#i actually am just a spiteful creature that wants to prove that Hey. maybe i can be relied upon this one time | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

voiceless-terror · 3 years

Text

Ink (TMA Fanfic)

For TMA Gerry Week 2021 Day One

Pairings: Jonathan Sims/Gerry Keay/Martin Blackwood

Rating: T

Summary: Art’s how Gerry shows his love- a few snippets where he does exactly that. No powers-au, Gerry and Martin own a bookstore. Takes place in this universe but can be read alone!

He’s getting used to having people who want him around.

Gerry’s had friends, sure. Once he left the institute and began working odd jobs, he realized how much he genuinely enjoyed having company. He still isn’t the most social of creatures, but he does enjoy a night out with old coworkers who enjoy his stories and laugh at his jokes. But now, with Jon and Martin, they want him around all the time. Even after they started dating, even after he moved in, he was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. It never does, though. And Gerry, in spite of himself, begins to relax. Begins to feel at home.

He’s laying on the couch, scribbling in his notebook when Martin surprises him with a peck to the top of his head. “Whatcha drawing this time?” He was very excited when he heard Gerry liked to draw, immediately asking to see his notebook or anything he’d done. He’d only recently shown him some of his work; he knows Martin would never make him feel embarrassed, but, well. It’s another part of himself no one’s ever been interested in. Until now.

“Jon,” Gerry responds, leaning into the touch. It’s an amateurish attempt in his opinion, just a rough sketch. But he’s got the proportions down and he never forgets a face. Couldn’t forget, in Jon’s case.

“That’s…” Martin trails off, peering closer at the page. “That’s really good. You’ve even got him smiling!” It’s not that Jon never smiles; he smirks and laughs and snarks. But he’s managed to capture that rare, bright grin that makes Gerry’s heart skip a beat.

“Mhm.” Gerry nods slightly, pen tapping against his sketchpad. He turns around, seeing the naked fondness in Martin’s eyes and has a particularly wicked thought. “Y’know, this is how he looks when he’s watching you.”

Martin sputters, turns a lovely shade of red. “W-What? Really?”

“No,” Gerry smirks. “It’s the way he looks at the Admiral.” A groan and a light smack to the shoulder prove his joke is unappreciated. “Sorry, sorry! I’m sure he also looks at you that way-”

“You’re an ass.” Martin rolls his eyes but oh-so-gently picks up his hand, pausing to inspect the ink-stained fingers. “A very talented ass.” His mind blanks as Martin kisses them one by one.

Thoroughly distracted, he never gets around to finishing that sketch.

_______

Painting, as it turns out, is a lot harder than it looks. Still quite fun, though.

They’ve just found the perfect space- a little out of their price range, but Gerry’s got savings and Jon was willing to part with a bit himself. Martin fretted over his ‘meager contribution,’ as his savings were depleted in the final months of his mother’s care. Ridiculous that he would ever think his contribution meager, considering he’s the one who scouted for locations and did all of the paperwork and stayed up late, agonizing over their finances. Some days, Martin’s the only one keeping them sane. Gerry and Jon are due to remind him of that.

Which is why they’re handling the decorating. Jon claims to have no artistic talent, but he does have a knack for making places seem like home. There are boxes filled with knick knacks and rugs and pictures, all waiting to be hung somewhere once Jon’s finally settled on a layout. Gerry’s left with painting the walls, labeling the different sections in whatever way he sees fit. He’s currently at work on the horror section, painting a stylized eye above the tarp-covered bookshelf when he hears the sound of the bell; Martin must be back from the store. They’d run out of appropriately-sized nails and after a minor freak out, he’d been on his way.

“Find what you were looking for?” he calls, listening as Martin’s footsteps grow closer, the crinkle of bags in his hand. “Here to save the day?”

“I wouldn’t call it saving,” Martin snorted, setting them down on the ground with a thump. “But it’ll certainly help. That looks nice.”

Gerry pauses, considering his work. He really needs a darker green for this. “Thanks. It’s a work in progress.”

“I’m sure it’ll turn out great,” he murmurs distractedly, and Gerry turns to look back at him. The lines of his face are more pronounced than usual, as are the shadows under his eyes. A sure sign that the stress is getting to him. Gerry understands, and he’s not much for being particularly sappy but he does what he can to help.

“Hey,” he calls down to him from his ladder. “C’mere. Need your opinion on something.”

Martin sighs, but heeds the call. “What is it? You know I’m rubbish with this art stuff-”

“It’ll only take a second. Come closer.”

“What am I supposed to be looking at-”

“Closer.”

As Martin huffs and leans towards him, Gerry darts his paintbrush out, drawing the quickest of hearts on Martin’s cheek before he can pull away.

“Gerry!” Martin startles and his hand reaches up to wipe at his cheek.

“Don’t smear it, it’s a heart.” He pauses, going for his gravest voice. “Because I love you so much. I’ll be devastated if you ruin it.”

“I don’t appreciate that.” Martin sighs but drops his hand, his face softening already. Exasperation has never been paired with fondness, not when it’s aimed at Gerry. Another thing he’s starting to get used to.

“Shame. It looks good.”

Martin goes home with a heart on his other cheek as well. He looks ridiculous. Gerry loves it.

_________

When Jon’s particularly stressed, Gerry leaves him post-it notes.

Often he leaves before Gerry even wakes, so he’s got to do them the night before. A little cat here, a little caricature of Bouchard there. He leaves a variety, depending on his mood. Jon always gives him a kiss when he gets home, a soft ‘thank you for the note,’ and that’s all he needs, really, to keep doing it. He likes making Jon smile.

Martin’s gone grocery shopping and Jon’s pulling a late night again, so Gerry’s alone in the flat looking for something to do. There’s nothing on Netflix worth watching (or at least, worth watching by himself) and he’s not in the mood for his latest novel, so he decides he’s going to be productive, make a list of all the things he has to do this week. Jon’s always going on about lists, though he leaves them everywhere and never seems to accomplish everything on them. Maybe it’s the act of making them that’s relaxing. It’s worth a try.

He makes his way over to the second bedroom they (mostly Jon) use as an office. He’s sure Jon’s got a little notepad here that he can use, and he wants it to look as official as possible. He opens the left hand drawer but only finds Martin’s receipts, and on the right he finds a plain-looking notebook, a little worn with use. Maybe that’s what he uses-

Gerry opens it. Pauses. Blinks. Feels something heavy and thick form in his throat.

It’s his notes- his stupid little sketches, his ‘have a good day at work’s, his smiley-faces and little hearts. Each carefully placed on page after page with an accompanying date, neat and tidy, like a little scrapbook. Mum used to throw out his ‘doodles,’ as she called them, told him his time was better spent on actual art, but Jon’s kept all of them. Like they mattered. Like they were important. He sets it back down on the desk and just stands there, heart beating hard in his chest.

Gerry’s tearing up like some sort of moron so he’s distracted and doesn’t hear Jon come home, doesn’t hear his usual grumblings and sighs. Doesn’t hear him until Jon’s right behind him, startling him with a hand on his arm. “Sorry, I was just- Gerry, are you alright?”

Alright. Alright. It’s a word that doesn’t encompass everything he’s feeling. Wanted, embarrassed, a little overwhelmed. And so, so happy.

He turns around and grabs Jon in a fierce hug, overcome with affection and eager to hide his stupid tears as he squeezes Jon to his chest. “You’re adorable, you know that?” he says, peppering kisses to the top of his head despite Jon’s weak protestations. “Real fuckin’ cute.”

Jon melts into his embrace, even as he complains. “I’ve got no idea what you’re on about, Gerry,” he says into his chest, the words muffled. “You’re being absurd.” Jon’s just about the only person he knows that uses ‘absurd’ on a daily basis. It’s insufferable. Gerry loves it.

“Just let me hug you, you little ogre.”

_________

Sometimes, Gerry’s the one who’s got to be up early. Doctors appointments are a bitch, and after a brief scare last year, it’s important that he keep up with them. Martin helps him schedule, marking the appointments on the calendar with a bold black marker that can’t be missed.

This morning’s particularly brutal, with an eight o’clock appointment an hour’s commute away. Jon went to sleep at a reasonable hour last night and he needs the rest; Gerry knows if he wakes Martin, he wakes them both. Jon’s never been good at sleeping alone.

He’s stumbling blearily around the kitchen, about to put the kettle on when he notices it. On the table is a post-it note; he doesn’t remember leaving one for Jon last night, but he’d been rather tired, so who knows? Gerry putters around, fixing his tea and nibbling at toast when he finally spares it a glance.

It’s not for Jon. It’s for him.

Good luck at your appointment! It reads in Martin’s familiar, neat script. Accompanying it is a small doodle that has to be Jon’s; it’s not particularly good, but it clearly shows a little Gerry, makeup and all, with a plaster on his cheek and a heart over his head. It looks like Jon spent time on it. Spent time on some stupid little post it note to make Gerry smile.

He puts it in his pocket. Takes it out a few times in the waiting room, stares at it. Everything looks fine, the doctor says at the end of the appointment. He’s so lucky.

He’s so lucky.

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29635833

#tma #the magnus archives #tmagerryweek2021 #gerry keay #gerard keay #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #jongerrymartin #my writing

92 notes · View notes

ill-skillsgard · 4 years

Text

Reflections - Henry Deaver X Mistress

Warning: 18+ mentions of sex/cheating/mature themes. Please read at your own discretion.

Note: Hello, babies. Here’s another shortish little piece of Henry’s POV. I really enjoy writing from his viewpoint, and will probably do that more, unless anyone is strongly opposed to it? I love to hear all your feedback/theories/suggestions and just any little thing you might want to say. Much love and kisses!

Read more Henry x Mistress imagines here > Masterpost

I’ve never been a spiteful man. Even after the emotional hardships I had gone through with Mary, I still treated her with respect. After accepting I would never know why she turned against me, I tried to keep the playing field level. I gave her the space she wanted, gave up my house so she could live comfortably and spared her feelings when all I wanted to do was lash out and demand she explain why her eyes narrowed with disdain whenever we were together. In our professional setting, I didn’t give voice to my distaste for her presence. People asked roundabout questions, but I didn’t answer. I wouldn’t let myself become a villain. It’s what she wanted; for me to reveal my anger so she could point her finger at me and say that was why she abandoned our marriage.

I was calm as still water while the lawyers deliberated. Six feet of tempered glass sprawled between us, and I avoided meeting her stare as much as possible. We didn’t need to talk or look at each other, but I kept both my hands visible on the table so she might note my absent ring. I wanted her to know how solid and final my feelings were. She had to see I was unmoved by her demands, unperturbed by her accusations of infidelity. There was no way to prove it, and she knew that. Mary was grabbing threads and treating them like ropes. The lawyers agreed there were no grounds to take the accusation seriously. Such a claim would only move the divorce proceeding into jagged territory that would take months to comb through.

Maybe what I did was cheating, but in my heart, I disagreed. Mary and I were already emotionally separated, barely holding things together and about ready to kill each other when I met her. If I’d have been in a loving marriage with a person who cared for me, maybe I would feel some shame over how my heart lit up after talking to the girl in the hotel café. The gorgeous creature behind the bar I always saw working just did something to me I couldn’t explain. Didn’t I deserve to feel like my conversation had worth, that my being there did not disgust her, that somebody in the world wanted to listen to what I had to say even if it was only trivialities?

When I made that beautiful girl smile, and she accepted my offer to share a drink, it soothed the festering gash of my depleted self-worth. Her laugh had healing powers. Her eyes on me felt like heaven and I couldn’t believe somebody like her could take an interest in me.

After wading through the tar pits of Mary’s hostility and coming out the other side only to meet a girl that looked at me the way I looked at her, I couldn’t feel remorse if I tried. How could I have guilt over such a warm sensation of acceptance? How could I discount the connection we had by allowing the rot from my former marriage to tarnish it?

Mary looked at me over the table with eyes burning of displeasure. It reminded me of the times I spent staring at my reflection to see if I could find what it was about me that made her sneer. I straightened my back, elevated my chin and ignored her taunt, but inside I felt like the weak man that had spent too many months allowing her to trample my self-esteem.

“Wow!”

“Wow, what?”

“Just... Just wow! Look at you!”

“I am looking at me.”

“You’re so beautiful, it’s stupid.”

“Stop.”

“Henry... You are the most gorgeous creature I have ever seen.”

“Okay, you’re clearly high on the crack.”

“Aw, enough of that. Seriously... Look at your skin. You like glow in the light. And your eyes... My god. Your face. Get outta here!”

“You are a nutbar.”

“That may be, but you’re still beautiful. I wish I had more time to get ready because I’d love to hop on that big ol’ dick right now, you sexy piece of man.”

Her words echoed in my memory, and I smiled remembering how warm they felt. She had wrapped her arms around my waist and gazed at me in the mirror before kissing my back. She had been right, if we had had more time to get ready, I would have mounted her right there on the counter. I spent the rest of the meeting thinking about her voice and decided I would stop by the florist to get her flowers.

After the meeting adjourned, and before I could make it down the hall, I heard Mary call my name. Her lawyer and my lawyer went the other way and left only us in the corridor. I stopped and waited for her to catch up with me, shoving my hands in my pockets, suddenly self-conscious about what she might say if she saw my ringless finger.

“Hey, I just wanted to say thanks,” she told me.

“Thanks for what?”

“For being so civil about this.” There was an air in her voice nudging me the wrong way. It was her apologetic voice, the one I had fallen for many times before. I could recognize her manipulations before they had the chance to play out.

“What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t I be civil?”

She shrugged her shoulders, and I recognized her blazer as one I had bought for her two years back. It made me cringe.

“I don’t know. You always hear about these things going awry.”

“Oh, you mean like when somebody storms into someone’s office and causes a scene and has to be escorted off the premises by security? Is that what you mean by ‘awry’?”

Mary shook her head, brown curls tumbling over the lapels of her blazer. “I apologize. That was stupid of me. I was blinded by anger. I shouldn’t’ve come in and accused you of all that—”

“Accused me of sleeping with prostitutes in front of my whole office,” I reminded her.

She stumbled over her words, growing visibly agitated from my rejection of her half-ass apology. I continued.

“You threatened to drain me in front of my employees. You called my assistant a whore to her face. Mary... There is something sincerely messed up inside your head. You’re abusive. As soon as somebody doesn’t serve you a purpose, they’re beneath you. You treat people like trash. All I ever did was elevate you and support you, and you pissed all over that with no remorse. So forgive me if I think your apology seems a little contrived.”

“I know we’re getting divorced, but there’s no reason we can’t remain friends.”

“We have never been friends. Why would we start now?”

“Because we have businesses to run and we’re adults!” Her words broke off into brittle pieces.

I took a step away from her. “You’re right. We’re adults. So let’s act like adults and keep this as professional as possible. I’ll forget that you humiliated me in front of my employees and you can go on to lead the life you always wanted without me.”

“That’s not what I want anymore.”

At that moment, I despised her. If she were somebody else, someone of equal strength and not a woman I once loved, I’d have slapped her. Instead, I laughed as loud as possible without garnering odd stares. “Well, that’s what I want. Even if you got on your knees and begged for us to get back together, I’m so out of love with you, it borders on hatred. You ruined so many years I could have spent with somebody who actually loved me and wouldn’t have used me for money and status.”

“Henry, that’s not true, and you know it.”

I had no patience left to argue, and her face was making me sick. The crocodile tears that used to work on me showcased her childishness in a new, ultraviolet light, revealing more than I cared to see. Her whimpers emboldened me. I was not the same man she had married all those years ago. I was better now.

When I turned around she nearly lunged after me, but held her hands in front of her. “Where are you going? Why won’t you talk to me about this?”

“I’m going to pick up my girlfriend. Goodbye, Mary.”

#henry deaver x mistress #Henry Deaver stuff #bill skarsgard fanfiction #bill skarsgard imagine #fanfiction #AU fanfiction #castle rock fanfiction

114 notes · View notes

garden-ghoul · 7 years

Text

bloggbblog, part 8

“my GOAL for this one is to do 2 chapters since I have jack else to do. idk if I’m using jack correctly in this sentence.”

FLIES AND SPIDERS

Why is it my most vivid memories of this book are of the dwerrows getting captured in sacks/spider webbing. Is it just because it’s KIND OF WEIRD that this exact thing gets repeated. Wait shit the point is probably to contrast “Gandalf has to save everyone while Bilbo hides” and “Bilbo saves everyone because getting the Ring made him suddenly competent.” No uh why is he competent now? I like the bit where he’s the only one with eyes sharp enough to spot Beorn in chapter 7, and now he’s turning into a real hero. I think what might have done it was the moment when he steps out of the cave, finally free, and then realizes he’s going to have to go back into danger to save his friends. That bit was really good, like just understated enough that clearly Bilbo doesn’t even realize how much he’s changed.

Sorry. That’s what I got from the TITLE of the chapter. Uhh let’s start reading it. So far the first paragraph informs us in a very fun way that the forest is dark because it’s covered in trees. It’s also full of cobwebs bigger than any Bilbo has ever seen, though thankfully (but mysteriously) they don’t go across the Path. And at night many eyes come to stare at our heroes--the forest is completely zero-photon black, though, so honestly this just proves that Tolkien put all his points into mythology and none in biology. I’m pretty sure spiders don’t even have tapeta lucida, so what the fuck. Basically Tolkien spends a couple pages enumerating all the ways the forest sucks, and then the party stumbles upon the Lethe. They don’t want to wade it, for fear that forgetfulness is absorbed via skin contact, BUT there is a boat on the far bank that they are able to hook with their convenient grappling hook (it’s not a grappling hook it’s like one of those bungee hooks).

As they’re just barely across a hart runs over Bombur and knocks him into the water, causing him to fall asleep. In the distance: a horn, baying hounds. Maybe they were hunting the hart! Or maybe they were hunting these other deer that show up--the dwerrows use all of their remaining arrows trying in vain to shoot them, and now the bows are useless. Fools. Tolkien informs us that they are actually getting close to the eastern edge of the wood, but they don’t know this and are beginning to despair, because they’ve been carrying Bombur for four days. Um is he just. Asleep now, permanently. In time the trees start to thin, even as the party begins to hear strange eerie songs and laughter. I wonder if the elves also don’t want to live too deep in the forest. Bilbo is made to climb a tree to try and see the end, because he’s lightest; finds some spiders “after the butterflies.” Listen. Butterflies are a fool’s errand. They’re mostly wing and they destroy webs really easily. Don’t bother with them. I get that this is like a metaphor or something but I’m cheesed. Oh they’re cool butterflies, though, and tons of them. With velvet black wings. Bilbo sees no end to the forest, because he’s in a valley, and everyone is miserable.

Bombur wakes up. I’m not sure if this is of consequence yet, but he has dreamed of feasting with the elves. He sees torches and fires lit, a ways off the path, which is honestly very will-o-wisp and oh great there he goes. He’s trying to go over there. It is decided that a couple people should creep over and spy, but since they might get lost forever, uh, everyone decides to go, which is the opposite of what makes sense in this situation, but whatever. They smell roasting meat and all try to leap toward it, and the elves vanish. Orrrr possibly they were an illusion the whole time, unclear. Now everyone is lost, so good job. Should have! left someone! on the path!

The lights come on again. Thorin decides to send Bilbo, the least scary, to parley.

The lights go out, and Bilbo is lost. They find him asleep a while later (weak from hunger?)

"I was having such a lovely dream," he grumbled, "all about having a most gorgeous dinner."

"Good heavens! he has gone like Bombur," they said. "Don't tell us about dreams. Dream-dinners aren't any good, and we can't share them."

This is just cute dialogue. The dwerrows STILL haven’t learned their lesson, because the next time they see lights--a huuuuge feast--they go and try to crash it again. Look the elves are just trying to eat and they keep having to pick up all their stuff and sprint away while they’re trying to have a good time. Let them alone. Thorin steps out and everyone looks at him for a moment, and then they snuff the lights and kick ashes in the dwerrows’ eyes. All the dwerrows get lost, and Bilbo can’t find any of them. So he lies down against a tree and goes to sleep, the only reasonable course of action.

He wakes up and a spider is trying to wrap him up. He panics but manages to kill it with his sword, and then passes out again. When he wakes up there’s a dead spider and he’s still alone. But.

Somehow the killing of the giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the dwerrows or of anyone else, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach, as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into its sheath.

"I will give you a name," he said to it, "and I shall call you Sting."

Birth of a legend.

He uses his innate hobbit stealth and also the Ring to sneak up on some spiders. That is, he sneaks in a random direction and falls ass-backward into a rescue. Also I want to interject here that the cobwebs these spiders make, unlike normal cobwebs, are black. If their hugeness wasn’t enough, this is probably a Clue that they are descended from Ungoliant or her like. They digest the light and excrete the darkness that is left over! Maybe that’s why this forest is so dark! Hey hey did we ever get any good descriptions of Nan Dungortheb. I bet it’s like this.

Bilbo listens in on some spider conversation, which makes me really wonder if Shelob could talk and just didn’t feel like it. It’d make sense if she could talk, right? Anyway it’s really fun how all the Horrible Monsters in this book talk like average Toms, Dicks, and Harrys. Hang ‘em up for a couple days and they’ll be bee-autiful, says one of the spiders. I’m serious. One of the spiders goes up to inspect Bombur and almost gets kicked off the branch and everyone else laughs. It’s like. Every kind of sentient creature is essentially the same. Why does Tolkien keep making people relateable and humanizing them and then turning right around and having the heroes remorselessly kill them?? Johnald you might want to get that checked out???

Turns out Bilbo is a good shot with a stone, and always has been. This is one of those things where you just assume he has a lot of mundane skills and you can just make one up if it happens to be useful. Bilbo throws the stone at the spider that’s about to gank Bombur (?usage?) and it falls off the branch and lands flop with its legs all curled. I like how he sometimes puts onomatopoeias into sentences like that, it flows real nice.

The next stone went whizzing through a big web, snapping its cords, and taking off the spider sitting in the middle of it, whack, dead. After that there was a deal of commotion in the spider-colony, and they forgot the dwerrows for a bit, I can tell you.

Good diction thanks. AND THEN HE SINGS. I love these songs so I’m going to stick them right in for you to enjoy too.

Old fat spider spinning in a tree! Old fat spider can't see me! Attercop! Attercop! Won't you stop, Stop your spinning and look for me! Old Tomnoddy, all big body, Old Tomnoddy can't spy me! Attercop! Attercop! Down you drop! You'll never catch me up your tree!

I think I recall at one point looking this up and finding that ‘attercop’ and ‘cobweb’ have a common root that means spider in like Old English. Tomnoddy, from a cursory googling, means “hey dumbass.” Bilbo successfully leads the spiders away from his friends, but now they are weaving webs to fence him in. Tolkien doesn’t know how long it takes to make a web, either.

Lazy Lob and crazy Cob are weaving webs to wind me. I am far more sweet than other meat, but still they cannot find me!

Sounds like Shel Silverstein. Alsooo I’m very happy about both internal rhyme and alliteration. Bilbo is a great fight-for-your-life spur-of-the-moment poet. Bilbo books it back to where his friends are (impressive sense of direction) and starts freeing them. After killing another spider! And then half a dozen more when they start to return! He’s growing into quite the murderer, is our Bilbo! The dwerrows try and join in, but they uhh have all been poisoned, and aren’t doing too good. Eventually Bilbo decides in desperation to draw the spiders off so they rest can escape. It takes hours but finally they do.

Everyone is bone tired. They rest in the elf campsites, which are maybe protected? And Bilbo tells them the story of getting the Ring, and they all decides that he Knows Things and must have a way to get them out of their pickle (still starving to death). Oh also Thorin is just straight up missing, he was kidnapped by the elves. Tolkien hastens to assure us that even though wood elves are dangerous and have kidnapped Thorin, “still elves they were and remain, and that is Good People.” Fake. Don’t tell me every elf is good. You’re the one who came up with Eol and Maeglin. Feanor. Every one of Feanor’s dumb ass sons. Anyway the woodland king is questioning Thorin. This bit’s hilarious.

"Why did you and your folk three times try to attack my people at their merrymaking?" asked the king.

"We did not attack them," answered Thorin; "we came to beg, because we were starving."

"Where are your friends now, and what are they doing?"

"I don't know, but I expect starving in the forest."

"What were you doing in the forest?"

"Looking for food and drink, because we were starving."

At least Thorin gets fed in elf jail.

BARRELS OUT OF BOND

The party is sort of staggering along, hopefully in the direction of the path, when twilight falls. Twilight is Elf Time. The dwerrows are glad to be captured, though; Bilbo goes invisible and sneaks after them, so as to have a hope of rescuing them. None of the dwerrows is willing to talk when questioned by the elf king, so that’s good. Apparently he has a great liking for treasure and is probably trying to get gold out of them. How the tables have tabled! He gets angry at them for just being in his kingdom and throws them in prison with some food but no talking. And he doesn’t tell them he has Thorin.

Bilbo lives for a week off stolen food, creeping out the door after hunting parties occasionally but unable to find the way out of the wood. It’s absolutely miserable, he never takes off the Ring and hardly dares to sleep. He finds Thorin eventually and acts as a secret courier between him and the rest of the dwerrows. Guys I Fuckin Love the narrative where people are imprisoned and have only the slimmest hope of getting out, someone sneaking around in desperation for their own life. It’s such a specific thing but I Love It.

Bilbo does not love it. He doesn’t like the hypervigilant life, and he doesn’t like having fourteen lives on his shoulders. Eventually he puts the river delivery service and a lucky break of the guard getting drunk... into a Plan. Steals the keys and goes around unlocking dwerrows. They don’t like “escaping in barrels on the river” but what are you going to do? Unfortunately Bilbo packs everyone into barrels and then has no-one to pack him. He panics while the barrel-rollers sing a barrel-rolling song that is much more elvish than their dialogue, puzzlingly. Bilbo has to cling to an empty barrel “like a rat.” It’s hard, because of how it is Round. The rest of the chapter is basically more “barrels are hard and the dwerrows might be dead.”

#urgh teatime #there's just too much daylight in the summmer #and I'm very tired #blog of the rings

6 notes · View notes

witch-bomb · 7 years

Text

Obsidian - Chapter 6: Natsu’s Cat

Title: Obsidian

Fandom: Fairy Tail with Steven Universe elements (not really a crossover)

Genres: Family, friendship, humor, adventure, sci-fi

Rating: T

Summary: Natsu had never met his brother. Almost all he knew about him was that he had led twelve others to Earth thousands of years ago in order to protect it - and that he, along with the remainder of the twelve, had to keep protecting it.

More than a month had passed since the collapse of the Lunar Sea Spire. There hadn’t been too many missions since then; those they had found had been deemed “too dangerous” for Natsu.

But this new mission, they had decided, would be perfect for him.

Natsu hopped down the stairs, grinning from ear to ear. The Lunar Sea Spire had just been a test, as far as he was concerned – this would be his first real mission with the Spriggans.

They had given him the details earlier: they would be going to a forest to find some stone which caused a seemingly permanent storm over the area. They hadn’t specified exactly what they were supposed to do about the stone, though. Natsu guessed they would destroy it, since taking it somewhere else would only bring the storm upon a different location.

He leapt over the last few steps, landing on the ground floor. “I packed my bags! When are we going? Who’s coming with me this time?”

“All of us,” Invel replied. “The forest is huge. We need to search the entire place to find the Rain Stone.”

“So we need to split up?”

“Yep. Everyone for themselves,” Dimaria replied. “But we’ll have a meeting spot we’ll go back to after a few hours or so.”

Natsu’s heart raced. He would be deep in a forest, all on his own, potentially saving a wide area from the storm that had ravaged it for years. “Awesome! Let’s go!” He froze. “…Are we all gonna fit on the warp pad?”

“Ajeel, you’re stepping on my foot.”

“Too bad, ice queen. There’s nowhere else to stand.”

“Hey, Wahl. Ever heard of personal space?”

“No.”

“…I’m not surprised, actually.” Brandish sighed.

Dimaria folded her arms. “You know what? I’ll transport us, and then–”

“Aw, c’mon!” Natsu’s arm shot into the air, hitting Serena upside the face. “Let me do it! I still need practice!”

August stared at Dimaria, then at Natsu. “Dimaria, let Natsu do it. He’s right.”

“…Okay. Just make sure we end up in the right place.”

“I will!” Natsu focused, shutting his eyes.

Seconds passed before the group was enveloped in light and transported away.

“I did it!”

The moment they landed, all eight of them stumbled off of the warp pad with shouts of annoyance – or triumph, in Natsu’s case.

“I did it, guys!”

Dimaria leaned toward Brandish, murmuring in her ear. “Is he going to get this excited every time he successfully warps us?”

Brandish shrugged. “I guess he would be excited about it.”

“Okay, everyone!” Invel clapped his hands to get their attention, stepping onto a rock and staring down at them. “We need to make a plan. We’ll all head in different directions to find the Rain Stone, then meet back here in four hours. That means we’ll go about two hours into the woods, then take another two to walk back here. I’ll go north–”

Ajeel glared up at him. “Who put you in charge, princess??”

“I’m the most responsible one, so it makes sense that I should–”

“Hah!” Ajeel snorted. “The most responsible? You’re the one who makes me do all the chores instead of, y’know, taking responsibility and doing it yourself!”

“First of all, I don’t make you do all the chores. Just most of them.” Invel returned the glare coldly. “Secondly, it’s your punishment for constantly breaking things, going out of your way to get on my nerves, taking missions without so much as thinking of the rest of us…”

Luckily, over the years, the others had developed a habit of tuning out Invel and Ajeel’s arguments. Most of them chose to wander aimlessly around the clearing. Serena had found a gecko under a rock somewhere and sat cross-legged in the dirt, petting it gently. Brandish stood beneath a tall tree, her head tilted back to examine the top leaves.

Natsu scratched the back of his head. “Man, this mission is already going pretty badly.” He glanced around. “Hey, guys? What about the rain stone?”

“Screw the rain stone.” Serena smiled down at the gecko he had found. “I have Gilbert.”

“Dude, Gilbert is the worst name ever for a gecko!” Wahl kneeled next to him. “Call him Billy.”

“Invel? Ajeel?” Natsu headed toward them. “Can we go on the mission already?”

“Fine! I’ll take your advice and we’ll see where it gets me!” Ajeel snapped. He spun around and stormed toward the western exit of the clearing.

“And I’ll use your idea and prove to you that it’s doomed to fail miserably!” Huffing angrily, Invel turned and strode to the east.

Natsu watched him leave. Slowly, his mind processed the fact that the one in charge had left – and nobody else was taking over. He grinned, leaping up onto the rock. “I’m in charge! I’m the leader! Whoo!”

“Enough, Natsu.” August raised a hand. “I’m the leader. I’ll organize everyone.”

Natsu’s face fell. “What?”

“Natsu…”

“...Aw. Okay.” Natsu sighed and stepped off of the rock dejectedly.

It took August a minute or so to get everyone’s attention.

Clearly, they would need to split up to cover more ground in their search. August assigned everyone a direction at random – excluding east and west, since Invel and Ajeel already headed those ways.

He’d assigned Natsu to the northeast route.

After walking for an hour or so, the rain soaked through Natsu’s clothes, leaving him freezing and drenched. Water dripped from his hair into his eyes, blurring his vision. And still he had found no sign of the Rain Stone.

Not the “great adventure” he’d expected, to say the least.

According to the Spriggans’ description of the Rain Stone, Natsu should be looking for a blue crystal about the same height as himself. Yet the exotic blooms lining the tree trunks seemed to be the only blue in sight.

Of course, it would be deep in the forest if whoever had placed it had been so desperate to keep others from finding it. With this in mind, Natsu marched onward through the puddles and mud, unaware of his silent observer.

In the north, things were much… slower.

“Such a pain…” Brandish sighed, leaning back against the trunk of an exotic tree. Why was it always the Spriggan Gems’ responsibility to fix the little things that went wrong on this planet? Corrupted gems, she could deal with. The damage caused by these corrupted gems, she could deal with. But hours of walking through a downpour to find some rock? Sure, it was a sacred stone originating from Homeworld, but couldn’t the humans remove it themselves?

Brandish stood up, stretching. Even if it was a pain, she may as well keep searching…

“Rain Stooone!” Serena called, cupping his hands around his mouth. He struck a pose. “You can’t hide forever, Rain Stone!”

No response except the sound of the rain pattering against leaves.

“Hmm. I’ll keep moving. I’m bound to find that silly rock eventually…”

“Hah!” Ajeel’s foot collided with rock, flipping it over. “Stupid ice queen! Bet I won’t find a thing on this route!” He stomped onward, insects and small animals scuttling to the sides of the path to avoid his rampage. Still, he had calmed down since setting off an hour ago; in fact, he slowed to a walk, then stopped completely.

Damn, maybe he’s right about the “irresponsible” thing. I’ve just been stomping around without even looking. Maybe I passed the Rain Stone by now…

No, wait. What am I thinking? I’m just using his idea to prove to him how wrong he was. Of course it won’t be down this route.

With a snort of laughter, he continued walking.

The pattering of the rain on the leaves filled the air, the only sound in the peaceful forest. Occasionally, creatures could be seen scuttling through the foliage, seeking shelter. Despite the downpour, the scene was a peaceful one.

Until a sudden blast tore through the trees, knocking a few over and sending debris flying in all directions.

Wahl grinned as his targets fell to the ground in splinters, glancing around for any sign of a shattered rain stone. After all, if the final goal was to destroy it, why hold back?

Cackling madly, he fired another blast, smoke billowing around him and into the blue abyss of the sky.

In the south, Dimaria took a similar approach.

Her blade sliced through yet another thick trunk, the column of wood crashing to the ground. Golden eyes scanned the surrounding area – still no sign of the Rain Stone.

She chopped down another cluster of trees, stepping back as they fell to the damp earth below.

“Still no sign of it, huh?” Dimaria sighed. “Looks like whoever put that stone there really didn’t want it found…”

As August continued the journey through the rainforest, he vaguely wondered how the Rain Stone, an ancient artefact from Homeworld, had even ended up in a forest on Earth. Had it been dropped from an invading ship? Put here on purpose by a spiteful gem? And just how long had it been here? He recalled that the request to remove the stone had come in quite some time ago – decades? Centuries?

Whatever the case, getting rid of it should be their sole focus right now. Grumbling, he continued in the southeast direction.

Sharp eyes darted around, scanning the area for any sign of a blue crystal. Nothing.

Invel sighed, continuing his journey east. He’d been travelling for an hour, yet still, he hadn’t seen any trace of the Rain Stone. It seemed Ajeel was wrong after all – just as he had set out to prove.

But maybe I spoke to him a bit too harshly… Invel paused. No. I only spoke the truth; I shouldn’t be regretting this. After all, he really does go out of his way to annoy me – still, maybe I really did speak rudely…

Shaking his head, he kept walking.

Natsu stopped in his tracks. Out of the corner of his eye, he’d seen a flash of blue – not the pale, dull hue of the flowers, but a much more vivid shade.

Hope lighting up his eyes, he retraced his steps, peering through the trees.

A blue creature – similar to some sort of big cat – rested in a sheltered spot beneath the trees, curled up, quite clearly asleep.

Natsu immediately forgot about the rain stone. Amazed, he carefully stepped over the bushes, creeping toward the unusual animal.

He knelt next to him. “Hey...”

The cat lazily opened one eye, peering up at Natsu. Unexpectedly, the creature made no move to run away, or even to stand up.

Trying to talk to a cat would be stupid. Could he even understand human speech, let alone respond? Even if he did, would he be any help whatsoever? Asking a cat for directions or advice would make one look like a fool.

Natsu decided to give it a shot. “Have you seen a big blue crystal around here? Apparently it’s what’s causing this rain.”

The cat stared up at him for a few moments, before standing and stretching. He turned and walked away.

His face lighting up, Natsu stumbled through the bushes after the creature, his eyes fixed on the blue fur. Had he understood? Would he lead Natsu to the Rain Stone?

The dense forest soon opened up into a clearing. In the middle of said clearing lay a stream, rain pattering on the surface.

Natsu slowed to a halt as he entered the clearing, looking around for any sign of the stone. His shoulders slumped in disappointment as his search proved fruitless: the object was nowhere to be found.

He slumped to the ground, the weight of disappointment sinking in his stomach. “I guess you don’t know where it is, huh?”

Ignoring Natsu, the cat stepped into the water, splashing around in an effort to catch fish. Natsu watched, disinterested, for a minute or so, before deciding that he should resume his search for the Rain Stone.

He stood up, dusting himself off. “Well, see ya.”

The cat perked up, watching him intently as he walked away. Keeping his eyes fixed on the human, he stepped out of the water and followed him back through the trees.

Natsu paused, hearing the rustling from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder. “Are you gonna follow me?”

The cat stared at him.

“…Okay.” He turned and continued to pick his way through the thick barrier of plants, the cat following a few feet behind him.

Rain poured from the leaves, creating miniature waterfalls all around them. Natsu finally located the path he’d been on before, treading carefully, breaking branches to create a way through.

“See any signs of the Rain Stone?”

Of course, talking to a cat was silly. But Natsu found that it helped to alleviate the loneliness of the woods a bit.

The cat purred, bumping against his legs. Grinning, Natsu kept moving.

“Wonder how long it’s been. Invel said four hours, right?” Natsu frowned. “Feels like I’ve been walking for ages. Wish I’d brought my watch…”

Trotting alongside him, the cat listened attentively to Natsu’s aimless rambling, staring up at him.

Natsu suddenly halted, his breath catching in his throat. Had he imagined it? No – straight ahead of him, a faint blue glow could be seen through the trees…

“Where is he?”

Invel paced back and forth, occasionally glancing at the treeline for any sign of Natsu.

Wahl frowned. “D’you think he found it?”

“Maybe.” Dimaria glanced at the surrounding forest. “Or he was eaten.”

Brandish smacked her on the arm. “Mari! Don’t joke about that.”

Invel glared at Dimaria. “Natsu is completely safe, I’m sure.”

“I suppose our best course of action is to search for him,” August grumbled. “He might be in some sort of trouble.”

Serena jumped up from his seat on the ground. “Okay! Which way did Natsu go?”

“To the northeast,” Ajeel replied, gesturing in the western direction.

“The northeast is that way, actually.” Brandish pointed toward the south.

Serena shook his head. “That’s the east, silly. The northeast is that way.”

Invel sighed. “Where’s our compass?”

Rolling his eyes, August drew the shining object from his pocket. “It’s… that way.”

Almost before he finished speaking, the other six dashed in the direction he had indicated. Had the ground not been soaking wet, August swore they would have left a cloud of dust behind them. He shook his head and dropped the compass back into his pocket, strolling after them.

“Ow!”

Natsu glared at the crystal, rubbing his stinging fist.

“Stupid rock…”

A few meters away, the blue cat sat and watched curiously. He almost seemed to be mocking Natsu.

Muttering to himself, Natsu swung his fist and struck the crystal again… to no avail. “Dammit! I wish I had a weapon like the others...” He huffed and landed a few more punches, before slumping to the ground, panting.

He glanced over his shoulder at the cat. “Hey, don’t think I’m giving up! I’m just taking a break, okay?”

The cat wandered over and sniffed at him, before returning to his former place and simply watching.

Natsu glanced around, wondering if he should return to the clearing to meet the others. But he had found the stone – what if he couldn’t find it again after his return?

Perhaps the best thing to do was to wait around here until the others found him and the stone. They would be here eventually. In the meantime, he could work on destroying it.

Standing up again, he resumed his efforts to break the Rain Stone.

Natsu lay face-down on the grass, groaning in pain. His knuckles had become reddened and cracked from repeatedly striking the stone.

“Ugh… Not even a scratch…”

The cat purred, wandering over to sniff him carefully.

“Natsu!”

The sound of footsteps pounding the soaked ground became audible. Natsu peered up and quickly stood, vainly attempting to dust himself off. The cat scurried away from the sudden noise.

“Natsu!” Brandish hurried toward him. “Are you okay?”

Invel glanced down at Natsu’s knuckles and frowned. “Were you trying to break the Rain Stone by yourself? Natsu, you shouldn’t try to break a solid crystal with your bare hands!”

“Hey, he found the Rain Stone!” Cheering loudly, Ajeel climbed on top of the crystal and began to stomp on it, the sounds reverberating throughout the clearing.

Dimaria rubbed her arms, grumbling, and glared up at Ajeel. “Can we just destroy the thing and stop this rain already?”

“But it’s so pretty…” Serena gently stroked the rain-speckled surface, his eyes sparkling.

August sighed and shook his head. “Wahl, just… destroy it already.”

Both Serena and Ajeel suddenly shrieked in terror as a blast tore through the crystal, shattering it into tiny pieces. Ajeel crashed to the ground among the blue shards.

“Ow! Dude, what’s your problem??”

Wahl grinned from behind his blaster. “Shouldn’t’ve been standing on the thing in the first place!” He began cackling.

Natsu gaped at the mess of crystal on the ground. “…It was that easy?!”

“You should’ve come to us before.” Serena patted him on the back.

They stood in silence, watching as the clouds overhead gradually cleared. The rain gradually slowed down to the occasional patter, then stopped. The cat purred as he felt the warmth of the sun on his blue fur.

Natsu grinned up at the near-cloudless sky. “So, I guess we were succe–”

He was cut off by Dimaria’s sudden shout. “What is that?”

Invel’s eyes widened. “Is – is that a cat??”

Natsu grimaced. He’d nearly forgotten about the cat.

Brandish clamped her hands over her mouth. “It’s… so cute…”

“Is nobody gonna point out that it has wings?!” Ajeel shrieked.

Natsu cleared his throat. “Yeah, I sorta made a new friend. He’s called…” He thought for a moment. “Blue!”

August raised an eyebrow. “Blue? That seems a bit…”

“Actually, my name is Happy.”

Immediately, the conversation died down. For several seconds, nobody moved. Then all heads turned toward Wahl.

Wahl raised his hands defensively. “It wasn’t me!”

“Well, it certainly wasn’t the cat. Cats don’t talk.” Invel frowned.

Happy turned abruptly toward Invel. “Hey! That’s rude!”

“It is!” Ajeel yelled. “It’s talking!”

“You’re not the only one hearing it.” Dimaria stared in astonishment.

Natsu stared down at Happy, bewildered. “You didn’t talk earlier…”

Happy grinned. “You thought I couldn’t talk? Then why were you talking to me?”

“Hey!!”

Invel shook his head. “That’s enough. Let’s just… go home.”

“No way!” Ajeel folded his arms. “Are we seriously gonna leave the talking, winged, blue cat behind?”

“Yes,” August cut in. “We are not having animals in the temple.”

Brandish stared at him in horror. “But he’s friendly. And fluffy.”

“We should keep him!” Serena struck a pose. “After all, I lost Billy Gilbert the gecko somewhere in the forest.”

“I put him back in the woods,” Wahl reminded him. “He wouldn’t last five minutes in the temple.”

Serena carried on as if he hadn’t heard. “…So I’m not going to return to the temple without some sort of animal to make up for my loss!”

“No,” August said flatly.

“I won’t let him into the temple if he keeps sassing us!” Invel glared down at Happy, who had wandered over to him.

Ajeel stared blankly at him. “But… we kept Serena.”

Natsu, reaching a final decision, headed toward Happy and stood next to him. He planted his feet firmly on the ground and folded his arms. “I’m not going back without Happy.”

“Natsu…” August glared at him. “You’re not five anymore. Cease this behaviour.”

“Such a pain… but it’s so cute…” Brandish shook her head and assumed a similar position, planting herself beside Natsu. She was followed closely by Ajeel and Serena.

Wahl glanced at the cat. “…I guess he has a better survival rate than a gecko.” He headed over to join them.

Invel hesitated for a long moment. He glanced down at Happy. “…Well, nobody’s going to teach him to be polite if he stays out here.”

“Invel. I thought you, at least, were more sensible than this.”

“I’m being entirely sensible. It’s important that he learns how to properly speak to people.”

“He’s a cat.”

“And?”

“He lives in the middle of the jungle. How many people will he ever be talking to out here?”

“A lot more once someone else finds him, I’d think,” Brandish replied.

August froze. For a long moment, the only sound was the rustling of leaves. “…Fine. We’re going home. But if that cat steps out of line, I’ll personally bring him back here.”

Happy stuck his tongue out at him.

Some grumbling, some pleased, the team began the two-hour trek back to the warp pad.

#fairy tail #steven universe #fanfiction #spriggan 12 #au #obsidian #alvarez empire #natsu dragneel #invel yura #dimaria yesta #brandish myu #ajeel ramal #wahl icht #god serena #august #witch writes

6 notes · View notes