#so many chaps to go still lol

[luciuscaelus]

Our Story (Fanfic)

Chapter 1 Promises

“Now, sing O Muses, of that brave boy Odysseïdes, Sparta has he visit'd, Pylos twice, with Athena the wise queen…”

“Stop it,” Telemachus giggled. “You’re acting like your father.”

“No, I’m not,” said Peisistratus. “You’re acting like your father.”

“No, I’m not,” said Telemachus. “Unlike him, I don’t have many deeds to brag about.”

“Doesn’t sailing for the first time count?” Peisistratus insisted. “And if you don’t like this song I can always make a new one for you.”

“No thanks, Peisis,” Telemachus said. “At least, leave it till my birthday.”

“That I can arrange,” Peisistratus replied, seriously.

And they locked their gazes for a long time, until Telemachus finally burst out laughing. Soon Peisistratus joined him, and their laughter quickly flooded the entire palace. It died down eventually, as the two young men slowly calmed down. Then Peisistratus started:

“I’m so glad you’re here, Tele. Had it been another usual day, I’d be hunting with my brothers in the fields. Not that I don’t like hunting, it’s just that I’ve so many things to talk about and my brothers always find them either boring or childish. You might be the only one I could chat with. Ah, I wish you could visit Pylos more often.”

“Yeah,” Telemachus nodded. “It feels like such a long time since we last met…has it been two years already?”

“One whole year plus nine months, to be exact.”

“Right, I’m not gonna doubt you. After all, you’re better with this than I am.”

“That’s about the time since your father returned home, yep.”

“Before he set out again, you mean.”

“He set out again? About when?”

Telemachus sighed. “About one year and eight months ago. Said it was something concerning a prophecy someone named Teiresias told him—”

“Teiresias? The Teiresias? But isn’t he already dead?”

“Yep. My father had visited the Underworld, literally.”

Peisistratus gasped. “What—Oh my, that was some nostos your father had. Anyway has he met any great hero there? Like Theseus? Or Heracles? Or even my brother Antilochus?”

“He saw your brother there alright,” said Telemachus. “And Heracles, who even talked to him…”

“That’s so sick!” Peisistratus exclaimed. “I wonder if we’ll be having an adventure like this in the future, say, just you and me, maybe plus someone else, I don’t know.”

“You know what? It would be great!” Telemachus blinked his eyes excitedly. Why have I never thought about it before? Hanging out with my friends? It’s such a great idea! And father is going to be proud of us…

proud…

He’s going to be proud, isn’t he?

Telemachus wasn’t so sure. He remembered basically everything in that day, when his father again departed from Ithaca, this time to somewhere unknown even to himself. He remembered that it was a sunny day, that the chanting of birds was glorious, that the sweet scent of olives was mesmerizing, that the airy dance of cloud was elegant. These he remembered well, but most vividly he could recall that very scene, that very conversation—

“Father, I want to come along,” he had said. “I want to be with you wherever you go, so we can at least share some thrills and fun together.”

“No, Tele,” his father had answered, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t bring you on board, not this time.”

“Why?” He had been so confused. “But I’ve always wanted to explore the worlds outside Ithaca, to see the giant oak in Dodona, the reputable land of Calydon, the seven gates of the famous Cadmea…I want to have an adventure, father. Just like you did.”

He remembered that look well. That look his father had gave him, those eyes with such agony, such sadness. Is it panic, panicking at the thought of his son following him down the miserable path that was meant for his own to take? Is it fear, fearing for the life and sanity of his son? Or is it sorrow, sorrowful over the naïve and innocent spirit of his 20-year-old son? Or is it pain, painful about the fact that he doesn’t even qualify as being a father, who never had the chance to see his son through the childhood, and hadn’t gotten to know this brave young man his son has become, before his fate was calling him to sail out again?

For a long time both of them didn’t speak, and the look was growing wearier and wearier and…it seemed as if another decade had passed inside his father’s mind, another decade filled with tribulations and torments. Telemachus couldn’t help but feel his regret. Regret that he ever said those words, regret that he wasn’t with his father when he needed him. The hands. He could feel his father’s hands gripping his shoulders tightly. But finally his father had lower the head, and sighed heavily. In a low voice, Odysseus had begun. “Tele, you have to understand. This cruel world is not as entertaining as it may seem, or sound in those tales. It’s dangerous out there, filled with monsters, storms, ruthless gods, and…and things that can go beyond your very imagination. Things that are so terrible, so overwhelming…”

He hadn’t finished the sentence, instead he was choked with sobs, and Telemachus had felt so guilty, and so helpless. But he had tried his best to withhold his tears, and had started to comfort his father. “Then I’ll face them bravely, father, like you would do. Like a true son of Odysseus would do.” Telemachus had put up with a smile. “As a true Odysseïdes.”

“Oh Tele…” Odysseus had moaned with tears. “Oh…for ten years I haven’t seen your face, in one month I haven’t gotten to know you better, but look, what an undaunted man you have become, when I’m away!” Finally, he had cracked into a smile. “Yes, that’s my boy!” He had said with sincere happiness, though the pain was still present in his voice. But at least, Odysseus had smiled.

And Telemachus had exhaled with relief.

“Father,” he had continued. “I wouldn’t insist if you really don’t want me along, but I need to know where you’re going, what you’re going to do, and how long I should wait for your return. Could you please tell me, just for mom’s sake and mine?”

And Odysseus had nodded. “Don’t worry about your mother, Telemachus. Penelope knows about this, and you have every right to know it as well.” He had stopped, and looked towards the western sky. As Telemachus followed his gaze, Odysseus continued. “Do you remember the story I’ve told you, about that prophet Teiresias in the Underworld? I had asked him about my fate, and he had answered:

‘…When someone else runs into you and says you've got a shovel used for winnowing on your broad shoulders, then fix that fine oar in the ground there, and make rich sacrifice to lord Poseidon with a ram, a bull, and a boar that breeds with sows. Then leave. Go home, and there make sacred offerings to the immortal gods…’

“So you see, Telemachus, I don’t know where I’ll go to, but I know what I’ll find. It may be a long voyage, or it may be short. Who knows? But I’m going anyway, because I am Laërtiades, son of the honorable Laërtes—one of the legendary Argonauts.”

“I see,” Telemachus had said. “The blood of dauntlessness runs deep in our family.”

“Precisely.” Odysseus had laughed proudly. “You, my son, will also share this honor, in the future perhaps, when you take on a journey of your own, and build your fame with your own feats. But today, the journey is mine to undertake, and with the blessing of the prophet, I’m very certain that I will make it home again.”

“Okay.” With a serious face, Telemachus had nodded. “Then I’ll try not to surpass you.”

They were both grinning when an owl started to whoop from the forest.

“Wait, dad,” Telemachus had suddenly called. “If not this time, then when?”

Odysseus had given him a slight smile. “When I return, son, I shall take you to Dodona, where the oaks are august; then we’ll visit Calydon, where twenty two heroes had once gathered to slay that giant boar; then we shall go to Thebes, where twice had the Argives waged war against, one of them being the father of a king whom I have befriended; and then,” Odysseus had patted Telemachus’s right shoulder. “Then I will bring you to Pylos again. And know that I won’t be gone for long. This is a promise.”

“Swear it on the river of Styx?”

“I swear it, on the river of Styx.”

Gradually, Telemachus had returned the smile. “Thank you, dad.” He had said, voice cracked with the bittersweet taste in his throat. “Thank you so much.”

He remembered the hug, the kiss, and the departure of his father clearly. He remembered how often he had doubted that whether his father would ever make it back again. He remembered that worried look of his mother, who had often stood by the shores of Ithaca, waiting, waiting. But he also remembered, that Odysseus had made a promise.

And here they were, in Pylos again, weren’t they?

And it only took him eight months, didn’t it?

So, there’s nothing to worry about. After all, there’s nothing that can waver the resolve of Odysseus’s homecoming. And thus he shall always return. Always.

All because of his love, and his promise.

Telemachus nodded to this fact. Love, and promise. That’s what my father was proud of. And if I have found the courage to love, to make a promise, then will Odysseus be proud of me, even with the knowledge that I may travel afar, likely into an ocean of danger, and a sea of trouble?

Then will we get to have our adventure, and get back safely? Will we get to tell our tales, and make our own story?

So to Peisistratus he said these words, with all his heart:

“And I’m sure we will. Of this I give you my promise.”

#It has stayed in the drafts for days #it’s on discord now but since I did this on tumblr might as well post it #greek mythology #tagamemnon #odysseus #telemachus #pisistratus #fanfic #fanfiction #writing #epic the musical #I’ve thought about all the chapters and yes you’re gonna see many familiar places and people #Imma explain chap 1 here a little bit #Sing O Muses? Had to be done #And it’s in dactylic hexameter #One sad thing is that Ody cannot stick around until he made that sacrifice for Poseidon #Ody staying for one month is actually from his own idea (when he was still a Cretan who claimed to know himself) #And dw the course has been plotted using three maps #I’ll calculate the time later on cuz Imma try sth like the Captain’s Log recording #Oh and the winions are considered real here #so it’s also an epic fanfic lol #I’ll see how far I can go

[tonyglowheart]

Okay, wait lmao. I got to chap 45 and was surprised too see what I think is That Betrayal that I see some people get so so hung up about. Is this it? in Chapter 45? Chapter 45?? out of 128?? Like the way I saw some ppl cite it as a "I like yanshen except-" or like this is an unforgiveable thing by YWS.... and it's like. idk man, we're not even at the halfway mark yet. YWS is still like in his enacting his theorem on the world to try to get SQ to see it as a proof of concept stage. It also didn't really feel like it came out of nowhere at least not for me lmao, I was like, yeah this makes sense as a next step, like. whatever YWS does has to be an escalation and it has to come from him, and it has to be something that WOULD be personal like this. Especially after SQ called him his friend (even if part of the excuse was that it's easier to explain and etc)

#qian qiu #yan wushi #idk anyone else feel like this? lol #I just am like.... bro we're at chapter 45 / 128 #I guess if it were a WIP and I didn't know how many chaps there were it might be more shocking #or more of a like oh no how badly is sq going to get fucked up and can be come back from it #but like. knowing that we're like a little over a third of the way through.... #and honestly. I only went back to check the chap number once I saw oh is this The Thing? so like even chap number notwithstanding..... #it still made sense to me as a logical progression from like YWS's perspective #sorry some of you guys can't handle YWS's toxic yuri swag ig! #anyway I am still very much here for yws's girlboss wrongs #(also arguably- yws knew or suspected or thought that sq would be able to figure out a way to handle sjx) #(and if not then perhaps it's still two birds with one stone)

[todayisafridaynight]

maybe if i play y7 ill be normal <- played y7 four times this weekend, a decidedly not normal thing

#snap chats #'snap how many times can you play y7 in a week before youre tired of it' do you wanna find out together #i had a horrible night last night. ok not a WHOLLY horrible night but something trash did happen and i woke up still groggy bout it #i dont like sulking about the past but sometimes i cant help it and it aint fair to myself to act like i can help it. sometimes. #i gotta be candid just for my sake last night i got real upset with my friend because when i say she tests me She Really Does #and i hate getting angry cause then i just feel like my mom and at that point i figure itd be better if i slipped on ice and broke my spine #generally im good at controlling my temper but everything just testing me and i broke down and it was embarrassing as hell ☠️☠️ #so yeah thats gonna bother me for a few days LMAO #'snap it aint that deep' it AINT and thats why its so annoyin cause i KNOW it aint that deep yet i still cant argue away how i feel #all i can do is try to ignore it... like plying y7 for the 11th time..... #i cant ply it now tho i told myself id work on a commission a bit so. maybe later... #i already started another file yesterday- or was it two days ago ???? idk i just know im up to chap 5 in it #chap 5 always give me a damn headache its so LONG at the very least the benefit to having my friend over and raising my blood pressure #is that i start to remember things to do from a y7 speedrun. like i dont hound her on what to do obvi i just let her play #its just lil notes to myself. tho she does tell me to give her tips and exploits when i can LMAO #anyways.. im gonna go work ig and try to feel like crummy bye bye #i wanna stream.. maybe i will this evening before my evening class.. lol.. we'll see but probably not

[redxriiot]

I FINALLY finished just plotting out a long fucken multichap fic, I’m

#//Now to actually WRITE it sdjkbfgd #;mun has spoken #//It was supposed to be a nice simple 8 chap thing #//Wtf happened #//Ah; wait; I know #//I did lol #//And the summaries/plot point jots are so LONG too #//Wtf is gonna happen when I actually add details and shit sjhfdrkf #//This is is 134 pages on the google doc AND I DIDN'T EVEN DO PARAGRAPH BREAK OR SPACE IT MORE THAN SINGLE SPACE #//i #//AAAAAAAAAAAH #//And in procrastinating on it; I ended up doing like #//four different spin off plottings skjdfndf #//Wait; I actually FINISHED one sjkfbdrf #//AND THE MAIN STORY IT'S CONNECTED TO AIN'T EVEN WRITTEN YET #//And that's without mentioning the drabbles for MUSES I've got pending #//A #//The worst part is canon for the Big Fic is still fluctuating #//Like #//I don't mind; it's all good; but I had to go back and re-edit so many times bc the story did something like would counter or ADD to it #//Shit; I actually gotta catch up on a new thing and update a certain scene kjdhfdkgh #//Writing is rewriting; rip me #//But hey; if worse comes to worst; canon divergence is best friend #//Gonna step back from the fic a bit tho' #//Until I get to watch the thing #//In the meantime; that means more focus on threads #//Or my brain deciding this is the perfect time to finish one of the aforementioned muse specific drabbles #//We shall see #//I'm just so relieved it's p much done #//Wait; shit; I gotta watch a fave band gig that happened to day

[cranberryjuice-posts]

Heard you want more requests 👀. I have many ideas for Clarisse lol.

Clarisse x Fem!Child of Aphrodite Reader who was a beauty queen for pageants before joining camp. Often snarky and Brattish but really sweet to Clarisse.

Clarisse finds a box in her cabin under readers bed, Polaroids of her old pageants where she won. Reader also still has her favorite dress and a framed picture of herself in the box along with all of her Polaroids.

Reader walks in on her admiring the contents of the box?

- Marshmellow :]

- it’s not my fault -

Pairings - Clarisse La Rue x Fem! Aphrodite! Reader

An - this is giving Regina George and I’m here for it, also if this sucks my excuse is I’m sick 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

Most people called you condescending. Fair. But they wasn’t all there was to you. You were a pageant queen, who knows how many you’ve won at this point.

From bright red dresses to dull black ones you’ve had every design from X Y to Z. Coming to camp you gave that up though. The dream of being miss universe becoming just a thought instead of reality.

But you couldn’t completely give it all up. Inside your cabin and under the bunk there was a box holding some old pictures of you in all your glory, next to it was a black dress bag that held a stunning dress; one that complimented your figure and hair. One that you were supposed to wear at a pageant before your saytr Guide dragged her away.

—

“What are You doing” You raised an eyebrow as clarisse got into the floor looking under your bed. You were sitting on the vanity beside your bunk doing your 10 step skin care while clarisse, bless her soul only trusted soap and water.

All your siblings were out at a party in the woods giving you the cabin to just you and clarisse.

“I’m grabbing a box” her voice mumbled from the wooden frame. As she pulled out a rose colored box you mentally groaned knowing why she was doing it.

“Really? It’s tacky Lise”

“No it’s adorable” she corrected with a smile. Sitting on the edge of the bed she started to go through the photos, pointing out each dress she liked or wish she had the chance to see in person. “See look” Clarisse leaned over the edge pushing the picture onto your desk. “In this picture I’m telling you your mother blessed you or something because you’re glowing”

“And your cringe” You gave a sarcastic response taking the picture back. Clarisse rolled her eyes tilting her head to the side giving you the chance to lean down, giving her a small kiss.

The lavender scented lip Mask sticking onto clarisses chapped lips. “Babe.. I love you but please for the love of the gods let me do your skin, your lips are so fucked up” you ghosted your thumb over her bottom lip.

“Only, if you’ll try on that dress that’s under your bunk that you act like doesn’t exist”

“Why do You Wanna See That”

“Because im curious”

You gave her a suspicious look before just Tossing your headband aside. You reached under the bed, Pulling out the dress bag you quickly unzipped it. Clarisses attitude was like a child on Christmas.

You started taking your shirt off, Having to get undressed to even put the dress on. You tossed your bra into clarisses face with a smile. “You’re staring”

Clarisse Just shrugged, you knew she had no shame.

Stepping into the dress you shimmied the skin tight fabric up your body until it was over your chest. Zipping it up and flipping your hair to the side you placed your hands on your hips. “There” you dramatically sighed.

You watched as clarisse did a critical look over your body before responding. “Looked better in my mind”

“Your the wors” You laughed pushing her down onto the bed. Unable to move properly however you fell directly on top of her. Clarisse helped move You to the side, running her hands up and down your body.

“Seriously though it looks perfect on you” she mumbled. “Thank you baby” you smiled closing the gap and giving her a small kiss.

The cabin door opened, one of your siblings stepping inside with her boyfriend. “Get out!” You practically screamed causing the girl to run out. You rolled your eyes once again “I swear their all stupid” playing with a strand of clarisses hair you smiled wide. “Ok skin care time!”

#lesbian #wlw #clarisse la rue #clarisse pjo #clarisse x reader #percy jackson fanfiction #clarisse larue #clarisse my beloved #percy jackson show #pjo fandom #clarisse x female reader #clarisse la rue x reader #clarisse x you #pjo show

[pinguwrites]

Drabble: you can see Death's son

pairing | death junior x reader

Warnings: stalking, junior being a little obsessive but he's sweet and innocent, supernatural elements

A/N: Bro I just discovered this short film like yesterday and cranked out this small drabble. It's called At Death's Door (1999), where Cillian Murphy plays as some sort of grim reaper. He doesn't have a name in the film, so I made up Death Junior lol. That's his name now, okay?

No one was supposed to be able to see him. As the son of the Death, he was granted the gift of free passage, to travel between the realms of humans and spirits, unseen, like a gentle breeze in the wind. In the few years he had lived — albeit not many — he had come and gone, guiding souls to the beyond, and passing unnoticed by the living. It wasn’t until one fateful day near the end of Autumn did that change. It was the day you saw him; a girl, a mere mortal, whose eyes had somehow been blessed upon his image.

He stood, mouth slightly agape, pink lips chapped. He turned around, to see if you were looking at something else, but when he saw no one behind him, he knew without a doubt that it was him you were staring at. Beyond sight, he could feel it in his belly, a churning. 

This is not right, he thought. This is not right.

You were at the other end of the trail. It was a park, bare trees stripped of their sunset colors, fallen to the ground all crunched and brown. Green grass spread till it reached the surrounding roads, but there was plenty of space in between, where people were eating at picnic benches or playing with their dogs. You had been going for a run, with sweat beading down your forehead and labored breathing, when you stopped for a break and glanced upon him. 

You had given a quick smile, and the world stopped. Who were you? An angel, perhaps, come to steal him away. Or maybe a devil. He could not tell. 

“Are you alright?”

Gentle sound, beautiful. It broke him out of his thoughts, and back to your eyes. You were now standing just a few feet away from him.

He didn’t say anything, his lips still parted. He was dressed in all black, collared shirt, dress pants, polished shoes, and a scythe — his father’s scythe, though he hoped to make his own one day. He must have stood out like a sore thumb amongst all these bubblegum shirts and ripped blue jeans and fanny packs and whatever these people had in fashion these days. It was always changing.

“I — do you need help? You look a little lost.”

Say something, he thought. He’d been around humans enough to understand how to speak to them, and his own family very much modeled a stereotypical Victorian bunch. It wasn’t as though he didn’t know how to, rather that he had a lump in his throat that prevented him from doing so. 

“I’m sorry for bothering you, sir.”

He panicked. “No,” he blurted out, voice soft. He couldn’t let you leave. He just couldn’t. “What’s your name?”

You paused, then told him. In his mind, he repeated the word over and over again, like a religious mantra. He had always found names to be beautiful. They all meant different things and were attuned to culture and heritage. Even though there might be a million people sharing the same one, it was still yours. Like property.

“And you?”

He thought for a moment. He didn’t really have one. As much as he appreciated them, he had never thought of having his own. To him, a name was something he could not claim. Why should he even have one in the first place? He was always referred to as Son, and similarly, he referred to his parents as Mother and Father. That was enough, wasn’t it?

“I don’t . . . I don’t have one,” he said.

“Ah.” You nodded your head. “Shall I call you Reaper? Or Grim? You know, because of your costume? I like it, by the way. Most people have robes or chains, but this is simple, funeral-ish.”

Robes and chains. Oh, he hated the days when he had to wear those. They were so heavy on him, a personal punishment. The burden of the metal was the burden of his purpose, a constant reminder. And the hood, it always shrouded his line of vision. He was glad it wasn’t as popular as it was hundreds of years ago, otherwise he would be forced to wear it now.

“I’m not the Grim Reaper,” he clarified. “I’m his son.”

“I didn’t know he had one. So you’re Death Junior, then? I can call you that if you like it.”

Junior, he thought. June-e-er.

He nodded his head slowly. It wasn’t much of a name, more of a title.

“You live around here?”

He nodded again. It wasn’t the full truth, but if you were going to be here often then so would he.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you again. Have a nice day, Junior.”

You smiled, again, and picked up your pace, heading down the trail. Within a minute you were out of view, and he felt an odd feeling rise in his heart. This was not enough. He needed more. To at least just be in your presence.

He adjusted the grip on his scythe and followed after you. No one gave him so much as a look, which all the more validated his decision like he wasn’t doing anything wrong. But even if he was, he still found it okay. It was his curiosity, his innocence, that led him to your small apartment, maybe even a hint of longing, an ache.

For the entire night, he watched as you bathed, dressed, cooked, and finally, went to sleep, with the television on in the background. Apart from observing your essence of being, he wondered what it would be like to be there with you. To help you scrub yourself down with soap, take your clothes down to the laundry room and fold them, help you with dinner, feel your embrace in bed. 

Junior, he thought again. Maybe it was like a name. A name you had given him. Maybe one day this Junior could be just like you. With you, with the girl who could see him.

Taglist: @shroombloom-rry @madnessandobsession @henrywintersdearestgirl @hllywdwhre @your-nanas-house @ellebelleshelby @meetmeatyourworst @hanawrites404 @Emimurphy2008

#death junior #death junior x you #death junior x y/n #death junior x reader #fanfiction #at death's door #pinguwrites

[choccy-milky]

omg hi ive been following u bc i love ur comics but i did'nt realise that you have a fanfiction?? and that its rlly big on ao3. i thought u were just a tumblr comic creatorrr. anyway im gonna go and read it now but i love clora so muchhhhh!! <3

thank u for ur committment!!

BAHAHA my brainrot cannot be satisfied with just fanart or fanfic I NEED TO DO BOTH🤪🤪thats so funny tho LOL but THANK YOU!! AND I HOPE U LIKE IT💖💖🙏

THANK YOU!! AND SOON!! im writing as we speak, and i just decided what i want the drawing for this chapter to be and quickly drew it using my laptop trackpad before i forget LMFAO

look at this masterpiece???like😍😍😍heres your sneak peek for next chap!!

LMFAO AND HES NOT EVEN THE FIRST IVE HAD MANY PPL TELL ME THIS, clora will never escape the clorox allegations😩

IMMA BE REAL ITS LIKE 50/50. in my headcanon, seb was never the type to really want children/care about children. like if he never met clora i imagine him just graduating and becoming a curse-breaker or auror and going off on his own. but since meeting clora its like damn.....i do want kids with u.....i think #1 for him would be out of a desire to have clora be his full ass wife and have everything with her that comes with that (ie children) and warming up to the idea more, and then ofc once he actually sees the kid born ITS OVER (i also have it planned that their first kid is gonna be a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes so like......a little mini clora. sebs doomed🥺hes gonna spoil her so bad🥺🥺)

AW TYYY💖💖im glad you like how i draw him🥹 and ikr i need to draw older seb more, bc i am a slut for seb in that trenchcoat and black gloves🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️actually wait while we're on the topic of my curse-breaker comic, i forgot about this LMAOO. I NEEDED REFERENCE PICTURES OF SEBS POSE so i put on a coat and similar shoes and forced my roommate to take pictures of me (she was very confused but also very supportive) i was like "i need you to take a picture of me on all fours from multiple angles. AND ITS NOT FOR SMUT I SWEAR" LMAO (i still dont think she believed me)

im dead it looks like im in the depressed anime pose bc theres no choccy milky in the fridge or something😩😩

#ask #also its funny cause i like seeing ppls drawings of seb and their mc but when i draw MY seb with other ppls mcs it feels so wrong #bc im so used to seeing my seb in my style with my clora so when i draw my seb with other mcs im like YOU CHEATER !HOW DARE U! WHERES CLORA #LMAOOO #the real reason i dont do sebxmc commissions (kidding its bc i already have a job and im lazy) #loving-him-was-red13 #riskiest-biscuit

[hotpinkstars]

Okay, you asked for a request, and here I am. Because I myself also need requests and ideas for writing Genshin stories and receive exactly ZERO requests *upset sigh* And now the request itself

Reader, who is Childe's sibling or just one of the Harbingers? I love these guys and sometimes I jokingly think that the whole of Taivat hates them, not because they are the military power of Snow, but because they look too stylish and beautiful *cheerful laughter*

Therefore, why not try to write something about the Reader, who, knowing all the activities of Fatui, still loves and supports his sibilings

🍞 anon

-> one of the 11

synopsis -> you're a fatui harbinger, and particularly close to childe. you're like family to the harbinger.

warnings -> mentions of injuries, you're close to la signora in this as well lol

a/n -> hii! this was so cute and aaaaa new anon !!!!! i'm probs going to make an anon list if more people do this but yayyyy my first name anon 😊😊

w/c -> 649

you had a really… odd bond with childe.

he was just your fellow colleague, and the other harbingers + the tsaritsa herself has requested it to stay that way. but yet, the two of you always get sent out to missions together. the one time you two went to fontaine, you goofed off a little too hard. not only did childe want to duel the champion duelist herself, but you broke a few of the many rules furina has set in place and went to meropide. and then later escaped through the pipes together. hm. 

but whenever those moments occur, you treat him like your best friend! you’re close with his whole family, his siblings treat you like you’re part of their family, and his parents always welcome you in with open arms.

whenever childe has to go alone on a mission, you help support his family. with being a harbinger, you never know when your dying breath will be. especially with childe, who loves to play with his life. that stupid delusion, as you’d scold him.

his family doesn’t like your job too much, which is why you both hide it from his siblings. considering the toymaker act he puts on to preserve teucers innocence, you simply just tell him and sometimes tonia that he’s just out to sell his new stock in liyue, or whatever nation he went to for his actual line of work. 

not to mention how supportive the both of you were to each other while grieving over signora. you were also rather close with that woman, and it was a shame that she’d passed on so soon. as heartless as the other harbingers seemed during her funeral, you understood that they all chose to grieve in their own way.

you had to keep a straight face the time you were there, paying your respects to the late la signora. you listened to the others talk about their future plans for the fatui and where work will bring you next, and you said your own fair share of things. 

but as soon you were in the clear, you started crying. you knew fully well you weren’t supposed to care too hard about a woman like her. you didn’t know if any of your other colleagues felt enough emotion to her passing to even think about it. you put your resentment to the shogun in the back of your mind, running up to childe. 

“hey-” he started, cutting himself off when he saw your face. your eyes were puffy and tear-filled, lips bit chapped. “whats wrong?”

“i hated every second of her funeral. everyone seemed so unbothered,” you sniffled, letting the cold air hit your face as you check your surroundings once again. “especially the knave and the jester.”

he nodded, scrunching his eyes closed at the sudden gust of chilled wind. “considering even i feel a little tinge of grief, i doubt they’re not thinking about it. they’re harbingers, but it’s not like they don’t feel emotions.”

you nod as the tears come back. he wraps his arm around your shoulders and lets you cry into his side. you both walk back to his place, where you straighten yourself up before you walk through the door, greeting his parents with a smile and a hug.

if the time comes for combat and one of you gets hurt, the only goal is to finish the fight and get the other to the nearest infirmary. if its a near fatal injury, then other choices are to be made.

it pisses you off that even though you were asked to keep your business front around all the others or on the job, he still likes to tease and try to make you break your front. you always end up slapping him, drawing attention from the other harbingers (and it always makes them laugh. put him in his place!!!)

#genshin impact #genshin #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #childe #tartaglia #ajax #childe x reader #ajax x reader #tartaglia x reader

[copias-juicebox]

It's a Sin Chapter 4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5 Pairing: Cardinal Copia x fem! Reader Words: 8941 Genre: romance, angst, smut, fluff, hurt/comfort, SLOWBURN Warnings: in this chap: angst and spice lol Notes: oki guys it has come now. my first lil venture into some spice. i'm feeling shy posting this lol. please let me know if you liked it and if it was ok? and feedback is always appreciated. love y'all. also the biggest fucking shoutout to @fishwithtitz. without your help i would not be able to get any words down.

The sun was shining brightly outside, contrasting the darkness that still lingered in the halls of the ministry. You spent most of the past night inside the infirmary, overlooking the Cardinal. Sister Ana and you both decided it‘d be best to supervise him because of his workaholic tendencies. And it did not even take half an hour after sundown that he proved you in your assumptions correct. He was barely awake and up, trying to get back to his stacks of papers atop his desk as if his grandma was held at gunpoint if he didnt get back to work as soon as possible. This man was really just ridiculous you thought. You encountered many passionate people in your life, especially in the church of your parents. This man though. He appeared to be just built different. Never once had you met someone that invested in his job or hobby.

On one side you were utterly taken with his love for his job and that alone earned him the utmost respect. But on the other side you could not shake the feeling that there was more to his workaholic attitude than just his own love and passion for the job. From what you had gathered so far he was the errand boy. He was sent around the ministry doing work for everyone at all times, doing people a favor when his own desk already overflowed with paperwork. It concerned you especially now that you have seen what a toll it took on him. The whole situation gave you the ick, just how everyone saw how this man worked himself to death and yet nobody decided to help him out. It was one thing you noted and you would make sure to offer your help should you ever have the opportunity to do so.

This morning you woke up early. Thankfully the backroom of the Infirmary offered a nice bed for the nurses on duty for cases like this. However you could not sleep for very long since a great amount of time you spent in the infirmary overlooking the Cardinal’s almost toddler-like sleep. He looked adorable. Realizing you found this odd looking man adorable alone made you shake your head and giggle internally. He was a grown man. In fact a middle aged man about twice your age. But you found his silly antics and awkward behavior lovely. It warmed your heart in an odd way you could not describe. There was not an ounce of displeasure in his presence, rather a feeling of calm and peace. Especially as he lay there in the bed, face finally relaxed. The crinkles on his forehead and around his eyes were less visible like this and he looked younger than you knew he was.

As much as you hated it, you decided it was time to wake him up. Opening up the curtains you turned around, watching him stir a little, the frown back on his face but his eyes still closed.

„Good morning Cardinal. It is time to wake up.“ you informed him, warmly.

„Just 5 more minutes…“ he mumbled barely audible, eliciting a chuckle from you. The sound escaping your mouth made him realize where he was and who was there. His eyes shot open, making him groan in regret as the bright light hurt his eyes and he hid his face in his hands to shield off the sunlight pouring inside.

„S..Sorella I.. good morning Sorella.“ he greeted you, eyes slowly adjusting to the light. His mismatched eyes found yours and he felt the butterflies in his stomach go wild again. There you stood, gracefully in front of the vast window. Golden rays of sunlight pouring in, casting a warm, ethereal glow that enveloped your form. Your silhouette radiant, like an angel descended from the heavens, with the light accentuating the delicate contours of your face and the flowing elegance you carried yourself with. As the Cardinal gazed back at you he sat there in awe, captivated by your otherworldly beauty and the celestial aura that seems to embrace you. Time stood still for a moment, the Cardinal caught in a moment of pure, luminous enchantment. After a moment that felt like an eternity he realized he must have hit his head pretty hard yesterday. What was it about you that made him feel that way? He was attracted to you. He knew that but why was it so strong? He could not pin it down. Was it just your beauty? But there were so many beautiful Sisters in the Ministry, none quite as pretty as you of course but still.

„So Cardinal, how are you feeling today?“ you interrupted his thoughts.

„Mi sento bene, Sorella. Yes I am alright.“ he replied absentmindedly.

„So no pain anywhere?“ You asked him as you started to feel his temperature again.

„N.. No, Sister I feel quite alright I promise.“ the Cardinal smiled sheepishly back at you, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink.

„If that is the truth I am going to talk to Papa Nihil then. In the meantime I will ask for someone to bring you breakfast and I would highly recommend you to stay here and eat. I will be back in a few minutes.“ you ordered.

The Cardinal's eyes widened in surprise. „Ah no need Sister, don't bother Papa Nihil with little casualties like this.“ he tried to downplay his healthstatus.

„I have to Cardinal. He would expect you to go back to work and that would only be counterproductive Cardinal.“

„Ah then.. just tell him I am having a bad headache yeah? And I will be back at work tomorrow.“

You knew better than to discuss with him now and so you decided to not tell him what you were going to tell Papa. „Alright Cardinal. I will be back in a few.“

You left the infirmary, walking down the corridor towards the office Wing of the Ministry. Luckily you remembered most of the layout of this place from your tour with Hannah. Walking down the hallway you checked the Name Tags next to the doors as you passed Cardinals, Terzos, Secondos and Primos offices. The last one was Papa Nihils Office. You just hoped he would be there and knocked on the door three times. A voice from inside called you in. You opened the door, stepped inside and closed it. Inside Papa Nihil sat in his chair while Terzo and Sister Imperator stood next to him.

„Excuse me Papa Nihil. I hope I am not interrupting anything? I can come back later.“ When he saw who entered his office his face lit up. You did not know why but he genuinely liked you even though he knew nothing about you.

„Ah no no of course not.“ he tried to get up from his chair but his old legs refused him so he sat back down. Sister Imperator helped him and he invited you inside with a wave of his hand. You took a few steps inside coming to a halt next to Terzo who fixed you with a curious gaze.

„Now what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?“ Papa Nihil asked, gleefulness in his tone.

„Well unfortunately I am here because of my duty. As you know the Cardinal came into the Infirmary yesterday.“

„Yes yes the Cardinal right. Is he feeling better, yes? Can he resume his work now?“ Nihil asked impatiently

„Unfortunately not. His condition has become better, yes, but he needs more rest I am afraid.“

„More rest? No, we can't afford him to rest now. He needs to get back behind his desk now.“ Nihil nearly barked, absolutely not sympathetic in the slightest. „..The Cardinal wants more time off now?“ he turned to you with a frown.

„No actually I highly recommend a week off for him. He is in a critical condition right now and if he doesn‘t rest up properly he might fall sick for an extended amount of time.“

Nihil seemed to not hear a word you had said, rambling about how dare the cardinal wants time off now until Terzo decided to step in.

„Papa the cardinale is working very hard. You should allow him to rest a bit. Consider it a.. a small holiday yes?“ Terzos deep voice rang in the room.

That successfully just put more gas into the fire. „A Holiday you say? We don‘t do holidays here. Satan doesn‘t take holidays and neither will the Cardinal!“ Nihil fumed.

You were about to speak when surprisingly Sister Imperator stepped in.

„Papa, Terzo is right. He has done a lot lately. He should be granted a gift don‘t you think? He is the most important Cardinal Papa, don‘t forget that.“ Nihil just grumbled in response.

You decided to try your luck and risk it. You knew he liked you but what you were about to do was risky as shit. It might actually have the exact opposite effect on him. You had to try though. „I am sorry Papa. I didn't mean to offend you in any way.“ you tried your doe eyes on him. „I was just thinking that you might need to know how bad it is with him.“ you added a sweet, charming smile to the mix. He looked at you and you swore you saw a slight change in his hard expression. Now or never you thought. „I am begging you as a nurse who swore to do anything to help those in need, to give him a week. I will personally take care of him if you want me to and make sure he gets back as soon as possible.“ At this point you didn‘t know what shit cake you were trying to bake here but to your surprise it seemed to work as Nihils glare seemed to fade and his features softened.

You missed the smirk and raised eyebrow your little act had earned you from Terzo.

„Well if that is so he might get his week then. If that means he will be able to get back and work as he used to that is.“

You smiled and clapped your hands together. „Thank you Papa, thank you so much you are the best. I will go then.“

„Yes yes thank you bella, You go and take care of the cardinal yes. I have other matters to attend to now.“ Nihil said and turned back to Terzo, who still watched the whole scenario unfold in front of him.

You nearly ran the way back to the infirmary, skipping a step just being happy about your successful bewitching of Papa Nihil.

When you entered the Infirmary Sister Ana was doing paperwork on the desk and the Cardinal just finished his breakfast.

„There you are. Are you alright dear? …oh you seem to be in an oddly good mood for someone who just told Papa Nihil that his most hardworking part of the clergy needs a timeout. Does that mean you actually managed to get him a day or two?“

„Well yeah. More than that even. I managed to actually get him a week.“ you smiled proudly

„A WHAT?“ Ana stood up abruptly, bumping into the table and knocking half of the items on top off of it. „How in the name of sweet Satan did you do that? Did you suck his cock or what?“

„ANA!!“ you yelled. „No ew I would never oh my god. I just figured out he has a soft spot for me. And well I used it against him. I know I am a terrible person but it was worth it.“

„Oh you are a clever child. Honestly you shouldn‘t feel bad in the slightest. He tends to be very harsh to the Cardinal. And the Cardinal never owns up to him. You did the right thing child. He could use the time out.“ Ana stated, looking to the door that connected the Backroom with the Infirmary. „Now I just want to give you advice and keep to your word ok? Take care of Cardinal Copia. He will be over the moon to spend so much time in the presence of such a beautiful Sister that is for sure.“ she laughed and shooed you out of the room towards the Cardinal.

„Ah Sorella, excuse me but why exactly are you escorting me back to my Chambers personally? I told you it‘s not necessary I am fine now.“ he kept stealing glances at you from the corner of his eyes.

„You see Cardinal, I spoke to Papa Nihil and he was not exactly.. happy to give you time off. So I had to convince him, yeah?“ You grinned sheepishly, looking down, matching his steps.

Copia stopped dead in his tracks. You walked two more steps and turned around to see why he had stopped. „What is it, Cardinal? Are you not feeling well again? Do you need me to bring you back?“ you asked, taking a step closer to him, worry written all over your face, a hand came to rest on his arm should he need support. The Cardinals cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink. „No no Sorella uh… It‘s just I errm.. You didn‘t do anything to uh…. gain Papas favor did you?“ the man, wearing his black cassock asked. You frowned. „Cardinal I am sorry but I don‘t understand.“ you shook your head. „Sorella.. I..“ he seemed to be thinking hard. He was going to open his mouth again when in the last second he decided against it. „Ah nevermind Sorella. Please ignore an old mans rambling.“ he waved you off as if he just said the most ridiculous thing and wanted you to forget about it.

He began to walk again and you followed him, still thinking about what he could have meant. After a few minutes walk in silence you reached a dark door at the end of the hallway where the higher ranking members of the clergy resided. „We are here Sorella. Thank you for walking with me. I will be fine from now on.“ he turned and opened his door, dismissing you but you were pushing yourself in behind him and he felt the front of your body press into his back. Copia froze before he turned around just in time to see you close the door behind you. His eyes went wide and when you closed the distance between you he started to get nervous. He fidgeted around where he stood. „Ah w..what are you doing..?“ he fidgeted with his fingers out of sheer stress. His mind was trying to comprehend why you were here now as his stomach felt like it was jumping around. „..dinal? Cardinal are you there?? Earth to Cardinal Copia..“ You snipped your fingers in front of his face. His vision cleared again and he got pulled out of his momentary stupor.

„Okay I have had enough of this now. You!“ You pointed your finger at him. „You! Bed! Now!“ you commanded. Copia was speechless. He didn‘t understand what was going on. Why were you here and commanding him to his bed? His bed of all places? You couldn‘t possibly mean to… no. He had to stop himself. He would not let his mind wander there. You were far too good to him, he couldn‘t sully your pretty soul like that. His thoughts were interrupted as your hand found his and you pulled him into the room more. „So where?“ you stared at him as you were walking backwards into his living room. The cardinal's eyes were as big as saucers, staring back at you. „Ah.. Haha uh.. Sorella.. what do you mean where??“ he questioned, nervousness evident in his voice.

„Well the bedroom, silly?“ At this point he was thinking he might go insane. Was this real? The most beautiful Sorella in the whole ministry wanted to bring them to his bedroom. „The d..door to your r..right, there.“ he finally managed to stutter and look behind you. You glanced over your shoulder and gently pulled him towards the big dark door. As you opened it the first thing you noticed was the smell of fresh bedding and the beautiful dark decor of the room. The walls were black as were the silk sheets on top of the Cardinals queen sized bed. You couldn‘t take a much better look because the cardinal's well being was still present in your mind. You wanted to get him to lie down as soon as possible. He was behaving oddly even though he claimed to feel fine.

„Alright then nearly there. Please now lay down. And get some rest.“ at this point you actually had to push him down gently since he was rigidly standing there not moving. When he finally lay on his bed he kept staring at you like you were a ghost. „Cardinal are you sure you‘re alright?“

„I.. I don‘t know.“ he responded and you sighed. „Alright Cardinal just to make it clear to you I am going to be your personal nurse for the week ok? I promised Papa Nihil to take care of you and make sure you are back to work by next monday. So you need to promise me to be honest ok? Whenever something is not right you tell me.“ You sat down next to him on his bed, the mattress giving way to your weight as you sat.

Copia exhaled deeply as you told him the reason behind all this. How pathetic of him to read anything into your actions. Of course you would never show any interest in him of all people. He was relieved of the tension he felt rising between you but he was equally hurt by it. He would never show it of course but deep down he hoped you might like him a little. Just a little would be enough for him.

„Ah uhm if that‘s the case then I think I just need to rest a little more. Sí just a little more rest.“ he told you.

„Alright. Good I‘ll leave you to it then. I will come back soon and bring you lunch, Cardinal.“ you said and got up, walking towards the door.

As the door clicked shut the Cardinal was doing anything but rest. He lay there yes but his mind was racing wildly. He reproduced this morning's events many times in his head. Every time his heartbeat picked up when your hand had taken his. Your fingers were cold and in stark contrast to his own warm hands. He didn‘t understand this infatuation he had. Could he actually have a crush on you? He didn‘t know you one bit, it surely was just his far too long touch-starved body and your beautiful smile that had him worked up like that. He could only dream of someone like you. Oh what he would give to have you. You had said you were his nurse. His. In his delusional mind he created a bunch of scenarios which really didn't help his already misplaced feelings towards you. He wanted to make you his for real. In any way possible. He would give you everything you ever desired. He would offer all of him and more just for you to let him worship you as you deserved.

A few hours later you walked along the corridor, carrying a tray with the Cardinals lunch and fresh juice. As you walked up the stairs you met some Sisters and Brothers, all happily greeting you on the way. You rounded the corner and there you saw Sister Hannah and her group of friends. „Look who is here. If that isn‘t Cardi's personal nurse.“ one of the Sisters teased and winked at you. The group giggled and some of them looked at you with pity. You were slightly appalled at their reactions. „Mhm yes. Is there any problem with that?“ you asked and they answered „Ah no you see it‘s just I am sorry for you. He is so pathetic and you have to spend so much time with him now.“ You looked at Hannah, silently asking her if they were serious. She understood the look you gave her and intervened, trying to defuse the situation.

„Come one girls, don‘t be mean to our new nurse now. And also the Cardinal deserves the best treatment. He is basically running the whole ministry at this point.“ She stated. „Yeah Hannah we know you have a soft spot for the rat man. But really I hope he isn‘t gonna be weird to new sis.“ Sister Moira said, inspecting her fingernails.

„Well I am not worried he would do anything weird as you said. So far he‘s been super welcoming.“ you smiled. „Ugh yeah I‘m just saying sis..“ Sister Moira rolled her eyes. That was when Brother Damien, a tall, dark haired Brother jumped in. „What she is trying to say is that the Cardinal is a little funny, yeah?“ he tried to explain. Unfortunately you failed to understand. „Funny? What do you mean by that?“ you replied „Ugh Sis he is a creep fucking hell. And I bet he is a pervert as well.“ Sister Moira interjected, obviously getting irritated at the conversation.

Your mouth hung open and you were trying to process what you had just heard. „Are you trying to tell me he has..“

„Nonsense Sis. He never did anything like that.“ Hannah interrupted you. „Don‘t even listen to her. The Cardinal is a good and decent man. The one you should watch out for is Terzo.“ Sister Hannah informed you.

„Oh my god are you saying he..“ „No no no don‘t worry. Nothing like that. Satanas, you must be getting all the wrong impressions right now.“ Hannah grabbed your arm, leading you away from the group. „Don‘t worry no one here has done anything to anyone. At least not as long as they didn‘t want to. What I was trying to say is Terzo has a certain way with people. Especially with the Sisters. That is all.“

You sighed, your shoulders slumped as you exhaled. „Okay good. You had me worried for a second. But I meant it so far the Cardinal has been nothing but kind. And I don‘t find him creepy.“

„Correct you are. He is a sweet man. Just very awkward. Many people find that odd. Well he is odd but it‘s endearing really. Don‘t listen to what anyone says here really. Make your own experience with people and don‘t judge a book by its cover because that is what most of them do.“ she motioned back to the group.

„Alright yes. Thank you Hannah.“ you hugged her real quick from the side, balancing the tray in your hands and told her you had to go now otherwise the Cardinals food would get cold. As you turned on your heel Hannah called you one more time. „Hey are you free tonight? We wanted to go out for a drink after dinner. Wanna join?“ You contemplated and agreed. You wanted to belong and fit in and you were going to take any chance to get to know more Sisters and Brothers.

When you knocked and opened the door to the Cardinals room you heard some rustling, quick steps and a thump and a following string of curses. „Cazzo.“ When you entered his bedroom he was lying in his bed, a blanket lazily thrown over him. Unfortunately his feet were not covered and revealed the slippers he wore. One glance at the desk in the corner of the room was enough to confirm your suspicions. Papers thrown all over the desk, the lamp lying dangling off the cable on one side of his working space. You sighed „Cardinal!?“ His eyes went wide at your commanding tone. „Ah sí sorella?“ he grinned sheepishly back at you. You shook your head suppressing a smile. This man was unbelievable yet adorable. „Have you been working?“ „No no no Sorella. I was uh in my bed this whole time, yes.“ he fumbled with the rim of his blanket. „And you always keep your slippers on in bed?“ you inquired. „Oh.. uh.. that is for when I…have to hurry to get to the bathroom, yes the bathroom.“ Copia wanted to punch himself. How would that sound to her? Like he was an old incontinent man that would piss in his pants sometimes. His cheeks grew a dark shade of red when he heard your chuckle. Satanas, you were laughing about him. His head whipped up searching your face. Your eyes were locked to the ground beneath you, smiling a dashing smile. Oh how beautiful you looked like that. „You are unbelievable, Cardinal and you‘re a liar, a bad one at that.“ when your eyes found his he was surprised to find no sign of pity or remorse. Instead your eyes sparked and conveyed nothing but warmness. He was relieved to see that expression on you unlike what he had expected to see.

„Cardinal it is very obvious, don‘t you think?“ You looked around the room. „Anyway I am not here to reprimand you. I have brought you your lunch. And since you‘ve been up anyway you might eat it on the big table as well.“ you walked back out of his bedroom and put the tray on the big table that stood in the little kitchenette he had. A few moments later he followed you. This was the first time you saw him in casual clothing. He wore a wine red hoodie with a fitting pair of pants. Underneath he wore a simple black shirt and under his slippers a pair of black socks. It was a little odd to see such a high ranking member of the clergy wearing such casual clothes but it just helped you relax around him a little more. Not that the Cardinal made it hard for you to do so. His clumsiness and awkward little smiles gave you a sense of security. Like you were not the only one not knowing what to do every now and then. You were still adjusting to this new life you were having here.

Satan and his worshippers surely were going to be the biggest test the lord above had for you so far. You were going to prove to him you were standing strong in your faith and that you could show mercy and help even the misled souls.

„Thank you Sorella. Uh what about yourself?“ he questioned, brow furrowed. „Oh I already had a little snack when I visited the kitchen.“ you brushed him off. „Oh we can share then Sorella it‘s no problem.“ Copia answered already on his way to the kitchenette, opening a cabinet and pulling out a plate and cutlery for you. „It‘s not necessary, Cardinal really.“ „No it is Sorella. You need to eat.“ He patted the chair next to him and you sat down next to him. He then put half of his food on the other plate and handed it over to you. You were a little speechless. „But it is not that much you don‘t have to share with me. I can always get some more later.“

„It is enough. And I am happy to share my food with you Sorella. Please accept this?“ Copias eyes found yours, a hint of worry hidden behind his pleading eyes. It was definitely not enough for the both of you to get full but there was no way on earth you could reject him now. You sat next to each other as you both ate. You were not going to admit it but you were more hungry than you knew yourself, nearly wolfing down your food. The Cardinal stole glances at you from the corner of his eyes and tried to hide his chuckles. „So Cardinal, can I ask you a question?“

„Ah sí sí, what exactly do you want to know?“

„Mh how did you end up here?“

„Cosa intendi? Like how did I end up devoting my life to Satan?“

„Yes. What made you want to become a Cardinal or choose a clerical life anyway?“

„Well.. It uh.. it was a long time ago. You must know Sorella, I was an orphan. I have never known my parents and when I was young I didn‘t have many friends or family.“

„Oh I am sorry to hear..“ you replied, a hand resting on his arm in an attempt to provide some form of comfort.

„Don’t be Sorella. It was a long time ago. And it was the church that I found solace in. Belief carried me through my childhood. I have seen the good and the bad of it.“ the Cardinal spoke, somberness behind his words as his gaze seemed to drift off.

His words struck you and you suddenly became more interested. „H-How exactly?“ Your voice was barely above a whisper. He couldn‘t have experienced something similar as you could he?

„You see I was not a satanic Cardinal from the beginning. In fact I started studying theology and became a young servant of the catholic church. But as time went by I saw the misuse of trust, power and the truly harmful ways of the catholic church so I decided to leave this rotten institution behind.“

„And what did you do after that?“

„I survived doing smaller Jobs here and there until I came across this ministry and the wonderful message they carry out into the world.“

You wanted to know more. But at the same time you were scared to show how little you knew about it all.

„And then you asked Papa if you could stay?“

„Well not exactly. The clergy wanted me to stay here. It is… in a way this place has become my home. The first place that I feel like I am accepted just the way I am.“

You didn‘t know why but it hurt you hearing him say such a thing. He must have spent many years of his life, trying to find acceptance and through many years he seemed to have finally found it. If this place provided that for him it might not be as bad as you were taught it would be.

„I am glad you found that place. The place you can call home.“ you smiled at him and both continued to eat.

It somewhat eased the tension in the room and after you finished the Cardinal got up and took your plates off the table, rinsing them in the sink. „Cardinal.. errm thank you.“ you told him earnestly. „Prego Sorella. I have to thank you. For taking care of me so wonderfully. It is the least I could do. Maybe for dinner you could bring two plates, yes? One for you and one for me?“

„Yes I will do that.“ you two fell into silence again. Him standing in front of his kitchenette and you sitting on the chair across the room. This time it was more comfortable. He seemed less tense and so did you.

„So Cardinal back to business. I have to ask you to refrain from working. That is the whole reason why you are here now. So from now on I forbid you to work one more minute until next week.“ You instructed. His face fell as the last words fell from your lips. He couldn‘t possibly stop working. He never once took a vacation from his work. It was all that he‘d ever known. Bound to his desk, several nights back to back and making sure everything in the ministry ran smoothly.

„Ah Sorella.. I have to intervene.. I couldn‘t stop working all together.. there uh is quite a lot of responsibility that comes with..“

„Nonsense Cardinal.“ you raised your voice above his. „If I remember correctly you are not Papa. You are simply a Cardinal right?“

„Y..Yes Sorella.“ his voice was small now as he looked down to the ground.

„And as Cardinal you are not the one responsible for the ministry. Papa should be. And he will be making sure you get some rest. He even approved to my request and was the first to speak up to Papa Nihil. He has your back Cardinal. You should not worry about it even though I admire that.“

The Cardinals cheeks turned a deep crimson color, as his brain stopped thinking about any other pathetic excuse and he took mental notes that you liked if he took responsibility.

Later that evening you met Hannah and her group of friends outside to go to the local bar and enjoy your time here. To your surprise they seemed to be more friendly and nice than you expected them to be, especially after this morning's encounter with Moira. The Cardinal was not the most popular among some of them and they seemed to know you disagreed which they accepted. They even refrained from making any further inappropriate comments about him for the remainder of your night out. After a few drinks they decided each of them was going to pay you one shot of Tequila as a little welcome celebration. It had been a while since you last had that much fun and you grew closer to the other Sisters and Brothers which was a huge relief. By the end of the day you stumbled half drunkenly into your room and into your bed with a smile on your face.

The next days went by relatively fast. You would check in on the Cardinal every now and then, you would bring him breakfast, lunch and dinner and eat it together over some light conversation. The both of you warmed up more with each day and you could feel yourself relax more around him. While you found some sort of rhythm with each other, him always trying to sneak out to do some work (of course he couldn‘t go without work) and you alway finding him either asleep with his head on his desk or scrambling around his room as soon as he heard you approach, you decided to help whenever you could. Running small errands for him to lift some of the weight he carried on his shoulders. You would stop him whenever he was taking on too much and you made sure he took a good long break every now and then. Copia was immensely happy about that. One of his biggest flaws was that he never truly knew when it was becoming too much, luckily that beautiful Sorella must have been sent by Lucifer himself to help him, saw right through it, always there to remind him to take a break or bring him food when he had neglected his well being for too long.

As you carried on your days like that you got to know each other better in between. The light conversation sometimes, turning into deeper topics that both of you were interested in. He was surprisingly attentive to you and you greatly appreciated that he truly listened to you. He never once judged you for an opinion you had and so it was just natural for you to form a bond with him that relied on trust. It was even comfortable enough for you to reveal your concern working in the ministry. You made sure to choose your words wisely around him so as to not tell him you were not a believer at least not in the same Lord he believed in. You didn‘t even know why but he was easy to open up to and so one day while you helped him sort some papers on his desk you came to talk about your reasons to take the Job in the ministry. The Cardinal had his suspicions that you were not in fact a Sister of Sin. You didn‘t share the opinions most Sisters did but he wanted to know for sure.

„One of the main reasons why I accepted this Job was because of this town.“ you revealed. „This town? How so?“ the Cardinal asked, genuinely interested, head cocked to the side. „It‘s my hometown. I grew up here. Our house was not even too far away from here.“ you reminisced. „Well that was until I went to the boarding school my parents sent me to.“

That piqued the Cardinals interest as he raised one eyebrow in confusion. „Forgive me Sorella but might I ask why they would send you away? You don‘t come across to be the rule-breaking type..“ he asked, trying not to offend you.

„Well honestly I don‘t remember exactly. I was very little back then. But…“ you tried to think hard about how to describe the night and the things that had happened without telling him about your catholic family or the traumatic events of that night.

„It was in the summer. A few weeks into the holidays. I was a child back then and I.. Well, I was a very curious child. And I questioned many things when I grew up. Many things I didn‘t understand. But my parents never liked me to ask too much. And as I grew older I think they grew tired of me and my never stopping mouth.“ you sighed, remembering the angry face of your father as he slapped you hard across your face that night. „My parents were very strict, you know. They were not open for someone to question their way of life. So yeah I overstepped and they finally had enough of me.“ you swallowed the lump in your throat.

The Cardinal beside you grew stiff. He remembered something. A specific night. A night of heavy thunder and rain. A night almost 20 years ago now. It couldn‘t be, could it?

„Cardinal? Are you ok? Do you need to lie down?“ you inquired. „Ah no I am fine Sorella, thank you. Uh may I ask you how old you are Sister?“ Copia was trying to gather as much information as he could.

„I will turn 26 in November.“ you said with a smile. „How about you? How old are you?“

„Oh uh I am an old man..“ He started to stare at his fingers silently counting. „ I am 53.. yes 53.“

„Did you really just count with your fingers?“ you snickered and he just awkwardly shrugged „Eh, I was never good at math.“

„But it is your own age how could you not know“ you still chuckled at his silly antics.

„I never celebrated my birthday so I never counted the years.“ he declared and you saw a sudden sadness flash in his eyes. Memories of his childhood came rushing back to him. He wanted to be like the other kids, celebrating their birthdays with their friends. He never had any friends to celebrate with. On his sixths birthday, the first one he would be allowed to celebrate, he planned a party with food and cake even, sending invitations to everyone he knew. The pain he felt when no one, not a single soul showed up was too much to bear and he swore never to celebrate his birthday again.

Your gorgeous face appeared before his eyes and suddenly he realized he‘d missed whatever you said to him.

„Okay Cardinal, enough of this you‘re going back into your bed now.“ you took his elbow and gently guided him to his bed. He didn‘t protest and followed your lead.

„I will finish this for you.“ you explained as you went back to the desk to sort out the last few papers and envelopes that started to stack on the dark mahogany platform.

„Sorella you don‘t have to. Please. It is not your job to do my Job.“ Copia inferred. „No it is not, I am well aware. But what kind of a nurse would I be if I watched you work yourself to death, mh? A shitty one, yes exactly. And I know once I leave for tonight, you will be up here anyway and work endlessly so I am going to take that off your shoulders.“

The Cardinal smiled at you. You knew him too well already. But what was he supposed to do anyway? You‘d been occupying his mind too much these past few days. The only way he knew to silence his restless brain was to bury himself with work. This way he forced himself to think about something else. Something that grounded him. He needed the distraction or else he would go insane. Plus he needed to actually get some of the workload off or he surely would drown once he was officially back next week. As you told him goodbye for the evening he was glad for your help. He did exactly what you had predicted and was up on his feet as soon as the door clicked shut. He was just going to oversee the finances for the past month and then he would go back to bed and sleep. At least that was his plan. Satan seemed to have other plans for him since his head was swarming with thoughts about you and the child he found all those years ago when he was a Bishop. He nearly had forgotten that encounter but now that you were here it seemed to be coming back to him. The similarities between you and the girl were just too remarkable to be purely coincidental.

Cardinal Copia could not find sleep that night. He was rolling around, restless mind running a million miles. His brain recalled the thunderstorm some 18 years ago. Your name, your hair and even your aura was so familiar. The little girl he found in the woods that night. It was you. He was sure that you were the old Pastor's daughter. His thoughts kept swirling around you and your life up to this point. He knew you were raised catholic and that made him wonder even more how exactly you ended up in a satanic church. Did your parents know about it? Did you fall from your catholic beliefs and joined Satan? He wanted to know you. To know everything about you and help you find your way in this world. Was that why you felt so familiar to him? Was it purely his protectiveness that intrigued him in? He hated the next thought that came to mind. He was attracted to you, he would be lying to himself if he denied that. It troubled him, knowing you were such a young woman and he was such an old man. He was a pervert thinking about you in a less appropriate manner but he was also just a man. Oh Satan what did he do to deserve this? Copia was not even sure if it was a curse or a blessing of the dark one. It confused him deeply why he had placed you back into his way. Was he trying to test his loyalty? He tried to reason his desires with being touch starved for too long. Your breathtaking smile flashed before his eyes and he knew he was not going to get you out of his head anytime soon.

The next morning rolled around and once again you were on your way to the Cardinals room, tray with breakfast and fresh Orange juice in hand. You figured out that was the one he liked best. The birds outside chirped happily as the first sun rays shone through the beautiful coloured windows of the ministry, filling you with excitement and happiness. You always loved to see a beautiful sunrise with blue skies. It was the best way to start a day.

As you knocked on the Cardinals door you didn‘t hear anything and after that you slowly opened the door calling into the room. „Good morning Cardinal. It is me. I brought breakfast.“ you still hear no movement at all. Worried you set the tray down on the table and walked up to his bedroom. You knocked gently on the door. „Cardinal? Are you up yet?“

You decided to peek inside and you saw the Cardinal sleeping in his bed, arms wrapped around a pillow. As you stepped closer you saw he was covered in sweat and you sat down on the bedside next to him and gently shook his arm.

„Cardinal. You need to wake up, Cardinal. It‘s time.“ you whispered gently, leaning closer to him. He stirred slightly, lazily opening his eyes. When is duo chromatic eyes adjusted to the light in the room the first thing they landed on was your frame sitting on his bedside. His mind slowly registered your proximity and he woke up with a little jump. „Cardinal you‘re all sweaty. Did you have a bad dream or..?“

The Cardinal sat up slightly watching you lean in closer to study his moist face „Uh.. oh I don‘t know I don‘t remember.“ he said honestly. You moved your hand up to his forehead to feel for his temperature. At this point you lay halfway on his bed since he had moved away from you as he realized how close you were. He didn‘t know why but close proximity to you made him feel lightheaded. He argued it was just his attraction to you that made him feel that way. When you felt for his temperature, a crease forming between your brows and a look of concentration taking over your features he couldn‘t help but find that adorable. As he turned to look away his eyes found your body, that was presented in front of him, your breasts not exactly visible but enough for his eyes to linger, holding yourself up on one arm, hands gripping his black satin sheets.

He knew he shouldn‘t but he couldn‘t help himself. He pictured you in his bed. Naked body, writhing around in his sheets, head falling back, presenting your delicate neck, moaning and screaming his name as your hands formed fists full of the black fabric as you came down on him hard. It was overwhelming. His pupils dilated at the image in his head and his cock twitched, awakening and growing stiff.

His eyes widened as he realized it. No no no no no no. Not now, not here. Panic flooded him as he gripped the sheets tighter to cover his now painfully hard erection. „Okay you have no fever at least. I guess it was just a bad dream then.“ you summarized as you pulled back. He stared at you, not moving. „Are you sure you‘re alright Cardinal?“ „I.. I am fine, yes.. no. I mean yes… fine.“ You studied his face trying to find any indicator he was lying. „Well then I have breakfast in the other room Cardinal. Maybe I should have brought coffee this morning though. Since you clearly are not awake yet.“ „Breakfast huh? Yeah uh just give me a moment Sorella sí?“ „Of course. I‘ll change your sheets then. Please get up and out of bed Cardinal.“ you started to pull on the sheets.

His eyes grew as big as saucers. „Ahhh.. Sorella uh.. yes.“ he turned around facing away from you and got up, nearly running towards the bathroom with an awkward step. „Are you sure you‘re ok?“ you questioned. „Sí sí. I am just going to take a shower, yes.“ came his response. You simply shook your head and heard the water from the other side of the door run.

The Cardinal stood under the hot water now, closing his eyes as the droplets rippled down his bare chest. He let his head hung and when he opened his eyes his hard erection was staring back at him. He needed that to go away as soon as possible. He couldn‘t spend too long here it or it would be suspicious. But as he saw his boner his mind wandered back to what had caused that reaction. You. And just the mere thought of your face made his cock twitch in anticipation.

He groaned. This way his erection would never go away. No he had no other choice, he reasoned as he began to grab his dick and give it a few soft strokes. His non dominant hand came to rest on the tiled wall as his other hand gently yet precisely moved up and down on his length. His eyes closed and he imagined it was your feather light touch that made him shiver. You‘d kneel in front of him, staring up at him innocently while curiously stroking him, asking if it was feeling good. And how good it felt. If only it really was your soft, small hands and not his own big ones. He picked up the pace and the pressure he had on his rock hard cock as he imagined what it must be like to have your pretty lips sucking is dick like a lolli. He had to readjust his legs as he suppressed moans and whimpers. His cock throbbed in his hands and your watery eyes flashed in his mind. Another whimper.

He needed to get his shit together or else he ran the danger of your hearing him. But here was another huge turn on for him. You were right next door. Hopefully oblivious to what was going on here. His imagination changed and he pictured you back in his bed. What a sight it would be. He wondered what it must be like to fill you up. To fill you with every inch he could offer until you became one. At this point, his other hand came to rest on his cock as well. Using both of his hands now to slide up and down as his head rolled back. Another groan.

Pictures of your face hair sticking to your forehead all sweaty as he thrusted into you. Gently at first and then at full speed with a near supernatural force. You‘d be whining, screaming and moaning for the rest of the night. He would make sure you came at least two times before he would let himself reach that sweet release. You deserved that. He could feel himself getting close, his hips thrusting into his hands, eagerly, aggressively. Again he groaned and whimpered, this time louder.

„Cardinal?“ came your voice from the other side of the door.

Hearing your sweet beautiful voice was all he needed. He bit his hand to stop himself from making too many sounds as your name fell from his lips over and over again. His hips rutted into his hands erratically and he came hard, his cum spilling everywhere over the tiles as he fell to the wet floor, knees giving away under his intense orgasm. Maybe it was just too long since the last time he orgasmed but it felt like nothing he had ever experienced and it took him a few seconds to respond to your pleading calls outside.

„I… I am alright Sorella, I just bumped my head.. and stubbed my toe. I'm still a bit tired I guess.“ he tried to cover up his pathetic actions by a series of equally pathetic lies. He sighed. It made him angry. He didn‘t want to use you like that. He didn‘t want to sully you like that. You deserved better than that. He cleaned up after himself and got out of the shower, plagued by guilt and regret.

He hated himself at that moment. He hated what he did. He was nothing but a pathetic, old pervert, taking advantage of the beautiful young Sorella, who has been nothing but sweet and caring towards him.

When he opened the door, wrapped up in a white bathrobe his face fixed the floor under his feet. His expression was unreadable to you but he seemed to be in pain? Or something else so you decided to ask him. He walked past you into the room.

„Cardinal are you ok? You had me worried there.“ As he walked past you he avoided eye contact and when he heard your worry for him he felt even worse for what he had done not even 5 mins ago. You cared for him and he tainted you like that. He pressed his eyes shut and a painful expression appeared on his still damp face.

„Ah no Sorella I am alright. Now if you could excuse me now I‘d like to dress now and go to sleep. I won‘t be needing you to bring me food for today. I can always call for a Ghoul.“

You were taken aback. He was being so cold to you and you didn‘t understand.

„O-Only after I know you are feeling ok.“ you stubbornly replied with a shaky voice.

The Cardinal turned around, forcing himself to look at you. It broke his heart to hear your voice like that. And he hated himself even more for being responsible. Now he didn‘t only ruin your innocence, no he even managed to make you feel like shit for it too.

„I am okay Sorella. I swear on the dark one.“ he smiled the saddest attempt you had ever seen on him. „Now please…“ his voice broke and you knew you had to give him some privacy. You didn‘t understand what was happening and why his mood had deteriorated in the time span of a few minutes but you didn‘t want to pry. Maybe you had done something to upset him? Or even said something wrong? Offended him? Did you forget something important maybe?

„Alright. But if there is anything please call for me?“ you whispered, fearing if you put more force into your voice it might break.

With that you left the Cardinals chambers and returned to the infirmary.

Taglist:

@hauntedlover03 @adinferix @ghostfangirlsweden @fishwithtitz @pinksweetsxtan @portaltothevoid @bbykens

#ghost #cardinal copia x reader #ghost band #papa emeritus #ghesties #ghost sweden #myedit #mywriting #it's a sin #It's a sin update #fic #cardinal copia #copia x reader #copia fic #cardinal copia fic #cardinal copia fanfic #copia #the band ghost #ghost bc #cardinal copia fanfiction #multi chap fic

[alohastyles-x]

A dark!Druig Fanfic | Druig x reader | Scream crossover

Summary: The origins of a mysterious masked killer... who just so happens to be a god.

Note: Prologue + Chap 1 are here :))) I hope you guys enjoy this story!

Warnings: mentions of blood, light gore, death, murder... lol

Wordcount: 3.2K

The metallic smell of blood clung to his senses, as Druig  lifted his blade high above his head, prepared to land yet another strike to the unsuspecting victim that laid below him. It was his first kill, the rage of human fragility consuming him, driving him to take matters into his own hands. Why were humans so hungry with greed, so lustful for it that they slaughtered millions to make their point known? 

Blood had already filled the streets below, flowing like a tiny creek above the pavements that weaved between now crumbling buildings. His victim would be seen as just another casualty to the war, a guard who fell to the hoards of civilians now storming the castle. They had been neglected for months, famished and homeless, littering the streets like discarded trash. Finally, they had enough, rising up against the castle and its inhabitants. 

But the guard below Druig  was far from innocent. The list of sins he had to atone for could wrap around the city twice. Druig was merely just doing a god’s work, sending the bastard to his hell a little earlier than expected. 

Druig pulled his blade out of the limp body once more, wiping the red stains on the guard's cloth that hung from his waist. Druig slid the blade back into his own boot, the cool metal a sweet relief against his hot skin. The fire ablaze through the castle halls, set by the angry citizens,  had significantly raised the temperature, a sickening heat radiating off what walls were still left standing. 

As Druig straightened, a twinkle in the doorway caught his attention. A child stood in the crumbling frame,  his mouth hung open at the sight before him. The child was half in the shadows, his features unrecognizable. Druigs’ senses told him exactly who the kid was - the deceased guard's son. Druig had to act quick, before the child found the will to scream over the ghastly sight. 

He closed his eyes  as he summoned his powers from deep in his mind. When he opened them, his eyes then turned a bright golden that reflected the fire in the torches along the wall, as he locked eyes with the child in front of him. He now had total control over the kids emotions and actions. 

“It’s okay, you’re safe. Go, find your mother.” Druig said, as he calmed the boys’ now shot nerves.  

The child nodded, turning slowly and taking off, jumping over fallen bricks and wreckage. Druig sighed, looking down once more at the guard at his feet. 

“Should have played it safe, Alexander, so your son could have a father in his life. That is very important, you know,” Druig scolded the dead man. 

Alexander had a reputation in the Byzantine town for his behavior. There were many nights after his shift that Alexander became belligerent, drunk off the spirits offered by the local distilleries, before taking advantage of any unlucky woman who happened to cross his drunken path. His  list of victims was countless, many left dead in the street for their loved ones to find. The grotesque crimes he committed  were covered up by the King, offering a bullshit lie as an explanation for Alexander’s behavior. 

Druig wasn’t the only one who wanted Alexander dead. He was just the first one to get to him, shoving him into the room where he laid now, his blood permanently marking his deathbed. 

Alexander’s son stumbled through the hallways back to his mothers room that was tucked away deep in the castle, unharmed from the civilians storming through. He was panting, trying to catch his breath as he threw open the door. His mother sat on the bed, a knife in hand as she waited for the civilians to finally reach her champers. At the sight of her son, she dropped the knife, running to him. 

“Agapi mou!” She cradled the boy in her arms, holding him close to her chest. 

“Mommy,” he said, his greek accent thick. “It’s páppa!” 

“What do you mean?” 

“He… he…” the boy didn’t have to finish his sentence. The fear and grief in his voice said everything she needed to hear. So she cradled him tighter, running her fingers through his short black hair- much like his fathers. 

As the tears fell from her eyes, landing on the top of her son's head, she heard a scream echo through the castle. She knew the mob had finally found them, tearing through the halls just outside her door. She hung onto her son tighter, praying to the gods for a savior, to spare her from the sins of the castle. 

Such fate did not come… for the gods she prayed to sat silently outside, held under Druigs’ control. 

Present Day 

Rain illuminated the soft lights of the street lamps above you as you made your way back to your apartment. The humid air was hot and heavy, making you thankful you chose to wear shorts to work tonight, instead of your normal jeans. 

It was 12 a.m., not an ideal time to be out walking alone, but you didn’t have much of a choice. Living in the city was expensive enough, adding a car note on top of that was unimaginable on a waiter's salary. You made enough to get by and afford a nice, spacious apartment, and practically everything you needed was in walking distance… so it truly wasn’t that bad. You knew the route like the back of your hand, and never once felt uncomfortable… 

… that is, until a loud thud echoed down the alley way you just passed. It was loud enough to catch your attention, making you stop dead in your tracks. A muffled grunt followed, and you almost continued on, assuming it was just someone finding their place to sleep for the night. But yet another muffled sound caught your attention. 

“Help…” it was said in a quiet, hushed tone, just barely audible over the sprinkle of rain hitting the pavement. You pulled your phone out, turning the flashlight on as bright as it would go. 

This was dumb and you knew it, but you also knew you couldn’t live with yourself if you didn’t try and help whoever called out. Inhaling a shaking breath, you began to slowly disappear into the darkness of the alley, getting your phone ready to call the emergency line just in case.  

A metallic smell filled the air the further you walked, making you slightly nauseous. A buzzing filled your veins as you breathed in, which only made you more nervous. You had heard of various instances around the city of people feeling this buzz, smelling the metallic air, before coming into contact with god magic.

God magic was a deadly substance to humans who  lingered in the presence of the god on earth. Inhale too much of it and your lungs begin to collapse, as they fight for pure earthly oxygen. The presence of god magic lingering, meant a god had just been here… and that wasn’t a good sign. 

Quickly, you pulled your hand up to cover your nose, hoping it would be enough to block out the air. As you did so, a gleam on the pavement caught your eye, as the light from your phone bounced off of it. 

A puddle of red sat ahead of you, pooling thickly out from behind the lone dumpster sat in the middle of the alley. Your breath hitched in your throat as your mind raced with every worse case scenario that could be laid out before you. 

Worst case, it was human blood, belonging to the innocent victim of the god at hand- and boy, were the gods ruthless with their victims. Best case, it was just an animal sacrifice… something a lot easier to stomach. 

You prayed silently for the latter as you crept closer. The buzzing only intensified the closer you got to the source of the blood, causing a slight pounding in your head. 

“Oh… oh my god,” you whispered as you finally rounded the edge of the dumpster. To your dismay, it was not an animal at all, but the blonde you had just served at the restaurant not too long ago. She was out with friends, celebrating her 21st birthday. Her once white dress was now shredded, dyed  with the dark red of her blood that now inked the pavement below. The shredded marks of her dress matched the shredded skin of her stomach, as if she had been gutted. 

You couldn’t stop the vomit now raising through your body. Turning around you emptied the contents of your stomach onto the wet pavement. You had never seen such a gruesome sight in person- it was nothing like the movies. 

Tears fell from your eyes as you quickly hit the call button on your phone. An operator answered instantly, asking for your location. 

“H-hi… I’m at the alley between 5th and Steel Avenue… I just, oh god I don’t even know if I can put it into words… I just discovered a dead body…” You answered the ladies' questions as best as you could between the sobs escaping your throat. 

“Is there anyone else with you?” The operator asked, as she began to get an ambulance and the police on route to your location. 

“Uh… no,” you said, confidently, as you looked around to see an empty alley. One end opened to the sidewalk and the street you were just on, the occasional car passing by on the street. The other end led to a brick wall, graffitied with local street art. 

“Are you sure?” The operator asked again, this time with an edge to her voice that wasn’t there before. The hairs on the back of your neck stood at her tone, making you look around once more. 

“Um…,” you whispered, suddenly hyper aware of every sound and moving shadow. A rock skidded across the pavement at the dead end, causing you to turn your attention to the graffitied brick wall. 

An outline of a dark shadow stood at the end, a flash of white around their face bounced off the flashlight still on your phone. You stood still, absolutely petrified of whatever being stood just as still as you. 

The buzzing appeared back in your veins and the smell of rusted iron returned. You were stunned as a flash of gold briefly flickered through the air. An overwhelming flood of emotions roared through you, rendering you unable to move, as if your feet were stuck in quicksand. Tears welled in your eyes, but didn’t fall, as if something held them there. Flashes of your life played in your mind, as you accepted your fate that you were next. 

But just as suddenly as it happened, the feeling was gone, replaced by the blaring lights and sirens that now filled the alley. The lights made their way to the brick wall, where absolutely nothing appeared. 

A cry escaped your throat as you dropped to your knees. 

One thing was certain…  

… you were just in the presence of a god. 

** 

A few hours later you were slugging your way up the stairs to your apartment, the events of the evening weighing on you heavily. You had run out of tears a while ago, as you sat in the detective's office going over and over and over what had happened in varying degrees of detail. 

“You’re sure you heard nothing? Saw nothing? That has to be impossible… No one you passed looked suspicious?” The detective's voice echoed in your mind as you unlocked the apartment door.  

A soft purr brought you out of your thoughts, as your cat sat patiently  by the front door, mewing softly. She hadn’t had food in hours, as you were later than usual getting home. 

“Oh Mr. Jinx, I’m sorry,” you whispered, stooping down to pet him. He leaned into your palm, rubbing his tiny head against it. “Come on, let’s get you some food.”

“Where have you been?!” A shrill voice made you jump back into the door, scaring mr. Jinx down the hall. 

“God, Celia… don’t yell so loud,” you mumbled, gripping your temples. 

“Y/N… there was a murder near your restaurant! I haven’t heard from you at all since your shift ended… you can’t be mad at me for being worried. What? You look like you’ve seen a ghost…” Celia trailed off as she poured herself a glass of wine. 

“I saw it…,” you whispered, settling at the breakfast bar in the half kitchen. Celia’s wine stopped mid-pour as her eyes locked with yours. 

“What…?” She whispered back, still trying to process what you just said. You nodded your head, unable to make direct contact with her for long. Your tears had tried long ago, making this a lot easier to talk about now, then hours ago sitting in that tiny gray room. 

“Shit, you need this more than I do,” Celia responded, topping off her glass before sliding it to you. It only took you three seconds to down it, earning a low whistle from Celia. You were not a wine drinker, but tonight was different. 

“There's more…,” you trailed off. If there was anyone you were going to mention the god thing to, it was Celia. Definitely not the detectives, and not the media who had swarmed the crime scene within minutes of detectives arriving. 

“What?” Celia pressed, itching for you to spill what you knew. 

“I know this is going to sound crazy but… I think I have an idea who did it.” 

Celia looked at you quizzically. 

“When I was approaching her body, I felt this… buzzing,” Celia’s sharp breath interrupted you, as she gasped. The fact that she already knew where you were going with this, meant your gut was right for telling her. 

“It went away once I found her… but then it came back and I saw something. I’m not sure exactly what I saw… but it had a white face-”

“Oh my god!” Celia interrupted, taking off to her room. Celia often studied the mythology of the old world in her free time. She had a library full of books in her closet dedicated to this study. It was something unique about Celia that you enjoyed… Everyone else was perfectly content leaving the mythology behind after The Fall in the early days, when the gods departed, letting humanity crumble and rebuild into what it is today. In fact, many don’t even believe the gods ever existed, the only evidence of them being in the stories passed down, or an occasional destroyed relic found here and there across the globe. 

Celia came back out supporting a thick book in her arms. It looked old and heavy, with a permanent layer of dust settled on top of it. 

“Would you be able to recognize what you saw if you saw it again?” Celia asked, letting the book slam with a thud on the kitchen counter next to you. As expected, a cloud of dust filled the air. 

“I think so, but I didn’t get a good look. There was a small flash of gold before it felt like I came too again,” you explained, coughing as the dust cloud settled in the air. Celia nodded, flipping through the pages. 

“Okay, did it look like any of these?” She asked, settling on a page that was in another language. A drawing was nestled at the bottom, depicting a group of 10 individuals. None of them looked familiar, and you couldn’t read the text next to each person to try and figure it out. 

“No… it was just a shadow, with this glimmering white face. I could smell the magic radiating off of it.” 

“Did you hear anything?” Celia asked, as she began flipping through the book again. 

“No… I couldn’t even hear my own thoughts… everything just went silent, and then I got this rush of emotions, that was when its eyes flashed gold and I was back in reality.” 

Celia stopped mid page flip, turning slowly to look at you. Her eyes looked distant, like she wasn't actually looking at you, but trying to hold on to her train of thought. You waited patiently for her to figure out the pieces. 

After a few seconds, she started furiously flipping through the pages, heading back to the 10 figures from before. 

“Okay, so these are the eternals, they were a group of gods who once lived here, protecting the civilians of the old world… until something happened and they split, causing this one, right here, to go rogue. He held the other eternals under his capture… You see, he has the ability to control others with his mind. He can influence someone's emotions, actions, etc., but just getting into your head. Well when he went rogue, the lore goes he began this maddening killing spree- that the weight of humanity had crushed him, creating this monster-” Celia paused to flip a few pages forward. “Here… the masked being you see here…that was him. He donned a mask made from the skin of his first victim- Alexander the Great-, and then went on this spree of murdering all the corrupt and evil people in the empire at the time. There isn’t much to what happened to him and the other gods after this spree…, it just kind of ends there, which is why many of us think he actually still resides here on earth, especially with the rise of common people feeling this god magic you felt tonight. Maybe he found a new mask, to be unrecognizable? I’m sure some dead guys’ flesh from the old world wouldn’t hold up all that well…” Celia ended with a chuckle. 

“Anyways, his name is Druig, and he usually is associated with gold too- all of the eternals are. It's unique to them, compared to the other gods of the old world. A cosmic sort of magic that isn’t of this world. But the flood of emotions, and you feeling like you’re in another reality during it… that makes me really think it's him.” 

You sat, digesting all the information Celia just gave you, overlooking the paper she was reading from. There was another drawing, this one more detailed. It depicted the god, standing before a dead body, a knife in hand. 

“Wait… does it say how the victims of his spree were killed?” You asked, holding your breath as you waited for Celia to translate the old Greek text. 

“Yes… a sheath- so, like a knife… wait- what's that look for…” Celia trailed off as she noticed your face drain of color. 

“The girl tonight… I mean I don’t know for sure, but it looked as if her… body had been slashed.” You choked out the words, as the images of her torn dress and skin came back in your mind. 

“Woah… Okay, so this could definitely be him then,” Celia muttered. 

You sat, staring at the masked drawing in the book. This didn’t make sense… he was still in the alley when you were there, yet he let you live. 

“Does it say anything else about him that might be helpful to know?” You asked. Celia read through the pages, her finger tracking as she translated the text. 

“Just that anyone who comes into contact with him doesn’t have long to live…,” Celia trailed off, as she connected the dots of what she just read to your current reality. 

“Oh shit…,” she closed the book, turning her full attention to you. 

“Yeah… oh shit.”

Part 2

| Feedback is greatly appreciated through likes, comments, and reblogs. |

#<33333 #alohastylesx #marvel #alohastylesx works #druig x reader #druig smut #druig x y/n #druig angst #druig fluff #marvel fic #dark!Druig #druig x fem!reader #scream x druig #dark druig #marvel fanfic

[tonyglowheart]

reading thru old meta posts on qian qiu and there's like, some stuff I agree with sure but there's also a lot I don't lol. w like yan wushi especially. there's a lot of. I think too much conventional-mindedness in approaching yws even from the ppl who did like him as a character. saying he's a difficult character, and is meant to be a difficult character, but then still framing him along more conventional moral frameworks. yet another apartment 'complex'? strange, I find it quite simple moments.

#qian qiu #yan wushi #sorry so many of you are still hung up over the *chapter 45* '''''betrayal''''' rip but i'm different #(though I wonder if I'd feel this way if ppl hadn't made such a big deal of it and so I was expecting The Betrayal to be like. worse lol) #like for me since I was expecting *a* betrayal when I hit it in chap 45 I was like. this is it? lmao I thought it was sth actually serious #and then ppl like I can't let it go or I can't get over him saying he doesn't regret it - like god forbid women do anything forreal #the thing about yan wushi is he is not just master-less he's also in many ways *peer*-less #and that's why to him he was so much on the 'what a shame you're like the one guy who maybe could have been my rival but you're not' #I think ppl see rival as like. could be my enemy. but it's like. someone has to be your peer to be your rival #and it's very much established that yan wushi even before his power level is like maxed up has this wild potential #there's that chap where sq reflects on what qfg said abt yws having the potential to be better than him #but also I think it's a huge mistake to see/think of yws as amoral #he HAS morals. they're just not the same as yours #he doesn't care about the greater good as a rule but he's also not completely indifferent to it #and like. I think it's also a simplification to say that 'sq breaks the rules of yws's world of human nature being inherently corrupt etc' #I think that's a belief that yws holds about human nature but I think he's also like. smarter than to believe in absolutes? #and besides. to say it that way I think frames it as if yws is in denial about sq's existence and nature #I just don't get that sense from him - imo he sees sq as more of a curiosity than a like aberration #he's testing sq's bottom line not necessarily bc he's convinced sq is secretly evil but he because he wants to see what sq's bottom line is #and he wants to know that because sq's nature is so different than his own or those he generally encounters and understands from people #he's squishing sq like a dog with a chew toy not because he wants to destroy it but because he wants to see exactly what kind of noises #he can get out of it and exactly how far he can squish it before it starts being too much #(but also I think bc he sees sq's potential to be on his level and wants to see if that can get teased out) #in a like... bonsai shaping kind of way #yes he's pruning the tree back and sometimes pruning & shaping quite hard #but as with the art of bonsai - it's an interactive dance and like only the tree can add material #and for all that you can prune & shape the tree you will never know exactly what the tree will do #SQ is also like a tree in the sense that like you have to prune to get read of dead growth & also encourage new growth #and SQ goes from that like houseplant side of the meme that's like i'm allergic to tapwater #to flourishing under the adversity and the 'i can eat thru concrete'

[astrxsee]

FALSE GOD chap. 2

(chap 1) (chap 2) (chap 3)

percy jackson x child of demeter!oc

𝑰𝑵 𝑾𝑯𝑰𝑪𝑯 Rose St. Claire sets off on a quest to save the goddess in chains.

𝑶𝑹

𝑷𝑬𝑹𝑪𝒀 𝑱𝑨𝑪𝑲𝑺𝑶𝑵 learns to see what is right in front of him.

!CONTENT WARNING! gore, romance, swearing, blood, heavy themes

a/n: omg! hi i love posting on tumblr so much?? like i finally wanna write again LOL anyways I can also take requests! only if you want anyways pls i hope you like the next chapter i PROMISE there will be romance but it’s a slow burn dw

also can someone please show me how to link the first chapter i cannot for the life of me pls and thanks

sorry for the delay yall fr i just have to be in the right headspace to write im so sorry anyways i hope you like it please feel free to give any feedback

also if you like it i would be happy to put anyone on a tag list as well <3

The clicking of heels against the polished floor grabs my attention, the game I was holding in my hand lays idly to the side. Bianca shoots me a nervous look from her seat next to me before peering up at the stern lady. The lady's grey hair was slicked back into a bun, her nose crooked, almost like a scythe. She did not look very nice.

"Bianca Di Angelo." She states, matter of factly. "I am here to take you, your brother," The woman shoots a pointed look at Nico, "And your... friend."

The look the mysterious woman gave was poisonous, her eyes daggers as she looked at me. Her nose sneered as she took in the surroundings of the casino. It was loud, I could tell she didn't like it.

"My name is Rose." I snapped, quickly rising to my feet. I cross my arms as her eyes narrow as she looks at me. I glare back at her, not backing down from her imposing stare.

She sighs and rolls her eyes muttering something under her breath, something along the lines of 'stupid demigods'. I feel Bianca stand next to me, putting a calming hand on my shoulder. She quickly steps in front of me, breaking my cold stare at the unpleasant woman.

"Excuse me, but are you here to take us to school?" Bianca asks, her head tilted in a curious way. The old woman nodded, a careless look on her face.

"Yes, now come, we haven't got any time to lose. Don't ask any questions." The woman says before turning on her heel to the exit of the casino. I cast a look over my shoulder to Nico, his face twisted in a worried look. His hands fiddled with a silver army soldier toy, as he glanced around at everyone except the lawyer.

"Are you sure we can't just stay?" A small voice speaks out from behind Bianca. The stern woman whips around to look at Nico, who looks like he was about to cry. The lawyer scoffs.

"Stupid boy. You three are too important to be kept here." She bluntly states. Kept here? Too important? Her words make my mind spiral. I cast a worried glance over to Bianca who also has a troubled look on her face.

I couldn't help the nervous feeling in my chest. My Dad had brought me here about two months ago. Now that I think of it, I couldn't really remember what he looked like, let alone why he left me here. Were we being kept here? I shake my head, trying to rid my mind of these troubling thoughts.

My brows furrow as I try to remember the events leading up to entering the casino. It feels like the memories are just out of reach, like a blank space fills the area where they used to be. All I could remember was the year; 1976. I didn't want to go back out there, I didn't want to face what was waiting for me on the outside. Surely, the police would still be looking for me. Most of all, I didn't want that... thing to get me.

I roughly bump into Bianca, who stopped in her tracks. Daylight poured through the open door of the casino, I could hear many voices and sounds coming from outside.

"Bianca, what the hell." I ask, my mind snapping back to reality. I glance up and all words are lost as I become rooted to my spot. The cars zoomed by in the road, hundreds of billboards lined the bustling streets. There were bright screens with neon words that I couldn't even understand. Where was I? All I know that this was not 1976.

"Hurry up, children. We haven't got time to loose." The lawyer snaps. I look over to her, my mouth wide open. Bianca and Nico still had their eyes glued to the unfamiliar scene, their faces contorted into looks of panic.

A feeling of anger rose up inside of me as I took steps closer to the woman. She didn't even flinch as I leaned as close as I could to her.

"Where the fuck are we?" I yell, my confusion getting the better of my rationality. My arms gesture to the enigmatic scene in front of me. What year is it? What happened?" My mind is running too fast that I can't comprehend one thought. Where were we? What happened while I was in the casino? Why did it look like we were in the future?

An annoyingly amused smile makes it way onto the lawyers face. She shakes her head and lets out a condescending laugh.

"Stupid girl." She began, her eyes bored, "I told you to not ask any questions." My eyes open incredulously at her dismissive words. My entire world had been flipped on its head and she tells me not to ask questions! The anger boils up in my chest as I stand there with millions of questions. I notice pink flowers start to pop up in the cracks of the sidewalk, I didn't care at this point. I couldn't control it.

"What year is it?" A soft voice breaks me from my confused spiral. Bianca, now looking over to the woman, asks, her face full of confusion. She then looks at me, her eyes filled with tears.

"2007." She bluntly states, rolling her eyes as if it was a stupid question. My hand flies to my mouth in shock as I hear the woman's words. 2007! I have been in that damn casino for thirty one years? I reel back, the realization finally hitting me. I shake my head, a feeling of sickness washes over me. This can't be happening.

The woman guides us towards a large black car. I had never seen a car so big and with so many seats! She motions to the driver to leave after we all file into the car. Nico looks completely lost, his hands still on his silver army toy.

"Now, you may be confused." The woman, Camille according to the driver, starts. I scoff at her words, my arms crossed as I look out the window. A growing feeling of sadness wells up in my stomach, a twisting sort of feeling. "I can assure you that you will be safe at your new school. We will be there shortly."

How much did the world change? Why does time pass differently in that casino? Why did my Dad leave me there? Thousands of questions circled around in my head, too many unknowns for me to handle.

I feel my breaths begin to quicken, my hands shaking. I fiddle with the pins and patches on my worn out bomber jacket, quickly grounding myself. I think of my hands in cold grass and a warm breeze blowing over my face. I breathe out a sigh, accepting of the absolutely crazy situation.

I place my hand over Bianca's, she breaks her stare from out the window to look over at me. I give her a reassuring smile and her hand a small squeeze. She gives me a small smile, telling me that she's okay.

"Okay, children, grab your things. We're here." Camille orders. She quickly climbs out of the car and starts making her way to the man standing outside of the ominous front doors of the school. I grab my green duffel bag and follow Bianca out of the car, Nico follows me slowly. I didn't even want to think about how scared he must be. We all follow Camille slowly, our necks craned up to take in the vastness of the school.

Standing on the pathway, there stands a man. He towers over my friends and I as we stand behind our lawyer. He gives us all a large, slightly creepy smile. His two different colored eyes almost seemed to glow as he looked at us.

"Welcome to Westover Hall. Your new home."

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

taglist: @cxcilla

#percy jackson x reader #percy jackson #annabeth is our friend #slow burn #percy will probs be in the next chapter #percy jackson x oc #percy jackson fanfiction #canondivergent #percy jackon and the olympians #percy pjo

[cheesybadgers]

Narcos Fic: Old Habits Die Hard (Chap. 24)

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23

Read on AO3

Masterlist

Pairing: Javier Peña x Horacio Carrillo

Words: 3,440

Summary: It's been 15 years since Horacio and Javier brought down Gacha in Tolú, and now they're back where their story began.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY. Brief allusions to period-typical prejudices/politics/legislation, very brief sexual references, smoking, swearing, all the fluff.

Notes: Well....I feel like I should post this with a fanfare or something (just imagine there's one playing), but oh boy, oh man, oh god. I did it. I flipping did it 😭 It's only taken 36 months, copious amounts of blood, sweat and tears, a deranged amount of research, the last shred of my sanity, and probably a fair amount of back/neck pain from sitting at my laptop for too long to get here. But hey, if I don't write a self-indulgent novel-length fix-it fic for a criminally underrated rarepair from a defunct TV show, WHO WILL, I ASK THEE? 😂

I can't fully explain the journey this fic has taken me and my writing on, or the deep love I have in my heart for this ship and the OHDH universe that has lived constantly in my head these last few years. Even when I'm not actively writing, so many things remind me of these two everywhere I go. They got me through the darkest days of the pandemic and somehow became my comfort ship, despite er, certain canon events we don't talk about in this house.

Anyway, I think you've all heard quite enough from me for the time being. So, I will just say thank you so, so, so much to anyone who has read, commented, kudosed, reblogged, liked, sent me messages, made me things, suggested music recs, generally been incredibly supportive and kind ❤️

And thank you to anyone who may stumble across this fic in future. Please never be afraid to leave a comment, even if you're reading several years down the line, I will always love to hear from people about this story.

There will also be some moodboards and playlists posted on my Tumblr at some point (and *maybe* some new - much shorter lol - fics eventually) once I've caught my breath back a bit.

For the final time (unless I randomly think of anything I've forgotten, which is more than likely lol), I’ve also added to my OHDH trivia post to cover this chapter if anyone is interested.

Chapter 24: Suerte (Epilogue)

Early evening rays painted the pastel horizon, their last act of the day transforming the shimmering ocean into an inky palate of fuchsia, violet and saffron, the golden sands at the shore still warm to the touch hours past dusk.

Come the weekend, Colombians would travel far and wide to descend on the many beaches, bars and restaurants that dotted the waterfront. Or if they were feeling adventurous, they would birdwatch, dive off the Islas de San Bernardo, or canoe amongst the mangroves.

But it was mid-week and mid-December – when most locals were at work and school or preparing for Christmas. So, for now, Horacio and Javier had the place to themselves.

There was the added bonus of the coastline turning into a dense forest of palm trees just along from their beach house, civilisation a mile or so away on either side of them, so even at peak times, they remained secluded. It had become a daily ritual to luxuriate in the peace and quiet; a pre-dinner swim with no trunks required followed by entwined limbs and sand in their hair as the sun went down.

Today was no exception, the gentle lapping of the waves around them and their shallow breaths the only sounds to be heard, the taste of salt and scent of sun lotion heavy in the air and on their skin as Horacio rocked into Javier, slow and deep, their chests and foreheads drawn together.

It was almost dark when Javier switched on the shower taps, cascading soothing jets over his head, neck and shoulders. As he soaked his hair, the lights from inside the beach house sprung to life, illuminating the outdoor bathroom with an ambient glow. It was a feature of the premium accommodation they had splashed out on, a rare treat away for a special occasion.

The outside space was a mix of wood, tiles and natural stone for the walls and floors, encased by tall plants and trees for extra privacy. A double shower stood on a platform at the end of a walkway, with a large hot tub branching off in the other direction. On their first night here, they had opted for the tub, surrounding it with candles as a belated ode to Día de las Velitas, lost in each other beneath the bubbles and the stars.

A sturdy embrace enveloped Javier from behind, a position they had found themselves in every morning by the shore before breakfast, looking out to a tranquil sea and a kaleidoscopic sky. The day jobs kept them both on their feet and in good shape, although there was more softness around their stomachs, and Javier was stockier than in his younger years. But his upper body was even broader with muscle now.

He was no gym fiend, but he had accompanied Horacio in some of his strengthening training, wanting to keep his stamina up as much as possible. Not just for the obvious but because he was sometimes required to carry the heavier supplies at work and didn’t want to be shown up in front of his largely youthful team.

It was a welcome development to Horacio, whatever the reason. Not that he ever had any complaints before, but watching Javier blossom as he aged was a wonder to behold. Not to mention, there was more of him to enjoy now.

As for Horacio, aside from the sloping curve of his midriff, he was sheer jaguar strength. Not only in the noticeable places, but his core muscles were in peak condition, the daily horse riding improving his posture and taking him back to the drill commands of his cadet years. His skin was more weathered, and his days of being meticulously cleanly shaven at all times were long gone. But Javier assured him – a lot – the ruggedness was part of the appeal.

Javier wasn’t one to talk either, stubble being a more regular feature alongside his moustache nowadays. But that was mainly due to lack of time in his busy schedule rather than preference, so it wasn’t unheard of for Horacio to do the honours for him. For some reason, Horacio delicately scraping a razor blade across his jaw from the comfort of his lap was far more appealing to Javier than doing it himself in front of the bathroom mirror.

Their hair contained more grey patches, especially around the temples, which was easier to hide when they grew it longer. That wasn’t practical during the sweltering heat of a Texan summer, so they kept it shorter in the hotter months. But in the winter, they could run their fingers through choppy waves and coils of curls to their hearts’ content. And luckily for them, their anniversary fell in December.

“Can you believe it’s been 15 years to the day?” Horacio asked, scattering kisses across Javier’s back.

“This doesn’t even feel like the same fucking place, to be honest.”

“Tell me about it.”

Horacio let out a huff as flashbacks of leading his men on a fleet of raiding crafts towards Gacha’s hideout collided with memories from merely days ago of him and Javier island hopping in a hire boat along the same waters. They had taken a platter of fresh seafood and fruit, exploring the remotest beaches and lagoons, where their only company was the local wildlife.

He could still remember the sensation of the blood at his temple as he lay disorientated on the sand in the aftermath of the explosion, a stark contrast to dozing together under the shade of a palm tree or reading aloud to each other the words of Lorca, Gaitán Durán, Arbeláez, Neruda, Paz, Castellanos and Mistral.

“Although, I did notice signs for the barracks towards Coveñas when we were driving here,” Horacio added with a nostalgic smirk.

“Oh yeah? You didn’t want another night there for old times’ sake?” Javier tilted his head until he found Horacio’s lips with his teeth.

Horacio hummed and put up no resistance, his wet hands sailing with ease down Javier’s body, finding purchase at his hip bones. “It was tempting. But I figured you’d want to make the most of this before Christmas.”

“Damn right.”

They took turns massaging shampoo into each other’s scalps, lathering the suds through thick spirals, tenderly pulling at strands until they purred, thoroughly indulging in the sensation whilst they had the chance. And then they did it all again, rinsing off the soap, floating away on the meditative pressure of the faucet and their fingers.

“We could always see if Alejandra has more spa freebies if it gets too much, though,” Javier suggested through the haze of steam now cocooning them.

“I like your thinking.”

It had been a while since they last used such tickets, their previous visits not dissimilar to how their current vacation was playing out. But despite the chaos that would no doubt ensue, they were looking forward to catching up with Horacio’s side of the family. Between expanding businesses in Texas and Manizales and the oldest half of the brood living and working elsewhere now with the twins staying at home studying, they didn’t get to meet up as much as they would have liked.

However, Elena visited Laredo several times, swapping life stories and recipes with Chucho and joining Horacio and Javier in San Antonio one spring for the Fiesta. Her last holiday outside of Colombia had been before Alejandra and Horacio were born, so she was determined to take advantage of having family abroad before age finally caught up with her. There had even been discussions of a trip to Madrid if Horacio and Javier could arrange cover at work the following year.

“Pops is flying out on the 20th, right?”

“Yes. Marco and Raúl are covering the ranch and animals until your father’s back on the 28th. And Jorge is covering the farm until we’re home from Miami in the New Year.”

No one was keen to leave Luna, Sol and Leo, who had long since retired from ranch duties, but between work and Christmas commitments, Connie taking a full-time job in a different hospital, now Olivia was a teenager going on 30, and the earlier-than-expected arrival of Felipe’s and Juana’s second child – Óscar, a little brother to Claudia – New Year was the only time everyone’s schedules matched up.

These days, Luna, whose main residence was the cottage now, Sol and Leo spent most of their time nestled on furniture or looking for treats in the kitchen whenever food was prepared. However, Luna would sometimes still ride in the back of Horacio’s truck and keep him company in the lower fields.

Kira and Fuego had become old pros, showing their younger siblings, Cielo and Tierra, the ropes, not as replacements to the trio but as a new team with their own quirks and personalities. Thankfully, the dogs and Coco had taken well to the pair of barn cats, Churro and Tamale, who patrolled the outbuildings and dealt with any rodent intruders.

Meanwhile, Chucho showed few signs of slowing down, except one summer when he twisted an ankle, and even that was hard work to get him to rest. But he had been happy to step back from some of his more physically demanding responsibilities in recent years, trusting that the ranch and farm were in capable hands. With their expansion plans a resounding success – plus some new ones up their sleeves – he had become more involved in the business side of the operation alongside Miguel.

And, of course, he was always happy to offer Horacio advice whenever needed. But for the most part, he left him to it since Félix’s retirement, preferring to arrange for the guesthouses to be refurbished or to deliver fresh batches of cooking to aid workers and exhausted arrivals alike on the frontline of the border.

“Bet Jorge was as thrilled about that arrangement as my team.”

“Well, we can always delegate to our deputies whenever necessary. One of the perks of being promoted.”

It had taken Horacio five years under Félix’s watchful eye – and decades of experience – to be granted the title of farm manager. Then, Félix had retired the previous year, satisfied he had picked the right man as his successor and Jorge as deputy.

Horacio still had plenty to learn and likely always would with the constant conveyor belt of change to farming methods and technology that landed on his desk each month. However, there was a sense of familiarity with certain parts of the job, like the meetings, the paperwork, and the budget constraints. Except, this time, it all came without the funerals, the upper echelons of the CNP breathing down his neck, and the crushing weight of a country’s future on his shoulders.

“And a holiday on the Caribbean coast was necessary, was it?” Now that Javier’s hair was free from sand and shampoo, he turned to face Horacio, their lips almost touching.

Horacio nodded sagely and closed the gap. “A critical business need.”

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

Once dried off, they lay in a hammock in matching white towel robes under the thatched porch of their beach house with a perfect view of the sea, moon and stars.

“So, you like it here?” Horacio asked after a comfortable silence.

“It’s beautiful. I’m glad we came back – to see it how it’s meant to be.”

“Me too. Although, I fear violence will always be a parasite latched onto Colombia. Just when you think it’s gone from one place, it rears its head again in another. Or even the same place twice if you’re unlucky.”

Horacio remembered the stories he had heard from Trujillo in the last couple of years – particularly about Operation Orion. Officially, the incursion on Comuna 13 had been a success by the Colombian military against the likes of FARC. Unofficially, however, there were rumours of a leaked CIA report, disappeared individuals, and collusion between an Army General and none other than Don Berna’s subordinate. It was hard to keep faith that Medellín would ever be free from its past when history had such a predictable habit of repeating itself.

“I know. It feels like one step forward and two steps back in the States, too. Terrorism might be the new bogeyman, but re-branding to ICE and throwing a shitload of money at the DHS hasn’t stopped the drugs and the people finding their way over the border.”

Javier had heard directly from Steve about the shift in his job role since 9/11. Overnight, Steve’s whole department was removed from their current caseloads and signed up for every counter-terrorism and narco-terrorism course under the sun. It was now customary for DEA agents to be redeployed to the FBI as intelligence analysts if resources required. And if their eyes and ears were pulled away from the drug traffickers, it didn’t take a genius to figure out the consequences.

Meanwhile, in Texas, if anything, people only took graver risks in the wake of a beefed-up Border Patrol. Javier had spent a lot of the past year helping to set up new aid teams in Arizona and New Mexico, the inhospitable conditions of the desert not enough of a deterrent to stop families trying their luck or handing over their life savings to coyotes who didn’t care whether they made it across alive.

“But small things can add up to change. Bit by bit,” Javier added. “And at least they can’t arrest us for fucking in our own home anymore.”

“True. Not that the law stopped us before...” Horacio nuzzled against Javier’s neck before making a move to get up.

They may have joked in the here and now, but it wasn’t a change they took for granted. In fact, Luz and Carla had even persuaded Javier to attend a protest or two and pay bond and legal fees for those who had been arrested. After all, he’d had plenty of experience exchanging money for people’s freedom.

When news of the Supreme Court decision spread, it was another weight off their backs and one less reason to look over their shoulders, a chance to permanently put to bed memories of being spied on during such unguarded sacred moments. It was the final line to be drawn under those dark years, not to erase them because that was impossible. But it was, at least, closure.

Their cigarette was almost done, and Horacio had left the opened pack on the kitchen counter. Once retrieved, he took out another and leaned into Javier across the hammock, pressing the tip of his unlit cigarette against the lit one until it sparked.

“But you’re right,” Horacio continued, holding Javier’s gaze between exhaling a plume of smoke. He balanced on the edge of the hammock, just enough to stop it tipping sideways. “Things can change. But only if we want them to.” He perched their new cigarette between his lips as he reached into the pocket of his robe.

Their first cigarette was little more than a stub, so Javier stooped down to the ashtray on the floor to extinguish it. Once he sat up again, a small cubed box was presented into his spare hand.

Javier stared at the black box and blew out remnants of smoke, eyeing Horacio with an unreadable expression, an unspoken question and answer lingering between them and the mist of tobacco.

He prised open the box to reveal a ring of plain silver. Or, so he thought at first glance. But as he raised it towards the moon, the iridescent light caught on the inner band to reveal an inscription.

Suerte que encontré a mi media naranja.

(Lucky that I found my soulmate.)

“Fuck, Horacio…” Javier’s voice was strained, and his words came out as little more than a whisper. He held the ring between his thumb and forefinger, letting the ethereal reflection from above capture each word.

Horacio watched every shift in Javier’s face with bated breath and a dry throat, his limbs lead and weightless all at once.

“The world’s changing around us,” Horacio said at last; swallowing his nerves and summoning his courage. “But no matter what the law or courts say in any state or country, this can mean whatever we want it to mean.”

Javier’s jaw worked back and forth, his teeth clamping down on the inside of his cheeks. But it was no use, and he let out a trembling scoff, an attempt to distract from the shining pupils he finally confronted Horacio with.

And then a broad smile crept across Javier’s features, his palm connecting with Horacio’s cheek before he plucked the cigarette from his fingers and took a drag. “Pass me my jeans.”

It took Horacio a moment to process Javier’s request. Of all the responses he had prepared for – the good and the bad – that hadn’t been on his list, funnily enough. With narrowed eyes and pursed lips, he complied and fetched the jeans that had been flung over a sun lounger when they stripped off to swim earlier. Apparently, regardless of how humid the climate in Tolú became, denim remained a reliable staple of Javier’s wardrobe.

“Check my left pocket.”

Whatever Javier was up to, Horacio was torn between intrigue and irritation at Javier’s temerity to issue orders despite leaving him hanging. But he did as he was told, and in an instant, everything made sense.

“I can always take it back if you’d prefer…”

But Horacio was already opening the near-identical box, and any teasing faded to white noise as he came face-to-face with the gold equivalent of his own proposal.

“Hold it up to the light.”

The night sky was brighter now, making it easier for the inscription to be revealed.

Mi amor, mi vida, mi hogar, mi vaquero. Siempre tuyo.

(My love, my life, my home, my cowboy. Yours always.)

It was Javier’s turn to observe, and it didn’t take long for Horacio to raise a brow in his direction, shooting him a look of feigned exasperation that only came with the territory of a relationship as enduring as theirs.

“What?” Javier said with disingenuous innocence and a vulpine smile.

It was a contagious kind of smile, one that reminded Horacio they were equals in this and that he shouldn’t have been surprised Javier had the same idea.

“I take it my mother showed you her ring?”

“On my first visit to Manizales. It was beautiful. And so’s this.”

“As is this.”

“I like to think I put my own spin on it.”

“You did.”

They sat side-by-side on the hammock, legs facing towards each other with the rings held in their outstretched hands.

Javier’s thumb slid across Horacio’s left palm, tracing patterns over new callouses born from hard labour rather than war. He circled his wrist, waiting for the familiar rhythm but finding a beat that was, unsurprisingly, drumming quicker than usual.

After subduing with his touch, Javier retrieved the gold band, gliding it carefully onto Horacio’s ring finger, easing it over the knuckle until it rested snugly at the base.

They sat transfixed, marvelling at the light dancing across it as Horacio’s thumb ran back and forth over the curved surface in fascination.

Horacio repeated the ritual of mapping Javier’s left hand, lacing their fingers together as a tangible reminder of their bond. Their devotion. Their vow. Their choice. Whether the law honoured it one day or not.

He picked up the silver to his gold, shimmying it along Javier’s ring finger and passing beyond the slight resistance at his knuckle. Not too much force, but firm enough for it to sink perfectly into place.

With palms connected and fingers interlocked, their foreheads met, chests rising and falling in tandem.

“Te amo tanto, Javier.”

“Yo también te amo. Tanto, Horacio. Tanto.” Javier whispered, over and over in Horacio’s ear like a prayer – their prayer – before brushing his lips above Horacio’s brow, the bridge of his nose, both cheeks and down to his mouth, creating their own sign of the cross with each kiss. A new beginning and a welcome home.

They untied their robes and collapsed onto the hammock in a tangle of limbs, silver and gold melding at their chests and hands; their past, present and future as inseparable as their hearts, bodies and souls.

With one smooth motion, Horacio pinned Javier’s arms down into the netting of the hammock, a dark, hungry gaze passing between them as cool metal fused with hot skin.

15 years and several lifetimes may have gone by. But when Horacio had the man he loved, the man who loved him, his media naranja, underneath him, only one word ran through his head. Mine.

Old habits die hard, he supposed.

#Narcos fic #Narcos #Javier Peña #Horacio Carrillo #Javier Peña x Horacio Carrillo #Pedro Pascal #Maurice Compte #Narcos fanfic #Narcos fanfiction #Narcos fan fic #My Fan Fic #My Narcos Fic

[cuprohastes]

So how's that going?

Putin: We will invade liberate Ukraine. Ukraine: No Everyone else: No Russia: Deploy The Worlds Biggest military Ukraine: [Apparently the guy from Ukraine's version of Saturday Night Live who is inexplicably in charge] "I don't need a lift, I need ammo." ✨Ukraine Gained a level in Bad Ass✨ ✨Ukraine took perk: Tractors can now harvest Tanks✨ Russia: We'll be done by the end of the week. Ukraine: [Sinks Russian Flagship in a land battle] [Deploys Tractors successfully] [Drones fucking everywhere] [Calls the Russian Soldier's mothers and tells them their kids have been naughty] Russia: ... how is this somehow a valid military tactic? Memo to the brave soldier of the Russian Army -- A gentle reminder to stop picking up souvenirs from Chornobyl, even if they do keep you warm at night, on account of also you will melt. Ukraine: Hello NATO, password is Swordfish, May we come in, we brought memes. NATO: Yes, what fine people you are, we especially enjoyed all the wheat and that time your president played piano with his dick on TV. Can we offer you tea, coffee, Molotovs, arm your grannies, provide you with some HIMARS to display your memes on...? Ukraine: Yes, thankyou much appreciated. Also check this out, we wired a Steam Deck to a gun. Plays Portal 2, goes BRRRRR. Russian Survivors: We were in the forest and we heard this little voice go 'ArE yOu Still TheRe' and then all my comrades did a dance and their blood fell out. 48 hours ago I was a background dancer for Little Big and now I have a Youtube Video of how to fire an AK47 and no bullets and I am being shot at by a box full of memes. Ukraine: Lol git gud skrub. Putin: OK, deploy the Nazis The Wagner Group. Is many fine people. Wagner Group: OK we need ammo, supplies, money, and support and money and for you to not look very closely at what we are doing with POWs, the people we are liberating and what we are doing with our cocks/flamethrowers/knives/guns/sharps sticks/and what this guy's necklace of human ears is made of. Ukraine: [Stares in Drone] Chap with the Nazi tattoo, five rounds rapid. LOL GET REKT Wagner Group: Damn these meddling kids. Where's our money and ammo and money and supplies (And money)? Putin: Counter offer - none of these things. Wagner Group: OK but you owe us the money, you get that right? Putin: See that Wagner Group? They can have a little bit of being shelled with artillery as a treat. Wagner Group: New plan. We are going to make Putin eat his own dick. Putin: You and what army? Wagner Group: Funny you should bring that up. ✨Wagner Group unlocked achievement: "Look at me. Look at me: We're the Army Now✨ Wagner Group: War-crimes With Ukraine is over. We are War-crimes with Russia now. [🪆]⬅️🛻🚚🛻🚛🛻🚚🚛...[🌻] Ukraine: 🍿 NATO: 🍿 The Internet: 🍿 The Orcas: 🐋🐳🍿 That uncontacted tribe:🍿

#snark #current events #ukraine #slava ukraini

[sugarcloudsky]

can i have a cappuccino cookie x reader where tgey have a cute litrle coffee date or somethin >_<!!

「Stress Reliever」

character: cappuccino cookie

wc: 1k

cws: possibly ooc cappuccino i am not confident in his characterization, corny

hiii i know who sent this! happy birthday!!! <3 (i hope this turned out ok, i’m not too proud of how this came out LOL)

“Meet me at the cafe downtown tomorrow afternoon for a coffee! My treat!”

Those few simple words continued to echo in the back of Cappuccino Cookie’s mind as his fingers mindlessly traced the rim of the coffee cup in front of him. He tries desperately to shake the thoughts away, but it’s a fruitless effort. It’s practically impossible for him to forget what you said to him. He couldn’t possibly forget the smile you had on your face at that moment. He couldn’t possibly forget… you, now sitting in front of him whilst sipping a coffee of your own.

You had spontaneously invited the prosecutor out for a coffee date after you had watched him return from another tiresome trial. You noticed how his eye bags were much darker than usual, and how he was practically falling asleep as he stumbled through the door of his law firm. He had only mumbled an incoherent string of words to you as you rushed towards him to steady his wobbling and to make sure he wouldn’t collapse on the spot.

After you sat him down on the sofa and allowed him to take a quick breather, he finally seemed to have composed himself a bit. His brows were furrowed with undeniable exhaustion, even more than usual. This must’ve been a tougher case he took on today. Your lips pursed as you watched him sigh, trying to think for a moment. You wanted to come up with a way to cheer him up, even at least a little.

What better way to cheer up your coworker than with a simple coffee date?

Well, you wouldn’t call it a date per se, just a simple hangout to lift his spirits. You wouldn’t dare to call it a date. You would never want to make Cappuccino Cookie uncomfortable! It was just a simple hang out, that’s it!

Cappuccino Cookie on the other hand, after processing what you said to him, felt many conflicting emotions swirling in his mind. Were you asking him out on a date? Or was it just a friendly hangout? He didn’t want to overthink so much, but he really couldn’t stop himself.

All he could really do was swallow his insecurities and look up at you again. Although he noticed you were no longer facing him, instead looking out the window of the small coffee shopping whilst watching random passerbys go about their day. The cute little white cup sitting in front of you was now half empty.

As you continued to stare out the glass window, Cappuccino’s attention went from your cup of coffee to your face. He sat there, his finger grazing against the handle of the cup as he gazed at you, softly but intently. His eyes glanced over your soft cheeks, your fluttering eyelashes, your glittering eyes, and your plump yet slightly chapped lips.

He involuntarily lets out a sigh, admiring how your pretty face is painted in blue from the cloudless afternoon sky.

To him, you were a clear image of perfection. Gorgeous, beautiful, pretty much any cheesy word you can think of.

Cappuccino Cookie had only been admiring you from afar for a short amount of time. At first, you were just a simple coworker to him. It was then when you began to approach him more often with a big smile on your face where he began to feel more than platonic feelings for you.

These feelings scared him, so he shoved them deep down and settled with staying friends with you. Though, that didn’t stop him from occasionally sneaking glances at you and smiling to himself with red dusting his face.

By now, he had memorized the entire structure of your face. All of your imperfections were still beautiful to him. He could stare at your face for hours and never get tired, despite his draining job.

“Cappuccino Cookie?”

The way he flinches at your sudden remark doesn’t go unnoticed by you. You chuckle with amusement lacing your voice, turning to him completely once again.

“You okay there?”

He clears the lump in his throat, his face slightly flushed in embarrassment. He nods his head curtly, in a simple ‘yes.’

For a moment, you stick with wordlessly smiling at him. Although the silence is a bit thick, so you want to ease it somehow.

“How’s work been for you?”

He looks up at you again, sighing. “Same as always. So many idiots in court, you wouldn’t believe it…”

His lips curl upwards as you let out a small giggle at his response. “I see!” You chuckle, picking up your coffee and swirling the liquid in its cup, “I hope some coffee can help relieve some of that courtroom stress!”

He hums, looking down at the cup of coffee sat in front of him. His eyebrows perk upwards as he eyes his own reflection in the brown drink.

His eyes soon again find your face once more, noticing how your attention once again drifted away from him. You had begun to stir your cup of coffee with a little spoon, watching as the remaining whipped cream became mixed in with the caffeine.

If he was being honest, coffee didn’t have much effect on him anymore. Sure, it could help him get through all nighters if he needed to, but other than that, it made him feel nothing other than a moderate feeling of dread.

But you, on the other hand…

Being around you was enough of a stress reliever for him, although he wouldn’t exactly admit that to you. Your calming aura and charming smile was enough to ease his tensions, even if it was only temporary. Everything you said to him served to ease his mind, and he can’t help but feel at peace to be around you right now. He chuckled to himself at the thought, his muscles relaxing as he sank into his seat.

“Mhm,” he hums, face once again tinted slightly red. He rests his chin on his palm, his gaze lingering on you with a look on his face that almost seemed lovestruck. “I feel better already.”

#cookie run x reader #fanfiction #cookie run x you #x reader #cookie run #crob #crob x reader #cappucino cookie #cappuccino cookie x reader #writers on tumblr

[butterflydm]

wot reread: towers of midnight (chap 50-end)

spoilers for towers of midnight (suicide cw; body horror cw)

Oh, this Elayne PoV opens with an interesting echo of a Rand scene. Here, Elayne strips lands and titles from her former rivals to the throne, knowing that the shame of it would likely lead them to commit suicide rather than live as commoners. Back in ACoS, Rand stripped the lands and title from Colaveare in an attempt to NOT kill her, because he was unaware that her own pride almost certainly lead to her killing herself rather than living with being a commoner. It illustrates some key similarities between Rand and Elayne but also a key difference, in that Elayne is aware of the consequences of her political choices in a way that Rand was not always aware. And she's doing so knowing that one of the people most affected by Colaveare's loss of power (a Cairhienin noble named Bertome) would arrive just in time to witness this.

2. She is using all this as a political lead-in to making her claim to the Sun Throne by giving Cairhienin nobles some power in Caemlyn, by offering the estates that she just stripped from her previous rivals. And... she then offers mercy to the nobles that she just stripped of lands here in Caemlyn, by mentioning that new lands and titles can be found for them in Cairhien. Basically binding the two nations closer together even before she officially takes the Sun Throne.

idk how much we needed the scene afterwards explaining Elayne's brilliance to the reader (but maybe it was helpful to the readers who were inclined to dislike Elayne?). Birgitte does still feel somewhat 'off' here from the character that she used to be.

3. It remains so baffling to me that Min is the central 'researcher' into all things Callandor. Makes no sense. But Elayne and Aviendha (both more logical choices) are off actually having their own independent storylines that aren't related to Rand so... Min it is, I guess.

Min warns him that the sword is more dangerous than they'd believed before and he's basically like, "nah, I know, it's chill." lol, despite the book's efforts to convince me that Min's role here is super-vital, it just... really is not.

4. Instead of going himself, Rand sends an Asha'man off to infiltrate and investigate the Black Tower. I really hate that such an important plotline got relegated to tertiary characters!

5. lol, I do like the scene here with Rand and Cadsuane; now that she's too baffled by him to keep bullying him, their interactions are kinda funny most of the time. He also, relatively casually, reveals here how far back his own memories go. Once again though... I really wish this were in Rand's PoV and not Min's.

Because here, Min is 'troubled' by Rand casually sharing his memories from four hundred years ago and Rand is like, "pat pat, calm down, silly mortal girlfriend, I am not a scary monster anymore, I promise" but like... what is going on in his brain? One of the main reasons that Rand's descent into madness worked so well for the reader is because we got to see it internally, and it feels like we're being cheated when we don't get to see how he deals with realizing that LTT's memories were not all due to madness, and this is part of him and he needs to process it. Getting it all second-hand through Min is just... not enough.

I am glad that Rand doesn't give all the credit of making it through to this point to Min (like so much of the fandom likes to do) but credits many of the people who have cared for him: his father, Mat, Perrin, Elayne, Aviendha, Nynaeve, Moiraine (He doesn't mention Egwene here, though, and he should). It is really frustrating how parts of fandom like to act as if Min is the only person who cares about Rand. Circumstances have pulled away most of the people he cares about and who care about him, but that doesn't make the affection disappear and it doesn't make the help they've given him meaningless.

6. Thousands of Borderlander soldiers down here, even as the Blightborder collapses and their people are overrun in the north. Such a frustrating plotline! Anyway, they slap Rand and ask him a question about a death during the Age of Legends and now things are good and they'll actually fight in the Last Battle.

lol, Min's viewings that she has here are so useless to Rand -- 'they'll probably be in a fight soon but whether that means the Last Battle or fighting against you right now, idk'. Thanks for that complete lack of information, Min.

I feel like this entire thing could have easily been used to show the folly of trusting prophecy over your own good sense? The Borderlanders acted as they did because they believed "better a dead Dragon than a Dragon who will destroy the world" but... they didn't really have any way to fix that problem anyway, lol, so their secret prophecy was just as useless as most of Min's viewings are and the only thing it accomplished was leaving their borders less guarded than they should be. Rand points out to them that, while he may have given them his original ultimatum in an asshole way, it remains the truth -- given how far they are from their own lands, he is the only path remaining to them if they want to fight in the Last Battle.

But, yeah, this is just a subplot that felt like it went on way too long and then died with a whimper and not a bang.

7. Hmm, Elayne points out that Birgitte has been getting more and more irritable, which implies that her change in characterization was deliberate (meant to illustrate how her emotional stability is slipping alongside her memory loss maybe?). Elayne basically calls Birgitte the Fun Police here, saying, "You don't like anything, lately." Anyway, Elayne is making her move for Cairhien here. I would have much rather spent this book on Elayne Secures Cairhien than Perrin's Whitecloak Trial. Instead, we mostly just skim over it, and Cairhien accepts Elayne fairly quickly. After she's claimed Cairhien, she sets in motion: a. sending the current army to Merrilor to meet Rand; b. mobilizing any additional men and women who want to fight in the Last Battle and training them; and c. getting all the city's bellfounders to start working on more dragons.

8. The first paragraph of being back in Mat's PoV and he is wistfully thinking of serving girls sitting on his knee. Strike twelve-point-three.

We also, here, have Mat choosing a red scarf to ~dedicate~ to the memory of Tylin and the others who died to the gholam, briefly considering making it pink (he does emphasis that he considered this very briefly). Ew, gross.

I was just talking in my last post, during the Aviendha's vision section, about how easy it is to make saints of the dead. It really feels like this is a perfect illustration of this: Tylin is dead and can't physically hurt Mat anymore, so it's 'safe' to consider honoring her, in a way that it wouldn't be if she were still alive. Dead sainted Tylin happening so soon after dead sainted Tuon in Aviendha's Rhuidean vision definitely makes me go ~hmm.

9. Mat thinks here that he believes that ~the new empress~ is going to surprise the Seanchan. Not sure what he's basing that belief on, lol. But, just like Fortuona was Making Lies Up In Her Head to justify her decisions, so is Mat, I guess. He wants to believe that Tuon is Different From The Other Seanchan, so he's convinced himself that she is, despite having literally zero favorable evidence (and the reader was just recently in her head, so we know for a fact that Mat is absolutely incorrect that Tuon has surprised the Seanchan in any way -- she has done exactly as expected of her, because she's just a bog-standard High Blood Seanchan)

(side note: I actually do not have any objection to Tuon just being another Seanchan, in terms of her moral code. The weird part about the way it is written in the books is the way that some Westlands characters behave as if she's better in some way, when we've never seen her do anything exceptional, in terms of ethics or morality. I get that the Seanchan are brainwashed to think the Imperial family & the Empress are special, but when Westlands characters act that way, it makes me raise my eyebrows. I talked about this back in CoT & KoD too -- how sometimes Mat behaved as if Tuon had undergone an entire character arc despite that... you know, not happening and her being just as awful (in terms of ethics) at the end of KoD as she was in her intro in WH. It's not Tuon being awful that I object to -- it makes sense that she's awful, given what we know of her culture and that she's the top dog in that culture -- it's Westlands characters inexplicably behaving as if she's A Special One Who Isn't Like Other Nobles that triggers my bullshit meter, like Mat thinking in KoD that's it's ~right and good~ for Olver to bow to her and make much of her despite that going completely against the way Mat normally approaches nobility; hits my bs meter hard).

The reports on the Seanchan that he's reading come from Elayne, btw. Also, he HAS officially signed the Band over to Elayne's employment. So, again, we have this tension where Mat has been set up as the tug o'war rope between ~Fortuona~ and Elayne. Or, more accurately, Mat is setting himself up as the rope. And setting himself up to eventually have his nose rubbed into the crimes of the Seanchan (including Tuon) in a way that he won't be able to deny (post-canon, I assume). Elayne did not give him any reports on the Seanchan attacking the White Tower, it sounds like, which makes sense -- the official White Tower position on weakness is: we don't have any. He notes that there are rumors of the Sea Folk allied with the Seanchan and dismisses THOSE as nonsense started by the Seanchan capturing Sea Folk vessels. Hey. Hey, Mat. What do they do to the people on the vessels? I know that you know the answer.

10. One of the spy reports makes him think of Rand, and we are reminded that Mat has to banish those colors "over and over". Funny how Perrin doesn't have that problem. Perrin finds dismissing the colors super easy. Mat also thinks about how "at least Rand was wearing clothes this time", which is a reminder of how frequently Mat apparently thinks about Rand around bedtime. Again, not a problem that Perrin has ever had.

11. Hmm, a conversation between the two people who seemed to most desperately want to believe that Tuon can learn to be a better person, and the two people who had the biggest changes in characterization between Winter's Heart and Crossroads of Twilight: Setalle Anan has come over to talk to Mat.

Strike twelve-point-four, as Mat tries to pretend he isn't thinking about Setalle Anan's 'ample bosom' (it's the second time he's had thoughts of attraction towards her since his marriage, so I'm not double-counting her as a full point, just like I'm not double-counting Elayne).

When Setalle Anan wonders if he truly knows the Andoran queen, Mat says that she's a "nice enough girl", because (at least in this part of the storyline) Mat has grown enough to see that his original assumptions about Elayne were incorrect.

12. Setalle Anan says that she's trying to work out the puzzle of Mat, and Mat being so close to the queen (who is Aes Sedai) is another piece of the puzzle. She mentions getting a letter from Joline, who has arrived safely at the White Tower and who has asked after Mat, to check in that he's okay, which completely baffled Mat. I wonder if Joline and Teslyn have had some long conversations off-screen about Mat, because Mat has been such an asshole to Joline on-screen that her respecting him so much really is somewhat baffling. But, yeah, the whole "friendly with some Aes Sedai but married to a slaver who wanted to enslave all Aes Sedai" is definitely... well, 'puzzle' is a kind way of wording what Mat currently is (especially to anyone who doesn't know about the prophecy... which is everyone).

Mat asks Setalle Anan what it was like to lose the One Power and no longer be Aes Sedai. She explains that she's happy for those who can still channel but is envious and misses it. The way she talks about it really reminds me of the way how Mat seems to feel his marriage has locked him away from acting on his attraction to other women and it's an interesting comparison to think about, now that it comes to mind. She burnt herself out, she wasn't stilled, so she accidentally did this to herself (just like Mat accidentally married Tuon). She is envious of those who can still channel but happy for them that they have the ability (and Mat keeps checking out women 'for' other men around him... though he never actually tells those other men about the women). She also kept herself in contact with the Kin all those years, essentially punishing herself by reminding herself over and over what she no longer had. Hmm.

Then she asks Mat why he hates Aes Sedai. And Mat essentially... completely sidesteps the question, though he does say that he doesn't hate Aes Sedai. But he immediately changes the question to "what bothers me about WOMEN" and away from "what bothers me about Aes Sedai" and then almost as swiftly, the conversation turns to "what bothers me about NOBLES". I wonder if his mental conflation of Aes Sedai=all women=all nobles is part of what causes some of his odd thinking.

13. This is where we get his ~boots~ argument against nobility, which comes across to me like he's saying that, nobles have so much excess that it makes him uncomfortable, though Setalle Anan believed that he's talking about the complexity of leadership. Mat denies that the conversation is a metaphor in any possible way, which is very Mat of him. I will note that he says that your 'best' pair of shoes should be your walking/working shoes, which are your most important pair.

If you were wondering: no, Setalle Anan doesn't tell him that she betrayed him and told Tuon about his protective medallion. Tuon actually doesn't openly come up a single time in the conversation, which is somewhat interesting, considering how much of the discussion feels like it's half a step away from Tuon.

After Anan leaves, Mat tosses aside Verin's letter, deciding that he will never know what's in it.

14. I genuinely like Pevara but... yeah, sucks that Nynaeve isn't the one headlining the Black Tower story arc. Apparently the White Tower 'embassy' to the Black Tower has just been chilling inside for... weeks? And now they are trapped inside, and gateways don't work. (another dreamspike? I do not recall)

15. Perrin gets to say a special goodbye to Mat. The buffing up of the Mat-Perrin friendship definitely feels like the biggest marker so far of Check Out Sanderson's Bestest Favorite Boy, yeah, lol. Thom twits Mat about his marriage by poking at the sore spot of how it makes Mat a noble now. Grady opens a Gateway to send them to the Tower of Ghenjei, and will open a return Gateway every day at the same time. They leave from Perrin's camp, which is just outside Whitebridge. Then Perrin & co all head to Merrilor.

16. Noal has managed to acquire a fancy outfit and a fancy new walking staff. ...? I hope again that plot device Noal gets replaced by someone more interesting in the show version (if they should get this far). My dream team is, of course, Mat with Siuan (as Moiraine's love interest) and Birgitte (for historical knowledge and to fill Noal's, ah, other role and, much like Noal wants to redeem himself for his failures, Birgitte may want to succeed at saving someone from the Tower where she has failed before).

17. They are able to open a doorway into the Tower by etching the opening symbol for the game of snakes & foxes into the Tower with a bronze knife. The inside of the Tower itself doesn't look like either the Aelfinn or the Eelfinn's bargaining places, Mat notes in dismay. Whatever script is used on the walls here, it isn't the Old Tongue, because Mat doesn't recognize it. Mat realizes this time, as he didn't fully realize before, that the world of the 'finn is a completely different world to their own. Interesting that even now, after Mat has ~gotten hitched~ to his prophecy girl, he still feels like the snakes gave him "no useful answers".

18. One of the Eelfinn appears, to try to tempt them into leaving their tools of protection behind and when Mat realizes that he's feeling swayed by the argument, he asks Thom to play music to break the spell. And the music puts the Eelfinn to sleep. Mat realizes that trying to make a map of the place is useless -- they need to rely on his luck. So he starts rolling dice to decide which direction to go. After another confrontation with multiple Eelfinn where he loses his dice, he begins spinning around to dizzy himself and then picking a direction at random. He then follows that direction no matter how many side corridors appear to tempt them, and he leads them to the room where Moiraine is waiting.

19. Seeing Moiraine again brings up a lot of complicated emotions in Mat: frustration and anger, but also gratitude and awe. He feels like he understands her motivations for her choices now, but still dislikes some of the actions that she took. Thom yanks her out of her prison, even after they find that whatever she's being held in is hot to the touch, and Mat marvels over how tiny she is, compared to his larger-than-life memory of her.

20. After Moiraine is pulled from her prison, eight of the Eelfinn are in the room, on the tall pedestals, dressed in white. Mat warns everyone against saying anything that sounds like a bargain. So Mat is the one to make the bargain, with the terms that the Aelfinn had already given him -- his price would be "half the light of the world" (aka his eye). Mat wonders if being willing to pay this price to save the world makes him "a hero, after all". One of the Eelfinn rips Mat's eye out of his socket with his bare hand.

21. Mat thinks here that he had assumed that Thom was here for the same reason as Mat -- because it was something that needed to be done (aka it was the right thing to do) -- but the way that Thom is clutching onto Moiraine's unconscious body is making him wonder. Noal realizes a hole in the bargain that Mat had made -- he'd said that the foxes weren't allowed to attack them, but had said nothing about the snakes. And so now the chase is on.

22. After a tense chase, where Mat is throwing around fireworks to keep the Aelfinn at bay, and they've long since strayed from the direct path that would lead to their exit, Noal sacrifices himself so that the others can continue escaping, serving his plot device duty and 'dying clean' (does Mat ever actually tell any of the Malkieri about this? I will try to remember to keep a watch out in AMoL). Mat thinks that once he would have thought dying with honor was pointless, but honor has mattered to too many of the memories in his head for him to dismiss it.

23. Hmm, when Thom mentions the idea of maybe getting some Aelfinn answers for himself, Mat tells him that he doesn't want them. "They aren't answers. They're threats. Promises." Talking about what just happened with his eye, or talking about Tuon? (I mean, likely both. It's definitely been something that I've noticed that Mat does not at all seem happy or grateful to the Aelfinn for shackling him to Fortuona, despite how he keeps desperately trying to convince himself that he trusts her and that he finds her super-attractive)

24. Mat thinks back to his time with the Eelfinn, his exact words, and realizes that he asked for a way back and that his ashandarei is the one thing he has that is not explained by them answering his other boons. That it's his key to leaving. He didn't ask them for a weapon, he asked them for a way out. And he is able to cut it to cut their way out of the Tower and back into their own world.

25. My narration here doesn't really cover how much I enjoyed this sequence but it was a lot of fun! I do think that this moment, like some others, would probably feel more impactful if it happened before Rand had his epiphany. Rand having his big moment at the end of TGS kinda... trivializes almost everything in ToM, honestly. Because... well, we already know that Rand has decided not to destroy time and the universe. So, if I had been structuring the last three books, I would have placed Rand's epiphany right here, after Mat & co. make their successful escape from the Tower of Ghenjei (and after Perrin and Egwene have helped each other in TAR). That way, even before they all go to Merrilor, it feels like Moiraine's return is symbolic of Rand's turning point, if they're paired in the narrative like that.

26. We get the counterpart of Gawyn's relief at having Egwene's emotions in his head by learning here that Egwene also finds it a comfort to have his emotions in her head and feel his devotion first-hard in a way that makes her unable to doubt it. So, yeah, Egwene and Gawyn are really on the same page in a way that the majority of romantic relationships in the series never manage. They want the same things out of life and neither of them is forcing themselves to live a life that makes them unhappy for the sake of catering to the other person (examples of this kind of relationship: Rand & Min, where Min forces herself into a poly relationship that makes her feel possessive and jealous all the time; Perrin & Faile, where they both have vastly different ideas about their 'ideal life' and the solution was for Perrin to give up his own ideas and pick Faile's; Mat and Fortuona, who both want to fundamentally change their partner into someone unrecognizable from who they currently are)

27. Mat is thrilled that he managed to survive the Tower of Ghenjei, now that they are safely out (and Moiraine is slowly regaining consciousness). Mat also realizes here that Thom knew all along (or at least for a while) that Noal was Jain Farstrider but never told Mat. It's in a semi-joking way that he wonders what kind of friend Thom is, but, yeah, I've been wondering about Mat and Thom's 'friendship' for a bit now, and this is another interesting piece of evidence about how Thom is not particularly open with Mat.

28. Um, strike thirteen-point-four as Mat thinks about how fetching Moiraine looks, with her flushed cheeks and her hair tumbling about her face. haha, he does feel kinda awkward about finding her attractive, much as Rand felt awkward about finding Caraline Damodred attractive even realizing how much she looked like Moiraine.

29. Mat refusing to let Moiraine heal his eye (not even just to take the pain away, which is all she believes she can manage now) does feel weirdly symbolic of his self-destructive behavior as of late -- he risks his life to save Moiraine, gives up his eye to save her, and then shies away at the idea of her healing him. Much as I once wondered if the Aelfinn devised Tuon as a punishment for Mat, I now have to wonder... is Mat punishing himself? Because that is wildly self-destructive. He could get an infection in his FACE. I'm sure he has countless memories of battle wounds going bad and killing soldiers post-battle. Passing up being healed just seems like he's actively self-harming here.

(I guess the question I'm asking is: how much does Mat subconsciously hate himself right now, that he would do this to himself? Again, we have the contrast in this same book of Galad realizing how nonsensical it is to have Aes Sedai as your allies and then refuse to allow them to heal you, which feels like a direct and deliberate reference point to show us that Mat is not acting rationally here -- either punishing himself or feeling like he doesn't deserve healing? Kinda amounts to the same thing, I suppose)

30. lol, Mat tries to downplay his affection for Rand, yet again, but Thom calls him out on it by mentioning how Mat 'keeps saying' that Rand deserves a festival in his honor for cleansing saidin. Honestly, the case of Rand vs Fortuona does feel so illustrative at this point re: Mat's constant lying to himself -- Mat tries so hard to force himself NOT to feel loyal and affectionate towards Rand and TO feel loyal towards Fortuona, but then his mind keeps betraying him (he keeps thinking of Rand, over and over, in much greater detail than Perrin does; and, conversely, he keeps thinking of all the attractive women in the world that he's Not Allowed to think about due to his marriage to Fortuona).

31. Thom tells Moiraine that Mat married "the Empress of the Seanchan" and Mat cringes at the info being shared (he hunches down and tries to cover his face with his hat and 'forces a chuckle'). Moiraine is startled, but when Mat says it was 'accidentally' because the Seanchan have 'odd customs', she goes, "ah, ta'veren". Mat doesn't think of his reaction here as 'shame' but, yeah, it vibes hard as shame. Moiraine says she needs to go seek out Rand, and Mat agrees that she should, but says he has things that he needs to do in Caemlyn. And then he thinks of Rand (again) and blushes.

32. While I've seen Sanderson get blamed for it -- the Thom & Moiraine engagement scene was written by Jordan, as confirmed by Sanderson's retrospective (Sanderson is one of the fans who did not at all pick up on Jordan's murder-mystery style way of setting up Thom and Moiraine's 'romance' in the earlier books which, you know. Me too, lol). And 'abruptly making a life commitment out of nowhere with barely any lead-up' is also classic Jordan romance writing, lol.

Direct quote from Sanderson: "I will note, by the way, that Verin’s interaction with Egwene in The Gathering Storm was my biggest surprise from the notes. My second biggest was the Thom/Moiraine engagement. Robert Jordan wrote that scene, and I was surprised to read it."

So, yeah, the whole "I would give up being Aes Sedai for you" offer was all Jordan.

That being said, knowing that this scene was written by Jordan also makes me wonder how much of the previous scene that leads into it (Mat blushing over how much he's thinking about Rand and his clear shame over being married to the Empress of the Seanchan) was also written by Jordan. Moiraine actually IS one of the few characters in the Jordan books who occasionally slung around the name 'Matrim', so her using it here isn't a Sanderson 'tell' the way that it is for many other characters. I also wonder if the paragraph of admiration and Mat thinking of Moiraine as 'fetching' was written by Jordan because, if so, that might be the germ of the idea that led to all of the other moments when Mat has been distracted by how pretty all the women he's Not Allowed to admire are Because Wife.

33. When Mat reacts like a cat fallen into a bath at the idea of being bonded (though, hilariously, he does specify that he doesn't want to be bonded to a woman), Thom points out that "your Tuon" is capable of channeling, which is information that Mat has been trying to actively suppress from his memory (and he almost immediately does so again here, very quickly after Thom reminds him of it), another example of Thom bringing up Mat's marriage to specifically twit him about the parts of it that will make him unhappy (like how earlier, he brought up how it makes Mat a noble). But this conversation is kinda the first time that Mat has confirmed to other people that his marriage was 'accidental' due to 'Seanchan customs', I think? Which is information that Moiraine & Thom could theoretically share with other people (like, for example, Elayne, who is already aware that Mat is willing to self-destructively make himself miserable in order to keep a promise, from her experiences with him in Ebou Dar). Also, Moiraine now knows that the Empress of the Seanchan is capable of learning to channel.

34. Mat's missing eye is still throbbing in pain, but he doesn't give a thought to asking Moiraine to heal him. Either deep fear, like Moiraine suggested, or deep hate... for himself, I think (certainly not for Moiraine, as he's surprised himself in this scene with how much affection he's been feeling for her). I'm leaning towards 'self-hate' because Mat doesn't even consider asking THOM to help him clean and dress the wound using normal non-Power means, so it feels very much like Mat has given himself a painful punishment.

He also wonders what Tuon might think of a husband 'unable to defend himself', so, yeah, I think he's also very aware that she is not a supportive and caring life partner. He actually comes across as genuinely scared of her reaction here (he describes himself as 'trembling' at the thought). You're in an abusive relationship, buddy.

35. Olver opens the letter from Verin and gives it to Talmanes -- Verin was trying to warn Mat about the Waygate in Caemlyn being left unguarded and a huge force of Shadowspawn coming through the Ways to attack the city. Talmanes curses and heads off to defend the city, but then we see that it's already under attack. Congrats, Mat! Your stubborn determination not to ever listen to Aes Sedai has helped lead to an attack on Caemlyn.

36. For the first time in this entire book, we get a Rand PoV. In the epilogue. And it's only two pages long. *sigh*

Rand sits in a dream and thinks about what will come in the morning, when he speaks to Egwene and the monarchs of the world. We don't get ANY reflection on the events of the past book or any of his feelings about anything.

He hears distant screams of pain and follows them, and he sees 'Mierin' aka Lanfear, who tells him that she is being tortured by the Dark One and needs his help.

I'm so frustrated that this is the only Rand PoV that we got in this entire book! Why would you do that! What a terrible narrative choice!

37. Lan arrives at Tarwin's Gap -- "he was home again. For the last time." And he and his forces charge towards the Shadowspawn.

38. The very ending of the book is a quote from the 'prophecies of the Shadow' (the ones that Moridin is relying on but have already failed Graendal). We get a mention of "Midnight Towers" here but I have NO clue what it's meant to refer to, since it clearly isn't talking about the Seanchan Towers of Midnight. So, yeah, ????

The title of this book remains such a baffling choice.

How ready are we for the Last Battle?

Rand: organizing; basically ready

Egwene: organizing; basically ready

Mat: finally got his ass in gear. Managed to be the fault point for the Caemlyn invasion, so he was accidentally helping the Shadow there by being stubborn for no good reason. Kinda mirrors him helping the Seanchan by protecting Tuon during CoT & KoD. First he fails his friends through action (protecting a slaver) and then he fails them through inaction (not reading Verin's letter). But he also helps his friends (bringing Aludra to Caemlyn; rescuing Moiraine) so Mat has been a double-edged sword recently, useful and harmful at the same time.

In terms of his marriage: shame, repression, and denial seem to be the main emotions that Mat is bringing to the table. That's a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. The clash of values between Mat and Fortuona feels inevitable, once the immediate stress of the Last Battle and its aftermath has passed.

I am interested (this may or may not be the correct word, lol) on if Mat will become pod!person Mat from CoT & KoD once he's actually in Fortuona's orbit again. So far he's done his best to maintain the illusion in his head that "Tuon" and "the Seanchan Empire" are separate entities and he can help one of them while being opposed to the other one, but obviously that illusion will take a pretty hard hit once he's around Actual (Westlands Territories Only) Seanchan Empress Fortuona 'Slavery Is My Game' Paendrag again. I've genuinely enjoyed a lot of the Mat scenes in ToM but how much of that is because I haven't been forced to endure Mat & Tuon interacting? I guess I'm about to find out!

Elayne: she’s BEEN ready.

Perrin: went through wolf boot camp; basically ready. The wolf-related plotline Perrin does in these two books should have been in his plot during The Slog; Sanderson basically rewinds us to LoC!Perrin and goes from there, giving Perrin character development that should have been happening all along.

The Whitecloak-related plotline was... meh? The most I can give it is 'meh'. It solved a problem that I didn't care about and ignored the problems that I did care about, essentially.

Nynaeve: We don't get enough Nynaeve but what we do get is good, except for her massive communication issues, lol. She should have done the Black Tower plotline in this book rather than it being given to tertiary characters. It's an important enough plotline that it should have happened within the main cast.

Series ranking:

Hmm, this one was somewhat tough to rank because I mostly loved all the Mat & Elayne related scenes, and the Egwene and Nynaeve scenes were also good but I was very frustrated with almost all the Rand-related scenes being someone else's PoV and Perrin was. Not interesting to me unless he was in the wolfdream. So. Better than WH but not as good as EotW. Too Much Perrin, lol (you wouldn't necessarily know this from my reread posts because I was zooming through the Perrin chapters and then spending ages on the other ones, but trust me. There was A Lot of Perrin).

The Fires of Heaven (😍)

The Shadow Rising (😘)

The Dragon Reborn (😘)

The Path of Daggers (😘)

New Spring (😘)

The Great Hunt (😄)

The Gathering Storm (😄)

Lord of Chaos (😄)

...

A Crown of Swords (🙂)

The Eye of the World (🙂)

Towers of Midnight (🙂)

Winter’s Heart (🙂)

...

...

...

...

...

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Crossroads of Twilight (😒)

Knife of Dreams (😒)

#wot #wheel of time #wot reread #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #towers of midnight #mat cauthon #perrin aybara #elayne trakand