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until-we-fall-in-love · 5 years ago

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to the one i will always love

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x Reader (unrequited love), Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: Bucky watches as you begin to favor Steve. He can’t blame you.

Regency Era AU, Pining, Unrequited Love

Warnings: None? Angst. Just angst, a little fluff, mostly angst.

A/N: sorry for my recent inactivity!! happy valentine’s day!! but this is for the lovely @heli0s-writes 2k writing challenge!!! congrats on such a milestone, you absolutely deserve it!!! you’ve been so kind to me since i’ve started posting fics and it means the world!!

my prompt for this writing challenge was “amor et melle et felle est fecundissimus” which is in Latin and means “love is rich with both honey and venom”

Hope you enjoy! pls let me know what you thought!!

***

1812

Bucky watches as you dazzle the room with beauty and grace, your face expressive and eyes so bright and shining. He could watch you for hours, even if he despises high society, it’s all worth it if he can simply glimpse the way your smile slips so easily onto your face. The curve of your sweet cheek and the slender line of your bare neck and shoulders.

You’re a star, the life and love of every event. Wit and brilliance pour out from honeyed lips, excitement and merriness that he is always reaching for. He grasps for it the same way you used to reach for fireflies in the summer or falling leaves in vibrant autumn, but you are always laughing, flushed with color in his memory. He feels grey, leeched and dry, where you are bursting with splendid light.

He’s known you for years, since you were an awkward teenager and he was a young man fumbling through life. Swaggering about with a chip on his shoulder and too much to lose; too many mouths to feed. Steve to take care of.

He and Steve went to war as boys, the ones that you knew and had ran and played with in the apple groves, and they’d returned men with badges and new titles. Now apart of the fevered life of high society you had been groomed for.

He thinks of you now, before he’d left, clinging to girlhood and him, hanging off his neck and begging him not to go. But he had and he’d come back different, more eclipsed.

You urge someone to strike up music, so that you can dance until you’re dizzy, until the whole room is in love with you. He spends the evening watching you spin and twirl with Wanda, your dresses of pale silk shining, swirling together the way the snow swirls outside.

By the end, when you are warm and tipsy with wine, Bucky and Steve see you home. You crowd together in a carriage alongside Wanda, your voice like twinkling bells, melodic and sweet to his ear as you talk and chat about the evening.

Steve, though in a similar position of being uncomfortable with high society, is at least lighter than Bucky in spirit. He is noble and sure-footed, a truly good man. One of the best Bucky has ever known, if not the best.

And he isn’t as shadowed as Bucky, he isn’t as mysterious but open and trustworthy. He is more social, to some degree, better at navigating this new world.

Bucky watches as you begin to favor Steve.

He can’t blame you; Steve has really grown up in recent years. No longer scrawny and sickly, but broad-shouldered and strong. His skin is still milky and pale, a flush likely to come over his cheeks. His eyes are sharply blue, uncut sapphires or the open expanse of the sky that you love or as saturated as sweetened blueberries. His jaw is strong, a beard now growing thick and darker than his pale hair.

He’s courageous, infinitely courteous, and gently protective. What isn’t there to favor? Especially when Bucky feels so out of place, so lost in all the tulle and silk and glitter. He retreats into himself, hunches his broad shoulders slightly, tries to rearrange his bones into the man he had been before he’d gone to war.

War is a terrible thing, Bucky thinks, looking at you and your untouched smile that is directed at Steve. And Steve’s so lucky to have that smile, to bask in it’s warmth and covet it’s sweetness. Bucky longs for warmth, dreams about the sun or the summer moon and berries with sugar. The green grass wet and beneath his back as he watches the clouds pass lazily overhead. In his dreams, he can feel you there, against his side, alongside the exhale of his ribs. He can feel your slight body, when you were young and smitten with him and he was young and foolish.

Sometimes he thinks he’d give anything in the whole world to be in that flower-sweet apple grove with you again.

Bucky helps you out of the carriage when you arrive at your home. You take his hand and hop out on nimble feet, steady yourself with a hand against his collar bones. You look up at him through lashes with sparkling snowflakes caught in them, a little cloud of air puffing into the cold as you give a small, sheepish laugh.

“Thank you, Bucky.” You say and his name feels like a secret on your lips, impish and fun. He should be Sergeant Barnes to you, maybe even James. But to you and Steve, it’s always been Bucky. Even if, as you’ve gotten older, it’s inappropriate. But his name on your lips carries the love of youth, the bittersweet past that he aches for in his great, broad chest.

He doesn’t know what to say, half taken with your beauty or the way you look at him, too.

Until your eyes flicker up past his head, out, your face alighting with wonder.

“Oh!” You gasp, move past him, almost in a trance. He turns over his shoulder to watch you, to feel the way your fingers slowly slide away from him. You wander out into the snow before, softly, he hears you exhale, “The moon!”

And Bucky looks up, into the dark expanse of the sky.

The moon hangs heavy and round, large and luminous in the night, breaking through the thin clouds. It’s bright and white with the snow, which glistens under its brilliance. Everything shines, sparkles like new, glitters untouched and serene. It almost feels dream-like, surreal with the vastness of the sky and the largeness of the moon.

Like maybe he could reach up and touch it, maybe it’s light would pour through him and you would love him the way you’re starting to love Steve.

You turn to him now and there are tears in your eyes, gathering in your lashes like dew drops.

His brows pull in, concern flooding his features. He reaches out like he might touch you, comfort you. Instead, you say;

“Oh, it's so beautiful!” And turn back up to that sky with such wonder and love. He thinks you are filled with moonlight, too, he thinks you shine silver and mercury and are as brilliant as the stars.

“It is,” He says, voice thick, as he looks at you.

“There will never, never be a night as lovely as this!” You nearly sob, your voice catching as you look up at the swirling snow and cosmos. Your face is full of such love and adoration, such a tenderly sweet ache.

You look as if you know you will never be this happy again, as if you are trying to keep it forever. You are deepened by a strange sadness; the kind that knows you might never be this joyful again and you try to grab it and hold it as tightly as possible.

Bucky looks at you and he understands that melancholy. He looks at you and aches.

And then you do something that might just break his heart in two.

You look at Steve, with all that delight and heartache and you say in a soft, small voice, “Isn’t it the most wonderful thing you’ve ever seen?”

And he nods, wordless, breathless, but he’s not looking at the moon, either.

***

Bucky’s feelings are not for you to know or worry about. He knows you and even more, he knows Steve. He knows, deep down, if he were to tell Steve that he loves you, that he wishes to propose to you; Steve would let him. No matter how heartbroken, Steve would step down and watch Bucky be happy with you.

And he thinks maybe, if he told you, you would love him, too. He thinks you could’ve. He thinks at once you loved him in the way girls love young men; on coltish feet and with too much recklessness. Maybe once, in that grove of trees you loved him when you were too young to know what love was. Maybe he should’ve loved you then. But you were young, the dew and dawn still hanging off you, and he couldn’t take advantage of you like that.

Maybe you could love him now.

But he doesn’t tell you, he doesn’t see if you would.

His feelings are his alone, not yours nor Steve’s. He will love you both from afar, the same way the sea loves the shore. Steady, always present, but always receding and sliding back into its place.

He will love you both and not dare wish for love in return.

You both give it anyways in unselfish, horrible amounts. Steve with his care and attentiveness, the way he puts a broad hand on the back of Bucky’s neck. Sometimes, when they hug, Bucky will tuck his face into Steve’s neck, feel the scratch of his beard. Steve will exhale hard, maybe hold him tighter.

And you, you rush to Bucky with such love and light. Sometimes, when you’ve had wine you will hang from his neck the way you used to in the springtime. You will laugh and tease him and urge him into dancing, pull him up onto his feet as Steve laughs warmly at his bewildered face.

Steve claps you two on, until Bucky can crack a smile, until all the world melts away and it’s just your smiling eyes and the way your skirts flare out as he turns you around and around and around.

“You used to love to dance with me!” You say with your hand on his shoulder, nimble feet carrying you through the jaunty music. “You taught me to dance in the apple grove, don’t you remember?” You say and his heart beats fast and joyful and hurting;

How could I forget? How could I forget? It sings.

When the song ends, Bucky returns you to Steve. You take Steve’s arm again, just like you belong there, right against him. In your gown of white and creme and rose, against the navy of Steve’s military uniform.

Bucky watches the two of you late into the night, on the dance floor, in the center of the room, the center of his universe.

He watches you two fall in love, the way you can hardly seem to catch your breath. The way you look almost scared and vulnerable peering up into Steve’s open face. It’s such a raw expression that Bucky almost looks away, but he can’t. He watches Steve’s hand tighten over yours, he watches him pull you closer, he watches the softness of his eyes and knows very simply that he watches you both fall in love.

And knows he loves you both, too.

Maybe his eyes are shining, maybe the world is spinning; or it’s just you two, still twirling and you are his world.

Maybe he leaves early, disappears into the cold and longs for those spring days. Maybe he can’t watch another moment of the two of you, maybe he can’t look away. Maybe he’ll never know love like yours or Steve’s or each other’s.

Maybe he’ll just quietly love you both for the rest of his life, the way the sea loves the shore.

***

“I’m happy,” Steve tells him one night, puts his broad hand on the tender spot between Bucky’s neck and shoulder. He squeezes lightly and there is such a brightness to Steve’s eyes, maybe they outshine the stars and the moon and maybe that’s why you love him so much.

Bucky musters a smile, wobbly but growing, and he says, “I know, Stevie.”

“I think I’m going to propose to her.” Steve says now, softly, like he can’t believe it.

“I know, Stevie.” Bucky says again and swallows around the lump in his throat. Bucky puts his hand on Steve’s shoulder now, too, jostles him a little, digs his thumb into his skin.

“I’m happy for you, too,” Bucky says and tries to mean it with every damn bone in his body.

***

“Bucky!” You squeal, run straight into his arms and he catches you effortlessly. “Oh, Bucky, I am so happy!” You cry and bury your flushed face into his neck.

For a moment, he lets himself believe that it is him who has made you happy. For a heartbeat, he believes that you cling to him the way you cling to Steve and his heart unfolds the way the flowers do in the spring. For a fraction of time, he holds you close to him as if you were his.

He puts you down and smiles because you’re smiling, “I’m getting married!” You say with your hands still on his chest and he knows this. He helped Steve ready to propose to you. He has known for so long now that you are in love and it is not with him, not in the way that he wants.

It still comes as a blow though, it still hits him squarely in the gut.

“I know,” Bucky says around the tightness in his throat and his chest.

But he leans in and kisses your cheek, just a breath away from the corner of your lips. He savors the moment, your soft skin beneath his lips, and knows he will never feel this again. He will never kiss you or hold you or dance with you the way Steve will. It is his goodbye in a kiss, a farewell, the final note of the song.

He lingers a beat too long and you blink up at him. Perhaps you can feel it, too. The closing, the parting of you two. As if maybe he can feel you leaving him in the apple grove once and for all.

“I’m happy for you, too.” Bucky then says and tries to mean it with every damn bone in his body.

***

On the day of your wedding, on one of the first warm, spring days since winter, he writes you a letter that he will never give you;

To the one I will always love,

I wish I could say that I knew when I first met you, that I would love you. I wish I had not left you in the apple groves and followed Steve into war.

Had I stayed would you love me? Would it be me you marry on this May day?

And sometimes I wish I had never returned from war.

But I did, I did, I did.

You will marry the other most dear to me and I will smile as you do so. Steve will give you the most wonderful life; you will both be happy. I have no doubt in my mind that he is perhaps the only one with a good enough heart to have yours, too.

Today, I will see you dressed in white and know it is not for me. I will love you and know that you love another.

But I wish I could empty a drawer in my dresser for you. I wish I could find you in all the corners of my life, the way you have burrowed into the corners of my heart.

You will get married to the one I love and I will smile as you do so.

I’ll always wait in the apple groves for you.

Yours forevermore,

Bucky.

He buries it in that grove of trees, where the earth is soft and fresh. He will let the roots grow through it and burst outward with new trees. He will let it rot and live there, with the tender part of his heart that he tries to leave there, too.

As if he could put his love to rest.

But he can’t, so he watches as you and Steve kiss under the spring sunshine as husband and wife. He wishes he’d look away, but he doesn’t. Maybe his eyes are shining.

Maybe he can’t breathe.

Bucky is the first person that Steve turns to when he looks back out at the people around them. He is so happy that it hurts, but Bucky smiles at him and means it with every damn bone in his body.

You look at him, too, flushed with life and happiness and the brightness of a new bride. As you walk past, you reach out and squeeze Bucky’s hand. As if maybe you know, now. As if you could’ve unearthed his letter by simply looking into his eyes.

Your fingers slide out of his reluctantly as you walk on and past him, and he thinks there are tears in your eyes, too.

But you’re smiling, carrying all that strange sadness that comes with being torn in two. So happy it hurts you, so happy that you could cry or sob, so heartbroken that you could laugh. The kind of melancholy and hopeful that Bucky has always understood.

You leave Bucky there, behind you, in the past when it was you and him and the apple grove. You step onward into summer, into a future with Steve.

***

Fate is a bittersweet creature, full of honey and venom. She knows because there is another letter buried in the dark of the earth, underneath those apple trees. Two twins laying in their graves. She knows because you buried it, addressed very simply;

To the one I will always love.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x female reader #steve rogers x y/n #heli0s2kwriting #stucky x reader #stucky x female reader #stucky x y/n #stucky x you

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graigoo · 5 years ago

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Jivin’ Bones (Chapter 1)

Summary: The above world isn't what Sans thought it would be, not that he had ever given it much thought. With all his old friends busy living their own lives, even Papyrus away from home more often than not— Sans is left to entertain himself. Bored, he turns back to the Underground. To the broken machine hidden in the back of his workshop. In the process of fixing it, the machine malfunctions and sends Sans into an alternate world.

Thrust into a harsher reality, Sans must survive long enough to find a way back home... while being pursued by a version of himself that's all too interested to know who the new skeleton in town is.

Inspired/Influenced by Sooner or Later You’re Gonna be Mine

Pairing: Bara!Mobfell Sans/Sans

Warnings: Mature, Graphic Violence, Sexual Content

Chapter One

Sans sighed, he huffed, he chuffed.

He lay on the couch, eyes straining as another raunchy comedian sauntered across the TV. The small square box’s glow was bright and the contrast between it and the dark living room was enough to pain his eyes. He rolled over on the couch to face the back of it, both to escape the light and because he was no longer enjoying the comedy special marathon. Raunchy comedians were the worst. Absolute party poopers. Why if Sans were in that crowd, he’d boo the bozo off the stage.

Anyone can spout swear words and point to their nether regions. It takes real comedic talent to get a crowd going with just one’s wit and line delivery. A talent Sans prided himself on, though he admittedly had a preference for puns over everything else.

There had been a time, when the monsters had first come to the surface, bright eyed and full of hope, that Sans had considered a career as a comedian. Touring the world, exploring, teaching the humans what monster comedy was all about. But then he’d really got to thinking about it, talked it over with his brother. And realized it would be… a lot.

He’d be on a schedule, have to actually plan the shows, constantly be moving based on where the crowds are and not where he wanted to be, not to mention having to workout contracts and payment. Too much work so soon after coming up from the Underground and Sans was too tired to be bothered.

Or at least that’s what he had told Papyrus.

He couldn’t have very well told his brother that if he became a professional comedian, then he would have to leave their newly settled home and that they wouldn’t see each other nearly as much. And after spending almost the entirety of his life caring for his younger brother, Sans was reluctant to leave him. For anything. The younger skeleton was a magnet for trouble and danger seemed to follow him wherever he went. Who knew what the hyperactive monster would get up to without Sans around to curb his enthusiasm?

That, and his brother’s dusty remains having slid through his trembling, segmented fingers enough times to be counted on both hands, might have also played a role in his unwillingness to leave his brother behind. Just a small one. Nothing major.

Knowing that Sans’ decision to stay in this little, cozy, do-nothing town was linked entirely to his desire to stay by his brother’s side, would make said brother feel guilty.

Just chalk another mark on the board next to the thousand other ones that represented all the things he couldn’t tell his brother.

Sans groaned as another curse-word laden joke boomed from the TV. Such poor taste, so low brow.

It didn’t suit their new little house, the same as their old, only with more windows. Papyrus, for whatever reason, loved the sun and raved about their home having natural light sources. Sans hadn’t seen the appeal, but was never the argumentative type, least of all over windows. Though he had wanted to mention how easy windows are to break in to. How human children were known to throw rocks through monsters’ windows, graffiti their walls, tee-pee their trees.

Mean spirited pranks that just spoke to how terrible human-surface-world comedy truly was.

Hundreds of channels and somehow the one that used to play in the Underground topped them all.

Tired as he was, lazy as he prided himself on being, the TV would be no distraction tonight. It was late, his brother was out on a patrol, having eagerly and early on joined the human police force. Their version of a guard, a much more boring version. With stricter rules, uniforms, and a harsher schedule. Too much work to join and not enough entertainment value to bother.

Undyne had taken to it immediately, though her more violent tendencies had somehow led to her never making it past the rank of police technician. A dumb name for a rank, because she didn’t actually work on anything technical, like the name suggested. She just helped kids and old humans cross the road, and handed out the occasional parking ticket.

Going from Captain of the honor guard to babysitter, and she wasn’t even bothered by it. Which probably had something to do with the street she regularly patrolled being directly across from the school Alphys taught at. Another step down, from royal scientist to middle school teacher.

The monster kingdom had fallen apart almost immediately after reaching the surface, the integration into human society easier than anyone had thought possible. That didn’t mean there wasn’t a jumbled mess of working parts left behind in the Underground. One no one seemed in any hurry to fix.

Being on the surface didn’t mean they could take it easy. There was more work that needed to be done.

It was just a pain being the only one to remember it needed doing.

The bother of it all didn’t stop him from smiling, even as another horrid joke came from the TV, threatening to put a damper on his already soggy mood. He slid off the couch and picked up the remote, pointing it threateningly at the glowing box.

“Sorry to cut you off early,” he said to the TV comedian. “But you’re not even remotely funny.”

Sans chuckled at his own joke, too tired to give it the proper guffaw it deserved.

“I’d telly you in person,” he continued at the screen. “but I got places TV tonight.”

That got a proper laugh out of him, at the same time the audience started roaring. Sans took a bow then clicked off the television, leaving the white glow from his eye sockets as the only light in the house.

Sans allowed his laughter to carry him out of the living room and to the front of the house. If he couldn’t focus on TV or hang with his brother, then there really was nothing for him to do in the above world, at least not this night. It was too late for anything to be open, and too early to try and get some sleep. That strange in-between that always came after midnight.

So instead he’d do the work no one else remembered needed being done.

Sans closed the door behind him as he stepped outside, only to shiver and shove his hands into his coat pockets. Even after spending so long in Snowdin, Sans still wasn’t a fan of the cold. Not like his brother, who acted like it didn’t affect him at all, the younger skeleton more susceptible to the heat than the cold. To the point that his brother wore crop tops in the winter.

Maybe the cold affected Sans differently because he was already such a chill guy.

Sans snorted, only to cringe as cold air filled his skull. Didn’t stop his smile, or laughter. What would he be if he couldn’t laugh at himself? Sans one funny-bone, is what he’d be.

His snickering was cut short as the first snow of the season began to fall. Looked like it was going to be a white one this winter. He held a hand out as if to catch it, but before a flake could land in his palm, he teleported.

Pop.

Sans landed outside town next to a great big, blue welcome sign.

Welcome to Delta| Population: Growing

Grinning, he nodded at the sign. “Sorry, didn’t notice you there.”

Without waiting for a rebuttal, he teleported again. This time he landed at the base of Mount Ebott, the soft pop of his teleportation the only sound to be heard for miles. Well, except for the howl of the wind. Looking up he could see a storm coming, the moon slowly being eclipsed by dark clouds. The lack of luminescent light made the forest ahead of him appear even darker. Good thing he wouldn’t be traversing it.

That’d be a real pine in the neck.

With another pop, he teleported to the mountain’s summit.

Being so high up, looking down at the shining city down below the mountain, only made him wonder how a human could possibly fall from such a height and survive. Every time, he questioned it. Flowers weren’t so soft that they could cushion a body. He had theorized that it was actually the barrier that cushioned the human’s fall. It hadn’t parted to let her through, but rather bent forward from the power of her soul, her fall had been slowed by the barrier pushing back against her decent, until the she fallen too far for the barrier’s magic to follow. The little human had pushed through just close enough to the ground to survive.

Or, so Sans theorized.

If he cared enough, which he didn’t, he could always ask Frisk directly what her fall had been like. That was more along Alphys’ line of work, though. Sans had stopped bothering with the barrier years before the human girl had fallen into their lives.

No, his own line of research was much more… theoretical.

With one last look Delta City, sans teleported again.

Pop.

He landed just outside the ruins, his magic enough to get him past the Underground’s entrance, but not all the way to Snowdin. Not that he was in a hurry to arrive or return home. With his brother always patrolling or tired from always patrolling, Alphys and Undyne occupied by their own love lives, and Toriel busy reconnecting with Asgore and raising Frisk—There was no one to miss him.

The corners of his smile twitched, but didn’t drop. Work would distract him from those unwanted and unnecessary thoughts. He had no reason to be anything but content. To have everything every monster in the Underground had ever wanted now possible and only then start to pull a frown…

Well, it wouldn’t be very ice of him.

Sans chuckled just as he teleported to the main entrance of Snowdin.

Pop.

He sighed a contended sigh at the familiar sight. Or, mostly familiar. The town was dark, all the homes and shops empty, abandoned not long after the barrier trapping the residents in the Underground had been lifted. The only light in the town came from its own natural luminescent glow and the decorated tree at the other end of the town. Not even the welcome sign was lit. He’d call it a real ghost town, but he doubts even Napstablook would live here. No one did anymore.

And Sans couldn’t blame them. Even if he would have been perfectly content to spend the rest of his days in the little town, he never expected his brother or the other residents to share his same sense of hopelessness. All from an incident that occurred well before he and his brother had moved to Snowdin.

It had taken Frisk threatening everything in the Underground to snap him out of his funk. Fighting the human over and over- and had he been a more narcissistic skeleton, Sans would have said it had filled with determination.

Then, one random reset, the fighting had stopped.

Sans had thought maybe Frisk had hit her head the last time she fell into the Underground. He hadn’t been, and still wasn’t, willing to ask her too many questions about it, should they reawaken some deeply buried memories. Like every reset prior, he had stayed mostly in the background, watching her choices, and for once the human refused to fight. Even with her life on the line, she hadn’t fought. It was enough to make him cautiously optimistic that Frisk would, at the very least, stop dusting his brother.

Not that he ever really remembered her doing it the first time, or second, third, fifth… But he knew when a reset occurred. The knowledge came to him as a feeling, no concrete evidence, but each time his spine would tingle, and the strongest feeling of déjà vu would strike his skull, feeling almost like a physical blow. It would leave him dazed for only a moment, but it was enough to let him know something wasn’t quite right. Conversations he never remembered the words to would repeat, and he would go through the motions of a normal day. Knowing that everything would reset and nothing anyone did really mattered made it really hard to take anything, anyone, seriously. He’d grown lazier by the day, thinking each one would be the day he stopped trying. But then he’d find his brother’s dusty remains, the pain a fresh wound every time. He never remembered enough to stop the murder from happening, never enough to change the outcome.

Then Frisk had stopped dusting monsters and started befriending them. Each reset that followed, she had come back friendlier and more determined than ever, making something he daren’t called hope build within him. The resets hadn’t stopped until she succeeded in breaking the barrier, at least twice, he thought. Not sure why it took two times, but he never asked.

It wasn’t important and Sans didn’t want to chance another reset.

He breathed out an amused sigh and started his lonely walk through the town. Only slowing as he passed Grilby’s. The place had closed soon after the barrier had broken, and he hadn’t seen the flame monster in a long time because of it. Like with most of Sans’ friends, they’d never been close enough to talk when not physically around each other. Certainly not close enough to share future plans and goals.

Two things Sans never had anyway. Unlike everyone else in the Underground, it seemed. They all had been so excited and hopeful, everyday looking up and thinking about what they would do once the barrier was down. Not that Sans had begrudged them their hopefulness. They just didn’t know what he knew. And Sans had been determined to keep it that way. Anything to keep that hopeful spark in his brother’s bright eyes.

Shaking his head, Sans continued walking. The years he had spent just existing were behind him. Not that he thought anything really mattered, it could still all go away one day. But while there was still some sort of motivation inside him, he would use it.

Gotta make up for lost time, and all.

Sans stopped in front of his and Papyrus’ old home. Looking at it with a wistful kind of longing. It’s interior was exactly the same as the one they lived in now. Save for one thing.

Instead of going in through the front door, Sans walked to left side. He placed a bony hand on the yellow wall and dragged his digits along it. The sound of wood scraping against something hard followed his movements. He didn’t stop until he came to a vertical parting in the wood, unnatural, but so thin as to be unnoticeable. Pulling back from the wall, he reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a silver key.

He opened the door, covered with wood and painted to blend with the rest of the house, and walked inside, closing the door behind him. The entire process made no sound, the door itself was silent, as it had needed to be. He hadn’t wanted to alert his brother to the existence of what lay inside.

Lest his dear brother become curious, lest he learn of Sans’ research. At first it had been to cover for his own lack of knowledge. That he was essentially trying to teach himself theoretical physics would have been too out of character for Papyrus to let go, and Sans would have been left with no choice but to tell him everything. He couldn’t lie to his brother, but he didn’t have to so long as the younger skeleton never asked questions.

The lights, attached to a sensor, clicked on as Sans walked further inside his small workshop. Tiled purple with blue walls, it was too small and sparse to be called a lab. Barely any tools and one piece of broken machinery in the back, covered by a blue tarp. Though, could a machine be called broken if it had never worked to begin with?

He’d built it not long after he and his brother had moved to Snowdin and his secret workshop was completed. He’d pursued the task with a fervor he’d not known himself capable of. That after it was completed, it hadn’t worked, was probably where his slacker attitude had first started. He barely remembered why he was building it, anyway. He had a name and a feeling.

W.D. Gaster and guilt.

Both confusing, where was the guilt coming from and who was W.D. Gaster? Sans still didn’t know, but he knew it had something to do with the blueprints he had found in the Hotland labs during his brief stint as an assistant to the head scientist there. Though, he had never worked for Alphys and she couldn’t recall at all his time there or just where the blueprint had come from. But he had the badge to prove he had, indeed, worked there. Alphys hadn’t been able to explain it and he hadn’t pressed the issue. Though, maybe he should have.

The most Alphys had been able to do at was tell him the strange text written on the blueprint was wing dings. Meaning it was almost impossible to translate accurately. She had then politely told him she wouldn’t be needing his assistance and fired him from a job she didn’t remember him having.

Sans hadn’t thought anything of it until he had gone home and discovered the photo album. Filled with pictures of himself and his brother during their younger years. And one single picture of himself, Alphys, and a skeleton he doesn’t remember knowing. Even now, the face was a blur, and if not for the photo, he would have forgotten it completely.

Whoever this W.D. Gaster was, the blueprints had something to do with his disappearance and... it was probably Sans’ fault he was gone.

It was the only explanation he could think of for the guilt. The guilt that had led to the generally lazy skeleton to teach himself theoretical physics, to create an underground workshop, to build a machine he had no idea the function of. And still didn’t know, because when he’d finished building the thing, it hadn’t worked. It had blinked, blooped, then shuttered off.

He’d given up then, with the intent to maybe, one day go back to the machine once the demoralization that came with failure lessened.

Then a human had fallen into the Underground and the cycle had begun. And how could he focus on fixing the machine when nothing he or anyone else did mattered?

Now that the barrier was down and everyone had started their new lives, the resets had stopped; there was no excuse not to continue his work. What else was he doing with his life? Nothing, and it was hard to enjoy himself with the guilt that W.D. Gaster was lost somewhere, not enjoying the freedom of the above world because of something Sans had done.

W.D. Gaster? More like W.D. Guilt.

Heh.

Sans chuckled to himself and pulled the blue tarp off of his machine. It was gray, cylindrical, nothing fancy. At least, not on the outside. There were different colored nobs and dials, it looked like every other high-tech science machine Sans had ever seen inside of Alphys’ lab. The only difference being the inside. It was just… a mess, a jumble of wires and pieces Sans still wasn’t entirely sure the function of.

Even though he had no idea what it did, after so many years working on the machine, it was very gear to his soul.

He’d been coming back every few days since moving to the above world. Though, it had taken some time before he actually mustered up the energy to begin working on the busted machine again. It was something to do, at the very least. Kept his mind off how empty home felt with Papyrus at work more often than not.

With that thought, he began his work. Using the few tools he owned, stashed away in cabinets in the wall, to pry open the back of the machine. He needed to see what had caused it to power off mid function. He’d already made the hypothesis that it was wiring related, just going through every single wire in the back of his machine was taking longer than Sans had anticipated.

He took his time, making sure every wire was connected properly, that the right kind of wire had been used. That nothing was crossed or had come undone. He didn’t keep track of time as he worked, not that he was ever one to do so even when timing mattered.

Eventually he came to a green and blue wire he thought had been mistakenly switched around during the building process. It was good a guess as any, and switching them around and trying to turn the machine back on wouldn’t hurt. Not like the thing could work worse than it already did… Well, it could explode, but Sans wouldn’t let the thought burst his optimistic bubble.

Chuckling to himself for what felt like the tenth time that night, Sans switched the wires, stood from his crouched position behind the machine, and turned it on. Time to test his luck. Heh.

At first, nothing happened. The machine sat quiet as it always has. Then he heard the telltale sounds of a machine booting up. The whir of fans and the hum of power going through its cables.

He watched, almost excited, as the machine’s knobs and buttons began to light up. His eye-sockets widened, however, when the machine started to shake violently. It rocked on the floor, scratching the tile and buzzing in a way that definitely sounded dangerous.

Thinking quickly, Sans reached for the machine’s short power plug, intent on pulling it out. But as his digits got close, electricity burst from the outlet, striking him, causing him to hiss and shake his hand. Smoke started to seep from the machine’s seams, dark clouds poured from where the back panel was open. A high-pitched ringing started to emanate from the machine, loud enough to be painful. Sans covered both his ear-holes, not that his bony hands were very effective in keeping the sound out. Seeing sparks come out of the open back panel was what finally convinced Sans he needed to leave. He’d flip a breaker in the house to cut the power, come back with a fire-extinguisher… Something he probably should have already had in the lab.

Oh well, live and learn- or burn, in this situation.

Sans gathered his magic to teleport, but just as he felt the area around him shift, the machine exploded. Heat blew past him, through him, Sans felt as though he was being torn apart. He shouted, clutching around himself as though to hold himself together. Teleportation had never been so painful. His body was being pulled into a thousand different directions. His teeth rattled like they were going to fall out. Just as he could feel the tips of his fingers disintegrating into dust—

Everything went white.

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Oh, man. Did anybody get the number of that bus? Because Sans felt like he’d been run over, backed over, a real case of navicular homicide. Only Sans was still alive… probably.

He wiggled his fingers just to see if he could. They moved, then he did the same with his toes. They moved as well as they could inside his socks and slippers. Not really wanting to, but knowing he needed to, Sans forced his eye-sockets open. It took a minute for his magic to flare up and the whites return to his eyes. And when they did, his vision was blurred. All he could see was darkness. He blinked a few times, and slowly his sight returned.

The first thing Sans noticed after regaining his vision was the snow. It was falling hard around him, cold and wet. He shivered, then winced. He felt like he’d been in a fight, or several, but the familiar feeling of a reset was thankfully absent, so likely not.

“Phew,” Sans sat up and rubbed his skull. “That was some guilt-trip.”

Maybe he’d teleported far enough to strain his magic. It was possible, a fight or flight thing after realizing the machine was going to explode. He took in his surroundings, blinking in confusion; they were familiar. Looking around, he could tell he was still in Snowdin, so he hadn’t teleported too far away. What confused him was that the particular view of Snowdin he was looking at could only be seen from inside of his old home, from the front. But he wasn’t in a home. There was no indication that there had ever been a house where he was sitting.

Sans rubbed his skull again, aw crud, had he blown the house up? Not that they were using it anymore, but when Papyrus found out he was definitely going to explode. And Papyrus had such a booming voice when he was mad; might be better for Sans’ developing skull-ache to just wait for his sibling to find out on his own. If he ever did. As far as Sans knew, his brother didn’t have any plans to go back to the Underground anytime soon. Good. Gave Sans time to come up with a banging excuse.

Groaning, Sans pushed himself to his feet. He almost frowned at the realization of what an explosion would really mean.

No more workshop. No more machine. No more blueprint. No more photo album. No more badge.

Without that blueprint, there was nothing for him to go off of to build a new machine. Without the photo album, he was bound to forget why he needed to build it in the first place. Without seeing the wing dings printed on the blueprints, he’d forget what the W.D. stood for. Without his old badge he’d forget that he ever even worked at the Hotland labs…

Eh, there were worse things in life. Sans shrugged the realization off, taking the opportunity to brush fallen snow off his shoulders and the top of his skull. Must have been laying in the snow for some time to get this covered. And besides, maybe with everything else, the guilt would fade too. Not a bad turn of events.

Shivering, Sans shoved his hands into his coat pockets.

Yeah, definitely nothing to lose his cool over.

Snowdin was colder than he ever remembered it being. Darker too, now that he thought about it. The tree at the end of town wasn’t on meaning there was nothing to provide light, what with the faux-clouds up above covering the natural luminescence of the Underground. His explosion must have knocked the power out, blown a fuse or something.

Oh well, a problem for another day. Right now, Sans was cold, and his mood wasn’t doing so hot either.

He was too tired to teleport, so he was forced to walk through the snow. Passing by empty houses that somehow looked more abandoned than when he’d first arrived. The dark will do that sometimes, he supposed. Again, he found himself slowing in front of the old bar he used to frequent. After the night’s disappointments, he could really go for a drink. The ketchup he had back in Delta just didn’t cut it. Even the expensive stuff tasted off, like the humans focused on the tomato and garlic flavor over the vinegar.

Sans looked over at the bar, smile forlorn, only to do a doubletake. The sign wasn’t lit up, but through the windows he could definitely see a light emanating from the back of the bar. And if his theory about the power being out was true, then there was only one monster bright enough to be seen from the outside.

Sans laughed at his good fortune. Looked like Grilby was back in Snowdin. Probably to grab anything he’d left behind, or close up for good, or maybe he, like Sans, had felt the cold call of nostalgia.

Either way, it wouldn’t be very cool of Sans to pass by without at least a hail and farewell.

Chuckling, Sans stepped forward and pushed the front door open.

“Bonejour,” he loudly greeted the flame monster, taking the opportunity to show off how he’d learned to make puns out of other human languages. It had been almost a year since he’d last seen the bar owner, and Sans planned to use the opportunity to fire up some of his favorite flame puns.

The lack of a reaction was the first sign something wasn’t quite right with the bar owner. Though, it really should have been the second. How could he have missed that the light coming from the back of the bar was purple. The monster at the back, behind the bar counter was purple. Grilby? Was Grilby purple now? The monster on the other side of the bar, paused with one hand in the air, holding a dust cloth over the dirty bottles on the rack.

Looked like the bar owner had been in the middle of cleaning up. The bar itself was covered in cobwebs, there was dust on every surface, and he couldn’t even make out what the bottles in the back on the bar rack were, they were so filthy. Surely so much dust and dirt couldn’t have accumulated in less than a year? Sans had gone an entire year without cleaning his room before, and it hadn’t looked half as bad as Grilby’s bar did now.

“A skeleton? But I thought…” Sans heard the flame monster mutter to himself.

A single eye-socket rose as he looked his friend up and down. Something was up, was off-color with the whole situation. Purple flame, run down looking bar- even Grilby’s attire was different. A long black coat with a white-furred collar, a red tie.

But then, the human world was known to change a monster; hue was Sans to judge?

“They’ll want to know…” The flame monster muttered again, and Sans decided it was time to join in on the conversation.

“Grilby?” He questioned, walking forward until he came to a stop in front of the bar counter, hopping up to sit on a dirty bar stool. It’d be difficult to talk if he didn’t; he was only just as tall as the counter itself.

“And if I am?” The flame monster snapped in response, as if irritated to be interrupted. “Who are you? What are you doing out past curfew?”

Grilby stared at Sans like he wasn’t glad to see him and the cold reception would have hurt, had Sans let it. Instead he just shook his head, perplexed by his old friend’s odd behavior. He sure sounded like Grilby, well, except for the attitude. But what was that about a curfew?

“Funny,” Sans laughed awkwardly. Grilby had never been one to crack jokes, though Sans supposed he could appreciate the attempt. Because that’s what this had to be.

“I don’t see how,” Grilby said, turning to face him fully. “Some strange skeleton I’ve never met before comes into my bar after hours, after curfew- and you think it’s funny?” There was a suspicion that couldn’t be faked in his old friend’s tone, and it shook Sans to the bone.

“Grilby…” Sans said. “… Don’t you recognize me?” He asked, trying to tone down his confusion.

It was apparently the wrong thing to ask, though, because the monster’s purple flame burned higher in anger. Even a different color, Sans recognized the signs of friendly fire headed his way.

“Don’t play games, skeleton.” Was the flame monster’s response.

Sans started to sweat, and it wasn’t just because Grilby was burning hotter than Sans had ever seen him burn before. “C’mon, I used to come here all the—”

“Are you trying to implicate me?” Grilby accused, cutting Sans off.

Implicate? In what, Sans wanted to ask, but he got the feeling more questions would only add fuel to the fire.

“Woah there pal, don’t go getting all hot under the collar.” Sans said, palms up to indicate he didn’t want any trouble. “You don’t know me, I got it.”

A theory started to form in the back of Sans’ skull, though he didn’t like it. The machine he had built had something to do with time, that much he knew. What if when it had blown up, the force of the explosion had thrown him back in time? Far back enough that it was before he and his brother had moved to Snowdin. Back far enough that Grilby still had trouble controlling his heat, was going through a purple phase, and was terrible at customer service. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing that had ever happened to the skeleton. But he would need more time to think on it. Heh.

Plenty of time for a drink then. After all, when else would he ever have an opportunity like this?

“You got any ketchup in this place?” Sans asked, a blatant attempt to change the topic. “I’m usually more talkative after I’m good and sauced.”

Grilby groaned, but his eyes were no less suspicious than before, and without another word, the bartender turned away from him and back to his dusty bottles. Movements slow, contemplative.

Under his breath Sans muttered “Well, that backfired.”

Grilby’s flaming head snapped around to glare at Sans through impossibly narrow eyes, to which the skeleton only shrugged. If he remembered right, it had taken some time for the fire monster to come around to Sans’ particular char-isma. Maybe even further back in the timeline, Grilby had been an even bigger hot head.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” Grilby started. “But since you are here…” Grilby turned back around to face him, seemingly calmer than before. A single bright finger was raised, pointing off to the side of the bar counter, and Sans’ gaze followed that finger. It was pointing to the left, where a small metal container held napkins, salt, pepper, mustard, and—Ketchup!

Grinning, Sans stretched for it, not above placing a knee on the counter top in order to reach his delicious drink. Ha, even years in the past and Grilby knew to keep the good stuff on tap. The bottle was glass, looking a lot fancier than Sans was used to. But it didn’t matter, ketchup was ketchup.

As he reached for it, the flame monster continued talking.

“Drink all you want,” Grilby told him, that suspicious tone ever present. “Just don’t leave until I return.”

That only elicited another shrug from Sans. “Sure thing, pal.”

Where would he go? His home was gone, the town empty save for the bar. It was cold outside, and like always, Grilby’s was the warmest place to be in Snowdin. The ketchup was lukewarm, just how he liked it, and just for a short while Sans could pretend like he wasn’t probably thrown back in time and that everything was still as it once was. Before a small human had come to the Underground, before the resets, before the surface world had brought everyone closer together while simultaneously drifting them apart.

Wow, that almost brought a frown to his face.

And if that wasn’t a sign he needed some ketchup, Sans didn’t know what was. Deciding tonight was one of those nights, he unscrewed the top.

“Maybe when you get back, we can ketch-up.” Sans said with a wink in the flame monster’s direction.

Grilby grunted in disgust then disappeared to the backroom of his bar, the door closing behind him, sign tacked to it, stating employees only, swinging from the momentum.

Once again Sans shrugged, not really getting the fire man’s problem. Maybe he was just embarrassed to have his bar seen in such a dingy state. If this Grilby had known Sans, he would know that the skeleton was the last monster to judge another’s cleanliness. But as Grilby had yet to meet Sans… or had met him, but at the wrong time? And probably won’t remember meeting him once everything was said and done—Sans didn’t really hold the curt behavior against him.

Forgiving skeleton that he was, Sans wouldn’t make a tissue of it.

Ahahahaha-ha-ha-haaaaah…

Without hesitation, Sans knocked back the ketchup bottle and chugged. A comfort drink if there ever was one. Or so he thought. The vinegar taste was stronger than he remembered, the whole taste an almost unfamiliar tang. If not for the distinct texture, he would have questioned what he was drinking. Was this really ketchup? Sans slammed the half-empty bottle back on the table, coughing and glaring at the fancy bottle with mild, amused annoyance. That sure was some strong ketchup. What did Grilby do, drown the tomatoes in vinegar? Heck, if Sans had wanted to get plastered, he would have asked for a shot. Not that he was the type for it.

With one digit, he pushed the bottle further away. His smile never wavered, even as the vinegar burned down his throat, heating his chest in a painful way. He placed a hand over his white shirt, feeling to make sure his ribs weren’t actually melting. Mean as it might be to think, but if all of Grilby’s drinks were like that, it’s no wonder the bar was empty. It had probably taken a while for Grilby to figure out the right tomato past to vinegar ratio. Good thing Sans was here to set him down the right path early.

Though, would anything he did now affect the future? Until he knew more about just what had happened, he would need to be careful not to let too much slip. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about running into himself here. Maybe—

The sound of a door opening pulled Sans from his own theorizing thoughts, and he waited for Grilby to come out of the back room so Sans could give him some well-meaning criticism. He waited, but the fire monster never stepped out. Actually, now that he was looking, the door to the back room had never opened. At the exact time Sans noticed, a breeze blew into the bar from behind him, causing him to shiver. Cold.

Had Grilby gone out the back and come back in the front? Maybe flame monster had needed to cool off.

Sans turned his head, ready to greet Grilby with a joke, only to stiffen at what he saw. Cold sweats rolled down Sans’ face and the chill from the wind sank into his bones. And in that moment, Sans didn’t think he could have moved even if he wanted to.

Even after living in Snowdin for so long, Sans had never been frozen in fear before. And if asked, he would never admit that might be what was happening to him now. And he definitely couldn’t say why.

It definitely couldn’t be because, standing in the bar’s wide doorway, was a massive monster. Tall and wide, the monster nearly took up the whole of the door frame. It blocked out most of the town’s natural luminescent light, creating a shadow that stretched from the entrance of the bar to just where Sans was sitting. He swallowed down nothing, the icy chill of the monster’s red stare having long since put out the burn in his throat.

Outside of King Asgore, Sans had never seen a monster so large. Though, why should it matter? Sans had always been on the short size, so height alone was never enough to intimidate him. In fact, Sans couldn’t remember a time he had ever felt intimidated. The ability to teleport and knowledge of resets had really taken the thrill out of life.

Not content to stand in the doorway, the large monster walked forward, the wooden floor creaking under its weight with every step. It didn’t take long for Sans to get a better look at the monster. The skeleton monster.

He was tall, taller than Papyrus. Wider than him too. Was he bigger than W-w… Gaster had been? The memory of the skeleton was already so vague, he can’t possibly begin to know. What if he was Gaster? Had he been thrown back in time too? Or did he just exist in this time period unrelated to the machine’s capabilities?

The monster was staring at him like he didn’t believe what he was seeing and Sans couldn’t help but do the same.

The strange skeleton’s clothes did nothing to distract from his impressive size. And they said black was supposed to be slimming! Sans blinked just to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. Because not only was the skeleton the largest Sans had ever seen, he’s also the best dressed out of… well anyone he had ever known. And Sans was good friends with royalty.

A black undershirt, shining like it was made of silk. The sleeves were up to the skeleton’s elbows with the top two buttons undone. A fashion choice, or had the guy left in a hurry? If it was the latter, Sans didn’t want to know the reason why…

Okay, he did, but that was only because it could possibly have something to do with his presence in the bar and Grilby’s disappearance to the backroom.

The only thing covering the undershirt was a dark red vest with thin black pin stripes. It looked tight on the skeleton’s massive body, and Sans doubted it was the most comfortable outfit. What with the dress pants, the belt, and black dress shoes with laces? Didn’t matter that they looked fancy and expensive with their red and gold accents—The monster would have to bend over to tie them. No level of fashion was worth that.

More striking than the clothes was the skeleton’s smile, it was wide as Sans’ own, though much less welcoming. Sharp teeth were clenched together, a single gold tooth glinting in his smile. It was the most threatening smile Sans had ever seen. Did it even count as a smile at that point?

The monster certainly didn’t look like any scientist Sans had ever seen. But then, Sans doubted he looked very scientific at a glance.

Their staring contest was broken first by the stranger, who had come to a full stop directly in front of Sans, the monster’s shadow completely covering his much smaller form.

The stranger chuckled, then asked, “and what have we got here?” The voice was deep, rough, but jovial. Sounding like he stepped straight out of one of those old mobster movies Frisk loved to watch.

The friendly tone gave Sans hope that in spite of the monster’s intimidating appearance, he didn’t want a confrontation. All good then, as Sans wasn’t sure what fighting the strange skeleton would do to the future timeline, if anything he did in this timeline mattered at all.

Them both being skeletons, Sans went for his tried and true classics when answering the most likely rhetorical question.

��Tibia honest,” Sans responded with a forced chuckle. “I’m not really sure, myself. You pa-tella me.”

Not his finest work, but Sans cut himself a break. It had been a while since he’d had to joke under pressure. His bone-saw was rusty, so to speak.

The large skeleton only continued to stare at Sans; his smile replaced with a look of confusion. What, had the monster never heard a joke before? Sans’ puns weren’t that bad, he’d definitely told worse. He tensed, prepared to teleport if the stranger turned violent. Only for it to be his turn to look at the other skeleton in confusion.

The monster had started to chuckle, a low menacing sound, then he placed his large hands on his stomach and threw his head back, bellowing the most guttural and intense laugh Sans had ever heard. The skeleton laughed, and laughed, and laughed, his large body shaking from the force of it. He showed no signs of stopping and for a moment Sans wondered if the guy had snapped. His jokes tended to do that with the more violence prone monsters.

Then the stranger wiped an invisible tear from his eye-socket, sucking in a breath and straightening back up. Those red eyes almost looked warm and Sans thought maybe he could make a friend out of this monster. Maybe it would mess with the timeline, but Sans doubted it. He suspected nothing he did in this time would affect the future. Besides, what was the alternative? Ignore the skeleton? That would be a level of rude Sans wasn’t comfortable with, and Papyrus had nagged better manners into him than that.

“Got a real funny-bone, don’t-cha?” The skeleton asked, voice wheezy from how hard he had been laughing.

Sans shrugged and leaned back against the bar; legs spread and posture loose. Intentionally appearing more relaxed than he felt. It never hurt to be underestimated. Literally.

“I’d say yes, but I haven’t got the nerve,” Sans responded casually. The urge to laugh at his own joke was strong, but Sans’ will was stronger. Once he got started it was hard to stop, and laughing too hard would leave him vulnerable. And until he was sure of his situation, he couldn’t afford that luxury.

Something the larger skeleton didn’t seem to worry about, as he laughed once again, shorter than before, but no less unnerving. Heh.

The stranger grinned down at Sans, and it was an unsettling enough look that Sans had to second guess his own ever smiling choice. Not that he could help it, most of the time. There was just too much comedy to be found in the world. Even now, with a six foot something skeleton towering over him, Sans couldn’t help but imagine how hilarious they must look from the outside.

“You’re not from around here, are ya?” The stranger asked, sounding sure of himself.

“What makes you say that?” Sans answered the other skeleton’s question with a question of his own.

Another question he never should have asked, Sans realized too late. The larger skeleton took it as an excuse to place both his hands on the counter behind Sans, caging him in. And had those teeth looked any less sharp, Sans would have snickered at the attempt of intimidation. The tough guy routine was always a funny one to witness. Though, the one usually trying to pull it off was his brother, and not some giant skeleton who looked like he could snap bones with just his jaw strength.

The strange skeleton’s good humor from before was gone, though the smile stayed. It was just too bad for the stranger that Sans’ wasn’t the type to be intimidated. He’d only ever felt threatened during one recurring fight in his life, and big as he was, this skeleton would never measure up to it.

“Now let me make something clear—I’m the one who asks the questions here, capisce? You cooperate, and maybe you’ll get out of here alive.” The stranger threatened with a smile that was too close for comfort.

“Whatever you slay, buddy.” Sans joked.

The other’s eye-sockets narrowed, and he lifted a large hand as if to strike the smaller skeleton. Sans tensed, but the movement toward his face was too slow to slow to be meant for a blow.

“Somethin’ about you seems…” The stranger ran his thick bony fingers over the top of Sans’ skull, the touch light and very unwelcome.

“What—what are you…” Sans was taken off guard and seconds away from teleporting. He’d never been one to shy away from touch, but something about the way this skeleton ran his digits over Sans’ skull really rattled his bones.

“Humerus me,” the skeleton responded, still sounding amused.

Sans laughed nervously; the whole thing was too strange to be funny. Well, almost. Everything was funny in its own odd way. Curfews, giant skeletons- turns out Snowdin was a crazy place before he and his brother had showed up. One day Sans would look back on this and laugh. One far, far away day.

For now, he just stayed still, allowing the stranger to turn his head this way and that, run his large hand over the back of Sans’ skull. Feeling him like he’d never seen one before. What, did the guy never look in a mirror? Sure, he looked a lot more textured than Sans, but still.

“So smooth,” the stranger murmured.

It was the perfect opportunity to interject with a joke. Being called smooth was such a comedic opening that he’d be remiss to let it slip by. But before he could get a word out, his jaw was gripped tightly and tilted upwards, forcing him to look directly into the larger skeleton’s eye sockets. They glowed a menacing red, the light reflecting off the sharp gold tooth that was all too visible.

Was the threatening look intentional? Why would a monster, outside of the royal guard, ever bother to appear a threat? Could… Perhaps…

More credence was being given to his back in time theory. Back far enough that he ended up in a time right after the war with the humans had only just ended? It would explain Grilby’s tense behavior and the lack of patrons in the bar. From what he’d read at the Libraby, Snowdin had taken several decades to really take off, most monsters preferring the warmer temperatures or water areas. Not until overpopulation in the capital had monsters begun venturing out into the colder regions. Even then, Snowdin had never been the most populated of towns. With such a low population, it didn’t even qualify as a village. With a population of less than one-hundred and fifty, it was technically a hamlet.

But then, Sans had never been one for labels. If the citizens of Snowdin wanted to call their home a town, what did he care? It just added to the town’s quirk. A great, interesting, place to live.

Why did they ever leave?

That’s a bad thought and Sans quickly cast it out of his mind. He was usually so careful about what thoughts and emotions he allowed himself to feel. Must be the cold, it was chilling his sense of humor.

The strange touch stopped and Sans didn’t bother trying to stop his sigh of relief. He couldn’t very well let the monster think his touch had been wanted, welcome, or appropriate.

“Definitely not from around here,” the other skeleton whispered to himself. Though, not quite soft enough for Sans not to hear, if that was even the intent.

“You look like you crawled out of a dumpster,” the stranger grinned at him, eyeing the smaller skeleton up and down like he thought the clothes he wore came from a dumpster too.

Sans’ own eye-sockets narrowed. He had a snarky quip ready to go— And you look like you escaped from a balloon factory— but he thought better of it. Not because he was intimidated, but because if a fight did start, Sans only had the one jacket. If it got torn during a fight, the chances of finding another like it in his size were extremely low. And it was cold outside.

So, he shrugged, maintaining his nonchalant façade.

“A skeleton’s gotta sleep where he can.” No joke that time, after the complete disregard for Sans’ personal space and disrespect toward his threads, Sans’ didn’t think the monster deserved his material. Mostly because the stranger seemed to actually enjoy it. Which would have been a welcome change of pace had it been literally anyone else.

“That I hear,” the stranger responded. Like Sans sleeping in a dumpster would be some normal, everyday revelation. “What I’m not hearin’, is why I haven’t ever seen you around before.”

That same deep, menacing timbre from before returned and Sans’ couldn’t stop his flinch at the abrupt shift in tone. What was this monster’s deal? One minute he was laughing at Sans’ jokes, the next he was getting too touchy and acting all threatening, the red in his eye-sockets glowing brighter.

“You know every monster?” Sans asked, a sarcastic edge to his voice.

“From Snowdin- and every skeleton, yeah.” Was the quick rebuttal. “And you’re not from here.”

Sans, not about to argue, simply replied, “I’m from out of town.”

“Way outta town, I take it. What’s a daisy like you doin’ in a place like this?”

“Daisy?” Sans parroted. If there was joke, Sans didn’t get it.

“You’re wearing’pink, ain’t ya?”

“… Yeah?” Sans said, waiting for the punchline.

“So that makes you a daisy.” The other skeleton replied with a nasty grin. Was it an insult, then?

… Sans didn’t get it, but out of respect for the art, he chuckled anyway.

Which was, once again, the wrong thing to do.

The large skeleton growled and Sans almost felt annoyance at the rapid change in attitude. One minute, everything was rosy, the next, he’s pushing up daisies. What in carnation was going on?

“Now listen here, you little daisy— That’s the third time I’ve repeated myself, and I’m not a man who likes repeatin’ himself.” Faster than Sans could follow, the larger skeleton summoned a sharp bone with his magic, and pointed it under Sans’ chin with a level of speed he hadn’t thought someone so big could possess.

“Now I’d hate to cut such a pretty face, but you won’t want me repeatin’ myself a fourth time.” The tip of the bone pricked the underside of Sans’ jaw. “Usually it’s three strikes and you’re out, but I’m lettin’ you take one more swing.”

The larger skeleton’s speed was interesting, the whole situation was interesting. It was something new. Being called pretty was new. But the threats? Sans eyed the stranger with an air of boredom about him and simply responded, “I’m more of a basketball man, myself.”

Then, unperturbed, he placed a bony hand over the one currently holding a knife to his face.

“You first, buddy,” Sans said. He was always one to hold what he knew close to his chest, and if the stranger wanted to know who Sans was, well, all the more reason not to tell. The whites of his own eyes glowed brighter, though the other skeleton didn’t seem to notice. The monster once again barked out a laugh, then looking at Sans like he didn’t believe what he was seeing, what he was hearing.

“… You don’t know?” The stranger asked, like Sans should know.

Some ego on the guy, no wonder he was so big and wore such restricting clothes. He needed them to contain all that hot air.

“You must’ve had that dumpster locked tight if you’ve never heard of me before.” Just as quickly as it’d appeared, the bone dagger was wisped away in a cloud of red smoke.

“No wonder you don’t have any manners, you haven’t a clue who you’re dealin’ with, do ya?” It was said so matter-of-factly that Sans wondered if he had somehow overlooked the large skeleton in the history books.

“The name’s Sans, Sans the skeleton.” A hand was held out to him. ��And you, lil’ daisy?”

Sans soul thudded in his ribcage, the large hand was directly in front of him, but he could no longer see it. Everything was a blur as those words played over and over in his head.

Sans, Sans the skeleton. Sans. The skeleton.

Sans.

Anything the larger skeleton—Sans said after was drowned out by the buzz in the back of Sans- his, skull. His smile waivered as the answer to his situation rattled around inside his skull. If only it would stop bouncing around, he’d know what to do.

“Take my hand, lil’ daisy.” It was an order said through sharp, clenched teeth. Whatever humor the other Sans had been getting out his lack of knowledge was apparently disappearing.

Just like he was about to. Haha.

Before his smile could fall, Sans teleported.

Pop.

To the mountain’s summit, completely covered by snow.

Pop.

To Mount Ebott’s base, the forest behind him looking gnarled and dead.

Pop.

He landed heavy in the snow. It was too dark and he was too far from the city’s welcome sign to read it. But he didn’t give himself time to collect his thoughts or to regain his usual cool. And though his smile was still stretched across his face as he stumbled forward, it was painfully forced. A wretched, familiar feeling of hopelessness was filling him. It was a feeling he hadn’t felt since those first few battles in the castle corridor. And given the circumstances, it didn’t make sense.

It was just a name, his name, so why did it fill him with so much dread? Like he was being faced with a problem that had no solution. Just like the resets all over again.

Sans stopped in front of the city’s welcome sign, hands on his knees, out of a breath he didn’t need. The sign was red instead of the familiar blue. Its paint was chipped and the edges rusted. It was obviously old and not well cared for. However, the black words written across it were clear, looking freshly painted. The strength in Sans’ legs gave way as he read the sign, his knees hitting the snow as he looked on with wide eye-sockets.

Welcome to Fell City | Population: Shrinking

~ End

AN: This will likely be the longest chapter of the fic, on account of all the exposition I had to fit in. I want to explore OG Sans' character with this, focusing on his wants, his intelligence, and I think the perfect foil to match up against Sans is Sans himself.

Feedback is welcome and appreciated.

1900s Slang:

Daisy - None too masculine

#kustard #underfell sans #sans #mobfell #sancest #bara sans #underfell #jivin' bones #jivin' bones 1 #my writ

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blackleatherjacketz · 6 years ago

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My Brother’s Keeper: Chapter 15

Negan x Reader

Summary: Your brother runs away from the Sanctuary and you pay the price. This Chapter: You meet up with Negan for the first time since you’ve been living at the Kingdom.

Warnings: Lemons, Explicit Smut, Sadism, Masochism, Regret, A Weird Dream, Espionage, Blackmail, Coercion

Word Count: 2853

Read the rest of the story HERE!

That night you could barely sleep, but when you did your mind raced a thousand different ways, leaving you with the memory of only one stoic dream. You remember being on top of a mountain in some strange and foreign country, the wind blowing you this way and that as you tried your best to keep your balance. You looked down at your feet to make sure they were steady and realized you were standing on a set of old, crumbling stairs.

Those stairs were made of stone, at least a thousand years old as you slowly walked down them. Your body got heavier with each step, every time you planted your foot on another landing, the sound of your feet hitting the rock grew louder. It echoed in the valley as the very mountain you stood on shook, violently breaking up pebbles and sending them to the ground. The steps below you kept getting smaller and farther away, the cracks in them deeper as you pondered whether or not you should keep going.

You managed to jump down to the next step, the ancient ruin crumbling beneath you as the entire mountainside quaked. It shook trees loose from their roots, rocks from their resting places and snow from the very top of the mountain. You tried your best to go back and climb up to the previous step but it was already too far away. You jumped and clawed at the stairwell, breaking your nails against the stone only to feel the ground below you disappear entirely. The air escaped your lungs as you fell, your scream a silent whisper as you plummeted down the dark depths of the valley until...

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Phew! The alarm on your watch woke you up before you could hit the ground. —————————————- Getting your mindset ready to meet Negan after that dream was one of the hardest things you’ve ever had to do. You were already nervous, but this just made things worse. What did it mean? You tried your best to shake it from your brain as you walked outside the Kingdom walls past the ghost town and into the forest. Negan gave you the location of your secret meeting place before he sent you off with Laura that morning, and a part of you hoped he didn’t show up. You hoped that this Rick character was giving him enough trouble to keep him busy on the other side of town, but deep down you knew that was only a fool’s hope.

The place he’d told you to meet him at was marked with a spray-painted S, claiming the broken down shack as property of the Saviors. Its faded color made you wonder what else he’d used it for in the past: offerings from the Kingdom, or something else entirely, although it was probably better that you didn’t know. You prepared yourself as you approached the cabin, cautiously taking in Negan’s towering silhouette through the grimy window by the door. You watched as he paced back and forth with Lucille in his hands, talking to himself quietly as if he were an actor preparing his lines. This was it, you thought, it was now or never.

You opened the door and saw him for the first time in a week, all six feet of him covered in black leather and malice as he stared you down from the center of the room. He was missing his red scarf, the colors of battle no longer surrounding his throat as his black boots creaked across the wooden floor.

“Holy shit! She really did chop all your goddamn hair off, didn’t she?” He stepped toward you as you entered the room, running his fingers through your chin-length locks.

You stared at him in silence, secretly hoping to no avail that your attraction to him would die down after a week at the Kingdom, but his scent was twice as strong, his smile twice as enticing, and his fingers that much more intense on your skin. Your time away had done nothing to curtail your desire for him, in fact you felt that it had only strengthened it.

“I mean, look at you!” he continued. “You’ve really gone native! I’m surprised you don’t have a goddamn feather in your hair!” He traced the bottom of your locks with his fingers, curling them under your chin as they bounced back behind your ear. “I miss your old hair, but I gotta admit this is a good look, too.” He leaned in and brought his mouth to yours, stopping just short of a kiss. “And aren’t you forgetting something, Princess?”

God, he was so close to you. Close enough that you could feel his breath on your skin, the calluses on his fingers and the bulge between his legs. You smiled against the thin sheet of oxygen that kept you apart, letting your knees bend as they took you down to a genuflected kneel; some things never change.

“That’s it,” he growled into a laugh, licking his lips as he circled around you. “You know, out of all the positions I’ve put you in, there’s nothing I love more than watching you get down on your knees for me.”

“Is that so?” You looked up at him with hungry eyes, the morning sun illuminating him through a small opening in the window.

“Yeah, that’s so.” He stopped walking around you and palmed his erection through his jeans, silently taking you in. “No one fucks like you, you know that?” He set Lucille down against the wall and started unfastening his belts. “No matter how many times I accidentally call them your name.” He slid the leather straps out of their loops and tossed them onto the floor next to Lucille before unfastening his dark gray jeans. “Or on purpose,” he finished, laughing at his own joke.

“Really?” You held your breath in suspense as he slid his pants down along with his boxer briefs, showing you just how much he missed you.

Even though it had only been a week, your mouth still watered at the sight of him, your thighs still quivered, and your lips still slicked themselves with moisture in anticipation for what was to come. The big bad wolf had finally come back to blow your house down, and you were more than willing to let him in.

“Really,” he repeated, taking his glove off and gripping himself at the base. “Take your pants off and get on the bed.”

The bed? There was a bed in here? Since when? You searched the room front and back until you found a rickety twin bed barely standing on an old metal frame. “How did you know there’d be a bed in here?”

“You think I didn’t scope the place out before I brought you here?” he laughed, motioning for you to turn around with his fingers. “I've always got a plan. You should know that by now.”

Of course he did. You made quick work of unfastening your jeans before climbing on top of the questionable bed in the corner of the room. Keeping your eyes forward, you realized you didn’t have a giant mirror to watch him approach you while you waited. Instead you studied the pattern of water damage on the mattress before getting on your hands and knees as the warmth between your thighs started to swell and beg for mercy.

“That’s my girl. You miss me?” His voice grew nearer, the springs on the mattress crying out in agony as he dropped his knees into them behind you.

“Yes,” you whispered, feeling his hands pull your clothes down even further down your thighs.

“Yes, what?” he prompted, tugging your jeans forcefully down to your ankles.

“Yes, Daddy,” you whimpered, glancing quickly back at him.

“So you haven’t forgotten everything, huh?” He lifted your shirt up your back, sending little fireworks up and down your spine as his coarse fingertips tucked it under your bra.

“No.” You took in a deep breath as he left a trail of fiery kisses down your back, his whiskers scratching the skin just above your ass as he spread your cheeks apart with his palms. “How could I forget this?” you admitted.

You let your eyelids fall as those kisses turned into nibbles, that twinge of pain from his teeth meeting the pleasure of his fingers between your lips. God, he always knew what he was doing and exactly how to do it, didn’t he? You pushed your hips back against him, this time feeling his tongue lap up the juices from your length before sliding a few fingers deep inside.

“Negan,” you moaned, “That feels so good.”

“Good baby, you’re so fucking wet,” he encouraged, taking your clit into his mouth. He spread your lips as he sucked on your bud, tugging on it so hard with his teeth you were sure it was going to bruise, but you didn’t care. His mouth and hands were a deadly combination, their memory of your body’s trigger points getting quicker every time they touched you.

“Harder,” you goaded him, lifting your hips up so it was easier for him to access. “Bite it harder!”

You gasped as he followed your instructions, taking your clit between his teeth with a flick of his tongue. He nearly bit it in half as he drew it into his mouth, sucking on it like his life depended on it. “Oh my God, Negan, that’s it.” You felt your muscles start to tighten as a knot formed in your belly, the sensation of his whiskers and teeth bringing you to the edge of bliss as you rode his filthy mouth.

Just as you were about to come undone, Negan pulled away, preventing you from coming all over his smug face. “As much as I’d love to spend all my time down there, Princess,” he interrupted, his words eclipsing your high. “I’ve got a lot of errands to run today.” He pushed himself inside you. “Gotta give Rick the Prick a good surprise visit.”

Gasping as you adjusted to his size, you grabbed hold of the edges of the mattress while he plowed into you. “Uh-huh,” you answered, letting your body enjoy this carnal treat. You kept your eyes closed as he pushed so deep inside you that his balls were now flush with your newly abused clit, setting your entire core on fire. He pulled out and rested his hands on your hips, pushing inside you quicker and quicker as his hips behaved like a well-oiled machine. This is what you needed, no games or power play while you tried your best to follow his unspoken rules; just raw uncomplicated sex.

You pushed back against him as he rocked himself inside you, his hands traveling up your spine until they reached the back of your neck. He weaved his fingers into your hairline, interlocking them between your newly shortened locks as he grabbed a hold of them at the base of your skull.

“Oh yeah, I think I like this haircut a lot, Princess,” he mumbled breathlessly.

You felt him lean forward, the tip of his cock hitting that sweet spot as your eyes rolled into the back of your head. One, two, three more pumps was all it took to light that fire inside you. That explosive heat traveled up your core and into your brain, setting your whole body ablaze with delicious wildfire as you spasmed and screamed your lover’s name into the hot summer wind.

“I love it when you get off so damn fast, you know that Princess?” Negan laughed at his victory, relentlessly thrusting into you as he chased his own orgasm with breathy huffs.

“Yes, Daddy!” The sensation of him inside you as your walls continued to contract made your toes curl and your mouth fall open. The tiny cabin you were in made the sound of skin on skin thrum an even louder rhythm, his guttural moans completing the musical masterpiece your bodies always composed together.

“Fuck, baby,” he whispered, pulling you into him one final time before his orgasm rumbled in his chest. He spilled himself inside you, letting go of your hair only to drag his nails down your back as he came. His claws pierced your flesh, leaving his mark of ownership on you as little red dots popped up in their place.

You cried out as he dug into your skin, the pain becoming more than you could bear as he raked his fingers from your shoulder blades into your tailbone. It was like Lucille all over again, only three times as painful as you nearly ripped the edge of the mattress right off. You arched your back as he smoothed his hands over your wounds, barely giving the sting a chance to wear off.

He held himself inside you as his mouth made its way up your raw and open flesh, his tongue gently licking your wounds. He took his time, kissing and sucking the supple skin around them as if to make up for what he did until his mouth finally reached your shoulders.

“Negan,” you whispered, trembling and unable to register all the sensations you were feeling.

“Hmmm?” He nuzzled into your neck, wrapping his hand around your throat.

“Don’t,” you protested, sliding your fingers underneath his hand. “They’ll see.”

“They?” He let go of your neck, resting back on his knees.

“The Kingdom,” you started, thinking of Morgan and Dana in particular. “They ask a lot of questions.”

Negan exhaled and ran a hand over his face, pulling out of you as a gush of semen spilled out in the process. “And just what have you told the good people of the Kingdom, Princess?” He grazed his palms across your cheeks, spreading them apart so he could enjoy the show.

“What you told me to tell them, that I’m a traveler.” You paused and let him stare at you. “They think my name’s Maria.”

Negan paused and collected the cream that slowly oozed between your folds, standing up and off the squeaky mattress. “Maria, huh,” he laughed. “Has anyone there confided in Ave Maria about disturbing the peace? Anyone who seems like a bad apple?” He took a few steps forward, bringing his fingers to your lips as they held his dripping hot sex.

“Not yet.” You opened your mouth and let him paint your tongue a salty coat of white.

“None of the workers? Not even the King's Guard?” He pushed his fingers to the back of your throat, gagging you as he licked his own lips in the process. “Not even the King himself?” He raised an eyebrow as he drew his digits from your lips, quickly pulling his pants back up.

“No,” you answered, leaning back into a seated position on the bed. “I’ll need more time to get more information.” The shift in your weight made the scratches on your back sting even more, drawing your hand to the affected area. You winced and glanced up at him, eyes narrowing as he didn’t even seem to notice. “Jesus, that hurt!” You pulled your hand back in front of you and showed him the drops of blood on your palm.

“What, you don’t like it rough anymore?” He picked up one of his belts, sliding it into his pant loops. “It’s nothing a bad-ass nurse like you can’t fix,” he smirked, rolling his tongue across his teeth.

“That’s not the point!” You yelled at him. Oh no, you’d never yelled at him before.

“Don’t forget who’s in charge here, Princess.” He held your gaze, his eyes a fiery burgundy before he broke his stare and turned his back to you, wrapping his second belt around his waist. “You want me to pull you out of here, is that it?”

“No,” you blurted out, blinking wildly as he continued to dress himself. “I just don’t want to bleed every time that I come, and someone's bound to notice blood on a white t-shirt.”

“Fine,” he paused, “What do you want, a safe word or something? Is that going to make you feel better about all this?”

“That would be nice.” You stood up and pulled your pants around your waist, wincing as the dirty denim brushed against your scrapes. “How about…I don’t know, pomegranate?” you offered, thinking of the last fruit you ate at the Kingdom.

“There, now, see how fuckin’ easy that was?” He fastened his belt and picked up Lucille, completing his look as he sauntered toward you. “Now, you go get your ass back in there and make Daddy proud, okay?” He smacked your right cheek and bit his lip, gripping Lucille like he was ready to put her to good use. “Same time next week, Princess. Got it?”

“Got it.” You nodded, rubbing the blood off onto your jeans. “How’s my family doing?” you finally asked, “Are they okay?”

Negan chuckled, leaning backward as his mirthless laughter filled the room. “Oh man, Gary’s doing just fine, and like I said earlier, baby, no one fucks like you, no matter how hard I pretend.”

---------------------

Tags: @genevievedarcygranger @letsby @negansdirtygirl22 @annablack1102

@chamberofsloths @irrelevantwriter @rasa1945 @flames-bring-a-ton-of-ash @namelesslosers @collette04 @bishsposts @haleyea @bodhi-black @mblaqgi

@ptite-shit @jamiekingofmen @ibelongtonegan @chloejanedecker1 @divadinag @dxloverpunk @tylersblurrylittleface @toxic-ink @marriedtonegan @astrobabezblog @death-unbecomes-you

#Negan #Negan x reader #the walking dead #negan twd #king ezekiel fan fiction #negan fan fiction #twd #king ezekiel #king ezekiel x reader

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esbion · 7 years ago

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Hey @snochako Happy Holidays! I'm your (late) secret santa! it's not much but here's some fluffy-ish miritama. thanks for giving me a new rarepair!! hope you enjoy :) @boku-no-secret-santa thank you for running this!!

All Tamaki had wanted was to cook a turkey.

He never wanted this-- a dozen people crowded in he and Mirio's small apartment strung with garlands and mistletoe, with a makeshift tree set up in the corner.

He never wanted a party.

Tamaki stares around at his friends stuffing their faces. Mirio is, of course, sitting among a group of people, talking animatedly about one thing or another. The sounds of laughter and conversation fill his ears, threatening to overwhelm him. There's a three-year-old tugging at Tamaki's sweater with sugar-dusted fingers, asking for another cookie.

Tamaki sighs. He almost, almost regrets having the idea in the first place.

***

"I'm going to make a Christmas feast," Tamaki announces, lying on the couch with his head in Mirio's lap.

Mirio glances down at him. "Yeah?"

"I mean, a feast. With a lot of food, and a turkey."

"Really?" Tamaki nods, eyes shining. "Like in American movies."

"Sounds good to me," Mirio says, grinning. They don't even do Christmas, but Tamaki sounds excited and Mirio will happily eat anything his husband makes anyway.

***

This week Tamaki's grocery list is even longer than usual. Mirio's eyes scan the paper. There are a bunch of words he doesn't recognize, which is fine (hopefully), he'll just ask one of the employees about it.

"Wait," calls Tamaki, just as Mirio is about to exit. "I'm coming with you."

"You don't have to do that."

"I want to," he replies, slipping into his warm black hoodie which Mirio gave him in high school, the word SUNEATER printed on the back over the image of an eclipse. Tamaki is pretty sure he looks like a narcissist wearing it, but oh well. "Even you can't carry all those bags yourself."

He's not quite sure that's true. Mirio can carry a lot of things (including Tamaki) by himself. Despite tragically losing his Quirk all those years ago, he's one of the strongest heroes in the country, if not the world. It was amazing what one could do with gadgets and brute strength. They were both pro heroes, but if Tamaki lost his natural abilities, he'd be screwed.

"Come on," he says. Outside, the snow is just beginning to fall, dusting the ground and the trees and the buldings with white. Flakes land on Tamaki's face, melting like powdered sugar when it touches his warm skin.

"It finally feels like winter," Tamaki says, sighing contentedly.

"Yeah, it really does," Mirio says, putting an arm around Tamaki.

***

Mirio comes home, carrying a whole box bursting with colorful lights and sparkly things. "...do we really need this many decorations?" Tamaki asks.

"Yep," Mirio says cheerfully. He unpacks the box, exploring the various goods.

Mirio has, apparently, made it his duty to Christmas-ify their place as much as possible. So while Tamaki is hoarding recipes and learning how to cook sweet potatoes, Mirio is stringing lights along their balcony railing and hanging mistletoe in their doorways.

He's standing on a ladder to affix tinsel on the wall when he spots a movement in the corner. "TAMAKI, YOU'VE GOT TO SEE THIS," he yells accross the apartment.

Confused, Tamaki heads to the other room. Mirio points at the wall. Tamaki's eyes widen. "A butterfly?" he breathes, stepping forward to get a closer look. "Is it alive?"

"I think so. It was moving." Mirio has an urge to reach out and touch it to see if it moves again, but Tamaki has always said how delicate butterfly wings are.

"It's a peacock butterfly," Tamaki whispered, marveling at its rusty-red wings adorned with tricolored eyespots. "Aglais io." He reaches out and the insect just comes to him like he's some kind of butterfly whisperer, just flies into his palm. "It was probably hibernating in this building and woke up when the central heating came on. Peacock butterflies are one of the few species that hibernate in the winter..."

Mirio listens to him talk about butterflies, the way his eyes light up as he describes his favorite subject. People who think that Tamaki is quiet have never seen him like this, because once you get him started on bugs, especially butterflies, he'll talk your ears off.

Since the butterfly needs a place to hibernate again until the weather's good enough to release it, he fetches one of the many clear plastic boxes they own from the closet. Tamaki sets the butterfly down gently. "There you go." He places the box in the closet, a cool dark place where the cat can't get to it; the insect can sleep in peace.

When he comes back to the living room, Mirio is on the step stool again, attaching some odd-looking plants above them. "Umm, what's that?"

Mirio gets down and flashes him a wide grin, his eyes gleaming just a bit much. "Mistletoe."

"...Mistletoe," Tamaki echoes. "...I thought it had red berries? Not white?"

Mirio is giving him That Look, and Tamaki feels his cheeks start to heat up, as if he's a schoolgirl with a crush rather than a grown adult who's been married to Mirio for three and a half years.

Mirio finds Tamaki's embarrassment cute. "I guess it can be both," Mirio steps closer to him, grin growing wider as he leans in to kiss him.

***

December 25th. Mirio wakes up with the sun, as usual.

The best thing about waking up next to your best friend every morning, Mirio thinks, is not just feeling his hair brushing against your face and his warmth against your bare chest, but also that you get an extra moment to gaze at him sleeping, perfectly content away in some dream world.

He’s in deep sleep, body worn out from his long night of patrolling. He squirms in his sleep, shifts from side, then opens his eyes to see Mirio sitting there looking at him.

“You’re awake,” says Mirio.

Tamaki yawns. “Still tired though.”

“Go back to sleep,” Mirio says, getting out of bed. “Sleep in. You have the whole day off.”

He got up, heading over to his closet. Tamaki frowned. “Where are you going?” he asks blearily. “Work.”

“Oh,” Tamaki says, remembering. He’s got to patrol today, even through a lot of the other people got to have a break on the 25th. Of course Mirio's the one to volunteer for an extra shift. “But it’s snowing.”

“A real hero doesn’t let something like snow stop him,” says Mirio.

“Yeah, yeah," Tamaki said, getting up he walked over to the window, shivering as he left his warm cocoon of blankets. “Still. No one should have to go out in this weather."

Snow is building up on the windowsill. The gusts of wind so loud that he could hear it howling through what few trees there were planted in the grassy strips outside their city apartment. Walking in this cold would be awful, even through the window Tamaki can almost feel the sting to his face.

At least he doesn’t have to worry about Mirio randomly ending up naked somewhere after using his powers now that he was Quirkless.

Mirio finishes zipping up his hero suit and saunters accross the room to join Tamaki at the window. "I'm gonna go now, okay?" Mirio says softly, curling his hand around Tamaki's fingers.

"Okay," Tamaki sighs. Lately it feels like they've been seeing less and less of each other.

"Even Pro Heroes need a break sometimes," Tamaki says, reaching upwards to kiss his husband on the cheek.

"I know," Mirio says, putting his arms around him for a quick hug. "I'll be back soon. You just rest, okay?"

***

Tamaki does not rest. He stays in bed a little longer with the cat curled up in his lap, before he nudges her off and gets up to go the kitchen.

He opens the refrigerator and checks on the thawing turkey. Alright. Time to work. It's never too early to start prepping food. Tamaki is sitting on the counter, flipping through one of his fourty-two cookbooks, when a loud ding-dong! disturbs his pondering over the merits of spinach vs. cauliflower as a side.

It's 8 am, who could that be? Tamaki shuffles over to the door and peers through the eyehole. A big blue eye stares back at him. "Hello?" says a girl's voice.

He opens the door. "...Nejire?"

Tamaki braces himself as Nejire throws herself at him and hugs him tightly, hands full of shopping bags. "Oooh, Tamaki, I haven't seen you in like, a whole month! Happy Christmas, I brought you guys lots of stuff and I hope you like candy canes 'cause they had nine different flavors and I bought them all."

She walks in, throws her bags--most of which appear to be from sweet shops--on the table.

"Candy canes?" Tamaki says. "I love candy canes--but, why are you here?"

"Because it's Christmas!" Nejire says, practically bouncing with energy. "So, when's everyone else coming?"

Tamaki frowns. "No one's coming. Mirio isn't even going to be home until later..."

"Really? But--oh, nevermind...hey, did you change your hair?" She reaches up and touches his hair.

"No? Anyway, I thought you'd spend Christmas with your girlfriend."

"Oh," for the first time, Nejire's smile falters, just a little. "About her..."

"What happened?" Tamaki sits on the couch. Nejire plops down beside him, accidentally smacking him with her abundance of pastel-blue hair. "Well..." Nejire regales him with the tale of her love life, the two of them sharing the candy between them. Tamaki has the brilliant idea of breaking up candy canes and putting them in hot chocolate, gulping down steaming cupfuls. There's nothing better, in Tamaki's opinion, than a warm drink when everything else is cold and gray.

After a while, Tamaki remembers that he's supposed to be cooking. Nejire follows him into the kitchen. He assigns her some veggies to cut. She continues talking and talking and talking. Tamaki doesn't mind, he's used to listening. The doorbell rings again.

"I'll get it," Nejire says, running to the door.

For a second Tamaki thinks it's Mirio, back from work early, which makes his heart jump.

Then he hears a booming voice greeting him. "...Fatgum?" He says in surprise, before he's pulled into a crushing hug.

***

Mirio has fifteen whole minutes to kill during this break. He's restless, thinking about Tamaki at home by himself. He debates between calling and texting. Probably Tamaki is busy cooking and wouldn't see the notification. Sighing, he picks up his phone and calls.

Tamaki answers on the third ring.

"Hello?"

Mirio smiles into the phone. "Hey."

"Mirio, why are you calling me?" You know phone calls make me nervous, were the words he didn't say.

"I just wanted to hear your voice."

A pause.

Mirio can practically feel him blushing through the phone, suddenly not knowing what to say. He laughs, changing the subject for him. "So, how's your turkey coming along?"

"Mirio...we have guests."

"Guests?"

"At first it was Nejire, and then she invited Fatgum, and she also told Uraraka and Deku so now they’re here and I think--"

"Tamaki, calm down--"

"--and now we're gonna have nothing to eat!"

"Listen, everything will be fine--"

"...or I could make two turkeys."

"Isn't it a bit late for that?"

"...or, or, I could just make a lot of pasta and hope it makes up for it?"

"...you could, or I could pick up some fried chicken on the way home."

"...Hmmm...yeah, yeah that's good."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

"I have to go. Love you."

"Love you too."

***

As the day goes on, more and more people start to show up. At first it's just a few of their old schoolmates and his mentor, Fatgum. And before Tamaki knows it, Nejire's inviting the neighbors whose names Tamaki barely remembers. He doesn't want to kick them out, so he lets Nejire and the others entertain them while Tamaki stands in the kitchen.

For their part, the guests are all willing to pitch in. The neighbors brought a strawberry shortcake, Kirishima and Deku are making appetizers, wrapping up sausages with phyllo and filling mushroom caps with cheese and breadcrumbs. Fatgum gives Tamaki advice from his extensive turkey-roasting experience. Uraraka is using her antigravity to lift a garland that's fallen off the wall.

"You know what we should make?" Uraraka says. "Popcorn balls! And hang them like ornaments."

"Ornaments? Where are we going to put them, the wall?" Bakugou walks in from the living room, holding his and Kirishima's daughter.

"Where would you put them, then?"

"A tree."

"We don't have a tree," says Tamaki.

"I can go out and get one," volunteers Kirishima.

Bakugou looks at him. "What, you're gonna rip a tree out of the ground?"

"From the store."

"I'm coming with you."

"No, no, you stay with Mai."

"Fine. Take...someone else," he gestures vaguely.

"Come on," Deku says. He puts down the flour. "Let's go."

***

They return twenty minutes later, treeless. Apparently, there are none left. They decide they'll just have to make their own.

"It's beautiful," Kirishima brims with pride. The "tree" consists of a few large branches haphazardly tied together. They've draped leftover tinsel, fairy lights and pompom garlands over the tree, with plastic-wrapped popcorn balls and glittery ribbons tied to the branches.

Kirishima hands Mai a star cut out of an aluminum foil tray, and picks her up so she can place the finishing touch on the masterpiece with a look of pure joy.

"Good job!" he says, and places her back down. Mai runs off, chasing the cat currently slinking into the hallway.

Tamaki watches them, sinking onto the couch with a sigh of relief. He's done everything he can think of doing, for now--prepping food and sticking the turkey in the oven, hiding his messy pile of clothes in the closet in case anyone goes in the bedroom.

Nejire is beside him, leaning against his shoulder like she often used to do in high school, her hair falling over his shoulder and getting in his face. It's comforting, a familiar thing in this room that's suddenly too full. Tamaki closes eyes, listening to the cheerful rhythm of her voice among the other sounds. He can't wait until Mirio gets home.

***

When Mirio gets home, arms laden with buckets of KFC, it turned out not all the guests had come empty-handed. There was a huge stack of pizzas on the table.

"Who brought the pizza?"

"We did," said Kirishima. "Mai's going through a phase, she'll only eat pizza."

"Only pizza? That's not healthy," Tamaki said, as he puts down the plates.

"Exactly. You're just spoiling her," Bakugou mutters. Mirio is surprised the man even came tonight; he's not known for being the friendliest person. Though his presence may have more to do with the girl currently clinging to his leg than with a desire to socialize.

"Pizza?" Mai's eyes widen. "Daddy, can I have a pizza?" She asks Kirishima.

"No, not now, you already had some."

The girl scowls and switches tactics, turning to Bakugou. "Papa, I want a pizza."

"You heard your dad. NO."

She looks up at him with pleading, watery eyes. Bakugou tries to resist.

She keeps staring at him.

"Oh, hell." He yanks a slice out of the box and shoves it towards her. "You better eat that."

She munches away, reveling in her victory.

Kirishima gives Bakugou a look. He glares. "What? I'm not gonna let her starve!"

Mirio shakes his head in amusement. He glances to his left, wanting to share a glance with Tamaki but his husband is gone.

***

"Hey," Mirio says, walking into the kitchen.

Tamaki looks up at the sound of his husband's voice.

He puts a hand on Tamaki's arm. "Are you okay?"

He stiffens. "Of course?" It comes out sounding more like a question than he intended.

Mirio stares at him for a long moment. "Come on," Mirio says eventually. "Let's go for a walk."

Tamaki hesitates. Can he really leave the apartment?

"It's okay. Our friends aren't going to set anything on fire."

"Mai already burned a hole in the curtain." Tamaki says. "But okay."

"Did she?"

"Yeah. Fire Quirk."

They head out the door. A few people give them weird looks as they pull on their winter coats, but no one says anything. They walk down the sidewalk, Mirio taking him by the hand and leading him down the path to the nearby park. It's a winter night, so the sky is inky-black despite it being only 7 pm. The air is cold and crisp, and tastes refreshing. Colorful lights sparkle along the edge of the water.

The two of them stand on the bridge hand and hand, looking over the water.

"Remember when we used to come here a lot, when we were younger?" Tamaki says.

"And you would tell me the names of all the bugs."

"Yeah, and one day you found a flower patch with lots of butterflies and you sent me like ten photos because you knew I would like it?"

Mirio squeezed his hand. "Yeah."

"And over there," Tamaki points vaguely in the direction of a specific bench. "Is where you proposed."

"Yeah," Mirio fidgets. "And I was going to do it later when we were in the gazebo to make it romantic but it just kinda slipped."

Tamaki nods. "Yeah."

They fall silent.

"I kinda wanted it to be just me and you today," Tamaki admits. "I mean, we're always busy and...and..."

"...and?"

"I don't cook for people, usually."

Come to think of it, Mirio can't remember the last time he'd cooked for more than one person. "Everyone loves your food. Don't worry."

"Christmas dinners are supposed to be, you know, grand and fancy--"

"...I think you're idealizing Christmas."

Tamaki sighed, looking out onto the river. "I just want this day to be okay."

"It'll be fine. I know I'm having a good day because I get to spend time with you," Mirio said, putting his arms around him.

"...Mirio..."

"Look at the lights. Aren't they pretty?"

Tamaki nods. They gaze in the their direction of their building. "Which one's ours?"

"That one, I think." From far away, Tamaki sees a light on inside, with vague silhouettes of people moving around. There's mutliple apartments like this--lit up and full of people. All these people celebrating, just because they can.

"We can have some time alone, next week," says Mirio. "We're going to your parents' on New Years Eve, but the day before..."

Tamaki smiles, intertwining his fingers with Mirio's. "That would be nice."

"Let's go back in."

***

You wouldn't think so many people could fit inside their small kitchen, but they do. Everyone gathers around the table, admiring the array of dishes. There's so much to eat. Even Tamaki is impressed by the amount of food. They heap their plates with buttery mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, green bean casserole, creamy mac and cheese, dinner rolls, fresh steaming rice, baked fish, scallops. And of course, the turkey.

"Here, I'll do the carving," Fatgum says, and Tamaki breathes a sigh of relief because he hadn't thought this far.

They dig in. Fresh out of the oven, the roasted meat is lovely and tender--a bit dry, but that's what gravy is for.

"This gravy is really good," says Deku.

Nejire pipes up. "Hey, Tamaki, what happens when you eat gravy? It has chicken broth, right?"

Tamaki shrugs. "It's just the broth, it's not like I'm eating its meat. The turkey, on the other hand..." He holds up his arm, revealing a three-toed turkey foot.

Nejire recoils. She's seen him with tentacles and claws and all sorts of things but apparently a bird's foot is disturbing.

"Can you do feathers?" asked Kirishima curiously. Tamaki nods, holding out his arm as long brown feathers begin to appear. The others watch in fascination.

"But you can't fly."

"Turkeys can't fly anyway."

"Oh yeah."

"If you eat fish, would you be able to breathe underwater?"

"Last time I tried I almost drowned, remember?"

"No," says Nejire.

"No," says Mirio.

"No," says Fatgum.

"...seriously? You guys don't--?"

"Tell us," Kirishima says eagerly.

All eyes are on Tamaki. He squirms. "Okay, fine, it was during that swimming training we had one year. It was the midterm and for some reason, I was 100% sure I could grow gills so I had fish stew for lunch..."

By the time he finishes, everyone is cracking up.

Before they know it, they're swapping stories, reminiscing about their past and the little things that made them who they were today. The time they fought so-and-so, and the times they dueled each other.

Looking around, it's clear, at least to Tamaki, that though they've changed they're still all the same. Nejire is still wide-eyed and cheerful, Kirishima still has that disarming sharp-toothed smile. Even if they've recieved scars and slight wrinkles near their eyes from witnessing the things that they did, they haven't lost their will or their personalities.

Mirio hasn't lost his bright smile, or the way he naturally draws people towards his warmth.

He has, however, lost a very important thing: his Quirk.

Tamaki thinks that right now when everyone is discussing their pasts, Mirio must be pondering over what could've been. It's been years, but it probably still hurts. He gets up, all of a sudden and walks across the room.

There's no space on the couch and he doesn't attempt to force himself between Deku and Ochako. Tamaki sits on the armrest, places his hand over Mirio's. It's a small gesture, one most people won't notice. But it says what he wants to say, and he hopes it's enough: I'm here. Mirio stops talking, glances at Tamaki, and starts talking again with a bit of a smile on his face.

***

"Are you eating gravy with pizza?" Nejire asks Uraraka.

"What? It's good."

She looks around the room, at everyone shaking their heads.

"Pregnant people sure eat weird things," Bakugou says.

The room goes instantly silent.

"Y-You're pregnant?" Deku turns to Uraraka, his jaw dropping.

She nods. "I was going to tell you. I don't know how he found out."

"Don't look at me, it was Eijirou."

"It was just a guess," Kirishima says. "And you weren't supposed to tell, Katsuki." He gives him a look.

Bakugou shrugs, attempting to feed his daughter a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

Nejire looks at Mirio and Tamaki. "So when are you having kids?" she says bluntly.

Tamaki nearly spits out his cider. "We--we're only twenty-five!"

"So?"

"We had Mai when we were twenty-one." Bakugou informs them.

"You guys are different." Tamaki's parents would like to be grandparents, but he and Mirio weren’t making that happen, not yet.

He gets up. "Time for dessert."

Though everyone insists that they have no room, not a single person (including the child) refuses a slice of strawberry shortcake, or pumpkin pie topped with vanilla ice cream. (Tamaki had been unsure about including the ice cream, but it seems fine in this house with the heat cranked up all the way.)

Tamaki even brings out cookies, which were frosted with the help of a certain little girl who squeals when she sees the messy, sprinkle-laden treats. "Cookiecookiecookie."

"Just one," Bakugou says.

***

Before they leave, Uraraka and Deku pause under the mistletoe to kiss, and continue to kiss until they notice Tamaki standing there on his way back from the kitchen.

"Sorry," says Deku, hastily moving out of the doorway, still staring into her eyes.

Next, Kirishima and Bakugou, unwilling to be outdone by the other couple, do the same. They're interrupted by Mai coming in between them, so of course she gets kissed too, as Kirishima picks her up and gives her a peck on the cheek. It's grossly adorable.

Then everyone is looking at Mirio and Tamaki.

"I can't believe we have to do this again." Tamaki says as he turns to Mirio. He's smiling though, and this time he's the one pressing his lips against his husband's, his hand curling around his arm, moving in close. Their friends are staring at them, which would normally make Tamaki feel a tiny bit self-conscious but for the moment he doesn't care.

***

The door shuts, and then Tamaki and Mirio are the only ones left. It feels empty now, but somehow Mirio feels the distance between them is smaller than ever as he pulls Tamaki towards him. "Well, it wasn't what you expected but this was nice, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Tamaki agrees, leaning against him, half asleep. Then he opens his eyes and declares, "I want cake."

He's about to get up and go to the kitchen but Mirio says, "I'll get it" and comes back with two plates piled with leftover cake.

They sit on the couch. There's dishes to be done, but they'll do it later. Tamaki feels too tired to talk so they eat in comfortable silence, forks clinking against their plates.

Mirio is considering taking another slice of cake when suddenly Tamaki speaks. "Mirio," he says, voice serious. "You're the strongest person I know."

"What?" Mirio looks at him in surprise. Now he knows Tamaki's tired, otherwise he wouldn't be saying random stuff like this. "And not just physically," he places a hand on Mirio's buff chest. "When you lost your Quirk--"

Oh. So that's what this is about. "It's not a big deal..."

"No," Tamaki is suddenly wide awake, his dark eyes fixed on Mirio. "It does matter. I don't know what I would do. But you? You just kept going, even after everything--"

"It was a long time ago."

"You're amazing."

"I think you're exagg--"

"No. I'm just saying that you shouldn't regret anything in your life and you did the best you could do and--"

"Okay, okay. I don't regret anything." Mirio feels warmth rising inside him, stroking his husband's hair. "Why would I? I'm a Hero, I've saved almost a million people, I have a perfect husband..."

He glances down. Tamaki has already closed his eyes and before long, he's fast asleep.

Mirio lets him sleep. It's been a long day and Mirio thinks that as far as holidays go, this one has been pretty great.

(fin.)

#bnha #miritama #mirio togata #tamaki amajiki #mine

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torixus · 5 years ago

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The Himalayas Appear for the First Time in 30 Years, and 14 More Events We Don’t Hear About Everyday

Sometimes nature offers us special effects that are worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. And when that happens, we can consider ourselves successful, because we need to create a number of conditions for certain rare events. These events, like the rainbow waterfall, can even surprise us, whether we are on another planet or living inside a fairy tale plot.

Here at Bright Side, we love that nature amazes us. So here we are talking about some of the events that once surprised us in the world we live in.

1. The comet Hale Bop was at the top of the oldest ancient site in Stonehenge.

The comet Hale-Bop spun the blood in 1997 and became one of the brightest comets in history. It was a long-lasting gift from heaven, as it could be seen with the naked eye for more than 18 months (record).

2. Fallstreak hole - a circle that opens into the sky

Imagine it's a cold day and the horizon is full of thick clouds. Suddenly you see a big hole through which you can see the sky. This is not a UFO arrival announcement, it's called a skypunch or fallstreak hole. It occurs when large amounts of small ice crystals fall into the cloud layer, causing the droplets to evaporate. It's all physics, but completely magical.

3. A fog arc that looks like an albino rainbow

When you see this rainbow, you may think that you have lost the ability to distinguish colors. Relax and enjoy, the mist bow is like a rainbow albino brother. Instead of being made from drop drops, it is made up of small particles of dust. Because they are small, they reflect only that white color, which gives us a kind of cunning and mysterious image.

4. It's not the sea, this is lava on Havayan beach.

In May 2018, the Kilauea volcano erupted on the Hawaiian Islands. It started throwing 30,000 feet of ashes into the air and dumping springs that reached the Pacific Ocean. It also traveled great distances, destroying the largest freshwater lake on the Hawaiian Islands. It reached the beaches, filling the Gulf of Cappuccino and extending the new area by one mile across the sea.

5. comet Arumutq Ar near 1976

The comet West was described as one of the brightest colors to pass through the inner solar system in 1976. Its core is divided into 4 fragments, offering a wonderful image of its long tail. It was one of the few comet scars ever observed.

6. Pyroclastic flow generated by volcanic lightning.

Seeing a erupting volcano is overwhelming and unusual in itself, but one more extraordinary event can add to this scene. When a volcano erupts, a pyroclastic flow, a rapid flow of hot gas and ash, erupts. Sometimes, the force with which he throws these materials, combined with extremely high temperatures, causes a display of stunning lighting.

7. A rare waterfall rainbow caught in Yosemite National Park.

Only a few were successful who witnessed a Bridalveil Fall in Yosemite National Park turn into a rainbow. This is a shocking example of a situation where the sunlight reflects water droplets in special conditions. It looks like Photoshop, but nature is full of color and space.

8. Frozen waves have been observed off the coast of Croatia.

In 2012, frozen monster waves froze these monster waves. 2012 year. The sea fell on the benches and lampshades of the lobby and froze. This left the beach of Senji in Croatia, covered with solid layers of ice, which looked like whipped cream.

9. The desert came back to life and turned into a flower explosion.

In California, super flowers usually occur every 10 years. It requires a perfect storm of conditions: stable rain, warm temperatures and low winds. The desert turns into a colorful picture when thousands of wildflowers bloom at about the same time. A great gift for our eyes.

10. Male pillars are formed above the ice of the Chukchi Sea

The reflection of light on small ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere can create a pillar of blood. If the light comes from the sunset, then this event can freeze us for a beautiful moment.

11. In 2018, a blue-blooded moon rises in the Temple of Parthenon.

Common lunar eclipses on the superman are relatively rare. There are 87 common lunar eclipses in the 21st century, of which only 28 are supermons. Heavenly glances could be seen for the first time in decades in swollen "supermon" and lunar eclipses, indicating that the moon was bathed in bright red light.

12. Iridescent clouds

If we see that the sky is shining as if huge soap bubbles are floating there, it is not that we have sweets, but that we are witnessing gray clouds. This cosmic effect occurs only when many drops of water on the uniform scatter the light of sunset.

13. Himalayas first appear in 30 years.

The sharp drop in pollution levels in April 2020 brought back the appearance of the magnificent Dhulahadhar mountain range. These summits are part of the Himalayas, and can now be seen as far away as the 143-mile aland.

14. Snowfall in the spring in Tokyo

It's not uncommon to see snow in Tokyo, but what really surprised me was that it happened in April, when the cherry trees were blooming. Tokyo receives snow about 7.6 times a season, mostly in January-February. And this was the first spring snow in 32 years.

15. The midnight sunset was reflected in a waterfall in Iceland.

In Iceland during the summer months, the sun is visible at midnight local time, and at 1 in the morning at sunset. Seeing 30 can completely blow your mind. Capturing this moment, just by twilight illuminating the 196 feet of Selcalansfos Falls, is simply breathtaking.

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#quotes life relationships feelings love quotes relatable quotes heartbreak heartbroken spil

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xxcowardicexx · 7 years ago

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Dream (Day 8)

*i was steadily coming back to consciousness, i was rather warm compared to earlier. i began slowly opening my eyes, in front of me the fire was burning a low slow burn. The fire’s light reflected off the cave’s natural emeraldesk walls. I could still feel her arm wrapped around my stomach, my ears folded down.*

*She did so much for me, I felt so worthless. i hung my head slightly at all the memories, from when she pulled me up from that pond. Watching over me through all those hours of the night, laying with me to help me not have a heatstroke from the fever or kicking it from hypothermia. Constantly hunting out game for not just her, but myself as well. I definitely didn’t ask for her help.... but without her, i probably wouldn't be around right now and that much I was extremely grateful for. There was a lot to make up for, and i had a few ideas on what i could do to make things a little bit easier for her here...*

*I listened quietly, her breathing was that of almost a slight snore. Which made me smirk slightly. At least she was getting some well deserved sleep, but then my smirk left. Now i had to try and sneak my way out from under her embrace and not wake her. I started thinking, i brought my paw up to my chin when i realized i WAS a furry. I shifted my tail up to her arm, and softly pushed it up off my side as i used my right arm to pull her wrist up. It allowed me enough room to slither my way from under her arm. As I did so i lowered her arm down to her side.*

*Her blackish grey fur was soft, I sighed quietly. Her beauty was quiet remarkable. As she laid on the bed of thick moss, the fire flickered over her. It’s amber and orange hues played along the grey ends of her fur giving her a outline that shined in a way i couldn’t really put it into words its almost like she eclipsed the sun. I slowly sat up, my body was in knots. With a small scoot, i picked myself up moved slightly closer to the fire off of the bed of grass. She didn’t wake which was a small relief, because surely if i woke her without a good reason she would be upset. Hmm... if she awoke and i wasnt there she probably wouldnt be happy either, or as warm as she was for that matter...*

*Thinking, I lightly grabbed the part of the bed of moss i was laying on and covered her with it. It seems with my weight it compressed it all together making it like a makeshift blanket. Lightly tucking her in from my sitting down position my joints wanted to fight me, seems that the cold has put some stress on my body. I turned to try and slowly crawl a little bit closer to the fire when my back popped audibly, it made me wince in more than one way. Physically because it send a jolt down my spine, and mentally as i slowly looked over my shoulder at the fact she was still asleep. With a slight sigh i slowly stood.*

*I stepped lightly across the floor towards the waterfall entrance, my right foot was feeling much better. Still sore, but much better. I stopped against the stone wall that was the entrance of the waterfall. I watched outside. The snow was still falling, the wind had calmed down a considerable amount from the day before. The sun was rising? I couldn’t really tell what time it was of the day other than it was earlyish. I took a couple steps away out into the snow to the closest tree. I shivered as i touched the bark of the old oak.*

*I grabbed the tree with both arms, i held onto it with as much strength i could bracing my upper body with the tree. I moved my left leg carefully shifting the angle of my hips, twisting my spine. My ears folded down from the sound of my disks popping, it sounded like branches breaking... Slowly oh so slowly... i moved my foot back and moved my right leg the same way, popping my back the rest of the way. It was painful at first, my legs were weak for the moment, then were better as i stood.*

“ahhhhhhh” i sighed lightly

“mmmmm” i heard deeply inside

*???*

*i frowned. looking around making sure there wasn’t anything about.*

Whats wrong? Can’t i enjoy the stretches too?

*-_- Must have been that being inside of me*

I am you after all

*With a sigh i continued popping all the joints i could. Holding my hand on my elbow, holding my arm at 90 degrees vertical and slamming it strait releasing an audible pop. Rotating my shoulders and popping my shoulder blades. I bent over, and touched my toes popping the lowest part of my back, right near my tail bone. I then moved to the feet, just rotating them until the pressure releases. I didn’t know how to pop my knees.. so i moved my back against the tree and began to pop my wrists, and my fingers in more than one way. I each one from the base away from the palm, then i grabbed each finger in the middle joint and bent them sideways.*

“*slight gasp* Ew~* i herd

* I looked up and around and saw Beautiful leaning against the cave entrance slightly appalled but intrigued as i moved from my little dewclaw to the next, popping it sideways as well. She cringed as she saw bend in a way that she clearly didn’t like to see. I smirked at her reaction, I was used to it.*

“How can you do that?!” she watched in slight disgust, then moving down to try and make her claws do the same, wincing in pain as hers wouldn’t.

*chuckling* “ I’m double jointed in all of my fingers, even my thumbs” I said popping my middle finger sideways in a way that showed that it clearly wasn’t supposed to.

“EW~ stop thats gross!” she exclaimed slightly looking away.

*laughing now she looked at me as i finished popping my fingers.”

“You done yet?!” she said impatiently with her arms crossed.

*With a insanely large smile, i looked at her knowing i had saved the best for last. It was my favorite thing to pop. With a slight chuckle*

“Not yet” i said cooly

“Hmph.” she said disapointedly

*I turned my head sideways, Putting my chin 90 degrees to the left above my shoulder, she looked at me weirdly. I than snapped my chin to the other side. The sound sounded like a gun rapid firing as stopped pretty much at the same angle on the opposite side.*

“OH EW, EW” she said in horror

*i then slung my chin the other way, pretty much making the same sound on the return. it causes her to shiver and look away revolted*

“DONT DO THAT!!! YOU’LL BREAK YOUR NECK LIKE THAT” she shouted at me

“ Maybe one day, but that doesn’t seem to be today~ tehe” i said back smiling.

“Anyways, how long have you been standing there?” i inquired.

*slowly she looks back at me slightly nervously*

“enough to know you have a nice ass.” she said quietly

*I laughed*

“Trust me, your’s probably looks better” i said as I started walking back

*She looked up at me aggravatedly*

“Ok ok, no probably about it~ Though... i’ve never seen my own ass before.” i said holding my hand up slightly

*she rolled her eyes and smirked at me*

“just shut up already and get inside” she said turning around walking back into the cave.

*by the time I got into the cave she was sitting on the bed of moss, still kinda grossed out i guessed. she had her ears down.*

*I walked over to her, and sat down on the dirt next to the fire*

*she sighed a heavy sigh, I cocked my head to the side as i looked at her*

“whats up?” I looked at her confused

*she was looking at the ground at first, then looked at me like i was an idiot.*

“O-oh nothing, just a little.. hungry. thats all” she said looking back down to the floor.

*My ears shot up, I looked around for my fishing spear as i stood. She looked at me.*

“whats up?” she asked concerned.

“You’re hungry, I should go get you some food then..” I looked at her with the smile equivalent of a “cat face emoji”

*her ears perked up*

*i saw my spear sitting in the corner and walked over to it. I Picked it up and turned around. her face seemed like it lit up, her ears and tail were strait up and her tail was swishing in anticipation*

“C-could you get a couple rabbits? I know i said i was hungry but i did eat two fish last night, so you don’t have to rush or anything... But some rabbit does sound pretty good.” she said looking at me with different eyes. I closed my eyes and smiled a big smile.

“you can count on me!” i replied holding up a paw with a thumbs up

*i started making my way to the exit of the waterfall, when i herd her call out*

“Hey!”

* I turned around and looked at her*

“Yeah?”

“B-be careful out there” she said timidly

“ I will, you rest up and stay warm now you hear?”

*she giggled* “Fine, whatever~” she said as she laid down on the bed of moss next to the slow burning fire.

*as i exited the cave i sniffled through my runny nose, and sneezed, then snorted slightly. Finding them by scent wasn’t going to work. Seems that my nose was still recovering from almost freezing to death. But rabbits live in holes they burrow into the ground. So if i find some bushes with berries on them, then they shouldn’t be too far away i guessed.*

* began thinking about berries. I’ve had some. I know i had. Where? thinking back as i was walking away that i realized that I had some not long after entering this dream realm.. which was like over an hour walk after climbing that waterfall the opposite way i was walking. *

*I walked a slightly longer route around the far side of the waterfall, it was less steep and had some small thinner trees ( though covered in ice) to help me climb the hill.*

*after climbing the edge i began following the creek, my breath was a visible cloud as climbed the frozen landscape*

*I remembered all these trees from when i first walked by. Their leaves had fallen, branches covered in snow and icicles. there was no sound of birds singing their song in the trees. I heard the crunching of the snow underpaw, there wasn’t much really going on. I eventually found the snowcovered bush of red berries. I picked a few and tried to eat one. Frozen solid. I spit it out in fear of it lowering my body temperature. But i was now taking each step slowly, lightly, and quietly. I had my spear set and ready to cast.*

* in my mind i was already saying thanks. I was creeping around the higher bushes and low foliage. after a few minutes I heard the skittering of small paws in the underbrush. I squinted my eyes and looked at the shrubbery. it was moving. I cast it ahead of where was going. There was a squee from the landing. *

* i walked over and picked the spear up. It was a fat fluffy cotton tail rabbit speared through the neck. I shuddered as i put the spear on my shoulder, rabbit hanging from the end. I slowly started making my back. I hadnt realised that my whole way back to this place was all up hill. which is easier to climb up than climb down during this extreme weather.*

* I ended up falling on my ass a couple of times as i tried to climb down the hills, but eventually i made it back to that small brook that leads to the creek. which meant i was close to the cave. It had been quite a few hours and the sun was starting to set, the rabbits fur was kinda soaked in blood and slightly torn from where it bounced around on the stick and got dropped a few times from my impact with the ground.*

*eventually i made it down to the hill to the ponds base, i smirked at the remark that i didn’t just dive head first this time. I walked through the entrance and saw that she was curled up into a ball on the bed. her tail pretty much was a big as she was and she had covered herself up completely with it. The fire was almost dead, so i walked over the bundle of sticks that was wrapped up in vines and crouched beside it pulled out a claw. I heard a slight whimper come from her.*

*my ears folded down, she must be cold... Looking back at the sticks i sliced the vines and they clattered slightly to the ground from its tight bundle. I saw from the corner of my eye that she jumped slightly from the sound. I saw her come from out under her tail and stretch across the moss bed. She laid on her side, looking at me with a big smile.*

“Glad to see you made it back” she said softly

*i blushed*

“D-did you sleep well?” i said looking away adding sticks and leaves to the fire .

“I slept fucking fantastically~” she said stretching even more so across the bed.

*I looked sidelong at her as she did. when she stopped she looked me square the eyes, she looked like she was posing, like “paint me like one of your french girls” which in all honesty, a painting wouldn’t have done her justice. i could feel my heart beating slightly in my ears as the leaves started catching fire, making me look at the fire starting to burn a nice level*

*she got up smiling, and strutted over to the fire right next to me as i put more sticks into the fire, she put both hands on my shoulders and put her mouth near my ear *

“Nice!, thats a fat one isnt it? hehe I can take over cooking it if you would like” she said messaging my shoulders, which she seemed like she was having a difficult time because of how wide they are.

“You can relax and rest, i’ll wake you up when its done i promise...” she insisted

“ok ok, plus i think you know what you’re doing compared to me so ill let the professional handle it” i said smartly

“Oh- such High praise from such a strong, brave, mighty hunter” she said back dramatically.

*we both laughed as she stopped massaging my shoulders, i moved my way over to the moss bed, which was VERY VERY warm from where she was sleeping and i snuggled in on my left side, watching her as she pulled out a claw.*

*I Slowly closed my eyes as heard her go to work, and drifted off*

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mitsunari · 8 years ago

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A Yuri!!! On Ice fantasy AU drabble I’ve started on. If it doesn’t make sense, that’s to be expected considering I can’t concentrate on a single tangent for more than five minutes and my writing style is.... mmmm... tedious? Redundant? Anyway this is just the beginning of it.

It’s got no title. Currently rated G for General Audiences. It’s Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky centered, but this first part just has Otabek and Katsuki Yuuri as characters. Otabek is still Hero of Kazakhstan but for different reasons, as he’s a conduit for the forces of nature basically (kind of like The Avatar, but instead natural spirits use his body to channel their power more constructively). Yuuri is an astronomer who has an intense passion for space. Otabek and Yuuri have met in the past for reasons (just Yuuri’s professional life crossing paths with Otabek’s duties).

And... well... spoilers, lol, Yuri P shows up as a dragon. He just hasn’t shown up yet. All I really want to do is write Otabek the shaman bonding with a dragon but I also wanted setup and slow burn and development and also practice because writing is Hard and Sucks and Difficult for someone with my brain to figure out since it’s all on my own. Please, for the love of God, ask questions and tell me if you’re interested. I am an attention whore who loves talking about this AU. I just can’t write it as well as I’d like because tfw perfect self-expectations.

Without further ado.......

_________________________________________

The Russian truck rumbled up the hill, jostling Katsuki Yuuri in the seat and jangling the keys. Yuuri clutched the steering wheel for dear life. Leaving the observatory in the red truck hadn’t been too bad driving downhill, but uphill… different story.

There were only two streets out of Almaty that led into the Trans-Ili Alatau. The southernmost was the one that led to Yuuri’s workplace, the Tien Shan Astronomical Observatory. The second road went east, ultimately dead-ending in the protected national park. In the fall, hunters were allowed to hunt certain animals, but the deadline had ended back in November and Yuuri didn’t see any as he drove by. Snow and rocks crunched under the truck’s treaded tires.

At the first and only gasoline station on the road, Yuuri turned and drove past its two pumps, going off-road downhill this time. He followed the flat area between the drop toward the river and a rock face for a few kilometers. He was certain it was only possible his truck could pass through here because he was Otabek’s acquaintance. (Possibly friend, but Yuuri didn’t want to presume too much.) He was here because he needed Otabek’s help, his opinion, and maybe his powers to divine a problem. Heck, Yuuri did not even know the extent of the man’s abilities. In his opinion, Otabek was some kind of kami living in the Kazakh mountains.

Eventually, the towering rock wall leaned away and welcomed Yuuri into a wide open space covered in snow. His truck went up and down many hills, but once he was nearly level with the river bed, the land flattened out and Yuuri could see Otabek’s acreage. At least he hoped this was the place. His fence was wood and wire around the land. Yuuri stopped in front of the metal gate. After struggling to squeeze his fat belly past the steering wheel, he nearly tripped out of the cab. Overhead, a falcon screeched in laughter.

“Hehe…,” Yuuri laughed in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head. He opened the gate, then quickly got back in the truck to drive on in.

Heaving a sigh, Yuuri let his head drop hard against the headrest. He felt nervous about seeing the hero of Kazakhstan again, mainly because he wondered how Otabek would take his news. In the observatory’s telescopes, the astronomers Phichit Chulanont and Katsuki Yuuri had seen something new: a star forming in the Plisetsky nebula! For science, Yuuri was giddy at every discovery. He’d come to the observatory from Japan with his fellow alumni Phichit to study space. Nebulae, satellites, suns… he adored it all.

But stars did not grow this quickly in any man’s lifetime.

At first, Yuuri compared it to other pictures taken from Hubble, ISS, and other observatories. In the last three months, he saw progressive brightening in the Plisetskys. With weeks of testing, Phichit and their other colleagues continued monitoring the nebula. Last night, the brightening star had become visible in the sky without a telescope. Immediately the next morning, Yuuri got into the truck to contact Otabek personally. Otabek didn’t carry a phone, and Yuuri didn’t have the luxury of sending messages through eagles.

Yuuri feared Otabek would tell him this was some bad omen. His stomach gurgled uneasily. “Oh, better get this over with,” Yuuri sighed.

He stopped the truck before he was ten meters from a small stone cottage, parking next to a 4x4. He slid out and looked around at the home. A black horse stood in a paddock with some goats. Smoke rose from the narrow chimney in the middle of the roof.

“Altin-san?” Yuuri called out. He strode up to the door, but Otabek opened it before he could knock.

The Kazakh shaman used to be shorter than Yuuri, but he saw now that Otabek had grown to his height. His black hair had grown out to his shoulders. Furs clothed his body for warmth. Yuuri felt heat radiate out of the doorway. He rubbed his arms through his coat sleeves.

“Katsuki Yuuri…,” Otabek rumbled. He nodded in greeting and bid Yuuri to come in with a gesture toward the center fire. Yuuri removed his boots by the doorway, dancing around Otabek closing the door behind him.

“Excuse me,” Yuuri mumbled.

“Tea?”

“Yes please.” Yuuri walked up a step into the cottage, picking a chair. Otabek busied pouring into a cup and handed it to him. Inhaling deeply, even though it fogged Yuuri’s glasses, he let it warm him.

“Did the terrain let you enter without problem?” Otabek asked.

“Mm?” Yuuri squeaked into the cup. His eyes widened behind his totally fogged-up glasses. Let me? Yuuri immediately thought of magic trees gobbling up his truck. “I… I mean I followed your directions. The only issue was snow,” he tried not to stutter.

Otabek let out a sigh. “That’s good. The roads downhill are dangerous.”

Oh he meant the elements, Yuuri lamely realized. “Oh… yes. No major problems,” he replied quickly.

While drinking the tea and enjoying the fire together, they went quiet which was acceptable to the both of them. Yuuri looked around to see new paintings and maps drying. The maps were familiar to him. The ones at work were still in Cyrillic, having not changed since the Soviets, and Otabek had been working on a map back when they’d first met too.

“How are those coming along?” Yuuri asked.

Otabek looked over him, then the maps Yuuri looked at. “Good.” He blinked as if he remembered something and walked over to his work table. He picked up one of the paper maps, handing it to Yuuri. “You may take this back with you,” he replied. “I finished it.”

“Oh! Thank you! Thank you so much.” Yuuri clutched the folded paper, beaming up at Otabek. His smile faltered moments later as he glanced guiltily at his messenger bag. Otabek scrutinized him with a side-cocked expression. Swallowing, Yuuri unzipped his bag and pulled out folders. “You’re undoubtedly wondering why I’m here…” He exchanged the folders with Otabek.

Otabek flipped open to the pictures. Yuuri carefully studied his face, watching almond eyes widen as he pored through the pictures. Otabek looked up expecting Yuuri to finish where he’d trailed off, and immediately Yuuri began stammered. “Um, well, I, we--uh I mean Phichit and I, do you remember him?-- well, uh, we found a new star!”

Both black-haired men went quiet in the cottage. Otabek picked up the pictures, saying nothing, just switching between the progressions. Yuuri held his breath, then let out a loud exhale when he saw Otabek’s lip quirk up at the corner.

“Y-you’re smiling? That means it’s a good thing, yes? We can announce it to the science world without bringing total wicked annihilation on us, yes?” Yuuri blurted out.

Otabek pushed all the papers together while giving Yuuri a strange squint. “Why is that the first thing to come to mind?” he asked softly.

Yuuri pushed his index fingers together sheepishly. “Well, ahhh, every time I see you, there’s always something going on, like the time we saw a comet and next thing we know, you’re coming across the mountain to tell us to guard against earthquakes, and I mean like, uh, well….” Not to mention the eclipse at Aralkum! He felt stupid blabbering in front of the much more stoic man. He could never read Otabek’s expressions, and Yuuri always defaulted to they think I’m a fucking idiot! every time he opened his mouth.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he clutched his hands out in front of his knees. Yuuri suddenly felt a hand touch his. Surprised, he dropped his cup of tea. The stoneware hit the floor with a THUNK on its solid base. Yuuri looked up with horrified eyes only to see Otabek reach down to pick it up and put it back in his hand. The tea hadn’t even sloshed out.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle,” Otabek murmured, dismissing Yuuri’s dumbstruck expression. He leaned back to his own seat and flipped through the rest of the memo. “I am glad you thought to tell me, Mr. Katsuki--”

“Yuuri, p-please!”

“Right. Yuuri.” Otabek gestured to the pictures. “I can’t confirm or deny your fears. The spirits of nature do as they please.” A marvelled sigh slipped through his lips. “It is… a beautiful star.” Glancing over at Yuuri made the Japanese man straighten. “May I see it for myself?”

“It became visible to the naked eye last night.” Yuuri shifted in his seat. “You’d have to come to the observatory’s side of the mountains though. The ridge hides it from over here. Too tall.” He held up his hand and shook his head, and Otabek nodded in understanding.

“I’d ask for a ride back with you but the day has barely started. When’s a good time tonight?” he asked.

“Umm, 8 PM, I guess,” Yuuri said. “We’ve got a garage and oh, well, I mean you’ve been there before… you know…,” he trailed off.

Otabek laughed silently with sharp exhales out of his nose, and Yuuri reddened in embarrassment. “It’s been a few months but yes, I remember.” Closing the folders, he handed everything back to the astronomer. “Thank you.” He seemed to notice Yuuri’s expression because he added, “These are beautiful.”

Yuuri brightened in pride as fat fingers clutched the folders happily. For now, the worry of Otabek’s omen subsided, and he was thrilled by science and beauty again. Oh, beloved space! Hastily, he gulped down the rest of his tea and stood up, not intending to burden Otabek further as a guest. “Um, please excuse me!” He placed the folders carefully in his messenger bag and tucked Otabek’s new map in for safety. “I’ll see you tonight! We can talk more there.”

“Of course,” Otabek replied. He put his tea cup down and followed Yuuri to the door.

Yuuri smelled a strong smell of spruce all of a sudden. He looked over his shoulder at Otabek, smiling and nodding goodbye to him when the man tilted his head in question. After shoving on his boots, Yuuri pulled his winter hat further on his head, leaving Otabek’s house in a shuffle. Phichit would be happy to see Otabek, Yuuri thought; after all, the viral video of Otabek’s magic in the Aralkum--glowing like an LED display!--belonged to Phichit. It was all over Twitter, especially since Phichit was basically Verified and famous for running the TSAO official Instagram + Twitter. Was it science? Was it magic? The internet didn’t know.

#yuri on ice #katsuki yuuri #otabek altin #my writings

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aetaeswolf · 6 years ago

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Just a little note before we start!

To celebrate Christmas, I wrote a special chapter in one of my stories on Quotev. My TMNT series, to be precise! I’m going through the seasons of the 2012 version and as it turns out, I’m in the middle of writing season 4. So, uh, the crew’s still kinda stuck in space. This was sort of my solution to that, so expect shenanigans from my OCs. Enjoy!

Stranded (Lost Book 2) - chapter 55

“Christmas Guests”

(y/n) blinks open her eyes, pushing herself off the plush carpet as she looks around. She appeared to be in some sort of living room, furnished to be quite comfortable. It even had a fireplace with a fire going in it, bringing pleasant warmth to the room.

She could see a room leading into some sort of kitchen, some sort of hallway and a couple of closed doors. One door was left open, leading to some sort of bedroom with a canopy queen-sized bed. The curtains on the bed were pulled back, so the teen could see the stuffed toys that rested against the pillows neatly.

The odd thing was the walls and floor were entirely made of stone, yet there were no windows at all. It was still oddly well-lit, though.

Movement catches her attention, (y/n) noticing the other teens were with her. They were coming to as they push themselves up.

“Where are we?” Raph asks.

“I was wondering when you would wake up.”

The teens look to the voice, seeing Jharn walk out of one of the rooms he closes the door behind him, the copper-haired male in his human form. He starts walking towards the hallway. “Come, we will be late.”

“Late?” Leo questions. “Late for what?”

Jharn stops in front of the hallway, hazel eyes looking back to the teens. “Christmas dinner, of course.”

Mikey blinks. “Wait. IT’S CHRISTMAS??”

Jharn laughs. “Of course it is! Well, here in our world at least. We weren’t sure if it was where you are.” He gives a smile. “Even so, our sōrėrājs didn’t want you to spend this holiday alone. And don’t worry about being gone, once you return; it’ll be as if you never left.”

Neria blinks, quite clueless and innocent with her question. “What is Christmas...?”

The simple question made everyone stare at her.

“That’s right!” April gasps. “You haven’t been on Earth long enough to celebrate Christmas!”

“Then this would be the perfect time to show her the holiday, no?” Jharn says with a smile.

“Yeah!” Casey slings an arm around the fire-haired alien’s shoulders. “We’re gonna make this the most awesome Christmas ever!”

Neria blinks at the boy, though gives a ghost of a smile.

“Follow me.” Jharn walks out of the room and starts making his way down the hall, the teens following after him.

“You really got this place set up like a house.” Sarah comments. “I didn’t think you’d need one, since you’re... you know... a God in this universe.”

“The comforts of a home are not for me.” Jharn responds, stopping at a set of stairs that seem to lead to nowhere, they disappear into the ceiling. “They are for our creator.”

“But why stay here?” Raph asks. “There’s no windows or anything. It’s kind of creepy.”

“The answer is quite simple, Raphael.” Jharn responds with a smirk. “If you don’t want people to find you, then hide where they would not look.” He walks up the stairs and right through the ceiling as if it didn’t exist, making the teens gasp.

Leo walks up the stairs, reaching out to the ceiling. Expect he doesn’t touch the stone; his hand instead goes through it. He blinks, walking up the stairs through the ceiling, the others following after him.

Once at the top, they notice the ruins of what appeared to be an old temple, broken walls and pillars scattered about the cracked stone, surrounded by a thick forest. A layer of snow covered the area as flakes fall gently from the darkened sky.

Donnie looks back to the snow-covered stone floor they had walked through, taking a step back to it. Only, his foot didn’t go through the stone, it hit the floor instead, crunching the snow. “What...?”

“It’s magic, Donatello.” Jharn simply responds. “Now come, before the storm sets in.” He starts leading the way through the trees, the teens quick to follow after.

Sarah gasps, the small kunoichi wrapping an arm around her boyfriend’s arm. “Donnie, look!” She points to the trees above, the tall terrapin following her gaze.

Small balls of light varying in colours start appearing in between the branches above, some resting on the branches.

Jharn gives a smile. “Fairies.” He explains. “No doubt curious about my strange guests.”

The teens couldn’t help but stare at the fairies in awe as they passed them, Neria almost gaining a look of child-like wonder at the sight of the magical beings.

Soon enough, they were out of the forest and walking along a street in a small town that lived near the forest’s edge. The town itself was at the base of a mountain and climbed up said mountain. Jharn brought the teens to a particular wooden house, climbing up the porch steps and ushering everyone inside before stepping inside himself.

“I’m back!” The copper-haired male calls out, his hazel eyes glancing around the entry way.

Footsteps quickly sound from a nearby room. Soon enough, I appear in the entry way, dressed in a festive red dress lined with white. I give an excited squeal as soon as my eyes land on the teens. I throw my arms around Jharn in a hug, my ink-tipped tail wagging excitedly. “You brought them! Thank you thank you thank you!”

Jharn simply laughs, picking me up in a hug, getting me to giggle. “It was no trouble, dove.”

I give a toothy grin as he sets me back down, turning my attention to the teens. “Welcome to the Caller household! I’m so glad you guys could make it!”

“Ammy! We’re still not quite done!” Aetaes’ voice calls from the kitchen.

“Coming, A!” I call back. I turn my attention back to the teens, my ink-tipped ears perked up. “Make yourselves at home. Oh! And don’t worry about freaking out the others, because you won’t. So relax and have some fun!” I run back into the kitchen, but not without almost running into the doorway first.

(y/n) blinks. “Was that-?”

The copper-haired male smiles. “Our creator, yes.”

“I thought you said she didn’t like meeting new people.” Raph says. “That people terrify her.”

“While normally that is true, she is rather excited today.” Jharn responds.

“Shouldn’t she be spending Christmas with her family?” Sarah asks.

Jharn simply grins. “She did. Now, she’s spending it with us. And this is the happiest Christmas she’s had in a long while, so let’s not spoil that for her.” Though the words were said with a smile and a kind tone, the warning behind it still rang clear, the teens sharing a glance. “There’s a fire going in the living room, go warm yourselves while I help the girls with dinner.” The copper-haired male disappears into the kitchen.

Upon entering the living room, the teens find it decorated beautifully for the holiday, a tress set up in the corner of the room as garland was set on top of the fire place and along the windowsill, a fire roaring fiercely.

The teens spotted three girls, two idling chatting on one of the couches that surrounded the fireplace as Christmas music softly flied the room, and the last on the second floor above, fixing the garland that had been wrapped around the railing.

One of the girls on the couch had waist-length snow white hair with a crimson streak going through it, her left eye red, her right eye hidden under her hair. She wore a black jacket over a red tank top and white pants.

The girl beside her was identical, though had shorter hair and her eye and streak were a dark blue. Her right eye was uncovered, but was completely red, having no iris or pupil. Instead, it had a strange black “x” going through it. She wore a white jack over a blue tank top that cut off just above her stomach and black pants.

The girl fixing the garland had long pitch-black hair, a red streak going through it. She had rather pale skin, and piercing golden eyes. She wore a dark blue shirt that hung off of one shoulder, gold lining the sleeves and collar. Black pants covered her legs. She appeared to also have a long black tail with a spade-shaped head.

The girl on the second floor took notice of the teens in the living room. “Oh, you must be Amaterasu’s friends!” The ravenette says with a smile, sharp fangs poking out over her bottom lip. She catches the attention of the two girls below her, who turn to look at the teens. “My name is Eclipse; it’s nice to meet you!”

The female with shorter white hair raises an eyebrow. “Huh. Honestly, not what I what I excepted when she said mutant turtles. Expected something more-”

“Star!” The female with longer hair scolds as she smacks the other female’s arm. She gives a sigh, turning back to the teens. “Sorry about her. I’m Sky, and she’s my twin, Star.”

“Oh!” Eclipse gasps, remembering something. “Just a warning, someone enchanted some mistletoe, and we haven’t been able to catch it long enough to get rid of the enchantment. So don’t be surprised if you find it floating above your head and it’s above me, isn’t it?” She asks, noticing the looks everyone was giving her. She looks above her head, and sure enough, mistletoe was floating just above her.

The ravenette’s tail twitches with annoyance as she jumps onto the railing, perching herself on it. She launches herself off the railing, hands snapping down around the enchanted plant.

Mikey quickly runs forward, jumping and catching the ravenette in her arms before rolling into a landing on the floor. “Whoa. You okay?”

Eclipse blinks, glancing between the turtle and where she would have landed, slightly confused. “Um... thanks?” She nervously chuckles as Mikey sets her back on her feet. She opens her hands, only to find the mistletoe was gone. “DANG IT!”

Sky gets stands up, walking over to Eclipse and pulling her aside. “Let me look at you.”

Eclipse starts squirming as the taller female starts checking her for wounds. “Sky, stop it! Seriously, I’m fine!”

“Oh, hush and let me be the big sister for once.”

“Wait, you’re sisters?” Leo asks.

Star rolls her eyes. “Duh! Well, only Sky and I are related by blood, despite the fact that I’m a human and she’s a vampire. But we’re all adopted in this house. Taern is the oldest, then there’s Sky and I, then Jadoku, the only boy in the house, then Aetaes, then Eclipse.” She pauses for a moment, thinking. “Wait... wouldn’t Eclipse and Aetaes technically be the eldest since they were both asleep for ten thousand years?” She gives a shrug, deciding not to question it further.

Neria tugs on (y/n)’s sleeve, gaining her attention. “I know mistletoe is a plant, but what is its significance?” She quietly asks.

(y/n) opens her mouth to respond, then stops, closing it again. She sighs through her nose, giving a smile. “You know what? I’ll tell you if it appears over your head.”

The fire-haired alien simply tilts her head to the side, confused, though she doesn’t question further.

The front door opens and closes, voices coming from the entry way as two people come into view, a woman who was wearing a snow white cloak, and a man with long silver hair and amber eyes. He wore a black leather jacket which he left open, exposing his chest since he wore nothing underneath it, a pair of blue jeans on his legs.

“-sorry about this! I just wanted to make sure our guests at the temple were comfortable.”

The male rolls his eyes. “Stop apologizing. It doesn’t matter.” He grabs the female’s arm, turning her so she was facing him before taking her cloak off of her, hanging it up on the nearby coatrack.

The female had tan skin and long blue hair, cat ears adorning her head as a cat-like tail swept across the floor behind her, matching her hair colour, black markings at the tips of her ears and tail. She wore a dark purple/red turtleneck priest’s robes, yellow lines going along the bottom of the robes and the cuffs of her sleeves, a dark red sash tied around her waist. Gold and purple pouldrons were on her shoulders, acting as decoration. She had black markings on her face, starting under her eyes and going across them before meeting on her forehead to make an “x”.

Yet the most striking thing about her was her eyes. They were milky white, staring blankly ahead instead of at the male who was standing right in front of her.

Eclipse runs over to the teens, quietly talking to them. “Okay, that’s Jadoku-” She points to the silver-haired male. “-and that’s Taern.” She points to the bluenette. “Taern’s blind, so don’t be surprised if she doesn’t really look at you, okay?”

The bluenette reaches out, the male grabbing her wrist and guiding it to his arm, allowing her to wrap her arm around his. He leads her over to one of the couches, briefly glancing to the teens as he helps the bluenette sit down.

Taern sniffs the air, her ear giving a twitch. “I smell eight... no, nine new scents. We have guests?”

“We do.” Star responds. “Everyone, introduce yourselves so she knows which voice belongs to who.”

Taern listens carefully as the teens introduce themselves, listening to the pitch of their voices as well as the inflections. “Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, (y/n), Sarah, April, Casey, and Neria...” She mumbles, though soon gives a smile. “My, it seems like we have quite the full house this Christmas. Are we sure we’ll be able to seat everyone at the table?” She jokes.

“Something tells me the three in the kitchen already have that covered.” April responds.

The bluenette blinks, sniffing the air. She reaches up her hand, swatting at the mistletoe that had appeared above her head, making it disappear as she sets her hands in her lap. “Who enchanted the mistletoe?”

“We’re not really sure, to be honest.” Eclipse responds, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand.

“Hmm. Its magic should be gone by the time morning comes.”

“How do you know that?” Donnie asks.

Taern simply smiles. “I am blind, but my talents do not require me to see to use them.”

Aetaes, Jharn and I walk out of the kitchen into the living room. “Okay, everything’s cooking.” Aetaes says. “We have some free time.”

I nod. “Yeah, so, um... if there’s anything anyone-” I cut off, staring at the mistletoe hanging over Donnie and Sarah.

The two seemed to noticed my stare, as they looked above, seeing the floating plant. Sarah blinks, her tail giving a flick as she stares at the plant. Donnie looks down to his girlfriend, grabbing her shoulders and pressing a kiss to her lips, earning a few catcalls from the others.

Sarah covers her face with her hands as her ears lower, the small wolf mutant giving a whine, quite embarrassed. Donnie pulls her against his plastron as he wraps her in his arms, glaring at the others.

I start giggling, though stop when I suddenly lose my balance. Jharn grabs hold of my arm, pulling me to him so I could grab hold of him until I found my balance again.

Eclipse noticed Neria’s confused look, the ravenette quietly talking to the fire-haired alien. Neria blinks, quietly responding to her, the two beginning to chat with each other.

“Anyway...” Aetaes says, getting everyone back on track. “Dinner won’t be ready for a little while, so we have time for some sort of activity.”

“Ooh!” Mikey quickly raises his hand. “We could have a snowball fight!”

(y/n) raises an eyebrow. “I don’t think she’d-”

“I haven’t been in a snowball fight in years!” I gasp, my tail wagging excitedly.

Jharn chuckles. “I think we’ve found our activity.”

I run to Taern, grabbing her hand and running out the back, the blind priestess laughing the entire time. The others follow me out onto the back deck as I get Taern to sit on the patio couch. Snow continued to fall from the sky, covering the yard under it. It held a Japanese garden, complete with a koi pond.

(y/n) walks down into the garden. “Okay, we need to split everyone into two teams.”

“Magic vs. Mutants!” I chirp. “Me and everyone from this world against everyone from the TMNT universe! Rules: No magic of any kind, and no powers. No one is allowed to change out of their human form.” I look to Jharn and Jadoku. “So no naga form, you two!”

Jharn gives a nod, Jadoku giving an annoyed growl, letting his fangs show.

“Everyone, build your forts!” I shout, both teams quickly running off the deck and getting to work.

Soon enough, the forts were built and everyone was throwing snowballs at each other. Taern obviously didn’t join in the game, but nonetheless she smiled as she heard everyone shouting and laughing. The group eventually got covered in snow, but continued to the laugh despite this, having fun in the cold. No one really knew which team won.

Aetaes puts her fingers to her mouth and gives a sharp whistle, gaining everyone’s attention. “Now, before we sit down to eat, I thought it only right to review the reason why we celebrate this holiday, especially since there are those among us who do not know this story.” She walks onto the deck so everyone could see her as they sit down in the snow. “The story starts ten thousand years ago, when I had a very different name. I was once known as Cecidit, the fallen Goddess. But I’m not the only one who had a different name.” She motions to Eclipse. “Ten thousand years ago, Eclipse was known as Yukio, the princess of the Saekul Kingdom, when she was still human. A girl that loved to watch the crystal roses in her castle garden come into bloom.”

Aetaes sits down on the deck’s steps, her tail resting lazily against her legs. “What started as good deed from a father, turned into disaster. Disas’ youngest was gravely ill, and he wanted nothing more than to cure his daughter. He turned to a dark, forbidden magic to earn his wish, a magic that turned his heart to ash, and corrupted his very soul. He was turned into the somuli king of shadows.”

“Somuli are this world’s version of demons.” I quietly explain to the teens.

“He turned his children into shadow somuli, just has he had been turned. He corrupted them all, just as he had been corrupted. All... except one – the very daughter he had been trying to save.”

(y/n) could see Eclipse shift uncomfortably in her seat, obviously not too thrilled at the story. Jadoku grabs the ravenette’s arm, pulling her down so her head was resting in his lap, the silver-haired male petting her hair to help soothe her. It seemed to work, as she started relaxing.

Aetaes pauses a moment from her story, the female shaking her head. “’Twas through my death that the Gods War began, and through Disas’ banishment that it ended. We celebrate this day, not just to celebrate the end of a terrible war, but to help remind us of what we could’ve lost. To remind us of what we have.”

Aetaes gets to her feet, clasping her hands in front of her as she gazes at those gathered, a smile forming on her face. “Dire times brought us all together, yet I wouldn’t have it any other way. While tragedy was what began our bonds, let us not forget what we have gained from it. Family, friends, loved ones... those we all hold dear to our hearts. Unbreakable bonds that will last a lifetime.” She claps her hands together. “Now, let us be thankful for this time, and go have some dinner, as it should be ready by now.”

The group gets to their feet, walking back inside as Eclipse helps Taern indoors, all happily chatting with one another. (y/n) pauses before going back inside, looking back to the garden and the mess of snow they made during the snowball fight.

Leo wraps his arms around her waist. “Aren’t you going to come inside?”

“Yeah, I just... wanted to take this in.” (y/n) responds, giving a smile as she turns in his arms so she could face him. “This place really is something.”

The two look up, noticing the mistletoe floating above their heads. (y/n) couldn’t help but laugh, wrapping her arms around Leo’s neck as they share a sweet kiss.

This place truly was magical.

#tmnt #tmnt donatello #TMNT 2012 #tmnt raphael #tmnt leonardo #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt casey jones #tmnt april #tmnt leo x reader #donatello hamato #leonardo hamato #michelangelo hamato #original character

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zillowcondo · 8 years ago

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An Ideal Day in Bend, Oregon: TSLL’s Itinerary

With Labor Day weekend coming up, I know many Oregonians will be venturing to Bend for one last summer hurrah. As well, whenever you might have the opportunity to visit our central Oregon outdoor, foodie, health-focused, beer-making, dog-loving community haven, I wanted to share with you a simple list of ideas when you begin creating an itinerary.

While currently we are inundated with smoke from lightening caused forest fires and will most likely be for a few, if not more than a few, days, perusing through the many images I have captured over the past two years reminded me of the beauty that exists nearly everywhere I turn. Whether it is out on the water, sitting down for a cup of coffee, strolling along the paths at Drake Park, spending time viewing a small indie film in a boutique theater or savoring the delicious fare at the many locally owned, family run restaurants, some of which have been recognized by the James Beard association, there are many simple, beautiful and memorable ways to spend your time in my new hometown. And I am more than happy to share what I’ve discovered.

If I had to plan an ideal day in Bend, from beginning to end, sundown to beyond sunset, below are the twelve activities I would put on my itinerary. None of them are overly extravagant, but each are activities I appreciate having the opportunity to experience, visit, and/or savor in Bend.

Morning

1. A walk in nature with my boys

Nearly every day begins with a walk with my boys, Norman and Oscar. With nature just outside my backdoor, as a doggie mama I feel as though I am giving my dogs the best life I could possibly give them. Whether on a leash while walking multiple miles on preserved trails along a river or allowing them to be off-leash at designated expansive dog parks around Deschutes County, their smile when they see where we I am driving warms my heart.

While many people run, or bike here in Bend, walking has always been my preferred work-out of choice, and very rarely do I walk the same trail or path two days in a row. Here and here are two resources to find a trail or path that suits your taste and location in Central Oregon.

~View all of the images captured with #tsllmynorman and #tsllmyoscar while walking in #tsllbend on @thesimplyluxuriouslife‘s Instagram feed.

2. Summer: Stand-Up Paddle Boarding with Norman (and sometimes Oscar); Winter: cross country skiing with both of my boys

Quite frequently this summer I found myself both walking early in the morning followed by a jaunt on the paddle board before the heat of the day set in. This pattern was partly prompted by because Oscar is getting older and preferring to stay on solid ground, so I wanted to make sure he received his daily exercise with the walk, but also because I didn’t want to pass up the beautifully warm, yet still crisp, mornings on my board.

Norman has become quite the little SUP pup and hops on like a pro which makes it all the more exciting to get out onto the water (you can see all of our ventures on the water on Instagram with #tsllsup). If you are looking to rent a paddle board, you can pick one up at a handful of different locations, often right at the river: Tumalo Creek Paddle & Canoe, Parks & Rec rents at RiverBend Park and many more locations as well (click here for the entire list). And don’t forget to visit the high lakes with your board. Below is an image on the day of the Total Solar Eclipse on Hosmer Lake.

But summer doesn’t last all year and as many of you know, Bend is known for the snow and skiing on Mt. Bachelor. While I am not a down hill skier, I do love to take my dogs cross country skiing or go by myself at a handful of different parks along the Cascade Lakes Highway headed to Mt. Bachelor. Usually, I head up in the morning to make the most of the snow, and then return down the hill for a leisurely rest of the day. (Here is a list of cross country skiing destinations to check out.)

3. Breakfast and a Cuppa Tea/Coffee at a Bakery

After finishing the daily workout, on an ideal day, a stop into a local bakery is never a bad idea. With so many delicious bakeries to choose from (last summer I shared a post detailing a handful of the best bakeries in Bend based on my tastebuds’ first-hand experience), you will find something delicious to nibble on as well as scrumptious coffee (my favorite place for coffee is Backporch Coffee Roasters which was voted Best Coffee in Bend this year). And for tea, many of the bakeries serve Metolius Artisan Tea which is local and offers a quality sipping experience

~shown above: Sparrow Bakery, the Village Baker~

~Backporch Coffee Roasters on Newport Market Ave.~

4. Visit a Farmers Market

Beginning in June and running through September and October (depending upon which market), the farmers markets in Bend are quite abundant as purveyors come from the Willamette Valley and across central and eastern Oregon to share their produce. You can view an abundance of images I captured this past summer at my three favorite spots in this post as well as discover how to make the most of your time at a farmers market.

My advice: arrive when they begin as the best produce goes quickly, but don’t worry, all of the produce is spectacular. And if you simply want fresh, local produce without having to go to one of the once-a-week markets, stop by Paradise Produce on Galveston on the west side.

5. Pop into a Book Shop

I adore bookshops, as I know many of TSLL readers do as well. Much like a big hug you can step into and find quiet refuge, visiting a locally owned bookshop is a sweet outing entirely by itself. Supporting independently owned bibliophile sanctuaries is vital, and while it can be tempting to go home and purchase the book from Amazon (I too am guilty of this from time to time), buying a book, sitting down and enjoying a hot cup of tea or coffee and making connections can go along way if we all did something to show our appreciation on a regular basis. Perhaps look at your purchase as a subscription or a form of mini rent to keep your favorite book destination open.

I was especially grateful when Roundabout Books opened less than a year ago in Northwest Bend and I had the opportunity to introduce readers to the owner in this post as well as share a few more pics from my many wanderings through the shelves.

Dudley’s Bookshop Cafe is also a wonderful, cozy bookstore located in its prime downtown location. With a comfy couch upon which I have sat more than a few times and enjoyed conversation and tea with a friend as well as a work room upstairs set amongst used books, the espresso is delicious, the treats are scrumptious, and you are centrally located to enjoy many other lovely boutiques while downtown.

6. Stop into Iron Horse Antiques

Don’t be fooled by the old, western exterior; Iron Horse Antiques is a treasure chest waiting for customers who have the patience and curiosity to step inside and find exactly what they didn’t know they wanted. I have stopped in a few times for props on projects, teapots for work or at home and while I do not spend more than $30 or $50 dollars, I always find something unique. Located just a block away from one of my favorite restaurants for dinner (shared below in #11), you’ll find Iron Horse Antiques in the Old Bend District. (If you’re viewing this post on Wednesday August 30th, check out TSLL’s IG Stories to see more video inside the shop.)

7. Enjoy a light, delicious lunch at Jackson’s Corner, Parilla, Spork, the Village Baker or Chow

Any one of these destinations will delight the foodie that resides within you. From classic American fare to globally-conscious cuisine, mouth-watering tacos and burritos and traditional sandwiches amped up with thoughtful flavorful details, no reservations are needed, just step inside and pick up, dine in or outside and enjoy a boost to carry you through the second half of your day.

~Spork‘s menu, located on Newport Ave on the west side~

~The Village Baker, located on both the west and east side, try their sandwiches. My favorite is the turkey with strawberry salsa.~

~Parilla’s beloved fish tacos – AAAAmmmazing; two locations – east and west~

~Jackson’s Corner: fresh bread (my favorite baguette in town), pizza (the thin, crust is just to my liking), classic American comfort food; two locations: east and west)~

8. Walk in Drake Park and the Old Bend District

If you’re downtown, be sure to stroll through Drake Park located along the Deschutes River and what is called Mirror Pond. In the fall, as you see below, the colors are exquisite, and as well in the spring with the copious amounts of maple and other deciduous trees full of blossoms.

9. Enjoy an Afternoon Break at your vacation rental

If you’re anything like me, you will need some time to rest and recharge before finishing the day. With the many vacation rentals in Bend, enjoy the outdoors by simply stepping onto your porch, patio or out into the yard. I have a hammock in my backyard, so often in the afternoon I find myself taking a rest swinging out in the fresh air, listening to the birds.

Evening

10. If staying in and cooking at home, visit Newport Market for your gourmet goods

The bounty of grocery stores and market in Bend for the small size of under 90,000 people is a food-lovers mecca. And while we do have Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Market of Choice as well as Locavore and finally the traditional Safeway, Albertsons and Fred Meyers, we also have something exclusively in Bend that you won’t find anywhere else (that’s redundant on purpose): Newport Market.

If you’ve ever been to New York City’s Upper West Side and stepped into Zabar’s, you will feel right at home at Newport Market. No, it isn’t a kosher deli, but it is small, the shelves are close together, and the selection is phenomenonal for the minimal space they inhabit. Yes, the prices are a little high, but for quality seafood (considering we are not close to the ocean), wonderful wines (I trust every selection and have yet to be disappointed), a sushi bar, deli options, even cooking utensils and supplies (they sell Le Creuset) as well as locally made food such as Bontà gelato. The service is friendly and on Friday be sure to stop by the deli for the once weekly made coconut shrimp and prime rib.

11. Have dinner at a special place

If you do want to dine out for a lovely, palette pleasuring experience, make reservations especially at Ariana’s (use OpenTable – they only allow one month in advance, but you will need it, and request to not be placed by the backdoor) and it is recommended highly at both The French Market and Tim Garling’s Jackalope Grill.

A few weeks ago I wrote a review of the newly opened French Market which sources its menu from local, seasonal produce, as does both Jackalope and Ariana’s. The Jackalope Grill is sometimes overlooked because of the name, but you will not want to miss dining here. The French-trained chef Garling offers new American fare that is served in a traditional dining setting. With both indoor and courtyard seating (see here), I often felt I was dining in New York City with the cement walls and globe style lighting.

Ariana’s Restaurant has been recognized by the James Beard association and with good reason. The white tablecloth service, the unique and unexpected offerings all the while catering to the new approaches to classic European dishes, be sure to have a look at my review here. Only open Tuesday through Saturday beginning at 5pm, make a reservation now and it will be worth the wait.

~The French Market, located in the Old Bend district~

~Ariana’s Restaurant, located on NW Galveston~

~Jackalope Grill, located in downtown Bend~

12. Watch an Independent film at the Tin Pan Theater

To conclude the evening, instead of heading to the Old Mill Movie Theaters, stop into a small boutique theater in downtown Bend, the Tin Pan Theater. As you can see from the images below, there are only five rows with either five or six seats each. The door opens 30 minutes before show time, and you cannot reserve your tickets in advance, so be sure to show up early. The films are often independent or foreign that don’t typically show in the large theaters.

The prices for tickets, food and drinks (wine and beer as well as free water) are far lower than what we have become accustomed to, and the atmosphere is quite memorable and comfortable.

Having viewed two different films at the Tin Pan Theater (Paris Can Wait and Lost in Paris), one filled up and one met half of the capacity, I cannot wait to go again.

And now to drift to dream, savoring the goodness of the simple way of living, even if for a day in the city of Bend, Oregon. So often we feel we need to make grand plans to ensure a most memorable time in a destination away from home, but often it is by experiencing the common events (dining, bookshop visiting, sipping a cup of coffee) in a new setting with new people and different energy that can create a powerful experience to remind us of the beauty of the everyday gifts around us. Perhaps your town is just has lovely if seen through a tourist’s eyes.

While I have the good fortunate to have each of these experiences available to me year-round, it is my hope I never take them for granted because having such luxuries was not such the case before I arrived, and I feel very much like an adult in a candyland of riches.

If you have any questions about an upcoming trip to Bend, be sure to check out my City Guide which I am regularly updating, as well as view all of the posts specifically highlighting my favorite destinations in Bend (many of which were included in this post, but not all). You are also welcome to email me ([email protected]), and I will do my best to answer and offer suggestions you might enjoy.

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