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20moonchild21 · 3 years

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𝗦𝗲𝗵𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵𝘁 [𝗯𝘁𝘀]

⇉ 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 18

[pairings]

JK x female!oc, Bunny!JK x human!female!oc, Jin x female!oc, Leopard!Jin x human!female!oc, Jimin x female!oc, white Tiger!Jimin x human!female!oc, Taehyung x female!oc, black Tiger!Taehyung x human!female!oc, Hobi x female!oc, Fox!Hobi x human!female!oc, Namjoon x female!oc, Wolf!Namjoon x human!female!oc, JK x Jin x Jimin x Taehyung x Hobi x Namjoon x female!oc

[warnings]

abusive past

[words]

4.2k

[author]

I am so glad to finally add Namjoon fully to the story. I just love him so much.

Like always, I can only recommend you to check out @starlightauroras-main story Inferiority Complex. It’s super cute and exciting to read. But recently, I found another Hybrid!reader story from @secretbangtnn. I definitely will stay excited for Until I bleed out! I hope so will you!

By the way, did you stream Butter? I have to admit that I was shocked when I saw JK‘s eyebrow piercing 😂 How did you like the song? Me personally, I love it. I also love to watch the behind the scenes videos. The boys put so much passion and effort in everything they do, it’s just amazing.

Stay healthy and safe!

Mꨄ

[chapter 17 ||| chapter 19]

Today had been an eventful day. Hope had finally been able to get Jimin’s and Taehyung’s adoption papers, so both of them could live with her officially. In that occasion, thy all had gathered together at the kitchen table in the evening, each boy with a glass of orange juice and Hope with a glass of sparkling wine.

“Okay, guys. I wanna say something.” Hope announced, as she stood up from her chair. “As you know, today we officially welcome Taehyung and Jimin in our family and I want to use this occasion to say a few words. You guys turned my life upside down ever since I met you, but I never regretted anything. I want to thank you, Jin and Jungkook, that you trusted me enough to stay and that you gave Taehyung and Jimin a chance to live here even though it was hard for you. I also want to thank Jimin and Taehyung for giving us the chance to show you that we are good people. And of course Hobi, thank you for always being so positive and funny. I – I really do love you guys.”

Jungkook was the first one who was standing up from his chair and walked towards the girl. He wrapped his arms around her smaller body, before he pressed a short kiss onto her lips. Time has already passed since their first kiss in the park and by now, it was no longer a big deal for them to share some small kisses in front of the others from time to time.

The small shade of red on her cheeks increased when Jimin was the next one to hug her tightly, before he pressed a longer kiss onto her cheek. The white tiger was still more carefully when it came to kissing in front of the others, but Hope didn’t mind at all. She gave him a small kiss back and let go of him.

Jin also came to give her a hug. The older boy was still hesitating to kiss her but instead, he wrapped his long tail tightly around both of their bodies.

“Ehm.” Hope pulled away from the leopard when Taehyung cleared his throat. “I also want to say something.”

Jin rubbed his head one last time over the girl’s neck, before he walked back towards his chair. All 5 people were now expectingly at the black tiger, who had stood up from his chair. The room fell silence for a few seconds, while he was looking for the right words to start.

“I – I don’t really know how to start.” He admitted, scratching his neck with his left hand. “I – I want to apologize to all of you. I gave all of you a hard time, even though you all were nothing but nice to me and my brother. Jungkook and Jin, I thank you for letting us stay with you even though I have not always been nice to you, and Jimin, I am sorry that I made you choose between me and the others. You were just trying to make new friends and be nice, but I gave you feelings of guilty all the times for doing so. I am sorry for that.”

Before Taehyung even had the chance to finish properly, Jimin had already stood up threw himself into his brother’s arms. Hope knew what hard times Jimin had went through. She had found him crying a few times, desperate and helpless because he had not known what to do anymore.

The girl watched as Jungkook stood up and walked over to the two tigers, before he wrapped his arms around the smaller one. He his nose against the white tiger’s fluffy hair and whispered something into it.

It had not been unnoticed by Hope how close all the boys were, despite all the troubles they had at first. Especially Jimin, who had wrapped everyone around his fingers with his sweet personality.

Hope loved to watched the three younger ones joking around together and with each other. She loved to watch Jin and Jimin cooking together in the evenings, and she loved to watch them interacting with Hobi as if they had known him for years.

“Hope.” The girl gasped when she felt Jin wrapping his arms around her from behind, before he placed his chin into her right shoulder. “You were snoozing out again.”

A shiver an down the girl’s spine when she felt the boy’s breath tickling her ear. She knew that by now, it was impossible to hide her redden cheeks every time one of the boys was hugging or kissing her. Even if you could, they would probably hear her heart beat with their extra senses. Hope sometimes had the feeling that they were enjoying those moments where she was struggling to hide her emotions.

Like a few days ago, when she had been sitting on the sofa, watching TV like usually. Hope had been laying between Taehyung’s legs with her back against his chest and her head laying on his shoulder. The black tiger had his tail wrapped around the both of them and his arms on her waist, before he had begun to rub his head against the sensitive skin of Hope’s neck after a while.

It had not felt uncomfortable at all. All the others boys had scented her before, so she was kind of used to it, but Taehyung also loved to tease. After some time, he had begun to bump not only his cheek but also his nose and lips against her skin. If that had not been enough, he had even let his teeth nibbing at her ear from time to time which had make the girl gasp sometimes. Taehyung had only chuckled, and also some of the other boys had seemed to enjoy that scene.

She sometimes wished that her body would not be some obvious, but deep down inside, those feelings were some of the most beautiful she had ever felt, and sometimes it made her wonder, if that was how love was supposed to feel like?

Namjoon laid wide awake in his bed this night. It was one of those days his mind keep racing and racing with thoughts, letting him no chance to find some sleep. A glance at the clock showed his that it was close to midnight, making him groan in frustration.

His room was only enlighten by the small lamp on his nightstand, and when he had looked over towards the clock, his eyes had also fell onto the small, square shaped object laying peacefully on the small desk. That girl – Hope – or rather her Hybrid had given him the small book.

Hope. A feeling he had not been feeling in a very long time. Since he could remember, he had been on his own out there, and at first, he didn’t mind at all. In his mind, there were several smaller pieces of memories when he was a child. Like all Hybrids, he had been bred and living in a laboratory a little bit outside if Seoul.

Being locked in a small cell, he had early been taught that in this world no one was truly caring for each other. Those scientist had only got him out when they had needed to make some new experiences with him. During those times, when Namjoon had felt nothing but pain and betraying, he had started distracting himself by taking in every small piece of information he could pick up and focus on that.

He had often read over those giant posters on the wall, showing off different anatomies of different kind of living beings. Quickly, he had figured out how a huma’s and Hybrid’s body was working, where every single bone was placed or where the different veins were running along. Somehow, he even had caught a glimpse on some Hybrid’s files that had been laying around on the desk that had been telling him for which purpose he had been there.

At first, it had hurt him that he only was a testing object for human to find out how sensitive his instincts were working during different circumstances, but then, that ever had been the only truth in his life. One day, he had accidentally overheard a conversation of two scientists talking about how the testing series would be stop soon and they would needed to get rid of all the participating Hybrids.

He had not known what that meant, but a few days later, he had been dragged out of his cell and brought to a large airplane. Those people had told him that they would fly to America to take place at an auction, but it had only been a large lie. They locket him up and drove into a small forest near the airport, and when night had been come, they had thrown him out of the car like he was just a pile of garbage, before driving away.

Still locket in the cage, the small and confused wolf had waited desperately, hoping that someone would come and pick him up from that cold place, but it had never happened. In the moment he had realized his situation, he had promised himself to never trust anyone again in this world. Luckily for him, he was smart and had been teaching himself enough to survive all by himself in the forest.

For several years, he had been able to hide until one day, he had been too careless while hunting. A hunter had spotted him and immediately had called the police to lock him up again.

Namjoon closed his eyes tightly when the memory of him being teased to the ground by a police officer. He had never meant to hurt anyone, but in that situation, he had not known what to do anymore. The emotions where running wild inside the now older wolf. It took him everything to keep himself under control right now and to not let the emotions take over his body.

Of course he was not stupid. He knew that after that incident there would be no chance for him to win his upcoming court date. Hybrids were absolutely not worthing anything to those creatures calling themselves human. They won’t ever let him win. They would lock him up again or even worse, they would put him to sleep for being dangerous. It was hopeless.

Hope. There was that name again. Laura had brought that small, blond haired girl up a few days ago. Another face that he had met, and another face that would be gone withing the following days. He knew it. He had seen it.

Laura had often brought some people with her in the past. Lawyers, psychologists, judges…but none of them had got him to talk. They all had given up on him without even trying, so why trusting that new girl now? He tried to convince himself that she was like anyone else, but something – a small little voice inside his head – was telling him that something about her was special.

Was it the tone of her voice that had caught his attention from the first moment she had been talking or rather the words she had been using? Or maybe her round, brown eyes that looked so innocent and trustworthy? Or the fact that she already had adopted 5 Hybrids that seemed to have a good life with her? Namjoon couldn’t tell at all.

Suddenly, he wondered how the small girl’s home must look like. Living with 5 other people, she must had a big apartment or even a house. But maybe all of her Hybrids had to live in one room or even in cadges. A shiver ran down his spine while thinking about this. She had not sounded like she would be cruel to them, but then, she was human. No one could tell what was really going on in her head.

He closed his eyes and thought about the past days instead and like the past minutes, his mind was occupied with thinking about that new girl. Somehow, Hope had convinced Laura to let him go outside for the first time in weeks. His heart had been beating so fast when he had felt the sun beams filling up his skin with warmth and energy. The white, clean room he had to spend his days in had been making him sick over the last weeks.

Hope had been with him all the times. She had not been talking much, but despite their lack of conversation it had never felt uncomfortable. In fact, Namjoon enjoyed those moments with, because it was the only time of the day he could escape his clean, white prison without anyone bombarding him with questions or even treatments.

He didn’t want to recognize it, but deep down inside he somehow had the feeling that his life was about to take a big turn. It was a feeling deep inside his guts that were suddenly telling him so. Whether it would turn out for good or bad he couldn’t tell yet.

Days after days went by since Hope had started working, and slowly, her boys and her had developed some kind of a routine to pass the day. But even thought her life had become a little bit harder and more stressful Hope had always made sure to not loose any time with her roommates. She would often try new recipes with Jin, or she would listen to different music with Jimin while talking about random things that came into their minds.

Even the relationship to Taehyung had become closer and closer. He now was like a peaceful house cat, always wanting to cuddle with someone which she thought was adorable. He was a good boy with good intentions, just like Hobi. The Fox had completely warmed up to all the boys and her by now, and he even had found his passion for dancing and music just like Jimin and Jungkook.

Speaking about the Bunny, Jungkook had been behaving all mystery again over the past days. Gladly not in a bad way, but he had often been in his room lately, stating that he had something important to do. He even refused to play video games with Tae a few times which was indeed pretty strange for him, because he usually would never miss a the chance to win against the black tiger.

When Hope had asked the boys about his latest behaviour, they all had just smiled, telling her that she would need to wait for the Bunny to show her himself.

“Movie night!” Hobi playfully yelled, as he let himself fall down onto the big mattress in the middle of the living room where Jungkook, Jimin and Tae were already waiting.

Since Hope was working eight hours a day, they all had agreed that one night of the week would be their joined movie night. On that occasion, they had placed a large mattress in front of the TV and had thrown all cushions they had found in the apartment onto that mattress.

The younger boys had already chooses the movie when Jin and Hope plopped onto the mattress with a large bowl of popcorn in their hands. As soon as the girl’s bum hit the soft fabric, the bowl suddenly was taken out of her hands by Jimin, and two strong arms were placing themselves around her upper body from behind.

Tae had pulled the smaller girl closer towards himself, before he nuzzled his nose into the sensitive skin of her neck, causing her to yelp slightly.

“Tae – “ She giggles when his hot breath tickled her skin.

Of course, the black Tiger didn’t stop. He just kept pulling her closer until it was almost impossible for her to escape his grip but not in an uncomfortable way. Hope always enjoed those gestures of physical affection that made her feel loved and home. Happily, Hope leant back against Tae’s chest, making him nuzzling his nose closer into her neck, spreading his scent over skin.

They stayed in that position for a little while longer, enjoying the movie that was playing on the big TV screen when suddenly Jimin started moving from the other side of the mattress. He pushed himself away from Jin’s arm and started crawling over the other boys towards his brother and the girl. Hope was just about to open her arms for the smaller tiger to cuddle up to her, but from one to the other second Taehyung suddenly shot up from his laying position. He pulled himself and the girl up, pulling his arms closer around her body and away from his brother, flashing him his sharp fangs and growling loudly.

Jimin on the other hand had jumped away with an enormous speed, before his ears shot up hight in the ear and his fangs showing up behind his lips as well.

“Taehyung!” Hope squealed in shock, as she watched Tae’s sharp fangs from the corner of her eyes, trying to break free from his strong grip. “What are you doing. Jimin, stop! Stop growling at each other!”

Slowly, she felt the arms that were squeezing her loosing up around her torso. Quickly, Hope turned around to look at Taehyung in shock. The black tiger had stopped growling and was now looking up at the girl again with innocent eyes. When she looked around her shoulder at Jimin, she saw him also looking around with big eyes again.

“I am sorry.” The younger tiger whispered, as he reached his arms out and pulled Hope into his embrace again, making her wrap her arms around his shoulders. Though she was not scared of Taehyung, having seen his sharp teeth reminded her of how powerful those boys were compared to her after all. “I – I didn’t mean to scare you. It was a primary instinct, I couldn’t control it. You just smelled so good…like me – I – Jimin – I am sorry.”

He gave one last kiss towards the girl’s forehead, before he carefully pushed her off of his lap and crawled over towards his brother, who was still pouting with his arms crossed above his chest. Hope watched in amusement, how Jimin tried to not gave in to his brother’s apologize, but when Taehyung pulled him into a tight hug and whispered something into his ear, Jimin quickly forgave him.

“That was scary.” Hope joked, as she placed her head on Jin’s chest, not wanting to interrupt the two tigers.

Jin just hummed in response, before he pushed his nose into the girl’s hair, while his younger brother laid his head into Hope’s lap.

“You sometimes make it difficult to share you between us, Hope.” The oldest boy suddenly mumbled into her hair. “Especially, when your body smells so pure. It’s literally calling for us to spread our scent over you.”

His words caused a heavy shade of red over Hope’s cheeks. She knew that the boys could always smell her scent, but she didn’t know that they really adored her scent that much.

“P – Pure?” She eventually stuttered.

“Hmmm.” Jungkook purred, as the girl’s hand drove over the base of his sensitive ears. “There is no other scent over you beside your own, because you never had a boyfriend before.”

“Y – You guys can smell that?” The girl’s voice was now holding a tone of confusedness and embarrassment, making Jungkook and Jin chuckle.

“When you are close to someone for a very long time, that person’s scent will cover your own scent, signalling for others that you are taken.” The youngest one continued. “Your scent isn’t covered by another one. Well, beside one of our scents since we are spending a lot of time together.”

Our of instinct, Hope wanted to lift the collar of her shirt to prove whether Jungkook was telling the truth or not. But to her disappointment, her nose was far from smelling a foreign scent on her body.

“Do I smell like all of you?” She innocently asked, before sinking her shirt that she was still holding in her hands.

“Depends on who you had physical contact with.” This time, it was Tae who spoke. “Right now, Jin’s scent would cover mine. The only way to have all our scents cover you would be to – well – mate with us.”

When he finished the sentence, he winked his eyebrows up two time, making the girl blush even more. Of course, she knew what he meant. Jimin had told her about mating and marking once they had talked.

Not wanting to extend that conversation, she turned her still blushing face away from the smirking black tiger and leant her head against Jin shoulder, who was also holding a small smirk on his lips.

Of course, she wasn’t stupid. She had noticed the way the boys had been talking and acting around her, noticed how they would use any chance to hug her tightly and rub their face against her neck, making her blush every time. Sometimes, she wondered, if this was how finding one’s mate was supposed to feel like. Especially, when she remembered the kisses she had already shared with Jimin and Jungkook and that made her heart race always again.

A movement in the corner of her eyes ripped her out of her thoughts. She blinked a few times, before she turner her head, watching Hobi shifting closer towards the trio. He fiddles with his finger for a few seconds, before he looked up at the girl with his deep brown eyes.

“Are you actually making any progress with that wolf in your company?” He shyly asked, laying his fluffy tail onto Jungkook’s upper body.

Hope sighed heavily. She would love to tell him that the were making big steps forward, but she couldn’t. Namjoon was still as closed as the first day they had met. The both of them would meet up almost every day, leaving the clean, white interrogation room and taking a long walk through the small park area. Every time in silence.

Normally, Hope would give him all time to open up all by himself, but unfortunately, his court day was getting closer and closer. Almost three weeks had past since she had met the tall boy, leaving only one week before she would defend him in front of the judge.

“To be honest, we are not making much progress.” She sadly said, sinking her gaze onto Jungkook’s floppy ears in her lap. “I mean, he seems to be much more comfortable around me by now, but his court day is coming up in only one week, and I still have nothing to defend him. I wish he would just open up to me.”

By now, all 5 boys were looking at the girl with sad eyes and hanging ears, while Hope was still crawling Jungkook’s fluffy hair, deeply absorbed in her thoughts again. She wanted to help Namjoon so badly. She tried to give him time and room, she tried to tell him stories about her childhood, hoping that he would tell her something about him too, but it had failed every time.

“What happens if he won’t talk to you.” Jimin whispered from the other side of the matrass.

“If he won’t tell me what exactly happened, I can’t proof that he is innocent.” She replied after a few seconds of silence. “I can’t proof that it wasn’t his fault he reacted this way, and then he is guilty. They will either lock him away forever, or if the judge thinks that he is too dangerous, they will – they will put him to – to s –“

She couldn’t finish her sentence and she didn’t need to. The boys knew what she wanted to say. When Hope had calmed down after a few minutes, she started talking again.

“But don’t worry.” She reached out her left hand to Hobi and her right hand to Jimin, squeezing their larger hands. “I won’t let this happen, okay? I will get him out there. Somehow.”

The room fell silence for another time this evening. The boys all knew what the wolf Hybrid was going though, because they all had went through the same. They also knew that Hope was serious when she said that she would do anything to help Namjoon, they really knew. But the were powerless. There was nothing they could do to help Hope or Namjoon.

“What if you would bring him here for once.” Jin suddenly suggested, making everyone’s head shot around.

“What?” Hope asked a little bit confused, pushing herself off his chest to look properly at the oldest boy.

“Well, he clearly lost his trust in human.” The Leopards continued. “But maybe he would talk to you, once he saw that there are still people who are fighting seriously for him.”

“He is right.” Hobi’s ears shot up highly, eyes sparkling with excitement. “We could show him how we are living here and that he can trust you.”

“We could show him our rooms – “

“ – and we could make him something delicious to eat – “

“ – or we listen to some music with him together – “

The boys were talking all at once now, bringing up all kinds of ideas to convince Namjoon to cooperate. It made the girl speechless and proud when she saw how eager the boys were to help the wolf Hybrid.

“You guys would really do that for him?”

[Inspirations ||| Recommendations]

@starlightauroras-writes

@wishesunderthestars

@agustdakasuga

@ditttiii

@angelicyoongie

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dreemurr-tale · 3 years

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that’s my wish, too.

[photo ID: a black and white pencil drawing of asriel and chara from undertale lying on their backs and holding hands. they are surrounded by echo flowers. asriel is lying in the opposite direction of chara, making him look upside down in the photo, and his legs go off the top of the page. his eyes are closed and he is smiling. asriel is saying “someday i’d like to climb this mountain we’re all buried under. standing under the sky, looking at the world all around. that’s my wish.” chara’s eyes are closed and their mouth is a straight line. they are wearing a headband with tiny horns. they are both wearing heart lockets. end ID]

click for better quality

-❤️

#drawings #chara chatter #safeutdr #don’t tag as ship #don’t tag as kin please purely because this is meant to be me and azzy and not just asriel as chara #ok to reblog though #chara #asriel

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jaeminsnanadoongie · 2 years

Text

Phantom 💨

Chapter 4

Summary: Ghosts are a fantasy. This is what all of us believed and so did she. But what if Jiho met one in real life ?? What will happen if they fall in love ?? Can they really stay together?? Can a ghost and a human stay together??

AU: Ghost Au

Word count: 4K (Approx.)

Warnings: Language, Bullying, Mentions of death and torture

Pairing(s): Kim Jungwoo x OC, NCT(certain members) x OC

Author's Note: Hi!! So it's my first fanfiction here on Tumblr and I'm really really excited!!! Any suggestions, critiques and feedback is welcome!! Hope you enjoy the story and find it interesting!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction. None of the incidents depicted here has no connection to the actual persons, living or dead, or actual events. Any resemblance found with another story is clearly unintentional. The personality or behaviour of the idol depicted here is not the related to his/her personality or behaviour in real life.It's pure work of imagination by the author.

"I never thought I'll be back this soon," The girl exclaimed, staring at the newly revamped school. The sun shone perfectly, right above the school, giving it a sun-kissed glow.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about today" haechan mumbled before walking into the campus. "It's cause it's been a few days you've entered the school it feels new and you feel it's wrong" mark spoke, casually walking through the busy foregrounds.

The bell rang, indicating it was time for class. All three bid their goodbyes, walking towards their respective classes. She walked past the busy corridors right towards her locker. Her eyes fixed on her feet which she found somewhat alluring.

Why is it so crowded!! The bell rang idiots. Go back to your classes!

She mentally cursed at the crowd, bumping into several shoulders while moving fastly towards her locker. Finally reaching it, she opened it forcefully.

After turning the locker upside down, she finally found the locket in the depths of her locker. A smile spread on her face. Clipping the lock open, she put it across her neck. The large sun and moon pendant fell adorning her chest.

Closing the locker, she looked at the clock above. Holy Moly! I'm late. Hurriedly taking her bag, she rushed her way down the hallway. She ran for her life.

Her eyes darted towards her watch often. Praying the teacher hadn't arrived yet. Finally reaching the class, she stood near the door. Panting heavily, she looked into the chaotic class. Thank god.

"You're right on time," a voice from behind startled the poor one. Turning to see those dark greyish white orbs staring right at her. He chuckled upon her startled state, eyes darting downwards towards the locket which layed there perfectly adorning her chest.

"Uh, I should enter the class" she mumbled, rushing her way to her seat. Taeil entered the class right behind her making the whole group of students go silent.

A vile smirk was eminent on his face. The time played with her patience as it moved in a snail-paced manner. Eyes warning to fall any minute as her head fell towards the window rest, dozing off.

The lecture gave perfect background music for her ears while the noise of the boys playing in the field interjected the serene atmosphere.

The shade of the banyan tree near the window providing her with the right amount of shade as she layed there in the bask. "Ms Ji-ho!" the voice cut through the air as the petite figure opened her eyes, alarmed.

Standing up, she straightened her hair. "Ye-yes sir..." mentally cursing herself for stuttering. The whole attention onto her as she regretted not sleeping last night.

"Since you were dozing off I must ask you a question, so let me ask you something simpler...-" he dragged as he flipped the pages of the textbook. "-Tell me at least two formulas of trigonometry from what I taught you today."

Sudden attention and tension made her stutter. "Uh-Uh" Oh for the love of god! Praying with all her might, she wished the bell would ring and he would let her go.

As on cue, the bell rang indicating the end of class, a sudden rush of relief that God had heard her prayers, was instantly destroyed after the next words that left the teacher's mouth. "Ji-ho stay back. Rest can leave"

I fucked up!

She stood there, too stunned to talk. "Why me...aaaa" she whispered her head hanging low. "According to your schedule, you shouldn't be having any classes for now.

So I ain't making you lose any classes, good. Now if you'll come down, we can start." taeil said looking deep into her eyes. "Why do you look surprised??" he questioned, her eyes wide open as it stared right into him.

"How do you know my schedule??" "I have my ways dear, now if you take your book and come sit here, I will teach you what I taught while you took a quick nap" taeil finished.

That's it!?! I was scared for no reason damn.

"Time's ticking dear" Fastly picking up her books, the girl pushed her way down towards the first bench.

Settling down, taeil resumed his teaching from the same point he was teaching when she dozed off. Surprised that he knew exactly at which point she dozed off.

The bell rang once more, as the students rushed to the cafeteria. "Class dispersed" Taeil voiced out, putting the book down on the table.

"Thank you so much sir," She said politely, packing her books in she, moved towards the door only to halt right in front of it. She took a sharp breath before turning on her heels, facing the teacher in front of her who looked at her.

"Just curious, but uh... are you like this to all them who sleep during class??" "If they missed any important topic and the next class is free for both of us, then yes" he replied with an assuring nod.

"Aaa...Once again thank you so much, sir," "You're always welcome dear..-" He flashed a quick smile before speaking up again "- Do you by any chance have any plans after class??" she shook her head as her eyes showed complete bewilderment for the sudden question.

"Then can u help me with some files after classes??? just for an hour or so. I'll leave you after that" he said as she replied in affirmative.

"Great! See you at the library then" he replied effusively. Both bid their goodbyes as she made her way to the cafeteria.

Entering to see a longer line than expected she decided to starve. Finding the boys was easy than told. Their voice stood out the most, a scream in the cafeteria can be heard till the principal's office or even more.

"JI-HO!!!" his earsplitting voice pierced her ears. "Omg I see blood in her ears" Mark exaggerated, but she ignored everything and sat next to the window.

"Not getting anything??" mark questioned to which she shook her head. She just stared out at the rooftop. A rooftop that didn't have any special traits gaining her interest.

"That's a new locket!" haechan exclaimed pointing at the necklace which hung on her neck. The girl snapped her head looking at him pointing.

"Ah yea. It was given by my mom," she said, taking the pendant in her palms. 'Why does it look familiar but??" haechan mumbled as he stared at the locket of the sun as a feeling of deja vu filled in him.

The rest stared at it then at her. Her eyes held immense love when she stared at the lavaliere. A pendant that held an inexpressible story behind it.

A long sigh left her mouth as she continued staring outside. The two others bickering again about the Kimchi jiggae rap mark made.

Her eyes slowly captured all the beauty of the sky. The free-flying birds in the vast ocean of the randomly shaped clouds entertained her. A momentary smile stayed on her face until she meet those eyes staring right into her from the rooftop

Those pitch-black eerie eyes glaring at her.

His eyes.

Running down the crowd filled steps, murmuring a few 'excuse me's while most of the time she just pushed them without bothering to even mutter an excuse.

Donghyuck lagged behind her as he tried to cope with that speed of hers. "How do you walk so fast with those tiny legs of yours!" He yelled but she didn't give an ear for it.

The final bell rang as everyone ran out of the hell hole, while she searched for that one familiar face. "Whom are we even trying to find??" he managed to blurt out amongst the heavy crowd while trying to catch up to her.

"Jaehyun" "Wait- who?!?" "Just come with me" she curt out, finally spotting the Sleek Black Porsche car amongst all the other vehicles parked right under the only shade present there.

Squinting due to the scorching heat of the sun as she tried to get a better look of the man who sat on the hood of the car, the man for whom she had to run down from the rooftop to the main ground.

Donghyuck finally caught up to her as he took a breather, feeling exhausted from all the running from the rooftop when the girl all the sudden pulled his hand and brought him along with her.

Looking up to see her intently looking at the man who seemed to reciprocate her stare. "He is Jaehyun??" he asked, short-winded he took long breaths.

She nodded and started walking towards him, Not leaving his eyes. Donghyuck whined after which he followed her, knowing she no way would fall for his whining.

"Wanted to meet me, sir??" She enquired as jaehyun stood up straight, dusting the hood he sat on. "Might as well yes I did-" taking in a sharp breath he looked around, feeling quite uncomfortable under all those gazes of the students who passed by them.

"-Can we talk somewhere calmer??" hands moving around, showing he was not happy with the current surroundings. "Sure" was all she said before storming out of the cramped area.

Jaehyun briskly followed, his long legs being handy. "Now where are we going!??!" donghyuck grumbled, stomping his feet on the ground before he caught up with the two others.

The crowd slowly disappeared as they walked into a calmer place. Halting her steps she turned towards the man who already had his eyes on her.

A shiver of fear infiltrated her while she focused on showing out a stronger side. "Way quieter" speaking in a way contented tone he clapped his hands, seating himself on the bricks.

"Why'd you wanna meet me and him??" she questioned pointing a finger at donghyuck who panted restlessly. "First off... I'm pretty sure both of know Han-Tae-Sook" donghyuck raised a brow at the sudden mention of that name.

That one face came to his mind. "What about him" he brusquely spoke making direct eye contact with the police officer who sat in front of him.

Ji-ho kept a comforting hand on hyuck's shoulders before she took the lead. "We have nothing to do with him. Now shall we take our leave??" without waiting for an answer Ji-ho turned her back walking away.

"Not yet" his demanding voice flew past them, making them halt. Turning around to meet a pair of displeased eyes, staring right at them.

"What is that you want?? I've got other things to do" she blurted out, not finding the situation pleasing as the time ticked by, making her late for her previous appointment of helping out taeil.

"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing any of your prior requirements. But a spare few minutes ain't gonna hurt right?? This is important" hyuck tilted his head glancing at the girl as she nodded indecisively.

Beckoning the officer to continue, he took a deep breath before he continued. "I'm sure you both are connected to Han Tae- Sook one way or the other and I'm here to ask you a few questions which would help me with my investigation.

And also as the student of this school..." he paused, glancing at the centuries-old building which looked good as new. "I have a few questions regarding your school" the sudden questioning made her raise a brow.

"Aren't investigations or questioning usually done in police stations???" she asked making jaehyun move his feet uncomfortably. "The investigation was forced to be closed by the school. So I can't bring you guys to the station for investigation" he replied not looking at her eyes.

She nodded her head as she tried to calm down the tense atmosphere. '"Go ahead sir." A sense of confusion and tension filled the climate as he searched for the words to form a proper sentence.

Fiddling with his fingers, he looked up to see four doe eyes looking straight at him, waiting for an answer, which only made him more anxious.

"Do-don't look at me like that, I'm not good with speaking when someone is looking at me" he spurted out flustrated while donghyuck gasped.

"What else do you want me to look at when you are talking ?? the sky??" Jiho spoke, trying her best to hold back the laughter spewing up. "No-no...aa leave it." waving his hand real fast as if his wrist were about to fall off.

"Sir" she spoke hard bringing him back to reality. "Time's ticking. Calm down and talk." she spoke as he took deep breaths. "He so doesn't seem like a police officer to me" hyuck mumbled into her ears while she nodded in approval. "Let's just listen to what he has to say"

"So...Han Tae Sook...I highly doubt his death was an accident." "Well he was found dead by the janitor and no one was present in the school the day before.

We have enough proof to say it was something he intended to do" "No" jaehyun cut him off. "He wasn't someone with a suicidal intention. And there's another thing that is being hidden from all of you.

He wasn't found dead by the janitor though that's what the article said.." A short pause from him only made the atmosphere heavier. Both the students held a glowering faces as they waited for him to continue.

"On the day he was found dead... he wasn't the only one present there... All of us were. He was attempting to fall off the rooftop" jaehyun pointed at the exact point where the boy stood.

That's where he was during lunch...

"Then he fell??" hyuck perked up, waiting for an answer. Jaehyun shook his head, his shoulders falling. "Nope, he didn't fall forward instead something pulled him backwards..."

Both intently listened while jaehyun narrated the incident without leaving a single detail. Her ears perked up with every slightest sound made as she harked every single word he said.

Not believing him at first but the deeper he went the more trustable it became.

"So..." she started while jaehyun looked at her slightly panting after narrating a long story. "You mean Tae-sook's death wasn't a normal one and the principal of our school has lived for what- a 100 years???" she trailed making jaehyun nod his head furiously.

"Yes!! Haven't you guys ever searched into how old your principal or headmaster is??" Both boobed their heads in sync, a heavy sigh left off jaehyuns as he rubbed his temples in frustration.

"Well..at least do you guys have an idea how old ur principal is??" "Maybe around uh 26??" hyuck guessed while jaehyun shook his head in vexation.

"Way over a 100", he blurted out in an apathetic tone making the rest two gasp. "WAIT WHAT!?!?!" Hyuck yelled as she closed her ears, face scrunching up.

Jaehyun just nodded his head as the rest two looked at each other, clearly not believing what they just heard.

"Nah no way" she replied incredulously. "He ain't any goblin or something to be alive for more than a 1..00.." she stopped midway when jaehyun head slowly bobbed.

"Wait he is!?!?" she yelled. "What no!!" jaehyun blurted out as she left a breath of relief. "Then why did you nod your head??" "Even I am not sure. But he is eerie"

"Okay, let's say he is a goblin or something of that sort. What do you want us to do?? And why did specifically ask for hyuck??" "I want you guys to do something..."

"Thank you so much, Jiho. This means a lot to me. I hope I didn't delay any of your plans" "No sir, it was my pleasure helping you" she calmly spoke while picking up the bundle of papers, head slightly twisting with the number of papers that was lying on the table, all the hard work of sorting them out.

Both left the library, having small talks in between, the atmosphere rather comfortable than awkward. Keeping the bundle down on the bench Jiho took the much need breath.

" You good??" Jiho frantically nodded her head giving up a thumbs up making taeil a bit calmer. "Alright then. That's all for today. You should go home it's getting dark"

"Thank you sir" she bid her goodbyes as she rushed down to her locker. The sun already diving deeper down the sky leaving an orange hue, the fleeting colours of dusk beginning to fade away slowly.

She gazed out for a second before putting her concentration back onto her feet which always amused her.

Now where is she going

The irritated thought flowed through the air as the irked boy walked behind her. Opening her locker not noticing the wandering soul trailing behind her, monitoring her every move as she merrily put in the books and closed them.

The blustery wind blew right past her pushing her free hair back as she made her way through the busy streets.

The constant sirens of the cars and the hearty chats filled the air, her heart beating faster than thought while she bumped at a few shoulders, she made her way into a calmer alley.

Taking a long breath after finally escaping out of the crowded she gazed at the almost dark sky, the moon coming out of its shadows while the stars became notable.

Her locket shone clear under the moonlight. Taking in all the fresh air, she relished the calm atmosphere. The distant sound of the crowded city became mere background noise as she dug deeper into the alley.

The sharp notification bell cut through the hushed atmosphere slightly startling the girl. Picking it up to see up en-number of notifications popped up, groaning at thought of replying to each every one of them.

Exhaustion took over her body as she slumped her way towards her house. Plugging in her earphones as the song ran through her ears, becoming unaware of the path she was going she moved her head to the beat of the melody.

The wind brushed past her giving slight goosebumps right around her arm, while she ignored them all, only wanting to fall onto the comfort of her bed she flopped her way to her home.

A placid atmosphere flew by air. The girl's head coming in contact with a wall which she thought was one changed as soon as her eyes met those dark-brown ones, darker than the chocolate.

"Oh sorry," she muttered before rubbing her feet to the other side only for it to be blocked by a leg. Slightly getting irritated she moved to the other side only to be blocked once again.

The man slowly got up on her nerves she grumbled. "I'm sorry sir but can you fucking stop blocking my way" she mumbled, but loud enough for the man to hear, clenching her fists and controlling her anger by digging her nails deeper into her palms.

"What if I can't" he mocked while a scoff of disbelief left Jiho's mouth. He was getting up on her nerves and would burst any time now. "What is wrong with him!" she mumbled a bit stronger before looking into his eyes.

"What do you want??" "You" she huffed as a white smoke emitted out her mouth making her realise the weather began getting colder. "Listen I don't have time for this. If you would let me go now everything will be smooth. If not..."

"If not what Princess??" "I will take her place. Simple" The sterned voice spoke up with a loud skull-cracking thud followed by it. "Han Tae sul" Jungwoos stony voice lingered in the air as the flinty stare of Tae sul on jungwoo remained.

The air is completely silent as both held stares. "What is it that you want from her" not leaving an eye on the boy in front of him jungwoo gave a glance at the unconscious girl lying on the ground.

"You should have known by now" He cut the air with the austere tone. Jungwoo took in a long breath as he closed his eyes, facing the sky as he opened them, the boy in front of him slightly shivered under his black cloud of pupils which stared right at him.

Those pitch complete black eyes which anyone would fear were right in front of Tae sul staring right at him waiting to eat him up.

Jungwoo slightly licked his under lip at the smell of blood. "You know not only vampires drink human blood. We do to" the eyes slowly turning back to normal as jungwoo walked towards the terrified boy in front of him.

"If only I had received the order to kill you. God...Eun tak never knows the meaning of timings." shaking his head in disapproval as he snickered at the thought of what eun tak told him right before he left.

"Don't kill him. Not yet"

Looking at those eyes Han Tae sul tried his best not to show his fear while jungwoo moved closer, close enough for his heated breaths to fan against the boy's neck

"If I ever catch you again near her, you are doomed, just like your brother, whatever my order be." he whispered the last words into his ears after which he disappeared off into droplets with the girl in his hand.

The crystal clear white flake slowly made its way down the sky as more of them followed it behind. Touching the roof of the house as it beautifully adorned itself on it before blending itself with the other ones.

The snow poured out of the sky as the fire lit itself keeping the room warm for the one soul in the room. Jungwoo stared at the sleeping figure, an unknown smile plastered on his face.

Her constant breaths along with the fire crackle peacefully made their way throughout the room filling in the silent room with some noise.

Turning his attention towards the window to see the road almost covered with the white powder. Starring at that without any pinpointed reason while it seemed more appealing than staring at the fire in the room.

The door opened as a small head peeked out of it, gaining jungwoo's attention. "Oh she is asleep" the woman whispered as she looked around the room to find none.

Jungwoo just stared at the woman while she kept a kettle of hot water along with a glass. A foreign feeling of warmth spread the room when the woman caressed the little girl's head, moving some hair that lay on her forehead.

The woman soon left the room making it just jungwoo and the peacefully sleeping girl in the room. Her slow stirring in her sleep went unknown to the boy as she soon became aware of the surroundings.

The slow-burning noise of the fire along with a few patters of the snow was perked up as the room was warm. Slowly opening up her blinds her eyes met the well-lit fire burning brightly to keep the room cosy enough.

Moving from her sides to lay on her back as her eyes met the plain ceiling, trying to remember what exactly happened before. Slowly realising the reality she shot up from the bed which caused a sharp hit of pain to flow throughout her head.

Hissing at the pain she held her head tightly, this gained his attention as his eyes lagged on hers. "Ouch..." she mumbled as she slowly collected herself.

Eyes roamed around the room before they met his. Those euphoric pitch-black eyes that were only visible to her. For a second not realising who it was before it struck her mind, slightly startled she moved a bit which only made her headache worsen.

"Who are you??" She pushed out the words as she tried her best to bear the stinging pain. Jungwoo just looked at her not realising she was talking to him as she groaned in pain. "I asked who are you!" she put out a bit louder which startled him.

"Wait- you mean me??!?" she shook her head vigorously. "Yes you, you dipshit who else is here?? why are you there everywhere I go??!?" "Wait-Yo you can see me?!?"

"Omg"

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#kim jungwoo ghost fanfiction #ghost au #ghost love story #human ghost love story #kim jungwoo #kim jungwoo fanfiction #nct 127 #nct 127 fanfiction #nct fanfic #nct ghost au #strangers to lovers #moon taeil #moon #sun #fullsun #lee haechan #lee donghyuck #i dont know why my read more isis nonot working😭😭😭pplsss workk #neoturtles

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achliegh · 2 years

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Mistletoe Madness: Day 4

Golden lights and Bronze shadows

Faye learns about her dad

Thomas and Noelle watched as their daughter grew up over the years. Winning custody over her the year Clay passed, she was the embodiment of the love they lost. Carrying the same brightness and glowing smile. She doesn’t know that Thomas isn’t her real dad but they kept it that way until they couldn’t anymore.

They had pictures with Clay in them up around the house, never having the heart to take them down, they wanted her to subconsciously know who he was. Even if she never got to meet him, he loved her… even started one of his signature boxes for her to open when she met him. Sadly, she never got to see anything of him besides pictures and a white cross in the ground that they visited every year on Clay’s birthday.

She was 17 now, old enough to make her own decisions. She was headed off to Harvard next year to pursue a degree in anthropology, she was all grown up. Which meant she got a special present this year.

The box Clay made for her.

That day came faster than they wanted it to, Logan and his boys were coming over for dinner. Thomas was making all the food while Noelle and Faye finished setting the table, after struggling to pull it apart to add an extender to it for about ten minutes.

“Why do we need to make everything look so nice if it's just the uncles coming over anyway. They are here way too often as it is.” Faye was setting fake candles in the centerpiece of wrapped fake pine. She grew into a beautiful young woman, tall and strong, Her hair in long box braids because her hair is just as wild as her fathers naturally, her eyes were dark and friendly making her likable instantly.

Noelle was so proud of her.

Later that night everyone was sitting in the living room. All of the gifts have been opened except one, Faye was on the floor with Sunny Leo’s dog that replaced Dani when she retired a couple years ago. Sunny was a giant black lab with a lot of energy. Playing tug of war with one of Thomas’ new bundles of socks, much to his dismay.

“Alright there is one more gift.” Leo looks over at Noelle and Thomas as he speaks, he kept the box all these years just in case Faye happened to stumble across it when she was younger. Leo stands up, disappearing for a moment before coming back with what looked like a really old medium sized Amazon box with pictures and little notes all over it. He sits down across from Faye and smiles, she notices it has a twinge of sadness and she gets nervous.

“What is it?”

“A box from your dad, he made one for each of us.” Leo hands her the box. “Don’t tip it upside down because the tape isn’t sticky anymore.” Faye takes the box and looks at the outside, little drawings of horses and people, short notes quoting old songs that she vaguely remembers. It was all in different color markers and one was drawn in crayon which she found amusing.

Why did dad never tell her about this?

She gently opens the box, everything inside is a bit dusty. The box is only about half full, why not put it in a smaller one? She reaches in and pulls out a pair of baby sized cowboy boots. Raising an eyebrow she flips them over in her hand to look at the bottoms. Each soul was encrypted with a name like in those ancient Toy Story movies.

“Clayton?” She whispers, furrowing her brows she sets them down and reaches in again. She finds a small glass figure of Tiana from Princess and the Frog. She smiles, of course he would know her favorite Disney classic. Wiping the figurine off with her sleeve to make sure all the dust is off she sets it next to the boots.

The next few things are little baby clothes, some she recognizes as shirts Uncle Reg made that Leo wears sometimes. She hasn’t seen him in a while…

There is one last thing in the box, it appears to be a locket. A really thick one too.

“Faye. Before you open that.” Faye looks at her parents and watches as they pull out similar lockets from a little pouch that her dad pulled out of his jean pocket. They slip them over their necks and look at her. “Go ahead, Doll.”

Faye pulls the locket out of the box, it looks much more well kept than all the other things inside. She still didn’t understand the baby clothes, or all the horse pictures but it was still nice. She opens the locket, Inside were pictures. Left side was Mom and Dad asleep with the man they called Clay smiling in the middle of them on the back of a pickup. On the right was a picture of Clay smiling wide and happy at the sky as snowflakes float around him. There was a little button on the side where the locket latches. Clicking it, it opened to show a picture of her dad lovingly looking at her mom as she talked excitedly with someone out of frame and the other was just empty with a little sticker inside that read.

‘For Our Future.’

“What is this?” She looks up at everyone, they all had a similar sad look on their face accompanied by fake little smiles. She doesn’t understand why she was given this. She never knew this Clay guy and she never wanted to. He just stopped being friends with her parents for no reason and it bugged her. Mom and Dad never told her what happened or why.

“It's a locket your dad gave us…” Faye looks from her mom to her dad. He was shaking his head.

“Faye, we didn’t know how to tell you this… You see the other man in all the pictures around the house.”

“Yeah, they are all pictures of the friend who ditched you guys and for some reason you never changed the frames.” She hears the murmurs of offense going around.

“That's what you told her Clay was!? Noelle, Thomas, what the fuck!?” She looks over to see Leo almost glaring at her parents.

“They never talk about him or what happened so I kinda just guessed. Who is he.”

“Clay is your dad, Faye. He died before he ever got to meet you.” Leo tells her, she narrows her eyes.

“No, he’s my dad. I even look like him!” She looked at everyone as she pointed at Thomas, Logan wasn’t meeting her eyes, Finn was looking at his hands, Leo looked angry while petting Sunny, Her parents looked ashamed. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!” Her mom sits next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Faye, Clay was your dad and I’s boyfriend. He broke up with your mother before meeting us and didn’t know you were born until after you were already a few weeks old. He was never allowed to visit you and every gift he sent was sent right back by your mother. She hated your father with all her heart and eventually she gave you up because of her deadbeat husband.”

“Yeah I know about my mother’s shitty life choices but… why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“We never told you because it was a hard thing for us to talk about, we loved him but, as Leo said, he died. He was killed overseas. He was a Navy Seal who never made it back.” Noelle watched as her daughter connected puzzle pieces in her head for a moment.

“That's the grave we always visit in the fall… it's my dad's grave.” With everything falling into place in not just her head but also her heart she stands up away from her mom's grasp and walks out the front door.

Leo found her the next morning, he was going to visit Clay like he does every holiday walking down the path he knows so well he saw a figure sitting in the snow facing the cross he knows so well. Slowing down he stopped just far enough to hear her through the wind.

“I hope mom and dad forgive me for walking out last night. I just had to come and see you. I always knew there was a reason we visited you so often but I never thought it was-” He hears her choke up a bit, pausing to sniffle. “I wish you were here, people always compared me to ‘my dad’ but I always thought they were comparing me to dad not you. I’m sorry I never paid attention when we would come up here. I’m sorry I thought you were a bad person… I’m sorry I never got to meet you.”

Leo walks up behind her and places a hand on her head.

“You look cold.”

“Can you tell me about him? Did you know him very well?”

“Clay was basically my brother, I can tell you everything about him.”

#finn o'hara #sweater weather #logan tremblay #lumosinlove #coast to coast #golden #bronze #clayton bruss #leo knut #noelle tremblay #thomas walker

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nenya85 · 3 years

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Ficlet: The Missing Ingredient

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Written for the “Intoxication” prompt on the Dark Pride of Dimensions Discord’s Drabble Night.

The link to join the Dark Pride of Dimensions Discord is here.

SUMMARY: Set after the end of “The Dark Side of Dimensions.” Atem returns to Domino with Kaiba. But now that Atem has his memories back, he discovers that some things aren’t the quite same as he remembered.

Comments, either here or on the server, would be appreciated!

THE MISSING INGREDIENT

Kaiba breathed a sigh of relief as he entered the mansion. It had been a long day. He made his way to the game room and stopped short just inside the doorway.

Atem stared up at him, bleary-eyed. He was surrounded by beer bottles, like a pharaoh buried with his treasures. “I slid off the couch,” Atem said.

Kaiba took a quick, reflexive glance around the room before remembering that Mokuba was spending the night with friends. He scanned the room more carefully. Kirin. Sapporo. Suntory. Asahi. No two labels were the same.

“Having a beer tasting party all by yourself?” Kaiba asked.

Atem was hugging an empty bottle of an artisanal malt. He sat up. “I couldn’t find the right one,” he said sadly.

“Right for what? Getting smashed?”

“None of them taste like home.”

If Atem had been sober, he would have noticed the way Kaiba’s lips tightened at his words.

“There’s beer in paradise?” Kaiba asked, trying for a conversational tone.

“Of course! What good is paradise without beer?” Atem chuckled to himself. His gaze turned mournful as he turned his bottle upside down and said, “All gone.”

“You miss it there.” It wasn’t a question.

“Sometimes,” Atem admitted, a confession that sobered him a little.

They stared at each other in silence, then down at the ground that had suddenly shifted beneath their feet. Kaiba had crossed dimensions. Atem had returned. Neither had mentioned the trip again, equally eager to let sleeping landmines lie, to cordon off the area and avoid trespassing.

“I need a drink.” Kaiba stomped out of the room; the words, “All gone,” followed him out the door.

Kaiba headed for his office, the one that had been Gozaburo’s. The furniture was the same. Somehow, in the intervening years, except for adding a statue or two of his Blue Eyes White Dragons, he’d never gotten around to renovating. He went straight to the liquor cabinet. He’d kept it stocked even though he rarely drank, never seeing the entertainment value in losing control.

Kaiba lightly touched a bottle of Scotch, the Macallan Exceptional Cask. It had been Gozaburo’s favorite. He’d rarely offered it around. He’d sit there and drink it in front of his guests, then serve them a slightly cheaper, but still ostentatious brand. Kaiba had only had it once, after he’d earned the privilege by proving he could get throw-up drunk without giving away company secrets. He’d been 14. It had taken him two years to achieve the skill.

It had tasted of power.

Kaiba swept his hand across the top shelf of the cabinet, knocking the overpriced bottles of alcohol over. He picked one at random, grabbed it by the neck, swiveled and brought it down on the top of his desk. Nothing happened. He glanced at the marble dragon guarding the door, strode over and smashed the bottle against it. This time the bottle shattered, spraying the room with vodka. Kaiba grabbed the next bottle and then another. He threw back his head and laughed. He ran from the room and through the mansion, returning with a baseball bat he’d rummaged from Mokuba’s closet.

“It’s all a game, right?” Kaiba picked up a bottle and threw it in the air. With mid-season form, he swung for the fences, catching the bottle right on the neck, bathing himself in a shower of rum. He grabbed the next one and then the next, smashing through each, going 3 for 3 and then 4 for 4 in his impromptu batting practice.

“Seto!” Atem called, staring at Kaiba, now drenched in spirits and surrounded by glass shards.

“What are you doing here?” Kaiba asked numbly.

“I heard…” Atem gestured. “All of this. I came to find you.”

Kaiba grunted. “I came to find you, too.”

“Seto…” Atem’s voice gentled, as if Kaiba was the one who was drunk. “You can miss something without wanting it back.”

“I wouldn’t know about that.”

“No, you wouldn’t.” Atem came over to Kaiba, stood on tiptoe and planted a sloppy kiss in the vicinity of Kaiba’s lips. “And that’s why I chose you, why I want a life with you.”

Kaiba wrapped his arms around Atem, lifting him up to kiss him more easily.

Kaiba set Atem back down and smiled. He glanced at the Macallan Exceptional Cask, which had somehow escaped the carnage. He walked over to it, with Atem still clinging to his neck like a second locket. It was unopened. Kaiba grinned and opened it, then took a slug straight from the bottle. He’d never thought of drinking, just for fun, before.

“Come on,” he said, carrying both Atem and his bottle like trophies. “There’s too much glass in here.”

They settled back down on the thick shag carpet covering the game room floor. By the third pull on the bottle, Atem was curled in his lap and Kaiba had remembered that most problems were solvable.

He juggled Atem to get to his phone.

“What are you doing?” Atem asked, looking like a cat that has had its nap disturbed.

“Texting Isis.”

“Why?”

Kaiba typed for a minute, then held his phone out for Atem to see. “Are you sober enough to read?”

“Of course, I am. Watching you bash liquor bottles sobered me up nicely.”

Kaiba smirked as Atem stuck his tongue out and tried to focus, determined not to lose the challenge.

Atem sounded out, “Send me all the information you have on obsolete Egyptian methods of brewing beer, circa 1100 BCE, and an ingredient list and I’ll fund your next expedition.” Atem grabbed the phone from Kaiba. He added star-eyes and a series of beer mug emojis and then then hit “Send.”

“We crossed dimensions,” Kaiba pointed out. “Recreating ancient beer should be a piece of cake.” He paused. “If that’s what you want.”

“It is. Always.” Atem sighed in contentment. “Beer and you. Sounds like paradise to me.” He chuckled. “And speaking of cake, the date loaves back then were pretty awesome, too.”

Atem tossed the phone away, ignoring Kaiba’s yelp of protest. Atem’s eyes narrowed. He pressed himself against Kaiba, attempting to steal a kiss that Kaiba was only to eager to give away. His enthusiasm over-balanced them both, as Kaiba’s arms came up around him… and the tightness of their hold on each other was a renewed promise.

Neither noticed the return ping of Kaiba’s phone as Isis sent him the information -- along with the budget for her next project. When he finally retrieved his phone, Kaiba had to laugh. He’d managed to find a beer that cost exponentially more than Gozaburo’s prized scotch.

#prideshipping #DRoD Drabble Night #drinking #well the prompt was #intoxication

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elsanna-shenanigans · 3 years

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August Contest Submission #14: Of Flowers and Child-Friendly Scissors

Words: ca. 5,500 Setting: mAU Lemon: No CW: Brief mention of blood, Angst

The gentle fragrance of freshly cut flowers had always been nostalgic for Anna. She awoke to it every morning, and like clockwork she’d rise and perform her morning routine. With a large mug of sugary coffee in hand, she’d head down from her apartment to the shop floor below to get to work. Visually, she could never get enough of the array of vibrant colours. It overwhelmed her senses as much as the smell.

Raking a hand through her messy red hair, Anna wandered around the shop floor surveying her stock. Swapping her mug for a pair of pruning scissors from the counter, she walked around clipping the flowers on display, changing their water and creating easy to pick up pre-made bunches for her customers. Her mother had always hated being trapped in the family run business but Anna was the opposite: the quiet allowed her time to think. It was her only space in the universe, and she lost herself within it.

Caught up in her own world, she didn’t even hear the gentle chime of the bell as the door opened.

“Excuse me -”

Anna leapt out of her skin; almost chopping her fingers clean off.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry!” the customer flew to her knees beside Anna, taking her hand in her own.

Anna blinked, still as a mouse as she met bright cerulean eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but her eyes followed her customer’s down to her hand. Scarlet glistened in the morning sunlight, and it took Anna a moment to realise it was her blood. She panicked for a good ten seconds, wondering if perhaps she really had cut her fingers off. Flexing them made her realise she hadn’t.

“I am such an idiot,” Anna yanked her hand back from the stranger as she scrambled to her feet.

“I shouldn’t have snuck up on you. I really am so sorry!” the woman chased Anna back to the counter where she clambered in drawers for the first aid kit.

“It’s okay, really. It’s not the first time. I should really be issued with child-friendly scissors,” she said, running around like a whirlwind. Once she had found the box she was looking for Anna tipped it upside down, spilling the contents of bandages, plasters and antiseptic cream across the counter.

“Sit down, let me bandage it,” the customer told her with a stern tone. It was enough to give Anna pause. Taking a minute to really look the woman over she realised she hadn’t met her before. The village was small; small enough to know every resident. A visitor, then, she assumed.

Silently, Anna obeyed and took a seat, the woman getting straight to work with light and delicate fingers, gently cleaning the wound and applying the dressing.

Anna found herself captivated by her guest: irises were a deep blue peppered with flecks of grey, eyes narrowed in intense concentration. She brushed away blonde hair from her face as she worked, strands so pale they almost lacked all pigment completely. The snow white skin of her arms were without blemish, and Anna’s eyes dared to wander further, past the chain of the silver locket resting on her collarbone, further still to the soft summer dress in muted tones of lilac. She was so lost in her that she didn’t even notice when the mysterious stranger had finished tending to her hand.

“Are you okay? You look flushed. Do you have a fever?” the woman held her hand to Anna’s forehead, and Anna, abruptly snapping out of her daydream at the surprisingly ice cold touch, almost died on the spot.

“I am fine! Totally fine!” she replied far too quickly, backing up as much as her chair would allow, her free hand grasping the arm rest, knuckles white.

Get yourself together! She berated herself. Taking a deep breath, Anna looked up again to greet her customer.

“I haven’t seen you around. Are you visiting?” she asked, keeping her voice surprisingly level as she swiftly changed the subject.

“No, I moved in last week,” the woman replied, finally taking a step back, and Anna breathed out a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure she’d survive a whole conversation pinned down in the chair… though looking her visitor over once more, a part of her lamented the loss of contact. Just the thought of being pinned down by the enigmatic blonde was giving her more of a thrill than she cared to admit.

“Wait, you just moved in?” Anna suddenly processed her words. She had to think hard. There were no houses up for sale. That kind of news travelled fast. Unless -

“- my grandmother passed away last year and she left her cottage to me. I sat on it for a while, wondering whether to sell it… but my life turned upside down recently and well, here I am, moving into a village where I know no one.”

“You moved into number 6. You’re Rita’s granddaughter,” Anna said, taking a moment to compare the woman before her to the elderly lady who used to visit so often. Forgetting herself, Anna quickly continued, “I know it was a while ago, but I am sorry for your loss. She really was the heart of the village.”

“It’s okay, really. It’s been weird stepping into her life. People talk to me like I should know her, but I hadn’t seen her since I was a child. I have no idea what she was like, or why she bypassed my parents to leave this to me. But here I am, standing in your shop. Life just goes on. It’s quite cruel really.”

And here I am also talking to you like you’d have known her. Anna could have face-palmed. She was making a fine mess of this first meeting.

“Anna Noakes,” Anna held her hand out: the one that wasn’t bandaged, “I run the florist. Big surprise, I know, seen as that’s where we are,” Anna held her other arm out to gesture to the flower covered room. The chuckle it drew from Elsa made her heart soar.

“Well, Anna Noakes,” Elsa took her hand in greeting, “the florist who should only be issued with child-friendly scissors, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Elsa. Elsa Frost. What would you recommend for a first date?”

Anna caught the look of mirth in her customer’s eyes. She was never living that down.

Pursing her lips, thoughts flicked through the various flowers she had in stock which would appeal to a man. It wasn’t a request she had ever had before, but it wasn’t completely unheard of for a woman to buy a man flowers.

“Does he have a favourite colour that you know of? Is he sentimental?” Anna asked as she dug through some bunches of freesias to reach the gerberas behind.

“She,” Elsa corrected, “and I have no idea.”

Anna froze. Slowly, she turned back to Elsa, who was flicking through her phone. She is seeing a woman? And she talks like it’s no big deal? It was an alien feeling for Anna, who had always been surrounded by her friends and family in this village. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her lot in life, but explaining to them that she may very well not be into men seemed impossible in a small community where no one deviated from traditional expectations.

Elsa held up her phone unapologetically and pointed to a picture of a brunette.

“Isn’t that a dating app?” Anna asked, tracing the emerald eyes and chestnut locks of the flawless woman on the screen. She was beautiful, and successful, judging by the brief bio she caught just beneath.

“Yes. We’ve been talking for a few days and we seem to click. I’m kind of nervous. I really want it to work.”

Anna caught the shy smile from Elsa, and she could not help but empathise with her sincerity. She was adorable.

“I wondered whether to give her roses -”

“- No, you’re not taking roses. Too overdone,” Anna dismissed it immediately.

“Let me make you something special. Peonies are beautiful, as are gerberas… maybe alstroemerias…” Anna murmured, moving around the store plucking individual flowers from buckets until she appeared back at Elsa’s side with a small bunch full of bright reds and yellows. Anna looked between the bunch and Elsa, wondering if perhaps she had made an error. The flowers didn’t reflect their purchaser at all, but before Anna could put them down and start again Elsa leaned forward and inhaled the sweet fragrance.

“They are perfect, thank you.”

Anna gave her a small smile, unable to bring herself to change her mind. If her customer liked them then that was that. They’d be fine. A date wasn’t about the flowers anyway. It was about the people, and she was sure Elsa would have a fine time.

Accepting payment, Anna bid farewell to her new customer and slouched back in her chair as she watched her leave, a goofy smile on her face. It would be nice to have a friend her age in the village. Especially one who must have gone through the same kind of trials Anna was going through.

“I wonder when I’ll see her again.”

—-

The incessant ring from the alarm jolted Anna awake. She slapped it off, only for it to buzz again a few minutes later.

“Snooze, snooze,” she murmured. One alarm was never enough.

Crawling out of bed to that perfumed scent of fragrant flower meadows, Anna repeated her morning routine, with the addition of cleaning her wound and reapplying her bandage. Taking more care not to cut herself, she got back to tending and pruning her flowers.

She was alert to the chime of the door, and looking up her heart raced at the sight of Elsa. Two days in a row. I am blessed.

Putting her scissors down with care, Anna rushed to her feet to greet her.

“Hey! Back again already?” Anna asked, smile bright.

“Just checking in to make sure you’re okay.”

Anna blinked, not understanding.

“Your hand,” Elsa pointed out.

“Oh!” The penny dropped. “This,” she held out her bandaged hand. “Well, it hasn’t fallen off yet so I guess it’s good?” Anna made light of the topic, though Elsa’s concern did not waver.

“Anyway, how did your date go?” she asked, and Elsa’s expression faded to something more melancholy.

“Not so great…” she admitted, and instantly Anna felt for her. Dates were cruel; dating apps even worse: Anna had experienced enough to know that much.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I really hope it wasn’t the flowers – God, I’d hate to think I ruined your chances -”

“- No, it wasn’t the flowers. We just didn’t get on in person as much as I had expected,” Elsa said, eyes looking anywhere but at Anna.

Why would I suggest gerberas? I should have gone for muted hues. Something that suited her character. I’m such an idiot.

“Have you ever used a dating app before? They are pretty terrible,” Elsa made idle conversation as she browsed a selection of the pre-made bunches available.

“Yes – no, kind of… after my ex I swore off dating forever.”

“He was that bad?”

Anna let out a small chuckle. “No, she was not that bad. Not really. I just wasn’t ready to come out to everyone… Which I still haven’t really done. Which I am still not ready to do. And I don’t even know why I’m telling you this.”

The flash of surprise on Elsa’s face made Anna freeze for a moment, but the gentle smile that replaced it reassured her that she hadn’t made a mistake in confessing that to her.

“Did you date her here?” Elsa asked curiously, not seeming to miss a beat.

“Oh, hell no. She lived in the city. I travelled. Could you imagine if the village knew? It would be the gossip of the century.”

“I don’t know. Fitting in seems kind of boring, don’t you think?”

Anna was caught in her gaze for a long moment, those irises flickering with something darker. Had they been in a bar in the city Anna might have mistaken her customer’s intense look as an invitation to flirt, but they weren’t in a city. This was her village, and Anna was supposed to be serving the woman.

A ding from Elsa’s phone distracted them both.

Anna took a breath, almost relieved the tension was broken. She needed to stop letting Elsa fluster her. Threading her fingers through red hair, she tried to work out exactly how she was going to do that when Elsa continued, “Looks like another match. You ever think women find it corny for a partner to show up with flowers? Am I being old fashioned?”

“Absolutely not. It’s like the pinnacle of romance,” Anna said, resolute in her conviction. If any of her past dates had showed up with flowers she’d have been flattered; she’d have swooned.

“Mmm,” Elsa hummed, still checking her phone. “She wants to meet.”

“Isn’t that a little soon?” Anna frowned, voice laced with concern.

“Probably. But she does look cute. What do you think?” Elsa held her phone out. Anna sucked in a breath as she looked the redhead over in the image. She was stunning: glamorous. Anna felt a twang of envy as she looked over the photo. The woman staring back at her was much like Anna, and yet she was more refined, more city-smart, she had a proper job. It only served to remind her why she hated dating apps. Everyone on there always showed off their best side. Filtered photographs and high paying jobs weren’t everything… even if a small part of her wished she could have that lifestyle.

“She looks great,” the lie rolled off her tongue so easily. Anna had learnt the hard way how cruel the dating world could be, and Elsa needed to learn this herself. It wasn’t for Anna to judge.

“In that case, what flowers would you recommend?”

Anna smiled, even if it was a sad smile. Those girls would never know how lucky they were to have someone take these dates so seriously.

Changing it up, Anna picked bunches of muted purples and whites, with just a flash of yellow; selected from her best lilac, asters and crocuses. “The hope a new love can bring.”

“Do they always mean so much?” Elsa asked, examining them closely.

“Definitely. I could go on for days, but I won’t bore you.” Anna shot her a knowing grin.

“Maybe when I next pop by,” Elsa said, accepting the bunch and proceeding to purchase them.

She’ll be back. Anna held onto the thought. It was beginning to dawn on her that if Elsa really was planning on staying here permanently then these little visits might become more frequent than she ever could have dreamed. And for reasons Anna wasn’t entirely sure of, she was looking forward to them already.

Anna was about to bid farewell to Elsa, when she hesitated, an ivory hand lingering on her bunch of flowers still on the counter.

“I really am so lucky I found you. I have no idea what I’d have done without your help. I’d have been lost in a world of poorly maintained supermarket flowers,” Elsa admitted, and it was enough to draw a nervous laugh from Anna.

“I don’t know, probably not messing up your last date?” Anna replied, cheeks rosy in embarrassment. The arched eyebrow Elsa raised in response made her glance away.

“Maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe I am just so hopeless that even the best flowers in the world can’t convince a woman to sit through a meal with me.”

“No, absolutely not!” Anna said without conscious thought. “I mean, anyone would be lucky to have a meal with you. You’re lovely. And kind, and considerate, and just -” she stopped herself before her mouth ran away with itself. “I just mean… you’re trying. Which is more than any of my dates ever did. They don’t know how lucky they are. You’ll meet the right person, eventually. Never give up.”

Elsa cocked her head, and for a moment Anna worried she had overstepped some kind of boundary.

“Thank you,” Elsa said sincerely. “I worried when I came here that I wouldn’t meet anyone who’d get me.”

“Oh?” Anna asked in surprise.

“A young independent woman from the city moving into a sleepy old village? Everyone here seems so set in their ways.”

She wasn’t wrong. Anna felt the same, and she had lived here her entire life.

A question tugged at Anna, and she considered not asking, but curiosity got the better of her. “Why did you move here?” It was an innocent enough question, or so she thought.

“Well…” Elsa hesitated, and for a moment Anna wasn’t sure if she’d continue. The way she clammed up made Anna wish she had never asked at all. It was such a contrast to the happy woman who stood there moments earlier. “We got serious so my girlfriend at the time moved in… and then we split a few years later. Do you know how hard it is living with your ex full time? It was okay while we weren’t seeing people. But when she started bringing people home…”

Anna watched those bright eyes fall into despair. Instinctively, she reached out and pulled Elsa into a hug.

“It hurt so, so much.” The raw emotion was evident in every syllable. “But I know she has nothing. Nowhere to go. So now I pay the mortgage and she lives in my apartment in the city,” Elsa said with the deepest of sighs.

How does someone even end up in that situation?

“I couldn’t throw her out onto the street, but I couldn’t live there either. So here I am, trying to start fresh. A psychiatrist would have a field day with me, I swear.”

The way she tried to lighten the mood made Anna squeeze her even tighter.

“No – no.” Anna shook her head. “You’re amazing, and thoughtful. Your ex is a fool,” she paused, debating how best to tell her that renting her apartment out for free to an ex was crazy. “Don’t get me wrong – you totally need to fix your apartment situation, but you’re doing what you think is right. You’re being a good person. Don’t ever feel bad for that.”

Anna pulled back enough from Elsa to look her over. She could now see how clearly she was suffering beneath her upbeat persona. She still loves her. Anna supposed it made sense now. Why else would she be trying so hard to find someone new? Or maybe she’s just trying to find a way to heal.

“Thank you. For both the flowers and the pep talk,” Elsa said gratefully, pulling away from Anna’s arms and collecting the flowers from the counter. Anna felt an emptiness at the loss of contact, and she wondered if Elsa did too as she watched as she wrapped one arm around herself self-consciously.

“Anytime. I’m here every day of the week. Literally. Except Sunday. I have Sundays off.”

Anna opened her mouth to give Elsa something more: advice? Encouragement? Just a friendly goodbye? No words followed. She watched, a bleakness filling her at what she had just learnt. It didn’t seem fair that someone trying so hard had suffered so much misfortune.

I hope she finds what she is looking for.

—-

It wasn’t often Anna didn’t sleep well, but here she was, wide awake long before her alarm had even gone off. She rolled out of bed and, like every morning, proceeded to perform her morning routine.

She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about how Elsa’s date went, and more importantly, how Elsa was doing. The more she thought about her the more Anna realised she barely knew a thing about her. Had she moved here with anyone? Could she have another soul to confide in at home? She certainly implied she didn’t.

Maybe I should drop by after work. Just to make sure she’s settling in. Without even consciously realising it, resolving to check in on Elsa that afternoon gave Anna an extra spring in her step as she flipped her open sign on the shop door to closed.

Keeping busy from idle thoughts, she continued to put the finishing touches on the flower arrangements for the wedding at the church later that day. Despite being a small, inclusive village, it was situated in an idyllic location and passing trade kept her afloat: especially weddings, and she needed her sole focus to ensure these would be perfect. Even if that meant no customers for a few hours.

Caught in the concentration of her job, she didn’t hear the door gently chime as it opened some time later.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you -”

Anna almost hit the ceiling. Holding her poor, beating heart, she turned to face Elsa. Had it been anyone else she’d have been thinking up a very tort reply involving reading and shop signage. But it was Elsa, and all of Anna’s irritation faded away in an instant.

“Sorry,” Elsa said with a sheepish smile, seeming to realise that she had made Anna jump out of her skin yet again. “I’m not normally this sneaky. I feel like you’re going to think I am doing this on purpose.”

“No, really, it’s fine. It’s great to see you again!” Anna said a little too enthusiastically, and instantly she wanted to face-palm. Way to sound desperate.

Immediately changing topic, because Anna needed to think about absolutely anything except her joy of seeing Elsa, she asked the one question on her mind. “How was your date?”

Elsa let out a low sigh. “I think I must have fool written all over my face.”

Anna nodded in understanding, not pressing her for any further details… and then proceeded to shake her head vehemently when she realised just what she had been agreeing to.

Elsa’s face softened, and for a moment she stood uncertain, one hand playing with the handles of her tote bag.

“…I actually got you a present.”

“A present?” Anna asked, both in pleasant surprise and anxious anticipation. What could ever have possessed Elsa to buy something for her she’d never know.

“Yes. Just something to say thank you for your help these past couple days.”

“I mean, you didn’t have to. My job is to supply my customers with perfect bouquets. If anything I should probably be giving you a refund for how well they’ve gone down.”

“Stop that,” Elsa’s voice held an edge that silenced Anna. “I loved them, and that’s all that matters.”

As much as Anna wanted to argue that that wasn’t the point, she remained quiet.

“Listen, don’t thank me too quickly. I pass a shop every day on the way to work and I saw it and thought of you and…” Elsa hesitated. “Just open it.”

Anna frowned but reluctantly accepted the neatly wrapped gift. Delicately, she pulled at the yellow ribbon and unpicked the sunflower paper. She looked between Elsa and the plain brown box beneath in curiosity. Chocolate maybe? She wondered, proceeding to slide the box open. To her surprise, Anna looked down at a dinky pair of black and white scissors, complete with blunt, rounded edges and topped off with a safety cap. Her eyes traced the cute cartoon panda faces over the grip.

She blinked in disbelief. “You bought me childrens scissors.”

“I did.” The absence of any shame in Elsa’s tone was both as amusing as it was humiliating.

Taking a breath, Anna finally looked up, keeping her expression as stern as she could as she inwardly melted at how adorable the gift was. “I want you to know I am both flattered and offended in equal measure.”

“Good. That’s what I was pitching for,” Elsa said, eyes alight with mischief. “Perhaps when rude customers sneak up on you, you won’t almost chop your hands off.”

“That was one time, and you weren’t rude.” Anna rolled her eyes.

“You said it had happened before,” Elsa retorted with folded arms and that arched look Anna was coming to enjoy a little too much.

“…So I did,” Anna conceded as she popped the scissors down by the counter.

“Can I get you a drink?” the words had already left Anna’s mouth before she realised how weird that was. They were in a flower shop. Elsa was shopping, not having afternoon tea.

Before Anna could backpedal and come up with excuses for how ridiculous the offer was Elsa’s musical notes had already left her lips, “I would love one.”

“G-great! Tea or coffee? Or juice, water, soda, alcohol?” Anna stammered, caught off guard.

Is my milk even in date?

“Coffee is fine.”

I really hope my milk is in date.

“Can you watch the shop for a minute? My kettle is upstairs.”

Elsa nodded, and with that Anna sped upstairs, taking two at a time. Setting the kettle to boil with one hand and grabbing a random mug from her pile of washing up with the other, she quickly got to work cleaning it and mixing up a cup of coffee.

I really hope she likes instant coffee. How many sugars does a normal person take? …Was the milk in date? Pushing all fears aside, Anna charged back down with the mug, almost spilling it as she skidded to a stop. I really hope I don’t kill her.

“World’s Number 1 Florist?” Elsa mused as she accepted the coffee. Anna frowned, not understanding until Elsa held the mug up to take a sip. “If it’s on a mug it must be true.”

The regret from picking that dumb mug was eclipsed by the playful twinkle in Elsa’s eye. Anna felt her cheeks redden, and feared for a moment Elsa would comment further, but she simply turned away and began wandering around the small shop floor, admiring the flowers on display.

At ease in her company, Anna went back to the arrangements she was working.

“So, you live above the shop? Isn’t it weird having your house as your business? I don’t think I could ever do that. Like, where is the boundary? You must end up working so many hours,” Elsa made idle conversation, but Anna didn’t mind. It was a nice change of pace to have company.

How strange. She couldn’t help but notice. She always left the shop closed when she needed to really concentrate on a big order, but somehow Elsa’s presence didn’t disrupt her flow in the same way every other person did.

“Yeah, it feels a bit like that sometimes,” Anna nodded in reply, not pausing in her work.

Elsa continued looking around, sipping her coffee as she took in every detail; from the range of flowers to the rustic design of the displays.

“Do you work here alone?”

“Yes. My grandparents owned the shop, and left it to me after they passed a few years back. My mum didn’t like being tied to it so she left way before. But even though I’m kind of stuck here I do enjoy it.”

“Your mum left?”

Anna sucked in a breath. She supposed she should have been more careful with her choice of words, but now she had mentioned it there was no taking that back.

“Yes. When I was 8. She wasn’t really mum material,” she said diplomatically. Explaining to Elsa that her mother liked the alcohol and drugs more than her own family felt impossible. “I see her sometimes, and we got along okay, but my grandparents are the ones who raised me.”

“Wow, I’m sorry to hear that,” Elsa said empathetically, pausing to really look at Anna. She avoided her gaze, not needing, or wanting her pity. She had enough of that from the village. Being so small had its disadvantages, and everyone knowing everyone’s business was one of them.

“Don’t be. Family problems, or maybe just life problems. I know I’m not the only one,” Anna said, thinking back to Elsa and their conversation about her grandmother and her ex. Her life was just as complicated, even if it was for completely different reasons.

“Life problems, indeed,” she agreed soberly, not prying for further details, and Anna respected that. It was a far cry from the gossip mongers she usually served.

Wordlessly, Anna continued arranging the wedding bouquets, acutely aware Elsa was now watching her every move with interest.

“Do you ever get lonely working here?” she finally broke the fragile silence that had fallen between them.

“I… don’t really notice? Maybe?” Anna wasn’t sure how to answer the question. “I try to keep myself busy. With so much to get done I don’t have time to think about much else. I need to get the flowers ready for the wedding this afternoon, and then for the church sermon tomorrow. And next week there are two more weddings.”

“Oh! I am sorry; I didn’t mean to keep you from anything -”

“- No - no, you’re not. I didn’t mean -”

“But you have Sundays off?”

Anna let out a low sigh. She hadn’t meant to offend the woman, though she did wonder if Elsa had even read the signage on the door when she let herself in.

“Yes. I don’t open but I sometimes,” always, “get things ready for the week.”

Elsa pursed her lips and for a moment Anna thought she might say something else, but instead she took a long sip of her coffee, finishing the mug.

“Thank you, for both the coffee and the chat. But I really shouldn’t keep you any longer.”

You really don’t have to go. But as much as she wished for it, Anna couldn’t voice the words out loud.

“…Thank you for the scissors,” she settled with, and it was enough to draw a smirk from her new friend.

Anna’s breath caught as Elsa leaned in dangerously close, pinning her to the counter. The brush of her arm against her own sent sparks through her. Teal eyes glanced down, catching the pale pink of her lips, and for the briefest of moments Anna thought she might lean just that touch closer.

The sound of Elsa placing her mug down on the hard surface behind snapped her back to reality.

“Be safe with them.”

Anna nodded wordlessly, unable to move from where she stood frozen as Elsa stepped out of the shop.

—-

Am I reading too much into it? Anna sat on the windowsill, gazing across the village, mug of coffee in hand. It was what she loved the most about living above the shop: from here she could see past the green, to the collection of shops on the other side, the tall spire of the local church peeking above large oak trees, and beyond to the series of cottages. She counted along each roof, picking out Elsa’s cottage.

Craft scissors. Completely and utterly unsuitable for the precise clipping of her flower stems, and yet she adored them all the same. But what did they mean? They were such an unusual gift. And the seriousness offset by the playfulness… Elsa was impossible to work out.

Don’t be a fool. A smart city girl like her would never look twice at a school drop out like you.

Anna had seen the bios of those successful girls on that dating app. Designer clothes, immaculate makeup, high flying jobs; a lot like Elsa. It was a far cry from Anna’s messy bedhead and clumsiness.

She let out a low sigh. I wonder if she’ll stick around for long. Who was she kidding? As soon as Elsa sorted her relationship and apartment problem the girl would be out of this village in a flash. What else was to keep her here?

The sharp ring of her alarm made her leap out of her skin. In retaliation she tossed a book over, knocking it clean off the bedside table. Instead of shutting it up however, it continued to squeal in an even higher pitch.

“Stupid alarm,” she grumbled as she got up and reset it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. It wasn’t even 8am yet. God, who’d want flowers at this time?

“We’re closed!” she called out. After a second knock she rolled her eyes and headed downstairs.

I swear if it’s Mrs Peterson again. She knows I’m closed yet every Sunday she -

“- Elsa?” she said in surprise, the air knocked out of her completely at the sight of her. Anna blinked. In contrast to her previous two visits, Elsa wore a longer and brighter floral dress, complete with a wide brim straw hat.

“Sorry. I saw movement by your window and I just… well… I got you some flowers…” she trailed off. Anna frowned, glancing between Elsa and the bunch of vibrant crocuses in her hand.

“Are those for me?” Anna asked, dumbfounded. “The shop has plenty of stock. I don’t need -”

“- They aren’t for your shop. They are for you,” Elsa clarified. Anna looked down at them again, unable to understand the gesture.

“I know you have a whole store full of them, and they probably mean something entirely significant that I do not know of,” Elsa said as she thrust the bunch out to Anna, “I picked them because they are the only thing growing in my garden… aside from the sunflowers, and they were so tall I felt too mean to take my scissors to them.”

Anna accepted the bunch tentatively, still not entirely sure what was happening. No one had ever gifted her flowers… or scissors for that matter.

“You know, I really should have gone with the sunflowers,” Elsa lamented, and Anna snapped back up immediately. “They are just so much more you.”

More me? Anna opened her mouth to question just what she meant when Elsa continued, “you could come by and see them, if you have any free time today. I’m not exaggerating when I say they are taller than us.”

Anna met Elsa’s vivid blue eyes squarely: so brave, yet so vulnerable in that moment.

“We get along well, don’t we? If I am imagining it please just tell me. I seem to have a terrible track record.”

She looked back down at the flowers, a variety of purple hues with flashes of white and yellow. They were as bright as they were beautiful: as gentle as snow, as warm as summer.

“Please say something before I perish on the spot.”

“…Please don’t perish. That would be awkward for everybody involved,” Anna finally said, giving her an apologetic look.

A soft chuckle escaped Elsa’s lips. “I’m making a mess of this, aren’t I? You’d think asking someone on a date wouldn’t be so difficult.”

A date?

“No. I am. I’m not - I don’t -” Anna paused and took a breath to get her thoughts straight. Everyone in the village will know if I see a local girl. Yet somehow the threat of that seemed so far away compared to the promise of a date with Elsa.

Don’t over think it.

“I would love to visit. I mean -”

Don’t worry about tomorrow.

“- I’d like to go on a date. With you. Together. Obviously. Please make me stop talking.”

Long fingers threaded between her own, and Anna let out as gasp as Elsa boldly pulled her close.

“Together sounds perfect,” Elsa’s words were like velvet, and Anna had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

Just enjoy today. The future can wait.

#elsanna #submission #august 2021 contest #prompt: flowers #CW: blood #cw: angst

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salenakingston · 3 years

Text

Mystery March Day 18 - Flower

Where was she now? Could she even define herself as simply ‘she’ anymore? The body was gone, taken away at the hands of that blue-haired girl. It was the same one from ancient times, and yet, at the same time not. It was impossible for it to truly be the same person. A reincarnation perhaps? Well what good does that do now? Laying who knows how far away as nothing more than a beating heart in the shape of a fruit.

Sight was meaningless, but noises could still be heard. There was enough awareness for that at least.

One thing was certain, this area was not the same one as before. Where the sound of battle once rang out, there was calm. The sound of insects chirping, and birds too. There was the feeling of heat beating down from the sky, though not as intense as it might have been against a black road. There was a subtle noise, that of wind floating by. At least this place seemed more like the old forest.

“How much longer are we going to keep looking?”

What was that? A voice? Out here?

“As long as it takes.”

Wait, that voice was recognizable. Was it her again?

“Vivi, this is stupid. You said when you hit it, it went flying. Who knows how far it actually went.”

Hit it? Oh right, she batted the heart right out of the body. Wait, but that would imply this was what she was looking for. Why? To get rid of it for good?

“I know it’s stupid, but this is important. Can’t you work with me instead of arguing? If Arthur’s making an effort then we should too.”

Who was Arthur? In fact, who was she even talking to?

“I know that Vivi. It’s just complicated on my end. I assure you I am actually trying. You try getting ‘buddy buddy’ with someone you’ve spent so long hating.”

While interesting to hear, what did any of this have to do with their search? If anything, the bickering was just starting to get annoying. Even more so as the voices seemed to be growing louder. They must have been getting closer to this resting place.

“Alright alright. Look let’s at least look a little longer. If we don’t find it then we’ll go back. Maybe the three of us can look more tomorrow.”

“Yeah, ok.”

It didn’t make any sense. After the fury she showed when the kitsune was harmed, why go through the trouble of finding the object she was keen to remove at that moment?

“Hey Vivi, what did it look like again?”

“It was shaped like a heart, see through, and it had a glowing, red light in the middle. Why?”

“I think I found it.”

It was being lifted, but into the hands of something strange. It was terribly inconvenient to only be able to go off every sense besides sight. Footsteps could be heard against the earth, so ‘Vivi’ must have been catching up to whomever spoke.

“Yeah, that’s it. Let’s go back home.”

Well, there wasn’t much choice in the matter, as if there even was one to begin with. Wherever they were going, this was going with them.

A rush of chill washed over all of them, one set of footsteps echoing off the wood floor. One? But there were two voices before. Curse this miserable state. The girl’s voice came back again, “Oh, Arthur and Mystery aren’t here?”

Mystery. Right, the name the kitsune accepted from his new master. If the body was still functionable, this would be worthy of an eyeroll. Beside that, why bring this back to him? He seemed content fighting back as well.

“Actually, maybe this is a good thing, we can surprise him.”

That was her again. Surprise him? This ‘Arthur’ or the kitsune?

“I guess so. What do we do with it then? Just give it to him?”

“No, of course not. So, I don’t know how correct this is, but the little tree that was on top of her head looked a lot like a bonsai tree. If we can get a pot, probably one a little deeper to fit the whole thing, I bet we could make it grow.”

Stunned silence.

“That’s a pretty big stretch. What if it doesn’t work?”

“Don’t be such a downer Lewis. I have a good feeling it will.”

“If you say so.”

There were a lot of different feelings going on now. The earth was familiar, though it was all around now rather than just underneath. There was something wet being added, probably water. Well, credit where it was somewhat due, at least this girl seemed to know some basic care. There was the sound of a door opening, the other two mentioned having come back. Oh, there was that feeling of being lifted again.

“Mystery, we got you a surprise.”

Wait, they spent all this time looking to be given back to him?

“Vivi, it’s a pot of dirt.”

“Give it time. You’ll see what it is.”

Why not just tell him outright? Why drag it out? These were some strange mortals the kitsune decided to serve.

----

How much time had passed now? It was a bit hard to tell. Well, one upside to this whole thing was sight came back. From the beating heart, a blue sprout had grown through the dirt. With care from the girl, Vivi, and the ghost from the empty plot and locket, Lewis, that sprout had grown into a small tree. Most of the time, it was the two of them handling the care of the tiny tree, if only to keep up appearances. When no one else was around, the kitsune had taken on a more human like form to do the care himself. The body had grown again, and so too ‘she’ came back.

It was just annoying she couldn’t move like she used to.

Still it was nice to see again.

That blonde one with the shiny arm had come over today, Arthur. His name had come up, but there was no way for her to put a face to that name before now. He’d joined the kitsune, looking over the blue tree with white leaves. There were buds forming along some of the branches, and soon enough would have pink flowers blossoming like before. The ‘dog’ had glanced over at him when he heard the blonde’s voice, “Hey Mystery.”

“Vivi bug you into coming over?”

“When doesn’t she? You know how she is.”

Two sets of eyes feel on her body, “It’s growing really well.”

“Yes. So she is.”

“Right, she. I’m sorry.”

Strange to make such a point about that correction. She was alive, but not really… ‘alive.’ The same body as before had been burnt away, leaving this much more natural state for her.

“She was important to you, wasn’t she?”

“As important then as she is now.”

If she could snort she would. How was she meant to believe that sentiment?

“My life has become full of regrets Arthur, so much it amazes me how the three of you stick around. And so she too has become part of my regret. Not for creating her, but that when caught between two people I cared about, I turned my back on her. I don’t regret my choice, but I regret what that’s done to her.”

“Regret is something we both have in common.”

Man and dog looked at one another before the blonde turned those understanding eyes on her, “I’m no expert with plants. Will you show me how to take care of it while I wait for Vivi?”

“Sure.”

Despite the one strange arm he had, his care was just as gentle as the other three. These humans were strange. Two humans and a ghost? Logistics. Unimportant. What mattered was them showing care for something that didn’t have anything to do with them. All for what? For a mutt that lied to all of them? It was very strange.

When night fell, her very being reached deep inside her. This wasn’t the first time these three came to her. When the blue locket had been picked up, each one in the form of a flower bloomed on her hand, only for her to strike them down before the lotus she’d been desiring shined. The others were forgotten about.

Each one of them was very specific.

A blue orchid with hints of magenta along its stamen.

A purple rose with a yellow center, it’s stem covered in thorns.

An orange sunflower that almost looks wilted.

When Mystery woke up the next morning, there were three tiny flowers curled around the base of the tree. There was no lotus bloom. Not yet. She was not ready to forgive him just yet. There was some comfort to this new addition she created.

#MysteryMarch2021 #mystery skulls animated #my writing #my submission

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cardest · 3 years

Text

Russia playlist

Gorbachov! Tear down that wall.......and turn up this Russia playlist! The Cossacks are dancing to this one and the yaks are singing. Russia, Siberia, Moscow, St Petersburg and a cold war. It’s all here in this Russia playlist. Hit play: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC18F7oDKY8zH1IOplzHM05MY

We begin the journey in Siberia and make our way across Genghis Khan territory towards Omsk and beyond. We have a look at Chernobyl, Ukraine for a look around and make our way up to Moscow, We finish up this playlist in St Petersburg. Hope you enjoy it.

RUSSIA

001 FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE 007 OST - Main theme 002 Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train 003 The Beatles - Back in The USSR 004 Iron Maiden - Mother Russia 005 Sisters of Mercy - Dominion / Mother Russia 006 Ramones - Cretin Hop 007 Sting - Russians 008 Russkaja - Peace, Love & Russian Roll 009 Robert Simon Thomas - Troika (balalaika) 010 Jello Biafra, The Guantanamo School Of Medicine - We Created Putin 011 The Cult - Siberia 012 Mastodon - Siberian Divide 013 Yes - Siberian Khatru 014 Pesnokhorki Barnaul - Cossacks songs of Siberia 015 Diablo Swing Orchestra - Siberian Love Affairs 016 The Kills - Siberian Nights 017 The Night Flight Orchestra - Siberian Queen 018 Altai Kai - Traditional Siberian music 019 Vallenfyre - My Black Siberia 020 Skyhooks - Jukebox In Siberia 021 MISERY INDEX - Siberian March 022 Wooly Mammoth - Mammoth Bones 023 Grumbling Fur - Siberian Priest 024 Iron Maiden - Genghis Khan 025 Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Night enchanted 026 The Locust - Live From The Russian Compound 027 ACCEPT - Russian Roulette 028 Cavalera Conspiracy - Genghis Khan 029 Diaframma - Siberia 030 Renaissance - Mother Russia 031 Echo & The Bunnymen - Siberia 032 Dschinghis Khan - Genghis Khan 033 Bad News - Warriors Of Ghengis Khan 034 The Hu - The great Chinggis Khan 035 Shah - Escape 036 Ray Stevens - Surfin USSR 037 Ramones - Locket Love 038 Heirs - Russia 039 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Hero of the Soviet Union 040 Natalia Albychakova - Takhpakh 041 Svetlanas - Go Fck You Self 042 Maloletka - Irkutsk Path 043 Kuban Cossack Choir - The hat all around 044 The Lords of the New Church - Russian Roulette 045 Paul Lay Trio - Irkutsk 046 Elvis Hitler - Rocking Over Russia 047 Russian Circles - 309 048 Thylacine - Irkutsk 049 Valeriy Voloshin and gruppa Pyatiletka - Irkutsk 050 DEVO - Cold War 051 Güiro Meets Russia - It's Not The World, It's You 052 Powerwolf - Nightside of Siberia 053 Altai Kai - Oilo oilo altai 054 Arkona - Yarilo 055 Depeche Mode - People Are People 056 Gorky Park - Bang 057 Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring, Part 1- 3 Game of Abduction 058 Martika - Toy Soldiers 059 Transvision vamp - revolution baby 060 The Stranglers - No More Heroes 061 Gari Gari - Russian gypsy music 062 Russian Sailors - Dance Yablochka 063 Manic Street Preachers - Revolt 064 Elton John - Nikita 065 Krokus - Russian winter 066 Prince - Ronnie Talk to Russia 067 Soviet SOunds - Baikal-Amur Railroad 068 Genesis - Land of Confusion 069 Duran Duran - Planet Earth 070 Today Is The Day - The Russian Porn Ballet 071 Nytt Land - Ballad of Gjallarhorn 072 Rotting Christ - Ветры злые - (featuring Irina Zybina) 073 Metallica - Blackened 074 Anneke van Giersbergen, Árstíðir - Russian Lullaby 075 Der Kommissar - After the Fire 076 Czas relaksu - Andrzej i Eliza 077 korobushka - Folk Russian 078 Peter Gabriel - Red Rain 079 FEAR - Bomb the Russians 080 Rush - Heresy 081 RUSSKAJA - Energia 082 Megadeth - Peace Sells 083 King Crimson - One More Red Nightmare 084 Sodom - Nuclear Winter 085 Bruce Cockburn - If I Had A Rocket Launcher 086 Talisman - Hey you Horses! 087 Styx - Cold War 088 Grateful Dead - Throwing Stones 089 Gimines - Kai armonika tyliai užgros 090 EXHUMED - Coins Upon the Eyes 091 Mastodon - The Czar 092 CCCP - American Soviets 093 Sapce Rockit - Supersonik Elektronik 094 Septic Flesh - The Eldest Cosmonaut 095 Quicksand - Cosmonauts 096 Arkona - Zimushka 097 Abracadabra - Damned Dances 098 Pink Floyd - Two Suns In The Sunset 099 Prince - 1999 100 Trololo Guy - Sean Sell Duck with Fake Subtitles ( Buffalax Style ) 101 Armonika - Gromatele Parašiau 102 Diablo Swing Orchestra - Vodka Inferno 103 Accept - Balls to the wall 104 Killing Joke - New Cold War 105 UB40 - The Earth Dies Screaming 106 RAMONES - Bonzo Goes To Bitburg (My Brain Is Hanging Upside) 107 TCHAYOK - Zavarka - Mi-minable 108 COH - Soii Noir 109 Vircator - Tunguska 110 Scorpions - China White 111 Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World 112 The Stalin - 解剖室 113 KAIRA - OХ РA 114 Alexander Robotnick - Ce n'est q'un début 115 Tunguska Electronic Music Society - Alpha Kawu 116 Arkona - Odna 117 Cist - Antisceptic 118 Sabaton - Nuclear Attack 119 Leningrad Cowboys - Katjusha 120 PRONG - Rude Awakening 121 Imperial Age - And I Shall Find My Home 122 Так - пела метель 123 Fear Konstruktor - Nonexistence 124 Oneohtrix - Russian Mind 125 Police - Every Breath You Take 126 dEpEchE modE - Two Minute Warning 127 Ultravox - Dancing With Tears In My Eyes 128 Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Love Missile F1-11 129 Metallica - Fight Fire With Fire 130 David Bowie - Heroes 131 woven hand - my Russia 132 Survivor - Burning Heart (Rocky IV OST) 133 Forest - As a Shade Above This Land 134 Tesla - Modern Day Cowboy 135 Colossus Form - Son Of Nature 136 The Flying Lizards - Russia 137 Djivan Gasparyan - A Cool Wind Is Blowing 138 Iron Driver (feat. Pasha Mrachek) - Prisoner of time 139 Pussy Riot - CHAIKA 140 Boris Alexandrov - Катюша (Katyusha) 141 DEVO - Going Under 142 Motor - Yak 143 Nuclear Assault - Nuclear War 144 Edward Artemiev - Station (Solaris OST) 145 Soviet Valves - Puritan Blues 146 Verasy - Polet 147 FAVALLI - Yuri Gagarin 148 Wolfmother - Cosmonaut 149 Yuri Gagarin - Psychological Discontinuity 150 Witchfinder General - Soviet Invasion 151 Korrozia Metallah - Russian Vodka 152 Russkaja - Kosmopolit 153 Dio - Gypsy 154 The The - slow train to dawn 155 Blues Pills - Gypsy 156 Rush - Red Lenses 157 Corey Hart - Komrade Kiev 158 Master - Metal Doctor 159 Howlin Rain - Phantom In The Valley 160 ARKONA - Liki Bessmertnykh Bogov 161 Pitchblack - IHATEU 162 Ozzy Osbourne - Killer of Giants 163 Scorpions - Wind of Change 164 Yat kha - Chorumal Bodum 165 Nadezhda Babkina, Russkaja Pesnja 166 Ramones - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow 167 Russian radio - red flag 168 Manicure - Atomic Summer 169 The Dillinger Escape Plan - The Threat Posed By Nuclear Weapons 170 Love Among Freaks - Berserker 171 ARIA - HERO OF ASPHALT 172 Temnozor - Fatherland 173 Walknut - Motherland Ostenvegr 174 Weird Al Yankovic - Now That's What I Call Polka! 175 Underworld - Underneath the Radar 176 Skyclad - Polkageist 177 Helloween - Russian Roulé 178 John Coltrane - Russian Lullaby 179 Julian Cope - russian revolution blues 180 Rodrigo y Gabriela - The Russian Messenger 181 Kate Bush - Babooshka 182 ВИА - Чаривни гитары 183 Mastodon - The Last Baron 184 Hovert – Omyt 185 Minsk - Consumed by Horizons 186 Kypck - Stalingrad 187 Def Leppard - Gods of war 188 Black Country Communion - Big Train 189 Sabaton - Stalingrad 190 Doomsquad - Russian Gaze 191 Soviet Soviet - Human Nature 192 Murray head - one night in bangkok 193 The Korgis - Young n Russian 194 Chelsea Light Moving - Communist Eyes 195 Helix - Champagne Communist 196 UDO - Train Ride In Russia 197 Mr Weebl - Russian Dancing Men 198 Jamie Jones - Siberian Express 199 They Might Be Giants - Sold My Mind to the Kremlin 200 Ed Khuild - lolololololololol 201 Sepultura - Itsari 202 Vy Pole - Enormous 203 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow 204 Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Auto Pilot 205 Buffalex - Horse Eat My Nipple 206 Municipal Waste - Wolves of Chernobyl 207 Drudkh - Cursed Sons II 208 Chernobyl - A song for the fallen 209 Russkaja - Hometown Polka 210 Toxic Holocaust - Out of the Fire 211 Hail Caesar! Soundtrack - 19 Soviet Man 212 The Blow Monkeys - The Man From Russia 213 The Devil's Blood - The Anti-Kosmik Magick 214 Orchid - Cosmonaut of Three 215 Vergeltung - Cold War 216 KYPCK - Alleya Stalina 217 Cabaret Voltaire - Calling Moscow 218 Red Army Choir - Polyushka Polye 219 Iron Curtain - Ready To Strike 220 Porcupine Tree - Russia on Ice 221 Sigue Sigue Sputnik - 21st Century Boy 222 Al Stewart - Roads to Moscow 223 The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil 224 Soviet Soviet - ecastacy 225 KREMLIN - Will You Feed Me 226 AC/DC - Heatseeker 227 ANJ - Gorbachev 228 Katyusha (Катюша) - Aleksandr Marshal & Valeria Kurnushkina 229 ARKONA - Stenka Na Stenku 230 Black Obelisk - The wall 231 Skyclad - Catherine at the Wheel 232 Pussy Riot - Kropotkin-vodka (Kill the sexist!) 233 Brian Eno -- Stedelijk 234 Zola Jesus - Siphon 235 Insect Inside - The First Shining of New Genus 236 MR. ZIVAGO - Little Russian 237 The Real McKenzies - Midnight Train to Moscow 238 Red Army OST - KGB 239 The Toasters - Night Train to Moscow 240 Thy Catafalque - Urania 241 The Apogee - Hieronymus Bosch 242 Sabaton - Panzerkampf 244 RUSSKAJA - Barada 245 Oneohtrix Point Never - KGB Nights 246 Faith No More - A Small Victory 247 Mike and the mechanics - A Call To Arms 248 Michael Jackson - Stranger In Moscow 249 Blondie - Contact In Red Square 250 Rammstein - Moskau 251 Pseudogod - deathwomb 252 KGB - Subway Sleepwalker 253 Igor Butman Big Band - Moscow at 3am 254 Genghis Khan - Moscow 255 Demon - Blue Skies In Red Square 256 Type O Negative - The Profit of Doom 257 COH - Red Square 258 Cougars - Red Square 259 Ray Conniff - Moscow Nights 260 INDIANS IN MOSCOW - Indians in Moscow 261 Radio Moscow - 250 Miles 262 Kingdom Come - Crown of Moscow 263 Powerwolf - Moscow after dark 264 U.D.O. - Decadent 265 System Of A Down - Störagéd 266 Closure In Moscow - Pink Lemonade 267 VIBRATORS - DISCO IN MOSCO 268 IRA PETROWA - MOSKAUER NÄCHTE 269 Visage - Moon Over Moscow 270 Farmers Market - Red Square Dance 271 Wonderland - Moscow 272 Courtney Pine - Red Square Gagarinesk 273 Stray Cats - Storm The Embassy 274 German Shepherds - Communist Control 275 Moloko - Radio Moscow 276 March of the defenders - Moscow 277 Takako Nishizaki - Podmoskovnye vechera( Moscow Nights) 278 Simple Minds - Moscow Underground 279 The Spotnicks - Moscow 280 The Russian Jazz Quartet - Journey from Moscow 281 Bob Crewe Generation - Miniskirts In Moscow 282 MODERN TROUBLE - FLY TO MOSCOW 283 Gorky Park - Moscow Calling 284 BB Gabor - Moscow Drug Club 285 Doe Maar - De bom 286 Manicured noise - Moscow 287 Russkaja - Ras Dwa Tri 288 PLANET P PROJECT - Armageddon 289 Clan of Xymox - Muscoviet Musquito 290 Gogol Bordello - 60 REVOLUTIONS 291 Uriah Heep - Gypsy 292 Living Colour - Cult Of Personality 293 The Hollies - Russian Roulette 294 Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen - Red Square 295 Frank Chacksfield - Under Moscow Skies 296 Thomas Dolby - Eastern Bloc 297 The Redskins - Kick Over The Statues 298 The Alchemist - Moscow Mornings - Sunrise 299 N.O.T.A. - Moscow 300 Svetlanas - Where Is My Borscht? 301 Against Me! - Russian Spies 302 James Horner - Gorkij park (Gorky Park 1983) OST 303 Hetalia Russia - Moscú 304 Roberto Jacketti & The Scooters - Moscow Nights 305 Ram J Holder - The Blues in Moscow 306 Ivan Rebroff sings Russian folk songs - Moscow nights 307 Jethro Tull - Crest Of A Knave Said She Was a Dancer 308 Men At Work - Its a Mistake 309 Skeewiff - Moscow Mule 310 The Clash - Ivan Meets G.I. Joe 311 Captain Sensible - Glad its all over 312 Ulfdallir - Steel Armor 313 Arkona - Oi Ti ne Vecher (Oh Not That Evening) 314 Lena Katina - No Voy A Olvidarte 315 JOHNNY M5 - Moscow Nights 316 Eddy Huntington - U.S.S.R. 317 Selsius - Moscow 318 WINTERUS - MOSCOW 319 Mr. Zivago - Love in Moscow 320 Brutto - Moscow Calling 321 Udo Lindenberg - Moskau 322 Aliza Kashi - Moscow Nights 323 Angelic Upstarts - Last Tango In Moscow 324 ASIA - Russian Dolls 325 Blaze Bayley & Thomas Zwijsen - Russian Holiday 326 Kate Bush - Breathing 327 Roger Waters and David Bowie - When the wind blows 328 Roky Erickson & The Aliens - Sputnik 329 Moscow - Orange Juice 330 Ivan Rebroff - Cossack Patrol 331 Alexandr Gradsky - Как молоды мы были 332 James Horner - Gorky Park - Following KGB 333 B.T.R - Moscow City 334 Gogol Bordello - Hats Off To Kolpakoff 335 CCCP - Sputnik [Cosmos] 336 Russkaja - Go Sputnik 337 Red Spektor - Cosmonaut 338 Bald Red Lady - Cosmonaut 339 Ulver - Russian Doll 340 Hawkwind - Sputnik Stan 341 Bad Acid Trip - Putin Fears Pussy 342 Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime 343 Dark Tranquillity - Arkhangelsk 344 TOTAL REJECTS (This Night) I'm Going To Be Destroyed 345 Manic Street Preachers - The Next Jet to Leave Moscow 346 Billy Joel - Leningrad 347 Victor Smolski - The Heretic 348 Boney M - Rasputin 349 Type O Negative - Tripping A Blind Man 350 Leningrad Cowboys - Leningrad 351 Accept - Stalingrad 352 Russian Folk Music - Russian Winter 353 Cavalera Conspiracy - Rasputin 354 Kontrust - Rasputin 355 Bersarin Quartett - St. Petersburg 356 Folkearth - From Volga to Bosphorus 357 Anastasia - Rumor in St. Petersburg 358 Retox - Soviet Reunion 359 Fireside - Let Rasputin Do It 360 Mastodon - Oblivion 361 St.Petersburg Ska Jazz Review - Volga River Boat Man 362 THERION - The Khlysti Evangelist 363 The Mountain Goats - Evening in Stalingrad 364 Rage - Soul Survivor 365 Indigo Girls - Closer to Fine 366 ARKONA - Slavsia Rus 367 Russian Folk Music - Kalinka (balalaika) 368 Catch 22 - The Decembrists Song 369 Joanna Stingray - City of Lenin 370 Aria - Attila 371 KAUAN - Khurum 372 Balalaika Ensemble Wolga - Cossacks Dance 373 The Liminanas - Russian Roulette 374 Vasiliy Shumov - Porridge 375 U.D.O. - I GIVE AS GOOD AS I GET 666 Russkaja - Change

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC18F7oDKY8zH1IOplzHM05MY

#russia #moscow #russian playlist #russian songs #siberia #russkaja #arkona #rasputin #leningrad cowboys #cavalera conspiracy #cossack #type o negative #svetlanas #pussy riot #cold war music

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pinkhuman99 · 3 years

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The Pink SOUL: EMPATHY

Every SOUL that we know of in Undertale has a meaning:

RED: Determination/LV. Items associated: Worn Dagger and Heart Locket. Owned by both Chara and Frisk. Chara's items are left in New Home, in the same bedroom they died in. It is also the SOUL colour of the combined SOUL of Asgore and the pink human in the "Pink Timeline." This SOUL's special ability is that it is capable of adapting to any situation, meaning it can dodge any kind of attack, run away from battles, and move freely around the battle box. In certain cases, when powerful enough, it can even go past the limits of the battle box.

ORANGE: Bravery. Items associated: Manly Bandana and Tough Glove. Owned by an unknown human, presumably the second human to fall after Chara. Items were left in Snowdin Forest/Snowdin Town. It is unknown if the items were dropped, left there, or scattered after the human died. This SOUL's special ability is that it can dodge any attack so long as it is moving. It is only hurt normally when it is holding still, which makes it weaker to surprise attacks. It is also always affected by blue attacks, which require it to stand still. However, blue magic is negated by orange magic, making it impossible for the orange SOUL to avoid injury by a blue attack.

YELLOW: Justice. Items associated: Empty Gun and Cowboy Hat. Owned by an unknown human, presumably the third to fall after Chara. Their items were left in Waterfall, then found in the garbage by Bratty and Catty and taken to he sold in Hotland near MTT resort. This SOUL's special ability is its power to fight back. This SOUL can shoot magical attacks that can become stronger after many successful battles.

GREEN: Kindness. Items associated: Burnt Pan and Stained Apron. Owned by an unknown human, presumably the fourth to fall after Chara. Their items were left in Hotland, possibly dropped after their capture at the hands of a monster that used fire-magic. This SOUL's special ability is that it can trap enemies in battle (however, the green SOUL's owner is also stuck in battle unless it spares the enemy).

CYAN/BLUE: Patience. Items associated: Faded Ribbon and Toy Knife. Owned by an unknown human, possibly the fifth to fall after Chara. Their items were left in the Ruins; the faded ribbon might have fallen off when the human was doing a puzzle, and the Toy Knife was possibly abandoned. This SOUL's special ability is that it can avoid damage from any attack so long as it is not moving. This is a great ability to have when your enemy is immobile or non-coporeal and only uses magical attacks. However, this ability is useless against physical attacks and orange attacks.

BLUE/INDIGO: Integrity. Items associated: Ballet Shoes and Dusty Tutu. Owned by an unknown human, presumably the sixth to fall after Chara. Their items were left in Waterfall, the Dusty Tutu being found in the room behind a waterfall where Undyne likes to spend her time. This SOUL's special ability is that it has power over gravity, meaning it can make itself lighter or heavier on command. This power grows stronger with many battles.

PURPLE: Perseverance. Items associated: Torn Notebook and Cloudy Glasses. Owned by an unknown human, possibly the seventh to fall after Chara. Their items were left in Waterfall and possibly found their way to the dump to be picked up by Gerson and sold at his shop. This SOUL's special ability is related to foresight; attacks are limited to certain locations in the battle box, making the purple SOUL's owner able to see where attacks are coming from. However, the purple SOUL is also limited these locations.

WHITE: Magic. Monster SOUL. Presumably, being white, these SOULs shine with the light of every other of the "virtues", creating white light. They are also upside-down, separating them from human SOULs visually. This SOUL cannot exist outside of its owner's body without destroying the host (the only exception being "Boss Monsters," whose SOUL's can persist, but only for a short period of time). Despite its limitations, this SOUL is born with great control over magic, meaning its owner can be skilled in both magical and physical attacks. Some believe it is a combination of every other SOUL colour.

And now I add...

PINK: Empathy, also known as "love". Not LV/LOVE, as in "Level of Violence", but the TRUE kind of love; unconditional empathy and compassion. Items associated: Old Jacket and Pencil Case. These items are not dropped. They belong to the eigth and final human to fall after Chara in the Pink Timeline. In the "Pink Timeline", this human replaces Frisk. This SOUL's special ability is that it can produce a small shield to protect the user from magical and physical attacks. However, this shield is limited in its ability. It can become bigger and stronger after many successful battles.

#undertale #undertale au #soul #love #determination

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fiveisnumber1 · 3 years

Note

Reader takes Five's locket to the jewelers and they inspect it very carefully. At last they ask her if it's an antique because they can see its made of good stuff but the detailing on it is still immaculate despite the smooth and worn surface of the golden locket. They point it out to her and Reader's hands goes to her own locket which is worn but definitely not as much as Five's. It sinks in just how much time he spent alone without her and this only makes her even sadder when she goes home and later she gets an explanation about why the house has been turned upside down because Five was frantic looking for it.

Also my mind isn't made up yet if i like this next headcanon but: it could also be that the Jeweler opens the locket to polish the inside and sees the photo of Five and Reader from when they were 13 inside it. It's a black and white photo, a copy of the one from the photo booth. Since he assumes the locket is vintage, he assumes the people inside the photo are Reader's grandparents as well and points out to her that "Your grandfather must have loved your grandmother very much. The way he looks at her is a rare sight to behold." which makes Reader really happy cuz even tho the guy at the shop got the people wrong. It makes her happy that people can see how much she and Five love each other.

Yes, when she goes back and sees how concerned he was that he might’ve lost it, it really just sinks in the point that he was completely and utterly alone. The locket was the only remnant of her being alive while he spent all those years in the apocalypse. She watches how happy he is to have it back, how his panic fades, and how gentle he is when placing it around his neck once more.

I also like to think that if the jeweler polished the locket it would be like wiping away those years in the apocalypse. The locket would be like a representation of Five himself, it would still overall be worn from the struggle of the apocalypse, it’s something that would always be a part of it, but by polishing it and making it shiny it’s like giving the locket a new life. A new start.

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inventors-fair · 3 years

Text

Wrapping Up

Gift Card Commentary

This week was a joy to look through. I don’t even know what I can say about most of these cards because I can tell they come from the heart. There was a surprising mix of “this card will only work in a deck dedicated to it” and “this card is generically good, but in the same way that the recipient is.” I was expecting that, and I was happy about that result. I always like a good variety of entries. There was also no card that really missed the mark, all of them seemed very well targetted to their targets, with a few entries perhaps going a little overboard. Still, very happy with all of them, so let’s get to the commentary!

@antmations - Serra’s Locket

So the obvious answer is that this is for Serra, but that doesn’t really make sense, but then I remembered seeing this in the Discord and you saying it was for Teshar. In that case, pretty solid! It lets you loop things fairly easily, netting you some mana if you’ve got some workshop assistants or junk divers. I’m a little worried about the effect outside of Teshar, though. If you play this on trun two, you can play a six-drop on turn three in any color. At uncommon. I think there’s a problem with that. I can’t really think how to change the ability without changing the whole card, though. From a flavor standpoint I’m sure he would like a locket!

@askkrenko - Woodland Swarm

What a fun and narrow card. I could see Kamahl, either of the green ones, really liking this card. I appreciate the set symbol, since lands attacking is a very Zendikar thing. I’m trying to judge the power level, and while part of my thinks that making a token every time you attack is really strong, Mardu Ascendency did it plus another thing for one mana more without the land restriction. I don’t think dropping a mana off the cost would be the answer, but maybe just putting something else on the enchantment. I really wish this provided some way to protect either the forests, the bugs, or both. A free 1/1 tapped and attacking often leads to no 1/1. Of course, the best way to do that is to give them all +3/+3, but that’s also tough to do if you’re attacking with your lands. I think this is a good concept and a good effect, I just wish there were a little more going on.

@dabudder - Horizon Managem

I have no idea why this is an artifact and enchantment, but I totally understand why it’s a gift to OG Omnath. The two effects are both very green, and the mana cost definitely shows that. I like how, while Omnath is the best thing to do with this card, it’s also very fun in decks focused around mono-green activated abilities. I kind of wish it specified lands, if only because giving all creatures psuedo-vigilance makes for some very stagnant boards. Even if you have a massive Omnath, one typhoid rats stops that dead. Still, something about this card makes me smile. I really like the mix of symmetrical upside and symmetrical downside. I think this card would see plays in a lot of decks for a lot of different reasons, and that alone makes it really cool and interesting.

@deafeningsandwichpeach - Certra, Kiora’s Visionary

Okay, this card’s something. This is intended as a gift to Kiora, though which Kiora exactly is unclear. The first ability doesn’t really have any major synergy with any Kiora, since she doesn’t have any thing that costs mana or needs untapped lands, and I don’t know a particularly good reason to bounce a Kiora except to save her. Making a giant Kraken is always fun, though. The card itself has a lot going on, and the synergy with Kiora and with itself is a little lacking. I like how the first ability generates mana and the last one lets you use it, but I don’t know if that’s enough to make this card interesting. It feels like an expensive wilderness reclamation with a pretty okay way to use the mana.

@dimestoretajic - Cloak of the Knight-Errant

Right in the feels. So this seems to be a literal gift to Ajani, and I can see it working really well with him, but not too annoyingly narrow. The first ability is a little awkward, since it doesn’t affect actual +X abilities, since the ability isn’t putting the token on, the activation of the ability is. But it works great with Ajani Steadfast! I think the second ability also is templated strangely, since the first part says “a creature token” but the last part talks about multiple. And the last ability has the same issue. But I see what you were going for, and I think you did alright. Almost every white planeswalker does one, two, or all of these, so I could see this getting played in a LOT of superfriends decks, especially since white is the color that seems to have the most support for planeswalker based on Call the Gatewatch and the like. I think this card is good, I think it’s fine, but the templating holds it back from the standings.

@driftingthruthecosmos - Returning Omen

Another fan of fling, I see! I love that middle ability, and I sincerely hope it works, but there’s some really weird stuff that happens when you refer to paying costs. For example, if you sacrificed this card to ashnod’s altar, then used that mana to cast a spell with kicker, it would probably copy the spell, but the game has no way of determining which colorless mana was used for kicker and which was used for the spell. I’d probably just take out the “additional cost” and just say when it’s sacrificed to pay for a spell. I think that works. Also, coppied spells don’t have to pay additional costs anyway, so no need to put that text on there. I will also warn that the first ability interacts poorly with unearth, since an unearthed creature cannot die, only go straight to exile when it would. I also don’t know how I feel about black drawing a card without losing life, even upon death. Only blue and green cards have had that effect so far. Sorry, don’t know why I’m being so mean about this card, I really like it! I like how it is perfectly built to be flung, even ignoring the ability referencing fling. Unearth and fling go great together. That middle ability is also really cool and just needs some tweaking.

@evscfa1 - Radiance of the Dawnwaker

A gift for a fox. So, you get to turn any creature into a better crackdown construct. TBH my favorite part about this card is the vigilance and haste, since those are both abilities you want on creatures with activated abilities including zirda itself. I also really liked that you gave it an activated ability itself so that it can be played in a deck that uses Zirda as a companion. The activated ability has just enough generic cost to maximize Zirda’s cost reduction, the ability grants redundant abilities but acts as a proxy for firebreathing, it being an aura helps offset the power level. There’s a lot to like here! I do kind of wish there was some sort of limiter on the pump ability, just because it’s a whole lot to track in a normal game, but I guess in a lot of games it’ll either be infinite, just get chumped, or only be like one or two because your engine got killed. While I love this card for all it does, I think all it does may be too much. I’m still very impressed at all the thought that got put into this.

@demimonde-semigoddess - Exhumed Shambler

When I first saw this card in the inbox, I thought I remembered it from Discord, but I am very happy to see you replaced the triggered effect with a replacement effect! That means there isn’t the awkwardness of being in a hidden zone! Yay! I’m also impressed that you got a reanimation effect that is fairly costed, a rarity any week. A common with a narrow but fun ability that I could see getting value off of every so often, even in draft, especially a masters format. Part of me really wishes it was less specific, and let you use stuff like gravepurge to get multiple out at once, but I definitely think the templating and power on that would be tough to get right. As is, this is a perfectly fine card, a great companion card to gravedigger and friends, and there’s just not really anything I can complain about. Though I do suddenly wish there were a way to give this dredge...

@gollumni - Flames of War

This cards got layers (no, not those). First off, it is a defensive red card. That’s rare! But it does it in a nice, red way. It also works very neatly with cards that force players to attack, such as Trove of Temptation, the card you mentioned (in discord) as being the target of this gift. Another cool interaction is that Trove of Temptation normally lets that player send their weakest creature to attack, but this card makes that creature die unless it’s at least an X/3. It forces your opponent into even more difficult decisions. And if they DO send a big guy, this makes it easier to take down with smaller blockers. I wonder how strong this card is against creature light decks, and how, it being an enchantment, some decks may be unable to deal with it, and might scoop hard to it. But that’s not much different than burn scooping to leyline of sanctity, so I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. This would make an impact in standard, probably, and might require specific answers, but isn’t going to warp the format. All around a solid card. I wish it had a little bit more synergy specifically with Trove, but for what it is, it’s good.

@grornt - Burning Insurrection

This is a fun card to think on. When a creature comes into play, it immediately looks at the guy who summoned it, punches them in the face, then continues to do as they say. I really like this card as a gift to Rite of the Raging Storm, because while this has applications in a lot of decks, with Rite it is at it’s most powerful outside of infinite combos. I also like it in prison/control decks, using it to slowly have your opponent kill themselves as they try to play more creatures than you have answers. I remember seeing you in the Discord asking about the right mana cost for this card, and I have to say, I don’t know the right answer either. If this is meant for commander, I think you could safely drop it to five. In draft this would be game over at that cost, though, and in standard it would be pretty killer, too. But it’s also sort of a control card? And control cards have this awkward thing where the price doesn’t matter that much because you should have control of the game by the time it resolves. Regardless, it’s a fun ability and has a cool impact on the game, and it works great with it’s recipient.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes - Ritual of Life and Death

I have never heard of Holistic Wisdom, but I have now! So, the first part of the card doesn’t do much with holistic wisdom (I think you could have maybe safely targeted enchantments since it’s a white card), but that’s fine because the second part does, and when you have abilities that trigger in other zones, you can sort of just ignore the rest of the card (did you know golgari grave troll has text? Who knew!). Still, that first ability is a nice rare removal/reanimation effect. I don’t know if it is intended that it MUST have two legal targets, but I think that’s fine since casting it is sort of a fail state. The card is meant to be exile fodder, and has other random synergy besides Wisdom. I’m sure there are tons of ways to abuse it, though a lot of them are probably inefficient. I don’t know if this card is stronger or weaker than Squee. I think it has great combo potential with Wisdom and other cards, and only gets problematic (I think) in multiples. Personally I’m not a fan of stuff that deals with cards in exile unless they are awful (misthollow griffin is a vanilla flyer, pull from eternity is card disadvantage, etc.) but I think at least part of that is personal. I do wish this card had a more complete concept, like some way to exile itself (very expensive flashback?) or a clear thematic connection to Eldrazi or something. This card is taking a lot of risks, and while I think it pulls them off, I don’t think it did so outstandingly.

@ignorantturtlegaming - Chandra’s Inferno Golem

While it’s clear who this is for, it’s unclear which Chandra this is for. My guess would be this big one, since they both can’t be countered and both have inferno in the name. The more I look at it, the more I see that. This coming down the turn before means you’ll get to curve into big Chandra and immediately get double triggers. Being uncounterable also means if you’re playing one in the matchup you’ll probably play both. The lifegain at first felt odd, since chandra doesn’t care that much about lifegain usually, but Awakened Inferno specifically is very burn-centric, and lifegain is the only thing that can be done to slow down her emblems. All that being said, I had to do some digging to find that. This is a very straightforward card in that it just says “play me in decks with chandras.” This guy is amazing if you have a chandra out and boring to bad if you don’t. As much as I like this card, it just doesn’t feel that special.

@justincase-1012 - Two-Headed Helm of Foriys

How do you make a helmet that fits two heads? Wouldn’t you just wear two helmets? Anyway, a card for a two-headed giant! So this is meant to be put on cards with menace or, like the two-headed giant of Foriys, cards that can block multiple creatures. I have a couple of issues with this card. First, it’s super situational. You would want to make sure every card in your deck would get a benefit from this before you’d use it. Second, the ability is not red at all, even if it was meant for a red creature. Third, I think this card could have just said “prevent the damage of one of those creatures” to save on a lot of rules headaches. Lastly, it’s really weak for what it does. Most equipment that prevents damage costs about 2, like Shield of the Realm, and is far less conditional. And nobody plays those anyway. While I think it’s really cool that you made a card for such an old and oft-forgotten card, I think this card has too many issues to win this week.

@kavinika - Dreadmaw Nesting Grounds

I know who this is for! Collosal Dreadmaw gets a friend! You can never have too many dreadmaws, so says WotC. It also warms my heart that you said this is just as much for any big green 6 drop common that appears in every set. They really don’t get the respect they deserve. So here we have an incredibly narrow card with massive upside. As a fan of MTGGoldfish’s Commander Clash I also know that 6 CMC tribal is a theoretically real archetype. I think this is exactly the type of card that a lot of people ( AKA Timmies and Tammies) would fall in love with. I even think it’s costed pretty well. I might say I’d put it at rare, since it’s a build-around in draft so you’d want it to show up more often, and it’s also not quite splashy enough for mythic.

@koth-of-the-hammerpants - Grizzled Salvager

No submission notes, but I can see this is a gift to grizzly salvage. A nice card, and one I could see be worthy of a gift. This card has been very delicately phrased to work for both milling and grizzly salvage itself (after the keywording of mill, WotC would probably have just said “milled), but it is mixing terminology from triggered effects and replacement effects. I can understand why, because if it were a triggered effect it might trigger itself wen the remaining cards are put back, but a replacement effect is unnecessary. I’d suggest removing about the half the words until you’re left with “Whenever two or more cards are put into your graveyard from your library, put one into your hand.” I think that gets the effect you’re looking for. As for the effect itself, I think I like it. It’s incredibly powerful in the right deck, and I like how it specifically wants effects that put multiple cards into your graveyard at once, as opposed to the likes of Sidisi who prefers milling one at a time. I’m having a really hard time judging this, since it’s such powerful card advantage, but does need to be in play to do it, and needs to be built around. This is probably a busted and broken card, but for whatever reason I can’t figure out for sure. I’ll assume not, in which case this is a pretty cool card!

@mardu-lesbian - Trumpeteer Angel

Wow, someone else has heard of Angel’s Trumpet! My buddy plays it in his chaos deck, but it always seemed like it would have use elsewhere. I like how simple and small this card is. A lot of entries this week were either incredibly narrow or just combo good stuff. This card definitely feels like it has a place, and that place might also be the place for angel’s trumpet, but not exclusively. At a minimum, a 2/1 flying first strike for 2 is a great body, so much so that I could easily see not activating the ability. But that’s where the trumpet comes in! I love how the two abilities, blanket vigilance and what my friend refers to as “anti-vigilance,” where you tap if you don’t attack, are both used to power up this card. Flying and first trike means that this card can attack super safely (thus not triggering trumpet herself) and then activate her ability on the next turn to get the printed effect and also end up tapping it by your next turn! It’s a full bowl of synergy! My only real complaint is the lifegain. While I understand using it as a power tradeoff and the lifegain is offset by the trumpet, it feels weird to offset that. The damage is a big reason to play trumpet, it feels odd to have an ability that negates it while triggering it. I don’t think that’s a major complaint in any way, just feels a little odd to me, but the rest of the card is golden. I really like it, and that flavor text is some of the best I’ve seen.

@misterstingyjack - Infinite Index

A gift for Mishra, which seems obvious once you tell me. I’ll be honest: I do not like this card. I think Spy Kit was a mistake, I think it causes more problems than it solves, and I think it never should have been printed. This card is causing far, far more trouble with only slightly more problems solved. This card will make players confused, angry, and probably sad if they don’t know what they’re doing. But! This isn’t about me. This was you trying to find a way to get Mishra to be a better card. And it does do that! But even so, it does it in a very boring way. If you have this and Mishra in play, you just get to turn your next artifact into the best artifact in your deck (or creature if it’s an artifact creature). That doesn’t seem fun for players, though I guess it would make Mishra happy. A nice gift to Mishra, but not the best gift to players.

@naban-dean-of-irritation - Panglacial Thaw

Panglacial wurm is such a weird, weird card, but when it sees play it’s always a super fun card. I like how, at first glance, this card seems incredibly narrow, because it feels like PW is the only creature in the game you cast from your library. However, cards like vizier of the menagerie and the new changeling guy make this card really powerful. Even so, it’s still pretty narrow, and I think you could pretty safely drop a mana off the CMC. I like this card, I like how much of a build-around it is, but I wish there were just a little bit more to it to make it not so much of a dead draw most of the game.

@nine-effing-hells - Ion Faestus, the First Lich

You’ve got guts to put the word “calculation” in a black-border card, I’ll give you that. I don’t really mind it though, I’m sure the rules hates it but I’m fine with it. I also appreciate that this card is just blatantly trying to break things while also trying to fix them. Intended as a gift to Endless Ranks of the Dead, I kind of like how this card fills a lot of roles. I like how prventing exile is very zombie-friendly, and the fact that he is a zombie himself means he automatically turns on endless ranks of the dead. I also just quickly looked for what cards that first ability would affect, and was surprised at how little it does. I just sort of assumed it would break something. That last ability (with support from the middle ability) definitely enables a lot of scary shenanagins, though the simplest of which is just letting players almost infinitely flashback, which sounds fun, and the colors support that. In general, I think this card does an okay job at being a gift to Endless Ranks of the Dead, but I think the fact that it just exists to let players break the games is just as much fun as it is anguish.

@partlycloudy-patlyfuckoff - Affliction Accolyte

I’m very happy you resubmitted, because I like this card much more. This serves as a great gift to Pharika, giving her fuel to keep making snakes, and being a creature itself means it can fuel her itself. I like the cost and the body at uncommon, but I have one nitpick and one big issue. First, the mill effect should say “mill a card” not “mill 1.” The big issue is that this is a little a little too quadratic. I think this card would have been perfect if it just had the constellation ability itself, sort of like the TBD constellation cards, but instead it grants it to every enchantment. That means that, assuming you just have pharika out, if you activate her twice, you get to mill 5 and make your opponent lose 5 life. Each enchantment effectively makes your opponent lose life equal to the number of enchantments you control. That’s really, really strong, and gets out of hand really fast. A little too fast if you ask me. But! The effect is nice, the text is nice, I like how you made it a centaur like Pharika’s chosen instead of the more obvious snake or gorgon, and it’s really cool. Just a bit too unwieldy.

@reaperfromtheabyss - Behemoth Territory

AAAH Land that taps for two mana! RUN!... Sorry, just had to get that out of the way. So it’s a striclty better jungle shrine, which is a good but not amazing card, but the upside on this is it taps for a lot if you control a behemoth. I think the clearest comparison is to Eldrazi Temple or Shrine of the Forsaken Gods; lands that tap for two mana but only for big spells that really need it. Five power is definitely a huge ask, and when you compare Bonder’s Enclave to Arch of Orazca, Wizards seems to think a big creature is harder to have then 10 permanents, so maybe this being easier to get to than Shrine is... fine? And, most importantly, this lets you use your really big creature to get MORE really big creatures! This makes perfect sense as a gift to Mayael, and I’m sure she would appreciate it. It is a shame she can’t use it on her own, though.

@scavenger98 - Dara, Muse of Spontaneity

A gift to Bell Borca, a card I sort of forgot existed. So the idea behind this card is that it’s supposed to sort of “hold on” to cards exiled temporarily by red impulse draw effects. I don’t really feel that is red, since the whole point of impulse draw is that it is temporary, but I guess it still is because you can only do it while she’s alive. I dunno, this card seems like a really harsh bend in what red should do, and it doesn’t really do anything else. And the payoff isn’t even that great. I think Bell Borca might like this card, but I’m just not a fan.

@snugz - Biased Redistribution

HOLY MOLY. So far as do-nothing enchantments go, this one is pretty ridiculous! You said this was a card for Kambal, and while I do get that, I think it is much, much stronger with cards like Zulaport Cutthroat. Normally, if you have the cutthroat and three other creatures and they all die at once, you gain 4 and deal 4 to each opponent. With this out, instead you deal 10 and gain 10. That’s crazy! And though triggers aren’t triggered by combat damage or lifelink, they do affect the count. So f you hit a player with a 1/1 double striker, then the situation above happened, they’d lose 18 additional life. Now, perhaps I’m blowing this out of proportion, and this is all magical Christmas land. I still think this is close to a damage doubler (or at least a Torbran effect) and therefore too cheap, but I also think it’s maybe build-aroundy enough to be fine. What makes it hard to declare a winner, though is just how messy the card is. The fact that you can up the count without triggering it, the fuzziness on how damage would interact with it (damage causes loss of life, but at that point is it still the ability causing it?), the memory and tracking issues, the fact that you can have multiple... it just makes the card very hard to use.

@stormtide-leviathan - Chained Firecat

When I saw this I assumed it was another fling card, but then you said it was for, of all things, Winds of Qal Sisma. Fate Reforged is possibly my favorite set, and I definitely remember that card, and always wished it put in more work than it did. At first I thought defender was just put on it to drop the cost, sort of like frost walker, and to make ferocious easier to obtain. But then I realized that, because wids is a fog, it is really only useful when blocking anyway! I also really appreciate that you put it at uncommon because of the ability of high-power defenders to stall the game. It shows a real care for the craft. While I think there are other cards that were a little cooler or a little better designed, this might be my personal favorite of the week.

@thing1of2c - Jodah’s Mirror

So, the name gave away who this is for, but the submission said this is a gift from a lore perspective, and is something Jodah used to help wash the sadness of immortality from his memories. Harsh. As for the card, at first I thought it looked really weird, and it still does, but I eventually realized how this works. Looking at the top is free, and always nice. The second ability should only really be used if your hand sucks or is empty, but that happens all the time, so that’s fine. At first I assumed it only let you cast the one card on top, but this actually gives you a temporary future sight. With that in mind, I think the card is pretty neat. It has very narrow usage, and requires a decent amount of mana to really take advantage of, but it’s a unique and possibly powerful effect. My two nitpicks are that I wish the hand came back at the next turns upkeep (since there will be a window where you’ll have your hand and the effect during the end step), and I don’t think this would be a mythic in this day and age. A couple years ago maybe, but we get this as static effects for four mana nowadays.

@whuh-oh - Tomb of the Primordial

So this one was just a text entry but I made a mockup, and I think I can hazard a guess at which Primordial this was made for: the sepulchral one! This is another one of those incredibly narrow cards, but I think it just nearly gets there. Milling 6 is a great way to get more fuel for reanimating, and making them lose three life (it should be “lose 3 life” btw) is a nice way to maybe eventually close out the game. The cheap and generic cost helps make this as easy to cast as possible to make up for its very narrow usage. I just think that this card isn’t quite enough of a payoff. It hink if it drew a card each time, or maybe had a tap ability, it would get just enough of a push to be worth the card slot. I think this needs to be the type of card that either wins the game in a turn or two, or makes up for all the turns of setup it took to get your primordial into play.

@wolkemesser - Hekara, the Encore

Funnily enough, in the lore, Hekara was at one point a literal gift to Rakdos. In this case, though, you said this card is a gift to One with Nothing, and it shows! Getting this into the graveyard is way more powerful than just playing her, though honestly just playing her is pretty good too. If I’m being honest, you could remove any line of text from this card and it would still be good, and you could remove a second and it would still be playable. Zero mana reanimation, even conditionally, is really, really good, which is why in most cases you either get a lousy bloodghast or a vanilla 3/3 prized amalgam. It’s pretty easy to get empty handed in a normal game of magic, ad even more so in a dredge-deck. I think you could have maybe focused this more into a gift for One with nothing to drop the power a bit, perhaps if the ability cost 5 but had “this costs 1 less to activate for each card you’ve discarded this turn.” Still strong, but not busted.

And that’s everyone! Goodnight everybody!

-Mod Mr. ShinyObject

#gift card #mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventor's fair #commentary

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otheroutlandertales · 4 years

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Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Witches - Part 9

by @whiskynottea

They rode hard until their bodies shook with exhaustion. And then, they rode even harder.

Dishevelled and with eyes glinting with fear and courage, they saw Fort William looming over the highland landscape. They arrived at noon, the rare Scottish sun hiding behind fair clouds in the sky, a day before Alex’s execution.

A clock was ticking inside Claire’s head. A bomb ready to explode. On which side was yet to be found.

With trembling limbs, they dismounted and camped in the woods, concealed from the soldiers’ wandering eyes. None of them spoke of plans and hopes. They kept their voices inside their throats, afraid they would tremble or break if they attempted to make light of their situation.

Jamie walked away with measured steps to tend to the horses. Claire couldn’t help but notice the way his hands turned into fists. Jenny followed her brother and reached for her saddlebag, unpacking the oatcakes and cheese they had carried from Lallybroch. Ceana made to move to help, but she stopped with a firm shake of Jenny’s head. When Jamie returned, he found the girls sitting in an open circle, the food laid on a cloth in the middle of it. He closed the circle, sitting between Claire and his sister, and reached for an oatcake without a word. Jenny and Claire mimicked him, but Ceana didn’t reach for her food. Jamie finished his oatcake before Claire even started pretending she was eating hers. A nudge and a stern glance from Jenny at her side made her realize that she needed to make an effort.

“Ye’ll need yer strength, a nighean,” Jenny murmured in her ear as she leaned into Claire. “Ceana, eat,” she ordered sternly as if the lass was a wee girl, startling the youngest of the company. “We dinna need empty stomachs on top of everything else tonight.”

Claire saw Ceana reaching for some cheese as she broke her own oatcake into two. Half of it now, half in a few hours, before they would enter the fort. Jenny had been right, she was going to need it. She reached down, deep inside her, experimentally. She felt warmth, and a blue light springing from her center.

Good.

Next, she patted her right pocket for what seemed to be the hundredth time. She had read once, when she lived in the future, that this was the standard move all grooms did while waiting for their wives-to-be to walk down the aisle to them. They needed to be sure they had the ring. It wasn’t a sweet or romantic gesture in Claire’s case, but the nerves were just the same. She needed to know that both her vials were there, safe in thick cloths secured with cords, next to the syringe in her pocket.

The sun glinted against Jamie’s dagger as it lay on the grass out of its sheath. His steel pistol was inauspicious in its holder, but just as lethal.

They had their weapons. They had their plan. And they had six more hours before they would execute it, which seemed like an eternity to Claire.

She closed her eyes and prayed for good luck, prayed for a miracle. She prayed she would be enough, and her magic shimmered underneath her fingertips.

During the following hours, they only spoke about their mission. They went through every little detail, again and again. When the night fell, they were ready.

It was in those last few minutes, when the sun had moved to grace other lands, that Claire wished the light would not disappear yet. But the Earth kept spinning, paying no heed to her wishes. She closed her eyes to ready herself. When she opened them again, darkness surrounded her in the moonless night. She saw the Fraser siblings nodding to each other, then at her and Ceana. A minute later, she would hardly be able to make out their frames against the trees. She nodded back and heard them move, following the trail towards the fort.

Claire could listen to her heart beating, could feel her steps crashing the grass and wildflowers into the ground. This might have been the loudest march of her life if she didn’t know that her soft leather boots were almost silent. When she turned to check with Jenny to her left, she glanced at what she assumed was her friend’s white teeth. Jenny was smiling at her.

Sometimes Claire thought the Frasers had too much courage for their own good.

They all reached the east wall of the fort and with their backs scratching against the harsh stones, took the path parallel to the river. They had agreed beforehand that even though Jenny’s seduction skills had been of great value the first time she and Claire had entered the fort, they wouldn’t risk putting them to use again, especially now that the sentry may remember what they looked like.

It wasn’t like three women vanished into thin air from the inner courtyard every day.

This time all Claire could see was Jamie’s broad shoulders as he moved at the top of their small force. When he knocked down two sentries in a matter of minutes, Claire started wondering how exactly the Fraser siblings gained their disarming skills and what Jamie meant when he said that he was attending university in France. She doubted that fighting was a class he had taken right after literature or philosophy. Without lingering on that trail of thought, Claire moved next to Jamie and administered the mild soporific drug she kept in her left pocket before the sentries would faint. She needed them to have their senses, so they could swallow. The drug wouldn’t harm them, but it would secure Claire, Jenny and Ceana the time they needed inside the fort. It wouldn’t do for their plan to fail because a sentry had raised the alarm.

“How long will it last?” Jamie asked, and Claire was unable to abstain from shooting him a furious glance, sure she had already explained everything when they were in the woods.

“Three to four hours,” she nearly growled. “I’ve already told you this.”

Jamie, to his merit, at least had the presence of mind to look at the ground, blushing lightly.

“Come on,” Jenny urged them both in a hushed tone.

Jamie looked at them soberly for a moment. “Be careful,” he whispered, his eyes darting from his sister to Claire.

“Aye, we will,” Jenny reassured him, while Claire just gave him what she hoped to be a reassuring smile.

Men weren’t used to waiting for their women to come back to them. Not at this time, at least. This had once been the woman’s job, to sit patiently at the side, biding her time when her man went out in the world to live the adventure, to fight his battles, to conquer the unknown. Penelope had set a bad example, but Claire knew this was bound to change.

The perks of being a time-traveller. She smiled.

“I’ll wait for ye by the exit,” Jamie said, swallowing with effort. “If ye’re late or I hear any stramash, I’m going in,” he announced in a fearless tone a moment later, placing a hand on his dagger and the other on his pistol.

Some things would be hard to change.

“Sure,” Jenny nonchalantly agreed with him and made to leave. “Oh! And Jamie?” she turned around before her brother left them to go to his post. “Have fun, eh?”

Claire couldn’t keep from chuckling. Women as fierce and assertive as Jenny Fraser could turn the world upside-down. Jamie narrowed his eyes at Jenny, murmuring something that sounded ominous. His gaze met Claire’s for one last time, lingering before he disappeared into the night.

“Right,” Jenny mumbled, solemn once more. “Ready?”

Ceana pushed her lips together until they nearly vanished from her face. Claire swallowed hard, trying to find her voice. “As ready as we’ll ever be,” she admitted at last. “Let’s get Alex out of here.”

With one last nod, Jenny turned and headed towards Alex’s cell. They knew where it was, at least. Ceana knew exactly where Randall was keeping him.

Claire moved on her tiptoes, her heart in her mouth and her senses on the edge, scouring her surroundings for any sound that was out of place. She found the fort relatively quiet and was glad Brian’s information proved to be correct.

Thank god for Highlanders and their cattle raiding. Many soldiers had left the fort to search for the offenders.

The three girls stayed in the shadows, clothed in black, their silhouettes barely visible in the dark.

They looked like Erinyes, brought out of the Greek mythology, ready to punish the immoral, the oath-breakers, the murderers. Though they were thirsty for justice, that wasn’t their focus tonight.

Tonight, they will free an innocent.

They reached the cells in less than two minutes and without disruptions. A single guard was strolling from Alex’s cell at the end of the narrow corridor to the bottom of the stairs, then to the adjacent hallway that held even more closed doors with heavy lockets on them. The way out, Claire thought, based on the map of the fort Brian had acquired. She gestured that way at Jenny.

The didn’t expect a guard to be stationed there. When Ceana had visited Alex before, the corridor was empty. Jamie insisted they be prepared in case of unexpected soldiers, though. They knew how to divert the man’s attention for as long as Claire and Ceana would need to reach Alex’s cell. They just wished they didn’t have to.

Jenny squeezed Claire’s hand. She waited until the soldier turned his back to them, walking towards Alex’s cell. Then, she daintily walked towards the opposite direction, until she was lost from Claire’s sight at the turn at the end of the hallway. Claire held her breath and waited, hidden in the darkness of the stairs.

The guard fumbled with his gun holder as he walked past her, following Jenny’s silent route. He reached the end of the hallway and stopped, leaning against the wall.

Claire hardly held her gasp. Had he heard anything? Would he go looking for Jenny?

It wasn’t more than a minute later that he started pacing towards Claire’s direction again.

Nothing, then. He just took a bloody break, ideal to mess with Claire’s nerves.

When he passed by the staircase again, Claire took a tentative step down. Then another. A few more steps and she met Jenny’s pale face and wide eyes. Jenny signaled three with her hand and disappeared again to the left.

Third door to the left, Claire repeated in her head. She ascended the few steps again and took Ceana’s hand in hers. The girl’s fingers were even colder than Claire’s and Claire pulled her close to her, hugging her tightly.

They waited until they saw the soldier again, his face as red as his uniform under the light of the torch at the bottom of the stairs. The next moment he was walking in the opposite direction of Alex’s cell.

Claire descended the stairs feeling Ceana close behind her and waited in the shadows. A moment later, she heard a loud banging from the end of the hallway.

Jenny’s decoy.

The soldier murmured something under his breath but, thankfully, his gait didn’t change. Instead of running towards the sound as Claire thought he would, he trudged along the hallway. It seemed that some of the prisoners made sure to remind him that he was not alone.

Claire smiled and thanked her luck for the extra time they had been granted.

She walked fast to Alex’s cell, already holding the lockpick Jamie gave her and going through Jamie’s and Jenny’s instructions in her mind. She knew Ceana’s eyes were on the sentry, in case he turned back and didn’t follow the sound that now had stopped.

When the door didn’t submit to Claire’s picking skills, her heart stumbled in her chest.

“Just don’t panic,” Jamie had said.

Easy to say that, when you’re sitting at Lallybroch’s large kitchen table with a cup of tea in front of you and your family around, teaching people how to pick locks.

Claire took a breath and tried teasing the lock open again. The third time proved to be a charm.

Just like magic, she thought, as she and Ceana entered the cell.

They got in and closed the door behind them, anticipating and wishing against any alarming sound from the guard’s direction. When nothing came through the iron door, Claire silently thanked Jenny and turned around, taking in the moist, dark cell.

A shiver ran along her spine and Claire felt her throat getting dry. Ceana gasped.

A torch was burning in its holster next to the door, but there was no warmth in the narrow room. A single cot lay across from them, with a tattered blanket and a buck next to it.

Ceana ran to the figure lying under the blanket, stopping at arm’s length.

“Alex?” she whimpered, reaching a hand towards him.

The figure turned, and his pale face searched for the girl. Greasy dark hair fell on his hollowed cheeks, and Claire couldn’t see more before Ceana fell on him, holding him to her, hiding him from Claire’s eyes with her body.

They were both sobbing.

Claire wished they had time, wished she could let them live this moment and cry their hearts out for finding each other again but she knew she couldn’t do that.

The clock was still ticking inside her head, just as it did that morning.

Her stride was determined, even though her touch was gentle on Ceana’s back when she reached the couple.

“Later,” she whispered. “You’ll have all the time in the world later. Now we need to be fast and quiet.”

Ceana nodded and tried to extricate herself from her loved one’s arms but Alex held her tight, not letting her go. Claire listened to his rough voice as he mumbled in Ceana’s hair that he loved her and that she shouldn’t have come, that she wasn’t safe.

Ceana just shook her head and pulled away from him.

“This is Claire,” she announced, gesturing at the woman standing next to her. “And we will get ye out of here.”

Alex’s eyes widened in trepidation, and Ceana took his face in her palms and kissed his forehead. “I trust her wi’ my life, and wi’ yer life too. Just do as she says.”

Alex kept silent for a moment before his eyes found Claire’s. She tried to smile at him and hoped the dim light hid the trembling corners of her mouth.

“Wha’ do I need to do?” he asked as he raised himself on his cot. “I canna--” he said, trying to sit up, but his arms failed him.

Claire took a breath while Ceana lowered Alex on the bed again and sat by him, holding his hand between hers. Together, they explained the plan. Claire had thought that were was no colour on the lad’s face when they first entered the room, but by the time they finished narrating the events that would happen that night, Alex looked positively dead.

It suits our purpose just fine, Claire’s sarcasm surfaced for a moment before the weight of her actions sank her deeper into the dread of the night.

Within the next hour, she would either save him or kill him.

Claire closed her eyes and reached for the light within her. With slow, tender moves she healed Alex’s wounds, leaving the superficial scratches and bruises, the proof that nothing had changed from the last time Randall had seen him. When his breathing came easier and he could stand on his feet, she walked under the torch and pulled out the vial with the curare. A minute later it was in the syringe, ready flow in Alex’s veins and arteries to paralyze him.

Ceana had already started making the noose out of Alex’s blanket when Claire approached the pair again. Ceana had been right, the lad didn’t cower at the sight of the needle. Claire fervently wished it could be easier on him, something more humane and less of a torture.

How much suffering, does being loved, takes? How much pain does freedom cost?

Not waiting for an answer, Claire administered the poison. Again, and again. Alex started feeling dizzy. The muscles of his jaw, neck, and head relaxed first, making Ceana gasp. Claire bit her lip hard and waited for the next signs. Before he became heavy they moved him towards the tiny window of his cell. After a few failed attempts, Ceana managed to secure the end of the blanket on the steel bars covering the window. Alex’s breaths came fast and short, and he desperately clutched at his neck. It broke Claire’s heart to see him like this, to know that she’d leave him like this.

“I know you can’t swallow,” she said, searching for his eyes. “You’re choking because of the saliva that accumulates in your throat. That is to be expected. Soon, you won’t be able to move. But you will be conscious, and you will feel it all. You will feel the pain, and I’m sorry.” She reached for his hands, taking them into hers, trying to ignore the sounds of life leaving his body through his throat. “I’m so very sorry, Alex.”

Claire looked at Ceana, who had hugged Alex’s arm as if she would never let go. “We have to leave,” Claire announced. “Now. The captain will come at any moment.”

Ceana started crying, then cupped Alex’s face and lifted it up so he could look at her. “I love ye, mo chridhe. I love ye so much.” His head dropped down again the moment her hands left it.

Claire’s one hand reached for his throat, the other laid above his trachea. Her magic ran through her, and she wished the air to pass through his open mouth, down to his lungs. Alex, used to getting morsels of air up to this point, took a ragged breath. And another.

“This will help for a while.”

Claire held him as Ceana secured the noose around his neck and then when the girl went to check if the guard was in the corridor again.

“Nothing,” she whispered.

“Jenny and Jamie dealt with him.” The assumption gave courage to Claire. They were alone now, but her friends were out there, waiting for Claire and Ceana to come back to them, willing to do anything for them.

“Come help me,” Claire asked, feeling the weight of the man becoming more as time passed.

Ceana held him with difficulty and Claire placed two palms on his tights. Blue light emerged, dipping into the muscle for a few moments.

“I hope this will be enough. It will help you stand. When you hear Randall outside,” Claire paused for a moment, not sure which words were suited best for the situation.

“Let go,” Ceana provided and Claire silently thanked the girl. “They will throw you outside, thinking that ye’re dead,” she said, holding his head once more. “We will be there.”

“We will be there,” Claire echoed her and gave her a few more breaths, the blue light of her hands erie on the skin of his neck. moved towards the door. She didn’t want to look back, but she did, and she felt her heart breaking at the sight of him.

At the sight of what she had done.

Just help me save him. Bring him to me on time, let me be enough.

They turned at the end of the silent corridor and reached the third door at the left, as Jenny had instructed. It wasn’t locked, and the crisp air of the night welcomed them, caressing their faces. Next came the stench.

Claire reached for her throat and listened to Ceana gag.

“Not verra pleasing, is it?” Jenny’s voice reached them and Claire looked down at her friend. “I’m afraid ye have to jump.” Jenny shrugged.

So Claire jumped into that sea of dead bodies. Ceana followed, and Claire knew the girl’s grimace wasn’t very different from hers.

“Try staying here for a while,” Jamie suggested.

“Ye do get used to it,” Jenny challenged.

“I’ll ask our friend here, once he comes to.” Claire could almost see Jamie’s lopsided smile.

“Don’t we need to… return him?” she asked, looking at the unconscious soldier beside Jamie.

“Nah,” Jamie argued. “Randall can punish him all he wants for not being on this post after we take Alex.”

Claire nodded, raising a clothed arm to protect her nose from the offensive smell, and waited. None of them spoke again, standing among the corpses, waiting for the one they wished they had saved.

Claire clenched the vial with the antidote in her hand. She would give it to Alex the moment they had him. She would give everything to save him. She reached for her magic, determined to drain her core if need to. Alex needed to live. She needed to save him.

Ceana shivered and Jenny tucked her under her arm. Claire felt the minutes drag by, each of them longer, each of them the one in which Alex’s diaphragm was paralyzed. She counted her breaths, so free and unhindered, and thought of his labored and counted ones. Each of them bringing him closer to the end.

Guilt settled in Claire’s heart, because she knew that this was the end she had chosen for him. Full of pain and despair. She felt like vomiting when the commotion from inside reached her ears. She pushed her thoughts and feelings back and started counting the seconds. Then the minutes.

One minute. Two.

What was taking them so long?

Three minutes.

She waited between Jenny and Jamie, their backs pushed against the stone wall to avoid detection. Claire could feel her own heart beating louder and louder against her ribs. Ceana’s face was hidden in the crook of Jenny’s neck. Jamie faced upwards, towards the closed door, as if saying, any moment now. We’ll have him back at any moment now.

Claire couldn’t think anymore. An endless chant took hold of her mind, urging them to give Alex back to her.

Come on, come on, come on.

Finally, the voices got louder. The door opened, and a body was thrown above the rest of soulless limbs in front of them. The soldiers were talking, but Claire’s attention was on the man. On Alex.

The moment the door closed again, Jamie brought Alex to her. Laid on top of the corpses, Alex took another injection, one that he couldn’t feel this time. But now the syringe was full with the antidote.

He still didn’t move. Claire inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of death around her and breathed it in Alex’s mouth.

Exchanging death for life.

Her hands reached for his throat and trachea as she did so, the blue light strong and iridescent at the midst of the darkness. Jamie and Jenny moved to cover her with their bodies, with dread and awe in their eyes.

Magic always did that to people. But what Claire really needed was a miracle.

She felt their silent support through their hands on her shoulders. Claire repeated the unconventional artificial respiration until her own lungs hurt. She kept going until the blue light emanating from her fingers flickered and fell. She tried bringing him back to life until she felt there was no life in her anymore.

When Alex’s chest finally moved, she fell into the darkness.

Claire woke up feeling two warm hands holding hers.

Jenny.

Her friend, her companion, her fellow witch. Her sister.

She opened her eyes, taking in the dimly lit room. The curtains were closed, and the embers in the fireplace gave the walls a warm red glow.

“Don’t --” she started saying, but her voice broke. Speaking was painful, and she wondered how many days she’d lain unconscious.

“Claire?” Jenny’s voice, hushed but excited, was soon followed by her hand on Claire’s forehead. A murmured, “Thank God,” and Jenny’s small smile made the corners of Claire’s lips turn up in response.

She cleared her throat. Twice. “Don’t you have any work to do, instead of sitting on my bedside like I’m dying?” she rasped.

“Ye were dying,” Jenny chastised. “We thought we were losing ye. What were ye thinking, Claire? What ye did at Fort William was totally irresponsible.” She sighed and brushed Claire’s curls from her face. “And selfless, and brave.”

A sudden panic slipped into Claire’s eyes as the realization hit her. She made to sit up, but Jenny’s forearm restrained her. “Is he alive? Where is he? How is he doing? I need to see him!” Her breaths came quick but she ignored them.

“Alex is fine, lass. His recovery is fast.” Jenny nodded, to emphasize her words. “Since ye depleted all yer magic to save him,” she added in a murmur. “How do ye feel?”

“Tired. How many days was I out?”

“Three days, Claire. And ye were grey and hardly breathing when we brought ye home. And when I tried to see ye in the future…” Jenny trailed off, suddenly finding the duvet more interesting than Claire’s eyes.

“I’m fine, Jenny. I’m here.” Claire squeezed her friend’s hand and Jenny looked at her again.

“Ye shouldna sacrifice yerself to save another. Yer life counts just as much.”

Claire smiled, knowing that Jenny said what she had to say, but didn’t quite follow her own advice.

“I’ll go bring ye some broth and tell the others ye’re awake a leannan,” Jenny announced, standing up. “I wasna the only one at yer bedside, Claire,” she added as an afterthought.

I looked at her for a long moment, thinking that Ceana probably hadn’t left Alex’s side since they rescued him.

“Jamie,” Jenny confirmed quietly and moved to the door. “He didna leave ye alone either.”

When the door closed, tears started rolling down Claire’s cheekbones, dampening her pillow.

#outlander fanfiction #otheroutlandertales #mod whisky #ch: Claire #ch: Jenny #ch: Jamie #canon AU #category: general #witches #oot

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