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laurenhufflepuff2 · 3 years

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A list of fandoms I'm in (in no particular order, will probably be updated regularly. Some fandoms are more intense and some are more casual. Depending on the fandom, I could go on and on about fandom topics for HOURS. Let's get into it!)

Harry Potter, Disney, Marvel, DC comics, Miraculous Ladybug, Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra, Star Wars, Literature, Winx Club, Nintendo, Minecraft, Little Witch Academia, Voltron, Coraline

Details:

Harry Potter- I got into Harry Potter in 7th grade and now I am the resident expert in my family and in my friend group. I read all the books, watched all the movies (notably the British version), and I've seen the Fantastic Beasts films as well. I've also read Tales of Beedle the Bard (the Warlock's Hairy Heart was traumatizing) along with the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them textbook (plus an updated edition). I also read The Cursed Child script and while I mean no hate to anyone that liked it, I hated what it did to the canon. I am in Hufflepuff with some Ravenclaw tendencies (I took the Pottermore quiz 3 times, 2 out of 3 I got Hufflepuff, the other time was Ravenclaw). I had a pottermore account and I was so upset when it got converted to the Wizarding World page. I cosplayed Hermione in 7th grade complete with British accent and even monologued as her for a talent show (classmates and teachers would recognize me as the Hermione girl all the way through high school). I was obsessed and I still love it even if J.K. Rowling has gone off the deep end on Twitter... yeah... my favorite character is Hermione but I also relate to Luna

Disney- there's so much that goes into the Disney part of my fandom list. I'm excluding Marvel and Star Wars from this part as they were originally separate entities before Disney got the rights to them. I have seen almost every animated Disney film ever and often use random movie quotes in conversation. My favorite villain is Maleficent, my favorite princess is Ariel (followed by Belle, Rapunzel, and Anna). I relate to so many of the characters. I'm not sure who my favorite Pixar character is though (I love Violet, Sadness, Dory, and Piper (from the short)). My favorite Disney fairy is Fawn. My favorite characters overall are Ariel and Stitch. Disney is definitely on the list as one of my biggest obsessions. My favorite movies are Lilo and Stitch, the Little Mermaid, Inside Out, Alice in Wonderland (original), and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Marvel- I mostly get my Marvel exposure through the MCU, other movies, and animated TV shows. I have difficulty reading graphic novels so most of my comic book knowledge comes from friends, posts, or wikis. My favorite characters are Spider-Man, Captain America, Peggy Carter, and Scarlet Witch. I also like Gwenpool, Deadpool, Spider-Gwen/ Ghost-Spider, Venom, Squirrel Girl, Daredevil, Mantis, Gamora, Black Widow, Iron Man, Thor, Loki, Bucky, Black Panther, and most MCU characters. Out of the X-men I really like Professor X, Wolverine, Mystique, Magneto, Nightcrawler, and Quicksilver (either version- MCU or Fox).

DC- this was the franchise I was more familiar with growing up but again, graphic novels aren't easy for me to read so most of my knowledge comes from information pages about the comics or from tv/movies. My earliest experience with DC came from the 60s Batman series, with Catwoman and Robin being my favorites. I also watched the Wonder Woman series from the 70s and a handful of CW shows, my favorite of which being the Flash and Arrow. I also managed to watch all 5 seasons of the Teen Titans Cartoon Network series from 2003. With that being said, my favorite characters are Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Flash, Batman, Nightwing/Robin (Dick Grayson), Green Arrow, Starfire, Raven, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Alfred. I also like most of the bat family, and when it comes to CW I LOVE Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost and Cisco.

Miraculous- this is one of my guilty fandoms but since this is Tumblr I'm not too worried about it. I love Marinette and I relate to her on an astoundingly deep level (minus the stalking and obsession with potential lovers, that's creepy). If I had a miraculous, I'd probably want the Ladybug one, but the Cat miraculous, fox miraculous, and snake miraculous are good too. My favorite character is Marinette/Ladybug.

Atla/Tlok- I jumped on the avatar bandwagon just when it was starting to get popular, so I managed to get through the series before the memes took over everything. Same with Tlok, although i couldn't completely avoid the spoilers for that when i started it. I've been wanting to get into the comics because of the short story comics I've read, they seem easier to read than superhero comics. My favorite characters are Aang, Katara, Ty Lee, Iroh, Korra, Jinora, Asami, Suki, Appa, Momo, Naga, and Pabu. I also like Sokka, Mai, Zuko, Lin, Kuvira, Varrick, Zhu Lee, and Azula. I feel really sorry for her and while I understand that a redemption arc would undermine the importance of her corruption arc, I still wish she could have one. I would love to be a waterbender or an airbender... maybe a waterbender raised in the air nation? Obviously, being the avatar itself would be awesome. The show has taught me a lot of great lessons and put a lot of stuff into perspective for me.

Star Wars- oh boy, talking about this one is dangerous. I've seen firsthand the horrors of the Star Wars fandom but then again no one will probably see this anyway so... I've seen all the movies and I remember watching the clone wars series with my brother when I was younger but we fell wayyy behind and it's taking us forever to get back into it. I've also seen the Mandalorian and quite enjoyed it. I like the prequels unironically, in fact, the prequels are some of my favorite movies. I especially like how they switched from lightsabers being heavy weapons to light weapons that can be used for all kinds of tricks that make for epic battles like the ones we see in Revenge of the Sith. The sequels were fun to watch but when I would analyze them along side their predecessors, I came to the conclusion that, for me, they were good to watch but did not do anything good for the rest of the franchise. My favorite characters are prequels/clone wars Obi Wan and Anakin, Padme, Ashoka, Leia, R2D2, BB-8, R4-P17, the Mandalorian (Din Djarin), and Grogu. If I had a lightsaber I'd want it to be blue, but when I was little I got a purple one like Mace Windu because it was closer to pink and I was into pink at the time. I still have that lightsaber and none of my friends have a purple one so it's one of my flexes. I feel like I wouldn't make a good jedi because of attachments being forbidden, so I'd probably become a grey jedi.

Literature- this is a broad term I use to cover all the random books and stories I liked reading and have studied. So we have Shakespeare (Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet), The Great Gatsby (bored while reading, loved to analyze), Grendel (HATED reading, loved to analyze, Grendel really needed a hug and a friend), The Crucible, Fahrenheit 451, Dark Life (+ the sequel Riptide, both are by Kat Falls good reads, sci-fi and kind of dystopian), The Once and Future King

Winx Club- I think the show is trashy but I still love watching it. I haven't been able to get through season 6 though and I hated what they did with season 8 and Fate: the Winx Saga. My favorite character is Bloom along with Stella and Flora. I prefer rai to nick. My favorite transformations are magic winx, enchantix, and harmonix. My favorite member of the Trix is Icy followed by Darcy. My favorite Pixies are Chatta and Lockette.

Nintendo- mainly Pokémon above all else, followed by Animal Crossing. I have also played (mostly as player 2 or just never beat or watched my brother play) mario games, legend of zelda, pikmin, and kirby. Games I haven't played but I just liked the characters/the lore and probably learned about through Super Smash Bros. are Fire Emblem (Lucina mostly), Metroid (Samus and baby metroid), and Kid Icarus. Pokémon is where I'm most knowledgeable but you'll most likely beat me in battle. I am however great at MarioKart and I always destroy my friends at it. Terrible at fighting games though.

Minecraft- I like playing this casually. Sure, I'll play for hours and hours on end for months, but I prefer to stay exclusively in peaceful when playing Survival mode and I don't make anything too ambitious in Creative mode. I like to write, so sometimes I'll make a rough layout of the settings of my stories in different worlds. I prefer interior design and decorating when building, and when in survival mode I focus more on mining and gathering while my brother works on ambitious building projects. I just bring him the raw materials and furnish the interior when he finishes the outside.

Little Witch Academia- this takes up a smaller portion of my fandom list because there were only 2 seasons and a couple movies and I watched the whole series years ago, but I still enjoy it. At one point I wanted to cosplay Akko, and I loved the nod at Twilight through the Nightfall series. And I especially liked the twist that Shiny Chariot was Ursula, which I suspected for some time. The blend between magic and technology was fun to see, but I was so sad that the series ended RIGHT when Akko finally showed signs of magic proficiency. Also, Shiny Chariot being the reason Akko couldn't do magic was heartbreaking.

Voltron- this takes up a much smaller portion of my fandom list mainly because I haven't even finished it. I know hardly anything about Transformers aside from the Bumblebee movie so to me I just watch it for fun. It reminds me of power rangers, star wars, and star trek, and then there's just a transformer insert. But I don't know anything about Transformers so maybe the show is more rooted in canon than I think.

Coraline- I am in a love-hate relationship with Coraline. I have watched the movie several times, I've read the book, I've watched hours of theories and analyses on youtube, I've watched behind the scenes videos by Laika, and I even wrote a script for a fan film parody. I am amazed at how original the story is and how impressive the stop motion animation is but I also have recurring nightmares from it and it scares me/creeps me out to the max. If anyone asks what my scariness limit is, it's definitely Coraline.

#fandoms #about me #harry potter #disney #dc #marvel #avatar the last airbender #the legend of korra #star wars #miraculous ladybug #literature #winx club #nintendo #minecraft #pokémon #little witch academia #voltron #coraline

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awellboiledicicle · 3 years

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no but like HS me was a mess in terms of creativity because for a senior project-- basically a “show us you have skills you can use in the world”-- i was supposed to write five chapters of a book and inquire to a publisher.

I initially wanted to do this big space opera with eldritch forces and cosmic horror and also partially slice of life in a future America that had both advanced and decayed due to legislative priorities not matching the needs of the people. My advisor, a dude who had 1 book published about a dude that fucks an alien working for the government, insisted my idea wasn’t original because Fringe was going on at the time and he thought all dimension hopping was based on that.

Then i wanted to focus on just the homeworld of the aliens i’d made. I was told no one would care about a creation myth/Beginning Of Mystery story because no one would care about a bunch of aliens learning how to be people after being raised by a sentient plant, and that people would only care once humans were introduced toward the later half of the planned story. He also felt it wouldn’t appeal to anyone because i made a specific point that they were all very hairy and some were furry because of the climates they were designed for. Because appearantly fuck a good narrative if someone’s hairy.

Then i had one where a vampire was tasked with hunting down other vampires that broke The Rules, which were basically “we only feed on humans that are willing to do that, and we’ll pay them room and board. no random feeding outside of that or relationships or synthetic blood” and “do not start shit with the human governments, for the love of god”. Her name was Veranda Cross [i was 17 i thought it was neat] and she purposely nerfed herself by not drinking blood from anyone other than criminal vampires. She supressed her appetite using a kind of cigarette that was basically “it smells like an essential oil store threw up onto some pine tar” and coated her teeth with the stuff. There was a filter on the end so it couldn’t harm anyone she smoked around though. She even had a human partner who was a single mother and spent a good amount of time babysitting. He told me no one wanted something like that and it would be seen as pro-tobacco and also that “no one liked female leads” since i didn’t mention a male character in the plot layout.

The only idea he thought i should write about was actually one of the things in the first section’s series, but in the human past-- it was basically a poor girl taverngirl in one of the neutral ports during the golden age of piracy, finds a magical artifact that guides the holder to the lost city of Atlantis. A pirate captain that had been hunting for Atlantis since said search took his father from him, finds out and since forcing her to hand it over would bar him from that port forever after, he decides to marry her to get all her stuff. This is done by basically buying her from her parents who are mostly pissed she hasn’t fucked her way into a rich husband yet. She nearly knocks him out several times on during the wedding, during which all her possessions are being loaded onto his lead ship. But the girl had given her treasure to her sister in law, who was a very dear friend. Eventually Arthur, the pirate, finds out that Mary, the girl, is attuned to atlanean artifacts and they have a very tense negotiation about having her help him find more. The first few months of her onboard involve multiple times of her trying to shoot him with his various pistols and him calmly telling her the one she grabbed wasn’t loaded. Also multiple occasions when she prods at his anxiety about dirty things and illness-- his father had been poisoned by an artifact and died before reaching home, and he’d gotten a terrible fever after helping move the body onto land-- which doesn’t help tensions at all. They eventually level with one another to the point of being friends and end up adopting a few children that were displaced during the japanese/chinese pirate raids that happened to be going on at the time they were looking for an artifact over there. I’d planned for them to really only like each other when they’re a lot older, like 50′s. This is the one my advisor thought was good enough, but he wanted me to drop the magic. and make it more of a “man so desperate to find a fictional goal that he does anything” story. I hated every second of it after the first two chapters-- that i HAND WROTE to show physical progress to the panel later--because his mark ups kept going “use more descriptors”. So i had to just paint it all purple and i didn’t have time to research things like common mannerisms because he insisted i spend two months of my time researching trade routs and tonnages of shipping. Did i enjoy the ship learnings and stuff? yes. Did i do the thing? yes. Did the panel love it enough that i still get asked if i finished the novel yet? yes.

Would i have written a goddamn thing after that if i only then went off of my college creative writing prof’s imput? No

#im ranting again #Donit reblarg

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tempesrature · 4 years

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The Case of the Murdered Witch Doctors | Chapter 3

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 The Charm of Lost Things (Oneshot Follow-up) Creative Process Note Commissioned Art Piece

Pairing: Ride or Die | Ellie x Colt Summary: “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” - Arthur Conan Doyle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery Word Count: 3k+ Warnings: PG-16 @rodappreciationweek @lovehugsandcandy

~*~

“Woah, do you smell that?” Colt says as he enters the Kilat home, his nose already picking up on the smell that usually sticks to places where magical creatures spend most of their time in like their houses or workplaces. “It smells sweet like flowers and fruits. Is this what witch doctors smell like?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Ellie shrugs and toes off her shoes near the entrance of the door. “And take off your shoes. That’s the one rule I was told to follow.”

“Wait, you can’t smell magical creatures?” Colt asks incredulously as he kicks off his shoes too.

Ellie shrugs as she confidently makes her way into the house, already familiar with the layout of it after a month of investigating the place. “You can’t smell me and I can’t smell you. It’s a fair payoff.”

“It’s a shitty payoff that’s what,” Colt says as he follows Ellie through the winding hallways, his eyes catching the furniture and decorations in the house that seems to be frozen in time.

They stop at the basement door and Ellie places her hand on the wooden surface to unlock the complicated spell she placed to keep the murder scene secure and locked.

Colt smirks as he inches closer to her from behind before he leans down to whisper in her ear tantalizingly. “Just so you know, vampires smell like dark chocolate.”

“That so?” Ellie asks with a bored tone which earns a frown from Colt. “Logan says they smell like piss.”

“Who the fuck—”

Colt doesn’t get to finish his sentence when Ellie completely ignores him, pushes open the basement door and makes her way down the stairs. Colt growls, annoyed that she’s ignoring him, before he makes his way down to the basement as well.

Once he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he lets his eyes wander around the space. Multitude of bottles and jars full of unknown substances are lined on the multiple shelves close to the wall, there’s a long table in the middle full of cooking utensils and hardware tools and a single lightbulb illuminates the space. Colt realizes that it’s just like any witch’s laboratory but somehow it’s different. He feels almost…suffocated by the air. It’s not unusual for him to be bothered by heavy smells, vampires do have heightened senses, but the air in the basement is different, stronger—almost dizzying.

“Here,” Ellie offers him a handkerchief she manifested when she sees his eyes almost glaze over. “This is where the Kilat’s made their medicine and potions. Ana says the smell of the ingredients gets to you after awhile if you’re not used to it so be careful.”

Colt grumbles as he takes the handkerchief from her and presses it against his nose and he’s relieved to find that it’s been enchanted with magic to fully block out the smell. “You couldn’t have warned me beforehand?”

“And ruin the surprise?” Ellie snickers and Colt glares at her. She ignores his glare and raises her hand, blue sparks dancing on her palms, as the room starts to melt and change into a captured image of the night the murder was reported in. The details are so crisp and vivid it looks hauntingly real.

Colt looks at Ellie, his eyes wide in surprise and awe, and she merely smirks back at him.

“I may have a time limit but I’m still a damn good witch,” Ellie says with pride before she moves around the table and signals for Colt to come over.

Colt walks towards her and his eyes immediately land on the two bodies on the floor. Ernesto and Malina Kilat lay on the floor side by side, their eyes shut close and their hands placed on top of their abdomen as if they’re laid and ready for a casket.

“Here’s what we know about them,” Ellie starts as she bounces off her ideas and works through them in case Colt may catch something she hasn’t. “They were brought to America during the American colonization of the Philippines sometime in 1905. They’ve mostly stayed under the radar of the Agency due to their slow physical ageing and relatively human features. They were branded as a non-threat and low-maintenance watch until their deaths were discovered a month ago. They sold their medicine and potions to both human and magical creatures, usually for cures to ailments. They do use the Fern Flower in some of their concoctions but it doesn’t exceed the legal amount so I ruled out the illegal drug trade as a motive for the murder.”

“Who found them?” Colt asks, his brain itching at a puzzle he wants to solve, as his sharp golden eyes look around the scene to see if he can discover something new.

Ellie sighs, her heart momentarily aching. “Their daughter, Anagolay or Ana as she likes to be called. She was out at a party and discovered their bodies when she came home in the early morning. Ingrid estimates the time of death somewhere between 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Ana’s currently living with a friend until we can solve this mess. They were undocumented as well which is why the Agency wants this finished as soon as possible. If it gets picked up by mortal media, it could be a disaster.”

Colt hums in agreement as his eyes land on the table and he combs through the different tools laid out and projected by Ellie’s magic.

Ellie picks up on what he’s looking for and moves closer to him. “Think one of these could have been used to drain their blood?”

Colt scoffs. “Yeah if you think a butter knife can do it cleanly enough,” He tries to pick up the butter knife for emphasis but his hand passes through the object and Ellie lets out a snort of laughter.

“Projection magic remember?” Ellie teases and Colt glares at her as he shoves his hands in his pockets.

Ellie lowers her hand with a sad sigh, the scene of the murder fizzing out and going back to the normal, when she realizes that he didn’t find anything new.

Colt turns to look around the bottles and jars that line the shelves. He tries to make out the contents but everything seems either too seeped into a brown-black liquid or crushed into a powder.

“Did you check the inside of these things?”

Ellie sighs again, going around the table to stand next to him as she looks up at the shelves he’s looking at.

“I’ve tried. But it’s not like albularyos are just around the corner of West Hollywood. If I could use the Agency’s contacts to reach the Philippine branch, I might have more information but since I can’t…” Ellie trails off, her hands clinching into fists as dark blue flit by in her eyes. “So I’m going off of Ana’s information. We’ve been going through the contents on the shelves but she says most of them are used for medicine and although some ingredients are dangerous, there’s not enough to actually cause harm. Luckily Mr. Ernesto kept a list of his regular customers. I’ve questioned all of them except for two vampires. Jason Shaw being one of them.”

Colt opens his mouth, ready to ask who the other person is when they both hear a loud crash somewhere in the house. Their eyes meet, blue connecting with gold, as a silent conversation passes through them. Ellie nods, her eyes stern and alert and Colt grits his teeth and nods back.

Colt moves first and walks in front of Ellie as they take careful steps up the basement stairs, trying their best to keep their footstep light and silent as they search for the source of the sound. Colt angles his body to shield Ellie. She raises her hand and uses magic to bring up a blueprint of the house before she tugs on Colt’s leather jacket to get his attention. Colt turns to her and notices three blinking lights in the blueprint. Two on the first floor and one upstairs.

With a nod to each other, they make their way up to the second floor. Once they reach the last step of the stairs, they press their backs to each other to scout out their blind spots. Colt reaches around to tug her sleeve and Ellie turns to see him pointing at the opened door in Anagolay’s room, the daughter of the Kilat family.

Ellie nods, their movements fluid around each other, as they take slow and cautious steps towards the door. Once they’re inches near the door, Ellie turns to Colt and taps her nose. Colt raises an eyebrow before he realizes what she’s asking of him and he takes a long sniff to the direction of the door before he turns to her and shakes his head. Ellie nods, suddenly feeling a small dread settle in her stomach, before she signals to Colt on the count of three. Colt nods and they both turn to look at the door.

One—she takes a deep breath and gathers her magic in her hands. Two—Colt bares his fangs, his golden eyes shining with a menace. Three—they move to the door and—

“Ana?!” Ellie exclaims in surprise and relief, the magic in her palms immediately disappearing.

“Woah Ellie. Hi,” The teenage girl with brown skin and black hair, wearing sweatpants and a black t-shirt stands in the middle of the bedroom. She raises her hands in mock surrender before her black eyes flit to Colt. “Uh…that your boyfriend?”

Ellie’s eyes widen before she turns to look at Colt standing beside her who’s looking down at her with a cocky smile.

“No he’s my…” Ellie fumbles for a title, not really knowing what they are before she shakes her head and just jumps straight to introductions. “Ana this is Colt, Colt this is Anagolay. The daughter of the Kilats.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ana greets before her nose wrinkle and she takes a small sniff in his direction. She turns to Ellie with a disapproving look. “A vampire Ellie? Really?”

“He’s helping out with the case,” Ellie reassures her before she walks inside the room. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“I’m here to get some of my clothes and stuff. I’m getting really tired of wearing sweatpants everyday you know?”

Ellie frowns and Colt takes his time to look around her bedroom. His nose wrinkles at the posters of mortal idols on the wall before he looks at the scattered clothes and books on the floor and a few bottles and jars on her vanity table that looked like the ones in the basement.

“You know you’re not allowed inside without me accompanying you Ana.”

“I know I tried calling you but you wouldn’t pick up,” Ana huffs.

“My bad,” Ellie apologizes as she reaches into her jean pocket and pulls out her phone. “I was in the basement and didn’t have cell service.”

“Cool, whatever,” Ana dismisses as she moves to sit on her bed. “Find anything new?”

Ellie sighs again as she glances at Colt sadly. “Nothing so far, no.”

“Mm, figures,” Ana says with a small frown as she goes back to packing her clothes. “They never organized the basement. So much shit just laying around you’ll have an easier time finding a vampire out in the sun,” She gives a pointed look at Colt who just gives her a winning smile.

“You go down there a lot then?”

“Nah, just a couple of times,” She says as she starts to play with the loose threads on her shirt. “I wasn’t allowed to go down much. My parents didn’t want me to take on the family business even though I’m smart enough to know that they need good ventilation down there.”

Colt chuckles as Ellie shakes her head and smiles fondly at Ana. As much as Ellie likes her, she knows she needs to get Ana out of the house as soon as possible purely for the reason that Ana can talk and talk until the sun comes up (which happened once) and Ellie actually wants to go home today before 10 p.m.

“Alright. Pack up whatever else you need and I’ll walk you out,” Ellie instructs as Ana gives her a mock two finger salute before she goes back to pack the rest of her clothes. Ellie leads Colt out of the bedroom door and walks him down the hallway. Far enough so that Ana doesn’t hear their conversation.

“I’ll take her back to her friend’s house,” Ellie says as she looks up at him and she suddenly feels a little shy when she remembers how…well they worked together. How easily they could communicate with non-verbal cues and read each other without the need for words. “You should go, I’ve kept you away long enough.”

“Nah, this was actually interesting,” Colt comments before he turns to look at the time on his wristwatch and his lips pull into a frown. “But yeah, I should go.”

“Okay, I’ll send you some of the files I have of the case. Maybe you’ll see something that I missed.”

Colt looks up at her in surprise before a wicked grin taking hold of his lips. “You’re not such a bad detective after all, Miss Half a Witch.”

Ellie’s eyes narrows at the nickname and Colt merely smirks as he looks into her eyes and she feels the undeniable pull he has on her. A kind of pull that’s making her lean forward as the distance between them start to disappear.

But Colt takes a step back with a smirk, the pull fizzing into nothing.

“I have a better idea,” Colt says before he takes his bike keys from his pocket and twirls it around his finger as he starts to make his way to the stairs. “Come by the shop on the weekend at sundown. Let’s talk about the case there,” He looks at her over his shoulder, his eyes glinting in brilliant gold, as he licks his lips knowingly. “You might even find something else that you’ve missed.”

Ellie blushes as she starts to say something but he walks down the stairs too quickly for her to get a word in and she huffs. She crosses her arms in front of her, seething a little at the emotions he seems to bring out of her, before she turns around and goes to check on Ana.

“Done making out with your new vamp beau?” Ana teases just as Ellie enters the room.

“He’s not my—! We weren’t—!” Ellie sighs as she moves to the vanity and leans back to press her palms against the wooden surface.

“Mm that’s what they all say,” Ana snickers as she throws in a hoodie into her bag. “Careful with those. I dated one three years ago. Josh kissed like he was gonna suck the soul right outta me, if you know what I’m mean,” Ana waggles her eyebrows suggestively and Ellie scoffs as she turns her head to the side to hide away her blush.

“Anyway, how are you holding up so far?” Ellie quickly tries to change the conversation away from vampires and kisses. “Your friend taking care of you?”

“Yeah but I’d like to live here again though,” Ana comments as she drops down on the bed and looks up at the ceiling. “There’s a shitton of things I need to clean up in the basement or else those duwendes in the jars are going to smell like straight up ass. Not even the good kind of ass, the kind of ass that just knocks you the fuck out. Plus, the anitos are complaining of the food and drink I offer them. Who knew ancient Filipino spirits don’t like a good American burger and a glass of diet coke as much as I do?”

Ellie chuckles wearily, her eyes softening for the girl in front of her. In a way, Ellie saw herself in Ana. Which is why she’s so close to this case and why she’s so desperate to solve it for Ana. To give her the closure that Ellie can never get.

“I’ll find the creature that did this Ana, I swear.”

Ana looks back at Ellie with a frown, her expression distant. “Not to be rude Ellie. I like you but I can tell that my parent’s death isn’t on the Agency’s top ten list of murders to solve in under a year list.”

“But it is on mine,” Ellie assures her with a confident smile. “And with Colt’s help, I’m doing a lot better than before.”

Ana smiles sadly as if the mention of Colt’s name doesn’t really bring her any comfort.

Ellie sighs weakly, her hands moving further back the vanity table as she looks up at the ceiling. Ellie likes to be confident. That somehow she can solve this within a year and that she is telling the truth when she said that Colt has helped significantly in the case but the reality of it is that this could be just another case that the Agency just…turns a blind eye too. And Ellie doesn’t want that. This is the whole reason why she painstakingly joined the Agency, even with the amount of shit she had to wade through to get her badge. To prevent cases like Ana’s, Colt’s and her mother’s from ever happening again.

“Woah Ellie careful!” Ana yells out as she hurriedly crosses the room and takes the bottles and jars from the vanity table into her arms. “If these bottles explode, you’re gonna send broken pieces of glass everywhere!”

“Huh—? Oh shit sorry,” Ellie quickly pulls her hand away from the vanity table, the remnants of blue sparks dancing around her hand, before she looks at the bottles in Ana’s arms curiously. “Are those from the basement?”

“Nah, my tatay made this and he basically customized it for me,” Ana laments as she places the bottles of clear liquid into her bag. “I’m a clumsy piece of shit so I always get cuts and bruises outta nowhere. One swipe of this and bam! Instant heal and no scars,” Ana chuckles sadly, her eyes pricking with tears as she cradles a bottle in her palm. “Guess I’ll have to make it on my own now.”

Ellie’s eyes soften, her heart aching at Ana’s emotions that Ellie knows all too well. She sighs and pushes herself off of the vanity table and approaches Ana and lays a comforting hand on her back.

“Come on. I’ll help you with the rest.”

#rodaw #choices rod #colt x ellie #colt kaneko #vampire au #detective au #witch au #murder mystery #cw: magical-drugs #cw: police #my writing

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dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years

Text

Dragon Dancer II: Chapter 1: The Gentleman

The light colored facade and fanciful decor of the hundred-year-old Hotel Le Royal Monceau in Paris was truly fitting for spring. Principal Hilbert Ron Anjou tipped his hat in appreciation of the sight and at the doorman who greeted him with “Welcome back, sir.”

Master list

“It is truly a pleasure to be back!” He gestured behind him. “This is my new special student.”

The doorman, dark-skinned and appearing to be in his thirties, regarded the teenage girl standing behind him. She wore a white jacket, her shapely brown legs curving out from a pleated yellow short skirt that some men might eye, hoping for a glimpse of a little more. She was less than impressed with the gracious amenities, avoiding eye contact and fiddling with the tassels of her hood strings.

The doorman grinned anyway. “Well, a fine student she is.” He earned himself a tip for remaining cheery rather than concerned about her gloomy expression.

Anjou checked in. Though his hair and beard were white, he didn’t move like a man that old. His spine was straight, his limbs strong, his manner energetic and jovial. His eyes were focused and crisp. His voice was strong, despite his happy smoking of a Cuban cigar.

The hotel staff were clearly smitten with him, losing their stiff professional manner and laughing at his jokes, eyes glittering with mirth. Even though he wore a custom tailored suit that cost more than most people made in a year and wore rings of rare crystals -- some of alchemical make, so rare and so precious, they might as well have been alien -- they treated him as a friend.

That was Anjou’s charisma.

It wasn’t until they stepped into the gold mirrored elevator that that charisma faltered.

His student looked lost, unhappy, vulnerable, and achingly beautiful. Her slight figure added to her fae-like appearance. Anjou watched the elevator operator’s face flicker on her, his natural empathy and need to protect a fellow human welling up in his eyes.

The man surely had worked in this hotel long enough to know he shouldn’t ask questions. Anjou watched in wonder and allowed the man’s feelings to develop, chuckling internally as the sight of her worked its magic -- just as it did on Caesar on the Day of Liberty.

Like Caesar, this bellhop forgot where he was, forgot his duty, and was drawn into a disadvantageous position, risking his precious prize -- in this case, a tip.

“Uh… are you okay?”

She lifted her head, surprised to be addressed. Her wide eyes were like windows to her soul, easily read, hiding nothing.

“Yes… are… you alright?” He asked again, committing to his error.

She smiled at him. “Just a little sick from the flight. That’s all.”

Anjou’s eyes returned to the bellhop as he suddenly realized his blunder. To his credit, he didn’t apologize.

“I hope you understand sir…”

“Oh, I understand perfectly.” Anjou’s voice was so warm and reassuring that he might as well have reached over and patted this fully grown man on the head. “And I commend you on your brave spirit and humanity.”

Anjou took out his wallet and produced a tip of three hundred euros. “Here. Spend it well.”

The man let out a wheeze, eyes wide.”Yes. Thank you sir! Thank you… is there anything more I can…”

“I’ll take it from here.” Anjou interrupted, as the doors opened.

His student blessed the bellhop with one more smile, as she left the elevator. The man only broke her gaze after the doors attempted to close on him.

As soon as she arrived in her room, his student fled to her bedroom and shut the door. This was hard on her. Normally, high ranking students were eager to get off campus and put their education to good use as well as take advantage of the plush amenities their rank afforded them. But she grew up in modest circumstances and only longed for things money couldn’t buy.

She’d bewitched the other S-ranked student, Lu Mingfei, into a deep friendship with her. She’d drawn the leader of Lionheart into being her lover and lured Caesar Gattuso into practically handing over Day of Liberty to her. Had he not gotten her off campus, he might have found himself without a school.

Everything she had accomplished didn’t apply here, however. She had no friends, no lover, and no influence. As far as she was concerned, Paris was a desert.

He pressed a key on his phone. The voice on the other end had a slight French accent over the otherwise impeccable English.

“Anjou, a day is too long to go without hearing your voice.”

“And it has been far too long, Capetian. The student and I have just arrived.”

“Excellent! Were there any problems?”

“None! The passport was flawless.”

“And the flight?”

“The weather could have not been better. Let’s hope it remains that way. Paris is making me fall in love all over again!” He chuckled. “Of course, every season is a good season in Paris. Have you located the others?”

“Yes, sir… they…”

Anjou stopped him. “Now, now… brief me tonight at dinner. I would like you to meet our young genius.”

After a few more loving goodbyes and reminders not to be late, Anjou hung up the phone and went to the bedroom.

She was Charlotte to strangers, Carli to friends, Meixiu to her lover. She was a young woman of many names. He referred to her most often however, as “my dear”. She was dear to him, having come out from the jaws of death and through sands of time to return to his school like a little turtle dove.

Her scowl reminded him, however, that she was actually a hybrid. First Generation, S-ranked, and just as much dragon as she was human. She was not pleased with him. He’d disrupted her plans to spend time in Chizuru with Chu Zihang and made no mystery of her love-sickness. He weathered her glare. “You’re free to stay here and rest while I make arrangements and prepare for the briefing meeting tonight. The mission itself won’t start for a few weeks while we prepare. Try to have a good time.”

She’d taken these arrangements personally and turned back to the window without speaking to him.

After the Day of Liberty, Caesar said that once he’d gotten close enough, she’d drawn him into darkness so forbidding that he thought he had truly died. When he returned to the land of the living, he was breathless, disoriented. She fought him like a wildcat, and then shot him like a dog.

He would savor these moments when she was still under his wing. He got the feeling they would be a memory all too soon.

Anjou adjusted his tie, donned his light trench coat and went out, leaving the “Do not Disturb” sign on the door.

He enjoyed his walk around the city, admiring the art and architecture, the comings and goings of tourists and natives. Women pushed strollers dressed in tracksuits, older men sat in the square and played chess. It was this idyll that was threatened. He needed her here, but was determined to make her first mission as pleasant as possible before the coming storm.

Just as he predicted, the rain started as the sun began to fall. He only went to the bar on a rainy night.

His student dressed up for the evening, in a modest designer black gown and a string of pearls. The afternoon nap seemed to have done wonders. She was smiling again. Her eyes were brighter. They made their way to the bar on the hotel roof.

The city’s sea of glittering lights and those of the Eiffel Tower drew a gasp from her. He put his umbrella to the side and sat near the window. He smiled at the bartender. “How are you doing this year, my old friend?”

Capetian emerged from behind the bar, a glass on his platter. Thin and aged, his dark eyes weary under folds of skin, he smiled. “I’m well, old friend.”

The booths were lit by low hanging directional lamps between pools of shadow that provided privacy despite the open layout. It was next to impossible to hear what was going on at any other table. Something about the design of the place kept the noise down while at the same time, keeping close conversation clear.

The smell of the mint liquor wafted from the cocktail glass. Anjou raised his to his lips and sighed with nostalgia. His student eyed him, content to sit and watch him be happy. A menu was set before her and she looked it over.

The waiter, also older, and so pale he looked like a ghost in the lamplight, softly spoke. “I will be pleased to see to your needs this evening.”

She once again seemed shocked to be talked to. “Um… I need a little more time. Thanks.”

“I’ll take this year's caviar plate for a starter.” Anjou nodded.

The waiter bowed and faded back into the shadow.

Capetian took his seat next to Anjou, who produced a Havana cigar from his jacket pocket and snipped off the tip with a pocket knife. “The Bombay expedition was successful. We’ve found a dragon palace remarkably preserved under the slums. We are currently making our way through the catacombs. However, the dragon is not making it easy to find its chambers.”

He flicked his lighter against the cigar until the tip glowed. “We’ve never seen such a repository of draconic script. And the entry to the complex is predicated on our understanding of it. EVA has done her best with cataloging the known ciphers and arranging and organizing the unknown ciphers along with their context. But this requires a … human touch.” He let out a puff of blue-tinged smoke. “Have you arranged the safe house?”

His student turned to the waiter, ordering a mushroom risotto with a salad. But she was listening. He could tell.

Capetian described a spacious townhouse on the forested outskirts of Paris. At great expense, he’d purchased it, as well as leased the adjacent properties to provide maximum privacy and security for what was bound to be a long term project. He’d stocked the kitchen, installed a private network with direct access to EVA, and a complete off the grid power, water, and sewer system.

The waiter returned with the caviar platter. Anjou offered it to the student who cringed at the sight of the raw fish eggs. “Come now… you’re here to experience new things!”

While she hesitantly spooned a bit of the roe onto a cracker, Anjou settled on the Kobe beef tartare for his order.

“Have you contacted any of our agents yet?”

“Not yet, I wanted to make sure that nothing came up at the last minute. We’re spread thin here, almost all the agents are occupied with their own projects, but they understand that none are more urgent and pressing than this one. They are willing and available.”

He smiled and nodded. “Your cooperation is deeply appreciated.”

Capetian turned to the girl, watching her clumsily taste caviar for the first time. “And the girl… is she ready?”

“Charlotte?” This time Anjou couldn’t help but laugh, earning him a surprised look from Capetian. Everywhere she went, this uncertainty about her talents followed. He was shaking with laughter, wiping away tears. “Charlotte is the least of my concerns. My biggest concern is your agents’ capability of handling her.”

Capetian’s jaw dropped, “Pardon…?”

Anjou leaned on one elbow, tilting the ash into a silver tray. “She is the winner of the Day of Liberty, S-ranked, and is an essential asset to this mission. I’ll be assigning Agent Robertson to her care and safety. I’ll expect your agents to guard her with their lives and cater to her every request while she works.”

He drew a long puff from his cigar, relaxing to the flavor, the smoke pooling a moment in his mouth. “She has already killed. She can do so again. If they don’t believe me, then they may see for themselves if they try anything improper.”

Charlotte’s gaze lowered and she lost all interest in the caviar.

Capetian swallowed. “Understood, sir.”

#Anjou #Dragon Raja #Fanfiction #Caesar #Johann Chu #Chu Zihang #lu mingfei

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thedailyimagines · 5 years

Text

Imagine Chase kidnapping you, the reincarnation of his former lover. (Part 2)

Anon requested: “Could you write a Chase (Xiaolin Showdown) x Reader oneshot, where Reader is his reincarnated lover and she has joined the Xiaolin monks... but Chase kidnaps her in a effort to regain what is his?”

Reader is written as a young adult (21-23 roughly).

Y/p/n = Your Past Life’s Name

Warning: This work does have mentions of stalking. And it has kidnapping.

~~~~~~~~

“Then may the most skilled fighter win.” Y/n nodded in agreement. She could fight well enough. But how good was he?

“Let’s go then. Gong Yi Tan Pai!” The environment around the two changed into a large arena surrounded by stands. A surprised looking Kimiko sat in them, but as soon as she saw y/n in the ring she understood what was going on.

Kimiko was concerned over how well the older monk could hold her ground against Chase Young, but she believed in y/n.

“You got this y/n! Kick his butt!” Y/n smiled at the younger girl’s encouragement and faced her competitor. Chase had some sort of staff with blades at each end as a weapon, and y/n quickly grabbed the bo staff strapped to her back.

Just in time; Chase chose that moment to strike. Y/n blocked, and the monk and the Heylin warlord traded blows. Neither one gained ground until y/n tripped Chase up with her staff, causing him to fall outside the ring. The environment shifted back to its original layout, and y/n took the Wu.

As Kimiko ran over and started to celebrate the victory with y/n, neither noticed Chase disappearing.

<—>

Weeks later, the five monks were on their way to find another Wu. The four youngest chatted eagerly on the back of Dojo, but their elder companion was distracted by her thoughts. Recently it felt as those someone was watching her no matter where she went, and to top it off y/n had been having strange dreams.

Each dream had Chase Young in it, but he seemed...nicer. Less menacing. Almost as if it was him in a whole other lifetime.

Raimundo, Clay, Omi, Kimiko, and y/n arrived at the supposed location of the Wu and began searching. So far no other Wu-hunters has appeared, but all were on their guard. Y/n couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched, but the sight of the Wu distracted her from the feeling.

“Hey guys, I found—ugh!” A swift, hard blow to the back of y/n’s head rendered her unconscious. The other monks let out shouts of surprise and started running towards y/n, now being carried by Chase.

“Chase Young! Let her go, or else you’ll be in a world of hurt!” Chase rolled his eyes and turned away from the young monks.

“And risk hurting your friend? No, you won’t. We’ll be taking our leave now.” Both the older monk and the warlord disappeared in a flash, leaving the four elemental monks alone and confused.

<—>

“Chase? What’s going on?” The black haired monk was hunched over, clutching his abdomen in pain.

“You need to leave.” Y/p/n frowned and took a step closer to her beloved.

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong.”

“I said LEAVE!” The last word was a loud roar, and y/p/n screamed as sharp claws tore into her skin.

Y/n opened her eyes, blinking slowly as her eyes adjusted to the dim room. Sitting up slowly, she didn’t recognize her surroundings or the ornate bed she was on.

“Where am I?” Slipping out of the bed, y/n quietly opened the door leading out, shutting it quickly when she saw the lion sitting outside.

Deciding to explore the room instead, y/n found a fireplace (how she didn’t notice it before was a mystery), a wardrobe full of clothes, and a door leading to a large bathroom. With a loud huff, y/n sat back on the bed and put her head in her hands.

<—>

Meanwhile, Chase was watching the young woman from his study. Various scrolls and tomes were laid out in front of him, all of which focused on one subject; Reincarnation.

Ever since the showdown several weeks ago, Chase had been obsessed with figuring out who this woman was and why she looked like a clone of his long dead lover, y/p/n.

At first he thought it was a trap, but came to realize the (hopefully) only person who knew about y/p/n was himself. So he studied y/n, watching where she went and what she did. Several times he swore it really was y/p/n and not someone else.

Finally it was too much. Chase followed the monks to another Wu, and when the opportunity struck he took y/n back to the citadel. The monks hadn’t tried anything yet, but Chase had no doubt that they were planning a rescue mission.

But for now, it was time to speak with his captive.

<—>

Y/n looked up as the door to the room opened. It was the man from the showdown weeks ago, Chase Young. From what she had been told, y/n had gathered that Chase was a major Heylin figure and extremely powerful.

“What do you want?” The Heylin regarded the monk with a nonchalant expression.

“To know more about you.” Y/n’s eyes widened. Seriously? That’s what this was about?

“You know there’s social media for a reason? You could start there.” Chase raises an eyebrow, not amused with y/n’s humor.

“What I mean is, you share the face of someone I knew a long time ago. I want to know why. The best way to do that is to have you nearby to observe.” Y/n blinked a few times, trying to process what she had been told. After several moments, she came to a conclusion.

“You want me to be a science project?” Chase shook his head.

“Not science. Magic.” Y/n stood up, looking Chase straight in the eyes.

“Whatever you want to call it, I’m not a part of it. You kidnapped me! If you had just asked then maybe I would have helped you, but now it’s a no deal.” Chase just rolled his eyes at the monk’s bravado.

“It’s funny how you think you have a choice.” Chase turned and walked out of the room. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Food will be brought up to you shortly. And do try to get some rest, tomorrow will be busy.” The door shut, and y/n was left alone once more.

~~~~~~~~

I don’t own the above gifs, all credits go to the owners.

#thedailyimagines #imagine #female reader #reincarnated!reader #xiaolin!reader #xiaolin showdown #xiaolin showdown imagine #chase young #chase young imagine #chase young x reader #chase young x reader imagine #raimundo pedrosa #kimiko tohomiko #clay bailey #omi

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rironomind · 4 years

Text

Original work [SH- Cut]

I’m working through the first draft of a fantasy novel but the story has changed pretty drastically since so I’m cutting this whole chunk. I thought it was pretty exciting but it has no place in my novel so I figured I might as well share it before it’s lost forever.

Summary: During an eclipse, the citizens turn on their leaders. Oz, who has been tasked with protecting the young lord of the citadel, calmly assesses the situation.

“It’s a mirror system,” Needle explains, in Lihese, for the benefit of his brother who is almost certainly about to start screaming for attention. “The crystals aren’t shining bright enough to last out the storm, let alone the eclipse. We could be down here for days.” He interrupts himself with a fit of coughing. Cece hands him a skin of water. “It’s okay,” Needle says. “I’m just tired.” The flesh under his eyes are dark and swollen while his cheeks are sunken, a punishment for taking on all this responsibility.

“The mirror system relies on a series of silvered glass set up around the Under,” Needle explains. “Ray designed it. But we need to be able to put it up.” He erupts into a fit of coughing again.

“You’re burning up,” Cece says, trying not to let any harshness creep into her tone. “You need to rest.” She manhandles him into the small cot they have set up in their space. Every evacuee gets an allocated lot. The four of them have been granted one in the centre, under the greatest amount of light. Around them are muffled murmurs of the citizens, their voices hushed by trepidation.

“I’m ok, I can still help,” Needle protests weakly, but Cece’s firm hand keeps him in the cot.

“Ouou,” Cece says, fixing burning red eyes on Oz. “You need to help Ray.”

Oz doesn’t even bother to summon the energy to be surprised. “What do you need,” he barks.

“Um, the plans are almost done. All we need to do is set up the mirrors.” He unrolls the map of the Under. It’s the parchment he took from his father’s study. The only one in existence but it hardly matters since Oz knows this place like the back of his hand. How many times has he patrolled this damn place? The layout is uneven, it being a natural cave and all, but he knows every rock and bump.

Ray hands him a stack of mirrors. “Can you, uh,” he starts. “Put them up?”

“Bit by backbreaking bit.”

The next hour or so is spent swinging back and forth the Under, climbing up to fix the mirrors into place, jamming them into the rocks until the angle is just right. By the time the mirrors are up, Needle has rested enough to continue planning with his brother.

“Ridiculous, don’t you think?” Oz mutters to Cece in Tieyen as the two brothers pore over their parchments.

“What?”

“That I just put up a bunch of glass all over the place. I mean we’re in a room full of Liangers.”

“No one is ready for this eclipse!” Cece hisses back.”No one is properly rested, people are dead!” That would explain the weeping. “And they need to conserve their energy,” Cece says, shaking her head.

Oz is silent. He watches the two brothers prepare a container for a light ball and face it towards the first mirror. The light beams out like an arrow and bounces off the first, and then second mirror, but it misses the third by a hairsbreadth. Everyone looks at Oz.

“Goddammit.”

Climbing up a second time, he notices other things. People complaining, they start to wander towards the main shelter. When he rejoins the others, Cece has already taken charge. She steps towards the citizens, eyes burning bright. “We protect you. But we protect them first.”

Oz lifts a shoulder. “She says it because I can’t.”

Liz the Tanner adjusts her stance. “You would fight us?”

“You’re disturbing the peace,” Oz explains, throwing a small dagger into the air. It flips a few times before he catches it by the handle, its sharp blade pointed menacingly towards the crowd.

“What peace? This pit isn't peaceful,” she spits. “The citadel isn't at peace, the kingdom isn't even at peace. We’re less than a decade from the war and we’re all holding our breath in case the flame goes out.” Oz casts a glance at the crystals hanging above. They’re less bright than the glowing fury of the mob of Lumierians before them. “The reason why the shield wasn’t ready-”

“Ouou…” Cece mutters in warning. Oz pretends not to hear her, he hasn’t changed his stance.

“Ou Zi!” Cece hisses. She can tell. Of course she can, she’s watched him before. Opposite her or from a distance she can smell the danger. Or maybe just the tang of her own fear.

Oz surmises that Ray has lost control of the situation and by the looks of the citizens’ raised weapons, they agree. They’re long past the point of excuses. This is three years of uncertainty and two particularly long hard weeks of which to stew the grudges, doubt and hatred.

“You had your chance, Ray.” Liz says, raising her hand. She uses her magic to refine metal and armour. Oz has espied her at work when she came to the castle to carry out more finicky projects for the family. Her focus is absolute, like needlepoint. He’s seen her carve leather, metal and even stab a cow through the heart with light at point-blank.

But she’s got nothing on a moving target. Liz’s fingers start to glow and out of the corner of his eye, Oz sees the fluttering of a brown cape as Cece’s arm rises to stop him.

“Mother!” A young girl rushes to the front of the fray and grabs Liz by the arm. “Stop this!”

“Lily! Get off me!”

Oz recognises the girl from Ray’s court. One of the tittering scholars who gazes at him with starry eyes. “Earl Ray is doing his best!”

“Be quiet, Lilly.” Liz, her mother’s eyes are hard, a cold greyish-yellow like a star that’s burned itself down, worn thin over the years. (‘Do your people shine?’ Lady Sana asks. ‘Do they, Oz?’)

“No,” Lilly Tanner responds high and petulant. “What do you have against Ray? He’s doing his best.”

“Lilly! Have you forgotten? Your brother who was supposed to return months ago?” She looks from Lilly to Ray.

Ray’s face blanches.

“That wasn't Ray’s fault! It isn’t his fault the Duke hasn’t returned. Or…” she drops her voice and looks sulkily away. “Anyone.”

“This is your brother, Lilly. Your own flesh and blood and instead of them, you are defending a family of murderers-”

“And if he hadn't returned that's on him, he always forgets where he is. He didn't even want to take over the business, he just wanted to find father. If it wasn't for the summons-”

A resounding slap and Lilly fell away, clutching her cheek. Liz dropped her hand. “He would still be with us. Hold your tongue. You embarrass me.”

Oz allowed a sneer to cross his face. “Civil unrest, even dividing families, what mischief you get up to Ray.”

“I...I can fix this,” Ray continues to mumble over and over again. Ray’s face contorts which betrays his unease. Oz thinks he’ll lose his nerve. It’s too late. Then Ray opens his mouth and proves him right. “Citizens of Sereto, I speak on behalf of Duke Lamiere.” Ray’s voice is trembling but his fists are clenched by his side. “We ask for your patience, we are doing the best that we can.”

There’s a pause and Ray’s shoulders dip. Oz stares unblinkingly at the crowd.

A cry rings out. “Is that the best you can do?”

“We are in the process of restoring the light until the eclipse ends. There is ample food and medicine in the centre. We have rationed enough for a few days, but please be courteous or swift action will be taken against you.” Ray tries to get Oz to meet his eyes.

“You call that courteous?” Shouts the same busybody from the back. This time, Oz spots him. He’s a vendor at the market, sells imported goods, of which imports only come once a year. They used to come every few months. But if he’s worried about making money he shouldn’t have come to this citadel. If he was brought here against his will or perhaps misled like many others, Oz could have sympathised, but it’s not often he gets to follow up on a threat, so he strikes. A dagger leaves his fingers and whips through the crowd, embedding itself in a scaffold next to the naysayer who almost wets himself.

“Ozul!” Ray shouts in alarm.

“What, I followed orders, that’s what I’m supposed to do, right?”

“That’s right, we can’t blame the dog for who its owner tells it to bite,” Liz says offishly.

Oz spins round, “I resent that. I prefer not to bite, lots of things taste bad.”

Liz cracks her knuckles. “Easily fixed when we remove your teeth.”

#sh #it's just a provisional title #ao4

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lostbutterflyutau · 5 years

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A Stolen Moment

Note: Firstly, I’d like to give a shout-out to @pizzansunshine who helped with some of the planning for this scene and even suggested a line for it! This ‘scenelet,’ as I call it, will eventually be part of a larger fic. But, for now, I’m going to give a little bit of background for it. This is post-Mirror World AU where Carla has graduated from school and has moved back to Avalor permanently.

Prior to this scene, Elena received a last-minute invitation inviting her to Alonso’s birthday celebration in Cordoba. However, she and the other members of the Grand Council are currently tied up in other matters and unable to make the trip. So, she decides to send Carla as the representative from Avalor because she’s the only person not involved in a project. But, then Carla is given the details of the trip and finds out that her required guard detail does not include the Captain. Needless to say, she is not pleased.

Gabe frowned as he looked over the folder in front of him and flipped through the pages. He didn’t understand. What was is that made this new course so difficult? Was it the new magical obstacles? Or perhaps the layout? He paused, opened one of the drawers on his desk and grabbed out the folder containing the course’s details, pulled the layout sketch from it.

‘Hmm…’ He thought, reaching for a pencil as he looked the paper over, ‘What if we move this section here? And I can talk to Mateo about – ’ His thoughts halted for a moment when a soft knock came at the door. He flicked his eyes up at the door, gave permission for the person to enter and turned back to the paper just as the handle clicked. He expected the visitor to walk in and hand over the paperwork he’d been waiting on. But, instead of the hard footsteps of a guard’s boots, he heard the soft click of small heels making their way across the room.

Confused, he glanced back up, eyes widening when they saw first the familiar, black shoes that had made those telling noises, followed by rich, violet fabric accentuated with splashes of black, including the sash that drew attention to the slight curves he tried not to focus on too much as his eyes continued to move upward, past jade pearls to meet with the striking, violet eyes that were currently fixated on him along with the signature smile that meant she was up to something.

“Carla, what are you – ” He started to ask, stopped when she started to saunter towards him, watched her every move as she crossed the floor and then paused at his desk before settling herself on top of it and his paperwork. He raised a curious eyebrow as she smoothed out her skirt, hands settling delicately on top of it.

“Gabe,” She said, drawing out his name in a soft, cutesy tone as she batted her eyelashes at him in the way she knew would drive her man crazy. However, instead of the typical response, which usually involved his face flushing over and him forgetting or fumbling over something, she got an amused smirk.

Gabe bit back a laugh. He knew this game all too well. “What do you want, Carla?” He teased.

“Well…” She started and carefully slid off the desk, finger trailing along the smooth mahogany as she made her way around to him, saying as she did so, “Elena’s sending me to Cordoba for Alonso’s birthday with another member of the royal guard.”

“A member that I personally screened. You know you’re required – ” He tried to explain as he shifted the chair towards the direction she was going.

“But I don’t want another guard,” She interrupted, set her hands on the arms of his chair and leaned in close, so close that he caught the scent of her Sparkling Champagne perfume, which he quickly realised she was wearing on purpose. It was a personal favourite of his. The warm, sultry scent suited her very well, especially now.

He made the mistake of flicking his eyes upwards to meet hers, caught the eager spark in them as she moved one of her hands, brought it up to rest against his cheek, their breaths intermingling when she moved in another half inch.

“Carla – ”

“I want mine,” Carla purred, closed the distance between them. She half-expected him to resist, after all, she had interrupted his work, and was pleasantly surprised when, after the initial shock wore off, he reciprocated and eagerly returned the kiss.

He knew he should stop her, even brought his arms up with the intent to push her way, but after the day he had endured, he figured he deserved a little break. At least, that’s how he justified it to himself as his hands came down to settle on her waist just as she pulled back, stifling a soft giggle at the look of adoration in his eyes as he looked her over, his smirk returning when he decided on his next move.

“Come here,” He encouraged and carefully guided her into sitting across his lap, wrapping one arm around her waist and taking her hand with his free one once she was settled.

She glanced from their intertwined hands to his face, breath catching when she saw the desire flickering in his eyes. She knew that look. Heat sparking in her core, she untangled her hand from his, used it to reach up and grasp the fabric of his collar. She pulled him in closer, claiming his mouth with her own before he could change his mind, her lips caressing his softly, intimately. Her hand slid from his collar to his chest, fingers instinctively curling into fabric as he gave into the lingering kiss.

Part of him knew they shouldn’t be doing this. Especially not here. But he couldn’t – or rather, didn’t want to – stop, despite the long list of tasks he had to make sure got completed by the end of the day. A list that only grew when Elena announced that she was sending Carla to Cordoba. By herself. He wasn’t worried. Not really. She’d grown up on the road, so traveling was nothing new to her. And yet, he couldn’t help the pang in his heart when he remembered that, as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t go with her. He was needed in Avalor. With the Grand Council splitting up to attend events across both Avalor and other kingdoms over the next few weeks, there was a lot to do in selecting and preparing the guards assigned to each event, which is why he had to get the paperwork –

His thoughts halted when she pulled back just enough to look into his eyes, her lips curving into coy smile.

“Much more fun than paperwork, isn’t it?” Carla teased, taking the hand that was currently settled around his shoulder and carefully, strategically moving it settle against the back of his head so she could play with his hair.

“It’s still the paperwork I should be focusing on,” He countered, even as he brought his own hand up, caressed her cheek with his thumb.

She raised an eyebrow, eyes asking the question for her. But…?

‘Forget the paperwork,’ Gabe decided and leaned in at the same time she did. They met halfway, their lips molding to each other once, twice, thrice more, the world fading farther and farther away with each kiss. The only thing he could register was the feel of her in his arms. The taste of the Avaloran chocolate on her lips perfectly mixed with the sultry scent of her perfume. The gentle touch of her hand when it came up to cradle his jaw that contrasted with the way she tightly gripped his hair.

Even though it had been a couple of months, Carla was still taken aback by how his kisses made her feel, and even more so that she liked those feelings. He made her feel special, wanted and desired in a way she never knew she needed, especially in stolen moments like these. She hadn’t intended for this to happen. She had only wanted to entice him a bit. See if she could convince him to accompany her on this trip. But, she also wasn’t complaining. How could she with the way he was kissing her? Or the way he looked at her, adoration heavy in his gaze, when he pulled back? She’d never imagined anyone looking at her like that until he came along. Even now, a small part of her couldn’t believe that he was looking at her in such a way. He was the Captain of the Guard. He could probably have any girl he wanted. And yet, he chose her.

She smiled at the thought as she glanced up at him through her lashes, fingers gently brushing against his cheek as she leaned up to meet his lips again.

This time, he pressed a little harder, his tongue slipping past her lips when they parted underneath his. He was gentle, but demanding and she was unable to do anything but surrender.

Carla let him take the lead as they began the dance they were both coming to know so well. She gave into his silent demands, mind going completely blank as they kissed and kissed. She desperately wished there was a way to pull him even closer as a wave of sensation crashed over her. She could have stayed like that forever, completely wrapped in everything that was him. The last thing on her mind was figuring out how to stop.

But, stop they did, jumping apart when they finally registered the sound of another person loudly clearing their throat, followed by a soft chuckle. Gabe and Carla looked first at each other, exchanged the same, confused look before turning to the source of the noise and meeting the amused gaze of Lieutenant Rico Villalobos, whose mouth was curved into an smug smirk as he commented,

“Well, what do you know? Third time really is the charm.”

“Wait…You had to repeat it twice?” Gabe asked, thoroughly embarrassed to be caught in such a position. Not only was it extremely unprofessional on his part, it didn’t reflect well on Carla either. Some of the other guards already had enough to say about them being together. The last thing he wanted was for them to have more material to use against her. Luckily, that didn’t seem to matter to Rico, who seemed more amused than anything.

The Lieutenant gave another chuckle. It took everything in him to not simply burst into laughter. At first, he had been stunned. The last thing he expected to see when he opened that door was the usually tight-laced, disciplined guard captain wrapped up in such a heated moment that he didn’t register the warning knock his subordinate had given or the door opening or his entering and crossing the room. Once the shock wore off, he just wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Of course he would be the one to find them like this.

“Well, you were so caught in the moment,” Rico teased as he set his hand on the desk, leaned over slightly, “In fact, I’m surprised I could see anything with the way you two were steaming up the office!”

Carla narrowed her eyes at him as she fought down the urge to get up, reach across the desk and smack that smug look off his face. She settled for snapping, “And you just had to cool things down, didn’t you?”

‘Carla…’ Gabe thought, shaking his head at her comment. He sighed and gently urged her out of his lap, ignoring the pout she gave when her feet were back on the floor. He turned the chair back around, said as he stood, “Car –” He stopped, corrected himself, “I mean, Miss Delgado, you’re dismissed.”

“But, Gabe – ” She tried to protest in her cute voice and he cut his eyes at her, daring her to say another word. Catching his look, she sighed, grumbled as she crossed her arms, “Fine.”

With that, she stepped out, throwing Rico a look as she passed him.

#elena of avalor #my fanfiction #carla delgado #gabe nunez #Gabe x Carla #scenelet #Mirror World AU #I need more gabela kisses in my life

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welcometophu · 5 years

Text

Not Your Love Song: Chapter 32

Marked Book 2: Not Your Love Song

Chapter 32

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Kit’s room is quiet. Peaceful. It’s easy to work in because there’s no one else randomly wandering through. Hayworth has a completely different feel than Douglass. It was built as apartments, so Kit’s room is actually a tiny efficiency, with a kitchenette when you walk in, a daybed/sofa along the side wall, and a bureau and television against the other wall, next to the door to the private bathroom. He lives on a floor with one other efficiency as well as three two bedroom apartments, and a four bedroom apartment at the very end of the hall.

People stay private in Hayworth, the doors always locked. There is no open door policy.

“It’s not that we don’t like each other,” Kit explains as he unlocks the door Wednesday night to let them in for Rory’s second visit to the dorm. “It’s that we only socialize when we plan to socialize. There are floor events, and whole dorm events where the floors compete against each other. Trey, who lives in the other efficiency, is a good guy who spends most of his life doing competitive gaming when he’s not deep in a coding project. One of the apartments upstairs is all girls from SigPsiE who wanted to live together, but not in the house, and not off-campus. It works.”

“I like it.” It bridges the difference between having a real apartment off-campus, like Thorne’s, with all the strange little quirks that it has, and living in a dorm. Rory wonders what his chances would be of managing to get one of the efficiencies for himself as a sophomore, and if he can use his need to cook proper vegetarian meals as an extenuating circumstance. The more he gets to know Thorne’s roommates, the less he thinks he wants to join them in their apartment.

Not that there’s a room next year anyway, and Thorne doesn’t seem to want to actually move.

Rory’s aware that he should have made a decision about where to live next year long before now, but he keeps putting it off. Right now he’s thinking trying to beg his way into Hayworth wouldn’t be a bad idea.

They settle onto the daybed, and Rory brings up a stream for a TV series that he started watching on and off a few years ago, after they bought the rights to use a Phoenix Rising song in one episode. They have halfway decent representation, so he periodically catches up on the new seasons after they go online. It’s nice to take break and watch something because he wants to instead of for a class, and it’s comfortable with Kit a line of warmth pressed against his side.

Kit moves slightly as he draws, the pad of paper perched on his knees, the pencil held loosely in his hand. The sketch is of the front of the Madison Center, created in broad, soft strokes of light pencil. Rory watches curiously. When he leans into Kit and lets the magic flow between them, that warmth surrounds them both, and Kit starts drawing faster, in a flurry of frenetic energy. The pencil sketch comes to life quickly, the strokes depending, solidifying.

It’s not in color, but by the time Kit stops abruptly, dropping the pencil to the bed, the picture has taken on the quality of a faded photograph. Kit holds the edges of his art pad gingerly. “That’s—”

“What?” Rory tilts toward him again, touches the paper lightly. “You’re a good artist. This is amazing.”

“I was always better at sketching than Carolyn, but we’re both decent. This is—” Again Kit cuts off, shakes his head before he sets the pad of paper aside. “That is definitely the best thing I’ve ever drawn. And the easiest. It’s like… all of a sudden I was filled with this need to put it on paper. Like I couldn’t possibly fail.”

“When I touched you. When our bond—” Rory gestures between them to finish the statement silently, and Kit nods. “Huh,” Rory says. “Is your art magical?”

Kit laughs. “Hardly. Carolyn and I grew up drawing because it was part of being predictive. It was expected. We had to draw every layout we did when we were little. We drew Tarot cards, to get the feel for them and fix them in our minds. It made it easy when we started doing science labs for school; I could sketch anything we had to. But it’s just sketching. It isn’t magic.”

There’s a thought coming together in Rory’s head, and only part of it is fully formed. It needs testing. “I think maybe that’s changed,” he says, and if that’s true, things may be very tangled up. “Can we try something?”

“Sure, yeah.” Kit picks up the pad of paper again when Rory gestures, and he starts sketching. At first, Rory isn’t sure what he’s seeing. A face, maybe, no, not just a face. A body curled around something, hunched over while sitting. It’s all circles and rough lines.

Then Rory leans against Kit. He puts his arm across his shoulders, lets his hand fall just below the line of Kit’s short sleeve, fingers brushing bare skin. The cocoon surrounds them, and Kit inhales roughly. His pencil moves with more surety, and Rory loses track of time as he sees himself come to life as an image on Kit’s paper.

No, not to life. It doesn’t move, it doesn’t seem to shimmer off the page in some magical way. But it is beautiful art.

Kit lowers the pencil and paper, puts them aside and turns to face Rory, so they’re both sitting cross-legged on the bed. The show has stopped in the background, and when Rory glances over he sees that enough time has passed that the streaming service asks if they want to continue rather than moving on automatically.

His stomach growls; he ignores it.

“What are you thinking?” Kit asks.

“A lot of things,” Rory admits. He raises his hands, lowers them again because he has nothing to hold onto, nothing he can fret like a guitar to put his nerves to rest. “Your art is magical,” he says, because it seems like the simplest place to start. “Your Lineage is Predictive, but you aren’t. Your Talent is still about art, because you’re the flip side to Carolyn’s Emergence. You’ve Emerged in your own way, recently. You create art from magic. She brings it to life.”

Kit looks at the pad of paper lying there, Rory’s image hunched over a guitar as he plays. Kit reaches out, flips the pad closed, hiding Rory from himself. “Why do you think my art is actually Talent?”

“Because I think that sensation that we feel between us,” Rory gestures from himself to Kit and back again to illustrate, “isn’t just a part of the soulmate bond or something. I don’t think we can blame the marks. I think we can blame me. And the fact that my soul recognizes yours or something, and wants to give you energy every time we touch.” He hesitates before continuing, because this is something he’s been wrestling with for a long time. “The same energy I take. But I struggle giving it during rituals. You, however, I want to give it to as soon as I touch you. I don’t make your Talent stop. I enhance it. From the way you fell into that, I’d say I enhance it a lot.”

“Okay.” Kit exhales. He reaches out, and Rory bridges the distance between them, clasps both of Kit’s hands with his.

“When I first met Mattie, I was holding her with my innate Talent,” Rory says quietly. He thinks Kit’s heard this story, but he can’t remember when or in how much detail. “Pawel trapped her, but I stopped her from being able to slip into the shadows. And she swore that if she ate us, I’d be the sweet dessert, to be sipped delicately. And she said that I glowed with all the Talent that I had stolen, and I thought she was lying because I don’t steal Talent, I stop it.”

“And now?”

Rory runs his thumb along Kit’s hands. “It doesn’t happen every time I touch someone. Stopping Talent, I mean. I have to think about it. Just like it always feels good when we touch, and we gravitate toward each other, but we don’t get that rush. But when I think about it, it’s like it surrounds us. Like there’s a wellspring inside and I’ll never run out of energy. And you take it as fast as I can give it. So I guess she was right.”

“And then I magically create art,” Kit mutters.

“Which Carolyn can use to travel to places.”

“Or people.”

Right. Or people. Rory remembers that. It’s a small detail and he has a feeling that there is something just out of reach that is important for him to remember. But he’s not there yet.

Instead.

“Maybe you should try working with Carolyn on your independent study project,” Rory says quietly. “Thorne’s definitely not the right fit for you, and if your Talent meshes with—”

“My Talent also meshes with you, and yours meshes with me,” Kit points out. “Which makes you a perfect partner for it.” He holds his hands out, palms up, and Rory lays his hands atop them. Kit’s thumb strokes along the side of Rory’s hand as his fingers close to hold on. “If Carolyn wants my help—if she wants my art—I’ll help. I’ll help her design rituals around using our new Talents. But I’m happy helping you do what you feel like you need to do to help Darrik. I don’t want to change away from that now.”

“Do you think this can help us at all?” Rory can feed energy into Kit, but he’s pretty sure that sketching ultra-realistic images isn’t the key to reaching Lora. And he’s not sure if Kit can channel the energy in any other directions. “You were using the pictures you created as a focus for the ritual, but that seems more like something Caro—” He cuts off when Kit’s grip on him goes tight.

Kit shakes his head. “I don’t want to get her involved. She’s got her own project, and it’s separate from this one. She’s got….” He hesitates, shakes his head again. “I just think she’s going in a different direction. We’ve got Del. It’ll be fine.”

He licks his lips, and Rory feels the tension sliding from his skin. Rory shifts to lean back against the wall again, offers his arm for Kit to tuck in close. Peace settles over them, and Kit relaxes.

“You really don’t want to involve Carolyn.” Rory thought about not asking, but he knows it’s going to linger in the back of his mind, and he’ll end up asking at another time anyway.

“I don’t want to involve Carolyn,” Kit confirms quietly. “Are you asking me to try to explain why?”

“If you think you can.” Rory doesn’t want to push, and he understands if it’s not something that Kit has words for yet. But he’d like to know, in part so he can avoid future mine fields in conversation.

“We’re twins,” Kit murmurs. “When we were very little, before I could express that I was male in a way that everyone understood and believed, everyone treated us as interchangeable. Even as I got older, most of our extended family and friends still treated us that way. We were Kit and Carolyn or vice versa. If one wasn’t available, grab the other one. I love Carolyn, and yes, she’s my twin. She’s like the other half of my soul, in a totally different way than you and I might be. And she’s doing this independent study with me, which is great. I love her for that, and I love the support, and I want her to learn traditional ritual. But she’s still Predictive, and she has something to fall back on. I need to prove that I can do this on my own. That I can work without her.”

“What if your powers are linked and they’re meant to work together?”

Kit’s hand flattens against Rory’s chest, then twists in his shirt as he clenches his fingers. “I’ll deal with that when I get there. Right now I want to be me, and I want her to be her. That’s part of going to college, learning how to just be ourselves, rather than the Merrill twins. I don’t want to be interchangeable any more. Because when we’re that, I’m always lesser.”

Rory can see how this new situation could make things worse. “And now you think that magically creating art is lesser,” he says.

Kit shrugs. “Maybe. I don’t know. It’s just art.”

“She can’t travel without it, right?” It seems obvious to Rory that their new Emergent powers are codependent in some way. “In some ways, it’s like she needs you even more than you need her.”

Silence for a long, drawn out moment. Kit reaches for the abandoned remote, places it on Rory’s chest. Rory wakes up the television and looks at where they are in his series. They’ve somehow missed two episodes while Kit was in his art fugue, and Rory suspects it’s far later in the day than he thinks it is. Rory switches back to the first episode they missed and starts it over again.

“I don’t want people to see me as just an extension of Carolyn,” Kit whispers into Rory’s shoulder. “And I really don’t want them to see me as an alternate for her. It trips the dysphoria in a very bad way.”

Rory turns toward him, kisses the top of his head while stroking his shoulder. “Anyone who looks at the two of you can see that you’re different. It doesn’t take much observation skill. And if your family can’t see that, they’re blind.”

“Thanks.”

Rory squeezes his shoulder again, and lets the conversation drop. Kit slowly relaxes, going quiet and soft against Rory’s side.

Rory doesn’t want to address the idea that their own Talents are somehow linked, that Kit’s art and Rory’s ability to stop Talent are interwoven. He doesn’t want Kit to think that he can’t stand on his own.

“I could get used to this,” Kit murmurs, and that brings a smile to Rory’s lips.

“Yeah, I could get used to it, too.”

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#welcome to phu #welcometophu #not your love song #phu marked #marked

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