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#kinda lost steam towards the end

simmyfrobby · 4 months

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sorry if this seems naive but i am new to hockey tumblr and genuinely trying to work out the etiquette and there seem to be some tags/spamming ~discourse~ going on. what is the best practice? i'm scared reading these posts that i'm going to upset someone when i post

hi! i don't really keep up with anything at all so i don't quite know what discourse you're referring to, but tumblr is a buggy app and if you want to be able to find anything you always have to make sure to get the tags exactly right.

if i post (an original post) about a player i typically put their first & last name in the tags + the team they're currently playing for. i also consistently tag a few things (my own edits, other peoples edits) so i can find them more easily. the rest of my tags are just me yelling about things. as is my right.

tumblr politeness dictates that you don't tag your hate (don't put the name & team in the tags if you're being v negative about a player). do tag your live blogs ("pens lb," "bruins lb," "wild lb," just so that 1: other people liveblogging at the same time can interact with your posts and you can make friends and 2: people who don't like the team can block the tag). try to tag trigger warnings if you're aware of them ("cw: blood," "tw: blood," "blood," whatever system works for you). tumblr is not like instagram. the search function rarely (if ever) works and there is no algorithm, so tagging things "for exposure" doesn't work. you're usually better off just tagging the things you're actually posting about.

don't forget that the original poster of the thing you're reblogging!!! can!!!! see!!! your!!!! tags!!!!! they show up in their notes!!!! and they read them!!!! the blog you're reblogging the post from also sees your tags in their notes. if complete strangers in the notes of my post say something along the lines of "hey fuck you OP" i sometimes block them. this is fine and normal and recommend. block & blacklist whoever you want for whatever reason you want. for ur health. :)

#have fun on tumblr dot com pal #its not so serious #much love #kinda lost some steam towards the end there its jsut that its late and im tired and ive got work in the morning rip

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secretagent9 · 1 year

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need to get my MiA thoughts out somewhere because i’ve been thinking about it again and i have so few people to discuss it with (read: my singular friend who’s already heard my impassioned mini-rants after we finished watching the most recent season together).

children! they’re weak and fragile and completely and utterly powerless, and yet they’re also full of so much inner strength that they can overcome practically anything! perfectly exemplified by how riko and co. have managed to not only survive, but also continue on their journey despite the overwhelming odds stacked against them! riko’s unflinching optimism in the face of unspeakable horrors! reg’s enduring kindness and empathy! nanachi’s wit and resourcefulness! these three have made it further than hundreds of maybe thousands of people from all around the world, and they’re all like 10-12 years old!! probably. i’m not actually sure; i could look it up but i’m always afraid of googling MiA and getting spoiled somehow ahsdjakl

i mean, just going into the abyss is a death sentence in and of itself. the abyss being this strange, beautiful world that ultimately doesn’t give two shits about the fact that they’re children, because nothing does! being young doesn’t protect them! people look at them and pity them but won’t shield them from the horrors of the world because they’re unavoidable! especially for children! because this is a world that values children as a resource, one that’s as precious as it is fairly easy to come by! because cave raiders keep heading into the abyss and dying and leaving their children behind with nothing to do but follow in their footsteps! because the abyss is just filled to bursting with all sorts of wonderful treasures and children are taught to risk their lives to get their hands on as much as they can! for money and fame and glory!

they’re taken advantage of! in so many ways! by the adults that are supposed to be caring for them and protecting them! because they’re not seen as people, they’re seen as things, to be used and gotten rid of when they’re no longer useful! only there’s always a use for them because they’re so expendable and because people value them so much and yet so little that you’ve got guys like bondrewd going around, scooping up as many orphans as he can carry to take them down into the abyss and experiment on them as much as he damn well pleases! even though, in his own twisted way, he actually cares for those children, he’s still using them for his own selfish gain.

and children have so much untapped potential! they’re the only ones that can use those special-grade relics; those “cradles of desire” will only grant their wishes, but it grants them in the worst possible ways! because how deeply might a child understand their own wants, their own desires? especially when they’re dealing with forces that no one truly understands?

children are as blessed as they are cursed! just by virtue of being children! in a world that won’t show them a single ounce of mercy! a world that robs them of every scrap of innocence they have! but that innocence doubles as a well of power that’s unlike any other! a great and terrible power!!

#tlldr being a kid in the mia world fucking sucks but you also might be able to become a god or something i don't know #i kinda lost steam toward the end of this lol #i'm not one of the only ones who thinks that the abyss is just one GIANT living creature right #like an old god or something #orth keeps fucking feeding it people but it also lures them in #and makes them sick?? apparently??? but only on their birthdays?!#the questions never end with this shit #the mysteries just keep piling up #man the wait for a new season is gonna kill me #unless the wait for new manga chapters does me in first #gotta pick up where i left off with it after the movie #made in abyss #made in abyss spoilers

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soul-of-the-sanada · 2 years

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slbp opinion time: which mc type I like from the game and why (spoiler alert its masamune)

readmore bc idk how much I'm gonna drop.

I like the mc that shows up with masamune. like, she gets to train in swordplay, work for a high ranking government official, and gets to stay true to her roots and continue cooking for people?? she is literally winning at fictional life. I'm super jealous. I get no swordplay, I hate my job, and I can't cook to save my life.

masamune's mc is so freaking doted on. like, they probably have the best dynamic in the game. I would die for yukimura and saizo, but there's just something with masamune. one ES mentioned that he always found time to spend with mc every single day. taking walks together or sitting out and stargazing. also there's at least one ES where it comes out that he's also a virgin and they were both so flustered and shy but they talked about it and decided that they wanted to learn together?? #goals. they both have the most gentle hearts. in my head, he's at least 5 years older than mc, but sometimes he acts so young, truly like a person who never got a chance to really be a normal kid, ever. and mc handles that so well. any storyline involving his mother let's me know we're about to be in for a bunch of sad boi masa, and mc is there supporting him like no one else can. I've never seen him be anything but gentle with mc, but he knows she can handle more than she seems. he trusts her so much, that he keeps her as his page. the amount of bs she had to put up w bc she's a woman and common on top of bureaucratic nonsense? idk what she's getting paid but she deserves a raise. she's perfect

and another thing, with mc being masamune's page, she has the authority to make executive decisions if he's not around/incapacitated. she is the only one with the authority to use his seal. I've only seen it happen once, but it was a bad ass story. but for the notorious woman hater to go that far? that's AMORE. he's so far gone. she is literally the only one in the world for him. I don't think any other dateable goes that far? kojuro's is pretty similar to masamune's, but she usually ends up becoming a maid or cook. all of the other warlords and ninjas seem to go with its 'not for little ladies/brazen girls/dullards/foolish girls/etc to worry about'. hideyoshi will talk about work stuff a little bit, and I'm sure inuchiyo will vent at mc about things, but masamune basically rolled out the welcome mat to the vault of state secrets. if she wants to know something, there's a 97% chance he'll tell her.

anyways that's all I have to say for now.

#luna.txt #samurai love ballad party #slbp #slbp masamune #masamune date #just watching es videos and and I'm a lil high #which is when the thoughts want to flow #so I thought I'd throw this here #and maybe use it for some inspo later on #but masamune is just so sweet 25/8 #just want to tuck him in and kiss his head #kinda lost steam toward the end #I just keep getting distracted by pictures of the slbp characters #so that's my sign to wrap it tf up here

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oceantornadoo · 24 days

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measure up (simon riley x f!reader)

body image talk, period references, ten thousand girly problems at once. very fluffy, no smut. kinda ooc simon? hes a lil talkative in this but it’s ok. enjoy!

“dove, d’ya have my-“ simon stopped mid sentence, body freezing. there you were in your bedroom, measuring your waist in front of the mirror. you looked up, dropping the measuring tape like it was on fire. “hey.”

simon closed the door to your shared door quietly, then walked towards with the grace of a trained killer. his face was hard to read, even without the mask. “i know what we talked about but i was just curious because my shirt looked weird in the mirror and i didn’t meant it upset you ijustwantedto-“ he grasped your hands with his own, stopping them from flying around your body in an attempt to draw his attention away from you. you, who were now on the verge of tears for no good reason, words rushing together at the end of your sentence. “look at me.” he tilted your chin up, dark eyes locking with your own.

“y’know you’re about to start your period?”

“ugh i know don’t remind me-“ he grabbed your chin, harsh but not unkind.

“confirm or deny, dove. tha’s it.”

“yes.” you confirmed (a bit breathlessly, the command in his voice sparking a heat in you).

“and y’know you get bloated before your period.”

“yes.”

“so it doesn’t make sense to stress about nature.”

silence. a lot of it.

“i guess.”

he clucked his tongue at that. “yes, dove. and you know i love you no matter what you look like. you know i like having somethin’ to grab on, whether it’s big or small. y’know you could be any size in the world and i would care because it’s you. and i know that we’ve been t’gether awhile and bodies change and i don’t care. am i right?”

you nodded slowly, the cloud of insecurity in your mind slowly fading. “i know, si. i just can’t help that tween voice inside of me sometimes, telling me i look too big.” he drew you towards him into a gigantic hug, tucking your head under his chin. “i know, baby. jus’ think reminders help sometimes.” you nodded against his hard torso, breathing slower now. against his body, it was easy to remind yourself no matter how big or small you were, he could manhandle you all the same, decades of military training and exercise making up his body no matter how much home cooking he ate. a superficial comfort, but it worked all the same.

—

this was gonna turn into smut but i kind of lost steam oops. wrote this instead of working! i ❤️ corporate america

#simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #simon riley x you #cod 141 #ghost call of duty #tornadothoughts #fluff #simon riley wife #simon riley imagine #simon riley #simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost x reader #simon riley x female reader #simon riley x f!reader #simon riley fluff

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cryingat300kph · 1 month

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Pretty Thing

Pairing: Sebastian Vettel x Boytoy!Mechanic!Reader

(Bad) Summary: When Ferrari gets a new pretty boy for a mechanic a certain 4x world champion takes notice.

Rating: M Warning(s): Mentions of sex, but no actual sex. Cursing. Use of Y/N. Allusion to homophobia in sports. F slur (but in a self-descriptive and reclaimed way) -Not Proofread-

Length: 1.4K Words

A/N: This is Seb in his chaotic flirt Ferrari era, like 1st/2nd year at Ferrari vibes. Also the ending is kinda cut off because I lost steam, but wanted to put something out. Let me know if ya’ll want this continued, I have ideas ;) <3

“Lewis look, that’s who I was talking about.” Seb says poking Lewis’s arm gesturing towards the bar. “Him?!” Lewis asks turning back to Seb. “Yeah.” Seb suppresses the urge to add Isn’t he pretty? “Damn I'm surprised they would hire a mechanic so-“ “so gay?” Sebastian supplies. “Heh-Yeah.” “Well he usually doesn’t look like that.” Seb says again gesturing towards the man.

The “that” Seb is referring to is the absolute twink uniform you are wearing. You might as well be wearing a flashing sign reading “I like dick! ;)” And Sebastian thinks you look completely and utterly delectable; more than usual.

He’d had his eyes on you since you joined the team at the top of the year. At first he noticed you because were young for someone not on the PR team, and far too handsome to not be in a more front-facing role. He was glad he was known to make sure to get to know all new members of the Ferrari family, because it meant he could satisfy this curiosity; finding out you had climbed the ladder at the factory quickly and had always wanted nothing more than to be in the garage track-side.

His interest in you only grew as he got to know you better. He knew obviously that as a mechanic you weren’t just a pretty face, but he soon found out you weren’t just either of those things. But someone who was extremely funny, kind and just as much of a nerd about racing as he was.

And so, a friendship slightly-beyond coworkers started to form. Now, at halfway through the season you two could be called proper friends, but your friendship is still very tied to work. Either way, you feel comfortable around Seb, comfortable enough to speak freely of your interests and life outside of racing. However, one thing he doesn’t know about you was that you don’t mind sharing a bed with a man.

Its hard being queer in formula one. It’s 2015 and huge strides have been made, but motorsports lags behind. Especially as someone who is involved in a more “masculine” job at Ferrari you keeps your more flamboyant tendencies under wraps. European ideas of masculinity help a lot, but it’s still a bit lonely, stressful and draining, to be closeted.

Hence why you’re here.

It had been a stressful race weekend, but Seb ultimately got podium and everyone was rightfully really happy and the team planned to go for drinks with the winning Mercedes team.

Seb had protested a bit when you said you thought you’d sit this one out. “I would, trust me, but I’ve had this headache all day and I doubt a hangover will make it any better.” You lied. He had seemed to come back to himself, like his earlier protest was a slip. Laughing it off. “You’re right, go, rest. We need your brain intact!”

You had chuckled at that saying bye to him and driving back to the hotel to get changed before heading out for your real plans. You felt bad lying to Seb but after this weekend a guy needed some attention damn it! But most importantly you wanted to dress how you want and exist how you want for once even just for a couple of hours.

---

Without you at the party Sebastian is more melancholy than usual. He's cursing himself for crushing like a teenager, but without you there he’s lost interest. “Dude is this about the guy you told me about.” Lewis asks seeing Seb is obviously down about something. “what? no- it” “Where is he? Go talk to him!" “He’s not here, had a headache so he stayed back.” “Well you don’t seem to be having fun so go after him, just ask to hang out.” “But the team, i should-.” “Kimi is enough of a party for the team, he’d probably enjoy the company.” Lewis nudges him. “You know why I can’t Lewis.” Seb says seriously. “Yeah.” Lewis agrees and they’re silent for a bit before he speaks up again, mischief in his voice. “But maybe we could find some other entertainment for the night. To quell the ache?” “What are you suggesting?” Seb asks suspicious. “There’s a bar a couple blocks from here. Heard its a discreet spot, good for cruising.” He says like he’s stating the weather and not suggesting the two biggest F1 drivers at the moment go cruising for gay sex.“What if someone sees us.” “we’re in America, no one knows who we are.” And Seb is just tipsy enough, and yearning to fuck a stranger and imagine it’s you, so he agrees.

“Let’s do it!”

---

And so, Sebastian now finds himself at a loss for words, staring at you. At you, sipping a cocktail, half sitting on a bar stool, your back slightly arched. Honestly the picture is so inviting. Lewis is just looking at him with a smirk.

Sebastian sees that a couple men obviously have their eyes on you too. He watches as the bartender hands you a drink gesturing to one of the said men. You look over and the man starts to get up. Seb feels his fists tighten, but he relaxes when you hand the drink back to the bartender looking at the man apologetically. He’s glad the man gets the idea and sits back down, Seb doesn’t want to think what he would have done if the man had persisted.

Wait, so maybe you’re just out for a nice night alone, he doesn’t want to disturb that. But dressed like that? He’s having a hard time resisting.

“Lewis what do I do?” He asks. “The flirt is asking me?“ Lewis scoffs, but when Seb just looks at him annoyed, he Chuckles; he’s never seen the confident man so nervous before. “Just, go get him tiger.”

He knows it’s now or never, so Sebastian goes to the opposite end of the bar and tells the bartender to get you a drink.

-- The bartender hands you another drink. It’s top shelf which catches your eye. A couple men have bought you shots and stuff throughout the night but so far when the bartender pointed to who they all weren’t your type. Or they quickly stopped being your type the moment they opened their mouths.

When you ask who, this time, the bartender cocks his head to the end of the bar. You look over and it’s Sebastian! Your eyes go wide, unsure of what to do. What is he doing here?! Here, where you are looking like a complete faggot and nothing like you do at work. But he’s your friend right, he would’ve found out eventually and he just bought you a drink?

You tamp down the flicker of hope that tries to spark. So you just smile and raise the drink to him raising your eyebrows. It’s friendly coworker shit right? He’s just being nice. Your brain is forced to stop working overtime when he approaches you and starts speaking.

“I could barely recognize you y/n!” He says smiling and friendly, but with a hint of something? And he is blatantly looking you up and down. Tongue between his teeth. Oh. You can’t help lighting up despite being nervous. “Well let’s just say the Ferrari uniform is not my personal style.” You joke. “This definitely suits you much better.” He blatantly flirts, which catches you bit off guard, but you try not to show it, excitement now replacing your nerves. “You think the boss will let me wear a crop top to work?” “Maybe I could ask him nicely.” Sebastian says and then leans closer.

“Having something so pretty in my garage can only bring me good luck right?” “Oh, I don’t think you need luck, Seb.” You laugh because now you are definitely blushing.

“Every driver needs luck.” He says low.

The way he's looking at you. It’s almost too much. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted. In the span of a few minutes you’ve basically come out to a coworker turned friend, but also discovered that apparently Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari driver, four time world champion also likes men. And now said Ferrari driver and friend is flirting with you.

You can't wait to see where the night goes.

#to be continued?#my writing #f1 #f1 x reader #f1 x y/n #f1 x male reader #f1 x you #f1 fic #sebastian vettel x reader #Sebastian vettel x male!reader #sv5 x reader #sv5 #sv5 fanfic

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angelkissiies · 1 year

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deep end

abby anderson x reader

cw : lifeguard!abby , lifeguard!reader , au , smut , pwp kinda , oral ( r ! receiving ) , literally so much but i can’t remember !! porn !! a lot of porn !!

wc : 2.5K

a / n : product of way too much caffeine and self criticism, be gentle — im just getting back into this !!

The nylon clung uncomfortably to your skin as you followed the railing up the pool stairs, hesitating for a second before the last step as you let the water drip off back into the general population. Late June had never been so slow, the final hours ticking by in year increments in comparison to the usual haste that came with the hazy heat.

“What time is it?” You huffed slightly, sitting down on the edge of the bench as you used a towel to pat down your legs, eyes cast up towards the man as he squinted tiredly at his watch.

Manny perked up, tapping the plastic of his watch as he looked down at you. “Last rotation of the night, we are free, hermana.” He joked, nodding towards the side exit to the break room. “Accompany me to the vending machine?”

A choked laugh fell from your mouth as you shook your head, “Absolutely not, I’m all good on Diet Coke and Cheetos for now, thanks though.” You spoke, glancing over to where Abby was sitting. “I’ll catch up with you in a minute.” You felt the man take his leave, the defense he’d been providing from the sun disappearing down the concrete as you pulled yourself off of the bench.

The blonde was seated at her post, eyes lost in the shadow of her visor, making you chuckle lightly as you watched her shift in the chair– her muscles catching your attention as they tensed and relaxed in the brute of the sun, sweat dripping down her calves. You shook your head slightly, willing your attention to her now-waving hands as she zeroed in on you. If there was one thing you could be sure of, it was the sudden dizziness that entered your mind as your feet led you to where she sat, sliding gingerly past patrons chatting amongst themselves.

“Sorry, excuse me, Darlin’,” A male voice called out, accompanied by a sudden grip on your waist– spinning you back to face him, his touch lingering at the seam of your swimsuit– just above where your skin met the nylon. “God, you are even prettier up close.”

You could feel her eyes burning holes into the back of your head, the feeling sending a chill down your spine as you took a small step back– a lump arising in your throat, a faux smile pulling at your lips.

You sighed as you stripped the swimsuit from your body, the straps leaving thin indentions in your shoulders as you let it fall haphazardly onto the tile. The steam had begun rolling off the shower walls as you settled under the stream of scalding water, letting it wash the day off. It had been a tense half hour, most of it spent hovering around the break room as the guards on deck handled the flocking of patrons– your focus being on creating a distance between yourself and Abby, the weight of her gaze following you during your mindless pacing. Her eyes didn’t leave you, steely blue glowing hot in the haze of the setting sun, making you the first to dodge her b-line for the changing rooms. It took longer than you were willing to admit to brave the mosaic tile and poorly clouded shower doors– yet here you found yourself, leaning back slightly onto the slat walls, a chill running down your spine at the contrast.

“Fuck.” You groaned, bringing your hands up to rub the water from your face, mind full. Of course, it had to be Abby sitting there. Of course, she held her tongue. And of course, you were here– reading into this a little too much. She held her tongue because it didn’t concern her, she had no reason to be upset. She had no reason to say anything– he was just a guy. Just a guy who had a little too much confidence.

Though, you couldn’t shake the look she gave you. You couldn’t see past the way her eyes were glued to his wandering hands as he made the mistake of touching you, the incident ending as quickly as it began– as there was nothing you hated more than a man without a clue about consent. She just seemed so, unnerved. You’d brushed it off, originally, chalking it up to her mutual disgust with the male species but– as your mind settled on the hard-line driven into her gaze, things began to make less sense.

The obnoxious ‘thwack’ of the shower room door snapped you out of your thoughts, making you jump lightly– considering you were under the impression that everyone else had already taken off. You shifted your weight from foot to foot, your arm moving to cover your chest. “Hello?” You squeaked out, rubbing some of the condensation from the glass door to peek out.

“Is there a reason you’re avoiding me?”

You felt your heart stop, eyes widening as you took a step back from the glass. “Wha–,” You paused, hearing her footsteps grow nearer. “I’m not avoiding you, Abs, I-I have no reason to.” The clouded door felt a little more exposing as you began to make out her shadow encroaching upon your stall, your heart shuddering in your chest at the thought of being caught so exposed.

Abby snorted, pushing her now crimped hair from her face as she let her fingers drag across the glass pane– streaking through the steam. “Yeah right, you’re the worst liar– you know that right?” Her voice was heavy as she halted, eyes settling on the outline of your still figure, a shaky breath falling from her lips. “Are you... okay?”

“I’m fine, yeah, I’ve gotten used to dudes like that.” You responded, a nervous laugh permitting the sudden silence as you felt the air grow heavy– from steam or tension alike, making you take a tiny breath in. “Are.. you okay?” You pressed slightly, squeezing your arm tighter over your chest as your eyes lingered on the door handle, something urging you to push it open– to bridge the tense gap separating the two of you.

The blonde sucked a breath in, hands clenching and unclenching as she tried to fight off the growing pit of anticipation in her stomach. After all this time, this would be her breaking point? It was almost laughable, considering how hard she’d tried to keep professional with you. She was your manager for fucks sake, she couldn’t allow herself to have you– not in the ways she wanted. “Yeah,” Her voice broke, making her mentally smack herself as she shook her head absentmindedly. “Fuck,” She sighed, eyes settling on the door handle– and in turn a heat settling into her stomach, taking the place of the former.

“Abby–,” You began, being cut off by the harsh contrast of cold air rushing into the stall, a tiny gasp leaving your throat as your eyes landed on Abby– her gaze wild and full of desperation as she pushed forward, wasting no time in pulling your nude body into her, catching your lips in a rough kiss.

A sharp hiss left her mouth at the connection of the scalding water to her back, the heat soaking into the taut nylon of her uniform, making her push further into the shower– the door coming closed behind her, sealing the two of you together in the space, only enough room for her arms to come to rest by your head– caging you against the wall. “Fuck, tell me to stop.” She whined, a hand coming down to lift your chin, eyes connecting with your own in a gesture of relinquished control. “Tell me.”

You shook your head, already craving the feeling of her lips on yours once more, eyes silently pleading as she peered down at you. “Please,” You whispered, breath trembling, “don’t stop, please, don’t.” You managed, hand coming to the nape of her neck– pulling her back down to meet your lips once more, this time in a messy clash of teeth and flesh.

Abby relaxed into you, her free hand moving to the valley of your chest– trailing over the erect buds, rolling one between her fingers to elicit a sharp whine from you into her mouth. Her hair had begun to soak through, the honey strands creating a curtain between you and the water as she pulled back to press chaste kisses to your jaw. “I’ve wanted you for so long, you have no idea.” She panted between kisses, her tongue trailing over the skin of your neck before she began sucking dark marks onto the soft flesh.

An airy whine left your mouth as her teeth nipped at your sweet spot, your nails digging into her shoulders as she continued her assault on your neck. “No, no–,” You began, chest heaving at the adrenaline that had entered your bloodstream, thighs squeezing together to dull the growing ache that had begun in your cunt. “I have, fuck, a pretty good idea.” You attested, feeling her pull away for a moment to admire her work. “Wanted you this whole time, Abs.”

The woman felt her chest tighten, eyes darkening with a primal lust as she eased herself away from you, hands following the curve of your body as she lowered herself down into the enclosed space.

“W-what are you doing?”

Abby felt her knees hit the tile, hands coming to a stop at your hips. “I’m giving us what we've both been needing.” She cast her eyes upward, coming to connect with your blown ones, a hand navigating to the soft flesh of your stomach as she eased you back to rest against the wall. “Let me take care of you, hm?”

You found yourself nodding before you’d even realized, the cold slat distracting you momentarily before you felt Abby’s hot breath fanning across your thigh– plush lips coming to place gentle kisses to the skin, her hand detaching from your stomach to push your thighs apart. “O-okay, okay.” You muttered to yourself, feeling the girl begin working her way up to your drooling cunt.

Her lips lingered as she spared you another glance, smirking slightly at the way your mouth had fallen open– mindlessly taking every scrap of pleasure she’d been giving you. The realization of the situation began to set in, her grip on your hip tightening. “Relax for me, doll.” She grunted, wasting no time before dipping into the space between your thighs, her tongue drawing a stripe up your unsuspecting cunt– making your knees weaken around her.

“God, oh–,” You gasped, moving a hand to the surrounding wall to steady yourself, thighs threatening to close around her head at the sudden stimulation– the feeling sending a chill down your spine as you tried to keep your hips still.

Abby hummed in contentment, gathering the pooled wetness on her tongue as she traced your slit– nose nudging the bundle of nerves with every slight movement. The taste of you making her inhibitions fade to nothing but desperate attempts to bury herself in you– tongue swirling around your clit before bringing it between her lips.

Your hand shot to her hair, hips chasing her mouth as your fingers twisted in her golden locks, eyes rolling into the back of your skull as your lips parted to allow vulgar moans to slip into the humid air. “Abby, Abby, Abby..” You whimpered, each harsh suck from her earning a tightening of your grip– her strands wound tightly in your fist as you pushed her impossibly close.

The blonde groaned into your mound, the sharp tugs sending a pathetic wetness into her own cunt, her free hand coming to push past her own influence– thick digits gently tracing the outline of your slit. They probed past, easing into your plush walls, sinking themselves inch by inch into your heat. Her mouth detached from you, chest heaving as she caught her breath, letting out an audible moan at how you squeezed her fingers– mind heavy as she imagined how you’d take her strap. “Jesus, you’re so tight.” She breathed, dipping back down to press open-mouthed kisses to your clit. “And so fucking pretty.”

A tiny whine fell from your lips as your face began to burn, clenching around her fingers as you attempted to grind your hips down to gain the friction you craved. “I’m,” You shuddered as her fingers scissored inside of you, making you tremble in her grasp, the fullness of your cunt sending a pang of panic into your chest. “Not gonna, can’t–”

A small ‘tsk’ slipped from her mouth as she shook her head slightly, “You can, just gotta work you out a little, that’s all.” She hummed, her tongue darting out to kitten lick your clit, fingers slowly pulling out of your contracting walls before she worked them back in– easing you open for her. “Good girl, just relax for me, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Fuck, oh fuck, okay.” You managed, broken whimpers leaving your throat as she worked her fingers deeper into your soft cunt, a borderline pornographic moan ripping from your throat as she curled her fingers into the spongey spot, not even your best sex toys had been able to reach, your knees buckling as she used her free hand to hold you in place.

Abby made a small noise of triumph before beginning to thrust her fingers, feeling the gathered slick begin to drip down the expanse of her palm. She focused her attention back on the swollen bundle of nerves, drawing rough circles around it with her tongue as she scissored her fingers in-between thrusts. The noises her movements drew from you only urged her on, her rhythm becoming sloppy and desperate with every harsh cry of her name, her mind slowly slipping from its collected goal to the pure need to make you cum– the need to have you writhing on her fingers.

Your mind fell blank, the feeling too much to cope with as she continued her assault on your cunt, pathetic pleas falling from your lips as you felt the growing heat in your stomach wind into a tightness– one you couldn’t fathom as her thick fingers abused your walls. “Mmph, Ab-Abby, ‘M gonna–,” You squeaked, free hand moving to grab her freckled shoulder, nails digging roughly into the flesh.

“Give it to me, doll, c’mon.” She coaxed, curling her fingers, pulling away to look up at your flushed face– ignoring the obviously cooled water as it continued to spout from the shower head.

Your walls contracted, squeezing her digits impossibly tight– slowing her movements to an immediate stop as your legs trembled around her. You could feel the indentions of the slat from how limp you’d gone against it burning as your back arched off of the wall, the tightness snapping– sending a rush of white-hot pleasure coursing through your veins. The air was knocked from your lungs, leaving you to pant wildly as you settled back onto the wall– your entire body trembling under the weight of your orgasm.

“That was–,”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to–?”

“My place or yours?”

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mspandorasart · 6 months

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Thoughts about Undertale Yellow

Greetings, I just returned from binging through Undertale Yellow, True Pacifist Route specifically, and am seeking a place to let out some thoughts (and steam). It's the first time I'm doing this type of "review" on my blog, but since my thoughts on it are quite strong, I thought, "hey, why the heck not"? Spoilers for the game and its ending ahead, fellas. Buckle up.

First off, let me begin by stating that, for the most part, I had a blast playing through it. The music is amazing, the boss themes real bangers, the environmental ones great as well. My favorite track was the OST that played in the Dunes: a really catchy western vibe with Flowey's theme in it as well, an earworm that filled me with Determination while running through the sandy fields. Then we have a beautiful pixel art style, gorgeous sceneries, great gameplay with challenging and fun boss fights (side note: although I couldn't fully appreciate Ceroba's fight since it had a couple pretty much unavoidable attacks. Or is it just skill issue on my part? Anyway, that part annoyed me more than it should have. Moving on, lmao.)

Furthermore, the game also has charming characters! They are the ones that kept me going and really ignited my interest. Not gonna lie, it took me until the town in the Dunes to become really invested in the game. Martlet is charming and cute, sure, but North Star and his gang, no, that guy specifically sold it for me. Charismatic, funny, very expressive sprites (well, all facial sprites are quite colorful, but it took me until North Star to appreciate/notice just how many there are for each character) and an interesting internal conflict with wanting to entertain others so they forget about the pain of being stuck underground, but at the same time being so absorbed in his persona that he temporarily acts like a douche towards his pals and forgets who he truly is. He also features my favorite joke in the game when he proudly proposes to the salesman that "he wants to buy a gun for the child". Freaking hilarious, love him, huehehue.

Story-wise, I was pleasantly surprised and taken aback by the dark twists of Ceroba and her husband Chujin. And I appreciated how the flashbacks got intigrated within her final boss fight. I don't know about you, but my biggest motivation to play RPGs are not just the gameplay, it's mainly the characters and the story. If the gameplay is amazing but the characters/plot boring, then I lose interest quickly. To me, the real rewards of a tough battle are story progression and seeing just what the characters will do next. Therefore, I greatly enjoyed the breaks between Ceroba's phases in which we saw parts of her backstory. They even made me cry!

...Although, to be honest, I don't exactly understand why we had that insight into her mind in the first place. Why did we survive so many hits to the point of 0.00001 HP? Where's that coming from all of a sudden? Why did time stop at some point like Za Warudo? Maybe that random plot armor (that happened the first time and never again) is explained in another route, but anyway, moving on-

This review-style blog entry only exists because of the True Pacifist ending. I'll be blunt, I hate it. Why?

So it ends with Clover sacrificing their soul for the monsters so they can eventually break free. Which is fine on its own. Clover is for the most part a blank slate of a character, only driven by their desire to seek the lost humans, that's basically it. Maybe it would have made a bit more sense for Clover to see an actual physical proof of their demise before they give up on them completely, but eh. I'm also wondering whether they are really okay with potentially another, possibly innocent human falling down sometime in the future only to get killed by the monsters. But oh well.

(You know, now that I think about it, I actually am a bit salty about Clover's decision to sacrifice themselves, lmao. Would've been kinda cool if it was up to the player, have another ending split.)

Anyways, the issue I'm having is how our cast of supporting characters, Martlet, North Star aka Starlo and Ceroba react to Clover's decision. They are shocked first, but... agree surprisingly quickly?? What?? Excuse me, the entire hassle we went through to get to this point was to stop Ceroba from taking Clover's soul. Now with Clover volunteering to sacrifice themselves, the gang is cool with it??

Of course they don't agree immediately, but are easily swayed within a few arguments back and forth. Man, what friends you are, guys. The reason I'm having this pet peeve in the first place is because we as the human, who has known these guys for just a day, did a lot for them, alright? They all tried to kill us at one point, but we took the beating, the hard battles, forgave them and were there for them during their internal conflicts. We were a pretty decent friend, if I may say so.

Especially with Ceroba! We did a lot to change her mind and path of self-destruction! Yet our so-called friends don't put in the same amount of effort when it comes to convincing us otherwise- or heck, use force if you must- get Clover away from there, lmao. Wouldn't it have been an interesting act of redemption on Ceroba's part, by the way, if she tried to stop us? Being touched by our mercy and refusal to give up on her, she does the same for us?

I suppose the reason I am so baffled by all this is because of Clover being a blank slate, the player character really felt like me, like I was going through the journey and not like I was controlling another character. It felt like my decision to spare them all, to talk to them and wanting to get to know them better. So the group of characters I have really grown to like giving up on me within about a minute of back-and-forth just felt... wow. Thanks, guys.

If I compare it to Undertale's True Pacifist in which every important supporting character gathers up after the confrontation with Asgore, all agreeing with the decision of me, the player, staying in the Underground with them, then oh boy, it really stings. Just would've been a cool, wholesome sign of friendship if Martlet, Starlo and Ceroba decided that "nah, even for the surface, we won't give up on Clover". By the way, in this game, we don't even really get to see why the monsters want to return to the surface so badly. They keep saying they want to, but what are the reasons exactly? More freedom, I suppose. Yet by expanding the Underground with the Dunes, the Mines, the Factory, and some of Snowdin, the Ruins and New Home, their habitat seemed so much larger than in the OG game- What I wanna say is, their desperation should've been shown way more instead of told, so the player can understand the monsters' aspiration better.

The thing is, it's a shockingly easy issue to fix if you really want "the canon ending" with Clover ending up dead and their soul taken: have Clover still have their moment of doubt and realization, remembering what the monsters told them throughout their journey. Then they go to Asgore with their gang, hoping to convince him. It doesn't work out, so Asgore starts a fight. During the battle, Clover realizes it's useless to fight back, it's better to have their soul taken for the monsters, so they allow Asgore to kill them. Their friends are not powerful enough to stop him. There ya have it.

Siiiiigh. Is it just me, being annoyed by that ending? As a whole, the finale felt a little... rushed? Was New Home always meant to be so empty? Is it to build up atmosphere? Yet there were two silly NPCs in the first screen of New Home, making me assume that maybe, there was another plan originally? (If it has been stated in a devlog or any other comment by the creators, then I apologize, I haven't read those fully.)

Anyways, if I didn't care about the game, this rant wouldn't even exist in the first place. I was really invested in the game until the ending just left me... kinda sad, not gonna lie. It will take me a while to process it all.

If you got this far, then thanks for reading. Am I the only one feeling this miffed about the ending? I might go back and edit this post if I find out there are things to be corrected. Buuuut as of now, happy holidays!

#undertale #undertale yellow #undertale yellow spoilers #undertale fangame

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tiredly101 · 1 year

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Cute villain

Pairing: Wally Darling x Villain!Male reader

Illustrated Au, this post was adopted from another account because they are deleting it soo I adopted it with permission of the original author, I did make some changes to adapt it to my writing style! Picture belongs to @eechytooru

In all fairness, having the Wally Darling steal M/n's heart was definitely not part of his plan to cause mayhem in the sweet neighbourhood. It was supposed to be a perfect plan, down to the very last step everything had been thought and analysed on how you were going to make a mess of the bright and cheery village. He'd change directions of sign posts sending people to the wrong places, swap envelopes so people would get the wrong mail, put snail on their plants and replace the stores fruit with fake fruit.

At first it was going well, Barnaby was wondering around completely lost wondering why the sign to the shop ended up pointing him toward the complete other side of the village or why Julie was getting bug magazines and not hair ones in her mail and why Poppys beautiful flower beds were being devoured by hungry snails.

This was all so amusing for M/n until he felt a tap on his shoulder from behind him in his little hiding spot in the trees. Because M/n was busted he jumped a little, letting out a little squeak when he turned to see none other than Wally Darling staring into his eyes with a unrecognisable look.

Only once he held out one of M/n's fake apples with a giant gap of it missing you realised he bit into one, well sort of? Maybe he blinked into one? He eats with his eyes, which although was kinda weird to M/n he also found it kinda cool but the it dawned on him that Wally wasn’t very happy about his apples being tampered with.

Although this was M/n's plan all along he can’t help but feel guilty but suddenly guilt is the last thing he feel when Wally tips his head up and stares into M/n's eyes which made him melt in Wally's hands. For a split second it makes M/n uncomfortable, did he make Wally that mad? But then Wally lets out a smile and his grin widens which manages to confuse M/n completely.

“You’re so so silly M/n, I do enjoy watching you do your little pranks but next time please leave my apples out of it," Wally said softly and then he chuckles softly when you tumble over your apology and he pulls you into a tight hug.

“Haha! Look at you, your as red as a apple! Maybe I should eat you instead to make up for this one,” M/n was going back and forth from flustered to being confused and the a tad scared. Could he actually eat him tho? He technically would just have to blink, it wouldn’t be hard in M/n's perspective. Wally sees M/n's panicked expression and so he pats his head softly and gives M/n a friendly smile.

“Bye bye neighbour, I hope to see you around more," said Wally before walking off back to Home leaving the fake apple in your hand. Sort of dazed M/n just stand there for a little. M/n was supposed to bring chaos and not suffer it chaos himself.

What left M/n a blushing mess was how just a few little words from Wally and he made could make steam blast out his ears. M/n was sure his face was so warm that it could fry a egg and yet he started to feel bad. Wally was always so nice and kind to M/n no matter what cunning tricks or prank M/n played on him.

He felt guilty, he denied it tho because that little village being all cheerful and bright annoys him beyond explanation and that includes Wally which means he can't be an exception…

And yet, Wally Darling... he was so warm and kind, he reminded M/n of the pleasant soft sun of a evening, not to harsh and intense but just enough to be perfect.

"Aw shit," said M/n softly admitting to himself that he couldn't deny it anymore, he was absolutely smitten over Wally which was embarrassing in his perspective, there’s no way on earth he could face the guy again.

Unknown to M/n's very obvious subtle gay panic, the village people are huddled in tight trying to figure out how to stop his antics.

“This has gone on long enough! The mayhem he is causing is not ment for Welcome Home," exclaimed Frank while frowning.

“He’s right, it’s just unacceptable... We have to kick him out of the neighbour,” Poppy said anxiously while grasping a bunch of half eaten flowers.

As this discussion continued didn't input a word. He himself was thinking about how cute M/n looked when he caught him red handed, all on edge like a little bunny perked up when the sound of someone being near. Personally he knew your pranks would go to far sometimes but couldn’t bring himself to care, it was always a excuse to see him! So this discussion meant little to him until he heard something he didn't like.

“Well! We’ll need to set a date to be rid of him! Perhaps tomorrow or the day after...,” Sally exclaimed while everyone nodded in approval. "A date? A date… yes, yes! That’s what he’ll do," was what Wally thought before getting up happily catching everyone's attention.

“A date.. yes, your right Sally. I’ll ask him on a date!,” Wally said happily and the way the villagers heads turned so quick, he could almost hear the wind from the force of it.

“Wait- Wait, Wally not THAT kind of date! I think your confused?,” Barnaby tried to explain before Wally interrupted with a cherry smile and soft blush.

“No no, I’m sure of it. I must ask him on a date!,” said Wally and without another second he was dashing off back to Home leaving not a single explanation to the other villagers to write a love letter.

After spending hours rewording what to say and adding cute little drawings Home finally shoved Wally out, forcing him to confess by locking him out and this lead to him walking around swiftly, full of excitement until he found M/n resting so peacefully under a tree. He wasn’t sure if he had the heart to wake you since you looked so cute but he knew he couldn’t back down now, mostly because if he did it would end with him leaving on the streets for at least a week.

Carefully sitting beside M/n he gently nudged him until he showed signs of waking up, M/n's sleepy expression made it hard for Wally to not squeeze M/n's cute cheeks and pepper his face with little kisses but now was not the time.

“Good morning M/n,” said Wally softly while looking how M/n tried to adjust his eyes to the light.

“Oh! Uh Wally, good morning? What are you doing here?," Asked M/n shyly while looking at Wally thorough half lidded eyes. If M/n wasn't so disoriented from just waking he would probably scream of embarrassment. Waiting for Wally reply ended with him grasping you hand and placed the letter in it, encouraging him to read it now.

He could see M/n's beautiful eyes dart across the page re-reading it over and over again the same word just making sure that he wasn't dreaming. Until Wally touched M/n softly which made him jump a little. M/n looked at him with a shocked and flushed face which made Wally wish he could keep this moment forever ingrained in his mind, maybe he would paint it to keep the memory but snapping out of his thoughts he realised M/n was yet to reply.

M/n was simply in awe and just didn’t quite believe it until Wallys yellow cheeks started to turn light pink realizing that he was blushing. M/n didn’t even know he could do that... it was a very cute sight and without thinking he held Wally pink dusted cheek in his hand. Wally quickly melted into M/n's touch while placing his soft hand on his that was positioned on his face, and he just stared at M/n and admired him.

Any fear of rejection melted away as he watched M/n fighting to hide back a huge grin and almost jumped into him incasing him into a big hug.

“Does this mean you feel the same way?,” Wally questioned while he chuckled, hugging you back after going limp for a couple seconds.

“Oh Wally, all that and more,” M/n said, nuzzling deeper into Wally's welcoming embrace. Maybe, just maybe he could hold fire on the pranks for now, after all it looks as if M/n has more important things in his schedule for now...

"Better said a more important someone"

#welcome home #wally darling x reader #wally darling x male reader #Tiredly Jackie writes #Tiredly Jackie adopt

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angelkitty54 · 6 months

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Finally finished this! Some design ideas for Sally in the Incredibles inspired Superhero AU! (Plus a little bonus Nicole!) Still haven't figured out what her Superhero name might be, but she's got a logo now!

I wanted her to have a different style between her hero persona and regular self. I went with green for her everyday outfit coz of that Princess Jasmin looking outfit child Sally wore a couple of times. Went with a homemade kinda vibe for the first supersuit. Trying to emphasis her youth in the first two designs as she started her Superhero career fairly young.

I looked at a lotta Mecha Sally and Bunnie stuff for her cyborg design. Ended up with something a lot simpler. Honestly, just ran out of steam after doing her hands. Her outfit there leans more into the classic superhero outfits you see in comics. As you can see she's already made the wise decision to ditch the cape.

I kinda like long-haired Sally for her current look. It kinda goes with her outfit. After superheroes were forced into hiding, Sally lost quite a lot of her spirit. She put a lot of effort into advocating superhero rights, and arguing against such changes, but ultimately they lost that battle. It felt like a betrayal, that everything she'd sacrificed, that all the good she and her friends had done all these years meant nothing. Now she's been forced to give up a whole other side to herself, stuck in a job she never wanted, and constantly worried about keeping her super-powered family safe. And though she shares a lot of Shadow's feelings and resentment towards the state of thing, she no longer as the will to fight back...

#sonic the hedgehog #sally acorn #sonic au #sonic fanart #sonic the hedgehog fanart #my art #nicole the holo lynx #sonic superhero au #incredibles au #sonic x shadow x sally

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101flavoursofweird · 7 months

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Title: The Puzzle-Solver’s Wife

Spoilers: For the LMJ anime and for PL4

Description: Five times Marina couldn’t solve a puzzle on her own… and one time she succeeded.

Set: Before and during the LMJ anime. References are made to Steam Bison— the setting for Professor Layton and The New World of Steam— but this is just vague speculation as we don’t even have a release date for the game yet.

Warnings: Character gets lost in a city… Light reference to a university party with drinking and insinuations made by from Marina’s friends about her taking a boy home— nothing actually happens… The rest of events are seen during LMJ— including characters being taken hostage and imprisoned.

Note: This is a little late for @layton-npc-appreciation-week, but there we go

Marina had never been very good at solving puzzles.

She didn’t dislike puzzles— Far from it!— but she wasn’t all that familiar with them, having grown up in the quiet fishing village of Finnerton.

Her parents hadn’t given her puzzles while she was growing up, and her friends were the same with their families.

Everyone Marina knew seemed able to deal with their own problems— if they had any at all in their uneventful little town.

Maybe puzzles weren’t as commonplace in their part of the world… or maybe Marina just didn’t know where to look for them.

How would she even identify a puzzle? What set them apart from riddles, codes and quiz questions?

Did Marina’s homework count? Did her dad’s daily word search in the Finnerton Digest count? Did her mom’s studies as a marine geologist count?

Could you even find puzzles at the bottom of the ocean? In nature? Or did puzzles have to be presented by people?

Marina couldn’t remember anyone ever offering her a puzzle in her hometown…

The earliest, most striking memory she had of encountering puzzles for the first time was in Steam Bison.

When she was in eighth-grade, her class had visited the technologically-advanced city on a field trip.

Much to Marina’s (and her teacher’s) relief, they had spent the day following a tour guide, who had solved any puzzles they came across and steered the class away from the ‘unsavoury’ parts of Steam Bison.

The guide had only left them at the very end of the tour when they were apparently one street away from the bus station.

Marina had stopped in the restroom with her friends (It was a long journey back home and she was notusing the toilet on the bus!), but when she emerged, Marina found herself alone.

At first, Marina thought her friends were hiding from her. Huffing, she looked up and down the hazy cobbled street, waiting for them to leap out and shout, “BOO!”

A steam-powered vehicle with two metal legs clanked past her.

Marina waited a minute. Then another. And another….

Marina’s knees started to shake.

Where were her friends? All of her classmates? Her teacher?

They wouldn’t just leave without her, would they? Her teacher would have done a headcount… but what if they had missed Marina?

What if they had already headed off to the bus station?

The guide had said it was just one street away, right? But which street? What was the quickest way to get there? What if Marina took a wrong turn, or ran into a dark alley, or— or—?

Eyes darting all over the place now, Marina tried to find someone— anyone— who looked trustworthy enough to ask for help.

There was a scruffy salesperson waving flyers about… Two men in black business suits… Or a young woman grappling with a golden horse— a robot horse…

Marina inched towards the woman. “E excuse me—?”

“What?” The woman turned to Marina with a scowl. Her dark curls were poking out from beneath a black riding helmet. She kept a strong hold on the horse’s reins.

“P-Please can you help me?” Marina squeaked. She lowered her voice, wary of their neighbours, as she revealed, “I’m lost—“

“I would, but I’m kinda busy here,” the rider grunted. The horse huffed. “Peta’s reins are all tangled…”

Assuming that ‘Peta’ was the horse, Marina said, “M-maybe I can help, then you can help me…?” (Marina was good with animals… Well— aquatic animals to be specific!)

“Knock yourself out, kid!” The rider gestured from Marina to Peta.

Marina edged closer to Peta and inspected his reins; they were indeed all tangled up, like a bunch of wires. That couldn’t be very comfortable— even for a robotic horse.

“Hmm…” Marina tried adjusting the part connected to Peta’s long nose (The bridle, wasn’t it?) but Peta didn’t appreciate that. The horse snorted, steam escaping from its nostrils

“S-Sorry,” Marina stammered. She kept trying to unknot the reins.

Where was she even supposed to start? The bus would be departing soon— without Marina, at this rate!

In her impatience, she ended up pulling too hard…

Peta released a metallic-sounding whinny. Marina gasped, letting go of the reins. She watched, petrified, as Peta reared back on its hind legs.

The rider exclaimed, “Watch out—“ but just as the horse’s heavy hooves came slamming down, someone hauled Marina away.

Shuddering, Marina looked back at her saviour; a boy about her age, with light brown hair, a smart blue blazer and a flat blue cap.

“Are you okay?” he asked urgently. He had an English accent. His hand was still gripping Marina’s shoulder…

“Miss?” he tried again, frowning at Marina with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yes!” Marina breathed, though she did feel a little light-headed.

The boy nodded and let her go. He turned to Peta the horse and its rider, who had since calmed Peta down.

“What about you two?” the boy checked with them.

“We’re good,” the woman said. She aimed a glower at Marina. “No thanks to you.”

“I… I was just trying to help…” Marina struggled to explain as the boy glanced at her again. “…With the reins…” She trailed off, feeling very red in the face.

“I see,” the boy said. He pointed to Peta. “Can I…?”

“Sure!” the rider said, with a lot more enthusiasm than she’d had for Marina.

The boy crept towards Peta with a quiet greeting and studied the reins. Marina gaped at him, impressed.

Murmuring reassures, the boy managed to unravel reins in a single moment. “Puzzle solved!” he said.

The rider beamed at him. “Thanks, Detective Luke! We’ll be on our way now…” She clicked her tongue.

“Wait!” Marina protested as the rider pulled Peta down the street. “You said you could help me…!”

The rider didn’t spare her a glance. Marina sighed.

“Do you need help?” The boy— ‘Detective Luke’— was still there, right next to Marina. (He hadn’t abandoned her like everyone else…)

Marina couldn’t hold back a few tears. “Y-yes, please!” she blubbered. “I need to get to the bus stationbefore— before my class leaves!”

“Luckily, I know a shortcut,” Detective Luke assured her.

He strode through the street with Marina in tow.

The salesperson Marina had been reluctant to approach earlier waved at them, and Detective Luke waved in return.

Either Detective Luke must have lived around here, or he had a very good sense of direction! Even the tour guide hadn’t passed through Steam Bison with so much aplomb…

“…Here.” Detective Luke stopped in front of a gray building.

Marina blinked. She looked at Luke, who was smiling at her, and back at the brick wall.

Marina frowned. Was he trying to trick her? Had she been wrong to trust him?

“I thought you were taking me to the bus station?”

“I am! We just need to solve this puzzle…” Luke started pressing the bricks of the wall in a specific pattern.

“I don’t understand,” Marina muttered. She didn’t have time for puzzles— the bus would be leaving soon! “H-how do you even know there’s a puzzle here?”

“I’ve come this way before, but the combination has changed since— aha!” Luke selected one last brick, which retracted into the wall.

Marina gasped as the wall split in half like the doors of an elevator, revealing an alleyway.

With a satisfied smile, Luke said, “This way…”

He offered her his hand. Marina took it (The alley was kind of creepy!) and he led her through.

Marina instantly recognised the street on the other side. There was the bus station— and Marina’s class lined up out front!

“We made it,” Marina breathed. She beamed at Detective Luke. “Thank— thank you so much! I… I’d still be lost without you!”

“No problem!” Detective Luke tipped his cap to her. “A gentleman should always help a lady in need, especially…” He had been about to say something else— something Marina hoped to hear— but he shut his mouth and simply smiled.

He had a nice smile, and he was smart, and courteous, and kind. Marina had never met a boy like him before…

Marina was struck by a wild urge in that moment, but before she could see it through, she heard shouts behind her.

“Hey, Marina!”

“Where’ve you been?”

“Marinaaaa! Hurry up!”

“That’s— my friends,” Marina said bashfully. They were beckoning her towards the bus station.

She looked back at Luke. “I have to go now, but… thanks again, Detective Luke.”

“Take care, Miss Marina.” Luke squeezed her hand, before he let her go.

As she ran towards her class, Marina kept glancing back at Luke. When she reached her friends’ sides, she waved to Luke until he’d retreated through the secret alleyway.

Marina’s friends had a thousand questions for her as they boarded the bus.

“Where did you go, Marina?”

“Who was that boy? Did he take you on a date somewhere?”

“What’s his name?”

“His name is Luke,” Marina sighed. She gazed wistfully out the bus window as they drove away from Steam Bison. “Detective Luke.”

From then on, Marina decided she would dedicate her life to solving puzzles…

Though, it was difficult when no one else in Finnerton was invested in puzzles— not even her parents!

If other people wouldn’t give her puzzles, and Marina wasn’t any good at finding puzzles, how could she practice?

She made enquiries at her local library and learned there was something called a ‘Puzzle Index’— a book filled with puzzles!

The librarian ordered one in for her and it arrived after a month.

At home, Marina spent hours pouring through the Puzzle Index. Her parents thought she was studying. It certainly felt like it!

Each puzzle had a number of ‘Picarats‘ (points) that indicated its score and level of difficulty. Marina found she struggled even with the lower Picarat puzzles— 10 being the lowest.

Each puzzle also came with four hints, which Marina would usually end up reading.

It wasn’t cheating! A cheater would flick to the back of the book to look up the answers… Not that Marina ever did that!

After a month of studying the Puzzle Index, Marina managed to memorize every puzzle and every answer off by heart.

She returned the Puzzle Index to the library and asked if they could order the next edition…

For some reason— maybe the librarian forgot or they just couldn’t track down another Puzzle Index— it never came in.

Marina never went to check. She was so busy with school, water polo club, and her social life that it just slipped her mind.

But, somewhere in the back of her mind, she had tucked away that memory of Steam Bison, and the detective boy who had saved her.

When she encountered him again, five years later at university, she recognised him immediately.

His face had lost some of its roundness, his hair was fuller and his eyebrows were a bit bushier, but his eyes were the same— and his smile.

It was poorly-lit and packed with revelling students in the basement, but Marina was struck by the sight of him… of Detective Luke.

Was he even still a detective? What was he doing here— at the same university as Marina?

She took a deep breath, told her new roommates she was going to grab another drink, and waded through the crowd.

Luke had been trading puzzles with a couple of other boys— puzzles seemed to be popular at the university— but he caught Marina’s arm as she stumbled towards him. (He was always saving her…)

“Hey, are you…” He paused, squinting at her. His eyes widened. “You!”

“Me!” She’d only had one drink, but it had given her some much-needed Dutch courage! “Marina!”

“Miss Marina! You were in Steam Bison— on a trip— like, four years ago?”

“It was five!” Marina corrected him. “Why aren’t you still in Steam Bison?”

Even in the dimness, Marina could see how hard Luke cringed. “It’s a… long story…”

“Well, I’m listening!”

“What?” Luke had to raise his voice as someone turned up the music and the party-goers cheered.

Marina hollered right in his ear, “I’m LISTENING!”

“Ow… I hear you.” Luke lowered his head so that he was level with Marina. “Why don’t we, um, get out of here?”

“Sounds good!”

Determined not to lose Luke, Marina dragged him through the crowd as she returned to her roommates’ sides. When she informed them she was leaving the party with a boy, they waggled their eyebrows at her and told her to have fun.

Marina felt flushed as she made her exit with Luke and she brought him back to her dorm.

Well… That was the plan, but then, Marina couldn’t open the door to her dorm building. She noticed a small wooden block with colorful panels had been stuck to the door.

“Eh? What is this?”

“Looks like a puzzle lock,” Luke observed. “A Sliding Puzzle, to be more specific.”

Marina protested, “But— this wasn’t here earlier!”

No one had warned her she would need to solve puzzles to get back inside!

Oh, no… What if puzzles were a part of every day life, here at university?

Marina had picked up that Puzzle Index when she was thirteen, but she hadn’t solved another puzzle since then! How would she survive?

Luke held his chin in his hand, trying to hide a smile from Marina. “Maybe a secret Puzzle Societyplaced it here?” he suggested.

“I didn’t sign up for a Puzzle Society!” Panicked, Marina started surveying the building, hoping there was an open window they could climb through. “Sorry— there has to be some other way in…”

“Or, we could just solve the puzzle?” Luke inspected the block, sliding some of the panels around.

“Is it… like that puzzle wall in Steam Bison?” Marina recalled. “The one with the secret alley?”

The memory of Detective Luke holding her hand— guiding her through the darkness— suddenly rose to the front of her mind.

She was glad Luke currently had his back to her, so he wouldn’t witness the embarrassment on her face.

“It’s similar, but not the same type of puzzle,” Luke said cryptically. He glanced back at her, grinning. “Do you want to give it a go?”

“Um… I would, but I… I don’t have much experience… solving puzzles,” Marina admitted. He could definitely see her blushing now!

Luke blinked at her like she had just told him she was a mermaid or something.

“I mean, I… I tried a few when I was younger,” Marina stammered. “I got this Puzzle Index after I met— after that trip to Steam Bison, but I didn’t, um, persevere…”

Marina sighed and hung her head. Now he was going to think she was a pathetic failure…

She looked up with shock when Luke patted her on the shoulder.

“It’s fine,” Luke chuckled. “Nothing to be ashamed of! I was just surprised; where I come from, puzzles were everywhere, and my family— they practically raised me on puzzles.” He jabbed his thumb against his chest. “And, I was Professor Hershel Layton’s apprentice!”

He declared that with so much pride and joy that Marina knew this professor must have been a person of great importance… Unfortunately, Marina had never heard of them.

“Is that someone from Steam Bison?” she wondered.

“No, but he did visit Steam Bison when I was there… The Professor works in London—“ Luke coughed. “I’ll tell you more when we’re inside.”

In his excitement, Luke solved the puzzle on the door himself. Marina sighed with relief as she followed him into the dorm.

She knew she couldn’t just summon Luke whenever she needed help solving a puzzle— as nice as that would be!

Sooner or later she would needed to learn for herself…

But for now, she sat with Luke in the shared common room. He revealed to her all that had happened in Steam Bison when his mentor, Professor Layton, came to visit.

When Luke’s stomach grumbled, midway through the tale, Marina made them some popcorn.

She continued to listen, captivated, as Luke told her about more of his adventures with the Professor…

One month in to her marine biology degree and Marina already had a tonne of extra work to do outside of class.

Her roommates— for as affable as they could be— made it impossible to concentrate in the dormitory while they were playing board games, so Marina spent a lot of time at the library.

She wasn’t at all surprised to bump into Luke there.

He was very studious, but in a different way to Marina. While he was diligent, he seemed to posses a natural intellect that Marina lacked. (Fitting, for the apprentice of Professor Layton!)

Luke was observant and able to answer questions at the drop of a hat, whereas Marina liked to take her time preparing a response.

Maybe it was just a confidence thing, like Luke had said, but Marina wasn’t sure… “Marina… What’s your surname?”

“Huh?” Marina glanced up from her books on the desk.

“What’s your last name?” Luke rephrased. “I don’t think I ever asked…”

“It’s—“ Marina cut herself off. “Wait— actually, why don’t I give you a puzzle to work it out?”

“Okay!” Luke smirked. “Fire away…”

Marina felt like he’d put her on the spot. “N-not right now! I’ll need time t-to make it up…”

She had never designed her own puzzle before, but it had to be easier than solving puzzles, right?

For inspiration, Marina turned to her old friend: the Puzzle Index. The university library had at least nineeditions!

First, she had to choose a type of puzzle. The sliding puzzle was off her list right away— too much effort to construct.

What about multiple choice, with some clues from Marina? No… that would be too simple for Luke.

Could she use algebra? Or would that be more Math-based than puzzle-based?

It would be fun to do a pictorial puzzle— with little illustrations revealing Marina’s last name— but Marina couldn’t even draw…

A whole week went by— and she still didn’t have a puzzle for Luke!

Marina sighed and leaned back on the common room couch.

Her gaze drifted over to the pile of board games left by her roommates. When she saw a box for a jigsaw puzzle, her eyes widened.

The next day, at the library, Marina presented Luke with a homemade jigsaw puzzle.

Upon completion, it would reveal Marina’s last name.

It wasn’t the most original idea, but Marina had still put a lot of effort into it!

Luke took his time with the puzzle— probably longer than he actually needed— but within ten minutes, he had pieced the jigsaw together, forming a photo of a map— somewhere out on the ocean.

“Where is this?” Luke murmured.

Marina hummed knowingly. “Would you like a hint?”

Luke nodded— obviously indulging her. Marina gave him some numbers: “1,580 and 43”… and Luke grinned.

“Are those measurements for the Mariana Trench?”

“Yep!”

“So…” Luke considered it for a moment more, before he pointed at her triumphantly. “Your full name is… Mariana ‘Marina’ Trench!”

“Indeed, it is!” Marina confirmed, laughing sheepishly. (Her mom couldn’t resist the pun!)

Luke laughed with her. “I’ve heard stranger names, believe it or not!” He handed the completed jigsaw puzzle back to Marina. “How many Picarats was that?”

“Oh! I’m not sure… How many do you think it should be?”

“Thirty?” Luke suggested.

Marina scoffed. “It wasn’t that difficult—“

“Twenty-five, then,” Luke settled, holding out his hand to her.

Marina agreed and they shook on it. Luke pretended to put the Picarats in his pocket, much to Marina’s mirth.

She stopped giggling when Luke said, “Now you can figure out my last name!” and he placed his own puzzle on the desk.

It was a page of paper taken from Luke’s journal, with a written passage:

‘There was once a boy who befriended an archaeology professor, and they went on many adventures together.

Regrettably, the boy had to move away, leaving his dearest friend behind.

In his hour of need, the boy knew the professor would come to his aid. For the professor had promised him:

‘Time apart and distance are irrelevant to the bond formed by a true friendship.’

Of course, the Professor answered the boy’s call for help.

No matter how far apart they were, their bond would always endure.’

Panic had seized Marina when Luke sprung the puzzle on her, but as she read this passage— Luke’s story— she smiled softly. “That’s beautiful,” she whispered.

She wondered if the words could apply to her and Luke as well. The pair of them had met in Steam Bison years ago, only to reunite in university.

Marina didn’t really believe on fate, but she was grateful for whatever string of coincidences had brought her back to Luke.

“Thanks,” Luke said, scratching his cheek. “What do you think of the puzzle?”

Marina had almost forgotten about that!

She studied the passage long and hard, searching for Luke’s last name.

After fifteen minutes, she sighed and asked Luke if she could have a hint.

“You might need to look at it another way!”

Turning the paper on its side and upside down didn’t help. Neither did flipping it over…

Next, Marina tried folding the paper into different shapes, wishing she had paid more attention to her step-Grandma’s origami lessons. Still, the answer eluded her.

As Marina smoothed the paper out, Luke offered her a second hint:

“Read the passage in another direction!”

Marina read the entire passage backwards and wrote it down in her notebook, but it was all gibberish.

The third hint Luke gave her was a little more enlightening:

“Have you tried reading from top to bottom? Don’t overthink it…”

Marina followed his advice and finally, she noticed the first character of each line spelled out Luke’s last name. She circled the letters with her pen.

“T-R-I-T-O-N…!” Marina exclaimed. “Is your last name ‘Triton’?”

She had spent an hour figuring out the answer, but she still expected Luke to shake his head.

Marina was overjoyed, however, when he beamed at her.

“That’s it!” he cheered. “Now, you need to strike a puzzle pose!”

“Puzzle pose…?” Uncertainly, Marina pointed at Luke, as he had done to her. “Like this—?”

“Yes— you’re correct!”

Marina was correct! For the first time ever, she had solved a puzzle someone had given her.

“H-how many Picarats was that?” Marina asked.

“Ten,” Luke said, still smiling.

Marina’s ego deflated slightly. “Only ten?”

“It’s very similar to the first puzzle I sent to Professor Layton,” Luke confessed.

That made Marina feel a bit better. “Really? How fast did the Professor answer it?”

“As soon as he got my letter in the post,” Luke said reverently. “He came rushing to my hometown— Misthallery— to help solve the mystery behind the spectre’s call…”

With that, he launched into the tale of his first adventure with Professor Layton— and the Professor’s Number One Assistant, Emmy Altava.

He and Marina had already been at the library for ages by this point, but Marina was still hanging off the edge of her seat.

She frowned when Luke discussed the odd behaviour of his father— who, Luke assured her, he had since reconciled with. She gasped when Luke described the spectre’s appearances, and how Emmy had fought off a gang of thugs, and the Final Battle.

Luke spoke very fondly of his childhood friend, Arianna— though, he blushed slightly and quickly summed up their farewell.

Marina was going to ask him more about Arianna, but then, Luke quietly told her about Loosha, the giant lake dweller who had been mistaken for the spectre, when she was actually defending Misthallery.

Marina was entranced— so much that she might have shed a tear when Luke revealed Loosha had died in the Golden Garden… but thanks to her sacrifice, Arianna had survived.

By the time Luke had finished his retelling, it was dark outside and the librarian was shooting them impatient looks from her desk.

Marina sighed. “I’ve never heard— or done— anything so exciting in my whole life…”

Sure, she had been on boat trips and vacations with her family— mainly to visit her grandparents’ lake house up in Canada— but the most exciting thing she had gotten up to was water skiing.

She had turned down offers to go hiking with her dad, grandpa and older cousin because she was too ‘chicken’, as her cousin had put it.

She would never be brave enough to face villains, creepy towns and impossible puzzles like Luke…

“You… ventured through Steam Bison,” Luke pointed out. He started to pack his books away as the librarian loudly cleared her throat.

“I got lost in Steam Bison,” Marina reminded him, shoving her own books in her bag.

From what she had heard from him about Steam Bison, Marina was even more relieved that she had run into Luke back then. She could have ended up on the receiving end of a bullet!

Luke must have noticed how pensive Marina was as they hurried out of the library.

“Not all mysteries have to be as… hair-raising as what happened in Steam Bison,” Luke mollified her. “I’ve solved smaller cases too…”

“Maybe you could give me a call…?” Marina murmured. Realising what she had just suggested, she suddenly dropped her bag. Stooping to pick it up, she stammered, “W-when you next have a smaller case, I mean!”

“Can I…?” Luke knelt beside her and offered her a hand with her bag.

Blushing, Marina passed him her bag, and they both stood up.

Luke smiled at her. “That sounds like a great idea.”

It had started as a ‘smaller case’; one of Marina’s lecturers, Professor Monroe, had lost his treasured pendant.

Marina and Luke had found the pendant aboard an abandoned decrepit ‘ghost’ ship—

Except, it wasn’t abandoned.

Their feet pounded across the top deck, discordant to the sound of heavy boots and doors slamming open behind them.

“That one!” Marina pointed to the nearest life boat that didn’t appear to be decayed.

She and Luke reached the boat and ripped off its grubby cover.

Before they could release the boat, their pursuer— a figure wearing an iron mask and wielding a silver trident— burst out onto the deck.

“Get the boat ready!” Luke grunted, grabbing an oar.

“Luke, don’t—!” Marina shouted, but Luke had already charged at their assailant.

As Luke’s oar clashed with the trident, Marina looked at one of the davits keeping the life boat aloft.

Marina quailed when she saw the ropes of the pulley system were all knotted— kind of like a puzzle— kind of like that horse’s reins back in Steam Bison…

Her hands, slick with sweat, hovered over the ropes.

She had lived around boats her whole life.

By now, she had been practicing puzzles for months, with Luke’s guidance, but all that experience and knowledge drained out of her mind in the terror of the moment.

Her daze was broken by a strained yell from Luke. “Marina— how’re you doing?”

“I can’t do it—!” Turning, Marina saw that Iron Mask had backed Luke against the side of the deck with their trident. Luke was going to get skewered or pushed overboard!

(Before they’d boarded the ship, he’d seemed so worried, but Marina had insisted—)

Marina stopped thinking.

Seizing the other oar, she rushed at Iron Mask and smacked them on the exposed back of their head. Iron Mask dropped the trident and slumped to the floor.

“Thanks!” Luke exclaimed, skirting around Iron Mask.

He and Marina ran back to the life boat with the oars. Marina kept an eye on Iron Mask as Luke quickly solved the davits puzzle.

“Done!” Luke cried, just as Iron Mask sat up.

“Go-go-GO!” Marina yelled, working on the left ropes while Luke took the right. Together, they lowered the life boat into the sea.

Iron Mask leered at them from the top deck, but didn’t attempt to follow.

Marina let out a shaky laugh. “W-We’re free—!”

“LOOK OUT!”

Marina saw a flash of silver— coming right at her face—

Luke swung his oar like a baseball bat and knocked the trident into the sea.

“Guess I spoke t-too soon,” Marina gasped.

Taking both oars, Luke rowed them away from the ‘ghost ship’— it might have not contained any ghosts, but someone was haunting it!— until they were safely back at the harbour.

“Are you okay?” Luke asked softly.

Marina shrugged.

“It’s over now,” Luke soothed her, placing the oars in the boat.

“I just— froze up!” Marina grunted. She bunched her fists, nails biting into her palms. She glared into the bottom of the lifeboat. “Why couldn’t I solve that puzzle?”

Really— she was no better than five years ago— back when she was a timid thirteen-year-old…

“Marina, you saved me!” Luke squeezed her shoulder with his hand. Marina raised her head. “It doesn’t matter how— you were brave and we escaped… and we even got the pendant!”

Beaming, he pulled Professor Monroe’s silver pendant out of his pocket with his other hand. “See?”

All Marina could see right now was Luke’s smiling face, filled with elation and (somehow) admiration for her.

Maybe she was braver than she‘d been at thirteen. Maybe she could…

Marina lifted her head a little more, lips parted. Luke’s eyes widened, but he didn’t move away. Taking that as a positive sign, she pressed her mouth against his.

Luke kissed her back— much to her relief.

When they eventually broke apart, Luke was the colour of a lobster.

“Was that… correct?” Marina whispered.

Luke nodded. “Yeah!”

Of course Luke’s proposal included a puzzle.

Marina picked up the engagement rings— one silver and one gold— held together with two loops of string.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered, with a mock-scowl across their table.

Luke grinned at her. He did look most dashing in his dark blue jacket, brown vest and white shirt, so Marina supposed she could forgive him. (She hoped he liked the light blue dress she had chosen…)

“The evening will proceed as planned if you can solve this puzzle,” Luke informed her.

Humming, Marina tried to move one of the strings around the silver ring, but the ring was too large.

She attempted the same with the gold ring and the other string… Still, to no avail.

Don’t overthink it! Don’t overthink it…

Luke chimed, “Would you like a hint, dear?”

“Dearest,” Marina huffed playfully. “Would you like to be quiet so I can concentrate?”

Luke shut his mouth, though he looked like he was struggling not to laugh.

Marina held the puzzle right up to her eyes, squinting. There had to be some kind of trick to this… or brute force might work as well!

She tried with all her might to pull the strings apart.

“Oh, come on…!” she grumbled.

“Er, excuse me— are you two ready to order?” A waiter had appeared at their table. He raised an eyebrow at Marina and her personal game of tug of war.

“We’re just in the middle of something,” Luke explained. “I’m sure we won’t be long—“

“Can I have a knife?” Marina gasped.

The waiter passed her a knife just as Luke protested, “Wait—!”

“Puzzle solved!” Marina cried as she cut through the stings and the rings landed on the table.

“Th-that’s against the rules,” Luke wheezed.

Smirking, Marina pointed the knife at him. “All you said was ‘Remove the rings from the strings!’… You didn’t specify how— Ah! Sorry!” The waiter took the knife from her.

Luke scooped up the silver ring, left his seat, and got down on one knee in front of Marina, who didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Miss Mariana Trench… Will you marry me?”

Marina Triton had a lot of time to think while she was trapped at Cranscoll Cathedral.

It had been foolish idea on her part to follow Luke and Professor Layton to Southampton, but she had gone, because…

If Marina wanted to seem conscientious and sympathetic, she’d say it was because she had been frightfully worried about her husband.

While that was true, if she was being totally honest, she would admit that she was envious and she wanted to prove herself to Luke.

After some encouragement from Flora, Marina had set out after Luke and the Professor—

Only to be captured by a cult, dragged to the cathedral, and used as leverage to make Luke and Layton surrender.

The pair of them had been locked inside ‘coffins’, while Marina had been tossed in the crypt for a couple of months…

Not to die, it turned out. The head priest was so merciful that he had eventually decided Marina would join their ‘congregation’. (His name for the cult.)

They started by giving her mundane ‘harmless’ jobs; cleaning, gardening, washing robes…

If she dared put one foot out of line, the priest had made it very clear what would happen to Luke and the Professor.

Marina could run and contact the police— anyone outside the cult— but while she was away, there could another fatal error in the Relics Room, wherever that was…

The priest might as well have had Marina’s heart crushed in his fist.

So, Marina stayed. She followed orders and she kept her head down, but she was always watching. Watching and learning.

Two years into her imprisonment, she came to terms with the fact that no one was coming to rescue her.

Either Luke’s family and friends had forgotten she existed— or they had deemed it too dangerous to continue with the search.

Fine. Marina made friends on the inside. Her former warden— Josie— was her closest confidant.

Josie, apparently, wanted to use the Relics coffins for herself. She was more than happy to help Marina free Luke and Layton… if, in return, Marina could activate a coffin for Josie.

To do that, Marina would need to learn how to run the coffins safely— expertly, Josie said.

Despite her ‘obedience’ to the cult, Marina wasn’t allowed anywhere near the Relics Room— not even five years into her service.

Josie smuggled her books, blueprints and hastily-written notes from within the organisation.

Whenever Marina found a moment of peace, away from prying eyes, she would read— over and over, until she had every tiny detail memorised.

She couldn’t afford to make a single mistake— not when Luke and the Professors’ lives depended on her.

There would be no hints. No shortcuts… Just a potential window of opportunity that could arrive at any time.

That window was thrown open— eleven years after Marina’s capture— by a young woman who strolled into the cathedral with her friends. Katrielle Layton.

Marina had almost rushed out of her hiding place when Katrielle and her companions were surrounded by cult members— just like Luke and Layton years ago— but then, Katrielle had snapped her fingers and reinforcements had come storming in.

At last, the police had arrested the priest and his lackeys. Josie had shot Marina a look as she was led away with the other cult members.

“I’ll get you out,” Marina had mouthed, but Josie had shaken her head. Josie wanted in. She wanted to use the coffins to ‘escape to the future’…

But before that, Marina needed to find the coffins.

Thankfully, Katrielle took care of that too! She moved a candlestick on the alter like a lever, uncovering a secret staircase.

“Puzzles are puzzles because they can be solved!” Katrielle announced. Marina blinked.

That was true, wasn’t it? It didn’t matter how long it took to solve a puzzle— or even if you had help— just as long as it got solved in the end!

Marina emerged from her hiding spot when Katrielle and her assistants had disappeared down the stairs.

This was it… This had to be it. Luke and Professor Layton had to be waiting at the bottom of these stairs— in the legendary Relics Room… and soon, they would be free.

Marina would make sure of it. This was her mission— what she had spent the last eleven years of her life working towards. She would solve the puzzle of the coffins…

Or, if she couldn’t, maybe Katrielle and Co could help her. They would solve it together.

Marina smiled.

#professor layton #luke triton #marina triton #luke/marina #Lmj #lmj anime #my writing #my fics #Backstory for Marina and Luke #katrielle layton #layton npc appreciation week #Steam Bison gets a cameo

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dragons-and-dwarves-are-nice · 5 months

Text

To the Shadows that Cry Witch /// Chapter 20

*Rises from the dead* Good evening. So I honestly should've put this fic on hiatus because I haven't updated in a hot minute (cough3monthscough). But having to hand in a Presentation, Essay, Video AND portfolio, all within two weeks of each other kinda made me forget lol. Uni is so hard pls send help. Anyway, I've made this one longer to make up for lost time, and I decided this won't be the last chapter of Part 2, I'm now planning on doing two more to fit in everything I've planned, and the good thing is that I have no work to do for the next 2 weeks so I can just work on this non stop. Hopefully you'll be seeing me again soon lol. Enjoy! <3

Summary: Magic was real, but it came at a price. So when two girls end up in the one place they never thought they could reach, strange things began to happen. Good or bad? That's up to them to find out.

Tags: Kili x oc/reader - Fili x oc (POV to be written soon) - Thorin's company × ocs/reader (platonic) - fluff - angst - EXTREME slow burn - crack - Bagginshield

Word Count: 8465

Warnings: Paranormal encounters, swearing, being chased by giant snakes if you aren't a fan of that.

Taglist - comment or message to be added!

PLEASE START FROM THE BEGINNING IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY OK LOVE U

Want some background music? Check out my Soundtrack Playlist!

Now available on Wattpad and AO3 (please let me know if links aren't working)

< Chapter 19 // Chapter 20 // Chapter 21 >

Part 2: Chapter 20 -

Yer a wizard. Sorry, witch.

Minatory (Definition): Having a menacing quality; Threatening. (Adjective / Origin: Late Latin /ˈmɪnət(ə)ri )

Bag End, Hobbiton, The Shire – T.A. Friday, 18th November 2939 of the Third Age (Highday, 28th Blotmath, 1339 in Shire-reckoning)

“Annnd, there we go.” Kay huffed, both of us letting out a sigh of relief as we lowered a passed out Bilbo into his armchair. Lifting the blanket that was drying by the fire, I shook it out, before draping it over the unconscious hobbit, tucking it over his shoulders.

We both took a step back, waiting for him to wake up, when a fist impacted with my shoulder.

“OW!” I cried, bringing my hand up to rub at the spot. “The hell was that for?!”

Kay shoved a finger in my face, glaring up at me. “That – was for levitating me! Upside-down of all things!”

“It’s not like I wanted to! And I didn’t expect for it to actually work!”

All she did was grumble, crossing her arms as she stared at Bilbo.

“… You can do the same at one point in return?” I offered.

“Oh, I will be, just you wait.”

I sighed in exasperation, before focusing on the problem at hand.

“Should I make some tea? For when he wakes up.” I suggested.

“Yea, that’ll be nice. I’ll stay here in case he wakes up.” She replied.

I nodded, turning on my heel and wandering through to the kitchen. Hooking the kettle over the open fire, I prepared three mugs along with some tea leaves in a straining bag. Staring at the exposed bricks lining the fireplace, I let my mind wander as I tried to figure out what to say, my hands absentmindedly turning the mug as I listened to the kettle’s whistle grow louder.

Within 5 minutes I was done, and just in time, as I managed to walk back through just when Bilbo had begun to stir. Lowering the tray onto the small table by the fire, I knelt down in front of Bilbo’s chair, his steaming mug of chamomile in my hands.

His eyes flickered open, blinking rapidly as he tried to adjust to the low light. Spotting us, he gasped as he shot up, everything seemingly coming back to him.

I quickly shoved the mug towards him, and that managed to calm him down slightly as he settled back into his chair, bringing his hands from beneath the blanket to take the hot beverage from my hands.

Taking a small sip, he lowered the tea onto his lap, and took a deep breath.

“What,- in Yavanna’s name… where you doing!!?”

I gave him straight lined smile, clasping my hands together.

“That’s the thing.” I said, shrugging as my eyes focused on the fire. “We don’t know.”

He spluttered, his head jerking back in confusion and frustration. “Wh – d – don’t know?? What do you mean you don’t know??”

Kay shoved at my shoulder as she sat down on the floor next to me. “What Kate was meant to say,” She explained, deadpanning at me before turning to the poor hobbit. “Was that it was an accident, we were joking about something and she didn’t mean to send me floating into the ceiling.”

Bilbo frowned so hard that his eyes had scrunched shut, placing his mug on the table. “And what, pray tell, could you have possibly been joking about that made Kay levitate into the air.”

I nodded slowly as my eyes darted around in thought. “About sending her floating into the ceiling.” I stated, shrugging as if it was obvious.

Bilbo dropped his head into his hands with a loud groan of anguish, whilst Kay drew her lips between her teeth to try and hide her smile.

I fiddled with my fingers, watching as Bilbo’s head rose back up, dropping back onto the cushion of his armchair as he stared into space, his eye-bags looking more prominent than ever.

“Okay, just.. fetch one of your cakes, I need to eat something after all that.” He sighed, closing his eyes.

I quickly replied with an ‘ok’, getting to my feet and strolling over to the pantry, retrieving the cake, then to the kitchen to get three plates, forks and a knife.

Handing Bilbo his slice of cake, me and Kay sat down on the armchairs opposite, placing our own plates on our laps. Minutes passed where only the crackling of the fire and clinking of forks against plates could be heard. But it wasn’t long before Bilbo spoke up again.

“Do you really not know what’s going on?” He asked, tilting his head slightly as he looked over at us.

Kay shook her head. “This is just as new to us as it is to you. We’re trying to figure out why, but it’s been difficult.”

“I can imagine.” He replied. “If I started accidentally levitating things, I wouldn’t dare to show my face until I knew how to control it.”

“We have somewhat managed to control it, though” I added.

“Oh, I know that.” Bilbo reassured with a shake of his head. “Otherwise Kay would still be stuck to the ceiling.” He joked, much to Kay’s chagrin.

“You don’t need to worry about us, though.” I said, voice muffled by a mouthful of cake. “I know we’re ‘barely adults’ according to you, but we do have some idea of how to look after ourselves.”

Bilbo nodded. “I’m sure you can, but then again, you said yourselves that you don’t know how to navigate this world properly. I just want to make sure you’re both safe. The Shire is a very comfortable place to live, but once you step out its borders, I can guarantee you two wouldn’t last a day.” He stated, prodding his knee with his finger to emphasise each word.

Kay raised her hands in mock surrender, “You’ve got us there.” I pointed a finger at her in agreement whilst staring at the rug.

“But…” I raised my head to look at Kay as she spoke. “Could we possssibly go to the forest? To try and figure this all out??” Bilbo instantly deadpanned. “It saves us accidentally blowing a hole in your wall!”

He reeled back. “You can do that?!?!”

She nodded. “Well – I haven’t, exactly.” She straightened up, pointed a finger at me. “But Kate has!”

I whirled round, a betrayed look on my face. “Are you trying to rat me out?!”

“YOU BLEW A HOLE IN MY WALL?!?!” cried Bilbo.

“NO! I BLEW A TREE UP, NOT YOUR HOUSE!” I cried back.

“WHY WOULD YOU NEED TO BLOW UP A TREE!”

“I DIDN’T MEA – ugh, I can’t be asked with this.” I groaned, rubbing my face. “Look, I didn’t do it on purpose, it was in self de – no, right, I picked up a stick, and accidentally knocked it against something, which caused a spark to fly out the end and blow up a tree.”

The hobbit tossed his hands into the air. “And my day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.” He breathed a deep sigh. “Ok fine, you can go to the forest, BUT, I’m going with you.” Kay groaned from beside me. “No, none of that. The last time I let you both out on your own, you almost froze to death after going for a midnight swim, I’m not having that happen again.”

We both slumped in our chairs, nodding reluctantly. Satisfied, Bilbo nodded to himself, before standing from his chair and walking slowly to the door.

“Right, well – I’m off to bed. We can discuss this further over breakfast tomorrow.” He paused in the doorway, twisting around to look at us both. “And uh.. thank you,” He said, gesturing to the tea and blanket in his arms. “For taking care of me.”

We both nodded at him with a smile, Kay muttering a ‘You’re welcome’. He returned the expression, before disappearing into the hallway.

“Well, that went a lot better than I thought.” Said Kay, turning to retrieve her own tea.

My head jerked around instantly from where I was facing the fireplace, my face twisted in both confusion and offence. “Easy for you to say. I almost got kicked out because you made him think I was renovating his home!”

“Well that sounds like a you problem, doesn’t it?” She said over her shoulder as she walked towards the doorway.

I went to retort, but quickly noticed which direction she was going in. “NUH UH, don’t think I haven’t forgotten what I said earlier.”

Kay stopped, punching the air in frustration. She spun around, inching towards the doorway. “But it’s so pointless!” She whined. “And it disappears when you’re around anyway!”

I looked over my shoulder, squinting my eyes at her. “Are you saying ghost hunting’s pointless? I am both shocked and offended.” I mockingly turned my nose up at her, walking through the doorway to my room. “And about to sacrifice your Hello Kitty.”

Footsteps followed me instantly. “If you do I’m sacrificing Toothless.”

I paused, my hand on the doorknob to my room. Glaring over my shoulder, I pouted grumpily, before twisting the handle and stepping in. “Fine, I’ll smelt your jewellery down instead.”

I could practically feel Kay gape at me as she lightly punched my shoulder. She walked over and sat on my bed, watching as I rummaged through my drawers. “What are we doing in here anyway, I thought we were sleeping in my room?”

“That–” I grunted as I struggled to reach under a pile of stuff. “-is a good question – aha!” I pulled out my small wooden chest. “But I thought I would bring this to try and work out how to protect us.”

Kay sighed, crossing her arms as she looked up at me. “Okay, so, you know how to do that?”

“Of course.” I replied with a grin. “Protection spells are the first thing you should learn about as a practitioner. It’s witchcraft 101.”

I unhooked the clasps on the box, opening it up and picking something out and handing it to Kay. She took it in her hands looking at it confused. “The protection is a Christmas bauble?”

“It does look like one, but no, that’s a Rowan cross.” I explained, taking it out of her hands and lifting it up to the candlelight.

The object consisted of two dark twigs, specifically from a rowan tree, tied in a cross by some thick, woolly, red string that formed a diamond, with dried rowan berries glued to the centre of the shape. At the end of one the twigs was a red ribbon, tied so it could be hung up.

“They’re normally hung in doorways, to ward off negative energy and wrong-doers.” I gestured to my doorway, Kay turning to spot an identical cross hung on a nail on the wooden beam. “I did it the week I had the thing appear in my wardrobe, and luckily, it seems to be working.”

Kay turned back round, eyeing the cross in my hand, before quickly snatching it. “So I just hang this in my doorway and it’ll go away?”

“Maybe,” I said, uncertain. “It’s already activated, but I doubt it’ll be strong enough to get rid of it, so I want to see if it’ll upset it, so it can show itself and we can work out what it is for sure.”

Kay nodded, slinking off the bed to join me on the floor. “Okay then, show me what to do.”

I held up the cross. “We’ll start, by hanging this in your doorway.”

---

Loud knocking echoed through the hallway as I hammered the nail into the beam of wood above Kay’s doorway. Kay was deeper in the house, near Bilbo’s room, to check if he had been woken up by the noise. The final bang resounded through the still air, and she peeked one last time round the door, and saw the Hobbit remain in a deep sleep, much to her relief. Pulling the handle until she heard the door close with a soft click, she returned to watch me as I hung the cross, the almost-black branches contrasting strongly against the warm wood as it hung in the centre of the beam. Taking a step back, I nodded in satisfaction, walking over to the chest of drawers to put down the hammer we had nicked from Bilbo’s gardening tools, before turning to Kay.

“This will hopefully do something whilst we wait for the right moon phase to come round.” I said. “Or it’ll upset it and you end up being haunted for the rest of your life.”

“It better not,” Kay replied. “Otherwise you’ll be having a permanent roommate until it’s gone.”

Soon enough, the candles around the room were blown out, all except one, that currently sat on the vanity, its flickering casting the odd shadow here and there.

We both laid there under the covers in our nightgowns, Toothless and Hello Kitty in hand, glancing around diligently, looking for anything out of the ordinary. When almost an hour had passed by, we slowly settled down to the sound of the crickets outside, burrowing deeper into the covers as sleep threatened to take over. I had just closed my eyes for a minute, trying to rest them as faint colours danced behind my eyelids, when the crickets went quiet. Thinking Kay had gotten up to close the window, I pressed myself further under the covers. That was, until a hand shot out and latched onto my arm.

I jumped out of my skin, eyes shooting open, only to be met with darkness. It felt deathly cold, the candle had somehow gone out, and, what was hopefully Kay, was currently gripping onto me like a lifeline. Luckily, the curtains had drifted apart from the wind slightly, and the glow of the waning crescent in the sky shone through the cracks. Thin wisps of smoke from the extinguished candle floated in front of where I was laid on my side, facing the wall. Following it to try and spot the candle, my eyes moved across the room, when they flicked into a corner. I would’ve missed it completely, if it weren’t for the rattling breath it let out.

It just stood there, looking half solid but casting no shadows, it’s long thin arms held straight up in the air as it stared with deep hollow sockets and a gaping mouth hanging open wide enough for me to almost fit my head into. It had no teeth, no eyebrows or hair, just dark, grey, dusty skin. All it did was stand there. And stare. And I couldn’t move.

All I could do was stare back.

It felt like hours as I sat there half-laid on my elbow, feeling the ache settle into the joint but unable to move. It wasn’t moving either, not even one of its long, sharp-looking fingers twitching as it held its appendages up as if it had been stretched up with invisible chains.

Kay wasn’t moving either, but was shaking profusely, her hand imprinting into my skin as she gripped onto me like a vice. I wasn’t any better, the thing in front of me making all my paranormal experiences from my childhood seem like a joke.

It wasn’t until Kay’s nails dug in that I moved, keeping my eyes locked onto the ghostly creature as I reached behind me, and gritting my teeth, dragged the pillow from behind. As soon as I felt Kay’s hand release my arm, I shot up and launched it as hard as I could at its face. The pillow soared through the air, and within a second, the creature had vanished into thin air, the candle on the vanity flickering back to life before the pillow even hit the wall.

It dropped to the floor with a muffled thump as light enveloped the room once again, and we both sat there, staring at the corner with wide, terrified eyes. A creak sounded from within the house’s structure, snapping us out of the trance as warmth swept back in.

“I don’t think the cross worked.” Kay whispered shakily.

“… Let’s go sleep in my room.”

The Next Day

Silence was all that could be heard, except for the clinking and scraping of utensils against plates and bowls. Kay and I sat slumped at the kitchen table, deep bags under our bloodshot eyes as we squinted at our half-eaten breakfasts.

Bilbo was quite the opposite, looking as chipper as ever after a full nights-sleep as he finished the last few mouthfuls of his meal with a satisfied huff. Untucking the napkin from the collar of his night-shirt, he placed it on the table, looking between us with a smile.

I tried my best to hide a wide yawn behind my hand whilst placing my fork down, unable to finish the meal, when he piped up.

“So, who fancies going down to the market today? I heard there’s a new flower stall being set up.”

All I could do was push my plate away, dropping my head down onto the table with a loud ‘thunk’. Kay wasn’t any better, her head tilted back as she slowly fell asleep in her chair.

The hobbit let out a sigh. “Couldn’t sleep?”

All he got was a groan in response.

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

Bag End, Hobbiton, The Shire – T.A. Friday, 23rd November 2939 of the Third Age (Hevensday, 3rd Foreyule, 1339 in Shire-reckoning)

“Bilbo, are you sure you want to go with us?”

Kay and I sat on the rug by the front door, wrapped up in several layers of winter-wear – gloves, shawls, knitted scarves and all. We were preparing to leave for the forest, determined to figure out our wands in a safe environment, said objects hidden in our deep skirt pockets. Earlier, as we were sat lacing up our boots, a shivering Bilbo had walked through the door, ingredients for dinner in his bag. Within a second he had demanded to go with us, refusing to budge and reminding us of the agreement from five days ago. Which led to now.

“Yes, I’m perfectly sure!” he grunted from where his head resided in the large chest down the hallway, looking for his scarf. “We made an agreement, and even if we didn’t, I’m certainly not leaving you two to wander into the fog when the clouds have been threatening to snow all week!” He stormed past us, flinging the scarf around his neck, simultaneously hitting me in the face with it from where I was sat, sending Kay into a fit of laughter as I spluttered about. Swinging the door open to reveal the foggy evening scene outside, he gestured expectantly. “Hurry now, it’ll be getting dark in a couple hours.”

Grabbing the leather messenger bag containing my Grimoire and a few other materials, we were ushered out. The freezing chill hit us almost immediately, like Jack Frost had decided to practice acupuncture with a thousand ice needles. Twisting my scarf, I pulled part of it over my head whilst bunching the rest around my chin until it reached my nose.

Walking down, the two of us stood by Bilbo’s front gate, waiting as he struck a match, lighting the same lantern he had used when he found us in his bushes, bringing forth a flurry of those not-so-great memories. Stuffing the matchbox in his pocket, he pulled the door closed, before following the short path down to us.

Reaching us, he held an arm out, gesturing down the path. “Alright,” he said, his voice muffled by the scarf. “I don’t know where you guys want to go, so lead the way.”

Kay looked at me expectantly, and so, I begun to retrace the steps I had taken that eventful night.

---

The sun had already begun to set when we arrived, and I noted that the forest looked at lot less intimidating during the daylight hours. Rounding a relatively dense pack of bushes, I came across a very familiar sight.

Rotting splinters of bark and branches littered the ground, along with the fallen half of the tree, now slowly being covered with moss and rotting leaves that had fallen in the last few weeks of Autumn. Memories from what happened a month ago came flowing back, and I grimaced when my eyes finally landed on the jagged stump, sticking out the ground like a giant clawed hand with a hundred sharp fingers.

I turned to face the others, gesturing with my hands in a half shrug. “Well this is where it happened.”

Kay stared at the stump with wide eyes. “Ok, I’ll admit I was exaggerating when I said you blew it up. I didn’t think you actually did.”

Bilbo was silent. His eyes were practically bulging out of his head as he gawked at the scene in front of him. “How?” Was all he could utter, the whisper barely heard over the chatter of the forest.

“That’s exactly what I’ve been asking myself this whole time.” I said equally confused, wandering over to another familiar tree. “I found my wand, and was making my way back, when I turned around, knocking it against this tree.” I acted it out, pretending to hit something against the tree, my hand lining up with a very obvious burn mark embedded onto the bark, like someone had set off a firework in close proximity next to it. “Then - ” My hand pointed from the burn, over to the broken stump. “Voila, tree bomb.”

“Bomb?” Bilbo said perplexed.

“Think firework, but with a bigger explosion, and use it as a weapon.” Explained Kay from beside him.

All the poor hobbit could do was look up at her in horror, before looking between us both warily. “And – And that thing, can create something like that?”

I nodded. “But only if you choose to. This was a complete accident.”

Bilbo nodded silently, looking as if he was going to faint again. But he suddenly seemed to calm down, fiddling with his fingers whilst peering up at me apprehensively.

“Do you… think you could do it again? But smaller?”

Both of our mouths fell open in shock, before I let out a guffaw.

“Bilbo Baggins! Are you secretly rebellious?!” I gasped out.

His ears flushed a deep red. “No! I – I just-” He dropped his head bashfully. “This all just reminds me of when I was younger, and of Gandalf and his fireworks.”

“Mhm sure.” Said Kay, putting her hands on her hips as she looked down at the pouting hobbit. “Well we’re not going to blow up another poor tree, but we could show you something else? I’ve been meaning to try out my wand for ages now.” She reached into her skirt pocket, pulling it out.

I pulled out mine, weighing it in my hand as I thought of what to do next. “Can you think of any spells for wands?” I asked Kay as I walked over.

She shrugged. “Only the ones we wrote down from you-know-what. It worked the other day.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “You-know-what?”

“You know, the story about magic from our place that we can’t talk about because we get strangled by air?” She replied.

I nodded in realisation, then my eyes moved about in thought, before I slowly turned my head to a small pile of dead leaves nearby. Kay darted her eyes at me, following my line of sight before they landed on where I was looking.

“What are you thinking – ?”

I lifted my arm up and pointed my wand. “Incendio.”

“Absolutely not.” The pile of leaves burst into flame. “KATE FOR FUCKS SAKE.”

She stormed over to the pile, stamping on it until all that was left was a pile of blackened smouldering leaves. “Being a borderline pyromaniac does not give you an excuse to set everything on fire!”

All I did was smile impishly in response, hiding my wand behind my back. “Now you try.”

Kay huffed, pointing her own wand whilst thinking about her next move. I skipped over to Bilbo, who seemed like he was struggling to keep himself upright.

“You okay? We sorta forgot about you for a second there.” I said softly, crouching down to be more eye-level with him.

He blinked, seemingly snapping himself out of something. “O-oh, yes! It’s just not every day you gets involved in something as interesting as this.”

He gestured to my wand with a far-away look, and at that moment, he looked almost smaller, burying the lower half of his face into the thick scarf wrapped around his neck as he stared. Though in a flash he was shaking his head. “But you two have something you need to do, right?”

I blinked at his sudden mood-swing, but quickly let it go. “Oh, yes, we do.”

I reached to my hip, swivelling the messenger bag to the front of my body and flipping it open. Grabbing my Grimoire out of one of the pockets, I flipped through the pages as Bilbo tilted his head to try and read the words from his angle. Finally landing on a page, I came across an old envelope I had stuck in. Lifting the flap, I pulled out a piece of lined paper, torn from Kay’s notebook days earlier containing the list of spells we had tried to recall. It seemed silly, that spells from a book series would work, but they did, and we weren’t complaining.

Unfolding and smoothing the thin sheet out, I scoured the list, noting down the ‘safe’ spells we had circled. Whilst Bilbo looked over my shoulder at the paper, I called out to Kay. “Alright! I guess we’ll start you out with the easiest first spell.” Scouring the area, my eyes landed on a small log and I pointed at it. “Try levitating that log.”

Kay took a stance, before taking a deep breath, setting her stern eyes on the log. Reaching her wand out, she waved it with a swish and a flick, muttering the charm under her breath. Soon enough, the log began to rise, fallen leaves sliding off and floating to the ground as it hovered in the air.

Kay screamed in excitement, throwing her hands in the air as she beamed at her accomplishment. She whirled around to face us, the log dropping to the ground with a thud as she did. “Did you see that?!?!” she squealed, jumping on the spot as her hands cupped her face in shock.

I nodded enthusiastically, whilst Bilbo simply gawked at the now unmoving log.

“Tha – how? How did yo – That was incredible!” he gasped.

Kay nodded dramatically, her copper hair flopping over her face as she did. She quickly beckoned me over, and I handed the list to Bilbo.

“I don’t suppose you could read out the circled ones?” I said, pointing at the words. He looked up, nodding with a nervous smile.

Thanking him, I brought him with me to stand between me and Kay. Raising my wand, I tried out the levitating spell, watching in excitement as the log rose once again, before slowly lowering down. Then me and Kay both raised our wands, waiting for Bilbo to read out the first spell.

“Okay, so Ag – oh Yavanna what in Middle Earth does that say?? Ag – Aguam – A-goo-ah… men..tee??”

“Aguamenti?” Kay suggested.

“Yes, that!” He replied.

“Ok,” I said. “let’s do that one.”

Pointing our wands ahead, we both said the charm. It didn’t work at first, which was expected, but Kay managed hers on the second try, water shooting out like a jet and giving the bush several metres away a shower. I managed on my third try, but we both found it difficult to get it to stop, but after pulling our wands away while visualising the intention of stopping, it worked.

Turning to Bilbo, we both waited patiently for the next challenge. Drawing his attention away from the large puddle we had created in front of him, he scoured the list.

“Right, well erm…”

---

The spell trial went almost perfectly, the log now lost amongst the bushes after I’d flung my wand about too hard and sent it flying. Some spells had been easy to do, the two of us managing them after the second or third try, but, as expected, the more complex ones took longer, taking up to twenty tries at certain points, and some were straight up impossible to do.

After realising that not all of them could be done, we tried our best to improve the basic ones as much as we could. I exceeded with the fire spell, pointing my wand around and setting random leaves and dead bushes on fire, whilst Kay was more skilled with water, following me around as she shot at each fire I set, putting them out before they grew, and also threatening to shoot me in the face if I carried on.

Darkness was already setting in as we decided to head back, the couple hours if spellcasting draining us more than we expected. Bilbo held out his lantern, watching as I excitedly lit it with a spell, and we began our trek back.

We had travelled back about a quarter of the way, when Kay caught up with me.

“Hey, I don’t suppose we could go to the lake?” She asked, and I faced her with a curious look. “ I want to visit where I found my wand, and see if I can figure out what happened to me.”

I nodded, and looked to Bilbo who was ahead lighting the way. “Hey Bilbo?” I called out, receiving a humin response. “Could we quickly pop to the lake? We just wanna check something out real quick.”

He let out a sigh, but reluctantly gave in. “Fine, but we must be no longer than ten minutes. I want to make it back to make dinner on time.”

Thanking him, we sped up, speed-walking until we hit the main path, taking a few detours that would take us the long way to Bilbo’s house, that would also pass the lake.

By the time we got there, it was already dark, the sun setting earlier in the deep winter months. Approaching the black water, it had already began to re-freeze, new ice expanding from the half melted sheets from last night, one that was so cold, the three of us took shifts waking up to add wood and stoke the fires around the house all night.

Frosty reeds swayed in the icy wind, the breeze biting at our exposed skin more than ever as we peered into the rippling depths of the lake.

“Girl I am glad I didn’t have to drag you out in this weather.” I mumbled to Kay, keeping out of earshot of the hobbit who was currently stood on the path part-ways up a bank, about ten metres away.

“I am too. Neither of us would’ve survived that night if it was like this.” She replied with a shiver.

“Do you remember anything that happened between you leaving and waking up?” I questioned.

Kay was quiet for a moment. “…Not really, I remember what I had already told you, but everything after that had gone black, like I was back in that void we ended up in, on the bridge back in our world.” She paused. “Actually, it’s not much, but there were a couple times when I could feel myself try to wake up, once when I was stood at the edge, and the other when I was at the bottom of the lake. But it was all blurry, like someone was holding up a TV covered in frosted glass on the other side of a room I couldn’t reach.”

“Are you two going to take long?” Bilbo called over the wind, holding his lantern up higher for us to see better. “We do really need to get back.”

I gave him a thumbs up, turning back to the water as I stepped onto the familiar small pebble beach, standing just where the miniscule waves lapped at the tips of my boots. Kay soon joined me, trying to look beneath the surface with the limited light.

“I don’t think we’re going to find anything tonight.” She sighed, dejectedly. “Actually, I don’t think we’ll be finding anything for a while, because I’d rather eat a mouthful of raw chicken covered in dog sick than swim outside in December. Or January. Or February, for that matter.”

“I agree.” I mumbled back, side-eying the frozen death-trap in front of us. “Let’s just go back and stick our hands and feet into the nearest fire. We can figure this out another time.”

I went to turn back, when Kay shot out her hand to latch onto my arm for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Do you have a personal vendetta against this arm or something?” I poked, facing her. “At this point we don’t need matching tattoos cuz your handprint will do just that.”

All she did was slap at my shoulder, silencing me whilst refusing to look my way as she reached out to point across the water.

“What? – ” Another slap. I quickly quietened down and squinted at the darkness in front of me. Though I didn’t have to look for long.

Looking across, the bank at the opposite end of the lake would’ve been lost in darkness, if it weren’t for the large blue shape glowing from where it sat in the grass.

I instantly felt fear pierce down my spine as recognition hit me in the chest, but confusion wormed its way in as I took a closer look at the shape. No wings, or legs, just one long body, and amongst the coil of scales, a head covered in a multitude of bony and sharp-looking spines.

A snake.

And – excuse my language – a real fucking big one at that.

Like, thirty, fourty feet long?? And body thick enough for me to not even wrap my arms around it! And from beside me, I heard Kay whisper out one word.

“Basilisk.”

I slowly began to back away. “Yea, Basilet’s get the fuck out of here.” I hissed, tugging at her arm.

Luckily, it hadn’t seen us, the light of Bilbo’s lantern blending in with the street lanterns that flickered up in the hills, and said hobbit was not noticing a thing, too busy staring up at the stars as he waited.

The pebble beach rose slightly at the end where it met the grass, so I tried my best to take a huge step up it as silently as I could. Kay went to do the same, but was still staring behind her at the snake, and her foot didn’t go as high, scraping against the small bank, causing some pebbles to dislodge, their noise carrying across the water as they fell.

We both froze, tensing at the sound, stock still as we waited for the last pebble to finish its journey down. When it was silent again, we both slowly turned to see if it had heard us. It hadn’t, and it carried on hunting for something in the tall grass.

We both let out a sigh of relief, most of the tension leaving our body as we silently began making our way over to Bilbo.

The hobbit was still staring at the night sky, his hand raised as his finger absentmindedly pointed up and moved about slightly, most likely trying to make out the constellations. He slowly turned on the spot, not seeing the wooden fence post next to him, and the lantern collided against it, letting out a loud ‘clank’ that echoed through the crisp air.

The snake’s head shot up, detecting the soundwaves. Flicking it’s tongue out, it scoured the area for only a moment, before its slitted eyes were on us. Bearing its glowing orbs into ours, the three of us had a staring match for the next few seconds. I blinked, and in a flash, it lowered its head. I blinked again, and it was already sliding into the water. Directly towards us.

“Ok, we’ve got to go.” I stated shakily, and shot my hand out to grab Kay, hauling her forward, and the both of us began sprinting.

Clambering up the hill, my hands dug into the mud and gripped onto slippery grass blades until we reached the path, where I reached my arm around the waist of an unsuspecting Bilbo. He let out a yelp as I snatched him up, almost dropping the lantern in his hands.

“What. Are. You. Doing????” He strained out as his arms and legs jumped up and down with each step.

“Just uhhh – ” I heaved between breaths. “Me and Kay decided to race back?? Didn’t want to leave you behind.”

“Well at least give me a warning next time??” He scolded, and I gave him a nod in reply, before speeding up as much as I could with the extra weight.

Up and up the winding paths we ran, skipping some as we jumped and scrambled up the banks between to try and make short-cuts. At this point the snake had crossed the lake, breaking the water without a ripple as it slithered up the banks, gaining speed with every second.

I slipped on the icy ground over and over as we sped up the path, my panic causing my clumsiness to increase tenfold, and only having my non-dominant arm free didn’t help. To our luck, we rounded the corner, losing sight of the creature, but not losing sound as a guttural hiss pierced the air.

“What was that?” Bilbo demanded, his own nerves starting to settle in as he tried to twist in my arms to look behind.

“No clue.” Kay quickly replied from just behind me, the noise motivating her to speed up even more, her hand pressing against the back of my shoulder blades as she helped usher me along.

“Uhh, I think you do?” he jabbed back.

“We don’t have time for this, cmon!” Kay pushed, exasperated at Bilbo, who only replied with an arched brow.

The warm light from Bilbo’s windows soon appeared, and we pushed the last bits of adrenaline to get us up the garden path and slam against the circular door, swinging it open and crashing onto the floor in the doorway.

The moment didn’t last though, as I was up in a flash and hauling the door shut, pressing my back against it. Flailing my hand out, I beckoned for Kay to come over.

She did, joining me by the small circle window next to the door, the two of us trying to peer through the pieces of paned glass into the darkness outside.

We both stilled as our sights set on the blue glow that grew brighter and brighter on the left, and it wasn’t long before a large head came into view, the snake’s entire body lowered to the ground as it slowly slid silently along the path in front of Bilbo’s fence.

It slowed as it neared the gate, and the two of us lowered ourselves until our eyes were just peeking over the top, thankful that the entrance hall wasn’t lit as we hid in the darkness of the house.

I caught movement in the corner of my eye, and peered to the left, only to see Bilbo stood at the opposite window, frozen with wide eyes as he stared out at the creature. Panic shot through me, as I realised his face was on full view in the window. And it seemed Kay had realised the same thing.

“Bilbo!!” she hissed as quietly as she could. The hobbit darted his head towards her, face full of fright. She waved her hand up and down, gesturing for him to lower himself from the window. “Get down!”

He did so, taking one last look at the creature before he darted down out of sight. I kept an eye on the window, watching the snake as it took one last look around, apparently deciding to call it a day, and turned, just like the winged creature had done with me, returning back down the hill, twisting and slithering until it disappeared over the edge and out of sight.

I let out a sigh of relief, slumping against the wall as I slid to the floor.

“Whuh – What??” Poor Bilbo was now hyperventilating, his mouth gaping open and shut as he tried to stammer out the words that caught in his throat.

Kay stood up, walking over and offering a hand, only to be met with Bilbo raising his hand to stop her. She did so, and we both watched as he quickly calmed his breathing, easing himself onto his feet. Bending over slightly with his hands on his hips, he took a few calming breaths, furrowing his brows as he blinked rapidly.

Kay went to open her mouth, only getting a sound out when Bilbo’s hand shot out again.

“No, no. I’ve seen quite enough.” He stated, looking up at the both of us sternly. I felt dread settle in my stomach as I watched a flurry of emotions cross the hobbits face. “I was quite happy with the magic, but this – this.” He gestured at the door with a flop of his arm. “I just – I’m going to bed.” He rubbed his hand across his face tiredly as he made his way down the hallway. “Goodnight.” He rounded the corner, leaving us in the entrance hall.

All we did was stare frozen at the door he left through, and I could feel my hands start to twist in my lap. A hand tapped my shoulder, and I looked up to Kay stood over me.

“C’mon,” she mumbled. “We need to go to bed too. We can worry about him in the morning.”

I nodded silently, feeling more unease settle in about the possibilities of tomorrow, praying to whatever Deity I had ever given offerings to that the worst wouldn’t happen. Getting to my feet, I slipped off my shoes and outer layer of winter wear, and trailed after Kay.

I didn’t get out of bed the next morning, too anxious to face the hobbit, fearing the worst outcome, which was us becoming homeless.

Kay wasn’t any better, having got up before the sun even rose to make us tea, disappearing back to my room before Bilbo could even stir. We were now both sat on the wide window ledge, cushions behind our backs, as we stared over the bushes of Bilbo’s garden and out across the rolling hills in the distance, listening to the morning birdsongs that floated through the blanket of mist that coated the ground, and drifted between the open windows along with the chill. We remained like that until lunchtime, wrapped in blankets and talking quietly, until there was a knock at my door.

The two of us turned our heads to face Bilbo as he stuck his head around the door, his eyes darting around slightly as he barely made eye-contact. We both waited silently, too nervous to speak.

Seeing that we weren’t going to talk first, Bilbo took a deep sigh, and stepped into the room, one hand still on the door.

“Look, I –” he began, rubbing his forehead. “I know last night I was… frustrated, but I know what I saw wasn’t your fault. It’s just that – it’s just, I feel like there’s always something going on with you two, and don’t get me wrong! What happens is harmless most of the time! But there have been points where my mind just…” he took a deep breath. “All of this overwhelms me, and I just want to know that you’re safe, I’m safe, along with everyone else. Because if this home ends up becoming dangerous, I don’t know if I can keep on pretending it’s all fine. Do you two understand what I’m saying?”

We both gave silent nods in reply, solemn looks on all of our faces as we absorbed his words.

“Now don’t you two go thinking that I’m blaming you for any of this.” He said, giving us a pointed look. “And it’s not like I haven’t enjoyed getting to know you both, and the trail of crazy things you’ve left behind since the moment you got here.” He gave a smile, walking over to where we were at the window. “Just tell me next time something like this happens, because I know you’re as clueless as I am about all this, if your research in those books you brought say anything.”

We both faced him fully, confusion on our faces.

“Wait, you’ve read my books??” I questioned.

He rocked back and forth on his heels, raising his eyebrows and nodding. “I’m very good at cleaning, I’ll have you know.” He lectured, waving a finger at me. “And you’re not very good at tidying your books away.”

I sighed at myself, a sheepish look on my face.

“The two of you are dealing with things completely unheard of in Middle Earth, from my knowledge anyway, Yavanna knows what someone like Gandalf has seen in his lifetime.” He mumbled to himself. “So this won’t be your eviction notice, for now.” He paused as he gave us a look, until a smile slowly rose onto his face. “Now up! You’ve missed breakfast, second breakfast, and elevensies, and at this point, you’ll be missing luncheon! How you two haven’t turned to skeletons yet is beyond me.” He nagged as he pattered away to the kitchen. A pause went by. “I know you two haven’t moved yet!” he called out, sending us into a frenzy as we chucked our blankets off and sped-walked after him.

Bilbo made sure to make a hearty luncheon, filled with pork pie, scotch eggs, tomato soup and vegetables to snack on. Most of it was spent chattering on about local events, and the latest gossip. At one point it was even interrupted by Erard ringing the bell, which caused me to shoot out of my seat to check if Bilbo hadn’t accidentally eaten the batch of cupcakes I had made for the doctor, much to the disgruntled mumbling that he ‘would never do such a thing’.

The meal was finished off with a slice of poppy seed cake, and as we were washing up, Bilbo turned to me, asking if he could discuss last night’s events with us.

“I thought we had already done that?” I asked, confused.

“Yes, but..” Bilbo trailed off in thought as he swept up the last of the crumbs on the table. “during my.. ‘accidental snooping’, I came across some methods for um.. spiritual protection, was it?”

I nodded slowly, choosing to forget that he had sneaked a look at my stuff. “Mhm, what did you want to know?”

We all sat down at the now clean table as he continued speaking. “I couldn’t help but wonder about how you’re going to.. deal with that-” he jabbed a finger at the window. “-thing. Considering you both ran from it, I’m taking a guess that it isn’t friendly.”

“Things.” Kay said quickly.

He blinked in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“Things.” She repeated nervously. “There’s two of them.”

The poor hobbit’s frown lines deepened on the spot, his eyebags seemingly darkening as he slowly dragged a hand across his face.

“Remind me to never take what I see as the whole thing with you two.” He groaned from behind his hand. “Or I’ll be in an early grave by the time I’m sixty at this point.”

“C’mon Bilbo.” I jived as I leaned back in my chair. “We wouldn’t let that happen to you.”

“I starting to find that hard to believe.” He sighed in response, staring at the window with tired eyes.

“Anyway,” Kay started, quickly moving the conversation on. “I’m guessing you want to know if were able to stop it.”

He nodded. “Get rid of them, even. I’m relatively okay with what’s going on, considering I’ve been expecting crazy things the moment I dragged you both in, but if anyone around us got any idea that two humans from… elsewhere, were causing a noticeable disturbance, they wouldn’t be so lenient. I mean, you saw how everyone was in the first few months, including myself!”

I grimaced. “Yea, getting twice as many stares and whispers as we did is definitely not on the agenda.”

“Don’t even get me started on my reputation in town!” he blurted. “I’d be the source of rumours until the day I die, I tell you!” he quickly realised his words. “U-Uh not that it matters more! Anyway! Anyway, what I was saying before.” He flapped his hands around as if the brush away his last comment. “I saw something hanging above Kay’s doorway, and uh..” he pointed his finger in the direction of Kay’s room slightly, eyes flitting hesitantly between us and the doorway. “I was wondering what that was?”

“Oh! That’s a.. rowan cross?” Kay answered, eyeing me for confirmation, to which I nodded.

Bilbo nodded, almost sighing in relief.

“What?” I prodded playfully. “Did you think it was a Satan symbol or something?”

He scrunched his face in confusion. “What’s a Satan?”

“Uh… nevermind.” I said, dropping the subject before we instilled more fear into him. “The Rowan Cross just works as a ward for nasty spirits and people, but it won’t work against those things forever, until we figure out what they are, and I don’t think we ever will, unless we can find someone who can help us or give us some ideas.”

Kay perked up slightly. “Like Gandalf?”

I nodded, rubbing my lip in thought. “He could probably help, but it’s not like we know where he is.”

Kay slumped in her chair with a huff at the reality, until a thought came to her mind. “We could… wait to see if he shows up?” she suggested, with a hardly detectable tone of ‘You know what I’m talking about, right?’. I gave her a subtle look of realisation.

“I guess.” I said as ideas came to mind. “And we could improve our skills in the meantime? See if the use of magic can draw him to us somehow?”

Kay nodded in excitement, whilst Bilbo sat trying to decipher the conversation.

“Wait what?” he said in confusion. “You want to wait until Gandalf comes here? How do you know he will?”

“No idea.” Said Kay with a shrug. “But it’s our best shot without wandering into the wilderness and straight up dying.”

“In the meantime..” I piped up as the two turned to me. “I don’t suppose at some point during the next few months, we could take a trip to Bree?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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engineer-gunzelpunk · 1 year

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Big Harry Is Ailing by Jack Evans

The Argus, Saturday July 21, 1951

I took the text because the article shape is so awkward.

*cues in Sad Henry music*

BIG HARRY IS AILING By JACK EVANS

HEAVY HARRY, the bad boy who later become the pride of the Victorian railways, is ill. Seriously ill. All 260 tons of him. Slumped in hospital - the repair sheds at Newport workshops, Victoria's only H220 engine could hardly raise steam above a whisper yesterday.

Heavy Harry, built at Newport - the heaviest locomotive in the Southern Hemisphere, is the only one of its type in Australia. His massive size and varied adventures made him pride of the rail engine fleet during World War II.

"Overwork, that's what caused it," he gasped yesterday. "I've got something wrong with my boiler." He said sadly: "You know, you're the first visitor I've had since I came to hospital. No one cares."

Work Of Two

"Why, Mr. Hyland, Transport Minister, was proud to drive me when I was launched in '41. Kiddies flocked to see me when I went on exhibition. "But as soon as you get sick you're forgotten. "In 10 years I've travelled more than half a million miles for the Railways. And I've pulled millions of tons of freight between Albury and Melbourne, doing the work of two engines."

He added, indignantly: "These new R Class engines are getting all the limelight now. Running around painted red and black, with all the glamor of Essendon footballers "

"And letting girls ride on their footplates. I was brought up better than that, and I've never worn anything but decent black all my life!

"Going to haul passenger trams from Bendigo, are they? Bah! When the Railways got into a jam with the Spirit, who did none Help they yell for? Heavy Harry! "They tell me those R Class engines stole the show in the Engineering section at the Festival of Britain. They sound more like mannequins instead of machines. "And boasting about their mechanical stokers! Let me tell you, I had the first mechanical stoker in the whole of Victoria. And the best! "I heard my boss, Commissioner Wishart, say that 70 of them -were coming from England. And half-a-dozen streamlined diesels from U.S.A.

"What about accommodation problems? He wants to remember there is a shortage of engine round-houses here." Harry brightened up towards the end of the interview.

"I'll be back on the track soon," he prophesied. "All 92ft. 6in. of me, and fighting fit. "Those glamor jobs had better hunt a quiet siding. If I meet them on a foggy night I'll show them that Old Harry hasn't lost his punch."

A couple of notes:

Jack Evans seems to be using the character of Heavy Harry to critique the VR, which is entirely valid since the railways were about to get absolutely slaughtered by our own native version of Beeching and didn't recover for another 60 years.

The North British Works-built Hudson R-class "glamor jobs" they talk about weren't bad engines, just wholly unsuited to the jobs VR assigned to them, which were goods trains rather than express passenger trains like they were built for.

(And they're Scottish, Harry! They were built at Glasgow! You know this!)

They did bear a scarlet and black color scheme... possibly to connote in a new era their passenger engine status (red, used on express passenger locos in the pre-Clapp era on A2s and other passenger locomotives), wedded to standard VR black.

(Hudson R 707 "City Of Melbourne")

The Lancastrian built J-Classes, the last steam engines built for VR, also bore this scarlet and black scheme.

Essendon Football Club were the glamor team of the Victorian Football League (Australian Rules football) at the time, having appeared in almost every single Grand Final since 1941, which is kinda funny that he gives the Rs a serve for their color scheme... as I have Harry as an Essendon supporter in my OC headcanon, lol. (strong IRL historical associations between Essendon and Heavy Harry).

(Outside of Essendon Railway Station, bearing a photo of ‘Harry on the Express to Albury at Essendon, 1949’… old timers living here would recall Harry shaking the earth as he passed).

Him threatening to bash the "glamor jobs" though... is dead on like my OC Harry! Cranky, prone to melancholia, painfully aware of how alone he is. That is Heavy Harry.

Also:

"Overwork, that's what caused it," he gasped yesterday. "I've got something wrong with my boiler." He said sadly: "You know, you're the first visitor I've had since I came to hospital. No one cares."

"I SUFFER DREADFULLY AND NO ONE CARES"

Both rebellious, troublesome engines with issues.

Canonically both melancholy and lonely engines with wide angry streaks.

Both are fairly unique engines. Harry is the sole Pocono with a third cylinder that exists, sole member of his class. Henry was a failed hybrid turned Black Five, the sheer fact of this makes him fairly unique.

Both seem fond of flowers (see the illustration in my earlier Heavy Harry post).

Both he and Henry were originally meant to be express passenger locomotives but turned to the purpose of night/early-morning fast goods.

Both are fond of their "special coal" (Harry worked best on the Oz version of Welsh coal, Maitland coal).

"Harry" is a variant of the name Henry.

This particular article was put out less than two weeks after the publication of the book "Henry the Green Engine", on the 10th of July 1951.

Neither seem interested in ladies, canonically.

The little drawing they put in it is basically Henry…

Just sayin'! If Twin Flames existed... It’d be these two. Har’ is basically an Oz version of Henry…

So fucking weird when you find such off-kilter content about something you are interested in. Also, H220 and its the 22nd of the month so...

#Victorian Railways H-class Pocono H220 “Heavy Harry”#The Argus newspaper #The Railway Series Down Under #trains in the wild #thomasallgrownup #Victorian Railways #real locomotives #VR H-Class Pocono H220 “Heavy Harry”

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mooodyblue · 1 year

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I would love another caregiver!Austin ficlet or headcanons because they’re super comforting! maybe Aus finds out about the reader’s regression for the first time and is just… SOOO sweet about it because he really would be

i love love looove writing about cg!austin!!! literally one of my favorite things to write about, here's some headcannons for ya! 💗 said i was taking a break from writing today but i love writing headcannons okay!! this is gonna be a long one

cg!austin h.cs | finding out you're a little

masterlist

you've been a little like .. prior to dating/meeting austin. you'd never really been open about it to many people, not even austin

you always regressed by yourself at the end of the day, even after you spend the day with him

sometimes you wished you had the courage to tell austin. you spend too many nights crying to your plushie friends about it.

"what if aus thinks 'm weird? s'he gonna leave me?"

one time he comes over and finds one of your paci's laying on the kitchen counter. he asks you about it and you say "oh, my friend brought her baby over" none of your friends have babies

when he asks you to move in, panic arises. how are you going to be little when you're living with austin?

when you do move in, you keep all your little stuff in a box and always wait until he's not home to be little.

it happens when you have a really bad day. like really bad. all you wanted to do was be little and to hug your stuffie and watch your cartoons but austin was home, so you couldn't do any of that.

you were super on edge the whole day, making snide remarks and being very snarky towards him. that causes an argument, your first argument actually, and he leaves for a little bit to blow off some steam

that was your breaking point. you dug out your stuffie and emotional support blanket and curled up on the floor, crying, scared he wasn't going to come back and that he was going to leave you. you didn't want him to be upset with you, you didn't mean to make him angry.

he's very confused when he comes home and sees you in the bedroom looking lost in a childlike state of mind. he crouches down on the floor in front of you, "what's going on?"

"aus hates me. gonna leave me, thinks 'm mean."

austin looks at you confused. the sudden babytalk, the tone and all....he didn't find it weird, but he didn't really know what was going on. he went along with it though.

"i don't hate you and i'm definitely not gonna leave you." he replied with a soft tone, the same tone he used with his friends kids. his more 'fatherly' voice.

it was soothing/comforting having him speak to you in that way.

he asks you about the plushie in your hand, asking if they have a name and what they're like. all while he pulls out his phone and tries to figure out what's going on with you.

when he does figure it out, he's kinda bummed out that you kept this from him but he definitely understands.

he spends the rest of the day watching over you, snuggling up to you and overall just being the caregiver you always wanted. he decided to wait until he knew you were out of your headspace before asking you questions.

"baby? you still little?" "oh god. you weren't supposed to find out like this."

you have a slight panic attack but austin assures you that it's okay, he's here for you and he's not going to leave you

he lets you tell him when you're ready, he doesn't force it out of you or anything (although he's a little impatient about it, he just doesn't want you to slip again and he doesn't know what to do)

you sit him down and explain it all to him. why you regress, when it first started, what ages you typically regress to and all the dos and donts for when you're regressed. he takes notes in his phone so he can write it down later, which is very sweet of him!!! of course, he agrees to be your caregiver and apologizes in advance if he messes anything up

you show him all the things you've been keeping in your box, introducing your plushies one by one and him asking you about each one. he loves how excited you get when you talk about when and where you got each of your little plushie friends.

he always refers to your stuffies as "friends"

it was a rough start at first, but he got the hang of it very quickly!!

he ends up spoiling you rotten and you have no regrets about opening up to him about this side of you. he absolutely loves taking care of you and learns all your little triggers and such immediately. you couldn't have asked for a better cg 💗

i could go on and on abt cg!austin but lemme shut up now

#austin x reader #im posting this at 2 am and the post keeps cutting off the end so if i wake up and it's still wonky im so sorry 😭

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slumped-in-the-arms-of-fiction · 7 months

Text

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Finally getting around to this one! Thanks to @justhere4thevibez for the tag, love ❤️

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

17, but the depths of LJ have a few more

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

235,247 across two fandoms

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Stranger Things – specifically Hellcheer, though there are three Eddie-centric ones in there (each with a Hellcheer nod). And I used to write Gilmore Girls.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'm gonna focus on ST as that's been my main focus for a while now.

Bruise Pristine

Two guys, a girl, and a cheerleader

Being Human

In Focus

For a good time call Mary Jane

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yep! I'm so grateful that someone took the time to comment on something I wrote, and I want them to know that! Commenting can be difficult and I like to acknowledge that and give a little kudos in return. Plus, I love engaging with fellow fandomers! As a reader, I like to let someone know I liked their fic with more than kudos if I have the spoons to do it, and I love when an author responds to me when I comment.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

While there can be angst in the ship fic I write, I generally like to give a happy ending. Some can be bittersweet, but not out and out angsty. My ships tend to be canonically tragic, so I want HEAs.

In saying that, Backpack, though short, is definitely not sweet. It's canonical so... yeah.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

As I said, I do tend towards the happier end of the scale (she says, lying through her teeth). I think my two long multi-chapter Hellcheer fics Two guys, a girl, and a cheerleader and Being Human are quite movie-happy ending. And shout out to the Gilmore Girls kind of fix-it Not Time's Fool because that was tooth-achingly sweet, especially with the follow-up Letters to a Lost Love.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nnnnooo, not really? There was one weird one who berated me for writing Literati (GG) when I had the gall to comment and enjoy a fic with a different ship, which was bizarre. Actually, the almost-hate comments tended to be in GG – people can be very cutting when it comes to Rory. The Hellcheer fandom thankfully tends to love both characters equally, and have been nothing but gracious and accepting.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Boy, do I! Try and STOP me writing it – it always sneaks in. F/M and explicit. Ventured into kink a little bit with For a good time call Mary Jane. My smut also tends to be emotionally driven, I can't do PWP.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Not crossover in terms of characters from two different fandoms interacting (though there was a Supernatural/J2 done in the style of Fight Club back in the day that was WILD). But my two multi-chaps are based on other shows with ST characters kinda merged with the originals or similar storylines (New Girl and Being Human), but the supernatural elements aside in the latter neither are crazy!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I don't know how it would work but I'm open to it! I spitball a lot with lovely @justhere4thevibez and we've tossed around ideas the other has caught; my dearheart @barriss helped with d&d stuff in fic, and I thrash ideas around with my discord gremlins a lot, so the parts that appear in fic makes it feels like a collab ❤️

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Hellcheer till I die

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I have a ton of Hellcheer ideas in the wings – maybe not all of them will come to fruition, but everything I've actually started writing will be finished, I hope.

I do, however, have an unpublished chapter of Literati that I absolutely love, but I ran out of steam as it was going to be a big undertaking, and then I kinda left that fandom so I doubt I'll ever go back to the fic, unfortunately. Pity, coz what I wrote was 🔥 in my humble opinion LMFAO

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do snappy dialogue well – I love banter, the flow. I like to think I'm funny too, though I feel very Milhouse "my mom thinks I'm funny" when I say that. I also see things in a cinematic way – the scene, the setting, placement, lighting etc – which I think comes across in my writing. At least, I hope it translates to the page!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I suck at planning. I have an idea and I go from there and down the line I'm like "Ohhhh fuck, where was I going with this, how do I do this, WTF IS HAPPENING", and then I panic, can't write, spiral. It mostly comes good in the end (except that GG one, RIP). Self-doubt is the fic-killer.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've never written a character who speaks another language, so have thankfully avoided that pitfall, but I would ask someone who speaks the language to help out, if possible. Google Translate ain't great, but it'll do in a push for some things.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Supernatural waaaaaaaaaay back in the day. When season 1 first came out and they were still battling the yellow-eyed demon and MotW. Ahhh, good, simpler times.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I think my New Girl fic, Two guys, a girl, and a cheerleader. I had a blast seeing how the characters could blend together while still being themselves, as well as using plots from the show to make a full, coherent storyline. I'm ridiculously delighted with the d&d elements of that too – I was so happy with how the True American chapter came out, and I'm very lucky to have had Sabrina's insider knowledge for that to make it what it was ❤️

Though I had great craic writing Mary Jane... And Blood moon sex magick... and I love the Eddie-centric canon-compliant(ish) Back to the Front. Sure look, you gotta be your own biggest fan 😆

That was so much fun! I don't know who hasn't done this yet, so I'm tagging @gingertumericlemon @windowsandfeelings @watercoloredlie

#tag games #my writing

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dream-meister-translations · 2 months

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DREAM MEISTER & THE RECOLLECTED BLACK FAIRY

OUTSIDE HOLIDAY - PART 5

━

Ancyra, The Land of Pirates - Day 3.

EMMA : Wow, this place is amazing!

ELMA : Heck yeah it is! Feels like a super-duper date spot, doesn't it?

Today, Elma and I, who were working part-time at an amusement park, were exploring the park before our shifts began to get a feel for the rides and attractions.

EMMA : I wonder where Searle is working?

ELMA : Hmm~ Come to think of it...I forgot to ask. But, if we just keep walking around the park, I'm sure we'll bump into him at some point! He does stand out like a sore thumb after all!

STELLA : If we were to hide scouts on the premises, our best option might be the restaurant—On the other hand, if we were looking to invade, we should secure the souvenir shop first.

YAMANE : Hehehe. Ah, the ride known as the Merry-Go-Round will leave a memory to be cherished forever! It is truly sublime! Spinning, spinning, memories so beautiful! Each one pointing toward a Merry Bad Ending! Ah, I'm getting emotional!

EMMA : (Those two are as lively as ever...)

ELMA : Yo! Isn't that Daste over there?

EMMA : Oh, you're right. What do you think he's doing?

SCAR : Ah, it's Emma and Elma!!

DASTE : The hell're you two doin' here? Thought you said you were working.

EMMA : Yeah, we are. Technically. We're doing some reconnaissance and enjoying the amusement park for now.

DASTE : Are you kidding me? That doesn't count as work! Anyway, I just came to check out this joint. I'd rather be somewhere quiet, but Scar got all hyped up so I decided to let him blow off some steam.

SCAR : There might not be anyone exciting to open up, but there are plenty of things I've never seen before, so it's fun!

DASTE : What's so fun about goin' on a ride and just spinning around in circles? Seems lame to me.

EMMA : (He says that, but his eyes are watching the rides closely. It seems like he's not entirely uninterested after all.)

SCAR : Oooh! What's that over there!?

DASTE : Geez, can you shut up!?

EMMA : That's the children's area I think.

ELMA : I heard they have a panda-themed ride in there. You can control the steering wheel!

EMMA : You sure know a lot about this place, Elma.

ELMA : Haha! Well, this amusement park is like super famous, you know? I always thought it would be fun to come here someday when I got a girlfriend~

EMMA : Is that so? And yet you wound up coming here because of work...

ELMA : Ah, don't worry about that! It makes me so happy I got to come here with you! Though...It would be a lot better if we came here and didn't have to work, huh?

EMMA : Hehe, yeah, you're right. Let's work hard at managing the guild and maybe we will get the chance to come back one day!

ELMA : Ugh, it's gonna suck having to leave...

STELLA : Mistress.

EMMA : What's up, Stella? Did you finish mapping the area?

STELLA : That was done long ago. I just wanted to point out that I saw Searle over there.

BOY : Hey, can you tell me about this crab next professor!?

SEARLE : Sure~ I'd love to! This crab turns bright yellow on a night with a full moon, but—

ELMA : So this is where you've been, Sa-Kun! Is this some kinda sea creature exhibit?

EMMA : Did that kid just call you professor?

SEARLE : You two are here too~! Yay~!!

ELMA : Good to see you, Sa-Kun! What job are you doing?

SEARLE : I'm...Not realy sure...They just told me to hang around near the sea creatures. I feed the fish and teach visitors various things about them.

EMMA : So you're a tour guide?

SEARLE : I guess so! Being called professor sounds so cool and makes me smile really big! And sometimes, I take the big turtles out for a walk~! Oh! Sorry, hold on a sec!

Searle rushed toward a young girl who was standing alone looking up at a large tree inside the amusement park.

SEARLE : Hello there~ Are you lost?

GIRL : No, I'm not lost. It's just...My balloon flew away...

ELMA : It's stuck on one of the tree branches. Uh oh, that's a tricky spot! If we try to get it by shaking the tree, it'll probably fly right up into the sky.

SEARLE : Hmmm.....Ah! I got it~ I'll get it down for you.

GIRL : Really?

SEARLE : Yep! I have a friend who is really good at coming up with plans!

STELLA : !!!

SEARLE : Hey, Stella. I want your help getting that balloon down.

STELLA : You are challenging the law of physics. I'm not a gymnast—

SEARLE : No, no~ I just want you to form the strategy, Stella.

STELLA : Hmph. Such a foolish boy. In that case, leave it to me.

━

STELLA : There you have it. The balloon was successfully retrieved. First off I calculated the position of the balloon, it was approximately 30 degrees from the terrace on the second floor of the restaurant—taking your jumping ability into account, the solution was obvious.

Thanks to Stella's plan, Searle successfully jumped from the terrace to the balloon, retrieving it and returning it to the young girl.

GIRL : Thank you, mister!

SEARLE : Yep! It's all thanks to my friend here~

GIRL : Then I should thank your friend too!

SEARLE : Don't worry, I'll make sure to tell them! Be careful not to lose it again~