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myherowritings · 3 years

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PART 6. FUCK THE RICH, STEAL THEIR CANDY

SUMMARY. Todoroki Shouto was a wealthy, young CEO who inherited his father’s enterprise. You were a barista at a local cafe who wouldn’t mind some extra cash. One day, Shouto came in during an early morning shift and tipped you such a large sum of money, you were certain it had to have been an accident. To your surprise and complete pleasure: It was not.

PAIRING. ceo!todoroki shouto x barista!reader

WORD COUNT. 3.7k

GENRE. ceo/barista au, fluff, eventual smut

WARNINGS. enji...ew, some judgmental rich people, just a little bit of sexual tension and suggestive content to prep for the next part ;3

A/N. gala time omg let’s gooooo writing this made me 100% ready to fight rich ppl fjhjkgf and want to give shouto all the kisses ;p i hope you enjoy and tysm for reading!! xx sof

SERIES MASTERLIST

The only thing you hoped for this past week was for Shouto not to regret the events that happened in the dressing room. (Or, more precisely, the events that didn’t happen because of an interruption but you both had very much wanted to happen at the time.)

(Or so you hoped he did. It seemed like he did…)

You groaned, burrowing your face in your pillows after flopping back onto your bed after a shower. Why was this so confusing?

It wasn’t like Shouto was ignoring you or pretending nothing happened, but he’s just been so busy with work neither of you had time to sit down and really talk. You briefly got to see him for his daily morning coffee runs but you didn’t want to accidentally ruin what little time throughout the work week the two of you had by bringing it up. And now it was the weekend, which would have been the perfect time to talk about it, if not for the fact Shouto was picking you up to get ready at his place and then head to a super fancy gala in less than an hour!

With a charity ball full of strangers you had to prepare for, you supposed your potential romance could take the back seat for a little while longer.

At least the fruity little candies would be there waiting for you.

Snapping you out of your thoughts, your phone buzzed with a message from Shouto telling you he was less than 20 minutes away from your place. Within the last few minutes, you double checked you had the necessities, like your makeup and clothes and hair supplies and shoes and possibly every ‘getting ready’ product you could think of under the sun, all ready to go. Your dress was already hanging in Shouto’s house, ready for you to change into.

Apparently, there wasn’t a moment left to spare since you soon got a call with him telling you he had just arrived. Taking deep breaths, you walked out your door, lugging your bag of belongings in tow.

“Good afternoon, Y/N,” Shouto greeted as you settled into his car. He smiled as you reached over to give him a quick side hug. He squeezed your shoulder gently. “Nervous about tonight?”

You tried to calm the tapping your fingers were doing against the inside of the car door. “Is it obvious?”

“Not really,” he assured. “Regardless, you shouldn’t worry. You’ll be an amazing date and we don’t even need to stay the whole time if you would rather not.”

Amazing date date? Or amazing fake date?

Would it be too forward of you to ask? (Not that anything could’ve been more forward than Shouto pinning you against a wall and almost kissing you just a few days ago.)

“You’re right, it’ll be fine!” you said, trying to sound more confident than you felt. “After all, you’ll be there.”

A smile. “Hm.”

It didn’t take very long for you to get from your place to his seeing as he lived relatively close to his work and therefore yours. He parked in front of a luxury high-rise apartment that was characterized by glass windows and angled architecture. It looked like something straight out of Portfolio Magazine.

“All those ‘Japan’s Youngest CEO Bachelor’ tabloids are starting to make sense now,” you said with a teasing whistle, following Shouto into the building after being greeted by the security guards and receptionist.

He held his hand out to you and you placed yours in his palm as he led you to the VIP elevator that brought you all the way up to the top floor. His hand gave yours a soft squeeze when he noticed your gaze darting around the area nervously.

When the elevator doors opened, your eyes widened as you took in the ceramic floor tiles, the spotless walls, floor-to-ceiling mirror columns, and the natural light pouring in through the bare, glass windows. “Whoa— This looks like a wealthy bachelor pad if I’ve ever seen one.”

Letting go of your hand, Shouto offered to take your bag of belongings and brought it to a room for you to get ready in. “Do you...not like it?”

“Oh, that’s not it at all!” You shook your head earnestly. “This place is so beautiful! And a little cold.”

Both literally and metaphorically.

His penthouse was elegant and sleek, with tasteful decor that probably cost more than a month’s salary for you. But it seemed a little...empty. Not like a home.

Apparently, Shouto agreed.

“I live here because it’s close to work. But it’s a little unwelcoming,” he admitted wryly. “Not something I ever really settled into. Though my mother and sister did try to help decorate.”

You looked at the finely chosen contemporary paintings displayed on some of the walls. “They have good eyes.”

Shouto nodded but appeared to be in pensive thought. “If I were to ever settle down with a family, it wouldn’t be here. But this is what’s most suitable for now.”

Running your fingers against the cold glass windows, you peered down into the city in an attempt to calm your fluttering heart having just learned Shouto valued having a family in the future. Something in you just liked hearing he one day wanted to settle down with someone. You bit your lower lip to stop a hopeful smile from spreading.

“I’m sure you’ll be a great husband and father when the day comes,” you said quietly, still gazing out the window to avoid looking into his eyes. “But, um, anyway— I should start getting ready now! Don’t want us to be late for tonight.”

His hand that was reaching out to hold you suddenly dropped to his side as he stepped away at your words. “Of course.”

You silently cursed yourself under your breath, wishing you had waited a few moments to talk so you could’ve seen what he was going to do. Would he have tried to kiss you again? You hoped that was the case, but it was too late to know for sure now.

“You can get ready in here,” said Shouto, opening the door to what looked like a guest bedroom, your dress hanging on an armoire inside. “There’s your dress. And the bathroom is right there if you need it.”

“Thank you, Shouto.” You resisted the urge to plop right on the huge bed and jump on it while he was in the room. “I’ll try to be quick!”

“No need to rush; we have time.” He checked the watch on his wrist before turning to you. “I’ll be in the shower for a bit but if you need anything just let me know.”

In the shower? While you were under the same roof? Your stomach did funny flips at the thought.

“I’ll keep your offer in mind,” you said playfully, glancing over at the dress. You’d need his assistance sooner or later buttoning the dress up, but there was sadly no time for funny business if you wanted to make it to the gala in a timely manner.

When Shouto left the room to take a shower, you began getting ready yourself. You did your hair and makeup in a way that made you feel confident and happy, and by the time you were done about two hours had passed. All you had left was to change into the dress and throw on some fancy shoes and you’d be set with time to spare.

You were just wondering if Shouto was almost ready when you heard a knock on the door.

Speak of the devil. Or angel. He was much too sweet to be the devil, after all.

“Everything okay in there?” he asked, voice muffled from the outside of the wall.

You nodded before realizing he couldn’t see you. “Yeah! Just putting on the dress now.”

There was a shuffle outside then a pause. Then, “Did you want any help?”

“Yes, please.” You slipped into your outfit and pulled the front over your chest. The fabric was light against your body, making it feel almost ethereal.

After a while, Shouto cautiously opened the door to the room and you turned to catch sight of him. He was dressed up in a fitted black suit with silky red trimmings and a tie that matched the color of your dress. His hair was combed back and to the side, pulled out of his face and giving you a clear view of his forehead. That was one pretty forehead.

All in all, he looked as handsome as ever, but with some extra pizzazz.

“You look great,” you both said at the same time.

There was a beat of silence, then you both laughed.

“I’m only half in my dress and I’m sure I look a bit unruly, but thank you,” you giggled as Shouto walked over to grasp at the fastens on the back of your gown.

He shook his head. “You look beautiful like you always do. The dress just helps compliment it even more.”

His words brought warmth to your cheeks and you were glad you were faced away from him so he couldn’t see your all too pleased expression. “Smooth talker much?”

“Not flattery. Just the truth.”

Your smile grew even wider. “Hm.”

Shouto nimbly fastened the buttons on your back, cold fingertips lightly grazing your skin in ways that sent shivers down your spine. You closed your eyes and hoped that was only a phrase and that he couldn’t actually tell how much your body was affected from such a simple touch by sensing shivers in your spine.

You held your breath as he travelled up your back, skin sparking against skin. Time seemed to slow down as he closed the last few buttons.

“Finished,” he said quietly, though his hands didn’t move from their position on you.

Turning around, you caught his palms in yours, lightly stroking his knuckles with your thumb. Shouto looked down at your hands joined together then back at you.

You murmured, “Thanks for your assistance.”

The tips of your noses were almost brushing together as you stared up at him. If either one of you were to lean forward a few centimeters more, your lips would be touching. Just like in the fitting room last weekend.

And just like in the fitting room, Shouto’s hands encircled your waist and toyed with the buttons on your dress while you tugged at his color.

But just like in the fitting room, there was an interruption mere seconds before the kiss. It’s just that, this time, the interruption was from you.

“Wait! I have makeup on!” you cried, pulling away in despite the dissatisfaction you knew the both of you were feeling. “If we kiss it might get messed up and I’ll have to redo it and then we’ll be late to the gala.”

He made deep a sound of frustration. “Fuck the gala.”

You wanted to. In this very moment, you would much rather ditch the gala and fuck something else, but you had to remain somewhat rational. “But we made a commitment to show up, didn’t we?”

Shouto looked down like he had just been chided. “We did.”

“Plus… The candy!”

He blinked before a grin took over his face. He chuckled, “Of course. Can’t forget the greatest candy heist of the year.”

“Exactly!”

His smile was amused but his hands rested intimately on your hips. “Besides, you put in effort to get ready for tonight, it’d be a disservice to keep you from showing it off.”

Your cheeks warmed at his compliment as you let out a laugh. “Flatterer,” you accused, though your tone had no bite to it. Instead, it was teasing as you brought your palm up to cup his jaw. “We should probably get going if we don’t want to be late, hmm?”

“Mm.”

“But first—” You planted a kiss on his cheek, giving him just a small hint of what could come later that night. When you pulled away, there was a lipstick mark in the shape of your lips where his jawline met his cheek an you smiled, satisfied with your work.

His grip on you tightened as his gaze turned hooded. “If I’m a flatterer, you’re being a tease.”

“Sounds like a good combination to me.”

— ✩ —

Oddly enough, the Naruhata Charity Gala was going quite well.

The food was yummy, there were cute places for you and Shouto to sneak off and take obnoxious selfies, and—most importantly—there were bowls of free candies scattered throughout the entire premise.

A whole building was rented out for the charity ball to be held and the venue even had an outdoor pool and with complimentary champagne (not that anyone was exactly prepared to take a dip in the middle of the night, but the only thing that mattered to the guests was that you could).

Both of you were having fun.

You met some of Shouto’s friends, got complimented by the DJ for your...enthusiastic dance skills on the dance floor, and, for most of the night, Shouto was successful in avoiding making conversation with his father.

Things were going well. Until they weren’t.

You and Shouto were standing in a hallway just outside the main ballroom, exchanging jokes and talking about how many crabcakes a person could fit in their mouth. Totally business as usual, until you heard a group of people whispering only mere feet away from you.

“Are you sure that’s them?” a woman in a red dress whispered—and you used that term rather subjectively since the whisper could be heard by practically half the room—as she glanced at you.

Seeing their gazes, you froze in your spot. Shouto must have heard them to since his brows furrowed as he held you closer to him, protectively.

“And you really heard them, right? Mr. Todoroki has a… You know…”

Another girl who you recognized as another customer from the dress store the other day nodded her head. “Yes, I overheard it with my own two ears when I was getting my outfit. That’s Mr. Todoroki and his sugar baby!”

You almost choked on your crabcake.

Shouto rubbed circles into your back. “You okay?”

“Peachy,” you said sheepishly, trying not to draw even more attention to yourself than there already was. On the plus side, at least more people would notice how hot you look in this dress with your hair and makeup done. (Though it might be for the wrong reasons…)

You vaguely recalled teasing Shouto about looking like a sugar daddy, and he joked back. But you didn’t think anyone would want to gossip enough to overhear a joke and spread it around as a rumor!

The group began chattering some more and seemed to gain a crowd. You even saw a large figure you recognized as Todoroki Enji walking towards you.

“I’m going to have to clear things up, aren’t I?”

Shouto shook his head, a frown present on his face. But you knew his displeasure wasn’t directed at you. “You don’t need to pay attention to this nonsense. People can think what they want.”

“It’s okay! I don’t want to ruin your reputation with the media when I was initially here to help it get better. Besides, they don’t seem to be doing it maliciously. They’re just curious.”

He looked at you, but before he could think of the words to say, you walked over to the group of gossiping partygoers.

You tapped on the shoulder of the one you saw at the store. “Hi! Excuse me…” All eyes turned to you and you tried not to shrink down. “I, ah, I know what you overheard that day at the dress retailers, but I just wanted to clear it up and say it was a joke! Funny right? Well, maybe not so funny to you guys, but it was just an inside joke between me and Shouto.” You laughed, growing nervous at the lack of response. “You see, I’m not actually his sugar—”

Just then, a booming voice interrupted, “Shouto! What are you thinking, son?”

You almost jumped at the sound and turned towards the direction of your date. As you whirled around, you made eye contact with him. Shouto had a furious expression on his face, but when his gaze met yours he tried giving you a comforting smile. Seeing his distress, you immediately made your way back to him.

“A nice woman to boost your media image,” Enji whispered, trying to lead his son to a less crowded area, probably so no one else would overhear or spread more rumors. “That’s all I asked for. Not a…a…you know!”

Was it a criterion that rich people must not know how to whisper? you asked yourself. Either, one, no one was actually trying to whisper, or two, they could not control their volume very well.

“Actually,” you spoke up from behind him. When Enji turned to look at you, you gave him a wave before walking over to Shouto’s side. “I’m not his sugar baby. But even if I were, what’s it to you?”

There was a hush of silence that settled around the room and you almost had to laugh at how comical it was.

“As long as it’s an agreement between two consenting adults, there’s nothing wrong with it,” you said, hoping it didn’t just go in one of his ears and out the other. “You could think of it as like a business deal, but...with more of a relationship aspect.”

Enji’s face turned a shade of red. “That’s not the sort of people someone with Shouto’s upbringing should hang around with. I don’t know how you were raised, but—”

“Stop it, father.” Shouto’s voice was angry as he clenched his jaw. But his arm was wrapped around your waist. You gently squeezed his hand with yours. “You don’t get to make assumptions about Y/N without ever even talking to them.”

“Shouto,” he said in a warning tone when he noticed more and more people were paying attention to them. This didn’t exactly seem like the attention he wanted. “We can talk about this later.”

Shouto frowned. “There’s nothing to talk about. All you have to do is say sorry to Y/N and then we can leave.” He turned around to the crowd trying to pretend they weren’t listening in. “And everyone else, you can stop eavesdropping.”

They look startled at the forward confrontation and you stifled a giggle, leaning into your date with a smile.

He gave you a chaste kiss on your forehead before murmuring under his breath, “Everyone attending a charity gala just to brag about how generous they are but then turning around to judge everyone who might not be in the same circle as them? How shameless.”

Although it seemed like he was whispering it, your hypothesis that rich people really didn’t know how to whisper was right, since it was loud enough for the whole room to hear. Not that you or Shouto seemed to mind.

“You know, if you’re not going to apologize to Y/N, there’s no reason we should stay any longer,” he told his dad as a stiff goodbye.

You nodded in agreement before taking a handful of candy from a nearby bowl. “Well, now there’s no reason to stay.”

Spinning on your heel, the two of you headed for the exit, somehow not caring but all too aware of the eyes on you at the same time. Before reaching the door, Shouto grabbed two bowls of candy in the reception area and walked out the door with it, everyone too stunned to say anything about it. You walked into the parking lot smothering fits of laughter the whole way, still in disbelief about the events that had just occurred.

“For you,” said Shouto as the two of you reached his car, still carrying the candy in his arms.

You choked out a laugh at the audacity of it all. He even took the bowls? The candies were free for the guests, but you weren’t so sure the bowls were. “I… Thanks, Shouto. I’m never going to run out of these candies now!”

“Hm,” was the approving noise he made.

When you both got into his car, he looked at you before turning the engine on. Now that the adrenaline had passed, he had a much more solemn expression on his face.

“Y/N,” he said, sounding apologetic, “I’m really sorry about my dad. And about the gossip. You didn’t deserve any of that.”

“It’s okay. It wasn’t too bad, and none of it was your fault! Besides,” you said, giving his hand on the gear shift a squeeze. After pulling out of the parking spot, he let go of the stick and interlocked his fingers with yours. “I had the best date ever to make up for it.”

“I have to disagree with that because I think I was the one with the best date.” Shouto smiled playfully, squeezing your hand in his.

“Agree to disagree, then.”

He chuckled and you grinned. Tonight was going great until the last hour’s mishap, and while it was uncomfortable and disheartening to hear gossip about you from people who were supposed to be sophisticated, grown adults, you weren’t lying when you told Shouto he was enough to make up for all that bullshit. You were grateful for him standing up for you and basically saying fuck rich people and charity galas in front of them all.

Oh, and for getting you enough candy to last you at least a few months, of course.

He really was the best date ever.

As Shouto signaled to get out of the structure, he asked, “Now, should I take you back to your home or…?”

You shook your head, already knowing where he was going with this (and very much liking it). “Hmm,” you drawled, pretending to think about it. “How about we go back to your place to finally finish what we started?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

In all honesty, you were quite surprised yourself that you asked. But, damn, would you be glad you did.

a/n: woOO EAT THE RICH STEAL THEIR CANDY STEAL THEIR BOWLS HGFJKS, i’m already so in love with shouto but i have fallen in love with one (1) rich boy even more :3

what to expect in the next part:

yes. it’s time for u know what ;)

y/n and shouto finally……high five <3

jkjk

THE NEXT PART IS THE FINAL PART AND YOU WILL SEE WHY THIS SERIES OVERALL HAD TO BE 18+ KSKKFG

1K notes · View notes

cherryatiny · 3 years

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𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲! 𝐀𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐳: 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭

GIFs are not mine, credit goes to their respective owner

❁ 𝐊𝐢𝐦 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠

It was no secret that your sugar daddy Hongjoong is a born aristocrat, as his rich taste in everything showed up a lot. Ever since a young age, he was taught to love art in all its forms. When his grandparents passed away sadly, he was the chosen one to inherit the prestigious art gallery their family ran for more than 7 decades.

Although he wasn't an artist of the top level, his love to express himself through art never died. So the very first day he took over the gallery, the first thing he ordered his subordinates to do, was to clear out the smaller room in the back of the director's office.

Soon after, he designed the space to an art studio of his liking, where he could freely spend his free time painting, reconstructing clothes, or just rest while stimulating his brain to function more creatively.

Soon after he met you and you two got into the sugar daddy relationship, he found his muse in you. At first, it started by him just taking pics of you at the moments he deemed to be artsy, not long after that he however started calling you to his little studio in the gallery he ran. Always making you sit or lay down on the old valuable settee, that looked like the ones from Renaissance paintings.

Taking you by your hand, he showed you the paintings of the new exhibition he was preparing. The paintings harmonized well, all of them tuned in a dark abstract setting. Loosening your hand out of his grip, you grasped his wrist the same he did with your often, dragging him to the office. He was slightly taken by surprise as he did not expect you to drag him there since you haven't agreed on him painting you today. „Lay down, for today, you'll be my muse Joongie.“

He was laying on the settee, looking up at the ceiling, so his side-profile was fully visible to you, as you painted him on the canvas. Mixing colours to your liking, you made the portrait of your Hongjoong look abstract, as it matched the art style he often used.

After hours of painting, when you did the last line with your paintbrush, you sighed out tiredly, wiping the sweat off your forehead as you observed your creation. „My muse, you can come here and admire yourself on the canvas.“ Standing up swiftly, he came over to you, leaning forward, his arm wrapping around the shoulder of your sitting self as he was all eyes on the painting.

„It's... spectacular. I- I'm at a loss of words, why did you never tell me you had a talent for painting my darling? If I added this painting to the exhibition there, I can guarantee you, that this will be the most favoured painting in my gallery.“

❁ 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐒𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐰𝐚

You don't even know why you applied to become Seonghwa's secretary a few months ago, considering you've never worked in this type of branch. But it was probably the best decision of your life because if you wouldn't have applied for the secretary position, you wouldn't have met your sugar daddy Seonghwa.

At first, the work was a disaster as your relationship with your boss didn't start off very well. He was giving you tons of work to do, the stupidest arrangements that were completely unnecessary to make, or the most boring workshops and meetings to take you to with him.

But after the one night at a business conference in Milan when you two got closer than one would expect you to and got into the sugar daddy relationship, his attitude to you drastically changed.

Your secret relationship also made him give you easier and different tasks to do, he as well deemed you to be more reliable than before, which resulted in him giving you free hand in literally everything. He was actually taken aback by how competent you were at your tasks. Doing everything you were told to do, ten times better than he would have probably done.

One night, as you two were cuddling on the couch in his place while looking out of the large glass wall with the sighting of the whole town, he spoke out, „Y/N why didn't you tell me you had such talent for scheduling, strategic planning and business stuff? I should have made you the director of strategic planning or something like that. But then... I get to be closer to you when you're my secretary, my beautiful baby.“

❁ 𝐉𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐨

„Ah, shit! The actress who was supposed to play the walk-on in the hospital scene with Yunho, can't get here as something happened to her. What do we do now?“ yelled the director out of frustration as the actress announced she can't arrive just a few minutes before they were supposed to shoot.

You were just finishing your sugar daddy Yunho's outfit for the shoot as you were the main costumer for this k-drama. Yunho stood up from his seat as you finished his stylist, bending down to plant a kiss on your lips, before going over to the director with a worried look on his usually joyful face.

You were clearing off the stuff you used on him back to where it belonged to. Eyeing Yunho talk with the director from distance, the two of them occasionally flashing looks at you. When they stopped talking, Yunho jogged to you with the beaming smile you knew that well on his face. His puppy-like features always flashed out when he had any good news, giving him the look that was asking him what he wanted to say.

„Get changed. You've got the role of the girl who's missing.“ you raised your eyebrows at what he just said, taken aback as you did not really understand what he was talking about. You and acting? „Come on, get dressed, we don't have much time. Here's the script.“ handing you the bunch of papers and the outfit the girl was supposed to wear, he motioned for you to go to the changing room.

You wiped the sweat off your forehead as you went away from the shooting site. „Wow, ms. Y/N, are you sure you didn't study acting? Although it was supposedly your first time acting, it was so natural. Wow, I'm glad Yunho showed you to me, you are for real like a hidden gem. Would you... maybe be interested in any more acting in future?“ asked the director with a glance of hope in his eyes after you finished shooting the small part in the k-drama your sugar daddy was starred in. Looking at him, wondering what Yunho's opinion was, the proud and encouraging smile on his face hinting that he really wanted you to accept the offer made by his boss.

„I'm so proud of you princess. My little talented actress, I love you.“

❁ 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐞𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐠

Groaning softly, you rubbed your eyes as you sat up, looking at the empty spot beside you. You were sleeping at Yeosang's home, but as you could see, he didn't seem to be sleeping. Slipping your feet into the fluffy slippers with rabbit eyes, you wrapped your body tighter in Yeosang's shirt you were sleeping in, as the air was rather cool.

Opening the door of his bedroom, you went down the stairs of his apartment, down to the living room where a small table lamp was lit. Your sleepy sugar daddy sitting by the desk covered in many papers that seemed to be related to his prosecutor work.

Approaching him, you caressed his shoulder, which woke him up from his quick nap, „Mhm, Y/N. You can go back to sleep, I'll be there soon, I just have to finish this.“ You knew well that that wasn't the case and he won't be there soon. Sighing, you wrapped your arms around his neck, sitting down on his lap, his hand caressing your exposed thighs. „What are you working on, Yeo?“

„I'm treading through the case files, but I just can't take the next step. The police want me to indict him of murder, but the defendant is justifying himself saying that it was an accident and that he should be only indicted of manslaughter.“ Taking the case files from his hand, you read through them since your unbiased opinion might be of help to him.

Taking a pen from his desk, you underlined the facts you thought were important in your lay opinion. Handing it to him, he read focused on the underlined sentences, his eyes lighting up in hope. „Oh my god, Y/N. You're the saviour of my life, this is the core issue but it hasn't even struck up to me. I love you so much, my little prosecutor.“

❁ 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐢 𝐒𝐚𝐧

„Sannie, could you please tie my swimsuit?“ you held your hair in a ponytail so it did not get into the way as San tied the ribbon on the back of your swimsuit. You smiled at him as a way to say thank you, leaving the hotel suite your sugar daddy San reserved for you two to enjoy your vacation to the fullest.

San took your hand in his, your fingers intertwining as you walked down the hotel's luxurious corridors to the private beach. „Now, what does my beautiful baby plan on doing today?“ questioned san as he pulled you to him as close as possible. „Hm, I don't know, I'll probably do nothing all day long, just lay on the beach and sunbathe.“

„Then I'll keep you company while you do your nothing.“ giggles were leaving you two as you talked more while on the way to the sea. But as you started nearing the beach, loud dance music coming from the speakers. „What's that...?“ As you got to the beach, a group of people was doing dance work-outs there to the rhythm of the music.

„I have no idea what they are doing, but let's try Y/N“ and without giving you a chance to protest, San tugged you there by your wrist, right to the centre of the imaginary dance floor. He started dancing just as the instructor did, gesturing you to do the same.

Soon after you submitted to his nagging, doing the same as him to the rhythm of the energetic music. „Y/N, you're doing so well. Would I have known about your talent to dance, I would have taken you to some studio a long ago.“

❁ 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢

After that one ball, you two met together at, you got invited to countless more balls to keep your boss company. Over that many times you two spent together, you get to know each other more and more until eventually, he somehow became your sugar daddy and boyfriend in one.

Tonight was very special, Mingi as the chairman of one of the biggest conglomerates in the country, got invited to the ball held by the president for the most influential people in the country. And when he stopped by your apartment with a beautiful night-robe, a pair of brand-new heels and a golden envelope with the letter of invitation in it, you almost fainted from the delight you felt.

Sometimes he couldn’t help but watch you like a movie on nights like this. Because you seemed so interested in these events, that it truly amazed him how you could act so interested in the talk of the attendants when it bore him to death. You just seemed so natural at attending events like this, you could dance, you knew all the protocol rules, you could pretend interest or know how to answer to the business talk others often held with you. He just couldn’t help but admire the talent you had for the formal events.

Excusing you from their speech, Mingi wrapped his arms around your waist, taking you to the middle of the dance floor as your favourite dance song was playing. Moving slowly, you melted into his touch as you enjoyed each other’s presence dancing the slow dances. „I'm amazed my dear Y/N, I can't bring myself to be interested in talking to these egoistic geezers for more than 5 minutes. Thank god I have you, my talented princess.“

❁ 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠

When you spent the night at your sugar daddy Wooyoung’s place, you usually weren’t allowed to even be near the kitchen as he insisted “he treats his princess food and she shouldn’t cook, because what if she cuts herself?” so today, as he had to rush to the work early in the morning because of some urgent, leaving you in his immense mansion alone.

And that meant you had a free pass to cook something in his kitchen. But seeing how emptied his fridge was, you opted for something more simple in a form of stir-fried tofu with vegetables. Washing the fresh vegetables thoroughly, you dried them, placing them on the breadboard, to cut them. All of his knives were sharp as Wooyoung was doing his best to keep his kitchen in the best state.

Throwing the tofu cubes onto the pan with a heated droplet of olive oil, you stirred them until they roasted into golden colour, adding the cut vegetables and cooking rice in the meanwhile. Not at all realizing that there was a pair of eyes watching you from the doorframe.

Leaving you like that, Wooyoung in the meanwhile went to change into some sweatpants and a t-shirt, maybe a quick shower. And so when he came back, you were already turning off the stove. „Well, well, well, what do I see? Looks like someone used my kitchen behind my back.“

You jumped in your place lightly, your breathing heavy at how startled you were upon Wooyoung talking to you out of nowhere. „Jung Wooyoung, for how long have you been there?“ he put on a grimace, pretending to be pondering over it. „Probably ever since you added the veggies to eat and started singing to those annoying songs.“

„They’re not annoying, you’re just too old to understand them. Anyway, if you want to nag at me for using your kitchen, do it after you taste my delicious meal. Seems like you were in rush this morning, so you probably haven’t eaten anything“ Placing the plate in front of him, you sat opposite of him, waiting to see what his reaction would be as he had never tasted your cookings before.

„Mhmm, are you sure you’ve cooked it yourself? If so... why have I never let you in my kitchen, when this is so delicious? Gosh, my princess is such a good cook.“ Your smile was full of delight at his compliment as you watched him stuff his mouth full of your food.

❁ 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐢 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐨

„Y/N, I’m going to the restroom, you’ll wait for me, right?“ you nodded, watching your sugar daddy Jongho leave the studio. Standing up, you sat down on the now-emptied armchair in front of the PC screens, your eyes scanning the colourful music segments on the screen.

You picked up the sheaf of papers with the notes to his newest song, along with the lyrics he’s written himself. Your eyes ran over the notes and the lyrics and as you were re-reading the text for the 3rd time, you started humming to it, trying to get the right melody Jongho was intending on having in the song.

Opening the door to the studio, Jongho noticed you sitting on the chair, your back turned to him and that resulted in you still being oblivious to his presence. And he didn’t dare to make a move, standing in the door-frame and watching you humming to the song in amazement that you weren’t tone-deaf like most non-musical people were, as you hit all the tones.

„Woah Y/N, are you a trained singer or something? Why didn’t you tell me you were good at music? I would have taken you here long time ago...“

❁ taglist : @galaxteez @gyubaby @bobateastay @tinytinyblogs @ateezinmymind @chososchaos @cvtiehoon @a-soft-hornytiny

#IT'S SHITTY I'M SORRY #I PLANNED IT BEFORE HAND BUT I STILL HAD WRITERS BLOCK #ateez #sugar daddy!ateez #ateez sugar daddy au #ateez fluff #ateez reactions #ateez scenarios #ateez imagines #ateez headcanons

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animeyanderelover · 3 years

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This one wanted to be kept anonymous and what is asked shall be done.

Request: Can you please do Prompt 72 for Claude Faustus?

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, overprotectiveness, kidnapping, sabotage, manipulation, teasing

Prompt 72: “Do you want your underwear back?”

You hated approaching that man, you hated being with him, no matter how hard he might try to change your mind. Being stuck with someone who wasn't even a human was really everything, but pleasant. Being completely isolated in a cottage you weren't allowed to leave was unpleasant. And the trues cherry on top of everything was his personality, rge unbelievable confidence he seemed to have in himself that he would get you to love him and all the teasing and provoking just to get his sadistic fun out of it.

His methods were rather simple, but smart and effective nevertheless. Whenever you were ignoring him, he did something to leave you with no choice but to seek for him. As much as you hated admitting it, he was the one who took care of you, meaning that without him you wouldn't be provided with the basic needs a human needed daily for living. Because you knew from previous experiences that as much as he chose to be lenient, Claude got quickly annoyed and was ready to punish you when you made him snap which didn't end always well. It wasn't like he hurt you physically, but he very much always showed you that he was the one in power and the one you would have to rely on for everything. Clearing this up hurt your pride more than anything else and you just knew that he wanted to embarrass you by having you admitting it.

Making you come to him, having you pleading him to help you had to be the most shameful for you to do, having to do what he wanted just so you would also get what you wanted. It wasn't good for your own self-esteem and knowing Claude, he did everything on purpose so this would happen. Your guess was to feed his ego a bit by knowing that you had to come to him when you needed help.

He probably intended to push you into developing Stockholm syndrome and forcing you to think that he was all you needed, you had figured out that his kind seemed to be more possessive over persons they had chosen as their "mates".

If you remembered right one of your friends had once told you that it was her dark fantasy to have someone going after her who would be ready to kill for her, everyone seemed to like this thought of having someone loving them who would do anything for the person of desire. And back then you might have even wanted the same, but now you could have beaten your ounger self up for thinking about this. People only knew better after having witnessed certain things, same counting for you. You were alone, helpless, left at the mercy of your captor.

You were in no condition to look in those golden eyes, not wanting to see the same amused and pleased look from all of this. No, absolutely not. But even without looking up, you felt those eyes sliding over your body, causing goosebumps to start coverin your whole body and your face to burn up, knowing what would await you in your nearest future.

It was all his fault, he had done it once again on purpose, you knew it had to be true. Why else would his eyes linger a bit longer on the place between your legs that currently was at it's most vulnerable, unprotected which added a new kind of shame to all of this? He must have done it, there was no other explanation.

"You seem to feel tonight a bit more bold than usual, don't you think so?", he asked, the slight amusement in his voice all too audible which had you boiling even more. How much you would have died to just smash him in his face to feel satisfaction. But it would only be for a few seconds before you might agitate Claude and making him angry was not a good idea, not in the least bit. Especially now that you were left so exposed.

"Claude...Where is my underwear?", you pressed out, eyes still trained on the wooden floor under your feet, not a single scratch or trace of dust on it. That you had to give Claude, he made sure that the house always stayed in top shape. What had he said once before? A pretty house for his pretty made? Something in that direction.

Black and polished shoes entered your vision, the sudden closeness causing your skin to crawl and make you stumble frightened a few feet back, not having sensed his fast approach. A short huff of air was heard from him, sounding like he was a bit annoyed and yet entertained by this small act of yours, making you bite angrily your tongue. Making yourself look like a fool wasn't what you planned on doing whilst being with him. It gave him only more stuff to irritate you with.

"(y/n)...I thought we already talked about this. You have to look someone in the eyes when you want something from them. Otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to help you and you know I will gladly do anything for you if you would just let me. If you just wouldn't be that incorrigible."

Ah yes, that shit again. Your manners and the tantrums you sometimes threw about the situations you were stuck in, the disapproving looks from Claude whenever you acted out of the place, the constant lecturing that came afterwards. He really came in such scenarios over as a butler who wanted to make sure that others were behaving like they should be and scolding them if they didn't. It put you always down whenever he pointed those things out, you knew you weren't perfect and him rubbing it constantly under your nose wasn't helpful. It led you to such moments where you just felt like you were under average, reaching your lower points.

It was no reason to give up nor was it an excuse to stop fighting, especially since the butler planned on making you feel that way, to slowly break you. Still, he was currently the only person you were able to see, meaning there was no one to cheer you up, no one to tell you otherwise. You were all on your own with the only source of comfort being the golden-eyed man. And there were those times where you questioned if giving up your pride was the better and less painful option and indeed just giving in would make your life easier. The moments where you became all too aware of the one and only fact. That a human wouldn't be able to beat a demon, at least not a human like you.

This was one of those moments where you felt like a fly trapped in the web of the spider and where the only option was pleading and hoping he would choose to be lenient with you. "Just standing there and not saying anything won't help you nor can I help you when you are like this. If you don't have anything to say, please go back to bed. It's pretty late and I have to leave tomorrow morning early to work in the manor of my master."

He didn't sound happy whilst saying it, you knew that he didn't really like how his master was constantly bossing him around and on some days he complained for a few seconds about what a brat that boy really was, even more when because of him Claude had to be kept busy which meant leaving you longer alone.

You were stuck in denial, not thinking it would be good to do as he said. Not letting having it the way he wanted it to go was important for your own sanity, to prevent you from getting caught in his trap and grow over time too dependent on him. But you also could estimate what would happen afterwards. He would take something else from you away to push you into having to ask him once again and he would continue this for as long as he had the patience. That meant for you more and more embarrassment and hurt. Was that what you wanted? Or should you just go with the easy option to keep the damage as small as possible and live with this scratch on your pride?

You heard his footsteps slowly fading more and more away from you telling you that he was leaving you in your frozen state behind. Why wouldn't he? He had the time and the power to do so. Claude knew that the one way or another you would have to come to him and it was what allowed him to have confidence. This luxury was sadly only open for him whilst you were only allowed to live a good life for as long as he was pleased with how you acted. It was cruelly unfair, but you knew that this was how life was. The one in power and the one at the bottom.

"Wait.", you called faintly after him, making him stop, golden eyes being met with yours, the look in them being comparible with being tired and done with something. You looked leached out, your pride already having taking so many blows before and every time it became harder to fix the damage and pain he put you through like this. Maybe there would come a time where you would have to give up indeed, you doubted that anyone would be able to stay strong whilst suffering from this. But maybe you were wrong and there were people out there who would be able to stand their ground. And maybe you just weren't this person.

"Claude...My underwear.", you slowly muttered out, forcing your gaze to not waver too much and stay on him, knowing you would have to repeat it again if you would look away. And that would mean more poison for you to swallow.

"Do you want your underwear back?", he asked with a silk-like voice, smoothly walking with a few huge steps over to you to take a better look at your current state. How wonderful, he felt extremely satisfied in that one moment. You were slowly being stripped off your stubborness to accept him, instead starting to to him when you needed something. Just two months ago you wouldn't have even thought in your wildest dreams to ask him for help. It just told him that you were slowly breaking, were getting exhausted from all of this.

"Yes. Please.", you said in a more quiet voice, now that he was being so close to you again you felt your gaze shifting somewhere completely else, still not being able to shake the drilling look of him off. Hopefully he wouldn't force you to ask him once again.

"See? This wasn't as hard after all wasn't it?" His voice was laced with a certain sweetness in it, leaving you with a bitter stinging in your heart. That was not true at all. You had just now sacrificed a part of your own confidence. Not like he would care. And not like you would tell him that. You didn't feel in the mood to do so and now it would be dangerous to do so, whilst you felt so incredibly small and helpless. It would be too easy for him to get in your head.

Instead of answering you let out a noise akin to a gentle hum, making yourself a bit smaller, feeling a bit intimidated by the way he was towering over you. Claude seemed to take notice of this and to your surprise he was suddenly kneeling in front of you, although you had almost bet he would push your buttons a bit more right now. But maybe he didn't feel in the mood to be that way, not after you had for the first time ever finally broken a bit in front of him.

With his own face suddenly so close to his, you had no other place to avoid those golden eyes, scanning slowly over your embarrassed and ashamed expression. "You don't have to be scared of me. You know that I wouldn't hurt you. I'm not lowlife like other creatures you might have met."

"Then why do you do this to me?", you stuttered out, by now feeling your eyes tearing up. "Because I only want the best for you. I know how to treat you good, better than anyone else. And all I try to do is helping you to realize this. It would make life easier for you too. I just want you to trust me."

#yandere black butler #yandere kuroshitsuji #yandere claude #yandere claude faustus

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haztory · 3 years

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𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬

--nanami kento x gn!reader; hurt, comfort, minor character death, established relationship, death from a disease

--summary: Death is part of the process, Nanami Kento learns early on. He's no stranger to it nor the quiet that follows it. But when it plagues you like this, he finds himself at a loss.

a/n: I don’t know where this came from. it just happened. have I mentioned I'm a huge nanami simp as well? something about capable men just gets to me hehe. anyways, enjoy!

i listened to ‘clouds’ by luke faulkner while writing this

(w.c. 2302)

Death is part of the process, Nanami Kento learns early on.

It’s not one he has to particularly enjoy, but it would be advantageous in the resting of his conscious to make peace with it. Rather than let death ruin the few hours of sleep he can manage a night, it’s significantly easier to never let it weigh too heavily on his mind, never let its stay linger for more than necessary in the space of his thoughts. His occupation demands a certain air of nonchalance from him, requires the detached, almost stoic acknowledgment of the situation. Eventually, familiarity will settle in the depth of his recollection and death becomes something one needn’t blink twice towards.

It’s not an aspect of the job he likes, per se, but it’s significantly better than the alternative. This seemingly apathetic conception of human life is unfortunately an evil requirement. Instead of festering over the lives he didn’t save, he can focus on the ones he has yet to protect. His slate may be tainted with copious amounts of red— inky, dark, bleeding red; the kind that looks black as it accumulates— but in true Kento fashion, he’ll wipe it clean. Gently, with a clean rag and with slow, circular motions, he’ll wash away the evidence of his failures with as much respect as he can, regardless of how exhausted he may be and how much easier it would be to just run his body, suit, and knife through the stream of water.

The victims may no longer be of this earth, but their last physical embodiment lay wickedly upon his person, his weapon, and his soul. Where he couldn’t save them, the least he can do is lay their last parts to rest with as much kindness as one can muster: with a slow wipe and a silent prayer.

Death is part of the process, but, if one allows it, it can also be the fuel towards excellence. A drive that settles in after the brief misfortune, kickstarting the desire for improvement; A need to do and be better. To work harder and save more people. But that’s all it must be. No residual guilt, no lasting regret, only fuel. That’s what Nanami Kento learns early on.

What he learns rather recently, though, is that death is much different when it’s inevitable.

When there is no amount of slashing, no amount of fighting, no amount of improved skills that can prevent it. Even worse, when you know it’s coming and preparation can do very little in settling the grief.

Death is part of the process, but how can one rationalize it when it doesn’t come from the immediate life or death situation he so often faces? When it doesn’t come from the hands of maniacal cursed spirits or the wickedness of greedy men, but instead, from the unforgiving nature of nature itself? How does one reconcile the inevitability of death when it happens to someone so young?

Cancer.

She was only eleven.

Death is part of the process, Kento used to think, but as he stands amongst the sea of black on this fitting day of grey, he can’t help but notice how incredibly unfair this all is. Her mother stands a few feet away, silent as they scatter her ashes by the river she used to play in as a child. She stands flanked on either side by loved ones, and yet, the abysmal look on her face betrays any ideal that she may be comforted by the closeness of others; Hardly even cognizant of the fact that they’re there. He’s seen that look before, once on himself.

It’s the face of vicissitude, the kind that casts someone past the rocks of sadness and out onto the sea of loneliness and despair. A place that no one can follow.

Spouses are called some variation of widow, children are called orphans. What does one call a parent who’s lost their child? No doubt the lack of a label only helps to contribute to the loneliness of it all. Suspended in pain without even the decency of a customary societal title attached to one’s name. Left with nothing but the echoing emptiness of a broken heart.

Grief personified. A hollow shell of a being. Just another person who lost someone they loved. Nothing more, nothing less.

Kento is used to death, but this? This has heartache weighing heavier on his shoulders than he’s used to, forcing his impeccably straight posture forward with a sag of tragedy. The silence of the fellow attendees forces him to maintain some morsel of composure, in fear of disturbing the serene devastation of it all that’s composed so fragilely. So delicate that even a sigh will break the glass of still anguish. As her ashes are scattered to the river and the priest begins the common prayer, the image of her weak smile in her last moments plays vividly behind Kento’s tinted glasses. He can hardly swallow the lump that tightens his throat.

He can hardly imagine how her mother feels. Can hardly imagine how you feel. She was your niece after all.

His eyes trail towards your figure. Standing to the right of your sister, dressed in the customary black, and hand held tightly in hers in solidarity of the magnitude of the loss. Kento didn’t mind standing towards the back, away from the bubble of intimacy that surrounded the two of you. It would’ve felt like an invasion of the sanctity of family to stand anywhere near. A foreigner, he’s always attributed himself to be whenever accompanied with your family— not out of their refusal to accommodate him, but rather his own voluntary maintenance of separation from their sphere of loving connection that was more or less absent from his own life— and any meager effort to share sentiments of sorrow would feel, more or less, inauthentic. At least at this moment.

So he waits, towards the back of the gathering. A far enough distance to ascertain his separation from the immediate family, but close enough to where, should you require him at any point, you need only turn around to seek him out. And he will come to you, as fast as his legs may go, regardless of the people that may be in the way. For his hand has been twitching this entire time with the need to physically comfort you and his eyes continuously dart back to your figure in watchful consideration.

The priest ends his prayer and the last of the ashes are sent off and silence once more encompasses the gathering. The aching kind, the one that wants to be disturbed so badly, but remains untouchable. The kind of agonizing mute that has surrounded his life since you received the fateful phone call a few days before.

Kento is no stranger to quiet. It’s his preferred method of life, not the kind of person to find delight in unnecessary, boastful noise, nor the kind to entertain it often. But this is the kind of quiet he finds greats distaste in. Especially since it’s deprived him of his favorite kind of din— yours.

The life that is so intricately intertwined with yours has held virtually no recognizable clamor in four days. No low chatter from the television, no raucous laughter induced from one of your social media apps, no prolonged discussion of each other’s days or interesting points of conversation. Only silence has filled every gap and crevice as you two packed bags and made arrangements to head to your hometown in preparation for the funeral. Lamenting silence filled the space as you sat side by side on the train towards your destination. Mournful silence encompassing the home of your sister upon your mutual entry into the area. Silence so thick yet so delicate, so long and so void that any attempt to dismantle it feels boilingly uncomfortable.

He doesn’t like the wall it has unintentionally placed between you two, wanting nothing more than to tear it down with his bare hands and have you back within the safety of his arms. But he knows better.

Death is part of the process, and he must let grief run its course. He’ll just remain in the shadows as a beam of support, intent to provide the space and time you need, but always keeping a trained eye on you.

That’s what love is, he supposes. It’s an odd thing to think, especially as solemness surrounds him as it does now. The drag of sadness competing with the surge of love that overwhelms his veins. It’s burning, and intense, and while his is mostly in consideration of you (as most things in his life nowadays are), it’s peculiarly indicative of the moment. Poetic, almost.

Bleeding affection borders this ceremony of gathered friends and family in a proper send-off, love encapsulated in the silent tears trailing down faces and memorialized in the air of stagnance. Pouring in every direction as they all gaze sadly at the traveling ashes of the young girl down the steady waters of the river.

It’s grief, yes, but also love, for what is grief but love with nowhere to go?

The ride home is like all the other days, incredibly hushed. Inaudible. He can barely hear your breaths. He wonders, and not for the first time, if when he dies, this is how you will grieve. In this tragic quiet, moving with such stillness that was he not watching, he wouldn’t know you moved at all. A vacant soul wandering just to survive. Jujutsu sorcerers unfairly make their peace with dying early on in their tenure, and maybe he’s committed you to a life of tragedy by involving himself so intimately with you.

When he dies, and he will— this life that he has chosen spares him no luxuries, not even false beliefs— he will condemn you to a brutal reality that he could have spared you from were he not so selfish. He hates seeing you like this. Hates it with every fiber of his being.

Death is a part of the process. He understands that. He just wishes it wasn’t so collateral. A prolonged state of your affliction that resulted from his hand would surely be a more painful fate than any gruesome death.

Your parent’s home is warm, in sharp contrast to the events of the day. And while they stayed with your sister, Kento insisted you return to your place of stay to wash and change if only to give you a moment alone; So he can check on you in the sanctity of privacy, grant you a brief respite from the unrelenting tide of sorrow, cherish you in these sparing instances that he can never take for granted.

You bathe alone, he gives you that. He makes tea the way your mother taught him how, even though you quite like the way he makes it and has it set on the table upon your return. Dressed in comfier attire and seated blankly at the table, he settles in beside you. His shoulder touching yours hoping to convey in this minute action that he’s here.

He doesn’t need the words to say it. Just his presence.

His hand too, as you settle your own silently in the space of his large one, gripping tightly onto the rough skin. He rubs his thumb along the back of your hand, bringing it to his lips as he placed two long kisses on its surface. You’ve made eye contact all day but this is the first time you’ve really looked at each other.

Where he can see the pain swimming in the pools of your irises behind the film of unshed tears and you can see the unrestrained sympathy and worry in his.

“She was eleven,” you whisper, unable to speak any louder.

He doesn’t say anything. There’s not much he can say, only press his lips harder to the back of your hand.

It’s the only moment you’ve had alone together since arriving, and while he was so desperate before to hear something, anything come from your mouth, he finds that the inactivity the fills space once more is rather appropriate. One that he doesn’t want to disturb. Not when there isn’t anything he can say that can heal this wound, nothing he can do except love and care for you when you’re too weak to do it yourself.

He places a hand behind your head, tilting you forward as he places his lips upon your forehead and smoothing the stray hairs that have displaced themselves from your formal hairdo. Fingers travel down the back of your neck and rub gentle circles on your shoulder, healing any aches with his touch.

“Drink,” he murmurs against your temple, and you do. A sign of progress that he relishes in. He’s more than eager to see the slow trek back to a state of normalcy, but he knows it’ll be different from here on out. There’s a hole in your heart and it will take a while to heal.

But he’ll be there. For as long as he can, whenever he can. Because that’s what love is.

Death is part of the process, but he finds it’s infinitely more manageable with you. He knows you feel the same way when at the end of the day as you lay side by side in the guest room of your parents’ home, you take comfort in the safety of his arms and finally, fill the air with something other than the prolonged silence and let him comfort you.

Death is part of the process, and he knows the inevitability of his own part in it. But in this moment with you, he’ll let himself indulge selfishly in your noise. It’s his favorite sound, after all.

end notes: come shoot me a message! i love hearing from yall.

#nanami kento x reader #nanami x reader #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #my writing #adri your love for blond men is showing #nanami kento x you

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goldenkamuyhunting · 3 years

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Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 276 “Fried shrimp”

New chapter before the break in which we get to meet…

…yeah, Hanazawa’s sacrificial sheep, Yuusaku. The poor guy seems to believe he shares his father’s beliefs on how he (Yuusaku, sadly not Hanazawa) has to die for the well being of the country… as if he were the antichrist or something like that.

So we’ve left Sugimoto showing, in his hurry to eat the fried shrimp, that he has not the slightest idea how to use western cutlery, realizing he has messed up and thinking, in panic, he’ll have to signal to Kikuta already about his failure.

I mean, Sugimoto, if you’ve no idea what to do just let Kaeko start eating first and then copy what she does.

Anyway, luckily for him, Kaeko thinks she’s making a joke and Sugimoto takes advantage of it, saying he did it to lighten the tension.

She then observes he’s still wearing his cap, asking him if that too is due to him being tense. Sugimoto removes it, then claims at the academy they eat in Japanese style so he’s not used to this.

Kaeko notices there’s a difference between him and the photo but she’s pleased by his look anyway and continues not to suspect anything.

Anyway Kaeko gives him tips on how to eat the food, which, as usual, pleases Sugimoto greatly. He asks her if she comes there often and it turns out she does, as well as visiting other expensive places. Sugimoto thinks at how he, instead, after his father died, was in such a poor situation he resorted to steal the food that was given to cats.

We get a one page image with Sugimoto, in his dark uniform seated in this white and luxurious place, as if he were a dark spot clearly out of place in all that white luxury, his gaze downcast as he looks at the food in front of himself and is forced to take conscience of the huge divide between his world and Kaeko’s.

Later he’s with Kikuta again and claims since he kept silent, he should have felt like a boring guy, which should have displeased Kaeko. Kikuta is predictably happy and tells him since marriage interviews involve more than one meeting he’ll be counting on Sugimoto again.

Sadly for him, Sugimoto is seriously mistaken in regard to Kaeko’s reaction to his behaviour.

In fact Kaeko is delighted with ‘Yuusaku’, thinking he was just a quiet man, who kept on nodding at whatever she said without disagreeing with her and who had an awesome look.

In a way this is interesting because it’s clear Sugimoto thinks to impress a girl he should be vivacious and talkative, strong and assuring, when this isn’t necessarily what girls search in men.

Toraji never beat Sugimoto and was even prone to cry and yet Umeko loved him because he would do everything for her.

Tanigaki is quiet and grumpy as a bear yet Inkarmat ended up liking him because he was actually gentle with her.

Shinpei is a coward, yet Chiyoko wants him because, again, he is willing to leave his life for her.

Girls aren’t all made with the same mould, Sugi, they are different one from the other. Not everyone likes the loud type and it’s kind of relevant how, ultimately, the girl in GK ultimately chose men who just cared for them.

Kaeko assumed Yuusaku did her the kindness to let her speak without him disagreeing, that he tried to make her relax with a joke, in short that he was kind with her, though clearly Sugimoto’s look also played a part in this.

Anyway Kaeko’s maid warns her about how she cares too much for the look of men, which is why she lost many chances to get married so yes, Sugimoto’s good looks played a huge part in why Kaeko liked him.

Back to Sugimoto he complains he can’t believe how someone would marry someone else only after meeting them a few times. Kikuta explains him that’s how it works among the upper classes and Sugimoto ends up on talking with him about Toraji and Umeko… and this is relevant because instead he kept for a really long time the matter for himself when with Asirpa and Shiraishi and was reluctant to talk about it.

Sugimoto concludes his tale pointing out how Toraji told him he was still Umeko’s number one yet she married Toraji so he wonders if this sort of things happen as well.

Kikuta gets angry, asking him if he’s wondering if Umeko is happy after marrying Toraji and what does he understand about women.

Kikuta views his words as arrogance, as Sugimoto thinking he’ll always stay number one in her heart, she always pining after him and never being happy with Toraji… and yes, this is what in a way Sugimoto hopes, because he’s unhappy without her and thinks it’s not fair how Toraji took her from him and a side of him probably would like to hope she’ll jump Toraji for him in the future.

Kikuta points out how this is rude toward Umeko and Toraji, how women are capable to move on from a failed love story and start another, without remaining dependant on the man they had lost and how Sugimoto should apologize to them both.

Sugimoto doesn’t get why Kikuta got so mad and wonders if he’s just being pathetic because he can’t let go of things. Kikuta’s mood changes radically and he assures him it’s absolutely normal for men to be pitiful creatures who can’t let go of the woman they love.

I wonder if part of Kikuta’s reaction is due to him living an experience similar to Sugimoto. Did he too pined for a woman who ultimately chose another? Or was he the replacement for such a man?

Anyway Kikuta tells him that, as a man, he should understand Toraji and leave the whole thing behind himself, firmly and completely. So hum, yes, I tend to think Kikuta lived through something similar as Sugimoto.

Anyway Kikuta’s support brightens Sugimoto up, who smiles and agrees to do so.

I think Sugimoto is starting to see Kikuta as some sort of father figure, who feeds him and scolds him and accept him. He’s a replacement family in a way.

I wonder if it’s due to his discussion with Kikuta that Sugimoto became reserved on the topic, for fear to look pathetic… or it’s just due to Toraji’s death. He feels guilty because deep inside himself he had hoped for Toraji to get out of the picture and when it happened in such way, it broke him.

Anyway Kaeko’s maid is giving her tips on how to seduce ‘Yuusaku’, get him into the right mood and then wrap her legs around him. Kaeko is determined to get ‘Yuusaku’ and her maid is very encouraging about this.

Kaeko comments that since men who chose brides from her school do so for her pedigree and looks, there’s no problems if she does the same. ‘Yuusaku’ is good looking and of a high social ranking so he’s perfect for her.

As she thinks so she realizes her cousin might chide her for focusing too much on appearance but he also picked up a country girl with curly unruly hair merely due to her look and now he seems to be really happy… and so now we know what had happened to Igogusa/Harumi Chiyo.

She really left her hometown because she married the son of a manager from Mitsubishi, which is to say Kaeko’s cousin. Well, in a way it’s a relief. I’m glad to know she’s alive and I hope she’s also happy.

In short Tsurumi was honest the first time, when he said how a man from Mitsubishi wanted her as a wife for his son, and Tsurumi only tricked Tsukishima with the story Tsukishima was told in Mudken, in which he made Tsukishima first believe she was killed by his father, then that Tsurumi merely made things look like that, so he could make Tsukishima feel indebted to him even more.

Also this means Tsukishima really killed his father over nothing, as the man might have many faults but didn’t cause Chiyo to die.

Kikuta and Sugimoto are out eating in a poor restaurant, Sugimoto thinking at the fried shrimps and feeling angry and jealous at how upper class people can eat them. Kikuta reminds him that’s how it works in Tokyo.

Sugimoto then wonders if Yuusaku wants to be a flag bearer. Kikuta says his job is only to protect Yuusaku’s virginity and have the lady rejected as gently as possible. Sugimoto insists Yuusaku might want to eat fried shrimp instead than joining the army. I mean Sugi, in the past chapter you considered joining the army so as to get food… I get your situation is desperate because you were literally starving but food serves little when you’re sent out to fight and die in a war… and you realize this only when you think Yuusaku, instead than dying in a war, might want to eat fried shrimp?

Kikuta insists Sugimoto shouldn’t worry about Yuusaku… but those are wasted words.

Sugimoto dresses up in Kikuta’s uniform and goes to meet Yuusaku, telling him he’d heard his father wants him to become the regimental flag bearer. Yuusaku is confused but points out this will be only if he gets chosen for the position…

...which makes him pretty naïve because of course his father can hugely influence the choice if he’s already set on having him in that role.

Have I mentioned in this ramblings how Hanazawa senior is a jerk? No, I think I haven’t yet so here it is, Hanazawa senior is a jerk.

Sugimoto asks him why his father would want such a role for him, wondering if it’s maybe Hanazawa thinks there won’t be a war.

Yuusaku ‘reassures’ him it’s quite the opposite, his father believes there will be a war soon and what a better chance than to make use of his son for his honour by putting him in the riskiest position with the highest death rate? Because what’s a son if not cannon fodder meant to be used for his father’s honour?

Hanazawa is a disgusting person.

Sugimoto asks Yuusaku if he wants to be a flag bearer and Yuusaku… circles around the subject, saying if he’s chosen he’ll feel pride. Yeah, because who doesn’t want to die as a sacrificial lamb for his father’s social standing?

Sugimoto asks him if he’s merely trying to met his father’s expectations.

Yuusaku sweats and denies it, asking him what does he wants.

Sugimoto says he just wants to know how he feels.

Yuusaku explains Hanazawa (at this point, as Alessandro Manzoni would have said “I have not the hear to call that guy ‘his father’”) told him about how his life can be used for the good of Japan so Yuusaku believes using his life for the good of Japan is the right thing to do.

Dear God, this man really viewed his sons as pawns to use and dispose when they weren’t useful anymore. Is he ever human? Or there’s only duty and honour running in his veins?

Sugimoto, who has no idea Yuusaku is the kind who’s stubborn as hell and would have refused anyway, thinks Yuusaku’s problem is merely he thinks he only have one path open, but wouldn’t think so if he were to know there’s another path, one they’re hiding from him.

No Sugimoto, the problem is actually Hanazawa completely brainwashed his son, to turn him into a noble and righteous icon without even knowing well why except that daddy thinks that’s the best way for him to live his life.

Hanazawa is a jerk.

On a sidenote I hate this situation even more exactly because Yuusaku is basically brainwashed. Each time he has to explains his position he uses as argument what his father told him, yes, he says he came to believe it too, but it doesn’t seem like it’s something he came up on his own, or something he gave deep thought about, but something that was merely put into his mind by all of Hanazawa’s talk.

Maybe it’s just me but Yuusaku always feel more like not thinking for himself but merely reporting what his father told him to think. Whatever, let’s go on.

Meanwhile Yuusaku proves he can be observant, as he notices Sugimoto is wearing Kikuta’s cap due to it being stitched in a little area due to a hole made when Kikuta has been nearly killed by an officer candidate during shooting training. Sugimoto tries to cover up the thing by claiming he got the hat from Kikuta, but this is even more suspicious as that cap belonged to Kikuta’s little brother who died of illness during the war with China.

This is probably why Kikuta is adopting young men… but at the same time, although he should know Yuusaku since Yuusaku knows him so well, he has little to no sympathy for his fate and will show complete disinterest for Koito as well. I do wonder if Kikuta has issues with people from the upper classes.

He trains officer candidates but this might have exposed him even more to the differences between classes and made him think low of them. We’ll see.

On another side I wonder if Yuusaku will do something out of this information there’s someone wearing Kikuta’s cap and who’s asking him if he’s okay with being the flag bearer.

This little exchange proved Yuusaku can be observant and connect the dots so now if only he were to think a little more he could prove himself to be more than just his father’s puppet.

Anyway as Sugimoto walks for the city, holding his cap in his hands he gets careless and slams against someone… this someone turns out to be the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse…

...pardon, I mean Tsukishima, who’s with Usami, Ogata and Tsurumi (please notice how the light shines on them as if they were some sort of saviours or angels from above), the four of them all enjoying a trip to Tokyo prior to the start of the apocalypse… Tsurumi’s plan, I mean… because really, it would feel to absurd to have those 4 in Tokyo just for a touristic trip, so they had to be there to pursue Tsurumi’s plan.

Okay, I know, maybe the apocalypse was safer than what Tsurumi’s plan will turn out.

Anyway, some random observations on them.

From the 27 on Ogata and Usami’s shoulders we can see they’re already in the 7th division.

From the stripe on Ogata’s sleeve we can see he’s a second class superior private, meaning he has just enrolled in the army since, second class privates should have been automatically promoted to first class after 6 months (at least from the info I have who’re dated past GK so it might be things were different that early on). It’s 1901 so he should be 19. It means he enrolled in the army earlier as although one could join the army from when he was 17, the norm was they would be examined for fitness at 20 and, if judged fit then they would join the army for a 2 years period of training.

Considering Noda said Ogata studied Russian with Tsukishima and Tsukishima went in Russia with Tsurumi much earlier on, it seems that Tsurumi recruited Ogata prior to him being able to enrol in the army.

Usami should be a year older, so he’s still pretty young. Did they join together or Usami also joined much earlier than planned? We’ll see.

Anyway the 4 of them are having a trip to Tokyo… and I can’t help but think if Tsurumi went in Tokyo with 3 of his soldiers whom he has twisted with ‘love’, things are likely going to turn troublesome.

LOL, now let’s only hope Sugimoto won’t introduce himself as Yuusaku… though if he were it could be that Tsurumi would spot the lie immediately and that’s why Ogata knows passing for an officer is a dumb plan.

On another side... this might be the moment in which Yuusaku and Ogata first met. I’m honestly scared.

Oh well, we’ll see.

Overall this chapter provided us some info and was nice but not that emotionally compelling, it merely seemed to plan to set up things for the next developments.

Anyway next week there’s a break so we’re in for a long wait.

#Golden Kamuy #Sugimoto Saichi #Kaneko Kaeko #Yamamura Hamako #Kikuta Mokutarou #Hanazawa Yuusaku #Hanazawa Koujirou #Ogata Hyakunosuke #Tsurumi Tokushirou #Usami Tokishige #Tsukishima Hajime #Kenmochi Umeko #Kenmochi Toraji #Golden Kamuy Ramblings and Theories

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mybg3notebook · 3 years

Text

Gale Summarised Analysis

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were written up to the game version v4.1.104.3536 (Early access). As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information. Written in May 2021.

The majority of sources used for this article are in the game itself (this includes my Gale-solo playthroughs as well as a combination of the videos by munmomuu and selphie1999), and the few dev’s notes provided by pjenn. Gale as origin is not taken into account since it’s not finished and has little to none Gale-related content. There will be little datamining content as well since pjenn said the game contained almost no gale-related notes (only in the Weave and in the Revelation scene).

Additional disclaimers about meta-knowledge and interpretations in (post)

The number between brackets [] represents the topic-block related to (this post), which gathers as much evidence as I could get.

We can infer about Gale by analysing what he approves and disapproves of. Sometimes, we can even lightly infer some information from his neutral reactions, but let’s be honest: this way of analysing a char is pretty poor since it leaves everything to speculation. Neutral reactions can only be analysed, in very rare instances, by contrasting the same situation in other contexts, and seeing what other options Gale approves or disapproves of. With these considerations in mind, we can proceed to describe this character.

Disclaimer: this is a meta with my personal interpretation of the character, sticking as much as possible to the facts and leaving little to “desires” or “projections” of what I want him to be. If I do so, I will state it explicitly in the text for the sake of analysis honesty. I want to be clear about what is canon (facts shown in bg3 EA), from what’s personal interpretation with little proof.

Understanding Gale (integrated text)

We are none of us monsters. We are merely hatcheries for monstrous things. So we fight them

---Gale

Collecting most of the information provided in-game, we know he has a cat, a Library, and writes poetry sometimes. One of the first things that Gale will reveal is that he is a private person. He easily and clearly sets boundaries from the first moment, showing Tav where they stand. The second aspect he makes us aware of is his pragmatic thinking and his preference for diplomatic approaches. A third aspect that stands out on its own: he is a very verbose person, maybe as a result of his academia background in combination with his poetry hobby. He also has a bad posture when talking, but I’m not sure if this is intentional or a bug.

We can assure that Gale certainly is a man of the city [13], and may have a decent social status. It's impossible to say for sure if it's noble or rich or both, or it is just a natural consequence of being a wizard scholar: he is frustrated by the harshness of the camping life, he misses the civilisation of the city which offers well cooked meals, soft beds, and scented baths. Not by chance he is the only companion in the group who would approve of giving Oskar 200 gold to fight “the discomforts of the road” [13]. However, he adapts. Despite the lack of luxuries, he managed to survive in the wilderness.

Gale and his link with magic is unquestionable. Magic is life for Gale, metaphorically and literally speaking since it's magic what allows him to stay alive despite the "orb" in his chest. If we talk about Magic, we have to talk about Mystra and the Weave. The Weave is not only the embodiment of Mystra, it's an extension of Mystra herself. It extends across many planes of existence and is in almost all parts of Faerûn. By dragging power from it, Magic can be performed.

Mystra, for lore reasons and conjectures that I will discuss in the post "Mystra and her Chosen ones", turned teenager/young adult Gale into one of her Chosen, making their relationship more intimate and granting Gale a deeper access to the Weave. This put Gale into the category of an archwizard. It's clear that Gale was and still is a devotee of Mystra, which could give us a hint of his alignment since she is a neutral good goddess and she expects for her Chosen to align around it.

Gale likes confidence, in others and in himself. He is confident in his looks (he has described himself as a “handsome devil” and answered during the romance/Revelation scene that he knew he was beautiful under the light as well as Tav). But beyond these two lines, qualifying him as a narcissist seems extreme. He is surely very confident about his knowledge, and we see he is not just mere words: his Mind Flayer knowledge is at the the same level of what githyankis know. If we compare how Astarion/Tav struggled with the book of Thay, and then we see how Gale manages it (sadly the scene is not complete yet in EA, and there is almost no datamining info of Gale), we can conclude once more that his knowledge and power of the mind are real (he is, so far, the main companion who allows us to explore the lore of the game in a deeper way during his conversations). We also know it's a bit more complicated to intrude into his mind using the tadpole because he has knowledge and mental tools to protect himself (check the post about the Tadpole inside Gale). He is certainly a very verbose and confident scholar, who knows his limits, and in occasions he seems to dabble into an ego-teasing play as an attempt of levity, displaying his “insufferable side”, as he has described himself (his self-awareness of these traits is remarkable, and it is the reason why I avoid qualifying him as arrogant. Arrogant chars are hardly self-aware of their own bad manners or insufferable traits). But we can see it's usually done as a joke or, with an evil Tav, as an aggressive reaction. For a deep analysis of this aspect, check the post about "Gale Hypotheses- Part 2", section: "Narcissism".

Based on his approvals and disapprovals, we can see that Gale has a strong preference in avoiding fights, violence, and bloodshed [1]. He will always prefer diplomatic and persuasive approaches [2]. Reasoning is his best weapon, but if the individual we are dealing with can hardly be persuaded, he would approve of a deception or an intimidation as long blood is not spilt. Here is where we see his pragmatism in action, all the time. His primary goal at every moment is to avoid bloodshed. His philosophy could be summed up in the line “the means [as long as they don’t kill gratuitously] hardly matter if the end is worthy”. And for Gale, nothing is more worthy than life [3]. This doesn't cover only the life of innocents he cares about, it includes the life of the most dubious characters as well, such as Rugan or Crusher. Gratuitous death is meaningless for him. During the scene of Nettie we can have a glimpse of his philosophy towards life: he viscerally hates treating life as if it were nothing:

Gale: How dare she snuff out life with as much thought as snuffing out a bloody candle? […] It's not right to feel the cold breath of death in your neck, then move on as if it was nothing but a soothing breeze. One respects life by fighting for it, and one respects death by fearing it.

Gale: One should never be afraid to live life to the fullest.

Probably the limited amount of life he has due to the "orb" increased his sense of respect for life and its celebration. I personally understand Gale as a character who embodies the perspectives of a seriously ill person, knowing that their life may be short, but they will try to make the best out of it.

He doesn't only respect life per se, he also cares about its dignity. This can be seen in his explicit rejection to undead existences such as Connor (he explains that it would be merciful to put an end to his undead nightmare), or in his disapprovals of humiliation and torture [9]

We could suspect that this emphasis in protecting any life comes from the fact that only people who are alive can (sometimes) be forgiven or/and change. This is not explicit, but since he is a character who talks about being better and wiser than his previous self, about acknowledging mistakes, about forgiveness, this interpretation seems reasonable.

These concepts of kindness and compassion combined with “the mistakes of the youth” are repetitive in his interactions and approvals [5,12]. Of course, they echo in his soul since they are reflections and desires of his own experience. This pattern covers forgiving children in particular [5], and disapproving hard judgements [16], especially on matters whose story is not fully understood by Tav. This means he doesn't like quick judgements when he doesn't know the whole story first. This scenario can be easily seen during Karlach's quest, he reserves his judgment until knowing Karlach's side: There are always two sides to each story.

Gale: I have to say I don't know if agreeing to this hunt was such a wise idea. Who's to say who's the real villain in this tale of devils and masquerades? [...]When we track Karlach down, let's chat before we chop.

Similar concept appears during his Revelation scene, when he encourages and keeps asking Tav to listen to him first before judging. This is also the reason why in his Loss scene he would disapprove if Tav quickly assumes that his loss of Mystra was due to arrogance. Tav judged him without knowing the whole story. However, once Tav knows the whole story, Gale will accept any judgement from them without approval penalties during the Revelation scene.

He approves all actions that imply helping others in hard times and disapproves of them if they were done out of greed [4]. He is an animal lover [6,7]. Being kind to animals and treating them good will increase his approval, while animal cruelty will earn his disapproval. Same goes for humanoids: any display of gratuitous violence that could have been prevented with a trick or a diplomatic approach, any humiliation forced upon others, any torture or situation of slavery, is disapproved [8, 9, 11].

In particular, Gale seems to advocate the philosophy of “give others their own medicine”[18] or in other words: poetic justice. We can see this during the Myconid colony; he approves of helping the Myconid to avenge the young killed by the Duergar, adding the comment: “Wicked killers deserve wicked ends”. He is implying to give them a similar, wicked medicine to the Duergars. Another less deadly situation of this kind is shown during the foot situation with Crusher: Gale is the one suggesting “pungent poetic justice” and telling Tav that they should force Crusher to kiss their feet.

The most iconic scene, however, is during Nettie's, if Tav lies during her interrogation. As a hot-headed reaction, Gale states that he would have poisoned Nettie if this situation would have happened to him. Although, after calming down, he approves of and confirms Tav's actions [if Tav managed to persuade Nettie to give them the antidote]

Gale: A taste of her own medicine is what she deserves! […] But you handled it, and you handled it well.

In this scene we also see a pattern: Gale is shown as a fallible human; his most visceral reaction during the first moment is anger and indignation, giving us a hint that he is not so rational when it comes to emotional states. An extremely obvious, human concept.

The scene of Nettie trying to kill a potential menace (the victim of a MF) reverberated in his consciousness, projecting immediately a fact in his mind: if he ever dares to reveal his "orb" problem, and anyone knows what a danger he represents—no matter how stable it looks—people will want to remove the menace by killing him.

This is the reason behind his words “It's just that, had it been me... had it been...” Gale knows that this simplistic and common thinking in removing what's dangerous would end up turning into a more destructive tragedy in his case than in any infected victim of the tadpoles. So this combination makes us see, for the first time, an emotional Gale. After some seconds, he cools down and returns to his more rational, diplomatic, and moderate self. What we can read here is that Gale would be very prone to rush decisions or to make mistakes under emotional circumstances. We will learn later that the other mistake he made under emotional stress ended up with the "orb" stuck in his chest. A third mistake was done during the party, once more under the emotional stress of a potential abandonment by Tav due to the true nature of the orb.

Everything related to the “orb”—which is his most traumatic experience—naturally makes him more emotional and prone to mistakes. To see how truly traumatic the "orb" is in his life we can notice the following patterns during the meeting scene: he speaks about the tadpole in a relaxed, rational way, despite the traumatising experience. He first asks for an archwizard instead of for a cleric, because his priority is the orb. Gale's main fear is not the tadpole, but the orb. If we remember his words after the consumption of the artefacts, we realise he lives in a permanent state of anxiety and raw fear, and probably pain too, given his facial gesticulation when anything interacts with the "orb" (whether artefacts or Tav's hand). His banter with Shadowheart reinforces the concept that he always has a knot in the stomach. When he accepts the deal with Raphael, it seems to be related to the orb, not to the tadpole. The effect of the "orb" has ceased, but the tadpole is still in Gale's head since we still need to roll against a high DC and not only against a 1DC during this scene, so we can assume he still has the tadpole despite Raphael's deal. See the post about "The Tadpole" in Gale for more details.

Gale is a character that represents human experiences deeply related to growing up: mistakes done in the past, and the acceptance of not being forgiven despite the desire of wanting to. This can be easily seen during the conversation of the second tadpole dream, where Gale's mood is foul and we learn that his deepest desire is for Mystra to forgive him, but he also knows it's impossible for that to happen. He detects the lie in this dream because he has accepted that Mystra will never forgive him. Gale is the story of mistakes done during youth with grave consequences, of acknowledging them and trying to make them right, of surviving those mistakes, and depending on the interpretation, he is also the story of an ill dying man, with a gentle vision and deep care for life.

The great majority of his approvals are based on actions that show kindness and compassion, both reiterative concepts that are so important in his character that they come from his lips when we see the goblin party:

Gale: The shadow within is spreading like poison, corrupting kindness and compassion. [Only after a tough DC of 15]

In combination with: Gale: I don't know myself anymore. All this... It's not who I am. Around you, I'm not who I want to be. I should leave.

These lines show how, in a sudden change to an evil path, Gale would start doubting his own morality, explaining that the cause of it is the "orb" itself, corrupting the most core aspects of his personality. This corruption may or may not be lore-related. It's not completely clear what Gale's "orb" truly is. For more details, check the post of the "Orb".

His constant critical thinking comes from his advocacy to non-conventionality [15]: a true scholar will always explore all the options and hypotheses before reaching a conclusion. Therefore, Gale would approve of any non-conventional way to fix a problem [15] as long as it doesn't potentially cause harm or bloodshed [1,2,3,8,9]. Due to his own background, Gale will always advise to be very careful of the consequences of one’s actions. This can be easily seen when, after encountering the caged goblin Sazza, Gale would advocate to explore the possibility of reaching Gut Priestess to cure the tadpole. However, when Tav helps Sazza to escape, Gale will comment briefly against this action.

Gale: I know I said it's not inconceivable a goblin priestess could help us. And yet... was it really wise to set another goblin free so she can arrange introductions? […] consider the consequences. What if she leads her entire tribe to the grove? Tav: I don't care, I owe this grove no allegiance. Gale: No allegiance, no. Though we don't need to sign its death warrant

Once more we see that Gale is up to using any (unharming) means to get a goal, but not at any cost. He has a clear line he doesn't like to cross: life [3]. Avoiding putting other people's lives in danger is very important for him. We see this concept over and over in most scenes.

He doesn't likerushed decisions, and in that same train of thoughts, he will disapprove any use of unknown magic or tricks when nobody in the group can truly understand how they work [17], for example the tadpoles or Raphael's deal (he is against accepting it quickly, but he will approve of having a more cautious attitude and carefully thinking about it).

Since the moment we meet him, we can infer he is obsessed with the artefacts. It's obviously understandable: he doesn't want to die, but also, he doesn't want to kill all those that will be caught in the eruption of the orb. For this reason he will insist on the loot in the Temple Ruins despite knowing that grave robbery is not correct.

Gale: Bad form, isn't it? Grave robbing? […] Let's have a look at the loot. It isn't for your pockets only.

He keeps pondering life over death: although he respects the dead, he will always value more the living creatures in the present. This is also what pushes Gale to suggest Tav to open Rugan's chest. Stealing from the evil Zhentarins is not something that will weigh on his consciousness too much. Besides, he knows it belongs to a wizard: meaning that the chance for it to contain a powerful artefact is really high. Similar suggestions will be said about the Idol of Silvanus, but talking with him in the camp will show us that he won't approve of taking it, only as a last resort. He keeps pondering the living over a sacred piece of stone, since he knows the druids won't take the stealing very peacefully. Once more we see Gale's respect and care for life, trying to minimise damage as much as the circumstances allow him.

Gale is also a survivalist. He doesn't want to die, he loves celebrating life in its more mundane and small details. He is an emotional character for a wizard, a bit strange since they are usually portrayed as more rational and cold, losing their lives among dusty books. However, Gale has shown in many scenes that he prefers to survive without killing, but if he has to, he will do it, dealing with the weight of it in his consciousness because killing unprovoked affects him (scene in the camp after killing the druids, or the goblin party scene).

His moral in preventing gratuitous death sometimes will conflict with his own survival, especially if he is by an evil Tav's side. He couldn't accept bloodshed when other peaceful options were available and possible to reach. This is clearly shown during the goblin party, where Gale's consciousness suffers and feels the corruption of the "orb" killing the kindness and the compassion inside him. He accepts that wanting to live is a powerful drive, but he doesn't support this massacre, questioning if all that blood was necessary. A Tav killing the tieflings seems to lose the possibility of pursuing Gale romantically, at least in EA so far. For Gale, survival is important, but the means to do it (when they can cause death) matter too. Life is worth preserving.

The usual archetype of survivalist tends to be an individualist one who would survive at any cost without remorse because that's the “law of the jungle”, the strongest must survive. However, Gale seems to embody a different concept of survivalist that it's hard to put in words: a sort of communal survivalist, trying to survive in coexistence with his community: he wants his survival to imprint the least harm possible (even though sometimes it would not be possible), trying to help those around him as long as his condition allows it; for example, despite wanting Gut's potential cure for the tadpole, he would disagree in helping Sazza escape because she will lead the goblins to the Grove, no matter the fact that doing this will grant them their introduction to the priestess.

His list of approval shows that his sense of survival is always pondered with the consequences that it can cause on others (check the post with the "Extensive list of Gale's approvals"). The whole concept of the "orb" has this motivation as well: he wants to live and survive, but he also can't give up because his body would kill many, so he needs to do as much as his moral allows him to keep it in check. If he cannot do it any longer, he promises to minimise the disaster as much as possible by erupting in the deep Underdark or in a desolated corner of Faerûn (and considering his ridiculous list of approvals and disapprovals, we know he is honest in not wanting to kill gratuitously). Gale acknowledges his own mistakes, trying—to the best of his ability—to deal with them without catching others in them. Although all his speeches keep emphasising that he is a mere human, and plans may fail.

At some point, if he wants to survive “not at any cost”, he will be forced to ask Tav for help during the scene of the stew (available only for medium approval or higher). As a gesture of honesty, Gale will set a boundary before making this request, acknowledging its unfairness but giving Tav the decision to proceed or not. He is not denying to explain the details later, but at the moment he can't speak the “why” of his condition no matter how curious Tav is. Tav will decide whether they can keep their curiosity on the matter.

We will understand later that this impediment comes as a precaution as well as consequence of his personal trauma with Mystra and the "orb" (See post about "Gale: Manipulation, Lies, and Trust"). So, he is very clear about setting the conditions in which this conversation will happen from the beginning. The easiest way for Gale to avoid this whole situation would have been by simply lying, but he opted for an honest approach with clear out-loud reservations, knowing he was asking for more trust than he was allowed to, but the intention behind is more than important. There is a clear, huge contextual detail that we can't miss: this scene doesn't happen because of Gale's whims, he is forced to ask for help since his condition “is not a patient one” and will endanger everyone if not kept at bay.

This detail where Gale explicitly asks for an exchange of trust is not present if Gale's approval is neutral or lower. In this case, Gale would not care about giving a context to his strange request: he doesn't trust Tav and he doesn't expect to be trusted either, he only wants the artefacts to keep his condition in check for his sake and the sake of others. We can understand this change of attitude depending on the approval as he doesn't want to give any extra explanation to someone he is not interested in building a relationship with. For more details, check the post about "Gale: Manipulation, Lies, and Trust".

I personally support the idea that nobody in canon Faerûn is free of racial prejudices since Forgotten Realms lore has been created based strongly on fantasy racism. I've read that WotC wants to move forward and improve this aspect in 5e, but so far what they allowed Larian to do with the Tieflings in BG3 seems to show the contrary. So, since apparently we are going to face fantasy racism anyways, I will try to analyse racial prejudices from all chars. When it comes to Gale, it's a bit far-stretched to point out unjustified racial biases. He has a vague comment about Rashemi that some people may consider a faerunian saying. Personally, I think that line is a bias forced into him to have a particular dynamic with Minsc (the Rashemi “silly” companion -we all can see where Larian seems to go with this). Gale clearly sees tieflings, gnomes, and even goblins as people, and has a cautious attitude towards some githyanki (at least that's what we can infer with Lae'zel when we find her in the cage), but given the githyanki lore it's pretty reasonable to see them as dangerous creature that could kill people on the spot. So far, he seems to have no racial preference either [10].

As it was said before, he prefers to avoid killing people, but that doesn't mean he won't do it if his life depends on it. He will prefer persuasive and defusing approaches, but if he needs to kill to defend innocents or his own life, he won't hesitate. So therefore, stories about characters making mistakes or having violent excess in an effort to protect themselves or what they hold dear will be understood by him but hardly approved [19]. He tends more to approve a call out of that excess than approving an excuse for it.

Gale has deep abandonment issues that can be easily seen when he defends Astarion from being handed over to Gandrel. We need to put this in context before going on: for Gale, Astarion represents a danger as a vampire who attacked one of them during their sleep. By the display of meta-knowledge, we know with certainty that their approvals and disapprovals are mostly opposite: What one approves, the other will disapprove and vice versa. Getting rid of Astarion should be something that Gale would approve, however, he doesn't. If we explore his comments we will realise that what Gale disapproves from this situation is Tav's abandonment. After Mystra's abandonment, he knows very well that “Loyalty is such a very rare commodity”, and the few situations in EA in which Tav can display abandonment, resound strongly in Gale.

Gale is a scholar with a strong balanced rational side. But unlike the trope, he also embraces an emotional side that, so far the info we received in EA, it's the side that makes him prone to mistakes.

As an amateur poet, Gale loves words. We can obviously notice this in his verbose attitude, but also in the way he carefully uses words. One of his characteristic words is “spectacle”. He has also shown a reiterative—although not always—uneasy use of the word “fun”. Using “fun” as a way to describe the night spent with Gale gives him a slight uneasiness. “That’s a word for it.” He disapproves of using the word “Fun” after the Mayrina/Connor situation, in which scene Gale alludes that “your new company may be a proof of how depraved and twisted you are to see that tragedy as “fun”. Personally I think this is a direct allusion to Astarion, who considers Mayrina's situation as “entertainment”, in the same way he considered as “fun” the show of Arabella's death (two of several instances where he used that word). Gale also doesn’t use the word sex during EA, instead he uses romantic ones such as love-making, intimacy, art of the night/body. In the most technical case: coitus (used only when he is talking about “goblinoid intimacy” in the expression “post-coital snack”). These details are showing not only his poet/romantic side, but also his interpretation of sex from his perspective: sex can only be possible through a connection. We know he doesn’t engage in casual sex with Lae’zel if he is not romanced, and his romance can only potentially start if Tav shares that deep connection with him through the Weave.

Another detail related to words is that Gale has always used an infection/disease-related vocabulary to explain the “orb” stuck in his chest: infested, taint, shadow spreading

[…] I failed to control [this chaotic magic]. Instead it infested me. […] This Netherese taint... this orb, for lack of a better word [..] […] the shadow within is spreading like poison, corrupting kindness and compassion. [...]

Gale apparently has a particular way to sense magic. I have no way to check this in-game, but it seems very strange how he immediately identifies magical artifacts without casting Detect Magic. There are some extra scenes as well where he says to taste or smell the magic in some objects. Even his encounter with Shadowheart, besides being considered a flirt, could be also interpreted as him detecting the magic that we saw later in her hand or maybe the dark magic that blocks her memories, since Gale pointed out about a curtain covering her soul: “if the eyes are the mirror to the soul, yours have dark curtains across the mirror” (a very ominous flirting if it’s only a flirt)

This makes me suspect that, if the "orb" is not giving him this skill, it may be a consequence of having been Chosen of Mystra (for more details read the post about "Mystra and her Chosen ones"). If this is the case, he may have hindered remains of theirs powers when it comes to detect magic at will.

Gale has a perception of magic with all the senses: he sniffs and tastes magic. During the mirror scene you have an option related to [Arcana] tag where he “Sniff the mirror, trying to understand the nature of its magic”. A wizard Tav will just “Inspect the mirror”. He also said that he could “taste” the magic in the necromancy book and in the runes of teleportation.

What we know of his family is little: when he was a kid there was a housekeeper in his life (mentioned only once during the scene of the harpies) and his mother that seemed to have personally raised and cared for him (mentioned twice: in the ruin temple scene, and in his banter with Wyll)

Tav: Why care about decorum in a long-abandoned tomb? Gale: Because my mother raised a gentleman. Then again, to be alive is to be curious.

Wyll: Between the orb and the bug you've got more than your fair share of unwelcome passengers. Gale: What can I say. Mother always taught me to be a gracious host.

This post was written in May 2021. → For more Gale: Analysis Series Index

#bg3 meta #gale #gale of waterdeep #bg3 gale #bg3 early access #bg3

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thecandywrites · 3 years

Text

Blood For Gold Chapter 19

Ya’ll. Google and Pintrist have failed me. This is only kind of sorta how I envisioned this. If you simply take these images as the base and then use them to build with the descriptions I’ve tried giving, you *should* get the right picture in your head because how it looks in my head is more than I can describe. I could give you fifty thousand words to describe the Kamoba. What the arena should look like, how big and how expansive it is, like a really big obstacle course but more intricate than that, what the obsticles themselves should be like what the beacons would look like. What the rulebook itself looks like let alone what is actually written in it, down to what the weapons look like, what the fighting style looks like. What the armor should look like and act like and what the circle of bells looks like and how they sound and how drastically it changes from the day battles to the night battles because day is all about showing off your skills and showing off your moves whereas with the night battle, the fighters almost become invisible because it’s dark and you use more ninja tactics and surprise tactics and how the only time you really see the fighters is when they are actually fighting for brief moments and their flaming swords illuminate not just them, but each other and how it’s overwhelming to the point of you don’t know where to look because everything is going on all at once and how the music makes you want to go to war yourself and battle like a warrior and the roar of the crowd cheering would be deafening at points. Also, Hit The Floor by Linkin Park, that’s the final song but that’s what the music itself sounds like.

And this is what sucks about having an overactive imagination. Because these scenes played out like an IMAX movie in my head and I’m just trying so hard to describe it to you because I can’t SHOW YOU on a movie screen because I don’t have a way to hook up my imagination to it. I wish but sadly, no. You just have to read it and try to imagine it yourself. And that’s frustrating, at least for me. But at the same time I don’t want those details to clutter the story or clog up the story line.

THE STRUGGLE. Anyway. This is going to be a big bite and a lot to chew on. Enjoy.

@punkhorse96 buckle up, here’s the hill. It’s downhill from here.

Blood For Gold

Chapter 19

You happily got Heavencrest saddled as your grandmother borrowed Grevu for today while your mother borrowed Charlico as you were both in the stalls getting them harnessed while Axal was getting ready to ride one of Ramsey’s other griffins while your other brothers got on their own griffins down the line as the boys all seemed to leave at about the same time everyone else did while Jane stayed with Charlotte, Yalin and Gregori who were not participating but hosting this event.

Commoners were already gathered for the Kamoba battle in the stands for the commoners who were arriving early to get the best seats on them, the vendors had been there since dawn and already had things cooking and grilling away as a series of tents were already up to serve a breakfast, lunch and dinner feasts for the commoners and the royal family’s suite was built onto a high platform above everyone else as a canopy and tent on top of the high platform, viewing right across the battle arena so that they got the best views and very comfortable chairs were already set up as a huge chalkboard was already set up between the commoners and the gentry but also at such an angle so that royalty could easily see it to showcase who would be fighting who to get to the playoffs with the rookies competing first as all the competitors would be flying in and showing off their flying skills to the crowd to also to show off their skill, prowess, strength and stamina.

Benny was already out there, doing little flips and corkscrews on her borrowed griffin that had a banner in golden yellow with her name as Golden Alpha written on it along with the symbol of a wolf’s head painted in black as she had used the black griffin’s feathers that had been collected when she had groomed it that morning along with the other feathers that had been taken over the course of the last few weeks ever since the Kamoba battle was first planned so that each contestant on a griffin would have a bouquet of feathers from their griffins to pass out to the crowds, the better feathers for the gentry, and the lesser, imperfect, broken feathers for the commonwealth to gain the crowd’s favor as the musicians were playing the crowd’s familiar favorites before the actual battle would begin and they would play the traditional Kamoba battle music.

After breakfast, then the gentry seemed to show up in force and in style since the announcement was in the papers and the gossip columns in every news paper in London who had been rife with speculation as to why The Turqoise Pheonix had been renamed The Violet Viper as dozens of theories had been supplied and fabricated, also speculations as to why The Violet Viper was now the chosen favorite to win the battle today since their odds to win had gone up since the betting rings were now going for the bet that for every pound they bet on them, they would get two pounds back minus the betting ring’s fee, which was the same odds that The Saharan Viper had along with The Copper Cobra were as well. Whereas Benny’s odds had actually gone down, so that for every pound bet on her- if she won, they would get five pounds back instead of the usual four since the The Turquoise Phoenix's odds had been the same- one in four.

The gentry began taking their seats in the stands that were especially built and roped off for them and painted white as the gentry’s servants came and put down luxurious cushions for the gentry to sit on as well as comfortable cushions to go on the backs of the benches while a huge canopy had been set up to keep the sun off of most of the gentry but would not interfere with their views, while they had their own raised platform that was open to the sun and thus, open to the griffins to pass by as another servant from the Palace of Windsor came and told everyone still in the stables that the gentry had arrived and that it was officially show time just as you finished getting Heavencrest ready as your mother had finished first and left the stables with Charlico who was chittering at Heavencrest to follow him before Demsey appeared since you were the last one to get ready, leaving you and Heavencrest alone in the griffin part of the barn but Heavencrest noticed Demsey first and started chittering softly at you to get your attention as you looked up and smiled wide when you saw him.

“Demsey, could you help me with this cinch?” You asked him before he readily opened the door to the stall and ducked into the stall with you, petting Heavencest as he went around her as you readily undid it just so that he could redo it himself which caused him to grin as he happily redid it, becoming more and more accustomed to the giffin’s saddling.

“Nervous?” He asked you as you could tell he was actually quite nervous himself before you used Heavencrest’s body as your shield before you grabbed his face and pulled him down as you stood on tiptoe to kiss him, granted it was closed mouth and rather on the chaste side but to feel his arms finally encircle you felt better than any trophy ever could.

“No. It doesn’t matter who wins or loses today. All that does matter is that you do your best. No one can ever ask more from you than that, not even me or the King of England for that matter. Trust your instincts, trust your intuition and trust that win or lose, that my affections for you does not rest on such a thing as a silly battle and your outcome in it, it’s the first time you’re competing, I’m not expecting you to win the whole thing or even your class. All I want is for you to have fun, be a good sport about it and learn all you can, that is all.” You reassured him as you held his face in your hands and looked up so adoringly into his big beautiful purple eyes as he did the same.

“Likewise.” Was all he could say just as he dipped his head to kiss you again, this time deeper, but you were too excited and happy about the kiss to realize how familiar it was as he held you close and securely as you felt all his own tension leave him before you heard Charlico practically scream as Heavencrest called back to him as she began to pace in place, anxious to get going and join Charlico.

“Oh my gods it’s like he has anxiety from separation from her.” You complained once you broke for air.

“I’ll see you out there Demsey Dear.” You cooed to him before you readily jumped onto Heavencrest’s back and into the saddle before giving Demsey one last tantalizing kiss before Heavencrest practically bolted out the barn and flew out into the skies with Charlico.

Demsey sighed dreamily as he watched you go and practically strut back to the other side of the barn and happily got onto Alaphonse again before he left with the rest of his family and once in the skies, he could see you and your mother doing synchronized flips and stunts for the crowd as you both practiced flying by the crowds so close, you could hand the feathers off to the little kids that had come as their parents held them up from the stands as your battle names were written on different banners on the animals you were riding before the entire Royal Family including Yalin’s sister the Infanta Evinelle DeuSavance and her husband Charles also arrived in style as they waived to the crowds and took their seats in the Royal Suite that had been set up for them.

That was when your grandmother came out riding Grevu as Grevu roared proudly before taking to the skies and seeing the dragon got everyone to cheer loudly as your grandmother flew him around the grounds, the other flyers, flying behind him, with you immediately to his left while your mother flew Charlico directly on his right as Loreiris was showing Grevu off and scattering preshed dragon scales into the crowds like flower petals or even coins as everyone scrambled to try to get one, which Grevu was happy to do, especially to stretch his wings out before she had him breathe fire to light the bowls filled with special fire oil within the arena as the sheer winds coming off his wings were almost strong enough to topple the people in the stands as the tents themselves billowed and groaned from the force of the winds as quite a few bonnets and top hats came flying off the ladies and gentlemen as their servants scrambled to pick them up again.

Then the announcer for the event with a voice amplifier encouraged each competitor to land, starting from the youngest of The Rookies Class, which was Callie Voyambi who was fighting under the name Little Spitfire which was your old childhood Kamoba battle name when you were a kid which you happily passed off to her, as you let her use your old banner as her own, it’s dark teal color with an orange flame, outlined in black as she landed her borrowed pegasus’ Eterna and came off and waived to the crowds, especially to her friends in the gentry as she then went over to where the circle that housed a myriad of bells were before she picked her favorite and chimed it with a special knocker tied to her fist before she sat down in a chair under the competitor’s tent next to the arena. Then Kiera came down and repeated the process followed by Amara, Tzane, Sierge and then finally Demsey, each of the Voyambi’s ringing a single note of their choosing.

Then it was The Skillful Class’ turn where most of your family took their turns landing in the grass as the animals laid down regally on the other side of the battle field as their riders were waving to the crowd as they walked in front of the battle arena before they attached pieces of iron to their feet and ankles before they rang out their own “tune” that was unique to the fighter, each battle fought in- carried a longer tune and with each battle won- carried the bigger tunes as each one had their own little dance they did to ring out the various tunes in all the notes.

Then it was your turn as you landed, being the first in The Proficient Class, and therefore the lowest of The Proficient Class since The Proficient Class was you, your parents and your grandmother, your heir father and his wife and his mother as you rang out your own tune from heart as you hit multiple bells to create a unique melody, the dance to ring them just as unique as all the others had been but it was still a third longer than Benny’s since she was the top competitor for the The Skillful Class and if she won her class, she would graduate the class and cement her place in The Proficient Class, either above you or below you depending on whether she beat you or not at the night games where it was played one on one since the day games usually kept to teams.

After your turn on the bells, then it was your heir father and his wife and his mother also did the same since they were in The Proficient Class, then it was your parent’s turn before, at last, it was your grandmother’s Loreiris’ turn as she landed Grevu in the grass and practically strut in front of the crowd that went wild for her before she took the weights from your mother and put them on her wrists, fists, ankles and feet and spent the next five minutes ringing out the longest melodic chain of bell ringings, it was twice as long as your own mother’s who was the next one down from her and once she was done the crowd once again went wild.

Once she was done, then there was a flurry of calls for bets as even the royal family quietly whispered their own bets to their attendants before the announcer announced what was riding in the pot between the competitors before the Raymond’s showed off the Cup that had been made and delivered just that morning along with their own little treasure, a diamond necklace, as the Infanta’s put in a diamond tiara before the royal family put in their treasure, a whole bar of moura gold, which had to be carefully set into the trophy first so that it wouldn’t crush the other items that had all of the treasures taken from the pot that had been collected the day before, all of it’s treasures were put into the trophy as the trophy was now so heavy, it had to be carried by three men and placed before the King in the the Royal Suite with the diamond Tiara placed on top, kept there by your dagger Zairrabanit holding it down so that it wouldn’t fly away from the wind coming off of all the flying creatures that would be soon, taking to the skies as the winners of each round would fly their chosen animals around the skies after each victory.

The way it was laid out, The Rookies, which were basically the whole Voyambi family, were split into two teams, Demsey, Amara and Callie on one, Sierge, Tzane and Kiera on the other.

The two teams got into position and then the gong was struck to signify the beginning of the battle since the gong was next to the circle of bells.

To everyone’s surprise, it was little Callie that struck first, striking Tzane down with a swipe of her legs to topple him over and then taking him out with two hits, one with the sword to his neck and the other from a dagger to his leg as she readily used her smaller size to get to the first beacon and readily touched her dagger’s blade to the fire of burning oil to then stab at the first beacon before it exploded in light and colored smoke as Amara then helped catapult her to the second to try to get that one too but Kiera was guarding the second and with three hits, using her larger size and power to knock Callie to the floor and pinned her neck down with her blade to the floor.

“Good try though.” Kiera offered as Callie laughed and got up and got off the battle stage with Tzane before it was Amara used Kiera pinning Callie down to hit the second beacon where Kiera and made a run for the third while Demsey defended the beacons on his own side against Sierge.

“So, what did your moura bride offer you if you win today?” Sierge offered as he fought with Demsey near the first beacon.

“Nothing,” Demsey beamed happily as he did his best to keep the beacon safe.

“Mine offered me that if I win The Rookie Class, that she would marry me, so I need you to lose with style.” Sierge revealed.

“Aw, too bad that’s against the rules and against the code of honor. But that’s funny that you mentioned that, mine didn’t hold me to any such thing, all she asked for was my best and that she loves me win or lose, it’s a shame that Benny’s love for you hinges on such a battle like this. If she did really love you, she wouldn’t put such a condition on her love for you.” Demsey pointed out as he couldn’t stop smiling as Sierge and himself battled with the broad swords and the shields since those weapons were the ones they were most comfortable with.

‘You loved him’ was the only thought that stayed in Demsey’s head because. that was all that mattered to him as Sierge kicked Demsey in the chest as he passed his blade through the fire before striking the first beacon and then sending the same blade to the second beacon before Demsey went to the third to defend that from Sierge as Amara and Kiera fought for the third beacon on their side as well.

“This has to be the most grand thing we’ve ever done together.” Amara cackled as she and Kiera faced off against each other.

“And we didn’t even have to get into a corset!” Kiera giggled before Amara spun around, the edge of her warhammer getting alight from the oil in the pan that was alight with fire before she smashed the third beacon, winning the round before a gong was rung to signify the end of the battle as Demsey and Sierge stopped fighting.

“Damn it.” Sierge cursed as Demsey and Amara both won the rookie class and their team got to add a note to their chimes but since Callie had been struck down, she was not allowed to compete in the next stage as Demsey and Amara moved up in the competition, taking their borrowed pegasus’ for a ride around the grounds to waive their banners along with their added family crests as the first set of bets was paid out among the royalty, gentry and common folk alike before new bets were placed as Benny volunteered to fight in the next round against them, which went against traditional protocol since it was usually the lowest of the The Skillful class that would compete against the rookie class winners, but there was a rule, saying that anyone could challenge anyone else in the same class and since Amara and Demsey had moved up from the Rookie Class to the Skillful Class for the day battle- it was allowed- as Benny urged Octavia to join her as she insisted she wanted Demsey to herself which Octavia readily agreed to as Demsey and Amara landed before going back into the arena where Benny and Octavia were already waiting for them before they got into position and waited for the gong to ring again before they were jolted into action.

“I should thank you for getting Sierge out of the competition so I wouldn’t have to fight him myself.” Benny offered smugly as Calla’s warning the night before was called to Demsey’s mind before she tried to undermine his footing by swiping at his legs but he easily jumped over her own leg and leapt onto the higher ground.

“I knew you didn’t genuinely care for him if you put such an impossible task before him.” Demsey returned as he used his better vantage point to try to get in a strike of his own but she easily evaded him.

“Of course not, I’ve been working him the same way Audra has been working you, it’s a moura bride thing, we can’t help it, it’s what we have been trained since infancy to do, work men and bend them to our wills and not the other way around.” Benny giggled evilly as she tried to get at the beacon but Demsey shoved her off before she could.

“She in fact, hasn’t been working me, as you claim, unlike you, she’s actually been genuine, whereas you have had a pretense the moment you left home.” Demsey challenged as he defended the beacon from her as Amara was having the worst time just trying to get a hit in as Octavia evaded every advance and counter striked in such a way that Amara was soon on the defensive instead of the offensive as Octavia was quite advanced for being in The Skillful Class and it was immediately clear that Amara was in way over her head trying to fight off against Octavia who was much stronger and much more skilled than she looked.

“Oh really? What did you think she was doing all those nights at The Red Velvet Rope meeting with another orc of all things? She was so broken hearted by the shakan status because she couldn’t come home to Leumeni who was equally heartbroken because it was him that was her favorite because he could please her best sexually back at the stables at The Lotus House, which is our version of a whorehouse and Leumeni was absolutely certain that the moment she was free of Edward, she would come home to be his wife, he even waited all that time just so she could come home to him, he even had his own pet name for her, His Liittle Firecracker, and her little nickname for him was her ‘Teal Titan’ that’s why he fights under that name, she’s the one that gave him that name because having sex with him was equal to having sex with the god like titans themselves. The only reason teal turquoise is her favorite color is because it’s the same color of his skin and the color always reminds her of him and that’s how she keeps all her memories of him close to her heart and in her mind. He’s been writing her almost daily ever since, and when not a single letter of his returned, he was devastated. But it was clear that she’s been looking for a replacement ever since, it was only your strict English society that kept them apart at the Ball at Havenfield because he saw her again and was ready to haul her off and bury himself to the hilt in her yet again but couldn’t. Even at the Masquerade Ball she was fucking her own manwhore only moments before being with you at the bar. Your brother Sierge’s sense of smell confirmed it, in fact it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s already pregnant by either Leumeni or her own manwhore. How does it feel knowing you’re always going to be second best in her heart?” Benny smugly chided as Demsey faltered so she could claim the first beacon before he ran to the second but she easily threw her flaming dagger at the second just as he got to it and it nearly took his head off before he scrambled to the third.

“Just ask her or even ask your brother cause I’ve already told him all about it in exchange to learn that you yourself have been using whorehouses to find your own Audra? Miss Audra Draft was it? I heard from the gambling ring leaders that she put a bet of a hundred pounds on you to win the rookie class. I’ll bet you another hundred pounds that she is gonna take the money and run, you poor thing, still chasing a dream that doesn’t exist, because Audra’s love and loyalty lies with Leumeni, not you. Why do you think they’ve been making eyes at each other this whole time? Even now, she was only giving Ramsey the time of day until he could give her Dowager status, and then she’s coming home to Leumeni, no one else. It’s just a shame that your sister Kiera seems so taken with him. It’s gonna sting like a motherfucker when he leaves Kiera for Audra, she’s always been his wild thing, His Little Firecracker. Like a unicorn- untamed, unbridled, wild and intense. They have always had the best sex and off the charts chemistry and are quite the pair.” Benny instigated as Demsey looked over to see you talking with Leumeni as both of you looked particularly anxious and standing quite close, talking quietly between each other to see Benny really going after Demsey before she struck him in the balls before getting the kill strikes in his throat and on the kidneys before passing her blade through the fire and exploding the third beacon as Demsey fell to the ground sputtering and choking and nearly crying from the impacts as Amara happily got up from having Octavia pin her down as Octavia and Benny started cheering their victory before getting on their steeds and flying around, their banners flapping in the breeze.

“You ok?” Amara asked Demsey as she helped him up and helped him off the stage.

“Yeah, just, Benny is vicious.” He muttered as he stared at her reproachfully as she smugly blew him a kiss from atop her griffin as she flew it around, hooting and hollering her victory as the crowd chanted ‘Gold Alpha’.

“Well Calla told me she loves to start shit and that she will take something small that is true and spin it into a lie, because something that is even ten percent true is a hundred percent misleading, so whatever she did say to you, I wouldn’t believe a word of it. She probably made the most atrocious allegations against Audra didn’t she? Because she knows that’s your weak spot. Octavia did the same thing with me and Storren.” Amara tried to reassure her brother as they walked off the stage and towards the buckets of water to clean off the paint marks from their white leather armor.

“Are you ok?” You asked Demsey worriedly.

“Yeah, just, was not expecting Benny to be as vicious or spiteful as she was.” Demsey reported.

“Please don’t believe a word she said, she will take nothing and make it into something and blow it out of proportion to throw her components off. That’s why my tactic with her is to attack without letting her talk at all.” You reassured Demsey as Leumeni took his sister aside and asked how she was able to beat Demsey so quickly but with the low blows before she answered him and smiled smugly when his eyes grew wide and he stared at her in outraged horror before seething something to her just to see her cackle and laugh in his face before he stomped off.

“Oh no.” Calla breathed when she saw it before she pulled you aside as Demsey was still washing the paint off of his armor as he noticed there seemed to be gold glitter in the yellow paint that seemed to smear and get everywhere as he had the hardest time getting clean again.

“I think Benny told Demsey about you and Leumeni back in the stables to throw him off.” Calla breathed to you before you winced and grimaced and looked to Leumeni and used marinai’s sign language to ask before he nodded as you gave each other a meaningful look.

‘Please, knock her down a peg, the past is the past, let it stay there.’ Leumeni signed to you before you nodded your agreement as Demsey watched on a little suspiciously at the interchange between Leumeni and yourself you stretched and got ready as the others began to enter and fight in the arena, the gong ringing out to start the battle before shortly after gonging again to signify a victory before it was Axal and Ramsey’s turn to square off in the arena against your heir father’s kids as you were no surprised to see Axal fight alongside Ramsey as the two of them together used the all out attack method and stormed the opponent's side and your half siblings didn’t stand a chance. It was quite epic to see, they made quite the pair. Ramsey used his greater experience whereas Axal used his youth and vigor and together they were almost an unstoppable force as others fought on in teams, but with the odd number of players in The Skillful class, with Calla being the odd one out, you volunteered to go down a class to fight along side Calla who faced off against Leumeni and her brother Storren.

“I get Leumeni.” You urged Calla who nodded in agreement before the gong was struck.

“So what did your sister say to Demsey?” You asked as you ran towards the first marker that Leumeni was defending.

“She told him about us, but that the moment you get Dowager status, that you’re going home to stables with me.” Leumeni answered.

“Is that what you want?” You asked him.

“No. Two years ago- yes, but after the first six months of you not replying to my letters and because you followed the rules of not letting your heart get entangled and I didn’t, I thought it was my own fault. And then when you got the shakan status, I tried writing to you telling you that it didn’t matter to me what status you had, that I would take you no matter what but when that letter failed to get a response, I thought you had sworn off of Dorierra all together, that’s why I jumped at the chance to leave, to come here and a chance to see you again and I pushed Calla to accept so I could get an explanation as to why you were rejecting me only to find out that the mail service here failed you completely. And that you were completely unaware of any of it. But then I met Kiara and she’s everything I’ve ever wanted and now I’m hoping those letters never see the light of day so I don’t make an even bigger fool of myself than I already have.” Leumeni confessed as you dipped and dodged his attacks with ease and offered good counter attacks despite his larger size and considerable strength.

“I get it, I’m your past, she’s your future. And I’m happy that you’re happy and I hope you’re happy with each other and she’s probably all the wild things you loved about me and just begging to have all the wild released. But I’ve become too tame and restrained for you eh?” You asked with a fond grin as you leaped up and wrapped your legs around his neck and twisted yourself around to get him to topple over, striking the first beacon on the way down before you practically bounced off of him and towards the second beacon.

“In so many words, yes.” Leumeni grinned happily, relieved that you were taking this so well and were in agreement and happy for him instead of being hurt by the news.

“Well, while I still want to be your friend, I have never really wanted more than that from you. And I think if the letters do come up, I’ll be sure to just excuse it as us being close friends and nothing more and burn them if you want me to without reading them to spare you any embarrassment.” You reassured him.

“Thank you.” Leumeni thanked you before he picked you up and tossed you up and back as you used your grappling hooks to grab onto the beam above you before you could smack against a wall as you used the rope of it to run along the walls as you used your momentum from Leumeni throwing you to tie the rope around your arm to anchor yourself to it before you tied the rope around your waist so that it swung around in a circle, back to Leumeni who was gearing up for your arrival as you watched as Calla was already defending the second beacon on your side before you used your momentum on the rope to attach a weight to the bottom of it and threw it around Storren’s arm and wrist as the little weight acted like a snake like vine, wrapping snugly around his wrist and forearm just as he was about to hit the beacon and once it was wrapped around his wrist, you used your own momentum with the rope around your waist and the swinging motion back into Leumeni’s direction to yank him backwards as you were surprised when you barely felt the squeeze of it around your waist to pull him backwards, yanking him off the ground as Calla used Storren being yanked off of her to plant her feet onto Storren’s chest to kick him in that direction since he had her pinned down before you crashed Storren into Leumeni as Calla lit an arrow and sent it into the second beacon now that the two of them were out of the way as you readily untangled yourself from the rope of your grabling hook as you climbed up it as you flipped and swung along the rafters criss crossing the ceiling of the battle ground, using the beams on the ceiling to get you to the third beacon as Storren and Leumeni scrambled to beat you to it, running through the obstacle course to get to the third beacon as Calla lit an arrow and aimed it at the third beacon but with you leaping from the ceiling and onto Leumeni and Storren as they both tried to grab you and pin you down, but like a cat you slipped out of their grasps and instead balled yourself up and put your feet to Leumeni’s chest.

“I got your back, metaphorically speaking that is.” You assured him before like a spring- you sprung him off of you and sent him flying backwards to crash into one of the obstacle elements as the whole crowd was amazed as you used your own strength to do that as you grabbed Storren who kept trying to grab you to throw you off of him as he tried to simply pin you down to a side as he used his body to try to pin you against the other sides of the obstacles around you as you seemed to crawl all over him, using his larger body as your own personal jungle gym as you seemed to slip and slither out of his grasps like a proper snake as Calla let the arrow loose as you heard it coming as you leaned back to let the arrow come between you and Storren as it seemed time slowed down for you to do so as you watched it pass between you as Storren only, half a beat later seemed to only catch the fletching of the arrow with his line of sight just as it seemed to leave his field of vision as you used this moment to swing yourself around him so that he fell, face first into the floor of the arena just as the target began to explode in colored smoke before time came back to full speed as you sat on the back of Storren’s shoulders as the impact knocked Storren out as you and Calla then practically bounced up and ran into each other’s embrace as the gong rang out just as Leumeni seemed to get the air back into his lungs as he rolled over and coughed as his body curled in on itself before you and Calla came over and helped him up to his feet and congratulated him on a good game before the three of you went back over to Storren to try to wake him up before Calla’s other brother as well as Benny’s and the Voyambi’s came over and picked him up and carried him out of there and laid him on a cot to wake up again before you and Calla rode griffins around the grounds, doing another synchronized set of flips and twists and jumps and corkscrews to do it which was a feat in itself before you landed again and added your chimes to your tunes before you returned to the competitor tent.

“You put him down hard, like a proper viper.” Your grandmother Loreiris praised you as you came over to where your family was hanging out.

“Thanks.” You smiled as you took a deep pull from your glass of water before you took two more figs from the bowl of fruit and bit into them.

“Gosh I wish these were ripe-er.” You complained about the state of the figs but that didn’t seem to deter you from practically inhaling them.

“These English common figs are nothing to the ones in Dorierra, at least in Dorierra we have dozens of varieties to choose from.” Your grandmother turned her nose up at them.

“No, but they are better than no figs at all, otherwise I would be spooning fig jam onto anything even remotely bread-like or even eating spoonfuls of it out of the jar.” You confessed.

“Do you hunger for them that much?” Your grandmother asked you curiously.

“I do. I couldn’t tell you why to save my life but I normally don’t overly like figs in general but ever since Grevu cured me, I’ve hungered for them like crazy and I can’t get enough. But Dr. Chu did say I would have cravings so, at least it’s this and not something impossible for me to get a hold of like guava or something.” You shrugged as you finished it off and got another long pull of water.

“Maybe there is something in them that the mourkatili drained from your system and that figs have to resupply it.” Your grandmother reasoned.

“Probably,” you nodded before you bit into the second one after promptly finishing the first.

“So how dirty is Benny playing?” Your grandmother asked.

“Very, she brought up The Lotus House with Leu and I back in the day with Demsey to defeat him, I want to put her into the dirt harder than I did Storren,” you confessed as Loreiris’ eyebrows raised in surprised as she hummed her acknowledgement of that.

“Don’t let vengeance cloud your judgement, you have a few battles yet before you can face off against her. Focus on the battle at hand, then win the war with her and remind her that your venom is more lethal than the steel of her battle axes, much less her bark or her bite.” She advised as you nodded your agreement as you watched as Benny kept playing to the crowd and to the royal family even when she wasn’t in the battle arena competing as your grandmother kept an eye on all those who entered the arena and the way they were all fighting, gleaning their styles and leanings as they fought as she mentally fought each one in her head as you looked over to where Sierge was sitting and outright pouting since Benny was ignoring him in favor of the other nobility in the crowd, in particular Viscount Whiteale gentlemen, Kate’s brothers as she had them eating out of her hands practically as Leumeni was still coaching Kiera through the night battles and how to actually win those by doing more stealth tactics and using the shadows the other components of the obstacle course allowed as Amara stayed with Storren as he slowly woke up from being knocked out.

“Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?” Amara asked.

“Four?” He answered as Amara stared worriedly at the two fingers she was holding up before the doctor on standby gave him medicine for his concussion and left him to sleep it off before it was your mother and father’s turn to play against your heir father and his wife in the battlefield as almost everyone was on the edge of their seats as your grandmother Loreiris and your heir father’s mother, Anavia were the team to beat since they were technically the two most senior members and a team of their own as they both watched their children with pride while silently critiquing their performances and techniques before it ended in a draw, with both teams hitting their third beacon at the same time.

“Play offs it is.” Your grandmother Loreiris noted to Anavia who grinned in turn before they came to the court, siding with their children as Loreiris, your mother and father took a moment to regroup and formulate a plan as did your hier father and when the moment the gong rang out, it was your mother and father that went out to the first beacon as your grandmother stood guard over the first beacon on their side as you watched on proudly as your parents easily outmaneuvered and outmatched your hier father and his wife as your grandmother Loreiris defended the first beacon from your other grandmother Anavia and with that, the morning Kamoba battle was done and over before the break for lunch was announced as the commonwealth were more than ready and willing to pay the multitude of food vendors for what they had to offer as they took refuge under the food tent from the heat that was starting to build before the Royal Family asked for a private audience with all competitors and their families.

“I would like to congratulate everyone on a job well done and their victories and for those that saw defeat this morning, there is always the night battle where you can find redemption.” King Leopold offered.

“However I would like to have a word with all of you as well.” The Queen Dowager began.

“Please, Queen Mother, by all means.” King Leopold insisted.

“Now I understand that Sultana Audravienne, you have survived an assassination attempt and were healed by your brother’s dragon Grevu was it?” She asked.

“I have, thus my current hair color.” You confirmed.

“Now I understand all of you are aware of who the guilty party is, however for the sake of decorum and to keep the nosey little busy bodies who are undoubtedly trying to hear this conversation through the door so they can then write about this affair in those horrid gossip columns that have had every newspaper selling out just from the speculation for the Kamoba battle. I will request, that all of you take a vow a silence on the matter until it can be settled properly. There are dozens of gossip column newspapers whose very writers are in cognito as members of the gentry in London and they do love a good scandal but I do not want anyone’s reputation to be damaged beyond repair before the matter can be settled. In order to keep things as peaceful as they can be for a Kamoba battle, you will all notice that the guilty parties are not in attendance, for they have been barred from attending and I’m sure anyone with half a wit will be able to come to certain conclusions. However I wish for today’s focus to be solely on the Kamoba battle and if anyone asks, I insist on everyone simply saying that ‘you are not at liberty to say’ and that is all the talk of the matter that will be indulged in and if I hear otherwise from anyone, the guilty parties will be answering to me. Is that clearly understood?” Dowager Queen Anastasia firmly insisted as King Leopold nodded his agreement along with his wife and all of their children and their spouses and their children along with Yalin’s other sister the Infanta and her family also nodded and vowed their agreement to that command.

“Yes your Majesty.” Everyone echoed their answer.

“Now, leave and enjoy the afternoon Kamo, however I do wish to have a private word with Sultana Audravienne alone.” Dowager Queen commanded before they curtsied and saw themselves out except for you and the Dowager Queen.

“Now, don’t be frightened, or disheartened by this. After the Kamoba battle today, I am very much looking forward to seeing you get the satisfaction of the justice you deserve, you see Gregori and King Leopold keep no secrets between them and all the proof of the case that Gregori has found and told to King Leopold who has since shared it with me and it is appalling that such treatment was rendered to you and it is a feat of greatness that you survived such a thing, make no mistake, you will get your just desserts after such a trial, I’ll see to it personally.” The Dowager Queen reassured you as you blew out a breath of relief.

“Thank you, your Majesty, I eagerly look forward to it. Thank you for counting me worthy of your involvement.” You thanked her graciously.

“Once upon a time, I was a moura bride too, such things can never repeat and will never be tolerated ever again and I will be rooting for you- both today, and every day after, until you are satisfied with your vengeance at justice’s hand. I mean who can refute with proof such as this?” She reassured you as she took your hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze with a smile that was warmer than sunshine as her other hand gently pet your head since your hair had been braided back to keep it out of your eyes.

“Thank you,” you thanked her earnestly as you curtsied down low again before her.

“Now, go enjoy the Kamo lunch feast, and don’t let anyone beguile you or your charms.” She urged you before she urged you to go as you obeyed her and thanked her before you left with the Queen and went into the formal dining room were King Leopold and his Queen Alexandria had turned their attentions to Ramsey and getting to know Octavia since Ramsey had brought her over to meet with them and the rest of his royal family to get their figurative stamps of approval which they were happy to do.

“What did the Dowager Queen say to you?” Your family asked once you reappeared.

“That she was a moura bride too, and that she will see to it that I get justice to my satisfaction and that she herself will be involved in my case. The Morrigans are finished.” You whispered excitedly as your moura marks lit up like fireworks on your skin as your eyes practically glowed gold as soon everyone was smiling just as happily as you were before you disbursed to have lunch with the gentry as all of them seemed to open up seats for any they could snag, since eating with with a Kamoba battle contestant was seen as an honor to be eating with a warrior of legend.

Little Callie had never been so popular among the other children her age since she was the only one in her age group to compete as she and the rest of her family were proud to announce that they were building a proper Kamoba battle out of steel and iron back at Whydah and as soon as it was completed, the Voyambi’s would be happy to host another Kamoba battle to host more battles such as this which was met with great joy and jubilation as the King himself offered to help be a patron of the project which the Voyambi’s happily accepted.

Kate Whitesale’s brothers who were seated around Benny as she ate and coyly flirted with both of them while Kate tried to take notes about how Benny was completely enrapturing her brothers so that she too could win back Duke Demsey since it was clear that neither Benny or Calla had ensnared him yet and if anything he still seemed unaffected by them now as he was at the ball which gave her a measure of hope that she had not lost that battle yet.

“Princess, would you instruct me on how to win back Duke Voyambi’s favor?” Kate asked Benny as she looked down the table to see Demsey eating lunch with Tzane and Calla while you were having a private word with the rest of your family at the moment.

“That would be difficult since the Sultana has her eye of favor on him and has already found his favor in his. And with her being the favorite to win today, it will be hard for him to see her as anything less than that. However, there is leverage to be had that could potentially break up the pair that I am in possession of. But since the Sultana is a friend of mine, I would be loathed to part from it…” Benny began before she got a wicked curve to her grin.

“For anything less than the right price, so tell me, what would you give to come into possession of that leverage?” Benny asked Kate as Kate was seated across from her as both of Kate’s brothers were seated on either side of her as all three of them were practically salivating at the thought as the tips of their ears wiggled excitedly.

“Anything that you could ask for. Anything I have that you would want.” Kate answered desperately as she fought to keep her voice down.

“Well as it is, I don’t know what you have, so my suggestion to you, is to compile, perhaps a list of what assets, connections and favors that you have that can be transferable to me or shared with me. Because you see the reason I have that leverage was because the Raymonds had their eye on the Sultana as a bride for their son but since Buchon Octavia has come and stolen Ramsey away from the Sultana, it seems my leverage was rather useless and came with the unfortunate complication of Lord Sierge Voyambi’s affections, which of course I do not return since he is the second son, heir to nothing and has no real power or clout in this society since it rests solely on the first born son. But if the Duke is what you desire, then that leverage once again has value and I myself am in need of an escape from Lord Sierge’s unwanted affections and advances. So, think long and hard about what your family can offer me in return for what you desire most, which is obviously becoming the next Duchess Voyambi and host to the King and Queen to when they come to Whydah for those amazing Kamoba battles where fortunes could be made from the losing bets and of course a percentage of all bets made going to the hosting house.” Benny pointed out.

“Would my own hand in marriage to become a Viscountess Whiteales be enough?” George asked her hopefully.

“Perhaps, an honest appraisal of your situation and your family’s situation, as well as- an honest and accurate accounting of your family’s wealth, would be key to understanding it, so we shall see won’t we?” Benny cooed to him before she stood and went around to the other orc families to get to know them and see if there were any better options than Sierge or even the Viscount George Whitesale as you passed her and noticed she was “working” every other orc family there and just shook your head at her. ‘So short sighted’ you thought to yourself before you sat down next to Demsey for the lunch feast, much further down the table.

“What did the Dowager Queen say to you?” Demsey inquired curiously.

“How she personally is getting involved in my court case and won’t rest until I see justice and am perfectly satisfied with that justice.” You grinned triumphantly as your eyes glowed gold again and the moura marks that were visible on your skin lit up like fireworks again.

“Oh, then your would-be assassinators are quite finished then, aren’t they?” Demsey smiled triumphantly in turn. Your infectious smile quite becoming.

“Even if they are not and even if I don’t get another penny from them or even if I have to give back everything they’ve ever given to me to be free of them completely, I’ll gladly agree to it. I just want the past to stay in the past because you’re my future, whether you’re a winner or loser or Duke or not, just you, that is all I desire and I don’t need or want anything other than that.” You insisted as he took your hand and brought your knuckles up to his mouth to kiss them tenderly.

“Likewise. Even if you were a commoner on the streets, my love for you would not be any less than what it is right now.” Demsey reassured you.

“So would you prefer I court you the English way, the orcish way or the moura way?” Demsey asked.

“Whichever you prefer, although if I’m to stay here with you as Duchess Voyambi, might I suggest the more English route, so that no shame or reproach may come upon your family, no matter how tempting the moura way can be as far as instant gratification is concerned.” You suggested in a sultry murmur in his ear that had him ever so grateful that he was sittind down in stiff leathers to hide his physical reaction to you as that little line had him threatning to destroy every ounce of propriety he had if it meant his piqued curiosity could he satisfied as to what you were really implying and to feel your petal soft lips ever so gently graze the shell of his ear, had him ready to damn the whole thing, pick you up, throw you over his shoulder and carry you upstairs to bury himself to the hilt in you that instant as the flames of his desire for you ate him alive.

But he was surrounded by the entire gentry and to look past you, down the table to where Kate was as she did her best to give them her ‘come hither’ eyes. Had him thinking the better of it. He wanted to marry you and shove your soon to be engaged then married hand into her face and flaunt you in front of her had him thinking the better of it.

“Or your honor, which is the most precious above all else.” Demsey readily agreed as all of Benny’s earlier words seem to have washed away completely. That’s all they were, words meant to strike at him but were not based at all in truth because he could clearly see that while you and Leumeni were friends, he did not see anything other than that between you and his intuition and instincts were telling him that your loyalty and affections rested solely on him, and no one else and he trusted those more than he trusted whatever little seeds of doubt that bitch Benny tried to plant.

“Yeah, about that…” You couldn’t help but wince apologetically.

“The past is the past and it can stay there, you said so yourself, it doesn’t matter to me. Your honorable character and integrity in this moment and every other moment that I have known you, is what counts and both of those are the highest caliber in my honest opinion. That’s all.” Demsey reassured you as you smiled adoringly and appreciatively at him and kissed his hand in turn because outright kissing him at the table would not be permitted in society but that was all you could get away with, but tonight, when everyone went home, oh you were going to try your best to rut him so good and show him exactly what he could look forward to as being your husband and in a committed, monogamous relationship with you could encompass and how you were going to drain him dry, it would make battling in a Kamoba battle seem like a walk in the park.

“So I have some ideas about the Kamoba battle arena at Whydah,” you began as Calla and Tzane, Amara and Storren and Kiera and Leumeni seemed to eagerly lean forward to also engage in this particular conversation as you spent most of the afternoon just talking about all the wonderful ideas you had about the arena and the stands that people would sit on and what the Royal Box should be like as well as the stands for the commoners and the gentry and special spots just for the food vendors and just how big and extraordinary it should be so that even the one in Dorierra would be hard pressed to compete with and as the afternoon wore on, there were several games and rounds of dancing between the competitors and the gentry and even the royal family participated.

“I’m so happy that you’re happy with Olivia, Ramsey, honestly and truly, I am.” You offered to him in turn as you took a little turn on the dance floor with him in one of the English dances.

“Thank you, and I fully intend to deliver on my promise to raise your own status and help you in any way I can, especially helping you destroy your ‘attempted assassintors’.” Ramsey answered.

“Even if you can not, I will not hold it against you personally, you asked at the ball at Havenfield to be friends. And all I hope is that no matter what happens, that we stay that way.” You offered to him.

“You really are remarkable Sultana, I would count myself lucky to have a woman such as you be my friend.” Ramsey smiled brightly as you did the same.

The afternoon practically flew by and quickly morphed into evening and lunch was taken away before dinner was served and quickly eaten as you and the other competitors practically had to run to your rooms to change into the night leathers and other armor before rushing back the stadium to gear up for the night’s events as Grevu woke up when you returned before he gently knocked Benny over with his head as she passed by him.

“Grevu!” Benny complained as Grevu sniffed her over curiously as his snout pinned her to the ground as he sniffed her all over.

“Axal! Get Grevu off me!” Benny hollered as she tried batting Grevu’s nose away from her crotch.

“You perverted rat with wings, get your nose out of my business!” Benny ordered before Grevu cleared his nostrils out all over her as he lifted his head and seemed to narrow his eyes at her and settled back down comfortably.

“Ewwww! Yuck! What is your deal?!” Benny demanded as she went back over to the buckets as she washed herself off with Axal’s help before she began to feel nauseous and found a private corner to quickly and quietly throw up.

“You ok?” Axal asked as he handed her a towel to wipe her throw up off her mouth with.

“Your rat with wings is gross.” Benny spat resentfully at Axal as she wiped her mouth with the offered towel before using another to wipe the sweat off her brow since the sweat was threatening to destroy her makeup.

“Sorry.” Axal offered with a half hearted shrug. “He’s a dragon, he’s temperamental, maybe he didn’t like the scent of betrayal on you.” Axal offered with a smug smile as his eyes narrowed at her.

“What betrayal?” Benny tried to shirk off.

“Sure, go ahead, play dumb, I mean you’re really bad at it, almost as bad as you play innocent. I don’t care. Just don’t be surprised when the bite back for whatever barking you’ve done or you’re about to do knocks you down so hard you can’t get back up.” Axal warned her as he went over to Grevu to pet him and praise him for snorting snot all over Benny as Benny felt another wave of nausea and threw up again as her whole body felt weird as she shuddered almost violently.

“Are you ok?” You asked as you noticed she was sitting in a corner and sweating profusely.

“No, Grevu snotted on me,” Benny told you.

“Oohh, well, he must have had a reason. Dragons can sense things we can’t, maybe you ate something that you shouldn’t have and needed to throw it up now instead of getting sick in the arena itself.” You offered as eyed the mess in the grass in the corner of the tent that she had clearly tried to dump water over to wash away as Benny recollected everything she had eaten and mentally tried to see if you had a point.

“Probably.” Benny nodded as you simply smiled pleasantly before you turned and walked away and could feel Benny glare at your back as you smiled happily to yourself before you looked at Leumeni and gave him a meaningful look and looked pointedly at Benny then back to him before you looked pointedly to Grevu then back to him before you emphatically breathed out through your nose in a small snort as your smile grew more mischievous as Leumeni barked a laugh.

“Ha! Good dragon.” Leumeni practically crooned.

“Yes, very good dragon.” You agreed as you passed him.

“Ok, so how the night games go- is the lowest member of the class fights up the line, the first loser up to the winner of the class, up through the three classes.” The announcer revealed to the crowd as Tzane was the first to fight off against little Callie as this time, Tzane was expecting Callie’s tactics and had his own counter attack and won.

Then Tzane, having won that round, faced off against Kiera, as Kiera didn’t hold back and promptly handed him his ass on a platter before she faced off against Sierge who used his bigger size and strength to his advantage and beat her and then used the same with Amara and won out before going up against Demsey but Demsey was still more level headed and much more tactical whereas Sierge was all emotion to win out against Sierge yet again as Demsey was happy and impressed that he got to win his class and move into the next class, however his very next fight in the skilled class, with Rian- beat him out as they went through the fighting all they way up until it was Calla against Benny as Benny, once again, used her vicious words to undermine Calla and take the victory.

“I wish to break with Tradition.” Your grandmother Loreiris began as Benny was preparing to take you down in The Proficient Class.

“Instead of trying to see if you can go through Audra and all of her parents, I wish to follow the example you set in the day games, now that you have reached the proficient class, I volunteer to be your first competitor in The Proficient Class.” Loreiris announced as everyone gasped in astonishment as Benny looked both thrilled yet terrified at the prospect as she entered the arena with The Saharan Viper herself.

“Trying to protect your precious little snakelet from me?” Benny grinned as she got into position before the gong rang out to signal the start of the round as Loreiris charged Benny, a sword in each hand.

“No, she has had attacks from foes pretending to be friends already and knows how to protect herself, so she needs no such protection from me. Least of all from you. I have heard what you have been saying all afternoon to the others about that leverage you have against her relationship with Duke Demsey. And while I have said nothing yet, because you have not revealed it. While she is The Violet Viper, you are acting like the bitch you are- vicious, conniving and two faced and so overly eager to prove yourself because you have been reigning supreme ever since she left and now that you’re in her presence again, she outmatches you without even trying- so of course, you are threatened. It is true, nothing reveals a moura’s colors of character like Kamoba and so far it has revealed that you rely too much on the damage your words say while your fighting skills themselves, have suffered greatly from neglect, you power through your strokes without relying on the actual proper execution of said strokes and techniques, aiming at the lowest, weakest yet easiest points, because any other is too much for you. Know that nothing you say can hurt me, let alone destabilize me. All you are is a bitch dog, pretending to be a wolf.” Loreiris taunted as she started attacking Benny, using an overwhelming tactic, swinging both her flaming sword along with an elven one, that was alight with magic that with every strike against another blade, grew stronger and hit harder, but also, unfortunately grew brighter to help illuminate the wielder.

“Except that I know your secret.” Benny taunted right back.

“I know that Kushi was blessed by Anuk-sunamun-ra. And has been carrying all of the goddess’ power in it ever since that she was banished into the blade at the fall of the empire but would always protect the wielder to keep them from being enslaved. It has always given you super abilities to beat your components and to demoralize your enemies the moment they see it, until now. Now that you gave Kushi to Audra, Anuk-sunamun-ra has left you to be with her which means you’re not unbeatable anymore. You’re just flesh and bone, no magic, or gods or goddesses to protect you or help you. The two times you lost in battle with it, were because you were pregnant and the goddess was protecting your unborn babe more than it was helping you in battle. The same is true now. I saw Audra with my own eyes go into a room and fuck her favorite manwhore and then I noticed she has not once drank pregnancy warding tea since, and while it is true that Grevu cured her of the rest of the mourkatili, Dr. Chu also had a big hand in it too and had already cured most of it already. Dr. Chu was likely curing her with the goal to restore her womb first. She most likely is pregnant right now, for only pregnant women hunger for fruit’s of their youths. That’s why having that rope around her waist and the toll of pulling Storren back didn’t rip her in half. Anuk-sunamun-ra is guarding her pregnancy. That is why you will lose to me, as will she and everyone else and you will not speak of this leverage. Demsey’s reputation can’t afford to take on a fallen lady, one who was fallen with child out of wedlock, much less by a manwhore. The best he could ever do by her is accepting her as his whore. Whereas with Leumeni, he can still save her as his wife. Granted the babe she’s carrying will obviously never fit in anywhere it goes. But Leumeni will still care for it nonetheless.” Benny spat as she did her best to keep her head and wits as she fought off Loreiris’ attacks and counter attacks.

“The problem with such logic is that any trace of mourkatili acts like a natural birth control. Even if what you say is true. It is impossible for her to conceive before Grevu cured her and I know for a fact, she has not laid with anyone who can get her pregnant since then. So you are lying and that leverage will land in you in boiling lava that will burn you up completely and permanently and no one will be able to rescue you from that.” Loreiris said as she could feel the strain on her body from the fighting as she kept her wits and temper in check.

“And you lie about the dagger. All it has ever been is a knife, made of steel, gold and jewels. Anuksu-namun-ra is a goddess of battle, of victory and she protects everyone who believes and puts faith in her. She is too powerful to be contained in a simple dagger made of steel, gold and jewels. If you worshiped her, perhaps you would benefit from her protection. But she is also a goddess of truth and loyalty and since you can never be counted on to be truthful or loyal to anyone who isn’t paying you to be, she will not protect you. Because any loyalty that can be bought, is never worth having.” Loreiris grinned as she kicked Benny in the head and stabbed her flaming sword into the first beacon.

“Oh on the contrary, if Audra can make me a dowager, then I will feel inclined to keep her secret for her and that leverage will never see the light of day so Audra is in no real danger from me. Besides, the science of pregnancy is well guarded in Dorierra. If I keep my mouth shut, little Demsey will be none the wiser and you can keep your mouth shut for her sake can’t you? You should. She is, after all, your favorite granddaughter from your favorite daughter?” Benny said as she took a throwing star from her waist and threw it through the flames at the first beacon on Loreiris’ side and beamed when it became alight before throwing a second and hit the second as the whole crowd went wild to see Benny of all people that was able to get a score in on Loreiris as Loreiris threw her own throwing star at the second and exploded it before aiming at the third but Benny used her flaming sword and knocked Loreiris’ hand down while body slamming her into the back of the still smoking and burning beacon and burned Loreiris’ face and pinned her there so she couldn’t get out before she threw another throwing star at the third beacon as Loreiris screamed in pain and agony as your whole family were up on their feet and rushing to the battle arena and screaming curses at Benny before Benny grabbed Loreiris by her collar and picked her up to the crowd.

“You call this woman a viper?! Where is her venom?! Where is her bite? She is an old, feeble garden snake, no bite at all, let alone any venom! Wolves always eat serpents! Always!” Benny roared to the crowd as it went wild as you had never wanted to murder Benny so badly before as rage seemed to course through your viens as your eyes and the eyes of your parents and heir parents all glowed gold as you all came forward as you got under your grandmother’s right shoulder and your mother got under her left as both of you were hissing hatefully about how you were going to make Benny pay for such a gross display of unprofessional and unsportsmanlike conduct as everyone contested the win.

But sadly, there was nothing in the rulebook that specifically ruled out Benny’s actions or disqualified her as Benny continued to hoop and holler to the crowd how she was undefeatable as Sierge realized he just won a fortune, since he had bet everything he had that she would win against The Saharan Viper, at Benny’s insistence. And while he wasn’t exactly thrilled about how she got that victory, the fact that she got it and that it was uncontestable, and thus, the victory stuck and cemented her place in The Proficient Class. That that was what he had bet on.

“I’m gonna kill her.” Your mother hissed.

“Don’t actually kill her.” Your grandmother said as burn balm was put onto her face by you.

“We need to get you to Grevu, he needs to heal you.” You insisted as you helped your grandmother to stand again.

“Mama, bite, inject, put down.” You hissed angrily in Marinai at your mother as she then challenged Benyana herself as you helped your grandmother to go over to Grevu as Grevu was making the most unusual noise as he met you behind the battle field’s wall, so that all of you were hidden from view as Loreiris came over to him and kneeled before him as she simply said ‘please’ before he blew a blue, glowing smoke over her, that healed her wounds as the smoke turned from blue- to red the moment it touched and healed her wounds as you breathed in deeply and the smoke entered you through your nose as the whites of your eyes glowed neon white while the iris of your eye’s glowed a bright gold while your pupil’s seemed to grow twice as big as you felt more power than ever before unlock in your body.

“You need to pray, pray to Anuk-sunamun-ra, pray for the strength and power for vengeance, and to have victory over her. She told me she has leverage against you and Demsey, that you are pregnant with a whore’s child, how she saw you at the masquerade ball bedding someone but did not drink pregnancy warding tea and that Dr. Chu’s medicine had the power to give you your womb back before Grevu could cure you. And how if you can not give her Dowager Status, she will unleash this upon all of England and you will be ruined and will have no choice but to return to Dorierra.” Your grandmother pleaded with you as you could hear from the battle arena how Benny was beating your mother, two beacons against one.

“Pray for control over your emotions, pray to protect your mind and heart from such flaming arrows.” Your grandmother pleaded before the Benny hit the third beacon on your mother and came back to find you there with your grandmother.

“Let your other parents fight her, we need to pray.” Your mother insisted as she wiped her angry tears away from her eyes as the three of you sat down in the grass, with you against Grevu’s chest as the three of you formed a triangle before Calla and her brothers as well as Leumeni and even his brother Coravien came and sat around them, all of them praying to their favorite god of choice to favor you as your mother and grandmother went through the sacred chant of Anuk-sunamun-ra in the ancient language of her origins while making the appropriate hand gestures as you once again found your center as a calm cooled your anger, but turned that fire that had been blazing inside of you into a lava that both flowed through you like a gentle massaging hand, going over your body, yet filled you, solidified you and strengthened you as you felt the air around you shift as a stiff breeze started to roll in as a storm that had barely been on the horizon seemed to make a B-Line for you as you heard a distant rumble of thunder, but instead of fearing the oncoming storm, you were welcoming it as the cool breeze caressed you as you barely noticed the other beacons from your father, your heir father, his wife and his mother’s as they all took their turns battling Benyana and how she used the same hurtful, spiteful, malicious words against them, beating them and crooning so loud and so high with every other victory before they all seemed to join in the prayer circle around you.

“Go ahead, say your pointless, hopeless, meaningless prayers over the last little snakelet, who is barely even out of the egg.” Benny taunted everyone as she turned and sauntered off once she came upon all of you.

“Told you I was a sure bet.” She grinned smugly at Sierge before going back towards the crowd to get them to chant her name as the Royal Family were quite fed up with her lack of sportsmanship and putting their bets on you to please put this brat in her place before, from the back, to the front of the group. Everyone put their hands on the top of the shoulder of the one in front of them and the one to the side of them before they all reached forward to you, your mother with a hand on your right shoulder and your grandmother with her hand to your left as they all prayed for their gods to bless you and make you stronger, faster, better. To make you their champion in the name of good, righteousness, and justice.

“Are you done yet? I don’t want to get struck by lightning and I would prefer not to get these leathers any wetter than they need to be, I want you to hurry up and beat you before I or much less the royal family has a chance of getting wet from the rain.” Benny sassed as she came over again several moments later as she looked on disapprovingly at her brothers for their traitorous act of trying to bless you instead of her as you pushed all the air out of your lungs before you took in the biggest and longest breath in, feeling that with every millimeter of space in your lungs that filled with air, you filled with power before your lungs reached their capacity as did your body before you steadily exhaled and opened your eyes to fix Benny with your gaze as everyone slowly pulled back, all of them feeling a sense of excitement tempered with peace that their prayers were about to be answered.

“Come, let us battle, Axal, Rian, Zax, belt “Hit The Floor” out for me.” You suggested to them with a scheming and easy smile which they readily returned before they, along with Calla’s brothers as well as Benny’s rushed over to the band and eagerly took the instruments out of their hands and insisted that they needed to play this particular song themselves before you looked out over all the weapons offered to you by the whole family as the right weapons seemed to almost have a glowing aura around them as you picked them up and armed yourself with them before you entered the arena.

“Let us do five out of seven, arm the arena with the two additional beacons and put the last two on the roof, above the rafters.” You instructed the others who came to change out the beacons with fresh ones.

“Agreed.” Benny smiled as you simply sat down on top of the first beacon and got into a meditation pose and used these last moments to cement your mental fortitude as Benny laughed.

“Oh are suddenly a monk? Praying and meditating all the time?” Benny taunted as you could see the gods that were supposed to be blessing her weapons were frowning at her for her haughtiness.

“What is this? The Violet Viper is suddenly The Violet Monk? The Violet Praying Mantis? The Violet Idiot? Or just The Violet Whore.” Benny continued.

“Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t be throwing stones.” You stated as you kept your eyes closed as you watched from the spirit realm as the remaining gods and goddesses with her finally seemed to have enough and leave her completely and come to be with you and all the other gods and goddesses with you which caused you to smile before you opened your eyes and got down and into position as the others finished doing what you asked and left the stage.

“Axal! Now!” You called out after the gong rang out and your family as well as hers began to start up their instruments.

“So? Leverage huh? Going for the lowest of blows? Betraying my trust and friendship for your own personal gain? Too bad I’ve seen this coming since the moment I saw you at the ball at Havenfield. Do you really think you can say anything that will break apart what the gods have given their blessings to bind together?” You asked as you struck first with more strength than what Benny was expecting as she faltered slightly as suddenly her battle ax seemed a bit heavier and unwieldier than normal.

“I see your grandmother can’t keep a secret to save her life, like using a goddess, locked inside a dagger to fight and win all of her battles for her.” Benny taunted back.

“Do you really think a goddess can be locked inside a weapon? No, she is everywhere but more importantly, she is with me, whether I possess that dagger or not because I am a believer in her and in her power and have willingly let myself be an instrument for her and all the other gods and goddesses who wish to use me as their instrument as well, I feel it to be true, I know it to be true. Just like how you can feel or know in your heart whether or not your own gods are with you, which I can both see and feel that they are not, they have abandoned you in the face of your own viciousness, of your own ruthlessness and your own haughtiness. You do not fight with honor. Your pride and your hunger for victory at any cost has made you blind to what is right and wrong. It has calloused your conscience and dulled your moral compass. You play men who would love you like instruments, if only to see their strings break. You play with feelings and intentions the way you play with toys, if only to see them fall apart then to be thrown into the fire at will.” You told her as as you advanced forward with surprising speed and strength as real fear started to seep into Benny’s eyes.

“You crave destruction and only wish to have the fires of other people’s catastrophes light up in your eyes. If you do not turn back, and mend your ways, what you have lied about me and others and what you have predicted for me and others will come true for you. The gods have spoken this to me. And your redemption will only come at the hands of your latest victims. Whether they will give it or not, depends on them. Not me, for I am no longer a victim to anyone. Let alone you. You- who should have been a sister to me, you- who should have been a friend to me, you- who should have had my back instead of trying to stab it with everyone else since it already had an open wound for you to stick it into. But after tonight, I am healed, I am free. Of you, of everyone. I don’t owe anyone anything.” You vowed as you easily battled her across the course, as if the obstacles were not there at all as the whole fight seemed to be in slow motion for you, as you could almost see what moves she was going to make before she even made them as you were predicting her moves and counteracting them just as quickly as she was frantically trying to make them as your sword that was on fire kept slashing at her and lighting her entire torso on fire, as you could tell the heat from the fires were affecting her as if they were especially hot as you kept on advancing at a steady pace, the beacons practically exploding the moment the tip of a weapon touched them until you had her pinned into a corner before you struck the fifth beacon.

“Seven out of 13!” Benny screamed from her corner as tears streaked her makeup.

“Fine, seven out of 13.” You readily agreed before you stopped and calmly walked back to the center mark as she rushed to get out of the battle arena to get doused down with water to keep from being on fire as she was gasping for breath and sweating like a whore in church.

“And this was her still barely out of the egg? I can’t imagine what she will be like after she fully sheds and grows into her own then.” Your mother and your grandmother taunted Benny from their spots inside the tent as everyone else laughed.

“What’s wrong? I thought wolves eat serpents? Why aren’t you eating her before she eats you? Or does this viper actually have venom that you’re not immune to this time?” Calla snipped snidely herself.

“I will eat her! I will eat her whole!” Benny screamed back as she put her weapons back into the fire to get reheated as you simply let your flaming sword “rest” in the flames of one of the bowls in the arena.

“I don’t know why you’re getting so upset, or why you’re calling her a whore when you yourself are the biggest one I know.” Sierge taunted Benny himself.

“Shut up! No one asked you!” Benny snapped angrily.

“Make them the hottest you can!” Benny told the blacksmith who had set up a mini forge right there next to the battlefield.

“I can try.” He answered as he put them in the hottest parts of the fire to get super heated as once again, you sat on top of your own beacon and meditated again.

“There, that’s hot enough.” Benny said before she pulled them out and splashed them in the fire oil and let them become alight once more as she could feel the heat of them in her palms but they were nothing compared to the heat of her inner fiery temper as you opened your eyes and got into position before you pulled out another elven blade along with your fiery one before you pressed the jewel on the hilt and the weapon suddenly glowed white as frosty mist started falling from it.

“That sword will shatter when it touches mine.” Benny said.

“We’ll see.” You simply grinned before the gong rang out and you used the flaming sword to get her weapons into positions before you used your ice elven sword to cut bits and segments off of Benny’s weapons like cutting through soft butter.

“NNoooo!!” Benny screeched as she pulled her own spare weapons out but they had similar effects, for every strike against your own weapons, they grew weaker and softer, bending and dulling greatly as you continued to take out the same five markers before leaping through to the roof and climbing onto the rafters to get the final two beacons on the roof as She did the same, using her body as a shield to protect them as you walked along the beam like you were walking along a paved sidewalk, paying no mind to the fall only a few scant inches away from each side of your feet.

“No! I beat the Saharan Viper! I will beat you too!” She said as she used her flaming arrows to strike at your beacons as you used your own bow and arrows to throw hers off course and away from their intended targets until she was out of arrows.

“You’re empty.” You called.

“So are you!” She called back.

“You’re right, I am.” You said before lighting seemed to crack right above your heads and fan out over the sky.

“You’ll get electricuted!” Benny said as she cowered but would not leave the beacons.

“You’re right, I will.” You smiled as you held Kushi up in one hand and your mother’s copy of Kushi- Kushi 2 in the other and raised them to the sky as lightning struck down and danced between the two blades around you as your eyes glowed white while you otherwise remained unharmed.

“Viper- kills Wolf!” You boomed as you threw both daggers, the lightning dancing off of them, making it look like they were the fangs of a viper as the image of a viper’s head, made out by the lighting lit up the space as Benny screamed and dove down as you used your grappling hook to suspend yourself from the rafters as you used the other end of the rope and threw it around Benny so she wouldn’t crash on the ground as the two beacons exploded in bright white lights and smoke as the whole crowd roared in thunderous cheering and applause as you hung from the rafters with Benny hanging from the end of your own ropes as she gently swung around under you, the rope tied around her waist in such a way as she fought to untangle herself while you slowly eased down the rope like a silk climber flowing effortlessly down a length of silk before you got to her as Sierge came and gave the rope a quick tug to cause Benny to fall into his arms.

“Well hey there loser.” Sierge grinned.

“Put me down!” Benny screeched at him before he did as she asked as she fell the five feet from his arms to his feet as that little fall, knocked all the wind out of her lungs while Demsey was more than happy to let you slide down the rope into his own arms before he gently set you down and threw decorum out the window and kissed and dipped you in front of the gods and everyone which caused another round of applause as Kate and her brothers knew then that whatever “leverage” Benny had, was as good as worthless yet again as you happily got up and took your banner off of Heavencrest and put it on Grevu and rode him around the arena as others flew their own animals around behind, your grandmother happily riding Heavencrest in your stead as you cheered as Benny just sat there on the floor of the arena and sulked as she watched the Royal family’s attendants get the cup as the Royal Family got up and came down as Benny was escorted off the battle arena to the tent since her griffen was flying underneath Grevu in a show of dominance as the gentry crowded around the arena before you touched down as everyone offered their congratulations to you as you passed through, your mother to your immediate left and your grandmother to your immediate right as you climbed up into the battle arena yet again.

“It is my supreme honor to bestow unto you- Sultana Audravienne Saharazat, this winning cup and prize for winning the Kamoba battle today.” King Leopold announced as he gestured to it as it sat on your first beacon before he took your hand and raised it high as everyone cheered and applauded.

“Thank you, your Majesty.” You thanked him before you had to get help from your friends and family to help pick it up as the Royal Family as well as everyone else took their leave to go home as you came inside and had the cup put into your room as you began to unload it before you took your old knife, Zirrabanit and approached little Callie before you presented it to her.

“To Callie, who was the first to strike and the first to take down a contestant today. Since you have taken up my old mantle from my youth, it is only fitting that you continue that legacy, Little Spitfire.” You said as she gasped and took it and gave you the biggest most excited smile.

“Thank you!” Callie squealed in delight as she took it from you reverently before she practically launched herself in your arms and hugged you tight as you readily hugged her back.

“You’re welcome.” You happily laughed as you hugged her back oh so tight.

“Could I stay with you tonight? And could you pass down all the knowledge you can to me?” Callie asked hopefully and as much as you wanted to rail Demsey against every surface in his room, you didn’t have the heart to say no to her and her big lavender eyes.

“Of course, all the ladies, sleepover in my room tonight.” You offered as all the girls giddily left and got dressed as the gentlemen saw themselves out before you managed to snag Demsey by the arm and pull him down to kiss him again.

“Tomorrow night, I’ll properly and traditionally celebrate with you in the moura way.” You promised with a wink and a salacious smile.

“Can’t wait.” Demsey practically giggled before he kissed you again.

“Good night My Love, don’t stay up all night, we need to formulate a plan for court.” Demsey offered before he saw himself out just as his other sisters were coming back into the room, clad in only their nightgowns and robes as you all got into the bed in a circle, passing around the other treasures from the pot as Benny refused to even do that much as she continued to sulk in her room and went to bed only to fall into a fitful sleep, full of nightmares.

#Woooooo!#Blood For Gold #Blood For Gold Chapter 19 #this is it #this is the hill #the crest #the climax #it's downhill from here #regency era orc period drama #regency era orcs #orc romance #orc love story #moura #Now the truth can come out #Have I left you enough clues? Do you know them all yet?#There are several #dozens actually.#I want to know!

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racetrackhigg · 3 years

Text

Hunger Games AU

kinda

thank you so much to @bitchiaintanonymous for helping me with this!!! she wrote all the descriptions of the districts and she helped me figuring out stuff for the characters!

also i wasn’t supposed to make morris’ moodboard, but i didn’t realize until too late- so whoops

please don’t let it flop ive been working on this literally all day akdhsksbw

!!! TW: DEATH (kinda graphic? i mean i say how they died but that’s it), ABUSE, CHILD ABANDONMENT, MENTIONS OF STARVATION !!!

please don’t continue reading if any of those things trigger you

District 1: luxury

They produce jewelry and the people take pride in living there because of it. Most of the people from there are named after expensive material like “Cashmere” and “Glimmer” and as you know, they train and volunteer for the games so they have a higher chance of winning.

Oscar Delancey

Morris Delancey (died)

Morris lived with his uncle and his brother

He had a fairly privileged life, living in the richer side of the district.

However, his uncle was an abusive drunk and he usually took the hits from him to stop his brother from getting hurt

He trained for the games his entire life and eagerly volunteered to be a part of them when he was 17, hoping that if he won it would mean him and his brother could get away from their uncle and have a better life

Sadly, he died during the games by being stabbed in the back by the one and only Jack Kelly

He made 2nd place

District 2: Masonry and Defense.

These people work on weapons for peacekeepers and even have a training center for the peacekeepers, and they also volunteer for the games. It’s illegal for them, but because they’re so buddy buddy with the Capitol, they’re let off. They usually have Ancient Roman and Greek names.

Romeo (victor)

Romeo grew up having a somewhat decent life

Hs mother died when he was young, so he lived with his father and younger sister (who’s only 5 when he goes to the games) (he’s 15)

He trained for the games since he was young, and at first. he wanted to volunteer

However, as the reaping came near, he was starting to regret his decision, especially after overhearing some of his friends talk about the true horrors of the games

His dad threatened to kill him himself if he didn’t volunteer, claiming he would rather have no son at all than one who was a coward

So Romeo was forced to volunteer

Jojo (his mentor) becomes like an older brother or even father figure to him

Jojo de la Guerra (former victor, died)

Jojo lived in the poorer side of the district

He used to work a lot in weaponry to provide for his family Jojo was 17 when he participated in the games, and won

He was 22 when he mentored Romeo

And 23 when he died

He “trained” for the games for years, but unlike Romeo, he never volunteered

By “training” i mean that he was just a sparring partner for people who wanted to volunteer for the games

Because of this, he just picked up different fighting techniques over time

Unlike most people in that district, he hated the games and was not eager at all to be a part of them

He was assigned as Romeo’s mentor

At first, Jojo thought he was just another cocky kid who was overconfident he’d win

But then he actually met him. and realised Romeo didn’t want this

He made it his goal to make sure Romeo would get out of the games alive. After all, he was just a kid.

He was killed by peacekeepers after trying to protect Romeo. Pulitzer wanted to prostitute Jojo, and he refused, so as a warning they went to kill Romeo, but Jojo managed to stop them the cost of his own life

District 3: Technology.

They produce technology and electronics for the Capitol and usually use their knowledge of that in the games. They’re really smart and in the 10th Hunger Games, it’s said that a district 3 tribute hack into a drone that delivered supplies to use for themselves (doesn’t work that great cause they get killed though) but they’re still really smart.

Antonio “Racetrack” Higgins (victor)

Race never met his mother, She died a few days after he was born

So he was raised by his father

When he turned 6, his father started drinking

When he turned 7, he started hiring him

He met a girl named Sarah after trying to steal from her, and instead of reporting him to a peacekeeper, they actually became friends over time (even though Race was 2 years younger than her)

He often went to hide at the Jacobs’ house when things got too bad at home

Just a year after David volunteered, on the next reaping, Sarah’s name was called

So Race volunteered. (he was 16)

The jacobs’ had already done so much for him, and Sarah didn’t deserve to go through that, chances were she wouldn’t come back alive.

Race knew he probably wouldn’t either, but he had nothing to lose. He wouldn’t be leaving any family behind, because the man that called himself his father was not his family.

David was his mentor.

Much like David had before him, Race used parts of traps to make his weapons better, though he mainly used a bow and arrow.

For most of the game, he made a truce with a guy named Albert from district 4, and they became /very/ close.

He was killed by a guy from district 6, Finch, who was also the last person remaining apart from him.

Race killed him by shooting an arrow directly in his heart. It’s the only kill he doesn’t regret so much.

David Jacobs (victor)

David lived with his parents, twin sister and younger brother.

He was especially close to his sister.

His father got sick and died a few years later, when he was 15, so he had to work extra hard to help support his family

When he turned 17, his worst nightmare came true and his younger brother, Les was selected for the games

He volunteered to save his brother, and was determined to make it back alive, wanting his family to have a better life.

He trained a lot in physical combat, since he knew that without at least a somewhat proper training, he wouldn’t stand a chance.

Once in the games, he spent most of his time trying to avoid other people, not wanting to kill anyone else and not wanting to risk his own life.

However, he ended up having to kill a boy from district 10, Mike, to save his own life using a makeshift explosive he made out of parts from a trap he disarmed (or however it’s said).

He wins by tricking the last person left, Itey, into eating poison berries.

He never forgave himself for the lives he took, and it’s something that would always haunt him.

Just a year after that, he became Race’s mentor.

District 4: fishing.

First off, people say that this district had the most “decent-looking” people. As you may have guessed, these people specialize in “aquaculture” It sounds useless, but a character named “Mags” actually won her games because she was the only one able to swim the longest when the arena was flooded. They also use tridents and things like that and volunteer as “Careers” too.

Albert Dasilva (died)

Albert came from the more poor side of the district

He lives with his father, who fell ill a few weeks before Albert was selected for the games.

He’s only 16

He never really trained for the games, unlike many people. He didn’t have the time or money for that.

One of his friends, Sniper, promised to take care of his father while he was gone.

Albert knew he probably wouldn’t be coming back.

Early in the games, he befriended Race, and they survive throughout almost the entire games together.

He knew one of them was going to have to die, but Albert decided to ignore that. He was going to find a way around it.

However, while Race went out hunting, the only other tribute left strangled him to death and stole all their supplies.

He never made it back home to his father.

Sniper (victor)

Sniper was an orphan

Her family abandoned her when she was 5, and she lived in the streets for a short while until a kind man took her in

It was Albert’s father

When she got older, she started working to make her own living

Albert became her best friend, despite being 4 years apart. He became almost like an older brother to her.

Her best friend, almost brother, got sent away for the games and never returned.

Sniper moved back in with Mr. Dasilva to take care of him as he fell ill, and his son was no longer there to take care of him.

He got better, eventually, and was horrified and heartbroken at the news of his son’s death.

A year after his best friend was sent away to die, she got chosen for the games.

She vowed to make it back alive, no matter what.

She learned everything there was to know about the plants of the arena. She was already good at combat.

She won by poisoning the last other tribute.

Much like David, Sniper was never able to forgive herself for the lives she took.

District 5: power.

They specialize in providing power for the Capitol with electricity (they power homes and stuff so not technology like in district 3). They’re pretty smart and they use the coal district 12 mines to generate the power.

Specs

Itey (died)

Itey lived with their parents

They were an only child

Their life was pretty good- at least their family life

They were pretty poor, but still better off than a few other people, so they were grateful for what they had.

They were chosen for the games when they were 15

Their parents prayed Itey would make it back alive, but they knew it was unlikely, since he had no training whatsoever

They were right

Itey almost won, but they were starving, and didn’t know that the berries were poisonous

They came 2nd

District 6: transportation

The tributes shown from here are actually pretty nice and cool. During the 75th Hunger Games the tributes were nicknamed “morphlings” because of their addiction to the drug. The male tribute didn’t do much, but the female tribute sacrificed herself for Peeta and jumped in front of an animal that was trying to kill him.

Finch Cortez (died)

Finch lived with his younger brother

His parents died when he was relatively young (12 years old- his brother was 9) but they managed to scrape by

He started working pretty young to make sure his brother could have a roof over his head and not starve.

He was 17 when he was selected for the games, his brother was only 14

He was terrified, but determined to come back home to his only family

He made it to 2nd place

He was killed by an arrow straight through his heart.

Tbh if Race would’ve known Finch had a family to go home to, he would’ve eaten poisonous berries and let him win

Skittery

District 7: lumber.

They specialize in forestry and wood and paper and all that. They are strong-willed and hard headed, and don’t have many qualms about killing people. but more or less are loyal depending on the situation.

Sean “Spot” Conlon (victor)

Spot was an orphan

Well, kind of

He lived with his parents up until he was 10, when he ran away

They were both abusive and manipulative, and he knew if they kept this up, he’d end up dead

After he ran away, he made friends with a guy his age named Hotshot.

Hotshot had the perfect family. Loving parents and a younger sister.

Honestly, Spot was jealous

But they became quick friends, and Hotshot’s parents let him move in

Hotshot nicknamed him Spot because of the cigarette burns across his arms and back

He was 17 when he was selected for the games

Surprisingly enough, he didn’t think he’d come back

Because as strong and as much of a skilled fighter as he was, there were people out there that had been training for this their whole lives.

However, he managed to win. Had a pretty big kill count too- not because he wanted to, but because a surprising amount of people went after him. He had many good supplies and they wanted them.

The last person left apart from him was Buttons.

He won by bashing his head against a rock and then pushing him off a cliff for good measure.

In his defence, Buttons had tried to push him off a cliff first. Spot just took his chance.

Hotshot

District 8: textiles

Clothing. They fight for what’s right, and we’re actually among the first to rebel against the Capitol and follow Katniss, which, sadly, also made them the second most targeted district (the first being district 12 which was outright destroyed) A leader from district 8 actually became president after Katniss killed this woman named “Alma Coin” (the president of district 13)

Buttons (died)

Buttons lived with her younger brother, Elmer, and their parents

She was only 14 when she was selected for the games

She knew she wasn’t making it back

However, she let her hopes up w hen she was one of the only two left, and was a bit more careless with her actions

This is what led to her the death

Elmer

District 9: grain.

They specialize in grain, and salts. It’s the least mentioned of the districts, there is no known character mentioned from here, and all that is known is that both tributes died in the initial bloodbath

Henry

Smalls

District 10: live stock.

Believe it or not, no one except a crippled boy is mentioned from here. This is the second least mentioned one, it’s only known that a refugee from here told Katniss about district 13 so we can assume they know their rights and wrongs.

Mike (died)

Mike lived with his twin brother and parents

He was 15 when he was selected for the games, and he knew there was no chance he’d make it back alive

He was right, since he was killed by David, after trying to kill him and steal his supplies.

Ike

District 11: agriculture.

Common traits of this district are “dark skin and brown eyes” They are heavily abused by the Peacekeepers and are the most brutal treated ones. Their electric fences are activated 24/7, they have extreme knowledge of herbs and foods. Again, security here is greatly unforced and there are a lot of harsh measures like summary execution. (an execution where someone is accused of something and is immediately killed without a fair trial) It was one of the first districts to rebel, it was their response for what happened to Rue (a former 12-year old tribute who was Katniss’ ally and was killed during the games).

Graves

Rafaela

District 12: coal mining.

This district is divided into housing areas. The Seam is where people who work in coal mines live, and the others are centered around “The Square''. People from The Seam generally have dark hair, grey eyes, and olive skin, and the others have blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. Katniss and Gale are from The Seam whereas Peeta is a bakers son in the town. District 12 is the poorest out of the districts, and starvation is a big issue, and because of this, the Capitol usually bends the rules a little by turning off the electric fence surrounding them so people can go hunt for food for their families or sell their catches to the black market for money. District 12 is known for having only 2 victors in the history of the games before the 74th. A female named Lucy Gray Baird who died before the events of The Hunger Games happened, and Haymitch Abernathy. This is why the district is usually a laughingstock and volunteering for the Games is seen as suicide.

Jack Francis Kelly (victor)

Jack’s parents gave him up at a very young age, when he was only 2 years old

They sent him to live with an old family friend, William Snyder

Snyder was horrible to him.

He constantly abused and starved and neglected him, treated him more like a slave than anything else.

Jack had to balance doing whatever Snyder said and also making his own food and money by working so he could eat

When he was 14, his parents came to visit. He didn’t recognize them, and he didn’t know who they were until the end of the visit- when they were leaving

He was both hurt and furious

Although he was miserable and his life sucked, he did manage to make a friend

Crutchie

He was 3 years younger than Jac k, and his leg was injured beyond repair in a mining accident

When he heard Crutchie’s name at the Reaping, he immediately volunteered

Unlike him, Crutchie had a family. People who loved him.

Jack had nothing to lose

He didn’t expect to come back alive, he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

Multiple people tried to kill him throughout the game, thinking it as a fun game since he was of the “worse” district

Jack won by killing Morris

He didn’t know he had a brother, if he did, he wouldn’t have done it. Jack didn’t have anything to come back to, Morris did

He found out about this and his situation a day after his victory.

He was horrified, knowing he killed a man that was just trying to help his family.

Jack didn’t have a family. He just took a poor kids only family away.

So he made sure Oscar was away from his uncle and safe

It was the least he could do.

He was never able to forgive himself.

Charlie “Crutchie” Morris

District 13: nuclear weaponry.

Before they were “extinct” they made and built nuclear weapons for the Capitol, but after they tried to rebel, they were bombed and became “extinct”. In reality they lived underground and struck up a deal with the Capitol, that they’d be able to live in hiding, and in return, they would not rain war on the Capitol. Every food ration is cherished in this district and everything is very orderly as to not rouse suspicion. The lifestyle is very strict because of the circumstances. District 13 is the center for the rebellion in the books, and is where Katniss and everyone planned out the war between the districts and the Capitol.

Mush Meyers and Kid Blink

Blink came from district 12

He was an orphan, and his only family, his younger sister, died from starvation when he was 17, soon turning 18

She was only 10

Not even a year later, Blink snuck out of his district, except instead of just going hunting, he ran away.

He narrowly escaped a peacekeeper finding him

After a few days of being completely alone, he ran into Mush Meyers, who (slightly reluctantly) took him into his distract (he got into a shit ton of trouble for that)

However, Blink was allowed to stay.

Eventually, they got together (because we all need some Blush in our lives)

Capitol

Katherine Plumber

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saphyhowl · 3 years

Text

Own Story

Ok so I finally got the courage to write my story. I was a bit afraid to post it but I still got through with it. I have no idea how to protect my writing so I hope I can figure out where to regularly post it and not be afraid that someone will take it. Although I doubt my story is that great. I just want to protect it because I am like a mother hen.

Here it goes... Please tell me how you like it, leave a comment or a like, I will be forever grateful to you :3 Also please please please don’t pay attention to my bad spelling. It’s a story I wrote by hand in french and translated it here. I am no translator so there will be mistakes. It’s not a final version, it’s an ongoing work. If you feel like stuff is missing that’s normal I am still working on lots of aspects, but don’t hesitate to let me know what you think might be crucial to you to understand the story.

I have a very low self esteem when it comes to my own work. It took me a very long time to get where I am today. I am not trying to get pity or anything, I am just putting you in a context so you understant that all this is historical for me and I hope we can celebrate that historic moment together.

*****************************************************

He should have felt it during the morning, when he woke up. The crispy air from the night still hung in his bedroom, rendering it impossible for him to fall back asleep. Nothing pleased him today. No urgent letters for him. Everything was calm. Although Cynan enjoyed the calm routine that had settled in his life, he could not help to feel as if he should act to prevent what seemed to him an upcoming storm.

After seven years of conquest and negotiation, his friend Meanas could ascend the throne officially. He could finally hold a coronation ceremony without any fear of revolution. Cynan had organized everything with the help of the other members of the counsel. The invitations were sent and had been answered. The preparation had already begun, all was well. After seven years of constant uproar, Cynan almost worshipped the calm and order that had finally settled in and so did Meanas.

As he sat at his desk, basking it this holy stillness, he read utterly slowly the law document he needed to approve. This was part of the many tasks Cynan, advisor of the future king. He should have sensed it in this moment as well, when the sun finally can warm one enough, hinting that the season of spring was approaching. He should have known that as the sweetest and mild season of the year was nearing, his life would enter a season of bitter regret.

***

“If my heart could run, then it would have already passed the coach that was meant to bring me to him.

I am of an impatient nature.

I play the scene out in my mind, like an actress before her performance.

How delectable it is just to imagine their faces when I finally reveal myself in front of them.

I could appear here and there. I could keep him as the last person I meet.

I could hide until the very end and wait until the coronation. Then, I would make the most vibrant of appearances.

Oh no, even better! I could visit him first. That would stir the glowing embers of our past and hint towards a possible story for us. Whatever that story would hold, that I would decide depending on my mood.

So many possibilities lie out there and only a few can be chose as I have only one life.

However, my emotions should not lead me astray and distract me from my true goal.

I did not return to revive past passions. I came here to set this place on fire, to start a new era.

Seven years of preparation and now everything will play out.

But to open the festivities, I must first get my hands on an invitation,”

The coach came to a halt in front of a mansion. Zelina descended and took in the view of the garden before walking towards the entrance, where a quite surprised butler awaited her.

***

Her arrival could not be compared to a thunderstorm. The situation occurred way too fast for Cynan to be overwhelmed. His butler announced her and when she entered his office her aura invaded the room like a rising tide. Cynan had been too dulled out from his peaceful day to prepare himself mentally to face the young woman in front of him.

Two old friends meeting again for the first time.

“You still have an awful taste. Your curtains are a disgrace,” Zelina said as she scanned the room visibly bored.

Silence.

“After all this time, I would have thought you had developed a more luxurious taste,” she added.

Zelina took one step forward and then another. She walked idly in the room with a candid expression.

“What is the reason for your visit... Madam?” Cynan asked.

Zelina suddenly turned her head towards Cynan and her golden eyes squinted with hatred.

“Madam…” she repeated.

Cynan did not react.

“Meanas’ coronation. Would that be a pleasing enough reason for you, Sir?” Zelina finally answered.

“King Meanas,” Cynan corrected.

“My apologies,” Zelina said as she bowed down excessively.

Zelina refused to refer to Meanas as a king.

“Lady Zelina, you are not invited to this joyous event,” Cynan stated.

Zelina smiles causing Cynan to doubt his capacity to stay unfazed for long.

“Oh but I do know that,” she said.

Zelina sat in the chair in front of Cynan’s desk and started playing with her fan. Cynan examined her and slowly he shifted into contemplation. That smile of her, her voice, her gesture, they were all familiar to him. Thousand memories rise again in his mind. He is tempted to dive into them and daydream. As he battled against the temptation of reminiscence, he did not notice Zelina looking at him as well. However, she was not reminiscing, she was waiting for the right timing.

“I simply came as a friend.. An old friend. One cannot forget a friend who did so much,” she added.

Zelina placed her hand on the table in an attempt to draw closer to Cynan. He stared at her hands. She was still wearing her many bracelets.

“And I mean, you know…” Zelina hesitated.

Cynan raised an eyebrow as he noticed her false bashfulness.

“Say, was it intentional to choose only one emissary for the South?” she asked.

Zelina had found the right moment and had struck with her words. She knew his weakness, Cynan was a skilled warrior and noble but not a tactician.

“Lady Zelina, this should not be of concern for you,” Cynan answered.

“Many southern families were quite shocked and felt offended,” Zelina added.

“I thought you came as a friend Zelina,”

“And it is as a friend, Cynan, that I inquire about this issue!”

Cynan sighed and Zelina took it as a sign to continue.

“You know much the merchants' families take pride in their origins. I tried to explain to them that there must have been a reason to send only one emissary. And that you, Cynan, would have chosen the emissary as impartially as possible,”

Cynan remained silent. Her way with words had gotten more skilled after all those years. Sadly for him, there was no impartiality coming from him. Meanas had wished to choose one emissary to demonstrate that under his reign the South was meant to be one unified province. Despite all the tribes in the South, only one person would represent the South. The emissary, chosen from one of the most influential families, would then be promoted to Governor of the South. This would allow Meanas to have one sole correspondent in political and economic matters regarding the South. However, Cynan had no intention in sharing this intention with Zelina, who was herself from an affluent family from the South. However, her family belonged to another tribe. Cynan never investigated further the intrications between the southern tribes. Now that Zelina had returned, he realized how foolish that had been.

Zelina stood up to leave Cynan to his thoughts.

“Why did he not invite me, Cynan?” she asked.

Cynan did not answer nor did he accompany her. The question floated in the air unanswered.

Through his office windows, he caught a glimpse of her crossing the gardens. She passed by a lilac bush. She stopped in her tracks, turned and contemplated the bare branches, noticing the growing flower buds. Cynan continued to observe her as she took off again. His gaze returned towards the lilac bush. With the mild season approaching the bush would bloom again.

***7 years ago***

“Gardening really?” Zelina asked as she had stopped on the path leading towards the mansion. She made her umbrella twirl as she thought about what Cynan had just shared with her.

Cynan carressed the lilacs and smiled lost in his thoughts.

“There is nothing more beautiful than helping mother nature in her creations,” he explained.

Zelina shrugged her shoulders unimpressed by his wise words.

“If I weren’t a noble then I would have become a farmer. However since I am a noble, I have to satisfy myself with mere gardening,” Cynan continued explaining.

Zelina twirled her umbrella once more and peered at him through the laces.

“If I were not a noble, I would not exist as I am before you. I have used over and over again all the privileges that have come with my status to build myself. I clung myself to anything a noble like me could get their hands on. Wishing to escape this world that created me would be idiotic and would turn my life into something insignificant, where I could not be the fully fledge me,”

Cynan listened to her attentively and did not respond immediately.

“I did not know you had such strong opinions about your title. Our aspirations vary a lot,” He finally said.

“And yet we somehow get along,” Zelina added.

A smirk appeared on her face.

“If I ever find myself in dire need of a gardener, I know to whom I can turn to. I’ll make sure to order my lilacs with you,” Zelina said as she made her way back towards the mansion twirling her umbrella.

Cynan bowed excessively. “You are too kind Madam,” he whispered.

***Back to the present. In Zelina’s coach***

“He called me Madam. How monstrous! Poor soul, he does not know what awaits him. Ugh, now I must wait for all of this to stir and boil. Let my words sink in. I must get under his skin. If only Cynan would have more spark then I would not have to wait so much. The day Cynan bursts will be one to remember. I must ensure to be the one to wake the dragon sleeping in him. But that would be only a collateral benefit from what I truly intend to achieve.

#own writing #my story

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love-and-anarchy-au · 3 years

Text

Love & Anarchy: Chapter 12

hell000000000000!!!!! AC3, IM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS CHAPTERRRR!! is the longest i’ve written yet and is just so...w0w. i loved wriing this chapter, and thinking bout the dialogues, and the characters and gosh, i luv them all my babies <3 besides, this chapter isn’t as heavy as the previous one so enjoy this break ;)

REMEMBER THIS AU HAPPENS IN THE SAME UNIVERSE THAT THIS ONE

Find out what this AU is about here

Masterlist

Tag list: @healing-winston-pratt @dawniebb @obsidianfr3sk @nodrianbcyes @everyone-has-a-nightmare @magykaldealings @quinterickson @cerenoya @cassin-the-assasin

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Words:

21,394 (when i said this one’s the longest yet, i meant it xd)

Part 2: A teen named Ace Artino

13 years old Alec

“Ace!”

Alec just turned away, distracted and narrow-eyed, still wrapped in threadbare blankets on a mattress of the same thickness as a piece of paper. He didn't want to wake up, he didn't want to go to school, he didn't want to, he didn't want to, he didn't want to.

He wanted to sleep.

Alexandra Onitraze giggled.

“Wake up, Artino. You won't make it to class by laying there.”

Alec yawned and snorted at the same time. He opened his eyes widely, although his vision was still blurry, and he saw James Roselo, his best friend, watching him from the doorframe of his room, with his elegant gray clothes, his very expensive shoes and his hair combed to the side, with gel. He had a subtle smile on his face.

They had appeared out of nowhere, since Alec hadn't heard them until a minute ago; product of James' teleportation, probably.

Alexandra and James were Alec's best friends, his true family. Unlike Alec’s father and brother, they both accepted and loved him. The three of them had emigrated from Italy the same day, and thanks to something (God, maybe) their parents had decided to enroll them in the same primary school, where they met one more time and never separated again.

Each had their story and their reality. Alexandra, her mother, and her siblings had emigrated from Italy when Alexandra's mother discovered that her husband was cheating on her and he proceeded to abandon them right after. Currently, Alexandra's mother was a sex worker, who accepted a roof to sleep under and a few dollars as her payment. Alexandra had a lot of siblings, but she was unaware of all of them, as they were all often troublesome (Alexandra herself included). She didn’t have a especific home, just a one room department where she kept her stuff, but she tended to sleep on bars or James’ house, as she didn’t want to be near her mother nor her siblings.

James, for his part, was the son of a lesbian marriage of strict mothers. James had no siblings and lived in a fairly luxurious apartment in the center of the city. He was quite a strange being, very thoughtful, who played the piano and loved to read (in fact, he lent a lot of his books to Alec, under the excuse that he was being merciful to his brain, since the educational system would never teach him what he had to learn; books, on the other hand, would do).

“Or maybe yes,” James said, responding to Alexandra's prediction. Then he asked, “Why don't you fly?”

Alec snorted. Alexandra and James helped him train his powers during the weekend, on the coast. Some time ago, Alec had accidentally learned how to levitate. However, it was a skill that he still didn't know how to control very well. Alexandra said it was because he had an internal imbalance, and that until he found a trigger inside him to use his powers, he would be an unstable prodigy.

The prognosis was grim. Alec still couldn't find his trigger.

“I don't think it's worth being burned in public for being a damn prodigy who just wanted to get to school on time,” Alec muttered, in response to James.

Alexandra looked at him sadly. Her eyes, which were accentuated by a bold winged eyeliner in their upper lash line, were loaded with infinite knowledge about Alec's everyday life.

“Again?”

It was not necessary to agree, the words were unnecessary. Another tremor had occurred at the apartment of Drain Way and Southwest 435. Dante had not lost the habit of spanking his son over the years and Alec had gained the habit of exploiting his powers when this happened. Apparently, his trigger was deeply connected to his survival instinct, but he believed it went beyond that. He was lucky his father hadn't found out about it and killed him yet, but with Dante being so drunk when he hit him, it was very likely that he believed the tremors shaking the building were only a side effect of the alcohol in his body.

“Calm down, Ace. You will learn to control your powers. What happened to the helmet?” James asked, moving closer to Alexandra and Alec. The three of them ended up sitting on the floor (with a mattress of the thickness of a piece of paper, sitting on it was practically sitting on the floor).

Alec huffed.

“I look ridiculous.”

Alexandra laughed and stroked Alec's curly hair, intending for it to be a distracted move but ended up coming off as an extremely calculated one.

“You are powerful, Ace Artino. Don't forget that,” Alexandra said, in a whisper.

James snorted. While he believed in the power of subtleties, he also believed that there was an exception to the rule when applied to flirting. As far as Alec knew, James didn't believe in love, at least not the romantic kind.

“Go change, Artino, or we'll really be late,” James ordered.

Alec nodded, searched the edge of the bed for his clothes, and went to the bathroom to change. A pair of old jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black jacket that was bigger than it should have been. Since they could no longer afford gel (David was selling fewer metals every day; Gatlon was actually very competent in that market), Alec turned on the water tap and filled his hands with it, then ran it through his hair. He took the wooden brush that had been Julieta's, and combed his hair back. He didn't have time to brush his teeth but he hadn't had had dinner the night before so it didn't make sense to do that.

James and Alexandra were waiting for him in his room; they were lucky that Dante was gone (he barely ever was home) and that David had already been picked up by his friends to go to the cheapest private school Dante had managed to find. Alexandra had a hand resting on her hip, accentuating her curves even more, as they were already pretty much accentuated by the black strappy dress she was wearing. Alexandra always wore the most inappropriate clothes for every situation: formal and daring for school and careless and masculine for when she went out. It was almost as if “rebellion” was her middle name.

Maybe it was.

Alec approached them.

“Take my hand, you bastards,” James ordered, and suddenly, he took Alexandra and Alec's hands.

And they teleported to school.

Teleporting was a strange sensation and process. It was for your organs to shrink until your liver was next to your tongue and you could taste it; it was for your bones to separate until they were mixed as a premix; it was that your eyes multiplied and divided at the same time; it was your skin folding like origami

And it was also the opposite. It was for your organs to inflate like balloons and hang in the air; it was for your bones to shrink and move away from each other like polar opposites; it was for your eyes to remain static and imperturbable, it was for your skin to stretch and stretch like a gum that Alexandra chewed.

All of that, in a second.

Alec hated and deeply loved what it meant to teleport.

He knew James knew that.

They were in front of the dilapidated building that was their school, the only public school in Gatlon. The building was at least half a century old, had dirty colonial-style arched windows, angry henchmen and angels with trumpets in the four corners of the building's roof, dirt from years marked vertically on the adobe walls, walnut doors that creaked, rough granite floors (which you wished would not to fall on), high ceilings and low ceilings, a fifty-square-foot basement, more than twenty pairs of rooms and bathrooms flooded since (probably) the construction of that place.

Before becoming hell-for-students-only, it had been a madhouse (Alec could not escape the irony of that).

Alec believed that such places were meant to be destroyed, and yet he feared that he would be the one to destroy it (intentionally or not) as James adored that deplorable, ancient construction; he’d even chosen to go there instead of going to Gatlon’s most prestigious private school, all because of his friends and the indifference of his mothers about it (they said that as long as he had the best grades in the entire school, he could assist any school he like).

Furthermore, destroying their school would only earn him a one-way trip to be burned on Gatlon's main avenue, being the evening's entertainment.

Maybe even James’ mothers would hunt him down if he did that.

Alec sighed. One more day, one more day, one more day.

James gave Alec and Alexandra five seconds to recover and then stepped onto the front porch. The massive walnut doors were already closed, but Alec opened them with his mind. Alexandra smiled at him and James nodded, pleased, as they passed through those doors and found themselves in the main hall.

Professor Tatjer was waiting for them, her arms crossed.

Marie Tatjer was a woman in her early eighties (she couldn't be eighty because she should have already retired at that age, but she seemed to be) who always wore a stern and tired expression. Her eyes were tiny, her skin was wrinkled like a sea full of waves, and she always wore a thigh-tight skirt and a swamp green blazer. Alec despised her deeply, as she had been a recognized Prodigy Hunter, and did not allow their access to her institution. In other words, what kind of monster denied another human access to basic education?

Well, Marie Tatjer.

“Mr. Roselo, Miss Onitraze, Mr. Artino, why are you arriving at this time? Classes started ten minutes ago.”

While Alexandra continued to chew on her gum, her blood-red gloss lips never faded off, and Alec opened his mouth to respond (although he didn't know how or what to), James stepped forward and used his talent for words.

“We had a prodigious delay,” James answered at the second. Alec and Alexandra frowned together, in sync.

“Justified and logical delay. You're forgiven,” professor Tatjer replied, patting James, who was the star student at that school. Alec didn't snort, as James' favoritism came from many sides, whether he was the richest kid to ever go to that place or he was really smart. Plus, he was incredibly handsome.

The favoritism made sense.

Professor Tatjer walked away, and when she was out of sight, Alexandra tapped James on the shoulder, without being too subtle.

“Why are you such a liar?” asked Alexandra, queen of brutal honesty. She was frowning as she pulled a cherry lollipop out of her leather backpack and put it in her mouth, without removing the gum she had been chewing up to that point.

James smirked and rubbed his fist against Alexandra's skull, tousling her hair. Alexandra showed him her tongue, red as dawn.

“I did not lie. I spoke a partial truth. We are prodigies and we had a delay, that she has interpreted that we come across a burning of prodigies is not my fault,” James replied, with a smile from ear to ear, showing his pearly teeth.

Alec was still unconvinced, but he had to admit he was crafty. Maybe he should start learning from James and be more mischievous on the basics, like getting away from punishment after class for falling asleep.

“Lying is not the same as telling a partial truth. You must know when to say one thing and when to say another,” recited James, to settle the matter. Alec raised an eyebrow.

“Who said that?” he asked.

“Me,” James replied.

The three of them laughed.

“What class do we have now?” Alexandra asked, distracted as she took a gum from the front pocket of her leather backpack. Her constant need to have something in her mouth and for that something to be sugar, was insatiable. James never missed an opportunity to remind her that she was going to die of diabetes (to which she replied “better diabetic than burned in the streets,” thought it didn’t make any sense).

“Literature,” Alec and James answered together. They looked into each other's eyes, in sync.

Alec smiled shyly. James also smiled, pleased. Alexandra, out of nowhere, started clapping and hopping on her leather boots, stolen from one of her mother’s clients.

“We should go see a psychic!” the girl snapped.

James frowned and frowned, creating a contemptuous sneer. Alec raised his eyebrows and opened his eyes.

“What's that about?” Alec asked.

Alexandra made incomprehensible gestures with her hands, moving her red nails, and began to vomit distorted words:

“You see, seeing you so synchronized made me start to think about coincidences, and that led me to think about destiny and that led me to think about who can read it and that made me think about the pamphlet I saw yesterday (which was from a psychic) and that made me think that I really wanted to go see her and that I also wanted to invite you so, that.”

James and Alec were still stumped.

“All that in seconds?” James asked disbelievingly.

Alexandra nodded. Alec and James sighed and walked alongside Alexandra to their classes.

“Alex, do you still have that pamphlet?” Alec asked. Alexandra took out a crumpled paper from her backpack. Alec took it between his fingers and stretched it out. The paper had the following words written in Chinese ink:

Irene López

Psychic

Downtown 68 and Lumbrad Street

“It looks like it wanted you to find it,” Alec commented, regarding the paper. Alexandra only darkened her smile with intrigue and mystery.

“Who knows ... maybe that pamphlet found me.”

James snorted.

“Paper has no legs, Alexandra Onitraze,” James spat.

“I know, Little Anarchist,” Alexandra crooned and ran off before James could even land a good blow. James hated being called a “Little Anarchist” just because he believed that prodigies should destroy everything and rule the world. Alec sighed and laughed at the same time.

Anyway…

That was his family.

His eccentric and crazy family.

His real family.

They might not be united by blood but by love, the work of fate.

Was it true that destiny was written?

Alec didn't know.

But he knew who did.

He looked at the pamphlet, crumpled in his fist.

Someday…

“Gosh, I'm tired of this shit.”

“Language.”

Alexandra stuck her tongue out at James, and he rolled his eyes. Alec laughed.

“What’s for lunch today?” he asked. His head ached, his throat was begging for food, and he hadn't had anything to drink or eat since last night. His stomach was queasy and empty at the same time.

Alexandra noticed this, and took a chocolate bar out of her bag.

“I drank all my water but eat this, now,” she ordered and practically stuck the chocolate bar in his mouth; she wasn't going to take a no for an answer nor allow Alec to starve (although he could live three weeks without food).

Alec lifted the chocolate up to his lips and his stomach growled with pleasure knowing that it would soon have sustenance. In addition, the chocolate was delicious since it was one of the most expensive available (and what food would not taste good after eighteen hours without eating?).

It was twelve o'clock, and although there were still a couple of classes left, they were at recess for lunch. The school canteen (like its cafeteria) was in the interior concrete courtyard, outdoors. The canteen always offered two options, quite expensive for the quality of what they offered, but you could always bring your food. James ate the food from the canteen, or brought his own from time to time, and Alexandra and Alec shared the food, which could be stolen by Alexandra, or paid for by Alec once a month.

Alexandra sighed/yawned/groaned.

“But, seriously, how long ‘till get out of here?” she grumbled, as they walked through the crowded hallways, toward the courtyard. A north wind had invaded Gatlon, so Alexandra had donned her baggy blue-black wool sweater, with a yellow “A” painted with acrylics on the chest. When Alec or James asked her why or what that “A” meant, there was always a different answer: sometimes it was “Alexandra”; other times, “Alec”; when she wanted to sulk at James it was “Anarchy”, she even once said it was after the A in “Asshole”.

In short, its meaning was like a mathematical variable. It could mean anything and was only defined by the related factors.

“It depends,” answered James, “are we talking about daily school or our education in this building?”

“Both,” Alexandra replied, rummaging for something in her leather backpack.

James smiled cruelly. He was about to land a low blow on Alexandra.

“Daily, we'll get out of here in two hours. Yearly, there’s still four years left.”

Alexandra moaned pitifully. Alec frowned because James had laid out facts and hadn't used them against Alexandra as his smile had predicted ...

“But for you, with your detentions and your grades, you still have four hours in here and maybe six years, if you're lucky enough.”

There it was.

Alexandra groaned upset, as she dropped her backpack and let it hang from one of her shoulders.

“Will you EVER be nice to me? JUST ONE TIME!” Alexandra asked, waving her hands frantically. James laughed.

“I'll try,” James promised, but Alec watched as he crossed his fingers behind his back.

Alec took them and forcibly uncrossed them.

“You will,” he muttered through his teeth.

James sighed.

They reached the courtyard, which was more crowded than the hallways, even. There were students lining up, students occupying tables, or students just chatting. Alexandra raised her chin without losing her composure, looking for a table to sit on. When she saw a well in the background, closer to the metal fence that separated them from a patio with trees, she smiled and went to it.

But first they had to pass through the tumult of students.

And that...

Would not it be nice.

They all had reputations, Alexandra used to say. “For better or for worse,” she explained. Alec didn't know how to feel about it. Alexandra used to wear low-cut dresses, mini skirts, boots, all embracing her skin, muscles and curves; only when they went to school. People whispered things about her. People said she was flirty. That she wanted to show off. That she was ‘asking for it’. Alexandra had gained a very delicate type of reputation for the only reason she was confident in her own skin, in this case, in her clothes (the fact that people knew she was the daughter of a prostitute played an important part in it too). She said she didn’t care, and Alec believed her. She was strong. However, even strength became fragile as a feather sometimes, and he often caught her rubbing her red eyes after coming out of the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Alec and James had no proper reputations; they were the misters nobody, the weird dudes, the clients of the sex worker. James would be a star to the teachers, but to the students he was just a show off who came to show all the money he had and they didn't. He could buy everyday anything he needed or wanted from the cantine, he wore silk and cotton clothes, his smile shone more than one hundred pearls under the light of the sun; he was a prince and everyone could see that. Besides, he didn't hang out too much with people other than Alec and Alexandra, his family, his ground wires.

So there they were, swimming through a sea of gossiping, hormonal teenagers, trying not to drown in the insults and whispers.

Alec and James were walking behind Alexandra, together, as she knew where they were going, and just as they were about to leave the crowd, a girl with light brown hair approached Alexandra and tried to spank her.

Tried.

Alexandra caught her by the wrist on the spot, and pulled her, until their noses were inches from each other. The girl's eyes were pure lava and Alexandra was a human iceberg.

“Whore” spat the girl.

“I’m not a mirror, Jessica” replied Alexandra, with a cold superiority smile. She released her wrist, as if it disgusted her, and Jessica left.

Alexandra went to the table, sat down, and Alec and James did the same.

Alexandra blew out a breath and laughed hysterically. Alec and James looked at each other.

James's irises said “Is she crazy?”

Alec's said “I have no idea, but let's stay silent.”

And then Alexandra's eyes watered.

“I'm not a whore,” Alexandra whispered, her plate voice crashing into the wall.

James took her hand.

“You're not, Alexandra,” James comforted her, and closed his lips to open them again and said, “Your mo…”

Alec stomped his foot and James opened his mouth in a silent scream of pain.

Luckily, Alexandra didn't notice.

Alec took her other hand, and Alexandra looked at him. She hadn't shed too many tears.

“I’m… I’m… sorry. I shouldn't have…” Alexandra began to apologize.

Alec shut her up.

“Don’t apologize for feeling.”

Alexandra's eyes sparkled, and her lips formed a faint smile.

“Thanks, Ace.”

Alec just nodded.

Alexandra snorted, activated, and straightened up. She rubbed the palms of her hands, and her eyes were sparkling again.

“Whateverrr, I'm gonna buy some food. What do ya want, Ace?” Alexandra asked, back in her usual mood.

Alec shook his head.

“Anything that contains sugar. And water, please.”

Alexandra raised her thumbs and marched towards the canteen, pushing her way through the tide of students, not caring about anything, sure and confident of her sparkling personality.

James sighed.

“She's gone completely off the trolly,” he commented, pulling a sandwich out of his pocket.

Alec laughed sarcastic.

“Haven’t we all?”

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