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probablyspooky · 1 year

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Strength (Feral Predator x Fem! Reader)

Story based on this post I made

I'm going crazy

Trigger warning : Abuse, swearing, nsfw, white men

Pain, all you knew was pain, this was the main feeling you had in your life, and it didn't matter if you wanted to stop it, you couldn't, this is a life you were born into. A life of servitude, you were born in the servants quarters of a wealthy hunter, your mother was beaten for even dare having a child when she didn't even own the bed she slept upon, your master was so kind to let you grow up into adulthood, so gracious to let you eat his food.

Despite this, life was still not easy, you often went without food, often beaten for simple mistakes such as spilling water. Despite this your master often talked to his fellow hunter men about how kind he was for letting you grow up under his wing, and considering this, he allowed you to go to America with him on a hunting trip. (I think in 1719 it was called the new world, but I'm not 100% sure, I'm a pastry chef not a historian, don't come for my neck).

And just like that you were shipped away on a large ship, away from everything you've ever known, saying goodbye to the fellow maids who took care of you, and saying goodbye to your mother, who as distraught at the fact her only child was possibly never going to return home.

The first couple weeks were filled with awful waves, sea sickness, and insanity. Those who could not handle the sea were thrown overboard, this was the life of a servant, you were property, not your own person.

Landing in the New World was a sight to behold, trees as thick as a sailors beard, plants you have never seen before, it was all wonderful, but you weren't there to sight see, you were there to carry backs and weapons as you continued your travels deeper into the lands. For weeks your feet ached, walking across the harsh ground with shoes that barely covered the bottom of your feet, often being dehydrated, often fainting from hunger. Your master would have ended you then and there, but he was running low on servants to carry his items, you guys eventually settling in the Great Plains, as the bison were plentiful, and their pelts would turn a pretty penny back home.

You were told to set up the campsite for your master, and that you did, taking the long sticks and forcing them into the ground, setting up the tarp covering, and then his bed, the rest were in trunks, you simply placed them around like furniture. By the time you were done it was night time, your mastered returned, stroking his disgusting beard, he struck you across the face with the back of his hand.

"You putrid thing! You haven't cooked dinner yet have you?", he shouted, stomping over to his bed.

The strike had landed you in the dirt, quickly getting on your knees you looked down at your dirty skirt, not looking up at him, a sign of submission.

"Stupid woman...." he grumbled, taking a sip from the tankard in his hand, the clear smell of ale tainting his breath, the man was clearly drunk.

Suddenly, his eye lit up, and he rose, grabbing you by the collar, and dragged you into the center of the camp, where all the other hunters were cheering, having a grand old time drinking.

"Hey boys!", he shouted, "I have an idea..."

You struggled against the rope tied around your neck, the rough fibers rubbed against your skin, the burning sensation forming from your struggles, tears stinging your eyes as your master tied the other end of the rope to a ram.

The sounds of the sickening laughter coming from these drunk bastards, sending the shiver of fear and dread throughout your body as your master slapped the rams behind, causing it to bleat out in fear and run into the woods. You looked in horror as the slack of the rope began to drag away, like a sickening timer to your doom, soon the rope stiffened in the air, and there you went. Dirt and debris from you trying to grab onto anything with a free hand, as your other hand held on to the rope, trying not to suffocate yourself as the ram kept going, the burns on your neck growing deeper and deeper, you kept screaming out for help, hoping anyone or anything would come to your rescue, it seemed like the ram had infinite stamina, the end was no where in sight.

You soon had a dark thought, and felt your grip on the rope loosening, hoping for a quick death, but as soon as the rope tightened around your neck, the rope snapped, stopping the dragging of your body.

Quickly sitting up, trying to catch your breath, drool falling out of your mouth as you looked at the ground, your eyes red from crying, feeling the uninterrupted courses of air purify your body, you looked at the rope, trying to see why it had snapped. Your eyes grazed over the rope on the forest floor, seeing it go on and on, following the rope to its end you saw a some sort of circular knife, if you could call it that, it was much too large for your hands, and it was very heavy, the metals it was made of wasn't anything you had seen before. Trying to pick it up was in vain, as it was not budging from its spot.

Your fingers grazed over the blades, thinking, while your other hand felt the rope against your neck, leaning down you used the sharp blade to snap the rope from your neck, cutting your neck in the process.

Once the rope was off of your neck, you felt the sensitive red spot that now circled your entire neck, surely to leave an awful scar, a memory of these awful events that have transpired today.

The crack of thunder, and the soft droplets of rain that fell through the leaves snapped you out of your thoughts, as you began to scurry to find shelter, you defiantly did not wish to go back to camp, you'd rather die out here than return to that man.

You walked as far as your sore feet could take you, eventually you looked up to see a cave at the side of a mountain, it looked a bit out of the way, so hopefully no predators would be inside

Climbing the harsh rocks to reach the opening, your hands were sore, your legs were about to give out from under you. The feeling of pouring rain seemed to drag you down, but you pushed through it all, reaching the cave, you found yourself protected from the rain, falling into the cave, as a crack of lightning illuminated the cave, you swore you saw something.

Standing on your unsteady feet, you wandered deeper into the cave, tripping and falling into some sort of pit in the ground, it wasn't deep, it was soft, as if lined with blankets, you felt it with your hands, the feeling of tiredness overtaking you, you laid your head into the soft plush ground, your eyes growing heavy, and you drifted off into sleep.

At the entrance of the cave, a beast who stood on his feet like man, glistening in the rain, as his alien camouflage device was unable to function in the rain, the red ripples of it giving up shown through the rain, eventually turning off as he entered his den.

Taking a large step into the den he called his own on this trip, he sniffed the air, something was present. Using his helmet of bone, he scanned the area, looking down at his nest of furs and pelts, seeing your small sleeping frame, he knelt down, pulling his blade out, the same style of blade that had cut your rope earlier, but all its blades were contained within the small metal circle, the clicks of his mandibles echoed off the walls of the cave, shaking his hand the blades swooshed out, and he raised it up as it to slit your throat, but he stopped.

Returning the blades to its holder, and placed the weapon back to his belt, taking his large finger, he grazed the rope burn that was evident on your neck. Tilting his head while you slept, he stood back up, leaving you in his nest, he sat at the entrance of his cave, waiting for the rain to stop.

As the morning sunlight shined through the fresh dew drops of the last nights rain, the warmth of the sun warmed your skin, as you rose up out of what you thought was a pit, the light now showed to you it was in fact a nest of pelts and furs, and now with the sun illuminating the whole cave, your eyes gazed around.

The cave was decorated in the skulls of many animals, a small fire, and in the corner sat rotting meat, the unfavorable scraps of the animals that had been hunted before. Your eyes continued to wander, they landed on a pile of large weapons, fear began to take over your body once more, thinking you had entered another hunters home you stood up to leave, looking towards the entrance of the cave, you saw it.

It stood over 7 feet tall, it's skin tanned red, speckled with spots, thin strands of its dreads spilled out the back of its head, cascading down its back, it's face covered with some sort of mask, it seemed to be made of bone.

Freezing in your place you stared at it, upon closer inspecting, it wore a loin cloth, you assumed it to be a male whatever it was, and watching the slow breaths from his chest, you assumed him to be asleep.

Slowly you began to creep out of the cave, trying not to wake up the beast, you tip toed through the rocks, safety looking so close, until you heard a low rumble, a low growl.

Turning your head, you saw he had woken up, his mandibles moved, clicking at you, his large face looking down on you.

You took a step back, and he took one towards you, this continued for a bit until you took a bad step, there was no more ground to support your weight, you began to fall back, your arms flailed in the air, you closed your eyes bracing for a pain that never came.

The feeling of a strong arm around your waist replaced the feeling of air rushing past you. Peeking your eyes open, the beasts face was inches from yours, he had caught you with his arm.

A blush formed across your face, as he pulled you back onto stable ground. He moved his arm away, and took a step back, kneeling down so that his eyes were at level with yours.

You stared at him intently, noticing his strong build, his large frame, and his large muscular feet and legs.

"T-thank you....", you stuttered, not taking your eyes off of him.

The sound of clicks continued to sound from him, he rose his hand up, and seemed to touch the side of his mask, you could hear some sort of weird sound come from it, it confused you.

"Y-you are...welcome..." the beast said, turning his head at you.

"You can talk?", you said, shock still in your voice.

He turned his head in the other direction, raising his hand and tapping his helmet with his finger, indicating it was letting him talk to her.

With that same finger, it left his helmet and reached towards your neck, you reeled back in fear. Causing him to stop in shock, and hesitate.

"Do...not worry..."he grumbled, moving his hand some more.

You watched with one eye open, still weary of him, his finger reached closer, and he used it to turn your chin to look back at him, and it slid down your chin to your neck, tracing the rope burn.

"Who....did this....to you...?"

You sighed in dispare.

"My master did....", you whimpered, sadness was showing its way through your face.

"Master....? You...own one...another...?" he asked, taking his hand back, getting closer still kneeling down, using his hands to move over.

"Some...own others...and others like me, are born to serve," you said, bringing your own hands up to your rope burn.

"That...is not right...Why do you...not fight back...?"

"I-I can't fight..."

"I will show you", of course that came out clearly.

With that he stood at his full height, and held his hand out to you. You looked at him, and at his hand, slowly putting your small one into his, A purr came from his chest, as he picked you up onto his back, and then slid down the side of the cliff, as it was nothing to him.

On his back, he began to walk you into the forest, taking you to a clearing and setting you down. He walked out a bit farther than you, pulling a large spear off his back, he twirled it in the air in an intimidating fashion. Holding it straight ahead of him, it extended and sharp blades came out of the ends on both sides.

For the next couple of weeks, he taught you how to use the weapon, teaching you the motions, how to strike, and how to defend yourself. He also showed you how to hunt, how to trap, and how to skin an animal. He told you these are very necessary if you were going to live in the wilderness.

You happily learned from him, taking time to listen to him very closely, every word he said, every motion he made, every strike, you made sure to absorb all of it.

You sat at the entrance of the cave, watching the fire crackle under that days kill, the smell of meat filling the cave.

"Tomorrow you will learn hand to hand fighting," it seemed the more he spoke to you, the clearer his words became.

"Hand to hand...?" you looked at him, as he sat on the other side of the fire, he stared off into the forest.

"To defend yourself from them," he stated, pointing his hands into the forest, his finger directing your eyes over the tree line, cross the large lake, you could see the small flickers of fire from a camp, most likely the people who brought you here.

You agreed, taking the meat off the fire and taking small bites.

"Where are you from?," you asked, looking at him, the heat of the fire making your face warm, yep the fire nothing else you little sicko.

He turned his large head to look at you, almost as if he could smile he would, his mandibles extended and clicked together as he looked towards the stars.

"I come from a place called Yautja Prime..." he started, speaking of his home life. You sat and listened to him long after the fire had died down.

The next morning started as usual, you ate breakfast, and he carried you to the training spot.

When you arrived he kneeled in front of you, his hand reached up removing his helmet, the first time you would have been seeing his face, his golden eyes looking into yours, yet you did not flinch at all, you felt something but you did not know what yet. His mandibles clicked, and he tilted his head, not expecting your reaction. Putting his mask back up and put a bit of space between the two of you.

He turned to you and spoke.

"Hit me."

"What?!"

"Hit. Me."

Slowly you began to walk up to him, and then a walk turned into a run, you clenched your fist, and went to hit him, never making contact with him, his large hand grabbed your first and raised it above your head, he threw you to the ground.

"Again."

So you tried again, this time going at him from the left, the same outcome, this went on for an hour, your grew frustrated, clearly the two of you were far too different in size and strength.

You sat on the ground, upset with yourself, he knelt down next to you.

"Again?", he asked, looking at you,

"I can't hit you...you're too strong..." you said under your breath,

"Perhaps, I have been too hard, I will allow you to hit me, I will take the full hit."

"Really?"

He turned his head in the other direction, as a sign saying, "Go ahead"

But you were feeling something in your chest, when he turned his head, you placed a kiss against the side of his face, causing him to startle, he turned to you quickly, and then you clocked him in the face.

He growled for a second, and looked at you, and lunged at you, grabbing you from under your butt, and lifted you into the air.

"Good job, you have outsmarted me" he purred.

You just stared at him in awe like you do quite often, a red flush going across your face as he lifted you up effortlessly.

"You're...strong.." you said, looking down at him

"I am very strong...you are very small..."he chuckled, looking up at you.

"Much stronger than me" you smiled, looking around the trees at this new height

"I could...show you my true strength..." he purred at you.

You gulp, and look down at him.

"Your...real strength...go ahead..." your eyes are wide, wondering what his display will be to you.

"Then I shall..." he said with a huff, placing his hand on your stomach pushing you up, and then his other, raising you far above his head, and then removing one hand, "Show you my whole strength"

You stared in awe, as he held you above his head with a single hand, no sign of weakness, you began to laugh.

"Oh my! " you called out, not noticing someone was staring at you with passion and care in his eyes.

"Do you...wish to mate?" he asked, seriousness in his voice

"WHAT?" you gasped, wiggling on his hand, causing him to lose his balance of you, causing you to slip out of his hand, and fall towards the ground below.

Once again, the pain of the ground never hit your body, just the comforting touch of his hands around your body filling that space.

You looked at him, your eyes not straying away from his face, your face redder than an apple.

"Well...?" he asked, standing you back on your feet, awaiting your answer.

Standing there you began to fidget with your fingers, looking at your feet, you began to play this scene in your head many times before speaking from the heart.

"I...do..." you whispered, hearing the sound of him coming closer, kneeling down and looking at you from below.

"Then you will be mine?" he asked, his fingers grazed your face.

You nodded in agreement, and whoosh, you were pulled close to his chest, hearing his excited heart rate. You stood between his knees, you pulled back a bit, and placed your hands on his face, of course you would kiss him, if he had lips. You settled for placing one on his head. A happy purr emanating from his chest, as he pulled you into am embrace.

"Mine..." he said in a low purr,

It seemed like the two of you stood there forever, just the two of you alone in that clearing, until he suddenly stood up, placing a protective hand ahead of you, as his face scanned the bush line.

"What's wrong..?" you asked, looking up at him

He didn't respond, he eyes snapped to a certain area, and soon a large bear walked out, sniffing the ground, clearly following the scent of something it wanted.

It looked up, sniffing the air in your direction, letting out a roar, it began walking closer.

Sure all your training was good, but this was a bear, and you in fact were not the size of a bear.

He stood between you in the bear, as the bear began to charge. It leapt up, throwing itself into his arms. He quickly punched it in the face, as the bear clawed at his back, grabbing the bears sides, he threw it back on the ground. Standing up straight he took a stance, the bear shook off the blow of hitting the ground, and charged once again, speeding up, it was closer to him, but he quickly side stepped, and punched it in the side of the head, immediately knocking the bear to the ground with a sickening crack.

You looked, shock all over your face as he picked up the bear with his arms, and held it above his head, he let out a roar of victory, and threw it back to the ground, turning his attention back to you.

"Are you alright...?" he asked, kneeling.

"You just....punched a bear...to death...it was one punch..." you stammered,

"I told you I was strong," he chuckled.

"Yeah but, I didn't believe you could even," you shook an open hand towards the dead bear.

"Does that surprise you...?" he said, a smirk would be across his face (IF HE HAD LIPS), a bit of tease in his voice

"You told me to hit you, as if I could ever beat you."

"Yes, but why does that matter?"

"I could never beat you..."

"Why is that?" he scooted closer to you.

"You're clearly stronger," you looked at him, confused as to why he was teasing you, now seeing he was now kneeling over you, like me hovering over that sweet deep dish pizza.

Before you knew it he lunged at you, his face in the crook of your neck, a growl emanating from his chest, you knew what was to happen next, and you were fine with it.

You were fine with his clawed hand going down your body, his sharp claw ripping your only clothing off of your body. He took off his mask and tossed it to the side.

He opened his mouth, and his long tongue slithered out, sliding between your breasts, as he moved the soft spot of his hand over your nipple, feeling it between his fingers.

You let out a soft moan, watching him untie the loin cloth from the back of himself. Letting it drop between you, and showing all of himself to you.

You could feel your body change in excitement as the sight of that going into you made you wetter, he quickly turned you over onto your hands and knees, and you felt the tip of himself touch your slick.

Slowly, he eased his way into you, feeling his chest press against your back, his hands by yours, his tongue sliding on the back of your neck, he began to thrust all of his length into you.

You fell to the ground, crying out in pleasure as all of him slipped into you, he growled in pleasure, moving his hips again, and again, and again. The sounds of your skins slapping one another seemed to echo through the forest. You were crying on the ground, in a state of pure ecstasy.

Moving positions, he slid a hand under your stomach, and pulled you up, now on his knees, he gripped your hips, and moved you up and down against his length, he growled in pleasure, feeling your soft walls around all of him.

You could feel his claws press into you ever so tightly, even while on his lap, he was still much taller than you, you looked up to see him staring directly at you, taking one of his hands he gripped one of your breasts, continuing to pump himself into you, your juices mixing and creating a small pool between the two of you on the ground.

He looked to the sky, and let out a roar of pleasure once more, quickening his pace, gripping your breast tighter as his movement began to get rougher, the hand on your hip moved to your front, as he began to rub your clit, causing you to throw your head back into his chest, his tongue slipping down from his mouth, as he arched his back, sliding his tongue into your mouth.

Your body was flushed red, and you moaned as the two tongue swirled together, feeling the pool of pleasure build up in your stomach.

"I'm...I'm..." you cried,

His hand grabbed your hips again roughly, he began to slam into you harder, this sent you over the edge, causing you to climax, it shot out of you onto his legs, and he roared once again.

Taking in the scent of it all, his primal side came over, he threw you down onto the ground again, not breaking away from you, he began to rapidly thrust into you over and over, causing you to cry out, he began to roar, as his body began to shake, his climax rippling over him as he filled you up.

That night, the two of you laid in his nest, a fur over your body as you no longer had any clothing. He was okay with that, as at home it was not uncommon for others to walk bare.

His large hand traced your sleeping face, as he looked at the claw marks across your body.

He was going to cut his hunting trip early, as he had found his prize.

#predator x reader #yautja #yautja x reader #predator #feral predator #feral predator x reader #prey x reader

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xoxoxkisses · 1 month

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HELLOOO! How are you! , well l hope you are doing just great!☺️ and l was hoping lf you could do a request for me? lts a random one , lts where the reader ls Douma’s child , and she turned out exactly like him but she doesn’t want to be shown as a demon child so she ran away and trained to be a hashira until one day at a mission with one of the hashiras (prob muichiro since l want lt to be a muichiro x reader) , Shinobu realized that the reader has the same rainbow eyes as douma and she let the master know and they confronted her , afterwards the reader disappeared and went to stay with douma after so much time and Muichiro misses his lover , this was after Muichiro and her got together.😅 btw l love all your content 🤩

one of a kind

Muichiro x reader

warnings: not proofread

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I always knew I was different from the others. My father was a demon, and my mother..well I don’t know anything about her. My father however, was a weird demon, he was always unusually happy and bubbly. He had multi colored eyes which most demons didn’t have. I had them. I also had his personality. When I realized I was becoming just like him, I ran away. I didn’t want to be known as the demon child, or especially his child.

That’s why I became a member of the demon slayer corps. No one knew I was half a demon. I could go out into the sun, and I didn’t have fangs. The one thing was my eyes.

I was a Hashira, the highest rank you could be. I had amazing friends, and an amazing boyfriend, Muichiro. We had been dating for 2 years. Everything in my life was perfect, absolutely perfect.

Well that was until one day.

Muichiro and I had been assigned together for a mission. It went pretty good, there were no injuries reported and everyone was safe. One of the demons had accidentally flicked something into my eye during battle and it was swollen, so I had to stop at the butterfly mansion to get it looked at.

I told Muichiro to go on without me and that I would meet with him soon. I went inside and asked Aoi for Shinobu. It didn’t take long for her to wave me into her office.

“What’s wrong Y/n?” “During my mission, a demon flicked something into my eye. I just need it looked at.” She nodded at me as she went to her desk and opened a drawer and pulled out a small light. She walked back over and asked me to open my eye, I did, and she held the light up. I saw her breath catch in her throat as she looked at it. “Is everything ok?” I could sense her nervousness. “Yes! Everything is perfectly fine, just looks like there is just some dirt. Here, take these eye drops.” She handed me a bottle of them and sent me on my way. ————————————————————————

Master called us to a meeting the next day. Everyone was confused because there was nothing to meet about.

“Good afternoon children. I suppose you’re all confused on why you’re all here, correct?” Everyone answered with ‘Yes master.’ He smiled softly as he began to speak again. “I have been informed a demon has been fighting amongst us.” Everyone gasps, including me, but my heart also sinks. “Y/n, come here please.” Everyone’s eyes went to me, I looked at my boyfriend who looked at me worriedly. i walked up to the master and stood beside him. “Children, Y/n here is half of a demon. Ms Kocho has informed me that her father is uppermoon 2.” I gasped. That’s why she was nervous yesterday.

Everyone stared at me. They were voting on what to do with me. Finally they suggested to execute me. This scared me. I broke free from the masters grip and ran off. ————————————————————————

I went back to live with my father. No one has seen me in years, and i wanted it to stay that way. However, I missed Muichiro. I wished he was there for me, but he wasn’t. Little did you know, he missed you and looked for you everyday.

I went out for a walk one day to get out away from my father. Today was one of his eating days and you hated them. As I was walking through the forest, I felt a familiar presence. I decided to check it out, so I went further into the woods and found a small clearing. There sat my boyfriend. My Muichiro. I wanted to cry. He looked so different now. Unfortunately for me, he looked over and saw me, his eyes went wide. I ran off, he was also running after me. He had gotten a lot quicker, and i had gotten slower. He caught up to me.

“Y/n! I can’t believe it!” He spun me around, admiring Me. “Hey Muich-“ He pulled me into a kiss. I had missed this, a lot. “Y/n, please, come back, or take me with you.” I shook my head. “I can’t. It’s too dangerous for us both.” “Then let’s run away together. I want to be with you Y/n.” I took his idea into consideration, but agreed. I would run away with the love of my life. ————————————————————————

We ended up running to a far away village. We made a home there. No one had heard from the two of us in years. My life may not be perfect now, but at least I have the one thing I always wanted: Muichiro

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a/n: this is rushed I’m sorry. I’m surviving off of 3 hours of sleep and I’ve had workouts so I’m tired. I’ve also had 0 motivation.

#viralpost #demon slayer #demon slayer x reader #kny muichiro #kny x reader #muichiro x reader #muichiro tokito #tokitō muichirō #demon slayer muichiro #muichiro fluff

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fairy-writes · 3 months

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hi! if its no trouble for u, could i request an edward elric/reader fluff with a lot of pining coming from him?? i adore your fma fics so much!! <333

TOUCHY

Reblogs and Comments are greatly appreciated!!

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Fandom(s): Fullmetal Alchemist

Pairing(s): Edward Elric x Reader

Word Count: 2.4k

Genre(s)/Tag(s): Gender Neutral!Reader, Fluff, Pining, Kind of Oblivious!Edward?

Notes: Thank you for liking my silly little FMA fics! I adore writing them!!

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You were always touchy.

Not in a creepy or perverse way. But in the way that you’d always hold Edward’s hand when out traveling. You’d play with his hair whenever he allowed you to. When you’d make dinner, you’d brush your hand across his shoulders as if reassuring yourself that he was still there as he sat at the kitchen table and rambled about alchemy.

All of which happened more than he liked to admit.

But he couldn’t bring himself to care.

1904

It started when you were young.

His mother had just baked an apple pie, but for whatever reason, wouldn’t let him eat some. Nor Alphonse, who was still just a tiny child at only four years old. Ed himself was five, but that wasn’t the point.

The point was that he couldn’t have any apple pie!

“Get your shoes on, Ed. We’re going out.” His mother called from the kitchen, where she was lacing up Al’s shoes. Ed grumbled but sat down by the front door and obediently started tying his shoes. He looped the bunny ears around one another and tied a sloppy knot, but that didn’t matter.

Maybe his mother would let him have some of that apple pie when they were done getting back from whatever they were doing!

His stomach rumbled at the thought, and his mouth watered, but he pushed on and carefully held his little brother’s hand as his mother carried the pie in one hand and held Al’s free hand in the other.

They stopped at a little house just down the street. Ed frowned and looked up at his mom, but she was watching the people file in and out with armfuls of boxes.

Maybe someone was moving in?

She eventually headed up the three steps to the front door and knocked. Al let go of Ed’s hand and clung to her dress. Ed stood a little behind and jumped as the front door opened. It was an older woman, Ed didn’t know her age as he had never seen her before. Her face split into a polite smile,

“Can I help you?” She asked. Her voice reminded Ed of Granny Pinako’s: kind and welcoming with just a touch of sternness. His mom smiled that winning smile of hers, and she held out the apple pie.

What was she doing?!

“My name is Trisha Elric. These are my sons Edward and Alphonse. We just wanted to welcome you into the neighborhood.” She said, and the woman’s face warmed like a sunrise. She took the pie gratefully and knelt to greet the two boys. Ed scowled. He didn’t like this lady. She got their apple pie!

“My name is Agnes, but everyone calls me Grammy. It’s nice to meet you both.” She said kindly, and Al peeked his head from where he had been hiding it in the fabric of their mother’s dress.

“‘m Al.” He mumbled, and at his mother’s insistence, Ed jabbed a finger at his chest.

“I’m Ed!” He said, still a bit miffed at the idea of not getting any apple pie. Agnes looked behind her and called a name before turning back to the Elric brothers.

“I have a grandchild about your age. I think you’ll like them.” She said cryptically, and you appeared from around the side of the house.

You were dressed in a pair of dirt-covered overalls and carried a bug net over your shoulder. You had a grin decorating your features that put Winry’s to shame as you scampered up the steps.

“Grammy! What’s that?!” You chirped, and your grandmother gestured to the boys and their mother.

“These are the Elric’s. They brought us a pie to welcome us to our new home. Can you say hello?” She said gently, and you turned, dropping your bug net and throwing your arms around Ed and Al with a cheer.

“Thank you for the pie!”

Ed pushed you off stubbornly, and Al froze stiffly. You stumbled a bit from his push, but your smile didn’t disappear in the slightest. You turned to Agnes and pointed at them,

“Can they come in and have some pie, Grammy?” You asked, and Ed perked up the slightest bit. (Not that he’d admit it.)

Agnes hemmed and hawed before looking to their mother.

“Would it be alright? I don’t want to keep you if you’re busy.” She said, and their mother looked down at the two young children.

“What do you think, boys?” She asked, and before Al could even get a word in, Ed piped up.

“Yes!” He said, and his mom raised an eyebrow. He deflated slightly at the look. “Yes, please.” He mumbled, and she smiled.

“If it isn’t too much trouble, we’d love to share some with you.”

And that kickstarted your friendship.

1905

“Ed! Al! There you are!” Your voice carries up the hill where the brothers are reading under a tree. Ed looks up and scowls when he sees you tromping up the hill with a basket in one hand and your ever-trusty bug net in the other.

He didn’t want to see you right now.

You’d just pull them away from their research.

From however close they were to bringing their mother back to life.

You made it to the top of the hill and flopped down next to them, swinging your legs over Ed’s as you dug through the basket. Al sat up immediately, his stomach rumbling already as you begin to pull out sandwiches and thermoses of something to drink.

“Granny Pinako said you guys hadn’t eaten yet, so Grammy made you lunch!” You said and tried to hand Ed a sandwich. He pushed it away.

“We aren’t hungry.” He snapped and looked over to where Al was already stuffing his face with a sandwich. You raised an eyebrow as his own stomach groaned and his face flushed pink.

Ed angrily took a sandwich and unwrapped it, shoving half in his mouth to your surprised squawk.

“You’ll choke!”

“I’m fine!” He garbled out through his mouthful and chewed, stubbornly refusing to look at you. You had adjusted in a half-circle to lay your head in his lap, gently pushing the book he had been reading out of the way. However, you carefully saved his spot with the scrap of paper he had used as a bookmark before pushing it aside.

At least you didn’t dogear the page.

“What are you guys working on?” You asked, and Al shut his book quickly before you could get a peek.

“It’s a secret!” He said quickly, and you frowned, reaching up to poke Ed’s nose. He swatted your hand away.

“Alright… I won’t pry. It’s probably alchemy anyway, and that stuff makes my head hurt. Just… Don’t get hurt, okay?” You say seriously, and Ed blinks. You weren’t going to pry? You were one of the nosiest people he knew! You were always asking questions, dumb or not. It was one of the reasons he liked hanging around you.

1910

When Ed opened his eyes, he was met with a familiar ceiling.

What?

The last thing he remembered was… What was the last thing he remembered?

A white room.

A set of stone doors.

Oh… Right…

“You’re awake!” Comes your voice, and he turns to the left to see you sitting at his bedside, a book in your lap and an empty glass of water on the bedside table. You smiled at him, shut your book, and set it aside.

“Where am I?” He asked, his voice cracking from disuse. How long had he been unconscious?

“At Granny Pinako’s. It’s been two days. Al brought you here after…” You trailed off, and your expression saddened.

Al!

Where was his little brother?!

You must’ve noticed the panic on his face and put a hand on his to keep him from freaking out. It worked better than he would’ve liked to admit.

“Al’s okay. He’s helping Granny Pinako in the kitchen. I can go fetch him if you’d like.” Ed nodded, and you smiled once again, patting his hand before leaving the room.

Al tumbled in soon after, the relief evident in his new tinny armored voice.

“Brother! You’re awake!” He exclaimed. Ed simply grinned, suddenly feeling very exhausted despite having just woken up. He slumped back against his pillows, feeling almost… empty, as memories rushed back to him.

Human Transmutation.

Their mother. Or rather what was supposed to be their mother.

The Truth.

Losing his limbs.

He looked down, spotting where his right arm and left leg used to be. They were really gone…

“Y’know, they stayed by your side the entire time.” Al’s voice breaks him from his reverie. He looked over at his brother with a frown.

“Who?” Al chuckles and jerks his head toward the door where you had left them. He was mature for a ten-year-old, but then again, he had to be.

“They didn’t leave your side the entire two days you were sleeping. They even held your hand, too!” He said.

Ed squirmed in his bed, cheeks flushed pink, and avoided his teasing younger brother’s gaze. Al’s tone of voice indicated that he was having fun teasing Ed. He always had way too much fun teasing him when it came to you.

And Ed could never figure out why.

1911

“You can’t!” You cried, catching Ed’s arm as he packed his suitcase. He was almost ready. Ready for the State Alchemist’s exam. Ready to get their bodies back. There was only one thing in the way and that was you.

“Why not?” He snapped back, pulling his automail hand from your grip and shoving his notes in his suitcase.

“Because you know how I feel about the military! You know what they’ll have you do?! They’ll have you kill people!” You exclaimed, and he scowled down at his folded clothes.

But he doesn’t say anything.

Because what can he say? He knew full well how you felt about the military. You had opposed their place in Ishval the moment you knew what was happening, even as a child. You opposed the genocide of the Ishvalan people to the point it would get you in trouble at school.

Ed knew he wouldn’t be able to refuse if he became a dog of the military. He wouldn’t be able to say no. But this is one of the only chances he has to get Al’s body back.

So he had to go.

And in going, he left you behind.

1911

He did it.

He was officially a member of the military.

A State Alchemist.

A dog.

Ed leaned his head on the train window as he watched the scenery pass by. Resembool was but a few hours away, and then he’d see Al again. See Winry and Pinako. See Grammy. See you.

Would you hate him for joining the military? He had left early in the morning before you woke up, so he didn’t get to see you one last time before leaving for his exam. Al, Winry, and Pinako had seen him off, and he thought that was good enough.

So why did his heart ache in his chest?

The ride to Resembool was thankfully uneventful, and soon, he was home. His automail creaked a bit; he had forgotten to maintain it in the few days he had been at Central. But that didn’t matter. He slung his suitcase over his shoulder and made the long walk back to Rockbell Automail.

Den alerted everyone to his presence by barking. Al came rushing out around the side of the house in excitement as soon as he heard his brother’s voice. Winry peeked her head out her balcony window and waved before ducking back inside to work on whatever project she had been working on. And Granny Pinako came out to greet him.

Ed heard the pattering of feet just as he opened the front door before he was quite literally tackled to the ground.

It didn’t take much to realize who exactly had tackled him.

It was you!

He managed to sit up before you were throwing your arms around his neck and nearly knocking him over again.

“You idiot! You left without saying goodbye!” You whispered, and he just hugged you back in a rare show of affection.

“Sorry.” That was all he managed.

You didn’t hate him.

You still cared.

And for some reason, that was better than anything else.

1915

They had done it.

Father was defeated.

Al had his body back. Ed had his arm back, but that paled in comparison to the fact that Al had his body back.

Already, his younger brother had quite the appetite but was forced to stick to soups and soft foods while he got used to having a mouth and stomach again. He was supposed to start physical therapy as soon as he was given a clean bill of health.

There was a knock on their shared hospital door, and he looked up from where Winry was fixing up his automail leg. Who was here? It wasn’t Granny Pinako. She was getting too old to travel now. It wasn’t Grammy. She had passed away last year from an illness. Was it you? Or was it someone from the military?

It was the former.

You tumbled in with a bouquet of flowers and their names on your lips.

“Granny said—” You come to a halt when you see Al sitting up in bed, eating slowly with some help from a nurse. Tears well up in your eyes, and the flowers in your hands begin to tremble.

“You made it!” Winry exclaimed and got up to embrace you. You seemed to be on cloud nine as you gave her a hug, then Al, and then stood before Ed. Your lower lip wobbled, and he vaguely heard Winry and the nurse helping Al out of the room to give you both some privacy.

“You have your arm back.” You said softly, and he held it up, flexing the nonexistent muscles almost as proof. Your tears welled up once again, and you set the flowers down on the bedside table before you hugged him tightly. He wraps his arms—both of them—tightly around your middle and pulls you almost into his lap. Your head nestles in the crook of his shoulder, and he can hear your sniffles as you cry tears of joy.

You were always touchy.

But he didn’t mind it one bit.

#fullmetal alchemist x reader #edward elric x reader #ed elric x reader #fma x reader #fmab x reader #fullmetal alchemist edward x reader #fullmetal alchemist edward elric x reader #fairy writes

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elusivewildflower · 2 months

Note

i would love to hear your domestic six thoughts (if you have any)

Oooo, yes I do have some domestic Six thoughts! Domestic Six and letting him be all soft is probably one of my favorite things to think about, and some of these will tie in heavily with The Other Fitzroy series. Shout out to @lloydsbitch for brainstorming with me for some non-smutty ideas 🤣

I think that after Six gets away from the CIA that he will teach himself how to become a handyman. He's not used to having so much free time, so he needs something that will keep his mind and body active. I feel his father probably taught him some things, since he was so determined to make his sons "macho," and that he's learned things as needed throughout his life -- but I'm talking about learning how to remodel a whole house just for you. You want to turn that spare room with a lovely view into a library? He'll build bookcases and a window seat by hand to transform it into the space you've dreamed of.

Whenever he's not busy keeping active, he's more than happy to sit on the couch and binge watch your favorite shows and movies. Six hasn't exactly had the time or internet access to watch everything that's came out in the last 20 years, so he has a lot to catch up on. Expect to spend several nights a week and potentially all weekend cuddled up on the couch, his arm wrapped around your waist and your head on his chest. But if you're watching an action movie, he won't be able to stop himself from calling out everything that's unrealistic.

Six clearly likes to be self-reliant after retiring, so he also has a garden in the backyard that he tends to on a daily basis. You certainly enjoy watching him tend to the crops from the covered porch. He's shirtless, dripping with sweat and covered in dirt by the time he comes up to you for a refreshing glass of lemonade. It's also fun to watch him chop firewood in the fall with a steaming cup of hot cocoa. He might be wearing more layers in the cold air, but the sound of his grunts carry across the yard and straight to your.....*ahem*

There was never much time for date nights while on the run, so Six makes quality time one of his big priorities after you've settled down. It still can be difficult to achieve with a child to take care of, but at least Claire is old enough to babysit for a few hours. Something easy that the two of you enjoy is taking a drive out to get ice cream (and maybe some fries to dip in it? I love salty & sweet, sue me.) and sitting together in the car. You'll find someplace to park and eat your dessert, happily chatting or snuggling up to each other. And if you can't manage to get away from the house, then Six will go out and get the treats for you after the kids are asleep. You'll cuddle up on the couch, or on the loveseat on the porch during the summer, and fall deeper in love with the sweet man by your side.

smutty thoughts are under the cut.......

For starters, I want to give credit to @hederasgarden for this because she's the one who said Six has a housewife kink and I fully agree with it. By no means is he a lazy partner, but he does love to watch you cook in the kitchen and clean around the house. Both of those things make him look at you with hearts in his eyes and a growing erection in his pants. Especially if you happen to be wearing a pretty sundress. If the two of you are home alone when he gets riled up, he'll take you anywhere. He'll fuck you on the countertop, bend you over the side of the couch, or even halfway up the stairs on the way to the bedroom.

I also believe that Six has a major breeding kink. It might take him a year or two of being safe & settled to fully give himself into the kink, but once he does, he wants to pump you full of his seed every night. Six wants to see you barefoot and pregnant, and better yet — in a pretty sundress — and he won't rest until he gets it. If you thought him being riled up with his housewife kink was bad, just wait until he has to have you morning, noon, and night while you're ovulating. 🫣

After having kids, it's a lot harder to get that alone time together, but Six will happily sneak you away for a quickie. He knows your body so well that he can get both of you off in under ten minutes. Laundry needs switched over? He'll follow you in to "help." As soon as the dryer is on, he's got you bent over it — the sound of clothes tumbling around helps cover the noise of him pounding into you. Your baby just went down for a nap? Six will take you into your shared bedroom for a quickie, giving you an orgasm that puts you right to sleep. After all, you should be sleeping when the baby is, right? You need your rest, and while two of the most important people in his life are napping, he'll go downstairs to clean up the house or prep for dinner.

#sierra six headcanons #court gentry headcanons #requests #goose groupie sleepover #myfics #my fics #sierra six x reader #court gentry x reader

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mamamittens · 1 year

Text

Oh Sweet Child of Mine (Luffy AU End)

The Main series presumes platonic feelings all around. This is specifically an end shipping the reader with Yandere Luffy.

Because I didn't get clarification on what the original requestor (an anon) wanted, I assumed romantic but no smut.

Oh! Slight spoilers for Gear 5 and Wano.

Warnings: General yandere vibes and... technically kidnapping. Fluff.

You know the drill about yandere behavior in real life.

Stay safe and have fun!

Word Count: 1,205

You’d heard about Wano a lot over the past few years. Even before officially becoming a pirate you’d heard about the country in lockdown and it’s many fanciful resources and history. About Kaido and Oden. It seems… strange to be in it now.

Celebrating it’s liberation that you helped only a little, the bulk being taken care of by Luffy, Law, and Kid. Mostly you’d been helping Marco and Ace run interference and patching up those that needed help.

The idea that Luffy—Straw Hat Luffy—took down Kaido, King of the Beasts, was strange. But you’d seen it with your own eyes (from a safe distance) and it was a sight to behold. Gear 5, as Luffy called it, something else as well. Finally falling into sync with the true potential of his devil fruit though he’d still need to work at it.

Oyaji had organized a large feast for the occasion, incredibly happy that his brother had been avenged at long last. Thatch and Sanji working together to provide an incredible array of food alongside the now free citizens. The two chefs getting along well as they traded recipes and ideas as they worked. And honestly, it took all their attention to ensure that there was enough food for everyone—even Ace and Luffy who ate enough on a regular basis to astound literal giants.

Wrapped in bandages and as lively as ever, Luffy crowed to Ace at every opportunity that he beat out his big brother for liberating Wano. Ace would, naturally, pause with a mouthful of food to wrestle his brother into the ground for his insolence. Sabo—unexpectedly a third brother—cutting in every so often when they got too rowdy.

After eating dirt and a hunk of meat bigger than your head, Luffy paused, eyes fixing on you as he grinned.

“Hey! Join my crew!”

Your brothers choked and coughed beside you, several cackling at the audacity and muttering about Akagami being a bad influence. You smiled wryly, flashing your right wrist where Oyaji’s mark was boldly inked in a light blue.

“I’m already apart of another crew, Luffy.” You reminded him and he pouted.

“You said to ask you again when I found the drums! I did! It’s in Gear 5!”

Ah. You did say that, didn’t you?

Marco threw his arm over your shoulder, his smile a bit wry and sharp for the occasion.

“You’re getting a little bold there after taking down one Yonko, you really think you’re ready to take on another?” Marco asked. Luffy huffed, Ace watching him with an amused grin.

“It’s not about your dad! It’s about them! And I want them on my crew!” Luffy protested. Marco narrowed his eyes.

“Oi. You making plans for their devil fruit? You really think we’ll just give them up because you said so?”

Luffy frowned, confused as he tilted his head.

“What’s their fruit got anything to do with it? They’d make a good fit for my crew and that’s that.” You smiled, chuckling a little as Luffy looked right at you. “I don’t mind that you’re part of Banana-Stache’s crew right now. I just want to be the Pirate King with you.”

You blinked in surprise.

“You’re bold, Straw Hat.” You muttered, taking a sip of your drink. “Why would I leave Oyaji to go with you?”

Luffy huffed, brows scrunching as he tried to think of how to phrase his reasoning.

“I wanted you to join my crew when we first met but you weren’t ready yet. Not to join anyone’s crew. But now you are!” Luffy whined, nose crinkling. “And my crew is strong enough now that no one would need your fruit anyway…”

Ace laughed, shoving down Luffy’s head and ruffling his hat roughly.

“You’re such a persistent shit, Lu! C’mon, what’s the real reason you want them on your crew? I know it’s not their fruit—and they are pretty great—but what’s your real aim here?” Ace demanded loudly.

Luffy smacked Ace’s hands away with a cry of complaint.

“I wanna take them on an adventure they’ll never forget! With my whole crew! I want to show them everything! Anything they want to see!” Luffy declared, much to the shock of everyone there. Ace looked stunned, lips twitching into a smile as he narrowed his eyes at his little brother. “I want to give them the world!”

“Y-You… you sound like you’ve got a crush?!” Ace breathed in disbelief.

Luffy paused, almost as surprised as everyone else. Wide eyes turning to you as you could almost see the gears turning in his head.

The air grew heavy as your crew started to grow restless and a little unhappy with the new possible revelation.

Then, just as suddenly, it stopped, Luffy sitting up with a relaxed smile.

“Huh. Yeah.” Luffy looked at Ace with a wide grin. “I guess I do, shishishishishi~!”

There was an immediate outcry of denial around you, Marco pulling you behind him as you heard the offended gasps around you.

A stretchy limb snaked around the bodies between you and pulled you through the crowd until you stumbled into Luffy. Eager and laughing loudly, he hugged you, much to the protest of your crew.

The drums of liberation in your ear as you reeled in shock.

That was… really unexpected.

“You’re a cocky brat Straw Hat!” Oyaji declared with a sharp smile. “Do you really think you could make them take back my mark? That I’d let you?”

Luffy pulled back from nuzzling your cheek, grinning over your shoulder.

“I wouldn’t make them get rid of your mark, old man! Your family!” Luffy lowered his voice, hand reaching down to press his thumb over the thundering pulse in your left wrist. “I’d want your left hand anyway.”

You gasped, face red at the implications.

“WHAT! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO THEM?!” Ace screamed, reaching over to try and pry Luffy off of you. Luffy cackled, wrapping his arms around you in tight circles as he danced away. Keeping you firmly pressed against his chest.

“Don’t worry, Ace! You’re invited!”

“Invited to WHAT?! Luffy!” Ace screeched chasing after you both as you laughed hysterically, unsure of what to say to that. Sabo joined shortly, the two brothers chasing after as Luffy just kept laughing louder and louder, hair turning puffy and white as he rounded the bonfire in mad circles.

“You’re lucky you’re cute.” You huffed, a little breathless from laughing so hard. Luffy literally lit up, his smile wide and beaming with light.

“Hear that?! I’m cute!” Luffy declared happily.

“You can’t go with him just because he’s cute!”

“I thought we raised you better than that!”

“Stop corrupting them, you brat!”

“Bluebird, no!”

“That’s it! You’re grounded! Again!”

You laughed, hugging Luffy back as he launched himself into the sky, Zoro and Sanji covering his escape.

“I’m glad you’re ready for me now. I don’t think I could have waited much longer to take you with me.” Luffy admitted, eyes a bright, glowing red. He squeezed you a little harder, the threat clear.

You… don’t think you were going back to the Moby Dick after this. No matter how hard your crew protested.

#one piece yandere #yandere luffy #oh sweet child of mine #reader insert #luffy x reader

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moeitsu · 6 months

Text

The Tie Which Linked My Soul To Thee

Summary: It's time to collect a debt

Ao3 Wattpad Masterlist - All Chapters Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.5 Ch.6 Ch.7 Ch.8 Ch.9 Ch.10

Tags: Arthur Morgan/Original Female Character, Widowed, Original Character, Mutual Pining, Slow Build, Eventual Smut, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, High Honor Arthur Morgan, Friends to Lovers, Child Loss, Trauma, Canon-Typical Violence, Arthur Morgan Does Not Have Tuberculosis, Arthur Morgan Deserves Happiness, Chubby Arthur Morgan, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Ch 4 - The Frost Gleams Where The Flowers Have Been

Time whisked by faster than a hound chasing a rabbit through tall grass. A week had already slipped through Kate's fingers since she first became a part of the camp. Initially planning just a brief stay, she found herself relishing the comforting routine it offered. There was always a warm fire to gather around, a hearty meal to share, and the camaraderie of her newfound friends. But amidst the stability, a yearning for adventure tugged at her heartstrings, urging her to break free from the confines of camp, even if only for a day.

Arthur's comings and goings became a familiar rhythm in the camp's bustling routine. Rarely catching more than a glimpse of him before he vanished on another errand for Dutch, Kate couldn't help but miss his presence. She admired his unwavering dedication to the gang's needs, even if it meant sacrificing his own rest and relaxation. The man seemed to be perpetually on the move, always ready to answer the call of duty, no matter the hour.

Determined to bridge the gap, Kate promised herself to lend a hand the next time Arthur returned to camp, as long as it didn't involve any unsavory activities like killing folk. Meanwhile, she found solace in the company of her fellow campmates. Abigail, Tilly, and Mary-Beth had become her trusted confidantes, bonding over laundry duties and exchanging juicy tidbits of camp gossip. Kate couldn't help but chuckle at the wealth of information she'd amassed about John, courtesy of Abigail's candid revelations. She could probably write a book with how much dirt she had on him.

Kate also found companionship in the likes of Sadie and Lenny, often engaging in games of poker or dominos to while away the hours. Karen and Molly remained enigmatic figures, preferring to keep to themselves, though Kate respected their need for privacy, understanding the complexities of the situation, and Molly’s relationship with Dutch.

Despite their infrequent interactions, Kate held out hope for a chance to connect with Charles, intrigued by the silent strength he exuded. Perhaps a shared hunt would provide the opportunity for meaningful conversation.

━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━

The girls were gathered around the makeshift wooden table, indulging in a lunch of meat and cheese when Micah swaggered over, looking for trouble as usual. Kate had endured the displeasure of conversing with Micah only twice in the past week, and neither encounter had been pleasant. She noticed his penchant for making inappropriate comments, particularly targeting the other girls. When he wasn't being lewd, he took pleasure in needling the other gang members, especially Lenny, Javier, and sometimes even Arthur. Kate knew Arthur would have put him in his place if Dutch hadn't always conveniently intervened. She fought the urge to punch his greasy face when he made a jab about Arthur's weight, as if he were one to talk. After all, Arthur deserved to eat his fill for all the hard work he put in. Micah was always stirring the pot, and today seemed to be no different.

“Which one of you ladies wants to feed me my lunch?” He said smugly, resting both hands on his gun belt and standing uncomfortably close. The girls chose to ignore him.

“Is this how you treat the men who provide for you?” He exclaimed with annoyance.

Kate kept her head down and continued to eat as she spoke, as if Micah were less than an ant, “What exactly have you provided for us Micah? I’ve never seen you bring in food, or money for the matter. You leave and come back with nothing.”

Micah scoffed and sauntered to stand behind Kate, trying to intimidate her, “I provide information sweetheart, I risk my life out there getting leads for jobs.”

She laughed quietly and shook her head, “you poor thing ,” she mused, “I’ll keep you in my prayers.” The other girls giggled at her comment.

Micah stepped closer to her back, she could almost feel the gut of his belly against her hair, “watch your mouth woman.” He threatened.

Kate sighed and leaned her chin against her palm, bored with the conversation, “or what Micah?” She said with an eye-roll.

She heard him take a deep breath, or rather felt it, as he threw personal space at the wind at this point. He bent down to her ear and said lowly, “maybe I should take you to my cot, and fuck that attitude out of you whore .” He growled.

Kate dropped her fork and whipped her elbow around, turning her whole body with force. Micah yelped as her elbow met his nose with a soft wet crunch, bright red blood dripping through his fingers as he looked up between his brows in anger. She had wanted to do that since the day she met him, fed up with how he talks to the women of the camp. This act was for the girls.

“You dont have a dick to fuck me with Micah. You’re a lousy fucken’ excuse for a man,” she declared standing tall, “talk to me like that again and I’ll make sure I’m holding my knife when I swing next time.”

The other members watched in stunned silence as Dutch emerged from his tent, his voice cutting through the tension like a knife. "Enough of that!" he shouted, his gravelly tone signaling an end to the confrontation.

Micah spat at Kate’s feet and walked away, still trying to stem the blood pouring from his nose. She couldn't help but smirk at the sight – it was definitely broken. Sometime during the commotion, Arthur returned to camp, entering from the tree line as Micah left. She nodded in greeting as he approached.

Before she could walk over to him, Dutch intercepted her, clearly annoyed that their squabble had disturbed him. “Kate, my dear friend,” he said in a brusque tone, “why don't you find some work outside of camp today? Hm? Go make yourself useful.” He patted her shoulder.

Kate furrowed her brows at his insinuation. How was this her fault? Micah had clearly started it; he was always stirring up trouble and never finishing it.

“Arthur!” Dutch called out to the approaching cowboy. “Take Kate with you today. On, whatever it is you’re doing.” He waved them off, sounding like a parent trying to pass on their troublesome child to someone else.

Arthur approached with a shrug, “uh, sure. But I just got back-”

“Herr Morgan!” interrupted a voice, causing Arthur to visibly sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose in annoyance. The list of chores never seemed to end, and Arthur was always the one sent to handle them.

“Strauss,” Arthur acknowledged with a tired voice, turning around to greet the wiry old German.

“How is the debt collecting coming along? Have you collected from that fella Downes?” Strauss inquired.

“No…I have not,” Arthur answered flatly.

“Well, as you know, Mister Morgan, we lent him quite a sum, and it seems he has little intention of paying it back,” Strauss explained as he followed Arthur, who was trying to grab a meal for himself after working all day. “You have not seen him yet, I take it?”

Kate stood back, observing the conversation unfold, patiently waiting to talk to Arthur. He was clearly irritated by Strauss’ interruption but tried to maintain politeness as he continued the conversation. “I-I’m sorry, Strauss. I’ve had a lot on my mind. I’ll go give him a gentle reminder.”

“Not so gentle,” the German corrected. “I don't like his kind. They think they are superior. Please take care of this right away.” With that, Strauss made his exit. Kate knew he wasn't trying to be rude or demanding; it was just another task that, for some reason, Arthur was deemed best suited to handle.

As Arthur finished speaking with Strauss, he turned back to Kate with a tired yet apologetic expression. "Sorry ‘bout that. Looks like Dutch has volunteered us for another errand," he said with a weary smile.

Kate grinned in response, unfazed by the prospect of more work, though she had sympathy for the man, he was clearly exhausted. "No worries, Arthur. I'm always up for the adventure," she replied casually, “wanna saddle up after you finish eating?”

"Sounds perfect," Arthur nodded appreciatively, carrying his plate back to the table. The other girls had already cleaned up and returned to their tasks.

“That was a nice swing you pulled on Micah,” Arthur remarked between spoonfuls of stew, “ ‘bout time someone made that asshole bleed. Just wish I could’a done it sooner.”

“I certainly enjoyed it,” Kate admitted with a smirk, “I hate the way he talks to everyone.”

"Yeah, me too," Arthur agreed, his tone filled with frustration, pushing the contents of the leftover stew around with his spoon. "I don't know why Dutch insists on keepin’ him around," he added, glancing around as if afraid of being overheard.

Kate leaned against the table, her gaze following Micah's path. "He ain't good for nothing aside from causing trouble," she remarked, her voice firm.

Arthur brought the bowl to his lips and drained the last of his stew and stood up, determination in his eyes. "I'd give anything to watch that shit-stain hang," he declared as they headed towards their horses.

Kate nodded in agreement. "Amen to that."

━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━

The Downes ranch was a short ride west, Arthur taking the lead as Kate rode beside him. Lorena whinnied with excitement at the chance to stretch her legs and run again.

“How did things go with Mary?” Kate inquired, breaking the comfortable silence. She had been wanting to discuss it with him but hadn't found the opportunity amidst their busy lives.

“It went alright, I guess,” Arthur began, maintaining a steady trot as he settled into the saddle. “Saved her little brother from some crazy cult,” he added with a huff.

“A cult? Good Lord, I hope it wasn't those bastards with the pointy white hoods,” she exclaimed, a hint of concern in her voice.

Arthur chuckled. “Nah, nothing that serious. They called themselves Chelonians, followers of the turtle or something,” he explained, shaking his head with amusement. “Hell if I know, they seemed like they were ready to jump off the cliff when I found them.”

“Yikes, poor kid probably just looking for some kind of purpose in his life,” she remarked with sympathy.

“Yup, ain't we all,” Arthur agreed, scanning the horizon before turning to Kate, “you a religious woman?” he asked curiously.

Kate pondered the question for a moment before responding, “Sorta,” she shrugged, “I used to be, I was raised catholic. My mother was pretty involved in the Vatican before she came here, so she carried a lot of those beliefs with her.”

“Pardon my ignorance, but um, what's a vatican?”

Kate smiled at his question, “it’s a city, in Rome,” she answered, “s’posed to be the Center of Christianity.”

Arthur’s eyes lit up with interest, “Rome? I thought you said you was from Boston?”

She couldn't help but laugh, “I am, my mother was from Rome,” she clarified, “anyways, after she died the whole religion thing didn't really stick. Although sometimes I still find myself prayin’, just don’t know to who.”

Arthur nodded at her answer, taking in the new information. Kate spoke up again and reciprocated his question, “are you a religious man?”

He shook his head firmly, “nah, I don't believe in nothin’.”

“Oh c’mon, you gotta believe in something. What do you make of this mess we call life?” Kate teased, trying to prompt a more serious answer from him.

He sighed, “I believe everything must happen for a reason, otherwise, what's the point of it all?”

“Well that’s much better than nothing” she said with a smile, “but I bet that belief will drive ya crazy too,” she thought about her next question for a moment before finally asking it, “what do you make of death?”

Arthur kept his gaze forward as they trotted, seemingly avoiding the question. After a moment, he spoke up again, his voice sounding small. “I don’t know anything ‘bout that either.”

Kate exhaled softly. “If I remember correctly, that agent, Milton, said you were wanted for murder,” she paused, “who’d ya kill?” She knew she was probably pushing her luck, but if he didn’t want to answer she wouldn’t pry.

Arthur shot her a look from under the brim of his hat. “Damn, woman, you sure are forward, ain’t you?” His lips twitched in a small smile.

Kate shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m just asking!” she said defensively. “You’re an interesting man, Arthur. The first time we met, you were robbing a stagecoach, telling me you're a railway worker. Next thing I know, I see you again, and suddenly you got a $5000 bounty on your head. Forgive a woman for asking.” She laughed.

He laughed and shook his head, “I’m afraid that's a story for another time friend,” he said, nudging his mare's side and picking up the pace, “c’mon it ain't far now, I’ll race ya.” He added, changing the subject.

Arthur wasn’t afraid to admit he had killed people; he knew she would have left the gang a while ago had she felt she was in danger. But he worried about what she would think of him when he told her the whole truth. He felt like a fool; he wasn't pretending to be innocent, but he liked what he had with her. It was easy, it was natural, and he feared when she knew the truth, she would think differently of him, think less of him.

Kate yipped, and Lorena sprang into action, beginning their race along the final stretch to the ranch. As they rode, Arthur pulled on his reins ever so slightly, letting Kate take the lead. He watched as she whooped and hollered, riding past with a grin plastered on her face.

A heavy cloud settled over him; this wasn't just some silly horse race with a pretty lady. They were riding to collect a debt, a debt that needed to be repaid because his gang needed money. And money was what got them into this mess in the first place. If things had gone differently in Blackwater, they wouldn't even be here. Arthur shook his head at the memory, suddenly reminded of his situation. He’s a wanted man, an outlaw; he’s here on a job, and he would make damn sure it got done.

━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━

Kate admired the small ranch as they hitched their horses to a fence post out front. It was a cozy house with a neat garden, and sprawling plains for grazing animals. "Not a bad spot to make a living," she thought.

A woman sat on the porch swing, sewing something in her lap, while a young boy tended to the chickens nearby. In the garden, a man was busy with his vegetables. Arthur marched toward the man, presumably Mr. Downes, prompting Kate to quicken her pace to catch up.

"Thomas Downes!" Arthur's voice boomed, startling Kate. His tone was starkly different from how he usually spoke. She realized he was putting on a show of strength. Annoyed that he hadn't planned their approach together, she followed behind him.

“Thomas Downes!” He repeated, “you owe me money!” As Arthur swung open the garden gate with force, dirt kicked up into the air.

Mr. Downes stood up, hands raised defensively, clutching a rake to his chest as if it were his shield against the impending confrontation, “oh, no-no I-I’m.” His voice trembled.

Arthur approached him with heavy steps, each one more intimidating than the last, “c'mere you maggot,” he spat. With a swift motion, he ripped the rake from Mr. Downes' grasp, leaving Kate stunned into silence.

"Please, sir, I-I have family, please," Mr. Downes pleaded, backing up against the opposite fence post. Kate followed them into the garden, her heart racing with unease as she witnessed Arthur's actions.

As Arthur swung his fist into the man’s face, Kate gasped in horror. At the same moment, Mrs. Downes came running from the porch, her voice filled with desperation. "He’s not well! Please, mister, he’s not well!" she pleaded, her eyes wide with fear. She was about to join them in the garden when her son held her back, silently signaling that it was better for his father to bear the brunt of the punishment. Kate’s mouth tasted like vinegar, this was wrong.

“You think I give a shit about your family?” Arthur spat, his voice dripping with contempt.

“Why does it have to come to this?” Mr. Downes cried, shielding himself from Arthur's blows. “Please! Be reasonable!”

“We ain't a charity, Mr. Downes,” Arthur lowered himself to the man's level, his tone softening slightly. “Believe me, I didn’t want this either,” he added quietly, his regret palpable.

With a forceful grip, he grabbed Mr. Downes by his collar and shoved him against the post, the impact enough to break one of his ribs.

“That's enough, Arthur!” Kate roared, stepping closer, her eyes blazing with anger.

“I-I don't have the money,” Mr. Downes panted, struggling to catch his breath.

Arthur looked around at the scene, his frustration evident. “Then sell your wife,” he spat out, his voice laced with malice, “sell your house, I don't care!” He raised a fist and stopped when he heard the familiar click of a revolver.

He turned around to see Kate, pointing her gun at him, the expression on her face made his heart sink. There was no need for him to tell her the truth now, she saw everything she needed to see already.

“I said, that’s enough,” she repeated, her voice firm. “Put him down.” Arthur released Mr. Downes, who collapsed to his knees, coughing up blood. His wife rushed to his side, her face etched with concern.

“You gonna shoot me?” Arthur's voice was filled with bitterness. “Shoot me and take the $5000? Huh? That's your plan,” he continued, growing more agitated with each passing moment. “Well, get on with it!” he shouted.

“How much does he owe you?” Kate's voice cut through the tension, devoid of emotion.

Arthur lowered his hands, “what?”

“How much does he owe you?” she repeated, her tone impatient.

“$20,” Arthur answered reluctantly.

Kate holstered her weapon and pulled a wad of cash from her satchel, she counted out twenty bills and grabbed Arthur’s hand, shoving the money into his palm.

“Here, no sense in killin’ a man over $20,” she turned to the family, “Mrs. Downes, I suggest you take that man to a doctor. I heard you say he was unwell, and he probably has a broken rib or two now.”

Arthur stared at the money in his hand, his thoughts swirling like a storm. He wanted to hurl it to the ground and watch it burn.

The family lifted Mr. Downes and made their way to the wagon, “th-thank you,” she said, fear still evident in her voice.

Kate watched them depart, her gaze lingering until the sounds of the wagon faded into the distance. Turning to Arthur, who stood before her like a statue carved from stone.

“What the fuck was that?” she scolded, her tone sharp like a whip.

Arthur opened his mouth, then shut it, grappling for words like a fish out of water.

“You don't even have a reason do you? Beatin’ on a sick man like that? For $20?” Kate’s voice rose with each question.

As the seconds passed by Arthur felt embarrassment creep up his spine, his shame quickly manifesting into anger. “We ain’t a charity,” he finally muttered, repeating what he had said to Mr. Downes. His voice barely above a whisper, struggling to maintain his composure.

“So you resort to killing him,” she remarked, her voice tinged with disappointment as she observed his expression.

“I’m an outlaw Kate, I shoot first, ask questions later,” he spat.

“Yeah well that's a dumb fucken philosophy,” she retorted sharply , “you’re sure as shit an outlaw. But you ain’t a fucking monster Arthur. That man was sick , he had no way of defending himself. Strauss could’ve waited for his money.” She finished, striding towards her mare. The sense of disillusionment weighed heavy in her heart. She had glimpsed Arthur's tough exterior when they first met at Emerald Ranch, but she never imagined it would lead to this. It made her stomach churn.

“If you don't like the way we do things then you can leave,” Arthur's voice came from behind her, cutting through the tension like a knife.

Kate stopped in her tracks, why does this hurt so much? She’d known them for only a week, but the thought of leaving filled her with dread. It wasn't just the familiar and simple daily tasks of cooking and cleaning that anchored her to the camp; it was the friendships she had forged. They were the closest thing she had to a family in a decade.

She drew in a shaky breath and regained her composure, not turning to face him yet, “do you ever stop and think about what all this senseless killing will turn you into?” Before he could answer she finished for him, turning to meet his gaze, “When you kill an innocent, you become a little less of a man and little more of an animal.”

Without missing a beat Arthur had his answer, “then what you’re looking at ain’t human.” He sauntered over to Kate with slow purposeful steps. His anger was still present, but as he drew closer she saw the look in his eyes. They looked dead, and devoid of color. The sun was setting behind the mountains to the north, and a frigid wind brought in dark heavy clouds. As if the sky was a reflection of the turmoil in his heart. Darkness covered him like a blanket of shame. A heavy, suffocating blanket just waiting to bury the truth.

“My hands are so stained with blood,” he began, his voice wavering, “that I can’t even remember the face of the first innocent I killed,” he drew in a breath and looked at his boots, “that ain’t something you can change.”

The wind picked up, carrying tiny bullets of rainwater that tickled against her face. She watched him, and her heart panged. She wasn’t ready to tell him, and perhaps she’ll never get the chance to. But she related to the outlaw, more than she ever anticipated. Her mind raced, bringing back memories of faceless bodies and blood stained skin. Kate pushed the memory down, swallowing it like a spoon of molasses.

“I don’t intend to change that,” her voice, sounding like a whisper against the heavy wind.

“Then what do you intend Kate,” his voice sounded coarse, like his throat was thick, “why does a woman like you hang around a bunch of outlaws?”

Now it was Kate's turn to gape like a fish, she still didn't understand herself why she chose to stay. She wanted to think of them as family but she knew it was absurd, and most of the gang probably wouldn't feel the same way.

Arthur waited for her answer. “It’s better than being alone,” she finally said, thunder rumbled in around them like a giant beating a drum. “And I like them, they're good people.” She added feeling like an idiot for having no real reason for her to stay.

Arthur sighed and shook his head, turning to leave.

And suddenly, she realized the answer was walking away ,“and, I like you.”

When his eyes met hers, they were pleading, like it pained him to speak to her. “Then you’re a fool Kate. There ain’t nothing to like about me. I’m a bad man, and I ain’t gonna change.” He spoke as if he were reciting a poem he had memorized, the words flowing with such ease one would think he was trained, no , he was raised to believe it was true.

“I can’t escape this life. I don’t know how to live any other way,” he sounded like a small child.

“I don’t believe that Arthur,” Kate knew there was good in him, she’d seen it. And she considered herself to be a living testament that it’s not too late to change. She wanted to shout at him, to embrace him, to beat his chest and tell him to pick himself up and break the cycle .

Instead, she stood silently as Arthur shook his head once more, walked over to his horse, and left her at the ranch. Without a word.

━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━

The journey back felt like a whirlwind, the cold rain pelting down relentlessly, soaking Kate to the bone. She looked up to the familiar sound of a rowdy piano and drunken laughter, and was surprised to see herself outside the Valentine saloon. Having not paid much attention to her ride, her mind racing with thoughts, almost all of them about Arthur.

“Guess I should take the hint huh?” Kate chuckled wearily to Lorena, patting the mare's neck as she dismounted. She tied her under a small awning, sheltering from the downpour while she went in for a drink.

As she knocked the mud off her boots, a familiar voice called her name. She turned to see Charles waving from the nearby gun shop. In the dim light, his silhouette was unmistakable as he jogged over to meet her.

“I thought I recognized you riding in,” he greeted. “This storm’s a real beast. What brings you out here?” concern evident in his voice.

Kate contemplated her response. It's a long story, is what she wanted to say. “I could ask you the same,” she replied with a faint smile.

“I was just getting some supplies for hunting,” Charles explained, gesturing to the rain. “Planned on leaving tonight, but it seems I'm stuck here for now.”

“Bummer,” Kate remarked, her exhaustion seeping through her words. She craved a neat glass of whiskey to warm her aching bones.

Charles narrowed his eyes, sensing her distress. “Are you alright?” he asked gently.

She looked down at her boots and sighed, no sense in lying to him. It was clear she was upset. And she had been looking to talk to Charles more anyway.

“Honestly,” she huffed, “no, I’m not. Arthur and I collected a debt today and Arthur was just-” she trailed, unsure what to say. Charles was his friend, and she didn’t want to bad mouth him.

Understanding washed over Charles's face as he nodded sympathetically. “Arthur was being Arthur,” he murmured.

Kate bit her lip, “yeah.” Her disappointment deepened as she realized she had Arthur all wrong.

“Let me buy you a drink,” Charles suggested, holding the saloon doors open with a warm smile.

━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━

In a secluded corner upstairs, Kate slouched in a rickety chair, whiskey warming her insides. Charles, equally deep in his cups, listened attentively as she recounted the events at the Downes ranch.

“And then he told me I shoot first, ask questions later ,” she mimicked in Arthurs familiar southern drawl, “it's barbaric!”

He chucked taking a swig of his drink, “that’s a dumb fucken philosophy,” he agreed.

Kate laughed as she slammed her glass on the table, “that's exactly what I said!”

They both laughed together over the coincidence, Kate’s heart felt lighter. It felt good to vent to someone, someone other than the girls. Not that she didn’t love them, but Charles was refreshing, he was new, and he was close to Arthur. She felt safe knowing that Charles saw a different side of him too.

His laughter quieted and went back to his usual deep comforting tone, “I’m sorry Kate, Arthur is,” he hesitated, searching for the right answer, “a complicated man.”

“I can see that,” she said quietly, her face still hot from a mix of whiskey and laughter.

“The man has a heart of gold,” he added, “but it's buried deep beneath his outlaw code.”

Kate didn’t understand, Charles was part of the same gang, but even he disapproved of his code, “I don’t get it,” she began, the words seemingly harder to pronounce, “you’s an outlaw too.”

Charles shook his head, his gaze steady, “I am, and I’ve had my moments, I’ll admit,” he lifted a hand as if he were swearing on a Bible, “but I don’t hurt innocent people.” Kate said nothing, choosing to stare at the water stains on the wooden table, her drunken vision making them twist shape.

He leaned in closer, “there’s a good man within him Kate. But he is wrestling with a giant, and the giant wins. Time, and time again.”

She thought she mumbled something along the lines of I know what that is like but the words barely came out. A heavy tiredness taking over, the alcohol bringing her down like a vessel struck in water. Kate heard a chuckle from Charles, in the next moment he was under her arm and leading her to a room.

“Stay here tonight, get some sleep on an actual bed,” he urged softly. Kate made no protest as her head sank into the feathered pillow. Her body melted into the sheets.

“I’ll be leaving in the morning,” he murmured from the doorway, “you should come hunting with me.” Kate tried to say yes, but all that came out was a hum, like a cicada quieting its song as darkness descended.

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lulu2992 · 1 month

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Hello,

Not sure if you've already covered this but what do you make of the rotary phones with the creepy messages scattered across Faith's region?

Hello! So, if I’m not mistaken, there are five rotary phones in the Henbane River region. First, we have these two messages:

Administrator’s Cabin: “Civilian Female 06” crying.

O’Hara’s Haunted House: “Civilian Male 03” (probably O’Hara) laughing.

Then these three from Faith:

Mastodon Geothermal Park: Shaja su dajri martiyi. (Wenja greeting; just a Primal Easter egg.)

Eden’s Convent: Rachel's so sad and alone. Once was lost, never found. She led a faithless life and it brought her low. Faith rose up in her, but Rachel stayed low down. Faith flies divine, and Rachel... Rachel gropes around in the darkness. I left her there a long time ago.

The Last Best Resting Place: A baby is a sack of screaming, shitting, crying impulses with no personality, no thoughts, no understanding of the world beyond feelings. It has no soul. You have to give it one. The only soul we ever have, we receive from others. And it is only others who can take it away.

In my opinion, the main reason they exist is simply to add to the unsettling atmosphere of the region. The ones from Faith also give a little more information about her identity and beliefs, so that’s nice!

In fact, there were supposed to be more messages, but since they were cut, I have no idea if they were going to be on rotary phones or regular ones…

Two of them were linked to a mission at the King’s Hot Springs Hotel (maybe its liberation) and referred to as phone calls instead of answering machine messages in the files. They were both from Faith, and while the first one is now unavailable, the second one was her laughing and saying (almost singing), “They’re coming...”

Then, we had seven others from Faith, one from Joseph, and one from Tweak. I’ve already mentioned them but they’re included below the cut too. Faith’s deleted messages are particularly creepy, so my guess is that most of them were going to be found on rotary phones as well to make her (and by extension, the region she controls) sound even more mysterious and scary.

The other deleted messages from Faith:

You are many little holes, all permeable, infectable, with wriggling insects, long strings of dirt and oil burrowed into your skin.

Slice open the backs of your arms. You'll get ingrown feathers back there if you don't. I want you to be ready when you walk the Path, when you ascend, when it comes.

Lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin, mescaline, dextromethorphan, phencyclidine, and sugar to taste.

He loves you. He's always loved you. Just breaks your heart, doesn't it.

It's the nourishment that counts. The taste of care. The fruit of God's earth. Cut out the eyes, pull off the ears, peel the head into layers, eat your fill. Bury the rest in the dirt for posterity.

Death doesn't frighten me. I'm free of my tethers now. Unbound by the judgment of others. Even as Faith, I was under the consuming eyes of the world. Child, whore, Madonna... I am so much more than all of that now. You could never grasp it. And you'll die before you get the chance.

Gotcha!

From Joseph:

In the end, you will thank me.

From Tweak:

You destroyed my life. Once I've come down from this high I'm gonna get you somehow.

I don’t know where they were supposed to be located.

#far cry 5 #henbane river #faith seed #joseph seed #aaron 'tweak' kirby #rachel not jessop #we were a little robbed I think #they clearly wanted to make her 'immortal' and I wonder what that would have been like

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starplusfourletters · 8 months

Text

I read vision of the future (hand of thrawn book 2 aka Who Scams the Scammers)

(spoilers) and once again it turned into a liveblog, apologies

Hold up are we doing Warrior Cats? Is this Warrior Cats Planet??

What base is “arm around your waist to serve as a psychic translator conduit”

Omigod I WISH my Warrior Cat name were “Jaded of Mara”

Everything I know about Soontir Fel I learned from x wing but I would not have guessed his primary motivation to be "dirt"

@ luke and mara: the girls are talkingggggg

North Barris Spaceport has me twitching

Ghent not remembering who the president is and just assuming it’s probably Leia. I mean fair

What base is "holding hands to brace yourselves over a swarm of flesh eating insects"

So we’re finally asking why Mara ISN’T actually dark side and the answer is… shrug emoji?

Man Zahn really is stuck on “character bonding hike” as a device huh. But consider I eat that shit up

Oh No Lando is racist

LMAO at “so oblivious you need a child pterodactyl to tell you to just kiss already” to “besides I don’t want my life to be like spiderman three I hated that movie” to “kissing with dubious consent” ALL ON THE SAME PAGE like Zahn finally realized he really needed to get this show on the road

LMAO at Ghent getting a free pass from Pellaeon to hack the empire. Like you’re just going to get the thing you need and not steal all of our military and political secrets right? Riiiight? Even more LMAO at the fact that that would probably not even occur to Ghent

When everyone assumes they're the protagonist so finding this one macguffin is their job personally. Like guys I like the energy but maybe we've got enough different plans to do the same thing (the exception, hilariously, being Luke) (and Oh No it turns out Luke is the one to find the macguffin because You Have to Follow Your Heart and Let the MacGuffin Come to You. I eat that shit up also)

Mara’s just... So great.

Not to make everything about my blorbo but absolutely to make everything about my blorbo I do wonder to what extent Ahsoka’s characterization post-Rebels doesn’t click for me is because a lot of the more obvious directions for Oldsoka overlap with Mara, and the powers that be didn’t want to reinvent the Mara Jade wheel. Not to say they have similar characterization – Mara has terminal sam coded dean girl syndrome – but idk, in dynamic range maybe? Calling out bullshit, weaponizing her own abrasiveness, covering insecurity with humor, being Kind of a Lot with a side of trust issues at any given moment – there are modes Mara and Youngsoka share that didn’t pass to Oldsoka apparently. Idk possibly all this is just me wanting them to TALK

Establishing that you can do evil things for selfless reasons without necessarily being in any danger of falling to the dark side is... Philosophically interesting

We interrupt this tale of political espionage to bring you Jedi Relationship Counseling (spoiler alert: communication is key)

"That part of her life [Mara’s time with Palpatine] had died unmourned" I mean mourned a little bit. Mourned for at least a book and a half

I've been willing to suspend my disbelief on everything in this book until "both Luke and Mara forget that ysalamiri exist"

I will never not be a sucker for The Movements and Transferred Ownership of Emotionally Significant Weapons

Oh No thrawn made a second foundation

The Aing-Tii seem OP but whatever

Oh No the second foundation forgot to close the garage doors

(Re: The Jade’s Fire) I know Mara’s having a Moment, and I promise I’m taking it seriously, but when the warrior cat asked “What is it you want, Mara Jade” my WHOLE BRAIN responded with "I want Hermione Granger! And a rocket ship!"

Moranda has real Kevin from home alone energy and I'm living for it

Is it bad that I’m actually kinda happy the Imperials’ Bothawui shield plan worked? Like, they had a really interesting plan and I’m happy for them. They earned it

WAIT IS MORANDA DEAD FR?

What base is “full mind meld while you’re fighting for your lives”

Who would win: ~1.5 Jedi, 2 sentinel droids droidekas, or Artoo with a sauntering gun

If I had a nickel for every time this duology explicitly established Jedi can’t go completely without oxygen, even when in a trance, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but which makes me feel like the Ahsoka show had a weirdly specific axe to grind with the source material

Luke’s proposal to Mara is Just. The. Funniest. Thing. That’s some Anakin-level cringe and the prequels aren’t even out yet. He truly is his father’s son.

I mean POV there’s this guy and for a couple years you want to kill him, and then you realize that’s more of a You Problem, so then you’re friendquaitances for a decade mostly because you don’t approve of the shit he’s getting into, and then you have one (1) honest conversation and get caught in a death trap and he’s like “so I think the next step for us is marriage”

LEIAAAAAA! Full Jedi Knight Leia is both terrifying and hot. I would run.

“So it is treason” – Some random guy

Lando needs to be on the New Republic payroll simply for being willing to speak to any of the other characters and also he needs a raise. This poor guy getting called on to command the entire New Republic fleet mid-battle and he’s like “I’ve been a civilian for 15 years and also I knew you would pull some horse piss like this steve”

Mara Jade, Imperial protege. Skills include: Identifying load-bearing walls. (Now all I want is Property Brothers: Sith Edition)

Mara please. Luke please. These absolute idiots. This is some pear scene shit. I hope nothing bad happens to them ever

The whole back half of this book has been an emotional rollercoaster for me specifically because I wanted Flim to be Thrawn FR soooooo baddddd. And now I’m sad. His name literally means scam don’t do this to me Zahn

I’ve been amused by all the Star Wars universe idioms but I gotta take a moment to specifically showcase “burned your sky-arches.” Karrde is a delight to have in class

Having an independent intelligence agency that’s supposed to work for both the New Republic and the Empire seems absolutely unhinged but go off I guess

When the New Republic and Empire sign peace accords and Luke can’t even be bothered to show up

Mara is great and her arc is fuckin hilarious to me. The narrative has identified her as The Damaged One and I’m like???? She came to terms with her troubled past, drew her own boundaries regarding the Dark Side, recognized that there are people who care about her instead of pre-emptively pushing them away, and resolved to form deeper emotional connections. Smash cut to ROTS Anakin whose physical and psychic damage has literally turned his brain into oatmeal

Again I know this was before the prequels Mad points for explicitly saying Mara needed to form attachments to become a Jedi. Zahn being pretty gangsta there

OH NO THEMB

#long post #hand of thrawn #vision of the future #star wars legends #mara jade #ghent #timothy zahn #ahsoka tano #because ahsoka just sneaks into all my mental processes sorry

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dalishious · 2 years

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Have you ever made a post explaining your thoughts on Flemeth? If so, sorry I couln't find it, but if not, what do you think of her?

Yeah, let's talk about Flemeth.

Flemeth was a horribly abusive mother to Morrigan.

Flemeth speaks of and to Morrigan as if she has been a burden; an unwanted pest she is glad to be rid of.

When a female mage warden asks about magic:

Flemeth: Not that I would mind a replacement daughter to order around

Morrigan: Believe me, you do not want that.

When the warden asks Flemeth what she will do when they leave:

Warden: What will you do once we're gone?

Flemeth: (Snort) Have a moment's peace, for once.

Morrigan: I hear the peace of the grave is eternal.

Flemeth: This is the thanks I get for feeding you and putting up with you for this long? Bah! May your child one day treat you the same.

Morrigan: Feed me, she says. Without me, I swear she shall be caked in dirt and eating tree bark inside of a month.

When the warden presents Morrigan with a replica of this mirror, Morrigan is taken back, asking what the warden wants. She doesn’t know how to accept a gift.

Morrigan: It is incredible that you found one so like it. I am uncertain what to say. You must wish something in return, certainly.

Warden: Don't be ridiculous. It's a gift, Morrigan.

Morrigan: You say that as if I should be accustomed to such a thing. I have... never received a gift, not one which did not come at a price.

Morrigan: I suppose I should say thank you. For the gift. 'Tis… most thoughtful, truly.

In Morrigan’s Fade nightmare, she is with her mother, except she doesn’t believe the spirit posing as Flemeth because it is too benign.

Spirit!Flemeth: I am your mother... do you not love me?

Morrigan: You are as much my mother as my little finger, right here, is the queen of Ferelden. I know you, fade spirit, you cannot fool me.

Spirit!Flemeth: Are you more clever than your own dear mother? Surely such pride must be punished!

Spirit!Flemeth: (Slaps Morrigan)

Spirit!Flemeth: There! That is for not showing respect!

Morrigan: That is far more like it, but it is too little too late, spirit.

Morrigan getting slapped across the face is more familiar to her than Flemeth asking if she loves her.

When Brosca meets their own abusive mother again, Morrigan comments "We have more in common than I thought…"

We spend a lot of time getting to know Morrigan in DA:O, and a lot of that is breaking through the trauma and negligence she suffered under Flemeth's care. And no matter how mystical and vivacious Flemeth is portrayed as in the following two games, that doesn't change. Morrigan still remembers, and was literally willing to give up her life before seeing her son suffer the same fate in DA:I. "Do whatever you wish. Take over my body now if you must, but Kieran will be free of your clutches. I am many things, but I will not be the mother you were to me," she says, in one of the most haunting voice acting moments in the entire game. And how does Flemeth respond to Morrigan? With a simple frown, like she's disappointed that Morrigan feels that way.

It irks me enough that Flemeth, a human, was apparently so in need of vengeance more than any elven person in Thedas that Mythal chose her to store herself in. That's a strange choice for the writers to make all on its own. But what makes it so much worse, is that Mythal is the goddess of motherhood and justice. So now we have the goddess of motherhood and justice inside an abusive mother, in a way that Flemeth describes as her being and Mythal's being blended to a point where you could not distinguish them easily, similar to Anders being possessed by Justice. What the absolute fucking fuck were the writers thinking with that???

Flemeth's backstory is a tragic one, yes. But that does not excuse her own actions in any way. I personally know a thing or two about feeling bad for what happened to your parent while also resenting them for the abuse they put on you at the same time.

#dragon age #morrigan #anti flemeth #meta #abuse tw

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topazy · 2 years

Text

Tomorrow’s promise

Paring: Shane Walsh x reader, Rick Grimes x sister reader

Warnings: Mentions if vomit

Chapter: 2.02

You closed the door quietly behind you and tiptoed into the living room while clutching the baby monitor to your ear. Hearing a chuckling noise, you look across the room and see Shane smiling at you, shaking his head before turning to face the TV again.

“That’s him finally asleep,” you whisper. Shane gently pulls you down towards him so you're sitting in his lap. He runs his finger over your shoulder with his free hand while his other hand holds his beer. He didn’t often drink, only when he was watching a football game. “Who’s winning?”

“I've got no idea,” he kisses the back of your shoulder. “I was too busy watching you in mom mode.”

You roll your eyes and say, “I was hardly in mom mode, just aunt Lily mode.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” he chuckled. “One of these, you're going to be begging me to have one of our own.”

You smile and say nothing else, knowing that you can’t share your biggest fear with Shane. You were afraid you weren’t cut out to be a mom. You loved Carl, but you weren’t sure if you could be a parent.

“Do you want me to take him for a moment?”

“No, I’m good.”

You were walking at the back of the group while gently rocking Jace, who had just stopped crying. Luckily, only one walker was attracted by his screaming, and Daryl shot it in the head with an arrow before it got close enough to bite anyone.

Lori lets out a frustrated sigh, “You're covered in vomit.”

“And dirt, blood, and probably piss as well. But like I said, I’m good.”

“You're being ridiculous, I’m his auntie,” she looks ahead to make sure nobody else is paying attention to your conversation. “Are we going to address the elephant in the room?”

“Carol’s daughter is missing. Once we’ve found her. Shane, Rick, and Carl are back safe, sure. We can address you, fucking Shane.”

You watch as Lori’s jaw clenches as she struggles for a comeback. Maybe it was petty to hold a grudge during an apocalypse, but Lori being the person Shane slept with hurt more than any pain you’ve felt before, and the worst part was she didn’t seem to care.

“For God's sake, Lily, at times you behave like a child-” Lori is cut off by a gunshot in the distance.

—

The rest of the walk through the wooded area was mostly in silence since the gunshot. Something felt off, everyone was acting more tense. It reminded you of the feeling you’d get watching a horror film, when you're waiting for the killer to pop up.

“Are you still worrying about it?” Andrea asks when Lori stops walking to look back in the direction you’ve come.

“It was a gunshot.”

Daryl nods in agreement, “We all heard it.”

“Why one? Why just one gunshot?”

Seeing the genuine panic on her face, you decide to say something. “I don’t think it was them. Neither Rick nor Shane would fire a bullet out in the open like that, it would make too much noise, and they wouldn’t risk it.”

“Shouldn’t they have caught up with us by now?” Carol asks.

“There’s nothing we can do about it anyway,” Daryl says calmly. “I can’t run around these woods chasing echoes.”

Lori raises her eyebrows, “so what do we do?”

“Same as we have been doing. Beat the bush for Sophia, work out a way back to the highway.”

Agreeing with Daryl, you start to walk forward again, you only look back when you notice him marching towards Carol, who had started to cry when Andrea said she was praying for her little girl. “I’ll tell you what it’s worth... not a damn thing. It’s a waste of time, all this hoping and praying. We’re going to locate that little girl, and she’s going to be just fine. Am I the only one zen around here? Good lord.”

You do your best to stifle a laugh at the last part, despite how rough he may look and sound, Daryl was all heart. He just didn’t want anyone else to know it.

—

“Oh my god, Jacey, for a boy who doesn’t eat a lot, you sure are sick a lot,” you mumble while stopping to unstrap Jace from your chest.

You pull off the shirt you are wearing and toss it to the ground, leaving you in just a vest top. With Jace safely back in his harness, you start to catch up with the others, and you notice Andrea has walked away from the rest of the group. You look around until you spot her swatting at flies while two walkers creep up on her, “Andrea get down!”

You pull the gun from your belt and fire three bullets. The first two only grazed the walker, but the third struck him in the head.

While you shot the first walker, Andrea tried to run away but fell to the ground with the second walker only inches away from her.

You watch as a woman with short brown hair rides up on a horse and hits the walker in the head with a wooden baseball bat. The brunette looks between you all, “Lori? Lori Grimes?”

“I’m Lori.”

“Rick sent me, you’ve got to come now.”

“What?” She asks, confused.

“There’s been an accident, Carl's been shot. He's still alive, but you’ve got to come now.”

Lori freezes on the spot as she tries to process what she’s just been told. You place your hand on her back and say, “You need to go with her; go to Carl.”

She snaps out of her trance and throws her backpack on the ground, then gets on the horse, much to Daryl’s dislike. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. We don’t know this girl. You can’t get on that horse.”

“Rick said you had others on the highway, the big traffic snarl? Backtrack to Fairburn Road Two miles down is our farm, you’ll see the mailbox, whose name is Greene.” She says this before quickly speeding off on her horse with Lori.

You reach your hand out and help Andrea to her feet, asking, “Are you okay?”

She pats herself down and says, “I’m fine, and Carl's going to be just fine as well.”

“Yeah, I know,” you nod. “We should keep going if we want to make it to the farm before nightfall.” You spin around, trying to remember what direction you were going in. “Which way is it again?”

Glenn, Andrea, and Carol all gave you a sympathetic look instead of answering your question. Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulder and said, “This way.”

—

You tried to make sense of Carl being shot. You understand how serious the situation is, but you can’t grasp the fact that he could die. You didn’t want to. He was just a child, still just a baby in your eyes, and none of you could let him go.

“Is she okay?” Dale asks, looking in your direction.

“She’s still in shock, poor thing,” Andrea sighs. “But I’m in, I’ll stay here as well.”

Your eyes widened at the last part, you’d completely zoned out and missed the conversation that was taking place. “Sorry, what’s happening?”

Dale informs you of their plan. “Me, Daryl, and Andrea are going to stay with Carol in the RV tonight in case Sophia returns.”

“That's a good idea. I just need to grab a couple of things and head to the farm. I’m assuming he’s coming with me?” You ask quietly, pointing at T-Dog, who was slumped down on the ground with his back against a broken-down car.

The older man nodded and said, “Glenn will go with you. You can take Carol’s Cherokee.”

Glenn shook his head, understandably not happy about needing to leave the RV, he’d become attached to it.

You reach for him subconsciously and grab his hand and say, “Please, come with us. I don’t know if I’d be able to protect Jace and T-Dog on my own if I run into walkers.”

Reluctantly, he agreed, “How bad is he?”

“That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection,” Dale says seriously. “Get him to that farm and see if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, T-Dog will die, no joke.”

You watch as Daryl walks over to his motorbike and pulls a couple of dirty rags off it before pulling out a plastic bag full of pills. He tosses the rag at Dale, saying, “Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle. Why’d you wait until now to say anything? I got my brother's stash. Crystal, X. You don’t need that. I got some kickass painkillers. Oxycyline. Not the generic stuff either, it’s first class. Merle got the clap on occasion.”

On any other day you would have laughed at his clap comment, but instead you picked up the drugs Daryl had left out and handed them to Glenn, “You want to help T-Dog and I’ll get our stuff?”

“I’ve already got it.”

You spin back around to see Daryl holding yours and Glenn’s backpacks. He had moved so fast, you hadn’t even noticed him going inside the RV and back out. You reach for the bags and say, “Thanks.”

He holds onto them while walking towards Carol's car. “I’ve got them…you’ve already got a heavy load on you anyway.”

“What a gentleman,” Andrea scoffs.

You watch as Daryl tosses the bags into the back seat, “hope that had nothin fragile in them.”

Once you check that Jace didn’t need to be changed, you step into the front passenger seat at the same time T climbs into the back. You felt bad that Glenn was leaving with you when he didn't want to, but what you said before was the truth. If, for any reason, you were surrounded, you didn't think you were a good enough fighter to protect yourself, your son, and T-Dog.

Glenn began to talk as he drove away from the highway and towards the farm, but nothing he said made any sense to you; the reality of what was happening was finally kicking in. It must've been an illusion, some trick of the mind, that was blocking you from the overwhelming feeling of grief and pain over your nephew being so close to death, even though you had every faith he’d pull through.

To make matters worse, you had a gut feeling this was just the beginning and the bad things would just keep coming.

#The walking dead #shane walsh x you #shane walsh x reader #fear the walking dead fandom #fear the walking dead fanfict #Shane Walsh #daryl dixion #TWD #lori grimes #rick grimes sister #rick grimes x reader #twd fanfiction #the walking dead fanfic #the walking dead x reader #Shane Walsh/you #Shane Walsh/reader #tomorrow’s promise

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ambrossart · 1 year

Text

PAPER MEN

—CHAPTER 30

SUMMARY: All Evelyn Tozier wanted to do was make Derry High School a safer place for her kid brother. Well, somewhere between kissing Patrick Hockstetter and telling the principal to go f*** himself, things got a little off track. Now she’s stuck in the middle of a bizarre love triangle with two of Derry’s most troubled teens while her little brother and his friends hunt down a creepy, child-eating circus clown. This year, summer can’t come fast enough.

PAIRINGS: Henry Bowers x Tozier!Sister; Patrick Hockstetter x Tozier!Sister WARNINGS: violence, profanity, sexual content, bullying, sexual assault, physical abuse, emotional abuse, all kinds of abuse, trauma, mental illness, implied/referenced self-harm, child death, angst, lots of angst, recreational drug use, underage drinking, underage sex, love triangles, toxic relationships, slow burn, slow build

WORD COUNT: 5,446

MASTERPOST

MASTERLIST

Evelyn couldn’t remember the last time her mother picked her up from school.

This dawned on her while she was sitting outside on the wooden bench, her overstuffed backpack beside her and tipped onto its side, her hands bundled snugly inside the sleeves of her much-too-big coat. Sitting like this, Evelyn couldn’t help but feel like a little kid again. Goofing around on the playground after school. Dirt under her nails. Grass stains on her knees. Her coat and backpack unneeded, discarded in a pile off to the side. Back then, time was an equally unnecessary burden, and so it too was cast aside and forgotten. Free of it, Evelyn would run and jump and laugh and play… until there was no one left to play with, until Evelyn waved her last goodbye, looked around the empty playground, and realized she was all alone. Then she would pick up her coat and backpack, sit down on the bench, and wait patiently for her mother to arrive. She would have happily waited forever.

Maggie Tozier’s lateness rarely went unnoticed by the Derry Elementary School faculty and staff. At some point, Evelyn’s teacher would come out, stoop down beside her, and say, “Honey, is someone coming to pick you up?”

“Yeah,” Evelyn would answer placidly, “she’s just running late.”

“Your mommy’s late a lot, isn’t she?”

“No… only sometimes.”

And her teacher would smile that sad, pitying smile and think, She really is a sweet kid. It’s a shame she has such a scatterbrain for a mother.

Of course, Maggie Tozier would arrive eventually—in her usual chaotic fashion. They’d see her old, beat-up station wagon chugging down Jackson Street. See it swerve erratically and screech to a stop in front of the curb. Then Maggie would scramble out of the driver’s seat—sometimes dressed in her nursing scrubs, sometimes dressed in old house clothes splattered with baby food—and come sprinting across the lawn with embarrassed, apologetic urgency.

“Sorry, I’m late,” Maggie would always say. By then, Evelyn would be buckled safely in her booster seat and singing merrily along to the radio, unaware of the adult conversation happening outside. “I got off work and laid down for a quick nap and—I dunno, I must’ve slept through my alarm or something. I’m really sorry, I promise it won’t happen again.”

“It already has happened again, Maggie. This is the third time this week.”

“Right,” Maggie would answer, swallowing the lump in her throat. Then she would look back at her young daughter, see her wave and wave back, feel that old, familiar sting of shame, and revert back to her ten-year-old self. A hopeless little girl getting scolded by her teacher. Now go stand outside in the hall, Maggie, and think hard about what you’ve done. And Maggie Tozier, an overworked mother of two lovely, energetic children, would bend her head, look down at her loafers… no, sneakers; Maggie hadn’t worn loafers since grade school… and say in a small voice, “Look, I’m doing my best here.”

“I know you are, Maggie, but maybe it’s time to get some help. You seem to have a lot on your plate right now. It’d be a shame for your children to suffer because of it.”

“Right… Yeah, okay.”

Humiliated, Maggie would slink back to her car, slump into her seat, and drive home while listening to her daughter describe every delightful detail of her day. Evelyn used to look back on these car rides fondly, but now… for some reason now… all she could see was her mother’s teary-eyed expression in the rearview mirror. She must have felt like such a failure when Evelyn, at only six years old, told her she no longer wanted rides to school.

Maggie confronted her about it one afternoon, while Evelyn was sitting at the kitchen table and drawing with her crayons. Maggie sat down across from her and said, “Sweetie, why do you wanna walk to school?”

“Because…”

“Is it because Mommy’s late all the time? Does it make you feel sad to see all your friends getting picked up and you have to wait?”

“No… I don’t mind waiting.”

“Well, then why do you wanna walk to school?”

Evelyn put down her green crayon and gave her mother a very grown-up look that said, Oh Mother, isn’t it obvious? “Because Victor walks to school.”

Maggie’s eyes lit up with sudden awareness. “Oh, Victor walks to school… You wanna walk with Victor.” Of course it was that simple, and now Maggie felt silly for thinking otherwise. This wasn’t a case of bad parenting (the jury was still out on that charge). This was a case of puppy love—bright-eyed, bushy-tailed puppy love—and her six-year-old daughter had it bad. Maggie laid her cheek on her palm and smiled at her lovestruck child. “Victor’s a very nice boy, huh?”

“Yeah,” Evelyn said, utterly smitten, “and he’s real smart, too. He knows everything.”

“Everything, huh?”

“Well… not everything, but he knows a lot.”

“Is that a picture of you two?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Are you smiling and holding hands?”

“Yeah…” Evelyn pressed her tiny hands to her rosy cheeks and began to giggle at seemingly nothing at all. Then she picked up her green crayon and finished coloring the grass at the bottom of the paper. “I’m gonna give this to him tomorrow.”

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll love that,” Maggie said, and promptly bit her tongue. No, Victor Criss would not be glad to receive that drawing, just like he wasn’t glad to receive any of the other drawings her daughter had given him, but Evelyn didn’t need to hear that. “Sweetie, why does Victor wanna walk to school? Did he tell you?”

“Yeah… He said he doesn’t like riding with his mom anymore. He said all her talking makes his head hurt real bad.”

Maggie winced, heartbroken for her friend. Oh, poor Tabby. I bet she’s crying her eyes out right now.

Her assumption wasn’t wrong. Tabitha Criss was, indeed, crying her eyes out. In fact, she had been inconsolable for the better part of the afternoon—ever since those gut-wrenching words came out of her darling son’s mouth.

You talk too much, Mom. It’s annoying.

“That’s it,” Tabitha declared to her husband in his study, “my son officially hates me!”

Her husband replied in a calm, clinical voice: “He doesn’t hate you, Tabby.”

David Criss was sitting behind his desk, his glasses perched neatly upon the bridge of his nose, head bent studiously over a small stone meteorite fragment he held in his gloved hand. David was performing his monthly inspection, see, and that was serious business—far more serious than whatever problem his wife had recently dreamt up. David had a moderately impressive collection of iron meteorites, chondrites, achondrites, and pallasites. The one in his hand was likely an ordinary chondrite, but David had yet to get it professionally evaluated. Next week, perhaps. The rest were housed in the wooden display cabinet behind him, each sample carefully backlit and labeled according to its classification. Nobody was allowed to open that cabinet… although David suspected somebody had. There were little fingerprints all over the outside of the glass.

“No, I think he does,” Tabitha was saying now. “In fact, I’m sure he does. All I did was ask about his day, David, and do you know what he said to me? He said, ‘Mom, I’m really not in the mood to talk to you right now.’ It was like a knife to my heart! My own son doesn’t wanna talk to me. He never wants to talk to me. He thinks I’m annoying. My son—my pride and joy—thinks I’m annoying, and now he doesn’t even want me driving him to school anymore.”

“So?” David said. “It’s perfectly natural for children to desire independence.” There was, however, nothing natural about this discoloration. Was it rusting already? No, impossible. David held the fragment under his desk light to get a better look.

“He’s six, David. Six-year-old boys are supposed to want their mothers.” Tabitha threw up her hands helplessly, wishing she knew how to make her husband understand. David, meanwhile, reached across his desk for a Q-tip. “You know, I thought I had a few more years before he wanted nothing to do with me, but no… he came out of the womb preseasoned with hatred like a Thanksgiving turkey.”

“Turkey?” David repeated with baffling interest. He craned over his shoulder and glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s getting late. When are we having dinner?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t even started it yet.”

“But it’s almost six-thirty.”

“Yes, I know what time it is.”

“We always eat at six-thirty.”

“Well, tonight we’ll be eating a little later,” Tabitha said, exasperated. “Can you listen, please? This is important.”

Frowning, David temporarily set his meteorite fragment aside. “So, what, you’re not letting him walk to school now?”

“No, I will.” As if she had any other choice. “But I’m not letting him walk alone. Victor’s way too young for that.” The elementary school was only three blocks away from the house, but still… a lot could happen to him in those three blocks. He could get hit by a car while crossing the street or worse, kidnapped and killed. “I was talking to Maggie earlier today. She said Evelyn wants to walk to school now too, so…”

David sighed. “Tabby, don’t.”

“What?”

“Stop forcing that girl onto our son.”

“That girl? What’s wrong with Evelyn?”

“Nothing’s wrong with her. I’m sure she’s a perfectly normal child.” And like all perfectly normal children, Evelyn Tozier was—frankly—incredibly annoying. Always showing up at the house unannounced. Harassing their son. Vandalizing their driveway with ghastly chalk drawings of rainbows, smiley faces, flowers, and unicorns. David stepped outside one morning and there was Evelyn, doodling away under the bright summer sun. Any requests? she said with a proud smile. David, needing to get to his car, answered: Yes, kindly move. “I just don’t think it’s right to force our son to socialize with someone he doesn’t like.”

“Well that’s life, David. Sometimes you have to get along with people you don’t like.” Under her breath, she said, “Just like I’m not particularly fond of you right now.”

David took out a small cloth and began cleaning his glasses. “You’re being emotional.”

“And you’re being hypercritical of a six-year-old.”

“She broke into my study.”

“What?”

“She broke into my study. Her fingerprints are all over the place.”

“Oh, she did not break in, David. For God’s sake, listen to yourself. The door was unlocked. You, in all your wisdom, left it unlocked. She wandered in because she was curious, because she wanted to see all the sparkly rocks behind the glass.”

“You let her in,” David said begrudgingly. “You always let her in. One of these days she’s gonna break something.”

Oh, I hope she does, Tabitha wanted to say, but she held her tongue. There was no point in arguing with her husband. David’s opinion was like concrete. Once it was set, there was no changing it. “I’m gonna go make dinner.”

“Good,” David said. “It’s already six thirty-five.”

“I know what time it is,” Tabitha snapped and walked out, slamming the door.

You’re being too emotional, Tabby. Her husband might not have said it, but she knew that’s what he was thinking. She didn’t care. She went upstairs to her son’s room, knocked on the door, and opened it once he answered. “Hey…”

To her private terror, Victor was lying on the floor with a children’s book about asteroids, comets, and meteors. Did David give that to him? Or did Victor seek it out all on his own? The two were so dreadfully similar: quiet, intelligent, candid in a way that was sometimes charming, sometimes cruel. It made her worry for her son’s future. She didn’t want him to end up like David: absorbed in his work, in his hobbies, apathetic to his wife’s feelings, unaware of her growing resentment toward him. Tabitha didn’t want that life for her son... or for the poor girl who tried to love him.

“Okay, you win,” she said. “You can walk to school.”

Victor nodded once, satisfied, then returned to his book.

“But,” Tabitha went on, trying to reclaim his attention. It didn’t come easily, though; things with Victor rarely did. “I’m not gonna let you walk by yourself, okay? You’re still a little too young for that. So Evelyn’s gonna walk to school with you. All right?”

Victor’s back stiffened with precognizant dread. “I changed my mind. I wanna ride with you.”

“Ha, nice try,” Tabitha said. “You made your bed and now you get to lie in it. If you wanna be a big boy and walk to school, that’s fine with me, but there are rules, okay?” Victor rolled his eyes and turned away from her. Tabitha’s jaw dropped. “Hey, excuse me, I’m still talking. Don’t go back to reading your book, Victor. That’s very, very rude.” Victor huffed and looked directly at her, or tried to anyway. That was another thing that didn’t come easily with him. “I want you to walk to school with Evelyn, okay? Straight to school and straight home. I want you to stay on the sidewalk, look both ways before crossing the street, and hold hands when you do.”

“What?” Victor cried, grimacing. “But she’s gonna make it weird.”

“What do you mean she’s gonna make it weird?”

“She’s gonna smile at me all funny. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“Well, sweetie, sometimes we have to do things that make us a little uncomfortable. It’s all part of growing up. And who knows,” Tabitha said as she went out, “one day you might actually want her smiling at you.”

Victor scowled, doubtful. “No, I won’t.”

For Evelyn, those were the happiest years. Sunny day followed sunny day, and she lived with a kaleidoscope of butterflies constantly flittering in her stomach. Victor didn’t like it nearly so well (for the first year, his mother had to drag him down the street and then give him a little nudge to get him going), but that was okay. Evelyn didn’t mind that he never talked to her or that he sometimes walked so fast she had to run to keep up. None of that mattered. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and Evelyn was walking to school with Victor Criss, who was so tall and smart. In class, he never raised his hand, but he often mumbled the answers under his breath. Evelyn was the only one who saw him doing it. It was like finding buried treasure. A precious secret that only she knew. That day, the first butterfly hatched and took wing. Evelyn knew instantly that she was in love.

But that was a long time ago. Victor was a different person back then, and so was she.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Evelyn wasn’t supposed to be sitting on this bench, in this stolen coat, wiping her tears away. No, she was supposed to be at the library with Jimmy and helping him come up with ideas for his next big anti-bullying campaign. That’s where she was supposed to be—by his side, supporting him. Eventually, Vic would wander in, act like he didn’t want to be there, but hang out at the table anyway: doing his homework, criticizing all of Evelyn’s suggestions, stealing little glimpses of her face while she wrote in her notebook. Only Jimmy would catch him doing it. He’d shoot his best friend a playful, knowing smile and think, How long are you gonna keep this up, Vic? Another year? Two? She’s not gonna wait forever. Then they would all go home together, Jimmy in front and Vic a few steps behind, yelling for Evelyn to hurry up and quit lollygagging. You guys walk too fast… No, you just walk too slow. They’d walk together, laugh together, and right before they crossed the street Vic would immediately, instinctively, reach for Evelyn’s hand.

That’s how it was supposed to be, but that’s not how it was. After that summer in ’85, everything changed. Now Vic was in detention, Jimmy was at another school, and Evelyn was sitting on the bench with a ripped skirt and a stolen coat, waiting for her mom to pick her up.

I wish you were still here, Evelyn thought, grief-stricken. I know you’re not dead, Jimmy, but sometimes it feels like you are… I can’t do this without you. I know you said I could, but I can’t. My ideas aren’t good enough. I’m not good enough. Everyone thinks I’m annoying and they’re right! The only way I can win an election is if someone hands it to me. You handed it to me. Christie Gibson handed it to me. You gave me some really big shoes to fill, Jimmy, and so far I’m not doing a very good job.

Evelyn put her hands over her face, stifling the sound of her sobs.

I keep getting distracted by stupid things… Patrick… Henry… We used to stand up against people like them, and now… now I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore.

She was sitting on a bench, in a stolen coat.

I don’t even know whose this is, Evelyn thought suddenly, mortified. I just took some poor kid’s coat without even hesitating. What’s wrong with me? What if this is a precious family heirloom, a grand coat passed down from generation to generation, and I just singlehandedly killed the line of succession? She couldn’t have that on her conscience. Evelyn wasn’t a coat thief. She was just a girl without options, desperate to get home with her dignity intact—what little remained of it, anyway.

Yes, Evelyn would return the coat

(the coat)

(she would focus on the coat)

(and memories of Martin)

(Are you open for business now?)

(of the cut on her lip, the tear in her skirt)

(of Henry’s terrible black eyes)

(She’s not worth it)

(would slip further and further away)

(away)

(she pushed them far away)

just as soon as she figured out whose it was. Maybe the owner had written their initials on the tag. People still did that, right? Evelyn’s mother used to do that to her coats when she was in elementary school. Maybe someone had done that to this coat, too. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. But likely not. High school students didn’t need to write their initials on their coats (Evelyn still did, of course, out of habit). They didn’t throw them into a giant pile on the playground, forget them, then accidentally take home the wrong one. High school students loved their coats. They lived for their coats. They were both functional and fashionable. Bomber jackets. Ski jackets. Triple F.A.T. Goose jackets. A few of the senior boys had Members Only jackets. In the fall, they would lean against their cars with their hands in their… pockets.

Remembering this, Evelyn curiously slid her hands into the front pockets of her stolen coat. In the left pocket, she found some loose, sticky change, a nearly empty tube of shimmering pink lip gloss (Steph Price once had a tube of this exact shade, Evelyn remembered; she was constantly slathering it on her lips during class), a ticket stub to some obscure horror movie, gum wrappers, a broken pencil, a few paperclips bent into indefinable shapes, and—most curious of all—a tiny piece of translucent plastic that was faceted on one end like a diamond.

What is this? Evelyn wondered, lifting it into the light to examine it. It almost looked like a piece of jewelry. An earring, perhaps. A tiny earring for a tiny ear.

Her other hand, meanwhile, dove deeper into the right pocket and closed around something cold, hard, and smooth. Metal. A lighter. A brushed chrome Zippo lighter.

Evelyn’s eyes widened, a gasp rose in her chest, and her whole body straightened with surprise. Her right grip tightened. Her left grip loosened. She pulled the lighter out of her pocket and held it in the middle of her palm. It shimmered hypnotically in the sunlight, rendering all her other findings worthless. The strange piece of plastic fell, forgotten, bounced off Evelyn’s knee and tumbled into the grass. She would never think of it again.

This isn’t a stolen coat, she realized. This is Patrick’s coat. Patrick gave me his coat.

And now Evelyn was thinking back to the morning Patrick returned from suspension. She dropped the clipboard and he picked it up for her. Why did he do that? Why did he follow her to her locker after class and ask with such genuine curiosity, Where have I seen you? Why did he return the shirts Henry had stolen? Why did he give Evelyn that postcard that she cherished so much?

(And why did I frame it?)

Why did he let her into his house and introduce her to his mother? Patrick didn’t want her there, but he let her in anyway. Why? Why did he break into the Denbrough house while she was babysitting? Why did he taunt her, terrorize her, then purposefully push his hand into the knife?

(He did. I know he did.)

Why did Patrick stare at her face and call her colorful? Of all the adjectives in the English language, he chose that word specifically. Why? Why?

Confounded, Evelyn whipped the lighter open, flicked the wheel, and sparked a flame.

Why did you give me your coat, Patrick? Do you even know?

Sighing, Evelyn flipped the lid closed and saw her mother’s car coming down Pasture Road. This wasn’t the beat-up station wagon from Evelyn’s childhood. No, her mother had sold that car back in ’86 and bought herself a Plymouth Voyager, a three-door minivan big enough to fit the entire family. They ran errands in that van. Went on family road trips in that van. Two weeks ago, Maggie had driven Evelyn to her first high school party in that van. It ended up being a horrible night in the end, but that moment was perfect. They sat parked in front of Liz Mueller’s house, awestruck by its grandness, while Evelyn's stomach flipped and fluttered with excitement. Her mother had embarrassed her with a very crude lecture about boys and unprotected sex. What? I’m a nurse, not a nun. It began with Evelyn cringing and ended with her laughing, as most talks with her mother did.

Yes, it had been a wonderful night. Evelyn felt so grown up.

Now she felt guilty. She didn’t want this moment to overshadow all those amazing memories. She didn’t want this to be the one moment her mother remembered forever. Evelyn wanted her mother to remember her arguing with Richie in the backseat. Carrying in armfuls of plaques and trophies from the school awards banquet. Spilling her milkshake. Dropping her fries. Freaking out because there was a bee in the backseat. Stop swatting at it, Richie, you’re just gonna make it mad! Falling asleep on the way home from the amusement park, her brother’s head resting on her shoulder. Sitting in front of Liz Mueller’s house, nervous, smiling, laughing, getting out of the car and waving goodbye from the top of the driveway. Those were the memories Evelyn wanted her mother to hold on to. Not this. Not this.

Sniffling, Evelyn dried her eyes on the sleeve of Patrick’s coat and stood up from the bench. As soon as she turned to leave, an ominous feeling swept over her, as if carried by the wind. Evelyn looked back at the school and thought: The next time I walk through those doors, everything’s gonna be different, isn’t it? Somehow, she just knew that to be true.

Steeling herself, Evelyn put the school behind her, pulled her backpack over her right shoulder, and walked on.

“Well, that’s certainly a look,” Maggie Tozier said, observing her daughter’s choice of outerwear with a bemused smile. “Where did you get that…?”

Without saying a word, Evelyn climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door. She burst into hysterical tears while trying to buckle her seat belt.

The next three minutes passed in a tumultuous blur of panicked shrieks and anguished sobs. Evelyn cowering in the passenger seat, shoulders trembling, chest heaving, fingers splayed across her face. The seat belt, partially retracted, clinging to her right shoulder. Maggie’s distressed voice piercing through the air: “What happened?” Evelyn’s response, strangled and desperate: “Just go! Please, Mom, please, just go!” The school doors opening and closing. Victor Criss emerging with Belch Huggins, stopping on the steps, spotting Maggie’s van, leaning forward and squinting fiercely in the sunlight. Evelyn sinking into her seat and shrinking against the door. “Please, Mom, please, I just wanna go home!” Maggie nodding frantically, not understanding, saying, “Okay, okay, we’ll go, we’ll go!” Slamming her foot on the gas pedal. Turning the wheel. Taking off and gunning down Pasture Road. The outside world flying by, golden and serene. Maggie gripping the steering wheel tightly. Her heart pounding. Head spinning with questions. Evelyn beside her, collapsing into herself, into that coat. Where did she get that coat? Maggie glancing at her, back at the road, running through a stop sign, cursing under her breath, and saying, “Evelyn? Evelyn, you need to talk to me, sweetie. I don’t know what’s going on.”

And finally, she told her; with tears streaming down her face, she told her.

And all Maggie could think about was Cheryl Lamonica—fourteen and pregnant—shaking and screaming in her mother’s arms.

Please, don’t tell Daddy! Please, Momma, please don’t tell Daddy!

Now the van was parked on the shoulder of Center Street. Maggie, who had been paralyzed with grief, reached across the seat and pulled her daughter into her arms, holding her close to her breast while she rocked her gently and soothed her with nonsensical words of comfort, something Maggie never had to do before, not even when Evelyn was a baby.

She was always such a happy child, never crying, never fussing. Maggie and Went thought they were the luckiest parents in the world. Perhaps this is the universe’s cruel way of balancing the scales. Maggie thought this and held her daughter even tighter, stroking the top of her head while she continued to weep savagely against her chest. Maggie’s own tears fell silently and dried on her face. She didn’t know what to do. She never thought this would happen, not to her daughter, not to her family, not to her.

“He ripped my dress, Mom!” Evelyn cried suddenly, her voice muffled by Maggie’s cable knit sweater. “Mrs. Criss’s dress—her beautiful dress—Martin ripped, he ripped it—he ruined it! How am I supposed to return it to her now?”

Maggie’s chest ached at those words. “Sweetie,” she said, pulling away and looking at her, “I don’t think Tabby’s gonna care about her dress.”

Evelyn nodded weakly, sniffling. Maggie cradled her face and dried some of the wetness from her cheeks.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah…” Evelyn answered huskily, while a single tear clung stubbornly to her bottom lashes. She blinked it away. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

She settled back into her seat and stared despondently out the window, her eyes glazed and distant. They were parked beside the public library. From where Evelyn was sitting, she could see the slab of red brick where Henry Bowers had pushed her against the wall and pressed his lips against hers. The memory used to leave her breathless. Now it made her want to cry.

Maggie took the wheel again, her hands clammy and tense. “Okay, Evelyn,” she began uneasily while her eyes darted from street sign to street sign, “where am I going, sweetie? Do we need to go to the police station? To the… hospital? Tell me where you want me to go, honey.”

“I just wanna go home,” Evelyn told her. “Is that okay?”

Maggie’s heart clenched painfully. “Of course,” she said. “Of course that’s okay. We’ll go wherever you want.”

Evelyn smiled—a sad, grateful smile. Then she sat back, burrowed herself deep inside that strange black coat,

(Where did she get that coat?)

and went back to staring out the window.

Maggie watched her daughter for a moment and felt her heart swell with so much love she thought it might burst. Went and I got lucky. God knows we did.

She started the car.

Halfway down Main Street, Evelyn turned toward her mother and asked in a soft, childlike voice, “Are you disappointed with me?”

Maggie’s heart shattered completely. “What?” she said. “Why would I be disappointed with you?”

“Because I am,” Evelyn blurted out and immediately burst into tears again.

Once more, Maggie eased off the gas pedal and prepared to pull over, but it wasn’t necessary this time. Evelyn stopped crying all on her own.

Hugging herself, she said in a low voice: “I always thought I’d be stronger, you know? I told myself I’d be stronger, but…”

The thought of walking into that police station, of walking up to the desk and seeing him there. Having to sit in that chair while he sits across from her, his arms folded over his chest, his cold eyes bearing down on her. Crumbling beneath those eyes. Seeing them slowly darken from bright blue—the same bright blue as Henry’s—to such a terrible, hateful black. Having to relieve everything. Tell him everything. While he glares at her, at her torn yellow skirt, and thinks to himself: She was asking for it, wearing a skimpy little skirt like that. Girl should be glad she wasn’t raped.

(Lucky you. Right?)

No, Evelyn couldn’t do that. She would have rather died than do that.

Besides, nothing would come of it anyway. Evelyn learned that lesson a long time ago… when she dared to tell her teacher about a bruise she’d discovered on her classmate’s neck.

“Henry was there,” she rasped. It pained her to say it, but she did.

At once, Maggie looked at her. All the color had drained from her face. “What?”

“He was there, Mom. He was there and he didn’t do anything.”

Saying these words out loud made Evelyn’s heart throb with unbearable pain, but she didn’t cry; somehow, she didn’t cry. Maybe she had finally run out of tears for him.

“You know he’s done a lot of messed up things to me over the years, but… I dunno, I guess I always thought that… that when it mattered, that when I really needed him…” Her lips twisted into a wry smile. “I guess I’m pretty stupid, huh?”

“No,” Maggie said. “No, honey, you’re not stupid. And if you are, then so am I… I never thought he would do something like that.”

Or rather she hoped he wouldn’t.

At the next red light, Maggie said in a tired voice, “This has to stop now, Evelyn. I’m sorry, but it has to stop. I’ve tried to be patient, I’ve tried to be understanding, but I just can’t deal with this anymore. I can’t and I won’t. Okay? It’s too much. It’s too much. I tried to let you handle it, but you didn’t so now I’m going to. This is done, Evelyn. It’s done. I don’t want Henry coming to the house anymore. I don’t want him calling you anymore. Yeah, I know he’s the one always calling here, Evelyn, and it’s done now, okay? It’s done. I don’t want him sneaking into the house at night. I don’t want you sneaking off to go see him. I don’t care if he needs you, I don’t care if he loves you. It’s done, Evelyn. All of this is done. If I ever see him around the house again, I’m calling his father and—”

Evelyn jumped in her seat as if struck. Terror closed around her throat.

(??WHAT??)

(!!BUT YOU CAN’T!!)

“—and yes, Evelyn, yes, I know EXACTLY what that means for him!”

Evelyn flinched back, startled. The strength of her mother’s voice left her shaken. It’s done now… it’s done… done… is it really done? Tears flooded her eyes and blurred her vision, but still she nodded. She nodded and she understood.

“It’s enough now, Evelyn,” Maggie said, but there was no triumph in her voice, none at all.

A somber silence fell over the cabin then. The van pulled forward, made a left turn onto Summer Street, and continued down the road. Evelyn already knew what was waiting for her at the end of this road. She knew and she was ready for it.

She would have to face Henry sooner or later.

_____________________

PREV // CURRENT // NEXT

taglist: @secrethologramflower @zzokks @idkdudsworld

#bowers gang #henry bowers #patrick hockstetter #victor criss #belch huggins #henry bowers fanfiction #patrick hockstetter fanfiction #it fanfiction #it stephen king #it 2017 #fanfiction #fanfic #paper men #ambrossart

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wefallforever · 6 months

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Once Upon A Time Rewatch: Season 3 Thoughts

This season was an excellent depiction of family cycles, intergenerational trauma and repair. That shit it home for real!

To start with, you have Emma, David and Mary Margaret struggling to connect because of how closed off Emma has become to protect herself. And of course all the pain she has around being abandoned in the first place. But David and Mary Margaret are so desperate for a relationship they sometimes come across pushy. It’s sooo cute how she starts to call them mom and dad by the end of the season 🥺

And whew Gold’s daddy issues totally explain why he is The Way he is. I can’t imagine looking my child in the eye and saying “[my baby was] helpless and all mine. Pulling away my name, my money, my time! Pulling away any hope of making better for myself. This pink, naked, squirming little larva that wanted to eat my dreams alive and never stop. What are you now, a couple hundred? Can’t I be free of you?” 😬😩😐 Real fucking harsh Pan.

And of course we have Zelena, whose desire to procure the life she never had eventually leads to her downfall. And yes her jealousy makes sense given that she grew up dirt poor whilst Regina trained to be an all powerful queen, but Zelena definitley romantissd Cora’s life. One could say she was looking at it with green coloured glasses 🤭. Her smoke should have been for Cora in my opinion! Fuck Gold for taking away Zelena’s second chance! 😡

Other miscellaneous thoughts on the season:

• I love how often Regina and Emma refer to Henry as “our son” it fills my little gay heart with joy. I swear to god they would have been the perfect slow burn enemies to friends to lovers story if Disney wasn’t so homophobic. Speaking of, I refuse to acknowledge the romances with Hook and Robin despite the actors’ on screen chemistry and relevance to the plot LOLOLOL!

• it’s bullshit that Mulan wasn’t with the merry men this season and they didn’t even address what happened. Hopefully Jamie Chung was offered a better role elsewhere and decided not to return (not holding my breath)

• we did get some additional Black people with lines on screen who live so that’s good. However I do think it’s sus the way Marian’a character is treated.

• I appreciate the theme of redemption and that you can alter your own destiny. Fate lies in the choices we make everyday.

I’m nearly halfway through season four so my astrology post on the main character’s big six is coming soon! Any thoughts on what my interpretations will look like? 👀

#once upon a time #swan queen

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guuccibaguette · 2 years

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Sims 4 Sweet Life Legacy Challenge

Hi, this is the creator of this challenge! I am not a professional when it comes to making legacy challenges but I try my best! You can find multiple other ways of seeing my progress on doing my own legacies and other fellow simmers legacies as well. I have always been fond of doing legacy challenges, they give me more purpose to play sims in ways that I myself would not know how. Let's be honest sims 4 can be very boring if you don’t have anything planned out, that's why challenges make the game so much better - along with custom content -. If you decide to use my challenge I hope you have fun and enjoy this!

General Rules for this Challenge are pretty simple but I don’t want to make this challenge so easy that people can fly thru each gen like butter.

Generation 1 - Cinnamon

Your parents are and have always been big on their vegetable garden and being complete Vegans. They make money from selling their vegetables all around Henford-On-Bagley. It's their home and they will not leave under no circumstances. You never told them how you are definitely not a vegan. You in fact have a very strong sweet tooth, especially for Cinnamon Rolls. This is your secret from them. Your dream is to get out of Henford-On-Bagley and start your own sweets bakery completely not Vegan.

Aspiration- Master Chef (this is a mod-friendly challenge if you want to use the custom bakery aspiration be my guest)

Career- You make all your simoleons from baking sweets and eventually own your own sweets bakery.

Skills- Cooking, Gourmet Cooking, & Baking

*Start as a child or teen*

*All Three Skills Have To Be Completed to Mastered*

*Must live in Henford-On-Bagley as a teen, but leave once Young Adult*

*Marry the first employee you hire when you open your bakery*

*Have a five-star Bakery before you die*

*Have at least 2-3 kids*

*If you want to complete the parents' aspiration as well (not required) its Country Caretaker*

Generation 2 - Starberry Shortcake

Running a bakery with your parents is and has always been fun, free sweets every day. Sadly though when it comes to eating sweets every day you will most likely end up with bad health and bad teeth - aka cavities- not fun. You strive to make a better body for yourself, and more healthy lifestyle. It's not easy and multiple steps up the stairs but you will make it.

Aspiration- Bodybuilder

Career- Athlete *If you master this career before your sim dies you can download a dentist career to fit the storyline.*

Skills- Fitness, Wellness, Snowboarding, skiing, & *optional* rock climbing

*TRY to master fitness skill as a teen*

*Go to Mt. Komorebi every other weekend to master your snowboarding, skiing, & *optional* rock climbing skill*

*Join football or cheer for after school, not both*

*Marry an afterschool member*

*Move to Mt. Komorebi as a young adult*

*Have one or more child(ren) with first spouse*

*Have an affair with a native from Mt. Komorebi*

Generation 3 - Rice Crispy Treat

You have always watched your parent either come home from working looking sweaty, or them picking you up from school and the entire car smelling like sweat. It has and will always gross you out to no avail. It made you nauseous a lot when seeing both your parents sweaty from working out just casually being able to hug, kiss, or do anything with grime on them. This made you end up constantly cleaning the house, the car, EVERYTHING you can see that makes you see dirt. *sigh* Being a clean freak isn’t as easy when all you see is sticky.

Aspiration- Perfectly Pristine

Career- Influencer (you make money from your posts/videos of your positive clean lifestyle)

Skills- If there was a cleaning skill it would be that skill

*Must have the bust the dust kit enabled*

*Keep your house as perfectly clean as possible*

*Have as many kids as you would like the more the messier*

*Marry an opposites attract sim because obviously, opposites attract*

*Adopt a stray cat or dog to add to the messiness*

*Once aspiration is completed and being an elder die from over exhaustion from cleaning*

Generation 4 - Smores

Because of your parents' clean freak illness, they put you in scouts. They kept you in scouts from childhood, teenhood till young adult. Lucky for you, you learned a lot being in scouts. How to make smores, make fires, and tie a rope for about anything. Being in the outdoors is the best! Learning more things about the outdoors is all you want in life. You want your firstborn to be born in the outdoors, you want to die in the outdoors. Outdoor life is all you can think about when you get home from scouts. You even asked your parent(s) if you could go camping but they always said no. Now is your chance to let your dreams come true as a young adult!

Aspiration- Outdoor Enthusiast

Career- You make money from your finds. *Bugs, fish, etc*

Skills- Herbalism, & Gardening

*If you have the mod to live in Granite falls you can use that, if not buy an empty lot and constantly vacation to granite falls to explore and make money.*

*Try to complete the frog collection if not collect at least 15 to 20 frogs it will show in your collections*

*Collect at least 10-15 insects in your collections*

*Collect all the granite falls exclusive fish (Golden Yellow, Yellow Perch, Red Crayfish, Blue Crayfish, Fish-far from the Mountains)*

*Befriend the Hermit of Granite falls*

*Raise all child(ren) in granite falls*

*Marry a sim in a bear costume*

Generation 5 - Banana Split

Camping has always been a huge thing for your family. Your parent could never get your grandparent to ever visit or join you. So you always had to travel the distance just to see extended family. It was always fun to watch what new buildings appeared and what new stores were made. Seeing cousins, family members and many more was never a hassle it was always a joy just to travel. Once you got your license to drive, no one was ever able to stop you from going off to travel somewhere.

Aspiration- Beach life & City Native *Optional* Jungle Explorer

Career- Critic *You are traveling a lot this is a perfect job for your sim*

Skills- Charisma, Logic, & Photography

*Once mastered either aspiration continue on to the next as long as one aspiration is finished you completed the generation*

*Make at least 12 friends, 12 good friends, and 1 best friend*

*Marry a native from either Sulani or San Myshuno*

*Have two children one born from Sulani and One born from San Myshuno*

*Always participate in the markets and festivals*

*Learn all the San Myshuno Food Stall Recipes*

*Collect all snowglobes*

Generation 6 - Brownie

Because of your very absent parent always traveling claiming it was for their job, they were not in your life that much. It was mostly you and your sibling. You had to learn to cook and clean, make sure that you and your sibling survive without the adult around. There was always money on the table, never had to struggle in that department yet you struggled to be happy. In school, you were bullied for your hair, and your clothes, and when sims found out that your parent was absent in your life the new nickname was now your name *housewife*.

Aspiration- Super Parent

Career- Babysitter

Skills- Parenting

*Always save your money and only spend on needed stuff, aka bills, food, or furniture.*

*Never order out always cook meals for everyone in your household*

*Marry a sim that is already a parent (step-parent life)*

*Have 2 children with your spouse*

*Have a no-contact relationship or negative relationship with a neglectful parent*

*Adopt one child when elder*

Generation 7 - Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies are the best snack ever in your sim opinion. Your sim parent would always make it for movie nights, after-school snacks even sleepovers! Yet the older they got the more sad you got that those Chocolate Chip Cookies will never be made by them ever again. Then it dawned on you, a lot of things are never gonna be seen or made again. You want to keep all that knowledge, keep everything you know and not let it go away. This got you into collecting things specifically shiny things.

Aspiration- The Curator

Career- Science

Skills- Rocket Science

*Collect all the crystals*

*Build a rocketship and go to Sixam*

*Meet and Marry an alien from Sixam*

*Have one alien child*

*Maintain a relationship with the parent making sure the child has one with them as well*

*Collect all Geodes*

*Have a tiny garden with only Fang Flower, Glow Orb, & Quill Fruit*

Generation 8 - Cheesecake

Being different has never been harder. Your skin may look and feel like a sim but you don’t sound like one, you don't feel like one, and you definitely don’t act like one. Your sim parent always tried to make you feel included in the sim world teaching you everything about sims, but your alien parent was always making it known where your origin is from. Two different worlds yet it feels so hard to understand either. Getting away from it all and going somewhere new is probably what's best to handle your anxiety. You go to a small town with not that many sims and it's very unknown.

Aspiration- StrangerVille Mystery

Career- Military

Skills- Programming & Robotics

*Use your robotics skill to make your best friend a robot*

*When making your crew to defeat mother befriend all of them*

*Marry one crew member*

*Once the mother is defeated make a second robot so your robot can have a spouse*

*Have multiple children as many as you desire*

*Leave StrangerVille after all the above is completed*

Generation 9 - Red Velvet Cake

Romance *sigh* the most romantic thing to see is two sims falling in love and sharing their compassion for one another. You watched your parents love blossom all the time, and you even witnessed the robot family members have a loving relationship blossom! You crave that feeling one day. The warm gushy mushy feeling in your gut. Your heart pounding just being near the one you love. Watching romance movies and having celebrity crushes will never fill the void in your heart you want real love, you want a real sim to share your feelings with.

Aspiration- Soulmate or Serial Romantic

Career- Architecture

Skills- Flower Arranging & Bowling

*Every date you go on has to be at a bowling alley*

*Every date you go on you have to give them a vase of flowers*

*Marry a sim that you’ve worked for at your job*

*Have an affair with a married sim*

*Have six kids with spouse*

*Divorce spouse*

*Marry as an elder*

Generation 10 - Doughnut

A dozen is most common when buying doughnuts right? Either six or twelve no in between unless it's a full party. You love parties, you thrive for nights out and attending parties, and you love throwing secret parties your sim parent never knows about. It's the best and most thrilling thing to do. Especially since you have a dozen siblings meaning the house parties you throw will be massive. You are always excited about your young adult life growing up because all you want to do is throw parties and go to clubs to party some more.

Aspiration- Party Animal

Career- Video Game Streamer

Skills- Media Production, Dancing, & Dj Mixing

*Every Saturday throw a party*

*Every Sunday go to the club*

*Befriend a celebrity at any star level*

*Marry a celebrity*

*Have a set of twins*

*Live in a mansion*

*Become a five-star celebrity*

#sims #sims 4 #sims 4 legacy #sims 4 legacy challenge #ts4 #ts4 legacy challenge #sims 4 challenge #ts4 challenge #LegacyChallenge

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lavenderbang · 2 years

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Felix and Your Tavern <3

A/N: Okay Okay, so I’m gonna do this bullet point form cause 1)I’m kinda lazy to explain everything and have proper sentence structure, etc., 2) This would be much longer than it already is if I wrote it normally, and 3) I’ve had this concept in mind for a fantasy au with Felix for a while and my brain go brrr, so I need to share it. Anyways, I’m sorry for any spelling mistakes and for how messy this will be, but I hope you enjoy my brainrot nonetheless!

**Warnings: Fighting(shouting, kinda physical), swearing, alcohol mentions, running away from home !!! [reader also is called the term “wife”]**

Part I Part II

W.C: 9.4k

So you first met Felix, he was known as Prince Yongbok of the Clé kingdom, Second son to King and Queen Lee

You were employed by them to be the young prince’s courtier, which was a great honour to you, as you came from a family with no particular title or wealth

You were chosen due to shown proficiency in intelligence, manners, strength, respect during the summer tournament; all good qualities to hopefully rub off on the prince

He was known as the trouble child

blowing off his duties often to do things that were unsightly of the royal family, such as baking, gardening, and other pleasantly activities.

Your first day on the job was a mess, as you couldn’t even find the boy for half of the morning

He was up before the break of dawn out in the greenhouse tending to roses when you finally found him. He did not look up at you as he continued his work, humming to himself pleasantly.

not only was he still in his night wear, dark shaggy hair sticking out in all different directions and skin dull and dry

but he was also covered in dirt and water, creating stains and spots on the loose tunic he wore to sleep.

“Come with me, your majesty. It’s time for your dance lessons.”

“Oh, no thank you. I’d like to stay here and prune these roses. You are free to take your leave for the day!”

You were quite taken aback, as you were quite unsure what to do at this time. Did you obey Prince Yongbok, who was giving you direct orders or stick to the schedule that was given to you by the Queen and the King?

Fearing the Queen and the King more, you stood firmly in your place and cleared your throat.

Felix looked up at you for the first time with a furrowed brow and a pout. He was surprised at your blatant disobeying of his orders, yet you seemed to intrigue him nonetheless

“I really must insist, your majesty. As your courtier-”

“what is your name?” He interrupted you, tilting his head curiously at you

“(L/N) (Y/N). I am your new courtier after the last one was fired.”

“Do you know why they were fired?” The prince asked abruptly, setting the pot of roses aside and leaning over the workbench they sat on to get a closer look at you.

“Of course not, your majesty. It isn’t my business.” You said firmly, feeling like you were under a microscope with how his gaze wracked over your form. He looked like a cat playing with a mouse before eating it.

“It was because they failed to morph me into the perfect little prince that my parents want.” Prince Yongbok said, carting one of his dirty hands through his hair. You stood stiffly in front of him, trying not to waiver.

“And I assume you’ll eventually be fired for the same reason.” He hummed, a hint of venom laced in his tone as he pushed off the workbench and came around to approach you.

“My brother might be the prodigy son; heir to the throne, the golden child.... But you can’t change me. And standing here with a stick up your ass won’t make a difference.” Prince Yongbok scoffed, standing straight with his arms crossed over his chest.

You had to admit, the Prince was a bit intimidating, irritated expression painting his features. but luckily, you were able to hold your ground well enough. You weren’t going to let some bratty prince cost you your job.

“I don’t want to change you, your majesty.” You said, tone even and eyes stone cold.

The prince seemed surprised by you standing your ground, expression faltering just a bit.

“However, you have duties as a royal that need attending to. And seeing as your duties are given to you by the king and queen themselves, if you are to disobey them, it’ll be treason.”

you weren’t scared of some pretty boy prince. He was all talk, and you could tell when his expression shifted from annoyed to one of worry.

“So I suggest you come with me to your dance lesson, your majesty. Unless you want me to call for the guards to come and get you instead?”

Checkmate

Prince Yongbok gaped at you, processing what you had said in his head before letting out a exasperated sigh when he realized you were technically right.

He grumbled out a reluctant agreement before following you outside the greenhouse as you lead the prince back inside to be cleaned up for his lesson.

“We can come back out here later to tend to the flowers more if you’d like. This afternoon if you finish your history lesson early?” You proposed as you reached the door to get inside.

while you were strict with his schedule, you really meant it when you said you didn’t want to change Prince Yongbok.

so compromising on his activities seemed like a pleasant solution for both parties.

Prince Yongbok seemed to agree, enthused he was going to be allowed to come back out to the greenhouse later.

None of the previous courtiers were like you; they were mean and strict, shouting at Yongbok for hours, yet their gripes with him fell of deaf ears.

or they were pushovers, leaving Yongbok alone for their entirety of their stay at the castle.

But you were different.

You were stern, yet gentle

Prince Yongbok didn’t know how to feel about you.

But as your time together grew, the Prince seemed to warm up to you a bit more.

Sure, he still avoided going to his lesson and tried to barter his way out of attending the royal court, but you always made sure to reward the Prince with some recreational activities later in the afternoon or evening (depending when he was finishing his lessons)

He spoke to you in a nicer way now, yet he was still distant. Just polite, but not friendly.

He spoke to you as if you weren’t a real person, just a personified schedule.

It didn’t really matter to you

not at all

as long as he was fulfilling his duties, which he was

for the price of an hour of recreational activities before bed.

You have learned he was really good at baking, and he always seemed happiest while he was down in the lower level kitchen with the servants.

And he always made sure to interact with them, speaking casually like they are all old friends.

However, there was one question you did have about when he was with the servants

you finally decided to ask one day as you were bringing the prince to his quarters after a long day of working.

“your majesty, may I ask you something?”

“sure, go ahead.”

“I noticed while we were down in the kitchen today, you were speaking to the servants...”

Prince Yongbok stopped in the corridor to turn and face you. His expression was a lot softer than usual, lips pursed, slight grin adorning his features. He was feeling the same sense of intrigue the day you had met, except there was now an underlying adoration that had grown from being around you

He looked like the sun, bright and curious.

“They call you by a different name... Felix, they call you.”

“Yeah, they do.” The prince nodded in agreement, grin growing as you frown, confused at how casual the situation was.

“why?” you asked, lifting your gaze to meet his eyes. you’d never met a royal who voluntarily spoke to servants, let alone let them call them by a nickname so freely.

the situation nipped at your curiosity, so you finally had to ask.

Prince Yongbok smiled fondly at your confusion, a little giggle bubbling up from his chest.

“The servants aren’t as educated as you and me, so the name Yongbok is sometimes hard for them to pronounce. So I told them to give me a new name. an easier name.” The prince explained, as if it clarified anything to you.

“your majesty, why would you allow them to call you by your name and not your majesty anyways?” You asked, tucking your bottom lip in between your teeth as you couldn’t hold in your obvious confusion.

Yongbok couldn’t help his smile from growing

you were so endearing to him in this moment

“Because they are people (Y/N).” He hummed, turning around and continuing his walk towards his chambers.

Your brain froze for a second as you tried to understand his thought process, before you followed behind Prince Yongbok.

“you say they are people... however, you have me call you by your title. Am I not a person too, your majesty?”

You let the words tumble out before you even register what you said. once you do, you immediately slap a hand over your mouth and bow furiously at the prince, who has stopped dead in his tracks.

“Forgive me, Your majesty! I spoke without-”

“so that’s what this is all about!” The prince lets out a laugh, turning to look at you as you stiffen out of fear.

“Look, (Y/N), you could have just asked if you wanted to call me by Felix too.” He huffed playfully, enjoying watching you squirm nervously under his gaze.

You looked cute, nervously fiddling with them hem of your sleeve

“I-no! that’s not what I meant your majesty! I was simply-” You began, before the prince silenced you with a gentle wave of his hand. You felt like you were going to explode, tears threatening to spill over your cheeks.

you were embarrassed at your unprofessionalism, but most of all, you were worried you had upset the prince or offended him by having him think you were being rude and ungrateful.

But Prince Yongbok just looked at you sweetly, the corners of his lips quirked up playfully.

“(L/N) (Y/N), as my courtier, I give you full permission to call me Felix. I actually wish you would have asked me sooner.”

You feel your nerves unravel, like the tight coil in the pit of your stomach releasing all the pressure. You felt like you were made of jello, but in a good way.

“You do?” You asked tentatively, trying your best to save face as much as possible.

“yeah. It’s awkward how formal our relationship is when we spend everyday together. This way, it’ll make me more comfortable around you.” The prince explained

you reached his door, meaning it was time to send him off to bed. You had felt a great wave of relief, which must have shown on your face because Yongbok let out a chuckle.

“See you tomorrow (Y/N). Good night!” The prince hummed, waving you off as he opened his door and slipped inside his room

“good night... Felix.” You said softly. Felix couldn’t help the sudden quickening of his heartbeat and the drop of his stomach when he heard the name tumble form your lips.

his name

It sounded great coming from your mouth, he thought

and so, with the establishing of names, your relationship with Felix became a lot more friendly as the months went on

of course, when you were with the king and queen, you called him by his title, no matter how much it caused Felix discomfort.

He hated to admit it, but he had grown very accustom to you being by his side everyday; more than just a courtier, but as a friend.

he enjoyed your company. You were a good listener, and you always tried to provide a solution to his problems when he shared them

not to mention you encouraged him to do what he enjoyed, which nobody had ever done before.

you made him feel cared about, which made him really happy.

yep, you were a good friend alright!

just a friend, though.

nothing more!

...

okay so maybe Felix was starting to fall in love with you.

It wasn’t his fault that on top of being nice, you were also very pretty and it wasn’t his fault he got butterflies whenever you praised him or encouraged him

but as much as Felix wanted to tell you the truth about his not so platonic feelings, he didn’t want to make you uncomfortable

you were forced to spend every day with him no matter what, so he’d probably never forgive himself if he upset you and you just had to stick around anyways.

relationship with each other aside, today was a very important day

The royal family from the neighboring kingdom Naevis was to come today and present Felix’s older brother with his suitor.

Minho was the eldest Lee prince, heir to the throne of Clé. He was a perfect fit for the throne too!

responsible, poised, hard working, and very caring of his subjects.

Felix tried not to be spiteful of his brother, despite the constant comparisons made between the two by his parents.

Nonetheless, Felix knew his brother would make a good king, and a good husband to whoever he was set to marry.

However, he was just as surprised as you were when he was also presented a suitor for the same kingdom

Her name was Winter and she was as beautiful as fully bloomed chrysanthemum and brighter than the stars in the sky

she was sweet like honey and smarter than most tutors,

she was so full of life

She was what any young prince could ask for when it came to a suitor

but Felix couldn’t help the sick feeling burning up in his throat at the proposal

Of course the king and queen accepted the marriage proposals for both of their sons

The alliances between the kingdom would be twice as strong now, which was very advantageous for both Clé and Naevis

Minho had been set to marry the eldest daughter Karina for many years now, so the two were pretty well acquainted already

But Felix had only ever spoken to Winter twice in his whole life

and with that, it was only formal greetings...

and now he was being told they would be married by next spring?

it was all too much too fast.

and of course, she wasn’t you.

As Felix’s courtier, you had advised the king and queen schedule a few meetings a week with Winter into Prince Yongbok’s weekly duties, to help them feel more comfortable with each other

of course, the queen and king expected you to chaperone the young royals during these meetings

you accepted the responsibility with great honour

but you couldn’t help the nagging feeling tugging at your heart

you spent everyday with Felix, and through the months of working with him, he had become a lot more responsible with his duties

you were excited he was able to move to the next step towards becoming a proper royal with such a lovely suitor

so why did you feel nauseous at the sight of them together?

You were supposed to be happy your majesty was finally going to live the life he was supposed to

so why did you want so badly to jump in between then while they strolled through the garden with their arms linked?

You didn’t know why you felt that way

Well...

you did know.

But you didn’t dare mutter a thought of those feelings aloud at anytime!

it wasn’t your place to get in the way of Felix’s destiny

With the announcement of the engagement, there was a rift created in your relationship with Felix. One where you went back to a more professional demeanor and he stopped being as talkative.

Felix hated it

he hated every moment he had to spend with Winter because he didn’t want to marry her.

And as more meetings happened and more time went on, the wedding drew closer

and you pulled even farther away from Felix

you had lost all the life and became a shell of a person who barely spoke a word to Felix besides what his schedule was and where he was to meet with Winter

You even refused to stay with him while he was out in the greenhouse or in the kitchen with the servants, opting to stay outside the the doorway awaiting to escort the prince to bed.

He was lucky you still allowed him the free time he wasn’t entitled to, but it made him unhappy with you now gone from them.

The final straw was when you called him by his title.

“Good night (Y/N).” Felix said weakly, pushing open the door to his room.

“Good night, your majesty.” You mumbled, bending at the waist to bow to the prince. Felix felt like he had been shot with an arrow as he froze in place.

Truthfully, he felt his anger bubble up and spill over, face stone cold as he stared at you

“What did you say to me?” He spat, eyes meeting yours as you rose from your bow. You looked unfazed, lips pressed into a thin line.

“I said good night, your majesty.” You replied flatly. As you were turning to leave, you were shocked as Felix firmly grasped your wrist and tugged on it, making you turn to face him

You could feel irritation ignite in you as you glared at him

Normally, you’d be afraid of being fired, but you secretly hoped you were fired

it would be easier than seeing him everyday

“No.” He growled, roughly yanking you into his room before going to slam the door behind you

“Your majesty-” You sighed restlessly, but were quickly cut off by Felix.

“What happened between us?” He said, raising his voice as he came closer to you.

He looked scary now; dark eyes burning with a fury, jaw firm and expression heated as he brushed his dark hair away from his face. You felt afraid of his strong demeanor, but knew deep down he wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.

When you didn’t answer him, he just continued, pacing back and forth with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You don’t even talk to me anymore. You act like I don’t even exist beyond being a task for you! And on top of that, you are calling me by my title now... Is this all business to you?! What happened?! Did I do something to upset you?” Felix huffed, letting all the anger from the past few months spill out.

“No, you didn’t do anything.” You replied, fighting back the tears that were threatening to leak from your eyes.

no, you had to stay strong

“I’m sorry for upsetting you, your majesty. I’ll refrain from doing that in the future.” You said simply, bowing politely at Felix before moving to the door and reaching for the handle

you had to get out of there.

“Did you even listen to what I said, (Y/N)?!”

Felix was shouting now, palm pressed against the wooden door to keep you from leaving.

“Let me go.”

you were the one who was getting angry now

“Not until you talk to me. I just want to-”

“Let. Me. Go...” You were shaking from rage now, pulling at the door, but Felix wouldn’t budge

It wasn’t fair

It wasn’t fair you had to be the one who was rational and you had to be the one who was responsible

all while Felix got to act like a child, throwing a tantrum because you were being respectful and doing your job.

“No.” Felix said sternly, pressing his palm against the door even harder, coming closer to you he could feel the heat radiating off your body like plumes of smoke

why were you being so difficult?

Felix’s life had already gone to shit with this stupid marriage stuff, and now you were making it worse by being cold to him

You turn to him, expression fierce and body trembling

“You want to know so fucking bad?!” You spat, shoving Felix away from you as you felt tears of frustration spill over.

“You are going to be married to the perfect woman and there is nothing I can even do about it! I watch from behind the two of you and pray that in another life, it could be me holding your hand. I wish I was as pretty as she is, I wish that I was as smart as she is, I wish that my family had some sort of status because maybe then I wouldn’t have the person I love engaged to someone else! And life is cruel and unjust because I just have to watch you become who you are meant to be, but there isn’t a place for me anymore!”

Sobs fought their way out of your chest, feeling like you were absolutely broken at this point.

You knew this would probably be the last time you saw Felix because of your outburst, but you tried making peace with that as you sucked in a shaky breath, only for more sobs to fall out.

Maybe you’d move far from the kingdom and live in a cottage in the woods

that way you wont have to worry-

Felix was holding you in an instant, arms wrapped tightly around your torso as broken sobs coming from his throat.

You were still catching your breath and your racing mind, but you finally held the prince in front of you, rubbing a soothing, yet shaky hand along his back.

He clutched you tightly as if you would dissolve if he let go

“for fuck’s sake (Y/N), you have no idea how much agony I am in everyday because I am utterly in love with you.” Felix wailed, burying his head in the crook of your neck.

“I hate being engaged. I hate wedding planning. I hate everything about this situation because she’s not you.”

You let out a weak sigh, feeling the weight of this confession crushing down on you

You felt a lot of things in that moment, but the most prominent was relief he felt the same way

Felix pulled away just enough to look at you in the eyes, his own were blurred from tears.

“I love you so much.”

And you allowed, just this once, for your feelings to prevail over your brain as you kissed Felix for the first time

He kissed back with as much fervor as possible, as he was still out of breath from crying

and when you finally did part for air, it only lasted a second before Felix was diving in for another kiss.

His lips were trembling as he clawed at your waist, seemingly trying to get you even closer to him.

You brought your hands up to tangle in his shaggy hair, holding his head lovingly as you willed every ounce of emotion you had into the kiss

Felix parted from your lips, leaning his forehead against yours

“please, stay with me...” He whispered desperately, placing a peck on your face between each word

but you were rational

and responsible

“I can’t.” You said breathlessly, sniffling and sliding your hands down his back weakly.

“you know we can’t Felix...”

“Just for tonight.” Felix bartered, already walking backwards towards his bed, pulling you along with him.

“Just for tonight...” He repeated, legs hitting the edge of his mattress as he placed another kiss to your lips.

“please... be mine, just for tonight?”

And you let your heart make one more choice over your brain

you let yourself have one night in Felix’s arms, clutching onto him as if he was the most precious thing in the world

one night where your tongues danced together and teeth crashed into each other

One night where you whispered sweet nothings to each other late into early morning

one night where you could call him yours

because when the sun rose, you were gone. Back to the reality of your situation.

You relationship with Felix got better

You went back to calling him Felix in private and you began spending his free time together doing what he loved again

but you kept your distance, opting to never speak of that night to him again.

no matter how much he brought up the subject of your love

You refused to entertain his ideas, changing the subject when he tried to speak to you about what happened that night

or you pulled away whenever Felix tried to grab your hand as you walked or held onto you a bit to long after a hug.

You began to notice him stealing glances at you whenever he was with Winter,

and when he was paying attention to her, he looked bored and acted very formally around her.

When it came to wedding planning, Felix was even more distant.

“I don’t care, whatever flowers you want for the ceremony.”

“All these cakes taste good, so it doesn’t matter to me”

“Why are wedding colours even important? Just go with that one.”

You knew he wasn’t thrilled to be marrying Winter,

but at least put in a bit of effort for her sake...

“Yongbok Darling, you know how we were unable to have an engagement ball a few months ago due to complications in my kingdom?” Winter asked her fiance.

it was a beautiful spring afternoon and the two were having tea out in the courtyard (under your supervision of course).

You knew the wedding was a few weeks away, yet the king and queen still seemed adamant on Felix meeting with Winter a few times a week because he still hadn’t quite warmed up to her yet

with the wedding so close, why was she bringing up an engagement ball?

Felix stirred his tea nonchalantly, looking out at the pond in the center of the courtyard. How much he wished he could just dive in right now and drown

that way he wouldn’t have to be in this situation anymore

when Felix didn’t answer, you kicked at his ankle to get his attention.

“hm? oh yeah, the engagement ball...” Felix hummed dismissively, giving a haphazard glance to his fiance before staring down at his tea cup

“Well, what if we had one? It would be for both our union and our sibling’s, but I think it’s a very important tradition. Don’t you?” Winter said sweetly, picking up a biscuit and dunking it in her tea delicately

“Isn’t it too late to plan one? Our wedding is in a few weeks.” Felix said politely, but grimaced at the thought

“Our parents already have it planned out,” Winter explained, “It was supposed to be a secret, but I wanted to tell you in advance so you could prepare.”

Felix perked up at this, finally looking at Winter. His expression morphed into one of nerves as he let a frown play on his face only for a quick moment

“When is it?”

“in a couple of days. I suppose your parents wanted it kept a secret until the day of...”

Felx let out a small ‘oh’ before plastering a fake smile on his face

“I’m glad we are able to have one finally. Thank you for the extra heads up, Winter.”

“Well I actually said something for (Y/N)’s sake,”

You perked up when the Princess addressed you directly. You were used to being not even acknowledged during these meetings between the two, so it was surprising to hear your name come from Winter’s lips

You didn’t even know she knew your name, as she referred to you as the courtier when she did reference you

“Can you fit in dancing lessons into Yongbok’s schedule? I would hate for him to make a fool out of himself at the ball.” She asked, turning to you with a gentle smile. You nodded in agreement, clasping your hands behind your back as you bowed to her.

Felix looked at you, bittersweet expression adorning his beautiful features before he turned back to Winter.

“Wonderful! Shall we go inside now?” She exclaimed, finishing her tea and dabbing her mouth with a napkin. Felix stood from his place, gathering the tea set just as you started to as well.

You hands touched for a moment while reaching for the sugar, and you felt an spark shoot through your fingertip.

“Leave that for (Y/N), Darling. Wont you walk with me?” Winter asked, holding her arm out for Felix to take.

Felix froze for a second before wordlessly leaving you to collect the rest of the tea set and laced his arm through Winter’s

But not without having his gaze entirely focused on you

even as you began to walk them back to the castle, tea tray in hand, He barely spared his fiance a glance

all Felix could look at was you.

even when she kissed his cheek and said her goodbyes, he couldn’t take his eyes off of you...

The ball came in the blink of an eye,

you felt a bit unprepared in all honesty, but it worked out well

elites from both kingdoms gathered at the castle, wishing well onto both of the happy couples

however, by now, Minho and Karina had already been married some time in the winter

kind of redundant for them to have an engagement ball as husband and wife, but tradition is tradition

They sat up with the king and queen, stoic and poised

as if it was possible for the future king and queen to look anything BUT put together.

the only sign they were really present and not just wax figures was their hands intertwined fondly as they spoke in hushed whispers.

You stood off to the side of the ballroom

as a member of the court, you were technically invited, however you didn’t dare speak to any of the royals.

You were dressed in your best attire, but you felt incredibly bored as you watched the elites mingle.

You almost wished you were dismissed to go down to the kitchen and help out there

you’d be more useful that way anyways

But that all changed when Felix entered the ballroom, arm and arm with Winter

He looked breathtakingly beautiful; his messy hair styled out of his face and he wore a spangled, velvet suit that glittered under the lights of the chandelier

he bowed and greeted guests, grin adorning his features

Winter looked equally as lovely, smiling and waving cheerfully as she mingled with guests as the two whisked around the crowd

they were the guests of honour after all

Finally, the two of them came close enough for Felix to see you

You felt your face burn at the way his expression lit up when he recognized it was you.

He hastily whispered to his fiance, before releasing his arm from hers and weaving through the crowd to you.

now that Felix stood in front of you, he looked even more magnificent; you could clearly see the rosy dust of his flushed cheeks and the star-like freckles that littered his face and neck.

“Good evening (Y/N).”

Felix spoke in a formal, even tone. Considering your current surroundings, it made sense; but nonetheless, you were taken aback by his demeanor

“Good evening, your majesty.” You replied with a bow, trying to hold in a laugh when you catch Felix making a sound of disgust at the title.

luckily, the prince was able to keep his composure

“You look lovely as ever.” He said, a politeness in his tone. Yet you knew he meant much beyond formalities

“You look quite dashing yourself, your majesty.” You hummed in reply, smiling as you see the blush across his cheeks spread to his neck and ears

“May I ask for your assistance on something?” He asked, lips quirked into a playful grin.

“of course. Anything you need, your majesty.”

“Come this way then, please.”

Felix lead you out of the ballroom and down one of the corridors until you reached the familiar view of his bedroom door.

He opened it and ushered you inside, closing the door behind the two of you tightly

“So, what do you need-”

Before you could finish your sentence you were quickly cut off with the prince’s lips on your own

they tasted of champagne and sweets

Taken by surprise, you stood stiff, placing your hands on his chest to push him away

“Felix, what are you doing?” You asked, secretly wishing you wouldn’t have to pushed him away.

“God, you have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to do that in the past few weeks.” Felix chuckled breathlessly, wrapping his arms around you and leaning into another kiss.

This time you kissed him back for just a moment, only to push him away again

When you parted, Felix looked at you perplexedly

did you not want this?

“Felix, what are you doing?” You repeated quietly, eyes sad and expression soft

“what are we doing?”

“What do you mean?” Felix asked, rubbing his hands up your back to land at your shoulders. His touch was delicate and gentle

You let out a scoff, looking away from the lovesick boy in front of you.

You could hear the muffled sound of the ball outside the door, as you gazed out Felix’s open window to look at the bright moon hung up in the sky

you could see the pooling of storm clouds in the distance, somehow foreshadowing how this conversation would seem to lead

“Felix, tonight is the night of your engagement ball. Your engagement to the Princess, not me.” You explained simply, taking his hands in your own and removing them from your body

“So?” Felix said desperately. He didn’t want to hear about the ball, the princess, OR his engagement...

“So, we can’t be doing this.” You said simply, feeling your heart sink

you wanted nothing more than to lean back into his touch and to stay here for another night together

but you knew better than that.

You had to be stern and direct with Felix, or else he just wouldn’t understand tha-

“Do you not love me anymore?” Felix asked, eyes already swelling with tears, “that night... did it not mean anything to you?”

“Felix I-”

“Every time I try to talk to you about my feelings- show you my feelings for you... you don’t let me.”

“Felix, it’s because-”

“Do you not love me anymore?” Felix asked once more, his voice coming out as more of a whimper. You could see the way his lips curved into a pout, trembling as he tried to keep his emotions in control

You took a deep breath, feeling like you were being stabbed in the heart as you watched the man you love in such a state

“I do love you.” You confirmed, coming close to Felix to wiping his cheeks with the pads of your thumbs.

Felix immediately reacted to your touch, leaning his head into the palms of your hands. He brought his own up to rest atop of yours, brushing his fingertips against yours

“That night represents everything I feel for you all the time. All the things I’m not allowed to say or do.” You confessed in your moment of weakness, wanting nothing more than to place a comforting kiss to Felix’s lips

but you had enough sense to refrain from that

“If you love me, why do you push me away? Why are you making me go to the meetings with Winter? Why do you ignore my love for you? If you love me, why don’t you show me?”

Felix wasn’t crying anymore, but you could still hear the brokenness in his voice as he spoke.

He was always so emotional around you. It was one of the things you loved about him; the way he was so in touch with his feelings and how empathetic he was.

but it was a curse sometimes, blinding him from reality

“Felix, I do those things because I love you so much.” You sighed, slipping your hands away from his face and letting them lay at your sides lifelessly.

“That doesn’t make sense.” Felix huffed out, coming closer to you and reaching out for your hands. You didn’t fight him as he interlocked his fingers with yours

“Lovers don’t do things that make the other person unhappy. So why are you forcing me into a life that makes me unhappy?” Felix said. His tone seemed tired now, emotional exhaustion overtaking the prince.

“Because it’s your destiny. It’s what you are meant to do. Who am I to stand in the way of your future?”

You could feel the tears escape your eyes now

It hurt you more than words could express to let Felix go, but you knew it was what was best for him.

“If this is my destiny, I do not want it.” He whispered now, leaning close to your face. He kissed your tears away gently, tone even and serious

“If this is my future, I do not want it.”

He slowly leaned in once more, placing a kiss on your lips as you couldn’t find it in you to refuse him anymore

He moved took his hands from yours and brought them up to cup your face as he kissed you more.

you felt yourself melting into his touch, kissing him back

because you were just as love-struck as Felix was

“Lets run away.”

Your head was spinning, so you weren’t even sure if you had actually heard him right until he leaned his forehead against yours and his eyes meeting yours

“Lets run away tonight.” He whispered again, lips brushing against yours as he spoke. You shook your head in his hands, leaning away from him again

You couldn’t do this to him

“Felix...”

“Look, I’ve thought about it a lot these past few weeks.” Felix said frantically, reaching out for you as you pulled away from him and opting to take a step back.

“Everyone is busy at the ball, so it would be easy for us to leave.”

“Oh yeah?” You chuckled bitterly.

You hated how it always had to be you who was reasonable

it always had to be you to bring him back to reality...

“And how are we going to leave then? On foot? We’ll be caught before the sun rises.”

“The stables. We take a horse and ride it far away from here.” Felix explained. You sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing your face wearily.

Felix stood in front of you, holding onto your hands again.

“Okay. Say we do get a horse and we are able to get away and hide before anyone catches us.” You sighed, gazing up that the man in front of you, “What then? We live out in the woods with no food, no water, and no home?”

Felix glanced over to his nightstand, where his expensive jewelry box sat open. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds; gold and silver, all shone in the light of the moon

“We are not stealing from the royal family- your family, to run away Felix!” You cried out, pulling your hands from his. He hastily knelt down in front of you and clasped your hands in his again.

“We only take what we need to get a start! I’ll work after that.” He bartered, eyes desperate, “Besides, everything in there belongs to me anyways...”

You looked down at where his hands held yours, gold engagement band shimmering in the light

taunting you as you listened to Felix’s silly request.

“And what about your fiance? Your kingdom? You are going to throw it all away for what?” You said exasperatedly

“For you. For our happiness.” He replied simply, pleading with you to run away.

You could feel the walls around your position crumble the more Felix tried to convince you.

You resolve was deteriorating quickly, so you tried one last effort to change his mind

“You’re a prince. You have duties. I can’t-”

“No!” Felix interrupted you firmly. His eyes were filled with a sense of determination that shook you to your core.

“Prince Yongbok has duties. That’s his future, not mine. My future is with you, (Y/N).”

You felt all the air was being punched from your lungs as your last ounce of will power shattered

Okay.

“Okay...” You whispered, finally giving into what you wanted in your heart.

You could see Felix’s face morph into a grin as he stood up excitedly. He looked like a puppy now, eyes shining and hyper fingers that pulled at you to come close to him again.

“But if we are going to do this, we are going to do it right.” You spoke in a hushed tone, pushing away from Felix once more to smooth out his outfit.

The sounds of the ball still sounded lively from ballroom, laughs and music echoing off the halls

“We’ve been gone for too long already, so you need to go back in there and be with the Princess.” You explained, much to Felix’s dismay.

“I’ll prepare everything for us to leave. New clothes, food for the road, something to protect ourselves, things like that. We’ll meet at the stable in an hour or so and we’ll leave.”

Felix nodded enthusiastically, leaping into you and squeezing you tightly, to which you gladly reciprocated.

This was the most happy you think you have ever seen him, and knowing you were the cause of that was worth so much more than trying to secure his future.

and so, with Felix being sent to return to the ball to throw off suspicions, you began to gather the things needed to leave.

Clothes that were much less conspicuous that your formal attire

cloaks to help hid the two of you in the dead of night

The jewelry box from Felix’s nightstand

a long, silver dagger and a bow with a few arrows from the armory that would be useful for you to protect Felix with if you needed

peaches, bread, and bottles for water for a couple days, as you had no idea how long you’d be on the road for.

You prepared the largest horse in the stable for your journey

a pure brown Clydesdale with the most inconspicuous looking leather saddle you could find.

Your hands shook from sheer adrenaline as you tied the saddle firmly to the horse

You knew if you were caught now, you’d be executed for treason

The thought made you nauseous, but you pushed it down and tried of focus on Felix

you thought back to the first day you met him

he was dirty and scuffed up from tending to the roses all morning

you thought of the small details, like how the sun shone through the glass and illuminated Felix so brightly and how delicately his fingers worked to prune those roses

That beautiful image was a stark contrast of now, dark and gloomy

the storm had washed in sometime within the past hour, leaving you soaked and cold

However, it meant people were less likely to come out and catch you

That idea didn’t stop the panic you felt when the stable door swung open

You reached for the dagger and pointed it at your lover before even realizing it was him.

He was soaking wet too, dark hair matted to his forehead as he tried to catch his breath

he must ran here

He was in new clothing as well; a brown hunting jacket and a pair of black trousers

He also had a small knapsack slung over his shoulder

“You stopped at your room first?” You asked, rolling your eyes as Felix nodded. He took the bigger bag from you to put his knapsack in it.

“I had to.” He replied, jamming the knapsack with the heel of his palm, “I had important things with sentimental value in there.”

Felix grabbed the second cloak your prepared and swung it around his shoulders

He watched as you fastened the pin, and he couldn’t help but place a quick kiss to the tip of your nose as you finished.

“We don’t have time for that.” You grumbled, climbing aboard the horse and holding your hand out to help Felix up too.

“We can kiss all you want when we are safe,” You said under your breath, heat crawling up your face as the words effortlessly tumbled from your mouth.

You flicked the lead only when you felt Felix snake his arms around your middle securely, burring his face somewhere between your shoulder blade and the crook of your neck.

there was something comforting about being in his grasp again, but you couldn’t dwell on it now, as you needed to focus on the road ahead

And just like that, your trusty steed galloped away, as fast and as far as it could before stopping

You took a sigh of relief as the two of you passed through the city gates and off into the hinterland

You closed your eyes for a moment, letting the cool rain drops hit your face

You really did it.

You didn’t stop your travels until the sun started to peak up over the horizon, long after the storm had passed.

there was a forest that marked the base of a mountain, which provided enough cover for you to safely rest for a bit.

Past the mountain would be a small farming village, in which you will hopefully be able to rest for longer and get your bearings.

and beyond that was a city

that was the end goal

for now, you allowed your great Clydesdale a place in the long grass to lay and sleep for a bit

all while you spent your time in Felix’s hold, showering him with all of the attention you didn’t allow yourself to do before.

you watched the sun rise paint his skin in a soft golden glow

you found yourself falling in love with him all over again as he just enjoyed your company.

in this time, He explained he had a gift for you, sitting up before pulling something shiny out of his pocket

It was his engagement band, with a gold chain looped through the center of it

“When I get married, it will be to you!” He promised, placing the chain around your neck and adjusting it accordingly

“I love you.” You hummed dreamily, placing a chaste kiss on Felix’s lips

“I love you too.”

The trek was more dangerous than you thought it would be

the mountain proved to be rough terrain, a very narrow pass and hard rock with little traction

to pass the time, Felix would sing folk songs, his deep voice echoing off the rock

And when you reached the town, it was in the middle of the night a couple days later

You were exhausted,

The journey had been physically and mentally taxing on you, and you honestly couldn’t wait to sleep in a bed for the first time in a while.

however Felix felt uneasy at the thought of seeing people

What if someone recognized him? by now, there had to have been search parties out for him.

and it wasn’t like a small farming community was used to travelers coming through...

“(Y/N), I think it’s best if we move on and just go to the city. It feels safer to me.”

You hummed, taking long slow blinks

It was only about one more day’s ride to the city, meaning you could be there by morning if you were quick.

Felix was right, but you weren’t sure if you could last that long

“Let me navigate, you should rest, my love.” Felix said simply, taking the reigns from your tired hands

He placed a quick kiss on your forehead as you leaned into his chest, allowing yourself to sleep

“don’t let me rest for too long...” You mumbled, Hearing Felix’s hum in agreement, before allowing yourself to drift off to sleep

You didn’t wake up until early the next morning, just before sunrise

so much for ‘don’t let me rest too long’

“Hey, we are here.” Felix said, you could hear the grin in his voice

In front of you laid the city of Miroh

It was the largest city in the west, with a populations almost double that of Clé

It had been safely under the rule of the Yang dynasty for centuries now, with a large army supporting it.

And with the mountain being one of the only entrances from the south lands, it was an independent nation, having only alliances with the neighboring kingdoms around it

A perfect place for someone to disappear

You and Felix found home along the very edge of the city on the north side

Using almost all of the precious jewels that you had brought, the two of you bought a run down, little tavern with a the modest inn upstairs.

It was not the best conditions, dirt and grime covering every inch of the bar, a few broken floorboard, and a bit of weather damage done to the outside

it would be tough to fix this place up, but with hard work you could do it.

and boy was it hard work

Felix got a job as a farmhand for a rancher, working long hours out in the sun with livestock

he would be up before the break of dawn and come back after the sun went down, but it was discrete.

you got a job cleaning at an inn in the city center

It paid next to nothing and the owners were cruel, but you always tried to look at the bigger picture

for months you and Felix were just scraping by, working every single day just to be able to live

and slowly, but surely, you were able to replace the broken floorboards

then a couple months after that, you got proper furniture for the tavern and bedding for the inn

and when you finally replaced the few stone steps out front, you were so close to being able to open

Just a few more weeks of this to buy alcohol stock and meal ingredients, and you could finally start your life for real this time

it was late, the moon high overhead when you heard Felix return, boots scuffing against the wooden floor

He always looked so tired now, body heavy and eyes drooped as he shuffled to the back where your room laid.

“I cooked some stew if you’re hungry.” You said as cheerfully as possible.

truthfully, you both had become shells of who you once were, but you felt it was best if you were as happy as possible for Felix when he came home

“Thank you.” He grumbled weakly, emerging from your room with only a loose fitting tunic and his work pants. He sat at one of the many tables as you came over to him with a bowl of what looked to be mostly root vegetables, cream, and small bits of meat from a prairie chicken you bought off a traveler at the inn you worked at.

“Work was tough today?” You asked innocently enough, but it seemed to upset Felix as he frowned

“very much so.” He replied flatly, scooping more stew into his hungry mouth.

His skin was much tanner now from working outside, and you could prominently see his freckles

“well, I’ve been thinking...” You said quietly, watching as Felix barely paid you any mind. The only reason you could tell he was listening to you was through the way he haphazardly grunted in response

“We are so close to opening this place up, I just wish we could do it tomorrow, y’know?” You started out, before reaching for something and placing it on the table in front of Felix

He looked up from his meal at you as you revealed what you had placed

his engagement ring on the chain he had given to you months ago

“I crunched the numbers, and if we sell this, it’ll be enough to start us up. You wouldn’t have to work out there anymore and we could just start running the Tavern everyday.” You explained, chewing your bottom lip.

You hated seeing Felix like this everyday, so if you could give up something to make it stop, you would do it 100 times over

“You... we cant sell that.” Felix said, a look of sadness on his face

he reached out for the ring, looking between the piece of jewelry and you

“Felix, I don’t want you to have to keep living like this for us. It’s killing you!” You cried gently, grasping onto his hand as you felt sadness well up inside you

“I gave this to you, because I made a promise to you. I promised I would marry you” Felix said pushing his meal aside to lean over the table closer to you

“I know, but-”

“So we can’t sell it. not until I marry you.”

“Then marry me.” You blurted out. Felix stared at you in shock, shaking his head

“I can’t yet, you deserve a proper wedding and I can’t give it to you yet.” Felix explained with a heavy sigh

when had he become the rational one in your relationship?

“Marry me now, and we can have the wedding after if you want.” You replied, as if it was the most casual conversation you’ve ever had

You took the engagement ring from Felix’s grasp and walked over to his side of the table

you knelt down in front of him, holding the ring out to him

“Lee Felix, will you marry me? Right now?” You asked, playful grin adorning your features

and for the first time in months you saw Felix smile again, shaking his head as he let out a chuckle

He held out his hand and you slipped the ring back on his finger, chain dangling from it as he pulled you into his lap

“Is this the part where I kiss you?” He asked teasingly, holding you close to him as he planted his lips on yours in a sweet kiss.

when you parted, you couldn’t help the heat from burning across your cheeks

“Lets go to bed, my wife.” Felix said wistfully, lifting you off of him opting to clean up his dinner before taking you to your room.

He was your husband now

Felix, your husband

(Y/N), his wife

Titles felt good for once.

That night, you laid in Felix’s arms once more, and you were reminded of that first night you shared

lots had changed since then, but it was for the better now

And so, after finally being able to open up the tavern, you and Felix lived a relatively happy life

every night, patrons would come to your establishment

your home

and they would eat, drink and be merry

you would have different musicians come and play to add to the atmosphere

every once in a while, you would run into trouble

bounty hunters and adventurers trying to make quick cash from the King and Queen trying to bring Felix back home

They tell people you kidnapped him and he needed to be saved

but you always set them straight with a drink, a story, and a smile, telling them good luck if they tried to take Felix away, because he wouldn’t allow it

usually that was enough to send these people on their way, not without staying a night upstairs and enjoying an evening downstairs

but sometimes it didn’t work

people were still adamant on taking Felix

usually they had to be paid off or you’d have to resort to more unsightly methods

in the end, it was still working out for you

but you tried not to worry Felix with the trouble

He was finally happy again, spending most of his time in the kitchen or behind the bar

he got to bake everyday, which is quickly what your tavern became known for

Looking for pastries, tarts, cookies, and fresh bread? You must go to that tavern on the north side!

Yes, Felix was finally happy, but mostly because he got to crawl into bed next to you everyday

His wife

his love

He sometimes lays awake at night, long since you have fallen asleep in his hold and thinks about what would have happened if he hadn’t have met you

He’d still be the problem child, a disgrace to his family

he’d be married to Winter, probably have a few children, and be a ghost of man who never felt true joy

and god, does he feel grateful he chose this life with you

___________________________

A/N: This had so many more plot details than I originally planned, but I hope you enjoyed it. Honestly, I might write an actual fic that has to do with Felix and (Y/N) living in their cozy tavern later in the future, because I didn’t really expand on it too much because I couldn’t without going into ANOTHER heavy set plot, but who knows!

#kpop #kpop drabbles #kpop fluff #kpop fantasy au #kpop oneshots #stray kids #skz #felix #lee felix #felix skz #lee yongbok #lee felix x reader #skz x reader #skz fantasy au #stray kids fantasy au #lee felix fantasy au #lee felix fluff #felix skz fantasy au #bullet point fic

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