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justbelievinginmagic · 1 year ago

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ariadne's thread ⎯ pt. 5: forwards is backwards.

pairing(s): hyunjin x fem!reader, jisung & fem!reader series summary: when tempted by an intoxicating offer by hyunjin the goblin king of the underground, you fight against him to find your own sense of self once more while in his labyrinth. glimpse: With your new fae guide, Han, leading you upwards from the dungeons, you find yourself tangled up in the Gardens of the Labyrinth - will you be able to face the challenges of the twisting courtyards or the ever-present mysteries of your untrustworthy Labyrinth guide? warnings/tags: inspired by the 1986' movie Labyrinth, follows majority of the movie's plot points with lore divergence, 3rd person POV, use of Y/N, mentions of drowning, man-eating plants, bickering, violence, strong language, faerie lore!!, fear, hyunjin isnt present in this chapter but han and yn bonding!! let me know if there needs to be more tags! word count: 6.0k previous chapter <- -> next chapter series masterlist

“So, you know the dungeons pretty well, Han?” the Runner prompted.

The sigh that bubbled out of him was loud. His head lolled back all the way and he shut his jeweled eyes. Drama queen. They’d been walking for only a few minutes and yet the Runner seemed to have a million questions (despite this being her first, to her credit.) Again, Han was dramatic.

But perhaps it was the comfort of having someone by her side officially (with some crossing of fingers that Han was leading her towards the Castle and not to the beginning of the maze) or perhaps the false sunlight above them (that seemed to only grow more and more golden by the minute) that had lifted her mood. The Runner was feeling strangely optimistic. (Maybe it was the adrenaline rush of nearly being skewered by a cleaning machine too. What else could the Labyrinth and the Goblin King throw at her? A beautiful, magical garden apparently.)

Things felt brighter here beneath the Gardens’ rotunda. Both figuratively and literally. No longer were there flickering candles floating high above her or the ever-shifting fire pits in the high watch towers. No more hazy orange-red glows like her entire vision was consumed by a distant field of fire. Here in the Gardens, the light felt natural-ish. If she pretended, it could be a bright summer day in some rich mansion’s estate.

Magic glimmered and kaleidoscoped everywhere. Instead of the rock walls gleaming with magical remnant that shined in the candle light like a child had a field day with iridescent glitter, now the flowers that twisted throughout the well-maintained shrubbery sparkled, making the entire maze look like it was covered in dewdrop (and smell of rose, lavender, and mint.)

Sitting atop the hedges were mythical-looking beast topiaries, towering down over them with berried eyes of cherries, gingko nuts, and mulberries. Sometimes, it felt like they were watching them as they passed under their shadows. She swore she heard one growl as they passed, but all Han did was tut like he was scolding an unhappy lap-dog.

While the previous never-ending paths of the Labyrinth were dry, old, and dusty, there was a heavy humidity in the air here, only encouraged by the false light radiating from the dome above them. The sunlight felt far too strong to be real burned her cheeks and made sweat bead at her forehead. Han had even rolled up his sleeves to his shoulders, giving her a view of his biceps that glimmered with magic remnant and a sheen of sweat.

They had passed by many large courtyards, and each time Han had taken her wrist and led her along muttering ‘no, not that way’ as if she were a child. It had begun to make her roll her eyes and drag her feet. Each of these courtyards held possibilities of new paths, and they were just passing them up.

There were some that held large pond of dancing waters glimmering in the false light. Those blue-shimmering pixies bathed in the waters, chittering and chattering amongst the bubbling spring. They reminded her of mosquitos fluttering around a swamp. Her bite at the junction of her thumb and forefinger itched.

Another courtyard had towering statues of what looked to be chess pieces with big carves faces that made her pause in her step, wondering if they were like the trolls in the oubliette or simply statues of granite? Han didn’t let her linger to find out, simply marching by.

One of the courtyards had gigantic-humanoid dancing flowers, their vines twisting in a nonexistent wind as they moved with magical spores in the air. Their root-like legs bent this way and that as they prowled in a wild thrashing waltz. Han tugged her along quickly then.

Everything was so bright and lively here. Occasionally, she swore she could hear footsteps following them though. Her head was constantly looking back, double checking their path. Was it the King? Was it a creature?

She glanced backwards once more.

Nothing.

Instead of answering her, Han’s head lolled forward and he pouted suddenly: “Why do you keep calling me Han? You’re smart enough to know that was a lie – you heard the King! You know my true name.”

He muttered out dejectedly, crossing his arms as he glowered petulantly. Han hated that the King had used his true name… perhaps that was why he had let out Hyunjin’s name as well. His hand rose to wipe at his forehead with his handkerchief.

“You don’t have to pretend,” he added after a miniscule moment.

“It’s not the name you gave me though,” the Runner argued lightly. “If you don’t want me to know, then I won’t.” She shrugged.

He grumbled in return, pocketing the handkerchief in his pants. Sighing out, she reached out to grab his arm, turning him around to face her. His eyes widened in surprise as they came to a stop – the first stop since they began their trek through the Gardens.

“You didn’t introduce yourself as Jisung,” she told him. “I assumed you didn’t want to be called it – do you wish to be called Jisung by me?”

It was straight-forward and honest – he was surprised. Humans were rarely that way. And she was getting better with how she phrased things. He couldn’t help the pride and surprise tingling up his tail bone.

“I—” his mouth tumbled open, gaping like a fish for a moment. Petite bunny-like teeth shined in the magic-light. “I mean, I said Han before.” He admitted quietly.

She laughed, and he realized two things. One) That he was being foolish, too anxious from being away from the Desert Sea. Two) That he liked her laugh; it was nice to hear rather than her sighs of annoyance and pained yelps. Or her sadness. His lips twitched with a smile.

“You did, so I’ll call you whatever you tell me to call you,” she replied.

It was strange. Most fae folk would jump at the opportunity to know someone’s true name. It held power over that person. Hells, he even used her name with that in mind (even if it seemed to be a mute effort with the ancient magic of the Runner protecting her.) Yet here was this human who was just… shrugging it off. Purposely ignoring his true name for his own comfort.

It wasn’t the fae way.

“Okay. . . “, he mumbled, unconvinced and confused before pouting.

This must be a trick he decided.

“I don’t care what you call me.” He huffed turning away and walking ahead.

“Understood.” She saluted teasingly. “Han.”

The addition of his chosen name made his lightly-pointed ears turn a lavender-blush.

“C’mon, keep up!” he called as finally chose an entry way to turn into. They rounded the corner.

“You still didn’t answer my question,” she complained.

He laughed out loud, the sound chiming in the air like coins being tossed for a bet, and she couldn’t help but smile at it.

They entered a big courtyard after the next couple of turns and twist. The courtyard, if you could even call it that, was overflowing with plant. Huge terracotta vessels of kiln-browned pottery housed large blooms curling out of them. Blooms that had far too many twisting vines that linked and unlinked, twisted and chained into one another, building what was only comparable to a jungle. Creating a web of vinery and stems, wriggling and writhing, they shifted that way and this way like thousands of overlapping snakes. Some of the flowers lunged at one another with a screeching sound so high pitched it made her shoulders raise to her ears reflexively. A sharp pain shot through her head.

There was no way around them – no pathway on the circumference of the room. The only way to get through the patio was to go through the jungle of blooms.

Easy.

“Don’t touch any of the plants here,” Han warned her immediately, jeweled eyes serious as they met hers.

Okay, not so easy.

But at least she knew. If she were alone, she feared she would’ve pushed and shoved her way through. She didn’t know why she couldn’t touch them but she wouldn’t. She had to try to trust Han, after all, he was her only hope in this place.

Squatting, the faerie and the human began to navigate through the jungle of vines. Her hands were tucked close to her sides, observing the purple and red plants as they snarled silently at one another.

They were large blossoms, the size of her head in some cases. Their colors were striking with deep lavenders and blood burgundies. Y/N could tell they were sentient-ish. They waved and twisted and hissed and screeched. If anything, they were like animals she assumed.

But as they passed by, with Han leading the way as he pushed some stray leaves aside for her to wiggle by, the flora grew curious. They loomed closer and closer. She felt some even breathing at her, sniffing at her with interest.

One got close enough that she saw how the redden petals curled and pried itself open to reveal what had to be a mouth of some sorts with rows and rows of sharpened emerald thorn-like teeth ready to devour its prey. Her.

Han’s hand swooped in closer grasping the stem of the red bloom as it lunged at her and tugging it away firmly. She heard a high-pitched wail that made her ears crackle, snap, and pop

“Some of these are man-eating plants.” Han had to say then as he bared his teeth at the flower.

“What about you?” she exclaimed, eyes widening as she watched the encounter. She was waiting for the plant to snap at him at any moment. But all it did was sniff at his wrist, his long fingers still wrapped around the base of the ruby red flower’s stem like he was holding a pup by the scruff of its neck. The blossom nuzzled his arm, almost pleadingly.

“Not a human,” he replied simply before releasing it with a huff. He scratched the bloom’s ‘underbelly’ before passing it.

“What are you?” she retorted, following after him. Dodging a lunging flower, her voice was an octave higher. “You said you weren’t of fae blood,” another flower bared its thorny fangs, “you aren’t of human blood. You look pretty humanistic to me.”

He scoffed as he ducked his head under a collection of vines before rising to stand on the other side of the man-eating jungle of flora.

“Rude.” Han commented. “I look way better than you humans.”

With a hand pushing aside the last remaining vines, he crouched back down on his heels and watched as the Runner crawled away from a rose that had trailed after her with a blooming mouth aching for her rubied blood. Running, she escaped the last flower and stood beside a calm Han, huffing and puffing from her struggles.

She offered a bashful smile. He deadpanned, tugging her up to stand.

“Mind your business. It’s rude to ask a stranger their bloodline.” He added, picking a stray leaf from her hair.

He turned and faced the newest archway of greenery. Hands on his waist, he paused before picking a direction – leftwards.

“We aren’t strangers,” she muttered out.

“We are acquaintances with similar goals,” he complied. “You want to get to the Castle. You have my things. I must follow you to get them back – simple as that.”

She rolled her eyes again as they turned down another path.

“How is it following when you are leading me?”

“How’d you get sucked into being a Runner anyways?” he queried, pushing an unkempt hedge’s greenery out of the path.

“Made a wish while reading a book. I’ve read tales of fae and the Underground since I was a little girl. . . I didn’t know that this would happen.”

“Yeah,” he sighed out through his nose. “Better than wishing away someone on purpose though. That’s what usually happens.” He countered looking at her over his shoulder. “Humankind’s children are bad Runners. We’ve had our fair share of mothers and fathers who have taken up the Challenge too. Not many succeed.”

“That’s sad.” She muttered. Han made a sound of indifference.

Was he wished away? Maybe that was why he was touchy about his bloodline?

“Han, how do you know the Labyrinth so well?” she asked again. “You knew the ins and outs of the dungeons –“

“The oubliette,” he interrupted.

“The oubliette,” she corrected before continuing on,” but you were outside the Labyrinth when we met… seemingly for a while.”

His footsteps slowed as she asked her questions. His eyes turned up to look at the false sunny sky high above them intensely. He stopped completely.

“Han?” she asked after a moment.

His eyes were flickering this way and that. Looking from one painted cloud to the next. Before, he let out a curse in a language she didn’t understand. The word was sharp and cutting – so at the very least she knew it was a swear.

“Sorry, you don’t have to answer if its—”

“No,” he interrupted, shutting his eyes as his head fell back to look forward once more. “Not that. Its—I don’t know where we are.” He admitted through gritted teeth.

“Oh?” Y/N replied simply.

“Yeah,” he hissed out, glancing backwards down the path. He licked his lips before looking back the way they were headed. “Damn.”

“I mean, that’s not too bad,” Y/N admitted with a soft shrug. “I didn’t know which was to go so let’s just keep going.” She walked ahead of him for once since entering the gardens, taking the reins once more.

“There are tricks everywhere,” he countered. He hadn’t walked a single step.

“We can handle it,” she reached a hand out to him, smiling easily. “We have so far. We’re a pretty good team!”

He looked at her outstretched hand before walking past her with a grumble of ‘this is why I never attempted the Labyrinth by myself.’

Interesting. So not a Runner she noted as she followed after Jisung.

Walking together side-by-side, they paused at each corridor of hedges, peering down them together before deciding together. This way, then that way, let’s go right… wait, we’ve been this way – we need to find a different path. Their murmurs were hushed as they worked together.

“To answer your question, I know a lot of the Underground because I live here,” he commented minutes later.

“Does everyone know the King by name?” she queried in reply.

Han’s gaze hardened as he looked over at Y/N.

“No,” he hummed. “Not many do.”

“So, you sound important.”

His eyes nearly bugged out of his skull. Important? When was the last time he felt important, let alone was called important. He wished he could do a spit take it was so humorous.

“You’re kidding me,” he spluttered out.

Her eyes were confused, brows crinkling down over them.

“What?” she asked. “It sounds like you’re important – I don’t know if it’s a good important or bad important. You did know the dungeons inside and out. That troll greeted you like he knew you positively! But the King was not kind to you . . . Were you stuck down there once?” she asked.

Han’s nose turned up. “Remember when I said it was rude to ask about bloodlines, its rude to ask if people were imprisoned, Y/N.” There’s a beat. “And the King is not kind to everyone.”

“You aren’t answering my questions, Han.” She countered.

He huffed. “Yes, I did,” he whined. “I’ve lived here my entire life – which is much longer than your little human life. So, I know places and people and ways and rights and lefts and wrongs and things.”

She rolled her eyes as they followed the path to the right to entered into another courtyard suddenly.

It was empty at first. The sounds of a fountain’s loud spluttering and splashing filled the empty air but like many things in the Labyrinth things were always more than they appeared. One blink and there was a wiry, too-long limbed figure at the lone fountain of the courtyard. Their appearance made the Runner jolt into Jisung, surprisedly. He too jumped back.

The creature in the courtyard was besides a large fountain, embedded into the hedges. It had elaborate tile work making up the fountain’s backing, but also a sculpture acting as the spout. It was a statue of a man, bearded and old, ‘spitting’ into the fountain with puffed-up cheeks. The water spluttered and splattered loudly, churning up large bubbles of soap and suds. Water-soaked stones were green with algae. Black mold crept up the base of the water fountain’s tiles, crawling like thick lichen ‘til it reached the water’s surface. A wicker-basket of darken fabrics bobbed up and down in the roiling waters.

The figure at the water’s edge was boney-thin with long white hair that had a sheen of oil to it as if it hadn’t been washed in days. Her face was gaunt, but she didn’t seem to be an elderly woman somehow despite the sight of her hands. Her hands were wrinkled beyond belief. Leathered and pleated skin around prominent knuckles. They were water-wrinkled and water-logged, purplish and fat, as they plunged into the frothing water of the fountain to scrub at what looked like dark linen pants against a smoothened rock. She shifted and sloshed the water about before grabbing another smooth rock to clank, clank, clank against the pants in the water.

Her own attire – long-flowing skirt of stony grays and marshy greens – were water-soaked and growing fungus along the patterned smock. As she washed, Y/N swore she saw the milky-white water full of soapsuds turn muddy with blood, but in the next blink, it was normal once more.

Jisung leaned in to whisper in the Runner’s ear,” Y/N, do not look away from her.”

She nodded slowly, but her hand reached down to grasp Jisung’s tightly. His rings were cold and pinched at her skin unpleasantly. But they kept her in the present as she heard the woman begin to crow a tune. It was sorrowful and heavy. The bubbling water fountain’s splutter and splatter was an instrument to her tune.

She couldn’t understand the lyrics; they were sung out in a language forgotten by her kind. But she felt it. She could feel the song. Heaviness hung over her slowly but surely. Suffocating her, gravity felt like it clung to her skin, as heavy as the never-ending humidity under the rotunda of the Gardens. She took a deep breath in but it felt like she breathed in soil or water. It felt like she breathed in the song as she was filled with overwhelming sadness. Her lungs ached and burned against her ribs. It felt like someone was leaning against her back with their entire weight, like someone was going to drown her or bury her alive. It was woeful and fearful and sad.

Swallowing, she squeezed Jisung’s hand as they crept forward into the courtyard. His voice was low, lower than the song that the woman cried.

“We can sneak across as long as we-“

“Hello,” Y/N’s voice broke through the mournful melody tumbling out of the fae’s lips.

And like that, the water’s bubbling stopped. The song ceased despite the fae’s mouth remaining open, mid-lyric.

Jisung held her hand tighter, eyes burning and aching to roll – but he kept them on the wench with purpose.

The fae didn’t turn to look. She continued to wash, wash, wash. But the sound of the rock splashing into the water, scrubbing at a stain in the dark fabric, no longer was audible. There was a ringing sound in her ear, distant but ever-present and growing louder and louder until-

“A young woman,” the fae’s voice was dissonate, high and yet low. The tones clashing as they echoed in the oddly quiet air.

Her neck swiveled eerily as she finally looked away from her task, despite her hands continuing to clank the rock against the fabric in a steady beat. Her eyes were a milky white, red rimmed as if she’d been crying. Her face, that Y/N swore was young a moment ago, was strange looking. Wrinkled-cracks of aged skin only was present in the tear tracks down the fae’s cheeks, resulting in her face looking almost like a rippled reflection in a pond. Her opaque eyes looked upon Y/N with little interest; a dead stare. Yet her plumped blue lips pressing into a firm line as she shifted her eerie eyes to Jisung.

“And you.” It was hissed.

Jisung’s smile was bashful, free hand raising to rub at his neck. He wished he could look away.

“Hello,” he breathed, nervously.

“What is a fair maiden doing with the likes of him?” the woman’s voice sounded shrill and sharp, and Y/N noticed that her drowned-lips didn’t match the shape of the words that were spoken. It was as if the words left the fae’s mouth too soon.

“He’s my friend,” Y/N replied. “He’s helping me.”

“Friend,” the creature breathed out, the word sounding like a death rattle.

“Yes, I’ve only just met him, but– please, can you tell–” Jisung squeezed her hand painfully so. “That is-- I have to get to the Castle at the end of this Labyrinth; do you know the way, please?” she rephrased her query.

There was a haunting laugh, dissonant and unfeeling.

“He does not know,” the fae stated. “That is true karma there.”

Jisung winced.

“I—I’m not looking for trouble, please. I am – I’m the Runner,” Y/N said, the title feeling odd against her teeth. But the fae’s milky eyes widened with recognition.

“I’m just trying to return home. That’s all I want.”

The air somehow grew cold as if they were in a marsh rather than a false-lit garden. The hairs on the back of Y/N’s neck stood up and a shudder wracked through her violently.

“Poor maiden,” the fae cooed out. It was strange how that heavy feeling against her back lifted gradually as the fae eyes filled with tears. The bubbling brook’s sputtering gradually rang back into life.

“Y-Yes,” the Runner continued, tongue heavy in her mouth.

The fae gestured for her to come closer with one water-swollen hand. Jisung held her hand tighter, white knuckled with his nails prying into her skin. He bit down on his tongue before he could whimper out her name. Her hand escaped his as Y/N was drawn forward, like she was pulled on a string.

Her eyes hadn’t left the banshee’s – as Jisung warned. As she approached, she could smell the utter stench of stale water, rotten oil, and rotting pine-wood. The creature’s head tilted down as if to instruct her to sit. And she did. There was no fear now – no discord of tones or echoes of the banshee’s voice in her ear as she knelt beside the creature.

The fae continued to wash and wash with one hand; the wicker-basket leaked blood into the cloudy water. The tendons of the fae’s arm looked gaunt. It must hurt and yet her attention was locked on Y/N. Perhaps she needed help.

“Do you need help with that?” Y/N offered, her chin gesturing to the laundry.

The fae’s hand reached out and cupped the human’s cheek. Her hand was spongey as she caressed her cheek but the way the fae brushed her skin was the way a mother would to its child. Soothing, gentle, and kind.

“Sweet maiden, poor maiden,” the fae coddled as she shook her head slowly.

“I’ve seen many young ones snatched away by the Challenge,” the faerie’s words felt less dissonant, growing fuller with each word. In fact, she could almost feel a warmth rounding out the woman’s words. Her eyes were ever-distant as she spoke, staring through Y/N. “None have crossed my path before you – I shall give you the advice I yearned to give their small souls.”

Y/N breathed out in relief: “Thank you, miss.”

The fae hummed out a mournful tune.

“I shall give thee aid with this. The way forwards is sometimes the way back.” She advised. “Quite often, it seems like we aren’t getting anywhere when, in fact,” the hand clashing the rock against the pants ceased with a splash. She lifted the fabric out of the suds, the weave loose and rotting from soaking in the water. She plopped it down onto the stone besides her; water splashing onto Y/N in the process. “We are.”

Swallowing, the Runner nodded, unsure how to use this advice but it felt like this was the better case scenario that could’ve happened.

“I’m not getting anywhere at the moment,” she admitted.

The fae brushed her hair behind her ear, and somehow despite the slimy hand, it felt like her mother brushing her hair when she was a little girl.

“That’s when one must look within,” the fae hummed. “Look within, child.”

She nodded solemnly.

“My favor upon you,” the fae woman croaked as her hand left the Runner’s face and returned to the laundry. “For you. . . and your friend.”

Y/N smiled. Her hands pushing herself up from the cold puddle, her pants now saturated in dark water.

“Alms, if you have any, dear child,” the voice was garbled, and it didn’t come from the banshee, so far as Y/N could tell.

And she’d listen, if Jisung had clawed at her hand like he had. It felt like she had to. Respect was important. She’s seen Hyunjin’s eyes flash into storms at her attitude This woman felt ancient, old and fragile and yet powerful – if Jisung was afraid.

Swallowing, her hands grazed her body, brushing over Jisung’s jewels. She could hear Jisung’s breath hitch behind her before she left the smooth gems. Instead, she fiddled with the ring on her finger. Something she’s had for years, used to pretend to be a princess with as a child. Her mother had many times slid the ring onto her tiny finger and proclaimed her a bride during make-believe. It was costume jewelry – a false emerald framed by a copper metal – that she had started wearing when she found the box of jewelry under her bed. Collecting dust.

Tugging it off, her finger had a ring of green around it from the metal. She offered it to the woman.

“Thank you for your advice,” she thanked. “I can spare this.”

The woman grasped it with both of her water-swollen hands, thumbs brushing over the false gem before dropping it into the waters below. The world whirled to life loudly. Water bubbled; the birds chirped; Jisung huffed far behind them.

“On your way, fair maiden,” the banshee encouraged. “Remember.”

Y/N nodded, backing away and finally peeling her eyes away from the fae and turning away to see Jisung’s stare. A mixture of horror and awe.

“Let’s go, Han,” she whispered, walking towards him, and grabbing his hand solidly. “Let’s go.”

And walked back the way they came.

Her breath was shaky as they finally escaped the fountain’s noises and walked down the path they had walked moments ago. Her face felt damp, water droplets clinging to her skin and sliding down like tears. She wiped at it with the back of her sleeve.

“I don’t know how you did that,” Han breathed out, hand going to push his curls back in shock. His other hand in hers was clammy and wiggly, but nothing compared to the wrinkled, wet hand of the fae. “Do you know what that was?”

Y/N shook her head. “No… I think she didn’t like you.”

“That was a banshee; you’re lucky she didn’t drown you in the water,” he insisted.

“She just seemed sad,” Y/N commented instead.

“I couldn’t hear what she was saying to you after you let go of my hand; what happened?” Han questioned as he sped up to be side-by-side with the Runner, hand dropping hers.

“She gave me advice and her favor.”

Han wowed at her silently, trailing behind her in awe.

“You’re crazy, Y/N,” he muttered. “A human approaching a banshee like that – interrupting her melody,” he tsked deep in his throat. His hands went to his waist as they walked along. “Was her advice to turn back?” he queried sassily.

She looked over her shoulder at the fae, who’s eyes seemed to take her in with a different light. He looked surprised despite his snide comment of turning back.

“Sort of,” she admitted. “It just felt right. Besides, if I’m wrong, I feel like we could pass her if we had to retrace our steps. Now, I’ve got a question for you - how did she know you?” Y/N retorted.

His face fell into that familiar wide-eyed look as if he was caught with his claws in a cookie jar. He looked guilty as he looked aside at the hedge to his right.

“Oh – again, I know people,” he replied casually.

“Mhm,” she hummed unconvinced.

Han purred in his throat, in return.

There was silence for only a fleeting moment before his footsteps hurried forwards until they matched her gait. He was walking backwards now, facing her as he asked, poutful and whiny: “Hey, question from me now: why did you call me that back there?”

Sounds of footsteps behind them made them pause; Jisung’s hand going to her arm as they froze. They paused in their walk. A shift in the winds roared to life, whirling dust into small tornados around their feet. Their hair danced into their eyes, each one reaching up to push the stands aside. The winds died as soon as it came, but the noises didn’t

There was a whispering in the air like the chittering of bugs rubbing their hard-shelled limbs together like violins or the crackling of wood being devoured in a fire pit. Han and Y/N were paused in the middle of a hedge’s path now. A rustling echoed around them like a creature was crawling and hopping between the branches of the shrubbery.

“Y/N,” Han tugged her arm as he tried to track the movement of the brush. The leaves fluttered and rattled as some force pushed its way through the shrubbery. The Runner hushed him, hand sliding to grasp his once more. The duo was quiet for a moment as they looked around their surroundings.

The leaves rustled and shifted around them, whistling, and whispering as they shuddered and shook. It sounded like a windy day; the way trees shift and rub against one another in melodic tunes. Old, crinkled leaves tumbled off dark branches as an opening crackled open in front of them with a groan of birchwood and oak. The vines and leaves writhed as they withered out of the way to form a new archway high above them. Groaning, rattling, trembling leaves. And then silence. A new path was there – ready to be explored.

It was silent once more, and the pair’s eyes rose from the new archway to each other.

“I haven’t seen that happen before,” Han admitted, quietly to her. He understood why Hyunjin was fascinating by her now – why he wanted her. Why he had taken the wish of hers on the stroke of midnight on the highest peak of the moon.

The pair jumped as the hedges trembled again, fluttering almost, but nothing major happened except for their shiver in and out. Like they sighed, inhale and exhale. Exhausted from their efforts.

Leaning forward, Y/N observed the new pathway. It curved and snaked one way unlike the previous pathways they’ve taken where it had gone straight, onwards for forever before they hit a dead end with either a left or a right to be made.

Maybe – the banshee’s advice was right. Maybe going backwards was going forwards sometimes.

Letting go of Han’s hand, the Runner entered the new pathway and, after an anxious pause, Han followed. His fingers played with her bracelet on his wrist as he took a few quick steps to catch up with her. Once inside, the hedges shuddered and grew to fill in the entrance behind them.

The Runner paused, head swiveling only to see the hedges finish closing in their new entranceway.

“Okay, so we’re stuck going this way,” she mumbled before they began to walk once more.

The silence between them could only last so long before she wondered aloud. “I called you what?” she asked as they walked onwards.

The path curved and she swore she could hear footsteps following them for sure. But like before nothing was behind them when she glanced over her shoulder.

“Oh, oh – you called me your friend,” Han replied. The words ‘your friend’ sounded forced as if he had never heard of the term before. It was foreign and strained coming out of his pretty mouth.

“Because you are,” the Runner said simply. Looking over her shoulder at him, she took in his distrustful, anxious form with a snort. He spun the plastic beads around his dainty wrist over and over. She offered him a genuine smile. “You’re my only friend down here, Han.”

Han stuttered in his step, tripping over his feet at her honest words. He’s had enemies, lovers, and allies. He couldn’t remember the last time he had someone to call a friend – except maybe… for him.

He liked it. He missed it. He felt his cheeks burn, and his chest tighten as he looked away from the Runner, who had already focused her gaze back on their new trail.

“Oh. I – I like that,” he whispered out. And he sounded honest. No wittiness to his words, no snark. Just an open sigh of a reply. “I didn’t think we—”

His voice was interrupted by a feral roar that sounded like a mix between a tiger and a bear. Animalistic and angry. Han’s eyes widened to size of saucers as he immediately turned around from their path, running.

“Wait! Han!” Y/N cried out, reaching for the back of his vest like many times before. It escaped her grasp as he squirmed away.

Continuing to walk backwards, hands up in defense, he shook his head back and forth insistently.

“Keep the stuff, I don’t care – I’m not getting torn up by whatever that is!” he argued over the loud rolling growls.

“This path has to be the way – the hedges literally opened up for us,” The Runner argued, trying to grab his arm.

“I don’t care, I’m not walking towards certain death. No banshee’s favor. No human’s sneaky tricks. I’m going back!” Han screeched, evading her hands and slapping at them with wild gestures. When she managed to grasp his arm, he tugged himself away from her with a hiss.

“I’ll find a way out! I’ll claw through the hedges; I’m not going that way!” he cried out. His words were almost overpowered by the growls and screeches.

“You said you’d help!” she yelped out. “I thought we were friends!”

Han was too anxious to even think as he yelped, “No, no, I don’t have any friends – I mean, I --- I can’t I just.. I’m sorry.” He spluttered out as he ran away.

“You coward!” she cried out as he escaped from view. Huffing, she turned back to face the cacophony of growl, grunts, roars, and the occasional yell of ‘Stop it!’ bombarding her from the nearby archway. It was the only way forward.

It sounded monstrous and scary but the Runner couldn’t help but feel in her bones that this was the way. Maybe it was the banshee’s favor or optimism. Glancing up, she could see the Castle, ever in the distance, straight ahead of her. She had only so many hours left and, with the weight of Han’s treasures on her hip, she realized she had to face it alone. Holding her breath, she crept forward.

All she had to do was step into the newest courtyard of danger.

#skz x reader #jisung x reader #han jisung x reader #skz imagines #stray kids x reader #stray kids imagines #hyunjin imagines #hyunjin angst #hyunjin reactions #stray kids scenarios #stray kids fanfic #stray kids fantasy au #han jisung imagines #jisung imagines #jisung reactions #han jisung reactions #jisung angst #han jisung angst

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hope-hopefully-writes · 8 months ago

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Writeblr Re-Reintroduction

To pull off the riff from Spiderverse, alright folks let’s do this one more time.

About Me

I’m Hope! She/They/He, Canadian and in my 20’s

My main is @hopeeternia so I’ll be liking and following from there

I have been writing on and off for over a decade, have I actually finished anything? Next question!

I’ve been loosely active here for about 4 years or so.

I like Magical Girls, JRPG’s, reading (fantasy and urban fantasy and a bit of sci-fi is my comfort zones), listening to art videos and making plenty of playlists only to stop listening to them after a while and never deleting them.

I finished a library technician course! It was a fun course and I’m excited to get into the field… let’s hope the job market and lady luck all works out in my favour.

Don’t ask me about my tbr, I have so much on that list it’s not even funny anymore. I’ll maybe shove a link here to a list I’ll make in the future.

I’m also an artist! I’ll probably present some of my art related to my wips here from time to time.

Genres I write in tend to lean fantasy, be it urban or high or second world, with some sci-fi elements. Supernatural beings are also included and expect the influences of what I like to be present. Queer elements are a feature and will be present in some way.

I'm up for some tag games, just don't expect me to respond to them right away.

I’ll mostly be reblogging stuff here, I do have some wips and will be properly presenting them in the future, here’s some sneak peaks under the cut!

Works In Progress

Departure of Blood

With the passing of her mother, Rosalie Mills travels to Duskbell Port to be with her siblings and drag them back home to properly mourn their parents. But when she arrives, the city is soon engulfed in serial murders and her siblings are too occupied to give her the time of day. To get their attention, she decides to independently solve this mystery, only to gain the attention of other individuals with either similar or much different goals. Be careful where one looks, it might come back to bite you, literally.

Last year, I wrote this drabble about Rosalie leaving her hometown on a train. This year, I'm expanding it to hopefully try to write a novel? I have too many projects but I'm determined to at least write 10000 words of this one in November 2024. Family Drama, Drama in the City, Relationship Drama, Murder Mystery, vaguely turn of the 1900's inspired and Vampires. The tag is #wip: Departure of Blood or #wip: DoB

To Pierce the Sun’s Veil

Junie’s life has changed since her mother went missing, and it’s about to change again. Her search for her mother has gone nowhere and on the day she gets caught up in an incursion from across the Veil, a new path emerges. A deal with a fae called Iris allows her to transform into the Veiled Hero, Violet Sun. The problem? The fae are the ones behind the incursions. Now she has to work with a team while keeping her deal secret as she tries to accomplish both sides of the deal.

This started out as an idea of retelling Rapunzel but as magical girls, it has evolved since then but the initial inspiration is still somewhat there. The name may change at some point though. Name shenanigans are abound, as there are True Names and Public Names, as well as Veiled Names (this last one is specifically for Veiled Heroes). Urban Fantasy that holds inspiration from the magical girl shows I’ve watched growing up, featuring 18 to 20 somethings figuring out adjusting to adulthood on top of the magical fights. This is a story that has the potential to branch off into other stories for sure. It’s tag is #wip: To Pierce the Sun’s Veil or #wip: TPtSV

The World of Astral Rezellia

Adva Helio only wishes to find those she cares about and get away from the conflict that’s slowly enveloping the nations of Astral Rezellia. Yet as she finds one, she loses another and is forced to flee to find new allies and is forced into the very conflict she would rather not get that involved in.

Previous names include, The Nameless Constellation, Academy of Stars and Astral Sanctuary Academy. A fantasy story very much initially started out of spite towards Fate The Winx Saga’s choices and very much transformed into its own thing inspired more by a general love for the kinds of adventures found in JRPG’s. It’s on the back burner though as I go through yet another rework of things. It’s tag is #wip: Astral Rezellia or #wip: TWoAR

I also write fanfics, but I won’t be sharing them all that much except for some pieces of writing that I’m really proud of. They will be tagged #fanfic wip: [title of story] or #fanfic

And any of my older wips that I’m not working on will be tagged in a fashion like #old wip: [title of story] or #old story

#writeblr introduction #writeblr intro #writeblr #writeblr community

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kiwikipedia · 2 years ago

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after 5+ years of playing FGO, I finally started making the Mastersonas that plague my brain so here’s the first one~

Gelasia Kalliope

Also called “Gelly” by those close to her, Gelasia Kalliope was one of the original 48 Masters chosen by Chaldea with an affinity towards Earth and Water elements of Magecraft.

While she had been present during the attack on Chaldea, she didn't suffer major injuries and was back on her feet by the time the second singularity rolled around, though this could be more because of her demi-human status, as she seems to be connected to the Hound-like Faeries of Tír na nÓg.

Gelasia is known for being laid back and kind, preferring to talk down someone rather than resort to violence, but not at all passive in a fight. Her reasons for joining up with Chaldea are unknown, stating that she did so on a whim, but she doesn't seem to have joined with the expectations of having an easy time.

The Servant she was supposed to summon upon arriving in Singularity F was the Rider, Saint Georgios, which she successfully did after she was fully healed from her injuries. He, along with the Lancer Li Shuwen and Saber Altera made up her primary team for a majority of the singularities— post Altera and Li Shuwen’s introduction singularities respectively. During the Epic of Remnant, the addition of Hessian-Lobo was added to the team as well and seems to get along fine with them.

Gelaisa Kalliope seems to have a close relationship with her fellow Master Candidate, Adeline von Hel, which many found odd due to their contrasting personalities— though this is something she seems to find odd. She also is known to be a bit frightening to some, as she told Fujimaru that they "would be dealt with if" Mashu died because of them, so it seems as if she likes Mashu a decent amount in that case. She has the bite to back her words.

Kalliope had no real opinion on the Original Team A, though did state that it was a loss when asked about their deaths by the Mages Association.

As a “Fae-Hound” demi-human, Kalliope is able to pick up on both magecraft and magical traces more easily, along with the ability to turn into a large canine if the time calls for it. She states her heterochromia is due to this, though the green and blue eyes can be hard to see behind her sunglasses that she wears pretty much all the time.

Taglist and separate portraits below

Gelasia is also known and Georgios talk photography together a decent amount. Its how they bond and also over food.

Altera mostly caught Gelly’s attention by way of her sword, but they get along well since she took time to understand Altera as well.

Li Shwuen is the Enabled to Gelasia’s Enabler, he can say something like “im going to go fight god’ and she’ll be like “oh sweet get in a few punches for me” and that’s that. They like to just chat about random things too, though

All three of the humanoids definitely get their hair played with and braided though.

Lobo and Gelasia were mostly drawn to one another by way of their canine-origin, as Lobo is literally a wolf and recognized Gelasia as more “Dog” than “human”. Hessian and her exchange sign language phrases, as Gelasia knows a bit of German Sign but a lot of American Sign due to her sister

Taglist (Lmk if you no longer want to be tagged since this isnt SW art anymore):

@jedifisto @spaceydragons @purgetrooperfox @spacerocksarethebestrocks @insanelytomato @maulpunk @certified-anakinfucker @d3epfriedanger @genifer-first-of-her-name @thecodyagenda @babygirl-leon-kennedy @txtalnyx @jawajawas

Taglist Form or feel free to ask me to get tagged (just DM!)

#Gelasia Kalliope (Kiwi OCs)#FGO Mastersona #FGO Master OC #penguinkiwi ocs #Li Shuwen #Altera #hessian lobo #st. Georgios #fgo st georios #st george #fgo #fate/grand order #fate go #Fate grand order #fate #fate OC #Penguinkiwi Creates

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elrielbliss · 3 years ago

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I posted 3,093 times in 2022

That's 3,093 more posts than 2021!

666 posts created (22%)

2,427 posts reblogged (78%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@azriel-shadowsinger

@nikethestatue

@ofduskcourts

@sapaul

I tagged 1,198 of my posts in 2022

#elriel - 132 posts

#elain - 124 posts

#asks - 46 posts

#elain archeron - 41 posts

#pro elriel - 32 posts

#mypost - 31 posts

#azriel - 21 posts

#pro elain - 21 posts

#lol - 21 posts

#azriel shadowsinger - 17 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#no bc a tik toker literally posted her lightsinger theory and they were eating it up but if an elriel had posted it they would have attacke

My Top Posts in 2022:

164 notes - Posted June 2, 2022

when azriel defended elain at dinner in acofas, he earned a grateful smile from elain. that's when feyre noted, "but something in me eased at the laughter, at the light that returned to elain's eyes." "a light i wouldn't see dimmed further"

164 notes - Posted September 26, 2022

Koschei's Deal with Papa Archeron

As of now, we all believe Lucien is mates with Elain. When Elain came out of the cauldron, Lucien declared that she was his mate. How did this come to happen? How did the bond snap this quickly within basically their first interaction - when with other mates we see it takes more time for the bond to snap. Let’s discuss.

Something interesting is that as soon as Elain came out from the cauldron, Feyre states, “And for a moment, all I could think of was my father. What he would do, what he would say, when his most beloved daughter looked at him with a Fae face.” And what exactly would Papa Archreon say or do?

At this point in the book we know Papa Archeron has not been with his daughters for months because he remains in the human lands doing who knows what, or as they thought. So it’s rather interesting that Elain goes into the cauldron, and this is the first thing Feyre thinks? Did SJM intentionally put in this line because her father did do something related to her becoming Fae?

The next time we see Papa Archeron is in ACOWAR during the war when he comes with his ships, an army, and Vassa. We learn he’s been rather busy during these last couple of months. When Feyre asks who discovered Vassa, Drakon answers with

““He calls himself the Prince of Merchants,” Drakon said. “Apparently, he discovered the human queens were traitors months ago, and has been gathering an independent human army to face Hybern ever since. He managed to find Queen Vassa—and together they rallied this army.” Drakon shrugged. “He told me that he’s got three daughters who live here. And that he failed them for many years. But he would not fail them this time.”

He discovered the human queens were traitors months ago? He found Vassa and was building this army for months? Could it be possible that Papa Archeron discovered Vassa way before Elain had a vision about her? Maybe even before Elain and Nesta went into the cauldron?

According to Lucien in ACOWAR, he learned Papa Arch made a deal.

““But your father, ever the negotiator..” A sad, small smile towards that burnt grass. “He managed to cut a deal with Vassa’s keeper to come here” “Nasty curse”

Vassa’s keeper? This would imply Lucien is talking about Koschei. Papa Archeron surely would have made a huge trade to temporarily free Vassa. I mean he’s this powerful death God, and Papa Archeron is just a human who has nothing of value to offer…….besides his three daughters.

Now before I go into what I think the deal involves, I will say I don’t believe Lucien was present during this deal. The book says that Lucien met up with Papa Arch and Vassa later on,

“Who?” Drakon’s brows narrowed. “Oh, the male with the eye. No. He met up with them later on—told them where to go.

Lucien knows there’s a deal because Papa Archeron probably told him there was one that happened in order to free Vassa. I mean anyone would have been curious as to how Papa Arch got Koschei to agree to temporarily free Vassa, his most prized possession.

Now let’s go back to what the deal was. Could Koschei have been seeking something of equal value to Vassa? There was clearly something Koschei seeked in the first place - I mean this is a powerful Death God. What could he want from Papa Arch? I don’t have an exact answer on this one, but I have multiple guesses. Did Papa Arch trade Elain herself? After discussing it with @.rhysdanaan on Twitter, they brought up a good point of what if Koschei wanted Elain’s true love? Listen Koschei is an evil guy, and I think he could have easily twisted his words to Papa Arch making the deal come off as good, when in reality it wasn’t. It then led me to my conclusion that Koschei could have told Papa Arch that he could promise Elain true love. Mother Archeron did say, “Elain will wed for love and beauty” And maybe.. Just maybe Papa Archeron believed him and thought Koschei could fulfill this and seemed like an easy enough trade to free Vassa.

I started to think about the reasons why Papa Arch went off and got his army and freed Vassa in the first place. And that’s because he wanted to be redeemed as a parent in the eyes of his daughters. He is doing this all for his daughters.

We don’t exactly know Papa Arch views on Graysen, but maybe it wasn’t favorable especially knowing Graysen hates faes. Did Koschei know in that moment, Elain’s true mate was Azriel? We don’t have a lot of information about these two, but they are connected by some things like the shadows, death, and the wind. Could this be another way Koschei is luring Azriel to him? Or could this just have worked out in Koschei’s favor?

But still if Koschei didn’t know Azriel would be connected to Elain in that moment, Koschei still would have had other purpose involving Vassa. In a way, it makes sense that Koschei could be like Maeve from Throne of Glass series. SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ TOG: Maeve had known all along that Rowan and Aelin were mates, but she still created a fake bond for Rowan to be involved with another woman, who he thought was his real mate for many years. TOG and ACOTAR exist in the same mega-verse, meaning it is possible that the mating bond can be faked. If Maeve knew who his true mate was ahead of time, that could mean Koschei could know too. Especially if Maeve and Koschei are connected in some other way..

If Koschei did know Vassa’s true mate, which I’m assuming he did, he would have known it was Lucien. Koscehi obviously would not want Lucien to know his mate was Vassa. Therefore, he saw the opportunity to pair Elain with Lucien so he could keep Vassa to himself and to keep the curse on her. Koschei could have activated the spell when Elain went into the cauldron himself, or he could have gotten help from the three queens who sold Vassa to him. Either way, the mating bond spell with Elain and Lucien activated as soon as she turned fae, which is why Lucien realized so quickly compared to other mates. The spell had been activated.

Why else would Koschei need Lucien away from Vassa? Well because he’s the only one able to break her curse. SJM LOVES Russian folktales and she obviously took inspiration from Swan Lake. In the tale the “swan” (Vassa = firebird) has a curse and it can only be broken by true love. However in the tale her master (the master being Koschei) disguised another woman so he could fall in love with her instead. The man in the tale confesses his love to the wrong woman, and the swan dies. This sounds VERY similar to what happened here - Koschei disguised another woman, Elain, to be Lucien’s mate so he could fall for her and NOT Vassa, so that her curse cannot be broken. Feyre and Helion (a man skilled in curse breaking magic) both tried to break her curse - but failed. Which means, it’s very likely the only way to break her curse is with true love. And coincidentally as we’re heading into ACTOAR5, presumably Elain’s book, Vassa’s time being free is almost up. We are going to have to deal with this mating bond mess in the next book.

The line “What if the cauldron was wrong” was not added in the book for nothing. Especially because it was asked twice by both Feyre and Azriel. Clearly, it will be important and all revealed in Elain’s book.

Why is it Azriel is the only one bothered by the Elain/Lucien mating smell? Why does it seem like he’s the only one able to smell it? Why is it that Azriel has only ever given his truthteller to Elain to use? Why is it he risked his life to enter Hybren’s camp to save Elain? Why is it that there are so many unspoken words between these two? Why does Azriel have this urge to protect Elain from danger? Why is it Elain was the one to get him over Mor for the first time in 500 years? Why was it that both Elain and Azriel were both willing to risk getting caught by Lucien to finally be together? Why is it Azriel was so angry and filled with rage that Rhys forbid him to stay away from Elain?

It’s all because Elain and Azriel are really each other’s mates.

If anyone has anything too add, please to do so!!

166 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

i just can't stop thinking about all these pictures that were on sjm's pinterest board apparently in march - august 2021 (when i feel like she was writing elain's book)

See the full post

176 notes - Posted May 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

How is that in ACOWAR, Lucien had to question if Elain's worth fighting for, his own mate?

"I want to see her [Elain]. Just once. Just—to know.” “To know what?” He hitched my damp cloak higher around us. “If she is worth fighting for.”

Meanwhile in that same book, Azriel who doesn't believe he's mated to Elain, didn't even hesitate. Azriel knows Elain is worth fighting for.

From the shadows near the entrance to the tent, Azriel said, as if in answer to some unspoken debate, “I’m getting her back.” Nesta said, “Then you will die.” Azriel only repeated, rage glazing that stare, “I’m getting her back.”

229 notes - Posted October 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #not the 666 posts #my top posts are a mess #who is shocked that me an elriel blog has all elriel tags

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whimsicallyreading · 4 years ago

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The Answer is Love

“You rescued me when my mind was a prison. You set me free when no one else would listen. Now I finally feel complete, and I will follow you into the sea of eternity-” Broadside

-Crescent City AHOEAB dribbles because I love these two idiots <3 Prompts are currently open.

CW- Pure fluff only

Ear Ache-

Bryce woke up knowing the day would be terrible.

Pain stabbed through her skull like shards of glass through the soft flesh of her brain. She felt cold but knew her skin would be hot to the touch. Every little noise sent lashes of pain through her ears that ripped and tore until all she wanted to do was curl into a ball on her bed and cry.

She had an ear infection.

A common condition that put could put most fae out for days. Even a half-breed like her. Their ears were sensitive on an average day, like delicate instruments, they picked up the slightest sounds and caught the faintest melodies. They also required a lot of care. Tiny pains that would only pose a sight nuisance to most creatures could send a fae soldier to their knees.

Bryce had only suffered through this a couple of times in her life. Once when she was a toddler and her mother had just met Randall. When Ember couldn't console her crying child and was on the brink of an exhausted mother meltdown, Randall swooped in and saved the day. He'd laid her over his shoulder and massaged the insides of her ears. A trick he'd learned in Pangera to soothe fae children whose sensitive hearing became shot from the explosives.

It could put Bryce to sleep in minutes, and Randall still bragged to the present day. Not that she complained. Even as a teenager with school-induced migraines, she would lay her head in his lap, and just the comfort of it could ease the ache in her head...and her heart.

Bryce wished he was here now as she smothered her head under a pillow to block out the hum of the firstlights. Pain. Shattering, consuming pain.

"Bryce, are you awake?" Hunt knocked on her door.

Damn his knocking. Bang. Bang. Bang. Her eyes watered, and tears poured down her face. Bryce would holler for him to please shut up if the sound of her blood rushing through her head wasn't bothering her.

"Bryce?" The door creaked open. She'd put off oiling the hinges. Squeel, Squeak, Scratch.

She sobs quietly.

A feather-soft touch brushes against her cheek. "Tell me what's wrong, Sweetheart."

His warm voice that would typically send chills down her spine makes her body quake in a not so pleasurable way. Bryce doesn't dare reach up to touch the source of her pain for fear they may suddenly erupt. Thankfully, Hunt notices her flinch. His eyes crawl up her figure, scouring her for illness or injury.

"My ears," she mouthes to him.

Hunt's eyes shine with sympathy. He picks up Bryce's phone from her bedside table and shines the light on bright down into them. His eyes squint, and he examines them with as much care as a medwitch.

Frowning at whatever he discovers, Hunt makes his way out of the room with all the quietness of the Umbra Mortis. When he comes back, he has a long, heating compress in his hands. One that Bryce used to wrap around her thigh on bad days when she still had the venom from the kristallos clinging to the bone.

Gently guiding her into a sitting position, Hunt squeezes himself behind her so that her back is flush to his chest. He takes the heating compress, lays it across his front, and then carefully positions Bryce's head, so one ear lays against the warmth.

A large, scarred hand appears at her mouth and slips a tablet between her lips, followed by an icy drink of water. A softly hummed melody vibrates the side of her face, soft enough not to disturb her ears. The rhythm is low and soothing, making Bryce's eyes droop in content.

A warm finger massages the ear that faces away from him, helping release the pressure building up inside it. Relief wells up in Bryce so strongly that a breathy sigh escapes her lips.

Soon, she is blissfully asleep in a cocoon of soft velvet feathers.

When she wakes, it's late in the afternoon. The fading sunlight forms a warm pool on the floor where Syrinx is curled up happily. Bryce nestles her head against the hard pillow of Hunt's impressive pecs. Cracking her eyes, she sees a pair of shoes that are not his at the bedside.

"Ruhn?" Bryce's voice is barely a whisper to keep from agitating her own ears.

He looks a little too smug at their position and waves a small dropper and bottle in her face. "Hunt texted me that you would need this," Rhun said, matching her volume, keeping his voice soft. "Also, I fed Syrinx. You're welcome. He was nearly about to break in here and bite your ass."

Bryce laughed, then winced at the spike of pressure throbbing in her ears. The motion of which causes Hunt to stir beneath her.

Rhun looks at her in sympathy. "Come on. I'll help you put the drops in."

Careful not to wake Hunt, Rhun grabs her under the arms and moves her to the foot of the bed. Tilting her head, Bryce allows him to drip the correct number of droplets in each ear.

The relief is swift as the throbbing subsides to a dull ache. "That's some powerful stuff."

A shift of the bed, Hunt's eyes open, and he quickly takes in her state and the number of people in the room. Of course, he wouldn't be able to sleep through the invasion of their shared space, even if it was just her brother—insufferable males. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart. I meant to wake you before Ruhn got here, but I dozed off."

He sits up and gathers her in his arms once more. Bryce is more than content to comply, his warm body like a drug to her too-cold skin.

Hunt lets her nuzzle her face into his neck as he gives Ruhn a predatory look over the top of her head. "You can go now."

"I literally just got here," her brother complains, brows furrowed in annoyance.

Hunt leans back with Bryce in his arms, combing a hand through her wine-dark hair. "You could have just called up and given me the drops downstairs, but you showed yourself inside. "You've brought me the medicine, and now you've overstayed your welcome. Your sister is very sick. Not fit for company."

Bryce could swear the testosterone was flying in the air like sparks as they got into a silent pissing contest with one another.f

Grumbling, Ruhn finally concedes and bids her goodbye. Cursing out Hunt for his lack of appreciation as he shows himself out the door.

"There. All better. Now we can watch Lunathion Lover's Lockdown without judgment. It's a new episode." She looks up at Hunt to find him mischievously grinning down at her. "We can make popcorn."

"Popcorn and Trash TV?" Bryce murmurs. "You really know the way to my heart, Athalar."

Hunt moves her to the couch and buries her in a mound of blankets. After coffee, popcorn, and several hours of mind-numbing reality shows- albeit at a barely audible volume- Bryce felt leagues better.

Later on, after Hunt had gone to take a shower, she opens her messages to see Ruhn had texted to check on her. Juniper had dm-ed her and offered to bring food by for both of them. And she had missed calls from her mother that Bryce decided she would get back to later.

Bryce's heart swelled. It had been a long time since she felt so loved. Many things had changed, and just maybe, they were finally for the better.

Lemme know if you would like to be added to a tag list!

Prompts for this fic are OPEN :) DM them or feel free to send them through the ask feature. I love hearing from everybody!

#crescent city #bryce quinlan #hunt athalar #hunt and bryce #fluff #drabble

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anyoneseenadam · 4 years ago

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Home: chapter one

azriel x reader (acotar)

summary: (y/n) is a daughter of Persephone, still recovering from the trauma of her fall into Tartarus and doesn’t have time for a stupid, handsome, annoying, stunning, injured man. But now they’re stuck together in the middle of nowhere and there only chance of getting home is if she can heal him, and fast.

warnings: big spoilers for mark of Athena and house of Hades, also some for the acotar series, eventual smut, blood, PTSD, graphic descriptions of violence, injuries and torture, enemies to lovers so az is a bit of a dick to start, swearing

word count: 2.8k

a/n: this is the first proper fic I have written in so so so long and i’m legit nervous to post it so pls be nice, plus feedback is always appreciated. there are more parts to come, I’m not sure how many yet but i’m going to try post regularly! message me if you wanna be tagged and i’m gonna try figure out how to make a masterlist :)

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The view from your window was beautiful yet haunting. Your eyes roamed over countless wildflowers, yet your stare would linger on a poppy or a Red Admiral butterfly and you were back there. You were tied down and crying, body and brain equally numb until another searing lash stripped your back of flesh, white-hot pain rushing through your body and forcing an involuntary cry to tear from your lips.

You quickly stood, wiping your hands down your skirt in an attempt to quell the memories surfacing, the ones you had desperately tried to supress since you had fallen. You quickly moved, all but running to the bathroom, needing to do something, anything, so long as it got you out of your head. You stopped when you caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, looking exactly as you felt. The dark circles under your eyes from nights spent with hot tears flowing freely down your cheeks and into your hair and ears made you look ghostly, paired with the dull tone your skin had taken on, losing its natural glow. You looked as empty as you felt, a shell of the person you once were.

Tears welled in your eyes, but you quickly moved away, instead walking to the kitchen, the nausea from not eating overcoming you, yet the thought of eating just made you more nauseous. You found an apple at the bottom of a practically empty fridge and cleaned it softly, then used a blade to cut it into four, forcing it down, repeating the benefits it gave your body as you went, the basic information you had learned in your high school biology class, using the information to push through the sick feeling residing in your stomach, and instead focusing on the energy you desperately needed.

Your gaze drifted to the ajar door that led to your expansive garden, the cottage you lived in itself was small, but your garden was your pride and joy, your power sifting through all the plants in it, bringing them to life in ways of indescribable beauty, nearby animals coming to exist in harmony, safe under the care of their protector. But recently the usual vibrancy of the garden was dimming, the grass turning yellow and the plants wilting. There were no deer napping under bushes and barely any birds taking full advantage of the seed you laid out for them. You pushed past the door and into the garden, the plants brightening as you trailed your hands over their leaves. You found your favourite spot to sit in and dragged your fingers through the grass, smiling despite yourself as it visibly perked up, turning greener instantly. Your gaze trailed to a ruby throated hummingbird that had landed on the special feeder you left out for them, your breath hitching at the red colour, mind instantly returning to the dark, unable to tear your eyes away from the innocent bird.

The first thing you remember seeing was red, red water flowing like blood, red rocks beneath your bent knees, and your skin tinted red from dried blood seeping out of the wounds the chains around your wrists had inflicted on you. You sought to remember where you were, your mind drifting back to how you clung to Annabeth, your stomach aching from what must have been a broken rib, even as she was roughly pulled backwards, even as Percy desperately grabbed her, falling over the edge too, not quite reaching Nico’s shaking hand as he desperately tried to save you. You remembered been torn from their grip during the fall, a Fury hoping for a demi-god it could pick apart, you remember Annabeth screaming they would save you. But you don’t remember landing here, and you don’t remember the chains being attached to your wrists and ankles, or your shirt being removed, a choice you decided couldn’t mean anything good. However, you knew you would never forget the dark chuckle you heard behind you. Or the colour red.

Azriel didn’t know where he was. He knew he wasn’t in his world at least, but that was as far as his knowledge went. He was simply tired after a long mission far away from Velaris and his family and had tried to travel through the shadows to his home. Yet here he was, farther away from home than he had ever been and absolutely exhausted. He stepped out of his shadows and had to blink as the tallest buildings he had ever seen came into view. He absentmindedly took a step forward, then another until he was roughly shoved into, a man with a thick accent he couldn’t place swearing at him. His head whipping around as he got his bearings and moved to follow the direction more people than he could believe were walking until the crowd thinned out.

With less people present he slowed his pace, hands drifting to his pockets when civilians stared, old insecurities that never really left him rising to the surface, and instead took the time to admire the strange world he was in. the fashion in this new world was vastly different to his own, groups of girls congregating in tiny shorts and tight tops, next to groups in which there were girls in all black and boys in skirts. There were men and women dressed sharply talking quickly to no-one in particular, with hands pressed to their ears, there were people in rags begging for money and there were people dressed in ways he couldn’t even fathom to understand. By the time he reached the end of the street he was sure he had seen everything, and walked onto a more recognisable street, one with smaller buildings, unlike the magnificent glass structures, made from stone and wood and with friendlier faces behind stalls filled with food he recognized along with food he had never seen before.

He made his way through the market, losing track of time, the initial anxiety he felt seeping away, if he got here, he could easily return home, right? Instead, he chose to focus on the culture of this new world, determined to tell his family of the wonder he had uncovered, faintly hearing different languages from people’s conversation, and music coming from the open window of what he presumed was a coffee shop. He distantly wondered if they could see his wings, as no-one eyes lingered the way he had grown used to, in fact it seemed they couldn’t look at them, he presumed humans in this world simply had a natural glamour preventing them from seeing fae, that being said however, no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t spot another fae.

Eventually he reached the end of the street and decided he should return home now in order to stop his family from worrying, searching for a shadowed alley so as to not draw to much unwanted attention to himself. He walked to an alley that he decided would do the trick, excited to share this adventure with his family, but stopped short when he came face to face with a girl in a short skirt with incredibly pale skin and fire-like hair leaning over a passed-out man, sucking blood from his neck. She looked up when he approached and he saw that her hair was not just fire-like but literally fire, and her eyes were glowing red, and angry. More alike her then came out of the shadows, he quickly counted six, sighing as he pulled Truth-teller out of its sheath.

Shit. I am not in the mood for this.

You strolled through your favourite farmers market in NYC, the colours that filled the stalls always bringing some cheer back into your life, along with the thought of home-made meals and your practically overflowing basket, filled with fruit, vegetables, bread, and other necessities, but not meat, not since the animals started speaking to you when you first arrived at camp, and nothing red, you still couldn’t face that.

You made a quick stop at your favourite coffee place, opting to get your drink to go, only making polite conversation when you had to, and smiling through any other interaction. You were soon ready to leave, basket and dusty blue corduroy jacket slung over one arm, cup in that hand and your phone that the Hephaestus cabin had adapted in the other, when you heard pained grunts and the cackle of a monster you wished you could just forget already from a nearby alley.

You gave a pained sigh, looking longingly at your coffee before chugging it and throwing the cup in a nearby bin, making your way over to the alley. When you got there, you saw an unnaturally dark alley filled with a gaggle of Empousa surrounding a tall, winged man who was fighting incredibly well but clearly hadn’t gotten the celestial bronze memo, as his blade was defective.

“Long time no see ladies” you said, smirking at the growls that tore from the back of their throats as they tore around to stare at you, recognition in their horrifyingly red eyes. “What no hugs, no happy reunions?”

“You.” The middle one snarled, lunging forward, only to be cut down by the thick, green vine you had grown, intertwined with strands of celestial bronze you kept wrapped around your wrists disguised as thin, looping bracelets, and exploding into dust which you nonchalantly wiped from your shoulder.

“Whose next,” you laughed as three of them leaped at you, two staying behind and keeping the winged man, who had taken to staring at you with an unreadable expression, occupied. You destroyed them quickly enough to see the man falter as one of the Empousa force their talon like nails into his side, twisting it and pulling it out. You rolled your eyes, moving to pick up his slack, wrapping the vine around its neck and pulling until it exploded into the fine dust. The man was on the floor now, clutching his side, as you stalked forward to the final monster.

“You know I really just wanted a chill day,” you complained,

“I remember you,” it hissed, smiling at you with razor sharp teeth.

You fought a shudder and forced the memories down, “I’m glad I made an impression.”

“They want you back you know, we never got to finish playing.”

You snarled and went to move, but it was too fast, and you realised your mistake in waiting too long as it released a piercing cry that must have notified monsters from miles away, “shit,” you muttered under your breath, killing it quickly and moving to the winged man’s side.

“Hey, any chance those wings are good at flying,” you asked, “cause we’re about to be swarmed and I really just wanna get home.” You put his arm over your shoulders and dragged him up, grunting under his weight.

“I-it, poison.” Was all he said, fully leaning on you.

“Shit, okay um,” you racked your brain for an idea, furrowing your brows when you saw monsters start coming around the corner, eyeing you like their favourite toy. The man looked up from beneath his thick, dark hair before cursing and tightening his grip on your shoulder.

“Just hold on,” he said,

“What? Wait no!” you shouted, clinging to his arm as suddenly you were engulfed in darkness, only to suddenly be blinded by bright, hot light, forcing your eyes closed.

When you opened them again, you were on a sandy beach facing an impossibly blue ocean. Your mouth fell open and you turned to ask the man some questions, (or yell at him you were yet to decide) just in time to watch him collapse, falling onto the sand with a soft thud, red blood steadily flowing out of his side, the blood draining from your face at the sight.

Shit.

You stared down at the man in disbelief for at least two minutes. He can shadow-travel. Is he a son of Hades? Gods know I don’t need another step sibling. Also, where the fuck am I? Why a beach? Is it LA? I might marry him if it’s LA. A million thoughts raced through your head as you stared at him, guessing that the unnatural darkness you saw before must have come from the shadows you could now see were surrounding him, protecting him from the light and, when you moved closer, you. From what you could see, he was handsome, if not slightly dead looking, thick, dark hair and a lean, muscular build. Wait dead looking? You cursed jumping into action, checking his pulse, relieved when you found it, before moving to his side using the knife you kept tucked into your boot to hack through the leathers he was wearing in order to reveal the gash.

It wasn’t wide but seemed deep as it was gushing dark red blood, you blanched and screwed your eyes shut at the sight, fighting the memories of your own dark red blood. You opened your eyes purposefully not looking at the cut as you used his torn leathers to put pressure on the cut and start dragging him up the beach to an area you could grow the thin vines you would need as makeshift stitches.

Azriel woke to an extreme discomfort in his side, in a place he didn’t recognise. He pushed up into a sitting position, wincing at the reminder of his wound, and looked around, finding himself shirtless, surrounded by trees on a sandy floor. A girl was sitting cross-legged, staring- no- glaring at him and he felt himself return a confused expression, vaguely remembering her as the girl that had killed the monsters that he could have sworn were completely invulnerable.

“What are you?” She asked suddenly, her bluntness taking him by surprise, but before he could answer she continued, “I mean I’m presuming you’re some sort of child of Hades, given you shadow travelled, but I don’t understand what else, cause you’re defo not part human?”

“Hades?” he asked, frowning at the words he didn’t understand.

“Yeah?” she asked slowly, raising her eyebrows at him as if it was something obvious.

He scoffed, “I don’t need to tell you anything.”

“Oh, is that so? No thank you or anything? I mean it’s not like I saved your life and I mean least of all I would expect an apology.” She was rambling as she stared at him in disbelief.

“An apology?”

“Yeah, for getting me stuck here.”

“Where’s here?”

“Fuck if I know,” she threw her hands up in exasperation, “I thought you know, I’ve done enough, I’ll let him find a cure for that poison on his own, I just wanna go home, so I decided lets get my bearings. I’ll find a high place and work out where I am, only to climb to the top of a fucking mountain and realise you got us stuck on a fucking Island!”

He slowly stood, bracing himself on a tree, as she remained sat, levelling him with an unimpressed stare. He shook his head, not needing to babysit this girl, and instead shot up from the ground, flying above the island to see she was in fact correct, there didn’t seem to be land for miles.

Suddenly, a sharp shooting pain went up his right side and he lost control of his balance for a second, all but plummeting to the ground.

“Yeah you shockingly haven’t healed completely yet,” the girl said moving to his side and pushing away his maimed hands from his wound, barely even glancing at the scars, “I have some ideas as to what will cure the poison, but if you want to fly away and leave me to die here, be my guest,” every word was dripping with sarcasm and he fought back a growl at her as she inspected his wound, were he saw he had torn the peculiar, green stitches.

He watched her carefully, not fully trusting her, as she inspected his stitches, furrowing his eyebrows when she significantly paled at the sight of his blood. “What scared of a little blood,” he instantly regretted the biting words when she snarled at him and put more pressure on the wound than was necessary, feeling slightly guilty given she had saved his life, but her attitude was infuriating, and he just wanted a hot bath and food.

“Okay, so here’s what’s going to happen, I’m going to stitch you back up, and then we’re gonna find a lake or some source of fresh water, you’re going to heal extremely quickly so you can take us back home and you’re not going to give me anymore shit? Kapeesh?” The stare she gave him could’ve rivalled his own in terms of intimidation, but instead of challenging her he just nodded, setting his jaw.

“Good. Now, nice to meet you, I’m (y/n),” she said reaching out a hand,

“Azriel.” Was all he said, meeting her small, soft hands in his rough, scarred ones, the difference in texture astounding him, still not entirely used to touch, and ignored the tightness in his chest when she offered him a cocky smirk.

#azriel x reader #azriel #acotar #acomaf #acosf #acofas #rhysand #feyre #percyjackson #greek mythology #heroes of olympus

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yazthebookish · 4 years ago

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Hello! Love all your posts and analysis for acotar. I genuinely get excited every time I see your name popup in the gwynriel tag. I was just wondering what your thoughts were on Elucien and if you ship it? I personally think they are really cute, but after looking into how Elain's trauma might be tied to Lucien, I definitely think there will need to be a lot of healing between the two characters before a romance can ensue. Thanks for your time!

Hello anon🤍,

Thank you! I'm glad that you guys find joy in the things I enjoy doing and that is writing/theorizing.

I like Elucien and I think this is a ship that has great potential and to me it feels like Sarah is building up the angst for it in the background with how much she is dragging it.

I definitely agree with you! Healing must be at the forefront before a romance blossoms between them. There is a lot of tangled threads between them that will take time to untangle and both characters must work for it. I think Elain and Lucien's trauma should be dealt with first and I prioritize that because I don't want to read the first page and suddenly they're swept off their feet by love. Both have healing journeys that they must go through and I think Sarah focuses on that for every couple. It's not about the endgame, it's about the journey and how in the end those characters come together.

It's easy to say that Lucien serves as a daily reminder to Elain about her trauma. Lucien is also a victim of Tamlin and I have to say this but Lucien had nothing to do with what Hybern planned but he also can't stop Tamlin from scheming and meeting up with them because he will be abused. Even if Tamlin was unaware of Hybern dragging the Archeron sisters, he still paved the way for them and Ianthe to pull it off. But if Lucien knew, under no circumstances he would've agreed to it and I'm pretty sure he would've argued with Tamlin even if it meant being harmed.

We've seen Lucien and Elain warm up a little to one another by the end of ACOWAR so I do think Lucien and Elain can move on from that. He had proven himself a decent male and risked his life to bring back not only Vassa but a human army for Elain.

I think Sarah does hint in ACOFAS that neither Lucien or Elain are ready to deal with the Mating Bond, they need time to figure out who they want to be:

“Do you want my advice?” No. Yes. I nodded. Mor drank deeply from her glass. “Stay out of it. She’s not ready, and neither is he, no matter how many presents he brings.” I lifted a brow. “Snoop.” Mor leaned back against the steps, utterly unrepentant. “Let him live with his Band of Exiles. Let him deal with Tamlin in his own way. Let him figure out where he wants to be. Who he wants to be. The same goes with her.” She was right.

Both Lucien and Elain are trying to find their place in this world (Elain after being transformed into a Fae and Lucien literally living in exile with no home). Sarah changed from Lucien having Nesta as his mate to Elain being his mate (even though she had no reason to do that) and she explains that she sees that there is a lot of healing both would go through together (emphasis on that). Did we see that yet? Absolutely not. Neither Elain nor Lucien have gone through their healing journey and I think they both as Sarah said can help one another throughout this journey.

Their relationship is currently stagnant. I'm pretty sure Elain knows the bond can be rejected but haven't done so (if she was actually in love with Azriel but I very much doubt that she is) and Lucien tries but without pressuring her and giving her space and she is the one in control here not him, he gave her that. Everything goes according to what she wants and that's why it's stagnant because she is avoiding it and there are probably many reasons to it. She does not owe him anything but at the same time you have no reason to string along a male you do not want for two years (I doubt this is the case).

Her life as a Fae is stagnant (and that includes the mating bond because there is a likely chance that she is trying to turn back to being human.)

There will be alot that both Lucien and Elain have to deal with and I'm sorry my answer ended up being this long I just had alot of thoughts about this.

#elucien #lucien vanserra #elain archeron #asks

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pestilentbrood · 2 years ago

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Very Brief Clans Overview

Figured I should have a sooort of explanation post so people don't get too lost regarding lore things, especially because I hope to actually draw out more Lore Important Things at some point or another hehe.

This is just a quick breakdown of each clan in development so far. The titles of each will have a link to their tag on my blog if you'd like to view posts pertaining to That Clan!

Starting, of course, with:

The Incompetence

Nestled in a gorge along the Scarred Wastelands' shores, the Incompetence is a ragtag bunch of losers led by an arrogant fae named Patience. Said fae is hellbent on the idea of Fate, claiming he is the universe's specialiest boy of all time, and any that follow him are special as well. The dragons who come here do so under the assumption they are not fit to survive in the Wastelands' treacherous landscape. They are the weak, old, and battered. Surely they are not meant to see another day in this cruel existence, and they will die solemn, bitter, and alone. ...But due to some miracle, they've all gone on to live peacefully here. Together. Alive.

Perhaps there is something to our wacky leader's obsession with Fate...

[many more clans below!]

The Loyalty

And these are the antagonists.

The Loyalty is an old clan with a history spanning back centuries. Born out of nothing but unadulterated respect and servitude to the Plaguebringer, the Loyalty is a ruthless place that has only worsened over time, and any who disrespect them will meet the cruelest of punishments.

While originally a respectable bunch, the lot has grown merciless over the past few decades, with worse and worse dragons taking the mantle of leader. Our current leader is Cletus, a vindictive aberration dead set on making the Loyalty as vicious as possible.

All I'm saying is, steer clear of the Wyrmwound. There are beasts under there.

Wandering Threads

The Threads are a traveling group of veilspun led by Nootka. The swarm acts as one massive family, both literally and metaphorically (because nearly everyone involved is part of a big polygamous relationship), and honestly they're just having a great time.

Well, like, save for one horrible encounter with the Loyalty that happened recently. But don't worry about it.

Shadows of Doubt

You wanna commit thievery and have it go so wrong we start replacing our blood with liquid gold? Well come on over to the Foxfire Brambles and join us Shadows! ...Uh. I mean. Actually, don't worry about the liquid gold blood thing. Only Penumbra did that. Gloom, the other leader, is very normal in comparison. And disregard the infestation of bug fae. We're pretty normal here.

We just like to commit theft for these two silly siblings. Don't even worry about it.

Acolytes of the Arcanist

A mad-scientist prophet in the Starwood Strand has decided that the Arcanist's goals of reaching the heavens and controlling the universe sound really great, actually! Why don't we do that together? Through the limitless bounds of science, we will reach the stars and own them ourselves.

And won't you join us? The stars in your wings shine so... beautifully... :)

[REDACTED]

Everyone in this clan is canonically dead by the present day. All you need to know about it is that we tried so hard, and got so far. But in the end, it didn't even matter. Arcane and Light just can't get along for more than two minutes.

(we started a civil war not clickbait gone wrong. etc.)

The Adherence

Nolan is NOT the leader of the Adherence. I just don't have the leader(s) yet. So for now he's representing this place. Which is fitting enough, honestly.

The Adherence is a city of pearlcatchers that is currently flourishing somewhere in the Sunbeam Ruins. Don't ask me where, exactly. I just know it's in there. They run a very strict society where only light-inborn pearlcatchers can garner any amount of respect. Should you be born of a different flight, or worse, a different breed... You may come in, but you'll get a lot of scorn for it.

Unless you're an imperial. Then you're out of luck. Except for this really nice, not at all suspicious guy named Nolan who is offering you a peaceful sanctuary if you'll just follow him this way.

Excessive Library Damage

Ok, that's not the name of the clan. It just doesn't really have a name. Not yet.

Anyway, this is a crew of Aethers that crash-landed into the Wastelands, managing to break right through the surface of Sornieth's soil and into an ancient, abandoned library. Likely filled to the brim with incredible history of Sornieth that has been long since forgotten. And countless priceless artifacts.

...Oh. Nevermind. Oh, it's... it's all gone.

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SMALL GROUPS WHO AREN'T REALLY FULL-FLEDGED CLANS (YET, IN SOME CASES) BUT ARE STILL WORTH MENTIONING:

Twisted Waters

A pirate dies. Then she un-dies. It turns out the eldritch creature in the ocean, who is interested primarily in spiting her husband, has chosen this pirate to become queen of an underwater kingdom. And that pirate MUST get EVERYONE in the kingdom to love the eldritch beast unconditionally.

Because while the Tidelord may have abandoned you, Twist never will <3

Snow Shower Town

There's like multiple different plots happening here. But what's important is that this is MOSTLY based in a small town within the Icefields, wherein a bunch of dragons of varying flights are chilling and hanging out while trying not to die in the regular blizzards.

Also there's like. An ice witch nearby, but you can ignore her, she's totally not important.

William's Day Out

AHH. The Horrors...

William is a normal guy. The haunted baby is a normal baby. Lutka is a normal guy. The four siblings are all normal. Don't worry about it. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THE WISPWILLOW GROVE. I mean what who said that

Girl's Night

Hey, what happens in girls night stays in girls night, okay?

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EXTRAS

Out in the Worldedge Wetlands there's a very sad old man and an old woman who goes "take better care of yourself, old man" and he goes "no i'm depressed." There are vaguely understood nature clan(s?) nearby.

I have in mind a group of Coatls who live in the shadow territory somewhere, but it's VERY loosely defined.

Freaky undead thing hanging out in the rubble of the Hewn City is freaky and undead (NOT an emperor this time)

There's a wanted criminal wandering around in the wastelands but you can ignore him. The person who matters is the Woman he has convinced to join his cause and has since begun eating people

And that's all for now! check back for inevitably 1 million updates.

#woohoo!!!!!#flight rising #um. Yeah!!!!!#i don't know if I want to tag all the guys here. considering it is All of them #I think I will Not. Teehee #but I will tag the Clans. because. that makes sense #//clan: incompetence #//clan: loyalty #//clan: wandering threads #//clan: shadows of doubt #//clan: acolytes of the arcanist #//clan: redacted #//clan: adherence #//clan: excessive library damage #//clan: twisted waters #//clan: snow shower town #//clan: william's day out #//clan: girl's night

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bookocd · 4 years ago

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Light As Air Chapter 4

This is the next chapter in my Fenrys Fanfic! If anyone would like to be tagged or has prompts for future chapters let me know :)

Thank you for reading!

Tag List:

@wxstedhexrt

Summary:

In the aftermath of Kingdom of Ash, Fenrys finds himself connected with a mysteriously powerful fae female. With the confusion of her past and vast amount of power, the Aelin’s court becomes weary of Fenrys’s involvement.

Fenrys is still reeling after Connall’s death and while joining Aelin’s court has been a dream, his nightmares are still plagued by Maeve.

Vel will do anything to get the help she needs, but her past controls her emotions, and her hopes for the future clouds her judgement.

Maybe together they can mend what has been broken, but Vel’s strange origins will continue to keep them apart.

Links:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4:

Vel felt like death.

The area behind her eyes was pounding, her throat was sandpaper as she painfully swallowed, and for some reason her neck felt stiff as a fucking board.

Her back cracked as she tried to sit up, and ended up only getting her elbows under her enough to prop the rest of her upper half up.

Opening her eyes slowly, and a couple of blinks later, her blurriness dissipated.

Am I in an adult size bed? Vel thought as her eyes widened with shock. The room she was in was larger than her father’s whole cabin. While the only piece of furniture was the bed she was on, the stone floor was extensive and the ceiling felt miles away. The floor to ceiling windows made her breath catch.

Moving slowly, she got her legs off one side of the bed and took her time lifting herself up. When she felt confident in her walking abilities she went toward one of the windows. She looked out onto the city bathed in golden light from the retreating sun.

Wait am I in the palace?

“Oh my gods,” breathing out the words as her panicked body retreated back toward the bed. She knew that she was in the castle, but she had no recollection of how she got here. Her confusion gave way when all the memories of the incident unfolded in her head.

She needed to get out of here. The thoughts in her head going a million miles a minute.

They must think I’m either crazy or fucking terrifying, Vel thought to herself as she started to pace, or that I was trying to kill the queen. It was that thought that had her looking for the exits. The two windows were obvious, but the idea of using her powers made a shiver run down her back.

To the right of the bed, there was a single wooden door. Finding her self in front of it within seconds, she tried the handle, which surprisingly turned. Opening it slightly, voices drifted toward her. Focusing on the voices was easy, but she didn’t recognize the person who was softly talking.

“She is physically fine. Her hands…” Vel stiffened and knew at that moment the voice was discussing her. The light female voice continued, “Well you’ve seen her hands, and I can’t figure out what or who would have done such a thing. I truly have never seen anything like it and Yrene would need to be called in for further evaluation. I think it would be a similar situation to what was expressed to Lady Elide for her ankle.”

Vel had heard these names many times during her spying, but she was confused as to the situation that was being discussed.

A gruff voice, another that she had never heard, came into the conversation by saying, “We shouldn’t be discussing helping her with past injuries, we should be discussing what to do with her.”

The first voice started taking again, like no one had interrupted her. “The process to fix them would be long, but I want to discuss something else.” The voice changed into something slightly sadder instead of factual. “Have any of you seen her back?”

Her knees almost gave out at the question.

Vel’s heart was beating out of her chest and she finally looked down to see that she was in a gown of some sort, one that was only pulled together in the back by ties. Her back was completely exposed. Tears starting to fill her eyes, she still continued to listen to the painful conversation.

“What do you mean? What is wrong with her back Marna?” The voice wrapped around her like silk, and she knew that it was the golden wolf talking. Her heart calmed and her eyesight was no longer blurred by tears.

“Um, during the initial exam we noticed that she has scars—”

She was cut off by the obvious voice of the queen, “Whipping scars?”

“That’s what I assumed at first, but upon further inspection they are not from any sort of whip or torture devices. She has two perfectly parallel vertical scars, which look to be many years old and almost surgical in nature. They are completely healed, but both of them are raised, like two mountains. I think something was put under her skin, because they are both hard to the touch, like bone. I was trained at the Torre for over 50 years and I have never seen anything like the injuries presented in this female. I’m sorry to say that this patient is out of my depth.” The breath she let out was tired and she then asked, “Do you have any more questions for me your Majesty?”

Aelin must have shook her head, because Vel could hear faint steps moving until they were too far away to hear.

Vel wasn’t surprised that the woman was confused and no one except her family had ever seen her back. She had long ago let go of any anger her deformities caused, but she still felt extremely exposed by the whole conversation.

“I don’t care what scars she has,” the gruff voice spat out. “She obviously can’t control her magic and can’t be trusted. I say we get rid of the problem before it gets worse.”

A growl sliced through the air. “That is not up to you, Lorcan. And if you touch her I don’t care what promises I’ve made or that we are in the same court, I will rip out your fucking throat.”

She believed in that moment that the golden male would never allow anyone to hurt her. She had no clue what to do with that information, but she smiled all the same.

—

Silence.

Fenrys’s chest was shifting up and down with impressive speed, mimicking his heart, and he had moved closer to the room with his sleeping mate inside.

He would kill Lorcan if he shifted an inch in her direction. It took all his effort to not kill him as a smirk slid onto his face.

But the violence ebbed away when Elide smacked the back of Lorcan’s head. The incredulous look he gave his fiancé was fucking hilarious and he knew everyone in the hallway was trying not to laugh.

“Lorcan isn’t going to get rid of anything or anyone,” Elide’s small but strong voice eased Fenrys slightly. “But Fen we do need to discuss what to do,” she said, with a continuing glare to Lorcan, as if daring him to say something else.

“She needs training.” Rowan had stayed quiet throughout the day. He was silent after Vel unfroze everyone, he was silent while they brought her to the palace, and he was silent during and after the healer’s exam. He continued, “What happened earlier I’ve only seen one other time in my life.”

“Rowan what are you talking about? I thought it was just a self imposed burnout, like what I did in Mistwood,” Aelin replied.

“No Fireheart, you literally let your magic overpower you and take control, but this female forced her power down, so far down that I couldn’t even detect it.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I knew a fae once that was so scared of her own power that she refused to let it out. She went crazy and in the end her magic killed her from the inside out. The fainting and shaking was one of the first symptoms that her body and mind were deteriorating. Honestly it’s so rare and terrifying to watch,” his eyes turned downcast as he continued. “It was slow moving, but she didn’t have the power that this female has, so I’m not sure what the timeline is here…” He looked at Fenrys and he could tell what he was trying to say. This female would die sooner rather than later. Fenrys’s heart dropped to his stomach.

“Then we train her,” Fenrys said, like it was a given.

“Fen, what if she doesn’t want our help?” Aelin asked quietly. The question hadn’t crossed his mind.

“I have a way with female’s Aelin. I mean I got you to give me the blood oath didn’t I?” The smirk didn’t hold its full luster, but Aelin still let out a sharp laugh.

“You didn’t get me to do anything, only realize that you would be lost without my wisdom and guidance boyo.”

“Whatever gets you to fall asleep at night sweetheart.”

Rowan, who was pointedly not smiling, said, “Trust me she isn’t thinking of anyone but me when she’s falling asleep at night or should I say losing sleep at night.”

With that, Lorcan turned away grumbling that no one ever listened to him and Elide followed asking why she hadn’t been losing sleep at night lately. Her yelp bounced off the cobblestone walls as he threw her over his shoulder and patted her ass. Fenrys knew exactly what they were going to do and he gaped at them as they turned for the staircase which led to their bedchamber.

Turning to his queen and king he saw them with serious expressions, but he spoke before their warnings could come.

“I’m going to go check on Vel,” he said while walking away.

Fenrys was forced out of Vel’s room by healers, so he hadn’t seen her in hours. His heart started to race as he reached the oak door and slowly opened it.

Vel was laying in the king sized bed, right where he left her. The sun was setting so the room was slowly darkening. Her skin was near glowing, like it was a product of the moon, and her hair was a living shadow. He found himself at her bedside without remembering moving his feet.

Taking a seat on the bed beside her shoulder. Bringing a hand up to move a stray black hair out of her face and he allowed himself one second of contact with her cheek. Heat raced through his body and a second turned into a minute.

Gods she is beaut—, his thought was interrupted by sudden movement.

His hand was suddenly turned in the wrong direction and legs shot out and forced him into the air, landing on the bed next to the female he thought was asleep. Within a moments time he was on his front, face smothered against the pillows with a knee pushing against his spine and hand trapped in a death hold.

Hair suddenly was tickling his neck and a breath was hitting the back of his ear making him shudder… a shudder she most definitely felt.

Vel’s voice sounded almost playful as she said, “Didn’t your mother teach you not to touch a girl without permission?”

Fenrys was happy that he was on his front, because his cock started to strain in his pants. He had never been turned on while being overpowered by a female.

“Let me up and I can show you everything I’ve been taught,” his voice muffled by the pillow.

“I doubt you could teach me anything I don’t already know.”

“Oh you would be surprised sweetheart.”

With another flash of limbs and grunts, Fenrys was suddenly on top of his mate with her arms pinned above her head. The exam gown had bunched at her waist, leaving her upper thighs exposed and his legs were straddling her waist, with ample distance so his hardness wasn’t against her softness.

Her eyes widened when she caught view of his likely hungry gaze.

“This is a much better position to teach you in.”

#throne of glass #sarah j maas #Sarah j Maas boys #fanfic #crown of midnight #heir of fire #queenofshadows #empire of storms #kingdom of ash #fenrys moonbeam #elide #aelin ashryver #rowan whitethorn #rowan x aelin #elide x lorcan #yrene westfall

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sword-and-stars · 5 years ago

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I was tagged by @kurikaesu-haru ♥️

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world. tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

All The Gentle Creatures

Okay, so, once upon a time, there was a woman who loved to write. She wrote a lot, at least a little bit every day.

And then life went to shit, and that woman (me) didn’t write for four years. UNTIL..I fell back in love with A:tLA. Not that I ever wasn’t, but I’d never felt that burn to write fic for it, until I did.

All The Gentle Creatures was the first story I’d written in four years and it was SO FUCKING SCARY to throw that thing into the void and see why happened. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it’s blown my fucking mind, what posting that fic has done for me. I never would have dreamed that since that October I would have written over 30 fanfics, gotten more comments and feedback than I’ve gotten in my whole life. It’s been unbelievable and it never would have happened if @kurikaesu-haru hadn’t bullied me into posting it.

To Take Care

This is the story that started What We’re Given, which has grown to be bigger than I ever thought it would be. I think I can attribute this fic (and the series in general) to my following as an author? Not that I think I’m some big shot or anything g but, like, this series is something that the fandom was missing (because I sure as hell wanted to read it and couldn’t find it) and something that people really wanted to read.

I couldn’t have predicted that a silly/sad fic based on a half-crack @muffinlance prompt would have evolved into the series it’s become, and I think to leave it off of a list like this would be a little insulting. ♥️

Quinacridone

What can I say about this fic? I fucking LOVE this fic. I love everything about it and it’s definitely one of my favorite things I’ve written, ever. It’s smutty, definitely, but it hits a slightly different beat in tonality that I really loved even throughout the writing process? Sorta sexy, sorta funny, sorta melancholy? And it gave me the opportunity to be a huge fucking nerd and merge some of my favorite things (zukka, pornography, and painting) into one story.

I think one of the highlights in this fic is the actual dynamic between Zuko and Sokka, because they don’t already have a friendship or a rapport at all, so their reactions to one another are very raw and instinctive, rather than built upon years of development.

I JUST THINK IT’S NEAT.

Take A Pop Shot

I’ll be the first to say that I love almost everything I’ve written for Carry On For You, but god, this fic.

This fic FLEW out of me, and takes the award for being the absolute gayest thing I’ve ever written without even a hint of actual romance. It’s very raw and it breaks Zuko down and shows off his edges for really the first time in the present day timeline. We see plenty in his backstory, but this is the first time we really get him in the present day, showing those broken pieces and going, “I don’t know what to do. I need help.”

It’s very honest, and kind of brutal, but in a good way? Zuko needs, very very desperately, someone he can be honest with and Sokka’s there, hands up and going, “I’m here, I’ve got you,” and I think that that’s really important.

Equivalent Exchange

GOD, this fic. I wrote this fucker in two days and I’m pretty sure that some writing god ghost-wrote it through my body because it’s very, very different from my usual material, and I love it.

I was originally very concerned because the entire fic is from the POV of Lu Ten, who we never see in canon. I literally went, “okay, imagine being raised by Iroh” and EE!Lu Ten is what I got out of it. This fic features spirit lore, lessons in why you shouldn’t bargain with the equivalent of a super powered fae, Ursa actually being allowed to live and keep parenting her kid, and a delightfully feral Lu Ten with a justified vendetta against Ozai The Garbage Man.

IT’S JUST FUCKING GREAT AND IM PROUD OF IT.

Tagging @awkwardpenguinproductions, @flameo-hotman, and @scar-and-boomerang ♥️♥️♥️

#tag memes #writing stuff #atla #i am and have always been avatar garbage

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blossom-hwa · 5 years ago

Note

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Director’s cut ask game: ask for the director’s commentary on a particular story or section of a story that I’ve written! Or send in a ⭐star⭐ to have the author select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!

MAXXXXXXXXXXXX YOU’RE LITERALLY THE GREATEST I definitely cannot talk about as many fics as you put stars BUT since you liked Bloom I’ll talk about our lovely fae!jisung :)

Like Constellation, I was inspired to write fae!jisung by a story I read here by @linkedsoul! It’s been a LONG time since I read it and I only found her blog again like? a few months ago maybe? which is why I didn’t tag her in the story BECAUSE I COULDN’T FIND HER BLOG HHHHH anyway I don’t remember the title of the story, but the lingering feeling is still very much there. I remember it being a very beautiful work. If you go on her blog you can probably find it? I remembered this one scene where the mc in her story runs into the faerie ring, which inspired the similar scene that I wrote (though they’re different - I don’t plagiarize).

I’ll be putting the rest under the cut in case of spoilers :)

I’ve had this idea of strangely-colored eyes causing an mc to be an outcast for a very long time? Bloom helped me put it to writing :) so this idea was sort of marinating in my head for a couple of months, at least, and when I finished Moonstruck and decided to make it a series, I thought of that idea and was like hey! I can apply it here :0

I love cheeky Jisung. I think he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever seen online and though he’s not expressly hilarious in Bloom, I did love the idea of him being a sort of teasing gentleman towards mc. In a lot of my other fics, I think my characters are a bit one-dimensional. They're all sort of the same, maybe with a bit of spice here and there. Jisung’s character in Bloom was one of the first times I feel like I succeeded in writing someone with a more or less 3D personality. Having him call mc ‘my lady’ was something that came from his title as Lord Fae - I thought it’d be fun for mc to have that as a nickname :)

The dance scene came to me... somehow. I don’t remember how I thought of it but it somehow made its way into my very detailed outline (seriously I think the outline itself was like 3k or 4k lmao). I always love writing dance scenes and this one was very fun because I didn’t get to write it, but because I could hint at it - I very much enjoyed the end of that scene. The promise, too! I worded Jisung’s promise very precisely because he’s a fae, and I knew his promise was going to come back in a later scene (as it does, when he tells mc she’ll be safe in his ring, always). I thought it was really exciting to bring it back :) as you can see I get excited by many small things in my stories LMAO

So we get to my favorite scene, the scene where mc is running from those who profess her a witch ;) (if you haven’t read it recently, I changed one line there - it’s not much, but there is a difference, you’ll know it when you read it). Like I said, this part in particular was inspired by @linkedsoul‘s story, though they’re still very different. Like the ending scene of Constellation was what drove the entire story, this scene was the one that drove Bloom. From the conception of this idea, I knew I was going to write that scene. It’s really the culmination of their trust, mc trusting that Jisung’s promise is true, that he will appear and protect her this one time when she cannot protect herself. I think it’s the climax of the story, really. Mc lets go of her inhibitions toward Jisung and simply trusts that he will come. And it’s a climax for Jisung, too - after he was punished, he never believed that someone would love him faithfully, truthfully. This scene proves him wrong.

It took some time for me to work out a backstory for why Jisung was trapped in the ring. Even now I’m not completely satisfied with it (there are some holes in the story that make me cringe?? yeah), but it is what it is and I’ve already started writing Quietude with that backstory in mind. I hope that knowing JIsung’s backstory doesn’t detract from enjoying Quietude - though the backstory definitely comes into play, Hyunjin has his own unique story that will unfold. There’s a lot of new stuff there :)

Anyway enough about Quietude. I really wanted the last scene of Bloom to be impactful. There’s a continual refusal on mc’s part to give her name to Jisung, and though it’s more playful than anything, there’s still a very real distrust that she feels towards Jisung that is also a factor in her refusal. To have them give each other their names, to give each other that immense power of their own identities, is an act of ultimate trust. I said before I that I think mc jumping into the ring is the climax of Bloom, but I could see why someone would think this scene is the climax, too. Both involve the giving of trust that wasn’t present before. That, I think, characterizes Jisung/mc’s love - they trust each other very much. That’s what allows them to love so deeply.

So that’s my shortened monologue on Bloom :) Thank you max for sending an ask I LITERALLY LOVE YOU. For those who made it this far?? You’re the real MVPs lmao my rambling really is not that interesting ha. tl,dr: jisung/mc’s love comes from a deep foundation of trust that was built over many meetings and stories and you should be very happy that I gave you a fluffy ending ;)

#lina answers #nas #max #THANKS FOR SENDING THIS IN MAX

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callunavulgari · 5 years ago

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Rules: Tag 9 people who you want to know better/catch up with and then answer these questions.

Thanks for the tag @wellhalesbells!!

3 SHIPS

lan wangji and wei ying from the untamed. i know, i know. this surprises absolutely none of you who have been drowning in my posts about them. it just literally hits on every single thing i love. it’s got a little friends to lovers while ALSO keeping the spice of rivals/enemies to lovers. it’s got SIXTEEN YEARS of yearning. it has the tragedy that is lan wangji head over heels for this dumb mess of a boy and not saying the right things and watching him tumble further and further down the rabbit hole that is revenge and then losing him forever. it has lan wangji in the present day steadfast and refusing to back down from wei ying’s side because he got him back. who gets that kind of chance? of course he’s not going to make the same mistakes he did the first time around. it has every single look shared between these two and wei ying’s sunshine smiles and fuck if i’m not a sucker for a good villain story. but like - this is even better than the usual villain origin story? because you get to watch every moment of wei ying’s stumble. you get him as a devoted brother and friend. you get him as the flirt - the boy who is trying so desperately to pull on lan wangji’s pigtails to get him to notice him. you get the wen chao fucking shit up and those first initial missteps as tragedy starts to seep into the story. you get lotus pier. you get jiang cheng and the golden core. you get the burial mounds. and then you get wei ying, harder and a little broken and impossibly powerful and let’s all be honest, really sexy because who’d have thought that all powerful necromancers bent on revenge are really something else? and you get to watch lan wangji realize the path his soulmate is on and desperate to stop it but so unsure how. and then it’s too late! except it’s not! and turns out it goes so far beyond that and then they’re basically married and have a kid together and wei ying, while yes being a powerful necromancer bent raised from the dead, is not actually the vilain in this fairytale? and just UGH. literally. i am so boned over this show. it is beautiful. and those characters might not have ever kissed but goddamn that was a better love story than any i’ve seen before.

ryan and shane from buzzfeed unsolved/watcher entertainment. this also probably doesn’t surprise many people. i’m usually fairly allergic to rpf, but this ship here was definitely the exception. there is SO MUCH chemistry between them and they’re just generally great to watch. i marathoned unsolved after reading a vampire!shane fic sometime last year (this one, for those curious) and was just goners. done-zo. dunzo? whatever, i was gone for them. and the fic was great too! there’s a lot of genre variation and AUs and spooky stuff and DEMON shane and i recently read one where ryan was one of the fae? and another one where shane was a kelpie? and i am HERE for creature feature aus. and then there’s the poly fics with ryan/shane/sara which also scratch a very particular itch and are hot and sweet and domestic and i just. i really like them. i love the dynamic. i love the fic. i love the art. i LOVE watcher entertainment and i hate that they’ve been screwed over by this pandemic and really hope they’re able to get over this hurdle because it is GOOD content.

xue yang and xiao xingchen and song lan from the untamed. this is at least partially cheating in my eyes because it’s from the same fandom but look at all the fucks i give. i give zero fucks. this ship. is. so. fucking. PROBLEMATIC. and i’m sorry, but i unrepentantly love it. xue yang is a complete monster child. he is the garbage gremlin that wei ying only wishes he was. he was a little tiny monster and gets every bit that is coming to him but the yi city arc FUCKED me up. and this is coming from the person who accidentally slept through xiao xingchen and song lan’s initial introduction. their story is just so perfectly tragic and on the off chance someone is reading this and thinking about watching, i won’t go into the details, but TRAGEDY. it is tragic. and i LIVE for modern AUs where they are living their slutty horrible lives to the best of their abilities. it is catnip to me. you know what else is catnip? modern AUs where they are living their slutty horrible lives with a super special side of reincarnation.

Not listed, but also important... every other ship in The Untamed. Also Wen Qing deserved better.

oh. and uh, i guess dean and castiel should at least be somewhere on this post because they’ve been on my mind so damn much.

LAST SONG I LISTENED TO

currently listening to beach life-in-death by car seat headrest because i read a fic at 4am and it made me listen to the entire album. no regrets except it is shockingly to my exes taste so she keeps popping into my head. last track i listened to was winter wheat by john samson. this one is on my playlist because it was in the comments of a tumblr post about soundtracks to bleed out into a field to.

CURRENTLY WATCHING

so. the thing about covid is that it really fucks with your attention span. like, it physically hurts me to look at a screen for long periods of time now, so i haven’t been watching a whole lot in general. also, we’re moving on friday so if i’m not napping or laying in bed thinking about napping i am dragging my sorry, tired body around the apartment stuffing things in boxes. it’s been a rough few months, guys.

i am really trying to think of the last thing i watched. i watched the eurovision song contest and over the moon around the same time right before my covid symptoms started forcing me to do nothing but sleep. and i think i watched over the garden wall sometime near the end of october?

oh, oh! i rewatched v for vendetta on november 5th. does that count?

tagging the usual suspects, but only if they want to do it. you know who you are. ;)

#heather says what #memes #god i'm tired #i'm going the fuck to bed #the untamed #buzzfeed unsolved

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jane-the-zombie · 5 years ago

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A Wolf in Thief’s Clothing || Ariana (Megan?) & Jane

TIMING: Present

LOCATION: Store

PARTIES: @letsbenditlikebennett & @jane-the-zombie

SUMMARY: Jane runs into Ariana (Megan????) shoplifting at the store.

While impulse control had never been something Megan had been great at, most of her impulses at least didn’t drastically break any human laws. Sure, hunting seasons were a thing, but who the hell was going to tell a wolf they couldn’t eat a deer? That’s right, no one. Well, except maybe a beast hunter, but fuck most of them. The weird thoughts in her head that didn’t feel entirely like her own paired with the amount of stress she was under made it hard to ignore the temptation to shoplift. At first, she’d been a little appalled with herself, but now it was becoming a bit of a game. Their fridge was already full of steak and herring, so she decided to go for hair products today. She was in a crisis and the purple clearly had to go. The reminder that she wouldn’t ask Winston to do it because she wasn’t ready to see Rio yet stung as she looked over the hair colors. This time she’d go for a color she could actually see. Looking through the blues, she opted for the brightest looking one which was Poseidon by Arctic Fox. She still had a bleach kit at home, so she discreetly shoved the hair dye into the pocket of her leather jacket when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Had she been that distracted? She whipped her head around to see Jane there. Shit. “Jane, hey, hi, how are you?” Smooth, Megan, smooth.

Jane had her hands on her hips as she stared at Ariana Bennett stuff the hair dye in her jacket. She had originally been planning on saying hi to the young woman, to check in, while she was here getting more salt (for French Fry) and nail polish remover (for herself) and yet… Shoplifting. They had all been there at one point or another. Jane herself had done it when she was a teenager, and Lizzie had done the same far past her teens - specifically from clothing stores. Jane plugged her ears and pretended not to listen as she described how to get magnet tags off swimsuits, before dutifully reminding her little sister that she was in fact a cop. Jane stood, looking at Ariana with the best disappointed face she could muster. How many blood bags can go missing this week before someone notices. Wait, what? Why did she keep having thoughts like that? Crap. Jane shook it off and let out a low sigh. “You want to hand me that hair dye, young lady?” She said, feeling like her father. Oh, weird. She hated that.

Eventually, Megan knew this whole shoplifting thing was going to catch up with her. She’d been trying to get whoever was in her head out, but it seemed to be of no use. At least it seemed to be a somewhat widespread thing and she wasn’t the only one experiencing it. Which hopefully meant it would get solved because she sure as hell didn’t know how to fix it. She was a fighter not a thinker. With a defeated sigh, she handed the hair dye to Jane. “Not really, I can just buy it. I don’t normally do this by the way.” She fidgeted nervously with her hair hoping she wasn’t going to get arrested this close to the full moon. “Kinda have someone else in my head right now, it’s a time and half.” She couldn’t stand still. “The full moon is tonight. Please don’t take me to the station.”

Ah yes. The wolves and their little moon problem. “Lucky for you, I happen to have better things to do than fill out the paperwork taking you in, Ariana,” she said, tucking the hair dye under her arm. Besides, none of the ‘scared straight’ crap worked anyway, and Jane wasn’t about to put Ariana through something that anyway - even without the moon problem. “C’mon, kid. Why don’t we go check out,” Jane said pointedly. She glanced at the blue hair dye. “This is a pretty color,” Jane commented as they started walking towards the self check out. “What sparked Teen Wolf Rebel? Is this some sort of moon thing?”

Megan’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “Wait, who’s Ariana? I mean, thank you for not bringing me in.” Somehow, the adrenaline of being caught brought a satisfying thrill. Fuck, this was not the kind of mind state she needed to be in right now. She had actual problems to take care of. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I do totally have money with me.” She relaxed a bit when she realized she wasn’t in any real trouble. Jane really was pretty great and she felt bad to have put her in an awkward situation. “Thanks, figured I’d go for a color I can actually see this go round,” she said trying to keep her tone calm. She shrugged and explained, “It’s definitely not a moon thing. I’ve got like… someone else’s thoughts in my head? With how much else I have going on right now, it’s hard to like just ignore whoever the fuck is in there. Apparently like it’s a thing that’s going around though so who knows. This town is wild.”

“Very funny,” Jane replied, looking at Ariana pointedly. “But I have more things to worry about than a little shoplifting…. That gets worse by mind crap.” Jane frowned when she realized that Ariana was having similar mind experiences. Thoughts of hunters and people and blood kept filling her mind, and she was certain that Harsh wasn’t human. He had to be a zombie. Jane shook her head, pushing her hair out of her face as they approached the self check-out line. “I’m actually experiencing something similar. Wouldn’t be fair to bring you in over something like that.” Supernatural related. Her stomach twisted and she let out a low sigh. Supernatural and law didn’t go together, and Jane was still trying to work out what her place was in everything. She glanced at Ariana. The poor girl was so young to be dealing with so much, especially with her sister’s death let alone organ trafficking. Something stirred inside her, and she wasn’t sure what it was. “Let me spot you on the hair dye, hm? And then we can go talk, if you want.”

“I wasn’t joking,” Megan explained as she looked at Jane some incredulously. She didn’t know what her real name, but it definitely wasn’t Ariana. “That makes sense considering well… literally everything that happens in this town.” It wasn’t exactly comforting to know Jane was going through the same thing. While the previous town-wide problems had been taken care of, it always still left her feeling there were things far too powerful for any of them to face. It only further cemented the idea that they needed to stick together. She refused to lose someone else she cared for. “I don’t love that you have someone in your head, too, but I guess there’s not much we can do about it. Trying to see if any of my spellcasting friends know more.” Magic was something that both intrigued and frightened her to an extent, but she trusted the spellcasters she knew. Megan smiled brightly when Jane offered to get the hair dye for her. It wasn’t necessary, but Jane caring and helping was always welcome though she wasn’t too excited to talk about an organ selling ring of all things. “Thanks, Jane. And yeah, we probably should talk. I wish it was better news” She followed her to the checkout counter and offered another thank you as Jane paid for her hair dye. As they made their way out, Megan pointed out a little bench not far off that seemed private enough. “How about here,” she asked.

“What’s your name then, if it isn’t Ariana? Malory?” Jane replied, sarcastically. Kids sure were funny these days, with their memes and their tiktoks “Does everyone in this town have spellcasting friends?” Jane asked, though she wasn’t sure she would call Otto and herself friends. He was more a big thorne in her side. A pain in the ass. She shook her head, running a hand through her hair as they entered self check out. For good measure, Jane grabbed a couple bottles of water and a small bag of potato chips to go along with the hair dye. She could come back for her salt and nail polish remover some other time. She bagged the items, handing Ariana the bag with the hair dye, and walked out with her. “That’ll be fine enough, I think. As they sat down, Jane reached into the bag and handed her one of the bottles of water. She leaned against her knees looking over at Ariana. It was hard - Jane didn’t typically like kids, and she definitely didn’t like interacting with them - though, Ariana was eighteen, and that definitely wasn’t a ‘child’ anymore. Back in Portland, her old partner had always been the one to deal with the child witnesses. But Ariana was so young and had been through so much, and she didn’t have anyone here anymore… Something about that tugged on Jane’s heartstrings. Ugh. “You can start anywhere you want, okay?” Jane told her. “Even if it’s not about what you told me before online.”

“I don’t actually know because my name was stolen, but Ariana doesn’t sound right. You can call me Megan until I get my real name back,” Megan explained even though she realized Jane didn’t quite believe her. It did sound pretty wild if you didn’t know about the supernatural. Hell, she knew about the supernatural and she was shocked to learn that fae could just yoink your name. She shrugged, “I mean, the fellow supernatural folks probably. Humans, I couldn’t tell you. They probably wouldn’t know if they did.” She noted that Jane picked up some chips and waters for them which was a much nicer reaction to being caught shoplifting by an actual cop than she would have ever expected, but she guessed it wasn’t that surprising. In the short time she’d known Jane, she’d always been nothing but kind and understanding to her. It was a warm feeling that reminded her of why she was continuing to push through these days that seemed to grow more and more exhausting. She happily took the bag with the blue hair dye and noted she’d need to message Winston for further hair help. It seemed to be their thing now. “Thanks, Jane,” she said as they walked outside and took a seat on a lone bench. She leaned back and made herself comfortable. She let out a soft sigh, “That’s a tough one… because I don’t want to get the person who’s literally being threatened to do said harvesting in trouble, but I do have a name and was promised more. Kind of started with me sticking my nose literally where it doesn’t belong because I smelled dead werewolves, but apparently it’s not just werewolf organs… ours just happen to be more valuable which like ugh.”

Megan. Jane’s brows furrowed. Name stealing? Not for the first time, Jane thought that White Crest was the bad place. “Megan… got it.” Somehow, Jane didn’t think it would be all that helpful to tell her that Ariana’s - er, Megan’s name was actually Ariana. Something about that whole nonsense made her think that no matter what she said to Megan, she wouldn’t believe her. Jane glanced at her, leaning on her knees as she stared at the young woman. She had her whole life ahead of her, and she didn’t deserve half the crap that was on her shoulders. Jane could at least help take the burden off her shoulders - that was her job, wasn’t it? The whole reason she wanted this job to begin with. Maybe not here in White Crest, but it was still the same. What was an eighteen year old girl doing dealing with organ trafficking? Jane shook her head. “Aria - Megan, I want you to know that I’m going to do everything I can to help you. I know you don’t want to get anyone in trouble, and I’m not going to push for you to tell me who’s harvesting the organs, but I’d like to be able to help them too.” Especially if they were being threatened. “So think about it for me, at least a little.” Jane considered where to go from there, for just a moment, before she sat up a little straighter and looked at her. “But, for now, let’s start with that name.”

#para #para ariana #ariana #A wolf in thief's clothing

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