#i might replay it once in like 5 years | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

glassartpeasants · 24 days

Text

Run Rabbit Run .09

Yandere!Eustass Kidd x F!Reader

Warnings: angst, mentions of past abuse, pregnancy, implications of death,

A/N: So since theres gonna be a little more people in this chapter then usually so some people are gonna have the same colors but different size fonts to indicate a different persons talking. hope its not to confusing. The key to help for people with the same color is below

Chopper- small orange Nami- regular orange

pt.1 pt.2 pt.3 pt.4 pt.5 pt.6 pt.7 pt.8 pt.9 pt.10

~~~

“We’re here! Everyone assume positions and get ready to dock!” The sound of thunderous footsteps and Tashigi’s voice breaks through your nap. You rub your eyes as the sun shines through the windows of the bunk room.

“Wake up (Y/N)! We’re at Sabaody!” Tashigi’s voice once again cuts through the silence as she calls out to you from behind the door.

“Mmh, I’m up…just give me a second.” You stretch gently before gathering the strength to push yourself up. Breathing heavily, you manage to sit up, the purple turtleneck you wore slightly riding up before you pull it back down. You grab your hat from beside you and position it so that it keeps your hair in place and hides the scar along your face.

“Do you need help picking up your things?” The door opens as Tashigi peaks inside to check up on you.

“That’d be wonderful. I can’t really pick up things like that anymore, haha.” You watch her grab some things and hand them to you before she carries some things herself.

“There's no need to do that. I’m going to have to carry it after I get off the ship.”

“I’m using it as an excuse to just hang out with you for a little longer. Smoker might make me do something.” You couldn’t help but laugh at the slight pout on Tashigi’s face. Yet, you were happy you’d be able to talk to her as friends before you guys became ‘enemies.’ The thought made your heart bleed, but there was nothing you could do about it. Even if you were enemies outside, you’d always be friends in your soul.

The thought of not being woken up and seeing the smiling faces of G-5 marines made a small voice inside you tell you to stay. That you’ll miss them more then you think you would. It was like an earworm replaying the same song over and over again. But when you bite your tongue harshly, all those thoughts leave, and the voice telling you to return to the Straw Hats and that your almost home comes back. It’ll always be hard, never being able to talk to them peacefully ever again. But the memories will soothe the pain.

“Captain! We’’ve docked! We’re on tree 30!” One of the marines notifies Tashigi and you on th ebay that the ship was anchored. Thankfully, quite a bit away yet close enough to bay 41. While you weren’t looking forward to walking that far, it’d be worth it in teh end to see everyone.

“Here’s to hoping my shoes don’t get drenched in whatever makes those bubbles here.”

“It actually doesn’t! Truly weird stuff. Have you never been to Sabaody before?”

“I’ve been here but haven’t actually been on land. Just a quick sight as we passed by to head to the new world.”

“It’s a pretty place but also full of bad people. Bounty hunters, other pirates, and not to mention those disgusting Celestial dragons. Makes me sick.”

“Anyone sane would want to see those horrible people go down.”

Memories of the Celestial Dragons you encountered two years ago flood your mind as you hold back the urge to vomit everywhere. You remember a conversation you had with Killer months ago when you were still under Kidd’s lies. How he told you about how the Celestial Dragons mark their slaves by burning their symbol into their skin. Almost exactly like the jolly roger scarred into your own. Once again, though, you escaped your kidnapper's clutches. But there's so many people who’ll never be given the chance you’ve had. Never be able to see the sun as a free person.

‘No. Don’t dwell on that. Today’s supposed to be happy. Stop thinking about things you can’t control.’

“Well, this is it.” As soon as you were 20 feet from the ship, you and Tashigi stopped. Turning around to face the ship, you saw everyone gather to say goodbye, including Vice Admiral Smoker.

“So this is it, huh?”

“I guess so.” A little chuckle leaves your lips before it turns into tears. Despite trying your best to silence them, they continue to flow.

“I’m so thankful for all of you…You’ve always done so much for me, and there's nothing I can do to repay you. I’m going to miss you all so much.” You can feel Tashigi wrap her arms around you before starting to cry as well.

“Don’t leave (Y/N)! Stay with us!” The two of you held each other tight as tears continued to cry harder.

“I’m sorry! We can still be friends regardless of our sides!” Tears made your vision blurry as you held onto Tashigi for a little while longer before leaving her embrace. Walking up to Vice Admiral Smoker, you lower your head.

“Thank you for everything, Vice Admiral. I promise to protect the honor of G-5 and take down any pirate who dares speak ill of you. And I also promise that no civilian will be hurt by my hands.”

“They better not. Now, get out of here before I change my mind.” With a chuckle, you lift up your head and grab your things with Tashigi’s help.

“Oh, Tashigi, one more thing before I go. I have to ask you something.” With all the overthinking you’ve been doing, a scenario popped up in your head that you couldn’t help but ask her to be a part of.

“What is it?”

“If, by some chance, I do end up keeping the baby with me, and I happen to pass away, would you take care of them for me? Like a godmother or something?” Once again, you were wrapped up in Tashigi’s arms as she cried.

“I’m so honored! Of course, I will. Oh my god (Y/N), you're so sweet!” The two of you hug a little longer before separating. Wiping the tears from your eyes, you wave to the other marines, who wave back to you.

“Goodbye, everyone! I love you all!” With a final wave, you turn your back and make your way to the thousand sunny.

“Do you think she’ll be safe? I can’t help but worry.” Smoker watched as the captain of G-5 gently wiped her tears away. How a single pirate managed to worm her way into the hearts of G-5 will forever be a mystery to outsiders.

“She’ll be fine. As much as I’d like to arrest those Straw Hats right now, I’ll wait. We’ll definitely be seeing each other again. A pirate can only escape for so long.” Crossing his arms, he watches you walk away.

He’s never met someone like you in all his years on earth. Someone who’s been through hell twice yet still has kindness to give to a world that turned their back on her. How you’ve managed to pull through all these months was a miracle. So many nights, people were awakened to the sound of your cries from the night terrors you suffered, but no one said a word about it to him until a day ago. To suffer all that and still find a way to smile is a trait not many can say they have. It’s admirable.

“Let’s get ready to go back to the New World. Everyone get ready!”

“Yes, Vice Admiral!” Watching the Marines scatter helps Smoker ignore the sadness in his chest. Despite how he’d outwardly deny it, he’ll miss you. You can only hang out with someone for so long before they worm their way into your heart. And somehow, you managed to set up a place without meaning, too.

~~~

‘This place is much bigger than I remember. I hope I’m going the right way. Not like I can ask for directions.' You were trying to avoid the public eye yet not look suspicious, so you just kept your head down. With your hair covering your scar and your hat hiding your face, a slight sense of safety coursed through your veins. But not enough for you to ignore the wanted posters that had your face scattered everywhere. Even though there was so much noise around you, you still managed to catch your name being talked about.

“When the hell are the Marines going to catch her? Doesn’t she know the destruction and death she’s caused?!”

“She should just go back to Captain Kidd. Everyone would be safer and happier. She’s being selfish.” Those words make you stop in your tracks as a rage boils inside you. You know you promised Smoker that you wouldn’t lay a hand on a civilian, but how dare they call you that? They don’t know what you’ve been through. How can they tell you what you should do when they haven’t experienced anything you have?

“Let’s not forget she’s pregnant! The most infamous worst-gen pirate has a child! No doubt that child is going to be just like their dad!” Your knuckles turn white from how hard you were gripping your belongings. Every cell in yoru body begged for you to teach them a lesson. To tell people that they had no right to treat you the way they were. That if they went through what you went through, they wouldn’t be talking the way they were. You can feel your body shake in anger as they continue to talk.

‘I have to keep moving. I’m gonna do something I’ll regret if I don’t.’ Taking a deep breath, you begin to fast walk away from the two civilians. You’ve come too far to blow your cover now.

“300,000,00 berri’s if given to Captain Kidd, but only 100,000,000 if given to the Marines? Why would anyone turn her into the Marines if the price Kidd is asking is much higher?”

“Right?”

‘Just keep walking. Just keep walking.’ Water begins to appear at your tear line as you try to ignore the angry tears that threaten to spill. Your heart beats hard as you look at the ground, only sneaking glances at the trees to see that faithful 41.

“Please leave me alone! I’ll give you all my money. Just let me go!” A woman screaming caught your attention, making you scan your surroundings. When you turned your head to the right, down a dark alley, you saw a large masked man gripping a woman's wrist harshly. The scene triggered your own memory of being in her shoes.

“Please! Just let me go! I-I’ll give you all the money I have! Just let me go!” You try to pry his meaty hand off your wrist, but inside, you know it was pointless. It seemed your desperate attempt amused him.

“Now, why would I let something I caught fair and square go?” The way his eyes looked up and down your body made a shiver go down your spine.

“I could get a pretty penny selling you as a slave. You don’t mind, do you?”

“No! Someone help me!” You begged for someone to help her. The chances of your cover being blown would multiply if you jumped in. Yet, the more seconds that went by, the more your hope diminished. Images of that man two years ago, the day everything happened, popped into your head. The man begged for help, and all he wanted was to see his family, but no one did anything. All they did was ignore him as those horrible people arrived and killed him.

You couldn’t do anything then, but maybe now, you could.

Picking up your bags, you walk into the dark alley, your heart beating wildly. Looking up just enough to see the man’s chest, you crack your knuckles before speaking.

“Didn’t you hear her? Let her go.” The sounds of struggling stopped before a raspy laugh left the man.

“Your kidding me? A pregnant lady trying to jump in and help? What are you gonna do? Waddle over here and give birth on me?” His words only made you see red.

“I’m going to give you one more chance. Let her go, or else.” The familiar tingling in your fingertips reemerges as you wait for the man’s next move. Your fingers twitch as you can hear barely silent crackling.

“Oh, I’m so scared!” The man mocked you and seemingly gripped the woman's wrist harder.

“You're hurting me!” As those final words leave the woman’s mouth, you curl your fingers into claws before feeling the tingling get stronger and the crackling gets louder.

Light began filling the dark alley, flashing and flickering as the ball of pure electricity in your hand started forming. Each snap of electricity only made you pour more anger into your attack.

“A devil fruit user? Go figure. Just because you have some powers doesn’t change the fact that you're weak-” After deeming it has enough charge, you throw it straight for the masked man. You watch him try to dodge, only to have it hit him directly in the chest.

The woman manages to pull her wrist free from the man’s grip before running behind you. Both of you watch as the ball of electricity disperses and runs across his entire body. You watch him grab his chest before falling back and landing on the ground with a heavy thud. Without saying a word, you watch as the man spasms on the ground, trying to get a breath in.

“We need to go now.” With the woman nodding, you both quickly walk away from the alley and into the road. Having all your belongings in your hands, you feel slightly drained. Your lungs burn as your mouth goes dry. Sure, you’ve used your devil fruit powers on pirates while in G-5, but that stopped when you found out you were pregnant. So it’s been months since you’ve used it on anyone.

“Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you anywhere else, right?”

“No. And yes, I’m okay.”

“Good.” Turning your back, you begin walking towards Grove 41 once again.

“Wait!”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you. I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t come.”

“No problem. Just make sure you stop using back alleys and stay on public roads.”

“I will.” You watch the woman run in the opposite direction from you and take that as your cue to continue your original quest.

~~~

After walking for what felt like hours, the familiar smiling lion comes into view, and you feel your heart jump in your chest. Seeing the thousand sunny after being in the dark for so long felt like seeing a miracle happen before your eyes. A new-found energy bursts inside you as you start walking faster with a new vigor.

‘I’m here! I’m here!’ Holding your belongings with a crushing grip, you can feel a huge smile spread to your face. You could hear laughter the closer you got, and your heart felt as if it were going to explode!

Soon enough, you were close enough to where you were able to see a clear view of the crew. You try to speak, but nothing seems to come out. It felt like it was a dream. Even though you were speechless, your presence seemed to be enough as a familiar face called out to you.

“(Y/N)?!” You watch her run up to you along with the others.

“(Y/N)!”

Not even seconds pass before you're encased in a hug. The feeling of being near them was enough to have you start sobbing. Being surrounded by pure love and care but the people you owe your life to felt unreal. You’ve dreamed of this moment for so long, and now that it is finally here, you don’t know where to start.

“You're okay! I was so worried about you!”

“Yeah, me too!”

“We all were,”

“I missed you all so much…I’m so happy!" Despite your limited ability, you try to hold everyone close to you. It’s been so long since you’ve been so happy that the feeling almost felt foreign.

“I can’t believe this is real. I was so afraid I’d never see you guys again!”

“Come on! Let’s go sit down now. I bet you're tired.” Through your tears, you nod as you let them take you aboard the Sunny. You notice a shiny substance covering it.

“What's that?”

“Oh! It’s the coating that’s going to help bring us down to Fishman Island!”

“Wonder if Franky enjoys having his ship covered in bubbles.” Laughter erupts through the tears. Having your shoes crunch against the grass of the safety has a wave of safety washing over you. Sitting on the bench connected to the mast pole, your able to let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. Robin and Nami sat next to you while almost everyone else sat on the grass.

“Where’s Luffy and Zoro?”

“They should be here soon. I swear if that moss head got lost.” You finally take off your hat as the sun is beating down harshly, making you sweat. With your hair finally being able to move, the strands that once hid the huge scar on your face disappeared. Leaving it for them all to see.

“Oh my god, what happened?! How did you get that scar?!” While you knew you shouldn’t have been surprised they’d notice it right away, it still managed to shock you. Maybe you just lived with it for so long that you’ve forgotten what you used to look like without it.

“This? Oh. I went face first into a corner of a crate.”

“Does it hurt? Here, let me check!” You watch as Chopper hops onto the bench before examining your face.

“How you are not blind is amazing, considering where it’s placed.” Feeling Chopper's little hooves on your face causes a small warmth to erupt in your chest.

“No, it doesn’t hurt. I’ve had it for a while. And it hasn’t caused any problems.”

“What about this one? There's a huge one on the back of your head.” You feel Robin's nimble fingers gently brush through your hair, her gentle touch reminding you of your mother. The sensation made you bite your lip as you choked back tears.

“Can you do that again, Robin? It felt nice.”

“Sure.” Her calm voice and touch made your eyes close as you tried to regain composure.

“(Y/N)?”

“Hm? Yes Robin?” A shiver goes down your spine as you feel her trace the scar.

“Did….Kidd do this to you?” Simply hearing his name makes tears finally slip down your cheeks, and some even onto Chopper's hooves. With your vision blurry, you close your eyes and nod. Even saying his name would leave a bad taste in your mouth.

‘God damnit. I should be crying tears of joy! Not sadness!’ You argued with yourself as you tried to pull yourself together. Gripping your pants, you dig your nails into the fabric.

“How about we change the subject? Umm—” A loud rumbling echoes around everyone, making you hold your stomach.

“Sorry. I haven’t eaten a snack or something.” With the adrenaline finally settling down, you realize how tired and hungry you were.

“Do we have supplies restocked?”

“Of course (Y/N)-swan!”

“That’s good. I’ll just go get something to eat real quick.” Just as you go to sit up, Nami sits you right back down.

“Sanji can get it. You’ve walked all the way here, so Sanji can whip you up something. Right, Sanji?” The stare-down Nami gave the cook made a giggle slip past your lips. You watch Sanji run so fast to the kitchen that dust almost flies behind him.

“Okay, the rest of you, except Chopper, scram.” Nobody moved for the first 20 seconds.

“SCRAM!” Everyone begins to run in different directions until only you, Nami, Robin, and Chopper are left.

“Okay, now that they’re all gone, we can talk about more important things.”

“More important things?” Nami puts her hand on your back, and Robin continues to gently comb through your hair. You watch her look down at your stomach before looking back up at you sympathetically.

“How are you holding up? Do you have any pain?”

“It’s okay. Not anything right now. I get migraines sometimes from the head injury and back pain, but that’s it. Just regular pregnancy things, I suppose.”

“Have you been eating properly and sleeping well? Taken a tumble or anything?”

“No. I’ve been stable on my feet. And almost all I do is eat and sleep.” Chopper lets out a sigh of relief.

“That’s good.”

“I do work out and exercise. Gotta keep myself strong, ya know?”

“We just don’t want you to overdo it. Pregnancy is no easy feat, so it's nice to hear that you're doing well.”

“How far along are you, do you know?”

“Six to seven months.” With Nami and Robin comforting you, it was easier to talk about the baby growing inside you. Yet the nagging thought in your head kept coming back.

“Do you think Luffy will let me stay a straw hat? Even after knowing that I’m pregnant?” You can hear your heartbeat in your ears as you look at Nami and Robin.

“Of course! You’ll always be a straw hat!”

“No matter what!”

“Everything will be okay (Y/N).” You put your arms over Nami and Robin and hold them close. Chopper cuddles close and hugs you as well. Tears fall from your eyes, and you never want to let them go.

“I don’t know what to do, your guys. It feels like no matter what I choose, everything is the wrong decision.”

“If I give the baby up for adoption, there's a chance Kidd will find them or the marines will use them as bait. If I were to keep them, the Marines and Kidd still would be after us. All I want is for them to grow up happy and safe. Is that really too much to ask?”

“No. Not at all. No matter what you choose, we’ll stand beside you.”

“You’ll never have to be alone again.” You see Chopper jump up from the shared hug with a look of shock and wonder in his eyes.

“Chopper? Are you okay?” Everyone split from the hug and looked at Chopper in concern.

“I felt them kick me! When we were hugging, I felt them kick me in the face!” Normally, such words wouldn’t have a positive reaction, but this seems to be a different story. Nami and Robin seemed excited, too, at Chopper's confession.

“Really?! Aw!”

“They know were talking about them.” Robin smiled and giggled softly.

“Have you thought about names?”

“Not really. I don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl even.”

“Well, do you have names that you planned on naming your baby with (....)? Perhaps you can name the baby after them?” It’s been a while since you’ve heard your late fiance’s name—almost to the point that you’ve forgotten it with all the chaos that surrounded your life.

Kidd didn’t know your fiance's name, or you hope he didn’t. On one hand, you somewhat liked the idea. But at the same time, it’d be a constant reminder of the love you lost. You fear you might accidentally compare the baby to a person they’ve never met. And even though the baby was innocent, the fact it’d be the offspring of the man who took everything from you, having their name felt wrong and tainted.

“They deserve to be their own person, so I don’t think I’ll give the baby (....)’s name.” You rub your stomach subconsciously.

“What if they look like him? I know it’d still be my child, but…”

“Even if the baby looks exactly like Kidd, it doesn’t mean they’ll be like him. I bet one of my tangerine trees that they’ll be the exact opposite.” A chuckle leaves your lips as the ease Nami brings seems so natural.

“I’ll take you up on that offer.” You and Nami shake hands, and the sound of the kitchen door opening lets you know the food is finally done.

“After you're done eating, I'd like to give you a checkup to see if everything's healed alright.”

“Sounds good.”

~~~

After finishing your lunch, you head up to the infirmary. When you sat on the bed, you noticed just how out of breath you were. The stairs have been getting harder and harder each day. What used to be an easy task now felt like you were being asked to climb a mountain.

“You okay (Y/N)?” Holding a clipboard, you watch Chopper walk over to you and look at you in concern.

“Stairs are just getting a little harder, but it’ll be okay. So what's your first plan of action, doctor?” It was always so cute to see Chopper get all excited when called a doctor.

“Can I check out any wounds or scars that may have happened since we last saw each other? I’ve made scar cream that is supposed to help reduce the size and stiffness that comes with said scars.”

“Oh, okay. There’s…a lot. Just give me a second.” You begin to take off your sweater before placing it beside you. Chopper's eyes widen as he tries to focus on a single scar, but there's so much more than the last time he’s seen you. He doesn’t know where to start, but he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable by staring.

“Is there any place you want me to check first?”

“I don’t know if there are any on my back, so you can check there.” you feel Chopper jump on the bed and start to inspect your back. The bra you wore gave the reindeer enough space to inspect your back. While it didn’t cover the scar you hated the most, you simply hid your chest with your hand.

“Not seeing much. Just small ones anyone could have." Chopper goes and grabs your left arm to check it out. You feel his hooves put pressure on the scars before stopping at your hand.

“Did you get shocked? What happened that caused all these small scars?” The realization that you haven't shown anyone your devil fruit powers yet shoots through your mind, and a small excitement courses through your veins.

“Chopper, can you let go of my arm real quick?” Chopper cocked his head before letting go. A big smile plasters on your face before you take a deep breath.

There were sizzling and cracking echos in the room as electricity started to form along your arm and slither around your scared skin. It gave off a flickering glow as you began to accumulate it in your hand.

“Woah! I didn’t know you had devil fruit powers! Why didn't you tell us earlier?”

“I only got them during the two-year separation. I’ve worked my ass off to have control like this. I’m probably not as strong as the rest of you guys, but I think this’ll help.” All your words seemed to go in through one ear and out the other as Chopper watched the electricity form into a ball in your hands.

“I’ve never seen an electricity logia type devil fruit. I didn’t even know there was one.”

“Well, here I am, haha.” Chopper laughs alongside you before he stops. You wonder why, but you soon figure it out when you follow his eye direction. Since he asked to see your arm, you left the branding scar open for him to see. The look of horror is present on his face.

“Oh my god, how did I not see this?!” Moving around to get a better look, Chopper stands next to you on the bed. Carefully moving his hoove near your chest, he stops.

“Is it okay if I check this out?” Swallowing the lump in your throat, you nod.

“Yeah.” You feel Chopper place his hoove on the scar and watch as his eyebrows knit together.

“Unlike the other ones, this one is raised above the skin rather then indented.”

“Is that…a bad thing?”

“No. The one on your chest is a hypertrophic scar, it’s normal to scar like this on ones chest. The others are simply atrophic scars. They're all fine, but…”

“But?”

“I just can’t believe it. With this being in such a sensitive place, I can’t imagine the pain this caused.”

“Yeah. It wasn’t a fun recovery.” Tears gather in your eyes at the memory. There are a million memories you wish you could forget, and this just happened to be in your top five. Remembering Kidd’s approach with that heated metal pole speeds up your heart rate and constricts your chest. Your breath goes jagged as the tears start flowing.

“I look like a freak. Everywhere I look is a reminder of him. How can someone ever love me when all they see is a disfigured shell of a human.” You begin to cry into your hands as the room feels suffocating. Tears slip through your fingers and onto your tummy as you try to catch your breath.

“What have I done to deserve this? Everyone in my family is dead, and I don’t even have a home to go back to! My entire island was wiped out in a single afternoon, and there's only five people who survived to prove the island even existed in the first place! Why do they have to perish while I live?! What’s so great about me?!”

“What’s not great about you?” You and Chopper freeze and look at the infirmary door. There stood Luffy with a big smile on his face.

“Luffy?” Dropping your hands to your thighs, you look at him through your blurry vision.

“I was wondering where you were! But Usopp told me you were in here with Chopper and-” Luffy’s happy voice soon cuts off as he fully registers the state Kidd had reduced you to. You watch his eyes zero in on the branding before his expression darkens.

“Did he do that to you?” He points to the scar, and even though you try to sound tough, you hiccup out a ‘yes’ as you feel your body shake.

“I know it’s their Jolly Roger, but I promise I didn’t want it! Please don’t kick me out, Luffy! I—” You stop in your tracks when you feel something be placed on your head. Rubbing your eyes, you see the brim of Luffy’s straw hat in front of your face. You are at a loss for words as your heart beats in your ears.

“You're not going anywhere (Y/N). I’ll make sure he’ll never lay a hand on you ever again.”

“Cause I’m gonna kill that bastard for doing this to you.”

~~~

Sitting in his workshop, Kidd twirls a sharp scrap of metal between his fingers while looking at the wall. All the bounty posters for the straw hats are plastered on the wall, covered in holes from the number of knives and sharp scraps he’s thrown at them. Even seeing their faces makes rage course through Kidd’s veins.

His eyes zero in on the captains before he throws the metal scrap at the poster. It hilts the man on the poster right between the eyes. His poster is the most shredded. If it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t have been taken and escaped in the first place.

It’s been six months since you left the Victoria Punk, and every second has been a waking nightmare for everyone. While their captain had always been a hothead, he’s been ten times worse ever since you left. The amount of blood on his hands could rival the devil’s—and to many, he was.

The Victoria Punk has become one of the most feared pirate ships currently sailing. When the Victoria's big jaws came into the sight of any other pirates or marines, all they could do was pray. They prayed that by some miracle, Eustass ‘Captain’ Kidd would take pity. Unfortunately, the New World was not known for its kindness, and neither was he.

There was even talk about naming him a new emperor of the sea.

While the title would help him on his path to becoming King of the Pirates, it meant nothing if he still couldn’t find you six months after the fact—couldn’t find you or his unborn child. He didn’t know how you were doing, how the pregnancy was progressing, or what the gender was. It didn’t matter much to him because, in the end, they’d make a great future ruler of the sea.

“Kidd!” Bursting open the workshop door stood the right-hand man of the Kidd pirates. He huffed and puffed, trying to regain his breath after running from across the other side of the ship.

Moving his eyes towards the man in teh doorway, Kidd responds before throwing another scrap metal at the posters.

“What is it Killer?” Walking up closer to the table, Killer slams down multiple papers and photos.

“What am I looking at?”

“I know who’s been harboring (Y/N).” Jumping from his seat, Kidd gets closer to what Killer was showing him.

“What?! Who?!”

“After looking through enough photos and newspaper, I’ve managed to pinpoint the marine squad that’s been hiding her.”

“Well?! Spill it!”

“Marine squad G-5. It’s occupied by Vice Admiral Smoker and Captain Tashigi. How many lower rank marines are on the ship, I don’t know but it can’t be anymore then twenty.” Gritting his teeth, Kidd looks at the pictures of each crew member.

“Next marine ship we see, keep a marine alive. We’ll use them to get G-5’s location.”

“And after we find them?”

“Kill every single one of them. I want that ship to paint the sea red.”

~~~

@rebeccawinters @iggy5055 @dairygrrl @childconnoisseur @menifire1092 @nerdgeekandeverysweet-blog @tremendoushorsepatrolgoth @lovemesomefanfic846 @ryuv1i @carpinchootaku @misoxramen @pinkfoxmusic

#eustass captain kid x reader #eustass kid x reader #one piece x reader

63 notes · View notes

ssourcandiess · 4 months

Note

hii! can i ask for a short story where reader and taki a besties and one day they have their mounts sleepover where they were drinking and a taki as a bad drinker accidentally confessed about his fillings to reader (nothing smut)

and also sorry if i have any mistakes, english is not my first language🤕

ello anon thank you for the request!! this is my first request so…. i hope you’ll like it! ;]

my request box is now open!! so fell free to send me some reqs! ;D

pairing: taki x gn! reader

genre: fluff…? (i’m not sure actually djdhdhs)

wc: 0.6k

warning!! mention of alcohol

"Hey, Taki," you said, gently shaking his sleeping body. No response. "Taki!" you called again, but still, no answer. Feeling a bit frustrated, you sighed heavily and settled on the floor. It was almost midnight, just 10 minutes until the new year. Your plan was simple: spend New Year's Eve with your closest friend. Nothing extravagant, just sipping drinks, watching countdown shows, and solving puzzles together. But Taki, not good with alcohol, had dozed off on your sofa, disregarding the fun night you had envisioned.

"I should've just stayed alone tonight," you teased, lightly tapping his head, eliciting a grunt from him.

"But you don't like being alone on nights like this," Taki mumbled sleepily.

"Exactly why you should wake up now! It's almost New Year's!" you urged.

"I'm not going to," he replied with closed eyes, still fighting his drowsiness. "Is the puzzle really that tough? It's been what, 2 hours? 3 hours? I've lost track, and you're still not done?"

"It's a 1000-pieces puzzle, remember?" you teased, rolling your eyes. "And we were supposed to do it together."

He muttered an apology, turning towards you. "How long until New Year's?"

"Well now… just 6 minutes left," you replied.

"6 minutes?!" he groaned, finally sitting up, eyes still half-closed.

"Well, you knocked yourself out with that whole bottle of wine," you sighed, noticing he was still a bit tipsy.

"Is it hard?" he asked, eyes still closed. You just hummed in response, but he kept repeating the question until you asked him to stop. Then, unexpectedly, he posed another question.

"Want to know what's harder than those puzzles?" he asked, waiting for your response.

"What?" you hummed back.

He took a deep breath. "It's hard for me to see how oblivious you are of my feelings. I've been in love with you for so long, how can't you see that? Can't you give me a chance, just once? I'm tired of seeing those jerks treating you poorly."

His confession made you finally look directly at him. He was gazing straight into your eyes, his sincerity evident despite his inebriated state. "Taki, you're drunk," you sighed.

"Drunk words are sober thoughts," he said softly.

You looked away, contemplating his words that echoed in your mind. Taki had just confessed his feelings for you. Yet, you were uncertain if it was genuine or merely fueled by alcohol-induced bravado.

The TV blared louder, signaling the imminent arrival of the new year with just one more minute remaining. But you were lost in your thoughts, the noise of the countdown fading away, you could only replay his words, "I've always been in love with you." You knew deep down that you felt the same about him. Yet, his actions had often been puzzling, leaving you unsure about his true feelings. The friendship between you both made everything more complicated. You feared that one wrong move might alter everything between you.

As the countdown commenced, with ten seconds remaining, your mind raced.

What should you do?

Should you reveal your own feelings?

But Taki is drunk now... Is this the right moment?

And then, the countdown reached its end.

Fireworks burst in the sky, the host cheered, announcing the arrival of the new year. In that instant, your attention returned to Taki. "Taki—" you began, but before you could finish, he surprised you by kissing you suddenly.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, pulling away, "I couldn't hold it in any longer. I truly love you," he continued, settling back onto the sofa. "Please, go out with me," he whispered before drifting back to sleep.

You smiled softly, observing Taki peacefully asleep. Carefully tucking him in with blankets, ensuring he stayed warm, you spoke gently, "Taki, I like you too, but you're drunk right now. We'll talk more tomorrow morning." Running your fingers through his hair, you wished him, "Happy New Year," planting a gentle kiss on his forehead.

#&team au #&team x reader #&team imagines #&team #&team fics #&team fluff #&team ff #&team taki #takayama riki #taki x reader #taki fluff #taki imagines

40 notes · View notes

copias-juicebox · 6 months

Text

It‘s a Sin Chapter 5

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Pairing: Cardinal Copia x fem! Reader Words: 5886 Genre: romance, angst, smut, fluff, hurt/comfort, SLOWBURN Warnings: in this chap: angst and a little fluff Notes: It took me ages I know. I apologize. I hope you guys have not lost interest lol. I will try to update more often now. Special thanks to @fishwithtitz and @portaltothevoid without these two i couldn't have done this

The next day came around and you‘re dreadfully on your way to check in on the Cardinal. The events of the past day, still playing on your mind. You replayed them over and over trying to figure out what you could have done to upset him that much. As you neared the door to his chambers you tried to shake these thoughts out of your mind. It was of no use. You had neither the time nor energy to keep thinking about it too much. With each step you took, his door came closer.

You knocked on the door lightly and waited for an invitation in great anticipation. You were praying that he was in a better mood today. For some reason, yesterdays events and his cold behavior bothered you more than you cared to admit. You heard some rustling inside and a dull thump, followed by a string of italian curses. The door swung open and you stood face to face with the Cardinal. As his eyes landed on you his face fell a little and you felt a pang in your heart. You saw he tried to mask it but his eyes were a dead give away. This man wore his whole emotional state, displayed in his eyes. Apparently whatever it was you had done still stood between you.

„Ah Sorella uh.. come in sì.“ he beckoned you inside.

His obvious distaste to your presence made you self conscious and something in you broke. „Good morning Cardinal.. I uh don‘t want to bother you for too long. I just need to see how you‘re feeling today, is all.“ you hastily informed him to get out of his hair as fast as possible. You did not want to bother him more than your mere presence already did and you feared you‘d not be able to stay strong and your facade would break.

„Yes.. yes I am alright Sister.“ His eyes were going anywhere but your face and you decided to get this over with as fast as you could. It made little sense to you but it bothered you that he was too repelled to even look at you.

„Okay so have you felt any change? Any feelings of nausea or dizzyness? Change in temperature? Any sweating or freezing?“

„No.. no I am feeling like normal. Can I go back to work now?“ he tried to wave you off.

Normally you would have made a joke by now about how he has never once stopped to work but the vibe was off with him. You bit back your comment and smiled at him. „Yes if that is true you‘re officially allowed to resume your work now.“ you turned around and opened the door again. When you looked back behind your shoulder the Cardinal sat at his desk, concentrating on a bunch of papers in front of him.

„Good day to you Cardinal.“ With that you walked out the door and closed it behind you.

A few more days passed, nothing noteworthy has happened. You were spending more time around your new found friends of brothers and sisters of Sin. Today was about to be different: you were about to attend black mass today.

The first time you were officially present during a holy (or unholy) ceremony for years now. After you dropped out of school, you avoided going to church. Without your parents' presence or the nuns from the boarding school you finally had the freedom to live your life a little more like you wanted to. Attending the masses in the local church was never done on your own free will. You‘d learned not to tell anyone, but you dreaded it each time. It just never felt important to you. It didn‘t mean you were not a believer, but that would not be accepted. Since you were a child you never understood why you had to go to church all the time when it did nothing for you or anyone around you who might have needed help. You‘d rather live out your belief the way it made sense to you by helping wherever you could, by being kind to others and providing safety and stability to those who needed it. You just never understood why you it wasn‘t accepted to express being close to god in your own way, a way that worked for you that would give you the strength and hope you needed. But nothing seemed to please your parents or the nuns more than going to that tedious mass two times a week.

As you walked alongside your new found friends in the ministry, Hannah pulled you to the side, linking her arms with yours. „Hey so I know you‘re probably worried about mass, but trust me, it‘s not going to be as dark and devilish as you might imagine.“ She lowered her voice so the others wouldn‘t hear her. „We‘re not going to sacrifce any new borns to the goat you know.“ Hannah joked to lift the mood. She didn‘t plan to expose you to them since she was aware how sensitive you were when it came to your beliefs.

„Yeah, okay. I guess I‘ll be fine.“ You smiled back at her as you put your hand on top of hers reassuringly. You were anxious as you didn‘t know what to expect, but at the same time curious how different it would be from the Christian masses you used to attend.

When you entered the Chapel, your eyes widened as you took in the massive hall that revealed itself to you. With each step you took, you soaked in more of its grandeur.

The Chapel itself consisted of three naves. The smaller two adorning the imposing middle one. Wide high ripped vaults extend above round compound pillars with figurine capitals. The ceiling of the central arcade overthrowing the height of the two side naves further showcasing the celestial character of the building. On either side of the Chapel were three recesses occupied by various statues of satanic entities and candleholders. In the central room stood several pews for the Brothers and Sisters to sit during mass. At the head of the central ship, inside the big apse, sat the Altar upon an elevated pedestal. Behind the Altar a grand statue of Baphomet stood, looking over the masses right under the grand rosary window through which the bright moonlight shone. Some of it seeped through the beautifully rounded, adorned windows behind each of the niches, depicting different scenes of demonic interactions, horned beasts, serpents, goats and naked women. It was all very breathtaking and beautiful.

You kept walking with your group, and in horror, you noticed that they headed towards the first row next to the intricate embellished pulpit. You followed them as they all found their seats and you sat down between Hannah and Damien

After about ten minutes the chapel seemed to be full of Brothers and Sisters. On either side of the central pedastal, where something similar to a transept was located, stood a few pews which were reserved for the higher ranking members of the clergy. Papa Nihil, Sister Imperator, and Cardinal Copia sat down on the right side while the left side was occupied by Primo, Secondo, and another man you didn‘t know. Before mass started your gaze shifted over to Cardinal Copia’s and you found him already staring back at you. You wanted to nod at him, but just as you did so the lights went out. Your attention was taken now by Papa Terzo, who stepped on stage, wearing his papal robes. He started Black Mass by performing a song with his band. You had never once witnessed something like this. The ghouls also walked up to the stage with their instruments ready.

A soft guitar melody started to play and Terzo was getting in position in front of his microphone.

He began singing and your eyes were glued to his silhouette, drawn to his presence as your ears were blessed by his wonderful singing voice.

„ We‘re standing here by the abyss and the world is in flames. Two star-crossed lovers reaching out to the beast with many names.“

His eyes roamed over the crowd and when they found yours, he held your stare, a smirk playing on his lips as he winked at you. Hannah slapped your arm playfully and leaned in, „You‘re so lucky, you know that?“

Terzo’s performance took you off guard, in a pleasantly surprising way. It was already different from what you had known or expected. In your church, every mass was the same, always opened by the priest with a prayer, sometimes with a song performed together. Those kinds of openings you had always found dull and boring. Terzo‘s though, managed to take your breath away.

„ He is. He's the shining and the light without whom I cannot see.

And he is

Insurrection, he is spite, he's the force that made me be.“

You didn‘t know the song, but you had to admit, it was good and very catchy. You could imagine looking up that song later and listen to it again. You felt every single of his emotions he put into his performance and oddly enough you felt slightly closer to the entity he was singing about.

After the song had ended the mass continued very much like you remembered a typical mass from your childhood. Except that Terzo, who led you through the mass, was enthralling and enchanting. He had a special aura that drew everyone in, including you.

What surprised you most was the sermon. Never once did he praise or glorify any differences between people. Not between man and woman, not between children and adults.

When you were still young, you‘d attended every mass. Given that your father was the priest of the local church, it was expected of you. Even though it was your father holding mass you didn‘t like everything he had said. All throughout your time spent in the house of God, listening to your father preaching, you often found yourself questioning the very words that left his lips. Some irked you more than others, leading to your mind wandering off many times, trying to figure out what it could mean. Surely in our modern society we wouldn‘t hold back women from pursuing their dreams anymore, right? The older you got, the more you understood. And the more you understood, the more unnerved you became about it all.

All the roles you had been forced into in your life, the things you had to just accept because the old man at the top said it had always been like that and it was the only right and natural way of things. The very fact that you feared to deserve punishment and suffer endlessly burning in hell for violating a contract you were coerced into made you question if god was indeed loving or if he was even worth to be worshipped.

Terzo never once gave the impression that they handled things here like that. No, instead he kept encouraging everyone to be their best, treating everyone as equals, and live their lives as they wished. Saying you were amazed how different this church was from what you were told all of your life and how wrong the public's expectations were about these people, who called themselves satanists was drop dead remarkable.

For the last part a few sisters walked up to the altar. The smell of incense attacked your nostrils and you began to feel hot as if the room was on fire, sweat covering your skin and you felt like wearing too many layers of clothing. The obnoxious stench reminded you of your early experiences with the old senior priest in your childhood church. A set of flashbacks came crashing over you like waves. Just breathing was exhausting at this point. You needed more oxygen, but your lungs refused you. Panic started to rise in you as you felt dizzy, and your eyes widened, looking down to the ground, desperately trying to find a spot to focus on. Your hands gripped the fabric of your habit in an attempt to ground yourself to something. Your chest hurt and your face twisted in pain.

Whatever happened in front of you was drowned out until you felt a hand on your arm and a gentle, soothing deep voice next to your ear.

„Everything is gonna be alright don’t worry. You‘re safe here, nothing is going to happen. Breathe with me ok?“ He started to breathe in loudly and exhaled again. You tried to match his breathing and it helped you calm down a little.

As you gained a little more control, your head whipped to the side, looking back at Damien, who now had slowly and gently wrapped his arm around your waist, holding you steady.

„Shall we leave? Do you need some fresh air maybe?“ His voice rang out next to you and you barely nodded at him. He led you out of the Chapel, many eyes following you as he held you close to his body.

What you didn‘t see was the way the Cardinal's eyes had seen everything. He‘d been stealing glances at you throughout mass and he had studied your expressions very carefully since he was curious about your reactions to a satanic ritual. But that also meant he saw the moment your expression changed, how your body seemed to stiffen. He saw you were on the edge of a panic attack even before you knew it. There was nothing he could do about it, though. He was very close to just getting up and making his way over to you when he saw the man next to you noticed your change in demeanor and talked to you. Copia couldn‘t take his eyes of you and the brother who now wrapped his arm around you, hand resting on your hips. He didn‘t even realize but his hands formed into fists watching your body lean into his touch. The cardinal‘s disdainful eyes followed the two of you slowly walked out of the chapel.

As soon as you were outside and the fresh air hit your nostrils you took in a deep breath. Finally you could breathe again. You still hung in the arms of Damien who now pulled you over to a bench to sit down.

„That‘s it, breathe in and out. Let the fresh air fill up your lungs.“ He said as you both just sat there and he took your hands in his. He kept talking to you in a soft, soothing voice. You couldn't catch a word he said, but it didn't even matter because in the moment, his constant chatter was doing what it was supposed to.

Minutes passed and you slowly but steadily calmed down. „Thank you Damien.“

„Ah don‘t mention it. I‘m glad I could help. At least I hope you‘re feeling better now, yes?“ You were in a momentary daze as your eyes found his. His thumbs gently stroking over your palm definitely didn‘t affect you.

„Yes, I am much better. I don‘t know what just happened..“ You stared past his head, trying to make sense of the situation in the Chapel.

„You suffered a panic attack, love. I know what those look like. My mum used to have those often when I was a child. My dad abused her for many years and it just happened so many times. Usually because of a trigger.“

Your head snapped back, making eye contact with the man beside you. „I am so sorry.“ Now your hands were caressing his as you eyed him with concern.

„It‘s not your fault, so don‘t be sorry. If anyone should be sorry, it‘s me. I should have helped her sooner. I should have stopped my father.“

„But you were still a child? You couldn‘t have done anything.“

„I know but still I feel bad for it now.“

A soft breeze of fresh wind whistled around your head as a few beats of silence between the two of you passed.

„What happened to your mum and dad?“

„Well.. my uncle found out about it and made sure they divorced.“ Damien’s face was frowning now as he stared at his feet. He had never told anyone about this in the ministry but he was sure you needed to hear something personal. He was curious about you and your sudden panic attack. He wondered what your history was that you reacted like that.

„Glad to hear that. I hope she is doing better now?“ Your body moved slightly closer to him.

„I hope so. Wherever she might be now. She died a few years ago.“

Your eyes widened in horror. „Oh I.. Sorry.. I didn‘t mean to pry. And I‘m sorry for reminding you like this.“

„It‘s fine actually. I have made my peace with it.“ Damiens beautiful icy blue eyes looked back into yours as he smiled at you with a warm and heartfelt gaze, his hand squeezing yours reassuringly. Your eyes kept glancing back into his and you thought you were seeing a flicker of vulnerability in them.

He cleared his voice trying to switch the attention to you . „Now, do you wanna talk about what happened to you?“

Your gaze shifted towards the ground . „Ah well I don‘t know.. not really. I mean I don‘t know what happened. I just felt all weird and hot all of a sudden.“ You didn‘t want to let Damian know what had triggered your panic attack even though you knew what it was.

Before you could say anything more people swarmed out of the chapel. Black mass had finished and within seconds Hannah and her group were standing before you asking if you were feeling alright. After explaining that you just needed some fresh air since you were feeling dizzy and the occasional nurse joke („our nurse needs a nurse“), you laughed along with them and everyone was off to either fulfill their evening duties or to spend their time with one another.

You were about to head back to your room for now, as you‘d had enough of large groups of people, when a voice called your name.

It was Damien again.

„Hey wait..“ He jogged over to you. „I was gonna ask if you wanted to maybe go and have a drink?“ he stood before you, gazing down at you with his beautiful baby blue eyes, smiling handsomely back at you.

You smiled at him. These eyes… and oh, his smile— he looks like a devil. „Oh, ah thanks for the offer, maybe another time? I‘d rather lie down for a while and get to sleep early today.“

„Ah, sure, yes, I understand. Well, I‘ll take you up on it another day then. But let me walk you to your chambers at least.“ he replied politely, offering his arm for you.

Copia walked out of the chapel, eyes scanning over the sea of people, trying to find you. Just as he spotted you, he saw that brother jogging over to you again, conversing with you and making you smile. He watched your interaction with green eyes and the way you smiled at this tall man gave him the rest. He was fuming inside, his rage increasing with each second that your eyes were focused on the man in front of you. His mind was conjuring several insults to the man who‘s gained your attention far too long, his internal string of curses only interrupted by Terzo’s deep voice as he came to stand next to Copia, his line of sight following Copia’s.

„Ah fratello, geloso (jealous)?“

Copias head snapped back to look at Terzo. „Ah no brother. I am just worried..“ his voice trailed off towards the end of the sentence and his eyes landed on your figure once more.

„Worried your girl chooses to „take care“ of another man?“ Terzo raised one eyebrow, smiling cockily and teasing Copia, his fingers making air quotes to emphasize the words „take care“.

Copias face turned back to Terzo once more. The double meaning is not lost on the cardinal. „Wha.. no.. she.. she is not my girl. And she belongs to no one but herself.“ He hesitated for a moment. „And it is her job to take care of people you see.“ He chose to ignore Terzos' innuendo and stay on the innocent side of the conversation.

Terzos' laugh rumbled loud through the air. „Ah il mio fratellino è innamorato,“ he said, laying his gloved hand on Copia’s shoulder.

Copia blushed madly at his older brother's words. „Eh.. hehe. Nonsense… You.. argh nevermind. Excuse me, now, I have a lot of paperwork to finish before the end of the day.“ Copia stammered out and marched off towards his office, leaving a still laughing Terzo behind.

After Damien had escorted you to your room, you thanked him again for his help and his kindness. But now in the silence of your own chambers, your mind was louder than ever. As you got ready for bed, the events from black mass replayed over and over again. The smell of burnt incense hit your senses just as strongly as when it had happened earlier. The flashbacks had plagued you again. The flashbacks of Father Clifton screaming at the young girls, hitting them for laughing during mass. You and the others were still children — you didn‘t know what to do, so you endured his actions for far too long. Thinking about it now made your blood boil, and once again you felt yourself feel hot like a fire burned inside of you. How you wished to be an otherworldly entity sometimes. To be granted the power to judge over those who did others wrong. To condemn them in the name of God and make sure they got what they deserved.

A knock on your door pulled you back to reality, and you wondered who it could be at this hour. To your surprise, the Cardinal’s pair of eyes were there looking back at you when you opened the door.

His eyes widened for a moment as he saw your face. Something about you was different — you had such an imposing aura that it caught him off guard. The Cardinal was stunned for a moment, but he knew he had to say something. „S..sorella I am terribly sorry t..to be bothering you at this hour.“

You stared back at him, face flushed still from your internal rage but the flames inside of you seemed to die down as his words hit your ears. His mismatched eyes stared back at you as if to silently beg you to calm down before his eyes fell to the ground.

„Ah “ you cleared your throat. „Cardinal, what is it? Do you not feel well?“ your concerned expression replaced that of anger as you imagined him to have some health issues again. For why else would he appear at your door this late in the evening?

„I.. uh I was just thinking about black mass today and uh.. I… uh did you not feel well? Excuse me but I saw you leave the Chapel with that.. friend of yours. “ he said timidly, finally looking at you for more than just a second.

„Oh uhm.. “ you contemplated hard about telling him or not. He had been such a gentle soul to you, always helping and listening to you without judging you but your relationship appeared to have changed over the last few days. Maybe this was a way for you to regain his trust, so you decided to let him in figuratively and literally.

„Do you want to come inside maybe? I don‘t want you to stand out here in the hall all the time.“ you stepped aside, making room for him to enter.

„Ah.. Sì sì. Thank you, Sorella.“ the Cardinal stepped inside. His eyes roamed around the place as he took in your private quarters.

Watching him standing there like a lost puppy was kind of soothing to you, and you knew it wouldn't hurt to tell him. „Please sit. Would you like to drink something? I only have water, I'm afraid.“ you scratched the back of your neck.

„Water is fine. Thank you sorella.“

Taking a glass from the table you poured him some water out of the half empty bottle that stood on the table. You sat down next to him on the small couch that sat in the corner. You sighed as he gave you his full attention.

„Sorella.. I saw how stressed out you were.. I just wanted to make sure you‘re feeling ok.“

His hand briefly touched yours as you held out the glass to him and your eyes met for half a second before both of you pulled away, brushing it off. When you peered back at him you found his eyes never left your face and his own wore a worried expression.

You smiled at his words. „Thank you for your concern, Cardinal. I am alright now. I have to admit I was not during black mass though.. I.. I am not sure if I can tell you.“

His next action took you completely off guard as his gloved hand left his glass and reached out to your soft and delicate one that came to rest on the table next to his, his other still holding yours.

The cardinal sat up straight. „Sorella you can tell me anything, you know. It will help you to let it out, maybe. Only if you are comfortable, of course, I don‘t want to pressure you.“ He took the glass in his other hand and took a quick sip.

The way he was not pressuring you into telling him strongly impacted your decision that you truly wanted to tell him. Nevertheless it made you nervous, you shifted in your seat as you silently rehearsed the words in your mind. Ah fuck it you thought. With a visible gulp you summoned the courage to tell him.

„I was..“ your voice was wavering a little but you forced the end of your sentence out. „..actually having a panic attack.“ you informed him.

„Sorella, a panic attack? I am so sorry.. May I ask what happened?“ his thumb began rubbing gentle patterns over the back of your hand.

„I.. Yes. I think the incense has triggered something.. a memory..“ you trailed off.

„The incense? So you have a negative connotation to the smell of incense, is that it? Would you like to explain what exactly triggered that conditioning?“ His hands squeezed yours softly, encouragingly.

„I.. uh, yes.. It was our former pastor. He was a tyrant. He was very strict with me and the other girls when we were altar servers. He made our life a living hell…“ your voice faltered, still hesitant because he doesn‘t know of your catholic past and the fear of his distaste for finding out about it is still very present in you.

Copia nodded solemnly, his face painted with pure sympathy and kindness. "Cara, I'm so, so sorry. And I can imagine it was hard for you to tell me what happened just now. I am grateful you trust this old cardinal like that."

A beat passes.

"I hope that here in this church you will find the true meaning of faith and believe. Because I am sorry to say, but I don‘t think your former Church was a rightful one.“

Another breath of silence. You could feel he wanted to say more, but refrained from doing so because he didn‘t want to overstep and cause you to close off again.

„I.. you are right.. it was..“ you wanted to tell him everything right now but instead you just stared at him.

„Sorella, are you alright?“ Copia asked.

„Yes.. yes it‘s just.. Cardinal, can I tell you about my past?“ you decided to try to let him in more at this moment. It took a lot of courage, but his fingers curled around your hand. It felt so warm and familiar. It was now or never.

„Always. I hope you know I am always here if a sorella needs to let out something weighing her down. Whether it be something you‘re struggling for a while now, or just a silly rush of anger, I always have an open ear for you.“ The Cardinal added another sentence quickly. „I am Cardinal, after all. I take confessions, and I take my job very seriously.“

You gulped in an attempt to swallow your fear. „I am actually not a Sister of Sin at all. I am a devout Catholic, always have been. I grew up in this town as the child of a pastor. I was raised to worship the father, the son and the holy ghost and not to give in to sinning or revolting against our lord and savior's words.“ A moment of silence hung in the air and you continued. „When I came here to this institution, I didn‘t know it was a Satanic Church.. I was.. I am still scared..“ Anxious thoughts swirled in our head as you feared his next words.

The Cardinal waited patiently, his eyes never leaving yours. You looked at him with a frown, trying to read his expression, looking for a hint of discomfort or even disgust. When he finally opened his mouth, he pulled your hand closer, wrapping his second one around it additionally. The cardinal leaned back in his seat, let go of your hand for a brief moment and took another sip of water. His slow movements without saying anything made you almost gasp out in exasperation. The glass thumped against the surface of the wooden table and he made sure to retake your hand before he spoke up again.

„Sorella, actually I think I have to make a confession to you. I have to admit I am not surprised to hear that. In fact I have expected something like this. I knew all this already.“ his expression composed and casual.

Your mouth fell open, lost for words your eyes bore into his.

„What? You did? And you never told anyone? Do you not want to kick me out now?“

As you watched the Cardinals face closely you could tell he was being genuine. It was that very relaxed and calm attitude to your revelations that had your mind in a whirlwind of confusion. How could that little secret of yours, that you tried to guard around your new workplace, appear to be an open book for him? Were you that obvious? You tried to think of any instances where you might have given yourself away but none came to mind.

The cardinal smiled and chuckled, „Kick you out? But what would we kick you out for?“

„Because I am Catholic.. Have you not sworn to fight against the Catholic church? I am your enemy.“

The Cardinal sat back up straight. „Listen to me, Sorella, we are not enemies. Our Church never wants to fight against anyone. We are not at war with the Catholic Church. All the hostility that is between us is one-sided. We have no reason to hate Catholics.“

Copia licked his lips, his tongue barely tracing over his upper one before continuing. „It’s just that we do not believe in their beliefs. It would be against one of our core beliefs even. Everyone has the freedom to choose their beliefs. We respect that. And as long as you are not resolutely acting against our rules in the ministry there is absolutely no reason to kick out such a wonderful addition to our community such as yourself.“ his cheeks heated up slightly but when his eyes saw your expression he knew it was the right thing to say.

He didn‘t know why, but as he looked at your face your eyes were glossy, and he wanted to cheer you up more. Sathanas , something must have possessed him to speak those next words to you.

„Since you’ve graced these halls with your presence, the ministry is glowing again. Every day I wake up, I look forward to seeing you roam around these walls, and I am not the only one.“ His mind went back to the words he kept hearing in the ministry. You’d caught the attention of everyone in the ministry, even of the old fart Papa Nihil himself, but especially of the male half of the Clergy. The Cardinal blushed slightly and stopped himself before he would start rambling.

This time it was your action that surprised him as you launched forward into his body as you wrapped your arms around his neck in a strong embrace.

„Thank you Cardinal.“ you pressed your face into the crook of his neck.

His mind blue-screened, and it took a long moment for him to regain his senses. He gently but awkwardly put his own arms around your waist and rubbed your back soothingly. Just as he was about to melt into your body you pulled back, clearing your throat.

„I am sorry Cardinal, uh.. I didn‘t mean to.. I am sorry if I overstepped.“ You sat back in your chair next to him.

„Eh va tutto bene, bella. Non c'è bisogno di preoccuparsi. (It is quite alright Sister. No need to worry.)“ He switched to Italian as his mind was still half blanked out.

„I‘m sorry, what?“ you asked as you waited for him to explain.

„Ah shit, ah no, it is alright Sister. I am happy to be of help in any way. I‘m always here for you, so please, do come and see me if you need to.“ He smiled awkwardly as he slowly rose out of his seat.

„I should get back to my chambers now. I would hate to keep you up any longer.“ He gestured to your clothes as you were obviously ready to head to bed. „Besides, I have a few things to organize before tomorrow.“

„Yes, yes, of course, I am sorry, I didn't want to keep you away from your duties, Cardinal.“ you bowed politely as you walked him to the door.

„Good night Sorella. Sleep well and get some rest.“

„Thank you. You too, and promise me not to stay up too late to work, yes?“ you smiled at him brightly

„Sì, sì Sorella. I will not, prometto. (promise)“ He smiled and crossed his fingers and you closed the door.

When the lock clicked, the Cardinal’s back fell back against the wall right next to the door, head hitting against the bricks and his eyes closed as he had still not processed what just happened. Not only was he correct about assuming you were the little girl from all those years ago, no now he had felt what it was like to have you in his arms. Your body against his and it made his mind go all over the place. You felt so right in his arms — it felt like finally coming home. You made him feel like he was lost all of his life, and now that you were here, he finally found his purpose. You . It was you all along that he was missing. He finally pushed off the cold surface, walking towards his own quarters, a happy skip every few steps thinking about any incense alternative.

Taglist:

@hauntedlover03 @adinferix @ghostfangirlsweden @fishwithtitz @pinksweetsxtan @portaltothevoid @bbykens @sodoswitchimage

#its a sin #mywriting #myfic #cardinal copia x reader #copiax reader #ghost fic #ghost #ghost band #copia #ghesties #fic update

32 notes · View notes

cranberrysoap · 2 months

Note

Odd question but fav piece of media?

Games, movies, tv shows, whatever

Not odd at all!

Hmm… I often find it hard to pinpoint my all time favourite of anything cuz I like a lot of stuff and I tend to forget anything I’m not playing/watching right this moment, but I will have a good think and try my best!

Games:

- Ōkami

I have replayed this all the way through at least 5 or 7 times I’m sure, both on Wii and the HD port on switch. (And it is a pretty long game!) I love the story, I love the artstyle and characters, I love running around as a wolf(!!!), the main mechanic itself of painting symbols is just really cool. Its just good and fun and has lots of silly/funny and a few make-me-cry moments in there too.

- Petz 4 & 5 (Catz/Dogz 4/5) (PC)

See also, I found a high quality scan of the instruction manual here (so cute…). (And that blog appears to have resources to download the games if you don’t have the original disc!)

Ok this is kinda a weird one, and I haven’t played it in a while, but when I was growing up I was so invested in this little game and especially once I found the community online for it.

You could breed the petz for basically infinite combinations of new colours and patterns, physical features, and people would do huge projects to make petz that looked cool and then put them for “adoption” on their personal website and email the file to you if you “adopted” one (I still have one of these from like, ten years ago I think, somewhere).

There was also “hexing” where you could go in to the file using a hex editor and mess with the code to modify the original breedfiles of the default breedz that came with the game, and people were making anything you could think of. Dragons, gryphons, wolves, leopards, or even just very prettily made catz/dogz to resemble real life equivalents (or fantasy sparkledogs/cats!!!💖).

Eventually someone even made a program where you visually see a representation of the pet as you were editing it rather than just like, edit this number, save, reopen the game to see what you did haha. (I definitely played with both methods of “hexing” but didn’t really end up making anything substantially complicated myself, usually just changed eye/fur colours to get like cool fantasy colours 😂) So that was really cool!!! And of course people also did it for clothes, toys (toyz?), food… basically this was like for me, baby’s first introduction to mods/modding I guess? Haha!

Anyway it just has a very special place in my heart even though I don’t play it much anymore, and I haven’t personally seen many games come close to what it had. Flightrising is somewhat close in terms of variety with breeding the dragons, but they are all still just illustrations you can’t “play with” since it is a petsite, not a game (I enjoyed that tho…I gotta remember to check back there sometime lol).

—

Ok, this has already gotten quite long so I might go think about movies/TV shows/other media separately and then maybe come back and add more later?… (maybe in a reblog or something?) I think I emptied my brain when I started thinking about petz 5 there dfjgk

#ask cran #long post

18 notes · View notes

dootmoon · 2 months

Text

Some thoughts on Ex Astris

Okay so the TL;DR is: Go play it if you're someone who is mainly motivated by gameplay, it's one of the most enjoyable games i've played in like 10 years (im not kidding). the story is not bad, but it's very poorly told and leaves a lot to be desired. I should also warn that i'll probably spoil a couple of things, mainly on the gameplay side (because yes, I do believe some encounters are better if you dont know the gimmick).

Where do I even start, I only watched like 2 trailers before playting, i had 0 idea of what i was getting into, all i really knew about the game was that it was a full game release by the AK guys and that it was a turn based rpg. I legitimately bought it out of morbid curiosity, I was not expecting to find my favorite jrpg in a literal decade.

I'll go over what I liked the most and then explain the couple of issues I have with the game, it might sound like i loved it (which i did) but it's far from perfect and i think there's room for improvement. I think the combat is the real deal in this title, for those unfamiliar with it: it's a classic turn based jrpg but it has layers. The main 3 mechanics that make it stand out from other games is that each turn you have AP (action points) which limit what you can do each turn, however you can directly manipulate them with a combo system that gives you back AP. The second one is a parry system, during the enemy turn you can directly parry their attacks, you have 2 colors for parrying, both colors have different properties and there's certain attacks that can only be parried with the respective color. And lastly, theres a stagger bar, similar to FFXIII or posture bar in sekiro, although i think it's more akin to stagger in FFXIII. Once you break said bar you can enter hyper time for a few seconds where you have unlimited AP so you can combo them for massive damage. The combo system is very enjoyable, you will be blindly experimenting your combos for optimal damage each time you unlock new moves in the skill trees. Theres a very satisfying feeling to landing a big combo on an enemy that feels like it was entirely something you came up with. This sadly comes with a downside, once you figure out your big damage combos, there's not much of a reason to try anything different. It doesnt mean it stops being enjoyable but this is a wall most of games with combo systems have. Now the parry system, while it's fun, it sadly makes the game too easy. Sure theres enemies that will mix their timings to throw you off and a couple of unparriable attacks. But really, if you get good there's no reason to ever get hit. "But what about the unblockables?" yeah about that... Theres really just 3 enemies in the game that had them, and 2 of them were bosses, which you get a hard counter to the unblockable in the first boss that has it. I wish the game had more ways to work around you to make it more challenging. The only time the game REALLY tries to fuck you up is the final boss (this is a good thing) however it was still too easy. She really just makes the screen black and white and makes you parry based on the icon, then she makes you parry based on the color of the attack. This was sick and i wish there were more moments like this in the game. Now the dungeons were great, they feel like they belong in an older 3d zelda game. Sadly they dont get too crazy on the gimmicks, they were just box puzzles where you have to move them in the correct spots or point lasers to certain switches. Apparently this game has plans for DLCs so if theres something i wish upon to get explored more it would be this in particular. The rest of the game is the towns and the sidequests inside them, they're very usual stuff for a jrpg so you know what to expect, i cant elaborate much on it. Overall I think the game is meant to be replayed, by the end you're only able to fully build 3 characters out of 5 party members, sidequests expire and there's a bunch of stuff to mess around to make a playthrough different from the last one. The game changes a lot when you already know how it works or what really happens in the story.

Now the elephant in the room, the story: Yeah it's kinda just there, it's very poorly told. However it's HG and i can tell there was a lot of thought put into the wold building, it's very well made. It's just a shame that i could barely care about anything happening in it, even though I was kinda invested by the final hours i dont think that excuses the really bad storytelling. However starting my second playthrough is when I noticed it was indeed meant to be replayed. There's a bunch of stuff that feels so incredibly cryptic or really make no sense, once you go over it already having context it all makes sense and you just go like "oooh so that was they were talking about". I'm not excusing bad writing though, this is bad, but at least the story feels better on a second playthrough. Anyways, i'm kinda upset this was a mobile game, maybe if it wasnt, 10 people would've played it instead of just 5. I cant stress enough how this is a phone game that is way better than most of modern jrpgs in the market. it's like the devs went back and asked themselves what was the main appeal of the genre and what they thought made them fun to them and made an entire game around it. This is probably gonna be the biggest surprise of the entire year for me and i'm gonna have brainrot about this game for a while.

#ex astris #im just rambling because i havent had this much fun since fuckin smtiv and i must tell the world

14 notes · View notes

dragonwritersblog · 5 months

Text

Five Times Jax and Pomni Share Dreams of Their Past Lives (And One Time Where They Remember)

Read on AO3

1/2/3/4/5/6

Hi! The last chapter of the first fic! We actually made it! I just wanted to go a huge thank you for all those who have supported me! Whether it was on AO3, twitter, tiktok, tumblr or discord. You guys have been amazing! I still can't get over the fact that my fic has over 10k hits you guys are insane and I love it! I have some other stuff that I need to work on after this (a fnaf one-shot, a funnybunny royal au for my mutual artie on twitter and discord, and a funnybunny pirate au as well) but that doesn't mean I won't be working on the sequel at the same time.

Also, I forgot to include this last week and I'm so ashamed of myself, but please go check out this art of my fic that was drawn on tumblr, it's amazing!: https://www.tumblr.com/pomni-stare/734273534847860736/more

This my pal berry also drew a reference to my fic with her art here as well: https://twitter.com/CheyennePlayz/status/1725864159139738099

Once again, thank you so much!

And now, the final chapter...

Pomni woke in a cold sweat.

That was…it couldn’t be, could it? It was her at the end of that dream! Right after Penny put on the headset! When she first got here! But how could that be?! These dreams weren’t real! They were just, well, dreams! Just made-up figments of her imagination! But then again, no one else had them here, just her. So why did she have them? What made her so special?

Penny…why did that name feel so strikingly familiar to her? Why did it feel like she walked the steps that she walked? That she spoke the words that she spoke? Every single movement and decision that Penny Reed had made, why did it feel like Pomni had done it all before? And Penny’s mother and sister, she felt as though as though she truly knew them. That she could list off everything they loved, from the music the liked, to the foods that disgusted them, all the little things that made them into the people they were. It felt as though if she reached down hard enough, she could remember every piece of information about them. But why?

And then there was Jack, the one that invaded her mind, body and soul each time he appeared, when he spoke, laughed, cried, joked and breathed. Every time she saw him was like dancing an old waltz, the steps might be fumbled and clumsy from the lack of practice, but the heart and joy of it was still there.

Especially when she was with Jax…

There was so much déjà vu with him, it kept her in within its strong grasp. Even when Jax was only a thought in her head, it was as if she were replaying the old song and dance of Jack and Penny with him.

But why?!

Winter

Riley

Amber

Jack….

Her head began to pound, she immediately grabbed it as it throbbed painfully. What was going on?! Suddenly, the warm face of a girl with dark hair appeared behind her squeezed shut eyes.

“So,” Winter turned in the passenger seat to face Penny in the back, “Sorry that it was under these events how you met Jack, hopefully you were okay with him.”

“I’m not,” said Riley, focused on the road.

“Just keep driving mama bear,” Winter rolled her eyes before turning to Penny again.

Pomni gasped. Winter…she knew her. She knew so much about her. She met two months after meeting Riley, trying to sneakily ask for tips on how to ask the other girl out. Carrot cake, her favourite food was carrot cake. She loved it so much that she had it every year on her birthday and baked it whenever she could. “Oh god,” Pomni exhaled, she knew Winter. Not just from the dreams, but really knew her! She was her friend!

Her head throbbed again, a red headed girl about 4 years older than her appearing, replacing Winter.

“Penny! Oh thank God!” Riley rushed over to her, wrapping her arms around her younger sister and pressed a kiss at the side of her head, “You gave me a heart attack going into that house, and then hearing that you fainted?! Don’t ever do that again!”

She grabbed at her pyjama bottoms. Riley Reed, one of the strongest people she knew. A protector who forgets to protect herself, always putting her mother and little sister first. Had saved said younger sister many times and seen the wounded parts of her that weren’t visible to the everyday eye. There was a secret that she kept, that she never told anyone, not even to her mother. It was always for Riley’s little sister’s ears only. If she ever had a son, she would same him Percy after her youngest sibling. No one knew that, that secret was locked tight in a vault. “Why do I know this?” Pomni asked herself.

White pain flashed in her mind again. It hurt, it hurt so much. But it numbed the moment an older woman took Riley’s place.

“He really is, and you will be too my little costuming star!” Amber nuzzled her daughter’s nose with her nose, laughing at Penny’s groans.

“Mom!” Penny buried her head into Amber’s shoulder, “Stop!” She didn’t mean it and Amber knew that.

“I can’t help it if my daughter is amazingly talented,” Amber grinned, loosening up a bit as she peered down to look at Penny’s face.

Amber, mother of two girls. Divorced from her awful husband. She enjoyed cooking, spending time with her girls, always offered a shoulder to cry on. For Penny to cry on…no matter where she was she knew that her mother was her safe place. The soft feeling of familiar soothing fingers running through her hair made Pomni grasp at her chest with a pained cry, she knew who those memorable hands belonged to. “Mom,” she whispered.

There was another flash. Pomni grit her teeth, trying to ease the pain. It disappeared the moment a handsome young man stepped forward in her mind’s eye, taking a pair of small hands into his one large ones. She knew those hands…

“I would tell her that I’m not a perfect person, but I am someone who’s always trying. You’ve taken over my mind and have stolen my heart, but I can’t find it in myself to care as long as it’s in your hands.” Jack took her hands in his at those words, “I just hope that she feels the same way.”

She did…no, she does. She loved Jack! She loved him so much. The idea of being with him lifted her higher than the sun and moon themselves! She loved him! She loved him because he…he…he. Jack was here.

Her mind throbbed again, it felt as though it was twisting, moulding, transforming. Not into something new, but into something that she never knew she lost.

“I know,” he nodded, bringing her in closer, “I’m always good whenever you’re here.”

She sighed, pressing her forehead against his, “Okay, just tell me if there’s anything going on if there is.”

Penny laughed wetly, cupping both Jack’s cheeks tenderly in her hands, “I don’t deserve you.”

“No,” Jack disagreed, turning his head and kissed the palm of her hand. “It’s me who doesn’t deserve you.”

Penny let another tear fall as she brought Jack in for another kiss. The two relished the moment they had together.

“You’re so beautiful,” he knew what he said, and he wasn’t going to take it back, not when she peered up at him through her long lashes with a gasp.

“Y-you’re ridiculous,” she uttered, handing him her jacket.

“Hey, just telling the truth here,” he replied as he went to hang up her jacket on the wall, “Besides, someone’s gotta point out how pretty you are.”

Penny was about to go inside when she decided to do one more thing while she still had the courage, after all, the night was still young. “Jack, wait!”

He lifted his head at the call of his name, “What? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, it’s just, um, you f-forgot something,” Penny stammered, working herself up as much as she could, “You forgot this.”

She planted a kiss on his cheek, pulling away quickly.

He held his hand out to her.

Penny took it in her own and shook it, “I’m Penny.”

The throbbing finally passed, Pomni let her hands drop to her sides as waves and waves of anything and everything came rushing back to her.

Penny…Penny…Penny. “…My name is Penny Reed,” she was still for a moment before she jumped up and stood on her bed as she let out a thrilled holler. She had a name! “My name is Penny Reed!”

She clasped her hands over her mouth, praying that no one heard her. It was a silent as a mouse, thank goodness. She plopped herself back down, letting tears of relief flood down her cheeks. Her name was Penny Reed, she had an amazing mother and a great big sister. She wanted to be a costume designer and create amazing garments for the whole world to see. She found a friend in her sister’s wife who became a rock for her. But most importantly, she was in love with an incredible man named Jack Bloom.

That was why she put the headset on! That was how she ended up here! Jack had to be here, if the cases that Riley described was like how she got here and how he went missing, then Jack had to be here too.

But who was he? Oh god, what if he already abstracted and she was too late?! No, he’s close, I can feel it. She felt him, she felt him here. He’s close. In fact, he felt closer the more she thought about her. Could he…no.

“Can’t make any promises little lady,” Jack smirked.

…

Jax sighed, “You’re welcome little lady.”

Pomni’s eyes widened.

“Keep the chivalry to yourself sir,” Penny placed a hand on her hip.

“Can’t help it, I’m dreamy,” Jack was unable to keep the grin off his face at her pout. His face softened, holding out his arm, “Shall we?”

Penny raised a brow at him, grinning. “Mr Jack how thoughtful of you.”

…

“Just until you’re more aware of your surroundings,” Jax told her, “After all, I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Ah, right,” Pomni gave him a joking grin, “We wouldn’t want anything to happen to that.”

“See, now you’re getting it,” Jack agreed, returning her grin.

No way. It couldn’t be, they were both so different. But the similarities, they wouldn’t stop adding up.

Penny sank to the floor as she watched Jack shove David away.

There was nothing but fury in Jack’s eyes, “If you ever put your hands on her again, I’ll make sure you lose them!”

…

One moment Jax was at the side like everyone else, watching the whole thing go down. Next, he was in front of Pomni, staring at Caine as the AI tilted his head at Jax’s new and sudden behaviour.

Was he really…Jax was really…

“Oh Penny” Jack sighed. Tears welled up in her eyes as she all but collapsed into him, wailing as he soothingly stroked her back. “He’s never coming back here again, I’ll make sure of it. Shh, it’s okay, I got you.”

…

“Well, I have a proposition for you,” Jax said, she perked up, “Until you feel like you understand this place a little more, I’ll be there to make you don’t have one of your episodes. Whether you’re spiralling or hyper focusing, I’ll be here to ground you in case that happens.”

“Jax…Jack,” she let out a gasp. He was – Jax was – he was right beside her all along and she didn’t even know! “Jack!”

She jumped off her bed and ran to her door, opening it as quick as she could as she made a beeline to Jax’s room in front of her. She swung the door open, a grin widening on her face, hoping to see a purple rabbit tangled in sheets. But he was gone, nothing but an empty made up bed with no sign of a body being in there whatsoever.

She closed the door, he wasn’t here. He couldn’t have gone far. She had to find him, she will find him. Now that she had a grasp on her life and her love again, she wouldn’t let go any time soon.

She ran down the hallway.

Jax-Jack-Jax-Jack-Jax-Jack-Jax-Jack-Jax-Jack

The lines began to blur together, the puzzles slipping back into place. Jax was Jack! She had to complete her forgotten mission. She had to get Jack!

“Penny!” Jax screamed as he awoke, the image of the girl trying to painfully claw off the headset still fresh in his mind. But then, it led to Pomni arriving in the circus. What did that have to do with Pomni being here? Could she…no its just a dream! They’ve all been dreams Jax! There’s no way that I’m allowed to be that lucky. Someone like him didn’t deserve people like Pomni or Penny. Two kind-hearted individuals who tore his heart out the minute it looked like their spirits were broken. How could Jack do that?! Penny was amazing, kind, beautiful! How could he let her go like that?!

Jax gripped the fabric of his shirt where his heart was, who was he kidding, he sounded like a damned hypocrite. Pomni nearly drowned because of him, he would want to stay away from him too. All he did was get her hurt when he was supposed to protect her. He was just as much of a fool as Jack was…

…Actually, now that he thought about it, he had been here as long as Jack was missing in his dream. Time had its own rules here, but Jax would be damned if he didn’t try to keep track of how long he was here, scratching a line on the wall behind his wardrobe to show each night he spent here. Jack had been gone for 6 months, he was here for 6 months – 9 if you counted the three months since Pomni arrived. It was too much of a coincidence for him to not to notice it.

No, don’t! Thinking of this type of stuff never did Queenie any favours! Just stop Jax! But he couldn’t, his mind just kept rushing and rushing, but it didn’t hurt, more like the waves of an ocean gently guiding him to where he needed to be.

“Hey, are you free on Halloween?”

Jax froze. That voice, he knew that voice. He turned, spotting a dark-haired woman on a bed that wasn’t there before.

Winter.

“Depends,” his mouth moved on its own, saying words against his mind’s control. Was he even trying to control it in the first place? “Why, what type of genius plan have you concocted this time?”

“Well, Riley and I are going to the Halloween festival that day and she’s bringing her sister,” said Winter, smiling coyly. “Maybe you should meet up with us and get a chance to meet her.”

“Meeting mini-Riley?” He raised an eyebrow at the woman. Why did this conversation feel so familiar? He never met Winter in his life!...Right? “If she’s related to Riley she might have ‘I’ll punch you in the face tendencies’ so I’m not so sure yet.”

“Trust me,” Winter grinned, “This girl is the total opposite from Riley, her personality is a complete 180.” She stood up and walked over to him.

He crossed his arms, an action that felt repeated in so many ways, “What are you up to?”

“Nothing…” she drawled, “I just think it would be idea to meet this girl, she’s pretty cute.”

“Mmhmm,” he wasn’t convinced in the slightest, “Spill the truth Winter.”

She sighed, he could see right through her and she knew it. “Look, Penny is a sweet girl who’s gone through a lot like you have and she’s struggling to find someone to relate with. And yeah both she and Riley have gone through shit, but Penny is really sensitive and there was some other stuff that happened that’s left her shaken up. I’m not forcing you to be friends with her, but I know that you’ve been looking to relate to someone as well. I think Penny is that someone.”

He fidgeted with his hands for a moment, “I’m getting better you know. I’ve been talking to people in my classes and Andrea has been a great help as well.”

“I know and you’re doing great!” Winter reassured him, “This is just something to think about. If you’re free, the offer’s there.”

Jax paused, as though he were thinking about it. Why was this happening, why was he talking to Winter as though he did this before? Why did it feel like he knew Winter for a lifetime? Why was he begging himself to say yes next? Winter was supposed to be a dream, Penny was supposed to be a dream, all of this was supposed to be a dream!

“You know what, sure, what not. But if she pulls a Riley and sucker punches me in the face I’m blaming you,” He pointed at her.

Winter laughed, shaking her head. “Penny would never do that. And Riley thinks you’re cool! She won’t be getting pissed at you anytime soon.”

Jax gave her an uneasy nod, “Uh huh, if that’s what you say. I’ll check my schedule and see if I’m free. Don’t make me regret this.”

“Oh please, have I ever been wrong?” Winter scoffed.

“Should I list it off right now?” Jax chortled as she punched him in the shoulder.

The second Winter made contact with him, she vanished, leaving the rabbit stunned. That moment, it happened before, didn’t it? This wasn’t some hallucination, this…this was a memory. His mind flashed, he gripped his head as it pounded with agony.

“Hey cariño, how are you doing?”

Another voice snapped him out of it as he whipped round to face a short older woman with darks curls. Her eyes remined him of Winter.

“I…I’m fine,” He sniffed, “I’m really sorry for snapping Laura.”

“Est á bien, come here,” she stepped closer, wanting to comfort him but gave him some space in case he didn’t want to be touched. “I know you’ve been through a lot, and though I’m not happy with some of the ‘colourful language’ you used, you’re a part of our family now and we’re never gonna let anyone hurt you ever again.”

Jax wiped his eyes, how could someone be so forgiving? If only she knew what type of things he did here, “I don’t deserve this Laura.”

Laura tsked at him, “Everyone deserves a chance to be happy. You, you’re just a kid who went through hell and back, you deserve one more than anyone. It’s gonna be okay.”

She opened his arms for him. Jax leapt forward, desperate for the hug she was offering. But just like Winter before, she vanished before he could get the chance.

Laura, Winter, Riley he knew these people, didn’t he? These…these weren’t dreams.

“Okay, I need a little help here. What do you think? Indoor wedding or outdoor wedding?”

That…that was…how…

He turned, only to see Pomni sitting on the bed this time, with a laptop on her knees. The stage disappeared, the rooms of an apartment bedroom replacing them, with only the jester and the rabbit looking the same as before.

“I…I don’t mind, I want this to be your dream wedding sweetie,” he said, moving to sit beside her, “Whatever your heart desires.”

Pomni blushed, gripping the laptop tighter. “Stop being charming and help! This is your wedding too, where do you want it?”

“My dream wedding is your dream wedding,” he replied suavely with a shit-eating grin.

She groaned at his teasing, closing the laptop and flung it onto the plush mattress and she flopped her back onto the bed. “I’m serious,” Pomni told him, “I need to know cause if we want it outside we need to figure out a good date so that it doesn’t rain. But if we want it inside should we rent out a hotel or get married in the church? If your family even religious? And don’t even get me started on the menu with all the dietary requirements and the types of food everyone wants. And my dress – oh god my dress I totally forgot-”

She was cut off by her own squeal when Jax’s hand shot out and tickled her belly, making her curl up and giggle. “Okay, okay, let’s keep calm,” he said, soothingly as he retreated his hand, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to cause you more stress.”

“No, it’s me,” she sighed as she hugged her knees to her chest. “I panic about everything, it’s no surprise I’m panicking over our wedding. Pathetic, huh?”

“Hey,” he gathered her in his arms and carried her over to the headboard of the bed, sitting them both down as he cradled her in his arms. “You are not pathetic, and I should’ve been more sympathetic. I know you want this to be the ‘perfect wedding’, but I don’t want you to overwork yourself.” Jax kissed his forehead, “The only reason why I suggested that you choose was because you’ve been so caught up on making sure this wedding was perfect for everyone else, you forgot to ask yourself what you wanted. I’ll help you with planning, but for now, would you rather get married inside of outside?”

Pomni smiled sweetly at him, placing an appreciative kiss on his cheek before humming in thought. “Outside, during summer. But then have dinner and the reception inside.”

“There you go,” Jax gave her a squeeze, making her laugh as she snuggled into his arms. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle the menu and all the other stuff that’s giving you grief.”

“Except for the dress,” she informed him, “I wanna handle my dress, no surprises for you mister!”

“Oh no!” he whined sarcastically, making his fiancé laugh harder. “How will I cope with not seeing the beautiful dress my future wife will wear!”

“You’ll survive,” she tapped his nose.

He took her hand, placing a kiss on the inside of her palm.

“I love you Penny,” he whispered.

“I love you too Jack,” she hushed back.

There was no longer a jester and rabbit in that room, replacing them was a young couple with rings on their fingers as they gazed into one another’s eyes with so much love.

Jax blinked and he was back on the empty stage.

“He…I…Pomni…Penny,” he inhaled, fisting his shirt. “I’m…Jack.”

The waves became stronger, suddenly everything was rushing back to him. From the fears of his childhood, his friendship with Winter, his newfound family with the Alvarez’s…and Penny. The love of his life. And she was here. She went looking for him and she’s…

“Pomni!” he gasped.

Penny was Pomni! Pomni was Penny!

She found him! He found her! And she…she went looking for him, after everything he did.

Jax let go of his shirt. He had to find her, he had to tell her how sorry he was, that he couldn’t believe she was here, that we would never let her go ever again!

He let his feet lead him, searching and scanning everywhere for the jester. He had to get to her, he had to!

“Jack! Jax!” Pomni continued to search every room. She dodged every gag thrown at her, she didn’t leave a door wasted unless a purple rabbit was inside. She called out his name, loud enough for him to hear but quiet enough to not wake anyone. Especially Caine.

…

“Pomni?!” Jax ran up to the first hallway, calling out the jester’s name, begging for an answer. His stomach churned when there wasn’t a response. He wouldn’t stop, he had to keep going until she was found. “Penny!”

…

Pomni ran up to the stage, it was the only place left. Maybe he was behind the curtain, planning some kind of prank for tomorrow. “Jax?!” she shoved the curtain aside, but there was no rabbit in sight, only the wooden floorboards and the looming height of the ceiling above her. So much space yet he still wasn’t here. He couldn’t have abstracted, it might have sounded crazy but she swore she could still feel him here. She can’t give up. “Jack!” She ran off the stage.

…

Jax raced up the stairs to the rooftop, where they had their late-night conversation, she had to be here! He looked everywhere so she had to be! When he arrived however, the only things that greeted him was the twinkling stars in the sky and the vast endless world of the circus grounds. But still no jester inside. Inside, she still had to be inside. And so inside he went.

…

Pomni sprinted back up the stairs and into another hallway, she lost count at this point, but she was determined to keep going. She was going to start checking when the door flung open at the end of the hall, revealing a panting and exasperated Jax. Pomni froze, was it really…?

Jax pushed some of his dishevelled fur back, about to continue searching when his yellow eyes made contact with Pomni’s red and blue. It was her, she was here. She was up to, did she know? There was only one way to find out. “Penny?”

Pomni felt her eyes well up with tears, for the first time, she was crying with joy here. “Jack,” she let out a relieved breath and ran up to him.

Jax let laugh-mixed cry escape from his throat as he ran to Pomni as well. The jester jumped into his arms, with him sliding an arm under to support as she gripped the fur at his neck while he grasped onto her pyjama shirt. Jax pressed kisses all over her face wherever he could reach, Pomni laughed wetly and did the same. He spun her round, nothing but carefree laughter filled the empty hall. Only two lost souls finally finding each other against all the odds thrown at them.

“It was the dreams!” she spoke between kisses, “You were in my dreams! It helped me remember!”

“Me too, I had the dreams too,” he replied, as she pressed two kisses to each of his eyelids, “You were in every one of them Penny.”

The small kisses seized and the two returned to holding each other as tightly as they could. This wasn’t a dream, it would be too cruel for them. Pomni wasn’t sure if she could bear it. “Is this real?” she barely whispered into the rabbit’s ear.

“Yeah, this is real as it can get Pen,” he buried his head into her shoulder. “I’m so sorry Penny. This is all my fault.”

“No,” she cupped his cheeks into her hands, “None of this was your fault, you didn’t know you were gonna get sucked into this.”

“But I left you,” he sniffed. “I left you and said all those awful things and got you trapped here too. I didn’t mean it, any of it! I love you so much Penny! I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, hey,” she wiped away his tears, “I’ve already forgiven you long before my mind was stolen here. I love you too.”

He rested his forehead against hers, he missed this, he missed her so much.

She missed him too, all those months of him being gone when everyone tried to look for him. Trail after trail yet still coming up empty. It was too much to bear, to scream out a name that wouldn’t answer back. But he was here, he was alive, he remembered her and she remembered him! It was her turn to cry now, letting a few stray tears fall.

Jax immediately noticed her sniffling, stroking her hair and pressing her face into her shoulder as he soothingly rubbed his hand up and down her back. Wordlessly, he carried her back to the bedroom hallways, make his way to his room. His bed was big enough for the two of them.

Once he entered, he noticed that his bed was still made – due to the fact that he decided to sleep on the stage – with a small stuffed plushie of him in the centre of the pillows. He shut the door with his foot, carrying Pomni to the bed as he laid her down. She didn’t want to let go, but he pried her fingers off him and laid down next to her, pulling a comforter over the two of them.

Pomni grabbed the plushie, squeezing it tight before latching herself onto Jax, not wanting to lose his touch for a second. He was the same, holding her as though she would disappear if he let go. “I never thought I’d get a chance like this again,” she mumbled, “When you disappeared I just-”

“Shh,” he pressed a kiss to her hair, “I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere. Never again.”

“Jax...Jack,” her mind was still processing everything, “What made you…why did you…what happened?”

He sighed, stroking her hair. She meant what made him react the way he did that day. The day he left and set of this catalyst. He had to tell her, hiding it caused all of this. He gulped and felt her small hand grip his. With the newfound reassurance, he began, “You remember when I told you about my old foster family?” He felt her nod against him, “Well, the day when I went to get the stuff you like from the coffee shop, I ran into my foster brother Luke.” He heard her gasp, she knew about everything Luke did to him when he was a kid, even the bad stuff. “Yeah, the things he said, it made me spiral a bit. I was gonna tell you and go to Andrea about what happened, but I just felt so weak to do that. There so much going in my head, so much fear and anger. I just wanted to handle it on my own so no one else could be affected by it. Heh, guess that didn’t turn out so well.”

He felt her snuggle closer. “It’s just,” Jax continued, “I was doing so well. I was happy, had a good support system, fell in love.” He ran his fingers through her hair, making her hum appreciatively, “I always thought that if something like that happened I could talk to someone about it. I relapsed pretty hard though. And I’m sorry that you were the one who had to pay for it.”

“Jack-” she started.

He pressed a finger to her lips. “Please, let me finish. You have been nothing but the most extraordinary person in my life, you were always prepared to be there for me whenever I was gonna go through something. I’m so sorry I didn’t talk to you about this. I do trust you with talking about this, I’m the problem. You didn’t deserve any of the hurt I placed onto you. I love you so much, and I’m really sorry.”

She brushed the fur on his cheeks with a smile, “Like I said, I forgive you. I know you Jack, I know how hard it’s been for you. But I also know that you’re able to overcome it as well. That’s something Luke has never been able to do. You made a life for yourself, Luke is just an insecure jerk who was jealous that you were able to be happy. If I ever see him again, I’m gonna use that move Riley taught me and use it on him.”

“You don’t mean…” Jax gaped.

Pomni gave him a sly grin, “Oh yeah, that move.”

“Oh you’re vicious, woman,” he chuckled, diving to her neck and pressed a dozen kisses to her collarbones, “I love it!”

“Jax!” she chortled, trying to shove his shoulders away. “You idiot! Get off!”

“I have to shower my little lady with all the love she deserves. I never knew she could be so wicked! I can’t believe I’m rubbing off on you short stack,” he pressed a few more to the sensitive spot behind her ear, earning him a yip from Pomni.

“Jack!” she giggled. She then dove her head to the side of his neck, taking his fur between her teeth and nipped him.

“Ow! Pomni!” he let out a laugh as he retaliated, “Okay, I yield I yield!” He fell back against his pillows as Pomni laid her head on his chest, feeling rather proud of herself. “You do realise your teeth are sharper here, right?”

“Good,” she hummed, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Jeez,” his chest shook as he laughed, “Riley taught you well, huh?”

Her sister…Pomni’s smile faded. It had been so long since she last saw her older sister.

Jax immediately picked up on her downed mood, cupping her cheek and lifting her head to his. “Talk to me,” he said.

“I-,” Pomni sighed, “I miss Riley so much. And my mom too. I can’t imagine what they’re going through right now. I forgot about them. They matter so much to me and I just forgot about them! And now that I remember them, it just makes me miss them so much. All I want is to find a way, any way to reach out to them! To tell them that I’m okay and that I’m trying my best to get back to them! I just wanna go home.”

Jax pulled her closer, running his fingers up and down her back again. “I know, I know. I get it. I miss my family too,” he told her. “I miss Winter and her teasing, I miss Laura and her empathy, I miss Nina and Alex’s craziness. I miss everyone. But we’re gonna get back home. I know we will.”

“But it’s impossible,” Pomni interjected, “The exit doors, the void. It all leads nowhere.”

“We remember who we are, don’t we?” he remined her, “That’s a sign that there might be a way to escape this place. Those dreams, we had them for a reason, to remind us of who we are. We’ll find a way.”

“And Caine?” Pomni asked, her voice taking on a more subdued and unsure tone, “What’s gonna happen when he finds out about this.”

Jax froze, recalling that not only had Caine frightened her before with him yelling at her. But he never forgot how Caine had watched her drown, without making a move to help her. He watched Pomni tremble at the thought of the AI, the poor thing was terrified of him. He gripped her tightly and protectively, earning him a surprised squeak from the jester. “Caine isn’t gonna do anything,” he informed her, “If that pair of dentures tries to do anything to you, I will tear him apart. He won’t hurt you while I’m around.”

“He’s a force to be reckoned with Jack,” she said, “The second he catches that something is different he’ll stop at nothing to make sure it’s erased.”

“Then we’ll make sure he doesn’t find out about us,” Jax suggested, “We’ll pretend that nothing’s happened. We’re just two people who don’t know anything about our pasts and are just trying to survive here.”

There was still a bit of doubt lingering at the back of her mind. But Jax’s voice spoke nothing but honesty and safety, she couldn’t help but feel inclined to believe him. “You sure we’re able to do that?”

“Well, you’re going to have to control being head over heels in love with me, but I’m sure we can hide it pretty well,” he was cut off by a pillow whacking him in the face. “No please, not my pretty face!”

“That pretty face of yours won’t save you now bunny boy!” she snickered as she continued to pillow attack. “Besides, you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself in the maze! You picked me up and everything!”

“Only because you cuddled me in your sleep!” he retorted through another laugh, managing to grab her arms and pull her back onto his chest, caging her in his grasp.

Pomni tried to wriggle out and whack him again, but the warmth of his body and softness of his fur lulled her into a state of relaxation. Never mind, she would get him back later. “You’re the worst,” she muttered, “But I don’t mind.”

“Heh, I know…” he paused, taking both her cheeks in his hands again and raised her gaze to his. “Trust me, we’re gonna get out of here. And we’ll see our families again.”

Pomni nodded, a sweet smile gracing her features, “I believe you.”

Jax pressed another kiss to the centre of her face before she relaxed in his hold again.

The two paused, a low tension filled the room as they let their eyes linger on one another for a bit longer than they would like to admit. Slowly, Jax and Pomni came closer and let their lips touch ever so gently. It felt different – they weren’t human lips after all – but it was like all the kisses that they had shared before. Whether it was a chaste peck, a deep kiss when no one was looking, or a promise left on one another’s lips after a night tangled sheets, each one was filled with nothing but the tender and sweet love that they shared for each other.

They pulled away, both of them letting out a breath. Within the silence, they were sure they could hear their hearts racing a million miles per hour. Unable to hold back, the two let out a mirth-filled laugh and as they connected their lips again.

And again, and again, and again.

After a while, they settled back into the mattress, With Jax running his fingers through Pomni’s hair and over her back, making sure that this was real, that he finally had his memories back, that he finally had Penny back. She squeezed him, a silent telling for him that confirmed what he wanted to know. This was real.

“I love you,” Jax whispered into her hair.

“I love you too,” Pomni breathed back to him.

That night everything was perfect. That night the storm had finally cleared. That night, two separated spirits finally found their way back to each other. That night, they would stop at nothing until freedom was granted for them and everyone else here.

That night, Jack and Penny slept in each other’s arms.

Riley sighed as she drove down the road, taking a breath to steady her nerves. She had just come back from work after another endless and failed search for her sister and Jack. Winter was at her mother’s house with their son, it was her day off and her wife desperately needed a break. It took some convincing and promising, but Winter had eventually agreed to go.

It was a hard time for them both, but after the stress of Jack being added to her pregnancy and the birth of Percy, it hit Winter hard. But it didn’t mean that Riley wasn’t affected too. Seeing her baby sister’s face plastered on a missing poster, a constant reminder that mocked her over the fact that Penny was missing. It made Riley want to scream, cry, punch someone in the face, beg to whatever entity that was out there to return her little sister.

It wasn’t fair, Penny was innocent she didn’t deserve this.

And Jack, oh how she wished she took back everything she said about Jack. Of course she was protective over her sister but hearing Winter’s cry every night over her lost brother, it just made the guilt of saying those things to him sting so much worse.

Riley groaned, rubbing a hand over her face. What she needed was a glass of wine to calm her nerves before tackling anything else.

She was coming up to her and Winter’s house when she stopped the car as quietly as she could beside her neighbour’s house. At her front door was a man, his back was facing her so she couldn’t get a good look at his face. He seemed to be looking through the window on the door, trying to get a look through the patterned glass to see if there was anyone inside. Riley reached for her belt, unhooking some pepper spray that she had on hand. Even before she became an FBI agent, she was always well equipped with it in case anyone tried something.

When the man started to move to the windows on the side of the house did she start to intervene, hopping out the car as quietly as she could and made her way up to him. He was lucky that Winter and Percy weren’t here, otherwise it would have been a lot worse for this intruder. She snuck up behind him as he tried to peer through the windows, not noticing the fuming redhead coming up.

Before he could register the glimpse of her shadow, Riley grabbed his arm and threw him over her shoulder, sending him to the ground before pressing a foot on his stomach, making sure he didn’t get up. “Who are you? What the hell are you doing loitering around my house?!” she demanded, aiming the pepper spray at him.

The man whimpered, he looked quite young. But Riley didn’t relent, he was still an intruder after all. “I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he cried, holding his hands up in surrender, “I wasn’t trying to do anything bad! I was just wanting to see if you were in!”

“Oh really?” Riley wasn’t convinced in the slightest, “Normal people don’t try to look in the windows to see if anyone’s in!”

“Wait, wait, wait!” he begged, he was trembling now, “I swear, I didn’t mean any harm! I just need your help! Please!”

Riley slightly lowered the pepper spray. She got a proper look at his face once the guy’s arms were lowered. He looked pretty young, probably starting college but the look in his eyes made him seem more youthful than he should. Guilt twinged at her, he was probably some awkward kid who didn’t know any better. She signed, putting the pepper spray away and taking her foot off, letting the young man gather himself but still kept an eye on him in case he did anything suspicious. He was still a stranger lurking around her house.

“Talk,” she said, keeping her hand on her belt.

The boy gulped, wringing his hands anxiously. “R-right,” he cleared his throat, “You’re Riley Reed right? Your younger sister is Penny Reed?”

She stiffened at her sister’s name, each muscle in her body tightening, “My last name has been all over the news since she disappeared, if it isn’t obvious enough.”

“I k-know,” the boy nodded, noticing the woman’s unease. “My name I-is Samual, Samual Abel.”

She knew that name, back when the very first case came out, “Your Kaleb and Quinn Abel’s kid, aren’t you?”

The boy’s face lit up, “Yes! I mean, yes, that’s me. Look, I know this might be hard to believe but I think I know what happened to your sister.”

Riley froze, as though a bucket of ice had landed on her head. “You…you know what happened to Penny?”

“Well, no, kind of?” Samual told her.

“Excuse me?” she groaned, “You came all this way here to tell me that you might know what happened to Penny, only for you to say that you actually don’t. You better not be wasting my time here.”

“I’m not!” he exclaimed, “I’m not, trust me! Whatever happened to your sister, I know it has something to do with C&A!”

“And why should I believe you?” she crossed her arms. “I’m not here to entertain whatever conspiracy theory you’ve got going on. You can’t dangle the promise of me being able to see my sister again and then say you have no idea what’s going on!”

“Because whatever happened to her happened to my parents!” Samual cried, “I know they wouldn’t just leave me, I know something was going on that day and whatever it is, it’s started taking other people, including your sister! I’ve just been too afraid to investigate because Jason always told me that it’s all in my head, but I don’t think it is anymore.”

Riley paused for a moment. This kid seemed to be genuine with what he was saying. He’d been dealing with this much longer than she had, his parents were the first to go. To have to bear with that type of weight and have everyone turn you away when you wanted to look for them. The way he spoke, as if he knew something was going on. What if this was really the first step to finding Penny?

“I know it sounds crazy,” Samual admitted, “But I need your help. You’re one of the only people that I can think of who can help me with something like this. Please Riley, you’ve gotta trust me with this.”

If this was true, if C&A had something to do with her little sister going missing, if Samual was really speaking the truth, then she couldn’t turn away from this. There was an internal pull, her gut screaming at her to go through with this, to take this chance, that if she chose this then she’ll find Penny and Jack.

Riley sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger before looking back at Samual, “You better know what you’re doing.”

The kid looked like a thousand fireworks went off in his brain, jumping and fist bumping the air in complete and utter joy. “Yes! Thank you!” he cheered, going in for a hug.

“Nuh uh,” she raised a hand to stop him, “No touching.”

“Right, sorry, of course,” he apologised, “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, just glad to have someone on my side.”

“Baby steps,” Riley told him, “There’s a long road ahead of us.”

“I know, trust me, you won’t regret this,” he beamed, “We might actually find them.”

Riley hummed, “I hope so kid. I hope so.”

Hang in there, Penny, I’m coming.

End of Part 1

To Be Continued...

#the amazing digital circus #jax #pomni #pomnijax #funnybunny #ragatha #gangle #kinger #zooble #caine #bubble #my writing #dragon rambles #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3

33 notes · View notes

michelletsw · 2 years

Note

Here's a whacky request: Imagine the first years getting an accomplishment (getting an A on a test) and their s/o tells them out loud and in a lovestruck voice "Well done, I love you" or "I'm so glad you exist, my love".

Hello! Thank you so much for your request! I love this idea it sounds absolutely adorable i hope you like it! 🎃❤️

First year squad getting praise

Romantic headcanons

Gn s/o, gender not mentioned,

I posted this on accident before it was done TwT. I took a different approach with sebek because I couldn't think of an accomplishment that would mean alot to him other then something including knight stuff with malleus, so I did more of a praise for working hard instead of a accomplishment sorry TwT

Warnings ⚠️ cursing, not proof read

(there might be some favoritism in this post I'm sorry TwT) [deuce has Mr in a headlock at the moment so I apologize]

Ace

He walked(ran) to ramshackle with the biggest dumb grin on his face

He bursts through the doors to ramshackle and find you on the sofa

He shows you his scores for his exams which where impressively high compared to his average scores

He starts bragging and what not

Telling you how hes so intelligent and way smarter then everyone else in his class

He only stopped with his bragging when he noticed a warm smile on your face

Him being ace he asks you why your face looks "weird" ( he totally finds you adorable)

You say it's nothing and tell him "you did a great job, I love you" Followed with a kiss on the cheek

You get up and walk to the kitchen just leaving him stunned

He's dead.

You killed him. That was so cute omg you killed him y/n.

Once he realizes what happened and let's your words play in his head a few more time he starts to blush

And then go straight to where you are and "demands" you two do something to "celebrate" lmao

You end up just having a movie night making popcorn, playing dumb games, goofing off, etc.

But no matter how much he try what you told him ends up sticking for a while and it makes him smile just a little more each time.

(Most likely see his grades improve just a "little")♡

Deuce

Now this. This was super important to him

With his old delinquent self still kinda out there getting a 100% on a very important exam means alot to his new self

He rushes to ramshackle as quickly as he could

Deuce opens the doors to ramshackle and finds you giving him a questioning look

He shows you the paper and tells you his grades and you light up

You run into him and give him the biggest hug you can and say " good job! I'm so proud of you! I knew you could do it my love."

Just one big error sign goes through his head

He instantly starts blushing and thanks you

You insist he stays the night so you two can hang out and celebrate

He agrees and you two end up watching movies, eating snacks and cuddling on the couch.

After that night he calls his mom and tells her about his test and what you did and talked about how much he loves you

His mom is now set on meeting you this spring break.

Jack

You where there when it happened

You where timing him so he could try to beat a track record for running

You two have been there for a way over half of the day

He would take small breaks after to drink water and chat with you

It was around evening when he finally beat it

You ran into a hug and told him " I knew you could do it! I love you so much"

He went red and thanked you, his tail now moving at mock 5 lmao

You to end up staying at ramshackle together

You made dinner while he was in the shower then you to ended up just calling it a night and heading to bed

He ended up holding you a little tighter that night and when he woke up for his morning run, what you said replayed in his head and choice to sleep in just a little longer ♡

Epel

You where also there when it happened

You where in the stands watching epel play a very important game for his magic shift club

It was a make or break game against knight royal academy

It was currently a tie and the match was almost over but epel scored the last point needed to win the match

After the game you ran into him and gave him a big hug telling him " I'm so proud of you! You did it, well done my love"

Insert surprised Pikachu face

My boy is bright red

He tell you thank you and that you where his good luck charm

You two ended up hanging out the rest of the night celebrating and such

He will always remember what you said tho It replays in his mind every time he misses you

Sebek

Sebek was training alot more then he normally did, he got up early then normal to get some hours in before class

After class he would do his homework and then go straight to training only taking breaks for club activities, school work and malleus

You grew concerned about this and how he's over working himself so you decided to confront him on the situation after class in his dorm while he did homework

You asked him why he'd been training so much in the past few weeks only to be met with him saying he just needs to get better for the young master

So you left it at that and went looking for Lila knowing you'd get a better answer out of him

You asked Lila the same question and he said "sebek does indeed want to get better but not for malleus, he saw how hard you where working with your grades and wanted to impress you fafafa"

You thank Lila for the info and go looking for sebek

of course you find him training so you decide to sit under a nearby tree and wait

After a few very long hours of waiting sebek was done

You walk up to him and give him a big hug telling him "you've been working so hard for the past few weeks, I'm so proud of you my love" blank face.. it takes about 30s for him to process what just happened and when he does he looks like riddle

Bright red face with a small smile trying to compose himself he thanks you and gives you a quick hug back before getting his things and walking back to his dorm

Stoping at the entrance to the building he asks if your coming

You two end up hanging out the rest of the night getting some well deserved relaxation for both of you♡

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x y/n #ace trapolla #ace x y/n #deuce spade #deuce x y/n #jack howl #jack x y/n #epel felmier #epel x y/n #sebek zigvolt #sebek x y/n #twisted wonderland hcs #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland x yuu #twisted wonderland x gn reader #romantic #twisted wonderland first years

318 notes · View notes

doylldonmagar · 24 days

Note

Heyyyy i saw your post about writing your daydream to cope with maladaptive daydreaming. Do you have antimite tips that your therapist gave u ? ( cause therapy is kinda expensive for me right now)

Thanks <3

Hey, thank you for reaching out, I'm genuinely really glad you did. I'm afraid I'm not a great resource for this, honestly. Soon after that post I quit the job that provided therapy, so I don't have much more to offer. But I'll give you all of the things that I remember from therapy in case it can serve you!

(Assuming you're trying to stop disassociating,) look out for triggers. What makes you switch from being present to daydreaming?

When you initially notice you've switched to daydreaming, try to stop. This sounds obvious, but I've had to really keep it in mind, and there's usually a reason you switched to daydreaming (for me its usually anxiety or a lack of stimulation) and going back to reality isn't what your mind wants, so try to have something you are switching to. For instance, when I try to become present again, I usually start describing an object I see, and sometimes I shift to describe everything I'm experiencing, so all of the senses, things I'm seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling. And then once you're in the moment, then you can more easily switch to being actually in the moment as in conversations, etc, not just aware of reality but also a part of it. (Describing objects also helps with anxiety and spiraling, if you struggle with that)

Keeping a record of your daydreams can help if you are replaying a lot or if you have a story you are interested in building.

Setting aside time to daydream can help. It sounds counter intuitive, but if you stop yourself from daydreaming other times and say no I'm gonna daydream at 3 till 3:30, then when that time comes you daydream and then you stop yourself. This can build up self control and can break the urge to daydream whenever.

Trying to keep your mind occupied can help. If you daydream while you fold laundry, then maybe try playing music or a podcast or an audiobook and try to stay focused on it.

Doing yoga, or journaling, or something aimed at practicing awareness (physical, emotional, etc) can really help. Even stuff like spending 5 minutes describing everything I see and hear and feel can really help. A big part of getting away from MADD is just training your mind to be able to focus on the present.

Ultimately, what I've found is that maladaptive daydreaming is really just an addiction. And it's a coping mechanism. If you can find what you're coping with and can find a healthy way to deal with it, or find a way to cut it from your life, both are good options, but neither will necessarily stop the disassociation. If an addiction is narrowing activities you enjoy down to the one thing, then the way to break it is to find more outlets, more things you enjoy. If you have hobbies you don't do anymore, or things you used to be interested in, pursuing those can be good. Finding other things you enjoy doing can be super helpful.

On writing: (I didn't get this from therapy, just personal experience) it might help to write down everything from past daydreams that you remember (I personally would get really caught up in trying to remember all of the things. I had been daydreaming for about 5 years when I started writing, so I was trying to remember a lot. And I did forget a lot.) if you have a timeline, feel free to type it up. I write it down almost every time it comes up. I'll have clips of dialogue running in my head and I'll pull out my phone and type it up. Same goes for if I have a plot idea. I write it down to explore it later during the time I set aside for it. If I'm scared I'll forget it, then it runs over and over in my mind and it takes up time, and I don't want that. If I want to explore it, finish the scene, then I'm committing more time, and I don't want that. So it really helps me to cut it short by writing it down.

I'll add more to this list if I think of anything. Hopefully this helps in some way, feel free to reach out again! I tried to highlight my main ideas, sorry if it's distracting but I thought with so much text, it might be easier to skim.

#maladapting daydreaming disorder #maladaptive daydreaming #maladaptive coping #maladaptive daydreamer #immersive daydreaming #obsessive daydreaming #therapy tips #therapy

8 notes · View notes

separatist-apologist · 1 year

Text

Throw Me To The Flames

You could drag me through hell if it meant I could hold your hand

Summary: Elain only ever meant to deliver a message to Vassa on behalf of her sister's court. She never intended to see Lucien.

And she CERTAINLY didn't mean to get in the way of a knife that was only ever meant for his chest.

Kidnapped, and dragged helpless to the continent, the two will have to work together if they want to survive.

Note: HAPPY HOLIDAYS to my BEST @acotargiftexchange, @fieldofdaisiies

I hope you enjoy this as much as I have enjoyed hanging out with you!!!

Read More AO3

In all Elain’s life, she never expected to find herself standing in a human manor, fussing over a pot of tea again. She could hear rustling wings and the tapping disapproval of Azriel’s impatient boot. They were waiting on Lord Graysen and she knew it irritated him. There were other things he needed to be doing, and while he certainly didn’t have to chaperone this meeting, she appreciated it all the same.

He wasn't the only one out there monitoring for good behavior. Arina, who had declared she and Elain were now inseparable, had taken one distrustful look at Azriel and said she’d come, too. A representative, she’d added when Azriel had sighed with exasperation, of Day Court.

And Jurian was there, simmering with quiet anger at the entire thing. He’d begun raising the human armies and Elain had heard the bitter argument between him and Azriel—why did Nolan get the final say?

Because Nolan had the capital and Scythia was still divided. They needed the men loyal to Grayen to rally the rest of the humans if they wanted an army at least the size they’d utilized with Hybern.

Elain swept into the living room she’d stood in once before, the memory of that argument with Lucien replaying before her eyes. It was like watching the ghost of two people she barely knew, face off and ready for combat. Now Azriel was perched on that pink couch, his discomfort evident. Jurian stood in the doorframe, eyes trained on the door while Arina paced by a window.

“Are you sure—”

A knock interrupted Jurian’s angry words, drawing him into the hall. Azriel glanced at the steaming tear before nodding for Elain to sit, too.

“Don’t serve him,” Azriel murmured. It was the sort of thing Lucien would say, too. Still, the urge to do things right overwhelmed her. She knew every step to this dance—play her part immaculately to get what she needed. Fall on her knees to beg the man she’d sworn to always love to help her rescue the man she currently did.

He was not as she remembered. Time had settled into the fine lines of his once youthful face, marking him older. Gray peppered at his warm brown hair and teased against a mustache he hadn’t always had.

Her chest ached at the sight. So many years had passed, seemingly as quick as a breath. She had never once considered what that passage truly meant. That one day she might wake and Graysen would merely be gone, passing like memory over the earth.

Graysen, who’d been staring at her with open-mouthed surprise, closed his lips into a firm line. “Elain.”

She looked at Azriel, who’d told her that Graysen would only speak to her. Was it to express his disapproval one last time? To humiliate her all over again, having found the first time so wildly satisfactory.

“I said I would speak with her, not with an audience,” Graysen continued in clipped tones. Dressed in the familiar cobalt blue of his family crest, he was a peek into a life she might have had, if things had worked out even a little differently.

He wore a band of iron around his ring finger, resting casually—who had he married, she wondered? Who had replaced her in his home, his heart? He didn’t notice how her eyes traveled, his gaze burning on Azriel. As if anything he could say, anything he might do would frighten the ancient, winged male behind her.

“You’ll take what I offer,” was Azriel’s cold response. He punctuated it by sitting himself on that garish couch, flaring his wings for effect. Graysen’s distaste was apparent, made worse when

Arina stepped forward and with a revealing, pointed smile, asked, “Tea?”

They needed him. Elain turned to him, wanting just once to touch him. Instead, she kept her hands curled to fists at her sides. “You asked to speak with me?”

“I wanted to see you,” he admitted, taking one careful step towards her. “You haven’t changed—”

“She’s immortal,” Jurian snapped, earning twin looks of amusement from Arina and Azriel. “She will outlive you.”

Graysen’s mood darkened all over again. Elain was burning with humiliation, warring with the same impatience that seemed to have infected Jurian. They were wasting time. Azriel could be helping Cassian gather troops while Rhysand prepared to winnow them in. She and Arina could have begun planning how Elain would get herself close enough to the fortress so she could find that hidden box.

“What do you want, Gray?” she asked, her voice wearier than she’d meant to sound. “It’s been so long and you said…”

You said you didn’t want me.

“Are you happy?” he asked her, something flickering in his eyes. Elain felt unmoored for a moment, adrift in his question, his gaze, and the realization that he wanted her to tell him no. That though he’d rejected her and cast her aside, and even though they both knew he would never be brave enough to claim her like he should have all those years ago, he still hoped she was miserable.

Because he was miserable.

“Yes, Gray. I am.”

It was the truth. Maybe if he’d asked her a year before she might have told him she was. Graysen’s disappointment was rippled for only a moment before it vanished subtle enough that had she not known him so well, she never would have caught it. Elain didn’t ask if he was happy, given the truth so stark before her.

She simply did not care.

“Will you help us?” she asked, ready to be done. The answer was simple. Yes or no.

“And if I don’t?”

“We’ll do it without you,” Elain replied, turning her back to look at Jurian, Azriel, and Azrina. It was dismissive and casual, the graceful boredom of true-born, fae nobility. She saw the corner of Azriel’s lips twitch, as if it amused him to see her so callously dismiss a man that clearly held himself in such high esteem.

“Where will you gather the forces?”

“Scythia,” Jurian said with more confidence than anyone in the room felt. But Elain turned again, drinking him in one last time. He had haunted her for so long, his face the only thing she thought of more times than not. Had he always seemed so severe? So cowardly? Tucked behind his high walls, in a grove of ash? A ring of iron he knew was useless gripping a finger meant to symbolize love and fidelity? She’d come to him in the worst moments of her life and he’d never spared her a second glance.

Hadn’t cared if she’d lived or died. He’d merely cast her aside, as though she’d wanted this life. It had always burned her, and for years Elain had written and re-written speeches in her mind of what she’d say to convince him otherwise. How she’d make him see that what she’d wanted was him, for as much time as she was allotted.

And never once had it ever occurred to her that perhaps that sentiment was not returned. That Graysen was too scared, too cowardly to ever love her the way she’d loved him. What was love, without bravery? He wouldn’t have gone to war for her—Elain knew that with certainty, because he could have. He could have fought to have her, could have defied society and convention and their very customs and prejudices to have her, and he’d cast her aside. Even when she’d gone to him and confessed he had her heart—always—he’d tossed her aside like a cheap, replaceable thing.

Only now did he understand that perhaps it hadn’t been true, and still he stood here with his cold eyes, demanding she beg, if only to soothe his wounded ego. Elain would beg for Lucien. She would get on her knees and ask for his help if nothing else would save him. There was still enough hope that Elain could maintain her dignity.

She thought Lucien would understand if she told him she couldn’t muster this one last humiliation.

“We have enough,” Azriel finally said, filling the silence with his gruff voice. “If you wish to sit on the sidelines—”

“Like a coward!”Arina interjected, rising on her tiptoes to look menacing over one of Azriel’s flared wings. A ghost of a smile whispered over his face, as if she’d said the very thing he’d been thinking.

“You asked to speak with Elain, you know what she wants. Grant it—or don’t. We’re done wasting time.”

Elain was grateful when Arina grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards the door. She felt like she’d lived a thousand lives in the last day—they’d executed Beron the morning before, and now she stood before Graysen, pleading with him to help her get Lucien back. It was more than just the threat that Lucien would be forced to free Koschei, of which Elain suspected he might have to in order for her to truly damage the box so he was mortal—and killable.

Jurian yanked open the door, clearly disappointed Graysen would leave humans out of the fight in favor of the fae. Face hidden in shadow, Elain understood how important it was to the human General that humanity be well represented when the stories were told.

“Wait–!” Graysen’s voice echoed off the walls, following them into the narrowed foyer. “Your High Lord will winnow us in?”

Azriel assessed him coolly. “He will.”

“We’ll be ready at dawn.”

And that was that. Graysen shoved past them without a second glance, the first one to step into the cool summer night. The four of them watched him go, their displeasure surely burning a hole in his back.

“Is that all the time we have?” Arina whispered once Graysen was out of earshot. “A night?”

“Any more would be a waste,” Azriel replied, guiding them out onto the porch. Jurian seemed to agree.

And so did Elain.

LUCIEN:

Lucien waited for Vassa to slip through the bedroom door, his leg jangling nervously. She’d been pacing the world just above the lake all morning, dragging a trail of fire through the sky as they waited. Time was against them—Lucien had his power back and could, as he’d proven when he’d taken a turret off the far end of the fortress, unspell the magic of his ancestors.

Blood was all that was required, the very same coursing his veins. He could have undone Koschei right that moment had he felt like it. The only thing sparing Lucien the inevitable was Koschei’s distinct lack of knowledge regarding the ancestor who’d bound him.

Vassa slipped in, exhausted like she always did. Neither of them slept, waiting for the day their lives were so casually wiped from the world.

“Something is happening,” she whispered, ignoring Lucien on the bed for the window just behind him. “He’s gathering forces.”

“Forces?” Lucien asked. He hadn’t seen another living creature outside of the three of them.

“His magic,” she breathed, as if it should be obvious. “He’s pulling more of it, reshaping for a fight.”

“Then it’s over,” he said dully, gripping the blankets as the realization washed over him. He’d free Koschei, damning the world and perhaps worst of all, he would never see his mate again.

It was such a selfish thought, a self-pitying feeling to know that he would have given anything to just tell her what he’d been trying for so long to say.

Elain, I—

And she’d politely let him off the hook, each time agreeing, “I know.”But she didn’t, because he hadn’t said so. He’d kept the words leashed behind his teeth, certain she’d never want to hear him say those words.

“I don’t think so,” Vassa interrupted, primed for a fight. Vassa would go down swinging, and Lucien suspected she intended to take her with him. “If his escape was an assured thing, he wouldn’t be fortifying. He rebuilt the tower you wrecked, wrapping it in his slimy magic.”

“What are you saying?”

“I think something unplanned is happening, and he’s reacting,” she said, turning to look at Lucien. “Someone—or something—is coming, and he didn’t expect that. I know he always meant to fight a war in Prythian, where there were more factors he could control.”

Lucien forced himself to think carefully. To be logical. High Lords would move to defend their own territories and people, breaking lines and abandoning alliances if it meant seeing their own power laid to ruin. Koschei could play them off one another—separate them and force them to fight seven wars on seven different fronts.

“Beron is dead,” Lucien reminded her, the wheels spinning in his mind. “He’ll expect Autumn to be weakened, pulling them from the fight.”

“Are they?”

Lucien scoffed. “Eris is young, perhaps, to a death lord, but he’s hardly unseasoned. He’d rally. He’d–”

Lucien swallowed the words he’d been about to say with such confidence. He’d come.

“What if they coming?” she whispered, daring to look out at the dark sky again. Her fingers gripped the stone, scanning as if she’d see a terrifying, winged army just beyond. “He has no more moves left to play, at least not in secret.”

“That doesn’t mean he couldn’t play them well,” Lucien reminded her. After all, Vassa was only a pawn in his bid to get to Lucien. The two turned to look at each other, and he wondered if Vassa had realized what he had only just.

“When I break his spell, you’ll be freed, too.”

“I won’t leave you here,” she said, courageous until the very last. Lucien shook his head, because the humans needed someone just. Someone fair, who put them above everything else.

“You must.”

She opened her mouth as if she might respond, only to close it as that same realization swept over her. There were other things to consider besides their time in captivity and their shared friendship. Vassa could not think like that—and neither could Lucien.

“Well,” he finally said, his voice ringing with hollow finality. He pulled at the bond in his chest, wishing Elain was awake.

She pulled back with an immediacy that made his blood sing. Somewhere in the world, his mate was safe. She was free. Lucien needed her to stay that way, even as creeping realization wormed its way against the back of his neck. Elain was unlikely to keep to the sidelines—was likely the driving force, in her stubborn, unyielding way, of the whole affront to start with.

It should have scared him. Lucien wanted to be angry.

He felt nothing but relief. He trusted her sisters and her friends to temper the worst of her impulses and remind her that dying served no purpose, and deprived the world of her very presence.

And still.

Knowing she would come at all, that she would try and claw her way back to him made Lucien feel alive in a way he hadn’t in centuries. Finally, after riddled with his despair, his self-loathing, his insecurities, Lucien felt like he had some divine purpose. As though the suffering had all been for something, had been dragging him kicking and screaming directly to her.

As someone worthy.

Lucien rose to his feet, joining Vassa at the window. “It doesn’t seem possible he’s left anything to chance.”

“He can’t control everything. Only himself,” Vassa murmured in response. “There are too many of us now—he can’t hold that many strings.”

“He can’t fight a war on every front,” Lucien said in response. “Surely even he has a weakness. Some very killable heart, perhaps?”

“Maybe that’s what he keeps touching under his cloak,” Vassa joked. “It’s just an open hole in his chest.”

Their eyes met, a silent question passing between them. Lucien didn’t have to speak a word to send Vassa scurrying away—watchful, as she was so good at. It was desperate—one last attempt at thwarting what was almost certainly their inevitable conclusion. Lucien would die and Vassa freed, only to succumb to the dark reign of Koschei.

They wouldn’t let history say they hadn’t tried. And when Lucien left his bedroom in the keep just before dawn, pulled by the shadowed whisperings of the Death Lord himself, Vassa waited just in the hall, her lips forming two silent words.

Spelled box.

She inclined her head in a familiar direction, to the once ruined portion of the castle Lucien had once been caged in. Vassa slipped away, fierce determination warring with what looked almost like an apology. Lucien didn’t stick around to let her vocalize it. They all had their parts to play—his was this.

Koschei sat rigid in the same high-backed chair at the long table, laden still with too much food. Unnecessary, given what was coming. Bone-white hands laid calmly on the stone, framing an empty plate with skin stretched unbearably tight over his joints.

“An army gathers just outside the mist,” Koschei told Lucien, his words lacking the usual emotion. It was merely a statement, those Lucien thought there was some puzzlement to his expression, as if for all his meticulous calculations, he had not foreseen this. “They do not accept death as readily as you do.” Lucien heaved a sigh as he fell into his chair, pulling whatever he could reach towards him. It was a last meal, even as his mind turned over Vassa’s words.

Spelled box.

Containing what? And if he managed to unbind it, would he make things better or worse?

“I realize your education is incomplete,” Koschei continued, leaning forward as Lucien began to eat. “Raised wrong, you do not understand your significance.”

“Does it matter?” Lucien asked, certain it made little difference here at the end of things.

Koschei cocked his head. “Of course it matters. Why you, instead of another? Generations of Spell-Cleavers have existed since the first…any might have done. I have waited for you.”

Lucien forced himself to swallow. “Because my line spelled you the first time.”

“Your line spelled me the first time,” he agreed, reclining back in his chair. It was as if Lucien’s willingness to play along, to listen to this story, had settled him. “Bound me to this lake, to this fortress as punishment and…perhaps…as a joke. I have never truly known why Apollion spared me when so many others did not. His magic, drained from him in his ultimately foolish endeavor, spared me the fate of so many other of my siblings. Trapped, yes…but dead, no.”

A thrum in Lucien’s blood made Lucien think that somewhere, he’d heard this all before.

Koschei, unaware of how Lucien’s senses were awakening, continued to speak. Lost in memory, he paid Lucien little mind. “We knew the fae were getting stronger—harnessing the magic of the land, the sea, the sky much like we had once done. We’d grown greedy and were bored with unchecked rule. Your kind was little more than a sea floating rat—able to see and untangle spells, we thought. A little trick and little more.”

Lucien’s heart pounded in his chest, steady like a drum. “Apollion was guided by a prophecy–by love.” There was no disgust, no derision to the word. Only distaste, and perhaps confusion. Koschei, who was not a creature with a true soul as far as Lucien could tell, didn’t understand the lengths a person might be willing to go for such a potent emotion. And he understood, right then, why the gathering army confused him. Why hadn’t they chosen to stay and protect themselves, forsaking their kinsman? Beron had been willing to do so, after all. Beron had handed over a child he’d raised with no feeling at all—surely they were all like him.

But they were like Elain. Burning with feeling, with the willingness to try if for no other reason than loving the world and each other was all they really had. All they could cling to, could steady themselves again.

“Seers are rare—and Apollion let one convince him to bind me. Swore there was a way.”

“She was right, it seems,” Lucien replied, abandoning his food entirely to hear this story. A Seer and a Spell-Cleaver had begun this.

And Lucien knew why his blood was humming. It was her. Outside in that waiting army, coming back for him to finish what their ancestors had begun thousands of years before. He had to force himself not to react, to retain his mask of boredom.

Koschei didn’t smile. “She was. And so they came—Apollion and his Cassandra. She promised me knowledge of the world, promised to tell me all she knew if I would spare her family from my hunger. I had such an appetite back then. Your magical little souls make the finest of meals.”

“You agreed?”

Koschei nodded, ignoring the way the sky began to slip from violet to cerulean as the sun broke through the haze. “How could I resist? I agreed, and she came with her lover, who cursed me to this lake for eternity—and lost his life doing so. She’d thought she could save him. She didn’t realize…as I’m sure you’ve come to—you cannot have it all.”

Their eyes met, Koschei’s words a warning. Lucien discarded it, unwilling to trust that Koschei would be honest with him when so much was riding on everything going exactly as he planned.

“So, what? You’ve been here?”

“I’ve been here,” Koschei agreed. “Heartbroken Cassandra settled among the humans, passing her line through them in an effort to prevent another tragedy. Humans do not feel the magic as your kind do. No mating bonds, as she and Apollion had. No prophecy. The architect of her own ruined legacy as a speaker of false prophecies. She was so afraid I might need another…but not so afraid she didn’t wind that thread through generations of ignorant humans.”

Feyre. Cursebreaker, destined to save them from Amarantha. Her sisters, able to withstand the Cauldron, and Elain—

“I’ve been pulling those threads since before you were born,” Koschei murmured, watching Lucien piece it all together. “Your mating bond has been thrumming through the world far longer than your own father has lived. Waiting for just the right fingers to pluck at it, to draw you near. Little Cassandra, for all her ploys, never imagined her once children, so far removed, might one day become fae again. Destiny is a tricky thing—your kind has never truly understood it.”

“You don’t need her,” Lucien said quickly, betraying himself.

Koschei nodded. “No. I only ever needed you. She merely put you in place.”

“You’ll spare her,” Lucien said. It wasn’t a question.

“And what will you give me in return?”

The board was set. Lucien knew Koschei was primed for his words, for the promise, and so he chose his words as carefully as he could.

“I will give you an end to all of this.”

Koschei only smiled. “Let's begin.”

ELAIN:

Dawn broke just over the horizon when he went to find him. Dressed in golden sandals laced up to her knees, and a leather-skirted pteruges embroidered in gold, Elain felt like a princess of Day Court. Her hair had been carefully pulled from her face in equal rows to create a pretty ponytail more ceremonial than functional. The white leathered breastplate, etched with a rising sun over her chest, and the band of gold over her arms, spoke of Elain’s allegiance.

And who shielded her from all accountability when it came to the brazen slaughter of a High Lord. Helion Spell-Cleaver had taken one look at the furious Eris Vanserra and with a wry smile, said, “High Lord.”

He’d gotten an answering snarl in response. Elain wondered if Eris’s reasons for hating Helion extended to Arina, left behind in Day as a last defense of the city, should they fail here. Elain could untangle the complicated history of those two once she had Lucien back—once they were safe.

“You didn’t want me to see that crown,” Elain said by way of greeting, standing beside Helion as they waited for the mist to fall. It would be Nesta, with the remnants of the death power still clinging to her veins, that pulled it down. Elain could see her eldest sister in the dark leathers of the Valkyries, flanked on either side by Gwyn and Emerie as she stood against it. Head cocked, studying it like a long-forgotten friend.

“No,” Helion agreed, gold eyes coming to rest on her. “I wanted to see if the blade would call to you.”

Cassandra’s dagger was strapped to her belt, the only weapon Elain carried.

“Why not just say that?” she asked with more than a little frustration. “Why the secrets?”

“Killing Beron still serves my purposes,” Helion told her, shadows flickering over his expression. “And I can’t be caught sending assassins into neighboring territories. That had to be all you.”

“I would have kept your secret,” Elain told him, as if there weren’t creatures who could read minds. As if Helion needed just enough plausible deniability to keep his home safe. He only nodded, a silent thank you, even if it no longer mattered.

“Will it work now?” she asked, her insides roiling. Just beyond that heavy curtain was Lucien, still alive even if he’d stopped pulling back on their bond. Something like resignation was hanging between them—he’d made a choice.

She hated to think what choice he’d made, likely on her behalf, without even consulting her first. If Lucien had decided on self-sacrificial bullshit, she’d dig him right back up just so she could kill him all over again.

“They say Cassandra was mad,” Helion told her, his eyes far away. “She said so too, at the end. The journals they recovered were the scribblings of someone lost—she claimed to have lied about it all, that her visions were little more than the wishes of a female trying to achieve greatness.”

Elain felt her stomach sink. “Was she?”

He exhaled. “She had enough presence of mind to leave behind documents, even if they prevented anyone from looking too closely for wherever she vanished. They say it was her prophecy that led to Koschei being bound to begin with. One of the first Spell-Cleavers, if you believe the stories. Guided here on fragments and hope.”

Elain’s heart pounded. A Seer and a Spell-Cleaver had begun this? She blinked away the urge to cry, to push away that golden thread of fate that clung so tight to her ribcage. It was a war and it always had been—but it was a meeting of two souls looking for each other across time and space. Elain’s body ached at the thought. Even if it hadn’t been them, they were always meant to find each other. All the suffering, the misery, it was all worth it to bring her to him.

“I’ll winnow you to the front,” Helion told her, watching as silver flames danced over Nesta’s palms. “And destroy the wards. After that…”

Elain swallowed. After that, she’d have to hope she understood enough—that her visions on how to end this were right. “I won’t fail.” She had to believe that, needed blind faith to get her through the fear racing through her. So much could go wrong, especially know that Elain knew that it was wildly believed Cassandra, the person whose dagger she held, was a liar. It occurred to Elain just as the mist fell, that this might be one last trick. Koschei, luring her in for some piece of his plan she hadn’t considered.

Reckless. The whole thing was reckless and still Elain didn’t care. As the warm winnow pushed at her ribs, Elain felt relief that her separation from Lucien was nearly over. Whatever happened next, they would greet it together.

Just as they’d always been meant to.

A terrible roaring filled the silence before she or Helion ever touched the sandy bank of the lake. He’d clearly been ripped from the air too early, eyes wild as the pair tumbled backwards. He shielded her as something blasted around them, drawing a pained moan from his throat. It wasn’t the sound Elain wanted to hear erupt from a male that exuded the sort of raw power Helion did.

“He’s free,” Helion panted, twisting to look overhead. The sky was blotted in endless, unrelenting dark, broken only from the frazzled static of magics pent up too long. Neither of them moved, staring at the ancient magic unleashed on a new world. She could feel it like oil balancing atop water, too heavy to fully sink into the soil.

Helion reached around Elain, ripping at the wards keeping Elain out—if they even existed anymore.

“Go,” Helion ordered, pulling her to her feet. Neither of them spoke the truth, though the solid second they held the others gaze, the same fear washed through them.

Lucien had freed Koschei.

Elain’s stomach twisted as she scrambled, running for the iron doors blown open when Koschei had escaped. She wasn’t supposed to be looking for Lucien. She was supposed to be looking for that box, but all Elain could think of was Lucien. He was the whole point—everything she’d done had been for him.

The bond was still there, drowned by the roaring and the resulting screams and singing metal of a battle that would be ultimately futile. The combined power of all seven courts might hold him off—might keep him from immediately sweeping through the continent, but eventually Rhys and Feyre would flicker, drained entirely. The rest would fall like dominoes. Koschei only had to batter against them like waves against rocks, weathering each new attack until they were exhausted and unable to continue on.

Time was against her.

Elain ran through dark halls, guided by only flickering torches blowing in a phantom breeze. Occasionally they flickered out, leaving her blind in the dark. She skidded into an open dining hall, the only furniture a long, stone carved table filled with rotting food. Flies buzzed, picking at the carcass of what had once been a chicken, while maggots crawled over plates and cups.

Elain stared in horror, her stomach turning. Where was Lucien? She tried to scream his name, but her voice was lost to the world, drowned in an endless roar. Elain twisted, her panic making her reckless and foolish. She was afraid, so deeply afraid that she no longer cared about anything or anyone. Not as she turned, guided by the gold glowing in her veins. It took her to a spiraling tower and stairs slick with a copper scented substance. Blood, it was blood—

“Lucien,” Elain cried, throwing herself through the door to the iron bars of a cage. She’d seen this—seen him, curled just inside. His once vibrant, warm skin was ashen, too pale to belong to the male she loved. For a moment, Elain thought he was dead, eyes squeezed tight as they were. His hair spilled around a pulsating wound, caked in the same substance dripping down the spiraling stairs.

His golden eye opened. “Elain?” he whispered.

Elain gripped the bars, tugging uselessly. She watched him pull himself towards her, wrapping a callused hand over her own as he forced himself to sit.

“You’re hurt,” she said, not giving him a chance to speak. He was dying. Elain could see the inevitable conclusion to the slashes carved against Lucien’s chest—like a hundred lashes. Elain crushed her mouth against his own, tasting the salt and metal dried against his mouth.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” she said, some part of her settled now that they were together. “I’m going—”

“Elain,” Lucien managed, a heavy finality to his words. He reached just behind, and pulled the thing she’d been looking for. The box from her visions, thudding to the floor when Lucien could no longer stand to touch it.

“It's his soul,” Lucien said, each word thicker than the last. “Without it, he can’t die. Apollion he…” Lucien took a deep, shuddering breath. “He gave us an out. He knew he was going to die, he—”

It didn’t matter. Elain didn’t care, not as she wrenched at the bars, twisting with all her immortal strength until she could force herself between them. Elain squeezed herself in, sucking in a heavy breath before collapsing just beside him.

“As long as he has it, he can’t die,” Lucien told her, his face inches from her own. “Take it to—”

“To me,” Elain interrupted gently, rising on her knees as she pulled Cassandra’s dagger from her belt. “To us,” she added, not daring to look at the flesh hanging from Lucien’s chest. He would survive. They all would. The battle was early and everyone was still strong.

“When this is all over,” Elain told him, her hands shaking in fear as she used one to lift the latch of the box and the other to raise the dagger, “I want that time you promised. Decades in Summer, in Day, in Dawn.”

“You can have anything,” Lucien told her, pressing his forehead to her temple. “I am yours and I always have been. I always will be.”

“You are mine,” she repeated as a sharpened awareness clawed at her neck. “And I am yours.”

“He’s coming, Elain. You have to do it now—”

The lid opened, revealing a mass of swirling silver flickering against a writhing mass of inky black. The world around them ripped, like a yawning mouth looking to devour them. She could feel what Lucien had, the thundering steps of a creature newly freed only to realize its death was close at hand.

“Now,” Lucien whispered, lips to her cheek.

“Together,” she added, wishing she was less afraid. His fingers closer around her own, holding her while Elain p

lunged the dagger into the center of the box.

A deafening, brutal scream rang around them, the agony of a long-held life ripping through Elain’s very sanity. Blood poured from the box, drenching her legs and still Elain twisted, digging that knife viciously through the box until she’d split the wood in two. Arms wrapped around Elain’s body, pulling her against Lucien as the tower began to shake.

“He’s going to pull the fortress apart,” Lucien yelled, his voice drowned by the screams. Lucien pulled her down, his body bracing itself for that first crash as a stone clipped the cage they were both cowering in. Elain swore she felt warmth—the smell of crisp air and crunching leaves so reminiscent of Autumn. A memory she couldn’t quite place, and a time she’d just only lost.

Something struck her, and Elain was grateful to lose herself to the dark.

#elucien #elucien fanfic #elucien fanfiction #elain x lucien #elain archeron #lucien vanserra #elain archeron x lucien vanserra #ONE MORE CHAPTER #oh my GOD im so excited to be almost done #Look at us #who would have thought we'd make it #NOT ME

68 notes · View notes

10piecechickennuggy · 6 months

Text

Magic and Secrets, ch. 6 - Sanji x Witch!OC

WARNING: Mature content ahead!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own One Piece or the art featured above. This is a fan-created work featuring an original character.

Read Chapter 5 Here

Read Chapter 4 Here

Read Chapter 3 Here

Read Chapter 2 Here

Read Chapter 1 Here

An off-key melody echoed through the mansion’s halls. Dark pigtails bounced as Vera skipped down the long corridor, a basket filled with freshly laundered sheets in her hands. The setting sun cast golden shadows along the girl’s smiling features.

It’d been a good day. The first in a long time - longer than the ten year old girl could remember. Vera had been able to complete all her assigned duties and even had the rare opportunity to eat lunch with the other slaves. Her mind was still replaying the conversation she’d had with Laura over a shared pastry.

“Laura, what do you think Germa is like?” Crumbs stuck to the young girl’s lips as she spoke.

The older woman giggled, her strawberry blonde tresses falling in front of her face. “Lady Vera, you mustn’t talk with food on your face.”

Vera’s eyes grew in realization of her messy appearance, her cheeks reddening at having it pointed out. She quickly whispered a few magic words and the offending crumbs disappeared. Still not trusting her own magic, she then grabbed a rag and used it to wipe her face just to be sure.

Laura laughed louder now. The rag Vera had rubbed on her face had been previously used to polish the furniture. Now, the young witch’s cheeks were smudged with brown streeks.

“Here, let me help you.” Laura brought her sleeve down to cover her thumb before dipping it into her cup of water. She brought the damp fabric to the girl’s cheek and began rubbing the marks away. “I’m sure it’ll be lovely there.”

Vera frowned, her features contorting into a comical expression when coupled with her dirtied skin. “What if he’s mean to me? And what if his father or siblings are mean to me?” Her lip began to quiver.

“Shh.” Laura patted her head once she’d finished wiping the filth from her cheeks. “I’m sure Prince Sanji will make a fine husband. And if his family is mean to you, he’ll protect you.”

Once certain that Vera had been sufficiently reassured, Laura stood and dusted off her apron. “We should get back to work. There’s still lots to do before the master and mistress return.”

Thoughts of a dashing prince swooping in to rescue her now dominated Vera’s mind. She hummed and sang a happy tune, not caring if any of the other slaves heard. Her key was off, wavering between sharp and flat with every other verse. But who would correct her? The portraits of her ancestors which adorned the hallway?

Turning, she reached the master bedroom; her destination. She quickly stripped the bed of its used linens and began replacing them with those she’d been carrying. As white fabric billowed through the air and came to rest upon a plush mattress, her song continued.

Vera was lost in her thoughts, imagining another of countless scenarios for her future. If Laura said he’d be kind, then he would be. The woman had never been wrong as long as Vera had known her. Her marriage would be a happy one.

She jumped when the bedroom door slammed open.

“Quit that incessant screeching!” Misericors came barreling through the doorway, Vera’s mother clinging to him. Both were glaring at the girl.

“I-I’m sorry, sir!” Vera bowed before her stepfather, fear overrunning her previously happy mind. Had she tempted fate by allowing herself a moment of splendor?

“You haven’t finished your work yet?!” His voice was booming, dwarfing every other sensation the young girl might have felt in that moment. “It’s nearly dusk! Must I remind you of your place?!” He reached out, roughly grabbing one of Vera’s pigtails and bringing her forward. He leaned down and forced her to meet his gaze, now at eye level.

Vera gulped audibly.

“You are a slave.” Her stepfather’s breath smelt of alcohol as he sneered in her face. “Maybe you need something to burn that fact into you.”

The smile that overtook his features was nothing short of menacing. He took a moment to look off into the distance, formulating a plan. He chuckled at his own imaginings before bringing his attention back to the girl in his grasp.

Praesentia smirked at her husband, a hand resting on his chest as the man rose to his full stature. “She’ll never forget if you do that.”

Misericors yanked on Vera’s hair, dragging her out into the hallway behind him. The girl grabbed at her scalp, attempting and failing to relieve any amount of the pain her stepfather was causing. Tears fell down her cheeks as choking sobs ripped themselves from her throat.

Before long, the trio found themselves in one of the mansion’s many sitting rooms. A fire roared in the hearth, illuminating the space and casting stark shadows. Misericors threw Vera’s body aside. She crashed into a coffee table, knocking the objects that sat upon it to the floor. Glass shattered upon impact, spraying towards the girl.

She brought her arms up to cover her face, causing them to take most of the damage. Shards of glass embedded themselves into her skin, drawing ribbons of blood which trickled onto the carpet below.

From her kneeling position, the young witch stared down at her arms - now decorated with stripes of crimson. Colorful swirls and patterns reflected the fire’s light, appearing like glitter. The sculpture had been priceless. Vera closed her ryes tightly and braced herself for a beating.

When the sound of metal scraping stone broke the silence, she turned towards the hearth. The cruel grins her mother and stepfather wore sent paralyzing shivers straight to the core of her being. When the glow of red-hot iron came into view, the girl knew what was happening.

She’d seen the mark before. All the slaves in the mansion had it on some part of their body. The more well behaved slaves had theirs in places which were more easily hidden. Laura’s was in the center of her chest, right below her clavicle.

Vera screamed.

She willed her body to move, but fear cemented her to the ground. Her lungs began to burn, her throat feeling like it was closing. She couldn’t stop screaming long enough to take in a single breath.

“Shut it!” Her mother’s boot made contact with Vera’s left cheek. She landed on her right shoulder atop the shards of rainbow glass. Her screaming ceased, tears falling as she attempted to push her body upright.

Praesentia moved behind her daughter and held her down, a hand covering the girl’s mouth.

As her stepfather moved closer, Vera began to thrash against her mother’s hold. She tried to shout, but the sound was muffled by the hand over her lips. Her eyes darted around the room, unsure what she was searching for.

When the branding iron met her arm, the pain was indescribable. Blood boiled and skin melted under the searing metal. The smell was horrendous, trails of steam wafting into the air as her arm was cooked. A silent scream ripped itself from her throat.

In an attempt to ease the pain, she bit down on the nearest object - her mother’s hand. In an instant, she was released and the branding iron was removed. However, the overwhelming agony did not cease. It felt as though her entire arm was engulfed in flames. She clutched the marred skin as her mother kicked her again.

“You little brat! You bit me!” Another blow, this time to her back. Praesentia then leaned down, forcing her daughter to meet her eyes.

Vera stared through hot tears, her dark orbs wide in shock at what had just transpired. Her mother gripped the collar of her shirt, pulling her in close before growling her next words.

“You deserved this.”

***

Soft cotton gauze was held firmly in place beneath an adhesive bandage. “There, nice and snug.” Law patted the spot he’d just finished dressing, smiling as Vera flinched away.

“Oww!” She held the location gently and glared at the surgeon. “Stop that!”

Law chuckled, his deep voice reverberating off the wooden walls of the sick bay. “What? The witch can’t handle a little pain?” He leaned back in the chair, tattooed arms crossed over his chest. “I’d have figured after everything you’ve been through, a few stitches would be nothing.”

Vera sighed, looking down at her hand. She’d been helping Sanji prepare vegetables for dinner and slipped, cutting her thumb quite deeply. “Remind me why Chopper wasn’t the one to patch me up.” She refused to raise her eyes, preferring the view of floorboards over Law’s golden orbs.

The surgeon stood, returning unused bandages to their home within a cabinet. “Nose-ya had another invention blow up on him, so Tony-ya is a bit preoccupied at the moment.” He turned to eye the woman, taking in her features. “Would you have rather waited?”

The witch scoffed, standing from her seat on the examination table. “Thanks.” Her response carried undertones of frustration. With clenched fists, she began walking toward the door.

“Just a minute.” Law had extended his leg, blocking her path. “Have you given any more consideration to my offer?”

Keeping her eyes focused on the exit, she brushed past the man. “My answer is still no.”

Overcast skies greeted Vera when she returned to the Sunny’s main deck. Silently hoping that a storm wasn’t in their immediate future, she took a moment to gather her thoughts.

Resting against a wall, she leaned her head back and looked up. A gull flew overhead, its mottled body almost disappearing against the gray haze of sky. Her hand raised to her arm, gently rubbing the spot where her slave mark rested beneath black fabric.

Law had been persistent these last few days. He took her initial rejection with a nonchalance that suggested disinterest. But in their following interactions, he’d not failed to remind her that his offer still stood.

Why was he so insistent on learning about her past? Were her scars really that interesting? Or was he just nosey? Vera was willing to bet on the latter.

Brook’s voice brought her attention to the ship’s helm. The skeleton in question held a violin and bow, obviously intending to treat the crew to a song before dinner. “How’s your hand? That looked like a nasty cut!”

The girl smiled, thankful for her crewmate’s concern. “Just fine. Law stitched me up good.” She held up her now bandaged thumb for him to see.

“Very good!” Brook nodded, inspecting the masterful wrapping. “Would you mind showing me your panties as well?”

The girl laughed nervously, darting her gaze back to the kitchen. “Not today, I’m afraid.”

Brook joined in her laughter, though his was clearly genuine. “Perhaps next time, then.” He began to play his instrument, soft notes complimenting the crash of waves along the ship’s hull.

By the time she’d reentered the kitchen, dinner was nearly ready. Sanji praised her dedication to completing her work, but insisted that she sit and wait for the final side dishes to finish cooking. He’d even set the table in her absence, leaving the witch with nothing to pass the time.

She chose to seat herself at the island and watch the cook as he worked. Long, slender fingers expertly cleaned the filth from a used pan. Long blonde bangs obscured cerulean eyes as smoke puffed from delicate lips.

Vera couldn’t believe she’d taken so long to put two and two together. Had she suppressed her memories from childhood that deeply? The man before her was an exact match for her betrothed’s photos, despite how much he’d grown.

But it was obvious he didn’t recognize her.

His demeanor betrayed nothing of his royal upbringing. And when questioned about his origins, Sanji only spoke of growing up in the East Blue - across the Red Line from his birthplace in Germa.

Was he intentionally hiding his past?

Vera wasn’t sure of the right way to proceed. She could tell him the truth and dredge up both their pasts, or continue on as before and carry the constant reminder of her former life alone.

Would Sanji even care if she told him?

They were betrothed as children. The pair had never met until their adult lives, both living as completely different people than their childhood selves. They were pirates, not a prince and a celestial dragon.

Would he hate her if he knew?

The celestial dragons were despised. Sure they were the nobles of the world, but to regular citizens they were monsters. Cruelty was synonymous with the title. And though Vera had been raised as a slave and subsequently abandoned her life in Mariejois, she had still been born as one of them.

And then there was the problem of Vera’s own feelings.

No one could deny that Sanji was an attractive man. But he was also kind, chivalrous, and the best cook Vera had ever seen. He always put his crew - his friends and nakama - above all else. His obnoxious flirting with every girl he met was concerning, but he was a true prince down to his core. A wonderful person. Just thinking about him made Vera’s heart flutter.

She rested her head on the cool granite of the countertop.

Before long, the crew gathered and dinner had been served. The conversation had been boisterous, though Vera barely participated - too distracted with her thoughts.

Both Law and Zoro had made attempts at bringing her attention to the present moment. Zoro had tried asking about her favorite alcohol, if she liked napping, even what books she liked reading. Law had made a passing comment about her appearance. Something flirtatious she didn’t quite catch, which only got a rise out of Sanji.

When her plate and beverage had emptied, Nami invited the witch to join her and Robin for a bath. She accepted, not caring that they would see her scars or slave mark. Her friends had proven that they weren’t bothered by them - just concerned for her. But the girls didn’t pry, and so Vera had grown more trusting towards the two.

Warm, soapy water filled the Sunny’s enormous bathtub. Floral scents wafted through the steamy air, providing a spa-like atmosphere. Vera sat at the edge, her knees to her chest while the other women washed each others’ backs.

“Your turn, Vera!” Nami’s energetic voice broke through the witch’s consuming thoughts. The navigator’s long orange locks were held in a clip atop her head. Her blue tattoo was on full display along with the rest of her body. From her slender form to her large breasts and smooth skin, she was undeniably beautiful.

Vera complied silently, standing to join her friends in the deeper water. She turned, presenting her back which Nami began scrubbing with a soft sponge.

Meanwhile, Robin had grabbed a bottle of shampoo and offered to wash Vera’s hair. When she nodded, the archeologist went straight to work.

“Your hair is so soft!” Robin exclaimed, her hands covered in suds.

“Thank you.” Vera blushed and looked down at her naked form. She should feel embarrassed - vulnerable and exposed. She’d not bathed with anyone else since infancy. The magnitude of trust she held for these two women surprised the witch.

“So, I’ve been meaning to ask.” Nami had finished washing Vera’s back and began scrubbing her own body. “What’s up with you and Sanji?”

#black leg sanji #one piece #one piece oc #one piece sanji #sanji #sanji vinsmoke #vinsmoke sanji #cat burglar nami #god usopp #monkey d luffy #roronoa zoro #trafalgar law #nico robin #brook one piece #tony tony chopper #franky one piece #one piece x oc #trafalgar one piece

14 notes · View notes

ardent-fox · 4 months

Text

✨ Tag Game Master Post ✨

Hi, all! Catching up on these two games I was tagged in during the holidays 💖

First up, thank you to the lovely @lupeloto for creating and tagging me in this fun Tag Game! 🥰

📺 Favorite tv show? At the moment, Our Flag Means Death (shields self from tomatoes being thrown at her 😁)

🕴️ Favorite character? Oof, this is difficult. Gonna have to go with my precious baby boy, Stede

💋 Favorite relationship in the show? Blackbonnet (shocking, I know)

👯‍♂️ Fav sibling relationship in the show? No blood relations but the entire crew is chosen family, so… all of them?

🎨 Favorite art form? Music, with a heavy focus on lyrics/words

⚡️ A talent you wish you had? Being able to draw would be cool

☀️ What is one thing that can always make your day better? My toddler nephew saying the most hilarious things, he's barely 3 and already the funniest person I know

🎬 Favorite fictional character of all time? Atticus Finch (any works he appears in besides To Kill a Mockingbird do not count)

🌅 Dream place to travel to? Thailand or Ireland (either "land" would do, get it? 🧍‍♀️ ...I'll see myself out)

🎈 You’re planning a huge party, what’s the theme? The Masque of the Red Death, get fancy and spooky, bitches 🎭💀

🍕 Favorite pizza topping of all time? All kinds of cheese and extra mushrooms

🥂 You can pick ONE celebrity to have dinner with… Who? Andrew Garfield, {Marge Simpson voice} I just think he's neat

🎥 Favorite movie that you kinda know is bad but you still love? Rocky Horror Picture Show 👄

👖 How would you describe your style? The "I gained a substantial amount of weight in the past 5 years and haven't bought anything new since, so I now wear whatever I can fit into and lots of dresses and skirts cause pants are uncomfortable and shopping for them is a nightmare" style 😬

🖤 Finally, something making you smile this week? My mom's reaction to a present she really wanted, seeing her that touched was soul ascending ✨

----

Next, I got tagged by @deedala, @tanktopgallavich, @suzy-queued and @lupeloto to complete this round of Weekly Tag Wednesday, thank you my darlings! 💙

Name: Lyds

Location: Unknown location in Europe

Astrological Sign: Taurus squaaaad ♉

What's a TV show or movie you plan to re-watch this year? Hubby has never seen Giant, so I'll be rewatching it soon as well as some other classics like Some Like It Hot and Philadelphia Story, I'm sure I'll rewatch Frankie and Johnny for the umpteenth time as well. As far as shows go, I rewatch Our Flag Means Death at least once a month since it's my comfort show, and might do a Shameless rewatch since I've only seen the whole thing once (excluding all the Gallavich scenes)

What's a book or fic you will probably re-read this year? The entirety or The Menagerie by @crossmydna and Honeycomb by @metalheadmickey with artwork by @heymrspatel 💕

What is a song you will likely continue to play on repeat? I've been replaying One Of Your Girls by Troye Sivan for days and don't plan on stopping anytime soon, also still listening to Hozier's entire Unreal Unearth album whenever I'm chilling

What's a tasty treat you look forward to eating more of this year? Gonna steal Ri's answer here and say cinnamon buns, as well as my husband's homemade pizza rolls that I previously mentioned, as they're our favorite thing to eat while binge-watching

What's a time sink that you will continue to sink time into this year? Scrolling this beloved hellsite

Did you pick up any habits in 2023 that you plan to continue? Only unhealthy ones that I plan on ridding myself of in 2024 👋

What's your toxic trait? Inflexibility and freaking out when things don't turn out the way I've planned

What is a coping mechanism you will continue to indulge in this year? Staying in my burrow with my hyperfixations

Tell me something you like about how you look! My full, rosy lips against my smooth, pale skin

Give me at least three adjectives describing things you like about yourself. Honest, open-minded, creative 🌸

I'm out of the loop (which is about to change since I celebrated the last of the festivities today) and haven't been keeping up with the tags lately, but am still going to tag some peeps if you want to do either or both of these: @heymrspatel, @stocious, @too-schoolforcool, @xninetiestrendx, @krysmiss, @sleepyfacetoughguy, @michellemisfit, @whatwouldmickeydo, @vintagelacerosette, @metalheadmickey, @rereadanon, @francesrose3, @darlingian and anyone who sees this and wants to play! ✨

#tag game #fandom friends #personal

10 notes · View notes

ltleflrt · 4 months

Text

Ltleflrt's Writing Year In Review

Not a lot of writing got done this year, but considering the level of burnout I've been experiencing in the last 3-5 years, I'm very happy with what I've gotten done :)

Total 2023 Wordcount: 67,799

Total 2023 Kudos: 247

Total 2023 Hits: 2,734

My 2023 Fics:

Peace: 18,643 (WIP)

Fenris didn't have much reason to smile and laugh in his life, until he came to Kirkwall and Hawke gives him a reason to. Fenris doesn't want to disrupt the fragile sense of peace he's found by putting his heart in the hands of another mage, but Hawke's flirting and kindness are difficult to resist.

This is a rewrite of my very first fic Peace Begins With A Smile, and technically most of the wordcount is from there. But I've got many more chapters written than posted, and I know for a fact that I added AT LEAST 10k words to the original story, so I'm keeping that posted wordcount for this year's stats :D

Peace began as a writing exercise, just to keep my creative muscles from atrophying. I had replayed DA2 early in the year, and fell down the Fenhawke rabbit hole again, and it made me want to re-read my own story. I hadn't read it in like 10 years, so it was very eye opening to see just how much I've improved and how much my writing style has developed in that time. I wanted to rewrite it with my new skills, and wow it's a BIG difference.

Reaching Out: 22,825 (WIP)

Everyone knew Malcolm Hawke was a good man. A hero in the eyes of his wife and children, and a respected pillar of the community. At least until rumors of magic started to circulate, and he had to move his family in order to protect them. He'd do anything to keep his family safe, a responsibility he passes on to his eldest son when illness takes him away. Mal Hawke not only bears his father's name, but also the weight of his father's legacy. Everyone, including himself, expects him to step into his father's role, to pick up those responsibilities and carry them with the same steadfast strength. An expectation that is tested when the Blight hits Lothering, and is strained to a breaking point by the lawless and chaotic City of Kirkwall.

This is my biggest 2023 project, all original words. Once again, DA2 infested my brain, and I got an idea for a new version of Hawke that has me really excited. Plus, I have always wanted to write a Fenhanders fic, so this is going to be it! I got stuck, and have been distracted by BG3, but I still have big plans for this fic. (SO big, omg this story is going to be so long lol)

Something to Hold: 14,733

He did not hear the telltale clank of Templar armor behind him. It was probably a local. All Anders needed to do was act as if he were a simple traveler passing through. Nothing remarkable. Nothing worth mentioning to any searching Templars who might follow. Don’t run, act natural, don’t run, act natural, he thought firmly as he forced himself to keep an even pace. The only sign he gave that he recognized he was no longer alone on the road was to move to the edge to give the approaching stranger space to pass him. His heart beat like bird wings against the cage of his ribs as the sound of horse hooves and cart wheels grew closer. His fingers began to tingle with magic, and he curled them inward to hide any wayward sparks. Anders tried to keep his shoulders loose instead of tucked up tense around his ears. When the wagon drew up alongside him, Anders kept his eyes forward and prayed to the Maker that the stranger would ignore him. As was the case with most of his prayers, the Maker didn’t listen. On one of his many escape attempts Anders meets the Hawke family. And forms a special connection with the eldest son.

This was an excuse to write porn lol

I love "what if they met before canon" fics, and I decided to write one of my own. It turned out longer than I thought it would (shock!), and planted the seed for Reaching Out. It can stand alone, but I'm treating it as a prequel :D

Bathed in Starlight: 3,336

“You should have brought a torch,” Gethin scolds lightly as he comes to a stop next to Astarion’s discarded armor and clothing. It’s folded neatly, the armor stacked methodically. Astarion affects an air of carelessness, but he keeps his few belongings tidy and organized. Gethin suspects it’s his way of exerting a modicum of control over his life. “Or stayed closer to camp.” Astarion flashes a fanged smile at Gethin over his shoulder, seemingly unsurprised at his presence. “You know how much I enjoy a nip of danger, darling.” When Gethin’s lips tighten with disapproval, Astarion’s smile droops into a pout and he sighs dramatically. “There was nothing to worry about, was there? Here you are, with enough light for both of us.”

OMG a new fandom! *excited bounce*

I picked up Baldur's Gate 3 on launch day because the bear sex scene in the trailer hooked my interest (yes, I'm a closet furry), and the game has taken over my life. I did not expect to fall in love so hard, with the characters, the story, the gameplay, with my OCs, and one particular elf. But here we are, and I'm gonna fic about it.

This is just a canon conversation that I needed to write from the POV of my Dark Urge OC. Nothing special about it. And of course it had to include bathing. If I never wrote anything else for BG3, I needed to make sure I added my signature to the fandom :D

The Sun, The Moon, and The Night: 8,262 (WIP)

Caelnir and Kestrel are half brothers who were swept up by the mindflayer nautiloid at the same time. When they crash back to Faerun, they meet a pale elf who manages to snare both of them with his charms.

This is the bastard that has distracted me from my other WIPs. Yeah, yeah, I'm mad about it too, but I'm also gonna keep writing it lol

I don't normally create OCs. Like, there's Gabe Hawke and JM Shepard, but they've got more of a canon framework than most RPG playable characters. I have no emotional connections to any of my Dragon Age wardens, and the one inquisitor I care about has just the baaaarest hint of backstory. I can't even think of OCs I've created for other RPGs, because I don't care.

But oh boy, I care about Kestrel and Caelnir. A lot. Mostly because I created them with the same face shape, and I thought it would be funny if I somehow made them brothers even though one is a high elf, and the other is a drow. But they're half elves. What if their mom was just a slutty slutty human who traveled a lot? BOOM. The boys came to life, and now I'm writing fic. And since they both romanced the same character in the game, it's a poly fic. I love the challenge of poly fics, and I also hate the challenge, WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF??

Oh yeah, because Astarion is my blorbo, my boys are precious and special, and I'm the self insert slutty slutty human mom ;D

My writing in 2023 has been nothing like previous years. The fics I've written have gotten very little attention compared to what I'm used to, even going back to my very early days of posting, but I'm having fun and I've got a few friends who are intensely interested in the stuff I'm creating. I'm just happy to be writing!

My plans for 2024 are to keep plunking away at the WIPs in this post. I don't see myself going back to any of my Destiel WIPs, posted or otherwise, any time soon. I think my brain needs a break from the Winchesters for now.

(Of course, there's a shitload of Winchester Inspiration in some of my new OCs, but like...they don't have American accents, so they're TOTALLY DIFFERENT PEOPLE LOL)

Anyway, Happy New Year! Here's to many more fics, both written and read, in our future! 🍾🎆🥂

Previous Years

#ltleramblings #year in review #2023 year in review #oops i ficced #long post

11 notes · View notes

jessjustplay · 6 months

Text

I finished playing Final Fantasy X (again)

October 22, 2023

Game: Final Fantasy X HD Remaster First Time/Replaying: Replaying Game Time: 40 hours Console: Nintendo Switch Started: December 5, 2022 Finished: October 21, 2023

I finished this game last year in February, but some time in December I got an itch to play it again. At the time of my initial replay, I didn't have a TV so I played the entire thing on my tiny Switch screen. Now that I had somewhere to dock the Switch to, I wanted to re-experience the story again on a big TV!

So yes, I started Final Fantasy X back in December 2022 and it's taken me almost a year to finish it. In my defense, I have been playing a lot of other games! FFX was sort of just a back-burner, in-between-playthroughs type of game.

However, a few days ago I picked it up and could not put it down. Once you get past a particular area (that blasts an annoying announcement on-repeat the ENTIRE time), the game is very fun and picks up speed as the story unravels. I also decided I wasn't going to "do everything" which threw out a lot of that anxiety.

I have a PS4 now, so I thought, "If I'm going to 'do everything' I might as well go for a Platinum trophy!" I'm glad the Switch doesn't have a trophy system because it lets you enjoy the games without worrying about marking tasks off a list, but with how annoying FFX's side-quests are, if you're going to put yourself through that pain, you might as well get some sort of accolade!

I have no idea when I will start my Platinum attempt, but I really would like to try one day. I've played this game SO many times sinc eI was a kid - why not? People on Instagram telling me I should go for an easier Platinum trophy not only annoys me, but also makes me want to do it even more.

SPOILERS START HERE

Anyways, the endgame of this playthrough was really exciting! I told myself I wouldn't be getting an extra aeons or any of the ultimate weapons, so it was nice just walking around, leveling up, and going into boss fight after boss fight.

Normally, I would have Yuna's ultimate weapon and her Break Damage Limit would save the day! But this time I didn't have that and I relied HEAVILY on Bahamut to save our skins.

Seymour #2 took me two attempts, the Zanarkand Guardian was one attempt, the Zanarkand Trials Glyph Monster Dude took me 3 or 4 tries, Yunalesca was one attempt (!), Seymour #3 was one attempt (!!), and Braska's Final Aeon was ALSO one attempt (!!!).

I was surprised I was able to do do the final leg of the endgame in one attempt without dying. Not to mention, whie fighting Braska's Final Aeon, he petrified Wakka and that man disappeared! I was tempted to restart the game but then I thought, "It's not like I'm getting any EXP from this fight!" So I BEAT THE GAME WITH TWO CHARACTERS ONLY. At one point, Lulu and Yuna had less than 200 HP and I was freaking out!

What saving me was summoning Bahamut once, getting LUCKY AF that he didn't die, dismissing him, then using Yuna's overdrive to summon him again. I also used Auron to zombie Jecht and that helped for awhile, and I used Tidus's talk command once and that 100% saved Lulu and Yuna from dying. *THANK GOD*

Here are my final stats:

While I was more critical of the game this time around (more on that in another post), I still enjoyed this game and it will always be special to me! It's interesting though, I used to cry a lot watching the ending of this game, but this time I didn't. It's official - I'm old lol

When you're young, losing the person you "love" seems like the end of the world, but as you get older you learn people come and go. Yuna, you are 17. You will find someone new!!!

I did, however, cry during that one scene watching Yuna's sphere of messages (after beating the Zanarkand guardian boss). IT IS SO SAD!!! 😭 I felt my throat closing up watching that (specifically the Kimahri part). KIMAHRI, YOU'RE THE BEST! I need to write a Kimahri appreciation post.

#final fantasy x #final fantasy #finished

10 notes · View notes

everythingpresley · 2 years

Text

Don't You Kiss Me Once or Twice - Chapter 5

Character/Fandom: Elvis - Elvis (2022)

Prompt: Jessica Anderson is Elvis Presley's assistant and after months of working together, slowly something sparks between them. Friendship? Or is it more? [ Fem!Reader ]

Rating: Explicit/Mature (NSFW, 18+), Slowburn

|| Word Count: 1,876

Masterlist

A/N: Very short update! Sorrrry but I hope you guys like it! Let me know what you guys think, I love your comments!

Don't You Kiss Me Once or Twice - Chapter 5

I exhaled, my eyes bouncing down to his lips. Gosh his lips were pouty, they looked like two fluffy little pillows. Slowly, Elvis bit his lips, inching slightly closer.

My eyes drifted back to his eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen eyes like his before, so deep and blue it was like staring straight into the depths of the ocean.

My chest heaved, I couldn’t look away. This force of a man that I have worked for for almost a year is here, looking at me like he wanted to fuck my brains out and I couldn’t look away. Never did I think of Elvis other than my boss and dear friend. Working so closely with him allowed us to get closer as friends, I might even consider him as family.

My eyes fluttered closed, inching forward.

“Elvis!” A whiny voice from the hallway called “Come on!” It was the girl that was just giving him a blowjob. Holy shit I was about to kiss a man who was just getting a blowjob from another girl not 1 minute ago.

My eyes snapped open as did his and he quickly stepped back. He looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. He was probably thinking what I was thinking. How the hell do we move on from this situation? We were clearly about to kiss.

“Okay I think the drinks are clearly getting to us.” I said, looking everywhere but at Elvis.

“Yeah.” He sighed “I have to go.”

“Yeah.” I replied, still leaning against the wall.

He turned and left but just as he was closing the door behind him, he still had his back towards me but turned his head slightly “Don’t ever bite your lip like that in front of me doll.” He said and shut and the door.

I am officially quitting in the morning.

It’s fine. It’s fine. I’ll wake up in the morning and I’ll see him and we’ll pretend like nothing happened. And we can go back to normal.

Safe to say I didn’t sleep a wink, and it was 11AM right now. I kept replaying everything in my head over and over again. Even though I wanted to believe that things were going to go back to how they were I couldn’t help but feel like he opened the door to new feelings. I wanted to kiss him. But maybe it was just the drinks playing with my mind. I was not thinking straight.

I was dreading going upstairs for lunch, I decided to skip breakfast because I wasn’t really hungry. I walked up the steps, hearing everyone buzzing around in the kitchen. Just as I reached the top of the stairs, I turned to go towards the kitchen when the girl from last night practically shoved her shoulder into mine. I looked at her, ready to apologize when she scoffed and threw her hair over her shoulder and continued walking towards the kitchen.

What crawled up her ass?

I walked into the kitchen, following closely behind her. Elvis, the mafia, Vernon and Dodger were already in there while Martha cooked lunch.

“Guys! Let Martha finish up. Everyone over to the dining room please!” I said loudly “Only Grandma Dodger can stay because she’s the only helpful one.” Dodger smiled at me, continuing to chop up some vegetables.

“You heard the woman!” Elvis said, smiling slightly when he saw me. Everyone shuffled out of the kitchen and headed towards the dining room.

I started taking the plates out of the cupboards to start setting up the dinning table. Elvis walked back into the kitchen and came to stand next to me.

“Let me help.” He said taking some of the plates from my hands.

“Elvis Presley wants to help set the table?” I gasped, teasingly.

“Hey! I help out!”

“Are you sure you’re my grandson?” Dodger said from where she was standing still cutting up vegetables.

I laughed at the look of mock hurt on Elvis’ face.

“Okay. What club is this? I need to disband whatever this is.” Elvis pointed at Dodger and I.

“It’s the Minnie and Jess club.” Dodger replied.

I smiled softly. I liked that we were able to brush whatever happened last night under the rug and just pretended like nothing happened. Good. I really didn’t want to acknowledge what happened. Even though nothing really happened but that rush I felt from being so close to him was happening again when he came to stand right next to me. I felt my right arm tingle slightly because he was standing so close. His arm almost brushing mine.

“Let’s see how helpful you are.” I said and placed the plates in his hands.

“I’ll show you both.” He replied “And then it will be the Minnie, Jess and Elvis club.”

I winced “Sorry we’re not looking for any recruits right now.”

“Okay! You two need to stop spending more time together!” He said, walking out of the kitchen to the dinning room. Dodger, Martha and I all laughed.

We ended up having to add more chairs to fit all of us on the dinning table. I started pulling some of the chairs from the kitchen.

“Why do we have to have the help eat with us?” The girl from last night said from her spot next to Elvis. I paused right as I was about to sit. I knew she meant me because I was the only one about to sit with them. Martha didn't eat with us usually.

“Excuse me?” Elvis said, mid bite, dropping his spoon back onto his plate.

“I just don’t think we should eat with the help.” She shrugged, I still didn't know her name.

“It’s fine. I can eat in the kitchen.” I replied when I noticed Elvis was getting agitated.

He clenched his jaw “No. Sit. Down. Jess.”

“Elvis. It’s fine, seriously.” I replied.

“It’s either me or her.” The girl said. I bit down my lip to stop my jaw from dropping. Who the hell does she think she is.

“Okay then. Leave.” Elvis replied and continued eating, not sparing her another glance.

She did a double take, looking at him with a shocked expression on her face.

I bit my lip harder to stop myself from bursting into laughter.

“Okay fine. She can sit with us.” She replied.

Elvis chuckled darkly “You do not disrespect my assistant and expect me to welcome you in my home. I hate ungrateful people who think they’re better than everyone.”

“Do you want me to say what happened last night?” She smirked.

Elvis dropped his spoon with a clank. He flared his nostrils and clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth “Do you want to be blacklisted in Hollywood doll?”

Multiple questions ran through my head.

She’s an actress?

Have I seen her in anything?

What happened last night?

She gulped visibly. Elvis was scary when he was mad. Never, ever, threaten Elvis or try to blackmail him.

“Jess. Sit. You. Leave.” Elvis said.

She nodded, quickly getting out of her seat and leaving the house.

“You didn’t have to do that.” I said softly, taking my seat. I was extremely grateful that he fought for me. It was sweet. “But thank you.” I smiled.

He looked up from his plate and smiled back gently, I could still see the storm of anger hidden behind his blue eyes.

A while later, everything was calm and it was back to the previous energy, completely forgetting about the girl and what happened.

“Jess, could you make me some of that yummy filter coffee? You’re the only one that makes really good coffee.” Joe Esposito said, smiling innocently.

“Don’t boss around my assistant.” Elvis said, we were all outside. Some were in the pool, some just had their feet dipped in. I had my feet dipped in, Elvis was lounging on the lounge chairs around the pool.

“Anything for you Joe.” I smiled, standing up.

“Hear that E? She said anything for me.” Joe grinned.

Elvis narrowed his eyes at him.

“Don’t act all jealous Elvis. You’re the only one I would wake up at 2 in the morning for to cook a burger.”

“Yeah its because you have to. Not because you want to.” He grumbled, pouting like a little baby.

I laughed and walked to the kitchen to make coffee.

I went back out with a hot mug of coffee and a plate with peanut butter and banana sandwich for Elvis, he didn't ask for it but I knew he would love it. I handed the mug to Joe and walked over to Elvis.

I bent down and handed him the plate. He looked up from the book he was reading and grinned seeing the plate.

“Don’t pout, I would do anything for you regardless if I was your assistant.” I said, smiling softly because at this point I considered him as a dear friend. I really care about him.

His grin transformed to a soft, grateful smile. His eyes softening at my words.

“Thank you.” He said softly, taking the plate from my hands. His fingers brushed against mine, feeling little sparks shooting up from my hand to my arm. I pulled my hand back when I made sure he had the plate in his hand.

I went back to siting at the edge of the pool, dipping my feet into the cool water. A few seconds pass and Elvis appears next to me. He sits down, rolls his pants and dips his feet next to mine.

He passed the plate to me, giving me the other half of the sandwich to share with him.

I smiled and grabbed it.

“I don't say no to food.”

“I know doll.” He laughed.

Third POV - Last night

Elvis shuts Jess’ bedroom door and takes a deep breath. He ran his fingers through his fluffy hair, feeling all hot and bothered.

Elvis pulled the girl up the stairs by the hand.

“What’s your name doll?” He asked as he continued to pull her up the stairs to his bedroom.

“Alisha.” She replied, batting her eyelashes. She had already told him her name earlier but Elvis didn't care to remember. The girl was giving him a blowjob a second ago and he didn't even know her name.

Elvis slammed the door shut behind him, grabbing Alisha’s face and smashing his lips onto hers.

He moaned in her mouth, he practically threw Alisha on the bed. He unbuttoned his shirt hurriedly as she quickly shrugged off her dress. He unzipped his pants, pulling them down along with his boxers.

“So eager and ready.” He grinned when he saw that she was fully naked.

“So are you.” She smirked, throwing her hair over her shoulders.

“Shh.” He said, his blue eyes darkening in lust. He crawled on top of her and plunged right in.

She moaned.

He groaned, his eyes shut tightly. He needed this quick.

“Faster!” She gasped, against his lips.

“Don’t talk.” He growled. Her voice was ruining his imagination.

He bucks harder into her, his pace becomes more frenetic.

He moans “Jess!”

“What?” Alisha asked, panting and out of breath but got no response so she chose to ignore it and enjoy the moment.

#elvis presley #elvis 2022 #austin butler elvis #austin!elvis x reader #elvis x reader #elvis songs #elvis x y/n #elvis x you #austin elvis imagine #elvis presley x reader #elvis presley x you #elvis presley x y/n #austin!elvis fanfiction #austin butler #elvis presley x oc #elvis x oc

119 notes · View notes