be great, thank you.” Could the portal be destroyed in some way? Would that keep ghosts from coming through and allow Danny to come with him to Gotham?

“Now!” said Jack. “Who wants to help me carry up supplies from the lab?”

Once again, Tim asked for some safety gear before going into the lab and Maddie shoved a white jumpsuit at him with a sticker of Jack’s face on it.

“This is one of Danny’s, dear. But he doesn’t wear them very often. Here’s another for you, Bart. It might be a bit long, but try it on and we’ll see what we can do. Cassie, Conner, you two will be a bit harder, but I think I should be able to coble something together. Hang tight a sec!”

“I guess we’ll go get changed, then,” said Bart as Maddie and Jack disappeared back downstairs to see what they had.

Tim held out the top and poked at the decal of Jack. Going to the edge, he worked a finger under the image and let out a sigh of relief when it came up. “These are removable,” he commented as he pulled it off.

“Fantastic!” said Bart, ripping his own off. “Come on, Rob. Let’s get changed.”

Upstairs in the guest room, Tim allowed himself to comment, “At least it’s not orange.”

“Everyone will know who we’re staying with, though.”

“Better than stepping foot in that lab with no protection.”

They were just finishing up when Cassie and Conner walked in with matching scowls. In their arms were a mix of orange and blue fabrics.

Cassie glared at them. “Not. A. Word.”

Tim smirked and held up his hands. “Who, me?”

Bart mimed zipping his lips.

“We’re just about finished here, though, so we’ll go help the Fentons while you two get changed,” said Tim. He couldn’t help the way his lips quirked as he looked at the clashing jumpsuit pieces as they passed each other.

Conner made sure to trip them with TTK.

Tim just smiled at him as he pushed himself up and left without another word, Bart a step behind him. The door was barely shut before they were laughing so hard they couldn’t walk down the stairs without gripping the railing.

“Good to see you boys are having fun! How do the jumpsuits fit?” asked Jack when he saw them.

Bart held up his hands to show how he’d folded the ends of the sleeves. “Not bad. Just had to roll up the sleeves and pants a little.”

Tim nodded his agreement. “Little tight in places, little loose in others. But I can move well enough.”

“Good, good! Now, want a detailed tour of the lab as we collect weapons to train Dan-o’s classmates?”

Tim didn’t have to hold back his sharp grin at that question. “Absolutely. I want to know everything.”

And Jack and Maddie were willing to share quite a lot. Conner and Cassie joined them ten minutes later, wearing jumpsuits cobbled together from spares of Jack’s and Maddie’s. Now that they weren’t rushed by trying to get out and manage an active and hostile ghost invasion, the tour of the lab was much more thorough.

Jack and Maddie were also happy to answer any questions the four had. As it looked, there was no actual organization to the lab. And in the fridge, food was stored right next to samples. The fudge hissed when Jack took out a piece to eat and Tim shuddered.

“Want one? My snookums made it! Best fudge you’ll ever eat.”

“Aww, thank you dear!” Maddie hugged Jack at his compliment and kissed his cheek.

“I— No. Thank you,” said Tim.

“Why do you have a stockade?” asked Cassie.

Tim gave her a grateful look and she winked at him.

“That’s to hold down ghosts so we can question them,” said Maddie.

“Yup! Restrain them in there and then you can use toys like this one”—Jack brandished a cat-o-nine-tails—“to force ‘em to talk!”

“Or the Fenton Prod,” added Maddie holding out what looked like an electric cattle prod. She pressed a button and the end sparked green.

Tim swallowed hard and clenched his teeth. Did everything these people make have to look so painful?

The rest of the time in the lab passed in much the same way. The four traded off who had to ask a distracting question as they were all more and more horrified by the casual cruelty displayed by Danny’s parents.

Eventually, the doorbell rang and they were able to return upstairs with armfuls of weapons. Maddie opened the door and Dash Baxter and his cronies stood there with sadistic grins.

“Dash, what a pleasant surprise to see you again,” Tim said with his own teeth bared. “I don’t think we got off on the right foot last night. I’m Tim. Danny’s told me so much about you.”

For a moment, the boy’s face showed confusion before it was wiped away with a polite smile. “He’s told us about you, too. I’m sure we’ll become great friends.”

Well fuck. Looks like the ghosts weren’t all gone after all. Tim held a hand behind his back and signaled danger to his friends. They needed to get away from here.

-----

Next

We've got more with Jack and Maddie here! Hope you guys like how I write them. We already know this is going to turn into bad-parents Jack and Maddie based on what's going to happen in Arc 3. (Arc 3 will be the original prompt fill and it's fall out.)

Also, I think I'm going to change some things around in previous parts. I won't edit them on Tumblr, but before they go on AO3 they'll change. Tim is going to lie to Bruce a bit more than he has so far. He'll tell Bruce that Danny is Cassie's friend so he doesn't decide to look Danny up if he gets bored.

Next chapter will have Danny and co again!

I will no longer be managing a tag list for this fic, but please check out the Subscription Post if you want to be notified of updates. I'm also want to get the first chapter transferred over to AO3, but I'm going to transfer the first arc of Ghost!Robin first.

I reblogged an ask game earlier today if anyone's curious about me. Check it out and consider sending something in!

#dpxdc #dead tired #tim feel his homicidal urges stirring #every robin gets them at some point #and bruce isn't here to keep them in check! #the rest of his team arent far behind #if tim goes evil theyll follow #its why they play villain tim bingo #to keep it from happening

[scarletlizzard]

So apparently I hit 500 followers? Thank you to everyone who follows and has interacted with my fics!! 🥳

I thought this would be fun to celebrate? I have a list of random dialogue that y'all could pick from to send me. Ranges from everywhere to fluff, angst, NSFW, etc. And I'll write a little short something for it!

Feel free to pick a number or few to send or you could be specific with who you want or a specific trope or plot. Anything!

Thank y'all so much, made my whole day 💕

104 Dialogue Prompts

1. "Admit it... you're in love with me."

2. "We could get arrested for this."

3. "I thought you were dead."

4. "I've missed this."

5. "You could've died."

6. "Who did this to you?"

7. "I know, I know, I'm sorry... it'll be over soon, I promise."

8. "Come back to bed."

9. "How long has it been since you slept?"

10. "Tell me where you are, I'll come get you."

11. "I still love you."

12. "Such a good girl."

13. "Open your mouth for me, baby."

14. "We have to make this quick."

15. "Beg for it."

16. "Mommy?"

17. "You're in love with them. Aren't you?"

18. "It was you? This whole time?"

19. "You know, just cause you're older don't think for one second I'm not in charge."

20. "Smile at me like that again, I'll fall in love with you."

21. "... is that a trick question?"

22. "Don't just stand there, say something."

23. "Say that again, I dare you."

24. "Fuck you." "Right now?"

25. "I'm joking! Unless..."

26. "You take me so well."

27. "What do you mean I'm dead? I'm standing right here."

28. "Please, I'm begging you. Just hear me out."

29. "Oh fuck... I'm in love with (x)." "You're just now realizing that?"

30. "What if you didn't go? What if you stayed?"

31. "You like it rough, don't you, slut?"

32. "Flowers?"

33. "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you."

34. "Fuck, marry, kill..."

35. "Truth or dare?"

36. "Since when did you ever care about me?"

37. "You think I wanted this to happen? You think I wanted to fall in love with you?"

38. "May I have this dance?"

39. "I know I'm the last person you want to see, but..."

40. "I'm done! I am done waiting for you."

41. "It's okay, you're okay, I'm here. I've got you."

42. "Touch her again and see what happens."

43. "Is that a hickey?"

44. "I'm fine, it's just a bruise..."

45. "I'm going to fucking kill them."

46. "Are you sure about this?"

47. "Why are you all sweaty?"

48. "You left! You left and you didn't even think to look back. What was I supposed to do?"

49. "Well... this is awkward."

50. "You know I've been flirting with you this whole time right?"

51. "They'll never love you the way I did."

52. "If you're trying to make me jealous, it's working."

53. "Wanna bet?"

54. "Just say that you want me and I'm yours."

55. "I'm going to ruin you for anyone else."

56. "Wait you've never kissed a girl?"

57. "Where did all this attitude come from, princess?"

58. "Take my hand."

59. "Can I have your number?"

60. "You're an idiot." "Well yes, you'll have to be more specific."

61. "Quick! Pretend to be my girlfriend?"

62. "Run away with me."

63. "Are you going to be a good girl for mommy?"

64. "That collar looks so good on your pretty neck."

65. "Too bad, you're going to take every last fucking inch of me."

66. "Do you ever think before speaking?"

67. "Count them for me."

68. "You snore."

69. "Let's try that position." (I know, I know)

70. "Bullshit! You're telling me you just don't blush?" "Nope, never."

71. "Just tell her how you feel." "I'd rather get shot again."

72. "Oh my god are you okay?" "Yeah I'm fine, I've been stabbed before."

73. "Daddy?"

74. "Can't we go back to how things used to be?"

75. "Save a horse ride a cowgirl, amiright?"

76. "I like you. A lot."

77. "Is that the best you can do?"

78. "I'll consider kissing you if you can beat me."

79. "Please, pull the trigger."

80. "I'm not drunk enough for this."

81. "You can't run away from this forever."

82. "I know you're having nightmares again."

83. "Would you like me to whisper it in your ear?"

84. "Stop looking at me like that."

85. "Somebody's cranky." "Somebody needs to shut the fuck up."

86. "Get on your knees."

87. "How stupid do you think I am? Don't answer that."

88. "I can't sleep."

89. "Just relax, let me make you feel good."

90. "Close the door."

91. "Was that supposed to hurt?"

92. "I've wanted this for so long."

93. "You can do better than that. Beg for it."

94. "Controlling? Oh I'll show you controlling."

95. "You drive me fucking crazy!"

96. "Nobody needs to know."

97. "Take another step and you'll be dead before you open your fucking mouth again."

98. "Do they always look like that?" "Just when (x) is around."

99. "I made you a playlist."

100. "I know you said you would die for me but I didn't think you meant that literally!"

101. "Is that... blood?" "Huh? Oh yeah! Oh I'm fine it's not mine."

102. "Why are you always looking at me like that?" "Like what?"

103. "Hero? Please. You heroes have to win every time. But being the villain? I only have to win once."

104. "You've changed." "You haven't."

#scarletlizzard thoughts #500 followers #marvel #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda x reader #elizabeth olsen #elizabeth olsen x reader #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader

[strangerquinns]

Deadly Reunion| Chapter 11

Eddie Munson x female!reader // a stranger things apocalypse au

summary: You and Eddie have been best friends since childhood. But when the outbreak happened five years ago, you were torn from one another in the chaos. but now you’re left alone, after your group was killed by another radical crew, leaving you to seek out what was once home. // zombie apocalypse Hawkins set in 1993

warnings: angst + adult themes w/ descriptions of violence, blood, torture + other zombie apocalypse related issues

word count: 2.7k+

⪻ previous chapter | next chapter ⪼ | stranger things masterlist

The sun beat down on your warm skin as you walked along the side of the road of the one prominent highway that ran lead out of Hawkins. It had roughly been half a day since you, Robin, Eddie, Steve, and a couple others from camp headed out to continue the run for the supplies. Not before making sure Jonathan and one of the other guys, Josh, were set up well on getting Mike back to camp.

“Do you think he’ll be ok?” Robin spoke softly from beside you, the two of you more in the middle of the group.

It had been entirely since leaving the tiny home, the bodies of flayed littered across the forest floor, but all of you had your weapons out and on alert. Your eyes scanned the road slowly as a deep sigh passed through your lips, your gaze moving to her. You could see the clear worry in her brown eyes as she stared at you.

“I think Mike will be ok. He seemed like he was already coming out on the other side with the infected bite gone.” You spoke, before looking back ahead, “But time is only going to really tell. He’s gonna have to make a new normal with only having one arm.”

“Suck, he was so excited to finally be able to go on raids,” Robin shook her head, “Can only imagine how Mrs. Wheeler is going to freak when they get back.”

“Nancy and Mike still have their parents?” You asked out of curiosity.

“Mr. Wheeler died during the outbreak, he was at work in the city and never made it back. But Karen is still around, working with Joyce in the medical wing. Their little sister Holly helps in the daycare.”

“Daycare.” You let out a soft laugh, “Can’t believe how you guys were able to create the town all over again in a matter of years.”

“I mean…didn’t really have much of a choice. It was that or die.” Robin shrugged.

You nodded your head, “And you? Do you still have a family?”

“Uh…no…no, it’s just me.” Robin frowned slightly, “I have Steve. He’s practically family, and everyone at the Camp has been amazing.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” You spoke softly, a saddened look casting over your features. “I lost everyone too, so…I understand.”

Looking over his shoulder at the sound of voices, Eddie couldn’t help the flare-up of jealousy once again as he watched you and Robin talk together. He was far enough ahead that he couldn’t hear what you were talking about with Buckley. But it didn’t matter. Eddie hated that you were willing to speak to another, not him. Though he had a minor breakthrough for a small moment, Eddie knew he had a long way to go in getting your forgiveness.

“Not really able to keep an eye out of your looking back behind you, Munson,” Steve spoke, causing Eddie to quickly move his head forward. Giving Steve a slight glare. “Don’t get mad at me, just cause she didn’t want to pair up with you.”

Eddie shook his head, moving his rifle to be strapped across his back as he adjusted the bandana on his head, using it to hold his curls back from his face.

“Robin isn’t gonna steal your girl,” Steve spoke up after a moment of silence.

“And I don’t think she will,” Eddie rolled his eyes, moving his gun back into his hands once he was more comfortable. “Buckley isn’t really her type…and she’s not my girl.”

Eddie muttered the last part with a hint of sadness in his tone.

“Well there is obviously something there,” Steve spoke, “I don’t think I’ve seen you look at a girl since Sarah.”

Eddie winced slightly at the mention of her name, “She’s nothing like Sarah.”

Steve looked toward him with his brows pulled tightly together in confusion. What Steve didn’t understand with that statement was that, as much as he cared for Sarah, how he felt for you was much larger than anything he had with Sarah. You were his everything, and Sarah was the last bit he had of you when he thought you were gone.

“Sarah was her best friend,” Eddie spoke, giving that bit of information to Steve, before continuing. From the corner of his eye, Eddie could see the shock that washed over Steve’s face. “We all sort of…grew up together.”

“Ah,” Steve nodded, “So what she learned Sarah was gone? Pissed off you didn’t protect her or something?” Steve’s voice became tense as anger started to build within himself, his mind thinking of a scenario that wasn’t the truth. Trying to pull it out of Eddie. “You couldn’t have saved her even if you’d sacrificed yourself, Eddie. No one blames you; it was those fucking intruders that caused her death.

Eddie pressed his lips together tightly and nodded his head, “I know that. And…she doesn’t blame me either. It’s…deeper than that, Harrington.”

Steve nodded his head slowly, “Well, I’ve seen the way she looks at you, bro. Whatever had the two of you being tense with each other will be able to work itself out.”

Eddie swallowed thickly, “Yeah, maybe.”

But Eddie also knew that if the roles were reversed he wouldn’t forgive himself at all.

“Let's set camp,” Steve spoke, coming upon a small gas station off the road slightly, “Night is falling, and we should get some rest.”

Everyone followed one another toward the entrance of the station that was left slightly propped open. The station wasn’t big, a quick sweep of the front saw there wasn’t any monster hidden within, and the back office and break room also cleared. Steve and Mark collaborated to slide an old shelf in front of the front door, barricading anyone from entering. The moment the fresh air was cut off from the building, the dusty, mildew smell of the station quickly invaded your senses. You couldn’t help the twisted look of disgust on your face for a moment. But honestly, you’d stayed in worse.

“Think there is anything worthy in here?” Robin asked, slowly moving through the aisle that was mostly barren.

“If there is, it's most likely gonna be in someplace tucked away,” Steve sighed softly, taking off his pack and digging through it. Most likely for something to eat.

You watched as Eddie moved and took a seat at the counter, you hesitated for a moment, wanting to go to him, but instead, you held yourself back. You bit down on your lower lip before turning and finding an empty spot near the back where the empty beverage coolers stood.

“How much longer till we reach Redding?” a voice asked, “You looked up to see the other girl, Caroline.

“Another day, maybe two depending on if we have any more delays.” Steve sighed heavily, taking a bite of the jerky in his hand. “Pray we don’t hit another pack,”

“I don’t know, think we could’ve come out the other side worse than we did,” Robin spoke, now laid out with her pack as a pillow. "Mike was saved in the end, and now has a chance."

“Agree with Buckley,” Eddie’s voice sounded from the other side.

“Well, not taking chances,” Steve spoke looking around the station slowly, his eyes landing on you for a moment. There was a long pause before Steve spoke your name, along with Eddies. “Why don’t the two of you take the first watch? Have someone come and replace you in a couple of hours.”

You missed the look that Eddie shot toward Steve as you looked at Robin with wide eyes. She shrugged her shoulders slightly with a sympathetic look. You groaned slightly before grabbing a few things from your bag and moving to stand from your spot.

“There was an entrance at the back that lead up to the roof,” Steve spoke as he moved to lay back against his pack.

You followed close behind Eddie as he pushed through the backroom door, another door placed at the back wall. Opening the two of you were welcomed by a back staircase, leading up toward the roof. Eddie pushed on the maintenance door, gun drawn, and sweeping across the top of the small building. And just like inside, it was clear.  

The sky was filled with reds, oranges, and yellows as the sun started to set. Eddie walked over to sit on top of a unit, looking out toward the vacant road as the cooler wind moved around the two of you. Once again, you hesitated for a moment before walking over to sit with him. From the corner of your eye, you noticed his body stiffen.

Wasn’t long till you both were sitting in awkward silence.

It wasn’t till the sky was mostly purple and blue that either of you spoke.

“So…” Eddie cleared his throat, “Want to have that conversation now?”

You side-eyed him for a moment before shrugging your shoulders slightly, “Don’t really think we have much else to do.”

Eddie nodded, his lips pressed together tightly, as he scooped slowly over the horizon. “How much did Gareth tell you?”

“Not much,” Your voice was tight as you spoke, anxiety brewing within you. “Just mentioned that you two were together, didn’t take much to place the pieces together.”

“I didn’t tell you about us because I didn’t know how…I-I wasn’t ashamed of it. But what Sarah and I…what we had was nothing but comfort.”

You couldn’t help but scoff slightly, suddenly standing from where you sat beside him. Eddie’s eyes moved to follow you as you paced.

“What? You don’t believe that?” Eddie asked, defensive as he spoke. “She’d lost Jeff and I had come home to find that nothing else of our old was here. We both were seeking out something and found it with one another.”

“So what? She was your girlfriend?” You couldn’t stop the way your voice sneered as you said, girlfriend.

“What?” Eddie’s face screwed up slightly, “No. It was physical. We both cared for one another as friends.” Eddie paused for a moment. “What I can’t seem to understand is why you care so much? I told you Sarah had passed, and I thought that was a little more important than knowing that we had slept together.”

You couldn’t help the physical reaction to his words. Eddie hated himself as he saw the pain flash through your eyes. He moved to stand and move directly into your path, causing you to shuffle back from him. Eddie looked down at you with an intense stare that made butterflies erupt in your stomach.

“We weren’t together,” Eddie spoke. “So please…tell me why you’re so pissed off that I kept something that was really only between Sarah and me.”

Eddie knew the reason, but he wanted you to say. Wanted you to admit it. Finally, bring a conclusion to what had been haunting his mind all these years. That your drunken confession was the truth.

You opened your mouth a few times as you looked up toward him, a deer in headlights kind of look on your face.

“Sweetheart, come on,” Eddie spoke again, “Tell me? Cause I’ve been trying to think over and over again about what could possibly have caused you to be this mad at me? I didn’t break a bond or something, so tell me.”

“I can’t be mad at her,” You spoke, rubbing your hand over your face for a moment, before turning away from him and walking to the other end, “Because it wasn’t you that broke something, it was her. But Sarah isn’t here for me to be pissed off at.”

“So, I’m paying the price?” Eddie chuckled in disbelief, “Now how is that fucking fair?”

“You don’t get it, and you’re not going to.” You shook your head, feeling the burn of a headache behind your eyes.

“What did Sarah break,” Eddie pushed, walking closer to you.

You turned your eyes down and shook your head, hearing his footsteps grow closer and closer. Eddie could tell from your body language alone that you were fighting with yourself.

“Sweetheart,” Eddie reached and gently grabbed your shoulder, turning you to face him. “Talk to me, please.”

“You wouldn’t get it, Eddie,” You sighed, closing your eyes tightly.

“Try me,”

“Eddie, please…”

Eddie spoke your name firmly, “Tell me.”

You shook your head stubbornly.

“We aren’t going to be able to fix this if you don’t tell me,” Eddie spoke firmly, his voice rising slightly at the end. “Just speak!”

“Because I was in love with you! Fuck!” You snapped and stepped back away from him further, your eyes wide as you stared toward him, “Because I was in love with you, and she fucking knew that.”

Eddie looked as shocked as he stared at you, listening to the words he dreamt of hearing once again for years.

“Do you have any fucking idea how much it hurts…to know that she got to have you? She knew, Eddie, she knew how I felt and that wasn’t a thought in her mind.” Your throat itched with the burn of tears behind your eyes. Eddie started to become a blur as tears slowly moved down your cheeks. “So, I can’t be mad at her, I can’t scream at her for fucking breaking the number one rule in friendship. I don’t care if you guys thought I was dead,” Anger moved back into your words. “I would have never done that to her.”

Eddie stood there and watched you as the silence started to fall between the two of you once again. He felt frozen for only a moment before his body reacted to your words. Eddie took a few steps across to you, before grabbing your face gently with his hands.

You didn’t have a moment to think, let alone speak, as he pulled you toward him. Eddie’s lips pressed firmly against yours. You stood stiff in his arms before your hands moved to caress his forearms and melted into his touch. One of Eddie’s hands moved down along your body before wrapping his arm around you. Your body was flush against his as his lips moved against yours.

Eddie reveled in the feel of your lush lips against his, the taste of you, the feel of you pressed into him.

Nothing else mattered in the world to him at that moment.

Just you, and him.

The soft whimper you made as his tongue ran against your bottom lip shot straight through his body. The two of you stood there lost in the other before the need for air won and caused the two of you to pull away. But not far from the other. Both of you panted slightly as you stayed close, Eddie’s hand caressing your cheek.

“You have no idea how much I prayed to hear you say those words to me,” Eddie spoke, pressing his forehead against yours. “I thought I had dreamt it all this time,”

You looked up toward him with your brows pinching slightly in confusion, “Dreamt it?”

Eddie nodded and ran his tongue along his bottom lip, “You remember your 21st birthday? The same day the scout came and saw Corroded?” You nodded your head slowly, “I took you back home, do you remember anything else happening that night?”

“Uh, outside of passing out and waking up with the worst hangover of my life the new morning? No.” You chuckled slightly.

“You told me that you loved me,” Eddie spoke, causing your laughing to die slowly. “I was washing your face for you, and you muttered it under your breath. I waited…hoped, that you’d remember it in the morning. But you never did.”

“I did?” Eddie nodded his head slowly, taking a small step back from you, but not too far. “I never said anything, scared that I’d heard you wrong. Or it was a mistake. But then it came time for us to leave for LA a year later, and you didn’t come…and I thought…I thought if you had loved me you would’ve come.”

You closed your eyes tightly, “Oh, Eddie.”

“You still only mad at Sarah?” He whispered softly, terrified of the answer.

He pulled out of your arms, before grabbing the pack from his pocket. You felt frozen as you stood there, still with the taste of Eddie on your lips, unsure now of how to feel. He lit a cigarette before bringing it to his lips and taking a long drag. The smoke moved through the air before him.

Not gonna lie, struggled a little with this one. I didn't wanna drag that impending "conversation" much longer. Love a good angry love confession. So please let me know your thoughts on this. Eddie and Reader aren't 100% out of the woods, but we're making progress. But hey, they kissed, that's something....right?

thank you for the support, it's deeply appreciated!

taglist:

@mopeymopeymouse / @aris-house / @brxkenartt /@akiratoro420 /@stylesxmunson / @aactuaaltraash / @fandomgirl17 / @ches-86/ @chaoticcancer / @munsonology / @bellamy-barnes / @theonlyh3artbreaker / @idkidknemore / @familyvideowithsteve / @eddiesdingus / @thefemininemystiquee / @the-world-is-a-mess-and-so-am-i / @xdarkcreaturex / @lunr-flwr / @cherry-omi/ @im-emma22@munson-enthusiast / @munsonmecrazy / @jupitar-jul / @katiemrty/ @maddie-luvs-eddie /@eddiemusworld/ @ih3artdanielle / @eddiesguitarskills / @hargrovesswifee /@chaoticcancer / @rh1nestonecowg1rl / @atombombbibunny /@munson-enthusiast / @hellf-1-re / @fangirling-4-ever / @corrcdedcoffin /@sidthedollface2 / @emma77645 / @eddiiiieeee

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson imagine #stranger things au #stranger things x reader #stranger things x y/n #stranger things x female reader #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfic #stranger things imagine

[faerievampling]

Killing Time

Chapter 11: Stargirl

Pairing: Soft ascended Astarion x female vampire tav/reader

Summary: Astarion and you handle the aftermath of your captivity; a celestial patron comes to visit his favorite new warlock, and Lae’zel thinks the vampire couple need to get a room.

Warning: 18+. Mention of past SA. Light dub-con touching.

Word Count: 4.8k

M.List (all chapters of Killing Time are there!)

Link to Ao3!

picture creds to @cheekylittlepupp<3

Angel’s sudden appearance causes quite the commotion, especially considering the second thing Angel said was regarding the lewd painting of you hanging on the wall; Astarion’s demanding you tell him who this strange, naked thing was in your bedroom, all while Angel plays with his hair, carelessly twirling a black strand around his finger.

“Oh yeah, I totally saved your girl!”Angel exclaims, his scarlet and golden eye twinkling, mirroring your own. You think Astarion is too stunned to speak. Angel wasn’t particularly threatening, but married men do not often take kindly to seeing other naked men so close to their marital bed, unless invited, of course. 

You curl your hand around Astarion’s bicep, shamelessly taking a second to admire the hardness and shape of it before stepping in front of him, squaring yourself up to your patron. Your admiration of your husband’s body has you briefly ruminating on that drow, that shell of a man that you enjoyed. You can’t recall how he died.

“You tore off his jaw and ripped out his tongue, and then your spawn dismembered him and set him on fire!” Angel explains with excitement. “You were really screaming at that one, too, that pretty one. But I got outta there after a while. You sounded like a banshee! It was horrible~”

“He’s my patron. Not a very useful one,” You explain as Astarion grabs your hand, prompting you to swivel your head, meeting his gaze. You see the desperation in your husband’s eyes, his desire to know what all has happened to his beloved. “He removed the silver on one of my legs, and I freed him from some box in Geldon Moth’s weird museum before I attacked.”

“I unlocked the doors for you, didn’t I?” Angel replies, reaching for your hand before you can wretch it away from his grasp. 

You hadn’t even noticed the doors beyond the first one that you had to use a scroll to open. “You promised to get me back to Astarion! I don’t even know how many vampires I had to kill with my bare fucking hands. And I was walking in the woods for hours!”

“Don’t be mad, girl. I knew you’d be okay. A master always finds his pet, and with all those ancient draconic magical barriers the dude had up, when he died, I knew your husband would find you. And he did, and you’re fine now, hurray!” Angel brings your hand to his lips, planting a kiss in your palm, causing Astarion to growl next to you.

“Don’t kiss my wife,” Astarion demands, baring his fangs as he gently tugs you to him, but Angel still holds onto your wrist, his grip only becoming more firm.

“Don’t be married to my favorite payee! Aha~” Angel smiles at Astarion, only making your vampire scowl deeper. “Listen, beautiful,” Angel looks to you. 

“No-no, you listen –“ You start, but before you can continue, Angel interrupts.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about our little eye exchange! Please forgive me, Mrs. Ancunín,” Angel says, finding the intent of your words in your head, seemingly thinking it was a waste of breath. He  doesn’t wait for you to respond before continuing. 

“Anyways, I’ve got two things for you: a new task and a new pact boon, so c’mere,” Angel says as he tugs you closer, breaking you away from Astarion’s grasp. Angel’s touch feels like the first time you met him: warm, inviting…almost safe. His hands move to either side of your face, and you realize he’s about to kiss you. 

Astarion lunges at him, but Angel is unaffected, having teleported across the room in the blink of an eye. Whatever form Angel has taken was rather powerful, and he simply raises an eyebrow at the two of you as Astarion pulls you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you defensively. 

“I’ve held my tongue and my arm because you clearly have some dealings with my wife, but you certainly won’t be kissing her, you mongrel,” Astarion’s voice comes out a deep growl, guttural, and you can’t remember the last time you heard him sound that way. “Keep your hands to yourself!”

“Your faces are just too pretty to be so stinky. Cheer up!” Angel practically twinkles, his radiance making you feel some sort of kinship for his light, deep inside of you. “I’m not gonna hurt her. I love Tav! I need her!”

“Don’t say you love my wife, either.”

“How could I not love her? I’m her God,” Angel’s arms fold, his almond eyes devastating you even from across the room. He has an air of eroticism about him, something that deeply stirs you and Astarion both. It has some particular effect on you, but you hardly understand it.

Despite this, you cling to Astarion, practically begging him not to attack Angel again: it just felt like a really really bad idea, and your gut churned at the thought. 

“What do you need me to do?” Yousound measured, leveled, your stomach still bubbling with anxiety. 

“Well, okay, see – there’s this relic I need you to get. It’s actually a sword, or a spear, and I just so happen to know exactly where it is!” Angel’s stare is fixated on you. “Go on. Ask me where it is.”

You grit your teeth. “Where is it?”

“The ruins of Baldur’s Gate!” Angel brings out his hands, allowing this to ruminate, but you and Astarion hardly react. “Oh, come on. That’s the old stomping grounds, right? I hear most of the statues of the six heroes and several of Grand Duke Ravengard still stand today.”

“Were you even alive when we lived in Baldur’s Gate? Were you even alive when it fell?” Astarion asks, his frustration apparent. 

“Does it really matter? I need this weapon, and Tav is going to get it for me,” Angel’s composure falls for just a moment; you think he’s annoyed, maybe tired, but he hardly shows it. When he’s put the mask back on, the look in his eyes is one of desire.

“And now for the boon.” Angel slowly walks over to you, his hand outstretched towards you. You find yourself looking deeply into his eyes, the warm gold and the decadent crimson bringing you a sense of familiarity. You feel comfortable and seen, and you’re tempted to take his hand.

“What is this, Tav?” Astarion asks you angrily, his voice rasping in your ear.

“I think…I think I know,” You say, stepping out of Astarion’s arms. Astarion doesn’t hold you back, but he scowls deeper than ever, his eyes watering in anger and jealousy. A kiss must be part of the pact.

“You do know. The part of me that’s in you knows,” Angel says as his hand meets yours. “And the part of you that’s in me wants it. It’s just a little kiss…think of it as a team building exercise; although, there are more intimate ways we could do that.”

“You dare –“ Astarion begins.

“Astarion,” You interrupt, breaking your once locked-in gaze with Angel, turning to your lover. Astarion’s ears almost flatten as you look at him, his eyes rounding at you. You can tell how difficult this is for him: for you both. 

“Don’t, Tav,” Astarion pleads. The desperation in his voice devastates you. He brings his voice to a whisper: “Please.”

You step back towards Astarion, away from Angel. 

“She kinda doesn’t have a choice, if that makes you feel better!” Angel exclaims, his smile ceaseless. “Besides, what was the point of all of this if you won’t accept my full power? I know you want it, girl.”

You fight to hold your tongue at this last part; the tension in the room was already so thick with Astarion fuming next to you, you think arguing with Angel will only make it worse. 

Astarion puffs his chest. “She won’t be doing anything until I’ve reviewed her contract terms.”

Angel is uncharacteristically silent. Astarion looks at you, and your face says it all. “Darling, do not tell me. Don’t you dare say that you don’t know.” Astarion’s face darkens, a shadow crossing over his eyes as he glares at you.

“I don’t know them.” You look at your feet as you say this. Your husband used to be a magistrate: he was educated in law and politics, oversaw many aspects of government in Toril, and to be very clear, was very very knowledgeable on contracts. The fact that his own wife didn’t think to ask about the terms simply angers him.

“I didn’t know what else to do. I was so desperate,” You explain, feeling something white and hot rise within you. “Must I explain myself to you?”

Astarion’s eyes widen at your irritation, but Angel hardly gives him time to speak.

“She was so desperate! So eager,” Angel says, twirling his hair with a finger. “Geldon Moth likes to break his toys. You’re lucky she’s even alive. Thanks to me, of course.”

The truth of his words slice through you. The sheer emotion Astarion puts off is cold, harsh, and you feel yourself tense up further, your nails digging into your palm. Angel doesn’t really seem to notice or care.

“Give them to me, now.” Astarion is a force to be reckoned with when angered, and you can tell he’s trying to be measured here. 

“Tav, close your left eye. It’s been there the whole time!” Angel explains. “You just gotta, like, think about it and focus on it.” Angel takes a breath before muttering, “I think.”

“What in the hells do you mean by ‘I think’? Are you using my woman–“

“Your wife, Astarion, I’m your wife,” You interject. 

“That you are. And you are my very life, Tav,” Astarion amends before turning to Angel. “My wife is your first warlock, isn’t she?”

Angel smiles, giving Astarion a wink. 

You curse him under your breath as you cover your left eye with your hand, trying to focus on Angel and what he provided you. But on the inside, you don’t feel any different. Still coming to terms with the separation of your mind from Astarion’s, it was hard to feel anything but his absence. 

But still, Angel didn’t lie. The words of the terms begin to appear before your eyes, glittering in cursive gold behind your lid. 

“I can’t lie, you know,” Angel’s smile turns into a smirk, and it is almost smug – almost.

“That’s a myth.” Astarion crosses his arms. “Don’t spin tales to my wife like that. I won’t let her hear it. And don’t –“

“Before you say that next part, I can’t help reading minds. It’s something that never stops!”

“What in the hells, Angel,” You turn, interrupting the men’s banter, the churning in your gut making you feel sick. 

****

Covenant of the Pleasurable Exchange

This document serves as a binding agreement between [True Name], hereinafter referred to as “The Patron,” a being of celestial descent and terrestrial fall, and Tav Ancunín, hereinafter referred to as “Mrs. Ancunín,” an ancient being of vampiric origin. 

I. Granting of the Boon

The Patron hereby agrees to bestow upon Mrs. Ancunín a boon of significant power, the nature of which shall be determined by the needs and the will of The Patron.

II. The Sacred Exchange

The granting of the aforementioned boon is contingent upon the completion of a Sacred Exchange, to be carried out in two parts, detailed as follows:

The Twilight Kiss: Mrs. Ancunín shall bestow upon The Patron a kiss, symbolizing the merging of life and undeath. This act shall also initiate the transfer of energies between the two parties, allowing The Patron to feed off the sexual energy of Mrs. Ancunín, in a manner that sustains The Patron’s existence within the mortal realm.

The Aetherial Gaze: Mrs. Ancunín and The Patron shall exchange one eye each, symbolizing a deep understanding and shared vision between the realms of life and undeath. Other parts of the body may be exchanged with the mutual consent of The Patron and Mrs. Ancunín, the powers of which to be determined at the time of exchange.

III. Conditions and Responsibilities

Sustenance of The Patron: Mrs. Ancunín acknowledges the necessity for The Patron to feed off her sexual energy as part of the Sacred Exchange. This sustenance is limited to the energy produced through the act of the Twilight Kiss and any subsequent acts agreed upon by both parties, respecting the boundaries of consent and willingness. Other sexual acts may be performed to provide sustenance to The Patron. 

Protection of the Shared Vision: Upon the exchange of eyes, both The Patron and Mrs. Ancunín are bound to protect the new vision granted by this covenant. The Patron and Mrs. Ancunín acknowledge the permanency of the exchange of eyes and all other bodily exchanges.

Secrecy and Discretion: The terms of this covenant, along with the powers and insights gained from it, shall remain a closely guarded secret, shared only between The Patron and Mrs. Ancunín. 

IV. Termination

This covenant may be dissolved under conditions mutually agreed upon by both parties. However, the insights and powers gained shall remain.

V. Signatures

This covenant is sealed with a kiss, paid for by Mrs. Ancunín to The Patron on the date of 19 Ches, 3502 D.R.

****

“What the fuck. This isn’t okay,” Your words coming hurling from your lips as you bare your fangs at Angel. Sexual energy? Sustenance? The exchange of body parts? Secrecy?

“What? What does it say?” Astarion asks, his voice frantic as he puts his hands on you again, grabbing at your waist. 

Angel smiles at you. “This is a fairly common contract, girl. And the secrecy clause is the only part of the contract you can talk about. Now that I’m free, I really do need that kiss.”  Angel pouts, his eyebrows knitting together. “And you’ll really need the boon for your task, I promise you. One little kiss is all I need, and you’ll have your power. You’ll have to complete the task either way, ha~”

The white hot rage within you wells up to your chest. It hurts, tightening your muscles and making your bones ache, so much that it makes you want to scream, or maybe cry, you aren’t sure which. 

“Get out of my face,” You sneer, your fangs bared. You’ve put yourself in front of Astarion. You felt so empty inside, you’re grasping at something to connect you back to yourself, the only thing yearning inside of you is the desire to offensively protect. “Get off my territory. Begone, son of Lastai!” 

Angel tilts his head down, his eyes looking sharp. His pretty lips still hold his hallmark smile. “I can see you’re upset, Mrs. Ancunín. I’ll come back later.”

The moment he’s gone, you’ve given yourself over to Astarion, wrapping your arms around his neck, bringing him into a close hug. He immediately reciprocates, his arms firmly around you. 

“I promise I will get you out of this,” Astarion whispers. He plants a wet kiss to the scar on your forehead, pressing the tip of his nose to your skin as he speaks. 

“We did it for Wyll all those years ago.” Astarion pulls away from you, so that he can meet your far off gaze. His eyes are rounded, his eyebrows turned down with worry. “Remember him, my love?”

But your eyes are wild, because you can’t stop thinking that all of this is your fault. Astarion cups your cheeks, his thumbs gently rubbing at your temples. 

“I don’t know what to do, Tav…” Astarion begins, but his words are failing him. “I love you. Nothing that occurred during your captivity could ever make me love you any less.” Astarion’s voice cracks, and you know he’s (trying not to) thinking of his own past. 

“Love…” You say, as you too are at a loss for words. All you can do is gently caress his jaw as you bring his lips to yours, rubbing the tip of your nose to his after you’ve released yourself from a passionate embrace. 

When you arrive at Astarion’s office, hand in hand with your forever love, Lae’zel keeps her face straight. Your appearance doesn’t frighten her, but fills her heart with sorrow. Your eye, your scars – Lae’zel can’t help but notice the long sleeves you wore and the marks that marred your neck. You were still beautiful, and the longer Lae’zel studied you, the more powerful and bright your aura became: you are more stunning to her than you’d ever been. And by the obvious way Astarion can’t take his eyes off you, Lae’zel knew he felt the same. 

“I’m very relieved to see you, Tav.” Lae’zel smiles, her tone sweeter than usual. She brings you into an awkward hug, which you accept, patting her on the back. You really do mean it, this hug, and you’re relieved to see your old friend: but a touch that wasn’t Astarion’s was a touch that may not be safe. You briefly wonder if even your husband’s touch was safe. 

You also wonder if Lae’zel’ blood is as thick and sweet as it smells…“I’m glad to see you too. Did you get that thing I grabbed for you?”

“I did. That was…” Lae’zel wasn’t about to hurt your feelings. You had grabbed Orpheus’s prison for her, which was something Lae’zel hadn’t particularly wanted, but she had a feeling you knew not what it was. “Thank you. I was glad to see some items from our adventure still remain.”

“It had githyanki letters on it. And it smelled like you, and I remember you being really concerned about it. I was concerned about it too, I’m sure. So I grabbed it.” 

Astarion and Lae’zel look at each other, and you see the gith is trying to restrain her laughter. When you study your husband closer, you realize he too is trying not to laugh. 

Stupid. You’re stupid. They also think you’re stupid. You frown, your eyebrows knitting together as you look at the two of them. “What? You both laugh because I can’t remember?”

Your question comes out sounding more angry than you intend. Lae’zel and Astarion look surprised at your outburst. Astarion has his hands on you immediately, softly petting and cooing at you to calm down, that they meant nothing by it.

“My love, you used to throw this relic around camp, kicking it into the dirt, cursing at the damned thing to open. You and Lae’zel would…” Astarion looks to Lae’zel expectantly.

“Smack talk. Shit talk, if you will,” Lae’zel adds with a light smile, trying to lighten the mood. 

“The two would decimate this thing with your words,” Astarion explains. “And once we discovered the tentacled freak inside, you didn’t stop.”

“Thank you for bringing it to me, Tav. This symbolizes the very reason why we fight this war with Vlaakith,” Lae’zel speaks softly, offering you a smile. “I think Orpheus will find this very interesting.”

You take a deep breath, but you can’t shake your thoughts of the red dragonborn. “He called me stupid a lot. Because I couldn’t remember.”

Astarion’s shoulders tense, but he says nothing.

“But he could?” Lae’zel asks. 

“Yes.”

Lae’zel pauses, having to find her words. “His estate is in ash. We attempted to scout the area as much as possible, but the underground part of the palace is completely inaccessible.”

“You’re saying everything is gone?”

Lae’zel nods. “It’s hardly safe for anyone to go down there.”

You let your memories mull within you, trying to decide whether you should share. The past is so painful, and you knew it would hurt if you started to talk about it.

“He had so much stuff down there. He had been collecting for a long time,” You say as you walk over to lounge on Astarion’s daybed. It was luxurious and comfortable, but it was apparent it hadn’t been lived in. Astarion sat at your feet, putting your bottom half in his lap. You think this position may be a little intimate to be doing in front of Lae’zel, but you know Astarion only means to hold you in some way. He sighs as he unlaces your shoes (annoyed after having just laced them for you), revealing your freshly polished toes, one hand resting at the arch of your foot, the other wrapped around your calf. 

Astarion had given you the pedicure himself. The job wasn’t quite perfect, but he thought you looked pretty regardless. “You’re so perfect.”

Lae’zel sits at Astarion’s desk, crossing her arms, getting down to business. If she didn’t stop this sappy love fest, it would never end. “We will have more time for a reunion later. The others who remained at the crèche have already made their way to Fort Lash’ki, a city nestled deep in the Astral.” 

“We won’t be returning to the Crystalline Spire?” You ask as you lightly kick at Astarion, who has run his finger up your foot teasingly, trying to make you smile again. When you finally relent, flashing him your fangs as you laugh, Lae’zel is relieved to see Astarion’s own smile. But it made her realize that Astarion truly doesn’t see anyone but you, and you hardly would see anyone but him, reminding her of the past: of when she first realized you were no longer hers. 

Lae’zel glares at Astarion for failing to tell you. She expected this, but it irritates her just the same. “No. The plan was to fly to the Astral after the banquet, and there have been many moons since then.”

“But –“ Astarion begins.

“But you demand that we cannot leave until we find some solution for the silver, I know.”

“And there’s also another little kink in our plan,” Astarion’s smirk nearly fails him. 

Your eyes are shifting to your right leg. Angel’s influence has you staring at it. Is this an offer? Before Astarion can continue, you blurt,“I think we should ask Angel to remove it.”

Lae’zel releases the greatest sigh known to man. “Explain.”

****

The meeting with Lae’zel took more out of you than you were willing to admit, but Astarion notices, pushing back your reunion with your warriors, the two of you retreating to your bedroom once more. 

“My leg burns,” You say; you can’t help but look at Astarion expectantly, as if he has the magic key to your freedom from pain. “It hurts.”

“I know, my love. I’m sorry,” Astarion lays you down, bringing you some wine to take off the edge. “You’ve moved it a lot today. Just try to rest for now.”

Astarion gathers you in his arms, which you joyously accept, the warmth of his body sending shivers down your spine. The two of you are like puzzle pieces, fitting together perfectly as you both reach a level of comfort that could only be achieved with one another. You sit in silence for a while; Astarion hums a tune to you, your eyes beginning to close as you nearly drift off. 

But your mind remains disturbed. “I’ve never felt more physical pain in my life than when I woke up with one on each limb.” But after just a beat, your courage fails you : “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Your voice comes out weak as Astarion brushes through your hair with his fingers, his nails lightly trailing against your skin. 

“That’s alright,” Astarion replies, his voice smooth and soft.

You turn over, facing him. The two of you lie down on your side, where you gaze deeply into his eyes for some time. You’re trying to read each other, to see into one another’s soul.

“I love you, Star.” You say, remembering how you spoke those words aloud before you fought Moth, not knowing if you would ever see your husband again. Astarion doesn’t try to hide the tears in his eyes, and you swipe a thumb across his cheek before popping it into your mouth, tasting the salt of his tears.

As you rest, Astarion finds himself unable to stop staring at the remaining silver band on your body. He tries to busy himself, massaging you or reading to you throughout the day, but it bothers him to no end. One hand idly rubbing the arch of your foot, Astarion inspects the band closer, whispering a few spells to try to pinpoint the magic – nothing he and dozens of practiced wizards and healers hadn’t already tried before. 

Later, after a quiet dinner, Astarion reads to you before you fall back to sleep. The sensation of the constant burning is exhausting to you, and you were sleeping far more than a vampire should.

Astarion has laid out his studies on the floor of your bedroom, a couch cushion as a seat as he sorts through his best knowledge bases. He runs his hands through his hair, trying to focus on the task at hand: gathering what information he could on celestial contracts.

The kiss is part of the contract. Astarion knows that is fairly common, especially for a celestial hailing from the pleasure domain. Angel must get something from the kiss, Astarion knows. But the exchange of eyes. That can’t be common: self sacrifice is, but an exchange? 

The last of Astarion’s focus leaves him as you murmur something incoherent in your sleep, rolling over onto your back. Astarion jumps up from his cross legged position, sitting at the edge of your bed as he studies you. 

You had wanted to cover up during your visit with Lae’zel despite Astarion’s assurance of your beauty. But now, as Astarion watches you sleep, he was never more sure about your exquisite appearance.

You slept in just panties and one of Astarion’s old linen shirts. You had one leg out straight while the other was bent, resembling a ballerina. Adorable. Your hands were thrown above your head, having long abandoned your pillow. 

Astarion can’t help but slide his hand beneath your shirt, feeling your soft, supple skin, doing his best not to wake you. He pushes his nose into your hair, breathing in deeply, taking your scent in. He wants to taste your blood: he’s craving it, so deeply it makes his mouth water and his fangs ache with anticipation.

You stir, nuzzling into him further. Excited by your reciprocation, Astarion begins to pepper kisses on your face, careful not to bother, while also feeding that desire within him to make you his once again. Just knowing you were here to freely touch, to kiss, to hold. His cock is so hard it’s almost painful, and he wants to be enveloped in your wet, gummy walls. He knows you’d be so tight, so delicious, and he’s already imagining the smell of your arousal. 

But it had only been a few days since your triumph, still weak from the silver and the fright of it all. Astarion taking you during the heat of your arrival was one thing, but he knew this was another. Trying to take you now would be wrong of him…wouldn’t it?

Astarion fights his intrusive thoughts, the one that wants to open you up, force his way through to you. He imagines you fighting a great red beast away, only to be overpowered and taken. The other intrusive thought, the one where you are moaning, whimpering, coming for a handsome man, one far larger than Astarion himself, cuts into him almost just as deep.

His desire to dominate fills his entire being. Astarion blames his nature as your master as his hand comes to rest at the base of your throat, his other hand tangling in your hair. “I miss you, my love.”

His words are meant to rouse you, to wake you so that he could conquer your body. But when your eyes open, you’ve grabbed him, the two of you flying across the room as you bring him to the ground, your legs straddling his torso. Astarion hadn’t anticipated your movement but tried to protect you as much as he could, his own body hitting the ground with a loud thump. Your knees knocked into the marble, but Astarion saw no signs of pain in your eyes, only fury.

No. That isn’t right. Because he can see the sadness and pain within you, and it foamed so close to the edge that it was spilling over. Astarion begins using his words to calm you, because he was good at it, and he didn’t know how else to comfort you if you wouldn’t accept his touch or his cock.

“It’s me, you’re alright, I’m sorry I woke you, please calm down–”

You bare your fangs as you back away from him, your eyes darting wildly around the bedroom before you swiftly turn into a bat. You fly towards the open balcony, Astarion following you in tow. 

****

Masterlist

taglist: @viowolf

#soft ascended astarion #astarion x reader #ascended astarion x reader #astarion x female tav #ascended astarion x female tav #spawn tav #vampire tav #lord astarion #ascended astarion x you #astarion x you #Killing Time

[hunted-moth]

Just Like Him: The Before Times 

Word count // 7k

Summary // Y/n is just a normal girl who loves to hunt with her dad. She has a loving and attentive mom. Her relationship with her brother is rocky at best but she still loves her small little life. That is until it's all turned upside down after she gets into an accident, with her dad passing away and her mom flushing her life down the toilet how is she supposed to manage when the world ends with it?

Warning // Language, character death(not twd cast), Talks of death, violence, the killing of walkers, 

Special Thanks to @catbunblue302 and my friend for editing/proofreading this with me, it would be a disaster if they didn't lol

OTHER STUFF// This is just the prologue, it's kind of important but you don't have to read it. But I gave Y/n the nickname Bear, idk why but I love it so im keeping it. She also has shorter hair in the beginning and in my mind is Biracial but her race isn't brought up very much. But things like hair texture, skin color, and eye color aren't mentioned or described so it is up to you how Y/n looks to you

A/N // its in gods hands now. this is like half edited by someone who knows what they're doing and the other half done by me at like 11:00 at night.

***: Major time Skip/scene change

*: small time skip/scene change

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

     ~~~2005~~~

             It was early in the morning, maybe five or six. You were fast asleep dreaming about nothing and everything, but while you lay sleeping, a figure crept into the room being careful not to wake you.

When he got to your bed, he hovered over it ready to pounce on you. You were snoring into the night, unaware of what was about to happen as he snaked his hands under the cover skillfully and-

“Wake up, bear! We got lots to do kid.” Your Dad tickled your sides as you yelped and writhed from joy. 

“Dad! Sto-stop I can't brea-breathe,” you laughed. 

He smiled down at you before he got up, releasing that classic dad grunt while laughing quietly.

“Alright, get dressed, then get something to eat.” 

You smirked up at him and flung your cover off yourself. 

“Already one step ahead of you,”you say, revealing to him that you were already dressed in your hunting clothes, minus your boots. 

He chuckled quietly, careful not to wake up his wife and stepson. He nodded his head, telling you to get up and go to the kitchen. You rushed to the kitchen, grabbed a bowl and spoon, and had some fruity pebbles. Your dad just had a pop-tart that he popped in the toaster. 

While he was waiting for it to ding, he looked at you. He saw you scarf down your food as fast as you could.

“You know you can enjoy it, right?” he teased, but you just looked up at him while the spoon was still in your mouth. 

“I know, just eager to leave.” Your mouth was full and milk streamed out of your mouth. 

Your dad just rolled his eyes and chuckled.

POP!

He grabbed his food and went to sit with you. Looking up, you asked him a question. “So what are we doing today?” 

Your dad took a bite of his pop-tart. “Hmm, well I was thinking about going into town and getting some more snacks for the trip. Maybe some extra bug spray.” 

You nodded at that. “Yeah, they love me for some reason.” 

He smirked. “Yeah, it's ‘cause you got sweet blood, they like it.” 

Your eyes widened. “WHAT!” You practically yelled. 

You covered your mouth hoping not to awaken your half-brother and mom.

But it didn't help. 

“The hell’s all this racket!?” Your older brother, Jason, stormed in with an annoyed and tired look on his face. 

You looked at your brother when he walked over. He was three years older which made it easier for him to ignore you. He was indifferent towards you, like you didn't matter to him. The only time he gave you any attention was when you irritated him, like you were bothering him with your existence. 

Jason and your dad had a hard relationship. For some reason, Jason was always rude to him. Whenever your mom wanted to tease Jason she would explain how when she and Dad had started dating Jason would throw fits when Dad came over. And how Jason would stare at your dad with a mean glare. Jason had the meanest glare, it could put the old judgy ladies at church to shame.

“Sorry, son, me and your sister were just talking about our trip.”

Jason seemed to glare at the word ‘son’. Your brother looked at the clock on the wall with a sleepy stare. “It's five in the mornin', so stop yellin' in the house, Y/n.'' He looked down at you as he walked over and made a bowl of cereal, the same as you. 

“O-okay, sorry.” You looked down meekly at your nearly empty bowl. 

Your dad sighed, “Well, we're about to leave.”He looked at Jason. “You sure you don't want to come with us, Jason? Wouldn’t be any trouble.” 

He responded with a quick “No.”

Relief washed over you. 

“I’d rather shoot by myself than with her.” He glared at you. 

You looked away from his glare and shrank into yourself.

Your Dad sighed and got up. You copied him and went to put your bowl in the sink. You rushed to your room and went to get your bag and put your boots on. By the time you left, it was about five-thirty in the morning, and the sun was already starting to rise as you and your dad got into his truck and started driving to town.

Looking out the window, you could see the familiar trees and a few birds flying by. You always loved the woods. It was quiet, yet the singing of birds could still be heard in the distance. Looking into the rearview mirror, you could see your cabin disappearing in the distance. 

“You excited, kid?”

Turning your head, you looked at your dad with a smile, “Yes!” you exclaimed excitedly.

Your dad chuckled. “Oh, I bet, bear, but uhh, been wanting to talk to ya ‘bout something.”

You tilted your head with curiosity. “What, Dad?” 

He sighed lightly. “Yer teacher called your Momma and me yesterday to discuss your schooling. They said you were falling behind in yer work, withdrawing from other kids, and advised me to talk to you. Can you tell me why, bear?”

You looked out the window without answering. 

“I won't push you right now, but if you ever want to talk,” he trailed off and rubbed your shoulder the best he could while driving.

***

              By the time the truck made it to town, the sun was up. The truck pulled into the mini-mart. You jumped out of the truck and waited for your dad, before sprinting into the mart and grabbing different snacks you liked. You had an armful by the time you returned to your dad at the counter.

He looked down and his eyes widened at your selection. “Jeez, Bear, you going into hibernation?” He let out a hearty laugh. Grinning at him, you put your snacks on the checkout counter.

“One thing I love about you two coming in here-” The owner started to ring up your stuff, “I always make money.” 

Your dad waved his hand at them dismissively before grabbing the bags and handing them to you.

“Let's get a move on, don't want to miss any of the good spots.” Hopping into the truck, Dad started it and headed out to your campsite.

***

             A few hours had passed by the time you made it to the site. Hopping out of the truck, you went around back to the truck bed and grabbed your bag and bow. Your dad set up the tents and you set up the fire pit, gathering some rocks and stacking them, then went to find some sticks.

When it all was done, your dad came over and patted you on the shoulder. “Ready, Bear?” 

You looked up at him. “Yeah!” 

You grabbed your bow and followed him into the woods. Stopping at a clearing, your dad put his stuff down and stood next to you.

“All right, Y/n, you remember what I taught you?” He knelt as you grabbed an arrow and drew your bow back. 

“Where do you want me to shoot?” You looked at him. 

He thought for a moment, looking around, till he stopped his gaze at a certain tree with a unique-looking branch that hung low on the ground. He pointed. “See the knot in the tree? Shoot that.” 

You nodded your head and tightened the bow once more. 

You held your breath and focused on the knot on the branch, taking a second before you released your arrow. You heard a thunk as it hit the tree and you looked to see if you had hit the knot, but sadly your aim was a little off. It was a few inches to the right. “Aww, I missed it.” You kicked the dirt slightly.

Your dad stood up and went to retrieve the arrow. “It’s ok, sweetheart, you're getting better just remember that.” He tried to cheer you up. “Remember when I first took you out here? Your arrow would be two or three feet away from the target.” 

You smiled to yourself.“Thanks, Dad.”

He walked over and crouched down to your height. “Now let's try again.”

He handed you your arrow and ruffled your hair. You smiled to yourself. Regaining your stance, you drew back your bow and released another arrow. You hit it closer every time. And when you finally manage to hit it after your third time, you jumped up and down in joy. 

“Good job, Bear, why don't we try something harder hmm?”

You nodded, and he took your quiver, put it over his shoulder, and took your hand, leading you deeper into the woods.

***

             It took hours before you returned to your camp, the whole time spent practicing your aim on things besides the normal target. By the time the sun was down, your dad decided it was time to head back.

*

             Your dad had started the fire and was cooking some hot dogs for the two of you. “You have fun, Bear?” 

You look at him. “Yeah, I got better at my aim I think. What about you Dad?” You ask, tilting your head at him. 

“Hmm, it was amusing to see you miss sometimes.” He pulled out your food from the fire while you groaned with embarrassment. 

You ate your food while looking up at the stars. “Hey Dad, what's that one called?” You pointed up at the sky. 

“Hmm, I think it's Orion. He was a skilled hunter who used a bow, and some say he managed to woo the heart of the virgin archer. He even claimed that he ‘could hunt any and every animal’, but Momma Gaia heard this and sent a mighty scorpion after him, which is why–” he lead your head to another part of the sky. “–If you can find him, you’ll see Scorpius, the very same scorpion that killed him.” 

Looking at the stars, your mouth was agape. “Wow,” you whispered under your breath and rested your head on his shoulder.

After a few hours, you and your dad went to bed. 

***

              The end of your weekend trip went by fast, and before you knew it, you were on your way home eating a bag of chips while listening to the radio. 

Your dad was focused on the road, but the conversation about your schooling was still playing in his head. "Bear, we still need to talk." He said. You paused for a moment, not wanting to have this conversation. Since starting school, you've had trouble keeping up with the other kids. Since you were behind, your classmates would treat you differently.

"I don't want to talk about it," you said, looking down at the floor. 

Your Dad looked over, sadly. "Can you tell me about it? You don't have to tell me everything."  

"The others treat me differently, and I don't know why.” You looked out the window again, trying to focus on the songs the birds were singing.

Stopping the truck, your dad pulled you into an embrace. “It’s ok, Y/n, I'll tell your Momma and we’ll talk to your teacher, okay?” He looked down and rubbed your shoulder, waiting for an answer. 

“O-okay.” Your voice was muffled

The truck started again and you both drove off toward your cabin. 

***

              When you got home, it was around dinner time. Since it was a Sunday your mom was making your favorite for dinner. Your truck pulled up, and you ran out of the cab and into the arms of your momma.

“MOMMA!” You tackled her, sending her stumbling back a bit. 

“Hey, baby, how was your trip?” she asked with a loving smile.

Looking up at her, you gave her a big grin. “It went awesome! I got better on my aim and distance.” 

She smiled down at you. “Well, that's amazing, maybe one day you’ll be better than yer daddy.” She ruffled your hair. “Now come on, supper’s cooking, want you and yer daddy to get washed up.” She shooed you away into the house.

Running to your room, you grabbed some shorts, a T-shirt, and other stuff and ran to the bathroom, but your brother was walking by and had a sour look on his face. 

“Yer back.”

You looked down. “Yeah, how was it here?”

He glared down at you. “Peaceful, shoulda stayed that way.” He walked past you and bumped your shoulder.

***

              When you got out of your shower, you went to the kitchen to help your mom cook but just ended up sitting on the counter and telling her about your trip with your dad.

“Then Dad told me to shoot an apple that was still on the tree.” You told her excitedly. 

“Wow, baby, did ya hit it?” 

You nodded. “Yep, it fell and knocked down some apples with it. Dad and I ate them on our walk back to camp.” 

“Sounds like you two had quite the adventure.” Your mom said as she stirred the pot.

She took the pot off the burner and walked to the dinner table. You followed her and sat down. 

“Yep, it was.” While your mom grabbed other things for dinner, you helped set the table.

            “BOYS, DINNERS READY!” she called.

Dad came out of the garage and Jason came out of his room. You sat next to Mom, across from Jason, and Dad across from Mom. After everyone was seated, Mom said grace and you all ate dinner. You ate yours quickly while Jason picked and prodded at his. 

When you finished dinner, you kissed your Mom and Dad good night and went to bed. You lay under your blanket, looking at your glow-in-the-dark stars, and drifted off to sleep. 

   ~~~ 2005, A few weeks later~~~

              It all happened in a blur. You and Dad were driving back from your trip in the forest, and you even managed to bag a rabbit all on your own. One minute you were on your way to register what you had, then you were waking up in a hospital with your Momma by your side, crying and a local sheriff on your other side gearing up to ask you a few questions

“Momma…” Your voice was weak. “What happened?”

 She grabbed your hand and kissed it. “You were in an accident, baby.” 

Your eyes widened the best they could but you were still loopy. “What?” You looked around the room, your heartbeat picking up. “Where’s Dad?” Your voice was starting to hurt.

Your Momma cried, her tears falling on your hospital bed. “He-He didn't make it, baby.” 

You looked up at the ceiling and silently cried with your Momma.

“Mrs Myers, I’d like to speak with your daughter alone, to get her account of the story.” The sheriff gently led her out of the room, then sat next to you and asked you a series of questions.

“Now, Y/n, I understand you and your dad were driving, do you know where?” 

You choked back a sob before you answered. “The a- the game warden's office.”

He wrote that down. “Can you tell me what you and your daddy were doing before then?”

Licking your lips, you replied, “We were out camping like- like we always do. He was showing me how to hunt.”

He nodded and wrote that down too.“Do you remember anything while you were driving to the game office?”

You thought for a moment. “I was talking to Dad when suddenly he threw his hand in front of me then…everything went black.” You started to cry, all your emotions catching up with you. 

The sheriff looked down at you with sympathy and leaned over you to rest his hand on your head. “Just get some rest, Y/n, we’ll talk later, ‘kay?” 

You nodded, and he took his leave, and your mom rushed to your side once again.

***

              The day you were discharged from the hospital was bittersweet. You were leaving and going home, to sleep in your own bed. But you were leaving without your dad, and in a few days, you would be giving him a send-off for his funeral in Oklahoma. 

The drive home in Mom's car was different. It didn't have that old dusty truck smell, and it didn't rumble as it drove down the dirt road. No, Mom's car was clean, quiet, and smelled like pine. You hated it.

The drive was quiet, only the sound of the radio filling the car, but that quickly got turned off, much to the displeasure of Jason, who quickly turned it back on, which upset Mom.

“Quit it.” She turned it off again. 

“I want to listen to the radio,” Jason protested. 

“NO, Jason, stop it!” Silent tears were running down her cheeks, but Jason just scoffed and looked out the window

*

              When you got home, Jason went to his room and you sat on the couch and curled yourself into a ball. Your mom went straight to the kitchen and came back out with the champagne bottle that had been saved for their anniversary. 

Her dark green eyes were dull and wet with her tears. She took a good look at the bottle before she took a swig and sobbed. You didn't know how else to comfort her, so you just crawled over and cuddled under her arm.

“It’s ok, Momma.” You whispered to her.

That just made her cry harder– the fact that her baby had to comfort her. 

She took another drink while the two of you just sat on the couch and watched TV.

It wasn't long before she passed out. The bottle she'd been drinking fell to the ground and the rest of the contents spilled out, the sound of the bottle hitting the ground woke you up. You looked up at your mom and kissed her good night, before you cleaned up the mess she'd made, and went to bed.

Laying in your bed, you looked up at your fake stars.  You turned over to look at a photo of you and your dad, It was taken when you were five, first learning how to use a bow.

You smiled sadly and went to sleep.

***

              It was just like that for years. You would wake up, go and eat whatever Jason made, and find your momma on the couch, passed out with a bottle of some kind in her hand or on the floor. And as always, you would clean it up before you went to school. 

Sometimes she would wake up and tell you to have a good day. You always said you would but you never did.

When you went to school, some would be nicer. You didn't know whether it was because they felt bad or because they'd been told to. It didn't matter ‘cause the alienation continued and you were still by yourself. The boys still asked mean questions, but now they were about your dad, questions like “Did you see his mangled corpses in the road?” Others would reply with “Yes.” or “It was disgusting.” 

Some of the nastier ones started to say that you should’ve died. One group even cut a chunk of your hair off. It was a choppy pixie cut. Your poor teacher tried her best to make it look nice.

But it didn't matter, ‘cause when you got home, you would put on a smile for your mom and tell her you had an amazing day. Your hair? Well, you got gum in it, that's why it was short. 

Your momma cried a bit when she saw your hair. It was exactly like your Dad's, long and beautiful, but now it was cropped short. Just one more thing she had loved and lost.

***

              You supposed your Momma must have been feeling lonely. Instead of drinking on the couch, she started to go out to drink, sometimes with her coworkers or sometimes just alone. 

And when she was out late at night it was Jason who had to take care of you. He would make you dinner, and make sure you did your homework. He wasn't nice about it but he did it. He also started to take you hunting, and in Jason's fashion, he was harsh and rude with his remarks unlike your Dad had been.

“Y/n, shoot the squirrel over there, you see it?” You roughly pointed in the direction.

You nodded and aimed your arrow at it. You released it, but you missed and it scurried away.

“DAMNIT!” He shot up to his full, towering height. “Can't ya do anything! Jeez, a rock has better aim than ya!” He went to retrieve the arrow. You followed him to find more quarry.

“Ya know, what if som’ happens and we got to provide for mom, huh? What if I can't hunt and you have to hunt fer us, and ya can't hunt shit and we die?” He liked to be overly dramatic with his lectures.

But his “lecture” did nothing but stab your already bruised ego, but to prove him wrong you had to get better.

When you saw a rabbit, you both got down low on the ground. You drew back your arrow and aimed, making sure it was perfect before shooting. The arrow flew past different branches before it finally sunk into the rabbit's abdomen. The rabbit kicked, using up whatever strength it had left before it finally died. 

You ran towards the rabbit and picked it up to show Jason. “Look I got it, it's big too!” You showed him proudly.

He caught up to you and scoffed. “Jus’ a rabbit, nothing to get worked up over,” he said, giving you an unimpressed look. “Itz big though,” he admitted under his breath as he walked away. It was a small comment, but it brought a smile to your face. 

He looked down at the ground, looking for any tracks that could lead to bigger animals. You took the arrow out and put the rabbit in your animal satchel, and followed him.

It was the same cycle that lasted for three years, but then your momma did what you thought she never could. Something that rocked your world, and made you look at her a bit differently.

              Remarry.

        ~~~ 2008 ~~~

              It was late, really late at night, maybe three in the morning. You and Jason were up watching movies and eating what was left in the kitchen. Your mom had the car most of the time so Jason couldn't go out and buy more food.

You were currently watching an old zombie movie called Dawn of the Dead, one that your dad and Jason both seemed to like. The only thing they could agree on was movies.

It was almost over when you heard a rapid knock on the front door. The suddenness surprised you, making you jump a bit, spilling the remaining popcorn. 

“BABIES! OPEN THE DOOR, PLEASE!” Some smaller knocks could be heard. “PLEASE, I FORGOT MY KEYS! AND WE’RE COLD!” 

You and Jason looked at each other before he got up to open the door for your Momma. Her hair was messy, along with her makeup. And behind her was a man with blonde shaggy hair and a beard. He wore a blue button-up and was shivering. 

Your Momma walked past your brother and so did the man. You and Jason gave him a strange look, almost like he had a second head.

Your Momma seemed to notice the looks and stopped to introduce him on her way to the kitchen.

“Oh um, guys this is my fiance, Steven.” She looked at him with puppy eyes.

“Ah, Steven these are my kids, Jason and Y/n, but we call her Bear.” She had a goofy grin on her face as if she didn’t realize she'd dropped a bombshell on you and your brother.

Your brother just huffed and went to his room to sleep. 

“I wonder what that was about” your Momma uttered his breath “Hi baby! What were you two just doing?” she rushed to your side and sat on the floor with you.

You looked up at her “Just watching a movie with Jason” you glazed at the awkward and clearly drunk Steven before watching the movie again. 

“Ooo looks scary, think im gonna make me and Steven some drinks” She kissed your cheek and got up “ooo Stevie why don't you sit and talk with Bear Bear?”

His head shot up in confusion “Wha-what oh um yea of course baby” he walked to the couch and sat down nervously. He looked around the room and then landed on some old photos of you and your dad hunting.

“So, you uh hunt?” you turned your head towards the man you may call ‘dad’, his eyes dart to yours than back to the TV.

“Uhh, yea, my Dad taught me, but haven't caught anything ‘sides som’ rodents” You glanced at him and he just looked somewhere else, he looked so out of place in your small home.

You decided to try and “bond” with him “What about you? You hunt?” His head shot towards you in surprise.

“Ah no, no I don’t hunt. I find it uh too much, to be honest” he laughed awkwardly, you looked away and at your mom who walked back into the living room

“Hey guys! Whatcha talking about!” she said in her drunk cherry, In one hand, she had some snacks and some beers “Sorry we don’t get much, we don't have a lot in the house” She laughed. 

You shifted awkwardly, cause she was the reason for no food “Maybe we could go shopping tomorrow Mom?” she stood there thinking,

“yea-yeah sure, me and you. Ya know just a girl's day!” You smiled and got to kiss your mom's cheek and went to bed Hopefull she’ll get better with this new guy around and fulfill a promise to you.

        ~~~ 2010 ~~~

              You woke up rather late one morning. You walked out of your room to see the TV was on and some trash around the living room, you went to clean it up but your eyes grew when your mom past out on the couch with Steven, in a rather awkward position. You turned around to go to your room when Jason came out too. He seemed to notice the mess to and went to clean it up

“You don't wanna be in the livin' room” You stopped him, and he gave you a weird look. 

“The hell do you mean?” you cleaned your throat. 

“Umm, ste-steven and momma were gettin’ comfortable if ya know what I mean” he just shook his head and went to the kitchen.

“Whatever, im going to get food, you coming?” He grabbed the keys and walked to the garage doors.

You nodded your head and went to get dressed and were quickly out the door to the car. The sun was up, it was a warm day in August, a week before school started. You looked out the window while the radio played, some news guy was mouthing off about some world problem, it was enough for your brother to turn the radio to something else. 

When Jason pulled into the parking lot you could see it was packed but was dead silent. You got out of the car when another car whizzed by almost hitting you. 

You and Jason walked into the store questioning what happened when you noticed the store was dead quiet. You could see carts abandoned some of them being tipped over with groceries all over the floor.

“What tha” Jason looked at the scene in front of you. Jason looked at his watch and half decided to leave but you needed food he just pushed it to the back of his mind.

You grabbed the basket and walked to the food aisle grabbing milk, bread, eggs, and other stuff you needed. But your brother stopped you, grabbing your shoulder roughly

“Wait” you turned to him.

“What? What's wrong?” he pointed down the clothing aisle, it was destroyed and the clothes were everywhere. “Th-the hell happened there? And why hasn't anyone fixed it yet” You started to walk over to investigate but Jason grabbed your arm to stop you 

“Don't, I don't like this” he pushed you forward to the front of the store. Jason grabbed your arms as he speed walked passed the alise of food thrown around the floor. But one alise made you stop in your tracks, making you drop the basket to cover your mouth. 

There in the middle of the floor was a dead body, what was worse was that it looked like it was gored on. Her face was eaten, her abdomen was torn open and her intestines and blood were all over the floor. 

You could see blood tracks near the body, leading away to the next aisle. Your brother pushed you down to the ground, telling you to keep quiet. He looked over to the next aisle and went back quickly.

He dropped down to the floor as well, he gestured you over to him while putting a finger up to his lips. You rushed to him.

“What's going on?” you asked panicked.

“I don’t know, but there's someone over in the next aisle with blood ‘n shit all over 'em” You looked at him with scared eyes.

“Wha-what do we do Jason” you looked to your brother for protection.

“We're gonna slowly and quietly leave the store, don't want to attract the cra-” He shot up, pushing you out of the way and kicking the woman's head out of the way. She flew back giving you and your brother time to run as fast as you could out of the store. While you were running you saw more and more blood and gore, you just didn't seem to notice. 

You got to the car and speed home. The radio was still on, with it blasting the current news:

“IT APPEARS THAT A VIRUS IS SPREADING THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, KILLING THE INFECTED, AND BRING THEM BACK TO LIFE AND ATTACKING OTHERS! 

THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE AGGRESSIVE AND IF YOU COME ACROSS THEM EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY AND CALL LOCAL OFFICERS!”

“What- what does this mean” Your eyes started to water “What are we gonna do Jaso-” you were cut off-

“JUST BE QUITE and let me think” his grip on the steering wheel was turning his knuckles white as he stopped the car to think,

“Here's what we're gonna do, we're gonna go home, then pack our shit and leave! Head into the woods and wait this shit out” You nodded and jumped when a hand slammed on the window on your side, you shrieked causing Jason to jump when he saw the thing he floored the car.

Not once did he stop the car, not even when other cars were around. When you turned into the driveway of your home you hopped out and ran in to see your mom and Steven watching the TV. She leaped off the couch and hugged you tight.

“Oh baby, baby are you okay where were you guys!” she was crying, her already smudged makeup rubbing off.

 “We were at-at the sto-store and w-we saw this woman all-all over the palace” you cried in her arms and hugged her arms

Jason busted in the door “Ma pack yer shit we’re leavin’ NOW! Y/n get our bow stuff, I'll get the campin’ stuff, Steven gets as much food as you can, Ma get essentials and anythin’ else we need”. 

You ran to your room, grabbing your bear bow, quiver, and arrows. Doing the same and grabbing Jason's hunting bow and equipment. You grabbed your school bag and some clothes.

You were about done when you thought of something. You rushed to your mom's room and grabbed your dad's coat, you loved your dad's coat. It was a bit big but it'd be good in the winter or as a blanket.

By the time you were done, everybody was running out the door. Jason and Mom were packing the food and camping gear in the trunk of the car. Steven was “the lookout”, he was holding your dad's old shotgun when he saw a figure walking down the driveway,

“H-hey there’s someone comin'” Jason turned his head to see someone limping down the drive way. The man had half his arm ripped off.

“Shit, shoot it” Steven looked at Jason like he was crazy.

“Th-the hell you mean to shoot it? THATS A DAMN PERSON!” Jason slammed the trunk closed, and stormed over to Steven, and snatched the gun from him. 

“Those things aren't people! They won't hesitate to eat ya!” he turned to you and your mom “Get in the car and start it, we’ll leave soon” 

Your mom ushered you to the back seat furthest away from the thing as your brother called them. Your mom got in next and started the car. She looked panicked, gripping the stirring wheel out of nerves. 

You heard the crack of a gunshot not that far away 

“SHIT!” Jason yelled.You turned to look at the commotion, to see the figure with a giant hole in his chest, but he was still walking as if nothing happened.

“Sh-shoot it in the he-head Ja-Jason”  Steven could barely talk but he tried to help the best he could. Jason re-aimed the gun and shot the head, well the best he could.

The thing finally went down and Steven and Jason hopped in the car, Jason in the front and Steven in the back. Your mom started the car and drove into the city, taking the path to the local campgrounds. 

It seems that while your family was getting ready to leave, things got crazier. There were crashes everywhere, fire, smoke, and screams could be heard, and these, groans or moans could be heard if the things were close to the car.

When you got to the campsite it was quiet. Nothing could really be heard, not even the birds in the trees. Silent, just like the store.

***

             “THE CDC HAS ISSUED A NATIONWIDE QUARANTINE ALL CIVILIANS ARE ORDERED TO STAY INSIDE OR  GO TO THE ATLANTA REFUGE CAMP IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE ARE IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA

FOOD, MEDICAL SUPPLY, SHELTER, AND MILITARY PROTECTION WILL BE SUPPLIED” 

The radio chatter went on and on, spouting the same things. It's been a week since the “outbreak”, as they’re calling it, happened. And in that small little window, your family and Steven have had to move twice, going deeper and deeper into the woods.

“D-do you think we should go to Atlanta? It's not that far from here” Your mom had been suggesting it, but your brother always dismissed it.

“Naw, too risky” he poked the fire “Eaters be everywhere and we’d be sitin’ ducks” You were torn on where to go, staying here you'd be by yourselves but at the same time you didn't have to worry if your neighbor was crazy enough to kill you for bread. But if you went to Atlanta you wouldn't have to worry about eaters –the new name for them– attacking you.

“We’re low on food, Y/n grab yer bow, were goin’ hunting” You nodded and hopped off the opened trunk. Running to your tent and grabbed your bow and quiver and hurried to your brother who was already leaving. 

When you went hunting Jason made a rule that you couldn't make too much noise, not since he spotted an eater while he was hunting. You kept your eyes down on the forest floor to keep an eye on any tracks, while Jason kept an eye out for eaters and any animals. 

When you found some faint deer tracks you tugged on his shirt and pointed to them. He kneeled down to inspect them and shook his head “Too old, probably dead by now” nodding your head you continued, but stopped in your tracks when you saw a doe looking at you. 

She was beautiful, her eyes hadn't noticed you yet, but you had. Jason got up behind you “Guess ya were right, why don't ya bag it” he nudged you forward and you drew the bow back. The bow itself was new, you bought it yourself after cleaning your neighbor's yard for her, she was old frail, and couldn't do it herself.

You released the bow and it landed in her abdomen. She ran off deeper into the woods with whatever strength she had left. You and Jason chased after her, her blood leading her to you.

She was stronger than she looked because it took about twenty minutes before you caught up with her. Jason loaded his bow and shot it and hit her just below her shoulder blade killing her. 

“Common, let's go get her and bring her back” You shouldered your bow and walked up to her with Jason. Since he was bigger he took up the grunt work and shouldered her while you carried his bow. 

“Now, ya need to find our tracks” he huffed while trying to position her right “Should be easy enough since we were running” You nodded and glued your eyes down looking up when ever you heard something in the distance.

It took about an hour before you got back to your camp. You ran to your mom and hugged her “We bagged a doe, Jason gonna clean ‘er up the we’ll eat it” Jason dropped her by Steven “ya know how to clean a Doe Steven?” Steven looked from Jason to the Doe, back to Jason. 

He swallowed deeply before answering “I-uhh I've never done it no” Joson rolled his eyes then sat down next to him and started to show him how. 

It was one of the little things your dad never taught you. You've seen him do it, but he never shown you how. Jason had to teach you, and he did that in your kitchen, if your mom was there and sober she would've freaked out. 

You sat next to your mom who was still paying attention to the radio. All it did was worry her as she bit her nails with her legs pulled into her chest. 

“You okay momma?” you put a hand on her shoulder, she jumped a bit but eased up a bit when she saw you.

“O-oh ye-yea baby, im good” she smiled “How’d your hunt go with Jason?” you pulled your knees up to your chest 

“it went fine, I found really old tracks and Jason brushed them off and when we looked up BAMB there she was!” you told the story of how you found the Doe.

Your mom softly clapped for you “Wow, you're a real Orion aren't you bear?” you smiled, your Momma loved Greek Mythology, and she always said if she could be a professor, teaching students about the great tales of the Greek gods and heroes. 

“Ya know where your nickname comes from?” you shook your head, but you knew why, this was the closest you got to your old momma from before the accident, plus you loveed the story.

 “Artimiss was the goddess of the hunt, and she swore off marriage—one of three goddesses to be exact– she would hunt on the earthly grounds with other women and nymphs. One of these women was a woman named Callisto, she was a hunter who was sadly assaulted and fell pregnant at the hands of Zues.” 

you had a sad expression as if this was the first time you heard this “and Hera and Artemis found them. Artemis cast Callisto out and Hera turned her into a bear.” you gasped playfully, and she smirked.

“well she gave birth and Artemis guided the baby to civilization, and he grew to be a mighty hunter. And he came across his bear Momma and went to kill her, but Zeus saw this and before he could kill her, he put Callisto and her sun the stars” You rested your head on her shoulder and she hugged you. You sat there for a while as you looked at the stars.

 “Well it looks like you brother is about done with the deer, shall we go sit by the fire?” you nodded and grabbed your bag which had your remaining books and sat by the fire

Jason started to put some meat on the fire. The blaze reflected in his dark green eyes, he looked like he was thinking about something. He checked his watch and figured it was time to take the venison off the grill. He gave it to you.

“She found it, she gets to eat it first” was his reasoning when Steven asked why you got it. Steven was very whiney, you suspect he’d be dead if he was alone.

***

              It was deep into the night, and you just finished your comic book. Your Momma was looking for batteries for the radio, it had died about an hour ago and your Momma had been going crazy looking for them. When she finally found them she cheered with triumph and put the new ones in the radio. The radio roared to life with the same news as before. 

Jason was poking the fire a bit while Steven was getting something from his tent. You got up and went sit by Jason. He gave you an odd look which you ignored and picked up your bow and began fiddling with it 

“What are ya doin’ Y/n” he stopped what he was doing and looked at you.

“Jus’ sittin’ is all” you fiddle some more “and wondering” he went back to the fire 

“about what?” you looked around your makeshift camp.

“if all of this will be over soon, and when we can go back” you looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

Jason stayed quiet, he didn't know. But if he was honest, he didn't mind it all that much–could go without the living dead though– it was like an extended camping trip. 

              SNAP

Your blood ran cold when you heard the groans and snarls coming closer. You shot up when you saw them closing in on the car. Your mom was running towards you as you held your stuff. 

She grabbed your arm and ran to the woods as Jason and Steven stayed behind to fight them off. Your Momma dragged you into the woods further and further. You kept looking back to see other eaters staggering toward you

“Mo-momma, they’re behind us!” your mom just ran faster “I-I know baby but we just need ru-” Out of nowhere an eater came and attacked her. 

She let go of your hand when another one latched its dirty maw on her shoulder. Her screams were horrid, you imagine it was the same scream she let out when the love of her life and baby were in the hospital. Just filled with horror and dread.

“Y/n, Y/n YOU NEED TO RUN!” you shook your head with tears in your eyes “NO LISTEN AND RUN NOW!” hearing the groans of another eater behind you made you run off into the woods. Crying as you heard the cries of your momma. 

                                ~~~ 2010, A few weeks later~~~

              You had been on your own for a few weeks since your camp had been overrun. You thought about going back to it, to see if Jason or Steven got out okay. Well if Jason got out, you were sure Steven did. And you knew if he got out safe then Steven was safe–probably. 

But you were on your own, so you had rules now: Always move, Stay in the trees at night, And NEVER stay if it's too quiet.

That's how you made it all these weeks alone. You rationed the food you managed to hunt on your own. It was small, with rabbits, birds, and a raccoon once. It was odd but it kept you fed. 

At night you'd find a tree with a sturdy branch, climb it, ruffle in your bag for something to tie around you and the branch, and sleep. And repeat the cycle again the next morning.

*

              You were currently in a tree, just waking up from sleep. The denim jeans you used to keep you tied to the tree were a little loose. You gathered your things, putting your bow around your torso, same with your bag. 

You nimbly climbed down the tree and leaped out on the last branch and landed on the forest floor, you fumbled a bit but were fine nonetheless. 

You made a small fire and cooked the last of the rabbit meat you had. After that, you put the fire out and continued on your way to nowhere. 

You suppose you were in a good part of the woods, cause you could hear the birds singing some little tune they came up with. You humed along to it while walking on a fallen tree, balancing on it like a tightrope walker. 

You stopped walking when you noticed deer tracks and debated on following them or not, but decided to just do it anyway, no set direction and all.

You followed them to a clearing, there wasn't anything there though so you just sat on a log. You figured it was safe enough to relax a bit. With an arrow, you start drawing random things in the dirt. You liked drawing, it was a pastime you did before.

You started drawing hearts, butterflies, and flowers, pretty things really. Then you drew your Momma, she was beautiful in your eyes, with long hair that reached her midback, and her beautiful green eyes. 

You stopped what you were doing when you heard something in the distance, it sounded like something talking. You quickly loaded your bow and stood up aiming your bow at the noise.

There you saw two men. One was old, with short-cropped grey hair. He was bigger than the other one. The other guy was younger and more scrawny, he had squirrels tied around a rope,  he had a crossbow, also aimed at you, and the old guy had a hunting rifle

   “Well well well, what do we have here baby brother,” Old Guy said with the meanest grin on his face.

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

Next // I Met Two Old Guys In The Woods

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#fanfic #twd #daryl dixon #x reader fanfiction #this took my fucking months and the fact i have to proof read like two-three other chapters #i also start my new job on sunday so thats fun #teen reader #platonic reader

[k-nonsense]

(Old ranking - go to my blog for updated rankings)

My rankings/reviews of all the k dramas I have seen so far (up to 26 now). My top 5 has been cracked by 2 shows! Netflix k-dramas are just killing it. I would recommend any show I gave a C grade or higher. I bolded the 5 new dramas I’ve added.

*= reserving the right to change ranking after season 2.

1) Hometown Cha Cha Cha: An absolute masterpiece. It’s a heartwarming fish out of water story about a big city girl who finds herself in the quirkiest little seaside town. I wanted to stay in Gongjin forever. Grade: A+(Netflix)

2)*Extraordinary Attorney Woo (S1): The most delightful show ever. Never have I ever rooted for a lead harder. She is the most endearing lead you will ever find. And the male lead is THE standard by which all men will forever be judged. Grade: A+(Netflix)

3)Business Proposal: Bumped this up again cause it’s the show I have the urge to rewatch the most. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s got every trope you can think of and it does them all to perfection. Plus it’s hilarious. Grade: A (Netflix)

4)*Alchemy of Souls (S1): Episodes 1-19 were the perfect blend of fantasy, adventure, mystery, comedy, and romance. With so many characters who are so lovable. Episode 20 will destroy you. Counting the seconds till season 2. Grade: A (Netflix)

5)Her Private Life: Super funny and charming. The romantic leads have incredible chemistry. The premise is so good! Might be the one of the most rewatchable kdramas. Grade: A (Netflix)

6)Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung: Great strong female lead. Very good messages. Couldn’t stop watching. The most adorable prince I’ve ever seen 💜Cha Eunwoo💜 Grade: A (Netflix)

7)Sh**ting Stars: Probable the biggest turnaround of any show I’ve seen (The “Africa” part was so problematic). However it turned out to be one of the funniest and swooniest KDramas out there. There are 5 couples and you will cheer for all of them. Grade: A- (Viki)

8)Strong Woman Do Bong Soon: The main couple is absolutely everything! Just fast forward through pretty much every side plot (they are not important) and you’ll love it. Grade: A- (Viki)

9)So I Married the Anti-Fan: It’s campy, fluffy, goodness, with a fierce female lead and a K-pop star enemy/love interest. Fastest binge of my life. Grade: A- (Viki)

10)Start-Up: Exceptional acting, compelling storylines, intriguing plot twists, great cinematography, intense love triangle. It’s just all around high quality. Grade: B+ (Netflix)

11)Run On: Cute, fun, silly and pretty light. I especially loved the supporting cast. Strange storyline but it was a fun easy ride. Grade: B+ (Netflix)

12)Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo: A bad-ass yet vulnerable female lead. The main couple just had a lot of fun together. Refreshing. Grade: B+ (Viki)

13)I Am Not A Robot: I was surprised I really liked this one. This goes in the zany premise category but it was surprisingly pretty grounded for how crazy the set up was. It’s funny, emotional, good story telling. Great character development. Grade: B+ (Viki)

14)Shopping King Louie: Adorable! Luis is too cute. I love it how he bops along like a penguin and his cute little screams at bugs. And Bok Sil is the warmest character, you just have to root for her. So many light fluffy feels for this show but it does drag a bit in the second half. Grade B (Viki)

15)Fight For My Way: Such lovable leads. Love the fierce female lead and adorable himbo male lead. It’s like a coming of age story but for 30 year olds. Storyline was ok. Second couple was skippable. Grade: B (Viki)

16)What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim: More PSJ is always a good thing. This drama did all the tropes in ways that didn’t always feel fresh, but it was very romantic and hilarious. A true classic. Grade: B (Viki)

17)Touch Your Heart: If you can just stick it out through the first few very shaky episodes, you will enjoy this adorable, fluffy, series. Grade: B- (Netflix)

18)Doom at Your Service: It was sometimes real sad yet ultimately a heart warming mystical story. Grade: B- (Viki)

19)True Beauty: Fun, cute, teen drama however, it’s a little too “antsy teen” for me. Cha Eunwoo though💜 Grade: C+ (Viki)

20)Suspicious Partner: Great story, great characters, attractive actors, beautiful romance, interesting plot, sometimes funny, sometimes suspenseful, but with 40 episodes, the plot was dragged so far out that it became hard to get through. Grade C+ (Viki)

21)Crash Landing On You: The first half is GREAT but the second half is way too melodramatic for my taste. It’s a very interesting storyline, the main couple has insane chemistry, and there are very lovable side characters. Grade: C+ (Netflix)

22)My Love From the Star: The main relationship is incredibly intense. I just wanted to find out what happened to them so I ended up fast forwarding through everything else. The age difference in the flashbacks creeped me out. Grade D+ (Viki)

23)My Secret Romance: The story of a total screw up female lead falling for a manipulative, gaslighting, hottie. It was problematic yet fun? So 🤷‍♀️ Grade: D+ (Netflix)

24)Our Beloved Summer: I LOVED V’s “Christmas Tree” OST however I struggled to keep watching. Boring storyline but great acting. Grade: D+ (Netflix)

25)Goblin: The age gap is too disturbing for me, like call the police disturbing. However, the Grim Reaper who is one of the most adorable characters I’ve ever seen. Grade: D- (Viki)

26)Extra-Ordinary You: I have never felt so betrayed by a second half of a series as I did in this one. All of the character development that it seemed to be leading to was replaced by a pretty sickening codependent relationship. Grade: D- (Viki).

Currently Watching: Today’s Webtoon (kinda blah), She Would Never Know (idk yet), Romance is a Bonus Book (loving it), 100 Days My Prince (so far so good).

Looking Forward To: Love In Contract, Alchemy season 2!

What are your thoughts on these shows? Do you agree or disagree with my rankings? Any k-romcom recommendations that are not on the list yet?

#Elle watches kdramas

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

I keep thinking about the Batman x Danny Phantom x Legend of Zelda: BOTW crossover

Like, who do you think would cross dress to get into Garudo town? Would Danny need to wear the Rito clothing like Tim or does he keep his cold resistance/ regain it by then? < That would be interesting to have as a separate power. How many years would they be stuck in Hyrule? In my first playthrough I went nuts exploring everything the Great Plateau had to offer and I legit spent two real life months uncovering every secret I could. Do you realize how many "in game days" that was?

I'm sure Danny and Tim wouldn't spend that much time up there but they sure as heck aren't leaving anytime soon.

Speaking of anytime soon, Breath Of The Wild has a sequel coming out (Tears Of The Kingdom) and I want Tim and Danny to also go through whatever fresh hell is awaiting us there. Tim starts making or commissioning his own weapons cause he's tired of using spears that break after fifteen hits.

Speaking of using spears instead of his usual bo staff, do you think Tim would be okay killing monsters? They're pretty much demons and are pretty mindless to be honest. I know Danny would be squeamish about it at first.

How do you think they would react to Prince Sidon, Teba and the others? Ohhh, they would probably be careful to hide thier ears in this au so people don't freak out. Fae rules say to search shadows and count the teeth, but I rarely hear to check the ears.

By the time Danny and Tim get back to thier home dimensions they have at least 11 safe houses together a large arsenal of weaponry, five horses, several horse drawn wagons, futuristic tech courtesy of Tim's and Dannys combined skills, a magical tablet that Tim refuses to let out of his sight (Zelda isn't getting that back, is she?)

Another thing, I want them to have the dlc. Imaging Tim wearing Majoras Mask. Monsters are already confused by Phantom but now Tim is giving off ominous vibes too, lol.

I want Danny to rescue Tim at some point by riding on a bear and having the bear fight with him still mounted on it. It was at this moment Tim knew he was in love...and that Danny was out of his freaking mind.

I love the batfam getting protective of Tim when he returns because the guy he disappeared with all those years ago (or any amount of time you want thats to dimensional time shenanigans) gives off evil eldrich vibes. No one but Jason approves of thier relationship. Jason doesn't feel the vibes and is helping them any chance he gets. He likes Danny and thinks he and Tim are a good fit together.

I also think its hilarious if they treat Tim like Daddys little girl when in reality Tim is the top in this situation. Let Tim have top energy. He's still shorter than Danny when they grow into adults and Tim is more blushy but hes the Top.

Also I want Bruce's reaction to finding out Danny and Tim are engaged.

I have more but this post is getting long

#fanfiction prompts #prompts #dp x dc x loz #dc x dp x loz #dp x dc #dc x dp #dc #let me have cute short king tops #i think i deserve it

[smidgen-of-hotboy]

Our Angel of Brahma, pt. v

Sorry not sorry.

@ceaseless-watchers-special-girl @ananxiousgenz @the-private-eye @demonic-panini @gwenlena

SOUND: COMMS BEEPS. RECORDING BEGINS. (MUFFLED SNIFFLING) BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY): It’s been– ten years. A decade. And I thought I was over it by now. I thought I was past this. I– I didn’t even cry this much last year over my dad. Fucking hell… I didn’t even cry over my mom!  SOUND: FIST BANGING AGAINST TABLE. BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY): I love my mom. I love her so much, but I forgot about what she did for me. I forgot about feeling sad for her… (BIG SNIFFLE) We have not seen our Angel of Brahma, for fifteen years. It has been fifteen years, and I am still waiting for my mom to come home. I am still waiting to bury my dead.  It’s been ten years, and I’m still waiting to bury you, Charlie. There’s nothing left of your old life. I tried looking for something, anything, but I kept coming up empty-handed. I miss your Mom’s cooking, and I miss your Dad’s jokes. I miss your baby sister’s chubby little cheeks, and I miss– (BAIRD COUGHS) I miss singing for you. I’m still singing but what good is it if the only person I wanted to let hear me isn’t around? Can’t be here?  SOUND: KNOCKING ON DOOR. HINGES CREAK. HUSHED VOICE.  BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY): Get out! SOUND: METAL CAN HITTING DOOR. DOOR SLAMMING SHUT.  (BAIRD HUFFING) BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY): Fuck. Iris is going to kill me later. Heh– maybe it’s for the best… You wouldn’t want me talking like that.  (BAIRD CLEARING HIS THROAT) Last week on Brahma: Josie’s girls saved up enough creds from doing their little odd jobs around the block to barter for chocolate from a Constable. Josie found out, and she was livid. The girls gave me their chocolate and wished me a happy birthday.  This week on Brahma: I have not celebrated my birthday in ten years. I forgot I even had one. It has been ten years since we lost you, Charlie. Josie’s girls are grounded for another week. Talia is counting on me to help organize the next community meeting. We’ve heard rumors from the Constables about expansion plans to New Kinshasa. But we’ve also heard rumors that they’ve caught the Angel. I don’t wanna believe it, but…  (BAIRD SIGHS) I’m not going to.  I miss you, Charlie. I miss my mom and dad. I miss Hank’s dog. I miss Mrs. Darius… And I miss you. There’s so much I miss but if I could have just one more day with you, one more adventure, one last kiss, one final goodbye– I’d give up anything in a heartbeat. I’d lose my voice if it meant you would scream at me again like I was sixteen, trying to get involved with Talia in the revolution with our “book club”.  (SNORT) If only you could see me now… I gotta go, Charlie. Promise me you’ll be waiting for me on the other side. SOUND: COMMS BEEPS. RECORDING ENDS.

(CALYPSO HICCUPS AND BLOWS HER NOSE)

- Baird was 16 when he started his “book club” with Talia. Their first “reading” was Fahrenheit 451. There are no libraries left on Brahma (TRUE). Baird mentions a “community meeting”. The book club was a cover up (and Charlie got mad? Why?) 

- He was 16 when Josie’s twins were born (SIDE NOTE: they would be about 10 at the time of recording). 16 when Hank’s dog died and Mrs. Darius was diagnosed with radiation poisoning. 

- 16+10= 26? Baird is/about 26(?) at time of recording

- 26-15= 11? Baird was/about 11(?) when Peter Nureyev threatened the G.A.S., and Baird’s mom “vanished” overnight

- 26-1= 25-10= 15, Baird was/about 15(?) when Dad was beaten, taken, and presumably killed by the Constables? 

- Who is Iris? Another neighbor/community member? Why would they come into the place Baird’s at so nonchalantly? 

- CHOCOLATE AGAIN! It likely did come from New Kinshasa back when Baird agreed to sing for Charlie. 

- Baird didn’t expect to have such big emotions over Charlie. What did happen to Charlie? Presumably dead? Why? Did they both get caught up in the revolution? Must be what happened to Baird’s parents now happening to them. What happened to Charlie’s family? Also presumably dead? (SIDE NOTE: Frannie says there’s a way to trace older recordings, but it would take her a long time and cost me more creds than I have right now. Is it worth it? She also did not like me mentioning Dark Matters. Something about her friend getting caught up in that mess 3 to 4 years ago because she became a pirate?? Unclear what this means. But she did say that if I waited a bit I would get a nice juicy email with all the information about every single Baird in the galaxy, all I needed to give her was a rough age range.)

#ask to be tagged or removed #i deeply enjoy writing this so much #bc i have a clear vision about where this is heading #but i gotta build up to it first so it at least somewhat makes sense #unedited as usual tho. 1am bullshit #the penumbra podcast #the penumbra fanfic #private eye's keys go jingle jangle #a hotboy's writing #our angel of brahma

[butterflydm]

wot rewatch (book spoilers edition): 2x1

And here is the very spoiler-filled follow-up to my earlier post!

Not only is this one going to have spoilers for all the aired episodes plus any teasers, it will also have book spoilers through book 11: The Gathering Storm.

Thinking of the Darkfriend Social in terms of spoilers -- the x-ray notes that the 'location' for the scene is Tel'aran'rhoid. What does that mean for the little girl? Hmm.

2. I also wonder if this scene isn't set a little earlier than the rest of the episodes are set. We know that by the end of this episode, it's been a full year since 1x1, because Bel Tine has rolled around again. Other things that this being in TAR could mean: that the fallen seal is symbolic rather than reflecting reality and is a representation of the fact that Ishamael has been released from his prison.

3. Darkfriend roll call! We've got Fain, who is still a member in good standing (has not yet killed a Fade); we've got Lord Ingtar; we've got High Lady Suroth; we've got at least two Black Ajah sisters (Sheriam and Liandrin? One of them is wearing a black dress and one is wearing a red one, I think); we've got Unnamed Tuatha'an Mom; we've got a Whitecloak (probably Carridin). I'm not 100% on anyone else at the table. I'm pretty sure our main characters are basically surrounded by Darkfriends right now in their various storylines!

4. The storyline of Moirine fighting her depression over not being able to touch the One Power by forcing herself to have a sense of purpose each day and not give up to the despair... it really does show how poorly served the male channelers are by the Tower. After they get gentled, they get shoved into prison, basically, but the White Tower knows that a sense of purpose is what makes severed (or, in Moiraine's case, probably shielded) channelers have the will to keep living. And that gets denied to the men who are gentled.

5. Verin being merged with Vandene feels like a perfect example of a merged character -- the much more important character is plucking bits and pieces from the minor character and folding them into her characterization. It does really make me wonder how the future is going to go down, though! Will Verin be ordered to kill her own sister and feel like she has to do it in order to maintain her cover? Also: I wonder how much of the reason why Tomas 'picked' Verin over Adeleas had to do with him being a repentant Darkfriend and Verin finding out about it. Also, in our first major storyline, we have two Darkfriends interacting with main characters. Total count so far: 2.

Both the Verin/Vandene merger and the Elyas/Hurin merger should be, I think, our hints as to how the show is handling mergers and it's roughly what I would expect: the more important character swallows up the more minor character. This is why I don't think Liandrin & Elaida would be merged, because Elaida is a more important character than Liandrin, so 'Elaida' is what the merged character would have been named imo.

6. Haha I can't believe that I got so caught up in everything else that I didn't even mention Doman in my first impressions post! I loved his scenes. I think they did a good job giving him a purpose that suited what he does in the books, and he also delivers key plot info to Moiraine. Given that he calls the broken piece part of a 'moondial', I'm guessing he found part of Lanfear's seal (and he's being chased by the Shadow to recover the prophecy that he sells here to Moiraine, maybe?). I suspect that the poem is the Dark Prophecy, which means that we've already got a way for Rand to find out that he needs to go to Falme/Toman Head and he may even go there having zero idea that his friends are in trouble there (which makes sense since he's already in 'stay away from them to protect them' mode; either way would make sense to me, so I'm just curious what road the show takes).

But if Doman takes Moiraine's advice, he might be sailing right into the Seanchan's arms.

7. Egwene taking a moment to look at the official Amrylin outfit. I See You, foreshadowing. I See You. And as much as it pained me not to get my girl Elayne in the first episode, I do think it was a good idea for us to focus on Elayne and Nynaeve as they are before we get our third Wondergirl added to the mix.

8. Given that both Nynaeve and Egwene have learned about The Wonders of Poly (That Are Not For Them, Personally), I wonder if that means that we're going to get them finding out about Rand's polycule situation over the course of the series (maybe as someone for Elayne to talk to?) but in a more gradual and natural way. Also, I noticed a handful of novices watching the sparring down there, but we don't get to see the faces of the people sparring -- could one of them be a Certain Someone?

9. Haha, it's kinda weird seeing Nynaeve as a novice given that she spent zero time as one in the books. But this scene with her was a perfect illustration of why she makes a terrible novice, lol. She's perfect, but she's also a terrible novice. But also, the show is continuing to build up the characters' toolkits for the future - last season, Rand watched Moiraine pull the corruption of Shadar Logoth from Rand and this season, Nynaeve is learning how to purify water (and the Power is often compared to water/rivers). It does also point to the cleansing being more of an actual team-up instead of just Nynaeve being Rand's battery.

10. Poor Alanna is surrounded by Darkfriends in this next scene. We have Liandrin, Sheriam, and Joiya (literally every speaking character apart from Alanna is a Darkfriend in this scene, lol RIP). Total Darkfriends hanging out in main character plotlines: 5. If the show has preserved the 'heart' format from the books, it's entirely possible that none of them actually know that they're hanging out with other Black Ajah Sisters right now, too. Were Liandrin and Sheriam working together or are they both working under their own interpretations of their orders but don't know the other one is also Black Ajah? Given the way Joiya backed up Liandrin in this scene, I suspect that they may know about each other.

The show has done such a good job making Alanna understandable, empathetic, and charming. But she also has already shown herself not to be great at... appropriate boundaries.

11. We don't get much time with Uno before, well, Future Events, but the show did a good job painting his character very vividly, and using him to show the comradery that has built up between Perrin and Loial.

12. So I did a little post mentioning it but the girl who runs away while Fain is killing the other girl! I think that's the girl from the Darkfriend social scene! She looks like she's wearing the right outfit and is the right age with the right color hair. "There was a child who made it out." Her entire family (except her Darkfriend mom?) was slaughtered by Fain and his Trollocs. I wonder if we'll see her again. Hmm, actually, if Fain attacked a Tuatha'an caravan that he knew had a Darkfriend in it, was this his first move of going against the Dark One's/Ishamael's wishes?

13. Now that we're in Perrin's plotline, time to mention that Lord Ingtar, who doesn't want to hear Uno go on about how evil the traitor soldier was, is also a Darkfriend. Total Darkfriends surrounding our main characters: 6.

14. They did a good job in hitting all the main points of the actual Hunt for the Horn, tbh. In the first two episodes, we've got Perrin using his heightened senses, we've got the abandoned village and the room of flies, we've got the Fade nailed up that imo shows the moment when Fain stopped taking orders from the Dark One/Ishamael, and we've got Ingtar bonding with one of the main characters. And Rand's 'pushing people away' arc was pretty well covered with him faking his death. And Mat Suffering Terribly is also covered, lol.

15. I do feel like what Alanna tells Egwene here about poly relationships is probably something the show is going to lean into once Rand's situation starts rolling. "things are messy before they are perfect; nothing worthwhile is neat and tidy". Them leaning so much into Alanna's relationship is definitely giving me some good reassurances about poly plans for the future, because they're investing a relatively large amount of time into showing that this is a valid type of relationship to have, and explaining it to the audience.

16. Per Fain, the Darkfriends do know that 'all five' ta'veren will be important and will matter to how things go down with the Last Battle, so I feel like Liandrin trying to cultivate Nynaeve makes a lot of sense in that case. She wants to take Nynaeve under her wing to turn her to her point of view and her side. It's actually interesting to compare and contrast what Moiraine knew vs the Dark One, because they were actually pretty close in their timelines of figuring out when the Two Rivers was the hot spot.

17. I feel like it really works to give Siuan's scene to Liandrin here, in training Nynaeve. The Two Rivers folk are more vulnerable and more 'exposed' in the show than in the books. So it makes a lot of sense to me. It also feels like they are leaning into the idea that not all Aes Sedai have to 'surrender' in order to channel (so women don't always need to submit and men don't always need to dominate, per Jordan's canon), which is a change that I like.

18. And the Perrin and Ingtar stuff is also working really well for me. I think it helps his character a lot to have him be the one who is going through this with Ingtar instead of Rand (who has plenty going on already). And Ingtar! "Perhaps Padan Fain had a reason for doing what he did."

19. Moiraine's platonic breakup with Lan feels a lot more grounded in the show than it was in the books imo.

20. The letter! Oh, gosh it's so beautiful. It does feel like a little promise from the show that they aren't going to forget about the EF5 bond, and I'm hoping that we'll get more moments of reconnection than we got from the books.

21. So, what are everyone's thoughts on if what Liandrin tells Mat about the letters ("not a single mention of Mat Cauthon") counts as a lie and our confirmation that she's already Black Ajah or was it a wiggle around the truth (either going by the logic of there being multiple mentions of Mat and/or SHE didn't mention Mat and or well it doesn't ever say Cauthon)? I mean, she also seems to be keeping him as her completely isolated little secret. I feel like it's a Black Ajah clue but maybe there's wiggle room.

22. Mat also seems VERY aware that Moiraine is partly responsible for his current circumstances (he notes her along with Liandrin when he's saying he's not a danger to anyone). Liandrin probably read him the note that Lady Amalisa sent from Fal Dara. The show is doing such a better job of actually establishing Mat's motives for various ways he behaves than the books did -- in the books, he seemed to take against Aes Sedai for the terrible crime of... healing him? But selling him out to someone who has kept him locked up for six months and who spent that time psychologically torturing him is an EXCELLENT reason for him to feel wary about being around Aes Sedai. He's seen the worst of them! Because it's not just Liandrin and the Reds. It's Moiraine too!

And they did this in s1 too, giving Mat actual reasons for his canon-typical behavior by changing his background to one more fraught with tension.

#butterfly watches wot #wot #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot show spoilers #wot prime spoilers #wot 2x1 spoilers #wot s2 spoilers #wheel of time s2 spoilers #wot book spoilers #the gathering storm

[boldlyvoid]

Can you please write where Eddie really likes the reader but reader is dating Jason carver 😌😌😌😌

absolutely! i hope you like it

Warnings: mutual pining, bullying, abusive relationships, mental abuse, name-calling, slut shaming

word count: 1.7k

Jason used to be cool.

Not in the way most kids at school think he is now, no, he used to play pretend with Eddie and the boys in the schoolyard… he used to have an imagination and a kind heart and a strong arm to wield his imaginary sword side by side with Sir Eddie. 

Although, he doesn’t know how much of that was truly him or if it was all just one of the many faces Jason had. Their group was a lot bigger back then, back when they were forced to socialize with each other, they even had a lot of girls in their group. 

One girl, in particular, Y/N, who was now a cheerleader and Jason’s doting, perfect girlfriend. It made Eddie’s stomach turn to think about his wonderful friends becoming the people who hurt him the most now. Jason was so fucking mean, he didn’t understand how someone as lovely as Y/N could sit by and let it happen, which hurt him more. 

It didn’t stop his crush on her, unfortunately. She was still nice to him when Jason wasn’t around, she was his partner in Chemistry and she helped him with his English homework sometimes… but she still went back to Jason at lunch and kissed him in front of everyone and said nothing when he told Eddie to eat shit and die for no reason. 

There was a hatred on Jason’s part that he didn’t understand whatsoever, Eddie was valid for hating him back cause the treatment was unbearable. He’s been tripped, pushed, spilled on, yelled at, lied to, and about… people believed anything Jason said just because he was popular. The teachers loved him because he was a handsome, church-going, helpful man. He was a kiss-ass. A rich kid. A little bitch. 

Eddie was the opposite. Just by looking at him the teachers and the other kids decided that he was a bad kid. They thought that he was evil because he didn’t fit into the mould that society set for young men. They claimed he was going against the church for growing out his hair, wearing dark colours and reading any book that wasn’t the bible. 

They believed in boats full of animals, wizards that could part seas and turn water into wine and that killing gods son was okay because he could come back to life 3 days later… but the lord of the rings is too much???? It thoroughly pissed him off. 

Like clockwork, he has enough of all the shit-talking in the cafeteria and retreats to the back corner of the library to read his devil books and have a moment of peace. But it doesn’t happen. He’s barely in his spot for 10 minutes when Y/N shows up between the bookshelves and smiles at him like nothing happened. 

“Hey…” 

He ignores her even though his heart is screaming. He’s so mad that she can just sit there while her boyfriend says those things and then show up here. It’s not like she was going to apologize or make it right or anything. 

She walks over to where he’s sitting and kneels down beside him, trying to get his attention, she rests her hands on his arm but he flinches back. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Really, you have to ask?” He tries to keep his voice down but he’s so hurt. “your boyfriend is a grade-A cunt and I can’t fucking do this anymore.” 

Her shoulder slump and her face falls, “oh…”

“Oh?” He shakes his head, disappointed in her. “Why don’t you care? Why do you let him talk to me like that? Does he talk to you like that?” 

She shakes her head, “not really… I mean, it’s different but he is mean to me too.” 

“Why?” He stares into her eyes and watches them break, “why do you stay with him?” 

“I don’t know,” she cries, eyes welling with tears as she loses her voice. “it’s… it’s complicated.” 

He drops his book and cups her face in his hands, he hasn’t seen her cry since she was 11 and scraped her knee on the pavement. He held her like this back then too, he kissed her knee to make it better and he wiped all her tears… “what does he do to you?” 

“He doesn’t do anything,” he’s adamant about that. “It’s the way he talks to me… like— like I’m nothing if I leave him. Like he says I’m wasted goods and no one else will love me like he does.” 

“That’s a goddamn lie,” he’s stern but soft at the same time. “Cause that’s not love, I love you. I’ve loved you enough to watch you live your life from the sidelines and now I love you enough to tell you that you deserve better.” 

She doesn’t look like she believes it, she looks so defeated. “I don’t like what he does to you, I don’t like how he talks to anyone, really… I can’t just leave him. He’s not going to just let me go…” 

“Do you want him to?” He asks, “do you love him?” 

She’s confused and distressed, she’s never told anyone the truth let alone herself. She’s barely processed this on her own and now she felt like he was making her choose. “I don’t— I mean, I’m not sure? I don’t want to be alone.” 

Tears well again and she pulls away from him to sob into her hands. 

She really believes the shit he’s told her. Eddie can’t believe how deep he’s got his hooks in her. It breaks his heart to see her like this. He doesn’t know what to do, he knows he can’t change her mind in a matter of minutes, this is something he saw in his parents. His dad was a royal cunt, his mom a sweetheart, so of course, his words got to her. She was too soft for the world, Y/N was too. 

He reaches out to comfort her and she leans right against his chest. He wraps her up in his arms and kisses the top of her head, “I’m so sorry he’s made you feel like this. He’s not supposed to make you feel like this if he really loves you,” he whispers. “This isn’t how real love feels.” 

“This could be,” she mumbles against him. 

“What?” 

“This could be what real love feels like,” she says it again. 

“It could be,” he agrees. His chest filling up with a mixture of pride and anxiety, “I’ll tell you right now, I’m never going to treat you like he has… and if I ever even slightly make you feel unloved you have the right to knock some sense into me.” 

She laughs a bit, “okay… do you think we can do it?” 

“Do what?” 

“Make it through whatever he’s going to put us through… I mean, once I dump him the slut shamming with start and then the bullying will escalate and god knows what else. I might even be kicked off the team for breaking the abstinence pact.” 

“What?” He had no idea that was a thing. “Does the basketball team have one too?” 

She shakes her head. “That’s fucked up. If you get kicked off then Jason should too…” 

“No, he’s going to tell people that I fucked you,” she explains better. “Not that he took my virginity, he’s going to say I’m such a sex-crazed whore and couldn’t get it from him so I went to the freak. I’ve been with him long enough to know what he’ll say.” 

“I’ll break both his hands he’ll never make another fuckin basket again,” Eddie basically growls. He’s seeing red at the mere idea of Jason carrying on his bullshit but directing it toward her. 

“And go to jail,” she reminds him. “I quite like having you in my classes and not behind bars.” 

“We could just not tell anyone?” He suggests, willing to be her dirty secret to keep her safe. 

She shakes her head and holds him tighter, “um, no,” she sounds offended. “If I get to finally touch you all the time I’m taking the opportunity.” 

She was clingy… he was going to love this. 

“When can you dump him?” He wonders, wanting to know exactly when he can ask her out…

“Now,” she takes a deep breath as she pulls away. “Come with me?” 

She hauls him up to his feet and straightens out his jacket, looking up into his eyes with a smile. “You get to be my bodyguard.” 

“As long as I can keep the title,” he compromises. 

“Of course,” she takes his hand and leads him out of the library. 

She doesn’t drop his hand until they reach her locker, where Jason is standing with his friends… his own locker was right beside her’s after all. 

“What the fuck is this?” He points to Eddie, “the freak needs a tampon?” 

“Eat shit, Jason,” she spits back. “I’m tired of you bullying my friends. And I’m tired of the shit you say to me. I don’t want to date you anymore, I’m not sorry.” 

He lets out a shocked laugh as the rest of the kids around him oo and ah at the situation. “What the fuck are you talking about?” 

“I don’t like how you treat me—

“How I treat you?” His voice gets louder. “I deserve a bit more respect and then maybe I’d—

“Hey man,” Patrick places his hand on Jason's shoulder and pulls him back. “She’s not wrong. You’re not the nicest to her, let her go. She can make that choice.” 

“Yeah, let me go,” she gives him an evil grin. “Have fun finding someone who can put up with your shit as long as I did.” 

He doesn’t say anything after that, he just shakes his head in a fit of burning rage and heads off down the hallway. She turns to her fellow cheerleaders who were all whispering to themselves, “I don’t care who dates him next, just don’t come crying to me when he’s belittled all the self-worth out of you.” 

She grabs her things from her locker and hands them to Eddie, “can you take these for me? I need to go ask the office if I can move.” 

“Just use mine,” Eddie offers, taking all her things gladly. “It’s not like I do.”

“Okay,” she gives him a sweeter smile, looping her arm under his and making their way down the hall despite all the prying eyes. 

They’d just have to get used to that. 

General Taglist 

@ncsls0515 @stevesmunsons @reidsbookclub @wroteclassicaly @sweetyyhippyy @manuosorioh @mrs-dr-reid @k-k0129 @eddiemunson-rp 

Eddie

@fightingdragonswithwho @kyomito @reidselle @venomsvl @nomajdetective @girl-with-an-orange-cat @blairscott @princesseddie 

#ask #blurbs #eddie munson #eddie munson stranger things #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x fem reader #eddie munson smut #stranger things #eddie munson imagines #eddie munson imagine #stranger things imagine #stranger things season 4

[sourwolf-sterek32]

Alpha’s First Daughter

Summary: You had been on your own for years after escaping the Whisperers. Until you run into a hunter in the woods who's searching for his brother.

OR

The Walking Dead rewrite from Season 9 to Season 11 with you, Y/N, as Daryl Dixon's eventual love interest.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3.6k

Warnings: language, past child abuse

Chapter 10-

The following morning, you found yourself knocking on the door to the medical trailer to visit Jesus. Enid answered your knock after a few seconds and smiled when she saw you.

"Is Jesus awake? I can come back later if he's-"

"About time you visited me." Jesus' voice called out and you couldn't stop the grin spreading across your face.

Enid stepped to the side allowing you inside and you walked in to find your best friend laying down on the hospital bed across the room.

"About time you're finally awake when I visit." You joked back causing the man to chuckle which quickly turned into a grimace at the pain it caused his stab wound.

"I'll give you guys privacy." Enid suddenly spoke up and you gave the girl an appreciative nod before you walked across the room and took a seat on the chair beside Jesus' bed.

Neither of you said anything for a few seconds as you stared at him, taking note of how pale his skin still was and the thick white bandage wrapped around his chest and shoulder. He almost died. If the knife had gone just a few more inches to the right, it would have pierced his heart and he would have been dead. This was all your fault.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you." You apologised, staring at the man you considered your best friend.

You could feel tears starting to rise in your eyes, but you pushed them away. Jesus was alive. He was hurt and on strict bed rest, but he was alive and that was all that mattered.

"You weren't the one that stabbed me. Aaron said that if you didn't kill that Whisperer, I'd probably be dead. I should be thanking you." Jesus responded, but you shook your head as you looked away from him.

He shouldn't be thanking you. If it wasn't for you, he wouldn't be in this hospital bed. The Whisperers were back and there wasn't a damn thing you could do to stop them from attacking you in that cemetery and now Alpha was coming, and you knew she wasn't going to stop until she got Lydia back and you were dead.

"I heard you found your little sister as well. How's she doing?" He asked, changing the topic as you turned your attention back to him.

"She's good, all things considered. I don't even want to think about all the shit Alpha would have put her through, our mother was never nice-" You cut yourself off when realised what you had said.

"It's okay. I know."

"What?"

"When I first found you in the woods bleeding out, you referred to her as your mother, but since then you've just called her Alpha. I kinda put and two together." Jesus explained and you sighed rubbing your face with your hands.

"Yeah, she's our mother and she's coming here." You informed, catching Jesus by surprise as his eyes widened in shock.

"Wait, what makes you say she's coming? She doesn't know you two are here, does she?"

"I don't know. If she comes, I'm going to kill her."

You could tell he wanted to say something to that, but whatever he was going to say, you weren't going to like.

"You don't think I should kill her?" You asked, and Jesus just shrugged his shoulders, but it was clear he wanted to say something. "What?"

"I get the pain that she has put you through and the damage she's caused you is unbelievable. But, a daughter killing her own mother... Y/N, that's a wound that's too deep to heal. And I know you, especially with your photographic memory, that's gonna swallow you up, it's gonna destroy you."

"I know." You whispered hating the fact that you could feel tears starting to rise in your eyes.

No matter what your mother had done and what she put you through, you could still remember those blissful few years when you were little, and your father was alive. You were like a normal family. You were happy. She loved and took care of you like all mothers should.

"I know. That's the part that hurts the most about all of this... after everything she's done, all the abuse, the wreckage, even trying to kill me... she's-she's still my mum and I..." You trailed off, voice breaking as a silent tear fell down your face.

"Hey, Y/N. Look at me." Jesus instructed and you reluctantly lifted your head, meeting his gaze. "It might not even come to that. She might not even know you two are here-"

Enid suddenly burst through the door, her hair wild and eyes wide in panic.

"They're here. You're old group. They're here."

She didn't wait for your response before she was rushing back outside, leaving you sitting there in sudden fear.

"Y/N-" Jesus started to say, trying to sit up.

"I'll be fine. Stay here, you're not allowed out of bed yet. Lay back down." You instructed sternly, ignoring the shakiness in your voice.

Jesus sighed, but laid back down reluctantly before you rushed out the trailer. Everyone was running around the inside of the community like headless chickens, not knowing what to do.

Henry and Lydia rushed down the steps of Barrington house, looking around in panic before they saw you.

"Is it really them?" Lydia questioned, sprinting over before you pulled your sister into a tight hug, her body trembling in terror against you.

"Yes. Henry, I need you to take Lydia and hide inside Barrington house. Take her to Maggie's office, stay in there and hide. No matter what." You instructed, looking over at the young boy who nodded before you let go of Lydia, hating the tears of fear in her eyes.

"What about you?" She asked.

"I'll be fine. Now, go."

Lydia didn't make any indication of going before you looked over at Henry who clearly knew what you were thinking because he grabbed your sisters hand and started pulling her towards Barrington House.

You stood there watching them until they disappeared inside before you turned and ran to the front of the community to find Daryl, Tara, Magna and Yumiko standing on the watch platform staring over the fence towards what you assumed were the Whisperers.

Looking through the small gap between the tall front gates, you spotted a large group of what looked like walkers walking towards the front of the community, but you knew they weren't walkers. They were Whisperers.

"Y/N?" Daryl questioned and you looked up to find him standing on the edge of the watch platform looking down at you with a questioning look.

You simply nodded to tell him that it was them and even from where you were standing you could see the slight panic on his face.

You turned your attention back to the Whisperers as you looked through the gap and your entire body tensed when Alpha pushed her way through the front of the group. She was the only one without a mask and she still looked exactly the same as the last time you saw her.

The same shaved head, the belt buckle, the clothes and you were willing to bet she still had that sawn-off shotgun behind her back.

"I am Alpha. And we only want one thing from you, my daughters." Your mother suddenly shouted and you could see Daryl's head quickly turning in your direction after she said 'daughters', but you didn't dare look at him, your eyes glued to Alpha through the gap in the gate.

You never told Daryl that Alpha was your mother. You probably should have, but it was too late now.

"Our community is more than capable of defending itself." Tara's voice responded from where she was standing somewhere on the watch platform.

"I show you my face because we mean you no harm. I just want my daughters. I know you have them." Alpha responded, ignoring Tara's statement.

Shit. You knew she wouldn't leave until she got what she wanted, but like hell you were going to let her take Lydia. You didn't care if she took you, but not Lydia. Not again.

"You should turn around. Leave now 'n no one gets hurt." Daryl shouted in response.

"Wrong answer."

You watched in confusion as Alpha raised her hand to the sky in a fist. There was sudden movement behind her, and your stomach dropped when a large group of Whisperers began walking out from behind the corn crops.

There was more of them. You knew there was a large group of them, but you were kinda hoping that over the years the group had got smaller, although it looked like it was the opposite.

"Y/N told me what her mother did to her. Hell, you can see all her scars. We ain't sending her back to that." Daryl's voice whispered causing you to turn away from the Whisperers as you looked up at the group on the watch platform.

"What if they have Alden and Luke? Pissing her off can get them killed." Tara responded.

"Did you kill our friends? We found their horses." Magna suddenly questioned as you turned your attention back to the Whisperers.

"No. Which one of you leads these people?"

"The hell does it matter?" Daryl snapped.

"Then I'll just address all of you. Your people crossed into our land. There will be no conflict. Your people killed our people. There will be no conflict. I'm done talking. Give me my daughters or there will be conflict."

"No one touches Y/N or Lydia." Daryl muttered before he started climbing down the ladder and walking over to you. "Why didn't ya tell me she was your mother?" He questioned, anger lacing his voice as he reached your side, and you lowered your head.

"I didn't want to tell you."

"The hell not?"

"You wouldn't understand." You responded causing Daryl to just scoff before you looked at him. "You got away from your abusive father at the start of all of this. I didn't. I wasn't strong enough to leave her and when I finally did, I lost my sister and nearly died. I didn't want you think I'm weak. But, I am." You explained and the anger in Daryl's face slowly started to fade away.

"Ya ain't weak." He muttered, staring at you for a moment before he started to reach for the latch on the gate.

"Wait, what are you doing?" You questioned in confusion.

He wasn't seriously going to go out there, was he?

"She's done talking. I ain't." He stated, reaching for the door again before you pulled out your Desert Eagle from your holster and held it out to him.

"Alpha used to have a sawn-off shotgun strapped behind her. You aren't going out there without a gun." You explained and Daryl nodded, taking your gun before tucking it through the back of his belt.

You stood back and watched as Daryl opened the gate and walked out before Enid quickly shut it behind him and you returned to looking through the gap.

You couldn't hear what either of them were saying, but when two of the Whisperers behind them got their masks ripped off, you had to cover your mouth with your hands to stop yourself from gasping because it was Alden, and you were assuming the other man was Luke. They both had their hands bound behind their backs and mouths gaged. They were alive, but you knew what Alpha was going to do next.

Alden and Luke for you and Lydia. You weren't stupid, that was the deal Alpha would want. There was only one way Alden and Luke got out of this alive and that was if you handed yourself in. If you did that then they'd live and get to be with their friends and family, if you didn't, Alpha would kill them, no questions asked.

"What are we going to do?" Enid questioned and you turned around to find her and Kelly standing behind you, looking up at the women on the watch platform.

"There's only one thing to do." You answered, catching the young girl's attention as they looked over at you, not sure what to say.

You knew Kelly was close to this Luke guy and Enid was dating Alden. Their lives were worth more than yours, you knew that. It wasn't their fault, the Whisperers were your problem and you had bought that group into all these people's lives. This is on you, and you had to fix it.

"No, I know what you're thinking, Y/N. That's not going to happen." Jesus' voice suddenly called out, causing your head to snap around in his direction to find him slowly struggling to walk towards the group of you.

"God damnit, Rovia!" You muttered under your breath, rushing over to him and grabbing his good arm, wrapping it over your shoulders to help him. "You do know what the definition of bed rest means right?"

"Yeah, it means I'm not letting my best friend go back to her abusive mother and get herself killed." He responded protectively.

Daryl suddenly stormed back through the front gates, Enid quickly closing them behind him before she began talking to Daryl, no doubt asking whether Alden was okay or not. You didn't hear Daryl's answer though, his eyes frantically scanned the community trying to find you before his eyes landed on you and he visibly relaxed.

"Talk some sense into your girlfriend." Jesus called out as Daryl walked over to the two of you.

"She ain't getting' you or Lydia. That ain't happenin'." Daryl stated sternly, but you didn't have a chance to respond before the sound of people shouting and loud banging filled the air.

You quickly looked up at the other watch platform to find the Hilltop guards all banging on the tin and you frowned in confusion before you heard Kelly say something about a Whisperer baby being left for the dead and her sister, Connie trying to save it.

"Go." You said, looking back at Daryl.

You could tell he was conflicted with what to do before you grabbed his shoulder with your free hand.

"Go, help Connie. Save the baby." You insisted and Daryl stared at you for a split second before he nodded and took off running, Kelly and a few others hot on his tail as they went around the back to the secret tunnel to get outside.

You helped walk Jesus over to one of the benches as you gently sat him down and glared at him when he grunted in pain, but he just ignored you.

"I'm fine and I'm not letting you go with them." He said, looking up at you as you stood in front of him.

You didn't want to argue with him. But, there was no way you were letting those two men out there die and the only way to do that was for you to take their place.

You didn't bother saying anything in response as you crossed your arms over your chest and looked away from Jesus towards the women on the watch platform, who were all watching Connie no doubt save the baby and you hoped like hell she was okay.

It didn't take long before Daryl returned, Connie, Kelly and the others beside him and you sighed with relief. There was a baby wrapped in a blanket in Connie's arms and none of them didn't seem to be injured.

"You guys okay?" You asked, signing it as well, although it probably wasn't the best, but you didn't miss the small smile on Connie and Kelly's face when you sighed, and they all nodded.

"What are we going to do? They have Alden and Luke." Tara's voice questioned and you glanced over your shoulder to find the other women climbing down the ladder and joining the rest of you.

"There's only one thing to do-" You started to say.

"No." Daryl and Jesus both said, cutting you off as you glared at the two of them.

"Neither of you can stop me. This is the only way to save your friends. She's my mother, she's my responsibility, so I'm going."

"Ya know what she's gonna do to ya. She'll kill ya, Y/N. Look what she did to ya last time you saw her!" Daryl exclaimed, pointing towards the scar across your neck.

"She will, but she'll want to kill me in front of her people to set an example. So, when she takes me back to their camp, I'll kill her first." You explained causing Daryl to shake his head, not liking that idea at all.

"There has to be another way, if you kill Alpha then her people will probably kill you. It's a suicide mission, Y/N." Jesus responded, but now it was you who was shaking your head.

"There's not." You answered before you started to take your sword sheath off your back and placing it on the bench beside him, along with your throwing knives, pocketknife and hunting knife before handing the spare magazine of ammunition to Daryl for your handgun.

"Y/N..." Daryl said, his voice soft, but you could hear the pain behind it as he stared at you with pleading eyes.

"It's the only way. Take care of Lydia for me." You said, but Daryl just shook his head as his eyes started to get watery.

"Nah, ya ain't goin'."

You took a step towards him and pulled him into a hug. Daryl immediately wrapped his arms tightly around your back as he buried his face into the crook of your neck.

"It's going to be okay." You whispered to him, but Daryl just shook his head against your neck, and you could feel yourself starting to tear up.

You tried to force your tears away and grabbed Daryl by the shoulders and pulled him off you slightly as you held him in front of you, his teary eyes locking with yours.

"I love you and these past six years with you, have been the best of my life-" You started to say, but Daryl cut you off as his lips suddenly pressed against yours, his hands cupping the side of your face as he kissed you.

"I love ya, Y/N." He whispered against your lips before pulling you into his chest.

You hugged him back, taking it all in because deep down you knew what Jesus said was right, this was a suicide mission. Alpha had to be killed and this meant Lydia would be able to grow up around good people, she'd get to be a kid and live in a safe environment, well not safe, nothing in this world was safe anymore, but she'd be looked after in Hilltop. She'd be cared for and that was more than what Alpha had even given either of you.

Eventually, Daryl let go of you and you hated the tears in his eyes as he stared at you before you turned back towards Jesus who was no better off as he shook his head with teary eyes staring at you.

"You are both going to make me cry. Stop it." You joked, causing a few of the others around you to laugh which you took as a win.

"Then don't go." Jesus responded, but you just smiled sadly shaking your head.

"I have to."

You leant down and hugged him gently, not wanting to hurt him more than he probably already was after walking all the way out here instead of resting in bed.

"Thank you." Tara whispered, holding her fist out towards you with a sad smile and you nodded, fist bumping her before saying goodbye to the others.

You walked towards the gates and took a deep breath, hating how your hands were shaking at your sides as you nodded at Yumiko to open the gate.

Slowly, the gates opened. Your mother was still standing behind the first wooden gate that separated the outside world to Hilltops vegetable garden, but you didn't miss the small grin appearing on her face when she spotted you standing there.

"Open the other gate, let her through." You instructed as you walked out the community, Daryl closely behind you as the other wooden gate opened and Alpha started to walk through, followed by two other Whisperers who were holding Alden and Luke.

Alpha stopped halfway between the gate and Hilltop, and you stopped too, watching as your mother looked you up and down. You tried to make yourself seem confident and not afraid, when in reality you were terrified.

Nobody said anything for a few seconds as you all stared at each other before you glanced over at Daryl and gave him a small smile before you started to walk towards her. Alpha suddenly made some kind of hand signal to her people, and you watched as one of the Whisperers released Alden.

You walked past Alden as he stared at you with wide eyes before you stopped in front of your mother and glanced over at the man you assumed was Luke.

"You got me, let him go too." You instructed.

"That wasn't the deal. Give me Lydia and he is free to go."

"Not happening. You got me, now finish the deal." You ordered, but your mother just shook her head causing you to take a step forward and a split second later she pulled her knife out and held it towards your throat causing you to freeze.

"Don't challenge me or I'll finish what I did all those years ago." She threatened, pressing the blade against your throat.

You quickly held your hand out behind you, silently telling Daryl to stand down, knowing he was seconds away from doing something stupid as you kept your eyes locked with Alpha's.

"Don't hurt her!" Lydia's voice suddenly shouted, and your heart rate skyrocketed.

No. She wasn't meant to be out here.

"I'll come with you, just don't hurt her." Your sister repeated and you closed your eyes as your heart dropped.

You could hear footsteps coming up behind you and a second later the Whisperer holding Luke released him as he hurriedly walked past you towards the others by the gate just as Lydia reached your side.

You glanced over at your sister, and she met your gaze, giving you a small reassuring nod, but that did nothing to reassure you. It was meant to be just you. Not your little sister, this wasn't meant to happen.

-

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MASTERLIST in bio

Commissions open! DM for enquires ❤️

#daryl dixon #daryl dixon fanfic #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon x reader #twd #The Walking Dead #the walking dead fanfic #the walking dead fanfiction #Norman Reedus

[jomiddlemarch]

20 questions for writers

Tagged by @asteraceae-blue who is Very Nice Indeed.

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 876

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,544,499

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Brace yourselves. Mercy Street, Shadow and Bone, Foyle's War, Poldark, The Last of Us, GLOW, A Discovery of Witches, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Shogun, Harry Potter, Downton Abbey, Frozen, Dune, Ted Lasso, Star Wars, The Hour, Sanditon, Leap, Brooklyn 99, Far From The Madding Crowd, Beauty and the Beast, Wonder Woman, Gilmore Girls, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Avengers, Parks and Rec, Betsy-Tacy, Wandavision, Rogue One, The Mandalorian, Bridgerton, Community, Solo, Iron Man, Call the Midwife, Lord Peter Wimsey, Fleabag, The Little Mermaid, Emma, The Guernsey Potato Peel Pie and Literary Society, Timeless, Rebecca, The Age of Innocence, Beecham House, World on Fire, And Then There Were None. A few more but I am tired now.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

what it is to be a thin, crescent moon

A Wife--at daybreak I shall be

Point and Click

Bear with the truths I would tell you now

The subtlest fold of the heart

5. Do you respond to comments?

I do try and answer everyone, even if I just say thanks. I will delete really rude comments, which have fortunately been rare.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I wrote "Because I could not stop for Death" for Mercy Street and killed basically every character at least once, making remaining characters miserable. Except for the last chapter, where I killed the guy we all loathed.

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

This is tough because I mostly write happy endings. I think "But let thy silk twist down" counts as one, because Jed Foster is convinced that Mary is dying or has rejected him and then she surprises him by showing up and locking them into the sitting room. And in GLOW, "everything could yield him pleasure" allows Sam and Ruth to get back together over Christmas.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not very often. It's mostly been in big fandoms (Reylo, Shadow and Bone, I'm looking at you) but it hasn't been a big issue on AO3 or Tumblr. And I'm comfortable deleting and blocking.

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

Yes, when I feel it's called for. I write grown-up sex scenes, so there are no wacky positions (unless someone talks about how they're going to throw out their back) and sometimes a breastfeeding mother's milk lets down or a woman struggles to have an orgasm. It's pretty vanilla though and all cishet. In the cock v. dick debate, I lean cock. I don't use other euphemisms for male genitals unless someone is quoting a poem. (I'm not sure that has happened but it totally could with me.)

No one in any of my sex scenes has had any bodyscaping and a not insignificant number of times, someone has left their socks on.

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

OMG, YES. I love a crossover. Probably my Mercy Street/Sesame Street crossover has to be up there for zaniness. I did put Shadow and Bone characters in AOGG Prince Edward Island and I have also crossed over All Creatures Great and Small vets (James and Tristan) into the Grishaverse.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've been asked for permission but I don't think I gave it.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes. During the pandemic, there was the Mercy Street Murder Hotel round robin with @tortoisesshells @fericita-s @broadwaybaggins @sagiow @mercurygray and also the Cruise Ship with @sagiow and @fericita-s.

(Pro tip: it's easier if you agree on your murderer BEFORE you start writing but it was fun writing clues that were 50/50 going to be red herrings.)

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Given the number of fics I've written for them, I have to say Mary Phinney/Jed Foster but it really could be smart-woman-who-is-underestimated/quippy-guy-who-gets-he's-smart-but-not-as-smart-as-she-is-and-that's-the-turn-on

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

This may make people sad, but I have a hard time seeing my way clear to an ending on "what is it to be a thin crescent moon" largely because I'd have to do some more plotting to get where I'd want to go. It's never say never but the truth is, I originally intended to stop when they got to the Little Palace, so everything after that was basically improv.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm pretty good at capturing a character's voice and I've often been told my work is poetic, which I appreciate, as I am a poet.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Long-form plotting. I love to read it, but I get tired trying to create it and often resort to lily-padding (my own term for jumping from scene to scene.) I overuse the word just. I don't play chess well but I cannot resist writing about gambits.

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

I try to keep it minimal, since I'm only fluent in English.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Mercy Street.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

What is this, Sophie's Freaking Choice? I really like my GLOW zombie road-trip story "Music shall untune the sky" because I gave them a good ride and there was so much angst! "Hope is the thing with feathers" is a fic I wrote for myself, when I was despairing about Real Life and US politics and human rights, where I let Christopher Foyle offer the comfort I desperately wished for.

Tagging @tortoisesshells @fericita-s @sagiow @broadwaybaggins @oldshrewsburyian @orlissa @amarguerite @aloveforjaneausten and @aquitainequeen but anyone else is welcome to hold forth!

#about me #about my fic #it's all on AO3 #if you want to search #sorry no links

[tiny012]

What "development" is this person talking about? They're given more screen time and made into comic relief characters but that's about it. I was hoping not to see the need to prop up the '90s anime until AFTER Cosmos was released in the US. They completely downplayed the threatening nature of Sailor Animates. Compare Lead Crow's bantering with Siren and her wiping out Phobos and Demos and catching Sailor Mars off guard and threatening Venus as well. No idea what the designs have to do with this.

People still don't understand what character development is

Character development does not equal screen time.

We are not with them a long time but we do know why they are doing what they a doing and get a little backstory.

Especially the fact the 90's anime completely changed their backstory to be being an senshi who gave up their star seed meanwhile in the manga they were never senshi in the first place but WANTED to be senshi. To the point they help Gal kill the senshi of their own planet because she promise them if they do that they will be reborn as senshi with a Sailor Crystal.

That is more tragic because they were promise something and thought's they was working towards that but was never going to get it in the first place.

Shit Tin Nyanko gave Artemis and Luna the ride at by saying they abandoned Mau to help out Usagi which she was very pissed off at that.

Then you have Lethe and Mnemosyne that are "true" senshi but their planets was at war with each other and they saw their planets get blew up by Gal and then they served her.

Would it been more nice to spend more time with them?

Yeah sure

But you have Galaxia pretty much killing a senshi left and right to get Usagi which they were pretty much pawns in this for Gal, it's not going to be like that.

To me they did a couple things

To show there are more senshi out there besides the 11 ( well 12 if you count Chibs) that we have spent almost five arcs knowing. That planets outside the Solar System have their own Planetary Sailor Senshi protecting the planet.( Which it could have been awesome if we got another series exploring more senshi but how Toei treated Naoko, I don't blame her.)

To be a cautionary and tragic tale of girls who want to be a senshi and was lead astray by someone who promised that but it was never going to happen. Which they was used for that person bidding and their own personal goal didn't matter.

To show that without a Sailor Crystal or Star Seed, the body is just dust. Showing that a Sailor Crystal or Star Seed is someone soul and the body is expendable. (Which is many religious teachings, it's been taught that the soul will live on but the body will turn back into the earth aka dirt or dust.) Which the only thing that was keeping those five alive was the bracelets and without them they was just dust.

Some people don't understand how deep was getting in this arc but because they only spent one or two page time before they was gone and not 20-30 episodes being comedic relief before finally getting killed yall want to scream "THEY GET NO CHARACTER DEVEOPLMENT! "

It's bad enough they scream that over and over again about the core four when if you really look closely those girls are not the same people they were when the manga started.

They have changed completely while still maintain their traits.

Do you we have ever seen Ami showing anger for not getting an high score on a test to the point she's ripping a paper in half?

Even Haruka and Mic is not the same people we met from Infinity arc to Stars Arc.

The fact those two went from being all about not making sure Hotaru didn't awaken to Saturn to pretty much taking care of her and treating her like she's their own kid.

Hell Hotaru went from a father who only used her for a science experiment which she was only kept alive by being a half machine, to finding a friend, to awaking up to the powerful senshi who thought they was always " the unwanted guest" to now she has a family, a best friend, and doesn't have to be alone anymore.

Pluto My god Sets. Sets went from being pretty much a kid senshi that had to stay a the door of time guarding it with no friends at all, that was told not to break rules, to befriending Chibiusa, a girl who was a lonely as she was who had no friend's, who she broke all the rules for because how much she loved her and wanted to save her , to being reborn by NQS in present time, and now being the " mother" type figure for the whole team

Mic was straight up gushing about the fact they are in high school again and can enjoy the experience because when they was at the academy they was on a mission. They are able to be normal high schoolers hanging out with each other and with the other five.

Do you think we have saw Mic break her lip stick because one of the starlights told her the color was tacky? Not how she was first introduced to be the elegant one.

We was able to see different sides of the girls and show how multi-faceted they could be while seeing them grow.

All these girls started off feeling like they are alone. That people and society had a perception about them which was father from the truth..

Usagi said fuck that shit and befriended every last one of them which they found a friend in her and found friends with each other. They founded their own family which help them grow and able to show who they really are to not only to each other but to other people as well.

"We're all lonely stars. That's why we seek each other out. We want to be united. Together as one. Because that is how we were in the beginning. "

-Usagi to Chaos in Act 59 in StarS Arc

Does that line really encompass Sailor Moon as a whole but some people fail to grasp that concept??

They were all lonely stars, found each other, and made an unbreakable bond with each other. ( Which you can tell how strong their bond was because they was pretty much can feel when the other one is in trouble, they can feel when one them got killed, and they all stayed together in the Cauldron waiting on Usagi.)

And because we do see that but not 100-200 episodes of that people want to say they didn't get any character development.

That's why you can't tell me their friendship was better in the 90's anime than the Manga/Crystal because it's not true.

#tanya rants about sm

[burntblueberrywaffles]

Fic tag game

got tagged by @fangeek-girl ❤️❤️

How many works do you have on Ao3?

I have 7 works but 3 of them are fanfic lol

2. What's your Ao3 word count?

1896 words total. Your girl is definitely one for brevity LOL

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Wednesday, that one drabble I made for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, and I've been writing for Star Wars (though I haven't posted anything yet) and Mrs maisel (i wrote a whole short fic for that almost a year ago but I forgot about it completely until I found it in my notes apps, I should get around to posting it)  

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I don't have 5 fics total but here's my current count in order:

1-Lies

2-The world's a little blurry

3-Pretend

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes always! the fact that people are READING my stuff and taking time to comment has me ��🥺🥺

My writing ao3 isnt linked to my main email adress though so sometimes it takes me a while to respond because I wont see it until I periodically check my fic stats

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

.....Probably The world's a little blurry let's be real (I'm going to fix it it in the next one in the series, I promise!!!)

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

akdadhjgsjgd hard to say all my shit is angsty, I guess Pretend?? kind of, it's less of a downer than the other ones. The final part of Come a little closer will have a happy ending though I promise! (already finished writing the end, I just need to write the beginning lol)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No ❤️ I don't think any of my stuff has gotten enough attention for that lol

9. Do you write smut? What kind?

NO my ace ass has no experience with that so I wouldn't know how 🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️(I might need to in some future project, fortunately a lot of my friends are perverts (affectionate) so I could probably ask for some guidance if it comes to that LOL)

10. Do you write cross-overs?

No, I'm not a big fans of crossovers in general so certainly have never felt compelled to write one.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

12. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No

13. What WIP you would like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

So many ugh I cant even choose, it's more rare for me to actually finish something than the opposite, that's why I'll never post anything unless the whole thing is finished (only exception is my current series, but that's because I felt like each fic making up the series were self-contained enough that they didn't need to follow up immediatly to work? if that makes sense - plus the first one was a one shot and only thought of how to follow it up after posting it)

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

ANIDALA MY BELOVED

15. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm really good at imagery and emotion (being a poetry writer goes brrrrr)

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

DESCRIPTIONS oh god I'm so bad at it. My fic are vibes only lmao, what are they wearing? where are they? what movements are they doing? NOT IMPORTANT how about I offer you 12 metaphors on how this character is feeling instead. (though I'm forcing myself to work on it haha)

I also struggle with any longer story arc... there's a reason all my stuff is so short lol

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

If it's in french it would be pretty fun since it's my ✨first language✨ hehe. For other languages I'd see if one of my friends speak it but otherwise idk if I'd include it bc I don't want to butcher another language, I've seen too many english authors put french through the ringer it's painful 😭

18. First fandom you wrote for?

I guess Julie and the Phantoms? I never posted it but I had a pretty advanced fic for that. unless you count the 13 reasons why fic I posted on wattpas when i was early teen but we dont talk about that

19. Favourite fic you've ever written?

right now it has to be The world's a little blurry, I just love how it came out hehe

20. What fic would you want to rewrite one day?

none right now.

Anyway tagging @nonamemanga @beri-allen @unlifeira @realmermaid333 @suchaladyy @witchysith @king-crimson-works @theycallme-thejackal and anyone else who might want to do it!

#tag game #burntblueberrywaffles

[starcrashx]

III.

"LUKE!!!!"

"IT WASN'T ME!!!"

"WHERE DID YOU HID MY BOW?!?"

Two kids rushed down the stairs into the kitchen. Luke grabbed his head, while Leia chased him with a quiver. Galen was sitting beside Ahsoka at the kitchen island, eating breakfast.

"Leia! Stop threatening your brother's life! Luke, explain!" said Anakin sternly.

"Leia thinks that I stole her bow but I didn't! I swear!"

"Then who did it?" asked Leia and pointed accusingly at his twin.

On cue AR-2 the dog of the family entered the room with what seemed like a stick in his mouth at first.

"AR-2!!!" said Leia in disbelief.

"Told you." said Luke.

"Alright, sit down and eat. AR-2 give me that." said Anakin and the dog obeyed.

"Are mornings usually..." started Galen but Ahsoka finished it for him.

"This crazy? Yes."

"You said it. Not me."

"Galeeeen! I can't wait to show you around school." said Luke excitedly.

"Welp you have to wait until tomorrow then." said Anakin while munching on a waffle.

"Why?" asked Leia who was still hung up on the betrayal.

"I kind of forgot to do the paperwork so he has to wait until tomorrow to start."

"Obi-wan told you to do it in time but you said later and this is the result. Congratulations." clapped her hands Ahsoka.

Anakin only rolled his eyes.

"Shut your trap Snips. If you guys are done let's go. I have work to do."

"What about practice! I can't go without my bow." protested Leia.

"Leaving out one practice won't kill you." answered Anakin.

Leia huffed and walked off with her plate. After that Anakin turned his attention to Galen.

"Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone who could stay with you at home. But I trust you that you will be alright. If something's up just call any of us and we will come to the rescue." said Anakin and handed Galen a phone.

"It's yours." said the man after Galen's confused expression.

"Oh um you shouldn't have, this is too much I can't-"

"Accept it? C'mon Galen you are a part of this family now. Of course I will provide you with everything you need. And spoiler alert this isn't the only thing we will buy for you." said Anakin.

Galen smiled and pocketed the phone. He quickly learned that there is no use arguing with this man anyways. After Ahsoka and Luke ate, they followed Anakin outside to the car. Leia turned to Galen before she exited the door.

"Look I need your help. Can you go to the Hunter's sports shop today? It's in town but I think you are a capable person and you will solve the travelling problem. I already told Boba my order, just say my name he will know it. After you get it bring it to me in school."

"I will try my best." nodded Galen.

Leia smiled and hugged the boy. Galen flinched back and before he could decide what to do the girl already retreated.

"I knew I could count on you, brother!"

That made Galen smile.

"Oh yeah before I forget. My piggy bank is hidden under my bed. Well more like it's taped under it. Take it and don't tell Luke." she said before sprinting out the door, leaving a very confused Galen behind.

When everyone was gone Galen found a bus for himself on his new phone. He decided to take the 11:00 bus so he had time to kill. He decided to do something productive like mopping and sweeping the floor. He walked to the little storage room under the stairs. On the door there was a neon green stick note.

"Anakin it is your turn to do the mopping! It's been a week, just do it already." Obi-wan.

Well Galen guessed he could do it for his adopted family. The house was pretty big but nothing Galen can't handle. When he was cleaning in the kitchen he noticed another note.

"Ahsoka, stop leaving the spoons all around the kitchen." Anakin.

"Well they wouldn't be there if Obi-wan would do the dishes on time." Ahsoka.

It seemed like the family had a person issue with house work. Galen guessed he could wash the dishes too. He can't use the dishwasher but it won't stop him. When he was done in the kitchen he went upstairs. He went in the bathroom to find more stick notes.

"Note to anyone that is going to the store: I put out 50 dollars on the bookshelf please buy washing powder." Obi-wan.

"It's Ahsoka's turn to do the shopping." Anakin.

"I'm busy with school rn so you buy it yourself or wait until I'm done." Ahsoka.

Galen checked around the washroom and there was not a single washing powder, but just for safety measures he will check the self too. He will buy washing powder too. He ventured into his and Luke's room and he wasn't surprised the least to find pink stick notes on the boy's desk.

"Luke fold your clothes please. Your wardrobe looks like the portal to Narnia would be a high way." Anakin.

Galen peeked into his adoptive brother's wardrobe to find the exact scenario that Anakin described. He thought he could do a favour for Luke, after all the boy had been nothing but kind to Galen. He folded the clothes neatly on top of each other and hung those that fell off the coat hangers. After that he went to Leia's room to take the money and to clean her room too.

"Leia honey the dust is so thick that a sneeze alone could create a sandstorm." Obi-wan.

Galen found that Leia started the cleaning but stopped halfway. So he picked up the duster and finished the job for her. He also found the piggy bank as instructed and took all the money from it, just for safety measures. He went back to his shared room just to find a small sticky note on his desk.

"Dear I put some pocket money into your drawer. Use it as you please." Obi-wan.

Galen was surprised and a little giddy on the inside. He checked to find 50 dollars in there. He pocketed enough for two bus tickets and went downstairs to check the bookshelf. There was the money that Obi-wan mentioned and as Galen counted that was more than 50 dollars.

"Here is this week's shopping list:

- Starcrunch Cereal

- 1 gallon of water

- Super clean wash powder

- 2 carrots

- 1 lettuce

- 5 onions

- a bag of salt

- chicken wings

- dog food for AR-2" Obi-wan.

Galen took the money and the list. He put all the money into different pockets so he knows how many he should give back to each individual. He checked the clock and as much he wanted to start mopping now that he is done with sweeping he had to go to catch the bus. AR-2 run to him for head pets before he left. He loved this dog so much and he was glad that the feeling was mutual.

×⭐×

Upon arriving Galen was slapped in the face of how big Corusant was. It's not like he didn't know the city (from a higher view point too) but now he felt so small compared to the huge buildings and crowd. He hated the crowd. But he will manage without freaking out. Leia is depending on him so he won't be stopped. He used his knowledge on the city to find Boba's shop. It was quite the walk but he is used to it. And if he used some of the alleyways to shorten the route Anakin didn't have to know. When he entered he met with a man that was oddly familiar to the Fetts.

"Welcome to my shop little guy. What can I do for you?" asked the man who was leaning on the counter leisurely.

Galen swallowed the ball that was forming in his throat.

"Good morning sir. I came for Leia's order." if his voice was shaking the man paid no mind to it.

"Oh you are his new brother that she spoke of. Wait for me it will only take a moment." said Boba calmly and disappeared behind the shop.

Galen was able to look around the shop while the man was gone. There were a lot of weapons in different calibers displayed in the shop. The walls were decorated with animal heads. The shop had some fancy bows and arrows too. When he walked towards the counter he noticed a few pictures. On one a young girl was holding a trophy. She was really similar to Leia so Galen assumed it really was his adoptive sister. Next to it there was an older man and a small boy with a gun, both smiling next to a dead bear.

"That's my father Jango Fett." spoke Boba who spooked Galen so much he jumped back and almost tripped. The man snorted and put the bow on the counter.

"So...you and Cody..." started Galen but Boba finished it for him.

"He is my older brother yes. I guess you already met my family."

"Yeah. How much?" asked Galen pointing at the bow.

The deal was sealed easily and Galen said his goodbyes to the man. Then he got a notification when he reached an internet café that had free WiFi.

×××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

Leia

Did you get it?

Yes.

Great 👍

I will be outside

Okay. I will be there shortly.

You are my favourite brother

What about Luke?

What about him?😂😂

×××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

Galen smiled at the messages. And as Leia promised she waited patiently outside on a bench. When Galen came into view she smiled and waved at him. Galen awkwardly copied the gesture and handed the bow to the girl.

"You did it! And I didn't have to bribe you to do it. Thanks a ton I owe you one." smiled Leia.

"Wait bribe?" asked back Galen.

Leia just shook her head.

"Don't think about it too much. Anyways I-"

"Galen!!!!" shouted Luke who came running towards them.

"What are you doing here?" asked the blond.

"Mail delivery." tried to humour the boy.

"Nice. Come on Leia we should get lunch I'm already...Wait where is my lunch money?!?"

"You forgot to pack it again? Ugh seriously Luke. Let me see how many I have...Oh shoot." sighed Leia.

"Now who is the idiot, sister." smirked Luke.

"Still you. If my bow wouldn't have broken in the morning I would have packed it."

"Please don't fight. Here. It's the remaining money that I bought the bow with." said Galen and handed Leia back her money.

"Sorry I took all of it with me! Please forgive me I didn't know how much the bow would cost and-"

"It's fine Galen chill, I'm not angry. It's quite the opposite! Now we can have lunch thanks to you." smiled the girl reassuringly.

The boy visibly relaxed then said goodbye to his adoptive family. Before he went back home he still had to do some shopping.

#galen marek #leia organa #luke skywalker #star wars #starkiller #anakin skywalker #ashoka tano #obi wan kenobi