#that i spent the last several years trying to get rid of so that it would be non existent

[melancholicdesire]

You left marks on my body that are forever. I feel so embarrassed for having wanted and having dreamt that maybe I could have that forever from you, and then you gave me a different kind. The kind I told you I feared.

#the past that i don't know how to talk about #that i wish i didn't have to talk about #that i spent the last several years trying to get rid of so that it would be non existent #but it's there

[vampkaashis-wife]

Osamu’s latest fidgety habit is twisting his wedding band around his finger - an expensive piece of jewelry he bought for himself alongside a matching piece for you. He still can’t believe it. The simple band of metal is a testament to a life he spent years building. While he would never call it perfect, he’s fairly certain that he would do it the same if he ever had the chance.

Even with the Olympics several years behind him, he sometimes thinks about what it would be like, playing on the global stage with Atsumu. He thinks about what it would be like if he had joined MSBY too, or if he’d joined the Adlers. He wonders if he’d choose to play with Sunarin or Aran instead. 

Today, though, he’s thinking about a different possibility. 

The possibility of you saying no to his marriage proposal and walking away entirely. 

It was a very near thing, he remembers. He remembers staring at the wall, day after day, the reflections of the ring scattered along the walls. Disappearing when he closed the box again. 

“Babe?” he calls into the kitchen where you’re doing dishes. The TV is on in the living room, and you glance up every now and then to keep up with the plot, yelling What happened? every time a commotion occurs and you missed it. He never knows why you do this. He said he could wait until all chores were done to start the movie, but you insist. 

“What? Did I miss something?” you call, both soapy hands busy with a pot. Your sleeves are slipping down your arms again, and Osamu pauses the movie. “Samu, no! Don’t pause it.”

He laughs. “Your sleeves,” he says simply, coming up behind you to pull them back up your arms. The motion is punctuated with a kiss to your cheek. “Are you happy?”

“You know I hate doing dishes.”

“And yet, you do them anyway.”

“Would you rather I create a beacon for the roaches? That’s unsanitary. I need to call whoever does the inspections at the shop; clearly, we’re all missing something here.”

The shop. You say it so simply, as if Onigiri Miya isn’t one of the biggest parts of your lives now and for the last few years. “You’re the roach,” he says. “Can’t get rid of you if I tried.”

“Don’t lie, Samu. You wouldn’t ever try to get rid of me, therefore, I cannot possibly be a roach.” After a pause, you add, “And Akaashi-san likes me, so I also can’t be a roach. He hates those. Now get off me, you’re in the way.”

He knows you’ve missed the question, but he’s sure he knows the answer all the same. A year ago, you shared a kitchen in tense silence, a fundamental unhappiness permeating the air. A year ago, you tried to throw all this away - through no fault of your own. It had been an awful time for you both as you transitioned out of student life and into the next thing, and yet…

“Babe?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

In quick motions, you put up the final bowl you washed, rinsing around the sink before dangling your wet hands in it to keep the floor dry. You twist a little to look at the man next to you. “I know. I love you too.”

Before he can say anything even more pathetic and lovestruck, your phone rings. Shaking your hands off, you locate your phone. Samu watches you frown before drying your hands and picking it up. He knows who it is before you even say it. “Hey, Dad.” 

There it is, another one of the winds you always summon. They’re less of a hurricane than they used to be, though. More of a strong beach wind. He finishes cleaning up the kitchen while you’re on the phone, although there’s not much left to clean. 

He’s proud of you, he thinks. Proud of himself, too, but mostly of you. The first year of marriage isn’t easy, but after planning and executing such a large scale event with and emotionally drained you and your tense family, he thinks you’ll be alright. You smile more now, he realizes. You have more to say about, well, everything. 

Then his phone rings. Atsumu. “What do you want?” he calmly asks his phone. 

Atsumu immediately starts chattering into his phone. It’s hard to hear him over the crowd in the background. “Oi! Pick me up.”

“Where? Why?”

“Afterparty after we beat EJP. Sunarin forgot about me and went home first.”

“Shitty of him.”

“Yeah, well. He’s a shithead.” 

“Couldn’t you ask someone else?”

“Samu!” he whines in a truly atrocious voice. Osamu pinches the bridge of his nose as his twin keeps talking. “You hate me!”

“I don’t hate you.” Osamu sighs. “I’m not anywhere near Osaka, idiot. I wouldn’t be able to make it there for a few hours. I don’t want you to wait that long, not if you’re drunk enough to be calling for a ride home.”

A pause.

“Oh yeah. I meant to call Omi. I’m not drunk, by the way.”

“How do you make that mistake and not notice? You literally said my name.”

“I never claimed to be smart.”

“No one would believe you if you did.”

Another pause. 

“Fuck you!” 

“That’s the best thing you could come up with?” Osamu knows his brother can hear the raised eyebrows, even at this distance. “Call literally anyone else; I’m off duty.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means that after dinner is Wife Time, and you’ve lost priority.”

“Piece of shit,” Atsumu mutters. Soon after though, he says in a voice too soft to be anything but loving, “Samu? I’m proud of you. You’re not making it easy for me to be the happier of us.”

For a moment, Osamu feels tears prickling behind his eyes. He blinks them away, instead watching you scribble something down, phone pressed between your shoulder and ear. Such a simple thing, but everything he’s ever wanted. “Thanks, Atsumu.”

#miya osamu x reader #miya osamu fluff #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu fluff #miya osamu scenario #haikyuu scenario #sequel to a thing i wrote almost a year ago #iykyk

[whereianonymouslypostfics]

Preparations

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x reader

Word count: ~1.7k

Summary: You and Wanda get your house ready for the baby.

A/N: More fluffy domestic stuff

Warnings: Fluff

When you’d agreed to help your wife clean up the house this weekend to get rid of some clutter, you’d assumed she’d meant something along the lines of spring cleaning. Maybe you’d finally get rid of the many magazines she’s accumulated over the years and kept in the third-floor bookshelf that Fletcher spent more time on than either of you. Or maybe, she’d finally make you throw out all of the old dogs’ stuff that you’d kept for years but have stopped using. She’d promised that the cabinet in the garage full of the treasures you’d found while walking in the woods was safe. For now.

You had been looking forward to decluttering the house, and despite knowing you’d do most of the heavy lifting, you hadn’t been prepared by what this truly meant.

Wanda was 4-months pregnant and although her morning, afternoon, and night nausea was starting to go away, she was having new ailments pop up every day. She’d woken you up last night when she left bed to look for something to help with the heartburn that she had. Despite insisting that you’d do it, in your half-awake state, you’d forgotten that all of Wanda’s pregnancy meds were not in the bathroom, but actually in the kitchen. Twenty minutes later, you were fully awake and Wanda was finally getting her medication and going back to sleep.

You’d been yawning all day, and when Wanda told you what she wanted to do this afternoon, you’d had to make sure that you heard her right.

“I don’t know which is more concerning, Wands. The fact that you have so many guns in the house, or that I somehow didn’t even notice.”

You say this as you’re on your hands and knees grabbing maybe the 12th gun that your wife has stashed around the house. It was a precautionary measure that she’d only had to use once or twice, but now that she was retired and she barely left the house she decided to clean up. The last thing she wanted was to forget that she had guns hidden around the house and not find out until your child someone came across it. You’d agreed with this sentiment and you’d followed Wanda’s instructions and found the guns and a few knives that she’d hidden around the house years ago.

Wanda shrugs as she holds her phone up to her ear and listens to the next part of the recording that she made several years ago. It had occurred to her that she needed a way to guarantee that she remembered where she’d hidden everything. It wouldn’t do to forget a couple and have to look around for hours when she could just use a map of sorts. Given how paranoid she was, she didn’t keep a physical map anywhere, and she’d simply recorded herself walking around the house and saying where each weapon was. It was over an hour long, and luckily she was at 50 minutes by the time you sat down to take a break.

“We still have 8 more, detka. Then we can finish up. “

You have to stifle a groan as you stretch out on the bed with a tired sigh. You’re just going to lie here for a few minutes before you’ll get right back to it. Wanda seems to realize that you’re asking for a break, and she decides that you deserve one for all that you’d done for her recently. She’s been a little all over the place with her desire to clean, and then her inability to do much some days when her shortness of breath makes even walking around the house a hassle. Most of her time is spent either darting around the house trying to complete random tasks, or lounging in bed or on the couch watching something while eating ice cream.

“Alright, 5 minutes then we’ll start again.”

You just hum in acknowledgment before you reach out for Wanda as soon as she’s by your side. You wrap your arms around your wife before pulling her close with a smile. You try to relax for a bit and your smile widens as Wanda’s hands find yours and bring them to her stomach. She’s got a prominent baby bump at this point, and one of her favorite things was having the two of you put your hands on her stomach. She knows it’s too early to feel a kick or anything really exciting, but Wanda just likes the idea of being close to their baby. You love seeing how Wanda’s stomach continues to grow as her baby does, and you become more excited with every day that passes.

“Y/n, it’s been 10 minutes, we should get up.”

You just grumble something into her neck as you hold her tighter instead of showing any indication of getting up. You ignore the sound of your dogs pushing through the door as they come to check on you. You’d been running around for a while playing hide and seek, and your disappearance didn’t go unnoticed. Boone whines as he comes up to Wanda and she smiles at him as she holds out her hand. Rogue rushes forward to try and get in on the scratches, and he and Boone grumble at each other before shoving their faces into Wanda’s stomach at the sight of your hands.

“Boys, stop. That tickles!”

Wanda flinches and you unfortunately are jostled as your wife tries to get away from the two shepherds that are competing for her attention yet again. You swear that most of their time these days is spent trying to get more attention than their brother. You have quickly become less popular for some reason, but you’re not going to look too deeply into it. Boone still liked you and since there are no fights breaking out you’re just going to let it happen.

“Aright, alright. We’re getting up.”

You stifle a groan as you sit up and stretch before you scratch both of your dogs behind the ears. You pat them on the head one last time before holding out your hand to your wife with a smile.

“Shall we finish up, Wands?”

It doesn’t take too much longer to find the remaining weapons, and once they’re all collected you just stare at them in awe. There are 24 guns and at least that many magazines sitting on the table in front of you. They’re all handguns, but they are different sizes and colors and you try not to get too interested in the many, many weapons before you look to you wife with an arched brow.

“So what now? I assume you don’t want to just throw them out.”

You’re mostly kidding because you’re sure that getting rid of these guns in such a way is not only a huge risk, but also a giant waste of money. You know very little about guns, but you imagine they’re relatively expensive. You know they’re loud and it hurts when you’re shot, but that’s about it. You’re shocked when Wanda shakes her head and tells you what you're going to do with these.

“Definitely not. This is close to $20,000 worth. Let’s get them downstairs.”

The rest of your afternoon is spent doing tedious work in front of the television with Wanda by your side. She’s on the couch while you’re sitting on the floor against it as the two of you take apart, clean and then reassemble each gun before packing them away. You look to the 6 large storage boxes that Wanda had you get from the basement as you finish up with your last gun. You pack it up and shut the last box beside you and hear the lock click. Wanda’s finishing up emptying the magazines and putting the bullets back into boxes in a similar container.

“I underestimated how long this would take.”

You can’t help but laugh at this because you certainly had as well. You thought Wanda would want you to find them and then hide them somewhere else. Maybe 2 hours tops. Now, nearly 5 hours later, you and Wanda are just finishing up and you are somehow still smiling. This honestly wasn’t your idea of a good time, but you were spending time with Wanda and the gloves you wore kept the smell of gunpowder off your hands, so you were happy.

“Same, but we’re almost done!”

When Wanda doesn’t respond immediately you panic at the thought that you’re not almost done. You can’t help but curse the fact that your wife has so many weapons to take care of. You turn to face your wife who’s stacking the two boxes of ammunition before she takes off her gloves.

“We are finished…right?”

Wanda smiles before setting her gloves aside as she moves to get off the couch. She kisses your cheek before nodding as she leans against you with a sigh. She could take another nap right now, but her stomach is telling her it’s dinner time.

“Yes, detka. We’re done. Let’s get these downstairs and then we’ll start on dinner.”

You smile at the idea of food and Wanda laughs as you jump to your feet and start to carry two boxes back down to the basement. They’re heavier than when you brought them up and you’d failed to realize this until you had them in your arms. You groan in effort, but just continue hurrying to put everything away so you can eat. It’s not until you grab the last two boxes next to Wanda that you have any difficulty. You stop on the way to plant a quick kiss on Wanda’s lips before helping her to her feet. She smiles gratefully before watching you head back to the basement one last time.

“Thank you, Y/n. I have a surprise planned for you after dinner. Another thank you, if you will.”

The only response Wanda gets is a muttered curse before something tumbles down the stairs and lands so hard that it shakes the house. Wanda and the dogs are already running to check on you when you shout from downstairs. 

“Shit, sorry! I’m okay.”

Masterlist

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x female reader #wanda maximoff fanfiction #wanda maximoff #wanda x reader #wanda x you #silver springs #silver springs drabble #silver springs au #mob au

[whumpshaped]

helle's pov of this :)

masterlist

tw vampire whumper, vampire whumpee, murder, death, animal abuse/death (beck feeding on rats), emotional whump, past trauma, paranoia, dehumanisation

Well... This was it.

As Helle stared at their human's motionless body in their arms, the finality of their decision was beginning to set in. They could still stake him, of course, but that wouldn't undo it. If anything, it'd only make their actions more final.

They hated the way his warmth seeped out of his body, slipping away from them forever. They'd never see him blush again, nor would they hear the adorable pounding of his heart whenever he was nervous or excited. He was so still, and it was unnatural after having gotten used to his constant fidgeting.

But it was inevitable, wasn't it? They'd gone overboard. Beck was losing his personality, the thing that had kept them coming back over and over, night after night. This was the only way to efficiently reverse it and try again — except this would also get rid of most of his memories, all that conditioning, all the stupid little moments they'd shared.

It would get rid of the adoration. All of it; both the result of enthrallment and... and the part they'd felt was real. They'd get a squeaky clean slate, with a Beck who would barely remember his own name. They'd have to start over, from square one.

"You said you do not require magic to keep around," they whispered mostly to themself. "That was not you, was it? That was the very magic you wanted me to stop using. Will you wake up and immediately try to run?" They pulled him closer, licking up the last remnants of his mortal blood. "Should I stake you now and spare us both the heartache?"

Helle had never been one to oppose a bit of healthy struggle. They liked to see Beck scared, even disgusted. They definitely loved to see him fight conflicting feelings and shameful urges. But the thought of him loathing them like they had loathed Lady Marie was one that plagued them endlessly, making them put off the siring of a new vampire for far longer than was reasonable.

So did they want a clean slate, or did they want Beck to remember? Did they want a brand new chance at creating a deeply toxic dependency, or did they want to build on what they had already worked for and risk him bolting? It could go in either direction. They didn't exactly know how the memories of enthrallment would carry over to the afterlife, but they doubted that Beck would appreciate those fake feelings without the active involvement of magic.

They spent several hours in Beck's bed, mulling it over while holding him. In the end, they left the apartment with the body in their arms and Boba in their coat pocket.

-

Helle stared at the coffin they were supposed to bury Beck in. Well, they didn't have to. It was mostly bitter resentment that made them want to put him through the same experience they had gone through centuries ago. And yet... they didn't think they could do it.

They let out a frustrated sigh before placing Beck's body inside, telling themself to snap out of this stupid nostalgic streak. It wasn't them in the coffin this time, it was another stupid human, and they had to move on. They nailed down the lid and sat Boba next to it, vowing to finish the whole thing a bit later. Maybe tomorrow night. Just not right now. They had better things to do.

As amusing as the thought of Beck waking up in an utterly neglected and filthy mansion was, having their first guest in nearly two hundred years did motivate them to finally stop living in denial. It wasn't like their siblings had left yesterday. The mansion had been mostly empty for centuries, and it was time to get rid of the old clothes and the cobwebs. None of them were coming back.

-

They couldn't help it. They went back and packed up most of Beck's possessions before his family could've gotten to it, bringing it over to the mansion suitcase by suitcase. They couldn't bear the thought of change, the thought of Beck getting a new wardrobe, or even new bedsheets instead of the deligtfully childish space themed ones he had owned before he died.

They knew it was stupid. Nothing would really be the same now that Beck was dead, no matter how desperately they tried to pretend that if only they worked hard enough, they would be able to make it happen. But what else were they going to do? Sit with the discomfort? Think about him running away, or staking them like they'd done to their sire?

No, it had to be the same. Or– well– different, but in a good way. Different, but in a way that wasn't too jarring. Different, yet not really.

Besides, all the familiar items would surely help recover his memories; even his personality, from before he nearly lost his mind to the magic. He would be the same awkward, jittery kid they'd met so many nights ago in the alley.

He wouldn't come back wrong. Not their Beck. He wouldn't come back wanting to murder them.

-

Helle was sitting on the couch, eyes fixed on the coffin they hadn't ended up burying. It was easier this way. They just didn't want Beck to be covered in dirt and worms.

He got out soon after the first little whimper, immediately jumping on the injured rat they'd tossed onto the floor just seconds prior. Seeing him like that brought up more memories than they would've cared to admit. It didn't pair well with their already guarded demeanour — the result of multiple nights of tormenting themself with hypotheticals and worst-case scenarios.

They threw him another rat, barely conscious of how outwardly disgusted they must've looked with the display. They didn't make an effort to dial it back even when they saw Beck's hurt expression, despite it not fitting into the doomsday image they were trying to ward off.

At least not until they took a moment to really look at him.

The fact that he remembered their name but not his own wasn't anything unusual... it was the way he'd said it that sparked some hope in their soul. But then again, it could've been leftover charm, it could've been anything.

It could've been anything when he looked up at them with those huge, grateful eyes after he'd spotted Boba. It could've been anything when he flinched back from the tone of their voice, looking like a puppy that had been kicked by its owner.

It could've been absolutely anything when he called them Master without hesitation.

It would wear off. It would certainly wear off. Beck would remember more and more of the horrible things they'd put him through, and it'd pass. But just for tonight, Helle couldn't help but bask in the fantasy that maybe their darling Beck wouldn't turn out to be like them.

~

taglist: @whumpsday @the-scrapegoat @hidden-dreamland @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night @delicateprincepaper @whumppmuhw @florissimps @nicolepascaline @oliversrarebooks @the-cyrulik @pirefyrelight @there-will-always-be-blood @pigeonwhumps @echo-goes-mmm @whumpycries @morning-star-whump @d-cs @watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees @tauntedoctopuses @blueyellow8green @typewrittenfangs

#at my beck and call #whump #whump writing #beckett #helle #vampire whumper #vampire whumpee #murder #death #emotional whump #past trauma #paranoia #dehumanisation #animal death

[klayr-de-gall]

Cas followed Dean into the kitchen. Dean didn’t look at him as he pulled a pie crust out of the fridge and flour from the cupboard to start rolling it out.

“I’m sorry,” Cas said.

Dean snorted. “Sorry’s not gonna cut it, sweetheart.”

“I know.” Cas took several deep breaths. “After that night…I asked your father for your hand. He said no.”

“I know that.”

“I was going to ask you to run away with me…but then my father called and told me about Daphne. And I knew you wouldn’t leave Sam and Adam and…I panicked. I knew that without my father’s support, we would struggle and…I didn’t realize at the time…”

“None of that makes this better, Cas. You can sit there and explain anything you want and it won’t fix a damn thing.” Dean glared at him over the counter. “You still left and you have a wife…”

“I don’t,” Cas said. “Daphne and I have been divorced for a year…we never mated.”

Dean froze. “What?”

“I came back,” Cas said. “I came back for you…please…”

There was silence in the kitchen for a long time. “You can’t ask that of me,” Dean said. “Not again.”

“I’m not asking…”

“Yes you are!” Dean threw down his pie dough. “You’re asking me to just fall into your arms because you got rid of your inconvenient wife and assumed I’d be ready to just play the swooning omega again! You thought you could just waltz back in here after twenty years of radio silence and I’d be readily available for you? You thought that none of what happened back then would matter because all I’d need to do is smell your stupid Alpha musk and I’d cream myself trying to get back in your arms?”

“No!” Cas said. “I was content to leave you alone but then I got the invitation and I thought you might be willing to give me a second chance! I know what I did is unforgivable! I know that I should have stood up to our fathers and taken you away from here! I know I should have been here to help you! I’ve spent the last twenty years regretting what I did and I just want to try and make it up to you!”

“There’s no way to make that up! You can’t just ‘make up’ twenty years of leaving me alone with no indication you really loved me and weren’t just trying to get your rocks off! You left! And no amount of apologizing is going to change that!”

“So what am I supposed to do? I have nothing in Pontiac…Claire’s the only family I have left and she’s here. And Jack’s here and you’re here and this is where I want to be…if you’ll just let me stay.”

“I ain’t stopping you.”

“Fine.” Cas moved around the counter, right next to Dean. Dean didn’t push him away, just stared at him. “I’ll be here if you just ask me to stay.”

They were silent, just staring at each other, green eyes boring into his. Cas didn’t flinch, didn’t look away, not from Dean, not from his beautiful omega, standing there smelling like warm pie and cinnamon and sunshine and home. Cas couldn’t tear himself away again, not if he tried, not if he even wanted to.

“Bastard,” Dean muttered, and then they were kissing, fiercely, passionately, teeth colliding, hands moving over each other roughly. Dean bit into Cas’s bottom lip, and Cas bit back, reaching around and grabbing Dean’s thighs to lift him up on the counter, uncaring of the copious amounts of flour spread over it.

—

The first preview for the @spn-mediabigbang comedy fic based on the movie Mama Mia! I am super happy I get to illustrate this A/B/O story written by the amazing @butterflyslinky ! Look for the full fic to be posted in December!

#spn media big bang #media bang 2022 #supernatural #destiel #dean winchester #castiel #spn #they smooching #in the kitchen of all places #really #my art #watch out for the fic!

[opossum-rights]

Eyes on the Back of your Head

Rook Hunt x GnReader      2.3k Words

You feel like you’ve been going crazy lately, you can never shake off the feeling that you’re being watched. Little do you know it’s not just a feeling.

Warning: Pure cringe from several months ago that I dug up

Being a magic-less student in an institute designed to educate the best sorcerers in the land caused you to build quite a name for yourself. Those who didn't already know of you as the black sheep of NRC thought of you as the go-to remedy for the overblot crisis. Even now as things seemed relatively calm, you held somewhat of a celebrity status.  

Wherever you went there was always someone's eyes on you; during lunch you could feel them on the back of your head as you half listened to whatever Epel and Jack were chatting about, walking through campus to your next class you tried to ignore them by busying yourself with mediating some little argument Ace and Deuce were having, even when visiting your friends in their dorms you would insist on moving to their rooms, not being rid of them until the door clicked shut.

It was beginning to get tiring; you never got this much attention back in your own world.

Even if Ramshackle was a poor excuse for a living situation, with walls that did nothing to keep the cold out at night and floorboards that would creek if so much as a mouse ran across, you found yourself releasing all the tension from the day as soon as you caught sight of it. That was, until a couple nights ago.

Homework done, chores taken care of, you felt like you could finally breathe. That's when you felt the familiar feeling of being watched. Looking over a shoulder, Grim was snoring away on the old couch as he always did when you brought out schoolwork.

It could've been the ghosts, but they haven't been around lately.  It was pretty late, perhaps it's just Malleus waiting outside for you or one of the first years stopping by. Although, both of those occurrences follow up a text or warning of some kind. If it was one of them, though, you figured they wouldn't want to be held waiting.

You let out sigh and make your way to the main doors, creaking open no matter how careful you try to be with them for the sake of Grim's nape time. There's no one around. Not in the vast yard or down the path leading to the rest of campus.

"Weird, guess I’m starting to get used to how weird this place is," You mutter, thinking that if there was someone outside that they would take the hint of you going back in and show themselves.

But you stood outside for a couple minutes, thinking how weird it is that the feeling seems to be coming from inside.

The feeling eventually faded away and you were able to get to sleep at a reasonable time.

•••

The next night wasn't free from any strange occurrences either. Like the last, you got the intense feeling of being watched inside your home. Grim must notice it this time as well, being quieter than usual with his fur standing on end.

He got the more expensive brand of tuna that night to try and lighten the mood, and like usual, food proved to be the most reliable tool you had to deal with him. With Grim chatting away with his mouth full in the common room, you take the empty packages back to the kitchen to dispose of them.

Grabbing a water bottle from the fridge, you lean on the counter and watch as the trees disappear in the night, starting from the back and slowly making its way towards you until you see nothing but the thin crack in the window. 

That's strange, you could have sworn that wasn't there before. The window was right above the sink, so you spent a lot of time gazing out of it as you mindlessly washed the dishes.

It was a pretty long one to, not something you could easily overlook. You lean closer and gently scratch the glass to see if which side of the window it's on, only for it to catch onto your finger.

Oh, you think to yourself, that's not a crack, silly, it's a strand of hair. You immediately cringe back and shack your hand to get it off. You could tell it wasn't Grim's, and it surely wasn't yours.

The blond strand falls to the ground and lands in the space under the cupboard full of dust. You grab the water and quickly make your way back to the common room, taking the empty bowl from Grim who's too busy falling into a food coma after his meal to notice the look of unease on your face.

Not wanting to get close to the window, or the kitchen in general, you place the bowl on an end table in the entrance of the room, scoop your cat up, and speed walk upstairs and into your room.

You deposit Grim on the bed, go over to the windows, and pull the curtains close with such force that you almost think they won't be able to handle it.

Making your way to the door you lock it and rattle the knob for a while to make sure it's working, then unlock it to do it again.

Even after the feeling fades and you're settled under the covers, Grim close to your side, you can't relax enough to sleep.

•••

The next day Epel mentions your shabby appearance at lunch, saying that Vil would throw a fit if he showed up to class looking like that. It makes sense, you stumbled through putting on your uniform this morning and the bags under your eyes don't help.

"I've just been a bit stressed lately. Haven't been getting much sleep cause of it, you know?" You try your best to send him a nonchalant smile.

"If you want something to help with that, I'm sure we could find something back in my dorm room. Vil's always giving me these creams to try, and I haven't even opened half of them," You accept his offer, wanting an excuse not to go back to Ramshackle when the day ends.

•••

You manage to avoid running into Vil as you made your way through Pomefiore, thankfully as he's started to take you under his wing in the same vein as Epel since his overblot. Feeling the calmest you've had in a while, you take a seat on his bed with Grim sitting in your arms as Epel rummages around in a drawer.

"Here's some stress relief stuff for your skin, not know how helpful it's gonna be with what you're dealing with, but it smells nice at least," He hands you a good-sized bottle of lotion which you gratefully accept.

"I'm sure it'll work fine. I'm already feeling better being able to hang out with you," A small blush spreads across his face as you rub a dollop of the lotion into your arm, taking a sniff. It's nice, has a sort of pine smell.

You chat for a while about Epel's upcoming magift game; he beams when you promise to be there, not mentioning that Leona would give you a hard time if you didn't. When Grim starts complaining that he's hungry, Epel offers to walk you back to the mirror. You're having a nice time, despite how weird things have been lately.

•••

All good things must come to an end, you suppose.

As the three of you pass a tree in the courtyard, something, or someone, jumps from a branch and lands right Infront of your path. You let out a little yell and stumble backwards, losing your footing and about to fall flat on your back, but the person from the tree quickly surges forward and grabs your arm to pull you back up.

"My my, caught you off guard, did I? To be expected from a hunter such as moi!" Rook apologizes for startling you, not letting his grip on your arm up even after you regain your balance.

Epel taps on your shoulder and hand you back the lotion, which must have been dropped during your scare. Rook moves his hand from your arm to his chin, giving you a once over as a questioning look shows on his face.

"Forgive me for saying, but has something been bothering you mon ami?" He glances at the bottle in your hand and messy uniform before moving back to your face.

"They've just been tired lately, gave them some stuff for it. I'm actually taking them back to the mirror right now," Epel states as he shifts back to your side, which you're thankful for, a bit too tired to deal with the eccentric blonde.

"Ah, Is that so? Well, then I wish you both a good evening, au revoir!" Rook steps aside as you and Epel pass. You can feel him staring as your back, a familiar feeling that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand.

•••

That night all you grab for dinner is a bag of chips, finding you're not that hungry and preferring to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen. As usual, the feeling of eyes sitting somewhere you can't see returns.

Earlier than usual you take Grim to bed, following your routine from the previous night. You stand Infront of the mirror in the bedroom and rub in some of Epel's lotion on the tensest parts of your face. You close your eyes, breath in and out, until you feel as relaxed as you can.

It was a nice day earlier, but now you can hear the wind howl past, pushing against the walls making a creaking sound that's a little too similar to the floor makes. As a result, you are too scared to sleep.

You feel crazy.

There hasn't been any concrete proof that anything strange is happening. Sure, there was the hair, but it's an old house, and it might've blown in from somewhere. The feeling, you're just not used to the attention and decidedly do not like it.

The creaking, from the wind outside. The wind that's apparently targeting the lower floor. It sounds like it's right under you. That shouldn't be possible, the way the dorm is built you should be right above the middle of the common room, not even close enough to the side walls.

Focusing more on the creaking under you, it comes to mind that it's louder than the noises coming from the walls. Despite the cold you can feel yourself sweat. The creaking moves, your eyes widen. It's on the stairs now, there's no denying that it's the floorboards now.

Each stair creaks under the weight of whoever's in your home, now settling on the second floor.

You try to keep your breath steady. It moves closer, they are in no rush.

You feel your body tremble. It stops outside your door.

You feel tears fall down your face.

There is no more creaking that night

•••

In the morning you try to go about things as usual to not upset Grim. You put off leaving the room until he falls after jumping to reach the knob, complaining about being hungry as usual. You hold your breath as you move downstairs, constantly checking over your shoulder.

Nothing is there. Despite your heart stopping every time you glimpse your own shadow, you desperately want to leave. You grab Grim, who grumbles that it's too early to leave yet. You don't look back as you close the doors behind you.

•••

"Are you sure you're okay, you look worse than yesterday," Epel looks concerned. The bags under your eyes are worse now, the area having a puffy look from your crying. You completely forgot some parts of your usual uniform, and you've been jumping at the slightest sound.

You feel bad for making him worry, confessing that you think someone broke into your dorm last night. He jumps up, immediately checking to see if you're visibly hurt. You look too shaken up to be joking.

"Come on, we need to get Crewel, or Crowly, or someone!" He starts to set off, but you quickly grab his hand, begging him to sit back down. You're not even a hundred percent sure that there was someone in the first place. You tell him that with exams coming up you don't want to bother the staff. He looks into your eyes, tearing up and despite, and sits back down.

He's not letting it go completely though, declaring that you're spending the night in his dorm, you're not going back to Ramshackle until him and some of the others check it out. You slump in your seat and nod.

•••

With exams many of the Pomefiore students are in the library or in their rooms studying, leaving you and Epel alone in the kitchen. You didn't stop at Ramshackle after classes, so all you have with you is your school bag, with your gym uniform as something to sleep in.

Grim was shipped off with Ace and Deuce, Epel saying that Vil banned any type of animal that sheds and that you two needed to study for a class you only had with him. They reluctantly agreed, you feel bad for Riddle already.

The air is tense, neither of you wanting to start the talk that needs to be had. Instead, you make uncomfortable small talk about how you're going to explain your sleepover to Vil. The conversation dies out, with Epel excusing himself to the restroom.

You're left alone. What are you doing?

You're getting Epel all worried for no reason and taking his attention away from studying. You feel shame rise in your chest, but feel a chill rise up your back. You look behind you, but there's no one there. The longer you sit here the worse the feeling gets.

You figure Epel wouldn't mind if you just went to wait for him in his room and quickly stand and grab your bag without pushing back your chair. As you move towards the dorm rooms, you hear the sound of a chair being set back into place and hitting a table. You speed up.

You look behind you, but nothing's there. You start to panic. The picture-perfect hallways make you confused, not knowing if you're by the first-year rooms or somewhere else. You swore Epel's room was this way, you can't afford to get it wrong.

Finally, you find his door. Wasting no time in rushing in, you turn and slam it shut. You try to control your breathing as you wait. You feel the blood leave your face as you turn and see bows and arrows hung on the wall. You know exactly who's room this is.

A pair of arms circles around your waist, keeping your from moving as if you could find the courage to in the first place. You feel his breath on the back of your neck.

"Mon ami, you gave a great chase! Truly reminiscent of a panicked little rabbit," Rook buries his face in your hair, smelling it as he rubs his thumbs on your stomach.

You feel sick.

"How sorry I am for your current state. That rotting building you call home didn't make it easy for me, but that matters not, as we're finally together!" He rocks you back and forth.

You feel his mouth by your ear, a tongue moving around the shell.

"Now that you’re here, we can discuss our happily ever after."

#twisted wonderland #twst #rook hunt #rook hunt x reader #yandere #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #twst rook

[omegothic]

opinion on ffxv after 75 hours of playing (and one hour of running in circles to level gladio's skill up) (still haven't played any of the dlcs but i'm gonna take a break or something for a few days because i severely neglected my university stuff and spent most of the last week obsessively playing this game)

i love this game. am i tired? hell yeah. would i want all these hours back? hell no.

the game is a mystery to me.

the sidequests are genshin impact open world quests level (which means that if i hear anyone talking, i'm pressing the skip button because i don't give a fuck). you listen to someone yapping about unimportant stuff and they make you collect the same shit over and over again. peak game design.

the main quests are good but the ending made me age 10 years in a week. there's NO NEED for these tragedies. boy you literally have the power of gods on your side and they tell you the only way to get rid of the big bad villain is to kill yourself? sounds like bullshit to me. also why even bother if there's only a few thousands people left in the world. you already lost, all this stuff had to be done 10 years ago to have any meaning. and there's no way the world didn't just implode or something when the sun stopped rising. the true ending is noctis getting spat out of the crystal and realising everyone is long gone because there's no sunlight.

the mentally ill hobo could have been more cooperative too geez. i'll be honest i like him much more than the six. and everyone's like "oh gods are helping you" no they hate me and want me to die for no reason. i'd rather join forces with ardyn and try to take them down. even if he did a lot of questionable stuff (cough- killed my bride -cough-cough- and her brother -cough- also kidnapped my friend and tortured him-)

the hunts are kinda fun when it's a big monster but when it's a bunch of goblins i'm like,,, why did you call me here? ngl i thought all hunts would be like the first one, it was truly cool. there was some kind of plot, some interactions with my friends, some stealth, the monster seemed really tough (meanwhile me, fighting the lvl 99 adamantoise 65 hours later: the ring of lucii go brrr-)

the dungeons are ass. i thought nothing could be as disorienting as daggerfall's randomly generated dungeons but they really managed to do a miracle with ffxv. although the dungeons in ffxv are not scary at all, that's the difference.

the open world is okay. there're some interesting places (when you first see the big mysterious creature in the lake you're like do i have to fight it?? can i get closer to it?? what is this??) and the nature is beautiful. altissia looks majestic but sadly there's not much to do. i appreciate the hard work tho.

using regalia was a delight. when you want to take a break and just look at the landscape you can just sit still with a controller in your hands and enjoy the ride. really therapeutic. don't drive at night when you're low level though... listen to ignis. ignis is always right.

the camp life is by far the best out of all games i've had an experience with. there's so many little details everywhere that you cannot help but adore your companions. it's the way every time you make camp you get a bunch of photos prompto took since the last break. it's the way your companions talk to you almost all the time and you truly feel like you are on a road trip with your friends. it's the way gladio calls you out on your bullshit and afterwards you want to bite his head off each time you talk to him. it's the way ignis cooks for the entire party and makes you help him sometimes. i just love the way friendship is portrayed here.

what was not as good is luna and noct's relationship. there was not enough of luna. yes she loves noct but why? yes noct loves luna but why? luna literally appeared in the plot for two minutes and then tragically died. i think it's really bad. also imagine not seeing your bride for 12 years, when you finally meet her again she immediately dies, then you spend 10 years trapped in a crystal, fucking die and then get to marry your bride. honey it's been 22 years since i last talked to you in person. i'm NOT marrying a random woman in the afterlife (no hate for luna, just this love story didn't seem convincing enough). hopefully i'm gonna see what they wrote in the dawn of the future soon (please pray so that my amazon package doesn't get lost 🙏)

the music is incredible. the woman who wrote the soundtrack is my goddess and i am a devout worshipper 🙏🙏🙏

so, why is the game a mystery to me? because no other game could make me endure 75 hours of boring side quests. i managed to play hogwarts legacy for 44 hours and i despised that game when i finished it. i despised it long before i finished it. but not ffxv. they could make me do all this boring stuff again and i would do it (not for free tho because i've got better things to do with my time 🤣)

i enjoyed ffxv a lot. it also made me depressed for a week because ending a game like that should be a crime. i think i'm gonna do a few last quests after that but there's not much left (and i'm not looking for more because if i think i am done then i am done). not sure how long episodes gladiolus, prompto and ignis are gonna take, but they're also in my plans (no ardyn tho, gotta go watch some playthrough). there's also anime and a film so plenty of content for me. and i am waiting for the arrival of my book 🫡

(noticed that there's nothing about the combat. well it's because i don't care. i don't like combat. i don't like it in any game. i prefer to flee)

#ffxv #final fantasy #final fantasy 15 #final fantasy xv

[cafeinthemoon]

Thorns - Part I

Chapter 1/3

Wordcount 3,4k

Title Part I

Fandom Shuumatsu no Valkyrie/ Record of Ragnarok

Pairing Hades x reader

Symbols ⭕ . ➕ . 💛

Warnings: blood and injury; mention of missing limb; secondary character injury and death; light angst; marriage crisis

Tagging ? (If you want to be tagged in any of my stories, just leave a comment on this chapter or send an ask or a message)

N. A: So this idea has been with me for several weeks and finally I managed to write it! This story will have only 2 chapters, just like my previous one, "Unexpected Changes", and it doesn't follow the same timeline as it. Instead, it's inserted in "Ruins" timeline. It's a simple plot, but I hope you like it :)

Things were not the same between you and Hades.

You’ve been trying to avoid it, but this thought kept coming back to you every night you laid down to sleep, and every morning when you opened your eyes and looked around the room – each of those times all alone, for your husband, who usually spent more time at work than yourself, has been coming later to your side and leaving the bed earlier. Not that he would be deeply affected by this strange sleeping schedule, of course: he was a god, and despite being older than you, his stamina was enviable even for the youngest deities. But you loved him, so you wanted him to keep good habits anyway.

And, more than that, you wanted him with you like your first years together.

If only it was just a misunderstanding… But the fact that you’ve been sensing these changes in your daily activities with him wouldn’t let you believe it. Hades has been reducing the number of tasks he delegated to you under the excuse that you shouldn’t overwork yourself – even though he has been doing this very thing. He also has been sharing little information about his traits with other domains and jurisdictions to the point that you had to inquire him about things that, in other times, he would discuss with you with no problems; you remembered this day when you felt some distress from his part because of your questions and ended up leaving the throne room earlier to avoid an argument, a situation that you never expected to face: conflicts have always been minimal in your marriage, but now there was a permanent tension whenever you speak to each other, and you were never sure how each conversation would end up.

As the days passed, you spent more and more of your free time alone, whether at your particular garden, taking care of your flowers and getting rid of some thorns that have been increasing in size these last days, or at the balcony of your bedroom, observing the reddish skies of the Underworld with a book forgotten on your lap. In other days, you would be surprised by the sudden arrival of your husband at these places, in which he would come to talk, to date or to take you back to dinner or to your private room, but lately you had no sign of him at them.

With the prolonged loneliness came the inevitable questions: did you make a mistake, maybe more than one? If so, why couldn’t you guess where you go wrong? And why didn’t he say anything about it? Why was he acting as if nothing happened? Was it possible that he wasn’t seeing what was going on?

Does he still even see me as his wife?

***

You still remembered when things became unbearable.

It was a period of festivities in Heaven, which would last for three days and three nights. It was the last night and you were a bit tired, less because of the party itself than because the preparations for the return journey to Hellheim. Hades told you to enjoy the last hours of the night while he would reunite with some deities from a foreign pantheon to discuss some governmental matters.

– Are you sure you don’t need my assistance during the meeting, my dear? – you asked, even knowing what you were going to hear in response.

– Yes, I am. And I don’t want to steal your last moments here – he kissed your temple – Now, go. Have some fun.

You weren’t willing to argue – not in front of strangers – so you just nodded and went to the nearest balcony to get some fresh air.

You were successful in controlling your emotions while you crossed the ballroom to reach it, but once you passed under the arcade and saw yourself alone, surrounded by the night, all the party’s noises left behind, you realized how tight was your throat and your chest, and your tears didn’t come without a loud sob.

A heavy foot stepped to the spot by your side, making you startle and raise your head, wiping your tears with clumsy hands.

Your eyes widened when you recognized the intruder.

– Adamas-sama! I… How did you find me here?

Your brother-in-law didn’t travel with you to Heaven, but arrived by the same period: you’ve seen him a few times during the festivities, but you haven’t had a chance to engage in a full conversation just like you did in previous parties. He stared at you with a mixture of surprise and estrangement with your state.

– You passed by me right before you went to this balcony – he frowned – You really didn’t see me there, uh?

He was right: you didn’t see anyone in your way there. You didn’t pay attention. Your face burned with embarrassment: where did you become so rude with your pairs?

– I’m so sorry for this… I’m not feeling so well…

Adamas crossed his arms.

– Nevermind – and after a moment, – But, honestly, you haven’t been feeling well since you arrived here, or my eyes are mistaken.

You gave him a sad smile.

– Is it that clear?

He raised an eyebrow at you, as if no answer was needed. You sighed, leaning your hands on the parapet: what you were going to say was already shaking your physical balance.

– Adamas-sama… I… I think your brother doesn’t love me anymore.

The way those words sounded felt strange, foreign even when you recognized the voice that spoke them as your own. It was so hard to believe in them that it hurt, and you had no choice but to cry again.

The god of Conquest found this as unbelievable as yourself, for his first reaction was to contradict you.

– What are you talking about, y/n-chan? My elder brother adores you! His thoughts and feelings are always for you! He carries you around like his most precious jewel! The way he treats you is such that I don’t remember seeing so often in many couples!

When you heard that, you turned your neck to him so suddenly that it ached.

– Jewel? – you gasped – That explains a lot!

You might have sounded too irritated, because Adamas approached you as someone who expects terrible news.

– I don’t understand – he leaned his right arm on the parapet, turned to you – Can you explain what’s going on?

You looked away, but didn’t deny him a response.

– I’ve been thinking about the way some things are being managed in the Underworld and I cannot find a less hurtful explanation for that. Hades no longer loves me, or if he does, it is not as much as he claimed in the beginning – you swallowed – Each day that passes, whether by something he says or a decision he makes, it’s clear that he no longer sees me as the companion, the partner I was supposed to be. Lately, he has been leaving me out of the most important matters, only communicating me when everything is settled. There was one time when we almost got into an argument because of this. It’s like I’ve made some mistake about which I don’t remember, but he doesn’t talk to me about it! I don’t know what to do...

You made a pause to wipe the tears out your face, then continued:

– Since we arrived here, every time we appeared together in the presence of others, I couldn’t help feeling like I’m some burden he needs to carry. Right now, he went to discuss some matters with another pantheon and told me to go and “enjoy the party” the same way you’d speak to a child, making it clear that you don’t want to be bothered. You don’t say that with the exact words, but the child always knows. And that’s what hurts me more – you sighed – Not what he thinks or what he feels, but what he doesn’t say.

After a few seconds of silence, your brother-in-law’s first response was a low whistle.

– Who would imagine that things could come to this point between you?

There was nothing you could say about that, so you just kept staring at the night ahead. The silence didn’t bother Adamas, who brought the conversation to a new, unexpected direction.

– About his silence… I think I have a few words to say.

You turned back to him as he spoke.

– I don’t know how much he told you about the most dangerous times in Heaven, the war against the giants – he continued – But what you’re telling me now reminds me of it.

– How so?

– When one of his men came to inform that the Titans managed to escape the Tartarus, my brother’s first response was precisely the silence. He didn’t share anything with us, not even with Zeus. When we got to know what was going on, he has already traveled back to Hellheim to stop the rebellion by himself. When Poseidon finally found him, the case was solved: all the Titans were dead, and my brother was resting alone, beside their bodies.

You thought of that. Yes, your husband told you about the war and the history that preceded it, but he never told you that part when he fought a horde of Titans alone… and won against them.

– Why are you telling me this now, Adamas-sama?

– Because I believe this is something you’re yet to learn about Hades, y/n. To protect everything – and everyone – he loves, he would be the first to take all the burden to himself. He’s stronger than you can conceive. Even now, there are things about him that we, his brothers, cannot figure out, but it doesn’t have anything to do with love, or the lack of it. Hades loves us more than his own life, and by everything I’ve seen since you married him, his love, extended to you, is as deep as the one he has for us... If not deeper.

Those words touched you in a way you weren’t expecting. Hades was one of the most respected – and feared – gods of all, not only because of his power, but because of the person he was. There was no sinuosity in his feelings and principles, which granted him the fame of most reliable among his pairs. The gods’ elder brother, as some used to say.

But, if that was the case, why were you feeling like that?

– All of the things you just said are among the reasons I love and respect him as no other – you started – And I understand that, as an elder brother, his sense of responsibility is much higher than ours. But now he’s a married man! I am here with him! – and lowering your tone a bit – That must count for something...

Adamas laughed.

– Of course, it does! But this is something that you have to tell him.

– You’re right – you wiped your face one more time and took a deep breath – I think I’m going back to the party now. I doubt that I’m going to have any fun, but it’s better than staying here, crying in the dark.

– I agree with you.

The conversation continued as you walked back to the ballroom.

– Speaking of this... Can I ask you something, Adamas-sama?

– What is it?

– Please, don’t speak to Hades about this conversation. I want to talk to him myself, but not before I decide what I have to do.

Adamas laughed again before opening the way for you pass into the room first.

– Ah, who do you take me for, y/n-chan? Your secret is safe with me.

***

Your travel back to the Underworld was silent as always, but that time the quietness wasn’t followed by comfort.

Apparently, Adamas kept his promise and didn’t say a word about your discussion to Hades, otherwise he would have already taken the opportunity to speak about it while you had the privacy of the carriage’s interior. At least one reason for you to feel relieved, you thought.

Apart from that, there wasn’t really much you wanted to discuss, and you sensed that trying to engage in talking right now would only expose your unease, so you just kept your mouth shut and avoided visual contact…

But, unfortunately for you, your husband knew you too well, and your little strategy didn’t go unnoticed by him.

– Are you alright, my y/n?

My y/n.

Your heart ached when you heard the treatment. You had no desire to respond, but keeping quiet would be the confirmation that something was wrong, so you forced yourself to speak.

– Yes. It’s just that I…

You were going to say you weren’t feeling well, but that would be the worst excuse imaginable.

Ah, yes, gods don’t get sick. I can’t use it since I’m no longer human.

– I’m… just a bit tired. I’m sure I will feel better once I reach my room.

You were sitting in front of each other, with a distance of one meter separating your spots. Hades then made you a proposal that, in other times, you would never consider refusing.

– Here – he offered his hand – You can rest on my lap if you want.

You felt a second, stronger sting in your heart, more because you would have to decline it than because of the offer itself, but you ignored it and explained that you were fine in your own seat. That response sounded strange to Hades, but fortunately he didn’t argue on it, and the silence was again established between you.

***

If only you’ve had the courage to speak about it, things could have been different that day. If you had a way to know that the circumstances would escalate to that, you would never let it go any further. If you have done something about it as soon as you could, many of those problems could have been avoided.

According to what you heard the last day, a horde of a young generation of monsters and giants devastated the jurisdiction of an Oriental pantheon and somehow found a way to Hellheim, and the Underworld’s soldiers were facing difficulties against them.

You were in the throne room alongside your husband, Adamas (who was called by him last night and has just arrived) and the high council of the Underworld’s army, everyone expecting the news in tense silence. The building and all its surroundings were isolated, so that no one could enter or leave without Hades’ consent, the messengers and soldiers being the only exceptions. The vigilance was reinforced, and the slightest anomaly in the procedures would shake everyone’s moods.

You weren’t less anxious, of course. For it was your first time facing such situation, tension, nervousness and all derivative feelings were expected, but you were surprised to see them present in the expressions of the others, especially your husband: he was the most silent among them, and it wasn’t hard to guess that, seeing centuries of peace in Hellheim ending like that got him irritated.

Well, he’s actually furious.

Right now, you were waiting for the last messenger sent to the battle field to return with updates. You’ve lost the sense of time, not knowing if you have been inside that room for minutes, hours or days. That was the worst part of it: you wanted to stand up, walk around the corridors, run, scream, take a glass of alcohol for yourself, but you wouldn’t allow your feet to pass that doorway. You were a Queen, and a queen never runs.

The entry’s doors were suddenly pushed and a messenger, not the one who was first sent, stormed into the room, running and kneeling before the throne, trying to catch his breath.

All the people who were standing stepped back when they put their eyes on him: the man wasn’t only exhausted, but seriously injured, with an arm missing and barely keeping his position on the ground, upon which he left a trace of blood since the entry.

– H-Hades-sama… They’re close…! – the messenger’s voice was a fading whisper, so that you noticed Hades leaning forward to understand him – My detachment is… gone…

This last word was interrupted by a coughing fit during which he expelled blood. When it was clear that the man wouldn’t be able to say anything else and was going to pass out, you ran from your spot to hold him before he smashed his face on the ground. Only when you knelt with him you realized how much you were trembling.

You looked around and everyone was still quiet.

– Someone take him to the nursery! – you yelled – Now!

There was an unsettling movement around the room, but no one took the initiative to obey you. You swallowed.

– What’s going on? – you asked, lower – He needs help!

– Not anymore, y/n.

It was Adamas’ voice, calmer than usual. You turned to him, who watched the scene with seriousness; you shivered when you noticed the rare feeling of sadness in his eyes.

It was when you understood.

You looked down at the messenger and turned his face to you. His eyes were still open, but the consciousness would never come back to them; a line of reddish fluid fell from the corner of his gaping mouth. His traits, once twisted with pain and despair, were now relaxed, and they wouldn’t change from this. Your throat tightened as you passed your hand upon his eyes to close them.

A heavy energy took over the room and wasn’t broken until the voice of the King was finally heard, but his words were not directed to you.

– Call your servants – he was saying to one of the officers – Tell them to take him to shores. Charon must take care of him now.

The officer left without a word or a look to the dead man. You turned to your husband and, before you could say anything, he stood up and approached you, kneeling by your side.

– There’s nothing we can do for him now, y/n – he put his hands over your shoulders – The people from his regiment will give him the appropriate farewell.

You knew what he was doing: he wanted you to go back to your seat and leave the man’s body on the floor, in front of everyone, until the servants come to take him away. But you wouldn’t forgive yourself if you agreed with such thing: despite being a goddess for centuries now, you still found it hard to see death through the divine lens; your heart was still too human for that. You were turned from human to deity without experiencing death in any form, but it didn’t make things easier for you.

You wouldn’t start an argument in the current situation, but you wouldn’t give in either.

– I can’t imagine how much he has suffered to reach us – you whispered, observing the face of the dead man.

– I understand – Hades replied – But now he’s not suffering anymore.

– I know. But I’ll stay with him until the servants come.

Your husband understood that trying to change your mind was useless, so he didn’t say anything else. You felt his hand caressing your hair before he stepped away, staying on his feet a few meters behind you.

The servants didn’t take long to reach the throne room. They didn’t need to ask anything: once they reached you, you stood up and moved away, leaving them to do their work. However, you still had something to do before they left.

– Please, wait – you called them.

When they turned to you, you raised your hand and used your power to materialize a white chrysanthemum, then gave it to the nearest servant.

– Send this with him – you requested – My feelings and thoughts are in its petals. It’s for him... and the others.

The servant accepted the flower from your hands and nodded in gratitude.

– Thank you, my Lady – she said – We will never forget your kindness.

All of you observed in silence as they carried the messenger out of the room… and the sound of the large doors closing behind them was like the first thunder of an imminent storm.

Before any of you could do or say anything, you saw Hades going to the spot beside his throne, grabbing his bident from its base, then passing by you and walking toward the doors. He didn’t give any explanations about his plans or where he intended to go, and no one dared stop him or make questions, not even Adamas.

No one… except you.

You rushed through the room and reached him before he touched the knob.

– What is it? – you whispered, holding his arm – What are you going to do?

He turned to you with an intensity that you rarely saw in his usually composed face, one that shook your emotions and evoked something close to fear.

However, this wasn’t as fearful as the reply he gave you.

– Anything but my obligation. I’m going to stop them.

#record of ragnarok hades #shuumatsu no valkyrie hades #ror hades #snv hades #hades x reader #snv hades x reader #ror hades x reader #record of ragnarok fanfic #shuumatsu no valkyrie hades x reader #record of ragnarok hades x reader #record of ragnarok x reader #shuumatsu no valkyrie x reader

[theoddcatlady]

I Moved Into The Cat Lady’s House

I bought my very first house last month.  

I had to sit in my car for a few minutes, I was just in awe for a few minutes that this house was really mine. It was one of those things that I wanted since I was kid, as stupid as it is- my very own house. And I got it for a steal, the previous owner had just gone into hospice and her son just needed to get rid of it.  

Dylan was waiting for me when I got there, he was a really sweet guy who was just going through one of the roughest times a person can. He welcomed me in, offered to help me sort through the furniture to see what I was going to pitch and which I was going to keep- he wasn’t the sentimental type when it came to flower printed couches, apparently.

I had just laughed and was about to tell him yes when something large ran past my leg and raked its claws down my leg. I screeched, hopping up on a chair and pulling up my pant leg to assess the damage. That was one deep cut, and I looked over at that flower printed couch to see the furry culprit-

a gargantuan calico cat, with the most angry amber eyes and the meanest face I’d ever seen on a cat.  

“Goliath! That’s where you are!” Dylan attempted to reach for the cat, who just hissed at him and bolted down the hallway and I heard him zip up the stairs.  

“Goliath?” I questioned as I sat down on the chair I’d so carelessly leaped on.  

Dylan held up a finger before he went to the bathroom and brought me a wet rag to care for my ankle. Then he told me about Goliath.  

His mom had apparently always loved cats, but the accident that killed her husband also killed her three cats. Dylan, all sorts of messed up from the grief of losing his father, ended up pulling away from his mom and moved across country to go to college. By the time he sorted himself and returned home several years down the line, his mother had taken in the feral tom.  

“He’s always suspicious of strangers, but he’ll warm up to you soon enough. When you can get him calmed down, call me, I’ll take him to the shelter. I’d rather not have Goliath chew up animal control. Besides, he’s a good cat. He saved my mom, I think if he hadn’t shown up, my mom would’ve died from loneliness.”

I don’t know how anyone could be friends with that jackass tom. That night when I was about to go to bed, I found him again. Sitting on my bed. Staring at me with a murder glare.  

I sat down on the bed, the hair on my neck standing straight up as Goliath growled at me. “Stop that,” I shook my finger at the angry cat, “I thought male cats couldn’t be calico. Well, they can be, but apparently the few that are are typically infertile or have a bunch of other issues.”  

Almost as if he understood what I said, the hair on his neck went flat and he stopped growling, like I took the wind out of his sails. That made me snort, but I held firm. “Now, Dylan’s going to pick you up the moment he can, whether you like it or not. I don’t want a cat. Not now. Capiche?”  

Goliath responded by flicking his tail before grooming one of his front paws. I sighed and pulled myself under the covers, feeling a bit silly for talking to a cat. “Goodnight, Goliath,” I said.  

That first week was a nightmare. Other than that initial conversation before bedtime, Goliath spent all his time hiding under thing and waiting for the right moment to come out and bat his paws at me. My ankles and calves were covered in scratches. I complained about his guerrilla warfare to Dylan, and I think he was trying really hard not to laugh even as he offered his sympathies.  

It was irritating and I couldn’t wait for Goliath to take a damn chill pill so Dylan could send him to the shelter.

It was exactly one week after I moved in that I woke up to hear Goliath yowling.  

At first I thought he was just being pissy and this was his new attack on me. But as it carried on… I felt like he sounded sad. Just really sad. I ended up getting up and checking to see what was wrong. Goliath was sitting on the window sill in the living room, for a cat of his mass he was surprisingly agile. He continued to cry and my heart melted. Here I was, being all ticked at this cat, when no doubt he just missed his previous owner.  

I don’t know what possessed me to pick up Goliath and carry him to the couch for some much needed cuddle time, but he didn’t try to hurt me. I stroked his ears and softly told him he was okay, that all was going to be okay. Goliath just repeatedly headbutted me in the chest as his cries quieted, we both ended up falling asleep on the couch. My neck and back were killing me by morning, but Goliath was still asleep as I grabbed my phone off the sidetable where I’d left it charging the night before and I called Dylan.  

“Hey, Goliath’s stopped being so angry, I think now would be the time to take care of him,” I said, quietly as not to wake him up.

Dylan was quiet for a few seconds before I heard him take a deep, shuddering breath. “Yeah, um… I can’t. Not now… my mom went last night. Just passed away in her sleep. I’m sorry,” He said.

I looked down at the sleeping cat in my lap. “Oh, it’s fine. He can stay here then for a bit more. I’m so sorry.”  

He just ‘mmhmm’d’ before he hung up. I looked down at the slumbering Goliath and decided I was heading to the pet store after I showered. Whether I liked it or not, I now had a damn cat.  

I wondered if Goliath knew if he’d lost his owner, that he was mourning her last night.

Now I know he did.

There was another reason I got this house for as cheap as I did- about two years ago, there was a bunch of unsolved disappearances and murders in the area. Heck, the next door neighbors lost their three oldest kids to some sort of wild animal attack before they just vanished themselves. Creepy, but I’m not the kind of person who gives a shit about that sort of thing. So someone may have died on this street, big whoop, people die all the time.  

But Goliath was different. I think I always knew he was different. 

I talked with him all the time and he always seemed to be listening. I usually talked to him about how work was going, or what I was going to make for dinner or what was going on in the book I was reading. Sometimes we talked about more serious things, about my depression and how hard it made it to get up in the morning sometimes, about how I always wondered if moving out to this small town was really the right choice, how I really wanted to be a writer instead of an accountant but I lived comfortably because of accounting and I wouldn’t as a writer. Goliath was a great listener. Never said anything back, but he was a cat after all.

Last Saturday night though, someone broke into my house. I had fallen asleep on the couch watching Netflix, Goliath had just gone out the back cat door to do his night prowls, I was alone.  

I woke up when I heard someone going through something in the kitchen. My half asleep brain first thought it was Goliath just trying to get into the cat food, so I stumbled my way over there to tell his dumb ass to knock it off. Instead of an oversized house cat though, I saw a figure with a black ski mask holding one of my kitchen knives.

I tried to bolt back to the living room to get my phone but didn’t get too far when I felt something cold slice through my back and impale me through the shoulder. It’s not like I had a reference for what being stabbed felt like, I didn’t even realize I had been until I fell to my knees, barely able to even breathe much less scream.  

My attacked pulled the knife back out and I looked up, saw the glint of the blood covered blade preparing to make another strike. I couldn’t move. My dumb ass didn’t fight or run, I just laid there like a complete waste of space while the knife came down again… or it would’ve, if Goliath hadn’t pounced his arm and sunk his teeth right into his skin.

The guy shouted and shook the infuriated cat off, Goliath smacking into the kitchen cabinet before sinking to the ground. I scrambled as fast as I could to the hallway, blood dripping down my arm as I scrambled to get away.

The sound that came from Goliath as he got back to his feet- house cats don’t make that sound. Tigers, maybe.  

Goliath growled again, I felt the temperature of the room raise as cats just starting pouring into my house. Through the open window my attacker had probably come through, through the cat door, hell some even pawed their way up from the basement one way or another. They ignored me as they surrounded Goliath and the intruder.  

“What the fuck-”  

Goliath roared, his tail whipping back and forth as he paced around his prey. The guy gulped before looking down at me. “Call him off! Call your fucking demon cat off!”  

I coughed and shook my head. “He’s not mine,” I said before I began pulling my body down the hallway. I made it to my bedroom and heard my attacker screech in horror before I lost consciousness. I don’t know how long I was out, but I woke up to Goliath licking the wound on my back.  

I only saw what Goliath really was for a second. I’d seen tigers at the zoo smaller than he was, his black fur thick as a wolf’s and the orange patches now glowing like magma. Those fiery eyes flicked up at mine, I blinked, and he was back to being a normal- if not slightly oversized- housecat.  

I don’t know what he did to my back, but the stab wound’s gone. Just a scar now. I’d want to believe it was a dream, but although my kitchen was mostly clean, there was a few swaths of blood left under the table. And I now have like four other cats living in my house. One of them had the nerve to have its babies under my sink so I have to find homes for the fuzzy freeloaders.  

While I lounged in the living room, I saw one of them hack up what I think was a finger. It scarfed it back up before I got a good look. I turned and looked at Goliath, who was perched on the couch arm. “Just what the hell are you? Did that old lady who lived here before even know?”  

Goliath just looked at me, and I swore he winked before yawning and dragging his claws down my couch arm.  

At least I don’t have a body to clean up. And I’ll never need a guard dog with this asshole cat in my home.

#my stories

[cupcakes-and-pain]

The Forgotten Heirs

My little thing for whumptober!! I’m doing the AI-less one, but I don’t really care about interacting with their blog or anything, so I’m not tagging them or stuff like that. But this is my prompt fill for the first day, Poisoned.

I hope you all enjoy!!

CW: poisoning attempt, murder attempt, vampire whumpee, female whumpee, also a human whumpee, persuasion, multiple whumpees, child neglect, really awful parenting, mysterious disappearances

— — —

56 days.

That’s long it’s been since Eric was supposed to come back. Eric had told Blair how busy that week was, but her brother had sworn to her that they’d see each other soon. And Eric had promised her that several days before, so altogether it was 61 since she last saw her brother.

The servants didn’t answer her questions, and her mother wouldn’t respond to her notes. Blair had zero clue what had happen to Eric. And, what’s worse, she was unable to find out herself.

She had been born with golden eyes, of course. Everyone was. But the difference was that when she was 7 or 8 and everyone else’s eyes were turning from yellow to orange to red, hers didn’t.

The doctors said it was a rare medical condition and that she could live a perfectly normal and happy life. But her parents didn’t see it that way.

They saw a parasite trying to take down the “honorable” house of Dandridge. They saw a nuisance and a waste of space. Her uncle even once accused her of being a spy from House Tulley to take them down from the inside.

As if those fools could’ve possibly predicted she’d have no persuasion when she was a baby and then somehow switched her at birth.

But the exact reason for her condition wasn’t important. They had a family name to uphold. They could not let it get out that one of their own was “lesser”.

And so she was locked away. Eric had even told her once that everyone else had been told she died, including some of their family members that hadn’t yet found out about her lack of persuasion.

She had lived her whole life up here. Alone, beyond the human slaves and Eric.

She had a few books, and her brother often brought her new ones. But she had read all of these ones hundreds of times already, and no visits meant no books.

She didn’t have the energy to cry. Blair had spent all of the last few weeks crying already, plus they had forgot to feed her several times. She was so, so tired.

- - -

She woke up later to discover a slave holding a bowl of blood on a tray, staring blankly ahead. They must’ve been instructed to ensure she actually got the food. Odd. Usually, only Eric would’ve done that for her.

She took the bowl, drank a little, and spat it right back out.

Poisoned.

The blood had been laced with garlic.

After all these years, they finally decided to get rid of her.

All of her frustration, anger, loneliness, hatred, and exhaustion bubbled up inside her. She screamed. Chucking the blood at the wall, she began to tear apart her room. Pillows, books, furniture, clothes, all of it went flying. Fury coursed through her veins. She just wanted to cause as much destruction as possible.

What finally broke her out of her state was a tiny gasp and the sharp, delicious scent of human blood. Blair’s eyes snapped to the slave, who had gotten hit in the head with some glass figurine. Blood dripped down their expressionless face. The pain must’ve broken their spell temporally, but they quickly sunk back into the emptiness caused by continuous persuasion.

They didn’t deserve this. In her anger, she had completely forgotten the person even more stuck than her. How selfish she was, crying over having to re-read some books, when this person had their whole life and agency snatched from them.

Eric had always been a human rights advocate as long as she could remember. The boy had fallen for a human through anonymous letters when both of them were young. The way Eric tells it, ever since it was discovered that Eric’s soulmate was a human, her brother left behind the family’s values and was disgusted by their use of slavery.

Her brother, as her own visitor, had taught her all of Eric’s own beliefs.

With her older brother gone, there’s no one here to protect the slaves. Thinking back on it, some of them seemed to have more hand-shaped bruises than usually. Her family was so barbaric, harming creatures that couldn’t think for themselves at all. If a slave didn’t do what the vampire persuading it wanted, it was no one’s fault but the one who had given the command. The commanded could not be blamed.

Blair decided, then and there, that she could not be in this house any longer. And this person couldn’t either.

She’d love to free all of the people her family kept, but she couldn’t attract too much attention. Besides, they’d have to make a quick escape.

After four days of planning, researching human care, trying to figure out how she’ll survive in the outside world, and starving (her family kept sending poisoned blood), Blair finally left. She took the human and ran.

She vowed to find Eric herself, but more importantly, she would finally find herself. No more closed doors, no more being trapped. She was free.

— — —

Tag list: @whumpsday just ask to be added r removed! <3

#the forgotten heirs #whump #poisoning attempt #murder attempt #vampire whumpee #female whumpee #multiple whumpees #persuasion #child neglect #bad parenting #mysterious disappearances

[pinkacademic]

Back to School Season!

I'm back from teaching abroad for a month! And what better post to start back with than Back to School!! As much as I love the study vibes of learning new things and takes note with my favourite stationary, I understand that Back to School isn't everyone's favourite time of year. Here are some ideas to make the most of this time and get a good start to the school year. I hope this can be useful to you if you're in any stage of education, and maybe some of these ideas can even be useful if you've recently left like me!

We're going to break this down into the following sections that relate to health, but I'm repurposing: Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Social. Also, an addition I couldn't help but add: Aesthetic- because, as far as I'm concerned, aesthetic is good for your health!

Physical Part One: Your Body - Reset your Sleep Schedule. You've definitely heard this one before, because you have probably spent a lot of this Summer spending late nights with friends, reading (books or fanfiction), or, let's be honest, scrolling TikTok. Spend a week or two before school setting an alarm and moving it back and back by about 15 minutes each time to get back into good habits. - Skin Care. Back to School is like a mini New Years and is a perfect time to build new routines if you want to try the whole Back to School Glow-Up thing. But even if that's not where you're at, skin care is especcially wise when we start getting into Autumn and Winter, because its dry skin, cracked lips, and wind-swept hair time. -Anti-Cold Prep. Back to School Season is also Cold and Flu Season. We don't want to start the year off with sick days, and we also just... don't want to get sick. Start chugging orange juice and hot honey and lemon NOW to boost your immune system. Those Vitamin C fizzy tablets are your friend too. Part Two: Your Space - DECLUTTER. Tidy up your desk/workspace, and get into/back into the habit of making your bed as soon as you get up. Collect all the mugs you've accumulated in your room- this is a call-out- and if you're bad at remembering to bring your mugs back to the kitchen, add that into your schedule once a week so it doesn't get too bad. Collect all of your notes, get rid of anything you no longer need, and find anything that may be useful to you next year and put it in a folder (or several). *THIS SHOULD BE DONE DIGITALLY TOO! Organise your laptop folders, putting what you don't need in your recycle bin, and putting anything that's still of use into folders. Create a folder labelled with last year and organise your old stuff into it. - Make it pretty! The fun bit, the bit we all actually want to do. Make your study space inviting and comfy with cushions, a blanket maybe, a coaster for the inevitable pile of mugs as discussed earlier... add fairylights, plants, posters and photos, and anything that'll make your space motivational without letting it get cluttered- make sure to have space for your laptop/iPad, and notebooks and pens AKA the stuff you actually need!!

Intellectual - Make a Schedule. If you know what your timetable looks like already- perfect! You can work around the filled spaces and organise yourself some study time, assignment time, and social time. If not, or you're still in secondary (middle and high school), then consider 9-3 (or whatever your day looks like) as one big block to organise around. *make sure to remember clubs and societies! - Get a Head Start, if you can. If you know what you'll be looking at, get ahead on your reading and on any assignments that you know about. Alternatively, go over any material that might be useful from last year. IF YOU'RE NO LONGER IN SCHOOL: You can dedicate time to learning a new skill in your own time too! Go to free classes, pay for classes too if you want, take online courses, and sign up for Duolingo or similar sites! You can also find newsletters such as NASA's or other things that might be educational.

Emotional - Make Time for Mental Health. Back to School can be hard for some of us, so use the next couple of days and weeks to figure out mental health exercises that work for you, and things you can do to keep yourself motivated You can meditate or pray, journal, keep a gratitude log, make a list of things you're good at, and keep track of your emotions. Learn how to document and release your emotions.

Social - Hang out with Your Friends. You still have a bit of time left, so make sure to make the most of it. Plan a last hurrah night with everyone before you have to go back. - Figure out what the best times will be to see veryone during the year. Do you go to the same school? Are you in clubs together? Will you have to make time for visits? Organise and make plans to look forward to! - Research any clubs and socities you might want to join this year! Does your school have extra-curriculars? Does your college or university have a sports and societies page?

Aesthetic -Start as you Mean to Go on. Outfit plan, buy new things, and create a clear sense of self now so that you can project that year long. -Plan outfits for bad days too. When you want nothing more than to show up in leggings and a hoodie, that's totally ok! In the immortal words of Hannah Montana, everybody has those days. My advice is cute, bright coloured hoodies so you still give the most even when you kinda feel the least. You can also try things like paper bag trousers that have a more pyjama-like feel but look preppier if you're feeling worse for wear but not too terrible- they're my go-to comfy-prep item. - Remember you can still live the high life with a uniform, even in the strictest of schools. If your schol allows a certain amount of personalisation in the form of badges, jewellery, or even subtle makeup, make the most of it! You can also experiment with tie styling, longer or shorter socks, and picking cute shoes. Maximise your hair too! -Remember there's always stationary! Personalise your schoolbag, any files or folders, use colour-coded file divided, decorate with doodles and stickers... the sky's the limit. This goes even when you're out of school because you're never too old for stickers and fluffy pens (you know I can't go without mentioning fluffy pens)

#pink academia #pink #academia #pink academic #back to school #aesthetic #studyblr #we've got this girlies

[acciotherapists]

Far From Home (Chapter 47: Nightmares and Reality)

Loki x Reader

Y/n Y/l/n never thought her past would come back to find her. After all who would look for her on Midgard? But one day in the small town of Puento Antiguo her world is turned upside down when an old friend turns up, threatening everything she has built and the people she’d fought so hard to protect. What happens when the life she left behind finally catches up with her? What happens when the old flame she thought had burned out reignites within her?

Warnings: language (sorry, Steve), eventual smut (slow burn), angst, some mentions of torture (most things won’t be detailed but anything that gets a bit more specific will be warned at the beginning of the chapter)

Yesterday

Bucky held an unconscious Y/n in his arms as he fought his way through the building, trying to reach the outside. As they had slowly tried to unthaw him he could hear Y/n’s voice as she ran through the base. He had fought off several guards to get to her but one of them sounded the alarm before he could stop them. Bucky looked down at Y/n, her skin slick with sweat as her heart raced erratically in her chest.

When he finally reached the outside of the base there were several more guards waiting for him. He carefully set Y/n down as he began to take them on, channeling the Winter Soldier, his anger fuelling every time Y/n stirred and groaned in pain. They had hurt her and he intended to kill every one of them.

As he knocked the last one unconscious, he heard Y/n stir once more and carefully picked her up before placing her in a nearby vehicle and speeding away. He had no idea where he was going but he knew he had to get far away from here.

By the time Bucky reached the outskirts of town Y/n was coughing up blood and his heart was racing.

“Hang on, doll,” he muttered, pressing his foot harder on the gas.

Bucky knew he couldn’t bring her to a hospital. His only hope was to get her far enough outside of town that they wouldn’t be caught and make contact with one of her friends.

When they finally reached an abandoned town Bucky began searching her pockets, muttering a soft apology as his cheeks turned pink.

Damn it! Her phone was locked.

“Doll,” Bucky began, gently trying to wake her. “I need your phone pin.”

She muttered a few numbers and he quickly typed them in, breathing a sigh of relief as her home screen came into view. Bucky quickly began searching her contacts, though most of them were letters or things only she would understand. Eventually he found a contact called Capsicle and chuckled to himself. That had to be Steve as it would be just like Y/n to save that name in her contact list after she learned he’d spent almost 70 years as a popsicle. He dialed the number, hoping he was right about the name and that Steve would be able to save her.

*** Present Time (A few days after the mission) ***

My eyes opened slowly as I cleared my throat, trying to get rid of the uncomfortable sensation left by the breathing tube that they had only removed a few hours earlier. Some of the team sat around my bed while others stood as the nurse began explaining the current state of my lungs and what had happened to them.

“It’s miraculous!” she exclaimed, holding the scans in front of me. “It appears you have no residual damage from the drug. Your lungs seem to have healed themselves.”

Loki let out a breath I didn’t realize he’d been holding, pressing his lips to my hand as he fought back tears. The nurse smiled, telling me I should be released in a few days, before leaving the room.

“Welcome back, kid!” Tony exclaimed, gently touching my shoulder.

“Welcome back, сестра (sister),” Nat said, smiling at me, before turning to the rest of the team. “We should probably give them some space,” she murmured softly, to which the team nodded and slowly made their way out of the room.

“I-is Bucky okay?” I asked, my voice coming out hoarse.

Loki nodded, squeezing my hand. “Stark thought it might not be a good idea for him to be here with Hydra looking for him. He’s at the tower waiting for us.”

I breathed a sigh of relief before opening my arms, scooching to the edge of the bed to make room for Loki. He smiled and climbed into the bed next to me, being careful not to tangle the IV line as he pressed himself close to me.

“I was so scared for you,” he murmured, pressing his lips against my hair.

“I’m sorry, baby… I just didn’t want him to be alone… I didn’t want him to go through that again.”

“I know, baby. It’s okay.”

“Please don’t hate me.”

“Oh, my love, no. I could never hate you. I’m not angry with you, my darling. My perfect, precious girl.” His hands gently moved up and down my arms, his touch soothing my anxiety and sending warmth running along my skin. I whimpered at his touch and he chuckled, moving his fingers under my chin. “Not to worry, my love. I will attend to your every need once you are healed. There will be no part of your body untouched by me.” 

“Loki,” I whined as his words sent arousal flooding to my core. “You can’t say things like that and then not touch me.”

“But I am touching you, my darling.”

“Lokiii!”

He chuckled in response, pressing his lips to my forehead. “Not to worry, darling. You’ll be out of here soon and you’ll have everything you need. I’ll make sure of it.”

****

I was running through a dark corridor, unsure of where I was going but knowing I had to keep moving. I could hear Bucky screaming in pain as I tried to get to him, my lungs burning as I ran. A man and woman stood at the end of the hall, the woman’s hand glowing red as she watched me carefully. I turned a corner, trying to get away from them. Loki stood at the end of the corridor, blocking my path. Tears were streaming down his face but his eyes were hardened, his face contorted with anger.

“You lied to me!” he hissed.

As I tried to reach him to explain, several hands grabbed me from behind, pulling me down. I screamed, thrashing around as voices surrounded me.

“Y/n, hey, wake up!” Tony.

“Give her space! Someone get Loki!” Nat.

Footsteps thundered around me as the dream slowly pulled me back in, Loki’s angry face staring back at me, laughing as Hydra pulled me away from him and toward the extraction machine.

Suddenly I felt a hand grasp mine and another hand on my face. “Shh… it’s okay, baby. I’m here.”

Hydra agents were surrounding me, pulling at my limbs as they strapped me to a chair.

“It’s not real, my love. Come back to me.”

I opened my eyes, taking in the room around me, as Loki’s face came into view.

“It’s not real,” he assured as I stared at him in horror.

I moved the blanket to the side, allowing him to climb into bed next to me. I sobbed against his chest as he held me.

“You’re safe, my love. It wasn’t real.”

His warmth surrounded me, pushing aside the memories of Loki in the dream.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” he murmured. “They insisted I eat something and I- I thought you were sleeping. I’m so sorry.”

I pulled away, looking up at him as I took his face in my hands. “No, Loki. This is not your fault. I need you to take care of yourself too. I’m okay, baby.”

He nodded, pressing his lips to my forehead as I snuggled against him once more, feeling safe and at home for the first time in a long time. If only that feeling could last.

*********

Taglist: @purplekitten30@lokisprettygirl22@midnights-ramblings @huntress-artemiss@lokis-little-love@lokis-tigress @the-archangel-in-asgard @crimson25 @thedistractedagglomeration

A/N: I'm having difficulties tagging some of you. If you are not being notified and would like to be please check your settings.

#loki fanfic #loki odinson #loki #loki laufeyson #loki (marvel) #loki fanfiction #loki x f!reader #loki marvel #loki x you #loki x female reader #loki x reader #lokixreader #loki friggason #marvel cinematic universe #marvel #mcu #mcu x reader #the avengers #the avengers x reader

[boots-with-the-fur-club]

Decided to post the last two chapters of The Teenage Mutant Phantom of the Opera early! Enjoy!

Chapter 8.

@daboyau

Donnie throws himself into gaining information on days that he doesn’t have performances.

He has to sneak into the Hidden City library in order to do since he got banned for having too many overdue books, but nonetheless he still does so.

His main focus is the theatre itself.

When he told Usagi that he wouldn’t fill him in until he had proof it wasn’t really because he wanted to be sure, he just knew what he’d say.

Donnie has grown very fond of Usagi in the time they’ve spent together. Telling him his friend is probably a crazy, revenge seeking homeless orphan might make him upset.

The costume getting messed up clued Donnie in on the fact that the glaring he’s been feeling aimed at him is probably Leo’s doing.

He doesn’t leave the theatre because he lives there.

That’s the most likely explanation anyways.

He’s watching them and clearly getting jealous that Usagi is able to interact with Donnie a lot more than he is with him.

Despite how sure he is about it all, Donnie still wants tangible evidence before he gets to work in getting Leo going back home with him.

On one of the days off from performing, he looks into the previous owners of the theatre. It’s a short list, just the person who built it.

It was built 13 years ago after the original building exploded.

A laboratory.

He can hardly believe what he’s reading.

It all makes perfect sense.

His father must have escaped from the lab with them and accidentally left Leo behind to be found and raised by the creator of the theatre.

It brings about the question of why it’s owned now by a renting company instead of Leo’s guardian.

The answer, as he finds, is that she died five years ago.

He feels like such a terrible person for being excited that Leo wouldn’t be taken away from some other family.

It makes it a lot easier to be able to bring him home.

The next things he looks into is the blueprint of the building. There’s several inconsistencies on it, areas that have more room than they should if nothing is built in there.

There has to be secret pathways or rooms that Leo’s been using to hide in while there’s people around.

He just needs to find them and get a picture of proof that someone lives there and he can tell Usagi everything.

Then, after that, Usagi can help sway Leo to stop acting absolutely insane and see reason.

If that doesn’t work then a cattle prod and a mutant turtle sized bag will also do the trick.

He’ll need to search for the rooms during performance days to be safe. He’s already trying to get rid of him when there’s people around, finding his secrets all alone might cause him to disappear.

There’s no way he can let that happen, he can just imagine the way Mikey would draw his missing posters instead of using a real photo.

It’s as sad of a thought as it is frustrating to know he’d avoid using technology.

Donnie starts searching before every performance while using his days off to study what Leo has done to other people in the past as the phantom.

This allows him to avoid falling backdrops, cut through floorboards, broken sharp props, and another sandbag.

That one seemed lazy considering he used that already.

He can feel the anger brewing behind the scenes of each of these attacks but it doesn’t deter him in the slightest.

It’s definitely been getting to Usagi though.

Every near miss has been building up his fears and suspicion.

He approaches him after a performance where Donnie almost got taken out by a pillar that fell towards him.

“Donnie, this is getting way too out of hand. I’m worried that you’re going to get really hurt.”

“You should stop worrying. I’ve dodged everything so far and I’m close to being able to tell you what I’ve found out.” Donnie smiles at him proudly.

Usagi frowns and holds onto his own arm.

“I think I know it already.”

“You do?” Donnie raise an eyebrow.

Usagi sighs.

“Leo is the phantom. He’s getting revenge because he thinks we both messed up things for him on purpose. I didn’t want to believe it, but it’s way too much of a coincidence that you’re being targeted. I don’t know why he isn’t coming after me too, but there’s no other suspects.”

Donnie realizes Usagi isn’t aware of either of either of their feelings towards him. That makes him feel a little better since he thought he was just purposely avoiding addressing it.

“Regardless of if that is true or not, I’m still fine no matter what the phantom does. I only need a little longer anyways to get my evidence.”

“No, I can’t let it go on like this. It’s not right. If he is doing this then he has to come back here sometime and when he does I’m going to tell him that if he doesn’t stop, we can’t be-“

Donnie quickly covers his mouth with his hand and leans in.

“Not here. Let’s go to Run of the Mill.”

Usagi stares at him in surprise until Donnie pulls himself away in embarrassment.

“I am…..never doing that again, but what I said still stands.”

Usagi is completely confused but leaves with Donnie anyways.

From up above, Leo is filled with a severe case of the Caine instinct.

At the restaurant, Usagi and Donnie sit across from each other while waiting for their pizzas.

“Okay, I’m going to need you to avoid saying anything bad about Leo or even considering leaving him alone while we’re at the theatre.”

“You think he was listening in?“

“I have no doubt at this point.”

Usagi crosses his arms over his chest.

“I can’t believe how wrong I was about him.”

“Look, if I’m not taking the murder attempts personally you shouldn’t either.”

“Why aren’t you?”

“Because as attempts on my life go his have been pretty tame.”

Usagi moves his arms, placing his elbows on the table and putting his hands over his mouth and nose almost like he’s praying.

“I’m stuck between asking why there have been ones before this out of politeness while also knowing how close both that barista and I were to it.”

Donnie’s face heats up slightly.

Cute but mean, how his heart betrays him.

“I’m going to just cut to the chase. You will mess up my plan to take my brother home if he thinks you hate him.”

Usagi moves his hands away and looks down in guilt.

“I don’t hate him. I just hate what he’s doing.”

“Frankly if I was alone for 5 years I probably would have done the same thing.”

Usagi’s eyes snap back up.

“Excuse me?”

Donnie’s eyes dart away.

“Did you ever notice that Hueso is a skeleton named bone?”

“Donnie!”

Donnie sighs and looks back at him.

“Okay okay, I’ll fill you in just a little. I’m still finding evidence to prove things, but here’s my speculation.“ He explains what he learned days ago.

Usagi messes with his hands awkwardly.

“I knew he lost someone, but I never thought…..if you’re right, then he needs help. He has to leave the theatre for that time happen.”

Donnie smirks.

“That’s exactly what I’ve been intending to make him do, as you you shouldn’t know by now. I believe I’m close.”

“Is there anything else I can do to help?”

“Once I find his room, Leo will no doubt come after me. He’ll be so angry that he’ll show himself again. I need him to be even angrier so he shows himself to everyone though.”

“Why?”

“It’ll back him into enough of a corner where the theatre isn’t safe anymore. He’ll be at the maximum amount of anger which will make him make mistakes. It’ll be the perfect time to strike.”

“Where do I come in with that plan?”

Donnie whispers his idea to him, making Usagi’s eyes widen.

“If….if that’s what I have to do to make sure you’re both okay, I will.”

Donnie smiles.

“I have high confidence it’ll work.”

Hueso places their pizzas on the table.

“Ugh, I still can’t believe you like pineapple pizza.” Donnie looks at Usagi’s order in disgust.

“I know you have pineapple scented chapstick!”

“There’s a huge difference between smell and texture.”

Usagi glances down at the squirming toppings on Donnie’s pizza.

“Right….”

They eat and talk together, then say goodbye when they leave the restaurant afterwards.

The day after next, Donnie presses his hands against the wall that the blueprint says should hold nothing.

Another day of performance is another opportunity.

He’s hoping to find some kind of crack or opening to get a grip on.

It’s possible that Leo never uses the actual latch to get in and just relies on his portals so it might be even less obvious.

“Come on…..what’s that thing Mikey says when he really wants something? Oh universe, if this is meant to be, please let me find how to open this door.”

Mikey always mentioned saying it out loud speaks it into existence and the meant to be part makes him feel better if it doesn’t happen.

Donnie remembers how often he’d be in the shrine room saying that phrase about finding their brother.

Ironic that it was Mikey’s doing that led him here.

As illogical as it might be that is also why he’s trying this method. If it worked witch something as unlikely as this then maybe-

His hand finally catches on something.

One point for the universe.

He slides the wall open to a pitch black room.

Creepy.

He pulls out his phone and turns on the flashlight before going inside.

It’s clear that he finally found the main room Leo has been using.

There’s plenty of furniture, a filled trash can, plenty of sheet music, and tons of play pages.

His light then shines on a wall and he freezes.

An entire wall of rabbit pictures that were drawn on to make them look like Usagi.

The situation is more critical than he previously thought.

Would he hurt Usagi?

He needs to get back before something happens.

First though, he rips off some of the rabbit photos and leaves the door open before rushing off back to Usagi.

“Did you find anything?” Usagi asks as he sees him.

“I definitely found…..something. He is for sure living here.”

“Then we do what we talked about.”

Donnie clicks his tongue.

“Agree, but….”

“But what?”

“I think you deserve to know, but before I show you, you have to promise to stay calm.”

“I promise.”

Donnie hesitantly hands over one of the pictures

Usagi takes it and his ears droop in a mix of fear and shock.

“N-Now I see why you said that.”

“I know this is messed up, but he’s not in a right state of mind.”

Usagi stares at the picture more before folding it up and leaving it on a nearby table.

“This…..just proves he needs help…..I’m going to need some time away from him when this is over though.”

“I don’t blame you. I’ll take care of him in the meanwhile.” Donnie insists.

Usagi takes a breath.

“Thank you. For everything. I don’t know what would have happened if you weren’t here. I really appreciate you, Donnie.”

Donnie’s heart beats fast, especially knowing what they’re about to do.

“I promise that nothing is going to happen to you as long as I’m around.”

Usagi smiles and holds out his hand.

“Does that means you’re ready?”

Donnie quickly wipes his palm on his pant leg and then takes his hand.

“Absolutely.”

They can both feel some sense of being watched with intent as they make their way together.

The opera goes on as normal until a scene that normally just ends with them holding each other takes a turn.

Audience members gasp as they see them kiss.

It takes another turn.

Leo drops down besides them and tackles Donnie to the ground.

“I’m going to make you wish you were never mutated.”

#rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #2018 tmnt #rise of the tmnt #tmnt 2018 #rise fanfiction #tw obsessive love #tw obsessive behavior #tw obsession #tw obsessive thoughts #tw gaslighting #tw emotional manipulation #tw manipulation #tw stalking #leoichi #donsagi #the teenage mutant phantom of the opera

[anonforlackofabettername]

10 11 12 for the bookish photo asks?

Sorry this took like a week. Last week was incredibly busy and I’ve been trying to figure out what books to use tbh. I went with what I have in my house which severely limits my options because half my books are in tubs in my basement and also the last time I bought novels regularly was circa 2015.

10. Two books you love from the opposite end of the spectrum (however you want to interpret that)

This one I probably spent the most time mulling over. What even is opposite ends of the spectrum? Is that fiction v nonfiction? Poetry vs prose? Kids vs adult? A lot of the stuff on my bookshelf right now is stuff that it would break my heart to get rid of but it’s not stuff I’ve read regularly. I almost went with a childhood fav vs the most recent book I read (System Collapse by Martha Wells - do recommend) but instead I went with this:

[img id: two books side by side. The left book has a light yellow cover. The book is LOVE THAT DOG by Sharon Creech. There is a line drawing of a dog underneath the title. The right book has a dark blue cover with a drawing of a young boy and a large dog with a pocket watch in the dogs side. The boy looks startled and is looking into the eyes of the dog which is as tall as he is. The book is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, Illustrated by Jules Feiffer.]

These are both books that I hold close to my heart. Love That Dog is poetry strung together into the shape of a story and The Phantom Tollbooth is prose fiction that is as close to poetry and metaphor as a story can get while taking itself absolutely literally. Love that dog is a book told in poems that take the form of a young boy’s english journal and his struggle to understand and write poetry for his class. The title is a homage to a poem by Walter Dean Myers. The Phantom Tollbooth is a portal fantasy story about a young boy, Milo, and his adventures in the lands beyond the tollbooth, the people that he meets there, and the lessons that he learns. Love that dog is realistic fiction despite its format. The metaphor is in the format. The lands beyond the Tollbooth are full of metaphor that is, at all times, true; the doldrums - where Milo ends up without thinking, the city of dictionopolis - where you literally eat your own words for dinner, the island of conclusions (you get there by jumping).

11. Book you’ve read the most times

Okay so the actual answer to this is almost certainly The Phantom Tollbooth. It would own this slot if it wasn’t in the previous category. I love that book. I try to reread it every couple of years. It’s got a piece of my heart in it. I’ve shown it already, so instead you get this:

[img id: A beat up book on a black background. The cover art is an illustration of a dragon reaching around a pillar while two kids hide on the other side. In the foreground is a young girl with red hair clutching a book, Nita. Behind her is a boy with a shocked expression on his face as he gazes at the dragon. Across the center of the cover is the title, So You Want To Be A Wizard. Near the bottom is the author’s name, Diane Duane. Beneath that are the words, “Young Wizards • Book One.”]

Clocking in right behind The Phantom Tollbooth on books I reread regularly is the Young Wizards series, book 1 featured here. I own all the books twice (thrice?) over but I haven’t actually read the physical copies in years since the ebooks are just better. DD went back and updated the timeline (every book was set in its publication year - book 1 was published in 1983, book 9 in 2010 - but the in-universe timeline was 5 to 6 years max) and fixed a couple characters who hadn’t aged well (book 6 introduces an autistic main character and understanding of autism is so much better than what was medically accurate in the early 00s).

The book, since I’ve been pitching the ebooks but not the series itself, is a science fiction/science fantasy series in which Nita and Kit both find a wizard’s manual, take the oath, and become wizards. Wizardy is a gift from the Powers that Be that takes the form of the Speech - the language that all things know and was spoken at the creation of the universe. Wizards use words and math and power to slow down entropy and fight the Lone Power, the Power that introduced death into the universe.

Book 1 is a portal fantasy that takes our two brand new wizards into an alternate New York City looking for the Book of Night with Moon, the book that was written to remind creation how it is supposed to be. Book 2 takes our wizards down to the bottom of the ocean trying to avert what could end up being an (un)natural disaster. Book 3 we stretch the science part of it and see how far into space and the wider galaxy our heroes can go. Book 4 features old Irish legends from DD’s literal backyard. Book 5 is a story about illness and fighting against the clock and being forced to grow up. Book 6 is about grief and loneliness and a reminder that we aren’t truly alone. Book 7 is a vacation story, except in a world where everything happens for a reason can you truly go on vacation without it turning into work? Book 8 is a direct follow up to 7, but I don’t know how to tease a book called Wizards at War without spoiling something. It’s the highest stakes and the culmination of a lot of stuff and the end of it makes me sob every time. Book 9 the gang goes to Mars (and if that feels like a step down in stakes, it is and it isn’t). Book 10 I really need to reread but it’s like 600 pages of our main characters mentoring kids for a wizard science fair and it fucking slaps.

12. Weirdest book you own

Look I’m not really sure what the standard of weird is. I’ve got the journal from Gravity Falls which isn’t that weird because somewhere in my basement is Dragonology and 3 or 4 other ology books on other topics. Dragonology was an intrinsic part of my childhood. They’re not that weird (right?). I thought about grabbing one of my ttrpg books but like how to choose. Is Wanderhome weirder than Thirsty Sword Lesbians or Gun&Slinger or If I Were A Lich Man? Also those are games as much as their books imo. So instead I went with this:

[img id: a hardcover book with a red spine. The cover image is drawing of a 19th century river with a steel cable bridge (the Brooklyn Bridge) crossing it. Reaching out of the water, wrapping around the bridge and interfering with the boats in the river is two tentacles. The title of the book is Alternate Histories of the World by Matthew Buchholz]

This book is mostly an art book with some writing. The artist recreates old-fashioned photos and maps and includes creatures, robots, monsters, aliens, and zombies in them. This book is a collection of prints loosely done in the style of a history book, chronicling altered histories where there were zombies at the court of Versailles in 1731, the great chicago fire was started by a Martian ufo, a robot ran for president in 1960, monsters live in the river Thames, Boston harbor, and basically everywhere else, or - my favorite - nothing weird or giant monster related has ever happened to Tokyo. It’s a fun book and I enjoy the artist a lot. I have another book by him which is in the style of a visit all 50 states tourist book called Flee America. The last couple of years he’s put out a calendar via kickstarter that I back.

#asks answered #veloz-lento #books

[themetalvirus]

oh btw i don't think i ever explained the reason why egghog shadow is such a maker compared to canon shadow!!!! the reason is sad. sorry. also this ended up being 80% eggman tangent. you're welcome

shadow is the brother that spends the most time around eggman, and that's been the case since he was a baby. when he was a small child, it was because he's a test tube baby with dubious dna and experimental chaos powers that had never been proven successful thus far. eggman has ran and continues to run extensive testing on his chaos powers, senses, and tolerances (or lack thereof).

shadow is also eggman's first child. eggman has a special sort of simultaneous attachment and bitterness about it. he's spent so much time and energy researching shadow, this valuable anomaly hand-crafted by his grandfather, and he's come away with many valuable lessons and pieces of information. but he's bitter because he doesn't like the parenting aspect of this situation.

i've said this before, but eggman has always thought of the egghogs as tools or objects, not his children. he only refers to them as his children for PR reasons and to make them think he loves them. he hates that despite his best efforts they still have some semblance of free will he can't scrub away.

of course, that's part of the thrill, too. we've seen time and time again in several different canons that eggman loves this game, seeing when and where the people he recruits will slip and try to outsmart him or overthrow him or decide to leave him. he likes the give and take of it. he even makes his robots defiant to always have someone to take down a peg. it's fun. so he keeps the boys and watches them wrestle each other for the last ice cream sandwich with his seat reclined and popcorn in hand

there's just no 100% sure way to get rid of that defiant spark in people. recruits for a few weeks or months or even a few years, that's one thing. but the boys are a lifelong commitment. he's made them strong, stronger than they could have ever been on their own. he's made them smart and calculating and perceptive. that could be turned against him, and unlike an anomaly like the neo metal amy incident, there's no backspacing any code to fix an insurrection.

it's thrilling. it's so much fun. he hates it. no matter what, they're his boys.

he keeps them on a tighter leash than all of his robots combined; he's especially concerned with keeping shadow close. sonic is hard-headed and impossible to change now that his twisted ideologies have had time to set; silver is meek and afraid of disappointing his family. it isn't hard to keep them on track.

shadow has stayed hard to read, and eggman senses that something's going on in that head of his. so shadow stays right by his side, makes eggman a latte with steamed austrian goat milk every morning, polishes the egg mobile, and most importantly for what was supposed to be the actual point of this post, acts as his assistant on projects.

all of the egghogs have spent a lot of time working with eggman on builds and schemes, but shadow clocks in higher than his brothers by a significant margin. he's the oldest, so to him go the trade secrets and the "mature" complex tasks of building boss robots and such.

plus, shadow is the most physically strong and sturdy of the boys, and he’s the most quiet. he doesn’t voice his needs or complain. he doesn’t try to goad eggman into conversation. he only speaks when spoken to while they’re in the workshop, and only in a short, truncated way to keep eggman from lashing out at him. he’s precise, detail-oriented, and follows instructions well. he only does what he's told, he doesn't add any of his own ideas or "fixes" to projects. he’s a good assistant. he would make an excellent robot.

shadow stays deeply afraid of authority figures for a long time.

#exoticbutterstxt #the egghogs

[aotoreiki]

Reason #1 for low activity here was because early in the year Svern / neodarkdark took an absolute grip on my brain to the exclusion of pretty much everything else; but now that I've been thinking about easing back into stuff here and been working on trying to straighten things up in my head and behind the scenes, Reason #2 is that I had hit an uncertain point with what I was doing on this blog (again).

The blog situation has been kinda messy in my head for a while, because over time several people I'd interacted with either became inactive, or retconned their stuff, which I mostly-kind-of solved by relegating certain things to private verses, and quietly trying to understand what I was doing with his main verse on my own.

The problem was I actually didn't know what I was doing with it, and hesitated on making new connections (which would also help my RP). If I'm not sure of my own stuff, I can't really present it confidently to other people or use it properly in writing, and it just... gets stuck.

This tends to be a recurring problem with me anyway (Svern's main verse is in a similar state, although since I've spent so much time working on his stuff through the whole year at least I have a tentative direction as to what I want to do with him now). It helped the last time a while ago when I updated Ice's stuff and decided to properly go with having him as a competitively battling Trainer again...

But man, I wasn't even confident with that, or his ability to use aura, which sucks because those are... 2 notable character traits 😅 I feel like I'm only just learning how to Actually navigate RP and my own muses even though next year I'll have had this blog for like, 4 years.

Anyway, doing whatever the hell I felt like with Svern who is a way more extra muse than Ice in pretty much every way has helped me chill out and drop some of that insecurity I think. I am kind of doing a mental soft reset on Ice's stuff to get rid of this weird feeling of crud buildup I've had going on, and am just gonna try and Do Stuff.

I intend to get to everything I have currently drafted, but I did clean up my drafts a while back, so if you've been waiting on something a long time and it never shows up... I'm probably never getting to it. I want to focus on New Stuff and trying to work on things forward from this soft reset point rather than risk getting stuck again.

#ramble to try and sort out stuff in my head. tldr the ongoing saga of trying to figure out what the heck i'm doing continues #(but also hopefully is improving. i'm trying) #ooc ✻ who opened the box