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iveseenstrangerthings · 2 years

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parked car confessions - a Steve Harrington imagine

summary: another friends to lover imagine, this is similar to my mixed signals imagine that i wrote, and you can read that here! This is a steve x fem!reader using she/her pronouns. Steve misses the usual Friday night movie to go on a date, much to your despair... it’s a bit angsty and fluffy!

warnings: sweating and mentions of food

word count: exactly 4k

note: i posted this yesterday but it didn’t show up anywhere??? so i’m trying again, hopefully it works

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A snaffle at the popcorn box brings your attention away from the film and you turn towards Dustin who’s grabbing a huge handful of the popcorn out of the bag in your hands. “Woah, easy there.” You whisper, trying not to distract the others from the movie. He just twists his face up in retaliation and sticks a finger to his lips, shoving the entire handful of popcorn into his mouth and over-exaggerating his chews. Painstakingly, you hold in a laugh at his expressions and mannerisms, no matter how crappy you feel you rely on Dustin to make you laugh. It’s Friday night and as usual, you’re all huddled together watching a movie of Mike’s choice tonight as you’re all at the Wheeler’s. Honestly, you haven’t been paying attention as tonight Steve bailed, at the last minute, and you’ve felt uneasy ever since. When the others asked why, he wouldn’t divulge and that’s when you started to suspect he was meeting someone, maybe going on a date.

Simply put, you like him. You know the others know after you accidentally confessed to Robin after you’d had a few drinks, and you know she wouldn’t be able to hold off telling the others. In a way though, you don’t mind. Yours and Steve’s relationship was an odd one that everyone just couldn’t understand. There are obvious feelings, on your part, and sometimes on Steve’s, but then he would adamantly deny there was anything there. There have been nights you’ve cried out of sheer frustration at the fact that you feel you’re getting nowhere with him, and all you want to do is be with him.

So, here you’re sat, half watching the film, half worrying about where he is and what he’s getting up to. The inside of your cheek is toying in between your back teeth as you play over different scenarios in your mind. Annoyance rises within you, suddenly starting to feel slightly enraged that you’ve gone for so long being toyed about. Something deep within you makes you want to confront him and tell him how much he’s hurt you.

Later, as the film seems to be drawing to a close, there’s a quick two knocks on the front door and then it swooshes open, a sudden draft entering the room. You whip your head around and see Steve turning to close the door, starting to kick his shoes off. Unimpressed, you turn back around and pretend like nothing’s happened.

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late.” He says.

Max’s face screws up, “Late? You’ve missed the whole movie.”

Steve places himself down on the floor, just next to where you’re sat on the couch and Dustin gives him a pat on the shoulder, to which Steve turns around and they do some sort of quick hand gesture with each other. The rest of the guys mumble a quick hello, but their attention is mainly on the film. Your eyes shift back to the screen, and you can feel Steve’s gaze on you, only for a second. He finds it odd how you haven’t really acknowledged him, or even said hi. Everyone settles back down to finish the film and when the film finally finishes, the black background casts the room into a sudden darkness, only illuminated by the white credits rolling on. It doesn’t take two minutes before Robin is questioning Steve on his absence.

“So, you gonna share with us what better things you had to do than be here?” She turns in the armchair to face him, her legs lazily draped over the side. “And don’t say work.” Her eyebrow goes up as she looks at him, “Because I’ll know you’re lying.”

Steve shakes his head and looks back at Robin, smirking slightly, “I’ve just been busy, guys.”

Dustin is quick to retort, “Wearing a pretty snazzy jacket there though Steve… what could require such a fashionable, and impressive, outfit choice?”

Your eyes bore into the television, everyone knows fine well he’s been on a date. Steve lets out a long sigh, puffs his cheeks and shrugs, trying not to laugh at the questions being thrown his way. You glance over at Robin who’s looking back at you with a kind-hearted expression, and you just roll your eyes ever so slightly.

“Come on man, who’s been the lucky person to spend tonight in your presence?” Dustin places his hands on the back of his shoulders and slightly shakes him from side to side.

Steve brushes his hands off and holds his palms up, “Alright, alright.” Your stomach drops, even though you knew, it’s going to be different hearing him say it. “It was Katie, we used to have Math together. She came into the store the other day to rent a movie and we got talking and… figured I’d ask her out.” Wow. Your cheeks flush with warmth and if you were alone now, you’d probably shed a little tear and start to feel sorry for yourself. But tears don’t threaten you right now, sheer anger does. Part of you feels that Steve knows your feelings towards him and just doesn’t mention them, but maybe he is just oblivious. “You okay, (y/n)? You’re pretty quiet.”

You lower your gaze to where he’s sat in front of you and feel yourself softening towards him, his eyes are so kind and he really hasn’t got a bad bone in his body, so you feel guilty almost for feeling so angry with him. “Totally.” You reply, “Glad you had a good time.” You offer a smile to him, however you felt you did not want everyone suspecting you were pissed off. That wasn’t the reply Steve was expecting, however. Like a thick blanket, an awkward silence sits atop of everyone, almost feeling like it’s smothering. It becomes uncomfortable and Max soon realises, “I think we should probably get going…” she looks around at everyone else, urging with wide eyes for someone to agree.

You take the hint, “Yeah, it’s getting pretty late.” Pushing the thin blanket from your legs, you stand up and stretch slightly, heading for the door with the others to put your shoes on.

“Thanks for having us!” Lucas calls back to Mike and Nancy who are still sat around the sofas with Robin, El and Steve. The group call out goodbyes and you all head out the door. The kids have their bikes, but you chose to walk tonight, you enjoy the walk as it’s a nice, scenic part of town. The others will find it odd that you didn’t stay, as you usually stay up late into the night with them once the kids have gone, but tonight you couldn’t find it in you to want to make pleasantries with Steve.

Steve sits with a bewildered look on his face after you leave, and he looks around at the others. “Am I missing something? What the hell was up with (y/n)?” Nancy and Robin share a glance and Steve catches onto it, sighing heavily. “Oh, so that’s how it’s gonna be? Are you sworn to secrecy or some shit? You guys stuck in the sixth grade?”

“Hey, woah.” Robin starts, “Don’t be like that with us, Harrington.” The pair stare at each other a minute. Albeit they work together nearly all the time and spend time outside of work together, the pair very rarely have an argument. The tone in their voices has an edge to it which is very rare to appear in conversations. “Don’t you ever think for a second how you’re making her feel?”

“Making who feel?!”

“Don’t give us that shit, Steve.” Nancy quickly snaps back at him, getting up to start to tidy away the living room. Mike silently slipped away when he realised the conversation was starting to turn sour. Steve places his forehead in his palm and rubs back and forth, as if he’s getting a headache. “Did not expect my night to end like this.” He sighs.

Robin tuts “Oh boohoo.” She stands up, giving Nancy a hand collecting in random bits of popcorn from the carpet. She looks up at him, enjoying the fact her and Nancy are ripping into him a little. “Did you even have a good time with Katie?” She asks, already knowing the answer.

Steve plays the night over in his head. It had been a pleasant time, they’d gone to the movies, he drove her home, nothing significant happened but he just didn’t feel anything for her. He does, however, feel something for you, which he’s been repressing for so long. He just never knew how to approach the situation. “Not particularly.” He shakes his head, starting to feel annoyed at the situation.

Robin sits back down on the sofa, finishing off some rogue bits of popcorn left in the boxes, and she shakes them to release the hardened corn from the sides. “Think you should just go talk to her, to be honest.”

“She’s gone home! It’s too late now.”

Robin shakes her head and tosses a piece of popcorn up and into her mouth, “No, she’s walking dumbass. Go find her, be the Knight in shining armour you so desire to be.”

Something stirs in Steve, a protective urge flares within him, the thought of you walking alone doesn’t sit well with him. He stands and makes his way towards the door, quickly slipping into his trainers. He looks back at Nancy and Robin, both staring back at him with a slightly smug look on their faces.

The night is a lot colder than you anticipated and your jumper isn’t doing a particularly good job of keeping the cold from seeping in and settling a chill in your bones. You cross your arms across your chest as you become aware of your teeth starting to chatter, you just want to be home. You quicken your pace slightly to try and get home quicker, attempting to put tonight to the back of your mind, but you know that won’t happen. As you turn the corner, headlights illuminate the road in front of you and you can hear the sound of an engine rolling towards you, going too slow to pass you. Your eyes widen and you quicken your pace again, unaware of whose car it is and why they would be travelling so slowly behind you. Different thoughts start racing around your mind before you hear a quick acceleration and before you know it the car is beside you, but you keep your eyes fixed forward. “Hey, do you want a ride home?” Steve. Your pace relaxes now that you know it’s him, but you continue to walk, so he continues to roll steadily alongside you, his eyes darting from you to the road. “Come on, please don’t ignore me.”

“No, I don’t want a ride home.” You reply, an edge to your voice he hasn’t heard before.

The car continues beside you, and you look over to him leaning across so he can shout out the open passenger window to you. “(y/n), please get in so we can talk.”

Your brows furrow, oh so now he wants to talk. “I live around the corner; we won’t have much of a talk by the time you drop me home.”

“Then we can just sit on your drive for a bit.” You shake your head, steadily continuing with your walk. You hear an exasperated sigh float from the car, “I don’t wanna go home knowing we’re not on good terms. Please, come talk to me.” Finally, you stop. Steve silently thanks you and now just hopes you’re going to get in the car. You toy with the idea in your mind, he doesn’t want to go home knowing we’re not on good terms… oh fuck it. You reach over and open the passenger door, closing it with a bit more force than anticipated it makes Steve jump slightly.

“Sorry.” You mumble, knowing he’s precious about his car. “Let’s go then.” You gesture with your hand for him to start driving and he does, the car smoothly starting to roll away.

You ride in silence to your house, which only has the porch house illumined and the rest of your house sits in darkness. He knocks the engine off then turns to face you; your eyes had not moved from the road in front since you got in the car.

He clears his throat, trying to also clear the awkward tension in the car. “Please tell me what’s bothering you.”

Ask and you shall receive. “Why didn’t you just come straight out tonight and say that you’d been on a date?” Your heart starts hammering against your ribcage, “People had to coax it out of you, and you went along with it. You just didn’t need to beat around the bush with saying where you’d been, it was weird.”

“Weird?”

“Yes! Weird. What was the reason you didn’t wanna admit to being on a date? Even though, it was pretty fucking obvious.”

He pauses for a few seconds, “I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

You scoff, “Oh, how considerate. Thank you.” Your hands are becoming more expressive with the more annoyed you get.

He places a hand on the steering wheel and furrows his brows, “Well, yeah, I was trying to be considerate. I didn’t want you to get upset.” You shake your head and twist your face, but then your stomach drops, the only reason he wouldn’t want you to get upset is that he knows how you feel. You soften into the seat a little and let out a big breath, your teeth find the soft flesh of the inside of your cheek again and you begin to chew on it, ever so slightly. “I don’t know why, I guess I was bored and-”

“Please don’t just make up excuses, Steve.” You turn to face him as you cut him off, his face looks tired and stressed, “This is not how I pictured this, at all, but I really like you.” Your voice sounds tired and you pause a second to take in his facial expression which has softened. “I have for such a long time and I’m pretty sure the guys all know, Robin definitely does, but that’s beside the point. We’ve been friends for so long and if that’s all you see us as then that’s fine but, I just get frustrated sometimes.” You pause for a second, letting it sit between the two of you, but Steve says nothing, almost just wanting you to continue talking. He's given you his full attention the whole time, holding onto every word you’ve said. “It seems to me sometimes; you feel the same. But then, you deny it and go on dates with other people. There’s a part of me that always holds a little hope that maybe, for some reason, you’re just holding out at accepting how you really feel.”

Bingo. How are you so good at this?

“Am I wrong, Steve?” You look back at him now, almost in anticipation. He can’t seem to muster up the right thing to say, so just slowly shakes his head. A silence falls over the pair of you and he just lets it stay for a few minutes before speaking again.

“How come you’ve waited all this time to say something?” He asks.

Your eyes search his, “Well, when you deny liking me and then date other people it doesn’t exactly encourage me to share my feelings. I’m just sick of feeling like one day you like me and the next you’re uninterested. I wish you’d just be honest with me.” You pause a second, a thought suddenly making its way into your consciousness. “Wait, how long have you known?”

He thinks for a second, giving it some real consideration. “Um, like three weeks maybe. Robin slipped it into conversation at work.”

“Oh.”

“And I’ve wanted to talk to you about it but then I guess I got a bit annoyed; I don’t know. I asked Katie out to sort of test it and see if how I felt was real. And it was.”

“Hold on, you needed to date someone else, to test yourself?” You sit back against the door holding your hands closed in your lap.

“You’re missing my point! I went on the date, and I didn’t like it, I didn’t enjoy myself. I was thinking of you the whole time, God dammit (y/n). How do you just expect me to know how you feel if you don’t even communicate with me?! I can’t read your mind. I hate that Robin had to tell me how you felt. I wanted to hear it from you.” His hands point in your direction, to accentuate his argument. He has a point, you’d never spoken about it with Steve, you’ve been close to, but then froze and decided against it. The air in the car suddenly feels uncomfortably warm and you crack the door open a little, Steve’s face turning alarmed when he thinks you’re opening it to leave. When he sees you’re staying, he settles. Awkwardly, you look down at your fingers and tug at a tiny piece of hangnail. You’d never really considered how Steve might have felt, and you felt awful for it. Steve’s hand reaches over and gently takes your fingers away from pulling at your skin, he holds your hand there for a few seconds.

“I’m sorry I never spoke to you about how I felt or anything, I just really didn’t know how to put it or whether I’d just get rejected then it would make everything awkward.” You shrug nonchalantly. It feels nice having his hand in yours and you give it a small squeeze.

“I felt like such a dick, coming in late to Mike’s then seeing you sitting there alone.” He shakes his head slightly, almost as if he’s in an argument with himself. “Well, you weren’t ‘alone’, but you know what I mean.” You scrunch your lips up and nod, letting him continue. “I don’t know why the hell I ever asked her.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it Steve, it’s done now it’s happened. I’m just sorry for not talking to you about it.” Your thumbs are gliding over each other, it seems cliché, but you almost can’t believe you finally have his hand in yours.

“Well, now that it’s all out there and we’ve established that… how about we go to that little place you like? The one with the tables outside and the good pizza. Tomorrow?”

Your face screws up and you place the palm of your hand on your forehead, “Shit… I have a date tomorrow. I can’t.” He can tell by your face you’re obviously joking, he raises his eyebrows, narrowing his eyes playfully.

“Oh really? Who’s the lucky guy?” His tongue pokes out slightly as it curls up into his upper lip, eyebrows still raised.

You brush him off with a swish of your hand, “You won’t know him.”

“I bet he’s awfully handsome.” He says, in his best attempt at a posh accent which makes you laugh with him.

You still have his hand in yours and you slowly peel your hand away from his, “It’s getting late I should head in.” You state.

He nods understandingly and rubs his hands over his jeans, “Sure.” He looks towards the porch where the light is still on, wondering if your mom has been watching this whole time, she tended to be nosy.

You follow his gaze and are quick to pick up on what he’s thinking, “They’re out.” You simply state.

He doesn’t really acknowledge this but instead poses a follow up to his previous question, “So, I’ll pick you up tomorrow? Around 6?”

Your head bounces in a wave of nods enthusiastically, a smile painting your face. “Absolutely, that’d be great.” For months now, you’d found yourself daydreaming of him, of this. If your mind was unoccupied for a few moments, you found it automatically filling with ideas of you and him, doing the most mundane of things but somehow the thought brought you such warmth and comfort. Often, you pictured the two of you sharing a kiss. The thoughts bounce around in your mind as you sit across from him now, trailing your eyes from his, down to his lips, then back to his eyes. Your heart accelerates at a steady pace, but enough so that you can feel it quickening. Your throat seems to tighten, and your mouth goes dry with anticipation. Steve looks back at you, he enjoys looking at you and taking in your features. He appreciates your beauty and finds you utterly charming, even when you’re going off on him. He notices your eyes move down to his lips, where he carefully takes his bottom one in between his teeth for a fraction of a second, but enough so that you noticed it.

As soon as Steve did this, it’s as if someone lets a cage of butterflies in your stomach free and they erupt into a turmoil of busy wings and flutters. Your heart continues to pound in your chest at the realisation of what’s building.

“C’mere.” He whispers the word and cups the side of your neck with his hand, resting his thumb gently on your cheek as he pulls you in towards him. The car feels so silent as you allow yourself to gravitate towards him, both closing your eyes as your lips finally meet. You’re pleasantly surprised at how well your lips move at ease with his. He kisses you slowly, drawing them out before kissing you again, tenderly parting your lips by placing his thumb just below your bottom lip, firming his hold on you. Heat rises within you and your hand lays gingerly on his leg, your other hand holding his arm. You really don’t want to, but you pull away to catch your breath. His hand remains on your cheek as you slow your breathing down, not wanting him to see you got overly excited. He pulls you close again to give you a small peck on the lips before removing his hand and sitting back in his seat. Your cheeks feel incredibly flushed, and you know they’re a deep crimson, letting Steve see exactly how you felt about your kiss.

“Was that…” he starts, starting to put his keys back in the ignition, “was that your first kiss?” he asks with interest, he’s hoping it was, that way to him it’s more special.

Just as the crimson was starting to dissipate, it reappears. You know Steve has had multiple kisses, so you feel silly that you have only ever had one, that has only just occurred now. Or maybe he asked because the kiss was so bad, and he could tell you’re a rookie? Oh god…

“Oh, shit was it that bad!?” You ask, covering your mouth with your fingers suddenly feeling awkward.

His eyes widen and he shakes his hands, “No no no, no definitely not. Are you kidding me (y/n), talk about a tease.” His voice lowers, with a subtle tone of seduction, “Best kiss I’ve ever had.”

You roll your eyes and push his leg with your hand, “Shut up, Harrington.” You turn and open the door fully now and step out into the darkness of the evening, thankful that he probably won’t be able to see your flushing cheeks. “Tomorrow at 6, don’t be late.”

“I wouldn’t dare.” He turns the engine on now as you close his door, softly this time, and make your way down to your front door where you fish your keys from your bag. Quickly, you unlock your door and turn around to wave Steve off. Once he sees you in safely, he reverses off your drive and you close your door as you see his taillights trail off in the distance.

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tiktokitssinoclock · 2 years

Note

I love your writing for Valorant!! It’s so good! What if the Val boys caught you masterbating? What would they do, how’d they react? You can pick anyone or ones you want. Hope you’re having a good day.

Thank you so much for the request! I've definitely been stewing on some ideas for a similar prompt, so I'm actually really excited to get started on this. All of these scenarios take place in pre-established relationships with the agents because I love that shit.

I'm having an awesome day, and I hope you are as well, Anon!

Walking in on You - The Valorant Guys (p.I)

NSFW // Minors and ageless blogs, DNI // You will be blocked

Sova

Sova was so tired. He could barely keep his eyes open when he was finishing up his last jog of the day, the shoulder he strained during a mission early that morning still aching in protest with every movement. Against your better wishes, he followed through with his usual schedule after leaving the infirmary. Sage gave him the all-clear to do so anyways, as long as he wasn't doing anything too strenuous with it. Besides, as soon as he returned from the track, he had full intentions of taking a hot shower and passing out in bed beside you.

Nothing too harsh on his arm was in the books.

Unfortunately for you, though, he finished a little earlier than anticipated. He heard the shower already running when he returned to his room, not truly processing that you weren't already buried beneath the sheets as he passed the bed and headed towards the bathroom. Maybe you had left it running for him so it would be hot when he returned- the water could take ages to heat up, after all.

He quite nearly called out a 'Thank you' over his shoulder as he rounded the corner, but the sight before him made his very breath freeze. You were leaned heavily against the tiled wall, biting your fist so hard he was afraid you'd draw blood. Your eyes were squeezed tightly shut, your chest heaving with every breath as your other hand worked rapidly between your thighs. His brain shut off and his mind went blank, the only things he seemed to process being how good you looked in the vanity mirror's warm light and the sound of water drumming across the ground.

Like an echo working in reverse back to its source, common sense slowly began to trickle back to him.

-need to leave, you haven't been seen so you need to leave, you haven't been seen so you need to leave.

He tore his gaze away from you and shook his head, slowly beginning to backtrack. He ignored the way his ears pricked at the stifled whimper that managed to escape you, ignored the sudden tightness of his pants, ignored the minuscule part of him that wanted to fumble out of his sweaty clothes and join you. All of his attention was poured into making his footsteps feather-light until he was softly shutting the door behind him.

He let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, running a hand through his platinum hair. He was trying his best to control himself, but there were a few desires he couldn't seem to shake- the want to move your hand from your mouth and trace the teeth marks left behind with his tongue, to let his thicker fingers take place of your own, to feel your gasps against his neck as he slowly worked you to completion.

As luring as that all sounded, however, it felt wrong to simply invite himself in. Your private time was your private time- as much as his cock wanted to protest, he didn't want to do anything to intrude on you even more.

He took a few deep breaths, whether to steel his resolve or reign in his less-than-savory thoughts, he wasn't quite sure. But he leaned against the wall and folded his arms over his chest, listening to the soft hum of the water pipes and waiting for them to fall silent.

It wasn't until much later that he fiddled with the door knob before opening it, only letting himself walk in when you didn't call out for him to wait. He found you perched on the edge of the bed in your night clothes with a towel in hand.

"Hey Sasha," you said with a smile, lowering the towel from your hair. Your mouth flickered downwards slightly as you gave him a pointed look, Sova's gulp almost audible. He shifted the gym pack he held in his hands so it further covered his crotch. He returned your smile.

"Is something wrong?"

"Well... it's past ten," you started slowly.

Sova struggled to keep his expression neutral, waiting for your next words with bated breath. Perhaps you could tell he was waiting in the hallway the whole time. Or maybe he wasn't as quiet as he thought when he made his escape. If you thought you heard him and then figured out he was lingering outside the door for who knows how long, it would look terribly suspicious. Before he could dwell on it any further, you spoke again.

"You weren't pushing yourself too hard, were you?"

He had to prevent himself from slumping over in relief, instead leaning to give you a kiss on the forehead before walking towards the bathroom.

"I was only running, I promise."

"Good. I just got out, so the water should be warm for you."

"Perfect."

Despite his best efforts, Sova couldn't stop thinking about what he saw throughout the duration of his shower. He wasn't sure if relieving himself would count as extraneous activity, either, his shoulder throbbing almost teasingly as he willed himself to calm down.

Perhaps he'd finish off with a few minutes of cold water before getting out.

Yoru

Yoru couldn't remember what it was he went to your room for. A pen? A piece of paper? A ruler, maybe? The thought was completely lost on him, or at least it was the second he opened the door. Words of greeting died in his throat when he found you lying in your bed, splayed out on top of the sheets with an arm thrown over your eyes. Even from where he was standing, he could see how slick the vibrator in your grasp was. You moved the softly humming toy in tiny circles, your mouth going slightly agape with every silent moan.

Given you failed to hear the door open in the first place, he wasn't sure why he was still surprised when you also didn't hear him click it shut behind him. Or when he pulled the chair away from your desk, resting his arms on the backrest as he took a seat and locked his eyes on you. He wanted you to move your arm and discover him there for yourself, wanted you to realize with a squeak that you were no longer alone, wanted you to see the lust in his gaze as he watched you please yourself.

Unfortunately, though, Yoru was also a bit of an impatient man. After sitting in silence for several minutes, he grew tired of waiting and rolled his eyes. He opted to instead raise a fist to his mouth and loudly clear his throat.

A smirk spread across his face as you went abruptly stiff, blindly clicking the toy off and sitting up to face the source of the noise. Upon seeing it was Yoru, you let out a shaky sigh and leaned back, your hand hovering over your heart.

"You scared the shit out of me," you gulped, still breathless from your previous activities.

"Not even a knock? God..."

"Couldn't help myself, besides..." he trailed off, lazily stretching his back.

"I'm gonna come in unannounced every time now that I know you own that kind of thing."

He thoroughly enjoyed watching a blush bloom across your cheeks as you scrambled to cover up, burying the toy in the covers as you went about it. You were undoubtedly embarrassed, that much was obvious.

He figured there was another layer to this that went undiscussed, however. Only when you two had started dating did you truly let yourself begin to discover what you enjoyed, in the sexual sense. He had a feeling that masturbation was still something you weren't entirely proud of partaking in, which was honestly a damn shame.

Yoru rose from his chair as you continued to mumble obscenities about him, his hands gently gripping your blanket and preventing you from moving it any further. You immediately grew quiet and upon realizing he wasn't moving, worked up the courage to finally look at him. With his eyes not once leaving yours, he tossed the blanket to the side and exposed you once again. He let his gaze slowly drop, eyes roaming across your body appreciatively until he found what he was actually looking for. He plucked up the toy and, after admiring the remnants of your gleaming slick, handed it back to you.

"Why don't you keep going, hmm?"

You seemed speechless for a moment, both your hold on the vibrator and your jaw going slack. He settled himself on the side of your bed, his hand going up to cup the side of your face. He leaned in until he could feel your uneven exhales fan across his neck, his nose gliding along your cheekbone as he brought his lips to your ear.

"I like watching you," he said, his tone low.

"I think it's hot."

There was continued silence, but only for a moment. A pleased thrum spread all across his body he heard you turn the toy back on. He pulled away, leaning back to lounge on your mattress and enjoy the show. You tentatively lowered the vibrator back down to its previous spot, just ghosting your clit, and carefully gauged his expression. He purposefully licked his lips, enjoying your slight quiver at his actions as you let your eyes slide shut.

Yoru found himself watching intently as you resumed rubbing slow circles, the familiar sensation of heat pooling in his stomach. He slowly brought his hand down the front of his jeans, and while his member swelled appreciatively as he rocked against it, he found it wasn't truly what he wanted. With your knees wobbling and your teeth sinking into your bottom lip, it wasn't his satisfaction he longed to chase.

It was yours.

Just as your fingers began circling your entrance, he took a gentle hold of them. Your eyes fluttered open at his touch, your brows knitting together in confusion.

"Ryo? I, um, I need something to-"

He swallowed hard.

"Let me, then."

You stared at him for a moment before retracting your hand and letting it rest at your side. He stuck one of his fingers in his mouth, coating it in his saliva, before pulling it out with a wet pop. He could've sworn you shuddered at the sound, your reaction sending another shock of want through him.

He gently traced your folds, noting the wetness that was already there, before softly pushing in. Your walls felt unbelievably warm around him, fluttering slightly as he began to slowly pump his finger in and out. It wasn't much longer before he felt he could add another, now hovering over you on all fours so he had better control of his wrist.

Your eyes were squeezed shut at that point, his name escaping your lips between pants as you applied more pressure with the vibrator. He could tell you were getting close, pushing further into your inviting heat until he was just brushing that spongy spot inside you. Your hips jerked down at that, awarding his movements with a cry.

"I'm- if you keep that up, I'll- ngh, Ryo-"

"Do it then," he interrupted, licking his lips. His voice sounded hoarse even to him, but he couldn't help it. Hearing you say his name so breathless had his cock straining almost uncomfortably against the confines of his underwear.

"Don't hold back. Cum."

He could feel the exact moment you did. The fluttering from before morphed into a vice that drew a choked moan from him, your cunt practically suctioning his fingers in as you ground down on both him and the vibrator. He continued his movements as best as he could to help you ride it out, waiting until your stomach was trembling from overstimulation and you'd turned the toy off before finally pulling his hand away. You laid there relishing your post-orgasmic cloud nine, eventually reaching up to softly grab Yoru by the shirt.

"Do you... need some help?" You whispered, pulling him closer to you. He closed the space between the two of you with a soft kiss.

"I would greatly appreciate it."

Before you could even begin palming him over the fabric of his pants, though, he suddenly let out an annoyed sigh.

"Killjoy needs a highlighter, by the way."

Chamber

There wasn't a lot that made Chamber speechless. He always managed to pull out something witty when encountered with a smart remark, kept cool and collected during even the messiest of missions, and was always able to keep the banter going amongst his fellow agents when things got tense.

Yes, very little ever caught him off guard. Until now, that is.

He found himself leaning against the entryway of the locker room, his plans to collect his revolver from his locker for cleaning completely abandoned as he worked his jaw sore. You were straddling one of the many benches strewn throughout the room, tiny gasps escaping you as you slowly rocked your hips. It wasn't immediately noticeable, but after having stood there for a minute or two, Chamber realised you had a rolled towel beneath you. You were using it as something to grind your heat against, clad only in underwear and a filthy exercise top.

You probably weren't expecting him to be back so soon, let alone so early in the morning. He had been in Paris for the past few weeks handling some business in his old workshop- arranging for equipment to be transported back to the protocol, finishing up the last few orders that had been waiting, bidding his old clientele farewell. Although the work was fairly mundane, if not a little boring at times, he almost found it torturous.

There were very few things that felt better than you beneath him, so the time apart had been almost unbearable for him. Clearly, you were feeling the same.

He quit rutting his clothed crotch into his hand and finally pushed off the doorway, making his way into the room like a shadow. He relished in the soft mewls you were making as he seated himself on a bench directly perpendicular to yours, spreading his legs wide. It was certainly a much better place to admire the view before him. He silently unzipped his pants and pulled his aching cock free, gently running his fingers up and down his shaft.

You had yet to spot him, head thrown back in ecstasy and eyes closed. Your hands were wrapped around the towel, holding it steady as you bent your knees and pressed down on it with even more force. The sight nearly drew a groan out of him. He finally wrapped his fingers around his member in a loose grasp, giving it a few feather-light strokes.

Occasional phone sex could only scratch the itch so much. You probably tried to take out some of your sexual frustration in the sparing room, attacking the nearest punching bag with a vengeance until you felt tired enough to sleep. It was plain to see it hadn't quite done the job.

Your neck suddenly lolled back down and with a pinched sigh, your eyes finally fluttered open.

Chamber chuckled as your gaze met his, eyes going wide and mouth parting in shock. As much as you wanted to stop, a spike of need and embarrassment impaling your lungs, the best you could manage was to bring your rapid motions to a slow rock. You were so close to completion it almost hurt, a whimper escaping you. You wanted to cry out in frustration and elation all at once.

"Vincent," you whimpered, doubling over slightly.

"I- if I had known, I would've waited."

As if he could sense the tug-of-war you suddenly found yourself in, Chamber gave himself another languid pump from where he sat.

"Don't let me interrupt, mon chou. Please. Continue."

It took you a minute to compute his request, but a moan from Chamber as he continued to please himself finally snapped you out of your revere. You tentatively dragged your slowing hips back and forth, eyes glued to his as you found your rhythm once more. He muttered something in French and though he knew you couldn't understand, he could see the hairs on your arms standing up.

The movements of his hand quickened and you shamelessly stared, watching the quick up-down-up-down motions along the length of his impressive erection. You're undivided attention and that hunger in your eyes were almost enough to make him cream himself right there. He rolled his head over his shoulders with a drawn-out moan, the sound only increasing the desperation in your movements. You humped the towel beneath you like it was your job, breaths coming quick and uneven as you grew closer and closer to climax.

Chamber watched with a laser point stare, sweat beading on his brow. He could tell from the involuntary bucks of his hips that he was getting close.

"You're doing well," he urged you, his voice uncharacteristically gravelled.

"Vincent," you panted, arms trembling. He knew exactly what you were thinking, how you were longing for your hand to be in place of his. You were desperate to feel of every ridge and vein of his cock, the glide of his precome easing the way, the pulse of his shaft when he was right on the brink of release.

"Can I-"

Despite it all, you still had it in you to ask his permission. He grunted, now sloppily thrusting up into his own fist. The action nearly sent your eyes rolling to the back of your head.

"Listen to you, being so good. Yes."

That was all it took. With an expression that could rival every piece of art in the Louvre, you finally came. Your thighs squeezed as tight as they could around the bench, your hips dropping even lower as you rode out the aftershocks. Chamber came not too long after, a series of strangled grunts coming from him as he finished in his hand.

After taking a moment to collect his bearings, he shakily got to his feet and tucked himself back into his pants. He joined you on your bench and tilted your head up, his lips capturing yours in a searing kiss. It wasn't a kiss, so much as it was a clash of teeth and tongue, a declaration of how hard his time away was on the both of you. By the time he pulled away, he could taste iron on his tongue from where you'd accidentally bit his lip.

He brushed off your hushed apologies and held his hand up, still covered in his rapidly cooling spend.

"I couldn't have asked for a more pleasant welcome home, mon chou. Care to help me clean up?"

#valorant imagines #valorant sova #sova x reader #valorant yoru #yoru x reader #valorant chamber #chamber x reader

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howtobecomeadragon · 2 years

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Posters, drawings, lookalikes, and more!

This post goes all over the place but I promise it's interesting!!!!

SO: I've seen these go around: the moment that Mike finds El in a trailer, we get a voice-over from Mike saying "that's not Will." And then this idea of maybe Mike's arc paralleling these lines from Hopper: from what Hopper had heard, Will could've been El and vice versa, they looked alike, and maybe he was chasing the wrong kid, like Mike has been doing the past couple seasons romantically.

But I actually found an on-screen example of a lookalike being weirdly in the mix of a scene with a romantic pairing. Again, round of applause to the set design:

Nancy takes off her shirt in front of Steve, and she's standing right in front of a poster featuring a woman with a white bikini to match Nancy's white bra. She's blonde while Nancy is brunette but that doesn't even matter in this scenario and here's why:

Nancy makes it clear in s1 that Steve seems to sleep around a lot, he has a big poster of a woman in a bikini right over his bed, in s3 he flirts with every cute girl that comes into Sccops Ahoy, he starts liking Robin after Dustin suggests it in s3, and then he starts to like Nancy again after Dustin suggests it in s4. He's looking for a woman, any woman.

When Stevw is about to hook up with Nancy, he's free to check out this other woman right behind her. He says "damn" and she says "shut up" and then they go to bed. This isn't to say Steve wasn't into Nancy, but maybe suggesting that Nancy is in over her head with him, foreshadowing them not staying together, suggesting that he isn't good for her. Basically that something about this situation isn't right.

I made a joke when I first noticed this: who is he even saying "damn" to?? Nancy or the poster? And that's the whole point here. Steve says "damn" when Nancy takes off her shirt, while looking at Nancy but the poster was very clearly in his field of vision. That reminded me of a couple things that aren't brand new, but I wanted to connect here:

Mike looked at El in s1 and saw someone who looks pretty similar to Will. This visual similarity comes up twice, iirc, in s1. And then it happens again in s4. They gave El bangs so that she looks similar to Will, making the situation from s1 (IF they had the same hair, would they look similar? Well now they basically have the same hair when El's is up in a ponytail) a reality. They also dressed El in a plaid shirt in 4x04 so that she looked similar to Will (which was stated by the costume designer in that one video).

While Steve is looking for a girl, any girl, Mike had feelings for Will as a child, and latched onto a girl that looked similar to him, as that made the most sense to a repressed queer kid in the 80s. That's why it's important that Will and El look similar while Nancy and the poster woman don't look similar.

Bringing this back to posters behind a love interest: we get this from s3. Initially, we only see that Mike's hawk poster from his basement is in his field of vision and a butterfly is in El's field of vision. Mike is looking for masculinity and El is looking for something feminine, childish? But later in the episode, we see Will's drawing is right next to the poster. I'm not 100% sure if this is Will's D&D character (bc of the fire) or Mike's (bc of the sword), but either way, Will's drawing is there for Mike to look at while being with, kissing El, similar to the bikini poster.

Additionally from s4, we have this post by @willbyerssupremacist, with the picture below: Will's drawing again in Mike's field of vision behind El. And Mike looked up after reading El's "from, El" letter to look directly at Will's drawing, noted in this post by @chirpsythismorning.

Bringing this back to Steve saying "damn," it also made me think of Mike's speech to El in 4x09.

Mike hears Will call him the heart, he turns around, and says "I love you" to El.

I don't think we focus on this enough: Will didn't say "tell her you love her." He said "you're the heart," boiling down what he said in the van: "you guide us, inspire us, hold us together, and we'd fall apart without you." But Mike took that prompting from Will and told El he loves her. Partly because he knew that was what their last fight was about, but could it also be a case of feeling his feelings towards Will, looking at Will calling him the heart (the poster in this scenario) and then turning to El and spitting out his version of Steve saying "damn" to Nancy?

Looking at another example that I found of posters behind a love interest signaling something negative about the couple:

The introduction of Max to the party is very focused on Dustin, we don't get close ups on the other boys during this initial intro, and what does he see behind her? "Extra! Extra! First Woman." Dustin's first crush. But it's just the first, showing that there's going to be more, she's not it for him. Which reminds me of El saying that Mike is her first boyfriend, right?

And we have this imagery at the Snowball: Dustin just panning his vision to see what's next after Max isn't an option anymore: more women after the First Woman! Similar to how Steve and Mike could've just panned their vision over while looking at Nancy or El to see what else is there: hot girl in a bikini, a reminder of Will.

So basically, there's something here with Will's drawing being in Mike's field of vision when he's with El. It's a parallel to two other failed romantic matches. And I just think that poster behind Nancy is so interesting!!! I'll be posting more about some Nancy parallels soon. 🙂

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Edit: Some Nancy-Byler parallels all kind of loosely connected: part 1, part 2, part 3

#byler #st parallels #st set design #st cinematography

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nova-dracomon · 1 year

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What Vaguetypes Mean to Me: Ga'Hoole Owl Edition

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I've been thinking more and more about how there's not nearly enough othervague content. So! Here's my contribution on why I personally love othervague and call my Ga'Hoole owl 'type a vaguetype vs a fictotype.

Why Othervague?

The easiest answer is a dislike for labels. Having the freedom to exist in-between gives me more breathing room to explore my identity. There's no pressure to "conform" if the label is inherently, well, vague. Ha ha. I don't have to worry I'm pushing myself into feeling a certain way to fit--or stress about having to change labels or whatever if my experiences change. Hell, even created knowledge would be fair game here. But we'll talk more about that later.

To clarify, this is not a temporary label for me to use until I sort everything out later. Vaguetype is the final stop. No matter where my self-discovery takes me, the label is reliable and works.

Below I'll pick-apart my various feelings and connections to these owls and how I experience the in-between.

Intrinsic and Integral

I'm avianheated and I don't think it's a mistake that I identify as one too. Which came first is kinda a chicken or the egg scenario. I've heard it spun both ways before and it really comes down to the individual's interpretation of their experiences. Would I feel so drawn to these owls if I wasn't so attached to birds? Or, did I attach to birds because I innately knew they were similar to myself?

I don't know and I don't really mind either way.

I am an owl, but my owl-ness competes internally with dracomon (another vaguetype I'll discuss in a part 2) and human. Even if my feelings wane, I know they'll eventually begin to wax again like the moon. It's like they're tied in with my default settings. I could probably take actions to suppress them and test how true that is, but wtf that sounds awful. Existing this way makes me happy, I feel like myself and I'm certainly not hurting anyone else.

Archetype of the Guardian

What separates archetrope from otherkin?

Sometimes it's easy to see. Like someone identifying with a role totally detached from being explicitly nonhuman. However, when I think about this, archetropes come off as more action-focused to me. They're more concerned with doing things, what actions they're going to take next or at the least concerned with living in alignment to a set of values/role/code. At least, that's the vibe I get.

A big part of my identity is the role of being a guardian, upholding their oath and extending a helping talon to others. For example, few things make me feel more like an owl than working on archival duties (besides maybe being out in a storm!) It's a way to live one of the core values of the tree which is to grow our collective knowledge and share it with all.

The act of continuing the legacy and upholding the tree's standards is a very present ideal for me.

Created Knowledge

Straddling the line between noemata and otherlink, knowledge we acquire and stitch together is probably one of the more contentious areas.

How can you tell noemata from headcanon?

I don't feel it matters to my personal experience. Stories and legends are true in their own way. They're feelings we get in our gizzards that over time become true in our hearts. Thinking about how I was a hireclaw before coming to the Great Tree emboldens me to try harder to be patient and compassionate to others. To be a better owl.

I don't want to concern myself rigorously picking apart what is voluntary or involuntary--100% true kin memory or a fabrication of my mind. I rather spend my time living and being an owl. These feelings are true in my reality, they affect my behavior and drive me to new heights. Even the bits of knowledge about my vaguetype that border more on the headcanon side have important messages about my life and journey. I don't choose things at random, there's something resonating with me that draws me there.

As another piece of this is my kinsona representation. I don't have strong feelings towards a certain owl species, but I feel drawn to long-earred owls at the moment so I represent myself as one. (That's me on the right in the top photo!) The colors and markings are just stylized natural looking ones.

I am an owl of the Great Tree, I long for flight and freedom, knowledge and understanding -- my species is secondary to my actions and words.

The Heart of the Matter

Could I call myself something different and be taken seriously in the community? Of course! But at the end of the day, after all this talking, it comes down to what I want. My desire is to have a nebulous label. If I was forced to pick something else, I think I would simply call myself "unlabelled" or perhaps only "fictionfolk."

-Hortense

#othervague #Ga'Hoole Owl #vaguetype #Ga'Hoole Owl Vaguetype #otherkin #otherkind #alterhuman #fictionkin #fictionkind #archetrope #fictionfolk #nova squawks

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dapapple · 11 hours

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Ok ok- imagine “No Longer You” by Jorge Rivera-Herrans from Epic the Musical as Kim Dokja talking to Yoo Junghyuk during the strongest incarnation/Nirvana scenario when KDJ said this might be the only regression YJH makes it to the end as a human.

KDJ:

I am the prophet with the answers you seek

Time, I’ve unlocked it

I see past and future running free

There is a world where I help you get home

But that’s not a world I know

YJH:

What?

KDJ:

I see a song of past romance

I see the sacrifice of man

I see portrayals of betrayals

And a brother’s final stand

I see you on the brink of death

I see you draw your final breath

I see a man who gets to make it home alive

But it’s no longer you

My thoughts below~

KDJ has been claiming to be somewhat of a prophet to YJH so it makes sense. For the lines about time/past and future it could reference to YJH’s earlier and later regressions that KDJ knows about from TWSA. KDJ would say he doesn’t know a world where he helps YJH because he only knows the YJH of the novel, where he was alone regressing through the scenarios without help of KDJ. Rather than imply that KDJ won’t help him in this world, he is implying that he just has never read the story of him helping YJH.

Past romance could be YJH and Lee Seolhwa from the 2nd regression. Sacrifice of man could literally be so many things but either sometime that YJH sacrifices himself or when YJH sacrifices others for his mission or his own survival. Anna Croft would be the betrayal. For brothers final stand, I think it could be a regression when maybe YJH sacrifices himself for Yoo Mia. As KDJ said in the strongest incarnation scenario, this might be the only regression YJH gets to make it to the end as a human, similar to Odysseus in The Odyssey not being the able to be recognized as the same man he was when he first left.

The parallels of YJH and Odysseus are so good. Anyways I love Epic the Musical, The Odyssey, and ORV so brain rot goes crazy

#orv #yoo junghyuk #kim dokja #yjh #orv yjh #kdj #orv kdj #omniscient reader's viewpoint #epic the musical #epic the underworld saga #no longer you #lyric analysis #Spotify #dap does a rare text post :o

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nyawn5 · 9 months

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[Part 1] I'm reposting some of my old Kirby artwork. Also going to be a long thread, aka my lore~ *wink*.

Anyway, these two artworks I made, I think from 2018(?), probably my most proud creations. You see, the Kirby café fanart is the first drawing I made after a year hiatus in 2017 got busy because of the class course. Kirby literally brought my motivation to draw again since then. The Sectonia artwork is shortly after that I still proud with it too (and I still don't remember how I made those glittering effect

(╥︣﹏╥)

Oh, and also does anyone know Flipline Studios games? Only the OG's know my old username. That game is the reason why I started my digital art path, well I probably have to make another post about it too hehe....

Anyway back to topic, yes I'm practicing creating a 4koma manga (minus Magolor, Marx, Taranza trio). Also, it turns out there's a similar scenario in Kirby manga the Meta Knight one. I swear idk, am I sharing the braincells with the mangaka? 😅

Nothing much to say about this but I'm happy people found these funny back then.

Nothing much to say about this just experimenting a lot with colors and drawing the Puffball and Egg (─‿‿─)

Ah yes, my Super Smash Bros. phase Kinda miss making this again maybe someday when I got the confidence to draw outside FE again. I still experimenting a lot with flashy colors.

Dunno if some of you have seen it, but yeah I made that comic before all DLC announced. Sad Bandee didn't manage to get the spot, although I'm still hoping he got his "special appearance" one day (ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ♥

Thanks for reading up to this bottom text, pls do tell me if I made typo or grammar mistakes. Part 2 later ->

#fanart #artwork #kirby #super smash bros #fire emblem #mother 2 #doodles #art dump

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too-destiny-panda · 6 months

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Wyllvember Day 8: First Love

A/N: This is one of the prompts I was unsure on how to write it, because in game Wyll says he is 'marrying his first love' in relation to Tav, but he also says he had his first at 15, so that can be considered a first love as well. Anyways, I hope you enjoy my take on it. Prompt credits go to @sagscrib, additionaly tagging @commander-yinello.

WC: 981

Wyll was a romantic. Ever since he first heard the legend of Balduran, he had been enraptured by tales of heroism. And with heroism often came romance. He adores the idea of falling in love with someone for the first time and spending the rest of their lives together. Sure, some would call it cliché, but to him, that was the height of romance. If he could save them from imminent danger while he was at it, that would be great too.

Of course, despite his romantic spirit never leaving him, those ideas warped as he got older. He had crushes, short term infatuations with people that never lasted for more than a week, but never love. He knew what love was, and had heaps of it platonically, but romantic love? That was a foreign concept. He daydreamed about it, about whether or not it would feel the same way the writers described it in their tales, the way bards sang about it in their poems. He couldn’t help but fantasise about the circumstances surrounding that fateful person. How would they meet? Would it be a fateful brush of fingers as they reached for the last peach in a stall? Would it be at a grandiose masquerade, their faces obscured, but the dance so memorable that would fate would draw them together again and again? Or maybe he would save them from monsters, like in the fairy tales of old, with a gleaming sword, meaningful mottos, and a sunrise to highlight it all. Young Wyll was a hopeless, dreaming romantic. Older Wyll less so.

Older Wyll knew better than to put stock into such happenstances (though that didn’t keep him from imagining similar scenarios from time to time). Whether Fate was a driving force or not, if one didn’t seize an opportunity, it was unlikely for a similar event to happen again. When he had his first kiss, once upon a time, he knew it wasn’t love. He thought so at the time, of course, but looking back at the moment, he knew it wasn’t. He had a crush on the person, and in a moment of confidence during festivities, he took (consensually) the chance and planted one on their lips. It was awkward, inexperience tainting the experience slightly, and he never saw the person again afterwards, as they left the city with some merchant group or other. Maybe if they stayed, he would have learned to nurture his crush and turned it into love. Maybe they would have avoided each other until either or both of them matured. The what ifs were present in his mind for a short while afterwards, but he figured it won’t do him good to dwell on it. So he moved on and promised himself that the next time he felt a connection that burned beyond just physical attraction, he would take his chance and hold on to it until rejection.

Almost ten years later, that chance presented itself during the strangest, and most perilous time of his life in the form of the leader of their merry band of random weirdos, as Astarion sometimes puts it. It had been a while since any kind of… indulgence, so he thought that at first he was simply attracted to their unique features. But, as the days flowed by, as Tav made decisions big and small, he quickly realized that lust played a much smaller part in his attraction than he initially thought. So, he decided to carefully call it a crush.

It wasn’t until he was forced through Hell’s fires and sprouted horns did he realise he might be falling for this person. The way they comforted him, their kind words helping to at least somewhat alleviated his burdened mind. He started noticing more details about them afterwards. The way their muscles clenched almost imperceptibly when they were getting ready to attack whatever scum crossed their path. The way they would sometimes stop to pick a plant, no matter its alchemical use. The way the children of the grove lit up whenever they came back to regale them with exaggerated stories of what happened outside the protective walls.

Oh yes, Wyll, for the first time in his life, was falling in love, and he was falling hard and fast, the not entirely familiar feelings consuming his every thought, courtesy of Tav insisting on bringing him everywhere with them. He was lucky enough to be gifted with a healthy amount of charisma to hide his true feelings, but it was getting harder every day. He almost broke his metal cup of wine when Lae’zel openly propositioned their leader in quick succession after Astarion did. He felt guilty about such trivial jealousy, knowing he had no right to stake claim of Tav’s heart even mentally. But he just couldn’t help it, the way his heart fluttered, and hands turned clammy whenever the object of his pining would give him even a sliver of attention, even if it was just a fleeting glance as they checked on the group after a fight.

It was a challenge to grapple with this newly discovered emotion and their effect on his thoughts. Partially because he felt like they deserved more than to be pined after by a devil of all things, but also because he was practically sure they would never see him in the same light he did them. Ah, the irony of the world, where the most persuasive and flirty ones are also the most oblivious people to walk the land of the living. Maybe Tav will have to make the first move after all, if only to quell Astarion’s gagging noises. Shadowheart, thankfully, took the more subtle approach of looking both mildly amused and exasperated.

Maybe it was time to switch out the party, if only to save themselves from the endless pointed looks and dramatic huffs of annoyance.

#wyllvember #wyll x tav #wyll ravengard #bg3 wyll #blue writes

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lunarsands · 3 months

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ESMP Fanfic: A Garden's Path - Ch 3

Characters: Mythical Sausage, Scott Smajor, Bubbles the Dog, Sir Carlos, appearances by the rest of the cast of Empires SMP S1, featuring blaze-hybrid emperor TangoTek, and introducing: The Children of Mythland (specific characters to be tagged when they appear in each chapter)

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor, LDShadowlady/Smallishbeans, Shubble/Katherine Elizabeth, TangoTek & SolidarityGaming, Joey Graceffa/Xornoth

Tags: Empires SMP S1 AU, scosage, adoption, fluff, wholesome, so much wholesome fluff you would not believe, a bit of angst here and there, Sausage has a few nightmares for Plot reasons, acknowledgement of amputation (not sure how else to tag that but just in case)

WARNINGS: fantasy racism (human v elf), loss of parent (with adoption inevitably comes orphans), minor character death in a later chapter

Chapter Summary: Sausage and Scott set out to add to their family and find quite the boisterous little elven girl to take up that place. Meet the adorable, unstoppable force that is Liana of Mythland.

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ Prologue ] [ Chapter One ] [ Chapter Two ]

[A/N: This character sprung fully formed from my head like Athena from Zeus. She was the first to get an official name due to a small one-off scene that eventually led to this whole story.] [To CallMeSausage on Ao3: I see your comment on Chapter Two, and I acknowledge it. XD ]

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Chapter Three – The First Princess

The orphanage looked somewhat similar to the one they had previously visited, if not smaller and with a yellow thatched roof. As before, Scott made introductions in Elvish, and also as before some of the children shied away from Sausage. He took it in stride, and quietly walked around looking at some drawings that had been placed on the walls, hoping to acclimate the children to his presence and show he was harmless. He could hear Scott chatting with someone young but avoided the temptation to glance over, hoping he wouldn’t interrupt a possible candidate. He heard a negative response and tried not to worry. It might be too much to hope for another scenario where a child was more curious than put off by him being a human.

Yet instead, what Sausage heard next was a somewhat brash little voice calling up at him, “I’m having a tea party but no one wants to play tea party with me! You’re not playing with anyone, so do you want to come to my tea party?”

He looked down to see an indigo-eyed girl of perhaps somewhere around six or seven years old, with long, sapphire-colored hair that looped down one side of her pinkish-hued face. She tucked the loop behind her ear as she looked back at him. Sausage smiled gently. Well, maybe this was a good sign. “Yes, I’d love to.”

“Okay.” Without a second’s hesitation she grabbed his right hand and pulled him toward a small table. There were some small chairs already occupied by a few dolls arranged around it, but after she let go of him, she started moving them to make more space. “You’re too big – they always tell the bigger kids not to sit on these chairs or else they’ll break them! So, the dollies go here. You can sit in this spot, an’ I’ll sit over there an’ pour the tea. An’ then we talk about our fav’rite things ‘cause that’s what the growed-ups always do when they come here. Oh, an’ I’m Liana. I’m six an’ a half. We’re s’posed to tell our names an’ how old we are even when we’re just playing.” She gave a big sigh. “They don’t always play tea party, either. Okay, let me get you a cup.”

As he knelt in the indicated spot, Sausage couldn’t help finding her to be quite endearing. “I can get you another guest if you’d like.”

“Okay! I can take a cup from a dollie. They don’t act’lly use them, you know.”

Sausage turned and waved to get Scott’s attention. “Scott! Come have tea with us!” The elf raised an eyebrow, intrigued by where Sausage had ended up, but smiled as he walked over. “Scott, this is our hostess, Liana. Liana, this is my husband, Scott.”

“Hi. You didn’t say your name, you know. Let me move another dollie.” The little girl briefly wrestled one of the chairs to make room for Scott.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot my manners. My name is Sausage.”

She stopped and giggled. “That’s a silly name! But I had a friend named Buttercup, which is also silly, ‘cause a whole cup of butter is a lot! But she was nice, so it wasn’t a bad name. Just kind of silly. She went home last year. Okay, tea time, everybody sit.” Liana bustled back over to her hostess spot.

Scott nudged the chair the rest of the way over so he could kneel, then he sat back. He watched her pick up a small, unglazed clay tea pot that had been roughly painted by obviously childish hands. And was obviously empty. “That’s a nice tea pot, Liana. Did you paint it yourself?”

“No, I gots it from Melne when she went home. She gots it from somebody else, an’ they gots it from somebody else. I’m gonna give it to somebody when I go home so they can play tea party, too.” She poured the pretend-tea into the equally unglazed cups. “It’s hot so be careful!” She poured her own cup then sat and leaned over to blow on the cup. “Okay, now it’s colder.”

Scott and Sausage obliged by picking up their cups and pretending to take sips. Sausage snuck an amused smile over at Scott, then said, “This is very good tea. Thank you, Liana.”

“Yup! Okay, now you tell me some of your fav’rite things, then I’ll tell you more of mine.” She took a dainty pretend-sip from her cup then looked over at them expectantly.

Sausage decided to go ahead and talk about Bubbles, while Scott mentioned magic and cut to the chase by conjuring a small snow flurry over the table. Liana said she thought it was neat, then listed off her favorite dolls from around the table, but especially her bunny plushie that had always been with her and not a hand-me-down from the older kids and that one was on her bed because bunny needed a nap today. Then she asked, “Do you gots any other kids? Sometimes the growed-ups talk about their other kids an’ aren’t act’lly sure they want more.”

“We have two boys,” Sausage replied tentatively. “They’re at home, but we asked them if they would like to have a sister and they said yes.”

“Boys, huh?” Liana looked like she was considering the matter very seriously. “Well, boys don’t always like to play tea party, but that’s okay. ‘Scuse me.” She abruptly stood up and ran over to the caretaker across the room. “Hi, can I has cookies, please? I want to serve my guests. They need cookies with their tea!”

A giggle escaped Sausage. “Oh, she is precious. She doesn’t seem bothered about my arm or the… other thing.” He briefly reached up to touch his ear. “What do you think?”

“I think we have a match” Scott said, watching Liana skip back over clutching a container. She carefully set it down, then fished out one cookie at a time to place on the plates in front of them.

“Okay, wait for me to get back, then we can eat.” She carefully put the cover back on the container then returned it to the caretaker. “I only took one each, so’s not gonna spoil their dinner!” Once she returned, she dunked her cookie into her pretend tea and started munching on it. She then giggled and leaned toward them to whisper conspiratorially, “Sometimes I play tea party so’s I can gets extra cookies.” She giggled again, pleased to have shared her secret, then sat back to finish eating.

Sausage muffled another laugh, covering it up by hastily biting into his cookie. Scott ate his with a little more grace, then said, “We would be happy to get you your own tea set – and cookies – if you’d like to come live with us.”

“Can I gets one with bunnies on it?”

“You could even get one that you can paint yourself and put anything you want on it,” Scott replied. He reckoned they could probably request a specially decorated one from the potter, though.

“Okay. Can I bring my bunny, or do I has to hands-me-down it first?” She looked a little consternated by the choice.

Sausage could see the indecision in her eyes and felt he should encourage her in some way, as the tradition seemed important to her. “You can bring everything that is yours. But we can get you some new things, if you’d like to leave anything as a gift to someone else, like this tea set.”

“I really like my bunny… But I have a dress that Silvilana said she liked. She’s smaller than me but she can wear it when she gets bigger!”

“That’s very nice of you,” Scott said. “Thank you for the tea. We need to talk with the other grown-ups but we’ll see you in a little while.”

“Okay. Thanks for coming to my tea party. You were nice guests. Time to clean up!” Liana stacked the plates and hurriedly began to bring the assortment of items to a set of wooden cubby holes along the wall. She was trying to line up the dolls on top of them – not quite tall enough to reach – when another little girl came over to her. As Scott and Sausage walked toward the caretaker, they heard her call out, “Silvilana! I might gets two daddies! One of ‘em gots a metal arm!”

Scott was now the one to suppress a laugh. “Oh, my gods. She’s perfect. She’s just like you.”

“I don’t remember if I was like that at that age.”

“No, I’m talking about now.”

Sausage gave him a look questioning that observation. Scott gave him a frank look in return. Sausage bobbed his head for a moment as if in debate, then held his hands out in a gesture admitting the elf was right.

Soon paperwork was finalized and once again the royal stamp was eyed by the caretaker. “You’re… absolutely sure about her?” they asked, attempting to be tactful. “She’s not quite, well, princess material.”

Sausage deftly snapped the stamp up into his hand then whisked it away into his pocket. “We’re not looking for a princess. We’re looking for a daughter.” He smiled pleasantly and turned to go help with Liana’s bag, with Scott not far behind.

The little girl sat in a chair near the main door, humming and swinging her feet. She hopped up as they approached. She hugged her bunny plush tightly. “Time to go home! Do we have to go far?”

“It’s a little far,” Sausage admitted. “But we’ll get there before it’s dark out.” He then gave pause and lowered himself to one knee to be closer to her level. “I just want to ask you one thing before we go. You’ve been very nice about my arm. It does come off so it can be fixed, so you’ll see me without it. Is that okay?”

She looked over at his prosthetic thoughtfully, then placed her hand on the transparent crystal in the middle of his forearm. “A dollie’s arm gots pulled off one time but gots sewed back on. I could still play with her without it.”

“I also can’t sleep with it on, so it isn’t just when it needs to be fixed.”

“Well, yeah! Metal can’t be comfy to sleep on!”

Sausage smiled broadly at her. He felt Scott’s hand on his shoulder. “You have a very good point. Are you all ready to go?” He stood up and gave Scott a weaker smile. The elf patted his shoulder in response.

“Umm…” She turned to the door, then looked back toward the playroom. “I put away all the toys like I’m s’posed to. I put all my clothes in there. I have my bunny. I think I’m okay to go now.” She hugged the doll again, then reached up for Sausage’s hand while holding the bunny close with the other. “Let’s go home, um… Sau-sage an’, um…” When she sounded out his name it was the first time she seemed uncertain.

“You can call me Papa,” he offered.

Scott moved to get the door for them. “I’m called ‘Dad’.” Remembering what she had said to the other girl, he added, “Daddy is fine, too.”

“Papa, and Daddy. Okay.” Liana nodded, then quietly walked along out to the carriage. She wasn’t as enamored with it as the boys had been, instead only keeping a tight hold on her bunny as she watched Scott climb in. He took her bag from Sausage then held out his arms to help her in when Sausage lifted her up to reach the step more easily. She sat between them and once the carriage set off, she began humming again.

Scott let a few minutes pass before striking up conversation. “Liana, can I ask what you think about princesses?” Sausage shot him a bit of a worried glance; he had thought they would bring that up closer to home.

“They live in big castles an’ have pretty dresses an’ have pet horsies. They don’t ride the horsies too much, they just sit on them an’ look pretty, an’ a prince walks the horsie around so she doesn’t have to walk after he gives her a special shoe.”

There was clearly a very specific picture book that she associated the word princess with.

“Princesses can actually do all sorts of different things, including ride a horse around,” Scott said. “The big castle part is true, though.”

“Are we going to see a big castle? An’ meet a princess? That would be neat.” Her face fell a little bit. “I don’t gots a dress pretty enough to meet a princess. Everybody looks really pretty when they gets to meet a prince or princess.”

Sausage commented with a smile, “You’ll soon get to meet two princes, and they won’t mind if you have a fancy dress or not. But we can get you one.”

She perked up. “Can it be purple? I like purple. Melne had a purple dress, not as pretty as a princess’, but it was nice.”

“It can definitely be purple,” Scott replied. “If we get back home with enough time, we might be able to find one and you could wear it when you see the princes.”

“Are they your princes?” Liana asked with all the curiosity of the world in her voice, while leaving them stunned that she managed to make such a guess. “You said you gots two boys. So, two princes!”

“Ah, ehm,” Scott stammered. “How did you get that idea?”

She pointed at Sausage. “You’re tall like a king.”

“Me?” Sausage tried to sound innocent. “But he’s taller! I didn’t know height was a requirement for kings.”

“No, it’s ‘cause you’re like this.” Liana stood up and carefully walked toward the other seats, mindful of the motion of the carriage. She squared her shoulders and then sat, poised confidently with her back straight and head held high – a complete change from her own subconscious slouch when she had been sitting between them.

“I – I am??” Sausage asked in confusion, unaware of his apparently ingrained royal posture.

“When you sat at the tea party!” she insisted. “’Cause you were being serious! You were serious about playing pretend!” A grin spread across her face.

Scot failed to not share that grin as he turned to his husband. “She has you, there. Well, Liana, you have us figured out. We’re the rulers of Mythland. We wanted to keep it a secret so no one would think we were super-special.”

Liana’s face scrunched up into an exaggerated ‘thinking mode’. “Hmm. Kings pretending to be reg’lar people but are from a land of myths…” She peered over at them. “Are you also heroes who saved the world from a BIG monster that would’ve eated everything if somebody wasn’t brave enough to stop it?”

Sausage hastily hugged Scott to cover up their mutually shocked reactions, lamenting, “Scott, we have to keep her now! She knows our secret! We have no choice but to make her a princess who will be destined to save the kingdom from an even scarier monster in the future! Thank goodness we found her in time!”

Liana giggled. “No, that’s just pretend! I can be a reg’lar princess just having tea parties! An’ maybe ride a horsie.”

~*~

When the report came from the watchtower that a carriage was approaching, Bubbles and the boys ran out toward the stable yard – with Sir Carlos flapping in their wake, admonishing them to slow down in case one of them tripped.

Due to this, they all arrived after the carriage had parked, although they witnessed Sausage lifting an elven girl who was clutching a plush bunny doll down off the carriage steps. She spotted the boys and dashed over while Sausage was busy taking her bag from Scott. “Hi! You must be the princes! I didn’t have a dress for meeting princes an’ we didn’t have time to stop an’ look for one like Daddy said ‘cause we didn’t want to be late to dinner, so I’ll get one later. I’m Liana, an’ I’m six an’ a half!”

“Hi, Liana. I’m Azahar. I turned twelve last month, but… you don’t have to keep telling everyone your age now that you have a family.”

“Oh.” She looked up at him, baffled. “That’s what I was told I was s’posed to do when I meet new people. You’re my brothers ‘cause you’re Papa and Daddy’s sons, but you’re still new to me!” She then pivoted toward Elowen. “Hi!”

Her gregariousness seemed a bit much for the other boy, who stammered, “H-Hi, Liana. I’m Elowen. It – It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yeah! And this doggy is Bubbles, right? Hi, Bubbles! And this is—” Liana paused and peered down at Sir Carlos. “Nobody told me about a pet chicken! ‘Specially a chicken with armor! Papa!” She turned her head to look for Sausage. “Are you a king who has all sorts of knights, too? ‘Cause this chicken looks like a knight!”

Sir Carlos clucked – almost sounding more like a chuckle. “Young mistress Liana, I am Sir Carlos. I am, indeed, a knight.”

The little girl spun back to face him with her eyes wide. “You’re a talking chicken?! This place is like a fairytale story! Bubbles, are you magical, too??”

Elowen tugged on Azahar’s sleeve as the older boy stood stunned by the sheer amount of vivacious energy coming off the girl. Elowen whispered, “And I thought I got excited about cool things. Wait until she hears about the dragon…”

“There’s a pet DRAGON, too?!” Liana exclaimed.

Azahar now turned an amused smile toward his parents. Sausage hefted Liana’s bag over his shoulder and strolled past the children up the steps, trying to give off a casual air. “You, Liana, seem to have exceptional hearing. The story about the dragon will have to wait – I think I can smell dinner from here! Let’s rest up from all that travel and we can all talk more inside.”

“Okay!” Liana followed at his heels. “Is there a special princess chair? I’ve seen pictures of princesses sitting on big, fancy pillows. I don’t need a fancy pillow, but sometimes I need one to reach a table.”

Azahar and Elowen remained where they stood for half a minute longer, just staring after them and listening to their new sister’s voice echo off the stone as she continued to ramble. The older boy looked at Scott as he stepped between them to put a hand behind each’s shoulder, as if to nudge them out of their flummoxed states and start walking. “How—” Azahar flicked a pointing finger between Scott and the direction of Sausage’s back. “How did you—? She’s—??”

“…Just like Papa?” Scott finished for him with a smile. “There is a lot of magic in the world, and maybe fate does happen to be one of them.”

~*~

Liana gazed around as she continued to follow Sausage toward the staircase that led to the upper floors, where he intended to quickly stash her bag and maybe see if she would part with her bunny plush so she could go to dinner unhindered. “Papa, this castle is huge! It’s gonna take weeks an’ weeks to see all of it! How come you only gots two kids? You could fit elebenty hundred in here!”

Sausage laughed. “Well, we only decided we wanted kids last year. It would take a while to find that many! And there aren’t as many bedrooms as it looks like. We would probably run out of space after the first elebenty, er, eleven. Azahar and Elowen share a room right now, but they might decide they each want their own later.”

“Who do I have a room with?” Liana asked curiously.

“Um… your bunny! But your room is right across from the boys if you need anything, and Dad and I are right down the hall.”

“What about these rooms?” She glanced left and right at the other doors they were passing.

“Those are guest rooms! Well, a few have some junk stored in them because I, uh, collect things. But when you or the boys make some friends, they’ll be able to stay over and sleep in one of them! Okay, here we are! See, there’s their room.” Sausage pointed with his foot to the open doorway on the left before finagling with the door across from it.

Liana wandered over to glance inside; she saw the two neatly made beds with Elowen’s teddy bear on the one farthest from the door, then she spotted the books and crowns sitting on the dresser. Her eyes widened with glee, but she kept the feeling reined in to just a broad smile as she turned and walked back over to survey her room. Two new beds and other furniture had been placed in it after the existing items had been moved to accommodate Elowen’s request to share.

Liana scurried over to the second bed and climbed up to lay her bunny against the pillows. “You’re right! Bunny gets a bed, too!” She hopped back to the floor and took a serious look around. “Hmm. I need to gets books. An’… An’ a crown. ‘Cause that’s what’s in Azahar and Elowen’s room.”

Sausage kept quiet for a moment, realizing for the first time as he put her clothes away in the dresser how few possessions Liana had been able to put in her bag… or, what had actually been put in it for her. The clothing seemed threadbare and was, perhaps, reserved for sending off with a child when it could no longer be handed down to another child who wore that size. He made a mental note to send a subsidy to that particular orphanage, and have a talk with Xornoth about checking fund distributions; he then added a note for himself to do the same there in Mythland.

He turned a bright smile toward Liana. “You can put whatever you want in here! It doesn’t have to be just books! Flowers, dollies, a pretty tea pot – even other bunny plushies!” She looked distressed for a second, so he added, “Bunnies that are friends for your bunny! That way yours can have company when you’re busy doing princess things!”

She seemed to think about it, then she nodded enthusiastically and carefully enunciated, “Thank you, Papa, I would like that.”

Sausage chuckled then scooped her up with his left arm, holding her on his hip with support from his right hand. “You’re welcome! Let’s go downstairs to dinner, and we can think about getting dollies and dresses tomorrow. In fact… We’re going to be late for dinner! I just noticed Dad and the boys didn’t follow us! They might eat everything before we get there! Hold on to me!”

Liana giggled and hugged his neck as he ran out of the room and tore down the hall, laughing with her until they reached the staircase, which he navigated more carefully until he neared the bottom. He bunny-hopped down the last few steps, making Liana giggle again. As they neared the dining room, she put her nose up into the air and crinkled it. “I can smell dinner now, too! Dinnertime! Dinnertime! Dinner with my new daddies an’ brothers!”

Sausage entered the room to see heartfelt looks on the faces of Scott and the boys due to having heard Liana’s joyful declaration. They had been making changes to how the table was arranged, with Scott and Elowen seated to the left of the head of the table and an extra chair added on the right next to Azahar that put Liana between him and Sausage. An additional purple cushion had been placed on this chair. Liana uttered a big, delighted gasp when she saw it as Sausage set her down on it. She wiggled a little, then whispered, “So there was a special princess chair…”

Elowen suppressed a giggle, while Azahar smiled gently at Liana. “You said you might need a pillow to reach the table, so we found one for you. Dad said you like purple.”

“I do! Thank you!” Liana crowed. She calmed down and said matter-of-factly, “I only need it for right now, though. I’m gonna grow up to be really tall, then I can reach all the fancy tables!”

Elowen fidgeted as the kitchen staff began to set out bowls of soup and small, individual baskets of warm bread rolls. He appeared as if he wanted to say something to Liana, but he waited while she thanked each person that walked past. After the staff withdrew, he blurted, “D-Do you think you’ll be really tall because your mom or your dad were tall?”

Liana had started munching on a bread roll and calmly spoke around the bite, “I don’t know my mommy or daddy. When I gots old enough an’ asked, the growed-ups told me I was a ‘doorstep baby’, an’ all I had with me was my bunny! So, they didn’t know about them to tell me.”

Azahar, Scott, and Sausage were startled by her candor. Azahar reached over to lightly pat Liana’s arm. “You and I have something in common, then.”

Liana’s eyes widened. “You gots left with just your bunny, too? But I didn’t see one in your room!”

Azahar laughed. “No, I think it was a handspun yarn blanket, and when I outgrew it, it was used for another baby, which I didn’t mind.”

“Oh, that’s a nice hands-me-down,” Liana said, nodding sagely as she took another bite of the roll. She chewed, then announced, “This is yummy bread!” She hummed happily until she finished eating the roll, then she looked across the table. “Elowen, did you hands-me-down anything? Was that your teddy bear I saw? It could be friends with my bunny!”

Elowen smiled weakly, having been poking his spoon at the vegetables in his soup. “I didn’t have anything like that. I got my teddy bear later.”

“Oh, okay,” Liana replied, oblivious to his dulled tone. “That’s a good reason to not hands-me-down! Daddy, Papa, do you have bunnies or teddy bears from when you was kids?”

With a mischievous look – and hoping to lighten Elowen’s mood – Sausage answered, “I only have Bubbles from when I was a kid!”

Liana shook her spoon at him. “Papa, Bubbles is a real doggy! You can’t pretend a real aminal is a toy!” She took a very serious first sip of her soup, as if she was the parent scolding the child, then her eyes lit up and she looked down at the bowl in wonder. “This is really good soup!” She ate two more quick spoonfuls before coughing when she started on a third.

“Slowly, Liana,” Scott gently chided. “It will still taste good if you eat slower. And to answer your question, I had a blue fawn plushie when I was little, although it ended up with the spots turned red because my brother tried to dye it with berry juice. We were never able to wash the stain out. But it was still my favorite.”

Liana gave an angry pout. “Your brother sounds mean! What if you gots another brother or sister after you, an’ you were gonna hands-me-down it to them, but they didn’t like red, an’ it made them cry! An’… An’ if he’s your brother, that makes him my uncle!” Her face fell into a sadder pout. “I don’t want a mean uncle.”

Scott chuckled. “Don’t worry, he wasn’t trying to be mean. He just wanted to do something silly. He thought it would wash out, too.”

Liana stood up on her chair and now shook her spoon at Scott, sending a few droplets of broth flying. “But no one should mess with someone’s fav’rite toy! It’s not nice! He shoulda tried it on his own toy first, so’s he would know how it feels!”

Sausage reached over to pinch the handle of her spoon between two fingers, creating a metallic tink sound. Putting some focus on his magic frequency, he sent a brief surge of energy through his prosthetic to make the gemstone at the wrist twinkle. The shine of this light through the translucent green cover atop his forearm distracted her from her tiny outrage and she watched with fascination, although all he did was gently lower her hand.

Meanwhile, Azahar and Elowen traded looks across the table. The latter stammered, “Y-You’re very energetic, Liana. We were really nervous about becoming princes and were, um, very polite our first days here.”

Liana blinked at him. To Sausage’s relief, she put her spoon down altogether instead of gesturing with it again, so he withdrew his hand. “But it’s just dinnertime,” she replied. “It’s not a big ball with lotsa candles an’ people dancing in a big room with fancy dresses. We’re just being us, aren’t we?”

Sausage began to laugh. “She’s right! We’re just us right now. But you still shouldn’t stand on your chair, Liana, or wave utensils around at the same time – you might fall over into your soup!”

“Oh. Yeah, you’re right – it won’t taste good if I do that,” she agreed. She sat back down on the pillow and ate her soup with perfect manners, although after a point she grabbed another roll and proceeded to gobble it down while again proclaiming how yummy it was.

~*~

After a short lantern-lit tour to try to give Liana a sense of direction if she happened to get up during the night or possibly woke up early and decided to explore on her own – which, honestly, Sausage and Scott wouldn’t put past her but did request that she not do – everyone started getting ready for bed. Sausage tucked her in and asked if she would be alright in a room by herself, and assured her it was fine if she wasn’t, and asked if she would feel better if one of her brothers stayed in the room with her until she got used to it because this place was new to her and it was fine to be nervous, and—

Liana merely hugged her bunny and said she was okay, a big girl princess wouldn’t be scared of a castle and she had bunny to share the room with her, after all, and Azahar and Elowen seemed to like having a room together, so maybe that also meant one of them was scared to be alone at night, so she would be brave so that neither of them would have to be alone, and—

Scott broke up the mutual rambling session, gently pulling Sausage away from the doorway before wishing Liana a goodnight in Elvish to try to make it sound like a finality that everyone would go to sleep now. He elbowed Sausage, who hastily repeated the phrase while still looking worried about this first night in the castle. Yet, this only caused Liana to giggle, because Scott then corrected Sausage’s accent, telling his husband he had just told Liana to ‘have a good sneeze’.

Liana loudly repeated the misspoken phrase with another giggle, drawing laughs from across the hall. Sausage uttered a good-natured grumble about still working on his accent, then wished everyone goodnight again in Common.

The little girl laid down, bunny in her arms, and gazed at the ceiling while processing some of the sounds she was noticing; she was silently glad for the lanternlight coming in from the hallway, since the door had been left open in case she did happen to call for something.

It was only a few minutes later that Azahar came in to check on her. He sat down on the other bed as she sat up to tell him, “I told Papa I was okay. You can sleep in your room.”

“I just wanted to make sure,” Azahar said warmly. “I always tried to help new kids feel welcome in the place where Elowen and I used to live. I thought I could still do the same now.”

“But Daddy an’ Papa took me home! That means I am welcome!”

“Oh, well, yes. Of course it does. But if you have anything you’re, like, worried about or scared of, I can talk with you about it. Elowen was nervous about how big the castle was when we first got here, and we wondered if there might be ghosts.”

“Castles are s’posed to be big! An’… An’ ghosts aren’t scary!” Liana insisted, although she clutched her bunny plushie tightly. “Papa would have said something if there were ghosts!”

From out in the hallway came a high-pitched “OoOoOo~” noise, then Elowen leaned his head into the room. “Maybe Papa doesn’t know there are ghosts. Maybe they only show themselves to certain people. Like little children…”

Azahar shot him a look of warning; Elowen gave a mischievous grin. Liana, meanwhile, protested, “Stop tryin’a scare me! You’re being mean brothers!”

“Shhh,” Azahar tried to quiet her, holding his hands up to calm the situation. “Let’s not worry Dad or Papa. They need to rest from traveling, too. Elowen, that wasn’t nice. We should teach her how to chase away the ghosts first.” He snuck a grin at the other boy.

Liana scowled. “I don’t believe you! There aren’t any ghosts! Kingdoms that have talking chickens an’ dragons don’t have stupid scary things like ghosts! There would be REAL monsters! Now get outta my room, I wanna go to sleep!” She glared mightily at them.

Elowen stood straight upright, incidentally hopping into the middle of the doorway. “Oh, I see – you’re scarier than ghosts would be! Oh, time to run away! I’m gonna hide under my blanket from a scary little sister!” He turned tail to run to the other room.

Azahar stared after him. “This is… not how I meant this to go…”

“Hmph!” Liana put her chin in the air. “That’s what you get for tryin’a scare me! Now go away!” She emphatically turned and pulled the blanket up over herself.

“Okay, well… Um, sorry, Liana. I really do want to help. That was just some silly fun to make your first night here less scary—”

“I don’t care! Time for sleep! Say sorry at breakfast, an’ maybe I won’t be as mad at you!”

“Heh, okay.” Azahar wished her goodnight in Elvish, then left.

Liana hugged her bunny under the covers. “Mean… There’s no ghosts. There can’t be ghosts. My new daddies are secret heroes… Ghosts don’t haunt heroes. Unless they’re good ghosts… I don’t wanna see a ghost floatin’ through the wall, but maybe they’re helpful ghosts… An’… An’ they don’t try to scare little girls who’re tryin’a be brave even though they’re in a big, giant castle for the first time, an’ just met everyone…”

She heard a brief scraping sound; she let out an involuntary whimper, clutching her bunny tighter. Something jumped onto the bed, and then a wet nose came sniffing around the edge of the blanket. There was a very soft, “Arf?” then a weight settled down beside her.

Liana put her hand out and ended up grasping a fistful of short fur. She lightened her grip, then surreptitiously began to pet the furry creature. She whispered, “It’s time for sleep, Bubbles. You can stay in my room, though. You’re a big, brave doggie. Goodnight.”

~*~

Sausage was the first awake the next morning, and he didn’t even wait for Scott to be up to help him don his prosthetic before he padded out of the room without it so he could check on Liana. Things were a little different from Azahar’s and Elowen’s first night in Mythland; they were older, for starters, and had the familiarity of each other for company. Sausage had heard some of the kerfuffle among the three children at bedtime, but it hadn’t seemed too alarming, and everyone quieted down soon after.

He glanced into the boys’ room just to see if Liana had gone to them – either from reassurance during the night, or if she had already woken up and was there to chat. Instead, he saw both boys still in bed, although they were awake. Azahar was doing some arm stretches while Elowen yawned loudly – but he used a quiet tone when he spotted Sausage and said, “Good morning, Papa.”

“Good morning,” Sausage replied, also keeping his voice down. “I’m just checking up on everything. I’ll see you at breakfast in a bit.” He gave a little wave, then crossed to the other side of the hall.

Liana was sleeping soundly, lying on her back with her bunny in range of her right hand, while her left hand rested beside a furry black and tan lump that was curled up next to her. Sausage smiled and whispered, “Good girl, Bubbles.”

The interdimensional Yorkie lifted her head and turned it to peer at him. She wagged her tail and made a silent bark. Then she jumped up, did a one-eighty turn in the air, and licked Liana’s hand. The little girl stirred, mumbling, “Bubbles… stop tryin’a eat me… You’re s’posed to eat the scary ghosts…”

“Bubbles,” Sausage called in an exaggerated whisper, “I thought we chased off the ghosts. Did you find one more and tell our new daughter about it?”

Liana abruptly sat bolt upright, causing Bubbles to jump off the bed and run past Sausage out of the room. He smiled after her, turning so that the cuff covering his stump was visible – due to his nightshirt lacking a sleeve on that side. Liana declared, “I knew there wouldn’t be any real ghosts! Azahar an’ Elowen tried to scare me, but I didn’t believe them! Bubbles was just sleepin’ here ‘cause she wanted company! I wasn’t scared!” She then blinked and stared at Sausage’s right side. “Oh. That’s not like the dollie’s arm. Her whole arm came off.”

Sausage smiled gently and cupped the end of his stump with his left hand as he entered the room. “Yeah, the dragon only ate part of it. I usually put on my metal arm when I get up in the morning, but I really wanted to make sure you slept alright last night. So, the boys tried to scare you, huh?”

Liana’s eyes went wide and, aghast, she yelled, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE DRAGON ATE IT?! I thought it was a pet dragon, or knight dragon, like the chicken!!”

Sausage winced at her volume. “Oh, ha, we didn’t tell you the whole story yesterday.” He sat down on the side of the bed with his left arm toward her, but she crawled over to sit on his right, so he turned, leaving them both sat on the end facing the doorway. “Dad and I, along with our friends – your new Uncle fWhip and Aunt Gem – fought an angry dragon – or, a dragon-like creature.” Sausage’s own eyes brightened with merriment as he thought of a way to embellish the story, because Liana was hanging onto his every word. “We didn’t know what it really was, but it was fierce, and it was hungry! I attacked it with my sword – whap-pow! – but it just opened its big mouth and bit down on not only my sword, but most of my arm! Dad used his magic to freeze it, then rescued me, and Auntie Gem healed me. She did a good job, but the beast had already finished its meal and we couldn’t get it back to stick it back on, so Uncle fWhip made me a new arm!”

Liana fairly vibrated from excitement. “So, you did stop a monster that would have eated everything!”

Sausage uttered a slightly nervous laugh. “Well, sort of. It seemed like it was happy to eat only my arm. But we put a stop to it, just in case.”

Liana went quiet, looking as if she was pondering a very serious matter, then said, “Papa, do you think the dragon-creature’s ghost would haunt the castle?”

“Nope! I think you already know what would happen – Bubbles would eat it!”

“That’s true,” Liana replied in an upbeat tone. She then tilted her head. “Can I see it? Y-Your arm? Um, the part the dragon didn’t eat?” She gestured to the buttoned cuff, her expression the epitome of childlike curiosity. “Oh, wait, ummm… Is it okay to ask that?”

“Sure! I don’t mind! It’s not scary, it just has a scar like my face.” Sausage began to undo the buttons on the side of the cuff.

“Did the monster scratch your face, too??”

“No, that was from an… accident. With a Blood Sheep. You don’t want to mess with the Blood Sheep. They’re powerful, like Bubbles! But as long as they have plenty of grass to graze, they won’t try to eat little girls.”

“What’s a Blood Sheep? There were sheep near where I lived, but no one ever said they were dangerous!”

“Umm… I’ll show you after breakfast!” He rolled the cuff upward and held the remainder of his arm up for Liana to examine. She noted the wide line of scar tissue on the end and began to reach to touch it, but pulled her hand back, murmuring to herself, “Nope, that might be rude, too. You gots to ask first.” She screwed up her face in thought, then pulled up the sleeves of her nightgown and – after a moment of deliberating – held her left arm up next to his stump to give herself an idea of where it might match up.

Sausage smiled, amused by her train of thought. He then caught movement by the door from the corner of his eye. Scott was there with a look of consternation, one of his braids coming loose as if he hadn’t had time to complete it, and he held the prosthetic in his hands. Sausage gave him a little nod, then raised a finger in a ‘one minute’ gesture. Scott shook his head and pointed down at the prosthetic, then off to the side, indicating that Sausage should get moving. “Well, Liana, if you have any more questions about it, I can answer them later. We should get going and have breakfast!”

Scott gestured more insistently. Sausage hopped up and hurried over to ask about the rush, but Scott immediately ushered him back to their room. “There’s a raven waiting for you. It came from the western border. You need to go over there right away.” The raven in question was sitting on the windowsill, an open scroll under one foot.

Sausage quickly pulled off his nightshirt to allow Scott to help him attach the prosthetic. “But we were going to go shopping for Liana after breakfast.” His mouth fell into a little pout.

“It’s urgent. I’ll take her and the boys out, don’t worry.” Not waiting for Sausage to move faster, Scott started dressing his husband shirt-first.

Sausage, meanwhile, gave him a sad-eyed look, his pout intensifying. He did, however, cooperate with getting dressed for travel.

Scott chuckled softly. “I know, I know. You were looking forward to it. You’ve become very fond of her rather quickly.”

“I can’t help it! She’s so charming and… and… we didn’t have a chance to stop yesterday to get her the dress she wanted…” Sausage continued to pout, then tapped the tips of his index fingers against each other while looking aside as he mumbled, “But I guess she can spend time with her new dad, too…”

“Sau-sage,” Scott said, “They think there’s a Warden loose in the caves near the town. If it weren’t for Liana, I would go, too, but I don’t want to leave her on her first day here. And it’s better if you’re the one to meet with the townsfolk, especially if you need to get Tango’s help for Warden wrangling.”

Sausage’s expression changed instantly. He rushed to get his boots on, then grabbed his customized elytra from the armor stand in the corner. He shrugged it on, then went to the window to read the scroll for himself, checking the name of the town. Then he climbed into the window. The raven croaked and flew off ahead of him to let the distressed townsfolk know their king was on his way. “I’ll find breakfast on the way. Tell the kids I love them and I’ll be back soon!”

“Good luck!” Scott called after him as Sausage launched himself out of the window frame. Scott then finished getting himself sorted for the day and went to tell the children of the change in plans. He caught up to the boys as they were heading out of their room, and asked them to wait while he checked if Liana was ready to go downstairs.

He found her fully dressed in one of the patched outfits she had brought home with her, the leggings in decent shape – but no shoes yet, since she was jumping on the second bed trying to look out the high, narrow window. Scott was about to question her but she turned and exclaimed, “I heard a loud bird! An’ I looked up an’ saw Papa flying by the window! He doesn’t have bird wings like elves!” She leapt down from the bed and ran over to Scott, demanding, “Why is he flying? How is he flying?!”

Perhaps startled by her announcement, Azahar and Elowen ran over to the doorway. Scott looked around at the three children, silently wishing Sausage had chosen a different direction to go. “I was just coming to tell all of you: Papa had a sudden, important request for help from a town, and it’s his job as king to go in person, especially because he might need some extra help.” Scott then realized what Sausage’s choice of direction meant. “It sounds like he was going to get that help, actually, because Tango the Blaze Emperor – boys, you might remember him from your gala – is a specialist at wrangling the creature that the townsfolk are having a problem with, and the best place to find him is our neighbor, the Cod Empire.”

Azahar was about to make a humorous comment about Tango being rather memorable for appearing to be on fire, but Liana cut him off. “Our neighbors are fish?! How do fish have an empire?? Don’t fish just swim around in the water all day? Isn’t a blaze like a fire? Wouldn’t that boil the water? Oh! Is he really good at cooking fish?”

Elowen giggled. Scott was once again struck by how similar Liana and Sausage were. As he stifled a laugh of his own, Azahar explained, “There are people who can breathe underwater and have the appearance of different types of sea life. The Cod Empire is ruled by Jimmy, who is a fish-like man. His sister, Lizzie, rules the Ocean Empire, and looks like a giant blue axolotl. Tango, however, is a blazeman-hybrid. He does have a kingdom of his own underground, a little far away from here, but he is good friends with Jimmy, who is teaching him about life on the surface – teaching him about people like us, who are different from what he’s used to.”

Liana seemed to be listening with fascination. “So, there’s lotsa other kingdoms besides Rivendell an’ this land of myths? But those people all sound like they’re myths!”

Scott now openly chuckled. “Our kingdom is literally named Mythland. Sir Carlos can explain the history better than I can, but it has its roots in an even older kingdom with a great – if lost – legacy. You’ll learn all about these things when we have school lessons later. We’ll figure out what type of lessons you need another day, though. After breakfast we’re going to do some shopping in town and find that dress you wanted, and you can show it to Papa when he gets home.”

Liana looked disappointed for a second as she stepped back. She glanced toward the window. Then she gave a decisive nod and ran to the dresser to take out a pair of socks. She sat down on the floor to pull them on. “Okay, Daddy. We’ll… surprise Papa by finding a really pretty one! An’… he’ll see… he’ll see that we could find one, even if not all of us was there to look at ev’rything.” She scooted over to her shoes to put them on next. Afterward, she lifted her chin proudly to show she was being a big girl and not upset that her new papa wasn’t also going with them.

Scott, of course, noticed her lip tremble. “He’ll be with us in spirit. He really wanted you to get that purple dress, and since we don’t know how long it would take to help the townsfolk, I said I would take you out to get one.” Thinking he had cottoned on to the problem, he said, “You know, this can also be a way for you to impress him by telling him about all the things you saw in town! It will be like your own adventure in your new home.”

Elowen piped up, “Y-Yeah, Liana, and we can show you some of the cool things we’ve discovered when we’ve gone out around town.” He gestured to himself and Azahar. “We can show you where the winter market was, and where the regular shops are that sell fun stuff!”

“No,” Liana said in a firm, yet calm, tone. “When Daddy an’ Papa came to my old home, they both played with me. So, they should both be there for other fun!” As if that should settle the matter, she walked past Scott and went between the boys, grabbing Azahar and Elowen by the hand. “Okay, breakfast time! You gots to eat a good breakfast before you go out!”

~*~

“Jimmy!! Tango!!” Sausage’s voice rang out over the sea-facing border of the Cod Empire as he flew over, hoping to get the attention of one of them. “I need help with a Warden problem!!”

The door of the fishing shack flew open – presumably from the force of Tango’s kick, seeing as he came out with one upraised foot leading. “Warden?? Where?! Oh, hi! Hi, neighboring Sausage-king-person.” Tango looked eager for details, but waited for Sausage to circle around to make a non-watery landing.

Jimmy wandered out of the shack a moment later, yawning and rubbing one eye. “Sausage, it’s too early for monster wrangling…”

The King of Mythland didn’t bother closing his elytra. “Not when they wander up to the surface overnight! I’ve got a small town in need, and I don’t have a lot of time today, so I thought I’d call on the expert to get it done faster. Oh, and you can help, too, Jimmy.”

The Codfather gave him a disgruntled look, while Tango straightened up proudly. “Of course! Professional wranglers here, at your service.”

“Great,” Sausage said. “Now grab some elytra and follow me! I need to get back a-sap!”

“I’ll get them!” Tango chirped. “I haven’t flown around much. Some practice will be great! fWhip even made me some fireproof ones.” He scurried back inside the shack.

Jimmy waited outside, taking note of Sausage’s clearly bright mood despite the apparent threat. “You’re in quite the hurry. What is going on that you need to rush back? Do you have something nice planned with the princes?”

“Jimmy…” Sausage clapped his left hand onto the Codfather’s shoulder and feigned a somber attitude, then overrode it with a wide grin. “Scott and I just became the proud fathers of a little girl! We brought her home last night! This is our first full day with her, and I have to go deal with some stupid Warden that couldn’t stay in the Deep Dark.” As he spoke, his fingers tightened, digging into Jimmy’s shoulder; Sausage’s grin turned into a clenched-tooth grimace of aggravation.

Jimmy endured it, then pried Sausage’s hand off. “Well, uh, congratulations, and I’m sorry you have a rogue Warden to deal with, today of all days. What’s her name? What’s she like? Hey, it’s actually kind of nice to find out ahead of time instead of a gala invite out of the blue.”

“Oh, Jimmy, she’s the sweetest little elf. Her name is Liana, she’s six and a half years old – she seems to like insisting on the ‘and a half’ part – she loves to talk and ask things and have tea parties, and I can’t wait to see her running around with Bubbles and the boys and having fun together—!!” Sausage pressed the palms of his hands against his cheeks and all but squeed with joy.

“Oh my gosh, Sausage.” Jimmy’s mouth crinkled up in amusement. “She’s got you wrapped around her finger, and it hasn’t even been a whole day! That’s so sweet, man. I’ll look forward to meeting her. Y’know, before or at her debut gala.” He grinned teasingly.

Tango returned before Sausage could comment. He handed Jimmy his elytra, then shrugged his own on. “Alright, now to take care of this little Warden issue. Lead on, Your Highness!” Tango glanced over to see Sausage still in jubilant father mode. “Uh…what’s with him?” he asked Jimmy.

“He has discovered the joy of having a daughter. Give him a second, then you can try using your Warden roar to snap him out of it.”

~*~

The shopping trip quickly became a spectacle of Liana delighting each and every shopkeeper they passed, between her customary announcement of her name – although she cut back on mentioning her age unless someone asked – and her exuberant curiosity about differences she noticed between elven and Mythlandian culture.

Scott opted for the general and practical clothing shops rather than going straight to the tailor; that would be reserved for a special trip closer to a certain date. He left Liana under the supervision of either Azahar or Elowen depending on which one he was assisting at the time – Elowen’s leggings were starting to come up short on him, and Azahar’s shirts were becoming tight across his chest and arms.

Meanwhile, Liana would babble to the shopkeeper and whichever brother was in attendance at the time of how she wanted to look at anything in purple or that had a picture of a bunny on it. Scott would then look through those offerings with her, and she tried on the ones that looked like they might fit. If anything happened to be slightly too big, like in the case of corduroy overalls with a rabbit embroidered on the front pocket, Scott bought it anyway with the idea that it could be stored for the future.

By the time they were done they had amassed six large parcels, the clothing neatly folded and secured with twine, but a bit much to carry home even when Scott tested out carrying them on a gust of cold air with magic. The final shopkeeper agreed to hold onto the lot until Scott could send someone down with a cart to pick it up.

Liana had actually gotten quiet by that point, watching as the parcels were stashed in the shop’s back room. She fidgeted for a moment, then yelled, “Thank you for watching our stuff! When I’m bigger I’ll come back for more bunny dresses! So please have some more!”

The shopkeeper chuckled on his way back to the floor. He dusted off his hands and nodded to Liana. “Sure thing, little Miss. You just let me know when you start outgrowing those, and I’ll put in a special princess order.”

“Yay! Thank you, mister clothes shop owner! DADDY!” she then yelled to Scott, “Thank you for the nice dresses!! Maybe when I outgrow them, we can send them to Silvilana an’ the others! But maybe by then Silvilana will have nice daddies, too! Or nice mommies! Or a nice daddy and mommy? I don’t know, but I hope she goes home, too! An’ the others, an’ then maybe they won’t need my clothes, but there always seemed to be new kids coming in, an’ they should have nice stuff, too—”

Scott patted her on the head. “We’ll look into it when the time comes. Right now, we have one more stop to make, then we’ll go home for lunch and see if Papa is back to eat with us.”

“Are we getting something for you an’ Papa next?” Liana asked, puzzled, as they walked out and headed down the street. “You haven’t gotten anything yet! Ev’ryone should get something, it’s only fair! You were nice an’ gots us lots!” She looked at Azahar and Elowen, expecting them to agree.

Elowen nodded. Azahar chuckled. “She’s right, Dad. You should get a tunic with a rabbit on it. A blue one.”

Scott laughed. Liana jumped forward with both feet to keep pace with his steps, proclaiming, “Or a blue fawn! Ev’ryone should get a picture of their fav’rite thing!”

“You have a point, Liana,” Scott agreed. “But as King Regnant, I have to wear what other grown-ups consider to be dignified clothes.” When she stopped jumping in order to pout up at him, he added, “Maybe I could get something like that on a night shirt.”

Her face brightened. “Yeah! Then you just put on a kingly robe over it to hide it from boring growed-ups!”

They all laughed at the idea, then Scott proceeded to make up increasingly silly scenarios where someone might find out he had pastel blue fawn pajamas. This continued as they traveled along the streets until another clothing shop came into view. The sign hanging outside depicted a formal ball gown. Liana’s eyes widened when she saw the window display. She whispered, “Dresses for meeting princesses…” She then froze on the spot, realizing that she now was that princess.

Scott went to the door and held it open to allow the children to enter first. “You could say this is something for Papa and I: to keep our promise to you.”

Liana hopped up and down, then once again grabbed her new brothers by their hands. “Look, look! Now we can see what I shoulda been wearing to meet you! Now I can fit in with princes!”

Azahar tried to say, “Liana, you were fine meeting us just as you were—” but the words got lost as she pulled them into the shop.

The shopkeeper hurried over as soon as she noticed who had entered. “Your Highness! Young princes! I see you brought a little friend! How may I help you?”

Surprisingly, Elowen was the one to answer. “We need a fancy dress for our new sister.” Scott felt a surge of pride over the younger boy speaking up, yet realized that – perhaps – it was Liana’s energy rubbing off on him that had encouraged him.

Liana hopped up and down again. “That’s me! I’m the princess! An’ I need to look like one! Daddy gots me some nice new things, but Elowen’s right! Princesses need one really fancy dress!”

The shopkeeper looked toward Scott. “How wonderful! My congratulations to you and Lord Sausage! Your family just keeps growing, doesn’t it? What are you looking for in your fancy dress?”

Together Scott and the boys all chorused, “Purple” at the same time, answering even as Liana was opening her mouth.

The little girl giggled and then smiled up at the shopkeeper. “Please, may I see your finest pretty purple dresses?”

~*~

Sausage glanced around the interior of the cave nervously, then hissed, “When I asked you guys for help, I thought Jimmy would be the bait, not me!”

The Codfather grinned from his hiding place behind the pile of rocks that was closer to the entrance than Sausage’s position. He whispered in reply, “Of course I’m not the bait. I’m a professional wrangler now. Don’t worry, Sausage! We’ll get you home to your kiddos in one piece. Relatively speaking.”

Sausage wanted to glare in Jimmy’s direction, but the clacking of Warden antennae made him return his focus to the device nestled behind his ear that connected him to the magic frequency operating his prosthetic, allowing him to control it remotely. The prosthetic was currently secured above a button that would turn on a noise machine, which was intended to lure the stray Warden toward a web of ropes set up to snare the creature. It had wandered deeper into the cave system for the moment, but that didn’t guarantee it wouldn’t wander back out again. “You know what - You know what? If my arm gets damaged, you get to explain to fWhip why!”

Tango, hidden across from Jimmy, replied in a flat tone, “Better your fake arm than your whole, real body.” He was in a strict focused mode now. The change in his demeanor started slow after they had spoken with the townsfolk, the bravest of whom took the three to the road that ran near the cave system where a farmer making an early delivery to the town had heard the frightening sounds of a Warden stomping around. The farmer fled without confirming it, but a few intrepid townspeople investigated, only to flee as soon as they heard it and the tell-tale heartbeat for themselves.

Tango’s blithe attitude toward a potential adventure disappeared completely once the three of them had scoped out the cave; they all immediately went on alert at the sound of the creature sniffing around, and the way Tango launched into an analysis of the terrain led Sausage to not even question the plan when it was first proposed.

Now he was feeling uncertain, however. Tango was correct to use Sausage’s prosthetic to activate the noise machine, avoiding any of them being too close to the Warden after it became attracted to the sound, but Sausage himself still needed to be within a specific range of his prosthetic for the signal to carry. “Tango, I think I like you better when you’re hyper and slightly weird. ‘Serious-Tango’ scares me. This had better work. I want to be able to hug my kids with both arms when I get back.”

Tango uttered a strange sort of squawk. “Shush your face! I can feel it stomping this way again! … Wait for it… Wait for it… Now!”

Sausage could see the glow of the Warden’s open chest and antennae around the corner. He gulped, then directed his prosthetic’s hand to slam down onto the button. The noise machine started up. The Warden grunted and the glow coming off it shifted directions as it lumbered toward the machine.

Sausage suppressed a squeak of relief as he ducked behind cover. He left the rest to the professionals as they sprang into action. He put his attention on the device again to remain aware of whether or not the Warden happened to smash his prosthetic or not – rather than watch it occur with his own eyes. Out of sight there, he could also keep his dramatic worries to himself, quietly whimpering and theatrically crying as he imagined a scenario of him returning home without the prosthetic because he would have had to drop it off at The Grimlands for fWhip to repair, and then Liana and Elowen might even stare at his right side and the lack of arm, and he would get ten thousand bazillion questions about their own imagined scenarios before he could explain, and surely he should make it sound more amazing than just using it to push a single button, and meanwhile Scott and Azahar would probably stand there looking amused because, well, Scott knew the situation, and Azahar would be quick to catch on although he would still be entertained by the adventurous aspect, but Sausage still wouldn’t be able to hug everyone or pick up Liana and assure her that he was alright, and that they could still have fun the rest of the day, and… [To Be Continued in Chapter Four: The Parties and The First Dreams]

#empires smp #empires smp fanfic #empiresshipping #mythicalsausage #scott smajor #dangthatsalongname #tangotek #jimmy solidarity #champions au: garden path #empires smp s1 #scosage #lunar yarns

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