#And love that Beaks is the damsel in distress

[juniaships]

Okay that post about Dragon turning into a unicorn because of Donkey taking the transforming spell got me thinking about what would happen if gwynn and rhodanthe did the same

If Rhondanthe takes the spell Artie turns into a swan. Because no matter what form she was in, Artie still loved her, so the same rule applies here. Only thing is you can't wield a sword with a beak! The spell breaks when Rhodanthe learns to embrace her differences and Artie doesn't need to go through EXACTLY what she went through in order to relate.

If Artie takes the spell, Rho is unaffected. This is because Artie doesn't really have an idealized version of her, he likes her regardless. But if this was before his arc, Rho would've changed into a clone of Guinevere (his og crush) or look vastly more beautiful and regal than she is in reality. Showing how he wanted to be a perfect ruler. The spell breaks once he gets over his fears and realizes he is always going to make mistakes. As long as he learns from them.

If gwynn takes it charming becomes goth. He'd still have his personality but now he's wearing dingy greys and brown, far too much makeup for his liking and *shudders* mismatched SOCKS! 😫😫😫 He wouldn't like his perfect gold hair suddenly a dull, messy brunet either. The spell breaks when Gwynn accepts Charming as he is; he doesn't need to fit her "style" when she can love him for being unashamedly himself.

On the other side if Charming takes the spell Gwynn becomes his ideal "Damsel in Distress." Her scars heal and her dresses fine pastel-colored silk. Even her personality changes. She smiles and swoons and sings, follows him around like a puppy and waits for his cue to do anything.

However like all things magic comes with a price and Gwynn ends up developing an obsession. Refusing to let anyone else get close to Charming. He ends up missing the very thing that drew him to her in the first place. Now she's a Yes Woman. A frightening, dangerously controlling Yes Woman. Eventually Charming breaks it by reaffirming Gwynn's personal agency and allowing her to make choices.

[ducknotinarow]

( harassing meme for Donnie ) Did you hear? Someone called your girlfriend a damsel in distress. Do you think she's useless? I mean, someone that just offers medical attention? ( I hurt myself you're welcome x3 )

| harrass my muse

"And why is offering medial attention seen as a useless thing? Even Leo cam mange that and thata saying something. So someone far better at it? Yeah I think you are clearly out of your depth on that thought buddy." He began with, "she'd be useless if she didn't know any kind of medical aid. Considering her brother and adoptive father get hurt from training alone. There also the fact she spends time with us and sometimes are only medic gets it the worst." He goes on to list off his points by lifting a fringer.

"Personally I like having her over Leo anyway." A slightly smirk over his beak when he says it before it fades and his face falls, arms crossing over his plastron.

"Now now lets us get to the bottom of the rest here. She isn’t a damsel either there is nothing wrong with her having people who want to protect her.” Donnie goes on to express quirking his beak a little “I know I’d hate if anything happened to her Raph’s always going on about protecting and being heroes. I don’t always get it but now that I have her I.” He trails off a little quiet and trapped in his mind as he thinks that over. Quick to sigh out in frustration “She isn’t useless she’s caring and considerate and she does far more than simply heal up some cuts and such she also…well you know maybe has had a bit of nice healing touch on other aspects of people who may need that kind of love.” A hint of a blush on his face should answer who he was talking about himself.

“Groan, look okay. Josielynn is not weak or helpless she has a special skill and makes use of it, when I’m with her I feel better. I feel like someone and the stuff that drags me down does so less when she smiles at me like I am the greatest thing she has ever seen. She trusts in me and…she cares and I can fold and let my emotions out around her. I can tell her things I wouldn’t others. She’s claming and caring.” His voice gets soft as he smiles just a little thinking about her now. “She can have a bit of tough side herself too.” Looking up again letting his face set as his brow knotted up in annoyance. “My family always makes it clear caring about each other is important and we’ve been able to face it. Lot for that alone. So no I don’t think someone who cares so much for others and can help them when they get hurt is considered useless or even that being able to be a low-level skill. Unless you’re Nardo.” Yeah, he threw his twin under the bus again for no reason other than to cut the emotion cracking in his tone as he went on to speak. “If she wasn’t someone worth fighting for she wouldn’t have all these people willing to fight for her in the first place. I know her brother can fight but I would put everything on the line for her too, and I know he trusts me with that. When someone is special to you, when they mean a lot it makes you want to do all you can for them. She does for a lot of people." Frace scrunches up now as he finds himself miffed over this "So try saying that again and you'll be getting a lab full of tech arsenal aimed at your blatant lying mouth!"

[worldismyne]

To Heal Laryngitis

Date of Origin: 02/28/2010

Author: Nekobecki; I do not take credit for this fic

Rated: G

Summary: Harv has to run errands for an under the weather witch.

Tragedy is a witch with laryngitis. This especially holds true if the aforementioned witch is particularly lovely and elegant, and her voice could charm birds and an array of wild animals (very helpful when one might need the beak of a sparrow for a brew).         Leenan's first impulse upon discovering the loss of her voice was to scream.       Except, logically, nothing had come out. She had issued a stream of silent curses before stamping her feet against the floor and flinging a glass flask or two against the wall. This was a disaster! A horrendous, awful twist of fate! How was she ever going to maintain her reputation in such a state? Oh, she would be ruined if she couldn't do something as simple as interrogate the mirror as to whether she still reigned as the most beautiful.       She made what would have been a soft, desolate moan, but all that emerged with a rush of air.         And who was that tentatively knocking at the door!?       Enraged, she had stormed to the door and flung it open; eager to lay waste to whomever might disturb her during this overwhelming crisis.       "Um…hi." Harv knew he should not have come. As he stared up wide-eyed at Finn's mother, he really, really, really knew he should have known better. Of course, since he was a warrior (in training) he stood his ground. A real warrior did not turn and flee just because his friend's mother looked as if…she might like to rip his throat out. He swallowed. Even if she was sorceress and might turn him into a…a…goat or something.       And then Leenan narrowed her eyes in a thoughtful manner, and Harv just about shrieked (but he didn't, because he was a warrior and a man, and oh god).       A dainty hand reached out, grabbed hold of his shoulder, and propelled him into the house. Slender fingers gripped him firmly, and much too long nails somehow dug through the cloth of his shirt, scraping his skin, as he numbly allowed himself to be escorted deeper into the den of evil…erm, Finn's home.       A tiny voice in the back of Harv's voice murmured that he was never going to see the light of day again, and he hastily told it to please be quiet, Finn's mother probably had baked some delicious cookies and only wanted to feed him.       Leenan paused just as she was about to force the boy into an antique chair with red cushioning. She eyed his grimy attire, glanced once more at the valuable chair, and helpfully moved it out of the way with her foot so Harv could set on the unadorned floor. Once that was settled, she dragged over her crystal ball and set about explaining her dire situation with pretty, simple pictures.       It took a long while.       And Leenan might have flung the crystal ball at Harv's head once out of sheer frustration.       But he eventually got it.       Now, Harv knew it was his duty as a warrior to aid damsels in distress. That was obvious and right and true. But…he wasn't sure how this worked out when the damsel was a feared witch queen. Wasn't he maybe supposed to slay people like that? Or at least, not help them? Except…this was Finn's mother, so it should be permissible.       Leenan was staring at him with rose colored eyes full of crocodile tears and clasping her hands.       "..I'll do it."       Triumphant and well-aware that no man, even a boy who'd barely started puberty, could resist her, Leenan flashed him a smile. Harv might have preferred Finn's mother when she was scowling.       She cheerfully handed him a basket packed with the needed materials, escorted him to the front door, and shoved him out just as he tried to mention how he had really come to see Finn, and maybe he could say hello to him before starting. To help fix the boy's resolve in promptly accomplishing his quest, she loudly locked the door.       It was at that very moment Finn strolled into the room, stretching his arms behind his head with a yawn. He gave his mother a curious look as she whipped around to face him with a maternal smile full of innocence.      "I was practicing my harp," by which he meant, he had gone through a

song or two before pleasantly drifting off in a spot of sunlight by window in his bedroom and slept through the entirety of his mother raging. "Has Harv come by yet?"       Leenan shrugged her shoulders in an exaggerated manner and shook her head side to side. It would not do at all if her beloved son tagged along with his friend on the dangerous quest that was of great importance.

=

"Oh well..." Finn emitted a sigh, caught himself feeling just a slight bit upset about the absence of his friend, and hurried back to his room to try on outfits. Obviously, he needed no one to entertain himself aside from himself (and pretty new clothes that he hadn't yet modeled).

=

A fairly relieved Leenan went to the kitchen to grab herself a bowl of pre-prepared popcorn, which she warmed up with a charm. Then she got nice and cozy on the couch in order to watch Harv retrieve the items she had demanded from him.

=

The peach was easy. Well, except for the part where Harv had scraped his knee on the bark, and then when the farmer had caught him and wouldn't listen to his explanations about helpless ladies and lost voices, and had set his dog on him.       It was a very lucky thing Harv was a fast runner.       The toenail clippings of headmaster was…was…Harv was certainly never going to be entirely right in the head again. And he was going to have nightmares.       Like a wise, patient warrior, he had hidden himself beneath the headmaster's desk and waited in the cramped darkness. When the headmaster had arrived to grab some papers for a board meeting (Harv hadn't even known that Warrior U had had a board, of course, it was actually composed of skeletons from the previous board that always, always passed that headmaster's decisions unanimously) Harv had almost sneezed as a cobweb was detached from the bottom of the desk and drifted towards his nose. Somehow he'd muffled himself, and then, as he subtly poked his head out to see if might find a foot and therefore some toenails, he'd looked up and saw…       Well, the last thing he saw was the sweep of brown cloak that the headmaster always wore and then nothing.       Harv awoken hours later to a throbbing head and the inability to recall what exactly he had seen. He had an inkling that that might have been for the best. And as he was crawling dejectedly from beneath the desk, he caught sight of a few small black crescents that looked pretty close to toenails, and he rather hoped that they were.       The drool of a baby had been relatively easy too. Except for when Rhodri had called him names for being such a weirdo and had taken the peach, which he never saw again.  (But Emet quite enjoyed her half of it and had challenged Rhodri to a swordfight with stick afterwards to brush up on her skills.)       Harv had had to visit the orchard once again to get a new peach. He wouldn't have been so lucky this time with the dog, if it hadn't gotten a waft of unicorn and run fleeing with its tail between its legs.

=

Least to say, Harv did not make it back to Finn's home until dusk. (There had been the tussle with the maniacal unicorn and getting the tears of a princess and left him in the village stocks with rotten tomatoes tangled in his hair, and just, well, it was a really bad day.)       Leenan's day, on the other hand, was full of fine entertainment. Except for the part where she also had a glimpse up what lay beneath the headmaster's cloak and woke up to find herself slumped halfway off of the couch with popcorn in her hair. Her throat was well-rested by the time there came a timid knocking the door.       "Fiiiinn, someone's here for you~" She called out sweetly, filled with immeasurable pleasure what a day off from spells could do for a case laryngitis.        There was the graceful patter as Finn raced for the door, swathed in silk and perhaps a little lace.       "YOU! Where have you been?! OH, is that for me? WHY ARE THOSE BLACK THINGS CRAWLING?"       Leenan luxuriously sprawled on the couch as both boys screamed as the supposed toenails feasted on the remains of the second peach.

[criminalmutantsins]

My Top 10 Favorite Ducktales Characters

…………………………………………………….

NO. 10 Hewey Duck

At number 10 is Huey!

Hewey has been my least favorite triplet for most of the series; it by no means he’s a bad character or any of the sorts, Huey is more down to earth compared to other characters. It’s hard to say much about Hewey other than how he’s a sweet, fun character I’m glad is around.

His development in season three was good, though the weakest of the three. Kinda half-baked and rushed, as if the creators thought, “we have to add some Huey development since this is his season.” With Dewey and Louie’s, it felt like their respective seasons revolved around them instead of the other way around. The only episode I really think perfectly gave Huey development and at the same time move the main plot forward fluidly was the “Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!” with the whole Huey vs. Violet rivalry. Y’know what also sucks. Huey wasn’t even that integral to the finale. That annoys me to no end.

Now, I’m going to end this with positive notes.

What got Huey into the list was his sweet nature and how integral he is to the team’s balance. Every team needs someone who represents order and Huey is just that. Plus, his innocent love for romance is so cute. I love the episode where him and Webby were setting a date up for Fenton and Gandra.

NO. 9 Scrooge McDuck

Scrooge is probably the most interesting protagonist I’ve ever watched. Unlike most of them, he’s more of an anti-hero than a pure hero like Steven Universe or Luz from Owl House.

I don’t really have much to say about him because I don’t love him as much as the characters above him. He probably has the best development- Lena’s rivaling his really well. In the beginning, Scrooge was a grumpy miser but now, thanks to the kids, his heart is softer and more open. His cheapness is annoying, but the good qualities overthrow the bad.

Scrooge most likely would’ve been higher in the list if “The Life & Crimes of Scrooge McDuck” didn’t happen- or at least occurred in season two instead since humility and hard work was the main theme. The writers went overboard showing the audience how bad of a person Scrooge was in the past, especially with him taking advantage of the poor villagers and leaving them in their states-without even helping them. This episode downgraded Scrooge pretty badly.

NO. 8 Donald Duck

Although on the lower half of the list, I still hold so much love and respect for this version of Donald. He’s such a massive improvement from his previous iteration. The creators made him kind and strong-willed but kept his anger issues. Though, they turned that flaw into a more comedic and positive aspect of Donald since he uses that intense anger to protect his family. Speaking of that, his relationship with the triplets is absolutely adorable. He loves and protects them like a great father, and I’m still a bit peeved that characters didn’t acknowledge that more. Instead, their relationship was sidelined and pretty much haphazardly... replaced-I don’t know if that’s the right word- with May and June.

Another thing that annoyed me was Donald’s voice treatment. The creators pretty much portrayed his speaking problem as a joke, which is terrible. I hope to goodness that children with speaking troubles don’t take those “jokes” to heart because there is nothing wrong with having a different voice. It’s also surprising how much characters mostly don’t understand him when I can seventy percent of the time. This complaint is more towards season one since that was the season where most of the jokes happened.

Anyways, I hope this Donald will start a new beginning for the next iterations of him. A nice guy who has anger issues but means well. Same with him and Daisy’s relationship-another massive improvement the writers did. They are such a great couple from the episodes we got with them and this dynamic should continue.

NO. 7 Webby Vanderquack

Another character who was massively improved was the great Webby Vanderquack!

In the original series, she was a boring damsel-in-distress with no personality-pretty much like the earliest Disney princesses. The ‘17 creators did such a great job molding reboot Webby into a character who can kill you with kindness or impressive fighting skills. This pink-loving queen is probably the sweetest character I’ve ever met; I just want to hug her.

I love her optimism and caring personality. She was able to change Lena for the better and not give up on her when almost everyone did. Webby is the best friend you can have.

While I’m not fully on board with the Webby finale twist, I really liked how her interest in the McDucks played some big part of the finale. Do I wish it was in different circumstances? Yes, but I’m still glad Webby got an important moment for herself. That interrogation scene was very emotional; seeing Beakley fully breakdown like she did was shocking and really set the mood of how pivotal that moment. I literally almost cried seeing Webby so heartbroken by her grandmother’s lies- this pink baby deserves all the love in the world. At least she found out the truth and gained a parental figure in her life.

NO. 6 Louie Duck

I’ve gotta admit; I did not like Louie that much at the start of the show. Greedy and selfish characters usually don’t get my love, but season two changed. A lot more depth was added to him such as his insecurities and anxieties. I struggle with these issues and it was nice to see a character show that as well. One of my favorite arcs was Louie’s trouble connecting with Della; it was realistic and not rushed. While watching this season, I was often having trouble connecting with people, even old friends. Sort of having someone experiencing them alongside me made me feel less insecure and lonely.

His development was really good too, from beginning to end. At first, Louie was someone who was willing to execute every angle no matter how much it could hurt his loved ones. Yet, he grew to be a humbler person who now knows the consequences of his angles. A favorite episode of mine is “The Richest Duck in the World” because of this development. Seeing Louie clean the Bombei’s shoes with Scrooge made my heart melt.

What lowered him down to number eight was season three. There were a few episodes that backtracked Louie’s development like “The Trickening” and “The Fight for Castle McDuck” episodes. He was a real jerk towards Huey for no reason. It frustrated me enough to affect this list. And I also prefer other characters more.

NO. 5 Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera

You can’t expect me to not put this quirky and adorable dork in the top five! He’s one of the best boys in the show. Him being voiced by the great Lin-Manuel Miranda does add some bonus points- you can tell I’m a big Hamilton fan.

Like Webby, Fenton was drastically improved. He became this sweet, scatterbrained scientist who only wants to help people. I instantly fell in love with him. And it got even better when Fenton became Gizmoduck- my second favorite DT hero. He deserved so much more screen time, especially in season 3; “Beaks in the Shell” was not a good enough episode for Fenton and his relationship with Gandra. There should’ve been more. The finale moments he had was not satisfying enough, particularly him and DW sort of team up. It was rushed.

If a Darkwing Duck reboot takes place in the ’17 universe then Fenton must be a major character- at least show up in ten episodes a season. A Gizmoduck and Darkwing crossover is essential, and I will riot if it that doesn’t happen. And more Fandra, my fifth -maybe fourth- favorite ship.

I also had a big crush on Fenton back in season one. You can’t help but love him this sweety pie. This pretty much influenced thirty percent of his placement.

NO. 4 Launchpad McQuack

This muscular dummy is amazing! He brings a sense of comedy and light to every episode he is in. It’s infectious as h*ll!

I liked Launchpad instantly. He’s kind and wants the best for people. Optimistic characters are almost the best characters. They are great reminders of how there are still many good people in the world. Whenever I’m down and watch Ducktales, LP makes me feel a lot better with his dumb yet endearing moments. My favorite jokes are literally LP sending Beakley an invitation saying not to come and when he tried to make small talk with Gosalyn at the window; I can never stop laughing at those moments.

There are times when Launchpad’s dumbness irks me, but his good qualities overthrow that. Though, I wish he wasn’t used too much as comedy relief; LP had the potential to gain more development than what he got. I’ll give an example. Learning about his family would’ve been great to know- an appearance wouldn’t have hurt either. It could’ve opened a reason to why LP cares about Scrooge’s opinion and cares about him like a dad. Maybe there’s some bitterness in LP’s relationship with his dad and that’s why he doesn’t talk about his parents. Loopey not being introduced was a missed opportunity. Big brother Launchpad is all I need.

I also have a small crush on Launchpad, though mostly for his personality and voice. He’s still cute *wink.*

NO. 3 Drake Mallard

We made it to the top three! With the dashing caped crusader Darkwing Duck starting us off!

It’s funny how much I love a character who’s only appeared in like five-maybe six- episodes enough to put him in the top three. I had some trouble defining many reasons why I love him; it’s this weird connection I have with DW. He’s this dorky dummy who loved a big part of his childhood enough to make it his reality, yet I love him so much.

I think what made me fall in love with him was how similar we are. Like him, I was a meek person who got pushed a few times- either physically or mentally. Those times also inspired me to grow stronger and be an inspiration for the next generation. I can be pretty clumsy too(lol). Characters I see myself in are usually really high in my love list and it shouldn’t be surprising that Drake is one of them.

His kind and genuine nature was also what drew me in. And, I just made this realization, this is the first time I don’t prefer the original iteration over the latest one. I still love ‘91 Drake but he’s too arrogant.

Unlike the original DW, Drake became a hero to help others- though a wish for glory played a bit of a part too. This clumsy, stuttering actor took a step to become his hero and a future one for children like him. That’s admirable. His lovable personality also being so cute enough for me to want to give a big hug is a good addition.

NO. 2 Lena Sabrewing

Hands down Lena had the best development!

She started off as this distant loner who followed the gray area of morality. Now, Lena is a part of this loving family and her own person. A few of her episodes are my favorites, such as “Friendship Hates Magic!” and “A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill.” They are well-written episodes and hit me in the feels.

Like Louie and Drake, I see myself in Lena. There are times I’ve been afraid I’ll take on my family’s bad habits or turn like them. That’s why I love “A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill!” Watching Lena try to be good enough and feeling insecure reminded me of the dark times I usually think about. There are even times I have dreams of these issues. The creators must have been inspired by me (lol). Though, I am kind of jealous of Lena because of how great her friends are. I want friends like Webby and Violet.

Even so, I do have some issues with Lena. Her magic arc was not written as well as her previous arcs. This might be more of a personal opinion than anything, but I’m still going to say it. Lena learned to control her magic too quickly, and it was treated as more like a plot device. And a shaking one at that. For example, in “The Split Sword of Swanstantine” Lena was able to stop time and send her and Huey into his mindscape. But, somehow, she couldn’t conjure a burst of energy to attack Steelbeak; granted, Huey mentioned that, yet Lena’s reasoning was dumb. Attacking someone with magic is way easier than doing what she did. I’m a little lenient on this since that idea lead to more Huey development, though I’m still going to critique it.

A great thing about Lena learning was her temporary outfit change. She looks absolutely amazing in light colors, which I didn’t expect, and her hair design is what I saw she would look good in. The eye shape is kind of weird.

Lena’s magic mode is in my list of cosplays.

NO. 1 Dewey Duck

Finally, number one is Dewey Duck!

Dewey has stolen my heart since the beginning. His positivity and fun nature always make me smile, even during the toughest times.

In my opinion, Dewey has the best arc/development of the triplets. His arc trying to find out what happened to his mother was what kept me watching Ducktales and helped me see why this show is so special. Many of my favorite moments are in season one, specifically ones involving Dewey. For instance, the scene in “The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!” where Dewey was willing to risk his life to get the last piece of paper and possibly solve what happened to Della was emotional. Hearing the desperation in his voice while pleading with Scrooge to tell him what happened hit me hard. I can’t imagine how much pain HDL have gone through not knowing what happened and thinking they aren’t allowed to ask. It would be terrible to experience.

Another moment I loved was in “The Spear of Selene.” It was when Dewey was hesitant to know what happened as the possibility that Della was a bad person grew more prominent. He looked so defeated admitting that realization and it reminded me of myself. There were moments when I realized that my parents were not as good as I thought. It hurt me a lot. At least sweet Dewey didn’t have to go through that. The scene when Dewey started tearing up seeing his mom in the sphere was also heartwarming. I wanted to give him the biggest hug.

Dewey’s insecurities of not being good enough and to be loved is what I struggle with too. Its kind of different because I have trouble believing anyone loves me while he wants everybody to like him. Confidence is not my forte.

……………………………………………………………

[tree-wizard]

I tried writing a fan fic for the first time! I didn’t really know what I was doing but here it is. It’s inspired by @an-aspiring-jester ‘s post about Scroldie tending to wounds in the Klondike(I tried to make the wound description not too graphic). Also have no idea if Scrooge and Goldie are in character, I might have made them too mushy cause I MUST HAVE FLUFF.

Thanks to @promiseddifferent for encouraging me.

And oh the title is a line from the song “Ghost Love Score” by Nightwish.

Redeem Me Into Childhood

Goldie briskly walked into the cabin and carelessly tossed her pickaxe and shovel aside.

“Be careful! If ye break my supplies, you’ll have tae pay me!”

She turned her head over her shoulder to look at the miserly grungy miner, walking into the cabin behind her and rolled her eyes. He growled and went to carefully lay down his tools, and check on the ones Goldie had thrown.

Goldie slumped down on the bed and started picking the semi dried scab on her hand. An hour ago when they had been mining, Scrooge had yelled at her for being too slow and lazy and in her frustration and determination to show him that she was just as capable as him she accidentally gashed her left hand. That certainly didn’t make her seem any more capable, so she had assured Scrooge that she was fine and when he turned away from her and focused on his own mining, she wrapped her hand in the under skirt from her dress and tried to continue working.

It was pretty bad but she didn’t want to further show him how out of her element she was. She could have used the injury and feigned being super hurt so that she could get out of doing the terrible work and maybe even had time to look for the lockbox. But she knew Scrooge would never let her in the cabin alone. In fact, once he noticed that she was using her pickaxe with one hand and that really wasn’t doing anything he grudgingly, and with a lot of muttered curses, sent her to the cabin and decided to end early for the day himself so that he could go and make sure she didn’t steal anything. Showing weakness wouldn’t do her any good while she was stuck out here with him.

She felt her cheeks slightly burn from the embarrassment and frustration with herself that was starting to swirl in her empty stomach. Ughhh, she had been so foolish. She couldn’t let his angry words affect her this much. She always had to be under control, not a klutzy damsel in distress. But why did she care what he thought of her anyways? She was the Ice Queen of the North. That’s why. She had a reputation to keep. She couldn’t let him see her as less of a formidable threat. But strangely that explanation seemed hollow and almost like an excuse and the implications of that made her feel nauseous.

Suddenly she felt a sharp spark of pain that pulled her out of her thoughts and made her hiss under her breath. Absorbed in her reflections on the events of the day, she had lost attention of her hands and now noticed that she had scraped open a part of the gash that had already been starting to heal. Her hiss spread through the cramped air of the small cabin and startled Scrooge. He was crouched by the stove, putting in wood to build up a fire, and now he looked up and across the room at Goldie.

“There’s some gauze on the table. Ye should go wrap up yer hand.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you cared about me?” Goldie scoffed.

Scrooge lowered his head and Goldie couldn’t see the pink rising on the surface of his cheeks. It's just the fire, he told himself.

“I don’t care about you. Just your ability to dig up gold.”

“Ha! I almost forgot that you’re an inconsiderate and selfish jerk.”

“As if you aren’t,” Scrooge retorted and she gasped, pretending to be offended. She continued to sit pouting on the bed. She was so frustrating. If she didn’t want to deal with her hand, so be it.

She wanted to snap back at him in some way to restore her pride and not let him win but her hand was aching and the part she had just scraped open was starting to bleed. As much as she hated following his advice, she got up and walked over to the table. She took the roll of gauze and tried to rip a portion, but she felt a sharp prickling sensation shoot through her hand and she tried to stifle a shriek.

Scrooge had stood up and walked over to the table by this time and she felt his eyes fixed on her. “Hmm, ye seem to be managing this well” he taunted her and she furrowed her eyebrows in exasperation. She lifted up the gauze to her beak and sunk her teeth into it, hoping to tear a part off. It was way pretty tough though and she struggled to even make a slight rip.

She didn’t seem so vile when she was focusing her neverending fury on something other than him. It reminded him of his younger sister Hortense and that filled him with a sense of warm comfort and tenderness that diffused his annoyance and bitterness. Scrooge chuckled and extended a hand.

“Let me help,” he said, much softer than Goldie expected. He seemed genuine and benign which caught her off guard and made her wonder if she should be cautious. She grunted and reluctantly dropped the roll of gauze into his open palm. He closed his fingers over it and then gestured at one of the chairs by the table. Goldie sat down and watched Scrooge grab a bucket of water, a cloth and a second chair from the other side of the table and bring them over to her.

“Give me your hand,” he said as he sat down beside her. She obeyed and felt his rough fingers grip her hand. He dipped the cloth into the bucket, squeezed out the excess water and started to wipe the blood and dirt off the small matted feathers of her palm. She flinched and jerked her hand when she felt the damp wetness trickle over the ravenous edge of her exposed gash. Scrooge tightened his grip on her hand and continued going over her wound. As much as she annoyed and infuriated him, he didn’t particularly want to inflict her any pain. But this was for her own good.

He finished cleaning her wound and started to wrap the gauze around her hand. He was slow and thorough and the repetition made her feel a bit more relaxed. It was almost hypnotic. Normally it irked her to have her personal autonomy restrained but his strong grip on her hand was actually oddly comforting. She settled into the calmness of the moment and let herself lower her defenses as she raised up her eyes to watch him.

She prided herself for her self sufficiency, her ability to take care of herself after her family kicked her out many many years ago, to survive in this lawless wilderness and build a business and a name for herself. But here was this rough mean miner, holding her hand in his and actually caring for her wellbeing like no one had done ever since she was a very young child and her mother sang to her a special lullaby when she was sick. She had so many painful memories from her childhood that she tried to hide behind tall icy walls and never think about, so even the few happy ones were veiled by a forgetful haze. She was surprised she was even remembering this now. She had no idea when she had last thought about her mother’s song. She couldn’t remember the words anymore but a faint melody floated to the forefront of her mind from her subconscious. Her cold exterior was melting and an innocent peacefulness slowly spread through her.

The cold Yukon winds pushing against the walls of the cabin, all his past failures that always hung over him, his dwindling hope in finding his fortune all faded away as he focused on bandaging Goldie’s hand and her soft humming that curiously almost sounded like a lullaby.

He’d spent all these years mainly on his own and while that generally didn’t bother him, there were increasingly many nights this past year in the Klondike when he’d lay in bed in his small cabin and feel almost crushed by the emptiness, the vastness of the valley around him, the distance and time away from his family. But now he didn’t feel as lonely. She was here with him.

He stopped to take a quick glance at her. Her eyelids had closed over her emerald eyes and she was resting her head sideways on the back of the chair. The light from fire had reached out and hugged around her golden locks of hair, surrounding them in a warm glow that made them even more beautiful than they already were.

Goldie felt Scrooge’s fingers slip from her hand, taking their warmth with them. She opened her eyes and saw that he had finished wrapping her hand up and had neatly tied the ends of the bandages. She reached out with her hands to his, yearning for their comfort again. Scrooge looked up at her as she wrapped her hands around his. He knew she’d never thank him but the soft gratitude in her eyes was enough for him. Scrooge slightly smiled at her and she couldn’t help smiling back. They sat a while longer, holding each other’s hands, in a small warm cabin, safe from the boundless shimmering white snow and deep northern darkness of the desolate Klondike. Two silent souls not alone for once.

[walkingshcdow-a]

Did Stella need to wait for her husband to rescue her? Of course not. He was not the only battle-ready member of the Goetia family - far from it, in fact.

Did she want to wait?

Absolutely.

Stella smiles as their mutual enemies are attacked by an Eldritch being, one that’s horrifying to them, but not to her. She could never be horrified of such an enticing demon, the one she’d reconnected with. Truly, she looked forward to the eternity they would share.

As the screaming stops, Stella glides forward gracefully, kissing the glowing, shadowy behemoth tenderly on the beak.

“Did I ever tell you how much I love this form of yours? If not, I am now. You can hardly blame me for playing the damsel in distress, right, Stolas?”

If there is any demon in Hell Stolas could never accuse of being a damsel in distress, it is his wife. She is a fearsome warrior, powerful in her own right, and far too many are fooled by her beauty and charm to think she might get her claws dirty. But the woman has claws, talons, and Stolas has seen her rip humans and angels apart with them.

And yet here she is, cornered by mortals who would cut a demon down without a thought for what happens when a demon dies. Nothing of Hell, Heaven, or Earth would ever move Stolas to let his wife slip into oblivion. She is his missing piece, his equal partner, the mother of his child, and the woman he has promised himself to for eternity. Lucifer would have to fall before he let some measly, human, demon hunters harm a feather on her face.

So he is a fearsome thing to behold now himself, all black and red, shadowy and molten, moving swiftly through the room, snapping necks and flickering lights and sinking his monstrous talons into chests. He rips one man's heart from his chest and holds it before his colleagues.

"Who dares to be next?" he asks. "Who dares lay a finger upon my wife?"

He likes to leave survivors who scream and run and who will never be believed. They are seen, as he is fond of saying, as kooks. Morons. Madmen. They scurry like roaches, the two scraps of humans left behind. Alone with Stella, Stolas lets himself breathe raggedly. He lost his taste for battle when Adam and Eve were banished from Paradise, but he's more than a little proud he's littered the ground with human corpses in his wife's honor.

His wife.

Unafraid, she approaches him and he realizes his breathing is shallow for another reason. Look at that smirk on Stella's face. She could have wiped the floor with these humans, but she wanted him. She trusted him to come through and she has enjoyed the show. Something in his core tightens with hot want. He lets out an eldritch moan when Stella kisses his beak. He slips into a role for her, one he's come to enjoy more and more these days and he smiles, still in his shadowy form. In his arms, Stella is small and he scoops her up, cradling her close to his heart. It beats fast, not only from the fight, but from her nearness, her little game.

"Whatever would I blame you for, darling?" he asks. "It is quite a handsome form. Perhaps I should-" he strokes her face with one large hand and tilts her chin up as if for a kiss "- let you enjoy it for the rest of the evening."

He kisses her then, slow and hot and without trepidation. Every now and then, he gets it right and remembers how to be the man she fell in love with. Thank Satan. It's about fucking time.

[mommymooze]

Nothing is What it Seems

Sylvain x reader

People watching is your favorite hobby. You look over the patrons of the Wilted Rose to see who is cheating at cards, who is picking the other’s pockets and guessing as to what the rest are looking for in such a fine establishment.

Sylvain Gautier has spoken to two different women, apparently striking out every time. He is a subtle as a caveman, you woman, me man, me drag you back to cave for zugzug! It’s everything you can do to keep from laughing out loud. You decide to say hello. He’s been okay to you, well, the you he knows. Maybe you’ll help a guy out.

Approaching him from behind he is completely unaware of your presence. You slap your hand firmly on his shoulder as you whisper in his ear. “Hey.”

Sylvain jumps about five inches off the chair. He successfully suppresses the urge to scream like a little girl as he notices your smile when you sit next to him at the table, putting your mug down and laughing.

Coughing in his hand, trying to gather his composure together he gives a little smile. “I was not expecting that. I certainly wasn’t expecting you! What are you doing down here? A sweet girl like you should never be found in a place like this!”

You slip back into your innocent little girl persona. “I was lost. It’s so nice to see a familiar face.” You give a little tremble, like you are so scared of this spooky place.

A light bulb goes off over Sylvain’s head. An opportunity to be the great savior for this damsel in distress. “This is not the place for a sweet and beautiful flower such as yourself. I would be happy to escort you back to the surface and safety.”

You want to curl your fists under your chin and sigh “my hero!” with stars in your eyes, but that is a little bit too much. You decide to continue with the scaredy cat moves. “T-that would be g-great. It’s dark and c-creepy here.” You mutter, putting your hand over your mouth because if you say one more word you are going to burst out laughing.

“Come, my lady.” Sylvain announces as he holds out his hand. He stands to head out turning his face to the door. You have enough time to quaff your drink before he pulls you towards the exit. You pull the cowl down on your jacket, hiding your face.

Just as you are ready to make the last turn toward the exit, Sylvain stops quickly, making you bump into him.

“What do we have here?” A sultry voice croons.

“I am rescuing this gorgeous damsel from the frightening environment of Abyss.” Sylvain stands tall. “Who knows what evil and nefarious ne’er-do-wells would do to such a petite and beautiful flower.”

Yuri howls with laughter. He hasn’t laughed like that in a long, long time. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he looks at Sylvain. “You…*chuckle*…were saving…*gasp snicker* her?!”

“What?” Sylvain has a look of pure shock on his face. “Don’t you know who this is?”

“Oh I doooo. Don’t I?” Yuri snaps his head back to fling his hair back over his shoulder before reaching forward with a perfectly manicured finger under the chin of the small woman at Sylvain’s side.

You look up at him, your face the picture of innocence.

“Don’t try those doe eyes on me, Magpie. We all know about the sharp beak and claws you have.” Yuri grins down at you with a wink.

“Look at her-“ Sylvain waves, “She’s as innocent as a lamb.”

“More like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Yuri snidely remarks.

“We should go.” Your voice barely above a whisper.

“See ya around, Yuri.” Sylvain says as he pulls you past the leader of the Ashen Wolves.

Finally arriving outside, you shudder one last time for good measure. “Oh Sylvain. Thank you so much.” You throw your arms around his chest, burying your face in his pectoral muscles, you sigh heavily.

“Ahh. You certainly sound relieved.” He grins. “Do you need me to escort you to your room?”

Oh, this man is as subtle as a brick through a window. “I do feel tense and shaken after my experience. I’ll take you up on your kind offer…if that’s okay.” Yes, the quiver in your voice is perfect, the hesitant anxiousness bleeding through. You notice he is bending over a bit, hoping you haven’t noticed that his smaller brain is wanting to join in on the action. You let your arms unwrap from him, reaching out to grab his hand, holding it firmly like he is your lifeline to safety.

He walks you to your door. As you fiddle with the lock he softly touches your shoulder.

“You are so tense. Want to talk with me for a bit? Maybe I can help you calm down?” His voice is silky smooth, his thumb is rubbing in circles on your shoulder.

“Um. Okay.” You mumble as you finally get the door to open. You go to your desk to grab a candle and place it in the holder. Lighting it you place it on your tall dresser. The lightest of air currents causes the light to flicker quite often. You notice that he closes the door behind him as he steps in, and locks it. You take a seat at the table that is closest to your bed and offer the other chair to him.

You fold your hands together on the table, looking down at them. His much larger hands envelope yours.

“Are you feeling a little bit better now?” His eyes are molten caramel as he smiles with his lips, not his teeth, trying to evoke an air of reassuring calm. His hands are stroking yours from the base of your fingers then up to your wrists, slowly going back and forth.

“I’m feeling much better now. I am so glad you came along to save me.” You look into his eyes and smile softly before looking back down at his hands on yours.

“You still look pretty tense. If you want I can give you a shoulder rub.” Sylvain offers, his thumbs going around in circles on the back of your hands.

“Uh, okay. That was a pretty stressful thing.” You mumble as you keep your head down a bit while he stands up and sits on the bed behind you.

“Here. Let’s turn the chair around so you can lean on the back of it and I can work some magic on your shoulders.” He suggests.

“That’s a good idea.” You nod, sitting on the chair backwards.

“Can you take off your coat?” He asks?

You take it off and put it on the back of the chair in front of you. A few things bang against the chair. “Sorry, I always carry so much junk with me.”

Sylvain’s hands start off soft, like he is petting a bunny. “That candle smells really good. Cinnamon and cloves and a bit of something else.”

“Thanks. A nice lady said it was very calming. I think she’s right.” You hum.

Sylvain works on your shoulders, you reward him with a soft moan. It doesn’t take him long after that to start working his way down your upper arms, then placing small kisses on your neck, whispering little comments about how beautiful you are, how he loves the tiny smile on your face right now. His voice is deep and soft in your ear, telling you that if you turned around right now he would not be able to stop himself from kissing you.

Who were you to mess with fate? As he feels you moving, he backs up to let you turn around. Once you are facing Sylvain he takes your hands and places them on your shoulders. He then grabs your hips, pulling you a bit closer to him.

He places a hand at the edge of your jaw, his finger stroking your cheek as he stares longingly into your eyes. “May I?” he whispers.

You nod the tiniest bit and say yes, closing your eyes too tightly. His lips are warm, soft and wet. One hand has slipped behind your head, massaging and stroking the top of your neck. You slowly relax your face, your lips becoming softer. He pulls his head back the tiniest bit.

“You okay?” He asks, his nose touching yours.

“Yeah.” You answer, taking a deep breath.

Sylvain answers with a few quick pecks at each corner of your lips, then the top and bottom, and finally lines up for the kill. First his tongue gently brushes against your bottom lip, then he runs it along the line where your lips meet. All the while he is pulling you closer and closer until you are on his lap, your chest held tight against his. You whimper as his hands knead your back. He holds you to his chest as he lets you gasp for air, his mouth going for your neck, licking and kissing and sucking it, leaving a souvenir bruise for tonight’s adventure. The noises you’re making must be music to his ears.

“If your shirt…” he says between kisses and ravishing your neck, “wasn’t in the way, I’d have more skin to kiss..”

You grab his face with both hands and kiss him hard, wiggling against him just so that his pants get a bit tighter on him.

“Um.” You pause. “You go first.” You lick his lips.

“Don’t have to tell me twi—” The redhead says as he starts to lift his shirt up when suddenly you help him. Lifting his undershirt with it, pulling both over his head while you move forward on him, laying him on his back. His sleeves are hung up at his wrists, he didn’t unbutton his cuffs yet.

You look him over for a second. “Gods you’re gorgeous.” You say before laying on top of him, kissing him firmly, sucking on his lips, then tongue, pulling his bottom lip with your teeth, gently but seductively. Rubbing yourself against his naked chest you have him gasping for air.

Sitting up on his stomach you slowly begin to unbutton your blouse, pulling it from your shoulders. You then slowly begin to unlace your corset as he eagerly watches. His arms move slightly towards you, but no more. A sudden look of confusion washes over his face. You laugh as he looks more flustered.

“Why are the quiet ones always so kinky?” Sylvain says as he rolls his eyes. His voice is…strange.

“Are you complaining?” You say as you pull a dagger out of your corset. Followed by a second and third. “I just want to please you.” You tell him as your shirt falls further down your arms revealing two more daggers expertly hidden underneath your sleeves.

“It’s hard to explain.” He says as he lets out a heavy sigh. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.” You say. “I’m a good listener.”

“I’d feel better if we had a little bit more clothes on.” Sylvain mumbles, looking at the door.

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” You reach up to pull his shirt back down, pulling his undershirt back over his head. He lifts his shoulders so you can pull them both down behind his back. “Want me to button you back up?”

“This is okay for now.” He sighs. “Where should I start?”

“Wherever you want. With whatever makes you feel comfortable.” You tell him.

While he talks you re-dress yourself, minus the removed daggers which are stashed away in a dresser. You sit in the chair next to him, resting your arm on his chest. Not in a sexual way, just being there. Letting him know you are with him.

Sylvain explains his rebellion against his parents, against his life being controlled by them. Fighting to do what he wants, not being forced to marry some stranger to further the Gautier name and bear a million crestbabies so that they can wield the Lance of Ruin. He rants about how much he hates his parents for a while, then switches to how he hates the Lance for over an hour. He talks about how his brother’s life was ruined the minute he was born and all of the guilt that he has had to bear as a result. He talks about all of the girls that chase after him for his crest, his money and he hates every minute of it.

Eventually you untie him as you just sit with him on your bed and talk for hour after hour. Finally he feels like he’s run out of things to say.

“So. Last night. How did that happen?” You ask.

“I saw you in Abyss. I knew you from up here of course. You didn’t belong in a place like that.” Sylvain smiles as you bump his shoulder, both of you sitting next to each other on the bed. “At first I was being the knight in shining armor, rescuing the damsel in distress. Then Yuri got into the mix and I didn’t want to believe him. Then I guess I just slipped back into skirtchaser mode. You played your part well, but it threw me off after a while. I guess the old me wouldn’t have blinked twice about you suddenly letting me into your room, but it kind of set off a warning bell in the back of my mind. I kept asking myself why I was doing this. Sure, it’s what is expected of me based on my reputation. But honestly? I haven’t had sex in about a year and it’s been great. The pressure is off. Since the war, there is too much upheaval for my father to even think of trying to marry me off to whoever is the highest bidder. He’s left me alone. It’s kind of strange of me to say this but once we started talking, I’ve had the best time just hanging out with you.”

“I’ve had a great time too.” You smile back. “This is probably one of the best nights I’ve had in a while. I knew your birthday was coming up and when I spied you in Abyss, I thought I would surprise you with a little present. I’ve spoken to a few of your previous pursuers. What can I say? Girls talk. Anyway, you were quite the pleaser, always making sure they were well taken care of in the bedroom. I led you here with the full intention of ruining you until the only thing your balls could cough up was dust. Sometimes it’s nice to be on the receiving end. But well, a player can always recognize another player, right? So here we are.”

“Yeah.” He sighs, “Here we are. What do we do now? “

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to be friends. We do have a lot of baggage in common, I think. Maybe I’ll share some of my stories.” You perk up a bit, “Do you like board games? I haven’t had a decent game of chess in forever. I refuse to play Yuri because he cheats all the time.”

“I knew it!” Sylvain frowns, “Bastard! He swears he never does!”

“Let’s set up a game night. Not now because I’m wiped out.” You give a yawn. “You’re welcome to crash here. Nobody ever comes by to bug the recluse. I don’t mind sharing a bed with a friend just hanging out.

[ilguna]

Metanoia - Chapter Ten (f.o)

Summary: you will be crowned victor of the 75th hunger games.

Word Count; 7.5k

Warnings; swearing, murder!

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

DOUBLE UPDATE TODAY --> CHAPTER TEN 1/2

–

You would take the fucking birds over the spiders any day. If you could go back in time and be here instead, you would take it. Because while it was genuine torture for Katniss--since she has human emotion--it was nothing to you. You laughed for the first fifteen minutes, until it stopped being funny as soon as they pulled out fabricated screams of your very dead family.

You can’t deny that you weren't impressed, though. The amount of trouble they must have gone through just to get them had to have been a lot. They’re dead, which means that they obviously can’t torture them, so the screams have to be fake. So, they have to go back to the interview they had with your family when you were first in the games, take samples of their voices, and then manipulate it until it sounded about right.

They did a fantastic job making it sound real. You almost had a flashback to all those times you were a dick to your brothers and sisters. However, you can’t verify for your parents. They never screamed, no matter what situation they were in, they took it without any fear.

You tried to tell Katniss that the people she hears screaming are probably just fine, considering the gamemakers are morons and they just gave the entire thing away the second they chose your family. But she either literally couldn’t hear you over the birds, or she just chose to ignore you either way.

You can’t say that you didn’t try, though you didn’t care enough to enforce it in her mind.

After a certain point in time, you got fed up with the birds pelting you, and sitting around next to the wall waiting for the hour to be up, so you wandered. Of course, where you went, the birds followed. But it was better being able to move around and check out the sector to see if it was worth staying in after this. 

Compared to everything else, this section of the arena is definitely harmless. The birds fuck with the mind of those who have human emotion, but that’s about it. There’s no deadly fog or monkeys. There’s no spiders that eat flesh or a wave of water that’ll wipe you out if you can’t swim. It’s basically clean.

Although, it does hurt when the birds propel themselves into your body, beaks first. After a while, you kinda just get used to it, and learn when to swing the glaive to send the birds flying into the trees. It was fun, until you realized that if you wander too far, the gamemakers might actually try to wipe you out for entertainment.

“Are you okay?” Finnick asks, you swat his hand away.

“You think I give a shit?” you ask, “Those birds mean nothing. The screams are fake, the gamemakers were stupid enough to use my families.” you look up to the sky of the arena, “Which by the way, if you didn’t know--they’re all fucking dead!”

The look on Finnick’s face is almost priceless. He opens his mouth, but you shake your head at him. They’ve been dead for years, and no amount of apologies will bring them back to life. Everyone can say they’re sorry all they want, but you don’t want to hear a single thing out of their mouth concerning the situation unless they’re some sort of necromancer.

“They won’t touch Prim.” Peeta says to Katniss.

“Your fiance’s right, the whole country loves your sister. If they tortured her-–if they did anything to her, forget the districts. There would be riots in the damn Capitol.” Johanna laughs, and then yells; “Hey, how does that sound, Snow? What if we-–what if we set your backyard on fire? You know you can’t put everybody in here.”

You slow clap, snickering to yourself. Johanna and you may not get along, since you two come from very different places, but the two of you are similar than anyone may think. Which is the exact reason why you hate her so fucking much. You don’t want to be compared to her. While she’s loud-mouthed and unafraid to get in trouble, you’d never say some of the shit she does.

Like her stunt during the interview, not a move you would have made. Then again, your entire plan when you volunteered was to be ruthless and win. You didn’t want a target on your head back then, and you don’t really want one now either. However, in order for that not to happen, you’d have to completely ditch your group of allies here.

If anything screams target, it’s sticking around with Beetee, the guy who worked for the Capitol, knows things that he shouldn’t. Johanna, as you said, loud-mouthed and unfearful of sharing her opinions. And Katniss Everdeen, the trouble-stirrer. Plus, god knows what Snow would have against Finnick, Peeta and you.

“What?” she asks, “He can’t hurt me. There’s no one left that I love.”

“Join the club.” you swing the glaive in your hand before slamming it into the ground.

First of all, you’re not entirely surprised that her family has been killed off. When she had come out of her games, she was a big talk for a long while. Johanna played the damsel in distress role very well, which is nearly the same thing that Finnick had done. The only difference, Finnick was just looked over until the last second, while Johanna was purposely acting innocent. 

It doesn’t take a lot for the Capitol citizens to desire a certain tribute. They must have seen the fire, spunk and determination on Johanna. Snow obviously had tried to get her to say yes, but even after he had killed her family, she didn’t give in like the rest of you. 

You’ve known a couple of people that have been included in the Capitol’s antics, actually. Cashmere, Gloss, Enobaria, you. You know for a fact that Finnick was included, and you bet he said no at first too, so he’s missing a few fingers. There’s Johanna, maybe Blight but you don’t have a clue on that. A few of the other tributes that have been in here probably too.

Katniss and Peeta would be on that list, if it weren’t for them being together and the nation wanting them to be. There’s a great deal of people that want them to be married and have children and be the holy grail of perfect couples. While on the other hand, there’s a few that would desire Katniss, you’re not sure about Peeta. He’s kinda… brainless.

Anyway, Snow wouldn’t take a chance like breaking up the most loved couple at the moment to try and sell one--or maybe both!--into prostitution. He’s smarter than that.

Johanna walks off, you’re not entirely sure why, and you don’t care very much either.

“You weren’t affected at all?” Finnick asks when he can’t stand the silence. Or he’s curious over why Katniss had lost her mind and you stood like a soldier in a storm.

“Finnick, I stopped giving a shit a long time ago,” you say, “There’s two exact things that I care about anymore. One, my big cozy house in District Two. And two, my pride and joy, Tanith.” you grab a hold of the necklace, showing it off for a moment, “And before you ask, no she isn’t my daughter. She’s just one of two of my victors.”

Zavian can go fuck himself, is what you’re subtly implying. You wonder if he’s caught on to that.

“Sure, they tried to get a rise out of me using Tanith’s screams, but I wasn’t going to fall for it. I already saw what happened to numb nuts--” you motion to Katniss, “--and decided to just… not care. I’m not exactly an emotional person, if you haven’t caught on just yet.”

Peeta clearly didn’t like the nickname that you handed off to Katniss. To this, you give him a very specific look as you pass him. Almost a sneer, because you still are very much above him.

“Kids.” you mutter.

This is enough to set him off, “Seriously, what is wrong with you?”

“Peeta…” Finnick warns.

You crouch down near him and Katniss, “You know how animals get a little antsy when their prey is in front of them?” he looks like he pales, “We’re not friends, Peeta. In fact, I completely loathe you and I’ve been waiting for a moment to pounce on you and everyone else here.

“The second that this alliance fails, I’m going after you guys first. Not Johanna, or Beetee, or Brutus. You and your little girlfriend.”

“That just means that you’re afraid of what we’re capable of.”

You laugh in his face, before moving closer, whispering; “No, I just know things that you don’t.” you stand again, “I’m heading to the beach, don’t feel forced to follow anytime soon.”

You take a completely new path to the beach, making sure to cover your tracks the best you can. Last thing you want is Finnick chasing after you, thinking that you’re upset or whatever. That isn’t the case in the slightest, you’re mostly walking away so you don’t end up killing them.

Katniss is in the most vulnerable state she’s been in yet. A quick stab through her chest, and then a swing of the glaive up to Peeta’s throat--and you’ve knocked them both out of the game already. You bet Finnick wouldn’t necessarily try to kill you, but he’d definitely disarm you in some way.

Pull the pocket knife out of your boot, three people are dead. Beetee can’t run that fast, four people. It would just be you and Johanna, and she’d probably go running back to the rest of you, since that’s a lot of cannons. You’d take her out too, and then there would be only three people left inside of the games.

You, Brutus, and Chaff--as Peeta said. Chaff doesn’t have any important skills, he’d die in the wilderness. With your luck, all you’d have to do is camp the cornucopia, hidden inside, and when he would come to armor up some more--because he would--you’d take him out too. Just like that, you’d be the winner of the Quarter Quell.

Of course, this is all easier said than done. Trying to kill four people in one big burst would be an absolute pain in the ass. You’d have to pick a perfect time to do it. Like Katniss freaking out over whoever it was, and Peeta tending over her. 

Actually, instead of killing Finnick third, you think you would go for Beetee instead, and Finnick would come after. It just makes more sense that way. 

The beach is empty, there’s no one around the ring--and as far as you can see--in the treeline either. Brutus would be smart enough to stay in the jungle, and not make a run for the cornucopia just in case the rest of you are out here. He’s outnumbered considerably. He might be able to mow down a few people at first, but eventually he’ll get taken down.

You take a seat next to the tree that you guys were gathered around before the jabberjays had rudely interrupted. You run your hands over your arms, noticing that the scabs are basically gone already. It’s good news, it means that the ointment that you were given works at an accelerated pace--even more so than the cream for the cut on the back of your head.

Applying it again, you skip your legs. It’s only the upper half of your body that’s exposed anymore, and it’s because you passed on putting the shirt on. It was because of how hot it is in here. Plus, the thing is basically ruined anyway, the spiders had chewed holes in it to get through.

Hell, you bet that it’s still where you left it last.

You can’t wait until all of this is over.

--

“Who’s Annie?” Katniss asks, you raise your head from where it was resting against a tree, looking to where everyone is sitting.

Johanna is next to Katniss, Finnick is sitting in the water, and Beetee and Peeta are nearby. 

“Annie Cresta, the girl that Mags volunteered for. She won like four years--five years ago.” Johanna says.

You lay your head back down against the tree, but don’t bother closing your eyes again, instead you stare right ahead at Finnick. You’d call him insane for sitting in freezing water like that, but he comes from the ocean district. No water can really bother him that badly.

You wonder what brought Katniss’ question on. She might have overheard you when you asked Finnick that question. About what would happen to Annie if you and Finnick are soulmates. If he’d just willingly leave her like that, after he found your dislikable personality, charming somehow.

“Is she the one that went a little…” Katniss doesn’t want to say it.

Johanna hums, pauses, and then says; “Love is weird.”

Unfortunately, it is.

“I have a plan.” Beetee says.

“Finnick!” Johanna gets up.

“I have a plan.” Beetee repeats.

Finnick and Johanna come back over, arms resting on the tree branch. You don’t move from where you’re sitting, which is definitely out of the circle that they’re standing and sitting in. You’re exhausted, you need some real sleep and not some power naps every couple of hours.

“Where does Brutus feel safest? The jungle?” Beetee asks.

“Jungles a nightmare.” Johanna says.

“Probably here on the beach.” Peeta answers.

“Then why is he not here?” Beetee asks.

“Because we are. We claimed it.” Johanna spits.

You can’t believe that they’re really worrying over one person. As you’ve said to yourself over and over, Brutus is harmless if you’re all careful. Yes, he will come back to hunt, but he’s going to need supplies out of the cornucopia first. Once he gets that shit, he’ll be coming after you guys.

“And if we left, he would come?” Beetee asks again.

You hate his ‘twenty questions’ game. If you have a plan, just say it and not beat around the bush.

“Or stay hidden in the treeline.” Finnick says.

“Which in just over four hours will be soaked with water from the ten o’clock wave.” he smiles, “Then what happens at midnight?”

“Lightning strikes that tree.” Katniss points.

“Here’s what I propose,” Beetee starts, “We leave the beach at dusk. We head to the lightning tree, that should draw them back to the beach. Prior to midnight, we then run this wire–” he motions to it, and then goes to pointing, “–from the tree, to the water. Anyone in the water, or the damp sand, will be electrocuted.’

The two morons sitting in the sand feel it between their fingers as if they don’t know what damp sand feels like by now. You clench your teeth and close your eyes, leaning your head back.

Maybe you should just stay here and quit following them around.

“How do we know that the wire’s not going to burn up?” Johanna asks.

“Because I invented it.” he says, “I assure you, it won’t burn up.”

Johanna and Finnick share a look, and you can practically hear the conversation. Asking if it’s worth it, the other says it won’t. There’s really nothing left to lose, so you all might as well do it.

And then, Finnick looks at you, “What’re you thinking, (Y/n)?”

“Is there a look on my face?” you ask, raising your eyebrows.

Finnick cracks a smile, “I’m asking because you know these tricks best.”

Sighing, you lean forward, “Not that you actually care, you’re going to go through whatever you feel like is best. But if you want my opinion, Brutus is one man. We can take him on, it’s not like he’s impossible to kill. The fact that you’re going through will all of this though--” you motion between the sand and the coil of wire, “--is stupid.”

“But if you were with him, would you come after us?” Katniss asks.

“Without a doubt. However, he’s by himself, he’s smarter than you guys take him for, he’s gonna wait till we split up or something. Also, since he’s the last hope of a career--since I am very clearly tainted by your ideals--he’s pampered. The motherfucker will have everything that he could wish for.”

Johanna laughs, “Well, Beetee’s plan is better than hunting him down.”

You roll your eyes, laying back against the tree again. You don’t know why you bother.

What’s even more annoying, is that you’re considering helping Brutus come after these pretentious dicks. And now that you know their plan, it makes it even better. You and Brutus would be able to avoid the beach for a while, and if it does get electrocuted, the sand will likely be partially glass anyway.

And since you know the jungle better than Brutus does at this point, he’ll owe you more than he’ll like it.

“Yeah, why not? If it fails, no harm done anyway.” Katniss says.

Peeta nods, “Alright, I say we try it.”

“So what can we do to help?” Finnick asks.

Beetee pauses for a moment before answering, “Keep me alive for the next six hours? That would be extremely helpful.”

Beetee goes ahead and lists everything that he’ll be doing. For a while, you’re able to sit through his speech, until you develop a headache. Only then do you go ahead with getting up and wandering to the cornucopia just to get away from everyone. If you do decide to sneak off, it’ll be easier to do when there’s a structure blocking their view.

You’ve got hours to burn before you have to leave the beach and go to the trees.

It isn’t until you’re pretty far along the rocks when you realize that you’re not alone. In fact, there’s quite a lot of splashing happening in the water. Instinctively, you move closer to the other side of the rock, not really wanting to look and see if there’s a fucking mutt that also lives inside of the water. On top of the fact that the gamemakers can spin you dizzy if they feel like it.

“Smart.”

“Holy fuck, Finnick.” you stop, raising your face to the sky, “Do you ever give people personal space?”

“Remember what happened the last time we were in the middle?”

You look at Finnick now, “As you guys said, he’s probably staying hidden in the trees! Won’t come out until we’re fuckin’ gone, so what’s the harm in wandering around?”

Finnick comes up to the rocks, crossing his arms and pulling himself with them, “Was that rhetorical or do you really want to know.”

You crouch down, “What are you here for?”

“Keeping an eye on you.”

“Afraid I’ll run?”

“After that homicidal look you had on your face listening to Beetee, yeah.”

You offer your hand to him, and he takes it, so you pull him up, “Beetee not only had an annoying voice, but doesn’t know when to shut up.” you look at where he’s sitting with Johanna, “She’s probably wanting to kill him too.”

You don’t wait for Finnick to pull himself up. The cornucopia is empty, there’s no one here but you and Finnick.

You wish that there weren’t cameras everywhere. You wish that you’d be able to have a full conversation with Finnick, cutting out all the secret words. You want to ask him what happened if this plan of his actually comes true. Who’s bringing them out of here? And when?

You have a vague idea, Beetee said that you guys should keep him alive for the ‘next six hours’, and not anything past that. That’s significant, right? Maybe it will happen tonight, after all.

“What’s on your mind?” Finnick takes a seat on the box while you six in the black sand.

“Six hours to keep him alive is very specific, don’t you think?” you ask, hoping that he catches on, “Do you think he has any big plans after that?”

“He might, after midnight. Just depends if it all goes according to plan.”

Something might happen after midnight--doesn’t make sense to you, “Well, Chaff is dead already,” the cannon went off an hour ago, it can’t be Brutus, you just know it, “And if we do kill Brutus, that just leaves us.”

“Yes it does.” Finnick says.

“Which means that I should branch off while I can.” you squint, waiting for him to object.

“We’d just have to go after you next, since you have a vendetta against Peeta and Katniss, after all.” 

“So I should stick around?”

“We might surprise you.” Finnick smiles.

You stand again, heading over to the water, facing it, “Yeah? And what happens if they shoot first?”

“Come on, (Y/n). You’re telling me that you won’t be anticipating it the entire time?”

He’s amused, which annoys you. All of this is such a walk in the park for him, and he can clearly tell that none of this is as easy for you. You don’t know if you can put your trust in their hands, considering that they know your motives. If you let your guard down for even a little bit, they’d be able to take you out.

Finnick is always so smug when it comes to things. Whoever is really behind this, he must believe in them a lot. They have to be really good at whatever they’re planning to do if this is the way to go.

“I will.” you admit, “If Katniss even twitches, I’ll wipe out that boy of hers.” you slam the glaive into the rock, smiling a little bit, “And while she’s grieving, I’ll take her next.”

“You fantasize about death a lot?”

“For them, yes.” you look over your shoulder, “Could you imagine the shock on the Capitol citizen’s faces when I take out the girl on fire and her useless boyfriend? They’d loathe me.”

“You’d get yourself in trouble.”

“I’m already in trouble. I had tons of people betting on me, and I’ve wasted their precious money.”

He snorts, “They’ll have more to waste next year, too.”

If there is a next year.

“When do we head back to the others?” you ask.

“Is the sun hitting the trees yet?” Finnick is behind you, and just before you’re able to slip out of his fingers, he places his hands on your waist and leans forward, “Looks like we’ve still got some time.”

“Annie Cresta is sobbing in her psychotic rocking chair.” you elbow him to get him off, and he obliges, “What made you like her, anyway?”

“What made you like me?”

You laugh, “Ha! You think I give a shit about you!” you then deadpan, staring at him, “Sweetheart, I could drown you in these waters and come up victorious. You haven’t grown on me as much as you think you have.”

“You’re tolerating me more, whether you want to admit that or not.”

“Tolerating is a hell of a difference. Ticking time bomb--what was that song that Wiress was singing before she was subtly murdered by my admirer?” you mock a smile.

Finnick looks interested, “Admirer? Gloss admired you?”

“If you win these games, make sure they play back the tapes of every single time Gloss and I ran across each other. Watch his eyes, especially. And the interview, too, because he had the blessing of holding my hand for a minute while we played rebellion on live tv.”

He’s quiet for a moment, and then he laughs to himself, “(Y/n), you could have anyone you want, and yet you choose to be all by yourself.”

“What? Johanna and Beetee have a crush on me now? On top of you, and Gloss, and probably Brutus too.” 

“Who said I’m on that list?” Finnick asks.

You hold up your finger, before moving behind him, placing your hands on his sides, leaning into his body as close as you can manage. He’s wet from being in the water, but the effect works.

“Go fuck yourself.”

You shove him in after that, watching as he flails, and then hits the water. 

You pick up your glaive from the rocks as you move back to the cornucopia. It’s a couple of seconds before Finnick gets himself out of the water again. You don’t say a word to him, pulling out food from the boxes and chewing on it as you continue to dig through the shit.

“You don’t need to ask my permission to go to the others.” you tell him, “I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can, but I’m going to sit here anyway.”

Not like he has much to do in the first place.

“Do you really think I would leave Annie for you?”

“No, and I don’t want you to either. The girl is nutty enough as it is, she’d just think that the next person she comes across that shows an interest will end up leaving her if they find their soulmate too.”

“You’d stay with someone even if they weren’t?”

You look up, “I don’t date.”

“Hypothetically, then.”

Sighing, you go back to what you were doing, “It’s not really hypothetical with me. The guy did fucking leave me because he found his soulmate when I was in the games. The motherfucker started dating her before I’d even come home. I wore his stupid trinket necklace into the games and everything.

“I was a teenager--whatever. But we had been together for years, so I would expect some hesitance, and maybe even remorse.” you look at Finnick, “If I were you, I wouldn’t even be considering leaving Annie. It would be a downgrade, because I don’t care about you, and she does.

“And before you say that ‘time would change that’, you’d be changing me, the person I am. I’m developed, I’m not changing anything. You choose someone who would love you forever, or someone who would loathe every detail about you.” you stop now, “If you saw a golden apple and a rotten apple in front of you, which would you pick? I know I would pick the golden one.”

“I am the golden one--”

“And I’m the rotten one for you.” you say, “And honestly, even if you do pick me, I don’t pick you. My opinion hasn’t changed since the tribute parade, you’re as unlikable as all the other rejects on the beach. The only people that have ever liked you are one of the three things, dead, crazy, or horny. And I’m not any of those.”

“No,” Finnick instantly disagrees, “You’re crazy.”

“Not for you.”

Finnick laughs, and doesn’t say anything more. 

You pop open another box, and lo and behold sits your sai’s. You laugh, pulling them out and turning them over in your hands. They’re shiny, new as the day as they were made.

“Look at these!” the excitement bubbles out of you, “I knew that they were here somewhere. They wouldn’t have the weapons for everyone but me.”

“Aren’t those used for disarming people, though? Not really for killing?”

You look up at Finnick, “That’s the best part. The bluntness makes it hurt.”

Getting to your feet, you spin them in your hands, and then aim them towards Finnick. You give him a pretty big smile, and he knows what you want. He picks up his trident, pointing it at your chest.

“What happens if I accidentally stab you?” Finnick asks.

“Don’t flatter yourself, you won’t even get close.” you swing first.

The bar to the trident gets stuck in the sai, and with one healthy twist, you’ve already disarmed Finnick in three moves. You grab the trident before it hits the rock, and then you hand it back to Finnick.

“That was quick.” Finnick raises his eyebrows, “What else do you know?”

“How to shoot a bow, wield a number of swords that are different variations of the same model. I know how to use the trident you’re holding, and anything close to a spear--what else?” you look into the cornucopia, “Probably the whip, the mace--with and without the chain too. The axes that Johanna has, I’d be able to use that too, but it’s a little heavy for my liking.”

When you look at Finnick, he clearly doesn’t know what to think, “Are you lying to me?”

“No.”

“What can’t you do?” 

“Swim well, and probably fish either. District Two is a barren wasteland.” you belt at least one of the sai’s before picking the glaive up, “Sun’s hit the trees, it’s about time we head back.”

You take the lead while Finnick lags for a moment.

The walk back is filled with questions, and more banter back and forth. By the time you get to the beach, the others are ready to go. Everyone packs up their shit--not that there’s much in the first place--and then you all head into the jungle, one by one.

Finnick, Beetee, Peeta, Katniss, Johanna, and then you. Johanna and you had a power struggle for a moment, until Finnick said that you probably should be kept away from Katniss and Peeta since you’re more dangerous than you let on. Johanna laughed in your face, but didn’t argue.

You guess that he isn’t wrong. You could take any of their weapons and thrive. One of the perks of being a games-trained tribute, rather than an unsuspecting child. You were taught to be able to use anything, which doesn’t mean that you don’t have preferences when it comes to certain things, of course.

You’d prefer an sai because it’s able to disarm people pretty quickly. It’s unrealistic in a deadly fight though, so you’d always go for something more simple as a sword. You would have picked that instead, if it weren’t for the fact that swords are basic, and have average reach. A glaive, a spear, or a trident is a complete different story.

Throwing a glaive is going to be easier than throwing a sword. They’re built different, swords are meant to slice through the air to move quicker. While the glaive, spear, or trident are specifically designed to be able to be thrown without fucking it up. If you threw a sword, with the handle and the blade that it has, it would spin through the air. While the others specifically have a pole made for throwing.

Also, the tip of the spear is meant to guide the rest of the weapon. It’s heavy in that one spot mostly, as the rest of it is light material--or it’s supposed to be, at least. It’s going to be a lot harder to throw one thing straight than the other.

As the sun gets lower, the jungle gets darker. The heat might be less, but that doesn’t stop the humidity. You’re sweating out all the water you drank before this hike. The entire thing is uphill, and it’s pretty steep too. You can feel the burn in your calves from it.

Capitol music interrupts the silence. But while the others stop, you don’t bother. You can see their faces and their districts in your mind already. Cashmere and Gloss from District One, Cashmere being your kill, Gloss being Katniss. Wiress since Gloss has killed her before going down seconds later.

Mags because she died due to the poisonous fog in a noble sacrifice for Peeta. The girl from five, she drowned in the tidal wave that hit at ten this morning. Next is the female morphling that died for Peeta during the mutt attack, which was just an hour after Mags had died.

Blight, Johanna’s district mate because he ran head-first into the forcefield wall or whatever when he was blinded by the blood rain. The guy from ten died from an unknown mutt attack, which would later be the same fate for Chaff.

It’s you and Brutus, Beetee, Finnick, Johanna, and Katniss and Peeta left in here. Brutus is the odd man out, while the rest of you are in a supposed alliance. By now, in any other regular games, the tributes would be at each other’s throats already. If you all were careers--which, two of you are in this case--it would be even worse. 

People would be picked off in their sleep, there would be no time to sort a plan out. Let everyone run in different directions and go from there. If you come across each other, it’s a fight to the death. Unless they’re making mini allies after that. 

“Eager?” Finnick asks as soon as you get up to him.

“If I stop walking now, then I’m not going to get back up.” you tell him, “Plus I know everyone that’s died already, and you know the exact amount too. Take a look at your arm.”

“You won’t take a moment to honor them?”

“I had planned to kill half of them, so no, I really won’t.” you then pause for a second, looking at Finnick, “May Mags have peace, though.” 

Finnick cracks a smile, “You’re soft.”

You scowl at Finnick, before going back to the hill. Finnick keeps at your pace, and in no time, you’re reached the tree. Beetee passes you guys up.

“Minimal charring, impressive conductor… let’s get started.” Beetee says, heading over to the tree.

As everyone else follows him over, you decide to stay watch instead. Finnick doesn’t move either, probably deciding that it’ll be best to stick by your sick.

“Lost puppy.” you mutter.

Beetee gets the wire going around the tree, and since it’s made up of a bunch of small trees, Beetee focuses on those and not the one main part. It takes a while before he finally gets a rhythm down, he goes much faster after that.

And since he’s Beetee, he’s also blabbing his mouth while he does it, “Typically, a lightning strike contains five billion volts of energy.”

“Fascinating.” Finnick snickers, and you look over to give him a look of amusement.

“We don’t want to be anywhere in the vicinity when this hits.”

Beetee finishes up with the wire, and then he begins off in the direction that you guys came from, holding it out to Katniss, “You girls go together now, take this. Unspool it carefully, make sure the entire coil is in the water, you understand? Then head to the tree at the two o’clock center, we’ll meet you there.”

Katniss looks between Beetee and Johanna, like she doesn’t know what to think of this. Too bad for her, you’re not entirely sure either. You have no clue what the hell is going on, but from the look on Finnick’s face, he wants you to play along.

“I’m going to go with them as a guard.” Peeta says.

You laugh, “As if you’d be much help.”

“No, you’re staying here to protect me.” Beetee then adds, “And the tree.”

“No, I need to go with her.” Peeta says in a mock authoritative tone. 

“Brutus is the size of two careers, I need two guards.”

“Finnick and (Y/n) can protect you just fine.” Peeta tries.

“Last time I checked, you’re not a girl,” you lean on the glaive.

“Yeah, why can’t Finnick and (Y/n) protect you, and Peeta, Johanna and I take the coil?”

“You all agreed to keep me alive until midnight, correct?” Beetee comes closer, glasses halfway down his nose.

“It’s his plan, we all agreed to it,” Johanna says.

Finnick chimes in too, “Is there a problem, here?”

“Excellent question.” Beetee waits for an objection.

There is none, “No, there’s no problem.”

Katniss goes to say goodbye to Peeta, and you give a look to Johanna, “I’m not holding the wire.”

“I don’t plan on it either.” Johanna says.

Johanna gives Katniss another second before telling him to pick up the pace. After that, the three of you leave to go down the hill to the sand. As you go down the way you came, you realize that Johanna seems to have an entire path planned out, she’s got a goal.

As much as you hate to say it, you’ve got to follow her lead, especially if you might screw up whatever it is that she has to do. With what Finnick said and all earlier this evening, midnight or after. Six hours has come upon you guys quite quickly, it’s not even thirty minutes or so until the lightning does happen.

You go down the hill first, allowing Johanna and then Katniss go behind you. Johanna seemed to have wanted it this way, and she even encouraged you to be the one that went first. You’d like to be paranoid about it being because she can literally backstab you in this position, but you don’t have the energy for this.

You’d really like to know the point of going all the way up the hill to wrap a wire around a tree only for it to turn out that you’d literally be going back down the hill maybe an hour to a half hour later.

It’s mostly just silence, the most difficult part is going down the rocks. You use the glaive as a walking stick as you carefully lower yourself down onto each rock. With Johanna and Katniss, Johanna takes the bow from her to allow Katniss to get down safely. Also allowing her to focus on the safety of the wire.

Johanna hands the bow back, and then says, “Come on. I want to put as much distance between me and this beach as possible. Frying is not how I want to go.”

You guys walk a couple more steps, until the sound of the wire unspooling stops altogether, and Katniss comes to a halt too. When you turn around to see, the wire is pulled tight, and each time Katniss tugs, it doesn’t move.

“There’s something…” Katniss trails off, leaning forward a little bit.

This isn’t a coincidence, you give a look to Johanna just before the wire snaps, and she nods at you. The moment you look back at the place where the wire had been stuck, Brutus emerges. In the same moment, Johanna grabs the wire from Katniss and hits her over the head with it.

“Keep an eye on him.” Johanna murmurs lowly, and she doesn’t really have to tell you twice.

Whatever Johanna does, it makes Katniss scream. By the time Johanna stands again, there’s blood on her hands, you watch as she reaches for her axe, but you stop her. You grab the sai on your belt and throw it, before shoving Johanna to get her running.

She doesn’t hesitate, and she might even be grateful of the fact that she won’t be fighting Brutus with her two tiny fists.

“Is he following?” Johanna asks.

You pause for a moment, listening, until Brutus comes running at you from the fucking trees. You swing the glaive, allowing him to dodge and get out of the way. You slip under his arm when his attention is then turned to Johanna. After that, you scramble your way up to higher ground.

As you go up, you dig your hand into your boot, searching for the pocketknife. However, you can’t seem to find it at first. You stop, make your way up to the top of the hill first, before pulling the boot off. The knife drops into the leaves, and you pick it up, flicking it open.

After that, you take off running without the shoe. You can feel the rocks and needles poking into your foot with every single step you take. You keep an eye on your right, looking for Brutus’ shiny bald head in the moonlight. And when you’re sure you caught a glimpse of it, you take a couple of steps back.

You catch your breath the best you can, and when you feel the adrenaline run through your body like a shot of energy, you bolt towards the cliff. When you hit the edge, you push off, and pull the knife over your head. Johanna clearly sees you behind him, over him, flying down like an eagle catching its prey.

Then, you sink the knife straight into the back of Brutus’ neck. It doesn’t kill him immediately, but he does fall flat onto his elbows. It’s not over yet, the cannon hasn’t signaled so you pull the knife out and sink it straight into the back of Brutus’ skull.

The cannon goes off, and you dip your head a little bit, sucking in the air between your teeth.

“Shit.”

“Don’t fucking mention it.” you tell her, getting up again, “You should find Katniss, or whatever.”

“Yeah, you’re okay?”

“Are you? I left you alone for a minute.”

“No dents.” she says.

She takes off after that, and you nod a little to yourself. You take the same path that you did the first time, finding your shoe at the top. You yank the sock off, shove your foot into the boot, pick up the glaive and then start towards the tree. You only know you’re heading in the right direction when you can see glimpses through the trees.

You slam into something solid, but you grab onto it before you bounce off. It takes you a second to realize that it’s no tree, it’s Finnick. His eyes are wide and he looks over you.

“Who’s blood--”

“Brutus, he’s dead. Johanna went to look for Katniss.”

“Peeta ran off when the cannon--we need to find Katniss first.”

“What’s the plan?” you ask, stopping Finnick.

“Find who you can and bring them back to the tree.”

This is chaos.

“Okay,” you agree, “Yeah, alright.”

You go to go by yourself, but Finnick pulls you along with him. The two of you run through the trees a little bit as he calls out for Johanna, and Peeta and Katniss. When you guys take a moment to get your heads back, you suggest that they might have just gone back to the lightning tree.

“Yeah--okay.” Finnick says.

“I’m going to look for another minute or so, I’ll be there in a second.” you push him.

“No, come with me.”

“Finnick, if they’re not at the tree, they’re out here.” you pause for a second, “I’m not going to kill anyone, promise. Just go.”

He clearly doesn’t want to agree, but he heads in that direction anyway. And just as you said, you search the ground, in the bushes, leaves and trees. You’re mainly hoping that Peeta is pulling his stupid camoflauge stunt, but you’re not entirely sure how he would have enough time to do that.

Nevertheless, you kick in bushes, and peek into trees that are split open. You sweep your foot between rocks, hoping that you’ll find something squishy, or a groan of complaint, but there really is nothing. 

Another couple of minutes, and then you decide that they have to be back at camp at this rate, right?

“Johanna?” you yell, fed up with this quiet game, because there is no threat anymore, “Peeta?”

Just as there’s rustling in the leaves, an explosion goes off above you. You crouch, covering your head as you meekly look to see what caused it. Your mouth falls open when you see the sky of the arena is black, and the hexagons that hold the arena together, are coming loose.

“What the fuck?” Johanna asks.

“Did you find Peeta?”

“No, Finnick or Katniss?”

“Finnick went back to the tree.” your voice sounds far away.

The hexagons are falling now, the mouth of the arena is now on fire. You can see all the construction that’s behind the making of these places. The tree is so far up the hill, it would take a lot of energy to run all that way again.

Neither you or Johanna move, though, staring at the opening. Then, a familiar black mass appears in the bright blue sky, lowering a claw. All the way down, until it sweeps up Beetee.

You start moving towards the tree, keeping your eyes on the hovercraft, watching as it gets dropped down a second time.

“(Y/n)--!” Johanna starts.

“I’m not staying in here!” you yell back at her, “I’m getting the fuck out of here even if it kills me!”

You struggle going up the ledge of dirt, and then the rocks too as you try not to make them dislodge and tumble. Johanna doesn’t follow you, almost like she knows something and you don’t.

The claw goes down a third time, and some sick feeling in your stomach tells you that it’s the final time. You push yourself the best you can, but you can feel your body giving up already. And just as you make it into the clearing, Finnick is already getting lifted into the air.

The ground shakes with every hexagon that falls. The jungle is on fire, and you can smell the burning wood, giving you a headache. But you don’t move from where you’re standing, watching as the claw is brought in. And just as you anticipate it coming out the fourth time.

The hovercraft flies away.

[logan-is-noggin]

Anxious Beauty part 2

word count: 2566

warning: play fighting

the years passed and the three fairies raised Prince Virgil, who they affectionately nicknamed storm cloud, or just cloud for short, in an unassuming cottage in the nearby forest.

Now that the Prince was four, on cool nights like tonight, they left the tots bedroom window open to allow the sweet smell of the peach trees that grew outside to flow inside.

Logan's faithful raven companion croft, landed on a branch outside the open window. When his master had no use of him. Croft often found himself observing the object Logan seemed so fascinated by. But tonight he had a mission to finish. The bird hopped to the windowsill and peered inside.

Cloud rolled over in his crib and blinked his eyes open, hearing the creaking nearby. When he saw his bird friend he shaking stood on his bed and reached for him. But croft flew inside, in a loop, dropping what he carried in his beak before flying out the window and away.

Cloud looked down and saw what the bird had left. A dark old fashion key. In the handle was a purple jewel in the shape of a heart.

The next morning when Patton saw Virgil with the key, he was puzzled. He didn't recall the king giving it to his son when they departed, the others also denied giving it to the Prince. Patton reached to take it away, but once he did, the toddler let out a loud wail. Patton quickly gave it back. " okay, you can keep it." Since that day, cloud always had the key with him or else he was very upset. As he grew up he played in the woods like any child. For a time, the curse was forgotten.

"okay Roman that's all for tonight, it's getting late kiddo."

He took the bowl from the Prince and set it in the sink, he would wash it in the morning. "You can't stop there padre, I haven't even burst onto the scene yet."

"He can continue the story tomorrow Roman, we're filming with Thomas tomorrow remember? We each need to be rested for our performance, we don't need you yawning while the cameras on." Logan chided as he walked up to his room.

The next day every could see how impatient Roman was being, he groaned any time anyone messed up their lines, which made Virgil start messing up on purpose.

That night at dinner Roman are twice as fast as usual when Patton placed the dishes in the sink Logan sighed as said " I can clean up tonight Patton." Roman smiled and practically yanked Patton out of the kitchen "thanks teach!" He called.

Roman sat cross legged as Patton stood before him.

"Alright let me remember where we were..."

Twelve years passed and cloud grew into a fine young man. That morning the three seemed to be trying to get him out of the house. " why don't you go play outside, maybe go for a swim? It's a lovely warm day out." Patton encouraged. Cloud nodded as he slipped on his gray vest over his white long sleeve shirt. Leaving the top button undone. Cloud opened the Dutch door of the cottage and waved goodbye to the three. " have fun. Don't go too far, but don't come back too quickly.." The three called out over each other. Cloud stood his head as he walked off. He could tell when they were trying to hide something. And the lad was always kind enough to play along with their surprises.

The forest was empty today, only filled with the sounds of the forest animals, it was alright, Virgil had perfected how to entertain himself.

Cloud walked between trees swinging himself forward to grab the next trunk. Walking across a fallen tree with his arms out to steady himself. He unlocked his boots and walked through the river, he scooped up a smooth stone and tossed it, the rock skipping thrice before sinking to the bottom. He picked up a stick and swung it around, pretending to fight an invisible foe. His parents often were over cautious when it came to raising him, not letting him eat fruit right off the tree near his home, though he sneaked berries from bushes when he was in the woods. Only remus let him get away with things the others found dangerous, like fighting. " come on you two! He's gonna have to learn to fight eventually if he's going to be king." Remus whispered one afternoon. So they relented and let Virgil have supervised battles with remus.

Not paying attention as he swung his stick-sword, cloud had begun to sing.

" I heard there was a secret chord, that David played and it pleased the Lord, but you don't really care for music do ya?

It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift, the baffled king composing hallelujah"

Prince Roman and his hunting party were riding back after an uneventful morning, he could tell his mare rose was thirsty having not been watered since they left so he told the rest to go on without him as he slowly rode into the woods. The canopy from the treetops immediately cooled Roman from the sun. Once his eyes adjusted he led rose to the small pond they often visited when he first got her.

As she drank Roman sat on a stone to rest himself, he refilled his canteen and took a sip when he heard a noise. He shot up, hand on his sheathed sword just in case of danger. After listening he realized the sound was singing. Even from this distance Roman was spellbound. He had never heard a sweeter tenor in his life.

" hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

he took hold of his horses bridle and walked towards the noise of the voice. He found boy alone through the trees in the clearing. He held a stick and looked like he was fencing something Roman could not see. Roman smirked and found his own falls. Branch, not wanting to scare the boy away by using his real sword.

(Vpov)

Suddenly someone burst out of the trees and stood three feet away. He called to challenge him. Usually cloud would run from the stranger but seeing that he also wielded a stick let him know he was also playing.

The two slowly circled each other, Virgil tried to remember Remus's lecture on strategies but he almost always tangent off into talking about wounds. So he decided to try and copy the man. When he advanced, Virgil tried to stay swords distance away. When He swung Virgil brought his up and they hit with a deafening whack. Virgil did the same but his opponent ducked before it could make contact. More jabs were taken and all too soon cloud was backed against a tree with the "sword" to his throat.

" Not much for training, but a decent fight anyhow." He said as he tossed his stick to the side.

" well, my um, parents don't like me fighting a lot. They're worried I could get hurt." Cloud mumbled.

Roman waved him off " nonsense. Every man should learn the art of dueling, if the need arose to save a bachelor or damsel in distress." He said proudly.

" ill make note of that."

" how rude of me. My name is Roman." He said as he brushed back his red cape.

Virgil mildly panicked at what to do. He wasn't sure if it was right to tell his name to a stranger.

" you can call me cloud. It's what my parents call me."

" intriguing." A high shinny made Virgil flinch. Roman saw his fear and placed a hand on his shoulder. " fear not. That is just rose. I almost forgot I left her in the brushes." He whistled with two gloved fingers in his mouth and suddenly a white mare with a rose gold mane leapt through the opening and trotted to her owners side. " this is my rose. The best and most beautiful mare in the entire kingdom, in my humble opinion."

"Very humble.." Cloud teased. Roman rolled his eyes. " would you like to go for a ride?" He said, holding his hand out. Cloud glanced around wondering what Patton would say if he were here. He had never ridden a horse before. " I guess so." Roman quickly mounted then reached down to help cloud onto the space behind him. " I'm not gonna fall am I?"

" just hold onto me. Ill keep you safe."

First they walked down the path, Roman making sure Virgil was feeling secure before he clicked at the horse who sped up galloping throughout the trees. Roman laughed as clouds grip around his waist tightened. She slowed to a stop at the edge of the forest in a clearing. They both dismounted and cloud wrapped his arms around him. " I suppose ill think twice about riding a strangers horse." Roman laughed again. They walked a ways until they reached a spot cloud knew well. A tree had fallen years ago but continued to grew horizontally, making the perfect sitting spot. They rested as they watched their surroundings.

" ave you ever watched the sunrise from here cloud? That is truly a magical experience."

" no, but I have a fair view from my home. We can see the village and the castle well."

Roman hopped down and tugged cloud along with him. " what are we doing now?"

" since your fighting skills are pretty dismal, I assume you don't know how to dance either. So I'm going to teach you."

Cloud rolled his eyes but took Romans hand anyway. He pulled the young man close, their chests almost touching. Romans left hand rested around his side and clasped his right hand with his own. Suddenly they seemed to be sucked up into a whirlwind. Half the time, cloud tried to mirror Romans expert steps as they turned in time. The other half he couldn't stop staring into Romans eyes. Could this be what love felt like?

They continued twirling around the forest to their silent symphony until they were both out of breath. They slowed to a stop and their hands fell to their sides but still connected.

" you're quite light on your feet cloud. A plus to both dancing a dueling. But practice makes perfect."

Cloud was still in a daze that he couldn't come up with a snarky comment. " I need to return to my father in town. But may I visit you again, possibly tomorrow?"

Cloud shook himself free " of course. My cottage is close to the field where we met. You can meet my parents."

Roman bent and kissed both of his hands. " I will spend every moment missing you until then, my cloud."

Cloud watched as Roman mounted his horse, after opting out of a ride home, he still wasn't used to riding. And stood there until he disappeared into the trees.

Cloud returned home, he stopped at the door, hearing whispers and shushing from the other side. He wondered what his three guardians had been up to in his absence. He pushed open the Dutch doors calling to the quiet house.

" hey guys I'm home. I-" he paused as he closed the door. Something was different. Laying spread out on a chair was a very fancy looking outfit. It was a pair of black trousers, a purple vest and white shirt. Hanging behind it was a deep purple cape with black stitching around the borders.

Next to it was a small cake, he could tell it was BlackBerry- his favorite.

Cloud jumped back as the three fairies all yelled surprise from their place in the kitchen. They came forward to embrace the boy. Cloud had completely forgotten about his birthday. " what have you done?" He said happily appraising the material of the clothes. Certainly the fabric was not cheap.

" it's your sixteenth birthday and we knew we needed to do something extra special." Janus said.

Patton smiled sadly as he pulled out a second chair to have him sit. " Cloud- I mean Virgil, we also did all this because there's something we need to tell you."

Now he was concerned. They usually didn't call him Virgil unless it was very serious. " alright, what is it?"

" well kiddo, what I'm about to say may come as a surprise. It's not the kind of thing one hears every day, and I suppose we should have told you a bit sooner but we wanted..."

" YOU'RE A PRINCE!" Remus blurted out from behind them. The other two whipped their heads to glare at him.

" crashed that carriage, didn't we Remus?" Janus said

" blue was rambling. Better to just rip it off like a wound dressing!" Everyone including Virgil groaned at that imagery.

" wait, so I'm a Prince." He said as if testing the words on his lips.

" yes. You are the only son and heir of his majesty, king Thomas. I know this is all a lot to take in."

Virgil looked back to the outfit. It's grand appearance suddenly making sense. He shook his head laughing to himself " I wonder how he'll take that News"

"Wonder how who'll take that news?" The fairies all asked.

Virgil rubbed the back of his neck." Oh, well, a man happened through the forest where I was, I was practicing my fighting, but only with a stick. He jumps out of the bushes and wants to duel. But he was just playing" now Virgil was rambling trying to push his innocence.

"What else did you do?" Patton asked cautiously.

" He took me on a ride through the woods on his horse, we talked a lot. He also taught me to dance. We spun so much that I'm still a little dizzy" he said with a smile. " he's coming back tomorrow."

Patton recognized the look Virgil had. He had definitely fallen in love with him. Which would make this next part of the conversation harder.

" Virgil..Unfortunately we won't be here after today. We promised to we would bring you back to the castle tonight."

Virgil was upset. " are you sure we couldn't wait until tomorrow so I could explain to him. I'm sure he mind me being a Prince." Janus stepped forward " son, I'm afraid that's not possible. you see A part of being a Prince is that when you were born, you were also betrothed to another Prince from an allied kingdom, Prince-"

Now Virgil was mad " I don't care what his name is. How could anyone force or even expect anyone, let alone a Prince to marry someone they've never met!"

Remus lightly placed his hand on his arm " now cloud-"

Virgil shook him off. " no! You don't get to call me that anymore. You keep this information from me my whole life. Then expect me to be okay with this. I don't know the first thing about being a Prince. I don't want to go." Tears streamed down his cheeks as he fled from the room. Patton Janus and Remus stood around wondering what to do to help their Prince.

PART 3:

[biussworld]

Sanctuary

Hi! Here’s part two to Slow Dancing in the Dark!

Also, an explanation as to why I changed this one from a GN!Reader to a F!Reader is because it's about a quirk marriage. Quirk marriages are already disturbing as is since you're forcing two powerful quirk-wielders to marry for an even powerful quirk to fruit from it. Moreover, if it's a quirk marriage between the same gender, bearing children might involve experimentation and cloning which is honestly extremely disturbing for me. Surrogacy might also be an option, but the probability of the child bearing someone else's quirk instead of the parents' alone is a factor as to why it could fail. I MIGHT HAVE OVERTHOUGHT ABOUT THIS WHOLE FIC OH GOD. Does anyone even fact check? This also might not even be a big deal. Anyways,,

Relationships: Takami Keigo (Hawks) x Fem!Reader; Tokoyami Fumikage x Fem!Reader

Genre: Angst, Fluff

Warnings: Hints of pedophilia and sexual harassment from older idiots, forced marriage.

Word Count: 1.4k

"You look lovely, darling. I don't see why he wouldn't want a bride like you. Right, Mr. Takami?"

"Yes, indeed. Even I wouldn't pass up on a beauty like you."

The conversation between your father and Keigo's sent shivers down your spine. You were beyond disgusted, and you tried hard not to gag and regurgitate your breakfast right then and there.

You hate this. This entire situation, this place, the people, this stupid, stupid dress that feels itchy all over your arms and legs. This feels disgusting.

The laughter of the two men and the rustling of the cloths of the other dresses you were supposed to wear today was muffled as you sank deeper in your thoughts. It's the day of your and Keigo's wedding, and all you can think of is him. His face, the feeling of his hands on yours, the warmth of his embrace, and most importantly the last words he told you that had kept echoing in your head like a cursed mantra haunting you every day since he left.

You closed your eyes and sighed, silently hoping that this will all end when you open them again even though you know that's all wishful thinking. You hoped that instead of Takami Keigo waiting for you down the aisle, it would be your Fumikage with a smile on his face. But he isn't. He isn't here and he won't be saving you like a little damsel in distress.

You lost him and sadly, he lost you, too.

Your thoughts and the two men behind you were silenced when a knock sounded from the door. Your father walked up to it and creaked it open slightly to be greeted by Keigo's signature grin. "Can I see her?"

"Keigo, seeing your bride before a wedding is a charm for bad luck, you know?" You hear your father say to him, and you roll your eyes in your head as you let the voice in your head speak for you, "I've been doused in bad luck ever since I was born to your family."

"Aw, you know it's not true." He says, standing on the tip of his toes to peek at you and the others inside. "Please?"

"Let him in. It's not like they won't see each other later, too." His father perks up and immediately, Keigo's barging in through your door.

He’s standing behind you, and you look at him through his reflection on your mirror; you couldn't help but stare at him when he's looking like that. He was wearing his wedding suit, white and the contrast of the white on his bright red wings make them stand out quite perfectly. He offers you a smile, and you smile back at him.

He would've been the perfect groom, you think. Just not for you.

"Can I talk to her alone?" He looks at your dad and his, before looking back to you. He's earned a lousy shrug from both of them, and the rest had started filing out the room. After everyone has left but not without jeering at you both, he walked towards the window, opening it wide. "It's getting stuffy here, don't you think?"

You turn around in your seat to face him properly, your brows furrowed and your eyes squinted as you watch him take slow strides across your room. "What do you want, Keigo?" Is what you say after he looks back at you. He takes steps toward you and sticks his hand out. You place yours in his and he leads you to the open window. He doesn't talk, rather he turns to his side to face the sky and the city below. You mimic him and sigh.

"Do you want this?" Your voice is meek and hurt, only coming out as a whisper in the air but he hears you. "I hate it." He grumbles. You scoff and smirk at him, listening to his next remark. "I hate being caged and controlled. I want my freedom."

His words rendered you silent as you thought to yourself again. You had wanted to be free, too. It's what you've been yearning for years and years ever since you've gotten your quirk. From that fated day forward, everyone has been guiding you, dictating your every move according to the stupid story they made for the rest of your life.

"We have no way out of this, Keigo." You say hopelessly, your voice sounding even smaller than before. You close your eyes and sigh for the thousandth time that day, and as you turn around and walk toward your bed, he speaks. "Maybe I don't. But you do."

And no sooner than now, his red feathers picked you up and carried you just outside the window. He's looking up at you with a cheeky smile on his face, making you think that he might be making fun of you. "Keigo, I swear to god if this is a sick fucking prank I will murder you as soon as the wedding ends-"

"There won't be a wedding," He says nonchalantly, his arms crossed over his chest. "You belong to someone else and I honestly cannot see you as my wife."

You look even more confused, rather than offended at his statement, and when he leans in closer to you, he speaks "You've put up with my dad's and yours' bullshit for as long as I remember. This is the only thing I can give back to you. This is the only way I can give it back to you." The puzzled expression on your face only deepens as he continues rambling.

"Keigo, what do you want?" You finally breathe out as you grab onto his arms in fear of falling, crumpling the crisp fabric of his coat.

"I want you to be free."

And with his words, his feathers slid out from under you and you're falling. And falling,

until a pair of strong arms catch you mid-air.

The air is cold and icy against your flushed cheeks, and you instinctively cover your face in fear of falling from such a high place. A few moments later, you feel your heart calm down from its high and your hands fall back onto your stomach. Like any other sane person, your instinct told you to look at the culprit of your current state. So you did.

If your eyes could deceive you, you'd curse at everything and slap the shit out of yourself and awaken from this sick dream you think you're having. But he's here, in the flesh and you know he’s not leaving. His crimson orbs are trained to the front as he focuses on the path he's taking, but you could see the mixed emotions reflecting from them-- the sadness, the pain, the suffering, the happiness, the anxiety, and everything else you could also be feeling right now. He's here, your Fumikage is here.

As soon as you two were far enough, he's holding you tight as you two are perched on top of a huge tree, away from the city and the chaos it brings upon you two. His arms are wrapped around you protectively and pressing you against his chest as if his life depended on having you right here with him and him only.

You don't notice yourself clinging onto him tighter, you don't notice the tears forming on the corners of your eyes and dribbling down your cheeks. But you notice the familiar feeling bubbling in your chest, the homey warmth wrapping you as his scent soothes the nerves in your body.

He's here, he's home, and he has brought you home.

"I've got you now, my love. I'm sorry it took me so long."

---

BONUS:

The sky's hues are perfectly dim as you two sat on the floor of your nest, overlooking the city. You were placed in between his legs as his arms are wrapped loosely around your waist, his chest pressed onto your back while his beak rests on your shoulder. Your hand finds his and it slips in beautifully like your hand was made for his and his hand was for yours. The dull sound of his and your heartbeat match in a rhythmic pulse as your steady breaths fill in the silence in the room.

From the day he caught you up to now, this has been a part of your nightly routine together. After patrolling the ward, you two would find your places beside each other and would bask in the mere presence of each other, wanting nothing but to feel each other's skin against their own.

You hear him hum, and you hum back, slowly falling into slumber.

"I love you, Fumi."

"I love you, too."

[thewildwaffle]

Abduction - Chapter 24

My goal is to finish this by November so I can participate in NaNoWriMo with a new story. Or at least that’s the current plan. That means in order to make that happen, I’ve got a lot of writing to do in not a lot of time. I think it’s doable though. The next chapter is already well underway, as I was going to make it part of this one, but it was going long (in writing and time) and the chapter I have planned afterward (what will be 25) would fit better if I split it up.

As always, any comments, critiques, suggestions, anything- are very welcome and appreciated. Not only do they help me improve my writing, but they also help with motivation and ideas. You all are the best, stay lovely!

First Chapter      Previous Chapter     Next Chapter

***

The wristband wasn’t too tight or too loose. In fact, she could almost forget it was there if it wasn't still on her wrist every time she looked down.

She followed her guards down the corridor back to the holding cell. Carson whined and leaned against her hand as they went. He really didn’t like that muzzle. It had been decided that even though they could keep the dog with them, he had to be muzzled when outside the holding cell or Drin’s lab. It made sense, she supposed. From their perspective, Carson was a massive canine predator that could potentially attack at any given moment. He wouldn’t though. Not without good reason. He was actually a pretty well-trained dog. He didn’t mind being leashed, but he hated the muzzle.

“Soon, Carson, it’s okay boy,” Wenona scratched his ear gently.

They rounded the final corner to their holding cell and her guards paused. She nearly walked into them. Confused, she looked up and around. There wasn’t anyone else in the hall. Did they somehow make a wrong turn? No, this was the right place. She could basically walk here from Drin’s lab in her sleep by now, and that was definitely their room beyond the glass. So what’s the big…

Where were the guards? Not her guards of course, but where were the guards that were supposed to be with Mike?

Her lead guard, Chook or something like that, activated her comm device with a flick of a thin wrist.

“Team 4, this is Team 2 Leader, state your position.”

There were two soft beeps to signal the end of the message. Everyone listened intently for the response.

It took a few moments to get one, but finally, a voice came back through the small speakers. “Team 2, this is Team Leader 4, we are returning to the position now.”

Chook’s thin yellow face scrunched and she clacked her beak irritably, “And why, please tell, were you away from your position to begin with?”

“We were called away to help deal with the issues in sector 18.”

“You were called away,” Chook’s voice got so shrill that Carson began whining again. Wenona scratched at his ears again to soothe him while she shot a glare at Chook for bugging her dog. Or, not her dog, the dog. The. Carson.

Not that Chook noticed anyway. “What grug-head called you away from your post watching the human?” The response again took a few moments, but by the time it came, they could already hear the actual voices of Team Leader 2 coming down the hall. “Our orders were from Lieutenant Commander Grayk. Human Mike was asleep and we were needed with rounding up and recapture in Sector 18. If you have a problem with that, I suppose you can take it up with Commander Rozar.”

Before they had finished their last sentence, Team 2 Leader had rounded the opposite corner, flanked by three other aliens on his team. Two more yellow, featherless bird-looking aliens and two more gray tree bark-textured aliens. They weren’t often on guard duty, but Wenona had noticed that a few would regularly rotate in now and again.

Chook huffed loudly and led Wenona to the door of the holding cell. She brushed off the help and went in by herself. Carson followed, still keeping his head close to her hip.

Immediately, she knew something was off. Carson usually went right to where Mike was in the room. He liked Wenona alright, but it was clear that Mike was his favorite human. It was a fact that Wenona did her best to not get jealous. But Carson walked up to the mound of blankets she had assumed Mike was asleep under, sniffed it, whined, and looked back to Wenona with the most forlorn look she’d ever seen on a dog.

Mike wasn’t here.

She glanced back at the door behind her. The guards didn’t know. They hadn’t even looked in the room after she and Carson walked in. They still hadn’t even shut the door, they were too busy talking, Chook was still there with one long-fingered hand resting just to the side of the door’s control panel.

Her first impulse was to break out, rush the door. But then the words of the guards’ conversation started to register.

“...was a breakout. The whole section of cells completely set loose. They’ve had to down a few specimens, most of the prisoners at least had enough sense to surrender immediately.”

“Most?”

“There were still a few out, but they had enough to finish rounding them up, so we were sent back.”

Wenona completely turned around to the door. A breakout? Who? Is that where Mike was? He probably caused it. It sounded like something he’d do.

Ugh. Couldn’t he have at least run this plan by her first? She probably would have tried to stop him, yeah, but maybe she could have at least helped him think things through. Seriously, what had he been thinking? What was he going to do now? Get caught? What was that going to do to the plans they’d been making so far? She felt for the small blade she had tucked into her sash. Her mind swirled with plans, ideas, trying to think ahead, trying to deal with this new curveball.

“...try coming for the humans?”

What now? Who was this? Who’s coming? She started listening in again, but the guards were finally starting to close the door. It wasn’t sound-proof, but it still would be the end of hearing what the heck was going on around here.

She should make a run for it. Take a page out of Mike’s book and just go. She turned around to face the door. Her muscles tensed, preparing to spring forward, rush the guards, go! But she didn’t. She stood there frozen, hesitant. What would she do when she got out? Where would she go? Who was out and might try “coming for the humans”? There were too many variables! Too much unknown!

The door shut with a click. It wasn’t a loud click, but it might as well have been an echoing boom to Wenona. She let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. Now what? What could she-?

She should have gone! No! That wouldn’t have been the smart move. But would it have been the right move? She didn’t know. She didn’t know and the options and results of what could have been kept bouncing around in her head. She chose wrong. She chose wrong- she should have gone! No. No- she chose right, now she can lay low and see how things play out. But what if that took too long? Mike. Is. Gone. He is gone and she should have escaped when she had a chance, but she blew it because she’s too dang cautious.

The guards were still outside, but it appeared that Chook and his team were on their way out. She walked slowly around the room, trying to act natural.Her hands were shaking now. Her whole arms were trembling a little bit. She folded them across herself to keep them still. She felt the cuff Drin had put on her wrist. That was gonna have to go. If she got out- or when, when she got out, she’d need to get that dumb thing off. Drin had said it was a health monitor, but honestly, if there wasn’t some sort of tracking device in with it, that would just be plain stupid on his part.

Carson barked and nearly made her jump. He had settled on the edge of the blankets, sniffing around the spot where Mike had stuffed some pillows to look like he was there. The guards looked at them curiously. Carson barked again.

“Shh! No, stop! It’s okay, it’s okay, be quiet!” The last thing she needed was to have the guards come in and find out Mike was gone. She sat down next to Carson and started petting his head comfortingly. He rested his head in Wenona’s lap while his tail thumped rhythmically against the “bed”. That seemed to do the trick.

“So now what?” It was a question partly to Carson, but mostly to herself.

Now what indeed. Before, she had just wanted to come back to the room, get some sleep, and figure out what to do about Drin’s tracker band with Mike and how it would affect their plans of getting out of here. Those plans were shot and now she needed to figure out what to do. Her nose prickled and it felt like her heart was being squeezed tight. She should do something, anything. But she didn’t know what. She tried thinking of an escape route, but her mind just wouldn’t stay still long enough on one idea to plan anything reasonable.

What had Mike been thinking? He probably hadn’t thought. Where was he now? What was he doing? Was he coming back?

She stood up at that. Would Mike come back? Of course he would, she had no doubt. If he didn’t get himself killed before then, that is. That last part was quite a real concern. He could be a real idiot, but circumstances had made him her idiot. She couldn’t sit around and wait to be rescued. She was no damsel in distress, she was Wenona Peters, and she was getting out of here! 

Somehow.

A loud alarm made bother her and Carson jump. She covered her ears and Carson ran around barking, looking for the source of the noise that seemed to be coming from everywhere. She had to take a few deep breaths to calm down her heart rate. As she did, she glanced to the guards outside the room. Even though she could only make out just a little more than their silhouettes, she could tell they were just as tense and confused as she was.

This was it.

This was just what she needed.

She was going to act this time. She had to. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was something. Was it a smart plan? Maybe not, but maybe she could pull a ‘Mike’ and get out of here anyway.

She screamed loud enough to rival the blaring alarms. As convincingly as she could, she collapsed. She managed to let her head and shoulders hit the soft blankets, but her hip wasn’t quite as lucky. She’d probably get a bruise there, but honestly, if that’s the worst she has to deal with by the time she got out of here, then that would be amazing.

Carson was at her side instantly, sniffing her face and nudging her, barking nervously as if to rouse her. She stayed still. She had one chance to make this look as convincing as possible. It took only a few moments before she heard the holding cell door open.

“Get that beast under control!” Wenona could see three guards enter through nearly-closed eyes. One held a long pole, like the kind dogcatchers use. Carson growled as they approached hesitantly.

“Did you see what happened?” “No, I just looked in and she was down!” “Oh, Klern beyond, she’s not bleeding, is she? Tell me there’s no blood.” “Call the medics. And get Drin down here now!” “Do we have a readout on her vitals?” “Chekk, get that monster out of the way. I don’t see any blood. Just do your flargin’ job!”

Carson was pulled away and Wenona felt her guard’s clawed hands fumble under her nose. She held her breath. They moved their hands to her neck, likely to check for a pulse, but they put it on the wrong part, over a muscle. They wouldn’t find a pulse there. 

“Frewan,” the guard muttered.

They started pushing her to roll her onto her back, but as soon as the arm Wenona had fallen on was free, she grabbed the nearest guard by the leg and in a move that surprised even her, she threw them halfway across the room. She rolled with the throw, sweeping a leg to knock down the next closest guard. She jumped at them, grabbing their blaster from their holster. The guard who now had Carson at the end of the pole stared blankly at her, eyes wide open, too shocked to move. Wenona wrenched the pole out of their hands, released the loop that held Carson, and before the guard could draw their blaster, swung the end of the pole up at their head. They went down with a thud. She grabbed their blaster too. Best be as armed as possible right now.

A beam of light shot right in front of her face. She flinched back. The guard she had thrown across the room was back up, blaster pointed directly at her. She dove towards the still-open door. The fourth guard, who had been calling in medics, had only just realized what was going on inside the holding cell and couldn’t react quick enough as Wenona barreled into them and threw them hard into the ground.

A sharp jolt hit her in the side. It felt like electricity shooting across her skin. She felt herself be thrown back against the wall, or maybe it was the spasmodic reaction of her legs that sent her back. In any case, she hit hard. Hard enough to see stars. The first guard limped forward, blaster fixed on her.

Only a few steps away from the door of the holding cell, there was a deep and low growl. The guard screamed as Carson attacked, biting and shaking their blaster arm. They dropped the weapon and fell backward, trying to get away from the massive “Earth Beast” still on them.

Wenona winced as she pushed herself back up to her feet. She leaned against the wall, shaking her legs until she felt they could support her completely. Everything felt like a weird mixture of tingling and numbness. Except for her head and right side of her body where she’d hit the wall. Those hurt. She could feel her heartbeat throbbing at the impact spots, and where she must have been shot.

She reached out for the door frame and stumbled to it, rebalancing herself for a moment. The fourth guard’s blaster was on the floor. She didn’t quite trust herself to bend down to pick it up, so she carefully shuffled forward and dragged it closer to her with her foot, then kicked it back out the door behind her.

“Carson, come here boy.” Her voice felt too high and soft, but Carson heard it and came. He kept himself between her and the guard who was now clutching their arm and trying to get back up. Wenona reached for the control panel she had seen the guards use before. She didn’t need to understand whatever language it was in to recognize symbols for ‘shut door.’

She sighed with relief as she rested her head against the wall. She did it. She knew this was just the start of getting out of here, but it was a successful start.

“Guard Team 4, this is Drin. What is so important that you had to summon for me at this time of the cycle? End.”

Shoot. The communicator. She could barely hear it over the alarms that were still going off. Wenona hobbled to the fallen fourth guard. She probably should have shoved him in the holding cell too. Although, she really didn’t feel like she had the strength to right now, and it turned out to work in her favor anyway. She struggled for a bit with the controls of the comm device.

“Guard Team 4. I am losing patience. Respond or I will be writing your entire team up for insubordination and incompetence. End.”

Wenona must have hit something right because a soft click sounded on and off. She hit it again. “Uh, this is Guard Team 4,” She thought she did a pretty good impersonation of the guards if she did say so herself. “We apologize for the miscommunication. Everything is fine here. Nothing to report.”

The line was quiet for a moment. Maybe she didn’t do as good of an impersonation as she thought.

“You are on duty with the humans, yes? My readings show Wenona with an elevated heart rate. End.”

Shoot. Oh shoot. She took a few breaths, trying to calm down her heart. Could he read it right now? How fast did the readouts show up? Oh, shoot.

“There was… a fight… between her and the… her and Mike. Nothing serious, they’ve calmed down now. Think the alarm scared them a bit too. We’re all fine here. You can… go back to whatever you were doing... End.”

“Mmmhhhhmmmmmm…” Wenona scowled. Drin’s condescending attitude wasn’t even being directed at her, and it still managed to tick her off. “I believe I sent another band to be fitted for Mike. Why hasn’t it been activated yet? End.”

Wenona wasn’t sure she’d seen Drin give the guards another tracker with the guards when she left his lab. Though the fact that she didn’t see it didn’t mean much. She’d been a bit preoccupied being angry and trying to smuggle out her blade. 

Her blade! She could rid herself of the dumb tracker band! But then Drin wouldn’t be getting her readings. But, she countered to herself, then she wouldn’t be able to be tracked.

“We’ll get right on it, sir, we apologize for the delay. End.”

“And get someone on those alarms, would you? Some of us are trying to rest. End and over.”

Wenona sighed. He’d bought it. She slipped the communicator into the folds of her sash. She felt for her blade. She was lucky it hadn’t cut her in all the…

Where was it? She couldn’t feel it. It must have fallen out, but she couldn’t see it on the floor out here. She even tried shifting the fallen fourth guard. Nothing. She barely managed to not fall over when her head started swimming.

It was quiet. She looked up. The alarms had stopped. Good. Not only was it loud and annoying, but it would have kept security on high alert if they’d kept going. She just needed to wait for things to die down.

“How are you still up?” Wenona jumped. The guard Carson had attacked was at the door leaning against it, looking out at her. No. Not at her. They couldn’t see through the terrible one-way window. “I know you’re still up. I can hear you out there. How in gadring are you still up after that shot?”

Wenona tenderly rubbed the spot where she’d been hit. 

“Eh.” She shrugged, even though they couldn’t see her, and carefully slid down the wall to sit, resting her back against the wall by the door. If she’d dropped her blade in the holding cell, she had no way to cut the dumb tracker off. Her best bet now was to wait until Drin was back asleep and couldn’t monitor her while she made a break for it. In the meantime, she could rest, gather her strength. 

She smiled. Considering the outcome of the last time she’d broken out of an alien cell, she’d done remarkably well just now.

She picked up the two stolen blasters she had dropped. They were the same. All the guards she had seen had one exactly like these.

“‘Set blasters to stun,’ am I right?” She looked up at the guard who followed her voice down, though still not able to actually see her. “Guess your ‘stun’ settings aren’t strong enough to keep me down.”

The guard had a number of new swears and phrases Wenona hadn’t heard before, but they stopped suddenly when Carson began growling again.

“Good boy.” She pet his head. She figured she’d give herself five minutes. Five minutes, and then it was time for step two of getting off this ship. Whatever step two happened to be.

Previous Chapter       Next Chapter

[jpat82]

Wade and the Adventures in Pup-Sitting

"Luke..." You paused after the man had picked up the phone connecting to the blue tooth speakers.

"Why does this sound like something that bodes ill for me?" Luke replied with heavy sigh, no doubt the man had dropped his pen and was currently pinching the bridge of his nose

"In the words of NASA, Huston we have a problem." You uttered looking down at the mischievous molting duck and then back at his partner in crime, Tessa.

~~~~~ Hours Earlier~~~~~

Tom Holland had duck sat so many times for you that when he asked you to watch his beloved Tessa you agreed in a heartbeat. It was no secret that the avian and canine got along fabulously so, multiple pictures of the dynamic duo had been posted to the younger Tom's Instagram almost making the duck as famous as the man who played the would be Asgardian king.

It was a lovely spring day, after the long and mostly wet winter you had been itching to spend time outside in the sun. Whether it was working on the yard, going for a walk around the neighborhood or even taking a stroll down to your bakery, you relished in it. You had both flightless bird and pup on leashes, you stepped out your front door, locking it before heading out.

On any given day walking wade around the block could be a task in itself, some days the duck waddled without incident. Others he could be a demon possessed, hell bent on attacking the slightest flower to even gently sway in your direction. Days walking both dog and duck was a challenge but entertaining nonetheless.

Between Tessa bounding up to bushes, tail wagging. Every and again the silver animals tail would thump Wade in the head and in turn he would started quacking up a storm, wings stretched back. Then Wade would rush up any clump of weeds in attempt to trash them to pieces, often times tangling the two. This would have you stop, much to feathery ones disgruntledness, to untangle the leashes.

It wasn't till you started your walk into town that your quiet day really started to get abit more hectic. Wade was in a mood.

It first started at a cross walk the fearless, feathered animal paced, waiting impatiently for his turn to cross the street. He chirped lowly, head lowered to the ground. Just as a car passed his head lifted and he pulled on his harness ready to release the fury of his six pounds of weight could handle. He pulled and he thrashed, as you stood and waited patiently for the light to change.

Once the cars rolled to a stop and the walk signal turned on, you stepped out onto the black top, Wade momentarily distracted by the car that waited. He hissed, his wings stretched back, head lowered. Tessa pranced next you, tail happily moving behind her. You gave Wade a gentle tug, and the duck waddle behind you, giving all vehicles the stink eye.

You began to pass one of the new shops to open up, glass windows from ground to ceiling. Your reflection mirroring you as you strode on pass, Tessa by your side. But not Wade.

Of course not Wade, the duck that walked amongst you had to be stopped at all cost. He lunged, and then bounced off the reflective surface. Rolling back to his feet, he quacked up a storm, hissing and grumbling. He ninja chopped at the window, a valiant attempt to protect you at all cost. You looked back once the leash had pulled tight, Wade jump kicked at the glass, smudged webbed foot prints covered the bottom two feet of the glass.

You sighed lightly and shook your head as you walked back and lifted the thrashing creature off the ground, deciding that it might just want easier to carrying him past the distracting and oh so fearsome smooth pane. The bakery wasn’t to much further ahead, but you still didn’t want to carry the little bird any more then you already did.

The bell dinged as you stepped in, setting your duck down, Amilia walked out from the back. Her apron smudged with red frosting, her smile brighten when she saw both animals.

“Oh good, you brought them!” She responded excitedly. “I’ve been tweaking one of your recipes, I was thinking.. what if we start to bake and sell treats for pets?”

“I’m listening.” You smiled, she clapped her hands together as she dashed into the back, leaving you to wait. Wade waddled over to his corner where an overly large dog bed was set up.

“Alright!” Amilia bounded back out, platter in hand. An array of cookies lay on top, and from what you could tell different flavors. “So, I was taking one of your old recipes, the one that everyone with a functioning brain loves, and I swapped out the ingredients that pups cant have and swapped in stuff that they could have. Ta da! Pup Sweets!”

You grinned swiping one off the platter, Tessa sitting down looking up at you with hopeful eyes, tail swaying behind her gently. Wade lifted his head from the dog bed he had curled up in.

“That is, maple, cinnamon, and pumpkin.” She beamed, you gave the happy pup the treat. Tessa gobbled it down in one bite, Wade rushing over for his own treat. “Don’t worry Wade, I wouldn’t forget you.”

Amilia pulled what looked like a granola from her apron, before handing it over to the excited bird.

“It’s mealy worm and grain, I baked up a batch yesterday. How’s the holiday going? Able to relax a bit?” She asked as he practically swallowed it whole.

“It’s alright, Tom had to go over some stuff with Luke. Figured I’d take these two on a walk and thought I’d stop by.” You responded asyou started to walk towards the door. “However I should continue on before grumpy decides the floor boards are danger to society again.”

Wade hissed the dark spot in the floor that he seemed to usually focus on when he was in a bad mood. There were gouges all around the spot from the bill of his beak. He lunged at it just as you pulled his leash causing the bird to fall back and roll to side. He grumbled as waddled angrily towards the door throwing hiss back to the spot.

You exited the building and started back on your trip home when from the corner of your eye you spotted the unmistakable sight of a man with a camera. Just what you needed, paparazzi, a fast approaching one at that. Instinctively you scooped the bird up, who had spotted the man as well.

“Please, stay back.” You called out as the man continued to approach. It was to late though, despite Wade’s lack of ability to fly he had recently developed the knack to launch himself from your chest.

~~~~~~~~~

“So Wade did what?” Luke asked, his voice a higher notch then it had been previously. You hung your head in shame and in truth be told humor.

“I do believe, Wade hurdled himself at the camera, feet stretched out, slamming it into the man’s face. Then on his decent down, some how latched his beak onto the man’s nether regions.” Tom chuckled, looking over at you while Wade sat happily in your lap. Tessa curled up in the back seat. “And then Tessa, somehow having had wrapped the leash around y/n’s legs attempted to rescue Wade pulled her from her feet. The man by that point had pulled himself free from our dastardly duck and was last seen hobbling down the street.”

Luke was silent on the other side for a bit, and then your heard the sound of him trying to stifle his own laughter.

“Wade the street duck, thwarts the another evil villain.” Luke stated humorously.

“Not funny.” You stated, trying to hold your own laughter back.

“Wade the super duck rescues damsel in distress!” Tom chimed in, the whole way home, Wade resting gently watching as the world went by.

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[written-in-flowers]

Sweet Invention (Drabble)

“Are you the sweet invention of a lover’s dream or are you really as wonderful as you seem?” - “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful” from Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella 

Genre: Fluff, fairy!Jungkook, knight!Jin, storybook!bts

Pairing: Jinkook 

****

A quest. Every knight needs a quest. Is he truly a knight if he has no quest? But where can he find a quest in this strange, foreign land? Jin rode down the yellow road through the forest in search of one. His eyes scanned through trees and bushes. He made eye contact with anyone he passed along the way as if they’d shout one at him. He’d gone from town to town solving small issues like neighbor disputes and rounding up chickens or pigs. But he is a knight! That is a farmer's work! Those are not quests but small missions to kill time. Sir Seokjin did not train for several years, learn to handle every weapon known to man to be chasing a damned pig. Still, it is his duty to serve and protect the people and by extension serve his king. He’d seen the beast scurry off into the brush some yards back, which means it could not have gotten far. Jin tied his horse to a thick tree and carefully stepped into the forest. If it must come down to it, he’ll kill the pig and tell the farmer it’d been devoured. 

“Come on, little one! Give it up!” he heard a raspy voice say somewhere far off. “We won’t hurt ya! Just give us the dust!”

The sound of struggling came from deeper into the forest. By the grunting and repeated protests, it is trouble! He heard a loud, high-pitched scream cut through the quietness. 

“A maiden in trouble! A damsel in distress!” he withdrew his sword, “Fear not, fair maiden! Sir Jin is on his way!”

Leaves and twigs crunched underneath Jin’s boots. The warm summer air broke through the trees high above him; the scent of earth encompassing him as he went. He listened for the sounds and voices. There must be two or more assailants. No matter. Jin is the greatest warrior in the land! He can take down five armed men on his own! People have seen it! 

“Just give us some dust and you can fly off.”

“Yeah, we only want a little pinch of it!”

“No! Get off me!”

There were three. Monsters, by the look of them. One stood at least seven feet, covered in blue fur with long tusks curving over his mouth. Another stood rather small, orange-feathered with bits of hair here and there, snapping his beak at their captive. It was the fat one Jin heard: he reminded Jin of a toad only fatter and on two legs. They all stood in a glade, the sun half-hidden by the trees stretching over the edges. He spotted a small campsite where the monsters hung a pot over a blazing fire. Based on Jin’s knowledge, monsters eat anything really: animals, plants, humans, insects, etc. They also love valuables. He’s fought off a monster or two in his day. Not waiting any longer, Jin sprung into action. 

The monsters didn’t have time to react. Jin sliced his sword right through the side of the largest one, who roared at the pain. Taking that moment, Jin lunged forward and stabbed him. A black ooze tinted green spilled from his stomach; the monster fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes. The bird flapped his arms, making his feathers ruffled and his teeth extend in his beak. Jin swung his sword around and split the monster’s beak in half longways. He watched it sputter and stumble around squawking before he took on the toad just as easily. It snarled at it and spat green spittle at him, though Jin dodged it only to see the spit eat through the ground. He put his sword right through its chest, letting it hang there a moment before watching him drop to the ground. 

He looked over to their captive and he froze. It is no maiden, for one thing. It’s a man. Perhaps even a boy since he appeared so young. Lean and tall, Jin took in his peachy skin and dazzling brown eyes. He’d painted small flower patterns around his eyes, which only made them stand out more. He wore shorts made from flowers and leaves; his boots appeared made of soft leather. He is an angel. Then Jin spotted the thin, short wings jutting out from his back. Fixing his curly brown hair, the fairy smiled at him. 

“Thank you, sir,” he said. “They were going to kill me.”

“Why?” 

“They wanted my dust.”

“Your dust? You mean fairy dust?” Jin did know about fairy dust and its magical properties. “What for?”

“To sell it from what they first said,” he replied. “They’d caught me in their fairy net.” He nodded to a discarded net on the ground. From the looks of it, the fairy tore a few holes in it. “They dragged me back here and tried getting it out of me.”

“And did they?”

He giggled, “No. Monsters are so stupid. We don’t just keep our dust in little bags or bottles. We certainly don’t shit it either.”

“Then how?”

The fairy looked at him suspiciously, his wings straight and paused. Jin is no fool. He sensed the fairy’s tension even from where he stood. It’s said never upset a fairy. Not only do their sharp claws cut deeper than knives, but their various powers can be deadly. Jin gripped his sword. Let the boy try something. Suddenly, the fairy shook his head. His bouncy curls flying about, Jin saw a shimmery mist fall from them. He then fluttered his wings, which produced the same mist. If the monsters had simply shook him long enough, they’d have gotten their dust. 

“It is on you?”

“Yes. On our skin and in our hair. We’re bathed in it when we’re born and fairy dust can last a lifetime in fairy years.” 

Jin took a step closer. sheathing his sword. Shifting in the light, he noticed the boy’s glittery skin. It only made him lovelier. The farmer’s pig completely forgotten, Jin prayed the boy would stay simply so Jin can stare at him. His long nose did not deter from his beauty, nor did his wide eyes that sparkled at Jin. They scanned over Jin’s face too, taking in every handsome feature they found. 

“You are the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes upon,” Jin breathed. “Are you simply a sweet invention of my dreams or are you truly wonderful? 

Jungkook smiled, Jin’s heart skipping a beat, “Or perhaps that is part of my charm. Perhaps I am lovely to you humans so I may lure you into traps.”

“Oh, fairest one, I shall forever be ensnared by you with or without your charms.” 

He laughed and moved to Jin. Jungkook sensed chivalry and kindness in this strange knight. He hardly came across such humans anymore. If it’d been anyone else, they’d kill the monsters and take the dust for themselves. Yet, his senses told him otherwise about Jin. 

“I’m Jungkook,” he said. 

“I’m Sir Seokjin. But please call me Jin. I shall love to hear it fall from those precious lips.”

Jungkook blushed, “Alright, Jin. Are you a knight?”

“I am.”

“Are you on a quest?”

“No.”

“Then how can you be sure you’re a knight?”

“Because I was knighted,” he answered proudly. “By the king himself.”

“Well, I ask because you’re too handsome to be a knight. Most knights I’ve met are old and bearded.”

“Have you met many knights?”

“I have. They like coming into our forest to try searching for us. It’s always for some stupid witch so she can give him a stupid spell,” he huffed, crossing his arms. “That’s not why you’re here, right?”

“I actually came in search of a pig.”

“A pig?”

“Yes, a particularly fat one who escaped from a farm.”

“If he’s come to this part of the woods...you can’t have him.”

“And why not?”

“He is protected by the woodland fae which happens to be where I am from.”

“I am not here to kill it. I am simply returning it to his owner, my dream.”

“Yes, so then his owner can kill him. You cannot own something.”

“That’s not true at all.”

“It happens to be so.”

“Then explain,” Jin bravely took both the fairy’s hands, holding them up and gently in his own, “How you have come to own my heart so quickly? How you have enthralled me with the smallest of smiles?”

Jungkook did not fight him off. In fact, he enjoyed Jin’s touch. He felt the calluses from years of sword fighting and bits of dirt rubbed onto his own palms, but he did not let go. Nobody ever touched him this way. They always wanted more. But his senses told him Jin did not wish for anything more; that he only wishes to look on the beautiful fairy a little while longer. Jungkook owed him at least that for saving him. He closed the gap by inches, looking right into Jin’s brown eyes. Such a lovely color, he thought. 

Jin saw sparkles hidden in Jungkook’s eyes. “You have the stars in your eyes, lovely,” he whispered. “The sun, the moon and the stars envy your beauty for it is far better than theirs.”

“Are you always this romantic?”

“I am a knight. It’s what we do.”

Jungkook then lowered their hands. “Then come, my brave knight, for I have a quest for you at last.”

“And what is that quest?”

“To stay here with me.” Jungkook came a lip’s distance close to him now. Jin smelled wildflowers and freshly cut grass from him. He inhaled it deeply, wanting it to stick in his nose forever. “To be my personal bodyguard and protect me from harm.”

“Don’t your kind have powers of their own?”

Jungkook smirked, “I do...but to keep you with me...to have you believe fairies are real...will be the greatest happiness you can give me.”

“And to be in your presence, young one, and hear your voice every morning will be mine.”

Oh how quickly fairytale characters fall in love! 

[soul-heart-and-beyond]

Dewey Headcanons!

Man, I’ve been holding out on these for a good while since iconing and going through replies in my drafts, but I also wanted to clarify or touch up on some things since I’ve been so quiet about other things related to these guys. Dewey’s first up because he’s the most prominent in my head as I write this right now.

In his free time, whenever he’s not doing the Dew-Night Show, playing video games, practicing with his weapons and martial arts, and just spending time with his family and friends, he does indeed make his own music/dance hybrid videos and uploads them to DuckTube (Is that what the DT equivalent of YouTube is called?), that way he feel like his dances are appreciated on there.

While those dances don’t get that many views or likes, he does continue to try until he blows up big on there.

Dew is more conscious and considerate of others even though sometimes he may put himself first, but that’s only when the situation is one that isn’t really serious.

His attention span isn’t as short as it is in the shows’ current state. For some reason it’s more around how he was back in early season one, where he could actually figure out puzzles and what to do and stuff. (If you’ve noticed, they’ve been tossing some things around for the boys to see which one works the best.)

Now that his mom is back, he’s really hyped and curious about what he will get to do with her. It’s what he’s been wanting for the longest time at this point, but even with all of his affection and respect for her, deep down he does feel a little agitated with her choice of going into outer space before raising him and his brother first.

Pop Rock cake may have almost turned him inside out, but all he needs is a smaller dosage and he should be fine! Hey, can’t knock those things when they’re so good!

My version of Dewey is more around Launchpad, Gyro, and Fenton than he is normally in the show just around Launchpad. (I believe this was to give the triplets one to associate themselves with an older friend, [i.e. Dewey/Launchpad, Louie/Gyro, and Huey/Fenton] but they feel more like small groups than a family like everyone would want it to feel like so....)

Now these headcanons will be more recent, as they involve the last two episodes that revolve around Gizmoduck and Darkwing Duck:

He was alarmed by his notification system on his phone on Duckblr about how a massive Mark Beaks was holding what appeared to be Huey and Webby, and now even though that situation’s over, he teases Huey for playing the “Damsel in Distress” role for Fenton. (Something that he’s usually placed into but those incidents were out of his control.)

Getting the information from Launchpad, he’ll joke around with Fenton about how Gandra is really going to be his girlfriend and how they’ll “live together until they’re old folk.” Of course he’s just being or trying to be the cool guy out of his family. Though Louie does give him competition for that.

This one’s a bit of a game changer and a slight retcon, but I do have reasons behind why this one’s getting put out there. So during the Darkwing Duck episode, Dewey eventually gets to become the director of the movie that could possibly bring Darkwing Duck to being a household name again. Of course, he accepts it with the wacky ideas he believes should be inserted into the movie, even giving himself the role of playing the cool young sidekick that skateboards and wisecracks. So because he was reading that one comic with Launchpad about the alternate universes, he remembered there was a version named Quivering Quack, and he was going to don the costume to bring the character to life on screen.

In doing so, Darkwing would have gotten a new ally to battle the forces of evil with in the final battle with Megavolt, if Jim didn’t take out Drake for this. With this in mind, he did take the final shoot with Launchpad in his mind because this was a movie more for his friend than him, and placing himself above the legacy of a character that definitely had more of a reputation than him felt too rude. With this, he never filmed himself dancing on the footage when it was found at the end, but the data was corrupted, thus making it useless anyway.  

(So my reasoning for why Dewey, at least my incarnation, would do this over what he did in the show is because this movie meant something, no, a lot to his pal Launchpad, even if it was some dark and edgy reboot. Loved all of the Batman Begins trilogy references by the way. Though recording himself with the camera and then editing the footage for it to be at the end not only seemed really flanderized, but out of character too. Yeah, Dewey’s in the tween age, but even someone that young wouldn’t ruin something like that for their friend, unless they were five or four. He basically ruined a chance for Drake to be Darkwing Duck both in shows/movies and Launchpad’s hope for a revival in the franchise the easy way. Not only that, but it kinda seems like he didn’t learn his lesson with Don Karnage’s appearance, and how making things all about him isn’t good for anyone, including himself. Yes, this was Launchpad’s episode more than anyone else’s, but Dewey’s attention span shouldn’t be that bad or far gone. 

The other reason is that there is literally no way Dewey could have taken the camera and flash drive into a green screen room in another studio, make the dance and record it, then edit the footage to include the music and place it at the end, and then lose the flash drive by the time the fight ended and they recovered it from the wreckage. That fight wasn’t really that long and Dewey was there to watch it all. Not only that but Alistair had to find the footage that Dewey should have had on him all along if he did do this, so logically it can’t work outside of it being a joke/excuse for Drake to become a real superhero/vigilante)

Just to be clear, that moment with the footage thing at the end didn’t happen the way it did in the show. The data got corrupted, Dewey felt bad that he tried the best he could to bring Alistair and Launchpad’s hope out of the shadows, but unfortunately those shadows were too strong.

[zoethehead]

"Darkness"

(title based on the song: "Darkness" by Disturbed)

tropes used: Darkest Hour, the bad guy wins, weak hero--weaker helper, damsel in distress, and helpful stranger

link to sequel:https://zoethehead.tumblr.com/post/657748197507301376/hero

character species:

Lord Dakobav-Demon

Tristan-Moon Elf

Verina-Half Fox

Kenneth-Water Genasi

Gerald-Faun

Quinton-Hobgoblin

(Warnings in content: Drownings, Presumed dead by 2, damsel being captured, comatose state, villain wins in this)

(cut off here since the story is very long)

As Tristan felt his own Greataxe being dug into his shoulder, he let out a almost mix between a groan and a gasp, his shoulder had a very noticeable gash atop a ton of other wounds littering the moon elf's body. "TRISTAN, NO!!!!!" Verina screamed out as Lord Dakobav Tore the axe out and let out a menacing laugh, letting the fallen hero fall onto his back, groaning in pain as he did so while blood pooled around him. "I shall let you see your pathetic hero one last time, relish in the moment of his demise, then i shall take you somewhere far away, and this city is now ruled by me!" Lord Dakobav let out a maniacal laugh and snapped his fingers, unbinding the chains on Verina's shackles, as Verina held Tristan's limp body in her arms, sobbing. Tristan opened his eyes, looking at verina, chuckling a bit, and trying to pull her in close for one last hug for awhile. Verina wept and between her choked sobs, she was able to muster up the courage to say "T-Tristan, i.... I love you so much, i never wanted this to happen to you!" before sobbing once again, holding her knight in shining armor as tight as she could, as tristan's grasp went limp, and he fell into unconsciousness. Verina let out a scream of despair before being pulled away by lord dakobav's magic, and teleported to a dungeon cell in a transport area. Lord Dakobav grasped ahold of tristan's collar, and held him above the wide moat that surrounded the castle, and saying the words "You put up a good fight, but you still were quite pathetic! before dropping both tristan--and his greataxe into the water, with the beaten moon elf's tattered and wrecked armor sunk him down further. Kenneth saw the silhouette of Tristan falling into the water, and decided to dive into the moat to try and save his ally, getting ahold of the sinking warrior, and pulling him and the axe up, swimming with the limp moon elf and his weapon to shore, with Kenneth doing cpr on the incapacitated moon elf. "Dammit, what should we do, our friend is over here bleeding out and we can't get back into the city now that lord mcbloodlust decided to take it over!" Gerald said in frustration, kicking a rock into the air as it fell into the water, before gerald collapsed to his knees and yelled in anger. "Dude, calm Down, we can find help somewhere if possible!" Kenneth responded in both annoyance and reassurance. "that wasn't rage, i sprained my foot and broke my goddamn toes" Gerald said through grit teeth, with kenneth responding back, "Oh, well then, just don't kick rocks that hard if you don't want it to happen." suddenly a husky voice called out, "Hello? do you guys need help?" the figure that ask walked out, his skin a red color, with dirty blonde hair and green eyes, his facial features were odd too, tusks with a beaked nose and pointed ears. "no worries, i heard the commotion and decided to investiga---- alright, WHAT HAPPENED OVER HERE?!" the hobgoblin yelled out, seeing the kingdom glow with an orange light surrounding it. "well, to say it clear for you.. OUR FRIEND OVER HERE IS UNCONSCIOUS FROM HIS WOUNDS, THE PRINCESS HAS BEEN CAPTURED, AND THAT DEMON PIECE OF BOLLOCKS HAS TAKEN OUR KINGDOM!!!!" Gerald shouted out angrily. with the hobgoblin responding "Woah, calm down, i will help the both of you, and your friend, just follow me and i will help you, the name's Quinton, by the way." Quinton responded, with kenneth carrying tristan's body to the van/trailer area, where quinton applied pressure to the wounds along with gerald--who had his injured foot patched up, as quinton gave instructions to kenneth to another city called "Serixia" and once all 4 of them got to quinton's home, tristan's body was carried into a bedroom, where his wounds were patched up fully, and the unconscious moon elf was placed in a bed. quinton lit a candle and placed it in a lantern, placing it on a table next to the bed where tristan lay, motionless....... as Kenneth, Quinton, and Gerald could only hope that tristan would awaken from his injuries again... the vision of the solemn--yet graceful night twinked on as a hero

had fallen, a new ruler rose up, and someone so innocent was imprisoned and taken somewhere far away.......

[morganswriterings-blog]

I Fell Asleep And Woke Up With A Wife

I knew several things: The sword I held was not mine, I didn’t know where the hell I was, and I was about to scream.

I looked down at the creature that laid before me, it’s beaked face resting limply on the wood deck, and talons scarlet with blood, my blood.

I held my side tighter, the hot slip of blood under my fingers becoming more evident. My ears were still ringing from the creatures screeches and the sound of steel on steel.

My legs started to tremble, letting go of the sword I heard it clatter to the deck as my knees gave way under me.

“This is a dream. This is all one big dream.” I mumbled closing my eyes tightly, “Just wake up, open your eyes and it’ll all be fine. Just. Open. Your. Eyes!” I counted to ten and opened them.

It didn’t work, of course it didn’t.

“Good job kid! You’re good with that sword, obviously untrained but a natural.” I looked up to see a woman walking towards me, she had on steel toed boots, brown pants with a belt, and a pirate style shirt. She knelt down infront of me, “Just breathe, I’m sure it’s only a scratch-- Oh. Okay, not ‘just a scratch’... a big scratch. Zira! Come take the kid down stairs to the infirmary; get Charles to take care of her.”

My vision was blurring at the edges as I tried to focus on  who I assumed to be the captain.

“You’ll be fine kid. Charles is the best medic we’ve ever had.” She smiled reassuringly and moved out of the way as Zira came over and scooped me up bridal style.

Her arms were strong and I could feel the muscles under me, keeping me safe. I looked up at her, eyes still bleary

Okay. Now I know I’m dreaming, but I hope to God I’m not. She was gorgeous, dark hair pulled up, and dark chocolate eyes, no, more like black coffee.

God, I sound like some damsel in distress from a crappy romance novel.

“You’re fine, I’ve heard cheesier from guys in taverns so don’t sweat  it.”

“Oh god, I said that out loud? I really am a romance cliche.” I mumbled burying my face in her shoulder. “But hey, I’ll probably lose enough blood that I won’t remember this.”

“Don’t worry I’ll remind you.” She chuckled as she took the stairs two at a time.

I can’t remember much more, I remember her putting me on a bed and some sweet faced guy with flour smeared across his cheek coming into my vision and smiling at me, and then nothing.

~O~

My eyes felt heavy, and attempting to open them felt like ripping a bandaid off. I left them shut after one try.

“Ugh.” Everything hurt, everything. “Ah!” Note to self, don’t move left arm, it feels like someone is slicing you with a glowing knife.

“G’mornin’ Sleeping Beauty.” A kind voice said. “As you probably already noticed that Hippogriff did a number on your side there.  ‘Few more days and some healing salve and bandages and you’ll be just fine.”

“Hippo-what now?” I mumbled, peeling my eyes open uncomfortably.

The room seemed to sway back and forth as I tried to focus in on what was around me, it was small though it didn’t feel cramped, there was a set of cupboards across the room from the cots, as I looked more beds came into view, none of them occupied though some looked as though they had only recently been vacated.

The man that had been speaking to me was next to one of the beds putting clean sheets on it.

“Ah, yes, a hippogriff is the creature that did this to you. You actually killed one of them, I’m pretty sure it’s still on deck if you wanna see it, but you’ll have to hurry they make for some good meat.” He smiled lightly at me. “So how’re you feeling?” He asked making his way over to my bed.

“Like I drank three bottles of vodka before passing out.” He laughed as I swung my legs out of the bed and touched my toes to the ground. It wasn’t cold like I expected, more like a hot stove, just cool enough to touch. Pushing myself off the bed I found out that it didn’t just seem like the room was swaying, the room was swaying.

I put my hand on the bed to steady myself.

“Well, the captain wanted to see you as soon as you woke up. Do you feel up to walking?”

“Um…” Uncertainly I took a small step forward, it was a bit shaky but not bad. “I… Should be fine.”

“Alright, follow me then.” He led me out the door and through a large room filled with hammocks and to the steps leading up to the desk.

“Captain, here she is.” He called across the deck to the raised platform with the wheel on it.

I hadn’t noticed it before but the captain was older, her hair was grey and eyes piercing.

“So, who are you, Kiddo?” She asked, resting against the railing of the ship.

“I’m- uh Charlotte Barenson.”

“Captain Emberle Andrich, pleased to formally meet you. Now how did you get here?”

“I… have no clue. I went to sleep in my bed and next thing I know I’m here.”

She leaned forward slightly, brow arched. “You just, went to sleep and showed up here?” I nodded.

“Well, it’s not the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t have any explanation for you, unfortunately. But, you’re welcome to stay here with us until we find some way to get you back home.” She pushed off the railing and gestured around the ship.

“I think I’ll take you up on that, thank you.”

“It’s no problem, you’re already a natural with a sword, so let's get you healed up and then a couple days of training and I’ll have you slicing and hacking like nobody else.”

~Fast Forward 5 Years~

“Hey babe. I said, walking into Zira’s captains quarters. I hung my coat on the wall.

“Hey there.” Zira said kissing me. “It’s been a long day, sleep?”

“Oh, yes please.” I said pulling her over to the bed, looking down at her hand and our matching tattooed wedding bands.

“I love you.” I said looking over at Zira with her hair splayed around her face on the pillow.

“I love you too.” She said groggily, closing her eyes.

I looked at her until I also drifted off.

Waking up, I felt sunlight hitting my cheeks.

Something was off. The bed is softer and warmer than normal. And there’s something on my chest?

I opened my eyes and saw my bedrooms lavender walls, and looking down I saw my kitten using my chest as a pillow.

It… was all a dream?

I put the kitten on my pillow and got up to move to the bathroom.

Looking in the mirror there's no way it was a dream, I’m not the same. I still have scars on my side from the hippogriff attack, and looking at my hand I can see a faint outline of the marriage tattoo. I’m 17 again, I was 22.

____________

This is the first draft of my first short story for the fantasy writing class I’m taking, not the best but for a piece made in under a week with very little polishing I feel like I did a pretty good job. I’m gonna be editing and rewriting bits of it this week and then handing in the finished product (YIKES D:) wish me luck!!