#mars be like 'let me just go ahead and make this one stick'

[labelspoon]

last session on the vanished gods: there's something wrong with mars

#tfw 2 party members nearly eat shit due in no small part to friendly fire #d&d is a game that i am in love with #corona #tvg.png #d&d #d&d art #lyn be like (peter griffin death pose after nearly killing a partymate) #mars be like 'let me just go ahead and make this one stick' #corona be like paul rudd compressing.gif #oh and before i forget #blood tw /

[yanderu-deredere]

line.

★ you and your friends accept the gracious invite a couple of strangers extended to you. they didn't seem all that bad and, in fact, you get a bit attached to them! they're really kind after all...

a/n: here's the second part. i'm writing this before ive published the first part so here's crossing my fingers, hoping that first part gets good reviews loool this should be published the day after so! hope i didnt make yall wait to long!

like i warned in the first part, these yanderes are inspired by slashers. the first part didn't include any violence but this part might. i'll include in the warnings if it does. please heed the warnings! thank you!

part one (hook.) ★ part two (here) ★ part three (sinker.) ★ part four (?)

pairing: casimir fiala x reader x emmaline fiala word count: 2393 warning: gender neutral reader, reader is attracted to males and females, readers friends suck even more, reader is kind of pervy in this one, final ship is poly

When the entire group finally entered the couple's house, you were met with a hallway entrance. Unlike the outside of the house, the inside was nice and well-maintained.

"Pretty sweet house." Dirk wolf whistled as he walked ahead and looked around, his bag slung behind his shoulder. Chloe giggled at him as if what he said was a joke. You honestly didn't understand.

Of course, Bran had to put his two cents. "Pretty sweet for a glorified security guard."

"Shut up, don't be rude." You couldn't help but defend the couple a little, a frown marring your lips as you watched Emm look curiously at her husband, only for Casimir to roll his eyes as if to say 'Don't get me started'

Before you could venture further into the home, you felt a rough shove from beside you. You tried your hardest not to fall over; not an easy feat considering the hefty pack on your back.

When you glanced at who shoved you, you weren't exactly surprised to see it was Kathy. She mouthed at you to shut up, probably annoyed that you were telling her boyfriend off.

She had a weird notion that only she was allowed to do that.

Rolling your eyes, you just gave a curt nod and went on your way, trying to stick close to the couple and avoiding your friends who were oddly striking nerve after nerve with you today.

You weren't surprised. After years of the four of them keeping you around to use you for their own bullshit, you had gotten tired of it and tried to distance yourself.

Why did you even let them talk you into going on this trip?

Maybe a part of you still felt some sort of friendship for them. After all, even though they'd been terrible to you, you were good friends with them for a long time and that wasn't something easily forgotten.

Call it stupidity or some misplaced sense of loyalty.

"Make yourselves at home." Emm gestured to everything before pointing to the stairs directly at the end of the hallway "The third floor's off limits 'cus that's where we're at but everything is on the second floor."

"There is two guest bedrooms there and a shared bathroom." Casimir elaborated as he hung up his rather drenched lab coat "Usually, we keep it for the in laws and close family. They stayed recently so the rooms should still be good and clean."

"Why would anyone want to visit here..." You spotted Chloe running her fingers along a table by the door with a bunch of knickknacks on it, frown evident on her face

Emm tossed her motorcycle keys Chloe's direction and she had to snatch her hand back just to prevent it from smacking the back of her hand.

"We're not allowed a lot'a vacation days so family have to visit us here if the wan'a spend time with us." Emm easily explained, shrugging as she hung up her motorcycle helmet before just unceremoniously placing her elbow pads right next to her keys.

You ignored how much that didn't make sense and opted to look into one of the door ways branching off of the hall way.

Dirk was right, though. Their house was pretty impressive for an abandoned little town.

It reminded you of those historical movies set in rural Georgia or something; a lot of wood furniture, with the open wooden beams in the ceiling, and a lot of family heirlooms cluttered everywhere.

The room you specifically looked into was a living room, complete with a fire place and a creepy looking mirror hung above it.

The couches at least looked nice but they also looked ancient, with the floral patterns looking like they came from someone's Grandma's linen closet.

"No windows?" Kathy walked up next to you, taking every step like she was about to walk into a trap.

You would've rolled your eyes if you didn't think she would've shoved you into the rather nice coffee table as retaliation.

You gestured to a rather large window to your left but she just scoffed at you "That's a door."

You walked closer to observe and were surprised to be proven correct. It was a door. You could see something like a garden through the gauzy curtain covering the panes of glass.

"The lack of windows make it a little gloomy in here." Bran appeared right next to Kathy, arms crossed as he pretended to shiver from how scared he was of the bad lighting.

Kathy just laughed but you shook your head.

As you turned around, the three of you were suddenly blinded with light and, though you couldn't say the same for Bran and Kathy, you definitely jumped a little.

At the entrance of the living room, Casimir stood, his hand on a light switch and a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"I am in charge of dinner, as I am every night. I was going to cook a rather nice scotch fillet for me and my wife. I have some extras I was going to save for later this week." He explained, drawing his hand away from the way to tuck it behind his back "Any allergies? And how would you like your steak cooked?"

"No allergies in the group." All the anxiety in Kathy's body seemed to evaporate at the thought of getting free dinner "And I love having my steak done medium well, thank you!"

"Well done for me." Bran grumbled out, not happy his girlfriend was so easily won over by a steak dinner

You, on the other hand, felt a little nervous accepting such a wonderful dinner invitation so you moved forward, dropping your bag next to the couch "Are you sure it's okay for you to cook us dinner?"

"It's late, the rain is predicted to keep up all night. I most certainly won't let my wife drive in the middle of the night even if it does stop." Casimir held out a hand as if to stop you from whatever you wanted to say "Let us at least do you this one favor. We don't get a lot of visitors after all and we're paid well enough by our jobs to afford feeding a bunch of strays."

When he said that, you saw his green eyes flicker for a second to Bran and there was some sort of irritation there but then it flickered back to you and all you could see was sweet politeness.

So, of course, you relented but not without compromise "At least let me help you prepare dinner."

Casimir seemed surprised by that but then he grinned "If you insist."

Then, his hand, which he had held up a second ago, raised even further to tuck a stray strand of your hair behind your ear, his fingers seemingly lingering for a bit longer "How about I get the ingredients ready and you change out of those sopping wet clothes?"

"It won't do either of us good if you get a cold now would it?" He added and you felt your ears get a little hot with embarrassment.

He was right, you were getting a bit ahead of yourself. You gave a quick nod. Scurrying back, you picked up your bag and made a move to go upstairs.

As you passed by Bran, he shouldered you a little and you heard him whisper to you, "Don't flirt with him, you fucking freak."

You felt your face fall but you quickly tried to compose yourself.

You honestly should've been used to it by now. Bran always decided to knock you down a peg at random moments like that but, still, it always took you off your guard.

Before you could get up the stairs, a gentle hand cupped your elbow and you turned, curious to see who stopped you.

"Hi, sorry, darl', just wanted to say that you'll have to stay in a spare bed on the third floor." Emm smiled gently at you, the picture of a kind hostess "I hope you don't mind."

You quickly shook your head, trying to calm the heat on your face and ears "Of course not! You're already helping us so much after all the trouble we've put you guys through!"

Then, you leaned close, pretending as if you were going to tell her some terrible secret "Don't tell Bran I said this but it was honestly stupid of him to try and go through here as a short cut to Lovelock."

When you pulled back, there was an expression on Emm's face that you couldn't exactly decipher. Before you couldn't really think about it though, it was gone and she was back to smiling at you.

"Yeah, there's been millions'a people like him for sure." Emm nodded, hand gliding up to your forearm as she guided you up the stairs, probably to where your room was "I always think the fine's too big for'em to try but there's always anoth'r dum'ass every week."

You giggled a little at her words but your brain felt a little dizzy at the feel of her hand around your arm, the way her palm almost wrapped entirely around it, how firm her grip was on you.

She was one tough looking lady.

"Your other two friends are a'ready in their rooms, d'now if you were lookin' for them." She informed you as the two of you passed that landing before embarking on the second set of stairs to the third floor.

"How come you guys have such a huge house?" You couldn't help but wonder, the curiosity getting the best of you.

"This used't be the house of some big shot at the Pharma back in the day, before the factory closed. Someone with a big family, I reckon." She shrugged as the two of you got to the final step on the stairs "The Pharma gave us reign to the entire village and we were movin' in with my brother and sister at the time so we jus' picked the biggest house. The oth'r choices were way smaller or just straight up apartments."

You nodded before feeling a little surprised to see that the third floor looked like a second living room. There was another set of couches, a coffee table, TV set and a door leading to what you presumed was the master bedroom.

"I hope a pullout is okay with you?" Emm smiled apologetically at you "It's really comfortable, I promise."

Without thinking much about it, you took her hand into yours and gave it a little shake "It's really fine, truly. Like I said before, you've been more than hospitable to us. This is so much more than what we should expect."

Her smile grew wide and she swooped in, giving you a tight hug "I'm so glad you think so! You'd fit right in here, y'know."

You laughed, hugging her back. You didn't know exactly what she meant by that but she was just so nice and kind that you accepted her words easily.

"Now, I think I heard you say you'd help Cas out with dinner." She pulled away, her hands rubbing up and down your shoulders for a second before she turned you towards the closed door you spotted earlier "Let me show you the bathroom."

"Oh, wait, isn't that--"

"It's fine!" Emm waved off your concerns as she practically dragged you along, opening the door and gesturing to the other door on the far side "That's the bathroom, by the way."

Then she let you go to rifle around her drawers for something.

You couldn't help but look around a little, curious about their master bedroom. It looked like any other bedroom, albeit a little too clean. Big bed in the middle, nightstand on either side, dresser for both him and her. There was another door you assumed was a closet.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing, I was just--" You were about to answer her except, when you turned to look at her, she was in the middle of taking off (or putting on?) her shirt and you panicked, your entire face feeling as hot as a kettle.

You turned around, squeaking out apology after apology as you scrambled into the bathroom, heart beating a mile a minute.

You locked the door and put down your bag, changing as fast as you could while trying to erase the image of Emm changing in your head. Still, you couldn't.

She was a married woman so you felt guilty but that didn't change the fact that she was very beautiful. Her body was built but curvy, pudgy but in a way where you could tell she had muscles underneath, with black and red tattoos swirling all over her tanned skin.

All you could remember was the lace of her black bra cupping her breasts, the way they were too big and seemed to overflow at the top of the cups.

Even her pants hung low, revealing the tops of her matching underwear and the hints of a tattoo on her wide hips.

You wanted to slap yourself.

She was a married woman! And she was being so gracious to you! Why were you lusting over her like some stupid high school kid? You idiot!

You tapped your head a few times as if you could tap the thought right out of your head before continuing with your changing.

When you exited with your bag, she was gone, probably weirded out by your staring. You sighed and just dropped your bag off at the couch right outside their bedroom.

Then, you walked downstairs. You wanted to check on Chloe and Dirk but, from the giggling right outside their room, you rather gouge your eyes out.

So, instead, you headed directly to the kitchen.

Casimir was already there, looking dressed and ready to cook. He had a different button up, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He also had an apron around his waist and his hair was tied in a messy bun high on his head.

There was something both domestic and handsome about the way he was dressed.

"Ah, my dear Igor, you've gotten dressed." He smirked as soon as he spotted you, his hand doing a couple of final flicks to roll up his last sleeve "There's an apron there, on the chair--"

You spotted it quickly and put it on, though you struggled a bit to tie it at the back.

Casimir chuckled a little, all deep and rich, before going behind you and helping you tie it.

"So, if I'm Igor, does that mean you're Dr. Frankenstein?" You tried to keep the silence at bay as he tied your apron and you rolled your sleeves up to your elbows.

He chuckled again "Of course. Though, hopefully, our cooking doesn't end up as convoluted as the Creature."

As he got ready at the kitchen counter, you couldn't help but turn a little meek "Uhm, by the way, did you see where Emm went?"

Casimir didn't spare you a glance as he set out a board and some vegetables out, probably for you to cut or dice "Oh, I think she went out to park her motorcycle? Probably so it doesn't rust in this downpour."

You frowned but took your place beside Casimir who seemed intent on peeling the potatoes as best as he could "When-- When she was uhm showing me the bathroom-- I uhm-- I accidentally-- you know-- I uhm--"

That's when Casimir finally stopped and peeked at you, his green eyes justas intimidating as when you first saw him out on that main road, by the factory.

"I a-accidentally saw her ch-changing." You squeaked, unable to keep your gaze on him

Instead of anger, Casimir suddenly clapped a hand on the back of your neck and pulled you close, that same deep and rumbling chuckle leaving his lips "Is that all? It's fine. If she had a problem with it, you wouldn't be with me, chopping up vegetables."

"O-Oh, okay!"

"She's taken quite a liking to you. I can tell." He continued to peel the potatoes, chucking the peeled ones in a bowl before gesturing to some broccolini and asparagus that needed trimming "Don't worry, if she had a problem with you, she will let you know."

"I'm sure she's told you but you'd be a good fit here, you know."

"Yeah, she said that." You started chopping the bottoms of the asparagus absentmindedly "What does that mean?"

"Just that we both really like you. Your friends take you for granted. You're a really great person." Casimir shrugged before bumping his hip against yours "Have you ever thought of settling here in Lovelock permanently?"

"Oh, I mean, there's not really anything waiting for me back at home other than a college degree." You laughed nervously before shrugging too "I don't know, I think it'd be nice but I'm-- I've never-- I don't know."

You could see Casimir look unsure for a second, like he was panicked and didn't know what to say, before he sighed "Sorry if I said something-- Or-- I'm not good with words or with feelings."

"But you have a place to stay with Emm and I if you ever need it."

You grinned at him, nodding "I really appreciate it! Thank you!"

When you looked up at him, there was a strange expression on his face. KInd of similar to that expression on Emm's face earlier. You chalked it to you just being weird. Instead, you focused on your asparagus, excited about the dinner coming.

#yandere oc x reader #yandere x reader #female yandere #male yandere #yandere #oc x reader #female oc #male oc #slasher x reader #slasher oc x reader #female slasher #female slasher oc #male slasher #male slasher oc #emm #chaptered

[vanosslirious]

BBS Dialogue Prompts: #199

BBS Dialogue Prompts & Sentence Starter: [ 10 ]

VANOSSGAMING

You look terrible.

Why is it so good?

You still have to scream like an asshole.

Don't fucking break it!

Ever since I was a little child, I liked pressing buttons.

What the fuck are you breaking?

Why’s his eyes closed?

What do you mean it’s crashing?

What the hell are you doing—stop it!

It’s so fun though…end the map, end the map!

I’m invisible.

You don’t need my permission, you know that.

I recall I said no.

I can revive you, maybe that might help.

What could he possibly be doing to fix the issue?

How did I win that?

I’m fucking you up.

How did you kill me, I shot you so many times.

You can’t, that doesn’t even break.

What voice are you doing?

NOGLA

I changed my outfit here.

He’s going to slowly kill you, don’t let him do that.

Okay, I actually know what I'm doing here.

I think you’re allowed to die three times.

You got baited, bro.

He’s on his last one.

The joke went a little too far.

Oh wow, and he makes it as well.

I would laugh if I had any life left in me.

It’s best you don’t give a shit.

TERRORISER

I feel drunk.

This whole time?

You look like your from here.

Why would Mars attack North Carolina?

They’re trying to get rid of you.

Someone teach this man the fucking lyrics.

How the fuck do I get in there?

I think I found the safe room?

Alright, boys, into the safe room.

You gone and done it now.

SMII7Y

That's fucking scary and it's just a fucking chess piece.

Get up the stairs, asshole.

This one doesn't work, someone should get that fixed.

Who thinks of this, man?

Let me get my water, please.

Get up from behind there so I can pick you up.

Shit, I got fooled.

Stop lying to me.

Oh God, it's fucking bright in here.I'm just going to keep walking, alright.

I’m going backwards, I guess.

FOURZER0SEVEN

Fuck you, you’re going down.

No, I got the fuck out of there.

Wait, this elf does look like me, I’m upset about that.

Yes, no shit, dumb fuck.

Are you shitting me?

He’s busy shoving a fucking sandwich down his gullet.

Is that alright, thanks.

Spite him!

I’ve been ready.

He's singing the ABC's right now…

GRIZZY

Watch us still lose.

This is such a waste of fucking time, dude...

There's nothing I want...yet.

I hope I get pity points again.

Stop fucking thinking.

You know what, fuck it.

I got nothing to lose.

Dude, this is so hard to control.

Why is it pointing upward?

That was not worth it.

BLARG

Unrelated, but I think a race car just drove by.

They’re gonna stay under there.

You put a fucking hex on us.

I like that he’s hunting me, but I haven’t been hit by him.

Put it down, coward.

Wait, I can help.

I think we have to go up one difficulty.

No, you’re fine.

I’m joining the horde, fuck y’all.

Yeah, well, I’ll see you guys in heaven.

BASICALLYIDOWRK

I missed every shot.

I ran out of bullets.

I wanted to stab you, I heard you coming.

I missed every bullet.

I got a pistol now…

That recoil caught me off guard.

Oh, thank Christ, I got stabbed.

No, stop moving.

This guys invincible, bro!

I don’t know what happened right there.

WILDCAT

We should go on an adventure together.

What is our goal even, I don’t even know what our goal is.

We need food by the way.

Oh shit, I just said a couple of words and now everyone’s gathering around looking at me.

Motherfucker just went for it…I had to walk away.

Let’s all turn around and punch him.

We’re getting eaten, run.

We’re trying to hang onto our lives at the moment.

Just shoot all the decoys.

Take off the mask, bitch.

MOO

I think we should all stick together.

Aw, you just ignored me.

I'm just going to go ahead and close this.

Sorry, we got distracted again.

We're never getting through this.

No, I just want to get through this.

No, I knew you were chasing me...

Yep, we’re gone…

You should never have given him this power.

Now I'm in the closet!

#banana bus squad #bbs #banana bus squad dialogue prompts #bbs prompts #vanossgaming #daithi de nogla #the terroriser #smii7y #fourzer0seven #grizzy #blarg #basicallyidowrk #i am wildcat #moo snuckel #rpf prompts #rpf #dialogue prompts #sentence starter #tw swearing #text #words

[strapskinkstories]

Mar 15 2023 - Punishment top + PROs Hiviz Stormjacket = Very punishing airlessness

PVC Punishment top, check, heavy as fuck raincoat, check, fun times ahead, OH YES!

I let it fill my mouth and enjoy the taste of the salty sweat

This session was a lot of fun, while there wasn't much time to relax let alone even watch TV with Mike I had a lot of fun struggling to breathe with the clingy hot wet PVC sticking to my face with every breath. My tracheostomy would have kept the session going without a single stop but I decided to make the MakeItKinky punishment top a bit more punishing by adding my heavy PRO's hiviz raincoat on top of it! In doing that I made the PVC stick to my chest and neck a lot easier, the weight of the raincoat made it much more intense. I might have to get a second punishment top some point so I can add a breathing hole to that one so I can have more relaxing sessions in it, but modifying this one I really don't want to do because it's so much fun! This devious little PVC shirt with no air holes has quickly become a go to item for having fun on vacbag off days. I'll have to think about doing a solo time trial in it on Friday since it is something that I can just pull off over my head and even easier than that if I really need air fast just pulling it away from my trach gets me air as long as I'm wearing it on its own with no added gear. Everyone remembers my breathplay hood time trials and those were in a hood with no air holes that sealed tightly to my trach too! I'm sure that the punishment top time trials will likely land in the 10-15 minute range before I need a break, maybe even longer considering I'll be wearing the punishment top on its own. Next Monday I'm going to try going in it with it inside out, why you might ask, that's because the inside is matte PVC and a totally different sensory experience and level of clinginess, the outside is shiny and super smooth and I bet it'll be way stickier faster. I tried it for a minute just to feel the shiny smooth PVC against my face and neck and oh did it feel good. One of these days I'll have to try it with no shirt on underneath, I'm pretty sure it will stick to my skin very fast and things will be ultra punishing hehe! For a $50 dollar item this thing sure is a freaking boat load of fun. Instead of buying AAA video games for $50 I get myself kinky gear to suffer inside of XD Because sufferin' airlessness is far more fun than dealing with the competitive toxic culture around video gamers.

22 photos are on Flickr HERE

Video is below via direct link and is in the general bondage & breathplay collection HERE

https://waaw.to/f/sCyJVwRahuvY

#punishment top #MakeItKinky #breathplay #breathcontrol #my video #my photos #PVC shirt

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

Okay so a couple recent projects have ended up featuring these movies and now my brain won’t leave me alone about this so I’m posting it for the maybe two (2) other people who would care...

Spoilers for Malignant and Basket Case ahead

...Who would win in a fight between Duane and Belial from Basket Case and Maddie and Gabriel from Malignant?

So one would think that the undisputed champions would be Maddie and Gabriel, hands down. Duane looks kind of tall but is very much Just Some Guy, and while Belial seems to have some above-average strength, he’s far from superhuman. Judging only from the first movie because I haven’t seen the sequels yet, they can take on other humans of equal strength to or weaker than them just fine, but typically make sure to have the element of surprise first or be otherwise sneaky about their kills. 

Maddie and Gabriel, though? Holy shit they are a nightmare. They do not give a FUCK about stealth because they don’t have to. Not only can they tap into some super strength and agility, the way they move (ESPECIALLY Gabriel, master of the patented Ass-Backwards Spider Style) is so goddamn weird that no one can figure out how to counter them before they bite it. Gabriel can drink electricity and fire it back at everyone like a madman. He massacres an entire police station without getting a scratch on them. They would eat Duane and Belial alive. 

IF.

IF they could function long enough to manage it.

Because here’s the catch: Maddie and Gabriel hate each other. 

They have never once gotten along in their lives. Their entire movie is the two of them manipulating and backstabbing each other and fighting for control of their body. The odds are actually very low that they could ever agree on something, let alone cooperate enough to efficiently operate their body together or hand control smoothly back and forth. The fear that the other one would just be waiting to fuck them over the second they let their guard down would mar every move they made. So if it has to be a two-on-two match, that’s going to severely impact their performance. 

Duane and Belial, though? Their entire movie runs on how fucking inseparable they are. (You know what I mean.) Up until Belial goes and does all That Shit and their relationship takes a real fast nosedive, they’re pretty good brothers! They plan murders together! They listen to Shakespeare and walk around New York City together! Duane carries Belial around in a fairly comfy-looking basket, as baskets go, and feeds him meats! They love each other!

(Gabriel: maddie. maddie why can’t you be more like that fluffy haired loser. maddie you see how he treats his brother? maddie how come you never pour packages of raw hot dogs into my mouth. maddie.

Maddie: I wonder if sticking just the back of my head into a blender would kill me.)

Duane and Belial were not okay with being separated and they both want to kill the doctors that tore them apart, not just Belial. Both Gabriel and Belial are intensely, viciously possessive of their twin siblings. But unlike Gabriel, who would sell Maddie to Satan for one corn chip if he could have their body to himself, even when Duane starts to have a life outside of Belial and do things Belial can’t (at which point Belial does flip absolute shit, mind you) Belial has no desire for their body, Belial just wants Duane. He wants to have a life with his brother and would NOT appreciate Gabriel making shit explode where it could hit Duane.

The key difference between them really shows in how they both use their Twin Telepathy thing. Basically it’s just:

Belial speaking into Duane’s head:

Gabriel speaking into Maddie’s head:

Duane and Belial actually use it to communicate with one another, since Belial can’t speak. Outside of the hanging-dong dream sequence (and my fucking goodness is that scene a whole separate analysis in itself), it’s never implied that the connection can be used for any more than that.

Gabriel and Maddie only ever use it to fuck each other over with hallucinations and verbal abuse. They don’t want to have conversations, they don’t want to communicate, they just want the other one subjugated at best and to suffer at worst. It’s not a mark of closeness as twins, it’s a yoke around both their necks.

So basically...

Duane: I dunno, those guys look pretty tough…

Belial, Belial Roaring™ : THEY ARE NOTHING. I’M GOING TO KILL THIS MOTHERFUCKER. THROW ME AT THAT HEAD LIKE A BASKETBALL.

Gabriel, chugging from the power lines: YOU THINK YOU’RE THE ONE WHO GETS TO KILL ME? I’M FUCKING CRAZY! I’LL EAT YOUR FUCKING BROTHER YOU PIECE OF SHIT!

Maddie:

the block is on fire within two minutes. no idea who’s getting out alive, the only guarantee is that it’s an absolute shitshow.

(also: Gabriel was given an angel’s name and Belial was given a demon’s name. This is absolutely irrelevant but I Noticed It.) 

#malignant #basket case #horror #kaen's posts

[inflammatoryfandomblog]

you know what, i’m just gonna dump all of the thoughts i’ve had on tdp in the past year (not many) in a classic, inflammatoryfandomblog hyper-readable and not-at-all-irritating-to-read post. this one in particular was just a post that i’d saved to drafts and added to whenever i had a Thought.

some of these things were written in response to discourse that was popular a few months ago, but that i don’t remember the specifics on now and don’t remember who or what was involved--i just caught secondhand vibes.

i’ll stick this under a readmore because it’s actually quiiiite long, because i don’t edit very well. i also dislike the show, so this is not a commentary coming from a fan. if you don’t want negativity or plain just don’t like me, please do not push the “keep reading” thing.

-> unicorns are definitely not extinct and something fishy is going on here. how did claudia manage to get a unicorn horn for viren’s edgy spell if they were all gone hundreds of years ago? that’s not right. or it’s a retcon. or claudia just nabbed a unicorn horn from a museum and told viren she captured a unicorn (new short story idea: claudia’s caper). to boot, viren was super proud of claudia for capturing a unicorn. maybe the unicorns were actually super bad, who knows.

-> dark magic leading to a magical desertification makes sense. i mean, you put all those powerless humans with a handful of dark magic lords and... i mean remember that post i made about how the imprint of dark magic should make itself visible in the human cultures? this is what i’m talking about. 

with the history of desertification, “(dark) magic is just an easy way out” is at once Advanced Cope and also a reasonably skeptical reaction if your history is marred by a concentration of mages/the people in charge not thinking ahead but instead of letting the natural consequences of their stupid actions explode in their faces, magic allows them to circumvent it at cost and they make bigger and bigger mistakes until they hit a problem that can no longer be solved with magic .......... wait lmao i literally described king harrow’s character. that’s literally his life from beginning to end.

they could have actually hinted at this in the show by having sarai initially object to viren’s plan with “harrow, you know we can’t keep this up. this will work for now, but what about the future? what about the next harvests? are we going to cross the border every time?” maybe other kingdoms can have differing attitudes re: dark magic and even magic in general. that’s how you imply this thing in the show instead of having the kingdoms be different flavors of sludge. just... please. anything. don’t just shove your worldbuilding in the tertiary material and have it not matter to the things on screen.

(also yes, you may notice that (dark) magic is in parentheses, this is because this is also a problem with regular magic, it’s just conveniently the type of magic withheld from humans and doesn’t sap intelligence and long-term thinking from its wielders, which makes this sort of thing more likely to happen. wow i love the dragons and grEAt oNES for trapping an entire race in their own side of the continent instead of literally anything else)

-> what’s hilarious re: the above is that magic also prevented ezran from learning anything or having any sort of character growth in season 3. i love how there’s one shot of him briefly being shocked that the troops he napalmed with dragons were... dead... before it’s revealed that thanks to the power of dark magic, he didn’t actually kill anybody. i guess you don’t have to think about any costs ever lmao. but can you imagine if that didn’t happen? the mood whiplash would have been so funny. yeah yeah “show for kids” so it can’t happen, but then they *really* shouldn’t have explicitly called attention to this theme, or maybe have ezran grow a backbone/personality and refuse to fight his people instead of having him be in the final battle because... you want an Epic Final Battle? if you wanted to have the theme of love winning out maybe have ezran watch over zym and have *him* be the one who isn’t distracted by the battle and have him be the one who confronts viren/warns the others, instead of... bad writing? like ezran spending three episodes being a peace fan and then ending the season flamethrowering those same people with a big old smile on his face is the closest thing you can have to objectively bad (that’s right i’m a STEMlord now) storytelling no matter what demographic you’re throwing it at. there are so many moments in the series like this too, it’s so frustrating to think about.

-> aaravos is boring and lame. the reason people ship viren and aaravos isn’t because they have a good dynamic (it’s so painful every time aaravos is on screen guys), it’s because the only possible explanation for anyone with even a single functioning neuron to tolerate this annoying grub for more than 5 seconds would be that they are attracted to him. coincidentally, a very disproportionate amount of artwork of aaravos in the fandom is aggressively horny. yes i am saying that aaravos is a wet paper bag, and i am still an Aaravos Hater.

-> arcanums are honestly vague as hell and i still cannot tell you what the hell callum did to unlock the sky arcanum. like if anything he’s more aligned with the moon arcanum thanks to his dubious relationship with truth-telling, and he even makes sooo many connections to the moon arcanum in season 3. the way he got it makes me think “well why isn’t there any other regular human mage if it’s so easy?” he wanted to be powerful really bad but like so did viren lmao. what’s the difference between these two besides the fact that callum didn’t get dark magic brainrot?

-> dark magic is not an analogue to science (it has nothing to do with observing the natural world, making hypotheses, etc), and i don’t really think arcanums are an analogue to spirituality. people make this comparison only because they want to make connections to atla’s four elements--which themselves didn’t have anything to do with spirituality; you just had to “understand” the element to be a better bender, which isn’t the same thing as spirituality. i’ve ragged on the avatar series for just straight-up not understanding spirituality even in the general avatar stuff (it’s new age fafa woo with eastern folklore used as set dressing in both atla and lok) and using it as window dressing and it’s even less relevant in the dragon prince.

arcanums don’t even make you wise. lujanne is a master at her arcanum and understands the source of moon magic but she is still a shallow person and not generally wise, as making your entire identity around *illusions* predictably does to you. similarly the sunfire elves are obsessed with the “true nature” of something and literally cannot see anything else. one-track mind. understanding one arcanum may give you a very particular sort of understanding, but only as it relates to one element. natural vs. dark magic is obviously meant to be more of a “connection with nature vs only seeing it as a resource to be exploited” thing than it is a science vs. religion thing. you can see this even with the slight environmental themes implied in the “magic desertification” above. i don’t like many things about how the series handles this because it has babybrain morality re: ... the entire xadia genocide thing, but it’s not science vs. religion. 

-> that’s what really kills dark magic in this series, right? the fantasy “is dark magic good to use and when?” should be a jumping off point to explore all the other ways in which people value and instrumentalize power (ie sol regem literally saying the humans are inferior because they are less powerful) instead of staying only at the shallow level. just because the elves don’t use dark magic doesn’t mean they are immune to this criticism, but the show constantly puts them in this better light. human rayla is hilarious but elf callum (which relies significantly less on negative stereotypes) is insensitive. pyrrha (not a wild animal and part of a hostile social order) torching a town to keep her class’s power is okay because... it’s not dark magic? come on man. if you have politics in your show, do something with it or don’t give it this much focus.

-> the first time i saw this show, i was like “huh, that looks like the trail of tears.” it’s not really subtle guys. the story explicitly takes visual cues from the trail of tears (a real historical event) and then constructs the story to be as kind as possible to the elves instead of giving them any criticism whatsoever. and i hate the talking point that thinking this is insensitive is stupid and “thinking too much” because it’s “just for kids” and “well, you don’t understand that victims can be victimizers uwu! you’re just not used to it!!!” well sorry to say but the whole idea that victims in one context can be victimizers in another is almost always true! as any checkmate-liberals alt-right andrew jackson fan can tell you, the cherokee were no angels (oh wait they are people and had flaws and flawed social systems? well i guess we can’t say they suffered injustice, it’s a wrap, everyone!); they were humans; that’s kind of why they’re called human rights, not “perfect angels who shit rainbows” rights. we still can clearly say the trail of tears was bad. i mean, unless you’re a lemming, which apparently a lot of “hurr durr the natives did bad things sometimes too” people are.

saying “i would like any sort of acknowledgement from the show (which is for children by the way!) that this was wrong and to stop constantly making additions to the lore that essentially say ‘but the humans were no angels!!! but the humans were no angels!!!!’” this isn’t “oh boo hoo people can’t handle nuance.” stories are artificial and constructed, not outgrowths of events that happened in the real world. the presentation of the story matters. it’s totally okay for the humans to have quite serious flaws; that’s not what people are complaining about. stop playing dumb. it’s was the writer’s choice to explicitly evoke the trail of tears. they don’t get to say “it’s a y-7 show!!!”  you don’t want people to draw comparisons to real life political beliefs? do not make references to real-life events.

-> there is a lot i don’t pay attention to in tdp that i would be more critical of if it wasn’t for that y-7 rating. i’m not expecting high art here. there’s a lot of pacing issues and weird character beats and narrative choices that are fine and dandy because it’s a kid’s show. my problem is that it keeps trying to be cutting-edge and dark and handwaving any complexity instead of actually depicting things in a kid-friendly way. handling issues in a kid-friendly way means handling issues in a kid-friendly way, not... ignoring them for cheap drama and saying “nuance!!!” so that your adult audience (and the adult and teenage audience for this show is quite large compared to, say, sofia the first or something) isn’t embarrassed for watching a kids’ show. this doesn’t mean realism vs. liberalism or whipping out your IR textbook from college. in many ways portraying this stuff in a kid-friendly way is even harder than talking about it to adults, because with adults you have big words, a larger body of mutual understanding, knowledge of real-world events, etc, to fall back on.

#tdp #me.txt #not really a begone thought or a whoa man... whoa... more of a really long text post really #with unconnected thoughts

[dndfuckhouse]

Session 61 - Back to Bakaldor's Gate (Three)

> 🎵 Campfires / Below OST

We pick up again in the clearing a cave found below the underwater tunnels. Relatively stripped down and with ropes tied around themselves the two make their way down.

The two swim downwards a ways through before turning right alongside the tunnel, it begins to grow pitch black as they lose the light from the surface. The path begins to branch ahead of them as they try and remember the way forward as described to them by Mars.

The two of them manage to find their way, Psalm leads with Han following his movements via feel of the water alone in the dark. They take the path further downwards, as it twists and curves back up again. A little close to their breath limit the two finally surface out again into a large cavern gasping for air, the same one Mars happened upon as a fish. Han peers around as she sees small torches attached to the cavern walls, letting off blue flames to light the interior somewhat. The ropes around their waists go taut as they surface, so they make to tie them somewhere on the nearby rocks.

Han: "there's light here…? cant dragon see in dark?" Psalm: He just shrugs, although he does think its a bit weird for it to have lit torches in its lair at all. Han: han shrugs back Psalm: "I do find it a bit strange for a dragon to have lit torches in its lair. Not what I'd expect." Han: "maybe it just think it look cool…? (cause it kinda do…)" Psalm: "Yeah doesn't seem like there's anything of any worth here, but we'd be better of checking probably."

Han hops out of the pool, and climbs a rock for a better vantage point. The floor of the cavern seems mostly flat around them, aside from the torches along the walls and the pile in the corner nothing else seems to sticks out. The giant pile looks to be made mostly of wood and flora, all stacked in a large pile. From her better vantage point you can see branches, leaves and trunks of trees, as if ripped up and carefully transported down here somehow.

She notes other small oddities, ripped out pieces of wooden caravans, crates, and other manmade items. Rope, string, metal hooks and nails, metal trimmings too. Most of them look unusable, due to the condition of them having been dragged down here through the water, and for all its grandeur it doesn't feel like the piles have been here all too long. It might be interesting to sift through regardless.

Han: ???? han tilts her head in confusion "that looks like nest, but it look like it full of junk.. let me-"

Han spies nothing suspicious on her way, and reaches the pile safely enough, the height of it goes a little higher than her head. She glances around and pulls herself up on a few of the logs and scans around carefully. As far as she can tell the pile isn't trapped at all, most likely since the dragon lounged in or around the thing. She assumes its safe to pick through.

Han: "this is probably nest for dragon form, right? height seems about correct…." han climbs over, looks over the place quickly before sticking out a hand back down to psalm "you want up?" Psalm: Psalm holds out his hand. Han: han tugs him up

The two get to investigating the pile, Han glances at the various bits of plant life torn up and tossed in here. She notes a few of them seem a little out of place. She'd assumed most of this had been scavenged from the local area but she finds small traces of grass and plants native to a completely different place, squashed in the corner. In particular she sees blue lillies the party havnt seen anywhere near here at all.

Han: "this place is weird. its just collecting herbs like regular person. maybe plummy and cimmy can figure what these are.." Psalm: "So what's with all the traps and attacking adventurers then… If its just trying to collect plants…" Han: "yeah, i don't really understand… did it actually take anything from adventurers…?"

Psalm digs around as well in earnest for any valuables, he finds various bits of gold scavenged out of tossed and smashed crates (total 42gp). He also uncovers beneath a few of the wooden planks, scattered bones, large and small, and in some unfortunate cases a few of them still appear to be rotting carcasses.

He also spies the end of an unusual looking handle in one of the smashed crates, messing around with it he pulls it out and stare at it. He pulls out what looks to be a broom as tall as himself, squinting at it he sees some kind of arcane runes scrawled into the handle. In the meantime Han scavenges some ripped cloth to wrap around the flowers.

Psalm: "I guess we can have one of the others take a look at this later." He puts the broom to the side and just pockets the money for now. Han: han puts the flower punch on her panties "well, this was honestly underwhelming. i thought it would be like" she gestures to smth with her whole wingspan "be like whoooole place covered in gold. you want to try looking in that pool?" she nods towards the second poo Psalm: "I agree. It's a bit underwhelming so far. Lead the way."

Han hops down from the pile and holds her arms out to catch Psalm in hers afterwards. He hops into them obediently enough as she princess carries him over to the other pool, glancing down to see if they can see anything inside. The blue torch light illuminates it somewhat but not that much, as far as they can tell it leads out to another underwater tunnel, similar to the one they came through.

Han: han looks at the rope.. looks at psalm… looks at the pool…………. looks at psalm again "i really wanna see if theres something more down there��………."

Han scavenges around to see if she can find any extra rope from the pile, finding around ten feet or so.

Han: "psaaaaaaaaalm… do u see more rope.."

Following after her he scavenges about twelve more feet.

Psalm: "Maybe we just go without?" 😬 Han: "and go swimming in complete dark….? well." she thinks "you see in dark, correct? maybe its enough if i tie me to you?" Psalm: "Sure. I can see well enough if you wanna go behind me? Although it does seem risky. And it might just be more junk at the end." Han: han fashions herself to psalm hand to hand, han snorts and holds his hand, entwining her fingers with his, grinning "brown rope of fate" Psalm: Psalm rolls his eyes (but in a way that implies he's entertained somewhat).

Hand in hand the two hop into the pool as Psalm takes the lead again, somehow managing to coral the two of them through the dark tunnel. Though Han seems to struggle a little getting her bearings the rope does its job in not separating the two of them.

They find themselves swimming and turning right along the tunnel as it branches back up and to the left, they continue on for twenty seconds or so somewhat unsure where they'll end up, before they watch the tunnel turn again and spy the surface and its bright light above them. As they splash their heads out of the water they notice they've surfaced in a lake in the same clearing where they fought the dragon nearby.

> 🎵 The Forgottten Village / Folklore OST

Hearing the noise they party all turn to see the two surface completely elsewhere from where they'd entered, a ways across the clearing.

Psalm: Psalm waves when he sees the others. Han: han does too YOOHOO BOYS AND GIRLS Rokka: 0_0 Finn: "anything interesting down there?"finn raises an eyebrow and just thinks theyre[psalm and han] weird for this Plum: "anything interesting down there?" Psalm: Mostly just junk, but I did find some gold and this weird broom that I'll head back down for once you give me your bag of holding, please." Keva: keva sighs, "what did i say…" at her prediction proving correct Plum: "sure, just bring it back for me to expect you know the drill.

Psalm dives back into the pool, the added weight makes it somewhat of a struggle but he manages to surface below again, grab the items and head back up, only feeling a little winded when he returns.

Psalm: He's just gonna pull himself out of the water and hand the broom and bag over to Plum (both soaked) to start identifying the broom. Finn: "a broom? you brought back a broom?" finn saunters over and puts his hands on his hips Psalm: "Seems so, yeah. There wasn't really much by way of treasure down there, alas." Cimmorro: cimm has scuttled over, curious of their findings Han: "i found some cool flowers and plants! they dont seem from around here! makes me feel worse about killing the dragon!" she says this likes its a joke but it also seems true Plum: plum raises their eyebrows a bit. "well they were killing other people but, i get it." Han: han walked off a couple meters to shake off water like a dog, and she comes back with a sheepish expression, smiling as though to placate "i know, i know, it just…" her expression flags and she isnt sure how to continue "..it collected flowers" she finishes meekly Plum: plum doesn't know how to say what they mean here. it's not like they thought the dragon was just some beast, so enjoying things like beauty doesn't really surprise them or move them. they just nod kinda slowly. Han: han watches plum's face watch her and just realises she sounds like shes an idiot. she looks away quickly and just goes "… anyway!"

Mars goes about pulling the rest of the rope out of the water as Plum identifies the broom. After about ten or so minutes of concentrating the identify spell goes off.

Broom of Flying / Wondrous Item, Uncommon This wooden broom, which weighs 3 pounds, functions like a mundane broom until you stand astride it and speak its command word. It then hovers beneath you and can be ridden in the air. It has a flying speed of 50 feet. It can carry up to 400 pounds, but its flying speed becomes 30 feet while carrying over 200 pounds. The broom stops hovering when you land. You can send the broom to travel alone to a destination within 1 mile of you if you speak the command word, name the location, and are familiar with that place. The broom comes back to you when you speak another command word, provided that the broom is still within 1 mile of you.

Plum: "i knew it," they say to everyone. "you can fly with this thing. what else would a broom with runes on it be for?" they wave the broom a bit. Psalm: "I honestly assumed it could just clean rooms by itself or something…" Psalm says. Finn: finn thought the same but he decides against admitting this Keva: keva eyes it curiously 👀 she wonders how high she could get on it Plum: "i'd have liked that, to be honest. we have to come up with a command word first, but we can change it so it doesn't matter what it is." Psalm: "Well I can't say it wouldn't have been convenient." Psalm eyes the broom warily. "Anyone want to give it a try?" Cimmorro: cimm fails to contain or hide his excitement behind the rest of the group he's like a cat with dilated pupils rn Psalm: Psalm watching like so is that a yes Cimmorro: 🙋‍♂️ "vengafly" Plum: "you wanna try?" they say and hold out the broom to cimm. Cimmorro: 😳 "if no one else wants to go first…." he takes it while looking at everyone else to see if anyone else wants to Plum: "yeah, please go ahead" [explaining the broom to him a bit]

Han: han takes the flowers out of the pouch and shows to plum, cimm and vinny "these are ones i was talk about. maybe they are useful? i can just tell they arent from here" Plum: "oh these are pretty," they say, taking one

Psalm eyes them with the assistance of Cimmorro, they recognise the lilies as ones from the coasts of Shar Yun, though they cant recall the name.

Vinny: as you say so vinny blinks and nods "oh yes, now that you say that i think they're Nymphae Waterlilies actually, how did they get here…" he side eyes cimmorro after a little about the broom conversation as he recalls their conversation with mars about the view from the dragon Plum: "maybe they poached some off of one of their victims? but why bring these over here…? maybe they do have some sorta use." [thinking] Han: han shrugs "they didnt look taken care off, but the place itself look like its lair, so i thought it found them useful" Plum: "i can't think of any use for these.. i guess they were just decorative…"

Cimmorro: he gets a feel of the broom before he tilts his head towards plum. "so umm how would it know the command? do i just.. shout it?" Plum: "you can just say it i think?" "this thing's not very loyal… oh but you just tell it it's the command word is all, so it knows." Cimmorro: he laughs at that. "lets hope it doesn't drop me then?" then at the added instruction he nods then holds the broom closer to him. "right so… your command word is now: vengafly!" Finn: finn closes his eyes and he imagines hes at a beautiful beach watching the sunset

Cimmorro: "time to see if it works…" he steps back a bit and gets into position.. and then not… and then again… as if he can't figure out an epic pose to set this off with a bang. eventually he lands on a pose [pictured below] and goes, "ladies and gentlemen, i now present to you our newest product, and for a limited time only, comes with a handsome cleric if you call the following number and order now: xx-xxxx-xxxx" then puts the thing between his legs "the vengafly!"

Plum: plum is clapping to play along Vinny: vinny claps along with plum while also trying to hold back a laugh Psalm: psalm like is he doing an ad? Keva: keva scoffs a laugh at the display Rokka: "Wooo go cimmm!!" Han: han also hoots and hollers

Soon after he speaks the word the broom begins hovering underneath him. As he shuffles his legs a little he finds himself sitting astride it floating in the air a foot off the ground, free to direct it as he please, though the seats a little uncomfortable.

Rokka: Rokka ooh and aaahhs at every slight movement Plum: plum is so fascinated by this broom right now Mars: mars kinda too but he's thinking if the broom needs those motorcycle foot pads Han: while cimm does his little magic show, hans gonna jog over and put her clothes back on occassionally looking at what cimm is fucking up Psalm: (he goes to change too) Cimmorro: cimm shakily goes "w-whoa!" as it begins to levitate but amazed nonetheless. he eventually tries to find balance and a more comfortable way to settle on it then goes :DDDD at everyone else. he gives it a curious tug forward and back before hovering it in a circle around the group. "easier than i thought it would be-- BUT I CAN FEEL MY ASS IS GONNA GET SORE AFTER A WHILE OF THIS" Han: from a distance "nothing new for you!

Plum: "would it be possible to tinker with it, so that only all of us in the group could activate it, you think? i don't like that just anyone can say the command word…" plum is gonna ask vinny in lieu of me just asking chip. they're watching cimm kind of warily Vinny: he watches cimmorro as he goes around "perhaps its in need of some modifications…" he turns to plum "it's possible… though id have to examine the enchantment first to see how the original caster did it" Plum: "yeah, okay. i just feel like just anyone being able to control a flying broom is dangerous, is all," they sniff Mars: "Could probably get a chair installed…" Cimmorro: "can you?" he asks, curious. at mars' suggestion he hums. "it'd probably look a little goofy though wouldn't it…?" (he is imagining a fully framed chair) then he spins around with a 'wheeeeee' Mars: "Uhhh…" he looks at vinny Vinny: he smiles at plum "i can give it a look when were all done playing with it" he glances back at cimmorro "well maybe not a full chair but a little seat…. some stirrups..?" he starts mumbling under his breath as he tilts his head Plum: plum imagining a chair attached to the broom and does not like it but does not say anything. "yeah, thanks." Vinny: he looks back up from his mumbling "well… i have experience with making furniture it wouldn't be too hard?" he's amused mars seems to lost Mars: He looks back up at cimm like 'There's your answer'. Psalm: "I think anything that might make it less likely for the rider to fall off would enough. Doesn't have to be a fully fledged chair."

Finn: "do you think it can hold more than one person?" he finally squints at cimm Cimmorro: "m-maybe?" he wobbles for balance for a split second, still trying to get used to it. "now you wanna try?" 🤨 <---- thought you were displeased of it being a broom…. ! Finn: "what? no!" he snaps defensively and his eyes dart around "everyone else is so excited i figured they'd wanna try as soon as possible… it'd save us time if they tried together…..i can already fly by myself" he pouts Cimmorro: his spinning makes a quick halt, then makes the broom hang himself upside down, floating high enough to meet finn's eye level despite it. sticking out his tongue he goes "suit yourself!" then he hovers towards vinny to listen to his mod plans

Keva: keva jokingly jerks the handle of the broom downwards to spook cimm Cimmorro: "wuh--! OY!" growling a little at her but half assed. "if you knew how rickety this is you wouldn't be doing that!" Finn: finn approves of something keva does for the second time today… 'scary!' he think Vinny: vinny watches the shenanigans wondering if cimms going to get his lip busted again today Keva: she only looks at him innocently but she's not trying to hide the mischievous smile "hm? doing what? minding my business?" Cimmorro: he squints at her and huffs before tugging at her ponytail and flying up out of her reach

Before Cimmorro can fly off Keva snatches the end of the handle with both hands, and starts swinging it in a circle to try and throw him off. Cimmorro yelps and manages to keep his hold on the broom throughout the abuse.

Cimmorro: "CUT THAT OUT" he's holding on for dear life rn Han: "GET HIS ASS" Rokka: "DONT WORRY CIMM IF U FALL I'LL CATCH U" he starts running in random directions trying to predict the fall

After a few more swings round and round Cimmorro finally loses his grip and goes flying off the broom a few feet into the air, as Keva retains her hold.

Though before he hits the ground he feels someone cast feather fall on him as Vinny goes "ah…" while watching, raising a hand quickly as he goes. Instead of bashing his face into the mud below, he slowly drifts down as Rokka positions himself underneath, catching Cimmorro in his arms.

Mars: mars just pats vinnys back like lol gj Vinny: he looks at him and shakes his head with a sigh Mars: like parents at the side of a playground seeing kids launching each other at mach 5 on the see saws Han: han goes to hi5 keva Keva: fully reciprocated she looks like she's having fun

Rokka: "I GOT U!!!!!!!!" Cimmorro: cimm blinks when he realizes he's in safe hands and then clings onto rokka and starts fake crying "WAHH WAHHH SHE COULD'VE JUST ASKED IF SHE WANTED A TURN" Rokka: Rokka smiling that cimm landed safely in his arms, but gets startled by his (fake) reaction and quickly turns to keva "KEVA LOOK WHAT U DID!!!! :(" Keva: "looks great to me" Cimmorro: at the lack of reaction from keva, cimm cheekily bleeeeh's at her and goes slack in rokka's arms. "you can put me down now rockster thank you for fighting for my honor " Rokka: He gives her a look of disapproval like a shame on u! >:^( . He gently puts cimm back on his feet and pats him "of course!!! What are friends for, right!?!?" He beams Cimmorro: "you're not only my friend, but also my hero now….!" he flutters his eyelashes at rokka all playfully Rokka: Rokka just stares at cimm in shock, brows twitching a little as he tries to figure out how to react to that. "O-oh, uh, no way..! Haha" he ducks his head shying away with a small chuckle. Unsure if cimm meant it as a joke or not he felt conflicted at the word hero, but still touched nonetheless Cimmorro: cimm literally just stares at rokka like 'okay….' but pats his back as another gesture to say good job and smiles

Psalm: ""I guess it was worth it bringing it back after all ☠" Plum: "do you want a turn actually?" feeling like designator of the broom Keva: turning to she says "why not" trying to not give away that she does in fact want to try, and then adds "could probably take the both of us if you want to give it a shot" Plum: "huh? o-oh, yeah why not." they were not expecting that at all. "after you?"

As the group horse around, Finn goes to look around the dragon corpse again to find his missing hat. He spots it easily enough searching around the dragons throat. He pulls it out, though like his clothes its covered in blood and saliva.

Finn considers this for a moment but comes to the conclusion that he will replace his clothes either way so why bother washing this…. he tucks his hat under his coat, not quite ready to return Vinny's hat yet and returns to the where everyone's assembled.

Keva: keva climbs on a little further back on the broomstick so plum has room to get on the front. "you're saying the command, not me" Plum: "fuck! i knew you would say that," they mutter. then they say with no fanfare and kind of quietly, "vengafly" Keva: that makes her laugh

The broom begins hovering beneath the two of them, as they both carefully situate themselves, Plum retains command of directing it being the one who spoke the command word.

Plum: "oh, i'm controlling it because i said it." they sigh. "i was really gonna ask you to say it…." they make the broom fly slowly upwards, not liking too much being off the ground. "wanna go higher?" Keva: keva notes the slow ascent and squints a little at them to get a sense of how willing they'd be to go higher even "are you scared to?" Plum: "eh, i wouldn't say scared, just a little reluctant since i haven't done this before. but it's fine, cimm fell off just now anyways. can't be too bad. i was pretty curious how high this thing could go actually..?" Keva: "let's go then" plum can't see it with keva being behind them and all but she's got a little bit of the anime sparkle in her eye Plum: "okay," they say and command the broom to go more quickly upwards, angled more rather than going up vertically.

As the two ascend above the treeline they see the landscape of the coastal road theyve been travelling down and the small cluster of forests dotted around the swamps and clearings. The colour along the seaside is vibrant and the sun shining high in the sky gives them a clear view of the area, its quite picturesque as they glance at the hills off in the distance.

Rokka: Rokkas just gonna stand idly watching keva and plum in case they fall too Han: hans gonna sidle up to rokka, giving him a small pat on the back and grinning, saying "good catch!" about him catching cimm earlier, and then joins him running around under kevas and plums shadows Rokka: He grins up at her "THANKS HAN!" (as if vinny didn't safely land cimm in his arms for him loool)

Keva: keva quietly takes in the view with awe 🌅 Plum: "whoa, this place suddenly feels so much nicer without worrying about a dragon clawing your head off," plum says, leaning back to look more. "i forgot we were even near the coast." Keva: she snorts in response. "think we can spot bakaldor from here?" Plum: "hmm, can we? they squint, looking off in bakaldor's direction. "we could probably even fly there and back in no time at all." Keva: "ought to start making our way back anyway so we can get back on the road" Plum: "yeah, i want to quit this place already." plum is gonna quickly bring the broom back down. Rokka:

Plum: plum's gonna bring the broom back down and turn to keva. "all good right, you don't wanna see anything else on this thing?" Keva: "maybe later, i think we should hit the road, what with the uh, dragon flesh sitting on our caravan" Plum: plum lands the broom then. they gesture to rokka and han, "you guys interested? or should we start heading out now?" Keva: keva hops off and stretches a bit to relieve some of the discomfort of sitting on a stick Plum: not as bothered bc theyre small Rokka: Rokkas holds his arms out shuffling back and forth to ensure they don't fall "I think I'll pass! The airship was plenty of air for me!" He shivers Han: han snorts a little "i wont break it?" Plum: "you should be good i think? it holds up to 400 pounds." Han: i dont think hans ever weighed herself genuinely so shes just guesstimating how much she weighs vs an inn's weeks worth of apples and trying not to seem too excited about flying "y-ye… i wanna try…!" Plum: "okay…! here," they hand han the broom. "i don't think you'll break it or anything so don't worry." Han: :3 >:3 han sits on the broom and screams VENGAFLYYYYYYYYYYYY at the top of her lungs and full speed shoots off at a 45 degree angle into the sky

Rokka: Rokka is gonna scream a little freaked "HAAAAAN!!!" 🫨 Han: distant YAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Keva: keva watching her go with her hand shading her squinting eyes Cimmorro: cimm watching han shoot off and clapping like the pikachu gif Rokka: Seeing that she's enjoying herself he relaxes a little Plum: plum cheering Psalm: Psalm also cheering Han: saddened this thing doesnt seem to go quite as fast as when plum and keva were on it but alas. cant win them all. she'll fly for like a minute, making a loop around the dragon fight clearing, watching out for anything interesting

As the group continue messing around with the broom, Finn takes his chance to approach Vinny.

Finn: while everyone is broompilled finn takes the opportunity to bug vinny "hey vinny could i actually… borrow you for a moment?" he says it like he hopes no one will hear Vinny: he glances over from the group horsing around to see finn and just raises an eyebrow at him Finn: "i-its nothing serious… just. come into the caravan with me real quick?" he frowns and grimaces "please?" Vinny: vinny furrows his brows a little and glances at the caravan as its mentioned "i… suppose?" Cimmorro: cimm left wondering if he did soemthing wrong for rokka to shift gear but shrugs it off for now…. he turns and was about to thank vinny only to see finn probably propositioning him so cimm just squints at where he's standing Finn: finns shoulders slump in relief and he just spins on his heel and climbs in first. he waits in the lounge for vinny to follow. like the first room. seating area or whatever

Mars: mars was staring up at the flyerrrrrs and vaguely sensed vinny leaving his blindspot, so he turns and just sees vinny and finn going off into a dark and weary nook Cimmorro: pokes mars once vinny marches off. "what was that?" head jutting towards the direction the other two went off Mars: "Well I didn't see the… Finn guy so I wasn't sure but he just wanted to talk to Vil in private I think…?" He's mostly just unsure where finn was going with it but privacy is privacy..! Cimmorro: "which never really ends well…" he groans as he glances back at the caravan, weighing his options. "guess i'll just stay right outside. just in case…" mars can sense he's uneasy abt the whole thing as cimm makes his way over to the horses. Mars: He thinks a bit about Vinny like he can't imagine him being super disagreeable with too many people but then he thinks about how Finn did get a rise out of him and goes 'hmm' as he follows Cimm. "I doubt they'd be fist fighting in there right…?" Cimmorro: his reply was quick "they better not be." Mars: mars enters standby mode

Vinny: he follows afterwards trudging a little through the muck as he sighs when finns out of earshot. he walks inside after him and closes the door a little behind him, leaving it ajar. once inside he glances at finn again expectantly, though he scrunches his nose a little now in personal space with his odour Finn: "i just wanted to return your hat, luckily i found my own, but um.. i couldnt exactly do that outside and i also didnt want to touch it with my filthy hands" he frowns and avoids looking at vinny, he bows slightly but stays out of vinnys personal space so he can take it off of finn himself Vinny: at mention of it vinny glances down and see's finn's hat squelched underneath his arm "a-ahh right…" he glances at the top of finns head and carefully plucks it off before situating it on top of his own before glancing at finns clothes again "er… i cant imagine it'll be comfortable to wear on the ride back…" Finn: "thank you again for lending it to me at my time of need" finn awkwardly delivers his thanks and shuffles around on his feet a bit. at the mention of the state of his clothes he cringes "it wont be. i…..havent figured out what ill do about it. ill throw this out by the end of the day though" he lifts his coat a bit and just stares at it "ill just stay inside until then i suppose" he starts undressing and by undressing i mean hes shrugging his coat off Vinny: he watches the goo crust off him as he tries to take his jacket off and just goes "ah-ah wait wait itll get on the carpet, here i can take care of it" he flicks his fingers in front of him, speaking a phrase and casts prestidigitation on finn a few times in a row, cleaning the muck and grime off of him from head to toe, making the clothes clean again "there you go" he dusts his own hands after

Cimmorro: mars and cimm like bouncers at the club a couple of feet outside the caravan then @ sending vinny "kick the door if you need help" Vinny: he blinks a little as he hears cimmorros voice and just coughs into his hand and goes 'mm hmm' pretending as if hes just praising his own work on finns clothes Finn: finns eyes go wide with wonder at vinny cleaning his clothes with just a spell! he holds his arm out in front of him and just marvels at his beautiful sleeve! he takes his hat off and inspects it from all angels too "y-you can just do that? why.. thank you so much vinny!!" he cant hide his joy and just smiles genuinely at vinny, he spins around once, relieved at the feeling of his clothes being dry again.. no grime flaking off either! his relief is visible and he seems less subdued and mopey "really thank you… i didnt want to um.. after everything that happened i just didnt have it in me to deal with water- you might know? or have noticed before im skittish around it… its a hassle for a vampire" hes a bit awkward but in better spirits now Cimmorro: cimm just kinda makes a face at mars when he gets vinny's reply. "i think he's fine?" Mars: "Well good for them then." He just whispers back. "I'd rather not yell at him again." He grimaces at the thought. Cimmorro: "well i'd enjoy it if it came to that ☺" after vaguely hearing finn's gratitude, he visibly eases up the slight tension he didn't realize he had til now. well they're fine for now. starts petting horseys Mars: Its hard to tell if mars' sigh is fond or exasperated but he does it anyway and just keeps watch by the horseys watching everyone else's antics from the caravan and also keeping an ear out for. bro idk. finn bites vinny asmr

Vinny: he nods, pleased that at least finns in a good mood with the cleaning "i got a sense… you didn't seem the type to enjoy er- not cleaning up if possible, especially since the others have already" he makes a lopsided face at mention of earlier events as he folds his arms "yes… well…" Finn: "i mean, the way they looked i was going to throw them out either way! theyre not my best for a reason…" he chatters like usual "a little or a lot of dirt doesnt make a difference in that case" he notices the face vinny makes though halfway through his rant and feels the tension return "ah uh…. are you actually… mad at me vinny?" Vinny: he sort of takes finns chatter in like a wave over the seaside nodding his head though wondering to himself why he'd actually throw them out (the rich…) when finn points out his demeanour he blinks a little surprised he was still giving off the feeling. he coughs into his hand once and rearranges himself a little less dourly "well, i was very angry earlier actually finn but i don't really intend on making you cry again, it's fine" he waves a hand through the air as if to brush it aside Finn: finn frowns but hes got his crying for the day in, he thinks. "youre not the reason i cried… the sun just really hurt… if youre mad at me- or well, you dont make the impression of being the type to be mad for long but if youre upset… then you can be. i wont cry or be mad at you in return for that" he sighs and fidgets but straightens up "i appreciate that you helped me in spite of your feelings" theres a clarity to finns voice like you can actually reason with him right now. hes also maintaining eye contact confidently again Vinny: he scratches his nose a little as he attempts to word his response diplomatically "i… was referring more to the other night but yes. what you did was extremely childish finn, i'm sure even you understand that. especially to someone who was trying to assist you… that i had just attempted to assist myself" he sighs as if he doesn't want to actually discuss this "just… don't try to brawl our companions again…" he rubs his bridge of his nose as he speaks

Finn: finn actually entirely disagrees with vinny on this. it wasnt childish and had he succeeded and ascertained his dominance via violence they wouldnt be having this conversation right now "trying to assist me? you… give more credit than is due to that brute" he scoffs "first he directly harms me by exposing me to sunlight and then throws his cape over me like im less than he. you saw that. you saw the apathy, the way he looked down on me. do not deny it" he folds his arms "not even the vengaboys would treat me that way" and i would not brawl them anymore, he thinks Vinny: vinnys face twitches a little as he breathes out of his nose "yes, assist! that is what i said. whatever you perceived about how he did it is your own issue, he cut you out to assist you, he covered you to assist you" he puts his hands on his hips and taps his foot "if you perceived any slight it was of your own imagination, that is why it is childish finn" he tilts his head a little as if to go 'come on'

As the two speak the rest of the party begins making their way over to the caravan, ready to leave. Keva hops in front, acting as driver for this leg of the trip.

Han: after landing hans gonna double check all her gear, along with checking if they need to pick up and move anything (she will do that cause i pk dont remember if we did) and then head to the caravan "shall we head back then?!" shes a bit winded from the flight Finn: before finn has the chance to go in depth about how wrong vinny is, the vengaboys seem to return in droves and finn regards him with a cold smile "… thank you for mending my clothes. truly. i wish i could say the same for our conversation." he then retreats to the other room to his coffin Vinny: though it was smart of finn to end their conversation vinny finds himself getting angrier at being brushed off so coldly. he grinds his teeth a little with his hands on his hips as finn walks off. he walks past the others heading in, and goes out the door in a small huff to go sit outside in the front next to keva instead, not wanting to stay indoor

Plum stares at him as he leaves getting a sense of weird air as he goes, Psalm also notices but finds himself too tired to care. Keva blinks in surprise when she sees the man seat himself next to her, eyeing him curiously. He seems angry and upset about something but also as if he were actively trying to calm himself down by coming to sit out here. She gets a feeling he doesn't really want to talk about it.

Cimmorro: cimm watches him storm out then get that seat like oooookayyy…….. Keva: after a moment of pause, keva places amos in vinny's hands and says "hold onto him for me, will you?" before she takes the reins Vinny: he blinks a little surprised as she hands him off, carefully cradling amos in his hands as he starts to pet him "o-oh… sure…" he smiles a little at amos as he does Amos: amos squirrels around in his hands, full of energy and curiosity

The group pile back into the caravan and make back for Bakaldor, intending to arrive in the evening. Cimmorro decides to take flight on the broom for the start of the journey, buzzing around Keva and Vinny in the front with Jasper on his shoulders.

Inside Mars focuses on a ritual to turn Silva back into a bird, Plum moves to orgnaise their items waiting for Cimmorro to tire of the broom. Psalm goes to nap in the meanwhile Han organises her own items in the common area, before napping herself.

New dragon spoils and treasures in hand, the party ready themselves for the city behind.

—-

Notes

a Broom of Flying 🧹was found in The Cobalt Dragon's Lair 🐲

#recaps #weee

[elliebartlets]

veronica mars rewatch 1x03: meet john smith

• Duncan slowly putting the earbud back in his ear while his dad drones on about his future lol

• also I would not be able to swim in that pool ever again knowing my sister died there but hey to each their own

• referencing hilary duff lmao

• oh god I thought Veronica and Duncan were actually hooking up lol

• 🎶 A LONG TIME AGO WE USED TO BE FRIENDS 🎶

• will never not be over this theme song

• oh wait I remember this episode! This nerdy kid who works at the video store wants Veronica to find his dad but it turned out his dad transitioned and is now a woman. Like the woman who just went up to him and thanked him for the movie recommendation is actually his dad and he’s been visiting the store as an excuse to see him or something

• anyway remember video stores? they are a blip in my memory

• did Duncan mean to drop the pill down the drain?

• this Justin kid is reminding me of one of the brothers from Malcolm in the Middle but he’s not in that so I’m just guessing every teen white boy in early 00s tv shows looked like this lol

• wait the Kane’s got rid of their dog because she peed on the flower bed???

“It’s been 6 years when are you going to let this go?”

Uh what? If I were Duncan I’d be pissed.

• omg noo Justin thinks his dad is dead but is pretending he ran away so he can get close with Veronica…little does he know his shit’s gonna be rocked

• like imaging being like “I’m lying to get with a girl” only for it to end with “wait…my dad’s not dead??? and he’s a woman?!?”

• I’ve remembered 2 lines from this episode verbatim: the “Wallace is a friend of mine. Take that high school guidance counselor” and “the hero is the one who stays and the villain is the one who splits.”

• wouldn’t Keith expect Veronica to try and find out where her mom is staying??? Like she had her mom’s license plate, of course she’s gonna track her down.

• the dude playing Duncan is not a good actor

• ok i take (kinda) that back. the way he handed Logan back the flask and then went running and yelling to jump off the bleachers was kinda hilarious

• doesn’t Keith end up dating the guidance counselor?

• I mean this is pretty progressive for the time, having a transgender character on tv, but he’s still a shit dad for not maintaining a relationship with his son. I mean I would understand if Justin’s mom didn’t let his dad see him, but to me it seems like the dad transitioned and divorced the mom and then went on to live his life with someone else. Not great of the mom to tell her son his dad’s dead either. Neither of them are winning parents of the year.

• but also not me tearing up at Veronica’s “Ninety miles. It’s the distance your dad travels every week to see you for a few seconds” and how she’d do anything for her mom to do something like that

• I literally do not understand Veronica’s mom’s problem. like that woman being like “you’re all she cares about” ok then why has she abandoned her child for 8 months!!! i mean jesus christ the worst thing that happened was that she doesn’t have the same social status and income!! that’s when you stick it out not abandon your husband and especially not your teenage daughter!!! ugh it makes me so mad!!

• I’m sure there’s something I’m forgetting or missing but I don’t wanna know I like not knowing stuff it makes rewatching more interesting

• overall rating 8.5/10.

the transgender stuff was ahead of its time. the plot twist with the kid finding out his dad actually is alive. the moment with Veronica tearing up and asking “doesn’t she care about me?” when she goes to find her mom and she isn’t there. plus the Duncan hallucination/depression stuff was interesting.

#veronica mars #vmars #vmars rewatch

[worksbynatashasproperty]

A not so normal fairytale with pirates

Part one:

"Casper!! Get back here now!!" André screamed he chased Casper who had just been caught stealing. "Ha!! Never!!" Cas screamed. "Come and catch me why don't you!!" He screamed looking back not noticing the barrels ahead. All of the sudden his eyes went wide as he went to turn around he tried to stop but to no avail. Crash!! "Ouch!" "Ha! Serves you right" André teased. Suddenly he grew quite and his eyes widened. "OH. Hey Cap!" Casper's face went pale as he looked up. "Oh. Hey Mar." The captain glared making him wince at her stare.

"Don't hey me." She scolded. Casper lowered his head trying to avoid her stare. "What were you two knuckleheads doing causing such a ruckus?" The boys looked at each other. "HE STARTED IT!!" They both exclaimed pointing at one another. "NO, I DIDN'T, HE DID!!" Maria looked at them both her face full of both amusement and frustration. "That's enough, clean this up," As the captain said this Andre looked over toward Cas his face smug as he thought Cas would be the only one to suffer any punishment. Maria knew exactly what he was thinking and smirked. "Both of you." She stated. André's eyes widened as he began to protest "That's an order." The boys both looked at each other and glared. Knowing better than to argue with their Captain they both walked off to clean Casper's mess. "Those two I swear..." Maria mumbled.

"Captain!!" A voice screamed. They jumped from the ship's mast and landed in front of the Captain. "IRIS!!" She screamed. "Don't sneak up on me like that." Iris laughed. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." She apologized. Maria rolled her eyes at her friend. "What do you want Iris?" She mumbled. "Well someone's in a bad mood." "Yeah, well some of us had to deal with being woken up by a couple of dumbasses who thought it would be hilarious to ruin my morning." She bit back. "Yeah, yeah. Anyways I just wanted to let you know we should expect to arrive the Island of Louis in any moment." Iris stated with a smiled "Well why didn't you say so," The Captain looked at her expectantly. "Ready the ship then inform the rest of the crew." She ordered. "Aye, aye Captain." Iris laughed. "Shut up." When Iris was out of sight she walked toward the front of the ship and looked out to sea. Let's just hope the rest of this trip goes smoothly. She thought, as she closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh air.

Later

"Up ahead!! Lower the anchor!!" The Captain ordered. Iris looked toward her "You heard the Captain. Land ahead!!" "Thanks Iris, but I'm the Captain of this ship. I think I can handle it." Iris smiled cheekily. "I know you can Mar, just doing my job. Which happens to entail helping you." Maria looked behind Iris and smirked. "OH. Yeah? Well since it's your job why don't you handle..that." Iris looked confused and went to ask her Captain what she meant. "Wha.." "CASPER!! You asshole!!" André screamed interrupting her. "Well would you look at that. Iris be a doll and handle that. It is your job after all." Iris glared at her. "I hate you." She stomped off toward the boys while Maria tried and failed to hold in her own laughter at the situation.

"Land HO!!" Hollered a crew member from below. "Here we go.." She mumbled. "Okay!! Listen up!!" Everyone got quite waiting for her orders. "Now that I have your attention remember this island could be dangerous no doubt," Everyone murmured in agreement. "So I want everyone to stick together. No one and I mean no one goes off on their own. Understood?" She looked seriously toward her crew. "YES CAPTAIN!!" They all replied simultaneously. Maria smiled in satisfaction. "Okay then, let's go yeah!!" "Hell yeah!!" Cas screamed causing everyone to laugh. "Okay." Maria chuckled. "Remember we are just here to get a few supplies. I want everyone back by dark. Dismissed." The crew dispersed from the ship pairing off as they did so."So, Captain, where are we going." Maria turned to find André standing behind her. "I can handle my own André." He raised his brow in response. "Yeah? Well to bad, your stuck with me." Maria sighed "Fine. Let's go." André grinned at her response. "Aye, aye Captain." "Say that again and I'll gut you like a fish." She hissed. "You wouldn't dare." He challenged. "Oh yeah. Try me." She retorted. "Nah, I'm good." Maria rolled her eyes as she and André walked through the trees.

"I wonder if anything dangerous lives in this place." He wondered out loud."Well let's not find out." André nodded, "Yeah, you're right. So." He started but was interrupted. "GET OFF ME!!" Someone screamed. Maria and André looked at each other and in a silent agreement took off towards the voice Maria pulling out her dagger from her side.They broke through the trees and what they saw angered the Captain to no end. A petite looking girl with short dirty blonde hair and piercing blue eyes pinned to the ground by a man who held a knife against her throat. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!!" She screamed. "Shut up!!" The man applied more pressure to the knife the girl writhed in pain and desperation. "GET OFF OF HER!!" The man's head snapped up at the sound. "Who the hell are you?!!" He demanded. "We could ask you the same thing. Who the hell do you think you are, hurting someone like this." André retorted. The man snapped glared. "She's my property. Her father promised her to me. So I'll do whatever I damn well please." Maria's hatred grew toward him she glanced over to the girl laying on the ground her heart ache. The girl looked back at her with pleading eyes filled with pain and sadness. That look was all it took for the Captain to snap.

#wlw #sapphic #Pirates

[father-time-and-baby-new-year]

alphabet boy II

SYNOPSIS: college AU. Armin, your brilliant tutor, invites you over to his house for some studying. Naturally, you're nervous and he seems to be giving you a reason to be.

PAIRING: SCUMBAG!Tutor Armin x FEM!Reader

WARNINGS: half edited, noncon/dubcon, fingering, non-penetrative sexual content. gaslighting, manipulating,

A/N: really need the motivation to write again and I've been slacking on my multi-parters so here's a somewhat highly anticipated one. Armin fuckers, this is for you. non-Armin fuckers, I hope this converts you

WORD COUNT: 2.0k

II. I.

“You’re not paying attention.”

You feel his voice right by the shell of your ear, and the proximity nearly makes you reel back in surprise but you manage to catch yourself.

“S-sorry” You apologize, wishing you didn’t stutter.

The thing is you’re just really out of your element. This is the first time you’ve been to Armin’s house for personal tutoring, and it was hard to focus on the material when his presence was so distracting.

It wasn’t like you were fantasizing about him or anything [well…]-you always tried to banish those thoughts as soon as it came. But still, being alone with an attractive boy with a disarming charm was causing some jitters. You felt like a shy middle schooler, on edge and jittery.

The last tutoring session in the library when he [basically] called you stupid plagued your mind. The memory of him feeling up your thighs lived in your head rent-free.

“Let’s take a break.” He sighs. Your heart drops at the noise of disappointment but you suppose it’s what you deserve.

You push your laptop lightly aside on the table, the bleak light straining your eyes, and ask for the bathroom. You just wanted to freshen up and be alone for a few seconds. The bathroom is meticulously clean, something even you knew was unexpected for a boy. You looked at yourself through the spotless mirror, scrutinizing every flaw.

You sigh, fiddling with your dress collar. Why you had tried dressing pretty for a boy so out of your league, he may as well be in Mars--you didn’t know.

When you return, there is a tall glass of lemonade waiting for you.

“Thought you might be thirsty.”

It’s a simple gesture that makes you blush so you thank him earnestly. Like the gentleman he is, he assures you it’s no problem. Not wanting to prolong the awkward silence, you compliment his apartment, “This is a really nice place. So much light and space.”

You’re babbling but he engages you regardless, and you two are mindlessly discussing the benefits of living at off-campus housing over dorming. His words are pleasant but there’s a sinking feeling within you as you notice he’s bored. Or maybe distracted was a better word.

“So, do you have a boyfriend? Or anyone you’re seeing?”

You nearly choke at the question uttered through a buttery voice.

“Oh um, not really.”

“Not really?”

You made a mental note to answer in definitives. Armin seemed the type to snuff out anything he reasoned as half-truths.

“No. I uh, don’t have a boyfriend.” And then you clarified a pin-drop later, “And I’m not seeing anyone either.”

The blond hums a playful tune that’s vaguely nostalgic.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?”

You don’t understand the point of this line of incessant questioning, and can’t calm your heart rate.

“I-um, I don’t-“

Taking one look at your serious face, eyes rimmed with worry and cheeks pink, he laughs. It’s a startling sound like bell chimes.

“Relax. I just wanted to know if you had any experience.”

The sentence flies out of your mouth before you can even ponder it: “What do you mean by experience?”

It’s not his fault if he can’t hide the feral grin that crosses his mouth right at that moment. You can’t discern his expression as you’re staring at anywhere but him, so you don’t notice the uncontained excitement that glimmers in cerulean eyes.

“Let’s move to the couch. You’ll be more comfortable there.”

You think about saying that you’re fine wherever you are and didn’t really feel like changing positions, but he’s already striding towards the couch. So you start packing up the materials, before a clear voice calls out to you, “It’s okay. You don’t have to bring all that. Just bring your flashcards.”

You hoped that wouldn’t mean he’d quiz you, but that’s exactly what he meant to do.

“Law of diminishing returns.”

“Wait! I know that one!” You brightly exclaimed, “ Uhh..it gives way to the catch-up effect which means poor countries tend to grow more rapidly and they’ll one day essentially catch up with wealthier economies.”

The blond ran his hand through his hair before sighing. You could feel your heart drop. You were sure you were right. Was your answer wrong enough to cause exasperation?

“Stick with the formal definition next time. I didn’t ask for the theory based on the law.”

You pouted, and Armin couldn’t help but relish in how eagerly you sought his approval, like a puppy performing tricks to appease their master.

“You should sit closer. Can you even see the word?”

You moved closer to him, knees knocking into each other. He looks down at the completed set.

“Well, you didn’t do as bad as I expected.” Ouch. But maybe he meant it as a compliment?

“But,” the corners of his mouth curled, “I’d say you’re still struggling.” Never mind.

“T-this is a new chapter though. I don’t think we’ve even gone over it in class.”

Blue eyes narrow, and you wonder if he’s going to give the well-meaning spiel about how staying ahead was the only way to keep up. That mantra may work for someone with high ambitions and an extremely good work ethic but you were no well-oiled machine. You had other classes too!

“Why are you so defensive?”

Your eyes widen in surprise at the question, spoken so softly and casually, you almost miss the disdained lilt.

“Oh uh-“

“Listen to me. I quizzed you so I’m able to assert your skill level. And your response to my assertion is that it’s something you haven’t gone over in class yet. Do those things relate to each other at all?”

Meekly, you shift your attention to the rug.

“Answer me.”

“N-no”, you squeaked.

“And what have I always told you? The only way to keep up is to-“

“Stay ahead.” You finished, “I’m sorry, I just-“

“Did I say you could interrupt me?”

You could feel the blood rushing to your ears, unsure when the atmosphere had shifted. Your heartbeat was beating rapidly and you could feel your body go warm.

He sighed, and placed a hand over over your folded ones, squeezing your palms.

“You know I’m just looking out for you right? It almost feels like you don’t care-“

“No!” You exclaim, “I-I do.” Heat pools into your cheeks once you realize your grave mistake, “I-I’m sorry for interrupting you.”

The blond smiles radiantly and it nearly melts away all of your worries…until he opens his mouth to deliver another damning remark.

“You know, with your looks…you don’t really even have to graduate. Maybe choose an easy major and then get some rich husband to take care of you.” There’s a distinct lack of humor in his tone as if he wholeheartedly believed every word he was saying.

Your eyebrows furrow in blatant confusion, and in the back of your mind, danger signs are flashing at the back of your head. Your thighs are growing warmer. Oh no, this could not be happening right now.

“That’s what most girls’ dreams are anyways.” He inspects his spotless nails, “You chose this class because Ackerman’s attractive right? That’s why his class has such a high drop rate…silly girls join, not understanding how harsh of a grader he is.”

You open your mouth to defend yourself but the next inflammatory remark he spews almost sends you to shock, “Though I bet, if you got on your knees for him, you’d be getting an A on those finals.” He laughs as if he was saying something particularly amusing, an undercurrent of spite coloring his words, “You wouldn’t even need me as your tutor.”

There are a million things on the tip of your tongue but no voice to speak them out. You want to ask him why he’s been so weirdly invasive, what his weird hang-up with professor Ackerman was, and of course, the casual sexism was really throwing you in a loop. Still, you have no doubt Armin could beat you to a bloody pulp several times over in a verbal lashing, and your mind was too fragile to deal with this.

You’ll sign up for a new tutor or better yet no tutor. You’ll get over your social anxiety and join a study group. You’ll go to all of Professor Ackerman’s office hours. Anything had to be better than this. You’re giving yourself this pep talk in your head but there’s no denying that your legs feel warm, and the self-improvement speech is withering away in your mind as it seeks to instead process how Armin fucking Arltert is touching you right now.

He pins you against the cushions, one hand locking both of your wrists. You’re shaking but your pupils are blown out wide.

He smirks, “There’s an excellent stress reliever for studying you know.”

You limp in his hold but the cocky attitude behind his words brings you back. You thrash under him, earning an annoyed growl from the blond.

“I’ve been so fucking patient with you, you know? Planning out your study guides, sharing my notes with you, proofreading homework, going over the mock exams—don’t you think I deserve a little compensation?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

He's right. He's right. Armin actually has done so much for you. Maybe it was too easy to take for granted because of how efficient he was, and how he acted like it was nothing. But right now, nothing really was everything.

He smiles. Yeah, this is who you were. Add just a little bit of pressure and you crumble. That flash of bravery from before was nothing but a petulant outburst from a child who didn’t know any better.

Armin coos, “Isn’t it a little embarrassing to be a virgin at your age?”

With unbridled precision, while he’s still holding your lower body down with the weight of his legs, he unbuckles his belt and ties it around your strained wrists. Red fills your face, and like always, you’re struggling to find the right words to respond. To say anything at all. Most of all, you can feel a wetness building at your core.

“I know the way you look at me, you know.” He kisses the dip of your neck, slender fingers splayed from under your shirt, “I know you’re into this.”

And because he is a scientist who must have evidence to back up his hypothesis, his hands find themselves under the waistband of your floral skirt that you foolishly wore, pushing the cure pastel underwear aside. You’re writhing in his grasp but maybe not as much as you should be, but it’s not your fault your movements are sluggish right?

“You have such a funny habit of not deleting your windows and keeping your bookmarks open.”

You freeze.

“This entire time I thought you were some prudish virgin even though you dress like a whore. Someone with who I had to be gentle. But all that fucking porn you read? Nasty. Is that why you need help in this class?” He punctuates slowly, "Because you're wasting your brain for something else?"

Immediately, you remember how you left your laptop on the table. You remember how many times he used your computer to double-check the notes, and you trustingly let him, forgetting that despite deleting your tabs, the hidden windows of steamy erotica were not yet erased out of their existence. Embarrassment violently paints your body.

He doesn’t wait or care for your response as he starts a vigorous assault on your clit with his slender finger, rubbing up and down in a vicious manner. The second finger prods at your entrance, feeling a tight cavern despite the amount of slick collected. Your eyes roll back in pleasure-is this what being with someone is like?

Stop. Get a hold of yourself. Why are you so fucking horny right now? It doesn’t matter what Armin said about you or how he called you out for the fiction you’ve read, because this is real life. But Christ, it’s Armin, the boy you’ve had a crush on since the moment he explained to you what a marginal abasement curve was. Stupidly handsome Armin with a gentle voice and too-blue oceanic eyes. Stupidly handsome Armin who coerced you into being under him.

You’re so fucking warm and tight, and Armin can’t wait to sink himself inside of you, can’t wait to humiliate you further. With nimble fingers he untied the ribbons of your dress like you were a Christmas present, groping your soft mounds and marking up your collarbone with teeth and tongue. Crystalline tears roll down the side of your face. You really shouldn’t be crying when you’re this wet.

“So fucking funny how you can’t look at me in the eye when we have a conversation but you read the filthiest fucking smut I’ve ever seen.”

taglist: @candy-hime

#tw noncon #tw dubcon #attack on titan fanfiction #armin arlert fanfic #yandere armin arlert #armin arlet x reader #armin arlet x you #manipulator armin #armin x y/n #armin arlet imagines #armin smut #tw manipulation #tw gaslighting

[athenamikaelson]

Worried

Kol Mikaelson x Daughter!Reader

Word Count- 1.5k

Warnings- Swearing, underage drinking, Kol being a little jerk

Request- i was wondering if you can write a kol x daughter!reader where the reader goes to a party and tries to sneak behind kols back but he finds out then also figures out she has a boyfriend!

“Dude, are you sure your dad won’t mind?” Lulu said from beside you.

“Ya. I mean mom’s on some witchy retreat and Dad’s losing his mind without her, so I just told him I’m hanging with a couple friends.” Lulu gave me a nervous stare.

“Don’t worry about it, ok. What’s wrong? You think he’s going to find out and then eat you?” She gives me a death stare as she rolls her eyes.

“Bro. You aren't human here.” I just laugh and nudge her shoulder.

“It’s going to be ok. Alright?” Lulu just nods her head, “Now let’s get to this party!”

Walking into the house I’m met with the overwhelming smell of weed and B.O. My eyes graze over the crowd of people in the living room dancing. Well, if you want to call it dancing, as it looks more like a bunch of pubescent teens groping each other.

“Hey guys!!!” I turn around to see Lulu’s girlfriend Molly. Her short black hair, and clothes are messed up, which I can guess is from the dancing she’s been doing all night. The party invite originally came from Molly. Lulu is the type to rather stay in and talk about the long term effects of teenage drinking, while her girlfriend is the type to be the one drinking. How they found each other is still a surprise and mystery to me. But I’ve never met a couple more made for each other. Other than my parents. Or Aunt Hayley and Uncle Elijah. Or Aunt Beks and Uncle Mar. Ok, and Aunt Keelin and Aunt Freya.

“Took you guys long enough to get here!,” I can smell the alcohol on Molly’s breath as she yells in our faces. “Come on, let's go get drinks!” Molly quickly grabs our hands and starts dragging us but I pull back.

“You guys go ahead, I’m going to go find Y/BF/N!” Molly just gives me a drunken thumbs up with her empty hand and a big smile. While Lulu mouths, “be careful.” Which I just return with a smirk. When am I ever not careful? I stood there a moment thinking and realized why she would get worried. I just shrug my shoulders to myself as I push past the kids around me trying to find my boyfriend.

“Y/N!” A voice sounds over the loud music behind me and I turn to see Y/BF/N. A large smile comes onto my face as I walk over to him. As I get to him he opens his arms and welcomes me into a large embrace.

“I didn’t think you were going to show.” He says as he lets me out of his arms and moves his hands down to the sides of waist.

“Well the way Lulu kept looking at me, I didn’t think I’d end up making it either.” I slightly laugh as I look over and see Molly dragging Lu to the dance floor, and I quite literally mean dragging. Lu looks like she’d rather be staked in the heart than be here. But we both know that as much as she hates parties, she loves Molly more.

“And what about your dad? Is he ok with this?” I just roll my eyes at the fact that even though he doesn’t know what my dad truly is he’s still terrified of him.

“Yes, he’s fine with it.” I told him. I’m about to ask him if he wants to grab a drink but seeing the way the smile on his face drops when he looks behind me, I quickly turn around to meet the dark brown of my father’s. And instantly my heart drops in my chest.

“No he’s not fine with it.” My dad says as he gives a death stare to Y/BF/N. I turn to see Y/BF/N practically shitting bricks. His hands were long gone from my waist.

“Um, hello Mr. Mikaelson. My names Y/BF/N. Y/N has told me a lot about you.” My dad's eyes trail up and down his body and I can practically see the smoke coming from his ears.

“Well isn’t that funny? Because I haven’t heard anything about you.” I go to interject but he stops me with a glare.

“Y/N, we’re leaving. Let’s go.” I wanted to refuse but by the way people are starting to stare. I think it’d be a better idea to get the pissed off Original away from a crowded room of people. I quickly apologize to Y/BF/N and follow my dad out the door.

As soon as we get to the end of the driveway I turn to my dad.

“What the hell was that dad?” I yell. My dad looks at me with an incredulous look.

“Are you kidding me, Y/N? First I find you missing from your friend's house and then Rebekah tells me that she helped you do your hair for some party! So I find a party full of drunk teenagers and find some hooligan grabbing my daughter!”

“That hooligan dad was my boyfriend! And you practically just scared the living shit out of him back there. And not even mentioning how embarrassing it is for my dad to come and pick me up from a party surrounded by all my friends!”

My dad just rolls his eyes as he walks to the driver’s side of the car.

“Get in.”

I just scoff as I start walking away.

“Where are you going Y/N?” My dad yells from behind me.

“I’ll walk home.” I hear the car door slam and wait for the car to start but am surprised when my father appears in front of me.

“So you’ll walk home in the dark. Where you could possibly get eaten. But, you won’t get in the car with your father?”

“Yes,” I walk around him and continue walking, “and also I’m a witch I can protect myself.”

I continue walking and don’t hear my father until I hear a huff and footsteps.

“Well, if you’re walking then so am I.”I just ignore him and keep walking.

Fifteen or so minutes have passed since we started walking and I haven’t said anything to my dad. Which I can tell is getting to him. I may be the daughter but he’s the child in this family. And when a child is ignored, they get bratty.

I watch as my dad picks up the stick in front of him and turns to me. I narrow my eyes as he points the stick at me.

“Listen here girly, I’m going to give you two choices. Either you answer me or I’ll use the stick.” I just roll my eyes at his behavior and keep walking.

I start to walk a few feet when I feel something hit my calf. I whip around and see my dad looking up to the sky with a sly smirk on his face. The stick is being held behind his back. I just shake my head and keep walking.

Maybe 20 seconds go by before I feel the stick poke itself on my back. The only difference when I turned around this time was that my father wasn’t hiding the fact that he was the one poking me. I looked me dead and in the eyes and took the stick and placed it only on my head. I just stare at him, I’m not going to give him the benefit of knowing he can make me laugh.

I just keep walking, which I notice gives my dad even more motivation to get me to break.

“Do you want to hear about the time your Uncle Nik got his ass kicked by a bunch of teenagers?” I just sigh and keep walking.

“Or how about the time your dad embarrassed his daughter in front of all her friends and pissed her off?” I just sigh.

“Ya I think I’ve heard that one before.” I say as I stop.

“Did you hear the part where your dad was really sorry and only did it because he was scared when he couldn’t find his daughter. And the thought that the person he loves the most in the entire world might be in danger makes him feel like he’s being daggered all over again.”

I turn to my dad to see him staring at me. I look at him sadly before wrapping my hands around him in a hug.

“I’m sorry dad.”

I feel his arms wrap around me tighter and he presses a kiss to my forehead.

“I’m sorry too, kid. I may be a thousand years old. But this parenting thing might be the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

“I’m sorry Dad, for not telling you. I didn’t realize you would be so scared. I’m sorry that you have to worry about me.” My dad's eyebrows furrow as he looks at me.

“Hey, don’t ever apologize for that. I’m your dad, it’s my job to worry about you. And I wouldn’t change that for the world. I love being your dad. And I love you.” I hugged him again.

“I love you too dad. And if you wanted to, I’d really like to hear that story about Uncle Nik getting his ass kicked.”

@daylightmikaelson

#kol mikaelson icons #kol mikaelson imagine #kol mikaelson x reader #theoriginalsimagines #the vampire diares imagine #thecwshows #the originals #the vampire diaries #elijahmikaelsonimagines #elijah mikaelson x reader #elijah mikaelson imagine #elijah mikaelson #klaus mikaleson imagine #klaus x reader #klaus mikaelson #tvd x reader #rebekah mikaelson

[neptune-midheaven]

ASTRO NOTES 🪐 🧿✨🌌

*THERE !!!!!! IS !!!!!! NO !!!!!! BAD !!!!!!!PLACEMENT !!!!!!! IN !!!!!!! ASTROLOGY !!!!!!!PLEASE STOP FEAR-MONGERING THESE POOR NEWCOMERS PLEASEEE !!!!!!!! CHALLENGING never equals BAD !!!!!! If you’re a true student of astrology this would be a well know FACT to you.

*Saturn and Capricorn placements are the areas you will slowlyyy become wise in, having developed compete mastery over that area with TIME.

*You usually get compared with other people who share your rising sign.

*Most scorpios/scorpio risings have dark complexions, they even could have almost a permanent shadow cast over their faces, they may struggle to find perfect lighting.

*Virgo in 6th house are hypochondriacs and are paranoid/worry a lot about their health. They’re very nit-picky about their “symptoms”, they’re the types of people to know what they’re coming down with when they’re already at a doctor appt., they may as well even EDUCATE THE DAMN DOCTOR LIKE GO AHEAD MRS PHDD.

*Chiron conjunct midheaven is the ultimate healer placement, other chiron placements, chiron in first/aspecting the ascendant, following behind, these people are true healers whether they realize it or not, they’re born to assist and heal the general public. The midheaven, the highest point of the sky representing our reputation and career, what we’re known for. These people generate a reputation for their “healing abilities”, they’re quite literally known as the wounded healer (depending on if Chiron is positively aspected in the chart, this will affect the flavor of their reputation), they will experience pain related to work or matters related to the reputation, their status and authority could be wounded, they can later use their pain to help and heal others. Challenges will be met at work if Chiron is afflicted. This placement also means one will have their pain and wounds projected to the public, the whole world knows your pain.

*Mars in twelfth need to express their energy, their anger and will through the activities of whatever sign mars is located in the chart i.e. mars in aries in the twelfth need to express suppressed anger/anger through physical activity, sports, working out, sex, pisces mars by unleashing their massive creativity, compassion, dreams (this sign, and house combo especially, has many dreams, it’s a sleepy placement for the ideal fiery and straightforward mars to be located in). Mars in twelfth is generally a good placement that could manifest in someone being a dancer or athlete, mainly finding escape through any type of physical activity for fire signs, work for earth, socializing for air and creativity for water. This placement has very gentle, enchanting watery movements if they get into any sports or physical activity.

*Mars in eleventh can be aggressive toward their friends esp if mars is in a fire sign it becomes no joke. Don’t get me wrong, they’re the best humanitarians and what not but they have a reputation of being the “angry” or “aggressive” friend out of most of their friend groups, they’re very competitive and energetic people. However the way they stick up causes, they way they are always seen supporting any humanitarian cause with their whole hearts is AMAZINGG. They’re the types of activists to stay late to a protest, they’re the types to seemingly never leave what they’re standing up for, what they’re supporting because they are SOOO AMBITIOUS AND YEAHH !!

*This isn’t talked about a lot but uranus in eleventh have to be the most comforting and “welcoming” presence out of every eleventh house placement in astrology, with uranus in its home, the house of aquarius, it erases any filter put on what friend is attracted by their social presence as EVERYONE is attracted to them, from any possible and imaginable background or culture and homeland, anyone can trust and confide in their wide openness as their care and concern for society is completely genuine. They are truly the biggest and truest humanitarians, the universal humanitarian that will lead us to the monumental revolution of history and bring humanity to a collective whole.

*Pisces moon, people lovee you. People want to come up and talk with you just because of how interesting and intriguing you are. You OOZE this aura of compelling mystery similarly to scorpio moon. Your innocent playfulness is undeniably charming and you are definitely the life of the party, people want to pay attention to you!!

*Saturn in 11th, you are not an outcast, you are not too strange. You’re fine for just who you are, your individuality is a struggle for you, saturn is restricting you from liberating yourself and merging with society, you can selective or strict with friendships. You teach others to have boundaries and to never trust others too easily, you select social causes with caution. There is never anything wrong with this !! You choose what you support for YOU and NO ONE ELSE. You choose who you wanna become friends with it’s because they have passed the true rigorous test of friendship. When you become friends with someone, you already know you can trust them deeply, your caution is quite admirable !!

*Mercury in 12th is an extremely beautiful placement. The native grows shy of their flawless minds, little do they know they are connecting with the watery depths of the astral and psychic realms of the twelfth, the vagueness of their cloudy thoughts winds them up in wispy sheets of intellectual confusion. Your mind is communicating the brilliant and unbelievable parts of what seems like a dream. You are not too confusing or vague for others to understand your ideas, people await what emerges from this shiny and imaginable abyss of a sleepy mind.

*Mercury in 8th have an intellectual superiority complex of sorts, they analyze a piece of information or thing by tearing through the surface until they find the deepest depths of the truth, they believe this will never compare to other placements as they have dug far deeper into something. Be careful to not assume that someone doesn’t know something you don’t, while it still can’t be true. You always want to know someone, don’t be too controlling about it because you could cause conflicts which you didn’t mean to in the first place. If you know your boundaries and limits and of others’, then you should be fine. This placement is brilliant for investigators, someone who could examine, analyze and evaluate to find the answer others can’t see. They harbor a psychic mind, a plutonic one who knows the weight words can have on people. Fantastically persuasive speakers !!

*Gemini in 3rd, gem mercury have unstable minds, they’re very much prone to babbling, but can easily start up a conversation because they never run out things to say so they’re pretty social and friendly.

*Capricorn moon is an amazing moon sign placement, here the moon is in detriment as the saturn ruled cappy doesn’t get along with the soft, nurturing moon, it’s always gotta work work work, limit, restrict !! There’s never anything wrong with the moon here, just because the moon and saturn can’t get along, just because they contradict each other’s completely different functions never means it’s a terrible moon sign. It just manifests in a completely unique way outside of the traditional service and role of the moon, similarly to let’s say sag mercury as it’s also in detriment, they both manifest creatively to make something new out of the planet’s sign. Back to cappy moon, this moon has the capacity to work as they find fulfillment in getting things done, serving others, but negatively restriction and criticizing. With saturn ruling capricorn here your emotions and wellbeing become restricted and limited, you have felt as if no one understands you, you believe something is wrong with you. Like no one in the world supports you emotionally. But this is NEVERRR true, people love you for how caring, attentive and even funny you are !! You care soo much about others you forget to care for yourself, SOME of you even begin to think it’s normal to ignore what your own needs, nooo you need to STOP THISSS . You deserve to feel great about what you do, your accomplishments, how you care for others, EVERYTHING, and most importantly believe, trulyy believe that nothing’s ever wrong with you !! You’re unbelievably charismatic and overall just.... WONDERFULLL. Ily guys smm you’re amazingly stronggg souls !!!

*Moon in 12th house is an EXTREMELY sensitive placement, these people are little babies on the inside (ilyy guyss you all have my heartt <33). They often felt neglected, not nurtured as a kid which creates their extreme sensitivity to their current surroundings and environment. Their shy moon is always hiding behind the mystical and otherworldly curtains of the 12th because of their sensitive upbringing or personality, it’s takes some time for the little guy to come out. The moon here needs SPACCEEEE. A person who’s a walking sponge with fragile emotions, they’re our emotional and energetic vacuum cleaners of the world, they are helping the world without ever realizing it !!

*Pisces risings are known for being hard to characterize for their ability to naturally adapt to their environment. You can tell if someone has this if they absorb their environment like a sponge, then, react to this energy, you can easily see this energy morphing. It becomes noticeable if there’s a lot going on. Another clue is having trouble defining them based on their first impression, like they could be anything you project onto them, very mysterious and dreamy individuals when you meet them.

*Your midheaven/10th house is what you look up to be or what traits you wish to embody, ex: aries MC, confidence, passion, courageousness, being a leader, etc. Moon in 10th, being a therapist, helping the less fortunate, medical professions.

*Libra risings usually have amazing skin, just like virgo risings, to contrast, I’ve seen most of them marked with freckles. They have very symmetrical features, perfectly balanced just like a scale. But it appears as if they’re “superficial” once their faces begin to wear into your mind.

#astro notes #astrology #astrologyobservations #libra #capricorn #aries #cancer #taurus #leo #scorpio #aquarius #pisces #gemini #virgo #sagittarius

[wolveria]

Inside Your Wires - Chapter 1

Pairing: Human!Connor x Android!Reader

Summary: Assigned all cases involving android-related crimes, saddled with a prototype that follows him around like a plastic puppy, Detective Connor Anderson knows this must be karma for all the bad shit he’s ever done.

He thought he'd hit rock bottom, that he didn't have much left to lose, but he's proven wrong by the android sent by CyberLife. And Connor learns just how much further he can fall.

Prompt: For the @dbhau-bigbang​ 2020 challenge!

Series Warnings (18+ only): Eventual smut, slow burn, fantasy bigotry, violence, brief noncon elements, angst with a happy ending

AO3

(Story moodboard by @uh-kitty-got-wet​​)

November 5th, 2038

Friday 11:21PM

The whiskey was harsh and burned like liquid fire as it slid down his throat. He dropped the shot glass onto the bar top and closed his eyes and savored the bloom of the cheap booze warming his chest. The music from the old jukebox behind him belted out tunes that would have been considered outdated when the place opened.

It was like this most nights. He was alone, exhausted, and well on his way to a pleasant buzz. The one thing Connor had going for him was that he hadn’t started in on his third drink until 11 PM.

That had to be some kind of record. On a Friday night, he was usually shitfaced by 10. Call it the long hours he’d been working, or maybe the fact he felt more self-loathing than usual, he’d somehow managed to hold off on spiraling until nearly midnight.

Definitely a record. And Connor deserved to celebrate.

When he tipped the glass with one finger and caught Jimmy’s eye, he nearly looked away in shame. The bartender had never given him shit before, at least in a verbal sense, but the cool stare he gave Connor now made him want to crawl into a hole and die there.

But Jimmy didn’t say a word, just gave him another dose of poison and turned away, leaving Connor in relative peace to enjoy the game. Denton Carter was kicking ass tonight, so at least there was that.

It was all going beautifully until the door opened and the sound of rain echoed throughout the tiny bar, along with a distinct smell of wet asphalt and dirty concrete. Out of the corner of his eye, Connor saw two of the other regulars shift in their seats to stare at the newcomer.

Not another regular, then. And by how lengthy the stares were and the sudden shift in atmosphere, Connor guessed the barometric pressure had taken a drop due to a pair of long legs and pretty eyes.

Turning his body only far enough to get a glance for himself, Connor was not disappointed, eyeing the stranger from their black dress shoes, up their shapely legs clad in dark jeans, past curvy hips and—

Oh.

Connor turned back in his seat, hunched over and grimacing in disgust, put there by the sight of a blue triangle on a lapel and a glowing armband around one arm. He hadn’t even needed to look higher for the LED to know what the fuck had just waltzed into the joint like it actually belonged there.

He nursed his whiskey, praying the thing would pass him by and leave him the fuck alone. Or better yet, Jimmy would throw it out.

No such luck, of course.

“Detective Anderson,” spoke a smooth, raspy voice to his right. “I’m the YN800 model sent by CyberLife.”

He elected to ignore it. Maybe if he did so for long enough, it would take the hint and go away.

Again, Connor’s luck was not holding out.

“I called your cell phone, but you didn’t answer,” the voice continued, unimpeded. “I then looked for you at the station after checking your home, but you weren’t there either. Your colleagues indicated you tended to frequent the bars in the area, and I was fortunate to find you at the fifth one.”

His eye twitched. This thing had gone to his apartment?

“Well, here I am,” he answered, dry and caustic as he stared straight ahead at the wall of bottles. He calculated how angry Jimmy would be if he took out his service pistol and shot it through the head.

Pretty angry, Connor decided. It would probably leave a stain. Also, he didn’t want to compensate some asshole company for property damage.

“What do you want?” he finally growled, scratching his nail into the bar top already marred with various scuffs and dings.

“You were assigned a case earlier this evening. A homicide.”

Already, a headache was forming between the eyes at the sound of the android’s irritatingly friendly voice.

“Yeah, and?”

“It involved a CyberLife android,” it said in that same smooth inflection. “In accordance with procedure, the company has allocated a specialized model to assist investigators.”

You have to be shitting me.

Connor grit his teeth and clenched his glass tighter, a flush of heat moving through him that had nothing to do with his blood alcohol content. A fucking android was sent to help cops do their job?

Fuck that, and fuck this hunk of junk.

“Good for them,” he answered as he tipped the glass up to his lips. “I couldn’t give less of a shit. Now get the fuck out of my face. We don’t need any help, especially from a plastic pair of tits like you.”

He should have known that wasn’t the end of it. The android spoke again, adopting a tone of what it had probably been programmed as “sympathetic.”

“I understand you may be experiencing reluctance to having an android’s assistance in this matter, but I am—“

“—ruining a perfectly good evening, butting your nose where it doesn’t belong and sure as fuck isn’t welcome.”

Connor put his glass down harder on the bar top than he meant to, nearly spilling his drink.

“I suggest you leave before I void your warranty.”

Connor thought the machine got the message when it finally went silent. He could even see its mood ring spinning yellow out of the corner of his eye before it settled on that annoying placid blue.

He’d just brought the glass halfway to his lips when it said, “I’m sorry, Detective, but I must insist.”

Connor set the glass back down and started to count to ten. He couldn’t lose it now, he’d promised Jimmy he wouldn’t break anything else after the last brawl he’d gotten into.

But the fucking thing just kept on talking.

“My instructions stipulate that I have to accompany you.”

“You know where you can stick your instructions?” Connor growled before downing the glass of whiskey.

It was a good thing he had, because its next words made him choke on spit.

“No. Where?”

Connor set the glass down, and for the first time that evening, fully turned toward the android and stared at it.

The damn thing was staring back, head slightly tilted like a curious puppy. It had large eyes to match the image too, earnest and innocent and entirely too sincere. Its attire at second glance wasn’t the typical android faire. A smooth grey android jacket and a dark, patterned tie marked it as something different. Unique.

And just a little too pretty. Every designed, group-focused imperfection on its face made it that much more appealing. Its hair was neatly coifed, pulled up and pinned behind its head, exposing the smooth curve of its neck.

Hanging down the left side of its face was a strategically-placed lock of hair that Connor immediately want to twirl his finger around. He suspected that was the point.

The further down Connor’s eyes traveled, the more he lost his train of thought. The perfectly sensible tie was lying on the slope of its breasts, something even the jacket couldn’t cover. Why the fuck androids had breasts to begin with, Connor couldn’t begin to fathom, and it seemed even more ludicrous now seeing them on a “specialized model.”

The android hadn’t moved apart from its artificial breathing, another thing about the machines that was uncanny. They weren’t human, and the fact CyberLife kept trying to pass them off as such was a goddamn insult to humanity.

He met the thing’s eye, gave an unimpressed huff, and went back to nursing his drink. If the fucking tin can didn’t understand a dirty innuendo, he certainly wasn’t going to ruin its pristine, virginal programming.

Connor doubted everything that had just gone through his head as those unnecessarily realistic tits were pressed against his elbow, without warning or any sense of decency or a concept of personal space.

“How about this, Detective?”

Connor fumbled, nearly spilling his drink, a massive what the fuck! warning flashing in his head as the machine pressed closer.

“I’ll buy you another drink, on the house. Surely that’s worth a few minutes of your time? And if not, you can send me on my way.”

Connor couldn’t speak with that voice right into his ear like a close confidant, sultry and low and borderline pornographic, so it was a good thing the android didn’t bother waiting for a response.

Instead, it turned to Jimmy and said in a louder, more normal tone, “Bartender, another round for the detective, please.”

Jimmy turned from where he was cleaning glasses on the counter, eyebrows shooting upward as he looked from the machine to Connor. It had backed up a few inches, but there were a lot of reflective bottles on the wall. Connor wondered just how much Jimmy had seen.

Connor gave a little helpless shrug as if to say, Don’t look at me, I don’t know what the fuck it’s doing!

But when the damn thing actually brought out real paper money and set it on the counter, Jimmy got moving. Seemed he wasn’t picky about where his money came from, and Connor almost resented the fact he hadn’t thrown the android out on principle.

Who the hell gave it money in the first place? CyberLife? What, did they hand it a few bucks of allowance before letting it off its leash?

Despite all his reservations, and there were a great many of them, Connor was not about to turn down a free drink. Or two.

“Make it a double,” he grumbled, purposefully avoiding the android’s focused gaze. He could practically feel the thing staring into the side of his head, but at least it remained at a distance and wasn’t pressed against his side like a drunk, horny badge bunny anymore.

“Thanks, Jim.” Connor took the glass and tipped it back, drowning it in one go. The slide of the familiar burn down his throat, spreading throughout his limbs, did quite a lot to help ease the tension in his muscles.

He released a heavy exhale, pushed away from the bar, and got to his feet.

“You want to play plastic cop? Okay, then. Keep up,” he said, tilting his head in its direction without actually looking at it. “Or I’m leaving your ass behind.”

Connor didn’t wait for a response, only raised his hand in parting to Jimmy, and pushed open the door to let the rain-drenched Detroit night swallow him whole. But even through the sound of the rain pinging off the hood of his nearby car he could hear the even footfalls behind him, just a little too close for comfort.

Fucking androids.

Next Chapter

#connor x reader #detroit: become human #human!connor #android!reader #dbh au big bang #my writing #my fanfiction #inside your wires #i make connor suffer but he's gonna be hard about it

[getrising311]

Working with Planetary Days

I hope it is okay that I share this excerpt from my Newsletter this month. It feels right/good to share this on Jupiter's day. Often times, I feel stuck in one place. I don't know how to move on from tasks or I struggle with even starting my day. I wanted to take the time to create an outline of options/ideas/tasks I can do based on the ruling planet for each day of the week. I think that once upon a time, College made me decide that Sundays were the days to get so much done, organize, plan, "catch up" etc- Friday and Saturday's were for indulging and forgetting about responsibilities, monday's were pure panic. Had I attuned to the energy of the days (and diving in deeper, planetary hours, which we will talk about next time) I may have navigated the days and my energy a lot better. Now I am a social worker, mental health practitioner and (baby) astrologer, trying to find the balance between self and others; solitude and socialization; responsibility and creativity; structure and response; Spirituality and Practicality; physical energy and mental energy and emotional energy; work and being still. The purpose of this 'outline' is to provide guidance, inspiration and direction on how to intentionally use our time, more so our Day to our energetic/celestial benefit.  Stick around as I go over the days of the week. Monday-Lunes (Moon)- Wake up late (if you can) Express gratitude (aloud or in a journal/safe space) DEEP stretch (to your ability, if you experience a disability/limitation, I encourage DEEP breathing, belly breathing) Use 'Herbs' (Whatever this means to you) and slow, smooth music (Alternative, R&B, Country, Blues, Jazz, Instrumental, Waves, Sound Bowl if you have one) Drink your coffee/tea/tonic/elixir/etc in one spot. Don't move until you are finished with your cup. Take a drive for no reason or take the scenic route to your destination/appointment/work/home/etc. Either have comfort food or light eating (Whichever your body calls for that day) IF you have a healthy relationship with Home: Call Home or friend or anyone you can be safe with. Water, water, water, water, water, water, water, water, water, water Snuggle up with a comfort item. Practice affirmations. Tell someone you love them (or something of the sort) Tuesday-Martes (Mars)- If you are able, take a walk; pilates; yoga; Tai Chi; dance. If you experience limitations or live with a disability, move to your capacity (bobbing your head to music, stretching upper body, deep breathes, chair exercises, rotating feet/ankles, whatever you are comfortable with. I am able bodied so may be ignorant to the options here-PLEASE educate me if you can think of anything further that those limited can engage in Mars like energy). Earthing Face Masks/Steaming/Scrub Hair Masks/Deep cleaning/Salt scrub Tend to yard work (if applicable and if able) Laundry (ALL OF IT, that means cleaning, drying and folding too LOL) Any tasks you have been putting off, focus on these first. Create a to do lists, categorized by home; office/work; spirit; business, etc. Clean your Spiritual tools Clean the space you spend the most time in Work or be outside if you can. Just get out of your usual environment if possible. Brainstorming. Go to bed early if you can. Wednesday-Miercoles (Mercury) Read 10-30 minutes (Of course more if you have the time and/or attention span😉) Journal 10-30 minutes, let it flow if you can. Create or engage in Minor to do lists Create a grocery list Fill out calendar for appointments or obligations- review your planner/calendar/schedule in general Work on your budget Respond to/Send emails-Respond to/make phone calls Work on/Send out Newsletter(s) Take notes on your readings Delete emails, clear voicemail box, go through paper mail Schedule meetings on this day talk to Spirit Ask questions-exchange information Watch a documentary or informative series Grab dinner or a drink with friends Paying attention to car maintenance may work well on this day as well (schedule an oil change/car wash/fill tank/etc) Learn something new Interact with/engage with your environment (if possible, for ex: walk around your neighborhood, smile at a neighbor; if you have the space work in your kitchen/living room instead of your office; if you're working in an office, see if there is a conference room available instead of your "cube") Get a massage/self massage (if possible/applicable) Turn your phone off, or notifications off before bed. Thursday-Jueves (Jupiter) Sleep in if you can Express Gratitude (out loud or in a journal or safe space) Pray Charge and/or cleanse crystals Take a salt bath/shower Soak your feet (if you can, get an Ionized foot bath) Take one risk today, walk by faith not by sight today Get out of your comfort zone (this will look different for everyone) Buy something you've been saving for or start saving for something Try something new Water your damn plants and/or talk/sing to them Play games (board games, phone games, computer games, video games) Watch a comedy Spell work and rituals Try a new tea or elixir Consult with a friend, guide, therapist, energy worker, etc Friday-Viernes (Venus) Make up, moisturize, hair spray/gel, rings, necklaces, perfume, heels, slacks, corsets, glasses, nail polish- WHATEVER you have to put on your bodythat'ss an extra step than usual-Do it! Indulge in your first (or last) meal today Walk (or drive) somewhere scenic/beautiful Watch the sunrise or sunset. Or catch the moonlight Practice your love language with yourself or with others "Love" yourself (hint hint, wink wink) Make your "space" pretty (this can be your bedroom, living room, kitchen, garden, car, this can be social media platforms, journals) BUMP or BLAST some music Make a playlist Aromatherapy, cleanse or charge your Tools, talk to friends/family, set boundaries and don't do anything you don't want to today (if possible 😉) paint, draw, read, shop, write Take a picture (of you or something/someone beautiful) Saturday-Sabado (Saturn) Start a to do list for today and especially for the week ahead Take care of house (whatever this means to you) Meditate Study Fast (If able/applicable) Journal (esp related to your long term goals, worldly affairs/responsibilities) Clean your space and get rid of what is no longer needed (clean out fridge, throw out papers, take out garbage, pull weeds, etc) Clean your car (if able/applicable) Ask Spirit and Ancestors "What work needs to be done?" Use sound bowl (if you have one), binaural beats, instrumental music Water water water water water water water! Sunday-Domingo (Sun) Practice your skills/Review your skills Perform service (whatever 'service' means to you) Post on social media/Establish social media presence Socialize, actively engage with others and/or your surroundings (if able/applicable) Journal (check your Ego, gas yourself up or practice humility) Review/Activate spells and rituals Pray Express gratitude Choose something specifically for you today Aura cleansing (if able/applicable) I hope this is guiding and helpful to at least someone. I experience such guilt around how I spend my time during the day and this outline/list has helped me attune to the energy of the day and generally make the most out of it. This is a light hearted, intuitive post meant to guide and validate how we can use our energy. I try to be mindful that not everyone has the resources, space, freedom, privilege, ability or circumstances to engage in such activities, my only hope is that at least one thing on this list can be activated in your days.

#planetary alignment #planetary days #planetary hours #scheduling #venus #jupiter #mars #saturn #mercury #sun

[solinarimoon]

Fields of Wildflowers - Chapter 11

Fields of Wildflowers 

Chapter 11

A Sihtric x OC story

AN: The story will start to get a little bit off canon/timeline here and in the final few chapters.  Just a heads up.  The previous chapters are here. And my master list can be found here.

Warnings: Typical TLK violence and drama but nothing else I can think of at the moment.

Word Count: 3366

Once the decision had been made by both Cwen and Eadith to travel with the company to Winchester, plans moved quickly.  Horses and provisions were purchased and goodbyes were made.

Lady Aethelflaed did not come to see the journeyers off.  She must maintain a certain level of propriety now and cavorting with her former lover would not rank high on that scale. Cwen also imagined it would be too painful for her to watch as Uhtred rode away.  But Aelfwynn did come, accompanied by Wyllath.  

Cwen said her final goodbyes and helped Aethelstan into the cart to ride alongside his grandmother.

“I am glad for your company, Cwen,” Lady Aelswith said once she had settled next to Aethelstan in the cart. “I would like to offer you a place in the palace to help me with Aethelstan, should you wish it.” The former queen’s words struck Cwen quite a shock. 

“My Lady, it is a very kind offer.  One that I do admit is tempting. But,” she trailed off.  Her eyes  gazed across the courtyard towards where Sihtric was readying the horses, “my future lies elsewhere, I am afraid.”

Lady Aelswith followed Cwen’s gaze and pursed her lips in disapproval.  

Before allowing her to make any disparaging statements, Cwen interjected, “Is there anything else I can do for you, Lady?”

After being given a tight lipped shake of the head, Cwen reached her hand to take Aethelstan’s own. 

“Once we are stopped for the night, would you like me to sing you another song, Aethelstan? Maybe one I can teach your grandmother?”

“Yes, please,” came his gentle voice as he smiled before turning his attention back to the book in his hand.

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

After a full day's travel, the group settled on a place to make camp for the evening.  

Sihtric helped Cwen to dismount her horse and took the opportunity to steal a kiss from her.

The pair chuckled and Cwen hid her face in Sihtric’s chest when they heard Uhtred call,

“Sihtric, I saw that.”

“Sorry, Lord,” Sihtric called back, chuckling and landing another kiss along Cwen’s lips.

Cwen could not help the girlish giggle that came from her and the feeling like a bird was fluttering against the inside of her chest, trying to break free.

In all her years, she could not remember feeling as light and as happy as Sihtric had made her feel since they’re reunion at Aylesbury.  

On the road and on the run, Cwen had felt pulled to him.  But the feeling had been more dense.  Marred by something more grave, somber, serious.  Sihtric’s eyes had always been on her. Studying her and assuring her safety.  Cwen had begun to look for those eyes and found comfort and security in them.

But the dangers of their last journey had passed.  And that curtain, now pulled back from their relationship, shed light on entirely new and exciting aspects of each other they couldn’t wait to explore.

Since their night together in the glade, Cwen found her mind often returning to thoughts of Sihtric’s hands on her body, his lips on her skin.  Her body’s response to him being near her, to feeling his presence excited her.  

“I miss our night in the glade,” Cwen whispered as she looked up to meet his eyes. The look she found there left her knees weak.  

“Well,” the tembur of his voice rumbled in his chest, “while you’re out gathering wood for the fire, if you notice a nice secluded spot,” his words trailed off suggestively.

Swallowing thickly, Cwen took a step away from his embrace and replied, “I’ll keep my eyes open.”

“What you do to me, woman.” Cwen heard him reply as she turned to stride away in search of firewood.  

Cwen had walked several paces when she found Eadith at her side.  The two women helped each other collect several pieces of wood before returning to the campsite only to be sent off once more since it would apparently not be enough for Lady Aelswith.

“It’s her way of showing she likes ya,” Finan told Eadith as the ladies walked past him into the forest again.  Eadith chuckled in reply and continued walking, while Cwen quirked her brow up at Finan.

“Well…?”

“Well what, Cwen?”

Sighing exasperatedly, Cwen replied “You still haven’t talked to her?”

“Hush,” Finan gestured with his hands for Cwen to quiet her voice. “And no… at least not yet.  Now go get more firewood, Cwen.  The Lady Aelswith is cold.” he chided her away.

Smirking and shaking her head, Cwen turned on her heel and followed after Eadith into the woods.

“So how does it feel?” Eadith pried after the pair had been silently collecting wood for several minutes.

“How does what feel, Eadith?” Cwen smiled over at her friend.

“Oh you know, just embarking on a new journey with a new lover?”

“Oh you cheeky..” Cwen trailed off after kicking up a small stick at Eadith and managing to not drop the pile of wood balanced in her arms.

“Honestly, Eadith, it just feels right.  It feels like I have found a piece of myself that was missing... that I did not even know was missing.  But now it is reunited with me and I am whole.”

“Well I am very happy for you, my friend.”

“Thank you, Eadith.  Now let us head back and see if this is enough wood for Lady Aelswith’s cold bones.”

Laughing, the two women turned to trek back along their path to camp, but their voices fell silent as they got closer and saw many horses and warriors surrounding their camp.

“What is this?” Eadith hisses while the two crouch low behind a tree.

“I do not know.  I can not make out any words.”

Cwen gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth as she watched men grab Aelswith and Aethelstan and march them over to climb into a cart along with Stiorra.

She can only watch in terror as the cart ambles away only to then have her attention caught again as she heard Finan cry out and the Dane’s crowd in around the men.

“What are they doing?” Cwen whispers harshly as their men are tied and strung upside down from tree branches.

Eadith does not respond, only stares ahead.

Cwen can see Sihtric fighting against his restraints and feels a steely resolve in her mind.

“They will die.  We must do something.  A..a..a diversion.” Cwen rambles as she formulates a plan.

“What sort of diversion?”

“Anything! Anything to bring the guards away from the tree.” Cwen hissed while she looked around for any sort of idea. 

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

At the tree, Sihtric struggled and fought against his restraints, only succeeding in wearing himself out and increasing his blood flow. 

His vision began to get spotty and he could feel himself beginning to fade. 

“Sihtric,” he heard Uhtred’s voice. It sounded far away and slow. “Sihtric, stay awake.”

“Cwen,” Sihtric groaned. “They can’t find her…” he mumbled.

But his thoughts were interrupted by Osferth dangling next to him from the tree. 

“Hey, it will be alright. They don’t know about her. Just stay awake, eh? Stay awake for her.”

At that moment, Sihtric heard a strangled, terrified scream come from the surrounding forest. As one of the Danes guarding the tree ran off to investigate, Sihtric felt the panic set in that it was Cwen screaming. 

Meanwhile In the woods Eadith was crouched over in the forest floor with her back turned to the approaching Dane. Cwen stood over her, clutching at her shoulders and feigning panic. 

“What’s this?” Cried the Dane as he got close enough to touch the two women. 

“It’s my sister. We were out collecting mushrooms and I don’t know what happened.  She’s with child and just fell and screamed. Please help us!”

Her pleading worked as the Dane rushed to Eadith’s side. 

Cwen stood back as he approached and allowed him to come between herself and Eadith. Once he was on a knee and therefore lower than Cwen herself, she grabbed a knife from his belt and before he could turn to learn what was happening, she plunged the knife into the side of the man’s neck.  Quickly, Eadith stood and backed away searching the woods for signs of the second guard.

Cwen pulled the blade out of the man’s flesh with a sickening squelch, but seeing him continue to struggle she forced the knife into his throat once more.  

A look of horror crossed her face while she watched the burly man fall to bleed at her feet, his mouth gaping open and shut like a fish.

“Orm…. Orm,” Cwen was startled from her horror as Eadith clutched at her and the two women knew they must move or else be found by the second guardsman.  Eadith grabbed the axe from the dying man’s belt as Cwen held on tightly to the bloody knife.

The ladies crept through the forest silently, skirting the edge of the treeline and avoiding the Dane.

As soon as they knew he was occupied searching in the distance, Eadith ran forward clutching the axe while Cwen rushed to Sihtric, cutting the bonds at his wrists.

As she cut, Cwen tried to rouse him, “Sihtric, wake up.  We’re cutting you down, so you have to wake up! Please wake up!”

Cwen breathed a little easier when she heard him begin to groan in response to her shouts.

“Eadith the axe!” Cwen gestured to the rope at Sihtric’s feet.

“Hold him steady,” Eadith rushed while swinging the axe upward, striking at the ropes.

After several cuts, Sihtric’s rope frayed and snapped and he dropped onto the ground and into Cwen’s arms.

Eadith moved on to help free Father Pyrlig next while Cwen tried to shake senses into Sihtric.

As he sat up, Sihtric gasped, regaining some of the feeling in his upper extremities.  

Then, before Cwen could register what was happening, the other Dane was back darting towards them.  Sihtric was up and moving away from her to keep the man back while Eadith continued to cut the men down.

But Sihtric had not fully recovered from being strung upside down.  The Dane overpowered him after a few moments, but it did not last long as Cwen tackled the enemy off of her lover.

By that time, Eadith had been able to free Father Pyrlig who rushed to Cwen’s side, forcing her away to safety as Sihtric grabbed the Dane and shoved him backwards, held tight against the tree.  Cwen watched as Pyrlig grappled with the man now too, restraining his arms while Sihtric used a knife to stab at his belly repeatedly.

Cwen turned her attention now to helping the others cut their ropes and regain the strength to stand. 

She was supporting Finan who was rubbing at his legs when she felt Sihtric’s hands grasp desperately at her shoulders.

He cupped her face then grabbed at her hands holding them up to inspect them, “Are you hurt, Cwen?  Did they,”

Stilling his panic, Cwen hushed his fears, “It is not my blood.  It is the first guard’s.  I...I killed him.” As soon as the words left her lips, Cwen could feel her own panic begin to rise. Her breathing became erratic and her eyes locked on the blood covering her hands and wrists. 

“Hey, hey, hey.  We are alive.  Breathe. Cwen, look at me.”

Cwen did as he said and found his eyes as they both continued to try and regain control of their breathing.  

Their moment was broken when Cwen realized Uhtred and the others were rapidly discussing plans.

“What happened? We could not hear anything. Only saw them take them.”

“It was Haesten, an old enemy who wishes me dead.  While we were all in Mercia, the Danes have taken Winchester.  That is where they are taking my daughter.”

Cwen could only stare in shock at this news.

“Lord,” Finan interjected, “they do not know who she is. They don’t know she is your daughter.”

Uhtred growled but Cwen watched as he immediately began to strategize.  Ever the lord and leader.

“Pyrlig, find Edward and inform him of what has happened here.  The rest of us, we go on to Winchester.  They will not take what is not theirs. Not while I live.”

The next moments are a flurry of activity as swords are retrieved and everyone begins a quick run following the route the enemies had taken.

Cwen grasps for Eadith’s hand who was still clutching the axe. 

“We have to move,” she breathed although the conviction in her own voice fell short.

As if breaking from a trance, Eadith meets Cwen’s eyes, nods and Cwen sees her resolve return.

Sihtric grasps her shoulder as he takes the axe from Eadith and they begin to run.

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

They seemed to run endlessly, hours and hours.  Cwen’s breath was ragged and her feet ached.  But she knew they must make it to Winchester.

There is a good chance that the Danes do not know they have Edward’s first born son as prisoner, but the idea that Aethelstan may be harmed or worse gave her the stamina to continue until nightfall and beyond.

Eventually they did stop for rest and to recuperate for a short while when the night became too dark.

Too tired to do anything more than flop to the earth, the group lay down, all panting, and stretching, and aching.

Sihtric moved himself to lean against a tree and Cwen placed her body between his knees, relaxing into his arms.

She felt as his hand rose to brush his fingers through her hair and he kissed the top of her head before resting his forehead against it and taking deep, steadying breaths.

“I can feel your heart,” she whispered softly.

“It still beats because of you, lady.” He replied, not moving his head, his mouth mere inches away from her ear.

Cwen smiled silently and focused her attention on listening to his heartbeat and continuing to catch her breath.

“You were wonderful, Cwen.”

“I was terrified,” Cwen revealed. “I still am.  If anything happens to Aethelstan,” she trailed off.

“I know.”  Sihtric did not try to tell her it would all be alright.  There was no way to know that it would be.  And Cwen appreciated him all the more for that.

Instead, Sihtric continued to stroke her hair as they both listened to their breathing returning to normal.

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

After what felt like an eternity of running, they approached the gates of Winchester and took stock of the situation while regaining their breath under a large tree.

Cwen craned her neck to look up to the ramparts where men were pacing and spikes had been placed. Spikes with the heads of dead Saxon’s adorning them. 

This new Dane, Sigtryggr, seemed to be utilizing different tactics. It appeared the city was preparing for a siege. Something the Danes had not done in the past. 

Cwen sat and listened while Uhtred discussed ideas for what to do. 

“We are known here,” Osferth reminded them all. 

She felt Sihtric tense next to her, “Yes. Someone would give us up for their own safety.”

“But I am not!” Cwen spoke up forcefully. 

The eyes of her friends all turned to her and she felt Sihtric’s gaze burning into her. 

Cwen glanced his way for a moment before continuing. “I am not known here. I haven’t been back to Winchester for many years. No one will know me. I can find them and”

“We can find them,” Eadith interjected. Cwen turned to face her friend. “Neither of us will be noticed. Cwen is right. We could hold out in the siege. Keep eyes on our people. If possible let them know you’re here.”

“Exactly,” Cwen agreed. “When the time comes that you can enter the city and retake it, it will help to know where they are being kept.  And it will bring them comfort to know you are here.”

Finan looked at Eadith and Cwen in turn and Uhtred mulled the idea over.

“You do not have to do this,” Finan spoke.

“There will be no protection for you.  There is no way to know what you will find in there.” Cwen heard Sihtrics' low voice.

“You are right.  Both of you,” Cwen looks at the men in turn. “But we don’t really have any other options.  And if there is something I can do to help the people we love in there then I will do it.”

“You are sure, Cwen? Eadith?” Uhtred asks.

“Yes,” both ladies reply.

“Then we will find you some provisions to bring in with you.  You can not enter the city empty handed. Let’s go.” Uhtred finishes while standing and retreating back with the others to search for food or other useful items left along the road by those fleeing to the safety of the city walls.

As Cwen stands, she feels Sihtric’s hand reach out to take her wrist, holding her back as the others leave.

“I do not like this plan.” His words are honest and slow.  Cwen looks at him and has difficulty deciphering the tone of his voice.  

“I know you may be angry, but I can not stand by and do nothing.”

“Doing nothing might be better than doing something foolish,” Sihtric hissed while looking down at Cwen’s feet.

Cwen took a step back from him, the shock at his words written on her face.  Sihtric allowed her wrist to fall from his hand and he brought his eyes up to see the hurt in Cwen’s eyes.

“You are not the only one who can protect those you care about.” Cwen hissed in reply to his words.  “I have cared for Aethelstan as I did for Aelfwynn.  They mean the world to me and I meant what I told Lord Uhtred.  If there is a chance I can be of help inside those walls then that is what I will do.” Cwen’s words came out clipped and tight as she drew her arms tight around herself.  Farther from his reach.

She winced when she saw him scoff and run his fingers through his hair then down his face, leaving them resting in front of his mouth for a moment.

“You will need this on you.” He said taking a knife from it’s sheath on his belt.

“Keep it hidden but on you at all times.”  His words were methodic and instructive now.  The matter-of-fact instructions directed both of their attention away from the harsh words they had each spoken.

“If you need to use it, aim for one of the areas that is likely to do the most damage and allow you to get away.”

Sihtric brought his body close to hers now and demonstrated where to place the blade and how best to hold it.  

Once the impromptu lesson finished, the others had returned bearing a basket with a small amount of food and a large earthen jug.

“Thank you,” Cwen looked up at Sihtric through her lashes to find something unreadable on his face.  He spoke no more words, instead closing his eyes and resting his forehead against hers.  A gesture Cwen had come to realize held special intimacy for her Dane and his companions.

Cwen breathed deeply hoping to quell the frustration in her head at his words earlier, but it only dulled the ache.  

After a few silent moments, Cwen pulled away and placed the knife in the pocket of her skirt before turning to head back to meet the others by the large oak, leaving Sihtric behind her and standing next to Eadith.

She took the jug, filled with water from Osferth’s grasp and then the two ladies walked towards the walls of Winchester.

Neither knowing what danger they may find inside.  Or what enemies may lie within.

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

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#the last kingdom #sihtric #fanfiction #fields of wildflowers #sihtric x oc

[human-do-a-worm]

Ramblings of an Old Soldier Part 2/?

Part 1 can be found HERE

The next day, the Unkall boy came back to the old soldier, sitting on the bench where he normally does, reading his data tablet. The boy had a rather happy look on him today.

“Ah, you’re back. I take it that my story wasn’t quite enough on its own then?”

“Not quite mister. It turned out to be more than enough for my first paper. After I turned it in, my teacher said I could go ahead and write the rest of my papers for the course since I had found a primary source willing to share their experience.”

“I see. How kind of your teacher. Back when I was in school, they would have told us to stuff it.”

“So, what other stories do you have to tell?”

“How about my time in the cycle after the Martian campaign?”

“That sounds wonderful. Let me start my recorder.”

The Unkall child pushes a glowing button on his data tablet, and a blue dot appearing on the screen indicated that the recording had started

“It was less than a month after the battle on Mars; that’s one twenty-fourth of a cycle in standard units. Reconstruction had begun on mars, and the war fleets which were now all massed around Terra had been split into five groups. Group Solar and Group Lunar were the two largest of the fleets, and as such were classed together. Group Pangea, Group Gondwana, and Group Oceana were the three smaller groups, and were classed together as well. The fleets were organized in this way by Grand Admiral Demetrius, to ensure that no one fleet would have to stand against the enemy for too long a time.”

“Since I’ve brought him up, I should probably tell you a bit about the Grand Admiral. Remember what I was saying about the preparations for the battle on Mars. All the meticulous planning done to move the civilians back to Terra, and keep morale up while being an effective fighting force? Well, that came from Demetrius, and was only slightly modified by individual units as the orders were passed down the chain. His odd decision making turned out to be one of the most valuable things that humanity had, because nobody could anticipate his plans; especially the Vrumoids. He was only a rear admiral, but after his commendation, and the first victory in the war, He was immediately promoted.”

“Back to the war now. The battle plan was simple. Keep a constant pressure on the enemy, working in a single spot, pushing the enemy back system by system, and planet by planet. Where to stop would be figured out as the fleets went along. This seemed to work very well. In most systems, Groups Solar and Lunar rarely had fire a single shot. The Vrumoids would either flee or be destroyed by one of the smaller groups before the heavy guns of the heavy class ships could be brought to bear.”

“The reconquest continued almost flawlessly until there was a single human world left to reclaim. Rexorb VI was nothing more than a rock when humanity last saw it, but after looking upon it, the armada called for the command group; Group Regal; to come and take a look. At first sight of the data scans, Demetrius broke down with laughter. Failing to find the humor in this situation, his second in command asked him what was so funny.” “These poor bastards. They’ve made this planet up to be just like Mars, hoping we’ll make the same mistakes they did. Have they never been told that it’s a bad idea to try using the tactics someone created against them? They’ve made themselves the easiest targets possible for us, and what’s even better is that they did it on a mining world. There were only a few housing units on that planet, and its riches lie deep inside. This is the perfect opportunity to try a new idea.”

“With that, preparations were made swiftly, and with much laughter all around. On the back side of Rexorb VI’s moon, groups Solar, Gondwana, and Oceana moved into position, mounting themselves with their primary propulsion systems poised to drop the moon from its orbit.”

The boy spoke up

“Didn’t the Vrumoid forces on the planet notice what was happening?”

Laughing, the old man responded

“Nope. That was a benefit of only showing the enemy one small and one large battle group at a time. According to Vrumoid intelligence recovered after the war, The defenders on Rexorb VI simply thought we were just deciding how to invade properly. They had no idea Demetrius was crazy enough to consider crashing the moon into the planet, and they would have to have been crazy to even guess that the rest of the fleet would just go along with it. I know Demetrius was expecting to do some explaining to the others.”

“The High Admiral may have been absolutely insane, but he wasn’t heartless. He ordered a shuttle to take one squad and an emissary to give them one final chance to surrender. They of course, believing a ground war lay ahead, refused. That was the last mistake that the Vrumoids ever made when dealing with humanity. Exactly one planetary axis revolution after the shuttle returned to the fleet, all the pushing ships’ engines fired up. Each of the ships had worked out their individual point of no return for propelling the moon towards the planet, and had an order to pull off at what their captain deemed a safe time before reaching their point of no return. By the time the last ship pulled off, The moon was going faster than its own terminal velocity.”

“When that moon hit the surface of the planet, the entire thing cracked like a geode. After observing this from one of their comm stations, the Vrumoid Empire rushed to set up peace treaty negotiations. Of course, who was the Terran representative by unanimous vote from the United Terran Council? None other than High Admiral Demetrius. They figured that if nothing else, he could get the Vrumoids to leave humanity alone. But what he got us was something so much greater.”

“As you might have learned in class, our home system and colonies were entirely located within an isolated part of Vrumoid space. We had no knowledge of the Galactic Council Alliance, at least until one of the Vrumoid delegates at the negotiations made a mistake and asked one of his compatriots what the council would think of their actions if they ever found out. After learning that there were other intelligent species in the galaxy, Demetrius demanded that humanity be granted a swath of planets and territory directly to the territory of another GCA member.”

“This single achievement is what brought humanity forward. Demetrius did what no other Terran could do; he found sentient life that wasn’t actively trying to kill us, and he made sure we could get to them with ease. If it weren’t for him, we would have never known the GCA existed, and likely would have been either wiped out or enslaved by the Vrumoids after they rebuilt their forces.”

“Of course, after we made contact with the council, and they saw what we were able to do to a far more technologically advanced species, they demanded to see our battle reports and to speak with all the commanding officers. I remember standing there by High Admiral Demetrius’ side.”

The young Unkall spoke up ecstatically

“You were a commanding officer?”

“Sure was kiddo. Leading the charge of those bikers on mars was one hell of a brave thing, and Demetrius took note. When he got the chance to promote one of his soldiers to an admiral under his command for Group Solar, he spoke loud and clear to us and said “Where’s that crazy bastard that volunteered to charge a platoon of enemy tanks using nothing but motorcycles and bombs on sticks? I have a job for you!” That was the day I was no longer a simple marksman, I was an Admiral, and a damn good one too. My group didn’t lose a single vessel to the enemy.”

“I still remember the day I went down on that rock the day before we cracked it. The Vrumoid commander must have been watching the video recordings from when I charged the tanks, because the moment I walked into the room and she looked up at me, she looked all sorts of shaken up. When I told her that this was her last chance to accept a mercy never offered by her empire, a chance to surrender; she simply said that surrender would never come until she and her warriors no longer stood upon the planet. If only she knew the irony in those words.”

“I remember being at the peace conference, and although Demetrius had only been seen rarely by the Vrumoids, mostly in transmissions intercepted from Mars to Earth, they had seen me plenty. I think I scared them more than Demetrius did, because when I talked about how my motorcycle wasn’t out of fuel yet, they started agreeing to our demands.”

Curiously, the boy tapped something into his data tablet

“Wait a minute, are you saying that you’re Admiral Sturm?”

“Indeed I am. Admiral Jakob Sturm, service number 6556-0293-422-41, former commander of the Terran expeditionary fleet codename Solar. I proudly led my sailors, soldiers, and marines through some of the harshest battles that humanity has faced, and kept my fleet intact. I wasn’t lying when I said that I didn’t lose a ship in my group to the enemy. And after serving 10 cycles in service of my species, I left honorably.”

“So what did you do after you left? I’d imagine being an admiral is a hard job to top.”

“You’re right, admiral is a hard job to beat. I served as an ambassador of Terra for a cycle before I returned to the stars. I found some of the others from back on Mars that charged with me on that day. We were a mercenary group. We mostly took escort contracts or welfare and security for anyone we deemed especially needy. We did good work for a few cycles, but then I had to give it a rest.”

“That’s around the time your name stopped appearing in records of both the GCA and Terran reports. What happened?”

“I’ve been talking for too long. I think you might be able to get a few pages out of what I’ve said today. Better to not burn up all your content at once, right? I’ll be here again tomorrow, like I always am. I’ll tell you more then.”

“If you insist sir. I’ll be here.”

“Until then, take care. I may be old, but I still expect people to stick to a schedule.”

With that, the boy stopped his recording and went home. To meet someone as important as Admiral Sturm, who seemed to have vanished from most records 8 cycles ago, was entirely unexpected. Unexpected, but it will certainly make a wonderful paper for his teacher.

#humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #humans are space australians