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mothwingwritings · 1 month

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Dreaming Of World's End

Reader X Zenos Yae Galvus

Waaah it has been so long!!! I apologize for the absence! I have been working on and doing all kinds of stuff (fics included) as of late so I did one of my classic dip outs there for a moment, but I’m here! Just plunking away as usual. :)

With Dawntrail coming up I have been focusing a big chunk of my free time on trying to beat Endwalker (I am slow in all things, video games included lul) because I wanna be there with the herd with Dawntrail comes out!!! I have no idea if I am gonna make it, but I am doing the best I can to catch up!!!

That being said: Zenos brainrot propelled this fic from my brain, to my computer, to you. Was I and am I also writing a bunch of other things? Yes. Is this the only thing I could momentarily focus on writing-wise because I have been compromised by my love for this fucked up man? Also yes. I’m sorry. It’s bad. I was already obsessed with him in Stormblood and now that I am deep within the clutches of the Endwalker msq… It’s over for me guys. It was a good run, but rip to me. My WOL may be playing hard to get, but I’m sure not. Zenos if you are reading this, you can just have me.

So without further ado, here is a Zenos fic I have been working on! My love for him aside, I think Zenos is a super fun character to write for, so I really hope I did him some justice! This is a reader insert fic, but you are the Warrior of Light in it so feel free to insert your OC’s and WOL if you like! I tried to keep the reader neutral, but I will say it’s def aimed more at a female reader/character and if you are a shorter race like a Lala it will probs be a little wonky, so my apologies. Also, I am about half way? A little over half way? through the Endwalker main story, so potential spoilers up to that point. This fic takes place sometime between post Shadowbringers and the first part of Endwalker.

Nothing overly explicit, but due to the nature of this fic it is 18+ please!

Thank you so much for reading!!! <3 I truly hope you enjoyed!

WARNINGS: Unhealthy relationship (if you can even call it a relationship), intense infatuation, implied noncon, noncon mentions, a lot of fighting and mentions of fighting, mentions of death and the end of the world, unwanted touching, Endwalker spoilers.

It was always the same dream.

Amaurot. The end times. Death, destruction, chaos. Streets tainted by endless misery, stifling woe permeating the air as people ran about frantically, picked off left and right by horrendous, nightmarish monsters. Screams pierced the air as the remaining survivors struggled in vain, desperate to escape a fate that they could not avoid.

Just as any other night, he would watch it all unfold with cold indifference. Walking through the crumbling, fire charred lanes of this shell of a once bustling city, he would take it all in at a leisurely pace, maintaining a stride no more rushed than if he were taking a pleasant stroll. His features would be void of distress or malaise, his face a blank slate as he paraded down roads lined with bodies and devastation.

Zenos could say it was because he had grown accustomed to it, have the same dream each night and the grisly scenario that laid in wait past your closed eyes was bound to no longer shock you. But that would be a lie, as this ghastly nightmare had never truthfully bothered him to begin with. He simply didn’t care, not about the dying planet, nor its inhabitants that suffered the same fate. This scene from another time, this moment from a faraway place that no longer existed, he couldn’t bring himself to feel any form of remorse for the phantoms left to wallow helplessly in this endless, hellish loop, even if his own star was on track to share the same fate.

An echo of the past was just that, to dwell on it was a fool’s errand.

But tonight, it was not the end of times that greeted him when he closed his eyes. In its place stood an immaculate hall appearing to belong to some manner of grandiose castle. Pristine and orderly, he sat upon a large throne questionably positioned in the middle of the walkway, facing so that a vast expanse of the hall was clearly within his view.

Had he been here before? It was hard to say, having been trapped by palace walls most of his life they all blurred together after a certain point. Perhaps this wasn’t even a castle, but some manner of fortress. The varying weapons displayed neatly along the surrounding walls certainly made it feel as if this was more than just a mere abode for royalty to live out their boringly opulent lives, perhaps it doubled as an armory of sorts? Every sword, spear, and battle axe looked immaculately cared for; their blades so sharp simply looking at them made you feel as if you had been sliced.

His time to dwell upon the mystery of his surroundings was quick to dissipate however, as he felt a familiar presence approach him from behind. He remained still when a delicate hand was placed upon him, crawling from his arm to slide unhurriedly across his broad shoulders. The caress occupied the entirety of his thoughts, manicured nails scratching lightly against his flesh as they raked across his back, pressing just hard enough that they left a pleasant burn in their wake.

“There you are,” a deceptively alluring voice purred in his ear. Phantom arms draped themselves loosely over his shoulders, their fingers moving to trace a swirling pattern upon his chest. Goosebumps littered his arms at the brief contact. “Were you hiding from me?”

A small smile spread across his lips. What elation merely hearing your voice caused.

Were he not already aware of it, he would recognize he was in a dream from this interaction alone. You, only you, would be welcomed to touch him this way. But even were he to offer invitation, you would never do so of your own free will. There was a mixture of pride and revulsion that kept your interactions with him void of skinship, save for the fleeting contact that occurred when you were locked in combat.

His motivations, the way he chose to experience the world, your differing values and opinions. Like night and day, they barred you from reciprocating his feelings towards you. Because of this, he was left to revel in your touch exclusively in the realm of dreams.

“On the contrary,” he hummed, “you have been the one to keep me waiting.”

A low chuckle reverberated from your chest, sending a shiver down his spine. You rose to your full height, pulling away slowly until you disconnected from him completely. Even if the contact was nothing more than an attempt at provocation, he missed your touch the moment you detached yourself.

“Well then I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, my lord,” you enunciated his title tauntingly, the playful lilt in your voice exciting him further. He heard you take several languid steps away from him before you spoke once more. “That is, if you even have a heart that can offer forgiveness.”

Zenos rose to his feet, turning to finally face you. Your back greeted him as you stared up at the myriad of weaponry covering the back wall, the hand that was moments ago atop his chest now gracefully running across the hilt of a long sword. Your fingers lingered on the handle, moving as if you were going to grip it, but never completing the task.

Zenos smiled. You were toying with him.

“You jest,” he spoke, taking a measured step your way, “if anyone has intimate knowledge of the existence of my heart and whom it beats for, it is you.”

Your posture stiffened in acknowledgment of the insinuation, yet you refused to turn his way.

“Is that so,” your voice seemed distant, as if you were unwilling to accept the burden of the intense desire he held for you, “Forgive me, I must have misread the situation. Due to the nature of how our meetings always end, I figured you only ever wanted one thing from me, and that is my blood.”

A low chuckle rumbled from within him, his eyes crinkling in amusement. For all that you were, all the skills and knowledge that you held, you could certainly be dense.

“I desire all you have to offer,” he answered plainly, “Your fury and malice, your rage and rancor, your disdain and desire,” he continued to approach you, each step slow and deliberate as he closed in on your staunch form. “Your love and affection are no different. I want to consume your every thought, just as you consume mine. I want you to taste me in the air you breathe and feel me crawling under your skin, even when I am far removed from your presence.”

He stopped several steps away from you, keeping his distance but lingering close enough that it bordered on intrusive. He raised his hand calmly, reaching out to grab a stray lock of your hair between his fingers. He gingerly caressed the silky strands, smirking when he noted that even such slight contact caused a shudder to lurch your otherwise statuesque form.

“You can play the fool all you want, but you cannot hide the fact that the same beast that dwells in me is also within you. They call out, craving each other to the point of madness. We need each other. This dance we share must continue in perpetuity, lest our fierce yearning for each other’s presence turn us to savages incapable of rational thought, driven to the point of committing mass, undiscriminating destruction as a means to appease ourselves.”

He smirked, placing a gentle kiss atop the tendrils in his hand, before letting it slip from his grasp completely. “And you would do anything to divert that misfortune, would you not hero?”

Your shoulders began to quiver, shaken by the threat of violence he could and would commit simply to be by your side. An impatient sigh escaped his lips, “So come, what better way is there to quench each other’s thirst and prevent calamity than through a mutually beneficial rendezvous? Surely even someone as set in their way as you are is in agreeance.”

“I was under the assumption that you planned on battling me until the world was torn asunder, regardless of if I entertain your perversions or not,” Your voice dripped with disdain as you spat your response at him, “If that is the case, pray tell why I should not cut you down where you stand? Why must the dance continue if the outcome is all the same?”

Your words made the smile on his face grow, stretching his lips to an unnatural degree. Taking another step forward, he leaned in until his mouth grazing the shell of your ear. Placing his hands firmly atop your shoulders, he gave a tight squeeze as he responded.

“Because we share one destiny,” he pressed his cheek flush against your head, inhaling deeply before releasing it in a slow, shaky sigh, “even now as you try so hard to deny me, our fate is intertwined, my warrior. You cannot escape me, and I have no desire to escape you. The dismantling of this world as a result of our conquest is all but inevitable and I welcome it with open arms.”

“I won’t let the world crumble to ash.” Your bold declaration was spoken as if it were fact, the conviction in your voice sending a surge of wanton excitement coursing through his veins. “Say and do as you like, the future you seek will never come to pass.”

Oh, how he adored you.

“Hmm,” he hummed, “You can try and stop me, but you cannot escape what has been predestined.”

During the course of the conversation, your hand had had traveled to the base of an axe, your fingers wrapping around it to grasp the handle in a constricting hold. All of the anger that had been bubbling up reflected in the whites of your knuckles, the tremor of your hand becoming more apparent as your composure slipped further and further. The cool demeanor you initially donned had completely shifted, overridden by the immense agitation his presence was inviting.

The axe was ripped swiftly from the wall, lacking fluidity. There was no care for keeping the wall in tact or making sure all the other weapons that surrounded it stayed in their spot. You ripped it down with one great tug, bits of stone and surrounding armaments clattering noisily into a massive steel heap on the ground as you finally spun around to face him. Zenos had seconds to react as you swung down in a wide arc, the finely sharpened blade slicing easily through the decorative tiling that coated the floor, decimating the ground where he once stood.

“There we are,” Zenos growled in anticipation, sizing you up with a bloodthirsty grin, “you are a vision to behold when you let your ferocity consume you.”

You deigned to answer him, your icy countenance his only response as you straightened your posture, considering your next move. Your distaste for him was clear as you hefted your axe from the ground, dust settling around you as it was freed with a mighty yank. Weapon in hand, you came for him in a relentless torrent, striking at him in a flurry of breakneck swings. In the ensuing madness, he grabbed the nearest weapon he could reach-a sword that was more ornate that functional, but it would serve its purpose for the time being.

The enmity increased as he reciprocated your attacks. Parrying each blow with a steady hand, he responded to your blows with calculated strikes of his own, expertly countering your aggression. The air around the two of you had become electric, charged with hostility and fervor as you hacked away at each other time and time again.

Though frantic, the assault was far from inelegant. Each swing of your axe and swipe of his blade was an orchestrated maneuver befitting the couple who performed them. It was as beautiful as it was fierce, a true force of nature. To an untrained eye the activity would appear as nothing more than a blur of chaos, annihilating all that was in its wake. But to Zenos, a man who had dedicated himself to your study, it was a sight that made his heart ache.

He was witnessing a glorious preamble, a promise forged in battle between himself and his righteous and powerful hero, the only person with whom he ever felt a true connection. This battle, amongst all of its other perks, gave him purpose.

Fighting you, he felt alive. To be the sole receiver of all your ire, your discontent, your undivided attention… it was like a dream. He realized this encounter was most likely just that, a conjuring of your presence from his sleep addled mind, a side effect of his constant ruminations of you. You already occupied each of his waking thoughts, it only made sense that having you visit in his dreams would soon follow.

Be that as it may, the knowledge that this moment lived solely in his mind did little to dissuade his desire to get lost in it, to get lost in you. If he couldn’t have you in the waking world, his dreams would have to suffice, at least for the time being. Besides, there were things he could accomplish in his dreams that would never be plausible elsewhere, moments of intimacy he could forge that would never present a chance of happening in reality.

A particularly rough blow sent Zenos reeling. The sword knocked from his hand scattered just out of reach, his body lurching to an abrupt stop as he collided with rubble that had piled up behind him. A quick glance your way revealed a small smirk ghosting your lips, a hint of satisfaction shining through your hostility. He could see the assurance reflected in your eyes, a swell of pride over the victory you would soon be relishing.

Zenos mirrored your glee, pleased you were having as much fun as he was.

As you hoisted your axe high, thoroughly preoccupied with your pending achievement, Zenos took the moment to strike. Launching himself from the ground, he rammed his body against yours, hitting you hard and fast. The speed at which he closed the gap astounded you as much as the collision had, causing the axe to topple from your hands, skittering out of your reach. A pained grunt escaped your lips as you collided with the ground, Zenos following suit atop you. His hand cradled the back of your head as you fell, catching hold before it could crack against the stony floor. It would do no good to have you suffer injury and pass out now, not as things were about to get truly interesting.

Positioning himself atop your prone form, his body caged you in as you lay beneath him, panting and exhausted. Splayed amongst the rubble, your confusion morphed into a look of annoyance as you realized your situation had drastically changed. Your success had been stolen from you and now the thief had you cornered, trapped right where he wanted.

“I wish you could see yourself as I see you in this moment,” Zenos spoke between his own labored breaths, pressing into you ever further as his face hovered inches from your own, “Disheveled and feral, transformed by your bloodlust, you have never been more breathtaking.”

“I’m not like you,” you retorted sharply, “I don’t revel in such acts of savagery.”

Zenos chuckled, “And yet you seemed quite delighted moments ago when you were convinced victory was within your grasp.” You frowned as his hand found purchase on your chin, gripping it in a tight pinch to keep your focus fixed his way, “But here you are now, bested and at my mercy.”

You grimaced, “I have yet to lose to you. I refuse to concede defeat.”

In response to your bold declaration, he gave a throaty, booming laugh. How was it that you always knew just what to say to drive him absolutely mad with desire?

Unable to contain himself any longer, Zenos smashed his lips to yours, capturing you in a heated and hungry kiss. Your brain took a moment to comprehend the abrupt action, but as it did you began to struggle against it, thrashing and clawing at him in an effort to create distance. Zenos remained firm, making it clear that you had expended far more energy than he had, leaving your assault lacking the power needed to stop him. Whines of displeasure snaked from your mouth as his grip tightened on your chin, squeezing so roughly you couldn’t help but gasp in pain. Eagerly seizing the opportunity, he muscled his tongue inside of you, lapping at the inside of your mouth aggressively. He groaned as he savored the taste of you.

When a need for air arose, he pulled back slightly, staring down at you with lidded eyes. Your saliva coated his lips, giving a glossy sheen as they curled into an offputtingly tranquil smile. His hand moved from your chin to drag languidly across your cheek, the brief touch of his rough finger tips sending a shiver down your spine. Your gaze wavered the longer you stayed trapped in this awkward position, your eyes brimming with uncertainty. You seemed unsure of where to look, what to do, how to escape. In his wishful thinking, Zenos wondered if perhaps you were even unsure if you truly wanted to escape.

Amongst your numerous charms, Zenos found your enigmatic personality to be one of your most appealing. Being such a virtuous being, your motivations, ambition, and drive were all easy enough to sort out. You are Hydaelyn’s chosen, the Warrior of Light, the people’s champion, and you live up to those titles and more. You are a hero through and through, a source of salvation for those you protect and a complete nightmare for those that offer opposition. There is no doubt that you are a force to be reckoned with, no matter what the encounter or situation may be.

And what good hero is without a nemesis? It’s a role the disgraced Prince and betrayer of his kin plays well. In his illustrious life he had gone through the motions, donned many hats, played countless roles, many of which were not of his choosing. But of all his grand titles, your adversary is most certainly his favorite, the only one that gives him any sense of pride. Your existence gave him purpose, and for you alone he kept up the hunt.

But he knew it was different for you. Though cut of the same cloth and driven by destiny to engage him, your feelings did not completely align with his own. You were driven by more than barbarity, more than a duty to save your people and your planet. There was something inside of you, something that made you YOU, that he could never truly know, no matter how desperately he wanted to.

You were his greatest conundrum, a true mystery, and when you look at him as you were now with those eyes that swirled with anger, uncertainty, grief, and something yet unspoken… What was he to do but become a slave to this maddening, consuming attraction?

He gloated about being the victor, but it was clear you would always have the upper hand.

“Get off of me.”

The demand brought him back to the present, sheer determination replacing the conflicting emotions that fought for dominance within you. He could tell by the bite in your voice that your vigor was returning, and given a bit more time and provocation, the battle would gloriously resume.

“Eagar to carry on with our dance, are you?” He responded, an almost teasing lilt to his voice, “Or is it that you just can’t stand the thought of defeat at my hands?

“I already told you, you didn’t defeat me,” you glowered, your rage becoming palpable the longer his unwanted presence loomed, “I came here to end this farce and I plan to do just that.”

A beat of silence passed, followed by a sigh. Parting your lips to speak, your voice came out quieter, more desperate than it had previously.

“I wanted to keep this is civil as possible and respect your wishes as best I could, no matter how twisted they may be. But even for your own benefit, you refuse to entertain the notion of making this situation even the slightest bit amicable. You speak of such lofty things as fate and destiny, but all I am witnessing is you causing unnecessary suffering, hiding behind my name to do so.”

For a split second, another flash of uncertainty danced across your features. You bit your bottom lip in vexation, a glimmer lighting your eyes as they swept across his handsome face, “There is more to this world, more to this life, than waiting for its untimely end. To live out your days perpetuating death and blind havoc is no way to exist, it’s a tragedy. Why can’t you see that? Zenos, I-“

As if taken by surprise, you cut your own words short, silencing the previous thought that had been brewing. Zenos felt as if you looked pained, staring at him with pleading eyes, face scrunched up in frustration. Even with all the hate you carried for him, you were still trying to understand him, still clinging to the hope that maybe you could save him too.

Here, on the cusp of annihilation, you were doing all you could to fulfill the role of hero and protect the people that you loved. In order to fulfill that duty, it meant he must be defeated. There could be no other ending, the inexorable conclusion to all of this was always cold and endless death. Whether it would be all of humanities or just his own was still to be determined, but it did little to change the fact that there was no future to plan for, only a violently rapturous and melancholic end.

To be cherished by you, to feel your love as if he were one of your dearest companions… It was a thought not meant to be dwelled on, but one he found hard to completely shake from his head. How would it feel to be earnestly and unequivocally loved by you? Perhaps in another world, another time, your souls would be reborn and given another chance. A fresh beginning to grow together, an opportunity to nurture something more than the misfortune this world had thrust upon you. Maybe in some alternate telling of this tale the two of you were together and happy, with nothing but a bright future awaiting you on the horizon.

But that was simply a foolish daydream. All that he had, all he could hope for, was the here and now.

You sighed again, steeling your resolve with a shake of your head, “Never mind. You have already proven to me mere words cannot move you, so I will save my breath.”

Raising your torso as much as his hold on you would allow, your eyes bore into his, fully accepting the challenge that lay ahead. Though still restrained, there was an aura of dominance that surrounded you. It was a warning to Zenos that your binds were temporary, whether he released you willingly or otherwise was his decision, but regardless the outcome would be the same.

“If it’s the end you want, it’s the end I will bring you,” your soft words clashed with the look of malice reflected in your eyes, your breath fanning his face as your noses nearly touched. For an instant your eyes darted to his lips, and Zenos wondered if it would be you to instigate the kiss this time.

“I will fulfill my role. I will be your end and your salvation.”

Your words pierced him, the proclamation sending sparks of excitement to course through him, igniting his soul. His whole body burned for you, intense and consuming, his need for you was beginning to show itself in ways beyond his control. Pressing his hips flush between your spread legs, he made his intentions known to you, a shiver wracking his body when you released a small gasp of surprise.

Clutching the remaining shreds of his sanity, he grunted as you writhed against his growing arousal, pulling your body up towards him until he had engulfed you in a tight embrace.

“Enough time has been wasted,” he snarled into your neck, his chest rumbling as his grip on you tightened, “let us deliver a ruin unto ourselves so extraordinary, so beautiful, that naught will remain but the scattered fragments of this forsaken world.”

Loosening his grip, he pressed his lips to your forehead in a chaste, yet gentle, kiss. Your brow furrowed at his touch, shoulders tensing as you drew yourself back from him, recoiling at the small display of adoration. He found the reaction endearing, even with his intentions laid bare and and his hardened cock pressed firmly against your core, it was the smallest token of his affection that caused you to squirm.

Repugnance, hatred, scorn- whatever you felt for him in this moment, none of it mattered, none of it deterred him. He loved you, and he would make that love known in the only way he knew how, while he still had time to do so.

“This shall be my final gift to you,” he purred into your ear, his grip latching securely to your tunic. With nimble hands he started to pull, exposing yourself to him bit by bit as the fabric turned to tatters in his hands. “Let us relish it my friend, my warrior, my beloved. Destroy me, and I shall be your devastation in kind. ”

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alteon77 · 1 year

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Updated Masterlist of Writing and Art

About the writer/artist: I like to write and paint. My current obsession is Sandman, but I enjoy most fantasy fandoms as well as anime (I think I’m on season seven billion of One Piece right now 🤣). I'm also weird as they come (and awkward, too), so just please ignore my oddball (coughTERRIBLEcough) sense of humor.

On a more personal note, I have PTSD and suffer from severe manic depressive episodes. Writing and art are my most familiar coping mechanisms, and I need them like I need oxygen. Seriously, there were times in my life that knowing I had to finish a story or a piece of art was the only thing stopping me from ending up dead. So, I don't take part in fandom drama. Having my peace and protecting my mental health are very big deals to me, and I won't risk those for anything if I can help it.

As for my writing, it ranges from short one-shots to ridiculously long novel series. I use third person POV (on longer series) as well as second person (on shorter things). I also try to always exclude physical descriptions when writing main character OCs and assign them nicknames to avoid using Y/N. I love to read Y/N fics, but writing them makes me feel like I'm at work. And who actually wants to ever feel like they're at work when they're engaging in a hobby? Definitely not me.

Lastly, there's usually more stuff on my AO3 page than I have listed here, because I forget to post it pretty often. Oops. I'll get around to moving it all over one day. Probably. Maybe.

Feel free to leave an ask if you want or just drop by my DMs. <3

Artwork links are at the bottom of this list, so if you're here for those, that's where they are.

Sandman 'Verse

All the Precious and Fragile Things (so easily do they break)

After banishing his lover from the Dreaming for her betrayal, Morpheus learns that she is pregnant with his child.

And that she’s been captured by a revenge-seeking Alexander Burgess.

What the both of them are unaware of is that this will set in motion a cascade of unfavorable events, causing a chain reaction that threatens the whole of existence itself.

PART I: All of This Past

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

PART II: These Tender, Loving Mercies

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

PART III: When It All Falls Down

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

PART IV: The Dark of War

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Epilogue

Sometimes He's Sweet

Morpheus hates the holidays.

As excited as she seems to experience the mortal holiday, he's… less so. Much less so. With the entire collective unconscious contained within him, this time of year can be wholly overwhelming, a miasma of too much red and green, too much worry, too much loneliness, too much excitement, too many similarly themed dreams, too many similarly themed nightmares, and far far too many holiday songs. It all bleeds out from the collective unconscious into his own mind, sticks there like weeping sap to a tree until he feels half-mad with the unrelenting presence of it, with his inability to get free from its cloying trespass upon his very being.

This is just a little sweet fluff for the holiday season. It takes place between chapters 19 and 20 of "All the Precious and Fragile Things". No spoilers here if you've read that far!

The Dog Debacle (or how best to sneak a dragon into the dreaming)

Morpheus' daughter gets a new dog.

Well..... kind of.

That Familiar Feeling of Family (or how Hob Gadling ended up as an uncle to his stranger's oftentimes feral children)

It's a pretty universally known thing that families are just strange. As Hob is quickly figuring out, however, this little fact is magnified by AT LEAST a billion when the family in question is Endless.

(A lighthearted story in which Hob Gadling finds out his stranger has married, makes friends with a homicidal maniac/ruler, and manages to become an exemplary uncle to a pack of magically mischievous children. Really, now all he has to do is convince everyone to stop calling his and Dream's weekly meetups "playdates", and then his life would be practically perfect.)

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

The Maker, the Muse, and the Sundered Song

In his temple, what remains of Orpheus waits in trepidation. Something is changing. Something that he knows might alter the very fabric of the world as he understands it.

Finally freed from captivity, Calliope struggles to make any meaningful changes to the laws that saw her bound and taken in the first place. When the strange woman appears on Mount Parnassus and offers help, Calliope knows she would be a fool not to accept it. Even if she thinks that she's being lied to.

Meanwhile in the peace of the Dreaming, Morpheus grapples with guilt over his son's fate. As he basks in the love of his new children, he can't help but to regret his own failings where Orpheus is concerned.

And as for May, she's really just got a job to do. And her own traumatic issues to deal with. And if it's all hella awkward because she's having to work alongside her husband's ex-wife, she'll see it done anyway. There's even the small possibility that she might eventually admit to Calliope the truth about her identity. That is if she can ever actually work up the courage to say it aloud.

Chapter 1

Nothing in This Closet but Boots and a Boy

Morpheus is wildly protective of his daughter.

That's probably bad for the boy in said daughter's closet.

AU's and Other Stuff in the Sandman 'Verse

Of Exes, Hellhounds, and Waffle Fries

Morpheus shows up to rescue the woman he probably loves (though he won't admit it) from hellhounds and ends up getting roped into helping with her family. This is one of those extras that doesn't fit into the main story, but it's fun, so I'm posting it.

The Bizarre Breeding Habits of Anthropomorphic Personifications

It's a tale as old as time.

Two idiots fall in love. Two idiots fall out of love.

Neither one of them is expecting a baby to come along and derail their unhappily ever after.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Original Fanart

I like to play around with different styles and to try new things with my artwork. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. I'm still learning, and I am so far from being a professional that it's laughable. But I only post things that I think look decent or that I think others might enjoy.

The Lover's Argument (Morpheus x oc)

Oneiros (Morpheus in Grecian garb)

Because I could not stop for Death, she kindly stopped for me... (Regency era Dream and Death)

#sandman fic #morpheus x oc #morpheus #morpheus x reader #morpheus fanfiction #sandman fanfiction #sandman oc #dream of the endless #dad!morpheus #dragons in the dreaming #preciousfragilethings #PFT #bbhap #fanart #fan art #alteon77 fan art

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choicesficwriterscreations · 11 months

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July MC of the Month: Harper Gale

Please welcome our sixth MC of the month! Each month, we will highlight one MC or OC that is currently on our Meet My MC / OC List. The MC / OC is selected randomly on the Wheel of Names, and eligibility requirements can be found here. We accept MC / OC profiles on an ongoing basis. Please feel free to send yours in!

This month's MC of the month is...

@karahalloway's Harper Gale!

To learn more about Harper and her creator, see below.

In your words, tell us what you like most about your MC.

Probably the fact that she knows what she wants and doesn’t hesitate to go after it.

For instance, Harper has had a dream of going travelling around the world for several years, and at the start of (Un)Common Attraction (my somewhat modified rewrite of TRR1), she jumps at the opportunity to go to Cordonia, figuring that this is her chance to kickstart her around-the-world adventure. And even though things don’t exactly go to plan, Harper still tries to make the most of the opportunity at every turn.

She also realises relatively early on that she is much more interested in and feels like herself with Drake, and even though Drake tries to push her away — out of loyalty to Christian (my version of Liam) and in a bid to avoid a scandal — Harper refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer, knowing that Drake has feelings for her too, and eventually convinces him to come around. Obviously, the press scandal on the night of the Coronation Ball throws a massive wrench in the works, but Harper refuses to throw in the towel, despite a lot of proverbial sh*t hitting the fan.

Other things I like about Harper are that she has a very strong moral compass and will fight for what she thinks is right, even in the face of resistance from those she loves and cares about. And she has a big heart — she is always trying to find ways to surprise Drake, be moral support for Max, Hana and Christian, and is always the first to offer help, even if she doesn’t really like the other person.

Do you feel your MC is like you at all? How are you alike or different?

As is the case for many authors and their OC, Harper and I share some similarities. We’re both curious, pragmatic, and down to earth, love to travel and have new experiences. We’re also both quite outdoorsy, love animals, as well as OTT action movies 😆

However, Harper is a lot braver and a helluva lot more resilient than I am — I would never have taken Maxwell up on his offer to go to Cordonia for the social season, and I am not sure I would’ve coped with all the things she goes through in Cordonia the same way she did.

Also, while we both tend to say it like it is (and this gets us into awkward moments sometimes), Harper is a lot more outspoken than I am and will call out BS then and there, while I just do the silent eye-brow raise, akin to Drake 😅

What is most important to your MC? What is their motivation in life?

One of the most important things for Harper is being able to be herself.

This was a big reason why she turned down Christian, because she couldn’t see herself living a ‘fake’ life whereby she had to constantly present an ‘idealised’ image of herself to the public, always having to watch what she said and did, and no longer being able to live a ‘free’ life (in my rewrite, for various reasons, I moved the timeline of this conversation up, so it takes place during the social season, rather than at the end of the engagement tour).

This is also the reason why she gravitated towards Drake very early on — because Drake has always taken her at face value and never expected anything more from her other than exactly what she already was (whereas both the Beaumonts and Christian focus on, and try to use Harper’s status as a lady — and subsequently a duchess — to further their own ends, whether overtly, or covertly).

In terms of where I am with Harper’s story at the moment, her main motivations are clearing her name after the press scandal that broke during the Coronation Ball — in part to set the record straight and restore her reputation, and in part because she doesn’t want to have to keep hiding her relationship with Drake. Because this is kind of an all-consuming thing at the moment, she doesn’t really have mental space to think about more generic motivations 😅

What are their biggest pet peeves/dislikes?

Harper’s biggest pet peeves are being made to feel like an idiot (which is the main reason why she has a hard time getting along with Bertrand, who is a perfectionist taskmaster when it comes to etiquette), and being woken up at stupid-o’clock in the morning for a stupid reason (she very much wants/needs her beauty sleep).

She also takes issue with the two-faced nature of the nobility — outwardly presenting perfection, while inwardly falling prey to infighting, lies, manipulation and entitlement. This is another reason why she gravitated towards Drake almost from the very start because both of them can see the rot of the aristocracy through the superficial glitz and glamour.

If your MC could change one thing - anything - what would it be?

I’m not sure Harper would want to change anything — she believes that things happen for a reason and every cloud has a silver lining, even if you can’t see it at the time.

So even in the midst of her worst experiences, Harper is able to find some kind of light on the horizon (even if it feels intractably out of reach) and focuses on that to get her through whatever hardship she is facing.

What is your MC’s favorite quote or song? Harper has a lot of songs she likes to listen to, depending on her mood, but one of her favourites is Life is a Highway by Rascal Flatts. It very much captures her attitude of freedom, adventure, and curiosity, and the belief that great things are waiting for you if you’re willing to step outside of your comfort zone:

Life's like a road that you travel on

When there's one day here, and the next day gone

Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand

Sometimes you turn your back to the wind

There's a world outside every darkened door

Where blues won't haunt you anymore

Where the brave are free and lovers soar

Come ride with me to the distant shore

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your MC:

I have had a ton of fun getting to know Harper over the 3 or so years that I’ve been exploring her view of the world. But like with any relationship️, you are always learning new things about each other, so I’m sure that as I continue fleshing out Harper and Drake’s story, I’ll learn new things about both of them ❤️

Because unlike some other characters I’ve written — who arrived fully formed — Harper actually developed somewhat slowly as an OC. For instance, when I started my TRR1 rewrite, I didn’t even know what she looked like, and it took me about a year to find an FC for her! 😅

But from the very start, Harper has always had a very clear and distinct voice, which is part of the reason why I ended up writing her story from first-person POV. And the more I write her, the more I love her — almost like a sister — because she feels ‘real’. She has good qualities, yes, but she also has flaws — she can be too trusting, she isn’t always completely honest, she tends to overthink things, she gets heated and emotional and will rip into people (usually legitimately, but that doesn’t make the confrontation any less intense).

And I love her dynamic with Drake 😍 Nine times out of ten, their interactions just write themselves because even though in the big scheme of things, they haven’t known each other for that long, they are very in tune with each other and in many ways they are two sides of the same coin, which means that their interplay is always a perfect storm of snark, sexual tension, and humour.

To learn more about Harper, please see her character bio.

#cfwc mc of the month #mc of the month #harper gale #the royal romance #karahalloway #playchoices #choices fic writers creations #choices fanfic #playchoices fanfic

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callsignspark · 8 months

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Mar[r]y Me - part 8.5

pairing: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x Mariella “M&M” Vertucci (fem!OC)

summary: A love story told through friendship, laughter, and food.

series warnings: 18+ minors DNI, discussion of insecurities, difficult family relationships, discussions of food and alcohol use, discussions of body image, conversations on what it’s like to be a fat woman trying to date in today’s society, extreme fluff, warnings to be added as needed

word count: 2.3k

previous part | series masterlist | main masterlist

note: happy Friday! this is a short but sweet one! see here for my soft-tober announcement and here for a quick update on what's happening in the month of October! have a great weekend!

part 8.5 - McDonald's apple pie

“Don’t get any ideas.”

“I’d never dream of it!”

Mary snuggles deeper into the couch as Pierce Brosnan - her favorite James Bond - races through the streets of Ho Chi Minh City on a motorcycle with Michelle Yeoh handcuffed to his wrist. Her chest hurts; tight from an overwhelming urge to cry and a tiredness she can’t quite shake no matter how much she’s been sleeping lately.

The day had been spent with Danielle and the kids, and it had been fun. They had gone to the beach and gotten Thai food for dinner, the adults devouring pad thai while Annabeth watched Frozen again. It was nice; she loved her family, but she missed Bradley.

More than she thought she would.

They didn’t get a chance to properly say goodbye. He had received a hug and the same “be safe, see you in two months” as everyone else. There wasn’t a spare second to sneak away and kiss him goodbye; there was always someone near them the entire time.

All she could do was slip a good luck note into the palm of his hand and hug him for an extra second longer than anyone else. It was hardly anything, but he still gave her a big smile and a sneaky forehead kiss, whispering that his peanut butter bites were safely stored at the bottom of his pack.

For the millionth time since she sat with Mav in her office and they watched the carrier steam away, Mary wonders where Bradley is. Thanks to her security clearance, she knows he's floating somewhere in the Pacific, but nothing more.

Maybe he’ll come back with an even deeper tan.

Somehow, Bradley is always sort of tan, even in January. Yes, they live in California, where it’s beach weather year-round, but it’s like he was born with a built-in base layer of golden skin.

Bond is just about to magically escape from another precarious situation he’s gotten himself into when the doorbell rings. Mary peeks over the top of the couch, trying to figure out who could be at her front door. Her family is in New York, Slider went back to Pensacola last week, and the majority of people she knows in California are also in the middle of the ocean with Bradley.

The bell rings again, whoever it is knocking this time. She sighs - they’re not going away - and frees herself from her perfectly crafted blanket burrito, a poor substitution for the pair of strong arms she’s missing.

Carefully peeking through the side window, she’s surprised to find Flora standing there and quickly opens the door, a blur of red and pink taking over her vision.

“Happy birthday!” Flora yells, shoving an enormous floral arrangement in her face.

“Than- thank you?”

Mary tentatively grabs the vase, taken off guard, as Flora walks in and slips her clogs off. Dropping her huge L.L. Bean tote bag on the dining room table, Flora laughs at how Mary is frozen at the front door, flowers hiding her torso but not her confused face.

“Here, give me those, and you open this.” Flora pulls a box out of her Mary Poppins-sized bag and takes the vase back. She carefully places the arrangement on the island, fiddling with the stems so they look perfect.

“What is happening?”

“Well, your boyfriend came into my shop about three weeks ago and asked me if I would do him a favor. He was so sweet and pathetic; I couldn’t help but say yes.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Funny.” Flora hums, eyebrow arching in disbelief. “I didn’t say a name, but you knew who I was talking about.”

Mary flushes, the tips of her ears on fire as she tries to stutter out an excuse.

“It’s okay, Mary.” Flora takes pity on her. “I know it’s complicated, but let’s face it, that man would do anything for you. Which is why I’m here, on a Sunday night, with gifts.”

“Gifts?” Mary echoes. “Plural?”

“Mmhm. First up, a floral arrangement full of warm tones because “red is her favorite color, but all red would probably be overbearing” - which is a direct quote.”

“They’re beautiful, Flora.”

“He did a good job, and he deserves a reward for understanding that flowers are expensive and you can’t cheap out if you want a nice, big bouquet. Next is the box.” She slides the brown box across the table, fluffing the ribbon curls on top. “I have no idea what’s in that one.”

Mary carefully opens the ribbons tied around the box, her throat tightening when she takes the lid off. At the top is a notecard with Bradley’s handwriting.

She pulls the sweater out of the box, and her eyes start to water as she holds it up for Flora to see. It’s a light yellow, almost the same shade as the stick of butter softening on her counter, practically identical to the one sitting in her closet, a red stain still covering the front. The material is so soft she can’t help but press her face into it, tears escaping as Bradley’s cologne washes over her.

Fuck. I miss him so much.

This was anticipated; she knows how sad Dani can get during Reuben’s deployments. Knows how sad she would get when her best friend was gone for months. It’s only been two weeks, but it’s the longest they’ve gone without seeing each other. Even during the rough patch in January, they still got glimpses of each other at work. The worst part is not knowing how he’s doing. If he’s okay. She assumes he is; Mav hadn’t mentioned anything, and she’s pretty sure he would tell her.

It would be the only way she would find out. Mary isn’t naïve enough to believe that she would be a first-tier point of contact if he got hurt. They haven’t even gone on a date yet, and the only time they kissed was that day in her office.

She’s pulled out of the impending spiral by a gentle hand rubbing her shoulders, which she didn’t realize were shaking. She lets herself be comforted by Flora, the older woman pulling her into a hug, uncaring about the tears staining her shirt.

“Sorry.” Mary sniffles, pulling back after a minute to wipe her eyes. “I just really miss him, more than I thought I would.”

“It’s okay, I get it.”

“That’s right. I forgot about Jake.”

She realizes she said something wrong by the way Flora’s hand goes stiff on her back.

“Jake and I are not together.”

“Oh. He just- when we were talking, he kinda implied that the two of you were sort of seeing each other.”

“We’ve fucked a few times, we're not together.”

Mary blinks at her. Jake had never said anything about sex; he was lamenting that Flora didn’t want to see a movie he was excited about. Sad that the florist wouldn’t join him.

“Jake, I mean, I don’t know Flora very well, but I gotta say she doesn’t really seem like a zombie apocalypse kinda girl.” Mary gently soothed, trying to give equal attention to her email inbox and the mopey Texan. “Why don’t you find a movie you’ll both like?”

“I tried! She doesn’t want to go to the movies at all. I know she’s busy - like she runs a whole ass business all by herself - but it’s like she doesn’t even care that we’re gonna be gone for two months!”

“Did you tell her that you want to spend time together before you leave?”

“No. We’re just- that’s not-” Jake sighs, cut off by Mary’s phone.

They had never finished their conversation; Jake had a hop and Mary a meeting, and a few days later, he was shipping out alongside Bradley.

“Okay. I’m sorry, he didn’t mention that, so I must have misunderstood.”

“You probably didn’t.” Flora rolls her eyes. “Jake likes to talk like we’re together, but I’ve told him several times a relationship is not what I’m looking for from him.”

“Can I ask why?” She quickly backtracks when the other woman’s face scrunches up. “Oh my god, you absolutely don’t have to say anything. I wasn’t trying to push.”

“No, you’re fine. Jake is a great guy. He’s smart and funny and handsome, but we want different things in life. Things that can’t be compromised on and that I won’t ever change my mind about. So there’s really no reason for us to try anything serious. I told him that before they deployed, but I’m officially breaking it off when they’re back because I’m not sure he got the hint.”

“That makes sense; that’s probably the best way to go about it.” She nods, impressed by how strong Flora is in her conviction and a bit sad at the same time. Those two would be great.

“Sucks, though. He’s incredible in bed.”

Mary lets out a bark of laughter at the complete 180 in conversation. “That surprises me and doesn’t surprise me all at the same time.”

“It’s that atrocious arrogance of his, isn’t it?”

“Yes! An ego like that means a man is either totally overcompensating, or he knows he’s good, and he’s got the moves to prove it.”

“Oh, he’s got the moves. Believe me.” They laugh at the eyebrow wiggle that accompanies Flora’s words.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve gotta know. That ridiculous Texas accent he pulls out when he’s trying to charm someone-”

“-does he use it in bed? More frequently than you would imagine.”

“Okay… but, like, does it do it for you?”

“I plead the Fifth,” Flora says as she furiously nods.

“Stop! Wait! And the cowboy hat?”

She laughs harder, tears in her eyes as she gasps, “Both of us!”

“You’ve both worn it?!”

Flora’s confirmation makes them both howl with laughter, Mary bending over and holding onto the table for support. It takes a few minutes for them to calm down, wiping tears away as they catch their breath.

“Well, that’s got to be the least shocking thing I’ve learned about Jake.”

It makes them both start giggling again; the blonde man’s affinity for his home state is well-known, frequently coming up in conversation.

“I should get going. I have to be up early to set up for a funeral. But I have one more thing for you, well, two things.” Flora dips back into her bag, pulling out a brown paper bag and a square envelope. “From Bradley.”

“McDonald’s?”

“Well, he requested I get you an apple pie - it had to be an apple pie - from Sift, but by the time I got there this afternoon, all their pies were gone. So I improvised, and thankfully, Mickey D’s had just done a fresh batch.”

“Apple pie is my favorite.” Mary quietly says, peeking into the bag and seeing five pie boxes. “Thank you for doing this, Flora.”

“It’s no problem. Bradley was so cute when he came in; I couldn’t help but agree. It’s sweet how much he cares about you.”

“I’m starting to understand how much he really does.” A content feeling settles in her chest, warming her up from the cold sadness that was taking over earlier.

Only 60 more days until Bradley is home.

“You’ll probably want to warm those up before you eat them,” Flora says, slipping her shoes back on, getting ready to leave.

“Hey, we're having a girls' night and putting together care packages for the Daggers next week. You should come, you can help with Nat’s box. Plus, it’s great to have extra hands to help put them together.”

“That sounds fun; I’d love to join you guys.” She opens the door and hesitates for a second, turning back to Mary. “No one knows about me and Jake hooking up. I didn’t tell Nat because she wouldn’t understand, and I don’t think he’s told anyone either. I’d like to keep it that way.”

“No problem. I’m always here to talk if you want some fairly neutral input.”

“Fairly neutral?”

She shrugs. “I know he can be an idiot, but Jake is a good guy, and he’s also my friend, so I can’t be completely unbiased about him. Fairly neutral is the best I can offer.”

“Fair enough.” Flora smiles at her, yelling back as she walks down the steps. “We should grab dinner sometime! Have a good night!”

“Night!” Mary waves, happier than she’s been since the beginning of the month.

She locks the door after making sure Flora gets into her car safely, promising herself that she’ll reach out to friends more. No more moping around, being sad that Bradley is gone.

I’ve got to learn how to deal with this if we’re going to date. It’s not like he’s going to leave the Navy; he’s going to be gone.

Snapping photos of her presents, she starts mentally composing the thank you email she’s going to send to Bradley. The Lincoln is on a communications blackout for the first three weeks of the cruise, but she’s been sending him little updates. Letting him know when she’s thinking of him, hoping she isn’t filling up his inbox too much.

She plops back into her favorite corner of the couch, stretching out on the chaise that makes her get a little hot under the collar every time she sits on it.

“Let’s read this card.” She mumbles to herself around a bite of pie as Bond saves the world and gets the girl.

A photo flutters out of the envelope as she pulls the card out, and she loses her breath when she flips it over. It’s the two of them on Valentine’s Day. When she made him pancakes, the photo he said he was going to tape up in his bunk.

A promise he followed through on, his last text showing off his rack. Corners of the blue blanket neatly tucked in, and the photo of the two of them taped on the wall right next to his pillow. Mary looks at the photo he printed for her, smiling at the happiness radiating from both of them. The corners of their eyes crinkled, and her dimple popping out; she still can’t quite believe that Bradley Bradshaw wants her, of all people.

Then she reads the card, and her insecurities quiet down for the night.

if you would like to be added (or removed) from the tag list please send an ask!

fic tag | credit for dividers here

#top gun maverick fic #top gun maverick au #top gun maverick imagine #top gun fic #top gun au #top gun imagine #bradley rooster bradshaw fic #bradley bradshaw fic #bradley rooster bradshaw x oc #bradley bradshaw x oc #bradley bradshaw imagine #rooster imagine #DSS universe #MM fic #elle writes #mar[r]y me fic

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yxstxrdrxxm · 2 months

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And that... Is the end of Flawed.

Or the one I hosted for my silly event here anyway.

[ TL;DR under read more: The lack of interest and stress I got from irl matters led me to drop the event and ending it early, but! I have a blog made for the sake of continuing/restarting the event.

Please vote on the poll if you want it to be catered to the reader or stick to Yesterday, and be unbiased, too. Vote what you want, and I'll try and make it happen.]

CONTEXT UTC:

So, I know you guys have a lot of questions, and I can't blame you. I know the biggest one in your mind right now, which is:

Why did I end Flawed early?

The reason why I ended Flawed was actually multiple. Please keep in mind that these are for my observations, and overall I'm not blaming anyone for this. I just noticed it and thought I should bring it up lol.

1. Writing for days burnt me out.

Although Flawed is a passion story/project of mine, writing so much burnt me out. And by a lot. There were days I struggled to think of writing because I have other commitments to do, and sometimes its why polls came out super late or super early. I tried to compensate for it by posting 1 poll a day, but when it didn't work, I pushed myself to make more for 1 day.

I wanted so badly for the whole event to flow like a CYOA because by next month (April), I won't be free to host this as I used to with OLC. However, in that process, I burnt myself out to the point I needed to take longer breaks/forget this event.

It sucks. I would not recommend doing this if you think you want to (because it is NOT worth it).

2. Interactions were... Lacking.

This event is interaction heavy, and the reason why is because you guys control the story that Yesterday and others are in. Naturally, this also affects the characters and how I shape Flawed from start to finish. I have a plot line for it, of course, but the interactions were... Not there.

I noticed the usual ones from my mutuals, sure, but there were moments that I felt like I was simply posting to no one. It was unfortunate during the time with Diluc, where I had hoped that some of you would go, but due to complications (ahem, the votes weren't able to decide on going when the deadline was up), I had to write how it's supposed to go with some... Changes.

It also made me feel sad to see that there weren't much (if at all) interactions to Yesterday. Tinuvion received a fair bit, which is nice because he's a little shit (please bully him lol), but Yesterday after the first week and a half just... Didn't get any. At least, in my records.

I'm not saying this to guilt you guys to interact more, but I am saying this because it feels sad for me to see that unlike OLC, this... Flopped. I had a lot of responses + moments planned if it took off that much, but... Oh well. There's always that one story that won't hit for everyone.

And finally:

3. Maybe you guys wanted it to be catered to you, not to an OC.

I had a feeling that, from the start, Flawed may not take off.

Unlike One Last Call (which was a matchup event + story), Flawed was a CYOA but you guys aren't the main focus/MC, Yesterday (my oc) is. I was hoping that with this method, you guys get to play the omnipotent voice and see how far the story can go until it's conclusion.

However, as I hosted the event for the next few days to weeks, I realized that it was simply too difficult. Maybe I wasn't prepared to host this type of format, as ambitious as it is, but I realized that maybe, you guys don't deserve this format and I should've made it catered to a reader insert instead.

It was hard for me to swallow the pill that this event may not be fun for the majority. I knew that having an OC be the MC + canon characters interact with them may be flaky at best (esp the whole OC x Canon being... well. very much a huge "oh dear"), but seeing minimal interaction/interest than my friends were (and people I admire, too. Hi Harmony! o/!!) and realizing that maybe I shouldn't have done this just... Made me regret it.

For that, I'd like to say:

I'm so, so sorry that this event failed. I'm very sorry if you guys expected it to be like OLC: about the reader/reader insert format.

I know it's not right for me to apologize, but I feel that I have to. I let all of you down, and I don't want you guys to be disappointed in something that you all don't like to see in this blog.

So I decided that I'll run this event in its own blog, but here's the thing.

I don't know if I should keep Yesterday in the blog.

I have to open up a poll for this, so here's the options you guys have for it's fate:

If you guys want it to be a reader insert game (aka you are the main star, not Yesterday), I will set up a menu to BUILD your personal darling.

This means that you guys get to decide how darling will look, the gender, their preferences, and even their job. However, this will be for your darling, and if darling dies, you can't use them anymore.

PROS: This is catered to the reader, and thus, you guys are the ones to choose your own destiny. I won't be the one to decide this time, and if the majority agrees on a specific option, your darling will do just that. This is also more open for variety + reader/canon interaction because I know some of you would have a lot of fun being able to see yourselves in the story.

CONS: When your darling dies, you get the chance to restart. However, the game will continue on with a new darling you guys will have to make and the stats reset to zero. The characters will also mention your past darling, and you'll have to restart from scratch. I still need to tweak this, but just know that it is VERY tricky for you if your first darling dies.

If you guys want it to stay the same (Yesterday is the MC), the format will remain the same.

This means what you witnessed here in the blog WILL happen on the other blog.

PROS: You guys get to either continue or restart with Yesterday's story, and with newfound knowledge, you get to choose more options that were previously unavailable. This also opens up to you all being able to essentially shape Yesterday's outlook + what'll happen to them, because you are the one guiding them to their happy ending.

CONS: This one does not offer a restart like the reader insert (one try only), and this could result to another "this'll flop because many people aren't interested". We've seen it happen here, so please decide wisely.

If you guys want BOTH, the format will be different as you have the option to build a darling (reader insert) or stick to Yesterday's story.

This means there will be a new system for both options to be available, alongside new menus!

PROS: You guys get to have a chance of an 'easy route' or 'hard route' and all of you can use your experience/s to get your desired ending for either one <3 go crazy lol

CONS: If you choose one of the two options for both, the latter will be locked. That's the only consequence I have for this one tbh.

So yes, I'd like to say thank you, and sorry for the fail of Flawed on this blog. I wish I could give you all the quality like in OLC, but there were... Too many things to consider. Sobs.

If you guys still want to continue, please lmk. I worked hard on Flawed and I still want to continue, but this time, its a permanent event and will be on my own pace.

Thank you for your support. Again. And I'll see you guys next time (be it a random fic or the next event <3)

#💌 ;; messenger writes #💌 ;; promising letter: flawed

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delicatefade · 6 months

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(WIP Wed/Whenever) kissy kissy Dalish elves

What if I actually posted on tumblr instead of just reblogging art? I've been writing a Dragon Age fanfic with no canon characters because I am a clown. It's a love story told in three four stories between my OC Eilan Lavellan and @bluewren's OC Lex Lavellan. They are twenty years old. Here is a fluffy little love snippet. (for any familiar with my main Eilan/Solas story, this is an AU for Eilan.)

Context: Lex and Eilan have been dating in secret for 8 months. Eilan insisted on keeping it secret because she didn't want to be the center of gossip. Lex didn't care if everyone knew but went along with Eilan's secretive nature. Their cover was just blown and everyone at Clan Lavellan now knows. CW: sex implied, nudity word count: 653

Eilan was surprised by how much she enjoyed having her secret exposed. That everyone knew she and Lex belonged to each other made her feel proud, even smug. Surely she had the envy of every other young woman — who better a catch than Lex? And who would have expected him to fall for Eilan, who was pretty enough but a bit odd, a loner who lived too far in her own head and practiced strange hobbies like elven calligraphy and writing. Being recognized as a couple had its practical benefits as well. They no longer had to invent ruses to explain their absences. They could disappear together, hand in hand, in plain view of their clan. Though Lex and Eilan had never named what had grown between them, in the eyes of the others they were clearly now a committed couple. Eilan was inclined to adopt their view.

To disappear together was as far as she dared express herself in public. When they were at camp Eilan preferred not to kiss or touch unnecessarily. Lex, she suspected, would have preferred to flaunt their relationship. He had sat close to her by the fire and rested his hand on her knee. The following day he swam out to where she bathed in the shallow sea just to hold her, the two of them weightless in the water. She reciprocated with a quick kiss, a small touch or a shy embrace, enough to make sure he never felt rejected, but invariably she would cut short his sweet affections, whispering to him that someone could see. He did not seem to mind. Or if he did, he never said. It helped that they often found time to be alone together. They each had daily duties, everyone in the clan did, but Eilan had found a way to pawn off some her chores onto a much younger cousin by baiting the girl with unfair bets. “I bet that when I drop this quill it will fall upwind,” Eilan said, knowing full well she could tip the quill with a sleight of hand. “Bet you can’t blow out all these candles in a single breath,” she said after having coated two wicks in essence of wyvern’s breath so that they would burn more stubbornly. The girl was only twelve, an apprentice healer of an agreeable and shy nature. By the fourth bet Eilan suspected that the girl had caught on, but was so thoroughly enjoying Eilan’s attention that she was willing to spend the day de-stemming spindleweed in Eilan’s stead. On those days Eilan would meet Lex in the forest where it was his duty to tend to wild gardens, thought admittedly when Eilan was there he tended to little but her. “Hold on. One second. I should check on the peppers,” Lex said as he disentangled himself from Eilan and stood up from the ground. They had just made love on a patch of summer squash. Fat bright leaves clung to Eilan’s bare back as she sat up to watch Lex move, his nude body gorgeous in the dappled sunlight. He pulled free a pepper from a nearby plant and screwed up his nose at it. It was a runty thing, curled in on itself like an angry cashew, bright red and gnarled. Lex raised a bewildered brow. “…the fuck?” Eilan repressed a laugh, her whole body shaking, tears in her eyes, lips twitching as she covered her mouth. “Oh yea?” Lex grinned, trying not to laugh. “You think it’s funny?” He tossed the sad pepper behind him and dove towards her, nipping at her neck as he guided her back into the cushy leaves. She shrieked with delight. “It’s all your fault,” he teased. “You’re the… what’s that word again? The title of your play? The Saboteur.” Eilan gasped. “You remembered the title of my play!” Lex wagged his brows cockily as if to say ‘duh.’

Tagging: @monocytogenes, @crackinglamb, @about2dance, @nirikeehan, @theluckywizard, @oxygenforthewicked @melisusthewee @rosella-writes and anyone else who might want to share their WIPs!

#eilan lavellan #my ocs #oc x oc #oc x oc ship #dragon age fanfiction #dragon age fic #wip excerpt #snippet #delicatefade wip #delicatefade excerpts #kissy kissy #dalish elves

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the-owl-tree · 1 year

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meowdy! my name is deer (they/them). this is my xenofiction rambling blog with a heavy focus on battle cats. i enjoy being critical of things i read so if that isn't your thing, this might not be the spot for you. you can find my rambles under the tag #deer rambles. i generally rate this blog 16+ (though im not gonna go out of my way and check tbh) as more mature subject matter sometimes does arise during discussions.

i also really enjoy art! you can find stuff i've drawn under #deer scribbles. My commissions are currently closed.

other links:

twitter/x

my carrd & tos

main blog (general warning for suggestive and sexual humor on there) & art blog

I get a lot of xenofiction recommendations and Tumblr’s search system is straight up ass, so I’ve compiled them into a post! Click here to read through and feel free to send suggestions :)

blog specific info under the cut

Important Documents Pertaining to Warriors:

Warrior Cats and Anti-Indigenous Writing

The Feather Issue Doc

byf

i’m very loose with tags but i do try and get the general stuff, feel free to shoot me an ask if you need something tagged

if you want me to reblog your art, feel free to tag me in it!

i like to complain about this series a lot more than praise it. i find warriors really fun to pull apart, i think it's awful and deserves every nitpick it gets.

if you send me an ask and you want it to be answered privately, please tell me

this is a WC SPOILER ZONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! currently i am only tagging spoilers for the newest wc arc, you can block the tag #asc spoilers to avoid spoilers for it!

some general requests for when sending me asks/messages:

#1 rule is always be nicies to me

please avoid personal anecdotes. i understand sometimes discussions on here veer into personal territory but i am a stranger and i don't always know how to handle responding to that.

it takes me a bit to post some asks. the longer it is, the longer it'll take me to get to it.

i might not respond at all if i don't want to deal with potential discourse and/or i just don't know how to reply to it.

sometimes this blog veers into topics outside of battle cats/xenofiction, i don't really want to discuss general discourse if i don't have to. i do not want to argue about online lgbt+ discourse, that's exhausting.

you can disagree with me, i like to hear other people's opinions. but don't be nasty about it, that's a one way ticket to get yourself booted from here. i love discussions, not people trying to rag on one another.

banned topics: nightheart, mapleshade's vengeance

here are some stories i have going going that i love to talk about:

#honey's horrible time - A work-in-progress story about a human being who is killed and reincarnated into a warrior cats rip-off series where she possesses the body of one of the minor antagonists in the book. All information on this story is available in this masterlist.

#poolverse - An nextgen AU revolving around an alternate AVOS cast. It's set in the aftermath of a very different OotS where the Clans decide to abolish the borders and attempt to live peacefully...to mixed results. This is a soft reboot of my older "new generation au"!

#fallen stars au - An alternate universe for The Darkest Hour in which Firestar must flee the forest with friends. All information on the story + archived art from the former ask blog can be found here.

#ask bean - my wc oc named bean who becomes the clan's mediator after the events of squirrelflight's hope. i used to run an ask blog for her but i didn't have the energy to maintain it. you can see the old asks here.

#pinned post #idk how many ppl actually can see my about page #so i thought i might as well just turn it into my pinned post

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darsynia · 1 year

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Main Masterlist

Header by the delightful @whenemmafallsinlovesntv! Icon by the dear @goth-butt

I write primarily for Tony Stark and Steve Rogers (with some sides of Stephen Strange, Remus Lupin, and others), and I'm open to suggestions (but can't promise I'll be able to fill your request, as I'm a mom of 3 who are all as extra as I am. I will do my best!)

MCU Masterlist

Tony Stark Masterlist

Steve Rogers Masterlist

My AO3

Click 'Keep Reading' to find a selection of what I've updated recently!

Quick links for RBs before they existed: MCU Masterlist | HP Masterlist

{ Fave: 💚 }{ Romance: ♥️ }{ Angst: 🖤 }{ All Audiences: 🤍 }{ Smut: 🔥 }

TRUST FALL MASTERLIST

Tony/OC 'terrorists make them fall in love.' ♥️🔥 | Chapter 26b

IRON HELIX MASTERLIST

(Tony/OC fan in the world, possible series) 💚♥️🔥 | Chapter Two

NEARER, MY GOD, TO THEE

Tony/Steve Titanic AU (not Jack/Rose, no death) Complete in 4 parts 💚♥️🔥 Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four

PRESENT IMPERFECT MASTERLIST

I KNOW NO OTHER WAY THAN THIS ♥️🤍

(Tony & Bruce friendship, Bruce/OFC) Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | TBC

SAFE IN MY (OUR) ARMS series 💚♥️🔥 (Eventual Steve x Bucky x lounge singer!Reader Sex Pollen)

Part I: HAND(S) OFF MASTERLIST -complete 4/6

Part II: SHIPPING AND HANDLING

Ch 1: Vicinity | Ch 2: Urgency | Ch 3: Gravity -new! 10/23

Thank you for reading! I have a wealth of pre-existing (complete and WiP) stories on AO3, and will be slowly filling in with new and existing work here on Tumblr. Please feel free to check over there!

Here's a cross-section of some of my favorites. If you'd like to speed up my posting them to Tumblr, please don't hesitate to send an ask!

All of these are longfics BTW. And yes I write a 'fan in the world' for every fandom I guess!

Exile All the Longer (MCU)

(Tony/OC soulmate Endgame fix-it) 💚♥️🖤🔥

Iron Helix (MCU)

(Tony/OC fan in the world, possible series) 💚♥️🔥

Joined By the Waters of Time (BRIDGERTON)

(Anthony/OC (kinda Reader?) book fan in the world) 💚♥️🔥

HP Masterlist (HP WiPs on hiatus in protest. Zero support for JKR)

A Solution More Beautiful (HP)

(Remus/Sirius/OC series, book fan in the world HP rewrite)💚♥️🖤🔥

The Longest Distance (HP)

(Hermione/Remus, time travel book 7 fix-it) 💚♥️🖤🤍

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princerevelucide · 4 months

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Sometimes you mention that you've had an idea for a kiu sequel story, I haven't seen you talk about it in detail anywhere before unless I missed it? Please feel free to use this ask to ramble as much as you'd like about it!

i never really did talk about it in much detail!! i always wanted to actually do something with it, but it’s honestly very unlikely at this point since i’m no writer lmao, so i may as well just full plot summary at this point. it’s very self indulgent because it features my ocs AND focuses on my favorite guy :)

it was going to start with somewhat cliche ~imbalances of power~ popping up in a few spots, specifically five of them that each had a different effect and were badly messing with humans (palutena cares, viridi does not) and with animals and plantlife (palutena cares, viridi VERY MUCH cares) and so angels are sent off to investigate, as well as probably phosphora and some of viridi’s little creatures too. these five spots are eventually found to be connected to the five primal gods who created the universe and have been dormant since, with each of the magic voids tapping into something they represented - life, love, time, sky, and shadow.

of course, this upsets other forces too, leading to gods that weren’t involved in the war on hades trying to work out what was going on (aka my main ocs asterie, linus, raniris, and dia) and other such things that would probably make it so the first few chapters are relatively low stakes and just getting into the whole thing. raniris and dia are introduced around here as dia becomes part of Team Angel to figure out what’s going on.

the first major turning point would be when aurum invasion 2 happens, except it’s probably not really the aurum is just the same concept but more intelligent. they do whatever and in the process of pit and dark pit dismantling the place and being the main characters, the Not Aurum take loose shed feathers that they naturally dropped during combat (dia’s magic wings do not shed) and uses them to create an AI clone of them both that uses their combined DNA as a base, that being pit0.exe or just Zero. he has his moment and his character arc and he dies and everyone thinks the whole thing was just a momentary distraction that’s finally over.

but zero’s existence catches the attention of the primal goddess of life who is waking, as even as an ai he’s deemed to be his own living being with a soul and a heart. and he has connections to pit - sure, of course she knows of pit, she knows of every life that’s ever come and gone, even while she was dormant - but then she notices the other half of zero’s basis and realised that there’s a living, breathing life she’d never seen before, that being dark pit. the existence of the rogue ai has drawn Life’s attention to the mirror clone she never saw before.

that’s part of why i always did mention that the plot of this story boiled down to that one post that’s something like, ‘god just called me and said he didn’t make me and didn’t know what i was’

palutena and viridi notice the ancient power voids slowly growing and becoming more active, taking a bit to realise they’re targeting them; taking even longer to realise they’re not generally attacking them all back in self defense or anything, but are now targeting dark pit and eventually end up pulling him into one of the voids where no one can follow to get him out.

this of course becomes both an ecological disaster because the voids continue to grow and act out and affect the world around them, but it’s now also a rescue mission that feels really bleak. how in the hell, after all, do you rescue someone who was abducted by ancient gods older than the universe, from whom the current gods spawned and have no actual power over them, and yet are our only hopes?

for a while it’s a search mission and a self defense thing as they try to survive and find weak points in the primal gods’ voids. it depends on pit and dia as the main angels at the front, and eventually aui shows up too to help out, as urged by mynta who is not actively around at this point. asterie and linus would also be more formally introduced around this point too.

and okay so from there the concept is somewhat underdeveloped, but the idea was in part that dark pit’s previously-unnoticed-by-the-primordial-soup vessel becomes a sacrificial lamb for the five primal gods - literally becoming a shadow in ritual robes with sheep’s horns and tail, no voice, and barely even a face - and the trouble becomes ‘well we’ve found him, now how do we get him out of there and get the primal gods to back off of our world without killing him’. something something remake the rebelling world, something something please don’t do that and also can we have our edgy guy back too. just imagine an epic zelda final boss fight.

that is pretty much as much as i’ve got for my kiu sequel… and i would happily hand it and my ocs all over to sakurai to make it a reality if i could

#kirby answers #anonymous #kid icarus #kid icarus uprising

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zwy01 · 4 months

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Reiner doodles!!!

Ahhhhhh my little prince boy!! He’s finally here!!! He’s HERE!!!

This is my OC, Aretis Verja Di Reiner! He is Razark and Raskreia’s son, and the latter’s heir.

I haven’t gone in depth with his backstory yet, so I’m going to do that here. He’s one of my 15 “main” characters of my Millennium AU and his full bio is up in my pinned post.

A brief recap on Reiner’s family. Typically, Reiner is an only child. His hypothetical full-sibling and younger sister Lorenda Roxanne Di Gloria does exist depending on how the mAU storyline is interpreted, which is very flexible in itself. If Gloria exists, she is born after Reiner runs away from Lukedonia. She is not a “100%” existing character in my mAU, which is why she isn’t in my lineup featured in my pinned post.

I love Reiner for his complexity and I’ve hardly even mentioned him at all. Ahhhhhhhh. I’m like, SO excited to finally talk about him. I’ve been waiting for this moment for four years since his creation!!!! And he’s by far one of my most layered characters, which is also why I’m not sure about how much I’ll be able to get through in this post. Probably won’t even be able to fit in most of his backstory in one go but I’ll do the best I can to cover major points. He’ll definitely get more posts of his own in the future, so what I don’t get to finish here, will go there. And you may recall me mentioning how I will expand on Gloria’s backstory as a two-in-one with Reiner’s character post. As of now, that won’t hold true anymore because Reiner’s own stuff turned out to be much longer than what I had expected so I think I’ll end up giving Gloria her own post. (She deserves her own post despite being a situational character. Looks like there will be 16 posts total, haha) Yay! My precious Reiner’s partially complete backstory.

Before I jump right into Reiner’s story, I want to give a little more context on this AU in general because I feel like I haven’t clarified exactly why this AU is not a happy one, but an angsty one. The answer is Lord Raskreia. Presumably everything goes well post-ending in the post-canon timeline. Crombel’s nukes are dealt with, Raskreia takes her two Clan Leaders back to Lukedonia, and life goes on etc etc. That is the “good ending” for Raskreia and the general noble population. Basically your happily-ever-after ending. (In this timeline, Reiner is nonexistent because Razark is dead, and he stays dead. Reiner is replaced with Raskreia’s son whom she has with Kei, with the latter serving as the soul fragment donor. That’s a lot of new information at once. But the post-canon timeline kidlord deserves his own post so that’s for later. He actually made a brief appearance in my crackship nextgen post so feel free to check it out!) This is where my mAU thematically diverges from canon. Razark being alive isn’t even the main focal point of this AU. In my mAU timeline, Lukedonia is ruled by the “bad ending” Raskreia.

To be exact, Lord Raskreia who doesn’t take the canonical series of events very well. I mean, just think about it. Traitor nobles, werewolves, modified humans, bloodstones, satellites, nukes… they just kept coming. And it all happened during her reign, right under her nose. The world was in danger, and Lukedonia was in danger. They were more than fortunate enough to save Razark in the nick of time before the traitor nobles were able to finish him off. Raskreia and her two Clan Leaders were more than fortunate enough to return safe and sound after facing Crombel’s nukes head on. Now what? To think that all threats have been eliminated, and that the world is finally at peace, would be rather unrealistic. Too optimistic. After all, just look at what happened. For this exact reason, Raskreia feels uneasy and she is unable to relax. She can’t guarantee that the possibility of future attacks is at 0% …none of them can. It is unlikely, but you can’t just ignore the what ifs. Thanks to these series of events, Raskreia more or less decreed that Lukedonia would continue to stay on guard in a half-emergency state. Everyone must be vigilant and prepared to respond to emergencies anytime and anywhere. Admittedly, they were a bit underprepared during the most recent, and hopefully the last invasion of Lukedonia. To her, this was a wake up call. The world has gotten more dangerous as it developed. And it will continue to develop at fast pace. So she called for action. The guards’ training program doubled in intensity and duration. Those who did not show substantial improvement were deemed under-qualified, got removed from their posts and then replaced by faster, stronger, and more qualified individuals. Raskreia also assigned more people to patrol duty; along the coast, in the forest, in the mountains… until every last inch of Lukedonian land had eyes monitoring it. She enforced evacuation drills at regular intervals. She established a new alert system. Ludis, along with many other nobles, were called in to investigate and enforce the barrier of Lukedonia in hopes that a stronger barrier with increased resistance to being deactivated would make Lukedonia harder to penetrate. The list would continue on. To summarize, Lukedonia is now harder to enter… and harder to leave. You know what that entails.

In my mAU, the Clan Leaders’ relationship with Raskreia also takes a different approach to canon. They are still extremely loyal to her and will respond to her commands without hesitation. Except what’s different here is that they are not so sure if they trust her completely. This could refer to many things, but it’s mostly pointing to Gejutel’s incident during the first Lukedonia arc. The Clan Leaders pretty much witnessed their Lord almost executing Gejutel, her trusted advisor and one of her most loyal subjects who also served the Previous Lord during his reign. All because of a misunderstanding and suspicions that she didn’t even bother to fully investigate. She was willing to accuse and execute him just like that. So the man who dedicated his life to serve her, and her father, only meant that much to her. Fortunately the misunderstanding was eventually cleared thanks to Raizel’s timely intervention. Had it not been for the noblesse, the old man would’ve met his tragic fate under a false treason charge. Did Raskreia even apologize to him in the end? And… what does Gejutel think of her now? The Clan Leaders don’t know what Gejutel thinks of this entire incident, nor does he ever bring it up. As curious as these Clan Leaders are, they know better than to ask Gejutel himself, as it would be impolite. If he didn’t complain, then none of them can. Gejutel’s loyalty to Raskreia seems to remain the same, at least from what they can observe. But they can’t help but think… what if they were in his shoes? How would they feel? After all, Raskreia proved that she was willing to jump to conclusions and execute a reputable, loyal subject like that in an almost whimsical manner. Just, you know… does this mean that them witnessing Gejutel’s almost-execution is simply them getting a glimpse into their own future? Will their Lord still be as immature? What will the future even hold for them? Sure, they are still loyal to her, by both their own choice and their duty. But again. They couldn’t help but think in that direction.

And that wraps up my brief overview of my mAU! Hope that answers some questions, and gives a little more context on why Raskreia and Reiner act the way they do in my storyline. Without further ado, let’s get started on Reiner’s story! Yeahhh!!!!

We already know that Reiner is the heir to the throne of Lukedonia. It is a fate to which he is tied since birth, and one he can never separate himself from. He is meant to follow in Raskreia’s footsteps and succeed her as Lord one day, just like how she succeeded his grandfather, and his grandfather’s many, many ancestors before him. He shall become the next ruler of Lukedonia who will protect them and guide them to prosperity. Reiner the great and glorious. Eeeexcept his future is neither great nor glorious. Reiner gets depressed, ditches his identity entirely, and runs away after his attempt to reform Lukedonia into a democracy fails. Currently, he is permanently on the run with his mother and her elite search party coming after his head. Reiner adopts a human name, disguises himself, and works part-time jobs in the human world all while skillfully evading whoever is after him. He’s a fugitive on Lukedonia’s most-wanted list, but he’d take that over being the prince of a suffocating noble country. Anything but that. And we will witness how his story unfolds, from his early childhood all the way to his escape many years later.

On Reiner’s general character. In terms of appearance, Reiner resembles his maternal grandmother Desdemona very much. A mysterious aura, beautiful eyes, and wavy black hair that turns into a wonderful crimson shade under the sun. Personality-wise, he also has some of Mona’s stubbornness when it comes to firmly sticking to his beliefs. But it’s not just Mona. Reiner also takes after his maternal grandfather, the Previous Lord. Their personalities overlap quite a bit. Just like the Previous Lord, Reiner is charismatic, outgoing, has his sense of humor, and is open to new ideas. Despite being stubborn at times, Reiner can also be quite flexible, especially when it comes to keeping up with the ever changing world. But Reiner is even more upfront and vocal about it. He himself is the change; he doesn’t need to wait for it to happen. And he doesn’t want to wait. Back then, his grandfather voluntarily entered eternal sleep with his Clan Leaders to pave way for the new generation. And Reiner? He would much rather witness change with his own eyes. He doesn’t just want to believe in it, he wants to see it happen real time. Reiner will be there to implement what he envisions by being the person to lead them all. He wants all the nobles to live up to their fullest potential, and he has confidence in himself that he will be able to figure out something that works for everyone. Reiner is positive about the future. He will be a responsible, caring Lord who has everyone’s best interest at heart. His bright future awaits him. Not only will he be his people’s leader, he will also be their friend. It will be his responsibility to guide them as their equal. And when he passes, he will be remembered as a great Lord.

Except this side of his personality never got the chance to develop. This is the Reiner that could have been if he had the opportunity to grow up under the right circumstances. Precisely, if he had the luxury of receiving ideal support coming from both his family and his people. Reiner was basically robbed of his full potential, and one that he will never get the chance to make up for. You can’t just redo your childhood and early adulthood to replace what had been missing all along, which means his pain will last for a lifetime. The current Reiner is sad, defeated, doesn’t want to interact with anyone, and gave up on his identity altogether. In fact, he doesn’t want anything to do with Lukedonia in the slightest, even if they pardoned him and invited him back. To see why this is, we will have to go back to the very beginning, to Reiner’s toddler days.

Reiner was a good child. He was polite, kind, generous, and always kept an eye out for the needs of others, as if the world and everyone around him lived inside his little heart. His precious, delicate little heart. He truly cherished them all. In Reiner’s eyes, the people of Lukedonia were more like his friends than his future subjects. The nobles all greeted him with utmost respect and addressed him as “Prince Reiner”, and even though Reiner did not fully understand why everyone was so formal with him, he very much enjoyed the attention. And of course, being the polite kid he was, Reiner would bow back and say “thank you very much!”, to which the nobles would be very flustered, beg their prince to get up, and even go as far as to blame themselves for making their prince bow to them. At the same time, they were also very flattered to know that their prince thought so highly of them.

And Reiner did! It wasn’t just to be polite from his end. Reiner respected and loved them just as much as they did for him. Anyone can tell you that Reiner was a nice boy. He made sure to never be on only the receiving end, and always went out of his way to reciprocate his people’s efforts. He didn’t need to do so as being served is one of the perks that came with his birthright as prince, but he never let that stop him. He was full of enthusiasm. Reiner helped Minerva’s librarians shelve their books despite being only a smidge taller than a large houseplant. He assisted Doris with her journal entries on effects of different soil types on crops, writing in his own tiny notebook with his tiny hands. He tended to Claudia’s garden of herbs and harvested, cleaned, and dried the plants with her. He eagerly followed Ludis and his knights around during patrol duty even though he was too small to keep up with them. At home, he offered to dust his residence along with his maids and greet the guests at the door with his butler. Even when no one was around, Reiner bowed to the stone statues outdoors and thanked them for watching over Lukedonia, and brushed dirt and twigs off their heads and shoulders.

Reiner loved his people, and he loved his country. His passion was unmatched. Reiner had won over most people in Lukedonia at a very young age. If you needed help or looked like you needed help, you could count on little Reiner. He’d stand upright, give his chest two firm pats with his tiny hand, and say “Allow me to assist you!” How adorable. Aww. Soon enough the citizens of Lukedonia learned to not refuse their prince’s offer to help with their mundane tasks because they saw how happy he was to be a part of them. Everyone seemed to be impressed and proud of their prince… except for one. Or, at least she doesn’t show it.

Despite Lord Raskreia telling Reiner that he will become Lord after her, and that he must prepare himself for that role, little Reiner didn’t quite have a full grasp on what being Lord means yet. But that’s okay, because he is still so young. He has all the time he needs in this world to learn what it means to be Lord. His father Razark would smile, pat his son on the head, and tell him that one day, everyone in this land will be under his care, so he needs to grow up to be strong and smart to protect and lead them. To which Reiner would always smile and answer “Yes, Father!” with sincerity. Little Reiner understood that he will have to work harder than anyone else, but he was certain that he’ll do a good job. He has to. He’ll do it for his people, he’ll do it for himself, his father, and… his Lord. His beloved mother, though he’s not allowed to address her as such. Right. His Lord, his ruler, and Lukedonia’s one and only. She’ll be proud of him, right? Even if Raskreia never explicitly stated that she looked forward to her son’s accomplishments and that she’d recognize him for his excellence, Reiner just knew that she would. He was hopeful and optimistic. After all, he’s her son! Razark could sense that his little son yearned for his mother’s approval, despite it being one he knew she wouldn’t be handing out freely. Razark also knew how stoic his wife could be sometimes, so he would tell Reiner that the Lord has… her own way of showing her feelings, and even if she doesn’t openly display much enthusiasm, he’s sure she’d be proud of her boy. And that is all the reassurance little Reiner needed to hear to be happy, to have his father praise him in his mother’s place. It was a short-lived happiness, but it was genuine for as long as it lasted; until the delicate illusion that ever so gently and sweetly veiled the harsh truth was inevitably torn down and Reiner’s innocent little soul was no longer shielded from the woes of reality.

As soon as Reiner became old enough to start his rigorous training in both studies and fighting, he was no longer allowed to roam around freely as he wished. He had a schedule set for him, with little to no room for deviation. It was the standard operating procedure. Raskreia followed it in her youth, and so did the Previous Lord and the Lords before him. It was tradition. Reiner had to obey whether he liked it or not, as this was a mandatory obligation of a prince. Reiner was only 15 years old at this time, which is the equivalent of a human preschooler. As soon as Reiner had his 15th birthday, Raskreia decreed that it was time for him to begin his training as part of his Lord succession lessons. Reiner obeyed his Lord and did as she ordered, albeit a bit begrudgingly because he did not like idea of endlessly rotating between tutors and having to sit inside a boring classroom all day. He did make sure to not let his true feelings show, because Raskreia is his beloved mother, and above all else, he wanted to make her proud. As much as Reiner missed being able to roam around Lukedonia to interact with his people with all the free time he had, he was determined to do a good job at his mother’s assignments. He will study hard and not be distracted by anyone or anything. He even stood in front of a mirror, pointed to his own face, and made a promise to his reflection that he would do everything his Lord prepares for him. “Good job. You’re brave.” He said to himself. This was not an easy feat for Reiner, as he already knew how much he would crave being out there doing mundane tasks. But it was the right moment to put all of that behind. It took some time and a little bit a courage, but Reiner was ready. Now was the time to live up to his title of Prince of Lukedonia. Poor Reiner. In hindsight, perhaps it was too early, and he would’ve done better if he had more time to be a child instead of future Lord.

Reiner was not an academic genius, he was still better than average. Time proved that his efforts paid off. Little Reiner kept up with his tutors and went through piles after piles of books and papers. While he did not cruise through the material, he was able to make progress without falling behind Raskreia’s schedule for him. Reiner believed that he was pretty average though. Perhaps he was unaware of the fact that he was doing a very good job, given how strict his mother was regarding his education. At times, Reiner did feel the urge to zone out, count the tiles on the ceiling, daydream about being outside doing fun things with other people…etc. He even thought about skipping class because listening to his tutors’ voices echo in the study room was anything but interesting.

But Reiner had a lot of self-discipline. He did his best to not let himself be distracted, and he did a pretty good job. And if he doesn’t do it now, he’ll need to do it later anyway. Most of all, the Lord would be disappointed in him, and that was the last thing he wanted to see: his mother’s disheartened expression. He’ll make sure he does everything ordered of him, if that means he’ll get praise from her. Anything is welcome. Good job, you’ve worked hard, that’s my little boy. If the Lord praises him, maybe he can even stop daydreaming about his freedom. All these tedious tasks would then have meaning to them. But not once did the Lord drop by to check on her son’s progress. Little Reiner always had his eyes and ears on the windows and doors of his study room in anticipation of his mother’s arrival. Unfortunately, his wishes never came true. Each time his disappointment increased as the footsteps he so eagerly followed were revealed to have belonged to one of the Lord’s many assistants. Sure, the Lord sent them herself and they were tasked to check on their prince, but that doesn’t change the fact that they weren’t… her. He wanted to show his mother how much progress he made. Make her proud. Yet not once was she willing to come in person. And her assistants were not helpful either. They never praised Reiner for his work, only to take notes and report back to Raskreia if they came to the conclusion that Reiner was about to fall behind. That’s literally their job. They were in no place to interfere with their prince’s classes, even if he was only a small child who needed emotional support. Reiner started to feel trapped, and classes felt more like prison sentences than lessons.

Fortunately, Reiner’s training wasn’t all about pen on paper. Sparring lessons were like a breath of fresh air to him, and he always looked forward to meeting people on the training grounds. At least he didn’t have to sit still and listen to a tutor talk all day. He could actually interact with a “real” person out in the open, and he could stretch his limbs and move around to his satisfaction. How nice! As with Reiner’s academic skills, he was no fighting genius either. His grasp on his little wooden sword was wobbly and his swings were less than smooth. His aura conjuring was unstable and at times, it either dispersed completely or messily exploded. But with perseverance and effort, and lots of patience from his mentors, he was able to get a decent grasp on things fairly quickly. Raskreia assigned her most elite fighters to Reiner to help shape him into the impressive warrior he must become as part of his succession training. He had mentors who specialized in offense and defense, and some that specialized in being all-rounders. Reiner would begin to develop a very special way of defensive fighting. His mentors were very impressed with their young prince. And for Reiner, getting his clothes sweaty and his knuckles bloody was definitely more fun than watching a tutor talk all day. And unlike his tutors, his fighting mentors were much more enthusiastic and open to communication outside their spars rather than just deadpan reciting an old piece of history while refusing to have any small talk. His mentors were fun people. Reiner had a good time. But something still felt like it was missing. Like with Reiner’s daily academic checkpoints, the Lord’s assistants would also come to the training grounds to take notes on Reiner’s progress. They jot down something in a notebook, take a few glances at him, and they leave. Yet again, his mother was nowhere to be seen. She did not bother to come to see him recite a passage flawlessly, nor did she make an effort to watch him skillfully defend himself from a mentor’s forceful kick. Reiner’s mentors would notice his sudden mood switch and ask their prince what’s wrong, to which Reiner would always respond “nothing”. And now he has to clean up and go back indoors to finish his essay on Lukedonian history, before he can even get a chance to relax. Sigh.

Studying after sparring. Sparring after studying. Back and forth. For almost every single day. Reiner started to grow tired. But he never let himself relax. He pushed himself, and he consistently grinded through the challenges presented to him just like he had always been doing since Raskreia put him on this training regimen. His brain and body, one of them was always busy. Yet Raskreia was never absent from Reiner’s mind. Whenever he made progress, he always instinctively thought about her witnessing his good work. He sustained himself by coming up with and replaying imaginary scenes of his mother giving him the praise he deserves. The real deal never bothered anyway. She still relied on her assistants to monitor Reiner’s progress. As days went by, Reiner began to lose hope and he no longer anticipated his mother’s arrival and involvement in his training. Sometimes, it’d cross his mind, but then he’d shrug it off. Nope. Don’t think about it. It’ll just make him feel sad. Can’t give himself that false sense of hope. Fortunately, for him, his mother isn’t his only source of hope. One day, as his tutor announces that class is over, he hears some footsteps… and he senses something familiar. It isn’t his mother, nor is it one of her assistants. It’s… his father!! Little Reiner is more than overjoyed to have his father pick him up at the end of the day. Usually, the butler or one of the maids do it. Not today! At least Reiner can stop pouting for now. Razark would give his son praise and tell him he worked hard. This would soothe the faint, aching feeling in Reiner’s chest. While it did not substitute for affection from Raskreia, it was still better than nothing.

Not only was Razark more involved in Reiner’s early life, he pretty much remains as Reiner’s only parental figure throughout his son’s time in Lukedonia. Functionally, his role is pretty similar to that of single parent’s. Raskreia is simply too busy to be involved in Reiner’s life. She is Reiner’s biological mother, but she is also her people’s Lord. She had the duty to attend to her subjects. And… her son can get by without a mother present in his life, but Lukedonia can’t be without their Lord. That’s what her husband Razark is for. Right. She has him. He’ll be there for their son, in her place. And the title of Kertia Clan Leader now belongs to Rael, so Razark has all the time in the world for Reiner if he needs parental support. That’ll work. Their son would have company, and she could carry on with her duties as Lord. Surely that is the best arrangement. Or, at least that’s what the Lord thought. Logically, it made sense. Realistically? Asking her preschool-aged son to compromise probably wasn’t the fairest thing to do, but they had no other choice. And Razark, being the loyal husband he is, did as his wife suggested. And he did what a good father would. He monitored his son’s progress, played with him, and they talked about the old days. About that time when the traitor nobles invaded Lukedonia and how they ultimately fought them off with help from the noblesse, how the Lord stopped a missile with Rozaria-nim and Kei-nim, what his paternal grandfather Ragar was like, even funny stories about uncle Rael’s embarrassing shenanigans… they had a good time as father and son. It didn’t make up for Raskreia’s absence, but Reiner nonetheless appreciated his father’s efforts very much.

However, this did not stop young Reiner from asking his father questions about his mother. After all, she was still very much of an important presence in his life even if he wasn’t necessarily part of hers. He asked his father if the Lord didn’t like him, or that she was disappointed in him, like any child would if they felt like a parent didn’t want to be with them. Razark always reassured his son that the Lord loves him, but she is just too busy. Out of respect, Reiner does not press the matter any further. And their conversations always ended there. Did Razark manage to convince Reiner? No. As much as Reiner wanted to believe his father, he needed to witness it with his own eyes. Reiner loved Raskreia and he missed her. She was everywhere, yet she was also nowhere. She could be in the throne room discussing matters with her Clan Leaders, checking in on the coastal borders, on a diplomatic meeting with some humans or werewolves… if something needed her attention, she would always be on the way. And out of all those things, she couldn’t find time for her son. If Reiner was lucky, he got a short glimpse of his mother from below the balcony or through the window. His eyes follow her longingly, ever so hopeful that she would turn around and look at him just once. Yet she simply walked straight ahead and her back view vanished from his sight as she hurried to her next destination. Those few seconds would be the last of her that the young prince gets to see for a whole week.

Reiner refused to believe that this is how his life will be. If his mother didn’t come to him, then he will go to his mother. How will he make that happen then? Reiner obviously couldn’t ask his servants. The other Clan Leaders and nobles were in no position to authorize such a thing either. And his own father Razark seemed to avoid answering his questions that hinted towards wanting him to be the bridge for him to meet his mother. If he couldn’t get realistic help, then he’d come up with something on his own. Reiner pondered for some time. Then he came up with a genius idea. What he did not realize at this point was that this would go on to be a complete disaster and the first major traumatic event of his life that would permanently change him.

So Reiner snuck into one of Raskreia’s offices when she wasn’t there. Earlier, he happened to overhear one of her secretaries talk to a colleague about their Lord’s next meeting and the documents she had prepared for it. The perfect opportunity. With a bit of searching and standing on his little tiptoes, Reiner was able to find exactly what he was searching for. He took out the crayons he stuffed in his pockets and scribbled something on the papers. Then he carefully closed the documents and put them back where he found them, hoping that Raskreia would be overjoyed to see what he had prepared for her. And it’ll happen very soon, because she’ll be opening those documents for her next meeting. Reiner was very proud of himself. He left her office with a big smile on his face and went home in anticipation of good news.

The time came. The Lord summoned her subjects to their scheduled meeting and her secretary passed the documents into her hands. Raskreia opened the folder and… instead of words on paper, as it should’ve been, her eyes met a colorful scribbly mess. She was shocked and confused, and wondered who on earth dared to mess with the Lord. It couldn’t have been one of her secretaries or assistants, because they were dutiful and dared not to tamper with their Lord’s belongings, let alone meeting documents they knew their Lord had prepared to present. Then Raskreia took a closer look at the scribbles and finally pieced together what it attempts to depict. It was more than intentional, and the culprit did not mean to stay hidden at all. It was even a deliberate effort to catch her attention. Right there on the paper was a childish crayon drawing of three figures holding hands on a flower field, with “I love my family” and “I miss my Mama” written below. As badly drawn as it was, Raskreia had an idea of who these figures were meant to depict. The smaller one stood in the middle, smiling happily, and to his left a taller one, drawn with a black crayon. Then to his right an even taller one drawn in yellow. This was exactly what she suspected it to be. It had to be. The other nobles at the meeting were shocked as well, but before they could fully comprehend the situation, Raskreia’s aura suddenly exploded into the air like a shockwave and the office was heavy and drenched in her rage. The walls and ceiling began to shake and pieces fell to the ground where cracks had formed. All the nobles dared not to talk and nervously held their heads low in response to their Lord’s wrath. They were not sure if the Lord’s anger was directed at them. But Raskreia had someone else in mind, one she realized she had failed to discipline. …Reiner.

She immediately summoned her son through their mind link, but it was done so forcefully, all the nobles within a few kilometers heard her and felt her fearsome tone. And of course Reiner did not anticipate this reaction. He had imagined that if his mother does summon him, she would invite him in, give him praise, and hug him while telling him she’ll never leave him alone again, and from now on they’ll spend a lot of time together. He daydreamed that his little drawing would melt her heart and make her realize how much he loved her as her son, in hopes that she’d reciprocate his affection. Except… the final result was the complete opposite. The Lord was livid. Reiner dreaded the entire walk to his mother’s office, and he could feel his legs shaking and telling him to turn around and run away. He was panic-stricken, his fingers went cold and his limbs tensed up. Then he stepped into her office. There was no warm welcome, no greeting, no interaction between mother and son. Oddly enough, his mother did not reprimand him. There was nothing to break the dreadful silence in the room. And perhaps that silence was much worse than his mother yelling at him. Then Reiner’s memories blur. To this day, Reiner is not able to recall what happened after, as it was too traumatic for his little brain to fully process at that time. The only thing he can vividly recreate in his mind is the scene of a dark room. There was no sunlight, as the clouds had darkened, and candles blown out. And in the darkness, Reiner saw his own reflection inside two glowing crimson orbs of coldness and fury. His legs would not stop shaking despite his every effort to stay still in front his Lord. And then it hit him. In this moment, he was no longer her son. He was a criminal. Reiner can’t recall anything else. Or, maybe he doesn’t want to. Any attempt to do so would be a ruthless act of reopening the deep scar inside his little heart, and he doesn’t need to hurt himself any further. Perhaps he even tries to suppress this event to the best of his ability in an attempt to completely forget it, which he does to no avail.

Reiner’s memories only resume its tracks at him being punished to a week of solitude inside his room. Messing with the Lord’s belongings usually warrants a much harsher punishment, but Reiner was only a small child. Even a week of a being left alone was too harsh on him. But the Lord would not have it otherwise. And for the entire week, Reiner sulked and curled up in the corner. He didn’t even notice day and night passing by. Seven days felt like seven years. He did not understand why his mother was so angry. If fact, he had never seen his mother like this in his entire life. Reiner felt something for the first time. He had no place in her heart; of the one he loved so, so much. His mother wanted to disown him, and his Lord wanted to execute him. And of course that would be untrue and very delusional, because no Lord would ever do that over something so trivial. Reiner was just overthinking. But in the midst of the mess, that was all he could comprehend with his little mind. He will never be Raskreia’s priority. Compared to everything else she had to do, he was a nobody. Nothing. He was her subject, but he was no son to her. Lukedonia needed her, and he needed her as well. She chose the former. Then Reiner woke up from his illusions. She would never approve of him no matter how hard he tried. Receiving her unconditional love was just as much of a myth as humans dreamed of mermaids and dragons.

And for the first time in Reiner’s life, he cried. He sobbed. His wails echoed through his room, and no one was there to hear him. Then Reiner calmed down. Once again, Reiner stood in front of the mirror. This is the second promise he makes to himself. Except this time, he swore to himself that from now own, he will never call her his mother again. He can’t be greedy or selfish anymore. She will only be the Lord. His Lord. And he will be her subject. Nothing more. This would be the first and last time Reiner ever cries.

Reiner’s punishment came to an end when Razark unlocked and opened the door. Reiner could’ve broken himself out of solitude if that had been what he desired, but he was responsible and accepted his punishment. Furthermore, he would just upset his Lord again, and she’d have to punish him once more. Father and son did not greet each other verbally upon their meeting. Slowly, Razark approached his son, who sulked on the floor, and sat down next to him. He gently stroked Reiner’s head with one of his hands as he held something in the other. “This is for you, my son. Do you want to take a look?” He said in a soft voice, and his low-spirited son lifted his head slowly. Razark passed the box to Reiner. It was a plain, black box. Reiner opened the box and he was greeted by a small handwritten card inside that read “To Aretis Verja Di Reiner”. It was his Lord’s handwriting. Reiner carefully picked up the card and flipped it over, but he found no other text. It was just his name. Then Razark gestured to his son to take a look at the content. Inside the box were two items.

The first item was a thick envelope that held many copies of the same form. Reiner took one out and read it carefully. It was a form for an official request to meet the Lord in person. The standard procedure. This was Raskreia’s way of telling her son that if he wanted to meet her, he had to submit a request just like everyone else to ask for her audience. Essentially, Raskreia was reminding her son that he was no exception, even if he’s the prince. But this was also an invitation, in a sense. Reiner, albeit in a less desirable manner, had successfully conveyed to Raskreia that he wanted more private time with her as her son. And Raskreia responded, even if it she did it in a confusing way. She basically reached out Reiner from her end. Sure, it was strange, but it sure was something. A proof of her efforts. If Reiner wanted to spent time with the Lord, he could fill out a form and deliver it to one of her secretaries, and they would then add it to one of her many piles of forms to approve. If she approves Reiner’s request, he will get a chance to meet her. What an overcomplicated and unnecessary process of parent-child bonding.

The second item was a toy. It was a small, fluffy black teddy bear with red gems embedded into its eyes. Reiner was perplexed. Was this… Raskreia’s attempt to apologize to him? He could not be certain, but he had a feeling that Raskreia intended for this to be her substitute for when she isn’t around. This teddy bear was to serve as her replacement for when he missed her. Reiner was not sure on how this was supposed to make him feel. He doesn’t even like teddy bears, or toys in general. So far the Lord had spent so little time with him in his life, she wasn’t even aware of his preferences for things. Still, this teddy bear had a very significant meaning to it, as it was the first gift his Lord had ever given him. It was an item with great sentimental value, despite being one laced with sorrow and regret. To this day, Reiner has this teddy bear stored inside a thrice secured display cabinet inside his room. It sits inside a sturdy glass case, fixed with a complicated maze lock, all encased inside a layer of Ludis’ special barrier charm. It will never leave his residence, let alone his room. Every now and then, Reiner would take it out to play with it, and lock it back up when he’s done. The maids are not allowed to go near the cabinet, as Reiner stated that he will do the cleaning it himself. They would stay loyal to this order of his even after his departure from Lukedonia. Funny enough, Reiner never names this teddy bear, probably in fear that it would come alive if he did.

We move on from Reiner’s early childhood to his teen years and early adulthood. Reiner attends his lessons as usual, and performs his duties as prince. But before we dive into that part of his story, I want to talk about the deal with his parents first.

Raskreia. Truth is, Reiner is not entirely correct with his assumptions about what his existence means to his mother. In fact, he is very wrong. It is not his fault either, because anyone would’ve guessed something similar if they were in his shoes. Raskreia does genuinely love her son. She has loved Reiner since he was born, and she still loves him after his eventual departure from Lukedonia. He has always been her little one, and he’ll always be. He has a permanent place in her heart. But Raskreia also struggles to express herself. This is Raskreia’s biggest flaw as a parent. Raskreia’s sense of pride and the need to uphold her position as Lord even with her family hurts her relationship with her son very much. Just as much as her son misses her, she misses her son. The feeling was mutual, yet Raskreia never acted upon it. She couldn’t. She had a standard she had to uphold as Lord, and that is to stay faithful to her duties and to not let herself be distracted by other elements, especially considering all the mess they and the noblesse had to deal with in the past millennia. They had to stay alert, and Raskreia as Lord was busier than ever. She must lead her people and respond to them in a timely manner. She had to be professional, even if it means ignoring her own son unless he has a dire emergency, which he does not. At least from her perspective. Reiner is more desperate than ever.

Raskreia simply could not dedicate time to her son on a regular basis. That’s why the request-to-meet forms are there for him. She cannot promise him her guaranteed presence, but she’d approve of it when she can. Maybe thirty minutes at a time. That is her limit. Maybe twenty, or ten, if she really can’t squeeze more in. Occasionally, she’d have an hour for him, though that is an extremely rare luxury.

And… She needs to prepare her son for the position of Lord. Yes, Reiner has a family, but most importantly, he has a duty to all the nobles in this land who will require his leadership one day. He does not have an option. This is the fate that he is destined to carry on his shoulders since his birth. It wasn’t Reiner’s fault for being a needy child, a normal child who needed love and affection to thrive. Except Reiner is also Lukedonia’s prince. He needs to learn to put his personal needs below the duties to which he is tied, even if it means setting his own important feelings aside. That is an essential skill a Lord’s successor needs to master. Raskreia can’t just grant her son’s every wish. She doesn’t shut him out completely, but she also keeps some distance from him. She can’t let him be too attached to her, as that would be unfavorable in the long run for him as future Lord. She will only respond to him when he asks for her, but she’ll never be the first one the reach out if he doesn’t ask. It would be cruel to Reiner if he got to see his mother as often as he liked while knowing that he has to detach himself from her one day.

Regarding the doodle incident, Raskreia was actually… touched by her son’s efforts, as a mother. She understood her son’s love for her. But as Lord, she couldn’t show it. She had to maintain her professionalism. What was seemingly a touching gift from son to mother, was in reality a very disrespectful disruption of her work. Little Reiner trespassed, and vandalized official documents. As touched as she was, she couldn’t encourage that behavior. It just wasn’t acceptable. She had to address the situation and issue her son’s punishments accordingly. Everything was decided by the book. She had to show her fellow nobles that she was fair, and that she does not condone misbehavior from anyone. Their Prince was no exception. That is all.

What they do not know is that Raskreia didn’t dispose of those documents. In fact, she has them locked away somewhere with a protection charm to keep the crayon’s colors from fading over time. She had to be angry with him, but… she treasured this gesture as well. Every now and then, she’d take out the drawing and stare at it, and then lock it back up. You can say that they really are mother and son, despite their challenges and differences.

Raskreia would continue to remain mostly uninvolved in Reiner’s live for as long as he’s still in Lukedonia. The two of them would go on to never resolve their issues verbally, and despite their love for one another, the miscommunication and misunderstandings would only continue to snowball into bigger messes. Their relationship is very, very strained but neither wants to be the first to initiate a reconciliation, nor is any one of them willing to let go of their own sense pride. Deep down, both of them yearn for each other’s love so, so much, but their own issues mixed together with reluctancy on certain things just makes matters worse.

Razark. Reiner’s functionally “only” parental figure in his life, and the healthier one of the two that he technically has. He’s actively involved in Reiner’s life as his father and mentor, as he’s free thanks to passing his title (and soul weapon) to Rael. He entertains and keeps Reiner company. He’s really trying his best to be Reiner’s father. Except… Razark’s efforts has its limits. In fact, the older Reiner gets, the less helpful Razark is and he actually starts to hurt his son unintentionally, with Reiner eventually losing trust in not only his mother and Lord, but in his father as well. Yeah. It’s angsty. We’ll have to look into Razark’s relationship with Raskreia for an answer. The two of them are a loving couple, even if they don’t appear such way in public. As emotionless as their faces may be, they are quite affectionate when they’re by themselves. People just don’t get to see this side of them. Razark’s official title is the Lord’s spouse. He is a responsible husband who takes care of their son, and manages the household in Raskreia’s place. But he is also Raskreia’s subject. One of her many, many subjects. The nobles are all loyal to her. Amongst them, Razark stands out as exceptionally loyal. Maybe even too loyal. And this loyalty would prove to be detrimental to their son. You see, Razark enables Raskreia’s behavior, even if he himself is unaware of it. Not once had he attempted to intervene Raskreia’s way of “parenting” their son. Giving her suggestions, telling her what she’s lacking, encouraging her to see their son more often, reminding her that their son is still their son before he is the prince, etc… none of that. As a husband and father, it would be logical for him to do that. As a subject, that would be questioning his Lord’s decisions with her heir. Not their son, but her heir, and that would be mighty disrespectful. And it’s not that Razark is refraining from communicating with her. These things simply never crossed Razark’s mind. His blinding loyalty to his wife and Lord means that he never questions any of her decisions, including ones involving their son. He will stand by Raskreia’s beliefs, because she is always right. She is their Lord, after all. And the Lord is meant to be followed without question. You can assume how this goes. Razark is supportive of his son, but he never tries to get Raskreia to notice him more. He knows that Reiner is lonely, but never addresses the direct cause of his unhappiness. All these years, he never stood up for Reiner, even when he very much should’ve. Always on the sidelines, watching Raskreia handle their son as she pleased. In a way, Razark is just as guilty as Raskreia. He put his Lord before his son, even if he is oblivious to this fact. He just deals with the aftermath regarding Reiner, and never takes on the role of actively supporting Reiner by being the change his son needs. And Reiner could not ask his father to help him, as he was in no place to challenge his father’s loyalty and decision to unconditionally follow their Lord.

At this point, Reiner doesn’t know if he trusts his parents anymore. He still loves them very much, but he can’t put his full trust in them. This love would go on to be very twisted, especially for his mother. Reiner loves her just as much as he loathes her. As for Razark, Reiner is grateful to him for being the father who raised him, but he is also disappointed in him for never standing up to his mother for him. He does feel like his father betrayed him, in a sense. Poor boy.

Back to a now older teen/young adult Reiner. Reiner is busy with lessons and successor training as usual. He has a lot less free time than other nobles of the same age, but he still has some to himself. Despite Reiner’s wounds from his parents and rather unideal childhood, he is still the kind and generous child he has always been. He still helps ordinary nobles with their mundane tasks, and enjoys interacting with them. His passion in people miraculously stayed unaffected despite his circumstances. Because Reiner is so busy, he shows up less frequently. Nevertheless, he manages to not miss out on being there for his people because he promised that he’ll come. The nobles are extremely honored and grateful that their prince makes an effort to interact with them despite being so busy, in awe that he insists on dedicating the remainder of his scarce free time to them. He probably has much more important matters to attend to, they think. But what they don’t know is that mingling with his people is his passion and, ultimately, what it means to be prince. The current Lord goes around to assigning tasks to people and they are meant to follow her without question. And Reiner? He believes he should be one of his people. Not as future Lord, not as Prince Reiner, but just Reiner. He is in a position higher than any of them, and for this exact reason, he is also responsible for their well being. That means doing so by walking along the ordinary people to understand what they really need in life, and not by sitting on the throne giving order after order. To Reiner, the position of Lord is more symbolic than it is technical. That is why Reiner is so active with doing good for the community.

Unfortunately, it is time for Reiner’s lessons to be taken to a further step. Raskreia updates her son’s training regimen and his lessons are even longer and more intense than before. In addition to individual tutors teaching him different subjects, he is now also obliged to attend lessons aimed at simulating real-life Lord meetings, tasks, and discussions. Basically, he has a seminar group assigned to him, with all of his mentors carefully hand-picked by none other than the Lord herself. The roster is made up of her most loyal followers whom she trusts to shape Reiner into the Lord she thinks he needs to be. This is Raskreia saying that Reiner is ready to move onto the next phase of his life. Reiner is not too happy about this change, but he follows the Lord’s orders without complaints. He doesn’t appreciate how her assistants now follow him around even during his free time to remind him that it is time for him to go back indoors to attend his lessons. He can tell time by himself; he doesn’t need the Lord’s little lackeys to interrupt him when he’s washing herbs and have them drag him out of the garden while telling him that he’ll be late if he doesn’t leave soon, and that princes do not engage themselves in such shallow matters. Sigh. The Lord is so overbearing even when she isn’t here.

Reiner is back indoors and ready for his mock conference. His mentors have high expectations for him, as he had shown that he is capable of academic success through his childhood accomplishments. Except this is where things don’t go smoothly anymore. His mentors would present him with hypothetical scenarios and ask him what he would do, and Reiner’s answers always contradicted what was expected of him. He told them that the throne is meant to be shared, and it did not belong to one person just because they were born into the position. He argued that the throne should only be a symbol of leadership and not a source of power that lets one decide the fates of others, and that people should get to decide on things as a group. Not just Clan Leaders, but ordinary people as well. This would confuse his mentors very much, and Reiner would explain to them that a healthy nation does not let the decision of one overshadow the decision of all others. His mentors were in disbelief, and scolded their prince for playing a humorless prank during such a formal lesson. Unfortunately for them, Reiner is dead serious. They don’t believe him. No one wants to listen to him. It makes sense. They are the Lord’s loyalists, after all. They aren’t having it otherwise. They seem to be satisfied when Reiner gives them the standard answer, the one they want to hear. So they’re not here for discussion, they’re just here to put words into his mouth, Reiner thinks. But Reiner knows better than to argue with them, so he stops speaking for himself, and submits to the suffocating echo chamber. His unhappiness and frustration intensified. So did his resentment towards the stubborn Lukedonian laws and traditions. His bitterness towards the system would plant a seed of rebellion in his heart that he himself did not even realize was growing inside of him.

Things weren’t any better on the training grounds. From Raskreia’s assistants’ judgement of Reiner’s progress, he leaned too much towards defensive fighting. In other words, he was lacking in offense. But that is just how Reiner fights, and it comes most naturally to him. The Lord thinks otherwise. So, she pulls out his mentors who specialized in defense and replaces them with offensive fighters. They are faster, more aggressive, and do not hesitate to land unforgiving blows on their prince. This transition was a little too abrupt for Reiner, as he had almost no room to allow himself to get used to this new type of fighting. His new mentors are also much less lenient than his old mentors. They are much harsher with Reiner’s perceived lack of improvement. This would lead to the second major traumatic event in Reiner’s life, where he fails a fighting test and gets pushed too much and ends up almost dying from his wounds. Healers from the Volo Clan had to be called in to address his injuries. As Reiner laid down on the ground groaning in pain, one of the Lord’s assistants monitoring the training grounds simply walked over, and in an flat tone, informed their prince that “The Lord intends to remind you that in a real battleground, not only would your enemies not spare you, they would also kill you.” Wow. How cold. Not even a word of care or concern. As usual, the Lord doesn’t bother to show up to check in on her severely injured son. This would only go on to twist Reiner’s view of the Lord even more. He continues to suppress his feelings and follows her orders without question. He changes his fighting style to be more offensive even if it is difficult and unnatural for him.

He won’t say anything. He can’t say anything. He has to be a good son and a good prince. If following in his Lord’s footsteps is his destiny then… he’ll do so. He won’t ask questions anymore. He’ll stop resisting.

His Lord’s wish is his command.

For this reason, Reiner never brings up any of his concerns during his one-to-one meetings with Raskreia, the “submit a request and wait for approval” mother-son bonding time. The two of them would just awkwardly sit across from each other. Just silence. Occasionally, they’d talk about the weather. But that’s it. Reiner also finds it hard to look at the Lord in the eyes, so he just looks to the ground, only meeting her eye to eye when he answers one of her boring, awkward questions. And they’d continue to sit like that, until time is over and Raskreia has other guests to see. Reiner would always leave feeling bitter. Yet he never stops submitting his request forms, because that would mean that he had given up on facing her and that he had lost his battle with himself. He’s not afraid of her. Nope. Impossible. What a spectacular, twisted love and sense of pride.

As time went on, Reiner started to feel numb. He stops standing up for himself. He simply does what is asked of him. Only a husk of him remains now. Even his passion in his people started to dwindle. He still loves them with all his heart, and wants to be a part of them very badly, but his energy levels are no longer enough to sustain himself. Reiner is being drained from the inside out, and he could feel the few remaining ounces of motivation slowly leave his body. He wants to care, but can’t care anymore. He doesn’t even care about himself; what does he have to spare for the others?

Reiner has finally cracked from the pressure of being the perfect prince.

Gradually, Reiner’s progress slowed down. He still shows up to all his lessons, but he can’t quite keep up with the pace anymore. He really is trying his best. He’s doing everything correctly, yet he’s failing. Reiner is depressed. As usual, Raskreia’s assistants report back to her. Her response? Tells him to pick himself back up and return to normal. A future Lord does not have time for this. The Lord doesn’t care, she never has, she never will, Reiner thinks. Raskreia’s way is easier said than done. Reiner is already very stressed out. His Lord is only adding fuel to fire.

Reiner develops many unhealthy habits as a response to stress.

He pulls his hair out when he feels nervous. He’d run his fingers through his hair, twirl around for a bit, and yank on it forcefully. It hurt, but the pain eased his anxiety a little.

Reiner also started to talk to himself. A lot. He’d talk to himself when he’s studying, when he’s running errands, when he’s sitting still… he just couldn’t be left alone with himself. He is unable to be at peace with his own presence, and has to fill the empty space with his voice. The silence was too heavy as if it would crush him. The things he says are mostly self-deprecating phrases. Not smart enough, not fast enough, not strong enough. Too weak, both physically and emotionally. Too easy to fall under pressure. Can’t handle anything. Reiner constantly belittles himself. Again, it barely eases his discomfort.

Sometimes Reiner would also stand in front a mirror and tell himself to cry. Crying makes people feel better, he says. Try it. He’d lean forward so his forehead presses against the mirror. No matter how hard he stares at his reflection or how much he shames himself for not being able to be honest with himself, the tears just won’t come out. And he’d try and try and try and fail every single time. He’s too tired to even cry.

Reiner is also constantly in pain. His neck, shoulders, arms… his entire body is constantly aching. His muscles hurt. This is caused by him not being able to relax. He’s always alert and anxious, as if the Lord is behind his back watching his every move. He has to stay in posture, to be respectful and to not be a disappointment. It doesn’t help when Reiner would sometimes even hear her voice inside his head telling him that he’s a failure of a prince, and that Lukedonia cannot be entrusted to him. Shut up, shut up, please leave me alone, Reiner dreads. Inaudible painful whimpers would make their way out despite Reiner clenching his jaw as hard as he can as to seal away his sorrow.

Reiner’s would-be paranoia also lead him to suppressing his aura routinely. He doesn’t even realize he is doing this. It’s not perfect, but it’s enough for him to go unnoticed by your average noble in an average situation. He’s of the Lord’s lineage, so of course by nature he has a very strong aura. To Reiner, this is a curse. It’s like blasting his arrival, wherever he goes, on loud speakers. So he does as he needs to counter that. The only thing he wants to do now is to lie low and stay unnoticed. He doesn’t want to draw any attention to him. Even positive attention is undesirable. Reiner’s subconscious wants to make himself as small as possible as part of his defense mechanism. Unfortunately for him, he is still detectable, and he has to maintain his weak, forced smile in public. Doesn’t help that Raskreia has now assigned him to greet werewolf and human diplomats as part of his new duties as a public figure. It is nothing but torture to Reiner.

Reiner’s free time is now spent either alone and locked up in his room, repeating self-deprecating phrases over and over to himself, or he’s with his maternal grandmother Desdemona. Only she truly understands him. But even she chooses to lurk in the shadows, so she can’t keep him company unless he goes to her. At this point, Reiner is reluctant to spend time even with Razark, because he’d just be reminded that this man is his mother’s enabler. Razark doesn’t understand why his son is not enthusiastic about father-son bonding anymore. Reiner would just tell him that he’s busy with studies. To be honest, he can’t stand his father.

Reiner also can’t stand his mother. His paranoia worsens. The thought of her alone is enough to send him into a panic attack. Like Reiner has always done, he doesn’t seek help from anyone. He just locks himself up until he calms down. Poor Reiner doesn’t know how to ask for help.

As soon as Reiner became old enough to have to some power over the household, the first thing he ordered was to renovate everything he owned. His study, his bedroom, etc. Everything that reminded him of his Lord, his classrooms, and general sources of discomfort, were to be thrown out or torn down and rebuilt from scratch. Even just seeing the same wallpaper pattern is enough to cause a panic attack. Reiner still has to go outside to attend class and perform his duties, but at least he doesn’t have to be reminded of them when he’s at home.

Reiner ordered his servants to burn everything they threw out and tore down. He wanted no trace of any of it. Curiously, the teddy bear his Lord gave him in his childhood was spared. Reiner precisely ordered them to leave it alone. That stays. Everything else goes.

Renovating his surroundings would only help to a certain extent. It did not remove the source of his pain, to his dismay.

Reiner is dying. He is alive, but his soul feels like it is disintegrating. He doesn’t even know who he is anymore.

One faithful day, on one of Reiner’s temporary escapes from reality, he visits Grandma Desdemona who lurked in the shadows. She suggests to him the option of leaving Lukedonia permanently. Huh. That’s impossible. It’ll be a huge crime and act of betrayal. Grandma just shrugs and says you won’t know what’s best for you unless you try. Reiner pretends that he didn’t hear anything. But this single piece of seemingly absurd and impossible suggestion would be an important catalyst to his ultimate choice. Remember the seed of rebellion inside his heart? Mhm.

Reiner can’t get Mona’s words out of his head. Whenever he’s in a difficult situation, he’d think about it. He would still hear Raskreia’s voice in his head due to his paranoia, but her voice would be overridden by that of his grandmother’s. “You can always leave this place.” She says. With repetition, the impossible becomes possible. Soon enough, Reiner was considering leaving his home forever. To the unknown, to faraway land. He feared the possibilities, but he was also hopeful. He hadn’t felt hope since his childhood. Then Reiner realized that he didn’t have to figuratively kill himself to become the Lord everyone expects him to.

And what does being Lord even mean to Reiner? Once he becomes Lord, he’ll be permanently separated from his people by an intangible barrier. He’ll no longer be Reiner, and he’ll only be known as the Lord. No more being with the people. He’ll be imprisoned to his throne for all eternity, until his hypothetical future heir is old enough for him to abdicate or he enters eternal sleep. To his core, Reiner believed in a democracy. It didn’t matter if none of his Lord ancestors established one. Someone needs to be the change. The first. And he doesn’t want to wait until Raskreia steps down to see this happen. Perhaps due to Reiner’s now realistic option of leaving Lukedonia, he is more daring. His childhood dreams and passions felt like they have returned, and though not to their full extent, it was the push he needed.

Then Reiner decided. He doesn’t want to be “Lord” anymore. He doesn’t want to be Prince. He doesn’t even want to be Reiner anymore. If giving up his identity means that he could have one single shot at changing Lukedonia, he’d risk it. If he can’t have a democracy, then he doesn’t want any of this. This land and everything he had ever known since his birth… he’d give it up. Reiner already has a very estranged relationship with Raskreia, and there is no hope for reconciliation despite their love for one another. It has to be him, or her. This land cannot tolerate both of them at once.

It took Reiner centuries of preparation, from Mona’s initial suggestion to his final decision. Most of this time was spent saying goodbye to everything he loved. The grass, the trees, the mountains. He’ll miss the way seasons change. The blooming flowers, the falling snow. The way sunrise illuminated and colored the land. The way the sea reflected the beautiful moon. The singing birds, the fluttering butterflies. It’ll never be the same outside Lukedonia. And… the people. His family. His friends. His acquaintances. It brings him great sorrow to think that he’ll have to part from all of them, and that he’ll never get to see any of them again for all of eternity. He’ll never stop loving them no matter how hard he tries to put his love for them to an end. As soon as he thinks he has gotten over them, his emotions flow back. This just makes him want to cry, despite being unable to.

Razark is glad that his son seems to feel a bit better. After all, Reiner went on walks more often and started hanging out with people again. He looked like he was returning to his old self. What Razark does not realize is that this sudden boost of optimism is his son saying his last goodbyes to his home.

No one realized.

To say that everyone in Lukedonia totally agrees with Raskreia would be false. Of course, they have to look like they agree with her, at least on the surface. She is their Lord, and they have to live as she intends them to. This is what Reiner doesn’t like. His vision of an ideal Lukedonia is one where no one is afraid to speak their mind, where everyone could have input on how to live. The title of Lord is only there for symbolic and spiritual reasons. Reiner wanted freedom for everyone. Freedom to live as they wish, freedom to enter and leave Lukedonia as they please, freedom to not be held back by the decisions of a single person… Reiner can only dream about it. Reiner knew how his people felt. He isn’t the only one with depression and anxiety. While many are indeed satisfied with life here, some thought otherwise. Reiner spent time with them, got their trust, and they talked to him. Reiner asked them why they didn’t pursue the things that they wanted to, and they always answered “Because it’s just how it is.” Who gets to say anyway?

So Reiner went around and asked more questions. Soon, he was certain that many of them felt exactly the same way. If he’s going to give it a shot, he might as well do his best and gather all the resources he can find. Reiner needed supporters to back him up. Even if his chance of changing Raskreia’s mind is near 0%, it could help. Who knows. Nobody knows for sure. But it was an option. Reiner worked hard to gather people who were seemingly willing to support his cause. They all agreed with his ideals and dreams. However, Reiner does not tell them that he plans to enter the throne room and give a speech in front of the Lord and her audience, at least not until a few hours prior. Everyone who initially agreed with him suddenly panicked. This was far too aggressive and rebellious. Unlike Reiner, they had more important things to lose. They did not expect Reiner to be so upfront about his attempt to change Raskreia’s mind. Then… his supporters left. They apologized, told him this was impossible, and disappeared in a hurry. To be labeled as a traitor was the last thing they wanted. All of a sudden, Reiner was alone again. But it was too late go back on his plans. Reiner is determined, and he is going to get this done regardless of whether he had supporters or not.

So it will be done. Reiner takes a deep breath, and straightens his back. He walks towards the throne room steadily. He is afraid, yes, but he is dedicated to his cause. Nothing will stop him now. He pushes open the door and barges into the throne room despite the guards begging him not to, and interrupts Raskreia and her nobles. The throne room went silent. Then, Reiner gives his speech. After his closing sentence trailed off, no one reacted. Then, Raskreia’s voice breaks the silence, just as everyone dreaded her reaction. Curiously, she does not arrest Reiner on the spot, nor does she order him to apologize to her this instant. She orders him to go back to his residence immediately, and to not leave until she comes to him. They will have a very long discussion there. For now, no more words shall be spoken in the throne room.

And this is when Reiner knew he failed. The Lord kept calm for the sake of her audience. He knows that look on her face. Those same eyes. Reiner could feel the world collapse on him. So his one shot failed, he thinks. But it’s alright. He saw this coming. He shouldn’t have expected anything anyway.

Reiner tells Lord he’d obey her wishes for him to wait for her to come to him. Raskreia’s guards come to escort him out of the throne him and they are about to deliver him to his residence. Except Reiner asks the Lord for one last favor. He wishes to meet his grandmother before he goes back to his residence. Oddly, Raskreia does not refuse this request, and grants him permission. Reiner would then go to say his goodbyes to Mona while the guards waited outside. That is where she gives him her magic ring, and then they part for good.

Reiner is escorted to his room. But he’s not done. He would proceed to disobey Raskreia one last time. As soon as he got a cue from her alliance, he acted right away. Grandma Mona is more than smart enough to sneak Reiner out of Lukedonia without Raskreia knowing, and she has her own group of followers. Even if Mona doesn’t tell Reiner exactly what will happen, she gives him a few clues. This is his chance to leave. After bypassing Raskreia’s guards, Reiner runs through the forest, and through the mountains. Mona had cleared the path for him. No guards in sight. Then he reaches the border at the sea, where he confirms that a small portion of Lukedonia’s barrier had been deactivated in a timely manner, and it will close up very soon. Reiner runs towards the opening at full speed and… it’s been done. He’s done. He’s no longer in Lukedonia. He ran, and he ran, and he ran. He does not look back. He can’t look back.

And into the horizon he vanished.

It didn’t take long for Raskreia to realize that her son had run away. She immediately dispatches a search party to go after him. Then Raskreia summons everyone in the most urgent manner, and announces that Reiner is now a traitor to Lukedonia, and that he is being hunted after. If anyone spots him, they need to deliver him to her immediately. They cannot hide him or assist him in evading her, unless they want to be labeled as a traitor as well. She then issues the most severe punishment to her son, for abandoning his identity as future Lord, and for betraying her. He had multiple treason accusations on him. There was no expression on Raskreia’s face as she uttered everyone’s most dreaded words: death penalty.

For this first time ever, Razark broke down into a sob. No one had ever seen him cry before, until this moment. He couldn’t control himself anymore. After Raskreia dispersed the crowd, he went to her crying and begging for her to rescind her prosecution of their son. There just has to be another way. She can’t kill their boy. Raskreia said nothing. She did not even look at her husband in the eye as his sobs echoed through the room. Her decision was final. There is no going back. According to tradition, this is the punishment for Reiner’s crime. Her opinion did not matter. From this moment, he was no longer her son. He was a runaway prince. A fugitive. A criminal.

Raskreia and Razark did not speak to each other for weeks to come.

Truth is, Raskreia sentencing Reiner after he runs away from Lukedonia doesn’t hurt her any less than it hurt Razark. She is just as devastated as he is. Reiner left her with no choice but to carry out Lukedonia’s laws as they had been written since the beginning of time. As a mother, she did not wish to sentence him. As the Lord, she had no choice. She could not show her turmoil to anyone, not even her own husband. She must keep her composure and remain calm despite total chaos. If she showed any signs of hesitation, she would fail as Lord.

One the one hand, Raskreia’s end goal is to catch Reiner so he meets the fate he deserves. One the other hand, she hopes that Reiner will run far, far away; so far away she will never catch him for all eternity. She needed to execute the traitor and former Prince Reiner, but she wanted Reiner to live. The thought of executing her own son tormented her more than anyone else; her little boy whom she had neglected all these years. The best she can do is to pray that her search party never finds Reiner, despite being the one who is sending them after him. May the two of them never meet again.

“Regrets are an extravagant emotion to me.” As the noblesse once said.

To this day, Raskreia visits her father’s grave every so often and asks for his forgiveness on what she had done, and wishes that Reiner eventually finds his peace.

And that’s the end! Woohoo! There’s a lot more to come, and I’ll leave that to future posts. This includes Raegyn’s deal with Reiner, Garyth’s crush on Reiner, and much more. My prince boy is just so angsty lol.

A small spoiler for now: Reiner currently lives with his distant cousin Oswald Kravei. So fun!

Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for the next long character post!

See you again!

#noblesse #manhwa #myart #oc #original character #millennium au #aretis verja di reiner #never getting enough of that angst lol

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studentinpursuitofclouds · 9 months

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Hi, Mousy! 👋🏻 I hope you've been doing well! ✨ I don't know if these are worth of ideas but I'll leave that to you! It's about the short stories that you wanted ideas from. I pondered the whole day... Here's one of them 😆

So, firstly, I had an idea about your farmer, Julian and my farmer, Ziana. It's based on that one Joja situation with Shane your friend talked to you about, if you remember, hehe (the blue chickens). I would imagine Julian and Ziana were just finished with some farmwork and are resting together (feel free to add more of others' farmers, if you like!) munching some cookies or whatever you can think of (like a picnic maybe?) Ziana has the habit (like me, LOL) who kind of just having random thoughts and questions out of randomness.

So, while they're munching some cookies, Ziana suddenly thinks about Shane's chickens being blue and can't help but think to herself while she's munching on a cookie, finding the thought weird at first. But then she remembered that one time they helped Shane with his Ad video for Joja (you know that cutscene with Emily and Clint as well? Imagine Julian also helping too!) She recalls that Clint turned blue after drinking the Joja Cola. Then Shane also worked with Joja, so...

Everything is a coincidence but it feels right for her conclusion so she just had to ask Julian about this thought... (assuming she's already comfortable with Julian since she tends to ask random questions to those she's comfortable with 😁 The result of doing so is mostly a flick on the forehead from others. Mostly from Isaac 🤣)

How will Julian react upon hearing Ziana's random question? 🤔

It's a funny idea, haha 🤣🤣 For me, at least 😅

I hope this is okay and understandable 😅🙏🏻 My English has worsened lately 🥲

Heeey! Thanks so much for the question! I just got the inspiration for this scenario (the story turned out longer than I thought it would 😅). Hope you like it ❤️

In this story, the main characters are OCs Farmers - Julian (my OC), Ziana (@nimillaarts), Bo (@boinurmom13), and Bella (@ivquatro). Enjoy!

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"The blue chicken theory"

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Many will agree that the middle of spring is the ideal time for a picnic in nature, when the forest has already woken up from its long winter hibernation, and the ground is covered with whole fields of pleasant-smelling flowers; when your skin is blown by a not too cool breeze, and the food is not atacted by pesky midges, which are usually found in summer.

The farmers of the Stardew Valley thought a spring picnic would be a great excuse to get together and relax after the hard work in the fields. Ziana and Julian sat on the edge of a picnic rug on the grass near Marnie's ranch, Bella beside them opening a bottle of homemade juice (everyone had decided to avoid alcohol for this picnic). Bo, having finished helping his friends with the dishes and food, decided to head to the lake with a fishing rod, trying his luck and practising fishing, which, by the way, he hated with all his heart. But, unfortunately to him, fishing is necessary to make some good cash, so Bo trying to learn while he could, and also try not to gag because of the fishy stench.

Bella finally sat down on the rug with the others, pouring apricot juice into her and others mugs.

"Mmm, the cookies is really good!", Ziana was munching contentedly on the four mint cookies Bella had baked just in time for the picnic. Making healthy oatmeal cookies, and at the same time so tasty, is not an easy task, but the red-haired farmer succeed in cooking.

"I can say the same about your homemade juice. I love apricots". Putting the large glass bottle of juice in a basket so the sun wouldn't heat up the drink, Bella took the cranberry rakhat lukum Julian had made from the pretty little plate. Taking a half bite of the sweetness, she hummed a little with pleasure as she chewed the lukum slowly. Julian didn't need any verbal encouragement, as his friend's reaction to the lukum he'd made spoke for itself, so Julian just smiled broadly and began to quench his thirst with apricot juice.

"Hopefully Bo will be back in time from fishing, or his juice will get hot in the sun quickly", Julian said and grabbed from the basket a small avocado and tomato sandwich that Bo had made. The funny thing was that he was the only one who brought salty snacks to the picnic, thinking that "after the sweet stuff, one would immediately crave salty stuff". And he was absolutely right.

While the three farmers were sitting on the picnic rug, chatting and eating tasty snacks, waiting for the fourth farmer to come back from fishing, Jas came back from Pelican Town and excitedly told her uncle, Shane, about something. Behind them, clucking, come three chickens - Charlie, Shane's favorite, and two more, motley, with beautiful blue feathers. When the girl spotted the farmers near her aunt's ranch, she waved her hand in greeting. Shane also raised his hand and smiled weakly - his smile grew a little bigger when Julian, Ziana, and Bella waved back at him and Jas.

"What a beautiful hens! Hehe, so cute!" Ziana gasp, she couldn't take her eyes off the beautiful feathers of chickens.

"Right? So adorable. I even managed to buy two blue chickens from Marnie", Julian was also looking at the chickens, which were noisily stomping around Shane and Jas's feet, begging for attention and pets while Shane tried to open the front door with his key.

"This chickens looks well-fed, and very happy. Still don't understand why Shane still speak about himself so poorly..." Bella recalls with a slightly sad smile a conversation with a pizza and beer lover who was always calling himself worthless in everything he touched. The situation was even worse when Bo told her that he and Julian had found Shane lying near a rock in the rain with a bunch of beer cans. Good thing they'd gotten him to Dr. Harvey in time.

Ziana turned to Bella, looking at her worriedly, and then looked at the ladybug on the rug; she knew about situation with Shane, and the fact that the story had almost ended in tragedy... Even though chicken man often spat caustic phrases and demands for the farmers to leave him alone, Ziana knew that if she got to know him better, and that he actually is a wonderful and interesting friend. She's glad the other farmers gave Shane a chance (although Shane and Bo still exchange sarcasm, and sometimes, when the kids aren't around, heavy swear words).

Julian caught the tone with which Bella said the last sentence and sighed, remembering the feeling of anxiety that they wouldn't get Shane to the clinic in time.

"It's a good thing it all worked out. He said he'd been talking to a therapist for a while now and had even kicked the alcohol habit", Julian set himself up for more positive thoughts, Bella and Ziana nodded in agreement.

"Mr. Shane looked much happier". Ziana smiled softly, still looking at the ladybug and making sure none of her friends inadvertently squashed the little insect. Wanting to change the subject to something more cheerful, Ziana remembered the blue chickens. "How do you think Mr. Shane made his chickens' feathers blue?"

Ziana's question made the other two farmers think for a few moments.

"Well, I don't think he dyes his feathers, the chicks are already born with blue coloring", Julian nodded in confirmation of Bella's words, "So maybe..."

"Goddamn piece of garbage! I hate this fucking fishing! Stupid fish, fucking rod! Bitch ass fucking bullshit!" Before poor Bella could say anything further, all the farmers on the rug were startled by the harsh and loud profanity of Bo, who, stomping loudly and kicking some kind of iron can under his feet, was walking towards his friends. Shane and Jas were also taken aback by the loud noises, but Shane's expression immediately changed from shock to annoyance. He quickly handled the keyhole and led Jas home, covering her ears with his hands just in case so she wouldn't hear any new "unnecessary" words. The chickens quickly followed their owners and the front door to the ranch slammed shut.

Finally, the white-haired "fisherman" reached his friends: his face was still contorted with anger, but he tried to hide it.

"Mr. Bo, what's wrong?", Ziana set the plate of cookies aside so her friend could take off his shoes and sit down next to her on the picnic rug.

Bo sighed tiredly and rubbed his temples with his fingers, trying to settle his headache and calm down.

"Let's just say the fishing hadn't gone well."

He reached for the net he'd thrown on the grass nearby and showed the three farmers his catch. Well, if you could call it a catch: in the net, from which fresh water dripped to the ground, were several empty Joja cola cans, broken disks (also from Joja.co), and slippery green algae hanging from the same net. That can, by the way, that he was kicking, was also his "catch" - an empty iron with the logo of that "beloved corporation", but he didn't put it in the net with the rest of the catch, deciding to take out all his anger on the unfortunate can.

"But why do you need fish? We have plenty of picnic food", Ziana asked again.

"Wha..?" Bo murmur quietly. "Oh, no, I wasn't catching fish to eat, was planning to release fish anyway. I just need experience, like, fishing knowledge, you know? And what kind of experience can I have if I catch shi- uh, I mean garbage, instead of fish?" Bo looked into Ziana's amber eyes and quickly corrected himself. He thinks he's used his entire limit of bad words for the day, especially since he'd hate to vent so much negativity on his friends.

Finally, Bo sat down cross-legged, picked up a plate of loukum and ate his sadness, showing to this world how grumpy and angry he was, cursing quietly the fish, the Joja co. trash, and the day the old fisherman had handed him that damned bamboo rod. Julian and Bella began to take turns comforting him with food and words, agreeing with his negative opinion about the greedy monopoly corporation and their inexcusable attitude toward garbage disposal.

Ziana's attention was suddenly drawn to the cola cans in the net, she stared at them intently for half a minute. After a moment, a question suddenly dawned on her.

"Uh, Mr. Julian? Remember when we helped Shane with his Joja cola commercial project with Clint and Emily?" Julian stopped patting Bo's back in comfort, and looked at Ziana.

"Yeah, of course I remember. Clint had turned blue after drinking that nasty stuff.", Julian's face wrinkled a little at the mere recollection of this "miracle drink" with a lot of sugar, caffeine and Yoba's guess what else, since some people contacted the company with a complaint that their skin turned blue as blueberries. While the change in skin color can be blamed on Clint's worries about Emily, it can usually be a slightly bluish hue rather than a bright blue. Julian also can't forget Bo's light teasing that multicolored young man grumbles over Joja like an old fart. But he knows that Bo wouldn't even want his worst enemy to take a sip of that crap, let alone drink it himself voluntarily.

"I remember by the end of the commercial, Clint was turning blue from soda. I mean, a side effect of that cola is blue skin in some people", Ziana scratched her chin in thought. "And Mr. Shane", she continue, "also works at Joja and he too drinks this cola a lot. Doesn't that mean he pours the soda into the chickens feed to turn their feathers blue?" Ziana finally spoke the question, waiting to see what her friends would say.

Bo snorted and wanted to open his mouth, reply that it was an absurd idea, but he immediately closed his mouth again and his eyes widened at the realization that this theory had a right to exist.

"No. Freaking. Way.", Bo said.

Bella and Julian followed Bo's example: the red-haired girl almost choked on the apple slice she was chewing, and Julian's face expressed the emotion of a man who had just realized that his life was a lie and shambles.

"Huh, it actually makes sense..."

"Don't." Julian replied to Bella, raising his hand in protest. His throat was sharply dry. "I refuse to believe it."

"But man, think about it!" Bo had completely forgotten about his anger over his recent bad fishing trip and was fully immersed in the discussion.

"Shane would never do that to his chickens!" Julian protested.

"But maybe..." Ziana began cautiously, but Julian interrupted her.

"It can't be", the yellow-haired young man replied a little softer to Ziana.

While Bo, Julian and Ziana argued for a minute about the chickens feather theory, Bella pulled back from her shock and said: "Why don't we ask Shane himself?"

The three wranglers looked at Bella, and then all four of them looked directly at the front door of the ranch where they had seen Shane today with Jas.

Bo smiled predatorily. "Time to terrorize people."

"Let's do it better tomorrow, after lunch. We'll rest today." Julian decided to leave the feather coloring debate for tomorrow, returning to the snacks and juice, and his friends decided to follow his example.

#sdv #sdv oc #sdv ocs #farmer julian #farmer ziana #farmer bella #farmer bo

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skellymom · 10 months

Text

"Slide"

Bad Batch x Non-Gendered Character - ONE SHOT

This is my FIRST fan fic. Working on a much longer series fic with an OC that will drop...when it’s done. Criticism is welcome AS LONG AS IT’S KIND AND CONSTRUCTIVE. PLEASE feel free to contact me! I really want to hear feedback. Also, open to questions. All my work will be 18+ just because of my nasty mouth, nasty mind, and inappropriate dark humor. REMINDER: Please REBLOG if you like what you read! Thanks!!!

Summary: Action, Jedi learns to grow Force powers. This timeline is several months after leaving Crosshair on Kamino, near the end of working for Cid. The Batch is trying to figure a hook to be independent and possibly start actively rebelling against the Empire. This is set well before Mt Tantiss.

Content and Warnings: Canon and non-canon violence, swearing, momentary and possibly gruesome death of main characters (no worries, they don’t stay dead forever), Crosshair is an angry psychopathic killer with a vengeance (no hate, I love his problematic ass), mild Hunter fluff, touchy concerned Tech, Echo swears.

Word count: 2.1 K

**********************************************************************

You hadn’t expected to be separated from the rest of the Batch, however, Omega had other ideas “to help” on this mission. The Batch infiltrated this Imperial base for intel and possible chain codes to steal. You volunteered to run after and bring her back. Spotted by Imperial stormtroopers in a corridor, you and Omega try to lose them, but they are hot on your tail. Omega hears the Batch’s voices down a hallway and runs to them.

You and Omega skid to a halt at the edge of a missing bridge while the rest of the Batchers are on the other side. The precipice between is a several hundred story drop within the Imperial base. The group of stormtroopers rocked up behind you, guns lowered. Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker looked on impotently across the chasm, weapons trained on the stormtroopers. The Batch are poised, holding fire, trying to avoid any possibility of you and Omega getting caught in any crossfire.

Unfortunately, you had not finished training with your Master. Your Master did not survive Order 66. You were SO CLOSE to obtaining Jedi status. Now it was up to YOU to save yourself and Omega. Being captured was not an option at this point. Although, allowing the Empire to take you and Omega might allow time for the Batch to retreat safely to fight later. That carried serious risks. You were very limited in options as far as your Force abilities. Master had not given you a light saber, remarking that the Force had a different path for you.

The lead stormtrooper immediately grabbed you as a human shield, just as Wrecker let loose a shot from his blaster. He intended to shoot the stormtrooper but hit you in the chest. You slipped out of the stormtroopers grasp and off the edge of the bridge. You met Omega’s eyes as she called your name, while being dragged away by the same trooper. As your body went into free fall down the chasm, you could hear your Batchmates scream, curse, and start blasting away.

As consciousness slips from your body, you close your eyes. The sense of falling disappears, but you expected that by eventually reaching terminal velocity from this height. You open your eyes and are standing on an outstretched infinite path within an ever-expanding universe. Before you is a HUGE hulking creature with glowing eyes.

“What’s happening? Where am I?” You are simultaneously shocked, afraid, and unsure if this is all a dream.

The creature stares down, sizing you up.

“ In The World Between Worlds.”

“Am I dead???”

“No. It is not yet your time. You are here to finish your training.”

“My friends need my help! I need to get back to them!!!”

“You will return to help them; it is part of your training.”

“Who are you?”

“That matters not. Only your path is of importance. You cannot progress until your training is finished. The lives within your care hang in the balance. You and your group are linked together in that realm. Your failure will be their failure...until you succeed. Then you will be released from this realm to continue your path.”

It feels like the creature is staring into your soul, “The point of entry is behind you.”

You turn around to see...a doorway? A dark threshold surrounded by cryptic symbols, suspended among stars.

“Are you ready?”

“No! I...”

“Begin!”

Your vision becomes a blur as you leave that place and return to where you were standing before falling off the platform. The vertigo messes with your senses, and it all feels like you had a momentary hallucination. Now back in this moment, you quickly spring into action.

You yell “NO WRECKER” immediately and Wrecker stops in his tracks. Hunter is sensing something, but unsure what it is. The Stormtrooper grabs you as a shield. A second trooper grabs Omega and drags her away. Omega starts using swears that only Echo could come up with as she is taken. The Batch stand with blasters trained on the stormtroopers in defense but not wanting to hit you in the crossfire. The trooper violently puts a foot in your ass and kicks you off the platform, then commences to start firing on the Batch. You free fall down the chasm and...

...pass The World Between Worlds for a split second, and then appear back onto the platform.

You try again.

Omega is led away swearing up a storm while the stormtrooper is holding onto you. Hunter calls to you, and in that moment, you sense the concern and love in his heart. You also sense a dark presence in the Force, look up to the platform above and see Crosshair with his Firepuncher trained on you. He was watching this exchange the whole time, waiting for the opportunity to shoot. In his jealousy and anger, he fires, hitting you dead center between the eyes. The very last thing you see is Cross grinning as he hears Hunter lose his shit.

The fabric of the connected realms brushes past you.

Again.

You yank the stormtrooper into Crosshairs blaster bolt as his body is hit, he stumbles into Omega and both fall off the platform to their impending deaths. The stormtrooper behind him, seeing the target they were looking to take is now gone, opens fire on you. You fall off the platform.

Again.

Before the trooper can grab you, you grab Omega and jump off the platform into the chasm. With any luck, you can use the force to stop yourselves before hitting bottom. Unfortunately, you and Omega’s fall velocity was too much for your Force abilities.

Again.

You grab Omega but try to save only her. As you fall past hundreds of platforms, you try to yeet her onto one as you fall. You are falling too fast, and your throw was severely off. You hear a sickening thud as she hits something.

Again.

You attempt to Force jump, and only make it just short of the other side. You yeet Omega across the chasm towards the Batch, Hunter jumps for her from the other side, and she slips from his grasp. You hear them both scream above you as you fall. Fortunately, Tech and Wrecker send out their grappling cables and catch both. Blaster fire starts from the stormtroopers. Tech is hit, falls off the platform, and takes Omega with him since she is attached to his cable.

Again.

You Force jump again, Hunter jumps but misses Omega. Knowing Wrecker will catch Hunter with his grappling hook, you send out a Force block in front of Tech. He is shielded from blaster fire, but Wrecker is hit by several bolts. He falls off the platform taking Hunter with him. You hear Wrecker's insanely terrified scream as you all fall. Hunter sends out his grappling cable and it catches. His fall is stopped, but Wrecker’s weight wrenches Hunters body horribly. He screams out in agony as he feels muscles tear. They are hanging and safe momentarily...or so it seems. A shot is heard from Firepuncher and Hunters cable is severed. Both Batchers scream as they fall.

You try to hold onto the edges of the realm as you pass through, but it evades your grasp.

Again.

You grab the lead stormtroopers gun while he is still holding onto it and keep pushing his finger onto the trigger, you shoot him and several other imps. You fire several shots towards Crosshair, preventing him from shooting at you. However, one hotshot trooper in the back squeezes off and hits you right in the back fatally.

Again.

Same scenario, but you spin the trooper around and use him as a human shield and the hotshot misses you. However, Crosshair blasts you at the base of your skull. The last thing you see is Omega’s terrified expression as you fall onto the platform next to your teeth his shot loosened in the blast.

AGAIN?

You are getting sick of playing this fucked up reset game already. In your anger, you quickly grab the stormtrooper and throw his ass off the platform. The Batch and Omega watch shocked at your anger. The other stormtroopers are taken by surprise, as you advance on them and grab another. Crosshair is attempting to aim, but you are moving too much. The hotshot trooper aims his weapon. You and the trooper in your grasp struggle violently. The hotshot cannot get a good clear shot. Finally, he squeezes one off and misses you. However, he didn’t consider where Omega is standing, and she takes a direct hit. You hear your Batchmates scream in outrage. You scream in outrage. The hotshot screams in frustration, then double taps you and the trooper in your grasp in the head simultaneously.

AGAIN??

You grab the stormtroopers gun while still in his hand and shoot yourself in the head. You just want this exhausting mess to be over.

AGAIN???

You fall onto the platform in a crumpled pile crying. Stormtroopers AND Crosshair shoot you at the same time, resulting in a horrible, charred mess.

AGAIN???

You scream bloody murder and obscenities at Crosshair. He shoots you between the eyes.

AGAIN!

You jump off the edge of the platform screaming obscenities like a crazy person.

Before reset, you see the expression on the creatures face. He looks disappointed and replies, “You aren’t even trying. Reach out beyond the boundaries of your realm” As you angrily try to spout off to him, you are thrown violently into the next reset.

AGAIN!!!

Standing on the platform, you take a deep breath and survey the scene. You mull over the creatures words. Time seems to slow down: You sense the stormtroopers behind you, looking into each of eyes of the Batch; Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, up to Crosshair, finally resting on Omega. You mouth, “Trust me” to her and she nods.

Time suddenly slams into overdrive, and you instantly pivot to bearhug Omega. The trooper misses your shoulder and grabs open air. The shot from Crosshair’s Firepuncher, originally meant for you, hits the trooper right between the eyes and he falls off the platform. You reach deep within the Force, grab the thin tether of this realm and open it wide. You then realize you were only meant to grasp it at the start of your actions, not at the end. You “push” through with the Force, taking Omega with you. As you “slide” from one location to another, you pass the creature. He nods as you pass from the world you left only a millisecond ago, through the timeless World Between Worlds.

“Congratulations, Jedi! Your training is complete.”

You part the curtain to your world again, entering behind the Batch. Hunter, before his eyes even register your disappearance on the opposite platform, senses a presence behind them. His head whips around to see you and Omega are now out of harm's way. His jaw drops inside his helmet. Tech, seeing Hunters reaction, immediately spins around, his eyes are visibly dumbfounded “What? How?” Wrecker calmly looks behind him, seeing you and Omega there safely, doesn’t question. He barks, “MUAHAHAHA! YEAH!!!” and opens fire on all the befuddled stormtroopers standing on the opposite platform.

With Wreckers cover fire, Hunter grabs Omega and runs down the hallway while yelling, “Let’s go!” Tech runs past and grabs your hand. He’s usually not touchy feely, but somewhere deep in his logical brain he understands that whatever happened saved your and Omega’s life. All the quick calculations he was running in his brain logically ended in you both dying. Wrecker is happily hopped up on blaster fire and the relief you are both safe. He follows running behind.

Crosshair is left on his sniper's roost. He hasn’t EVER missed a target. This was his first time. You were there one second and gone next to his surprise. Stares down at all the dead troopers laying on the platform below, gnawing hard on his toothpick. He’s angry...but intrigued. Maybe instead of killing you outright next time, he can land a stunning blow. The Empire might be VERY interested if he brought you in alive. Cross sprints away down a shortcut.

Your group reaches the end of the hallway and bursts out into the ship hangar bay. A large battalion of stormtroopers meet you there, with guns aimed. You all stop, out of breath, and possibly out of luck. Echo swoops in with the Marauder hovering and laying down suppressive cannon fire. Unfortunately, there are too many imps for him to dispatch while also landing successfully. Hunter and Tech are furiously looking for a way out.

You reach out with the Force and envelope Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, and Omega. Before opening the fabric of this realm, you feel eyes on you. Looking to a ledge several stories up, Crosshair meets your gaze. You both stare intensely into each other. Without even realizing it, you reach out and speak with the Force:

“Why???”

“Because...” Slight shock registering on Crosshair’s face “...I can.”

“You’ll regret this someday...when you’re all alone.”

“I already am.” He’s angry and hurt. There is nothing more you can say.

You slide through, taking all the Batchers with you and suddenly appearing within the Marauder.

Wrecker: “WHOA!”

Tech: Speechless, wide eyed...and STILL holding your hand.

Omega: Dizzy and winded.

Hunter: Rips helmet off his head. His expression is wild eyed and looks like he saw some serious shit. "What was that place? Who was that creature?”

Echo: Spins around in the pilot’s chair, eyes wide “WHAT THE FUCK!!!”

You grin. And watch the Batch trying to piece together their sudden location movement and glimpse of the creature between worlds.

Giving the order to Echo you bark, “Let’s go, soldier!”

He’s still sitting there with a shocked expression, then laser blasts pepper the ship, and he regains composure. Echo flies the Marauder out of the Imperial facility, off the planet, scrambles the ships jump signature, and punches it into hyperspace.

************************************************************************

Should I pursue certain plot points further and make this MORE than a one shot? What develops with Crosshair? Tech's hand holding awakening? Why was Hunter the only one to actually see the creature? Or whatever else you might want to explore? PLEASE message me or leave a comment! AND, PLEASE REBLOG! Thanks!!!

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