#But due to the decisions that have already been made in canon I doubt it will do much to my opinions

[thatonefandomjumper]

Mentally ill about Valdangelo again.

What the fuck is wrong with them why are they like that they won’t leave my brain.

Anyway, I think my problems would go away if they just kissed. 

[phantomyre]

Do you think that the devs/writers are going to be leaning more into the “Vincent is the father” theory? The way how he talks about Sephiroth in rebirth is very peculiar and also how an ashamed father would talk. Personally I hope not for many reasons.

Also when Vincent claims that he had many opportunities to purge Sephiroth from the world but he couldn’t pull the trigger, that implies that he died after Sephiroth was born and not before. Of course this could be to do with the fact that he simply doesn’t want to kill a child and or the son of his love, but it’s still weird non the less.

Unless they choose to retcon already established lore, they will not go that route. It adds nothing to Vincent's character, as much as some people want to make it seem it would and here's why.

Vincent being the father and him just sitting back and letting things happen would make him to be worse than Lucrecia and Hojo, turning him into a coward and a complete asshole. This would also vindicate Hojo completely and make Vincent to be the worse villain, not Hojo. People always like to point to their looks but Tifa and Elena use the same model with some tweeking, and no one says they're related. Or how Naio clearly has Tifa's model as well. Whether people like to admit it or not, these are anime designs, they do shortcut their work, and models get reused all the time. However, the one reason why they may have made the decision to have them both look similar may be due to the fact that originally, Sephiroth and Vincent were originally one and the same person. The main villain had white hair, a tall standing collar, and a headband. Either people are not aware of these things or they are stretching a concept that doesn't have any true solid foundation.

Aside from that, Vincent's connection to Sephiroth had always been weak, and there was little motivation for him to pursue Sephiroth in OG. His focus was always Hojo, and his penance was always too extreme in the eyes of fans. He was this sad little man that was just all woe-is-me for a sin that didn't justify his punishment. Lucrecia was always the one pointed at as the least forgivable. And rightly so. At the time, Vincent's only sin was following orders as a Turk and not overstepping his bounds to prevent the experiment. But that was hardly a reason for him to bainish himself to eternal nightmares. Until Rebirth.

Vincent's connection to Sephiroth finally holds more weight in that Vincent idly stood by while innocent lives were being cut off by Sephiroth. He likely knew enough about the nature of the experiment and that the purpose was to create a dangerous being, and then for years on end, still chose to passively allow Sephiroth create carnage. This alone makes Vincent an accomplice of Shinra's evils. While it isn't clearly stated in DoC, the Ultimania mentions that Sephiroth was already a toddler by the time Vincent decided to approach Hojo. So if that still remains canon, Vincent likely saw Sephiroth's early stages of cruelty as a child.

All of this adds plenty of reasons for Vincent to have a strong feeling towards taking Sephiroth down, yet still hesitating because he is the son of Lucrecia. Him being the father doesn't add anything important to him. As a matter of fact, it hinders his character. One of the many reasons why Vincent is so loved is due to his unselfish personality.

In OG, Vincent harbored doubts about Hojo, but his hatred wasn't that deep yet. In the Ultimania, Vincent counted Hojo's experiments on him justified, therefore putting himself lower than Hojo. It wasn't until Vincent learned the truth about Hojo that he suddenly became enraged, and all anger he had towards himself was immediately directed at Hojo. And yet in spite of it all, even after taking Hojo down, Vincent says "rest in peace, Hojo". What person says that to their most hated enemy...? This scene depicted that even towards his worst enemy, he was still gracious. To force in the idea that he is Sephiroth's father would override all of that, and would make Vincent no better than Lucrecia or Hojo, and 'killing his own son' would never redeem him of that. Sparing the life of your worst enemy's child holds more impact than killing your kid (which is also extremely unoriginal and tropey).

Can they play with the idea of him being the father? Absolutely. Will they actually make him the dad? No, unless they want to completely undo what Vincent is. And and far as we've seen, if there's one thing they have been very loyal to and careful about, it's the characters. They build upon what they already are, and do not change what is already established canon. And in Vincent's case, his guilt was something that needed further weight. And that weight is that he was complacent with what both Shinra AND Sephiroth had committed, many times over.

I also go into detail about the depth of Vincent's guilt in this post. https://www.tumblr.com/phantomyre/745158867895418881/rebirth-vincent-analysisbreakdown-1-vincents?source=share

In short, I believe Vincent was aware of Sephiroth murdering the townspeople of Nibelheim, and due to what he says in Rebirth, he was also privy to the suriviors ending up as test subjects. And by way of association, Zack and Cloud as well. This is how they're going to give reason to Vincent's pursuit of Sephiroth. Not being the father.

[la-hannya]

Seems like I was right, Takahashi didn't really want to kill off Kagura, she even cried..!

Also... I saw an interview from 2020 where she says the mother of the twins didn't change $esshoumaru, so the raisins took it as their ship being canon. First off eew! But she had said two females had changed him, R¡n, who was like a daughter and made him respect humans more, and Kagura, who gave him what he thought he didn't have, the ability to fall in love (demi King?). This interview is, if anything, implying SessKik as R¡n had already changed his view on humanity, and didn't introduce him to love like that for the first time like Kagura. That's how I interpret this at least.

But them celebrating that their "queen" didn't change anything within him... Just a cold-blooded r*pe on someone who didn't matter to him at all even though he saved her life and they travelled together... Just how messed up are they?! So I might be aromantic with no interest in romance, maybe even repulsed towards some. But this... Is outright depraved. If anyone of them are somehow married (because I doubt they'd date anyone not being a $esshoumaru daimakura due to lack of interest in anything else), do they get off by him looking coldly at them and not caring about them??

Sorry for the delays in answering. I didn't want to clutter the tag answering everything at once.

I think you meant Sesskagu there instead of Sesskik if I'm not wrong?? Please correct if I am. English isn't my only language sorry.

Honestly, killing off certain characters the way she did felt like a bad idea looking back after all these years. I could be wrong but it was clear she rushed the final arcs cause she stopped vibing with her work and just wanted an easy way out of the love drama Inuyasha had. Example how she just wrote off Koga. If it wasn't for the anime we would never see him again at the end really.

Anywho, my friend, so that 2020 interview was pretty vague to be honest and then in some bubble on the side it mentions "Rin: the girl who changed Sesshomaru" if I recall right, which still wasn't wife or woman tbh but then it got blown out of proportion. Though it could be she didn't want to spoil shit... Everytime Rumiko discusses Rin either she talks about her "as a kid" or plays the game of the "Rin is lava" seemingly trying to avoid the topic. Since the hogosha interview I haven't seen her discuss her again though. At least publicly. Everything else has been either from Sunrise staff's mouths or Shiina. It's become a sensitive topic for her ig.

Also after the fic with budget ended, she moved complete focus to promoting Urusei Yatsura (and the new anime looks like it was done with love and care unlike HnY).

So, when the fic manga finally ends she probably won't give an F about doing anything good about Inuyasha for many years or none at all. As any interview suggesting to her more sequels as been met with her giving passive aggressive answers like: "No, I don't think so. When a work is finished. It is finished no matter WHICH work it is"

Like she were talking specifically about Inuyasha. Guess she regrets her decision. Good.

And well about those sauceribs. I think they have a lot issues and via using Rib as a fleshsuit they just proyect all that shit to the point they're willing to die on that hill. Everytime, their bubble gets bursted by info from her or even Shiina himself—they try to find a way to go into cope. But it's not surprising since they act like a cult. Sometimes I think they don't even care about Sesshomaru. The basis of their whole ship is sex after all.

[kenobster]

Omg, thank you for the tip about pillowfort being run by antis!

Ahh, I'm so relieved to hear that the tip was helpful to someone!! :') Thank you for saying so!

I also I wanted to answer with more information on it because, sighs, idk, I'm worried lots of people have never heard of the Pillowfort Shenanigans™ in the first place... which troubles me... because, as an author of taboo content and an opponent of censorship, I really do not want Pillowfort to succeed. In fact, I very much hope that they fail. 🙃

Note: In full transparency, I have not kept up-to-date on Pillowfort happenings in some time. I don't know who owns Pillowfort currently or what changes they have made (or apologies they have given), and, though I very much doubt it, it's totally possible things are different now. This post is just my recollection of the events that happened in 2018 and 2019. I do vouch for this post's accuracy, but please do not take my word as law.

Back in the winter of 2018, when Tumblr announced its decision to ban female-representing nipples, a lot of us were looking for a new place to kick open shop. There was talk amongst fandommers about making a social media platform like Tumblr but with the same fan-run principles of AO3. Fortunately, a handful of people had already taken on this venture a couple of years prior, and they happened to be ready just in time to seize this opportunity. Thus, a website called Pillowfort was launched in the conclusion of a Kickstarter. At the time, this was quite appealing to the Tumblr userbase, who flocked in droves to purchase their $5.00 Pillowfort accounts. Unfortunately, the people who started Pillowfort seem to have been (1) completely uninformed on how to run a website, and (2) completely uninformed on what made their inspiration so successful. Specifically, I'm talking about AO3's commitment to the ship & let ship/YKINMKATO ideal, which allows any content so long as it is legal. Lots of people would likely argue that this very principle is a large part of what has kept AO3 from the content purges that used to be extremely common. A phenomenon that Pillowfort, even in my brief experience, did not escape.

Around the end of 2018, Pillowfort released a policy statement regarding its stance on explicit artwork & underage characters. This policy statement forbade any "explicit visual art of characters that appear to be underage" (emphasis added). In other words, Pillowfort, after presenting itself as a solution to Tumblr's ban on sexually explicit fanart, had now decided to impose limitations on sexually explicit fanart? Let alone with wording that should raise immediate red flags to anyone who knows their fandom history? In case you're thinking they had some secret reason for this decision, the kind of fanart Pillowfort described in their policy statement is not illegal in the United States, in which Pillowfort was basing its terms of service. Additionally, at the time, Pillowfort was not even available to users under 18 without signed parental permission. (At least IIRC.) As far as we know, Pillowfort's decision was based solely on staff's personal preference. The post goes on to clarify their stance with the following:

"Now, due to the inherently subjective nature of trying to determine the age of a fictional character in a stylized medium, the "gray area" cases will be up to the discretion of the moderator reviewing the content. . . . We are not going to comb through the wiki of a particular fandom to try and find the canonical age of a fictional character. . . . Any explicit or sexual art of a character that appears to be physically pre-pubescent or barely pubescent (i.e. not plausibly or arguably of age, or even close to it) will be prohibited." (Emphasis added)

So... basically... what they're saying... is that if I post some sexually explicit but fictional fanart of two consenting adult characters, then Pillowfort user Karen Cuntsdottir could still potentially get my fanart deleted... and simply because it looks to both Karen Cuntsdottir and a random moderator as if the characters haven't finished puberty. Even if the actual canonical age of the character is over 18. Cool. 🙃 For those of you who may think this is a reasonable decision (which fuck off if so), this can get really dicey for characters who are otherwise consenting adults but with large age gaps, height differences, or naturally youthful appearances. As for anyone who maybe uses sexually explicit fanart like that to cope with their own CSA or who enjoys it for any other totally acceptable reason because it's fiction? Sorry, buddy, you're tough out of luck. Plus, I know that Pillowfort claims in their statement that they're not gonna go after dark content or whatever, but anyone who has a working brain knows that censorship of creative works is always a slippery slope.

In Pillowfort's defense, the argument can be made that people are allowed to consider personal preference in the creation of their own website. Unfortunately, this is not where the story ends. If you'll notice, their policy statement begins, "We apologize for not clarifying our position on this earlier; we have been working on revising the ToS to address these issues, but an incident arose today that necessitated us taking action on this matter, so it seems necessary to put things in plain terms now" (emphasis added).

What the hell incident are they talking about? Well, friends, this is where things get gross. Assuming the allegations are true (and no one, not Pillowfort, not any of its users, nor anyone else seems to have challenged their veracity), the whole reason for Pillowfort's policy statement was because of an incident that occured between Pillowfort and one of its users called Ojicon.* Earlier on, Ojicon had tried to log into their account and was unable to. Despite the bugs and lags and weirdness continuing to plague Pillowfort to this day, Ojicon soon discovered that their user page was redirecting everyone to a 404 error page, and that all of their comments and posts on Pillowfort had been removed. Eventually, Ojicon put two and two together and figured out that Pillowfort had banned their account... and it had done so without sending any kind of email or communication. In fact, Pillowfort never initiated any communication with Ojicon; it was Ojicon themselves who reached out to Pillowfort for information. Eventually Ojicon got their answer. Their account had been banned for a post featuring lolicon fanart—something that, at the time, was not against Pillowfort's terms of service. For further context, Ojicon recounts flagging their fanart using the NSFW feature, putting it beneath a read-more cut, and properly warning for underage content in their post. Despite this, Ojicon was given no warnings, no suspensions, and no chances to remove this fanart. Ojicon's entire Pillowfort account (an account Ojicon had paid for) was summarily banned without any notice whatsoever—and again, it was banned for something that had not been against the rules. Oh, and in case you're wondering, Pillowfort did confirm all of this in their response to Ojicon's email as follows:

"Yes, you were banned from the site today by a moderator. It is true that our ToS doesn't clearly define a limitation on pornographic fiction or art (we have been working on a revision of our ToS to address this issue but it isn't finished yet), so if you contributed to our Kickstarter or PayPal and want a refund then let us know and we will provide it."

*Note: Unfortunately this happened so long ago that it's hard to find legitimate sources for the exact goings-on described above, but this LiveJournal thread does a pretty good job at documenting everything. Also this archived post has a good summary and link roundup of the situation. Finally this study is really interesting and goes into the finer details of what I'm describing above.

So even if you argue that Pillowfort has a right to put whatever they want in their terms of service (despite the fact that they specifically invited Tumblr users fleeing the NSFW ban to their website, got $5 per account, and then completely changed the terms of service on said Tumblr users), Pillowfort still banned a user preemptively for something that was not yet against the rules and failed to mention any of this in their policy statement (or to the individual they were banning). And all of this was done despite their alleged commitment to transparency. IIRC, the substantial pushback they got for this choice eventually led them to share more details on the "incident" they had briefly mentioned in their policy statement... but they didn't add any new information other than what had already been found out from others. Plus, they doubled down on the wording in their policy statement (despite how easily exploitable it would be). And, while they did refund $5 to anyone who was upset by this decision, many people, myself included, did not have the energy to go through the hassle of that (especially because, while understandably so, Pillowfort implemented a time frame for how long they would be providing refunds for this reason). So I'm certain that many users let Pillowfort keep their money and that Pillowfort probably kept quite a pretty penny earned via their false promise.

Whatever the case, many of us who do not stand for anti behavior left Pillowfort, leaving behind a large amount of people who were antis themselves and/or generally supported Pillowfort's decision. Thus, I imagine Pillowfort became and remains an unsafe place for fandommers, and I do not recommend it to anyone as a substitute for Tumblr.

[ismaet]

Housekid AU

Idea: Casita raises Mirabel.

Casita didn't give Mirabel a Gift because they chose her to be the new Candlebearer. The Gifts were given to the Family as a means of speeding up the building of the Encanto and protecting/helping it after, so naturally, the Candlebearer doesn't need one (they could have one, but not right now, too early in the bloodline, not a strong enough foundation), as their focus would be on keeping the Family together.

And Little Mirabel was perfect for the job! She was a kind-hearted child, she treated Casita like the being that they were, she was smart, she was confident, she was talented- she was as close to 'perfect' for a Matriarchal role as you can get while still being a person. In fact, she already healed a couple of cracks (prideadorationlove)!

So, Casita poured more magic than usual onto the little precious one, boosting their already strong naturally-formed connection. Though, with the feat, they were currently weak from the transfer, so her Door would just have to be made later.

The only problem with the whole situation is that Casita didn't realize that their current Candlebearer was too far gone into her mindset of 'Gift before person', so she immediately looked at Little Mirabel in a negative light (offenseshockbetrayedbetrayed ) instead of pausing to think of what it could mean- or heck, just asking Casita directly! She had enough magic left in her for that, as Little Mirabel was still much too young to take her role!

Casita tried to convey their desire, their reason. For the next few weeks they tried.

Tiles clanking, boards shifting, a freaking letter.

But with the flight of their Little Seer into their walls and the shock of the unrealized declaration of a chosen heir still not fading, the Family would not listen.

And poor Little Mirabel began to be forgotten.

For the first time in years, Casita was angry. They understood why they were doing it. They understood their Candlebearer's line of thought; even if they didn't agree or won't ever condone it. But Little Mirabel was a child (precioustinyinnocent) and they left her behind.

Casita would not stand for this.

So they made a decision.

They already loved their precious little Candlebearer. The Family knew it, even if they never realized. Little Mirabel knew it, and it was one of the few things that kept her from going dark (angerangerprotectiveangerangeranger).

It would be no problem taking on a more hands-on role. No one would be suspicious of it either; in fact, they'd probably interpret it as pity, or never even notice at all (betrayedbetrayedsadbetrayed).

Which was perfect. No interruptions.

Casita would raise their Little Miracle, and they would raise her well.

Starting with a Gift and a Door.

(God knows she was going to need it.)

Due to Mirabel's 'failure', Abuela doubled the work everyone in the family was doing to dispel the doubts that were beginning to set in. This made all the Gifted Madrigals very busy, which caused two things: More neglect than canon, and more hate/resentment (it's just Isabela though) on Mirabel for being the catalyst. This, almost always, left Mirabel to just... exist.

(Casita was always there for her though; so while the bad feelings she had were still there, they were not as bad and as damaging as they could have been.)

The rise of negative feelings towards Casita's little Candelita proved to be an obstacle in regaining their magical strength. This made Casita a bit irritable during the recovery weeks, but never with Mirabel though. They played with her, took care of her, watched over her; and most importantly, taught her. Casita taught her Candelita various things. Though, admittedly, being a non-human entity must've screwed their expectations of what a 5 year old can do, because they taught her parkour (so she can move herself all around the Encanto with ease), how to use a staff (because Mirabel had been playing around with a mop and they saw her being a natural at it and thought: why not? self-defense is always a plus), how to sneak around (a needed skill to have when the mere sight of you can either mean a physical or an emotional chankla- also it's more self-defense), how to treat wounds (for emergencies) and how to see without her eyes (a precaution).

It didn't help that Mirabel rose to the challenge. Her capabilities did nothing to correct Casita's assumptions, and thus begins a life-long cycle of weird, bizarre lessons offered to too early or late an age.

As weeks passed on, Mirabel faded further and further into the background. Julieta and Agustin are good parents, yes, but they're not there as much as they're needed to be. They're all too busy- all of the family were. They're always in town; even Abuela.

Which means Casita had Mirabel all to themself.

The rest of the year is filled with education and bonding between the entity and their keeper. Mirabel kept learning, growing, saddened by her family's actions but never faltering with her parent's support. Casita grew more and more proud of their Candelita, their precious Little Miracle; felt more and more love for the sweet, kind, scrappy little child.

They even had a couple of adventures inside Casita's walls.

Whenever the other Madrigals weren't around, which was always, Casita would reconfigure themself into Mirabel's personal playground. Mattresses would manifest all over the floors, and ladders, railings, stairs and all sorts of things would fly about, testing Mirabel's parkour and stealth skills.

Sometimes they even played pretend- which had the side effect of making Mirabel an excellent actress.

Overall, this part of the timeline, Parent and Child just bonded.

And it was adorable.

It's Mirabel who breaks first. She calls her Parent 'Mami' out loud, so used to doing so in her most private of thoughts, that it takes her a full minute to realize. She's embarrassed, of course, and maybe a little nervous, but she means the title, so she doesn't take it back. She just freezes like a deer in headlights, and awaits her mother's response.

But how does one respond when one's metaphorical heart just exploded with love? With magic? With pride? With adoration?

Casita, in all the knowledge their- her, now- magic allowed them access to, didn't know.

But she did know that she was absolutely honored to be her Candelita's- her daughter! -mother, and that her Candelita must know.

So she gave a wild, loud, overjoyed explosion of movement around her little hija, who's face was of relief and sheer happiness at her very obvious acceptance, and spent the rest of the day clacking her tiles and shingles to sound vaguely like 'Mirabel', 'Mija', and 'Candelita'.

Their bond strengthened ten-fold that day, and later Casita is delighted to discover that she had the perfect, much more physical and permanent affirmation- proof - of her love for her daughter.

It's about time.

Part 2 here! Part 3 here! Part 4 here!

[verxsyon]

·:*¨༺ ❝ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐋𝐘𝐖𝐄𝐃𝐒 ❞

marrying the person you are in love with has to be the best decision you have ever made. here, we explore the daily life of our four unique suitors as newlyweds.

✧ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. luke + artem + vyn + marius x gn!reader

✧ 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭. headcanon (bulleted) ; 1.3k

✧ 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞. married au ; fluff, suggestive (artem + marius)

✧ 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚. i just started playing tears of themis and i’m completely hooked. i think the game is telling me to simp for marius since i have so many cards of him (luke, i’m sorry!). not officially writing for the fandom, however! just a huge brain rot that needs to be let out.

𝐋𝐔𝐊𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐄

epitome of childhood friend romance. in my opinion, he’s the top tier bestie anyone could ask for.

he has been with you for as long as you can remember — through thick and thin, and through the good and the ugly. it’s natural for him to make jokes here and there around you, including marrying you when he comes back to stellis. little did you know, he was very serious about it. years later he will be at your door to put a ring on your finger, and the rest is history.

whenever he comes home from work, you are either cooking in the kitchen or sleeping on the couch while the TV is on. you two have a special welcome home greeting, which starts with a kiss on your temple followed by an exchange of heys.

you: “hey, lu.”; luke: “hey, you.” and afterwards, he’ll pepper more kisses along your jaw until he places one upon your lips before asking how your day went.

he loves to update you about his investigations. realizing that he can’t keep everything to himself, his goal is to confide in at least one person he can trust. it makes you so happy to hear that he’s enjoying his job despite the amount of stress he may be experiencing.

on his day-offs, he’ll marathon crime shows with you — popcorn, drinks, and everything. his favorite show to marathon is sherlock since he is inspired by him.

he claims to miss you whenever he’s away for long hours performing his investigations. to cope with his concern, your husband keeps a picture of you in his breast pocket so you’ll always be in his heart no matter where you are in the world.

𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐌 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆

he may appear cold and strict on the outside, but is actually a warm and awkward softie on the inside.

due to his status as basically being married to his job as a senior attorney, romance is the least of his worries until you enter his life. his approach to you for a date isn’t as smooth as the both of you had expected, but he improved in that aspect when he popped the question.

even after months into your marriage, he still doubts how he gives you affection. are his lips in the right place? is he holding your hand right? ever since the incident where he accidentally groped below your back when he was trying to hug you, he remains self-conscious whenever he touches you.

to make him comfortable with initiating intimacy, you would walk around the house half-naked and observe his reaction from there. instead of admiring your body, he rushes to lend you a piece of his clothing to cover yourself. what a gentleman indeed, but this is not the result you wanted.

“artem, honey.” he flinches at the heat enveloping his front. the sight of your bare legs makes his skin flush and paralyzes his movements. you guide his hands to your sides with a gentle smile on your face. “relax. you’re doing everything more than perfectly.”

a hidden talent of his is that he can cook, and my goodness his food is brilliant. on some days when you come home late at night, seeing a delicious platter by your husband is quite the treat. to further practice his romantic skills, he would set up wine, candles, and flowers as well. to be honest, he doesn’t need to go all out because cooking dinner is already romantic enough for you.

he is fond of children, especially their positive energy. in fact, it’s canon that he visits orphanages and hangs around them. the moment you step into one, he knows that the children will automatically love you. he would be lying if he said he didn’t imagine having a family with you, but time will tell when the two of you will be ready.  

𝐕𝐘𝐍 𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑

a wise person once said, “he is the whole package.” a psychiatrist who is also a criminal psychologist and he’s hot as hell? not to mention that he’s also good at pretty much everything the universe has to offer.

his emotions are still hard to read even after marrying him, but he’s trying his best to make them transparent. although you can’t tell in plain sight, he appreciates every single thing about you, most especially your belief in him being loved.

in addition, he appreciates your knowledge in classical music. you have brought up the fact that you did play piano a while back multiple times while the two of you were still dating. his wedding gift to you was a grand piano, which made you cry not because he had thought of you, but because it cost thousands. that being said, you are touched that he had thought of you.

the grand piano surprise motivates you to regain and refine your musical skills from the past. you challenge yourself by practicing a difficult piece, which vyn recognizes almost immediately just by a few notes. your hands crash and burn against the white keys, startled by your husband’s sudden presence.

“keep playing, my love.” he snakes an arm around your waist to pull you into a kiss. “you are doing so well.”

besides psychology, he’ll be glad to teach you some of his hobbies such as equestrianism and gardening. in comparison to luke, he is also quite knowledgeable in areas either related to or outside of his expertise. you don’t know whether to admire or fear the capacity of his intellect.

whenever he’s free of work, he’ll take you on bike rides around the city and perhaps have picnics at the park. spending time with his spouse is what he deserves from juggling between teaching students to treating patients to solving cases on a daily basis.

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐔𝐒 𝐕𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐍

a little shit. always a little shit, but is your little shit who deserves a slap in the face (affectionate).

your first meeting with the heir of the pax group was insufferable to say the least, justified by his constant teasing and duping. he was a person that you wanted to avoid at all costs, but he eventually managed to win your heart and settle down with you.

the von hagen household isn’t itself without the two of you bickering left and right. the topics in questions are usually miniscule, and marius is aware that lawyers do not invest their time in such types. he always forfeits from the arguments in your favor, suggesting that he’ll make it up to you with gifts.

speaking of gifts, he loves spoiling you with a range of his own paintings to stuffed animals from the arcade to luxurious brands of the pax group. he has done so much for you already, you tell him to stop buying all those things. of course, he doesn’t listen and still does it anyway to keep you happy.

the ultimate king (haha, get it? that’s his codename at nxx. okay, i’ll stop now lol.) of teasing doesn’t let you breathe in peace, whether that be in public or at home. as an act of revenge, you do the same. except more, um… spicy.

he sometimes catches you in your robe when he comes home from work. he seems to not suspect much other than you look very sexy in it; after all, he was the one who bought it. you’ll make your intentions known by whispering in his ear, “i’m not wearing anything under.” let’s just say he doesn’t waste any time to wipe that so-called innocent smile off your face.

somewhat on the same side of the spectrum, he paints portraits of you which he hangs around the house. you made a mistake of telling him to “draw me like one of your french girls”, and now he won’t stop pestering you to take your clothes off. (the paintings of you are priceless; they’re for his eyes only.)

✧ 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐬. (if your url is in bold, that means i can’t tag you!)

@dreamiehrs​ ; @help-wtf-am-i-even-doing​ ; @lilikags​ ; @sleepyyangyang​

[robininthelabyrinth]

prompt: one of the jiang siblings is actually the result of a tryst between YZY and WZL (this could be due to an agreement between YZY and JFM that they can each see whoever they want on the side discreetly, or something that took place before their marriage). cue the burning of lotus pier going a lot differently than in canon.

Well Behaved Women Never Make History - ao3

Untamed verse

Wang Lingjiao never pretended to be a good person.

She’s small-minded, bitter, jealous – a vicious bitch, through and through. Her mother was a prostitute taken in as a concubine by a sect leader with too many concubines already, and her entire childhood was one fight for dominance after another, woman against woman in the worst sort of way. Once she was old enough, her parents sent her to the Wen sect to be another woman’s maid – a woman who wanted someone with big tits that would distract and fuck her new husband to keep him from noticing how she herself was fucking his father, while still being poor and humble enough to remember her place.

Well, Wang Lingjiao remembered her place all right. Her place right at Wen Chao’s side, thank you very much.

It was Wen Chao’s indulgence that gave her the power to do what she liked, to be the one trampling others beneath her heels rather than the one being trampled, and she knew it; she knew it, and she wasn’t willing to give it up, not for anything. It was because of that that she turned even more vicious, because she knew he thought it was hot when she tormented other women for his sake – it appealed to his ego and made him happy to think that she was crazy with jealousy over him, and she needed him to be happy, to be satisfied, so crazy she became. Poison, ‘accidents’, even bold-faced attacks with a branding iron she’d taken for her personal weapon…

The crueler she was, the more he liked it.

The more he liked it, the safer she was.

That was all there was to it.

As for the other women? Well, too bad for them. Life was harsh and cruel and unfair, Wang Lingjiao’s childhood had taught her that, and it was about time the rest of the world got around to learning it too.

In short, she knew she was a bad person. She knew, and she didn’t lie to herself about it.

And yet.

And yet.

“That’s really fucked up,” she said to Wen Zhuliu, trying not to look at where Jiang Cheng was. “Do you really not care that they’re your kids?”

“Why would I care?” he asked, dispassionate as always. He’d given his word of honor to Wen Ruohan years ago, and that, as far as she could tell, was the last thing he’d ever moved himself to care about. “I didn’t raise them.”

“But they’re your kids,” she persisted. Wen Zhuliu’s surname had originally been Zhao, but that, too, had been an adopted name. It turned out, as Wen Chao told her with glee, that he’d been born a Jiang – Jiang Fengmian’s first cousin, no less. His mother had been twins with Jiang Fengmian’s father, only she’d gotten herself into the usual sort of trouble and died bearing a nameless bastard; unable to tolerate the reminder of what had killed his sister, the former Jiang sect leader had sent the child to be adopted by their subsidiary Zhao clan, which had a Jiang wife and no children of their own.

When it later turned out that Jiang Fengmian was infertile, the boy now surnamed Zhao had been the closest thing they’d had to the proper bloodline. When the time had come, he’d come home and done his duty to his natal clan with the Purple Spider, which…well, Wang Lingjiao could respect that, she supposed. Yu Ziyuan was terrifying, and she couldn’t even imagine what bedding her must have been like – although judging by the way Wen Zhuliu had paid his respects to her at the end, it hadn’t been all bad.

Still, that meant the two children of the Jiang clan, Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng, were both in actuality the biological children of their erstwhile uncle Wen Zhuliu – something Wang Lingjiao had no doubt played a solid role in Wen Ruohan’s decision to rescue and eventually adopt Wen Zhuliu into his Wen sect, even if Wen Zhuliu might not’ve put it together yet.

They were his children.

And he was just – he’d just –

“What does it matter?” Wen Zhuliu asked, utterly disinterested, and Wang Lingjiao shook her head, unable to really say anything.

She’d thought she didn’t have any illusions left. Apparently she did.

It was just – it was fucked up, okay?

That was Wen Zhuliu’s own flesh and blood was kneeling on the floor, getting whipped with the discipline whip and beaten by guards until he coughed up blood, his core melted by his own fucking dad – seriously, what the fuck was that? Who the fuck would do something like that?

Not for the first time, Wang Lingjiao wished she’d signed up to the other side of the war. Sure, she knew it was way too late, but…but still.

Even in the viper’s nest that had been her childhood home, no one had done anything like this.

“I need a nap,” she announced loudly, and Wen Chao waved a hand absently, granting her permission; she got up and walked out, relieved not to have to be there any longer.

She ran straight into Wen Ning leaning over a big jug of wine.

“What are you doing?” she asked, and he quailed, staring at her, his mouth moving as if he were trying to speak. He had a packet of powder in his hand. “Are you drugging the wine?”

“No!” he squeaked, very unconvincingly.

“To rescue the Jiang kid?” she asked, because what else could a shy little whelp like Wen Ning be drugging the wine for if not some sudden urge to engage in heroics? “Yeah, whatever. Go for it. I’ll make sure Chao-er gets Wen Zhuliu to drink up.”

Wen Ning stared at her.

“I can probably keep them from hunting you down for a while, too,” Wang Lingjiao added. She was very convincing, especially when throwing a temper tantrum, and believably terrible at directions. “Just, you know. Get him out of here already. Is there anything else you want while you’re here?”

“…the bodies of the sect leader and his wife?”

Wow, little A-Ning was just committing treason all the way down, wasn’t he?

Wang Lingjiao thought about Jiang Cheng, kneeling there in front of his biological father who supervised his torture, and shuddered. “Yeah, sure, why not,” she said, rubbing her forehead. She had a headache. “They’re dead, Wen Ruohan’s orders are complete. We don’t need to do more than that.”

“You – you do know they’re going to hunt you down and kill you if they survive, right?” Wen Ning asked.

“No shit,” Wang Lingjiao said. “I’m a bitch, not dumb, you know. Just…do it before I change my mind, okay?”

Wen Ning nodded, but still hesitated. “Can I ask why…?”

“You can not,” she said. Now that the Jiang sect leader and the Purple Spider were dead, the secret of the Jiang sect’s children was something she was pretty sure only Wen Zhuliu knew – Wen Zhuliu and Wen Chao and Wen Ruohan, and now her. No one else knew. No one else needed to know, as far as she was concerned. “Why are you still here?”

“Can I – is there something I could do to repay you? I don’t…”

Don’t want to be in debt to a dead woman walking, Wang Lingjiao figured, and sighed. Wen Ruohan had better win this fucking war or else she really was a goner. “Fine,” she said irritably, casting her mind about. “Fine. If you happen to see Mistress Jiang, tell her to keep the fuck away from Wen Zhuliu because he won’t stop for anything or anyone. Pass that message along and we can call it quits. Okay?”

Wang Lingjiao wasn’t a good person, and she didn’t pretend to be, but she still kept her word, even if even she had no idea why she was doing something as stupid as this. The Wen sect would win, or they’d lose – she’d be alive at the end of the war, or she wouldn’t. The rest of it, she figured, was up to fate.

Fate, it seemed, had a name.

“My name is Jiang Yanli,” the young lady told her when they met. She had a normal face, average body, nothing anyone would be jealous over – probably her best feature was her sweet smile, and even that looked like it was genuine, not fake, and was therefore useless. “You’re Wang Lingjiao, right?”

“Yeah,” Wang Lingjiao said. She was tired to the bone: when it had finally sunk in that they were losing, really losing, that the mysterious ghost plague was coming for them fast and hard and that there was shit all Wen Chao was going to be able to do to protect her from it, she’d taken the jewelry she’d been storing up for a rainy day and run as fast and as far as she could, and all it did in the end was lead her straight into the arms of the revived Jiang sect. “Yeah, that’s me. I helped kill your mom and lots of your sect, including kids. That’s the way war works, so, you know, tough luck and all that. You can kill me now. Quickly, if you’re feeling especially merciful.”

Slow seemed more likely. Slow and shameful.

“You saved Jiang Cheng.”

Wang Lingjiao blinked. She did what? What in the – oh, wait, was she talking about that?

“No, that was Wen Ning,” she corrected. “He ran a whole rescue mission, I just aided and abetted.”

“Why?”

Wang Lingjiao stared at her. “…does it matter why?” she asked, bemused. “Will it change the final outcome? I still did all sorts of horrible things.”

She still had nightmares about that one kid she’d killed. It was different from the rest, somehow.

“Lots of people have done horrible things during this war,” Jiang Yanli said calmly. “Not all of them turned around and rescued my brother. I’d like to know why you did that, if you don’t mind.”

“It’s nothing. I felt bad for him, that’s all.”

“Because he lost his core?” Jiang Yanli shook her head at Wang Lingjiao’s surprised look. “I met Wen Ning by chance, when Jiang Cheng evacuated a prison cell he was being kept in. He took me aside and – passed along your message. I put two and two together, then.”

“I thought it didn’t take, though? Everyone knows Jiang Cheng is as active as ever.”

“It’s complicated. That isn’t it, though, is it? I thought it might have been that…what was the reason?”

“Girl, you don’t want to know,” Wang Lingjiao said effusively. “Trust me on this one. You really don’t. Let me take this to the grave, and treasure your parents’ memory in peace.”

“Tell me, and I’ll submit an appeal for your life,” Jiang Yanli said. Wang Lingjiao gaped at her. “You were the Wen sect’s tool, committing atrocities, and for that you unquestionably deserve death. But you saved Jiang Cheng, so maybe we can commute that to imprisonment or servitude instead.”

“Sell me as a slave?” Wang Lingjiao asked. It was a pretty standard punishment for the unforgivable, if death wasn’t on the table. Not ideal, but hey – she’d be alive. Maybe she could arrange to be sold to some lecher and use it to her advantage: she still had her tits, after all. “Deal. You’re not going to like it, though.”

“I expect not,” Jiang Yanli said, and she sounded firm and certain, unmoving as granite. Maybe there was something to her underneath all that ordinary. “And I know I’ll have to deal with the fallout of it, whatever it may be. But I’m done with secrets. They only ruin everything.”

Wang Lingjiao wasn’t sure she agreed, but whatever.

Not her problem.

She ended up getting thrown in with the rest of the remaining Wen sect members, which funnily enough included Wen Ning. They were supposedto be resettled as farmers, with Wang Lingjiao being their slave, but that never really materialized – they ended up getting sent to a prison camp instead, and made to do hard labor.

“This is bullshit,” Wang Lingjiao said to Wen Ning, who shrugged, not disagreeing. “Look at my nails. Look at them! Do I look like someone built to labor?”

Wen Ning pressed his lips together to hide a snort. “Not – exactly.”

“Yeah, exactly. I do only one type of labor, and that’s flat on my back,” she said, and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Okay, I need you to pretend you’re not a sad virgin for a couple of moments and tell me – what looks better, trying-for-demure-but-secretly-sexy or sexy-temptress-with-nothing-to-lose?”

She demonstrated the two clothing arrangements and postures accordingly.

“Uh,” Wen Ning said. He’d turned bright red, because of course he had. “Probably…the latter.”

“Yeah, that one’s a bit more in character,” Wang Lingjiao agreed. “I was never good at faking sweet.”

The Jin sect’s chief prison guard was even worse in bed than Wen Chao had been, but at least he was just as governed by his lower half. She wasn’t able to get that much out of him, unfortunately – damn the war and associated lack of make-up – but she did manage to convince him not to impale Wen Ning with a stick that one time so, you know, there was that.

“I hate you,” Wei Wuxian said when he showed up, over a day too late to have done any good if the goal had been to actually save Wen Ning’s life. “I hate you so much.”

Wang Lingjiao bared her teeth at him. “Yeah? Well, I want to fuck your sister.”

“I – you – what?”

“Mistress Jiang seemed like the only one of you worth anything,” Wang Lingjiao said, though in her opinion that hot piece Wen Ning was currently calling jiejie could give Jiang Yanli a run for her money. “Can I be herservant next time? This is ridiculous.”

“What, you…no! Absolutely not!”

“I am not living on the Burial Mounds,” Wang Lingjiao told him. “I heard what you were saying to Mistress Wen earlier, and let me tell you right now, I am not. Do you know what resentful energy does to the complexion?”

“…no?”

“Neither do I, and I don’t want to find out. Send me back to Mistress Jiang, I’ll handle the rest from there.”

“You keep forgetting that you’re a slave,” Wen Ning observed. “It’s kind of funny.”

Wang Lingjiao rolled her eyes. “Listen,” she said to Wei Wuxian, focusing on the only relevant person to this conversation. “You want the cultivation world to forget what you just did to rescue us, right? Send me. I’ll do it.”

“You?” Wei Wuxian scoffed. “Who can you convince?”

“Sect Leader Jin,” she said, and Wei Wuxian’s face twitched.

It was the twitch of Shit you might be right, and she was, too.

Listen, Wang Lingjiao might be a bad person, and she really only had the one talent, but she really did know how to work it.

“You saved my other brother now,” Jiang Yanli said to her later on, voice mild. She was really rather nice, as far as mistresses went. She didn’t make her do any chores or interfere with her ‘fuck Jin Guangshan into forgetting some of his schemes’ plan, and she didn’t even want her to sleep with Jin Zixuan, which was good because the poor man had no interest in anyone but his wife – probably a reaction to having lecher extraordinaire Jin Guangshan as a dad. “And yet you directly contributed to my parents’ deaths. That’s very confusing, you know.”

Wang Lingjiao shrugged.

“Life’s complicated,” she said, twisting a piece of hair around her finger and idly wondering if Wen Qing, now said to be living in the Lotus Pier, was single and/or interested in a threesome or two, third participant to be determined. She’d seen the way Wen Ning’s big sister’d been eyeing her – you got a feel for that sort of thing eventually. “You just have to make the best of it.”

Right now she was definitely doing that. That Jin Guangyao fellow had not so subtly hinted that it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Jin Guangshan died in a drug-fueled sex orgy or something like that, and also that he might find a way to free Wang Lingjiao from her current state of slavery if she pulled it off, so she was going to work on that. Once she was free…

Well, that was a problem for later.

She was alive, and a bad person.

She’d be fine.

[fific7]

Unexpected - Part 3

King Caspian x Reader

Summary: What happens if you push the respectful and well-behaved King Caspian a little too far? You’re about to find out.

A/N: The final chapter. This does not follow canon, it’s mainly a mix of fluff and angst with some lemon zest 🍋 Friends to Lovers AU.

Warnings: 18+ NSFW due to sexual content including debatable consent at first, loss of virginity and oral and unprotected* sex between consenting adults. Some drinking & swearing.

*Irl, please don’t go wild in the country without protection.

(My video edit)

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Ever since his hasty departure from your study, Caspian had not exactly avoided you but had taken to just popping his head round the door and wishing you a cheerful good day before disappearing again. You had smiled to yourself. It certainly did seem that you had some kind of an effect on the King. You weren’t absolutely sure what that was, but it appeared to be a positive one.

You were excitedly planning an outfit for that evening as a banquet was being held to celebrate Cornelius’ birthday. No-one had mentioned how old he actually was and you weren’t sure if that was because they didn’t know or if they were just being tactful. You’d bought him three new quills as his gift, which he’d accepted gratefully as he was always snapping the tips off his.

Later that afternoon, there was a brief knock and Caspian’s smiling face appeared round your door. “You are coming to the birthday banquet tonight, aren’t you, my lady?” You nodded, “I am, Caspian.” “Well… I’ll see you there,” he grinned, and then he was gone.

Smiling, you went back to mentally reviewing the dresses in your wardrobe. Tonight you’d make sure you looked your very best for Caspian.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Meanwhile Caspian walked off down the corridor, deep in thought. He was sure that she’d noticed that he was keeping a physical distance between them the past few days, but it was the only way he could think of to avoid making a complete fool of himself. Again. Like he had the last time. His face burned every time he thought about it. She’d known why he’d rushed off, he was sure of it.

He would have to dance with her tonight. It would look strange if he didn’t, and he felt his stomach tie itself into a knot. How on earth was he going to keep himself under control? He would just have to figure out a way… somehow.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Eventually, after several changes, you’d chosen a deep ruby red velvet dress with a sweetheart neckline, your hair was artfully pinned up and you had added a sparkling necklace and earrings.

The music played, the tables were laden with food and drink and Cornelius was thoroughly enjoying himself as the centre of attention. The courtiers whirled around the room in spirited waltzes and you watched as Caspian danced with girl after girl after girl. Everyone apart from you, in fact. You had a sick sinking feeling in your stomach - it looked like you’d got it all wrong, he obviously didn’t have any feelings for you at all. You blinked fiercely as you felt your eyes fill up. Well, your mother always said pride comes before a fall, and you supposed that you’d been prideful in thinking that he felt something special for you.

Taking a large drink of your wine, you considered leaving the banquet. What use was there in staying? Just to watch Caspian dancing with all the other women, while you - a sorrowful heap of jealousy - sat in the corner by yourself? No, that was not going to be you, you thought.

Standing, you smoothed your dress and started to move out from behind the table, only for Cornelius to lightly grip your wrist. “You’re surely not going already?” he questioned you. You nodded, “Yes, my lord. I.. I have a headache and should retire to my chamber, I think.” He did not let go of you, “Oh, my lady, can’t I persuade you to stay just a little longer? It is my birthday after all!” he smiled mischievously at you. Oh, he had to make you feel guilty, didn’t he? You sighed, “Very well, my lord, just for a very short time though.” He refilled your wine cup, “Have some more wine,” he encouraged you, “I’ve heard it’s very efficacious in treating headaches!”

Laughing, you sat down and took the goblet from him. “Indeed? I confess I haven’t heard that said of wine, my lord.” Nodding vigorously, he replied, “Oh, yes - I am sure I read that recently somewhere - in a medical book or suchlike.” Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a figure approaching you, one of the Kingsguard. Before you turned to look fully at him, you saw a look of annoyance flit over Cornelius’ face, before his usual small smile returned.

“May I have the pleasure of the next dance, my lady?” asked the handsome soldier, whose name you didn’t know. You nodded and stood, taking his outstretched hand and allowing him to lead you onto the dance floor. The orchestra finished playing the previous waltz, and prepared to play the next one.

Caspian’s dark eyes met yours as he straightened up from bowing to his partner. Something flashed in them and you looked away, up at your own partner. Wasn’t he happy to see you dancing with someone? Well, that was a shame, you thought - he can just have a taste of his own medicine! The music began and you and the soldier began to dance, thankfully neither of you treading on each other’s toes. You saw that Caspian was dancing with yet another lady. Hmmm, not so bothered then, you thought somewhat bitterly.

Throughout the dance, however, any time you looked towards Caspian his eyes were on you. Continuing to look away, you’d wait a few moments and look again. Yes - still looking. Now you were confused, if he didn’t care, why was he staring? Maybe it was just a ‘big brother’ kind of thing. The dance came to an end and you and your partner bowed to each other, and as you stood straight again you realised with a start that Caspian was standing slightly to the right of your soldier, gazing at you.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Caspian’s heart had jolted in his chest when he saw her take the floor with one of his Kingsguard. Jealousy raged through his veins. She was only supposed to dance with him! He continued staring over at them as the dance progressed, barely looking at his own new partner, and as soon as the dance finished he quickly bowed, mumbled a thank you and hurried over to her and the soldier.

The soldier bowed his head to his King and took himself off at speed. Caspian was still looking at her, and eventually she cleared her throat and said, “Good evening, your Majesty,” bowed her head slightly and also started to leave the dance floor. “No!” he exclaimed, and her eyes met his again, a confused look in them. “I mean… don’t go, I was about to ask you to dance.” She gave him a small smile, “And are you asking me, your Majesty?” Now it was his turn to look confused, “Why, yes… I am,” he replied and extended his hand towards her.

Taking it, she followed him to a more central area of the dance floor and as they reached it he swung around, pulling her close against him and drinking in her scent. He heard her give a small gasp and realised what he’d done - the waltz the orchestra was playing required a side by side promenade at arms’ length for a few steps before traditional waltzing then took over. Hastily, he released her and they performed their promenade steps, before he was able to take her into his arms once more.

“You look absolutely beautiful,” he breathed next to her ear, “I was overwhelmed when I saw you arrive.” She laughed, not meeting his eyes, “Really, your Majesty? I didn’t think you were even aware I was here.” “What?” he said, totally confused, “Of course I knew you were here!” She still wouldn’t meet his eyes as they moved around the dance floor. “Well, it’s just that you were so busy with all your dance partners I didn’t think that you were, your Majesty.”

Caspian felt like a thunderbolt had hit him. Of course! What a damn fool he was. He’d been so busy trying to distract himself from mooning over her, that it hadn’t dawned on him what it might look like to her - that he was totally ignoring her. He’d noticed that she’d gone back to calling him ‘your Majesty’. He desperately thought of how he could explain this without giving himself away. “Oh… no, no… I’m, I’m always aware of… of where you are,” he said then winced as he realised how lame that sounded. “I thought I would save the last dance for you,” he added, hoping this would redeem him somewhat.

She finally looked at him, a slightly reproachful look in her eyes but she didn’t speak. “I’m so sorry if it looked like I was ignoring you,” he said in a rush, “I just didn’t want to seem too eager.” She laughed but he could tell there wasn’t a lot of humour in it, “Don’t worry, your Majesty, that definitely wasn’t the impression you gave.”

Caspian was panicking. How could he be so stupid? Now she was upset with him, and he only wanted her more than ever - she looked stunning in her ruby red gown. He held her even closer to him and decided to stop talking, maybe he could just show her how he felt by holding her close. He saw her eyes widen and realised that had been a mistake too. There was no doubt that she’d felt his rampant erection, even through the heavy fabric of her dress.

He made a sudden decision and danced her rapidly across the floor back to the table, hastily sitting down and tugging her into the seat next to him. He pulled his tunic down as far as he could over the bulge in his lap and leant forward slightly, embarrassed and running his hands over his face. “Are you alright, my King?” she questioned him. He looked sidelong at her, “I think you know exactly what’s wrong with me.” Then in an even quieter voice, “The same as in the orchard that time.”

He saw a blush start to rise over her face. So she did remember it.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Oh! you thought, your mind racing back to that encounter in the gathering dusk. You had thought about it frequently over the years with a mixture of excitement and embarrassment. You knew you’d been quite forward in your curiosity, and often wondered if Caspian ever thought about it too. And now it seemed that he had. With a frisson of jealousy, you’d also wondered what other sexual experiences he’d had since.

“I… we said we’d never talk about that, Caspian.” While dancing and when he’d pulled you closer to him, you’d felt that hard length of his against your stomach and knew exactly what it meant. But now here he was, bringing up the subject himself.

“We said we’d never speak of it to other people,” he corrected you, gazing into your eyes, “but maybe we need to discuss it further between ourselves. Come, let us leave the banquet for a while so we can speak in private.” He stood up and held out his hand so you also stood, taking it and following him as he led you out of the banqueting hall, aware of the many envious glances from the other women as you left with the King.

They could think what they liked, you thought. They will know you were childhood friends, although you’d made a point of never telling that to any of them. Castle gossip will have ensured that they all knew about it in any case.

Caspian led you upstairs to one of the empty salons and outside onto the large balconied terrace which was attached to it. He knew his castle well, you thought. Due to its position in one of the towers it wasn’t overlooked by any other window or balcony, and the size of the large terrace prevented anyone from seeing anything if they looked up from the grounds.

He came to a halt and turned towards you, his eyes blazing with something - you weren’t sure what - as he looked into yours, “I…I want,” he faltered, “I need…!”

You opened your mouth to ask him what he wanted and needed but before you could speak, he pushed you up against the terrace wall, you felt his mouth on yours and he was kissing you passionately. You realised he was also raising your dress and felt the fabric creep past your knee and then halfway up your leg.

Looking down you saw that Caspian had unlaced his breeches, just as you felt his fingers brush past your undergarments. Because unlike last time, it was he who had hold of his manhood and before you fully realised what he was doing, he’d slid his erection inside you and continued to push until he was fully sheathed. You were gasping and his dark brown eyes looked more like deepest black as he stared into yours, before he lowered his head onto your shoulder, groaning and whispering your name.

“Caspian!” you eventually managed to breathe, “what are you doing?!”

“What you wanted me to do that night in the orchard,” he said through gritted teeth, his voice rough.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Caspian gripped her hips through the dress fabric and began to thrust up into her. She’d wanted him to do this to her those few years ago, right? She’d told him he was a coward because he’d pulled out. So now he was only taking what he could’ve had under the pear trees that evening, wasn’t he?

He heard her voice, through her gasps, “We were children, Caspian, who didn’t know any better. Now we do. What if you get me pregnant?” Caspian stopped thrusting, she needed to hear the truth.

“I don’t care! I’ve wanted you every second of every day since!” his voice broke, “Don’t you realise I’ve always been in love with you?!” He leaned his head back slightly and looked into her eyes, “Tell me you don’t want me to do this and I’ll stop.” She hesitated and he immediately began thrusting again, kissing her and pulling her closer to him. Eventually he felt her fists pummelling his chest, “Caspian! Please! I can’t get pregnant.”

He stopped with a heavy sigh, resting his forehead on hers for a moment before straightening up and pulling out of her. Taking his dick in his hand he turned away from her, frantically rubbing and squeezing his length before finishing quickly, bending over slightly and catching his seed in the palm of his other hand.

Turning back towards her, he found he was looking at empty space. She was gone.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

You ran as fast as your fancy dancing shoes would let you to your chamber. Throwing yourself headlong onto your bed and beginning to sob, you wondered how on earth you’d got yourself into this stupid situation. Because you teased him! your brain yelled back at you, it’s all your fault and you know it! Caspian is such a polite, shy, well-behaved boy and look what you made him do!

Eventually your tears stopped flowing and you wearily got up from the bed, struggling a little to unlace your dress at the back but eventually managing it. You’d had to learn how to do that as you didn’t have a lady’s maid, unlike at home. Having washed your face, taken down your hair and changed into your nightdress, you had just lain back down in bed and pulled the quilt over your head when you heard a single knock at your door.

You knew it was Caspian, that one knock had been a special signal between the two of you since you were children. Knowing in your heart that you shouldn’t answer it, you nevertheless got up and opened the door.

It looked as if Caspian had also been crying, his dark eyes were as wide as saucers. “I need to explain.”

You nodded and stood back, allowing him to come into your chamber.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

He locked the door behind him, he didn’t want any interruptions during the discussion he was about to have. She’d walked back to her bed and sat on the edge of it, looking down into her lap. He followed her over there, also perching on the bed next to her.

He drew in a deep breath then said in a low voice, “I’m truly sorry for what I did earlier.” He looked down, “You looked so beautiful but you danced with him, you were in his arms and I was so very jealous! I wanted you so much. But what I did was unforgivable.” He heard her exhale then she said, “I have to say, it’s not how I imagined losing my virginity, Caspian.” His head flew up, “But that… we… didn’t that happen when we…?” She shook her head, blushing, “No, not properly. You didn’t get far enough inside that time,” and looked up at him, “but you did this time.”

Now he felt himself blushing. “Oh! I always thought I lost my virginity to you that evening,” he said, “And you? That means you haven’t been with anyone else?” He held his breath and then she shook her head, her eyes downcast again. He felt an immense sense of relief, blowing out a big breath of air. There was a short silence and then he heard, “Caspian?” He looked over at her, “Yes?” “How many women have you been with since then?”

He leapt up off the bed, drawing himself up to his full height, “None!” he shouted, then as he saw her jump, lowered his voice, “I have been with no woman except you.” Suddenly he knelt in front of her, and he met her intent gaze, “I’ve never wanted anyone else apart from you.” He noticed her eyes welling up, and a few tears slid down her cheeks. He reached up and gently wiped them away, “Why are you crying, my darling?” he asked, “Doesn’t that please you?” She managed a feeble smile, “I’m crying because I am pleased to hear that, yes.”

Caspian’s brain hurt a little as he heard this; he wondered if he’d ever understand women. He decided the wisest course of action would be to remain silent and just smiled back at her, nodding as if he fully understood. She sniffled a little and then said more boldly, “Caspian, when you were… you know… earlier, you said you’d always been in love with me.”

His mind rapidly rewound to when he’d been trying to make love to her, had he said that?! He really didn’t recall - his mind had been on other things! - but as it was the truth in any case, he nodded. He took hold of her hand, “Yes, it’s the truth. I’ve loved you since I met you.” “But we were just children.” “It doesn’t matter. You’re my soulmate, I’ve always known that. It was truly awful when I had to flee the castle as I knew I wouldn’t see you - maybe ever again - but I had no choice, and I just had to try and put you out of my mind until Narnia was safe.”

He got up and sat next to her on the bed again. “It was really difficult. Just recently, everything was starting to return to normal and I was about to try and find you, when you arrived here as Cornelius’ assistant. It seemed fated that we should be together. But you kept on saying how I was your dear friend and.. and my heart broke. I was sure that’s all you felt for me - friendship.”

She shook her head, “No, Caspian. I don’t think I realised it until I came to the castle and saw you again, but I think I’ve always loved you too.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Caspian’s face had the hugest grin on it as you finished speaking. “Really? You love me?” You nodded, “Yes, I do.” Suddenly he was back down on one knee, “Then please - make me the happiest man in Narnia and marry me!” You must have looked like an idiot with your mouth forming a large O, but eventually you managed to say “Yes!” Then he had jumped up, pulling you off the bed and wrapping his arms around you, whirling you round while you squealed and he kissed you.

After the two of you had calmed down somewhat, he left to go back to his own chambers as even although you were now betrothed, it wouldn’t be seemly for him to spend the night with you, even if you just slept in the same bed. He promised that he would have a ring for you by the next day and while you’d assured him there was no rush, he’d insisted that he wanted a betrothal ring on your finger as soon as possible.

You lay awake most of the night, too excited to sleep. It seemed incredible but all of your most precious dreams had come true.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

The next morning, Cornelius had appeared in front of your desk as usual and throwing aside his usual decorous manner, had hugged you. “I am so pleased to hear your news!” he declared. “I’ve never seen Caspian so happy. He was bouncing around like an over-excited rabbit this morning,” he chuckled, taking your hand and squeezing it while you laughed at his description of Caspian’s reaction. “I know the two of you will be so happy together,” he continued, “Now! We must start planning the wedding!”

When Caspian came to your study later that afternoon, he led you out from behind your desk, went down on one knee and proposed to you once again. This time, he produced a small jewellery box from his tunic pocket and opened it, showing you a ring with a large pear-shaped diamond as the centrepiece. It was beautiful and as Caspian slipped it onto your finger, he whispered, “To always remind you of the pear trees in the orchard,” with a small mischievous grin at you.

“How did you get the ring so quickly?” you asked him, as you were amazed that he’d managed to find such a beautiful, perfect ring in the space of one morning. He’d winked at you, “I have my contacts, that’s all I’m going to say.” You never did find out for sure, but there was one diamond merchant in the town nearest to Cair Paravel who had similar gems and you thought it might be from there.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

One thing you did know for sure, the other ladies of the court’s eyes were out on stalks as they glimpsed your new ring when you joined them for dinner that evening. Every single one of them was praying you were going to tell them to whom you were now betrothed and eventually - when you had still said nothing and dinner was nearly over - one of them could keep quiet no longer.

“My lady… umm, I cannot help but notice your beautiful ring!” You dipped your head, “Why thank you, my lady,” you replied. She smirked at you, “But you are not willing to share the name of your betrothed with us?” You shook your head, a faux-regretful look on your face, “I cannot as yet, my lady. My betrothed has to be the one to announce it,” you went on, with a small shrug. Of course, this just meant that their curiosity ate them up even more.

But Caspian had advised you that he had to firstly tell the Grand Council, then your parents, the courtiers and the people of Narnia in that order - that was the accepted, traditional procedure and that was that. So you had to keep quiet, although in truth you were literally bursting to tell everyone!

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

When the news was finally announced, everyone showered congratulations onto you and Caspian. Although you did get the feeling that the other ladies of the court gave their best wishes through gritted teeth and with fake smiles. You knew that they were secretly devastated as you’d won the prize they had been trying to win, and you felt slightly sorry for them as you knew you’d have felt the same if Caspian had asked one of them to marry him.

In the meantime, Cornelius - much to your surprise - had indeed become almost your sole wedding planner, and very good at it he was too! He’d already arranged just about everything. In fact the only thing you had left to worry about choosing was your dress.

Caspian was getting nervous about the actual ceremony; he was worried he was going to forget his vows when he tried to say them to you. You had just told him, “Make them up! As long as you mean them, it doesn’t matter what you actually say.” He’d laughed, pulling you into his arms and kissing you hungrily, but then the two of you had to spring apart as two female courtiers appeared round the corner without warning. You’d all nodded to each other; they pretended they hadn’t seen you and Caspian kissing, and you two pretended you hadn’t been caught.

Until you were married this was frowned on in public, in what you considered to be one of various out-dated court traditions. You’d be shaking up some things once you were Queen, you smiled to yourself.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Caspian was super-excited on his wedding day. He was nervous, yes - but it was a good nervous. Apart from the fact that in a few moments he’d be joined together for all eternity to the woman of his dreams, tonight, their wedding night, they would finally - finally - be able to make love properly. He couldn’t wait.

Their first two attempts hadn’t exactly been stellar successes - and of course, they shouldn’t even have been trying the first time around! - but he just knew that it would be third time lucky. No guilty childish fumblings, no adult angry/jealous sex… it would be just the two of them, lying in amongst the crisp cotton sheets and deep quilts of their marital bed. No prying eyes, no interruptions, no rush - it would be just heavenly. He already felt a little thrill of arousal.

He heard the musicians begin to play the joyful wedding music and he turned to see his beautiful bride - in a gorgeous white dress and holding a bouquet of delicate white flowers - bathed in sunlight and standing in the entranceway. Would he ever feel as happy as this again, he wondered? He didn’t think he would.

She paused for a few seconds and then began to walk gracefully across the Great Hall towards him. Approaching him, through her veil she met his gaze and gave him a dazzling smile.

His smile in return was even brighter and totally blissful.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

@paracosmenthusiast @jessevans

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

[cyborgdumptruck]

Sleepless in Denver (Chapter 7)

Disclaimer: In this chapter, I tried to dive a bit deeper into the specific of how cyborg body works (I failed). Each time I re-read my own work it feels much worse, so I just hope that some of the mistakes I make won’t scare you off.  In the beginning, my idea was more of sticking to the canonic game story, but after a while I decided to make more of the alternative route with “what if..” , this means that some of the encounters and dialogues will be much different from the original. 

“So, I hope you don’t mind if we train here this time. But like I said, it is better to find some more discreet place for our further 'meetings'"

The cyborg looked at Sam in the red sunset, who's eyes sparkled in anticipation. He was not quite sure if it was the best idea for his ex-rival to participate without his exo-suit. He might get serious injuries without any protection, but Rodrigues didn’t mind at all because he was an experienced samurai. The man just brushed it off when Jack asked about it like it wasn’t something important to him.

The brunette left his leather jacket on the bench nearby, exposing his muscles to Raiden. He got Murasama out of the sheath and habitually placed it on one shoulder like he used to do when they first met. 

“Don’t worry, bonito, I got your back. Here…” - he retrieved a micro-chip from his pocket and gave it to Raiden. 

“This will be our place. Discreet and safe, like you asked. No viruses, I promise” 

He smiled, waiting for his ex-opponent’s reaction. So that’s what he was doing today - he created some space for both of them to train. The white-haired man twirled the chip in his clawed hands in a confusion.

“What’s this?” he asked in distrust. It was understandable because Sam still worked with Desperado which means that such software could contain tracking codes or anything else that could be used to their enemy’s advantage. 

“Why don’t you try it before we begin? I could show you around but after that you’ll have to come back to reality” the Brazilian didn’t see any confidence in Raiden’s words, so he approached him to reassure in his own way. 

“Oh, come on! Don’t be such a pussy, Raiden. This won’t hurt you, trust me!” 

Sam looked into his blue eye with a request. His idea was actually quite effective because they wouldn’t hurt each other during the training and Jack could do it with him remotely without causing any suspicion among his colleagues - same for Samuel. But silver-haired was still unsure about this plan at all until his ex-opponent came up close to him. 

“What if this is a trick?”

asked Raiden still looking at the chip and moving his sight onto brunette.

“How should I know if this isn’t a trap from Desperado who asked you to get me?”

Said the cyborg in disbelief, which made his man sigh and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Look, I understand your concern about it, but you have to believe my word, Raiden. Or I won’t be able to help.” said the samurai still looking almost into cyborg’s soul. It made Jack feel weird. He already let Sam so close to him that doubting his words would be just unfair after what they have been through. After thinking for a while, the cyborg made his decision: he decided to trust the samurai, so he nodded and inserted the chip in a small port in his head.

“I hope that you know what you are doing” he said to the Brazilian before his vision went completely dark for a few seconds. Some small yellow letters appeared in his vision which claimed “loading digital profile” and afterwards “processing and generating the environment”. 

When Raiden opened his eyes, he looked around and discovered that he was in a yellow room without any additional textures. It looked more like an arena to him. Samuel appeared behind him. He was a bit glitchy but soon this anomaly stopped - probably due to connection problems. Rodrigues was wearing his armour and he was ready for battle as always. His arrogant smile almost didn’t leave his face. Moreover, the brunette was quite happy that his blondie actually decided to trust him. 

“See? Nothing bad happened. What I like in this software that it was firstly used for my own training and later I just retrieved it for own purposes by making another copy. Just a few adjustments and it is ready for two “players”. I’m excited to see you fight with your all force, Jack!”

The man spread his arms in his usual and a bit taunting manner, showing him the stage. The environment was generic and he could probably adjust it for their needs by adding additional objects or even enemies. After looking around, both of men returned to the reality. It took Jack a few seconds to get used to the bright sun that suddenly pierced his blue eye. He hid the chip when he got it out of his cyborg head, so that he could return to it later. 

“So how was it?” asked Sam still standing near him filled with passion and curiosity about what his ex-opponent just witnessed.

“I think it was pretty good. Sorry that I misjudged you. This is definitely the place we need.” answered Jack with a bit of hesitation.

“But there is one thing that it lacks…” he murmured and got a bit closer to the brunette, playfully sliding with his clawed fingers from his chest on shoulders, passing him by. 

“Hmmm? What is it, pretty boy?” hummed Samuel, feeling a shiver down his spine from the cyborg’s touch. 

The silver-haired stopped just for a moment, almost whispering in his ear.

“I can’t feel you there. Your touch, your lips…It is that any virtual reality cannot replace.” Jack responded and let him go. The silver-haired went to find the best spot on the small grass field so he could use his sword.

“Ooh..I see what you mean there, Blondie~” Samuel turned around and looked at him with his wide grin. He probably felt the same as Jack. 

“Well, I agree that nothing can replace our activities in real life. So I would definitely meet in that case.” Samuel put Murasama in both of his hands. 

“But that will have to wait for a while. For now I let me show you some tricks that would be useful to improve your skills. And after that we’ll do a friendly sparring so that you would fix the material.”

Added the samurai, winked at him, coming up close. 

“Alright. Let’s dance.” said the cyborg who already waited quite a while for this training to happen. He knew he would not regret it.

“Hey, that’s my line, Blondie! Don’t get too cocky there!” chuckled Samuel in response, pointing with his sword at him. And so they were off. 

It felt like the Brazilian gained even more agility and speed in his moves without his exo-suit. The cyborg followed him with attention and nodded. While Jack’s methods based on parrying, Samuel’s were more about avoiding the threat and making some big damage. He explained to Raiden that in the battle sometimes it is more effective to back off and pierce the enemy with the whole force afterwards. There was no need for him to replicate these for a few times, because the information already postponed in his head the right way so that his muscles didn’t have to remember that too.

Working out with Sam was something that he wouldn’t imagine some time ago, same goes about their other interactions. But it felt almost the same. More adrenaline, more passion and some sort of the balance that brought pleasure to him as much as sex. He enjoyed watching Sam swinging with his crimson sword, while his muscles tensed and eyes filled with love to battle - something that made him a true and worthy warrior. After learning most of the moves, it was time to practice it in a fight. Sam didn’t give the cyborg a break as he rushed towards him, making him counter his attack with his sword.

“Think with your head, not with your cyborg-sensors! Research your enemy and his moves and use it in your advantage!” the samurai reminded him, so that Jack could try it on him and in real battle in a meantime. The blue eye slid across his whole body so that he could see where it is vulnerable. One step forward, effective rolling, that knocked unexpecting samurai on the ground. Silver-haired man has pointed his blade on his chest, finishing their practice fight.

“Alright, you got me there, bonito. Well done. You still lack some moves, but you are getting there. I should admit that.” grinned the Brazilian, trying to pull Raiden’s sword away with his palm. 

“Did you fall intentionally?” said Jack and gave him a hand so the samurai could get up from the ground.

“Of course, Raiden! In real fight you’d be the one on the ground, not I!” Sam responded shaking off, like it was his plan from the beginning. That was enough of training for today, as the sun already hid behind the horizon and twilight has descended on warm Denver, hiding the couple in shadows. They sheathed their blades and decided to spend more time together. 

Samuel was happy to see that Jack focused his attention on him and forgot about his problems for a while. Deep in his thoughts, he knew how fragile inside, this man can be. 

“I would invite you for a drink if I could. But the cyborgs don’t do that, right?” suddenly suggested the samurai when they left the park, holding his leather jacket on his shoulder. 

“Why not? I could do a bit. But I won’t get drunk anyway.” shrugged blondie with his shoulders, when he placed himself behind his ex-rival on the motorbike. 

“Really? Huh…Now I am curious to know of how that body of yours works. Never managed to explore that topic deeper.” Sam raised his eyebrows in excitement before he could start his bike. On the other hand, Raiden didn’t want to get into details too much. He just didn’t want to look too vulnerable for Sam, so he responded in words that his man wanted to hear from him. 

“There's a lot to explain. It is just that my sensations differ from what a normal human feels. It is almost the same but different at the same time.”

“Do you even feel my touch? Or everything I did yesterday in bed was pointless?” the brunette pretended to be disappointed. 

“Yes, I do. I can also feel pain and pleasure. But mostly pain.” explained Raiden, so that samurai sighed with a relief.

“Alright. Now that we resolved that, I would really like to get you a drink. Unfortunately because I am driving, I’d have to restrain myself from that. But at least you’ll be the one to get a cut!” finally exclaimed the man as he managed to start the engine and get moving. 

“Sure. Do as you please.” Jack responded, hugging him from behind and resting his head on Samuel’s shoulder. It wasn’t too late, but he felt quite tired, even for a cyborg - another sensation that he was given to feel human. 

The more time he spent with his ex-opponent the better he felt as Sam brought so much comfort to him and his broken soul. 

The trip to the bar, where Sam used to spend his lonely evenings, did not take for too long - it was in a few quarters from the park. 

“Sam! It is good to see you! Same as always?” said the bartender when the couple entered the pub. The samurai was probably a regular customer in here. It was unusual for a killer like him to have a spot in Denver where noone would run from him in terror. 

“No, Ted. I am on wheels today, so please, one shot for my friend!” the brunette gave a pet on Raiden’s shoulder and suggested him to sit at the bar, while his drink was prepared. The blondie looked around because he barely remembered the last time he was in a pub or a night club. The place was quite and cosy with muted red and blue lighting. There were not so many people who came here to rest after a long working day. Though they gave a short look at cyborg who was new here but they didn’t say anything against it like it was a common thing.

“Does anyone recognize you here, actually? I mean…You’re a killer and a terrorist. Probably on the international wanted list.” the blondie asked Sam, while he was sitting on his high bar stool, tilting his leg playfully and looking around. 

“Yeah, there were some incidents about that. But I managed to deal with them on the condition that I have a “neutral status” at this bar. Ted’s a good guy too, I wouldn’t prefer upsetting him.” the samurai stroked the handle of Murasama so that Raiden could understand his ways of negotiating with people around. 

“I see. Why am I not impressed?” sighed Jack, rolling his eyes. He should have guessed that his ex-rival would use the method of threats to create a comfortable place for himself. But he was more surprised that Maverick didn’t discover this place earlier and didn’t put their agents around it to catch Sam. It was too late to think about it because now Raiden wouldn’t give in his nemesis to them. 

Ted, a middle aged man with dark hair where it was possible to notice graying, smiled to his new client and handed him a small shot of tequila. He was also curious as Sam how the cyborg would taste it and the effects that drink would have on him. The blondie tapped with his claws on the glass and took a shot in one gulp. 

“So…How was it?” asked Sam, leaning closer to see his face. 

“I don’t feel anything. It is an alcohol. Everything that I can say.” shrugged the cyborg. 

“Oh..Alright. Want another?” 

the samurai was a bit jealous that today he cannot have a taste of tequila, so he wanted to make the cyborg drink instead of him. 

“Sam, don’t try your luck. I will not get drunk even if I empty a barrel of vodka” the blondie declined the proposition of another shot and stood up. He got bored pretty easily. This place didn’t attract him at all and the only thing he wanted to do is to spend his time with Sam. But not in here. 

“Hey, wait, bonito!” the Brazilian threw money for the drink on the counter and followed his ex-opponent outside. 

“I think that will be enough for today.” Jack stood near the bar entrance, he looked a bit frustrated to Sam. There were a bunch of people nearby, smoking in small groups. To their surprise, he actually asked for one cigarette for himself which he lit between his lip and metallic jaw and looked at the sky full of stars. 

“Yeah, sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have pressured you with all that training after all” the samurai agreed, looking at him with a bit of concern. 

“No, it is not your fault. I just had a rough day, that’s all. Your training actually made me feel refreshed. It is just that I didn’t get enough information for Maverick”

“About what?” 

“Well, you are the only person from Desperado I know. So anything you say about your team would be useful. Unless you’d prefer to keep that in secret” said Raiden straightforward to Rodrigues blowing a small cloud of smoke from his cigarette. 

“I..Well, I wish I could tell you. But I haven’t seen my guys for quite a while. I’ve been to our HQ, but that’s it. Didn’t see my boss or anyone else. So I have no idea what is going on. I probably should have gone to that meeting after all” 

“You said it was not important that time, Sam” Raiden raised his eyebrow looking at the Brazilian, questioning his motivation. 

“Yeah, I did because I wanted to stay with you a bit more” explained Sam. His voice was deep and calm. The silver-haired suspected that there might be something behind this wide grin. And now the brunette gave him the answer which made his cheeks blush a bit. 

“Please, don’t think that I am using you to get information about Desperado!” suddenly exclaimed the blondie, trying to avoid his look.  

“Sure”

“I fucking wanted to tear your face into shreds a few days ago!” he continued with more emotion in his voice.

“I know”

“I just..Can’t understand it..! After I was so untrustful today with that chip..Why..”  

“You can’t understand why I am still here?” asked Sam for Raiden.

“Yes” he murmured, throwing the cigarette on the floor and extinguishing it with his heel. Raiden shuddered when a warm palm touched his cheek. Sam looked into his eye, not taking care about anything else in this world, but only him. 

Raiden had an idea of turning off his emotion inhibitors, but being with Sam made him abandon this idea. The Brazilian was his drug for the good mood that he brought just with his being.

“You attract me, Blondie. But you’ve been through a lot according to your biography, so who else but me could comfort you in this situation? I don’t mind hearing such stuff because back in my days I’ve experienced some shit too. I have nothing to lose now. Except you, of course” he smiled sincerely to Raiden and gave him a light hug. 

“Fucking idiot” said Jack but more calmly, as he wrapped his arms around Sam.

“You are just tired, Jack. I can feel it and see through you.”

Sam was right. It was a long day and the night just started, buzzing with neon lights of Denver streets filled with people around Raiden. It felt like his brain would melt after so much stress he experienced. Both of men decided to leave somewhere more private, so they could sit in bed and feel the intimacy between each other. This time, Sam just wanted to see, if the cyborg actually felt good. But after a while he saw that Raiden fell asleep in his arms.

“Poor boy, they got you passed out!~” sighed the samurai with a slight smile and leaned closer to his lover, even though his body had lot of sharp parts on him that could easily scratch his skin. It didn’t scare him off but made him accept Raiden’s true nature as a cyborg. 

Little did he know what this relationship could bring to the outcome of this war their organizations been part of. 

[maldiaaym]

Why do I think Lily Evans (Potter) was not a good friend?

Until recently, the general opinion of the fandom was that Lily Potter was a good girl, deified and the representation of purity and goodness. But, doing a more exhaustive study of the character, we can get to see how Lily evans maybe was not so holy and made mistakes due to her education and, possibly, depending on the stage of her life where she found herself when she made those mistakes.

In relation to Severus Snape, I think she was not a good friend. Regardless of his age, which we all understand that we do not see friendship in childhood, adolescence or adulthood, she also had defects that compared to other characters in the saga, they were not a role model.

Starting from the little we know about her through the worst memory and Snape's memories, we are going to take some situations into account to assess her defects:

She blamed Snape for the letter Petunia sent to Dumbledore.

She got mad at Snape for dropping a branch on Petunia, even though he did so unconsciously and Petunia was rude to him.

The discussion with Snape about what happened with Remus (werewolf accident), his distrust of who was her friend and believing others before, not caring about Snape.

The lake scene, where she never addressed Snape once, as if he didn't know him and was just another boy to help.

The same lake scene, where she taunted Snape after he called her "Mudblood".

Now, let's talk about the problems at different levels (social, emotional, mental, physical and cultural):

Social: Snape comes from a lower social class than Lily and, although at first the girl Lily did not see the difference, I suppose that as time passed she realized that it did not look good for Snape to wear second hand clothes (surely ), he had serious problems in the family sphere, Snape's own unsociable nature that did not allow him to have a larger group of friends. In childhood we do not usually take into account the social variable when making friends with other children (pre-Hogwarts), but as she became related to the peer group at Hogwarts, she surely could not help feeling somewhat ashamed of the friendship with Snape . Let me explain, in Snape's adulthood it seems that no one knew about Lily and Snape's friendship, so it would be a secret friendship (and we all know that shame towards the other is what leads to secret friendships and relationships).

Emotional: Lily quickly connected with Snape because there was something she needed from him, and it was the knowledge and the desire to be accepted in a place like Hogwarts. Hogwarts was a new world that she did not know and Snape could offer her the security of knowing that world ... But, when she knew what she had to know, Snape had nothing more to offer her, but a clandestine and unrewarding friendship for her. It is not a mistake to think this, but it does show that she deliberately used Snape and that their friendship deteriorated over time. I think she might have felt friendship for Snape in a pure way, but when she began to be friends with the marauders, her emotional level turned towards these guys and she began to move away from Snape. I think the dark arts were an excuse to end the friendship, wanting to get away from him in an interested way ... it's easy to think that, when you really feel empathy for someone, you try to make the effort to understand that person, to know why him he likes the dark arts. However, she Lily was not able to understand him, understand his fears, his insecurities and the need to flee from the hell where he was stuck.Referring to the lake scene, I think Lily had a complete dissociation from Snape by now, she didn't defend being his friend, she didn't speak to him directly even once, and when he made a mistake due to the situation, she scoffed of him and "flirted" with James.

Mental: I think Lily never understood the true meaning of friendship, not at least as she later taught us Harry by understanding Ron and Hermione and accepting his flaws, even when this child was only 11 years old. I think that Lily, as soon as she could, got rid of Snape because she no longer wanted to have an uncomfortable friend, a friend who surely helped her for years in her studies at Hogwarts (I mean surely potions). Snape was like a teacher for Lily in her access to the magical world, he helped her in the study and knowledge of the magical world and I think that Lily stopped seeing usefulness when she already found in Gryffindor and the marauders the way to go her way . I mean, I think she coldly weighed whether or not she was interested in staying friends with Snape and she conveniently cut off the friendship when she got the chance. Lily showed herself to be a cold person who did not understand what Snape was in her whole and who did not appreciate all that he had done for her.I know that calling her "Mudbloods" was not right, but instead of trying to understand the shame and harassment that Snape felt at that time, she broke off the friendship and remained friends with the stalker, the one who emotionally blackmailed her and who continued to be a bully. No one can convince me otherwise.

Physical: here we will talk about the implications of a person who is not really physically attractive. There are studies that determine that people who do not fit the standards of beauty tend to have fewer opportunities in social relationships, love relationships or even find a job. With all this I mean that, when we are children, we do not care about anyone's physical appearance, but when we reach adolescence, our group of equals teach us the canons of beauty, which is considered handsome or what not. In this case, I think Lily was superficial. That is to say, Snape was not physically attractive, surely he did not look comfortable being with him because she was a popular, pretty girl, and he was attracted to a boy who was much more attractive than Snape (even though James was, in my opinion, uglier emotionally and disrespectful to others, adding being a bully). Lily preferred to go for the handsome boy rather than choose a loyal friend who was unattractive.

Cultural: At this level many factors enter, but here I will choose to talk about the differences of ideologies and different culture between Slytherin and Gryffindor. As we know, both houses were enemies, they were the contrast between good and evil in the Harry Potter saga. Slytherin represented everything bad and Gryffindor everything good. Here we also talk about the peer group (that is, a group of people that we consider our equals and from whom we learn cultural, social, emotional and behavioral factors), where Lily in the end ended up choosing to choose Gryffindor and be immersed in ideas prefabs that already existed about Slytherin even though, surely, many ideas were not true. Some of these ideas were hatred towards the "dirty bloods", defending the purity of blood, ambition as a negative element and cunning as if it were something bad that always leads to cheating.Where I see these preconceptions most clearly is in the scene where Lily argues with Snape for defending Mulciber, etc ... in this scene it seems that Lily puts the marauders before (she is supposed to talk about them) because they are from her house and believes that what Mulciber does is worse because he is in Slytherin. Being in Gryffindor, she is believed to have the moral superiority and the right to claim Snape to choose a position, when obviously Snape, like Lily, will choose their peer group. The point here is that Lily prefers to believe the marauders and put Snape in the guilty position, without even asking if his friend is okay or asking him what he saw ... Lily is not interested in knowing what happened because surely he was content with James's version and would always doubt any version Snape could give it.

Up to here, I did my study. It is a bit lazy, I wrote it on the fly and remembering some of the knowledge I acquired when I was studying Pedagogy. But, in essence, I hope you have understood. In the end, Lily opted for what she considered to be okay based on ideas and beliefs that she ended up having with her peer group. She put her friendship with the marauders first and decided to coldly and selfishly eliminate her friendship with Snape. In the end, we have all had friends from whom we have moved away because they no longer shared things with us (although I can presume that I never alienated anyone for thinking differently or liking things that I did not like), but also friends that we have from all our lives, with those of us who do not like things about them, but accept them and try to understand them, where the company of that person is valued more and we do not care what they tell us. It is true that the "peer group" exerts a lot of influence on us, despising those who consider strange people or have unusual habits for the majority of the population. But Snape and Lily met in childhood, this factor should not have been decisive for their estrangement and, I am afraid, that in the almost of Lily, he ended up accepting the conditions of his peer group to the detriment of maintaining a friendship that so much contributed. I don't hate Lily, I have no problem with her, for me she really is a flat character, too overrated and that only has a few three lines in the entire Harry Potter saga. It is impossible to empathize with her as we would with other characters and she hardly has any development of her. The most remarkable thing about her is that she gave her life for her son, otherwise she showed us a girl who had a strange friendship with Snape and who married the popular boy of her time.

[systematicmasspoisoning]

Who is Sam's prison for?

If you're not up to date in DreamSMP lore, Awesamdude, resident Redstone expert, was paid stacks of diamonds by Dream to make an inescapable prison. It is located in the ocean next to Bad and Skeppy's mansion and is VERY large. Supposedly it will be using Elder Guardians to keep a prisoner from mining out due to Mining Fatigue. Even if the prisoner dies of hunger, they will respawn inside. This brings up the question of how

1. they force the prisoner to click a bed inside the prison

2. how they keep the prisoner from breaking the bed.

Regardless of the mechanics of the second one, I think the first is a clue as to who Dream will trap inside the prison. Consider the 3 canon deaths lore. He has used the threat of permanently killing Tommy to get the boy to comply and click on a bed in Logstedshire. So a 'permanent death if you don't comply' is definitely an effective tactic but ONLY for people with one life left.

The main two options are Tommy and Tubbo (or Philza). Or, Dream is planning on knocking another one of his potential opponents, such as Quackity, Fundy or Techno, down to one life in the time it takes to build the actual prison.

Quackity and Fundy aren't big enough threats yet, although Quackity certainly has the potential to be a threat, in this season of the SMP, El Rapids isn't big enough of a threat yet.

Most people would assume Dream's biggest enemies on the server are Tommy and Techno. Techno's role in the grand scheme of things is, as of now, undetermined. However, as Techno is one of the authors of this SMP season, he likely has something up his sleeve. He is currently 'retired' alongside Phil in their Antarctic Empire skins in a snowy biome, but he has made appearances in Tommy's streams to mock the boy for getting exiled (just like Techno predicted with the Theseus analogy.) An alliance between the sleepbois is possibly in the works, but right now, both Tommy and Techno have made it clear there is still a lot of animosity between them. So I don't see Techno, and by extension, Phil becoming much of a problem for Dream (for now.)

Tommy, on the other hand, has been visited by Dream almost every stream while Tommy is exiled; Tommy has been manipulated by him, gaslighted and threatened. Despite making the very real threat of giving Tommy his final death, Dream has stopped Tommy from any, um, self-harming actions. Dream told him "I need you alive." Narratively, that means that Dream has plans for Tommy (they are, after all, each other's main antagonist). But Dream has also said that Tommy will remain on exile for a long time and he told Bad and Sam as they were building the prison that he doesn't intend on using the prison on Tommy (unless he begins to act up was implied.)

Because Bad and Sam (and Eret) are working with Dream, I would assume imprisoning anyone from the Badlands is out of the question. But I think it's interesting how Sam is the primary leader of the building project.

Dream said that Sam is the only one who will totally know the ins and outs of the prison. So that possibly means Sam is the only one who would know how to escape the inescapable prison. The interesting thing about Sam being included in this storyline is his connections. He and Tubbo are very close, and Sam is also friends with Tommy. Its not long of a stretch to assume that Sam's storyline might eventually lead to HIM breaking out whoever Dream imprisons. Tommy, for now, is out of the equation, so who does that leave?

Tubbo. Someone who many people are now considering Dream's puppet. Dream has been laying on the manipulation lately, playing chess with him, complimenting him and trying to increase the wedge between Tubbo and Tommy. You would think Tubbo is safe, so long as he remains pacifistic and continues to make decisions that are to Dream's benefit. But there are things going beyond the scenes that we, the audience, need to consider. The script.

Symbolism and chekov's guns have been sprinkled into the story line for a long time, and it feels as though the roleplayers have upped the ante. It's hard to think about Ghostbur' compasses without crying, but I literally can't stop thinking about what they mean. When it comes to the duo, despite their estrangement, Tommy still considers Tubbo one of the most important things in his life. He placed the "Your Tubbo" compass right beside his discs in his enderchest. Meanwhile, Tubbo held his "Your Tommy" compass in his offhand nearly all stream today. They still care for each other, obviously, but think about one of the reasons Tubbo exiled Tommy in the first place.

He felt like Tommy was choosing the discs over everything else. He felt as though the discs were the only thing Tommy cared about. There has to be a resolution to this. It's been shown by the story that the discs and Tommy's other obligations (L'manberg, his friendships) cannot coexist together for long without it driving a wedge between them.

Tubbo has been streaming more Among Us lobbies and modded Minecraft lately. When he comes onto the server, he nearly has nothing to do. He loves big project and building houses, but as of now, Tubbo has so little materials to even bother making a home and his largest project, the ocean monument, has been placed on the backburner while Sam builds the prison. Its almost....its almost like Tubbo is preparing his audience and for a period of time where he has no reason to be on the SMP. If he's imprisoned, that's not very good content to watch, is it? I also noticed that Dream pointedly did NOT tell Tubbo about the prison today, instead referred to it merely as a 'project.'

My biggest theory is that the prison is for Tubbo. Tubbo is complacent to Dream now, sure, but Tubbo is very, very smart, and- most importantly to Dream - he still has one of Tommy's discs. And Dream wants it.

When talking sweet to Tubbo no longer works, I think the prison will be the next best option. Its possible Dream will frame Tubbo for some crime (foreshadowed by how Quackity and George tried to frame Eret for Karl's murder), or someone will threaten to overthrow Tubbo and Dream will bring him to a 'secure location' to protect him. Tubbo is very nervous about losing his one life, as exhibited by the safe room under the L'mamberg podium, and other comments about his fear of becoming the next Ghostbur. Dream said that he would protect Tubbo if someone tried to overthrow him. The only threats to Tubbo's current presidency is El Rapids. Ranboo is willing to wait until the next election to become president, but Quackity has shown a strong willingness to do terrible things in order to get power. In Quackity's war against Eret and Dream, Dream made many, many references to Tubbo being a better leader, possibly sowing jealousy in Quackity's mind. Sapnap, George and Karl, as apart of El Rapids also have a bone to pick with L'manberg and may also play a part in further separating Quackity from L'manberg and fueling his desire to be the most powerful nation on the server. Absorbing New L'manberg could be the next step.

Dream could pretend to protect Tubbo by bringing him to a 'safe location', the prison, and getting Tubbo to willingly set his spawn inside. Once it comes to light that it's a prison, with Dream his captor, Tubbo will have to make a decision. Give Dream the disc in his enderchest, or stay imprisoned. Freedom, or the disc, a compromise that has been made time and time again on this server.

I think that Tubbo will hold out and allow himself to be imprisoned, while Tommy returns from exile to make a prison break, with the help of Sam. I doubt that will end well, knowing Dream.

I also think at some point, one of the boys will need to bend. Either Tubbo choses to give up his disc to Dream for freedom, or he decides to take the disc with him to his grave. Its basically the Exile decision all over again. Life/freedom, or the discs/war. Selfishness vs. selflessness.

The two boys are learning throughout this current arc to be more like the other. Throughout his Exile, Tommy will learn to be self sufficient and has had to make big sacrifices consistently as Dream blows up the progress he's made. He's learning to chose his own life over property. Meanwhile, Tubbo (although he's only streamed on the SMP once so far this week) has already shown regret for exiling Tommy, and inherently by choosing to launch a war campaign against Techno, he is learning to chose war and bravery over peace and cowardice. He will gain an appreciation for the disks and/or recognize with greater understanding what they mean to Tommy. Maybe he will learn to care deeply for his compass and learns how willing he is to wage war if the compass gets stolen. It's about the symbolism - its what the object means that is worth protecting.

I think Tubbo will die protecting the discs. Or, Tommy will tell Tubbo to give it up. This is a better ending, in which Tommy will learn that the discs represent is his friendships. And, according to Ranboo, they also represent power, according to Ranboo. But on the server, according to Wilbur (when he asks Tubbo to spy for him) people have always represented power.

To Tommy, in this arc, I hope he will learn that keeping the discs is not worth losing his best friend.

[shinranposting]

Okay I'll number then one by one. Many are mostly For Want Of A Nail since the only reasons they were prevented is sheer luck. If you can make any interesting scenarios from these that'd be a plus.

1. The Lawyer SOS case is still a sore spot for me in reasons I'd be happy to divulge at any time but right now, let's assume the Mouri's get there two late what would be the aftermath like for both Ran and Shinichi?

2. Given that the Tranq is so powerful, if Conan got him hooked on harder drugs or accidentally made him OD, what comes next?

3. Considering how many times Sonoko or the Detective Boys nearly die, what would Shinichi and Ran's response be if they do?

4. Let's say that there definitely is no hope for a antidote and Shinichi has to age normally. Do you think he'll reach a breaking and make increasingly risky self destructive decisions? Or do you think he'll bite the bullet and tell Ran the truth? If the latter how will there relationship go from there?

Hi!

Well, these are questions that would involve relatively long answers. I hope I can condense a bit, as well as have understood your questions well.

1- Let me understand, you mean Eri's kidnapping case, right? What would have happened if Kogoro, Ran and Conan arrived later to rescue Eri? Well, there might be implications for Eri's safety (although maybe not, since she only gets caught because she comes out of hiding to yell out the window at them), but for Ran and Shinichi? I can't see different consequences than what we already saw in the manga. Ran suspects throughout the case, due to Conan's behavior, that he and Shinichi are the same person, but he manages to throw her off because he recorded himself in Shinichi's voice (I have a theory about that, but I think the answer would be too long, in another opportunity I will expand).

So if they had come to rescue Eri at any time, regardless of the consequences for Eri, this scene, I think, would happen the same way. The only scenario where I think it would change anything is if the danger Eri faces was due to the BO, but that's not the case, so I don't see any different consequences for Shinichi and Ran, since that scene would have happened in the same way. I hope I have understood your question well.

2- I think there is a meme or fanart about it. In that Conan throws so many tranquilizer darts at Kogoro that he die due overdoses lol. But considering the tone of the series, these types of scenarios are ignored and I doubt something like that would happen in canon. Besides , considering how careful Shinichi is about many things, it is very unlikely that he would mess up and use stronger drugs. In any case, putting ourselves in the event that it happens, I suppose that it could have consequences on the health of the person against whom he uses the tranquilizer, which would lead Conan to be more careful, or to stop using it altogether in the event that the consequences were more serious. And if the result were death, it would be a catastrophic and paradoxical result for someone like Shinichi, who abhors all kinds of murder, which would lead him to confess his identity and all the truth about him. Keeping quiet about this would be totally ooc for him.

3- More than the reaction to the death of specific characters, it would be more about delving into the differences in the reactions that Ran and Shinichi would have regarding the death of a friend or close person. Ran is very emotional and Shinichi is more self-controlled (even Gosho claims that he never cries, which I don't like at all). In the case of the Detective Boys, who have somehow become "friends" of Conan, we get a glimpse of their reaction to this scenario in file 817 (manga), when he believed that the boys had been trapped in a fire in the forest.

He gets nervous, yells at them, and tries to go there to rescue them. Probably before a death, he would be affected for a while, and then he would remember them with a certain sadness, feeling guilty for not being able to save them. In the case of Ran with Sonoko, just like Shinichi, if she was within her reach, she would try to save her, and if she couldn't, she would cry bitterly for her friend, and she would probably continue crying and suffering in silence while trying to show herself calm/normal in public as she wouldn't want others to worry.

4- Okay, this question could be answered in a separate post, since it is one of the most recurring themes in manga, and it could perfectly be developed at length. Of course, anything that would happen in this scenario is pure speculation, since we don't really know what Conan would do, and what Ran's reaction would be, but based on file 387 (manga), in "The Sullied Masked Hero" case, Conan feels identified with the phrase with the masked fighter: "My identity will only be revealed when I lose".

And since not being able to get his body back could be considered a defeat for Shinichi, and considering how much he would hate to make Ran suffer and wait forever, I think Shinichi would tell her the truth so that, sadly for him, she stop waiting for him. You have to remember that Shinichi keeps asking Ran to wait for him, it's because he still thinks he can beat the BO and get his body back, and if he already believed it's impossible, I can't imagine Shinichi being so selfish as to leave her in the darkness and waiting for him, or to ask her to forget him without any explanation. On the other hand, self-destructive decisions I don't think so, since that, in one way or another, would mean the search for a way out of his situation through suicide, and that would be totally ooc for him.

Now, regarding Ran's reaction, I think that for a while now, Ran's attitude suggests that she would no longer want Conan and Shinichi to be the same person, since it would hurt her that he didn't trust her, lied to her and hid things. Ran is a very morally upright person, who doen't like lies, so in any other situation other than BO's, it would really be difficult for her to forget it since it would imply perceiving him in another way (morally speaking), but considering that Ran is wonderful, she would understand the dangerous situation Shinichi is in, and despite having some resentment, she would help him and cover up. Regarding their romantic relationship, it seems uncertain to me, considering that the situation of being with a child would be a bit strange, so they could put their relationship on hold for a while. I think it would be like her to wait for Shinichi to find a solution or that he grow up, while helping him to overcome her complicated situation.

I hope I have been able to understand your questions and answer your questions well, and if you wanted to delve into any point, just mention it.

[smellsfaintlyofvanilla]

Hey~~ could you write Annie x reader? What I had in mind was towards the end of s1 when Annie was trying to climb up the wall, could she try and take reader with her because they always talked about being together? Kinda like when Ymir took Historia in s2, and I really love your writings 💕 thanks~

TAsdfhjksfadh you didn’t specify whether Annie made it over the wall with the reader or not so uh I just kinda picked one lol hope you don’t mind

Also, sorry this is a little late, I've been feeling just a little sick for the past couple of days.

Prove It

(Annie Leonhart x Reader)

AU: Canon

Warnings: Season 3 spoilers

Category: Mostly angst, little fluff

Summary: When Annie was outed as the Female Titan, she didn’t have a lot of options on where to go. And, as the fight between her and Eren progresses, it becomes clear her best option is to flee. Yet, there’s just one thing she can’t leave without. And it seems the feeling’s mutual.

Words: 3.1K

That wicked laughter.

It rung through the empty streets of Stohess, abandoned specifically for this military operation.

The goal? To lure out the suspected Female Titan, Annie Leonhart. Your girlfriend.

At first, you were violently against participating in the operation. You weren’t going to incriminate her, that would be incredibly faithless. Really, you wanted nothing more than for her to be vindicated, and to prove the the world the the “heartless” Annie Leonhart is a loyal soldier, not the traitorous snake they started to make of her.

It got in your head, most certainly. Within hours of the first discussion, ‘Annie Leonhart’ and ‘Female Titan’ had become synonymous with each other, and you hated every bit of it. You always defended her fiercely, because you could only hear so much distasteful talk towards her before you started to broil over with rage.

So, you agreed. You were going to lure Annie down in to the tunnel and prove once and for all that she wasn’t a monster. You could clear her of suspicion, and the two of you would go back to your ordinary lives with each other.

And oh, if only that was what happened.

But you watched in horror as Annie refused to go down the tunnel. She laughed, laughed, when you pleaded with her to follow you, that all she needed to do was come along with you to be unshackled from the scrutiny and doubt.

But her feet remained planted in her rigid stance of defense.

“Y/n...” She slurred out, laughter finally subsiding. “I’m glad I could be a good person to you.”

The slope of fear seemed to lose it’s steadiness, and the drop-off into the pit of empty horror occurred when she held up her hand to her mouth, preparing herself for the bloodshed to follow.

“You’ve won your bet. But this is where my bet begins...!”

The signal flare fired, and the countless soldiers waiting in ambush jumped from all angles. You watched, wide-eyed and frozen, as they restrained her and gagged her, like muzzling a dog. But, it was no use. Her ring, the silver ring she never let you touch, sprung up a spike out of it’s side, and a quick slide of her thumb across the tip opened up a bloody gash in her finger.

And then came the lightning.

Mikasa had thrown her arms around you and Armin, dragging you down into the tunnel to get out of harm’s way of the transformation.

You knew she had finished her transformation when the thundering stopped, and chunks of debris rolled to a stop at your feet, stirred dust slowly settling itself back onto the stone ground. For a moment, everything stilled, and only the ragged breaths of Armin and the sheathing of Mikasa’s blades were audible.

And then something moved.

You weren’t sure what it was, until around the corner, the light was consumed by a large shadow, growing closer and closer and absorbing more of the sunlight until it rounded the corner.

A fingertip. Then the finger. Then the hand. An arm—and it was traveling down the hallway, fingers frozen in a pose as if it were trying to grab onto something, something it couldn’t see.

“Shit!” You let out a terrified yelp and took off running, Mikasa hot on your tail and Armin stumbling closely behind.

It sought after the three of you, until a distant thump could be heard. You whipped your head around and stopped running, noticing the hand—ever present, it’s finger stretched desperately in an attempt at grabbing something, but it was no use. You caught a glance of it’s upper arm, flush against the wall of the curve.

She couldn’t reach any farther.

You let out of a sigh of relief, falling to your knees and gazing at it. It’s shaking fingers stopped, finally, and went limp into it’s palm in defeat, before slowly pulling itself out. You had no clue whether it was trying to grab you, or Armin, or Mikasa, or if it was planning on killing you or not. Bottom line, it was unsuccessful.

But then more thunder.

It seems Eren finally got his cue, because the signature yellow hues of transformation shone even into the dark abyss of the wrecked tunnel.

The three of you took a deep breath and shared a collective glance. Before long, the unsaid instructions were followed, and the three of you scurried out of the tunnel to witness the action.

And action it was—the first sight you were greeted with upon exiting was that of Annie delivering a decisive punch to Eren’s jaw, sending him flying backwards into the streets of Stohess.

Eren returned to his feet as fast as he could, and let out a menacing roar as he charged at Annie, arms low like a football player preparing to pounce on something.

He charged, but her feet remained planted, arms bracing for impact.

You watched as the two of them brawled furiously. You didn’t even notice that Mikasa and Armin had left your side—you hadn’t moved. You couldn’t find it in your heart to fight Annie, but neither were you going to fight Eren. No, all you could do was watch, helpless.

The battle continued fiercely, absolutely wrecking the city in the process. Building were destroyed and crumpled, streets of stone completely upended as one or the other got helplessly tossed around.

It came to a head as the fight eventually progressed to a wide, open space of stone, and the two of them were fighting hand to hand, both of them looking worse for wear. You shot your ODM gear into the roof of a nearby building, watching the fight with a slacked jaw. You had no clue how Eren was even standing a chance to Annie, since you yourself had seen how skilled she was in martial arts.

Soon, though, a decisive kick to Annie shin sent debris and rocks flying everywhere. Annie lost her footing, tumbling to the ground with a thump.

And you had been so fixated on Annie in that moment that you failed to notice the debris, and it was headed right towards your face.

Something—rigid and powerful—collided with your head, and you fell to the ground instantly.

Your vision was already fading, and you watched as tiny streams of crimson flowed over the shingles and down the roof—no doubt stemming from the newly opened gash on your scalp.

The distant clinking of the rock as it tumbled down the slope of the roof was the last thing you heard, and the world around you faded to black.

---

Through the darkness, a memory flashed through your mind.

---

It was dark out, of course it was. Shadis would never let you have leisure time at all when the sun was up.

You leaned against an lone oak tree, fingers brushing through the soft grass idly. The air was cold and crisp, and a soft breeze flowed through the air, just barely enough to rustle your soft hair.

Annie sat silently next to you, shoulder brushing up against yours. Slowly, she slinked her hand over yours, hesitantly grasping at your hand. You entwined your fingers with hers, and she looked away shyly.

She often had bouts of insomnia, lying awake at night for hours, unable to get her body to relax. And, the first night she tugged at your nightshirt, waking you up to go outside with her, she fell asleep in your arms due to exhaustion almost immediately.

So, it had become an unspoken ritual from that day on. She couldn’t sleep, she’d wake you up, the two of you would go outside, and talk or busy yourselves until sleep inevitably caught up to her.

But today was different. For whatever reason, something had been keeping her up for a lot longer than usual. You knew something was weighing down on her heavily, but you weren’t going to pry it out of her.

Deciding to break the tense silence, you squeezed her hand gently, getting her attention before you spoke.

“It’s nice out, isn’t it?” You observed. You weren’t talking about the weather per-say, but the thousands of white speckled stars that dotted the sky, and the bright, full moon that illuminated the grass and dirt beneath you.

“It’s cold.” She said bluntly.

You chuckled softly, her bleak attitude was so characteristic of her.

“I guess that’s true.”

More silence.

And then she sighed, bringing your hand into her lap to cusp it in both of her palms, clinging onto it as if it were grounding her.

“What do you plan on doing later in life, Y/n?” She huffed, leaning her head backwards against the back of the tree and gazing up at the sky. “You don’t possibly plan on staying in the military your whole life, do you?”

“No, of course not.” You sighed.

“Then do you have plans afterwards?”

You paused for a minute. She raised a good point, you didn’t really think of anything after the military. Deep down, perhaps you understood that by joining the Cadet Corps you didn’t have much ahead of you. You can only survive so many brushes with death before it’s your turn to go.

“I guess not...” You hesitated, deep in thought. You swallowed a lump in your throat before changing the subject. “Why, do you?”

Even through the darkness, you could feel the shrug of her shoulders against you.

“Not really.” She muttered. “Just... stay with the MPs, make a living wage, retire somewhere in the interior, and... relax. I just wanna... find somewhere to relax.”

She paused for a second. Clearly there’s something tugging at her mind, something she wants to say. So, you sit back and wait for her to find the confidence.

“Do you promise me that... sometime, after a while in the Scouts, that you’ll come back to be with me?”

The future between the two of you was always painted with uncertainty—whether the two of you could ever truly stay together. It would be difficult, between soldiers, to be able to settle down and stay together no matter what, especially from different regiments. But you could always try.

She exhaled shakily, struggling to get the words out of her throat.

“I just can’t imagine living the rest of my life without you. ‘Cause... if anything ever happened to you in the Scouts...” Her voice trailed off near the end, and you assumed she was trying to plan out her next words carefully, until you heard a small sniffle pass her lips.

Surprised, you turned to face her. She was trying to fight off the tears at the corners of her eyes, lip trembling as she struggled not to cry. It wasn’t until now that you realized just how tightly she gripped your hand.

“Annie- Annie it’s alright.” You stumbled, trying to comfort her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was upsetting her—she was scared of living a life without you.

You hooked an arm around her lower back, pulling her closer to you and putting your other hand on the back of her head and guiding her to your shoulder.

“I promise you, no matter what, I’ll live. And one day, we can spend all our time together. I’ll go wherever you go, I swear.” You ran your hand through her hair, undoing the bun she kept it in and evening it out over her shoulders.

“You promise?” Her voice sounded shaky and weak, a vulnerability to it that she rarely showed. “No matter what happens to me, you’ll trust me and stay with me?”

“I promise. Of course I do.”

---

Warmth.

It was the first thing you noticed upon waking up. The second was darkness. You sat up, noticing how wet the surface beneath you was. And how how fleshy.

Your face paled in realization. You were in a titan's mouth.

You raised your arm up, cringing at the trail of saliva that connected you to her tongue.

Immediately, you searched for a way to get out. You didn't plan on leaving her behind, but you'd rather not be stuck in a place as slimy and dark as this either. However, your efforts were pointless, since her jaw was clamped shut, her teeth caging you in and preventing you from escaping. Your heart dropped a little, wondering if she didn't trust you not to run away.

Suddenly, you felt a large thump, the unexpected movement causing you to grab desperately at anything that would keep you grounded in one spot.

But then, another thump. And another, and another. It felt like running, almost, but far too slow. You pondered it for a moment, before you realized what was going on.

She was trying to climb the wall.

But then, the thumping stopped. She wasn't falling, thank god, but all movement has seized.

Hesitantly, her jaw started to open, giving ample space for you to squeeze through. A sudden thought came to you—she needed your help.

With no hesitation, you drew your blades and burst through the skin of her cheek, not even waiting for her to part for lips. Adrenaline pumping through your veins, you immediately search for the source of the problem. And you found it in the brute of a soldier, Mikasa Ackerman.

The girl was perched on Annie's nose, staring down at her. A quick glance to your side and you realized, with horror written all over your face, that Mikasa had cut off almost all of Annie's fingers—one more and Annie would easily lose her grip.

You understood, as soon as Mikasa drew her blades towards Annie's hand, you only had one option.

You shot your ODM gear towards her, not even caring when the hook dug into Mikasa's shoulder, causing her to yelp in pain as she turned to you.

She wasn't even given a moment to process as you came hurtling towards her, colliding with her shoulder and sending both of you flying through the air and towards the ground—fast.

Despite the small voice telling you that it would be easier to just ditch Mikasa, to release your ODM gear and let her fall, you shot the other hook into the wall, and your momentum halted to a stop.

She peeled her arms away from their protective guard around her head, processing that the two of you had stopped before looking up to you in surprise. You looked back down at her, an expression of sorrow in your eyes. It hurt you to betray her, and all of your comrades, like this, but you knew as soon as Annie placed her trust in you by opening her mouth that you only had one choice.

"Y/n what are y—!"

"I'm sorry Mikasa!" You yelled, trying to put aside your emotions for the time being. "I can't... I can't leave her, I promised I wouldn't!"

You took a deep breath, positioning on your finger on the trigger, preparing to release Mikasa from your ODM gear's bloody grip in her shoulder. "I'm sorry..." You muttered, before pulling the trigger, watching Mikasa tumbled towards the ground, her betrayed expression still glued helplessly on her face.

You decided that it would only hurt you to look at Mikasa—engraining that image into your head would certainly plague you later on.

You finally turned to look back at Annie, and your heart picked up a couple paces at the sight.

Her head was turned to you, watching—waiting—for you, her hand outstretched in your direction. You smiled, firing your ODM and flying into the palm of her hand, quickly climbing up onto her shoulder to allow her to finish her ascent up the wall.

You turned back one last time, looking over at the destroyed city, and the furious and betrayed faces of your comrades. You sighed, turning back around. That's in the past now, you thought. It doesn't matter. I... made a promise to Annie, I can't betray her. I can't...

---

The line of trees in the distance grew closer and closer as Annie jogged forwards, having made it over the wall and all the way to the forest inside Wall Maria.

She slowed down to a walking pace as she neared the trees, kneeling on the ground before releasing herself from the nape of her titan. Steam flowed from her body as she immediately collapsed forwards, and you instantly lurched forwards to catch her exhausted body in your arms.

"Grab on." You instructed, waiting for her to securely wrap herself around you before you flew through the air and onto a tree branch, making sure you were safely out of the reach of any mindless titans before you let go of her.

She took a deep breath, leaning against the wooden trunk of the tree to recollect her strength. After all, even as a titan, the fight had done numbers to her body.

You sat there in comfortable silence for a little bit, waiting for her to catch her breath while you idly readjusted the straps to your ODM gear.

Finally, she reached over to take your hand, grabbing it in both of hers just like she had during your conversation with her years ago.

"I'm so glad..." She sighed, voice weak and wavering. "I was so scared when I opened my mouth that you would just... run off without me."

Slowly, she shifted, wrapping her arms around your neck and leaning her entire body weight on you. You could feel some of the tension leaving her body as she sighed against you, burying her nose in the crook of your neck.

"I was terrified that if you found out my real identity, you would just leave me. I don't know how I would've handled it. I was just..." She took a shaky inhale as she continued, and you felt a few wet tears against your neck. "Scared. So... So scared..."

You set a comforting hand on her back, hugging her tighter in an attempt to sooth her.

"Annie..." You cooed in her ear. "I promised you, remember? I would never leave your side. I'm gonna stay with you for the rest of my life."

Her breathing started to calm against you, your words managing to ease her worries.

"Yeah," She sighed, pulling away from you. "I shouldn't have doubted you, sweetie."

You smiled and placed your hands on her shoulders, bringing her in for a quick kiss before wiping her tears with the back of your hand.

"It's fine. Just remember," You leaned in and hugged her, exuding a warm feeling that made Annie's heart swell with love. "I'll always be on your side, no matter what."

"God, I love you so much, you dork." She muttered, heat rising to her cheeks with a content smile.

You chuckled, "I love you, too."

MAN THIS IS ASS

This is what happens when you force yourself to write with a headache whoops haha

[samstree]

Hug a Witcher Day (3/4)

In which Jaskier goes missing in the spring. Can Geralt finally realize his feelings for the bard in the middle of a crisis?

(hurt/comfort, soft geraskier, 3k, rated T, cw: mentions of a canon-era plague, sick children, and a citywide lockdown.)

part 1, part 2, read on AO3

The third year since Jaskier invented Hug a Witcher Day, Geralt all but forgets about it completely.

He steps into the Two Weatherfish, where they agreed to meet, and realizes that the bard isn’t here. Or in the entire city of Ard Carraigh. No one has seen any trace of the famous bard who won’t quit singing praises for witchers.

Geralt pushes down the slight panic in his chest as he steps out of the last tavern in the city, and decides to just head for Oxenfurt.

It’s not like Jaskier has been the most reliable companion in the past, often distracted by dalliances or even anything shiny and new. One time he wandered off to watch a local celebration and Geralt found him hours later next to a lake, with thousands of lanterns floating above the water, illuminating the night sky like burning stars peppered on a dark canvas.

The soft, orange light spilled over Jaskier’s features, his eyes gleaming like the stars too.

Geralt snorts despite himself. There’s no doubt the bard is just delayed by someone who caught his eye and decided that a promise to a witcher isn’t all that important—the same witcher who he keeps claiming to be his best friend.

Geralt isn’t sure how to feel about that, or how to react when he finally sees Jaskier. Perhaps he will cease to talk about hunts for a while, leave the bard hanging, just so he can get a taste of the same frustration.

The pettiness remains in Geralt’s mind up until he steps into the academy and rampant fear licks up his chest.

Essi is the one who meets him at the gates, worry deep between her brows and rambling about how Jaskier never made it to the yule ball like he should. In her hands are two letters, clearly Jaskier’s handiwork judging from the neat curves and flourish, talking about his excitement to see his ‘Little Eye’ perform again, and how unfortunately his travel would be delayed due to an unexpected ailment.

Don’t you fret, poppet, for I am sure to beat this sickness within days. The promise of listening to your new ballad is already doing wonders for my health! It is a shame that my stay in Vizima is soured thus. The city, so beautifully rich in culture…

“Vizima,” Essi says frantically. “A plague broke out in the city last winter. Smallpox.”

A buzz begins to ring by Geralt’s ear, muffling out Essi’s voice and leaving only the thundering of his own heartbeat.

“They told me King Foltest sealed the gate to stop the spread, and…and no one has heard from anyone inside since then. Geralt, please, you are a witcher. Aren’t you immune to human sickness? That’s what Jaskier told me, isn’t that right?”

“I…yes.” The lump in Geralt’s throat stops any other words from getting out. His blood runs cold in the warm breeze of Oxenfurt’s spring.

“Please, Geralt, you must find him. I need to know. The university won’t allow me to go, but I…I must know. No matter what happened to him.”

The implication hangs in the air.

Tears well up in blues eyes too similar to Jaskier’s. Essi would be my sister in another life, Jaskier once commented adoringly and it’s only standing right here that Geralt can truly see the identical fierceness in her eyes.

As if Geralt needs her to ask. As if he isn’t willing to charge into the land of the dead if it means Jaskier gets out of it unscathed.

“Of course, Essi,” he promises solemnly. Her clutch on his forearm is so tight that any other man would be bruised by the force. “I promise.”

“Keep him safe, if it’s not too late.”

In his near-century long life, Geralt has rarely felt cold, unrelenting fear as he does when Essi breaks into sobs.

 *

The sickness in Vizima casts a gloomy cloud over the sky, choking Geralt’s breaths. The streets are eerily empty. Only a few people will pass through in a frenzy every now and then.

Geralt’s legs take him right through the main streets, to the far corner of the city, where countless makeshift tents are set up and stretching towards the edge of the woods. If anyone has indeed fallen to the disease, that’s the most likely place they will be sent to. If anyone passes, that’s also where they keep the records so friends and families can look for their names.

Bile rises in his throat at the idea of looking through stacks of books for Jaskier’s name.

Geralt walks between hundreds of beds of one tent after another. Some healers throw him an odd look but carry on with their work, the flash of their white scrubs weaving through the busy establishment.

Against all odds, a pang of relief hits Geralt when he notices how the patients are well-treated by healers who seem to know what they are doing. The fever is brought down with a soaked cloth and a minty salve is applied for the irritation on the skin.

He searches and searches, until the sun is almost down, when—

A soft tune is carried over by the gentle breeze of spring.

And there Jaskier is, kneeling next to a little boy on a bed and humming a lullaby that Geralt only remembers vaguely. The bard is wearing the same white scrub like every carer at this camp, his brown hair slightly ruffled, and dark circles are hanging under his eyes. Geralt can see how tired he is by the hunch of his shoulders and the barely-there quiver in his singing, by his unkept stubble and the smile that’s dangerously close to falling.

And yet, he makes the most beautiful sight in the world.

Geralt stands there, drinking in the presence of his bard. The languid heartbeat of a witcher picks up, fluttering and almost bursting out of his chest.

Jaskier runs his fingers through the boy’s hair when the lullaby comes to an end. He tucks in the blanket and slowly pulls himself up, his knees creaking from the strain.

Blue eyes meet Geralt and Jaskier’s shock morphs into unbridled, blazing joy. Within the blink of an eye, the bard is standing right in front of Geralt.

“Geralt,” Jaskier breathes oh so carefully like he’s scared of waking from a dream. “What are you doing here? Wait, you don’t have any protec—oh right! Witcher biology. Can’t catch anything from us.” The bard lets out a sigh and his shoulders drop in relief. “How did you get through the gate? Punched another guard, didn’t—”

“You are okay,” Geralt says, dumbly.

“I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” Jaskier frowns. “Geralt, why did you come to Vizima in the middle of a plague? Not that I’m complaining about seeing you, but how exactly did you find me?”

Geralt doesn’t want to look away from Jaskier’s face—ideally for a long time to come, but he needs to rummage through his pack for the crumpled letters.

“You sent these to Essi last winter.”

Jaskier takes the letters, flattens the frayed edges before reading his own words.

“Yes, I did tell her…” Cold horror takes Jaskier aback. “Shit. She must think—Oh, Geralt, that wasn’t it! I only caught a stomach bug. It was never the pox! But then…they locked the city gate so fast and everything was in chaos for weeks. I couldn’t get more letters out. Oh, I wish I could take it back! I didn’t think—”

“You damn well didn’t.”

The words come out a lot harsher than Geralt intended, and Jaskier flinches back. Geralt pinches at the bridge of his nose, feeling contrite at his untimely outburst.

“No, Jask—I’m not…” he heaves out a sigh. “She didn’t even know if you were alive for months.”

Neither did I.

“I’m so sorry.” Jaskier is close to tears. “She must be worried sick.”

“She is.”

I was.

“And you too, Geralt. Please forgive me.” Jaskier’s chin wobbles, his arms hovering between the two of them as if he wants to put them around Geralt. “I want to ask you not to be cross with me again, but that seems to be all I do.”

“Jaskier…”

Geralt calls out when he finds not even an ounce of anger in his heart, not when he just spent weeks fearing the worst, not when Jaskier is standing right in front of him, safe and hale, his eyes flowing with guilt.

Jaskier might just be the death of him.

“Fuck. Just don’t pull this again.” Geralt softens his tone, knowing how unfair the request is when such things are out of Jaskier’s control, but the bard replies in earnest.

“I won’t. I swear.”

Exhaustion washes over the bard once again, making him look a lot older than he is. From the looks of it, Jaskier has been working in these camps for months and the last thing he needs is an unsupportive friend.

And Geralt doesn’t intend to become one.

“And you are dressed like this because?” Geralt nudges Jaskier in the shoulder to ease the apprehension on his face.

“Funny you should ask.” The bard presses his lips into a thin line before continuing. “I may have lied—nay, implied—that the seven degrees I acquired at Oxenfurt included…medicine. Hold on! Before you judge, I do know how to care for pox patients. I caught it as a child too and that’s why I’ve been fine this whole time.”

“Hmm. But you don’t have the—”

“The scars. No thanks to my grandmother’s secret healing salve that she insisted on keeping secret. It worked like a charm back then, almost like magic. We’ve been trying to replicate from whatever I remember. The mint is helping a little but something is still missing. Oh, well.” The bard rubs his fingers at the hem of his scrub. “Perhaps that explains all these crazy rumors about her heritage, with all her herbs and teas that always miraculously cured everybody. Honestly, I don’t even blame them.”

Geralt muses the possibility of Jaskier’s grandmother not being completely human and makes a silent decision to unpack it later.

“Then I guess your personal experience should come in handy if we are going to stay here for a while.”

“We? You are staying?”

“The exits are still closed.” Geralt tilts his head in nonchalance. “Might as well lend them a hand.”

And never take his eyes off of Jaskier again.

“That’s…wonderful, in a terrible, terrible way. Being trapped in the same place during a plague. Gods, that sounds like something out of the cheesiest romance novel.” Jaskier gasps as soon as the words are out. The smile on his face blossoms into a heated blush.

“Just promise me one thing, Jask.”

“What?” The cornflower blue eyes uncharacteristically avoid Geralt in a vain attempt to hide how flustered he is.

Don’t scare me like this again.

Don’t get taken from me.

Don’t leave me.

“Read less romance novels. Once this blows over,” Geralt answers, finally.

The fluttering in his chest returns, although this time for a completely different reason. The reason not being how adorable Jaskier looks embarrassed and rosy-cheeked.

No. Definitely not.

 *

“Little Simon asleep?”

Geralt asks as he stokes the fire, watching Jaskier struggle out of the sweat-soaked scrub and throw it into the laundry pile. The bard sits down next to him on the log with a groan and leans into his arm.

“As flattered as I am that he can’t fall asleep without my songs, it does get a bit taxing to sing every night while kneeling on the floor.”

“The kid is sick. Can’t blame him for having bad taste in music.”

The jab would have landed better if he isn’t wrapping his arm around Jaskier so that he can rest his head on Geralt’s shoulder. The days are too long even with most of the patients released home, and it’s been taking a toll on Jaskier.

“Cruel to me when I’m down, huh?”

Under Geralt’s palm, it’s unmistakable that Jaskier’s arm isn’t as thick as it once was, and he really doesn’t want to think about how the sharp of Jaskier’s jaw is becoming more prominent by the day.

Geralt rubs gently up and down Jaskier’s bicep to draw a contented purr out of him.

“Hmm. Now you’re forgiven.” Jaskier nuzzles into the crook of Geralt’s neck so his muscles loosen under the ministration. “It’s so unfair that a shift never wears you out like the rest of us, my dear. So unfair that you don’t need as much food too. I’d kill for some witcher superpowers these days.”

“Trust me, you won’t like what they cost.”

The late summer heat, mixed with the smell of sweat in Jaskier’s hair, should make it extremely uncomfortable to be sitting so close, but Geralt only finds it calming to have Jaskier sagging against him.

Jaskier’s thinning shoulder is too worrisome. Geralt will have to leave him most of the dinner rations again. Excuses are so easy to find, once Geralt realized that Jaskier never questions what he’s told about witcher biology, trusting every word from Geralt’s mouth. It’s just a little lie, a little exaggeration.

The bard is rubbing off on him.

“Simon is among the last ones here,” Jaskier says tiredly into Geralt’s neck. “It will soon be over. They are saying everyone can go in a month or so.”

“We can go even now.”

The prospect of traveling again stirs up something hopeful under Geralt’s skin, prickling with excitement, but he knows more patience is required for now.

“Nah, I should at least see little Simon home. You were right that the boy has suffered enough. The fever is terrible. Even I still have nightmares about it after so many years. It’s excruciating, almost like death is trying to mock you. One moment a fire burns through your whole body, the next it swallows you whole into this…nothingness, cold and alone.”

Geralt tightens his hold and breathes in the melancholic scent emanating from Jaskier’s skin.

“It was my grandmother, again. She sang the same lullaby to me every night, kept me sane. It’s helping little Simon too.”

“It’s in elvish,” Geralt murmurs absently when Jaskier is close to drifting off. The bard’s leveled breathing fans over the collar of Geralt’s neck.

“…hmm?”

“Nothing. Maybe for later.”

Geralt’s fingers reach the side of Jaskier’s head and thread between the soft brown locks, keeping his drooping head in place for the nap. When he looks down to where Jaskier casually drapes over half of his body, the two of them almost melding into one, Geralt is suddenly hit with how much their relationship has changed over the past few years, and at the same time, how it feels completely natural like puzzles fitting into place.

This newfound intimacy should scare Geralt, but strangely, it doesn’t. Maybe it’s because the witcher has learned long ago to treasure his bard as a companion and friend, to protect him and care for him, even without ever admitting it out loud.

Maybe he should.

And what would he even say? Geralt is equally elated and stumped at the thought of the two of them growing into something more. If the fluttering in his chest is a result of loving Jaskier, the bard deserves to know, and he deserves the best words.

Geralt scoffs softly when he realizes that he’d kill for something completely opposite. Not the strength of a witcher, but the silver tongue of a bard, the ability to weave the most beautiful prose to describe what Jaskier means to him.

The summer cicadas are singing with renewed vigor, the sizzling sound disrupting his train of thought. For now, Geralt will need to content himself in simply being with Jaskier.

And, perhaps, in pressing a tiny kiss into his soft brown hair as well. Under the night sky, only the stars will know.

--

I didn't know plague doctor Jaskier could be a thing until I started writing this chapter, and the ending just had to make way for it. Sorry that the chapter count has gone up. I promise hugs are cuddles are on the way!  <3

Tagging: @wanderlust-t @rockysstupidity @flowercrown-bard @alllthequeenshorses @mothmanismyuncle @percy-jackson-is-sexy- @constantlytiredpigeon @behonesthowsmysinging @birdsflyhome @dapandapod @artisanbaguette

Please feel free to tell me if you want to be removed or added to the list <3

[senjuroubby]

KAKUSHI! Rengoku Senjurou Headcanons.

So after exploring Butterfly Nurse! Senjurou, the idea of him being a kakushi was intriguing. I mean.....if you think about it, it's the most probable direction for him. I honestly think he would have chosen this path had the corps failed to keep Muzan from escaping in the final battle.

But let's not dwell on canon. Afterall, this is just a "what-if" senario. Here are just some of my takes.

*Note that Kyojurou and the rest are already established pillars here*

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

1.) He was rather young when he became a Kakushi.

= Senjurou's age wasn't revealed in the anime, but people estimated that he's around Nezuko's age or younger. For me, I believe he's around 12-13. But anyway, I imagine Senjurou realizing his lack of talent so early on, which lead to the decision to become a Kakushi. I imagine him joining at 11 years old. I doubt there's a specific age range considering Muichiro became a pillar at 14.

2.) Kyojurou didn't approve.

= Not because it's an "un-Rengoku" trait–no. Kyojurou disagreed because Senjurou was too YOUNG (I agree lol.) A Kakushi's job was not for the faint of heart. There were stories of young Kakushis retiring early due to PTSD. Kyojurou fears the job would scar Senjurou for life. Had Senjurou been a little older, he won't have said a thing.

3) Hence why, Senjurou secretly joined.

= It's the only time Senjurou went against his brother's orders. You may be wondering.... Why was he so rash? Well....Senjurou's desperation comes from the need to be useful. "If I couldn't be a slayer then I'll just be someone else. Need to start early so it won't be too late" kind of mindset. When Kyojurou found out, he was rightfully upset. It resulted in a big argument. It was so drastic, Shinjuro, of all people, had to come out and reprehand them.

4) Senjurou and Kyojurou didn't speak for some time.

= it was Senjurou who did the avoiding. He knew his brother was just looking after him, but he couldn't help but feel irritated by his babbying (Senjurou you are a baby what–) Before you say anything, Keep in mind that Senjurou is still a kid. No matter how smart he is, he's bound to make rash decisions. Kyojurou caught on and was obviously hurt (our man loves his baby brother so much.) He acted so off, even Muichiro noticed the change.

5) It was Shinjuro who settled the dispute.

= Shinjuro may be an alcoholic asshole, but even he would be unsettled by the situation. He never saw his sons argue before. He never even considered the possibility. Seeing one of them acting so coldly and the other just being outwardly broken stirred something in him. Perhaps it's his father instincts telling him to get his shit together or maybe Ruka was nearby, whispering encouragements to fix their already broken family. Nothenless, he sent a letter to Okayata-sama and requested his sons to be excused from their duties. For the first time in years, all three of them gathered in one room and talked. In the end, it wasn't just the siblings who made up. The Rengoku family began their healing as well.

6) Senjurou made a name for himself.

= Senjurou takes his job seriously. He values time. The earlier he arrives, the more he could save. If he finds a slayer in the brink of death, he would force himself run. This works because Senjurou is fast. Faster than your average Kakushi. This resulted to a lot of closed calls. He made a number of impossible saves. It doesn't work all the time, but his tenacity gained the respect from all positions, including the pillars themselves.

7) Pillars favor Senjurou.

= They're not biased. The pillars are genuinely impressed. That's because Senjurou doesn't hesitate. The pillars only needed to relay their orders once and then he goes. Sometimes, he doesn't even need an order. Senjurou is also bold enough to order a pillar, especially when said pillar is in critical condition. But once everything settles down, Senjurou would go on and apologize for being disrespectful. He's even embarrassed by it.

8) He's friends with the butterfly girls.

= As a Kakushi, one of his duties is to assist the butterfly girls. He could be seen running around with Aoi or Shinobu. Because of this, the butterfly trio befriended him. Senjurou would stay longer to hang out with then.

9) For some reason, he's always present at Tanjirou's missions.

= Mount Natagumo, Mugen train (Rengoku lives don't me–) Red district, the sword village, Senjurou wonders if it was all a coincidence. Either way, this made him and the Kamoboko squad good friends.

[masterthespianduchovny]

The Poor Development of the Marauder's Era

I've recently been listening to Binge Mode and, even now, I honestly believe the Marauder's era is some of Rowling’s worst writing of the series. When I say Marauder's Era, I'm simply referring to characters and events pre Harry.

The Marauder's era isn't poorly developed because I didn't like what happened. It's poorly developed because of how Rowling handled the characters, the events she put them in, and the reaction to said events.

As a kid, I respected Lily and thought she could do no wrong. As an adult, I find her decisions questionable. For transparency purposes, I read these books in real time and was a similar age as the characters. So, I don't want to hear anything about me being "unfair." Of all of the Mauraders era kids back then, I was the most generous to Lily. It's only when I reflected more about her role in the series that I realized how lackluster she is as a character and as a friend.

Rowling relies on Lily being seen as the moral compass to signify who and what is right or wrong during this era. The problem with this is that Rowling undermines Lily in the process. Minus being flat out called Mudblood by Snape, she has no proof that Snape has done anything her friends accused him of doing, but she unequivocally views it as the truth. Despite Lily listening to Snape, it's not really in good faith because she already has her mind made up about Snape's guilt.

Now, this is important to note because since Lily hasn't seen any of Snape's alleged bad behavior for herself, why would she definitively accuse him of these things? Lily claims she was in denial about this when she ended their friendship, but it's quite obvious she does believe Snape is guilty.

What makes Lily's beliefs and choosing to side with others over Snape is that none of the Marauders have ever mentioned ONE instant of Snape doing or saying some fucked up shit. As a reminder: THEY HATED HIM. They never mentioned anything about him bullying others, calling muggles mud blood, or any other troubling behavior. It was merely because he existed. They couldn't even tie him to being a Death Eater.

Also, let's consider the fact that kids like Snape have rumors made up about them all of the time. ALL OF THE TIME. Not even Snape's own bullies could attest to Snape doing the things Lily's friends claimed Snape did, yet Lily believed their words?

And, maybe I'm being nitpicky, but the fact that Lily says "my friends" in reference to defending Snape has always rubbed me the wrong way. Snape IS her friend too. Her best friend, in fact. Why wouldn't she have said, "my OTHER friends." My Gryffindor mates or whatever? IMO, that implies that Snape is just some weirdo she talks to and not the person she's known the longest.

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED THIS:

Have Lily overhear Snape calling one of his peers Mudblood. Have the Marauders be incensed that Snape called someone a mud blood. Have them call out Lily when she tries to intervene on them confronting (confronting NOT bullying) Snape. Hell, even have Snape fucking bully someone.

Because as far as canon goes, Snape was a bystander as death eater wannabes bullied people and presumably did nothing about it. We don't see any of his alleged wrongdoings and the people who hate him can't even recall that this happened.

There shouldn't be an ambiguity or readers relying on the word and opinion of Lily to guide their opinion.

Some may say, "she's only a kid." To this I say, "You're right." Lily was a teen and teens don't always know how to handle complex situations, I will give her the benefit of the doubt. However, this means we shouldn't hold her as the moral standard.

Lily essentially says that the difference between the Marauder's bullying people and the death eater wannabes doing it is dark magic. I'm sorry, but that's weak sauce. Dark magic is such a vague and broad thing depending on what you're talking about, so nah...Also, is there something not dark about James choking Snape with soap? I mean, that could've traumatized Snape to the extent of him being triggered by soap. Isn't that dark?

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED THAT.

Jut have Lily acknowledge that behaviors by the Marauders and death eater wannabes are both bad, but for different reasons. Problem solved. She can even emphasize that she takes so much issue with Dark Magic due to why it's being used and what it ties into.

We hear how great Lily is and that everyone loves her, yet Harry meets literally NOT ONE FRIEND of Lily's. He meets James' friends and a former teacher of hers. We don't see Lily hanging out with anyone else. We hear examples of Lily feeling sad for people, but no references to her actually helping people or supporting others somehow.

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED THAT.

Maybe instead of Lily talking about the bad thing Avery and Mulciber did, she could've intervened, even if it was too late, and "saved" Mary. Hell, we could've had Lily hex James rather than just threatening it. I'm sorry, after literally reading the many ways the Golden Trio are there for each other even before big shit started to happen, Lily threatening to hex someone who is actively bullying her friend doesn't cut it.

And give her her own friends for Harry to meet.

Lily is said to be smart and empathic, but how she deals with Snape and his issues don't exactly support this.

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED IT.

Have Lily genuinely listen to Snape's grievances about the night he was saved. Don't have her be so dismissive about the Lupin thing. Maybe have Snape set up by the Marauders and the big reveal is a flop.

I know Rowling wanted to tackle people having shady pasts and how they can change, but 1. Either she needed to commit to it being a rivalry or 2. She needed to appropriately deal with the bullshit the Marauder's did. Snape is justifiably angry and distrusting of the Marauders due to one almost killing him as a joke and the other publicly humiliating him. This doesn't even account for YEARS of bullying, which remus admitted happened.

We cannot say that bullying is wrong, and then excuse the bullies because they were on the right side of a war.

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED THIS.

She should've had Remus flat out acknowledge they were wrong for what they did and that there was no excusing it. Then, have Sirius and Remus privately talk about this where Sirius admits it too. OR, despite loving them and his dad, Harry realizes how flawed they were and that their reasoning is simply to protect their dad not necessarily because James grew up. OR Rowling could've not written James and Sirius behaving as psychopaths AS WELL AS show instances of Snape starting shit with them.

SHOW US Snape deliberately starting shit with the Marauders and James trying to apologize. Show us James' growth outside of that. Don't tell us that James is secretly hexing Snape behind Lily's back because it has her looking like a dumb ass.

Also, all of this James stuff is important because Lily ending up with James is such a bad fucking look. IMO, it makes her disgust at his behavior seem performative. It says that she didn't really care about him bullying others, but rather, the perception of her being with someone who bullied others. And, no, having Lily smile as Snape was actively being bullied, and then poverty shaming him isn't a good look.

"BUT, BUT SNAPE CALLED HER A RACIST SLUR!!!"

It doesn't matter how much you want to give your friend the benefit of the doubt, if you believe he's calling others racist slurs, you need to confront it. And, if you believe it to be true, you need to end it. You don't wait until he calls you the slur to say, "hey, maybe he really is this racist person people claim he is."

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED THIS.

After James saved Snape's life, this is where he could've matured and his big head lessened. He still hexes others, but leaves Snape alone because he realized that they went to far with him even before Sirius' "prank." Instead of James being the antagonizer, it should've been Sirius. Once again, James breaks this up and he and Sirius gets into a small argument. Snape is let down as Lily runs up and Snape says his mud blood remark.

Snape then tries to hex Sirius and James steps in once Snape refuses to stop. It gets out of hand and Snape accidentally harms Lily.

I won't lie, I'm a HUGE Snape fan. However, because of how Rowling handled this era, there are many ambiguous things, situations that don't make any sense, not enough development of characters, etc which undermines the story she tried to tell.

Yes, I do love the series, except I don't like any of the Marauders or Lily. I don't hate Lily, but she grates. Remus really was a coward and irresponsible as hell. Sirius was childish as fuck and, no, him being in prison doesn't excuse or justify all of his behavior. James saved his peer's life, and then publicly humiliated and sexually assaulted him. He didn't stop bullying, he just stopped how he did it.

This doesn't mean I believe that Snape was faultless, but I believe this era was so poorly told that by default, I believe and sympathize with Snape.

Although I believe Rowling wanted readers to do this, I don't think she planned for some readers such as myself to hold the positions we do. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Snape as is, but I do believe Rowling didn't intend for me to hold the views I do about Lily and the Marauders.

I don't understand her laziness during this era, especially since it's so key in Snape, Lily, and James' stories.

Lastly, she could've developed James and Lily better.

I know she only has so much time, space, pages blah blah blah. However, the best writers find a way to make it work with what they have.