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authorhjk1 · 8 months

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Interlude: Lonely

IU X Miyeon X Male Reader

You have walked past her table a couple of times already. It's not unusual to drink while having dinner, she is an adult after all. But the amount she is consuming starts to concern you. One bottle of soju after another finds its place on her table.

When you walk past her once again, to greet someone whom you haven't talked to yet, you decide to sit down. In that moment, someone else enters your restaurant. You stand there for a moment, wondering what's going on.

Her black dress is slightly gleaming in the light. It's quite short and her rather big boots compliment it well. She isn't wearing a necklace. Only a couple pearl rings and a handbag. Her black hair completes that dark look she has going on.

When your eyes meet, you remember you are in a public place. There is no official reason for the both of you to know each other. And yet Choi Miyeon has that look on her face already. That look that tells you what she wants you to do to her tonight.

Distracted, you don't realize that you have been standing next to the other idol, whom you were concerned about earlier.

"Why are you standing here? I didn't order anything."

Her drunk voice sounds kinda cute, although her outfit isn't. She is going for the same look as the vixen, who just sat down at a table nearby. Dark and sexy.

Her eyes are only half open as she stares at you.

"You know what? Bring me another bottle?"

She points with her finger at you, but it sways slightly and it looks like she wants to hypnotize you.

"Ms Lee. Why don't you go back to your hotel?"

You ask in a polite tone, but she waves you off.

"No no no. My room is empty. I don't want to be empty."

She scoffs before downing another glass of soju.

You weren't prepared for drunk talk tonight, but she is still your customer. When she appeared a few hours ago, you were surprised, but then you remember the brand, which you buy your soju from.

Lee Ji-eun, aka IU, decided to check out your restaurant, when she heard of its opening.

"Ms Lee. Can you tell me where your manager is?"

If you can't get her home, he probably can.

"Don't call me that."

She furrows her brows as she leans her head on her forearms, which are resting on the table. Her chef for her table left a while ago, so the two of you are alone.

"Just Ji. Or IU. I'm alone anyways."

She murmurs into the sleeves of her jacket.

"Fine. IU then. It's late already, don't you want to have some sleep? I'm sure you are tired."

"No no no."

She raises her hand and waves to decline your idea.

"My bed is empty. I don't want to."

"It's empty since you aren't in it."

"I'm empty."

You sigh as you rub your face. The whole day has been hectic and stressful.

"How about I bring you home?"

IU focuses on you, at least she is trying to, and eyes you suspiciously.

"You-You wanna play?"

You raise your eyebrow.

"What?"

"You wanna play?"

She giggles before trying to one shot another glass. Most of the clear liquid falls onto the table, some stains her top.

"What kind of game?"

IU shakes her head, which obviously makes her feel dizzy afterwards.

"You don't know. No no no."

You sigh, before asking the inevitable.

"What don't I know?"

"What-What we play. I never have someone to play."

"Don't you have friends?"

You feel like you are talking to a twelve year old who just took some painkillers.

"They don't play with me."

She mumbles on and pouts cutely as she slightly lifts her head.

"They only play with each other. Or with guys."

The last part was definitely filled with bitterness and annoyance.

"Guys don't want to play with me either. Why not?"

She looks at you, her eyes still barely open.

"Why don't boys play with me?"

You are starting to realize what she is saying. And you also realize where this is heading.

"Am I not cute?"

She pushes the empty green bottles away from her and you realize IU is recreating one of her commercials. At least she is trying to.

You do have to say so that drunk IU isn't as cute as her sober counterpart.

"Or am I not sexy enough?"

It takes her a moment to focus on you and open her eyes completely. But when she does, she looks stunning.

The Korean singer is older than you. Quite a few years actually. You weren't really into older women before, but IU? You can see why guys would be tempted.

"You are one gorgeous woman."

You smile at her, hoping this will lift her mood.

"Then why don't you do it?"

She gives you a groggy smile and sways that finger of hers again.

"Why don't you play with me?"

"You are drunk, IU."

She shakes her head.

"No no no. Not drunk. T-Tipsy."

She nods as if she is trying to convince herself.

"Yes, yes. Tipsy."

You lean back in your seat, trying to come up with a plan to get this woman in a bed. It doesn't have to be yours, but if she would be to sober up on the way, you wouldn't be complaining.

"Excuse me, sir."

You close your eyes in disbelief as you recognize the voice. Turning around, you see Miyeon standing behind you.

"May I talk to you for a moment? It's-"

You can see her struggling to come up with some excuse. Luckily, almost all of the media is already gone.

"It's about the cucumbers."

She looks surprised at herself at that idiotic comment. One might think that she is hammered too.

You glare at her, but she eventually convinces you with her suggestive glance towards your crotch. Cucumbers my ass.

About to stand up, you see IU lift her head, which dropped back onto her arms a couple of moments ago.

"You."

She looks at Miyeon.

"He wants to play with me. Why are you taking him?"

Miyeon ignores her and drags you a couple of steps away.

You don't know how Miyeon did it. But you find yourself walking down the sidewalk, IU holding onto your arm. She is less drunk already. The pill that Miyeon gave her, some water and the cool Paris night seem to sober her up.

"I apologize for making you bring me to my hotel."

You shake your head as you look down the empty street.

"It is closing time soon, anyways."

"Thank you, though."

She squeezes your arm gently.

"What did you mean earlier?"

IU looks at you with worry.

"What did I say?"

"You said you are lonely."

"Ah."

She nods as the two of you keep walking.

"I am. I sometimes have the feeling that no one is interested in me."

You stay silent as she keeps talking.

"I can never really have a boyfriend. Or girlfriend."

She whispered that last word, but you managed to hear it.

"It must be hard since you are a celebrity. But I'm sure you will find someone you love eventually."

To your surprise, IU shakes her head.

"That's not what I want right now."

She looks up into your eyes.

"Oh."

You look away and keep walking in silence.

"I just want to-"

She looks around the empty street, before getting on her tiptoes.

"-get fucked."

She stares at you once more.

You are about to say something, having Miyeon's plan still in the back of your head, but the Korean actress looks away.

"I'm jealous of all the girl groups, you know? They maybe don't have boyfriends, but at least each other."

She sighs and you realize she isn't completely sober yet.

"Imagine if you were in a nine member group. All of their hands on your body."

Her voice sounds dreamy and you stay quiet, but not because you are polite.

"Their fingers on your skin. All of them taking turns kissing you..."

She trails off and looks into the night.

You curse silently, glancing at your pants.

As if she has done this a million times, IU lets her hand slide down your arm and locks her fingers with yours.

"As much as I love younger girls eating me out, I love younger guys fucking my brains out more."

The two of you come to halt and you can't say a word. Until now, she was as subtle as possible. Now she is just saying out loud what she is thinking.

"Do you know how long it has been since I sucked cock?"

She takes a step closer, her eyes partially covered by her bangs.

"I would give anything for a nice dick in my pussy right now."

As soon as the elevator doors close, IU pulls your head down. She captures your lips with hers and you can still taste some of the soju she drank earlier.

As the taste and her scent start to take over your senses, you realize she smells like strawberries. Her lips, which have a similar color, are soft and sweet as you invade her mouth with your tongue.

Your make out session is interrupted when the doors open again, but IU takes your hand and drags you after her. She almost runs to her room, before she uses the key card to open the door.

As she is about to step inside, you pin her against the doorframe. You feel her bite your lip as you push your tongue inside her mouth once more. Holding her hands in yours, you take the key card and let it fall to the ground, right outside the room.

The two of you stumble towards her bed as you kick the door shut behind you. Afraid you are gonna hurt her, you make sure she is on top as the two of you hit the sheets. IU is lying on top of you, her bangs slightly tickling your forehead as she keeps her lips on yours.

As you stroke her hair, you feel her hands running down your body with one particular goal. Making quick work of your belt, she doesn't stop kissing you. Your own hands run down her naked lower back and hold onto her butt, locking her in place.

"Let me go."

She smiles into the kiss as she tuggs at the waistband of your boxers.

"I can do more with these lips than kissing."

You let her cheeks go and you feel her glide down your body. Raising your hips, you see IU taking off your pants.

"This was worth the wait."

Her eyes sparkle with satisfaction as she sees your cock. She reaches out with both hands, before she starts to stroke you. One at the bottom, one at the top. You feel yourself harden immediately at her work. She does seem skilled, although she said she doesn't have much sex.

Opening her mouth, IU lets some spit fall off her tongue and onto your tip. She spreads it around your tip with her thumb.

"This looks delicious."

She gives you a big smile, before she leans down. Her upper hand is replaced by her warm mouth. Slowly, her lips glide along the length of your shaft.

You reach out to hold her hair as IU gives you one of the best blowjobs you ever had. Her skillful tongue does not miss a spot as she lets it roam all over your cock. Her lips are sealed tight around you, making her cheeks hollow. While her right hand is still holding the base of your cock, the left one is sliding upwards, underneath your shirt.

IU can feel your abs with her hand as she keeps taking your cock into her mouth. You almost think that she doesn't have a gag reflex at all. Your tip reaches the back of her throat. The black haired woman takes it with ease as she has almost all of your cock in her mouth.

Once she reaches your base with her lips, she does choke slightly. She looks up, before moving her head in a circular motion, which makes you groan. Your cock still deep inside her throat.

"Fuck, you are good."

IU slowly moves her head upwards, letting your dick out of her mouth.

"This is nothing."

She gives you a naughty smile.

"I could suck you off with my eyes closed."

"Is that so?"

She winks at you and resumes her blowjob. You have to close your eyes momentarily as she works wonders on your cock. A few moments later, you are able to untie your blue tie. Reaching forward, you place it on her eyes, before tying it at the back of her head.

"What is this?"

IU chuckles.

"You said you could do this with your eyes closed."

You glance at the door as you see it open quietly.

"You bet. As long as I have a cock in my throat, I don't care if I can see or not."

The woman who just entered the room bites her lip at the older woman's comment.

Afraid that IU would catch on, you guide her head back towards your dick. When her lips touch your tip, a smile plays around them, before she obediently opens her mouth. As your cock glides into her mouth, you see Miyeon staring.

As if she forgot what she is here for. You point with your free hand towards her small sports bag she brought with her, which snaps Miyeon out of her trance.

She puts it down quietly, but all that can be heard in this room right now are IU's sucking sounds.

The younger woman opens her bag quickly, taking out a long, black object.

Unbeknownst to IU, Miyeon hooks her thumbs underneath the straps of her dress, before letting it fall to the ground. That she isn't wearing a bra was obvious before, but you can now see that she isn't wearing underwear either.

While IU still works on your cock, you watch Miyeon idly playing with her clit. She rubs it with two of her fingers as she watches the two of you.

"Miyeon!"

You mouth in her direction.

It takes her a couple of moments to tear her eyes away from your cock, which is currently resting inside IU's throat.

She winks at you, before reaching for the black object and something else inside the bag. When she said she brought some toys, you just shrugged it off. But it looks like Miyeon has a whole arsenal with her.

You watch her putting on the black strap on, while holding a bottle of lube.

"You are so quiet. Did you pass out already?"

IU chuckles at your attempt to keep quiet.

"You would need to work harder for that."

"Fine."

She sticks her tongue out mockingly, before letting more spit drop out of her mouth.

"Let's see who passes out first."

She wraps her lips around your cock once again.

As IU deep throats your dick, Miyeon is slowly walking towards the bed. She already opened the small glassy bottle in her hand. She is slowly stroking the long strap on with her slick hand. If you saw it correctly, the lower part of her toy is resting inside her own pussy, around four inches, while the rest is for her to use on her sunbae. It's around your own length, but yours is slightly bigger.

IU is still chocking on your cock. It looks like she is determined to make you pass out, or at least make you cum. Either way, she keeps you down her throat, not letting an inch miss any attention.

You have to hold onto a fistful of her dark hair, while your left hand is grabbing the sheets. IU is not joking around when it comes to blowjobs.

You watch Miyeon as she is now standing right behind the bed. In one swift motion she reaches forward and takes a hold of the older girl's pants' waistband.

"What?"

IU's surprised yelp is muffled by your cock down her throat. You force her head in place. Miyeon starts to take off her pants. IU struggles against the two of you.

"Stay put."

You force her lips to reach your base once more.

"You said you want attention."

Once IU has calmed down, Miyeon finally manages to rid her off her pants.

"Wow, unnie. Your pussy looks so pretty."

She purrs, before getting onto the bed herself.

You see IU relaxing as she realizes that the other girl is someone she knows. She just doesn't know who it is yet. In her blindfolded state, she is forced to only react to both of your touches. Miyeon holds onto her waist, making her rise her butt. She is now in this "demon pose" position. You can see the shape of her plump ass behind her head from your point of view.

"Fuck. Your body."

You see IU smile around your cock.

It's quickly replaced by a moan as you watch Miyeon spit on her hand, before reaching between the older girl's legs.

A couple of moans and seconds later, you can already see Miyeon aligning her strap on with IU's snatch.

You are kinda jealous, especially after Miyeon's comment.

The older girl's mouth forms an O shape as she gets penetrated by the plastic strap on. Your wet cock falls out of her mouth.

"Holy fuck."

"Do you like this, unnie?"

"I love it."

IU sighs as she holds onto the base of your dick once more. She guides your tip towards her mouth. Pushing her head down, you watch IU getting two of her wholes stuffed with cock. Although you can't see it, you can tell that her eyes are closed in bliss.

Miyeon moves her hips back and forth, letting the strap on slide in and out of IU's cunt. With every thrust forward, the older girl gets pushed forward, which forces your cock deeper down her throat.

Your head rests against the hotel room wall as you try to keep your composure. Even with a dildo in her pussy, IU is still sucking the life out of you. Her mouth trying it's best to make you cum. Your hand in her hair tugs at it occasionally, making her stop for just a moment. There are plenty of moments, where you think you are about to cum. But luckily, you manage to make her stop just at the right time.

"Your cock is so big now."

IU's words are interrupted by another one of her moans.

"I know you are going to cum."

She uses your tip to smear all your pre cum over her lips.

"Just give it to me already."

She takes you into her mouth again. Determined to make you cum now.

Looking behind her, you watch Miyeon slowly fucking IU from behind. Her own eyes are closed, the other end of the strap on obviously pleasuring her more than she would like to admit. Her hips roll back and forth, letting the plastic move in and out of IU's snatch.

"Come on, baby. Cum in my mouth."

The older girl makes you focus on her again. You have to hold onto her head with both hands, due to the pleasure she is sending through your system. You didn't plan on cuming so fast. But here you are.

As IU deep throats your cock, you hold her in place with both hands. Her lips almost reaching the end of your cock. You feel her gagging slightly. The muscles of her throat tighten around you. The slight shoves from Miyeon make her move around you. She humms slightly, when Miyeon hits the right spot.

"I'm gonna cum."

You groan as you feel IU's hands wander towards your abs once more. She isn't leaving room for her hands on your cock anyway.

Her gags become louder. As Miyeon gives her a big thrust from behind, you finally cum down IU's throat. You push her head further down as you feel her moan. Ropes of your cum coat her throat and mouth from the inside.

It takes you a couple of moments to recover from IU's blowjob. You just lie on the bed, enjoying the view of her getting softly pounded by Miyeon. You realize that she still doesn't know, who is fucking her.

The same thought runs through Ji-eun's head at the same time. She was surprised at first, to say the least. And although the strap on doesn't compare to a real cock, it's still a nice feeling to get filled in two holes at the same time. As you are now recovering, your cock resting in her hands, Ji-eun tries to guess who is fucking her. It's hard, since she sometimes loses her train of thought, whenever the girl behind her is hitting the right spot. She called her unnie, right? It can't be Yoo In-Na then, since she is older. Plus, she would have recognized her voice.

Lee Ahin maybe? But she would have called her "sunbaenim" respectfully. But it still could be her. Ji-eun remembers, that she was jealous the way Ahin looked at you occasionally from across the room.

You see Miyeon bite her lip, as a moan escapes her mouth. You never expected to be in this situation. And you never expected Miyeon to come up with this idea.

Watching her pleasuring herself and IU with her strap on makes your cock hard again. The older girl's hands aren't very innocent either though.

As she realizes that you are ready for round two, IU takes you into her mouth once more. You are still a little more sensitive than usual. You groan as she does her best to make your cock as hard as possible. Her body still being rocked back and forth by Miyeon.

"Daddy, you should try this pussy."

Miyeon sighs, her half opened eyes focused on you.

"I think this unnie is hungry for your cock in her little cunt."

The way IU moans at the younger girl's comment makes you slowly guide her head off your cock.

Her eyes are still covered, which means she still can't see what you are doing. You get off the bed and walk over to Miyeon. Capturing her lips with yours, you make the younger girl come to halt. The two of you enjoy each other's mouths.

Glancing downwards, you have a good view on IU's pussy. It's visibly stretched out by Miyeon's black dildo. Her lower lips are tightly wrapped around it. You can see some of her slick juices running down her inner thighs as she is still in the same position as before. You reach out to knead her left ass cheek.

"What are you waiting for? Give it to me."

She moans as she looks over her shoulder, eyes still covered by your tie.

You push against the left side of her hips, which makes her fall on her back on the bed. Miyeon left her pussy just a second earlier and now you are standing between her legs.

You admire IU's beautiful pussy. Her pink, plump lips glisten slightly. Her clit is slightly visible and her skin around it is as smooth as the rest of her body.

Unable to resist, you lean down to have a taste. You taste some of her juices as you lick her pussy lips.

"Oh, fuck."

IU moans. She expected your cock, not your tongue.

Standing straight again, you hold her waist with both hand. Nodding towards the bottle of lube, you instruct Miyeon to use it. A mischievous smile appears on her face. While she opens it and pours some of the liquid onto the strap on, you pick IU up. She instinctively wraps her legs around you, still not having a clue about what's about to happen. Her arms are reaching around your neck and her face is right in front of yours. You move a little, so that Miyeon can stand behind her.

You place your hand on one of her firm butt cheeks, while the other reaches for your cock. Slowly, you insert yourself into her pussy.

"Oh god."

IU sighs as your tip enters her. Since she is way smaller than you, you have to slide her up and down on your cock. Now holding both of her cheeks in your hand, you slowly lower her further.

With every inch, IU's mouth opens wider. When she finally reaches your base, a loud moan escapes her mouth.

"Fuck you are so big."

Her walls are tight around you. Looking down, you see one of the most beautiful things you have ever seen. IU's pink lips molding around your cock, keeping it in her snatch.

Her head drops back as you make her lean away from you by pulling her ass towards you. She is now on the perfect night for Miyeon. The younger girl runs her fingers over IU's waist, before aligning her strap on with her hole.

Once the wet plastic touches her rear entrance, IU knows what's going on.

"Oh fuck! I have never dones this before."

You can tell she is squeezing her eyes shut as Miyeon starts to push inside of her. You feel her strap on press against your cock through the thin wall of IU's body. With every inch, the older woman breaths heavier, until she is completely filled.

Her black hair covers Miyeon's face as she is just hanging there between the two of you. She is completely defenseless. IU can't do anything but moan as you start to lift her up.

She has never felt so full. Both of her holes are stuffed with cock as she slides upwards. Since Miyeon is shorter than you, you have to stop lifting IU when you reach your own tip, otherwise the strap on would slide out. And whenever you push IU down, she can only take a third of Miyeon's dildo inside of her.

Despite these little flaws, the older girl still feels like she is in heaven. All of her muscles relax except the ones in her pussy and ass. Over and over you slowly lift her up and pull her down. After just a couple of moments, the Korean actress has become a stuttering mess.

"Oh! Fu-! Yes! Please more!"

Her back is now completely arched, her head resting on Miyeon's shoulder. Because IU is still wearing that black top, you can only dive into her neck. You kiss her skin as you make her moan in tandem with your moves.

After having found a rhythm that works for all of you, you start to go a little faster. The effect it has on IU is evident as her moans turn louder and her hands on your back hold you tighter. You hear Miyeon moan occasionally as well, whenever IU is pushed onto her strap on. It pushes it a little further into her own pussy everytime, giving her pleasure as well.

The older woman has now lost her ability to form words. Her moans are deep and drawn out. Her pussy feels incredible tight, partially because of Miyeon's strap on in her ass, which slightly pushes against your cock.

You hear IU whine as she starts to cum. Her body tenses up a little as she feels a flame burn through her body. It has been building up since Miyeon pulled her pants off. Now, she is cuming on your cock, her juices dribbling down onto the carpet.

You hiss as you feel IU's pussy contracting around you. The way she feels pushed you closer as well. You are able to hold out, until she calms down, but you know that you might not survive another orgasm of hers.

You keep your rhythm nonetheless, making IU moan loudly once more. Her eyes are still covered as she sees nothing but darkness. After that orgasm, the flame in her body doesn't die down. Instead, it keeps building again. The darkness is replaced by bright colors. You are quite literally making her see stars as you make IU cum for a second time.

She whines once more, too lust drunk to speak. At the same time, Miyeon moans. You guess it's not really about the stimulation for her, but the act itself. A small orgasm rushes through the younger girl's body, making her knees buckle.

Seeing the two of them cum, makes you want to do the same. For a second you wonder if you want to trade holes with Miyeon, but IU's pussy is something you can't pass up on. There is no way in hell you pull out, until you cum.

Up until now, the two of you fucked her with a rather slow, steady pace. Fast enough to make her cum, but still not with your usual force. You can feel the lust building up inside of you.

Miyeon looks like that as well, although she probably has something else in mind. Although the dildo inside of her makes her feel good, it's hard for her to cum. The two of you exchange glances, before you come to a silent agreement.

You lift IU up one last time, higher than before. It makes Miyeon's strap on slide out of her ass, while your tip still remains inside of her. You see your cock is slick with her juices. The younger girl hurries to unbuckle the belt of her strap on, before letting it fall to the ground. She jumps onto the bed, her hand already near snatch as she is ready to watch the end of the show.

Ji-eun is still wondering what's going on as she obviously feels Miyeon's strap on leave her ass. You kiss her neck once more as she is too tired to complain about the lack of fullness.

Your arms start to get tired, so you place her on the wooden dresser, which is standing near the bed. Her back is pressed against the cold wall as you push fully inside of her once more.

"Right there."

She sighs as you hit a new spot in this position. Looking behind you, you see Miyeon is already knuckle deep in her own pussy, eyes only half open. She decided that it's more pleasurable for her if she doesn't have to move so much. The fucking tiring her out.

Knowing that IU can't look at Miyeon, since you are blocking the view, you pull down your tie. It hangs loosely around her neck as you see her eyes after a long time. Her lust makes her look like she is angry. Her brown eyes focused on you as her upper lip slightly twitches.

"Now fuck me hard."

She demands, not even bothering to try and find out, who fucked her ass.

You bottom out inside of her as you start to pound her onto the wall.

"Faster!"

She has become more vocal, now that she can see. Maybe she was a little shy earlier, but now, she is enjoying herself too much to care.

"Fuck yes! Make the whole hotel hear!"

She moans loudly as you keep your pace. The dresser doesn't seem very safe. It starts to rock back and forth with your thrusts, hitting the wall occasionally. It creaks as you fuck IU on its smooth surface.

"Make them know that I'm getting pounded hard! Make them touch themselves!"

You fuck her faster, almost scared she is going to hit the wall with her head. Now that she can see, IU keeps her eyes on yours, capturing your gaze.

"I'm gonna cum."

It's hard to bring that sentence over your lips, but you can't stop it. It's like IU's pussy was made for only one purpose. To make you cum.

"Yeah! Give it to me!"

She moans louder, holding onto the shirt you are still wearing.

"Cum all over my pussy! Paint me with your cum!"

Holding onto her waist, you pull IU further onto your cock with every thrust. You hear Miyeon in the background, moaning and whining as she cums on her finger. The dresser sounds like it's going to collapse any minute as you fuck one of the most beautiful women on earth on its surface.

IU's face is close to yours and her lips find yours. The two of you kiss, without slowing down your pace.

Pulling back one last time, you thrust into IU as you feel yourself cuming. You regretfully leave her tight pussy. But she told you where she wants it.

As you climax, your cum starts to paint her pussy. It coats her puffy lips and her clit, some drops hitting her flat midriff.

"Fuck yes."

IU sighs as she feels your warm cum on her pussy. It slowly dribbles down along her lips and onto the wooden surface underneath her.

You capture IU's pink lips with your own as that strawberry taste invades your taste buds once more. Out of the corner of your eye, you see that Miyeon is already putting her dress back on.

IU will never know, who of her juniors made her ever feel so full. And loved.

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(Alternative Ending)

Hi, everyone!

I hope you guys enjoyed this one. From now on, I will try to occasionally mix in these shorter interludes. This way, I can write smaller chapters, which I get expired by in random situations, or you can request scenarios, which aren't exactly compatible with the story. I will try my best to somehow fit them into the story, for example as a dream. These short chapters aren't really relevant for the plot, which means you can read them without the story, or if you don't like the idols, you can just skip them.

Have a great day!

#kpop #kpop smut #kpop girls #kpop gg #male reader #gidle miyeon #miyeon #IU #lee jieun

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legally-allowed-to-slime · 5 months

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let’s talk about scott in the life series and his relationship with loyalty.

(obligatory disclaimer: this is referring to c!scott and not cc!scott)

merriam-webster defines “loyal” as “firm in one's allegiance to someone or something”. and that’s what scott is. firm. but the idea he has of loyalty is very interesting in that he finds it transactional.

we know scott is transactional by nature. all three of his SL deaths were deals, spoken or not, and many of his past deaths, like in LiL, were also sacrifices, carefully weighed to give him an upper hand.

he usually allies with people who are competent, probably as a result of teaming with jimmy in TL and getting tenth. in LL, pearl, a capable pvper and fighter. in DL, cleo, who has a reputation for being scary. in SL, geminislay and impulse, who’s come close to winning many times.

scott gives his allies favours and in turn, he expects favours. this is an entirely reasonable expectation except that he notably goes out of his way to give them favours, like risking getting killed to stay on boogey gem’s good side. that way, he maintains the balance of i give you this, you owe me that.

he weaponises the loyalty, which is one of his top strategies (he said so himself in SL), but the benefit that his allies get is his unwavering allegiance, which is why he’s thought of as a good person to team with (along with pearl - but her loyalty is another post, and anyway it’s likely because they consistently place high. strangely enough martyn places high many times but it makes sense that he isn’t seen as a Good Ally seeing how he won LiL).

but we see what happens when someone doesn’t fit his notion of loyalty. in DL, when pearl went off to the nether, scott refused to ally with her, even if it was evident that she was a valuable ally. there was an unspoken alliance between soulmates, and pearl had broken it. it was one of the times where scott’s idea of loyalty was so strong, and so rational (why should you team with someone who took reckless damage?) that it tipped over into irrationality (she’s a good ally as proven in LL and clearly sorry).

(yes, i know he did it for the bit but we’re talking about c!scott here.)

the other time was in LiL, even if not connected to him personally. the roomies’ conversation with gem and scott in SL was very revealing as to scott’s idea of loyalty, and why he persistently has a sort of friendship with cleo since DL.

“i’ve never seen a man drop a pair of sunglasses quicker” is what scott says to grian about the bad boys. to scott, alliances are forever. you put your 100% in, they put their 100% in, and this contract extends before you know you’re soulmates and after one of you has died.

and the reason he always, even subtly, sides with cleo? well, obviously she’s a good player, but also because her ideas of loyalty are the same as scott’s. “you can ask scott about that team’s loyalty.”

cleo’s referring to a past series, since gem’s a newbie and wouldn’t know about it, where someone on the mounders displayed dubious loyalty, cleo sided with scott and, in fact, seems to share an inside joke with. clearly it’s pearl, which shows that cleo has the same ideals of loyalty as cleo: you stick with your day one allies, you put your all in it, and they have to put their all into it. once that alliance’s broken, it’s over. cleo doesn’t quite trust pearl since then.

frankly i can’t think of a conclusion but i think scott’s loyalty could have a whole essay written on it with how much meta things he said in SL.

#scott smajor #smajor1995 #not tagging anyone else since it’s just mentioned #life series #life smp #trafficblr #traffic series #traffic life #traffic life smp #traffic smp #double life #limited life #secret life #double life smp #limited life smp #secret life smp #dlsmp #lilsmp #slsmp

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y3nze1 · 1 month

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𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘 𝐌𝐄 𝐀 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆, 𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐍 | c.10

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: I / II / III / Navi.

𝐓𝐚𝐠: @cherry-cola-100

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬: Sorry deeply for being inactive my darlings, me and chaz are very much busy at the moment with personal stuff and we didn't get to update as much, considering it's Noli Me Tangere time for me and chaz has a big entrance exam, yet enough of that. Happy Readings!

"so? what happened next after that date?" Charlie sat by Loralie, curious as she looked at her. Loralie scratched her temple. trying to remember. "i suppose I'll try to remember.." she sat there for a moment. trying to make the memories come back, yet it was no use.

"I see, well it's okay if you don't remember. It was a while ago, so please don't strain yourself." Charlie said, not wanting to push her. "Though if you do remember, i would love to hear about it. I'm sure it was a wonderful date!" Charlie chuckled, taking a sip of her cocoa, happy to have someone to talk to. "So... I take it Y/n, did enjoy his company?" she said, hoping to change the topic.

Loralie chuckled. "He gifted her strings of pearls worth 350,000 dollars.. on their first date." Charlie gasped "Wow! 350,000 dollars..?! That's a lot of money for a first date!" Charlie exclaimed, her eyes widening as she imagined the lavish gift. "But I'm glad it went well. He must have really been taken with her to give her something like that. And on their first date, no less!" Loralie smiled, sighing. "It's better when she tells the story from her perspective." She spoke, turning to Charlie.

They sat there, embracing one another's company. till charlie spoke up. "Where is Y/n now, No?" Charlie sat there with Loralie, enjoying their time together and the warmth of each other's company. The sound of Loralie's laughter, and the way it filled the room, was heartening, and it made Charlie feel like things could be alright. Loralie's friendship was just what she needed, and she felt lucky to have her.

After a while, Charlie turned to her, curious about where Y/n might be. "And where could Y/n be now, Loralie?" she asked, her voice soft and curious. "Do you know what she's up to?" Loralie scratched her head. "Well.. i-i don't know anymore.. I do miss her awfully much. and I'm sure Alastor does too.."

Charlie nodded softly, her eyes fixed on Loralie's face. "I understand, it's tough when someone you care about moves away. But I'm glad that you miss her, I think that's a sign of a true and deep friendship. And I'm sure Y/n misses you too." Charlie reached over and took her hand in hers, smiling softly. "I think friends are a really important part of life, don't you?" Loralie nodded. "Absolutely.."

"oh.. oh!" Loralie snapped her fingers, a memory popping up in her head. Charlie was taken aback by Loralie's sudden burst of excitement, her head snapping up as Loralie spoke. She looked at Loralie with a smile, eager to hear what she had to say. "Oh? Do you remember something, Loralie?" she asked, her voice filled with anticipation. "Have i told you about their marriage?"

Charlie gasped. "Who's marriage?" Loralie grinned, cupping Charlie's hands softly. turning to her. "I'll tell you.."

ೀ.ᐟ⭒๋࣭

"Y/n?.. there's a letter for you" you shot up from bed "Loralie, isn't this just fantastic!" heading over to Loralie in which she gasped. "look at you, Moonpie! gorgeous.." You smiled. grabbing the letter from Loralie as she hands it to you. "who's it from?" you look at her for a moment. "It's from Alastor" You felt yourself tremble "Alastor?.." petrified from where you stood. You opened the letter. you placed a hand over your mouth as you read.

Filled with tears. You fell to the floor. your cries wet the paper more and more till it was unreadable anymore. Loralie quickly approached you. wrapping her arms around you as you huffed brokenly, gripping the pearl necklace around your neck. "I don't want it anymore.." you whispered under your breath, turning to Loralie. "Lor.. I-i changed my mind.. Loralie! i don't want to do this anymore." You cried out. pulling the pearl necklace, the beads falling to the ground as it scattered everywhere.

Loralie's eyes widened in surprise as you suddenly changed your mind and pulled off the pearl necklace. "Y/n? What's wrong? Why don't you want it anymore?" Her tone was soft and concerned, and her gaze was fixed on you. "Is everything alright?" She cooed, grabbing the pearls that fell. collecting each one.

"I DON'T WANT TO MARRY HIM." you snapped, Loralie stared at you in shock. stopping her actions. "Y/n, you can't be serious." You shoom your head, standing up abruptly reaching for the door. But before you could run out. Loralie grabbed your waist pulling you back as you protested. "LORALIE! NO! LET ME GO. HE NEEDS ME!... he.. he needs me!" Loralie groaned pulling you back into the room, setting you down onto the bed. "Y/N! what has happened to you?! have you gone mad?!" you shook your head, crying desperately. "We already planned this wedding for months! we can't just end this now!"

"Now let's get you ready, we only have 2 hours for the makeup and veil" Loralie pulled you to the other room to get you ready, wiping off your tears, She called out to some maids to help with reattaching the necklace once more.

ೀ.ᐟ⭒๋࣭

You stood blankly as Vox held your hand tightly. you didn't have the capability to react anymore. "Hey, are you alright, sweetheart?" Vox asked, his voice filled with concern. He looked into your eyes, searching for any signs of stress or discomfort. "You seem lost in thought, is everything okay?" He kept a firm grip on your hand, but he was still gentle as he spoke to you.

He cupped your cheek softly making you snap out of your trance, you stood there looking back at him as you slowly nodded. he placed a soft kiss on your forehead.

As he placed a soft kiss on your forehead, you felt warmth radiate from your head, down your spine, spreading throughout your body. You couldn't help but smile, feeling a sense of love and tenderness wash over you. The gesture was simple, yet so meaningful. It spoke volumes about the kind of man he was, someone who cared and respected you. You couldn't help but feel gratitude for the love and attention he was giving you.

You thought back to the letter. feeling yourself sink in guilt. He took your hand gently, leading you to your quarters to rest for the day. in which you appreciated. he placed another peck over your hand. You smiled in return. closing the door softly as you retreat inside your room. you felt yourself slowly being engulfed with hesitation. trying to keep yourself sane.

You headed to the balcony, gripping the railings as if you were out of breath. Watching over the shore. "I'm just.. thinking about something" you mumbled under your breath, your seemingly lost in the waves. Vox wrapped his arms around your waist, placing a soft peck over your shoulders. You kept your eyes closed, trying to shift your mind to something else.

Vox held you close, his warmth soothing you as you felt his chest rise and fall against your back. You couldn't help but feel a sense of calm wash over you as he held you, and you were grateful for the comfort he provided, but it wasn't the one you wished to feel. You kept your eyes closed, letting the sound of the waves and the feel of his arms wrap around you.

As you stood there, Vox's arms wrapped around you, you couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. You still had the letter in your pocket, and it weighed heavily on your mind. You knew that you needed to say something, to talk it out with him, but you weren't sure how to approach the subject. You wanted to be honest and open with him, but you were afraid of how he would react. You stood there, lost in thought, wondering how to move forward.

ೀ.ᐟ⭒๋࣭

"Al, Enough, you've had too much to drink." Husk growled, grabbing the empty shot glass that was once in Alastor's hand. wiping off the excess liquid in the glass. "Look at you man, you're absolutely fucked up." he said, looking down at his dear friend, who had his head down onto the counter.

Alastor was silent for a moment, before lifting his head and meeting Husk's eyes. "I know, I know," he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. He didn't move an inch, continuing to rest his head on the counter. His eyes were vacant, glassy, and bloodshot. It was clear that he had drunk more than he should have.

Husk frowned, looking at Alastor with concern. He knew that his friend had been dealing with some personal issues lately, but he had never seen him this drunk before. he asked, placing his hands on Alastor's shoulder. "Look man, The least you could do is be happy, not only for her but for you too, Maybe she's happy with her life now that she's married, who knows, maybe she knew the guy longer than she knew you.."

"I know, I know," Alastor groaned, his voice muffled by the counter. "It just hurts so much to see her love and be loved by someone else, and it's not me." he muttered, his eyes welling up with tears.

Husk sighed, placing a reassuring hand on Alastor's shoulder. "I totally get it man, but you can't dwell on it forever. You gotta move on, or it's gonna eat you up inside," he said, his tone gentle but firm.

Alastor wiped his eyes, "I bought all these things for her.. this luxury life that she'd want, and now she's just married to a guy?.."

Husk listened to Alastor with a sympathetic ear, feeling the weight of his friend's pain. "I understand that you're hurting right now, but you need to let go," he said gently, placing a hand on Alastor's shoulder. "You've done everything you can, you've done your best. And now, you need to let go. For her sake, and for your own. You deserve to be happy too, and you can't be happy if you're hung up on what used to be."

"Plus don't you think she'd want you to be happy too? And if she loves you, she'd want you to be happy, even if she's happy with someone else. I know it sucks, and it hurts, but you need to keep moving forward."

Husk paused, considering his words before continuing. "Look, I know you're in pain right now. Me and Nif? we're here for you man, no matter what. But you need to let go of this pain, and start moving on with your life. You deserve that, you deserve to be happy."

"Thanks husker" He smiled weakly, running his fingers through his hair. "Ever considered being a therapist?" Alastor chuckled. "Nah, i just need to stop hanging out with Rosie, or else I'd turn into a fucking guru"

ೀ.ᐟ⭒๋࣭

"No, you didn't have to Al.. it's just a simple wedding.. I don't need a gift." You smiled, clutching the phone over your ear. placing a pillow over your lap. You giggled, your fingers fiddling over the cords of the telephone. You left out a soft giggle.

"Please, it's my pleasure, take it as an appreciation party for your marriage." He said, "Unfortunately, Vox is not gonna be home till Thursday, I'm gonna have to go alone. will that be alright?" Your eyes drifted to the outside view, watching over the shore. "Of course my dear, it's no big deal. I'll have my chauffeur pick you up, let's say.. 4pm, will that be alright?"

"Yes, That would be great, thank you again Alastor." you put the phone down. smiling at the thought of visiting him again. Yet you felt the guilt creep inside you once more. You decided to put it aside and just enjoy the opportunity that was given to you.

You got yourself ready, wearing a neat outfit to visit his home, waiting by the window to see the car come by to pick you up, and when it did. you hurried down to get in.

ೀ.ᐟ⭒๋࣭

Alastor fiddled with his fingers nervously. huffing as he waited for the car to come back. he bit his bottom lip. tapping his feet, he felt the chair eat him up. Husk stood by his side trying to keep him calm.

That's when the car entered his premises, rolling up to the front entrance of his newly bought house, not as grand as a mansion, but it's big enough to be considered as one. He took one final breath, Making his way to the front door to greet you.

As the door opened, you carefully got out, Alastor's eyes met yours, he felt everything stop around him, focused on you. He felt his heart beating faster at every step you took, moving closer and closer to him. He smiled widely as the butterflies in his stomach fluttered. You called out to him softly.

"Alastor.." You stared into his eyes, taking in his features, He took your hand, gently placing a peck over it.

"My Darling.."

#hazbin hotel #alastor #alastor x reader #alastor x y/n #alastor x you #hazbin #1920s #alastor altruist #human!alastor #plmasrm cause why not. i hate tags.

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windrush-child · 1 year

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You’re right for me, Ecstasy (one shot)

Reader x Lewis. 3.4k words. Smut.

Lewis Hamilton falls for a grid girl. Things don’t go well. Luckily, fate has a fable for second chances. Unreliable narrator cuz we’re messy like that. Thanks for the prompt ideas anons. Title inspired by the weeknd’s Don’t Break My Heart.

Warnings - Hate sex and highly questionable morals.

Rio de Janeiro. A mild November day. When you see him standing in the middle of the street, you have to do a double take. The tray with empty mugs nearly slips from your hands as the realisation hits. He caught your eye as soon as he turned round the corner with his friends (or security guards, maybe?), chatting in a language that seems so out of place. The simple black turtleneck and jeans make him look almost inconspicuous, if it weren't for the delicate pearl necklace that rests on top of his collarbones. Few people would know he's a famed racing driver if they ran into him on any random weekday like this. The worst thing, though? He saw you, too. He's also stopped talking to his friends, peeking over as if he's thinking, is it really her?, reluctant. And now, he's walking over. Shit. It feels like your feet have frozen to the ground. This can't be real. What the hell is he doing up here, out of all bloody places in the world? How did he, nearly one year down the line, end up in front of the small, unassuming Café you work at, in a small, unassuming backstreet of Santa Teresa?

"Hey" Begrudgingly, you look up. Big, brown eyes before you, a cautious smile, and the familiar smell of his cologne which strikes you in the most painful way possible. Where has your voice gone? "Good morning," you say, dryly, trying to sound like he's just another customer on just another day. Hoping he can't hear how he's sucker-punched the air out of you with only a word. Lewis shifts from one foot to the other. "I wasn't sure whether it was you at first," he says, attempting half a smile. You can feel his gaze all over your skin. "It's, uhm.. it's good to see you again. How've you been?" You press your lips together, can't bring yourself to say the same. "I'm doing alright," you respond, slowly wiping the table surface so you don't have to look him in the eye. Lewis draws in a breath. "Do you work at this place?" he asks. What a stupid question. "Looks like it," you answer, dumping the rag on the tray. You should be taking your lunch break right now, can't really pretend to be busy either when there's just a single old man at a table in the corner. "I've been working here for most of the semester. Money's tight, you know." "Right." He nods to himself, eyes on the ground before he looks back up. "So... you're still at university, then?" he adds, a graceless attempt at small talk. It's so unlike him to be this clumsy, it almost catches you off guard. You grab the pack of cigarrettes from the counter behind you when you're done cleaning up, pull one out and stick it between your lips. "I am," you mumble as you step further out into the street, desperate to create a safe distance between you and the man. He shoudn't be here. You shouldn't be talking to him. "What are you doing up here, anyway?" you ask as you light the cig. "Oh, you know, different things." he starts, "A friend is showing me around some places in the city today. And I also have a race on Sunday." "Busy as ever," you interrupt, a hint of bitterness in your voice that you hope went over his head. Don't start, now. Lewis makes an Mhm sound, both hands in the pockets of his trousers as if he doesn't know what else to do with them. "I thought you stopped?" he says, offhandedly. It takes you a moment to realise he's looking at the cigarette between your fingers. You could take this as an attempt to have a normal, non-threatening conversation. A first, cautious step into mending the broken pieces of your whatever-ship. You could ask him an equally innocuous question, or just make up an excuse to get out of the situation. You choose to be petty instead. "So what?" you shrug, blowing smoke. "It's not your business, really." Lewis rolls his lips, looks like he wants to chuckle. "I see." Just when you think he'll finally leave, he hesitates once more. "By the way," he says, "They're still looking for personel at the circuit in São Paulo, for the evenings and such. From what I've heard, they pay very well." You take a long drag of your cigarette. Seems like Lewis hasn't forgotten your career as a grid girl back then. And how could he have? It's the only reason your paths ever crossed.

"Thanks for the tip," you say. Your eyes linger on his back for far too long as he walks away.

—-

São Paulo, Race Day.

You had sworn to yourself that last year was the last time you're doing this. That the glitz and glamour of Formula 1 just wasn't for you. Too many ruthless, absurdly rich men who believed the world belonged to them; and that anything was possible if you just named a price. But when you met Lewis, one fateful evening after a race, he'd seemed like an exception to the rule. He was kind. Didn't treat you like a consumable that was hired for the sole purpose of his entertainment. Most people, even those close to you, would secretly judge you and the other women for "looking pretty for the cash". But Lewis never did. He understood that money didn't grow on trees, and that this was just a means to an end. It was part of the reason why having sex with him felt so liberating, so mindblowing every time. With him, you could be careless, didn't have to worry about the potential stigma. It was the type of sex that would make you cuss and sweat; that had you crying out into the bedsheet while he gave it to you good. The kind that had you holding on to each other for the entire night, and say things that should've never been said out loud. It escalated from a one night stand to two, then countless more when he flew you out to Mexico and COTA the following weeks. Neither of you dared to put a label on it, though, not even when Lewis had made a habit of treating you to dinner on Sundays; not even after the occasional pregnancy scare that turned out to be a false alarm. You were just a grid girl, after all. It was what doomed your little romance to failure in the end. Lewis couldn't handle his jealousy, couldn't stand seeing you around men that weren't him, yet wouldn't commit to you either. Maybe he didn't have the guts to do it. Maybe he lacked respect, and you were just a toy for him to play with till he got bored. In the end, none of it mattered.

The pay is indeed good, you think as you stow the bundle of cash into your bag at the end of the day. One of the other girls, Magalenha is her name, had convinced you earlier to come dancing with her at the after party by the track. The semester has been very draining, so why not have a bit of carefree fun for once? A shower, fresh make up, and a backless sundress is all you need to feel like the night is yours for the taking. Your newly found friend decides you're having a Cosmopolitan, giggles with you as she points at people that clearly can't dance, and three drinks in, she even manages to snap a selfie with a wasted McLaren engineer.

Fate can be such a bitch, however. You're waiting for your Caipirinha at the bar when you spot him on a dance floor. It's the time of the night when the beats get deeper, heavier, and hotter - You can tell. Through the low, purple lights and the haze of liquor in your body, you watch Lewis' tattooed hands, how they slide over a woman's waist from behind, down to her lower back as she grinds on him to the rhythm of the song. He's breathing hard, sweat pearling on his forehead as he pulls her closer by the hips. She smiles when he seems to whisper something into her ear. You turn away. Blood-red in the face. He has to be drunk; disgustingly, shamelessly drunk. When you look up again, just to put the sharp blade to your heart once more, Lewis is staring back at you. Your head is spinning as you dash for the exit of the venue, as quickly as your high heels allow, desperately trying to make yourself believe that this has got nothing to do with him. You're simply walking, no, running back to your hotel because it's time to call it a night - the shameful rush of jealousy isn't real at all, and neither is the bitter ache in your stomach.

"Stop!" Lewis' voice carries through the street, but you keep your eyes straight to the pavement. "Will you hold on!" he says as he catches up to you, trying to grasp your elbow. You smack his hand away. "What, Lewis?" you snap. The venom in your voice nearly makes him jump. "Just leave it, okay? You're causing a fucking scene." To your misfortune, Lewis doesn't listen. "I didn't know you were at the party," he blurts out, almost stumbling over the words. "I didn't do it on purpose, I swear-" You're silently gnashing your teeth as you turn to him, glaring his stupid face up and down. "Fuck- Come here," you say, dragging him along by the fabric of his shirt, through the doors of the hotel lobby. Nobody needs to see you fighting it out on the street. Surprisingly, he follows without protest. Only when the door of your room falls shut with a loud bang, you let go of him. "Alright," you start, tossing your purse to the floor. "Say what you gotta to say, then!" Lewis sighs, runs a hand over his face. He should've drunk less. "It's not... look, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings earlier, but-" "You're not hurting my feelings," you scoff, angrily kicking off your heels. "It's been a year, Lewis. I couldn't care less about who you're fucking tonight." He's frowning at first, but then raises his brows. "Oh, you don't care at all?" he says. You don't like that tone in his voice. "Is that why you can't even talk to me normally? You've been ignoring my phone calls for months. Every single message, too." Suddenly, your blood pressure spikes. "So you show up at my job in Rio because you can't take a hint?" you blurt out, impulsively lunging closer. The man has gone completely mad; there's no other way. "Why would you even want to talk to me? You've made it more than clear I wasn't your type." you spit, pure contempt. Lewis huffs, shaking his head in disbelief. "You know damn well it was never about that." He's trying to sound calm now, but by the tremble in his voice, you can tell the anger is finally getting to him. "You may not have said it-" you return, bluntly pointing a finger at his chest, "But we both know you thought it. You want a good girl, don't you, Lewis? No way you could ever love someone that's beneath you." "Bullshit," he hisses as he grabs your wrist hard, pulls you so close that you see the livid flicker in his eyes. It's almost satisfying. "You were the one that bailed on me 'cause you were scared of your own feelings. You rather kept sleeping around instead of committing to this," Lewis says. You're going to smack him in the face. "Or did you conveniently forget that?" There's hot bile rising in your throat, the awful feeling of knowing he's right. You want to scream at him, call him a stupid asshole. "Because you never even wanted me in the first place!" you yell. "That is not true!" "Then fucking prove it!"

There's silence, until something changes in Lewis' face. All of a sudden, the air inside this room feels too thick. Too warm. He's breathing hard. "Take your dress off," he says. You can feel the rumble of his voice in the pits of your belly - It short-circuits something inside of you. Fuck. You do it. Clammy hands, shaking knees as you peel yourself out of your clothes, skin hot from wrath, but even hotter from the way Lewis is staring you down. When he grabs you by your hips, pulling you into him, your heart stumbles. There's no warning when Lewis pounces on you, lifts your body easily to throw you onto the bed with him. It's not a fair fight, never was as he pins you down under his weight, making you squeal when he wraps a big hand around the base of your throat. "You want me to show you, huh?" he growls and charges at your mouth. You should bite his lip until you draw blood when he kisses you, make him regret ever starting this. Instead, you're moaning as he licks into you, wet and rough and messy, can't stop yourself from grinding up into his body. Oh, he's driving you mad, knows it too when he presses his palm over the soaked spot on your panties. "Shit," he curses when he pulls away, gets his fingers slick as he slips them into your underwear and inside of you, a filthy noise. "Just can't help it, can you?" he taunts, makes you whine when he pushes up into a spot, then again when he suddenly pulls them out. "Fuck you," you say, and Lewis laughs, because there's no bite behind it at all. With how ready you are for him, he knows he's got you in the palm of his hand.

He makes short work of your panties and tosses them to the floor, followed by his own shirt, before you're getting up on your knees to unbuckle his belt. As he stands at the edge of the bed, watching your every move, you make sure to dig your nails into the soft skin of his groin while you're tugging at his briefs. Lewis hisses, a threat of white, sharp teeth. "Behave," he warns, has grabbed a fistful of your curls to get his point across. His cock feels warm and thick as you're holding him in your hand, hardened up and reddened at the tip. By instinct, you wrap your lips around the head, impatiently trying to swallow, whimpering when he hits the back of your throat, too heavy, too big. Lewis controls the pace, pulls you back and forth by your hair, till spit is dripping down your chin, the taste of his arousal pooling on your tongue. Fuck, this is obscene. One more time he takes you, so far down himself that tears prickle in the corners of your eyes, until he pulls out with a harsh groan, wet and throbbing. Lewis tugs at your hair, angles you up so you're looking at him, don't have the choice not to, bulging, strong arms around your body holding you up into his chest, as if to make sure you won't slip away. If someone cut this moment out of marble, right here and now, you'd look like a sculpture of the Renaissance. Such beauty in being at his mercy. His gaze roams over your face, considering you with utmost diligence, the mess on your lips, the heaving breaths you're taking. Under the scrutiny of his eyes, your skin feels like it might burn off. "Have you been sleeping with other men?" "No," you answer, voice thin. It's the truth. He exhales, chest moving with it. "Good," he says.

Lewis sweeps you off your knees, lays you on your back with smooth strength. You want to be ashamed of how easily your legs open for him; of how you grab and pull at his shoulders. But you can't bring yourself to be, not tonight. Your eyes are shut tight when he clutches your hip with one, the base of your throat with the other hand, a cruel, anticipating throb where he lines himself up with your entrance. When he pushes in, you cry out, the stretch blind-siding, too tight. You can feel him everywhere, all at once, gasping when he presses deeper, till he's buried up inside. "Mhm...fuck," you whimper, don't remember him feeling like this. You look up to find Lewis watching you, gaze flickering back and forth between your trembling lips and liquid eyes. He's taking deep, ragged breaths, stays still. "Are you okay?" he asks, voice rough with exertion. He feels like he's going to burst, a tight, hard knot low in his belly. "Yeah…yes, I am" you sigh, reaching out so you can wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him down and close, and he lets you. He starts rolling his hips into yours, fucks you slowly and thoroughly, makes you fall apart underneath him. The room fills with moans and the sound of your bodies meeting as he takes you, heavy, practiced strokes. Every nerve of yours feels overstimulated with him, with his smell, the strength in his body. You want to cry, tell him you're sorry for breaking his heart, want him to say he's sorry for breaking yours, too, but can't grasp a single thought, not when he's doing this to you. "Oh god, I-" you whimper, but Lewis feels it before you do, is picking up a punishing pace. "I know, sweetie, you’re doing so well…" he purrs, has you crying out when he changes his angle, hits those places deep inside till you're taken by the throbbing heat between your legs. Lewis presses his mouth into your neck as he fucks you through it, has to fight tooth and nail to hold back because he knows he'll be in trouble if he doesn't, straining hard to not lose himself in you. It's almost too late when he pulls out, barely in time, his vision whited out from pleasure as he spills warm and wet on your belly. Lewis is panting and cursing while he pulses against the hinge of your hip, arms threatening to give out under him, baring his teeth. You don't think you've ever seen him come this hard.

"Fuck," he sighs, says it again, shoulders heaving as he leans back on his heels. He looks out of his mind, holding on to your thigh, can't do a single thing except to feel you under his palm. You're watching him in silence, because you don't know what to say.

Lewis does get up, eventually. But only to fetch a washcloth from the bathroom, and to pour some warm water on it. You're relieved when you see him come back to bed, worried for a moment he'd just get dressed and leave without another word. Instead, he's cleaning you, slowly running the cloth over your skin, starts with your face, then your neck, down to your belly to wipe away the mess he’s made. It's heart wrenching, how mindful and gentle he is with it, like this is still a part of it all, an act of aftercare. You wish he'd never stop.

When Lewis is done, he sits still. "We shouldn't," he begins, but trails off again. "I don't care," you say, shaking your head. "I don't care." It bursts out of you right then, can't help but reach out for his face, fingers in his beard, and then you're kissing him, deep and sincere as you pour it all out into his lips. "I'm sorry," you blurt out. "I'm so sorry that I lied to you. I'm sorry that I ran away." It's starting to sound like a prayer now, the way you're whispering against his lips, a dying, pleading flame that hopes he can forgive you. Lewis looks at you, his face in your hands. His dark brown eyes, so harsh and unforgiving earlier, have gone so soft. He leans in and presses a lingering kiss to your lips. Vulnerable. "I know. It's okay," Lewis whispers, doesn't have to think twice about it. He'd give you the shirt off his back had you asked for it, knows it in his heart. "I’m sorry I didn't treat you like I should have," he says, "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

You give him your lips, your tongue, let your hands slip into his hair and down his neck as you kiss him the way he loves it. Lewis is intoxicating, the most potent drug in the universe. He's tasting you with such devotion, slow licks of his tongue, moaning low into the kiss, almost sounds like he's hurting. Don't break my heart again.

#lewis hamilton #lewis hamilton x reader #lewis hamilton x you #lewis hamilton imagine #lewis hamilton one shot #lewis hamilton smut

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monsoon-of-art · 9 months

Text

Donut Hole - Chapter 16

Mountain Sound

Hold your horses now (We sleep until the sun goes down) Through the woods, we ran (Deep into the mountain sound) Hold your horses now (We sleep until the sun goes down) Through the woods, we ran

[THINGS ARE GETTING CRAZY FOLKS] [also shoutout to me rereading my old chapters and going 'oh Barry literally doesnt know Iscan's name'.] [Also I wanted to keep this chapter short and…that didn't happen. ENJOY THE 5k WORDS OF CHAOS!] [And a big thanks to my anonymous bestie and my friend Plant for Beta Reading!]

[ao3 Link]

Adaman didn’t return to his home in the Mirelands immediately. No, he went a bit further to the Coastlands to try and clear his head. Interacting with Irida for an extended period of time was bad for his health, he just knew it.

He stood on the sandy shores, the surf mere inches away from touching his shoes. Adaman took a moment to ground himself, breathing in the salty air. Time was precious, and spending time to reorient himself especially so.

“Lord Adaman!” down the stretch of beach, Iscan waved as he approached. “It’s always a pleasure to see you. What brings you here?”

“Had to clear my head. Irida just-” he gestured wildly with his hands with no clear meaning. “She just gets under my skin. You know how the Pearl Clan acts; they think they’re constantly right all the time?”

Iscan frowned. “I-I don’t know if every member of the Pearl Clan is like that…have you m-met them all?”

Adaman raised an eyebrow. “And you have?”

“Well…no.”

The Diamond Clan leader scoffed a bit at that, but Iscan seemed unconvinced. “W-What was Lady Irida talking about, anyhow?”

“You know that boy who robbed you, then broke your house?”

“How could I forget? What about him?”

Adaman fought not to roll his eyes. “Irida has convinced herself that he is connected to Dawn, of the Galaxy team.”

Iscan blinked at him, seemingly sharing Adaman’s skepticism. “And how did she come to that conclusion?”

“Half-baked coincidences and wishful thinking, I’d imagine. The two are children roughly the same age, both powerful trainers, both…weird-”

“Two of those things describe Warden Ingo? No offense to him of course-”

Adaman snickered at that, “That’s what I was thinking too. It’s all just coincidences. And my thought process is that sure, the boy may superficially resemble Dawn’s friend-”

“What?”

The clan leader took a breath. “I should’ve started at the beginning. Irida and I came to Jubilife to discuss that boy running about. But we were stopped by Dawn, who wanted to show us a pokemon she had caught, who she named after her best friend, Barry. Then she starts to cry and say how much she loved this friend, and how they used to train and battle and eat pecha berries-"

He paused, glancing over at Iscan, noticing how pale the other man was suddenly. "Did…did I say something?"

Iscan started to say something, stopped, thought for a moment. He closed his eyes and held a fist in front of his mouth, trying to recall. "You said the friend's name was Barry?" He finally asked.

"...yeah…?"

"And y-you said. You said they would eat pecha berries?"

Adaman felt a flicker of irritation. "Oh come now, Iscan, surely you don't-"

"Did Dawn describe the friend at all?"

"This is such a waste of time- yes. Yes she did, after Irida practically forced her to. A boy her age, taller, spikey blonde hair and a green scarf-"

Iscan spoke slowly, knowing that what he was about to say would not fly over well. "Sir. My Lord. With all due respect. I-I think Irida may be…c-correct.

That went just as well as Iscan thought it would. “You’re siding with her?! Might I remind you of what clan you’re part of?!”

“Adaman.” Iscan said firmly. “I am asking you to listen to me, instead of assuming the worst.”

This seemed to pacify Adaman, at least a little bit. Enough for Iscan to continue. “The boy in question came into my home, if you’ll recall. Stole some things, broke my walls. But before he did, he…spoke. I…I didn’t speak to him directly. Palina did, and she relayed everything the boy had said.”

Curiosity began overtaking Adaman’s anger. “...what did he say?”

“A-At first, we thought he was spouting madness. Asking for items we’ve never heard of, refusing to say where he had come from, and thought Palina was his mother. But…there was something else. He’s looking for someone.”

“That’s ominous. And vague. And unhelpful.”

“He’s looking for a girl. But he can’t remember the finer details. I think something’s scrambled his memory really bad. But there were two things he remembered; the girl was the best pokemon trainer he’s ever seen…and they used to share pecha berries.”

Adaman didn’t say a word. He slowly turned back to stare into the horizon, his mouth fixed into a thin line.

Iscan honestly thought he had broke him. “...L-Lord Adaman?”

Lord Adaman closed his eyes, inhaled through his nose, then exhaled. “...Fuck.”

He spun on his heel, gesturing in the air with his pointer finger. “Gather up the rest of the Wardens. We need to go catch this kid.”

---

When it was just Barry and his pokemon and the world around him, he could almost pretend he was on another adventure. That he was just exploring around Mount Coronet, looking for new discoveries, a pokemon center just around the corner. Later, when he was tired, he would go home, give his mom a kiss on the cheek, and tuck himself into bed.

It wasn’t true, of course. Not a single bit of it.

This was a different world from his own; Cyrus won, the world is ruined, pokemon centers don’t exist and his mom-

He didn’t want to think about that.

Barry focused on his pokemon. Once he was a safe distance from the weird shirtless man and his daughter(?) he had let his pokemon out of their balls. Fern took the lead, Pest sat on his head, Mystery flew above, Jen walked behind…

And Snacks kept bringing him things.

Snacks would toddle off for a while, returning with a handful of…something. Rocks. Twigs. Berries. He was surprised it stuck around so long. He had told the little guy that it was free to go once they were far enough away from those two nutjobs, but Snacks seemed content to stay.

Barry was…tired. Part of him wanted to find a nice spot to curl up and sleep, but they had already lost so much ground that they needed to make up…

He could feel it in his bones; this mountain had answers. He had to get to the top of this mountain.

Even if it killed him.

Barry tried to stifle a yawn as Fern slowed to check on him. “Atta boy Fern…keeping watch. Those nutjobs aren’t following us, right?”

Fern chirped, trying to gesture for Barry to slow down and sit. Barry barely put up a fight as his pokemon shuffled him onto a rock to rest.

“Mmkay, quick break. Quick break.” he muttered, petting the pokemon closest to him. In this case, Jen. Pest and Mystery preened the boy the best they could, and Snacks continued to pile small objects into Barry’s lap.

Absent-mindedly, he began sorting the items. Berries, twigs, clumps of dirt…and a jet black rock with sharp edges. This item caused him to pause, turning the item over in his hand. He ran his finger along the edge, wincing as he sliced a small cut on his finger tip.

“It’s as dark as…dark can be.” he commented, trying to remember what this stone was. Had he seen it in a shopping magazine? Pamphlet? Flyer? Maybe in one of those trainer guides he’d get monthly in the mail-?

Realization hit him like a bucket of cold water. “M-MYSTERY!” He grabbed the bird, a little roughly, but not without kindness, to show him the stone. “DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?!”

Mystery, understandably surprised and startled, squawked in reply.

“It’s a DUSK STONE! You can evolve with this!”

That got the bird’s attention, and now it too was staring at the stone with fascination.

Barry turned to Snacks. “You are SUCH a good boy!... Girl!... Tree!! You are SUCH a good tree!!”

Barry was perfectly ready to give Mystery the Dusk Stone and begin Mystery’s evolution, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed Fern looking…tense. “...Buddy?”

His team grew quiet. Barry strained to try and hear what they were hearing, trying to listen past the faint whistle of the wind and rustling of leaves…

“...’m not sitting behind you, I have seniority…”

His brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders, but each thought felt like a Pikipek against his skull; were they followed? Where were these people? Did they know where he was? Would they hurt his pokemon? Was Cyrus there?

Quickly, he recalled all his pokemon but Fern, much to Mystery’s irritation. “W-We’ll evolve you later. This is more important. Fern, lead the way.”

The two of them crept closer to the voices, finding themselves peering over the rocky cliffs and into a small canyon.

It was all the commanders from Team Galactic he had met so far, and a few he hadn’t. What was worrying were the pokemon mounts they had - pokemon he had never seen before.

Barry focused on Palina, currently on the back of an enormous dog-pokemon. If he squinted, he’d almost be tempted to say it was a horribly ill arcanine. Of course they were mistreating their pokemon!

“I am not sitting behind you on Lord Arcanine, Palina. I have seniority! I should sit in front!” Gaeric argued. “I am not sitting behind you! That’s embarrassing!”

“Lord Arcanine is my Lord, Gaeric. You should’ve brought your own. Oh. Right. I forgot.”

He could vaguely see Ingo and that weird, stretched out Sneasel walking down a path in the the cliffs to join the small group, flanked by a tall man in blue with long hair who appeared to really not want to be there.

Even at a distance, Barry could sense a weird tension amongst everyone, which he found strange. Weren’t they all part of Team Galactic?

Both Barry and Fern turned to the sound of galloping hooves. Riding in on a large, white deer were two people; a woman in the blue galactic uniform with black hair, and a man in a much more decorative jacket of some kind.

“He must be a leader. Wait. Cyrus is the leader.” Barry muttered. “What’s in between a commander and a leader? General?”

Sure. He’d settle on ‘General’.

The ‘General’ barely had time to hop off the pokemon before another, tall man stormed over. “Adaman, what is the meaning of this?! Working together with them?!” The tall man gestured to the commanders in pink with disgust in his voice.

‘General’ Adaman raised his hands to pacify. “Melli, settle down. We’re here with a shared goal; to find the boy.”

Barry felt his heart skip several beats. “O-Oh my God.”

They were definitely looking for him. But…it appeared they didn’t know where he was yet.

‘General’ Adaman spoke to the group now. “We are still waiting for Warden Calaba and Lady Irida. They will be arriving on Ursaluna.”

“So they’ll be a while.” the girl on the deer added.

“Must we share ride pokemon?” Melli continued to complain.

Ingo spoke now, “It is imperative we find the boy as fast as our routes will allow! As such, riding on the back of Pokemon is a must! But Melli and I know the mountains best, and it would be best for us to traverse on foot!”

Melli huffed at that, “Well that’s not much better.”

Finally, lumbering into the clearing was an enormous bear of some kind; with an older woman in pink and a younger woman with a crown on her head.

“Ah, finally decided to grace our presence, Lady Irida.” said Adaman. “This was your idea, you know.”

General Irida scowled at him as she hopped off the Pokemon’s back. “Lord Ursaluna takes his time, and who am I to tell him otherwise? Great haste makes great waste.”

“True, but a little haste would be appreciated.”

My God. Barry thought to himself. Were these two always like this?

How exhausting.

Finally, the two generals addressed the group together. Adaman spoke first, gesturing with his hands. “You’re all aware why we’re here. We need to finally take care of that child once and for all.”

Barry gulped.

Irida’s body language was much more closed off, but she followed up with, “The child is a danger to himself and others-”

“He set our settlement on FIRE.” Gaeric shouted.

“And he buried OUR SETTLEMENT in a LANDSLIDE!” Melli added.

The generals grimaced at the upset murmurings and general feeling of irritation. Adaman attempted to regain command. “Which is why we’re trying to capture him? He can’t just keep running around like this! Who knows what he’ll do next!”

“We’re in a temporary truce to work together to find him.” Said Irida. “According to Gaeric and Sabi, Berry was last seen heading towards the Highlands-”

Sabi began jumping in place, her giant bird loudly squawking, “And I can sense him still! He’s so close!”

Barry felt a shiver run up his spine at that. There were so many of them…and only one of him. If he wasn’t careful, then he was going to end up in their clutches.

He started slinking back, careful not to make any sudden movements or sound-

From his bag rolled the pokeball containing Mystery, and once the ball hit the floor, the large murkrow burst free with an ear-piercing croak.

As Barry and Fern scrambled to get its pokeball, Mystery was already rummaging in Barry’s bag, knocking items out with a loud clatter.

“MYSTERY- MYSTERY NO-!” came Barry’s terrified hiss. “I SAID WE’D EVOLVE YOU LATER - BAD BIRD! GET BACK IN THE BALL!”

The Galactic Commanders and General had definitely noticed the noise by now, unsure what to make of it.

“That is not a normal call from a Murkrow-” “Should we do something?” “What is it even doing-?”

Finally, Mystery managed to snag the Dusk Stone from Barry’s bag, and began to glow.

“SHIT.”

Mystery as a Murkrow was already an absurdly large specimen. Mystery as a Honchkrow was enormous. As large as Barry stood tall, maybe even larger.

And much to Barry’s horror, Mystery’s new, large size made them a new, very large target.

“Is that him?” “That’s him!”

If looks could kill, the withering glare Barry gave his Honchkrow would’ve made the bird explode into a puff of feathers. “We need to leave. Now!” he said as he scrambled to shove all of the items back into his bag.

There was no way he could outrun them. But he had a bit of a lead. As Barry ran, Fern and Mystery flanked him. "Mystery, if we get out of this alive? I'm turning you into a feather duster!"

In practically no time at all, he could hear the panting and the heavy footfalls of paws hitting the earth from the arcanine behind them. It almost felt like each step caused the mountain to shake.

They had caught up so fast.

“Berry!” Palina pleaded from the back of the arcanine. (Wait did she get his name wrong?) “Berry, please! We only want to help! Stop running!”

“Then stop CHASING ME then!” Barry shot back.

‘Help’. Sure. Like he’d believe that.

“Stop making this so difficult!” Gaeric said from behind her.

He saw a small trail up ahead, snaking through a thin chasm. There was no way the arcanine could follow them down there. And with a quick glance, Barry informed his pokemon of the plan.

As soon as they could, the three of them ducked down the trail. The Arcanine whined and tried to paw at the entrance, testing if it could fit, to no avail. Barry heard shouting, but the adrenaline that was quickly overwhelming his system blurred all noise.

He had to get out of here in one piece.

Barry and his pokemon finally squeezed out of the trail on a different side of the mountain. Everything was starting to blend together now; sound, sights, thoughts. His hands were clammy. His head was starting to spin.

A wave of clarity hit when Barry saw the white deer round a corner, General Adaman and the unnamed commander with black hair on its back.

“F-Fern-!” Barry squeaked, pointing in their direction.

With a single word, Fern understood perfectly. It took a ready stance, fully prepared to take on the white deer galloping towards them at top speed.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be that easy. The deer slowed to a stop, and with a single, stern look, Fern staggered.

Hypnosis.

“No-” Barry whispered, seeing Fern try to shake off the effects of the hypnosis and failing. “No!”

“This is for your own good.” Adaman said. “Lord Wyrdeer, another Hypnosis-”

“You don’t know what’s good for me!” Barry shot back, and before he could even utter the command, Mystery flew in for his rescue.

Shrieking like a crobat from hell, Mystery swooped forward, talons aimed directly for the deer’s face. The deer bellowed, rising on its back legs to try and shake Mystery off, General Adaman nearly falling off entirely, if not for the unnamed commander grabbing his shirt.

“You’re not going to stop me! I won’t let you win!” Barry continued to spit like an enraged seviper, recalling Fern to its pokeball.

His adversaries distracted, Barry ran.

Looking over his shoulder, he whistled for Mystery to catch up with him. This proved to be a mistake, as taking his eyes off the path for a split second caused him to trip.

And fall.

Down one of the cliffs.

Luckily for Barry, this particular cliff wasn’t very high, nor was it steep. He mostly slid and scrambled his way down more than fell. This did not stop him from hitting every root and rock on the way down, and it did not make hitting the ground hurt any less.

He laid there for a moment, groaning, his bandaged leg spiking with pain upon impact. Mystery landed next to him with a flutter of feathers, tugging on his clothes to try and pull him up.

Barry couldn’t lay there for long, seeing and hearing something shuffling closer. He sat up, seeing the lumbering form of a giant bear approaching him now.

“Berry…we want to help.” came the soft voice of General Irida. “You’re looking for someone, right? We could help you find her…if you come with us?”

“Don’t try and negotiate with crazy people.” The older woman hissed.

“S’atrap…” Barry slurred as he tried to stand, wincing as he put weight on his injured leg. “‘S a trap. It’s a TRAP. Gonna help me into a GRAVE.”

Mystery cawed loudly in agreement.

“No! No no no, it’s not a trap! We’re not lying to you!” Irida continued to insist as she - and the giant bear with giant bear claws - lumbered closer.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a cave entrance, from a glance it looked too small for the giant bear to fit in.

Could Barry outrun a bear? He was about to find out.

“You’re not getting me. You’re not getting me. You’re not getting me.” he muttered, slowly walking backwards. “You’re not going to win.”

“Berry-!”

“AND THAT’S NOT MY NAME! MY NAME IS BARRY!”

And Barry ran. Bolting for the cave entrance even as the two women yelled and the bear bellowed behind him. The only confirmation of his pokemon by his side was the rustling of feathers as the two bolted for presumed safety.

But he found no solace within the cave. Instead he found two pairs of glowing eyes staring at him.

“You have traveled far, but your determination has not brought you victory. Not this time, young passenger.”

Barry felt a shiver run down his spine.

“Let me introduce myself again. I am the Warden Ingo. You have done well to evade my fellow Wardens, but you will have no such luck with me.”

Ingo assumed a familiar pose; the iconic ‘point and call’ that Barry was familiar with from travel magazines and advertisements for the Battle Subway in Unova. But it was…wrong. Ingo looked horribly stiff, his tattered clothing doing him no favors.

He looked like he had died on this mountain.

Barry quickly glanced around the cave, looking for a potential exit. To his immediate right was a soft glow indicating another cave opening, but the stretched out sneasel clearly noticed as well; starting to slowly skulk over to block it off.

“Now, you are a very smart boy, and a very skilled trainer. The bond between you and your pokemon is admirable.” He lowered his head, the brim of his cap obscuring his eyes and making him look all the more intimidating. “So don’t be stupid, now. Come with us. This track ends here. It’s time to divert your course.”

‘Oh my God.’ Barry thought, sweat forming on his brow. ‘Subway Boss Ingo is going to kill me in this cave.’

He couldn’t go back. And he couldn’t go forward without a fight.

So fight it was.

“MYSTERY, GO GET THAT SNEASEL!”

Ingo and the sneasel seemed surprised by this outcome, but what did they expect, honestly? That Barry was going to give up? Turn himself in? Fat chance.

Mystery flew forward with a horrid screech, flapping its wings and raising its talons to fight the sneasel. It was a longshot; the sneasel had a type advantage, being ice.

Regardless, the sneasel howled and raised its large claws to try and shield itself. Ingo was shouting something, fumbling for his pokeballs. And in the chaos, Barry made a break for it.

Barry ran from the cave, temporarily blinded by sunlight, Mystery flying just behind him. But just behind the wingbeats was the sound of hooves, of heavy paws, shouting, begging, pleading for him to stop, stop, stop, STOP.

And deep down, Barry knew he had to eventually. His lungs were burning, his head felt fuzzy, his leg felt like jelly. The inevitability was killing him. He had to keep running. He had to stop. He had to keep running. He had to stop.

Unfortunately, the terrain decided for him.

Barry yelped, skidding to a stop just before tumbling off another cliff. This one steeper. This one taller. If he fell down this cliff, he wouldn’t have walked away with just scrapes and bruises.

He turned, starting to run back the way he came, but was instead met with the sick arcanine, Palina, and Gaeric.

Barry squeaked, walking backwards as the arcanine slowly inched closer. They were swiftly joined by the other commanders and their respective ride pokemon (or lack of).

He was cornered. Cornered cornered. His legs started to shake as he tried to think of possibilities to get out of this mess, but each potential idea ending in painful failure after painful failure.

“Good God, it’s about time we catch this brat.” said Melli with a snooty huff.

“You didn’t even help! Y-You were in the Moonview Arena!” countered the man with a shaved head in blue.

“I was keeping a watchful eye over my dear Lord! Sinnoh forbid this brat hurt Lord Electrode-”

“Shut it- Shut it!” Adaman hissed as he dismounted the deer. “Squabble later!”

Irida dismounted the bear at the same time. “Ber- Barry. Barry.” she said slowly, hands outstretched as if she were attempting to pacify a great beast instead of a thirteen year old boy.

They were all inching closer now. Barry honestly thought his heart would explode, or his legs would give out. Like his entire body would fall apart at the seams like a poorly made ragdoll.

“P-Pl..please. Don’t hurt my pokemon.” was the only thing Barry managed to say, reaching to pet Mystery’s inky feathers without looking away from the encroaching commanders.

Behind him, Mystery let out a soft, confused croon.

“Should we have Ingo use sleep powder on him again?” Gaeric asked.

The woman on the deer looked surprised. “Ingo did what?”

“No, no, none of that. We’re not going to do anything drastic.” Irida spoke as if she were speaking for Barry’s behalf as well. Perhaps urging him to comply. “We’re just going to take him to the Galaxy Headquarters in Jubilife-”

“Team Galactic is in Jubilife?” asked Barry, quietly, almost in disbelief. Last he knew, the Galactic Headquarters should be in Eterna city. But this is a world where Cyrus ruled, and why wouldn’t he move his headquarters to the biggest city in Sinnoh?

Of course, that did him little good now, stuck between a horde of commanders and a cliff face, metaphorical rock and a hard place. And now he just felt stupid for running around a mountain all day. Barry could feel the tears start to well in his eyes.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

With a determined croak, Mystery threw the boy onto its back. It took Barry a minute to get more comfortable, practically throwing his arms around Mystery’s neck. It was a lot different than riding his Staratpor back home, that’s for certain.

Mystery looked over its shoulder. Barry looked back, eyes widening in realization.

He nodded.

“THAT TRACK IS NOT SAFE FOR TRAVERSAL!” Ingo shouted, voice frantic and fearful, reaching for the pokeball containing Gliscor. “FOR YOUR SAFETY I ASK YOU DISMOUNT IMMEDIATELY!”

“Ingo, what are you saying?!” the old woman on the back of the bear demanded.

Sabi answered for him. “HE’S GONNA JUMP!”

The group surged forward. Some begging, some yelling, but all telling the boy in some form to get away from the cliff.

“He doesn’t have the guts! Only Lord Braviary can fly carrying someone!” Melli loudly scoffed. “The brat might as well do a flip to entertain the crowd!”

Adaman turned and sharply hissed, “Melli, with Sinnoh as my witness, I will strangle you.”

Barry and Mystery paid the crowd no mind. The small bit of space before the drop-off would provide the bird a decent running start; so Mystery turned and began to sprint directly for the cliff’s edge.

Of course, Barry hadn’t seen a single Technical Machine lying around since he arrived, let alone the Hidden Machine for Fly. But he had to trust in his pokemon, and trust that Mystery wouldn’t let him plummet to his death-

“Wait WAIT WAIT- I CHANGED MY-”

Mystery jumped.

For the briefest of moments, Barry felt weightless. Looking out over the mountainous hills, he felt…small. Like a feather, or maybe a dandelion puff in the breeze.

And then gravity kicked in, and the two began to fall.

And fall.

Seeing the ground rushing to meet him, Barry squeezed his eyes shut tight, “Mystery I’m sorry for threatening to turn you into a feather duster!” he said, fighting to speak against the wind. ”God, take pity on my little broken body!”

He couldn’t see it, but at that, Mystery smirked.

Barry felt Mystery start to flap its wings, and the pressure of gravity beginning to fade. He cracked open an eye, seeing the landscape flying by.

“W-We’re flying! WE’RE FLYING!!”

Feeling the wind in his hair, seeing the world blur past…he had missed this. He had grown so used to flying on Staraptor back home, it had become so mundane. But this? This was a completely different ballpark.

“W-We can fly to Jubilife from here! It shouldn’t be that far- Mystery, fly us to the top of Mount Coronet!” he commanded.

Behind them came a screech. Barry spun around, seeing that the enormous bird Sabi commanded, a gliscor, and a crobat was currently tailing them.

“UH-”

Barry couldn’t exactly start a pokemon battle in the sky. A sky battle? That sounded incredibly stupid. Instead, Barry rummaged through his bag and started throwing things. The rocks and sticks and other random items that Snacks had brought him proved excellent ammo.

Unfortunately, this only caused annoyance. Both for the pokemon pursuing them and for Mystery.

Mystery cawed and cawed nonstop, Barry meekly closing his bag and wrapping his arms around the bird’s neck once more, which finally seemed to pacify it.

Then, in a swift motion, Mystery rolled onto its back, slashing at the crobat with its talons. And with another swipe, slashed at the gliscor.

As Mystery rolled back, the crobat and gliscor retreated.

Only the enormous bird remained.

Mystery and Barry darted through the mountains, trying to shake the bird off their trail and to form some sort of sense of direction. But even the fanciest of tricks couldn’t get rid of it.

Regardless, Mystery darted through a cloud layer and emerged out the top, slowly circling the peak of Mount Coronet.

The first thing Barry set his eyes upon was the swirling vortex in the sky; a blackened, gaping wound that bled lightning and thunder. That same, terrible unease from before gripped Barry’s entire rib cage and began to squeeeeeze.

After some effort, Barry tore his gaze away. “Spear Pillar should be-huh?”

In Spear Pillar’s place was…well, a temple. Carved marble columns, statues, a stone roof- it was like someone came and fixed Spear Pillar overnight.

“I…I guess Cyrus likes old architecture?” It’d certainly fit him, Cyrus looked ancient.

“Those are the stairs! And they face North!” said Barry, pointing at the landmark. He then did some mental triangulation, using the tried and true method of ‘Never Eat Soggy Wurmples’, Barry was able to mentally map out where Jubilife should be.

“Mystery! We gotta head Southwest! We should hit Jubilife-”

Bursting from the clouds like a Sharpedo out of water, the giant bird screeched as it tried to grab the two with its claws.

Mystery screamed back, loud enough to hurt Barry’s ears (Snarl, maybe? Could Honchkrow learn Snarl?) and to make the bird hesitate. And within this hesitation, Mystery dashed forward, talons raised in attack.

Barry almost felt bad. But at this point he was just a passenger on this flight.

With a pained whimper, the enormous bird sank below the clouds, defeated.

Barry stroked Mystery’s chest feathers. “Let’s head out of here before it comes back. Onward! To Jubilife!”

---

[Sabi, last chapter: You can't hurt a Noble that's against the rules :( Mystery, this chapter: And I'll fuckin' do it again] [This entire chapter was seriously 'Mystery off the Shits' huh. BUT OH BOY HERE WE GO TO JUBILIFE :)] THE TEAM:

#Donut Hole #Barry in Hisui #pokemon legends arceus #pla #rival barry

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panda-writes-kpop · 1 year

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Rosé - Your Kiss Is On My List (Requested)

A/N: Hi guys, girls, and non-binary pearls! It's hard to believe that this month is already over, but I'm looking forward to seeing what else this year has in store for me, along with all of you! ❤️

TW: Alcohol mentions, Jealous! Rosé, mutual pining that's quickly resolved

Summary: Rosé has had feelings for you for a while, but your co-star, Jennie, has kissed you before Rosé could. At an after party, Rosé takes things into her own hands after having a few drinks to quiet the doubts in her head.

♡ Masterlist ♡

Rosé knows that what she is feeling isn’t right, but her heart wants what it wants, and right now, her heart is crying and begging for you in every waking hour that she lives through.

And it’s not like her nights are much more peaceful, either. Your angelic figure and warm smile elevate every dream and thought she has.

God, you’re too dream-like to be real yet too real to be a complete dream. You trip up on your words like Rosé does, but you’re also elegant beyond her wildest dreams. You’ve fallen in front of thousands, but the way you laugh it off makes you feel like a far-away saint rather than a real, living person that Rosé gets the pleasure of knowing personally.

She also knows that the feeling inside of her isn’t pure love and pining, either. At least, that’s not the feeling she’s feeling right now.

While trying to hide her pout, and blinking the tears away, Rosé watches as you laugh along with your co-star, Jennie.

Of course your co-star had to be her best friend, and, of course, there had to be a kiss scene.

Jennie had apologized to Rosé again and again, since the former was more than aware of the latter’s big crush on you. Rosé had waved Jennie off while thinking that it would be a quick peck and that’d be it.

Again, unfortunately for her, the camera crew had insisted on getting the kiss from about fifty different angles, so you and Jennie had to repeat the same kiss again and again for them.

Sometimes, Rosé liked to wonder if the world had a personal vendetta against her. She winced everytime you kissed Jennie’s lips, although every time, she wished that it was her that you were kissing with such passion and fervor.

Rosé shakes off the feeling as the director announces that the scene is finally done. You and Jennie cheer as the crew laugh as if this is all one big joke, and everyone is laughing at Rose’s pain and heartache.

Whatever, Rosé tells herself, it doesn’t matter anyways. She can go home soon, and forget this whole day happened when, in fact, she knows that this will replay in her mind for months and months to c-

What was that? You wanted her to join you for the after party for the film?

Why not, Rosé shrugs before answering you, this is how she ended up here in the first place, anyways.

As expected, the after party is just another act of mockery against Rose’s feelings. The alcohol makes the feeling go away slightly, but every time Jennie brushes against your shoulder or laughs at one of your jokes, a spark of newfound jealousy lights up inside of her.

Rosé finishes another drink before she’s decided that she’s had enough of everything and everyone at her party. Without wobbling, she manages to make her way over to you.

You attempt to say something, but she silences you by placing a hand over your mouth. She grabs your spare hand and drags you outside, but neither you nor her miss the thumbs up that Jennie sends to Rosé.

Rosé offers a brief smile before tugging you outside. You go to ask her what’s wrong, why she's been acting so weird all day, and why she won’t talk to you, but the words stop at your lips when Rosé kisses you.

The pure pleasure and relief that arises in both of you is enough for you to melt into the kiss and kiss her back. Divine chocolates, artisan foods, and the finest wines from across the world - none of it could compare to the way that Rosé’s lips taste. She was sweet yet tart, warm yet cold, loving yet friendly. She was everything you’ve ever needed, and you wonder why you didn’t act before when you obviously had feelings for Rosé.

As you pull away, any confession, loving words, or comfort die on your tongue before they can exit your mouth. There’s nothing that wants to come out of your mouth, and you’re not sure that you want anything to come out of your mouth.

The atmosphere is perfect, Rosé herself is utter perfection. There’s nothing to say when everything’s already been said in a different way.

So you shrug and allow yourself to kiss her again as the worries and weight of the world escape the both of you for just one night, if not one single moment of that night.

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junko-en0shima · 1 year

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He's A Pirate - Pirate! Eddie Munson x Mermaid! Reader

Summary: Captain Eddie is traveling for the seven seas with his first mate Steve Harrington and their crew, but to reach the treasure island they've been looking for about four years now, they have to go through The Mermaids Bay on a Blood Moon night which many legends are told about. That sounds dangerous, doesn't it?

Warnings: mention of drinking, (h/l) = hair lenght, (h/c) hair colour, (e/c) = eye colour.

A/N: Hey there, my Eddie loving fellas! This is my first fics ever about Stranger Things and Eddie Munson ofc hahah. I want to make this a mini serie, so please let me know if you want part 2.

*Comments and reblogs are appreciated!*

The wind blew harder than usual, pushing itself against the white sails which were light orange because of the light of the Blood Moon which could be made out of the blood of all the sailors who were captured by the mermaids a lot of legends told about.

But Captain Eddie didn't believe a word of those silly legends!

He was just standing there, proudly point his sharped sword towards the horizon to announce anyone who dared to get in his way his arrival.

"Together we will conquer every island, fighting the most dangerous creatures the world can provide and finally, I, Captain Edward Munson, will be the king of the seven seas!" He repeated his iconic line.

"You told this about a thousand times today." First mate Steve Harrington complained before to take a sip from his rum bottle. "You should cut it off repeating that childish line all day long." He added.

"But people should know who's soon gonna rule them all." Eddie jumped down from his spot.

"You told this about a thousand times, too." Steve took one more sip as he was slowly beginning to forget what patience was.

"You're gonna thank me once we'll get to put our precious hands on that freaking treasure." He looked through his telescope to scan the horizon once again which caused Steve to roll his eyes at him.

In the meantime, their crew mates, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Gareth, Jeff, an unnamed freak and their new addition Erika, Lucas' younger sister, were sitting on some barrels to discuss about the treasure they had been looking for about four years.

"What do you think those old folks put in that old wooden chest?" Dustin asked his mates.

"Gold coins?" Will suggested.

"Jewerly?" Mike added.

"Pearl necklaces?" Jeff suggested.

"That's jewerly, too." Dustin whispered and Jeff pulled an 'oh...' face at him.

"More maps to find more treasures?" was Erika's theory.

"That would be too silly of them." Lucas immediantly contradicted his sister.

"These are all good theories, but first we have to find this chest to find out." Gareth reminded. "We've been navigating for about four years now and nothing to be found yet."

"We should ask Eddie about that." Erika spotted Eddie talking to Steve, probably both drunks already, before to get up her way to go to her captain.

Everyone nodded in agreement and got up from their barrels to march to their captain and his first mate.

"Excuse me, long haired freaking captain." Erika spoke, making sure to catch Eddie's attention.

Eddie turned to the girl. "Yes, Sinclair?"

"How long is it gonna take before we find this 'treasure' island?" She gestured open brackets. "Is that even real?"

"Well, all the retired captains I confronted before to sail told me that the treasure island should be right behind the corner..."

A smile of relief begun to appear on their faces.

"... but not before we pass The Mermaids Bay." He finished.

"M-m-mermaids?" Jeff was shivering like a leaf, clutching to Dustin, who begun to shiver as well. "B-b-bay?" He tried to finish.

"Yeah, what about that?" Eddie raised an eyebrow at the two scared little mouses.

"Legends say that all the sea dogs that tried to sail this dark bay..." Jeff begun.

"... were put under a spell by the mermaids singing which leaded them to fall in the trap, with their whole crew and ship, elaborated by these beautiful, but dangerous creatures." Dustin continued.

"And they were never ever seen again." Jeff finished, giving everyone a serious look.

Eddie stared at them concerned for a moment... before to burst into a fit of laughs.

"What's funny?" Dustin asked him. "Yeah, it's a true story!" Jeff specified.

"Yeah..." A tear escaped from Eddie's eye which he quickly wiped away with his index finger. "And I believe it." Eddie kept laughing, slapping his knees before to begin hold his stomach which was twisting for the laughs.

Steve stared at his captain and then stared at the kids. "Tonight is gonna be the night of The Blood Moon, too."

The kids, most likely Dustin and Jeff, begun to panic and pronunced 'Oh, it's really late! We're going to bed! 'Night!' as an excuse to run lower deck to hide and the others followed them behind; Lucas, who was most of the time the cold-blooded of the crew, panicked as well and grabbed his sister by the hand to drag her away with them.

Eddie and Steve were now alone.

"Well, I guess I'm going to sleep, too." Steve faked a yawn and took a last sip before to pass the now empty bottle to Eddie, wishing him a good night and head his way to bed.

Now Eddie was pretty much alone. He already planned to stay awake, though, so he knew he would be.

He took control of the helm after grabbing a new bottle of rum for himself; he insisted it helped him to concentrate though Steve told him tons of times it wasn't a good thing to do because it wouldn't take a long time for hum to crash against a rock.

Steve even made a bet on that and sweared on Dustin's mother he would celebrate, drinking all the bottles himself, if he won.

The fog begun to cover his view, so he couldn't see a thing, but he could hear a beautiful enchanting voice coming from afar.

At first, he simply tried to ignore it, taking a few more sips of rum as he believed it was just his mind playing tricks on him, but it was just too captivating to resist; he dropped the anchor, so he could leave the helm to go see what was happening.

Through the fog, he could barely spot a female figure with a human bust and a fishy tail, lying on a rock.

As it begun to fade away, he could see it better: it was a beautiful woman with (h/l) (h/c), enchanting (e/c) and a sparkly and scaly tail; her beautiful figure was highlighted by the red moonlight.

'For my uncle's golden teeth...' he though to himself, 'so... beautiful.' An enchanted smile grew on his lips; he had never seen such a beauty in his whole life.

Her hair looked just silky and soft to stroke, her tail was pretty interesting to examinate and her eyes seemed to talk to him.

Her glossed lips seemed to tune the same captivating melody he heard earlier.

The boys, Erika and Steve were hiding their faces under their pillows as her voice didn't sound as tunful in their ears as it sounded in Eddie's.

The woman jumped from the rock and seemed to be swimming to another one, closer to the ship.

"Hello there, sailor." She looked into Eddie's chocolate brown eyes as deep as the ocean with no shame.

"Hi..." He was a bit shyer, but kept eye contact with her as he managed to fall under her spell, enchanted by her beauty.

He couched to clear his throat and boldly introduced himself. "I'm Eddie Munson, Captain Eddie Munson."

"Oh, what a lovely name you've got there, Captain. My name's (Y/n)."

"Nice to meet you, little mermaid."

She shyly chuckled as her cheeks slighty heated up.

He was about to reach out her hand and so she was, when...

"Eddie!"

Dustin's voice seemed to be calling him and he was pulled back to reality.

"Eddie!" Dustin's eyes expressed all his worry. "We though you fell under the mermaids' spell!" His eyes looked like he was about to cry.

"Sorry, I..." Eddie tried to explain, but Steve cut him off.

"No time to explain. You should get a bit of rest. I'll be at the helm for tonight." He gently pushed him lower deck with the kids so they would make sure he would get some rest.

For all the time, Eddie could think of nothing, but that beautiful mermaid he met; was that only a dream or was it real?

#stranger things #eddie munson #pirate! au #mermaid! au #pirate! eddie munson #mermaid! reader #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x fem! reader #pirate! eddie x mermaid! reader #eddie munson x y/n #pirate! eddie x mermaid! y/n #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson hurt/comfort #eddie munson angst

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topguncortez · 7 months

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I was just thinking about your last Whumptober fix with Shy!Wifey and Jake, and her crush on Rooster, and I had to clutch my Sunday pearls.

because Crush on Rooster? I theorize it came from the way he supported Dragon through her miscarriages. I think there’s this stigma that people who appear to move on after trauma have healed from it too, or are running fast from it, and Jake fell for it. I think he mistook her need for intimacy as her pushing past that guilt, and just needing something else to make her feel better..

and at the same time, he was just so full of anger that he couldn’t really understand what she was going through because he couldn’t understand what he was feeling either.

and I could only imagine wifey going, “You don’t get to make me feel guilty over my friendship with Rooster. there was no crush. I was getting support from someone who knew how to support his wife after losing a baby. I was getting support from a friend who knew what it was like, who knew how I could help you, because I knew you were hurting too. I’m so jealous of Dragon right now, because he never wavered, and you did, and now I don’t know how to deal with that.”

and I’m most definitely talking out of my ass because I love theatrics sometimes, and I know they fix it eventually? But also, is there space for a what if? Where the twins were accidents from rounds of thanks-for-the-memories-sex?

shut me up whenever bc

I love your writing- people are tools, and when they’re jealous and/or bored, they are also total dickbags.

thanksgorlettingmepostthistedtalk

you also have to remember that rooster was there for shy!wifey a lot. he took care of alex when they went and had ella. he’s ella’s godfather. hell, he was even there when eli took his first breath. rooster even said that shy!wifey reminds him a lot of his mom, and that she’s a comfort person to him. yes, he loves dragon with every fiber of his being but there’s a different type of relationship between him and shy!wifey

but i totally agree that shy!wifey probably turned to rooster and dragon more than she did to jake. dragon understands on a totally different level what it is like to lose a child. no one else relates to shy!wifey more in that moment in time, except for dragon. their relationship got closer as they both kind of leaned on each other for strength and that of course lead to rooster’s relationship with shy!wifey getting closer as well. and yes, shy!wifey did develop some jealousy watching how attentive rooster was to dragon. he never turned away from her. yes, he had his moments where he needed to take a step away and grieve on his own, but he never left dragon’s side. we saw that first hand in “To Build A Home”.

jake knew he was out of line for his crush comment. he knew as soon as he said it cause there’s no one more loyal on this planet than his wife and rooster. i mean rooster was loyal to holding a 15 year grudge against his godfather. but shy!wifey’s loyalty goes past just being married to jake. she’s loyal in the way she loves him and cares for him. she could’ve totally made a fool out of him at the naval ball but she didn’t because she cares about jake so much. she’d suffer the embarrassment of being the wife who got c “cheated” on than out him in front of everyone.

#g mail #jake seresin x shy!wifey #opposites attract things!

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white-collar-cannibal · 8 months

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gl!charlie tries on some new clothes.

includes: internalized homophobia/transphobia, unreality / hallucinations also! the signs that charlie and sneeg use are not asl or bsl or an existing sign language, it's a homesign/conlang the two invented. any similarity is unintentional. both of them being hearing and using it as auxiliary to speech, it does not have the complexity of actual sign language and they do not use it as fluently.

When he turns to see himself in the mirror, he has to clap his hands over his mouth to hold back a sound somewhere between a laugh and a bark, some expression of pure stupid joy and surprise that makes you want to flap your hands in rapturous half circles. What the fuck, dude, who let him do this? Why didn’t they let him do this before? The skirt is so pretty, long and loose and flowing, black with swirling leaves and flowers in a red-pink that goes so well with the pale red of his shirt.

It fits over his self-conception - his shape of himself in his mind - so easily. It washes over him like cold, clean water, him on the bus with his ankles crossed, at a picnic all dressed up in pink gingham and petticoats, holding a big sunhat from getting blown away in the wind. He’s never imagined himself smiling so much, and it’s something he could have. Oh my god, he doesn’t even have to ask anyone, he can just decide to, he can just- he’ll just go and tell them. He’ll- why does he feel sick? Why can’t he move? Why is he stuck staring into the mirror?

He looks so nice. He feels sick, and he doesn’t know why. Is this why Niki was so relieved when they dressed her up in pantsuits and slacks? Do skirts just make people look pretty and feel bad all the time? Is he allergic or something? He looked so nice, why is he afraid to go out, to walk into (belated realization) the view of the camera? There it is. It’s that- well, this is the setup, and the punchline comes when he steps out, when the camera sees him. He can’t do it. He’s the fucking punchline. He’ll step out and the canned laugh track will play because - he trips over the thought, fully formed, like a pearl grown in his brain when he wasn’t looking - men don’t dress like that. That’s why dress-up is supposed to be funny, he realizes, because you’re not supposed to do that. Fuck. Shit. Et cetera. The worst part is, because he, man-shaped, man-analogue, can, there must be an “or else” at the end. He knows the “or else” so well. He’ll step out, feeling bright and beautiful and get laughed at, then halfway through the episode he’ll get torn apart by something, and the laugh track will keep playing, keep ringing in his ears.

No, he can’t go out, he wants to go home, he wants to never have been stupid enough to have done any of this. He wants to have never wanted anything in his life, to sit in his room with no thoughts staring at the wall until it’s his turn on set. He can hear them, the studio audience, muffled through the walls of the room but still so so so loud, and it must be loud enough that he doesn’t hear when Sneeg and Ranboo call to check on him, knock on the door- and what’s very concerning is that he doesn’t even see them open it, see Sneeg walk in, until he’s in front of him, grabbing onto his shoulder. His mouth is moving, but there’s no sound coming out, he can’t hear it over the chattering.

For a moment Charlie is all fear, because Sneeg must have brought the camera in, over his shoulder like a hawk, but Sneeg is signing to him, which he never does under the camera, so it must still be outside looking at Ranboo right now, and- oh, Sneeg’s signing, he should be paying attention to that. A C on the left shoulder. Charlie. A wide circle, chest height, flat palm, then pointing to him, with a confused expression. Where are you? He should be able to talk, but there’s so much ringing he can’t hear the words as they come out, and from Sneeg’s face they’re just mush to him. They don’t have a word for store, mall, dressing room, but Charlie knows what he means. He balls his hand into a fist, stands two fingers of the other on top like little legs, then moves them off and away from him. Out.

It should click here that if he’s not there, they can’t watch him, but someone’s always watching him. He carries around a phone with a little camera in it everywhere he goes, and so does everyone else around him. Not a click, but maybe gears grinding, some less immediate, less satisfying noise. If he’s not there anymore, there’s no camera pointed at him, there’s no studio audience, there’s no tinny laugh track. It’s in his head again, which is becoming a concerning pattern. In the real world, he takes in a couple long breaths. Knowing the noise isn’t real doesn’t make it disappear, but he knows it will eventually. He scrunches his face up, closes his eyes, and puts his hands over his face as he waits for the audience to have a lull, for the noise to stop being chattering and start being shuffling in seats and whispering, don’t they know there’s an emotional conversation about to happen? When the sound stops crushing him, he tries again. “I’m- I- I’m okay.” He says this very convincingly. “I’m good.”

He doesn’t even need to see Sneeg to know the look he must have when he responds, “You don’t look like you’re good.” Charlie draws his hands from his face to make some kind of joke or retort, but they come away wet and he realizes he must have started crying at some point, and those funny words fall away from him. “I just - I just wanted to have something without there being poison in it.”

“Fuckin’ tell me about it. What was it? Just the clothes?”

Charlie nods, “I was- They were- I thought they were going to get me for it. They always got people for it, you know?”

“Cause they were fucking massive homophobic assholes. I mean it. That shit they pulled was insane. I wish I knew that when I was in there. Most people, real people, they don’t care about anything like that. They can’t touch you anymore. They can’t fuckin’ - write you off for being a fairy, or a crossdresser, or whatever, and if anyone else gives you shit - Charlie, look at me - I will handle them. I promise.”

“Please don’t kill anyone. I don’t like talking to cops.”

“Duly noted.” Sneeg pauses for a beat, two, then follows with “Do you like the clothes?” Charlie’s brain is full of noise and churning, but his heart, the bits of it that are clean and unpoisoned, can’t stop going yes yes yes yes, so he nods. “That’s all that matters. C’mere.” Sneeg pulls him in for a hug, and Charlie tucks his head under Sneeg’s chin and lays it on his chest, a kid again, small and afraid but despite everything, surrounded by love.

A month later, Charlie will leave the apartment for the first time in a long skirt and a loose sweater, a newborn fawn with legs shaking, but taking step after certain step. At the grocery store, a young kid, maybe seven, stares at him like they’re seeing something they didn’t even know was possible. Charlie smiles back.

#genloss #generation loss #gl!charlie #i have. some thoughts on post-escape gl!charlie. i have a normal number of thoughts about him.

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welcome-back-to-hoimycraf · 2 months

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Xornoth was used to working long nights like this. He was quite familiar with being alone with nothing but his thoughts and his paperwork, writing into the early hours until his hand cramped and he burned enough candles to light a small house; tonight was no different. Or, well- it shouldn’t be any different- yet his brain, ever the traitor, decided to fail on him.

He sat slumped over the desk, quill in his right hand and chin in his left. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Elwyn tutted at him to fix his posture, lest he start tomorrow (or today, rather) with a cramped back. He ignored their voice, turning his attention back to the text swimming in front of his eyes. He’s read and reread and then triple read this single-page document, and even now he still couldn’t grasp the topic. None of the words registered in his mind, falling on deaf ears- or rather, blind eyes in his case. The flickering of the dying candle didn’t make it easier, either, the light’s movement making it even harder to distinguish words. Somehow the moonlight was too bright for his eyes, yet too dim to illuminate the room, and he was all too aware of the hair that continued to slip from his ear into his face and each feather out of place or broken in his ruffled, unkempt wings.

Yet, he needs this done- if only so he can move on to the actually important documents that require his attention. Xornoth grumbled something to himself that even he wasn’t sure how much of were real words. Why couldn’t he focus? He was the King, dammit, and he’s letting a task as simple as reading stump him? He has more pressing matters at hand that he should desperately be attending to-

A soft knock on his door cut through his thoughts. His first instinct was to snap at whoever was on the other side before he sobered up, assuming it was probably Elwyn or someone similar coming to force him to bed. The King’s assumptions were swiftly proven wrong as the offending knocker cracked the door slightly without confirmation to open it in the first place. Any grievances he had with the mystery person died in his throat when he caught sight of the familiar tawny-blonde hair and gentle blue eyes. “Pearl?” He blurts out as the person in question slinks her way inside, gingerly clicking the door shut behind herself.

“Hey,” she spoke softly, her tone reminding Xornoth of trying to keep his horse calm, which he both appreciated and hated, “Elwyn said I could let myself in- that ok?”

He makes sure to soften his stony front before he speaks, “Of course, you’re always welcome to bother me.” Truly, she was. Pearl was always a sight for sore eyes, and delightful company at that. He rarely disliked his time spent with her, yet usually his contempt was caused by outside factors- like tonight. While his heart was screaming to curl into her arms and drift into a peaceful slumber, his brain nagged at the King to finish what was required of him. The lack of sleep didn’t help his grumpy disposition, either.

While the elf was lost in his thoughts, Pearl had noticed his disheveled appearance, complete with his tussled, tangled hair and rumpled clothes. Her voice brought him back to the present, “How long have you been up?”

Xornoth cringed in response. He already knew she wouldn’t like the answer. “What time is it?”

“Almost four!” The ruler shouted in disbelief, eyes growing wide.

“So… about twenty-two hours?” He grimaced, readying himself for her scolding.

Pearl sighed and put her head in her hand. “Xornoth, we’ve talked about this- you can’t keep yourself going forever or you’ll burn out-”

“But this is different!” he barked out, “I’m not even making excuses- Rivendell isn’t at peace anymore, my people need me to be working as much as I possibly can.”

“Not if it means givin’ up your well-being, ya dummy,” she chides, concern evident on her face. “How are you gonna keep Rivendell safe if you’re passed out in the middle of the day?”

His irritated silence urged her to continue, as she knew her words had gotten through his thick skull, “Listen, how about you go to sleep for tonight, and you can continue in the morning, yeah?” She paused. “Or- later in the morning.”

Xornoth shook his head, feathers puffing up in a clear sign of displease. “No, I can’t. I need to finish this frivolous paperwork or nothing will get done.”

The blonde scoffs, rolling her eyes and crossing the room to put a soothing hand on his shoulder. It seemed to work, as his shoulders visibly loosened. “And what’s so urgent about this ‘frivolous paperwork’?”

She must’ve struck a nerve, because his shoulders stiffened once more. “These stupid {Revelers},” the King growled, clenching his hand tightly around his quill to the point Pearl distantly worried if it would break. “They popped up recently. It started out with petty crime; robbery, vandalism- Things we wrote off as teenagers being teenagers,” he punctuated with a sweeping gesture, “But then it built up into terrorism, all politically motivated,” he sighed, placing his head in his hands to rub at his temples. “They’ve even spread to Grimland- and you know how hard it is to get through to Fwhip.”

His partner snorted at that, covering her mouth in an attempt to muffle her laughter. “Yeah, I could imagine.”

Thankfully, her reaction made his lips twitch up in a way he couldn’t help himself to. “He won’t even acknowledge they exist! Says he’s ‘got it handled’,” he paraphrased in a, frankly, horrendous impression of the Count. “He obviously fucking doesn’t but he won’t admit it- won’t even let me offer to help!” He sighed, slumping harshly against the desk. “I honestly kinda hate the guy,” he finishes with a grumble.

Pearl’s chuckles landed her with a glare. “What are you laughing about?”

She crossed her arms and smirked knowingly. “C’mon, you like him more than you want to admit,” she teased, earning a quickly hidden blush from the other. “You two get along better than you both think; you’re both hot-headed, stubborn, and grumpy; you’re practically a match made in the heavens.”

“We are moving away from this topic.”

Pearl stifled another laugh, but gave in. “Can you at least just take a break? You’re obviously not getting very far so maybe clearing your head’ll do you some good.”

Xornoth huffed. “I… suppose that’s reasonable,” he muttered.

“Great!” The elf was given no warning before he found himself being lifted into her arms in a sort of bridal carry, yelping as his face warmed. Though she was strong and he was confident she wouldn’t drop him, he clung his arms around her neck for dear life, which she would most definitely tease him about later. But for now, she just set him on the loveseat he kept in his office in case of late nights like this one, pressing a kiss to his forehead- which he did not blush about.

He tried not to lay down lest he fall asleep, but it seemed like Pearl had other plans. Plus, it’s hard to not give to the weight of a highly determined wall of muscle laying on top of you. And when did a bit of cuddling ever hurt anyone? No, having your legs tangled with someone you want to spend the rest of your life with while they’re running their hands through your hair has never made anyone sleepy before.

A soft snoring coaxed Pearl to open her eyes. Spotting the sleeping King put a fond smile on her face as she picked him up to bring to his room. She changed them both into pajamas, being careful not to wake her sleeping beauty, before tucking them both under the covers. She was thankful he had some night clothes for her due to all of their sleepovers, and she burrowed her face into his neck. Hopefully Elwyn would let them sleep in.

@deityoftherain HAPPY BIRTH!!!!

#fanfic #my fanfic #empiresfic #tales of the empires au #empires smp #empires s1 #empiresshipping #pearlnoth #fighting buddies #xornoth #pearlescentmoon #santa perla

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foras · 2 years

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dawnbringer || bradley “rooster” bradshaw x metcalf!reader (oc!reader) ⋯

part 1 (out of ideal 10) → part 2

pairing : bradley "rooster" bradshaw x female oc metcalf!reader

a/n ⋯ first fic! was truly inspired to write about bradley after being a top gun fan foreverrr. pls be kind c: i tried my best, based on knowledge and research about the navy to be as accurate as possible but i am still human with many many errors. oc was created by me!

overview ⋯ elizabeth "sunshine" metcalf, granddaughter of mike "viper" metcalf, is back in fightertown after being called back to top gun for a special mission, little does she know is that her past is following her: bradley bradshaw. he ignites her just as she does the same for him.

warnings (for future, not much happens in this one yet) ⋯ TOP GUN MAVERICK SPOILERS. sexism (minor, will be warnings), sexual innuendos, minor stalker mentions, flirting, alcohol consumption, dirty talk, cursing, eventual smut, 18+. minors dni.

wc: 3.4k oc!pinterest board

The sun scorched the frontal end of the ‘96 Jeep Cherokee, hot steam misting from the radiator. The pair of Top Gun graduates, Natasha “Phoenix” Trace and Elizabeth “Sunshine” Metcalf, soared through the streets of Fightertown, USA, presenting in the limelight of the Hard Deck. It was just up ahead, Natasha’s fingers tapping along the upper ring of the steering wheel to the beat of her classic ‘80’s playlist. Elizabeth, Liz for short, held her hand outside the car, finding relief in the rippling winds against her fingertips.

Orange hued sunlight cut edge against the rim of the windshield, a gale of wind bustling against the chassis. It was a night of trouble and beyond. Liz brought her leg upward onto the seat, close to her chest, narrowing her eyes as the sign of the Hard Deck had become more clear. The blue sign outlined with luminescent bulbs of fading yellow accented the dully red-painted title. A surge of memories and beyond had manifested themselves here— despite Liz hearing rumors of new ownership, the Hard Deck had been a staple to Fightertown for its new and upcoming pilots of Top Gun.

The best of the best.

Phoenix, reckless in her driving as much as she was in the air, pivoted the rackety, baby blue Jeep into a spot in the front. Crooked, as per usual, Liz could only bolster a small laugh in her ambience.

“You’d think by now…you’d learn how to park.” Liz jestered lightly, bright smile in hand, poking Natasha’s tanned elbow with her milky-white manicured nail. Natasha turned to face her, tightly wrapped bun of black hair swishing through the air.

“You’d think by now you’d know that’s never possible.” Natasha returned Liz’s smile as they both shared a short laugh. The terrible driver would turn off the engine, taking out the key with a lapel of a FA/18 jet keychain on the end, chittering as it clanked against the metal of the key. Liz would take her foot down from the tattered, leather seat, and unhinge the door from its lock, hopping out of the car.

Natasha would do the same, jumping down from the height of the car. The tanned pilot wasn’t wearing her typical uniform today, no, in fact she had dressed down to civies; plain, acid wash jean shorts with a tank top covered by the navy blue stripes of a flannel. Hair tight back, pearl stud earrings, and black converse all to match, she was in her typical attire. Casual and plain, just how she liked it.

Liz carried herself in a different manner.

With hair the color of a burning sun, red and glazed with gold, matching jewlery on her ears and neck, she glowed in the light of the horizon. On her neck she wore a golden butterfly pennant; her ears, golden hoops and a mini fighter jet in her conch. She wore a lavender wrap dress that fell to her mid thigh, and matching colored midriff open-cut cotton sweater to match. Her socks met her mid-shin, and white, pristine air force one’s to top off the look. Prim and “lady-like”— what she had always liked to be— Liz was ready to live the night out at the bar alongside Natasha.

Liz skipped over to her, feeling the heat from the radiator of the car, and interlocked her elbow with hers, a shining smile appearing once again across her face. The pair of Top Gun pilots threw themselves into the heat of the fire, rather than just the front doors of the Hard Deck, and were in awe of the new surroundings.

“I told you, new management.” Liz said to Natasha, impressed with the new lighting, decor, and atmosphere the Hard Deck had. Natasha scoffed in response, taken back as well.

“Damn right,” she’d unlock their arms, reaching upward to trace her hand across the etched walls filled with sharpie and writing from the different classes of Top Gun students over time. Liz did the same, making her way towards the bar.

A woman, thin and lithe in structure with the most ebulliently curled bronze hair leaned over the edge towards the girls, bright smile— not as bright as Elizabeth’s—, genuine enough to lure the red-headed girl over towards her.

“First time?” She’d ask, not out of obvious totality of their amusement of the atmosphere, but perhaps they looked like they had never been here to begin with. The bar had been completely redone; lacquer finished wood tops, darkly stained oak pillars, cream-white coffee cups of the different Flight Class year graduates dangling from the ceiling. It’s much different than what they had seen it as— a run down joint with a jukebox and darts board. This, however…held much more than the ladies anticipated for on their arrival.

Liz stood a foot from the bar, kicking the bottom, golden rail with her foot. “No ma’am.” She’d look behind her, giving Phoenix the eyes to come over here and help her out. “We’re back in town for a mission a day earlier than expected. Wanted to see how the Hard Deck handled after a few years of ruckus.” Liz would motion her manicured finger to the cups above their heads, dangling by their handles. Natasha would join her side, bumping her shoulder against the lavender fabric that covered her own.

“It seems the opposite.” Natasha would compliment, standing straight. Military stance. Who was she trying to impress?

The woman behind the counter laughed, short and pretty. Pilots must love this place, Liz would think. “I’m flattered, ladies.” Her courteous smile lasted as she spoke. “Penny Benjamin. No callsign here. I bought this place three years ago. Figured I’d turn it around for the best Naval Aviators the world’s ever seen.” She’d joke. Liz noted that she must see tons, hundreds of pilots biweekly through the Top Gun program. It must be her lifestyle, too, to know the lingo and juts of humor through the piloting world.

“Natasha Trace—” Phoenix would outstretch her hand over the lacquer coated wood of the counter, awaiting a return affirmation. “Callsign Phoenix.” Natasha’s gaze lingered on Penny for longer than Liz thought it should. The red-head smiled to herself.

“Pleasure,” Penny would return the handshake, firm and devout. There was no ring on her finger. Interesting. The bar owner would turn to Liz, expectant of her own introduction.

She didn’t hesitate. “Elizabeth Metcalf,” her hand stretched out, “Liz, or Sunshine will do.” The expression notably changed on Penny’s face as she met her handshake. It was firm, but lasted longer than Natasha’s had. Liz looked from Penny’s blue eyes to their interlocked hands, then back to her eyes. Penny squinted, looking closer at Liz’s features then opened her mouth to speak, but shut it quickly as if she were thinking.

Penny opened her mouth again, “Mike Metcalf?” The recognition stunned Liz as she looked to Natasha, who looked just as surprised as she had. “Viper? Are you Viper’s granddaughter?” It wasn’t accusatory, it was more out of sheer curiosity than anything.

Elizabeth took a second before nodding her head in response. “Yeah, I am.” She’d smile, taking pride in her heritage. It was true after all, Elizabeth being Viper’s granddaughter. The legendary Top Gun instructor that had taught all sorts of famous Admirals and Commanders— Iceman, Cyclone, Maverick— she would be insane if she hadn’t wanted to follow in his footsteps. While she wasn’t much of a military girl stereotype— rough around the edges, straight cut, masculine like Natasha was— the way she flew told a much different story. She flew like a Viper. That was for damn sure. It was in her blood to exude greatness. Her father wasn’t a navy man, he much preferred a desk job that invested in stocks and bonds, but still nonetheless held the highest regard for his only daughter. Only child, to be exact. The only child to get into the Naval Academy and make it all the way up to Top Gun. That was an achievement to be proud of.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Penny sat back on her hip, hand resting on her love handle, in disbelief as her tongue prodded the inside of her cheek. She took her hands away from her hips, gesturing to plaques on the walls. “Your grandad’s a legend here. Taught the best of the best as far as I know.” Well, Penny sure knew how to flatter.

Liz followed her gestures, walking over to the pillars with wooden plaques in the shape of badges. She sure was right; In memoriam of the greatest damn pilot; In the name of all great Naval Aviators; the list could go on of what the world thought of her granddad. It wasn’t that she wasn’t proud, that would be a damn lie, but it’s all she’s heard her entire life. The Metcalf name was legendary in the pilot industry and at times…she was fighting a ghost up in the clouds in that plane. She was always second best in the sky.

She wanted to be first.

Ambition was no vagrant to her. Metcalfs were always bleeding with ambivalent motifs— the desire to be the best, the desire to woo, to wow, to excite. What she wanted was achievable. She was no girl to dangle dreams in the clouds with her head stuck in them. She was a wanter. She demanded excellence in those around her. Perhaps that’s why Natasha had stuck around for so long— they were both prowlers for expedient glory.

“Can’t believe I got to meet his own flesh and blood,” Penny said as she grabbed a rag, cleaning the inside of the beer glasses.

Liz sauntered back over to the counter, taking a seat at the counter. “He loved this place as much as I do.” She’d urge to move the conversation on. All Liz would hear from her superiors throughout her career was the expectation of greatness in her past. Penny unknowingly dug the grave, scattering the bones of time’s end that she desperately wanted to bury.

Natasha stood behind the barstool that Liz sat on, leaning on the red-head’s back. “Shocktop, please.” She would say kindly, throwing a ten-dollar bill on the table. “Make it two for the Viper heiress.” Liz would turn her head, Phoenix’s own only a few inches from hers, a look of gratitude on her face. She would reach to pull out her own wallet in the lining of her dress, but Phoenix shook her head.

Thank you, Liz would mouth and Phoenix returned it with a cool nod of her head. Penny returned with the two beers and Liz grabbed one of the pints with feverish hands, downing half of it in a single gulp. Natasha widened her eyes at the red-heads sudden urgency to slosh down a beer, but didn’t question it. She took her own beer in hand, sipping it quietly.

In a dual moment, the bell of the door rang and a creak of the handle followed. Liz and Natasha’s heads both turned towards the opaque footsteps; a pair of them. A moment of synchrony that they both shared; the turning heads, the pattering footsteps all in harmony as one.

“Son of a bitch,” Phoenix cursed, settling on her hips away from the stool that Liz sat on. In the golden light below the door, above the mat that said ‘welcome, sailors!’ stood the infamous bastards that coined the arrogant and playful bachelors of Natasha’s Top Gun class.

Hangman and Coyote.

Liz took a swig of her beer before standing, arms brushing against Natasha’s own. Her hands clasped together, resting on her chest. The pair of pilots made their way in, looking around. She assumed that they, too, were taking in the new scenery of the Hard Deck. Today was all about surprises, wasn’t it?

Broad, muscular, tanned boys that’s eyes finally landed on the ladies.

Hangman; Jake Seresin, the cocky, hell of a fast flier fighter pilot of his Top Gun class. He was a year above Liz’s own, but shared a roster with Natasha. They had their own schtick to work out. The man was clean cut— short, not a hair out of place cut, shaven face, baby blues that knocked any mama out of the ballpark, and a complementary bronze tan to accentuate his white teeth. His attire was a mere skin-tight white shirt with blue jeans and timberland boots. He was a mother’s dream for their daughter. Or maybe Liz spoke from experience with her own mother.

Coyote; Javy Machado, on the other hand, was more of a gentleman, she thought. Dark, tan skin paired with a shaved head only added to his intimidating stature. With eyes the color of molasses, anyone could lose themselves in the apparent stars that glistened in his gaze. He was a sneaky bastard, his call sign fitting him well. He was taller than Hangman was, but took a more meandering appearance. A black fitted t-shirt covered his chest with cargo pants, wearing sneakers of a brand that Liz didn’t know of. The man was cool and full of charm, but hid it between an onyx veil. Hangman preferred to wear his cockiness on his sleeve.

“Well, well,” The two blokes took themselves from the entryway, dispersing their gaze from amazement to the settlements of their bodies. Liz grumbled in dissatisfaction, beginning to turn, yet Phoenix grabbed her elbow, stopping her. “Where ‘ya goin’, Sunshine? Turning high-tail and runin’?” Hangman teased.

Phoenix puffed her chest out, crossing her arms over her chest. “You ain’t been here longer than two minutes and you're already causin’ trouble.” She’d spat, “Typical.” Phoenix would turn on her heel this time and Liz would wait, still in a staring battle with Hangman.

“Good to see you too, Phoenix.” Hangman would jest, a hearty laugh erupting from his chest. Coyote joined in with his own chuckle. Phoenix, continuing to walk towards the pool table, just flipped him the bird. Liz had turned her head in time to see it, laughing herself in response. She’d begin to make her way over towards her, looking over her shoulder.

“Care to join, boys?” Not eager to see their faces, Liz made her way to Phoenix, standing by her side at the pool table. A stick stood vertically on the ground as Natasha leaned her weight onto both hands on the top, waiting to see if they had taken the bait.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Sunshine.” Coyote had called, patting Hangman on the back as they quickly introduced themselves to Penny, grabbing beers of their own.

Natasha nudged Liz’s shoulder, a playful, giddy look on her face and Liz could only respond with a roll of her eyes. Both girls burst out in a laugh, knowing damn well neither of them would condemn themselves to someone like that. Liz made a motion of vomiting, which only left Natasha stomping her feet in tune with a laugh.

Coyote hadn’t been in either Natasha or Liz’s class. He had been in the class following their program, top of the leaderboard. They had all been top of their leaderboard and managed to end up in the same position. Here, on the North Island. Liz would think more about it later, but her chest felt warm with liquor and her pale cheeks blushed with red hot blood.

“Alright,” the two burly pilots returned, their own beers in hand. “Girls versus guys?” Hangman clapped his hands together in excitement, grabbing his own pool stick. Natasha and Liz looked to each other with a solemn nod, then back to the casually dressed men— if you could call them that— and in a synchronous motion, nodded too.

“Game on.”

—☼—

The game had been adjourned. A pair of victors had been chosen.

“I think you owe us a round, gentlemen.” Phoenix placed the stick back into the rack, flexing her hand, massaging the muscle after the hard work they put in. Liz leaned over the pool table, pouting her lip towards the scornful men.

“Shock Top is my personal choice,” Liz said, placing the palm of her hand beneath her chin to support the weight of her head. “With a side of bragging rights.” She’d giggle lightly, standing upward to meet Natasha halfway. With a gilded smile of her own, Natasha clapped her hand against Liz’s, excited about their expedient victory.

“A’right, a’right, we get it. We get it.” Coyote held his hands up in defense, surrendering. Hangman didn’t follow through, keeping his arms tightly crossed over the span of his chest. His tongue prodded at the side of his cheek, indenting where his anger facilitated. A vein looked as if it was going to pop out the side of his forehead, too.

Natasha approached him, looking up to meet his eyes. “Accept defeat, Bagman.” There it was. The infamous nickname that Hangman acquired over his years of military service. A loose-fitting canon on the airway, he left his wingmen out to dry. Natasha was a cold victim of that, spouts of diverted fury spewing from her sentences.

“Not from you, Phoenix.” He wouldn’t pull away from her, holding her in a lock with his eyes. They stood like that for a moment. A little too long. Liz glanced from them, to Coyote. He met her gaze, beckoning his head forward to see if she knew what was going on. She merely shrugged, arms crossed beneath her breasts.

Natasha relented, scoffing and rolling her eyes in one motion as she began to walk out from the bar. “Come on, Sunshine. We don’t have time for this.” Liz followed her without a second thought, brushing past Hangman’s shoulder with a defensive push. He took the shove, looking towards Coyote with a stern expression.

“Dude, really?” Liz could hear Coyote grunt in disappointment.

Natasha had already made her way out the door and Liz scurried behind, calling out behind her, over her shoulder, “Nice meeting you, Penny!” She wasn’t sure if she had heard her, but she was glad that she said it.

Elizabeth climbed into the car, the engine roaring to life as Natasha reached behind the headrest, slamming on the gas to get out of the parking lot. Liz’s body jolted forward as she was putting her seatbelt on. She braced herself against the glove compartment, wiping her loose hair out of her face.

“Jesus, Nat.” Liz would recover, pushing herself up and back against the seat. Natasha had put the car in drive and sped down the empty roads. The sun had set a long time ago, the street illuminated by the fading lights.

“Sorry. You know how Hangman gets to me.” She shrugged her shoulders as if she were trying to rid her presence of him. Liz didn't blame her, Hangman reeked of internalized sexism and recluded insecurity and happened to take it out on Natasha. She had always been his biggest competition.

Liz rolled down the window, winding the lever. “You shouldn’t. He talks out of his ass.” Her hand fell to the window rail, hanging outward and catching the feeling of the wind. It felt good against her palm. The air was warm with fervor, but chilling against the heat of her arms.

“Damn straight.” Natasha chuckled and Liz joined in.

A few moments of silence fell between the pair, the quiet ambiance of Phoenix’s ‘80’s playlist humming in the air.

“Do you…” Phoenix began, catching herself. She inhaled sharply through her teeth. Liz almost got worried as her friend was caught on the sentence. “They’re all coming back.” She said and Liz nodded in agreement, placing her hands in her lap.

“Yeah.” Liz would respond, folding her thumbs over each other.

“Do you…”

“Do I…?” Liz wanted to fill the silence that Phoenix kept insinuating, wanting her to finally spit the damn sentence out.

“Do you think you’re gonna see him?” Natasha said quickly, wincing at the words. Liz paused, closing her window as the wind seemed to gust harder. She propped her elbow against the glass, looking out to the barren land of Fightertown.

Him.

“I…” Sunshine was at a loss for words. She didn’t speak much, but Natasha always had a way of making her at a loss for words. Even when she didn’t want them. “I don’t know.”

Natasha would shift in her seat, sitting upright with both hands on the steering wheel. “Do you…want to see him?” She wouldn’t make eye contact with Liz, and Liz didn’t bother to do the same. She knew it was…touchy.

“I don’t know.”

—☼—

part two tomorrow!

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lunarsands · 10 months

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Empires SMP S1 Fanfic: Once Around the Empires, Pt 1

Characters: PearlescentMoon, MythicalSausage, Scott Smajor, Xornoth (elf version), Shubble, Pixlriffs, GeminiTay, fWhip, LDShadowLady, Joel Smallishbeans, Joey Graceffa, Jimmy Solidarity, Katherine Elizabeth, and a small flock of adopted children

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor, LDShadowLady/Joel Smallishbeans, Katherine/Shrub

Tags: Empires SMP S1 AU, scosage, nature wives, adoption, wholesome, fluff Note: acknowledgement of amputation (not sure how else to tag that but just in case)

Summary: Having noticed that fatherhood is wearing on Scott and Sausage, Pearl suggests that the rest of the rulers take some turns at babysitting their kids. Everyone gets a learning experience: the children as well as the emperors. In particular, Lizzie gets in over her head, some poignant moments occur, and - as tends to happen with these things – somehow they lose track of who has the baby.

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ A/N: The story of how Scott and Sausage ended up together (and how Sausage came to lose an arm) is currently a WIP by @cynthrey. The story of how they ended up adopting over a half dozen children is the sequel that I’m currently working on.

This particular short fic, in the meantime, was requested by @dianealmera ! | I’m doing something unusual this time, however, and only posting one part for now because I feel bad for how long it has taken to write this! The ADHD and focus issues have been real recently, so the rest is still WIP, but the outline is completed. I just need to fill it out! Please bear with me, and any words of encouragement to kick my focus back into gear would be greatly appreciated :crying emoji: ]

[Bonus: A Small Introduction to The Children of Mythland!]

- - -

Part One

Since she was the one sitting next to Sausage during the quarterly meeting of the empires, Pearl was the first to notice his head start to bob downward – and noticed as his eyes drooped closed, and as he emitted a faint snore. She leaned over to nudge him in the side, although was careful not to hit her own elbow against the metal of his prosthetic arm. His eyes fluttered open but he remained slightly hunched and looked like he would nod off again any second.

While Joey continued to complain at the rest of the group, Pearl whispered to Sausage, “Hey, sleepyhead. Are the proceedings that boring for you? I mean, I’m antsy, myself, but you clearly need a nap.”

“Hm-mph. Sorry,” Sausage mumbled in response. “Mariposa was crying half the night, then one of the twins had a nightmare and kept us awake the other half.”

“Aw, poor kid. Well, poor you and Scott as well, but, which one? I’ll go tell her I’ll kick the scary stuff’s butt for her.”

“I… I’m too tired to remember which one right now.”

“Oof, you really are out of it if you can’t tell your daughters apart.”

Sausage scrunched up his face a little as if that might help his memory. Then he reached across with his left hand to cover the bottom of his eye scar with one finger. “Not this one.”

Pearl figured he was indicating the twin who happened to have a little scar of her own under her right eye. “Oh, Rayen, then.”

“No, no. Not visible.”

“So, Seren.”

“I… think so?”

“You know what, I’ll just talk to them both.” Pearl cast a glance past him. “Scott looks tired, too, but he’s definitely more awake than you are right now.” Just as she said it, the elf in question sitting to Sausage’s left unabashedly yawned without covering his mouth. Seated next to him, Xornoth raised an eyebrow at his brother. For a second Pearl met Xornoth’s gaze and he quirked his other eyebrow, nodding toward Sausage. “I spoke too soon.”

“Elves kinda… have a better handle on sleep issues. Goes with the long life span, I guess…”

“I’m sure elves can be troubled by their children having nightmares, too. While we’re on the topic, if I ask you which of your kids are elves and which are human, will you be able to remember that?”

Sausage snorted quietly. “I’m not that bad off, come on now!”

“Then tell me.”

“The oldest three are elves, the rest are human. See, I got this.”

“Now that’s a tricky answer. Aren’t Liana and Ilan the same age? Got you there, didn’t I?” Pearl grinned. “Anyway, I assume quiet would help you some. It will be breaktime soon so maybe you can take a ten-minute power nap. I guess it was just bad timing you were hosting the meeting this round.”

“Can’t exactly cancel things at the last minute just because of a fussy infant…” Sausage then also yawned. He propped his head up on his prosthetic hand, elbow resting heavily on the table. Pearl expected to hear the metal struts creak from the weight.

She considered the matter and decided she would bring up an idea to the others when the slightly-more-awake Scott announced it was time for a recess.

Once the two kings of Mythland had excused themselves to check on the kids – and maybe grab the suggested powernap – Pearl swiftly blocked the doorway of the council room to get everyone’s attention. “Just a quick thing I wanted to share before everyone wanders off: I think we’ve all noticed how worn out those two have been, especially today, and they’re real troopers, but I had a thought that maybe we could help out Mythland with more than just trade deals. Would anyone like to join me in extending an invitation to babysit their kids for a little while?”

A few questioning eyebrows were raised, as well as uncertain looks. Shrub was the first speak up. “So, like a vacation trip for the kids and a vacation from the kids for Scott and Sausage?”

Pearl smiled, “Exactly.”

Pix cupped his chin in thought. “I do have to be honest here, while they’ve adapted to having seven kids at once, it might be difficult for one of us to handle all of that out of the blue. Especially a baby…”

“Maybe,” Gem suggested, “We could take turns with only two of them at a time, and someone gets Mariposa on her own, since she would need the most attention without other distractions.”

“You read my mind, Gem,” Pearl said. She glanced toward the Ocean Queen. “Lizzie, I remember you commenting about wanting to steal Mariposa at her debut, what do you say now? Want to try out babysitting an infant for a few days?”

Lizzie’s eyes brightened and she grabbed Joel’s arm. “Oh, yes! Let’s try it out, my dear husband!”

Joel uttered a sigh. “If you insist. Thanks for the suggestion, Pearl.”

“You’re welcome, Joel,” Pearl chirped in reply. She then glanced around at everyone else for their thoughts. “I’ll start by taking Rayen since she’s so rambunctious. Maybe some sparring lessons will burn off some of that energy. And Azahar since he has started training to be a knight.”

“Then I’ll take Elowen and Ilan,” Gem offered, “Since they’re learning magic.

“Hmm,” fWhip said thoughtfully, “Liana likes to comment about Sausage’s arm when I’m here doing maintenance. I could show her things in my workshop that might satisfy her curiosity. That leaves Seren. Are you sure you want to separate the twins, Pearl?”

“They might be less chaotic if they have a different sibling around,” she replied.

“Oh, it can’t be that bad!” Lizzie dismissed the thought with a wave of a hand.

“Okay then, Lizzie.” Pearl grinned mischievously. “After a few other visits, we’ll reunite them at your place.”

“It will be so cute!” Lizzie said with blissful ignorance.

Joey scoffed. “You’re all crazy. How are you going to get anything important done with some little rugrats underfoot? No thank you. Count me out.” He fluffed up his wings as if having taken offense, then pushed past Pearl to continue the break elsewhere.

“Scott and Sausage manage it! And they’re not all little!” Shrub called after him. She looked back up at Pearl. “Okay, so, do we want to work out a schedule and maybe mix things up a bit when the kids change hands? This is starting to sound like fun, getting to hang out with them a few at a time, and show them our empires instead of only seeing them when we come to Mythland!”

Ever organized, Gem pulled out a book and quill. “Writing it down should make this easier – and faster. The tired dads might come back any minute, so let’s plan it out enough so they’ll feel better about getting on board with the idea. Are we all in?” She glanced around. Pix and Katherine nodded, but Jimmy looked uncertain.

“I don’t know,” he admitted in a reluctant tone. “I kind of have my hands full just taking care of my own things. I mean, if you really need me to if there’s, like, some kind of emergency, I could try? But, like…I don’t want to become the emergency, you know? Maybe just the older boys since they’re, um, less high-maintenance…?”

Gem chuckled lightly. “Okay, Jimmy, you can be a backup only if one of us has something come up at the time.”

Xornoth cleared his throat. “I’ll stand by as back up, too, since these are my niblings you’re plotting to abscond with.”

Pearl gave a sheepish laugh. “Ah, right. Scott’s own brother is here. Well, that could also mean if anyone has an issue, they can contact you instead of making the dads worry.”

Xornoth grinned in response. “I think this is a wonderful idea. I’ve managed to babysit all of them at once, although that was technically only for a few hours. They’re all good kids – well, some more energetic than others, but I think this will be a fun experience for everyone.”

After a little bit of head scratching, a plan had been worked out to have the six older children switch around so there were no repeat pairs and to be with a different empire each turn for two days. As for Mariposa, Lizzie insisted on taking her for the first four days, with her thought being that one child would be much easier to handle for extra time. The rest of the schedule, however, stuck with the two days, plus one extra change of hands. They agreed that four turns would be best for what was, essentially, an experiment. A week plus one day, enough time for Sausage and Scott to get a rest without disrupting the children’s regular schooling for too long.

Joey returned only to roll his eyes when he saw everyone’s cheerful faces – well, minus Joel, who looked more like he was going along with things for Lizzie’s sake. Then Scott and Sausage made their way back in, seeming relieved in the sense that no new issues with the children had arisen while they had been at the meeting. They went to their seats without questioning why nearly everyone else was standing grouped up.

Xornoth returned to his seat and put a hand on Scott’s shoulder. “Is Mariposa making up for lost sleep by napping this afternoon?”

“Yes, seems like. Thank goodness Azahar doesn’t mind keeping an eye on her during his studies. I think,” Scott paused to yawn, “He’s her favorite brother.”

“Yeah,” Sausage murmured in a smiling but drowsy agreement, “Seems like it.” They leaned against each other, almost as if they had forgotten where they were for a moment. The break clearly hadn’t done much for their tiredness.

Pearl picked up the final version of the paper for the plan that had been worked out. “If you two sleepyheads are ready to continue, I have a proposal specifically for you.”

Sausage shook his head in an attempt to clear the fog from it and sat up straighter. Scott had a slightly pained expression but folded his hands together on top of the table to hear her out, mentally preparing for more life adjustments.

Pearl continued, “We would like to offer to take your children off your hands for a vacation, so you can get some rest, and meanwhile the kids get a bit of a cultural exchange experience. We even worked out a schedule so you know where everyone is at any given time – you’re super dads, so you’ve been able to handle all of them at once, but we’ve arranged a way to split them up so we can each manage things better. Have a look, tell us what you think.”

She held the paper out to them. Meanwhile, Joey loudly announced, “Except me. I have no interest in this idea, and I think we’re wasting precious time right now!”

“Well, all right, Joey,” Pearl chided. “You’re entitled to your opinion. But the majority has spoken, so be patient. You know, establishing good relations with an entire royal family is important for the future.”

“They’re just kids.” Joey scoffed again. “All they know how to do is run around and be noisy. But you all have fun with that.”

Sausage scowled and pushed the paper toward Scott before standing up. “Our kids are already working on learning magic and other skills they need! And one day you will be answering to one of them as ruler of Mythland, but they’re also allowed to have fun! Everyone is!”

Scott patted Sausage’s arm then tugged his sleeve to encourage him to sit down. “So, you… all want to include Mariposa, too? I mean, even we’re still getting used to it, and we’ve had months to learn.”

fWhip put in, “Well, that’s why we’ll take shifts in pairs. Then one of us can nap while the other is awake at two o’clock in the morning, unlike you crazy dads who are both awake around then.” He gave a teasing grin.

Pearl nodded. “And I’m prescribing one hundred percent rest for you two. You can have final say on that schedule, if you want to review it now, then we’ll get back to official business.”

Still bleary, Sausage and Scott tried their best to analyze what was essentially a flow chart of kid pairings switching around. They did trust everyone involved, and everything looked like enough organization had gone into it, so…

Scott glanced around at their friends’ well-meaning faces. “Um. All right. Thank you, everyone. You know that if anything becomes an issue, you can bring them home at any time—”

“Hup,” Xornoth interrupted, “Absolutely not. You’re getting that rest. If anything comes up, everyone can contact me, and I’ll handle it. I’ll gather all the kids at Rivendell if I have to. That’s final.”

Sausage and Scott traded glances, then smiled weakly. Sausage replied, “As you say, I guess. Eight days, is it? Then we either see everyone back here the morning of day nine, or Scott and I take an extra trip to Rivendell.”

~*~

Another week went by while everyone fixed up guest rooms and saw to clearing up their own schedules, and in the meantime Sausage and Scott explained to the children about the special trips they would be going on. Elowen was predictably nervous at first that he would be travelling separate from Azahar for the first two visits, but relaxed a little when he heard that he would be seeing Aunt Gem first. Even though he had a gift for ice magic, he enjoyed learning about other types, as well as it being something he could share with Ilan.

Seren didn’t seem sure about visiting fWhip until Liana proudly proclaimed that they were going to learn how to fix Papa’s arm and do it even better than Uncle fWhip, which cheered up the younger girl. Rayen, meanwhile, ran around shouting about how she was going to be the best fighter ever, and Auntie Pearl was going to be the first person she defeated by the end of day two.

When the first round of rulers came by to pick up their assigned children, everyone was in good spirits and looked forward to having a good time. Sausage pressed an extra bag of baby supplies onto Joel while Lizzie cradled Mariposa – practically needing only one hand due to her godly size – and cooed over her. Mariposa mumbled then let out a cheerful, “A-Aa!” with her little arm up in the air.

Scott tried to convince himself that she was purposely waving since she couldn’t say goodbye yet. He and Sausage then stood in the empty courtyard feeling vaguely lost.

“So, we just…go do some work now, I guess?” Sausage asked.

“I’ll have to find something else to do this week where I would be overseeing their lessons. I hadn’t thought about that yet.”

“Well, we could always go build something with our own hands,” Sausage joked. “Like old times, before we started signing off on projects for someone else to do.”

“I suppose we could. Well, after regular duties, and catching up on that sleep like Pearl suggested.” Scott smiled and reached to clasp Sausage’s left hand. “For now, we just wait for word that everyone arrived safely.”

Sausage chuckled. “Yeah, and wait for snowy owls to arrive when everyone ends up with Uncle Xornoth.”

~*~

Gilded Helianthia, Day 1

Rayen was still running around even after Azahar attempted to get a little settled in the room they would be sharing at Pearl’s farmhouse. Rayen had insisted she was going to learn to fight in her dress just like Pearl, even when her elven brother tried pointing out that Pearl wore a dress specifically designed for battle. Of course, he knew there was plenty of spare clothing in her bag just in case, and at least she wasn’t wearing her fancier dress, although she did point out that he wasn’t wearing anything special to fight in, just his every day tunic and trousers.

Presently, he was gathering together his orange dreadlocks into a thick but short ponytail to keep them pulled back from his face during lessons, pieces of his practice armor already donned. Rayen was eyeing the short sword that he had been allowed to bring, but knew she wasn’t allowed to handle.

“I’m gonna get a sword like that soon! I’m gonna get it ‘fore I’m old as you!”

Azahar chuckled. “You have to wait until you’re as old as me to be allowed to start training to be a knight.”

“I don’t wanna be a knight! I wanna be a battle princess! I’m gonna kick so many butts!”

“Well, we’ll see what Auntie Pearl has to say. You have to get her approval first. If I had to, then you have to.”

“Yeah, but you don’t like to kick butts!”

“I don’t like to fight when it’s unnecessary. There’s a difference. Are you sure you don’t want leggings to protect your knees if you fall?”

“No! I’m not gonna fall! And battle princesses don’t wear leggies!”

“Okay. But you’re allowed to cry if you get hurt, remember that.” He watched her run ahead out of the room – only for her to run headlong into Pearl.

“Wow, I could hear that brave talk all the way down the hall. That armor looks good on you, Azahar. You’re already shaping up to be a proper protector – looking out for little scraps and bumps is just as important as wielding a sword.” She knelt to put a hand on Rayen’s shoulder. “I’m going to teach you a little about fighting today, but you need to be careful about yourself, too. Can’t go throwing yourself around recklessly or who would be able to fight bad guys then?” She ruffled Rayen’s hair. “Come on, out to the yard. I have a few things in mind, then we’ll have a relaxing lunch.”

Rayen took off ahead again. Azahar watched helplessly with a smile. As he and Pearl stepped out onto the porch, they heard the little girl complain from around the side of the house, “Aww, I wanted to learn wif a real sword!”

Azahar chuckled again when he saw her standing beside a table that held several practice – and even toy – weapons, most of them made of soft pine wood with padded fabric over the ‘blade’. He rested his hand on the pommel of his short sword for a moment, then went over and picked up one of the wooden swords.

Grinning, Pearl picked up another of the swords as well as a shield. “We’ll all use practice weapons for now, okay, Rayen?”

The little girl heaved a gigantic sigh and trudged up to the table to take a sword, and then, with an encouraging example from Azahar as he took one, a shield. “Fiiiine. But I’m still gonna fight the best!”

~*~

Crystal Cliffs, Day 1

Gem bustled around her library while Elowen and Ilan watched in silence, although the latter curiously peered out from the hood of their green and gold-star bedecked robe at one of the books she had left open on the end table next to them; they did, at least, feel right at home fitting in with Gem’s own wizardly trappings. Elowen was comfortable in a plain blue shirt and matching leggings, oblivious to the apparent dress code of human magic users.

“Okay, here it is,” Gem chirped, climbing down from a ladder with one last book in her hand. “Sorry that took so long, I didn’t have time during the week to find them all.” She placed the book on the end table next to Elowen. “This one is for you to look at later. It has snow-related spells designed by non-elven wizards. We can talk about them more in a little bit, but – Ilan, why don’t you tell me what you’ve been learning lately? Then we can find something to work on all together.”

The younger child cleared their throat and pushed up the sleeve on their right arm, only to have it fall down over their hand again. They took a moment to roll both sleeves up partway. “I learned a light spell. I can’t make it glow really bright but it’s good for using in my room at nighttime.”

Gem could see their look of concentration within the shadow of their hood as they carefully traced the forms of the spell in the air. A small orb of white light appeared above their right palm, which they were attentively holding steady while still uttering a small sigh of relief that the spell had worked.

“That’s very good!” Gem praised. “I can teach you the extra forms for different colors and one way to make it brighter, if you like. Elowen, I think there’s a spell in that book to make a snowball glow, if you want to try a light spell, too.”

Elowen nodded and pulled the book onto his lap to start flipping through the chapters, content to find it on his own while she began to shape an example of the light spell in green for Ilan.

~*~

Grimlands, Day 1

Seren fidgeted with the hem of her dress as she glanced around at all the buttons, levers, lights, and gadgets strewn along the walls and tables in fWhip’s workshop. He had figured he would get the busiest and most distracting part of the tour out of the way first.

Liana, meanwhile, darted left and right to get a closer look at everything. She had her hands pressed against her skirt as a reminder to not touch anything without permission, sorely tempted though she was. “Oh my gosh, you have so much stuff! Do all these go together? Are they parts for one thing?”

“No, they’re all different projects,” fWhip explained, then smiled at the younger, human girl. “You can look closer, too, Seren. It’s okay to just look, but you have to be careful of everything like with your papa’s arm. We don’t want any little fingers getting pinched, right?” Seren shook her head then crept closer to a bench and peered at some of the metal contraptions laying across it.

“This could all be the arm of a really big giant if you put it all together like one!” Liana proclaimed.

“It could,” fWhip admitted, “but I make things besides arms. There are lots of metal tools and machines that are helpful to everyone, not just when…” He paused, then mumbled to himself, “Which one was it again?” He coughed and returned his voice to normal level. “Um, when Papa Sausage gets his arm eaten by a blood sheep. Yeah, that was it. Gotta be careful of those blood sheep sometimes.”

Seren turned to him, suddenly dewy-eyed. “If my arm got eated by a blood sheep, would you make me a new one?”

“Of course I would! But we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. They’ve been told to leave good little children alone. Besides, isn’t your sister the one who already has a scar kind of like your papa’s? It would be silly if you copied him, too.” fWhip crouched to get on eye level with her. “I’ll tell you what, though. I could make a pretend one for you that you wear over your real arm for a costume. That would be more fun, and then you could say, ‘Hey, Papa! Look, my arm is metal, too! But wait – it isn’t! Because I’m not so silly as to get my arm eaten by a silly old sheep!”

Seren giggled, while Liana grumbled, “That’s not what Azahar and Elowen said happened…”

fWhip laughed somewhat nervously. He knew the story was being changed every time, and he was one of the few that knew the truth. But for now, wild tales of dragons, rogue sheep, and mysterious magic spells would suffice. “Here, let me show you one of the early designs I made. Imagine how funny your papa would look with his arm like this instead...”

~*~

Mezalea, Day 1

“Joel, she’s so tiny!”

“Everything is tiny compared to you, dear wife.”

“Have you ever seen anything so cute before?”

“I mean, I have, but she is cute for, y’know, a baby. They’re supposed to be cute.” Joel watched Lizzie sashay back and forth across the improvised nursery, Mariposa cradled in the crook of one arm with her opposite hand near to support the infant’s head. Mariposa was looking up at her with studious eyes, perhaps trying to make sense in her little head why there was a Big Person holding her who didn’t look anything like a human or an elf.

Lizzie ignored his comment. She held Mariposa up in the air, then cradled her again. “I just want to cuddle her all day!” The baby didn’t have a response, still only staring.

“I didn’t spend the past week building a crib for you not to use it. You do know there is a phrase that goes ‘put the baby down for a nap’, don’t you?”

The crib in question was made of acacia and sat at the side of the bedroom. Each slat was painted a different Mezalean-related color: lime green, magenta, orange, and dark green, with a white bunny on the headboard to represent the Ocean Empire.

“Well, who knows, Joel. Maybe after this week we’ll decide to adopt a baby of our own.” Still not looking at him, Lizzie held Mariposa out again and gently turned her to the left, then the right a few times, pretending to make her dance. “Then you can have a little friend close to your own age, instead of all those big rowdy siblings of yours! It must be so exhausting for you to see them running around while you’re stuck in a silly old crib.”

“Oh, geez,” Joel muttered, feeling a moment of panic. “Look, Lizzie, I’m not ready for any kind of baby fever right now. We’re only babysitting for a few days.” His voice cracked on the word ‘few’. “I don’t know where we would even get a baby from. Mezalean citizens come from the Mother Tree. Unless you intend to adopt a fish of some sort…”

“What’s wrong with adopting a fish?” Lizzie asked defensively. “I’m part fish.”

“I thought you were part axolotl…? Or did I miss something about the legendary blue one? Anyway…” Joel went over to the bed and picked up the baby carrier that had come along with the other supplies. “She doesn’t stay in the crib all day. Scott or Sausage haul her around in this thing. Um…” As he held it up by one strap, he noted the size of it and realized one rather important oversight. “I guess I’ll haul her around in it.”

He sighed as he slipped it on, then adjusted the front of it against his chest. “All right, give her here. We’ll go for a bit of a walk, little one, then you can see the majesty of Mezalea and tell your papa how dull his kingdom looks …when you learn how to talk.”

Mariposa stared up at him as Lizzie handed her to him. The infant made a likely indifferent noise, then giggled a single, “Hee,” and reached up to grab at the green streak in his hair.

“Well now. See, look at that!” Joel bragged. “She knows exactly what I’m talking about!” He got her situated into the carrier facing forward and checked to be sure there was no possibility of her falling out, then he headed to the door with Lizzie smiling a smug look of her own as she followed.

Perhaps by the evening he would warm up to the idea. If not, she could always keep offering to babysit until he did.

~*~

Mythland, Day 1

Sausage tapped his paperwork into one neat stack, then hopped up and stretched. It had been a very tedious morning, but all the land proposals and repair funding requests had been sorted for now. He glanced out the window to see the fair weather was holding, and it gave him an idea for what to do with his afternoon.

He scurried out and headed down the hall, glancing into rooms as he went.

Meanwhile, Scott was in the library pulling some new books for future school lessons. He came across one containing beginner spells that he had overlooked before, and he smiled happily as he tucked it under his arm. He placed the rest on the table, then headed out with the other book in his hands.

He ran into Sausage in the hallway leading to the children’s rooms. “Oh, hey, Scott! I was just looking for Azahar to ask if he wanted to do a little practice spar after lunch!”

Scott blinked, then looked down at the book. “And I was going to give this to Ilan, but… Sausage, did we both just manage to forget they’re not here right now?”

“Oh… ah-heh, I guess we did.” Sausage put a hand to the back of his head in embarrassment. “I got caught up in work and thought it was quiet in the castle because they were all out playing in the gardens.”

“Then what’s my excuse?” Scott mused, giving a sheepish look. “Have we started relying on our eldest son so much for help with Mariposa lately that I forgot to check on the baby?” He laughed, as if the idea was ridiculous.

“I mean… Are we?” Sausage asked, suddenly worried. “Or is it only that we’re tired,” he then admitted. “We didn’t exactly plan for that kind of responsibility to begin with…”

Scott smiled softly. “I guess we can count ourselves lucky we managed to meet a child who could be patient with us, too. And has such a generous heart.”

“We’ll make it up to him,” Sausage decided. “Maybe if all this works out, we can have other babysitters more often to give Azahar more free time, and not just giving us a break.”

They stopped by Ilan’s room to drop off the spellbook on the desk, then Scott put an arm around Sausage as they walked along in the direction of the dining room. “Well, going to be a quiet lunch, anyway. I know my brother said he would intervene if there were issues, but I assume everyone is behaving so far, and maybe they’re all having a nice lunch right now.”

Sausage put a hand to his chin in thought, then grinned. “I have an idea how we could have a nice lunch by ourselves. How about a picnic in the garden? Just you, me, and the flowers.” He slipped out from Scott’s arm and jogged ahead. “I’ll go tell the kitchen staff! Meet you out there!!”

Scott smiled after him. The garden would also seem too quiet without the children running around, but it might still be pleasant to reflect on the times before they started growing a family, and remember the romantic picnics they’d had back then.

Later, Sausage found himself standing over the empty crib in their bedroom, staring pensively off into space. Scott lightly touched his right shoulder. “You can stay up a little longer if you like, but let me help you with your arm first, because I might fall asleep pretty quick – tonight, at least. Although it might be nice to stay up later than usual reading together.”

“Sorry. I was just thinking…” Sausage said, turning to go sit down so Scott could more easily assist with removing his prosthetic. He waited until the redstone signals had tapered off from his awareness to elaborate, “I’m just kind of worried about waking up at random during the night wondering why she isn’t crying, and then think someone stole her, or something.”

Scott held the prosthetic arm to his chest to free up a hand so he could put it on his partner’s shoulder. “Sausage, no one has yet to break into this castle for any reason, never mind make it all the way in here.” He then chuckled gently. “Do you want to put a sign on the crib? ‘Go back to sleep, Mariposa is with Lizzie and Joel’. And then we change what it says after we get word that she has arrived at the next babysitter.”

“You know what, that’s a really good idea!”

Scott carefully laid the prosthetic down in its protective case on the side table, then went to get a quill and piece of paper. “And… done. Now you can rest easy.” He offered an optimistic smile.

~*~

Gilded Helianthia, End of Day 1

Rayen scrubbed at her cheek and fought back sniffles while Pearl bandaged a skinned knee. “There you go. You’re a tough cookie, but even the best fighters get hurt sometimes. I think you’ll be back in top form by tomorrow, though, and we’ll have a few more lessons after a good night’s sleep. Do you think you’re okay enough to help put things away?”

Rayen sniffled again, then nodded and let Pearl help her down from the barrel she’d been sat on for the small bit of first aid.

Azahar waited calmly by the table of practice weapons and gently ruffled Rayen’s hair when she scampered over. He then began to hand her the smaller-sized weapons one at a time. She brought each over in turn to Pearl, who neatly arranged them in a shulker box for use the next day.

As they headed inside for dinner, Rayen walked quietly beside her brother. She at least didn’t seem to be sulking, as far as he could tell. “You did pretty good today. But maybe tomorrow you can wear ‘leggies’ to protect your knees, okay?”

“Oh-kay,” she mumbled in acceptance.

~*~

Crystal Cliffs, Night 1

Ilan glanced back and forth watchfully while Elowen tested the handle of the library door, seeing if he could open it without any sound. Ilan whispered, “Will Auntie Gem really mind if we stay up late?”

“We’ll sneak back to our room after just a little bit. She’ll never know.” He eased the door open with only the tiniest of creaks, then the two slipped inside. He left it open a crack so they wouldn’t have to contend with the latch again later.

Ilan pulled their hood down, leaving their brown hair somewhat rumpled, and took an excited look around. “Dad and Papa have a lot of books, but these are all books about magic!”

“I know!” Elowen said, trying to keep his voice down, but he was also excited. “We can’t read all of them in only two days! So, we’ll stay up, and look at a few extra ones, and maybe we can visit another time to read more of them!”

“We gotta be careful. Like with Papa saying there are scary books and bad magic we shouldn’t touch.”

Elowen gave a big grin. “That’s what’s great about Auntie Gem. She runs a magic school, so she would put all the same types of books together, right? If we find anything that looks scary, all the ones near it are probably scary. So, we look for the ones that are for new wizards, like you and me.” He glanced up along the tall stacks of shelves “…But hopefully those are near the floor. I don’t think we should climb the ladders.”

Ilan raised their arms, barely lifting the hem of their robe off the floor to indicate how it might get caught underfoot while using a ladder. “No, I don’t wanna do that, anyway.”

~*~

Mezalea, Night 1… Day 2?

Joel nudged Lizzie as Mariposa began to cry for the fifth time since they had tried to go to bed. The infant had seemed fine at first in the unfamiliar crib, but after maybe two hours she began to loudly fuss and only quieted when Lizzie had picked her up and gently rocked her while pacing the room. The second time, Joel had tended to her, and when the rocking didn’t work, he checked if she needed a diaper change, then concluded she was hungry.

She had fussed a little when he offered her the bottle, but after quietly crooning a reassurance, she started drinking. He had gone over the rest of the instructions in his head in the meantime. Remember to burp her after each bottle. Don’t lay her down right away.

He had set aside the bottle and gently placed her against his shoulder, then very lightly patted her back. He heard what might have been a burp followed by what was definitely a hiccup. “Oh, you little, silly thing,” he jokingly scolded. Then he asked of the empty air, “How long do baby hiccups take to go away?”

Mariposa had stared cluelessly back at him, her turquoise eyes somehow still bright in the dimly lit room, and hiccupped again.

Now, though, Lizzie tried all of the previous things only to have Mariposa continue to squall. “Oh, what is it, little one? Auntie Lizzie is here. Did you have a bad dream? …Do babies even have dreams? What have you got to be so worried about, you don’t even know what’s out in the world… There, there. You sure you don’t want nice, tasty milk? Or a little walk to look out the window? See, there’s the sky out there, with pretty stars, and… and, oh, the sun is coming up. Well, we’ll walk around some more and wait for Uncle Joel to wake up, then he can help, too.”

~*~

Crystal Cliffs, Morning of Day 2

Gem tried not to worry when, having planned to wake everyone to have breakfast at the same time, she didn’t find the two children asleep in the room she had set up for them. Surely she hadn’t pushed them too much with magic lessons the day before; they couldn’t possibly have left to try to go home. Maybe they simply weren’t comfortable in the room, and had found somewhere else to sleep? But, where…? She didn’t have a spare parlor, or much space anywhere for children to get into, for that matter.

Then she realized she had overlooked the obvious. She hurried to the library.

The door was ajar. She sighed in relief but quietly pushed it open. There they both were, sitting in an armchair and both sound asleep leaning on each other. She could only shake her head in amusement at the sight of dozens of books scattered around the tables and even the floor. She underestimated their curiosity – or maybe their dedication to learning a new craft.

As she started to pick up the books, she snuck a glance at Ilan, glad to finally see their face. She hoped they would become more confident about themself over time; they certainly had enough of a talent for general magic to be a successful wizard one day.

~*~

Gilded Helianthia, Morning of Day 2

Azahar was awoken by quiet shuffling in the room. It was nearly time to get up, anyway, but he had figured that a vacation meant getting to sleep at least a few extra minutes. He peeked one eye open just to make sure his sister wasn’t rummaging in his bag.

What she turned out to be doing was finishing getting dressed – leggings and all – and then started acting out the warm-up stretches Pearl had tried to teach her the day before. Azahar continued to keep literally one eye on her to make sure she didn’t get carried away, but she seemed to be trying very hard to do them exactly the way Pearl had shown them.

He was intrigued. He hadn’t expected Rayen to have paid that much attention when, at the time, she had been more interested in swinging the toy sword around pretending to fight a monster. Apparently, she had a better memory than he would have given a five-year-old human credit for.

A little later, he and Pearl both became impressed by the way she very precisely imitated Azahar’s every pose as he repeated all the practice forms of swordcraft that Sausage had taught him and which Pearl had wanted him to demonstrate for her, intending to try to rein in Rayen for at least the morning – and it appeared to be working. Perhaps she would actually make for a disciplined fighter one day.

~*~

Grimlands, Afternoon of Day 2

Liana stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth in concentration as she slowly lowered a piece of copper wire into the form-fitted track of a wooden rectangle. When she figured she had it in place, she looked up at fWhip for approval.

“Yeah, that’s perfect! Well done, Liana. That’s how you can make sure a piece is lined up correctly to fit into the next part. How are you doing over there, Seren?”

The younger girl was playing with a dozen small squares of paper that had different shapes drawn on each side. She was attempting to match the shape from one to another so that they formed complete circles or triangles, with some extra lines thrown in to add complexity. “I got six!” she announced proudly. She held up two side by side to show one of the harder puzzles with two triangles nested inside each other.

“Very good! See, that’s how you can tell which pieces go together and how not to mix them up with something that looks almost the same.” fWhip grinned, rather proud, himself. This wasn’t so hard; the kids could have fun with simple components, and he could teach them some things about engineering. “We’ll do one more that both of you can look at, then we’ll pack things up so you’ll be ready to leave tomorrow morning, all right?”

“Okay!!” the two girls chorused.

As he set up another few pieces of wire, he smiled with the hope that even just one of the children might take an interest, and he could one day have an apprentice to help out with Sausage’s arm.

~*~

Undergrove, Morning of Day 3

Travelling on the back of a giant wolf was a new experience, but it was almost easy enough to think of it as a very furry horse. Gem had brought Elowen to the Grimlands to make it easier for Shrub to pick up both him and Seren, since the Undergrove was the neighboring empire, and it would be a shorter trip.

They did, however, take one break outside the border of the Undergrove proper so that Mother Wolf could rest a little. Carrying even two light-weight children along with one gnome was more than she was used to, but it was the best means of conveyance for Shrub herself, and it was just one more cultural experience for children who were, indeed, familiar with travel by horse.

As they stood beside a stream, Elowen noticed that Seren was gawking at Shrub. He tried to nudge her a bit to get her to stop, although he couldn’t help comparing his own height to the gnome’s, since he was looking down at both of them. It wasn’t too much, but still…

Seren seemed to have reached the same conclusion and blurted out, “You’re small like me! But you’re growed up enough to gots your own kingdom??”

Elowen put a hand over his sister’s mouth. “Seren, you met Queen Shrub before at your party last year, remember? W-We know gnomes are smaller than elves and humans, right?”

Meanwhile, Shrub chortled. “Queen sounds so formal! I kind of just look after the Undergrove, sort of like a guardian. A guardian of the forests! Like my wolves. We guard the forests together, and I also tend the mushrooms – here, see, look through these trees, you can see some of the skinny tall ones, and over on this side you can see the tops of a few more!”

That got both children’s attention, and Elowen exclaimed, “You have giant mushrooms here, too??”

Shrub smiled. Well, there was something familiar they might relate to more easily. “Yeah, I’ve got all sorts, not just the ones like around where you live! They come in so many different colors, and flavors—”

“Diff’rent colors taste diff’rent?” Seren asked. “I thought all muffrooms taste the same.”

“Nope! When you eat enough of them, you can start to tell them apart. Plus, some taste better in different dishes than others, like if you toast them over a fire or eat them raw or cook them with other things! You can try a few while you’re here, and I can send your dads a cookbook if you want to try more at home!”

Mother Wolf nuzzled Shrub’s shoulder then crouched down to allow everyone to climb back on. Elowen helped get Seren settled in place before joining, then off they went for a closer view. The trees became sparse, replaced by a huge range of multicolored mushrooms from regular-sized ones close to the ground, to ones that towered overhead – including the rainbow-stacked castle near the middle of the Undergrove.

“It’s so pretty!” Seren exclaimed. “There are a lot! And so many doggies, too!” She was watching as several wolves meandered around the paths between houses and animal pens.

“Those are Mother Wolf’s children. Like I said, they help guard the place.” Shrub patted the fire wolf’s side after she had laid down again to let them get down from her back.

“Oh,” Seren responded, “like Papa and Daddy has lotsa kids! You have a big family, too!” She turned and hugged Mother Wolf around the neck.

Shrub grinned at that. Mother Wolf licked Seren’s face, causing the little girl to giggle. “You’re like Bubbles! Just really, really big!”

Elowen had begun to wander away to have a look around, but stopped at one of the pens. “Que— um, Shrub, what kind of cows are these? I don’t remember seeing them anywhere before.”

The cows in question were distinctly red or brown, and – apparently, like everything else in the Undergrove – had mushrooms sprouting from their backs.

“Those are mooshrooms! Really versatile critters. If you milk them one way you get regular old milk, but with a different technique you get mushroom stew!”

Seren joined her brother by the fence and watched the herd for a moment, then stuck her hand through to pet the nearest one. “Hello, moo-moos.” When that particular mooshroom moved away, she withdrew her hand and went back to watching. Then she turned to Shrub to ask, “So… when you cook them, do they make beef soup with muffrooms in it, or do you has to put in the muffrooms anyway?”

~*~

The Overgrown, Day 3

Ilan instinctively kept hold of Rayen’s hand to stop her from running off toward one of the giant flowers, fully expecting her to want to climb it. To their surprise, she stayed calm for the moment, if not gazing around at everything in all its shades of pastel and coziness. Maybe the sheer fascination was keeping her in check. She did continuously take glances at the wings on Katherine’s back, too. Ilan could tell she was also itching to ask about them.

“And this over here is the fountain that grants visitors permission to take flowers from the Overgrown,” Katherine was explaining. “If you see any flowers here that you like, I can tell your dads, and they’ll be able to come by later to pick them up for you – then you can plant them in your own garden! You could also have ones that stay small and keep them in a flower pot in your room all for yourself.”

“You gots even more flowers than we do!” Rayen crowed, bouncing up and down on her toes. “Your whole kingdom is a really big garden!! Did Daddy and Papa get permiss’n a lots? ‘Cause they really like flowers!”

“Your papa likes to build beautiful things,” Katherine replied softly. “He expanded the gardens not just for the castle by itself, but to make something nice for your dad, too. So, yes, before they had children, they came here often to add more variety to their gardens. Do you want to learn about how flowers are named, so when you get home you can tell your dads everything you know about the flowers you already have there?”

“Yeah!! I know some! But other ones are just… red or… yellow.” Rayen pouted for half a moment.

Ilan laughed lightly. “That’s because their names are too long. You’ll remember them eventually.”

“Long names are hard! There’s, like… twenty million bazillion red ones!!”

Katherine giggled, as well. “That is true. Many flowers that have the same name come in a bunch of different colors. They can have different uses, too, like ones you use for dying wool or ones you can make into tea or medicine. And some have smells that can make you feel different ways, like helping you feel calm or a little more energetic. You can learn about all of that while you’re here, or we can just take walks and look around.”

“Learn, learn!” Rayen demanded. “Maybe calm smells can help when Mariposa is crying! ‘Cause she can’t tell us why she’s crying! But I wanna know what flowers to bring her so she can feel better!”

“That’s so sweet,” Katherine cooed. “All right, we’ll make a list of those, then you can ask your dads to help you pick some and they can set up a flower vase in the room for her. Ilan, is there anything specific you want to learn about?”

“Medicine,” they replied after a few seconds of thought. “And… ones that can be used for magic. I saw in some of Auntie Gem’s books that special flowers are ingredients for spells.”

“Oh, that’s right, you’re the budding mage of the family. Yes, I can show you some of those. We can mix up a few potions, too. You both just have to be careful around the glass bottles, all right?”

“Okay!!” the two children agreed.

~*~

Pixandria, Day 3

Liana skipped down the street humming her own little tune while Pixlriffs and Azahar walked at a more casual pace. The Copper King was giving the two children an extensive tour since Pixandria was quite off the beaten path; despite its desert sharing a border with Mythland, the city itself wasn’t exactly within walking distance, and they were unlikely to make visits until they were older – and perhaps on official royal business.

Pix was explaining the usage of the honeycomb farm to the more attentive Azahar when Liana’s gaze followed the path of a stray bee over to the middle of the square. “Ooh, Azahar, look at the pretty lanterns!” She tugged on the side of his shirt and pointed toward a tall but slender structure, where numerous colorful and slowly drifting paper lanterns hovered overhead. She stared up as the three of them walked over for a better view. Then she peered around at the sandstone shelves along the base of the structure. “What’s all those candles for?”

“This is The Vigil,” Pix explained in a gentle tone, knowing he was about to go into a very serious subject with someone who might not yet have a full grasp of the weight of it. “It’s a sacred place where people can either light a candle in memory of a loved one who has passed, or send up a lantern in honor of a wish someone might have wanted to make, but wasn’t able to. The magic in this spot almost seems to slow time, so the candles last longer, and the lanterns sort of get frozen in the air instead of floating away – where they might get lost. The flames for both do burn out at some point, however, and then there can be room for others to be added.”

Liana appeared to be processing everything he had said while gazing up at the lanterns again. Azahar had a thoughtful look, then a small if wistful smile crossed his face and he asked, “May I place some? They’re not for me, personally, though…”

Pix nodded. “You can memorialize whoever you like.” He added softly, “There isn’t a requirement or limit. The Vigil is a means for making peace with loss.”

He led them over to the stall where the various colors of candles and lanterns were stored, with suggested color matches for the regions of the world. Azahar took two cyan candles and two red candles, and then took a black lantern as well. “Hold this one for me. Careful, now.”

He passed the lantern to Liana, then carried the candles over to The Vigil. She and Pix followed; the younger elf cradled the lantern between her hands with utmost care, having come to understand the solemnness of this ceremony, if not quite figuring out what her brother had chosen to do. “Who’s love ones are those for?” she whispered as he set up the candles near to each other on the same shelf.

“For our siblings,” Azahar answered softly. “And this one for our Mythland grandparents,” he explained as he took the lantern from her, “Because Papa said they are missing, but I wish that one day they might get to meet us, and see the happy family we have together.”

Pix stepped in to light the lantern for the teen. “That is a lovely wish, young Prince Azahar.” He held the lantern aloft and gave it a small tap to send it drifting up to join the others.

Liana watched it for a moment, then said, “I dunno where my real mommy and daddy went, so I dunno if I should put candles or not.”

Azahar lightly patted her head. “That’s okay. You and I just happened to be doorstep babies, and it turned out that Papa and Dad needed us to be their family.”

“Liana,” Pix suggested, “Would you like to send a lantern up for your mum and dad? You can wish for them to know that you found a nice family – that might have been what they wanted for you.”

“Hmmmm, okay!” She followed Pix over to the stall, where he took out a cyan lantern for her. “Can I put a bunny on it so’s they know it’s from me?”

“You sure can,” Pix said with a kind laugh. “People sometimes put notes under their candles or tie one to the bottom of the lantern. Let me get you a piece of paper, hold on just a moment.”

Azahar leaned against one of the barrels, letting Pix handle helping Liana with her drawing. He remained there as they returned to The Vigil to send it up.

Pix was reassured by the happy smile now on Liana’s face; he had a feeling she now had a sense of peace of her own regarding her unknown origins. He himself had been gladdened by Azahar’s interpretation of the path their lives had taken that had brought them to become heirs of Mythland. Pix cast a proud look toward the teen. One day, there would be others who oversaw ways to cherish memories.

~*~

Mezalea, Day 3

Lizzie leaned against the wall while Joel leaned against her, both in danger of nodding off even while Mariposa sat crying in the crib. They were at a loss. “How much can one baby cry?” Lizzie lamented.

“Maybe we just have to admit we’re not her favorite auntie and uncle, Joel said with resignation.

“Aww, don’t say that!”

“Well, maybe she misses her dads. She probably recognizes what they look like, and her siblings, too. Neither of us look anything like them.”

Lizzie gazed down at him thoughtfully. “You could try growing a beard?”

“You do know it’s gonna take longer than one day for that, right? Also, Sausage doesn’t have a green stripe in his hair.”

“Darn, good point. My ingenious plan has already been foiled. Any other ideas, then?”

Joel sighed and stood up, glancing to where the latest bottle had been left. He picked up Mariposa to try rocking her a bit to see if it helped any.

Lizzie sighed, too. “I guess we need to call for back up.” She wearily heaved herself from her seat and went to find a piece of paper and quill.

“Dear Xornoth, I have made a terrible mistake…”

It took until the afternoon for communications to cross all the way to and from Rivendell, but Xornoth arrived soon after his response came via owl, which itself travelled faster than the Mezalean hot air balloon messenger. He gave the weary couple a sympathetic look as he entered the room, then he quickly took over, cradling Mariposa in his arms and talking softly to her while Joel packed up the baby supplies that had ended up scattered around during attempts to get the infant settled down.

Mariposa finally stopped fussing and mumbled instead, at one point reaching up a hand toward Xornoth’s earring. He lightly shook his head to make the jewelry jangle around. Mariposa let out a louder, “Ah-blah!” and when he lowered his head a little to let her touch the earring, she made a grab for his ear itself.

“Told you she recognized them. She knows an elven family member when she sees one,” Joel commented as he closed up the second supply bag.

Xornoth gently pried the little fingers from his ear then set Mariposa back down in the crib. “I mean, I have enough of a resemblance to my brother that she might see it, but I think a little baby noggin might catch on more to familiar colors and shapes that she sees regularly.”

“Still, you kind of worked wonders there. We tried everything, but I guess this is too out of her element. It might even be the difference in the air or different smells, maybe?” Joel’s voice cracked at the end. “Either way, I think we’ll keep the babysitting to a stay in Mythland. She might like that better.”

“Could be anything, who knows. Rivendell is colder than Mythland, after all, and she seemed fine there at the winter festival.” Xornoth shrugged, then went about securing the bags to a line of metal clips on his belt so his arms would be free.

He didn’t have far to fly to his intended destination compared to if he was going all the way to Rivendell. “Well, you two take care. If I remember correctly, you’ve got the boys next. I’m fairly certain they’ll sleep through the night.” He winked then pulled on the baby carrier and got Mariposa settled against his chest before the three of them walked outside.

As he activated his wings, Lizzie leaned to where Mariposa might see her. “Bye-bye, little one. We’ll come visit you at home someday soon, okay? Maybe you’ll like that better.”

Xornoth offered another sympathetic smile, then placed his arms securely around the baby carrier and took off at a moderate speed, not wanting to jar Mariposa too much, but soon she seemed to be giggling about the feeling of the wind ruffling the hair on the top of her head.

A short time later he landed in Gilded Helianthia. He had made a precursory circle around to see if Pearl was out in the fields, but since he hadn’t spotted her, he figured his best bet was the main farmhouse. He patted Bingo on the head on the way up the stairs, then rapped on the door before calling, “PearlescentMoon, I have a visitor for you~”

A moment or two later the door opened. Pearl glanced from him to the quietly babbling bundle in the baby carrier. “Ah. Yeah, I figured Lizzie was getting in over her head. Are you just dropping by for a little rest stop on the way? Which is actually a good idea. Not sure how the little one would handle a long flight.”

“No, actually…” Xornoth proceeded to grin, “Since all of this was your idea, I thought maybe you could partner up with me for baby duties. I still need to get a little sleep, too.”

“Cheeky elf. All right. I’ll have to rustle up a crib somehow, the plans hadn’t called for her to stay in my empire since it’s closest by and Sausage might come rushing over if he gets too worried.”

“Fair point. It wouldn’t take long to construct a simple one, if you want to hold her for a bit and show me where your wood supplies are. Oh, and we need to send a message to update the worrisome dads that I’ve picked up Mariposa for this round. We don’t need to tell them where I’ve stopped to watch her, though.”

He grinned and chuckled. The owl that had followed him back from Mazelea and was now perched on the corner of the roof hooted, sounding almost like it was used to such shenanigans from the elven monarch.

~*~

Mythland, Day 3

Scott requested the head court violinist to play for them in the dining room during lunch, then toward late afternoon the same violinist and a cellist joined the couple in the ballroom for a casual private dance session.

Sausage smiled softly as he held his upraised palm against Scott’s, his other hand tucked behind his back. “This reminds me a little of the masquerade ball, the one before all the, uh, chaos, and how we had a few dances together where it seemed like there was no one else in the world but us and the music.”

“I remember that one, and that feeling, yeah… I should have noticed the lovestruck look on your face back then, but I was still convinced we were just friends chatting the night away.”

Sausage’s smile turned a little bittersweet, regret almost surfacing in his eyes, then he initiated a turn in time to the instrumental piece’s change. “We should host a masquerade sometime. The kids would have a lot of fun dressing up, and it wouldn’t be as formal as their introduction parties were.”

“That is an excellent idea. Maybe we should let them pick the theme. I can already bet Liana will ask to dress as a bunny.”

“Maybe Seren and Rayen will pick different things and not try to swap accessories.” Sausage then laughed. “But imagine by the end of the night they’ve mixed everything up so much no one knows what their costumes are anymore!”

Scott chuckled at that, then after a moment he sighed. “It’s nice to have a dance to ourselves, but this ballroom feels too empty right now…”

“Time for dinner, then?” Sausage brought his arm forward and lightly wrapped it around Scott’s waist to bring their dance to a halt.

“We might as well.” Scott nodded absently, then they walked over to the musicians to thank them and bid them a good evening.

There was an owl waiting on the back of Scott’s chair when they reached the dining room. It stretched one wing lazily before hooting at them. Scott carefully took the message from the pouch around its neck. He smiled in amusement as he read it. “Well, that went as expected. Xornoth currently has Mariposa, and will hand her along according to the schedule. Poor Lizzie and Joel. They were even less prepared than we were for an infant.”

“Better change the sign on the crib,” Sausage said with a chuckle. “But I think if there’s ever a plan for this again before she’s toddler age, she’ll just stay with us, and everyone else can have adventures in other empires.”

“You’re forgetting the whole point of this is so we could get a full night’s sleep without a crying baby contributing to keeping us awake.”

“Okay, okay, okay – then next time she goes straight to Xornoth, unless someone proves ahead of time they can handle everything.”

Scott smiled warmly at him. “You’ve really got this overprotective father thing down pat.”

“Well, of course! We’ve been at this for over four years, and since the family keeps growing, I want to be sure all of them are as safe as possible and we know exactly where they are at all times!”

Scott’s expression now turned wry. “You know, I’m not sure either of us are really going to be getting as much sleep as Pearl hoped, because you’re absolutely right.”

~*~

Gilded Helianthia, Day 4

Pearl woke up to the sound of elven song coming from the guest room where they had set up the makeshift crib and Xornoth was using one of the beds when he was ‘off shift’. It seemed close to sunrise, just about when she would be getting up, anyway. She could remember being awoken by Mariposa maybe three times during the night, although on the third incident Xornoth was already reaching into the crib. He had stopped to tap a finger to his lips then shooed Pearl away.

Currently he sang a lively tune while lifting her up in the air several times to make her giggle. He did look tired, though, and Pearl was ready to take over watching Mariposa so he could get some more sleep – as soon as he happened to put her down.

“You’re really loving this role of being uncle, aren’t you?”

Xornoth chuckled quietly. “A little bit. I haven’t quite found that special someone yet, so I’m living vicariously through my brother’s children – although I don’t know if I want that many of my own. But if a little one like this happened to find their way to me, well, I doubt I could say no, either.”

He held Mariposa toward his face to tickle her with his nose, then kissed her on the cheek. She babbled and patted at him, nearly poking him in the eye, but he merely closed that eye and lowered her out of range where she could grab at the folds of his shirt instead. He smiled softly down at her. “Well, someday, maybe. My brother waited over two hundred years and then some to figure out the right one, so I suppose I could wait a few more…”

He seemed to space out for a moment, his smile fading to a pensive expression, so Pearl stepped closer to take the baby from him. “I think what you shouldn’t wait for is some sleep. I’ll handle the morning shift, and we’ll keep it quiet as we do the morning chores – right, Mariposa? You can learn all about running a farm! Or maybe you can just learn to gently pet the sheep and cows because you could fit inside the milk bucket, but forget about carrying it. Come on, little one. Your Uncle Xornoth needs sleep just like your dad and papa. My goodness, you are causing all sorts of trouble all over the place, aren’t you? So much mischief in such a tiny body.”

Xornoth smiled after them with his own weariness while Mariposa babbled a “blee-blee-blee” sound then cooed. Well, at least she was getting along with Pearl for the moment. He heeded the advice, however, and laid down with his arms folded behind his head, letting his mind wander to days of the past when he and Scott had been children. He dozed off to the memory of the first time they had encountered sheep together.

[To Be Continued in Part Two]

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grogusmum · 2 years

Text

Seven Tears part 5

SELKIE!EZRA X F!READER

W/C: 2800ish

SERIES SUMMARY: Months after being abandoned, she does something rash and summons a selkie, who wishes to bring her comfort and maybe more.

CHAPTER SUMMARY: Pearl and Ezra move to Rón Inis. Pearl learns there that her selkie love has his own past.

WARNING: Olde Timey gender norms and sexism, mentions of spouse abandonment,though set in Ireland, and Ireland's predominantly white, Reader is physically undescribed, as are her blood relatives, her missing spouse and his family are white, church nonsense and fisticuffs, food, reader is pregnant, Ezra is a selkie, yes, it deserves its own warning. Excessive use of pet names.

(as always see something say something. please let me know in my DMs if there is a warning I missed)

NOTES: I thought that we were coming to he end of our story, but I was surprised to find out I was wrong. There is more to tell, and more selkie myth I really wanted to include. So I hope you are interested in several more chapters. Happy birthday, Kindred! Enjoy💚

Swept Away

Part 1

Part 4

M'fhíorghrá my true love

Gaeilge translation

A ghrá love

Sláinte health or cheers

A stór my treasure

Rón Inis Island of Seals

Deirdre and Felicia are in the kitchen, Thomas and Patrick in the back bringing wood in when Ezra gives a knock as he walks in the door. Hugh, your younger brother was on the couch with you, both seemingly occupied by the crossword puzzle in the evening paper. Hugh looks very much like an Irish setter who sits on their owner's feet when feeling protective. Ezra smiles at the scene in the parlor, the smells of a roast and potatoes, the fire crackling. He, of course, brings with him the smell of the sea.

You look up and extract yourself from the afghan on your lap and Hugh, handing him the paper. You pull Ezra by his jacket toward the fire to warm him up.

“Alright, Ezra?” Hugh asks.

“Just so,” Ezra smiles and then wraps his arms around you, quietly in your ear, “are you alright, moonbeam?”

“I am,” you murmur, “now.”

“Suppers on the table,” Felica calls.

While everyone eats, you tell them what happened, Ezra squeezes your hand under the table occasionally, then Deirdre and Patrick tell their tales of the visit to St Bridget's and with Colin.

The stories are interrupted periodically by different members of the Brennan Clan when emotions run high.

“But he is not an actual selkie!” Cries Hugh.

“Don be daft, of course he is, lookit him,” Thomas says, tossing a roll at him. Thus earning a glare from their father.

It seems everyone at once knew and did not know that Ezra is truly a selkie.

"Don tell me everyone knew but me?" Hugh wailed.

Deirdre, of course, nods, being the only one who was told outright. Then comes a murmuring of the rumors and guesses. Your hands shake as you confirm it, looking at Ezra for help. He just raises his glass, winks-

"Sláinte" (slawn-cha)

Your family laughs and raises their glasses, once over the shock, the relief you feel stings the corners of your eyes.

“It was only a matter of time before the seal people mixed with the Brennans!” Patrick proclaims above the din.

In the past, they had chosen not to talk about Colin since his desertion, speaking of him only if you wished it. He has shown his colors, was what your Mam would say. But the notion that he would return after all this time and why set everyone's blood to boil anew. Whenever he is mentioned this night, they practically hiss at his name. Muttering curses.

You chose to keep the story of becoming sick to yourself, and of Jamie and Colin fairly brief, being more interested in the part you did not know, like Deirdre’s trip to see Father O'Brien-

“How could he talk to you like that, Mam?” Hugh says scandalized.

“What about annulment?” Felicia asks.

“Oh I am going to the Bishop next, this is not over.”

You sigh, and Ezra puts an arm around you.

Then Patrick’s conversation with Colin-

“Did you pan him out, Da?” Hugh asks.

“Someone beat me to it.” Patrick winks at the pair of you.

You smile a little here and cock your thumb at Ezra, and your brothers erupt. Thomas who is next to him claps his shoulder. Felicia smiles into her lap and sneaks a look at you.

“To my way of thinking, it is my pearl here who truly deserves that honor.” Ezra calls over the pleased chatter and kisses your forehead.

Hugh agrees and surprisingly so does Deirdre.

After a moment everyone settles down.

“So what'll you do now?” Felicia asks. Diedre starts clearing plates, her nervous energy needing to be harnessed for something.

“Well, That of course depends on Moonbeam here. But I’ve spoken with Tilda, from the pub? She is sort of a cousin of mine. She has offered us one of the cottages on Rón Inis (Roan Inish).”

“Wait, she is a Conneely?” You say in wonder, “How did I not know that.”

“You’ve only known her by her married name, love,” Deirdre says over her shoulder from the sink.

It is a commonly held belief that the Conneelys were well mixed with seal folk, no more so than by the Conneely's themselves, so no one questions Ezra’s claim, they just exchange looks.

Your Da looks down at the table.

“It’s not far, a row boat will do”, you assure him.

“I know,” he says with a sad smile, “ I know, darlin’ we would just miss seeing ye everyday.”

“I know.”

Ezra squeezes your knee, and looks at you, his eyebrows lifted in question.

“So, you would come with me?”

You nod. Then a smile breaks wide-

“Yes, Ezra. I would.”

Deidre comes back to the table, the iron skillet in her hand, and smile on her face. She does not hide the tears in her eyes. You jump up from the table and hug her.

“Tis not far, Mam, just a row.”

“You are right, tis just a row!” She shakes off her thoughts of being lonesome for you and puts down the skillet of fresh apple cake on a trivet. “Plates, Hugh.”

Your younger brother pops out of his seat to pull the dessert plates down from the shelf above the sideboard, the ching of silver means he remembers the forks.

“There is much to plan, but for now, let us enjoy some of your mother’s fine cake,” Patrick says, sending a wink your way.

The preparation was swift and quiet. You parents worked on the annulment, deciding you can come to the mainland when needed instead of waiting as it can take months. Your family helped you pack and loaded everything on his fishing boat, you’d have to row a curragh (cah-ra) as well, so you had means to get to and fro as needed.

When the early morning of your departure arrived, you both looked at the somewhat bare little house you had shared. You had decided to only take what was indisputably yours. Which meant anything you brought with you, wedding gifts given to you from your family (thankfully that included the bed, which was a gift from your parents), and anything you bought or made after Colin left. Only months ago you would have left this house without a backward glance, but now, it was the home you had made with Ezra, where you fell in love with him.

Ezra finds you in the bedroom folding some linens. He looks at them, then you. Searching. You look up from the laundry and smile.

“Never let it be said I left a mess behind.”

“We should go, Moonbeam”, Ezra says it like a question. His head cocked to the side, searching your face, for reservations, for fear, for regret.

“We should.” You say looking at him with nary a sign of trebiation. He smiles a huff and bumps his head to yours. You folded the wedding ring quilt and laid it on a blanket rack that rested by the wood stove. Neither had come from your side.

You open the door to find Tilda and Fergus. Fergus carries a large basket filled to the brim. Tilda, a large something, wrapped in a sea green blanket.

“Just want to keep you fed while you settle in,” she smiles, kissing you both on the cheek.

“Wanted to see you off,” Fergus explains, giving Ezra a squeeze on the arm.

The four of you walk together to the dock, your siblings and parents are already there. Not that you can see them in the half light, but dark heads bob in the water. Ezra’s family has come too. He watches the water, with a lopsided smile.

“Do you mind two more,” asks Fergus amiably.

“More hands make lighter work!” Patrick says, shaking his hand.

Your father explains that they would have to use the curragh and jon boat to bring everything to the shore. As the sun rises in earnest and you become anxious to set off.

You and Ezra get in currah, a funny round wicker boat, your two brothers in the flat bottomed jon, the rest board the fishing boat.

"Are you ready, a stòr?"

"I am ready, m'fhíorghrá (MEER-ggrah) ."

The sun told you it was mid morning when the island was in full view, and by this time Ezra’s family had made their presence known to all of you. They gamboled, rolled and ducked under the boats. Their excitement growing.

While most of the seal were curious of all three vessels, there was one, small light colored seal, that stuck close to your boat. Eying you occasionally, but watching Ezra.

“Who is this,” you ask.

“This lovely pup is my-” Ezra looks down at her, giving her such a warm look you should have guessed the answer,. “She is my daughter, Cee.”

Ezra looks to you, wondering if this will make a difference.

“Your… daughter?” you say a smile slowing growing. You look down at her, leaning down close. “Hello Cee! Why, aren’t you wonderful!”

Cee rolls in agreement, Ezra gives his hearty laugh and you just beam at the two.

For a time, you let your mind wonder at the life Ezra had known before you, in the sea and out of it. Would it be inappropriate to ask? You know the reputation of selkie men. Some have been confirmed and some debunked with your time with Ezra. Do you want to know?

“How old is she? Cee?”

“Fourteen.” Ezra says, still looking at his seal daughter.

Two sevens, you think. Two possible visits, two possible other lovers. You can not change a selkies nature, and you surely do not want to change Ezra’s so you sit with this, settling yourself with the knowledge, that you knew in abstract but…

“A ghrá? I can see the wheels whirling,” he smiles kindly, he nods to Cee and she dips into the sea and visits another seal beside your fathers fishing boat. “You can ask me anything, I am but an open book to you, to be perused in your good time.”

“Where is her mother?”

Ezra eyes softened still, your question was matter of fact, though not cold, he could see you trying. He smiled.

“She is no longer with us, she passed many, many years ago. Cee was on land with her mother, she would not part from her. But when she fell ill, she brought Cee to the waters edge and introduced us properly and I helped Cee transform, so she could join me when it was time. She was 7. The fates were looking favorably upon us. I could leave the water and help her.”

There was so much more to this story you want to know but there is something more pressing-

“I, we…” you look down at your belly, that is still not giving away the secret of the life growing within.

“Yes,” Ezra eyes shine and his face radiating adoration.

“Ours?” You ask rhetorically, smiling eyes wet, a hiccup of a laugh.

“Ours.” Ezra repeats.

Oh, he wants to close the distance and wrap himself around you, blasted boat… later, he reminds himself. We have all the time in the world, especially if-

“Did you love her very much?”

“I did, though I must admit, there was another. I could not have her so I tried to put her out of my mind. Move on and find something for myself.”

“Oh,” you say your voice sounding small, and Ezra looks at you. His eyebrows drifting up. “Oh,” you say again. Your face warms, both in embarrassment and pleasure.

“Oh,” he repeats playfully.

“Was there anyone else,” you say feeling more confident. You looked at your seal man, he could have had one hundred lovers. It does not matter. He loves you, and he always has. You were having his baby.

“One other, a fellow,” Ezra says grunting into the oars. “Before I ever laid eyes one you.”

You are only taking by surprise momentarily.

“Did he summon you?”

“A stór, I am not avoiding your inquiry indefinitely, but we are to come ashore momentarily.” Ezra settles the oars in the boat. “I will regale you the tale of my first love, if you wish it, at a more opportune time. Perhaps not in front of your family.”

“Well, it would be a fine how do you do, to be accepting of us and not you and your fellow.”

“Truly, my Moonbeam, I heartily agree, but you would be surprised. Regardless, it would perhaps be unseemly to speak of any past sweethearts with your parents, at all.

“Can’t argue with that,” you laugh and the jolt as the curragh beaches.

The fishing boat stayed in the deeper waters, and the small boats were loaded running back and forth. The many hands did make swift work. Soon, your sister, Felicia, was busy sweeping the sand out of the cottages. Your father was up on the roof of the largest cottage, inspecting the thatch. While your mother hollered for him to get his fool self down before he fell off and let one of his sons do it.

“Get up there, Thomas!” Deirdre shouts. “Hugh help your sister.”

Inside, you were getting an impromptu lesson in seaweed soup and how to use it in seafood chowder, from Tilda. Ezra and Fergus were shuttling back and forth from the strand with the last of the furniture, baskets and creates.

“I should help,” you look at them apologetically.

“You need to learn this recipe handed down from the seal people in my family. And you will have plenty of work once we leave. Rest, you are doing so for two.”

You look at her thunderstruck.

“Cousin Ezra confided in me, when he was looking for advice on what to do with, when your-”

“Colin.”

“Yes that,” she says as though finding something distasteful stuck to her shoe. You can not help but smile.

“Thank you,” you suddenly wrap your arms around the older woman, “Thank you for this. We can never truly repay you.”

“You can,” Tilda says, and she walks over to the large basket,beside it is the large something. Tilda set it down and unwrapped it reverently.

“Use this cradle for your babe.”

Your eyes were saucers, it was a tiny boat, encrusted with shells and carved with intricate design.

“Carved from the mast of a sunken ship. Been in my family for generations.”

“Tis beautiful, Tilda! I will use it with honor.”

You placed it next to the fireplace, next to Ezra’s pelt awaiting it’s new home and then turned back to the cauldron Tilda was filling with seaweed.

Once the bed was restrung and made up, and Patrick was satisfied with the state of the thatch, your family bid you farewell. It was tearful, but there were many reminders that you would have to go to the mainland weekly for supplies and that they were welcome on the island whenever they wished. Soon it was just you and Ezra. You smiled, and the you made your way into the cottage closed the door on a very long day. Settled into the two chairs by the fire, you put your feet up thankfully on a small stool. Then you opened you eyes wide and sat up-

“Where is Cee?” you cry.

“Cee will come and go, my pearl. She is quite independent having spent the lion's share of her remembered life in the water.”

“Oh,” you then add quietly. “I didn't know I was taking you from someone, Ezra.”

“Oh Moonbeam,” Ezra takes your hand, looks around, “I will miss our settee, come-”

You stand, and he brings you onto his lap, tucking you into him.

“Is she okay, does she prefer being in seal form?”

“Yes, most Selkies, yearn for the sea. Though, this island feels different. Liminal. A place between. She may be of a mind to come and stay for a spell and then be on her way. So long as she has control over her coat, she will feel at ease.”

“And you?”

“I, a chuisle mo chroí (ah coo-shil mu cree), am at ease where ever you are and yearn but for one thing. You know what that is?”

You look down, playing with the buttons of his shirt-

“Me?” You look at him, bashfully.

“You,” he says. “And soon there will be a little one.”

“Will- what-”

“Someday the child will enter the sea, and will not want to return to land. It is different for every one. We, you will have to be ready. My own, do you think you can do this?”

Ezra watches you closely, you are struggling. Trying.

“Not so little that as a pup or babe that they still need their mama. But no one can stop the march of time anymore than the ebb and flow of the sea.”

“What if I want us all to be together?”

Ezra looks you in the eye. You wait patiently.

“There is one thing, but you would need to want it with your whole being.”

“What is that?” You say quickly.

“You would have to become a selkie yourself.”

PART 6

THANK YOU FOR READING! 💚

You can find more of my writing here MASTERLIST and if you would care to be tagged for this or any of my writing fill out my taglist form

#selkie ezra #selkie #ezra prospect #selkie ezra x f!reader #ezra (prospect)#selkie!ezra x f!reader #ezra (prospect au)#ezra (prospect) x f!reader #selkie au

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seawitchkaraoke · 1 year

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Recently watched some of False's old mcc vods from early events bc I love her and seeing the improvement is really impressive but in this I've also come across how much Grian's builtmart strategy has improved overtime

Like. I've seen Grian and False's more recent teamups before and there usually False just does her thing building her build and Grian leaves her alone, only occasionally asking her what she needs and vice versa she'll occasionally call out what materials she needs- he mostly focuses on the floater or if there's a less experienced builder, focuses on helping them.

And well. I watched mcc 7 and wow Grian is clearly in the early stages of figuring out how to be a build mart manager here and some of it is working out - there is more communication of ''is anyone at wood, i need more spruce'' and such compared to the mccs before it (yeah i've been binging don't at me).

But Grian is micromanaging faar too much to the point where they still end up doubling up, going to the same materials bc Grian sends Pearl to colours when False already got the colours she needed or when Grian starts placing blocks for False already instead of working on his own built, when simply giving her the blocks when she got back would have been way more efficient (specifically bc it was spaced out diamond blocks so to build it without the rest of the built already there, he needed to stack up first and then remove the blocks underneath again, when, if you put those blocks on at the end it takes like. 2 seconds.)

They still did quite well, bc of course they're just generally good at building and they did have some good communication in parts. But compared to how he manages his teams now? It is sooo much better. There's a really important lesson in there I think. Yes you need a manager in this game but micromanaging can be counter productive.

So his system that he always sums up with ''I'm the manager everyone listen to me'' is really: a) know your team's skills. False for example is a very good builtmart player who doesn't need you to remind her of what blocks she needs, she has a good system with her chat for that. She doesn't need you to place blocks for her or help, unless she specifically asks. You can and should leave her alone. On the other hand, a less experienced builder might need more handholding on recognizing the right blocks, realizing how much they need of a material etc.

b) encourage your team to speak up! Remind them to ask for help if they can't figure out what's wrong with a built, remind them to ask for blocks they need.

c) have a general system for where to store blocks, what to go for at the start, etc. In Grian's teams the floater always goes for wood first, they also always divide up who goes for stone etc if there's stone in several builts and agree in which chest to store stuff.

d) listen really hard to what ppl are saying - obviously listen to the ''does anyone have spruce'' calls, but you also gotta listen for the little, halfway talking to themselves ''what am i doing wrong here?'' so you can maybe quickly take a look and figure it out for them

e) manage the floater - that is really the biggest key but everything else plays into this one. Tell them where to go, what to get and how much, when to come back etc. But for that you gotta keep in mind what everyone else needs and where they currently are (no point telling the floater to get stone if someone else is already there and could just grab more), where the priorities are (gold builds!), what you already have in the chests, etc etc.

Like.... it's a lot more than just ''Grian manages everyone''. You gotta know how much to manage, you don't need to tell everyone what to do all the time, you gotta tell the right people what to do at the right times, y'know? Oh and also you still need to do your own builds too.

#mcc #falsesymmetry #grian #builtmart

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random-writer-23 · 2 years

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The pearl Guns (Jesper x F Reader)

A/N: Hello lovelies! Welcome to the first one-shot I'm publishing on this blog, this one was written pretty recently so it's probably going to be much better than the others I'll be posting on here of my past writing, but when I get to publishing more new stuff it'll hopefully be decent as well. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and any comments, likes, shares, and reblogs are appreciated! Happy reading! Word count: 3131 Requested: No Warnings: not really, just the usual Jesper flirting and just sexual tension but nothing other than that.

As a member of ketterdams socially elite, I was expected to behave like a perfect lady at all times of the day, whether it was at a dinner party hosted by my father, a traveling conference my father forced me to attend, art shows, or whatever else my father expected of me. My father was one of the biggest and richest merchants in the city and as a result, I being his one and only daughter had practically no say in my life. I had to be the perfect daughter in order to preserve his reputation. Which is why I am currently getting ready for a large dinner party my father is hosting.

"is it still too loose (y/n)?" My maid Magaret asked, referring to the corset backing of the dress I was wearing.

"Oh um, just a little tighter Margaret" I replied, feeling the tug of the ribbon on my back tightening my corset. "that's good" I responded when I felt the dress tight enough to support me. She tied it at the back and stepped away towards my vanity mirror where she started preparing to do my hair. I looked in the full-body mirror at the dress. It was an (f/c) dress that stretched all the way to my ankles. I gave a small spin while Margaret nodded her head approvingly.

"Alright, dear now sit down so I can do your hair" Margaret moved me to sit in front of the mirror and grabbed my hairbrush, beginning to brush my hair. Once she was done she patted my shoulder and I turned around so she could do my makeup. Once she finished she patted my shoulder and I stood up while she cleaned up my vanity.

"thank you, Margaret," I said as she helped me into my shoes.

"Of course dearie" she replied brushing my dress out straight and giving me a smile as she left the room. Margaret has been my maid since the day I was born, cleaning my room, feeding me, reading me stories before bed, taking me to school, and taking care of me when I was sick. She was more like a parent to me than my actual father is. After my mother passed he distanced himself from me. I always assumed it was because I am the spitting image of her. I took one last look at myself in my mirror, I looked like the ideal image of a perfectly well-behaved daughter, all that was left to do was to play the part. I exited my room and headed downstairs to stand next to my father as he welcomed people into the house.

"Please behave tonight (y/n)" My father whispered with an exasperated sigh, placing a stern hand on my shoulder. Which to others might have looked like a gesture of comfort, but I knew it was an order. I stood up straight smiling and offering to take our guest's coats making small talk with the ladies as my dad spoke to the merchants, directing them to a conference room where the merchant council was going to meet. While those not attending the meeting were directed to the living room to talk amongst themselves and enjoy the rest of the party. After the rest of the merchant council had arrived my father gave my shoulder a squeeze and walked off toward the conference room to participate in the council meeting. I was left to my own devices to wander around and keep the guests occupied and wanting for nothing. I wandered into the living room where everyone was chatting with each other. The band playing their music softly in the background. I smiled while chatting with some of the guests before, excusing myself to get a drink. I poured myself a cup of water refusing to let one of the servants do it for me and then exited the room squeezing past the waiters who were getting ready to serve trays of appetizers to the guests since the actual food wouldn't be served until after the council meeting ended. Smiling and nodded through the halls of people making small talk and giving hugs until I finally made it outside. Giving a nod of acknowledgment to the guards posted at the door, who were no doubt ordered by my father to keep a close watch on me. Once I finally made it outside I took a deep breath and moved myself past the few guests who were lingering and chatting in the garden, toward my favorite spot. I sighed walking past the decorative rows of rose bushes, kicking a small rock along the path. The gazebo sat upon the highest spot in the garden, shining in the moonlight and overlooking the bay. Lifting my skirt I stepped gently over a puddle of mud and onto the hard floor of the gazebo. I looked around, finally out of view of the guards stationed at the door.

"man I hate these dinners," I said to no one, in particular, letting out a huff, I finished my drink and placed the empty cup on the gazebo railing.

"You and me both beautiful" A man's voice replied and I spun around to see where the voice came from.

"And who are you?" I asked backing up and holding the skirt of my dress up, in case I had to make a run for it. The man gave me a weird look before gesturing to his clothes.

"I thought it was a bit obvious that I'm a guard, love" He laughed, and against my better judgment I laughed as well.

"well, whose guard are you?" I asked calming down my giggles, "cause you can't be one of my father's I would have seen you around here before." I watched his eyes widen for a second before he composed his features and spoke.

"You're (l/n)'sF daughter?" He asked and I nodded in response letting go of the hold I had on my skirt and leaning up against the railing of the gazebo. The stranger's presence made me oddly relaxed. "how could someone as ugly as him make someone as pretty as you" He flirted with a wink and I blushed looking away from him.

"Why thank you" I giggled bringing my hand up to my face to hide my blush.

"and if you must know, I'm only a temporary hire. First time working here, brought in for the party" He explained and I nodded along. It wasn't unusual for my father to bring in members of the stadwatch for events and parties he put on. More security means fewer problems he always said.

"I see, well that explains why I haven't seen you around" I replied with a smile, "so you're a stadwatch guard I presume?" I asked moving away from the railing to sit on one of the gazebo benches.

"you could say that" He moved from the entrance of the gazebo to lean against the railing across from me, as he moved I snuck a glance at the guns holstered to his side.

"so if you're a guard, why aren't you, y'know guarding things?" I asked with a small smile.

"I am, I'm guarding you, the most important guest at the party" He declared "you don't know what kind of unsavory characters are lurking in your gardens" He lowered his voice and looked around animatedly. Making me laugh.

"I should have assumed my father would send a guard to tail me" I sighed dramatically before looking at the stranger slyly, "I just didn't know he'd be so handsome" I giggled, as a surprised look crossed the guard's face, he reached up scratching the back of his neck shyly.

"I don't think I can take so much flattery from such an angel" He smiled and fanned himself dramatically, which made me laugh again. We fell into a short silence as our laughter died down.

"if I may ask what kind of guns do you have," I asked partly wondering about his guns, and also just wanting to keep talking to this handsome stranger instead going back to the boring party full of stuffy noble folk and businessmen.

"Oh these?" He moved his coat aside to show off the one holstered on his left hip, and I nodded. He took it out of the holster and moved closer to where I sat, for me to see them. "They're zemeni-made" he explained. "and you see the handle?" he pointed at the handle which had a pearlescent look to them, so I suspected it to be pearl. "it's made of pearl" he confirmed my suspicions.

"That's what I thought it was!" I said excitedly prying my eyes away from the guns to look up at him, to see him already looking at me with a smile. I looked back at his guns quickly, my face heating up again. "what else?" I asked him, and he cleared his throat to continue.

"well they can fire up to 6 shots really quickly one after the other, and as for the type of gun they're revolvers" He held it out to me. "you can hold it if you'd like"

"oh, could I?" I asked positively beaming at the offer.

"of course" He responded with a chuckle, I stood up and took the revolver from him gently, and examined it.

"Now what's that?" I pointed to the middle of the gun where a weird-looking circle sat.

"That's the barrel, it's what holds the bullets" he explained and I nodded. "there's the trigger, that's what you press to shoot it," he said pointing to the trigger. "you wanna try shooting it?" He asked with a sly smile and I nodded excitedly. "alright, let's uhhhh aha" he said his eyes landing on the cup I had placed on the railing and had just about forgotten. He walked over and moved it to the middle of the railing. "Now back up a little" He walked back to me and moved to stand next to me. "that's it, and then since it's already loaded" He held my wrist gently and fixed how I was holding the gun "that's better, we're going to pull this right here to cock the gun, and now keep your finger off the trigger there, we're gonna aim first." He moved from my side to behind me and let go of my wrist moving his hand up my arm and stopping at my elbow. I shuddered as a chill ran up my spine "now straighten your arm, love" He said pushing my arm straight "that's it" I felt the hand not holding my arm come to rest on my hip. My breath hitched as my face flushed, and I could feel my heartbeat quicken when he spoke, I prayed he couldn't hear how loud it was. "Now point it straight ahead" he moved my arm so it was pointing directly at the cup on the railing. "and close one eye and look down at the gun, is it pointing at the cup?" He asked. I didn't really trust myself to speak so I nodded. "all right now when you're ready, fix your stance 'cause there's going to be a little recoil and I don't want you to fall. Widen your feet" I fixed my stance like he said, "there you go, now bring your finger to the trigger, don't pull yet" He shifted, his hand moving from my elbow back to my hand, fitting it snuggly in his, placing his finger over mine on the trigger. "you ready?" he asked.

"yeah, ready" I responded, trying desperately to control my racing heart. I felt him push my finger down on the trigger and heard a loud bang as the bullet shot out of the gun and hit the cup on the railing shattering it to pieces. I grinned as I realized I hit it, letting out a stream of giggles in my excitement. "I hit it!" I squealed moving out of his hold to jump around in excitement.

"I knew you would," he replied, and my smile faded slightly at the realization I couldn't feel his warmth anymore. "a little more practice and you'll probably be better than me" he added with a smile and I chuckled, looking at the gun in my hand I regretfully gave it back, and he tucked it away, back in his holster. I watched his movements carefully until I heard the distant sound of footsteps coming hurriedly in our direction.

"Oh no that'll be the other guards" I looked at him worriedly, "they probably heard the sound!" I said my voice rising in panic. "they're going to tell my father!" I whispered in horror mainly to myself.

"hey, hey don't worry, just uh... follow my lead," He said with a sly smile. I nodded turning to face the approaching guards who were now within eyesight.

"What's going on over here, we heard a gunshot. are you alright miss (l/n)" The taller guard asked us, holding his hand on his gun warily.

"That's my fault, I was trying to entertain miss (l/n) while watching over her" the stranger responded to him, as he stood at attention. I nodded my agreement.

"oh yes, my father instructed him to watch me, and he saw me out here alone. It's not his fault, I was curious about his guns, and asked if I could shoot one" I told the guards, and they nodded along.

"well alright miss (l/n), as long as there's no trouble we should be returning to our posts" the shorter one replied and they both gave me a short bow as I dismissed them. Once they were out of sight the man and I burst into a fit of giggles.

"that was close!" I laughed covering my mouth with my hand as I did.

"what do you mean you were a natural!" he exclaimed as our laughter died down, and we descended into a nice silence. I looked down at my feet clasping my hands in front of me as he cleared his throat. I looked back up at him for a moment meeting his eyes, as I smiled.

"oh I um, I never got your name," I said quietly, trying not to disturb the moment.

"well, you never asked for it love" He responded his face breaking out into a smile as he took a step closer to me.

"I'm asking now" I challenged, a matching smile appearing across my face, only then realizing how close we were.

"well then, Love my name is-" He was inturrupted by the grating voice of my father, shattering the calm between the man and I.

"(y/n)" I heard his voice, it sounded far off but I knew if I didn't go now it would get closer as he looked for me.

"I'm sorry, you were saying? your name." I apologized on behalf of my father and tried to resume conversation with the guard.

"next time love," The guard said with a sly smile, taking my hand and pressing a slow kiss to the top. "you best be off" he let go of my hand and the warmth of his kiss stayed with me as he left the gazebo. My eyes trailed him as he left and I went to find my father before he got any angrier than he probably was.

Dinner was served by the time I made it back to the house, and my father gave me a stern look that meant we'd be having a discussion later. I ate my dinner in silence, sitting next to my father, listening to the chatter of guests as they all spoke with one another.

It wasn't until late in the night when we bid the last guests a good night as they left the house, and my father turned on me.

"the guards posted at the garden door informed me of your little gunslinging," he said his voice level and steady. "what were you doing? hmm?" He asked sternly.

"I went outside for some fresh air and then started talking to one of the members of the stadwatch you brought in for tonight's party. The one you instructed to tail me tonight" I explained wringing my fingers as I avoided eye contact with him.

"What are you talking about? I didn't send anyone to watch you tonight, and I didn't bring in any extra members of the stadwatch for tonight's party" He said tired of this conversation already.

I looked at him shocked "but, the guard..." I trailed off at the look my father gave me, and he sighed pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes.

"(y/n), it's been a long night, we'll continue this conversation another day, just go to your room" He demanded softly.

"but i- yes father" I responded not feeling up to protest. I made my way up the stairs and stopped at the top. "goodnight father" I said quietly.

"goodnight (y/)- " He hesitated cutting himself off in the middle of my name before speaking again. "goodnight (n/n)" he said calling me by the affectionate nickname he used to when I was small. My eyes watered as I turned away from him and continued down the hall to my room. He hasn't called me that since before my mom passed.

I laid in bed that night staring at my ceiling long after Margaret had left after helping me out of my formal dinner wear. Thinking thoughts about the stranger and why he would have lied to me, thoughts about his lies merged into thoughts of how gentle he was, and how warm his hands felt on my arms and hip. Those thoughts slowly turned into other thoughts, fantasizing about the stranger in ways that were most definitely not ladylike. Finally falling asleep to the comforting thought of when I would possibly see him again.

--Time skip--

The answer to that would be never. I looked for him at the next party my father hosted, and the next one, and the next one. But he was never to be seen at any of them. I asked stadwatch guards I met about the boy with the pearl revolvers and none of them knew. Eventually, my memory of the stranger grew faint. I couldn't remember the details of his face or the sound of his voice, but no matter how fuzzy the memory of my moment with the stranger got the warmth of the kiss he placed on my hand that night stayed with me forever.

~Fin~

QOTD: Who's your favourite crow?

Join my discord server: https://discord.gg/9bwRmtXCuB

AN: so originally this was supposed to be continued and much longer than it is here, but I just felt that it was a nice ending, so I cut out the longer version and ended it like this, however....... I still have the other version of this story, so I'm thinking of posting that version as well as keeping this version up. So let me know what you guys think. But I hope you enjoyed this.

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