#kiera why must you do this to me again | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

annaphoenix1994 · 1 year

Text

Ch.2 - This is War

Previous Chapter - Masterlist - Next Chapter

Laswell reaches out to Colonel Vargas; Kiera Dutton is assigned to team up with Mexican Special Forces; Vargas' team pursues Hassan; Shepherd assigns Ghost and Soap to assist.

“Colonel Vargas,” Laswell said over her comm, a heavy sigh escaping her lips as she was distraught from her trip to Amsterdam to meet up with Captain Price and Gaz, thankful for the good news they have received.

“Station Chief Laswell,” Vargas replied, his Spanish accent heavy and intimidating. “I thought we were on a first-name basis. This must be serious...”

“It is. I need your help, Alejandro.”

“Tell me.”

“The Las Almas cartel is smuggling an Iranian terrorist over the border.”

“Laswell, terrorists don’t cross the southern border.”

“We know that and they know that – that's exactly why they’re going to do it. I need you to stop it.”

“Who’s my target?”

“Major Hassan Zyani.”

“Copy. When?”

“Tonight,” Laswell answered, her voice stone cold. “I’m sending you some help. Case Officer Kiera Dutton. She will be assisting you in the search for Hassan.”

“Ah, old friends,” Vargas chuckled. “I look forward to it.”

“I figured you wouldn’t mind the extra hand on your team. I made the call myself as I have high faith in her abilities.”

She walked with confidence, her short stature and slender frame causing nearby soldiers to do a double-take as she didn’t look like she belonged in the field. Boy, were they wrong. Kiera Dutton, migrant of Wyoming, was a woman of many skills. Being in the field for many years, she climbed the rankings at a rapid pace, proving her work time and time again with every assignment. She specialized in hand-to-hand combat, preferring to use elements of Thai boxing – with the elbows and knees as those strikes tend to work better for a woman her size, weapons, and items around her to use for her advantage.

She was assigned on a special mission – both with Alejandro’s team and for Chief Laswell.

“Officer, so nice to see you again.” Alejandro nodded as he reached out to shake Kiera’s gloved hand.

“Likewise, Vargas,” She replied, a tint of a Spanish accent to her voice as she was preparing herself to speak the language over again for her second term in Mexico. “Who’s this bastard we’re after?”

“Major Hassan Zyani – Iranian terrorist. Laswell suspects he is being moved over the border soon.”

“Let’s get to it.”

Within an hour, they were deployed to the river, having getting a call from the Border Patrol of migrants attempting to cross the river. Both Alejandro and Kiera had suspicions as it was rather odd and coincidental for a group of migrants to be crossing the river when word of Hassan was being smuggled.

Alejandro and Kiera knew better.

“Narcos use migrants as a distraction. They could be moving Hassan as we speak.” Laswell warned over both Kiera and Alejandro’s comm.

“Copy. Where’s the FBI on this?” Alejandro asked, accompanying his trusted partner, Rodolfo as well as Kiera as they were now patrolling the river by boat.

“The FBI is an hour out. Right now, you’re all I’ve got.”

“Stand by. Rodolfo – Migrants are a diversion. Target’s on the move.” Alejandro informed him, speaking native Spanish.

“They probably crossed the river in a boat. Let’s find out.”

“Good call,” He nodded, reaching over to pat Kiera’s shoulder sportingly, excited that he was working with her again. “We’re on it, Watcher.”

“Alejandro, Kiera, do not let Hassan cross the border.”

“Solid copy. Out.” Kiera replied, shining her flashlight along the water and towards the shore, looking for any signs of a trap.

“If he gets over, we have no jurisdiction in the U.S...” Rodolfo commented, unaware that Kiera understood his native language.

“I do.” She replied sternly, her hazel eyes holding a dark and intimidating gaze. One that made Rodolfo nervous in his seat.

Alejandro chuckled at her demeanor, admiring it.

“Colonel, north side.” Kiera whispered to Alejandro, nodding her head towards the shore. All three shined their lights that direction.

“That’s their boat,” Alejandro replied, turning towards Rodolfo. “Stop here.”

Rodolfo jumped from the boat once it got close to shore, followed by Kiera and Alejandro after successfully beaching it, the trio crouching as they heard noises from the brush. “Hey, listen. Cartel’s moving Hassan fast.” Alejandro whispered, the rolls of his Spanish rolling from his tongue. It was quite a beautiful tone if Kiera had to say so herself. She tried to take note of it as she always had room to improve when it came to abroad trips.

“We can still catch him before they cross.” Rodolfo said, taking the lead, his weapon drawn.

“Roger that.”

“The wall is up ahead,” Kiera warned. “Be ready.” Her weapon was drawn and ready to fire, a sound suppressor attached to the barrel.

“Las Almas cartel working with Iran... this is new ground.” Kiera whispered.

“And if Hassan crosses?”

“Tactics change.” She replied, a scoff toning her voice, eager.

“Get him to the stash house!” A cartel member directed.

“Shh! Voices!” Alejandro warned, reaching his arm out to direct Kiera and Rodolfo to fall back behind him and take cover. “I count four hostiles.”

“Are the ferrymen on their way?”

“Visual on Hassan – on top of the wall.” Alejandro whispered to Kiera, pointing ahead.

“Pickup is at Flores and Barajas.”

Alejandro switched from his pistol to a rifle, taking a shot at Hassan, alerting the rest of the cartel, the quiet shoreline erupting in gunfire. “Fuck!” Kiera said to herself, holstering her pistol and ensuring her rifle was loaded before taking abrupt cover, switching to the right side of the boulder she was behind, using the tree and shrubs ahead of her to her advantage as she stalked alongside it to flank the four hostiles along with Alejandro and Rodolfo, making quick work of them.

“Clear!” Alejandro informed his team before reaching out to Laswell. “Watcher, the target crossed. He’s on the move. We’re pursuing.”

“Colonel, that’s not advisable. You have no authority or assets in the area.”

“Are you fucking kidding?” Kiera scoffed.

“I know,” Alejandro sighed. “Just keep pushing FBI and contact local PQ. Out.”

“Let’s go after him,” Kiera said. “I have authority.”

“I’ll follow your lead, senora. Rodolfo, let’s go.” He said, watching Kiera bravely climb the ladder first, slinging her rifle over her shoulder after she was straddling the top of the wall, gulping as she looked down at the ground below her, wondering what she was going to grasp on her way down as no ladder was provided. Fuck.

She then gloved her hands, thankful for the leather palm and fingertips as she knew it would provide grip on her way down, grasping to one of the slender pillars that held the wall up, sliding down slowly, Alejandro and Rodolfo beating her to the ground, Alejandro waiting for her and being on standby if she had slipped.

“Cartel will move him to a stash house in town. We have to find it.” She advised, her pistol redrawn.

“Hassan has more friends here than we do. Stay sharp.” Alejandro informed Rodolfo, the team moving quietly through the brush.

“Hey! Get the fuck out of my yard!” An angry Hispanic man yelled from his single-wide, clearly hostile at the beams of light that had happened to show through his window.

To their surprise, the Hispanic man was not yelling at Alejandro’s team.

He was yelling at one of the cartel members working with Hassan.

“You want a bullet, gringo? Back the fuck off!” The cartel member warned.

“Hassan’s moving this way.” Kiera whispered, joining Alejandro’s lead, the team turning off their flashlights as they continued to patrol the trailer park.

“House on the corner!” Alejandro notified after watching the garage door shut abruptly. Definitely wasn’t a resident at this hour.

“Copy. Visual.” Kiera replied, her pace quickening as they got closer to the house.

“Open it. I’ll cover.” Alejandro said to Rodolfo, Kiera standing at the edge of the short driveway, her weapon drawn as she was prepared to open fire.

“Police are on their way!” They heard the presumed owner of the house shout in English. He shouted at his wife to get the shotgun.

“Be advised, Rodolfo. These are people’s homes. We don’t belong here. Make every shot count.” He said, glancing at Rodolfo and Kiera before opening the door that led inside the house from the garage, his rifle guiding him as he announced himself. “Special Forces!” He shouted, Kiera and Rodolfo moving in quickly behind him. Alejandro proceeded to clear the first bedroom in the hallway while Kiera cleared the half bathroom, Rodolfo proceeding to enter the kitchen.

“You want some, too?!” The house owner shouted at him, raising a bat.

“Get the fuck back. We’re Special Forces. We’re not here to hurt you.” Rodolfo informed him, his English rocky.

“O-Okay,” He panted.

“The man that was just in here – where did he go?” Alejandro asked him, walking behind Rodolfo while Kiera was still on the west end of the house, confirming a clear bedroom after frowning at the sight of the little girl and her mother that were hiding beside their bed. “I’m not here for you,” She said quietly. “Just stay down and out of the way.”

The mother nodded at her, seeing the comfort in Kiera’s eyes, knowing she was a person to trust.

“They went that way!” The homeowner answered Alejandro, pointing towards the door that led to the patio, well forged off of the slide, preventing it from shutting again without repair.

“Kiera, Vamos!” Alejandro shouted, he and Rodolfo proceeding to the patio. “Watcher, we’re at the corner of Flores and Barajas. Target is moving west to stash house.”

“Copy. I’ve got local PD coming your way.”

“Roger. Out.”

“Hey! They’re right there!”

“I see them!”

“Cartel patrols! Get down!” Alejandro shouted, looking back to see Rodolfo taking cover on the other side of the street across from him while Kiera was stationed behind a dumpster a few yards away. Alejandro knew she was going to try and flank them, knowing she liked to pick off her enemies one by one, but he was unsure how she was going to do it this time.

They began firing at the truck that came barreling through the debris on the street, men firing from every window of the crew cab as well as from the bed of the truck. Alejandro shot at the second truck coming, being able to take the three men that occupied it while Kiera and Rodolfo went at the first truck, moving in fast as well as taking cover when needed. A clip later, the trucks were now quiet of rapid gunfire. “Clear.” She shouted as she regrouped.

“Nice work. Here, this way.” Alejandro said, taking the lead towards the backyard of another house, presumed to be the one Hassan was hiding in. Sirens from the local PD could be heard and Kiera kept watch on Alejandro and Rodolfo’s back as the cartel was notorious for circling their enemies.

“Hassan may be alone.” Rodolfo whispered.

“Not for long,” Alejandro said before using the stock of his rifle to thrust against the doorknob, pleased that it opened easily. “Special Forces! Get down!” He shouted, Rodolfo and Kiera rushing in, Kiera closing the door behind her.

“Get the fuck out of my house! A man shouted, standing up from the couch.

“The man who came through here, where is he?” Rodolfo commanded as he was the only one in open space. Kiera stood behind the counter and Alejandro was in the lead towards the nearby hallway.

Kiera immediately knew that something didn’t feel right. The man didn’t seem to be a homeowner as it was well almost three a.m. and he was in normal clothes – jeans and a plaid shirt with shoes still on his feet. This was not a man who was about to go to bed.

This was a member of the cartel.

“Rodolfo! Get down!” She shouted at him, watching the man remove a pistol from behind his back, the short pause from him loading it presumably saving Rodolfo’s life as he was able to get down just in time for Kiera to shoot the man before he could pull the trigger of his own gun.

“Was that the only one?” Kiera shouted.

“Si,” Rodolfo replied, following Alejandro through the front door of the house to meet up with the police that were finally arriving. “Which house is our target?”

“Let’s start with the blue two-story.”

“Why?”

“Their security light just turned off.” Alejandro replied, approaching the police cars that blocked their path as they walked the street.

“Drop your fucking weapons right now!” The police officer shouted, his weapon drawn.

“Do as they say. We’ll clear this up.” Alejandro commanded, his team following his instructions.

“Step forward at me! I want to see empty hands!” The officer shouted. “I will shoot you if I have to!”

“I’m Colonel Alejandro Vargas, Special Forces. We are after a known terrorist.” Alejandro explained.

“Gomez, hold up. These are her guys,” A man said, coming into view from behind the headlights, a cowboy hat broad on his head. “Heh, hard to tell you guys apart from the cartel. Where’s your suspect?”

“We tracked him to that house-”

Like a flash, the area had been abruptly hit by an external force. Kiera and Rodolfo were shot back at least ten feet, landing hard on their backs as the exposed skin was burned and scraped from the blast. Kiera’s ears rang as she began to panic, forcing herself to think thoroughly as she registered the attack. There’s more where that came from.

She searched for her weapons that she had put on the ground when the police arrived, cursing that she couldn’t find them.

“Alive?!” Rodolfo shouted towards her and Alejandro. Kiera nodded, feeling like she couldn’t speak as her mouth tasted of lead and debris. Gunfire startled her, seeing two men with covered faces approaching, shooting the police officers first before proceeding to kill the Special Forces. Alejandro rolled onto his back, looking at the man that was about to take his life.

That was, until Rodolfo managed to find his weapon and clear the clip on the two members of the cartel, saving Alejandro’s life. “We have to get moving!” Alejandro shouted, darting behind one of the closest police cars for cover. Kiera stayed on the ground, her mind in a daze as her ears continued to ring, making the environment around her sound like she were underwater. Tough it out. Move!

“Two more incoming! Engage when they get close!” Alejandro shouted.

She found her weapon of choice: a Kastov 74u.

Grateful that it was loaded and that she still had a magazine of ammunition on hand, she recollected her bearings as she entered the fight alongside Alejandro and Rodolfo, successfully taking out six more members of the cartel as well as one sniper that was assigned to the roof of the safehouse. “You two sweep down the interior. I’ll lockdown the exits.” Alejandro directed.

A few moments pass by before Alejandro announced that the exits were secure, joining them in clearing the house. Kiera moved to the front door, Rodolfo made his way towards the garage, and Alejandro went in towards the back. She made note to keep an eye on all windows from above as well as windows from other houses, expecting there to be a surprise sniper stationed somewhere else. “Making entry.” Kiera said as she approached the front door through her comm, using the stock of her rifle to bust at the door, immediately suspicious that it was too easy to open.

The Kastov roared with excitement as she proceeded to put lead into three members that were too close together when she entered the house. Easy.

“She’s already at work! Let’s go!” She heard Alejandro shout from the back, making his way in as Rodolfo entered through the garage and into the laundry room.

“Don’t you dare reach for that gun!” Kiera shouted in Spanish, aiming the Kastov at her as she and Rodolfo made contact in the same area after he had taken out two cartel members closeby.

“No cartel!” The woman cried.

“Then why reach for the gun?” Kiera questioned.

“No cartel!” She repeated, kicking the gun across the tile floor before retreating through the door that led outside.

Rodolfo huffed into his comm, “Watch for squirters.”

“Here, might need this,” Kiera said, picking up a grenade that sat on the dining table. “I’ll watch your six.” She nodded, watching him follow Alejandro ascend the narrow staircase. It was claustrophobic to say the least, but she found comfort in knowing that there wasn’t much room for error if and when another cartel member decided to proceed in fire. She carefully walked backwards up the steps, keeping the aim on the bottom of the staircase, hoping a cartel member would come and meet the lead in her Kastov. She was rather trigger-happy tonight.

“Another down.” Rodolfo shouted as he took two shots.

Once on the second floor, the team could see four doors total – two on each side of the hallway. Alejandro moved to the farthest side, leaving the closest doors for Kiera and Rodolfo to open and clear.

“Shit!” Alejandro shouted after clearing the room at the end of the hallway, hearing more rustling from downstairs.

“What is it?” Kiera asked as she confirmed that one of the rooms she had entered was clear.

“More cartel. Bottom of the stairs.”

“On it,” Kiera said. “Rodolfo, you got the last room?”

“Si, senora!” He confirmed, watching Kiera and Alejandro descend the stairs before hearing rapid gunfire below his feet.

Rodolfo took a deep breath, using his foot to kick in the door, using the flashlight on his Kastov to sweep the room, unable to pull the trigger in time before being shot in the shoulder. He dropped to the floor, saying a quick prayer to his creator for forgiveness before meeting him as he was sure he was about to lose the battle.

The barrel of his own Kastov was pointed at his bleeding head. Panting, he looked at the man that approached from the closet. “Burn everything,” Hassan directed before crouching down in front of Rodolfo, grasping him by the collar. “Do you know who I am?”

“You’re a terrorist, pendejo.”

“I’m a soldier. And I’m here to fight.” He snarled, standing back to his feet as his men proceeded to light the items around him in fire.

Rodolfo sighed one last time, ready to meet his maker before the unexpected happened.

Hassan told his partner to cease fire. “No. Let him burn as Ghorbrani burned.” He said, spitting at him as he referred to the Ghorbrani strike conducted a few months prior. His partner used the stock of the Kastov to his Rodolfo in the temple, stunning his train of thought before the men escaped the now-burning house.

“Hey, I’m seeing smoke! What’s your status?” He heard Alejandro shout through the comm. “Rodolfo? We’re coming up! Speak to me, brother!”

“No, Colonel. I’m not getting out.”

“Where are you?”

“Hassan is gone. They’re moving him. Something crossing the Atlantic. There’s a ship delivering something.” He forced himself to explain, at least wanting to leave answers for his commander. Blood dripped from his hairline as he desperately tried to numb out the pain of his own injury. He rolled onto his stomach, feeling the scorching heat from the inferno around him. He was going to die.

“Brother!” He heard Alejandro shout as he and Kiera entered the room, Kiera providing cover as she used a cloth to cover her nose while Alejandro tended to his injured comrade. “Let’s go! Quick!”

“Hassan was taken back into cartel protection in Las Almas. Mexican Special Forces confirmed Hassan’s moving something sizeable towards the U.S. The cargo could be containers housing missiles. We don’t know how many and we don’t know the targets.” Laswell explained to Shepherd.

“To find out, we need to capture Hassan and bring him in for interrogation. We’ll send Soap and Ghost to link up with the Mexican Special Forces in country along with all the manpower they need.”

“We can’t start a war in Mexico, General.” Laswell warned.

“Certainly not. I’ll task Phillip Graves and his Shadow company PMC’s to assist. Their rules of engagement can help us cut some red tape and get this done.”

Of course, you’re tasking Graves, Laswell scoffed to herself. “Understood, sir. Let’s find Hassan.”

#simonghostriley #simonriley #simon riley #simon riley x oc #call of duty modern warfare 2 #call of duty

32 notes · View notes

changingplumbob · 6 months

Text

New Goth Household: Chapter 2, Part 3

Alexander was sick the day before Halloween. It's not often just one person in the household gets sick… The house hosts a Halloween party and Keira is ready to let Marta know how she feels.

Before the party everyone finishes off their projects to excellent standard, ready to present later. Harvey has stopped by to make sure James won't let Keira's younger teen brother Reece and his friends in. James assures him he has no intention of letting minors in when juice is served.

Keira comes from a premade family and it took me forever to spell her name right. That's why I'm happy that for Halloween this geek can dress up as Qi'ra from Solo. Another woman whose name is pronounced the same but spelled completely differently. Kiera, Kira, Kyra, Keera the variants never stop.

Household picture before the party starts. I must say, the party, not what I envisioned. You'll see but it's an example of "Man plans, god laughs". To equate it "watcher plans, game code laughs".

James had a headache so I sent him for a nap before dinner.

Alexander: What are you dressed as

Joey: Rich lord, ladies love them

Keira: News to me

Joey: You're a lesbian, you don't count

Alexander: It just seems very conservative for you

Joey: Skinny doesn't lend itself to topless costumes

Keira: Ah

Joey: Yo James, you feeling better

James: A little bit

Alexander: Tell me if you need to lie down, please

James: I will. What are you doing Keira

Keira: Me? Just making sure Marta has the address

Joey: I take from your smile she's not straight

Keira: Could be bi, could be pan, but I have a chance

Alexander: Will you be okay with the crowd

Keira: Isn't it just high school friends

Joey: I may have flicked a few extra ladies the invite

Keira: How many are we talking

Alexander: Don't worry about them. Focus on Marta. Let her know how you feel

Keira: I'll try, really I will, just crowds

Joey: Soz

Alexander and the juice keg meet again. Last time didn't go so well, but this is the reward keg from their last party. It'll be... okay, no, it's gone everywhere. Bouncing back from the failure Alexander tries again. Success! We have a working keg. But we also hired a bartender to be safe.

James: Hey love, is everything- woah!

Alexander: Ready for a brilliant night? Yes it is. Come here

Keira meanwhile has had her nerves take a turn. She's now seeing a few stars here and there. Deciding to do her best to ignore this emerging headache she gets started on the juice.

The party begins and the guests start arriving. Most of the buddies from high school got the costume memo but other young adults have just shown up in party outfits, ready for a good time. The mixologist showed up so that's a positive for a sims event.

Keira: Hey Mar- Ah

Marta: Ay dios mio, are you okay Keira

Keira: Yes, I'm fine, I'm fine. Your costume-

Marta: Have you met Dolores?

The two share a laugh.

Marta: Who are you

Keira: Qi'ra

Marta: Huh?

Keira: It's a Star Wars pun. It's pronounced the same but spelled different

Keira: Maybe sometime we can watch the films

Marta: That sounds fun. Are you sure you're all right?

Keira: It's just a headache, shouldn't be contagious or anything

Marta: You know what I've HEARD makes you feel better

Keira: An arepa?

Marta: *laughs* comforting hugs

Keira: Thanks Marta

Marta: I also brought you a gift

Keira: You did

Marta produces a rose.

Keira: A rose? Oh it's beautiful

Marta: A beautiful rose for a beautiful carino

Keira: I don't know that word

Marta: Maybe I'll teach it to you someday

Keira: I'd like that. Very much

Marta's smile lifts Keira's courage.

Keira: Care to duet with me

Marta: I thought you didn't like crowds

Keira: What crowd? I only see you

The two flick through the catalogue and pick Meant To Be by Marta's favourite singer Bebe Rexha. The two begin and Keira feels her worries begin to float away.

🎵No need to go nowhere fast Let's enjoy right here where we at🎶 🎵Who knows where this road is supposed to lead We got nothing but time🎶 🎵As long as you're right here next to me Everything's gonna be alright🎶 🎵If it's meant to be, it'll be, it'll be Baby, just let it be🎶

Alexander: James, are you okay

James: My head is pounding

Alexander: Lets go to bed

James: No love, we've not danced together yet

Alexander: Fine. One dance then we're going right to bed

James: Does that make us bad hosts

Alexander: I don't care, I just care about you

James: How did I get so lucky

Keira starts to realise it's not just that her worries are floating away, she's getting light headed. She figures it's just the juice and carries on.

🎵Whoa, hold up, girl, don't you know you're beautiful? And it's easy to see🎶 🎵If it's meant to be, it'll be, it'll be Baby, just let it be🎶

Joey meanwhile is noticing some lingering glances from one of the guests he's invited. She's an unattached blonde and he wonders if she might like to take things upstairs. He puts on his best fake English accent and goes for it.

🎵So, come on, ride with me, ride with me See where this thing goes🎶 🎵So, come on, ride with me, ride with me Baby, if it's meant to be🎶 🎶Maybe we do🎵 🎶Maybe we don't🎵 🎶Maybe we will🎵 🎶Maybe we won't🎵 🎵But if it's meant to be, it'll be, it'll be Baby, just let it be🎶

The girls finish to scattered applause that rings in Keira's ears as she goes from light headed to somewhat delirious.

Keira: You sounded lovely

Marta: Ay dios mio, you're covered in swirls

Keira: I do feel pretty swirly, and stary

Marta: You need rest

Keira: No, tonight is meant to be fun

Marta: It has been

Keira: But I don't want you to leave

Marta: I won't but the rest of your roommates have disappeared. You don't mind if I kick everyone else out

Keira: Kick, kick, I kick a soccer ball very well

Marta: Go upstairs and change, I'll make some tea

Keira: T is a letter

Marta: It is, now go

Keira: You're so sweet, like sweet tea

Marta: Go on

Keira: I am no longer Qi'ra, I'm Keira, ta da

Marta: *chuckles* so I see, the tea will just be a minute

Keira: I didn't know we even had a tea kettle

Marta: I dug through the cupboards

Keira: Huh. This place is so massive

Marta: It is very large

Keira: Guys and their sizes pfft

Marta: Sit down before you fall over, I'll bring the tea

Keira: Thank you. How do you say that in Spanish

Marta: Gracias

Keira: Gra-ci-as. Gracias Marta

Marta: Drink up, the tea will help

Keira: Then what

Marta: Then you sleep

Keira: No! Why? We're having fun

Marta: When we have some real fun you'll want to remember it

Keira: Do I sound drunk or is that just in my head? I'm sure I only had 1 cup of juice

Marta: Get in bed carino

Keira: Thank you, gracias, for looking after me

Marta: No problem, now sleep

Keira: But I want to talk

Marta: We'll talk when you're feeling like you and I'm not looking like Dolores

Keira: Promise

Marta: Promise carino

Marta settles at the computer while she waits for Keira to fall asleep. When she's sure Keira is sleeping restfully, she leaves, but places the rose in a vase first. That way Keira can have her memory jogged in the morning.

Previous Part ... Next Part

#sims 4 #the sims #the sims 4 #Rotation7 #ChangingPlumbobStorytime #NewGothHousehold #AlexanderGoth #JoeyYork #KeiraFoster #JamesRyan #MartaRomero #R0706

2 notes · View notes

countrymusiclover · 2 years

Text

17 - Darkness It's Calling

Part 18

Kenobi's Future

Tag list - @supernaturalgirl30 @nanagoswife @lycaonpictusphotography @bigbendyhorns @abaker74 @haideehaids @sassycowboygoatee @jedi-archives @iifloweringnightsii @ocappreciationtag

Obi Wan's POV

"From my point of view the Jedi are evil...they make you keep your feelings buried down!" Anakin hollered to me as we were both back fighting on the lava and fire planet. Swinging my lightsaber to clash with his my mind must be playing tricks on me. Because all I could feel was regret that I couldn't treat Y/n the way she deserved. That our child would be discarded because of the Jedi Order. Anakin kicked me in the gut holding his weapon in front of me anger clear in the eyes of my former padawan. "Think about it Obi-wan. If you and Y/n joined me you could have as many children as you want. You would be able to show affection out of the shadows!" Shaking my head I wanted to block him out but I raised my hand shaking his outstretched one in agreement. "Let's go get our girls."

Shooting up in the bed I could see my wife rushing to my bedside immediately with concern on her face. "Obi, are you alright. I could sense your struggles through the Force?"

Running my fingers through my hair I felt my heart beating faster than I expected. Sitting up straight on the bed I grab the blanket feeling my mind is playing tricks on me. I never would choose to join Anakin - I mean Darth Vader like that. So I must have just lived through a nightmare. "I - I'm not sure darling - I saw something - horrible.."

"Just take a breath and tell me, Obi-wan. I can handle whatever it was." Y/n climbed into the bed beside me. Laying back down I lay my head in the crook of her neck where she wrapped her arms around me gently.

Burying my face into the fabric of her shirt trying to catch my breath as I spoke to her. "I was fighting Anakin again...the night of Order 66. But I - I don't believe what I did. I would never have - oh in the name of - I joined him."

"You joined the Dark Side, why?" Y/n raised a brow tilting my chin up so I'd look her in the eye. She had confusion still all over her face.

Throughout my years of becoming a Jedi you were always told to not fall to the Dark Side. The Council believed if you felt fear or had nightmares about something meant you were easy to fall down the wrong path. Blinking through tears I try finding my daughters through the Force for comfort but I only can feel my wife and Padme. "Y/n, why can't I feel Kiera anymore...her signature it's gone?"

"That's what I was coming to tell you. She - um - she cut herself off - from the Force. Obi-wan she's angry with us - that we lied so - she gave up the feeling of the Force around her." She explained running her fingers through my bed head of hair as to not start crying in failure for losing our eldest.

Silence fell over the two of us. Where the only sound you could hear was the humming of the ship as we fly through lightspeed. Padme was still asleep in her room and I assumed Kiera was off with that pilot somewhere on this ship. Laying my head back down on her chest I sighed listening to the steady beat of her heart until she asked through the air. "Have you had this nightmare before ever, love?"

"No I haven't. I - what if it became real Y/n - what if I do turn?" I felt my body shaking in fear where she squeezed my body closer to her. Then gently kissed my hair whispering in my ear. "Don't talk like that honey. You'll always be a loyal Jedi. Even if the Order is gone."

Y/n knows one thing for certain about me. That even though the Jedi are gone its all I've ever known. I was taken from my parents before I could form any attachments with my mother or father. Sometimes I even think I had a brother. But the Jedi Order is the only family I have. She's different though, Y/n is probably the oldest padawan the Jedi ever had. It still surprised me to this day that Yoda took her on. I remember when my former master brought Anakin in and said he was too old to begin the training...and then I met my wife.

Y/n moves my chin up gently kissing me. Lifting a hand up to her shoulder I squeeze it softly while kissing her back. Her right hand ran through my hair until we broke the kiss needing air. "Obi-wan just try and get some sleep alright. Things will be better when you wake up."

She tossed the covers off her legs about to get up until I snagged her wrist in my hand giving her puppy dog eyes. "Stay with me, darling please..." I begged not wanting to be alone if that nightmare were to plague my thoughts once more.

"Of course. I'll always be here for you." She got back into the bed pulling my head so it would lay on her chest. She moved her arms around my waist so I was close to her. She lays her head against mine staring into my eyes weakly. "I love you, Obi-wan."

Closing my eyes I pray I could get some peaceful sleep laying here in her arms whispering as I drifted off to sleep. "I love you too, Y/n."

Abored the unfinished Death Star Darth Vader entered the room seeing his master sitting on a throne in the center of the room waiting for him to come. "You wanted to see me, my master?" Vader asked the man.

"Yes, Lord Vader. Any hope to turn the eldest daughter is gone. I can't feel her prescence anymore. Like her father she is." The emperor spoke resting his hands on the armrest.

Vader lowered himself on one knee breathing heavily through his mask seeing an evil smile work itself on his masters face. "What is that look for master?"

"Entered the mind of your former master I have tonight. Putting him in a shacky state of mind I have. Y/n is too strong minded to be turned. The eldest daughter has cut herself from the Force. That leaves Obi-wan." The emperor made his hands into fists angered.

Vader rose to his feet remembering what happened the day he captured Obi-wan and Y/n. "Master, there's another. There's another daughter, she's the youngest. Her name is Padme."

Sidias clapped his hands together pleased at this new information. "Then make them join the Dark Side we shall or they die."

Comments really appreciated ❤️

20 notes · View notes

princesshillaryellaworld25 · 9 months

Text

Purity Senpai tries to flirt with Sick Kiera/How Sick Chris and Sick Kiera met(Ft Sick Chris) Roleplay

(By the way, this happened in during high school in the past and before Sick Chris and Sick Kiera started dating)

*Sick Kiera was putting her books in her locker, when Purity Senpai showed up*

Purity Senpai: Hey, Pretty girl~

Sick Kiera: Uhhh, hi?

Purity Senpai: You’re Sick Kiera right?

Sick Kiera: Uhh yeah?( Who is this?)

Purity Senpai: That’s a pretty name, you know

Sick Kiera: Uhhh thanks?( Weirdo)

Purity Senpai: Say, how about you and I go out together?

Sick Kiera: Uh no thanks I’m good.

Purity Senpai: Cmon I don’t bite and plus I’ll treat you like a princess if you date me

Sick Kiera: I said no!

Purity Senpai:(angrily tone) And why not?!

Sick Kiera: Because first of all, I just met you and second of all I don’t date spoiled entitled rich boys and third of all, I’m not interested in dating right now so-

*Purity Senpai slams the Locker cornering Sick Kiera*

Purity Senpai: (angrily tone)Listen, I don’t care if you have a boyfriend or not, all I’m asking is for you to date me, is that not so hard?

*Sick Kiera starts to tremble*

Sick Kiera: L-Look, I already told you I’m not interested in dating you so-

*Purity Senpai then slams the lockers again but startles Sick Kiera*

Sick Kiera: Ah! P-Please let me go….

*Purity Senpai then grabs Sick Kiera by the collar*

Purity Senpai: Now you listen to me, you’re gonna date me whether you like it or not and I don’t care if you refuse, just know you’re mine and there’s nothing you can do about it!

Sick Kiera: (tearing up) please…let me go…

???: HEY!

Purity Senpai: ?

Sick Kiera: ?

*Sick Chris shows up*

Sick Chris: Didn’t you hear her, she said let her go!

Purity Senpai: and what if I don’t?

*Sick Chris then rises into his inner devil form*

*Sick Kiera was surprised to see someone with rare demon powers while purity Senpai was frightened by what he just saw*

Purity Senpai: Y-You think using your demons powers can scare me?! Well think aga-Agk!!

*Sick Chris cut him off by punching him in the face and making him fell to the ground*

Purity Senpai: Y-You….you made my jaw bleed!!!

Sick Chris: (Inner devil form): And there’s plenty more where that came from if you don’t leave her alone

Purity Senpai: Who do you think you are huh?!

Sick Kiera: Wait…you’re that popular guy that everyone is talking about!

Sick Chris: Yep, that’s me and I’m sorry you had to see me like this…

*Sick Kiera blushed when she looked at Sick Chris*

Sick Kiera: I-It’s fine,( Oh my gosh, he’s so hot!!!!)

Sick Chris: And now you…. I suggest you leave her alone, she already told you she’s not interested in you but you’re forcing her to date you, what kind of person does that?!

Purity Senpai: Well, I need her to be my girlfriend, you think you’re so popular because every girl likes you and you’re always perfect in everything, well I wanted that and you stole it, so I thought if I date her I’ll get popular

Sick Chris: Well you can’t just force someone to date you so I’m giving you a warning, stay away from her unless you wanna get a nosebleed or you want get beaten by me….

Purity Senpai: Grrrrr, fine! But I’ll be back you’ll see!

*Purity Senpai flew away*

*Sick Chris turns back to normal and then faces Sick Kiera*

Sick Chris: Hey, are you ok, did that guy hurt you?

*Sick Kiera’s heart started beating faster like she’s in love*

Sick Kiera: Y-Yeah I’m fine, thanks for saving me…

Sick Chris: Aww, no problem besides, no one should be treated like that especially with jerks like him

Sick Kiera: yeah….I was so scared about what he would do to me if you didn’t show up

Sick Chris: Yeah, sorry you had to experience that, you must be scared huh?

Sick Kiera:…

*Sick Chris then gave her a hug, Sick Kiera started to blush even more*

Sick Chris: Don’t worry, I’ll make sure jerks like him won’t bother you again, ok?

Sick Kiera: *blushing* O-Ok…

Sick Chris: Say, I was thinking, do you wanna hangout after school and go to the arcade?

Sick Kiera: M-Me?! Hang out with you?! The most popular guy in all parodies town high school?! Well…

Sick Chris: It’s fine if you don’t wanna hang out-

Sick Kiera: I would love to!

Sick Chris: Oh ok, then see you later.

Sick Kiera: W-Wait! I never got your name!

Sick Chris: Oh it’s Sick Chris and you’re name is?

Sick Kiera: Sick Kaity but I prefer to be called Sick Kiera

Sick Chris: Oh ok then see you around!*walks away*

Sick Kiera: (pov) OH.MY.GOD, I CANT BELIEVE THAT THE MOST POPULAR GUY SAVED ME AND ASKED ME OUT!!!! I’m surprised because most guys avoid me or just don’t wanna be around me but him. He’s different….

@pony-central This is how Sick Chris and Sick Kiera met in high school when he saved her from Purity Senpai, what do you think?

@funkinboys

@sanicdfacfan17 what do you think?

#fnf spongebob parodies #friday night funkin #fnf mod #fnf headcanons #Sick Chris #sick Kaity #purity senpai #fnf au #roleplay

3 notes · View notes

noveltyreads · 1 year

Text

A Thousand Heartbeats by Kiera Cass Book Review

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I thought I knew what I was getting myself into when I first requested A Thousand Heartbeats from NetGalley, but I was still subtly surprised by this book and how much I enjoyed it.

A Thousand Heartbeats follows Annika, a princess forced to marry a man she doesn't love for the sake of her country, Kadier. On the other side of the continent lie the Dahrainians, a nation of people living in ruins, awaiting the day they enact their revenge on the throne who drove them out centuries ago. Leading this charge is Kawan and the soldier who does all his dirty work, Lennox, who travels to Kadier to show how easy it is to infiltrate enemy borders. When Lennox brings back Princess Annika, they begin to realise they're more similar than they initially thought. As the two grow closer, so does Kawan's thirst for power and they find themselves together but also on opposing sides of a war years in the making.

When I first started reading, I was surprised by how easily I was absorbed into the world of Kadier. The story immediately set off an almost fairytale-like vibe and the main characters were likeable with dual perspective POV that suited the story really well. Having previously read the first three books in The Selection, I could see just how much Kiera Cass's writing has grown and developed since her debut novel and series. There was a big effort made to create layers and backstory to both Lennox and Annika's characters, focusing on the weight of guilt, loss and grief and how it can weigh heavy on every aspect of life. I liked seeing how the characters bonded over this and found a joint connection through their hardships.

I believe it would be hard to review this book without looking into the romance. It was obvious even from the blurb that this would be an enemies to lovers novel, so I knew from page one that Lennox and Annika would get together. My biggest concern though was whether this romance would be an insta-love sort or if it would be more of a slow burn. It's clear which one I would've preferred. The focus instead was more on developing their personalities, their lives and their characterisation, allowing for a richer romance where you just wanted the best for the both of them and all the side characters.

That being said, I found Annika and Lennox both suited each other well but I wished their chemistry was more developed. Make no mistake, I thought it was good but the romance really happened in one big moment rather than short little bursts. I would've liked for the two to have had smaller moments to build up that romantic tension and chemistry instead of it all occurring at once and then all of a sudden calling each other "the love of their life." That just seemed a little quick if you ask me but then again maybe that's because I'm a little sceptical over the whole concept of true love and soulmates and don't consider myself to be a romantic. While the subtle pining was good, I felt like they should've been with each other a bit more before deciding in a heartbeat they would do anything for one another including giving up entire kingdoms for the pursuit of their love.

Romance aside, I also enjoyed the platonic and familial relationships with the characters. I loved Annika's relationship with her brother, Escalus and how they easily bantered on. I also liked Noemi's character although, I must admit, I was sceptical of her and thought her to be in on the deceit to usurp Annika's position and jeopardise Kadier. I thought that would create a thrilling plot twist which would've changed everything, hence why when the book took a more linear approach, the plot seemed quite predictable at times. I could tell who would betray who from a mile away and I wish the book didn't make it seem so obvious.

The other thing of mention is with the antagonist, Kawan. To me he seemed very two-dimensional as a villain. He didn't have this air of danger to him and he acted more childish than as someone who evoked fear. I felt like he was too easy a villain and that Lennox and his friends could've easily taken him down. If his misdeeds (apart from that one hunting scene) were shown more and we were given glimpses into his scary nature, then I might've seen him as a more menacing figure. I thought the real villain in the story was Nickolas and that's because we saw some of the backstory with him and saw his deviousness, unlike Kawan who's motives weren't as described. That being said, I would've loved to see more from Nickolas and the supposed tension between Annika's and his family. It was mentioned and it obviously played a huge part in his sense of duty and subsequent characterisation, but I wished that avenue was explored more.

All in all, this book is definitely one I'd recommend to any Kiera Cass fan or hopeless romantic, with well written main and side characters with layered backstories, and intriguing dual POV perspectives. The only downsides I found were with the characterisation of the villains/antagonists, the rapidness of the romance post the slow build, and the often predictable plot twists. That being said, I did enjoy reading this book and I managed to breeze through it fairly quickly. It reads in a way that is reminiscent of fairytales or classic fantasy so if you are a reader drawn to those types of stories, especially ones with happily ever afters, A Thousand Heartbeats is a book for you.

ACTUAL RATING: 3.8 STARS

8 notes · View notes

blinkaftermidnight · 2 years

Note

HONESTLY yeah i feel like i unintentionally chose a really good time to get into lmao and YES !! i believe three out of the five or six main POVs are confirmed bi and/or pan in some way plus there is a main sapphic ship so Yeah. plus this isn’t even spoilery but one of the povs is hera syndulla which is a fucking plus on it’s own DAMN

i think i really enjoyed her character during the clone wars but it feels like it’s been forever since i watched it so i ,,, have yet to have a proper opinion about her 😬 but i will absolutely pick that up to brush up on my lore in the least

WE DO BE LOVING QUEER AHSOKA TANO OUT HERE !! and omg i did hear that queen’s shadow was really good?? bc it’s about sabé right. knowing that kiera knightley played her (1 second of screentime) in phantom menace just makes it better.

listen, i’ve been in a reading block for a hot minute because i just haven’t been able to find anything i’m actually interested in for a While so i’m definitely going to gather all of these into a list and see which ones i can get my hands on first <3 and thank you in advance !!

Multiple queer characters AND Hera Syndulla? I'm completely sold.

If you're referring to enjoying Luminara's character in the Clone Wars...let me be real, Obi-Wan is my favorite Jedi (it would be Ahsoka, but we know how that goes lmao), but Luminara is 100% my favorite obscure Jedi. Everyone is gonna be forced to know that.

That Ahsoka book is a must. The vibes are not hetero in that. Again, I'm going to struggle to remember specific details, but I'm confident that the handmaidens were a big part of Queen's Shadow. I really gotta get to the other two books because I flew through the first one.

Reading blocks are the WORST so maybe that's why I read like 5 books at a time lol gotta keep it fresh. But yeah, I hope you enjoy some of them, and if I find any more amazing Star Wars books as I read my way through my list, I'll pass them on

#waverlysangvl

2 notes · View notes

kahran042 · 11 months

Text

Even more incorrect JCGTL quotes!

Brad: Dude, what's with the tux? Jonas: Kiera hasn't asked me to the Sadie Hawkins dance yet, so I'm just laying out a little sugar to catch my snake. Nate: Flies. Sugar catches flies. Jonas: What catches snakes? Brad: You gotta wear a snake trap! Chloe: No, you need those metal sticks with the grabber at the end! Nate: My grandmother uses those to get cereal down from her cupboard. Brad: Why are there snakes in your grandmother's cereal?! (Source: 6teen)

Stephen: You must understand, Kiera, your mother had a very terrible childhood. Kiera: I understand. I’m having a very terrible childhood right now. (Source: A Series of Unfortunate Events)

Courtney (to Thom and Kyle): You guys should just fuck and get it over with. (Source: American Dad!)

Morgan: My brother is kinda weird that way. Chloe: Yeah, he's kinda weird a bunch of ways. (Source: Archer)

Mark: Sometimes, I feel like I failed as a brother. Chloe: Sometimes? (Source: Archer)

Jacob: I have two sons. Zach, and another one. (Source: Blackadder)

Brad: Do you think there’s a God? Jonas: Well, somebody’s out to get me. (Source: Calvin and Hobbes)

Jonas: I find my life’s a lot easier the lower I keep everyone’s expectations. (Source: Calvin and Hobbes)

Nick: I’m a man of few words. Jared: Maybe if you read more, you’d have a bigger vocabulary. (Source: Calvin and Hobbes)

Chloe: What're you doing? Justin: I'm writing my autobiography. Chloe: But you're just twelve years old. Justin: I've only got one sheet of paper. (Source: Calvin and Hobbes)

Chloe: What are you doing? Mark: (leaning against a tree) Being “cool”. Chloe: …You just look bored. Mark: The world bores you when you’re cool. (Source: Calvin and Hobbes)

Kiera: I'm not sure what’s sadder - that you’re fighting a kindergartner or that you seem to be losing. Jonas: I'm not losing! Samantha cheats! (Source: Calvin and Hobbes)

Morgan: Do you ever think about the end of the world as we know it? Kiera: You mean a nuclear war? Morgan: I think Connor was referring to if he ever caught me thumbing through his journal again. (Source: Calvin and Hobbes)

Mark, flexing in a mirror: Made in God's image, that's right. Chloe: I'm glad God has a sense of humor. (Source: Calvin and Hobbes)

Lauren: Lots of people think I'm a tomboy, but I like pretty things too. I can rock a pair of heels! (Source: Crush Crush)

Valerie: Why didn't you buy Mark a birthday present? Chloe: First of all, I have zero money. And second of all, if I DID have money, I wouldn’t be wasting it on Mark. (Source: Diary of a Wimpy Kid)

Monica: I swear, sometimes I feel like I’m married to a child. Richard: You better watch who you’re calling a child, Monica. Because if I’m a child then you know what that makes you? A pedophile. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand here and be lectured by a pervert. (Source: Family Guy)

Nate: Why do I always have to figure everything out? I'm 15! (Source: Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends)

Sarah: What's this, 'The Jonas, Brad, Chloe, Kiera, Nate, Alicia, Mark, Connor, and Morgan Show'? (Source: Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends)

Nate: So for games, I blacked out the names of countries on my world map and wrote them on pieces of paper. Chloe: Nate, those are boring things YOU like. (Source: Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends)

Jonas: Nothing beats a mug of hot cocoa on a cold day like today. I love the taste, the chocolaty smell, the way it warms up your hands as you hold it… I love everything about it! Donna: Except making it. Jonas: Please? You're so good at it! (Source: FoxTrot)

Justin: Hey, Mark, want me to make you a PB & J sandwich for lunch? Mark: Sure. *later* Mark: BLECCH! What IS this? Justin: PB & J. Valerie: Justin, why are there jalapeños out? (Source: FoxTrot)

Mark: Connor, how do you know a funeral dirge? Connor: I composed it in honor of my own departure. (Source: Fraggle Rock)

Nate: I'm a worthless coward. Jonas: Nate, it takes a very brave person to admit he's a worthless coward. (Source: Fraggle Rock)

Brad: Uh-oh. Jonas: What? Brad: Somebody's in love. Jonas: Pfff, please. I just think Kiera's cool, okay? It's not like I lie awake at night thinking about her! *Later that night* Jonas (wide awake, thinking about Kiera): Uh-oh. (Source: Gravity Falls)

Jonas: Are you wearing mascara? Connor: Uh, it’s eye-paint for men. (Source: Gravity Falls)

Adrian: Awkward sibling hug? Kiera: Awkward sibling hug. *Adrian and Kiera hug* Adrian and Kiera: Pat, pat. (Source: Gravity Falls)

Richard: My ex-wife still misses me. But her aim is getting better! (Source: Gravity Falls)

Brad: Wow, Jonas, that was so amazing. You're so good at sports, I've always wondered why you don't join a team or anything. Jonas: Because if I got on a team and started playing sports, I'd miss all of my shows. (Source: Lucky Star)

Jonas: I think Kiera hates me now. Brad: Of course she does. You didn't eat her cooking. Jonas: Thanks for rubbing it in. Brad: Well, maybe she doesn't hate you that much. (Source: PaRappa the Rapper 2)

Thom: I hate you, Kyle. Kyle: I hate you more. Thom: I hate you no matter what. Kyle: I'd hate you even if I didn't hate you. Thom: I'd hate you even if that made sense. Kyle: I'd hate you even if you were me. That's how much I hate you. (Source: Spongebob Squarepants)

Alicia: We make a pretty great team. Chloe: You were absolutely no help whatsoever. (Source: Steven Universe)

Morgan: *about Connor* I'm his little sister and sometimes even I don't understand him. (Source: Suikoden II)

Nate: *about one of Jonas' plans* It's a ridiculous idea, but ingenious at the same time. (Source: Sword Art Online)

Connor cast a sexy look! Mark is immobilized! (Source: Terranigma)

Michael: Where's Kyle? Thom: He's probably upstairs combing his hair so he'll be the prettiest boy at the party. Kyle: *combing his hair* I'm going to be the prettiest boy at the party! (Source: The Powerpuff Girls)

Nick: You're gonna eat your words, spit ‘em out, and eat ‘em again! Jonas: That doesn't even make sense. Nick: I know you are, but what am I?! (Source: The Powerpuff Girls)

Zane: Crap! I promised Sarah I'd go out with her today. I am the most evil man in the Three Kingdoms! (Source: Tokimeki Memorial)

Morgan: *singing* But when I think about it, if we search for lovers together, Sarah: *singing* One of us will be left behind when the other finds someone… Morgan: *singing* I’m sorry for being your rival! Sarah: *singing* Even I feel the same, so Morgan and Sarah: *singing* From now on, how about we just become a couple? Sarah: …There's no way that's happening, right? Morgan: *disappointed* …Yeah. (Source: Vocaloid)

#incorrect quotes #jonas corbin's guide to life #long post #really long post #don't press the keep reading unless you have time to spare #my ocs

0 notes

emorris-arch · 2 years

Text

Last week my group took a day trip to Tivoli as well as a weekend trip to Verona, Vicenza, and Venice. The photo above was sneakily captured when I thought I was pretending to be a column by myself in Hadrians Villa in Tivoli [shout out to Kiera for capturing this and embarrassing me a little]. The lack of photos I have from Hadrians Villa speaks to how in awe I was with the complex of baths, gardens, fountains, and ruins that I was not even able to discern. After walking around the Villa and being one with the architecture I proceeded to buy a book about Hadrians letters to his successor, Marcus Aueralius. The Villa, while beautiful, was not as attention grabbing as Villa d'Este (the next place I visited), but the brief history I received about the old emperor encouraged me to do more research of my own and I can definitely say that I have found a new hype fixation. Honestly, I could go on and on about Hadrian and this book but given that this is a travel blog I will save that information to inflict upon the next person that asks me about it. So, if you do not want to hear me talk about some random old guy for hours, don't ask me about Hadrian.

Villa d'Este was the next location after Hadrians Villa. Once again, I am lacking in photos of the Villa, so sorry about that but if you google photos you might understand why. This particular villa was heavily inspired by Hadrians Villa and gives a better idea to what Hadrians might have looked like before it became ruins. The complex was a dream. Every turn I took in the gardens brought me into a new outdoor-indoor space housing a small fountain, a long hall open to the sky but shaded with plant growth, and an amazing view of Tivoli.

The start of our weekend trip took my group to Museo di Castelvecchio, Juliet's balcony, and Villa Rotunda. I will be so honest right now: I do not care about Juliet's balcony. We spent a lot of time waiting in line to take a photo on the balcony and the whole time I am thinking, "How were Romeo and Juliet's meetings secret? Juliet lived in a small square with neighbors, the balcony is perfectly visible from that courtyard and the homes entrance, and the balcony is accessed right from the main staircase with no walls to hide it,". In my humble and completely biased opinion, not worth the visit. Castelvecchio, on the other hand, was so completely worth it. It used to simply be a castle for the residents but recently (1956 recently) Carlo Scarpa restored the building. This was met with some controversy at the time given that Scarpa removed some of the original structure, however, while I was walking around and experiencing Castelvecchio, I was taken aback by the skill and talent of Scarpa in his ability to take an existing structure and make it new again while never letting us forget that this was a renovation. Following the visit to Castelvecchio which I did not want to end, my group went to see Villa Rotunda. I talked about this feeling in my last blog post but I MUST reiterate: I learned so much about Villa Rotunda in my architecture history classes and never considered that I might have the opportunity to ever see it in person. It might seem silly to say, but visits where this feeling hits me are truly a religious one. Going from seeing a slide show of the site and having to write an essay on it to actually being there and playing karate on its walls is surreal.

After the full day of travelling to three different locations we arrived at the hotel to a free meal (thank god for queen Alba) and sleep. Venice was our next stop for Saturday and Sunday. I got to see more Scarpa work in the Fondazione Querini Stampalia and the Negozio Olvetti which was amazing. There's not really words to describe what I think of his work. Each visit that took me to see it made me appreciate the simplicity that architecture can be and reflect on my own work. Of course I would never compare my projects to his but it always makes me feel more adequate in what I turn in. Our styles and talent are far from each other and I am not sure I will create anything as moving as Scarpa but with each project I turn in I compare my simplicity and straight forwardness to my peers experimental and complex ideas. Seeing that a man like Scarpa is so revered for his simplicity being so moving encouraged me to not look at my work as a comparison to others ever again.

The Biennale took the group two days to get through and I did not even see both the Arsenale and the Giardini in their entirety. We began at the Arsenale which had both art installations on their own as well as countries pavilions. The art was modern and different to what we have seen so far. It was interesting to see the installations and not really understand what the message was (but still finding it interesting) and then moving to read the artists words on it. The pavilions of each country were my favorite part of both locations of the Biennale. The Giardini was completely comprised of the pavilions and I walked around without realizing that time was passing. The way each country chose to display their art was head whippingly different and a shock in each new pavilion I entered. In the Giardini I again saw pavilions that I had learned about in some of my classes. I would love another opportunity to visit both of the Biennale locations because I did not make it through either side completely with all of the time I spent there.

For next weeks blog I would say you will see better photos showcasing what I talk about (and that will be the goal!) but let's be real, I am too busy walking around, learning about and loving what I see to even remember I have a phone.

0 notes

queenlucythevaliant · 2 years

Note

Thoughts on Pride& Prejudice and/or Revelation?

Pride and Prejudice: Okay, first off, true confessions: P&P is my third favorite Austen novel, after Persuasion and Emma. Heresy, I know. That said, it was the first one I read, it's the most universally fun to discuss with friends, and it has the best adaptation (the 2005 Kiera Knightly version, no offense to Mr. Firth. Oh, and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries series on YouTube is awesome too.) And I love all my Austen novels :)

For a favorite quotation, let's go with Elizabeth's comparison of Darcy and Wickham after learning the truth of what occurred between them:

“There certainly was some great mismanagement in the education of those two young men. One has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.”

That's what we love about Pride and Prejudice, right? I mean, of course, it's swooningly romantic, but why? I think, ultimately, because it's a story about uncovering the truth of someone. It's about learning, fully, slowly, and agonizingly, just what sort of a person someone is, and growing to love that person.

We all want to be Elizabeth, I think, although apart from being bookish I've never felt quite as vibrant as she is. Elizabeth is nearly perfect, from a modern perspective, save for her judgement. She thinks that Wickham is good and Darcy bad. She is wrong.

And there's something compelling about that, isn't there? Two boys grow up together, one who is a scoundrel yet makes himself appear noble and victimized; the other who is noble and self-sacrificial, yet appears aloof, rude, and even vindictive, depending on who you ask.

Pride and Prejudice says, people are not what they seem. It asks Elizabeth and, with her, the reader, to examine the actions of those around us and to judge one another rightly. It says, maybe you don't know him as well as you think you do.

Also, it's swooningly romantic :)

(Not as romantic as Persuasion, though. What can I say, I love me some pining.)

Revelation: Hoo boy.

I really, really love Revelation. I find it intensely reassuring.

Probably not the parts you think. Chapters 10, 11, and 18 are my favorites.

I've referenced 11 and 18 on this blog before, so let's go with something from chapter 10. Revelation 10:10-11:

And I took the little scroll from the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. And I was told, "you must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings."

There's a very simple reason why I love these verses so much. They're honest.

What I mean by that is, this is one of the great truths of the Christian faith. It tastes sweet, but it sits heavy in your stomach. You don't get to stop speaking God's truth, not ever. You have to keep going back.

For those who haven't studied Revelation, the little scroll represents the Gospel. John's angel guide instructs him to eat it. The angel warns him that it will taste sweet, but will make his stomach bitter. He eats it. It does as advertised. Then, the angel tells John that he has to go back into the world and continue to prophesy, that is, to speak truth.

The Gospel does taste sweet. It's good news! Jesus, our eternal Creator-God, chose to stoop in condescending love, to join us in our wretched humanity, to live sinlessly, die a criminal's death, and rise again for our salvation. He loves us. He likes us. The Holy Spirit indwells believers. God is sovereign and He has good plans for us. On and on. The Gospel is so, so sweet.

Yet the Gospel does, indeed, sit heavily and bitterly in my stomach once digested. Sometimes, it makes me feel sick. I have to die to myself, to my own desires, and loves, and my accomplishments, over and over again, until I die. I don't get to be in control of my own life. I have to serve God, living in exile and speaking truth into an uncaring world, for the rest of my life. Not all will be saved, and I can't do anything about it. If you don't think that's bitter, then I can't help you.

And John, having just tasted the sweetness and digested the bitterness, doesn't get a moment to rest. Nothing is that easy. The angel says, you must again prophesy. John isn't given another option.

Yet this verse leads into Chapter 11, which tells, through allegory, the story of the Church's faithful witness throughout history. People like John, people like me, who take the bitterness for the sake of the sweetness, who speak truth into an uncaring world, and who ultimately bring glory to God.

Please, if you need some honest hope in your life, go read Revelation 10 and 11 with a good commentary. Remember your calling, Christian, and your role in history.

#only Thou art holy #ask me hard questions #thanks for asking! these were both great :)#literature makes us more human

10 notes · View notes

annaphoenix1994 · 1 year

Text

Ch.6 - Reconnaissance

Previous Chapter - Masterlist - Next Chapter

Laswell gets taken hostage by enemy forces on a mission guided by Price; Kiera attempts to help; Kiera assigns her own mission for answers; Ghost and Soap are sent for insurance.

"The data hacked from Hassan's phone in Mexico went through a cell tower off the Coast of Spain. Hassan was communicating with someone there when we caught him. Signals track to a hatchery used by the cartel as a smuggling front. It's remote and on the water."

"Perfect to move illegal cargo." Price said.

"Including missiles." Gaz added.

"We need to get on the ground and see if the missiles are there. Imagery shows at least four structures and a lighthouse. We need eyes inside, but it's heavily guarded by the cartel."

"The high grass lands itself to concealment in the right gear." Price informed, a chuckle lacing his throat at the thought.

"Ghillie suits." Gaz said.

"Exactly. I'll watch the coast for movement and provide exfil by boat."

"You shouldn't be out there alone, Kate. One is none."

"Three's already a crowd. We have no jurisdiction here, John. We roll low and slow. This is unauthorized recon by fire. We're off the books. I'll call you when I'm in position."

"Copy that, Laswell. Any news since Hassan was let go?"

"Negative. I have Officer Dutton working on it."

Price chuckled.

"Let's find these missiles before they end up in our backyard."

Kiera paced in her room at the news of Laswell's hostage situation, but Shepherd informed her that Price and Gaz were leading a convoy to get her back and have her returned in twelve hours. She had asked to be deployed to assist in the matter, but Shepherd insisted not. Alejandro stood in the room with her while Ghost and Soap were in the lounge, hearing almost every word through the thin walls. "Must be serious, yeah?" Soap said to him.

"I'll say," Ghost sighed. "I wonder what he'll do."

"Probably keep her here for intel," Soap shrugged. "She's too good to get rid of right now."

He was right. Kiera's intel and how well she worked with the team was something that never went unnoticed. She never hesitated to go on a next mission or host a fight. To Soap, she reminded him of Ghost in a way - but the only difference aside from the obvious was that she was easier to get along with. It had been a few days since their last mission that involved Hassan's interrogation and Kiera was itching to retrieve new intel. She had a few ideas up her sleeve, but nothing could be confirmed unless she acted on it.

Alone.

"Have Price lead the rescue team, then!" They heard Kiera say, a rise in her tone as it was clear she was irritated.

"That's not going to happen, Officer." Shepherd replied.

A short moment of silence fell within the barracks before Soap and Ghost heard her scoff. "Say again?"

"This is a tug o' war, Dutton. I need them to pull back, not move forward."

"Since when?"

"Sincenow. We can't just send in the cavalry. These things take planning and preparation."

Kiera was getting rather upset at that point, putting the phone that was on speaker on the nearby table closest to the wall, giving Soap and Ghost a better range of hearing. They knew they were wrong for eavesdropping, but it was also a conversation being heard within those walls. Ghost figured if it was that important, it would have taken place in a more private area like Alejandro's office. "These things take violence and timing. Price can do both, General. Kate's life is on the line."

"I know he's upset and it happened on his mission. That's a hard pill to swallow."

"Are you saying they should just leave her?"

"I'm telling you that I can't help them."

"Then why not send me? Send me there to get her back and help Price's team." Kiera bargained.

"That's a negative, Officer," Shepherd barked at her. "Your assignment is to help reach Hassan--"

"And we did just that and we had to let him go!"

"Well now, I'm assigning you to a different task: help the 141 get to those missiles. Find them, destroy them, and take down Hassan. In that order."

She sighed, "And to get to those missiles, we need Laswell. I thought she was your friend?"

"War isn't aboutfriends, Dutton. It's aboutenemies."

Before Shepherd could continue, Kiera hung up on him, rubbing her temples as she was clearly frustrated with Shepherd's willingness to let Laswell go and worried about Laswell. "Fuck that." She mumbled.

"Hey, senora, it'll be alright. Laswell will pull through. Price has it under control."

"It's not Price I'm worried about. It's the willingness to leave a soldier behind that's bothering me."

"I understand," Alejandro nodded. "What're you going to do?"

She then looked at him before exiting the room with a sly smirk on her face.This means trouble. She entered the lounge as Alejandro followed her, Ghost and Soap quick to make it look like they were chatting amongst themselves as if they didn't just eavesdrop between Kiera and Shepherd's conversation. She was wearing regular clothes: jeans and an olive t-shirt.Fucking hell. It was beginning to be his favorite phrase as he looked at her without the restraints of her vest and tactical gear that kept her body hidden from him. She was perfect.

And by perfect, he didn't mean slender and well-toned. She had wide hips, full thighs, and a bit of "plush" on her stomach, the rest was muscle. He never found himself to be attracted to women with the "perfect body" or society's standard, but Kiera,God, he found every bit of her to be everything he would look for in a woman.

The men watched as she poured herself a cup of coffee, setting it on the counter to wait for it to cool. For the time being, she removed a vape pen from her shirt pocket and took a long drag, the room soon smelling like an apple. Soap chuckled, "Caffeine and nicotine, huh?"

"Damn right," She replied, nodding before taking another drag. "I'm too pissed to even eat right now."

"You never did tell me what you were going to do, senora." Alejandro said in a low tone, unaware that Ghost heard everything within his range.

She blew the smoke up above her head, "I've just assigned myself to a new mission."

Alejandro furrowed his brows, "With whose orders?"

"Mine," She said sternly. "Until we know the status of Laswell, we need to focus on those missiles. Laswell said there was a hit off the Coast of Spain. That's where Price and his team swept. With those missiles, they need guidance systems."

"Guidance systems?" Soap asked, turning in his chair to look at her.

"Yeah, they ensure that the missiles go to a destined target." She answered.

"What does that have to do with Price?"

"Those missiles won't be in Spain, Colonel. Too much of a load for such a small checkpoint. I have a feeling those missiles are somewhere else and the guidance systems are on the Coast. Aside from Hassan, there's only one person who knows more about it."

"And who's that?" Ghost asked.

"El Sin Nombre."

"Aye," Alejandro agreed. "So, what's your idea, senora?"

"I'll need to break off on my own for this idea, Colonel," She smirked, taking a sip of her coffee. "I'll report back to you in six hours. Should be more time than what I need."

Alone? Six hours?! What the fuck is she doing?

"Where are you going?" Alejandro asked, studying her features as a playful and mischievous smirk decorated her face.

"Las Almas - the best place to get intel."

"No, no, no," Alejandro shook his head. "Notthere. Notalone."

She scoffed, "Please. If you have a gun and are not in uniform, nobody will bother you. Besides, it's not them that you need to worry about."

"Do you want one of us to come with you? Just in case something happened?" Soap asked her.

She shook her head, "You boys stay back on this one. I'll keep live on a comm just in case I need insurance. Besides, I need to get my cardio in." She shrugged.

She left the group in silence, each of them looking at the floor for a moment before Alejandro could be heard breathing a laugh. "What is it?" Soap asked.

"When she goes off on her own, trouble is soon to follow. Good trouble, good trouble."

Polkas Palabras by Molotov played loudly in the bar as Kiera sipped on her ordered whiskey. She looked around, hoping to spot active members of the cartel. She was looking for a way to meet Sin Nombre, but knew she had to play her cards right. A white woman was nothing new on the streets of Las Almas - most of them being prostitutes just trying to get by.

She noticed two guards at a doorway behind the bar. Taking another sip of her whiskey, she then stood to her feet. She was dressed in a bought dress and heels in the spur of the moment on her way to Las Almas. The black dress hugged her hips snuggly, but not enough to show the outline of the holster beneath her dress. "State your name and business." A guard said in Spanish, stopping her at gunpoint.

She arched her brow, "I want to meet Sin Nombre."

"Sin Nombre, huh?" The guard chuckled. "Not without an invitation. You are not authorized to enter."

Just as she was told the information, she was about to turn on her heel and leave before figuring out a way to force herself in, but her train of thought was broken as another man with eagerness to his voice sounded. He assumed she was a prostitute.Easy invite, she smirked. "Beautiful." He said in Spanish before nodding at his guards, granting her entry. To them, she looked harmless...

Just outside the bar on a cliffside, Ghost and Soap were positioned with snipers, ready to take out the first man in their crosshairs. They were assigned by Alejandro to follow her and ensure her safety as her skill and smart was too much to lose as well as having her on the team. Worrying about Laswell's return was enough and having to worry about losing Kiera was enough to push Alejandro to the brink of high blood pressure. "What's your status, Hermano?" Alejandro said over the comm on a private channel.

"I've got a clear visual on her," Ghost replied, his eyes burning with exhaustion as well as adrenaline. He didn't like what he was seeing: a man with his hands all over her as it was clear what his intentions were. "Looks like she's getting intel."

"That I know she is. She's swimming in shark-infested waters right now. The cartel is all over Las Almas, especially at night."

Ghost gripped his rifle as he watched through the scope, seeing that she was being questioned before anything proceeded further.

"Mexico City, huh?" The man asked, checking her fake ID card. "What brings you here?"

She shrugged, her Spanish rolling from her tongue as if it were her native language, "New beginnings. Have no family, no friends. I like being secretive."

"That I can see. Why do you want to see El Sin Nombre?"

"I heard Sin Nombre is good for business and I want in."

"You heard right, but you're straight to the point," He smirked, nodding for his men to exit the room as he was willing to make a bargain. He kept looking at her legs - how those calves looked when she walked and still how short she was compared to him. He was going to have his way with her. Besides, if she wanted in on cartel territory, she would do anything. "I am straight to the point as well, but since you are a woman, my men and I require another type of resume for their invitation."

She forced herself to bite her lip, hating this part of her job, but she knew it was all fake, which made it easier. She had him wrapped around her finger already. "Is that right? Well, I'm prepared."

He braced his arms on either side of the chair he forced her in, his breath attempting to coax her into a rushed one-night stand. "I see you're flushed - the adrenaline. Don't be nervous."

"Perhaps it's not me who's nervous," She replied, cocking her head to the side to let him view her neck.

Ghost was not liking what he was seeing through his scope. Most men would, but he absolutely despised it.Don't you dare put those hands near her, mate. He and Soap watched intently.

"Perhaps I should let you know I'm a woman of control." She continued.

He growled, "I'm into that."

He let her stand to her feet, shuddering at the feeling of her hands on his shoulders, taking a quick mental note of the weapons on him - a knife and a gun. She guided him to where he sat on the chair, putting her right leg up onto the seat of the chair right next to his leg, letting his hand begin to wander up to her knee. She truly hated it, feeling no connection whatsoever, but she knew she wouldn't let him closer.

She ran her fingers through his hair, pulling at his roots gently, testing the waters. For a man who worked for Sin Nombre's Lieutenant, he sure was easy to read.Men make it so fucking easy.

His grip tightened on her calf which was still resting on the chair. "Oh, senora, I'm eager to read this resume."

"Is that so? You like it rough, huh?" Her Spanish was as enticing as those eyes of hers and she had him right where she wanted him. He nodded, enjoying the feeling of her grip pulling at his roots again, this time bringing his head closer to her face, their lips centimeters from each other.

"Shit, we should've brought some popcorn for this show--"

"Shut up, Soap. Fuckin' hell." Ghost growled, having to readjust his view through his scope. He was in no mood for his comments, but he was just making it more and more obvious.

He heard him chuckle, "Oh, I get it... You've got a thing for Dutton."

"No."

"Mhm. It all makes sense now. The big and scary Ghost has gone phantom for a new comrade, yeah?"

"No."

"You say that now, but it's happening." He poked.

Ghost shook his head.

"It's one hundred percent happening," He continued, enjoying poking at Ghost for something that was clear to bother him. "I don't blame you, though. Fuckin' badass lass."

"Okay, I get it," Ghost scoffed. "You have your own intel on me. Shut it."

"Oh, so you admit it?"

"I fuckin' swear to God. If you don't shut your mouth, I'll fire a shot and get us in a heap o' trouble." Ghost warned.

"Oy, simmer out, mate. I'm just prodding."

"Well prod someone else."

Soap hid a mischievous smirk, secretly happy for his friend to have a potential love interest. He just hoped Ghost could keep his cool and not fuck anything up. He and Kiera were a lot alike but still didn't know a lot about each other. But, to Ghost's defense, Kiera was surely something to look at. Perhaps it was all just a new attraction instead of an interest, but either way, Ghost liked what he was feeling. It was new and raw. It felt good to have someone to look after, even if he felt they didn't view him in the same way.

Ghost kept his gaze locked on what was going on behind the window in the back room of the bar.

She pulled him closer to her face, "Where can I find Sin Nombre?" She whispered, the skin of her lips a centimeter away from his ear. She felt goosebumps erect on him as his breathing became jagged.

"I can't release such information without an invitation. This is why you're presenting your resume."

"That so? Well I'd like to continue so that I can make my presence and hopefully be a... helpful member of your team." She whispered, feeling his hands traveling up her legs. She shivered at the touch, hating it as it wasn't coming from a man she was attracted to. Her skin was butter-smooth under his rough digits, but it didn't stop her from continuing.

"That you are," He breathed out, removing a card from the breast pocket of his shirt, giving her the address of a Lieutenant's residence. "Lieutenant De Santa is hosting a party tomorrow night. I'll tell him you're coming."

She smirked, "Will he be this easy to please?"

"Possibly. But you, madame, are driving me wild."

She pressed her cheek to his, her lips a centimeter from his hot skin as she quickly removed the dagger from its sheath on her garter, thrusting it into his neck. He didn't gasp, but a burp left his lips as she pressed her lips to his cheek, "I'm sure I am."

She let him go, watching him go limp on the floor of the private room, holding the card he had given her in front of her before putting it between her breast and her bra, securing it until she could arrive back at base. She then took a glance around the office, finding nothing of interest before sneaking out of the back of the bar onto the street, shutting the door to see a single guard on duty. He noticed her as a threat, having no time to react as she delivered two powerful and fast punches directly to his sternum, causing him to moan in pain before she pushed him away, looking to her right to grab the nearby stool he had been using to sit on for when his feet got tired, jamming the legs of the stool into his jugular, making him stumble backward before falling to his back as the powerful blow caused him to lose consciousness.

"Holy fuck, mate. You see that?" Soap asked Ghost, nudging his elbow. He was like a kid on Christmas watching his favorite action movie.

"No shit." Ghost grumbled.

"If you two ever start romancing, don't get on her bad side." He teased.

"If you don't shut the fuck up, you won't live to speak of this shit to anyone else."

"Hey, what happened to an English welcome?" He snickered, setting his rifle aside.

Ghost was highly irritated with him now, using his left hand to ball into a fist before punching Soap in the ribcage. "Ow!" He groaned.

"There's your English welcome. Now fuck off."

#simon riley #simonrileyogstory #simonghostriley #simon ghost riley #ghost mw2 #ghostcod #ghost riley #simon riley x oc #simon riley fanfic #simon riley cod #cod mwii #cod mw2 spoilers #call of duty modern warfare 2 #callofduty #call of duty

23 notes · View notes

kingreywrites · 3 years

Text

words cannot say (what I want them to say)

Prompt: "You weren’t there...why weren’t you there? I needed you! I needed you! And you weren't there!" for @thefoghaslifted and anon

Fandom: Tangled

Word Count: 7670

Summary: "He's alive," she announces, yet there's no hope in her tone. "He… He won't be for long."

This picture is wrong, wrong, wrong, and Eugene wants to scream. Adira doesn't stutter. Adira doesn't talk in a soft, compassionate tone. Adira, the woman who chased down a myth for twenty-five years, does not lose her faith so easily.

And yet.

(Eugene receives a letter telling him his father is dying. He goes to the Dark Kingdom, and tries to find the right words.)

Note: this is a Death Fic so uhm yeah, Edmund does die here. Also this takes place five years post canon! I kinda mention it in the fic but just in case it isn’t too clear... Anyway it’s kinda sad, kinda weird, kinda long, but I hope someone enjoys this anyway gdhdhhd

Read on ao3

Eugene's first clue is one of his father's ravens, not Hamuel, flying towards him with a message attached to its claw. It should have been a relief - Hamuel is... bad, at this whole messenger thing, and despite begging Edmund to send a bird that wouldn't get lost in the boot of a random nesdernian merchant along the way, his father had never relented, giving his full trust to his companion of decades. So it should have been a good sign; a sign that the letter made its way to him in the quickest, smartest way possible. A sign that nothing got lost, and that maybe, Edmund was listening to him.

Yet, a pit of worry forms in Eugene's stomach at the sight. What kind of message couldn't allow for the delay Hamuel would necessarily cause?

His second clue is the small, neat writing that greets him on the letter. Adira's handwriting. She writes to them, sometimes, in the empty space of his father's letters; when Rapunzel asks her something in one of Eugene's own letters to his dad, or when Adira wants to make a remark on one of their adventures, always neat-picking their fights even from miles and miles away. She writes to them, so he knows her handwriting, knows that she never sent him her own letter unprompted before, knows that she wouldn't if she didn't have something to say.

Adira knows how to get to the point. The short message feels like a punch in the gut, and Eugene leans on the railing of the balcony without meaning to, hands trembling around the paper he keeps reading again and again.

"Eugene?" Rapunzel calls. He doesn't know how long he has been there. His eyes blur, looking at the letter again.

Eugene (not Fishskin, and it had been his last clue, because Adira always called him Fishskin, no matter the years and the distance, no matter if he complained or bragged about it, and the fact that she didn't here told him the worst thing about it all. She was trying to be gentle.)

You must come to the Dark Kingdom at once. King Edmund was wounded in an accident, and his condition is serious. Doctors fear he might not pull through.

Bring someone with you, and don't die on the road. (Gentle, too gentle, and if her words hadn't been enough, he would have known here that she did not think his dad would pull through either.)

"Eugene?" Rapunzel asks again, closer, but he doesn't turn to her.

We'll be waiting for you.

- Adira

A dark spot appears on the last sentence, staining it. He rubs at his eyes, heart beating sharply in his chest, and hands over the letter to Rapunzel without protests, his hands too weak to hold onto it anyway. He sees her face pale, sees the cold determination in her gaze, and he knows she'll agree before he even opens his mouth, but he asks anyway.

"Can we go visit my dad?"

She hugs him fiercely when he turns towards her, and he melts into it, still trembling. They begin packing right after.

------

Lance goes with them, steering the hot air balloon effortlessly. Eugene had tried to protest, words stuck in his throat as he had looked at Kiera and Catalina helping Rapunzel pack, but Lance hadn't budged.

("The girls will be okay," his best friend had said, voice achingly soft, like everyone who knew about what was happening. "You need me." Eugene had wanted to say no, but he couldn't, so Lance had come.)

Quirin is chatting on the other side of the balloon with Rapunzel. Eugene feels bad that he hadn't even thought of warning him when he decided to go to the Dark Kingdom, but Rapunzel had sent for him, and he was already coming to the castle, having received a letter similar to Eugene's own. Varian's father is a tall and silent man. The complete opposite of his son, Eugene had thought when he first met him, until the day Rapunzel and Quirin had a four hour long vivid discussion about apples and how to cook them, and Eugene had seen in the older man's excitement the echoes of Varian's own when he talked alchemy. Today, he learns that father and son get worried the same, all wringing hands and tired smiles that don't reach their eyes. It's a knowledge Eugene could have done without.

Doctors fear he might not pull through. It's almost as if Eugene can see the words dance in front of his eyes, for how much he had read them over and over again. The environment passes him quickly, cold wind blowing through his hair, and Eugene can't seem to focus on any of it.

There's a forest under them. Eugene is pretty sure they went through it the first time they were on the road, making their way to the Dark Kingdom with difficulty. He wonders, somewhat distantly, if there's a chance he'll spot Cass down there, riding through the woods on Fidella's back, her cape floating behind her. The idea is nonsensical - she's all the way over to the west side of the continent, and he knows it, knows she couldn't be there.

(His last irrational fear, before leaving, is that Rapunzel will miss Cassandra's next letter. It always arrives at the end of the month, and even if they tried, they wouldn't be able to warn her in time that they were travelling, and she won't get Rapunzel’s answer when she expects it, and she'll worry, and-

"Eugene," Rapunzel had said, her forehead against his. It was night. The Princess and the Captain of the Guard couldn't leave the castle in a day, no matter how eager they were. "It's okay. There will be more letters."

Maybe there won't ever be more time with his dad.)

Eugene keeps watching the forest down there, until it's out of sight.

------

That night, Rapunzel huddles close to him, seeking warmth as they fly through the colder air, and Eugene doesn't have it in his heart to ask for space anymore. He had done so earlier because- because he couldn't talk about it, not yet, not when he didn't even know, not when Edmund could- could already be dead as he hoped he wasn't, could survive as he grieved him. Eugene had asked for space, because he wouldn't be able to refuse if Rapunzel asked, and he didn't want to talk.

When he wraps his arms around her, it's with the cold resignation that now was a good setting for a breakdown anyway. Maybe in the dark, she wouldn't see his tears.

"I love you," she murmurs against his skin.

"I love you too," he answers easily, bracing himself.

She falls silent. Hums a soft tune under her breath - a song he taught her way back then, when everything was still so new and she didn't even know any other song than the incantation and the ones she had tried writing in her spare time. It's a song from his childhood, silly and simple, and he chokes up for the umpteenth time today, his nerves frayed. Rapunzel holds him tighter.

It takes a while, but Eugene falls asleep.

------

He hears the surprised and worried exclamations of his name as he jumps down from the balloon, but Eugene doesn't turn back. They were close to the ground anyway, and he can't wait any longer. Adira is there. A somber expression on her face. Eugene can't breathe as he walks towards her.

"Is he-"

"He's alive," she announces, yet there's no hope in her tone. "He… He won't be for long."

And yet.

There are a million questions at the tip of his tongue - what happened why didn't you protect him why does he have to die what's wrong with him why my dad why now why why why - but there's only one that's important.

"Where is he?"

A word from her, and he's off. He remembers very well how to find the throneroom, and his father's bedroom so close to it.

He's not surprised to find Hector sitting next to the door, his two bearcats growling at Eugene. Eugene is too tired to argue - he knows that Hector's loyalty is as strong as he is stubborn, and he knows the knight loathes to leave his dad's side when Edmund is in trouble. If Hector hears everything he says in this room, then so be it.

To his shock, Hector gets up. His eyes, always so wide and angry, are cast down.

"I'll give you two privacy," he says, his voice so alien Eugene barely recognises it. Even in the years they had known each other on somewhat friendly terms, Hector had always been loud, full of righteous anger over the smallest things. The man in front of him looks… defeated. He pets the head of one of his bearcats, still looking at Eugene. "If something happens, tell them to come fetch me."

Just like that, he leaves. The bearcats lay down on each side of the door. Eugene, hands trembling anew, finally turns the handle.

Edmund is in bed, pale skin flushed red. The air is heavy, reeks of medication, and his dad - his dad, so tall he easily towers over him, a mountain of a man who can easily defeat the strongest warriors - his dad looks small, under the covers.

Eugene is still stuck at the door, unable to move. In all this time since he got the letters, he hasn't thought once of what he would say, what he would do once he finally saw Edmund. He half-thought it would be too late, and he should be relieved that it's not but- he won't be for long, Adira had warned, and Eugene is helpless to do anything, he doesn't understand anything, Edmund was fine before and now-

There's a low sound in the room, of his dad struggling to breathe, and it's like a bolt of lightning went through Eugene, spurring him into motion. There's a chair on the left side of his father, and he sits down here heavily, eyes never leaving Edmund's face.

"Dad…" he whispers. "Dad, I…"

There are tears in his eyes again, and Eugene hates his own helplessness. His father is in pain, his father is dying, and he's just sitting here, unable to do anything, to fix anything. His hand seeks Edmund's, and Eugene gasps at how cold it feels, heart dropping in his throat when he raises the cover and sees purple fingers with greying fingertips.

High fever. Failing lungs. Cold extremities, likely due to low blood pressure. The terrible certainty in Adira and Hector's expressions that his father was going to die. Eugene is no doctor, but he has lived on the streets for a decade, and he knew the signs to look out for, knew what illnesses he should avoid at all costs, and treat immediately if he ever fell victim to them.

Sepsis.

His tears fall. Eugene, selfish as always, manages to say only one thing: "Please don't die."

Edmund doesn't answer.

------

After a while, Hector comes back to stand guard in front of the room. Eugene would thank him for the privacy, but he hasn't been able to say anything since that one whispered plea, the weight in his throat too overwhelming.

After a while, Rapunzel appears at his side. He doesn't notice, really - just, at one point, he raises his head and she's here, like she always is. She looks sad, too. He holds her hand. (He still can't take Edmund's without feeling sick. He can't give his own father comfort, because he's too scared of the cold and stiff fingers. What a son he makes.)

After a while, Lance is here too. His best friend of years, who has enough presence to make an empty theatre feel lively by being in it, is quiet as a mouse. Eugene wants to joke about that, before the mere idea catches up to him and his stomach twists terribly. How fucked up do you have to be to joke in front of your dying dad, he thinks. He can't avoid this, can't lighten the situation, but being a coward is ingrained in his bones at that point, and the fact that he could have- in front of-

"Hey Eugene," Lance says. His hand, big and warm, gently touches Eugene's, which is gripping his own hair tightly. He doesn't remember doing that. "Do you… Want tea?"

Eugene startles, not expecting this question. It takes him a moment before it registers, a moment before he tries to answer, only opens his mouth wordlessly, and closes it. Silently, he finally nods, heart speeding up for reasons he can't understand.

"Okay," Lance smiles. "Do you want to come make it with me?"

Eugene should say no. He should stay with his dad, who is at death's door and could die at any moment, his internal organs fighting a losing battle. Eugene should say no, he should talk and speak to his dad, speak to Rapunzel who he knows is worried, he should… He should be a good son, and say goodbye to his father, one last time.

His head is spinning. He opens his mouth, closes it without a sound, and nods again. He's not a good son.

Lance's hand on his shoulder guides him more than his feet do. The kitchen isn't far, and Lance busies himself with its sparse content, searching for a cup silently. Quickly enough, he's making tea, water boiling noisily in the kettle, breaking the oppressive silence of the castle. Eugene stands around, more and more aware that you don't need two people to make tea.

It feels like no time at all before Lance is pressing a warm cup in Eugene's hands, telling him to wait for it to steep. Lance keeps moving, making another cup. Eugene wants to ask who it's for, but can't bring himself to.

"Rapunzel and Qurin wanted tea too, remember?" Lance answers, at the question he can apparently read in Eugene's eyes. Eugene doesn't, in fact, remember; he's not even sure Quirin was in the room. "Adira said coffee, though. And Hector said he didn't want anything, but he strikes me as a coffee guy. I'll make myself tea, that way if I'm wrong, I can always switch them."

Just like that, Lance starts talking about anything and everything, and Eugene relaxes a fraction. He listens, and sips his tea slowly, the warmth soothing in throat. He thinks Lance put some honey in it. It's really good.

It feels like he's at home, and everything is okay, for a moment. Lance had become a cook after adopting the girls - he wasn't very good at listening to orders, so he had simply opened his own restaurant near the castle, soon becoming the most popular one in town. Of course, it helped that the princess herself visited it often, but Lance was genuinely amazing at what he did, and that's what kept the curious around.

For two guys who, fifteen years ago, thought their best chance at a future was to make a deal with the Baron, they were doing pretty good for themselves.

Eugene finishes his cup right as Lance finishes his preparations.

"Thanks," he croaks out shakily, earning a blinding smile from his best friend.

"You want another?"

Eugene hesitates, before nodding, making Lance chuckle. There's still boiled water in the kettle, so it won't take long.

"You know," Lance says, a certain carefulness in his voice, "it still happens to Catalina, sometimes. It's not like when she was a kid, but when she gets too anxious, her voice just… leaves her." Eugene feels himself flush, lowering his eyes. "Tea helps her. It doesn't give her her voice back if she's not ready, but it helps with her throat, when she feels like it's bothering her. I just thought…"

"It helped me too. Thank you," Eugene repeats. He wants to say that he's not like Catalina; that he's a grown man, who shouldn't have clammed up just because he felt bad, who should have been here for his father and everyone else, who should be there, right now, instead of drinking tea, but he bites his lips and holds it back. If he throws himself a pity party on top of it all, it'll take even longer.

"Eugene." Lance is in front of him, hands on his shoulder. Eugene can't do anything but look up, and sees in his best friend's eyes so much love and compassion that he wants to hide from it. "I know you. I don't know, exactly, what self-perceived failures you are torturing yourself with right now, but I know you're being too hard on yourself anyway. Your dad wouldn't want that."

Eugene breathes in sharply, tears burning in his eyes. He wants to get angry, or joke, or do anything to get out of this conversation, but he can't- he can't avoid this. The situation feels unreal, like he's going to wake up if he just concentrates enough, and he can't- he can't-

Lance pulls him to his chest and holds him tight. Eugene blinks, and suddenly he's crying, Lance the only thing holding him on his feet.

He shakes and he wonders how the shy kid he remembers became- Lance. Reliable, sensitive, funny Lance, who is a dad now and who can hold you together when you're falling apart.

Eugene remembers their first meeting, Lance crying in his new bed, freshly orphaned after the death of his parents. He remembers how quiet he had been for a while, and how he had stuck to him like a shadow after Eugene comforted him that first time, seemingly thinking him to be some sort of hero. Eugene, of course, had revelled in the attention, playing up his courage and his strengths, telling stories of his future adventures and of all the money he was going to have.

"How do you do that?" Lance had asked one day, after one of his stories. "You know, how do you… how do you not care about… your parents, and how they left? How do you stop caring?"

It had hurt, at the time. Lance's desperation (still grieving his family, still hurt, wanting to forget the pain without being able to) had flown right over his head, and all Eugene had heard was that his friend thought he didn't care, about anything. It was wrong, but that's what he had wanted, right?

So he had said: "Adventurers don't have the time to care about their family - they have the whole world to discover, after all."

It was a Flynnigan Rider quote. One of Flynnigan's enemies, sure, but Eugene thought it wasn't so stupid. He had wished he could be like that, like Flynnigan who didn't even have a family to care about, and could just do whatever he wanted.

But the truth he couldn't admit to Lance at the time was, Eugene cared. He cared and he cared and he cared, torturing himself with how much he did, crying himself to sleep with a practiced silence at the idea that no one in the world loved him. His own parents abandoned him as a baby, and he wondered what he could have done to them, wondered how he could be better if they came back. Eugene cared and he hated that he cared, hiding behind fantasies and made up names, desperate to escape his identity and his life and his skin.

And when it hadn't been enough, he had tried to carve the kindness straight out of his heart, hurting everyone in the process.

Even that hadn't been enough. Rapunzel had seen through him easily, finding him a worth no one would have even thought to look for. Gothel stabbed him, and all she managed to do was kill Flynn, because Eugene, who cried and loved and cared - Eugene had been there, like he hadn't allowed himself to be in a while.

Maybe, if he was still Flynn, the thought of his dad dying wouldn't make him miserable. Maybe, if he was still Flynn, he wouldn't be crying on Lance's shirt, wanting for everything to stop.

But if he was still Flynn, Lance wouldn't be there anyway. He would have lost his best friend after one betrayal too many, and never seen him again. He wouldn't love Rapunzel. He wouldn't love his friends, his family, his father. Probably wouldn't even know who Edmund was, or where he came from. He would be all alone.

He doesn't want to be alone. He doesn't want the people he loves to leave.

He doesn't want his dad to die.

"Please don't leave me," he asks between his tears, voice quiet enough that he hopes Lance hasn't heard, but Lance holds him tighter and promises he won't.

Eugene cries harder.

------

It's early in the morning. Eugene barely slept, kept awake by the idea of Edmund dying while he was resting. When the sun starts to poke through the sky, dim and feeble light reaching him, Eugene decides it's morning enough, and slips away to his father's room, careful not to wake Rapunzel. Hector is sleeping in front of the door, his bearcats piling up on him, but he opens an eye when Eugene arrives, and nods in his direction.

Edmund is still there, still alive. Quirin is here too.

"Couldn't sleep?" Eugene asks softly. It feels wrong to talk over someone unconscious, but… it feels wrong, too, to not acknowledge Quirin at all.

"I'm a farmer," Quirin says, "I wake up early more often than not." He doesn't return the question, but Eugene knows how awful he looks after a bad night, so Quirin is probably just trying to do the polite thing.

Eugene still has the chair closest to Edmund's hand. He also still can't take it, heart beating faster at the thought. His father's hand should be warm, agile as it handles a weapon, it should... it's his only hand left. It won't matter if he dies, but it's his only hand left, and Eugene feels ridiculous but he can't- he should ask Quirin to hold it, take his place since he couldn't give his father this one thing.

Edmund's breathing is louder today. He's struggling more. Eugene feels nauseous, unable to do anything, wishing he could have just slept and slept and slept so nothing would be happening.

"I met Edmund when I was ten," Quirin says out of the blue. Eugene raises his head, but Quirin isn't really looking at him. "I set him on fire, actually."

That gets a surprised snort out of Eugene, and a smile from Quirin, tired but genuine.

"Don't tell Varian, but I liked to experiment with all sorts of things at the time. It was supposed to be a self-destructive message, and, well, it was destructive alright."

"Why did you even give him a self-destructive message the day you met him?" Eugene asks.

"I was a friend of your mom," Quirin grins, a little self-conscious. "She was tired of Edmund being too shy to ask her on a date, so she asked me to deliver a message to ask him on a date. If he hadn't caught on fire, of course, I think they'd have both enjoyed it a lot."

Eugene smiles, and as the story progresses, he learns that Quirin gets embarrassed the same way Varian does, too. That's a knowledge he appreciates a lot more.

------

"It's all because he wanted to change," Adira says, cryptic as always.

The others left to have dinner. Eugene couldn't. Edmund's breathing is louder today, his fever higher, and he doesn't respond to pain stimuli. Eugene doesn't want to think about any of that, so he turns towards Adira, desperate for conversation.

"What do you mean?"

Her eyes are stuck looking at her king, pain and grief and anger in her expression. Adira doesn't usually allow herself to be read so easily, but she has been on edge the entire time. It takes some time, but Eugene understands that she's just as afraid as he is.

"The accident. Him getting wounded. It's all..." Adira swallows. Her eyes harden. "It's all because he wanted to move on. I wanted to move on."

Eugene doesn't really understand what she's getting at. He's heard bits and pieces of what happened, mind so scrambled he had trouble making sense of it, but it was simple enough. They were doing renovations. Edmund got hurt - a stupid accident, as all accidents were, and then it only got... worse. An infection that didn't want to heal, and when they really started to worry, it was too late. Eugene wants to rage at the unfairness of it all, and maybe he will, later, but it simply makes him tired.

Edmund shouldn't have to die like that after surviving decades of terrible loneliness.

"It was an accident," he ends up saying, because he can see the tightness of Adira's jaw.

She doesn't say anything to that. Long minutes pass, only rhythmed by Edmund's uneven breathing.

"I've always hated traditions. Especially stupid ones. The first thing I did, after being accepted in the Brotherhood, was to ask for its name to be changed, because I am a woman." A sigh. Eugene doesn't dare interrupt. "I was asked to behave myself properly, and took to eating food as noisily as possible, daring anyone to come fight me if they were brave enough. Of course, no one did." She pauses. Looks at his dad again. "When Edmund decided to destroy the moonstone himself, I protested, but I didn't think it was such a bad idea. For a long time, I wondered if I could have saved his arm, could have saved our kingdom, if I actually tried to stop him. If I had listened to traditions more closely, because not all of them were built on false beliefs."

Suddenly, Eugene gets it. The emotion in her voice, the lines around her eyes - a feeling so foreign in Adira that he hadn't been able to recognise it before. Guilt. And he knows that, for all that she's talking about the past, it's very much the present that is troubling her.

"Maybe that's true," he shrugs, quiet. "But then again, you tend to be right most of the time. And my life is what it is because of what happened back then, so I'm pretty grateful it all went down like it did."

That makes her chuckle, because what he says is definitely true. Adira's confidence is not unearned. But there's still something hanging in the air, and he waits to see if she's going to confide in him. He feels like he knows Adira as much as he doesn't - she's as straightforward as she's cryptic, and he thinks they're friends, in a way, but he's not one to push when someone has secrets they want to keep, and Adira isn't one for sharing. The silence between them is an understanding, and he's not sure how to navigate anything else.

"This castle," she starts, hesitant and slow, "was built over the spreading black rocks. It's strong, but it won't hold forever, now that its core has disappeared. We weren't doing renovations as much as we were emptying it, because King Edmund decided it was time to move on from the past, and start to live somewhere livable. It was a tough choice for him, and I... heavily encouraged it."

Bitterly, Eugene realises that after surviving so long in the claws of his past, his dad would still be taken by it. This castle, as much his home as it was his prison, won't let him escape it. Eugene wants to cry at that, wants to shake Edmund and ask him to get up and not let himself die for something so stupid, wants to shake Adira and tell her it was a good thing and it's not her fault it turned out so badly. Mostly, he wants to bury his head in his hands, scream and forget it all, because he knows his father only felt ready to leave behind his ancestors because Eugene always insisted that they did not define who they were.

He thinks he should say something meaningful in answer. Something like, I forgive you Adira, but then again she does know that, and doesn't really need his forgiveness, because she didn't do anything wrong. She's not seeking that; she's frustrated, just as he is, and needs... companionship. Someone who understands.

He's not good at coming up with life-changing advice anyway.

"Stupid castle," he declares, voice unsteady.

"Stupid castle," Adira echoes.

That's enough, for now.

------

Eugene is alone with Edmund again. It's been four long days since he got here, and he knows… He knows it won't be much longer. Doctors, when they come, try to make the king comfortable - they don't try to save him.

Eugene is looking at the form of his dad's hand under the cover again. Edmund wouldn't even feel it if he touched it, but Eugene still can't shake off the guilt and the shame choking him. He shouldn't be disgusted by his dying father. He's not doing any of this right - he's not fighting to heal him, he's not loudly grieving, he's not holding onto hope, he's not talking to him, he's… He's not a character from one of his books. Standing vigil at someone's deathbed wasn't just a couple of lines in his backstory, and every single minute of it hurt in a way he shouldn't allow.

This isn't about him, and yet it's difficult to think like it's anything but. Edmund hasn't regained consciousness once. The fever and the infection are doing damage they can't even see, and the doctors suggested his mind might already be… gone.

"I don't want you to die," Eugene whispers, words like knives in his throat. "I don't want you to leave. We've only had five years together, and it's… It's too short, I want more."

I want, I want, I want - he's selfish, he knows it, and he can't bring himself to regret it, not when that's the only thing which makes sense. His dad is still young. They already lost so much time together, already had twenty-five years to catch up on, and it's over? One accident, and he's gone, Eugene an orphan all over again?

"You've still got too much to make up for to leave me like that," Eugene bits out, a familiar and safe anger drowning away the hopelessness.

It's easy, to blame someone who can't respond, to get angry at his dad instead of crying over him. Eugene had spent years being angry at everything, and mustering this resentment all over again takes no effort at all. He clenches his fists on his knees, tremors coursing through them, and the feeling grows like a storm, until he wants to hit something.

"You- You've been so busy, rebuilding this stupid country, and we've barely seen each other these last years! We kept saying later, later, we'll have time later, and look where that got us!"

Edmund sleeps. His closed eyes, his heavy breathing, it all becomes too much for Eugene, igniting a fire he doesn't control. He slaps his hands on his knees, hard, frustration making him shot up from his chair and pace, but it doesn't seem enough because- Edmund is dying, his stupid dad is dying because of a stupid accident and it's so terribly mundane, it makes Eugene want to bash his head on the wall. He grips his hair, tries to breathe -deep, even breaths that his father can't manage-, tries to keep his tears at bay even though his eyes burn.

"All my life, you weren't there for me!" he explodes again, "You weren’t there… Why weren’t you there? I needed you! I needed you! And you weren't there! You weren't-" His voice breaks this time, and he cuts himself off, immediately feeling ashamed for his outburst. He sits down again, like a puppet with its strings cut, and his hands shake even more than before.

He doesn't feel better. Edmund doesn't look better.

"I'm sorry," Eugene whispers. "I'm sorry, I- I…" I'm a terrible son, he can't say. I'm not doing this right, I'm not being fair to you, I'm terrified and I don't know what to do. I want to wake up tomorrow, and still have a dad, still have a chance to get to know you better, because five years isn't enough and I don't want to lose you. I'll miss you so much.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles finally, mind buzzing with all he wants to say, all he's not sure how to say. "I forgave you for all of that long ago, I- I shouldn't have screamed." Not that it matters - but it does, at the same time.

Since he first received Adira's letter, Eugene had wondered about having the right words. It should be meaningful, right? His last words to his dying father, they had to be important, they had to be something that would help Edmund, didn't they? Except Edmund is unconscious. Maybe already gone. And these words, these words he tortured himself over, maybe they weren't for Edmund's sake as much as they were for his. It made him feel worse, for some reason. Selfish, again.

Eugene presses the palm of his hand against his eyes, slowly feeling how his tears slip through anyway. He wishes Rapunzel was here, even if he's the one who asked for some time. She would know what to say. She would… she would help, because kindness and advice and everything, it came easier to her. Eugene is still… still learning, he thinks, still not caring enough in comparison. He's never caring enough. He's rude, and yells at dying people because he can't keep his emotions in check, and doesn't hold their hands because he's scared, and- and-

He's not good at this. He doesn't want to be.

"I never thought I'd have a dad," he chokes out. "Even now, I'm not sure I know how to be a son, after so long of not being one. But… But I'm glad we could learn together, these last few years. I'm glad you are my father." Despite the weirdness, and the awkwardness, and Dabney - Eugene doesn't say that, but it makes him chuckle tiredly.

Maybe it would hurt less, if Edmund had died before Eugene could meet him. It certainly felt different learning about his mom; painful, too, but not anything like the claw he could feel bury itself in his heart. It's so soon, too soon to lose his father again, because five years is nothing in the grand scheme of things and Eugene had always wanted more out of life, but… If he could do it all over again, he'd want things to be exactly the same. He'll never regret meeting Edmund.

"I love you, dad," Eugene says, crying as he looks at Edmund. It's just the truth, not some grand declaration, but it's enough all the same.

Oh so slowly, Eugene rests his hand on top of Edmund's own, the cover between them. He thinks, maybe, that Edmund is breathing easier.

------

In the next hour, the last king of the Dark Kingdom dies.

------

"Want a drink?" Hector grunts from where he's laying, vaguely shaking a bottle in the air.

It's not really a surprise to find him here. Eugene sits down next to him, and doesn't bother with a response, instead taking the bottle from the knight's grasp and drinking a little out of it. It's definitely not the best stuff but Eugene has drunk worse in his life, so he doesn't comment on it. He's not looking to get drunk anyway.

He doesn't really know what he's looking for. Air, mostly. Rapunzel doesn't want him packing, she thinks he should rest, but staying too long with his own thoughts as company quickly gets heavy. Eugene sighs, and lays down completely, looking at the stars shining above them - there are a lot more than what you can see from Corona. Maybe because there's less people, and less light to hide them away.

"I'm not gonna comfort you if you start crying," Hector interrupts gruffly, sounding sick at the mere idea. Eugene laughs, because there's perhaps no funnier scenario than him seeking out Hector for a hug. At best he'd get trampled by his rhino.

"Staying inside sucked," is all he answers, and Hector hums. He seems to understand that.

They stay like this for a long time. Just silence, sometimes broken by Hector drinking a little bit more. Eugene would worry, if he didn't already know that everyone in the Brotherhood has a stomach made of steel, and that Hector will need a lot more to really get drunk.

It's not much, but it's nice. At least Hector doesn't pity him. Eugene is grateful for the comfort he receives, but sometimes the attention feels like it hurts more than it helps, and he's definitely getting overwhelmed right now.

"Any plan on taking his succession?" Hector asks after a while. It's not a surprise either that he breaks the silence first - when he first met him properly, Eugene thought he was the surly and silent type, but Hector did like conversation. He was unpleasant most of the time, sure, but if he was thinking something, he tended to say it directly. (He wouldn't say it, but Eugene also thinks Hector is a bit lonely.)

"Nah. Not really my kingdom to manage, and I'm too pretty to be king," Eugene responds. He told his dad years ago that he would never be his successor, and though Edmund had a difficult time wrapping his head around it, he had accepted it.

"Probably would have quit if you did," Hector says pensively. Eugene feels ready to protest because it's one thing for him to not want it, and another to have someone hate the idea so much, but he stops himself in time to hear Hector murmur: "I couldn't call anyone else my king."

Ah. Loyalty, the one thing in Hector Eugene understands easily. He can't really imagine having his one purpose in life being ripped away from him, can't imagine how it feels to keep going after that.

Then again, Hector has more experience with this kind of situation than most. It's a sad fact in its own right.

"Guess you guys will finally have to change the name," Eugene muses quietly, knowing it's better to change the subject. They're not the right people to have a heart to heart. "Dark Kingdom wasn't super inspired to begin with. Though, I hope you don't go for something equally stupid, like Dark whatever-the-new-regime-is."

He expects a barb about his own ancestors being responsible for that, but Hector falls silent. He's thinking, Eugene gets after a while, and he doesn't like the weird gleam in the other man's eyes.

"Edmundland," Hector whispers, nearly reverently. Eugene can't contain an audible gag.

"You are not naming it that."

------

Two weeks have gone by since Edmund's funeral, and it still doesn't feel real. Back home in Corona, it's easy to forget - Eugene doesn't see his father often, and his routine has barely changed, so it's easy to think, for a moment, that Edmund is alive and happy in the Dark Kingdom.

The wave of his grief recedes, before crashing back violently. When Eugene remembers, it hurts all over again, like he's back at his father's side hearing his breathing quiet, until there's nothing left.

He keeps going. He cries, too, and then gets up and keeps going. Rapunzel and him left for a week and a half, and there's plenty of work to catch up on, even if everyone is determined to ask him if he doesn't want to rest instead. In truth, he doesn't really know - keeping busy helps, but there are moments when he wishes he could simply curl up in his bed for a century, and never talk to anyone again. His mood is unstable, but he tries not to take it on anyone, as hard as it can be.

He already yelled at Lance to leave him the fuck alone once, and despite his best friend assuring him that he understood, Eugene wants to go apologise again.

So today, when he woke up on edge and then nearly threatened to kill Pete for stumbling, Eugene was quick to decide that it was better if he took that rest, finally. That's why he's on his bed right now, leaning back with his feet still on the ground, tracing Rapunzel's mural with his eyes and trying hard to not think about anything. But then his eyes stray to the right, to the painting he knows represents him and his father hugging, and Eugene doesn't know whether to cry or to yell. He takes a pillow, puts it over his head, and does both.

He doesn't feel better. He feels ridiculous.

Grieving feels like it should be more. He shouldn't wake up in the morning like he usually does, he shouldn't take his coffee the same way, he shouldn't hide behind a pillow and he shouldn't avoid his work and he shouldn't… He should do something more, and he cannot name what that might be.

What he knows, though, is that he misses Edmund, and doesn't feel like he's ever going to be able to breathe like he did before.

So he stays in his bed, pillow pressed against his head. He doesn't move when he hears the door open. Doesn't move when he feels Rapunzel sit next to him, before laying down just like he is. He's crying again, and he hates it.

"I don't know what to do," he admits then, voice muffled and broken. Rapunzel touches his arm gently. "I feel so bad, and I don't- I don't feel like it's gonna get better."

"It will," she says, so certain that Eugene can't do anything but believe her. "It won't be like before, but it'll hurt less, one day."

He closes his eyes tightly, until they hurt. Crying gave him a headache, but it's practically a constant these days. He thinks about Rapunzel's words, and knows intimately what she's referencing - remembers more than well how she grieved Gothel, full of hurt and pain and anger at the fact she even did. He hadn't really understood at the time either. But Gothel had raised her for eighteen years; Rapunzel had loved her for all of them, and still loved this mother she knew never existed. So she had mourned her, she had hated her, and Eugene had tried his best to be there for her.

It's not the same, with his dad. Of course it wasn't, because for all of their history, Edmund had still loved him, more than Gothel had ever cared for Rapunzel. It's different, but Rapunzel understands, in a way, what it means to lose a parent. She understands his grief. He sees it in her eyes when he finally discards the pillow, and meets her gaze. His face is a mess, yet she smiles sadly and kisses his tears away, pulling a worn out smile out of him.

"Thanks Sunshine," he whispers, "I really hope so."

"I'll be there, no matter what," she assures, even if he never doubted it. "I… I also have a gift, for you," Rapunzel says, more unsure of herself this time.

He straightens up as she does, intrigued, and wanting to let her do what she thinks will help. He thinks she needs it just as much as he does, because she lost someone too - no one wants to say it, but Eugene knows he's not the only one grieving.

He doesn't know what to expect from the piece of paper she holds towards him. Slowly, she hands it to him, careful and worried, and he wants to reassure her immediately that it's okay but.

But.

There, under his fingers, is a painting. He sees himself, smiling, soft and beautiful in the way only Rapunzel paints him. On his left, his mother stands, a happier expression than the one on the only painting left of her on her face, her hand on Eugene's shoulder, looking so alive and present that tears spring up to his eyes. And then, on his right…

He realises, while he looks at his father's peaceful expression, that it's the first time in weeks he has thought of his dad as he was in life, instead of the dying man he had been at the end. His skin is pale, but healthily so, no traces of fever on his cheeks. His smile is wide like it often was when Eugene told a bad joke, and his eyes are aware and full of joy. He's touching Eugene's shoulder too, in the painting, and on his bed Eugene can almost feel it - that weight on him, neither stiff nor cold.

"I thought… I thought you'd like having a picture with all three of you," Rapunzel says, and he doesn't have to watch to know she's playing absently with her hair, nervous.

Eugene is careful not to crumble the picture like his heart is, putting it down as he desperately reaches for Rapunzel - and she's here, immediately, even if he's crying again and making a mess and holding her so tight he's afraid to hurt her.

"I love it," he says again and again, mixed with thank you and I love you and I'm sorry. She holds him and whispers that she loves him too, again and again.

Weeks will turn into months will turn into years. The picture will stay on his bedside table, always.

(Things do change, and because they change, they heal.)

#tangled #tangled the series #Eugene Fitzherbert #King Edmund #Rapunzel #Lance Strongbow #Adira #Quirin #Hector

45 notes · View notes

random118x · 3 years

Text

Korean novels I’m currently reading!

1. Title: Actually I was the real one.

In order to receive love from her father, Keira tried her hardest to live the life of a perfect, submissive daughter. However one day, Cosette appears claiming to be his real daughter and Kiera is executed under the assumption that she is a fake.

In the last moments of her life, Cosette whispers to Kiera, “Truthfully, you were the real one.”

Kiera, recalling those words, returns to the past. Although revenge is important, what does it matter who is fake and who is real?

Now that I have been given a life again, I will live it freely for myself!

A cute female protagonist’s coming of age romance who has never made friends.

2. Title: Tamed A Blackened S*ave Man

In the future, I succeeded in taking the man who would become the best in swordsmanship, one step ahead of the Prince and enlisting him as my younger brother.

I treat my younger brother, which is not blood related to me, more kind than anyone else, and I fed him well and raised him well.

He will be my younger brother who will protect me from the damn fiance who killed me in my previous life, and will be the replacement to go to war on my father’s behalf.

“I have never thought of you as a family from the moment I first saw you.”

“My dear sister.”

His eyes, filled with possessive desires, shone. It was a beast that I brought as my younger brother.

3. My In Laws Are Obsessed With Me

My family and my husband killed me. Because of the inheritance.

Returning to the past, I made up my mind.

“I have to protect my life and my inheritance.”

Grand Duke Lapireon of the cursed family. I offered him, who was not interested in property and women, a one year contract marriage.

Now, all we have to do is get a divorce…

“Lady, do you think you can leave me now?”

My husband is weird.

“Would you like a land or a mine? Or an empire?”

“Sasha, did Theo do something wrong?”

“Mom, don’t leave me.”

“Sister… I can’t live without you.”

Even my in-laws began to obsess over me.

4. I Became the Younger Sister of a Regretful Obsessive Male Lead

I’ve transmigrated into the world of the BL webtoon where I left my one and only spiteful comment. On top of that, I become the adopted younger sister of my favorite character: the obsessive male lead who is later regretful for his actions, but still dies along with the duke in the end. So, I was determined. Since I have transmigrated into this world, I can’t stand by and watch my favorite character die. Additionally, I also don’t want to die. That’s why, author, I’ll need to change the tags and the ending of this webtoon slightly!

“Brother, please smile like that in front of others as well.” I said to Lucian, who doesn’t smile even a little bit in front of others.

“…”

Was that request too out of the blue?

Lucian looked at me with a peculiar expression.

“If you do that, I will give you a gift.”

I said that because I wanted to help him in any way I could.

He looked at me for a bit and hesitated before replying, “A gift… Is anything fine?”

“Of course!”

The moment I gave that answer with certainty, his expression changed right at once to that of a starving predator… Did I make mistake?

Then, Lucian calmly replied with an expression full of expectation.

“Give yourself to me, Rachel.”

Huh? What did he say? What did he just ask for?

5. The Most Powerful Characters in the world are Obsessed with me!

One day when she was thirteen years old, while chewing bread as a snack, Dalia Pesteros suddenly rememberers her past life. This is an improverished otome game world where the main characters go crazy, and she was born as the sister of the worst villain in the future!

There is no solution at this rate. The family will be exterminated, and I be thrown away. So no matter what, I must get out of this family as soon as possible!

‘Now that’s it’s like this, I need to lower their guard and run away.’

In order to get rid of the relatives who aim for the family and the sly emperor, it’s better to be in good favor with my brother-

“I want to dance with Dalia. What’s the problem?”

“I’m sorry, but my sister is shy”

“Dalia said I was her favourite!”

Somehow, it’s not only that I tame my brother, but all the strongest characters in this world are obsessed with me!

#korean novel #yanderemale #novel update #otome #japan #yandere #otomegames #manhwa #webtoons #actually i was the real one #isekai #anime #Korean #light novel

128 notes · View notes

elliewritessometimes · 3 years

Text

hi! i have Returned™ with a prompt from the lovely @notsomightymightytiger that has been sat in my inbox for well over two months oops im sorry-

the prompts relate to a hospital au and a sick/injury fic and i hope this is okay!!! love you kiera <3

tw: hospitals, injury, sickness it's all fairly minor though there's nothing at all graphic but do be careful take care lovelies

Eva Sanchez, in all her eleven year old glory, was more than used to hospitals. Sometimes, old people (in her mind, anyone over the age of 27) would be "so awfully sad" over the weeks she'd spent in a ward. But, to Eva, it was kind of normal. It wasn't exactly fun, but it was her life and she was fine with it.

Tonight, she couldn't sleep.

Earlier, this kid probably about Eva's age had come in, all bruised circles under eyes and rude words towards the nurses. Eva had listened over the gentle chatter of her own grandmother as the dark-haired girl had spoken in a voice filled with hurt to a tall couple who must have been her parents. If she strained her ears over the buzzing of a children's ward, she could hear the angry whispers between the adults and child, before this sour-mouthed, lonely patient had been left alone overnight, refusing comfort from Eva's favourite nurses. Eva felt like she should have been repulsed by this outwardly spiteful girl, but instead she was only curious, sneaking glances at her between curtains as though her eyes were magnetised to theirs.

She was pretty.

Eva liked their eyes.

For once, the ward was quiet. Eva's mother slept in a tiny put-up bed beside hers and once again her drowsy but not yet sleepy mind was focused on the angry patient from earlier. She wondered if their parents had come back or if she was still alone across the room.

Maybe she was a little delirious, or still suffering the after effects of her earlier treatment, but Eva found herself desperately struggling out from bed, pulling a blanket down with her and shuffling as quietly as possible across the ward to the other girl's bed. It was naughty and against all the rules, but Eva knew that if she wanted to sleep tonight, she had to know that the kid was okay.

She slipped past the curtain, trying to be as quiet as possible. Obviously, that didn't work.

"Hello."

Eva jumped, spinning around to see as her target leant up in bed, a hand steadying her head. "Hi, sorry, I- I just wanted to check- I mean, I don't even know you, but- I thought-"

She stopped rambling, taking a breath before beginning again. "I'm Eva."

"Kate." The girl - Kate - raised her eyebrows. "Who are you?"

"I'm on the ward too. I saw you arrive." Eva's feet were getting cold.

"Oh. You were watching me," said Kate, filterless.

"Yeah, your parents seemed kinda mad," Eva replied, also filterless. "I came over 'cause I was a bit worried."

"I'm fine."

Eva's heart dropped. She'd expected to feel a little more wanted. With a sigh, she turned to go back to bed. "Oh. Okay, then. Bye."

She tiptoed away, just closing Kate's curtain again when - "Wait! Eva, no, come back!" Kate's voice was a hushed shout. Eva spun around, narrowing her eyes until they continued. "I didn't mean go."

"Oh." Eva paused at the curtain, narrowing her eyes. Her head span a little, maybe from illness, maybe from the sudden change in attitude from Kate. "Okay."

"Sorry."

"Are you okay?"

Kate only nodded.

Still leaning a little on the curtain, Eva decided to change the subject, "Why were your parents so mean?"

Kate shrugged. "They got mad because I got a concussion. Apparently, it's my fault that this girl at gymnastics made me jump so I slipped and bashed my head in." They rubbed their head where they'd hit it, wincing a little before shaking it off to continue. "My brother says our parents just suck anyway. And he should know 'cause he's sixteen."

Eva nodded sagely; sixteen was almost an adult. She thought that she would know everything there was to know when she was sixteen.

"Anyway," Kate continued speaking. Apparently she was chatty once you got her going. Eva liked this about them - it was nice to not have to be the one doing all the talking. "Why are you here?"

"I'm sick." Eva didn't expand on it, overtaken with tiredness suddenly. "I'm here a lot."

Kate squinted suspiciously at her. "Oh. Fair enough." The squinting increased, enough so Eva could see the wheels turning in their head. Eva almost turned and left to prevent the inevitable questioning. Shockingly, it didn't come. Instead, Kate got slowly out of bed, padding across the floor to put a hand at Eva's elbow. "You're shaking."

Eva's brain short-circuited over Kate's acceptance and lack of inquiry. She opened her mouth to protest, before closing it again and taking a breath. She was, in fact, shivering. "You know when you've been awake for so long that every time you yawn, you start shaking?" She waited for Kate to nod. "That's me right now."

Kate smiled, slipping their hand into hers. "Come on." Together, they slowly made their way over to Kate's bed, slipping under the covers.

Eva yawned, prompting another roll of shivers, subconsciously tightening her grasp on Kate's hand as she did so. Trying not to put too much pressure on her sore head, Kate tilted their head towards the other girl. "This is weird."

"Yeah." Happily content that her worries from earlier were unfounded, Eva really wanted to go to sleep now. She fought to keep her eyes open, grinning when Kate giggled.

"You're so tired!" Kate obviously wasn't.

"Mhm."

"Don't go to sleep yet. You can't come over here, wake me up, get in my bed, and then go straight to sleep." She could hear them pout. "That's unfair." Eva hummed a vague response. "I'm gonna be here for all of tomorrow according to the doctor and you're here all the time, so tell me something that'll make it better."

Eva blinked open one eye. "Okay. Sure." She thought for a while. "I have these tiger toys called Giles and Corey. My tía got them for me when I first got sick to remind me to eat and drink enough." Closing her eye again, she gestured in the direction of her bed. "The ginger one is Giles, he reminds me to drink water in case I forget. The other one, the black one, is Corey-" She was cut off by a yawn.

Kate grinned sleepily. "That's so cool. I think you're cool."

"Thanks." Eva shoved her face deeper into the pillow to hide her smile. "You're cool too."

"What does Corey do?" Despite their head injury and earlier angry demeanor, Kate was surprisingly animated over these two cuddly toys. "Oooh! Does he have superpowers??? Can they fly?"

Eva laughed, "No... Corey just reminds me to eat my meals."

"Wow." Eva's yawn caught up to Kate. "You gotta show me them tomorrow." She closed her eyes along with Eva, still holding her hand under the duvet. "My parents are gonna see that I can have a concussion and still be fabulous."

"Hell yeah, you can." Shivering still, Eva shuffled closer. "We're gonna be the most fabulous friends ever."

#!!!#this has taken so so long to write im so glad its done i hope its okay #we are the tigers #kate dalton #eva sanchez #kateva #hospital tw #injury tw #illness tw #sickness tw #kiera (yay for gay)

31 notes · View notes

theo-raekeno · 4 years

Note

Prompt #103 “Well that was pretty rude of you to say” JJ x reader, where they are at a kegger and a boy won’t stop hitting on reader. The boy talks trash about JJ.

PROMPT # : 103

WORD COUNT: 1699

WARNINGS: NONE

PAIRING: JJ X READER

SPHALLOLALIA

A good old kegger, the best kind of party to ever be at, well in your opinion. When you were here there was never any sort of level of rich or poor, there was just happiness and the calm behavior that seemed to erupt into the biggest parties. You had been getting ready in the best outfit you could, well more or less the best outfit you could afford. You wore a loose fitting shirt that had a small bikini under it, you didn’t plan on swimming but at this moment putting on a bra wasn't exactly the most important thing. You sat down on the bed and pulled on your shoes, they were gladiator sandals, if you didn’t wear those, you would forever take the shoes off, it was a habit of yours.

When you were finished, you felt so beautiful, the way the shirt and shorts had been matching but it also didn’t tell anyone whether you were rich or poor, just that you had a sense of style. You had been walking closer to the beach when you saw how many people were gonna be at these parties, more than you could figure, it was already loading up the beach. You smiled for a second at the idea of seeing your crush, JJ, that man was phenomenal, he was always the life of the party and never let you feel left out or unincluded, he was just amazing.

You had been crushing on JJ for almost a year now, you met him by chance when you were lifeguarding the beach, and he of course, loved to be saved by the beautiful life guard. He was infatuated by your smile and especially by the look in your eyes, you were perfect, and from there on out he wanted to surf with you everyday, even if you weren;t surfing with him. He invited you to one kegger almost three months ago and you have been obsessed with going since, sometimes you would show up without even a second thought or an invite, and he would do the same thing everytime, thank you and play music with you.

JJ saw you as he waved but had been stuck into a little conversation with his best friend, John B, someone who was so attractive but you didn’t get along with him that well. But, you still put up with him for the fact that you knew he had meant well or he might have, you never second thought it in all reality. A young man had noticed you were alone and held out a little drink for you when he started to check you out, you couldn't almost feel his eyes running over your body, “ you must be the hot lifeguard down on the fifth, you know, you look so damn good compared to the other ones, its super sexy..”

“I am flattered that you think so, but I'm kind of with someone at this moment, if you would kindly leave me alone, thank you for the drink but I'm not interested, I'm sorry.” You suggested and looked into his eyes on his but he was fast to react by shaking his head and crossed his arms. He was annoyed by your reaction and walked closer to you. “ ouch, well that was rude of you to say. Come on, look, I know you're waiting on someone and you might be here for them, but you could spend some time with me, what do you have to lose, maybe up to ten minutes of your time?” He suggested softly while he had been staring to your eyes with his soft green ones, you hadn't really seen him around town that often so maybe you didn’t know him that well.

A sigh left your lips when you crossed our arms and didn’t want to hear what he had to say but you also didn’t have JJ by your side at this moment, he was off talking to John B about something and goodness how you needed him right now. “ fine fine.. Why don't we sit down and chat for a moment..” You moved your hair out of your face and sat down on the little log right behind you, clearly this had been stressing you out. You didn't know this man and he pulled a drink out of nowhere, but then again, he wouldn't do that to someone when they are surrounded by people right?

The man sat down next to you, his hand on yours when he rubbed at your thumb just to try and get your nerves to calm down. He was a taller man with dark hair that sat over his face, his eyes surrounded by dark circles and you soon looked down to his arms to see the swollen red bumps that rested right over the crevice of his elbows, he was a drug attic. “ oh you gotta be kidding me right now. Of course, why not.”

You snickered to yourself when you stood up and soon felt his arm on yours, he pulled you back down and tried to get you right back into his lap, “ you look sexy - come on beautiful.. You're waiting for attention from that poor boy, you know, he doesn’t even like you, he has been talking with uh - whats her name, kiera I do think. She’s much sexier than you are and I'm sure you know that.. He doesn't find you interesting, but I do, I love to be around you, you're so beautiful and interesting, so stay with me.. Come on, just drink your drink and stay by me, you have nothing to lose..”

Those words had echoed in your chest, it felt like the most painful thing you have ever heard, he didn’t care about you and he only loved or wanted to be around Kiera this whole time. You swallowed weakly and nodded at the words the man had said, but why would JJ do so many things for you if it was just to get closer to your friend, they were already close. When you took a drink of the liquor it led to everything that was said being sent down the drain, those words, that feeling, all of it, just gone in a matter of seconds. The terrible feeling of uncomfort spread when you felt your eyes opening and closing multiple times, “ ahhh see.. I helped right, beautiful?”

“Dude- what the hell did you do to her, you need to back off you drug obsessed dick, “ you looked up to see JJ had been standing over the two of you and the man rolled his eyes when he didn’t want to put up with JJ. “ back off, you are not a part of any of this, look she doesn't even want you, she asked me to kiss her, didn’t you beautiful.”

You made a noise and shook your head when you pulled yourself up, stumbling right into JJ’s chest, he smiled but held onto you protectively, “ maybe you should stay off the drugs collin, you're completely delusional without them, most people are, but goodness it's embarrassing coming from you, have a nice night-” He waved at him while you turned to meet his eyes and JJ refused to let you go of you, he wrapped his hand around your body when he picked you up bridal style, “ I was gone for two minutes and you managed to get yourself into trouble.. Maybe you should stay around me more often.”

You rolled your eyes playfully and nodded regardless, he could tell there was something in the drink when he had a tilted look on his face. He put his hand on your head, you were sweating but you had been cold to the touch, he had an instant concern that you could tell didn’t mean something good for you. A hiccup came from your lips when you moved your hand to cover it, he chuckled and knew that you probably weren’t going to be feeling the greatest, “ so uh.. You're not gonna feel the greatest for a little while there, beautiful, whatever he gave you, it had a drug in it.. But i'm gonna say screw this kegger and take you home..”

“Okay…” you didn’t leave his arms the whole time, falling asleep against his chest, he was warm and felt like heaven, the way his heart had been beating into your chest, one beat at a time and goodness how it was relaxing. When you woke up, you turned to look around and now you saw what was in the room, you had been at JJ’s house, luck was in store for both of you, his father wasn't around, he had taken the paycheck and went to the bar, spending this month's rent. JJ smiled when he saw you had been awake, he held onto a little rag, it was warm to the touch as he had placed it down onto your forehead, “ you're gonna be okay, just -no more accepting drinks from strangers, i'm gonna be the one to carry your drink at parties now, if that's okay..”

He waited to hear what you would have to say but you nodded in agreement, you leaned back onto his bed, he smelled so good. He had a scent of saltwater but not the kind that was fishy, no the ocean breeze right at the sunrise that seemed to be made into blue candles, but you had it right here, you had him. “ JJ.. Can you please lay with me?” JJ stopped in his tracks when he heard your words, a little blush spreading over those tanned cheeks but he agreed. He sat down on the edge of the bed but crawled up behind you, his hand snaked around your waist and pulled you square into his chest, he felt like home, his heart rate was like music to your ears. You turned in his arms and pressed your head against his chest, closing your eyes when he kissed your forehead softly, “ go to sleep beautiful, i'll be right here when you wake up.. I promise..”

#jj obx #obx jj #outerbanks jj #jj maybank imagines #jj maybank imagine #jj imagine #jj mayback x reader #jj x y/n #jj x reader #outer banks #outerbanks imagines #outerbanks imagine

181 notes · View notes