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phfenomena · 4 months

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❝i think there’s been a glitch.❞ || tom blyth x f!reader

| request - glitch by taylor swift would be so perfect for tom

| A/N - 1989 aesthetic with a midnights song?? let me cook. just let me cook. 1989 is both beach and city so you know i’m grilling up some shit that will have you kicking your feet.

(divider by @dvluc)

the sun was boiling every inch residing below it, and you were included. rachel, being the saint she is, conjured up the idea of having a beach day while you were all still in L.A.

the car was full of laughter and loud music. you had rented a jeep and were more than happy to take the top off. you were never able to drive a convertible in new york, it always rains. the wind was whipping your hair all around the air but you found it hard to care. you were driving while tom had called shotgun and fought josh for it. he was fiddling with the volume and bass while rachel was trying to convince josh to not stand up and stick his head out of the vehicle.

"i vote that josh stands up and gets his head chopped off, final destination style." you yelled over the wind and music. josh nods at rachel and she covers her face turning away from him. he begrudgingly stayed in his seat as you were trying to convince tom to stand up.

"it'll be fun! i can't do it, i'm driving. let me live vicariously through you." the music had been turned down and tom was smiling and shaking his head at you.

you were all racing down to the beach, josh obviously winning. as everyone was accusing him of cheating because he got a head start, tom took his shirt off. you fell silent as he was walking to the water and you suddenly felt as if the sun was hugging the earth. you slowly pulled your dress over your head and trailed behind of josh and rachel, still arguing over how josh cheated.

the ocean was cold and it cooled the heat in your cheeks instantly. you spun around looking for tom but couldn't see him above water, suddenly you felt a hand wrap around your ankle and you were engulfed by the water.

you came back to the surface coughing and yearning for revenge while tom was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. "what if i drowned and died? you wouldn't be laughing very hard then."

we were supposed to be just friends. you don't live in my part of town, but maybe i'll see you out some weekend.

the bass was shaking the ground and the lights were almost disorientating. your friends had managed to pull you out to a club in brooklyn. the pregame shots already kicking in as you felt yourself loosening up and your friend pulled you toward the sea of bodies. some overly-produced pop song was flowing out of the loud speakers as your body collided with the surrounding people.

a hand was placed on your waist and you whipped around to see who was violating you. you met the eyes of your offender and smiled. "tom! i haven't seen you in weeks! how was berlin?" you scream over the music and he pulls you in for a hug, leading you away from the people. you blow a kiss to your friend but they don't even notice you leaving.

your feet swung as you were sitting in a barstool next to tom, chatting about what he's been up to. "yeah, we're finally done with all the promos and interviews." you're nursing your third drink of the night, mixed with your previous shots, your blood alcohol level was too high. "that's so cool! i knew rachel and josh were back but i didn't know you were back in brooklyn." he smiles and nods. "what're you doing in brooklyn anyway? don't you live an hour away?" he asks and you laugh. "my friends really wanted to go here and they yanked me out of bed."

depending on what kind of mood and situation-ship i'm in, and whats in my system.

you answer your buzzing phone and greet rachel, asking if you'd like to go out to dinner with them. "yeah, i'd love to! i'm with paul right now, is it alright if he comes along?" paul was your latest kind-of-boyfriend that you'd met at an award show.

paul and josh were conversing about star wars while you were talking with some of the other girls before rachel tapped your arm. you turned your head to her and she asked quietly "so are you guys dating? meeting your friends is a pretty big step.". you shot an unamused look at her and shook your head. "no, he said that he doesn't want anything serious. i honestly have zero clue if he even likes me, he's really weird about talking about it. but i don't even wanna date him." you whispered back, your attention pulled from her to tom who just sat down and was greeting everyone.

"hey, i'm tom." he extended his hand for paul to shake and you grew nervous. you see paul point at you and tom turns his head and smiles at you, you manage a tight-lipped smile back and lean your head on rachel's shoulder. "this is actually horrible, i wish you said to not bring him." you confess to her as she tilts her head towards yours. "why? he seems nice. he's getting along with everyone." you lift your head up and furrow your eyebrows. "i think he told tom he came with me. and i've literally had a small crush on tom since you introduced us." you whisper quickly to her and her mouth falls open. she smiles mischievously at you and calls tom over.

"do you think we could switch seats? i really want to sit with josh." he nods and takes her seat. he turns to you and you stare straight a head, trying to ignore the abundance of butterflies inhabiting your stomach. you hear your name fall from his lips and you finally turn to face him. "paul seems nice, i'm really happy for you," you try your hardest to not slip under the table in dispair but you end up offering your thanks and talking about your recent work.

i think there's been a glitch. five seconds later i'm fastening myself to you with a stitch, and i'm not even sorry.

your three friends had one last premiere in california, and you were coincidentally filming for your latest show in hollywood. your arm was wrapped around tom's as you were posing for the press, the blinding flashing of the cameras leaving dark spots in your vision. tom's hand rubbed circles on your lower back as you smiled for the pictures and quickly exited the carpet.

you took a deep breath and sat down next to rachel. "thanks for coming with me." tom whispered in your ear and you smiled at him. "of course, i'd do anything you asked me to." you internally punch yourself and turn your attention back to the screen.

you hadn't left toms side the entire night until you were back at his hotel room and you learned you were staying in the same hotel. he offered a glass of wine to you as you both sat on the floor, leaning against his bed. "yeah, paul and i didn't last very long, he had no personality it was so hard trying to talk to him." tom laughs and his head leans against his shoulder. "i was wondering about that, i just thought you liked really bland guys."

i was supposed to sweat you out. in search of glorious happenings of happenstance on someone else's playground. i think there's been a glitch.

a comfortable layer of silence laid on top of you both as the air was filled with the quiet sound of taylor swift. "i really like hanging out with you." you whisper and set your phone down. tom raises his eyebrows and stutters out "oh,um, t-thank you. i also really like hanging out with you. it always feels really easy." you smile and focus your eyes on a patch of carpet below you. "do you have a girlfriend, tom?" he shakes his head slowly, watching your every move.

"then, would you mind if i kissed you? it's totally okay if you say no, why did i even ask that? that was really-" your ranting had been cut short by tom linking your lips together. "jus' stop talking." he muttered against your lips, you turned your body towards his and felt yourself slowly getting lowered onto the ground. you definitely spilled wine on the carpet but that all seemed so irrelevant now.

nights are so starry, blood moonlit. it must be counterfeit.

#tom blyth #tom blyth x reader #billy the kid x reader #coriolanus snow smut #coriolanus snow x reader #coriolanus x reader #tom blyth fluff #coriolanus snow #tom blyth x you #coriolanus x you #tom blyth x reader fluff #coriolanus fanfiction #william bonney smut #william bonney fluff #william bonney x reader #william bonney

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osaemu · 7 months

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WHEN YOU GO OUT ON A DATE — BSD MEN ✧ feat. osamu dazai, nakahara chuuya

details: bsd men x reader headcanons. no warnings but i reference the french president in chuuya's part,,,?

a/n: i wanna go on a date with dazai and chuuya too!

✧・OSAMU DAZAI

"are we even allowed to be down here?" you breathe, following dazai through a dark alley littered with stray cats. "where are we even going?"

dazai pauses for a moment, looking back over his shoulder at you and smiling. "you ask too many questions, darling." he nods toward what looks like the end of the alley and beckons you with one of his hands. "we're almost there, c'mon."

you scrunch up your nose suspiciously but don't object, accepting the hand he offers and letting dazai lead you onward. "you really won't tell me where we're going?"

"you'll see soon enough."

after another minute of walking, the two of you exit the shady alley and the setting sun greets you, reddish-orange rays of light illuminating dazai's grinning face.

stretched out in front of you is the ocean, blue ripples turned red from the sunset. it's been a long time since you've seen the beach, and it's been even longer since you've been on it.

"told you," dazai says endearingly as he wraps his arm around your waist and pulls you close to him. the salty sea air flirts with dazai, making his hair flutter in the breeze. the sun touches the horizon behind him, basking the two of you in colors you can't put a name to.

dazai smiles at your silence, warm eyes barely sparing a glance at the view. he's focused on you, your awestruck expression, and how you fit perfectly between his arm and his chest.

he dips his head, pressing his lips to the side of your face and suppressing a laugh. "nothing you wanna say to me?"

no response.

"really darling, a thank you would be ni—"

you cut him off with a kiss, savoring the way his eyes widen with surprise. a little hm? slips from his lips before he's wrapping his other arm around you, pulling you impossibly closer and smiling against your lips.

you pull away after a few seconds, a sheepish smile on your tingling lips. "thanks, daza—"

it's his turn to interrupt you with a kiss, and this time he doesn't let you pull away.

✧・NAKAHARA CHUUYA

"chuuya, this is all in french," you groan, gesturing to the menu and glaring at him. "how am i supposed to know what i'm ordering if i can't understa—"

"shut up," chuuya mutters from across the table, gray eyes studying the menu intently. "i'm craving lobster, d'you want to share?"

"really? lobster?"

chuuya eyes you critically over the menu, raising an eyebrow. "you have a better idea?"

you scoff, crossing your arms and leaning back into the chair. "how about something that isn't a glorified crab?"

"you did not just—"

you mostly tune out his long explanation of the difference between a crab and lobster, instead taking the time to observe the restaurant around you.

it has an elegant atmosphere — candlelit chandeliers, vintage wine racks, soft violin music — perfect for a night out with your sophisticated boyfriend.

but of course, everything had to be in french. you don't even know how chuuya knows french — although, since he has to go overseas a lot, you should have expected it.

"chuuya, what does any of this mean?" you huff, turning your menu around and gesturing vaguely.

he grins, taking off his hat and resting it on the inner corner of the table. "you're pointing at escargot."

"which is?"

"ah, i believe they're cooked snails."

you blink, turning the menu back around and ignoring chuuya's smug grin. "erm, i think i'll just order based off of the pictures."

the waiter comes right as you continue studying the menu, greeting the two of you in french and mostly chatting with chuuya.

surprisingly, chuuya's accent is on point — when you look back up, you half expected to see emmanuel macron in his place.

chuuya and the waiter continue chatting, and after a minute or two the waiter nods his head and leaves.

"what'd you order?" you ask, setting down your menu and looking at chuuya curiously. "i hope you didn't order the snails...."

chuuya laughs, shaking his head and beckoning you to come and sit next to him. "just some wine to start us off. c'mere, i'll teach you some french. then you can order for yourself, yeah?"

a/n: umm i wrote that in twenty minutes + chuuya's part was very self-indulgent bc me personally i don't like snails 💯💯

reblogs very appreciated!

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imjustagirlinthisworlddd · 7 months

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"Is it too late now?"

Newt x Reader (TMZ)

summary - you thought it'll be the last time you ever saw Newt in the day he died on your arms, until he showed up in front of you.

no warnings !! this is pure fluff and maybe a little angst 😸

You sat on the sand, the cold air hitting your bare shoulders as you breathe in deeply at the salty air of the ocean in front of you, waves bring the water closer to your feet. It calms you.

you always love those small things. you loved the sun and the stars, amazed at how they can shine on they're own.

you watch the stars and wish that you could also be like those stars, shine on they're own. But you can't, you're different. you're the moon. The moon that shined because of the sun.

The moon that wait days and nights and hours to shine together side by side with the sun but the day never came.

you're the moon, while newt is your sun.

Newt, the boy that made your life thousand times more better with him in it.

you missed the days you and him wouldn't sleep and sneak out quietly and you went to the top floor with him holding hands. watching together how the stars shine the sky so brightly and feeling the night wind blow your hair.

There we're times in glade where Newt would always hold your hand tightly while kiss you on your forehead and lips once in a while and say how much he loves you, grinning so widely to you.

You miss him. You can't deny the fact you miss him. You miss the times you had with him in the glade.

The ocean waves getting closer to your feet and the sound of footsteps reaching closer to you.

"good morning" came from minho as he sat down next to you. you replied with a forced smile, not really feeling like you want to talk.

"hey, you sure you don't want any breakfast? i made pancakes, the same ones you used to made" asked thomas, sitting beside you too, as he looked at you with worry.

The same one i made in the glade for them and newt.

Newt.

"I'm not feeling really hungry", you weren't lying, you hardly eat anything ever since you arrived at the paradise.

Thomas came and sat next to you. "well then, water?"

he handed you a cup of warm water.

"Thanks", you said before taking a gulp.

Minho puts his arm around you, "i know this is hard for you", he started,

"it's hard for all of us, but you need to take care of yourself. you haven't eaten anything since yesterday we arrived, and you're supposed to be resting in your room" He finished, speaking to you softly.

You gave him a small nod, and stared at the cup your holding as the sand warms your feet. "How have you been sleeping lately?" Thomas asked

"I sleep well" you send him a soft smile as he returns the smile and trace smoothing circles on your back.

The three of you watch the ocean for a moment without a word, you look to the sand as you inhaled deeply. Minho's eyes fell on you, and you turned to him with a soft weak smile. "Hey,"

with a small forced chuckle from the black haired boy, he replied "Hey"

"I'm glad you're both okay" you glanced at your feet, "I don't know what i would've done if you guys couldn't make it"

they nodded, looking at you for a while before minho replied; "i didn't expect that i'll made it here too"

thomas chuckle, "everything feels like a dream"

you didn't reply anything and just watch the waves getting closer to your feet. "I'm hungry, i think i'm gonna go get something to eat, see you both later" with that, you walked off

you weren't actually hungry, you felt empty. you just needed a reason to walk away. talking to them remind you so much of Newt and what happened that night.

Newt's hands are cold. His eyes empty. He's gone. tears pouring faster, and you wipe the tears away roughly.

"You can't leave me like this. not now, not later. you promised me you'll never leave me. please, newt. please. answer me."

you sighed.

Slowly, you made your way to get food, dragging your feet behind you. You stared at your surroundings, fiddling the hem of your shirt, trying desperately to not think of Newt but failed miserably. everything feels weird without him. the feeling that something is missing.

But as you looked to your left, there he stood, your eyes widened in surprise and you shake your head.

'stop, he's not here anymore, don't imagine things and pull yourself together y/n. he's gone.' you remind your self, trying so hard to not take a double look to check, but you couldn't hold your self so you looked. this time hoping he'd be there

you saw him.

again.

then the reality comes crashing down as you looked at him.

you froze. you stared at the blonde boy.

Newt.

your eyes locked at the sight your seeing. it's really him.

"Hey what's wrong?" Minho asked looking at you concerned.

You stood there, still frozen.

"Did you change your mind? do you not want to eat pancakes?" Minho asked

You finally found your words, and say what was holding your voice stuck in your throat. "that's... newt?"

his eyes fall to the direction your looking at. it took him a second to process it was really him as you both stood frozen.

Newt. The blonde boy. The love of your life. The one that died that night, is now running fast towards the two of you. He hugged you both tightly.

Thomas stared at him with surprise from afar, dropping his glass of water and run to our direction, hugging newt tightly as the corner of his eyes start to water.

Minho and Thomas asking him many 'how' questions as he replied "I'll answer all of your bloody questions later" his british accent ringing in your ears, making you cry. Is this really newt? but how?

"Newt.." the sound of your voice made him turn to you and smiled lovingly with tears in his eyes.

"Hey gorgeous" He opened his arms to hug you, you jump into his arm immediately feeling his warmth, solid and everything, He held you tightly against his chest.

You buried your head in his neck and your tears wetting your cheeks, tears drenching his shirt. you smiled a little. for the first time your truly smiled after you lost him. you hugged him tighter, still wanting to feel the warmth of his body and his touch as you feel him pressing his lips into your forehead and the smell of his body that you missed so much is enough to make you feel like you're home.

anywhere with him is home.

"Newt.."

"I'm here"

you finally pulled away, to look at him. those dark brown pair of eyes, his caramel colored hair that turned to a vibrant shade of gold when the sun hits his hair. oh how much you missed them.

it feels so unreal seeing him right now in front of you, you don't know if it was real or not.

he smiled at you again. that smile. the one you missed so much.

you hugged him again, this time with your head on his chest, he held your head in one hand and and your back in his other, pulling you closer and putting his head on top of yours gently.

you pulled away again, running your thumbs on his cheek and lips, realizing all the black veins, black eyes and popping veins we're gone. he's back to normal.

Minho spoke up, "But how? you..you we're stabbed and you died,"

"Yeah, we see you died that night in her arms, it doesn't make any sense" Thomas added.

"To be bloody honest, i don't know how myself. but i think y/n's blood touched my wound when we fought that night and it killed the virus and i survived, then i woke up surrounded by people, cured, and they led me here." he finished, looking at them.

"who we're those people?" thomas asked

"who ever those people are, I'm happy to have you back shuck face." minho laughed.

"and i'm happy to be back" newt smiled at us all, before whispering into my ear, "we've got a lot to talk about" he grinned.

Thomas glanced at minho, signalling to him to give you both time to talk. minho nods in response. "You must be hungry newt, let's make more food for them, and give them space to talk alone" Minho whispered the last few words and left with the others leaving you and newt alone.

"We'll meet you there later!" newt called back and turned to you, grinning.

he sit down at the sand, and pat the sand next to him, signalling you to sit next to him, so you did. he looked directly to you, breaking the silence.

"i miss you"

your eyes widened at the sudden confession, your eyes start to heat up and tears start to flood your eyes making your vision blurry.

"sorry, i didn't mean to make you cry" he looks at you softly and wipes your tears gently.

"you don't know how much i miss you and how hard it was losing you" you started. "it felt so weird without you here, it's like something's missing" you gazed at your lap

"i'm sorry for that night, i should've told you and try to work it out together like you said, but it was the best way to protect you" he started

you nodded as you understand the word 'that night' referring to the night you both argued because he hide the fact he was infected and you both broke up because of it.

"that night when i finally turned to a crank, i know i shouldn't have attacked you, but something in me is screaming for your blood, and in the end i hurt you, i'm sorry love." he whispered. your surprised at the last word, he used to call you that before you both broke up.

you forced a chuckle. you definitely missed being called that. you smiled at him "i understand and yes, i forgive you newtie. i always will."

he felt his heart skipped a beat at the familiar nickname you called him

newtie.

his words stuck in his throat as he tried to get him self to continue say the things he was planning to say but he failed miserable, after a second he finally forced out the words.

"and i know we had a bloody argument and we're not together anymore but i still love you y/n. i didn't mean the words i say when i told you i don't love you anymore and i don't need you caring about me, i still love you so freaking much and i really love it when your care for me, so..."

his voice getting quieter as he looks at you nervously, trying to observe your expression as his voice stuck in his throat for the second time. he lowered his head looking down at his lap, trying to find the perfect words to tell to you

'it's now or never'

"listen, the point of what i'm trying to say is, do you think it's too late to continue what we had?" he glanced at you and made eye contact with you

you chuckled at his nervousness. "so you're trying to say that you want to get back with me and continue our relationship?"

"if you still love me, well yeah" you chuckled

"i still love you newt"

"then, it's a yes?" he tilt his head and grinned at you, happy with your answer and now hoping you would agree to his offer

"why would i refuse?" you answered.

"bloody hell, come here" he smiled, he leans up, closer to you and kiss you. you kiss him back.

he hugs your body as your arms snaked its way to his neck and your fingers run to his hair, your fingers tangled in his hair. he pulled your body more closer, colliding yours with his until it you can feel his body warmth.

you both pulled away when minho suddenly yelled "Y/N, FOOD'S READY

you turn to newt. "You ready to meet everyone else?"

he nods. "yeah, let's go"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

you walk in together, and you see the moment everybody's faces turn into shock except for minho and thomas, who was smiling widely at you both. you guessed that both of them haven't told the other's.

gally's eyes fall to yours, as if he's asking confirmations from you. you nod at him and smiled. gall's eyes widened and start to water.

"hey?" newt gives a little wave nervously as he watched the others exchanging glances with each other, and then gally, frypan and the other's moved, leaving the table they're sitting in and charged towards newt with a hug as newt happily hugs all of them tightly and didn't let go until thomas butt's in.

"alright everyone, let's eat as much as we want as a celebration AND STOP THE HUGGING SESSION, newt haven't eaten anything at all today"

they roared with laughter and finally pulled away from the hug.

standing beside you, minho chuckled and whispered, "you're happy aren't you?"

you smiled and nodded at him. "is it that obvious?"

"yes y/n, it's so obvious" you both laughed.

suddenly you feel someone hold your hand. you turned to see newt grinning before he pulls you into a sudden deep kiss as everybody else laughed. you both pulled away after everyone yells 'do it somewhere, you love birds!!' and your ears turn into a shade of red as newt's lips turn into a wide grin

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peachesofteal · 10 months

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ok i have a question- for the dead disco fics, if there was a situation where ghost had to choose between reader and soap, who would he choose? idk why im thinking abt this LOL

Hey babe, what is wrong with you? (I love this so much it scratches my angst brain just right) Why do you want to feel this pain? (I too, want to feel this pain...let’s indulge)

Ghost x Soap x female reader Dead Disco - verse AU - not canon to the actual story. Warnings-tags: Angst. Inferred character death. Darling's usual (eating issues, depression, anxiety, despair, self destructive behaviors)

The bed is too big, as it always has been. As it always was before, and during. And as it always will be for now on, too. Your legs spread across it, kicking and swishing across pristine sheets like you're swimming in them, like you're drowning. Drowning, is more apt. Drowning is more akin to these feelings that swimming, certainly. Drowning is how you feel right now, smothered in your loss, lungs full of water, burning from the salt of your own tears. You're at the bottom of the ocean, lost beneath where the sunlight doesn't reach, far beyond the swell of the waves. Drowning is what it feels like, when your heart clenches in your chest and your stomach heaves it's bile free. Drowning is how you would describe this black, bottomless hole that's developed soul, the one that pulls you deeper and deeper with every breath. Drowning. You've drowned. And no one was there to pull you to shore. To safety. No one was there to save you.

"I'm home!" Your bag falls to the floor with a thud as you toss your keys on the island, loosening your jacket and heading towards the dining area of the flat. "Holy shit, wait until I tell you about my day. My boss was on one today, she was being a crazy a-" the words die on your tongue when you finally look up and see the expression on Johnny's face. At first glance, one might call it grim, but for those who know him, who know to look closer, you see the red ting to his eye lids, the rub of drier skin around his nose. He's been crying. "What's going on?" you ask, looking from him to where Simon sits, stone faced. Immobile. Neither of them answer you at first. "Hello?" The knot that's been loosely tied in your stomach tightens. Simon nods at the free chair next to him. "Sit, darling."

There are two boxes, in your bathroom. They sit, full of things, clothing, items, trinkets, pieces of memories, pieces of love. They idle next to your bathtub, waiting, watching you, every time you drag yourself towards the toilet to vomit, or whenever you muster up the strength to look at your toothbrush. The boxes have sharpie scrawled across them, big loopy letters that almost look like mouths, almost look like they could grow teeth and talk to you, or eat you alive with what's inside of them. You supposed, they could. If you were to open them, and actually look at the things inside, they would consume you. Chew you up. Spit you out.

"I- I don't understand." You take a half step towards Johnny, who visibly flinches, face torn fractured with despair, while Simon's lips press into a hard line before he speaks. "We will make sure you're taken care of, we-" His voice is cold. So, so cold it scratches at your heart, pin pricks of icicles working their way beneath your ribs. "Stop." you shake your head, willing yourself to focus. What is he saying? What does he mean? "Simon, what... wh-what does that mean?" "Darling we're so, so sorry." Johnny's voice, is the opposite of cold. It's molten. Hot, and burning red with orange, thick with something you think is sadness. "You are sorry." You repeat it, numbly. You're not crying, which is a surprise to yourself and probably the two of them too. Your brain is really working now, hard. It's compartmentalizing and organizing and shoving little things away, burying others beneath mountains of sand and locking memories into boxes that you'll never be able to open. "You can't. You can't just leave me... you... you promised." Simon stands completely still, while Johnny shifts his weight nervously, fingers tangling with one another as he watches you like a hawk. Like a solider. "This will be better... for everyone." He tries to soothe you, tries to calm you, even from where he lurks, five feet away. Simon offers you nothing. "I don't understand, everything was fine. I thought... we were okay." Simon finally moves, shaking his head with a no while you watch, mouth ajar.

The boxes have been ripped into tatters now. They lay in shreds across the things in the bathtub, covering two t shirts of Johnny's, a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie of Simon's. Your silk bathrobe, and giant fleece blanket from the couch. There's also a book, a collection of photographs, a few pieces of jewelry. Worn index cards with recipes on them, Johnny's mum's, and a comic book, that Simon used to keep in his drawer of the bedside table. The final touch is the secret pack of cigarettes, the ones Simon used to keep in the closet, sans the one in your mouth. You inhale it slowly, breathing in the tobacco and the nicotine and the fumes of the lighter fluid, the entire contained dumped onto of the collection of things in the tub, waiting for your final flick. When it comes, you stay perched on the edge on the bath, barely interested, unmoving, as the fire rages. As it consumes.

"You fucking promised!" You scream. You scream it over and over until your throat is hoarse and Johnny looks panicked. Simon grips him roughly, sliding him half behind his body, as if to protect him from you. As if he thinks you'd hurt him. They both watch you with stricken faces, hunters tracking a wounded animal, and your breaths come in short bursts as tears track down your face. "You said you love me." It's barely a whisper, mournful and slow, and they both hear it. "We do." Johnny croaks. "We did." Simon counters, and you flinch. "But this is what's best, for all of us. It was always going to be him, darling. You've known this." It was always going to be him. It was always... going to be Johnny and Simon, over you. It was always going to be them, and not you. The truth stings, burns, bites. It twists it's wicked claws around your heart and tugs and tears until there's nothing left. You've known this. You idiot. How could you possibly believe, in the end, you'd still be in this equation? You'd still be a part of this? How could you possibly believe, that after everything, they'd still love you? Still want you? Simon's mouth moves, but you hear no sound. You hear nothing, as you turn on your heel and barricade yourself in the bedroom. You hear nothing, as they knock, and knock, you hear nothing, until the wood stops vibrating, and the front door open and closes with a final thud. It was always going to be them. You've known this.

"Bloody hell." Gaz whistles, eyes locked on the screen. Johnny wipes a towel across the back of his neck, mopping up the sheen of sweat that lingers there while Simon saunters through the rec room doors. "Christ. Didn't ya two live near there?" "Live where?" Johnny frowns, looking up. There's a heli eye view of a burning building on the news, it's entire structure engulfed in flames, firemen barely making a dent. The camera switches to a ground reporter, a pretty woman with a serious face, who's explaining that arson investigators believe the fire started on the ninth floor, where there's still a single person trapped, unable to be rescued so far by exhaustive efforts. Something glitches in Johnny's brain, something short circuiting while he blinks, and breathes, and blinks, trying to wrap his mind around what he's seeing. The ninth floor. Someone trapped. Didn't ya two live near there? The ninth- It's almost unrecognizable, but he knows. Of course he knows. The ninth floor, the ninth floor- His heart stops in his chest, and he turns frantically to Simon, who stands like a statue in the doorway, eyes wide and frozen. "No. Nonononono-" Johnny whispers. He stumbles, away from Simon, away from Gaz, eyes not leaving the television while he drops to his knees. "She- Simon." Simon doesn't answer, just stands, broken. Empty. Like a ghost. He has no words. He has nothing. And neither does Johnny.

#ghost x soap x reader #dead disco #peaches asks #johnny soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #simon riley #johnny mactavish #john soap mactavish #ghost x soap #soap mactavish #john mactavish x reader #simon ghost riley x reader #johnny mactavish x reader #soap x ghost x reader

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ladyluscinia · 7 months

Text

BLACKHANDS GIRLIES WE ARE REALLY IN IT NOW!!!

(aka Lady's OFMD 2x01 - 2x03 BlackHands rambling)

Link to the general non-BlackHands thoughts.

Screaming. Whooping. Cheering. *Singsong voice* My fucked up pirate husbands had mutual love confessions while the main fucked up pirate husbands are "on a break" after admitting they made each other happy! AAAAHHHHHH!!! Can't murder-suicide the other half of yourself! I am winning!!!

ADJSKLDFSKJFKDL

Ok. Deep breaths. This will be rambling but coherently (<- lying)

---

Breakup Boat - Izzy's Version

Fuck, I said in my general thoughts post that the extremities of Edward's cruelty & Edward's suicidal pursuit were working well, and nowhere is that more noticeable than in what Edward and Izzy have going on.

So in the timeskip between S1 and S2 we find out Edward has been raiding ships at a breakneck pace, uncaringly trauma bonding his crew (R.I.P. Ivan), going hard on murder & booze & drugs, and tormenting Izzy to the point my guy is literally having a breakdown in front of the crew. He lost the 1st toe for threatening to resign and accidentally setting off a Stede-hurt timebomb, and Edward goes to take a 4th because Izzy doesn't convince his whole crew to happily dump their pay in the ocean. "Threaten me again" has become "Give me any excuse" it seems, and Izzy has been complying. 😬 Edward (casually): "Take your boot off." 😬 Earlier Edward offers him rhino horn, too, and Izzy just says "No, not right now" leading Edward to call him a "lightweight", so I'm thinking Edward hasn't had exclusive rights to substance abuse as a means of coping, either. (Note: the rhino horn itself does nothing, so the substance abuse is booze and any actual drugs he's gotten his hands on.)

Oh, and they didn't include the shot where Edward throws a knife at Izzy? Did it just get cut, or are we getting flashbacks with more conversation later?

Going to rewatch the end of 1x10, Izzy's "smile" at declaring Blackbeard was back lasts a fraction of a second and looks just like his "everything is totally fine I swear" grimace-smiles from the beginning of the episode, so I think it's pretty safe to say Izzy did not ask for this and hasn't thought everything was fine for a single second since.

The Breakup Boat atmosphere is definitely fucked.

Now, personally, I'm still of the opinion we're not supposed to read this as a version of a domestic abuse arc (even with the intervention talk). (EDIT: clarifying thoughts and phrasing.) Because they still inject too much of it with humor and I can't imagine Edward comfortably coming out the other side at a happy ending if we frame it that way. Like there's black comedy and then there's "Wait, we're really just laughing this off?" I think horrific domestic abuse of your ex-situationship in a romance counts as the latter. But I do think it's revealed to be functioning as something adjacent - namely Edward's depression and suicidal tendencies have massively spiked post-Stede and he's actively seeking to a) confirm his own belief that he's unlovable, and b) get killed so everything stops hurting.

And Izzy? Izzy loves him and wants him alive. Worst thing Edward could hear right now.

Like oh my GOD IZZY LOVES HIM. As soon as Izzy hits his breaking point and realizes the crew have his back, he's emboldened to go stand up for them and himself to Edward. (He has been defending them already - the pre-intervention conversation open with him quietly alluding that they need a break - but this is more.) He ignores the boot order, ignores the threat, and finally asks the damn question:

"Who am I to you?"

This is where my linear coherency falls apart btw 🥴

---

Who KNOWS You?

"We've worked together for years. You know me better than anyone has ever known me, and I daresay the same is true for me about you. I have... love for you, Edward."

Oh fuck backstory implications oh FUCK.

Ok, I've already seen the posts doubling down on Izzy realizing he doesn't know Edward at all and I'm drawing my line in the sand. That's bullshit. That line there? That's straight truth.

To quote my own posts:

People will act like you are making bold and unsubstantiated claims if you say Izzy likes Edward as a person not just as Blackbeard, but I find the notion that “Blackbeard” as a human guy you live down the hall from is somehow substantially different / distant enough from the real Edward 24/7 that only liking Blackbeard is plausible to be a very bold claim.

(That conclusion comes from this post, but Izzy knowing Edward vs Stede knowing Edward was also a major point in my original overarching Edward Meta from Season 1.)

Of course Izzy knows Edward. He knows his talents and his weaknesses. He knows the shifts in his mood, his favorite foods to find in a hold, what tasks he used to pass off as often as possible. He talks about work with him because they live on a ship. Their state of dysfunction when we meet them doesn't negate that knowing.

Knowing each other so well actually made their dysfunction worse. Let them escalate more than two people less intimate could have managed, while also exacerbating their misjudgements into ruinous disasters. Izzy didn't know - probably in part didn't want to know - Edward was falling hard for Stede so fast. Edward didn't know or want to know that Izzy was reaching a breaking point for their relationship.

But still, crucially, Izzy did know Edward well enough to clock that something was fundamentally wrong in 1x10, and he knows what's wrong now. He knows Edward is hurting him and hurting the crew because Edward himself is hurting, and the whole point of this "I'm worried about you" talk is to try and fix it.

Unfortunately, Izzy has Stede so unspoken at the front of his mind that he accidentally quotes the man, and that sets Edward off on his interrogation / further terrorizing the crew Izzy is trying to stand up for. Which is why Izzy finally makes his choice to stop talking around the issue...

"The atmosphere on this ship is fucked. Everyone knows why." -> "Your feelings for Stede fucking Bonnet."

...and then Edward shoots his leg out. Not even looking at him.

Jump ahead. Edward says to Frenchie, "The new First Mate always kills the old First Mate. It's always been like that." - Has it though? Because that has some wild implications for Izzy murdering someone to secure his spot in Edward's circle of trust (...hot). And some interesting gaps for Edward if he was ever a first mate under Hornigold or anyone else. Or is this just him fucking with Frenchie because he knows "Trust is king. And queen. Trust is everything" is bullshit? Go, repression boy, go. Who am I talking about? Both. Both is good.

And then of course we get:

"Did you think I wouldn't know the smell of my rotting former First Mate?"

Knows him by the smell of blood and infection. By the avoidant look in his crew's eye. By the fact he doesn't know Izzy is dead. Their relationship is rot and ruin by his own hand but he would NEVER assume Izzy's dead until he knows.

"He was your friend," Jim spits in Edward's face.

Edward wakes up Izzy and even delirious, literal seconds after realizing he's down a leg, Izzy knows what Edward wants the moment he flips the gun. And he wants nothing to do with it.

He knows he can't. Won't. No matter how much Edward openly wants him to pull the trigger. (Edward knows him well enough to doubt, too. It's real convenient that his final staging has Izzy looking at the back of his head. No chance of his face giving anything away.)

Izzy's absolutely brutal in his assessment, trying to give some hurt back, but he's not wrong:

"Ohhhh. Oh, are you scared, Eddie? Too scared to do it yourself, eh? Go on, clean up your own fucking mess. I'm not doing it, I've been doing it all my fucking life. Fuck off."

All his fucking life.

I have to wonder... is this a conversation they've had before? Echoes of one? Izzy has a tactic here - dismissal. Refuse to play along with Edward's melodrama. Treat "I dreamt that you killed me" as though he's throwing a snit like a toddler. "Good for you" could have sounded like a question egging him on, but it comes out flat. A sarcastic sneer. Edward has always thought he'd go out with more of a bang. Loves a good fuckery. In his Purgatory he desperately wants Hornigold to recognize how unique and over the top his mutiny was. Not like those ordinary mutinies. Even his imagined death is being pitched over the highest bluff tied to a rock???

Izzy knows Edward is serious or he wouldn't be so fraught and sobbing as he laughs, but his words don't treat him as serious. Maybe a bit of derision has been effective at ruining the fantasy before? Suicide of a great leader is just so banal, you know? Quit daydreaming and pull off an impossible fix.

(Maybe "Fuck off" normally doesn't end the conversation, but starts the real one?)

Also "Eddie". First off of Izzy's lips at his cruelest, then Hornigold's. We heard it in S1 right before Edward committed to becoming the Kraken. At the time I thought he was bristling at the disrespect - "Eddie" is not "just Edward" - but maybe Frenchie stepped on a bigger landmine than we thought. Edward is so particular about names, and Izzy knows all the rules best, doesn't he?

Either way... This time the conversation ends with Edward leaving. "Farewell, old chum," he says without turning around. And when he hears the gunshot, he's not surprised.

Edward knows Izzy, too. Knows that the farewell may count as "closure" but Izzy is only going to take the ending one way. Izzy lifting the gun to his temple was the inevitable result of leaving that room. It takes seconds. Edward is still rising out of the stairwell when it happens.

We can't talk about knowing without touching on Purgatory, where Edward goes to know himself.

Lots of interesting stuff about Edward modeling his toxic spiral off of Hornigold as the fucked up example from his past. Probably where he picked up a lot of his piracy philosophy too. But the really juicy bit related to Izzy is the spectre of Hornigold confronting him about killing his dad and Edward's instinctive:

"I've never told anyone about that."

Hornigold calls him out for telling Stede, but it seems pretty likely that Stede is the only one he's ever had the conversation with.

However.

I still think Izzy knows. Hornigold even tells us how:

"A grown man covered in tattoos? Eh? With daddy issues?"

Edward didn't tell Izzy, and Izzy didn't ask for confirmation. But Edward will tell a whole crew of strangers about "the Kraken" killing his dad to win best ghost story. And that his dad was a dick. Izzy, who Edward loves and trusts and "outsources the big job" to, would not have much trouble connecting the dots between any version of that story / troubled childhood anecdotes / Edward's issues with killing / Edward's daddy issues.

I sincerely doubt "killed your abusive old man" is even an uncommon pirate backstory.

Izzy does know Edward - at his best and worst and everything in between. Knows him better than anyone. Suspects with certainty his darkest secret.

Izzy knows Edward, and Edward knows Izzy, and that's why everything fundamentally quakes for Edward in this self-destructive rampage when Izzy breaks their unspoken rule and tells him that he loves him.

---

Who LOVES You?

Jumping back to the (first!) literal, actual love confession we got, let's talk phrasing. Because yeah there's love there, but at the moment there's also a lot of other stuff.

"I have... love for you, Edward."

This is such a passive way of confessing, and there's the long pause as Izzy forces it out. People have attributed it to repression, or feeling ashamed of his love for Edward, or just not wanting to push it on him. I think "love" isn't a word they use out loud, so saying it is hard, but I also think Izzy's being passive because at the moment it does just feel like he "has" love. He doesn't want to actively feel it or offer it up right now, not with the complicated knot of anger and hurt and, tbh, probably some of his own depression. He "has" love because, despite everything, he still loves Edward.

And he does, is the thing! The whole goddamn reason Izzy is here, still trying to be a support for Edward is because he loves him. Literally anybody else would have left by now, or killed Edward, considering he's actively trying to push Izzy to the breaking point. And even at said point, when Izzy's finally standing up for himself, he offers Edward another chance to realize he's loved.

Edward starts dismissing him the moment he says the l-word, but Izzy continues:

"I'm worried about you - we all are. The atmosphere on this ship is completely poisoned. But if we could all just, maybe... talk it through?"

Izzy knows what's wrong and while he didn't originally think Stede was that important to Edward, he's put it together by now. And he's a huge fan of trying to talk through their problems, tries it multiple times even in the peak communication failure / stress powderkeg of S1, so of course he tries one last time to get Edward to accept he's not alone.

Instead, he accidentally invokes the ghost of Stede Bonnet and reminds Edward why he's doing all of this in the first place. Reminds him that he is unlovable while having the audacity to confess to loving him.

So Edward makes a big show of going out on deck, shoots Izzy in the leg, and tells Frenchie to get rid of him.

Frenchie doesn't, naturally.

And when Edward finds the crew saving the man who he just shot for daring to love him - because of course they are, he's their dick now - well... "He was your friend," Jim spits in his face, having just been thinking about their best friend (who they are more than a little bit in love with 👀).

How long do we think Edward stands there, looking at what he's wrought? How long does he sit at Izzy's bedside, looking at him "rather still" while he weighs if the missing leg proves his point where the toes didn't?

And you know Izzy's love is so bone deep and rooted in that it's unconditional by this point, because Edward did NOT prove his fucking point. Nothing he's done so far is enough to get the man who loves him to pull the fucking trigger. Down 3 toes and then a leg, asking first thing whether Edward was there for the other one, and STILL. STILL IZZY IS HEARTBROKEN AT THE REALIZATION THAT EDWARD IS READY TO END IT FOR REAL.

Still he won't pull the trigger himself. Not on Edward, at least.

And only after Izzy is gone can Edward return the words.

"I loved you. Best I could."

*screaming crying tearing at the walls*

He loved him.

HE LOVED HIM.

Edward's perspective of his relationships is fundamentally warped. Alongside his self-image. Probably has been for most of his life, going back to the self-hatred he ties to killing his dad. Stede leaving hurt him immensely (and predictably, Stede) in ways Stede will have to own up to, but it was Edward's own unaddressed issues - independent of Stede AND Izzy - that determined the appropriate response to that hurt was "realize that vulnerability and hope are lies and every dark voice in the back of your mind ever was telling the truth, actually."

Edward's conviction that nobody loves him and that he's not capable of successfully loving someone back is literally his depression talking. It is not rationally based in the reality of his life or relationships, Stede or otherwise. He may even have successfully beat back the sentiment for most of his life, with that getting harder and harder as time went on.

(He's expressed this kind of depressive-episode-driven warped view before, btw, and they explicitly parallel it in Purgatory just for me! The flashbacks of the bathtub scene while he attacks the spectre of Hornigold are my huge W in that episode. "It all boils down to this - you're afraid you're unlovable", said by the actual manifestation of Edward's suicidal self-hatred in Purgatory, is the new "That's why I don't have any friends." I think it's fair to question if he was a reliable narrator of his experiences back then, too. Jim and the crew certainly think he had at least one friend.)

Basically, "Best I could" now can mean a lot of things before. Young Izzy and Edward could have been much healthier than they are at present. Probably were, to be honest. It wasn't enough to save them from going sour, but it could explain why they've stuck together so long even as it has.

Izzy loves Edward. Edward loves Izzy.

LOVE LOSES. BUT LOVE WINS 😭😭😭

---

Kraken Era = Murder-Suicide, but Edward Wants to be the Murdered One

So, uh... *scrambling for notes* Where am I going with this? Fuck, I'm not even writing it linearly... OK!

Izzy KNOWS Edward - knows him going back ages, has seen his darkest and weakest moments - and even after 3 toes and a stress breakdown he still LOVES him enough to say it out loud (which I doubt these guys do, uh, ever). Which really throws a wrench in Edward's "Stede realized I'm inherently toxic and unlovable" theory, and prompts him to redouble his "prove to Izzy he doesn't love me" efforts by casually shooting him.

Afterward, he finally makes his passive suicidal intents explicit when talking (practically sobbing, in truth) to Frenchie:

"Never going back to land. We're gonna sail, rob, raise hell forever and ever, without end."

He's set on it, now. Izzy's potential last act was to finally rip down the illusion, give name to the hurt Edward had been running from since he first put on his Kraken makeup. So he pushes his little wedding toppers out the window, cleans himself up, and goes out to wave every single red flag imaginable for poor Frenchie's locked box.

Except it wasn't Izzy's last act, now was it?

But that's fine for Edward. That actually works better. He wants the hopeless situation to end, but he doesn't want to pull the trigger himself or he would have done it by now. After everything, surely Izzy should be ready to murder-suicide him??? He can't still love him, not after Edward so effectively proved he's exactly as toxic as his self-loathing depressive episodes say he is. It's poetic.

Edward underestimates Izzy. Knows him with his head, but the depression makes him underestimate his heart.

Edward doesn't get a bullet through the head, be hears the gun go off and - well - that's one way to spin "not even Izzy loves me any more" into a true statement.

Edward wants to live slightly more than he wants everything to end. It's the only reason he's alive. Before Izzy said Stede's name he was floating high on denial like that bird who never lands, keeping his depression and his destruction as a blast radius more than a dagger. He was lurching in the direction of dying by combat or by crew mutiny or by simple self-destructive behaviors, but he avoided thinking about anything long enough to have intent.

After Izzy's desperate attempt to intervene, Edward can't hide from his own reasoning anymore. Or his hurt. Or his self-enforced hopelessness. And with that comes aims. He has his rough night and then starts the massive red flag upswing. Cleans up. Gets ready for the big finale. He pushes Izzy with the "closure" conversation, trying to find a pressure point that will get him killed to close off the narrative with a artful bow.

Murder-suicide sounds like a fix to his problems, but he still wants to live slightly more. He still can't turn the gun on himself. He aims to be the murdered one.

After Izzy is gone, though, by Edward's own actions? That's the last straw he needs to commit in full. Thanking Frenchie? Just another final goodbye to get his affairs in order. "Take the day off, brother. Go live." The moment Izzy dies they all become dead men walking.

Thank FUCK that Edward a) still would prefer it if they snapped and murdered him / something out of his control killed him (he still wants to live), and b) still wants to die dramatically. A different man would have walked right back to his cabin and not missed.

Sidebar to appreciate the breakup boat crew some more because I love them:

Fang: "So... do we think he's better?" Jim: "Fuck no!"

Edward is ready to be the murderer with his cannon pointed at the mast, but he stalls on damning the whole crew to a watery grave (r.i.p. half of them), gives Izzy time to wake up and drag himself out to protect said crew, and then finally gets what he's been after.

Edward's motivations are already perfectly clear, but just to really hammer it in - he thinks he just drove a man he loved to suicide, and then he demands the couple he found kissing fight to the death with the reasoning:

"All love dies, I'm just hastening the process."

Jim literally just learned last season that was bullshit, my guy. It makes sense they are the one who finally puts a stop to him.

(Except the cannonball doesn't hit. There's no head wound. And Edward is alive when they take him back to the secret room, laying him out respectfully instead of letting the waves take him too. They don't even know if they'll survive. They certainly don't have anywhere to take the body, or a working ship to get there. Maybe they didn't notice because they didn't want to notice.)

(AND EDWARD STILL WANTS TO LIVE)

Both Izzy and Edward try to die. Both of them do - maybe, in the bottom of their hearts - want to live just a tiny bit more. They shoot each other. They say OUT LOUD they love each other (though Edward I swear to fuck you better say that to Izzy's face ohmygod). They are on this journey together.

BOTH OF THEM LIVE. AND NOW THEY HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT.

(I feel like I wanted to add stuff about Stede & Izzy meeting again but like. I don't even know. Izzy doesn't even know. Is he protecting the crew? Deflecting? Edward's dignity (-ish)? Stede's good opinion of Edward? Dealing with his own massively fucked headspace? Ask me again on Friday. Fuck.)

My fucked up guys are in toxic fucked up LOVE!!!

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starrystevie · 1 year

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how about steddie and “that’s more roses than i’ve ever seen in my life" !!

part 1

they're just tipsy enough that everything is funny.

the fire they made to go along with their picnic on the beach earlier is puffing out tendrils of smoke from where eddie had dampened it, the ocean is roaring faintly in the background, far enough away from the city that there isn't any ambient traffic noise to ruin the tranquility, and the moon is the only light to lead them through the unfinished beach house. everything smells of sawdust and paint, the smoke that clings to their clothes and the champagne on their breath.

"we definitely aren't supposed to be here," steve giggles out at eddie's side as he clings to him to maintain his balance. they're stepping over nails halfway sticking up from the subfloor and avoiding piles of lumber that lay in the hallways.

"shh," eddie laughs back, finger pressed over his lips as he pulls steve closer to him. "we won't get caught if you keep your voice down, i promise."

he uses it as an excuse to press his lips to steve's, shutting him up smile to smile, crowding him against the marble-topped island in the almost done kitchen. steve hums against his lips and lets himself melt against his fiancé, trusting the counter and eddie to hold him up.

"we're technically breaking and entering, you know that right?" steve mumbles against eddie's lips, his hands traveling down from around his neck to his waist and teasing at further before settling back at his hips. one, two, three more soft kisses. "we could get in some serious trouble for this, munson."

"no one lives here yet, it's fine." eddie puts a hand in steve's back pocket, pulls him close for another kiss before taking his hand in his own. he drags a still giggling steve to the staircase with the steps exposed and probably dangerous but the champagne in their veins lets them ignore that.

it's their last valentine's until the big day. they'll be married soon enough, just a few more months until they say i do with their closest friends and family around to help celebrate. it feels like the last chapter in a book where everything settles into place before they start to write the sequel. out of all the valentine's dates eddie's been on, he thinks this one might be his best orchestrated yet.

"where are we going?" steve whines. it's fake and laced with a laugh and it has eddie spinning him into his arms to smother his cheeks with kisses.

"so impatient," he mutters against steve's soft skin as he pulls him into a dark room. the windows have been covered with tarps so the moon can't shine in to guide their way. "wait here. and no peeking."

eddie stands in front of steve in the doorway, makes sure he has his eyes fully shut with a hand over top of his face and trusts that he'll listen. quickly, and ever so quietly, he maneuvers his way through the darkness to light the candles he has strategically placed around. just as quickly and just as quietly, he stands in front of steve, presses a gentle kiss the back of his hand that's still magically covering his eyes.

"okay, open."

the gasp steve lets out makes the trouble of setting everything up worth it. the walls and floor are bare, exposed wood everywhere, except-

"that's more roses than i've ever seen in my life," steve breathes out, and yeah, eddie's pretty proud of himself for that. bundles of roses cover the floor, candle votives placed precariously between them to cast a warm glow through out the room. in the center, there's a table, covered in more roses and more candles and a single piece of paper.

steve steps towards the table when eddie nudges at the small of his back, champagne-laced giggle as he trips slightly over his feet, and reads over the letter in silence. eddie watches from the doorway, sees the light click in steve's head as he turns around quickly with a smile growing over his beautiful, perfect face.

"it's ours?" he says, breathy and disbelieving, key on a chain dangling from is fingers.

eddie walks forward slowly, deliberately, and picks up a rose. he twirls it between his fingers for a second and then hands it to steve so he can put his arms round his waist. presses a kiss the side of his neck, his jaw, his cheek, his lips, only to pull back and whisper in his ear.

"welcome home, mr. munson."

valentine's day prompts: accepting through february 14th!

#THANK YOU FOR SENDING THIS SANNE! EVEN THOUGH I BARELY USED THE PROMPT AT ALL!#yes steve is taking eddie's last name because i said so #also surprise now all my valentines ask are going to be a series idk why but lets go with it #ask meme #answered #sanguineterrain #my writing #steddie #steddie hc #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie ficlet #steddie drabble #steddie fic

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the-knaves-world · 9 months

Text

Dark Paradise Lilia x reader

We're just going to pretend you can sleep while using silvers UM, ok?

Spoilers for book 7, angst? If you have a fear of water, darkness or being in a wide open but empty space.

Inspired by Dark Paradise by Lana Del Rey, I have sappy stuff coming up soon, just had to write this one down before it floated away from me.

Silver says not to succumb to your dreams....

While the forest is quiet, the Briar Valley soldiers of Lilia's unit watch over the small group.

Lilia watches one human in particular. There you sat, in front of the campfire, warming up your hands that had gone cold a fair while ago.

Lilia tilts his head as he sees the tiredness in your features. He had often wondered if you ever really stopped to rest for yourself. According to Silver, you were always busy with things back at Nightraven College. Lilia could only sigh as he noticed your eyes droop a little.

Lilia stood and strode over to your lethargic form, clicking his tongue as he grabs hold of your wrist as gently as he can. Lilia pulls you up to guide you back from the fire and to a safer distance so that, when you inevitably fall asleep, the forest won't smell like roasted human.

~a little bit later~

Kisses trailed down bared necks and shoulders, gracing chests that heave with gasping breath. The sound of murmured words of desire and love. The feel of lithe fingers gripping your hips and the drag of hips chasing a heady passion.

These sensations haunt your dreams. The flashes of black hair with pretty pink streaks and a fanged smirk that makes your heart beat faster and your voice croak out muted whimpers.

Raspberry red eyes that shine with love and care that have been rather absent in your waking life as of late. A low chuckle with the promise of sweet release and being cared for as you float above the highest of clouds.

Sometimes, when you daydream, you think you feel that familiar loving caress that grounds you when you woke up after an after class nap. When you shake off the daydream haze, however, all you find is a crimson gaze that feels like it's observing a rat in a maze.

But when you slip into slumber, on the rare chances you get while traveling in Lilia's dream, you get to indulge in your Lilia's touch and soothing whispers of love and desire once more.

You missed the feel of his touch and the sound of his laughter. The looks you would give one another when you found something funny and would turn to the other to see if they found it funny as well.

The dream tonight, however, was one that you had feared happening in reality...a nightmare indeed.

In the Diasomnia common room

"My Dove, you've worked so hard. Rest now, you needn't strain yourself any longer. It's over now."

Lilia cannot even gather enough strength to reach up to hold the back of your head, which lays on his chest.

"You can't leave me like this! We did everything we were supposed to! We saved Malleus and stopped the blot....you weren't supposed to run out of time so soon, you still...you still had a few decades..."

You sob as you clutch his body with shaking limbs. His skin was colder than usual, his skin more ashen than it's normal palor.

As your dream scene fades out, you feel yourself being rocked gently...what was that? Water?

The feel of water rocking you as you float along it's surface waves, the moon above you is cresent shaped and unnaturally bright.

Looking around you notice that the beach is a ways out from where you are in the water. The moonlight shines a serene glow over the waves of the ocean.

You look back to the beach to notice Lilia standing where the sand meets the oceans lapping waves. He looks healthier than the last time you saw him...he extends a hand, almost as if he is beckoning you to shore.

Even though you try, you cannot seem to move. The waves only seem to pull you further away from him. He grows smaller in the distance as the beach starts to disappear from view.

The last thing you hear is a soft, peaceful:

"It isn't time for us to meet again yet, my dove. Off you go."

The Cresent moon shimmers and shines but is soon swallowed by the darkness of the sky and the waves soon pull you under as you cry out for your fae lover.

You startle awake, gasping for air as you look around frantically, seemingly searching for something.

As you gasp for breath, you hear footsteps approach and soon feel a gloved hand grab your chin and turn you to look up and to your left.

"What happened, human?"

That voice, that holds the same tone as it does in the waking world, grumbles as the owner notices the tracks of tears down your cheeks.

Rough, gloved hands try their best to gently wipe tears away. A sigh escapes the man as he looks over your shaken form.

"Must've been bad, for you to be crying and shaking like that."

His tone isn't mocking or spiteful, but rather quiet. He sits down next to you as he looks around the forest, whether to keep watch or to avoid any eye contact, you don't quite know.

You feel something land on your shoulders, something warm. Pulling it over your shoulders and getting a look, you notice it's Silvers uniform jacket. Looking over to Lilia questioningly, he answers gruffly.

"That human boy put it over you while you slept. You looked cold, I don't need a human getting sick and slowing us down."

You nod and look up to see the moon shine in a Cresent phase. But the sky doesn't look as black as the one in your dream did.

Silence passes as the others continue resting, Lilia's troops do their jobs as Baul looks around the area for food. Things are quiet for once. The quiet is something you have come to despise recently.

The world was too quiet without his laughter and his quips about random things. Life should never be this quiet. You just hope that, when this is all over, your world won't have gone quiet forever....

#twisted wonderland #lilia #lilia vanrouge #lilia x reader #lilia vanrouge x reader #book 7 has ruined me #and so has dark paradise #My Writing 💌

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alj4890 · 2 months

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Round Robin

Choices Books/Characters Used So Far: The Royal Romance, Platinum

Word total: 2,552

Masterlist for the Round Robin event

Next writer: @kingliam2019

Hosted by @choicesprompts

Chapter 4 Initial Meeting

"Gah!"

Bertrand jerked awake from the nightmares he'd been trapped in. Sweat beaded his forehead yet he felt chilled to the bone. His breathing was labored as he kicked the covers off of himself. He glanced at the clock on his nightstand and decided that four in the morning was a perfectly acceptable time to give up on sleep.

"How could I possibly rest after that?!" He grumbled.

Slipping his robe on, he quietly left his suite.

The resort he'd secured for this endeavor was on an island off the coast of Cordonia. It had its own airfield, dock, and rolling hills with thick forests to block the hotel from any possible onlookers from the mainland. The front of the hotel faced the ocean and possessed the only beach the island boasted of. The rest was a rocky shore line that few well seasoned boat captains could navigate around.

The secluded area allowed his more famous clients a chance to work through the planned events without paparazzi and the public watching. This would also allow Bertrand to film and have exclusive rights to said progress of these well known individuals.

This has to work, he thought to himself. It must!

Once he made it to the main lobby, he drifted on until he found the hotel's kitchen.

He paused when he heard noise within.

Peering around the corner, he felt both relieved and irritated to see Maxwell rummaging around the industrial size refrigerator.

"Are you still up or have you decided to begin getting up early to start the day off right?"

Maxwell jumped in surprise and whirled around with a large tub of ice cream in his arms.

Bertrand released a resigned sigh at the sight. He knew his brother too well to even hope he had gone to bed at some point during the night.

"What are you doing up so early?" Maxwell asked in order to avoid further questions of his late night activities.

"After the nightmares I've had, I decided that sleep will no longer be of any use."

Bertrand started a nearby coffeepot.

Maxwell found a spoon and hopped up on the counter. Digging in to his tub of Rocky Road, he hummed his concern.

Bertrand rolled his eyes. "Was that an indication of sorrow over my predicament or am I supposed to take it as an inquiry?"

"Both." Maxwell said around a mouthful of heavenly flavors. "What'd you dream about?"

"What else other than the very thing that is weighing heavily upon my mind?" Bertrand grumbled.

"Ah." Maxwell ate another spoonful of ice cream. "How bad was it?"

"Horrible." Bertrand shuddered. "The worst case scenario one could possibly imagine. We were unable to help a wealthy client from Spain reveal her family's questionable background and we had a client murdered by one of our agents."

"Who did the murder?" Maxwell leaned forward with renewed interest.

"Someone I didn't know." Bertrand poured himself a cup of coffee. "It certainly made me rethink my policy of hiring from outside our social status."

After taking a sip, he launched into another rant of how this company had to succeed, that the world was watching and these people needed to be given a chance to prove they could be something other than their reputations.

Maxwell set the tub of ice cream down to search through a nearby cabinet. He came across a bottle of brandy that he figured couldn't hurt. He poured a healthy dose into Bertrand's coffee mug.

"What are you-Maxwell!" Bertrand scolded. "You might be able to flagrantly ignore the pressure we're under, but I--"

"Need to calm down." Maxwell finished for him.

"I can't be drunk on our first official day!" Bertrand argued.

"That teensy splash isn't going to do anything except help you relax." Maxwell pointed out.

Bertrand's jaw dropped when he saw the bottle.

"That's Courvoisier L’Esprit! Do you have any idea how expensive that bottle is?"

Maxwell shrugged. "So? You rented this whole place and all that comes with it. Enjoy it."

"I don't have the luxury of enjoying anything." Bertrand grumbled. "Much less indulging in spirits that costs nearly seven thousand dollars a bottle."

"Live a little." Maxwell patted his back. "It'll do you some good."

"Good? Like it did everyone here?" Bertrand snorted. "All I need to make this company falter is to show I'm no better than they are."

"So they've been caught doing a little bad behavior." Maxwell resumed his ice cream snack. "They're here now, ready to make things right. We'll help them. Word will spread how awesome we are. Badda bing badda boom: everyone wins!"

"Only you could make this sound easy." Bertrand mumbled as he sipped more of his spiked coffee.

"With our people working this, it'll be a piece of cake!" Maxwell exclaimed. "Just you wait and see."

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

A few hours later, Olivia Nevrakis, Duchess of Lythikos, was disabling a computerized lock of one of the suites on the tenth floor. With a satisfied click, the door opened without any further trouble.

Her nose wrinkled at the sight before her. The living room area had been completely trashed. The wet bar was littered with empty tequila bottles and strawberry margarita mixes. Lamps had been knocked over. Couch cushions were dirty from shoe prints. Clothes littered the floor and led the way past half eaten appetizers towards the master suite.

Not even bothering to knock and give warning to the occupants, she stormed into the bedroom and opened up the curtains.

There in the bed lay the client she was given. The sunlight revealed that the infamous musician was sandwiched between one of the resort's staff and one of the three Michelin chefs that worked in the kitchens. The two had the decency to sit up and mumble apologies while Raleigh Carrera casually stretched his naked body.

Olivia rolled her eyes at the sight before her.

"Out." She told his guests.

The two hastily left, swiping up their clothes along the way.

Raleigh groaned over the light and cracked one eye open to see what time it was.

He cursed when he saw that it was barely seven in the morning.

"Why are you in my room?" He grumbled.

"Why else?" Olivia replied. "You agreed to do this."

He rolled over on his back and took a deep breath before glancing her way.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"Olivia Nevrakis." She replied, not fazed at all by him being fully naked. "Duchess of Lythikos."

"Beaumont sent you here for what?" He muttered. "Torture?"

"Trust me, if this was torture," she smirked, "you wouldn't be talking right now."

He snorted as he rolled out of bed. Unabashed at her seeing him in all his glory, and secretly hoping it pissed her off, he walked towards her and paused a hair's breath away from her.

Holding her steady gaze, he reached behind her for one of the half empty tequila bottles.

His brow furrowed when she didn't react to his nearness. Lifting the bottle to his lips, he went past her to look out the window.

The morning light made him wince worse than the alcohol burning down his throat did.

"So?" He said. "I take it you're my shadow that Beaumont was talking about yesterday."

"Correct." Olivia pulled out her phone and began to scroll through some documents that had been sent over the night before. "And you're the PR Nightmare."

He snorted. "Nightmare, huh?" His smile grew hearing that. "I guess you could say that."

"Seems ridiculous to me." Olivia remarked. "Your drinking, carousing, and destruction of private property hardly seems worth my time."

"Giving up on me already, Red?" Raleigh teased. "And after your delightful wake-up call, I thought we'd be friends."

Olivia's chuckle had a cold edge that caught his attention. "Friends? No. I don't do friends with people like you."

His eyes narrowed upon her. "You got a problem with singers or tattooed people?"

"Neither." She replied. "In fact, I'm even slightly fond of someone who has a tattoo." Her own eyes raked dispassionately over him. "What I don't like is someone who rolls over and gives up."

"Gives up?" He threw his bottle down. "On what? What have I given up on?"

"From the few minutes I've been forced to endure your company, I would say self-respect." She shrugged. "I have very little patience as it is, so don't expect me to cheer you on during these next few weeks."

Olivia straightened her suit jacket, and walked out of his bedroom without a second glance.

Raleigh cursed as he chased after her.

"Wait a damn second!" He ordered. "What do you mean, I don't have any self-respect?" He gestured around his room. "What, just because I know how to throw a good party and enjoy life the way I want to; that gives off that I have no self-respect?"

"No." Olivia perched her hip on a table. "The fact that you allowed it to be the only thing you're known for proves you don't have any. Who cares what you do during your private time? You're the only one who has allowed this reputation to develop."

"Hold on!" He ran his hand through his tousled curls. "My former PR reps, the record label; they all demanded I date the new stars to help build up their reputations. I then was told to publicly break up with them and stage wild parties."

Olivia merely raised an eyebrow over that explanation.

"I don't need this shit!" He snapped at her. "Believe whatever the hell you like, but I do other things than screw starlets and trash rooms!"

She didn't even blink over him shouting that last bit.

A knock at his door had him swinging around in agitation to jerk it open.

Maxwell stood there with a camera propped up on his shoulder. His jaw dropped at the sight of the famous singer without a shred of clothing.

"Ummm." He cleared his throat. "I can...uh..."

He swallowed when Olivia appeared behind Raleigh's shoulder.

"Give us a few minutes." She ordered.

"A few minutes for what?" Raleigh griped. "I'm not going to participate in this bullshit another--"

The wind was knocked out of him when Olivia flipped him over her shoulder. He tried to breathe but lost the battle when she straddled his chest, pinned his arms down with her knees, and flipped a dagger in her hand so that the edge was right below his eye.

"Listen closely, because I will not repeat myself." She hissed.

Raleigh heard Maxwell breathe out, "Holy sh--" before Olivia kicked the door closed.

"You desperately need someone to right your image. Your label is already threatening to drop you. Your fans are sick of all the drama you do with fresh faced singers and actors." She told him.

Olivia leaned closer, her words dripping like venom.

"I personally don't care if you waste your life or not. You are nothing to me. You will never be worth my time." She paused. "But, I do have loyalty to the Beaumont's so I will improve your image."

She got off him, replaced her dagger in the strap above her thigh, and straightened her skirt.

"So here's how it is going to go." She informed him. "You're going to get off your hungover ass, get dressed for the camera, and do everything I tell you."

Her eyes narrowed upon him. "If you don't, then your little anonymous community centers in low income neighborhoods will cease to exist."

Raleigh shot up when he heard that.

"You know about those?"

Olivia slowly smiled. "Here's a helpful hint when dealing with me: I know everything before anyone else does."

She motioned towards his bedroom. "Go get dressed."

He got to his feet. "How did Beaumont find out about those? Nobody knows about that."

"Bertrand doesn't know. I conducted my own investigation on you like I do with everyone I interact with." She replied.

Raleigh blinked over that.

The last thing he wanted was for the kids in his old neighborhood to lose out on something to make their lives better. He had plans in place to build more of them across the United States. He couldn't let his true passion die now that he'd found it.

"You really think you can fix my image?" He asked.

"Of course I can." Her smile was full of smugness. "I never fail."

Raleigh took a deep breath and slowly released it. He knew he really didn't have a choice, which stung a bit. Still though, what did he have to lose by letting her try and repair his image? It was either going to work or it wasn't. Couldn't be much worse than what his other agents had attempted.

"Okay." He looked up at her. "I'll do it."

"Get dressed." Olivia ordered on her way to the door. "I'll tell Maxwell we'll be ready to film shortly.

"My nakedness bothering you, Red?" He teased to get a rile out of her.

"Hardly." She rolled her eyes.

"So you do like what you see?" He countered.

She eyed him, a hint of a genuine smile drifted across her lips.

"You're going to wish I did." With that, she stepped out of his room.

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

A few minutes later, Bertrand joined Maxwell outside of Raleigh's suite.

"How's it going?" He asked.

"Well," Maxwell hedged. "It's, um, it's been an interesting start."

"Really?" Bertrand's excitement couldn't be contained. "Let me see what you have so far."

"Maybe you should wait." Maxwell countered. "I mean, I haven't got all the angles right and I should really get some more footage of--"

"Nonsense!" Bertrand snatched the camera out of his hands. "I've been sitting on pins and needles. I just know that..."

His eyes widened at the sight of Olivia throwing a naked Raleigh Carrera over her shoulder and straddling him.

"Good God!" He screeched. "What on-- why?"

"It's okay!" Maxwell quickly reassured him. "Olivia said Raleigh will be ready in a few minutes. We can--"

"I can't release this to the public!" Bertrand cried out. "We're ruined! Those few seconds of footage will shut us down faster than--"

"People are going to love this!" Maxwell argued.

"Yes. Voyeurs of the worst kind." Bertrand raked his hands through his hair. "No one will ever hire our company again after seeing one of our agents physically attacking a client."

He groaned as the realization struck him. "My nightmares have become true."

"But I think--"

They both became silent when Raleigh opened the door once again. He was clean, dressed in his usual rocker style, and actually had a pleasant smile on his face.

"Sorry for the wait." He jerked his head towards his room. "I'm ready when you are to start filming."

Bertrand' gaped at the man. "You are?"

"Yeah." Raleigh glanced back at Olivia. "Gotta do something to fix this, right?"

"Er, right." Bertrand cleared his throat. "Well then. Maxwell, don't keep the man waiting."

He pushed his brother into the room. "I'll leave you to it, then."

Bertrand forced a smile as Raleigh shut the door then sagged back against the opposite wall.

"Oh thank God." He whispered.

With this strangely auspicious start, he wondered how the other initial meetings were going.

#choicesprompts #round robin fic #choices the royal romance #choices platinum #choices olivia #choices raleigh #raleigh carrera #olivia nevrakis #maxwell beaumont #bertrand beaumont

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areyoudreaminof · 1 year

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No Regrets in this Life: A Cassian Playlist

We're back with our good ol' Lord of Bloodshed. Cassian has had a lot of assumptions and descriptors thrown his way. Bastard, warlord, General, bastard, and himbo (my own personal favorite). But underneath his humor, you've got this very loving and empathetic man, who has a lot more emotional complexity than he gets credit for underneath that humor. So I really let myself have a lot of fun with this playlist. I branched out more sonically and lyrically. So come take a look with me behind the cut! And Listen Here!

Ares-Bloc Party

War, war, war, war I want to declare a war My fist breaks your porcelain nose There are other things my hands can do To create or to destroy Mini gods and goddesses First person singular Set it, set it, set it off

The Man-The Killers

Nothing can break, nothing can break me down Don't need no advice, I got a plan I know the direction, the lay of the land I know the score like the back of my hand Them other boys, I don't give a damn

Inhaler-Foals

So can you not go away If just for one day? Impossible, possible How do you feel now? How do you feel now in a war? War sends out for you And throw your fortune away

After Hours-The Weeknd

Thought I almost died in my dream again Fightin' for my life, I couldn't breathe again I'm fallin' in too deep Without you, I can't sleep 'Cause my heart belongs to you I'll risk it all for you I want you next to me This time, I'll never leave

Careful You-TV on the Radio

Not to say, not to say That you shouldn't share the blame There is a softness to your touch There is a wonder to your ways Don't know how I feel, what's the deal? Is it real? When's it gonna go down? Can we talk? Can we not? Well, I'm here, won't you tell me right now? And I'll care for you, oh, careful you

Bite Down: Bastille vs HAIM

You don't have to look any further I've been waiting here for you for time You don't have to look any further You're missing what is right before your eyes No one's gonna stick the pieces Together for you, together for you

HEADBOARD-Lil Ugly Mane

Caught in a fire Buried with you Off in a dream, dream, dream All I know is right now, I'm through

waves-Miguel

Don't stop, I wanna ride that wave All night, I'm gonna ride that wave Look here, I'm gon' surf in it baby Get turnt in it baby, put work in it baby Keep workin' it while I ride that wave Put it out, I'm on fire, fire That’s what I’m about, take me higher, higher, tonight (I'm gonna ride that wave) You got a body built for the beach Do you got that ocean? Body surf, don't sleep, body surf on me

Don't Wanna Fight-Alabama Shakes

What you like, what I like Why can't we both be right? Attacking, defending Until there's nothing left worth winning Your pride and my pride Don't waste my time I don't wanna fight no more

The Fire-The Roots & John Legend

There's something in your heart And it's in your eyes It's the fire, inside you Let it burn You don't say, "Good luck" You say, "Don't give up" It's the fire, inside you Let it burn

10 Lovers-The Black Keys

When I hear them use your name I get all choked up inside It's not only from the shame It's like ten different lovers died Except you're still just a mile away But there's nothing left to say Don't leave us down and out again Cause we might break instead of bend

Who-David Byrne & St. Vincent

Who’ll help the tired soldier? Far from his own hometown Carry these men and women Who get lost when the Sun goes down? Who is an honest man?

TKO-Justin Timberlake

Fair fight, knocked down, then I got over you Can't fight no more, you knock me out What am I supposed to do? Don't understand it Tell me, how could you be so low? Been swinging after the bell and after all of the whistle blows Tried to go below the belt, through my chest, perfect hit to the dome Dammit, babe

Young Men Dead-The Black Angels

And out of the black a figure forms A soldier in the sky With a drop of love Trying to set you free Run for the hills, pick up your feet and let's go We did our jobs, pick up speed now lets move The trees can't grow without the sun in their eyes And we can't live if we're too afraid to die

Good Times, Bad Times-Led Zeppelin

I know what it means to be alone I sure do wish I was at home I don't care what the neighbours say I'm gonna love you each and every day You can feel the beat within my heart Realize, sweet babe, we ain't never gonna part I feel good when I look into your eyes

taglist: @octobers-veryown, @melting-houses-of-gold, @velidewrites, @reverie-tales, @thesistersarcheron@ultadverb, @c-e-d-dreamer, @andrigyn, @foundress0fnothing, @vulpes-fennec ,@asnowfern,@mossytrashcan, @thelovelymadone, @the-lonelybarricade, @shadowriel, @separatist-apologist , @fieldofdaisiies, @stickyelectrons, @vanserrass, @panicatthenightcourt, @krem-does-stuff, @iftheshoef1tz, @damedechance, @headcanonheadcase, @cursebrkr, @andrigyn, @mossytrashcan, @thelovelymadone, @wilde-knight, @moonpatroclus, @stickyelectrons, @kataravimes-of-the-shire, @mossytrashcan, @sunshinebingo, @filthyglamdoll, @ablogofbipanic

#acotar playlist project #cassian #pro cassian #a little something for the cassian girlies #Spotify

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tobiasdrake · 3 months

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This cerulean dome place is horrifying. But we have a prophecy to fulfill, so we'd best get to it.

Enthusiastically, yes. Sovereign Headmistress and Supreme Lunar Abbess Valere of Zenith Academy at your service. Also, this is Zale; He is a blade dancer.

Are you the last of a forgotten race? Because we're supposed to be meeting someone here that meets that description....

Perfect. You are exactly what we're here to find.

So, uh, how are we doing this, TIA? You got a jar we can put this little guy in or what? Yoyo said that their unbreakable will is the key to figuring out your big alchemy secret so, like... maybe you're supposed to use them as an ingredient or something. I don't know alchemy.

Your name is Best? Fuck me, that's way better than mine. You win this round, little wispy cloud.

Are you an Ovate? Or, like, whatever this timeline had instead of Ovates? Which might just be Ovates because these are timelines, not wholly distinct multiversal realities, so there's no reason they can't share mythologies at least up to a certain point but also no reason that they have to either.

What was its original purpose? Actually, don't tell me. We left a friend in Repine that you can tell instead, and then she'll tell me. It's better for everyone that way.

Oh, okay, never mind. That's super simple.

Wait, why was that necessary? Did you screw up your climate somehow? Too many fossil fuels?

That's sort of like having a facility whose sole purpose is to purify the atmosphere and prevent the apocalyptic build-up of deadly toxins. It's good to have clean air to breathe but it also raises some questions.

I like the sound of an evil machine. Evil machines can break if you hit them hard enough. If it was a Dweller, then we were going to have a problem.

Oh! That is convenient as hell. We need to disrupt the cloud cover, and also I promised Serai that we could do a hit on the cyborg guy, so that's a nice 2-for-1 deal.

Incidentally, does anyone know what exactly we're planning to do in the Sky Base? Because if we can bring the climate controls back online, I'm for it, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't love the thought of crashing it into the ocean.

Or into Fort Fleshy.

Actually, definitely into Fort Fleshy. If there's a way we could angle it as we're bringing it down for a controlled descent....

Hold up, what? Sorry, I was thinking about ballistic vengeance. What are we talking about?

You have to be an Ovate. You share their love of apostrophes. Speaking as a renowned Ovate scholar--

Zale: She listens intently to old myths and occasionally they mention Ovates.

--I have discerned that all Ovate names have an apostrophe somewhere in them, likely for the purpose of being fanciful. Others, such as myself, do not have apostrophes in their names, likely because the Ovates used too many and did not leave enough for the rest of us.

Right, you mentioned that this place is a container of some kind.

It's like a pickle jar, extending the shelf life of the souls contained within. And the pink smog could be the brine, keeping the souls preserved until they're ready to be prepared into....

I miss Garl.

In any case, pickling can preserve the souls but only so long as they're kept in the brine. Jar breaks, brine goes everywhere and the pickles are once more exposed to the natural processes of decomposition. Or vulnerable to the various forms of hungering dust.

But if we could put B'st in a little jar then maybe....

You even need to ask that after the stunt he just pulled? He is extremely talented.

Oh, but not so extremely talented, you know. Very Mortal, this guy. The Very Mortal Alchemist is what we call him; That's his nickname right there. There's nothing special about it.

You shouldn't, uh.... You shouldn't fixate on it too much. Be impressed, be very impressed, be so impressed in fact that you offer us whatever help you can but don't. Like. Don't pay too much attention to it, it's not that big of a deal.

...pay attention to me instead. I'm the superstar. He carries my luggage. That is the dynamic and there is nothing suspicious about it at all.

Wait, hold up, is that what you've been muttering about? Is Living Glass, like, a soul jar but it's a golem?

Not a problem for us. I'm totally down for a smash and grab. In fact, this one will be a breeze 'cause the owner isn't even home. We can make all the noise we want.

Oh sweet, Cedric's a lockpicker. That will save us a lot of trouble with our B&Es moving forward. I'm going to remember this, Serai.

You know. I've been thinking about this ever since we lost him.

Teaks once told me that Aephorul is such a cruel piece of shit because he's jealous of humanity's ephemerality. He covets our ability to burn out and die. It's what he and Resh'an been denied for all these long eons.

To a man like Aephorul, so envious and insecure, there is no greater affront than to burn brightly for the short time you have to live. Then, to blissfully extinguish, bathed in glory and in the love of the people who matter most to you. To live better than he ever could and then to die well, like he's barred from doing.

With that in mind, who really got the last laugh? Who really won, that day?

We're pouring this one out for you, buddy. And by "this one", I mean B'st. And by "pouring out", I mean "of the pickle jar".

I think you'd be proud of the work we're going to do.

Perfect. I've had a moment to be in my feelings and it was nice. It's always important to take time and process your emotions in a healthy way.

Now that I've done that, I'm ready to resume processing them in an unhealthy way. Let's go do some crime.

#sea of stars #drake plays sea of stars

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cainluvr69 · 4 months

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Surely, We Can Make Miracles Chapter 25

Previous Chapter

The stone steps that Hwylryn led us to were beautiful. His magic, or maybe it was Balthazar's, shined in place of streetlamps, a constellation under the sea. I had a basket filled with sweets. He had the sight of an island destroyed many centuries in the past. I'm sure walking down the cobblestone path with Mithra on one side and Hwylryn on the other was a strange sight. Everyone else was watching us from afar. Balthazar floated in place between the three of us and the rest of my wizards. Oz and Arthur. Murr and Shylock. Owen was a little ways away from them, sitting on top of his trunk. Their clothes and hair floated in the current in the same way they would have in the breeze. Little bubbles danced around them. Hwylryn looked down at me, smiling gently.

Hwylryn: I had a lot of fun with you at twilight. Flying through the sky with Akira was fun. Playing around with Mithra was, too. It's gonna be dawn soon.

I didn't know what to say. I wanted to hold out the torta di cocco that Mithra had brought down all this way and have that somehow stop all the fighting… I really did mean to say something like that. But I had the image of my wizards, covered in injuries, circling in my head. He'd said that the Northern twins were his brother's enemies.

Mithra: I'm not forgiving you.

Mithra spoke before I could even open my mouth. He was wearing a look of disgust I'd never seen on Mithra before. His vividly green eyes were dark, the color of moss in a forgotten city.

Mithra: You put your hands on Rutile. I made a promise to protect him.

Hwylryn: You made a promise, even though you're a wizard?

Hwylryn was surprised, but I could still see a bright smile full of joy on his face.

Hwylryn: That's so wonderful. I'm glad you found someone you felt you could make a promise with.

Mithra: …

Mithra pressed his lips together, like he didn't know what to say in response to that.

Akira: Could you… Um, could you take this?

Hwylryn: More torta di cocco?

Akira: Yes…

Hwylryn: Thank you. I'm really happy. But we already made a promise to go back to the store together tomorrow… Does this mean we're not doing that?

He smiled sadly.

Akira: N… …No, we…

I couldn't get any more than that out. The kind, lonely scent of parting wafted through the air between us. Talking with one another was supposed to let us know each other better so that we could find a solution to our problems together. I wanted to tell him all about how precious each and every one of my wizards was. But the words just weren't coming. Everything I came up with floated up and away from me before disappearing, just like bubbles. Still, I couldn't just give up.

Akira: …Is there any way you can stop working with Balthazar?

Hwylryn: I let Gwawlyn die. I can't let Balthazar die too. What about you, Akira? Can you stop being the Sage?

Mithra: Excuse me?

Hwylryn: Can we play as just you and me, without this whole "Sage" thing getting in between us? I want to stay with you. Can we do that, Akira?

I lifted my head, my breathing trembling. Hwylryn's expression was earnest and genuine; he wasn't bothering to hide what he wanted, not even a little. His sincere, charming gaze told me he hadn't spoken a single untruth. I didn't…want to reject that gaze. I didn't want to hurt him. But…

Akira: …I…can't do that… Because I was only brought to this world so that I could be its Sage… …No… It's because I love everyone who calls themselves my wizards… I can't just stop being the Sage. I don't…want to stop…

I did my very best to convey everything to him, even as my voice shook. Tears spilled from the corners of my eyes, disappearing into the ocean. Hwylryn closed his eyes and mumbled something, as if trying to plead with me.

Hwylryn: I see…

Mithra: …

Mithra's lips were trembling. I wonder if he wasn't able to find the right words right now, either. But Hwylryn grinned, looking like a little kid about to pull a prank.

Hwylryn: Well then, Mithra! How about we pick up where we left off?

Mithra: …I suppose we should.

Hwylryn's smile was infectious, and it had caught Mithra in its trap; Mithra was smiling like he didn't have a care in the world right now.

Mithra: I'm not going to lose.

Hwylryn nodded, and then he held out his arms to us. He embraced us, hugging us as tightly as he could. His skin was as warm as it'd been inside his mouth. He stroked my hair somewhat reluctantly, resting his cheek against the side of my head.

Hwylryn: It only took a single evening for us to become friends. But still, I love both of you. I'm happy we met, Akira.

✦✧☾✧✦

Faust: Figaro!

Figaro: Faust… Leno! And the Eastern kids, too!

Mitile: Leno…! Leno!

Lennox: …Mitile…

Shino: Told you we'd get him back, Mitile!

Heathcliff: Did you get the cintamani stone?!

Figaro: Yep. Lord Snow should be a-okay soon enough. Thank you.

Heathcliff: Thank goodness…

Shino: So now we only need to worry about Shylock.

Riquet: Thank goodness you all came home safe! Don't you think, Mitile?

Mitile: Yes…sniffle.

Lennox: Sorry, Mitile…for making you worry…

Mitile: …I'm so happy… I'm just so happy you're back, Leno!

Figaro: Yep. Thank goodness. Everyone was all worked up, you know.

Lennox: …Sorry.

Figaro: No… I'm the one who should be apologizing here. I'll tell you all the details later…

Lennox: …? Okay…

Figaro: Putting that to the side, those wounds look terrible. Mitile. Can you make some healing potions to help with treatment? Make enough for the Eastern wizards, too.

Mitile: On it! <Ortonik Sealsispilce> …Is that good?

Figaro: Yep. Well done. We've got a lot of people with injuries, so make as many as you can.

Mitile: Alright… I hope my brother is okay…

Figaro: Mithra is with him. He'll be fine.

Mitile: …You're right. Leno, close your eyes and get some rest, please.

Lennox: …Alright…thank you…

Faust: … Figaro. Look after the kids for me. I'm going to meet back up with the Sage.

Shino: Us too…

Faust: No, you're staying here. Both of you should be on the verge of completely exhausting your magic. You wouldn't be able to move after very long.

Figaro: That goes for you, too.

Faust: But…

Figaro: Riquet, could you go grab Nero and Bradley? If things are all settled in the castle, ask them to head into the ocean. I'm worried about the others.

Riquet: Understood.

Figaro: Mitile, Riquet, can the two of you go underwater, too? I imagine we have people down there who are hurt or magically exhausted and can't get back on their own. I'd go there myself, but if someone seriously injured is brought back and I'm not here, I might not be able to make it back in time to treat them.

Mitile: Okay… Hopefully Rutile and everyone will be coming back okay, but we'll go out to greet them anyways!

Figaro: Yep. I'm trusting you guys.

✦✧☾✧✦

Bradley: That damn Figaro, pushing me around like I'm his underling…

Nero: What else were we supposed to do? Oh, Riquet, right there's good. We're gonna be using your lantern as a landmark.

Riquet: Yes! <Sunrotea Edif>

Mitile: How pretty… It's as bright as the last star in the sky at dawn!

Riquet: I hope that it can serve as a proper guide for those who may need it…

Nero: It will. But it might serve to guide our enemies, too. I'll be here to back you up if any weirdos start showin' up.

Riquet: Thank you!

Mitile: So you're with me, Bradley! We're going to search for anyone who might need help from the sky!

Bradley: Damn, guess we gotta. Guess I'll help ya out.

Mitile: Rutile…I hope you're okay…!

✦✧☾✧✦

Chloe: …Gasp… I managed to get up to the surface, but I don't have the strength to fly back…

Rustica: …

Chloe: …I need to pull it together… Rustica can't swim, after all… But… It's super dark, and the waves are so tall, so I don't know which direction to go… … …My arms…are so tired… …Ah… Was that super-bright star…there before…? …No… That's Riquet's lantern…! Riquet's here! Everything's going to be okay, Rustica! If we can just get that far, you're gonna get help! I wonder if he'll hear me from over here?! Heeeey…! Heeeey…! Riiiiqueeeet…! …I guess the waves are so loud he can't hear me… …Someone help…

Mitile: <Scintilla>!

Chloe: …! Wah, I'm floating…! Rustica is, too…?!

Mitile: Chloe! Rustica!

Chloe: Mitile…!

Bradley: See, what did I tell you. I toldja you'd be able to lift two grown-ups at once, and here you go provin' me right.

Mitile: Yeah! …But…I don't know if I can carry them both all the way back to the castle…

Bradley: Leave that part to me. Lil' tailor guy, get on one of our brooms.

Chloe: Bradley!

Bradley: Good work, kid. Hang on tight. Make sure Mister Bridesgroom doesn't fall.

Chloe: Bradleyyyy! It's really bad down there! We ran into a dragon that looked like a human, and…

Bradley: Gimme all the details on the flight back to the castle.

Chloe: Okay…!

✦✧☾✧✦

Borda Island Youth: Why are you taking out a boat in the middle of the night, Miss Natalie? Where are you going? Or are you planning on some morning fishing?

Natalie: Don't be stupid. A bureaucrat is going to be digging into things around here by the time dawn breaks. I'm taking the down payments we got for vacation homes and getting out of here. If the plan had gone the way it should've, we'd have ten times this amount… What a waste… Oh well. Maybe I'll meet a wandering prince with a huge inheritance, like the one those traveling bards keep singing about.

Borda Island Youth: Hn? Miss Natalie, weren't you going to marry me?

Natalie: …?! A door just appeared on the boat?!

Borda Island Youth: There's water coming out of it?! Is this seawater?! There's so much water coming out…! The boat…! It's gonna sink…! We gotta start bailing out the water! What's up with this door?! It won't close…! Aahh! All our money…!

Natalie: The money is sinking into the ocean…!

Cain: …Uwah…!

Rutile: …Wahh…!

Natalie: The playboy from this afternoon?!

Cain: …Cough… O-Owen?!

Borda Island Youth: The boat…the boat is sinking…!

Bradley: <Adnopotensum>!

Natalie: …?! Why is my body floating…?!

Bradley: Am I collecting all'a you guys, or what?

Cain: Bradley!

Mitile: Rutile…!

Rutile: …Mi…tile…

Mitile: …Oh no, these wounds are terrible… But, I'm glad we found you…! Everything's going to be okay now! You too, Cain!

Bradley: Guess we'll cart these freaks that were with 'em back to the castle, too.

✦✧☾✧✦

Owen: … Hey. He said that I'm stronger than you are.

Balthazar: …

Owen: What's up with that dragon?

Balthazar: If I call for him, he'll come.

Owen: Oh, really. So you didn't call for him even though you had a Central wizard and Western wizard wailing on you? Can't believe a Northern wizard like you is being reduced to begging a sea snake like him to save you.

Balthazar: …

Owen: Oz, are you listening?

Oz: …

Owen: Shylock, did you hear that?

Shylock: …

Owen: That's all you amount to as a wizard, Balthazar.

Balthazar: <Mare Praeda>

Owen: <Cuare Morito>

Balthazar: …?! What…?! That trunk is absorbing my magic…?!

Owen: You got it. A wizard who's completely lost his heart has a finite supply of magic. You should be running out pretty soon. You're just not on my level.

Balthazar: …kh…!

Murr: Good one! So you attacked him so you could take his magic for yourself?

Arthur: If all of Balthazar's magic is in Owen's trunk, he won't be able to run away even if he tries!

Balthazar: Urrgh…ghh…! …You're stealing…my magic…

Owen: Just shrivel up and die already!

Oz: …Owen…!

Owen: …?! …Aaahhh…!

Shylock: The dragon is… Hwylryn is eating Owen…!

Murr: <Eanul Lambru>! Woah, he's fast! I missed!

Arthur: …!

Oz: Where are you going, Arthur?!

Arthur: I need to save Owen! Lord Oz, you can…

Balthazar: <Mare Praeda>

Arthur: …! <Pernoctant Nixzo>

Oz: …Arthur…!

Balthazar: Oz! I'll turn you and your disciple to stone together, here and now…!

Murr: …I'm gonna go help out Oz and Arthur!

Shylock: I'll assist Owen!

Mithra: You don't need to do that.

Shylock: Mithra…!

Mithra: I'm going to kill Hwylryn.

✦✧☾✧✦

Owen: …gh…! <Cure Memini>! …Dammit…it's not working… That should've blown those fangs out of his mouth… Open your mouth, you…!

Mithra: <Arthim>

Hwylryn: …!

Owen: …gh, the fangs are out…!

Hwylryn: Mithra…

Mithra: Owen.

Owen: …What?

Mithra: We're swapping off.

Owen: Excuse me?

Mithra: I'm going to kill him.

Hwylryn: …

Owen: Fine by me. I'm going to go get revenge.

Mithra: Who are you avenging?

Owen: Whoever.

Mithra: Did someone turn to stone?

Owen: As if. They had me protecting them.

Mithra: …

Owen: I protected them. Got a problem with that?

Mithra: …No… Take care of the Sage after you kill the other one.

Owen: Sounds like a pain… Sure, fine. I can do that.

✦✧☾✧✦

Akira: …I hope everyone's okay…

Shylock: Master Sage, this way!

Shylock was protecting me as we traversed the undersea city. Murr and Arthur were fighting Balthazar right in front of us.

Murr: <Eanul Lambru>!

Arthur: <Pernoctant Nixzo>!

Balthazar: <Mare Praeda>

Arthur was protecting Oz's back, desperately blocking Balthazar's magical attacks. Balthazar was infuriated.

Balthazar: Use your magic, Oz! Are you mocking me…?!

Murr: Freaking duh, Balthazar! Oz is the greatest wizard in the world! Do you have any idea how far beneath him you are?!

Balthazar: How dare you…! <Mare Praeda>

Murr's provocations stoked the flames of Balthazar's fury, and he began a series of attacks, one after the other. There was a terrifying amount of force behind them, but that didn't matter very much if they didn't hit--and they didn't.

Shylock: …I was intending to bring you back to Lord Oz's side, but that seems like it could be a bit dangerous at the moment. …! <Inviebelle>

That same moment, a bitterly cold twister of ice aimed its jaws at us from overhead. Its terrible current threatened to freeze everything around it, but before it could reach us, Shylock exhaled, the smoke from his pipe wrapping around us. That smoke turned into pale pink bubbles as it spread out, protecting us.

Shylock: Everything is okay, Master Sage.

Akira: Okay…

Something massive cast a shadow above our heads. It was Hwylryn and Mithra. The twister of ice had probably been Mithra's magic. There were patches of ice all over Hwylryn's huge tail. But with a sweep of his tail, the ice was gone.

Balthazar: <Mare Praeda>

Murr had been elegantly dodging Balthazar's attacks when Hwylryn's huge body suddenly rushed past him. Without any way to escape, Balthazar's next attack was set to hit home.

Murr: …!

Arthur: Watch out…! <Pernoctant Nixzo>!

Oz: Arthur…!

Arthur threw up a barrier around Murr. But Arthur's barrier wasn't enough to stop the attacks of a Northern wizard like Balthazar. The barrier cracked, a black gash running through it.

Arthur: …!

The crack widened, but right as I thought it was going to swallow them up… A ferocious dog's howling reverberated through the water.

Owen: <Cure Memini>

A dog with three heads crashed through the darkness as it howled, charging towards Balthazar.

Balthazar: …!

The glass bubble floated out of the way--Balthazar avoided Cerberus's charge. Still, Cerberus was faster, and it whirled on Balthazar and chased him.

Owen: Go. You're my dog, right? Tear him apart!

✦✧☾✧✦

Cerberus leapt forward and caught the bubble of glass.

Balthazar: …!

✦✧☾✧✦

Hwylryn: Balthazar…!

Mithra: Where are you looking? Your opponent is me, if you forgot.

Hwylryn: …!

Mithra: <Arthim>

✦✧☾✧✦

Balthazar was glaring daggers at Owen from his vantage point under Cerberus's front paws. But that glare warped into a grin, and he began to laugh.

Balthazar: …Haha…

Owen: …

Balthazar: Haha… I understand…

Owen: Yeah? Tell me what you understand.

Balthazar: I should've just done this from the start, instead of hesitating…

Shylock: … Stop that, Balthazar.

Shylock's expression as he looked at Balthazar was a tense one. I wondered what they were talking about. I was about to ask when I realized something and gasped. I remembered what Murr had said. Balthazar had both the inclination towards and means for sinking an island.

Murr: You're going to sink Borda Island?!

Owen: What?!

Balthazar: Wicked gods slumbering beneath the sea, hear me… Spirits of darkness, primeval souls of creation… I offer…my body and soul to you…

Shylock: Balthazar…!

Balthazar: …Give me the power to rend land and sea apart…! <Mare Praeda>

Balthazar screamed his spell. The next second, his head disappeared inside of the glass bubble.

Shylock: …Balthazar…

A tremor ran through the undersea city. A dreadful red light was born from the bottom of the ocean, filling the area.

Murr: We're getting back up to the surface now!

Arthur: Master Sage! This way!

Akira: What about Mithra?!

Owen: He'll be fine! Hurry!

With Arthur's guidance, I finally took my place at Oz's side again. We held our hands out to one another, our fingers linking.

Oz: <Vox Nox>

And with that, we were in the air again.

✦✧☾✧✦

Akira: …! The wind…

It had been so long since I felt air on my skin that for a moment, my body didn't know how to react to it. Owen had been pulled up with us by Oz's spell, and he was mad about it.

Owen: Excuse me? Why did you drag me along with you? I can fly by myself, you know.

Oz: …

Owen: Don't just ignore me. Say something.

Arthur: Master Sage! Look…!

Arthur was looking down, pointing at the ocean we'd just been in. There was…light, or something like light, carving itself a path from the undersea city towards Borda Island.

Murr: That was a forbidden summoning spell!

Shylock: He fed his own body and soul to the spirits…to sink Adams Island, as he did now.

But back then, Hwylryn had saved Balthazar. Left with nothing but his head, he slept for a very, very long time--that was the only way he could've continued to stay alive. But right now, Hwylryn was… Fighting Mithra, tears rolling down his cheeks and scattering in the pre-dawn sky.

Next Chapter

#.mhyktl #.eventtl #.main story tl #4th anni

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laundrybiscuits · 10 months

Note

Hi! Was wondering what your favourite books are. I absolutely love your writing and so I'm curious!

This is such a specifically flattering ask, thank you for sending it!

It's also quite a challenging thing to answer—I love so many books for so many different reasons. There are some that I adored passionately while reading but never intend to read again (e.g. Carmen Maria Machado's "In the Dream House") and there are some that I have read over and over again until reading them feels like tracing the lines on my own palm (e.g. Terry Pratchett's "Monstrous Regiment").

But if I think about the books that have had the biggest impact on me...

This is cheating a bit, but Ted Chiang's "Stories of Your Life and Others" is a SF anthology that includes the short story basis for the movie Arrival. I love the short story enough that I have a deeply unpopular hatred of the movie and all the ways I think the adaptation fundamentally misunderstood the original tale. My frankly disproportionate vitriol towards Arrival has been seething unabated for years.

For sheer wordcraft, Ocean Vuong's poetry always knocks me out but "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" is, whew. It's something else. I mean, look at this:

Who will be lost in the story we tell ourselves? Who will be lost in ourselves? A story, after all, is a kind of swallowing. To open a mouth, in speech, is to leave only the bones, which remain untold. It is a beautiful country because you are still breathing.

James Baldwin is the absolute master of knife-sharp prose, and I'll always remember reading "Giovanni's Room" back-to-back with Mishima Yukio's "Confessions of a Mask." Hell of an experience.

Honorable mentions go to: Gu Byeong-Mo's "The Old Woman and the Knife," N.K. Jemisin's "The City We Became," Witi Ihimaera's "Pounamu Pounamu"...I'm sure I'm forgetting more, these are just the first titles that came to mind.

I'm a little hesitant about adding this, but I feel like I should also mention "Lolita," because reading that book made me realize the sheer skill involved in creating an unreliable narrator.

That dissonance between what the narrator was telling the reader and what was very clearly actually happening blew my mind, and it's something I've aspirationally echoed in my own work ever since, albeit with much more innocuous subject matter (and varying levels of narrator intentionality). I also legitimately think it made me a much sharper and more critically engaged reader, because we're not actually supposed to trust what we're being told.

However, I think that the way it's been taught and adapted has been highly irresponsible, and that puts it in a really difficult position. I really can't even recommend it per se because it's so tough to disentangle from the stunningly bad takes that have dogged it since its very first publication.

I first read it on my own with no context when I was maybe 15 or 16, just picked it up from the library because it was marked as a classic (and I'd been reading a lot of Russian lit at the time, so I assumed a name like Nabokov would be more of the same). It was quite a shock to me years later when I learned that it's frequently been billed as a story of "forbidden love." Even to my teenage self, it seemed so incredibly obvious that this was a story about someone trying and failing to justify some of the worst actions imaginable.

"Lolita" is one of those cases where I feel like Death of the Author is not the best or most appropriate framework. Nabokov was extremely clear that it is not a romance, and I personally think his intent is pretty unambiguous within the text itself. However, people have inarguably misused the book to cause harm by presenting it as a romance, and that's impossible to ignore. No, the book itself is not inherently responsible for that harm, but it has become so enmeshed in that history that I don't know if there's a way to separate it out from its warped popular image. I still think the actual text is a stunning achievement as a work of art, and I can't deny the immense impact it's had on me both as a reader and as a writer, but...the cultural mismanagement makes it complicated to love.

#askbox

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spontaneouskoopalingblog · 5 months

Note

What is everyone's main method of attack?

Ludwig: "My wand, of course! I'm the best at magic. And also, I can't do physical things like punching or kicking because my bones are hollow and would shatter if I tried..."

Roy: "Oh, I have many ways of destroying you!! Squeezing you to death with my bare hands, impaling you with my horns or spikes, smashing you with my huge tail, strangling you with my scarf, hell--Even just stepping on you'd prolly kill you 'cuz I'm so heavy!"

Lemmy: *Uses his wand to create a pile of snowballs and starts throwing them at you* >:D *Gets tired after a bit and lays down* *Takes a nap*

Morton: "Ah, well, sand koopas evolved to not really be able to attack. We evolved to defend ourselves and that's it..." *Curls into an armadillo-like ball* "I'm practically invincible in here!!"

Roy: -_- *Kicks Morton*

Morton: *Rolls around the room uncontrollably* "AAAAAAAAA-"

Wendy: "It depends on the situation... I typically use my wand, but if we're outside, my favorite thing to do is grab someone and drag them under a river or ocean with me! I can breathe under water, but they can't!! So I just hold 'em down there 'til they drown~"

Iggy: "......... Slashing........." *Shows his long, sharp claws*

Larry: "MAGIC!!!"

Jr: *Shrugs* "I'm not supposed to attack. That's my siblings' job. MY job is to sit here and try not to get killed without killing anyone else."

Pom-Pom: "My SWOOOORD!!!" *Shows off her cool, green sword*

Boom-Boom: "Uhhh... I dunno... Attacking isn't really my thing..."

Hariet: "Everything!!!"

Topper: "I mostly use my spear... It's the only thing I kept from my Koopa Troop days..."

Spewart: "Acid." *Dumps one of his acid balls onto a huge rock and the rock immediately begins to melt into nothing*

Rango: "My hat! There's a switch on it that makes the blades on the brim spin like on a chainsaw! It was originally used for spinning lights around my head, but when I became an assassin, I tweaked it a little bit..."

#koopalings #broodals

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a-glimpse-of-fantasy · 2 years

Note

I will give the same torture. ;)

🗣 having an argument, pairing: Jake & MC.

Okaaay! I am being tortured T-T Rene you baddie *pouting :p

Actually the above was supposed to be the only thing here BUT it's been forever since Rene sent this to me TT She probably forgot >< Sorry about that . Hehe ^^*

Warnings : Swearing

Don't let go...

"And that's why you went there?" I nod, for the ten-thousandth time. Jake slams his fist on the concrete wall, the wall hasn't been smoothened because this is an abandoned construction site. He probably bruised his knuckles.

"For real?! And am I seeing things or did I see you nodding just now?! What the f*ck are you thinking, MC?!"

I cross my arms with a deep sigh. "I had no other choice, Jake! For how many times am I to tell that they said they'd kill you?!" As soon as such words escaped my mouth, I am grabbed by my shoulders before my back is slammed to the wall. No, I am not hurt by any means, Jake always seems to care enough not to hurt me.

Our relationship is becoming more like this over time. I chose to abandon my life for Jake three years ago. And now we're continuously running away from his pursuers, with only each other to lean on. Nowadays, Jake has started to become a little violent. I know it's his pent-up frustration and guilt. And I don't dare imagine ourselves a ordinary couple, for Jake made it clear that we never can be. Still, I can't help but wish we could be a little more…peaceful than we are.

"Listen. I know I was stupid to walk into that trap. Especially because you were not captured by them." I stare into his deep blue eyes before letting out, "BUT, wouldn't you have done the same thing if you were in my shoes, Jake?"

His fist is slammed to the wall again, just next to my left ear. "I have told you million times, MC. If I am captured or in any danger, you are to escape into our safe house! You are not supposed to come and save me!"

I shove him away, Jake backs a little. "Oh yeah?! You are to rot in a f*cking hell or get your head smashed and I am to f*cking run away on my own? Would you have done so if I were-" I am cut off again, before I realize, my back touching the cold wall again. "What I am to do in such a situation is not relevant. For, I have already told you how YOU should act!"

I close my eyes tightly, "Jake, how many times have we talked about this? For f*cking three years have we argued over this!" "That is what I have to tell! I have made it clear so many times, but why do you always do the opposite?!" I am shaken by my shoulders violently, my poor shoulders must be bruised a little by now. "No. Even now, it's not too late MC. You can save yourself from me. We can still make it seem like you were abducted by me and-"

I press my lips to his. My lips, which were bitten over and over while I was captured; before Jake saved me a while ago, sting over his dry lips. The hands-on my shoulders lower and embrace my waist. my hands embracing his neck, he shoves his tongue in my mouth. We part, gasping for breath. His hazy blue eyes captivate mine, I am lost in those ocean-like eyes. Maybe he actually does hold space as wide as the ocean in those deep orbs…

"I just…" His head rests over my shoulder, his ebony hair smells…well like, Jake. "I thought I lost you, MC." His words well up my eyes, and while warm tears escape my burning eyes, I run my fingers through his hair.

"I'm sorry Jake. I'll be careful from now on. So please don't ask me to leave you…"

His muffled voice enters my ears, "I will go crazy if something happens to you, MC. Still, I can't live without you either. I'm sorry I can't let go of you, my love."

"Don't let go, Jake. Don't you dare let go of me, ever." I hear my voice choke a little.

-The End.

#duskwood everbyte #duskwood jake #duskwood #duskwood jake x mc #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood mc #duskwood fandom #duskwood one shot #ask response #answered asks

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i-like-sparkly-things · 2 years

Text

White walls

A halstead!sister fic

Jay pulled you into him, letting you rest your head on his chest.

"I'm..I'm.... supposed to be..... happy" you whispered, a headache pulsating through you. Will slightly pulled away to look at you.

Requested : Yes by @sorry-i-spaced!

Warnings : gifted kid burn out. What is an adult if not a pile of sadness? Mention of drug usage (not by reader tho)

Word count : 650

Note : im so sorry that this is so so late I've been procastinatinggg

MASTERLIST

***

You slowly unlocked the door to your new apartment, balancing the duct taped cardboard box on one hand.

You took in a shaky breath, making your way through the corridor, leaving the door ajar.

You placed the box on the kitchen counter, right beside other similar containers.

Every box had little pieces of you. Little pieces of your life.

Your college years had gone by in a blink of an eye. Your friends had bid farewell and had started their own journeys to explore their lives.

So you stand alone in the middle of your new apartment, surrounded by nothing but four white walls.

You didn't quite grasp why you were here.

You had done everything by the book.

From being the president of the math club and astronomy club, to being class representative, to being valedictorian. You ticked every box in life's to do list.

You had gotten a job a year ago, content with both your colleagues and salary.

So what were you missing? Why were you crying?

The music was bursting through the speakers, the strobe lights were pulsating to the beat. Everyone was dancing,

at the party you didn't go to you.

Your best friend was singing karaoke in a nearby bar. People were drinking. People were laughing.

You had midterms to prepare for.

Your roommate had coloured her hair red. Some were trying out weed. Others pot. They were doing stupid shit. Illegal shit.

You were busy taking lecture notes.

Every month, one day was reserved for mani-pedi's, long acrylic nails with sparkles in them were accompanied by the latest gossip.

You were drafting your thesis.

That's where Jay and Will found you, head between your knees, sobbing your heart out in the middle of your new apartment.

It was instinct. Your brothers were by your side in seconds, gently rubbing your back.

Jay pulled you into him, letting you rest your head on his chest.

"I'm..I'm.... supposed to be..... happy" you whispered, a headache pulsating through you. Will slightly pulled away to look at you with a raised eyebrow.

"I have everything. I've done everything. I have a job. An apartment. I've spent every fibre of my being preparing myself to be an adult,.... but here I am, as clueless as ever. I'm not supposed to be sad" you choked, your hiccups making it harder to speak.

"Y/n, look at me" Jay said, tilting his head to meet your eyeline "You don't need a reason to be sad. You're human, and that's reason enough. If there's anything I've learned, it's that you should let yourself feel whatever you're feeling"

"Jay's right, y/n." Will assured softly, rubbing your knee. "There's no rule that you have to be happy at a certain time in your life. You can be sad. You're allowed to be sad."

"It's just that I've spent so much time--"

"No , we're not doing this--" Jay quickly, but gently, interrupted you."--we're not going to look back. Nothing good has ever happened from looking back."

"This is what you're gonna do, " Will said, wiping a few tears from your cheeks, "you're gonna take a month off from work, and stay with the two of us."

"What??? I can't do that, are you crazy!!?!? "

"Yes you can, y/n. You need it"

"It'll just be the three of us, just like when we were kids" Jay smiled "You need some time for yourself y/n. It'll give you the time to think about your future, and it'll help us get you the help you need. How does that sound?"

You looked around you. The walls were still white. Still blank. Still an ocean of emptiness. Just like your life. You worked and worked and worked to a point where you didn't know who you really were, besides numbers on a sheet or ranks on a list.

But here you are, sitting on the floor beside your brothers. If anyone could help you, it was Jay and Will, and you were sure of it.

"Yeah ....... it does sound good" you breathed, your chest feeling a little lighter, being sandwiched between your brothers.

"Then it's settled. From today onwards, it's us, Wall-E and thick crust, double cheese pizza against the world" Will smiled.

***

Taglist : @girlandthemoon @herecomesthewriterwitch @megaliciab @meyocoko @alkadri-layal @let-me-luve-you @lxna-mikaelsxn

@wordsandupstead

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