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equallyshaw · 1 year

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something borrowed - nathan mackinnon (feat. erik johnson and ryan graves)

- based off the movie of the same name + my own plot changes

- Warnings: swearing. angst. ej is annoying in this, i apologize. just a character. also lili is a bimbo blonde in this, kinda like in the movie. no hate against any blondes, just mirroring the movie. there is a not so friendly joke, so please be advised. itll be in bold so you can skip over. ALSO, this movie is so chaotic and all over the place...this is all over the place and chaotic lol

- shoutout to @pucksalotguys for supporting this and giving me feedback :)

Word Count: 5.7k+ this is a long one, so much to upack.

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tessa burns grew up around some of the greats in nova scotia, canada. aka, sid the kid, brad marchand, andrew cogliano and ryan graves to name a few. her older brothers played hockey ofcourse and so she was always around the rink at all hours. always had a chirp or two to throw out as she left the arena with them. despite growing up in nova scotia, she never met nathan mackinnon until they both went to shattuck st marys for highschool and hockey. they instantly connected, over hockey, nova scotia, bad breakups and the undying need to be the best. though, he was more hard core than she ever was; in her defense.

tessa was never alone growing up, despite have four brothers before her. she had her best friend ryan graves, grew up right down the block. always had a bad joke, always had a smart and witty comment to make. one that would rock you to your core. she also had her best friend liliana who was a blonde goddess. a 5'8 blonde, taller goddess. one that all the guys went after. one that swore she gave up toronto university just so they could both go to univeristy of british columbia. one that guilt tripped her left and right, but she was liliana. ofcourse, she couldn't 'drop' her. that was her girl, and there was no way she could do that to her closest confidant besides ryan. ryan saw how shitty liliana treated her, how liliana made sure she was the center of the attention. always. ryan always knew about tessa having the huge crush and ever lasting love for nathan, though he was lilianas. she had been for the past three years. so ryan watched as tessa looked on from the bench, what else could she do? so she wallowed in her own guilt, pity and anger of not saying anything before to nate. though it was too late, they were to bed wed in the middle of august before they would flee to california for a week then back to denver.

°• ♔ •°

tessa walked into the restaurant and her eyes went wide, taking in the 'surprise' 28th birthday part; liliana had thrown for her. it was june 24th right after the seaosn had ended, but on without a cup. not this year. tessa smiled fakely as lili cheered and wrapped her arms around her best friend, sister even. "honeybug happy birthday!" she screamed, using an old childhood nickname that should have never see the light of day; even when she was 6. "thanks lili." she responded cooly, hugging her friend back. some of her closest friends were here, well lili's too. wherever tessa went, lili did too and vice versa. she smiled at her brothers who came up, wrapping her in a family hug. "hi guys.." she smiled, one that didn't reach her eyes. "hey tess, mom and dad say sorry for not being here." the oldest, billy explained and she nodded. british columbia was more importnant it seemed.

"AYYYYY KIDDO!!" she heard the ever popular and familiar voice of brad marchand. she turned and grinned at the brother like man and hugged him. then she hugged his wife charlotte, "thankyou guys for coming!" she beamed, holding onto her left arm. "ofcourse! we wouldn't miss it for the world hun." his wife smiled and tessa nodded. "hey bobby orr!" she heard the captains voice from behind her, and tessa turned. she smiled widely for sidney, and hugged him. "hi sid." she mused, pulling away. "got you your fav." he mused, and handed her a cherry vodka. she smiled, thanking him. "where the hell is nate?" she heard him mutter under his breathe. she felt her heart rate pick up, covering it up with a small smile. "do you know where ryan is?" she questioned and speak of the devil, he walked up behind sid. he clasped a hand on sid's shoulder and they did a bro hug before sid sauntered off to find his best friend.

"nice surprise face." he smirked leaning in and she rolled her eyes. "dont tell her please!" she begged her best friend, brother even. he nodded smiling, "ofcourse not. that would ruin her, i think." he trailed off as they caught her making a scene. she saw nate behind her, smiling up at her as she said a joke and laughed loudly. oh, the ever enigma stealing the spotlight once again. "i don't think she's capable of NOT having the attention on her..even if it's your birthday. by the way, happy birthday sis." he smirked and she gave him a wink. "oh thankyou, thought you wouldn't say it for a sec." she grinned and he stuck out his tongue. "uh huh." he sighed, sipping his whiskey and looking back at lili. she rubbed her temple, before looking around. "love how its mainly her frineds." she muttered, feeling angry at herself. again, another birthday and she had no new friends. and everyyear, lili had more and more.

"hey, stop. dont feel bad for yourself. she's a lot to deal with." he mused, almost as if it was an insult. but tessa, knew exactly what he meant. "honeybug!" she heard the very immature nickname and rolled her eyes which ryan caught; as she turned around with a fake smile. "what?" she asked, with a fake giggle as lili rushed up to her with a tall guy. "i want you to meet somebody!" she grinned, pulling her towards the guy. "ej this is tessa. tessa this is erik johnson or ej as we call him." she smiled, as if she was cupid herself. "birthday gal!" he said loudly, causing lili to laugh loudly once again as he pulled tessa in for a bear hug. "ah hi." she said, unsure of what to do. she stood there, frozen. felt like she had been violted in a way, but it wasn't that deep she reminded herself. "you guys are so cute together!" was all lili said before waltzing off to give nate a kiss.

tessa sighed, looking around, trying to not ficate on ej himself. the very tall, and muscular man in front her of. with 3 front teeth missing, like a little kid. "how'd you lose your teeth?" she asked randomly and he laughed a hearty laugh. he explained in a unnceccesary 10 minute story before they were interrupted by nathan. she gave him a thankful smile that he could decode, and nodded. "i think cale is in the back over there." nate said through gritted teeth. ej nodded, giving the birthday gal a kiss on her cheek to which she instantly wiped off. ej left, and left a chuckling nate in his path. "you have a great poker face burnsy." he mused, sipping his beer. she looked at him, acting as if she didn't. he met her eye, before she could spit out words. he gave her a charming smile and laughed. "i would never tell lili." he joked, and tessa sighed looking down at her almost empty drink. "tess-" nate said but she cut him off. "its all good. im gonna go find ryan." she said without looking at him as she walked past him, and away.

minutes later, lili yelled over on the microphone to get her cute butt up there. "honeybug, baby, get your cute butt up here!" she joked, causing everybody to laugh. nate searched for her, and she appeared after ryan pushed her to the front. "dont keep cruelle waiting." he muttered for only her to hear. she sighed as lili smiled at her, dotingly. "honeybug. happy birthday. so thankful for you every day." she smiled, an erupture of 'aws' filled the room. tessa blushed, "tessa gosh, where do i begin?" she said, almost acting. she looked up at the ceiling, pretending to wipe away any tears. "phew, my botox is really holding up.." she trailed off joking causing some uncomfortable and comfortable laughter to erupt. ryan from next to her, hit her shoulder and she laughed.

"tessa, tess, burnsy honeybug, my platonic soulmate..gosh we've been through it all! from kindergarton when i pushed ryan down the slide for cutting us off on the playground.." she began as the photos began on the slideshow, showing the two and then the trio of chaos. "god, we were the trio of chaos. tessa, ryan and i. i don't know how ryan put up with us, to be honest. or how he still does." she joked. "she was with me through my first breakup in 6th grade..i was a mess! let me tell you. we watched the holiday and the he's just not that into you SO many times with lots of popcorn, oreos and icecream." she explained, showing some photos of their teenage years. "heres us at prom. ryan said 'fuck it' im taking you to prom honeybug. awe SO cute!" she said doing a little hop. "then miss burnsy went off to shattuck, fucking shattuck oh my god. if i have to hear about one more hockey player that to shattucks im gonna pull my hair out. o.m.g." she said laughing along with everybody else. "then fucking gravy went off to shattucks and so i was left alone." she began, something she never got over. something she held over them, and still guilt tripped them about. "i was not a hockey player, thankgod! i was all about makeup and clothes and cheerleading. and they weren't there to witness me win state but i witnessed them play for team canada. what assholes." lili had the audience in the palm of her hands. they were eating this up. though ryan, sid, her brothers and nate all cringed throughout.

"but anywho, after i notably declined ivy league university of toronto to go to university of BC with my honeybug..ryan went to some place called denver." she added the last part with everybody hollering now. though it wasn't a joke really, she was purely an idiot. “then we graduated, and then it was really real that we were gonna be seperated for real this time. miss barnsy got into john marshall law school in chicago, and i was incredibly sad when i started working in toronto. but only 512 miles away from one another." she paused, waving a small wave. "and after a year into living into chicago, you introduced me to the absolute love of my life." she pasued, blowing a kiss to nate. he smiled shyly, and looked down embarrassed a tad bit. "thanks for hiding him for so long hun." she dazzled the crowd. "and now were getting married, thanks to you!" she smiled widely. "bubba as much as i love you, tessa girl has been my one constant my whole life."

she turned towards tessa now, ""you're the the sister i've never had, you're sometimes the mother i often need, the reason why i can stumble so fearlessly into adventure is because she's always there. she's always there. i love you tessa. my forever honeybug." she beamed, and the crowd clapped. "bubba!" she said, out of the microphone and made her way towards nate. she wrapped his arms around the girl and kissed her head. tessa watched from afar, and ryan nudged her to look away. "lets get you another drink..after that." sid mused, pulling her towards the bar.

later on in the evening, it was now ryan, nate, lili and tessa left. ryan was holding lili as they all waited outside the restaurant now on the almost desolate street. "oh fuck- i forgot my bag!" lili said slurrely. nate and tessas head perked up and both went to say something, "take her to the hotel. we will be there soon." nate said before tessa could say for him to go back with her. the duo nodded and the other two made there way back inside. "was it the vintage chanel?" nate questioned and tessa laughed, a true and real hearty laugh. "nathan...aren't you the one who got it for her?" she said cocking an eyebrow as she held it up. nate sighed a relief, snatchingit from her. they looked at one another, and nate saw something twinkle. "lets get one more drink." he mused, pulling her down the street to the bar next door.

one drink turned into four more, and somehow someway; though they knew how it happened. they ended up in her small apartment there in toronto. for the first time in their entire relationships, they had acted on that part of their feelings. though, they thought it was more the alcohol than anything.

°• ♔ •°

ryan, sid, ej, their other friend maria, liliana and tessa found themselves in st john on the coast of newfoundland. the five of them walked into the lake house, that they were staying at for the next week. nate and lili walked hand in hand, lili doting on him that made ryan want to vomit. "bubba...please?" she asked with puppy eyes, begging him to take her shopping on the mainland. he sighed, instantly giving into her. lili clapped her hands together, and ej high fived her for some odd reason. "you go girl!" he hummed, sitting down in the living room sofa and propping his feet on the table. tessa stopped unable to move anymore, because of ej's hockey bag and suitcase that was in the way. she gave him a scowl, nobody noticing but ryan ofcourse. "ej..bags please." ryan spoke up and ej hopped up, muttering an apology. "its ok." she smiled, and simply stated. tessa made her way up the stairs, as ryan went towards the first floor room. she got to the second floor, and nate instantly grabbed her bags. "oh thanks." she hummed, following him to the bedroom next to theirs. "thanks." she smiled, and he nodded. very unsure of what to do. things were kinda awkward after they slept together, but she made him forget about it. made him, and he promised her. "yeah. no prob." he responded, as she sat down on the bed. his eyes flicked to her's from the doorway before lili came up and smiled.

"shopping?" she grinned, and then motioned towards nate with her eyes. tessa shook her head no, "im gonna take a nap." she said cooly and the two nodded. lili pulled nate away before he could say bye. tessa sighed, laying down on her back. "hey barnsy, wanna come swimming?" she heard the voice of ej and she perched herself onto her elbows. he took in her stance, and angle she saw him check her out. she shivered and sat up all the way. "im okay. thanks though." she responded and he nodded, giving her a toothy smile before he ran off. she shut her door, silently cursing herself. this was going to be a long trip.

°• ♔ •°

the following day, the group decided they were going to play volleyball. just unsure when. before they made there way to the beach, ryan pulled tessa into her bedroom. "spill." he demanded crossing his arms as she sat on the bed. she shrugged, "tell you what?" she asked. he gave her a blank stare, "i know what youre hiding honeybug." he stated and she gritted her teeth. "nothing im hiding nothing." she spat, standing up and walked over towards the double window french doors to the balcony. she instantly found nate's broad shoulders, strong back and dirty blonde hair of his. she stared at him, as lili spoke to him from the pool with ej. ej and her were splashing one another now, and she could tell that nate wanted to be anywhere but there. "that. you are hiding that, tessa." ryan said from behind her, freaking her out. she must of timed out, watching him. she shook her head, looking out towards the beach now. "no its true. i could tell at breakfast. im not an idiot." he said, checking his hip with hers. "well i could say the same about you and maria..." she mused coyly, before giggling as she walked out of the room. "oh god no, if i ever have to be at the same table especially at their wedding, im killing them before they leave for cali." ryan mused making tessa laugh even more. "you two totally slept together!" he whispered yelled and she whipped around to face him. "oh thats gold." he said chuckling. she shook her head as he nodded hers.

"im not an idiot, i know you did. now it makes sense." he said as a wave of realization washed over him. as he placed his hands behind his head, laying down on her bed he asked, "you totally did..more than once?" he asked like a child, he couldn't contain his excitement. she combed back her hair, trying to calm herself down. "oh my god, twice?" he asked, getting excited more. she looked at him through the bedroom mirror and he started to laugh. "oh my god." he said abruptly stopping, "lili, oh my god, she's gonna flip." he said seriously before laughing. "its not funny!" she said pulling a pillow towards her from the bed and hitting him. "this is rich barnsy!!!! you have to say something to nate, i see it eating you two up." he exclaimed and she shook her head, a wave of guilt and sadness washed over her pale face. "no, its already been decided that we aren't to speak of it ever again." she stated before walking out.

breakfast.

tessa sat down next to nate by accident, as she sat their reading the newspaper. he met her eyes, over the newspaper, when she looked at him. she whisked her eyesight away and focused on transporting the fruit to her plate. "listen..tess. we need to talk-" she cut him off with a glare. "no, we do not. we already have. we can't hurt lili more than we already have." she hurriedly said. he swallowed back what he was going to say, and nodded. "never. again." she said through gritted teeth before meeting his eyes. god, those blue eyes that transported her back to shattucks. god, how she loved them.. ej bolted outside with coffee, and threw down a iced coffee for the brunette. a black coffee for nate. "oh yay coffee's here!" lili said walking out with pancakes. ej sat across next to lili who sat across from tessa. tessa swallowed, as she could feel the intense stare ej was giving her. nate coughed, breaking ej's concentration and ej looked away. maria sat down next to ej and he smiled at her. "morning." he smirked and maria gave him a polite smile, before noticebly scooting her chair a few inches away. ryan finally walked out and sat down next to tessa. "gravy finally arrives, nice. we can begin." lili said in her fake polite voice, clearly annoyed with ryan. per usual. "sorry princess, forgot the world and time revolved around you. what a keeper nate." raya huffed, and lili squinted at him while nate rubbed his eyes.

“okay gravy, atleast i have some sort of schedule going. arent you a hockey player? it looks like you haven't done anything to combat your croissants and poutine eating." she spat, (trigger warning) softly grabbing her stomach. he flipped her off, causing ej to laugh loudly. nate looked at him with a intense stare, one tessa hadn't seen for a few years. it was almost, like his old self had flared for a hot second. before it cooled. "atleast i dont spend somebody else's hard earned money." ryan muttered, and lili picked that up. "well, atleast he has somebody to spend it on. dont ya honey?" she smiled a dazziling smile, placing a arm over nate's shoulder and kissing him. ryan pointed a finger in his mouth and faked gagged causing tessa to stifle a laugh. "besides, i always tell nate to help out tessa but she always says no." lili added, sipping her coffee. tessa set down her fork, "how many times do i have to tell you that i dont want or need his money." she explained once again. "i am comfortable, i dont need a lot. besides-" lili cut her off, "youre due for a promotion anyways!" she clasped her hands together and tessa shook her head.

"no, not what i was gonna say but thats true. i like the life i live, and i love the work i do lili. i dont need anybody's money, especially not his." she defended and they all sat up with the 'not his' part. ryan took in the quick look nate and tessa shared, one without words but words. "what i mean is that, he's my friend, that just feels weird." she added and they nodded. "besides, more for me!" lili hummed, kissing nate again. tessa picked up her fork and took a strong bite of her strawberry.

After.

the group were outside on the beach, hitting the volleyball to warm up. it was ej and tessa, lili and nate. while ryan and maria sat out. "ouuu! we should play a game!" lili beamed with mimosa in her hand. "yes!" ej said loudly, pointing at her. "how about everytime we get a point, one of us on the winning point tells a secret!" lili said with a grin, causing ej to grin wickledly and laugh. "no i dont-" "lets not -" nate and tessa said at the same time. "oh come on! itll be fun!" lili said pouting. "yeah, itll be fun!" ryan added, and tessa glared at him. "ej im in, youre out." ryan said and ej nodded, as they switched positions. "ryan!" she whispered yelled at him, and he smirked. "it has to come out eventually babe." he smiled and placed a quick kiss on her head. nate looked over, and saw what was going on. he knew ryan knew, even without ryan confirming.

“ry!" she said before lili hit the ball to him, him to nate and back to ryan. that happend over and over. ryan won the never ending sequence and chuckled, "oh dont i have a secret!!" he huffed, "tell it tell it!" ej said like a 5 year old. "dont i have a secret." he laughed, and tessa begged him with a pleading look. "no its fine, we don't need to play." nate said trying to get him to not say anyhting. "no this has to be said." ryan exclaimed and lili looked on with excitment, "yes please tell!" she beamed sipping more of her mimosa. "tessa- tessa and-" but he was cut off, as she made he way towards ej - as a distraction - and kissed him. she kissd him hard, pulling him in by his thin shirt. nate and ryan looked on with confusion while lili shrieked with excitemnt. "AHHHH! im cupid!!" she cheered as tessa pulled apart, and walked off. ryan and nate looked at tessa as she stomped away.

tessa continued walking down the beach for 20 minutes more, trying desperately to stop crying. nothing was working. she sniffled, as she sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees. what the fuck did she just do, she thought. ryan made his way over, after the rest of the group went back to the house. "youre an ass." she said boldly, standing up and walking past him. without allowing him to get a word in. "tes-" she cut him off. "how dare you jeoporadize my whole relationship with them? huh?! how you made me kiss ej!" she screamed at him. "i made you kiss him? that was all your doing hun. not mine. youre too scared to admit your true feelings for nate, im not an idiot. you love him. everything makes fucking sense. ever since i first met him when i visited you in minnesota, i saw the way you looked at him and how he looked at you. you fucking fool. you let her snatch him away. you let her win." he screamed.

"she wins everything! she has won everything that has come her way! she gets the guy she gets the house, the unending bank account, her fucking parents are god sends, she got into utoronto with a lower gpa then me!!!! liliana wins everything, that is just how it goes. she wins everything." she whispered the last part, as she fell apart. ryan walked up to her, but she pushed him away. "no." she sniffled as she paused, "dont. just dont. youve done enough." she sighed and walked back up to the house. already packed and ready to go.

°• ♔ •°

the following evening the group was down at a local pub, taking in the drinks and food. tessa sipped her cocktail as maria came up. "ryan will never like me, right?" she stated and tessa did a double take at her. maria already knew, "im sorry maria. he doesn't like you that way and probably wont ever." she said softly. maria nodded, " its fine." maria responded before walking off. that was how it will be with nate, tessa thought. she looked in the distance and saw nate and lili bickering about something, before she walked off to dance with ej. nate rolled his eyes and turned around to the bar and met tessa's stare. she swallowed, grabbing her bag and walking out. she walked outside to the rain, and she felt her arm being grabbed. "tessa dont go!" nate pleaded. she shook her head, as she was being drenched.

“then leave her. leave her, and be-" he cut her off. "be with you? i cant, tess. i just cant." he stated and she nodded. "becasue it wouldnt look good, huh? im not exactly a trophy wife and im fine with that. but....but atleast ill be happy. at some point." she mused, and turned around. "im sorry tess. i really am." he stated and she stopped middway. she turned around and hurried towards him. "i should of gone back for you." she began, "i should if let you walk me home that night in denver. i should have let you done a lot of things but i was scared. i was nervous. i was scared into thinking that you could possibly like me." she exclaimed. "i should have never told you to stay with her, then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation now." she stated, finishing her tangent. he shook his head, "you were always enough tess. always, there wasn't a moment where i thought otherwise." he began and she felt a beacon of hope flicker through her. "but im with her now." he stated and she felt her heart break even more. she sighed, he took in all her tears. she shook her head, "youre a coward, nathan. a coward." she stated promptly. "but ill be happy, ill be incredibly happy without you." she stated, before walking off. nate watched as she did, the rain coming down even harder which coincided with her mood. nate really watched as the love of his life walked away for him, for good.

°• ♔ •°

there was a knock at her apartment door around 2pm. she closed her book and walked towards it, opening it to nathan. she tried to close it, but he quickly stopped it. "what nate?" she demanded, placing a hand on her hip. she shook her head when he said nothing, "we broke up. i - i thought about what you said and it's true. i won't be happy with her, how i'd be happy with you." he began and she shook her head sniffiling. "no." she said very warily, her voice cracking. she saw the pleading on her face, and opened her door further to let him in. "i should have never let you walk home that night you introduced us tess. i know that, ive known that but i was too scared to break it off and see what people that follow me would say. you were right, i am a coward. ok? and im sorry that it took me over 10 years to figure it out. im sorry tess, there isn't anybody i'd ever want to be with but you. and then we, and then we slept together and i knew i was doomed. i knew her's and i's relationship was doomed." he finished and she looked at the ground. she wiped her tears, looking back up at him. "i want you, always and forever." he stated, with much emotion. "i - im sorry." she started, "i just dont know. she's my bestfriend." she exclaimed. "i see the way she treats you t." he stated, using a barely used nickname from him. one that dated back to a drunken state moment in highschool.

“i want to, trust me." she sighed and was about to say something else but somebody knocked at her door. "tessa honeybug!!!" they both heard from her door, and she pushed him to go hide. "go go!" she whispered and he disapeared. she opened the door and lili instantly walked in. "i broke up with him!" she stated, and tessa acted surprise. "really?" she questioned and lili nodded sitting down. "i uh, i knew he wasn't the one. after.." she trailed off, unsure how to tell her best friend that she'd been sneaking off with somebody.

"what changed?" tessa asked, nervously. "i met somebody!" she squeled, not bothering to contain her excitement. "i mean, more then met." she added, "well i knew this person, for awhile." she stated. "who?" tessa whispered. "ej." she mouthed. "ej!" she said excitedly. the fuck? "the toothless big foot?" tessa quipped. lili rolled her eyes, "yes him. and i know!" she said. "thats nathan's teammate! lil!" tessa said getting defensive of him. "i know i know but nothing happened until we went to st johns. thats it. nothing before." lili defended. tessa began to pace, "and im in love with him, and i want to be with him." lili stated standing up and beginning to walk out. "i know it'll take you a bit to come around, but please don't tell nate yet. we want to do it together."she said before pausing at the door. tessa's mouth was still open in shock, "oh and dont feel guilty about the kiss. it was humerous." she smirked before walking out. as soon as she did, tessa went to look for nate. somebody knocked on the door again and she opened it to lili. "is that nate's jacket?" she asked, smirking. "wait what? oh- he left it in my car when we got back into toronto." she lied but lili didn't buy it. "no, no. thats not true." she stated, before pushing the door open. "nate! i know youre in here, nate!" she yelled, as tessa shut the door. nate walked out into the living room.

"you asshole!" "my teammate?!" they yelled at one another, "my best friend!!!!" lili threw back at him. "my. teammate." he slithered back. "how could you?" lili, turned towards tessa. "no- no dont go after tess. go after me. she didn't initiate it." lili held her hand up, "stop, dont speak for her." lili spat. lili shook her head at nate, "you know, i hope youre both happy together. i really do." was all lili said before walking out.

"nate-" tessa said but nate shook his head, grabbed his coat and walked out.

°• ♔ •°

tessa mouthed "im sorry" to ryan and he flipped over his card that had her name on it, "me too." and she hugged him. tessa had just flown from toronto to newark to visit ryan. she hadn't seen or talked to him since june and it was now middle of october, hockey season. they drove back to his condo, and the two put her stuff in the guest room. a little while later she walked out into the kitchen and sat down at the counter, as he cooked dinner. "whats for dinner?" she questioned in french. he smiled a toothy smile, "fettuince alfredo." he mused back in french. tessa nodded, grabbing the water bottle he set down on the counter. "what are you doing here?" he asked leaning against it, trying to read her expression. she sighed, "well you know about lili and ej. well nathan was there and lili heard and then he heard her and then when i tried to talk to him, he walked out." she said placing her face in her hands. he saw the stress, anxiety and never faultering love with nate. "have you talked since then?" he asked and she shook her head, "nor lili?" and she shook her head. "im alone." she said before sobbing. he instantly came over and pulled her in for a hug. "shh." he whispered over and over again, trying to comfort her. "youve got me." he said kissing her head. she sniffled, and pulled away. "youve always had me, no matter what." he explained some more, trying to get her to understand.

she looked at him, "always will. and-" he paused laughing nervously. "this is shitty timing but i dont care. ive always been there watching you from the bench, watching lili have something that you didn't. and that hurt me, because i was there the whole time but-" she cut him off, "i never noticed because i wanted him." she finished and he nodded. "im in love with you, and i have been since we were kids." he added and she felt a whiplash of memories hit her. she went through the big and little moments with him, putting the pieces together. he always chose her over lili, and that's why he got so upset with her in st john. "ry-" he cut her off, putting his hands up in innocence. "i know, i know." he said biting the inside of his cheek. "i know ill never be nate. ill never be nate the great. even before, i knew i was never good enough." was all he said before moving back to the stove. tessa sat there and shut her eyes, feeling her emotions consumer her. but they didn't. ryan's phone started to blast, and he looked a the id and saw nate. he rolled his eyes, picking it up.

“hey nate." he stated, and tessa perked up. ryan looked at tessa, "yeah she's actually here. she came to visit." ryan stated with not emotion on his face. "for you, tessa girl." he said locking his phone. "look's like it's time for you to fly to denver...in two hours."

1 year skip.

tessa walked with nate's dry cleaning in her hand as she walked through downtown denver. it was now october, one of the last warm days, and tessa was spending it in the city; working. after everything went down, lili and ej got together as well as nate and tessa. tessa moved in as lili moved out and in with ej. tessa was walking down the street going towards where nate said he'd be for them to drive home together, after she spent the day in the city. she walked down mainstreet and saw a familiar blonde walk past. the both of them paused instantly, turning around to face one another. lili sized tessa up and tessa just smiled. "you look good." tessa said, ever the people pleaser. ever the lili pleaser. lili pushed some hair behind her shoulder and smiled. despite them being in denver, and having their boyfriends be teammates, they stayed away from one another. they didnt talk, and tessa honestly had more friends outside of the wags group. she was only friends with tracy, cales gf and andrew coglianos wife. she was fine with that. nate and ej moved on, but still kept a distance. lili smiled, tilting her head just a bit. "oh." was all she said, before realizing that tessa saw it. "i hope you two are happy." was all lili stated, nodding towards tessa's engagment ring. the two got engaged over the summer right before they came out to denver. tessa smiled with a somewhat of a glow radiating from her, "we are. i am." was all she said. lili nodded, "are you two?" tessa questioned. lili nodded, "yes. we uh, we eloped this summer." she smiled referencing her small and simple ring. so unlike lili, tessa thought. "i know what youre thinking. but i love it. ej seems like a lot and he is in a way, but he's truly simple. i wish; i hope that someday you and nate can see that and hopefully come around. or atleast nate." lili responded and tessa nodded. "me too." tessa smiled, before turning around and continued to walk down main street to the square, where nate was waiting.

nate saw tessa's midlength wavy hair before he saw the rest of her. she was in her usual workday outfit, he pixie black pants clinging to her curves and her white boyfriend shirt untucked. she beamed as soon as she saw him, and he mirrored her. "hi." he mused, wrapping an arm around her back and pecking her. "hi." she said back, as he took the dry cleaning from her along with her work bag, and took her hand in the other. "ready for dinner?" he questioned and she nodded, heels clipping the sidewalk as they went to meet sid who was in the city for a game. where they'd also be asking him if he wanted to be Nate’s best man.

tessa saw her life with nate, she always had despite lili. despite the years spent on the bench, she'd never change it because now she had him. and he had her. she regularly thinks about their first meeting as they plan their wedding, both remembering clearly the outfit she had on. a blue dress. something borrowed from the very beginning.

────────────

wasnt sure how to end but i hope you guys like it!!! despite it's being hella long, i hope you liked the drama :)

@fallinallincurls @erikjohnsons @hockeylvr59 @hockeyboysarehot @cale8makar @makarhughes @starshine-hockey-girl @slafgoalskybaby

#Nathan mackinnon #Nathan mackinnon x oc #nate mackinnon #colorado avalanche #sidney crosby #erik johnson #hockey #nhl #hockey imagine #nhl imagine #hockey oneshot #nhl oneshot #Nathan mackinnon fic #Nathan mackinnon imagine #Nathan mackinnon oneshot #Ryan graves #New Jersey devils

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aquagustd · 2 years

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🐇 anon here! thanks so much for replying! im not gonna lie to you, i read lots of books and lots of fics and this sort of build up is super fun for me! i love talking about this and i appreciate u making this so exciting. im constantly thinking about new hie theories i swear its always on my mind. ill literally be mopping the floors at my job and im like 📌🤔✍🏻😧⁉️ two things that got me stuck today....

in the beginning, there was a narrator introducing oc and jk's relationship and u said that will be later revealed in the story. not sure if u remember that hehe but i think it was in the description of fast forward. anyways! i think its either yoongi or tae. yoongi seems to be someone who knows the most about jk and oc as a couples and as individuals. its weird how hes so involved but also?? whos side are u on my guy? and i only say tae because im already assuming that jk had to have known him from back then. maybe tae had a rep in the streets? maybe he knew already about oc and jk, so thats why hes so overprotective so fast? i think theyre standoffish and when the love triangle truly sets the truth will be revealed 🤙🏻 which every love triangle theres got to be a rivalry of some sort! they know what the other got up his sleeve type thing. idk maybe tae is just being his sweet self and jk is an ass now :/ just something i wanted to point out because its lingering in my mind. tae and jk always share unreadable looks 🥴

ANOTHER THING???? i wonder what happened to jk's mother 😳 was jk the original junho? was jk robbed of a normal life due to his father always getting into trouble? im not sure, but the scene with oc meeting tae's mother it really triggered some thoughts.... hmm..... thats probably a stretch but i can totally see jk mimicking tactics his father used in order to become a stone cold man suited for the job. i think jk is acting like a different man bc he is convinced it is the life he is meant to live, which is sad. he resents oc deeply for not blindly following him anymore. is that love? i do think they sincerely loved each other and still do but maybe theyre just used to dysfunction so it probably cannot be longterm. when u see enough shit in ur everyday life u can become calloused over time. then again he is actively bein an asshole booooooo make ur relationship work!!!! 🍅 ✊🏻💢 i just dont know how i feel like i know so much but so little 😭

awww 🥺 idk it just made me smile knowing that hie is on your mind when you’re at work haha. & yeah ! the narrator at the beginning of fast forward still has to be revealed. it could be yoongi — given that he knows everything about oc & jk. orr tae bc he might know jk from then?👀 we haven’t really seen them interact before except for the looks they share !! so it could be possible.

OMG JKS MOM??? 😳 the theory about him sort of wanting to be like his dad to junho if she isn’t in the picture 🤌🏻 big brain bunny. there’s so much we still need to learn 😫 like we know about oc’s relationship with her parents (& the fact that they disowned her bc she was w jk etc) but we don’t know much about jk’s parents & even tae’s dad (except that he’s 💀) sooo you have some valid points !!

#what was jks childhood like 🥲#fic: hie #squishies #hie: theories #🐇 anon

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daechwitadesire · 3 years

Text

kim taehyung smut 18+

warnings: use of toys (M/R), oral (M/R), riding, overstimulation, CNC.

“tae can we try something?” you smiled at him innocently while looking up at the man who’s lap you were laying on

“like?” he said cautiously, not wanting to immediately agree to his girlfriends schemes.

“well…. i was thinking… maaaaybe….. if you want-“

“just say it babe” he cut her off

“would you want to try using toys?”

“to- toys?” he stammered in disbelief “i mean.. yeah” he processed out loud

you nearly jumped with joy at his agreement

“thank you baby” you leaned up and kissed taehyung as he rolled his eyes cautiously and you went back to watching your tv show

“did you mean now orr?” he questioned making you giggle

“well i wanted to see your reaction before i got something so not now.” you said and he looked defeated “we can still do something if you want though?” you got up and he smiled that boxy smile of his as you held your hand out to bring him to the bedroom and he just yanked you back onto the couch

“do we really have to go to the bedroom?” he smirked lustfully

“oh i see how you’re feeling” you laughed as he started to kiss your neck while getting you situated on his lap.

———3 days later———

“hello handsome” you said to taehyung as he came in from dance practice all flushed cheeks, sweaty, and hair stuck to his forehead.

“hello darling” he came in for a hug and you scrunched up your nose as he got close

“shower. now.” you demanded as you slid away from him and started to push him towards the bathroom.

“jeez is it that bad?” he sniffed the collar of his tee as you nodded

“its worse.”

“ay!” he exclaimed as he finally went to shower. ‘okay’ you thought to yourself as you went to the bedroom. the cardboard box still sitting on the bed. you went and moved the empty package and checked that the toy had charged. you turned it on and it started vibrating furiously in your hand ‘will this be too strong?’ you worried as you just turned it off and put it under the pillow ‘guess we’re about to find out’

taehyung stepped out of the bathroom towel drying his hair “okay baby where’s my kiss??” he called into the hall

“in here!” you responded as you fluffed your hair and readjusted on the bed seductively. he jumped through the doorway and threw his towel at the ground

“hug monster is here!” he hollered as he practically tackled you causing you to let out an ‘oof’ sound as you were knocked onto the bed under him.

“i love you so much” he smiled and looked at your eyes deeply. you looked away shyly as you pulled your arms out from under him and started to play with the hair at the nape of his neck.

“not as much as i love you” you whispered genuinely and looked back at him. he leaned in and you closed the gap between your lips.

“not possible.” he stated as he pulled back and looked at you once again

“yes possible. and why do you keep staring at me?” you questioned

“just looking..” he smirked and you rolled your eyes, leaning back up to kiss him once again. he began to pull back to say something and you took your opportunity, he loved it when you bit him and gave him hickeys, so you took his bottom lip between yours and sucked on it, nipping at it lightly. he opened his eyes in surprise and completely forgot what he was going to say. you two kissed for a bit but you felt yourself, and him, growing needier. you finally broke the kiss.

“take off your clothes”

“forward much?” he laughed as he pulled off his shirt, shaking his head. you stared at him and completely forgot your plan for a moment and just let him take off your clothes in between kisses and hickeys.

“wait” you stopped him as he looked up at you with concerned puppy dog eyes “i want to take care of you” you kissed him, taking him by surprise as you let him lay back against the bed and you started to pull down his pajama pants making him lift his hips as you yanked them and his underwear down. he scooted up and leaned up against the headboard, watching you as you took his dick in your hand, stroking the base lightly as you lightly licked at the head of it. you started to suck on the tip as your strokes went longer up and down the shaft. you began to take him into your mouth and sucked as he tried to keep his hips still. you tapped out his length in your throat as you tried not to gag, you started bobbing your head and cupped his base. he sucked in breath and his hands went to your hair, not shoving you down but just holding you still as he bucked his hips up into your throat. he let out a sigh as you pulled your mouth off of him, licking the tip of his now fully hardened dick again. he didn’t even notice you had stopped completely until you lightly blew air onto his leaking tip.

“fuck me now” he demanded and you knew not to mess around anymore. you loved it when he let you take the lead but he never fully gave you control. you leaned up from his hips and you grabbed a condom and the little present under the pillow. he hissed and screwed his eyes shut as you slid your hand around him again as you put the condom on him, but what he didn’t notice is you weren’t just squeezing his base, you had also slipped on a cock ring with the condom.

“look at me” you asked sweetly as he opened his eyes and saw you above him, hips hovering above his. you almost always did this when you rode him, you asked him to look at you so you could see his face when you slid onto him so he didn’t notice anything odd at first but when you went to get him lined up he saw it, the little purple silicone thing around him. before he could even process what it was you had clicked the little button on the side and he practically screamed at the sudden sensation on his dick. he’d never felt anything like it and when you slowly slipped him into you he squeaked out. your warmth with the almost numbing vibrations against his dick and balls was almost too much.. almost.

“ready?” you asked before you started to move up and down at his furious nods. he was losing it and it made you so happy. when you finally bottomed him out inside you you moaned at the vibrations of the ring too. when you started to rock around he hissed repeatedly.

“fuc- fuck baby what are you doing to me??!” he choked out at the stimulation. he felt close as you continued to bounce on him but he lasted longer than you thought he would. once he had adjusted to the feelings he focused on you, rubbing your breasts as he kissed your neck and collarbones.

“you feel so good taehyungie” you moaned out and he could only grunt and thrust up into you faster in response.

“i’mmh ssso closseee” you said as he started to rub your clit

“me too” he said and nodded at you, giving you the ok to come. you sank down onto him as you twitched at the knot in your stomach and your ears ringing. he felt you clench around him and that was the last bit of friction he needed before he came.. hard. he swears he blacked out but all you saw was him clutching onto your shoulders tightly as he choked out the most angelic moan you’ve ever heard. his usually deep voice had turned into a desperate, whiny, cry.

you pulled yourself off of him as he hissed at the overstimulation of the vibrations so consistent through his orgasm. you reached from the underside of his cock and turned it off as you slid the ring and condom off of him. he was too fucked-out to do it himself which gave you a huge sense of pride.

“was that okay?” you questioned as you laid down next to him. he sighed deeply as he rolled over to look you dead in the eyes

“oh god it was too weird wasn’t it?!” you kinda panicked as he just laid his hand on your thigh.

“not gonna lie, it was kinda hot.” he said deeply with a chuckle as he kissed your relieved face

“thank god you liked it too.” you reflected on what had just went down “i’ve never heard you moan like that..” you smiled at his shy face proudly then you kissed his blushing cheeks “don’t worry my darling…” you pecked his lips “it was beautiful”

#bts smut #bts taehyung #bts taehyung smut #bts imagines #taehyung smut #taehyung imagine #kim taehyung #kim taehyung smut #v imagine #bts v #v smut

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a-deadly-serenade · 3 years

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overall this season was pretty decent. i have some thots whats new so im gonna share them below the cut if anyone’s interested :)

so!! first off i’ll say that there were a lot of things i did really enjoy from season 4!

the action was super fun as always!! i loved all the crazy enemies and callbacks! the skeleton fight and all those little goblins they kept killing throughout were a nice touch ;) sypha’s use of her powers is INSANE her ice-chainsaw?? her WALL of fire?? electric balls?? come on. and the animation was NICE. i really wanna know who did most of the fight scenes bcuz the style is so different and it just POPS but in a really good way?

my favorite fight has to be ofc when everyone is REUNITED yes im basic. but the THEME song going off and well, im a whore for sotn references and i CAME when i saw the leap stone ref w the winged cape or when alucard turned into a hoard of batss AND THEN HIS WOLF FORM OOOOHH BABY!!! actually episode 9 is just a straight banger.

STRIGAAA. STRIGA. oh mama i was sweating during that fight. mad kudos to her va for them growlsss

carmilla vs isaac was a lot of fun and i loved the visuals but my hype was instantly ruined when i saw her kill herself 😭but thats smth i’ll complain about later.

not all the lines were bangers, some of sypha’s swearing seemed even a bit too much at times, and it was especially jarring to be having a face-to-face death-math with literal Death and hes acting like a naughty little 5 year old thats just learnt to swear. maybe cut back on the fuck-isms? just a bit? BUT when they hit they did GOOD. “the fuck what now?” yes

ISAAC. you weren’t in this season as much but man do u still shine through. i loved his introduction back in the town where he has his night creatures digging graves and rebuilding the city 😭 and then the conversation he shares w his flyman?? obsessed.

Hector chopping his finger off and giving lenore and carmilla a good ol FUCK YOU!! as he helps isaac. we love to see it

Trevor and Sypha’s “I love you!” “I know.” <3

DEATHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

oh! alucard actually having a story & purpose in the plot? :) luv it love to see it. that being said... the Plot.

its... ok? it’s kind of split up into 3/4 parts, as the story progresses, one eventually merges with several of the others kind of? cohesively? while leaving the other to sort itself out.

now, i didnt have too many qualms with it, it was pretty straight forward. dracula is going to be resurrected and we have sypha and trevor looking in on it, while alucard helps the nearby village and hector and isaac go on about bringing on their inevitable showdown. however, the way the story was paced and some of the decisions they made... werent so great.

st. germain for example, brought the ENTIRE momentum from the last few episodes to a halt. you have sypha and trevor fighting through heaps and heaps of monsters only to find themselves back in Targoviste where they meet the mysterious Zamfir!! and Alucard!! he’s been asked to help save this village!! all jam-packed with crazy action and animation that leaves you fired up!! and then episode 5 comes to a screeching halt and we spend nearly the entire thing on st. germain’s backstory and explaining his motives for the rest of the season

like. imma be real with you chief: he didnt need to be here lol. you could have just left varney as the main vamp in charge of bringing back big daddy drac and he could reveal to his.. idk henchmen or something that he’s death. but u gotta fill them ten 20 minute slots somehow!! he just fell so flat and unfortunately, a lot of the side-characters suffer from this this season.

i enjoyed great and zamfir, i love their desgins esp, but they really could have been fleshed out more. zamfir is shown as nothing but a spoiled brat the majority of the time she’s on screen but they wait till she’s about to die to try and turn her character around? huh? greta is given a bit more screentime but this sudden confession of feelings in the last episode felt so... huh?? why couldnt she just be dedicated to her people and show that u can love someone w/out necessarily being their partnr? i thot that was her whole thing; taking care of her people. it’s like. where did this come from. they cant have known each other more than a week at most dog 😭

it sucks they dedicated to much time to scenes that didnt really need to be there where we could have gotten this proper development, like maybe have a scene zamfir and sypha connect over struggles they’ve dealt with in the past and that has her open up about how traumatizing dracula’s attack on her city was. u could have expanded upon her role in the court and WHY she worshipped the monarchy so much instead of making it a throwaway gag about her being “crazy”. but why have that when we could instead spend the first 5 minutes of said episode watching a monotonous back-and-forth b/w varney and that big burly russian vampire who’s name im sure mor than 98% of the audience cant even remember?

just a lot of fat that needed to be trimmed so that the actual MEAT of the story could be slow cooked to perfection. people really arent kidding when they say less is more.

another big problem i had was there... i dont even know what to call it, re-humanization? redemption? of Lenore. like lmk if im wrong but she manipulated hector, yeah? coerced sex to slip on that ring that binds him to her?? orr whatever weird shit warren’s into. but the way they interacted, ESPECIALLY in their first major scene together was sooo uncomfortable to watch lol at first i thought perhaps hector was only playing along because well. hes enslaved to do her and carmilla’s bidding. but no, he actually LIKES her. he spares her when isaac comes around, he says that he wants to keep her as his own. and in the meantime, lenore finds time to complain to a man that’s been beaten and enslaved how upset it makes her that carmilla got angry at her 😭 or says thats she tired of isaac keeping tabs on her and wants to escape this ‘cage’. to aman thats literally been imprisoned since youve known him 😭her death is seen as peaceful, calm, they even try and tug at ur heartstrings by swelling this sad, dramatic music as the sun rises. really? LENORE?

and carmilla’s death happened WAYY too early imo. she was the villain for practically 3 seasons and this is how she goes? isaac couldnt get more than a stab at her? his night creatures couldnt take a nibble? HECTOR couldnt even be given a chance to do somethng like come on

the resolution was... strange? it was cute!! and happy!! but i dunno if they really needed to have lisa and vlad coming back, but, like i said; it was cute! definitely not the ending i was expecting.

i’m glad that they put their focus back on what made the show so much fun and that was the FIGHTS. they definitely helped add some much needed spice to things when scenes started to drag, but im a gal that really luvs a good story and even though reviews were raving that this season helped closed the lid on all the themes theyd been exploring, i just didnt really see that. which isnt necessarily a BAD thing, i knew i wasnt gonna find some deep introspective themes in this hack n slash horror-fantasy, its just what can turn somethng like this from an ok show to a GREAT one.

in the end, im glad they stopped at this one and im curious to see if they really DO go ahead on making spin-offs. bcuz unfortunately, i will always be down for som new castlevania content

#cv4 #this is REALLY long #and BRIMMING with spoilers #so read at ur own discretion #otherwise ty for spending ur valuable time to hear what a random sob like me has to say <3

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khorren · 3 years

Photo

Commander is what they call me now. Trahearne has become the leader - the marshal - of the three Orders now known as the Pact. Our first challenge was taking back Claw Island from the risen, and while there we were able to bring.... him... home. We planted an apple tree over his resting spot.

Trahearne needed some insight from his mother tree, and he took me to the Grove. I’ve been around sylvari before, but seeing so many of them in their home was incredible. Their home is so vibrant, so luminescent. The place just hummed with magic and song. Truly a wonderful place for their kind to be welcomed into the world.

The Mother Tree gave us both a vision of Orr and a potential future. Trahearne had this calling, a Wyld Hunt he called it to cleanse Orr, he had spent many years there, alone, learning about the place. He described it well but it still didn’t prepare me for the horrors that I would soon witness.

Our Pact has taken over an old fort, now known as Fort Trinity, symbolising the work of the three orders united. From here we have been planning, and launching our assault on Orr. Seeing the wreckage of this once great human nation and how it has risen from the depths violated so by Zhaitan, oh it was terrible. Those poor people now enslaved to the dragon.

But while things are horrible, there have been victories. We are close to Arah, where Zhaitan has made his home. Trahearne was very briefly able to use his magic to cleanse. And all of us together have already weakened the dragon. He cannot see as we have killed his eyes. We have starved him by cutting off his food and killing his mouths. And the magic beacons we are maintaining throughout Orr are draining him of magic and misdirecting his forces in the seas. We will continue to aid Trahearne, and then we will take on this beast. Orr will heal, that I swear.

Watching this man work has been interesting. I don’t think the poor lad’s had much sleep in months. This Wyld Hunt of his must be tapping his mind at all hours of the day, even more so now that we’re so close to the end.

We march on. To find a map of the Source of Orr. Trahearne mentioned a shaman of long ago once knew of it and he spoke of a familiar name. Romke. My ancestor. It was his horn that I lost, and then got destroyed, all those months ago. I shall tell him of the tale and hopefully find absolution.

To Arah. For the Pact.

#Guild Wars 2 #Aoife 2

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gt-adventures · 4 years

Text

Hey Little SongBird

(SFW GT fantasy adventure short story.)

A Tale of the Mystic Woods

Staring: Yonah HaEsh the half-giant wizard. and guest-starring Ophir, the mostly human bard.

Summary: Ophir the bard needs a story to get back in the good graces of the Bards Guild and ventures into the Mystic Woods to find one. And what a story he ends up in! In the clutches of the Great and Terrible Yonah HaEsh. Can Ophir, through story, song, and dance, touch the evil “man-eating” giant’s wicked heart and avoid a terrible fate? (yes of course he can!)

Warnings: Yonah’s job is to be a villainous fairy tale giant (and wizard). That means the whole “fee fi fo fum” and threatening to eat people routine, and he’s really convincing. At no point in this story does he ever intend to follow through on the threat. ALSO Ophir tells a fairytale that ends slightly gruesomely (I actually changed it to be less so… still)

---

I hate the stereotype of bards being horny tricksters who use their voices to seduce people into infidelity. Any such stories are complete poppycock and base slander. Bards are more than pretty faces and lovely voices. We are first and foremost story tellers, entertainers! Actors and chroniclers! Often risking life and limb to get you the stories you love so much. Those fancy sword moves and fight dances you see on stage aren’t just for show.

But still. Going into the Mystic Woods in search of my next story was not a great idea. Solo’ing an adventure into such a dangerous realm was asking for death, with no one around who could tell of it. And yet. I had run out of new material and was desperate. Why didn’t I just purchase rights from another bard through the guild? You might ask. Clever, very clever, but that’s what low rankers do. The apprentices, the journeyors. Not Masters such as I. At least. Not ones who are blacklisted from the guild for not properly crediting a story. How was I to know it wasn’t public domain! It seemed pretty generic to me.

Another problem with being blacklisted? No one wants to adventure with you. Not anyone high ranking enough to help me anyways.

Regardless, to earn back my place in the guild I needed a new story, an impressive story. So I gathered my supplies and took the first teleport to the City of Luster, closest city in the Kingdom of Orr to the Mystic Woods. Sure, other cities exist at its borders, but Luster is the only one with a direct path into the Woods. A path that is safe, to a point.

It’s also a great place to get a few last minute supplies. For example, a small ukulele. My previous instrument, my precious goldenrod Oud, was repossessed by the guild. I needed something cheap and lightweight. And also I was banned from purchasing from most craftsfolk because, and I’m sure you’re tired of hearing this, im Blacklisted.

Luster is so large that I was able to find the ukulele in a pawn shop. I wasn’t after a ukulele, that’s just what was there.

Right! I was ready to go.

Whistling the first ever song I wrote, and tuning my new old ukulele, I set off down the road.

And Into the Woods.

---

Maybe I should lower my standards? Surely the guild won't be too hard on me?

Or perhaps it would just take more than a day and night in the woods to find a story.

The first day I found some gnomes preparing for a small feast of the half-moon glory. I was confident that something would happen at the party. Something had to go wrong, and maybe a hero, maybe I, would save the day! Or night, as it would be night. No such luck, it was a very nice celebration, absolutely no issues. Wasted a day!!

Not that i'm on a time limit.

The gnomes were so nice, and they made the most delightful floral scented cakes. They enjoyed my songs and tales about heroic gnomes and I left their camp with a flower crown and a sack of cakes.

I felt like today I would find a story!

Nope.

In this forest of wonder and magic and monsters and secrets, I ran into nothing. I even played music to attract trouble but Nooooooooo, guess even the beasts of the woods knew I was blacklisted!

It was late afternoon when I found some interesting deer tracks and decided to follow.

Bards aren’t known for our stealth but I’m going to tell you a secret. What’s the guild gonna do! Blacklist me?

Anyways the secret is: certain Bards learn to play notes and pitches that cancel out our footsteps and create silence.

I followed the prints to find a small herd of very interesting deer!

They had really interesting patterns, each one slightly different but only if you looked closely. That meant I needed a closer look.

So focused on the deer I didn’t watch my feet and I tripped. The deer ran off.

“HEY!” a shrill voice called from somewhere in the trees, “What did you do that for?”

No idea who was yelling at me but I was taking no chances, and like the deer I bolted. But not fast enough, not nimble enough.

An arrow shot by my leg and stuck in the ground. I stopped. And stood perfectly still.

“idiot.” the voice was now right behind me!

I turned. And looked down. It was an elf! With plum purple skin and dark green hair.

And they were laughing.

Then another elf fell from the trees to land silently next to the first. This one had dark green skin and straw yellow hair. Their long ears were standing straight up reaching higher than my eyes.

They were laughing too.

“What’s so funny?”

“You responded to ‘idiot’!” Said the purple one.

Ugh. Elves!!

Then they got suddenly more serious.

“Can’t believe it! We’ve been hunting those deer for days and you happen to trip when we got them in our sights!”

“I’m, sorry?”

The second elf elbowed the first, “he couldn’t have known we were there, Damian! Not his fault!” She spoke in elvish but I’m fluent.

The first elf, Damian, looked up and half groaned half sighed, “and I suppose, Bridget, that I should apologize to the human for almost shooting him?”

I don’t know why I spoke up but I did.

“It was an impressive warning shot!”

Damian’s ears stood up again then folded back and a little red flush appeared on the purple cheeks. As did on Bridget’s but for a different reason.

“Yes. Warning shot,” they said.

This time I managed to keep my mouth shut. Not a smart idea to quip about an elve’s bunting prowess. I still wasn’t happy to learn they were trying to shoot me!

“You’re an adventurer?” Asked Bridget.

“A bard!” I said.

“Need a place to stay tonight?”

The shadows were lengthening, I hadn’t noticed. And then my stomach growled.

“I sure do. But are you sure? I mean I did scare the deer-“

Damian shouldered their bow and nodded, “It wouldn’t be very elven to leave a stranger in the woods.”

Even not hunting they moved so silently I couldn’t take my eyes off them as I followed them to their village. We stopped by the temple, as it is the respectful thing to do when entering the village. It was set up for fall, done up in browns and oranges and paper chains. On the altar was a single brown leaf. The first one seen by a member of the village.

I’m not elvish but I still prayed to Autumn for my hometown to have a bountiful harvest.

I sat on the floor in the common dining hall as my new… friends, sat on stools made of tree stumps. They may not have caught any deer but there was some sort of roasted meat concoction wrapped in sugary leaves, crystallized to give it crunch, making a sweet and savory combination I’d never experienced before. The same sugar crispy leaves were used to scoop a sort of nut and vegetable curry. Delightful! I could write a song just about the food.

I of course told them why I was in the woods, since they were curious.

And they told everyone how I tripped and fell, exaggerating it greatly. All the elves laughed but knowing elves I was better off. They enjoyed slapstick comedy. The fact that I was able to laugh at myself seemed to gain me favor.

One elf, with lighter green skin and dark brown hair laughed like the rest and yet, their eyes were deep in thought. They were a strange one, I think. Even by elf standards they had a strange name.

Jacuzzi? Who names themselves jacuzzi?

Then they spoke.

“So, you need a story?” They asked. I nodded.

“I think I can help you,” they said, “at the very least point you in the right direction.”

At their words a lot of the company got quiet.

“If you’re that desperate, there’s,” they paused, as if they were still considering whether or not to tell me, “A wizard. If you encounter him, you’re sure to get a proper story.”

I couldn’t think why this made the elf act so strange, plenty of mages made it their job to participate in tales. Though. With wizards they were usually evil, if not a member of an adventuring party. Nonetheless! A story about a wizard sounded fantastic.

“Where does-“ I stopped myself from finishing that stupid sentence. Nowhere in the Mystic Woods stayed put so asking for directions was complete folly.

“What’s the best way to, uh, find him?”

Jacuzzi shrugged “The birds have the most up to date information. But you’ll know it’s his place when you find the tower in the garden.”

Lots of wizards had towers, few had gardens. That was more of a witch thing.

“He’ll be there? Tonight”

“Probably, he can't- well he’ll be there. If not tonight then by the morning. Don’t mess with his things.”

“Why-”

“He considers it extremely rude- You don't want to be rude”

Sound advice.

“Hold on tonight?” Damian re-entered the conversation. “Are you mad? Traveling the forest at night is dangerous! Especially alone.”

“So? I’m trying to get into trouble. Doesn’t make a difference if I find it at the tower or on my way.”

My confidence wasn’t entirely fake. I had a good meal, I wasn’t tired. I could knock this out by morning!

“Thank you, for everything.”

I swear I heard giggling as I departed. If these elves were pulling one over on me well! I don’t know what I would do but I’ll think of something. I had a wizard to find.

It wasn’t long before I realized why I should have waited for morning.

No! Birds!

From Who could I ask directions? The sun was about to set. It was only early autumn, the days were still a decent length, but it would be dark real soon. No birds, no people.

Wait. I spoke too soon. There were footsteps. It was a slim chance but maybe they could help me.

“Young man, what are you doing? Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be out at night alone?”

The voice had a deep and soft quality that wasn’t human. But they were speaking Orriandish. Really folks, dont meet strangers in the forest that you can’t see. They’re usually evil witches or sorcerers or cyclops ogres. Yeah, one-eyed ogres are skilled talkers, luring people to them. It was only after I answered I realized this could be an ogre.

“Aren’t you out alone too?”

“Why yes-” the voice was closer and then I saw them.

Thankfully it wasn’t and ogre. But it was a witch, and a dwarf one. Uncommon. Probably not evil. It did explain why they were confidently out at night. Dwarves had pretty amazing night vision. They had the traditional black robe and hat, and a cat sat down beside them. It was a really large cat, which was amusing next to the short witch. Their long braided beard was decorated with trinkets, which was a quaint look I must admit.

“But I live here.”

I stood up straight, which I guess was a bit rude.

“How do you know I don’t?” I stammered, “I could!”

The dwarf stroked their beard, “I guess it’s possible, do you?”

I sighed and slouched, “No…”

“But I am looking for trouble.” I explained my story and the dwarf listened, smiling kindly.

“So the elves told me I would be guaranteed a story if I found this wizard who has a tower and a garden-”

The witch’s eyebrows raised.

“- you know this wizard?”

The cat mrowed loudly, his tail swishing on the forest floor a bit faster.

“I do indeed,” there was an extreme fondness in their voice.

“And you know where he is?”

The witch laughed, “I’d say this was coincidence, but in these parts there are too many of those to be truly coincidental. I do in fact know the currently location, and it’s close by.”

“Really!” I almost danced with excitement.

Unlike the elves the dwarf had no hesitations. They pointed me in the right direction, and informed me of a few roadblocks and landmarks.

“Thanks so much!” I waved back at them and didn’t look where I was going and almost tripped.

Almost.

“And light your lantern!”

Oh right, duh!

Finding the tower was easy with the witch’s directions. They’d even told me the thorns were fake and the vines safe to climb up. That should have raised red flags, or some color, but I was so focused on achieving my goal.

Now, we bards aren’t really known for our… physical abilities beyond dance. We can fight sure, but a fifty-foot climb is gonna leave most bards gasping for breath. I'm proud to say I was merely on the cusp of wheezing, though I was having difficulty standing.

I needed to rest. So I lay on the windowsill.

Which I failed to notice stretched so that I could more than easily lie down. The cool night air and stone felt so nice. I looked into the tower.

And my heart stopped.

I’d gotten a brief glimpse before nearly passing out, but it was different now.

Exactly the same.

But.

Bigger.

You might know, my readers, that wizards are all human. All of them. Non-humans aren’t allowed to attend the academy. I’m sure those like I, being a quarter fairy, might be let in, but... This- this giant sized workshop didn’t make any sense. A giant could not be a wizard no way. Why would the elves say this was a wizard’s tower? Did they not understand the difference between wizard, witch, and sorcerer?

But the dwarf witch, they had to know! They had not corrected me. Plus, the workshop did have a very wizard feel to it.

What was going on here?

I needed a moment to process so I rolled over to look outside. Looking inside made my head hurt.

But a Giant Wizard. If that were real, what a story! If it were fake, then well, a giant mage is still exciting. I looked once more into the room. Three desks, one for material prepping and alchemy, one that looked like the main workbench, and one… like a spare workbench? It was not very organized compared to the other. And shelves full of things I could not identify.

And on the floor, an open trap door with stairs leading down. Down to where the wizard must be.

I was thankful I had noticed the shift in scale, or I surely would have fallen 15 feet onto the floor. Instead I got out my grappling hook and rope and rappelled down. With a flick, the hook dislodged. This place was large, I would need it again.

I could have spent hours in this room, just taking in the immense magical collection, but that wasn’t why I was there. And I heard noises from down the stairs. Water? Clinking metal? I took each stair one at a time, slowly making my way deeper into the tower.

Either the kitchen just happened to be one floor down or this stairwell was enchanted to take you to the floor you were thinking about. For just as I reached the landing I saw the massive doorframe that led into what was clearly a kitchen and small dining room. Small for the giant, who was at the sink washing pots, pans, and other things.

He certainly looked like a wizard! A tall wide brimmed hat with a curling point, and robes that matched the garish colors and patterns. He had a neatly trimmed goatee and mutton chops, and long curly black hair tied behind his back. On his handsomely large nose rested thick square spectacles. Not only was he tall, he was just plain large.

I know I talked about the false stereotypes of bards, but we weren't the only profession with them. People tended to think of Wizards as more delicate, as they spent all their time studying, never going out, forgetting meals. But this, man, for he looked more human than giant except for being over 20ft tall, well the only word for it was burly.

I’d never imagined a wizard who, if you removed his wizard robes, put him in a flannel shirt and handed him an axe would be a picture perfect lumberjack. Now such a wizard was right before my very eyes.

Suddenly I was not so confident. I should have lost my nerve back at the window, when I saw the scale of the workshop. But it just didn’t hit me until I saw the giant. I’ve seen giants before, they are actually larger than this person, that made him seem more dangerous.

Oh.

Oh no.

This wasn’t just any wizard, or any giant.

This one was evil.

Maybe I could just leave! Yeah. I would just get the fuck out of here. I was not prepared to handle an evil giant wizard.

I made my decision a bit too late. The giant stopped cleaning a plate to look up and sniff the air.

Shit.

It was futile to run, but it was my only option. I didn’t even make it up two stairs before the giant roared with delight.

“FEE FI FO FUM!”

No no no! Not that!

“I SMELL THE BLOOD OF THE HUMAN KIND!”

Well technically I was quarter fairy but-

“BE THEY ALIVE OR BE THEY DEAD, I’LL GRIND THEIR BONES TO MAKE MY BREAD.”

Yeah… I should not have come here. Evil giants tend to eat people. I’d had a small hope that this smaller giant, who was very likely a proper wizard, wouldn’t. Also the line about grinding my bones to make bread? I’m no alchemist but I dont think powdered bones make for a good flour, and wouldn’t even be enough to make bread for a giant if it were! As far as I knew giants didn’t bother with such things and just gobbled people up.

Which didn’t bode well for me as this giant made it stairwell in a few seconds and scooped me up in one hand, holding me up to his face.

“How convenient, a tasty little thief” he smiled, revealing very giant-like fangs. His breath was horrible. “I was just thinking I needed some dessert.”

“Please! Mister Wizard, I did not steal anything, I am no thief! I’m a bard!”

The giant raised his eyebrows, but did not set me down, instead he turned and walked back into the kitchen.

“A bard?” he asked, “what’s your name?”

“Ophir Shel Peh!” I said.

“Not Jack then?” The giant tapped his chin, and his eyes found my ukulele. “Hm. Yes I would say you probably are a bard! I don’t get many of those.”

He sat at the personal dining table. And set me in front of him, putting his elbows on the table, and his chin over intertwined fingers. It was silent except for his breathing, and my heart in my ears. Every breath he took blew around me, and it was just a little warmer than I expected. He didn’t say anything for a long time and I started shaking, adding my rattling bones to the noise.

“Why are you here?” he asked before I fainted (I had… somehow forgot about breathing).

“Adventuring!” I couldn’t say ‘for a story’! THAT’S CHEATING. But perhaps... Ah I can’t lie to you reader. I wish I could say I was perspicacious enough to consider this giant was a professional fairytale villain. But I had no idea. I was damn lucky he was though. And he’s really good. I understand why His Mystical Majesty hired him.

Let’s get back to me being a complete dumbass shall we?

The giant’s face hardened and I worried I’d fucked up.

“Adventuring?” he asked rhetorically, but I nodded, then he looked a little morose.

“Shame, I was thinking of letting you go-”

He was!?

“-But I guess I have to eat you after all.”

He didn't sound at all troubled by it. I mean, he had threatened to do so. I backed up and he smiled, knowing he could snatch me up no matter what. I think he could tell I was going to ask why, even just to stall.

“It’s nothing personal, I don’t like intruders on my good days. But I can’t have you out there talking about me, spreading the word of a merciful giant. You’ll only get more people killed. ”

That was a lot to process but I got the gist.

“I won't talk!”

He stood up and slammed his palms on the table so hard I finally fell down.

“You’re a bard, it’s your job!”

Unfortunately he was right.

Then he looked a bit surprised by something, narrowing his eyes at me.

“I suppose,” he said, “your job also involves performing?”

I nodded.

“I don’t get to go out much,” he said, though I wasn’t sure that the entire truth “If you give me a good show, I might consider it payment for what would have been an extra special treat. I can smell the fairy blood on you.”

I tried not to make a face. My fairy blood made me smell better? Great. And there was always a chance he was lying, just to get a show and his dessert. Evil giants might be fairly honorable, but evil wizards were notoriously dishonest. So I had no idea with this evil giant wizard.

“Wh-what do you want me to do?” I asked.

He sat back down, perfectly copying his original pose.

“Tell me a story,” he said. “And perhaps I will not eat you.”

Great. Legally there weren’t many stories I could tell. You might be asking, ‘Ophir! You’re about to die, what do you care?’ Well if I live and I'm found out, I’ll be expelled from the guild for life. I’m already in hot water.

That… and the only stories I could think of were ones with evil wizards or giants, who ended up dead. Curse my stupid brain. But I couldn’t refuse, he would eat me! Guess I had no other choice.

[(adapted from a real tale)

The story of Maestro Lattantio and His Apprentice Dionigi.

It was an old tale, from the long dead kingdom of Italy, so anyone could tell it. A wild tale of a wizard and his apprentice battling it out in ways only two mages would. Wanting to be free of his abusive master, Diogini kept turning into things, animals, creatures, to escape.

But Lattantio would transform into the exact creature or monster or animated object needed to re-capture Diogini. Eventually Diogini turned into a fish and swam down a river. Lattantio declared that he was through with these games and would kill him. Lattantio turned into a kingfisher hawk, intending to snatch him out of the water, but Diogini jumped into a basket carried by a handmaiden for the princess. The handmaiden had been doing laundry, so being a fish wouldn’t do. He turned himself into a beautiful ruby ring. The princess found it in her pocket and he became her new favorite piece of jewelry.

Then one day, the King became ill, and Lattantio was called in to cure him. He did of course, and in payment, asked for the princess’s ruby ring, for he could tell it was Diogini. But he could come back tomorrow for the payment

That night, when the princess took off the ring, Diogini transformed back into a man. He apologized for his ruse, and explained that the wizard Lattantio was his enemy, and would do anything to get him back into his clutches. The princess, who at first was horrified, saw that Diogini meant her no harm, and he was as handsome a man as he was beautiful a ring. She asked how she could help.

The next day, when Lattantio returned, the princess stepped forward and held out the ring. Then dropped it to the floor. It turned into a mouse, so of course, Lattantio turned into a cat. The princess whistled to one of the palace dogs, which leapt at the cat, breaking its neck.

Diogini quickly returned to human form and separated the dog from the cat’s corpse, tossing it into the fire. The only way to be sure the evil was truly destroyed.

Impressed by Diogini’s skill and at the behest of the princess, the King was happy to make Diogini the court wizard, and his son.

]

I concluded the story, and looked at the giant, distressed to find he looked unimpressed.

“That was,” he waved his hand in a dismissal manner, “diverting, but I could just have easily read that story.”

WHAT! I’d done voices! I was dramatic and expressive! How dare he say reading it from a book could be the same! But I couldn’t be angry because I was scared.

“Though I suppose it was decent,” he continued, “just not enough to keep you alive.”

Crap.

“Dance for me,” he said, “and perhaps I will not eat you.”

It took me a few seconds to notice he wasn’t eating me, but instead was giving me another chance. But… Dance!? On this table? With my leather boots on? And my thick pants? And no music!? This was not good.

“S-sure” I said, I was still shaking badly.

Since there was no music I thought perhaps, something that conveyed real meaning through motion. I could hear the song in my head at least, so I wouldn’t falter or look like I was making shit up.

I leapt and gestured, and waggled my body in the most embarrassing ways.

“What is this crap?” said the giant after I had danced for only a minute.

“Interpretive dance, mister giant,” I said, freezing in a most uncomfortable pose.

“You’d better pick something else,” he said. “And give it some more personality”

All I knew was he had given me a second chance. Ok. So I didn’t have music, but maybe something rhythmic would be better. I didn’t have the right shoes but my footsteps were still very audible.

So I went into a new dance. Hopping and stomping and tapping my feet. Then I started singing. I had been so stupid that I forgot I could do both at the same time. I basically re-invented a few ritual dances from my hometown, used to bless the beginning of each month. If I lived through this I would go home and teach everyone.

The giant Watched me carefully from behind those huge glasses. Judge, jury and executioner.

Finally I was sore and out of breath, jumped up to land with a mighty THUNK, ending the performance.

The giant looked a bit sorry now. Why would he look sorry!?

“That was very impressive, and your singing was a nice touch, but I think such things would best be done with a group. Alone it was underwhelming.”

What did he know! I’d danced my freaking ass off! I sat down and tried not to cry as I regained my strength. Why weren’t my best efforts good enough!? I was a Master bard. But I was at the mercy of the most subjective critic. I had to change tactics. Impressing him wasn’t going to cut it.

“Well, since it’s getting late,” he reached out a hand.

“Wait!” I shouted, nearly breaking my voice which would have been a death sentence.

The giant’s hand paused, “That was so bold I’m inclined to do so, but not for long.”

“You, liked my singing?” I asked.

The hand retreated. “You could say that.” Then he caught on. “Fine. One last chance.”

He leaned back, crossed his arms, and cleared his throat.

“Sing for me, little bard, and perhaps, I will consider not eating you.”

I scrambled to my ukulele. It was so old it was already out of tune, so I hurriedly tuned it, under the piercing gaze of the giant.

“Your voice isn’t magical is it?” Asked the giant as I tuned the ukulele.

I smiled “No, it is. My fey ancestry. Never really tested its power. Mostly I’ve transfixed crowds or made them cry with the opening notes. I’ve also played monsters to sleep.”

He leaned forward as I realized my mistake and quickly added “but that doesn’t work if you know about it! Which you now do!”

Thankfully he believed me. I was telling the truth, but there was no reason for him to trust me.

“Well, just make it a nice song. I’ve got sensitive ears.”

Oh fantastic. That meant he could probably tell if I went out of key. I had a moment’s thought to play something screeching and horrible, to make him bleed from his ears, giving me a chance to get away, or at least cause him pain before he ended my life. No. My first choice of song was probably the best one.

I sat down criss cross apple sauce, but back very straight. And I strummed the opening cords.

[

In the quiet mystic morning When the sun’s just graced the land O’er the horizon, lies a story And it begs to take my hand

Now that summer’s ceased its gleaming And the harvest’s past its prime In adventure I’ve found meaning But I’ll be homeward bound in time

Bind me not, to the pasture Chain me not to the town Set me free to find my calling And I’ll return to you somehow

As the first instrumental break started I turned my attention to the giant. His face was as stoney as ever. I wasn’t hitting my mark. So I continued.

If you find it’s me you’re missing And you’re hoping I’ll return To your thoughts I’ll soon be listing On the road I’ll stop and turn

The old strings were threatening to cut into my fingers but I just used the pain to fuel my voice, powering it with agony and sorrow. I saw the giant’s brows raise as my human sized voice grew to fill the giant room.

For the wind has set me racing As my journey now begins To leave the path I’ll be retracing When I’m homeward bound again

Bind me not, to the pasture Chain me not to the town Set me free to find my calling And I’ll return to you somehow

The second, and last, instrumental break. I had started crying at the chorus and couldn’t see the giant through my tears. My last performance, and it was for my murderer.

And still my song rang out.

In the quiet Mystic morning When the moon has gone to bed When adventure’s lost its meaning…

I’ll be homeward bound

Again

My ears were ringing from the sheer volume, I was clutching the Ukulele so hard it threatened to crack. I was numb from all my efforts. Now would be a great time for him to eat me, maybe I would feel no pain.

Then, as my ears and eyes cleared up, I saw.

The giant's eyes, red. Shiny trails of tears down his cheeks. His arms were still crossed but he looked like he was almost strangling himself. Still, I did not let myself feel any hope.

“Dammit,” he hissed and sniffed, “I should eat you for making me cry.”

No. No no no no no.

“But I won’t” he sniffed again and got out a handkerchief, “You’ve more than earned your life.”

I collapsed and started crying harder. I had done it. By the gods. I had fucking done it. I let myself melt into the table, half passing out. I didn’t want to feel or think for an entire week. I guess because he wasn’t going to kill me, the giant let me lay there.

When I finally sat up he was making tea! I very much wanted to get the fuck out of there but the tea smelled amazing, almost magical.

He noticed me moving.

“I find tea helps after a harrowing adventure,” he said cheerfully.

His demeanor was entirely different. His face was softer, his voice was higher, his dark brown eyes colder, but considering they had been blazing before, it was a friendly warmth now.

That really had been an adventure hadn’t it. One that really made use of my skill set. One that was perfect to turn into a story. It had great pacing too, with just a bit of tweaking. I’d already started writing out the flowery prose and accompanying staging in my head. My interpretive dance was going to be way better in the retelling, but don’t say anything to the guild alright? Everyone embellished.

I had to scramble away as he set the table, which meant setting down a smaller table and chair for me, and then bringing over his own cup and the teapot. He touched the sides of the pot that must be hot enough to scald skin from bone like it was nothing, pouring out near boiling tea. I watched mesmerized as he used a bit of magic to pour the tea into my teacup.

“Let it cool,” he said, as he took a drink of his own tea, “I’m not normally a fan of sweetened tea, but I thought a little extra honey would do your throat some good.”

I gingerly stood up and got into the chair. It was normal sized of course, since he was giant. But here I felt like a doll that some demonic girl had set up for a tea party.

“Thanks,” I said, and indeed my throat felt raw. I couldn’t wait to drink the tea, but it was still too hot.

“I should be thanking you,” said the giant, smiling and showing off his fangs, but it no longer felt so threatening, “That was quite a show! You must be a really high ranking bard.”

My face turned very red, “I- well I’m on probation,” I admitted, “blacklisted. So really, thanks for-”

I saw his eyes glitter, literally.

“You- you never meant to eat me did you?”

He grinned even wider, “No, but I trust you won't include that in your tale.”

I shook my head.

“I very much enjoy playing the big bad giant,” he mused, “But I have other work; I can’t have adventurers showing up all the time.”

Now I was curious, “If I may ask, what else do you do then?”

There was a short pause as he considered whether or not to tell me. I wondered if it was a grand secret.

“I’m a royal wizard,” he finally said, and there was a massive amount of pride underneath his tone. And resentment. That was concerning.

My jaw dropped, “You- A Royal Wizard?”

This might be the most interesting person I’d ever met. How did a giant, or giant-esq thing become a royal wizard!? How did a royal wizard end up running an evil tower?

“You already got one tale, but if you’re not inclined to leave so soon, I can give you another.”

I definitely knew where this was going and I definitely wanted this tale.

“But on one condition,” he said. “You cannot tell it until either I or the Mystic King is dead.”

“Are- you dying?” I asked.

He laughed, “No, but I am still a villain. I try to keep a fairly low profile, but any day a slayer could show up and succeed in killing me.”

That made sense, but now that I was not mortally terrified of him, I saw that this man was much younger than I’d previously thought. He looked barely 24, a young man, and he had to worry about slayers! It also meant it couldn’t have been in this job for that long, being evil must really suit him.

“Hopefully it won’t be for years, which will give you time to make this tale as grand as possible,” he continued.

He drank more of his tea.

“I’m not great story teller,” he started off, “but I suppose the tale of how a foolish half-giant with dreams of becoming a wizard, and ending up a prisoner in the woods, might be a good one.”

Prisoner? Even more layers. Yes. This should be a good one indeed.

Though he was right. Gods, wizards! They have no concept of narrative flow! They don’t leave out details!

And yet. It was riveting. Yonah HaEsh, for that was his name which I finally learned, was half giant, half FireWitch. His father, the FireWitch, got interested in magic, but he wanted more structured study, beyond what witches can do. So he disguised himself as human to attend school. He was found out eventually, expelled and arrested for infiltrating the kingdom as a dangerous magical monster. He was almost executed before he was offered a job here in the tower! And amazingly, the Grand Master of the school had taken pity on him and allowed him to continue his studies here and graduate, earning the right to call himself a wizard.

I had forgotten about my tea by the end and it had gone cold. That was an easy fix apparently: he pinched the cup between his thumb and pointer finger. A few seconds later it was steaming again.

I finally took a sip, it was incredible. I made a mental note to write a poem or a song about it. But I had other things to think about, to talk about.

“It’s a great story,” I said, with a cockiness I should have tried to keep in check, “but it needs a lot of work. It’s a good thing I’ve got a lot of time. I’ll need to go out and interview people.”

I stood up, “Which means, I need to hear it again.”

Yonah raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”

“I should have been taking notes,” I said, “I need more specific dates and times and names! Oh and if you can tell me how your parents met, that would make for a great prologue.”

He stood up too, clearing away his and my tea settings. But he didn’t clean them, just put them aside.

“In that case,” he said, returning and offering his hand palm up, “We should take this upstairs.”

I still hesitated a bit, but I sat on his hand and was transferred to his shoulder. I’d never been on a giant’s shoulder before. I was tempted to touch his curly hair, since mountain giants don’t have hair, I thought it amazing that this half-giant had such thick silky locks. I settled to lean a bit towards his head for steadiness. Yonah didn’t say anything as he regathered the teapot and cups, and even got a few pieces of berry-nut bread and goat cheese. Then headed up to the workshop.

Once again, he had a human sized desk that he set on his much larger one, and human sized pens (really nice ones), and a few human sized notebooks. Though I guess, since he can reduce to human size whenever he wanted (that was part of his “disguise”), and had many human friends, it made sense.

“We can go in order,” I said, “But I think I want to start on what you got up to in school. We want people to really get attached to you and your friends so that they are on your side by the trial.”

Yonah liked that idea. I think he wanted this story to show him in a positive light, even if he was officially evil.

We worked through the night. And my second cup of tea got cold.

[FIN]

[PLEASE REBLOG and/or tell me what you think in an ask/message!]

FOR REFERENCE, HERE’S HOW THE SONG SOUNDS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VooU55wzSEc

Liked this Mystic Woods story? I have more!

For GT ONLY stories: gt-adventures.tumblr.com/tagged/mystic+woods+story

[I have to mention, that I have many more Mystic Woods stories, however those contain safe/soft non-sexual v/o/r/e... But lucky for you! i have filed them them separately! and (when needed) Every story comes with detailed content warnings!]

For ALL mystic woods stories:

vo/re-scientist/tumblr.com/tagged/mystic+woods+story (take out the “/” in vo/re)

[one or two of my GT-ONLY stories are on my not so secret vo/re blog but from now on I’m posting the GT-ONLY ones here! hurray!]

#gianttiny #g/t writing #g/t talk #giant/tiny #g/t #male giant

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silver-imagines · 5 years

Text

Bad Liar II

Part I

Oh, hush, my dear, it's been a difficult year

And terrors don't prey on Innocent victims Trust me, darling, trust me darling It's been a loveless year I'm a man of three fears Integrity, faith and Crocodile tears Trust me, darling, trust me, darling

- Bad Liar (Imagine Dragons)

Warnings: FFH spoilers, some swearing, a scene that might be considered dark ?

Word count: 3.6K+

Summary: Aiming to live up to her sister’s legacy, a whole lot of trouble is in heading for (Y/n), trouble in the form of a Blue eyed devil.

Hi guys! Part two is here, thank you for the love on the first part, especially to those who gave me the nice messages to keep continuing, I have not really proof read this but hope you guys all enjoy, story gets real after this part !

“Sir, I don’t mean to disrespect you, but you gave Peter Tony’s glasses?” She asked in disbelief, wondering why on Earth he would give the most advanced weaponised system over to a 16-year-old kid.

“Romanoff, as you can see, Stark left it behind for Parker, and who are we to stand in front of a wise man’s Will?’ Fury replied, brushing her off. ‘But Sir, he’s still a kid-“

“That’s enough agent, if I needed your opinion, I’d ask, so I suggest you return to your job and do it well, something your sister excelled at without questioning my orders.” He remarked, not exactly in the mood to deal with one of his agents questioning his decisions. Straightening her back, she swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat, Fury had no right to attack her like this, not after everything she had given up for him and SHIELD.

______

Groaning in anger, he threw his helmet on to the floor, running a hand through his hair out of frustration as he sat down onto the chair. (Y/n) noticed the loud bang of the helmet hitting the floor, her gaze following it up to its owner, finding him slouched on the chair.

“Is everything alright?” She asked, it was around 3 o’clock, SHIELD had booked out the entire floor of the hotel in Venice and currently, her and Beck were the only ones awake.

“I won’t be able to, I can’t do it alone” He signed, throwing his head back as he ran a hand through his hair again. “Have some faith in yourself Beck” (Y/N) chuckled, sitting on the desk next to his chair, giving him a soft pat on his shoulder.

“I already failed my people, my family, I shouldn’t even be alive honestly” He continued, looking up at her, his blue eyes becoming a little glossy. Her heart sank for him, losing his family, his friends, his entire world. No one deserved that, why did the best ones have the worst fate she bitterly thought.

“It’ll be alright Beck” she softly said, ‘This life isn’t easy, pain, loss, betrayal, they don’t come in the job description but they sure as hell come along with it.” She chuckled bitterly.

“I guess it’s up to us to make the hard choices.” He sighed, reaching forward to grab her hand, causing her to flinch backwards. “I’m so sorry, it’s just a habit.” He spoke, voice slightly breaking as he pulled his hand back, noticing her tensing up.

“You said I reminded you of someone, back on your Earth, who was it?” She asked, she had been playing with the thought of confronting him with this, especially after what happened earlier today.

She was busy, making arrangements for their departure to Prague for tomorrow night, handling the logistics and arranging the transport of the required equipment. He finally had her alone as she sat in front of the computer screen, furiously typing away as he approached her.

“Honey you need a break.” He softly whispered, making sure everyone else on the other side of the room couldn’t hear him. “Uh Beck, are you talking to me?” she asked, turning her head around to see him leaning against the desk.

“Yes Darling.” He gave her a soft smile, his eyes twinkling as he leaned forward and kissed her head.

“It’s going to sound crazy but hear me out, all the different Earths, it’s the same people, same, just different fates.” He began, placing his hands on the desk in front of him. “Well, on my Earth, 616, well, I knew you, well, her name was (Y/n) (L/n) not (Y/n) Romanoff, so I guess maybe there are some differences.” He continued, his eyes scanning her emotionless face as she nodded along.

“Romanoff isn’t my real last name.” She softly said, letting her hair cover her face as she hung her head low, she still grieved her sister, she had done so, so much for her. For some reason, she felt safe and warm around the blue-eyed hero, maybe it was his soft voice, or his sparkling eyes or the way he showed concern for her, and maybe one day she would be able to share her grief with him.

“What do you mean, an alias?” He questioned, finally, he had already tried to find anything he could about her but seemed like SHIELD kept her off the radar for everything, the only ever mention of her was buried in the fine prints of the Sokovia Accords, a brief mention, of (Y/n) Romanoff. “That’s not important, but continue” She gave him a weak smile, not particularly keen on getting into her past.

“Well, I knew your multiverse counterpart, she was, she was a special person to me” He trailed off, playing with the wedding band on his finger, drawing her eyes to it again.

“Wait, was I married to you?” (Y/n) asked in surprise, special, ‘honey’, the kisses, the constant looks, the wedding band, they all pointed to one thing, either that or her brain was failing her. He reached over for her hand again, and this time, she let him, the warmth of his hand grabbing hers spread throughout her body, sending chills down her spine. His fingertips dug into her wrist, sure to leave marks on her wrist.

“We were so happy.” He whispered, head hanging low, ‘we were so happy, so, so happy” He continued, gripping her hand tightly. “I’m so sorry Quentin” She softly spoke, placing her other hand on top of his one, addressing him by his first name for the first time. The way his name rolled off of her tongue, it made his heart strings tug.

“You died in my arms…. I couldn’t save you, I failed you…... and our child’ He looked up at her, tears threatening to fall out of his eyes.

“I’m so sorry Quentin, you didn’t deserve to lose her.” (Y/n) softly squeezed his hand, trying to give him some reassurance. She didn’t know what else to say, there was some version of her, some version that was free to love and did, and it was obvious she got that even more love in return, but the (Y/N) of this Earth wasn’t so fortunate.

“I won’t lose you again, I won’t let it kill you this time.” He spoke, his voice lowering, becoming more growl like, his grip on her hand tightening as he looked up at her, reaching forward and cupping her cheek, grazing the small scar on the left cheek with his thumb.

“I’m not losing you again (Y/n), no matter what.” He vowed, looking into her (e/c) eyes, observing her solemn expression as she gripped his hand tighter, giving him comfort. On the surface, it was all just an act but deep down, maybe the cause of his increased heart beat wasn’t the fear of getting caught, but rather the warmth of the cold handed girl.

_______

She was running, running so fast her legs ached, but she kept running, she had no choice. Her lungs were begging for oxygen, not being able to keep up with her fast pace. Her legs hurt, so much, the burning on her skin getting hotter, her knees buckled, and she fell.

Hitting the cold hard floor, the pain vibrated through her knees, it hurt, so, so much.

“Please, make it stop, please.” She begged, her back giving out, no longer holding her up straight as she collapsed on the floor, the coolness of the hard floor soothing her burning skin.

“Shhhh little one, won’t be much longer, just submit” The all too familiar voice boomed in her ears, she gasped for breath, it was as if the room was shut off from the world, no oxygen for her to breathe, no air left to keep her alive. “It should... h-have been me.” She barely choked out, her raw throat begging for water, any sort of salvation. The black cloaked figure stood in the corner, the rest of the room turning into the colours of Vormir.

“Hey Kiddo.” An all too familiar voice called out, causing her head to turn upwards, her eyes landing on the black and blonde hair of her sister.

Nat?

“N-natasha, yo-you’r-re al-ive’ She barely choked out, the fire in her throat getting worse as her gums ached, her tongue feeling too heavy. She crouched down beside her, softly caressing her hair, her cool skin giving the (h/c) girl comfort as she leaned into her sister’s touch as her heavy eyelids shut.

“Shhhh, it’ll be ok, I’m here now, I’ve got you” Natasha cooed, putting her hand behind her neck and helping her sister up sit up, wiping the dirt and sweat off of her forehead with the other. “I’m so sorry, I’m s-so s-orr-y.” (Y/n) cried, holding Natasha’s hand, tears dropping down her cheeks, ‘I’m so sorry I failed you” She cried, the burning in her throat was back, her lips quivering as her body shook. The pain was getting worse, as if it was something trying to burn her heart from the inside.

“You did, you were always a failure and will be.” Her sister hissed, her facial features turning bitter as she yanked her hair backwards, causing her to look upwards as she let out a scream.

“You’ll never be nothing more than a failure, nothing.” She bitterly hissed, pushing her forward onto the harsh ground, causing her to hit her forehead on the rocks, cracking her head open. The all too familiar music began playing on a piano, the music that had never stopped haunting her. The room felt smaller, her weak and quivering body lying in the middle, darkness taking over the room as the lights went out.

“You’re nothing, you failed us all.” The booming voice came back, the pain in her chest getting worse as she let out more whimpers.

“You let me die.” Came Natasha’s voice, echoing in the room that seemed to be getting smaller every moment. The walls got closer, the room felt hotter, ‘No, no, please-“She cried, not being able to keep herself composed but by this point, her eyes were running out of tears.

“(Y/n), (y/n)! Wake up, snap out of it!” Another voice called out, waking her up. Opening her eyes, she realised the beads of sweat and tears running down her face as she looked around, meeting a pair of familiar blue eyes, he had shaken her shoulders, causing her to snap out of her bad dream as she sat up, her (e/c) rapidly moving around, trying to distinguish the difference between dreams and reality.

He had heard her screams from his own room through the thin walls and having pushed her door open, he entered her room, finding her sprawled all over the bed, constantly tossing and turning. Messy hair, puffy cheeks, forehead covered in sweat, the constant whimpers falling off of her lips, he had to wake her up.

“(Y/n), are you alright?” He asked, using his hand to move the hair that was sticking to her skin away from her cheek, helping her sit up as he sat in front of her. “I-I-uh, I” She was still so rattled, it felt so real, so, so real.

His blue eyes scanned her, keeping her under their intense gaze as he studied her, small scars decorating her neck and shoulders, visible due to her tank top, her skin covered in a small layer of sweat, hair either sticking to her skin or shooting up in all directions, drops of blood seeping out of her bottom lip due to a very obvious cut.

What he did next surprised them both, wrapping one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulder, he pulled her close, pulling her head against his shoulder as he hugged her close, caressing her hair.

“Shhhhh, it’ll be ok, it was just a bad dream.” He cooed, caressing her hair as she stayed limp in his arms, still shell shocked, not responding to anything around her. “I ki-kiled her.” She softly said, her voice barely a whisper, her eyes getting wider by the second, tears rolling out.

“Shhh, (Y/n) it’s ok, it’s over, you’re safe’ He whispered in her ear, giving her a kiss on the head as he held her slightly quivering body in his arms. Closing her eyes, she focused on her breathing, trying to drown out the voices from her conscious, inhaling and exhaling deeply, her body leaning into his touch as his warm body radiated heat, giving her comfort.

“Just breathe, it’ll be ok honey” He whispered against her hair, keeping his hand on her cheek as he caressed it with his thumb. Opening her eyes, she looked up at him, his blue eyes digging into her (e/c) orbs.Suddenly coming to her senses and realising the situation, she tensed up, putting her hands on his arm, she pushed him away, feeling ashamed of herself for being so pathetic and weak, especially in front of him.

“I, uh, please get away from me.” She softly spoke, pushing him off of her, causing a confused expression to wash over his facial features. “Are you alright Romanoff?” He asked, addressing her with her last name, causing another tug at her heart, Romanoff.

“Please just leave me alone.” She whispered again, pushing him off of herself completely as she moved slightly away from him, his eyes softened as he reached forward to reach for her again, but she moved further away, her back hitting the headboard.

“(Y/n)…” He trailed off in a soft voice, but she cut him off before he could do anything.

“I don’t need your help Beck, you don’t need to care for me, I’m not her so spare me the pity.” She spoke, voice dripping with venom, turning her eyes away from his gaze, not wanting to be further embarrassed in front of him.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” He asked again, swallowing his pride but she cut him off, raising her hand, ‘Beck cut it out, she’s gone, I’m not her so just leave me the fuck alone please” She growled, wanting nothing more than to be left alone to deal with her own misery. Nodding at her words, Quentin gave her a soft look, as if tears were brimming his eyes, before getting up off of her bed and leaving her alone, letting the door close with a soft thud behind him.

She sighed as she lied down and brought her knees up to her chest, resting her head against her knees, her head throbbing as she curled up under the covers, wishing to forget everything.

_________

Grunting as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead, the (h/c) girl sighed, feeling her lower muscles ache in agony as she sat down on the small bench in the park, catching her breath. They had arrived in Prague this morning, the Fire Elemental wasn’t predicted to strike until tonight at 7 o’clock and for now, she was off official duties.

Leaning back against the backrest, she closed her eyes, the rising sun’s warmth engulfing her skin in a warm hug, the sound of birds chirping in the park ringing in her ears as events of last night still haunted her.

(Y/n) was beyond angry, not at Quentin, but at herself. How could she have been so pathetic in front of someone, especially him. He had lost his entire world and yet he was here, not breaking down like some pathetic idiot whereas she on the other hand couldn’t handle a simple nightmare. She was just so, so angry at herself and to make matters worse, she had essentially rubbed a man’s dead wife in his face, he probably hated her at this point, damaging whatever barely-there relationship they had.

Running a hand through her hair, she looked up at the sky, deciding it was too bright, she settled on the on the lake in front of her, the water sparkling lightly but her eyes fell on a familiar figure situated at the end of the small pier that lead into the middle of the lake.

Feeling a pit form in her stomach, she swallowed the lump in her throat, recognising who it was, she had to apologise to him, she had crossed all sorts of lines two nights ago, and it was pretty obvious from the fact he had been avoiding her as if she was the black plague.

She got off the bench, her legs no longer aching from her vigorous 10km run but rather feeling weak, guilt was always hard to carry. Slowly making her way to the end of the pier where Quentin was seated, she sat down next to him, causing his head to turn.

“What are you doing here Romanoff?” He asked, looking back out into the lake, not making eye contact with the (h/c) girl.

“I uh I, Bec- Quentin, I crossed the line that night, I uh, you were only trying to h-help me.” She half mumble stuttered, she wasn’t exactly experienced in apologising to people or even having any type of friendship or relationship with anyone, let alone with someone whose dead wife she resembled.

“I heard your screams, you sound just like her, I couldn’t stand to see you in that situation.” He explained, looking up at her, the rising run reflecting in his eyes, making them twinkle as he gazed into her (e/c) eyes.

“It felt like I was losing her all over again, she was my everything Romanoff, my absolute everything.” He continued, shifting a little so his body was turned towards her frame as he inched closer.

“I uh, I appreciate the help you gave Quentin, you didn’t have to do it but-“She began again, but he cut her off, chuckling. “Are you trying to apologise Romanoff? You kinda suck at it” He laughed, nudging her shoulder with his as she diverted her gaze.

“I’m not really good at such stuff, I was always taught, treat others like objects, you don’t want to get attached to others, keep distance or it won’t end well….” She trailed off, feeling a pit form in her stomach as she struggled to find more words. Quentin watched her with an amused smirk, he had her withering.

“Hey hey hey, it’s ok.” He mumbled, placing one hand on left cheek, tilting her face up so she would look up at him, and that’s when he noticed the dark circles under her eyes, the tiredness in her eyes, the slight swelling of her eyes and cheeks.

“I’m so sorry Quentin, I’m so, so sorry, sorry won’t even make up for what I did, if there’s anything that’ll make you forgive me, I’m read-“ Before she could finish, he did the unexpected. Pulling her face closer to his, he brought her closer to him, noses touching, his warm breath hitting her face as he closed his eyes, whispering ‘shhhh’ to her. “It’s alright my love, shhhhhh, it’s ok.” He whispered ever so softy, his thumb caressing her cheek she stared at him with wide eyes as she tensed up, she absolutely did not expect this.

“I would forgive you for anything (Y/n), you were, and always will be my everything” He whispered, using his hand to further tilt her face and with a brush between heaven and hell, he placed his sinful lips onto her innocent ones, innocent as they weren’t yet touched by another but guilty of having spewed poison.

The warmth of his lips engulfed the (h/c) haired girl, spreading through her body like a wild fire as she regained her senses, firmly planting her hands on his chest, she pushed him away almost instantly. Her lips still tingled, a faint buzzing ringing in her head as she looked up at his clouded eyes, the rejection evident on his face.

“What, what was that?” She asked, moving backwards, putting some daylight between him and herself, afraid that he might try to kiss her again. His blue eyes stared back at her, not blinking as he struggled to find words to explain himself.

He had no idea as to why he had done that, was it because it was a part of his plan?

Yes

But was that the only reason?

No, no, no

Swallowing a lump in his throat, he subconsciously fidgeted with the wedding band on his finger, trying to think of his play here. “I’m sorry (Y/n), but at the same time, I’m not” He began, his voice continually becoming softer as a solemn look washed over his face.

“I can’t help but love you, you’re so much like her, heck, you are her, you’re my (Y/n).” He began, his voice displaying an urgency that she couldn’t understand as he gave her a soft smile, eyes turning slightly red as he averted his gaze and he got up, knowing it was his time to now walk away before doing more damage. (Y/n) stared at him, eyes fixed on his retreating figure as she watched him walk down the pier without saying another word. She didn’t know what to do or say, her lips still tingled as she subconsciously raised her hand to feel her lips, he was her first kiss.

If he had done literally anything other than this, she knew a million different things to say and do in return but to this?

Never in a million years did she think her first kiss would be with a man from another Earth, especially who’s dead wife she resembled.

But whatever it was, it left her with butterflies in her stomach, a warm feeling spreading throughout her body despite the mere seconds of contact with his warm lips.

#Quentin Beck #quentin beck imagine #quentin beck x reader #quentin beck fanfiction #mysterio imagine #mysterio x reader #spiderman imagine #spiderman x reader #spiderman far from home #spiderman ffh #marvel fanfiction #marvel imagine #spiderman fanfiction

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commander-thorny · 5 years

Text

Claw Island

The scent of salt filled the air as the ocean waves softly washed onto the shore of Claw Island. It was a calm day, the warm rays of the sun hitting Cynoria’a face as she did her routine patrol. The sand caved underneath her heavily-armored steps as she carefully walked across the shoreline, her eyes fixated on the horizon line.

Cynoria paused for a moment, soaking up the sunlight and the salty air. She had always enjoyed her beach patrols that had become her daily routine through the many months she had been a part of the Lionguard. It somehow reminded her of home and the many years she spent as a Warden in Caledon. The beautiful coastal areas with the many eccentric florae dotting them.

She let out a sad huff and began to stretch, her armor becoming heavy with her forlornness. She missed the comforting aura of the Pale Tree and the surrounding areas, but she knew she couldn’t stay there forever. Not with her Wyld Hunt stringing her elsewhere. Still, she silently hoped a time would come where she could go back to her home.

Cynoria started her trudge back to the fort, wet sand collecting on the greaves of her armor. She never bothered to clean them since sand always found a way to creep back into the deep crevices in her Lionguard-issued armor. She was about to go sharpen her blades when an all-too-familiar voice called her nearby.

“Cynoria!” The bright but level voice rang toward her, and her head quickly whipped over to where it came from.

“Firstborn Trahearne!” She replied before jogging over to where he stood. Commander Talon stood nearby, a clearly annoyed look on his face. “What brings you all the way to Claw Island, brother?”

“I’m afraid my visit is in consequence of urgent news, I was just informing Commander Talon of an imminent attack soon to occur here on Claw Island.”

Cynoria tilted her head and furrowed her brows. “Attack? Of what scale?”

“Stand down soldier,” Commander Talon huffed, words dripping with annoyance. “This matter doesn’t concern you. Go back to your patrols.”

“I apologize sir, but I believe I can be of assistance,” Cynoria stated, giving a worried glance toward Trahearn.

“It’s ok Cynoria. I apologize for pulling you from your clearly important duties. Perhaps another time.” Trahearne interjected, returning a knowing glance her way.

Cynoria bit her tongue, keeping her disappointment from making an appearance. “As you wish, Trahearne. Another time”. She saluted them both before walking to a place where she could sharpen her blades.

“An imminent attack…” Cynoria thought, running the smooth whetstone against her dull blade. She never doubted the Firstborn when it came to his knowledge of Orr, but an attack on Claw Island? It just seemed so unlikely. She huffed in annoyance at her blade, which didn't seem to get any sharper despite her experienced stroked of the whetstone. She tossed the whetstone aside and gave up on sharpening her blades. She quickly made her way back to the beach to watch the horizon for any signs of the mentioned “attack”.

Out of the corner of her eye, Cynoria saw the Firstborn with a tall, grey charr. They seemed deep in conversation, and she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy. If only her duties hadn’t kept her from being able to finally talk to Trahearne. She hadn’t seen him ever since she was with the Wardens. She shook her head and went back to her patrol.

Before she could get to her usual spot, Cynoria heard a scuffle nearby. She quickly bolted to where the ringing of blades was and quickly leaped into battle. She quickly cut deeply into the risen ambush, bringing down any risen in her path. She saw the charr that was with Trahearne give her an impressed look, and she quickly flashed a smile before going back to work. Soon enough the scuffle was over, and Cynoria began to clean the blood off of her blades.

“That wasn't much of a fight. Trahearne, I thought you said the attack would be significant?” Deputy Mira questioned, and Cynoria turned her attention to the Firstborn.

“It was a feint. They're testing your defenses. More will come, and soon.” Trahearne replied, and Deputy Mira nodded.

“Makes sense. Report to Watch Commander Talon, and tell the men to be ready.”

Cynoria followed Trahearne and the charr like a shadow. In the back of her mind, she knew Trahearne was right. She could feel the environment starting to change. Cynoria yelped as Trahearne grabbed her arm from behind him and pulled her to his side.

“You cannot hide from me, Cynoria. You should know that by now.” Trahearne jested, giving her a smirk before turning to the charr.

“Klarnite, this is Cynoria. She is a renowned warrior from the Grove. I knew she had potential ever since she awakened from her pod.” Trahearne introduced her, and she couldn’t help but become flustered from his praise.

The charr looked at her from the corner of his eye as they walked to the fortress. “It’s nice to meet you Cynoria. Hopefully your praise holds up in this attack”.

She quickly nodded, fidgeting with the pendant around her neck. Trahearne had given her the pendant as a gift when she left the Grove. It was enchanted with a mesmer illusion spell to hide the bat wings that sprouted from her back. Trahearne knew it would help her in her adventures outside Caledon, and so far it has proven useful.

Once they reported back to Commander Talon, Cynoria could feel her back itching. As Trahearne and Klarnite spoke to Talon, her eyes wandered to the horizon once more. Before she could say a word of concern, bone ships sprouted from the sea like waves. She heard Deputy Mira shout a warning to Talon, and Cynoria watched as large, towering abominations landed on the walls of the fort. She quickly zipped to the walls and helped cut the abominations down with Trahearne and Klarnite not far behind.

Once the abominations were down, the trio quickly made their way to the beaches to take down the risen plaguing the shore. The stench of rotted flesh hung in the murky air as they cut their way to Deputy Mira. As soon as she was revived, they fled back into the walls of the fortress.

“What are we going to do? There’s too many risen!” Cynoria shouted over the sounds of battle, and Klarnite pointed to the trebuchet.

“We need to take down the ships! Hurry!” He yelled, and they began their trip to the trebuchet. Klarnite manned the trebuchet while Cynoria and Trahearne kept the risen at bay. Soon, Klarnite shouted in victory as one of the ships sank to the ocean floor.

“Well done!” Trahearne called over his shoulder, but the victory was short lived.

As soon as the one ship went down, 5 sprang up in its place. Cynoria’s jaw dropped in shock before being dragged away by Trahearne. They ran back to Commander Talon, cutting down the risen in their path.

“Talon, this is no normal attack! The Lionguard cannot hold! We're overwhelmed!” Deputy Mira pleaded, her wounds severe.

“Claw Island has stood for nearly a hundred years. It cannot fall!” Talon roared, clearly oblivious to the hell that surrounded them. “We'll fight them to the last soldier! To the last sword! We'll never surr—“

A risen brute came up from behind and struck Talon with a heavy hit. A sickening crack erupted from Talon’s skull before Cynoria could kill the creature.

“Medic! We need a medic over here! Commander Talon, hold on. You'll be all right.” Mira shouted, and Cynoria quickly knelt down to deal with the serious wound.

“Quiet, Mira. Soldiers don't need lies. Retreat to the city. Tell the commodore...we did all we could…” Commander Talon whispered as he shooed Cynoria’s hands away. She whimpered as Trahearne laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“By your will, Commander. I swear to you...this isn't over.” Mira solemnly said as Talon’s consciousness slipped from him. Cynoria had a silent moment of mourning before standing back up, looking at Trahearne tearfully.

“Mira, the island is overwhelmed. We have to evacuate the Lionguard and ignite the watchtowers to warn the city.” Klarnite instructed, looking around at the chaos surrounding the small group.

“No. You'll never make it to the beacon with these Risen monstrosities chasing you. We'll have to fight our way back.” Mira began, looking down in frustration. “The Lionguard will make a stand in the courtyard while you go for the tower. Gods willing, the Risen will be too busy fighting us to stop you.”

“Your bravery is commendable, Deputy Mira, but your soldiers cannot survive a protracted battle against this many undead.” Trahearne said with urgency, and Cynoria shook her head.

“It's the duty of every Lionguard to lay down our lives to protect our city. If that's what it takes, that's exactly what we'll do.” Cynoria interjected, looking at Trahearne with sad but determined eyes.

“We'll rally in the courtyard. You light the warning beacons. Now, go!”

Cynoria quickly lept back into battle, cutting down risen as Klarnite and Trahearne made their climb to the beacons. Thick blood coated her armor and face as she fought beside her fellow Lionguard. In her many years of fighting, she had never faced such a battle like this. The risen were relentless and never tired. They clearly had an advantage over the mortal soldiers trying in vain to lessen their numbers. Soon enough, the beacons flared up and Klarnite and Trahearne returned to the courtyard. Everyone began to rally to the courtyard, facing what seemed to be a final stand.

A mighty roar shook the ground beneath them as a winged creature circled the sky. Cynoria watched in awe as the creature made its descent. It crashed into the wall, sending rubble flying around them as it landed.

“One of Zhaitan’s champions…” Trahearne whispered and Cynoria shuddered. She had never seen the Firstborn so afraid, and he was rightfully so. “Everyone get under cover! It breathes corruption!”

Deputy Mira, and many others, cried out in pain as the dragon let out a poisonous breath. Trahearne quickly ran to her side as she writhed in pain. “I can’t see! By Kormir it burns!”

Cynoria made her way to Klarnite’s side, and Trahearne soon joined them. “The dragon’s servants will never let us leave this island. We have to evacuate.” Cynoria stated, growing weary from the fighting.

“The soldiers are too injured, we can’t make a formidable defense and still get everyone aboard.” Klarnite stated and Cynoria shook her head. She fiddled with the pendant once more, and Trahearne stared pointedly at her.

“No.” Trahearne simply said and Cynoria huffed. “I am not letting you.”

“It’s the only way and you know it!” Cynoria shouted at Trahearne. She knew how powerful she could be with the help of her wings. She could form a good distraction and possibly live.

“Get everyone to the docks and close that gate.” Cynoria ordered to Klarnite and Trahearne. Trahearne tried to interject but she silenced him. “Go! This is your only chance. I’ve made up my mind.”

Trahearne swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded to Klarnite defeatedly. He quickly gave Cynoria’s hand a squeeze and whispered, “May the Pale Mother watch over you”.

“Don't worry brother, I’ll join you soon”.

Klarnite shouted the order and everyone made their way to the gates, except for her. Cynoria closed her eyes and clung to the pendant tightly, before ripping the chains from her neck.

Cynoria could feel her wings emerge from her back, breaking out from the back of her armor. She stretched them out to their full capacity, feeling adrenaline starting to pump through her veins.

“Close the gates!” Cynoria shouted, and she could feel the rumble of the gates closing behind her. “It’s showtime”.

Cynoria took off into the air and let a large burst of air fling the risen forces back. She dove into the center of the courtyard, landing with her blades brandished beside her. The hoard of risen stumbled toward her and she swung her blades relentlessly. Her wings let her speed through the risen easily, and she left a trail of death at her wake. Soon, the hoard was just a small gathering. More forces flooded in but she was full of new energy.

Zhaitan’s champion continued it’s relentless attack. Cynoria was able to dodge it as she fought, but the poison became almost too much to bear. Her armor was close to being mere scraps, and she could feel sap pouring down her face. She began her escape to the wall, but an abomination swung her back into the courtyard. Before she knew it, the dragon breathed it’s poison down on her and she used her exposed left arm and wing to shield herself.

Cynoria screamed in pain as the bark and leather began to melt from the poison. Her heart thrummed in her ears as she became weaker. Her eyes bolted to the horizon and she could see the flag of the ship drifting past the island. She knew it was now or never. She discarded her left blade and began to sprint with all her might to the walls of the fortress once more. This time, she dropped into a slide past the abomination. Once she got back up, she went into a full sprint and launched herself off the wall. Despite her muscles screaming at her, she flew towards the ship. Soldiers shouted as they saw her approach, and she could see Trahearne let out a sigh of relief.

Until she crashed aboard the ship.

Multiple soldiers exclaimed in shock and fear at her crumpled form. Cynoria’s left arm was sizzling and unrecognizable. The poison mixed with the sap and created bubbles against the burnt dead bark. Her left wing was in similar shape. Holes dotted the wing, and bones were exposed. Strings of melted leather clung against the rest of the wing and floated against the breeze. Her breathing was labored, and she didn’t dare to look into Trahearne’s eyes as he knelt against her shaking form. She could feel his hands carefully examine her wounds and he screamed for a medic.

She carefully grasped one of his hands with her right hand, squeezing it in reassurance that she was still with him. He crept closer to her, grasping her hand with both of his. She slowly turned her head to look at his pain-stricken eyes.

“You are a madwoman.” Trahearne whispered, his voice cracking as he comforted her.

“But I’m alive...and so is everyone else.” She croaked with a small smile.

“You are going back to the Grove.” Trahearne squeezed her hand once more as a medic finally arrived and began to dress her oozing wounds. They almost seemed to hesitate when addressing her mutilated hand, but soon began cleaning it and dressing as much of it as possible.

Cynoria sighed in relief as the pain started to dull, her breath becoming steady. Soldiers murmured around her as she closed her eyes, her consciousness dipping from exhaustion. Trahearne stroked the vines on her head as she finally fell into a deep slumber.

At least she got her wish. She was going home.

#tw: gore #tw: body horror #tyriaslibrary #tyriaslibraryevent #gw2 #gw2 sylvari #sylvari #Cynoria Thorn

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