#she was barking up the right tree tho

[star-girl69]

Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby

Clarisse La Rue x Fem!Demigod!Reader

—-

sypnosis: clarisse comforts you after a nightmare.

a/n: when luke in ep two said “we all get those super bad recurring nightmares” i don’t think he expected for me to screech and kick my feet and make fanfiction out of it. anyways, i hope you all enjoy!!

Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby - Cigarettes After Sex

warnings: nightmares obvi, mentions of death, mentions of violence, kissing, soft clarisse I NEEEEDDDDD YOUUUUU, pretty much cutesy tho, not proofread, tell me if i missed anything!!

—-

Clarisse always called you baby. She called you about every nickname under the sun, but she always came back to that one. That’s exactly how you ended up here in her bed.

You’re both not quite asleep yet, staring at the ceiling, listening to her siblings still shuffle around. Clarisse has the best bunk in the cabin, a single in the corner, and all the power and influence to make sure that no one snitches.

She only does this every once in a while, dragging you to her bed even while you worry about getting caught, calling you baby the entire time. She kisses your worries away and says that no one will care, no one will even notice.

It’s not like you’re doing anything bad, you’re just sleeping.

You recently got a new cabin mate, a very sweet boy who seems very scared and very young, but Gods does he snore extremely loud. You almost wonder if the healers should have a look at him- but he seems to have no clue that he snores.

You’ve dealt with snoring half-siblings for years, but none of them have been this bad before. It’s so loud you swear it sounds like a roaring truck.

And of course, Clarisse noticed. Clarisse noticed how hard it’s been to sleep lately, she noticed how you always seemed to reluctantly split up from her at the end of the day, she noticed the bags under your eyes.

As night continues to fall, Clarisse’s grip on you becoming looser as she slowly drifts off.

“Quiet, right?” she mumbles, kissing your forehead. You listen to her heartbeat. Much more comforting, much more rhythmic, much more her.

“Quiet,” you affirm.

“Good. I-I’ma fall asleep now. Night, baby,” she mutters, and you can feel her heartbeat slow and she’s out like a light.

Clarisse has always had this amazing ability to just knock out whenever and wherever. Even for a five minute power nap, she can lay her head on the table and be up and refreshed. Sometimes you even swear she closes her eyes and falls asleep standing.

You follow her.

It’s so quiet here, except for her breaths brushing against the top of your head, except for her heartbeat like a lullaby. It’s such a cold summer night, but you’re so warm in her arms.

Falling asleep is a lot like falling in love, because it’s all the same action of letting your guard down and letting something in. You fall asleep every night just like you fall in love with Clarisse every day.

—-

It’s cold. It’s so, so cold. There’s the ashes of a fire next to you, and you feel so startlingly alone, like you shouldn’t be alone.

You’re in the woods, but there’s sand on the ground instead of dirt and leaves. You’re in the woods, but there’s leaves on the trees even while you’re teeth chatter.

You stand up, bare feet sinking into the cold sand, your arms wrapping around yourself. You’re supposed to be warm in her bed. All your wearing is a t-shirt. It’s like you’re at the beach at night and you forgot the sun is the reason it’s hot.

There’s a whisper of a sound, like wind blowing, and the fire springs to life.

You gasp and jump back into a tree, the rough bark scratching at your back.

You look around but there’s nothing, no weapons, and the tree branches are too far up to rip one down. There’s no wood burning the fire, just ashes. But now that you look at it, the sand around the fire is covered in some sort of bubbling black liquid.

Only on one side, like it had been blown at it.

There’s some sort of slithering sound, like a snake, and talons dragging against a tree, like a knife.

It’s coming from above you.

You look up and barely have a second to realize a drakon is staring down at you, roaring right in your face, before it looks into your eyes and you can’t move. Can’t breathe.

You can’t do anything except for get swallowed whole.

—-

You jump up, blanket’s falling around you, gasping as you look around the dark room. But it’s not there, it’s not that weird place, it’s just the Ares cabin. It’s just Clarisse’s bed. It’s just Clarisse.

She shoots up right behind you, awake immediately.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” you whisper, thanking the Gods none of her siblings have woken up to see you so shaken by a stupid nightmare. “Nothing, sorry.”

She looks out into the darkness like she’ll see something, but she doesn’t, of course, it’s all in your head. You know it’s all in your head, but you can’t help feeling like it’s real.

“It’s not nothing.”

You lay back down, pulling the blanket up to your chin. You stare at the wooden ceiling.

“Don’t wanna talk about it,” you finally mumble.

“Y/N.” She always calls you baby, except for when she really wants to get your attention. “Tell me what happened.”

“Stupid nightmare. It was stupid. It’s all stupid and embarrassing.”

You can feel Clarisse visibly deflate. She settles back down next to you, laying on her side.

“It’s not stupid,” she whispers. “It’s normal. For demigods, at least.”

“It doesn’t feel that way.”

You press yourself closer to her and she lets you, she wraps her arms around you tight and folds herself around you. You feel shaky and uneasy, like there’s something under the bed, no matter how childish you know it is.

“Tell me what happened and I’ll tell you how I would have fixed it,” she says, her lips brushing your temple. She adds after a moment, “Or kill it. Was it a monster?”

“A drakon,” you whisper. She hums.

“Did it breathe fire? Spit acid? Have those creepy paralyzing eyes?”

“All of it.”

“Ooh,” she mumbles, like it’s a challenge. “I would… blind it with the electricity from my spear. And while it’s distracted, I’d stab it however many times you wanted.”

“I didn’t like that place either,” you whisper. “It was so cold. So dark, and it was like a forest was on the beach, cold sand.”

She doesn’t say anything.

Her hand travels up your body, tracing your face until she draws circles at your temple.

“I can’t protect you from what goes on in here. But I’ll always be out here, baby.”

“I know,” you say, and it’s true. “I know you will be.”

“So you won’t mind me telling you eight more times?”

“No,” you breathe, smiling.

“Good,” she kisses your temple. “I’ll always protect you. I’ll always protect you. I’ll always protect you. I’ll always-”

You shut her up by pressing a kiss to her lips. She smiles against you, slow and sweet, just you and her.

She drags herself up on the pillow, so her head is above yours, her arm under your head. Her other arm around your waist, hand splayed flat against your side.

“Sleep now, baby.”

“Clarisse.”

“I’m right here,” she says, like it’ll solve all the problems in the world. Yeah, the cabin’s burning down, yeah, there’s a tsunami coming towards you- but she’s right here. She’s right here. “Nothing’s gonna hurt you, baby.”

And you believe her.

Clarisse always calls you baby. She whispers that name in your ear until you fall asleep.

—-

y/n, waking up: omg that was so scary

clarisse, fully ready to start attacking the air: WHERE THEY AT BABY WHERE THE DEMONS AT WHERE DO U SEE THEM

we love a gf who supports their slightly schizophrenic gf (me, i am the slightly schizophrenic gf)

—-

me after choosing a drakon (the monster that killed silena in the last olympian) as the monster that kills y/n in the dream 😊😊😊😊😊

—-

taglist:

@lvrue @t-wylia @laughingcheese037 @kroumi @urdeadpoet @colezb @rey26 @harmzilla @elliewilliamsbae @amberfreemansburntface @kyuupidwrites @neverwaakeme-up @shark1008 @liballer @heyimadison @nvirskies @pnsteblnme

#clarisse la rue #clarisse la rue x reader #clarisse la rue x y/n #clarisse la rue x you #pjo tv show #pjo x reader

[crusty-chronicles]

BONUS AIRHEADED S/O HEADCANNONS: Zoro (One Piece)

An: I wanna face plant in his tits. 👉👈

---------

Zoro knows you're stupid

He knows

But he'll still take your advice like you actually know what you're talking about

Resulting in it back firing at him 90% of the time

"Hey! Which snakes are poisonous again?" He asked after getting bit by one.

"Red and yellow will kill a fellow. Red and black are friends of Jack." You recite proudly, remembering what Robin thought you.

"Okay, so what does this count as."

He holds up a bright yellow snake.

"Um.... Probably not venomous."

It was indeed venomous and poor Chopper had a heart attack trying to come up with an antidote.

Especially after Zoro kept insisting 'he was fine' and 'he'd tough it out.'

Honesty, he doesn't care if you're stupid most of the time.

Luffy's just as dumb and look at him.

Well, maybe don't. But it doesn't change the fact that he's already following one idiot around.

What's one more?

You leave out food? For the ants??? So they don't get hungry?????

"You're gonna cause an infestation in the kitchen...Wait, never mind. You're doing a good job."

He'll help you put the blame on Ussop just so Sanji can continue to suffer.

"What do you mean you broke the fish tank!?!? Franky's gonna be pissed!"

"That stingray was looking at me funny."

You gesture towards a fish that was not a stingray.

Honestly you give him a headache most days.

But he's too lazy to worry about what you do

As long as you don't rope him in.

He also won't baby you.

Rather, he helps cover up whatever trouble you caused or just laughs off your antics.

Partner in crime, at least until Nami finds out

Then you're officially on your own.

He still loves you tho

Just from a distance 👉👈

You probably came along a little after Thriller Bark.

Joining from the island they were currently resting at because according to Luffy, 'They're really cool.'

Which is never enough reason to join the crew.

But it's not hard to see what he meant when he asked you to 'do the thing' and you tore a tree up from its roots.

Yeah, you can stay

Just don't cause trouble.

He warms up to you after a while.

Namely seeing you interacting with Nami and her actually smiling.

If Nami likes you, then either she was gonna hurt you or you must've been genuinely a good person.

(It's because she'll tell you to do something and unlike their captain, you don't complain.)

You also get on Sanji's nerves, which immediately puts you in his good graces.

There isn't an isolated moment or anything leading up to him falling for you.

He was just watching you mess around with Luffy and Chopper when he realized he liked your laugh.

Then your smile

And when you caught him starting, you waved with an overly excited expression.

Like a puppy

And it makes heat flood to his cheeks, forcing him to turn away.

Zoro is about as romantic as a rock.

There's no way he's going to court you

If you're expecting a date, then I've got some bad news.

However ☝️

Zoro's way of flirting is inviting you to train with him

You're the only one allowed in the Crow's Nest when he's in there.

He's a man who admires strength, what can I say.

Toss him over your shoulder, punch him, hell lift some weights and he's 💗💗💗

It's also a way for him to show off

Slightly flexing to see your reaction. But of course, you're stupid so you don't really notice when he does it.

Tell him he's strong and he'll carry that with him the rest of the day.

If your weapon of choice is also a sword, he's smitten

In the stupid way tho. Like trying to teach you his techniques or critiquing yours.

"You're not doing it right." Is an excuse to correct your form and touch you

If he really loves you, he'll invite you to nap with him.

Sit on his lap or he'll sit on yours. He doesn't give two shits.

Either way, he's tired and wants to cuddle.

Let's you smoosh your face between his boobs if you ask nicely.

Only you 🫵

He'll glare if someone's watching and laughing.

"Yeah? Jealous it's not you?"

Zoro loves fighting with you

He won't hold you back if you want to fight

Not only can you keep up, but you move a little faster than him.

Seeing you sink marines gives him a feeling of pride.

Like, look at you!

That's his S/O!

He'll be excited to see your bounty go up along with his.

NEVER go exploring on an island alone

You two will not be found for days

Somebody who isn't an idiot and has a good sense of direction has to go with you.

It's probably Sanji tbh

Does Zoro get jealous?

He doesn't have the attention span to get jealous

Someone's flirting with you?

Eh, you don't notice it anyway. That person can try but they'll never get anywhere.

You haven't been spending a lot of time with him?

He'll just sleep with the full confidence you'll be back when he wakes up.

He just isn't worried about you losing interest

BUT he'll be damned if that cook comes anywhere near you.

Again, about as romantic as a rock.

He's not gonna be calling you lovey dovey names.

He also finds it embarrassing.

You won't catch him pulling that 'Nami-Swan!' crap.

He'd rather die

But on a very rare occasion where it's just the two of you, he'll call you baby or babe.

Nothing other than that

And he'll deny he ever said it

No confession to be found

He likes you and you seem to like him, so you're his.

Unless you say otherwise, you're dating.

MASTERLIST

#zoro x reader #zoro x y/n #one piece x reader #one piece x y/n #roronoa zoro #one piece #x reader #x y/n #airhead s/o #stronk s/o

[pastel-peach-writes]

bro I love your storys so much😭especially the catvi ones lol just wanted to ask if it was possible since it's winter time, to write a Christmas special with Caitlyn and vi× reader where it's snowing and they're decorating for Christmas and opening presents n'all that holiday related stuff,i would really really appreciate it, idk if it's such a good idea tho lol,but the end of the day it's your choice if you wanna write it or not , and again I love your works,keep doing what your doing,it's literally god work😭🙏

HIII ANON! I love this idea! For those who don't celebrate Christmas, I will be making a more vague/winter headcanons post to make sure everyone is included in some way possible. Happy holidays and New Year to everyone!

Merry Christmas (Ya Filthy Animal) | CaitVi Headcanons

╰┈➤ PLOT: Headcanons of CaitVi spending Christmas with you!

╰┈➤ WARNINGS: Not Proofread, Sapphic Fluff, No Use of Y/n, Mention of Modern AU

⍣ ೋ Enjoy!⍣ ೋ

– One thing about babygirl Vi is that she absolutely loves Christmas.

– When she was younger and with her parents, they did occasional Christmas activities, but nothing serious. Then with Vander and Powder, Vi tried to keep the Christmas spark alive for her sister, but eventually, the two of them lost the Christmas spark as they grew older.

– Despite wanting to rekindle her love for Christmas, Vi never had the time or resources to (ya know, being in prison and all).

– So, with you and Caitlyn, she gets to act like a kid again.

– She forces you guys awake super early on a weekend to get a real Christmas tree, cider or hot cocoa, and to shop for some decorations.

– Caitlyn's a casual enjoyer of Christmas.

– Her family celebrated, but celebrating to the Kirammans meant fancy and stuck-up dinners, stiff Christmas dresses, and getting clothes you didn't like as a child.

– Caitlyn much preferred the romanticization of Christmas like baking cookies, taking your partner(s) out into the snow to dance in the streets, reading by the fire, and listening to Christmas songs while decorating the house.

– Also, the Kirammans believed in fake trees to avoid mess and hired someone to decorate the house once they felt Cait was old enough to remember decorating for Christmas. (so like, age 8 is when they began to hire people).

– You can imagine Caitlyn's worry when Vi first brought up chopping down a tree and dragging it into the house.

–– In Vi's words, the trees you see before the tree farm are better in height, thickness, and smell.

A grunt came from the buff pinkette. She lodged her axe into the tree's thick bark, barely making a scratch. "I'm sure, Cupcake. Come on, I've seen movies about this."

"Oh, yeah? And how did that work out for them?" you chimed.

Vi let out a sarcastic laugh. "It went just fine." – –

– After the initial shock was gone and pine droppings were scattered throughout the house, Caitlyn found herself buzzing with excitement. Vi was right. The smell of pine-scented ornaments and sprays was nothing compared to the real thing.

– Just don't tell Vi that.

– When it comes to decorating the house and the tree, you guys have a routine and assigned roles.

– Vi gets the tree, brings it in, and sets it up. You two help her of course. When everything is set up, Caitlyn goes to bake the cookies you guys made last night, Vi cleans up the tree mess (and hides the damage she made on the floors), and you start decorating the mantle.

– When your jobs are completed, you gather to decorate the tree together.

– Each year someone is assigned to put the star on top of the three. This year, it's your turn!

– Vi is a person who puts the star on before the tree is decorated while Caitlyn likes to do it last. As for you, you do whatever makes you happy.

– If you do it before, Vi cheers while Caitlyn recoils in playful disgust.

– If you do it after, Vi will try to coax you into putting the star on top but fails each time. When you finally put the star on the tree, Caitlyn sighs out of relief and takes a step back to admire the tree.

– More like a modern AU of things, VI LOVES HOME ALONE. One is her favorite, and the others are irrelevant to her.

– She wants to name a future child, or pet, Kevin, but you and Cait won't allow her.

– Naming someone, or something, that name puts them up for failure. You already have a rambunctious scamp named Vi, you don't need another named Kevin.

– As for presents, you guys like to do stockings, gift exchanges, and your own gift trade.

– In your household, one person is responsible for the other's stocking. Exp: you would have Cait's, Vi has you, and Cait has Vi,

– Though you guys try to keep it a secret, who had who is obvious. Caitlyn likes to gift thoughtful and useful gifts for the stocking stuffers, Vi just does whatever makes her laugh and what reminds her of y'all.

– One year, Caitlyn got a porcelain broken witch's shoe. The reason? The witch shoe reminds Vi of Caitlyn's heels and the broken part reminds Vi of the one time Cait stubbed her toe so hard that she misshaped the toe of her shoe.

– Vi laughed so hard she was redder than Santa's suit. Meanwhile, Caitlyn looked like she swapped faces with the Grinch.

– As for gift exchanges, Caitlyn's "uppy tighty rich" friends host a Christmas party each year.

– You three dominate the competition by bringing the best and worst gifts ever.

– The worst gifts are funnier ones, courtesy of Vi, and the better gifts you three brainstormed on and spent hours shopping for. (Sorry, Vi)

– Each year, the gifts are a hoot and Vi is thankful at least one of Caitlyn's friends knows how to season food.

– As for your own gifts, you each set a price range for individually bought gifts. This way, you can buy a partner a lot of cheaper gifts or one really big one.

– You three also set out separate times to go shopping in pairs to buy gifts.

– So, you and Vi would go shopping to get a shared gift for Caitlyn, the same with you and Cait for Vi, and then Vi and Caitlyn for you.

– The budget for those gifts is kinda all over the place, but you each have an idea of the price range because you know what the other gifts are.

– On the big day, you three start by changing into your matching PJs, if you haven't fallen asleep in them already, washing your faces together, and herding into the kitchen.

– In the kitchen, Vi is in charge of making breakfast pancakes. She's not in charge because she's good or anything, no. Instead, she's in charge because she tries to make the pancakes holiday-shaped but fails miserably.

– You and Caitlyn take joy in guessing what shape the pancake is supposed to be.

– You focus on the other aspects of breakfast like the meat, eggs, grits or rice, etc. Whatever you see fit, you make.

– This leaves Caitlyn to make the hot drinks which is more like an unspoken rule.

– When the three of you first moved in together, you and Vi would make Caitlyn's coffee for her because she had long nights and early mornings. This would be one thing to take off her morning list, right?

– WRONG.

– With each new attempt, the coffee always came out wrong to Caitlyn.

– At first, the mistakes made sense.

– "Vi, I'm chewing grounds in my coffee." "Darling, this is Earl Grey, not coffee."

– But once you and Vi got the hang of things, her reasons got nitpicky.

– "This roast isn't dark enough." "Too dark." "Is this decaf?" "Is this even the right brand of coffee?"

– Eventually, you and Vi studied her when she made her coffee and jolted the recipe down. But, even following her routine to the exact "T" wasn't good enough.

– – "You know what?" Vi huffed, tossing down the spoon she used to scoop the coffee beans. "I don't want to do this anymore. Day in and day out, we always get her 'order' wrong. I don't think it's worth the extra hour of getting up."

With a heavy sigh, you stare into the empty mug you held. Deep down, you knew Vi was right but you both agreed to take on the challenge and to one day give Caitlyn her perfect cup of joe. It couldn't be the end already...

It's only been a year and 36 days!

"Yeah," you said putting the mug back in the cupboard. "Maybe we're not good coffee makers, Vi." Vi slung her arm around your shoulders, grinning proudly.

"I'm fine with that, Muffin. Are you?"

Feeling some sort of accomplishment stir inside you, you nod and match her grin. "Yeah, actually. Like you said, we get an extra hour of sleep back."

45 minutes later, Caitlyn woke up to no coffee on her nightstand. Relief washed over her and she smiled after coming to. Finally, the war was over.

Caitlyn could make her coffee and have her mornings to herself before going to work.

Here's a little secret about Caitlyn: she didn't want you guys making her coffee in the first place. Her coffee was the one thing she had to control over on weekdays. She didn't want anyone else taking that from her. – –

– Since then, Caitlyn has been in charge of making her own coffee and other hot drinks on Christmas day.

– After eating breakfast and trying to guess the shapes of pancakes, you three gather in the living room and open up stockings.

– Of course, Caitlyn already has the fireplace on and Christmas music playing softly in the background.

– As for opening the actual gifts, Cait's the type to open them up carefully and precisely. Vi is as violent as Jinx when it comes to opening up her wrapped gifts.

– Vi likes to say, "No way!" or laugh really loudly when she gets a gift she wasn't expecting.

– Caitlyn's smile takes over her face, her eyes beaming. Her cheeks get pink as she realizes you and Vi pay more attention to her than she thought and then she says a sheepish "thank you".

– It happens every year and you wouldn't change it for the world.

– When you open your gifts, the girls cling onto each other and giggle when you open a gift they said you weren't getting.

– "HA! Bet you thought you weren't getting that, huh, Muffin?" "That is the right one, yes? We knew you wanted it for a while."

– If they ever remember to get a camera, they forget every year, they take pictures of your sweet face and cute cheeks when you open up your gifts.

– People's hearts and bodies typically warm up after having something hot, but Vi and Cait's warm at the sight of your smile and pure joy.

– Your essence and feeling is the only thing that can't be captured with a photograph, but Caitlyn and Vi are grateful to experience it first hand.

WC: 1,730

#pastel-peach-writes #gender-neutral terms #pastel peach writes #gender neutral terms #lesbian #arcane fanfiction #caitlyn x reader #vi fanfic #vi x reader #vi x caitlyn #caitlyn x vi #violyn #vi #vi x you #vi arcane #caitlyn fanfic #cait x vi #caitvi #caitlyn arcane #caitlyn kiramman #vi x reader x caitlyn #caitvi x you #caitvi x reader #caitvi fanfic #caitlyn x you #caitlyn x reader x vi

[onenicebugperday]

@galacticnova3​ submitted: Another honorary bug, this one being a yellow garden spider! Or yellow garden spiders, I should say. I rescued the first girl from our pool; I’d noticed her web on the side before and liked checking in on her, but found that a fallen branch had knocked her home down. She was clinging to a piece of it and the branch in the water, so I found a long stick to get her out, assuming she’d grab on and hang out on the stick to dry like other pool-going spiders I’d encountered in the past. She decided the stick wasn’t good enough though and traveled all the way up to my hand.

I ended up moving her to our patio to help her avoid repeating the unfortunate pool incident, and she decided to set up right by the stairs. This was her a couple days after, putting the orb in orb weaver because I had offered her a big “sorry you had to move” grasshopper. By this point I had gotten attached and named her Vandalism because my dad didn’t like her choice of housing location and I had to convince him to leave her be.

She laid four egg sacs in that location before moving to a different part of the patio, where she eventually laid a fifth that was about half the size of the others. I wasn’t sure if any of them were viable, until she had decided to move. I thought a bird had gotten her because her web was destroyed like something had flown through it and she was nowhere to be found around the area. As soon as I announced her passing my dad told me to take down what was left, eggs included, and in the process the oldest of the three ended up ripping. Imagine my surprise when little babies started spilling out! I ended up putting that first torn sac on a nearby oak tree, since the rough bark would hold it easily and give the not-quite-ready spiderlings places to hide. Then a couple days later I noticed Vandalism was actually alive and had set up in a different spot, though she later moved from that and laid the fifth egg sac.

She has since passed, but I’ve been keeping two of the sacs safe indoors, those being the fourth and fifth ones; the second and third were given to my mom for her yard. Originally I had the big one in my vivarium and the small one in a ziploc bag, but I underestimated how far along the babies were and hadn’t considered the fact that they can fit through the terrarium lid. This became apparent when I went to brush my hair and teeth after watering the vivarium, only to be delayed because I spotted a baby in my hair and subsequently found a bunch exploring the shelf. Behold: a tiny graffiti!

Now both eggs(which are both healthy, babies have been confirmed in the small one!) are in the ziploc bag, but a few babies have been left in the vivarium both because moving them would be difficult and because I figure those that get out can’t get far without wind to carry them, so I can just put them back if they stray away. They’re all doing well and I’m hoping to be able to release them when the weather warms up and they’ll be safe from cold snaps and starvation. Crossing my fingers most of them survive until then!

I love Vandalism!!! She is big and beautiful and I’m glad you rescued her from the pool. Her giant web is very impressive, good for her. RIP tho. And her babies!!! Too tiny...criminally small. Godspeed little spiders! I hope lots of them survive until the spring :)

#submission #bugs #spider #arachnids #animals #yellow garden spider #Argiope #spiderlings

[tpotr]

Hello my author, I came to leave a message to remind you when I have time and of course make a one-shot of your characters from your fanfic with all of Rhaenyra's children, all born girls HAHAHA I feel sorry for our boy, having to deal with his sisters and the strong girls!!!

I ended up finishing this right before a plane ride, thankfully! Thank you dear for always being so supportive <3 This is a little plus for all the readers. This is an AU tweak where not only the green children are genderbent, but also Rhaenyra's children. Meaning M!Hel (Rhaegal) is the only boy. You know the green girls names if you are here, so for Rhaenyra's children: F!Jace - still Jace as nickname, Jacaera F!Luke - Liliana (after another Velaryon girl) F!Joffrey - Josephine (not mentioned here tho) F!Aegon 3 - Alyssa F!Viserys 2 - Viserra

Aerea sits disinterested on the high table, sipping on her Arbor red. It is a holy day, and the Red Keep has turned into an odd mix of a tavern and a sept. The frigid brick of a High Septon is sitting by her uncle Daemon, still as if he’s about to piss himself. Aerea has the inclination to cringe at that, but actually does when she notices the poor singers who had been utterly ignored as they sang their hymns. It is the Feast Day of our Father Above, a day for tables of roasts and toasts, as well as a day to lay judgement, for the Father watches over and makes one’s judgement auspicious.

It can be argued that the most auspicious judgement of the day had been by the seating planners. While their father is sitting between their mother and half-sister on the elder side of the table, Rhaegal sits parallel to him, a human divider between her and Rhaenyra’s eldest daughter, Jaecaera. Effectively, he split the table between silver-haired sisters and brown-haired nieces. 

The seating choices had been deliberate. ‘The girls do not get along, therefore we must stick the boy in the middle.’ 

She does not find this decision astute, to say the least.

Aerea used to get along with her eldest niece, back when she looked like a little boy. She even gave her the nickname Jace. However, then she grew to own the same audacity and unfailing entitlement her mother is known for, learning how to speak well without knowing how to apologize. The girl used to be a cute, pugly thing; now she just knows how to bark and worse, be charmingly coy. 

Aerea will admit, she does not take it well when her husband has to play peacemaker. He’s an approachable sort of man, whose looks are graceful enough to be inviting and is of gentle enough character to be mannerly. Meaning, he is susceptible to being taken advantage of by girls who are bold enough, and very easily used by girls who want to annoy her.

“When I passed by the gardens, I remembered how we used to play hide and seek,” Jace reminisces fondly. Aerea brings her hand over her husband’s. Lest he thinks I’m not attentive, she thinks to herself. He glances at her nervously, squeezing her fingers between his for some assurance. Jace looks at her sister, chuckling. “Well, Liliana’s sobs came to mind first, really. When she couldn’t find us on that tree, if you recall.” 

“Can you let that go?” Liliana exclaims, and for once, Aerea agrees with that twerp. As if it has any relevance now.

“Never,” Jace smiles, affectionately patting at the top of her sister’s head. “It is a shame we don’t have as much of a thriving garden in Dragonstone. It is barren, rocky land for the most part. I wanted to play similarly with Alyssa and Viserra. These are sweet memories to have.”

Aerea’s fingers move slowly over Rhaegal's fingers. She’d consider it an affectionate warning, but it seemed more a hostage situation. 

Rhaegal swallows, offering a timid smile. “You can still play with them there during this visit,” he suggests.

Jace perks up. “I should, I suppose. Will you come? I think they’d enjoy your presence. You’ve always been good with children.” 

Aerea’s finger squashes down on her husband's index. I’ll smash your pug nose flatter than it already is. 

She moves herself to look beyond her husband and stare down her offending niece. “We will come. Our twins need more companions to play with. You’d think Maelor would be enough, but they still ask for more siblings.”

She expects it to shut Jace up, but the girl's chocolate brown eyes crinkle. “That would certainly do,” half a dimple comes upon her face as grins at Aerea.  She represses any giggles, and pats Rhaegal’s shoulder. “Seems like you have some work cut out for you, though.”

What does that mean—

She very nearly stood up. She would’ve, hadn’t it been for Rhaegal promptly grabbing on her hand and squeezing on it as if to contain her. His face is entirely flushed red, and that frustrates her too, until he lifts himself from his seat and dragged her alongside him. “We should dance,” he says abruptly, whisking her away. He doesn’t wait for any confirmation, taking her towards the dance floor.

Jace watches them as they leave the table, full grin on. “And I after!” she announces with roaring laughter.

Aerea would have gone back to chew her out if it hadn’t been for the fact Rhaegal already turned to glare at their niece. Clearly flustered, but deliberately glaring. She finds him handsome when he glares. She supposes it is the conviction that appears in a usually carefree gaze. She similarly does not resent the grip of steel he has on her, but that better not be because he must separate her from Jace.

“She flusters you?” Aerea accuses, not asks. Her hand reaches for his shoulder, as the dance’s form calls for, but her nails dig deep at the shirt and skin. She doesn’t care if it makes her easily irritable, the next she sees a strong hand on his shoulder she’d cut it off. If they can take eyes, why couldn’t she take hands? That brazen bitch deserves it.  

Rhaegal gathers her close to him. His hands are supposed to go on her waist, but they sit lower than the small of her back. It is a pleasing enough feeling, and she feels a surge of heat rushing through her— No. Focus. She must keep the frown. He needs to answer! 

“No,” he says, and he sounds awfully riled as he says so. “It is only that she inserts herself to where she shouldn’t.”

Aerea grabs at his nape to look at her. “You think me blind to not see that? I had the entire day to see. Oh, I know she dreams of insertions, that—”

His grip on her becomes more forceful in a split second. It makes her take a deep inhale within. “Hardly,” he says, and cranes his head closer to her ears. “She thinks it amusing, to make you frustrated. Just as she thinks she helps me by making you frustrated.”

“You don’t—” Aerea starts, but  then takes a moment to digest that statement. She feels her ears grow hot, embarrassment and anger smoking at each flushed lobe. For a moment she feels stupid, and then she feels rage. That girl played her like a fiddle? On purpose? She hates that. More than anything. “I’m not jealous,” she says, trying to ignore the waves of envy that ran through her before and now. 

It is just no funny thought to her, having him tempted by Jace. Those bastard girls could do anything and be acquitted from any fault by their mother. As if she doesn’t hear Father talk of how easier it would’ve been had her husband just married her instead. It started with Rhaenyra and continued with Jace and gods be good even if the lot of them die she may just hear the same with baby Viserra.

She knows she had been stupid at times, but she gave him three children and all the love she has left to give. She hates, loathes, abhors how easily they make her feel replaceable. 

Rhaegal puts his forehead against hers. “You needn’t be,” he soothes, as he knows to do. He knows she yearns that quelling, and that makes her scared by itself. She has made so many mistakes, but he holds her heart tender. He nuzzles against her and it is all reassurance, until she opens her eyes and meets his gaze.“But I’d like the flush on your face to be all for me, as well.” 

She considers stomping his foot, if only for the mere suggestion that any redness could come to her cheeks if it wasn’t for him. Jace couldn’t have embarrassed her for years to come if she hadn’t used him. If it wasn’t for him, she would’ve found a reason to smash Jace’s face into her plate of cake and she would’ve been as pale as the moon doing it. 

“As if it could be for anyone else,” she says quietly, and licks her lips. She knows this isn’t quite how he likes that phrased. Between her cynical and his lyrical their words never match unless they make the effort to make them as such, and it is an effort worth making. “I love you.”

He is not one to reach out to her when they are among the masses. His intimacy is a separate section of him, belonging fully to her when they share a lone room. A secret only she knows.

Regardless, he kisses her this time, full on the lips. 

He knows how she likes his love expressed, too.

Aerea sighs as the kiss breaks off. She expects bulging eyes at the two of them. To imagine the prince will disrupt an entire dance routine only to kiss his wife; an event worth the stares for once, if you ask her. She hopes Jace had looked and blushed at a site that required none of her incitement.

And yet, the choice to kiss her has not seemed to have compromised their secret at all. The eyes of their guests are all on the high table, where seemingly, a yelling match between Aemma and Jace is taking place. Or more like, Jace is barking, and Aemma is smirking.

Hah! She should’ve known Aemma wouldn’t have let her get away with things. Sometimes little sisters are good to have.

Aerea almost steps in to come aid her, but Rhaegal holds her arm.“Don’t,” he whispers to her ear, and she blinks at him. Mother and Rhaenyra stand to calm the yelling girls, and he continues, his hand sliding down to hers. “They will be alright. Let’s go.”

“Go?”

He weaves his fingers in hers. “Before everyone can notice.”

Aerea smiles widely. A day for fine judgement indeed; her husband has his wits about him. She squeezes on his hand, dragging him with her instead of slipping away any sort of gracefully. His pearly whites show as he stifles a laugh.

The lords and ladies, and all their family can look as they rush away together. Because his very smile is mine.

#hotd fanfic #i'm not going to even tag it the normal tags this feels too indulgent LOL #*rhaegal #*aerea #*aereagal #*aemma #*reqs #*answered

[training4theapocalypse]

Finders Keepers Ch 3. (Cormac McLaggen x fem!reader)

Rating: Explicit 18+ (this specific chapter is PG tho)

Word Count: 2.1k

Summary: McLaggen needs a date for Slughorn's party. It would be stupid to ask you, Alicia Spinnet's ex-girlfriend... right?

A/N: Smut is coming ONE DAY but just not today

Masterlist

Chapter 3: Poster Girl

Harry Potter was a no-show once again at Slughorn’s dinner party and so Cormac McLaggen didn’t get the chance to grill him. As far as he was concerned, Potter was a decent enough seeker but he didn’t have the strategic mind to be Captain. Not in the way that he did. And if he couldn’t play on the team, McLaggen was determined to give Potter a helping hand with strategy - he wanted Gryffindor to win the cup as much as anyone else.

At the end of dinner, Slughorn announced that he was going to be hosting a Christmas party the day before school stopped for the holidays. McLaggen’s new concern, now taking precedence over Gryffindor’s upcoming game, was who he was going to bring.

“Oi, Belby!” McLaggen catches up with Marcus Belby in the corridor outside Slughorn’s office. “You’re, er, friends with the Ravenclaw Captain, right?”

Belby gives him a quizzical look. “Hardly.”

“You’re in the same house?”

“Yeah, but she’s not exactly approachable. Unless you’re into Quidditch or books… or punching things, probably.”

“But do you know if she’s…” McLaggen searches for what he’s getting at. “It’s just -  I wouldn’t mind getting to know her on a first-name basis if you know what I mean?” He adds with a juvenile smirk.

“You’re not seriously thinking of asking her to Slughorn’s Christmas do, are you? Think you’re barking up the wrong tree there, mate.”

Oh. “You reckon?”

Belby snorts. “I mean, yeah, she’s fit but you know she was going out with Alicia?”

“She’s never gone out with any blokes in Ravenclaw?’

“McLaggen, she’s a keeper.” He stresses the last word like it’s synonymous with ‘lesbian’. “And I’ve heard she’s got a poster of Gwenog Jones above her bed.” Before McLaggen can consider this, Belbly leans in and adds quietly. “Look, take my advice. If you want to ask someone who likes a Quidditch player, you should ask her.” He nods at the back of Hermione Granger’s head as she disappears off towards Gryffindor Tower.

Nevertheless, McLaggen finds himself looking forward to double Potions the next day. Despite your hostile reputation, McLaggen and you have been having as much fun as two people can in the confines of a Potions classroom. 

At the start and end of your lessons and in the spare moments when you stood together waiting for potions to brew, he enjoyed seeing your face light up animatedly as you reminisced about saves you’d made and he’d do the same, delighted to have someone who was genuinely interested in his play-by-plays, offering him your opinions and asking questions. 

And, McLaggen thinks, watching you adjust your ponytail in concentration while you wait for your Hiccoughing Solution to boil over, it doesn’t hurt that you’re not bad to look at either.

“What?” you ask bluntly, noticing him staring at you. 

Shit. He changes the subject.

“I just remembered I had meant to tell you Gwenog Jones was at Slughorn’s dinner a couple of weeks ago.” 

“She- what!?” You throw your head back wistfully. “I am obsessed with her.” The agonised expression on your face twists a knot in his chest. He’s not sure if it’s a pang of desire or jealousy. Or both.

“Yeah, well, no guessing why you like her,” he says, thinking about what Belby said about the poster above your bed.

“Er, she’s a legendary beater and the Captain of the team I support? Of course, I like her.”

“Yeah, and she’s hot.” He raises his eyebrows. 

“Oh, right, yeah. She is.” You say sharply and add the final dash of powdered silver to your cauldron with a throw that he deems is probably more aggressive than necessary. McLaggen quietly adds his powdered silver to his own potion, deciding to drop the subject. He’s keen to distance himself from your notoriously hot temper.

You both wait silently as Slughorn does his rounds, giving both you and McLaggen glowing praise before dismissing the class. It seems to have put you in a better mood because you  start talking about your plans to train with the Ravenclaw team tomorrow night as you tidy up your things. 

“I’m gonna stay late afterwards and do some drills if you want to get some keeper practice in too?” you ask tentatively.

“Not worried about me spying on your technique?”

“Maybe if you weren’t the reserve keeper.”

You’re teasing him. And he doesn’t know why but he really, really likes it. 

It’s unorthodox, to say the least, for players in opposing teams to train with each other. A small part of him wonders, or maybe even hopes that you’re trying to find an excuse to spend more time with him. 

You grin at him, waiting for his usual cocky retort and slip your hair free from your ponytail, shaking your head. The swish of your hair sends the scent of coconut his way, and the fragrance reminds him dimly of your first Potions lesson together.

“Listen,” says McLaggen, deciding against best judgement and holding you back as the rest of the class leaves the room. “I think Gwenog is coming to Slughorn’s Christmas party.”

“Don’t rub it in, McLaggen.”

“Well, we can bring someone and I, er…” he clears his throat. “I was wondering if you wanted to come?”

He watches for your reaction - it’s obvious you hadn’t expected this. “To Slughorn’s party? Together?”

“I mean-” he blusters on. “- I thought you might want to come and meet her?”

“It’s just y’know Slughorn’s club… the principle of it.” 

“It’s fine if you don’t want to,” he adds quickly. “But it would be more bearable if you were there.”

“Alright then.” You duck under the table to look for your bookbag before he can read your expression. “I’ll go with you. And meet Gwenog, I mean,” you add hastily.

“Excellent,” he says, retrieving your bag from the chair where you’d left it. You throw it over your shoulder and he walks behind you watching the way you move as you walk, following you out of the dungeon. “See you at the pitch tomorrow night.”

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

When you catch up with Marietta and Cho at the top of the stairs, you have to shush them urgently as they start squealing with glee after hearing about your conversation with McLaggen.

“Oh don’t worry- he can’t hear us!” says Cho and sure enough, he’s out of sight. “This is so exciting!”

“Do you even have a dress?” asks Marietta, which annoys you, mostly because she’s right in her assumption. “Oh! You should find out what he’s wearing so you can match!”

“I’m gonna have to stop you there, Edgecombe.” You gesture like you’re being sick. “I am not wearing something matching McLaggen. Back in a sec.”

They wait for you outside the girl’s bathroom, discussing this latest news. You pause as you’re about to come out of your cubicle when you overhear the unmistakable sound of crying and a dreamy sort of voice that you think you’ve heard before in the Ravenclaw common room. You peer through the crack in the door to see Luna Lovegood and Hermione Granger huddled by the sinks.

Hermione is drying her eyes with paper towels. “He’s been horrid to me ever since he started going out with Lavender.”

“Yes… he can be very unkind,” Luna says evenly.

“And I asked him to Slughorn’s party. I feel so stupid. I don’t even want to go. I just thought it would be nice if the two of us… oh, never mind.” She blows on her tissue loudly.

You stay silent. You’re no good at consoling people. And even if you were, comforting Hermione would be tantamount to betraying Cho and Marietta.

“There, there.” Luna pats her on the back. “You deserve to go to the party with someone better than Ron.”

“Yes, I suppose-” She pauses in thought. “Yes... Someone better… Ron would hate that.”

They both make their way out of the bathroom and you can breathe again. You wait a few moments before joining Cho and Marietta in the corridor.

“Did you see that?” you ask, and then fill them in on what you just heard.

“She deserves it,” says Marietta, bringing her hand up to touch her scarred face. “But since when did you care about gossip?”

“Don’t you see? That explains McLaggen getting confunded at tryouts-”

“Oh no, not Quidditch again,” sighs Marietta.

“No, listen! Granger fancies Weasley so she confunded McLaggen, making him miss the last penalty.” They exchange looks. “What? It makes sense!”

Cho links your arm. “You need to just admit that McLaggen had an off-day at tryouts and let it go.”

“No, don’t discourage her,” says Marietta, linking your other arm. “I like this side of you. Boys… gossiping… Now, wait until you hear about what Zacharias Smith said about Ginny Weasley.” You roll your eyes. “C’mon! It’s actually about Quidditch!”

You groan, letting them lead you down the corridor to Transfiguration.

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

Later that night in the library, McLaggen and a couple of the other seventh-years are comparing Ancient Runes essays.

“Leanne,” says Hermione Granger, approaching the trio from behind a bookshelf. “How’s Katie doing?”

McLaggen and Eddie Carmichael look at Leanne solemnly. They know all about Katie Bell’s incident with a cursed necklace in Hogsmeade. For the past week or so it had been all anyone had been able to talk about.

“Still in St Mungo’s but she’s awake at least,” explains Leanne. “She’s still not well enough to talk about who gave her the necklace yet though.”

Hermione nods. “If you speak to her, tell her Harry, Ron and I are thinking about her, please.”

Leanne nods and they go back to their essays but Hermione lingers for a second.

“Cormac?” she asks gingerly. “Do you have a second?”

McLaggen locks eyes with Eddie who looks up from his Ancient Runes essay interestedly. He abandons his quill and follows Hermione away from the group between two rows of books.

“Are you going to Slughorn’s party?” she asks.

“Yeah?” 

Hermione pauses but when McLaggen doesn’t fill in the empty silence she continues. “Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go together?”

“Er,” he blinks in surprise. “I’ve already asked someone else.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realise you already had a date.”

“It’s, er, more like a friends sort of thing.” 

“Pity,” says Hermione, taking a step towards him. “Well, let me know if anything comes up and you decide you’d like to go with someone else… as more than friends, I mean.” She squeezes his arm as she brushes past him and out of the library.

McLaggen stays rooted to the spot for a few seconds and blinks a few times before shaking his head and returning to the rest of the group with a bit more swagger than before.

“What was that all about, mate?” asks Eddie.

“Just breaking hearts left, right and centre,” McLaggen relaxes back in his chair, hands behind his head and recounting his conversations with you and Hermione.

“Hm…” Leanne gives McLaggen a knowing sort of look. “So you’re going as friends?”

“I’m just being a good wingman,” he says, a lot more breezily than he feels, and reorganises his parchment so he doesn’t catch Leanne’s eye.

Eddie laughs and slaps his back. “That makes more sense. Be a good lad and get her and Gwenog under the mistletoe.”

“Yeah, well I doubt she’ll need it,” agrees McLaggen, ignoring the empty pit in his stomach. “Gwen would be mad not to fall for her.”

Chapter 4: The Invitation

#freddie stroma #harry potter fanfic #harry potter #hp fanfcition #hp fanfic #cormac mclaggen #mormac mclaggen x reader #harry potter fanfiction #hp fic #hp fanfiction #harry potter and the half blood prince #Cormac mclaggen x reader #cormac mclaggen x female reader #female reader

[panzershrike-pretz]

HYDRA SCARLET-IBIS

Source: x x x | x x x | x x x -> song: Dream

I was a little girl alone in my little world Who dreamed of a little home for me I played pretend between the trees And fed my house guests bark and leaves And laughed in my pretty bed of green I had a dream That I could fly from the highest swing I had a dream Long walks in the dark through woods grown behind the park I asked God who I'm supposed to be The stars smiled down on me God answered in silent reverie I said a prayer and fell asleep I had a dream That I could fly from the highest tree I had a dream Now I'm old and feeling gray I don't know what's left to say about this life I'm willing to leave I lived it full and I lived it well There's many tales I've lived to tell I'm ready now, I'm ready now I'm ready now to fly from the highest swing I had a dream

- About;

- Hydra Scarlet-Ibis Serpens - she/her

Hydra's name came, first and foremost, from the Constellation of the same name, which is one of, if not the biggest of the modern constellations. At first her name was an accident, but I learned that it actually fits her. The biggest star in the constellation, Alpha Hydrae, is a giant orange and it plays it's part in Hydra's actual colloration.

The Scarlet-Ibis bit is because of the bird, who can be seen in the aesthetic board. Her name was actually "Hydra Guará" for a bit, which is the Brazilian name for the bird, but I decided to change it to thess english version and use Guará as a nickname.

Finally, Serpens, which is the surname of the family she comes from, derived from the constellation of the same name.

- Potion maker and nurse

Hydra's role aboard of Blithe is, more or less, the eole of mother and guardian to all it's crew - but besides that, she is also in charge of potion making, cook helperand nurse, working alongside Pangey.

Hydra grew up in a very rich family and learned, since she was young, how to take care of people; it actually spilled into her pirate life after she left her husband to join the crew. Hydra had a rough past and made it her mission so her friends would not go through half of what she did.

- Goddess of Family, of Childhood, of Justice and of Fire

She is one of the most important Gods in the Pantheon of Fantasia, being the first one with who every child has contact as soon as they're born. Hydra is considered a protector os children and of relationships.

Her powers include fire manipulation and fire breathing, which are actually considered good during fights and attacks; she's able to make her whole body catch on fire at will, tho it drains too much energy and requires total cincentration.

Besides that, being and Ymbryne such as Athena, she's able to create time-loops for protection; the lack of training in this area makes them very susceptible to colapsing, so she usually refrains from creating them, unless exztremelly necessary.

Finally, the ability to turn into a Scarlet-Ibis and understand birds. This is useful in its own right - although Hydra's bird form is a bright red, it still can be somewhat good in soying missions or swift getaways.

- Personality

Hydra tries to be the most responsible persin on the ship; she's usually the smarter one, to whom everyone goes to if they have any questions.

Her usually calm and kind demeanor make her the official Terapist(tm) of the crew; it's not her job but she never refuses to help.

Even tho she's always there to help, insecurities and trauma that have build up all her life still inhabit her mind and she usually is caught in some serious self-doubt and the paranoia that she's not good enough pr worthy of anything she has.

- Funfact: Hydra is probably the one that went through the most appearance changes, but her backstory mostly stayed the same since her creation, apart from some extremely tiny details.

- Relationship: -----

Her hair is made of feathers. I love it. A lot :]

#pretz oc #🥨🪶

[sugacor3]

Muted Memories

Summary - Y/N suddenly gets taken back to her University days, reliving the hurt and love she went through (?)

WARNINGS - a *little bit of angst*, mostly fluff tho

“Holy crap, I’m gonna kill someone - I swear-”

Y/N’s lifelong friend, Jihyo, sat still, not daring to anger the woman anymore. She simply waited until her friend flopped to the office break-room floor, head in her hands.

“You’re overreacting, no way Taehyung is going to actually fire you!” Jihyos sharp voice cut through the silence. “Besides, it’s not like this is your first time missing a deadline.”

Y/N groaned, knowing her friend was right. Working at one of the most prestigious offices in all of New Orleans was stressful, and she knew what she was getting into when she first applied. Despite that, she didn’t expect it to be this traumatic. Every second there seemed to be a cacophony of phones ringing just for her, another person asking for Y/N's help, piles of work at her feet.

“You think I could finish the article by tonight? I think I’m going to leave early.”

Jihyo gave her a thumbs up, mouthing a silent “*Go for it!*”, her hand already reaching for the company phone to alert them of her early leave. Y/N smiled, murmuring an *“I love you”* while packing her things, grateful to be working in the same office as Jihyo. Nearly tripping as she walked out, Y/N hailed a taxi, hoping that she would be home before Taehyung would call to chide her about her missing work. She cringed thinking about his reprimands before telling the driver the address to her apartment.

The taxi was small, the stench of tobacco ingrained into the seats. The drive was long, giving Y/N the time to drown in her thoughts. Leaning against the window, she closed her eyes, the soft piano playing on the radio pulling her into a dream of her past, of what she could have become.

*“Y/N? Y/N, wake up!”*

Y/N awoke with a start, confusion littering her senses. She looked around, taking in the setting around her. The tender chimes of the wind and gentle rainfall surrounding her was a melody to her ears, reminding her of the times she would play the same for-

*“Y/N!*”

She blinked. Turning her head, she was suddenly met with the face of a boy she thought she would never see again.

“..Yoongi?”

She whispered, not trusting her voice enough to speak clearly.

The boy smiled, his eyes curving into half moons, *her favourite.* He stretched out his hand, beckoning her to clasp it. She did, and he pulled her up, bringing her close. *He still smelled like amber and roasted coffee,* she thought, his scent reminding her of the music room at her old high school.

“Y/N, you alright?” he asked, eyes showing clear amusement at her behaviour.

Her eyes widened. “Yes.” she muttered in a small voice, moving away from him and staring up. A soft smile lit up her face, now realizing that she was under a cherry blossom tree, the ones she would sit under while studying in Seoul. She moved towards the bark, placing her hand against the rough skin. She turned around, wanting to ask Yoongi what this was about, when suddenly her world switched.

The muted keys of the piano surprised her, Beethoven's *“Moonlight Sonata" echoing* the somber notes of her life. Humming along, she began to inspect the room she was in; *the University’s music room.* She winced, memories flooding through her mind. Her fingers glided against the strings of the violas, waiting for him to speak.

“Were you serious?” Yoongi’s voice, filled with heartbreak and distrust, asked. Y/N turned towards him, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. To relive this again, God must be punishing her for something she’d done before.

Before she could answer, the melody suddenly ended, Yoongi pushing the stool away and staring at her. She knew he could see the answers in her eyes, as he did once before. He began to chuckle, wiping his hand across his face.

“Alright,” his voice crackled with emotion,  “Thank you for the last three years Y/N, I hope you truly enjoyed them as I did.”

Y/N reached towards him, wanting to tell him she didn’t mean it, that she loved him more than she loved herself. Yet, it was futile, the scene changed into a black screen where-

“That’s $35, ma'am.”

The taxi driver announced, breaking Y/N out of her trance. Her eyes opened, adjusting to what just happened. Her eyes grew, soon realizing she was still in the taxi. ‘*This poor man probably spent minutes trying to wake me up!’* she thought, face reddening while apologizing to the taxi driver.

“Thank you again!” she waved, mentally beating herself up for letting that happen. She sighed, dropping her hand, the memories of her university years now stuck in her head. Walking blindly, wondering what could’ve happened if she never told Yoongi she wanted to end what they had.

Suddenly she walked into what seemed like a wall, her bag dropping on the floor, all its contents spilling out. She opened her mouth, wanting to apologize, when suddenly the *“wall”* bent down helping gather all her supplies.

“I’m so sorry-” he began, soft black hair falling into strands on his face when he looked up. The recognition on his face was priceless, apology forgotten on his tongue as he stared at the woman in front of him.

“Y/N? Is that you?” The man asked, a smile beginning to form on his face.

“Yoongi?” Y/N questioned, not believing her eyes. He still looked the same, his pale skin gleaming in the sun. The only thing that changed was his hair, now a more natural colour rather than the stark ones he had in university.

*“How does he still manage to look so good?”* she wondered, suddenly conscious of the dark eye bags under her eyes and her dark hair tied up into a messy bun at the base of her neck. Despite that, Yoongi looked at her like she was an angel, holding out his hand for her to take.

“How’s life?” he asked, voice quiet, as if he was afraid of her running away.

“It could be better, you?” she answered.

“It’s pretty good.”

An awkward silence filled the air, both of them looking away onto the floor.

“Listen,”

“I’m sorry-”

They both looked at each other, Y/N with worry and Yoongi with a questioning gaze.

“Why on earth would you be sorry?” he questioned, confusion littering his tone, “You did nothing wrong.”

Now even Y/N was confused. “What do you mean? That day? In the music room?”

“Yea, you did nothing wrong. I mean, it was abrupt but I understand. We were young, and sacrificing everything was scary so-”

Yoongi couldn’t finish his sentence before Y/N broke down crying. Everyday she regretted telling that to him, and now here he was, telling her that it was alright. Yoongi was startled, but still crouched down beside her to comfort her. They sat there for hours, talking about life. What they were doing, how they were - trying to catch up all the lost years together.

By nightfall, Yoongi had walked Y/N home, promising her that he would meet her tomorrow. Deep in their hearts, they knew they would be together again one day.

#bts #bangtan #bangtan sonyeondan #bts x reader #bts fluff #bts angst #bts fanfic #bts suga #min yoongi #min yoongi x reader #min yoongi fluff #min yoongi angst #suga #suga x reader #suga x reader fluff #suga x reader angst #suga fanfic #suga fluff #suga angst #agust d #agust d x reader

[eternal-now222]

Period Post!

I love love love when I begin my bleeding cycle. It’s when I am the most in tune with mind, body, soul and universe. It wasn’t always this way tho.

Ever since I started menstruating (at age 10 I think) my periods were heavy metal, meaning I would bleed through both a tampon and a pad and be in so much pain I physically couldn’t stand up straight. Everything was awful on my period and finally my mom brought me in to the doctor to see what we could do. He prescribed me birth control. Surprised? Probably not. Womben are so quickly given pills and heavy medications to put into their bodies when they simply just need to know what’s going on. He never walked me through balancing my hormones or discussed progesterone or nothing. Gave me this pill, it’ll fix all my problems. For a while I loved the pill, I set an alarm on my phone, took it every day, my doctor gave me a type I would stack for three months and then stop taking them for a week so I could bleed. That week was always fucked cus it takes a long time to get out of your system so by the time I would bleed I would start taking the pills again. I’m gonna wrap it up: I took birth control for about 12 years.

Fast forward: I’ve come off the pill, spent the time necessary to cleanse my body of the pill. My periods took a while to be some regular and coming off the pill they were just as heavy and painful as before. The things that changed my life are proper education, appreciation for my womb, following the right people on social media, herbal remedies and rituals.

It’s so important to learn that the time that we run on is built around mens bodies, as are most things. We have different cycles and our timing is divine and if we can connect to it, life gets easier. Learn the 4 phases of your cycle; inner summer, inner fall, inner winter and inner spring. I’m in spring rn and I’m feeling like I’m blossoming into my next phase of life, energetic, hot af, and connected.

Herbal medicine has impacted my life in many ways but nothing seems as significant as my period. One cup of this tea and my cramps are completely GONE! Use equal parts chopped cinnamon bark and chopped dried ginger or freshly grated ginger root and honey to taste if you like. For one cup of tea use 1 teaspoon of ingredients. I have this tea every bleed and it instantly helps.

A big thing I learned is you want to keep your womb warm to avoid pains. Keep your feet warm, don’t eat cold foods, your jaw and pelvis are connected so always try to relax your jaw, singing and sighing are wonderful. Also you are what you eat (in the nicest way) so if you haven’t already made a change to be more aware of what your putting in your body definitely do it now. What you intake will be the factors that balance your hormones. Something important to note is food is everything that is consumed; what you eat, what you watch, what you listen to and what you say to yourself.

A huge part is learning to love your period. Menstruation is the beginning of time and your womb is a portal. Around every 28 days depending on your own cycle, you go through death and rebirth. It’s sacred and powerful. Look into some ancient stories of worshipping menstrual blood and figure out some rituals and practices that inspire you. For example I love giving my blood back to the earth. I free bleed so I rinse my underwear in water in a jar and then pour the water onto my plants or the trees roots outside. Once your blood is healthy and free of toxins from pills and what not, it has so many healing factors for life in all aspects. I also love to use my finger to gently collect some blood directly from my body and place a dot on my forehead where the third eye is. It’s beneficial as a face mask as well. Also note that your first bleed is the most powerful!

I got so much important and beneficial info from Womben Wellness who you can find on Instagram under that name and also Facebook. The womban that runs it name is Usha and she does actual courses on this type of shit! She also does free educational zoom calls every once in a while that I tune in to. You could just google Womben Wellness as well, but definitely look into her she’s amazing. I get my divine love for my cycle from Goddess Molding who you can find on Instagram as well with that name, she also has a website where she sells sacred ceremony handmade items. She’s the one that shared all those bullet points in the last photo.

I could go on for EVER about this stuff, I’m so passionate about it now that I’ve learned some basic stuff that they didn’t teach us. I’m worried I’ve gone on too long so I’m finishing up now. Definitely check out those womben I recommended, they will explain everything a lot better and more beautiful than I did. Also note that every body is different and responds in different ways. It’s really figuring out what path YOU should take, what works for your body specifically and taking responsibility for your health. No one else is going to fix your body for you, and that was the hardest pill to swallow. Also remember that your womb is not separate from your body, any other health issues you have could be impacting your period. Going down this road could expose a lot of other health issues.

@changingandhealing ❤️

#divine feminine #spiritual healing #menstrual cramps #menstruation #womben wellness #womb #femi9 #goddessmolding #uterus #ritual #herbalhealing #reclaiming your bleed #aunt flo #connected #gratitude #love #cycles

[aurore-parle-de-ses-idees]

30! for Est annnd... a ranger of your choice :3

@isi7140 also sent est + 30! i may or may not end up doing another one that fits this, tho i make no promises either way lol. recommended: completion of troubled dreams :)

The grey mist clears only slowly from his eyes, and his thoughts return slower still. He hardly feels the rough bark of the log-bench he rests on beside a cold campfire, or the soundless wind that stirs the slender tree branches. Even his hands feel distant, numb as if from cold or from laying on them too long. He doesn’t recognize the encampment around him, larger by far than the Company would ever need and well-fortified. The banners and blazoned shields might declare it for Rohan, if not for the scattered signs of the White Hand, or for the dead, men and horses all. 

He rises, and trembles when his knees nearly give out beneath him. His back aches, like something terribly cold has been pressed against it for far too long. “Hello?” he calls, but no one answers. 

There is one long tent in the west of the camp, little different from any other to look upon, but it draws him in. 

Inside, cots are laid out like an infirmary, supplies stacked on tables and in corners when they aren’t strewn across the cots. They are empty- all but one.

“Esterín!” The other bodies in the camp had been faceless, or as good as. Strangers, if they were the faces of real people at all. Esterín is neither dead nor faceless, though her face is twisted even in sleep and lined with heavy sadness. Her arm is bound tightly to her chest, and what he can see of her skin is marked with bruises and smaller scrapes.

“Esterín?” he tries again, but she does not stir. Candaith finds a stool and sits beside her, taking her good hand in his. Distantly, he knows this must not be real, not the way he sees it. He has read enough accounts of such dreams and visions of the dying to guess what this is if he cared to, is touched with just enough of the Sight of the Dúnedain to more than suspect. He had felt doom settle heavy on him when they had entered the deep chamber where the pale banners of the Mountain flew, and had resolved then that even if he was not meant to escape it, then at least his friend might. Surely she had not escaped the Oathbreakers only to be laid low here among strangers.

“You will be well,” he murmurs to her. “You will be.” You must. Please. Let anything of the Forsaken Road end well. Let them lose one fewer friend than it seems they must, before the end. Esterín does not reply, still and silent like her spirit has not joined him yet, here between home and what comes next. Perhaps he should be glad of that; if she is nearer the lands of the living, then that is all the better. He is glad of that. Mostly. Glad for her sake, but lonely, too, with only the dead he does not know for company, and no knowing what is to become of him. “I will wait with you as long as I may,” he says, though she cannot hear him. “Perhaps one day we will meet again, on the right side of things.” He can hope. There is little else to be done here but wait, and hope, and so he does.

#ask games #est #my stories #candaith doesn't really remember most of this #and est isn't really. awake in any sense of the word #but! still a thing <3 #candaith

[zozo-01]

One Bad Day

So I told @yetdevout about my little head canon about how Starlight was only in the area where Blake and Avior were fighting because they were angry at their parents forcing them to look at rishta offers. I had a pretty crap day today so I'm just gonna write this.

Some clarification, a rishta is a sort of marriage proposal. It is used in a lot of Desi arranged marriages and it is up to the person to sort through them and find potential candidates to look into.

Warning: Desi Starlight (Still gender neutral tho)

--

"Ami, I get it, but I don't want to have sit down and-" The freelancer was cut off by their mother. They removed the phone from their ear, seeing it unnecessary due to the yelling on the other side of the line.

Part of them was grateful that this conversation was happening over the phone and not in person. Had their mother been in front of them, she would have gone another tangent about the 'disrespectful look' they were giving her. They could just hear the word baadmash rolling from her tongue.

If they were being honest, they would not have minded looking at the rishtas they were receiving. They weren't the type of person to date, being far too busy to dedicate their time to another person. But beyond that, they didn't want to be vulnerable. Not until they knew without a shadow of doubt that this would be someone who will be with them in the long term.

Perhaps it wasn't conventional by some standards, but it's worked for thousands of families in the past.

Starlight knows that it would work for them.

The problem was that they didn't want to deal with this shit right now.

Starlight has always seen compatibility in a logical way.

Do our likes and dislikes match? Do we have a similar moral compass? What beliefs and values are we willing to compromise to make this work?

But Starlight also believed that their heart had to want to make those decisions. Have those hard conversations. There was no point in considering the options available when they couldn't see themselves doing what was required.

It wouldn't have been fair to the rishtas or to themselves to have their heartlessness affect the outcomes. And when it comes to marriage, those outcomes will be dire.

They thought that their parents had agreed to not pester them about this until they were done with their studies at D.A.M.N. They only had a couple of years left and then their parent would have been free to barrage them with potential names all they want.

But no. The fear of Starlight getting 'too old for marriage' had crept in and now they are hellbent on changing their mind.

They understand their parent's fear. They really do. But for once, they just wished they'd look at things from Starlight's perspective. That they weren't ready to make a commitment as grand as marriage while their brains were filled with deadlines and assignments.

Despite the clarity of their mother's yelling through the phone, Starlight elected to let the words pass through their brain. They had forgone their usual sharpness in exchange for blissful ignorance.

"Yes Ami, I know. Can we talk about this later?" Their mother responded with a yes and a goodbye, before hanging up the phone. Her tone indicated that she was happy that Starlight was 'being swayed' by her words.

They let out a frustrated scream, thankful that street they were on was busy. They marched on, with no destination in mind. Their hope was with every stomp that hit the ground, a little bit of the headache that was forming would go away.

It did not.

Starlight continued their anger-filled walk, passing by an alleyway. A man ran out and bumped into them, knocking them both to the floor.

The man - daemon they mentally corrected themselves - had deep brown skin, akin to the bark on a tree. His hair was a reddish-brown, sprawled across the sidewalk.

Out from the alley came out another person. This time Starlight was able to more clearly sense his aura. A dreamwalker. It had seems as though the two magical creatures had been in an altercation.

Just as the daemon was ready to rift away, the dreamwalker let out an attack. It knocked Starlight unconscious, ignorant to how their life would be changed forever.

When they woke up, the were surrounded by red skies and jagged rock. The smoke was so dense in the air that it formed clouds in the skies.

They sat up, observing their surroundings. A myriad of questions flooded their brain.

'Where the fuck am I? How the fuck did I get here?' And the most important question with the most elusive answer.

'How the fuck do I get out?'

"Well good evening, Starlight, but it seems you're going to have to put your weekend plans on pause." They looked up to see the daemon from early, a sarcastic grin finding home on his face.

'All it takes is one shitty day for life to go to hell.'

#Apologies if this is baddd its almost midnight and i am tireddd #*yawn* gonna cue this up for tomorrow #zo writes tingz #this is zo speaking #redacted avior #redacted starlight #redacted asmr

[diviner-alva]

ok i didn’t know who else to go to with this so here i am. im currently talking with kotallo after he gets to the base, and in one conversation where aloy asks him if he’s still hurting, she says that she can’t understand but can empathize, and when she says that she puts her fist over her heart. i know that’s a salute that tenakth do, and i’ve NEVER seen aloy do it before this point. i don’t know where i’m trying to go with this, but i thought it was a nice touch, like our girl is learning and is trying to show kotallo how much she respects him and his tribe???? idk i’m just looking for reasons to swoon over them at this point.

You are absolutely right and you should say it! (also last paragraph in blue has post GEMINI spoilers, I couldn't tell if you've already finished the game)

Not only does she gives him a warrior's salute, showing respect (which is kind of crazy because he is her subordinate, not the opposite and I don't see this happening the other way around) she mentions how honored she is having him with her very often.

Kotallo mentions honor a lot, from bark lines during a fight, to times he's casually telling her about his tribe. Aloy, being very perceptive, starts using the same language with him, she doesn't say it with anyone else (that I recall at least). Kotallo does the same with her, in moments I put in the video above. I really think you're right that she is using it as a way to communicate with him more clearly? so to speak, she is really trying to understand his tribe so she can talk more easily with him, using the same terms to express how important it is to have him by her side.

However I also interpret this as being also like person K says "I like this hairstyle on you" and then person A proceeds to constantly use said hairstyle to impress crush. She can be oblivious about it tho, not even noticing she's been doing it in the first place. And our boy Kotallo does the same let's be honest, the one that trains with the focus the most so he master it to impress his crush, oh these two are dumb trees, dumb trees I tell you.

They are literally like "I'm honored to have you by my side" "Me too, I'm honored with your presence" UGHHHH COME ON honor this honor that just fucking KISS

NOT TO MENTION Aloy's insistence in arriving at the grove FLYING on the back of a sunwing and jumping from it IN FRONT of Kotallo (who by the way did you guys notice he is the only one that takes a step forward? what was that for? he wanted to catch her???). If you finish Talanah's mission before then, Ritakka will be at the grove and she tells you "Flying into battle on the wings of the ten. You sure you're not a tenakth yourself?" I MEAN GODDAMNIT, I don't know who is worse, Aloy by wanting to fly in front of him or me who dresses her up with sky clan armor everytime she does a mission with him

#kotaloy #kotallo #aloy #aloy x kotallo #horizon forbidden west #hfw #hfw spoilers #they need to stop that crap and KISS #this is them trying to keep it professional?

[greypetrel]

12 for Aisling from the hurt/comfort prompts <3

Hullo! Thanks for the prompt, as usual! <3

RIP Jim, he’s very good at working undercover but Cullen is his personal nightmare by now.

Also a note: I'm not a Vivienne hater by any means, but playing with Aisling the approval was very low... And I don't think they're two people that could ever go along. It happens, she just need to accept it.

From this prompt list!

12. “Can you talk?"

It was a dull day. A very dull day of unconsequential reports and scouts that needed to be told things twice. Which Cullen hated, and it was the third time that day, and it was only a couple of hours past lunchtime. But, he had promised Aisling that he would have been more lenient with Jim. After he interrupted them that day on the battlement, indeed the man was evidently terrorised by Cullen. A pity, tho, that Jim had all the qualities about him that absolutely grated on the Commander’s nerves. Every single one of them. And on top of that, he was the third person that he had to tell twice very simple instructions, with a running headache and Aisling’s latest set of painkillers forgotten up in the loft. He couldn’t retrieve them if he wasn’t alone and the scout wouldn’t budge.

Cullen was just about to bark him to just go on with his duties and leave him working, when the north door to his office slammed open, making the both of them startle. Cullen jumped up from his chair, hand running to the small dagger he kept in the place of his sword when sitting down, as Jim took a couple of fumbling steps back with no other motion to grab for weapons. Great, he wasn’t either good to answer a threat, another entry on his list of irritating qualities.

But, in the door there was just Aisling, looking at them but not really, and forcing a smile on her face. Very, very badly.

“Ah! I’m… I’m so sorry. I- I thought-” She fumbled, shaking her head. “If you would excuse me. Please go on with your work, I just- I just.”

She didn’t even finish, turning her steps and walking to the ladder and climbing up, quick as a squirrel up a tree, disappearing up in his loft.

Something definitely happened, and something bad.

They hadn’t made any big announcement, and even if Cullen knew there were rumours running up and about in the Keep and in the barracks… She was as private as he was, and it wasn’t like her to just run in his personal space in front of someone. Even if that someone was Jim and Jim unfortunately knew. Not a liability Cullen was ready to risk.

“One word out and I’ll assign you to clean the latrines for a month.”

“Y-yessir!” Jim did him a salute, paling visibly under his scrutinising stare. “I-if there’s nothing else…”

And with that, Jim finally registered that he was to bring some reports to Leliana right now, and scampered his way out of the western door.

With the wrong report.

Cullen groaned loudly, following after the Scout with the right papers crumpled in his hand. He barked behind him to stop him -because of course the shit had to start running right now, of all times- scaring the boy all the more, but effectively switching the reports with the right ones.

And setting Cullen finally free to listen to his worry for the elf currently hiding up his loft. He latched all three doors, left the papers on his desk and climbed up the ladder, careful in making noise so Aisling would know someone was coming and not be spooked.

“Aisling?” He also called, just to communicate it was him and not anyone else.

When he climbed his way up, he was met with the elf cocooned under his covers, blanketed from head to toes and all curled up on herself in the corner of his bed she usually slept in.

“Can I sit down?” He asked, getting closer to the bed.

No reply from down below, he interpreted it as a yes, and sitted down at her feet, stretching a hand to identify by pats where her shoulder exactly was and squeeze it.

“What happened?” He asked, worried. She wouldn’t have been able to climb up here if she was injured, he could rule that option out.

All his answer, tho, was having the elf curl up even more on herself, arms shifting to hug her thighs and bring them flush against her face and chest.

He started to rub his thumbs over her deltoid, putting enough pressure so he was sure she would have felt it, and just waiting. Work could wait, there wasn’t anything urgent anyway and he doubted that a raven with the news that they had a way into the Emprise du Lion would have arrived right now. And if it did, it could wait.

After maybe ten minutes, she wiggled her head out, flushed and with red eyes, breathing some fresh air.

“Can you talk?”

He didn’t mean it as prodding, and he didn’t want to make her cry. But, it had precisely that effect. She crumbled on herself again, squinting her eyes and starting to sob, fighting hard against the tears by pressing the heels of her hands in her eye sockets. With little to no result. Cullen moved around her, heart clenching painfully in empathy, hating to see her like that. He snaked around her, moving up the bed and laying down to wave his hands under the covers and hug her, bringing her close. On hindsight, he could have waited to take breastplate and cloak off, but she didn’t seem to mind much, right now.

“… She used me. She just used me.”

“Who?”

“Vivienne.”

Ah. The trip to the Exalted Plains, the white wyvern Aisling was so sad for having slain, but that she hoped would have finally -finally!- bridged that gap and made them get along on something. Apparently, not. The trip alone with Madame de Fer, gone incredibly well seeing their polite but strained relationship, and that made Aisling in such a hopeful mood when they returned just yesterday.

“What happened?”

“It… It was all for the connections. I thought… I thought maybe she was sincere, she brought me with her when… I really believed we could find some common ground, stop the petty insults… That maybe she doesn’t really hate me. I’m just stupid. I’m so, so stupid.”

“Maybe it’s just her way to-”

“No, it is not. She launched the bait and I danced on her hand because I trusted that she may have meant well. She doesn’t. She tolerates me because I have some hint of power she can exploit. And yes she has helped the Inquisition in making a good impression, but I… I am so, so tired.”

She hadn’t really let on how much she was affected by the Winter Ball, how much it had costed her to close both eyes and kept Celene on the throne. She had just shrugged and sait it has been a long day. Cullen was starting to believe that as open as she seemed, Aisling Lavellan was maybe more closed and guarded than most people he knew. And it broke his heart. He just hugged her tighter.

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t your fault.”

“It was. Everyone told me I’m too soft and trusting, it’ll be exploited.”

“It’s not-”

“It was. The Inquisitor can’t allow softness. They are right, I just…” A sob, louder, as she snuggled closer in his neck. “… I just hoped it would have come from a person that wasn’t so close.”

It wasn’t anything new, and it wasn’t an argument he never heard about her. She had indeed defied every expectation they ever had about her and done exceedingly well. He knew for sure, he has seen her shouldering everything by herself without a complaint.

“I should get going. I’m sorry, I... you were working, you should get down as well.”

“No.”

She started to wiggle out, but he just kept her tighter and closer, preventing her to go. She had, indeed, helped him a lot, never asked for a thank you, stepped back without a word if he told her it was too much, always treated him the same, no matter how pathetic and weak he allowed himself to be in his presence. Once she did the same and crumbled in front of him, he wasn’t going to let her go and think she bothered him.

“I’m exactly where I need and want to be.”

Duty would eventually call them back. But not now.

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #cullavellan #cullen x lavellan #aisling lavellan #dragon age fic #greypetrel #writing petrel

[fictional-character-whore]

CHAPTER 1: The Greenie Named Thomas

SUMMARY - All the boys in the Maze thought that Alby, the Leader of the Gladers, was the first ever to come up in the box into the Glade. But what if they were wrong? What if there was another Glader who arrived before him, someone who had been there since day one, someone who suffered with her friends and struggled to find a way out of the dreadful Maze that has trapped them for three years? But none of them knew for sure and the only clues they had to this person's existence was bright coloured paint that splattered the walls of the Maze and bark of the forest trees. Perhaps there were a certain few Gladers that still made contact with her during their days in the Maze. And perhaps one of them visited her more than the others. But when a Greenie enters the Glade and everything starts to change, will this mystery Glader reveal herself to help escape the Maze for good, or will she continue to hide from them all and risk both her freedom, friendships and a possible relationship?

WARNINGS - trauma, physical violence, blood, i don’t think i got that far in this fic and i can’t remember what i wrote in it so let me know if i missed any warnings, i don’t think this fic was too bad tho in terms of tws, cringe af 

Lydia's POV

It's been just over three years since I had arrived in the glade, it's been three years since I had watched my friends die and kill each other because of fear and panic, it's been three years since I thought I lost the person I cared about the most, it's been three years since I abandoned the Gladers to hide within the Maze to let my heart turn to stone and rid myself of almost all emotion, only relying on my physical and mental strength to survive the dangers of the maze. It's been three years since I was forgotten by most of my friends.

But there's plenty of time to retell my tragic tale of woe in detail later, for I haven't properly introduced myself. My name is Lydia, and just like all the boys that I've been trapped with, I have no memory of the outside world or anything besides the last three years that I have spent inside the Glade. Although most of them don't even know I actually exist, all they know is that there's someone or something that roams around the forest past the Deadheads and in the Maze, painting the trees and stone walls with bright colours and pictures during the night. They think I'm like some kind of spirit or legend that lives in the Maze and I have to say, it's pretty funny to listen to some of the things the newer Gladers come up with about me when they gossip with each other.

But I do more than just sneak around during the night painting trees, I sit on the walls of the maze and high up in the trees, watching and waiting for anything suspicious or potentially dangerous to happen around the Glade or in the Maze, and if I do spot something I report it right away to the leader of the Gladers; Alby.

After I had entered the Glade he had come up in the box a month later and we had become very good friends. We had spent many years together in the Glade trying to figure out how to survive the Maze and its threatening features with the gradual help of the other boys that had each come into the Glade month after month. We had been through hell together and it had caused a bond to form over the two of us. We trusted each other with our lives, and when I decided to go into hiding within the Glade and Maze, he had been kind enough to respect my wishes but still remain in contact with me when things got troublesome.

But he wasn't the only Glader that knew who I was. Minho: the keeper of the Runners, he knew I was alive because of the maze. During the days and nights when the Runner's aren't in certain parts of the maze, I would seek through them with my many jars of different coloured paint and paint the walls, covering their surfaces in a large variety of colours that I had made, and designing patterns and images of our dead friends faces. I had painted millions of images that covered entire walls from top to bottom, with both dark and vibrant colours, which in a way was me making my mark in the maze so as not just the Runners and Gladers knew who I was but the people that created this place and the people to arrive after my time, that is of we didn't escape this place first.

Although painting the Maze walls during the night was not a simple or easy task, the Grievers made sure of that. The Grievers were annoying little buggers that liked to chase me for hours on end throughout the always changing Maze pathways, occasionally catching me and giving my arms and legs a few scratches before I fought them off and got away. I had learnt to avoid and fight them during my time of secrecy over the past two years I had spent in the Maze and in a way I'm grateful for that. It gave me the chance to learn how to properly defend and protect myself and it allows me to watch over the Runners without worrying greatly if I have to step in and help them, which most of the time I don't.

Alby usually makes me kill the banished or stung Gladers once the Maze doors close, just so they don't have to suffer a night with the Grieves and a painful death. But I don't usually help the Runners or other Gladers without order from Alby, I only ever willingly help Minho, whether it was directing him in a certain direction in the Maze even though he already knew exactly where to go, or discussing the changes in the maze even though he already knew every exact change, or just chatting with him in general. Unlike my bond with Alby, I had a somewhat less formal and more carefree friendship with Minho. When I'm with Alby I would be discussing urgent matters with him about the Maze and the Glade, but when I'm with Minho I'll be cracking jokes and messing around with him in the Maze. In a way I thought of Minho as my best friend and thought of Alby as a the brother I never had, that is if I ever even had a brother before I came into the Maze, and although it was risky to interact with the two of them because I didn't want to be exposed to the rest of the Glade, I enjoyed talking to them immensely. It could get really lonely hiding from everyone sometimes and when I took the opportunity to talk to them, even if it was only for e second, I instantly felt less lonely then I did before.

But talking to Alby or Minho wasn't as good as talking to Newt. No one could ever make me feel less lonely or happy than Newt could. In all honesty I think he's the love of my life and I couldn't be more thankful to have him here with me. He was one of the first few Gladers that entered the Maze after me, and when we met I was sure that there was an instant connection between the two of us and I knew for sure that I wouldn't be able to survive this place without him. So, I protected him with everything I had, he was my one priority at the time, and I had promised myself that I wasn't going to leave the Maze without him. When everyone started going rabid during the first year I had protected him and he had protected me, making sure each other were safe and able to survive that faze of our friends panic before we found peace with each other. But when that one morning came and I found Minho carrying Newt covered in blood through the Maze and Glade, I swear I felt my heart stop and my whole world come crashing down on me. That day I thought I had lost him, and I was ready to join him any second, but then he woke up and I found out what he had done.

That day was the day I broke. Newt had broken me, caused my last sliver of sanity to slither out of me and disappear forever. The boy I loved had driven me insane and caused me to hit my breaking point. And that was the day I had disappeared, the day I ran away into the depths of the Maze, the day I abandoned my remaining friends to destroy each other while I destroyed myself from the inside out.

I had forgiven Newt not long after I had left and the pain I had felt from his attempted suicide had turned to guilt for abandoning him at the time he needed me the most. So as a way of communicating with him and telling him that I was alive and well and that I still loved him while he was healing, I left him things to find, little things like tiny flowers and bits of tree bark that I had painted. When he had fully healed and was walking again I started painting the trees of the woods as a sign of my existence, because I knew he wouldn't go back in the Maze again to look for me, not after what he tried to do and the paint marks I left on the trees were easy enough for him to find anyway.

I only started actually talking to him again over half a year ago. He had walked into the forest and accidentally found Alby and I discussing a recent banishment of a stung Glader while he was looking for some kind of plant or fertilizer for the Track Hoes crops. At first he was angry at the both of us for hiding my presence from him, then he was angry at me for leaving which also caused me to get angry at him just because he was angry. But that anger had turned to sadness and relief over next few days and once he had accepted the position I had put myself in and we had slowly rebuilt our friendship over time. We both knew that our relationship and friendship would never be the same as it was before, but we were surprisingly okay with that, and to be honest I think we were both just happy to be together again.

But I still loved him, and I knew he didn't love me anymore for what I did, and I didn't blame him. But I wanted to love him so bad and it broke me even more with every passing day as the realisation grew and my emotions faded further away inside me. But I've learned to live with it, and I have accepted that this is how I am now, and that Newt doesn't want me anymore and that it's all my fault.

And now I'm here, living in solitude as the Glade stays peaceful and grows every day, having the Maze fully mapped and a new Greenie and supplies each month to help us survive they hell the creators have put us in'.

Today was Greenie Day, the day when the Box comes up to the surface to deliver its monthly load of supplies and another Glader. So far I was the only girl in the Glade and having to listen and watch all the retarded things those shanks do can get very tiresome, so every month when that Box comes up, I hope and pray to whatever god that was out there, that there's a girl sitting inside the metal meshed cage instead of a boy. But I'm never lucky enough, and today was just the same as any other day.

When I heard the alarm that signalled the Box's arrival, I was sitting high up on one of the Maze walls that fenced in the Glade, watching the Gladers go by their day doing their jobs, and thinking about Newt who very rarely ever left my thoughts. I sighed and slowly stood up, dusting off my pants and picking up my now empty water bottle that was sitting beside me on the wall. I put the bottle in my bag and turned towards the Maze taking a second to gaze out at the seemingly endless pattern of stone walls beneath me, I then began using those stone walls to climb my way down to the ground. Once my boot clad feet hit the stone ground I began walking throughout its walls, making my way to its exit that entered the Glade.

As I walked I watched as the sun's rays hit the stone walls, lighting up the vines of ivy and the occasional splatter of paint I had placed onto the thick stone. The sun's light seemed to make the plants and paint glow in an angelic way, adding to their beauty and contrasting to the parts of the Maze where the sun couldn't reach, making everything seem dim and dark, like a place where monsters would hide. I always thought the Maze had this kind of beauty to it, much unlike the other Gladers opinions. They all think it's some kind of death trap, a torture device designed to kill them slowly while the creators watch on in amusement, but I don't think that. Sure, it basically is a death trap with no way out that had terrifying monsters created to hunt and kill us all, but I never saw it as just that. To me the maze was a marvellous creation, a creation designed to test our strength and intelligence, a test to see just how far we will go to get out and although that may also seem cruel it is wondrous at the same time. The way the creators have made a maze that can move on its own, and the amount of intelligence, time and devotion that would have been needed to create such a thing seems completely impossible to me, so the fact that someone has actually done it impresses me greatly.

I turned right around a corner and found the entrance to the Glade, I slowed my pace and crept forward towards the end of the long passageway where the stone met grass. I stopped and stood once my feet hit the very edge of the stone just letting my feet miss the soft grass and dirt, turning my head towards the location of the box to see all the boys gathered around it, looking down at the most likely terrified Greenie inside. I watched as someone threw the Greenie out of the box and onto the ground at the feet of the Gladers, from this distance I could just make out a dark haired boy around the average size of the others thrashing around on the ground as the others torment and tease him. But then the Greenie shot up and started sprinting as fast as he could away from the Gladers and unknowingly towards the entrance of the Maze where I stood.

The Gladers started cheering him on watching him run from them in amusement not noticing my presence in his path, meanwhile I gripped the strap of my bag that hung on my shoulder and prepared to stop him and disappear into the Maze again before the others caught up.

But then he tripped.

The Greenie tripped over his own feet, just as he got halfway to the Maze entrance, and fell to the ground, rolling to a stop flat on his face as the other boys laughed heartily at him. A scowl pressed my lips as I listened to the boys laugh at the Greenie who was clearly scared out of his mind, and as I watch him slowly get to his feet and spin around in a slow circle looking at the massive walls that were trapping him in here with the rowdy boys, I suddenly caught his eye.

I stood there for a second, stunned slightly that he had spotted me so quickly, staring back at him with a scowl that hadn't left my lips since I first saw him. It was only when I heard the other boys irritating voices did I break the little staring contest we seemed to have been having, but when I looked towards the boys my hazel eyes instantly latched onto a pair of brown ones that I had seen too many times to count, already staring into mine. For a second the scowl on my face faltered and the corner of my lips turned upwards ever so slightly into the start of a smile. But I soon realised that the Greenie was starting to walk towards the maze entrance where I stood, and the group of joking boys were mindlessly following him.

So, with one last look at Newt, I sent him a wink and quickly turned around, dashing back into the Maze, away from the others to go find Minho.

✦⭑Time Skip⭑✦

Later that evening I had snuck back into the Glade before Minho and Ben got back and the doors closed without the Gladers knowing and watched from afar under a patch of ivy as the Greenie got tackled by Gally. Gally could be a very difficult person sometimes and to be perfectly honest I was not very fond of him at all, even when we first met in the Glade two or three years ago. Sure, he can be nice and a decent human being on the rare occasion where he's in a really good mood, but most of the time he's just cocky and rude, letting his ego take control of him and trying to show off as much as possible. He uses his slightly larger size and strength as an advantage to power over the other Gladers, he thinks he's better than most but really he's just as dumb as most of the other Gladers.

Sick of their petty arguing, I used the chance of their distraction to move further through the ivy and towards the crops and trees of the forest where I'll hide for the rest of the night. Minho had told me earlier when I was wandering the Maze that they were having their annual Greenie celebration and that he thought it would be fun for me to come and join them this time, but I said no obviously. Just like Newt, Minho didn't approve of my choice to hide in the Maze like Alby did. He thought that I was just being stupid and that I should rejoin the Gladers so as we could hang out freely and even though I've told him that I wasn't going to change my mind, I had actually debated coming back many times when I was alone in the Maze and forest. My mind was uncertain about my choice and sometimes I regretted doing it often but in the end I did what needed to be done, I did what was best for myself and everyone else, even if my decision hurt the people I had cared about.

But usually when they had these celebrations I would hide in a tree on the edge of the forest and watch them joke around and have fun, and occasionally meet up with Newt and Minho secretly in the forest somewhere away from the others. I did miss hanging out with everyone and even though watching them all from afar wasn't very fun, it still made me happy to see them happy.

When I finally reached the trees of the forest and made sure that no one was around to see me, I dashed out from the ivy and jumped up onto a tree trunk where is quickly scrambled up to the top branches. I looked out through the tree's branches and leaves to check that no one saw me and when the coast was clear I turned around on the branch and started jumping and swinging from each tree branch, going past the Deadheads and getting further and further into the forest until I reached where the trees of the forest met the Maze walls.

Over the many months that I have been living in the forest and Maze, I had quickly learned that I needed more shelter than just a tree and its leaves when it came to sleeping and resting. So, I had cautiously begun to "borrow" some of the Glader's supplies and had built a somewhat makeshift treehouse shelter thingy. I had placed and tied down a bunch of thick enough logs across two thick branches that were high up in a tree that grew in the very corner of the Glade's forest against the Maze walls, which acted as a floor. I had gathered some more logs and placed them above on two more branches with a small thin tarp that I had "borrowed" from the supplies from the Box one time, spreading it out across the top of the logs and letting it hang down the side, having positioned it at an angle where it would stop the sun and rain from hitting the longs underneath. I had bits of rope tying down the corners of the tarp to other branches so as it wouldn't fly away from the wind. I had also "borrowed" a hammock from the boys and had tied it up so as when I was laying in it I was under the logs and tarp and just above the logs tied down underneath. Over time I had made other things that added onto the main part of the tree, small things like holes in the trunk that I used as shelves and bags that hung from branches containing food, water, paint and other supplies I had gathered.

It didn't seem like much and it really wasn't compared to what the boys had built but to me it was a home, it was a place to sleep and rest, and that's really all I needed. Newt, Alby and Minho didn't know about this place though and I intend on keeping it that way because if they knew where I was staying then they would try and visit me all the time which would risk my exposure even more and they would also probably use it against me to convince me to try and get me to come back to the others, and I couldn't have that.

I swung my body forward and let go of the branch I was holding, propelling myself forward to land swiftly onto the secure logs in my tree. I huffed out a relieved and exhausted sigh, chucking my bag off my shoulders and hooking it onto a branch beside me, I unstrapped the leather vest from my chest that held my knives and stuffed it into my bag. I grabbed an apple from the small pile sitting in a hole in the trunk of the tree I had made a while back and dropped down into my hammock, taking a large bite of the tasty fruit as I got into a comfortable position. I let my leg hang off the edge of the hammock and my arm come up to rest behind my head, letting my eyes close as the light breeze hit my face, drying the thin layer of sweat that stuck to my skin, making it feel slightly clammy and heavy from the dirt covering it. I took slowly took more bites of my apple as I listened silently to the branches and leaves of the trees around me shake and crunch in the wind, with the occasional faint bird whistle or the buzz of a bugs.

The evening was peaceful and quiet, but it wouldn't last long. Soon the boys will have finished building their massive bonfire and whatever else they set up in preparation for their Greenie celebration and then all hell will break loose. So once the sun had set and I could start to faintly hear the loud voices of the Gladers laughing and talking far too loudly, I knew the party had finally started and it would only get louder and wilder as the night continued on.

I rolled out of my hammock to my feet and threw my finished apple core down to the ground where I heard it crunch against the fallen leaves and twigs beside as I jumped down to the ground seconds later. It had gotten dark quickly in the little time I had laid in my hammock resting and if it wasn't for the massive bonfire the boys had made I probably wouldn't be able to see a single thing in front of me, but even if there was no large bonfire I was used to travelling in the dark and I had walked through this forest that many times I could weave through the trees with my eyes closed and still know where I was going and where I was.

I walked as quietly as I could, making my steps light so as the leaves and sticks I stood on wouldn't crunch too loudly or draw too much attention to my location even though they probably wouldn't hear me because of how noisy they were being. When I got close enough to the edge of the forest where I could see the other boys clear enough I climbed up another tree and swiftly jumped onto the branches of the closer trees. I took one last swing and landed on a branch that belonged to the tree I usually sat in during these celebrations. It was a tree that grew on the very edge of the forest beside a hut that the builders had built; it had thick enough branches for me to sit on up very high so as I couldn't be seen by the boys if they looked in the general direction of the tree and when I sat on a particular branch there was a gap in the leaves that allowed me to have a clear view of the whole area where they set up the bonfire where most of the boys hang around to keep warm and see through the light it provides, it also allowed me to see the tables and logs where they sat chatting away and eating and drinking the foul drink Gally makes, and where Gally spent most of his time showing off. So, I sat down with my back against the trunk and watched in amusement as the boys goofed around and made fools of themselves while my hands mindlessly fiddling with a tiny knife that I always kept in my right boot.

Obviously I had missed the start of the party where the bonfire was lit so all the boys currently had half empty drinks in their hands and food stuffed in their mouths and from the looks of all their faces as they ate, Frypan had really made an effort with the food tonight. It looked so good and my stomach growled at the sight of it, hungry for the delicious food that I couldn't have unless I stole it. But it isn't my party and I didn't need any food, I was just happy to sit and watch the others enjoy it without me.

As my eyes lazily scanned the crowd of boys, having already spotted Minho who was sitting with the runners quietly eating his food, Alby who was standing at the edge of the pit with some other boys watching Gally who was in wrestling someone, Frypan who was having a great time laughing with some of the Slicers and his fellow Cooks, and a few others that were scattered throughout the area, when they finally landed on the person I had subconsciously been looking for; Newt. He was currently sitting on the grass a little ways away from the others, holding a stick with meat on it which Frypan called a kebab, and a jar of Gally's drink in his other hand, looking out at the Glade and Maze walls in front of him. But he wasn't alone of course, sitting next to him on his right was the new Greenie that came in the box today, and from the looks of it they were having a very serious conversation, which was most likely Newt explaining things about the Glade and the Maze to the confused Greenie.

But suddenly, Newt turned his head around and looked straight at me, his face showing signs of worry and warning and it made my heart beat slightly faster. Newt knew exactly where I was since I always sat here when they had these celebrations just like Alby and Minho did, and usually when he looked over to me we would both end up in the forest somewhere and ditching the others to hang out by ourselves, having our own little party together.

But this time it was different.

The Greenie turned his head and looked in the general direction that Newt was, trying to find what he was looking at and when he finally spotted me his eyes widened in surprise and recognition and I knew exactly what look meant and what had happened. The Greenie had asked Newt who I was, he knew I was real instead of a hallucination he had from the amount of adrenaline and fear he was feeling when he arrived in the Glade. This had happened on a few occasions with the new Greenies; they would spot me somewhere in the Glade or Maze at least once or twice, but then I would take more caution and control over the situation and use more effort to hide myself from them, and over time they would just think they had imagined me and forget I even existed.

But that look that Newt gave me was one of the only looks that made me irritated with him. That was a look at said, "You dumb ass. How are you so bad at hiding yourself? You better get your ass back in that forest before I kick it there myself so he doesn't see you anymore." I was tempted to just stay put and see what his reaction would be, but I didn't want to ruin the party for him. So just like every other time Newt told me to do something, I obeyed obediently with and without question.

Sighing frustratingly, angry that I have to leave the party, I swing my legs over the side of the branch that faced away from the Gladers and jumped down onto another lower branch and swung away from the group, but I wasn't going far. Tonight, I didn't feel like going back to my hammock and sleeping through the sound of everyone's happy cheers and voices from the other side of the forest. Tonight, I was going to stay and watch them from another tree, one that didn't have as good a view as my original one but was still good enough and to be honest I'm glad I stayed, especially since I got to see what happened next in .

After I left, Newt must have changed the conversation subject and taken the Greenie on a mini tour to introduce him to some of the other Gladers, which somehow led to the Greenie getting dragged into by Gally who wanting to show off and boost his ever growing ego more. I sat down quickly as a large crowd gathered around the edge of the Circle, all of them excited to see how tough the Greenie was, and to be honest, after seeing him run across the Glade when he arrived I was pretty curious to see what he's made of.

"Alright, the rules are simple Greenie," Gally said as they both started circling each other inside of the Circle ring, "I try to push you outa the Circle, and you try to last more than five seconds."

Everyone laughed at that last part and just as the Greenie nodded his head in understanding, Gally shouted "Ready?" and instantly charged at him, not giving him any time to register what was happening or reply.

Gally grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him backwards into three guys on the outside of the Circle who caught him and pushed him straight back in unsteadying his balance, letting Gally grab him again and push the Greenie behind him where he fell face first into the sand.

"Come on Greenie," Gally said with a wide smile plastered on his ugly face, doing a weird walk backwards as the others chattered and laughing at the wrestling match taking place in front of them, "We're not done yet."

The Greenie stood up and shook the sand of his shirt in one swift motion, staring at Gally with an angry and frustrated glint in his gaze, "Stop calling me Greenie."

All the boys oohed, "Stop calling you that?" Gally said acting innocent even though everyone knew he definitely wasn't, "Well what do you want to be called? Shank?"

All the boys burst out in a fit of laughter, all of them agreeing to the new name Gally suggested for the Greenie, "What do you think boys? Does he look like a Shank?" Gally asked the others standing around the Circle, earning another round of laughter to break out.

I scowled at their reactions to Gally's teasing and scoffed when the smile on his face widened even more when the others laughed at his "joke". The Greenie suddenly ran at Gally full speed, going in to tackle him but Gally was stronger than him and his reflexes were sharper too, so he managed to stand his ground against the Greenie easily, throwing the Greenie around and pushing him back to the ground at the inside of the Circle's edge.

"You know what?" Gally said as the Greenie got back to his feet, "I think I've settled on Shank."

The Greenie ran at Gally again, getting closer to him this time and grabbed him by the waist and trying desperately to push him backwards, but Gally was still too strong for him and started to push him backwards instead, causing the Greenie's feet to dragging in the sand as he tried to dig his heels in it to gain some kind of leverage against Gally but it didn't work well enough and he was getting ever so close to the edge of the Circle. But just as everyone including Gally thought that he was going to finally push the Greenie fully out of the Circle ring, the Greenie quickly repositioned his arms and pulled Gally towards him while he twisted out of his grip, falling forward behind Gally who fell down in the sand with his head mere inches from the Circle border.

Both shocked and surprised, Gally sat on the ground slowly processing what had happened and letting an anger at being beaten and humiliated in front of the rest of the Gladers by a Greenie settle inside him as everyone cheered and oohed in at what had happened. A smile broke out on my face at the sight of Gally getting thrown on the ground like that and the Greenie was smart to have thought to do that, but my smile was instantly wiped away in a second at what I should have expected to happen.

The Greenie stood up quickly, letting a triumphant smile spread across his face at his achievement, "Not bad for a Greenie huh?" Thomas asked but his victory was very short lived.

Gally, still laying on the ground, threw his legs out and swung them against the Greenie's legs, sending him flying backwards ass over head and back to the ground where he hit his head hard. I cringed slightly with the others standing around the Circle who had all watched how hard he hit his head and felt sympathy for him. Gally shouldn't have done that even if the others thought it was kinda cool, but the Greenie didn't seem to care about his head or what Gally had done to him in their mini fight. He instead started mumbling to himself, mumbling incoherent words that I couldn't hear from this distance over the noise of the others, but once he stood up and spoke louder a large smile made its way onto my lips.

"I remember my name!" He shouted happily to the group who stood in complete silence watching him, "I'm Thomas!"

"Thomas!" Alby suddenly shouted, breaking the silence and causing a wave of cheers and chants of his name to make its way through the group of boys as they all ran forward to congratulate him.

It was always so exciting for everyone when the Greenies remembered their names, especially on their first day. The fact that Thomas remembered his name during such an intense moment of the night just made the adrenaline and mood of the group lift dramatically and it was so intoxicating and contagious that I had to stop myself from jumping down and join them all in their joy and excitement. And the fact that all it took for him to remember it was a simple hit to the head from Gally was kinda funny too.

But sadly, all good things must come to an end.

The sound of an ear piercing scream was suddenly heard throughout the Glade from inside the Maze, instantly shutting everyone up and drawing their full attention to the walls of the Maze that lay across the other side of the Glade. My head instantly shot up towards it just like the others but unlike them I had a job to do and that screech was my alarm to get going and start my work.

I looked down at the crowd of boys and spotted Alby looking my way with a familiar serious expression on his face; he must have spotted me during Gally and Thomas's Circle match. When I looked into his eyes I knew he was telling me to go and check it out and then report back to him immediately. So, I nodded my head giving him the signal that I understood what he was telling me and that I would do it.

I turned around, jumping from the tree branch and set out to go and find out what had made a Griever scream like that, hoping that it wasn't anything too serious. But little did I know that a certain pair of familiar brown eyes and another pair of unfamiliar eyes had both looked my way as well, watching me jump away into the night and right into the face of danger.

CHAPTER 1 - CHAPTER 2 - CHAPTER 3

#the maze runner #newt x reader #oc reader #reader #reader insert #the maze runner fanfiction #the maze runner x reader #fluff #angst #romantic #newt x oc reader #cringe af #pls dont read this i only reposted this on my tumblr cuz my masterlist looked sad without any fic on it yet #crying

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Hold On

Side Stories

Warnings: Lady whump, environmental whump, broken bones, limb loss (not the lady tho, sorry), magical exhaustion, non human whumpee

*throws dart at a collage of my OCs to find out which one doesn’t have a tragic backstory™ yet*

Next

Dark. 

Everything was dark. It was the first thing Gwyneth noticed when she opened her eyes. Complete darkness was so unusual, so frightening, her mind refused to focus on anything else.

Then lightning struck somewhere nearby, flashes of white illuminating her surroundings for a moment. Broken branches, torn apart leaves, water dripping all around her. It wasn’t enough time to truly comprehend what she saw, but enough to realize that she was trapped under something. Luckily whatever it was barely touched her, somehow propped up just enough to not crush her to death. 

She should try to get out from under it before it changed its mind.

“Ah. Ow.”

Trying to move was easier said than done. Her left arm was buried under something, a sharp edge digging into it. She struggled to reach it with her right, pushing and pulling, not succeeding in freeing herself. She felt around, trying in vain to make sense of what her fingers found. There was no point. Waiting breathlessly for the next lightning strike, Gwyneth tried to ignore the water running cold down her leaves, and the pain in her arm. Now that she was aware of the injury, it seemed to hurt twice as much.

When — accompanied by deafening thunder — the light flickered, she focused hard to take in as much as possible. The thing she was buried under seemed to be some kind of shelf, still attached to the crumbled wall of the house. A wall that, now that she had identified it as such, was strangely familiar. Her memory came rushing back: how she had visited one of the saplings to answer some of their questions about life magic. They hadn’t been at home, and an awkward attempt at smalltalk with their roommate was her last memory before everything went dark.

No no no. If she was here, that meant he could be here too, buried somewhere under the remains of the house — because that was what she saw in the light of yet another lightning strike, leaving her ears ringing from the thunder that accompanied it. A house, crushed and broken apart like an overripe melon.

It couldn’t be. No lightning strike could devastate a house like this; tear a hole into it perhaps, or set it on fire, but not squeeze it until it crumbled. Frozen in terror, trying to comprehend her situation, there was was only one explanation she could come up with; a branch of the parent tree must have broken off. It would explain the sickening crunching noise she remembered, and the feeling of falling before everything went black.

She had to get out of here.

At least the light had been enough to show her how to free herself from under the shelf. She dragged herself closer, angling her arm to pull it out, clenching her teeth as splinters tore through her bark. When her arm was finally free, she crawled out from under the shelf, only to cower next to it in impenetrable darkness. Even her own glow was gone, perhaps a reaction to the shock and her injury. A reaction she should be able to control, once she’d managed to figure out how badly she was hurt.

Gwyneth pulled her legs closer, wrapping her arms around them, placing her right hand on her injured left arm. Focusing on her magic was hard, but she forced her breaths to calm down, her mind to ignore the dripping and creaking around her. 

Her arm wasn’t broken, just some bark torn off. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a bit of healing magic and a good night’s sleep. Both would have to wait. Taking another deep breath, she tried to direct her magic somewhere else; into her glow, telling her body that everything was alright.

She was only moderately successful, but the faint pink glow was enough to allow her to see the outlines of the wreckage around her. Broken furniture, uprooted walls, pieces of what had once been the ceiling strewn all over the place. No sign of another living creature. 

“Is anyone here? Can anyone hear me?”

Gwyneth wasn’t sure if it was her voice failing her, or the noise of the storm drowning it out. She hadn’t even caught this sapling’s name. Unless there was a big chunk of her memory missing, he must have been right there when the platform had come down.

She started to crawl away from the shelf, feeling over the ground, calling out and waiting for each new flash of lightning to show her a little more of her surroundings. It felt like an eternity until she finally found him, a glimpse of something hand-shaped, half buried under a part of the roof. At least this part wasn’t too heavy, consisting only of leaves, but it was too large to move it easily. She had to put all her weight into shoving it aside, hoping that she wouldn’t cause more damage in doing so. 

When it finally fell away, sliding off her back and to the side as she pushed against it, the movement was accompanied by a deep groan. The ground itself shook and Gwyneth froze. If the branch they had landed on would break off as well, they would surely fall to their deaths. Digging her fingers into the ground, she tried to fight the overwhelming urge to jump up and run.

Even if she had a chance to find her way out of here, she couldn’t leave him behind. As he was lying motionless in front of her, his leaves she knew were pale blue now seemed gray in the dim light of her glow. Black, leafy hairs hung limply over his face. Gwyneth pushed them aside, finding his face wet, his eyes closed and the bark on his chin torn.

“Hey. Sapling. Can you hear me?”

There was no reaction. Gwyneth swallowed hard. He had been less lucky than her. His lower half was buried beneath a large, twisted branch — probably a part of the parent tree. She knelt down next to him, reaching for his side, placing her hand on his bark as close to his legs as she could.

The moment she touched him, she could have sworn she felt him flinch.

“If you can hear me… It’s me. Gwyneth.” She tried to remember if she had even introduced herself, but her memories were too fuzzy. “I’m a healer. I’ll check how badly you are hurt, okay?”

There was no reply, so she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her hand started to tremble as she sent her magic to measure the extent of his injuries. His head and torso were mostly unharmed, a few scratches and bruises all she could find. His legs were worse off; the right one was crushed, the left one torn off just below the knee. Sap was oozing out of his wounds, a short flicker in her magical perception before it dripped off. That wasn’t good, wasn’t good at all. He was losing too much sap. With the steady rain, it wouldn’t crystallize, wouldn’t close his wounds. If she didn’t act, he would die.

“What’s your name?” she asked while she sat down comfortably; as comfortably as possible, with the knowledge that every second they could fall to their deaths, that he was bleeding out right in front of her. She hadn’t quite mastered it yet to keep the meaning behind her words clear of her emotions, but she tried her best to not let him know just how worried she was.

“Rain… Raindrop.”

So he was awake. Gwyneth raised her gaze.

“Okay, Raindrop. I’m gonna try and heal you. You have a pretty bad wound on your leg.”

Her faint glow wasn’t enough to show her his expression, and he didn’t say anything; not even a sound, carrying meaning. His dark eyes were fixed on her face though, so she tried her best to smile encouragingly.

There was no time to lose. Gwyneth focused on her magic, which was far from easy with the distant groaning of wood in her ears. She placed her hands on his torso, as close to his legs as possible, hating that she couldn’t reach the wound. It was so much harder like this.

When she started to heal, he made a pain-filled noise, the meaning behind it carrying his fear. Gwyneth took a moment to use her left hand to stroke his leaves, ignoring the pain in her arm.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry, I know it hurts. Hold onto me if you need to.”

A hand grabbed her side. The fingers were trembling, the grip tightening every time she sent her magic into another part of his leg, to try and stitch together what had been torn apart. Bark, wood and vines were shredded and splintered, making it almost impossible to mend them without being able to touch them. She tried her best to stop the bleeding, everything else secondary for now.

“I’ll keep you alive until they find —” 

As thunder and lightning once more came simultaneously, the platform shook. Raindrop flinched so hard, he almost ripped off some of her leaves. Gwyneth’s stomach dropped. She forced herself to continue, to ignore the sickening feeling telling her that it was pointless, that they were going to die anyway. They might; but she had to try.

“Gwyn?” Raindrop’s voice was so weak, she could barely make out her own name, half of it completely lost to the sound of wind and rain.

“Yes?” 

“C-cold.”

“I know. I know.” She could feel his life fading, while she was running out of energy herself. The flow of sap had slowed, but not fully stopped, and the steady rain kept washing it away, not allowing the wound to close. “Hold on,” she whispered, fighting against her tears. “I’m sure they’ll find us. You just have to hold on until then. Please.” 

There was no reply.

“Raindrop?”

Gently shaking his shoulder resulted in no reaction either. 

“Raindrop, please.” 

Gwyneth wrapped her arms around herself, ignoring the pain in her torn bark. Continuing to use her magic would go against everything she had ever learned. It would weaken her, perhaps even put her own life in danger. Not doing so meant he might die if they weren’t found soon.

Before she could decide, the ground shook again. It felt different than before, but perhaps that was only her panic speaking. A movement in the corner of her eye made her throw herself over Raindrop, just in time for the falling branch to hit her back instead of him. The impact drove the air out of her lungs, turning her scream into a strangled groan. Her shoulder burned, but she didn’t bother to do more than quickly reach for it. There was a tear in her bark, splitting the vines beneath, but she didn’t have time to heal it, or energy to spare. 

Luckily it was her left shoulder, which left her right hand functional. “Please hold on,” she whispered, reaching for Raindrop’s leg without getting up. She had to try.

Gwyneth barely registered that there was the smallest delay between the next lightning strike and the thunder that followed. When the lightning faded, everything was so dark again. Her glow was gone, and she couldn’t muster the strength to worry about it, or to try and rekindle it. The bleeding still hadn’t stopped, but her head was pounding, and despite sitting still, the world was spinning around her. Just a bit more. If she could ward off the exhaustion a bit longer, she might be able to save him. 

Please. Hold on.

She was too exhausted to speak, and he wouldn’t be able to hear it anyway. But there was a tiny spark of life left in him, stubbornly refusing to fade. She was too stubborn to give up either. A wave of nausea washed over her as she mended another tear in his leg. When her hand slipped off, she pressed it against his side, the small movement a great enough effort to leave her trembling. Her head was resting on his chest now, every rise and fall giving her hope.

A sharp, stabbing pain behind her eyes made her whimper, interrupting her desperate attempt to find some more energy she could use. Whatever was left was escaping her mental grip as easily as water would run through her fingers. She gave herself a moment to catch her breath, to push the pain aside, before she tried again. Attempting to find her energy, to reach for it. She needed just a bit more. A bit more. It was so close.

This time the pain was like lightning in her eyes and fire in her head; for a moment only, until the world slipped away.

[ID: The top image is a banner is a picture of shallow water on a sandy beach. Across it is written the title side stories in a bright yellow to dark pink gradient with a black outline. The font looks like written with a thin paintbrush. All other images in this post are purely ornamental lines. End ID.]

Tagging (I guess this kiiinda counts as Thorns taglist?): @dont-touch-my-soup @whump-cravings​ @whumpmasinjuly​

Good thing a later prompt is called “Rescued”, isn’t it? :’)

#whump #fantasy whump #non human whumpee #lady whump #broken bones tw #limb loss tw #magical exhaustion #environmental whump #whumpmasinjuly #wij22day6 #Welp neither of these chars has a personal tag yet #Probably won't be getting one #my writing

[artisticbunny]

Hello Bun! I have magically manifested within your inbox to ask you about…

Your OCs!

One of my anon subordinates (totally not me telling my friends about you no way) previously asked about your number of them, but I want to know who they are!! >:3c Any like, story or interaction or certain universe or specific aesthetics? Feel free to infodump Bun I’m all ears!!

(Sorry if this seems a little too pushy I just saw your reblog and was like ‘why don’t I be a good lad and prance on over eh?’ So here we are! :3 I hope you don’t mind!)

AAAAA HI MOOG!!! THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THIS EXCUSE ILY DJDBDHE

IM SO EXCITED TO INFODUMP ABOUT MY CHARACTERS I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!!

I ACTUALLY HAVE THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THEIR STORY UPLOADED TO AO3 AND IM WORKING ON THE SECOND!!!

Buckle in cuz this is gonna be a long post lol

I’m not gonna reveal everything cuz there have to be some tricks up my sleeves, but I’m gonna be talking about major plot stuff that isn’t in the first chapter so, uh, spoiler warning also X3

OK!!!! SO MY MAIN CHARACTER BROOK IS BABEY AND I LOVE HER!!!! ABUSE TW THO CUZ BOY HOWDY THIS BABY TRAUMATIZED.

Basically the start of the story happens as she’s running away and escaping from her abusive household, this story takes place in a fantasy world so it’s more of a tower than a house but yk.

Her “mother” is this kind of just,,, awful person that basically just was using Brook as free labor. Like, she found Brook as a toddler literally abandoned by this little brook river thing and called her “Brook Child” because she couldn’t be assed to give her a proper name. There isn’t any actual physical hitting or anything to the abuse but god, if there isn’t just a buttload of neglect and verbal/psychological abuse going on. It’s not uncommon for Brook to have been locked in the basement for days on end without food because she did something wrong.

Brook physically is super scrawny because of this, like you can easily see her bones. She has CONSTANT, DEEP dark circles under her eyes that will probably never go away, and is often fatigued. She has a long scar going down one side of her face (her left, our right), caused by an incident with setting up chicken wire. Between her not knowing how to really deal with that kind of wound at the time and the fact that she’s constantly malnourished, it left a pretty noticeable scar

ALSO FUN FACT BROOK IS AROACE CUZ YIPPEE REPRESENTATION!!!!

After she runs away her plan is to get a few supplies so she can go live on her own because the only real experience she has with other people is her “mother” and just really wants to not be around people who she thinks are going to hurt her… uuunfortunately for her she ends up being peer pressured by a merchant into buying an enchanted dagger that uses up basically ALL OF HER MONEY SHE SAVED UP.

Said dagger comes with a prophecy and is, surprise! Sentient! Yeah so now basically she’s forced to go on this quest now! No living alone in the woods in peace for her! She ends up naming the dagger Willow because of a beautiful willow tree engraving at its base and for the fact that it’s handle is modeled after a winding tree trunk (with THOUSANDS of engraved TINY little symbols and glyphs and spells and the like that looks a lot like tree bark!)

Willow uses she/it pronouns because yes! The engravings that are so tiny you can barely see and make them out is what makes Willow sentient! It’s VERY complex spellwork and may have taken even over a lifetime to create! She is very well crafted :)

She is also VERY blunt. Willow doesn’t understand the complexities of like… softening the blow of its words, so it doesn’t even really try lol. Basically it’s like “ah yeah, you are my wielder so you ARE the one from the prophecy, there’s not any getting out of it, let’s go!”

Willow’s one purpose is to complete the prophecy and is ultimately loyal to Brook till the end because of this. Unfortunately, Willow will sometimes bend the rules Brook set for the greater good of completing the quest. (During their first meeting Brook set the ground rules of no killing, and no hurting people unless absolutely necessary.)

During like, the first few hours after she leaves the trade town she fled to to go get this quest over with she gets jumped by this like 7 foot dude in black armor. This is Quincy.

I love him because there are… a lot of complexities with him lol

Without getting into huge spoiler territories, basically, where he comes from, the prophecy is told differently to the point of where Brook is made out to be the villain of the story. He is trying to protect his family and his home. When scouting her out, he is surprised to see that she’s basically just a kid, but decides to go through with the attack anyways as an attempt to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled.

Brook doesn’t know about this rendition of the prophecy.

So basically he attacks Brook, and Brook tries to reason with him to the absolute best of her ability. Quincy, however, is not open to conversation at that point. With willow’s guidance, she ends up killing him.

She is stunned by this. She watches as he bleeds out on the ground and turns to Willow.

She’s like “we agreed on no killing, this guy looks pretty dead to me!!!” (She’s obviously more panicked than this in the actual story lol)

Willow is like “ok ok fine hold me near him give me a second.”

A fun fact about Willow is that she can act as a channel for magic, and use her wielder’s supply. So when Willow uses a spell, the spell treats Brook as the caster even though Willow is effectively the one to have cast the spell.

This is important because, well, Willow uses NECROMANCY. A FORBIDDEN SPELL. ONE THAT IS FORBIDDEN FOR A GOOD REASON.

In this world, when someone is brought back through the use of necromancy they get revived, yes. BUT THEY ALSO BECOME TRAPPED INSIDE THEIR OWN BODIES AS THEYRE PUPPETED AROUND BY THE CASTER. This tactic was used a LOT in wars before it was outlawed btw, just some world building dont mind me :)

Yeah so basically when under the effects of Necromancy you just have to watch as your body has to follow whatever orders the caster gives you, whether you like it or not. Because it’s the spellcaster’s life force that’s inside of you.

(I have a WHOLE magic system thought out btw, magic is part of living being’s life force. Without it you basically starve. It’s like air and food and water, you NEED it to live, which is why Brook going on a quest to save it is such a big deal)

Obviously Willow is like “here, he should fight with us now :)” and brooks just there like “…” =n= because she knows something is off but she can’t put her finger on it yet but this guy is acting REALLY weird now.

Even being cooped up her hole life as she was, KNOWS THIS SPELL IS FORBIDDEN. So when she finds out it was used, she is rightly upset. She doesn’t know the FULL extent of the spell, she doesn’t know if he’s still THERE or if it’s just his corpse or WHAT, but she feels horrible about the situation and tries to give him as much kindness and freedom as she possibly can. Quincy cannot speak, but is later able to communicate better as he’s given more and more agency. (Given the right circumstances, he MAY be able to regain speech in the future ;) )

Over the course of this situation he kinda goes from absolutely despising Brook, to like “ok… this really is just a kid, I kinda feel really bad now” to “oh my god wait this kid is actually really sweet” to “this is my kid now”

He basically adopts Brook towards the end lol

Brook doesn’t really realize this is happening until about mid-way through the story when she goes to get firewood and says if anyone else in the group wants to they can come with her and he goes with her and she realizes she was addressing the whole group and that they can come if they WANT to. And then she just looks up at him and is like… “did you WANT to come with me?” And he just nods at her and she almost cries lol

I just love them, your honor. Quincy = dad of the year (iiif you get past the bit where he tried to kill Brook but yk lol)

OK NEXT WE HAVE SAM AND JOE!!! MY BOYS!!! THEY ARE BOYFRIENDS!!!!! THEY LOVE EACHOTHER!!!! RELATIONSHIP GOALS!!!

Sam is a wizard and Joe is a werewolf, they’re trying to find Joe’s tether (what will let him stay sane when transformed) they met with Joe in a dumpster and Sam trying to throw out that week’s trash from his apprenticeship <3

Joe comes from a loving family of werewolves and was born as one, his biggest fear is hurting his loved ones, which is why he was so desperate to find his tether. It’s also why he was rooting through wizard’s trashcans when Sam found him lol

They made a deal that Joe would stay out of trashcans (because of the dangerous chemicals and broken glass and stuff) if Sam would help him find his tether.

Sam didn’t actually like his apprenticeship. He was forced into it by his parents because he was “talented” and showed signs of developing into a talented wizard. He once loved performing magic, but being an apprentice stripped it of all of its fun. He neglected his work, causing him to fall behind, he is now self conscious and does not like it when people watch him cast spells.

Sam and Joe bonded over researching to find Joe’s tether and eventually fell in love. They both ran away not long after on a search for any more information they didn’t already have.

Also Joe is afraid of sheep :)

(“I don’t like it when they stare at you with those beady little eyes-“)

Kat is a ghost. She doesn’t remember her past, but she does remember waking up in the middle of the woods one day and never being able to find a way out. She had been alone for god knows how long before someone passed through (that being Brook, Willow, Quincy, Sam, And Joe) so obviously, she had to play a prank on them. GOLDEN opportunity for some entertainment.

Kat has claustrophobia (and because it’s never being revealed in the book I’ll reveal it here: she was buried alive. Framed for a crime she didn’t commit by someone in her adventuring group. The group’s agreed on punishment was for her to be buried alive and abandoned.) often getting flashbacks of suffocating, of cool dirt sticking to her face, muffling her screams and pleas for help.

Kat is very laid back and likes to make light of heavier situations with humor. She is a LOT smarter than she lets on, and has a very strong sense of moral justice. She also has a talent of apperating knives from her ghostly fog. She is very skilled at knife throwing.

Terra (Full name Terra Delah Etang) is a siren originating from Ckorplek, an underwater city found in the mesa reefs. She was a mighty warrior (arguably the strongest and most skilled with her voice) tasked with protecting her people’s most prized possession during an invasion. She dragged herself across the red sand, lake hopping for days before settling in a far off small pond-sized salt water body of water with a small island in the center. She would stay there for years protecting the item with her life. Unfortunately, Brook needs that item for her quest and Terra isn’t exactly willing to give it up.

Yeah they basically kidnap and gag her so she can’t make them kill themselves with her voice lol

They’re not just gonna leave her to die but they’re ALSO not gonna risk their lives letting her go free.

She is a reluctant party member, but as long as she’s with her people’s treasure and she’s able to make sure it’s safe, she isn’t super like… against it? Also they’re her only ticket back to her pond since they are basically wheeling her around in a red wagon full of water lol she still kinda hates them tho

Terra is super hotheaded and isn’t that forgiving of a person so it takes a while before she opens up lol

(She’s kind of like the boblin the goblin of the group in a way if you think about it lol)

Corey is half dead.

During his life, he took care of his mother and younger sister by going on quests and bringing back money. He would often ally with other adventurers to do this, and had a habit of only taking what his family needed of the rewards.

One day, on a quest to Dread Caverns- a cave system known for making your worst fears come to life- as they neared the center, where their prize was, he was betrayed.

Busted up in the fight, and with his head cracked open, he fell to the ground, left for dead, as the team he allied with ran off without him.

Fortunately for him, he landed on a healing potion he kept strapped to himself. Just in case. In the moments just after his heart stopped beating but just before his brain activity died, the glass pierced his skin, and the potion flowed into his body.

Because of this one in a billion timing, Corey was able to survive, subsisting mostly off of the world’s magic. He no longer has a heartbeat, and his left arm and leg no longer work, but he was alive, and stuck in dread caverns for about three years before Brook found him.

Corey has killed before in self defense. During his time In Dread Caverns many would come with the goal of killing him in mind, as rumors would spread of him being the reason the caverns were so dangerous.

Next is a reoccurring antagonist: Zeki.

They use She/They pronouns ;)

Zeki first appears after Dread Caverns in the story and is a well known infamous robber. She is known for kidnapping a member of her target group, and hypnotizing them to give her information and or infiltrate the group in order to easily incapacitate them. She smells of metal and is always followed by the sound of ticking clocks. She has multiple pocket watches hidden on her person at all times.

Zeki was originally the daughter of a prestigious family. They were expected to be perfect every second of every day, and were forced to learn parlor tricks to entertain guests. She would often sneak off into the middle of the night in order to destress and indulge in their true passion, whittling wood into beautiful sculptures. This went on for a long time before they were found out. All of her work was burned and destroyed, and she was cast out of the family with just the clothes on her back, and her grandfather’s pocket watch.

She almost starved before out of pure desperation they attempted one of the parlor tricks they learned. Light hypnosis. She managed to convince a passer by to give her some of their bread, and that was the beginning of their new life. Zeki would get more and more powerful every time they practiced.

Hypnosis only ever lasts from 3-5 days, but varies between that from person to person. Even after recovery, a person may relapse.

FINALLY!!! MY BOI!!!! CORVUS!!!

My lil plague doctor guy!!! I love him!!!

He never takes off his mask, he just doesn’t feel comfortable with it. The only reason he would take it off ever would be to clean it (even then, he makes sure nobody is around) or during a medical emergency.

Corvus is an actual, trained doctor! Which is part of the reason that Zeki decided to keep him as a part of their hypnotized entourage.

He is a sweet and caring guy, and just wants what’s best for everyone! No dark backstory for him other than being a part of Zeki’s crew for a bit, he’s just a lil guy! :3

I’m so sorry this is so long and I’m also sorry about the decrease in writing quality as it goes on lol this took me hours to type out XD

THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO INFODUMP IF YOU HAVE ANY SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ABOUT ANYTHING LET ME KNOW ID BE HAPPY TO ANSWER!!!!

#bun rambles #whispering willow book #my ocs #bun did a draw #ALSO I SEE YOU #YOU TALK ABOUT ME??? 👀 #also I’d bet you can tell this is heavily Inspired by dnd hehe #Brook whispering willow #quincy whispering willow #joe whispering willow #Willow whispering willow #Sam whispering willow #kat whispering willow #terra whispering willow #corey whispering willow #zeki whispering willow #corvus whispering willow #mmmm love me a good info dump #long post #tw abuse #TW slight mentions of gore