#Best Black magic to separate couples

[violetrainbow412-blog]

Dressing for revenge [K. B]

Kaz Brekker x fem!reader

word count: 7k

summary: when Kaz and his crows return from Ravka they run into trouble, and to solve it, he looks for a childhood friend who is too resentful and too in love with him

warnings: trauma, PTSD, spoilers for S&B season 2, no physical contact, here Kaz has no romantic feelings for Inej

A/N: I LOVE Kanej, but I wanted to write something with Kazzle Dazzle because I love him too, lol. I hope you like it!

taglist (who I thought might be interested): @rustyyyyspoonz

The rumor had already spread throughout the Barrel: “Kaz Brekker and his crows are back” How long had it been since they had embarked into the Fold? Just a couple of months? They had felt like years, if you were being honest.

If it was true that they were back, you felt sorry for the trouble they were going to run into. The change of ownership of their club, the strengthening of the other gangs, and mainly the fact that they were being tried for murder thanks to the fact that Pekka Rollins had awarded it to them... all these problems were going to fall on them like a bucket of water cold. It had already fallen on them, in fact, since the rumor was accompanied that they had escaped from the stadwatch once they were captured.

You didn't know how much of what everyone was saying was true and how much was false, trying to stay as calm as possible when the name Kaz came from someone's lips for fear that Pekka had some magical ability and could read your mind or sense the fear in your eyes every time you met him. Afraid of him and afraid of what he might do to you if he knew you knew the black-haired man.

Things had changed a lot since the last time you saw the boy and that was more than noticeable. Your story goes back long before he made his reputation when you were just a couple of neighbor kids playing on the farms. You two arrived in Ketterdam together, with nothing but hopes for a better future and Jordie as your protector (or an attempt at that, at least), after your father and Mr. Rietveld died in the same accident, reuniting with Kaz’s mother and later to be matched by your mother, who had died of sadness, if that was possible. Three helpless children thrown into the cruel world were what came of that and the rest is history.

Crime, robbery, gangs, and a life of hardship were what you had to adjust to as a child, but you doubted very much that a single person living in The Barrel would be in a different situation. You weren't fully involved in the disgraced jobs of the majority, but if there was one true thing, it was that when it came to obtaining information you were, to say the least, excellent. You and Kaz had to fend for yourselves, and you learned what you could from the streets. In this way he and you became a team, so to speak, for a few teenage years, and for that period of your lives having each other was the only thing in the world. Over time he became ruthless, rude, a great fighter and earned the nickname 'dirtyhands' thanks to his gambling skills, from which he obtained most of the things you had. You learned to move quickly, to go unnoticed, and to defend yourself from those who tried to harm you, always supporting the boy’s plans.

Less than a year was enough for his name to become known and he began to think big. Sometimes he would tell you about the plans he had: to run Fifth Harbor, to establish the crow club, to become the best of The Barrel. All of that sounded like crazy ideas at first, but looking back you realized that he had accomplished too much in that pit for your relatively young age.

You never knew what made you and Kaz go their separate ways, but somehow it had happened. It was gradual, maybe that's why it was hard for you to notice, but one day you woke up and realized the distance that existed between him, who previously was practically the only family you knew, and you. It didn't take much for him to decide to break the bond that had held you together from a very early age; he never gave reasons for this and you never asked him.

You lived under some protection from the leader of The Crows, of course, but very few people could link you to The Bastard of the Barrel. Sometimes you still provided him with information, but when he found someone else, the inquiries became less and less frequent until one day they turned into none. You managed to eat and have a roof over your head pretty well (and mostly honestly) and you tried to stay out of trouble for a long time.

Until one day he flew away from Ketterdam without warning and order in the Barrel was disturbed in every possible way. With his team gone, it didn't take long for Pekka to seize control and anyone who didn't work for him was inevitably against him. It was only a matter of time before he found out the talent you had tried to hide and forced you to carry his lion shield... figuratively speaking.

If he ever knew that you used to work with Kaz he never mentioned it or maybe your relationship with him had been severed so long that no one remembered it anymore. Now you were just a little girl, as he used to call you, slippery enough that she seemed so harmless that, in his eyes, that became a benefit. You were never one to look rude, unfortunately for you, and that allowed men like him to feel entitled to take advantage of you. You thanked the saints that Rollins didn't find you attractive or who knows what other services he would have requested from you. It was always better to provide him with the information he needed than for him to force you to be his lover.

You weren't a part of the meetings that the Dime Lions had and you weren't considered a member either, which kept you calm every night. You were just another piece in the enormous chess game that Pekka moved at his convenience, the same game that was threatened by the mere existence of Kaz Brekker and much more so now that he had returned.

In the middle of the night it was logical to ask yourself, what kind of strange plans would he have in mind now?

One, two, and three knocks surprised you at the rickety wooden door and made you jump out of your chair, where you were already asleep. An old lamp was on the even older table and it illuminated the little space that your provisional home had so you took it to approach to open the door. It was raining outside (quite unusual for that time of year) and by the time it was you figured it was one of Rollins' idiots coming to do a job for you. What would he want now? Harbor information? Talk to a policeman? He was supposed to control everything, sometimes you kept wondering why he asked for your help.

When you opened the door, the air slipped in and almost extinguished the flame of the fire, but the temperature of the night wasn’t what left you freezing, but the presence that was in front of you. With his hat, a completely black outfit, and his cane in hand, but above all soaked from head to toe, there was him; Kaz. You almost feared you were imagining it, but you knew it was him by the clear, penetrating eyes that were watching you, even though you admitted that he had changed so much that in other circumstances you would have had trouble recognizing him.

“Did I arrive at a bad time?” he asked. No warm greetings, no smiles, no explanations. Just a cold, serious question, just the way he was.

“Someone followed you? If this place is horrible by itself, I don't want blood staining the floor” you replied with the same tone. You wanted to tell him that you had missed him, ask him if he was okay, and give him a huge hug, but those actions should be reserved for your nocturnal fantasies, because as soon as you took a step forward he would be able to hit you with his cane. Or at least that's what the Kaz you knew would do, but you doubted very much that the passing of the years would have softened his heart.

"Nobody followed me" was all he said and you stepped aside at the door so he could go inside. Even with his words, you felt the need to look out on both sides of the street in search of someone, but with the level of rain, you doubted very much that someone would want to stay and spy because he would probably die of pneumonia.

When you closed the door and turned around he didn't say anything, he just stood in front of you while the water drained from his coat. During that moment of silence, you allowed yourself to admire it under the warm light of the candle; his eyes definitely hadn't changed one bit, but now there was a tinge of contempt more noticeable than before. His features had hardened and he was thinner, barely resembling the boy you remembered, perhaps as a reminder of just that... that he was now a man.

“So the rumors are true…” you started to say “You are back”

"I think that's more than obvious," he exclaimed. For a second you forgot that it was he who had knocked on your door and you felt uncomfortable as if you were an intruder who had to get out of there.

There was silence again and you two just looked at each other. Kaz had made his own mental list of changes he noticed in you and was reflecting on when was the last time he had looked at you in such detail. You were wearing light clothes, because before he arrived you were about to go to sleep, and your face, although as childish as always, looked more tired than before. You had also cut your hair, which was messy around your shoulders and a bit darker in tone.

“And may I know to what I owe your visit? I guess you don't want to have tea” you said to break the silence. The dryness of your words in a certain way was to protect yourself because you never knew how much a sharp tongue like his could hurt you.

"I'm in a job and I need people"

Of course it was going to be due to a job, and of course that was why he had sought you out after so many years. A part of you, tremendously stupid, to tell you the truth, was hoping that during the time your friend was away from Ketterdam some divine clarity would have illuminated him so that he would realize that he had to look for you to repair your relationship and offer at least apologies. But you would have to pay him every kruge in the country for him to do something like that.

"I'm glad you considered me, but I'm sorry I have to decline."

"Why?" he asked immediately, his raspy voice showing annoyance at the refusal.

“Because it happens that you can’t work for opposing sides. At least not at the same time” you replied. Maybe it was due to fatigue, but you swore you saw a slight look of surprise on the man's face when you answered that. Most likely, he had assumed that you would be one of the few people who wouldn’t be on Pekka’s side and therefore a safe option.

“Do you work for Pekka?” he muttered. You knew him well enough to know that he was hurt, you could see it in his posture, in his voice, and especially in his look “After all he did to us?”

"And what did you want him to do?" you said, trying to ignore the fact that he had spoken in the plural. Us “You practically handed us over to him. My options were that or receive a bullet in the forehead."

"I didn’t hand you over to anyone"

"You abandoned us and left us in his hands, it's the same thing" you replied, shrugging. There was so much resentment and pain from never-closed wounds floating in the air that it was hard for him and you to think clearly. “Your vacation in Ravka may have been nice, but things only just went to hell here. So don't you dare judge me by the choices I made” you exclaimed defensively.

You didn't imagine that your first conversation with him after so long would be like this, but unfortunately, things never turned out the way you expected. After all, they were a crook and a spy talking in the dead of night.

"You could get information from him more easily," Kaz concluded, shrugging the same way you did. "And so we sink him from the inside."

"And risk him finding out and killing me?"

“You know that would never happen,” he said firmly “The thing about killing you. I wouldn't allow him” his eyes stared at you almost offended by the lack of trust you had towards him. There was silence for the third time and this time your gaze moved away to focus on anything but him.

"Plus you have this girl you took out of The Menagerie, don't you?" you said in your defense. The one you replaced me with, you wanted to add, but held back "So I don't know what you might need me for" 

"With so many problems going on, I thought it would be better to have as many alliances as possible," he explained to you. You continued without looking at him, with your head still full of worries and sorrows, and when he didn’t receive an answer, he spoke again "You know that it is your best option"

"I don't know that, but I do know that I would have liked you to at least ask how I am before asking me to join the team you never wanted me in and from which you separated me as soon as you had the chance" you exhaled, in an attempt to lighten the weight on your chest. 

It was no secret that you had always felt betrayed by Kaz’s treatment of you, even though he treated dozens of others the same way, because you somehow thought that your backstory was enough to deserve at least the sympathy or some consideration on the part of the crow. And of course you wanted to run from Pekka's clutches and plunge him into the deepest muck, but the resentment for what you considered your friend’s abandonment was stronger. You didn't even know if it was correct to call him ‘friend’.

"You would be a good ace up my sleeve" was all he replied, in an attempt to convince you. Kaz begged absolutely no one, but if there was one thing he had decided before coming to find you, it was that he wouldn't leave until you agreed to help him. Although the nature of your current job made things a bit difficult for him, "Pekka never knew you worked for me, did he?"

"With you" you corrected him "I didn't work for you but with you. We got to The Barrel at the same time”

"Y/N" he murmured. Your name sounded strange coming from his lips after so long without hearing it and that caught you off guard “I'm trying to help you so you don't end up hurt or dead. If you work for… with me, I can tell you where not to be. Otherwise I could find you in the rubble of some confrontation or with a knife from Inej or a bullet from Jesper through your chest”

"Always so thoughtful," you replied with a smirk, but as much as it pained you to admit it, he had a point. You knew what he was capable of and what Pekka was capable of… which side was more convenient to be on? "How much are you going to pay me?" you asked and Kaz smiled, but it wasn't a sign of happiness but mockery “You've always said that's what's really important, haven't you?”

He took something out of his coat and tossed it on the table. They were bills. 

"An advance, when I recover the crow club, I will pay you the rest"

“So my pay depends on whether we win or not. That doesn't sound so convenient to me,” you muttered, clicking your tongue, as you fought the urge to say yes just to be near him. It was cold outside, the rain was making a lot of noise and you just wanted to sleep at once, but you knew that you could have been arguing with him all night and neither of you would back down. Kaz was stubborn, one way or another he would get what he wanted. "This isn't just about the club, is it?" you said, with your voice noticeably lower and you would even say with a touch of softness. You and Kaz never talked about what had happened, but each of you was dealing with the weight of the trauma in your own way. He didn't say anything and this time you saw something in him that was different from his usual behavior, knowing that it was those ghosts from the past tormenting him.

"If someone should make him pay, it's us"

Us, again. 

"I'll think about it" was what you answered, after reflecting on what would be the appropriate response. The speechless moment gave you something else to think about, and you knew that a huge flaw of yours was how easily you let your heart take over. Because even with all the other feelings on top, you still worried about him "Now that the crow club isn't yours..." you started to say, afraid of what he might say "do you have a place to stay?"

You would have offered to sleep there if he said no, but instead he said he’d manage. That didn't completely reassure you, but you decided not to insist.

“First thing tomorrow, send a reply to this address,” he asked you, holding out a piece of paper that had a few drops on it “Don't go there personally or you'll screw everything up, just send me a note. A yes or a no will suffice”

“What if someone tracks down the note?” you asked, which was a totally valid concern.

Kaz was silent while he thought of an alternative, and then spoke again.

“Just write crows of a feather, murder together. I'll understand” he murmured and you nodded. You knew the poem he was quoting from, had read it many times from the worn-out book he had gotten for you. Kaz didn't wait for anything else and took long steps to the door, which he opened as soon as he could. "Good night, Y/N."

And then he left.

That night you thought a lot about the solution you would give him in the morning, thinking about the pros and cons of each possible answer, until you decided that it was best to say yes. You needed to do it if you wanted to live peacefully (as much as the place allowed) but the main reason was to support him. If he had been about any stupid dispute you would have said no, but you knew this was something else. Kaz missed Jordie every day of his life and his way of honoring him was by planning revenge against the one who led him to that fate, so it was kind of an obligation for you to help him with that too.

You wrote the note on a piece of paper and carefully folded it to put it in an envelope. You signed the outside with his name, written in the best handwriting you had, and although you were hesitant to do so, at the end you wrote a little ‘from a friend’ in the hope of making it clear to him, and perhaps even encouraging him that, if he was willing, you could recover a little of what you had lost. And you weren’t referring to physical things, but to what existed between you.

All your life you had lived with almost opposite feelings when it came to Kaz. Somehow you were upset with him for only seeing you as an instrument that he could dispose of for his interests, but this was linked to the feeling of affection that you wanted him to experience for you and that apparently didn’t exist. It was difficult to decipher anything he was thinking, not just about you, since he had taken it upon himself to build such a convincing facade that it made it complicated to see beyond. Added to that was his aversion to touch of any kind, which, while quite understandable and justified, still made you feel sad. More than once you tried, in vain, to be able to touch him in some way, even if it was something tiny, but he always pushed you away. He pushed you away physically and eventually emotionally, and yet with all this background you wanted to help him.

You knew you couldn't expect a reply to your note, but you were confident that he had received it, and your suspicions were confirmed when another letter came back a couple of days later. It contained a day, a time, and a place, which you assumed was a meeting with him.

You were very careful when you headed there, because you thought that the fewer people saw you together, the better, or else Pekka might suspect something. You covered yourself with a long black cloak for this task and when you arrived you noticed that it wasn't Kaz who was there, but a couple of boys.

"Who are you?"

"And you?" you asked, with the same defensive tone. The place seemed to be an experiment workshop and looking at it in more detail you noticed that there was a bed, so it could even be some kind of apartment. The two men, one brown-skinned and the other pale as snow, wore simple brown suits and were looking at you warily.

“She is Y/N,” said a voice behind you. By the sound of the cane accompanied by the footsteps you knew it was Kaz, “she will work with us”

"Oh," said the dark-haired boy, looking happier with the answer, as he walked in your direction "Welcome, in that case" he muttered flirtatiously, as he held out his hand for you to greet him "Jesper Fahey, at your service”

"I am Wylan" intervened the other, from his place, timidly and quickly.

"You arrived" Kaz spoke again. You turned and a couple of women appeared, you guessed that the shorter one with Suli features was the famous wraith of Kaz. And she was beautiful, you couldn't help but notice.

There was a brief conversation with the six of you there and then Kaz asked you to walk him up to the roof of the place. Once there you instinctively stood next to the only one you knew and he just looked at you out of the corner of his eye while he adopted the typical position of him leaning on the cane.

“Brick by brick” whispered the man’s raspy voice and you were about to ask what you were supposed to do there when an explosion went off in the distance so impressively that you stepped back a bit. It didn't take you more than a few seconds to locate the space and realize the place it was.

"The crow club" you said in a low voice, only for the black-haired man to hear you, while you watched him in profile. But he didn't look at you, just exchanged words with the others and talked about how Pekka's apparent reign was coming to an end.

You'd always known that Kaz Brekker was a little unhinged, and that night you proved it for sure, but you weren't even the least bit afraid. Rather, it was some strange hope that this madness would allow you to go far. Even freedom, perhaps.

After that clear declaration of war, things got considerably complicated, especially when you were summoned before Pekka and he asked you to investigate someone in particular and it turned out to be none other than the man you were now secretly working with. You assumed it was something logical, but even so you feared that Rollins had noticed the slight tremor in your hands when he asked you to complete the task.

You summoned Kaz to Black Veil Cemetery, late at night, and there you confessed to him everything that had happened. He of course found something good in this and devised a way to use it to your advantage, which put you at ease. It still amazed you a little at how nervous you became around him as if you knew nothing of what you were doing, but when you regained your composure you thought it was an excellent plan.

Meetings with Kaz were regular, but always in secret and alone, and they worked to exchange information that you considered useful for him with what he would allow Pekka to know.

You didn't know the full plans and you weren't part of them in any way, or you would be found out, but you knew about almost everything that was going on. The attacks, the fights, the traps, the injuries... you had to look at everything from the outside without being able to intervene. It was frustrating for you, more than anything in the world, and you had to admit that you had taken a liking to crows, even if you had seen them only a couple of times, so you also looked after their safety.

One day you received a note and went to a meeting with all the members of his group present, to finally hear the full version of what Kaz intended to do to finish off your boss. It was a brilliant idea, but you were a little worried about your position in all of this.

“You mean I'm going to be there watching everything Pekka and his thugs do?”

"It will be the best" he answered you. His face still had a bruise on his cheek, a memory from the last fight he had, and he looked exhausted "Jesper and Nina will be there, plus you'll be in disguise" he added and you nodded at that.

When the moment came you thought it would be an easy task, but when Kaz started to get brutally beaten you had to muster all your willpower not to throw yourself into trying to face Pekka, even with your zero skill. He sounded so convincing when he said about Alby that even you believed it, feeling suddenly awed by the cynical smile on Kaz's blood-smeared face. And he also mentioned you in the story, although not directly, saying that it was all about revenge for having abandoned you two when you were children.

You were able to breathe again until Pekka and his entire gang left the place in search of a son who wasn't really buried and you four were left alone. Under other circumstances you would have run to Kaz, cupped his face in your hands, sobbed, and told him it was over. But instead, you just stood in front of him and watched him; his eyes were wild with fury and a thirst for revenge that had already been quenched, but you sensed a hint of calm when he became aware of your presence.

"Breathe," you said in a whisper. Jesper and Nina were dismayed by the closeness with which you spoke to him, as they knew little of your history together “You're fine. We all are,” you assured him. That situation took you back to multiple panic attacks in the past where, given the impossibility of physical contact, all you could do for him was talk to calm him down. It always worked and Kaz had forgotten how soft your voice was and the way you brought him back to the real world. You decided to risk trying to do something else to comfort him and cautiously stretched out your hand towards him, instantly seeing his eyes widen in terror. But your hand ended up landing, more like a touch than a squeeze, on the man's bicep, which was covered by his coat; it wasn't intrusive, or abrupt, and Kaz was surprised that he didn't feel anything negative about it. He looked at your hand and then he looked at you with that usual serious expression, but he didn't push you away and allowed you to stay that way for just a few seconds, after which you decided to move your limb back.

You didn’t receive a verbal response at any time, but you did see him exhale shakily (so softly that you barely noticed) and nod his head while still looking at you, as if he were letting go of a huge weight that was stuck in his chest and at the same time assure you that it felt like a victory. Victory for beating Pekka, victory because he wasn't engulfed by an attack when you touched him, and victory because somehow you were there. You were with him, again.

“Now can we go back to normal?” Jesper asked, to break the silence, and you felt like laughing. Have they ever had a normal life? you asked yourself, but you didn't say.

"Yes" was all Kaz said and taking one last look at you he began to walk in the direction of the exit.

Both of them were curious about the type of relationship you had with Kaz but neither thought it wise to ask at the time, although Nina was getting an idea of things thanks to your racing heartbeat and his that it was impossible not to hear a moment ago. You stayed there just long enough to have a drink with Jesper and then you left the Emerald Palace. You didn't want to go back home, but going with one of them didn't seem like an option either, and once you were on the street you felt worried about remembering the state the black-haired man had left. You trusted that by that time he would be calmer and as if they thought for themselves your legs began to walk to look for him.

It was cold again and you feared you would meet someone dangerous on the road, but you only saw a couple of drunks and a girl looking for clients. Until you were in front of the door, you wondered if it was a good idea to go in, thinking that you would probably be crossing a line that Kaz was not going to allow you to, and wondering if you were going to put up with his refusal, which was a pretty good chance.

With trembling hands you opened the door, which luckily was unlocked, and as if some unknown instinct were guiding you, you found Kaz's room; it was the only one from which light came out through the crack in the door and something told you that he was there. You knocked twice, fearing you had knocked so low that he hadn't heard, and even considered walking back the way you came, but didn't have time to as the door opened a few seconds later. He had already taken off his coat and vest, probably because they were stained with blood, and his black shirt was open at the top buttons, with the suspenders that held up his pants hanging on his thighs. But what caught your attention the most were his pale, gloveless hands.

"What do you need?" he asked you directly. His face looked worse now that the bruises had swollen and the blood was dry. He'd probably have them for a couple of days, and he was definitely going to have a scar over his eyebrow.

"I wanted to see you" you replied, instantly regretting not having considered your sincere words better "I mean... to see how you were" you tried to correct. You thought he would slam the door in your face, but instead he scooted to the side to let you in, then closed the door behind you with a soft click.

Again you felt alien to the place for a moment, thanks to the fact that he looked at you from head to toe as if your presence bothered him. You had to mentally remind yourself that he saw most of them that way.

“Your pay will be ready soon”

"That doesn't matter," you said softly. Several things had changed since the first conversation you had with him, because now that you knew why Kaz had done everything he had done and the traumatic memories returned to both of you, the money had taken a backseat.

You didn't say anything for a moment and you looked for a place where you could sit later. Kaz’s room, once painted green but now just damp walls, had a small bed by the window, a desk littered with papers and a lamp facing another window, with a simple bookcase placed on the top of the side wall; a nightstand, a place to wash your hands with a mirror above it, a circular table in the middle of the free space, and a single armchair that at least looked comfortable. It wasn't the prettiest place, but at least it was cozy.

"Your girl, did she leave?"

“Inej is not my girl. Or from anyone, she is free now” he answered you. He still wasn't looking at you and you noticed that he was having a hard time staying on his feet.

"I'm glad to hear it. She deserves it” you murmured sincerely. You thought that she would be important to Kaz, like all his partners, and you decided to venture out to see if he revealed something else to you. "She's very smart."

"She is"

"And she's pretty too" you added and without moving his head he looked out at yours. You felt as if he was reading your intentions through your eyes, a quality he had always had.

"I think so," he said without much interest.

"Are you very hurt?" you asked, changing the subject, as you took a step towards him. By inertia he took the same step, in the opposite direction, and that made you stop abruptly.

"Nothing to worry about" he exclaimed and though he thought, you couldn't have known, of course, get close to you, you decided to take that step back before he did anything else. 

"Can I ask you something?"

"Mhm"

"What did I do to make you walk away?" you exclaimed, finally expressing a question that had been eating away at your chest and tormenting you for many nights in a row. And since there was silence, you spoke again: “Not like right now, but a long time ago. It's just… I never understood it. Before we were friends and for me… you were even like a family. I loved your brother too and I know losing him never affected us the same, but I was glad you were there for me after that. Then we got older and things got more difficult, but I still had you and that calmed me down. And then… we just drifted apart,” you muttered, shrugging, as you avoided his gaze. Kaz still didn't answer anything and you felt the obligation to fill the silence “Sometimes I remember the things we went through when we were young. The good ones, of course. Like that time we stole a cake to celebrate your birthday and it was probably the best sweet I've ever eaten” you commented, smiling at the memory "And when I made you laugh with my bad jokes, no matter how angry or sad you were... I haven't seen you smile for a long time and I don't know if you celebrate your birthday anymore” you reflected wistfully, almost as if you were talking to yourself. And well, in the face of Kaz's inexpressiveness, that's practically what you were doing.

He hadn't said anything yet and you concluded that all your effort was useless. It had been a mistake to go looking for him, as well as trying to get even the slightest proof that he had ever missed you and you wished you had never opened your mouth. You sighed to contain the urge to cry and without saying anything else you turned towards the exit, intending to leave and return only for your money, but Kaz's voice echoed. 

"Do you remember what I told Pekka?"

You stopped.

“You told him many things, you will have to be more specific”

"About not loving anything" he replied. Your hand trembled on the doorknob at the mere thought of what he was implying and I was able to hear your racing heart pounding in your chest. You heard footsteps and, still without moving, you heard him speak again "That's why I drifted apart”

You never, even in your wildest dreams, imagined that he would say something like that to you and perhaps you were just deluding yourself with the implication of the words, but it was enough to make you freeze in place.

"I still don't understand how that relates to me” you expressed in a low voice. Kaz took a few more steps towards you until you could see his shadow mingling with yours and you felt it was time to turn. He was watching you from above, seriously.

"I didn't want…" he trailed off. You would almost say he was nervous “I didn't want you to be…”

"A weak spot," you said without thinking, followed by a sigh that sounded almost amused "That's your problem, Kaz," you continued, your gaze far across the room, "You think love is a person's greatest weakness, when it's not like that"

"It is not?"

"No" you exclaimed with determination "I believe that... many times love is what keeps us alive. Struggling"

You were speaking for yourself when you said this. What was your motivation every day? In the past, the love for Kaz. Now, it was love for yourself and the hope that one day someone could love you with the intensity with which you loved others.

“I had already lost Jordie. I didn't want to lose you too,” he finally said and that's when your eyes locked with his. You never thought he would verbally express something like that.

“And did you prefer that I lose you?" you whispered in pain. You wanted him to be aware of things, because it seemed like it had never crossed his mind to stop thinking about your well-being and start thinking about your feelings. “You don't just lose someone when they die, Kaz. You can also lose those who are fully alive”

He didn't say anything, because he clearly didn't know what to answer to that, and while he reflected on your words, you caught a glimpse of a certain vulnerability in his blue eyes that you had rarely seen. I couldn't say that you knew the man in front of you better than anyone, but you had a considerable advantage thanks to the years you had lived with him.

“Okay, just… listen” you started to say, knowing he most likely wouldn't give you an answer “I know it's hard to live as we do— as all of us at The Barrel live, but the risks I decide or don't take. They are my decision, not yours. These years you have sought to keep me out of danger and I appreciate it, but you have to learn to trust me”

"I do. I trust you"

"Then show me," you replied. You couldn't help noticing that, even with his stained face, Kaz was still the most handsome man you'd ever seen “Friends do not avoid each other, nor do they move away and despite that, during all these years I have trusted you as from the first moment we were left alone”

You didn't know if you were saying the right thing, but at least you were saying something.

"And if it's too late?"

It was too late? Kaz wondered. He wondered if it was too late to open up to someone, to try to get over his trauma, to let go and finally love you the way he wanted to.

But all this remained as a thought, phrases that couldn’t leave his throat.

“It's not for me,” you assured him. “But my patience won't last forever. I think you should know that”

You couldn't even imagine how many emotions Kaz was trying to process at that moment, but even he himself didn't understand what a mess you'd made of him with that conversation. From his perception, he had admitted that he loved you, but from his eyes, you didn't seem affected by it. And you, contrary to what he thought, felt like you were going to faint.

You were about to leave, for the second time, but he spoke:

“Stay,” he said, sounding more desperate than he would have liked. “I don't know what to say, but… just stay here. I don't want us to be alone tonight”

Us. That fucking habit of Kaz's to speak in the plural and make you a nervous wreck.

You looked at the bed and found that it was too small for both of you, to which we had to add his refusal to be close to others. Proof of this was the unconscious movement of sticking your hands as close as possible to his body during the entire time you were talking.

"Use the bed, obviously you need it more than me" you muttered and went directly to the armchair. Fortunately your first impression wasn’t wrong, it was very comfortable.

The room was so small that the apparent distance between the pieces of furniture didn't mean much, so when he sat on the bed you could see him perfectly.

The memory of one of the times when both of you were in similar situations came to your mind. That night you had been woken by frightened screams from the next room, in that abandoned house where you and Kaz found shelter, forcing you out of bed to investigate.

It was hard to comfort a person without physically touching them, especially when he had nightmares, and over the months you'd had to get used to it. The boy hated waking you up, it made him feel guilty and stupid, but you always kept him company. You never spoke, never asked questions, you just stayed there so he knew he wasn't alone.

Maybe something like that was what Kaz needed tonight. 

"Rest" you exclaimed. His head turned to look at you and you detected a different and special glow in his eyes; as if it were a mixture of fear, softness, and gentleness. You appreciated that look for a few more seconds, which you feared you would never see again in your life, and then you reached out your hand to turn off the light on the desk.

Silence reigned in the darkness.

You settled in the chair, trying to figure out what would be the best sleeping position, and at the same time you heard Kaz slide between the sheets on the bed. After a while, your eyelids felt heavy, a consequence of the fatigue that the hustle and bustle of the day had left you, and when you were about to fall asleep, a voice pulled you out of your reverie.

"Thank you. For everything”

The phrase was a whisper, a delicate caress in your ear, but you understood it clearly. And you decided to think that when Kaz said 'for everything' he meant literally everything you had selflessly done for him during his life; like he just realized you were important. But it's not that he had just noticed it, but that he had just accepted it.

You wanted to stretch out the moment as long as you could because, even if you weren't looking at him, you knew he was awake thanks to the sound of his breathing, but at some point sleep overcame you and you fell fast asleep.

Kaz had nightmares that night, like always, but the difference was that when he woke up in shock in the morning, you were in the same room. So seeing you there, keeping him company, was reason enough to calm him down.

And like every time this had happened, he felt like the luckiest man in the world.

[sprinkler-ashes]

king of my heart // aaron hotchner x reader

king of my heart

pairing: aaron hotchner x fem!reader

words: 1.9k

warnings: cursing, alcohol consumption, sexual implication

description: in which emily prentiss finally puts the pieces together one night. inspired by king of my heart by taylor swift and that one scene in tsitp (“it’s too sweet” and “i thought cocoa was your speciality”)

a/n: writing this from emily’s pov was so much fun!! this is a simple and fun fic, but i loved writing it. expect lots of fics coming from me in the next couple days/weeks because i literally can’t stop writing. much love and happy reading <3

up on the roof with a school girl crush

drinking beer out of plastic cups

say you fancy me, not fancy stuff

baby, all at once, this is enough

Emily Prentiss liked to think of herself as your best friend.

The two of you had instantly hit it off from the moment you started working with the BAU only six short months ago. She took you under her wing, showed you around, and helped you get acquainted with a new work environment. From the first day you started, the friendship began and the rest was history.

In addition to thinking that you and her were best friends, she also liked to think very highly of herself in terms of being a profiler. She saw things. She could read body language. She knew things just from observations.

However, as she sat back into her seat at the bar, her eyes fluttering from one team member to another, Emily couldn’t help but feel like she was missing something when it came to you – specifically relationship-wise. She didn’t like to call herself a nosy person, but she definitely was.

It was a Saturday night, and the team had decided to go out for drinks in celebration of finally catching an unsub that was particularly difficult. The team was currently separated at the moment with you, Emily, JJ, and Garcia talking on your own at the table, Derek was on the floor trying to hook Spencer up with a girl, and Rossi and Hotch were chatting by the bar while waiting for their drinks.

Emily wasn’t sure how many drinks you’d had. You weren’t stumbling drunk, but it was evident you were under the influence.

“Emily, you have to try this,” you told her after you tried the drink in your hand. “It’s so good. I would marry this drink if I could.”

“I’m good, but thanks,” she replied to you. “That looks… interesting.”

Emily could always get down with a cute and fun drink, but she was so confused as to what you were drinking. It was pink with specks of blue, and the rim of the glass was covered in what looked like some kind of blue sugar with a small umbrella for decoration.

You laughed. “I have no idea what it is, but it’s so good. It’s called the Boozy Bee.”

Emily cocked an eyebrow. “The Boozy Bee?”

“Yes,” you said, pausing to take a sip of your drink. “Created by the bartender whose name I learned is Beatrice. You can’t even taste the alcohol, Em.”

She laughed. “That’s the most dangerous kind. Take it easy, Boozy.”

“Let her get her booze on, Emily.” Derek Morgan had sauntered over, a signature grin on his face. “If you will all turn your attention over to the left, look what I did.”

Emily turned her head to find resident genius Spencer Reid, who looked to be in an uncomfortable situation, talking to a very pretty girl. She had to laugh. Spencer was a great guy. Any girl would be lucky to be with him, but the poor guy didn’t know that.

“How long until he pulls out his magic tricks?” Emily joked.

You nudged her, your lips sucking on the black straw that was in your drink before putting it down. “Spencer is a total sweetheart. And magic is hot – don’t diss it.”

Derek raised his eyebrows. “Got a thing for pretty boy, do you?”

You shook your head. “He’s cute, but I like my men older.”

Emily turned to you, a slight frown on her face. You never really talked about anything pertaining to relationships, love, or even casual crushes. Emily had tried to get you to open up about it before, but you never mentioned anything – not even your preferences, so she dropped it. Until now. Apparently alcohol would make you talk.

“What did we miss?” David Rossi asked, him and Hotch finally coming back to the table, both nursing glasses of amber-colored drinks. “They took forever getting our drinks at the bar.”

“Derek set Spence up with a girl, and he now looks like he’s going to either run or vomit. Y/N likes older guys and is drinking a Boozy Bee,” JJ told Rossi.

If Emily wasn’t paying attention, she would’ve missed the way your eyes fluttered up to Hotch, back to your drink, then back to him again before sitting up straight in your seat after JJ mentioned older guys. She furrowed her brow, discreetly glancing between both you and Hotch. However, Hotch didn’t give anything away as his eyes were focused on JJ who was talking.

“Boozy Bee?” Rossi questioned, watching you take yet another sip of the drink.

“It’s so good, Rossi. Do you want to try it?” You asked in your tipsy state, holding the half-empty drink up to him with a smile.

He chuckled. “I’m good, kid. I’m going to go see if Reid needs saving. He looks like he’s uncomfortable.”

You frowned as Rossi walked away. “Why will no one try my drink? Derek, how about you?”

Derek shrugged. “Sure.”

Emily watched as Derek bent down, his lips closing around the straw in the glass you were holding. He drank a small sip of the colorful drink.

Taking another sip of her own drink, Emily just happened to look in her boss’s direction who was standing across from her and beside Derek who was beside you. She hid behind her glass, eyes analyzing Hotch who didn’t look happy standing there in his blue button-up, sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

He watched Derek drink from the same straw your lips had been on all night. Emily made a mental note of the way Hotch immediately looked away with a small huff of breath that no one else noticed. It was almost as if Emily detected… jealousy?

No, she thought to herself. She decided it must have been the alcohol in her system – despite the fact she was still on her first drink – that put the idea that Hotch was jealous in her head. 

Emily felt weird overanalyzing her friends, especially since there was a general rule among them to not profile each other, even though they often broke that rule either unintentionally or with full intention.

However, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the interaction in front of her. She glanced over to JJ and Penelope who were watching with amusement as Derek tried the drink. They hadn’t picked up on Hotch’s behavior in the current situation.

After what felt like ages to Emily and presumably Hotch, Derek finally stood back up.

“What’s the verdict?” Penelope asked from the end of the table.

Derek had a look of surprise embedded in his features. “It wasn’t bad at all. A little sugary.”

The straw was back in your mouth as you took another sip. The drink was a little under half-way full. “Going once, going twice, does anyone else want to try the best drink ever created before I finish it off?”

“Hotch, you should try the drink,” Emily said while trying to act nonchalant.

She didn’t want it to be obvious that she was attempting to figure out what was going on with him, and she hoped he hadn’t noticed her watching him only a minute prior.

Hotch didn’t say anything because words were rolling out of your mouth before he could even open his mouth to form a response. “Hotch isn’t a fan of anything sweet, and this drink is pretty sweet.”

Before anyone could say anything, Hotch was leaning over Derek, using one hand to sit down his own drink before laying it flat on the table to steady himself while his other hand wrapped around yours that held the glass, bringing the straw to his lips.

Emily was glad she didn’t have anything in her mouth because if she did, she would’ve spit it out in shock. The whole thing was strangely intimate. She frantically looked around at everyone, but no one was paying attention as they cheered on Aaron Hotchner, of all people, as he drank the entirety of what was left of the pink and blue drink that you swore he wouldn’t enjoy.

She was surprised to find that no one else was seeing this in the way that she was. A table full of profilers and no one just profiled that behavior?

Aaron finished the drink off. “I don’t hate everything sweet.” He moved his hand off of yours before anyone could notice the way his hand lingered – Emily already did – and moved back to where he was standing before making his way back to the bar. “I’ll buy you another drink.”

Derek, JJ, and Penelope were laughing and talking about what had just happened. Penelope had even taken a picture zoomed in of Hotch holding the drink, claiming they could always use that picture against him. Derek had moved down to the section of the table with JJ and Penelope to look at the photo, leaving you and Emily.

“Holy shit,” you muttered to no one in particular before locking eyes with Emily, still holding the empty glass in your hand. “Did you see that?”

“Older men, huh?” Emily asked nonchalantly.

You looked at her like a deer caught in headlights and narrowed your eyes. “Emily, I swear if you tell anyone-”

“Tell what?” She grinned. Emily then lowered her voice, moving in closer to talk to you. “So this is why you refuse to talk about anything to do with guys? I knew there was something. He was totally jealous of Derek.”

“What? No way,” you scoffed. “He’s not into me like that.”

Emily resisted the urge to roll her eyes at you. Based on the last five minutes alone, everyone at the table should have known what was going on. Unfortunately, no one was paying enough attention.

“From what I noticed, I’m just saying you could get dicked down on this table right now if you just bat your eyelashes at him when he comes back.”

“Emily!” You whisper-screamed. “You can’t say stuff like that when we’re-”

Before you could finish your sentence, Emily noticed Hotch coming back with another drink for you. She motioned for you to stop talking before he got to the table.

He sat your drink down in front of you, another Boozy Bee, before stealing the seat across from you that Spencer had originally occupied earlier before Derek took him out on the floor.

“Thank you,” you managed to say without giving away what you and Emily had just been talking about.

He nodded at you before returning back to his drink. When Emily was sure he wasn’t looking as he turned to speak with Penelope who was further down the table, she looked at you, mockingly batting her eyelashes.

Your eyes went wide as you shook your head before whispering, “I will kill you and make it look like an accident.”

Emily said nothing as she grinned for what felt like the hundredth time of the night. Her eyes flickered from Hotch and then back to you, enthusiastic that she had pieced something this exciting together.

In addition to thinking of herself as your best friend, she liked to also think of herself as the best matchmaker of the BAU.

Emily couldn’t wait for the upcoming week at work.

[kasagia]

Our little game

~Part 2~ ~Part 3~ ~Part 4~ ~Part 5~

Pairing: Klaus Mikaelson x witch! reader Summary: You and Klaus have been playing this game between yourselves since your first meeting. One day, you two would fight with each other like dogs, and the next day, you would flirt and act like people completely mad with love. But whatever was between you two, you would never lose this game and admit that you fell for him. He would only use you for your power, right? At least that's what you were telling yourself all this time. Words count: 4,2k

I had no idea what I was doing here.

Wearing one of my fancy black dresses, I was staying in the middle of Mikaelson's compound in New Orleans, with hundreds of people surrounding me.

I was definitely making a huge mistake.

But a few hours ago, when my Mystic Falls gang tried (and failed) to kill these crazy heretics who came to our town two weeks ago, I could only think about coming here.

I needed to find a safe place to stay until Damon or Stefan called for my help.

But after hours of driving here, I wasn't sure if I still wanted to be a part of their group. Yes, I loved them all, especially Bonnie, who became my main "witch-teacher" after I found out I was like her, but sometimes I felt used by them. My power was stronger than any typical witch's. Even Bonnie was surprised to see the things I was able to do until my strength was exhausted and my nose started to bleed.

One day, Damon said that I was their greatest weapon. Then I burst out laughing. Now I'm not so sure how much the black-haired man was joking and how much his words were true. But I had to keep the promise I gave myself and stay with them, if only for Bonnie's sake. She would have killed herself trying to protect her friends, and I wouldn't let that happen. After all she did for me, I have to repay her debt of gratitude.

I turned on the radio while driving to nowhere and heard one of my favorite Mikaelson's, beloved, old songs, which was "better when it played at ball without this strange background sound." That's when I remembered Rebekah and her last words before leaving for New Orleans with her brothers: "You know, if your gang falls apart, you can always come to me. It would be funnier to have a partner in crime against Nik."

After a lengthy moral debate within me, I decided to fuck Salvatore's opinion of me and visit their nemesis. If Damon was so smart to make and realize his own crass plan without telling anyone, I could do something really stupid too and spend a week (or more) with Rebekah. After all, no one could control me.

Then it seemed like a very good plan.

Now with so many people around me, I decide that I have made a great mistake.

I totally forgot that four days ago, Bekah told me about the "engaged party" of Katherine and Elijah. (Thank God for my magic. At least I could turn pants and a T-shirt into a pretty dress.) I sent my gift to the happy couple with separate, joking congratulations to Katherine for "entrapping her Mikaelson after a long couple of centuries" without actually intending to attend the party.

Elena and Caroline would skin me if they knew that instead of buying them fancy birthday presents, I spent my money on something special for my best friend's big day.

In retrospect, I'd like to see their faces. They would be invaluable. Especially Damon's.

"My God, look who arrived!" a familiar voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Hi Beks." I turned around to face her.

"Hi Beks? You appear here without telling me or Katherine anything; you hide in the crowd with a mean expression on your face, and all I get after months apart is a simple "hi"?"

"Well, in my defense, I was thinking about bringing you wine, flowers, cake and saying, "I'm sorry, baby,"  but I figured it would be only a waste of time and my money because you're going to yell at me anyway. Also, your boyfriend would be jealous." she started laughing and pulled me into a hug.

"I haven't seen you for too long."

"Bekah, we were talking yesterday morning."

"You called her yesterday and didn't call me?!" I heard Katherine's resentful voice behind me.

"You look gorgeous, honey. Engagement suits you." she gave me an unimpressed look. "Oh, c'mon. Don't be angry. I'm here now, ready to give you compliments and fight with your fiance's brother, who loathes you. Now, show me the ring. I want to see how much money Elijah was willing to spend on you." she burst out laughing, waving her ringed hand in front of my eyes.

"You realize you're not getting off so easily? Besides, something must have happened for you to suddenly decide to come."

"We can talk tomorrow. Tonight, it's about you and your undying love for her brother." I pointed to Rebekah.

"Talking about my brothers. We'll use some help with Nik's composure for the rest of the evening."

"It is so bad?"

"Yes. He's been following Elijah and trying to convince him to change his mind since this morning." Katherine complained. "He doesn't leave us alone, even for half a second."

"Do you two really think I'm able to "charm" him for the rest of the night?"

I asked, doubts about his supposed affection towards me. Since our first meeting, I and an original hybrid have had a kind of love-hate relationship. At the beginning, we only had short, verbal skirmishes, then it evolved into an open war (he tried to hurt Bonnie, so I gave him a headache and snapped his neck. After that, he used one of his hybrids to crack my car, so I convinced Rebekah to steal his car keys and give them to me. He gave up after two weeks of our teasing and after I (with little of Damon's help) ruined all his dark plans. The original hybrid bought me my own car, trying to bury the hatchet between us.) After a month of these events, the hatred between us began to develop into a kind of mean-companionship. At least no one had tried to gouge out the eyes of the other one anymore. Our "game" developed so much that one day he began to tease me with flirtatious phrases. And it's not true that I choked on my drink and blushed like a teenager from a romance book when he called me for the first time his "innermost, darkest pleasure," whispering it with his seductive tone, which he undoubtedly used for many women before. It was at our school party in the style of the 20s. Since then, I've figured out how to play by his new rules. I couldn't be worse than him.

"Well, you're doing your job even now. He's been staring at you for about five minutes, and you haven't even used any magic. I think we all know why, but you're too stubborn to admit it, so you might as well use his soft spot for you as reparation for your silence for 3 days."

"It's not a soft spot or any other stupid feeling you assume. This is a game."

That was our way of communicating: by circling around, lulling the other person's vigilance, and attacking when he least expects it. At the end of the day, I was just a toy for him—a mortal witch who was never scared of a 1000-year-old hybrid. He proved it after he moved with his family to New Orleans, and I never heard from him again.

"I like spicy stories, but please, keep my brother's kinks away from me. BOTH of you. It's just disgusting." Rebekah shuddered.

"I'm not…"

"Did I hear something about kinks? Y/N darling, it's a pleasure to finally see you here!" Kol suddenly appeared from nowhere. He got closer to me and gave me a strong hug.

"What the bloody hell? You should be on Hayley's tail!"

"Relax, sister. Our brother's formal one-night stand peacefully came back to her husband and wolves. Which means I'm free for the rest of the evening.     Y/N do you want to dance with me?" without waiting for any response, he took my hand and led me to the dance floor, where other couples were dancing.

"Alright, what did you do?" I asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I have no idea what are you implying. I just wanted to dance with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time."

"Kol."

"Y/N."

"Okey, okey. Don't look at me like that. In a nutshell, there is a girl." Oh, I've heard about her. I was curious how much of the original's interest in this girl was genuine.

"My God. I never expected to live to see the day Kol Mikaelson finds his epic love." I cut him off with a smirk.

"She is a hag like you, by the way." he continued, ignoring my taunt. "She doesn't want to know me, but she loves me. I just need a little magic of jealousy, and voilà, I'll be kissing her at the end of this night."

"And you didn't think, Sherlock, that acting like this would make her think that you only play with her?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. The gears in Mikaelson's head began to turn.

"F*ck. So what should I do? I've tried everything. Flowers, jewelry, old grimoires, unexpected almost-dating, puppies, cats, and all of this modern stuff."

"The idea of coming to me with a "love problem" is as ridiculous as expecting an answer, but I will try my best because you are kind of my friend and seem desperate. I don't know if you thought of it, but speaking with her and making a true confession seemed too simple, didn't it?" I said it sarcastically.

"You mean… "L" word?" he cleared his throat, ashamed.

"For the love of God, Kol Mikaelson! Do you love her?"

"Of course."

"Then get out of my eyes and tell her, not me." he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, leaving me alone in a sea of people.

"Little bastard." I said it to myself while trying to get out of there.

But someone made sure I wasn't left alone for too long.

"Hello, my love."

I would recognize that voice even on my deathbed, and I undoubtedly knew that he would someday be the reason for my death.

"Hello Klaus." I turned around to look him in the face. He had grown more handsome since the last time I saw him, which worried me a lot. I tried to hide my unwanted emotions behind a sarcastic smirk.

"If you're wondering if Stefan or Caroline sent their regards, I'm going to have to disappoint you."

"Actually, I'm wondering who I have to kill." I frowned, not understanding him. He swept me into his arms and whirled me about the dance floor as the orchestra played. "I knew you were planning not to go to this party. Katherine was very upset about that."

"So you must have had an enjoyable couple of days." I can't stop myself from interrupting him. He gave me a small smile, shaking his head in amusement. I was so close in his arms that I could feel his every breath adjust to mine.

"You don't usually change your plans, so it's obvious that your bunch of stupid friends must have done something impressively dumb. And quite possibly, it has to do with the emergence of competition vampire's group in Mystic Falls."

"You seem quite well informed, especially for someone who doesn't care about anyone but his family."

"Ouch. As mean as I remembered."

"And you're as irritating as always. It looks like no one changed."

I sighed as I looked around the room. Mission successful - Katherine talks to Elijah. The only problem was that they looked like they were gossiping about me and Klaus…

"Tell me, did you miss me?" Klaus' taunt diverted my attention.

I thought for a moment about how to answer his question. Of course, I missed him. I frequently found myself recalling memories of us in locations where I was at the time. But as I said to Rebekah and Katherine, there was no bond between me and Klaus. We were just two bored souls who were looking for entertainment. We liked messing with people and making fun of them. That's all. There is no feeling involved. But it doesn't mean I will miss my chance.

"Yes." I whispered this while staring into his ocean eyes, never taking my gaze away from him.

He was surprised by my bold, direct statement. He leaned slightly closer to me. His gaze was moving from my eyes to my lips.

"I was bored as no one was trying to hurt me or my friends. Fortunately, Miss Salvatore came back with her own, special family." I got a little closer to him so I could whisper in his ear. "And then we had a new member of our group. Enzo. He's incredibly handsome and was an excellent substitute for your company."

He moved his hand slowly as he extended his arm to encircle my back. Then he dipped me deeply, looking at my eyes all the damn time.

"Be careful, my love. You may fall for him, of course, if you have a heart." he whispered, tightening his grip on me. I held my breath, too enchanted by the moment to respond to his taunt.

I should feel uneasy, distrustful, and disgusted that I am at his mercy, for he could drop me at any moment. Instead, all I could feel was being hypnotized by his blue eyes until he helped me get back on my feet again.

"Every girl would love him. He has dark hair, plays the guitar, and speaks with an English accent. Everyone's type, espessialy mine." I said, when I came back to my senses. If he wanted to tease me, I'd make sure I was a worthy opponent. I just had to keep my emotions under lock and key.

"So your "type" has to have an English accent? It's good to know."

"Yeah, but not as old as some of the people who live here. Also, not this one who wants to get closer to me only to use me for my power."

"You really think that little of me?"

"Is it truly important what I think about you?"

"No, not if you want me to remain a stranger to you. Not at all. But I'd like to think that we are more than we're willing to admit."

"Are you drunk?" I asked, taking a step back to examine him more closely. He began laughing at my reaction, drawing me closer to him once again.

"No, my love. I'm honest. But I'm not sure if there's a big difference between these two."

"You're honest only if you know it's in your interest. Clearly, you want something for me because you've been nicer to me than you have in the last few years. But you have to know I'm not that stupid to let you control me." I got out of his arms and went out in search of a room free of anyone.

"Running away isn't a solution, Y/N! I hope you know that." He shouted as he followed me. We came to a halt as we entered his art studio. Of all the fucking places in this huge villa, it had to be the den of the big bad wolf.

"Katherine has managed to escape you for more than 500 years." I said this without giving him a single, damning look. I much preferred to admire his works.

"Yes. Because she wanted. I'm not sure if you share her desires." He grabbed my arm, turning me to face him.

"What kind of fucked-up game are you playing right now?!" I yelled, yanking his hands away from me. He confused me. We never crossed that unspoken line in our banter. Few months apart, and now he shares the attitude of our crazy friends. That kind of playing wasn't fun at all.

"Did I bring up a sensitive topic? You're not ready to finally stop lying to yourself?" I laughed, mocking him.

"I've never claimed to be a saint." I growled at his face.

"You also never admitted being a sinner."

"That's good I've always wanted to be an anti-hero, then." I whispered, looking into his mesmerizing eyes, not even realizing that as we talked, we were getting closer, as we were suddenly a foot apart. I felt his hand slip around my waist like a snake. He pulled me closer and then I found myself pressed between his warm chest and cold wall.

"If only you weren't such a paranoid woman and suspected me of using you whenever I wanted to get closer to you. Maybe you would understand who you should be scared of and what is truly between us."

"Said the man who murdered his biological father because he was afraid Ansal would endanger Hope."

"You seem quite well informed, especially for someone who doesn't care about me."

"Katherine and Rebekah are gossipers. You can't blame me for listening to them."

"You have an excuse for every circumstance, don't you?"

"It's not my fault you can't accept the truth. Whatever you've been taking today, you'd better take less of it. It's damaging your immortal, ancient head." I started to turn towards the door, but he stopped me by grabbing my hand.

"Don't turn your back on me, love." he threatened, keeping his firm grip on my wrist.

"Or what are you going to do? Dance with me again? You're right, it's so dangerous and horrible that I can't take it anymore." I ignored his warning and tried to leave the room.

He used his vampire speed and pinned me against the door. He leaned in, his eyes closed, and rested his brow against mine. In a silent, peaceful room, our hard, synchronized breaths were the only sound I could hear. My world shrank to just the two of us. The party outside was long forgotten by me.

He rubbed the tip of his nose on mine. I shivered as I got close enough to him for the first time to feel the warmth of his lips (and yet they were so far from mine).

"You have no idea… what you're doing to me."

His deep, hoarse whisper reminded me of who was standing in front of me and why I couldn't give in to my inner, treacherous desire. Before his lips could catch mine in his intoxicating trap (and possibly destroy me for any other men), I wrapped my hands around his neck and pinned him against the door, keeping a decent distance between us.

When he felt a piece of wood on his back, he opened his eyes, looked at me, and gave me an impressive glance. He giggled sinisterly, sending a shiver down my spine.

"For your own good, if you're not ready for a fire, don't play with it, love." I leaned slightly toward him, still catching his gaze with mine.

"Who said I wouldn't be the one to burn you?" I whispered against his neck, placing a burning kiss on it.

His soft, strangled moan after I gently bit into his skin was enough reward for my patience and a sign to stop before things got deeper.

I slowly took my hand from his arm and put it on the doorknob. I smiled on his neck because he was too preoccupied with the feeling of my lips to notice anything. I decided not to tempt fate anymore. Hybrid could easily take control from me (which wouldn't be good for me at all). So I pulled the handle and opened the door. The original nearly fell down because of my sudden, unexpected move.

I left Klaus behind in my haste, casting a quick glance behind me. It was definitely worth it. His look of indignation will stay in my mind for a long time. This battle was mine. We gonna see what future bring.

I walked into the room in a magnificent mood and took the glass of wine from one of the waiters.

"Can everyone get together, please?" Elijah caught everyone's attention. "Thank you. I wanted to thank everyone for coming to our engagement party. Me and my beloved fiance are very happy to see people around us who are wishing us a long, beautiful future." the crowd began to applaud, interrupting his speech for a moment.

"Such a diva." I whispered under my breath as I sipped my wine. Rebekah somehow heard this and tried to hide her laughter.

"But I didn't gather you all here just to talk about my luck. We wanted to announce who, from our closest friends, will be the second-most important couple at our wedding. My best man and Katerina's maid of honor, I don't think it will surprise you that my best man will be my brother Niklaus."

Klaus stood on the stairs next to the couple, wearing his trademark sly grin. He scanned the crowd. His gaze lingered directly on me, and he didn't want to take his eyes off me. The little bastard must have been up to something.

"I've been thinking about this since the day we got engaged, and to be honest, the decision wasn't as easy as it seemed to be. It was my desire to have this person as my maid of honor, but circumstances indicated that, unfortunately, my dream would not come true. You don't know how happy I was when I heard a few hours ago that she agreed. So without further extensions. My chief bridesmaid and best friend, Y/N Y/L!"

Applause erupted around me. It took me a second to recover from the shock and climb the stairs. I was standing right in front of this smug son of a bitch.

"Thanks for asking." I said to Katherine when Elijah ended his speech and people spread around.

"Klaus didn't tell you?" she asked, looking at her future brother-in-law.

The original just shrugged.

"Don't worry, Kath. I won't make a scene. I'm not going to play according to the script of this drama queen. It will be a pleasure to be your maid of honor."

"I'm not a drama queen." the hybrid interjected, frowning.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." I responded, giving him a small look.

"If you're so worried about my good sleep, why don't you join me in my bed, love?" he asked, coming to my side, so I had to give him my attention.

"Ha ha. Not even in your wildest dreams."

"In my wildest dreams, we don't need a bed, love." he said, casually adjusting the strap of my dress on my shoulder. His icy fingertips brushed against my heated skin, right next to my collarbone.

"You're the thousand-year-old father of a little girl. You don't think it's time to act like an adult and not a horny teenager?" I asked, grabbing his hand and pulling it off me.

"Ouch. But then you wouldn't even notice me." he pretended to be offended. He also tightened his grip on my hand without thinking of letting go. I fell into his trap with my own fucking wish.

"Believe me, it's impossible to miss you. I've tried. Many times." I growled, trying to free my hand from him.

"Aw, is that your way of telling me I'm special to you?" he asked, clearly amused by my annoyance. I've never seen such a huge smile on his face.

"Yeah, like a plastic, red punch cup at a school party," he laughed, reluctantly releasing my hand.

I turned to say something to Kath, but then I realized that she had left us in the middle of our conversation. I sighed as I was alone with him again. It's going to be a very long week (or month).

"By the way, when are you going to tell me I'm Katherine's maid of honor?" I asked, favoring him with my look again.

"It must have slipped my mind when you were passionately kissing my neck, love."

"Oh, I remember. You were moaning for me like a street lady."

I turned to leave, but he suddenly wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his hard, well-built chest. He placed my head on his shoulder and cupped the tip of my right ear with his lips. His fangs came out, reminding me of his superhuman strength. Sometimes I forgot that the man I was teasing could easily break me with a flick of the wrist. Of course, if I let down my guard and drop my magic for a moment. We both knew that was impossible.

"Maybe I should return you a favor, and then we will see which one of us is making the most tempting moans?" he whispered suggestively and placed a small kiss under my ear. "What do you think about it, love?" he asked, rubbing his nose against my neck. He took one deep breath before placing his revange-wet kiss there.

And then, when I was burning for even his littlest touch, he just walked away like nothing happened.

I stood there, frozen in shock, watching his receding silhouette (definitely with a proud smirk on his face).

There was only one thing in my head.

1:1 motherf*cker

[aurorialwolf]

Ok I’m feeling better (got burnt out) so now I’m gonna continue my posts about next gen redacted ocs!! I made a custom tag for these posts, so you can click that to see the rest of them :D (it’s tagged on this post)

This time: David’s son, Dante!

- His full name is Dante Gabriel Shaw

- His nickname is probably smth like Danny, so Davey and Danny lol

- He looks a lot like Gabe, his eyes being closer in shade to Gabe’s than David’s, and his facial structure & hair being very similar as well. This makes David both happy and a little sad, which Dante doesn’t understand until he’s a little older and David explains everything about Gabe to him.

- David brings him and Angel to visit Gabe’s grave regularly, and they leave dahlia flowers and honeysuckles (which i stole from other ppls flower hcs sry fhksdhjs)

- He’s besties with Ashlyn (Asher’s daughter) because of course

- He has a sort of inner circle who are all his friends in the pack, so that includes Samuel Jr., Ashlyn, and Milo’s daughter

- He’s always acted like a mini alpha, protecting his friends like David does, he started mimicking David when he was 2, attempting to do speeches to the rest of the pack toddlers

- He shifted for the first time when he was 14, a week before the winter solstice, and while it was painful, he managed pretty okay. His shifted form is very similar to his dad’s (large black wolf in my hc), but with a white swirl pattern on his right flank.

- He is the most responsible in his friend group, making sure they’re all eating, they’re on time, etc. would absolutely be the guy who has all the papers and passports when they go on an international trip.

- He may act a lot like his dad, having a gruff exterior, but it’s mostly a cover, and he can be a little goofball sometimes, like his other parent (Angel)

- He loves playing minecraft, started when he was 5, and co-ops with Angel often to make cool builds

Ok now for official alpha / security company stuff that he’d do!!

- He’s David’s only kid (in this version of things) so he’s naturally expected to become Alpha

- So, he often shadows his dad to important events, as well as security gigs

- One of the major things is he accompanies his dad to Solaire-hosted events, and while his dad greets William and shakes hands with him, Dante greets Emilie (William’s daughter), and shakes hands with her.

- She enjoys messing with him, and has held him in a couple second trance to see how he reacts (like I said in her post, she’s not great with mortals), which he eventually, after a couple meetings, can reliably break out of.

- Usually at these events, he stands around with his dad mostly separated from the vampires, interacting only with those who approach them, because David is worried about him being vulnerable to attacks or trances

- Luckily for him, Samuel Jr. (Sam’s son) is a regular attendee at these events, as William invites him, Vivienne (Vincent’s daughter), and their parents. Of course, Samuel is very protective of his friends, so whenever Dante has been at risk, he’s protected him, albeit maybe too violently, but it gets his point across.

- Now I feel like it’s a good time to mention that Samuel jr and Dante are boyfriends / eventual mates!! So it adds an extra layer considering Samuel has a rightful claim to him (the magic bite thingy), mostly for the purpose of being allowed by vampire law to protect him somewhat violently 👍 (Samuel also visits Gabe’s grave independently to leave flowers, because he’s paranoid about getting permission to date and eventually propose to Dante cuz blah blah tradition even though Gabe wouldn’t care if he were alive)

- He also shadows his dad on security gigs, learning all the best ways to keep large groups safe and orderly in case of an emergency. He also gets properly trained in gun use, just in case, and does pretty alright (they train at a typical gun range after he gets the proper licenses)

- Dante eventually heads his own event security gig, and manages pretty well. He’s doing it with his group of friends, so they goof off a bit over radio, which he scolds them for, though lightheartedly

- He does experience some rough gigs, not ever quite inversion level but there was a time when a clan of vampires descended on a large event being held in a stadium that had similar levels of danger, with luckily less losses

- One day, when Dante is ~25, David gets pretty sick, though is not in any danger, simply is somewhat immobilized and can’t perform his usual duties. Asher takes over, as a beta typically does, but starts trying to convince Dante to take over as alpha, which has been a previous conversation before, especially between Dante and David, but Asher is now making it a bit more urgent, and Dante is resistant to the idea.

- Dante says something along the lines of David not being dead, just sick, so he doesn’t need to take over yet, since he’s scared of taking over so soon. Asher flinches at that, and things become awkward. He eventually apologizes, but Asher insists it’s okay.

- Dante takes some convincing, but eventually decides to step up and take over, after David promises to support him in learning his duties.

- He picks Ashlyn to be his beta, and she does a good job! His takeover of the pack goes pretty well, mostly because everyone was expecting it anyways. David recovers fully, and helps him keep everything orderly, and keeps being in charge of the security company for a few more years before signing that over to him as well.

Taglist: @vegafan69 @darlin-collins @kxemii @professionallyyappin @sereh624

[cantsayidont]

For a long time, the main impetus for DC reprinting any of its voluminous back catalog was some promotional or licensing tie-in: a movie, a TV show, some merchandise they were trying to push, or just a popular ongoing book. Given how prominently Dr. Fate was featured in the recent BLACK ADAM movie, therefore, it's surprising and somewhat disheartening that DC didn't take the opportunity to do some kind of greatest hits compilation for the character, who was certainly the best thing about that mostly terrible film.

This is especially unfortunate because you could fit quite a bit of Dr. Fate's Silver Age and Bronze Age non-JSA appearances in a single volume, starting with the two 1965 SHOWCASE team-ups with Hourman shown above, by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson. There are also a number of later team-ups with Superman and Batman:

Fate then got a couple of solo features in the '70s:

Kubert cover notwithstanding, the 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL story, which is written by Marty Pasko, has some really outstanding early Walt Simonson art, while the SECRET ORIGINS OF SUPER-HEROES story has an eight-page retelling of Fate's origin, narrated by Kent Nelson's wife Inza, by the ALL-STAR COMICS team of Paul Levitz and Joe Staton.

In 1982, Doctor Fate got his own eight-page backup feature in, weirdly enough, THE FLASH #306–313. Despite what a couple of the covers imply, there wasn't a team-up between the Flash and Fate (who in those days still existed on separate parallel Earths); the Fate strip was just an unrelated second feature.

This strip, written by Marty Pasko and Steve Gerber with spectacular art by Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt, presents an array of interesting ideas (some of which obviously paved the way for Giffen's 1987 revamp). Pasko had already established (in the 1975 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL story) that Doctor Fate wasn't exactly Kent Nelson: He was really the ancient Lord of Order Nabu, the entity who trained Nelson in the magical arts, who possessed Nelson's body whenever he put on the Helm of Fate. In other words, the Dr. Fate of these stories isn't so much a man wearing a magical helmet as a magical helmet wearing a man. Nabu has made both Kent and Inza ageless — they both appear about 25, but by this time, they're really in their 60s — but allows them little real control of their lives. Kent has more or less resigned himself to it, but Inza is feeling the strain of being trapped in a magical menage à trois with her husband and an inhuman entity that has little regard for Kent's welfare and even less for hers. Nabu, for his part, seems to exist in a state of constant mystical urgency in which human frailties are an unaffordable distraction.

This could have been really compelling, and it's both graphically interesting and quite strange, but all that is a lot to squeeze into eight-page installments, and having them crammed in the back of one of DC's most conventional superhero books was obviously not optimal. It was also having to compete for Giffen and Mahlstedt's attention with LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, which I assume was why the Fate strip was dropped after only eight installments.

To everyone's surprise, there was even a Doctor Fate action figure in 1984 as part of the Kenner Super Powers line. This came with a little minicomic, which to my knowledge has never been reprinted:

All of this stuff would add up to something in the realm of 230 pages, which would easily fit into a single trade paperback collection with a digestible price point. Maddeningly, DC has already done the color remastering for roughly three-fifths of this material, so even that probably wouldn't be a huge chore (although the Giffen/Mahlstedt stuff, which has a lot of color holds and graphic effects, really calls for more care in remastering than DC has tended to give its older material of late.)

[hugsandchaos]

Okay, so I’m not the biggest fan of the mlp x dp crossovers, but I’m still going to rant about both versions of this very neat idea. And when I say “both versions”, I mean the idea of Danny turning into a pony and the very few fics where he doesn’t.

Idea A

Danny keeping his regular human/ghost form leaves so many unexplored possibilities in my opinion, specifically how he’s introduced. It could be a good ol’ accidental summoning or he could be a new friend of Discord’s. With the first one, it could take place anywhere, which means that we could plop him down in the Everfree Forest, the Crystal Empire, Canterlot, Appleloosa (I think I spelled that right), anywhere! With the second, maybe he was trying to escape the GiW as usual and Discord helped him, or maybe he decided to introduce him to the princesses after it was decided he’d be the king of the Ghost Zone in the future, essentially making him a prince in the meantime. And I can’t stress enough how much I love, love, love this one, but how cool would it be if he had ties to the Everfree Forest because of his existence as a Halfa?!

I’ve always had the idea that a human character would have very small and subtle “ties” to the Everfree because some of the stuff that happens in there happens in our world. Like how when Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack all mentioned that clouds moving, animals taking care of themselves, and plants grown all on their own is unnatural. Knowing this and yet still seeing creatures made of, heavily relying on, or having magic hints that it’s a place that follows some of the laws of our world and some of the rules of their rules, but not quite leaning more towards one of them. Can you see where I’m going with this? Danny’s existence as half dead, half alive, both and neither at the same time is like a more sentient, “living” example of the Everfree Forest! Can you see where my excitement is coming from?!

Idea B

Not exactly as excited about this version as Idea A, but I still love it! I’m going to take this chance to ramble about my own ideas for Tucker and Sam being there, too.

Staying true to the “goth” look she seems to love, I’d love to see her as a bat pony! We’ve already seen what the body outline would look like thanks to Flutterbat, and one of my favorite little details that I want to keep is that her bat wings were twice the size of Pegasus wings. Her coat is obviously black, along with her hair, but her mane and tail would have a pink and/or purple streak. Surprisingly, this new form doesn’t bother her too much because she liked how she looked, but getting used to it was a pain. Unfortunately, this also involved having more sensitive hearing, smell, and eyesight, which gave her more than a couple headaches and sensory issues. No, the fangs aren’t for tearing through flesh, they’re for fruits and veggies. She’d somehow gain the ability to better tell which fruits and veggies are safe for consumption even if they look fine, and even separate the sweetest ones from the rest. I can’t remember much of her, unfortunately, so for now I’ll say her cutie mark is an image of a few vegetables or the recycle mark?

Tucker would be an earth pony, and as a meat lover, he’d have half a meltdown over the fact that he can’t digest it. At least not much at once, or without it being very carefully prepared. Sam laughed, Danny tried to comfort him. Surprisingly, though, they’d come to realize while only meat isn’t the best option for his health, he can apparently digest more than the average pony, and a few of his teeth were slightly more built for this as well! So while his new diet his largely fruits and veggies now, he can still enjoy a few ribs. He’s also considered very intelligent because of his knowledge about handling technology. His cutie mark is an old phone with green wisps circling it.

Finally, Danny. Just like as a human, he has a living form and a ghost form. His living form resembles an earth pony with a tan coat and a black mane and tail, but his ghost form is an alicorn as a symbol of his status as both a halfa and prince of the Ghost Zone. His living form doesn’t have a cutie mark, but his ghost form has a black crown with green flames on his flank. This is a silent hint of how the incident changed his existence. When he’s in his ghost form, the terrifying creatures of the Everfree Forest and pony urban legends recognize his power and back away from him, so he’s starting to use that form a lot more often to keep his friends safe. Now for a couple extra headcanons!

•The whole “terrifying creatures of the Everfree Forest and pony urban legends recognize Danny’s power and back away from him” thing applies to both idea A and idea B, but they’d be more wary of him in idea A because they’ve never seen a human

•With idea B, Applejack might not let Sam into her orchard at first because of the vampire fruit bat incident, but later gets confirmation that she’s not exactly vampiric

•With idea B, Sam seems to be very, very slowly slipping towards a more nocturnal sleep schedule

•In both ideas, they get a bunch of stares from ponies for obvious reasons (in Idea B, it’s because Sam is a bat pony, Tucker eats more meat than most ponies, and Danny either doesn’t have a cutie mark or is in his alicorn form)

•In idea B, Sam and Danny would practice flying at the same time and Tucker would set up a tarp or something underneath

•In idea B, the trio might feel a little stupid for asking questions like how to do magic or fly when they’re almost as big as the mane six, but they’re surprisingly accepting of them asking for help since they’ve told them that they don’t remember having anyone to teach them how to do these things until now (Twilight and Rainbow Dash especially love to each them)

•In idea B, when Twilight casually mentioned having a couple experiments for Danny (because of his two forms), he froze in terror and Tucker immediately jumped in to protect him (Sam wasn’t there), but then she said something like “I’m just going to put a thermometer in your mouth and see if there’s a difference between your forms” and they both calmed down, but now they’re a “little” worried about worse experiments happening to Danny

•In idea B, Sam was also “experimented on”, as in they’d test her senses and discover how they’re better than the average pony’s

[istadris]

Thinking about plots dealing with Luigi being (technincally) a Bowser Minion and member of his army while playing also playing Superstar and minion's Quest (I am alternating between storylines so that main is ahead but not *too* far ahead)

And now I really really want a spin off where Bowser has been kidnapped by an evil Princess who wants to be an evil Queen and is trying to force him to marry her and because of a series of both politics and hilarious hijinks, Luigi has to work his way up the army ranks so he can go and rescue Bowser. mostly I am imaging him deciding he needs a Cunning Disguise and uses the Mr L- evil minion of evil persona from Super Paper Mario

Bonus mental image that keeps making me laugh: Optional party members Mr M (Mario disguises as an evil minion) and Miss P (Peach disguised as an evil minion)

The Plan was, at first, for Luigi to sneak into Bowser's castle to learn what Bowser had been up to (no Peach kidnapping attempt in four months ? Not even on her birthday ? Something must be Wrong) because just kicking his door down and demanding answers would be very rude. So  since Luigi is technically part of the Koopa Troop, he's technically allowed to go in there and look around, right ? The magic in Bowser's Castle seems to agree and let him in.

Then the Plan had to be tweaked because Luigi came across some of Bowser's actual minions and unlike the Castle, they are very untrustworthy of random humans wandering around.

"Hey !! What do you think you're doing ?" "Waaah! I'm-I'm... the newest recruit" "What." "Y-yeah, Bowser hired me himself ! Y-you can ask him if you’d like!" "Haha, very funny. What's your designation then, Mister ??" "I'm Misteeeeer..." *panic panic panic* "...L ?" "What" "Err. Yeah. Mister L. ?" "(what a lame name) Yeah okay, registration office is this way, I'm not paid enough to actually care"

Thankfully, even if most minions have faced Luigi at least once at some point, he's discrete and shy enough that almost everyone forgets his face, but still, there are a couple of scares with someone going “wait, why do you remind me of someone ...?”, so a change of attire seems logical.

Also, turns out Koopa bureaucracy is obscure and frustrating enough that by the time Luigi grabs a mask and a change of black clothes and tweaks his cap, everyone just rolls with the situation and "Mr L" is just. Part of the deal now.

They also have bigger problems to care right now, like the whole Bowser kidnapping situation. Not that Luigi is aware of that at first, he’s trying his best to get closer to Bowser, but everyone is very Mad and Ready to Fight so he’s trying his best to not step on any toes.

Still, Luigi should really learn to say no, especially in situations like "HEY YOU! Get over here, the rescue mission in the Death Lands is about to leave!!"

I don't know how canon Super Paper Mario would be here, and to me the M&L games and the Paper Mario games are separate continuities (Paper Jam confirms it, no?). So either Paper Jam already happened and M&L!Luigi has vaguely heard of Paper Luigi's bout in evildom, either M&L!Luigi does come up with the persona on his own

Either way, I honestly think that while Luigi is a big cowardly scaredy cat, he can be brave and even as fearless as Mario, but only if he hides behind something : a disguise (Princess Peach), a persona (Mr L, Mario when Luigi gets hypnotised in Superstar Saga, Dreamy Luigi) or his brother himself (if Mario is rushing ahead, or if he’s in danger, he follows). In any case, the less he gives himself time to think, the less he risks to gets trapped into his own anxiety and paranoia. So what to do when you need to Not Think and get answers at the same time ? You rush ahead and pray that no one catches on that you have no idea what you’re doing

the Green Thunder moniker comes fairly quickly, because Bowser’s minions love gossip and a guy in green using lightning attacks is pretty awesome.

The Plan gets some more tweaks when the Koopa Troop comes across Mario himself, and of course, they throw the new guy at him because it’s a hazing ritual to get stomped by Mario. Does Mario recognize Luigi and play along (and even goad Luigi into giving his all) ? Does he not know who that new minion is, and unlike Luigi he doesn’t know what to expect ? In any case, Mr L gets a lot more respect from everyone after tasering Mario into a waterfall.

Bonus for the bowuigi crowd : when Luigi finally finds Bowser : “What are you doing here ??“ “Saving you from a forced wedding to an evil queen, apparently!” “Tch, does that make you Mario ?” “I don’t know, does that make you Peach ??” And they promptly shut up because now they realize the Implications and try to not think about (it doesn’t work)

Badass team up rescue though!! With the bonus of knowing each other more than they expected! (Just me who likes the aesthetic of a smaller character climbing on another bigger character’s back when they team up in a fight)

Honestly I’m not sure how much Peach and Mario could effectively pass as minions, but it would make a very funny reason for Wario’s existence in that verse

[bigbroemen]

その力を使いこなせる人を　「魔導士」　と呼んだとか。

sono chikara wo tsukai konaseru hito wo　"madoushi"　to yonda to ka.

---

Those who could master that power were said to be called "sorcerers".

---

I'm not on desktop so i can't go as in depth as usual, but some of these words:

力 ちから・chikara - power, strength, ability

使いこなせる・tsukaikonaseru - potential "can do [x]" conjugation of 使いこなす tsukaikonasu, [from jisho.org] to handle (men); to master (a tool); to manage; to acquire a command of (a language)​

使いこなす is a compound verb comprised of the stem form of 使う tsukau, to use, and こなす konasu, to digest, to break down, to be 'good at'

魔導士 まどうし・madoushi - sorcerer, wizard, mage

魔導士 is a compound of two terms, 魔導 madou, magic, and 士 shi, soldier

魔導 madou is comprised of two kanji. the kanji 魔 ma connotes things like evil spirits, demons, and witches, and is a kanji that's commonly present in any words referring to magical or fantastical things. the kanji 導 dou is an alternate kanji for 道 dou, which can mean a "way" in terms of a path or a road or "way" in terms of teaching and principle. 導 may or may not have connotations separate from 道. it sure does look more fancy

魔導 is a less common way to refer to magic than 魔法 mahou - "magic" and "law" - is. 魔導 has a darker and more reviled reputation than 魔法, being more referred to as "heresey, evil ways, path of evil" and "sorcery, black magic" than just plain "magic"

there's another word used to describe a wizard/sorcerer/mage that's called 魔法使い mahou tsukai, "magic" and "user". using 士 rather than 使い has me wondering if "battle mage" might be a more apt translation of 魔導士 than just something like "sorcerer" or "mage"

---

these kinds of posts have been very sparse the past couple of years! the weight of adulthood has been setting in the past few years and ive one half have been having a crisis over it and one half have been feeling my way through that crisis

we managed to nab this super famicom for a REALLY cheap price of under $200, and every game ive bought for it so far has been no more than $20, and it's been a blessing. searching up words on my phone takes more time than doing it on my computer, and my attention span is shit so im frequently having to lasso myself back into playing/reading/learning, but i know more vocab/grammar now than ever so i haven't been having to stall my flow for very long

this particular text box just managed to catch my attention enough to make a post about it. it's really simple but also fun to inspect

I've been jumping through a bunch of games because, again, shit attention span, but I've also just been really excited to touch on all of them, so I guess I'm hitting each a little at a time, lol. we'll see which ones I stay on over the next few months

hope everyone is ok, ik we're smack dab in the middle of this loneliness epidemic and this huge ass economic disparity/crisis and the like continued Slide into scarier more right wing policy/fascism pretty much. let's do our best in these times, love to yall

[catofadifferentcolor]

Terrible Fic Idea #67: Game of Thrones, but double the irony

My absolute favorite thing in media is when you're presented with a truth at the beginning of the work and, somewhere near the end, the creeping irony of the situation catches up and grabs hold of you until you can no longer breathe. The Boy-Who-Lived must die sort of thing. So naturally I had the thought: how can I add another layer of dramatic irony to Game of Thrones?

Or: What if Rhaegar's bastard daughter and Robert Baratheon's bastard son fell in love?

Aka: The Queen of Nightingales Fic

Just imagine it:

Lyanna Stark dies giving birth to a daughter who takes after her in nearly every respect but the eyes, which are so dark a purple as to be almost black. She bleeds out before she can even name the child, and so her brother names the babe Jenny Snow.

Jenny's childhood follows closely to canon. She is, perhaps a little more tolerated by Lady Catelyn for being less of a direct threat to Robb's inheritance, but otherwise her bastardy allows her to get away with things a lady never could. She learns swordplay along with the needle, but her greatest talent is her voice, which is said to be so lovely even nightingales would pause to listen to her song.

When King Robert comes to visit, Jenny doesn't need to be told to hide away. Unfortunately, her voice carries and she's soon brought before the royal couple to entertain them.

Robert, being Robert, cares less about her singing than the fact she looks like his lost love reborn, but has just enough morals not to force himself on his best friend's daughter. Instead he orders Ned to bring her south and spends the remainder of his life failing to seduce her.

This naturally earns Jenny few friends at court, save for those who value music above all things - who call her Lady Nightingale.

Canon continues apace, with Ned losing his head with both Arya and Jenny in the audience. They're separated in the chaos, with Jenny being taken north by the Night's Watch in the guise a boy and Arya stowing away aboard a ship bound for Braavos.

On the long, circuitous journey, Jenny becomes fast friends with another Night's Watch recruit, Gendry Waters, who eventually learns her secret.

Realizing that continuing to try to head north is only going to get them killed, they run away together. Gendry finds work as blacksmith near Saltpans. Jenny gets work at the local inn. Though they say nothing to the effect, many of the townsfolk believe they eloped together after their parents refused them permission to wed. They don't intend to pose as a married couple either, but fall together on the journey in a soft, destined sort of way that has maidens cooing for the greater part of the next millennium.

The war, however, goes badly. Stannis doesn't resort to using magic to kill his brother, so there are five armies tearing apart Westeros and borders shift daily. Two years into their stay at Saltpans - just a handful of months after Jenny has given birth to her first son, - Renly gains control of the area. Jenny is once again dragged off to entertain a king, but insists that her family be brought along.

A few months later Renly dies of dysentery, putting the Tyrells in a bad spot. Things have gone on too long for them to easily go back on their position that 1) Joffrey is a bastard born of incest, 2) Stannis is a madman and heretic, and 3) Robb and Balon are treasonous upstarts. They can make the claim Margery is still a virgin, but after 2+ years most are going to think they're trying to cover up infertility if they play that card, and she's the only card they have left to play.

Except: All anyone has to do is take one look at Gendry and see a young Robert Baratheon. And all anyone has to do is take one look at his wife and see a Stark - and if they paint a pretty enough picture they can claim her voice came from Rhaegar, making her the rightful Targaryen heir. They're young, untrained bastards. They'll make perfect puppets and allow the Tyrells to rule in all but name.

It's an audacious plan - but it works, if not precisely as the Tyrells plan. Yes, Gendry would rather be in the forge, but Jenny was raised a duty-loving Stark. And while their heir ends up marrying a Tyrell, the Tyrells never gain quite the power the Lannisters once had.

The War of Five Kings ends with the remnants of Renly's forces joining Robb's army and deserters and Joffrey's. They take King's Landing, install their new rulers, and have just long enough to bring in one good harvest before The Others descend. The war takes many good men Westeros can't afford to lose, but ends after Jenny makes peace with Stannis long enough to bolster their forces for one final battle - which, for Stannis, is Redemption Equals Death.

Jenny never quite buys that she's Rhaegar's daughter, thinking all the evidence that crops up through the years has been manufactured by the Tyrells, but there is little doubt Gendry is Robert's son. Jenny does most of the ruling under the name Jaehaera II while Gendry - Gaemon I - is as content to let her do the heavy lifting. It's far from perfect, but is wildly acknowledged to be the best rule the country as seen since Aegon the Unlikely.

Bonuses include: 1) The softest, gentlest, friends to lovers that can be imagined for Jenny and Gendry, with the soft, tentative friendship formed heading north as Night's Watch recruits turning into best friends turning into first crushes into first kisses into first loves. They should get each other in a way that makes it clear that even without romance they would be platonic soulmates, and are just short of disgustingly in love; 2) Tolkien levels of musical inclusion, to the point of being genuinely obnoxious; and 3) All of their children having the Baratheon look, save for the last - twins Daena and Rhaena, the first of which was born with pale lilac eyes and the latter with a bright golden streak down the middle of her black hair.

And that's all I have for this plot bunny. As always, feel free to adopt, just link back if you do anything with it.

Other Jon Snow Headcanons: Aelor the Accursed | Aegon the Adopted | Aegon the Undying | Aegon the Unyielding | Aemon the Adventurous | Baelor the Brave | Bastard of Winterfell | Daemon the Destroyer | Daena the Dreamer | Daeron the Desired | Dyanna the Defiant | Elia the Magnificent | Jon the Fair | Jon Whitefyre | King of the Ashes | Lady Arryn | Lady Baratheon | Lady Lannister | Lady Stark | Lord of the Dance | Prince Consort | Prince of Summerhall | Queen Mother | Queen of Nightingales | Rhaegar the Righteous | River Queen | Shiera Snowbird | Visneya the Victorious

More Terrible Fic Ideas

[flowersandbirdsflyingfree]

With TF2 being a main focus again, I’ve decided to at least write my self-shipping stuff for fun for myself!

Although Excavator will likely star in future writing and/or comics, I have to admit I have more fun just slapping myself next to Medic because that is self-love to me. So the lines may blur a bit

Edelweiß (TF2 Storyline)

How did this happen? Excavator wasn’t sure herself. Seeing as Medic threw his hippocratic oath out the window, he isn’t the most reassuring. Yet they developed a close-bonded friendship with each other.

Excavator is the one who usually throws Medic a bone the most on the battlefield (and sometimes literally too). She’s fended him from near death experience many times. Her help extends in her free time to care for the baby baboon nursery and some voluntary projects.

Archimedes has taken a liking to the digging woman. She shares her sunflower seeds with him. There isn’t a day she doesn’t ask for him when seeing Medic.

It wasn’t until Archimedes had heard Ex open up about her feelings for Medic. Medic was intelligent, charismatic, energetic, surprisingly patient with her, incredibly dreamy… Archimedes spoiled this secret to the doctor!

At first, he thought it was endearing she found someone like him to be gush worthy. He might’ve playfully flirted with her in amusement to surprise her. But it’s not long until he realizes he felt the same way.

Excavator is his best friend. Ex always put him first and supported his dreams. But he also felt his efforts to protect her were fulfilled with being taken for granted. She was very sweet yet a force to be reckoned with. So much that factored in his deep-rooted affection for her. A grounding force for his racing mind.

Medic and Heavy already dated in the past, so he was worried of ruining another work relationship becoming awkward. He took the risk anyways, and luckily for him, everything turned out far better than expected.

Edelweiß (Modern AU)

Medic has cheated the devil before, so he WILL do it again! He not only lives in the same modern day as me, but he doesn’t look like he aged at all. Nothing genetic rewiring and black magic can’t fix! Doing so has allowed him to sneak into being a doctor again in a new state. He carries out his medical mysteries at home which may or may not include copious amounts of stealing for materials and tools.

We bump into each other in the middle of a HomeGoods. Although he got in to escape the cops in the evening, I’m just looking for a lamp to put in my new apartment since I just moved into town. We feel drawn to each other and exchange numbers. It’s not long at all until we become great friends.

It wasn’t long until I found out his dirty little secret in his… medical interests. However! I promised him I’d tell nobody about it. But in exchange, he found that I would have to help him as his partner in crime

Of course, feelings manifested regardless and the two of us became the world’s most unhinged power couple (well, second most compared to Zhanna and Soldier)

Now time for fun mushy stuff!

We definitely enjoy just sitting beside each other and reading our books. Usually we pick out our own separate novels. But we do like to occasionally read the same book together before bed. This will vary from a picture book to huge medical textbooks

Our main ship song is Here Is The House by Depeche Mode. Runner ups include Edelweiß (yes The Sound of Music one), Who Knows What Love Is by Strawberry Switchblade and My Heart Goes Bang (Take Me To The Doctor) by Dead or Alive

We pretty much bounce off each other’s playfulness. If you stood in another room all you’d hear is endless giggling and maniacal laughter. His energetic, kooky nature is one of my favorite things about him

Medic does enjoy teasing me for his amusement. Something about seeing me so shocked or horrified over his dark jokes or some sort of medical rambling is adorable. It's never anything mean thankfully, just lighthearted banter

I do have to chase after him sometimes if he's accidently caused anything life threatening.

We do work together. Enjoying one another's presence is a big thing for us. There are two desks down in the lab extension to our home. One for his studies and another for me to craft nearby him.

I'm genuinely surprised just how much of a hidden romantic he is. He never fails to surprise me with roses and never turns down the chance to cuddle at all. He's old fashioned but never fails to make me smile.

We both have a shared past trauma about dating partners. We used it as strength to be better people for ourselves and each other. There's at least an understanding of what we don't want to ever put each other through knowing the feeling of abuse. With my more complex childhood things however, he's not at all bitter about it.

Nothing's better than falling for your super best friend <3

[a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives]

"Taika Waititi⁠ wears an Atelier Prabal Gurung gunmetal floor-length, structured wrap coat with black liquid silk satin lapel, white satin trousers, and hand-made silk flower and pearl chains to the 2023 Met Gala⁠.

Taika is a force of nature. An incredibly gifted creator/performer and an equally engaging person. A brilliant mind, one of the sharpest wits and insanely hilarious. I have been a great admirer of Taika's body of work from afar. I had never met him or seen him in real life. So when we got this opportunity for this year's Met Gala, I was very excited to meet this brilliant man.

He was all that I had hoped for and more. Intelligent, funny, witty, immensely thoughtful and kind, I was utterly obsessed. What I didn't realise till I met him was how sexy, sensual and confident human he happened to be. My entire team and I, we all were so in love with him. We couldn't stop gushing about him. His aura, his energy, his whole being, is intoxicating. I was completely smitten.

He was an incredible collaborator, along with his brilliant stylist (one of my favourite humans, @jeanneyangstyle). Needless to say, his look was one of the most fun ones to create. So to see him on almost all of the best-dressed lists is such a wonderful surprise but one that makes sense to me. You see, I believe that confidence, truly knowing yourself, not desperately needing validation and, most importantly, empathy, kindness, and grace make a person sexy and fully complete, and Taika is that person. No wonder @ritaora and he are a powerhouse couple where love is their guiding light. I feel so fortunate and grateful that I got to interact with them separately and witness their magic together.

Even cooler was that my niece @vaidehui, who is my entire world, my universe and the love of my life, as y'all know, gave me a big thumbs up for the night and especially regarding Taika. I just found out that she, too, has been an admirer of his work and him in general. I mean, what more do I want 😆

Dear Taika, Thank you so much for the love, trust and levity. I am so grateful for the memories we created at the Met Gala. Here’s to more on and off the carpet."

xPG

Source: Prabal Gurung on instagram

[mrmxlemons]

Funeral Cake (1/5)

Art the Clown x gn!Reader / Original Character | AO3 Link

EXPLICIT 18+ ONLY, this is a black comedy but it will feature heavy content. I would recommend checking the tags more thoroughly in ao3 if you want a forewarning of future tags to avoid triggers/squicks. Warnings at the beginnings of the chapter are only for that specific chapter.

Chapter 1: Wash, Rinse, Repeat

summary: Sometimes the best way to handle murderous demon clowns is to not handle them at all.

warnings: gore and blood, magical lore elements, demon Art the Clown, stalking, implied murder, minor wound kissing, minor sickness

It was Halloween, and you were dressed up as a clown. Albeit a sad one.

The frown on your face was exaggerated with blue finger paint, a tear immortalized on your left cheek in the same shade. The ensemble was the cheapest you could find at Party City, complete with Pom-Poms and a jester hat that jingled with every motion.

Not your best work, but by far from your worst. It was, however, one of those investments that you had to wear all day just to break even how much you paid, which meant picking up your clothes from the laundromat in full makeup and costume.

You’d had to throw a couple of things back in to cycle for a few more minutes, somehow still not dry despite having gone through a total of three times now. It was quiet except for the tumble of clothes and the soft pop music crackling through the speakers from the local radio station. Outside you could hear the bus taking off, the sound overshadowed by the soft gurgles of the child staring at you from over it’s mother’s shoulder.

The baby didn’t seem deterred by your appearance in its ogling. There was still a minute left on the timer. Bored, you look back to the kid and muster your best silly face, feeling as though you owe it a performance for attentively watching you, only for the chubby cheeks to screw up before a wail came pouring out.

The mother turned and affixed you with a scalding stare for destroying the peace as she pat the child, cooing to calm it down. You had enough dignity to turn away, blushing under the waxy white painted across your cheeks.

Sheepishly you shuffled to the machine, hastily swiping out your socks and throwing them in the basket you’d lugged with. Should’ve just hung them up back at your apartment. Now you have to walk two blocks with a bag full of laundry dressed like a clown, feeling like a clown. Whatever.

The makeup hides the way you mope after being silently tongue lashed, but it doesn’t stop you from staring abashedly at your shoes as you jerk for the door. Even when you see another pair enter your vision, black and huge, you can’t manage to stop yourself. It’s too late.

You collide with someone, and it’s like running into a brick wall. You make a sound of fear and shock and nearly collapse, barely managing to stay on your feet. The person you run into is oddly silent. If it weren’t for the sound of the plastic garbage bag in their hand shifting you wouldn’t be sure if you touched someone else at all.

The jester hat was akimbo on your head, you righted it. Luckily nothing had spilled onto the floor, but the person you’d run into sported an expression of annoyance that rivaled the scorned mother. He was, however, ironically enough, also dressed like a clown—just a far more menacing, creepy, and fucked up looking one.

He was a lot more committed to the look, edging equal parts into sinister mime territory with a cap that finished where makeup couldn’t reach, and a suit that glimmered as though it were made of silk. If you weren’t standing close enough to see the grit of the threads appearing in the basic cross stitch you might’ve thought he was a professional.

Even the makeup was clean. The eyebrows were penciled in, thin and looping in a tall arch, and on the tip of the long prosthetic nose was a single black dot. All of the lines were starkly separated, strong cuts of black and white that framed the whites of dark, soulless eyes.

The heavy gaze pinned you in place. For all of your attempts of quickly leaving, getting out of dodge had seemingly completely escaped you in that moment. You felt weighted down by the heavy, oppressive stare and the snarl on tar-black lips. And the teeth—

You really, really didn’t want to have to think about the teeth. You really, really just wanted to get home.

The words tumble out of you. You’re not even sure where they came from. “Nice clown costume,” you say, “lot funnier than mine.”

You don’t find anything about his costume funny. Somehow you’re sure he can tell, with the way his eyebrows raise and lips start to slowly curl in a spine-chilling, too wide smile. His shoulder opens, and you can see the door behind him.

It feels like permission, and while you don’t necessarily need express permission from a complete stranger that you can leave, you feel better hastily sweeping past him with it.

You don’t look back.

Your cheeks are red. But you don’t look back, and you forget it all happened before the night is over.

—

You head back to the laundromat three days later. You’d gone out Halloween night and lost your hat, spilled a drink down the back of your shifty Halloween costume. So much for returning it.

Figured you’d at least try and wash it out before throwing it in the donation bin. But the laundromat was closed, there was caution tape all around the front door and the inside had been torn up. Weird, it hadn’t looked like it was about to undergo construction when you’d been there, what, less than a week ago?

You also didn’t remember the tiles being red, but you also had a really shit memory these days.

The nearest laundromat is another ten minute walk in the opposite direction. Not ideal but you’re already out, so you resign your fate and start making your way there.

The place is actually cheaper than your old mat of choice, but only by twenty five cents. And it’s completely empty. You push the change in and wait until the clothes start tumbling before you head for outside. Might go get a pack from the corner Bodega. Might just get some candy. You should really, really quit smoking.

You don’t make it to the door, and thankfully you don’t run into him like last time. You’re not sure your stomach could’ve handled it.

He stands in the doorway steadily dripping a thick, miasmas liquid that was so dark and pungent you nearly mistook it for something else entirely. Something that wasn’t very clearly blood.

The smell was unmistakable. You could taste it in the back of your throat—the tang of iron rolling gently down your esophagus until you choked on it.

And there is—there is so, so much of it. An ungodly amount. The black and white suit that you had only glimpsed before shines a bright and lurid red, staining the front and up the side in a wide gash. An arc. You almost forget if he had truly ever been a black and white thing, or if you had somehow missed this when you’d run into him the other day.

You hadn’t. You would’ve noticed this. Red splatter on his cheek, turning his hands a muddy brown. You wouldn’t have been able to run away from the smell without noticing, wouldn’t have been able to forget such a distinct, awful smile.

You hadn’t forgotten about running into him, no matter how hard you’d tried. He hadn’t done anything besides weird you out, but it was Halloween. Weird shit happened on Halloween. You chalked it down as that and got plastered, pushing him from your mind (even though he kept swinging back, a steady pendulum of obsession).

And he appears in front of you so suddenly, so starkly, that you almost wonder if you’d somehow summoned him. As though he was a figment of your imagination, a manifestation of your paranoia drenched in all the gory possibilities of what hid behind that horrifyingly exaggerated expression.

Panic courses through you like lightning, but instead of pushing you away it pushes you towards. Your feet move until you are right in front of him, hand outstretching.

“That’s a lot of blood, man.” Your voice is quiet when you ask, almost besides yourself, “Are you alright?”

You reach out against your better judgement, against any judgement, and touch a particularly deep bruising of crimson on the white costume. It looks clotted, and it doesn’t occur to you until the tacky, cold red touches your fingertips that all of this blood might not actually be his.

The realization makes you freeze. The sheer amount of blood on him would be enough to make any grown man go into shock, if it was, in fact, his blood. Yet here he stands, unshaken, with quiet and even breaths that make your own rapidly speeding heart rate feel like a drum in your ears.

Your eyes flicker up. The point of contact between you harrows at the hooded, knowing stare the clown gives you, the grotesque menagerie of black and white twisting into an inhuman smile with too-dark gums. His eyes are black, eclipsed of their humanity as they pin you into place, dead and starless. A void that rivals the night.

You stifle the urge to run as you withdraw your hand. Somehow you know as you look at him that if you turn and high tail it you’re going to enact a chain of events with consequences you’re not ready to consider. Set yourself up to be the perfect unwilling prey to a waiting, hungry hunter.

“Are you hurt?” More words spoken out of thin air, these far enough that you wouldn’t be sure you said them if the other party wasn’t mute.

The dead smile falls into a considering look, the eyebrows furrowing as if to say, do you think I’m hurt?

You know he’s not. You’re shocked when he nods his head in ascent that he is.

‘Liar’ sits on your tongue. Instead you ask him where, waiting on baited breath in and out of your mouth when he raises a single, bloodied finger.

It’s almost funny. No—it is funny, and you laugh. Just a little bit. Not enough to be mocking, but enough to show that hey, you get it. You get the joke.

Beneath a layer of dirt and grime on the very tip of one of his fingers is a small cut, barely big enough to qualify as a paper cut. When he holds it up there is blood beading along the seem, welling and waiting to get enough viscosity to pour down his finger. Become another inconsequential marking on the canvas of horror that is the rest of him.

The implication is nauseating. If that is truly the only place he is hurt then the rest of the enormous amount of blood painting him really isn’t his, and that warrants so much more concern than you’re willing to offer. Willing to consider.

“Does it hurt?” He doesn’t give you a response, he just pokes his finger up again, pouting in a way that reminds you of the clown face you’d worn no less than a couple of days before. “What, do you want me to kiss it better?”

You try to swallow the sick feeling even as you ask. Maybe you shouldn’t have, because the clown’s face splits into an enormous grin, surprised but happy, and then he nods.

Of course he doesn’t know what a rhetorical question is. But also, of course you aren’t going to be the one to tell him. If he wants you to kiss his finger you’re very damn well going to do it.

You look at his finger again. Gross doesn’t even begin to describe it. There is a definite red-brownish hue to the skin that looks too deeply caked on to be anything less than revolting, and a stain of similarly haunting color clings to the palm of his gloves.

Apprehension swirls in your tightening chest. You feel as though you are toeing a very precarious line between playful and something else by making him wait, but you can’t help but stare at your fate and wonder if there’s some other way.

You force steel into your spine and, without thinking more of it, you take his hand and press a firm, solid kiss to the cut. You can feel his blood and whatever else smearing across your lip, and before you can stop your tongue’s reaction it flickers out and catches the rest.

It tastes like rust, and rot.

Regret is the acid rearing in the back of your throat. You can hardly muster the ability to keep yourself from gagging as your face screws up in disgust. “All better?”

You can’t hide the expression from him, as hard as you might try to. Thankfully he seems positively tickled by the way you play along, his shoulders shaking and mouth falling open in silent glee.

The clown nods enthusiastically. You mimic the nod in a much less enthusiastic manner. Fuck quitting smoking, you really needed a cigarette now.

“Well, I’m just going to—to go around the corner, get a sandwich and some cigarettes.” You clear your throat, hiding the urge to gag. “Do you want anything?”

You don’t expect an answer, you only ask so that you can sidle past him without cause for alarm. The clown let’s you, though the cheerful countenance withers as he watches you curb around him.

Something painfully snags at your leg, the sound of plastic shifting pulling your eyes down to the large trash bag plopped nonchalantly at the clown’s side. Somehow you hadn’t noticed it before but now that you look you cannot unsee all the possibilities it’s presence infers.

Blood rolls off the large black boots and onto the linoleum floor. You can’t imagine why a clown would be carrying around a plastic bag brimming with things that poke sharply and rattle eerily when moved, and, to be frank, you don’t want to know whys or whats. You don’t want to know what’s in the bag or what caught on your pants.

You tug yourself free, unable to hide the terror lancing up through your tensed shoulders and stiff neck. Why would a clown covered in blood carry such a mysterious bag of things that poke and prod in the most painful way? Better not to know.

You hope, at least, that the acquiescence shines through your eyes. The clown tilts his head, the amusement slipping for a slippery and prying emotion you can’t pinpoint, but you can feel it trying to pin you in place.

“I’ll be back.” You say.

The pencil-thin eyebrows pinch together, the eyes glinting sharply. You’d better, they respond.

You walk past him, but it’s a farce. You’re not escaping. He’s letting you get away.

Why is he letting you get away?

He knows that you’re aware of what he’s done. Even if you managed to keep your cool well enough not to break down in front of him there is no way he couldn’t detect the apprehension rolling off of you. The pure, rancid fear.

You feel like a ghost, his eyes hollowing you out from behind until you’re out of sight. Then you’re leaning on the nearest brick wall, knees shaking so badly you nearly cave to the ground.

It takes every ounce of strength in you not to break down right there, to not start sprinting in any direction and never look back. To get the fuck away—wherever that may be. But even the minimal distance you’ve put between yourself and the clown brings no relief, and miles would do no different. Because the fact remains that you haven’t gotten away.

You have to go back. There’s no choice. If you don’t go back to him he’ll come to you, and with him entails an entirely new set of rules to abide by. Rules that he sets.

Rules to live by. Rules to die by.

You don’t walk to the closest station, even though you know it’s less than two blocks away. You don’t try and dial the police. You definitely don’t look behind you.

Somehow you’re sure that if you change the course of your actions because of him then he will suddenly become real. Right now he is just something you’re encountering, but the moment he enters your world, the moment you let this shift from a chance meeting to a confrontation, is the moment you go under the knife.

Fuck, this is so fucked. You couldn’t even think of eating a sandwich anymore. How long did you have before you had to get back to the laundromat? How long before he’d come looking for you?

A part of you fantasizes about this being something you’ve deluded yourself into thinking is real; the clown is really just a harmless, if a bit creepy man that doesn’t see a reason leaving Halloween to be the only day to dress up. Who knows, he could be a professional clown.

Its the same part of you that fantasizes telling the lady at the counter what you’ve seen. ‘There’s a clown covered in blood at Al’s Laundromat, he’s got a bag of tricks and I don’t think it’s the fun kind. Yeah, Al’s, right down the road.’

You ask for cigarettes instead, the long ones. It’s a lot easier to say that, a lot less words. Besides, you know he’s expecting you. You know what will happen if you don’t show up.

Your hands tremble as you light the tip against the struggling wind and make your way back to the laundromat. You want the life of the cigarette to be lackadaisical, to last you longer than the walk back to the laundromat, but you chase the buzz with quick steps. Antsy to get back.

Not eager. You don’t want to go back, but you don’t want to keep him waiting. It makes the buzz fade quicker than you’d like, the numbness slipping through your fingers before it can fully set into your spine.

You can see the sign of the laundromat gleaming in the sun, dim and dusty and likely filled with mosquitoes. People were walking by the murky panes of glass. None of them looked in. You almost prayed they would, just so you wouldn’t have to go inside. Likely they’d be better people than you and call the cops after seeing a murderer drenched in blood sitting inside, but who knows these days.

The panic trapped in the rib-woven confinement of your chest doesn’t ease as you take the final drags of your cig. The moment you’re in the line of sight you feel the eyes back on you, and it makes the end almost burn brighter, as if the cigarette is also too impatient to wait for you to return to the clown.

“The fuck has my life come to,” you grumble, stepping on the lit butt until it dithers out.

When you look up he is, of course, staring straight through you. You wave pathetically as if to affirm ‘hey, I’m back. Just like I promised!’ but the clown doesn’t look like he feels any particular way about it. In fact, his gaze is cold enough to make your stomach curdle, the hot ball of anticipation inside your gut hardening into the choking weight of fear.

Your fingers are slick with sweat as they press on the door. The clown is sitting in a chair conveniently close to where your outfit is still tumbling away in the dryer, and leading to him is a grossly vibrant trail of blood in the shape of comically large footprints

His expression doesn’t change as you drag you feet over to where he’s lounging, the black trash bag lopsided at his feet. Decay drips off him and onto the plastic seats, pooling in the curved bottom before dripping down the backs.

You change the clothes from the washer to the dryer. Thirty five minutes. How the fuck are you supposed to survive thirty five minutes with this guy?

If you sit right next to him you’ll get a proper whiff of his sins, if you sit too far maybe it’ll be your blood spilling on the floor. Not great options either way. Maybe it’s better to butter him up, though it’s hard to tell which he wants with the way he’s staring at you like he wants to skin you.

You choose what you think is the lesser of two evils and sit next to him, casual. You try not to let the look he levels you with steal your voice, not with the way his brown gunk-covered fingers tap impatiently on his thigh. Waiting for something to happen. Waiting for you to step over the line so he can do something.

The time left on your machine reads thirty two minutes. Fine.

“You got a name?” You ask after looking back at him.

He bats his eyelashes playfully, why, little ol’ me? The expression warms up as you enter the arena of the game again, his game, watching as he digs through the bag before pulling out a square piece of paper.

It’s a business card. Your breath stops in your chest when, for a moment, you wonder if you really had read this whole thing wrong—was he just a really convincing mime that you’d happened to run into twice, eager to share his business?

The thought is short lived. When you take the card you can see the printed text is scratched out sloppily with a crayon. In the margins is the scratch of sloppy, childish writing:

“Art the Clown,” you read out loud, voice quiet.

Art folds his hands in front of himself and presses them under his chin, once more batting his eyelashes at you as though to say, guilty as charged.

It’s a mockery of sweetness, especially with such disgusting yellow teeth baring themselves at you like a shark. At least he doesn’t seem angry anymore.

You hand the card back to him, careful not to touch where the blood soaks through his gloves, before sitting down next to him. You try not to make it too obvious that you’re sitting as far from him as possible on the seat, but Art seems completely unaware of personal space as he leans in, thigh touching yours.

Wetness seeps through the place of contact. Iron is rich and burning in your nose.

You dig through your pockets and start talking as soon as you have four quarters in your palm. “Well, Art—if I were you, I’d wash that. Otherwise all the red is going to stain.”

You place the quarters into his palm, lean back in your seat, and close your eyes. You’ve got thirty more minutes, might as well try and fit a nap in. It’s not like anyone is going to bother you while Art is here, though that thought doesn’t bring you much comfort.

You count backwards from ten, breathing out of your mouth, and try to let the vibrations of the machines lull you to sleep.

[phosphorus-noodles]

Hi everyone!!

Lots of people asked for the pattern I used for my Joel and Lizzie dolls, but due to my mental unwellness, my "pattern" was actually a chaotic blend of multiple patterns, as well as my own spontaneity.

Nonetheless, I am going to attempt to explain the method to my madness in this post! (Fair warning, it will get long.)

(If you actually want to try to recreate this please PLEASE reach out to me!!! I can go into way more detail and do diagrams and whatnot if you really wanna see the full idea!!!)

I'm gonna do my best to divide this up into sections based on how I made them, but because I modified a lot of things and Joel and Lizzie are clearly not the same, it may get a little muddled along the way, but here goes!

The Bodies

First thing's first, this is the link to the tutorial I used for the basic body shape. Super great video, easy to understand, fantastic starting point for any doll!! :D

For Joel, I followed the tutorial pretty exactly, minus that middle seam for a belt. I changed colors for the boots, pants, and coat and kept all the measurements the same.

For Lizzie, I modified her pattern to be a little bit bigger bc haha funny tall wife. On parts of the pattern where the stitch count stayed the same, I added a few more rows to make them longer. I added 4 rows to the legs, 3 rows to the chest, and two rows to the arms.

Like this!

listen I had to visualize it somehow-

I also did a gradient for Lizzie's arms/legs/tail! Here is the video I used to figure out how to do it (I don't have the measurements for where I changed colors I'm sorry I'm goofy </3)

Also, here is a link to a post where I half-heartedly liveblogged the early stages of making them. You can kinda get a rough idea of where I changed colors for different parts of their outfits, etc. but I only got two steps, really- oops.

The Clothes

Now, this is the part where I documented virtually nothing, but honestly, it still turned out just fine!

For Joel, I made boot and sleeve cuffs by just single crocheting a chain to fit around his arm/leg and adding a couple of sc (single crochet) rows. Then I sewed the ends together with a long yarn tail, used thinner gold yarn to add some detailing (look up backstitching! it works really well!!), and sewed the edges on.

His coat ends were made in the same way, but bigger, and instead of sewing the edges fully together, I only connected the top stitches when I was attaching it. And because I'm a messy sewer, I easily hid the seam with a black sc-chain belt :)

The gold details of his coat is also a sc-chain just sewed on. The edges at the bottom... were sorta a sc-hemming type deal-? I don't know, I winged it and I don't like how it turned out </3

The shoulder pads I actually can tell you! It's 5 sc in a magic circle, sc around, and then I picot stitched around in each stitch. Then I tied off a long tail and sewed it onto the top of the arms before I attached them. The badge/flower is the same pattern, but without the sc round in between the mc and the picots.

The sash was a little wonky doing it as a full loop the whole time, so it was basically a long rectangle and when I was attaching the ends together I did it under the shoulder things so it wouldn't be bulky and ugly on top. I think it's decently easy to understand from the pictures in the original post, but if not lmk! (if any of this is coming across at all then bless you tbh.)

The collar is just two rectangles I sewed side by side, they don't continue to the back at all bc they were ugly /lh

And this is the tutorial I used for the crown! I threaded a little piece of green yarn through to make the jewel and tied a knot in the back :)

For Lizzie, I literally made the skirt up as I went along, but it was roughly based on this video. I started with a sc chain to get the right size, then made it a rectangle for a couple of rows (maybe like four?) before joining it together. (That way, I could make the skirt separately and still be able to get it back on her when I was done without being too tight!)

At some point, I picked a stitch as my "center point" and started going back and forth from about that point instead of completing the full circle, doing half double crochets close to it, then double crochets, then triple crochets, then back to dc and hdc as I got close to it again. I think I did about 6-8 for each stitch type section? The GOAL was to make the skirt's hem asymmetrical, which worked, but it's hard to explain bc I literally made it up.

Then I made another sc chain for the belt thing after I attached it :)

The top detailing is also a sc chain, but with some joined yarn above the arms for extra color. There's also bits of yarn that are supposed to be straps, but you can't really see them in any of the pictures, so that's optional rip.

For the frilly hem, I joined the yarn at the "center point" and basically just worked around the whole hem repeating (1 dc, 2dc inc) to make it all wavy and fun!

The Hair

The pattern I based the hair off of was from this kpop star doll that I was originally going to base my entire Joel doll off of.

The difference is I changed the lengths of the strands (I did it based off looks, so all of them are slightly different in length to look more natural) and also color changed the very front few strands of Joel's hair to be green. I also put two strands in a few of the back stitches instead of just one so they completely covered the back of the head (so there are 15-16 strands instead of 14.)

To attach the hair, I used pins to mark out where I wanted to place each strand. Here's a quick progress shot I sent to my friends:

Now, I wasn't smart, and used long pieces of thread from tying off the "hair mop" to sew all the strands onto the head individually. It took forever and make it kinda messy in the back because of weird overlapping. If I could redo it now, I'd use fabric glue or something to glue each strand so it lays flat, although if you don't have it or want to avoid the potential mess, sewing it does in fact work just fine.

Extra Bits (mostly for Lizzie)

Lizzie's tail is more or less the same as her arm, but it starts thinner and goes for longer at the end. For the frilly edge, I remember using a crochet beta fish fin design, but I can't for the life of me find it in my history now?? But it was essentially joining the yarn a few stitches from the point and crocheting (hdc, dc 2x, tr, dc 2x, hdc, dc 2x, tr) and mirroring it on the other side so it looked like this:

Here's a closer view of both the tail and the skirt's hem.

Lizzie's fins were made by making a magic circle, chaining 4 and sc-ing back, and slip stitching back into the circle three times to make the three points. Then I joined onto one point with the lighter color and sc-ed along to the other point to make it more detailed.

Here's a cursed image I sent to my friends of bald Lizzie and her fins.

Lizzie's space buns were a fever dream to me because I made them at 1 am, but I did something that looks similar to this puff stitch flower with only three "petals." I attached it to the head and then used a short chain of another color to add some color and detail.

Here's a view of a bun from the top.

---

I think that's just about it! If I missed anything or want to know how I did something better, please please PLEASE reach out to me!!

I'd love to go into more depth on things, but I predict this post will top off at 5 notes so I don't really want to spend hours explaining something that'll go completely unseen /lh

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the inner workings of my brain! Feel free to share and tag me in anything if you decide to try to do this yourself.

Cheers!! <3

[sunshinebingo]

The Princess and the Knight

Chapter 11

A/N: This is the final chapter 🤭 Thank you so much for all the likes, reblogs and comments. Thank you for just reading this fic. I hope you enjoyed the journey and…yup…thank you (sorry I’m feeling a little shy rn) As always, a special mention to @headcanonheadcase and @shadowsxgwynriel. @trashforazriel this is for you too bb 😉❤️

Synopsis: The Princess and the Knight dance at the Autumn Equinox Ball before ending the night together.

Word Count: 2.3k

Warning: NSFW!!

Read the previous chapter here

Read the bonus chapter here

Read on Ao3 here

The honour of your presence is requested at the AUTUMN EQUINOX BALL to celebrate the coming of the new season with Her Majesty THE QUEEN and the Royal Family. The festivities will take place at the ROYAL CASTLE in the Capital of Sangravah on the 20th of September and will begin at sunset.

Sincerely,

Her Majesty, the Queen of Sangravah

……

Every new season brought with them new beginnings. Autumn, with its dying trees and cooling weather, was the time to let go of certain things in order to focus on what really matters. Autumn required one to trust the change. It promised that better days would eventually come. But the princess trusted her knight more than she trusted the season. That is why she devoted all her attention to him and only him, instead of everyone else in the ballroom.

They had both been nervous about making their first public appearance as a couple at such an event. Especially Azriel. But everything had gone better than both could have imagined. Perhaps the others had heard of the last one who had tested the princess and did not want to end up like him. Not that she would sentence anyone to the dungeons for not approving of her choice to be with a knight. Frankly she did not care at all. And neither did Azriel.

He had been awestruck when she had descended to stairs to meet him in the grand foyer earlier. Dressed in a big gown of deep emerald, Gwyneth looked every bit the queen that she was in line to be. Her dress was dusted in golden sparkles, with more gold embroidery along her cleavage that were a perfect match to those on Azriel’s black suit. The diamonds of her crown reflected every candle and fairy light in the room, making them shine even more than they already did on their own.

‘’You are a very good dancer,’’ Gwyn said in surprise as Azriel guided her through the dance on expert feet.

‘’Did you doubt that I was?’’ he asked with a teasing grin. They separated for a moment so he could twirl her around several times as they rounded the tree in the middle of the dance floor.

It had taken a while to put the giant tree there, but the efforts of the staff and decorators were worth it. It looked magical with its twisted branches that were close to touching the high ceiling. The fake leaves that it was filled with looked as real as the ones on the various trees outside the castle that were starting to change colour. Fairy lights were placed all around the trunk and branches to illuminate the dance floor and shine down on all those who had come to enjoy themselves tonight. Candles and chandeliers burned bright along the walls to further illuminate the rest of the room. More candles were placed on the elegantly decorated tables along with dried leaves and flowers in the colours of autumn.

The Queen herself had insisted that the whole castle must be turned into an autumn wonderland for the occasion. Knowing the Queen’s love for her balls, many of the guests had even come dressed in the new season’s colours.

‘’Is there any secret talent of yours that I should know of?’’ Gwyn asked her lover when they met again.

‘’There is,’’ he smiled down at her. ‘’But it’s best enjoyed in private,’’ he added. The blush that started to spread on her cheeks was brighter than the makeup she had there.

‘’That must be a bad talent if you don’t want anyone to see it,’’ she said in an attempt to subdue the heat rising inside her. To her delight, Azriel snorted which caused them both to start laughing. Even through their laughter, Gwyn noticed her mother and her aunt smiling at her as she and Azriel swirled past them. But she could not bring herself to look away from him.

‘’If I am not mistaken Gwyneth,’’ he brought his mouth close to her ear before he continued, ‘’You seem to enjoy my talents when we’re alone.’’ He pulled away just enough so that their noses were only inches apart.

‘’Maybe you could show me more so I can judge better.’’ Even through their clothes, she could feel his heart beat matching her own racing one where her breasts were pressed against his chest.

‘’I will,’’ he promised and sealed it with a kiss on the tip of her nose.

Gwyn rested her head on his heart. And when she moved her hands to place them around his neck, Azriel brought his own hands around her waist. The rest of the dance passed with them lost in each other. More people joined the dance, even her aunt had come to dance accompanied by the Count of Day. The music changed several times. But the princess and the knight danced mostly danced to the beatings of their own hearts.

‘’Azriel,’’ she looked up at him after a while. He looked down at her, matching her bright smile with one of his own. ‘’My Azriel.’’ She brought her lips close to his but did not move further. ‘’My knight in shining armour.’’

‘’Would you prefer if I was a prince instead?’’ he asked, brushing his nose with hers.

‘’I don’t want a prince,’’ Gwyn shook her head, the loose curls that framed her face swaying with the movement. ‘’I want a knight who will make my enemies bleed before carrying me into the sunset and fuck me until sunrise,’’ she added in a dramatic way yet low enough so that no one but him would hear her talk like this.

Azriel was unable to contain his laugh at her statement. Although he was used to it, her ability to say the most ridiculous things with so much seriousness always amused him.

‘’Well princess,’’ he said as he brought their bodies impossibly closer. ‘’I don’t believe there is anyone who deserves to bleed tonight.’’

‘’But?’’ she raised an eyebrow at him, knowing well that his thoughts were going exactly where hers already were.

‘’But I did promise to show you more of my hidden talents.’’

The grin that spread on Gwyneth’s face was positively devious. One second, they started swirling again among the dancers, and the next, as soon as they neared the closest exit to the dance floor, she was pulling on his arm to drag him away from the party. Azriel ignored all his fellow knights and guards that were on duty around the castle as he followed Gwyneth with a hand interlaced in hers. It did not take long before they reached her quarters and pushed the door to her bedroom open.

Unlike the rest of the castle which was bathed in autumn colours, this room still had an air of summer to it. The light blues and golden tones brought an additional warmth to her bedroom along with the lit fireplace.

As soon as the door was shut, Gwyn was in Azriel’s arms again, her hands tangled in his hair and her mouth exploring his. His own hands were already starting to undo the laces at the back of her dress. Her crown was quickly removed, more curls escaping from her updo in the process, and thrown on the small table next to the door. A few strong tugs and the laces were lose enough that the dress pooled at her feet. Gwyn stepped out of her dress and shoes and jumped in his arms, feeling his hardness already pressing against her centre.

Their lips remained locked as she removed his jacket and started to unbutton the black shirt underneath. He carried her until they reached the edge of the bed. When he was finally rid of the shirt, he lowered her on the mattress. Gwyn arched her back when he started trailing kisses down her neck. The stings from his small bites made her dig her nails into his back.

A loud moan escaped her when his lips closed around her peaked nipple. More whimpers and moans followed when he slightly bit her there too and continued playing with her breast with his mouth and teeth. He grabbed the other one in his hand and gave it just as much attention.

Meanwhile his other hand found it’s way lower until he reached her soaked underwear. He quickly pulled it off and threw it across the room. There was an urgency in his moves that made Gwyn almost tremble in anticipation. She lowered her hand and started to feel him through his pants.

She had had her hands on him countless time before. Yet it always felt as good as it did when she first did it. It was even better now that they both knew exactly what to do to send the other tumbling over the edge.

‘’Az,’’ she whined at the loss of contact when he started to pull away from her. He brought his mouth to her ear.

‘’Get on you knees for me Gwyneth,’’ he said and bit her earlobe. She did as he said, turning around to kneel before him on the bed. He smirked at the sight of the wet spot that had already appeared on the sheet where she was lying seconds before.

Gwyn turned her face around and looked at him with pleading eyes. She needed him to do something. Anything. Her breathing turned harder when he started to get rid of his pants. His eyes remained fixed on hers the whole time and she almost drooled when he finally stood fully naked behind her.

Azriel moved closer to her. He licked his lips and Gwyn felt herself getting even wetter when he started lowering his mouth right where she needed him. He winked at her before he parted her folds with his tongue. He inserted a finger inside her while his tongue kept swirling at her entrance.

Her moans turned so loud that the guards posted beneath her balcony were probably aware of what they were doing. Azriel put another finger inside, moving them in and out of her until her wetness was running down her leg. He would never get enough of this; seeing her like this, dripping for him and moaning his name like he was a god she was praying to. The heat inside her was enough to almost undo him.

Fortunately for his painfully hard cock, Gwyn was close. He curled his fingers inside her, hitting a spot he knew would make her forget everything but his name. His teeth sank into the soft skin of her backside. It did not take much longer before she shattered and came around his fingers. He removed his hand instead of waiting for her to come down as he usually did. And Gwyn understood why a second later when something much bigger pushed inside her.

The sudden feeling of his cock filling her and his mouth coming down to kiss her neck and shoulders was enough to immediately bring the heat inside her to new heights. She fisted the sheets while his hands held tightly onto her waist. The way his name sounded coming out of her lips urged him to go faster and harder. When he was moments away from spilling himself inside her, Azriel moved one hand down in front of her. He started to leave a trail of small love bites down her back while his hand circled her clit. He kept thrusting inside her, each push and pull bringing both of them closer to the edge.

Gwyn placed a hand over the one he had between her legs. She tried to speak, to beg him to make her come again yet nothing but whimpers came out. But he knew what she needed. He pressed his hand harder against her clit. A few more thrust was all it took before Gwyn was arching her back and coming hard. Azriel followed right after feeling her walls tightening around him. He bit his bottom lip so hard that he almost drew blood.

Soon, they both collapsed onto the bed. Azriel moved to the side and lied next to her. They both looked at the clouds painted on the ceiling while trying to regain control over their heavy breathing. But the room did not remain silent for long. The sound of their pants was soon replaced by Gwyn’s laugh. Azriel moved his head to the side and watched as she laughed with her eyes close. Her hair was a mess and her makeup was a little smudged. She was stunning.

‘’What is it?’’ he asked when she stopped.

She looked at him then and moved closer. She placed a kiss on his neck before nuzzling her face there. ‘’I love you,’’ she said barely above a whisper.

Azriel wrapped her tightly in his arms and rested his head on hers. ‘’I love you too.’’

She remained like this, wrapped in his warmth, while Azriel started to remove all the pins from her hair. Once it was loose, he ran his hands through the silky strands. He curled them around his fingers and watched how the light from the fireplace turned the copper even brighter.

“Az?’’ She lifted herself up to look at him. Gwyn traced the tattoos on his chest with a finger while he kept playing with her hair. He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to keep talking. She replaced her hand with her lips by placing soft kisses across his chest as her hand swirled lower and lower. She hummed in approval at the way his body was reacting to her touch.

‘’You still want me to fuck you until sunrise?’’ he asked when she wrapped her hand around his already hard cock. Gwyn smiled. How could she not say yes to that.

And they lived happily ever after. The End!

[the-ace-with-spades]

Charlie's Master List

incomplete because I'm a mess

My AO3: charlie_mou

All my original posts are under the tag of #op

All my writing (fics/fic ideas/prompts/etc) are under the tag #charlie writes

Fandom-specific master lists under the cut

All my fic ideas/prompts for all fandoms are for grabs! Please if you like one and want to write a fic/do anything else based on it, do it!

every link in this list leads either to my tagged posts or to my ao3

Fandoms I'm currently interested in:

Top Gun & Top Gun: Maverick

9-1-1

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (original + reboot series)

Fandoms I have a slight interest in (mostly fandoms I used to be in):

Merlin (merthur, Merlin-centric stuff)

Strangers Things (harringrove, steddie, Steve&Robin, Steve-centric stuff)

One Piece (marcoace, lawlu, zosan, Sanji-centric stuff)

Harry Potter (drarry, wolfstar, grammander, Remus-centric stuff)

The Raven Cycle (pynch, bluesey, Adam Parrish-centric stuff)

MCU and Marvel Comics (under one tag - #MCU; stony, spideypool, Hawkey or Spidey-centric stuff)

DC Comics (comics and cartoons mostly, I don't like the TV shows; Wally- or Barry-centric)

Alex Rider (Alex-centric, yalex)

Detroit: Become Human (hannor)

Supernatural

Pacific Rim

Law&Order and Law&Order: SVU

(tumblr doesn't allow me to post so many links in one post so I've separated a couple of fandoms off)

📃✨ List of Works-In-Progress I'm still intending to write/actively writing

✈️ Top Gun & Top Gun: Maverick Master List

🚒 9-1-1 Fox ABC Master List

🔪Call of Duty Mini Master List (TBA)

Other AO3 fics (most are very old):

❌- unfinished

fire of the name - soulmates AU marcoace - One Piece

future of the name ❌ - soulmates AU lawlu + Strawhat Crew - One Piece

close your eyes and do the countdown - marcoace, narcopletic Ace One Piece

(fire) my one desire - marcoace, they sleep with each other before Ace joins the crew - One Piece

think once, feel twice - marcoace, soulmates AU, Ace has issues - One Piece

no such thing as a stupid question - marcoace proposal - One Piece

I could be your baby tonight - marcoace age difference 5+1 - One Piece

mark your memory ❌ - marcoace soulmates AU - One Piece

borrow or lend (for a second or for a life) ❌ - marcoace soulmates AU - One Piece

the best is yet to be - 5+1 pynch being basically married - The Raven Cycle

using your dark magic on me ❌ - pynch Harry Potter AU with werewolf Adam - The Raven Cycle

lord knows how hard we tried ❌ - pynch parents AU with kidnapped baby - The Raven Cycle

shout (let it all out) - Adam in skirts, pynch - The Raven Cycle

face the music ❌ - harringrove, deaf!Steve - Stranger Thing

yes, I'm back (in black) ❌ - harringrove, metalhead!Steve - Stranger Things

holding a torch (or a lantern) - halbarry, female Barry - I wrote this when I was sixteen, it's bad - DC Comics

Other blog tags:

#resources, #trans topics, #interiors, #fic recs, #cow posts

[shearlin]

Word count: 3197

Chapter 5: Hyrule

First || << Previous || Next >>

I have no brain power for a commentary this time

There is some blood and near death senario at the beggining of the chapter, but nothing too graphic and everyone is fine!

Legend supposed that at this point in his life he should expect to be ambushed at any moment, but somehow, the group of monsters still managed to surprise him and Hyrule, when they were on their way back from the scouting mission. And they were so close to the agreed meeting spot too. Maybe if they make enough of a commotion the other heroes would hear them? Assuming anyone was back already.

The two of them got into a familiar battle stance, back to back, making sure they won’t get separated and vulnerable among the small horde that descended upon them. Legend braced his Mirror Shield bouncing off the upcoming attacks while the traveller behind him did his best to do the same with his shield. Legend knew that Hyrule felt much more comfortable dodging the attacks than blocking them, but as they were, dodging meant giving the monster before them an opportunity to strike the other from behind. It was not an option. Gritting his teeth the veteran slashed monsters in front of him trying to give himself enough room to breathe. Those bastards were pressing on with reckless abandon, pushing each other straight on the heroes’ blades in hopes it would make it harder for them to maneuver. And it worked annoyingly well.

“Duck!” he heard a yell and within a heartbeat Legend dropped to the ground as Hyrule murmured his favourite word of power ignited his Magical Sword and casted around a ring of fireballs when he performed a spin attack. The back of Legend hat might have gotten singed in the process, but he wasn’t about to complain when the fire blast got rid of a substantial amount of enemies.

Not all of them, unfortunately, as remaining monsters circled them, keeping their distance, weary of any more fire. Smart, considering that Hyrule’s sword was still aflamed and he continued to swing it, sending a ball of fire towards any monster brave (or stupid) enough to try their chances.

With more room and less enemies, the situation became manageable. The only reason they were still waiting and not attacking was because they wanted to use this pause to properly assess the situation and catch a moment of rest after the ungodly rush from a couple seconds ago. Not that the monsters were eager to continue the fight either. Those remaining had a black blood oozing out of the various cuts and slashes the heroes managed to land on them and looked like they were ready to bolt into the woods, now that the advantage of surprise was gone.

Things were turning in heroes’ favour. 

Which meant that it was the exact moment things went south.

Again, why am I even surprised?

Read the rest on Ao3!