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previousloversandmuses · 3 years

Text

Slow Burn - Prologue

Part I | masterlist

A/N: This is a “must read” precursor to the whole series. Please read it to know what the origin story is.

Pairing: Y/N x Obi Wan Kenobi

Words: 2048

Warnings: None. Brief mentions of violence. Low self esteem.

I am always one to experience emotions at a heightened frequency. Dangerous for a Jedi in training I know, but the council never took it as a sign of caution, just a minor set back. Happiness is bright, and beaming, even painful. My cheeks hurt for days after, smile lines sculpting my skin too early in life. Anger is powerful, my skin becoming vicious, and hot. Ripping through me like a silver bullet, and tearing my already unrelenting gut apart. I am loud, I am violent, and most of all, passionate. I would later become grateful of this curse, turning it into a blessing. Sadness is so deep. Tears crash like an ocean, and my heart would ache in my chest. The physical symptoms of my despair become overwhelming, and make me sick.

A fresh eighteen myself, my graduation is only a year or so away. Compared to other padawans, ones that don’t deal with the same struggles as myself, have already been graced with knighthood. They make their masters proud, and have already completed more missions at sixteen than I think I ever will in my entire career.

I had the choice to become independent, to take my morals by the throat, and shove them deep down inside me, never to be seen again- but it really just isn’t that easy. See, I’m taking this time for meditation, or even a “behavioral therapy” of sorts. I have meetings with other council members, more powerful, and more prominent than my own master, who is often off tending to matters elsewhere. A mighty general he is, but they see me as someone who would cause more of a distraction, so I stay here at the temple left to my own devices. Sometimes I think it may be because I’m a woman, and other times I just take a good look in the mirror and recall the outburst that has stained my face only minutes before.

Today was like any other; wake up, meditate, exercise, study, combat training, study, try and find time to eat something, and study. I walked down the main hallway with Master Yoda. He spoke to me about how he once struggled with his emotions as well, but with enough meditation, learned how to keep them at bay. Looking down at him and his vacant expression, I was surprised he had ever even felt an emotion a day in his life. That was until seconds later…

Stopping in my tracks, my hand flew over my heart. I recalled feeling out of breath, like my heart had physically stopped beating in my chest, or at least was trying to catch up with the rest of my body. I was shaky, yet somehow managed to take a knee. Something was off, that feeling in my chest grew and grew until I was faced with the blackest black I had ever felt. The darkest emotion to ever run through my body, as cold as ice, and heart stopping. It was deep, I felt it within the darkest abyss in my soul. It wrapped around my insides and nestled itself a home deep within the most shielded corners of my subconscious. That’s when Master Yoda felt it too. His hand flying over his heart, and steadying himself on my own shoulder. His face morphed into a snarl, gasping at the sudden pain that now infected his unwavering calm aura.

...

After a painstakingly slow recovery, I sat on the edge of my bed. My quarters were neat and tidy. My bed, usually made up in the morning, because I have always been one for a routine. My walls weren’t bare, in fact they were almost completely covered in photographs I have taken from my travels as a Padawan. I'd go to the library, and butcher borrowed books, clipping photos of different words, and alien fauna. But today, those bright colors capable of producing fantasies for hours and hours, seemed black and white.

I had been staring at the floor for sometime, desperate in trying to heal the ache in my chest. It felt as if I had a cold, like the burn after a deep cough. I felt so tight, so tense, an actual living embodiment of rigor mortis. Yet, at the same time, I hardly felt all there. It was as if my existence was floating all around me, and my shell was sitting vacant on an uncomfortable mattress. The knock on my door was enough for me to engulf myself again.

“Y/N, are you decent?” The voice asks.

“Yes,” I reply, rolling my shoulders back.

“The council has requested an audience. Please report downstairs within the next few minutes.”

I nod my head, as if whoever was behind the door could see me.

“An audience,” I think. “Let’s add another year to that training plan, shall we?”

...

Walking downstairs to the council room, I can’t help but feel that all eyes are on me. They cut through me like a hot knife, slicing me thin. I feel so vulnerable. Like everyone around me can feel what I feel, and if I’m being honest, they probably do. A good Jedi who is in tune with the force, and especially in tune with others, can sense an intense emotion from a mile away. I’m sure at this moment I pretty much equate to an open book. No reason to try and hide it, force knows I struggle with concealing even an inkling of agitation.

Seeing the council room in sight, I take a deep breath. This is it. I’m done for. This reaction was way too over the top. I’ve scared people, I’ve scared Master Yoda. Might as well just turn in my saber now and call it a day.

I walk into the door. Only a few masters sit scattered around. Master Yoda of course perched dead center, Master Windu waiting patiently to his right. But my master was nowhere in sight. You’d think if they were going to terminate me, that maybe my own mentor would be among them? Shaking his head, sending me glares that one could only compare to fucking daggers. He was tough on me for sure, maybe he was too ashamed of what I’d done to even bear to see me in this moment.

“Coming here so quickly you did,” Starts Master Yoda. “Grateful we all are.”

I smile and bow my head.

“Y/N,” Master Windu starts. “We’re here to discuss the events that happened earlier.”

Oh god here it comes. This is it. I’m totally done for. I can’t even keep myself calm now. My face, getting hotter and more red by the second, is going to be the biggest tell. At least let me go out with some dignity.

“Your reaction, what you felt at least, was not just brought on out of the blue. Master Yoda had the same experience, as did all of us on the council, and most Jedi and padawans in the temple.”

“I don’t understand.” I say.

“At around 1 Coruscant time, an enemy bomb was detonated on Nal Hutta.”

Then it hit me. My heart sinking, I began to shake my head.

“Unfortunately, Unit 505, and Master Cato were all killed on impact.”

My ears ring. Slowly, I move over to a chair, bracing myself.

“That’s,” I start, trying to find the words to say. “He would’ve felt it, all of them would, I don’t understand.”

“We have a feeling it was planted by a Sith. That’s the only way it would’ve clouded any judgement.”

I slump into it, my vision going black, my head spinning.

Master Cato has been with me since I was a very little girl. Although rough, tough, and brutally honest, he has done nothing but be a father to me time and time again. Everything I do is a reflection of him. He had been so busy at war, fighting day in and day out, I caught myself missing the commands, and demands I once so passionately despised. I took our whole relationship for granted, and now, is this the price I have to pay? The last time we spoke he told me how disappointed he was in my outburst in my Alien Fauna lab. I was being stubborn, I was bratty, and rolled my eyes. We had argued that entire call. He didn’t even attempt to say goodbye. Now, for an eternity, I will have to face the catastrophic guilt of my actions. Live with the fact that I never, ever told him how much I appreciated him. And even, how much I loved him so. The closest thing to family in my life, gone, in the snap of a finger.

Both Master Yoda and Master Windu continued to talk but it all felt like empty words. I couldn’t hear them anyway.

“Although this situation isn't ideal, we and the rest of the council applaud you for being able to feel something most of us haven’t been able to experience yet.” Claimed Master Windu.

I don’t listen. I stand up again.

“What am I going to do? I don’t feel comfortable with being knighted yet. I had- we were working on so many things I-,” I stumbled on my words.

“You’ll get placed with a new master.”

“There are no new masters. And even if I had been trained a certain way, I don’t know how to learn otherwise.”

There is silence.

“The force works in mysterious ways. Meant to happen, I feel.”

I scoff. “Meant to happen,” what an evil thing to say.

I begin to walk off, stopping of course, only to get in the last word.

“Not only have you told me that my master has been killed, but you lack any empathy. There is no emotion in your eyes. Nothing.”

“We mourn your master y/n, just as much as you do. You know what we stand for. You know our view on attachments.”

“He's like-,” I choke. “He was like my father.”

I can’t even begin to explain the pain I feel. Disgust in myself, I should’ve been better. I could’ve been better. The last few years of our relationship I’ve just been behaving poorly and rebelling, and then getting angry at him when he made me face the consequences. Like I wasn’t aware of the job I was made to do. I should’ve been nicer, I could’ve been nicer. It’s all going in a circle, all the things I should’ve done just morphed into things I couldn’t do. Maybe I was too emotional. Maybe my tears that fell leading up to this moment was all part of the plan, the final kicker to show that I wasn’t apathetic enough for this job. My empathy, my burning passion will always be my biggest flaw. This hole that gapes inside of me will never be filled, and now it grows bigger. It’s like a disease. Am I enough? Will I ever be enough?

“Put you with Master Kenobi, we will.” States Master Yoda.

Master Windu is quick in turning his head. He glares at him.

“Master Yoda, General Kenobi has just finished his training with Anakin. It is far too early to give him a new Padawan, if at all.”

Yoda nods, almost giggling.

“Yet so freshly knighted, a Padawan Anakin already has. Obi Wan will have no problem with taking on a student. Graduates soon, she will.”

“But General Kenobi and I have two completely different methods of combat, let alone ideals.” I scoff.

“All Jedi have the same ideals.” Adds Windu.

“He is a Jedi guardian, I am a Jedi sentinel-“

“Train with General Kenobi you will. Not long ago he also lost his master too soon.”

Master Yoda nods to me. He stands up and walks over to the large windows behind him. Looking out over Coruscant, he takes a deep sigh of relief.

“Master Windu,” says Yoda. “Get in contact with the 212th battalion.”

I watch on as my fate now rests in a stranger's hands.

#obi wan kenobi #obi wan kenobi smut #obi wan kenobi x you #obi wan kenobi x reader #obi wan fic #anakin skywalker #anakin x obi wan #ahsoka tano #star wars #star wars smut

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akpaley · 3 years

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I love your art so much! you have such a cool style. the Falnorian fashion is really interesting, I was curios about the fabric patterns, would you mind sharing how you did it?

Sure! That project was a process of experimenting with the way brushes were textured in order to emulate the feel of different textures of cloth, but there’s also a couple places where I more explicitly crafted textures/brushes/etc. I’ll go through and show you the brushes used and any additional techniques that were relevant under the cut!

So a lot of this is just flat out instructions for how to do a thing in Photoshop. If you use different software, you may or may not have all the same layer settings and options. I don’t know how to post the brushes I use to the internet, but google around--there are a lot of cheap or free cool brushes for most drawing software. These are the ones I’ve accumulated over the ages.

Also I was gonna do all the outfits but I found I was repeating myself a lot, so you only get the ones with the most to teach you, which is like four of them.

An overall note- I worked in a CMYK file format which limits the available colors and in some cases majorly changed what colors looked like under relevant effects or when changing layer settings. I don’t generally recommend this unless you need your work to be printable because it constrains your palette, but there are definitely some things that are easier to make look cohesive with those kind of automatic color constraints, so. It’s a mixed bag.

This is one of my favorite texture brushes. It jitters color, and it has some fun texture to it that can be very different depending on how heavy you set the pen pressure and how long your strokes are. I used it as a baseline for both her dress and his coat and boots, to provide texture and also give me a set of varied colors to move around and blend and work with. I spent a while on her dress blocking out color more specifically from the set that brush provided before bringing in new ones. It’s fun too because when I do texture with it it feels kind of multicolored and blended.

His pants, and probably one of the most common brushes for the Western set. It’s got a somewhat more roughspun texture while also being able to go to just being flat and cover a decent amount of space between for light texturing.

A simple square brush which varies opacity by pen pressure, for shading him.

A mostly flat oval brush that I used for highlights on her clothing. Same deal--the opacity is determined by pen pressure. Helped smooth things out a bit, and with very bright lights helps make the cloth feel more reflective and satiny.

(It should be said I know nothing about fabric and satin just seems like the ting with that kind of reflectivity--I have no idea what the fabrics in my reference images are, they just look reflective and crinkle in certain ways.)

This is a brush that jitters saturation and brightness in a tad that looks a bit stripey, and I like it for his vest and their shoes because it feels a little rougher, and sometimes a bit knitted or wooly.

The base texture of both their main pieces of clothing is the same as brush number 2 from the last one, but this time with two colors overlapping one another to give it more depth and make it feel a bit rougher and thicker as material.

So this is brush 1 from the last set, but I’ve made it one color (the light green), copied it and changed the hue to a bluer shade, and then placed the two exactly one over the other, setting the bluer version to Vivid Light in the layer settings. Then you just futz around with the specific color and opacity til you’re happy with it.

The vest pattern is easy. Draw a row of shapes. Duplicate several times. Arrange in rows. If you need to, you can rotate rows a tad to get them to look good when they line up.

I have a celtic knot pattern. For his clothing I set one row of the pattern at the bottom, lowered the opacity, and used a soft brush with the smudge tool at 80% or 90% to pull the color from the top up over more of his clothing.

For hers, same deal but instead of using the smudge brush I set the layer to being some kind of color burn or linear burn in the layer settings and set copies of it in a line so it looks like a repeating texture.

You know all of these by now, they’re the ones that keep coming up and from now on I’m not going to talk about them anymore.

This brush looks like trees! And also I use it for weird cloud patterning on both these guys and the Lakeshore pair.

I made a brush that is dots! It is just a circle with the spacing settings turned up so that there’s distance between them. The dots brush is a fucking lifesaver. It can look like beads or coins or be converted into other patterning. It’s great. A+ don’t know why I didn’t do this earlier.

The last thing I have for you is mostly about layer settings, which I am very poor at explaining, so sorry about that.

I used a watercolor looking brush thickly for the Greyfen to give the cloth a kind of slightly iridescent silky vibe. How the colors work in the other points.

The difference between the blue stroke in the above version and the below version is that the bottom one is on a layer set to Pin Light. I’m not sure exactly what pin light does, but it tends to produce colors that kind of combine the feels of the relevant colors? It’s definitely one to use when you’re trying to make things shade in a way that feels iridescent.

The difference between the purple stroke above and below is the one below’s layer is set to Vivid Light. Vivid light tends to produce brightly saturated colors and I kind of have no idea how it works either. Just futz around with the hue of the Vivid Light layer until you like how things look.

Lastly, the bottom line of dots has been set as a Clipping Mask over the two stroke layers. Because of this, it only shows up where it overlaps those strokes, and I think takes on their properties? So it’s operating like it’s Pin Light over the Pin Light layer and making that weird gold color and acting like vivid light on the vivid light layer and making the yellow green. The Clipping Mask is your best friend because it saves you a lot of erasing and lets you make things transparent along with or otherwise fall in line with whatever they’re attached to.

I hope this was helpful and I’m sorry if it was confusing. Thank you again for your support and your interest!

#ask #askbox #art talk #tutorial #art tutorial #Anonymous

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dearlazerbunny · 5 years

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Lie to Me (Ch. 5 of ?)

Pairings: Loki x Reader

Genre/Ratings: M eventually (aiming for a slow burn here); warnings for kidnapping and subsequent anxiety/PTSD (will be marked before every chapter)

Words: 1500

Summary: If you had to guess what the captured, traitor, trickster god Loki Laufeyson wanted or needed at this moment, a babysitter would be far, far down on the list. (Set after the events of Avengers 1.)

SHOUTOUT TO @molmcb and @jessiejunebug and their continued quest to inflate my ego as I beg them to tell me my writing is halfway decent

Requested Tags: @deraniel @iamverity @yasnooshka24@themusingsofmany@dark-night-sky-99 @wegingerangelica

“You said you have questions.”

Your pencil scratches to a halt on your notebook. “What?”

The man in his cell heaves a long suffering sigh. “Must you make me repeat myself constantly? You said you have questions. Ask them.”

Um… what? You raise an eyebrow at him and peer closely, trying to distinguish and sort of schmoozing like the last time he spoke to you. “Are you… are we, like, talking now? Is this a thing?”

“Excuse me?”

“Well you seemed pretty insistent on keeping up the whole silent treatment, sooooo… why talk now? Did my ever-present charm finally seduce the Trickster?”

He gives you a look that could feasibly translate to ‘you’d be more attractive dipped in a swamp and covered in grass clippings’. “I am bored. You are here and seem somewhat capable of producing coherent thoughts. Therefore, you happen to be my only option for entertainment.”

“Hoo boy, lucky me.” You snort. “Don’t lie to me, you probably just want to figure out how to sway me into unlocking your handcuffs again.”

He seems amused by this. “I am the god of lies, Witling. I very much doubt you could tell when I lie to you.”

“Bet.” You pause. “I- sorry. What did you call me?”

The Trickster has an incredibly self-satisfied smirk on his lips, one that instantly makes you want to slap it off of him. “You seem to think yourself incredibly pithy for a mortal. Not many would speak so smartly to the God with a sliver tongue. And, you apparently refuse to call me by name, thus I shall not call you by yours, Witling.”

Considering everything he just said to you were well-places insults, they’re incredibly pretty insults. You suppose it’s that whole silver tongue thing. The man could read a phone book and it’d be X-rated. “I’m assuming you’re not actually calling me witty, Trickster?”

“Ah, the little one understands sarcasm. Quite a boon.”

At this point the jabs just fly right over your head. You put your chin in your hand and rest it on the table, musing. “Hm. The Witling and the Trickster. Sounds like a bad buddy-cop movie. I’m sure Neil Gaiman would make a killing off of it though.”

“You are very quickly trying my patience.”

“Well hey, you said you wanted entertainment, right?” The ferocity of his glare doesn’t scare you this time, surprisingly- you just scrunch your nose up at him, your equivalent of a toddler sticking out her tongue in a na-na-you-can’t-get-me kind of way. “So, can I really ask anything?”

“Provided it is not something so asinine as ‘do apples taste as they do on Earth’.”

“Hey, it’s a good question! Seven year old me was a smart cookie.” Externally, you’re trying to keep calm, but your heart is thumping so wildly in your chest you’re surprised the god doesn’t comment on it. You can ask him anything. Possibilities are whirling around in your head so quickly you can barely think of one to snatch up and voice. So you blurt the first thing you can think of- “did you really give birth to a horse?”

There’s a moment of silence, and you almost think he hasn’t heard you, but then his face twists into the most haughty, appalled, scandalized look that’s ever come out of god or mortal in any of the nine realms; you’re willing to bet your entire life’s savings on it. “Did I what.”

You try to subtly clamp a hand over your mouth in effort to keep from bursting out laughing right to his face. “I’m assuming that’s a no, then?”

“Mortals are the most inane, idiotic, moronic creatures-” He steadies himself, seemingly controlling his outburst with a well-controlled breath. “No. I absolutely did not. Where in Hel did you manage to come up with such a ludicrous statement?”

“So once upon a time, you turned into a mare to seduce a horse called Svadilfari and the resulting, um, incident, created an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir. I mean, if the story is true, you were kind of in a bad spot and had to think on the fly, but uh… yeah. Kind of a creative way of doing things.” The Trickster looks even paler than usual. “You sure that didn’t happen? ‘Cause uh, its kind of a well documented story-”

“I can assure you in my one thousand and fifty odd years of life I have not ever seduced a horse.” You have to give a little giggle at that, because such an odd statement coming out of someone so furious is absolutely hilarious.

“Well, damn. Mythomaniacs everywhere just had a sharp pain in their chests and don’t know why.”

The Trickster leans his head back against his cell wall with a solid thunk and lets his eyes close. “And Thor wonders why I loathe Midgard so much.”

“I guess centuries of rumors working their way down the grapevine could mess up your reputation a bit, huh?” You’re half teasing, and half trying to cheer him up, but he doesn’t seem all that convinced. You’re also terrified you’ve just insulted the crap out of him and he’s going to go back to the silent treatment, and you really do not want that to happen- this is the most fun you’ve had in ages. “So you’re a thousand and fifty? Roughly?”

“Yes.”

“How long is that in, like, regular years?” He cracks open one eyelid to give you the stink eye, and you roll your eyes back at him. “You know what I mean. Midgardian years, whatever.”

“How should I know that?”

“Well, how long do Asgardians live?”

He seems to think for a moment. “Five thousand or so, give or take.”

“Okay, sooooo…” you scratch some quick math onto the paper in front of you. Five thousand years divided by one thousand and fifty, Loki’s age- 4.76ish. If the normal human lifespan is ninety years, being generous, then ninety divided by 4.76 is… “Huh.”

“Have you made a revolutionary discovery? Shall I call your pathetic press?”

“Just out of curiosity, how do you think the prefrontal cortex matures in Asgardians as compared to humans?”

“Considering Asgardians are vastly superior to mortals, I should say at a greater capacity.”

“I sure hope so,” you murmur to yourself. Because this is… wow. Kind of terrifying, and kind of hilarious.

“What has your tongue in knots?”

“Do you really want to know?”

He cocks and eyebrow and glances around at his cell. “I’m not sure how the information could make my situation any worse.”

“Fair. Well, by human standards, you’re just shy of nineteen years old.”

“I have no context for your lifespans.”

“Um, eighteen is when you’re legally considered an adult in most countries. Here in the States you can’t legally consume alcohol until you’re twenty one. And I’m twenty four, so technically, by Earth’s standards, I’m older than you.”

Oh, the look on his face is just priceless. You wish you had a camera. “That is preposterous.”

“Math doesn’t lie, man. Oh my god, if you were normal, you’d be some rich frat boy right now…!”

“I have no comprehension for this term… frat boy… but from your tone of voice I can sure you I most decidedly would not be one.”

You shake your head, a huge grin on your face. “This is hilarious. I’m older than you. I feel like I should give you a lecture on safe driving skills or why you should stay in school.”

Trickster is practically nose to nose with the glass wall of his cell, looking ridiculously frustrated. “I have harnessed the power of an infinity stone to my own whims and you dare insinuate that you outrank me!”

A what now? “What’s an infinity stone? I haven’t heard of that term.”

It’s almost like a light switch flipping off- everything in him visibly shuts down and withdrawals into himself, swallowing everything up as a snake might a rat. “It is nothing. Unimportant.”

The way he stops on a dime is almost scary. Someone who can control their emotions at the drop of a hat like that… well. They usually don’t learn that skill by pleasant means. So you drop it for now, but you do write yourself a little note with a question mark, right next to his ‘human age’ that’s circled in big black marks. “Hey, I was just kidding Trickster. I doubt I outrank you in anything other than, like, random Midgardian trivia. Trust me, even with the handcuffs, you’re still the heavyweight here.”

To your relief, something like life filters back into his face, just a bit. “It would be best you do not forget that, Witling. There will come a day where I could make your life a living nightmare.”

But his voice is so light you just crinkle your nose at him. “Nah, I bet you’d be harmless. I’m the one who kept you entertained all these dark lonely nights after all.”

“I believe I would rather have Mjolnir set on my head.”

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theendofman · 3 years

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Industrialization of Life

Slow Days - Chapter 6

This is a proper chapter for once, not just a short essay about one of my weird daydreams, so grab a cup of tea before reading. If you haven't read the previous chapters you can find the full collection on my blog. Enjoy :)

The Probe exited the Kuiper Belt, slowly moving sol-ward. Its utter size rendered all human definitions of "vessel" meaningless. It hadn't been built for humans though, it had been built to eat. The gates on the mechanized astroid opened, as large as the humans' towers and wider than most earth-rivers long, to reveal hangars filled with autonomous agents, sized from the scale of humans themselves to the dimensions of large factory buildings. A small group of a few thousand, roughly the size of oil tankers and shaped like squished, edged eggs, separated from their docking station and disappeared into the abyss.

Alecjo stared at the wall in his cabin. It's been 3 weeks since they passed the asteroid belt. The fault had been with the electronic valves. A fault they couldn't fix while fuel was flowing through the system, which they couldn't stop since the valves were broken. If they had turned the ship around they'd have fallen short, slowly turning towards the sun. That wouldn't have been a problem if they had flown a stable transfer orbit, but they didn't. It would have been too slow to meet the required timeframe. Therefore they would have been in a parabolic trajectory towards sol, eventually hitting her surface. Sure, it would have taken months, but the captain didn't want to risk it. Eventually, he decided to dump the remaining propellant and hope that someone would come to rescue the Vuoto, while only pointing the ion-thrusters outward.

Alexander raised his head; he sat on the other side of the room. They had been sharing rooms since Diana and the captain had converted the other cabins to growing cabinets. "I'm going to check the scans again", Alex said.

===============================================

While Alecjo and Diana had been outside Alex had sent out a distress signal and it actually went through before the power went out, but it wasn't answered the way that they'd hoped. A day after the broadcast they received an encrypted transmission. An update to the system computers completely and physically bricking their radio by burning capacitors in one of the modules, crippling the ships ability to communicate or announce their presence. They could listen, but not speak up. The company had decided that the Vuoto and its Cargo weren't valuable enough to spawn a rescue operation. It was illegal sure, but no one would have persecuted them, even if the public had found out. The update served to prevent public outrage. To prevent possible revolution. They had betrayed the crew, so Alexander Laventryev hoped for the kindness of strangers.

Alecjo didn't answer Alex. He hadn't really spoken to anyone for three days. It was just too much effort. He was well-nourished and physically fit enough, but it was just so hard; so Alex left him in the cabin.

As Alex entered the bridge he saw Diana was already there monitoring the life support for about the fifteenth time today. Silently he flew over to the radio console; in his peripheral vision, he noticed Diana trying to conceal turning her head towards him slightly. "Anything new?"

Her voice sounded rough. Alex sighed as he scrolled through the new messages. Diana eyed him, annoyed about his silence.

"The captain needs 8% increased soil humidity in your quarter. Make that happen until tomorrow." Alex sharply exhaled as he pushed his rising discontent to the side. He didn't like to be bossed around like that. Sometimes he thought of how little he actually knew about the other crew members. He knew Alecjo was married and that Diana had been living with her sister before she left earth to provide for both their lives. The captain was a father, but he had never talked about the mother of his two daughters.

>>I might be the one who left the least behind<< he said to himself as he reached the bottom of the log. No transmissions for them. Not one even mentioning them.

"What did you say?", Diana asked harshly. She hadn't slept well the night before. "Nothing, just talking to myself."

Alex hadn't even noticed he had muttered those word out loud and he felt a slight sting in his chest as Diana drifted over to the exit to leave. "I'll have it done by tonight" Alex mumbled. Diana left for the growing cabinet, that what had been Alex cabin.

She tried to focus. Her peripheral eyesight had shrunk down to about 60 degrees. As she floated down the hall her bowel started to sting again. Plants weren't her strong suit but she thought herself to be decent at engineering.

The internal ship database suggested 30 mols per square meters per day over a 16 hour period for growing vegetables. The converted cabin had a 9-square-meters-footprint and was 2.3 meters high. Therefore the room had a total growing area of 2 times 9 m² floor and ceiling, and 4 times 6.9 m² wall area totalling 45.6 m² of which approximately 42 were usable. This results in 1260 mols per day. The LEDs stored on the ship for on-the-job mechanics specified 1.6 micromols per joule produced, so over a 16-hour period the cabin required 787.5 million joules, or 49.218 million joules per hour. Diana needed to find 13.67 kilowatts for the greenhouse to operate effectively. Life support was out of the question. The now unusable radio had used up 27 watts. That wasn't a lot of help. By shutting off the navigation and communication subroutines in the computer they could save around 800 watts, but that also barely made a dent. Fuel pumps and valves had had 5 kilowatts allocated to them. Significant, but there were still 7.9 kilowatts to go. The cogs in Diana's head started to turn when she softly hit the floor of the hallway.

The Vuoto had 10 ion thrusters, each using a minimum of 3 kilowatts. They would have to shut off 3, an idea the captain would not like. It would put the Vuotos thrust off-axis as there was no gimble on the ion thrusters, but the more they'd shut off the further they'd drift outward. They could also only turn off two, but that would decrease the potential output of their crops. Joseph always stressed how getting home was their top priority and this would make their journey longer. Much longer.

>>Oh god, what will he think of me?<<

The thoughts lingering in the back of Diana's head had started poking through more frequently, but she kept pushing them aside, trying not to give them too much attention. Desperately trying.

In the cabin, Joseph was watering the berries when Diana flew in. "I hope you have some good news for me", he said more cheerfully than Diana had expected. He didn't look up from what he was doing, hovering on the would-be ceiling his face vanishing in the leaves. "I-", Diana was struggling for the right words, stumbling over her own tung as she tried to ignore the pain in her abdomen.

"I need power from 4 of our ion engines... Now, I know you want to limit our ti-"

"I trust you." The captain talked over her. "Do what you need to do." He was annoyed Diana interrupted him. Always on her feet, always wanting to change something, to improve the ship. The seeds had started to grow towards the centre of the room and he was testing the acidity of the soil again. Oh, and the tomato plants needed their leaves clipped. And he should trim the berry bushes. He grabbed the gardening scissors from his cargo pants and drifted over to the back wall with the vegetables. It was peaceful in the cabin and the plants needed him. Back on earth, when he was still living in that lakehouse with his daughters, he had dreamed of becoming a farmer. He could never scrape up enough money to lease the machines and the land, let alone buy them. But up yet here he was, needed for his gardening abilities. He collected the clipped leaves and slid them into the zip-lock bag taped to his belt. "Did you have a garden growing up, Diana?"

"We..." Diana tried to tear through the fog in her skull. "... the neighbours had planted some on the roof, but we never had a garden of our own, no."

"What a shame. I used to tell my daughters stories about rows upon rows of grape bushes and vast fields."

"It's... nice to have something to dream of", she muttered as she hovered in the door frame.

Diana had a bad gut feeling after she had left the captain in the chamber. She didn't know the captain very well, but she knew he didn't like space. He didn't like the void. What if he just wanted her off his ass? He could fix anything she'd screw up when she wasn't looking, Diana thought as she moved back to the control room. Her intercom device cracked. "Diana?" Alex's voice crawled through the speaker: "I need a second pair of eyes on this."

Two drones latched into one of the many asteroids in the belt and started chipping away at it, one by one shaping the debris into small, cubes-like structures, maybe 5 by 5 meters in size, which shot into the void, back towards the mother ship.

#science fiction #scifi #hard scifi #space #cosmic horror #dystopia #thriller

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calorieworkouts · 4 years

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Beginners Guide to Kettlebells with Workout

If you walk right into any fitness center today you'll likely see somebody (make that more than one) utilizing kettlebells to work out. There's definitely no denying: kettlebells are searing hot now. Frankly, the very first time I saw somebody using kettlebells in the health club I believed that I 'd participated in some type of surreal truth - maybe a flick created by Salvador Dali.

It transforms out I was stuck in the rock age - kettlebells have been utilized in Russia since the 1700s as well as in the USA given that the 1960's. Yet it's only given that Pavel Tsatsouline created the initial kettlebell instructor program in 2001, that they have actually really kicked into high-gear.

Okay, it's obtained some background - I such as that - however what can this cannonball with a deal with provide for you? According to proponents of the K'bells here's why they're amazing:

Pros

Quick, full body workout.

In 20 - half an hour you can effectively exercise all your major muscular tissue groups.

Combines cardio and also strength training.

Awesome, obtain stronger and fitter at the same time. Plus this is a fantastic means to include high-intensity period training.

Works your core.

Each kettlebell exercise assists to increases core security - i.e. the complete core including your abdominals, oblique's and also back muscles.

Enhances practical performance, stability and also flexibility.

Keeps it simple.

And cheap. You can ditch expensive gym memberships due to the fact that just one kettlebell is like having a really portable health club of your own - which makes it terrific for setting up your very own economical home gym.

Builds lean, muscular physiques.

The nature of kettlebell workouts is that they concentrate on toughness, endurance and flexibility, therefore they tend to produce lean, strong bodies (as long as you consume right and rest right also). So it's more like Brad Pitt in Fight Club than Arnie in ... well Arnie in anything. (Note: you can develop a lean, muscular physique with traditional stamina training devices as well - dumbbells, barbells, we still enjoy you).

Variety is fun.

Kettlebell exercises are fun. Perhaps it's even if you obtain to turn a hefty weight around, who knows?

Excellent for fat loss.

The American Council on Exercise carried out a study on the efficiency of kettlebell workouts for fat loss [1] To reduce a long tale short, in 20 minutes they melted a standard of 272 calories (omitting calories shed via the substantial anaerobic initiative).

The study located that when you took the anaerobic effort right into consideration, the individuals were melting a minimum of 20.2 calories per min - which, according to the group, is 'off the charts'. To put it right into viewpoint: 'That amounts running a 6-minute mile pace. The only various other thing I might discover that burns that numerous calories is cross-country snowboarding up hill at a fast lane."

Cons

Learning curve.

Kettlebell exercises present a multitude of unique workouts, which suggests there's a lot to learn if you desire to have as good a form as possible - given the vibrant nature of the exercises good type is vital to avoid injury.

Not for getting huge.

If you're searching for massive toughness, or dimension gains, after that dumbbells and barbells are going to be your tools of selection. That's not to say that you can't place on a decent quantity of muscular tissue with kettlebells, due to the fact that you can, yet past a certain weight they come to be far as well troublesome to utilize effectively.

Tough on the hands and wrists.

Fixed weight.

As you obtain more powerful, you'll possibly have to get at the very least two kettlebells of different weights for different exercises - e.g. top body vs. lower body. Initially, one kettlebell will be sufficient to obtain started.

Getting the ideal kettlebell for you

How heavy?

Kettlebell expert Lauren Brooks suggests the complying with minimum weights to start with:

For females: 18lb (8kg), 26lb (12kg), 35lb (16kg)

For males: 35lb (16kg), 44lb (20kg), 52lb (24kg)

As a novice you can begin with simply one kettlebell, yet if your budget plan permits it having a set of 2-3 enables you a lot even more adaptability with the exercises.

Where to get your kettlebell

You can obtain a range of kettlebell brands on Amazon.

Here are a few of the leading advised ones:

Life Line Dragon Door Cap Wright

Importance of proper form

According to kettlebell trainers the most significant blunder novices make is not getting proper guideline. Currently certainly you 'd expect them to say this, yet offered the nature of the workouts you actually can harm yourself if you do not do them with the correct kind. Instance in factor - yours genuinely! The very first time I got a kettlebell and attempted one of the workouts, I virtually knocked myself out. Get some direction and also conserve yourself from injury. Ideally you want to get some correct instruction on the exercises from a licensed kettlebell instructor (from a revered organization).

If this is out of your reach, the next best point is to get an excellent educational DVD by a certified kettlebell instructor.

That claimed, if your budget is really extended, there are also some truly good educational videos on YouTube, yet you need to be a lot more discerning concerning the quality of the instructor.

Beginners Kettlebell Workout

Below this you will certainly find a variation you can publish as well as video clips on how to execute the exercises.

Print Workout

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Kettlebell Exercise Videos

Two-Handed Kettlebell Swings

One-Arm Kettlebell Clean

Kettlebell Goblet Squat

One-Arm Kettlebell Press

Wrapping up

We remain in love: exercising with kettlebells is amazing! A strong kettlebell exercise will certainly lantern with calories like they're absolutely nothing, while building endurance, adaptability and also stamina. They're an excellent way to cut your costs as well as streamline your exercises over time, yet there's a finding out curve, so it is very important you get proper direction - ideally individually from a certified kettlebell instructor.

If you're trying to find that sexy, lean, toned and also muscular appearance then these little elegances will certainly get you well on your means to that look, nonetheless, if you intend to load on severe muscle mass, after that your focus is mosting likely to require to be on conventional strength training equipment. Fundamental, it does not matter what you're trying to attain with your figure as well as fitness, these guys deserve a location in your workouts.

Have you made use of kettlebells prior to? What did you believe? Let us understand in the remarks below!

#body workout #exercise #fitness #fitness center #full body workout #gym #health #health club #weight #work out #workout #workout plans #workouts

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jngukie · 7 years

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WIP Tag

i was tagged by @floofyeol! idk if this is a blessing or a curse let’s find out.

some of these fics have been in drafts for ages? so tbh i don’t even know if i will post them but hey we’ll see. (so assume for now that none of these will be posted—except when stated otherwise with an *)

the first couple will be ships. the later ones are reader-inserts. all are still protected by the Creative Commons license.

slide it up in here: chapter 10* pairing(s): jikook, namjin, yoonseok genre: humour, crack, drama, angst tags/warnings: texting, college au, slightly filthy, innuendoes, Awkward Jeon Jungkook™, slowburn, self-esteem issues, self-hatred, implied/referenced homophobia, everyone is a mess™

SUMMARY

gguki: [image attached] gguki: what should i do with it chimothy: um chimothy: dude idk if i’m entitled to give you suggestions but chimothy: i mean you could always just stick it in the ass???????

or jungkook accidentally sends a stranger a picture of his roommate’s brand new dildo

PREVIEW

the (9)7 wonders of the world

tol: ok here’s the plan dabs 24/7: yugyeom no offence but your plans kinda suck muscle pig: ^^ what bambam said muscle pig: i don’t trust you anymore tol: wow that hurt tol: but i promise you this one will be better dabs 24/7: don’t do it kook tol: it won’t backfire in any way

untilted vhope pairing(s): vhope, namjin genre: humour, fluff tags/warnings: college au, skype dates, profanity, neurobiology/pyschology major!namjoon, ra!jin, music major!yoongi (i think), some major!hoseok, and high schooler!tae, tbh idrk bc i haven’t finished writing it lmao

SUMMARY

When Jung Hoseok signed up for college, he didn’t think he’d end up on academic probation so soon. Hell, he’d never guess he’d have friends who would use him as a fucking lab rat for their atrocious experiments. He definitely did not expect to fall in love with his resident advisor’s little brother—and then proceed to sneak into said resident advisor’s room and hack his computer just to have one more Skype date with the little brother. Without getting caught by said resident advisor. Yeah—he’s a little stressed, to say the least.

→ a continuation of It’s Burning Up in Here.

PREVIEW

He didn’t sign up for this. He thought college would be a great idea—who would pass up the opportunity for ultimate freedom and youthful stupidity? No, he was ecstatic for college—but he definitely hadn’t signed up to be the fucking victim for his resident advisor’s boyfriend’s experiments.

“Hoseok-ssi, please stay still or otherwise this will hurt. A lot,” Namjoon begged as his friend Yoongi tried to hold him down on the fragile coffee table.

“That’s not what your needle’s saying! You said it was a harmless experiment! You said I’d be fine!”

“You will be! I just need practice drawing blood once—”

“You’ve never even done this before?” Hoseok shrieked, writhing some more. Yoongi growled in frustration and flung his entire weight onto Hoseok’s body—and thus effectively snapping the legs of the coffee table and sending them down towards the floor.

His advisor ran into the room then, eyes wide in alarm while holding a skillet filled with half-cooked meat, his creased white apron reading World’s Best Dad! in pretty cursive pink. “What the hell is going on here?”

untitled taekook* pairing(s): taekook, yoonjin genre: fluff, angst, humour, crack tags/warnings: restaurant au, running away, mentions of nudity, exhibitionism, does getting caught dancing naked in your room count as exhibitionism idek, mention of mpreg, but there’s no actual mpreg, i mean it’s the sims it’s not real, many many references to the male organ, but sorry folks no smut (A/N: this is literally what i have in my docs wow i’m such a nerd for preparing ao3 tags LMAO)

SUMMARY

The last thing Jungkook expected after running away to Seoul is to score a private live viewing of Naked_Neighbour_Dancing_In_His_Bedroom.mov—and then proceed to bump into him when he’s not-so-naked. And then also manage to greet him with a slap. It also probably doesn’t help that Nude Neighbour is his new boss. All in all, Jungkook just maybe kinda wants to die. (But of course Seokjin isn’t gonna allow him, so he’s just going to suffer—for now.)

PREVIEW

He sighs, turning his head to gaze out of the window, only to freeze when he realises his view isn’t exactly the most… decent.

Because across from his small studio apartment window is a perfect view of a larger apartment in the building across, and currently, the tenant (he hopes the boy’s the tenant) is enthusiastically dancing through his room completely naked, dinglehopper fully on display. He’s mouthing the words to some song, throwing a finger up in the air as he shuts his eyes and nods his head as though the music (Jungkook thinks there’s music) blasting in his room is speaking to him on a spiritual level.

Jungkook’s face is bright red when he finally breaks out of his trance, and he wishes he wasn’t so bad at reacting appropriately to inappropriate situations so he could at least have saved himself from adding a thirty-second clip of Nude Neighbour to his collection of non-digital memories. He rushes to the window and pulls the curtains close, fingers stiff as he tries to rid his brain of such scandalous images.

At least he was hot.

His face is redder now—if that’s even possible. “Fuck me,” he whispers, and then flushes even more. “Wait, no. Don’t fuck me. That’s not what—why am I even talking to myself. Agh.”

take these words out of my lungs (and set them free) pairing(s): vmin genre: angst, fluff tags/warnings: major character death, suicide attempt, depression, body image issues, depressed!jimin, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, ambiguous original character that appears for like five seconds, high school au

SUMMARY/PREVIEW

three pounds. that’s how much he’s gained since he last stepped on the scale, the dictator that rules over his life. he stares at the numbers again, frowning at the digits glaring up at him. perhaps there was a mistake; maybe the scale is rigged or jammed or simply broken. he couldn’t have possibly gained three pounds in a span of two days. hasn’t he been walking around his neighbourhood enough?

he sighs, stepping off the scale and turning around to flush the toilet before washing his hands. even the cold water burns his skin, and he wishes he could melt through the cracks on the floor. would he slim down then? would he finally be skinny enough?

“jimin!” he hears his mother call, and he forces his way from the sink, sneaking out his parent’s bathroom and into the living room outside. their apartment is small but cozy. jimin hates it.

untitled kim seokjin* pairing(s): platonic OT7 genre: fluff, angst tags/warnings: anxiety, depression, eating disorder, negative body image perception, lapslock (lower case)

SUMMARY

honestly, he can’t remember what it’s like to live anymore.

PREVIEW

breathe in. breathe out.

three lucky charms. four cereal pieces. seven bits down the drain.

he smiles, staring at the milk-stained sink as the spoon clatters against metal, bowl turned upside down. it’s ugly—white ink staining burnt grey like liquid cobwebs feeding on rust. it looks exactly as how he feels: dirty, wasted, trash. one-seventy-nine centimetres down the drain.

untitled kim taehyung pairing(s): Kim Taehyung/Reader genre: fluff, humour, probably angst bc knowing me tags/warnings: (sor far) nudity, profanity

SUMMARY/PREVIEW

Kim Taehyung has no regrets. Sure, he probably should’ve thought twice before he spent all of his money on BIGBANG merch just to show Jungkook that yes, he’s the bigger fanboy, and sure, he definitely should’ve listened to Jimin when he warned Taehyung that no, he shouldn’t eat three whole pizza pies by himself, but that doesn’t mean he regrets any of his decisions. Even though blowing all his earnings on people he’ll never meet did cause him to starve for a good or so month.

(Thank god for ramyeon.)

So, no, Jimin, he doesn’t regret running out of the shower butt naked when he heard her singing on her way to the second floor of their co-ed dorm, doesn’t regret shouting, “I love your voice!” before she screamed, “Oh my god, you’re naked!” And he definitely doesn’t regret yelling, “Oh, shit!” into Oblivion before sprinting back into the bathroom to resume the hot shower he abandoned.

“For fuck’s sake, Taehyung,” Jimin says to him once Taehyung’s finished recounting the story, the two of them lying side by side on Jimin’s bed. “You’re going to get us kicked out.”

“I should probably say hi,” Taehyung muses, blinking at the ceiling. “Do you think she remembers me?”

Jimin glances down, and snickers. “With how small your dick is, she probably does.”

untitled park jimin pairing(s): Park Jimin/Reader genre: fluff tags/warnings: (so far) blind!reader

SUMMARY

He is an angel; and she doesn’t need to see to believe. She fathoms his widespread wings as he gently picks her up, worriedly and urgently asking for her health, voice so soft it touches her skin like silk on smooth glass. His eyes must be crinkled in the corners, a smile stuttering through apologies, heart too warm for the human hand to touch. She imagines what he looks like, faintly deciding through his rapid Korean that he must be chesnut if not vanilla, not in skin but in connotation because he sounds and smells and feels like home.

Her pause is a millennia long, and she hears him repeat himself again, the sound of melting marshmallow oozing out of beautiful lips: “Are you alright?”

She produces a smile, feathery and light, eyes glassy and the world continues to remain black. “I’m fine,” she replies, and her voice is cracked from its lack of use; she hasn’t met anyone worth talking to in what feels like a century. Another smile reappears, much strained than what she’s used to, and she picks herself up from where the concrete lay, the dust falling from her voile skirt. “No damage done.”

untitled kim taehyung #2* pairing(s): Kim Taehyung/Reader, platonic OT7 genre: fluff, angst tags/warnings: i think it’s schizophrenia?, mental illnesses, depression

SUMMARY/PREVIEW

There is a moment when time stands still. It’s fleeting, escaping the moment your fingers curl around it and pull. But it is during this moment happiness enraptures you with its warm hug as your heart thunders against your chest—the steady thump, thump, thump of a snare drum awakening. It is during this moment pain ceases to exist.

But after, everything will come rushing back.

i have more but these are the ones that are decent, at the very least.

to pass the torch on, i’ll tag @minmelly @kinky-koreans @pasteljeonggukk @haneulismykoreanname @rnjmnster and anyone else who wants to do it! (if you don’t, no pressure. good luck to you and your writing!)

#tags #i actually have like 10 more wips #i didn't know i had this many #will i actually write any of these #hopefully at some point

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cecilalvise-blog · 7 years

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Queen Tetralina IX

19/7/17

This is inspired by a real story I want to write. This one specifically is from a final project I did in creative writing class so not canon to the actual story at all!

My first short story I published yay!

_________________________________________________________________________________

“Was that last meeting?” I sighed as I emerged from the council legislature.

“Affirmative.” Responded Mercedes, leafing through sheets of documents.

“Good, any longer and I would’ve lost my sanity.”

“Impossible, milady! No man could maintain such a calm composure in stressful times like yourself! Truly there has never been a better ruler- May I?” My exuberant retainer, Amadeus skipped forward nudging away the chariot’s driver to open the door. I gave the driver a brief look of sympathy as he huffed and marched towards his seat.

“Calm yourself Amadeus, this is serious!” barked Mercedes

“I am serious! You think I’m lying? I never would about my- our glorious and radiant and-”

I let out a small chuckle at their bickering before directing my attention to the dour scenery. Dry earth left wheat fields barren, an entire lake was shallow with massive amounts of algae blanketing the surface. Even the citizens seemed drained of all colour with their sallow skin and bony frames. As if the kingdom of the Montique dragon wasn’t unpleasant enough.

Silence drowned the atmosphere once Mercedes and Amadeus were finished arguing. I stared at the gloomy sky as night washed away remnants of daylight. Just as the horse's rhythm of clipping and clopping were slowly lulling me to sleep an ominous chanting snapped me awake.

“Excited about our meal, we are ever so earnest, about all things turnips, surely a great appeal, it is a great big deal!” The children’s voices carried an honest and pure excitement that made my heart flip and my stomach churn. I gnawed at my lip and turned away from the window. I ignored my creeping memories.

“Milady! We are here.” Once the carriage fully halted, Amadeus practically burst through the door and stuck out his hand.

“Huh? Oh yes thank you.” After stepping out with his assistance, I made eye contact with driver. “And thank you,” after bobbing a curtsy I gave him a silver coin.

“It was a pleasure your majesty.” He tipped his hat, before snapping the reins and taking off.

“Thank you too Mercedes, you are free to take off. I wish to be alone tonight.” I said upon reaching my bedroom chambers.

“As you wish milady. It is greatly appreciated.” Mercedes bowed then spun around on her heel. I watched her long vibrant hair until she was out of sight.

“Amadeus that goes for you too.” I cautiously eyed him.

He hugged his satchel tightly. “Yes well I just wanted to give you something first. May I be permitted ten minutes with you, Prince- Queen?” His face was begging me for permission.

I sighed. “I wouldn’t have a choice now would I? Alright then, but only ten!” I snicker as his face radiated giddiness.

“You have my word, Milady!”

Of course as per usual, Amadeus stretched those ten minutes to another and another until an hour has passed of him explaining the clothes he bought and what goes best with what.

“And finally this one! The moment I saw wearing that dress I knew I had to buy something that was just as marvelous!” He excitedly produced a maroon cardigan from behind his back. “I knew these were too sub par for such a divine dress like that one!” He grinned brightly as he urged me to try it on.

My eyes widened like saucers when my fingers grazed the silky material. “Amadeus! It looks so expensive! I’ve told you not to spend so much on gifts anymore!”

"And I told you, milady, there isn't anything out there I rather spend my money on more than I do with you. You're just absolutely the best leader in history and deserve all praise!" He proudly stated without a hint of hesitation.

I bit my lip as shame and embarrassment coursed through my body. I looked down at my hands in disgust. I willed one to transform yet I failed as I always had for the last four years. I scowled; if only he knew.

"Your highness?" I heard his voice break through my thoughts.

I chuckled and brought my plain human hand to his face, pushing away ghost white locks of hair from his steel blue eyes. "Isn't having one eye covered dangerous during a fight?'

"I... Y-you've seen me... pin it back!" He stuttered. His face flushed a vibrant red, I simply gave a warm smile towards his unusual behaviour.

Screams erupted from outside my window. The sound of shattering glass rang throughout the streets accompanied by faint crying in the background. There was was a steady rhythm of thousands of footsteps marching.

In a panic I rush over to witness the horror. My face burned as I could feel the heat lap at my face from meters away. My blood, however, turned to ice at the sight of house Reighlo flags being proudly waved in air.

There was an explosion; the booming sound rattled my entire body. My eyes widened and my knees began to lose strength when my gaze turned towards the council legislature.

The chambers were shrouded in fire. Chunks of brick fell kicking up dust in the air causing a massive cloud around the building. A lump formed in my throat as I watched the rest cave on itself.

An arrow narrowly missed its mark that was my eye when Amadeus abruptly ripped me away from the window. “Damn Reighlians! Isn’t there anything they don’t want?!” He growled as he used his hair clips to pin back his long bangs. “Quick your majesty!”

We bolted down several flights of stairs and rushed towards the back entrance that faced mount Vyrmen.

“Milady, please transform! Fly off into the forest. A small force will follow in close pursuit.”

“I... “ I choked on my words as I tried to explain yet language betrayed me.

An explosion followed by crumbling rubble, stopped us from running. Amadeus protectively wrapped his arms around my lithe form. I looked up at him; he was a whole head taller yet I was sure that I dwarfed him by a meters when in dragon form. I cursed that I couldn’t just sprout wings and to save everyone.

“The main entrance has been penetrated! All forces to the main hallway! Nothing will breach the west!” My pointed ears perked up at General Gustaff’s voice. It miraculously resonated despite the uproar. “Amadeus, you lead the queen’s force!”

“Right! Units! You heard him! Spear and sword fighters guide Milady, archers hold back until I give the command!” The Amadeus that is known throughout the kingdom appeared. The Amadeus that terrifies the lower ranks shouted commands without hesitation.

I watched as archers scurried to align themselves in front of Amadeus. The Reighlo siege paled in comparison to Amadeus’s wrath when it came to protecting me.

“Your highness! Please!” A soldier broke my trance. One can’t fault me for being awestruck. It’s not often I get to witness Amadeus in action.

The soldier escorted me away as I got a glimpse of a shower of arrows raining down when Reighlians approached.

The second we barged through the massive doors, the stench of smoulder burned my nostrils.

“Milady! Quickly fly into the forest, we’ll catch up!” The soldier ordered.

I managed to sprout wings in my state of panic. Unfortunately it had been years since I could accomplish anything with them. They were no better than the toy wings children wore around the market.

As quickly as they appeared they disappeared at the sound of a woman’s shrieking. They were making an escape from behind the castle garden- well more like the castle graveyard for plants- and I ran towards them while ignoring several protests from the guards.

“This way! You’ll be safe in a larger group!” I called to the woman and her child. I Realized there were at least ten more citizens stumbling behind. I called to them to follow us into the forest. Soldiers caught up and urged them to hurry before any Reighlians caught up.

I yelped as I felt strong hands lift me from the ground. “That was the last person! Why are you so adamant on not transforming, Tetralina?!” Exclaimed Amadeus. It was unusual hearing him drop my Title; it's been years since I heard my name like that.

“You’re bleeding.” It was all I could muster. I gently placed my hand on his cut cheek. “That’s not the main issue at hand, Milady,” he said sternly, nevertheless his face flushed red.

“Put me down.” I ordered after covering some decent amount of ground.

“But, Milady!”

“I’m not particularly fond of being carried.” I scoffed. Before Amadeus could protest I shot him a glared and immediately placed me down gently. I heard him mumble an apology and I chuckled.

An hour went by, then two, then more. We treaded ground until we felt it was safe enough to set up camp and conjure up plans for the ‘morrow.

“Where is general Gustaff?” I questioned after counting and identifying our group members: Twelve villagers, about twenty soldiers, Amadeus and myself.

“He stayed behind to hold the western doors. I... don’t know how long he’ll be able to keep that up...”

“Oh...” I summoned all the courage hiding throughout my body and forged a fake smile. Clasping my shaky hands together I spoke as steady as I could, “all right everyone, what has happened has been most unfortunate, yet we must carry on forward and remain positive! We’ll leave this place before dawn.”

The groups huddled together, the soldiers surrounded the villagers and I; they began to decide who was going to take the first watch.

Images from today began to taunt my groggy mind. Memories of how dry and bare land immediately followed afterwards. The amount of labour that will go into rebuilding our kingdom; the kingdom that was only just repairing itself. I ground my teeth in order to drown out that dreadful song; “Excited about our meal, we are ever so earnest, about all things turnips, surely a great appeal, it is a great big deal!”. After an hour of struggling and failing to properly fall asleep, I stood up from my guarded spot and walked towards Amadeus.

“Why are you still up? Beauty sleep is important! Come rest your pretty little head on my lap!” He patted his legs.

“No.”

“Yes, of course. Wouldn't want to accidentally knock you off if danger were to arise. Er, knock on wood...”

“I want to talk... It’s serious, Amadeus.” I sat beside him, knowing he was the right person to confide in.

“Anything.” He said with utmost seriousness.

“It’s about the famine from ten years ago.”

He nodded, keeping his intent on me.

“ Remember how everyone in my family was affected?” My words were hitched nevertheless I forced out the sentences. “Remember how I was the... last.. One...”

“Hey, hey don’t force yourself. I understand enough.” He placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“The problem wasn’t that I was the youngest dragon to be crowned queen just five years later... It was that I was the only dragon!” I held out my hand and willed it to transform. I was barely able to extend my finger nails. “Since then I haven’t been capable of transforming and using my body parts! I just... I just can’t.”

I looked down sullenly. It wasn’t even sadness I felt bubbling within me so much so it was a cocktail of anger, loneliness and disappointment.

“Is that why haven’t seen your fearsome form since I was a kid?” He gave a sympathetic smile.

“Fearsome?” I snorted. “You need a better memory, Amadeus!” I Began giggling.

“It’s.... Been over ten years miss.” He protested sheepishly.

My giggling halted immediately when shouting interrupted our moment of peace. “They’re here!”

“Is that the Reighlo army?!” I gasped. Amadeus swiftly adjusted his hair clips and pushed me behind him.

“Gather the peasants, Milady, we’ll-”

Woosh, an arrow found it grazing past Amadeus’s head; a millimeter closer and his brains would be leaking out.

Bloodlust flickered in Amadeus’s eyes. “Formation!” This time he shoved me more harshly back. “Get going!”

In seconds our small group was swarmed by the Reighlo forces. Every soldier was pinned against another. It was an orchestra of clashing blades illuminated by the twilight.

I steal one last glance at Amadeus before spinning on my heel to catch up with the fleeing citizens. He’s being doubled, we’re fighting a twenty against god knows how many, battle.

“Queen Tetralina IX of house Montique. What a pleasure to meet you.” A sultry voice cut through the atmosphere. Fighting didn’t halt however it did slow down as the imposing presence approached.

“K-king-” I hesitated. The air turned ice cold.

Emerging from the dark was a tall lean man with long sandy blonde hair and menacing blue eyes. “I bring a gift.”He smirked and snapped his fingers. Another soldier scurried in carrying something wrapped in a dirty cloth. “I’m sure you’d want this back. It’s just dead weight for us.” He extended his arm, pointing at me with his index. In that moment the soldier thrusted the item. I caught it and immediately a foul stench burned my nostrils. My fingers made contact with a sticky substance.

Shaking I opened the package. I screamed as I made “eye” contact with General Gustaff’s mortified expression.

I dropped the head and fell back on the dry Earth. My hands were dusted with crusting blood. Rivers of tears drained from my eyes. I clutched my head ripping strands of hair. I scratch at my arms and the ground, desperate to ground myself in reality once more.

I shivered as I heard king Jariel’s footsteps creep closer. I think I tried backing away or was I truly as frozen as I felt?

My mind screamed. He has a blade I mentally yelled when I saw his rapier. No please! My tears were beginning to cloud my vision.

“Sweet queen, I know you have an awful kingdom but was that truly any reason to summon an attack on mine?” He was deadly close now.

My eyes widened. I didn’t send any attack; I wanted to say however my tongue refused to cooperate with my numb mind.

“MOVE TETRALINA!’’

In a swift motion too fast for me to process, Amadeus leaped in front of King Jariel. His sword skimmed the side of Amadeus’s sword then hacking straight into his shoulder. Amadeus let out a howl of pain in a voice that didn’t even sound human.

“I knew lover boy would be back.” The ruthless king tore out his sword from Amadeus’s left shoulder. “How about this? You beat me and I’ll leave your kingdom and pay for all the damage.” His arrogant smirk was all but human.

Before Amadeus could respond, the mad king penetrated his rapier into the flesh above Amadeus’s right clavicle.

“But if I win, your kingdom will belong to me. Don’t worry, the queen and her subjects will be fine.” Ripping his sword out swiftly he precisely inserted it into Amadeus’s right forearm. “You on the other hand,” he jerked his sword in a way that caused Amadeus yo drop his sword. He yelped in excruciating pain as Jariel once again pulled out his blade and thrusted it below Amadeus’s armor causing him to collapse onto the ground. Coughing up blood ensued. “I don’t think you'll be leaving the forest.”

“Please!” I pitifully wailed.

With a smug look he raised his sword for the final strike. Amadeus smiled painfully as he faced me. His bangs fell back down covering half his face yet I could still make out the wave of emotions he painted.

My mind went blank. I barely processed the next moments as time seemed to cease functioning. My temples were throbbing. A splitting headache attacked me all of a sudden.

A curly brown haired man clashed his sword against king Jariel’s. The ringing of of metal on metal broke my trance. I ground my teeth as as the pain worsened. It began to feel as if body was on fire.

A slim woman with long blue hair ran close behind. “Hold back the Reighlo troops! Don’t kill anyone!” She commanded. “Are you alright miss Tetralina.” She crouched beside me looking concerned.

I finally recognized her. “Queen... Azriel?” My voice was quiet, I swore it felt multiple people were pulling at different parts of my skin.

“Hogi? Azriel? What the hell are you doing?!” Growled the king. He attempted to land a few strikes on the man called Hogi but to no avail he however did managed to push him back. Rumor had spread that not only was he a charismatic king but he was also one of the best Reighlo fighters.

“Help!” Choked Hogi as he was barely managing to keep up with Jariel’s swift movements.

I stretched what felt like sails on back before bellowing out a roar. Jariel through the corner of his eye turned to look at me. In seconds I wrapped giant claws into his shoulders, sinking them deep into his flesh.

Letting out a pained howl, he raised a dagger that was stowed in his leather leg strap. I don’t care if he was planning on maiming my feet, I won’t tolerate anymore harm on my people any more.

“Don’t touch her!” Shouted Amadeus. He called forth his last bit of strength to collect his sword. He and Hogi charged forward and thrusted their weapons deep into Jariel's chest. At full force they managed to break through armor.

Coughing up blood, I let go of his body and watched as the life in his eyes began to dim. Cease fighting! Your commander is dead!” Ordered the Reighlo queen. Hogi immediately ran to her side.

“King Jarial, he was your husband.” I looked at her cautiously I shape shifted back.

“Yes, and a better ruler than anyone. However he loved power more than the actual people he was protecting.” She approached me and stretched out her hand. “After your army revolted and attacked our kingdom, he saw it his duty to make it right. Your kingdom is still recovering from its famine, isn’t it?”

My Eyes widened. “You mean there really was an attach?! I didn’t... know” I stammered as I guiltily stared at her outstretched hand.

"I'll be willing to cease this fighting and assist your kingdom- share out resources with you- If you are willing to accept our help.

I pursed my lips and mentally replayed today's events over and over. "Our people won't so easily see eye to eye ma'am.” I finally said.

"I understand which is why we'll see to it that they do." She smiled, her gold eyes held a kindness and wisdom that all rulers requires.

Returning the smile I finally accepted her handshake.

"I'm... so glad...." words were sputtered followed by a thud.

"Amadeus!" I shrieked. I ran towards him. I kneeled down and gently cradled his head in my arms.

"My, my, look at your clothes... they're all tattered." He laughed before coughing up more blood. His skin was paler than I imagined was possible. His wounds were bleeding heavily.

"Stop talking! You're going to be fine- Get help!" I pleaded to one man who was nearby. Two soldiers approached with ripped cloth and gauze.

"Milady! It won't stop bleeding!" Stated the soldier when he was unable to mend Amadeus's side wound.

"It's fine... Tetra-"

"Stop taking."

"I'm afraid I can't... oblige..."

"If you have the strength to talk, you can walk!"

"Milady, I ..." He raised his hand, weakly cupping my face."

"Ama-"

"I..." His hand dropped and his smile faded.

"AMADEUS!" I squeezed his cold hand as tears began to fall non stop, "Amadeus!" After what felt like hours of screaming and wailing I finally silenced myself. Had I torn my vocal cords? Or had I simply run out of tears? Regardless I rose to my feet.

"Queen Tetralina-" Azriel extended a hand in a vain attempt for comfort.

“He would want us to get going. ‘There’s a kingdom to be saved’ he would say.” I rapidly stated. “Bring Amadeus’s body. He’ll be buried at the castle.” I sprouted wings. “ Meet at the castle, we need to start planning for the future.”

I shape shifted back into a dragon and ignored the any protests.

The sun was just peeking through the horizon. My kingdom was however was fully lit from the fires of the streets below. Each flame became larger as I neared. Each spark ate away bits and pieces of my home.

It’s not home... not when I’m alone... I shed a final tear before descending.

#Cecilswriting #QueenTetralina9th #short story

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