#we talked about birds and lizards last night and it’s the best thing that’s happened to me sense my mom bought me rainbow socks

[robininthelabyrinth]

Lao Nie and Nie Mingjue have a good day together and bond. What was their relationship like before the qi deviation?

Boys - ao3

“Two paths, hmm?” Lao Nie said, squinting at the road markers in front of him. “Well, I don’t see why we can’t go down this one to the right –”

“No.”

“No? Why not?”

“Because little uncle asked me not to let you meet any new dangerous women,” Nie Mingjue said, looking as serious as ever – only his little hands, swinging to the side, revealed that he was just a ten-year-old. Still a child, no matter how mature he tried to act. “And a place called the Springtime Ghost Valley sounds like it probably has dangerous women.”

“Hey,” Lao Nie protested mildly. “Who’s the father here, me or you?”

“If a-die wants a new wife, little uncle will find one that isn’t inclined to kill him.”

That sounded like a recitation.

“Then what’s even the point,” Lao Nie grumbled, and reached out to ruffle his son’s hair, enjoying how Nie Mingjue yelped when he did, glaring up at him with offended dignity.

In all honesty, Lao Nie had no idea how he’d ended up with a son as serious and sincere and earnest as Nie Mingjue – he himself hadn’t taken anything seriously in years. Probably it was his mother’s influence.

Now that was a woman.

Not that his foxy second wife hadn’t been woman enough to blow him away either…

Hmm.

Perhaps they had a point about his taste in women.

“How about men?” Lao Nie suggested. “If it really means so much to you, I could swear off of women entirely –”

“A-die.”

“Mm?”

“Leave Sect Leader Wen alone.”

Lao Nie cracked up.

-

Because Lao Nie was the father, however easy-going he might sometimes be, they ended up heading down the right-hand path regardless. They were supposed to be night-hunting, after all – it was the perfect bonding experience according to Jiwei, though Lao Nie suspected his saber of having selfish intentions there – and deliberately avoiding a place with ‘Ghost’ in the name was hardly appropriate for scions of a Great Sect like theirs.

Although the reference to springtime was admittedly a little worrisome.

If it turned out to be a brothel, with the ghost thing being just a clever if somewhat tonedeaf marketing ploy, Lao Nie was turning around and taking them both home at once. He wasn’t going to risk little Nie Mingjue turning out anything like that awful Jin Guangshan – or, nearly as bad, having to explain anything more about the joys of sex to those earnest little button eyes and dimpled cheeks with no time to prepare first. He still hadn’t recovered emotionally from the last few times Nie Mingjue had asked him a question like that.

When they finally reached the end of the path, turning a corner to behold a clearing that was probably completely ordinary during the daytime, Lao Nie found that he’d been both right and wrong.

“It’s a ghost brothel,” he marveled. He’d never seen anything like it in his life.

“Dangerous women,” Nie Mingjue reminded him.

“A-Jue! Let your father live a little!”

Nie Mingjue rolled his eyes.

Lao Nie virtuously ignored his slightly judgmental brat of a son. It wouldn’t do him that much harm to go visit for a while, with the risk of Jin Guangshan-ness being relatively minimal; they were ghosts, after all. It was the duty of every cultivator to fight against evil, wherever it lived, no matter its form –

“Fighting? Is that what it’s called?”

“Who taught you sarcasm?” Lao Nie asked, knowing perfectly well that the answer was himself. “I ought to smack them.”

Nie Mingjue crossed his arms over his chest and pouted at him. “Fine, it’s fighting, we’ll go fight them. Do you want me to start drawing ghost-repelling talismans?”

“Liberate first!” Lao Nie sang out. “Come on, let’s go see what they’re like – er, that is, I mean, see what grievances they have that are keeping them here, of course. There’s no harm in dangerous women. Just don’t let them eat your yang energy!”

“It’s not my yang energy that I’m worried about, a-die…”

-

The ghostly madame was an extraordinarily charming person and Lao Nie liked her at once.

Not liked her liked her – he’d fallen head over heels with both of his wives from the first word, and that hadn’t happened here – but still, conversing with her was an extraordinarily enjoyable way to spend time.

She was witty and clever, with a broad range of knowledge and a gift for keeping a conversation lively and exciting; she could meet every verbal riposte with ease, and looked utterly gorgeous and composed the entire time. Sure, she kept trying to lure Lao Nie into an orgy in which all of his yang energy would be slowly sucked out before his body was ripped to pieces and his bones cracked open so that the ghosts could consume the marrow within, but what a way to go, right?

Nie Mingjue spent his time making friends with the ghost prostitutes.

Lao Nie wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting.

Well, he supposed he’d been expected a range of things – anything from Nie Mingjue getting suckered in by one of the ghosts and needing to be rescued by his father to Nie Mingjue just pulling out his Baxia and trying to stab them because he felt offended by their existence. He wasn’texpecting his ghostly conversational partner to suddenly frown mid-sentence and say, “What is he talking to them about?”

Lao Nie turned his head slightly and started listening.

“– just because you’re a ghost doesn’t mean you have to work allthe time, surely,” Nie Mingjue was saying, completely serious and earnest in the way he so often was. Lao Nie’s son had in fact inherited his sense of humor, only it tended to be buried fairly deep down and make its way up to the surface in an understated way in the most unexpected times; the rest of the time, he was straightforward to a fault, treating everything sincerely. “The birds in the trees, the animals in the fields – even among prostitutes, even the street-walking ladies know they need to take time to rest! I can’t believe you really have to work every single night. How long has it been since you had a night off?”

The ghost prostitutes around him had contemplative looks on their faces.

“Isn’t the whole point of becoming a vengeful man-eating ghost that you have more power than regular humans? I don’t know, it kind of seems like a bad deal if you have even worse conditions after all that –”

“I’m sorry,” the ghostly madame said, looking irritated underneath all her carefully painted smiles. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment…”

Lao Nie had to bite his hand to keep from laughing out loud.

-

“I think we’ve all learned a valuable life lesson today,” Lao Nie announced.

Nie Mingjue was pouting again.

“I don’t think we did,” he said, sounding profoundly skeptical. A filial child like Nie Mingjue shouldn’t sound so skeptical of his beloved father’s words of wisdom, really; if Lao Nie wasn’t so heartless, he might be offended. Of course, the skepticism might have originated from the heartlessness, so it was all six of one, half a dozen of the other in the end. “Those poor ghost ladies! They were still fighting each other by the time we left!”

“I’ve never seen a ghost pull another ghost’s hair before,” Lao Nie conceded. It had been brilliant. “One day, someone’s going to figure out a more reliable way to use ghosts to fight ghosts, mark my words.”

“Isn’t that demonic cultivation?”

“Oh, sure,” Lao Nie said, still cheerful. “If whoever it is does too much of it, eventually it’ll build up into a backlash that’ll kill them in some grossly horrific manner. Probably ripped into pieces by the backlash. And that’s not even counting how they’d be ostracized and hunted by the cultivation world first! But still, imagine how exciting it’d be in the meantime!”

“A-die…”

Lao Nie patted Nie Mingjue on the head again, earning another glare. “Immortality is a lie, A-Jue. We’re all here for a short time, each and every one of us, and only the length determined by fate and man. All that matters is what we do with the time that we have, and whether we’ve used it well.”

“To fight against evil wherever it lives, no matter its form?”

“To leave the world a better place than when we entered it, and to let our memories linger in the hearts of those that love us,” Lao Nie said. “Fighting evil is the best way to accomplish the former, and living a good life the latter. And you might as well have a good time doing it, if you can! Everything else is just extra.”

Nie Mingjue thought about that for a moment. “And a-die likes to have second helpings of extras?”

That was true. Lao Nie was a man of prodigious appetites of all sorts.

Despite that, he protested, “That wasn’t the point I was trying to make. I was being serious for once.” Seeing Nie Mingjue’s skeptical look, he made a face. “I can be serious, sometimes!”

“Can you?”

“It’s been known to happen! A date written on a wall will be right once a year.”

“Not if the wall gets painted over.”

“Ouch,” Lao Nie said. “I don’t even understand the metaphor you’re making, and I’m still going ouch.”

“Uh-huh,” Nie Mingjue said, utterly unimpressed. “You know, if you wanted one of the ghost ladies to be Third Mother, you would’ve been better off with the one playing the qin, not the ghost madame. She was much more powerful.”

Lao Nie arched his eyebrows. “Was she?”

Nie Mingjue nodded. “She had claws like a lizard.”

Lao Nie tried to remember which one of them had been the ghost girl playing the qin. He couldn’t quite remember at first – the women there were all surpassingly lovely, almost to the point of over-saturation – and then suddenly an image came into view, a beauty with a veil and sharp sword-like eyebrows, leaning over the qin with the shining pearl hanging in the center of her forehead dipping down.

And, yes, claws like a lizard.

“Hmm,” Lao Nie said. “That might have been a dragon, actually. You should be careful of those, they’re tricky.”

They’ll rip you and three dozen other cultivators besides into more pieces than can be picked up without blinking an eye, he meant, and you won’t even know what hit you. Avoid at all costs.

“Oh,” Nie Mingjue said, blinking. “Oops.”

“…what do you mean, oops?”

“Nothing bad! If I’m not supposed to interact with her, does that mean I should go and give back the gift she gave me?”

“She gave you a – give me that,” Lao Nie said. “This instant.”

“But a-die, you said there’s no harm in dangerous women –”

“For me, you foolish child!”

-

“I suppose it’s fine,” Lao Nie finally concluded, having inspected the dragon pearl from all angles several times over. “I don’t know how you do this, A-Jue.”

“Do what?”

Lao Nie thought about how his foxy second wife had cooed over his eldest son with a (slightly disturbing) fervor that she otherwise reserved only for eating snacks, and how viciously she’d dealt with anyone who’d even thought of interfering with Nie Mingjue in any way. He was fairly sure he himself had only survived his second marriage on account of having such a charming son.

“Don’t worry about it,” he finally said, mostly because he wasn’t entirely sure how to explain – or if he even entirely understood. “Anyway, it’s nothing dangerous. Rather the contrary! Dragon pearls like this are given to baby dragons to protect them.”

Nie Mingjue frowned. “What feeds on baby dragons?”

“…I think it’s mostly to protect them from themselves,” Lao Nie said, feeling a little uncertain about it himself. “And if it’s not, I don’t think I want to know, to be perfectly honest. There’s fighting evil, which is only right, and then there’s suicide, which is a waste – a wise man should know how to judge the difference between them. Anyway, that wasn’t the point I was trying to make.”

“It wasn’t?”

“It wasn’t, and you aren’t allowed to start worrying about the fate of theoretical baby dragons – I forbid it.” Nie Mingjue scowled. He’d probably started worrying already. “My point was actually that a pearl like this is a remarkably powerful protective tool for cultivators – one of those things that can only be found by chance and not made. Keep this on you, and you’ll never have to fear your opponent in battle.”

Nie Mingjue looked thoughtful.

-

“What do you want to do with that pearl, anyway?” Lao Nie asked after they’d gotten home and split up just long enough to take a nice long relaxing bath and gobble down dinner. “Do you want to put it in the treasury?”

Nie Mingjue blinked twice, which for him was practically the same as looking terribly shifty-eyed.

“You already did something with it,” Lao Nie deduced. “Something that isn’t using it as intended.”

“Oh, no,” Nie Mingjue said, looking shocked at the mere suggestion. “I’m definitely using it as intended.”

Lao Nie looked him up and down. “You’re not wearing it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t use it. Protection from your opponents in proper battle – that seems like cheating!”

Lao Nie felt a slight headache coming on. People who said they wanted a good boy for a son had no idea what they were getting themselves into, he reflected. Why couldn’t he have birthed a complete rascal instead?

“All right,” he said, instead of saying any of that because at the end of the day, bewildering as he might be, Nie Mingjue was his son and he loved him more than anything. “So what did you do with it?”

“I gave it to Huaisang.”

Lao Nie blinked. He supposed that really was using it for its intended purpose – protecting babies from themselves – although he suspected the dragon lady had been thinking of Nie Mingjue as the baby.

“Although…”

Lao Nie raised his eyebrows.

“…I think he may have swallowed it.”

My boys, Lao Nie thought, and had to sit down and hold his ribs because he otherwise feared he might split his sides from laughing so hard. Only my boys.

#mdzs #sect leader nie #nie mingjue #my fic #my fics #boys

[lucy90712]

cravings/mood swings (pregnancy series)

Series masterlist

George:

The hormones from pregnancy have made me an entirely different person at times which was a huge shock to both me and George when they first started to hit because I've always been pretty good with my emotions and hormones even when on my period. To me it isn't as bad because I only notice after my mood swings but poor George has to deal with me during.

George came down the stairs after filming a video and came to join me sat on the sofa. I was eating salty crisps (chips) some of which George stole as he sat down, this really set off my hormones for whatever reason and I looked at him with just pure anger that he would even dare to steal my food that I had been craving.

"George what the fuck I wanted those" I almost shouted

"I'm sorry love I didn't mean to I can get you more if you want them" he said panicked slightly

I gave no reaction to what George said as I came down from my rage because I realised I was being way too over the top. I always feel awful when I yell at George because he doesn't deserve it at all but he just happens to be around all the time so he's the one who bares the brunt of all my emotions. I apologised to George and gave him some of my crisps to make up for it and we cuddled on the sofa for a bit.

Later in the evening George was showing me cute videos he has of cat from when he was in his office which were just so adorable and made me so incredibly happy but then the sadness came over and tears started to fall down my face.

"Hey what's wrong?" George asked

"It's just so cute like how can one small animal be so cute" I sobbed

He comforted me and we spent the rest of the evening doing things that didn't provoke any emotions in me.

Dream:

My cravings have been very strong though my pregnancy so far which is a combination of normal things and weird concoctions just whatever I was feeling in that exact moment and I mean that exact moment. My cravings are things that have to be satisfied within the hour or else it's too late and I get over it.

It's about 10pm and I'm just chilling waiting for Clay to get out the shower so we can watch the office together. At that exact moment a craving for pickles came over me, its not a craving I've had before but its one that I know is kind of common. I checked all the cupboards and fridge to see if we had any but we didn't which made me quite sad.

Clay came down the stairs to see me staring at the empty cupboard with a few tears in my eyes. He came over to me looking at what I was before becoming very confused at what exactly was going through my mind clearly wondering if I was going a bit insane.

"Is everything alright?" He asked

"We don't have any pickles" I whined

"Do you want me to go and get you some?" He asked

I nodded my head and we went to the car to drive to the store to go buy pickles mainly because I didn't want to be left alone. Clay actually went into the store while I stayed in the car because he didn't want me getting cold but he soon came back with two jars of pickles just incase I wanted more another day.

Back at home I ate half the pickles in the jar and very much enjoyed it and so did baby which was the whole point of going to get them. I imagine just like every other craving I will get over it and move on to a new one.

Sapnap:

My mood swings have been insane so far during pregnancy like way morse than they would be before my period is due to arrive. I feel so awful that Sapnap has to deal with me because he used to hate it when I got so very emotional before my period and now its constant and like x1000.

I have been slightly more emotional than usual today which has just been ruining my day because I can't seem to get anything done without crying or raging at myself but I've yet to spend much time with Sapnap so he has been spared from my disastrous day so far. This soon changed when he came downstairs and sat with me on the sofa.

He attempted to cuddle with me but something in my brain told me that I didn't want that and I should be mad at him for even trying to be affectionate even though I love him so very much.

"No get off me" I said a bit too harshly

"Oh I'm sorry baby is there anything you want?" He asked trying to be accommodating

I shrugged him off still slightly angry but getting over it very quickly and feeling bad for half yelling at him. My anger soon completely dissolved and was replaced by sadness at the fact that I had yelled and now wanted to cuddle but he wasn't going to want to now right, I mean I've just yelled at him so why would he want to cuddle.

A few tears started to form in my eyes and soon spilled out onto my face wetting my cheeks which I tired to hide by facing away from Sapnap but of course he knows me and tried to see what I was hiding. As soon as he saw I was crying he put his hands on my face to wipe the tears and gave me a kiss.

"What's wrong babe? How can I fix it?" He asked

"I feel bad for yelling and I want cuddles but you don't want to give them to me because I was mean" I explained

"You are so silly of course I'll still give you cuddles if you want them" he said

He pulled me into a big bear hug where we stayed for the rest of the day and night.

Quackity:

I have been having a lot of odd cravings over the past few weeks most of which are completely unnatural and Alex thinks are gross but they actually taste really good. To me at least.

Tonight I was really feeling like eating chicken nuggets with honey, I really wanted to eat it but I was scared to ask Alex to come to the store with me because he would think it was weird and judge me which my fragile little heart couldn't take.

"Alex will you go to the store with me please?" I asked

"Of course love what do you want this time?" He asked

"Chicken nuggets and honey" I whispered

"What was that" he questioned

"Chicken nuggets and honey" I said a bit louder

"That sounds interesting lets go" he said

He grabbed my hand and pulled me up and to the car where we went to McDonald's for the chicken nuggets and then target for the honey before going back home. Alex was interested to try this combination too so the both of us sat down to try it. At first the flavour was really weird but once you got used to it it was really good actually and now I think I'm obsessed and by the looks of things so is Alex because his face looked like he had just had the best thing ever.

Karl:

Oh my has it been a rollercoaster so far, I've been so over emotional and have been craving so many different things it is so hard to keep up with for me let alone Karl.

This morning I was trying to make breakfast and I couldn't open the milk which upset me but then the bowls were up too high so I couldn't reach which made me even more upset but the last straw for this morning was when I had just sat down after struggling with everything and someone rang the doorbell just as I was about to eat the cereal I had really been wanting. I answered the door to collect the parcel the man had before going back to the living room with tears starting to slip down my face.

I'm not sure why I was so upset but I was which stopped me eating my cereal because I was crying which made me cry more because I really wanted the cereal, it was just an awful cycle. Karl walked in as I was staring at my full bowl of cereal sobbing which caused him to run over to see what was wrong.

"Hey hey whats wrong?" He asked

"Nothing is going right and all I want to do is eat my cereal but I can't because I'm crying which is making me more upset" I ranted

"Oh honey I'm sorry how about you follow my breathing to calm down and then eat your cereal ok?" He suggested

He helped me calm down enough to be able to eat my cereal which was kind of soggy by now but I still very much enjoyed it and soon got back to my normal self.

Wilbur:

My hormones are all over the place which normally I can handle but every now and then I get too overly emotional and just cry over random things, this usually happens when I'm alone so I just deal with it myself.

Today Wilbur took the day off from working so he's here to see the rollercoaster that is my day and believe me it can be a rollercoaster. I had a breakdown this morning when doing chores I was unloading the dishwasher and I kept almost dropping everything I touched which made me so mad at myself and really sad at the same time. I just left the room and sat down for a minute talking to myself to sort my brain out then went back to doing chores.

Later in the afternoon we were watching a nature documentary which we do a lot and there was this lizard and her babies that were being hunted by a large bird, I was willing them to get away but the bird caught the babies and the mother got away. This made me so sad that the lizard lost her babies while I was sat there carrying my baby. I started crying thinking about the fact that anything could happen to little bean once their here.

"It's ok love its just natures way" Wilbur said

"But what if bad things happen to bean when their here obviously not like that but anything could happen" I sniffled

"We will protect bean as best we can to stop anything bad happening but for now their safe where they are" Wilbur said

This made me feel better and luckily the rest of the documentary wasn't sad at all and there was some cute moments which made me forget about all my worries.

#george x reader #george #georgenotfound #georgenotfound x reader #gnf #dreamwastaken #dream #dream x reader #dreamwastaken x reader #dream team #dreamteam #sapnap #sapnap x reader #quackityhq x reader #quackityhq #quackity #quackity x reader #karl x reader #karl #karl jacobs #karl jacobs x reader #wilbur x reader #wilbur #wilbur soot #wilbur soot x reader #mcyt #dsmp

[elles-writing]

Enchanted - Fili x fem!reader - Cinderella AU

A/N: I recently seen there was Cinderella (2015) in TV, my favourite Cinderella story! (But they are all kind of smashed together, so🤷‍♀️)

This is mainly for lovely @guardianofrivendell , I hope you will like it!

(Also, c'mon. Kili wouldn't even come here.)

This is different style from what I am writing - this is more a fairytale-telling style, but I tried. I'm quite happy quite the result, so I hope you will like it too!

Once upon a time, there was a lovely, beautiful maiden, named Y/N. Though her life wasn't a fairy tale at first glance, sometimes things change the way it seems like one.

There wasn't a time when Y/N didn't thought about her old life, and when did it changed. But she remembered her mother's last words.

The two things that you truly need in your life, are courage and kindness. Remember that, my dear.

Life with her two step-sisters, who argued almost all the time (except for when there were trying to provoke Y/N), and the evil woman who married her kind and selfless father, was, well, interesting, to say at least. It wasn't very exciting, either - her life was constant routine of doing all the chores, and then falling asleep in her little room.

She dreamed of magic, that would make life exciting, and every night, when she looked up for the stars, she would think about a prince, who would run away with her and never come back.

Little did she knew, her life was about to go into a different direction very, very soon.

The day they got the invitations, her sisters were excstatic. One of them told Y/N to prepare them dresses, along for their mother. Y/N thought it was one of birthday partiest of their many friends, and didn't thought much of it. She spended the whole day by sewing and measuring, cutting and measuring once again.

However, when she decided to take a stroll in the evening void of darkness, soft light was coming out of the post box. She curiously stepped closer, and opened it. Her eyes widened when she noticed envelope in heavy, good quality paper. The name and adress on the letter was in beautiful calligraphy, perfect, as if it was made by...

Y/N shook her head. Don't be naive. But the tiny little spark of hope and child-like wonder in her believed it was something magical about it.

She opened the envelope, and took out an...invitation? She curiously red futher, and her eyes widened. It was an invitation for a ball!

With greatest joy, we are happy to announce that prince Fili is ready to find a wife. In occasion of Prince's birthday, there will be thrown celebration, where is invited every daughter of our beautiful kingdom, who is interested in being Prince's wife.

There was also a date and time. Y/N couldn't believe it. She got her invitation. A dreamy smile stretched across her lips, and she started to dance.

She hid her invitation in the pocket of her dress, and quickly hidded it into the back of her drawer.

When the day of the celebration came up, she realized she forgot to make her own dress. She worked on her sisters' and mother's dresses she didn't got enough time to work on her own.

They left, and she was there alone, in the big house. It used to be place full of joy, but now it was empty and sad. Y/N looked around for some dress she could use or alter, but she wasn't that lucky.

She sat to the garden, and her good friends - three cats, who stayed there, and sometimes slept in her room - came with loud meowing.

As if they could talk. It sounds like they are mad, Y/N thought. One of the cats - black cat with golden orbs - studied her face, as if she wanted to give her piece of her mind. But, instead, she started cleaning her paw.

"No, of course not. They aren't home? Oh, as if that - alright, I won't swear, but that woman living here and making her her maid-" Y/N frowned and stood up, carefully walking into the direction of the voice. She found an old woman, talking to little mouse.

"Good evening, c-can I help you?" The woman turned to her.

"Oh, do you happen to have a piece of bread and some milk, dear?" Y/N nodded, remembering the leftovers from dinner.

"Oh, of course we have. I'll be back in a moment," she said. She knew the woman from somewhere - but where did she knew her from?

When she came back, she gave the piece of bread and cup of milk to her. The old woman thanked her, and ate it as if it would be the most delicious thing she have ever eaten.

"What is happening, Y/N? Why that long face?" Y/N looked up on her, and sighed.

"Do you know about the ball, in palace today?" The woman nodded, and Y/N sighed.

"Well, I got an invitation, but...I don't have any decent dress." The woman let out a humming, deeply in thought.

"Well, perhaps I could help you out," she said. Y/N frowned.

"How?" The woman jumped up.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, my dear. Let me just-" she stood up and all of sudden, there were tiny little sparks, then falling down as a sparkling dust.

Stardust, Y/N thought.

A young woman stood there, in simple dress with flowing skirt, a wand in her hand, and happy smile on her lips.

"I'm your fairy godmother," she introduced herself. Y/N blinked.

"But they don't exist. It's all just a fairytale," she said. Her fairy godmother furrowed her brows.

"Oh, dear! What are you teaching you these days, tsk," she let out and looked around.

"Do you happen to have, uhm, pumpkins?"

"Oh, uhm, yes, we do, over there-" She pointed to the corner of the garden, where a few pumpkins grew. Her fairy gotmother walked there and curiously eyed each one of them. Then, she took one of them.

"This one will do!" Before Y/N could argue, her fairy godmother tapped the pumpkin by the tip of her wand, and stepped aside.

Y/N's eyes widened, as there wasn't a pumpkin anymore, but a beautiful coach instead. Her fairy godmother looked around once again, and spotted the three cats.

"We also need horses, and stagecoach man..." The cats wanted to run away, but it was too late. All of sudden, there were standing three horses. Y/N runned to them.

"James! Oh, look at you!" She turned to face her fairy godmother, wonder in her face.

"How did you-you really are my fairy godmother," Y/N sighed out. Her godmother proudly smiled, and pointed towards a lizard, sitting on edge of fountaine.

"Well, now we also need...lackey!" She looked around, and spotted a bird, who was eating some tiny bits of leftover bread.

"Now, let's go, my friends, we don't have much time left!" She said with a proud smile on her face.

"Let's go dear! It's going to be really fun, I've heard they have chocolate cakes and-" Y/N catched her hand.

"I would love to, but-my dress, it's-" her fairy godmother turned to her and nodded with serious expression.

"Oh, you're right! Hm, yeah, this could work," she said and the tip of her wand created glittering ribbon in the air as she moved her hand. Little sparks danced across her dress, hair and face, and soon, she had dress she would never imagine even in her wildest dreams. Y/N gasped.

"They are beautiful! How did you-how can I thank you?" Her fairy godmother smiled and tapped the tip of her nose by her wand. Little sparkles fell across Y/N's face, and she let out a giggle.

"You, my dear, will have fun. Thanks to this, your mother and sisters won't recognize you," Her smile became a frown as she looked down.

"What about the shoes? You can't wear these!" Y/N looked down and blushed.

"Well, um, alright, but please no heals, I can't walk in them," the girl admitted rather shyly. The godmother thought about it for a moment, and told Y/N to close her eyes. When she was done, she said she can open them. Y/N gasped - they weren't shoes on heals, they were simple and comfortable, but lovely to look at.

"Now, if anyone asks you your name, tell them you're Cinderella. And remember - the spell will wear off exactly at midnight. Then, everything is going to be just like before." She explained carefully while they walked to the coach. When Y/N stepped inside, she noticed the details. It was surely the most gorgeous coach she've ever seen. She looked out of the window and waved farawell to her fairy godmother. The answer were just tiny little sparks.

When she arrived, there was a music playing already, and she could tell the celebration was in full swing. She peeked inside by the corner of one window, and noticed the Prince - he talked to his brother and seemed rather bored and terrified. Y/N giggled at that thought of the Prince being terrified of dancing with all those women and girls, trying to figure out who will be his future wife.

Prince Fili was rather nervous. He wasn't sure if he should be really there - but as much as he wished to be with his horse on a ride through forests and meadows, he also knew he was doing a favour to both the kingdom, and perhaps himself too. His brother found a lady he was happy with on similar celebration, though the other part of the story was she was the only one, who wasn't falling to his feet after he winked at her and said something flirtatious. Now, he was trying to calm Fili down. Or tried, at least.

"Look, Fee, all those ladies are here, so don't worry. There is a big chance you will find one that will like you for you, and you'll like her too."

"Or not. How did you made it last time?" Kili's face scrunched.

"Well, um, tripping over your feet after you've been trying to flirt with her whole evening, and pouring red wine on her light dress isn't the best way to start a courting, if you ask me." Fili chuckled.

"But it worked out."

"Now I'm not sure which one of you is the older one," their mother said and they both turned to her.

"Fili, dear, don't be nervous. Just be yourself. There is no reason to worry. And you," she turned to Kili,

"Try to not walk while you drink wine," Fili chuckled and Kili rolled his eyes.

"Now, the celebration will start soon, so remember what I said," she added and disappeared into crowd to talk to some of the ladies and their mothers personally.

Y/N walked through the palace, and nobody asked her for her name. Everyone was in awe - who was she? Who was the gorgeous princess?

When she walked in, she was making sure she won't trip over her feet. The whole room went quiet, the musicians stopped playing - and one question filled the air.

'Who is she?'

The Prince turned his attention to where everyone looked - and he realized all those surprised gasps and looks of awe were right.

A beautiful maiden, a young woman perhaps, he couldn't tell, stood there, with soft silver - golden dust on her nose and cheeks, creating sparkling freckles, her hair in soft waves falling over her shoulders, her dress looking as if they were made of stardust itself. Her hands were covered in long white gloves, up over her elbows, with little silver flowers around the edge, and soft smile was spreaded across her face. She started slowly walking down the few stairs, hoping she wouldn't trip over her dress.

She was almost there...

It was all quick - she was suddenly falling down, but instead of meeting the floor, she was met with a pair of strong arms, and deep chuckle above her.

"Careful here. The stairs are tricky," He helped her to stand up and her cheeks burned.

"Prince Fili," She said. A smile spreaded across his face.

"At your service, m'lady," He softly kissed the top of her hand, while looking his blue eyes, deep into her eyes.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Fili," she said with pinkish cheeks. Perhaps the magic gave her courage to say something?

He smiled.

"The pleasure is all mine, my lady. May I ask you for a dance?" She nodded and soon, they were dancing across the dance floor. The music was playing again, and other pairs joined them soon.

"Your dance skills are excellent, my lady."

"You aren't bad yourself," her eyes widened at her sudden courage, but he only laughed.

"Have we met before? I'm sure I'd remembered as good dancer as you, my lady."

"I don't think so, my lord." Fili looked down at her. She was just turning around, as it was another step in the dance.

"Would you tell me your name, m'lady?" He blurted out. He wanted to talk to her whole night. He wasn't interested in all those other women and girls - especially now, when there was her, who he could actually talk to.

"You may call me Cinderella," she said. Fili thought about it. He've never heard this name before, but it was nice to finally adress her properly.

"Well, in that case, lady Cinderella - would you like to slip out to the gardens, so we could talk more in private?" He was waiting for her answer, and when she nodded and said,

"I'd love to, my prince," He breathed out in relief.

"Call me Fili, please," He said, and when they were near the glass doors, leading to gardens, they slipped out without anyone noticing.

They walked through the gardens, and talked about the ball, Fili's life and what not. When they walked around daisies, Y/N carefully picked one up. Fili's eyebrow rose in curiousity.

"There are many other flowers you can pick in the garden, my lady," She shrughed her shoulders.

"I like daisies. They are beautiful, and yet delicate and simple. They may seem ordinary, but I love them," He hummed in response and picked one too.

"May I?" He asked. Y/N nodded, curious what he was about to do. Fili placed the daisy to her hair behind her ear.

"Done," He smiled. He took her hands into his, and she gave him a curious look.

"Can we dance? Just us two, without etiquette," he shrugged his shoulders to make it seem more casual.

"I'd love to," was her answer.

They silently danced for a while, when Y/N frowned.

"Sorry, I just stepped on your toes-"

"It's okay, I actually happened to step on, uhm, all those ladies' toes and..." He looked away with embarassed face and Y/N giggled. Fili gave her a dreamy smile.

"My lady," he said and interwined their hands. Y/N hummed.

"You've been my best company through the whole celebration. I know this may be a bit too fast, but-" A sudden clock strucking sound caught Y/N's attention.

First.

"I-I'm very sorry, Pri-Fili. I've had an amazing time with you, but I have to leave now," She muttered before running through the gardens and around the castle.

Second.

One of her shoes slipped down, but she didn't got the time to take it back. She kept running.

Third.

Her dress were getting lighter and shorter, she noticed soft sparkles in the air around her.

Fourth.

She quickly came into the coach, and they barely made it through gates, before they were closed.

Fifth.

The lizard and little bird were now inside of the coach, the bird flying away.

Sixth.

It's been a short while, before the coach was getting smaller, and Y/N noticed soft smell of freshly cutted pumpkin.

Seventh.

She looked out of the little window. The night was bright, the moon was full, too.

Eight.

Her dress were almost back to how they looked like before, the sparkling dust was out of her hair and away from her face.

Nineth.

Her glowes were away, and the pumpkin crushed. Y/N and the lizard fell down to the ground, where were two cats, but still one horse. Y/N sat up and took all of them with her.

Tenth.

Y/N could see the roof of the house she was coming back to.

Eleventh.

The horse was smaller and smaller, and then he stopped - and Y/N quickly placed them all down, when the horse was a cat again. James.

Twelveth.

And everything was the way it was before. Except for...

Y/N looked down and picked up the shoe. The only thing that stayed the way it was.

The following days, Y/N couldn't stop thinking about the prince. Sure, he was kind and handsome - and that was probably enough for him to stay in her head ever since. But there was something else, which made her sad. He didn't knew her real name.

In palace, Fili was going through all the adresses, just to find out there was nobody with the name 'Cinderella'. He looked up when someone entered the door. It was his younger brother, Kili, who was more likely to catch attention of many maidens, also thanks to his shameless flirting and straight-forward attitude. But he was already courting now, the lady had both sharp tongue and mind, and soft heart. Fili was watching his brother, because he usually didn't had this expression on his face.

"What happened, Kee?" Fili asked. Kili looked over the table, full of mess.

"I will help you to find her," He said.

"I've got an idea." Fili's brows furrowed. This was never a good sign. Kili noticed his expression, and sighed. Fili could tell something was troubling him.

"I know it may be stupid, but what if we would just let all the ladies to try on the shoe?" Fili's eyes widened.

"Kili-"

"Nah, I know it was stupid, sorry Fee-"

"That is the best idea you've ever had!" Kili's eyes widened.

"Wait, what?!" Fili hugged his brother, but soon both their faces scrunched.

"That will take a while," Kili muttered and Fili nodded.

"I will start sooner then. We need to find her!" Fili said and started ordering to get his horse ready.

He won't give up.

It took days, and no maiden fitted the shoe on so far. It was as if the shoe itself was either becoming too big, or too small, so it wouldn't fit. But Fili was determined to find the woman of his heart.

Y/N was living her normal life, back in her old routine. Her mother and sisters would complain about the woman who danced with the prince, that she had him for whole evening and neither of her sisters got to dance with him. She smiled when they couldn't see her.

When after a few weeks Fili found the last house, he had a little spark of hope left. She could be there, but also not.

When they entered the house, two young women were right there. Fili didn't thought much of them, but he let them to try the shoe on. It didn't fitted to any of them, and they were about to leave, when he noticed a person hiding behind the corner.

"Come out, don't be shy," he smiled. When she stepped out, his surprise grew.

"Try the shoe on, m'lady," he said. The young woman nodded, and, surprise surprise, it fitted perfectly!

"So, lady Cinderella," He smiled.

"I'm-my name is Y/N, my lord," She looked down, but he softly lifted up her chin, so she would look at him.

"Only Fili, Y/N. For you always Fili," He stood up, and they stepped out, hand by hand. Y/N could hear her sisters and mother to yell, how was it possible - but it felt like it was far, far away.

Fili and Y/N came back to the castle, where they had beautiful wedding. When the time came up, they ruled the kingdom with kindness and justice. The people of the kingdom couldn't wish for better King and Queen.

And that all thanks to kindness and courage of heart, but also some sprinkles of magic...

#fili x reader #filixreader #fili #the hobbit #the hobbit fanfiction #cinderella au #kili #au #kili x reader #the durins au #kili durin #fili durin #dis #fili fluff #fili friday

[mistymark]

VIGILANTE/S VIII

part eight // 4.8k words // superpowered!au // series masterlist

summary; in which you consider yourself somewhat of a vigilante.

warnings; swearing, they talk about death, lots of swearing, y/n plays therapist way too much in this chapter but its fine, swearing

“Do you think we’re going to be able to pull this off?”

You roll over onto your side so you can look in the direction of Donghyuck’s bed. It’s dark, but you can still make out his figure, lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

“Jaehyun has been working at this forever, you know? But what if we can’t pull it off?”

You clear your throat. You’re exhausted – you feel more tired now than you did after a day of training. “It’s going to work,” you say, softly, though it sounds less like you’re trying to convince him and more like you’re trying to convince yourself. You have to believe it will work.

Donghyuck turns his head to you, and you don’t need the light to see how nervous he is.

“I thought we didn’t worry about ‘what if’s,” you whisper, hoping the slight teasing would ease his nerves a little. It was something he’d said to you on one of your first days here.

It seems to work. He lets out a quiet laugh, “I am a ‘what if’. What if I don’t die? What if I never die?” It didn’t work. His tone is bitter, his voice louder. Then, you hear the panic in his voice, “What if I’m forced to live forever and watch everyone I care about die before me?”

There’s silence. You can hear him breathing in deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

Sitting up, you settle on the edge of your bed to face him, “Donghyuck.” He looks up at you, “We’re not going to die.”

“Someday you will.”

You ignore his comment. “Jaehyun wouldn’t let us go through with this plan if he knew we were going to die.” He doesn’t answer. “This is what we’ve been training for,” you say, your voice as soft as you can manage. You’ve watched the team become stronger, become closer, become a family. You doubt there’s anything that could stop you now.

He’s staring at the ceiling again. “You can’t die. None of you can.” His voice is barely a whisper. It’s like he’s breathing the words. The way he pauses between the sentences gives the impression that he’s thinking about you specifically.

“Like you said: I’m going to die sometime, Hyuck,” you smile, and move to his bed, perching on the side. “Dying for you or the team would be the best way to go, I think.”

His eyes snap to yours and he quickly moves to sit up, his hand reaching across the gap between your beds and grabbing your arm, “Promise me that won’t happen. Promise me you won’t die for me.” You can’t see in the darkness of the room, but you’re almost sure he’s holding back tears.

You freeze for a moment, unsure what to do or say. So you whisper, “What is this about?”

Something about what you’ve said makes him remove his hand from your arm, “Sorry. Nothing.” His voice has returned to normal now, and he turns away from you, pulling his blanket up over his shoulder. “Goodnight.”

Maybe you were wrong, maybe you weren’t as close as you’d thought.

Confused by what just happened, you stay for a second, before moving back to your own bed, “Okay.” You want to sleep. You really do. “Goodnight, Donghyuck.” But you don’t.

It must be 4am. It has to have been hours. And you’re still awake.

Arrive with Jaemin. Mingle until the toasts are being made. Make your way to the garage. Leave. Find Jaehyun. Go home. Arrive with Jaemin. Mingle until the-

You can only think about the plan. Each detail was meticulously mapped out. Where you would be standing, what you would be doing, each possible path to the garage engrained in your brain.

West corridor, past the bathrooms. Take a right. Otherwise, go left. Find the central hallway. Go behind the main staircase. If there’s security there, go through the old dining room. From there-

You can’t take it anymore. You gently slide out of your bed, trying not to disturb Donghyuck, who finally fell asleep a couple hours ago. He doesn’t stir, but you still move swiftly across the hard floors, listening for a change in his breathing pattern.

The door squeaks most of the time, but you know how much you can open it without creating noise, so you slip out of the room without waking him.

The warehouse is quiet, but you can see light coming from Mark and Chenle’s room, a flickering orange that makes you think Chenle’s playing with fire. You can hear Mark’s soft snoring even through the door, and wonder if that’s why Chenle’s awake. From what you knew, he was a light sleeper already.

Jeno and Jaemin’s room is dark from what you can see, and you can hear someone snoring from inside. The others are dark, too, even Johnny’s, though you’re forced to wonder whether it’s dark because he’s sleeping or dark because he’s just not there.

Doyoung’s light is on, a warm yellow colour streaming out from under the door and into the hallway, and despite no lights being turned on in his room, there’s white light coming from Renjun’s room, probably from a computer screen. There was always light in Renjun’s room, and you knew he often slept without turning off the screens that took up most of his room. When you’d first noticed them – before you even met him – you’d wondered if he was afraid of the dark.

You’re thankful for the lights, able to make your way down the hallway without knocking into something, but you’re surprised to find there is no light coming from Jaehyun’s office when you make it to the main body of the warehouse.

You know he has to sleep sometime but your first thought is that he’s out.

“What are you doing?” You jump at the sound of the voice, and find yourself whirring around to find the source. Doyoung makes his way toward you, “I could hear you thinking.” He puts his hands up in defence when you open your mouth to protest, “I know, I promised not to invade, but I wasn’t prying. You were just thinking really loudly.”

“Why are you even awake?” You don’t mean to sound so exasperated, and he raises an eyebrow at you.

“Same reason you are,” he shoves his hands into the pockets of his pyjama pants, which you can see are made from bright blue flannel. It was odd, to see him wearing something typically childish. “Thinking about the ball.”

“Donghyuck was freaking out about it before… I think it rubbed off on me.”

A grim look passes over his face, “About dying, right?”

“About the team dying, yeah.” You frown, “How do you know that?” Surely, he hasn’t been listening the whole night.

“I wasn’t listening. I just know Donghyuck – it’s the only thing that does freak him out.” He pauses, then shrugs, “Other than lizards.” He frowns, “And birds, actually.” He shakes his head as if to force himself to stop thinking about Donghyuck’s phobias.

You smile, “I was going to make some tea. Do you-?”

“No, thank you. I just came to see if you were alright.” It’s only then that you can see just how tired he looks. Your eyes have adjusted to the lack of light in the room, and even in the dark you can see the deep-set circles under his eyes.

Nodding, you rock back and forth on the balls of your feet, “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you.”

He nods and turns to head back to his room, which you can see is spilling light into the hallway through the open door. Bruce is standing at attention in the doorway, staring into the empty room with unwavering focus. You let your gaze drift back to Doyoung, who is looking at you again with a furrowed brow, though your mind is still on the dog for some reason.

He opens his mouth to say something but doesn’t, and turns around, his figure retreating into the brightly lit hallway.

The door closes softly, and you watch as the light under the door disappears, the hallway now dark again. You’re debating whether it was still worth getting some tea before going back to your room, but you make your way to the kitchen, anyway. Even if you didn’t make tea, you could always steal one of Jaemin’s snacks.

There’s a pot of tea already on the counter, though you assume it’s old because it’s cold now. It’s the early hours of the morning, and you brain is repeating, I’m tired, I’m lazy, this will do over and over again.

You reach for a mug, despite the liquid no longer requiring its insulating properties, and pour the cold tea into it. You notice Jaehyun’s ‘World’s Greatest Boss’ mug is missing from the shelf, and you’re sure if you looked into his office, you’d see it on his desk.

Taking a sip, you almost spit it out from how bitter it is, how terrible the tea is. You’ve never known tea to taste like that. Maybe because it was cold. You tip the drink down the sink and leave your mug in the sink. Someone probably forgot to empty the pot before they went to bed, you assume.

Grabbing the pot, you pour the foul liquid – because there was no way that was fresh tea – down the sink. With a bad taste in your mouth, you pull the fridge door open and scan the shelves for anything good. There’s a fruit yoghurt cup left – Mark’s favourite flavour – and you almost feel bad about taking the last one, until you remember they’re Jaemin’s.

Peeling the lid off, you settle on the counter, digging through the clean cutlery for a spoon.

“You’re awake.”

You jump a little at the sound. “God, doesn’t anyone here sleep?” You groan and look in the direction of the voice, recognising Jaehyun’s suit-clad figure standing by the dinner table. You’re annoyed that he managed to frighten you, but he only smiles at you.

“Too much to do,” his voice is deeper than normal, and you wonder if he’s tired.

Spooning another mouthful of yoghurt into your mouth, you squint at him, “This is going to work, isn’t it?” He nods, but there’s uncertainty in the way he holds himself. His eyes don’t meet yours. “Jaehyun.”

He looks at you, and the determination in his eyes surprises you, “If everything goes to plan, then it’ll definitely work.” He sighs, and his gaze falls, “I could see it. I could see it working perfectly.”

“But?” You prompt.

“But…” he trails off. Then his eyes meet yours, and he subconsciously adjusts his stance. “I always feel terrible when I endanger them.”

You know that’s not what worries him, but you don’t push it. Clearly, everyone around here has their secrets, and you’re not about to be the one to pry. You let your hand fall to his forearm, and his eyes widen at the contact, though he does his best to appear indifferent, “You’re a good leader, Jaehyun. And I trust you. They trust you.”

He sucks in a breath, but he doesn’t say anything. He’s not sad or emotional in any way, but you can’t look away from his face. He needs to see your sincerity, even if he thinks he doesn’t need it.

But he doesn’t look away from you, either.

Until he does. “Tea,” he says, turning to look away from you. He clears his throat, and his voice changes, though you can’t exactly describe how. “Is there any tea left?”

“Uh, no,” your voice sounds small, so unlike your natural voice. It makes him look back at you for a moment, before going back to trying to find the teapot. “It was cold – and disgusting – so I poured it out. I was just about to make a fresh pot.”

“You poured out the tea?”

You pause. “Yeah. I just said-”

He sighs, and you can almost see him physically deflate, “It’s supposed to taste terrible. It’s not normal tea. An elixir, if anything, to help with-” He stops. “Doesn’t matter.”

Suddenly, you feel awful. “I’m sorry.” And for the first time since you’ve arrived here, you truly mean it.

“It’s alright. You should get some rest.” No ‘goodnight’, no ‘goodbye’, just ‘you should get some rest’ and the same distracted look on his face you usually see at this hour.

“Careful, there. I might actually think you care about me,” you say lightly, a snort accompanying your words. Gracefully, you manage to slide off the counter and toss your empty yoghurt cup into the bin at the kitchen’s entrance, dodging him as you pass him.

He doesn’t acknowledge your comment, but he does turn around to see you walking toward the hallway. He doesn’t raise his voice, instead lowering it, “Goodnight, Y/n.”

You turn and give him a small nod, your words coming out short, “Night. Jaehyun.”

“Is anyone else bored?” Donghyuck asks for the fifteenth time today, and you roll your eyes, ignoring him. You’re all crowded into one of the few casual living spaces in the warehouse, a room with a bunch of cool leather couches and bookshelves. You’d never been down here, never even knew the basement had a living room, but from the look of it, you decided it was rarely used.

It was much unlike Jaehyun’s sitting room, which you’d decided was your favourite room in the whole place. It had so much warmth in it, especially compared to the sitting room you were in now. The couches here were red and white, unmatching, but tied together nicely with the cool white walls and a singular red wall painting that you felt you’d seen before. The plush carpet beneath your feet was the only thing that added warmth to the room, but it was split along the diagonal by an invisible line, separating a bleached white section and a firetruck red section. With each half of the carpet situated under the couch of the opposite colour, you wondered if Jaehyun had paid someone to fit out the room or he’d done it himself. Quite the interior designer.

You felt a little bad for brushing Donghyuck and his boredom off, until you noticed the responses from the other boys around you. You’re sitting on the floor in front of the red couch, the plush white carpet beneath you far more inviting than the new leather. Jaemin is sitting on the flat arm rest behind you, and Jeno’s in a small white armchair nearby, the two talking animatedly. Donghyuck is lounging on the white couch, despite Renjun claiming he’d make it dirty – which immediately prompted Donghyuck’s response of ‘You’d like that, wouldn’t you?’ followed by a terrible wink. Renjun sits on the floor beside you, earphones in, watching something on his phone, and Chenle on the couch at the opposite end, glaring at Donghyuck. You’re beginning to wonder if his face just naturally looks pissed off.

Donghyuck shrieks as the corner of his t-shirt alights and frantically tries to put it out, patting at his shirt. Each time his hand comes down on the flame, it moves to a different location. Chenle raises an eyebrow, “Are you bored now?”

Donghyuck gives him a level look, “You’re dead.”

This seems to bring Chenle a lot of joy, “I thought that was your thing.” You ignore them as soon as Donghyuck lunges at the younger boy, instead tuning into Jeno and Jaemin’s conversation.

“- give him? What can we offer that he doesn’t already have?” Jaemin is saying. Then he adds, “Prick.”

You look up and pat his leg to get his attention, “Who are you talking about?”

He looks down at you, and the look of annoyance on his face eases a little as he explains. “The guy Jaehyun’s meeting up with today,” he says, but halfway through the sentence, his attention is already back on Jeno. You’ve never seen him look so annoyed – not at Chenle, not during a team meeting, never. You’re about to ask what this guy had done to earn such a response, but before you can, Jeno gestures to the door and they both stand up to leave.

Renjun tugs out his earphones when he watches them leave, “Where’d they head off to?”

“I don’t know,” you frown, but then you catch sight of his phone. “What are you watching?”

Renjun’s face immediately lights up as he excitedly fills you in on the Super fight semifinals. “There’s a newcomer this year – some young kid, eighteen maybe? – doesn’t even belong to a club, yet.” You cringe when he says ‘club’, knowing full well that these sport ‘clubs’ were just fronts for small gangs. “He just walked in and put his name on the roster! Can you believe that?”

You try to match his excitement, try to look impressed, “Damn, what does he do?”

“He can summon lightning. And manipulate it.” Renjun suddenly looks so young – so innocent and eager. You knew he’d never been on assignment, stayed in the warehouse almost always and had probably never even step foot in a place like The Den. He’d seen so much yet so little while working here.

Whilst Renjun grins happily at the screen, offering you an earbud so you could watch, too, you feel a shiver run down your back. Lightning. Now there’s a man you remember. He’d seemed so much older when you’d first met him, despite being drunk off his ass. Eighteen. And it wouldn’t be long before he was recruited, enticed by the sheer amounts of money the ‘clubs’ could offer him.

“He’s about to come out, hold on… There!” Renjun points at a figure emerging from a crowd, dressed in the standard durable yet decorated combo all the fighters wore. His was white, with streaks of jagged purple lines running down the sides of his top to mimic the lightning.

Immediately, you recognise his face, but you keep your expression neutral, interested. Definitely the guy from The Den. A sudden thought crosses your mind, and you fight the urge to throw up. He’d probably just won a fight when we met. Probably his first one, too.

This guy didn’t help your preconceived belief that all fighters were assholes.

You watched as the camera panned to his opponent, a small woman in her mid twenties, you’d say. She was tiny, made apparent when she moved to stand beside the boy, their hands interlocking, raising and lowering in an extravagant bow. As if this was all a show. He had to have been at least six feet tall, and she stood with her head level to his lower chest.

But you knew better than to underestimate her, because despite her size – and her ridiculously long fake nails – she had made it this far. People often made the same mistake with you.

People like her opponent, who merely smiled at her smugly as soon as they stepped away from each other in the ring. This may be a fight you actually wanted to watch.

“Watch,” Renjun whispers to you, as the protective glass walls surrounding the ring begin to rise. There’s a countdown, and you watch the two fighters ready themselves. It appears they both have the same tactic – appear casual and indifferent to unnerve the other. You watch as the woman focuses on her nails, uninterested, and the boy stands with a lop-sided smirk on his face, one hand already raised, ready to summon coils of lightning as soon as the countdown reaches zero.

In the audience, people are chanting, excitedly waiting for the fight to begin.

“What’s her ability?” You ask. But he doesn’t have time to answer, because the speaker lets out an unnerving beep, and both fighters begin to move. As soon as the sound rings out, where there was once a woman, there is now a robot – or what looks to be a robot. But then it moves. It moves in a way that no robot, no matter how dynamic, would be able to move. “She can make herself metal?”

Renjun laughs at your bewilderment, “You’ve never heard of Titan?”

“She calls herself Titan?”

“Sure,” he shrugs. “They all have fighter names. He’s Thunder. Uh, Impact was on before. She’s pretty epic. She fought Migraine.” He realises you have no clue who he’s talking about. “Impact has these really strong forcefield things. Migraine… well, he’s pretty self-explanatory.”

“You know what?” Donghyuck pipes up from the couch. You notice Chenle has disappeared, having previously been too absorbed in the fight to notice him leave. Donghyuck is laying with his head dangling off the couch and his legs over the couch’s back. Renjun doesn’t respond. Dismissing the fact that no one responded to his question, Donghyuck continues, “We should have fight names.” He swings his legs down so he can sit up, “I can’t believe we’ve never thought of that.”

“Oh, yeah? What would you be called?” You ask.

“I don’t know…” he thinks about it for a second before bellowing in deep voice, “ETERNAL!”

“Eternal pain in my ass,” Renjun mumbles to you, a smile crossing his face when you laugh. The fight is already over when you look back down at the phone. The lightning boy, unconscious, lays on the floor, whereas the woman, now back in her normal body, holds her hands over her head triumphantly. You can hear the loud eruptions of applause even after Renjun turns down the volume.

“Huh?” Donghyuck looks confusedly between the two of you.

“Renjun could be Spiritwalker,” you say, raising an eyebrow at him. He makes a disgusted expression, but when Donghyuck continues talking, you can tell he’s thinking about it.

“You could be… Mime?”

“Or,” a new voice offers from behind you. “Y/n could be Mine.” He says it in a teasing way – he knows it’ll make you squirm in disgust.

You instantly roll your eyes at Jaemin as soon as he meets your eyes, lowering into the small armchair Jeno was previously sitting in. He lets out a loud laugh. “That was a cheap shot,” you drawl.

And he shrugs, but he can’t help the smile that’s crossed his face at your judgment of his terrible flirting. “What can I say? I’m a dedicated guy. I take every opportunity to-,” but he’s cut off.

“Oh! I know!” You exclaim to Donghyuck in a fake perky voice, clapping your hands together excitedly, “Jaemin can be Douchebag!” You turn to him and the faux smile you’d been donning a second earlier drops from your face as you look at Jaemin pointedly.

One side of his mouth lifts into a half-smile and lets out a fake laugh, glaring at you in an exaggerated manner that says he’s not the least bit bothered by your joke.

“There are too many good names for someone with superspeed. It’s unfair,” Donghyuck notes.

“Like?” Jaemin looks to him, intrigued.

“Dick, trashbag, assface, asshole. If we’re getting creative, cockalorum, ninnyhammer-” You begin counting off the insults on your fingers. Renjun lets out a loud laugh and falls to his side on the floor, and Donghyuck erupts into laughter after him.

Jaemin rolls his eyes but his smile is genuine, laughing along with the others.

“What even is a cockalorum?” Donghyuck asks, though this only makes Renjun laugh again, and he never gets an answer.

That night, you manage to sleep soundly for the first time in a few days, though you don’t know how you’re so exhausted. Dinner had been a riot – Doyoung suggested that Donghyuck cook if he was so bored, and Jaemin ended up getting roped into helping him. You’d wondered if Doyoung’s ‘suggestion’ had been laced with any of his power, urging them slightly to agree.

Jaemin had prepared everything faster than it should’ve been possible, then got annoyed with how slow the actual cooking part was. He ended up lying across the kitchen counter in duress, reducing Donghyuck’s cooking space to a tiny bench beside the stove. Everyone ate together and pretended it was the worst thing they’d ever tasted, making Donghyuck pout throughout most of dinner. But everyone made sure to thank him when they had finished, which you’d thought was very sweet. It had tasted pretty good, though, you had to admit.

In the morning, everyone’s mood seems to have shifted. You couldn’t pin it at first, especially since the morning started the same way it usually does; with you having to wake up a complaining Donghyuck.

It was at breakfast that you’d noticed something was up. Jaemin was wearing an usually sour expression on his face, and even Chenle didn’t comment on it. There was none of the expected fire at the table. Renjun, who normally didn’t wake up until everyone had already eaten, was already sitting at the table when you arrived. Jeno wasn’t there, and neither was Johnny, and you wondered where they’d gone. Jaehyun wasn’t in his office, and emerged from the basement stairs as you sat down, stealing a piece of toast from the table with a half-hearted smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“What is-?” You turn to Mark, and notice that even he seems glum. “What’s going on?”

“Hmm?” Jaemin responds, though his attention is still on his uneaten breakfast. He’s holding a piece of toast in his hand, and it looks as though he’s been nibbling on one corner for the past fifteen minutes.

“Everyone’s so…” you shrug, “gloomy.” Except for Chenle, you want to add. He’s exactly the same. But you don’t. Because you know it’s not true.

“Yeah, well,” Renjun snorts. “That happens when you’re about to risk your life tomorrow.”

Jaemin casts him a sidelong glance and then stands, the sheer speed of his movement causing his chair to topple over loudly. He doesn’t bother to pick it up, or maybe he doesn’t notice what he’s done, but he walks back down the hallway. You hear a door slam and there’s a pause as everyone stops eating for a second, all glancing between each other. Renjun gulps, looking guilty.

Chenle’s the first to continue eating, and everyone follows. You grab a piece of fruit from a plate and stand, “Should I-?”

“God, yes,” Donghyuck responds, immediately. “I don’t want to deal with that.” There’s a few mumbles of agreement and you nod, taking a bite of the fruit as you walk down the hall.

You bump into Doyoung as he’s emerging from the bathroom, his hair wet. The dark circles beneath his eyes haven’t disappeared yet, and you can’t help yourself from noticing how different he looks with the small blemishes. His normally perfect skin looks harrowed and thin now, the dark circles a deep contrast to his light skin.

“Geez, I just haven’t been sleeping well,” he tries to laugh, but it sounds empty.

Your eyebrows raise as you realise he can tell what you’re thinking, “Sorry. I’m just worried about you.”

This makes him smile, and this time its sincere. “Don’t be. Once this is all over,” he gestures around him, “I’ll be fine.”

You nod. But then you remember why you came down here in the first place, “Is Jaemin okay?”

Doyoung stops for a moment, sucking in a breath, “No.” You don’t know why you expected to hear something different. You’d hoped to hear something different. “Wait a second.” You stop from where you’d been reaching for the handle that led to his room. There’s a thump against the door and the sound of something smashing on the floor. “Now, go.”

You nod to him in appreciation before twisting the handle, poking your head in the room. “Jaemin?”

He’s sitting on the floor by Jeno’s bed, his head on his knees. He looks up when you walk in, but his head hangs again. You can’t tell whether he’s angry or sad or a combination of both, but you could see the pained expression on his face as soon as you walked inside. “What h-?” You stop and sit down beside him. “Are you okay?”

He doesn’t answer. You notice him fidgeting, as if he’s got too much energy he needs to get rid of, “Jaemin.”

There’s silence, until, “Can you go?” You recoil from him like you’ve just been burned, and you suddenly hate yourself for it. “Please.” You nod, then mumble a ‘okay’ as you stand up. The door closes noiselessly as you leave, and you let out a breath. Renjun is the one that runs up to you, the one that explains what’s going on. His voice sounds slightly strangled, but he rushes the words out in a long string in a way that tells you he had just been given this information, “Jaehyun’s contact won’t trade his services for money. He wants Jeno. He has Jeno.”

And suddenly you have the urge to throw something at a door, too.

#nct au #nct dream au #nct angst #nct fluff #nct suggestive #nct headcanon #nct superhero au #nct dream fluff #nct dream angst #nct antihero au #nct dream superhero au #nct dream jeno #nct jaehyun #nct series #nct writing #nct doyoung #nct johnny #nct mark #nct jeno #nct jaemin #nct donghyuck

[of-wrens-and-whirlwinds-blog]

How Do Dragons Flirt?

Commission for the beauteous @ikeracity​ !!! A Cherik fic including dragon talk! I hope you like it, friend! Commission info is here!

~

Charles was reading another book about dragons.

Erik checked and re-checked that there was no one around, then walked over and asked, “May I sit here?”

Charles looked up, blinking. The entire student lounge was empty, and he had claimed the saggiest, oldest, shittiest couch that everyone hated. But Erik needed to get close for this.

“Ah—sure,” Charles said finally, and moved his enormous backpack. Erik sat in the corner furthest away from Charles. There was close, and there was too close; sharing a couch was on the edge of too close. He nevertheless turned a little, and asked Charles bluntly, “What’s that book about?”

A slow flush of shame filled Charles’ face, and he looked down, fiddling with the edges of the heavy paper. There seemed to be quite a few full-color illustrations as well as fancy script. “It’s… um… it’s about dragons,” he mumbled.

Erik bit the inside of his cheek, cursing at himself for already fucking up. He tried to make it better by saying, “Like contemporary ones or mythological?”

The flush deepened, and Charles looked away. “Mythological,” he answered softly.

Erik bit harder, cursed more viciously, and asked, “Can you tell me about that book?”

Charles’ head whipped around, and he stared at Erik with naked shock. Erik’s face went pink this time. “I like dragons too,” he explained, “But I don’t know any good books on them.”

The slow, brilliant smile that spread across Charles’ face was so beautiful that Erik was almost breathless. It really brought home how very fake his normal smiles were.

“Well… what books are you looking for?” Charles temporized, slowly relaxing and turning towards Erik. Maybe it wasn’t even a conscious decision. “There’s quite a difference between books about pop culture and books about dry medieval mythos.”

“I already have a basic grounding of pop culture,” Erik said, thinking back on the past three days of reading absolutely everything he could get his hands on. “Read a lot of essays. But I don’t know much about ancient depictions and writings.”

“Well, you are in for a treat,” Charles replied with something close to unholy glee.

Charles didn’t just like dragons, and he wasn’t just well-read. He was obsessed. Apparently his son was autistic (how the hell did baby-faced Charles have a child?) and his special interest was mythological creatures; Charles had started out just reading to him, and buying him books and watching videos. But then Charles had latched on to dragons, so while his son David researched griffins, Charles collected more and more material on fire-breathing lizards. It wasn’t as bad as his obsession with genetics and biology, but as Charles rambled on and on excitedly, Erik began to realize why people didn’t like listening.

But they were wrong. Because he’d heard so often that Charles was “boring”, but no one had ever mentioned how beautiful he was when he was excited. His eyes were wide and bright, his smile was the same, and his entire face came alive in a way it never did in class debates. He gestured emphatically and his voice got stronger and he looked so relieved.

Not to say Erik wasn’t listening. He was impressed by Charles’ knowledge, and the challenger in him wanted to learn just as much and more. So he listened, and asked questions, and soaked up Charles’ words like a sponge. He even got out his phone and noted all of the books Charles referenced and where to find them, and which sources they used. Charles was only too happy to add to the list.

By the time lights-out rolled around, Charles was hoarse and Erik was in a daze from the immense wave of talking that had just been aimed at him. He didn’t regret it. He found, to his own amusement, that he had enjoyed listening. But, well, he was already in love with Charles. No harm in enjoying his happiness.

They went to the stairs, silently. As they reached the landing where they split ways, Erik asked suddenly, “Can I sit with you at lunch tomorrow? I can probably dig up the essays I read, and we can compare.”

How could anyone think Charles was less than gorgeous when he was happy? “I’d like that,” he said simply.

~

So it became their Thing. If Erik was angry and wanted to be distracted, he sought out Charles. If Charles was upset in any way and needed to calm down, he went to Erik. They laughed together (when they were alone) about how it was great that, when either or both of them wanted to be alone, they just had to find each other and talk about dragons, and other people would avoid them.

Erik was labeled a martyr and insane for putting up with Charles, but he brushed it off, and in fact snapped at several people who acted like he was “brave” for “trying to be his friend”. There was no trying involved. As soon as they had found common ground, they had become friends. Natural arrogance, similar tastes, and true respect had made a friendship that Erik craved.

And it was fun talking to Charles. Even when conversation veered and they ended up debating politics or queer rights or which pizza chain made the best food (Erik insisted it was Pizza Hut, Charles refused to let go of Dominoes), it always came back to dragons, naturally, easily. Dragons as metaphors. Dragon stories as direct replies to various events in history. Dragons and their place in the human psyche.

It was only natural, really, to spend an evening talking about all the various descriptions of dragon mating behaviors. Erik was of the opinion that basing a dragon’s mating rituals on mammals was an insult to lizards and bats; Charles laughed and said if humans stuck to the mating rituals of lizards and bats, no one would find dragons romantic or powerful. They eventually agreed that birds were a good compromise, since they both detested birds.

Then things started… happening.

Erik immediately linked them to Charles. Gifts of food left at his door. Pretty rocks slipped into his backpack. Beautiful feathers tucked between the pages of his latest book on dragons that he was borrowing from Charles.

And then there was the nesting. The first time Erik visited Charles’ house, they ended up curled in a mess of pillows, cushions, blankets, and sheets, doing something Erik had never expected himself to be comfortable with: cuddling.

Charles’ son, David, was visiting. He was nonverbal, but knew a lot of sign-language; and since Charles had been teaching Erik, he was able to convey to David that he was a friend and he liked mythological creatures too. David looked at him somberly with his big blue eyes, then nodded and sat on a cushion a foot away from Charles, who beamed at his son with so much love that Erik’s heart ached.

But cuddling in a nest, watching movies together, sharing popcorn… it made Erik nervous, but excited. Was Charles flirting? Was this how flirting worked?

He decided to try some himself.

He bought Charles CDs because the silly man wouldn’t upgrade to a digital library, because birds sang to potential mates, didn’t they? Erik also tentatively offered to watch Dirty Dancing with Charles, because birds dance but he couldn’t, and the delight on Charles’ face was worth the fact that Erik disliked most of the movie.

He was stumped on pretty gifts, though. He didn’t have a lot of income, and Charles could afford literally anything he wanted. So Erik bought a ton of jump rings, a spool of wire, those little pliers jewelry-makers used, and pretty beads, and started making things for Charles.

The first thing he gave Charles was one of those bead-lizards, except he made wings to match. Charles almost cried, and hugged Erik so tight, which was… a nice feeling, surprisingly. Then Erik fussed and fiddled and managed to make three differently-sized hamsa, which Charles immediately hung by his front door, on his backpack, and in his room. David demanded a hamsa of his own, so Erik made a child-sized one and gave it to him for his birthday. David was so excited that he ran in circles, flapping his arms, and then shook Erik’s hand heartily. Erik actually found himself smiling.

Charles kissed his cheek so briefly before he left that night. It made him dizzy and warm, a feeling that lasted all the way back to his dorm.

They never talked about it. Not unless continued, hesitant mentions of dragon mating rituals counted.

~

It was a year after Erik had first approached Charles about dragons when he met Raven.

“Erik, this is my sister, Raven,” Charles said, beaming. “Raven, this is my friend Erik.”

“Nice to meet you,” Raven said neutrally with a lukewarm smile.

Erik nodded. “Likewise,” he said stiffly.

Charles was used to Erik by now, and was apparently used to Raven, because he didn’t seem upset by this standoff. If anything, he brightened further, and told Raven, “He likes dragons too.”

“Yeah, you told me,” Raven replied, taking Charles’ hand and squeezing gently. Then she turned back to Erik, narrowed her eyes, and asked, “What’re your intentions towards my brother?”

“Raven!” Charles gasped, immediately turning red with embarrassment. Erik was also pink, to his surprise.

“He’s my friend,” Erik said firmly.

“Then why are you flirting with him?”

Erik’s face got even warmer. “I… was not aware that I was,” he muttered, eyes glancing around to make sure no one was near.

“Hmph.” Raven turned back to a befuddled and sad—no, no, why was he sad—Charles. “He’s into you, dumbass.”

Erik looked at the ground, unable to hide how very red he was. Charles knew him now. He would know what his expression meant.

“Oh, hush, Raven,” Charles snapped, actually sounding angry. “You don’t know that.”

“Whatever. Did you want to get drinks or no?”

So the three of them went to get drunk. Erik was nervous about that; he was an angry drunk. But if he kept to a low amount of alcohol, he should be fine.

Raven and Charles were so hard-headed it made Erik a little afraid. Raven did eventually fall asleep on Charles’ shoulder, but she never acted drunk other than that; and Charles chattered on with his usual enthusiasm, his speech not slurred in the slightest. Erik was feeling a little woozy after maybe two beers and three shots of tequila.

“Do you like me?” Charles asked suddenly.

“Huh?” Erik said.

“Do you like me?” Charles repeated, looking very sharp and sober. “Raven said you did.”

“Well...” Erik rubbed the back of his neck, staring at the table. But, knowing that they would both forget in the morning, he felt safe in blurting, “Well, yes. I just… didn’t want to bring it up.”

“Why not?”

“Because… it felt weird. I like being your friend too much.”

There was a silence. Then Charles reached over and put his hand over Erik’s. “I like you too,” he said softly.

~

It was definitely mating rituals.

And Erik didn’t mind at all. Nothing really changed, except they started kissing in private, and then they got bold and kissed while drunk and in front of Charles’ friends, and after that it was just natural to hold hands and sit side-by-side and kiss each other on the cheeks or forehead. It was so natural that Erik forgot their reputations, and was honestly surprised the first time someone invited Charles to a party and asked Erik separately if he’d like to come.

Charles asked David if it was okay that Charles and Erik wanted to be boyfriends. David thought about it, and said his first sentence in six years: “Yes, because he makes you happy.”

“Thank you so much, Davey,” Charles said, smiling broadly with tears in his eyes. Erik felt a weight lift off his shoulders, too; so David wouldn’t mind Erik visiting more often.

Or moving in. Which Erik did, eventually. Because it was only natural. Dragons move in with their mates too, after all.

#Cherik #X-Men #fanfiction #writing #commission

[werezmastarbucks]

Whitmore Guy and more dead bodies

Whitmore Guy masterlist  

word count: 1877

She sat on her couch and watched Mal bring all the plates from the living room and place them on the kitchen counter. Somehow, him being a massive creeper and a liar liberated her from cleaning her own house. Mal really looked like he  enjoyed it though.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask you”, he said nonchalantly, like he wasn’t noticing the intense look Y/N has been giving him, “that little whole on the wall, what’s the story behind this?”

He walked up to the wall crossing the line and cutting the kitchen space from the living room and pointed at the little notch in the dark wood that looked like a cut.

“I threw a plate once and it crashed into this place, knocking out a piece of wood”, she said. They both looked at it for a second.

“Why?”

She rubbed her knees.

“I don’t really remember. I know it was late at night, and I was sitting at the table, and I panicked for some reason. I couldn’t eat again. So I threw my plate full of potatoes away, and there was food everywhere. But I don’t remember what made me so angry, and definitely don’t remember cleaning. It was like… a thousand years ago”.

“Hmm”, he said and walked to the couch slowly, placing himself next to her. They fell silent for some time.

“I told you, I’m going crazy. I keep forgetting simple things, like from half a year ago, or a year ago”.

“That’s normal”.

“It’s very weird how I forget separate fragments. And recently I found this playlist with music on my phone that I don’t remember making. What’s that all about?”

She looked at him, testing his concentration, like he was also guilty about her amnesia and madness.

Mal replied with his understanding look, the one they shared when they spoke without words. His eyes said, that sucks, and she said, I know.

“And I remember being happy, like last summer, that’s the funniest thing. I don’t know what happened, but it just drained, and I can’t go on pretending like I’m still me. Something’s happened, and Damon refuses to tell me. But I remember vividly being very, very happy last year. But get this – I don’t remember why”.

“Don’t freak out”, his hand laid on her palm and squeezed her fingers lightly. Y/N absently looked at his hands and couldn’t move.

“You’ve lost a friend. It’s been a tough spring. It gets better, yeah? I promise you. By Christmas time you will be happy again, no – I predict you will be. I know it”.

He sighed deeply and let go of her hand. Her fingers went cold.

“Why were you watching me sleep, Mal?”

He wasn’t taken aback by her question. He blinked twice, confused, like she was asking why the space is dark.

“Because you fell asleep in my bed while I was in it. Who told you I was?”

“Bonnie touched you and saw it. She’s a witch, remember?”

“She does look like a witch, it’s hard to forget-”

“You were in my house. You were watching me in my house”.

Mal looked emphatic, like he was treating a terminal patient who was also insane. He didn’t look guilty, or awkward at all. Y/N secretly admired the nerve of this guy.

“So, I was”, he said quietly, and his neck swayed like a snake as he tilted his head. His eyes went completely bleak, like he was about to eat off her face.

“How did you get into my house?”

“That’s not the right question you’re asking. It’s not difficult to get into a house”.

She felt cold shivers run down her spine, unwanted arousal together with horror – for the first time, finally, he scared her properly. And what did she feel? Horny.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Mal Osbourne”, he replied when she barely finished the sentence.

“What do you want?”

“You know what I want”.

There was a heavy pause filling space between them like poisonous gas. She realized she couldn’t hold on anymore. There was the sense of fear, but no danger. She was either numb or stupid; she couldn’t see him as a threat. She knew he was one, but it felt fake, it was double fake – his personality, and then, his supposed danger that he had to present. All she wanted to do was to grab him by his shirt and pull him to her face to breathe him in.

“God, you’re not even fighting it, are you?” he whispered, little dimples appearing on his cheeks although he wasn’t smiling.

“You’re the only real thing that’s happened to me in months. And you just happen to be a sociopath with a plan”.

“I’m no menace to you”.

She didn’t like the way he emphasized ‘you’.

“You want a ham sandwich?”

She shook her head no, and said to herself, ‘I want you to kiss me’. She couldn’t utter it out, but he read her mind. How, she didn’t know. Mal leaned in and Y/N grabbed his neck like her life depended on it; their mouths crashed into each other, and she took a deep breath as he touched her teeth with his tongue. Shivers vibrated on her ribs, and she could feel both his hands wrapping her, and it felt right, like it was his place. Mal pressed her into the couch pillows and his hand slid down to her thigh, his touch firm, possessive. Y/N’s limbs were magnetized, moving towards him, like her body didn’t even belong to her anymore. All she knew, brain or skin, was him, that he pulled her to himself, pressing, devouring her slowly, as he drank from her mouth, heating her like a match. How hot could it get? She couldn’t think. Y/N scratched his neck, delving her nails into his skin in an animalistic urge to come closer. Her knees spread by themselves as she let him slide in between, his smell making her dumb. Nothing. There was nothing in her head except the sound of her own breathing and the way he kissed her. They couldn’t let go of each other, running short of breath, and the thunderous sound behind didn’t make sense at first.

Y/N shivered and pulled away, opening her eyes and discovering her knee was high under his arm. Someone called her by the name. She looked at Mal, his mouth slightly open, his eyes, mad like his brains were completely fried. She turned around and saw Elena standing in her hall.

“There’s bodies. Your neighbors. You guys… please…”

It took about five seconds to process. Mal came to his senses quicker. He stood up, letting go of her legs, and ran his hands through his hair.

“What?”

“We were almost at the end of the street, and then the smell hit us. We checked, and there’s bodies in the house next door. Those new guys who moved in last year?”

She thought of Gray the cat.

“Larsons”.

“Exactly”.

Elena was tugging at her own hair, visibly embarrassed by what she saw. Both scenes.

“They’re all dead”.

“And the cat?”

Mal gave her a look.

“What cat?” Elena whispered.

Heavy footsteps rocked outside, and the door was pulled open. Damon looked into the living room.

“What the hell were you doing?”

Y/N blinked slowly.

“Did you call the police?”

“Is it bad?” Mal asked.

“It’s bloodbath”.

They left the house and came round the driveway, entering Larson’s yard.

Coming close to the front door, Y/N could already smell them.

“Maybe you shouldn’t go…”

She entered the hall and Mal followed her. She covered her nose with her palms as she saw three dismembered bodies in the living room. Mal didn’t let her turn the lights on.

“Don’t touch anything”.

“You’ve been with us the whole time, right?” she asked, thinking as she spoke. Mal turned to her, and his eyes shone with indignation in the twilight.

“You go from thievery to murder? Are you okay, Y/N? Why do you blame me for everything?”

They turned to make sure the vampires stayed on the porch.

“I’m not blaming you for anything, just thinking out loud”, she hissed. Her face was still hot.

“Yeah, and in your way of thinking, you gotta make sure I didn’t sneak out of the house to fucking butcher your neighbors because..? Are you seeing this shit? How am I supposed to physically do it?”

She rubbed her face and turned away to leave. Mal followed her again.

“You lied to me, didn’t you? Aw, you’re going through stuff, I understand”, he mimicked her voice, making it too thin, “you understand shit. You think if I lie about one thing I lie about everything else, too”.

She turned to him with a swing. She didn’t really want to talk about it with all the people they knew present, but the moment might be fleeting, and if she wanted to catch him, she had to do it on the spot. It didn’t help that she was still immensely aroused as she even looked at him.

“That’s how it works, Mal. And what exactly are you lying about?”

He opened his mouth angrily to answer, but someone called.

“Let’s go, I called the FBI guys”.

“The FBI?”

“Yeah, well, they said to call if anything else like this happens”.

Mal turned to Damon and looked him in the eye, directing all his frustration towards the vampire.

“Where were you?”

Damon’s face got beautifully distorted with annoyance.

“You know where I was, you creepy lizard”.

“Everything that’s happened was connected to you, Damon, and you’re notorious with your temper, and you weren’t in your best mood today”.

“He never is”, Caroline noted.

“I can’t believe this guy”, Y/N nearly yelled, “you basically just admitted lying to me…”

Everybody started talking at the same time. Mal crossed his arms on his chest and did the thing she almost learned already. He pretended to be the victim.

“Y/N, you can’t stay at your house, it’s not safe for you”, one reasonable voice said.

“Great, we’ll go sleep over at your house”, Mal nodded. Stefan was taken aback.

“What? You think I’ll leave her with you monsters?”

Y/N raised her eyebrows so high her face hurt.

“You’re going home, Osbourne”, Damon barked. Mal was standing next to him and it seemed like he even got a bit taller with his own shadow helping him. He let out a small smile, looking right into the vampire’s eyes; the amount of energy suddenly bursting around him was insane. Bonnie’s head snapped towards them two in a bird-like gesture, and she looked concerned as hell.

“I’m going with her”, Mal said quietly. Something in her stomach did a flip, and as he turned, she gave up. Stefan did, too.

“Alright, maybe… maybe it makes sense, okay? He was with us, too, and if… this is an attack on us, or a sign…” he shook his head slowly, looking at Elena, as if asking her for help.

“Let’s just go, all of us, Bonnie and Caroline too, alright? It’s better if we all stay together in one place”.

Y/N pushed through them and walked back to her house to grab some things, followed by several pairs of eyes.

#kai parker #kai parker imagine #kai parker x reader #vampire diaries imagine #vampire diaries #legacies #tvd #whitmore guy

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #406

“turned on all the lights, the tv, and the radio  /  still, i can’t escape the ghost of you”

Have you ever had an ulcer? No. Do you have any rare medical conditions? I believe AvPD is considered to be a rare mental disorder. Do you have to carry an epi pen? No. What color is your mailbox? I think it's black. I don't pay attention. Would you ever want a job working with animals? I'd love to. The thing is, without a degree in something, my duties working with animals would almost certainly involve cleaning up after them, which I am WAY too squeamish with fecal matter and vomit to do. It's extremely embarrassing, but I've never even been able to clean up after my own pets if they ever had an accident or got sick. I obviously couldn't do it with random animals. Did you have a good high school experience? It's... so odd, retrospecting on high school. In some ways, it was the best time of my life because of my memories with my friends and especially Jason, but at the time, I absolutely loathed it and was horribly depressed. But at least I saw a future for myself. I took better care of myself, all that stuff... That Brittany would be fucking mortified to get a glimpse at who she becomes. Have you ever watched any Monty Python movies? Which one is your favourite? I know I've seen some of at least one. Would you ever get a "below the belt" piercing? Nah. If a couple is married, do you think there should be any legal punishment if one person cheats? No...? Like don't get me wrong at all, I am firmly against cheating under any circumstance, but for there to be legal retribution seems extreme. What is the greatest source of anxiety for you? My future. Are there any hallucinogenic drugs you’d like to try? Nah man. What made you choose your current job? I'm unemployed. Do you feel uncomfortable on the dance floor? Or are you confident with you dancing abilities? Oh hunny, you won't see me on the dance floor. Unless MAYBE if the Cha-Cha Slide comes on, or the Cupid Shuffle. That's as skilled as I get, haha. Is it exciting to you to imagine having an affair with a teacher? ... No??????????? It's fucking creepy. Adultery isn't exciting. Do you like your smile? No. I absolutely look high when I smile. What is something silly that you believed to be true when you were a child? That I could invoke the traits of any animal, which I just referred to as my "animal powers." Like for example, if I "called upon" a kangaroo, I could jump higher. I was a weird fucking kid. Have you ever been in a relationship with someone you completely connected with on a mental/emotional level, but did not find physically attractive in any way? Was physical intimacy a problem? How did it work out? I was never really physically attracted to Girt, but it was never a big deal to me. I cared way more about his personality and how much he cared about me. We were never really "intimate," per se, we just would give each other a simple peck. It didn't work out, but not at all because of physical things. He was just too much of a brother to me. What classic or cult movie have you never seen and have no desire to? Hm. I know there's some, but I'm blanking. Does The Human Centipede count here? Like everyone knows about it, so I would assume it does. I have ZERO desire to see a second of that repulsive movie. Have you ever taken a real liking to a band/singer you never ever....ever thought you'd enjoy? Maybe Melanie Martinez? Her voice is so cutesy, as are some of her songs, but I really enjoy how dark her lyrics can be. People who know me would probably be shocked to hear I thoroughly like her. After seeing the movie Avatar did you suddenly view our Earth as ugly and/or boring? If you have not seen the movie, do you think it’s worth your time? I've seen a little bit of it, but I never finished it because I was very tired and chose to go to sleep. I actually do want to see the full thing, though; it looks very good. How helpful are your parents to you? Would they help you to pay for your first apartment? College? Where does the line end? My parents are truly incredible with helping me the best they are capable of. They helped me pay for school, among other things, but I doubt they'd help with my first home, whenever that is. I wouldn't really want them to, either, because that's my responsibility for sure. Do you like playing video games? If so, what do you usually play? I love video games, and horror is absolutely my favorite genre. I also love fantasy games though with deep stories. I've never been the best at playing super long games, like Final Fantasy games, even if I'm seriously invested in the story, though. I burn out. Have you ever sewn a garment? No. Are there any plants in the room you’re in? No. I don't bother with plants. What’s your highest level of education? Some college. What’s the most important thing in any kind of relationship? Proper communication, probably. If you wear lipstick, what’s your favourite colour to wear? I only really put on lipstick to occasionally take a picture, and it's pretty much always black. Is your style feminine, masculine or somewhere in the middle? Somewhere in the middle, I guess? Are there a lot of dragonflies around your house? I've never seen one around this house, and I doubt I ever will because it's too urban. When we lived in the woods, however, I saw them a lot. Of all the Disney couples, which one would you say is your favorite? Kovu and Kiara came to my mind first. Do you think it is cute/funny or disgraceful when a child swears? It's shocking, more than anything. You don't expect it. I don't believe it should be encouraged, but only because children just don't know when swearing really isn't appropriate. If/when you have a baby, how do you think you would want to decorate its room? I don't want kids, but I'll entertain the question and assume this is before the child is born and develops interests. Whether it's a boy or a girl, I'd probably go with a cutesy animal theme. Would you more likely buy a shirt with a picture of Mickey/Minnie Mouse, a Winnie the Pooh character, Snoopy, Hello Kitty, or Tweety Bird on it? None, honestly. Perhaps like, a gothic Hello Kitty. Of all the states you have been to, which one did you have the best experiences? Putting aside the AWFUL heat and humidity, I probably had the best time in Florida. I loved all the palm trees, seeing so many lizards on my grandma's patio, and going to Disney World was a blast. I liked that swimming pools were always warm, too. Have you ever had a crush on someone “too young” for you? No. Do you regret losing your virginity to who you lost it to? No. I was madly in love with him, so no regrets on that. If your boyfriend ever hit you, would you dump him? HA, BYYYYEEEEEEEEE MOTHERFUCKER. ZERO hesitation. Did the one person who hurt you most in your life apologize? He did, but I honestly don't know if he meant it. Is there anything you want to say to someone? It'll probably go unsaid for the rest of my life. If they were to televise a live execution, would you watch it? Yikes, hard pass. If you could be the president of the USA, would you be willing to do it? Noooo thank you. Did you wake up in the middle of the night? I always do. Does your animal sleep with you? My cat does. Venus obviously sleeps in her terrarium, but she is in my room. Last color you dyed your hair? Red. Will you keep your last name when you get married? Very unlikely. I don't like my last name. What are you looking forward to? Hearing back again from the woman whose wedding I shot literally two years ago. I thought she ghosted me, but she messaged me the other day about seeing the pictures again and going through them to actually buy some. I don't know why the hell it took her two years, but whatever, I guess? I spent two whole hours resizing the files and re-adding the preview watermark (I deleted the OneDrive folder for space forever ago, but I have the files still), so I hate to sound like an ass, but she better buy something. Between sweating my ass off on location when I shot the wedding, editing those 100+ pictures two years ago, and now re-doing the previews, I have invested so much goddamn time into them that yeah, I think I have the right to be pretty damn salty if I don't hear back from her again. If your significant other cut sex out of your relationship for any reason, what would you do? It'd be whatever. I mean sure, that sort of intimacy is a very special part of serious romantic relationships to me, but I can live without it pretty easily. What was the last thing you said out loud? "Thank you for dinner" to my mom. She brought home Hardee's. Who are your godparents? I don't believe I have any. Do you like Gushers? omggggg yes Can you touch​ your nose with your tongue?​​ No. Is there a particular sport you follow on a regular basis? Nope. Are you waiting for something to arrive in the mail? No. Think of the last film you watched. Who was your favourite character? Uhhhh what was it... The Shining, I think? I didn't really develop a favorite. Do you have a friend whose name starts with ‘L’? Describe him/her. Lisa. <3 She's one of my WoW friends. She'll talk your ear off, but I don't really mind. She is SO sweet and caring for other people and loves to cook. She recently had triplets, and seeing as she had a son only months before accidentally getting pregnant with the triplets, she's obviously been MEGA busy so we haven't talked much lately. When you’re being kissed do you like it when they hold your face? Yeah, but not too early on. Doing that has a promise of seriousness and passion in it to me, and it would probably weird me out if that happened too soon. Last thing that made you cry? My health. Would you ever consider getting a piercing in your septum? Nah. I don't think it would look good on me. Do you enjoy being outdoors? If it's cool outside and I have a place to sit when I want to, yeah. Do people tell you that you have an accent? Only sometimes. It's definitely not as bad as your average Southerner, though. Do you enjoy watching fireworks on the 4th of July? Ha, what nice timing. I think they're very pretty, but I believe I went over in a recent survey how I don't encourage their usage in consideration of veterans with PTSD as well as being conscious of animals and the absolute terror it can cause for them. What’re some unspeakable subjects for you? So my sister is a children's social worker, and she shares a LOT of stories with Mom (and me, if I'm present) that I can't listen to. The ones that involve pedophilia and/or rape, especially from the child's very own parent(s), I just cannot listen to. Period. It's so fucking repulsive and just unimaginable to me how even a monster of a human can commit something THAT goddamn vile. What’s your opinion of root beer? I'm not a big fan. I mean I can tolerate drinking some of it, but I don't really *enjoy* it. Have you ever seen The Breakfast Club, and what’s your opinion of it? I have, and I didn't get the appeal at all. Did you have a Furby when you were younger? Oh god, I did. Those things are so creepy. If you had a baby boy, what would you name him? Damien, most likely.

#survey #surveys #random questions #lyrics: ''the ordinary world'' by the hit house

[thelittlesttimelord]

The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh Chapter 19

TITLE: The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh Chapter 19 PAIRING: No Pairing RATING: T CHAPTER: 19/? SUMMARY: Elise Smith is now a teenaged Timelord. In addition to losing the Ponds, the fields of Trenzalore are calling. But first they have to figure out exactly who Clara Oswald is.

[A/N - I spent all morning finishing this episode! You are not ready.]

The phone attached to the console started ringing.

The Doctor answered it. “Yes? What? I'm trying to read. That's always pointless. What did she say? Well? Well?”

Whatever Madame Vastra said got the Doctor’s attention, because Elise could see it on his face. He took off his glasses and stared at them. He hung up and grabbed his jacket.

“Where are we going?” Elise asked.

“You, are not going anywhere.”

“What?”

“You’re going to wait in the carriage.”

“You know, if I had known you were going to keep me locked up, I would’ve left with River.” But Elise was bluffing. She could have never left the Doctor. He was all she knew.

The Doctor grabbed a deerstalker hat and took her by the arm, leading her to Madame Vastra’s.

Strax took them to the Institute and true to his word, the Doctor locked the carriage behind him. He’d even taken her sonic screwdriver from her so she couldn’t get out.

Elise crossed her arms over her chest and sulked in her seat. She knew why he was doing this. For the same reason he’d told her to stay by the TARDIS that day in the graveyard. He didn’t want to lose her, but he was starting to irritate her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Doctor walked around the edge of the pond, sonicing it. He’d still not returned Elise’s screwdriver to her, which Elise didn’t appreciate. “Body frozen in a pond. The snow gets a good long look at a human being, like a full body scan. Everything they need to evolve. A pond. Good point, Clara.”

He turned around and saw Strax holding an alien weapon. “What are you doing here?”

“Madame Vastra wondered if you were needing any grenades?”

“Grenades?”

“She might have said help.”

“Help for what?”

“Well, your investigation.”

“Investigation? Who says I'm investigating? Do you think I'm going to start investigating just because some bird smiles at me? Who do you think I am?”

Strax smirked. “Sherlock Holmes.”

Elise let out a high pitched giggle, shocking herself. This was the first time she’d laughed since losing Amy and Rory.

“Don't be clever, Strax. It doesn't suit you.”

“Sorry, sir.”

“I'm the clever one, you're the potato one.” The Doctor poked him between the eyes.

“Yes, sir.”

“Now go away.”

“Yes, Mr. Holmes.” Strax chuckled at his own joke as he walked away.

“Oi! Shut up. You're not clever or funny and you've got tiny little legs!” The Doctor turned around and saw Clara watching them from a window. She waved and he waved back.

Clara gestured for them to come up.

The Doctor spun around, talking to himself. “Okay, just tell her you're leaving, you're not going up. Leaving. Not going up.” He spun back around and showed her five fingers and a thumbs up.

Clara closed the curtains and the Doctor smacked himself in the head. “What was that about? Five minutes, where did that come from?”

Elise found herself smiling as they walked towards the house.

“What?” the Doctor asked.

“Nothing.” Meeting Clara was the best thing to happen to her since arriving in Victorian England.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Clara and the children ran into the next room.

“What do we do?” Digby asked.

“Franny, Franny, imagine her melting,” Clara told her.

“What?”

“In your head. Melt her.”

“I can't!”

“I'm getting impatient!” the ice woman shrieked.

The door burst open.

“You have been very naughty!”

“What about the man? You said the man was here, the cloud man and his daughter!” Digby cried.

“Well, he's not, is he?” Clara said.

“Where's the Doctor?”

“I don't know!”

A puppet popped up and said, “Doctor? Doctor? Doctor who?” The puppet soniced the ice woman, who shattered. The Doctor stood up. “That's the way to do it.”

Elise rolled her eyes and stood up, going over to Clara and the children. “Are you alright?” Elise asked.

“We’re fine. Thank you,” Clara said.

Elise smiled. At least someone was happy to have her around.

The Doctor walked over to the rug and soniced the wet spot.

“Where did she go? Will she come back?” Franny asked.

“No, don't worry. She's currently draining through your carpet,” the Doctor told them, “New setting. Anti-freeze. And you're very welcome, by the way.”

“I'm very grateful. I knew you'd come,” Clara said.

“No, you didn't, because I don't. Because this isn't the sort of thing I do any more.” He whipped off his scarf as he stepped in front of the mirror. “Next time you're in trouble, don't expect me to… Sorry, it's just. Didn't know I'd put it on.”

Elise smiled, seeing his straighten the bow tie, like his old self would have done. She hadn’t said anything when he put it on because it seemed like he was returning to the Doctor she knew. Ice was forming on the windows.

“Old habits.”

“It's cooler,” Clara said, noticing the change in the temperature.

The Doctor smirked. “Yeah, it is, isn't it? It is very cool. Bow ties are cool.”

“No, the room. The room's getting colder.”

Something was forming under the carpet.

“She's coming back!” Digby cried.

“What's she going to do? Is she going to punish me?” Franny asked.

The Doctor tried sonicing her. “Er, er, she's learnt not to melt. Of course, she's not really a governess, she's just a beast. She's going to eat you. Run.” The Doctor grabbed the children’s hands and they ran to the foyer.

A man came into the foyer. “Children, what is the expla…” He stopped seeing Elise and the Doctor. “Who the devil are you? What are you doing in my house?”

“It's okay. I am your governess' gentleman friend, and we've just been upstairs…kissing!”

Elise’s eyes went wide as she stared at the Doctor. What on earth made him say that?

The maid came running in. “Captain Latimer. In the garden, there's snowmen! And they're just growing out of nowhere, all by themselves. Look!” She threw open the front door and Madame Vastra stood there with Jenny.

“Good evening. I'm a Lizard Woman from the Dawn of Time, and this is my wife,” Vastra told her.

The maid screamed and turned around, running into Strax.

“This dwelling is under attack. Remain calm, human scum.”

The maid screamed again and promptly fainted.

The Doctor ran down the stairs and checked on the maid, before standing up and putting a hand on Captain Latimer’s shoulder. “So, any questions?” the Doctor asked.

Latimer turned to Clara. “You have a gentleman friend?”

Clara sighed.

“Vastra, what's happening?” The Doctor ran into the living room to look out the window.

“The snow is highly localized, and on this occasion not naturally occurring.”

“It's coming out of that cab parked by the gates,” Jenny explained.

“Sir, one pulver grenade would blow these snowmen to smithereens,” Strax said.

“They're made of snow, Strax. They're already smithereens. See, Clara? Our friends again,” the Doctor said.

“Clara? Who's Clara?” Latimer asked.

“Your current governess is in reality a former barmaid called Clara.”

The ice woman appeared on the stairs. “That's the way to do it!”

“Meanwhile your previous governess is now a living ice sculpture impersonating Mister Punch. Jenny, what have you got?”

Jenny threw a device that created a force field at the top of the stairs. “That should hold it.”

“Sir, this room. One observational window on the line of attack and one defendable entrance,” Strax told them, gesturing to the study.

“Right, everyone in there. Now. Move it. You, carry her,” the Doctor ordered.

“Nice to see you off your cloud and engaging again,” Vastra said as the Doctor soniced the force field.

“I'm not engaging again, I'm under attack.”

“You missed this, didn't you? I know Elise did.”

Elise smiled.

The Doctor gave Vastra a smile. “Shut up.”

They entered the study.

“Strax, how long have we got?” the Doctor asked.

“They're not going to attack. They made no attempt to conceal their arrival. An attack force would never abandon surprise so easily, and they're clearly in a defense formation.”

“Way, aye, aye. Well done, Straxy. Still got it, buddy.” He kissed Strax on the head.

“Sir, please do not noogie me during combat prep.”

“So there's something here they want,” Vastra said.

“The ice woman,” Clara deduced.

“Exactly,” the Doctor said.

“Why's she so important?” Jenny asked.

“Because she's a perfect duplication of human DNA in ice crystal form. The ultimate fusion of snow and humanity. To live here, the snow needs to evolve and she's the blueprint. She's what they need to become. When the snow melted last night, did the pond?”

“No,” Clara answered.

“Living ice that will never melt. If the snow gets hold of that creature on the stairs, it will learn to make more of them. It will build an army of ice. And it will be the last day of humanity on this planet.”

The doorbell rang.

The Doctor cracked his neck. “Stay here.”

Both Clara and Elise followed after him.

“Oi, I told you to stay in there,” he told Clara, “With Elise I’m used to it.”

“Oh, I didn't listen.”

“You do that a lot.”

“It's why you like me.”

“Who said I like you?”

Clara grabbed the Doctor and kissed him, shocking both Timelords. “I think you just did,” Clara said.

“You kissed me,” the Doctor argued.

“You blushed.”

“And with…this… Shut up.” The Doctor ran to the front door and opened it.

Dr. Simeon stood there. “Release her to us. You have five minutes.”

The Doctor closed the door. “We need to get her out of here but keep her away from them.”

“How?”

The Doctor grabbed an umbrella from a stand. “With this. Do I always have to state the obvious?”

“Those creatures outside, what are they?” Latimer asked.

“No danger to you, as long as I get that thing out of here. You, in there, now.” The Doctor went up the stairs and soniced the force field.

“What are you doing?” Clara asked.

“Between you and me, I can't wait to find out.”

The force field disappeared and reappeared behind them.

“Right, if you look after everyone here, then I can…” The Doctor realized Clara was standing next to him. “Clara!”

“Doctor!”

They managed to get around the ice woman and ran up the stairs.

“Stupid!”

“You were stupid, too!”

“I'm allowed. I'm good at stupid.”

“That's the way to do it!” the ice woman shrieked.

“Why does she keep saying that?” Clara asked.

“Mirroring. Random mirroring. We need to get on the roof,” the Doctor told her.

Clara turned around and grabbed the Doctor’s hand. “This way!”

“No, I do the hand grabbing. That's my job. That's always me!”

#eleventh doctor #eleventh doctor imagine #eleventh doctor fanfiction #doctor who #doctor who imagine #Doctor Who fanfiction #clara oswald #clara oswald imagine #the littlest timelord #the littlest timelord: the fall of the eleventh #the snowmen

[leisurelypanda]

Fantasy AU where Steve's a virginal omega who's chosen to be sacrificed to a fearsome dragon, in the hopes that his kingdom will be spared from its wrath. Even as his blood runs cold at the sight of the beast, a nightmarish thing of red and black descending upon the rock he's chained to, he keeps his head held high, choosing to face this unfair death with courage. But everyone is shocked when the dragon instead breaks the chains and carries Steve off to the distant northern mountains (1/2)

(2/2) Once they reach the beast's lair, Steve finds himself gently laid down in a pile of furs, watching in shock and confusion as the dragon slowly transforms into a naked human alpha named Thor. His movements slow and gentle, Thor kneels before Steve and pledges to be his mate, body and soul. As the weeks pass, Steve gets used to his new living situation and slowly starts to fall in love with this strange alpha, feeling warmer and more protected and loved then he can ever remember.

Okay, I love this concept, I'm weak for turning this "dragon capturing a maiden" trope on its head like this. Also, this sounds like my kind of monster fucking fic and I kinda want to write it. I kinda hate and love you for putting this idea in my head because I love it so much!

Once upon a time, Steve was wandering in the mountains. A dangerous pastime for a young boy, but his mother was the town's apothecary, and that meant Steve had to learn where to find medicinal herbs, roots, and berries. It's not exactly the most glamorous job in the world, but he enjoys it.

One day, he was looking for herbs to stock up for the winter. Every year was the same, of course. People got sick in the winter and his mother would make them medicines. There were rumors that she was a witch, but that didn't keep people from coming to her when they were sick.

On that particular day, Steve went further up the mountain than usual. He was older, nearly 12 years old. His mother said he could handle it, but to be careful. Strange things sometimes lived in the mountains and the forest that covered them. Steve heeded her words, even if he wasn't sure what exactly she was talking about. He had a bow and a quiver of arrows to protect himself and to hunt for food, should the opportunity arise. He was small and weak, but if he had the chance to shoot rabbits or fowl, he could take it.

He heard rustling in a bush and took out his bow. His pack was full, but if he could bring food home, that might be worth just as much as the herbs. When he emerged from the bush, though, what he found wasn't a rabbit or a bird, but a small, strange lizard fighting a fox. The lizard was striking; red and black swirling over its body. Steve had never seen one like it before.

Between them was the carcass of a pheasant that the lizard seemed to defending rather desperately. Without thinking, Steve drew his bow and shot an arrow into the fox's chest. The lizard squawked in shock, and growled at it caught Steve's gaze. Steve held up his hands as he approached to collect the body and his arrow. A fox wasn't good for meat, but the pelt could be used to make something warm or sold to the tanner in town so he could make use of it.

The lizard scented his hand and Steve tried his best to stay calm. It was said that an omega's scent could calm even wild animals. How much of that was true or old wives' tales, Steve had no idea, but it was worth a shot. The lizard calmed, picked up the pheasant in its jaws, and ran off faster than Steve could blink. Regardless, he bent down to pull the arrow out of the fox and put the carcass in an empty sack.

The fox made a warm hat that lasted many years. Steve never saw the lizard again, though. Two years after he found it, he went into his first heat. It was the talk of the town for more than a year afterwards. Many families made offers, especially the rich ones who thought that having a male omega would be a novel idea. Steve turned them all down. The last thing he needed was for some noble prick to take him from his work.

In time, rumors began circulating that he, too, was a witch. It didn't matter if Steve had never actually done anything more than heal the sick and turn down offers of marriage from wealthy families. It didn't even matter that his mother had, in fact, taught him actual magic in addition to his healing arts. He kept it secret and didn't practice anything where others might intrude.

Then, ten years after he met the strange lizard, his mother died. It wasn't unexpected. Her health had been failing her for years before it finally claimed her. Steve wept bitterly at the funeral. Many people turned out, but few offered comfort to Steve. His friends in the town were few, indeed, and none of them could fill the gaping hole her death left in his life.

Only months later, the dragon appeared.

The kingdom was in an uproar. Every effort to drive the beast away had been met with disaster. An army had been ravaged, fields burned, and towns pillaged. The entire town was in a state over the news. There was talk of preparing a sacrifice in the event that the dragon appeared in their region.

Steve scoffed at such talk. What kind of dragon would be placated with an omega virgin? Many of the men who made such suggestions were becoming eager to marry off their omega offspring in the hopes that someone else's child would be chosen to be offered. Steve didn't think it would really happen.

Until it did.

The powerful families of the town were increasingly anxious. Many of them were still offended that Steve had refused all offers of marriage. As the dragon entered their region, the rumors of his being a witch became louder. People stopped coming to his shop for remedies, they slammed doors in his face, some refused to do business with him. A few days after Steve consumed the last of his food, soldiers approached his door. The city council had agreed to offer him up to the dragon. Weak with hunger, Steve went willingly.

The next day he was taken out to the battlements. He was chained to the ground as the dragon approached. Steve gasped, his blood went cold at the sight. The dragon was huge! It was nearly as big as the fortress itself. The scales gleamed crimson red with black swirls, like a sunset with teeth that could set the entire town ablaze.

The head of the council shook violently as he read their declaration of offering Steve to the dragon. Steve took a deep breath and shook as the dragon sniffed him. Then, the dragon extended a huge, clawed paw and snapped the chains like they were nothing more than twigs. The dragon took Steve in its hand and flew away. Steve didn't even have the sense to scream as he watchd his town fade into the distance.

The dragon flew for what seemed like hours until it arrived in a part of the mountains Steve had never seen or heard of before. The mountains were tall and huge and covered with snow. Then, the dragon began to descend and walked into the mouth of an enormous cavern. It was decorated with lavish furs, torches, and rich furnishings. The dragon set Steve down on a pile of furs when it began to shine. A moment later, a large, very naked man stood before Steve. What's more, the man smelled very strongly of alpha. Steve had never scented one more potent. His blond hair went past his shoulders and his chest, arms, and legs were all covered in tattoos of the same red and black swirls as the dragon. Steve swallowed and backed away as the man approached.

"Well met, little one," the man---dragon--- said.

"Do I... know you?" Steve asked.

"Of course," the dragon said with a smile. "You saved me from the fox when I was a starving babe."

Steve's eyes went so wide he was surprised they didn't fall out. "That was you?!? How?"

"Dragons grow quickly when magic and food is plentiful," the dragon replied. He knelt in front of Steve. "I have been searching for you."

Steve blinked. "Why?"

"Your scent has remained with me night and day these past 15 years," the dragon said. "I have bided my time until I could return to you."

"But why me? And why did you cause so much destruction?" Steve asked.

"I did nothing that was not in self-defense," the dragon replied. "I attempted to reason with them, but they refused to listen. Knights preferred the prospect of becoming famous heroes than to help a dragon find the man he loves."

Steve blinked again. "The man you love?"

"Yes, little one," the dragon said. "I am Thor, the king of dragons, and I have searched these many months to find you. I will pledge my eternal love, service, and devotion to you, my sweet, if you will have me."

Steve reeled. He couldn't deny the attraction he felt for the still very large man, but no one had ever declared their love for him, at least, not in a way that he found convincing. Thor, though, seemed sincere.

"I didn't know the dragons had a king," Steve said. Thor smiled.

"We do, and I am he," Thor said. "I would have you be my queen, if you consent."

"And if I don't?" Steve asked.

"Then, with sorrow, I will return you to your home, or you may reside here to find another you deem worthy, or you may name the place and I will take you there and never return," Thor said. "You are free to do as you wish."

Steve considered this for a moment. His home had willingly turned him over, expecting him to be eaten. A dragon, and a king at that, had emerged as a suitor for his hand, who also happened to be the strange creature Steve had saved as a boy. It was a strange turn of events, to be sure.

He looked around the cavern. It was a surprisingly warm place for a home so high up in the mountains. The air smelled of jasmine and ginger, too, not like a den for a wild animal. Human kings and lords lived in less splendid conditions. Still, that wasn't a reason to accept such an offer.

"May I have time to consider?" Steve asked.

"Indeed you may," Thor said. "Take as much time as you require. I only have one thing to ask."

"Yes?" Steve asked.

"May I court you, in the way humans court a mate? I suspect that you would find the way dragons court a mate to be less appealing," Thor said. Steve smiled.

"I think I would like that," he said. Thor smiled, his teeth gleaming and sharp. The look made him appear wild, but also charming, in a way. He also looked excited, in a way that made Steve shiver with anticipation.

"Thank you, little one," Thor said. He bent to kiss Steve's hand, and despite the chaste gesture, Steve blushed furiously. Thor made a sound that was similar to purring, but deeper. The sound made Steve shiver again. "I promise you will enjoy your stay among us."

#ask #cinderellasfella #thundershield #dragons! #dragon!Thor #a/b/o dynamics #alpha!Thor #omega!steve #fanfic #lemon...ish? #I wanna write this so bad

[dansnaturepictures]

The fifth of my ten wildlife and photography highlights of 2020 blogs: My wild week off in June

Arne, Thursley Common, Knepp, Durlston, Portland, Lodmoor and more 

Dartford Warbler, White Stork, Purple Emperor, Guillemot, Razorbill, Fulmar, Purple Hairstreak, Spotted Flycatcher, Osprey, Stag Beetle and more

So 2020 was supposed to be like any other year ending in an even number for me, we were to continue my run of me having visited somewhere outside of England in such a year every time since 2004 as we’d return to Anglesey a place we had a great day trip to on our Snowdonia 2016 holiday and a return to our beloved Wales for the first time in three years. Indeed like any other year for me in general with a late spring holiday. Then obviously the coronavirus pandemic happened and we could not due to restrictions and nor did we want to continue with the holiday as the health of everyone had to come first. So we luckily managed to postpone the Anglesey trip until 2021. But around the beginning of April with me working from home and us in lockdown for only a week I didn’t know what would happen so with my new annual leave allowance I booked off the dates in June intended for Anglesey and the ones for the other trips away we had planned this year. I am glad I did keep the June week as obviously I was still working just at home I needed a break.

But also because restrictions lifting slightly meant at that time as long as we socially distanced and could return home the same night, we could go on outdoor day trips and walk whilst enjoying our hobby as we had done on more local daily walks. So we lined up a smorgasbord of slightly further afield day trips to do that week to surrounding counties as well as more local Hampshire trips on the weekends that flanked the week, in many cases ones or for species we could not do and see during the strictest parts of the first lockdown. It was just nice for us to have some relaxing time to ourselves that week and I was so excited for it to come.

It all started at a glistening sead Farlington Marshes on the Saturday where it was an honour to see some Common Seals in Langstone Harbour I had not expected this nor seen them here before. I was lucky enough to spot and us and some kind people we spoke to at a safe social distance saw the Common Seals again in the harbour here later in the year in September. A hatrick of terns seen back on that June day opening my week off Sandwich particularly, Common and Little not for the first time this year as well as views of many Mediterranean Gulls, many Linnets, Oystercatchers, Avocet, Curlews, Shelduck, Little Egret, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Reed Warbler as well as Swifts against a bright blue sky in what turned into a summery afternoon also stood out. It was also nice to see Common Terns and Black-headed Gull chicks on nesting rafts on the deeps here and a great selection of butterflies and a day flying moth with the Cinnabar moth and Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Small Tortoiseshell and Small Heath. A great start by the sea. I took the first picture in this photoset a view here that day. It was a day I took so many pictures and for landscapes especially enjoyed what a fabulous grassy habitat it is here which it is quite famous for and also took in other key habitats like lush summer growth and beautiful sea views in Langstone harbour on a great afternoon.

The next day a classic butterfly one this year when we went to Bentley Wood we got the quintessential summer sights of three Silver-washed Fritillaries and four Purple Hairstreaks dancing along the oak tree tops. Both my first of the year and my second earliest and earliest sighting ever respectively of them in a year two of our finest butterfly species. Getting very clear Ringlet views like the one in the second picture I took in this photoset and seeing many Large Skipper, Marbled White, Red Admiral, hornets, bee and a lovely Common Lizard helped it be another packed and fantastic afternoon at this special spot.

On the Monday it was a brilliant trip to Arne in Dorset our first further afield one for months. I took the third picture in this photoset a beautiful view from here into Poole Harbour and the winder area including Corfe Castle. A social distancing walk on a hot and sunny day across a very beautiful blue and purple looking landscape with the heather starting to emerge was headlined by seeing our first Dartford Warbler of the year a special moment seeing this one of my favourite birds flit about on top of heather and many of one of my favourite mammals the Sika Deer for the first time this year. A heath teeming with Silver-studded Blue butterflies among others one of my favourites also stood out some of the most we have ever seen on one day which was great and seeing our first ever Smooth snake was special. A Green Woodpecker in a field also stood out I took my first pictures of this one of my favourite birds for years. A Southern Hawker we saw that day as well as Sandwich Tern in a great year we had for them, a few Red Admirals and Large Skippers, Comma, Small Heath on the heath, Peacock butterfly, Four-spotted Chaser, Common lizard, Swifts, Little Egrets, Shelducks, Buzzards, Black-tailed Godwits and a nice hornet view completed the highlights that day. On that day I was impressed with how the RSPB welcomed visitors safely back with bits of trails and hides rightly closed off it was obvious how and where we couldn’t go and there were great signs stipulating the need to socially distance too. That was what you call a great outdoor and safe day out. We ate a drive through takeaway tea at a beautiful looking Picket Post car park in the New Forest in bright sun that evening seeing two New Forest ponies well which was nice.

Tuesday 23rd June brought a visit to Thursley Common in Surrey shortly after an extensive heath fire there which left much of the landscape charred including the precious habitat I had seen things like Dartford Warbler in before, but new green growth there did symbolise hope and I was just thrilled to be able to safely get here. I took the fourth picture in this photoset of a view here on that scorching day. It looked very other-worldy and did present unique natural landscape admiration and photography opportunities for me. Wildlife wise we got brilliant views of Redstart and Red Kite that day both stunning birds and particularly beautiful ones to see up close we had a great year for both and also saw Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly another we‘ve had a great year for and lovely bright golden female Keeled Skimmer dragonflies and Small Copper butterfly, Treecreeper, Mistle Thrush and Robin. Other highlights were things I had seen well in recent days before it as well such as Green Woodpecker and Dartford Warbler, Small Tortoiseshell, Silver-studded Blue, Large Skipper and Marbled White butterflies and a common lizard for a third day running which was quite remarkable I thought. I thought on that day how there and the three previous trips of the time off we had at a safe social distance managed to talk to so many kind, like-minded and engaging people of various walks of life a key theme of the Tuesday and week as a whole. As an ad-on we went back to Thursley Common on the Sunday of the August bank holiday this year, that day after seeing it really devastated by the fire when we last came in the June week, I was encouraged after perfect summer rain and heat conditions for lush growth to see nice green bits of gorse and trees starting to grow back from the ashes and a fair bit of heather looking nice and purple as it should at that time of year across the landscape too in a strong few weeks for observing stunning heather scenes for me.

A key moment in the June week off was Wednesday as we had a brilliant, very hot in a little heat wave that helped that week be what it was looking back, sunny and therefore pleasingly exhausting day in the oak tree clad renowned rewilding project at Knepp in Sussex. We took in stunning South Downs views on the way and ones of Chichester Cathedral and there too. Wildlife wise I had a year-defining moment when we looked at the famous White Storks there who produced the first British born of the species for 604 years I took the fifth picture in this photoset of this family and behind us saw Purple Emperor butterflies the main drawing point here and what made us first come here in 2018 and 2019 dancing along the oak trees. It was lovely to see an adult White Stork fly and feed in a bit of meadow and hear the lovely sounds the storks were making too. We got top flying and still views of both those and the emperors throughout the whole rewarding and sensational walk that day. Our first of the year for Purple Emperor as was a White Admiral seen for my first time in 2020 that day the next key butterfly I needed to see. The Purple Emperor my earliest ever sighting and White Admiral joint earliest of the species in a year once more for butterflies.

Other highlights at Knepp was our first Red Deer of the year seen brief but closely, Buzzards, Jay, Green Woodpecker yet again that week to complete a hat-trick of favourite birds of mine seen at Knepp with Red Kite seen from the car on the way home and make it there Green Woodpecker sightings in as many days and counties (Dorset, Surrey, West Sussex) which was notable. Marbled White, Ringlet and Purple Hairstreak once more stood out from a strong other group of butterflies seen that day and Fallow Deers too, and it was nice to see an Old Lady moth. What a day one of my best this year!

It was one of the other headline trips of the week on the Thursday as we caught up doing one we’d traditionally do in Easter in years gone by or somewhen in April when we were more locked down this year of course we did one in July last year when we went to Durlston Country Park again in Dorset. Here we caught up with some of my favourite bird species a lot as I saw my first Guillemots, Razorbills and Fulmar of the year birds we had normally seen usually here by this point so this felt amazing to spend some minutes watching them over the sea or off the cliffs on a brightly sunny and scorching day again. Guillemot and Razorbill would have been key birds seen at RSPB South Stack on the Anglesey holiday that this slot was meant for so this felt especially good. As I did last July here we also saw among many other butterflies some delicate and very pretty little Lulworth Skippers out maybe a bit early due to the heatwave. What an honour to see these rare little butterflies again such a beautiful insect and a lovely one to follow Purple Emperor in this strong and hot week off I hoped it could for butterflies too. What a moment one of my best for butterflies this year.

Other highlights at Durlston included; Shag, Gannet, Great Black Backed Gull and Kestrel with a chick on the cliffs which was great the latter shown in the sixth picture I took that day in this photoset, brilliant Bullfinch, Linnet, Yellowhammer, Whitethroat which I took another photo I was proud of featuring, Swift and Swallow views adding a real richness to the day of birds, Marbled Whites yet again we saw so many that week, Dark Green Fritillary, Small Skippers, many Meadow Browns and in a very good site for flowers for us traditionally we saw for the first time I can remember one of the key ones I learned, loved seeing and photographing in my best ever year of flowers a common toadflax. Before we left that scorching day, in which I took the seventh picture in this photoset looking over the sea at Durlston, it was great to see Large White butterfly in the garden and Holly Blue the other side of the railway track at the petrol station. I also saw House Martins flying over the house which was nice when home alongside a nice sunset to end a very hot and sunny day. In the week off I still got chances to photograph things like flowers in and around the garden and house which defined my pictures in part through spring and summer leading up to it which was nice and I carried on with after the week off.

We closed the week days at Portland and then RSPB Lodmor in Dorset again. Portland on a greyer day there was rather the surprise package of the week as we saw my first Wall Brown and Gatekeeper butterflies of the year, the latter my earliest ever sighting of one in a year the last real  very common butterfly I needed to see in 2020 making my year list my joint fourth highest ever at that stage and ensuring there were only eight butterflies I had seen in my life which I needed to see this year at that stage which felt very early to be saying! Five-spot Burnet, Ringlet, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown and Marbled White sightings completed a very impressive list of butterflies/day flying moths seen on a grey day here I thought. I reflected at how different it was to a usual year not just seeing Marbled White locally which I love but at multiple further afield locations where there was any bit of grassland which felt great.

As I saw more Fulmars dart right past us and get some time to linger with Guillemots and Razorbills from the day before seeing some more I got reflective about how exciting coming to Portland to see these some of my original favourite birds were in my early birding days and how Fulmar experiences held the fort for closer seabird views in years like this we couldn’t visit large seabird colonies where you see them so close. So it really made me appreciate getting to be here this year and see these. Shag, Cormorant, the wail of the Herring Gull making me feel I was really at the coast, more Great Black Backed Gulls, brilliant close views of two Ravens I took the eighth picture in this photoset of one, Skylark, lots of Linnets, Rock Pipit, Swift, Swallow and House Martin completed the notable species seen at Portland that day. With a second Kestrel and chick seen in as many days at the quarry with its parent a key and memorable moment.

New life was the order of the day a little as we called into the Lodmoor reserve at Weymouth on the way back seeing young Mallard and Black-headed Gulls as well as many Common Terns, Shelduck, Little Egret, Lapwing and more. I got a finch hattrick of Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Chaffinch seen there too. I also saw some sea aster flowers here a brilliant flower and a key species of this habitat. I noticed some early signs of autumn with some blackberries seen growing that day and very early autumnal leaves it seemed in the weeks leading up to it. We also got talking to some more lovely people at a safe two metre distance and I enjoyed taking in the sights of our family holiday when I was a kid location Weymouth and nearby such as the famous clock and the White Horse on the hill.

On the second Saturday of the time off I was thrilled to see my first Spotted Flycatchers of the year at Pig Bush in the New Forest my favourite spot in our beloved national park which looked lovely and green with some more bits of purple heather observed on a heath this week with some brilliant sky scenes there too as I have seen at Pig Bush before. I took the ninth picture in this photoset of a view at Pig Bush. We got some really good views of the Spotted Flycatchers one of my birds of the year seeing how beautiful and well-marked they are and I felt there was something so delicious and satisfying about seeing them in woods on the edge of the heathland on a day that was quite grey in places too. Another key moment this week with a real New Forest speciality for me over the years. On that walk it was also great to see foxgloves and other flowers, Redstart, Stonechat, young Robin, two Buzzards soaring beautifully over our heads and another earlier in the walk and nice views of Pied Wagtail, Swallow and Swift. A very nice and wild walk. When home I had a memorable evening for taking photos of hanging basket in the garden, a nice sky with lowering sun and a Woodpigeon against it out the back I did take lots of photos I was happy with at home during bits of my week off on mornings and evenings.

We had a fittingly sensational Sunday to end the week off. We firstly went to Fishlake Meadows and saw a bird that has fascinated and excited me ever since I first got to know of them in early days of my birdwatching one of my favourites the Osprey. It was one that had been around for a while at this very local reserve for us. We had a smashing time watching it fly around and sit on one of the distinctive dead trees of this rising star of a reserve for sure for a long time. Whilst flying a Red Kite another of my favourite birds was flying too and they had aerial fights which was stunning to watch. In a raptor fest a Marsh Harrier was on the wing at this time too and a Buzzard was about before and after this. This was amazing and it was just stunning to see the Osprey. Yet another of my favourite birds I saw for the first time this year that week at that stage meaning I’d seen a healthy 22 out of 30 of them this year after a surge after a drought of seeing them for the first time in the post-strict lockdown I went onto see 24 of my favourite birds this year in total. It made Fishlake Meadows the closest I’d ever seen these birds to home and fifth location I have ever seen one at. It was my earliest ever sighting I’d had of one in a year one we usually see at Rutland Water when we go for the Bird Fair which in its physical form was cancelled this year. This bird that was here last year was reckoned to be a Rutland born bird so I felt connected to those English comeback colony again. It made it a thirteenth consecutive year I saw an Osprey in 2020 something never guaranteed especially this year so it felt like a great relief. I also saw female Pochard, Great Crested Grebe and Great White Egret here in the way of favourite birds of mine.

That day at Fishlake we also got four great natural moments in a walk around the reserve, seeing Purple Loosestrife beside the canal my first time seeing it this year, seeing a Blue-tailed Damselfly land right in front of my face on the wood at the viewing screen and hear a very loud Cetti’s Warbler calling beside us there which was great. Additionally as we walked back along the canal path I was thrilled to spot a massive Stag beetle making its way across the path onto grass. My first ever in a year when I got more interested in beetles and it was a trend of the year I had some absolutely amazing moments seeing a few different species of beetle what a moment! It was quite a rare one to see. I took the tenth and final photo in this photoset of this Stag beetle at Fishlake Meadows. I saw a Red Admiral butterfly here too which was nice. I remarked again what a truly special and biodiverse reserve and urban haven Fishlake Meadows is becoming a real credit to Hampshire. That day at a safe distance we got talking to some more lovely people on the Osprey we were watching, other natural history topics and more.

That afternoon we then did a walk with Missy our dog and my Mum’s husband at the Titchfield canal path. Here it was nice to end my week off seeing a decent selection of butterflies and a few species with mini swarms of them as the sun and some heat well and truly emerged as expected that afternoon after brief showers earlier on. Comma and Meadow Brown swarmed a bit with Peacock, Speckled Wood, Holly Blue and two of my favourites the Large Skipper and Red Admiral also seen. It was also great to see other wildlife here such as more House Martins over Posbrook flood and lovely bronze looking Black-tailed Godwits there.

So this brought to an end one of the weeks of my year and a fantastic time. I really did get to over the five days off in surrounding counties to our own and more locally at the two weekends safely in line with restrictions go on some incredibly beautiful and wild walks at nature reserves etc., some of the best in the country seeing some of the rarest and greatest animals in the United Kingdom and photographing them with possibly my highest ever amount of photos and highest ever average amount produced per day ever in a week at that stage. I witnessed history for UK wildlife during this time and I feel like in this unique year this week will stay with me forever. The weather was a key factor of that we timed the week perfectly to coincide it with a bit of a heatwave really we had such high temperatures and strong sun in places for our walks and time at home which was lovely. It was particularly useful for the extensive butterfly watching aspects of the week off and very nice to be beside the sea at times during it. I think that’s the most important thing I took from that week was those moments of relaxation be that when out, more lay ins in the mornings or just simply listening to music in the car with the window wide open. It was the perfect relaxation I needed after three months working from home in great uncertainty all around the world. I found it a real brilliant substitution to the holiday that couldn’t (rightly) be. Pragmatically it was a great chance to catch up with some of the species and trips we couldn’t see or do during the first strict part of lockdown. But emotionally I barely remember thinking “We should be in Anglesey now” and that’s because we just safely packed so much in at brilliant locations and ones that mean so much to us that it felt like a holiday without the need to find accommodation or have a very long car journey etc. It was a special time for me for many reasons and one I counted on a lot this year.

#razorbill #week off #nature #wildlife #birdwatching #photography #summer #june #sunny #happy #weather #world #europe #dorset #hampshire #surrey #west sussex #wiltshire #bentley wood #sussex #uk #birds #butterfly #butterflies #celebration #restrictions #substitute #travel #home #flowers

[c4llm3h4ru]

The Restore of our Rotten Souls - Ch. 4 - I’m Magne’s kid

My name is Milli, 15 years old, quirk: Ventriloquism, my villain relative, Keiji Hikiishi, AKA Magne. And no, SHE is NOT my mother, but my aunt (I usually call her Tia, since a part of my family is latino), still she was the closest relative to my disowned ass. Thankfully UA still kept me after my parents told me: you're not Hikiishi anymore. Just because I CRIED due to Magne's death.

After that day, I promissed myself to be the best hero I could be, for her, since her ghost watches over me (some people says she haunts me, but I feel better with her around). But like any older sister, she still cares about the league, and I'm the only one who seems to care about her. So I swore that I'd save all of them.

But now... things are out of control...

A giant villain appeared kinda out of thin air and was with everyone Auntie Mag loves on his back. It was taking a lot of us to take him down... AND we failed... no surprise, not until Oumei started to tremble, pant and tear down:

 - Uh... San?

 - Puppeteer...

By her tone, I knew that something was wrong:

- I think... I need to go up there.

 - WHAT?! San, is there anything wrong?!

 - Oh yeah. Really, really wrong. He's coming, along with a near dead friend on his arms. We lost someone else today, along with your aunt.

"Another one?!" I was paralized, "who's coming?! Which one of us... or them... died this time?!"

 - YOU CAN'T GO THERE SENPAI! It's too dangerous!

Yaoyorozu, the class 1A vice-president suddenly shouted at us, trying to warn, but Oumei knows, as the top and the president of our class, our league's vice leader, and the one with special trainament, she also knows what she is doing:

 - I know, Creativi. But I bear some bad news for someone up there.

 - B-but... then at least, let me go with you!

 - Sorry, dear, but I need you down here, if he's still breathing, you're the one who's the best with first aids.

 - Huh?

But before she could get any explaining, Oumei was already flying to face whoever would recieve the bad news. Yaoyorozu was worried:

 - Puppeteer... who is coming?

 - Uh... I don't k-

At that moment, I was looking around, and I saw something moving in the woods:

 - Wait...

 - Wh-

 - Shh...

I slowly walked near the trees and tried to focus more:

 - Hello? Anyone there?

A long second of silence before I heard a snap close to where I was. At that moment, Auntie's ghost pointed from where she the sound was coming from.

At the pointed place, I saw a silhouete of a man with black suit and blonde messy hair carrying someone on his arms, who was looking really beaten up. I knew who they were:

 - HEY! OVER HERE!

 - Wha- Puppeteer! Are you crazy?!

 - IT'S ME, BUBAIGAWARA, MILLI! MAGNE'S NEPHEW!

 - Ok! He's gone nuts.

I could hear whet they were talking about me, but why in the world Twice isn't with the other... "Oh jeez..." that meant something was REALLY wrong.

I fell down on my knees, that alarmed my other classmates, Elijah Mio (The blind hero: Third Eye) and Nekoshi Hyotora (The night hero: Night Panther). They came to my side quickly:

 - Puppeteer?

Nekoshi started:

 - Why are you... (snif, snif) I smell... blood and... (snif snif) burned flesh... Hyuko!

 - What?! Night, are you sure?

 - I fear so, Inner Eyes.

 - What are we waiting for?

And as quick as the blink of an eye, Nekoshi transformed into a panther and they went after the two. But I was still in shock. Yaoyorozu touched my shoulder:

 - Puppeteer... who's hurt?

 - ... Hyuko... he went after Twice due to some personal reason that I don't know...

 - Milli...

 - I feel like... he made a self-sacrifice for Twice... I can't sense why and-

And shortly after Elijah and Nekoshi left, they came back. Bubaigawara and Hyuko were with them at the back travel. I slowly walked near him and:

 - Where is my Oumei? Where is Himiko?

He was crying, and holding Hyuko like a lifeline. It was clear that he wasn't able to say many words. As I was approaching him, his tears were overflowing even more, I knew why:

 - Thanks for bringing him here, Jin.

 - I-I... I'm... I didn't mean, I-

 - Don't worry, I'll take care of him from now, Okay?

 - That's not what I... I mean, this too, but... your aunt... it was my-

 - About that, have you ever heard of the spirit guides? They sat it's been more frequent supernatural events since the 3rd generation of quirks.

 - What...?

 - Actually, there is something I need to tell you later, now, Hyuko needs help.

 - Uh... okay!

But at the moment we were going to start the first aids, my radio was recieving a message:

 - Hello?! Hello?! Anyone on the line?!

 - Keep going, I REALLY need to answer! Hello?! Ushio?! Is that you? What's wrong?!

 - Puppeteer, did the giant crazy villain showed up?!

 - Yes, the heroes couldn't stop it yet, and-

 -  Listen! If there is ANYONE on their back, you must take them of immediately!

 - Wha-

 - YOU HAVE LESS THAN ONE MINUTE! MOTHER'S ON THE WAY! THINGS WON'T END UP PRETTY IF THERE IS SOMEONE ON HIS BACK! LONG STORY, NO TIME, JUST DO WHAT I ASK!

 - Okay! I'm on it!

As I was looking for a way to get everyone that was up there, Elijah said:

 - 5 people, I'll guide the threads.

I just need to attach one thread to be able to take someone's free will to move, and I can pull them like a ragdoll with a rope attached to their neck. I climbed a tree and deatached the strings from my fingers and threw them on the back of the giant creature:

 - NOW! Did I caught one?

 - The one of the mask! You got the spine right away.

This power that Elijah have does allow him to see silhouettes of people and their clothes, he describes as seing points in the middle of nowhere, since his actual eyes are blinded.

 - Go up and you'll get two more, and... San already got Toga for you!

 - GOT IT!

 - THERE! NOW PUSH! THE MOTHER IS COMING IN 5 SECONDS!

With the last drops of my arm's strenght, I pulled them, and to make sure I'd get everyone together, I tangled the strings in the air, and the moment in middle air, a giant dragon appeared and threw itself on the giant villain with all their strenght. The ground even shook with the impact:

 - MACHIA!!!!!!!

 - WHAT?!

The villains' faces were the best faces of "WTF, WE WERE JUST THERE!", but  I needed to get them down.

Since I didn't have any strenght left, to slow the fall, I hung the stings on a tree and slowly took thre strings off. Twice watched everything, and was really relieved. But when they saw him, the reaction was priceless:

 - TWICE?!

 - But you died! In front of me!

 - This must be a trick! It can't be real!

But Jin himself went to Himiko first  begging for forgiveness. It was clear she didn't know everything, until Oumei said:

 - At what moment I said that I was talking about my dad, Himiko?

Oumei's flashback

I pretty much had a tormented flight, but I got a clear spot to fall:

 - Himiko. Toga. You better explain yourself now!

 - What?! No! I don't have snything to explain to you!

 - Oh yeah?! Guess what?! I have some news to you!

I went close and pulled her by her sweater:

 - HE'S DEAD!! WHY DIDN'T YOU LOVE HIM ANYMORE?! IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT HE IS DEAD NOW!!

 - WHAT?! You think I'M the one who killed Jin?! COME ON! IT WAS THAT BIRD'S FAULT!!! HAWKS KILLED YOUR FATHER!!!

At that moment, Milli's threads appeared and were attaching to each one of the villains. Something was wrong, I could feel it. Then I ran and got two strings, to me and Himiko, and suddenly we were flying.

Back to Milli's POV

The scene was devastating, Twice was crying on Himiko's feet, unable to look her in the eye, repeating what Hyuko asked him to tell her:

 - ...and then, Hyuko, he asked me to bring his body back! I couldn't leave him! Not there!

He was already proclaimed dead when we were doing the first aids. But I wasn't crying yet. I was trying to think what should I do.

Suddenly I saw a baby blue light, I knew that baby blue light, Auntie Mag:

 - What are you doing here, Tia?

But then I saw the others, their faces, she was visible to everyone, as she was talking to Hyuko's body:

 - You still has a lot to live, young boy, but still, you did something amazing, not even holding a trace of grudge, but I guess, if it's your end, you need to prepare your sister for it.

The other members of the League were in shock, is not everyday you see a ghost, specially from a friend. When she saw everyone safe, she turned to me and smiled:

 - You did it! YOU DID IT!

She tugged and hugged me, but it wasn't cold, her ghost was wasm as if she was alive, this was scarying me, I felt like she was saying goodbye:

 - T-Tia? W-why do they see you? Why are you so warm?

 - My boy, it doesn't matter, thank you! Thank you for saving them!

 - W- well... that's my job... saving people...

 - Even the villains?

 - THEY ARE STILL PEOPLE! Like the two of us! I'm a boy in a girl's body, and you were a woman in a man's body, but we're still people!

 - Yeah, we are... Milli, could you promise me something?

 - I'm listening...

 - Take care of them for me? They're my family and-

 - No need to say anything more. I will. No matter what will happen, I'll do my best.

 - Heh... you're really like me.

Then she pulled back a bit, and kissed my forehead:

 - Take care, my boy...

And then she started to fade, and somehow I knew, she finally found her peace. But this made me so desperate, I started to cry:

 - T-Tia? I-I don't know if-

 - I know you can, and your friends will help y...

And then she were gone. I was a train wreck at that moment. But then a question, coming from the lizard man, Spinner:

 - Who the hell are you? And why could you talk and understand what that ghost? She was our friend!

I recomposed myself a bit, and with the strongest face I could manage, I answered:

 - I'm Magne's kid.

#oumei bubaigawara #jin bubaigawara #hyuko toga #class v #boku no hero academia #bnha #mha #troors #the restore of our rotten souls #bnha au #alternative universe #himiko toga #league of villains #lov

[morningfears]

Summer Nights [Chapter Two]

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Calum and Kennedy meet again for the first time in over a year but things have changed since they last spoke. Will they ever be able to reconnect or have things fizzled too far to fix?

Word Count: 4.1k

                                              Chapter One

“Good morning, Camp Clear Lake. The sky is a beautiful cloudless blue, the sun is shining bright, and the temperature is already a sweltering ninety-five. The children who will be left in our somewhat capable hands are on their way with the most annoying people known to earth, moderately wealthy parents. We can only hope and pray that all of them are vaccinated and that we don’t contract the bubonic plague. That said, we have thirty more minutes to ourselves before the end of the world as we know it.”

Kennedy groans and pulls her pillow out from beneath her head only to place it on top of her head in an attempt to drown out Jade’s booming voice. Her hangover has magnified every one of her senses. Everything is far too loud; the chirping of the birds, the shuffling of Jade’s feet as she moves around the cabin, the laughter of the new counselors who had retained some of their common sense and hadn’t drowned themselves in cheap beer and even cheaper liquor. Kennedy can feel her heartbeat in her temples and the sun is still too bright, even through the pillow on top of her head, and she swears that she’s never drinking again.

“I crave death,” she grumbles, voice muffled by the pillow on top of her head as she wills her churning stomach to calm. “And maybe bacon, after I puke.”

“Death, I can do nothing to help you with,” Jade hums as she straightens out the last of the camper’s mattresses. “As for the bacon, there’s probably some in the mess hall. Not sure how edible it is but I feel like it’s there.”

Kennedy groans as she feels Jade pull the sheet from her body and shakes her head beneath the pillow. “Bacon from the mess hall might kill me,” she breathes, a thoughtful lilt to her voice as she allows Jade to pry the pillow out of her hands. “Unless the sun gets me first.”

“Put on a hat and some sunglasses,” Jade advises as she drops Kennedy’s ‘staff’ shirt onto her face in place of the pillow. “You got fucking hammered last night.”

“Beer before liquor,” Kennedy breathes as she attempts to sit upright in bed, her hands clutching the edges of her mattress for support, “guess the old saying is true.”

Jade hums her agreement as she tugs on her own ‘staff’ shirt and tucks it into the waistband of her neon green shorts. “Pretty sure you had Everclear,” Jade nods with an impressed look on her face. “Doesn’t mean I don’t I hate you for choosing this fucking color, though,” she grumbles as she turns to look into the floor length mirror she and Kennedy had brought two years ago. “Green is fine but, like, toxic sludge green. Not a good look, Kenny.”

“Just trying to live my eighties summer camp horror movie fantasy,” Kennedy grumbles as she stands and kicks off her pajama shorts and tosses her tank top onto her bed. “If there isn’t any real toxic sludge, guess it just has to be symbolic.” Jade rolls her eyes as she watches Kennedy tug on her ‘staff’ shirt before she places a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. Jade hands her an identical pair of neon green cotton shorts and watches as she tucks her shirt into them before she shoves her feet into a pair of black and white Vans.

Jade stares for a long moment, watching Kennedy robotically go about her morning routine as if they’d never left Camp Clear Lake in the first place, before she grabs a pack of hair ties and moves closer to Kennedy’s bed. “Before you got absolutely fucked last night, did you happen to notice who showed up?” Jade asks as she adjusts her socks. As Kennedy thinks about it, Jade reaches for Kennedy’s brush to help her pull her hair into a ponytail.

“The only thing I noticed last night was how comfortable the ground was,” Kennedy grumbles before she catches the look Jade levels at her. “No,” she sighs as Jade runs the brush through her hair. “I didn’t notice much of anything at all, really. I noticed the new group of counselors off to the side, the returning counselors with you and Abbey,” Kennedy hums as Jade finishes putting her hair in a ponytail. She pauses for a moment to think before she adds, “After that, I remember talking about music with Joey, talking about politics with Cole, and then I’m pretty sure I ended up putting a lizard in Aiden’s cabin but don’t hold me to that.”

“Oh, you definitely did that,” Jade nods as she shifts to allow Kennedy to help her clip on her necklace. “I don’t know how his screaming didn’t wake you up, honestly. But while you were drooling over Joey and getting shitfaced with the boys, Ashton and Calum appeared. It’s almost like they heard us talking shit.” Jade pauses for a moment to adjust her necklace in the mirror before she turns to face Kennedy and adds, “Calum looked super interested in you and Joey.”

Kennedy blinks in surprise upon hearing this. It’s rare for counselors to come in late but not entirely unheard of. However, she was certain that after they’d missed Maxwell and Aiden’s welcome, Calum and Ashton weren’t coming. In the brief moments of sobriety she’d had the night before, she imagined that they’d be doing something better with their time this summer. Calum talked about hiding out on a beach somewhere the summer before, writing and drinking and enjoying the solitude, and she’d thought that maybe he’d done that. She also remembers that they’re Australian, far from home and missing their families. She’d briefly considered the option that they’d gone home for the summer.

Whatever they’d done, she was sure that they wouldn’t be returning to Camp Clear Lake to spend their summer with a gaggle of giggling children surrounding them.

But upon hearing Jade’s confirmation that they had indeed arrived, Kennedy doesn’t know if the butterflies she feels in her stomach are excitement or anxiety. She’s glad that Calum is back, she really had enjoyed the time she spent with him, but Jade’s reality check rings through her head like a mantra.

Summer camp romances aren’t real. You get two months to flirt, fuck, and then you forget. And Kennedy doesn’t know if she can do that.

Kennedy thinks about Calum, about the instant attraction she’d felt and the comfort that filled her body whenever he was around, and can see something more than just a fling. She can see a future with him, can see waking up beside him and wearing his sweatshirts. She can see getting a dog, living in some cozy apartment in the city, and figuring life out together. 

And then she realizes that she only knew him for two months, only knew what he wanted her to know, only saw the Calum he wanted her to see, and she thinks that maybe she’s crazy. She thinks that Jade is right, she’s a hopeless romantic with too many thoughts running through her head. She should focus on herself, on the future that she knows exists (the one in which she graduates from college and then has no fucking clue what to do next) and leave the romance alone.

And then she thinks about Joey.

She remembers the summer that they spent together, the awkward flirting and the fun times. She remembers thinking that he was cute and offering to teach him how to shoot a bow just so she could spend time with him. She remembers him teaching her how to play the drums (even though he was better at making her laugh than teaching her how to play) and her making any mistake she could to have him guide her. She remembers being paired with Joey and Cole for nearly every activity that summer and she can see herself having fun with him again.

Now that they’re adults, comfortable in who they are and a little more certain of themselves, she imagines that maybe things will be different this time. She imagines there won’t be any awkward attempts at hand holding or attempts to stare at the other unnoticed. She imagines that this time might be easier, more natural. And she can see the same future with Joey that she can see with Calum. A cozy apartment, comfortable nights, and the best damn music collection in the city.

But she knows that she’s jumping ahead of herself. She’s thinking too far into the future when she should be focusing on the present. She should be focusing on the hordes of children that are currently en route. She should be focusing on the GRE that she’s decided to take in the fall. She should be focusing on anything other than a fling that likely won’t mean anything in six months.

However, Kennedy can’t help herself as she wonders what had gone through Calum’s head when he saw her with Joey. She wonders if he was jealous or if he gave it a second thought. She wonders if Jade is trying to stir the pot or if maybe he’d really felt something last summer and was interested in picking up where they left off.

She also wonders if Joey noticed Calum’s staring.

Before the thought of what it all really means can fully form in her mind, a knock sounds on their cabin door. 

Jade glances at Kennedy out of the corner of her eye, a look Kennedy doesn’t recognize on her face, before she opens the door to reveal a grinning Ashton. “Good morning, counselors,” he greets happily. “Walk with me to the mess hall?”

Jade notices Kennedy glance around Ashton and out into the small clearing in the middle of the ring of cabins. She figures that Kennedy is searching for Calum (or maybe Joey, she can’t be sure) but when she sees only the remaining new counselors decorating the fronts of their cabins, she shrugs at Jade and reaches for her sunglasses. 

“I’m gonna nap on the walk,” Kennedy murmurs as she wraps her arm around Jade’s shoulders once they step outside the cabin, “guide me.”

“You should know better by now,” Ashton teases as Jade wraps her arm around Kennedy’s waist. “She let you walk into a tree during that trust exercise last year.”

“I did not,” Jade protests. “I told her to turn left, away from the tree, and she turned right. It’s not my fault she can’t take directions.”

“She did turn left,” a new voice chimes in as the three of them head up the path to the mess hall, “the tree was on the left, not the right.”

Kennedy tenses at the sound of Calum’s voice but doesn’t stop walking. Jade, feeling Kennedy’s reaction, rolls her eyes. “When I said left, I meant my left. Not her left. We were facing different directions,” Jade defends. “Maybe it’s my fault for not specifying but she’s the one who gave herself a concussion, so.”

Kennedy rolls her eyes at Jade’s dismissal but says nothing and keeps herself stuck to Jade’s side as the four of them make their way to the mess hall. She listens as Jade and Ashton fall into an easy conversation about the hike at the end of camp. They argue over who should hold the map, as if they’ve already committed to hiking together, and Kennedy doesn’t know how she feels about that. 

She doesn’t know how she feels about Calum anymore, either.

He’s is trailing behind the three of them, his eyes burning into the back of her head, but Kennedy can’t bring herself to look at him. She keeps her gaze forward, her eyes on the expanse of trees that surround them, and she tries her hardest to pretend like the weight of Calum’s gaze isn’t affecting her. She pretends that it’s the hangover that’s making her knees weak and her stomach churn. She pretends that it’s the anxiety that comes with meeting parents, that it’s the excitement for the summer ahead, but she knows that it’s all Calum’s fault and Kennedy wants to cry when Jade untangles herself from her grip and grabs Ashton’s hand.

“We’ll meet you guys in the mess hall,” Jade calls as she and Ashton head in the direction of the art cabin, “we’ve got something we need to do super quick. Promise I’ll be back by the time the kids come in!”

Kennedy watches as Jade disappears with Ashton, confusion clouding her brain. “I feel like I missed something,” she mumbles with a frown as she watches them giggle. “Like, they went from hiking to horny in a shockingly short period of time.”

“Is it really that shocking for them?” Calum questions as he watches the pair disappear from beside her. “I’m surprised they lasted this long, honestly.”

Kennedy nods her agreement and shrugs. “I thought she was going to lose her mind when we thought you guys weren’t coming. Like, she was fully miserable for the whole day. Didn’t know what she was going to do without Ash.”

“He talked about her the whole ride up here,” Calum informs Kennedy as the pair resume their journey to the mess hall. “He really liked her. Couldn’t wait to see her again.”

Kennedy isn’t sure if she’s imagining the softness in Calum’s voice or if he’s no longer talking about Jade and Ashton but she doesn’t want to assume. So she nods, takes his words at face value, and hums, “She liked him, too. It’s gonna be tough to keep them away from each other this summer. At least I’ll know she’s with him if she goes missing, though.”

Kennedy can see Calum nod out of the corner of her eye but he doesn’t make any further attempt at conversation as the pair of them move closer to the mess hall. It’s an awkward silence, one she isn’t used to having with Calum, and it makes her frown as she crosses her arms over her chest and wishes she had something to say that didn’t feel forced. 

Conversations with Calum were easy before she started to think too much about feelings and intentions and hypothetical futures. They flowed and when they didn’t, the silences weren’t just a thing to be filled. They were comfortable, happy and carefree, and Kennedy wants to return to that but she isn’t sure how.

So, she keeps walking. She keeps her eyes on the wooden boards beneath her feet that serve as the porch to the mess tent and almost makes it to the door when a hand grips her elbow.

She blinks at Calum’s grip, her eyes catching the tattoo on his hand that she spent so much time tracing the previous summer, before she lifts her head and glances at his face for the first time in nearly a year. Physically, he hasn’t changed. He’s still just as beautiful as she remembers him being. His eyes are just as expressive and his face just as difficult to read as she’s always found it. She can’t tell what he’s thinking and she isn’t sure if she’d change that.

“Kennedy,” he begins quietly, his eyes roaming her face for any hint of emotion. He’d always told her that her eyes gave her away, that he could see every emotion just as clear as day, but with the tint of her sunglasses keeping them hidden, Calum is just as blind to her emotions as she is to his.

He isn’t quite sure what he wants to say to her. He doesn’t know if he should apologize for not texting her or ask her if they can start over. He doesn’t know if he should tell her that she looks beautiful, even with a hangover from Hell, or if he should just let her go.

Calum has never been this uncertain so he goes with the only safe option. He lets go of her arm and shoots what he hopes is a genuine looking smile in her direction as he says, “It’s good to see you again.”

He doesn’t see the flicker of disappointment in her eye. He doesn’t feel the sting of rejection burning the back of her throat. All he sees is the nod of her head before she mutters, “It’s good to see you, too.”

Kennedy doesn’t know why it bothers her so much. It wasn’t like she was expecting a declaration of his undying love. However, she was expecting something a little more substantial than, “It’s good to see you again.”

But before she can spend too much time dwelling on his first direct comment to her, about their time spent together, a voice calls, “You’re alive! I’m glad the Everclear didn’t kill you.” Kennedy turns to see Joey bounding up the steps, a grin on his lips as he steps closer to her. She can see Cole dragging behind him, a pair of sunglasses matching her own covering his eyes, and she grins.

“I’m, like, half a degree more alive than Cole right now,” she laughs as she watches him drag himself up the steps. “Maybe a full degree.”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve this,” Cole sighs as he leans against the wooden post, “but I’ve learned my lesson.”

“Beer after liquor next time?” Joey asks with a grin.

“Yeah.” Kennedy laughs at the interaction and shakes her head as she watches Cole attempt to drag himself into the mess hall only to fall into one of the rocking chairs beside the door. “Leave me here,” he sighs. “If you could all live quietly while I die, that’d be great.”

Kennedy, Joey, and Calum glance at Cole. They watch as he leans his head against the wooden side of the building and sighs, green strands falling into his face and covering the red of his cheeks. The three of them stare at him for a long moment before Kennedy shakes her head and points to the door.

“I’m going to go get something to eat. The campers will be here soon and I can’t deal with them on an empty stomach,” she mutters as she steps around Joey. “If I do, I’ll end up dying with Cole.”

“The afterlife’s looking pretty sweet,” Cole mutters, his words muffled by the hat he’d pulled down over his face. “No campers, at least.”

Joey laughs at Cole’s antics and shakes his head. “I’ll come with you,” he offers to Kennedy. “I think the only edible thing in there is peanut butter and jelly but living off that is better than joining him in the afterlife,” Joey shrugs as he moves to follow her. However, before the two can get more than a few steps closer to the door, he turns back to Calum. “Shit, sorry. I’m Joey,” he offers with a grin, “nice to meet you, man.”

Calum nods. He wants to say that he knows, to ignore the greeting and walk away, but when he catches the look on Kennedy’s face, he sighs and says, “Calum. Nice to meet you, too.”

Calum really wants to be annoyed as he watches Joey and Kennedy disappear into the mess hall. He wants to be annoyed that Joey seems to be such a nice person. He wants to be annoyed that he’s grinning and bright, that he seems like he doesn’t have a care in the world. He wants to be annoyed that he’s got Kennedy laughing just by being near her. He wants to be annoyed that he’s just waltzed in and picked up right where they left off all those years ago as if a day hadn’t gone by when he can barely get a full sentence out in her presence.

But the only person Calum is annoyed with is himself.

He knows that he’s the only one to blame here. He knows that if he’d just taken the risk over the summer and kissed her or held her hand or fucking told her that he liked her like one of his campers suggested then maybe he’d be the one she was giggling at. Maybe he’d be the one she was making doe eyes at. Maybe he’d be the one with her undivided attention.

But he’d played it cool, kept her at a distance because he didn’t want to fall too hard too fast and get his heart broken, and now he’s suffering the consequences.

“Green’s not a good color on you, dude.” Calum glances over at Cole whose head is lolled to one side, his hair covering his face, and Calum isn’t sure how he can even see in front of him. Calum stares at Cole, a look of confusion on his face, when Cole shrugs. “I mean, real green probably is but jealous green is not. It’s summer camp. Lighten up.”

Calum wants to roll his eyes. He wants to tell Cole that he can’t lighten up because he’s been thinking about Kennedy for nearly a year and it’s driving him insane. He wants to tell Cole that he can’t lighten up because he thought about their reunion and this is absolutely not how he imagined it’d go. He wants to tell Cole that he can’t lighten up because things just aren’t going how he imagined they would but he doesn’t.

Instead, he asks, “How the fuck did you even know?”

As Calum listens to Cole explain himself, Kennedy allows Joey to guide her through the tables filled with counselors. She waves hello to those she remembers, smiles politely at those she doesn’t, and laughs when Joey stops her in front of the table containing the necessary ingredients for peanut butter and jelly. She remembers living off of them her first summer at Camp Clear Lake. She remembers sneaking the ingredients out of the mess hall after breakfast and hiding in the edge of the woods with Joey to eat them and laugh at one another attempting to speak through a mouthful of peanut butter as their campers splashed in the lake. 

She remembers wondering if sharing a kiss with Joey would taste like peanut butter and jelly. 

But she also remembers sharing the sandwich with Calum. She remembers making sandwiches and the two of them sneaking out in the middle of the night for Calum to smoke and write. She remembers listening as he hummed the melodies that were stuck in his mind and grinning when he began scribbling words onto the pages of his notebook. He’d been slightly weirded out by the combination, unsure of it, and hadn’t really enjoyed it much at all. 

“You’re from Australia, Calum,” she remembers telling him when he made the comment that Americans had weird food combinations, “you guys eat sprinkles on buttered bread. You can’t tell me shit.”

“Yeah,” he shrugged, “but that’s, like, for kids. Birthday parties and shit. This is just something people eat. It’s weird.”

She remembers laughing at him getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth and him scoffing at the suggestion that he should feed his dog some. She remembers him putting a spoonful of it in Ashton’s shoes and biting back a grin when he blamed a camper. She remembers being carefree, not worried about the future or the past but living in the moment. She remembers being happy with what she had and not caring if she got anything more.

And Kennedy knows that she wants that again.

She wants to be happy. She wants to find love and grow old with someone she cares about. Realistically, however, she doesn’t think that’ll happen at Camp Clear Lake. She doesn’t think she’ll meet her soulmate by the tire swing or in line for the showers. She doesn’t think she’ll fall madly in love by the rusty swings or near the too-smokey fire. So, as she meets Jade by the signpost welcoming campers to Camp Clear Lake, Kennedy vows to just live.

“If we flirt and we fuck and we forget,” she mumbles as double checks the stack of name tags attached to her clipboard, “then that’s what happens. I’m not going to be weird and anxious all summer. I’m just going to live.”

Jade, brain still mildly fogged from her encounter with Ashton, stares at Kennedy for a long moment. She isn’t quite sure who Kennedy is talking about when she says she’s fine with just living. Part of her hopes that it’s Calum, another part of her hopes that it’s Joey. Calum kept her calm, Joey helped her have fun. Each boy brought out something different in Kennedy, helped her be a better version of herself, so Jade can’t help but ask, “When you say we, who do you mean? You and Joey or you and Calum?”

And there, Kennedy realizes, lies her problem.

When she says she wants to live in the moment, who does she want to live in the moment with?

Author’s Note: I love this so much so far. I haven’t been this excited about a fic in A G E S. Who are we feeling for Kennedy to end up with? Cal or Joey? (Also, I’ve seen Captain Marvel twice now and I want to see it again, send help.)

#calum hood imagines #calum hood imagine #5sos imagine #5sos imagines #5 seconds of summer imagine #5 seconds of summer imagines #5sos fanfiction #5sos stories #5sos fanfic #calum hood fanfiction #calum hood smut #calum hood preference #5 seconds of summer preference #5 seconds of summer preferences #5 seconds of summer fanfiction #5 seconds of summer fanfic #5sos blurb #5sos blurbs #calum hood blurb #calum hood blurbs #calum hood x oc #mine

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E38 (October 16, 2018)

Tonight’s guests are Sam Riegel and Taliesin Jaffe (and, as always, Dani Carr and... Tiny Corner Max?)!

Announcements:

The latest episode of Between the Sheets, featuring Daytime Emmy Award-Winning Sam Riegel (TM), aired last night and will be available on YouTube tomorrow morning. Sam: “I feel like this channel is mostly just you and me talking?” Brian: “Are you saying that everyone else is just riding our coattails?” Taliesin: “He’s also saying that you look a lot like Liam at this point, and he can’t tell the difference.”

Another episode of All Work No Play will debut this Friday on the Critical Role Twitch (uploaded to YouTube on Sunday). In this episode, Sam and Liam do yoga... with goats. TJ Storm and Travis Willingham guest star!

Next week the cast will be at London MCM! Taliesin: “I’m packing slightly more tweed.” Brian: “Gettin’ tweedy with it.”

There’s a new (harp music) Laura Bailey emote on the CR Twitch for subscribers.

@critrolestats for this week’s episode:

The M9 hit 150 natural ones in this episode. Number 150 was Jester’s acrobatics check to get away from the yuan-ti abomination.

Jester also set the record for the most natural ones in a single episode: 5. The previous record of 4 was held by Nott and Beau. Brian: “You guys remember these are not still going to charity, right?” Sam and Taliesin: “What?”

Taliesin was the one who helped Momlan glue on her elf ears. Taliesin: “I would be very nervous if my mom were going out there.” Brian: “Well, she’s got hundreds of years of secrets on you.” Taliesin: “Mom of the damned.”

Cad’s definitely been upset about being around undead; Taliesin’s rolled a few times to see if there’ll be a worse freak-out, but there hasn’t been one so far. “The notion is that there’s a direction things are supposed to move, and [undead] is something moving against the grain in an intense way. What’s the point of having an imaginary organized religion of any kind if you can’t have something they’re fundamentally against?”

Nott’s extremely far from her comfort zone right now, being outside the Empire, working for a captain on the sea who’s threatened their lives: “There’s snakes and lizards and... wouldn’t you drink, dude?!”

Given how much he’s been getting the shit kicked out of him lately, is there a breaking point for Cad? “Probably. I haven’t really finished nailing him down emotionally yet. I genuinely don’t know what zen people do when everything goes to shit.” Jester’s speech genuinely comforted him a lot. “Apparently Laura knew what to say.” Sam notes that the party hasn’t really had a chance to sit down and ask him questions about himself so far. Taliesin mentions that Cad’s been ordering drinks but hasn’t actually been drinking.

Nott’s fallen into the role of the mom friend mainly because nobody else has (everyone agrees that Caduceus is more of “a wise pothead”). Brian: “Everyone seems to have so much baggage right now. Half the people seem focused on just holding it together, the other half are focused on the mission.” Dani: “Somebody has to be the level-headed one.” Sam: “And why can’t that leveling force come from a three-and-a-half-foot insane goblin alcoholic?”

Once Caduceus levels out (he’s still a little shell-shocked), he’s going to realize that he’s surrounded by “unhealthy lunatics” and will want to do something about that.

Sam’s done some research about chemistry (although he wants to make more of a cheat sheet after Travis’ experience with sailing), knowing it might come up with Nott’s alchemy knowledge. Taliesin is trying to learn more of what Sam terms “that fungus shit”. Also tea, and zen. Sam: “I was thinking you should go to a morgue and see how bodies decompose.” Taliesin: “Oh, I have some experience in that.” 

(don’t worry; it’s just some friends in forensic anthropology)

Gif of the Week: Taliesin casts Detect DM Shenanigans.

“There was a certain order to the universe that he has come to expect, and it has been thrown into great disarray.” Cad was expecting the Epic Quest to save his home, but he wasn’t expecting the Mighty Nein. He’s mainly staying because of what Jester said about not necessarily needing to understand what’s happening right now. “He’s confused and trying his best to just let things happen, because that’s how the Wildmother works.”

Nott’s been surprised by some of the Mighty Nein’s actions, but so far she knows it’s out of necessity. She doesn’t view the incident on the docks as quite as bad as some of the others did---it was chaotic and based in self-preservation rather than actively causing harm. “But some of the other actions lately have been surprising to her.” Sam points out that she and Caleb did a lot of things to survive, and that she still steals a lot, and reminds everyone that she lives in a very morally grey area. She’s not thinking of leaving at this point, and all the high-stakes trauma has brought her closer to the group. “It’s a fucked-up dysfunctional family, but it’s starting to look a little bit like a family to her.”

Taliesin and Sam are both enjoying being moral compasses of the party this campaign, in major contrast to the previous campaign. Brian: “You were a teenage asshole. You were a teenage dirtbag.” Taliesin: “It’s so weird. I love it.” Sam: “Oh man. We’d better step up our game. If we’re the moral compasses...” Taliesin: “We’re like Cracker Jack compasses, we almost point north.”

Cad’s got a lot of abilities he just doesn’t use very often. “He knows that some of it is... rude? Death cleric, man, they’ve got some insane shit.” Cad doesn’t have the same opinions on life and death as most people. Brian: “How surprising.”

Taliesin is having “a ton of fun” playing Caduceus. “I love Molly... and the character. Too easy.” No, but seriously: “I loved playing Molly, but the nice thing I got to do with Caduceus that I didn’t get to do with Molly is we had an established group and I got to create a character that was useful to the dynamic both mathematically and emotionally.”

Sam: “Wait, is it twitch.tv or twitch.com? Oh my god, I’ve been putting the wrong links on my Twitter for like a year.”

Cad was very selective about who he told about Jamedi, and purposely didn’t tell Nott because he knew she’d tell others. Sam, trying to keep a straight face: “Nott’s nothing if not trustworthy.” He’s more surprised that Caduceus has figured that out already, given how little he knows about Nott. “Maybe it speaks less to Nott and more to Caduceus being judgey...” Taliesin clarifies that it wasn’t so much that Nott was untrustworthy, it was more than Nott couldn’t keep a secret. Sam, as a player, was shocked that the rest of the party didn’t instantly tell everyone that “we are being led through the jungle by a dead guy.” Taliesin points out that with two clerics (Brian: “well, a cleric and a battle Mercy”), they literally have a button they can push to make him go away if they need to.

Sam: “It seems like Fjord’s going into a real bad place without any information, and Nott’s there to support and make sure he doesn’t die, but it seems like a bad idea.” Taliesin: “This seems like a test of one’s soul, and Caduceus is on board but aware that this could go badly.” Taliesin also points out that the rest of the group isn’t aware of the creepiest stuff going on because they weren’t there for it.

Fanart of the Week: the group (sans Jester and Caduceus) inside Leomund’s Tiny Hut! 

Taliesin got recognized in public, and the fan immediately called out the two clerics for going off on their own in the middle of the night. Taliesin: “It was a good burn.”

Caduceus had some experience with fights pre-M9 (grave robbers, wildlife). Taliesin: “Have you ever seen Cemetery Man? Shit gets weird!”

There’s a brief interlude while everyone arranges a movie night. As you do.

Has Nott been feeling protective toward members of the Nein other than Caleb? Fjord is probably the next-likely candidate, followed by possibly Yasha. Sam: “Caduceus is just too tall.” Taliesin: “I feel that.”

Taliesin describes Lesser Restoration as “the aspirin of D&D”. He’s done some healing of illness before, but this has just been a bad time. Sam points out that in the last campaign they didn’t really have to deal with disease so much. “I assume it’s Bird Flu.”

Scanlan stealing the gun was messing with both Taliesin and Percy. Nott is interested in the mechanics of the gun, interested in the chemistry of gunpowder, and has already designed and manufactured one explosive arrow as a result. “But Nott has also noticed that there’s people with guns wherever they keep going, and it might be a good idea to have a gun. It’s a self-preservation thing. If that also happens to mess with Taliesin Jaffe, I’m not going to say no to that. I mean, the heart does what the heart does. If that happens as a result, we’ve all grown as people.”

They realize there’s about a four-foot height difference between Caduceus and Nott. Taliesin: “He squats.” Dani: “He’s got killer calves.”

Caduceus is very, very good at reading people. Nott doesn’t lie because of goblin upbringing, but more out of her travels with Caleb and having her first impulse to be to get out of any situation by lying to stall/delay/confuse. 

Taliesin: “Why lie to a plant?”

There’s a brief interlude about telling your plants inappropriate bodily measurements. As you... do? Brian: “I’m calling an Uber right now. I’m sorry. I’m done.”

Taliesin is collecting spells based mainly on what he can guess might be helpful. He doesn’t need a lot of damage-dealing, so focuses more on deflecting and healing. He’s picked out some feats he’s interested in to make Caduceus less likely to take damage. “That’s been a problem. I don’t like being hit.”

It is pointed out that all of Sam’s characters in the campaigns have had high intelligence and low wisdom. “That’s a pretty great winning combo for comedy.”

Legends of the Hidden Talks Machina:

Overwatch mains? Sam: “What’s a main?” Taliesin: “It’s like Quidditch...”

Taliesin is a support main, especially Zenyatta and Brigitte.

Brian is a D.Va main (woo!) and also plays a lot of Orisa.

Look, I gotta cheer on anyone who also mains D.Va. Those are the rules.

They agree that watching Sam play as Hanzo would be funny, but decide Roadhog would be the best. Sam: “Yeah. It’s Hog Noon. Is that what he says?” Brian: “Yep.”

What’s Matt’s character name?  Sam: “Tyrone McCabe.” Brian: “It’s close!”

Ghost stories? Taliesin: “I’ve been ghosted.” Sam: “I saw some raccoons in my backyard?” Taliesin: “I got attacked by a skunk when I was in my hot tub.”

Taliesin: “Now I’ve seen a ghost.” Past and present combine:

Taliesin has a 1930s stripey swimsuit, because of course he does.

What (harp music)-style sound cues would they have? Taliesin: The sound of building a temple in the original Warcraft. Sam: An... explosion? Brian: The sound of my mom’s tears because he never became a doctor. Taliesin: “I was thinking the Golden Girls intro.”

Goth advice for the week, courtesy of Taliesin: Best style eyeliner is eyeliner on day 2. Put on the eyeliner before the shower. Know if your choker’s loadbearing.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

[anastasiaskarsgard]

So here’s AU single dad Mark, you can see the vibe his picture inspired here (who is inspired by a real person loosely)

Warning: cursing, mention of drugs and sex. Mention of violence.

“Doctor, you have one last appointment and then you’re free! New puppy needs vaccines and looks very healthy. The guy is seriously dreamy so just mentally prepare yourself for that.” My receptionist Ashley said as she handed me the file. “They’re in number 2.”

I glanced over the file and audibly groaned, drawing both receptionists attention. “I know Mark! Shit! I hope he didn’t recognize my name and come here on purpose. To be quite honest though, I don’t think he’ll even remember me.”

Ashley leaped from her chair to get close enough to whisper, “I need the deets Doc! Did you have a one night stand with him? Or lose your v card to him at prom? Or oh my gosh! did you choose your career over him and left him behind for vet school?”

“Stop reading smut on the internet, and come back to reality. He was 2 years older than me and talked to me one time at a party, informing me that I had potential if I would dress more like a girl, and less like a veterinarian. I doubt he’ll remember it tho.” I chuckled, shaking my head, “Get back to work.” I said as I walked over to room 2, taking a deep breath before opening the door, coming face to face with Mark. He was still drop dead gorgeous.

“My bad, I thought you’d come thru the other door. Dakota, Danielle. Please sit down nice for the Doctor, so your puppy doesn’t get nervous.”

Mark tried to wrangle his two small children to sit down, but at around 2-4 years old, that wasn’t gonna happen. I wondered what girl had snatched up Mark as I checked the puppy out.

“Oh my — kids earmuffs— “ Mark verified both children were in fact covering their ears before turning back to me with a big cheesy smile on his face. “No fucking way! You seriously became a veterinarian!” He exclaimed chuckling.

“Well you gave me the idea, so I just ran with it, “ I said with a smirk.

“Oh my God. You remember I said that? I was a punk, I’m sorry. I just had a thing for you and you’d always ignore me or blow me off, every time I tried to get your attention.”

“I don’t recall you ever trying to get my attention. I do recall you ignoring me.”

“No. I didn’t even have any classes in the portables and I’d go hang out over there and always say what’s up as you’d walk by. I went to all your basketball games and you never once acknowledged my existence and I tried to talk to you in the library a couple times and you would always shoosh me.”

“ well that’s what you’re supposed to do in a library. Also, going into the general vicinity of someone, and expecting them to know somehow that you’re there for them, isn’t very obvious, especially considering the one time you speak to them you tell her that she has potential but dresses like a veterinarian, which is pretty cool if you ask me.” I giggled. Oh sweet mother of God, I giggled. He was so hot, my brain was malfunctioning. Eventhough he was most likely full of shit and trying to get a discount or something, it was wild to think, I was so intimidated by him, I refused to entertain the idea that he might actually like me. It was pretty hilarious. “Looks like you found your happily ever after anyways. Who’s the lucky lady? Anyone I know?”

“Huh?” He looked confused for a few couple beats and then it dawned on him. “Oh yeah I got two awesome mini mes.”

“We’re the 3 musketeers!” A little voice squeaked out.

“Oh sorry. I just figured 2 kids that use ear muffs and the designer dog, someone had domesticated you.” I said looking up to see Mark blush.

“Remember Anna Winters? That’s his mommy and—“

“I don’t mean to interrupt Mark, but could I borrow your little musketeers to feed some newborn puppies that were dumped here? Then we can have a few minutes to catch up. I think you’re my last appointment. Do you mind? The girls and I do it, but they look like they’re good little helpers.”

Both children leaped out of their seats and started jumping up and down pleading to let them help so Mark agreed. I called Ashley in and she was super enthusiastic about having helpers, till she realized Mark wasn’t coming too. As soon as they closed the door, I turned to Mark.

“Thought it would be best if they didn’t hear adult conversations, especially involving their mother.”

“Mothers.”

“I kinda figured since your little girl looks possibly Latina?”

Mark nodded his head. “Yeah So Anna is a full fledged crackhead out in LA or something last I heard. Who knows? She might even be dead. She left him with me when he was a week old and never came back.”

“Wow! What a deplorable human being! But then you had naked time with a lady again, and she got pregnant too huh?” I teased. “Maybe no one told you how this works...”

“No I get it. Danielle’s mom was Dakota’s babysitter, and she just never really went away and it was convenient, and she cleaned and took care of Dakota. But she stopped taking birth control unbeknownst to me, and she winds up pregnant, wanting to get married.”

“So Wait! I know this part! You being the most romantic motherfucker on the planet, was like let’s go to Disneyland and get married in the castle right before the fireworks go off!” I had to give him some shit. He was such a cliche.

Mark laughed his same dorky weird laugh, and I couldn’t help but to laugh too. “No I told her I’m not marrying you. I don’t love you, and she’s like well then as soon as I have this kid, it’s all yours. If you don’t want me, I don’t want your ugly baby.”

“I’d be like ‘it got it from its mama’. She’s adorable though, so you really came out ahead there. What are the odds you’d get two deadbeat moms in a row?”

“Don’t remind me. What’s your story? You married? Kids?”

“Well I went to school and graduated top of my class, so i got into vet school, which is way harder than regular old medical school since there aren’t as many options. Plus it’s pretty challenging. With people you just got to figure out people. I have to know the dogs, cats, horses, goats, birds, lizards pretty much anything that’s alive and not from the primate family, i gotta figure it out. Last week somebody brought in a damn baby kangaroo, trying to tell me it’s a wallaby, and I was like where did you get a Kangaroo in Salt Lake City? Sorry, to answer your actual questions, No baby daddy’s cuz I’ve never met anyone that’s as awesome as I am, so until then I’m just saving the world, one litter at a time. Let’s go peek at them, come on.” I tiptoed out the door, over to the batch of kennels I had them living in, and we peeked around the wall, to see both kids feeding two puppies each, smiling from ear to ear.

“What kind of puppies are they?” Mark whispered.

“Go back in the room and I’ll tell you the story.”

He looked so adorable tiptoeing along, trying to be sneaky. He was like that one part of Fantasia where everybody knows but him that he’s too big to be sneaky.

We get back in the room and he sits on the little bench, patting the seat next to him, looking up at me all sexy like. He knows what he’s doing. “Come sit. I won’t bite.” He said with a lustful tone. Or maybe I just wanted to jump on him and any tone would be lustful......

“You keep looking at me like that, I’m gonna squirt you with the spray bottle,” I couldn’t help but laugh at my own joke. He found it less funny. “They’re all Blood Hounds. The mother got shot by the owners worthless boyfriend, claiming she attacked him, when I have a strong suspicion she was defending the woman from him. The mama dog did get ahold of the guy and shredded his arm up bad enough, it’ll never work again. The woman dropped the puppies off saying he’d kill them when he got home, so that’s how I got nine Bloodhound puppies that have to be fed every few hours. I didn’t have the heart to put them down, and the shelter would of killed them.”

“Aren’t Bloodhounds expensive?”

“Well yes. And they’re actually AKC, but I’m going to fix them all before I adopt them out. I rescue, I don’t profit off animal sales. Just maintenance. I actually offered them to the police since they’ve got the best noses in the business. They’re trying to get the money together to train them. Las Vegas wants two of them, but they got that casino money.”

“How much does it cost to train a dog?”

“Like $22k I think it is. Takes a few years depending if they’re looking for people, drugs, bombs... ”

“Wow. How are you not taken?” He blurted out.

“My bullshit tolerancy is almost non-existent, I work a lot, I’m the only one that thinks I’m funny, i dress like a veterinarian and I’m shallow. How are you single? All that man pretty and diaper changing skills.”

Mark looked down and blushed again. “Ok I’m just gonna go for it. Would you like to go to dinner sometime?” I swear he is holding his breath. Dammit. So cute.

“How about now? When they’re done feeding the puppies, you wanna go feed your rugrats?” I inquired.

“I meant like on a date, just you and me.”

He was so pretty, I wanted to sit on his face, “Oh ho! I cant be alone with you, I’ll get pregnant. Even now, I’m at risk. I need tiny chaperones.”

“Is that so?” He said rising to his feet with a mischevious look on his face, glancing between my eyes and lips. I took a step back and the wall was there. I was trapped. I tried to look oblivious but when he leaned against the wall behind me, with an arm on each side of my head, leaning in so his lips lightly brush my ear, he whispers; “where’s your spray bottle now?”

Oh fuck it. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. His lips were so soft and he was surprisingly gentle and not trying to be handsy. What the fuck was I doing!? I pulled away scanning his face for I don’t know what.

“What?” He asked all breathy and desperate, rubbing his perfect little nose on my cheek, getting almost close enough to kiss me, wanting me to close the gap.

“I don’t know what I’m looking for, but I’ll know when I see it.”

“Shut up and kiss me....please?”

Fuck. Anyone else I would have sent packing, but Mark was so tall, and beautiful, and confident, and took care of his kids, and God he smelled good, and if he fucked as well as he kissed, then I might just keep him. I pushed my lips into his and he kissed me a bit more aggressive biting my lower lip.

This was either a really great idea, or the worst idea I’ve ever had, but either way, I was gonna see how it played out.

#bill skarsgard #billy skarsgard #mark bill skarsgard #single dad mark #mark au #my writing

[glitchtrapfan]

Losing someone you love

Everybody including me were at are hangout spot,playing some spin the bottle.

We were doing it on the floor having a rug below us from the cold floor.

Hilda spins the bottle and it lands on me.

“Hey look at that the old love birds must kiss.” Von bon says making kissing noises.

“Shut up shortcake.” I say holding my petals so I don’t have an outburst.

“She’s not kissing my boyfriend nobody can kiss my boyfriend.” Nathan says.

“If you didn’t want that then why did you bring him here.” Specter says.

“NOBODY ASK YOU CASPER.”

“Alright let’s get this over with.” Hilda say as she comes over to me and kisses me.

We stop and she gose back to her spot.

It was mine turn so I spin the bottle trying to forget what just happened when the bottle landed on Blind Specter.

“Alright babe we are leaving,it’s been fun you guys.” Nathan says getting up from his spot.

“He’s not wrong I do have to check on my flowers but I can’t leave until I kiss him.”

“Well then I will make it quick.” Specter says kissing me.

We stay like that for 3 second’s until Specter breaks up the kiss.

“You taste like honey.”

“I taste like candy.” Von bon says

“Well nobody cares.” Beppi says

“You want to come here and find out yourself.”

“I would like to but your breath smells like it has not been brush in centuries.”

“Your dead.” She says as she takes out her candy shotgun from her back.

“Hey now no need for fighting we’re here to play a game not kill each other.” Hilda says trying to handle the situation.

“Alright me and Cagney are off see you guys tomorrow.”

Me and Nathan leave the hangout spot to head back home but then Hilda comes outside.

“Cagney can I speak to you alone.”

Sure,Nathan you can go without me,make sure my flowers are alright.

“Ok but don’t be gone for too long.”

I go over to Hilda to see what she wants.

“Hey I wanted to say that I’m sorry about earlier with that kiss.”

“No it’s fine I just didn’t expect it to happen so fast.”

“Your were thinking about how we use to date weren’t you.”

“Yeah I was it’s just some days I miss us being together.”

“I know you do but we have changed from are old lives and now we are finding new people.”

“I know it just that.”

“HEY YOU!” I was cut off by somebody.

We turn around to see a lizard come to us with a gun in his hand.

“Slick Skin I thought you were in jail.”

“I was but my tail helped me get the keys to my cell and the rest was easy.”

I try moving to him but he points the gun to me.

“I don’t think your going anywhere now tell me what are your last words.”

I thought I was going to die but Specter came trough the wall and try to stop him from shooting us.

Slick shot his gun before he was knock unconscious by Specter.

“Is everybody..oh no.” Specter says looking at are direction.

I see Hilda falling to the ground but I catch her.

“Hilda what’s wrong.” I then see blood in her chest.

“No no Hilda your going to be fine.” I say pulling my thorn out and using my blood to cover up the wound.

Everybody comes out from the hangout spot and seeing me holding Hilda.

“What the hell happen.” Beppi says.

“HILDA!” Cala says rushing over to her.

“I need to get her to the hospital.” I say as I leave.

“Ca..gney” she says.

“Your going to be fine Hilda you hear me”

We make it to the hospital and the doctors take her away.

All my friends make it to the hospital while I was waiting outside of the operation room.

“Is she going to be ok.” Cala says tears in here eyes.

I walk away from them I could not handle this.

“Hey were you going HEY!” Von bon says.

I left the hospital and head back home,why you ask.

Because I knew Hilda wasn’t going to make it and I was right.

3 weeks later.

I was at my house still there from that night before.

Nathan took care of the flowers for me.

I was just laying thinking about all the things Hilda could had have if she was still alive.

She could have had a nice girlfriend with Cala,she could have gone to be a great inventor and she would of have me by her side at all times.

I blame it on me for not doing anything to stop him from shooting.

Another part of me says it was Specters felt,if he did not come out and try to stop him he would have not fire that gun.

I wanted Hilda back I was desperate for something to bring her back.

Even if that means making a deal with the devil.

I head over to the casino,open the doors and head over to the bar where King Dice was.

“Hey Dice.”

“Cagney it’s good to see you again what brings you here this evening.”

“I want to make a deal.”

King Dice looked shock when I said that.

“I did not expect you to say that,especially after the last time you said that you end up looking like a mess.”

“Please I need to see my friend again.”

“Alright then follow me.”

I follow King Dice to the back room where the Devil was sitting in his throne sleeping.

“Master wake up we have a visitor.”

He wakes up and sees me.

“Well will you look at that it’s you Cagney am I right?”

“Yes and I’m here to make a deal.”

“After all that happened to you,you still come back here for another deal I should just be laughing.”

“I want to bring my friend back from the dead,her name is Hilda.”

“Now that’s a hard deal to pull off since I need to sacrifice someone to bring back somebody from the dead.”

He looks at his list of people and finds someone who he can use.

“I found somebody,there name being Bilnd Specter.”

“Wait your saying I have to sacrifice Specter to Bring back Hilda.”

“Yeah pretty much or if you don’t want to then the deal is off.”

I had to make a decision.

“Hilda is your best friend and Specter was the one who got her killed.” I said to myself.

Here I’ll make your choice a little more balance since you seem like your choosing one side here.

He hands me a crystal ball and I look trough it.

I see Specter sitting on his bed crying.

“It’s all my fault if I didn’t interfere with Slick,then Hilda wouldn’t have been shot.”

“How can Cagney forgive me for that.”

I hand back the crystal ball to him.

“How do I know that’s not a trick.”

“If I did that as a trick I would have not even gave you that crystal ball.”

If he really thinks that it was his fault then I should not make this deal it’s what Hilda would want.

But Specter was the reason she died in the first place.

I decided what choice I was going to make.

3 days later.

I get ready for today putting my petals into the back of my head,holding them together with a rubber band.

I had outside flowers at my side and I had to my destination.

I make it there and find what I was looking for.

Hilda’s grave.

I put the flowers on her grave and start to talk.

“Hey Hilda I’m sorry for not coming to your ceremony last week I was deeply upset after you died.”

“But I wanted to say that I figured out who was truly to blame for your death.”

“It was me I could have taken the shot I have a thick skull so a bullet to the head would not kill me.”

“Instead of protecting you I just stood there while somebody else took care of the situation.”

“Only problem was that it lead to you dying in my arms.” I started to cry

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be the man to save you from death but I promise to live on for you to make you proud of me.”

“So me and others would like to say...goodbye.” I say letting my tears fall from my face onto the ground.

I turn around to see Specter waiting for me to be done.

“You want to get going.”

“Yeah I’m done here.” I say whiping away the tears from my eyes.

Me and Specter walk away from the graveyard,Arms around each other.

I didn’t want to make this but I had this idea for a long time so here it is,hope you all are not crying like I was.

#cagney carnation #hilda berg #blind specter #mention of carnaberg #nathan nightshade #beppi the clown #von bon bon #cala maria #death #slick skin #story #cuphead #king dice #the devil

[the-stick-scribblers]

The Womb

Crime is up five hundred percent since the Academy opened The Womb.

Twenty years ago, some newish academics who were still in their first century and therefore still hopeful, published a groundbreaking study on crime. They said the problem was simple: people committed crimes because somewhere in their past or current reality, they lacked security and love. Becoming a criminal was simply a call for help, too late. That part wasn't groundbreaking, but it bore repeating (and repeating, and repeating - hit the boring nail on the head, they did). Here's the important bit: they then asked what would happen if criminals could return to their childhoods and start from scratch, supported by the state? The ultimate rehabilitation program? 

Instead of prisons, they imagined a system of homes with specially trained and vetted "parents" to provide love; instead of cells, there would be small rooms they called nurseries filled with safely approved enrichment toys and lots of soft things for squeezing; there would still be community service opportunities and classes and career preparation, but capital punishment was firmly nixed.

It hinged on some pretty wild de-aging technology, but once they'd made the proposal it was only a couple of years before the tech caught up and then it was all hands-on deck "for the future of all children" and other such meaningless shit. There were some modifications - the cells are simply called rooms instead of nurseries, for example - but when they rolled out The Womb it was pretty much as presented.

Let's say you commit a crime. It's a little one, like maybe you didn't pay a traffic ticket, or some dick egged your apartment and you told them where they could shove it in front of the wrong soccer mom. The judge says hey, okay, that wasn't very good. But it was probably just a little lesson you forgot to learn along the way that led you to your Mistake, so you're sentenced to be de-aged a year and you're given a counselor who's supposed to help guide you onto a better path this time around.

But let's say the crime is bigger. You threw a major party and then drove drunk and high on heroin and ran over someone's dog. You commit armed robbery. Someone got seriously hurt, repeatedly. A guidance counselor for a year isn't going to cut it, so that's when the jury steps in and tries to figure out where your life went wrong. Was it at sixteen the first time you shoplifted and got away with it? At ten, when your teacher told you your work would never be any good? At eight, when your mom started working three jobs because she was suddenly raising you alone? And then you get zapped back to the pivotal age and placed in The Womb so you can be Reborn.

Somehow in all their planning the academics and the politicians forgot to bank on the allure of avoiding all those five hundred-year-old wrinkles and arthritis for a couple hundred extra years. Most people when they hit four hundred rob a bank at fake-gunpoint. That's the biggest crime that's least likely to get them killed rather than de-aged. That, or they get involved in some sort of tax fraud scheme. What's losing access to a couple million when you're going to die soon anyway? A second chance at life has got to be worth at least that.

The worst offenders get de-aged all the way back to babies, but that doesn't happen very often. It can seriously shorten your life if you end up a repeat offender, and anyway raising babies is more resource-intensive than the other kids. You have to kill a whole lot of people in a whole lot of lives to make it worth the parents' time.

The years you de-age get borrowed off the end of your life. As long as you avoid any more Mistakes, you get those years back and get to live out your original life span in full, with the bonus of a second childhood thrown in. But if you make another Mistake, you lose them forever, and have to live with it. That's how come I've only got two years left to take over the world.

I have been twelve years-old seven times. The last time I was Reborn, I'd made it all the way to age three hundred and fifty before I made another Mistake.

"You gonna eat that?"

We Reborn may have to use our manners, but for some reason the Womb Workers are exempt.

I sit up straight, elbows off the table, and look at my pudding. "My spoon is dirty."

They pick up the spoon, squint at it, rub it on their apron, then return it to the table. "You going to eat that now?"

The pudding looks delicious, actually, full of real chocolate shavings and cherry jam and cream liquor. If I let myself look at it any longer, I might cave. So I look at the Worker instead. They look like they could use some prune juice.

"This spoon is dirty. I would like a new spoon." 

The Worker opens their mouth, probably to tell me where I can shove the spoon, when Ren interrupts in a tiny voice, "You've got to say please."

This is Ren's second time Reborn. She's six years old now. When she was twenty-one she was sent back for planting an eco-bomb, and for again stealing an entire corporate farm when she was ninety. She's got an impressive file; we could be a good team eventually. I like her. But, regretfully, I no longer have the time.

"Please," I say, and smile real sweet.

The Worker takes the spoon from my hand with a measured precision that means they would much rather stab me with it, and give a little bow.

"Tell Jeremy he needs to pay more attention; the spoon was dirty!" I holler after them after they've passed into the kitchen, to everyone else at the table's disapproval.

Because this is my seventh time in The Womb, I've been placed in a high-security house, with experienced Grandparents rather than normal Parents and bars on all the windows under the cheerful blue and yellow curtains. I've also only got five siblings rather than the usual nine; Ren is the littlest, and Matthew is the oldest at seventeen. The rest of us hover around the dining room table in the throws of those terrible years right on the cusp of puberty, and we've all got the lanky self-awareness to match. Really, the jury should have forgiven me the second they realized my pivotal moment was at twelve, or at least written me off as a lost cause. What preteen doesn't want to take over the world? How was living through that desire again and again supposed to make me desire it any less? But we've established the establishment isn't very smart about the details of redemption. They just want to Save the Children, or at least look enough like they are to appeal to the constituents a couple times a year. Statistics to the contrary are handily swept aside as anti-love.

Everyone here has taken a wood chipper to someone else's moral fabric, most more than once. Even the Grandparents have been Reborn once each, although they won't tell me how come. Just that it's part of the job requirement, so they can relate to where we're at on our journeys or something disgustingly syrupy like that. I'll miss them the least.

The Womb Worker reappears at my left elbow. Another little bow, definitely sarcastic this time, and then they hold out a silvered fork. "Jeremy says all the spoons are dirty, but he offered an extra fork. The pudding is thick; this should serve just as well."

Finally. I accept the fork and dig in with an admirably restrained glee, I think. The pudding tastes sweeter knowing that it will be my last meal in this place.

Jeremy is old hat, been with the place since it opened basically, and is the only Worker authorized to visit every Home because he's worked his way up from day cook to Head of the Households. The first time I met him (on accident, during a poorly planned slip during my first sentence, involving a new bouquet of flowers every day until the home was buried in chrysanthemums and little baby's daisies and Womb Workers had to come and confiscate them all) he told me about his First Home, in Libya. It's taboo to talk about First Homes, not because it's illegal or anything or even really frowned upon. It just makes people sad. But Jeremy smiled as he told me about the fried dates and bsisa, the ironic wetlands and sprawling steppes and the big sky full of birds over everything all the time, the migrations. About the little lizards, the way they sashayed when he chased them down the streets. He made me forget almost everything and believe I'd grown up in Libya too. I volunteered for kitchen duty every night after in hopes he'd be that night's cook.

He climbed the ladder and I followed behind him to each new role, begging for stories about Libya, and about The Womb too, since he knows everything there is to know about it. Including, of course, how to get out. It wasn't hard to bribe him. Just two more rebirths of a little bit of smiling, a little bit of begging, and I've now had six life cycles to practice my hand at money laundering. Jeremy is four hundred and ninety-five this year. It's time for him to bail.

The pudding is gone too soon, and I lick my lips and immediately wish I had some Vasoline. They’re dry, and they sting. "I'm not feeling well. May I please be excused?"

Ren's tiny face looks doubtful and a couple of the other kids look intrigued, but Grandnanna is a warm, benevolent rock. "Do you need me to grab a basket?"

"I don't think so. I think I just need to lie down."

"Let me feel your head."

"It's my stomach," I protest, but go to her nonetheless. I'm up from the table, which means I'm almost in the clear.

She puts the back of her hand against my forehead and cheeks, then turns to rattle in the credenza behind her seat at the head of the table. "Richard, can you grab me the thermometer please? I forgot I moved it to the study when that cough went around last month."

"I'm kind of dizzy. I just want to lie down." I cross my arms and hunch my shoulders and do my best to turn excitement into flush agitation. Grandnanna (what a laugh; she's younger than me by a century, at least) purses her lips.

Then she steps back, and sighs. Good for her – she’s learned how to pick her battles. Probably why she’s still only been reborn once. "Grab a clean towel from the cupboard on your way up."

I finished my part of our plan this morning - digging out each of the security features in the home and bypassing them with a wire or a code I custom-wrote before my latest de-age debacle. The bars are just a formality now. But that's the most I could do on my own. It was up to Jeremy to arrange the rest - reaching out to my old contacts, setting up the weekend lecture series, making sure the Grandparents are out, finding a Sitter with enough moral ambiguity to agree to pack their overnight stuff in over-large luggage and to not ask questions. It was a lot of work, and he hasn’t said it but he’s going to negotiate for a better cut once we're free and clear. At least fifty percent. That's a cliché, but it’s fine. I can do those too. Not everyone makes it to five hundred. There won't be any questions when he’s never heard from again.

The corridor to my room is lined with photos doctored to look original, of the seven of us in this home, and each door has an initial painted in well-meaning green that comes off as military in the dim light. I dutifully grab a towel from the closet and go to my room, draping the towel over my pillow and curling up under the fluffy comforter. Once I bust out there will be no niceties, at least for a couple of months. Definitely no pudding. I close my eyes and sink into the bed. I dream myself a feast.

~D.E. Scevers

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