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thetriumphantpanda · 7 months

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Come Away With Me | Joel & Tommy Miller (The Epilogue)

Summary | A final visit to our favourite family.

Word Count | 1.6K

Chapter Warnings | Consumption of food, allusions to smut, brief talk of difficult pregnancy, family dynamics, lots of fluff & a little surprise for you in this.

Authors Note | Well, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but we made it! Trial & Error Season 2 is complete, which marks the end of the line for my favourite threesome and their family. I firstly wanted to say thank you to each & every one of you for continuing to support this story and me. I never dreamt that you would love these three as much as I love them, and I will always be eternally grateful to this story for helping me through some tough times this year. I hope you love this ending as much as I do, and if you, I'd love to hear from you. Please always feel like you can scream at me in my inbox, and reblogs & comments also really help. This isn't it from our fabulous threesome, I have one-shots and ideas to bring to life in the future, but for now, it's adios to Joel, Pretty Girl & Tommy. And, as always, If you want to support me, you can donate to my Ko-Fi.

A reminder that I no longer use taglists - to keep up with my writing, please follow@thetriumphantpandanotifs and turn on notifications to keep up to date.

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Ko-Fi

The sun is warm but there is a slight breeze that crosses your skin, moves the long grass on the ground and rustles the trees. The summer has been hot, but it’s moving into time of year where it cools a little, isn’t so stifling that it makes you want to tear your skin off or spend all your time in an ice bath.

You smile, watching not one, but two young children, just after their second birthday’s, sit in the grass and play together. Twins. Two baby girls. Your heart is full. Your soul is full. Your family is complete in a way you never thought it would be. Sitting on the porch, mug of coffee in hand, you can see the broad expanse of a man walking towards you. The sun is blocking his features from view, framing him perfectly in light. You’d know that outline anywhere. Joel.

“How are my girls?” He smiles, bending down and placing one of his palms on the back of Ava’s head, the other hand holding one of the toys up for Addie to take hold of in her little hand.

He stands again, walking up onto the porch to where you’re sat. He dips to kiss your forehead, then, when you tilt your head to him, he presses a kiss to your lips too, “And how is my pretty girl?”

“I’m good,” You smile, snaking your hand around the back of his neck to pull him into another kiss, “Worked hard?” You ask once you’ve pulled away, letting him sit next to you on the porch bench.

“Can you not tell?” He chuckles, pulling the rag from his pocket to wipe his brow of sweat.

You put a palm on his thigh, looking back out onto the land you now call home. It’s vast, fields upon fields of open land. You can see the other house in the distance, the one Tommy and Joshua call home, the one that you spend half of your time in. It’s a pleasant walk between them, one you’ll take tomorrow morning, twins in arm. A ranch. Land bought when you’d found out you were pregnant again, this time with two babies, not one. It's further outside of the city, which you love. Peace and quiet and a wonderful place to raise your children. Joel and Tommy had worked hard throughout the nine months you’d carried Ava and Addie, taking contracting jobs wherever they could find them, squirrelling away enough money to build the life you have now. You’d offered the inheritance money from your parents who had passed away just before you’d met Tommy, which had built the two houses you all called home. Joel has insisted on sheep for the ranch, whilst Tommy had wanted cattle, so they’d compromised and gone with both.

You hadn’t thought that being the wife of two ranchers would have been something you’d enjoy, but you’d proved yourself wrong. You could take Joshua to school each morning and pick him up each afternoon, you could spend as much time as you wanted with your baby girls, you’d learnt to bake properly, and cook meals for everyone each evening. You would all sit together, eating and drinking into the evening, until you fell into one bed or the other, curled up next to Tommy or Joel, and sometimes even both of them, until you fell asleep and started all over again the next morning. It was the life you loved, and you wouldn’t change it for the world.

You can see Tommy walking from the other house, Joshua’s hand clutched in his own. He’d taken him out today, let him ride with him on his horse, mostly in an effort to tire him out because at six years old, he was starting to run rings around everyone with his energy.

You watch as they come into view, Joshua dropping Tommy’s hand when he recognises his baby sisters. He’s always been so gentle with them. He kneels down on the blanket with them, picking up some of the toys in his hands to start playing with them. He hands Ava a small wooden car, and Addie gets one that is slightly bigger that she can’t quite hold properly. He tries to get them to engage in a race but it’s relatively futile, they just giggle at him and wave their arms around.

You chuckle to yourself as Tommy heads up onto the porch too, he bends to give you a kiss similar to the way Joel had, but leans against the post that connects the porch to the roof that covers it, taking out his own rag to wipe his hands with. You’re about to open your mouth to ask if anyone is hungry, when the front door is ripped open and the newest addition to your family comes bounding out.

“Didn’t keel over and die today then, old man.”

You bite back a chuckle, as does Tommy, but Joel doesn’t seem to find it so funny.

“What have I told you about bein’ rude, Ellie?”

“I wasn’t being rude,” She shrugs, “I was just being observant.”

You think you hear him mutter something about her being a little shit under his breath, which of course is no better than her previous comment, but you let it lie, “Anyone hungry?” You ask.

Everyone agrees, so you push yourself up and head down the steps to pick up Addie. Joel follows behind, taking Ava in his arms, whilst holding his hand out for Joshua to take, walking everyone into Joel’s home, where the pot roast has been cooking for most of the day.

Ellie hadn’t really been planned. Once the twins had been born, you’d thought that was it. It had been a hard pregnancy, you’d struggled with sickness at first, and then at the sheer amount of extra weight you’d been carrying around. You’d swollen in places you didn’t even know you had, and spent that last month being as still as possible. With the way your relationship had changed, you’d agreed early on that the twins would be as much Joel’s children as they were Tommy’s, but whenever Joel watched you walk away to spend time with his brother, which he didn’t resent in any way, and you took the twins with you, that big ranch house felt awful lonely to him, with Sarah still being away at college.

He’d shocked you and Tommy when he’d sat you both down and mentioned adoption. Giving a home to someone who needed it. It had more rooms than he knew what to do with, space enough for another child. You don’t think you could have picked someone more perfect for him than Ellie. In some ways, she was the complete opposite of Sarah, but in others, they were very similar. She wasn’t ever going to be a replacement, Sarah still visited often, was still a huge part of everyone’s lives, but she kept him company in those lonely nights, made him laugh, kept him on his toes, and you loved her just as much as if she were your own. She was a love all of Joel's own.

Everyone takes their seat at the table, helps themselves to as much food as they want. Between mouthfuls of your own food, you help Addie eat, with Joel doing the same with Ava. Tommy is helping Joshua, who still doesn’t quite have the hang of how to properly cut things with his knife and fork, and Ellie is talking, mainly at Joel, about what she’d been doing that day. Its domesticity at its best. You and the two men you love with every fibre of your being, your children who you would lay down your life for, including Ellie. Everything you always wanted, all at the same time, no compromises.

You sit around the table for most of the evening. Ellie helps you put the twins to sleep upstairs when they start dropping off. She knows the dynamic of the family, you’d sat her down one day when Joel and Tommy were out working, fumbling over the words of how to explain exactly how things worked.

“So, they both love you, and you both love them?” She’d asked, mixing the batter for the cake you were making together, “Sounds cool,” She’s shrugged, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, “Just so long as I don’t ever have to hear what you and my old man get up to.”

You’d smiled, given her a hug, and promised to keep it down with Joel whenever you were there. It proved to be difficult, that man knowing how to make you cry out and scream whenever he got his hands on you.

Once Joshua has settled himself on the couch, resting quietly with the TV on in the background, and Ellie has gone to her room to read or whatever else it is she does up there, you reach next to you and take hold of Tommy’s hand. He clutches it right back, with Joel’s arm resting across your shoulders. You look up at Joel, who is smiling softly, with that glint in his eyes that tells you he’s dying to take you upstairs.

You look Tommy directly in the eye, “Together?” You ask, squeezing his hand.

“Together.”

And that’s how it is. That’s how it will always be. Some nights spent alone with your men, others spent sandwiched right between them as they take turns making you feel good, coaxing orgasm after orgasm from you until you don’t know who you are or what day of the week it is. And then being able to snuggle into one of them, tonight you know it will be Joel, who will drape his arm over your waist and press his front as close to your back as is humanely possible, with Tommy clutching your hands from the front. Your two men, their girl, and the life you’d risked almost everything to have.

THE END.

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cozage · 11 months

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Aaaaa, Cozage, I'm thrilled with your post about "Panic Attacks"! I fucking love it when people take care of me or show attention to me, so for me it's just wonderful. But at the same time, I like to help people myself. So, if it's not too much trouble, could you write about how the reader calms Sanji, Zoro, Ace and Lo when they have a panic attack? We can say: the opposite of what was written earlier) Have a nice day ❤

Sorry for my English, it's not my native language 😔

Friend!!! This was such a fabulous idea!! Our boys deserve love :) And I must say, your profile pic?!?! DELIGHTFUL! I’m such a big fan of Chuuya :) he’s one of my favs in BSD <3

Characters: gn reader x Sanji, Zoro, Luffy, Law CW: panic attack descriptions, Marineford Spoilers Wordcount:1.4k

Helping Them Through Panic Attacks

Sanji

Sanji is a big scent guy, so certain smells trigger him. Iron and rust are the big ones, but sometimes the salty breeze blows just the right way and reminds him of when he almost starved to death on that rock. Sometimes he just disassociates, sometimes he goes into a full blown panic attack.

Sanji needs to be grounded during panic attacks or dissociative episodes. Talking doesn’t do much for him, he needs to feel people next to him to be brought back to the moment.

When you're in public and you feel him slipping away, you grab his hand and interlace his fingers with your own. Occasionally he needs a little squeeze of reassurance to bring him back.

Sometimes you’ll put your hand on his knee or his arm. You try not to do anything surprising, just little gentle touches to remind him where he is, and that you’re close by.

When he gets a panic attack, you’ve found the best thing to do is get as close to him as possible. Just as a scent triggered him, your scent brings him back to the present.

Sometimes you have to cup his face in your hands and force his eyes to look at you. You’re one of the few people who can do this when he's in such a panicked state. If other people try, he usually fights back. Even Nami and Robin can’t help him.

His eyes are so full of fear, but you only show him your adoration and love in return. That’s all you want him to see in those moments.

As he calms down, he likes to rest his head against your chest and listen to your heart beat as you stroke his hair. Most of the time he falls asleep, and you always let him lay there as long as he needs.

Zoro

There’s nothing particular that really sets him off. Sometimes it’s a smell from his past, sometimes it's this weird deja vu that he can’t place. Sometimes he’s just thinking about how to be better and he starts to spiral. There’s not really any specific thing, it’s usually a lot of little things.

Zoro is a prideful bastard. He doesn’t like people knowing that he’s suffering. So it took you a few episodes to realize what was happening with him.

When you see him starting to panic, you’ll ask him to follow you to a private, quiet room. At first he was skeptical of your methods, but after a few times, he started seeking you out and letting you lead you to a room to help.

You try not to touch him much or talk to him during it, but the two of you have created a pretty good method over a few trials and errors. You place your hand on his chest, and he places his hand on your chest. He feels your heart beat, feels your chest fall and rise, and he focuses on those movements. He shuts off his brain and brings his attention to matching your rhythm.

When he finally matches your heart rate and breathing pattern, he mutters out a quiet “thanks” and returns to whatever he was doing. The first time it hurt your feelings, but Zoro doesn’t like to mull over the fact he needs help.

After a few hours (usually that night, when you are in bed), you’ll ask him if he’s okay or wants to talk. Most of the time he says he’s fine, but sometimes he’ll talk about what was bothering him. But every time he’ll pull you in closer to him and thank you with a little kiss on the forehead.

Luffy

Blood had never bothered Luffy before, so he didn’t understand why his ears started to ring whenever he saw it after Marineford. He didn’t understand why holes in things like trees or concrete structures bothered him so much now. He didn’t understand why he wanted to vomit when he saw an orange hat or a large back tattoo.

Most of the time, you’re able to, quite literally, snap him out of it. Snapping your fingers in front of his face is usually enough to have him step back from the edge of a panic attack, but you also go a bit further by redirecting him to focus on something else. Food, some cool attraction on an island, or a game you know he likes to play.

If you don’t get him in those first few moments, though, his chest becomes tight and he feels like he can’t get enough air into his lungs. He wants to scream out, but his voice is gone too. So he’s left clutching his chest and gasping for air. He doesn’t have enough energy to find you at this point, so he lays into a ball and curls up into a ball and waits for someone to find him.

When you find him or another crewmember directs you to him, you keep your voice low and calm, as if you were talking to an injured animal. You always start the same way: “Luffy, it’s okay. You’re safe.”

You pull his head into your lap and you’ll run your finger through his hair to brush it out, and then start braiding little pieces.

You tell him stories of your life in a soft, even voice. If you can’t think of stories, you make them up. You ignore the tears falling from his eyes and the soft sobs that escape his lips.

Eventually, he falls asleep. But you don’t move. You keep twirling his hair in your fingers, waiting for him to wake up. After a very short nap, he wakes up a new person. He gives you a big kiss and bounds off, his energetic self returning like nothing ever happened.

Law

You didn’t understand why Shachi’s prank made Law so scared. It was just a harmless joke. Shachi had spent hours taping up hundreds of pieces of string all across the common room so people would have to jump over, duck under, and crawl around to get through it all. But when Law had turned the corner and saw you all sitting in the mess of string, you only saw one emotion in his eyes: Fear.

After that you started to notice it more. Whenever he walked into spider webs unexpectedly, or saw those fun feathery boa necklaces at festivals, or heard the sound of a gunshot, panic set into his eyes.

“Everything okay?” you’d ask every time, but he’d always give you one quick nod in response. You started taking that as your cue to intervene.

Law hates making a big deal about things. So when you’re in public, you subtly grab his hand. It’s one of the few times he doesn’t mind PDA, and he grips your hand so tight you have to clench your teeth. But you never complain.

When you can finally get away from others, you’ll take him somewhere quiet and sit on the ground with him. You keep holding his hand, and use your free hand to trace over his tattooed fingers.

You always ask him questions about his crew, trying to redirect his brain. “What do you think Bepo is doing right now?” “How did you meet Shachi?” “Remember last week when Penguin and Ikkaku almost caught the kitchen on fire?” He doesn’t usually respond, but you always say what you think the answer is. You’re not sure if it helps, but after a while his grip starts to loosen on your hand.

Law is a silent sufferer. He doesn’t have many indications when his panic attacks start, or when they end. So you sit with him, answering your own questions until he finally takes a deep breath and says “Okay, I’m ready to go back.” He keeps holding your hand though, for as long as he can.

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aspenthewriter · 5 months

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I love velvet so much so what about fem!reader and velvet first kiss

I just remembered for a moment that velvet still about teen age and it seems to me that it would be awkward in some sense

ANOTHER REQUEST?! Holy shit YALL-

but uhh sure anon thanks for the request!

Velvet x Fem!reader {first kiss}

Fandom: Trolls 3/band together

warnings: TOOTH ROTTING FLUFF, minor grammatical errors

Pairing: velvet x fem!reader

Velvet and you have been dating for about a month, and EVERYBODY KNOWS- they’ve been begging to see you! So whenever it went around that there was a special guest in Velvet and Veneers new show, mount rageous definitely lived up to its name…

It was 10 minutes before show time and you were nervous as hell, you hadn’t preformed it years!… oh I didn’t mention that yet did I?

a couple years ago you where a nation wide singer and a very talented one at that. Everyone loved you, but due to a injury involving your leg you where not able to preform on stage… you kinda just lost interest and never preformed again

you where shaking.. almost tearing up from nervousness and anxiety.. Velvet noticed this, and asked what was wrong

“I-i can’t do this! I haven’t performed in years… what if I’m bad at singing? What if I fuck up!”

“Hey you’ll do great, you have one of the best voices I’ve ever heard… after mine of course, but like I said you’ll do amazing!” Velvet helped you get ready, you looked absolutely fabulous, and with velvet and veneers help your confidence level was pretty high

they then left to go preform, and you just had to wait for your grand entrance…

fog covered the state and a platform rows from the ground and you started singing along with velvet in veneer, the crowd was fucking shocked, jaws dropped

you a solo and velvet was silently cheering you on

after that she spun you around, dipped you and kissed you

it was the best kiss you’d ever had, her lips tasted like a mixture of coconut and mango

it was so passionate and you wished it lasted longer than 3 seconds

in that moment you where in pure bliss

They continued at normal after that you kept singing with them and after the show had ended people kept tagging you in videos of you and velvet kissing and you couldn’t stop the heat rising onto your cheeks

“I guess people really love us huh?”

“I-i guess so…”

She grabbed your waist and pulled you into another kiss… thank god veneer was still giving people uni-brows other wise he wouldn’t stop taking photos

“I love you poppet”

“I love you too..”

Omg I couldn’t stop kicking my feet the entire time I was writing this-

hope YALL enjoy this, first actual fanfic in a while

bye pookies 🫶

-Aspen out

#velvet trolls #velvet and veneer #velvet x reader #trolls 3 #trolls band together

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catastrfy · 5 months

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here is some odd stuff that i think may support loni's body swap theory let's start here. nina and maggie confront crowley, and his reaction? "but you were crying"

except it was aziraphale who saw maggie crying. he told crowley she had a "pash" for nina; would he have mentioned the crying? i don't know. but it's ODD.

but there's also this way crowley says "bla bla bla" to nina and maggie -- it's *ridiculously* overdone when compared to when he says it to muriel

and then later when later, the metatron asks crowley if he knows him and says he was a big floating giant head. except when crowley last see the metatron?

when he was in heaven with muriel, in the recording, as one of several enlarged heads on screens.

but somebody else DID see the metatron last as a big floating giant head just a few years ago....

well. ift hey swapped WHEN was it? i LOVE loni's fabulous theory where they posit at "no nightingales but could it have been earlier than that? so i've watched and watched and watched the last episode, and i'm thinking maybe it was when gabriel was having his flashbacks.

i am pretty certain the scene before this was them as themselves. here they are before beez gets the fly and gives it to jim. crowley's got his usual mobile face with his forehead creases and expressive mouth... and he talks to beelzebub the way he had earlier (vs how aziraphale had when he was facing hell in s1e6)

this is the first shot of them after gabriel's flashbacks conclude. look at crowley's face.

it stays blank for the time that gabriel recognises aziraphale, sees the angels, says "eesh" at the demons, brightens when he sees beez, and when beez tells him aziraphale took better care of him than they could've done.

we've seen his face with the closed lips and smoother forehead before:

also, this is subtle and it's entirely possible it only means that this scene was shot over multiple days, but check out the right edge (viewer's right, a's left) of aziraphale's bowtie in each picture here. he's been standing fairly still, yet his tie isn't tied quite the same before the fly and after. you can see an extra stripe at the far right edge in the pic that says "true love" the collar of his jacket has moved; more of the left (our left) side of his waistcoat is visible in the 2nd pic. and again, yes, this absolutely could be different takes, probably not immediately after one another if the bowtie had to be retied. except... didn't they use pre-tied bowties this time around? is this an "everything is meant"???

i had to look at crowley too, of course. pre-fly, immediate post fly, starting to look normal, then aziraphale gives him a shake and he looks up. there ARE subtle changes. the collar button of his shirt changes position and so does his neck noodle. it's hard to see his tattoo until he's outside (although it's clear before beez gives jim the fly), but that may just be lighting. or maybe it takes a moment to settle in? I DONT KNOW (also, beez keeps looking over at aziraphale & crowley and i want to know WHY/what they see!) and oh, have you noticed that the top of aziraphale's right ear SWIVELS when michael is threatening him with being erased fromthe book of life? it starts at teh end of 33:50 and goes into 33:51. and about 15 frames later, the metatron appears at the door. i don't have a way to make it into a gif, but here's the first and last of his ear moving. it's not him turning his head, because that wisp of hair doesn't move, nor does his lobe. just... the top. o.O

and ooho, just today i noticed THIS: here's aziraphale's bowtie when he's telling crowley about the offer to go to heaven. LOOK AT THE TARTAN ON HIS TIE.

previously looking at the tie as the viewer, the vertical stripe pattern of dark stripes is thin dark line, narrow gap, group of medium/dark/medium lines, widish gap, repeat. here it's med/dark/med lines, narrow gap, thin dark line, wider gap, repeat. the fabric is upside down from earlier. (and yes, again, this could be an error by costuming/continuity. but i'm hoping it means something bc everything is meant) if you haven't read loni's theory, go check it out!

#good omens 2 #good omens #good omens 2 body swap theory #lots of little things #ineffables #aziraphale #crowley #aziracrow #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens series 2 spoilers

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astray-anomaly · 6 months

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💀💅

(error)

I had to make him look fabulous ok-

Art requests: 2/5

Error belongs to loverofpiggies

#sans au #art #sans au art #utmv #utmv art #error!sans #error sans #error sans art #art requests #send art requests

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youaresimplylovely · 1 month

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“Fast and Fabulous: A Driven Love”

---- A love story between a Formula 1 Driver and a Supermodel

Chapter 1 (Next Chapter) Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6

Pairing: Carlos Sainz!Formula 1 Driver x Famous Supermodel!Reader

Words: 562 words

Warnings: First time writing so if there are any errors, feel free to say so!! :>> nevertheless no warnings on this first chapter

Somehow proofread :')

Summary: Getting to know the Dela Cruz family

Lights flickered across the room, and a young man's voice was heard across the room. A loud groan escaped his voice. Sighing softly, the man approached the light switch, turning it off. "I thought Dad was supposed to fix this," he mumbled, going to another room with better lighting. He grabbed the scattered papers on the kitchen counter, fixing the order of the documents. He sat on the dining table chairs with the papers in his hand.

"Ahem." he cleared his throat, sighing but not too loud. He stared at the first page of the papers in his hand as he started reading. “Y/N Claire Rose Althea Sophia Amélie Genevieve Katherine Dela Cruz.” He smiled softly. "Not including her mother's last name." He snickered, scratching his back with his hand. He continues reading the paper in his hand. "Where were we? Ah yes, Y/N Claire Rose Althea Sophia Amélie Genevieve Katherine Dela Cruz.” He reiterated the woman's name. "Such a long dang name." He rolled his eyes, baffled that the woman's name was long.

"Y/N is a famous supermodel, considered one of the most beautiful women. She is part American, part French, part Spanish, and part Filipino." The young man ran his hands through his hair, scrunching his nose. "Who knew that combining Asian genes with American and European ones would make 'the most beautiful woman.'" He gestured with air quotes and sarcasm in his tone. "The woman came from the renowned 'Dela Cruz' family. A prominent family, the father being Jean Louis Dela Cruz, A man who is half American and half French; you could say he's part Spanish, too. Hence, the last name 'Dela Cruz.'"

The young man pouted, thinking how a half-American and half-French man could have his last name be 'Dela Cruz' on Earth. He shakes his head, shaking the thought off as he continues reading. "The man married a famous beauty queen from the Philippines, Maria Lucia Garcia, a woman who is half Filipino and half Spanish." The young man groaned, scrunching his whole face now. He thought to himself, how can this family be so confusing. "Esto no puede ser real (This can not be real)," he muttered in his weird but manageable Spanish accent.

"The two fell in love and had 5 beautiful children. The first child was Mark Cedric Dela Cruz, the second was James Diego Dela Cruz, Daniel Ezekiel Dela Cruz, and the fourth was Y/N Claire Rose Althea Sophia Amélie Genevieve Katherine Dela Cruz." He groans, rolling his eyes and causing him to laugh. "The woman's name is so long 'cause she's the only girl and definitely a daddy's girl." He chuckles, sighing as he lays back against the chair. “And the last child, Paolo Gabriel Dela Cruz a.k.a ‘Pao’.”

Before the young man could continue, footsteps approaching the kitchen were heard. A woman snickered, sitting next to the young man. She gave him a weird look, scrunching her face. “¿Qué diablos estás haciendo pao? (What the hell are you doing, Pao?)" you laughed, nudging his shoulder as you sat beside him. Your beautiful Spanish accent causes your brother to smile softly. "Um, excuse me, Y/N. This is a school project; I had to do a family background." Pao rolled his eyes at you, giving you a playful, disgusted look. "I didn't know college students' homework was like that nowadays." You giggled.

#formula 1 imagine #formula 1 au #carlos sainz x reader #f1 x reader #f1 #f1 smau #supermodel reader #f1 fanfic

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bookwyrminspiration · 7 months

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Transcript of The Trade, the Marella KOTLC short story (Including the author introduction)

Note: OG pictures taken by Kenna!, provided by @fintan-pyren. Some words are obscured and the transcript may contain errors. Neverless, I hope this is useful to anyone who may need/want it :)

Hello, wonderful Keeper readers! Some of you might already know that I love to sneak a little something extra into the paperback versions of my books whenever I can (since I don't think hardcover readers should get to be the only ones who sometimes find fun bonuses). For those who didn't know that: surprise! :)

I knew I wanted to include a story from Marella's POV this time. Not only is she on the cover (looking fierce and fabulous!) and a fan-favorite character, but she also had some key scenes in Stellarlune that we only got to "hear" about. The Keeper books are limited to Sophie's POV, so I can only include moments where Sophie is present--and since Sophie didn't go with Marella to her meetings with Fintan, we only learn what Marella tells Sophie later. But what if there was something Marella didn't share?

Over the next few pages, you can watch one of Marella's conversations with Fintan play out in real time and hear all Marella's thoughts and reactions to what's happening. I've called this story "The Trade"--and I've worked in lots of fun little extra details (some of which might even turn out to be important later...*wink*).

For those wondering, this story is based a [sic] scene in chapter 31 of Stellarlune--and if you haven't read Stellarlune yet: SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! Reading this first will probably be confusing and will also give away a few tidbits too early. You'll be much happier if you start by reading Stellarlune and then come back here for all the Marella fun once you're done!

Happy reading! [shannon's signature]

"Ugh, I hate this place," Marella muttered, shaking the freshly fallen snowflakes out of her gilded blond hair much harder than necessary and yanking her thick velvet cape tighter around her narrow shoulders.

She said the same thing every time she had to trudge through the knee-high snowdrifts and found herself staring at the icicle-crusted entrance to the now familiar cave.

Didn't matter how many times she'd gone there--or how important her visits were. She was never not going to dread making the long, slippery trek down to Fintan's frozen cell.

The cave looked like some sort of open-mouthed snow beast waiting to devour everything in its path--which was probably intentional, since the prison was designed to be as miserable as possible.

Especially for someone like her.

The goblin guards even gave her pitying stares as they moved aside to reveal the endless icy path that wound down and down--and down a whole lot more--to a place where the tiniest glimmer of heat had long since been swallowed up by the suffocating cold.

No amount of clothing could keep Marella warm in the heart of the prison She'd actually tried wearing so many layers that she'd looked like an overstuffed gulon--and she still couldn't stop shivering. And the whole "body temperature regulation" thing wasn't exactly possible when she had to use so much concentration to make sense of Fintan's ranting.

it wasn't fair.

Everyone else got to train their special abilities in fancy rooms at Foxfire, with Mentors who weren't creepy, unstable murderers.

But they weren't Pyrokinetics.

Marella was lucky the Council was letting her use her ability at all.

They could just as easily label her Talentless, kick her out of their snobby academy, and ban her from ever sparking another flame.

Or they could decide she was too dangerous and lock her away.

in fact, Marella wouldn't have been surprised at all if the Council was already building an icy cage just for her--but the thought still made her shiver and wish she could've manifested as...

Nope.

She stopped herself from finishing that sentence.

If life had taught her anything, it was that there's no point wanting things that were never going to happen.

Instead, she focused on the thin beams of sunlight streaking through a gap in the gloomy gray clouds. The light was far from warm, but if she really concentrated, she could feel a hint of lingering heat tangled among the brightness.

She called the warmth closer and soaked it in--let it pool under her skin, pounding with her pulse, swelling with every heartbeat. Growing hotter and hotter and hotter until...

Snap!

A flick of her fingers sent a small tangle of flames sparking to life above her left palm.

"Feel better?" Linh asked as Marella let out a long, slow sigh.

Marella nodded--though she definitely could've done without the whispered that were now hissing around her head.

The flames had a soft, crackly voice. And they always made the same plea.

Feed me.

Fire craved fuel--constantly wanting more, more, more--and it would've been so easy for Marella to let the fire swell bigger and bigger and bigger.

But that was the kind of thing that would lead to a lifetime of shivering in an underground ice cube, so she forced her gaze to shift to Linh, who stood in a small, snowless circle surrounded by a halo of hovering snowflakes---none daring to touch her long silver-tipped hair or shimmery purple cape.

Marella knew how hard Linh had fought to achieve that level of control, and how tentative Linh's hold over her ability still was. But the fact Linh could stand in a sea of frozen water and do nothing except keep the falling snow from settling on her flushed pink cheeks was very...

Annoying.

Then again, everyone annoyed Marella a little.

Her dad used to call her "fiery" long before he realized how accurate that description truly was.

But it wasn't Marella's fault!

People tended to be annoying.

Especially a Hydrokinetic who was currently looking all peaceful and pretty and perfect while making snowflakes flutter and spin in intricate patterns.

That didn't mean Marella wasn't also grateful that Linh was willing to tag along to her Pyrokinetic lessons. it was nice to see a friendly face after hours of Fintan's rambling. Plus, it seemed like a good idea to have someone with water powers around while she practiced setting things on fire.

They were even finding some pretty cool ways to work together. Fire and water might be opposites--but that didn't mean they couldn't be combined. Marella had actually figured out a way to ignite Linh's rain, and she couldn't wait to use that little trick on the Neverseen--assuming those black-cloaked losers ever showed up again.

For a fearsome, unstoppable rebellion, they sure spend a lot of time hiding.

"Are you going to start by asking him about the cache or do the lesson first?" Linh asked, reminding Marella why they were there.

Marella shrugged. "Depends on Fintan's mood."

Sometimes he was already babbling about some fancy new fire trick when she arrived, as if he'd started the lesson without bothering to wait for her. Other times she couldn't get anywhere with him until she'd let him go on and on and on about how foolish the Council was, or how badly he'd been wronged, or how much he missed the feel of a flickering flame--and she didn't necessarily blame him for the last one.

Part of her wanted to hold on to her fireball forever.

Make it her smoky little pet.

Instead, she curled her fingers into a fist and snuffed it out--but she didn't let all the heat dissipate. She called a single tingling glint deeper, letting it sear through her veins and settle into her heart.

She knew it was a risky move, even with all the defenses she wrapped around it. But she couldn't bear the cold emptiness of Fintan's prison without a least a tiny fleck of warmth tucked away.

A secret spark whispering, I'm here. You're not alone.

"Okay," she said, weaving a few strands of her hair together to clam her twitchy fingers. She'd picked up the nervous habit years ago--after her mom's accident--and the tiny braids were kind of her trademark now. "i guess I should stop stalling and head down to deal with Sir Creepysparks, huh?"

Linh smiled. "Probably. Unless you want to rehearse what you're going to say."

"Nah. I'm just going to offer him an ugly flower--that doesn't exactly need a big speech. Oh, but that reminds me..."

She reached into her cape pocket and pulled out the spiky dark blue Noxflare--which looked more like a dying weed than a super-rare flower--and held it up to the guards. "Mr. Forkle already checked this before I brought it here, to make sure it's safe for me to offer to Fintan. but I figured you'd want to check it too."

"We do," they agreed in unison as one of the biggest, deadliest-looking guards took the Noxflare from Marella and brought it over to the other goblins.

A lot of mumbling about potential kindling and fire hazards followed.

Eventually, the guards decided to quick-freeze the Noxflare into a block of ice in case there was any heat stored inside.

"Whoa," Marella said when the scary guard returned with the flower-filled ice cube--which had turned out as big as her head. "How heavy is that thing?"

The guard studied Marella's skinny arms. "I can carry it for you if you'd like."

"That's probably be smart." Marella was pretty sure she'd drop it, or her fingers would freeze off during the long walk--and using telekinesis would drain her mental energy. "But can you stay out of sight? I was planning to tell Fintan he can only see his weird flower thing if he gives me access to his memories, and that's kinda ruined if there's a giant goblin holding it right next to me.

Not that it made the plan any less pointless.

Fintan was obviously going to turn her down.

He's already made it super clear that the only trade he was interested in was for his freedom--which was never going to happen.

Marella doubted a dying flower frozen in ice was suddenly going to make him be like, You know what? Who needs out of this horrible prison when I can have that!

But she was out of other ideas.

And Sophie wanted her to try the Noxflare thing, so...

Whatever.

Marella didn't care about Sophie's current power trip the way Stina did.

As long as she didn't have to be the one coming up with all the plans--or almost dying all the time--Marella was fine following orders. Especially if she got to say I told you so when they turned out to be a huge waste of time.

"Sure you don't want me to come with you?" Linh asked as Marella pulled thick gloves onto her hands. "Fintan likes me."

Marella wasn't sure if "like" was the right word, since Fintan didn't seem to like anybody. But he'd definitely been impressed with Linh.

He'd demanded to speak with "the Hydrokinetic" after Marella mentioned she practiced her pyrokinesis with Linh, so Marella had convinced the goblin guards to let Linh down into the prison. And when Fintan asked for a demonstration of Linh's ability to ensure she wouldn't "hinder his training," Linh had stirred up all the ice shards on his floor and made them rain around him like he was trapped inside a snow globe--which actually made him applaud.

Apparently, most Hydrokinetics struggled to manipulate water in its solid form, and were limited to liquid water or water vapor.

But not Linh.

Of course.

Marella was pretty sure that Linh was more powerful than any of her other friends.

"Well, if you need me, you know where to find me," Linh said as Marella forced her feet to carry her into the cave. "I'll just be here, making another snow menagerie." She flicker her wrist and wove the hovering snowflakes into a soaring alenon.

"Ugh, at least make some ugly creatures this time," Marella called over her shoulder. "I want to see a row of snow ghouls when I get back here. Or a giant Princess Purryfins!"

Linh gasped. "Princess Purryfins is not ugly! I'm going to tell her you said that!"

Marella laughed. "I'm sure you will."

She would've teased Linh more about her ridiculous obsession with her pet murcat, but the frigid air from the prison hit Marella hard, and she had to lock her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering.

As least she didn't have to make the journey by herself this time.

Marella could hear the scary goblin guard keeping pace several steps behind her as her eyes slowly adjusted to the dim blue light cast by a series of glowing spheres dangling from the ceiling. The downward slope grew steeper with each winding curve, and Marella was always tempted to try sliding down the icy floor instead of walking--but she'd probably end up crashing into one of the weird ice thrones outside Fintan's cell. And she knew better than anyone that injuries couldn't always be healed.

Plus, the trudge gave her a chance to add extra defenses to the heat she'd tucked away in her chest.

She often wondered if Fintan had hidden a few sparks of his own when he was arrested. After all, he had to know the Council would put him on ice for the rest of eternity. Wouldn't he try to preserve what little heat he could?

But Marella had stretched out her senses a zillion different ways and never felt the slightest tingle of warmth when she was around him. So either there was nothing to find or Fintan was that good.

She had a horrible feeling it was the latter, and he was waiting for just the right moment to reveal his grand plan--but that wasn't the kind of thing she should be thinking about before having to face him.

Still, she spent the next few turn trying to figure out what she'd do if she were right.

Her feet turned numb while she plotted, and her bones were officially aching by the time the path widened-- the only warning that they were getting close to Fintan's cell.

A few curves later, his cage came into view: a stark, icy bubble in the center of a circular cavern.

The round wall was reflective on the inside, so even though Marella could see Fintan pacing along the edge of his frozen barricade, he wouldn't be able to see her until she triggered the sensor by sitting in one of the freezing thrones positioned at the only point Fintan could peer through.

He looked extra tired that day--his sky blue eyes sunken by more shadows than usual, and he kept muttering under his breath about incompetence as he tucked his messy blond hair behind his pointy ears with a bit more force than necessary.

Marella glanced back at the scary guard, making sure he'd ducked into the shadows near the back of the cell before she made her big appearance. Then she took a deep breath and pressed her hand against her heart, reaching for her secret spark of warmth one last time before plopping into the closest ice throne.

"Awwwww, looks like you missed me," she said, tossing back her hair and flashing her brightest smile.

She liked to start her visits by showing Fintan she wasn't afraid of him--even if she totally was.

But Fintan didn't glance her way.

"I'm not in the mood for games," he warned as he continued his slow march around his cell.

"Neither am I" Marella assured him, deciding that was her cue to start with the cache. She sat up taller, trying to look extra confident as she added, "But I do have an awesome trade to offer you!"

Fintan sighed. "If this is about my cache, I already told you what I'm willing to accept. Unless you're here to grant me a day of freedom--"

"I'm definitely not. But! I found something you should like even better." She paused, hoping the extra bit of anticipation would somehow make her offer should more exiting when she told him. "Noxflares!"

Fintan scrunched his slender nose. "What are Noxflares, and why would I care about them?"

Marella tilted her head, trying to tell if he was faking.

She hadn't expected him to jump around or applaud or anything--but she had expected him to at least know what Noxflares were.

Then again, his mind had been shattered and pieced back together so many times, his memories had to be in shambles--and Ancient minds tended to be a total mess anyway, since they were crammed with thousands of years of information and the past and present blurred together.

"Would it help if I told you I stopped by your old estate on my way here?" she asked, "Your garden could use some gnomish help, by the way. All the plants have turned into a giant dying tangle. But I dug around and managed to find this scraggly vine with dark pointy flowers--and I hear that plant is special to you, so I picked a few and--"

"You picked my Noxflares?" Fintan snapped, rushing to the wall of his cell and pressing his palms against the ice. "You must let me see them!"

Marella's lips curled into a huge smirk. "I thought you didn't know what they were."

Fintan gritted his teeth so hard, it sounded like cracking ice.

"Hey, I'm not saying I won't share. Buuuuuuuuuuut it'll cost you--and I'm pretty sure you can already guess what I want." She paused for another beat before she added, "Just so we're clear: I'll show you one of your Noxflares if you open your cache and show me what's inside."

Fintan's jaw tightened even more and his hands curled into fists.

But he didn't say no.

He didn't say anything--which was definitely new.

Marella had already offered him a long list of trade suggestions that she, Linh, Maruca, and Stina had all come up with--some really cool ones! And Fintan had shot down each one down before she could even finish the offer.

She couldn't believe he looked so tempted by an ugly flower.

but as the silence dragged on, Marella started to wonder if she'd misread the situation.

maybe she'd pushed him too hard--taunted him too much--and now Fintan was letting her sit there in the cold, knowing the icy throne was turning her butt and legs numb.

She was trying to decide if she could make standing up look like a power move when Fintan told her, "Fine. You have a deal--but since you're only offering one Noxflare, I'll only show you one memory."

Marella barely stopped herself from blurting out, SERIOUSLY?

"Orrrrrrrrrrrrrr," she said instead, wanting to kick herself for not bringing more Noxflares with her. The whole thing had just seemed so silly--and the first few she'd picked had crumbled to dust. But the vine had lots more flowers, so she could fix the mistake super easily. "How about I go back, grab eight more Noxflares, and then you show me all nine memories?"

Fintan grinned. "Tempting. But one Noxflare is really all I need."

Need?

Marella wasn't a fan of that wording.

But before she could ask him what he needed it for, he added, "My offer expires in ten seconds," and started counting down.

By "six" she decided that one memory was better than nothing.

"Fine," she said, pulling the cache from her pocket and holding the marble-size orb up to the light. "But you go first. How do I open this thing?"

No way was she going to risk letting him back out--especially since he probably wasn't going to be happy when he saw his precious flower was stuck in the middle of a giant ice cube.

Fintan held out his hand. "Give me the cache, and I'll open it."

Marella laughed. "Hard pass."

"Ah, but you don't have a choice. I'm the only one who can access the memories. And I need to make physical contact with the cache in order to do so."

Marella squinted at the tiny gadget.

She didn't know much about caches--aside from the fact that only Councillors used them and that each colorful inner crystal held a single Forgotten Secret. But she did know that Dex had already tried everything he could think of to open the cache and failed--and he was one of the best Technopaths ever.

"Do I need to start counting down again?" Fintan asked. "I believe we'd gotten to five..."

Marella chewed her lip. "Uh, how do I know you're not going to destroy the cache or try to hold it for ransom or something?"

Fintan's smile was colder than his cell. "You'll just have to trust me."

"Yeah, I don't see that happening."

Fintan shrugged. "Then our deal is off."

Marella rolled her eyes. "Come on. Even if I wanted to, it's not like I can open your cell door and hand the cache to you."

She wasn't even sure if his cell had a door. The wall looked like one big solid piece of ice.

"You've proven to be very resourceful during our lessons," Fintan reminded her.

"Yeah, but--"

"It's your call," he interrupted. "If you want a memory, you'll have to trust me."

She snort-laughed--but before she could get another word out, he repeated, "You'll just have to trust me." And she could tell that was the only response he was going to give.

She turned to the scary guard, who had started pacing in the shadows. "Is there a way to pass Fintan a small item?"

"Ah, you have a hidden goblin escort--I knew you were resourceful!" Fintan clapped his hands. "And yes, there is a way to pass me my cache, otherwise I wouldn't have suggested it. Any guard can open the disgraceful tube they pass my horrid, frozen bits of food through. The cache should fit nicely."

The guard gripped his sword. "I cannot allow any unauthorized item to enter his cell."

Fintan clicked his tongue. "Clearly you're not considering the fact that I've already had plenty of chances to make this trade--and turned them all down. Do you think I would do that if the cache was even remotely useful to me?"

The goblin couldn't argue with that logic.

Neither could Marella.

And when Fintan went back to counting down, she told the guard, "The Black Swan knows I've been trying to make this trade--and they're working with the Council now. No one would let me do this if they thought the cache was dangerous."

Then again, they'd never discussed the possibility of handing the cache over to Fintan--but surely someone must've considered that during all their endless talking and obsessive overplanning...right?

Besides, if anything went wrong, she could always remind them that this was Sophie's idea.

"I don't like this," the scary guard growled. But Marella gave him her I-totally-know-what-I'm-doing glare until he set the frozen Noxflare down with a particularly dramatic thud, snatched the cache, and spent an eternity squinting at the tiny crystal, spinning it all different ways. "If anything happens, my priority will be subduing the prisoner--not protecting you. Are you certain you want to take that risk?"

Marella absolutely wasn't.

But...this might be their only shot at seeing one of Fintan's Forgotten Secrets.

Plus, she had her tiny little spark buddy she could call on if she needed. Surely she could use that to...

To what?

Take down a superpowerful, much more experienced Pyrokinetic with a history of murdering poeple?

But...did she really want to wimp out?

Sophie wouldn't.

And yeah, Sophie had, like, a permanent bed in the Healing Center. But Marella was pretty sure their whole group would vote "DO IT!"

There were also a dozen other armed goblins who would rush down as backup.

And Linh could attack Fintan with her cutesy snow animals.

It'd almost be worth it to watch Fintan get swallowed up by an ice wave shaped like Princess Purryfins.

"I can handle myself," she decided, using a tone that hopefully sounded intimidating.

Fintan's gleeful laughter echoed of the ice.

The scary guard muttered something about the arrogance of elves as he reached toward the top of Fintan's frozen cell and felt around for a specific spot. A faint clicking sound followed, and a tiny round door slid open--far out of Fintan's reach.

"I can neutralize you within seconds," the guard reminded him as he held the cache up to the opening. "By numerous means. Some far more painful than others."

"Yes, I'm well aware of the absurd lengths the Council has taken to keep me contained," Fintan assured him. "But I don't plan on giving you a reason to use any of them. Not today, at least."

The guard bared his supersharp pointy teeth, and Marella wanted to shout NEVER MIND, JUST KIDDING! But she let the guard shove the cache through the tiny opening--and then it was too late to change her mind.

All she could do was watch the glass orb make its slow descent, rolling around and around and around--down some sort of invisible path etched into the wall of the cell.

Her stomach backflipped with each rotation, and she felt more than a little vomit-y when the cache dropped low enough for Fintan to catch it. But he simply held it up and studied it.

Then he coughed on it.

And sneezed on it.

"Ewwwwwww," Marella groaned when he followed that up by drooling on it. "You know, there are better ways to give it your DNA."

"Yes, I'm aware." Fintan cleared his throat and launched a slimy blob of spit at the cache. "I also know your little Technopath friend is going to ask you how I accessed the memories, so feel free to give him a detailed list." He wiped the cache dry with his fingers and then ran it through his greasy hair before sneezing and coughing on it again. "Some of these methods are vital. Some are distractions. None can be re-created without me--but it'll be fun if he tries, don't you think?"

He laughed so hard, it brought tears to his eyes, and he smeared them across the cache before sneezing and spitting on it again--making Marella very glad she had gloves to keep her hands clean once he returned the cache.

Assuming she actually got it back...

She tried to make out what he was saying when he started mumbling a bunch of stuff into the crystal, but the words were all mushed together. He also tapped the cache in so many different places that she doubted even Sophie and Keefe with their fancy photographic memories would be able to re-create the patterns. And he looked so smug as he did it all that Marella decided to look as bored as possible--which was why she was barely paying attention when the cache flared to life, projecting a small hologram of Fintan standing alone in a wide, empty field.

"Huh," Marella mumbled. "Gotta admit, I was expecting something a little more exciting than a tiny glowing Fintan in the middle of nowhere doing...nothing."

"Then you should learn to be more observant." Fintan pointed to the swaying grass around the hologram's feet, and after a few seconds, Marella realized there was a vine of blooming Noxflares. "I figured I'd show you what Noxflares can do, since you're so generously bringing one back into my life."

Marella squinted at the tiny flowers, waiting for something to happen.

And waiting.

"So...they...blow in the wind?" she asked.

Fintan sighed. "No, they do this."

The hologram of Fintan waved his arms, and all the Noxflares erupted with searing white flames.

"Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaah, still not seeing why this needed to be a super-hush-hush Forgotten Secret," Marella grumbled as the Fintan hologram flicked his wrist and added purple fire to the white.

Sure, the flames were pretty--but all flames were beautiful.

"Try thinking like a Pyrokinetic!" Fintan snapped. "Tell me, are there any other flowers that could remain intact under such an inferno?"

Marella couldn't think of any.

And the Noxflares still didn't burn when the Fintan hologram added yellow flames to the fiery mix.

but other than clearly being fire-resistant, Marella didn't see the Noxflares actually doing anything--and the hologram of Fintan must've been equally unimpressed.

He frowned at the flaming petals and dragged a hand down his face, mumbling "something's missing."

"Still not seeing the point of this," Marella noted. "I mean..."

Her voice trailed off as the tiny Fintan waved his arms again and blasted the Noxflares with pink flames--which made the flowers spray sparks in every direction.

The effect was breathtaking.

Kind of like the sky during the Celestial Festival.

But that still didn't necessarily scream, THIS MEMORY IS IMPORTANT.

"How come the grass isn't catching fire?" she asked, grasping for anything that might be significant. "Do the Noxflares protect it or something?"

"No, I was protecting it. A pyrokinetic should always be in control of their flames."

He sounded so smug Marella was tempted to remind him that he let five Pyrokinetics die when he tried to teach them how to call down Everblaze and they all lost control--but that would probably make him throw one of his tantrums and send her away.

She needed the cache back first--and to hopefully find something useful in this boring memory. But sadly, all Fintan's hologram did was stare blankly at the stars and mumble "something's missing" again before the image flashed away.

"That's it?" the scary guard demanded, beating Marella to the complaint.

"Yeah, so...you put on a little fire show all by yourself with some spark-shooting flowers," she added, trying to sum up what she'd seen. "You were clearly disappointed by that little show. And then you must've remembered you needed to..."

She waved her hands, cuing Fintan to fill in the blank with whatever was "missing."

But he just stood there, staring at the cache with the same glazed look he always got whenever he started rambling about the beauty of fire--and Marella wished Linh had come with her after all.

Linh could pelt him with snowballs or something to snap him out of it.

But then she realized...

"You never figured out what was missing--did you?"

Fintan blinked and met her gaze. "Noxflares are full of possibility. But they need to burn."

"That doesn't answer my question," Marella noted.

Fintan shrugged. "Context was not part of our bargain."

"yeah, because I figured when I saw the memory, it would be obvious why it's this big Forgotten Secret. How does you setting some flowers on fire and then realizing you did it wrong matter to anyone?"

"I did nothing wrong," Fintan assured her, with a particularly haughty smile--butt Marella wasn't buying it.

There was a tightness around his eyes that was way too familiar.

Her dad had that same tightness every time her mom was having one of her "bad days," and she knew exactly what it meant.

Disappointment.

Frustration.

A hint of helplessness.

So she marched over to the guard and grabbed the frozen Noxflare from the floor--too irritated to even notice how heavy the ice must've been as she hauled it back.

She plopped it in front of Fintan's cell. "Ta-da! One ugly flower, as promised--and I'm sure you're not surprised that I had to freeze it before i brought it down here."

"I'm not." Fintan dropped to his knees and gazed at the Noxflare like he was seeing a long-lost friend.

He pressed his hand against his cell, trying to get as close as he could. "Such power. Such...promise."

"Uh-huh," Marella agreed, letting his stare and stare, hoping it would help him let his guard down.

When his eyes turned a little teary, she went in for the kill.

"But there is something still missing, isn't there? That's why you saved this memory--to remind yourself to keep looking."

A whole lot of painful silence passed before Fintan slowly nodded.

Marella wanted to feel triumphant.

But all she'd done was prove the entire trade had been pointless.

There was no game-changing clue.

No dirty little secret about the past.

Certainly nothing to help them stop their enemies.

And she had a pretty strong hunch the other eight memories in the cache would be just as ridiculous.

"The answer is out there," Fintan murmured. "I can feel it. I just can't grasp it. Perhaps..."

"Perhaps?" Marella prompted when his eyes locked with hers.

Fintan stepped closer to the ice, keeping his voice low, like he didn't want the guard to hear him. "Perhaps a different Pyrokinetic is meant to find the truth. One who's already convinced the Council to trust her."

Marella laughed. "The Council doesn't trust me."

"The fact that you're here for a pyrokinesis lesson says otherwise--particularly since the lesson is with me." He started circling his cell again, mumbling under his breath and nodding. The only words Marella caught were "possible," "improvising," and "best option."

After three more times around the cell, he stopped in front of Marella again, leaning even closer to the icy wall as he whispered, "I believe it's time for me to offer a trade of my own."

"A trade," Marella repeated, not missing the way the scary guard gripped his sword.

Fintan glared at him. "This conversation is between me and my prodigy. She stands here of her own free will, shielded by who knows how many different kinds of protections--and she can leave anytime she pleases. Your presence is no longer needed."

"You still have her gadget," the guard argued.

"I suppose I do. but that can be easily remedied." Fintan set the cache on whatever invisible ledge it had slid down in the first place and gave it a good shove, sending it spinning up the path toward the top of the cell.

The guard had to scramble to catch it when it launched out of the ice bubble.

"See?" Fintan said, shifting his gaze back to Marella. "I can be trusted."

"Pretty sure the only thing I can trust is that you'll do what's best for you," Marella countered.

"As long as you get what you want, why would you care? After all, no matter what, I'm still stuck in here, aren't I?" He waved his arms around his little ice bubble, which suddenly looked way less secure than it had during her other visits. "Oh, relax--all I'm asking for is a little information."

Marella crossed her arms. "Right--and information has never gotten anyone hurt or killed."

"It's not that kind of secret. It's..." He frowned. "Honestly, I don't know what it is--and for someone my age, with my connections, that says something, doesn't it? I doubt any of the Vackers even know the full truth."

"Then how am I supposed to find it?" Marella demanded.

"As I said, you've proven to be quite resourceful. Particularly when you team up with your little friends." He scowled at the guard again before motioning her to step closer--until her ear was practically pressed up against the ice.

A voice in the back of her head kept screaming, WHY ARE YOU LISTENING TO HIM?

But...she was curious.

And there was nothing wrong with hearing his offer, was there?

Fintan's breath fogged the ice, obscuring his face as he whispered, "All I ask is that if you ever find out what's missing from the Noxflares, you share it with me."

"Why?" Marella glanced at the frozen flower, wishing she could see something more than just ugly shriveled petals.

"Because I want to know," Fintan said simply. "And because I can give you what you want in return."

"The rest of the memories in your cache," Marella clarified.

Fintan nodded. Then his lips curled into a smile. "And one other--something you've long wondered about, even though you probably don't admit it to yourself."

Marella raised one eyebrow, refusing to show any more interest than that.

Fintan cupped his hands around his mouth and pressed them to the ice before he whispered, "I know what happened to your mother."

Marella sucked in a breath.

"Yes," Fintan added. "I'm talking about her 'accident'--if we can really call it that. I know why she fell. And why her injuries were so incurable."

Marella stumbled back, collapsing into the nearest throne and hugging herself to stop her body from shaking with tremors that had nothing to do with the cold.

A tiny, terrified part of her had always thought the story she'd been told about her mom's fall hadn't totally made sense.

But everyone--everyone--was convinced it had been an accident.

Even her father.

And if it wasn't...

She leaned toward Fintan. "I don't need your games."

"Oh, this definitely isn't a game. But it's the only way you'll ever know the truth, and before you start overthinking everything, consider this: You have all the power here. Make the trade, don't make the trade--it's totally your call. You also don't have to make a decision right away. I'm trapped in this prison. I'll never find the answer on my own--and I'll never know if you find the answer unless you decide to tell me. So there's zero pressure. No one even knows we've had this conversation--and don't worry about the guard. See how frustrated he looks? That's because I made sure he only heard what I wanted him to hear. The rest is our little secret."

Our little secret.

Fintan was probably the last person she should have a secret with.

And yet...he had a point.

No one knew he'd made her this offer--and it wasn't like she'd come to any decision.

She didn't even have the information Fintan wanted anyway!

And with the way their investigations always seemed to go, she'd probably only find a whole lot more questions.

So there was really no point in telling anyone about this.

She could tell them whens he needed to.

If she needed to.

That wouldn't be wrong...would it?

It didn't feel wrong--or it wouldn't have if Fintan's smile wasn't so creepy.

"I'm not agreeing to anything," she said, wanting to make that very clear.

"You're not," Fintan assured her. "So how about we put this out of our minds and get started with our lesson? I'm sure your Hydrokinetic friend is wondering why you haven't come up to practice yet."

Linh was probably starting to worry.

She'd probably also built enough snow animals to make a frozen Sanctuary.

"Fine," Marella said, standing up and dusting ice off her cape. "What do you want me to work on today?"

"How about I teach you how to make those colored flames you saw in the memory," Fintan suggested. "You know, in case that ever comes in handy."

He winked, and the guard groaned and held out the cache to Marella. "Sound like I'm no longer needed."

"You aren't" Fintan agreed.

The guard growled--looking scarier than ever--and turned to march away. But he spun back after a few steps. "He's right that I don't know what he offered you. But I can tell you're tempted. And I hope you're smart enough to reject it. Never make a deal with someone who has nothing to lose."

"I'm not," Marella promised.

And she wasn't.

She hadn't made any decisions--except to keep this to herself. But that didn't mean anything.

She was just trying to avoid a ton of drama and arguing and having people give her advice she didn't need.

Plus, everyone has secrets.

Shoot--the great Sophie Foster had more secrets than anyone.

So it was fine.

Everything was fine.

Nothing had changed.

Time to focus on controlling her fire.

And yet, for the rest of the lesson, the tiny spark in her heart burned hotter and hotter and hotter. Whispering a new plea.

Trust me.

#kotlc #haha! did it!#it's entirely possible there are errors here. so if anyone notices one feel free to point it out so I can fix it #this isn't professional or anything #but anyway. wow that short story huh?#major win for the fandom #in my opinion #loss for my poor poor fingers though #my god #did this instead of homework

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ikykwklk-ash · 4 months

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"You hate shopping, but..."

Pairing: Bang Chan x fem reader

W/c: 2225

Synopsis: Your best friends (Hyunjin and Felix) force you to go shopping, but you don't know that it's all planned for you to meet their friend.

HI! It's my first ff that I write completely in English, I hope you like it and if there are errors please let me know!! :"

★★★★★★★

You hate shopping... You've always hated it. But your best friends dragged you into this "tragedy" because you lost a stupid bet.

So here you are, waiting for Hyunjin and Felix to come out of the dressing room.

You've spent 30 minutes waiting for them to get ready, and when they come out of the two separate small rooms you tell them they look fabulous, not paying attention to how they're dressed because you're getting bored.

The two of them stare at you for a few seconds and then they look at each other, and you, oblivious to what they are mentally saying to each other with that look, give them a bored look. Your friends, after giving you another look, look at each other again and nod without speaking to each other.

Hyunjin and Felix grab your arms and lift you up by the weight, at first you are confused by their actions, then you see that they are heading toward a dark clothing store, and you understand everything. You try to break free from their firm grip, threatening them to put you down. But they do not listen to you and continue their walk toward the store laughing.

When you enter the store a boy a little taller than you, with dark hair and chocolate brown almond eyes, turns to you and greets you: <<Hello and welcome to S Class, how can I help you?>> and smiles. Between you and you think he has a beautiful smile; he is cute after all. When the boy's gaze falls on you, your eyes meet for a split second before you lower it in embarrassment. You feel his gaze on you even as Felix speaks: <<We could use some dark clothes for our friend, Channie hyung!>>

You turn your head sharply toward the blond man. <<Do you...know him?>>

Hyunjin replies in place of the other <<Of course! He works with us for JYP>>

Oh. You didn't know your friends worked with such a handsome guy.

The raven smiles again (how beautiful his smile was....) and nods <<What do you like to wear?>> he says as he looks at you again.

<<Oh uhm...oversize things mainly, but not always yes here...preferably dark>> you reply feeling yourself on fire. You mentally insult your friends for taking you to a store with such a cute clerk. The boy nods and after a moment tells you to follow him.

Before you follow him Hyunjin whispers in your ear <<you know you're as red as a tomato y/n?>> you simply shut up and punch him lightly on the shoulder, and he, like a good drama queen makes a dramatic face and tells you that you hurt him, and you simply laugh.

You follow the raven, go through various sections of colourful clothing, genre that is not for you, eventually you come to a small section where there are garments that have all the dark shades you like.

The clerk teams you from head to toe, and you don't take your eyes off his dark chocolate eyes, you want to stay and look at him more, but you know you can't, because he turns and picks up a pair of ripped, baggy black jeans, smiles, and then tells you you should try them on. You look down, pick them up and head for the fitting room, your friends and the boy arrive a few minutes later with more short-sleeved T-shirts and oversized sweatshirts in dark shades, pick out the ones you like and enter the fitting room.

You come out of the dressing room, wearing the jeans he gave you, paired with a white shirt and over it a black T-shirt with AC/DC written in red and large in the centre. You see Hyunjin and Felix still talking to the boy.

<<So, we forgot to introduce you. y/n he is Chan hyung and Chan hyung well she is y/n>>

<<Ehm... nice to meet you Chan-ssi>> you bow feeling a little uncomfortable.

<<My pleasure y/n>> he replies to you.

<<O my god y/n! How good you look dressed like that!>> exclaims Felix, realizing that you felt uncomfortable.

<<Oh, thanks Lixie, I'd like it better with this oversized sweatshirt, though>> you reply, mentally thanking her. You show the sweatshirt you had decided on earlier, it was beige with a black rose at heart level, as soon as you had seen it you liked it immediately.

<<Oh, that's right you look very good dressed like that y/n>> Chan says blushing slightly.

You simply blush at the compliment and say nothing.

You try on other garments and finally choose the first outfit you had tried on that afternoon. You spent the last few hours chatting with Chan, because Hyunjin and Felix had decided to try on outfit after outfit, unfortunately for you, from the colourful sections. You knew they had done it on purpose, in fact they were your friends and knew you better than anyone else.

At first you do not know what to talk about, you are very embarrassed, and you realize that he is too since every time you look at each other you blush. So, you stay silent, and you listen to the songs playing on the radio in the store and without realizing it you start humming Growl by EXO and he looks at you <<Do you like EXO?>> and you start talking about their songs and your bias.

And from EXO you move on to talk about other groups, other singers, and music in general.

At the end of the day, he asks for your number, and you show him your cell phone so he could save your number. He sends you a funny sticker and you, as soon as you hear the notification that a message has arrived, open the chat, and laugh and shake your head. You pay for the clothes you bought and say goodbye.

Before you, Hyunjin and Felix leave the store, Chan calls you back and asks you to meet the next day at 10 a.m. at the mall.

You come home and throw yourself on the bed smiling, don't even bother to change, take off your favourite blue sneakers and fall asleep, there with a smile on your face and your clothes still on.

Months pass and you and Chan, who you found out is named Christopher Chan Bang, spend your days texting and hanging out together, sometimes with the addition of Hyunjin and Felix, sometimes with his friends who you found out were also friends with Hyunjin and Felix, and sometimes alone. One day he asks you to go out for breakfast together and spend the day walking, and you gladly accept. You write to your friends that the next day you would go out for breakfast and spend the day together. You don't sleep at night because of excitement and spend it on video call with Felix.

The next day at 8 a.m. you get out of bed, with a smile coming to your ears and feeling anxious about "the date," if you can call it that, you take a shower, get dressed in flared jeans, an oversized black sweatshirt with a print and the usual sneakers, put on your makeup quickly to cover your dark circles and make yourself presentable, and go to the bar you decided on. You arrive ten minutes early, so you check your cell phone while you wait for him and continue listening to music, sitting on a bench nearby.

Shortly after you feel someone touch your shoulder from behind, you jump in the air and turn around, to your great good fortune it's Chan <<sorry if I startled you>> he says in embarrassment and with that smile of his that gives you butterflies in your stomach.

You laugh and shake your head and tell him it's okay, his smile stays as he looks at you and asks if you want to go into the bar and you nod smiling back.

You enter the cafe and sit down at a table; a waiter reaches your table and asks what you want.

<<For me a coffee and a pistachio croissant>> he says, you instead order your usual cappuccino and chocolate croissant.

<<Coming right up guys>> said the waiter smiling.

<<Hey y/n tell me a little about yourself, passions, hobbies>> asked the boy to interrupt the moment of silence that had arisen from embarrassment.

<<Oh, uhm... I don't have many hobbies, but I love to read and, as you know, listen to music, do you?>> asks.

<<I write stories and take pictures>> he replies blushing.

<<Can I read something written by you?>> you ask with your eyes probably shining with curiosity and he replies that he'll see, laughing right back at your false pout.

Shortly afterwards your order comes to you, and you continue talking for a while. When you finish eating, pay for everything, and leave the café, you ask if he would like to go to the park for a while and he nods, smiling at you, so you set off lost the playground near the town square. When you arrived, he takes a camera out of his backpack and starts taking pictures of your surroundings and you look at him smiling <<you look like a child who has just been given the game he wanted>> you say laughing slightly.

At some point, however, you too end up in the lens and blushing you complain <<Channie please I can't stand someone taking pictures of me!>>.

He doesn't listen to you and takes the picture, and you cover your face with your hands out of embarrassment, until Chris tells you to take them off and you glare at him, claiming that you are neither beautiful nor photogenic.

<<Y/n you are beautiful, you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen come into my store>>

You blush and reply that he is more beautiful than you, at that sentence he begins to stare at you softly, you smile and look at him your turn, he comes up to you and arranges a lock of hair behind your ear.

<<You know that you have a beautiful smile? Every time I see you smile, I see the streets of Tokyo with its cherry blossom trees>> he says before his lips rest on yours in a gentle kiss that triggers a whole zoo in your stomach and makes you blush, it was a tender kiss. His lips tasted like coffee and pistachio and for a moment you think you might become addicted to it. When you part you, both look at each other and blush, but you notice that he has a slightly startled look on his face at what he had done, and you, to let him know you liked it, kiss him again, putting your arms behind his neck, and he puts his on your hips.

It's a beautiful, unforgettable moment, once you separate from the kiss, he tells you <<Y/n...I know it's early to say this, but I love you so much...>> you look at him and smile, you smile like an idiot and you know that because you feel you are smiling so much your face hurts.

<<I love you too Christopher>> you whisper so softly that Chan is not sure he heard you right and asks you to repeat and you laugh. You laugh and you are happy to have a kind and caring boy like Chan. You're glad you met him, you're glad because if it weren't for your friends, you would never have met him.

You spend the rest of the day holding hands, staying hugged sitting under a tree, and kissing each other from time to time in between. And toward evening he walks your home, holds your hand to the door and smiles at you, kisses you before letting you go, and you want to tell him he can stay, but you know it's too it's too soon to do that. That time will also come though, maybe tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that.

You walk into the house with that silly smile that has never left your face during the day, take off your shoes and put them in place, go into the bathroom and put on your pyjamas. You smile. You get on the bed and text Chan asking him if he has arrived home safely; soon after that you text in the group chat with Hyunjin and Felix and tell them everything. As soon as you send the message Felix starts a video call and you accept it.

<<I can't believe it Y/n!>> your friends say at the same time.

<<Me neither! I'm not sure if it's a dream or reality!>> you smile radiantly. You tell them straight about the day and then ask how and what they did during the day. You talk some more with your friends and then decide to call it quits and go about your business. You close the call and see that Chan has answered that he has returned home safely, and you answer him.

You are so happy that if you could go back to the past, you wouldn't change a comma. "I love you" you text him and then you turn off the phone and get under the covers and close your eyes falling into a deep sleep.

★★★★★★★

Taglist: @foivestarrsketchez

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rin-fukuroi · 5 months

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𝐎𝐰𝐧 𝐦𝐞 [𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞]

Please do not translate or publish my works without my permission.

The originals of my works can be read here

Fandom: Genshin Impact

Pairings: dom!Pantalone x sub!fem!reader

Warnings: no fluff, unhealthy relationships, sexual tension.

▶• ılıılıılıılıılıılı. bülow - Own Me

Note: English is not my native language, so I apologize if there are errors in the text qq

What about unconditional submission without sexual overtones? Although it's still present here, because i'm only trying to understand these boundaries, where the simple relationship of the dom and sub ends and something obscene begins. Perhaps i'll return to sketches of this genre more than once, since dom men are the best men in the world (ง ื▿ ื)ว

art: @jianrou

Have you ever heard of a wolf that decided to tame a hare? The poor fluffy little animal shivers day by day, not knowing at what second the thread of life can be irreversibly cut off, but the wolf takes care of tamed food, not allowing the hare to breathe its last breath before the whim of its owner. The little animal sees its defender in the wolf, leaving its own fate in its paws, and the hare's gaze is always permeated with devotion when its owner comes into view.

It's so wrong. Unnatural.

But what if the wolf became infatuated with the one he tamed?

You think about it every time your gaze meets blue eyes hidden under the glass of exquisite and fabulously expensive glasses. Your whole being screams that a wolf cannot love its prey, but your heart continues to beat faster every time you hear your own name spoken by your master.

— Y/N, — Pantalone smiles softly, pointing with his palm to his own knees, and you shyly put your hands behind your back, feeling the weight of the gazes of the other Harbingers sitting at a huge luxurious table.

Pantalone never needed a leash for you to blindly follow him. Your body and soul are drawn to this man by themselves, like a moth lost in the darkness, finally meeting a light. Only your fire exudes a chilling cold.

You awkwardly take a step forward, carefully settling into Pantalone's lap, and burrow into his fur coat. It looks soft, but for some reason it tingles so unpleasantly on the skin of your face.

One of the Regrator's palms rests on your hip, as it should. There's not a single place on your body that he can't touch, and you shouldn't care if outsiders are present.

You just have to stay diligent, pure, innocent, devoted. Obedient. You must behave the way he likes. Be humble, silent, and accommodating. Otherwise, how else will you please your master?

You raise your head uncertainly, casting a brief glance at Pantalone, which he ignores, continuing in his stoically calm manner to discuss something with other Harbingers. How stupid of you to think that he would pay attention to you. He's busy right now, and you have to be nothing more than an ornament sitting silently on his lap, otherwise without your presence he will simply die of boredom. The Regrator likes to sometimes just squeeze your hips or stroke your knee while he is busy with exhausting conversations, which he tries to avoid as much as possible.

You may blush, you may feel aroused by his touch, but you must not make a sound until both of you leave the hall or the other Harbingers vacate the room, leaving you alone. Even if his fingers thoughtlessly fiddle with the fabric of your underwear, even if they stroke the inside of your thighs, casually touching your crotch, even if the heat in the bottom of your stomach is so unbearable that you feel suffocating moans getting stuck in your throat, you must be quiet and obedient.

The owner can have fun with his toy as he wishes, and the toy should only remain sitting on his lap until he allows it to become human again.

You'll die for him if he asks you to. You'll let him kill you if he has to. No questions, no objections. Isn't that true love? Doesn't the fact that he allows someone like you to even be around prove his feelings? No, no, you're not even worthy of his feelings.

The blood is pumping so furiously through your burning veins, and your hips involuntarily clench around Pantalone's wrist as he roughly, possessively squeezes the elastic flesh of your thigh, and you almost crumble into pieces on his lap, desperately clutching the prickly fur of his robe. It's so embarrassing. You have to be stronger, you have to overcome with dignity the irresistible desire to just bury yourself in the curve of his neck, inhaling the tart scent of cologne, whispering his name over and over again, because if you can stand it…

— Good girl, — the Regrator's lips press against the top of your head as he whispers softly into your hair, continuing to maintain a strained smile on his face.

It's so warm.

The poor muscle in your chest is ready to burst apart. Just two words, but they always sound just for you.

You smile, barely restraining the urge to burst into tears, tightening your lips and nodding briefly, hiding your flushed face in the spikes of black fur again.

…if you can stand the bone-piercing cold, stand the way your heart bleeds, one day a wolf will be able to love his little animal, right?

#headcanons #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin x you #genshin drabbles #pantalone #pantalone x reader #pantalone x you #regrator #regrator x reader #regrator x you #no fluff

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pinene · 2 months

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Idk maybe I've just interacted with true weirdos but I swear to god there's an unfortunately significant percentage of gayboys who regularly crank it to the most hairy bearded juiced up bear porn and lust after str8 men but have like "keep your 'masc' bullshit away from me thx" in their bios. I reckon that rightful criticisms/rejection of guys in the 20teens using "masc[4masc]" to mean "i am homophobic" got overcorrected into "gay men can't be genuinely masculine, it's either a costume or self-hatred"

Which is kind of a really effective way to get a str8 guy fetish if you're attracted to masculine men..? So that's unfortunate. And then subsequently it's become gauche to declare yourself as masc or butch. If you do so, these guys will absolutely look for and subsequently point out anything you do that's effeminate, which is in itself very homophobic and weird. presumably it's because they are assuming you operate on the toxic masc wavelength and so are trying to give you a taste of your own medicene, but if you aren't, they're just... being fucking rude

But then it gets very complicated by the fact that you have other gay guys saying shit like "Hey it's okay if you're just masc, you don't have to be fabulous to be gay" and that's just a crazy ass thing to say. I understand where they're coming from, but being picked on by insecure gay dudes is nowhere near being oppressed lol. There's also often the complaint about being stereotyped when you're just a "normal" dude, and I definitely resonate with it being impossible to be taken seriously when you're a gay guy-- but they make a grave error in assuming the pain comes from not fitting the stereotype. Rather, being stereotyped sucks whether you fit it or not, and honestly, probably sucks more when you DO!

It does seem like this era is ending though. I think we're all starting to finally realize that gender is silly, and fun, and sexy, not something you need to earn or be born with, and you can explore any and all axes of it as you please. I don't wear big boots cuz I think I'm better than fem queens. I wear them cuz they make me happy

#reblogs off bc i didn't proofread carefully and im sure there's something misinterpretable here

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geeky-politics-46 · 1 year

Text

COVID Cuddles

Pairing: Doctor Stephen Strange x Reader

Summary: It finally got you! You are sick with COVID-19 and missing Stephen's cuddles

Warnings: reader has COVID, pandemic references, slight angst with fluffy happy ending, language

This fic is totally self-indulgent as i am sick with COVID right now & my Doctor Strange teddy bear is one of the things keeping me company. So I made it into a story. Probably lots of errors as I'm sick & drugged

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?"

You looked up at him in the doorway, masked fave peeking through, from where you sat on the bathroom floor. Tissues shoved up both nostrils as you waited for the bathroom to fill with steam from the shower before you tossed a Vicks vapor shower bomb under the water. Hoping that it would make it easier to breathe. Or at least make it sound like you didn't smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day.

You had made it 3 years without getting COVID-19, but finally it got you. Despite the 2 original vaccines and 2 boosters. Your number eventually came up. You knew it would eventually. You just hoped the vaccines would make the illness shorter still.

"Well, I feel like I swallowed broken bits of light bulb, and I had a coughing fit so bad earlier I nearly puked. So I'm fucking fabulous."

They never mentioned a side effect of COVID was that it made you mean. Of course, maybe that was just you. You knew with your asthma you had to throw everything at this now just in case. So that was what you were doing. Currently waiting for your 6 hours between NyQuil shots with an ibuprofen chaser to elapse so you could top yourself up and get a good 3 hour nap before starting the waiting process all over again.

It made matters even worse that the moment you tested positive you basically became a leper. Stephen, Wong, and America banished you to the bedroom and adjoining bathroom. Wong even put up a quarantine spell that would alert them if you tried to leave the room.

You understood why. The Sorcerer Supreme and one of the Avengers getting severely ill probably wouldn't be a good thing. Much too tempting for the forces of evil. No one really knew if America could get COVID, having traveled the multiverse she probably had antibodies to things that didn't even exist in your world, but it was better safe than sorry.

Still though, a cuddle sounded really good right about now, and that was one thing Stephen couldn't give you. At least not until you were no longer contagious. You still had a couple days to go before that was even a possibility.

He was doing his absolute best to give you anything he thought you might need. Leaving trays and bags of food and medicine. Occasionally throwing in some candy or a random little treat he thought would cheer you up. He was trying so hard. Especially when you knew he wasn't exactly known for his bedside manner as a Doctor.

You hated snapping at him. You just felt genuinely terrible, and you knew that you just had to ride it out. For the most part, by yourself. It almost felt worse when he would check on you, knowing that you couldn't go hug him or even hold his hand without exposing him even more than you already had.

"I know you are miserable right now, and I know I don't have to keep bringing you all sorts of stuff beyond food and drugs. However, America showed me something that we both decided you needed. It's a friend to keep you company."

He reached inside and set down a large plain white paper gift bag. Stepping back and closing the door so you could move to get the bag, taking it back to your spot by the tub before looking in the bag.

As you peeked in the bag, you were immediately about to burst into tears. Inside was a fairly large brown teddy bear. What made it special though was that it was styled to look like Stephen.

It had blue eyes and a very dark brown goatee on its face. That alone was enough to make you giggle. The fact that it was wearing a version of Stephen's blue sorcerer's robes and it's own little Cloak Of Levitation attached to it's shoulders with velcro was just icing on the cake.

It was perfect. Soft and perfect size to snuggle while still being well formed enough that stayed looking like Stephen. Just Stephen in teddy bear form.

"Stephen, it's perfect! I love him so much! This is exactly what I needed. Thank you"

He peeked back through the door to see you already snuggling the bear tight to your chest. Happy tears on your cheeks and for the first time in days a smile on your face.

You couldn't see it behind his mask, but he was smiling too. So relieved that he could make you feel better even for just a little but. He figured you missed cuddling. He knew that he missed it. He had stolen one of your sweatshirts to snuggle, so he thought it was perfect when America showed him the bear.

Now once you were better, he might have a problem with the bear if he was there for you to cuddle instead. He would deal with that when the time came though. For now, he would share you.

--------------------------------

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Stephen Strange Taglist: @starkiller-queen @glitterylokislut @verycollectivecreator @chatampr @maskmare931 @lovecleastrange @wheredafandomat @mkixx @evelynrosestuff @katefullerrr @littlepinknightmare @foofarny @stygianoir @moonroyalt @saturnsbabe69 @blaxdet @blackrose-92 @ironstrange1991 @rindulacre @nancy-thompsons @wolfatheartandsoul @dangerouslittlefairy @n0obmaster-69 @oliveoilthoughts @onebatch--twobatch @yourmajesty13 @blondekel77 @lil-sweater-slut @gwephen @taramaria @sinceimetyou @slashersrus @coeurgrenaty @cc13723things @just--a-magpie @supervengerslock @strangelockd @dont-feel-so-good-peter @kingsmanperfecthartwin @ghost-lantern @inlovewithloki16 @thefalconandthewinterwidowshield @itssmaugtheterrible @katherinemaximoff @veryfancydoilies @cute-angi @mochacake2016 @prix19 @alexfanficnook @anotheroddfish @mando-is-the-way @xourownsidee @baes-x @dreamingsmile @negar77rd @imaginesfreetotake @ppatricia34me @rougepetale @tis-vereon @divinearchangel @sherlux @hiddlechive @ginnykate @thatesqcrush @friendofplenti @yuugenmomo @holdmyowos @the-royal-petals @lokislov3 @captaincarmel164 @lucimorningst4r @mydearalmira @petalcranberry @singhfae @emotionsareforuglypeople @trappedinlimbo15 @veryladyqueen @icytrickster17 @kentucky-criedfricken @briefhandsstudenttoad @calamityismyspecialty @sinisterstrange616 @patbrdac @trojanaurora @azu21 @massivehahaao3tree @strangesgirl

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nomatterwhatnomatterwhere · 8 months

Text

What a ( Not so) Strange World - III

A.N: after some time without any shred of inspiration, I was hit by an epiphany so here we are again. As always, if there are any errors, please point them out to me, because I haven't yet gotten over the embarrassment of having a beta read what I write. Sorry for the inconvenience

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The morning came a little differently than your usual morning awakening.

The birds had come to sing at your window as usual, you were still too sleepy to understand what they were singing – and you honestly didn't want to hear their morning gossip.

(The last time you tried to understand, you had understood that some royal of you didn't know where would never be a good ruler, or something similar, your interest was directed more towards your very comfortable feather pillow than his birds outside from your window)

After a while they started tapping on the window.

There had been no threat to pluck the birds from Lucifer.

No crow had come to act as traffic assistant in Maleficent's name.

No shouts stating that the birds were late or ahead of schedule.

And above all no promise to use the birds in some potion or create one, - in case there were no potions that included the aforementioned - if those wretches dared to disturb Frau Grimilde's beauty sleep again.

(Honestly? It was nice not to wake up to all that confusion)

Realizing how too quiet was surrounding you, you woke up fully, sitting up in bed, remembering that you were back in Twisted Wonderland and were currently at the RSA.

Another thing that caught your attention was the incessant, yet gentle, sound of someone knocking on the door.

Walking down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you made your way to the bottom floor.

You hadn't even seen half a clock in any of the rooms and so you didn't know exactly what time it was; you didn't think you'd woken up very late, but then the bed was among the most comfortable you'd slept in, so you might actually have slept a lot more than you should have.

Back home you were used to waking up sometimes even before dawn, since every now and then Frau Grimilde would make you see or pick specific plants or herbs that needed to be harvested in that specific period of time; every now and then Maleficent also made you get up at sunrise or at other absurd hours to make you attend some rites or celebrations of the Fae or other magical creatures.

Opening the door you found yourself dazzled by the figure of a smiling and embarrassed Neige - not that you had noticed, but the boy was vibrating on the spot - who was holding a basket covered with a red and white checked cloth from which a smell came absolutely fabulous.

You blinked a few times.

Slamming the door in Neige's face would have been really rude to him, but it was what you wanted to do at that moment.

(at the other end of the island Vil had had a shiver of joy for no reason)

In front of you was a Neige with his big sweet eyes, the small friendly - embarrassed - smile with the blushing face that made him even cuter than he already was. With what you thought was his school uniform on which there were pins shaped like birds.

Adorable.

Practically perfect from every point of view.

And then there was you.

Just woke up, probably with a confused look as to what your name was, with a messy mass of hair - probably some of the birds had nested in it - presumably with pillow marks on your face.

In a nightgown, kindly offered by the house, which you didn't think could fit worse than it already did.

(In another universe Grimhilde was probably sensing a heavy disturbance in the force and Lady Tremeine was wondering what was wrong with your upbringing)

With a voice thick with sleep, because by now you had already made a fool of yourself, you invited Neige to sit down while you made yourself at least presentable, asking him if he would like some tea, and upon his affirmation, you cast a spell so as to save time, while you went up to the second floor.

Neige wanted to surprise you, but he was still a polite person and therefore he had sent you a message, but seeing your confused look he guessed that you shouldn't have read it. Of course, the fact that you were still in your pajamas made it even more obvious, but he was too caught up in how cute you looked when you just woke up.

When he saw you for the first time he thought you were wearing makeup, no makeup makeup, because you were really pretty, but seeing you as soon as you woke up made him realize that he was absolutely wrong. You were endowed with an innocent beauty, perceivable even when you had just woken up.

You were lovely no matter how he saw you.

(If he had taken you for a modeling audition they would certainly have taken you, his career would have been at stake)

After you cleaned yourself up to look decent, you went back down the stairs, finding yourself in front of a Neige who was already sipping his cup of tea.

"I hope you don't mind Fairy-san, I didn't want to wake you" and he looked away slightly "but I thought you would like to have breakfast together…" and he pointed with his head to the basket, now without cloth: inside there were different types of biscuits and Krapfen.

Sitting down across from him, you smiled at him, thanking him for the thought

You remained in silence for a few minutes, enjoying your meal, until the boy spoke

“Do you already know what you will do for the day?” Neige brought his face closer, resting his chin on his hands “I mean, after you talk to the Headmaster?”

You actually had no idea.

It all depended on what the Headmaster would answer, after all you didn't know how the man intended to get you to Crewel and Trein: you suspected he would use a portal, but you had no idea what kind.

You knew that there were different types of portals - mirrors, coffins, forests, etc. - but you hadn't seen anything like them in the HeadMaster's office; also who told you that you had authorization to use one of the school portals? You were still a stranger…

Maybe he would have made you use an enchanted mode of transportation? If you remembered correctly, there were carriages that had those characteristics, but in that case you didn't know how long it would take.

Remembering that Neige was still waiting for an answer you blinked, as if to snap out of your train of thought, then turning to him.

“I guess it depends on what the HeadMaster says, but I think I will have a bit of time to spare…Do you have any suggestions?”

Neige had never had much free time, but when he wasn't busy with work he didn't mind going shopping, but that was out of the question in your case, or just relaxing…

He was a little embarrassed to tell you this, it didn't make him sound very cool right?

You giggled, there was nothing wrong with dedicating yourself to yourself after a tiring day.

Once your breakfast was over, Neige proposed to escort you back to school, so that you could get to the principal without getting lost and you happily accepted.

Before leaving you went up to your room again to get your cell phone, hoping that no one had called you

(Heck, if you missed a call from Crewel or Trein you would never see the end of it, you'd be back to being escorted around by Lucius and with an even stricter curfew, you were sure of it)

Luckily for you, there were no missed calls, just several messages you should have responded to.

Along the way you found walking with Neige relaxing, it was easy to converse with him, and you enjoyed it when he got excited with a certain topic. That was until he started getting mobbed – not literally – by other students.

Yes, Neige had to be a rather popular personality, but you didn't want to question him, it didn't seem appropriate.

He left you in the chair, then increasing the speed with which he moved, there was no point in being late for class.

Before you could even knock on the door, it opened on its own, presenting you with the same environment as the day before, only the HeadMage was missing.

Entering without the owner's permission was rude, but seeing as the door had opened on its own, you took the gesture as an invitation.

You sat in the same chair as the day before, thanking her when she moved – for all you knew she could be sentient.

While you waited, you picked up your phone again, reading and replying to the various messages, at least until you felt like you were being watched.

No, the HeadMaster hadn't arrived yet, on the other hand you had a sugar bowl floating in front of you looking at you judgingly

(The sugar bowl didn't have a face at all, but its crossed handles on the front made you feel like it was judging you)

“Is this, um, your way of asking me what I'm doing here?”

The sugar bowl is moving in the negative direction, so you tried again

“Um, are you asking me if I want some tea then?”

And in that case it moved as if to say 'You've finally understood it'

You nodded. “But you know… shouldn't the Teapot be the one to ask if anyone wants tea?”

The little one started to walk away offended… if it had had a face she would probably have been sulking

"I didn't mean to offend you. I was curious… I could really use some tea” and you gave it your best puppy dog eyes.

Before it could answer you, you heard a giggle.

It was the Headmaster sitting at the desk, with his usual kind smile.

“Please continue, I didn't mean to interrupt your chat, but I have to talk to our guest, so if you could make another tea I would be very happy”

When the sugar bowl moved a little further away, he began to whisper

“ It must really like you. I've never seen it approach my guest myself. It is a little sensitive”

and while he was saying this the sugar bowl turned to 'look at you'.

This made you chuckle.

While you were having tea the HeadMaster explained to you what he had to do.

He had spoken to both Crewel and Trein and they had both agreed with him that the best place for you to arrive was the school, but they had rejected the idea of having you arrive in their hall of mirrors, it would have been definitely problematic, so it would have been better to have you use the portal which would lead you to Main Street, but it would take some time to get to it from the portal. They also had to talk to the HeadMaster of the NRC, no one can enter his jurisdiction without his permission, and he wasn't really in the mood to let in some 'special guest of the Headmaster of the RSA', but in the end he approved.

(apparently the competition between schools that Che'nya told you about was also present among the staff)

They would open the gate exclusively for you, so you would have a time limit to get through. Having addressed the problem of the arrival gate, we needed to talk about the departure gate.

The mirror room at the RSA didn't have a mirror leading to the portal you were interested in, but you would be able to reach it using one of the carriages the school would provide - although The Headmage had chuckled about a couple of students going to that portal on foot – but the road would have been a bit long, so it would have been better to leave quickly

(“No, I’m not chasing you out. But Sweet Child, you have to know that Crowley is quite a character to say the least” the fact that he told you this while laughing was not a good thing in your eyes)

Thanking the principal who directed you to the carriages, you bid farewell to both him and the sugar bowl as you left the room.

(She was nice…for a sugar bowl)

Once you left you texted Neige, apologizing for not being able to say goodbye properly - and he replied with a teary-eyed face and another crying face, how could he be so adorable even via text?! – and one to Che’nya, asking if he was bored.

He replied with a photo of you on the phone, the location not looking too far away.

You turned towards the direction from which you thought the photo had been taken, but you didn't see anything; you were undecided whether to move or wait for the boy to reach you, but to solve your problems you received another message from Che'nya

From : Kitty cat I'll wait for nya

And with that you went to the entrance of the building where you found Che'nya to whom you quickly explained the situation as you headed towards the carriages: he seemed ecstatic.

He responded happily to your silent question

“Cuddle time!”

You shook your head smiling: you had actually promised him, but there hadn't been a chance, so it seemed legitimate.

Your affirmative response apparently seemed to enlighten Che'nya, who began almost running to drag you along the way.

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