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hippienerrd · 2 years

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Dallas Winston × Reader

Chapter 1

I need to watch/read the outsiders again and analyze their talking patterns so some of this may not sound like them at the moment but ill try and fix it asap. (ill take this chunk out when its updated) I just wanted to get this out of my drafts and post content for the fist time in a while. Also all of the enemies to lovers fans are in for a treat. -💜

Monday, one of the worst days of the week if you ask just about any human being on this planet, but if you ask me, well i quite like it to be honest. Sure it starts my work week but i get to come back refreshed from the weekend. If i had to pick a least favorite day it'd be Friday, by then everyone is tired, cranky, and ready for the weekend, including myself, makes business at the shop harder.

I've been working at a local flower shop, for 8 years now, since i was 10. Technically that's illegal but its owned by an acquaintance of my families, more like my father was a loyal customer for years, so we were able to pull some strings. Of course it started as part time, after school work, but since i graduated last year i was open to switch to a full time position here.

I entered the shop and greeted every one on our crew on my way back to my office. Im more of an assistant than anything else round here, my job is just scattered tasks, but before any of that out i always head back to my office to set my things down and check email.

"Nothing" i say under my breath. I don't often receive emails at work but i like to just make sure.

Exiting my office takes you to the garden, we don't grow much of what we sell, a few things we do take from our own garden, but mostly we all just enjoy the visual. I pass through the garden into the back of the store and make my way up front to see what my tasks are today.

A note was stuck to one of our flower coolers. "1. Open shop 2. Clean flowers 3. Prepare deliveries 4. Take care of walk-ins" looks like its just me today. My boss is an older woman who has trouble with her joints so she doesn't always come in during the day which leaves me by myself, well the curriers come in and out but for the most part its just me on days like this.

I pull the note down and set it on our universal desk, its just a random desk in the back for anyone who wants to use it since our offices are elsewhere. I lock the back door just in case and run back up front to flip or open sign and unlock the door.

My next task takes me too the coolers where i take out a bucket that held a bunch of yellow roses, a bunch of lavender roses, a bunch of pink roses, 2 bunches of red roses, and 3 bunches of daisies. I spend the morning popping ugly petals off of roses, removing thorns, and making sure the stems look pretty which due to the amount took me about 2 hours.

3 hours of making bouquets and tidying the shop between arrangements and it was time for my lunch brake. Lunch was my favorite part of my work day but not just for the plain old i get time off of work and food reasoning though, right around this time we usually get my favorite customer. He's a regular, his name is Sodapop Curtis. He works down the street at the DX and once or twice each week he pops in on his lunch break to grab some fresh flowers for his girlfriend Sandy, i bet shes a real happy gal, real special to, to get a guy like Soda.

Halfway through my PB and J sandwich i hear the bell on our front door chime, i look up from my lunch to find the man himself, Sodapop! Except this time he wasn't alone, far frome it to be honest. He had with him a group of 6 other boys that looked to range from a few years younger than me to a few years older than me, although majority looked about my age.

"Hi Y/N!" Soda said with his near perfect smile, i don't know how his teeth stay so nice after all these rumbles he tells me about, one day one of em is gonna get knocked right out of his head.

"Hello" i greet giving a look to each boy letting them know its intended for all of them. "Who all is with ya today Soda?" I asked "Well, this is my kid brother Pony" Soda said giving a nod to what seemed to be the youngest of the bunch. Pony smiled, he seemed to be the only one other than Soda who was having fun here, the rest seemed like they didn't want to be here or like they just didn't care. "Next to Pony over here is Johnny, and then we got my older brother Darry, he's the tall one in the back" those 2 both seemed pretty neutral about their current situation. Soda started turning his head real fast like he was looking for someone specific "uuhhmm,, oh! Behind me is Steve, he's the one i told you works with me at the DX". Steve gave me a quick smile but his was definitely a contrast to Soda's Considering he had something brown all stuck in his teeth. "Then we got Two-bit next to Darry and Dally in the corner back there" Soda finished naming off all the boys. I couldn't help but notice the expression Dally gave though, it wasn't like the others who were just bored or thinking of being somewhere else, he REALLY didn't want to be here.

"Well now that I've met the whole fam-damn-ly when do i get to meed Ms. Sandy?" I questioned as i walked back to the station where we make bouquets. Soda just laughed. I threw on our company apron and looked to Soda "what are we thinking about today?" "Just 6 red roses, you know more than me though make it pretty like you do" he said, to anyone else that probably made little sense but i knew what he meant, he just doesn't know the names of the flowers or really what flowers he wants other than roses, but that's my job to know what'll look good so its no big deal.

As i grabbed the flowers from the cooler i asked Soda "wrap or vase?" He gives a quick response of "wrap please" we continued to chit chat as i wrapped his bouquet but i cut our conversation short to talk to the others briefly "can i wrap up some single roses on the house for you boys? Im sure your girls will love em"

most of them shook their heads or said they didn't have a girlfriend but Pony nodded his head yes, which seemed to shock the others "when did you get a girl?" Steve asked and Darry seemed to get a bit protective, and Pony seemed startled like he wasn't expecting to be questioned, i could tell they weren't for a girl, he just enjoyed the flowers, frankly i cant blame him.

"Nun ya" i butted in, i mean, i cant imagine these boys are real easy to explain beauty like a flower to. "Don't matter who the girl is, let the boy have fun. He's doin it right clearly, taking her flowers and all"

"Oh come on Pon-" Soda started in an attempt to pry, wanting to know who his little brother was going out with, but before he could finish Dally spoke up "can we just get out of here man, i don't wanna be seen in a frilly little store like this"

I was taken aback and decided to do something about it "well you're close to the door, why don't you leave by yourself, there's no need to be rude" "look i don't particularly like getting my ass beat for being seen like this ok" Dally snapped back. The boys were trying to get him to calm down and keep quiet while soda fished the money for Sandy's flowers from his wallet.

"Maybe try winning then." I said with an attitude "maybe then we'll all be happy, you wont get beat, i wont have assholes like you to deal with, and greasers like Soda wouldn't get a rep for greasers like you" at this point Soda had the cash out and left it on the counter while they all dragged Dally out before he could do or say anything else. That last part may have been a bit harsh but it's true, my boss hates greasers, wont even allow them in the store when shes working, and its because of miserable greasers like Dally who just cant be kind.

#enemies to lovers #the outsiders #dally winston #dallas winston #sodapop curtis #ponyboy curtis #dally x reader #dallas x reader

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eienshi09 · 2 years

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Final Final Fantasy II Thoughts

Final Fantasy II (or at least, as I've pontificated about at length, the Dawn of Souls version of it) is quite an alright game. It was an incredibly ambitious project for its time. And though its time shackled it with some unfortunate mechanics, there's still a lot of interesting things it was trying to do. After a couple of iterations, it even manages to get to a state where it does those things in a quite enjoyable way.

In my parting thoughts on Final Fantasy I, I also said that I mostly enjoyed my time with it. And I genuinely did. But I meant it in a sense of, like, this was able to fill my time and be largely inoffensive. Meanwhile, I was actually thoroughly fascinated by Final Fantasy II, for better or worse. Where its predecessor was just about adequate all around, FFII has peaks and valleys for it does, or at least tries, so much more than its predecessor.

One immediately notable improvement is simple addition of dialogue. Your party members aren't just featureless avatars anymore. They're actual characters. Well, there's still a bit of room to improve on the characterization fronts, but for the time, they've got something resembling a personality that shows through what little speech they do get. The dialogue itself is rather basic and more or less boils down to some other character telling you where to go next, but there are some details about the world or situation that they manage to squeeze in that wasn't present in FFI.

The keyword system in particular was rather interesting, and something I wish they would have utilized more. It felt kind of lacking as the game went on and you got new ones less frequently and the situation only calls for a very specific keyword. I would have liked to be able to ask someone about an older keyword and they give me their current thoughts on the matter recontextualized by the most recent in-game event. For example (and I'll try to be vague but we are talking about a 35-year-old game here), after you've gotten the Ultima spell, Hilda has nothing to say about it, despite a rather important character - especially to her, of all people - sacrificing themselves so that we could acquire it. And this might be the one exception where the game does reward you for following up with someone after major events, but if you revisit Deist to tell the woman about the fate of the last dragoon, she not only has something to say but gives you a cool sword! So it's not like they didn't think to use the keyword system to add in some extra bits of lore and worldbuilding for the player.

Narratively, the game is well-enough paced, pulpy as it is. Though again, towards the end when it's back to back to back dungeons of six and more floors, it kind of wears on you. The false climax and twist reveal and double twist was, however, actually really well done. One could see it coming but that's the point; it was built up to and hinted at throughout and then paid off with you finally reuniting with your long-lost fourth party member. I only wish we had more interactions with the Dark Knight during the story.

Systems-wise, I don't think I have much else to say that I haven't already. FFII's usage-based character progression system was the first of its kind and incredibly ambitious. It could have used a few more iterations even after the couple of iterations of the DoS port.

It'd be easy to think that II would be favorable to FFI due to its higher production values alone, but I think I would have enjoyed the original version of 1 more than the original version of II, given some of the original design choices. And even though the Dawn of Souls changes bolstered the experience of playing II so much more than it did for 1, both games share the same overall "problem" of me wishing more was done to them.

Random encounters (I promise to be brief) continues to be a thorn in trying to play any "classic" JRPG, and while it isn't especially egregious in FFII, I still maintain that they could have added in a Repel item of some kind. Actually, I may be overly harsh here. The game does at the very least add in some fast travel options for you to get around in the early-to-mid game. They're somewhat limited, but very much welcome as you're traveling back-and-forth from Altair to various points of interest. Fleeing, however, is still just as much of a hassle, perhaps more so for reasons I'll get to right now.

One area that I think FFI did better at is boss fights. II's bosses were just late and endgame enemies dropped somewhere earlier where they'll be a greater challenge. This made the endgame kind of boring as we keep seeing these old bosses turn up again and again. Worst yet, any battle where one of them show up, you can't flee from at all. It's as if the game was still treating them as boss fights or something. Weirder even is that FFII does have some unique extra hard enemies that use a "boss sprite" but they're all technically optional, being treasure chest monsters. It's just kinda strange.

Though maybe the original release of Final Fantasy II deserves its dubious reputation, there is a good game in there. Playing it now, especially playing a version that does do some work to polish it up, I really wish it got the total remake treatment that its two successors got on the DS. Or even now, I wish the Pixel Remasters had been Pixel Remakes instead and breathed new life and modern tech into these old games. It's well and good to see a game as it was in history but I think it's just as fine to see the game where iconic franchise monsters - such as the Coeurl, Adamantoise, Behemoth - came from but with the ability to easily run away from them.

#Eien Plays #final fantasy #final fantasy 2 #ff2 #jrpg #final fantasy ii #dawn of souls #long post #game review #some trivia #final fantasy 2 is the first appearance of the Chocobo!

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sup-hoes-its-me · 3 years

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Fine Line (Kakashi x Reader)

A/N: hey. Friends to lovers (the only trope i respect) You’re about to marry someone else, a prince from another village in an attempt to save relations with said village, only kakashi stands in the way of that, and everyone knows.

Also, i know kakashi would never do this in reality, but gosh is it romantic to imagine

Word count: 5400

“Y/N, you really need to sleep,” Kakashi sighed, leaning on his fist which sat on the thin, flimsy armchair beside her bed.

She hadn’t slept properly for weeks now, day after day only falling asleep at random hours of the day, naps in the afternoon and a half hour of shut eye in the early morning. She ate sporadically, and her schedule had admittedly started to interfere with her friend’s. Kakashi found himself in her apartment, awake the majority of the nights trying to calm her down.

But nothing was going to help this situation. Tsunade had decided already, after Y/N had hesistantly agreed. It wasn't as if this marriage was forced, but it certainly wasn’t ideal.

The woman never really imagined herself marrying at all, but if she had, she always dreamed it would be out of love for the other person, someone who would match her perfectly like a puzzle piece, essentially, someone who would complete her.

Instead, she had been hastily shoved into an arranged marriage with a man she and Kakashi guarded on one of their missions. He was the wealthy crown prince in the Land of Frost. He was kind enough, and he respected her wishes when it came to the proposal, giving Y/N a month to decide whether she was ready to be wed to such a man.

He promised her the entire world. Jewels, clothes, children, a palace in which to live the rest of her days, anything she could possibly need he would have servants at her beck and call.

It hadn’t seemed like the worst idea at all, and Y/N shortly considered it. It wasn’t until Tsunade heard about it that things became serious.

The relationship between the two lands was falling apart, and this was a last resort, she had said. It wouldn’t mean she could never see her friends again but meetings would be scarce, and she was positive he wouldn't let her train and go on the occasional, non-dangerous mission. It would be as if she were abandoning her entire life, she realized as the weeks passed after the engagement was set.

And so the letter was sent back to the Land of Frost, and abruptly, Y/N L/N found herself engaged to be married in 3 months time. It seemed surreal, only having 90 days practically, to enjoy her normal life and prepare for an entirely new world. She hadn’t known anything else other than the way of shinobi, nor had she adjusted to other cultures. The Leaf was her home, and the thought of leaving it broke her heart.

For the first time in her life, it seemed she was petrified. Sure, there were times when she felt like everything was set up against her, that the enemy might win, but she hadn’t felt so hopeless and lost either. There always seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Not this time.

“Please, just finish your tea and rest. You’re wasting away,“ he told her again, whispering in a soft tone only the two of them could hear. She was in the medical ward for the night, low blood sugar bringing her in this time. The dangerous combo of not sleeping or eating had set her body into a panic. She was so weak.

As she sipped the tea she sighed, feeling that sting of warmth run down her throat and bring some feeling to her empty, weak stomach. She couldn’t look at the man sitting beside her, it would only bring her pain, she decided. How could she face him? She was leaving him after all this time.

It had been decades since they were apart for longer than the standard mission time. He was always there right alongside her. They grew up on the same street in the same complex. They attended the academy together, fought in the war side by side, travelled the world as jounin just trying to make their way through the twists and turns of village politics. She felt like shit having to leave him behind. It wasn’t like her new husband was going to let her have weekly visits to her old friend, a man who was closer than anyone else she knew. It wasn’t plausible.

Slowly, she had realized that one day would be the last day she could hug Kakashi, that she could look up to him and hear his calm tone telling her it would all be okay, that he would never leave her behind, that he would always be there to protect her as long as she did the same for him. It wasn’t going to be like that anymore, and it often brought tears to her eyes in the late of night in her apartment, tears saturating her pillows and face swelling from the suffocated sobs. One day would be the last time she saw him, and it just hurt so badly. At times she found herself gasping for air, so terrified she couldn't find breath..

So, no, Y/N couldn't bring herself to face Kakashi. Maybe if she distanced herself little by little as the few months went on, it would be easier leaving. Leaving everyone behind. Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, all the students she had grown to care about over the years. To spend her last days avoiding the people she would miss so dearly seemed like a waste of time and irrational, but it was the only thing that seemed reasonable in her confused mind.

“I can’t,” she replied softly, setting her mug down on the table to the other side of her bed. “How do you expect me to sleep?”

He shook his head in disapproval, his arms crossed over his chest as he leant back in his chair. He replied, “I don’t know. Just close your eyes and it’s bound to happen. You could at least try.” His suggestion was pretty useless, and he knew that. Hell, the amount of times he stayed awake when she begged him to sleep, he should have known he wasn’t going to get anywhere.

“And if I don’t want to?”

He sighed, his eyes rolling to the ceiling, as he muttered, “What is your prince going to say when he sees you with black eye bags and cheeks sunken in?” He felt disgusted, hearing those words leave his mouth. Not only was she to be married to someone she barely knew, but she had to impress him. She had to change herself to fit his narrative of a woman, stereotypically beautiful, effortless yet hard working at the same time. He felt sick to his stomach thinking about that prince, and the ploy Tsunade had put up in the way of arranging them together.

Absolutely sickened.

She peered over at him and frowned. “Between you and me, I don’t give a fuck what that guy thinks,” she whispered, her eyes resting on the doorway to make sure no late night nurses were walking through. “I wish he would take one look at me and break the engagement himself.”

“You don’t have to do this, Y/N.” His eyes now drawn on her, watching as she took another long sip of her tea, which he now suspected was spiked with something Gai had given her on his way out, something to numb the pain she was feeling. It burned her throat so good, and dulled her mind just enough to ease her. The Green Beast understood her desire to help the village, but he also sided with Kakashi in that she could change her mind at any point in time.

Even Gai knew she wasn’t happy, everyone fucking knew.

“Oh, but I do, Kakashi. I don’t really have a choice at this point.”

“You do. Don’t let a spoiled prince take away your happiness,” he argued, his face turned just the slightest shade of red at his frustration. He wanted to wring this prince by the neck for what he had done, for the tough situation Y/N was put in. Either save the relationship between two nations or be selfish and do nothing. “Please, Y/N.”

A part of him liked to believe that his begging was simply to save his friend from a horrible fate, that he was just doing what a normal person would do and defend someone who seemed so helpless, only that wasn’t it. It was never that in the first place. He wouldn’t have been the one to fall apart in Tsunade’s office when she told him that the pair were engaged, screaming profanities at the Hokage who only looked up at him with pity in her eyes. And he certainly wouldn’t have run all the way across the village to her apartment and bang on the door until she opened. He wouldn’t have left her room that night with a tear about to fall from his eye, and vomit coming up in his throat. He wouldn’t have thrown up in the middle of the street that night. Not if he was simply protecting a friend.

He knew that the reason this hurt him so badly is because he loved her. He always knew there was something there, but there was never any reason to act on his feelings. They had all the time in the world it seemed, just the two of them soldiering on in this boring life. Telling her how he felt, how much he wanted her...that wouldn’t have changed a thing between them other than made things just that much more difficult.

Now, Kakashi found himself regretting everything. If only he had said something before, maybe she could have stayed here in the Leaf with him, and all her other friends who had become her family over these decades of struggling together. If only he had stepped up and been brave. He never faltered in the face of fear; why did it have to be the only time he did that screwed him over.

“Kakashi, I can’t go back on the engagement. It would cause us to lose one of our greatest allies,” she told him calmly, but her heart was once again beating too fast for comfort. She found herself falling into that downward spiral of hopelessness once again. She looked over at him with a quiver in her lip and tears bubbling up at her waterline, words softly leaving her mouth, so quiet he almost missed it. “I was fitted for a wedding gown two days ago. I-It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. He asked me to pick what flowers I want at the ceremony.”

“Ah, I see.”

“All I wanted to say was wilted fucking roses, thorns and all. Weeds and empty branches.”

“Just run away if you have to, run for long enough that he forgets about you,” Kakashi suggested, a bit of plea in his voice for her to listen to anything, anything that would get her away from that man, this horrible fate. “You don’t need to do this. Tsunade can make it work.”

“Kakashi.” Y/N paused, biting her lip. Her head was beginning to buzz from the tea she was drinking, one in which Gai added more than a bit of sake to numb the pain. Something the nurses at this godforsaken hospital refused to give her. She gazed over at him with a glaze over her eyes, her cheeks draining of any last bit of color she had in them.

“Yes?”

“I don’t want to marry him,” she confessed, that much was obvious. “I wish I was marrying you instead.”

“Y/N-”

“I’ve never even looked at someone twice because of you. I’ve only ever wanted you, for fuck’s sake.” she bit out harshly, her voice raising with every word. Her eyes were trailed painfully on his own, glaring fire into him. "All these years, all these long, painful years, it's always been you, Hatake."

Just as he was about to say something in response, she had leaned over and pushed him away from her. He opened his mouth to get out a word, but nothing came out. Her angry shouts filled his ears, and he found himself falling. He stood from his chair and backed away from her bed.

“Just get out, Kakashi. It doesn’t matter how the fuck I feel anymore. I should have never said anything. At this point, I'm just tormenting myself. Just get out,” she hissed. “Get out, get out, get out.” Her shouts were painful to hear, but he understood. He wasn’t angry, unlike the girl with the overwhelming emotions bubbling out from the ears. His heart raced at her words, at the rushing emotions flowing through his veins.

He walked out the door without saying goodbye, just hearing her crying behind him while he pushed open the cracked door. As he shut the door behind him, he noticed a particular pink haired girl standing against the wall. She stared at him in shock, having heard the outbursts from the woman in the room who she was just about to check up on to make sure vitals were okay. She heard the confession, and she heard the subsequent backlash. She heard the parts about Y/N not wanting to marry the prince as well.

It wasn’t exactly well known that she resented the engagement, but it was fairly obvious if you spent enough time with the kunoichi, which Sakura surely did being a medical nin.

“Sensei, are you okay?”

“Yes, Sakura, I’m fine,” he breathed, finding himself at a loss for words and lungs utterly useless.

Sakura grabbed onto his arm, peering up at him with just an ounce of determination in her eyes. “You need to convince Y/N-sensei to break the engagement.”

“I know.”

“Did you talk to Lady Tsunade.”

“She won’t listen to me.”

“Then I’ll try to talk to her too. She's not a cruel woman, but she is set on this engagement. She believes it will unite the two villages for hundreds of years. Y/N is one of our best and brightest after all.” Sakura told the man in the darkness of the hospital halls, her soft voice echoing on white walls. “I know it doesn’t seem like things will work out, and maybe Lady Tsunade won't listen. But you have to convince Y/N to stand up for herself."

He nodded, but it felt hopeless even pretending that things would change.

“You two were meant for each other. You can’t just give up on that now.”

And with that, he left down the hall, waving goodbye to his student. He didn’t know how exactly he was going to do this, work out this mess in his favor, but it was worth a shot trying. If he didn’t, it would mean losing the love of his life. He couldn’t lose anyone else, not this time.

Please, just not this time.

________________________

Despite being dressed in all white, Y/N felt anything but pure. She had been dolled up the entire morning by her friends and the young girls of the village. Ino, Hinata and her sister, and a handmaiden sent from the Land of the Frost to prepare her for her wedding that day. Her dress was embroidered with small snowflakes and wisps of silver and baby blue details.

Already she felt as if she were being taken from her village and her heritage with all this decoration from the other land. Not to mention she would be married off somewhere foreign and cold, alone without the comfort of her family and friends here in the Leaf. The only people to be escorting her to the other village would be the handmaid, a couple guards from the Frost, and Kakashi.

Her final request was allowing him to come with her just for the wedding. And maybe it was cruel, to have him there as both their hopes for a happy ending dissolve, but she needed him. There was no way she would make it through the wedding without him standing to the side supporting her, even if the support was purely obligatory.

She never said anything to Tsunade, in fear of being rejected or patronized for changing her mind. Instead. She just waited for the fateful day.

Y/N stood at the gates, arms crossed over her chest as she stared out into the woods, a white and silver carriage sitting before her with 3 horses standing tall ahead. This was the life waiting for her across the boundary, in the faraway land she would never recognize as home. It would be her last day in the village for a long time, at least until she was allowed to leave. Still, her life wouldn’t be the same ever again. She never dreamed of living in a world where she was forced to be a housewife, alone in a giant house without her companions, without the rush of the hunt on missions, without feeling the chakra flowing thickly through her veins.

She’d said her goodbyes. Cleared out her apartment, leaving the majority of her belongings behind with friends and family. She wouldn’t be needing it where she was going.

“Kakashi?” she asked softly, peering over her shoulder at the man leaning against the gate, a book in his hand, the other tucked into his pocket. He wore nice clothing. Better than usual, at least. He wasn’t an honored guest, honestly, he wasn’t truly invited, she was just bringing him along upon her own stubbornness. He looked nice, dressed up like he cared today.

He lifted his eyes and hummed in reply, obviously lost in his own thoughts as well.

“I feel like I should have stayed longer in the village, to say goodbye. Our friends...Gai and all our students, Iruka...I feel like I'm just abandoning them,” she told him. “I just don’t think I’m ready to say goodbye. I guess I just don’t know how to say goodbye, a real goodbye. I’ve never felt like this- like I need to put so much thought behind a farewell because honestly, I’ve never felt like it would be my last one.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I have never intentionally left someone knowing that I’ll never see them again. It fucking sucks that I’m standing here knowing I’ll never see you guys again after this. I can’t accept it like that though. I keep thinking that after this is all over life will be back to normal, but it won’t.”

“I know. We should have tried harder to get you out of this mess. I could have said something-”

“It’s not your fault. I-I shouldn’t have agreed in the first place. I only agreed because I didn’t think I had a chance with you, so what would it matter leaving to be with someone else,” she blurted out, her truths coming out in heavy waves, “It would make me less lonely, I thought, even though it’s clearly done the opposite. I’ve never felt more impending loneliness than I do now.”

He sighed, shutting his book and stuffing it into his jacket pocket. It was like him to bring his romance novellas on a trip like this. She wanted to smile at his hobby, but her heart felt too heavy in her chest to even lift her lips. “I’ll see you again, Y/N. One day, I’ll get the chance to go back there and see you, as long as you let me in.”

“I don’t want it to just be one day,” she cried, throwing her arms down at her sides. She felt gross in these dreary robes, too decorated for her tastes altogether. “I want to see you everyday. I never want to go another day without you by my side. Jesus, this whole situation is just sick.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder and furrowed his brow. “Keep quiet. You’re gonna make a scene, Y/N.”

“I just can’t be quiet about this. Don’t you understand how I’m feeling? Aren’t you going to miss me too?” The woman asked, feeling her hands begin to sweat as she clenched them over and over. She stared at him, right into his exposed eye, her breaths becoming shallower with every passing moment. Panic creeped up her neck so quickly, smothering her thoughts, rationale flying out the window.

“Of course I will, L/N. That’s a stupid question, and you know it. I’m just trying not to get caught fraternizing with a future queen, yeah?” he mumbled, his voice hushed. "Just calm down. You're getting pale." He wanted to reach down and run his hands along her arms, smooth over her shoulders for just a bit of comfort, but he refrained. He didn't want to touch her in front of wandering eyes, the eyes of any Frost people.

After scanning the area, she grabbed a hold of his wrist, her fingers firm with no intention of letting go. “We need to leave. You and me, we can get out of here.”

“What?” He could only ask, completely stunned at her suggestion.

“Remember what you told me in the hospital. You told me to run away. We run away from here now, for as long as it takes for the prince to give up on me.” How scandalous, he thought. He couldn’t possibly just take the bride and run, could he? He hadn’t even pondered that route in his nightly daydreaming before bed, tossing and turning trying to think of a way to save his friend from the depths of whatever this prince had to offer.

“Y/N, I meant just you. I-I can’t just go against Lady Tsunade like that-”

“Kakashi Hatake, you’re my best friend, but more importantly, I’m in love with you. If I’m not wrong, the feeling is mutual. If that doesn’t make you want to run away together then I call cowardice,” she said boldly, her eyes never once leaving his own. “Come on, we don’t have the time for this.”

This could ruin him, he knew that full well. But there was just something about this woman he couldn’t let slip from his grasp. His entire world fell into her hands. When he felt that inevitable tug on his arm, pulling him into the familiar woods before them, he found himself following without a single restraint. The only thing he felt was his heart racing in his chest, bursting with an adrenaline he hadn’t felt in a long time.

They pushed through the forest for as long as she could run, tripping over branches and roots along the way, but never losing grip of each other. Her blood pulsed through her veins, and honestly, she had never felt more alive. Her entire life she found herself bowing down to those superior to her, listening to each word they say and meeting their every beck and call. She accepted a proposal she desperately wanted to decline solely to please the Hokage, one of the worst mistakes of all because she needed to obey.

It felt so fucking good to break the rules, to be disobedient for once in her sorry life.

Finally, after running for what seemed like miles, she finally slowed to a stop next to a particularly large tree. Her palms pressed against the rough bark, wood chips digging into her calloused hands. He slowed to a stop beside her and watched silently as she caught her breath, her chest rising and falling under the thick robes she wore.

“These shoes sure as hell aren’t made for running,” she mumbled, looking down at the pathetic slippers they’d given her. “I think we are far enough away that we can sit and talk for a little bit.”

“Yeah, you wanna talk about how you committed treason.”

“You did, too. Don’t blame this all on me.”

“You were the one with all your “cowardice” and “love” crap. God, this entire thing feels like it’d come out of one of Master Jiraiya's novels.”

She took a seat on the ground, not caring if the dirt stained her robes. Why would she care? She was dead either way. If Tsunade ever laid eyes on her again, Y/N knew she’d be a goner. That woman would kill with no hesitation, she was convinced of it. Y/N’s eyes trailed back up to her the man, and she could only groan. “Listen I know there were definitely better ways of doing this, but I’m not the sharpest kunai in the box. I was just doing what my feral instincts were telling me to do. You were the one who just followed after me like a lost puppy.”

He rolled his eyes, huffing out, “What was I supposed to do? Think rationally? You’ve got my brain turned to mush half the damn time; what do you want from me?”

“Don’t worry, you’re literally Tsunade’s best ninja- She’ll let you back into the village.”

“You’re not that bad yourself-”

“Yeah, that’s why she tried to pawn me off to the Land of Frost to be a stay-at-home mom. Things aren’t lining up, Kakashi.”

He sighed, finally deciding to take a seat beside her against the tree trunk. He leant his head against the wood, his eyes peering up into the trees. Things had taken a wild turn, that’s for sure. He really did feel like he was in one of his romantic drama, the only thing missing was the R-rated content-Not that that was what he was thinking about, of course not…

How the story would end, he didn’t really know.

“Well, what’s done is done. Whether it was a bad decision or not.”

“I really didn’t think this through.”

“Nope.”

She turned to him, her eyebrows furrowed deeply, frustrated with this entire thing. “Kakashi, I did this because of you. Because of what we have going on between us. Did you want me to be married off to that pig of a prince?” she questioned.

“No.”

She nodded at his answer and leaned back in her spot. Her arms worked their way to being crossed over her chest, and she couldn’t look him in the eyes at this point, her sight set on a particular mushroom a few yards away. Her words were curt, if not awkward, “Speaking of which, we need to discuss what we are or how we feel or whatever.”

“I thought that was obvious.”

“Not really. I mean, I’ve told you how I feel already, but um, you haven’t said a thing.”

“But you clearly know.”

She shook her head, a bit of heat rising up her cheeks and ears. “Doesn’t matter. I gotta hear you say it, for real.”

Kakashi let his eyes wander over to the woman, who sat there like a child with her arms crossed and her eyes tucked away somewhere else. He almost wanted to laugh. She reminded him of a student at times with her bashfulness. It was definitely one of the many things he liked about her. “What? Do you want me to tell you I love you, or something?”

“Yes, that would be nice after all the trouble I’ve been through for you.”

He chuckled that time. Of course, all the trouble…”Y/N, I guess I love you. I guess I spent all these years ignoring my feelings, and it took this whole arranged marriage thing to make me realize I was missing out on a really good thing,” he confessed, voice softer than usual. “When you told me in the hospital, riding out your buzz from the spiked tea Gai gave you, that you wished you were marrying me instead, I just knew I had to have you. Truly though, I knew on our first meeting that I wanted you.”

“I was such a clumsy idiot back then. I think I’ve matured a lot since then, don’t you think?”

“Maybe, you’re still a clumsy idiot, just one with great ninjutsu.”

“Hey!”

"All I know is that I loved the feeling of falling in love with you. How good it made me feel. I was more worried about you than ever before, but every time you smiled and said hello, anything you did really, started to make my days better and better,” he continued, “This life has been cold and harsh to me, but you just swooped in and made it worth something.”

She felt her heart beat faster in her chest hearing that, a warmth growing in her stomach as she scooted closer to him, inch by inch. He clearly didn’t take notice or mind, so she pressed her side to his, shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh. She felt ridiculous in these heavy ginormous robes, too bulky to move properly. She dropped her head on his shoulder gently, and felt him relax into her touch.

“I love you so much it hurts. My hands are shaking because of all the love that’s overflowing,” she told him with a sheepish grin, holding up her hand so he could indeed see that her hand was vibrating. He clasped her hand in his own and lowered them to his lap. His thumb ran over her knuckles in soft strokes, and she melted into the gentle touch of the man she cared so deeply for.

“I’m glad I ran away with you.”

“Me too.”

________________________________

It had been about 3 days before someone found them wandering in a nearby village. It was only a matter of time before they were found and brought back to the Leaf, anyway, so no surprise to them there. It was exciting having a few days without responsibilities, just living almost as if they were civilians in love.

People in the village stared as the pair walked through the streets of the town, whispers being heard and looks shared. It was only a matter of time before everyone knew about the Copy-nin and his battered bride companion being escorted into Konoha.

Tsunade was in her office waiting for them to arrive. The door shut behind them, and Y/N wished someone was there to witness the Hokage murder them, only, the fatal blow never came. Instead, calm words reached their ears.

“I’d say I’m surprised, but I’m really not.”

“Lady Tsunade, let me explain what happened-” Y/N started to say, but she was quickly interrupted.

“I really don’t need to hear the details of your 3 day sex-capade,” she dismissed, a look of disgust crossing her face. Y/N’s face morphed into that of pure horror, the thought of the Hokage and everyone in the village that knew they ran away assuming that’s what they’d been doing. It was humiliating, to say the least. She didn’t have time to process the fact before the Hokage spoke again, “I’m mad because you two essentially committed treason, but thankfully, the prince didn’t have any complaints. He apparently saw a psychic the day of the wedding who told him that his marriage was cursed for eternity, and was ready to call off the entire thing. Superstitious bastard.”

“So, the Land of the Frost and the Leaf are still allies?” Kakashi asked.

“Yes, fortunately," the Hokage stated simply. She lifted her eyes to the younger woman, and the exasperation was obvious in her appearance as well as tone. The girl in question nervously rubbed her forearm, embarrassed beyond belief. It was one thing getting screamed at, but it was another to be scolded like a child. "Y/N, if you wanted to break the arrangement, you should have just told me. I could have worked it out somehow. There was no need for all this drama.”

She bit her lip, not knowing what to say. She really should have said something before, but she was foolish. “I know, but I didn’t want to disappoint you," the woman mumbled awkwardly.

“Well, you did.” Ouch, so blunt.

“I know.”

She nodded, clearly having said what needed to be said. Her eyes dipped back down to her paperwork. The air wasn't nearly as heavy as when the pair first walked in, and Y/N finally felt air fill her lungs once again. Her nerves had really been for nothing, thankfully.

“Very well, you two are dismissed. Don't go around pulling shit like this again, or I’ll see to it that you actually receive punishment.”

The doors shut behind them, and Y/N let a smile grow on her cheeks. She turned to the man at her side, her smile only growing that much more at the sight of his handsome face. “Things sure worked out for me. I didn’t get in trouble for my crimes, and I have a boyfriend now,” she gleamed.

He smirked, rolling his eyes. “Don’t get too cocky. You still have to deal with Gai.”

“I’m not prepared for the amount of hugs I am about to receive.”

“Neither am I.”

And as they heard those oh-so familiar, loud footsteps rushing up the stairs of the Hokage Tower, they knew they were in for it.

"Kakashi! Y/N! I heard the joyous news of your return!"

Oh, boy.

#naruto x reader #kakashi hatake x reader #kakashi x reader #kakashi one shot #naruto imagine #naruto one shot #kakashi imagine #kakashi hatake #my writing #i really hope someome enjoys this

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sellyoursoulforagoodfic · 3 years

Text

Shelbys at Somme Chapter 22

Thomas X Reader

Word Count: 1823

Summary: We’re getting the band back together.

by @adventuresintooblivion

Y/N huffed a stray curl out of her face as she walked down the street. She’d been hunting Thomas down for days trying to get a hold of him, to warn him. Hell, at this point she’d considered sending a note. But he needed to know that the possibility of a gang war was on the horizon.

It was one of the few times Y/N had visited the Shelby home. She’d mainly avoided the place up until now, letting Thomas and the others have a sanctuary. Everyone needed one. But today the streets were buzzing with activity. Runners made their way back and forth between illicit sales, the horse tracks, and the books that Thomas kept locked up so tightly.

Once inside the volume only increased as it was captured by thin walls. It wasn’t the business, however, that made the whole affair so wild. It was a handful of unexpected visitors.

Beneath the chalkboard in the back of the room Aunt Pol stood grasping Ada as if it were the last time she was ever going to see the girl. Beside her stood her husband grinning like he was a priest witnessing the Lord rise again himself.

“Is that Freddie-fucking-Thorne I see? What happened to you getting got by the coppers?” Y/N gasped in feigned astonishment.

Freddie whipped around, his jaw falling slack as he took in the sight before him, “Y/N? Is that really you?”

She closed the distance between them quickly, “Oh, don’t tell me no one mentioned I was around. I’ve been here for months.”

In half a breath Freddie swept her up into his arms, “No, I was told all about you. I guess I never really let myself believe it until I’d laid eyes on you myself.”

Y/N choked out a laugh as she waved in a feeble attempt to return the crushing hug. “Ada, a little help?”

Ada’s laugh rang out like a bell as she lightly placed her hand on Freddie’s shoulder, “Put her down, love. I’d like to say ‘hi’ as well.”

Freddie roughly let down the woman, letting her gasp for breath as Ada wrapped her arms around Y/N, careful to balance the baby in her other arm.

“Fucking Christ man you’re trying to kill me all over again. And you didn’t answer my question,” Y/N coughed as she returned Ada’s embrace. Freddie bounced on his heels, the excitement too much for him to contain.

He blurted out, “Danny got me out. He’s around here somewhere. I see you met My Wife.” His hand made a small flourish in Ada’s direction as if to show her off.

“Yeah, I see you’ve even gotten her a ring and everything.” Y/N lifted Ada’s left hand and gave it a soft squeeze. A smile split across Ada’s face, making her almost glow in the dim light. “I knew there was a proper man in there somewhere. Had to bash that over Thomas’ skull a few times before he’d listen.”

Freddie froze, “You vouched for me? To Tommy?”

“Of course I did. The Freddie that watched my back in the trenches never would’ve left the woman he loved behind. Thomas just got too caught up in the business of it all.” Y/N shrugged.

Aunt Pol caught her eye, tears were trickling down her cheeks as she smiled like the whole world was right for once. It was only temporary. Even as they all spoke they knew that. Yet, when life is as short and cruel as it is, you knew to take what you could get.

“So, how come I haven’t heard about you getting engaged?” Freddie coughed uncomfortably. He reached for Y/N’s left hand, inspecting it as if it held all the answers. “Cause when Ada told me you were back, I just knew that’s what you came back for.”

“Freddie…” Y/N warned.

Ada cast a glance back towards Aunt Pol. “Yeah, you said she came back for Tommy didn’t you?”

“It was a joke you’d hear them making all the time. Honestly, if things had gone right you’d probably be looking at a real Mrs. Thomas Shelby right now.” Freddie teased.

Y/N thunked Freddie on his sternum, her eyes narrowed as he doubled over. “Thanks. Share that with everyone. Please. Continue.”

“Alright. Alright. But seriously, You two aren’t getting married? I thought he’d be ecstatic to see you,” he said as he righted himself.

She shrugged, hoping the movement showed him just how uncomfortable she was. “He’s got a thing for a barmaid at the moment. And you know how I am, second place really isn’t my style. Besides, we’re not on the best of terms right now.”

Aunt Pol stepped forward to place her hand on the back on Y/N arm, “While I knew Thomas liked you, I didn’t realize it had gotten so far. We’ll talk about this later.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Y/N shot Freddie a look that could kill.

They were interrupted by the door bursting open. One of the many men who worked for the Peaky Blinders stumbled in gasping.

“They’ve got him! The Rothschilds have Tommy!”

The air left Y/N’s lungs all in a rush. That was a name she prayed to never hear again. The whole room stood still. Violence raised her bloody crown whenever the Rothschilds marched and every man, woman and child knew it. And now they had Tommy. It was Arthur who broke the silence.

“Out with it man! What happened?”

The man fumbled forward until he collapsed into a chair, shaking his head. “We were on our way to meet Kimber’s boys. We had to cross the bridges to get there cause Kimber was at some fancy party and we got jumped. I swear there were at least ten of them. Beat the shit out of us and tossed Tommy in a carriage when he couldn’t get up anymore. It was bad, Arthur.”

Aunt Pol was visibly trembling as she reached out for the man, “How do you know it was the Rothschilds? Tell me, there is a fraction of a chance that you were wrong.”

He shook his head, “It was them Ma’am. The carriage they brought, it was a beat up old thing but it was painted in their colors. And...And I saw him. Sid, himself showed.”

Arthur glanced around wildly, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get Tommy.” He grabbed his coat and began running for the door.

“Arthur, STOP.” It was Y/N. “They let this man go. They let him go so he would tell us. Sid knows everyone here would die for Tommy, without question. If you run off like you plan to, you’ll just be running into whatever he’s got set up waiting for you.”

“Then what the fuck do you think we should do then, Miss Knows Everything.” His face was steadily turning a brighter shade of red.

But Aunt Pol simply collapsed. She grabbed for a chair as she went down, the resounding crash caught Arthur’s attention as his fists clenched and unclenched. He rushed forward, encircled her in his arms as sobs ripped through her chest, “NO! No. No. No. No. My boy!”

Arthur stared down at her bewildered, “Aunt Pol, We could go after him. We could-”

“No! She… She’s right. Either they’ll kill him or they’ll make him watch as we try to save him. The Peaky Blinders will be slaughtered.”

John paced back and forth, “I know we’re outnumbered, but it’s Tommy. We can’t just give up.”

Freddie ran his fingers through his hair, “I know I’m not a part of the gang scene, but didn’t these guys almost wipe out Kimber’s gang before he got a hold of the race tracks?”

John nodded, “Yeah, he pays them to leave him alone. They have a whole army of people.”

Aunt Pol’s sobs stuttered to a halt as she rounded on Y/N. “They’ve got an army and we need a miracle. You, you’re the impossible girl.”

Apparently the idiotic moniker had been making the rounds, Y/N sighed heavily as she silently cursed that random Lee.

“Pol, I know I’m pretty stubborn but the Rothschilds?” Y/N shook her head. “It’d take weeks of planning and if we go after Tommy we’d have to leave NOW.”

“I know who you are. Tommy told me. You smuggled priceless goods while in the army. You came back from the dead. You walk on two legs while your spine is held together by sinew and sheer will. You know where that monster is taking my nephew. Now get out there and. Bring. Him. Back.” She spat the order at Y/N.

Arthur stared up at her in quiet astonishment, “Well, I guess you’re in charge of this one, mate.”

Y/N’s mouth set into a thin line. Gears began turning in her head about what she knew, the memories flooding forth unbidden as she relived her childhood. The carriages, the beating, the lone survivor. It all rang a bell.

She began to pace, “It’s too risky to have this war in Birmingham with that new Inspector sniffing at our heels. They’d have to take him out of the city to ambush us properly.”

Freddie glanced at her, “Which means we need to get Tommy before they leave the city.”

She nodded, “Their carriages are also altered. They have better maneuverability than anything coming out of a factory. Not to mention they’re skinnier so they can fit down roads most cars won’t be able to.”

“How do you know all this?” Ada asked, bouncing her child gently to calm him in light of all the noise.

Y/N let out a nervous chuckle, “You’ll find out tonight if I get back.”

Arthur’s brows furrowed, “I thought you just said we couldn’t go after him.”

“The entirety of the Peaky Blinders can’t. But maybe, just maybe, a smaller team could get this done.” Y/N glanced around. “Hey Freddie, are you up for an adventure?”

He saluted her, “For you and Tommy? Always.”

Y/N glanced at Ada, who answered with a silent nod, before asking, “Isn’t one of you Shelby’s a gunner?”

John stepped forward, “That’d be me. They handed me most of the big guns but I remember how to work a proper sniper rifle if that’s what you need.”

Her fingers tapped out a nervous rhythm as Y/N’s mind grasped at straws. A vague plan was forming at the edges of her mind, knitting itself together into something that could possibly work.

“Alright. No, the big guns are exactly what we need right now. John, Freddie, meet me at the corner by the West Bridge.”

“You’ve actually got a plan?” John asked hopefully.

Y/N grimaced, “I’ve got something. I wouldn’t quite call it a plan yet, but come on boys. Let’s go get Tommy back.”

#thomas shelby x reader #thomas shelby imagine #tommy shelby x reader #tommy shelby imagine #reader insert #peaky blinders imagine

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another-fantasy-world · 4 years

Text

Strings Pt.1

Pairing: Rosalie Hale x Fem!OC

Summary: in which the true queen of vampires found love when she least expected.

Warnings: ...Light Angst? Slowburn and mentions of death,trauma and depression

Timeline: Breaking Dawn - Post-Twilight

Word count: 1,683

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

The Patriarch of the Olympic Coven certainly didn’t expect a visit from an old friend, much less a forgotten queen on the time of their distress trying to save their coven from the selfish hands of Aro Volturi.

“Greetings Carlisle. It has been a while, hasn’t it?” The violet-eyed vampire smiled.

“M-My Queen! I-” Carlisle stutters, still stunned by shock and confusion.

“No need for such formalities. We’re friends, are we not?” The dark-haired queen smirked.

“Of course. May I ask, How are you here?”

“ Ah, Dear Carlisle. The years seem to blur doesn’t it? Forgot about me already?”

“It’s...been awhile.” The queen hummed at Carlisle’s response.

“You’re dreaming, Carlisle. Still aware of the fact that I can manipulate your body to sleep? Let’s cut to the chase, Your family is getting worried with the sight of you passed out on the couch. I’ll be sending my representatives over to you as addition to your witnesses. I am aware of your...agreement with the shifters. And I demand that they return to me in one piece. Understood?”

“Yes Ma’am.” Carlisle grinned

“Very well. They will explain once they get there. I wish you the best of luck. Carlisle Cullen.”

And with that, Carlisle’s eyes fluttered open, refocusing on his wife’s worried eyes, he smiled gently.

“I’m fine, my love. It appears that we have more visitors coming.” He grinned

“Witnesses? But how? More importantly, Who?” Edward questions

“Are we just going to ignore the fact that Carlisle just took a nap?” Emmett wailed while tossing his mate, Maggie, over his shoulders.

Carlisle sighed at his son’s antics before speeding out of the room, only to come back with an antique looking box. He gestured for them to sit down.

“I think it’s time that I tell you a story...” Carlisle breathed in an unneeded breath, allowing himself to recollect his memories from centuries ago.

“...Anastasia Thorne. Also known as Anastasiarine Maximilliene Rolinde-Thorne.” He starts, voice wavering as he smiles

“She’s also known as The Ghost Queen, Of Volturi and of every other vampires that there are. There were rumours that she was the first ever vampire to walk in these lands and that we came from her. She never really did confirm that fact, whenever I ask her of it, she only laughs and dismissed it with a joke.” Carlisle’s eyes seem to stare into the distance, reminiscing the olden days. He pulls out a couple of pictures, all containing the same woman.

‘Gorgeous’ was the first word that popped on Rosalie’s mind. And soon she wonders what would happen if she ever meets the said Queen. But she immediately dismisses the thought.

The Cullens, besides Carlisle of course, merely looks at each other in silence, urging Carlisle to continue.

“She was many things when she was still young. A Princess, A Queen, A Knight, A Doctor, A Philosopher, A Genius, She was even a pirate once. Above all, She was a paradox. Unpredictable and Bipolar. Always lived in isolation, I do not know how she manages that but she did. Only comes out of her own tower when needed. She was the one who thought me how to feed on animals, did I ever tell you that?” he asked. They all shook their head no.

“Huh, It must have slipped my mind”

“My, Carlisle. You must be getting old.” An unknown voice suddenly pops out of nowhere.

They all swerved their head to where the unknown voice came from and there stood two figures. Two women to be exact.

“Don’t tease him. 3 decades is a long time.” The other slaps the other.

“I’m sorry for being rude, barging into your home like this. Anastasia was quite insistent on us helping you,” The figure in a green cloak grins

“My name’s Veronica. And this is Amore. We are here to help you.” Veronica smiles gently.

“How...” Emmett gapes

“How did we not hear you? How do I not hear you?” Edward asked, baffled

“Teleportation is the strangest thing isn’t it? It also risks losing a couple limbs.” Amore deadpans

“You... have a pulse.” Bella suddenly blurts out

Amore and Veronica looks at each other before chuckling.

“Ah, we can never escape a newborn’s ears. Yes we have a pulse. Yes we are hybrids as well, just not the same as your daughter.” Vero smiles gently

“Uh-huh. We were witches. Salem witches to be exact. We escaped death when some random vampire bit us the day we were supposed to be burned. Somehow our genes as witches halted the venom from fully consuming our body, so when we awoke, we quickly learned we have every strength yet none of the weaknesses of a vampire.” Amore explains.

“What do you mean?” Esme asks

“Well, for one, we don’t sparkle.” Veronica giggles

“Two, we still bleed. but our blood isn’t appetizing. I’ve been told my blood smells like trash...” Amore grimaces “...I don’t know if that was a compliment or an insult.”

“And three. We still have our witchy abilities.” Veronica finalizes, holding Amore’s hand

Amore then furrows her brows as if threatened and offended.

“Mind reader. Whatever your name is, our goal isn’t to hurt your daughter. If it was, My head would already be a decor on our Queen’s Palace. So don’t poke around.” Amore pointedly looks at Edward who tenses in shock

“Amore. Behave. Now where is the hybrid?” Veronica curiously asks

A shy Renesmee pokes her head out of Bella’s legs, Veronica immediately coos.

“Awwee~ Rey, Look! She’s so cute~” The redhead fusses over a now blushing Renesmee

“You’re overwhelming her.” Amore pulls Veronica from her collar away from the hybrid child. “...Behave.” Amore smirks

Amore crouches down to Renesmee’s height and smiles. Staring at each other as if silently communicating then, Renesmee lifts her hand up to touch Amore’s cheek. She looks forward, in a daze then grins wildly, snapping back to reality.

“You have an amazing gift, Little Cullen. Very pretty too. Would you want me to show you mine?” Amore asks, to which Renesmee nods rapidly, already warming up to the visitors, much to Jacob’s distaste.

“Great, More Leeches.” Jacob glares when he steps into the living room, where he found his imprint near a vampire.

“Too Close” He thinks, shifting into a defensive position while trying not to shift into his wolf.

“Hmm, and here I thought Renesmee couldn’t be more special.” Veronica giggles.

“Calm yourself down, shifter. I don’t want to hurt your imprint.” Amore rolls her eyes, then smiles at Renesmee.

The opens her palms and there lies a mixture of purples, blues, pinks, blacks and whites. The universe is displayed in Amore’s hands, Swirling around as if creating a new planet.

“Illusion is tricky, therefore, only those who believe shall see it.” Amore closes her palms and ruffles the child’s hair.

“Coooooool.” Emmett gapes in amazement.

“Very well, shows over. Wolfie, be a dear and take your imprint on a date, will you?” Amore looks at Jacob with a serious glint in her eyes

Rosalie had to quiet her snort when Amore called Jacob, wolfie. She dislikes shifters with a passion, they stink and is very dangerous. Edward merely smirks at his sister before gulps due to Esme’s glare.

“Stay out of my head!.” Rosalie screamed in her head, making him wince.

As soon as the both of them ensured the child and it’s imprint is out of earshot, Their auras changed into a much more serious and sinister one. Frowns prominent on their faces.

“As we’ve said before, our abilities as witches remained even in this immortal form, but along that, we also attained gifts. Amore being the gift of illusion and Mine being knowledge. I know everything. I’m basically a much more reliable and attractive internet. Although I couldn’t see the future as your dear Alice, Once she gets her vision, it adds to my knowledge bank. Therefore, I have knowledge on the outcome of this battle. And it’s not good.” Veronica glares at the floor, silently seething. The once cheerful and happy woman, turned into an angry blob of mess.

“Aro is as insufferable as ever, He wishes to destroy your coven. He merely needs his evidence and he has been waiting a long time for this. He wouldn’t back down easily. As much as we want to help you, we can’t be seen in your thoughts. Or that will ruin the balance of the worlds. We trust in Alice’s plan, You should too.” Amore seriously states, rubbing her mate’s back

“We need your consent. You all have to trust us. I know it’s not easy, us popping into your lives and all. We must mask your thoughts, One where your memories and thoughts of us are hidden from Aro.” Veronica smiles gently, slowly calming down.

“They’re telling the truth” Maggie, The resident lie detector confirms.

“You may discuss it among yourselves.” Veronica drags Amore away.

Rosalie frowns, Trust doesn’t come easy. Do these strangers seriously ask for her trust without them earning it? That was absurd in her book, the last time she trusted someone on a whim, it caused her demise. Her frown deepens when an unknown feeling bubbles up deep in her. She’s confused, she was confused on as to why she felt jealous, envious. Was it their beauty? No, it wasn’t that. Rosalie knew, even though she was only ever been with men, she knew that she found women attractive, although never really caring about it since they had to come and go. she was offended when people misinterpreted her longing looks as glares of envy, she was only admiring after all. Was it that they found each other then? No, it was something deeper. She was jealous of them for something. Something she doesn’t know. And she hated that. She snarled at them then speeds away to the comfort of her room, without listening to her coven, missing the knowing smirks of both Veronica and Amore. They looked at each other then nodded with grins on their faces.

Yep. They were definitely meant for each other.

#rosalie hale #rosalie hale x oc #jasper hale x alice cullen #edward cullen x bella swan #carlisle x esme #olympic coven #cullen clan #the cullens #cullen family #the volturi #rosalie cullen #rosalie hale x fem oc #platonic carlisle x oc #The Cullens x OC #The Volturi x OC #rosalie twilight #rosalie

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bittybattybunny · 3 years

Text

Have this random one shot thing (I say this because IDK if I will continue it or not but I wanted to write this small chapter starter at the very least)

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“What?!” She gasped as she held tightly to her phone in anger, “A-After everything she did?! She Dies?! And he marries someone else?!” she fumed and nearly threw her phone, “WHAT A RIP OFF!!” she fell back on her bed and pouted as she reread the chapter. No doubt. The character the story had followed so faithfully as the main character. Died.

Vanessa gave a weary sigh as she scrolled to the illustration. The forgotten princess was surrounded by thorns and white lilies, her blood staining the ground. Estella Guardian was a powerful saint and when her story ended she sacrificed her own life to appease the gods for the country and her lover the Prince of the moon left her for a sunshine girl.

“Arggg!!!” The young woman fumed, “if I had been there I would have saved her. There had to be another way…” she sighed and locked her phone before she rolled over on her bed with a heavy sigh.

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Sitting up he blinked a few times as he looked around. Reaching to brush his long copper hair from his face he squeaked as he noticed his hands.

“N-No wa--ah!” he gasped and covered his mouth. He whined and moved his hands to inspect them. Large with callouses from holding brushes and pens. He chewed his lips as he tried to think.

“Okay Nessa, you fell asleep after being mad, and now you’re voice is five octaves lower and you’re pretty sure this is not your body.” he moved to stand and looked around the small room. Canvases, paints, plants. It was packed with supplies and a mess. He gave a grunt of annoyance.

“Whoever I am, I’m a slob.”

There was a knock and he jumped in shock. He shifted and looked around panicked.

“Neth? You okay?” came a voice from the other side.

“F-Fine Taylor!” He called. He blinked. Taylor. Why did he know the name….? He blinked and gripped his head in pain.

Right. He was Neth, no last name since he was a commoner. He was a painter and Taylor was a tailor (ironically) he’d known since they were in the same orphanage. He gripped the bed as he shook his head and felt the sweat from the mild panic attack and grimaced.

So he was both Vanessa Princeton and Neth. Okay. That was one mystery solved. Sighing he looked at his hand and moved to grab a hair tie to pull his overly long hair back and attempt to get it from his face. Opening the door the black haired young man sighed heavily.

“Did you get hit by a nightmare filly? You look horrible. How are you going to paint the prince’s portrait looking like you drank 50 beers and passed out.” Taylor chided, “Come on scoot, let me make you presentable. Honestly.”

Neth laughed some as he moved. Prince. Prince…? He gasped, “SHIT I HAVE TO DRAW PRINCE JERICHO TODAY!” he realized as he stood in his doorway.

Taylor blinked and started to cackle loudly, “you FORGOT?! How does one forget he’s drawing the 14 year old prince?!”

Neth felt his cheeks growing warm and huffed, “L-Look I just. Have a lot on my mind alright?!”

Jericho. Prince Jericho. The same Prince.

Who left Estella to die.

His eyes grew wide, “T-Taylor how old are we?!” he asked in a panic,

“17…?” Taylor blinked.

17. 17. He grinned, “Perfect! That makes me only 3 years older than her!” He beamed. Thank god. He gave a weary sigh. He was worried he was gonna end up being creepy. He grabbed his cloak and ran out, “I-I’ll meet you at the palace later I have somewhere to be!”

“W-what!? Neth?! Neth come back here!” Taylor snapped but it was too late. The painter had taken off.

Neth ran through the streets. If the prince was only 14 as Taylor said, then Estella was 13, and this would be around the time she MET the prince! He grinned. If he could just intervene in that, maybe. Maybe. Estella could live. She didn’t need to die. It was all a ploy. It was meant to test the devotion of the prince and he failed. So while the country prospered it came at a grave cost.

If he could help Estella, make her happy. He could help prevent that cursed fate and her sorrowful tale. He panted as he made it to the town square, hand moving his bangs out of his eyes. He grumbled at himself. What painter let his bangs obscure his eyes like this?! He noticed a few people staring intently and let his hair drop. Sitting near the fountain he realized why he did.

Bright golden eyes, a symbol of the sun. he sighed, right. He had cursed eyes. In the country of the moon having eyes like the sun was a bad take.

As he sat there he went over the facts he knew in the book.

Estella met Jericho when she was 13 and she was wandering the capital after her handler let her out. Despite Jericho being the crown prince, the royal family wasn’t the true royal family, in fact the true royals with gifted magic, were kept hidden away in the Horizon woods, and there was only one left. A young girl with hair like silver lilies dipped in dark ink. Her eyes were a mismatch of blue and black.

Neth blinked as he saw the young hooded girl staring at him, dark wisps of hair framing her face. But the very eyes he knew were staring at him.

“Estella…?” He mused lowly and she jumped, pulling her hood closer.

“I-i’m not! I-I’m Eclipse!” She fibbed and he chuckled. He broke the story already.

“Eclipse why are you staring?” he asked and moved to stand. He hadn’t noticed with taylor since they were the same height but he was taller than most.

“Y-you’re hair’s a birds nest and you have paint on your face.” she admitted with a laugh.

Neth flinched and looked in the fountain, “Shit!” he groaned, “Damnit Taylor tell me sooner!” he moved to wipe the paint with his cloak. She looked up at him with a big smile and he smiled back.

“You seem a little young to be wandering alone and talking to strangers, don’t you?” he teased.

She squeaked, “I-I am not! I’m 13! I’m an adult!” she huffed.

“13 is not an adult.” he crossed his arms, “I’m 17 and I’m not even an adult. Well. I guess by this world’s standards I am but.”

She laughed, “17 is an adult! You can do so much! I wish I was older, maybe then Sena would let me play more.”

“I think soon he will.” Neth admitted, “Eclipse, was it? Do you want an escort while in town? You know it’s dangerous.” he sighed. As much as he hated it, the reason Jericho and Eclipse met was Jericho did actually do a good thing. He saved her from thieves.

She frowned and rocked on her feet some, “Are you a bad person?”

“I can be if you decide I am. I think I’m pretty nice. I’m Neth, I’m a painter.” he held his hand to her. She placed hers in his with a gentle shake.

“Okay. I’ll trust you!” she beamed and his heart raced.

He would do it.

He would make sure this time.

Estella lived.

#writing #fan fiction #ahit au #ahit fan character #ahit queen vanessa #ahit prince #why yes yes i did combine vanessa and prince into one charatcer in this BECAUSE ITS MY AU AND I DO WHAT I WANNNNTNTTTTTT

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fandom-necromancer · 3 years

Text

It’s never too late to realise

This was prompted by an amazing anon! I hope you like it, I somehow think I could have made this better. Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Characters: Gavin Reed, RK900 [Part2]

Gavin sighed and opened a new document. ‘Gavin.’ ‘Hmm?’ He looked up at the android sitting opposite of him. ‘Your appointment is in ten minutes, are you sure you want to start that report right now?’ ‘The phck is your problem surveying my goddamn terminal?’, Gavin called over before turning back to his screen and shrugging, adding a bit calmer: ‘Didn’t plan on going.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Hey, tin-can, I don’t want to talk to another phcking shrink about my life again, okay? And this week I can get away with it, pretending I didn’t know they already replaced the old one.’ ‘Oh, I’m sure it is terrible’, Nines prodded him. ‘My name is Gavin, I’m an asshole and I hate everyone, now give me the okay to look at dead people.’ ‘That’s not how this works!’, Gavin hissed back. ‘Oh, I’m sorry’, Nines chuckled. ‘My name is Gavin, I’m a socially inept asshole, who hates everyone, ask me your questions I will without doubt find witty comebacks to instead of actually working on my problems and then give me the okay to look at dead people.’ Gavin felt how his shoulders tensed, because phck this tin-can, seriously! As if a machine could understand- ‘Phck it, fine, I’ll go if only to get away from your useless ass.’

Gavin really didn’t want to go. For entirely different reasons than his plastic partner thought of, but honestly it was better he just thought Gavin was too stubborn to get help. No, Gavin knew he needed it, needed some sort of guidance to help him come to terms and ultimately get over his problems. But he also knew the last therapist hadn’t been of any help, so why try again? Maybe he just had to get himself together and press on. Maybe he really just imagined it and if he wouldn’t be this goddamn weak then he could- He sighed as he knocked at the office door at point twelve. ‘Come in!’ So, another try then.

He sat down opposite to the human – were they even human? – therapist. ‘Hello! You must be Detective Reed. My name is Elise Thorn. It’s a pleasure to meet you!’ Gavin took her hand and shook it, grimacing. ‘Let’s see how that changes in a week’s time’, he grumbled. ‘Let’s see how that’ll be then indeed’, she just answered, still smiling. ‘Miss Lisa really didn’t leave a lot of notes behind, so I guess we’ll have to start from scratch again. I’m sorry about that. Would you tell me a bit about yourself? What progress did you make with your previous therapist?’ Gavin laughed ugly. Progress? For real? ‘Well, as it likely states in my file, I have trouble working with androids and there is a severe case of anger issues. That’s about it.’ ‘Okay… Then let’s start with your trouble with androids. What would that be exactly?’

‘I’m afraid of androids.’ Heh, the last time he had said that, Miss Lisa had just laughed him in the face, telling him the revolution was over and that her kind didn’t plan on overthrowing humanity anymore. ‘That’s not what I’m afraid of.’ ‘Then what are you afraid of?’ ‘Their strength. The way they don’t show feelings.’ ‘You do know that’s pretty racist, right? You really shouldn’t think that way.’ Yeah, right. As if Gavin would make the same mistake a second time.

‘I can’t trust androids. My… My partner never did anything, and I should be having no doubts with him, but… yeah. I somehow always think he will turn on me and-‘ ‘And?’ The woman wasn’t smiling, but her face was still looking supportive, so Gavin continued: ‘I always expect androids to fake being friendly and civil and then turn on me when no one’s looking and hurt me.’ He looked up expecting what his previous therapist had said so many times to be repeated: ‘Man up. Hurt you? Why should they? And you’re not looking like a guy that couldn’t take up that fight. Seriously, that’s ridiculous.’ ‘Did you have any experiences with androids that would support that apprehension? Maybe during the revolution?’ Ah, there it was. Why are you like this? Is there a reason? That’s not a valid reason, come on. You just hate us, that’s it. ‘Not during it, before’, Gavin said. ‘I am Elijah Kamski’s half-brother. We grew up together. He started working on androids then and… and there was an accident in the lab. I ran away afterwards and applied at the police academy.’ ‘Do you want to share what happened with me?’ ‘Not really’, Gavin sighed. ‘I want to forget it, but I guess you won’t stop asking, right?’

‘Detective Reed, I am here to help’, she said, putting down the tablet she had written on until now. ‘You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want me to know. But the more I know the better I can try to help you.’ Huh. So not telling was an option? ‘You seem surprised.’ Gavin laughed. ‘Just saying your predecessor used to make this an interrogation.’ ‘Well, I heard as much’, she sighed and rested her head in her hands. ‘I was there with Eli, used to watch how he worked on androids while doing my own stuff. Just for the company, I guess. Or the sounds relaxed me, I don’t know. Well, one day I was playing something on my phone and only looked up as I heard my brother choking. The phcking thing was on top of him, nearly crushing his windpipe and I froze, I couldn’t do anything. In the end I beat it with a fire extinguisher until it broke and let go off my brother. I couldn’t spend another second with an android afterwards, I had an argument with Eli in the hospital, how he had to stop, but he couldn’t see my point, convinced it was his error only. Moved out then and kept away from androids. But now they are people and… Well, I have to work with them.’ ‘Are you afraid of androids?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Did you ever spoke with an android about that?’ Gavin let his shoulders fall. ‘Well, the last one was my therapist and he laughed me in the face.’

The woman in front of him cringed at that and quickly underlined something on her tablet messily. ‘Okay. Any other contact with androids that ended badly besides that accident and my predecessor that really has to have his license revoked?’ ‘No. I mean, Connor, the RK800 here punched me unconscious once, but that really was my fault. I don’t like him, but at least that reaction I can understand.’ Still, his new therapist noted it.

‘Okay, that’s something we can work on. You also said you had anger issues?’ ‘I’m easily riled up’, Gavin shrugged. ‘It’s just how I am.’ ‘What makes you think that?’ ‘Well, actually, everyone says that. Has to be some truth to it, hasn’t it?’ ‘What are they saying?’ ‘You sure this isn’t an interrogation?’, Gavin baited with her. ‘You are evading the question. Tell me or say you don’t want to talk about it.’ ‘I’m an asshole, I’m angry all the time, I hate everyone, these kind of things.’ ‘Do you?’ ‘What?’ ‘Do you hate everyone?’, she repeated for him. ‘A bit?’ Gavin had never really thought about it. ‘Okay. Then tell me, are there people you care about?’

Gavin thought about it for a while. ‘Yeah, Tina. She’s a colleague and a friend. My partner, although he is an android. Hell, even Connor and Hank. I guess everyone I know I care about at least a bit.’ ‘What about yourself?’ ‘What kind of question is that?’, Gavin asked. ‘Of course.’ ‘Then tell me, what do you do to take care of yourself? What are your hobbies, what do you like to do? When was the last time you had fun?’ ‘Hey, what kind of phcking feel-good shit is this?’, Gavin wanted to know, refusing to even think about the questions. ‘Would you rather not talk about it?’ ‘Yes! God, I don’t have the time for that!’ Gavin had stood up and was about to go, but the woman held up her hands. ‘That’s okay. We can concentrate on your android related problems first. I think that would be it for now. See you next week then!’ ‘Wait, that’s it?’, Gavin asked, turning back towards the desk. ‘Yeah. I mean unless you want to talk about something else.’ The woman had the audacity to look as innocent as humanly – androidly? – possible.

Gavin thought about the question and contemplated whether asking was worth it, finally deciding that he had nothing to lose: ‘Yeah, I’m curious, what’s your diagnostics?’ ‘I’m not sure yet, we need more than one session for that.’ Gavin snorted. ‘Keeping it mysterious, hmm?’ ‘Maybe.’

Nines had enjoyed working in peace for once. With Gavin gone to visit his therapist, he could finally concentrate on his cases. He didn’t have to bother with the human cursing at random things, shouting at his computer out of nowhere and running to the breakroom and the toilet all the time. He liked working with the man. He preferred it to working with others. But sometimes Gavin just was a pain in the ass with his constant competitive attitude, his stubborn determination to do all the work alone and his damn self-deprecating humour all the time… Maybe this new therapist was able to help the human better than the last one. Or maybe Gavin was just a lost cause, who knew. Nines was just happy about the short break, but all too quickly that time was over. He saw his partner walk towards their desks and was already bracing himself for having to listen to Gavin monologue about what an asshole the new woman was and how talking didn’t do shit and something along these lines. At the very least he would be in a shitty mood for the rest of the day or overly anxious.

It came as some sort of surprise to him, when Gavin just sat down and quietly started up his terminal again, apparently lost to thoughts. Nines furrowed his brows and conducted a quick, maybe not strictly legal search. ‘You have android related PTSD and there is a high chance you are suffering from depression?’ Nines just couldn’t believe it, that was his only explanation to why he had said that out loud. ‘What?!’, Gavin threw back. ‘The phck you get that from?’ ‘Your therapist’s notes… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have looked, but you seemed so different to your usual behaviour.’ ‘Yeah, well phck you, this one actually does her phcking job! Or at least she does a better job! Maybe I am, maybe she is wrong, but goddamn it feels good not to hear the same shit all day!’ Nines didn’t know how to answer, so he tried to resort to humour: ‘Was getting your ass handed to you by Connor really that bad?’ But instead of laughing, Gavin glared at him. ‘Okay, toaster, listen here, because I will say this once and then you can make fun of me all you want. I know I have problems; I know I’m not the nicest guy. But do you really think I’m a cry-baby? I saw my brother nearly getting murdered by one of you phcking things! That I can even look you in the eyes now and work with you is already a huge phcking thing! And I don’t think I’m depressed, but holy shit, getting told to man up and that all my problems are just there because I don’t function your way and that I’m just an asshole who will never change? Not helping! I need another phcking coffee!’

Nines blinked a few times, staring into the open air over Gavin’s chair. He didn’t know what to make of that new information and quietly opened a connection with Connor to share it. The RK800 too stopped working and stared ahead for a while, before they both turned to look at each other. We’ve made it worse, haven’t we?

[>next part]

#Detroit become human #dbh #Reed900 #Gavin Reed #RK900 #Gavin Reed gets therapy

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tardytothepardy · 3 years

Text

My Review of "A Court of Silver Flames" (because it's too long for Goodreads)

~`,Spoiler-free summary/review idk,`~

In "A Court of Silver Flames", the story centers around two characters that were previously in the "A Court of Thorns and Roses" series, Cassian and Nesta. As far as I can tell, this story takes place about a year after "A Court of Frost and Starlight", where Nesta is in a bad mental state. To cope with the events in "A Court of War and Ruin", she has taken to excessive drinking and sleeping with random people. The members of the Inner Court allowed her to do this for a while, but as the book begins, it is made clear that they won't let her do that anymore. It is decided that she will be taken to the House of Wind, along with Cassian and Azriel, so she can be separated from everything and heal. The reasoning behind putting Nesta in the House of Wind is that the only ways anyone can easily go to or leave the house is by flying or winnowing, neither of which are things she can do. There is a set of 10,000 stairs that she can take, but seeing as they are 10,000 stairs, it's pretty difficult.

Throughout the story, Nesta is forced to come to terms with her difficult memories and her powers, which she has pushed away in an effort to retain as much of her prior humanity as she can. It is soon revealed that her powers are connected to three ancient magical items, collectively called the "Dread Trove", and Nesta is tasked to find as many as she can to keep Briallyn, one of the human queens, who has a similar connection to the items, from obtaining them and wielding powers that could completely destroy the world.

While all of this is going on, it is revealed that Feyre is pregnant. It isn't all happy news, however, because it seems that complications (of the deadly variety) have become known, and no one knows what to do to save her (let alone herself because she's not even aware of it hooray Rice Hand you're doing fabulously).

I think as a whole, one thing that this book struggled with is pacing. For the majority of the book, I didn't feel that the characters were actively trying to stop The Bad Guys, it almost felt that they took action every so often, as if they randomly remembered that these events are happening. Most of the book is focused on the development of the relationship between Cassian and Nesta, and everything else falls around that, which would be fine if the other events were of a smaller scale, like planning a party or something (idk lmao), rather than the fate of literally the <i>entire world</i>, both the Fae and human world. A lot of the things that happened in this book seemed like they were resolved within the last 50 pages of the book, one after another, it just felt odd.

(spoilers for the entire book below the "keep reading"!)

~`,Spoilers from here on out,`~

So like I said in the beginning, it starts with Nesta in her house. It's from Cassian's point of view, so I got to endure two things that really fucking irritated me: first was where she was living. It was a similar line of thought from the "ACOFAS" description, that Velaris doesn't have slums, but if it did have a slum, Nesta would be living in it. But it doesn't have slums, but this place is still icky. Cassian acknowledges that he's stayed in worse, but this place is still icky, yucky, blecky, and gross. Second thing that irritated me was when he first saw her. He describes her as having "long bare legs, an elegant sweep of hips, tapered waist--too damn thin--and full, inviting breasts that were at odds with the new, sharp angles of her body" (10). She was thin, very thin, but not her boobs. Nope, those badonks were still (somehow) plenty large. This might be the fault of me trying to understand Fae bodies by comparing them to human bodies, but I simply do not understand how that is supposed to work. Boobs are made of fats and tissues, if you're losing weight, you're gonna lose boob. Whatever.

Cassian proceeds to take Nesta to one of (apparently 5. Rice Hand and Feyre have five houses, why) Feyre's houses, where it is soon made clear that an intervention is being staged. This has to be one of the worse ones out there, because oh my fucking god everyone is so goddamn hostile towards Nesta. Amren and Nesta were previously friendly, then they had an unresolved (and unexplained) falling out, and now holy shit Amren is constantly baiting Nesta, making snide remarks. Rice Hand seems to be offended by Nesta simply because she doesn't like him or Feyre, like I don't get why he's so aggressive towards her (and that shit continues for the majority of the book it's so annoying), but somehow everyone there is surprised when Nesta is aggressive, that she throws insults, that she's rude.

Anyway, after Nesta is toted to the House, she instantly tries to find a way out, and that's when the 10,000 stairs come in. (Tangent, in the book it says that the stairs are about a foot tall each. 10,000, 1 foot tall stairs. That would mean the House of Wind is at least 10,000ft tall, but seeing as the House has multiple levels, it's even taller than that. This building is so goddamn tall, did Maas even think about that? It's nonsensical! Anyway) She tries to go down them, but she fails miserably. She's underweight, I wouldn't be surprised if she's malnourished, she's in no state to climb down 10,000 stairs.

So that's where the training comes in. Cassian takes her to Windhaven, an Illyrian camp (place thing idk), to train, but she just refuses. After 3 days of her not doing anything, Cassian is ready to throw in the towel (I thought,,, I would think that since he's had to discipline out-of-line soldiers before he'd do better than 3 fucking days but whatever), but then he remembers what she's said about it all three of those times, that she's not gonna do it in front of everyone (because if you didn't remember, the Illyrians are massively sexist and so of course no one has anything better to do than gather round to see some random woman attempt to train but whatever), so he just has her train within the House. One top of the House, it seems. I don't know how big this House is supposed to be, but the roof at least would have to be huge to allow for multiple people to train and work out, spaced out evenly, and not be at risk for falling off. But he has her train there, issue resolved.

What is this training, you may ask? It's just basic stuff, like stretching, balance, strength training, and eventually grappling with so much sexual tension you can barely see your hand in front of your face (it's like a fog as far as I'm concerned), casual stuff.

Along with this training, Nesta is also assigned to work in the library, which is also a sort of refuge or something for a bunch of priestesses who have survived various forms of abuse or assault. It's one big safe space that also has old ass books. Sounds great. She has to work there for six hours, I believe, everyday, along with the training, and at the library she meets someone named Gwyn. Gwyn is a priestess, she's been there for a little while (it doesn't actually say how long, now that I think about it) and fun fact, she's a quarter river nymph. The person she works under is shown using that fact as an insult, but only once, because then Nesta lets her eyes go silver, which freaks them out, and then Gwyn doesn't have to deal with it anymore.

Speaking of silver eyeballs, let's talk about her powers. What are they, how do they work? What are the limits of her powers, etc.? It's not really stated, beyond vague stuff of her powers being derived from something ancient, before the Fae's time, and that she's really powerful. At one point in the book when Rice Hand had to go into her mind (she was having night terrors), he described her powers as "pure death". On one occasion as she was trying to go down the 10,000 steps (which is a recurring thing throughout the whole book), she fell partway down and when she caught herself, she saw that she somehow burned her handprint into the stone. At another point when she's a good way into her training, she's punching something and it is later shown that she again burned through the wood (it was a piece of wood wrapped in cloth which sounds like an absolute delight to punch for a sustained period of time), but somehow the burn mark was cold? Much later in the book she literally un-alives someone, like she didn't kill them, she regressed their age so much that they were un-alive. (She basically hit the "undo" button on their life) Additionally, since her powers that she got from the Cauldron have connected her to the "Dread Trove" items, she is able to find them very easily and use them without issue. With all this information, it's still not clear as to what the limits to her power are. I suppose she is the limitation, because she could choose to use her power to gather the items of the "Dread Trove" and use them to manipulate worlds and time and fucking death itself, but she doesn't. And honestly I'm not sure how I feel about that, I'm kinda iffy on the idea of a character having seemingly unlimited power (especially when they only use it a handful of times, if at all), but I suppose it doesn't really matter because by the end of the story, she gives back most of her power to the Cauldron anyway, so any questions about that are just,,, thrown to the wind.

The characters in this story were a pretty mixed bag. I can say full-heartedly that I did not like Rhysand (there, I said his actual name instead of Rice Hand, Rice Hand is funnier to me). I don't think I've ever particularly liked him, he was too smarmy for my liking, and then when we got a look into his mind courtesy of ACOFAS, all I got out of it was that whatever is going on in his head does not match his outwardly appearance and demeanor whatsoever. (On the outside, he seems like he'd be the one to smirk a lot, probably use lots of sarcasm, on the inside it seems like if someone said "boobs" he'd start laughing uncontrollably. Like, it's weird. Idk what was going on in that book, it was weird.) But in this book, I did not like him, from the beginning. He was so hostile, so aggressive towards Nesta, at any given moment. I don't know if he had any sympathy at all for her situation, because he certainly didn't act like it. At anything Nesta would do, he would push back.

For example, when Gwyn decided to join Nesta in her training, Rice Hand said in her mind to not do anything (in the book, he said, "You are to treat Gwyn with kindness and respect." (pg. 304)), and the whole thing angers me for two reasons, the first being that Nesta's kindness was the reason that Gwyn was there in the first place. Which leads to the second reason, that it seems that Rice Hand is so convinced that Nesta is an unlikable person that she couldn't have possibly made friends (or at least friendly acquaintances) during her time at the House and working in the library.

Following that remark, Nesta noted that it seemed that Rice Hand didn't particularly like the fact that she and Cassian were a thing, which also ticks me off. Am I a huge fan of Cassian and Nesta being together? They're fine, but it's again that idea that she couldn't have possibly warmed up to someone that she has to be around the majority of the time, and maybe someone that doesn't default their mentality of her as "whatever she's doing, it's wrong/bad". To give credit to Cassian, he did figure out that Rice Hand said something to her and chided him for doing so. He actually caught Rice Hand doing it a few more times within the book and got after him about it those times, which is nice.

But that's not the only reason why I specifically did not like Rice Hand in this book. There's another thing he did which I feel is so much worse than what he did or said to Nesta. That thing would be that he kept information about Feyre from Feyre, specifically about her own pregnancy. Now, I said in the beginning that she had a troubled pregnancy. Basically, her baby had wings, but her body wouldn't be able to safely deliver the baby because of those wings. Before you ask "Hey, doesn't Feyre have shape-shifting powers?" or "What about a c-section?", Maas tucked away those easy solutions by saying that Madja, the person overseeing Feyre's pregnancy, told her that shape-shifting might put the baby at risk for more complications, and as far as the c-section thing goes, they just uh, they just haven't seemed to figure out how to do that. These Fae people live for hundreds of years and no one has ever figured out how to properly do a c-section, I guess. Additionally, it seems that Illyrian wings are particularly special, compared to the wings of the other two groups of winged Fae, Seraphim and Peregyrn, because whereas the wings of the Seraphims or Peregryns can move, allowing for an easier birth, apparently (for some fucking reason) Illyrian wings are bony? Like, in utero, they're already bony and difficult to move, which is where all those complications come in.

He told none of this to Feyre. All she knew about her own pregnancy, was that there might be some complications, she didn't know that there was a gigantic mortality rate with pregnancies like this, nothing like that. He purposely kept this information from her, it seems that the whole fucking Inner Court voted on it, or some shit. When Feyre was told of this whole thing from Nesta, Amren said it was to protect Feyre, to keep her from getting stressed or scared, which could worsen things further. But I counter that Amren, with this: How fucking scared do you think Feyre would have been, when she was in labor and everything, and things were rapidly spiraling out of control? She would have been terrified! Don't you think that would've affected something, because I fucking think it would have! Was there ever any intent to tell her about this, or did all of them just decide to never tell her?

The reason why Nesta told Feyre about it was to hurt her, initially, but it was also because she found out that the Inner Court had made a decision about her, personally, because she had accidentally made more "Dread Trove" items by imbuing her power in three swords that she made while at a blacksmith. She found out (via Cassian's absolutely terrible way of bringing up the swords she made) that they were planning to take them away (or something, I don't specifically remember), and that's when she went to Amren's place and demanded more information. When Feyre was brought to intervene, Nesta told Feyre what Cassian had told her (despite the fact that he was totally supposed to keep that a secret but whatever dude). Feyre was shocked, understandably, but she wasn't angry at Nesta for that, and I can't tell you how happy I was about that, I am so happy that Feyre wasn't angry at Nesta for telling her about this. She actually was angry at the other people for deciding to keep this information from her. I just,, I'm really happy that she wasn't angry at Nesta. Everyone else, on the other hand, was fucking pissed at her, including Rice Hand. He was absolutely livid, but the funny thing is, that I don't give a shit, honestly. He should have never kept that a secret in the first place.

I think as a whole, his behavior is explained away because "his mate is pregnant", so I guess he has full clearance to be obnoxious and aggressive and withhold information without the knowledge of all parties involved. What happened to always giving Feyre a choice, Rhysand? What happened to that? Did she only get a choice when you decided to give her one? Because that is certainly what this felt like.

Another thing that Rice Hand did that I would place in between his bullshit against Nesta and his bullshit against Feyre, is another thing that he did to Feyre. So, back in ACOTAR, I believe, when Feyre was still with Tamlin, Tamlin infamously trapped Feyre in a huge magical bubble, where she couldn't leave Tamlin's house. Everyone agreed that that wasn't the best thing for Tamlin to do, and Tamlin's punishment was completely equal to the evils he committed, one-hundred percent. (Not really, now he's stuck in his beast form, roaming the Spring Court in a state of anger and pain. Sympathy for him is quite the commodity in the books.) But what does any of this have to do with Rice Hand? Well, he basically did the same thing to Feyre, except rather than being stuck in a building, the shield is on her, and it's so strong that even her friends can't touch her without being hit by the shield. And when she's asked about it, Feyre just says that Rice Hand learned how to make shields from Helion, the High Lord of the Summer Court, and like,,,, is testing them out on her?? And we're all supposed to think this is fine? The shield is so intense that they can't even smell her (which is a thing, in this series. Fae people can smell other people, they have scents, idk man I'm just going with it), so effectively he's masking her entire existence, and no one has a problem with it. It's weird. It's not as bad as the pregnancy thing, but it's still not great.

I suppose since I'm talking about characters, I should talk about Cassian and Nesta, seeing as they did totally, undeniably become a Thing in this book. Idk how to really go about it, honestly. For the majority of the book, at least one of them was sure that the other didn't like them, or that they weren't deserving to be with the other, so that was fun. I don't particularly remember when, but at some point they both just,,, decided? to have casual sex, that it meant nothing (when it did, in fact, mean something), and it was like,,, a way of distancing themselves from the other. That is particularly the case with Nesta, who felt guilty for constantly pushing Cassian away at basically every turn. Apparently her attention was caught on him from like,,, the first time that she even saw him, way back when she and Elain were still human, in their cottage. She didn't love him or anything, but it was a Notice.

Despite that Notice, she still pushed him away, as I said, because she just didn't feel like she was good enough. Over the course of the book, Nesta quickly became ashamed of the life she had been living since being put in the Cauldron, which was all the drinking and sex (and that's it? Like, a lot of people in this book made it out to be this whole thing but I think that's basically all she did. Part of me feels like the main reason the Inner Court was so bothered by it in the first place was that she was billing it to them, who really wouldn't even notice the money spent anyway, given how much money they seem to have but whatever), and this was another thing that caused her to push away. (And then violently yo-yo back it was incredible) She also has been harboring a fuck ton of guilt over her father's death, which I think was something I worried about after reading ACOFAS? Idk, but it wasn't terrible. She acknowledged that she couldn't really do anything, that it was all over before she could move, but the main reason she felt so horrible about it, was because all this time, since her mother's death (and kinda before it?), she had been mean towards her father, constantly snubbing him, acting with disdain, etc., but during the war (in ACOWAR, it's so helpfully acronymed), he came to help with a fleet of ships, and the one he was on, he named after her. It showed that, despite all that she had said and done to him for all these years, he still loved her, and she felt that she didn't deserve that.

She felt guilty about what had happened to Elain, and felt angry that she wasn't able to do more. Her relationship with Elain kinda soured at a point, because it went from Elain being the withdrawn, sallow, underfed and distant one, to her being that, except with Elain, she would just sit in a chair in an empty room and wallow in her own misery, whereas Nesta used other aforementioned ways to try to forget. Throughout a lot of this book, Nesta and Elain are at each other's throats, and they did, apparently, make up, but I don't know when. For how much of the book is spent about them being at odds with each other, there's an odd lack of them actually making up with each other and settling all that. It's weird.

As a whole though, the center of Nesta's issues stem from the fact that she feels helpless. As she put it, all these things happened to her, she didn't do anything about it. She didn't (in most cases, couldn't) do anything to get herself out of those situations. She felt she lacked agency, in essence. I believe that is mostly why she acted the way she did, because then she could control how others felt about her. The other reason why she acted the way she did, is that her mother trained her to do so.

When her family was still rich (and their mother was still alive), Nesta was trained to be absolutely vicious in the ballroom. She knew how to win people over with small gestures or expressions, and how to read people with a glance. She also knew how to dance, ridiculously well it seems. There is a point in the story when, to make sure that Eris, a member of the Autumn Court that they had been using for information, was still friendly with them, she was chosen to dance with him, to make sure that the Night Court was still in his favor. So, she danced with him. By the end of it, Eris apparently wanted to marry her, and you can fucking imagine how pissed Cassian was about that (I do think that at this point in the book, Nesta and Cassian were most assuredly a Thing, whether either of them acknowledged it or not), but the whole point of it was to show that Nesta was really in tune with music, and that she knows exactly how to meddle in the politics to win in her favor.

Her mother raised Elain to be a perfect princess, to be married off to someone with lots of money. Her mother raised Nesta to be powerful (but, from Nesta's own thoughts, she remembers asking her mother if she was going to marry a person the same way Elain was, but her mother didn't respond). As for Feyre, Nesta says that their mother seemed to mostly forget or avoid Feyre, because she wasn't quite right or something. I'm not sure.

There is a little thing where Nesta thinks of herself as a caged beast stuffed in a pretty dress, because she remembers that she's always had to restrain herself to make sure that nothing went wrong. When her mental health declines, it is equated to wolves encroaching her space, snarling her doubts and fears, and how she used to deafen them using people or alcohol. It wasn't ever enough, but it's what she did.

One thing that did help with the wolves was something she learned from Gwyn, called Mind Stilling (cough cough it's just meditation cough wheeze), a practice used by an extinct group of female warriors called Valkyries. (Yup, just like the Old Norse Valkyries.) Throughout this book, Nesta, Gwyn, and another Illyrian woman named Emerie (along with a few others but they basically only are present in theory) all trained with Cassian (and Azriel, he showed up later on, just in case Maas thought you forgot about him) to become the new Valkyries. It turns out that Cassian knew of them, I think most of the Inner Court knew them or at least knew of them (which is what happens when you're over five hundred fucking years old jfc) before they died in battle. There are a couple portions of this book that are mostly just training montages, with added notes of "it would have taken forever to build muscles as a human, but being Fae meant that Nesta could get stronger much faster", just in case you thought that 3 training montages was a lil too fast.

All this training does culminate into something by the end of the book, almost literally. I feel like a lot of this book is just watching Cassian and Nesta bounce off one another (in more ways than one lmao), and then Maas at some point realized, "Oh shit I have to actually make these things mean something!" and so the payoff for all the training, so to speak, and Feyre's pregnancy are both resolved by the end of the book, just barely.

The training thing is resolved by Gwyn, Emerie, and Nesta (in that order, it was specified that Nesta took like, three days after Emerie and Gwyn to complete her training because she was so busy probably staring at Cassian and thinking about... stuff. That's basically what both of them were doing for a healthy portion of this 700+ page tome) cutting a white silk ribbon that was tied up to a pole. I guess the idea was that if they are able to cut a piece of ribbon fluttering in the wind, they have mastery over themselves and their weapons. Personally, I get it. Ribbons are evasive as fuck and will gain enough sentience to move away from you just enough so you can't grab them. I know for certain that I would not be able to do this.

Now, I've mentioned Emerie a few times now, who is she? During the three or so days at the Illyrian camp, Nesta comes to know an Illyrian woman named Emerie. She's a shopkeeper in the village, and she likes keeping her store neat. Her family doesn't like that she owns the shop, and wants it to be carried over to one of her relatives. One of the times that Nesta visits her, one of Emerie's cousins is there, spewing stupid nonsense about how she can't run a store on her own. (He ends up dying, in case you were wondering.) She seems like a pretty interesting character, and she and Nesta bond over their shared interests in books, and that they've both been through some shit. In Emerie's case, her wings were clipped, so she can't fly. It is(or was?) a practice that was(is?) pretty common in Illyrian society, because clearly no one wants the wamen flyin around, who else is gonna do the cookin and cleanin and child rearin? Emerie ends up joining Nesta and Gwyn in training, with her main motivation similar to Nesta's: that she never wants to feel or be powerless again.

I've talked about the training a few times now, and I've mentioned how it led to something, without saying what it leads to, so I'll say it here: it leads to the Blood Rite, which is an Illyrian coming-of-age sorta thing, where the participants (typically the male Illyrians, like I said they just can't have the wamen beating them at anything it'd hurt their wittle egos) are put in this forest and they are tasked to scale a mountain (at least one) within a week, and fight off any monsters trying to eat them, or opponents trying to beat them. It's pretty common for people to die in these.

Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie landed themselves in this Blood Rite by being kidnapped, that's apparently how the participants are put in the Rite. There was something unusual about this one, however, in that someone (I think it turned out to be someone under the control of Briallyn) planted weapons all over the forest, which isn't allowed. Something that also isn't allowed in the Rite is magic, so the magic that Nesta has become accustomed to and now has a decent relationship with, is gone. Cool.

In the process of getting up the mountain, Gwyn nearly dies, she got shot in the leg by an arrow, and Emerie nearly drowns in a river. Nesta nearly gets stabbed by Emerie's cousin, the same guy who showed up in her shop that one time, but then he gets killed. Woohoo, violence!

Right as Nesta is fighting with Emerie's cousin, Cassian shows up, which is surprising because he wouldn't normally be able to be there: if outside forces help a participant get through the Blood Rite, it is then considered invalid, and both the participant and the outside person are promptly killed (Woohoo, violence!). Turns out that he's under the control of Briallyn, who shows up as well. She orders Cassian to kill Nesta (because of course), and rather than stab her, he stabs himself. This is when the un-aliving thing happens that I mentioned earlier. Nesta was so caught up in the rage and stress of being in the Rite, then the sheer fury of what was going on, and it was an instance of her mind going, "I will not let this happen to me" and so she slammed the "undo" button on Briallyn's existence. (Woohoo, violence!) All is well though, because apparently Cassian did not, in fact, stab himself.

All is not well though, because as this whole thing ends, Feyre's pregnancy issues begin. I won't go over in detail because I've already talked about it earlier, but basically she went into labor way too early, and things have only gotten worse. She's bleeding out, everyone is certain that she will die. And thanks to the fact that, in ACOWAR, Feyre and Rice Hand made a vow that, if one dies, the other will, there's also the risk that Rice Hand will die, and since the baby is so premature, so will the baby. So there are three lives at risk, and no one knows what the fuck to do about any of it.

Except Nesta. Well, she doesn't really know what to do, but she's trying something. She takes the items of the "Dread Trove" (remember those?) and she uses them to pause time, right before death (kinda like pausing right before your Sim's death to save your game), and pleads with the powers in the objects and within herself, to show her how to save Feyre and the baby, and she will give her powers back to the Cauldron from which she took them. The powers are basically like "k lol", and she saves Feyre and the baby (his name is Nyx, which is just,,, it's so fantasy fiction omfg), and she tells Cassian later that she also altered her fucking body so that it can carry an Illyrian baby. Has she, at literally any point in the series, let alone this book, ever even thought she wanted a child? Nope, but everyone gotta have babies. (I get that people change their minds, and Nesta seems to have a fuck ton of time ahead of her to think about it, but idk it just kinda came up out of nowhere. How about beginning research into situations like that and maybe learn how to safely perform a c-section, in this case, so that future situations don't turn out as they seem to have previously. Nesta fixing her own body won't affect the who-knows-how-many other people who might get into this situation. Then again, it's not on her to solve everyone's problems,,, idk man)

Rrrrighttt at the end of the book, it mentions that Cassian and Nesta are going to have a mating ceremony, which for all intents and purposes, might as well be a wedding they talk about it like a wedding some of the practices and traditions are reminiscent of a wedding, it's a wedding. But for some reason, they don't actually have the ceremony in this book, even though I imagine Maas could've totally done it. What's another few pages in a 700+ page book, right? So I imagine that the ceremony might come up again in the next book, because Something is going to happen then. I have no idea what that Something is going to be, but that's my guess.

I don't think I have many issues with this book in particular, it's more with just the series as a whole. I just have a lot of questions with this series, and I got even more questions from this book. Most of my questions circulate around the powers of the characters within the Inner Court, such as how does literally everyone's powers work?? Throughout this book, it kept referring to Cassian's magic, that he wears a bunch of thingies (they're called Siphons but they'll always be thingies to me) to contain that magic, but it never actually says what his magic is. As far as I can tell, there are like,, idk how to describe it but like kinda threads?? of magic, I guess, that come from his Siphons, but other than that it's just that he,,, punch? He fight good? I really don't know. From what I can gather, his abilities could stem from his life rather than any magic he has. (I think that could actually be more interesting, him not having any magic, and kinda lend another reason as to why so many fucking people in this book shit on him for being the way he is. They all throw "Prince of Bastards" or some similar title at him, as if he's the only bastard to have ever existed in Prythian like, bad guys, please come up with more insults. Call him a shithead or something like be creative I'm really not feeling it)

With Nesta, it also does a poor job of explaining her magic, it's just repeated that it's old, it's ancient, it's from another time, a time before the Fae, a time long forgotten, but like, bro, what is it. I guess I'll never know. Elain's power, which also stems from the Cauldron, is barely mentioned in this book, aside from them saying that it's either gone away, or gone dormant, so she's treated as though she has no powers (that is, whenever she actually shows up in the book. Elain is just,,, rarely in the series. What is she doing at any given time the world may never know).

I don't really think that Maas understands how many stairs 10,000 stairs would be. I don't think she gets how long 500 years would be, and what you would even be doing for the majority of that time. I don't think she has a scale for how much power she has flung at her characters, to the point of it all being nonsensical. Everyone has so much power, we're told that Rice Hand has a ridiculous amount of power, somehow Feyre has double his power, but Amren had even more power, but Nesta has even more power than that and it's just,,, can I please have a frame of reference because I simply do not understand. I don't think she even has much of an explanation for the powers she has given her characters, and two examples I can immediately think of are Mor and Azriel. Mor's powers have simply been stated as "truth", but have we ever seen her use that power? What the fuck does that even mean, does she have a freakin lasso of truth or some shit like I don't understand. Then with Azriel, he got some kind of shadow magic thing going on, but like even within the story, the characters don't seem to understand how it works. Even the people that have known Azriel basically their entire lives (Rice Hand and Cassian) don't understand it. So how the fuck am I suppose to understand?

I'm just going to end it here because jfc this thing is so long, it's 10 pages long in Google Docs, and I heavily doubt anyone is going to read this far. If you have, much thanks! To clarify, I do like the series (to some extent) I just,, I have a lot of questions. So many, I couldn't fit them in here because they didn't really have any answers in the books (any of them, as far as I'm aware). Idk. How do people write conclusions? It's beyond me. Agh, anyway, thanks for reading this.

#i write so much sometimes like where do these words come from #i didn't even know i thought about this series that much #but yeah this thing is wayyyy too long for goodreads but i didn't want it all to go to waste so i'm putting it here #also on goodreads but it's painfully shortened on there #it's tragic #wait lmao how do you tag these books i've never done it before #acotar #a court of silver flames #acosf #feyre archeron #nesta archeron #elain archeron #rhysand #cassian #azriel #gywn berdara #emerie acosf #acosf spoilers #long post

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chaoswillfallrpg · 3 years

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CONSTANCE SONG is TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD and an ESCORT at FAIR FARIBAULT’S in KNOCKTURN ALLEY. She looks remarkably like NATASHA LIU BORDIZZO and considers herself NEUTRAL. She is currently OPEN.

→ OVERVIEW:

Growing up in an orphanage CARMELLA DIGBY quickly learnt how to use her good looks for her own benefit. The other children and careers at the orphanage would flock to Carmella like a moth to a flame, and Carmella quickly realised how to use it to her advantage. Leaving the orphanage as a beautiful dark-haired young woman it wasn't long until she caught the eyes of FAI SONG, a rich wizard on business from China. Being introduced to the wizarding world was like having all of her dreams come true for Carmella, and living in the lap of luxury with Fai’s family money was nothing to be ignored either. Knowing an excellent opportunity when she saw one Carmella made quick of an engagement and marriage with Fai, the man was so swept up in the romance of it all he thought it was actually his own idea. Giving birth to Constance was the first time Carmella had felt true love and she doted on the girl because of it. Constance grew up wanting for nothing, her parents loved her dearly and gave her all she needed. It didn't however do the same thing it may have done to other children, where others may have become spoiled and expectant Constance remained hard-working and driven to prove herself, whether it be to master the alphabet correctly or to find the perfect hiding place for hide and seek. Constance’s life however was somewhat changed when her father passed away when she was four from a freak splinching accident.

Now exceedingly rich beyond her belief Carmella decided to try her hand at marrying for love rather than advantage and once again caught a man as quickly as she could think it through her intriguing looks and luring aura. Falling for the sweet eyes and gentle smile of RICHARD DIGBY Carmella quickly married and had another daughter. Loving this child the same way she had loved Constance had a different effect on ELENA DIGBY. She became spoiled with love and demanded the attention of anyone in the room, speaking louder, laughing harder or gesticulating more dramatically than any that would dare to steal the spotlight. Constance allowed this of her sister, stepping back into the shadows and allowed the girl to get the attention she so clearly thrived off knowing full well that she would just have to stand and speak quietly to gain the attention back. That was how it went, there was no denying both girls were beautiful and intriguing, their mothers veela blood could account for that, but there was something more with Constance. The way she carried herself, how the words she spoke were so quiet and soft, yet the meaning behind them was always so truthful it was almost cutting. Constance thrived in an environment where she could pick and choose when, where and how she got attention, if she didn't want her mothers scrutiny she would simply disappear into the shadows with a good book and appear again when she was ready.

Leaving for school Constance was pleased to leave the self-imposed shadow of her sister but was also well aware that she needed to cultivate relationships with people like Elena in order to continue being able to pick and choose when she wanted to deal with other people and when she didn't. Sorted into Ravenclaw she made friends with girls very much like her MAFALDA HOPKIRK and DAISY HOOKUM. Both studious girls were perfect for library studying sessions, borrowing class notes and chill nights talking and reading in their dorm. Being friends with the pair made Constance step out of her shell a bit, being more vocal she got a reputation for being quite blunt when people annoyed her. Over the years she would constantly ‘speak out of turn’ as others called it and had formed a very strong sense of what was right and what was wrong. One day in third year she was sticking up for a particularly pathetic first year who had been dangled by his ankles in the hallway when another joined in her argument. LAUREL LINWOOD was described as outspoken too, the Gryffindor was unafraid of rustling a few feathers and from that day the girls were inseparable, combing the castle floors for injustices to pick at. Laurel started most of the arguments and Constance finished them with a sharp and detailed final blow that left most opponents stuttering.

Through Laurel she was introduced to JENNIFER VANE, KEIRA GREY, NATAN DIGGORY, ARTHUR WEASLEY and TRYSTAN WARRINGTON, and others who comprised a gaggle of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs that brought a funner side to Constance's group of Ravenclaws. Putting down their books they swapped study sessions and early nights for being out after curfew, late nights in the room of requirement and sneaking into the kitchens to get snacks for the evening ahead. Although Constance still kept her grades up being one of the top students of her year she found a new side of her personality, her new friends brought a more relaxed and open side to her. Becoming increasingly more confident through the help of her friends Constance and Laurel became even more ballsy, the people they picked to make a show of going from random bullies to students like LUCIUS MALFOY. A constant thorn in the pair's sides Lucius spent much of his time at school throwing around his Pure-Blood ideals and the two girls would spendjust as much of their time going around and proving him wrong. Popular to the many but hated by the few Constance and her group of friends got invited to most parties that Hogwarts offered, at least one of their group knowing the hosts well enough to gain an invite for all. A party that stuck in Constance’s memory as life changing was their Graduation night, the last night all her year group would be together Constance had probably a bit too much to drink. Another who had had too much to drink was Mafalda, the pair were giggling and dancing together when all of a sudden Mafalda leaned in to kiss her.

Being the silent and reserved girl she was, it did not allow for much romance. Constance spent the majority of her final years of Hogwarts holding a candle to Trystan, a boy with a hero complex bigger than her own she silently admired him. Never had she admired Mafalda however, but the months after the graduation party Constance came to a realisation. She had grown up so sure of herself, thinking she knew everything there was to know about herself and so the kiss led her to feel confused and vulnerable for the first time. Spending time after Hogwarts figuring it out she met MILA BELINSKY, a beautiful blonde she entangled herself with to come to the realisation that she was bisexual. It would seem that meeting Mila was not only meant to advance her love life but also her work life too. Working as an escort for Fair Farbaults Mila persuaded Constance to join the team. Joining with the same intentions of her mother, to marry first for advantage and then again for love she joined in the hopes of finding a husband. One man using the escort service who is especially susceptible to Constance’s charms is CHARLIE MONTAGUE, a rich Pure-Blood elitist just missing the cut for the twenty-eight, he has enough money to make Constance happy and then some. A fault in her plan comes in the form of SEBASTIEN FONTAINE, a fellow escort who has drawn her attention away from finding a rich husband and to the competition they hold between them. Both silent and still the pair are vying it out for top dog, seeing who can bring in the most money to the establishment.

Without realising and being distracted by their banter and harsh tones Constance has found an attraction for Sebastien, not that would ever admit it to herself let alone him. Living with her sister in a house in Kensington the girls have gotten closer than they ever were in childhood. Constance has come out of her shell over the years and through her own Hogwarts experience Elena has learnt to share the limelight. Spending many evenings out together Constance has introduced her sister to her friends from work GEORGINE FARIBAULT, CORALINE HEATHER, DAHLIA BLACKWOOD and her son STEFAN BLACKWOOD. A collection of veela’s and vampires they attract a lot of attention from the other patrons in the bars they visit. Not only does Constance love letting loose on these nights she also uses it as a way of getting new clients in, all adding to her hopeful win against Sebastien. Living with Elena she has noticed some strange behaviour, leaving the house at odd times, hushed conversations and having people she shouldn't really know that well come to call on her. Always on the hunt for knowledge her curiosity has gotten the best of her and recently she has found herself spying on her own sister. She has seen her go to a pub in Diagon alley a lot by the name of ‘the fountain of fair fortune’ and heard the words ‘the order’ whispered a lot when her sister is having floo calls behind doors that were not well enough warded. Scared her sister has gotten herself into something that she doesn't know the extent of Constance will not stop until she knows what has taken over Elena.

→ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Blood Status → Half-Blood (½ Veela)

Sexuality → Bisexual

Relationship Status → Single

Previous Education → Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Ravenclaw)

Family → Elena Digby (half-sister/roommate)

Connections → Laurel Linwood (best friend), Mafalda Hopkirk (close friend/potential love interest), Daisy Hookum (close friend), Jennifer Vane (close friend), Natan Diggory (close friend), Arthur Weasley (close friend), Trystan Warrington (close friend/object of affection), Aya Fawcett (friend), Keira Grey (friend), Molly Prewett (friend), Mila Bellinsky (colleague/romantic liaison), Charles Montague (client/potential love interest), Sebastien Fontaine (colleague/potential love interest), Georgine Faribault (boss/friend), Dahlia Blackwood (colleague/friend), Coraline Heather (colleague/friend), Stefan Blackwood (friend), Lucius Malfoy (adversary)

Future Information → Future Member of The Order of the Phoenix

CONSTANCE SONG IS A LEVEL 6 WITCH/VEELA

#constance song #natasha liu bordizzo #marauders era #lsrp #harry potter roleplay #neutral #female #veela #knockturn alley #fair faribault's #open veela #open #open lgbtqia+#open witch #open neutral

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lotornomiko · 3 years

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The Broken Hearted Comfort Chapter Three (A bit not work safe at times...)

A bit...not safe for work, but nothing too explicit. Gets a bit dub con at the end too...Fic is thus far one big ball of angst about dub con. ^^;;

Hook Belle Pairing...

As had always been the case, his descent into madness of any kind, was never that of a slow thing, and this, the new and the latest of obsessions of his, had him plummeting headfirst into the abyss, To a place where no rhyme and no reason could make any true sense, Hook driven by such desire, such need. His peace, be it short lived, or long lasting, was such a hard fought thing to acquire, Hook having gone too long tortured without its relief. The memories, the grief that had so consumed him, was starting to trickle back in, his sorrow and that of a blood thirsty revenge trying to make their effect known, Hook left raging inconsoloable one moment, then almost driven to tears in the next. He’d fall into the old patterns, drinking, gambling, even womanziing. Picking fights with that of his crew and especially that of some random strangers, the pirate without caring, ready to be pounded into oblvion, maybe even killed, if it meant earning himself a single moment of respite, that of that blessed peace he had in brief so attained.

Nothing however, was working. Nothing had the magic to push back his rage and his pain. Not even when he tried to drink himself sick, the memories not only remained, they seemed to surge even stronger. Milah was made more vivid in his head than he could ever actually remember her being. As was the past, their all too brief life together colored with such sorrow so that even the good moments, the happy ones of which there had been plenty, were now tainted, ruined by her loss. By the brutal death she had suffered, murdered by Rumplestiltskin’s own cowardly hands.

That moment seemed so potent before his eyes, playing out far too often in his head. It left an already desperate man driven to extreme lengths in his quest for relief, that brief peace attained, having left him crazed for it to happen again, for HER to be chanced on once more. She didn’t though, the woman having vanished in the most strangest of ways, leaving Hook to his own vices. He was made one part furious, angry at the stranger for having abandoned him, while trying to convince himself that her effect had been nothing but a mere fluke. A chance that would not repeat, or one that could be found in the arms of another. It left him drinking, and it left sampling a finer selection of women inside the port town. Everything from whores to what nobles he could lay hand on, it didn’t much matter who. He was beyond being picky, taking what he could get and paying for what he couldn’t. It left him feeling more empty than ever, despising himself, and coming away cold with the realization that the woman, that Belle, was indeed something special. Something that was fast becoming as necessary to his mental well being as what the very air was to his lungs.

Within a week’s time, he had tired of trying. Left disgusted by the failures, and rendered utterly despondent, Hook was more than a little irritated by the lengths he had been driven to. It had achieved nothing, had left him feeling dirty and cheap, and all the more certain that that time with Belle hadn’t just been some fluke. She truly was that vital piece that he was needing, regardless of how little sense it, any of it,, actually made. She was so essential an essence, and it was terrible, horrible, the pirate reeling, knowing he had let that vital a piece slip free so carelessly of his own fingers. He should have never let her go, but more than that, the man wished he had done so much differently.

Unable to keep from tormenting himself with those musings, with wondering what would have happened instead if Hook had shown that beautiful woman the care that she actually had deserved. Would she have still run from him then? Or would he have had to carry her off instead, to keep as his own private spoils aboard his ship? Regardless, it was a dark, dark path that he had decided on, for the pirate already knew that if he was so lucky as to be graced with another chance with Belle, Hook wouldn’t be letting her go. He’d KEEP her, regardless of her wishes, even if it meant making that pretty lass a prisoner, that desperate need of Hook’s the strongest made shackles ever devised. With them, what had been bound together by fate, would further tie them together. He may not properly understand it, could hardly dare believe, but something was at work here, their grief the mutual draw. The bait that had lured Belle to him, and Hook to her, and though he couldn’t fathom the HOW of it, the pirate knew what he now needed. What he was going mad without getting, thoughts of Belle that of a different kind of torment, a sweet torture he repeatedly indulged in again and again.

Driven by it, by the need to be with her, NEAR her, Hook would often return to her room at the fancy inn. The desk clerk was only too glad to take his coins, remaining quiet and circumspect about the things that Hook did inside of Belle's lodgings. The first two nights alone, had seen him reveling in the fading scent of her on the soft linen sheets of her bed. The smell of her shampooed hair on the pillows, those scents were something to savor, even as he was left feeling like some pervert. He was more than that, when he took to stroking himself off to unsatisfying climax after climax, that dress of hers crushed against his face, imagining he could pick up the fading scent of the rain, and that of her own skin’s flavor.

He was left wanting, Belle out of reach, but not that of her things. They and this need reduced him to less than a man, so crazed and obsessed, and fixated on the having. Made inconsolable over continuing to be denied, the pirate could no less stop his twisted behavior, than control how he was worsening in her absence. It left him spending more and more nights at the inn, his own ship all but forsaken, Hook lying in wait in the hopes that Belle would one day walk in through the bedroom's front door. He lived for that moment, imagining it. Fantasying about it, and the things that he would do. Not all of them were pleasant, Hook sometimes wanting to punish Belle for running from him. For making him go through the agony of this separation. Those fantasies excited him, even the violent forceful ones, Hook not always in the state of mind to coax a surrender out of her.

By the third day her scent had faded completely, the sheets smelling like Hook now. He kept on returning to the room, taking fitful periods of rest, but more often than not merely waiting, sleep eluding him save for the moments right after he spent himself on fantasies.

A full week would pass like this, Hook having familiarized himself with all of Belle's belongings. Learning the kind of stories that she liked to read, the perfume and oils she preferred to use, even finding a pressed rose preserved between the pages of one book, its color long faded. He wondered about that rose, wondered just what its significance was. And just as quickly knew it had to be a gift from an admirer, from the one who had hurt her in the first place.

The rose didn't survive that jealous realization, Hook crushing it in his fist. A single thorn had remained on the stem, cutting into Hook's palm. He'd freeze and stare at the blood, ready to laugh when a loud and familiar knock sounded on the door.

"Come in, Mr. Smee."

As usual, the man had his red cap on. He'd take it in hand, nervously fidgeting with the knit wool as he looked around the room. Hook knew it was a sight, Belle's things littered about the place, dresses on the floor, books and trinkets on the bed. It looked like a whirlwind had torn through this place, but in actuality it had been just Hook raving wild.

"Well?" Hook demanded, his voice sharp and strained. He so badly wanted Smee to deliver him some good news for a change, to give him the lead that Hook was so desperate for.

Smee nervously glanced at Hook. A mind reader was not needed to tell the older man was troubled by Hook's recent behavior. Hell, Hook was bothered by it too, at least during the few moments of sanity he was afforded. Those moments were ones that seemed to happen less and less, Hook running a hand over his face, and realizing he hadn't shaved in quite a while.

"Did you find her?" Hook asked, his tone even more urgent now.

"It seems we're not the only ones looking." Smee said at last. He looked as though he was bracing for violence, which wasn't all that unexpected given the way Hook had been acting these last few days.

"Who?" A simple enough word but one that was snarled out with all the rage and fury that Hook could muster. Wondering and fearing it was the one who had intially hurt Belle that could now be that who the one who was looking for the young lass. Fearing that fiend's intentions, and knowing Hook would steal her away no matter the danger, he was hardly relieved when Smee spit out just who else was on the hunt.

"The Queen." Smee looked torn, as though he didn't know who he feared worse. Regina or Hook, and such was the Evil Queen's power, that the mere mention of her name might magically summon her before them.

"The Queen?" Hook scowled. "Whatever for?"

"That I do not know." Smee voiced his apologies. "But the queen has offered a substantial reward for any information that might lead to a finding."

Hook grumbled under his breath, hating that the situation had gotten worse. The Evil Queen was relentless, notorious for getting whatever she wanted. Belle was as good as caught, though Hook was determined to make sure she didn't stay that way. At least not with Regina!

Hook began pacing with Smee watching him. A decision was being debated in the older man's eyes, before he finally sighed, almost sounding defeated when he did speak again.

"There's more."

Hook didn't stop, still pacing about the room like a caged animal. "What now?" He demanded, wondering if something could possibly make the situation any worse.

"Someone claims to have seen your girl leave the city on a wagon." Smee was careful not to say Belle's name, not after Hook had once threatened to split his lip for any future utterings of it. It had been completely irrational, but then Hook often felt that way now, irrational, jealous, downright possessive of any and all that had to do with the woman, and that included even Belle's name.

"And did they happen to say where that wagon was headed?" Hook demanded out loud.

"A city to the east." Smee supplied, not quite ready to offer even a glimmer of a smile. "It's a four day journey by wagon....we can be there by ship in less than two if we leave immediately."

"Then gather the men." Hook told him. "We leave within the hour."

"Right captain!" Smee said, putting his red cap back on his head. He hesitated when he noticed Hook didn't move to follow him out the room. "Captain?"

"She'll be wanting her things." Hook decided. "The desk clerk shouldn't have any problems sparing a boy to pack up and deliver them to the ship."

"Right..." Smee acknowledged but Hook barely heard him. He was too busy looking around the room, tracing fingers over a dress of hers. Anticipating how she would look in it, and wanting, needing to see it in shambles on her body, Belle thoroughly ravished and made disheveled by Hook.

Even with such fantasies giving Hook reason to pause and sweat, he managed to get himself and Belle's belongings to the ship in just an hour's time. His crew was already in place, the ship set to sail at Hook's command. He'd give it almost immediately, visibly eager to get their travels underway.

His crew was happy to set out, glad to leave the town behind them. People of the sea, they grew restless if they remained on land for much longer than a few days. Hook was the same way, preferring the sight of the open seas, and the fresh ocean breeze on his face, to being grounded on land. And yet for all his love of the waters, he felt elation when the next town came into view.

Barely able to wait for the ship to be secured, Hook disembarked, practically leaping over the side railing to land on the pier's planks. Smee would follow at a much slower pace, and both men would look around with interest at a town they had never before been to. But they weren't here to sight see, Hook sending Smee off to do his information gathering. Hook himself would swagger into a local tavern and take up residence at a table. Hoping that perhaps Belle had resumed her nightly routine and had found a place at this new tavern's bar.

It soon was apparent that she had not, Hook wondering how many bars this town might actually have. Wondering if he and Smee would be doomed to visit all of them, and fearing they’d still find no word of her, when it happened. Smee having ambled in, and zeroing in on Hook with an uncanny precision. The man's eyes were wide, his face paler than normal. Hook knew then that the news was bad, and he actually braced himself with a drink before Smee reached his table and did the same.

"She has her." Smee announced.

The glass shattered in Hook's hand, ale soaking into the cuts the shards had left there. "When?" He asked hoarsely, barely aware of his pained flesh stinging.

"Just a few nights ago." Smee said. "Captain, I am so sorry..."

"It is not over." Hook said, than snapped louder in insistence. "IT IS NOT!"

"But if the Queen has her...."

"Then we simply take her from the Queen!" Hook told him, and Smee look horrified.

"Are you mad? You will get us all killed for sure!"

"I NEED her." Hook insisted, his voice raw and naked with his desperate feelings.

"But why?" Smee asked. "What could she possibly have? You don't even love her.....do you?"

"No. Of course not. But love and need are not always the same thing." Hook tried to explain. "Nor can we always choose just where or who we will find comfort in...."

Smee continued to wear that horrified, dismayed look, his head shaking no.

"I won't ask you to come along with me." Hook said, but then turned pleading. "I'll let you go just after you do me one last favor, and find out just where she is being kept."

Smee's upset had increased further, the man having pulled off his cap to crush it in his hands. "But Captain...I couldn't leave. Not after you've been so good to me."

Hook snorted at that, and Smee turned insulted. "You have!" He insisted.

"I've treated you like shit on the best days, and you know it."

"And it's still been a sight better than what my situation was before becoming part of your crew!" Smee sounded earnest enough.

"Then I shudder to think how bad off you were if that really is the case." Hook said, with the barest hint of a smile. "All right, stay with me to the bitter end if you like. Just get me her location!"

"Right captain!" Smee said, putting his cap back on with a relieved look on his face.

It wouldn't be an easy obtaining, many more days going by. Until it was nearly three weeks that Hook had now spent apart from Belle, the hunt for her having served well as a distraction from his grief. Especially when the hunt began to bear fruit, Smee finding a possible location. The ship would travel there, another week wasted on the trip. Hook's sanity was practically in tatters, the man alternating between anticipation, and wallowing in those grief induced moments when nothing worked to keep him distracted.

Now finally he was before the queen's prison tower, the ivory white spire extending high into the sky. Belle was rumored to be at the top of that tower, held under lock and key, and guarded by no less than twenty men. Hook didn't feel the weight of those odds pressing against him, the man downright chipper about his chances. Downright lucid, thinking he could take on the entire world just so long as Belle was the prize, even as Hook had to face the facts that he couldn't go it alone. Not in this.

A small number of his crew was selected, his bravest and best fighters. Naturally Smee was left behind with the ship, the older man more apt to stab himself with a sword than any opponent he might face. Smee was more than fine with the role that Hook had assigned to him, the older man acting as captain in Hook's absence. Keeping the ship ready to sail at a moment's notice, and expected to leave without them if a worst case scenario should actually happen.

The worst case scenario could have been anything from death to imprisonment, but for once fortune favored Hook. It was almost ridiculously easy to break into the tower, a bit of powder and explosives blowing the front door right off its hinges. A bit harder yet was the actual fighting, Hook and his crew of half a dozen fighters facing odds that were three to one. There was more guards than had been anticipated, but with his sweet prize so near, Hook was undeterred, Downright feral as he fought, all savage and dealing death to any fool guard who dared to try to cross swords with him.

The fighting took place all along the spiraling stair case of the tower. There were floors with other prisoners, and even a guard's station about half way up the tower. Hook and his crew didn't bother with investigating those, ignoring the excited cries of the other prisoners until one man pointed out the validity of setting them free. Of how the evil queen would find herself busy trying to track down all the escapees, and thus might never realize the target of this prison break was in fact one person in particular.

Hook leaped on the idea of it, eager to keep the queen confused and guessing. He sent his men to get busy opening the many cells, and continued on his way to the very top of the tower. Somewhere from below came an excited cheering, the freed prisoners quick to celebrate their newfound luck. Hook nearly grinned, feeling a similar excitement, and anticipating the celebration he himself would enjoy soon enough.

That almost grin and the head that wore it, were nearly sliced off, one last guard having lain in wait for Hook. He just barely got his sword up in time, sparks flying as the metal of his blade ground against the soldier’s. A twist of his hand, had the sword turning, Hook shoving back with it. The guardsman minced a step back, Hook slashing diagonally towards his chest. The man just barely jumped back in time, Hook nearly stumbling as his sword sliced through air.

Before he could right himself completely, the guardsman's sword slashed a cut across his back. The leather of his coat split open, the skin beneath only protected by the chain mail underneath his shirt. Hook could only silently thank Smee for insisting on it, the chain mail having saved Hook from an attack that might have otherwise proved deadly.

Whirling about, his hook grabbed at the blade, sliding up the length of it as more of a distraction than a defense, the pirate then twirled his sword before stabbing it forward. The guardsman didn't quite deflect it, the hook twisting, gripping the sword effortlessly. Blood appeared, the guardsman wounded but not yet defeated. Kicking out a leg in a desperate attempt to knock Hook back, only to get stabbed in the thigh.

The pained cry of the guardsman was followed by an angry grunt. The man knew he was defeated, and yet still he did not lay down his surrender. Fearing the Queen more than death itself, the guardsman all but threw himself onto Hook's sword, the blade's tip actually piercing through to the back of him.

The guardsman gagged on his own blood, sword hand going limp, its weapon clattering to the floor. Hook held him up just long enough to get the keys off of his belt, then let the body drop to the floor with a thud.

Shaking the gore off of his sword, Hook then slid it into the scabbard at his side. Feeling his heart beat quickening ever more, Hook fumbled with the keys, knowing now was the moment when he would find out for certain if Smee's information had been correct. Anticipation filled him, even as he knew there was a chance that Belle might not be inside the room, Hook finally on the fifth try, found the right key.

The door did not so much as even groan whenhe swung it open, its hinges that well oiled. Inside the woman was not immediately visible, Hook noticing instead that the room was a windowless cell, with little luxury afforded to it. And then he heard a sound to the left of him, a gasp that drew his eyes towards the woman who was now scrambling off of the cot.

Belle!

Her beautiful and oh so expressive eyes were wide, and even with her visible shock, that blue color was dismayed. Clearly suffering both a mix of surprise and a complete lack of wanting to see him, Belle's pretty little mouth was left open. One look at her, and weeks upon weeks of that built upon lust and desire came overriding what little sense and reason he had still had left. And that was before he noticed what she was wearing, the form fitting tunic that barely kept her legs covered. Her bare legs, Belle wearing no tights to go with the navy blue prison garb.

Knowing it was woefully inappropriate, that the timing alone was all wrong, Hook still advanced on Belle. She tried to take a step back, but her legs bumped against the cot behind her. He didn't quite catch her, instead actually tumbling down with her onto the small, uncomfortable cot. Kissing her, his mouth hard and possessive, even demanding. Ignoring the protesting sounds that she made, pressing between her legs so that he could rub his half hard cock against her panties.

Hook felt Belle's body jerk at that intrusive, intimate touch, but she had no where to go. She was trapped between his body and that of the cot, the woman gasping, protesting with dismayed sounds that he was only vaguely aware of. His hook besides her on the cot, was digging into the thin, inadequate mattress, Hook knowing this was insane. He should be doing anything BUT giving in to his urges, especially while still in the evil queen's tower.

But Belle's lips were even sweeter than remembered, even as they refused to part willingly for his tongue. It didn't seem to much matter, there was so many other places that Hook could kiss, so many spots to choose from if he only could have the proper amount of time.

The hand that hadn't been taken by the crocodile placed its trembling palm over her heart. One second to think he felt its beat, and then he was pawing at her, kneading at her breast. Grabbing, kissing all over, hearing her take a sharp breath a moment before Belle screamed.

The sound didn't quite jar him out of his fantasy, Hook still desperate for her. Wanting, needing, demanding, he thought if he only had her for just a moment longer, it might take the edge off of this all consuming hunger. Even as he reccongize that as a starving man that had gone too long without this particular meal, a tiny bite of her simply wasn't going to satisfy, Hook kissing Belle once more. Whispering feverishly, lips leaving a wet caress on the skin of her throat, Hook felt Belle shiver at the combined threat and promise of his words.

"We will finish this later."

One last resounding smack of his lips, Hook lifting his gaze to meet Belle's frightened one. Only to see her eyes flash at the sight of his tentative smile, that the one and only warning he got before Belle hauled off and slapped him with all her might.

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To Be Continued of course....

8/26/2021 Updated….another one whose beginning got a whole lot of rewriting. Everything else was left about the same, except for some minor tweaking!

-----Michelle

#once upon a time #ouat #captain beauty #CaptainBeauty #belle #killian x belle #captain hook #killian jones #fanfiction #fanfic #The Broken Hearted Comfort #season 2 cannon divergence #romance #smut

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creampuffqueen · 4 years

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The Most Magical Place- Chapter One

a/n: alright everyone, here it is! A random pet project that just popped into my brain one day. This is a TLC modern au, plus gen 2, where they all go to Disney World together. Chaos. If this isn’t your thing, sorry? Idk don’t read it then. But I’m excited that I was able to finish the first chapter! Now, the characters mention a lake house a few times, and basically there’s another fic in the same universe I’m working on, but haven’t been as successful at writing full chapters. So hopefully that will come out one day as well! For now, I hope you enjoy this!

~~~~

“Hey, sorry we’re late.” Cinder laughed as she entered the virtual meeting, the faces of all her friends loading up.

“Badar’s teething right now, and with all his crying Peony couldn’t sleep.” Kai explained further.

“It’s no problem, guys.” Scarlet’s red hair was loose as she laid on her bed, Wolf resting his head on her shoulder. In another frame, Winter was doing the same to Jacin, while in the third Thorne had an arm wrapped around Cress while she nursed their newest little one.

“Speaking of babies, can I say hi to Cassie?” Kai grinned.

Thorne chuckled and tipped the camera, while Cress smiled and covered herself up so all they could see was the baby.

Cassiopeia Autumn Thorne, they called her. A big name for such a tiny baby. Everything about her screamed Cress, except for her hair being the same light brown as her father’s.

“Cress, she’s so precious.” Cinder cooed, as if the infant could hear her through the camera. Little Cassie was obviously nearly asleep, her eyes closed as she suckled.

Thorne tilted the camera away again, and the conversation dissolved into laughter as the friends recounted stories of the day, or the week, or the month.

“I swear, I have never seen a child with less self-preservation skills!” Scarlet said, though her tone was teasing and she rolled her eyes. “It’s like I turn around for one second and suddenly Baylor’s dancing on the roof.”

“Yesterday she started a tree-climbing contest and got both of her brothers stuck in a tree.” Wolf sighed. Scarlet hummed softly, combing her fingers gently through her husband’s hair.

“Well last week Peony tried to slide down the banister while holding Badar. If I hadn’t walked out of my room when I did I could have had two kids in the hospital!” Kai said.

Winter nodded from her perch, which had become Jacin’s lap. “The kids are restless. It’s getting into the springtime and all they want to do is play outside. It’s a miracle if I can get Evret to focus on his schoolwork.”

“Spring break is coming up for us in about a month, luckily.” Scarlet told the group. “But we don’t have anything big planned, so hopefully the kids aren’t too upset.”

“What dates are your spring break?” Cress asked. “Maybe we can drive over to your place for a day or two.”

“Does that mean I get to hold that baby?” Scarlet chuckled.

As if she knew she was being talked about, Cassie gurgled over the camera, causing both Scarlet and Wolf to start cooing at her.

“Hold that thought, Scarlet. I’m going to go put her down.” Cress stood and walked out of the room, rocking her daughter gently in her arms.

“You have spring break next month, too?” Winter said, brow furrowing. “We don’t all usually have the same spring break.”

“Ours is next month as well.” Cinder added. She pulled out her phone and opened the calendar app, showing the week that was highlighted in green.

“Yeah, those are our break dates.” Scarlet’s voice was almost confused as she continued. “We’ve never all had spring break at the same time before.”

Before she could finish her thought, Cress came back in the room, arms no longer full of baby.

“All three of us have spring break the same week.” Winter informed her. “That never happens.”

“So, are you saying you want to do something all together?” Thorne asked. “Because that’s kind of what it sounds like you’re saying.”

“Do you not want to do something together?” Jacin snorted.

“You are putting words into my mouth.” Thorne stated, crossing his arms playfully. “That is not what I’m saying.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” Thorne continued, “That we might have had some plans for that week.”

“But Cress, didn’t you say you could come drive up and see us?” Wolf questioned.

“Well, the plans aren’t solid ones.” Cress shrugged. “But, we thought that me might take the kids to Disney this spring before it got too full with the summer crowd.”

“Oh, I love Disney World!” Winter laughed. “Cinder and I took the big kids a few years back, and we had so much fun!”

“Yeah, fun.” Jacin retorted. “Veda had a meltdown every single day because she wanted to buy all of the toys. That park is just a giant Disney advertisement.”

“Okay, but Veda was also five years old.” Kai said to the computer screen. “If we went again it would probably be a lot more fun.”

“We’ve never been to Disney World.” Wolf stated thoughtfully. “It’s just always so busy on the farm.”

“Couldn’t you just get Émelie and Iko to watch it for a week?” Winter said helpfully.

“Well, we could, but what are we even talking about anymore?” Scarlet asked.

“All of us going to Disney World together!”

There was a long pause in the conversation. All of the friends on the group call nervously glanced at each other, as if gauging their reactions.

But finally, Scarlet spoke up again.

“We can’t. Paying for seven people going to Disney- it’s just not possible.”

“Hey, resident rich guy here.” Kai said. He normally hated bringing it up, just how well-off he and Cinder were. But now-

“Kai, you don’t have to do that.” Wolf sighed. “Besides, the triplets are little right now, it would probably be overwhelming.”

“Well, I don’t think that Disney is ready for Baylor, personally.” Scarlet joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“No, I’m serious.” Kai told them. Glancing over at Cress and Thorne, he repeated himself. “And I’d pay for your family, too, if you needed it.”

“Why Disney, though?” Cinder snorted.

“Because I love Disney!” Her husband protested. Cinder laughed and leaned into him, smiling when Kai automatically kissed her head. “And besides, we haven’t all done something together since last year. I mean, Cress and Thorne had time to have a baby before we got all of our families together.”

“Okay, the whole having-a-baby thing wasn’t planned.” Thorne chuckled. “Buy Kai’s right. We haven’t all been together with the kids since the lake house last year.”

“As fun as that was,” Jacin added, while Winter curled around his back to start braiding his blond hair, “I could do with not sharing a house with a dozen children.”

“Same.” Cinder agreed. “I swear, every morning there were at least three kids knocking down our door.”

Cress had a thoughtful look on her face, her blue eyes suddenly distant. Cinder opened her mouth to ask what she was thinking, but Cress’s husband beat her to it.

“Are you planning something?”

“Maybe.” Cress said, almost dreamily. Thorne glanced back at his camera.

“I’m gonna put Cress to bed so she can at least get some sleep while she’s planning.”

“I’m going to be up in a few hours anyway to feed Cassie.” Cress argued, pulling away suddenly and stepping out of the room. She was only gone for a second before she was back, this time with her laptop.

“Ok Cress.” Kai spoke. “You let us know what you’re thinking in the morning, okay?”

The small woman nodded, typing furiously at speeds that made her hands seem like a blur. Thorne said his own goodnight and logged off.

“Well, for the record, I would love to do another vacation with all of our families.” Kai said. “Even if it’s not to Disney World.”

~~~~

Cress called them all three days later, a group video chat from her phone while she walked around her RV, Cassie strapped to her chest and Sage on her hip.

“Okay, so I did some research- Astra, feet off the couch!- and I managed to find a way for all of us to take a Disney trip together!”

“We’re going to Disney?” Carson cheered from the background.

Cress ignored his question, instead walking over to the cupboard and pulling out a box of crackers, somehow balancing a little kid, a phone, and a snack at the same time, all with a baby on her chest.

“Cress, that’s great!” Winter grinned. Kai had a similar reaction, and both Wolf and Scarlet looked fairly excited. For Cinder and Jacin, however, they were going to need some more convincing.

“I got a trip planner to do some calculations and make some suggestions, and it turns out that we can make it a six day trip, and still have three days to spend time at home during the break!”

“So I’d have to take a week off of work, basically?” Jacin asked. Cinder couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

“Jacin, don’t be a party pooper!” Winter protested. “You were already going to take spring break off so we could do something fun as a family!”

“Mommy!” The loud voice came from Scarlet’s end, and the redheaded woman turned around just in time to have her triplets come crashing into her.

“Okay, I’ve gotta go.” She said to everyone. “I think that it would be fun for us all to go to Disney World together. Just text or email us the details so we know what everyone else is doing.”

“We’re going to Disney World?” Alix asked, just before the call ended.

“Here, I’ll email everyone what I found out, and we can decide what to do.” Cress told them. She set Sage down on the couch with Astra, handing them both the box of crackers she’d procured.

And before Cinder could add anything else, Cress had ended the call and plunged her screen into darkness.

~~~~

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this.” Cinder muttered, yet again, as she and Kai wrapped up two small presents.

“C’mon, it’s going to be fun!” Kai insisted, yet again.

Cinder tied the bow on Badar’s present and rolled her eyes. “Badar won’t remember a single thing that goes on the entire trip.”

“But Peony will. And we’ll take tons of pictures so he can look back on it when he’s older.”

Cinder just sighed and put the present on top of Peony’s.

Somehow, in the last month, all of their plans had fallen into place and everything had been confirmed. They were going to Disney World for spring break, and taking all of their kids with them.

Cress, Kai, and Winter had been by far the most enthusiastic, Scarlet, Wolf, and Thorne admitting they were excited. Cinder and Jacin, however, were insistent that it was going to be terrible, trying to wrangle 14 children of varying ages around Disney’s various parks.

Jacin and Cinder had been mostly ignored in their protests.

And the day before, Cress had mailed them all a few things. Their Magic Bands, mainly, so they didn’t have to carry money around the park and could access their Fast Passes more easily.

But also included in the package: shirts.

Light blue t-shirts that read on the front “Rampion Crew Disney Trip” and said the person’s name on the back. When Cress had told her about making matching shirts, Cinder had thought it was a joke.

The shirts were sort of cute, at least. The light blue color would go well with everyone’s complexion.

Years ago, when they’d all met in college, it was Thorne who had dubbed their friend group “The Rampion Crew”. The Rampion was an old RV he’d bought, and during the summer they would travel around in it, drinking and laughing and having an absolute blast.

Thorne and Cress had fixed up the Rampion when they got married and now lived in it, somehow managing to fit four children comfortably inside. They traveled all over, homeschooling their kids on the road.

The Rampion Crew was a bit of an inside joke now. All of their children owned a shirt that said “Member of the Rampion Crew since-” and then their birthdays. So Cinder supposed it was only fitting that the Rampion Crew made a reappearance for their Disney trip.

“Mom, what’s for breakfast?” Peony popped her head inside their bedroom, and Cinder could see that she held Badar on her hip.

“Fix yourselves some oatmeal real quick and we’ll be out in a minute.” Kai told her, hiding the presents behind his back.

Peony nodded and walked away, talking to Badar as she brought him to the kitchen.

Kai fussed at the wrapping for a moment longer, making sure everything was perfect, before he and Cinder walked out into the kitchen, joining their children.

Badar was in his high chair, sucking on a spoon as Peony put the bowls of oatmeal in the microwave. Cinder put the two boxes down on the table and got out her phone, pulling up the camera.

Peony sang to herself, her little brother banging his spoon on his high chair in anticipation. When the microwave beeped and the oatmeal was taken out, Peony turned around to stir in some butter and cream when she noticed the presents.

“Who are those for? Is it someone’s birthday?”

“Nope.” Kai grinned. “They’re for you and your brother.”

Peony stopped stirring the oatmeal. She picked up the larger box, seeing the tag with her name on it. Glancing up at her parents one last time, as if making sure she wasn’t doing anything wrong, she pulled off the bow and the wrapping paper.

Badar peeked over shoulder, still sucking on the spoon while Peony opened up the box.

Inside, the white Magic Band with Mickey Mouse decals was on top of the neatly folded blue shirt. Peony lifted both out, looking them over curiously.

Cinder could see the exact moment her daughter realized what was going on. Her brown eyes widened, her mouth falling open into a little ‘o’ shape.

“Are we going to Disney?”

“We are!” Kai cheered, and Peony’s surprise dissolved instantly into excitement. Cinder was able to snap a few photos of her daughter jumping around, shouting happily.

Badar, though he didn’t understand what was going on, was still excited by his sister, and he banged the spoon on his chair and screamed with her.

“BoBo! We’re going to Disney World!” Peony said, using her nickname for her brother. Badar cooed at her, and she pulled him up to kiss his little cheeks.

It took a few more minutes for everyone to calm down and eat, and Cinder sent the photos to the group chat, with ‘looks like someone’s excited’.

Minutes later, other pictures and videos flooded the chat. The funniest was Scarlet’s text, who sent a video of Baylor and Alix fighting over the Merida dress Scarlet had bought for the triplets.

Seeing the excitement of all the kids, from the biggest to the littlest, was making Cinder reconsider her standpoint, just a bit.

Maybe taking 14 kids to Disney World wouldn’t be so bad, after all.

#the lunar chronicles #tlc #marissa meyer #tlc gen 2 #tlc au #disney au #kaider #wolflet #cresswell #jacinter

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abouldersbxtch · 3 years

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A Flower With Thorns

Beep. Beep. Beep. The alarm set for seven in the morning went off on her phone that was resting on the open space on her bed beside her. She slowly sat up while grabbing her phone, turning the alarm off. Lifting her hands to her face after dropping her phone back onto the bed, she rubbed her tired eyes as she swung her legs over the side of her bed and got to her feet. Tiredly the raven haired woman made her way to the bathroom connected to her bedroom, pulling her clothes off as she went and dropping them onto her bedroom floor to pick up later. She made her way to the shower and pulled the sliding glass door open, turned the knob so that the water would be warm once it was ready and then walked over to the sink. While waiting for the water to warm up, Sirena stood at the sink and grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste that smelled like Spearmint. She took the lid off the toothpaste and squeezed some onto the bristles of the brush before lifting it to her mouth and brushing her teeth. Once she was done, she made her way into the shower, sighing softly at how nice the hot water felt against her skin. The soap she used to lather her skin smelled like coconuts while the shampoo and conditioner she used on her hair smelled like lilacs and rosemary. Once everything was rinsed off when she was done, she turned the water off, got out and grabbed the soft light blue towel that hung on a hook on the back of the bathroom door. After wrapping the towel around her body, she got to work on braiding her long black hair into a fishtail braid. Hair done and body dry by the time she finished, she threw on a pink and white spaghetti strap summer dress that went down just a little above her knees, slipped on a pair of white flats, pulled on a light pink cardigan and she was ready for the day. After picking up the clothes she had slept in that were laying on the floor and tossing them into the hamper, she walked back to her bed and grabbed her phone before leaving her room. Sirena made her way straight to her front door, only stopping to grab her purse along the way. After tossing her phone carelessly into her purse, she hung the strap on her shoulder as she pulled open the door and then walked out. She made sure to lock her door behind her before she started making her way through the apartment building to the bottom floor so she could leave.

Sirena made her way through the building after leaving her apartment and walked through the doors on the first floor. The brisk morning air made her glad she had brought her cardigan but slightly regretted her choice in wearing a dress and not something that would keep her legs warm. Walking out onto the sidewalk, she turned and started to make her way to the café down the street that she went to every morning on her way to work. She pushed the door open and looked towards the barista standing behind the register and he greeted her with a bright smile like always. “Sirena! I-I mean, good morning Sirena. I’ve got your tea ready for you. Two honey packets, just like you like it.” Sirena smiled as she walked over to the counter, approaching the flustered young man who did a terrible job at hiding his little crush on her every day she went there. Surprisingly it wasn’t as busy as it normally was in the mornings, but she definitely wasn’t going to complain about that fact. “Thank you so much Tsuki. You’re such a life saver. I don’t know what I’d do without you every morning.” The young man behind the counter handed the tea over to her with a bashful smile. “O-Oh it’s nothing, really. I’m just h-happy to be here and provide you w-with your morning drink.” Sirena reached over as she arrived at the counter and took the warm cup of tea from him, making sure that her fingers grazed his ever so lightly. “H-Have a good day at work S-Sirena.” Tsuki blushed brightly as Sirena batted her long lashes at him flirtatiously and turned to start leaving, waving her fingers at him with her free hand as she went. “You too Tsuki.” Sirena couldn’t help but grin to herself as she walked out of the café and continued on her way down the street. He was so easy to fluster and it took little effort to flirt with him to the point where she never had to pay for her drinks. She hadn’t bought a tea from that café in almost five months and the last time she did was because Tsuki was out sick. She sipped her tea as she walked, smiling and enjoying the way the warm liquid felt going down her throat and the warmth it spread through her chest in the cold morning air. After crossing the street a few times and making the appropriate turns, she started to near the flower shop she worked at. As she arrived, she used her free hand and pushed the door open, sighing in relief when she felt the warmth of the inside of the shop. As Sirena walked inside and closed the door behind her, she glanced around, looking for the shop owner. “Mom, I’m here.” She called out as she made her way behind the counter. She set her cup of tea down on the counter before pulling off her purse and setting it in a cubby below the register. Next off of her was her cardigan that she swapped for an apron hanging on a hook behind the counter. “I’m in the back dear. Just finishing up a few orders that we got last night.” An old woman’s voice called out from the back of the store as Sirena slipped on the apron over her and then tied the straps behind her back just above her waist. Once she was ready, Sirena grabbed her tea off the counter and lifted the cup to her lips, taking a few more sips before looking over at the doorway to the back of the shop just in time to see an older woman with short grey hair walking out with a bowl of rice porridge and honey. “Here you go sweetie. Have to make sure you eat breakfast before you start work.” Sirena smiled sweetly at the woman, taking the bowl from her and sitting herself on the chair behind the register. “I thought you said you were finishing up orders from last night.” The older woman smacked Sirena’s leg on her way around the counter to make her way towards the flowers in the shop. “Hush up and eat.” Sirena rolled her eyes silently with a smile and got to work eating the breakfast Mrs. Lin had prepared for her.

After finishing the breakfast that was made for her, Sirena took the dishes into the kitchen in the back. The back of the store and the second floor were where Mrs. Lin lived, making it easier for the older woman to work and rest when she needed to. Once the dishes were cleaned and left to dry, Sirena walked back out to the front of the shop and got to work as usual. Nothing out of the ordinary happened that day. She went about her usual business as always; cleaning the shop, making the arrangements for orders that came in, and other random things that needed to be done around the shop. Towards mid-day the bell above the shop doors rung, alerting Sirena that someone had walked in. She set the watering can aside and walked over, smiling brightly when she saw the older gentleman standing at the counter looking around. “Good afternoon Mr. Subira. Are you looking for Mrs. Lin again?” The older man turned around at the sound of Sirena’s voice and he smiled bashfully while holding what was obviously a box of chocolates in his hands. “Am I really that predictable?” Sirena giggled as she approached him and gave a small shrug. “Well you do come in three times a week just to bring her sweets.” Mr. Subira chuckled and held the box of chocolates out to Sirena. “Will you give these to her for me? I don’t want to disturb her and I have to be on my way anyway. I’ve got to go get my grandson from school.” Sirena nodded and took the box from him and he started to walk towards the door. “Thank you Sirena. Have a nice day.” “You too Mr. Subira.” She waved to the older man as he finally left the store and then turned to look towards the doorway to the back. “He’s gone now. You can come out.” Mrs. Lin walked out carrying a small potted plant. “Who’s gone?” Sirena laughed and set the box on the counter while shaking her head. “You’re not sly mother. I know you were listening. He brought you some chocolates this time.” Mrs. Lin glanced over and spotted the box on the counter, but continued on her way to put the plant where it needed to go. “That’s nice. You can have them dear.” Sirena sighed and walked over to the older woman, placing a hand on her hip as she looked at her. “He’s a sweet man. Why won’t you at least give him a chance?” Mrs. Lin turned and looked at Sirena, brows raised in surprise. “First of all, you know why. I was married once and he was the only one for me. I don’t want to be with anyone else. Besides, I’m too old for all that. Second of all, I know you are not trying to tell me to give someone a chance.” Honestly, Sirena should have seen that one coming. Many times the older woman had tried to convince Sirena to give at least one of the many men who fawned over her a chance, but Sirena was very picky to say the least and she was never one to easily trust or let others get close to her. Placing her hand sup in front of her defensively, she nodded and admitted defeat. “Alright, alright. You’re right. I’m sorry mom.” She turned and walked back over to the counter and picked up the box of chocolates before taking them into the back and leaving them on the kitchen counter. Of course she had no intention on taking them with her when she left anyway, but she needed them out of the way and sneaking one of them wouldn’t hurt anyone. She quickly opened the box and plucked one from inside and popped it into her mouth. As she bit into it, she could taste the sweetness of the gooey caramel center and she made a pleased sound as she walked back out to the front of the shop to continue with the rest of the things she needed to do that day.

When it came time to close up the shop, she swept the floors and put everything in their rightful places while Mrs. Lin dealt with the register. After counting all the money and making sure everything was as it should be, Mrs. Lin pulled out a wad of money and handed it over to Sirena once she was done. That was how it had always been. Mrs. Lin always wanted to make sure that Sirena got every penny she worked hard for, so she always took it straight from the register at the end of every day and gave her her pay for the day. “Thank you for your hard work today dear.” “Of course mom. I’ll take care of locking up the shop. You go get some rest.” Sirena smiled at the woman gratefully before she took the money and put it in her purse. Mrs. Lin nodded her head with a smile and gave Sirena’s arm a gentle pat before walking through to the back of the shop, turning off all the lights in the shop as she went, leaving just one on for Sirena so she could finish up. Sirena untied the back of her apron and pulled it off, swapping it with her cardigan on the hook like she had done that morning. After pulling on her cardigan, she grabbed her things, turned off the last light and then made her way through the store one last time to make sure everything was as it should be for the next morning. Appeased with how the store looked, Sirena finally walked out of the shop and locked the front door behind her once she was outside and put the keys in her purse that hung on her shoulder. It was around 7:30 in the evening, so the sun was almost completely gone from the sky so the sky was dark and the stars were faintly visible with all the lights from the city. With a content sigh, Sirena started to head home, taking the same way that she always took. Thankfully it wasn’t as chilly as it had been in the morning, so she walked comfortably and didn’t worry about freezing her butt off on the way. As Sirena was nearing her apartment complex, she walked by an alleyway and suddenly her arm was grabbed and she was yanked roughly into the alley. She didn’t have any time to react before the man who had yanked her into the dimly lit alley, dressed in tattered jeans and a white t-shirt with a black jacket over it, was pushing her against one of the walls. He pinned her against the cold wall and lifted a large pocket knife to her throat, pressing the blade against her soft skin. “Give me everything you’ve got in your purse and don’t even think of screaming. I’d hate to have to cut such a pretty throat.” Sirena narrowed her purple eyes at him, not even a hint of fear in them as she looked up at the taller man. “Hurry up!” He commanded, but Sirena didn’t move an inch, a smirk coming to her lips.

“🎵 Hear my song Succumb to me Your mind is mine So do as I say and obey 🎵”

As soon as the man heard the words of her song, he froze in place and found himself unable to speak or move with a dazed look in his eyes. Sirena reached up and easily pushed his arm away from her, taking the knife away from him at the same time as well and pushed it closed and tucked it into her purse. “Now, now, this wasn’t the smartest move for you, was it? Maybe this will teach you not to mess with unsuspecting women again.” Using her index and middle finger, she put them against the middle of his chest and gently pushed, making him walk backwards until she decided he was a good enough distance away from her. She adjusted her cardigan that had been pulled off her shoulder slightly when he had yanked her so suddenly and once she was settled, she looked back over at him, a grin plastering itself on her lips. “So this is what you’re going to do; first you’re going to give me anything and everything you’ve stolen tonight and then you’re going to walk to the police station or the nearest hero, whichever you see first, and turn yourself in. You will not stop or talk to anyone on the way. The only person you’re going to talk to is the first police officer or hero you come across. Nod if you understand.” He nodded his head silently, the dazed look still evident in his eyes. “Good. Now do as I said.” The man started to empty his pockets, giving her the money, jewelry, and wallets that he had stolen through the evening. She took everything from him and put it all into her purse before patting his shoulder with a proud smirk on her face. “Good boy. Now be on your way.” The man started to walk away to do as she had commanded. After waiting for a few moments for him to be gone, she finally walked out from the alley and continued on her way home as if nothing had happened. The rest of her walk back home was peaceful and when she got to her apartment, she unlocked the door after fishing her keys from her now full purse and walked inside, closing and locking it behind her. Setting her purse aside, she pulled her phone from one of the pockets in her cardigan and sent a text message to Mrs. Lin letting her know that she had gotten home safely. The rest of the evening went as normal as usual. She made herself a small dinner, changed into her pajamas, watched a few episodes of a show she enjoyed watching, and did her dishes. The only different tonight was that she took her purse into her room and poured the contents onto her bed. She gathered all the loose money the man had given her, the money from all the wallets he had also given her and the money she got from Mrs. Lin and made her way over to her closet and pulled an old toolbox down from the top shelf. She opened the toolbox and pulled the inside of it out, revealing a hollow spot between the bottom of the toolbox and the part of the toolbox that actually held everything and that was where Sirena stored her money. Once all the money was stashed away, she closed it up and put it back in the closet before making her way back to the bed. She quickly put everything that was actually meant to be in her purse back inside along with the pocket knife she had taken from the man, just in case. All the jewelry and wallets were tossed into a backpack that hung in the closet so she could figure out what to do with them all later. For now, she was tired, so she made her way through her apartment and turned off all the lights before returning to her bed and climbing into it. Once she was tucked under her blankets, it didn’t take long at all for Sirena to fall asleep peacefully.

#mha oc #mha fanfic #mha #mha fanfiction #mha original character #mha vigilante #bnha #bnha oc #bnha fanfic #bnha fanfiction #boku no hero oc #bnha vigilante #my hero academia oc #Siren #A Flower With Thorns

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newathens · 4 years

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sally and amphitrite and poseidon iii. let’s see where this goes i’ve got like half the fic sketched out in my mind but for some reason lose motivation mid-chapter every time. i don’t know writer’s block is weird but at least we’re getting this romcom out of it—

8:03 A.M. — The numbers on her clock.

Sally shuffled down the hall, leaving the cozy confines of her bedroom, ready to leave for work but not wanting to go. Office work was a step up labor-wise, but she hadn’t yet to find the stagnancy appealing.

She blinked the sleep from her eyes and tugged her coat ever closer, only to get cut off in the walkway between the front door and the main room by a man, tall and tan, clothed in a mixture of business and athleisure, who materialized out of thin air.

Her purse dropped to the floor with a dull thud as they embraced in a flurry of smiles and laughter. The fresh scent of the sea still clung to him; she breathed it in ravenously. “Poseidon,” she started but he kissed her—small little kisses—until she had to pull back for air. “Where have you been?”

“I’m sorry,” he said, voice vibrating through her chest. She closed her eyes, let his warmth seep into her. Work had officially upgraded from an annoyance to a thorn in her side. “Olympus has been rather, well, it’s hard to explain. I’ve wanted to return ever since I left—”

The god in her arms turned rigid as stone, the hands he had at the small of her back curved around her hips, encasing her. Sally leaned back to find a sickened face and eyes that looked right over her, towards the empty front room.

For a moment, they froze together.

Then he melted to anger, a quiet rage, fueled by fear—like a boiling pot overflowing.

Poseidon side-stepped her and strode into the front room. She followed, lost.

“Poseidon—”

He turned and now, in a better light, she could see how the green of his iris’ swirled wildly. “Sally,” he gestured around. “Has anyone been here?”

She shook her head, “I don’t understand.”

“Here in this apartment,” it was then he started to touch things, run his hand over side tables and trinkets, between the bookshelf and the wall, pausing for a very long moment to stare at the couch. “Anyone random, out of the ordinary, a new friend at work—” he huffed, almost panicked, and went down the only other hall, but not before pulling her along. “Stay near me.”

He checked her bedroom, her closet, her mirror, underneath her bed.

“I’ve never found any monsters under there,” she said from the doorway, almost teasingly.

He was not amused. “I’m being serious,” he breezed passed her, entered the bathroom, checked the faucets, checked the walls. Then finally, when at last he could not find his answer, let out a pained groan.

“Am I in trouble?” she asked.

Poseidon glanced around once more, at her poor little off-white bathroom, and shook his head from indecision. He slipped his hand into hers and led her back towards the front room, “I don’t know. Sally, someone very dangerous has been here and when I say someone—”

They both stopped short at the sight of Amphitrite across the room, seated in an armchair. “Dangerous?” She smiled. “Haven’t heard that compliment in a few decades.”

Poseidon gravitated in front of Sally before she could stop him.

“Leave,” he said.

Amphitrite crossed her arms, “No.”

“You don’t want to do this.”

“Do what?” she asked.

“You know exactly—do you take me for a fool?” Poseidon’s voice crescendoed in the small space and the windows shook.

“Shhh! I have neighbors,” Sally whispered. He glanced back towards her, face heavy and full of misery.

“Sally,” he said, voice grave. “She is here to kill you.”

“No, I’m here for our date,” Amphitrite said.

The space around them slunk into awkward tension faster than Sally wanted to admit. First, Poseidon stared, at his wife, who had a sly, arrogant little smile that only added truth to her statement. Then he turned to Sally, who could do nothing but give an embarrassed shake of the head.

Then, “What the fuck are you doing?” Poseidon yelled and pointed an accusatory finger at Amphitrite.

“Poseidon,” Sally hissed. He turned to her, frantic and wild.

“Sally, she has thrown women to the sea, she has drowned them with her bare hands. She gave a woman to a group of orcas to play with like a seal.”

Amphitrite snorted suddenly and started to laugh, “I forgot I did that.”

Pushing aside her horror, Sally shrugged, “She hasn’t done anything bad to me yet.”

“She has—yet?” he placed his hands on his hips. “How long has she been around?”

“About three weeks,” Sally said. When Poseidon went wide-eyed, clenched his jaw and looked, for lack of a better word, miffed, she jumped in place and threw her hands up. “What was I supposed to do? Rebuke my godly lover’s wife? My godly lover who is cheating on his wife. My Greek godly lover, the ones who have very bad track records with this sort of thing.”

They both groaned.

“It’s really just Hera,” Amphitrite said.

“Cheating,” Poseidon mocked.

“Oh my gods!” Sally exclaimed. “You don’t even feel bad.”

“I didn’t feel bad the first time,” he said. Sally let out a cry and felt the heavy heat of shame rise in her face. “Oh, as if she hasn’t done the same.”

“That’s what pool boys are for,” Amphitrite shrugged.

“Pool boys, lifeguards, environmentalists, marine biologists, Olympic swimmers—”

“Writers,” she said, eyes grazing up and down Sally’s frame.

“What?” Poseidon asked, then, “No! This ends right now.”

“Absolutely not. Sally and I have a date tonight.”

With sudden composure, he said, “I was going to take her out tonight.”

Amphitrite gripped the arms of the chair, “I’m not leaving.”

The front room was cozy, filled with love, and held a couch and two sitting chairs, with nothing but a small table between them. Poseidon took the other chair, silently, slowly, and together they stared at the other, “Well neither am I.”

Sally stood between them, rubbed at her temples. “I am going to work.”

Neither of them broke the stare.

“This charade better be over by the time I come home.”

Nothing still.

At lunch, Jared asked if she had weekend plans. She mumbled something about orcas and his face crumpled in confusion. Good. She hated Jared.

City sounds muffled by the glass filtered into the empty space and spun around the gods, thoroughly ignored. A dog barked from the hall. Neither blinked. Two blocks away, a robbery had commenced. Neither breathed.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“You already asked me that.”

“This isn’t a joke.”

“I’m aware.”

“She has lost her son.”

“And I hope every day for his safe return.”

Silence. “Do you?”

“I’m not heartless.”

“I know you’re not heartless.”

“Then why question me to begin with.”

The sounds kept flowing and the gods kept staring.

Sally stood silent between the gods, who sat unmoving, the exact same way she had left them. Winter’s golden glow slanted into the apartment, though not far enough to reach her from where she stood amongst the shadows.

Something told her they were fighting, but she was tired.

And hungry.

“I’m going to get ready,” she said. “When I’m done, the staring contest better be over.”

Once in her bedroom, she dropped her things and fell back against the door, because yes two gods were having a lover’s spat in her living room but they were still waiting to go on a date with her.

Butterflies did not fit into this scenario. Guppies—there were guppies causing a ruckus in her stomach.

She had had a dress picked out; velvet, form-fitting, and green. She wasn’t that old, it could still work, she had repeatedly been telling herself for days. There were several actresses her age who wore dresses just as risque.

As she stood at the mirror’s base, playing with the garment’s edge, fixing the slip around her shoulders, a fresh blush crept up her neck.

For the first time, in a very long while, she felt a sudden overwhelming amount of happiness. And though guilt bubbled up, she swallowed it. She missed happy. She wanted to seep into happy, completely, just this once.

Her heels against the floor signaled the gods, who flashed into new clothes and stood as she entered.

Sally’s gaze flitted back and forth as they stared.

Poseidon broke first and embraced her. “You are so radiant. . .there are no words.” They kissed, quick and practiced, but she felt his thumb caress her cheek and she took his hand as they parted.

Amphitrite was staring, jaw hard.

Sally’s stomach flipped. Was she fooling herself? Would this work? What even was this? Amphitrite’s gaze melted all to quickly to be reassuring. She shrugged on a coat that materialized from thin air, encasing the auburn locks so her hair bobbed around her face.

“Agern,” she said.

“The NoMad,” he said.

“Gabriel Kreuther.”

“Grill and Pool.”

“And run into Hermes and his date of the week?” she asked. Poseidon lifted his hands out as if to say, well?

“Bernadin,” he tried.

“The Madison.”

“Del Posto.”

Amphitrite pondered. “Del Posto.”

Sally grabbed her jacket mid-walk, only to pause in the small hall between them and the door. She turned. “I live in this city, you know? All of those places are high end.”

Poseidon took her by the small of her back and opened the door, “And we’re torturing you enough, so let this be our way of repayment.”

Downstairs, a car and a driver waited.

“No.”

“The place is in Chelsea,” Poseidon said. Amphitrite stood at his side with a smug smile, the one from before, only smaller, because it was luxury Sally couldn’t give back. Now it was time for her to clench her jaw.

For a moment, Sally stared at them, at the two, stunningly gorgeous immortal gods with powers unbeknownst to any human imagination and then to the driver, who had a gold trident pinned to his lapel. She smiled, “Your name?”

“Andrew, miss.”

“I’m sitting in the front, Andrew.” And then she did.

And when the rest had closed their doors and Andrew revved the car, he looked over at her. There was a closed partition behind them.

“Percy’s mom?” He whispered.

She gave a small nod.

“I absolutely love you,” he mouthed.

#pjo #my fics #percy jackson #the way i can barely edit my writing bc if i try i'll delete everything and never touch my keyboard again #is there a thing called writing anxiety or self-esteem issues? i. . .#you know when you WANT to write in a certain style but your brain #defaults to writing that you DESPISE. idk what to do about that

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three-drink-amy · 5 years

Text

In the Eye of a Hurricane

chapter one - chapter two

Chapter Three

“Jenny! It’s so wonderful to hear yer voice,” Ian said into the phone, excited to talk to his wife. “How are things?”

“Things are fine. How’s Jamie?” she asked, clearly just wanting to check on her family.

“Which one?” Ian replied. He grinned to himself. Surely, she meant Young Jamie.

Jenny sighed. “Our son. How is our son?”

Ian laughed. “He’s doing quite well. He misses ye, but I think he’s very entertained by his uncle.”

“Well good,” Jenny remarked. “I should hope Jamie could pull his weight around there a bit. Anything notable happen since we last spoke?”

Ian thought back to the last time they’d spoken. It had been a week before. “Well not much. We’ve had a lot of rain, but then again it’s Scotland so I dinna ken that it’s really notable. I had to have a man come fix the truck because it wouldna start. One night an old friend of Jamie’s from the war showed up at our house and now she’s staying with us. Oh, and Wee Jamie has taken up gardening.”

“I’m sorry,” Jenny cut in. “Say that again.”

“I said Wee Jamie’s taken up gardening,” Ian repeated.

“You know I meant the part just before that. Some random woman is staying at our house?”

Ian sighed. “Look, Jenny, she’s a lovely lass. She is in a spot of trouble and happened upon our home, didna even ken she would know someone who lived there. Jamie promised her a place to stay. He ran it by me and I agreed. And if it makes ye feel any better, Wee Jamie seems to be quite fond of her.”

“How long has she been there?” Jenny asked, in a demanding voice.

“Four days.”

“How long is she going to be staying?”

“Not sure. Until she figures out her next step. But we’re no’ rushing her out,” Ian informed his wife. He took a pause, debating how much to share with Jenny over the phone. Often times, he preferred to break news to her face to face. “There’s something ye should ken about Claire though.”

“Her name’s Claire?”

“Aye. And it might interest ye to ken how she and Jamie became acquainted,” Ian said. He took a breath before he spoke again. “She’s the nurse who saved his life.”

“What?” Jenny asked, barely audible.

“Aye,” Ian confirmed. “That was my reaction as well. Jamie seemed rather gobsmacked to see the lass again. But he told me who she was and without even needing to hear the rest of her story, I agreed. She gave us back Jamie.”

He could hear Jenny sighing on the other end of the line. “Well it seems ye made a good call. I trust ye and Jamie. However, the phone does work the other way, Ian Murray! Ye could call me and fill me in on the goings on of the house if it’s something as big as this.”

“Next time I will,” he promised, grinning to himself.

“Next time,” she repeated with a scoff. “Ye’re a loon.”

“So how are things with Jocasta? Will ye be coming home any time soon? We all miss ye dearly,” Ian reminded her.

* * *

It had been less than a week, but Claire couldn’t deny that she enjoyed staying at Lallybroch. Ian and Jamie were doing their best to be gracious hosts. And Young Jamie seemed excited to have a new person to tell all his stories to. She couldn’t fight the feeling that she fit in well there. Even when they tried to discourage her, she continued to cook for them. It was truly, the least she could do. It was proving to benefit her as well since she was learning and perfecting new recipes.

The idyllic setting of Lallybroch was a gift after all she’d been through in the past six months. She cherished the chilled mornings as she helped Jamie tend to the horses. When the sun would climb higher in the sky, she enjoyed tending to the garden. Young Jamie started joining her the third time she’d done so. She would teach him about the plants and the herbs growing there. He seemed to marvel at the work they were doing.

Claire often had to remind herself, this was merely a stop on her journey. She couldn’t stay there forever. But Lallybroch, and its inhabitants, had a way of luring her into the peacefulness that it promised. For a woman who had never had a real home, she could see how the place could be a true home. Even if it wasn’t tomorrow, she dreaded the day she’d have to leave it all behind. And there was no doubt in her mind; someday, she truly would have to leave.

* * *

It had been a quiet week of Claire staying with them. Ian noted that things seemed to run the same way they always did. Perhaps even a bit better with Claire around to help. He walked out of the office when he noted how quiet the house was. Claire was likely out giving another gardening lesson to Young Jamie. There was no telling what task Jamie had found for himself. Ian smiled to himself as he started to climb the stairs. The day just seemed normal.

Until there was a knock at the door.

Ian walked back down and answered the door. Two men in uniforms stood upon the front step. Ian’s body tensed as he felt his blood run cold. Surely they couldn’t know they were hiding Claire. She was an innocent woman anyway, not a criminal. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and smiled at the two policemen. “Hello,” he greeted. “Is there something I can do for ye?”

Both men flashed small smiles back at him. “Aye, we’re looking for a woman who went missing in Inverness.”

“Inverness? This is quite a way from Inverness. Is this normal to come this far for a missing person?” Ian wondered. He desperately needed to know the answer.

“Well, no, sir, not really,” one of the men replied. “The woman is an English woman who was on holiday in Inverness. Her name is Claire.” He reached in his pocket. “Here’s her picture.” Ian took ahold of the picture and stared down at a younger Claire, one who hadn’t been aged by war or abuse. He shrugged and handed the picture back. “Have you seen anyone like this around the area?”

Ian cleared his throat. “I can’t say I have.” It wasn’t technically a lie. He really couldn’t tell them. Then they’d tell Claire’s husband where she was.

“I figured not,” the same man said. “This is too far away. Our search perimeters arena usually this wide. The woman’s husband is becoming a bit of a thorn in the side of our captain.” Ian nodded, absorbing the information. “Well, as it is, we need to search the area. Will ye allow us to search yer land? Ye seem to have quite a stretch of it. Could have more than a few good hiding places.”

Ian didn’t want to cooperate but he knew that if he didn’t, it could seem suspicious. He plastered on a smile and gestured back toward the entry to the courtyard. “But of course. Please let me know if ye happen to find something. I’ll need to ken if I have to keep a better eye out on my land,” Ian joked. The two men laughed and nodded, walking off to search the fields.

Ian closed the door and panicked. He had no idea where anyone else was. Just as he was about to yell Claire’s name, he stopped. They knew her name. If they could hear him yelling her name, they’d know he was hiding her. Ian rushed to the other side of the house, pressing his artificial leg to move him as quickly as he could. “Jamie!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, panic pushing him further into the house. “Jamie!” he called again. At that point, it didn’t matter which Jamie came. Likely one of them would know where Claire was.

He yelled Jamie’s name a third time before the man appeared. “What’s going on? Why are ye yelling?” Jamie demanded.

“Where’s Claire?” Ian asked without explanation.

“She was out in the garden with Wee Jamie,” Jamie informed him, pointing in that area.

“Go get her. Now!” Jamie didn’t wait before he tore out the back door. He quickly reappeared, Claire right behind him and Wee Jamie trailing a few paces behind her. “Get her upstairs. Away from the windows,” Ian commanded as he kept an eye out on the fields. Jamie nodded, urging Claire up the stairs.

Jamie steered Claire into his room and closed the door. “What is going on?” she asked, concern covering her face.

“I’m no’ sure, but it must be something. Ian wouldn’t act like this for no reason,” Jamie reasoned. A small knock at the door alerted them before Ian stepped in. “What’s going on?” Jamie asked.

“Police showed up here looking for Claire. I told them I hadna seen her. Since we arena suspects of anything and she’s no’ a criminal, they didna ask to search the house. However, they did want to search the land,” Ian informed them. “I’m sorry for the panic, but I had to make sure Claire wouldna be seen outside.”

“No, you were right to do so,” Jamie assured him with a pat on the shoulder.

Across the room, Claire leaned against Jamie’s desk. She crossed her arms and shook her head. “No.” Both men looked at her. “This is wrong. I can’t ask you to do this.”

“Tis already done, Claire,” Ian reminded her.

“It was one thing to offer me a place to stay,” Claire began, “but to lie to the police and hide me, all the while knowing you could get in trouble. No, I won’t let you do this.” She moved to go to the door and both men blocked her path. She glared at both of them. “Please just let me go. It’ll make both of your lives so much easier.”

“Ye really think our lives would be easier if we just let ye go?” Jamie asked. “Ye think I’d sleep well at night knowing that I let ye turn yerself in and they took ye back to the man who’d hurt ye? Come on, Claire. Ye were right to run away from the man and we’re right to protect ye from anyone who might want to take ye back to him.”

Ian nodded in agreement next to him. “Jamie, make sure she stays here. I’ll give you the all clear when they leave.”

Jamie agreed, immediately resuming his post against the door after Ian left. Claire sat down in Jamie’s desk chair and sighed. “This seems a bit dramatic,” she remarked.

“Doesna matter if it is or no’. Tis the right thing to do. Claire, do ye really want yer escape to be for naught?” Jamie pressed, trying to make her see his point.

She rolled her eyes, her arms tightening around herself. “No, of course not. But I feel guilty for this. This isn’t something anyone should have to do.”

“Fleeing yer husband because he was hurting ye isna something anyone should have to do either, Sassenach,” Jamie reminded her. “But that’s yer reality. And protecting ye from him, that’s our reality. We’ve accepted it. Yer no’ a criminal. They shouldna be able to do anything to us if somehow they actually found ye. We’d have no consequences. But there would be dire consequences if they found ye.”

Claire was quiet for a long time. “I just don’t see why you feel the need to do this for me.”

Jamie shrugged. “Why did ye feel the need to lie for me?”

“That was different,” Claire insisted.

“How? How was what you did any different than what I’m doing now?” Jamie quietly demanded.

“No one really knew what I was doing. There were no consequences for my lie!”

“Claire, the police arena going to hurt me or Ian,” Jamie maintained.

“No, but Frank might,” Claire blurted. She shut her mouth in a tight line, fear clear on her face. Jamie left the door and knelt down in front of her. She shook her head as she tried to say what she needed to. “If somehow Frank found out that I was here...I guarantee he’d hurt you and Ian.”

“I’d like to see him try,” Jamie replied, full of false bravado. “I can take a hit, Sassenach.”

Claire closed her eyes and shook her head again. “I’m scared that it would be more than just a hit.”

Jamie met her gaze. “Claire, I’m no’ scared of him. I’m scared of ye going back to him. But ye did yer protecting of me before. I’m the one protecting ye this time. Just let me do so.” Tears began to fall down Claire’s face. Jamie brought her into a tight hug. Her body tensed at first, but slowly her arms came up to hug him back. “I promise ye, I willna let him hurt ye again,” Jamie whispered.

“Thank you,” she sighed, pulling back from him. “I still think it’s foolish, but...thank you.”

A heavy silence hung in the room as they waited for Ian’s all clear. Jamie had resumed his post by the door, if only to allow Claire some space. He heard the footsteps approaching and released a breath at the small knock on the door. Opening the door a crack, Jamie peeked through to make sure it was Ian. At Ian’s nod, Jamie finally felt relief and signalled for Claire that everything was okay again.

The three of them went back downstairs to resume what was left of their day. All three of them, though, were visibly shaken by the events. At dinner, Ian told them the rest of what the police had divulged to him. Ian had used all his charm to get as much from the officers as he could. Claire and Jamie were not pleased to know that Frank was pushing the boundaries of a normal investigation. Ian sounded reassured as he noted that they drove off back towards Inverness and not the village.

But all the same, Claire was on edge. Frank was trying to find her and she desperately did not want to be found. Looking at the two men she’d sought refuge with helped ease her mind. They’d proven, multiple times really, that they would protect her no matter what.

* * *

Claire was getting ready to end her shift for the night when she was making one last round through the tent. Most of the men who were able had moved off to the mess tent for dinner. She noticed one bed in particular whose patient would have likely have been brought his meal. Looking back at her watch, Claire decided she could wait a bit to leave.

“How’s it going, soldier?” she greeted as she walked over to him. His wounds were still quite fresh. They were healing but he was still required to lay on his stomach. She’d been tending to other patients off and on throughout the day, but kept checking back with him. He was staring down at the tray that sat on a stool at the head of his bed. “Going to eat that?”

“I was trying to decide what it was first,” he joked, looking over at her. He moved like he was going to sit up.

“No!” She startled both of them with her yelling. “Sorry, but don’t sit up. The movement will hurt your wounds. You’ll want to still lay down for a while.”

He stared at her pleadingly. “How do ye expect me to eat that like this?” he asked, motioning to his position.

She looked down at the slop in the bowl he’d been given. Making up her mind, she picked up the tray and sat down on the stool. She put the tray on the ground and held his bowl in her hands. “Well maybe I can help,” she offered.

“I’m sorry, but are ye about to feed me?” he asked, his eyebrows raised. He looked positively scandalized. “I’m an adult.”

Claire shrugged. “You’re an adult who isn’t really in the position to feed yourself at the moment. I thought I’d help. Unless you’d rather I leave,” she said, starting to stand up. His hand reached out to stop her. A smug grin crossed her face as she sat back down. “That’s what I thought.” She scooped up a spoonful of his dinner and looked to him. “Here comes the airplane,” she crooned.

“Ye’ve got to be kidding me,” he groaned, throwing her a disgusted look. “Tha’s just no’ even funny.”

Claire was beside herself laughing. “I’m sorry, I know that was rude, I just couldn’t resist.”

“Ye’re a mean one, Sassenach,” Jamie said with a shake of his head. She held up the spoon and he reluctantly opened his mouth. “Thank ye,” he muttered.

“So where are you from in Scotland?” Claire asked. She figured conversation could distract him from his humiliation.

“How did ye ken I was Scottish?” Jamie asked. Claire stared at him with a flat expression. He smirked. “I grew up in the Highlands.”

“I’ve always heard the Highlands are especially beautiful.”

“Aye, they are. And so peaceful,” Jamie replied, a far off look in his eyes.

“A bit of peacefulness would be nice right now,” Claire commented, looking around the tent. She cleared her throat. “So what would you be doing now if you weren’t here? You know, in the middle of a war.”

“Ye know, I’m no’ quite sure,” he said as he looked up at her. “I left home a week after my graduation to start training.” After another bite, he turned the questions to her. “So where is home for ye?”

Claire breathed out a laugh. “Honestly, I don’t even really know how to answer that question. I never had a home in the traditional sense of the word. My parents died when I was five and I was raised by my uncle. He was an archaeologist so we traveled all over the world together. It was quite an unconventional childhood. I learned a lot, but I never really had a home.” She sat there thoughtfully for a moment. “I guess that made it easier to give up everything and volunteer to be a nurse.”

“Ye volunteered?”

She nodded, giving him another bite. “Yes. I can’t say what it was. I just felt that if the whole world was descending into chaos, I had to do my part to help fix it. Even my husband thought I was crazy.” Jamie coughed loudly, sounding like he was choking. “Are you alright?” she asked.

He nodded, pointing at his throat. “Aye, just hard to swallow,” he replied. She stared at him for a moment. He bore an odd expression.

Shaking her head, she continued. “If you hadn’t had to enlist, would you have been here?”

He looked up at her with a thoughtful expression on his face. “Aye, probably.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s the same thing ye said. The feeling of needing to do my part and all.”

Claire nodded, offering him another bite. “I suppose that makes us gluttons for punishment, doesn’t it?”

Jamie laughed. “That’s certainly one way of looking at it.”

They changed the conversation as Jamie started telling Claire about his family. She sat there listening long past when she should have left. He was a natural storyteller. The man had a way to make her feel as if she was there in the story. She shared quite a few of her own stories as well. It was nearing midnight when Claire looked down at her watch. She should have left hours ago.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, standing up. “I should have let you get to sleep already.”

“Nah, dinna worry. I canna usually sleep anyway,” he told her with a wave of his hand.

“Is it nightmares?” He nodded, a sad look crossing his face. “Well would it help if someone was here as you fell asleep?”

“I canna ask ye that, Nurse Randall,” Jamie said. She thought he might be using her title to remind her of her position.

Claire sat back down in a decisive manner. “Well then it’s a good thing I’m volunteering.” He opened his mouth to argue. “Just try to sleep. Ignore the random person by your bed. Just sleep.” She knew the blankets they were offered were far from comfortable, but she couldn’t help her instinct to cover him at least a bit.

After an evening of conversation, Claire felt like she knew the man so well. It was easy to volunteer for something that could help him, even if it just meant being a reassuring body as he tried to sleep. Surely, she’d be exhausted in the morning but Claire was certain that she wouldn’t care.

Next chapter

#outlander #outlander fanfic #outlander fanfiction #my writing #in the eye of a hurricane

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strawclette · 5 years

Text

Sorrow of the Arrogant

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Characters: Pride (Selim Bradley), Mrs. Bradley, Wrath (King Bradley)

Category: Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Words: 2,122

Summary: When Pride grieves over the death of his sister, his mother comes as a wonderful source of comfort.

AN: So this is the first time I’ve ever written a fanfic, so it might be a little wonky. Tell me what you think (I’d appreciate constructive criticism, not just rude comments). It’s not beta’d so there might be a few grammar/spelling mistakes in there. If you find anything, just tell me so I may fix it. Also I had no idea what the title should be, haha.

She’s dead.

Sitting up in bed, Pride stared blankly at the wall across from him. There was a decently sized bookshelf with an unusual variety of children’s novels, alchemical texts, and other assorted non-fiction books. Next to the shelf was a wooden desk where he kept journals full of random drawings of alchemic circles and his favorite alchemist Edward Elric. Absently, he remembered he’d need to buy a new journal since the one he currently used was almost full.

How?

The Flame Alchemist. A young Colonel, the hero of Ishval and a growing thorn in their side. A possible human sacrifice, according to Wrath. He was of use to them, as irritating as he was, and with the number of allies he kept close, it would be stupidly easy to manipulate him into doing whatever he wanted. Letting him walk away was the right choice. He could be of use to Father. That was all that mattered. Wrath did the right thing. But, why…

Why didn’t you stop him? Why did you let her die? You were there, you could have done something, so why didn’t you? You could have taken control of the situation, sent the Colonel and his mutt and the armor boy away. She didn’t have to die.

Lust.

His shadows shivered inside of his container, trembling with… something. He was not angry. He could not be angry. Grabbing onto the feeling, Pride tried searching for what it was. He couldn’t stand this feeling. Maybe if he could figure it out, it would just go away. No. Pride wasn’t stupid. He knew what this was, what it had to be, but acknowledging it was impossible because if he did he might… he might…

Hiccuping a sob, the oldest homunculus quickly covered his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut tight to hold back the tears threatening to fall. He couldn’t cry, he just couldn’t. He was Pride the Arrogant, the first homunculus created by Father, he was much too old to be crying like some weak human child. But it soon became clear that trying to choke it down would be a wasted effort as he found his body wracked with grief. An immense sorrow forced tears from his eyes and shook his body with continuous sobs. It was such a disgusting feeling. The thought of any of his siblings seeing him in such a pitiful state had his shadows curling in shame inside of his container.

Perhaps it wasn’t just shame. They writhed beneath his skin, shaking his container in times with the sobs that escaped him. Grabbing a pillow, he buried his face to try to muffle his crying. What would Wrath think if he saw his eldest brother in this state, while he had just finished so calmly informing him of their only sister’s death? After what he did, or what he didn’t do, being pitied by Wrath would be disgraceful.

In this state, Pride failed to hear a quiet knock at his door, neither did he notice the concerned older woman who entered. She had heard him crying, or perhaps it was a motherly instinct that had compelled her to come here. The reason didn’t really matter.

“Selim?”

Pride startled, quickly looking up from his pillow towards the door. Illuminated from the hallway lights, his mother’s silhouette stood cautiously in the doorway, her brow puckered and a worried frown on her face. There was a hint of confusion, but it seemed that why he was crying was less important than her intense need to comfort him, at least for the moment. Stepping into the bedroom and closing the door behind her, she briskly walked over to his side, turning on his bedside lamp before sitting down beside him. Pride struggled to keep his composure, but it was a losing battle. As soon as her eyes met his, he broke down again.

Scooting closer, she scooped his small body into her arms, running her fingers through his soft raven hair as she gently shushed him.

“My dearest, what’s wrong? What’s gotten you so upset?” she asked, pulling him tighter against her.

His head resting on her breast, Pride focused desperately on the steady, if slightly quickened, beat of her heart. After gulping down a few shaky breaths, he managed to stutter out the only excuse he could think of for his confusing behavior, “I-I ha-had a bad-a bad dr-dream.”

“Oh, oh you poor dear,” she cooed, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. As he continued to shake with violent sobs, she began to hum softly to him, an old song she remembered her own mother singing to her whenever she got upset when she herself was just a child.

Mrs. Bradley grew more concerned the longer he cried. What kind of awful dream could he have had to be this upset? Selim never cried, not even when he got hurt. It was bizarre. But she would stay and sing as long as he needed. It was a good twenty or so minutes before he even began to calm down, but somehow she knew he wasn’t feeling much better. At least now she could try to figure out the details of this dream.

“It must have been an awful dream,” she began, stating what she thought was rather obvious, “whatever was it about?”

“I-” Pride began. He hesitated for a long time. It wasn’t like he could tell her the truth, and if he was being completely honest with himself he was far too exhausted to even attempt to create some story. Perhaps it would be easier to just pretend like he didn’t want to talk about it. She would understand, and it would give him a chance to come up with something convincing for the inevitable moment when she would ask him again tomorrow. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he mumbled pathetically.

Unsurprisingly, she seemed unsatisfied with that answer, but he knew she wouldn’t pry anymore. He had cried enough for one night.

“Alright,” she relented. After giving him another tight squeeze, she brushed back the hair on his forehead, compelling him to look up at her face. Her wrinkles looked even more defined as she frowned, but she quickly hid her worry with a gentle, calming smile. “It’s okay, dear, it was just a dream, after all. It’s alright.”

Letting out a hiccup, he pushed his face against her shoulder, nuzzling the soft fabric of her shawl. She gave his back a soothing scratch.

“Do you want me to stay here until you fall back asleep?” she asked.

Pride hesitated. He did want her to stay, but then Wrath would get suspicious. He might come by to see where his wife had gone, and if he saw Pride like this…

“No,” he finally answers. “I’m… I’m okay.”

His mother looked unconvinced, but she nodded. Pulling away, she leaned down to give him one last kiss before wiping the still drying tears from his eyes. “Well, you know you can always come find me if you change your mind,” she told him.

Pride smiled gently. “I know, mother. I will,” he said quietly.

Nodding again, Mrs. Bradley stood up from his bed. Walking back over to his door, she gave him one final look before stepping out and shutting it with a quiet click. As Pride slipped back into his sheets and closed his eyes, he couldn’t help but admit that he did feel a little bit better. Just a little. Pushing away any more thoughts of Lust, he managed to fall into a fitful sleep.

“There you are,” Wrath said as his wife stepped into the room. Her face was lined with worry, and the homunculus thought with a hint of anger that Pride had something to do with it. Why did his eldest brother always feel the need to worry her? Perhaps he hoped to send her to an early grave.

“Yes, I’m sorry to keep you waiting, love,” she smiled. Oh, how her smile made all the anger melt away. He couldn’t help but return it as she walked over and sat down next to him on the couch. “It was Selim, he said he had a bad dream.”

“A bad dream?” he asked, curious and once again angry.

“Mhm, he was so upset that he was crying. I must have held him for at least half an hour before he calmed down. The poor thing,” she sighed. She brought one hand up to her cheek, gazing at the floor and no doubt thinking of her precious son.

Wrath grit his teeth, but forced himself to calm down. Wait, did she just say he was crying? That was… odd. “He was crying?”

“Oh, he was. Absolutely inconsolable. I can’t even imagine what kind of dream would have caused him to behave that way,” she fretted.

That was really odd. In fact, it was downright disturbing. The image of his older brother sobbing like a baby might have made him laugh if his wife wasn’t so worried over him. Because of that, it just made him angry. Wrath considered marching into his brother’s room to confront him when another thought occurred to the youngest homunculus. Envy and Gluttony had also been rather upset by the news of their sister’s death. The shapeshifter may not have been crying, but he had clearly been upset. It was almost hypocritical, demanding revenge on the Flame Colonel when Mustang was so much more useful to them alive. Envy almost sounded like those irrational, pitiful humans he claimed he so despised. Not that Wrath would ever say that to his face.

Was it possible that Pride was crying over the death of his sister? It was strange to imagine his brother having any kind of emotions at all, given his constant need to insist that he didn’t have any.

The thought that Pride might actually be feeling grief over this left Wrath feeling a bit conflicted. He didn’t feel particularly bad about letting Lust die, no, that wasn’t the problem. He had always imagined his eldest brother as nothing but cold and ruthless. Was it possible that he actually cared? And if that was the case, then was it possible he could care about…

Turning his head he looked at his wife’s profile. She still looked worried, but that wasn’t surprising. No doubt she would lose sleep over this incident, but in the morning all would be well when Pride would bounce around the dining room as though his so-called dream never happened. She might pry, but it would be forgotten quickly.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Wrath put an arm around his wife’s shoulder and pulled her close. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Nothing to worry about,” he told her.

The reassured smile she gave him told him he had said exactly what she wanted to hear.

Just as Wrath predicted, Pride was back to his usual self. He ate breakfast with a smile on his face, and when Wrath stood up to leave for work he wrapped his arms around him and made him promise to try to get back from work as soon as possible.

Mrs. Bradley smiled happily at her son. She was glad he was feeling better. It had been hard falling asleep last night, and she had woken up several times in the night. A few times she had even walked over to peek into her son’s room, just to make sure he hadn’t woken up from another nightmare.

After finishing breakfast, they both retired to the family room. Since it was a Saturday, Selim got a break from his lessons. His tutor was a strict woman but was kind enough not to load her student with too much homework. It meant he could spend a lot more time with his mother. Plucking a book from the shelf, she sat down on the couch next to her son. He leaned against her as she read.

As his mother spoke, Pride didn’t bother listening to her words. His mind was too preoccupied. That morning it had occurred to him that there was no reason to grieve over his sister’s death because she wasn’t gone forever. Once Father finally achieved his goal and became a god, he would certainly bring her back. They could be a family again.

Smiling at the thought, he glanced up at his mother, beaming at her. Maybe Father could make another exception, for Wrath’s sake of course. When she finally noticed him looking at her, she paused in her reading to give him a bright smile.

#I just wrote this cause I want Pride and Mrs Bradley to interact more #I love you mrs bradley!#hope it's alright #Pride fma #Selim Bradley #Mrs Bradley #Wrath fma #King Bradley #fma #fmab #fanfiction #pride loves his mama #it feels like the pace is too fast #but I also didn't want to write a whole darn book #so sorry if you think things happen too quickly #still took me a long time to write #I have no patience #I just wanted to get things DONE #my posts

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