#EI 6400

[thewulf]

What a Look on You || Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw

Summary: Y/N and Rooster are best friends. Two of the closest best friends you'll ever see. The squad tries to get them to admit their feelings, with no luck. Y/N's friend comes into town stirring the pot up a bit.

A/N: Well I'm kind of blown away by all the sweet comments you left on my first Top Gun FF. So I decided to crank another one out for you guys! This time featuring our lovely Bradley Bradshaw. I'll def write a part two to Who are You? Just give me some time :)

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Y/N

Word Count: 6400+

“Come on Gigs, he clearly likes you.” She paused looking you up and down, “Hell, he might be in love with you.” Natasha smirked after sinking yet another pool ball.

“Shut up, Phe. He doesn’t like me, and he certainly doesn’t love me.” You sighed grabbing the pool stick from her. You eyed the stripes, took a deep breath, and miserably missed.

You heard her laugh from behind you, “Too busy thinking about Rooster?”

You lightly shoved the pool stick into her side shaking your head, “No, I was thinking of ways to murder you.”

“You wish, I’d beat your ass. Don’t even try.” She threw a wink in your direction.

You nod silently, “Not disagreeing with that.” Natasha was just stronger than you. Not that you were tiny and weak but there was something so frightening about Natasha Trace that you wouldn’t even think of crossing her.

“So, you agree then?” She asked waiting on your answer patiently.

You groaned shaking your head, “No Phoenix, I do not agree with you. The man doesn’t have feelings for me. That’s it.”

“What man?” The annoying voice of Hangman spoke up from behind you.

“Rooster.” Natasha grinned making kissy faces in your direction.

“Oh no shit, that man is in love with you.” He nodded one hand with a beer the other in his pocket.

“Not you too.” You threw your head back in defeat, “He’s just my best friend. That’s all.” Truth be told you wish it was more. You’ve wished it would be more for years. He was everything to you. He was the man of your dreams really.

He was thoughtful. Oh, was he so thoughtful. He remembered the smallest details about you, making you feel like the most special person in the world. One of your favorite memories with him was when he invited the whole class to his place to watch some football. He had made pulled pork but remembered you didn’t really like pork. So, he pulled you aside and handed you a bowl of shredded chicken. Your heart nearly burst into pieces then, you had only known him a few months and just knew he was it.

He was also so incredibly sweet. One summer when the two of you were walking Virginia Beach, not too far off base, he noticed a little girl drop her ice cream near the vendor. He didn’t hesitate to try and calm the poor girl. He bought her a new cone and quickly gave it to her calming her meltdown. You couldn’t wipe the stupid cheesy grin that laced your face.

He was soft when you needed him to be but hard when he saw you hurt. He was protective of you, so protective of you. He couldn’t bear to see you hurt. He really did think the world of you. He never wanted to lose you. But you never thought to much of it, he just acted like a big brother would.

The two of you met in school. Rooster to be a pilot. You attempted to be one, but you were rather quite miserable at it. So, you tried your hand as a WSO and found your groove with that. Rooster always claimed he didn’t need a WSO but was always so happy to have you along when he was ‘commanded’ it. The pair of you clicked instantly. He always made you laugh. In fact, that’s how you got your callsign ‘Giggles’. He made you laugh when you were in drill, getting you in trouble way to often. You really didn’t mind though; you were so infatuated with the man.

Days turned into months turned into years. The two of you dated different people at different times never really finding the right time to get together. You settled on best friends who literally knew everything about one another. You really did want him but just like him, you couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.

“Besides,” You looked at the two of them, “Carly is coming into town, and I need to worry about that. Not him.”

Jake smirked, “Is she that pretty one you post sometimes.”

Rolling your eyes you nodded, “Yes pig. She’s my pretty friend. She’s off limits for you Hangman.”

Laughing he eyed Phoenix suspiciously, “That’s not your decision sweetheart. It’s hers.”

“Why are you so annoying?” You wanted to punch him, but you restrained yourself knowing better than to crack open that can of worms.

“Relax. Has Carly ever met Rooster?” He questioned.

“No. She’s met nobody here. I went to college with her and really haven’t seen her since. But she lives close so we recently reconnected. Thus, why she’s on my Insta Hangman.” You admitted, way too much. You weren’t sure why you divulged all that information.

He nodded, “Speak of the devil.” His eyes flicked towards the door which your eyes followed looking to the man entering the bar. Your face broke out into a wide grin seeing Roos in his usual Hawaiian shirt, looking relaxed on this fine evening.

“I’d say she’s in love too.” Phoenix laughed.

“Shut up!”

“I can’t believe you get to look at these guys every day.” Carly whispered ogling nearly every aviator that walked by.

“Every damn day. They’re more like brothers than anything. God, they’re all so annoying.”

She nodded, “Could be worse. You could be looking at Phyllis all day every day.” She laughed which you joined in on. Carly was traditionally beautiful. She was tall, thin, blond, and athletic. Everything came natural for her. Things were just easier for her. You were always slightly jealous of the girl but tried your hardest to let it go, you did a good job at hiding it.

“That’s true. No Phyllis’s here.”

She grinned turning back to the front, a small commotion coming from the entryway. Of course, it was Rooster and Hangman arguing. The two of them were always bickering about something.

“Who are they?”

“Two idiots.” You laughed.

“Wow,” She finally tore her eyes from who you thought was Hangman, “He’s beautiful.”

“Which one?” You asked peaking your eyebrow up in curiosity.

“The brown-haired guy.” She grinned turning back around to eye him. The pair were still caught up in whatever argument they were in as they walked to the bar for some beer.

Your heart sped up a bit, surprised she wasn’t talking about Jake. They always went crazy for Jake, not her Rooster, “That’s Bradley. Rooster.”

“Oh wow, Y/N. That’s your best friend, right?” She looked at you wide eyed.

“Yep, that’s Roos.”

She nodded, “You didn’t tell me he was drop dead gorgeous Y/N. Is he single?”

“Yeah, he is a cutie and he’s single.” You nodded trying your best to sound less than enthused about the whole situation.

“You wouldn’t be mad if I went and talked to him then, would you?” Her eyes brightened as she looked back and forth between the two of you.

Why would she want to do that? You knew Rooster was a catch, it confused you as to why he wasn’t snatched up just yet. It didn’t seem to bother you that a stranger at any time could go up to him and win him over but Carly? That was too much for you. Way too much for you. “No, no I wouldn’t mind.” You lied again refusing to turn and face her. You were being incredibly weird, and you knew it.

“I’m surprised you’re not going for the blonde though, seems more your type?” You spoke up just before she started to walk away. Making any attempt to stop the girl from wooing over your Rooster.

“He’s cute. But there’s something about Rooster. I can’t place my finger on it.” She smiled brightly waiting anxiously for you to let her go talk to him.

Your stomach clenched but you ignored it nodding her on, why were you your own worst enemy? Why were you letting her do this? You knew the second you said it wasn’t okay that she would drop it. You didn’t know why you were being such a chicken shit about the whole thing. But ten years of friendship was hard to give up knowing just how good that friendship could be.

You sat on the high-top chair anxiously tapping your glass attempting to look anywhere other than the bar where Rooster, Hangman and Carly were chatting. Your leg bounced up and down slightly shaking the whole table in your attempts to look the other way.

“You okay Gigs?” A soft voice spoke breaking you out of your trance.

“Hmm, yeah totally fine.” You smiled seeing Bob appear at your side. Bob was always so sweet to you, always looked out for you. You had also known Bob from early on in your career. The two of you being the quietest WSO’s in your respective classes and always getting shit on for it. You tried your best to protect him, and he did the same for you.

He sat down opposite you following your line of sight right to the bar, “What’s the matter?” He asked again waiting for you to open to him. Truth be told you and Bob were close as well. Not as close as you and Rooster but you weren’t afraid to be honest with him. He really felt like a brother to you, a protective one at that.

“Nothing Bobby.” You looked back at him continuing to play with your glass.

“Bullshit Y/N.” He challenged you leaning forward.

“Uh oh, Bob breaking out the real name. I must be in trouble.”

He playfully rolled his eyes, “Somethings up, you looked like a maniac there for a second.”

“I just got distracted.”

“By what?”

You eyed him knowing what he was doing, “My thoughts.”

“Is that why you were staring at Rooster and the girl?”

You sighed, your shoulders slumping just a hair, enough so that Bob noticed, “I wasn’t staring Bobby.”

Shaking his head, he closed his eyes finding the right words to tell his friend, “You are a being a fucking idiot Y/N.”

“Bobby!”

He looked you dead in the eye, “Y/N, I’m being serious. You’re hurting yourself now. You’ve loved that man since I’ve known you. And I’ve known you for almost eight years Y/N.”

“I can’t Bobby. I can’t lose him. I can’t risk it.” You looked down at the empty glass coming to that full realization, you didn’t have it in you. The worst outcome is that Rooster would walk away and that was way worse to you than the slight chance he might like you back.

“Come on Y/N. He likes you too. You just don’t see it because you’re so used to it. Rooster would do anything for you.”

“There’s nothing there Bob. It’s been ten years, there would have been something. I’m his best friend. He’s mine. That’s it.”

He groaned, “Fucking idiots. Both of you.” He threw his head into his hands trying to get you to realize what was right in front of you.

“Jesus whose dog died?” The southern draw from the annoying blonde pilot spoke from behind you.

“What are you talking about Hangman.” You looked at him like an annoyed sister would. If looks could kill yours would.

“Bob here looks miserable. Guess that’s just you bringing out the best in people.” He winked setting his glass down between the sitting pair. You turned around seeing Rooster making his way over slowly with Carly. You held in your disappointment and channeled it to the second most annoying thing in the room.

“Charming as ever Jake.”

He decided to stop after seeing the sadness in your eyes. You thought you were great at hiding your emotions, turns out your damn facial expressions gave you away like a book. “You love my southern charm darling.” He gave you a side hug attempting to bring the snarky Y/N back out, not the mopey one.

“Yeah, yeah.” You nodded looking at Bob who was simply observing what was going on around him. You were sad. Hangman caught onto it and tried his best to cheer you up, Hangman style. Rooster seemed enamored with Carly and Carly seemed just as enamored as him as they walked up to the small high-top table. You looked like you were about to combust when you saw where his arm had landed, right on her hip drawing her closer to him. You flicked your eyes to Carly who was smiling at him. You then looked at Rooster who of course was staring right back at her, even when they got to the table.

“Roos, nice to see you.” You said all too bitterly before hoping off the chair refusing to look at him. “I’m getting another, anybody need anything?” You just looked at Bob, ignoring the rest of the group.

“Yeah, I’ll come with you.” He followed grabbing his empty glass. What you didn’t see was the hurt look that crossed Rooster’s face after the unfriendly greeting. He couldn’t recall a time when you had spoken to him that way, your voice was always so sweet and kind. Even when the two of you argued you never had sounded so upset before.

“You didn’t have to come, I just panicked.” You admitted once you got to the semi-crowded bar.

“Because you don’t like him.”

“Uhh, shush. You know I do. Just shut up about it.”

He grinned, “It’s nice to hear you finally admit it.”

“Shhh, Bobby, lower your voice. You know, you’ve known. You’re the only person I’d admit it too though.” You waved the bartender down for another round, not seeing Penny tonight.

“Y/N has a crush, Y/N has a crush!” He whisper shouted in your ear.

You wide eyed him, “Shut up Bobby, I will beat you up.”

He started full on laughing now, “Why do you always threaten violence, Y/N?”

Your mouth fell open in disbelief. Who was this Bob and where did hers go? “Bobby, you’re being a little shit right now.”

“I’m just excited you finally fucking admitted it Gigs.” He clapped your back.

Shaking your head, you picked up your beer and slowly made your way back to the trio that had taken over your high top. Rooster had backed off Carly a bit.

Rooster grinned when he saw you walking back over with Bob, “Giggles.” Still grinning with that big, beautiful smile he had.

“Roos.” You nodded your head sitting back in your seat next to him, returning the smile as best as you could.

That worried him, your half smile did. It was different. If there was anything he noticed in this world it was when you acted different. It was always so easy and normal between the two of you. He could pick up when something was off, he just knew something was off.

“Have a good day?” He asked you, just you. Looking right at you, the staring was almost too intense for you. You in turn also noticed things with Rooster. Like right now, him boring his eyes into the side of your head was certainly new.

You hummed, “Fine, except Cyclone was up our asses all day today.”

Bob nodded in agreement, “Some new wizzo training he’s getting us all on.”

“Seems like a bunch of bullshit to me.” You continued, “But can’t talk back to Cyclone. No siree, no.” You took a long drink from your beer. It was really hitting the spot today. You glanced up and Rooster was smiling at you. You nearly forgot about your poor friend Carly, standing there clueless.

“Sorry Carly,” You smiled at her, “Wizzo is WSO which is what Bob, and I are.”

“Right!” She laughed, “Weapons people, right?”

Hangman chuckled, “The best damn weapons people we got right here.”

“Aww, is Hangman being sweet?” You cooed at the tall blond.

“That’s what I have tell myself, since you are the only two left here.”

“You asshole.” Bob laughed smacking his arm.

“Not that you guys aren’t the most fun but there’s a pretty little thing over there that just walked in, so if you’ll excuse me.” Hangman winked over at Bob before sauntering off, surely turning up the charm, to the girl.

“Oh Hangman.” You laughed turning your attention back to the group, “And your day Roos?”

“Same old, same old.” He laughed running a hand through his hair. You attempted to hide your ogling eyes, why did he have to do this to you? It’s not like he hasn’t run his hand through his hair a thousand times before you. You willed your brain to just stop thinking of him as more than just a friend, but it might finally be rebelling against your wishes. You didn’t want to blame Carly for the green-eyed monster that was threatening to spill out, but she was the only difference in the group.

“Mav kick your ass yet again?” You smirked watching for his reaction.

“Hey now, Giggles. I’ll get him one of these days.”

Shaking your head, you eyed Bob who was having all too much fun watching the two of you go back and forth, “Statistics say you’ll have to beat him one of these days.”

He pointed his finger at you playfully smirking, “You just know exactly what to say.”

You shrugged looking back to Carly, “Roos can’t beat his instructor, Maverick. Bit of a running joke at this point.”

“Don’t poison her mind Y/N!” He gasped pulling her tight. Ouch, that hurt, you noticed. You noticed how easily they seemed to mesh, how Carly’s face lit up when she was pulled into his side, how he seemed more than pleased with himself holding onto her.

“You’re already doing that Rooster.” You force a laugh knowing just how unnatural it sounded.

“So, Y/N, Bradley was telling me about all the different places I should check out when I’m here.” She grinned looking up at him with her big brown doe eyes. You bit your lip forcing yourself to stay civil.

“Oh yeah? Like where?” You asked genuinely curious of what he had said to her.

“A few beaches, the museum, the base and didn’t you say something about a cliff?” She asked pulling on his arm getting him to look back to her. He obliged nodding his head like a little kid.

The cliff? Your cliff that only you and Rooster seemed to know about and made sure not to share with anybody? He mentioned your spot to her. It seemed as if the air had gotten knocked out of your lungs. You hadn’t defined that the cliff was your spot but neither of you brought it up to anybody else. It stung, it hurt, and you quite frankly didn’t know how to react. You fought the stupid hot tears that wanted to flood out of your eyes.

You set your halfway empty glass back down onto the table, harder than needed. Which of course caused both Carly and Rooster to look at you. You faked another smile and muttered, “Why doesn’t Rooster just show you?”

Bob sat back in his seat curiously watching the situation unfold before him. He noticed Carly light up at the suggestion again pulling on his arm, “That’s a great idea Y/N!”

You curled your lip fighting every damn emotion that wanted to spill out, “Chock full of them.”

Rooster laughed trying to ease the tension he could clearly see coming from you, “Are you sure Gigs? I don’t want to take time away from you and Carly.” He asked placing his hand on yours.

“Oh, I’m positive Bradley, go have so much fun.” The words came out just as bitterly as before. You were testing him, and he was failing you miserably. You knew it wasn’t exactly the fairest test. You weren’t communicating with him, you desperately wanted him to see what you were doing, but he didn’t see it.

“If you’re sure.” He tried to grab your hand again which you slid away just in time. You looked back up at Bob with the saddest eyes he’s sure seen. Again, you refused to look over at Rooster, you knew the waterworks would be out in full effect if you did.

“Mhmm.” You hummed chugging the rest of your beer, “I’m going to go.” You spoke more to Bob than to Carly and Rooster.

You quickly gathered your things and started walking to the door head full of every scenario imaginable. What if Rooster liked her? What if he decided to start dating her? You shuddered at the thought. Of course, it would be Carly to come swoop in and take him away from you. Carly was playing life on easy mode; she could get whoever she wanted whenever she wanted.

You made it about halfway to the door before realizing you drove Carly here. You sighed and turned around seeing Bob silently sitting there with his thoughts watching you while Rooster and Carly seemed very into whatever they were chatting about.

“Rooster.” You shouted not wanted to walk back over there and deal with it, “Bring Carly home. Or don’t, whatever.” You mumbled the last sentence, hoping he really didn’t hear what you had to say.

He gave you a thumbs up sending another kick to your stomach. Spinning around on your heel you beelined it for the door now. Once out of the bar the fresh air hit you like a ton of bricks, a few tears escaped. This really wasn’t how you thought this night would go. You thought Carly would be all over Hangman or one of the other pilots, not Rooster.

You hopped in your car mentally thanking yourself for parking on the opposite side of the bar, away from any windows. You sat there and let yourself cry it out. They were silent tears. You didn’t want to breakdown in the parking lot of the Hard Deck, but your emotions were simply getting the best of you now.  You had to wonder why you were feeling this bad now, you’ve seen Roos flirt with hundreds of girls and take them back to his place, why did Carly freak you out so much?

You don’t know how long you sat there but it was long enough for you to hear a knock on your window. You almost jumped out of your seat looking over to see Bob standing there with his hands in his pockets.

“Bobby?” You asked while sniffling.

“Let me drive you home.”

You shook your head, “No, I…”

“Y/N.” He just looked at you. You let your shoulders fall before unbuckling yourself. You got out and moved yourself to the passenger’s side, letting Bob take the driver’s seat.

“Bob, I can really do this myself. I’ve done it a thousand times.”

He rolled his eyes while starting your car up, “I called your name three times Gigs, you’re not fine.”

“I am fine, I was just…”

“Thinking?” He interrupted seemingly agitated with your responses.

“Yeah Bobby, just thinking.” You hummed looking out the window.

The ride back to your place was mostly silent, just the radio chatter buzzing away. You weren’t sure what to say. Bob sure as hell didn’t know what to say. He simply observed two adults who clearly have feelings for each other continually put both of themselves in pain watching the other. It didn’t make sense to him. He was sure Rooster had feelings for you, deep feelings, although he’s never directly confirmed it. He also knew that you liked him, having finally admitting it to him.

He pulled up to your place off base, he didn’t live to far from you. He was planning on walking home and finding a ride back to the bar tomorrow. He couldn’t let you drive seeing how zoned out you were, how distraught you really looked. He had to wonder if this was a regular occurrence for you. He didn’t really see the longing in your eyes before tonight.

You started to get up, he realized he needed to say something quick, “Y/N, I’m not the best at giving advice. But I think you need to tell him. You’re tearing yourself apart over this.”

You turned away from him thinking for a moment, “What if he leaves me Bobby? I don’t think I could go on. I really don’t.” A fresh set of tears started making their way down your red cheeks. You turned back to him shaking your head.

“Hey Y/N.” He frowned seeing you look so small and broken. He was never good at this, women crying, it always overwhelmed him, “He would never leave you. He loves you.” Bobby squeezed your hand softly trying you to get you to understand what he saw day in and day out.

“I’ll think about it.” You mumbled finally opening your eyes to him.

He nodded with a smile on his face, “Good, that’s a start Gigs.”

You used your cardigan to wipe the tears off your face, “Thank you Bobby, for everything. Really, thank you.”

He gave you his genuine Bob smile, “Anytime Giggles.”

You smiled back at him remembering when you were ‘officially’ assigned your callsign. Rooster stood diagonally in front of you in drill. Every time the Captain would turn away, he would make a remarkably stupid face which made you laugh, a little too loudly. Your poor ass caught the end of Captain Warmack’s really bad day. You started giggling trying to hide your face, but Warmack caught you. He stood right in front of you, squatted down and started berating you. You had to take it, in front of the whole class. You were sure your face was as red as a cherry tomato. At the end of his yelling he said, “And all you do is giggle, giggle, giggle.” Sparking the callsign in Rooster’s head. He profusely apologized when you were dismissed and you shrugged him off telling him, “It took everything in me not to laugh Roos.” And the pair of you were cracking up. Officially earning your callsign Giggles. You didn’t hate it, but you certainly didn’t love it, you were growing to love it. Over time it got shortened down to Gigs, which you embraced whole heartedly. You were worried that the name made you seem weak, but it did the opposite, people saw you as approachable which gave you many opportunities over the years to show how good of a WSO you really were.

“Night Bobby.” You said as the two of you exited the car, “You can drive my car home if you want.”

He shook his head, “It’s a ten-minute walk, I might need you to drop me off at the Hard Deck tomorrow though.” He sheepishly grinned.

“Anything for you Bob.” You waved while entering your home. It wasn’t really your home; you were renting it out from a couple while you were here. You weren’t sure how much longer you would really be here anyway. The mission was over, half the squad was already reassigned. You knew your time was ending and it terrified you that you would be shipped away from Rooster yet again. The two of you had managed to get deployed together often but not every time. Your stomach was always in knots whenever you were due for reassignment, just hoping you’d be close to him.

You looked at the clock frowning seeing it was only 8, you really did plan on being out for a while longer. You decided on pampering yourself tonight seeing as that was the only thing that could get your mind off Carly and Rooster. You turned your phone to silent and set it by your bedside not wanting any distractions. You picked up your favorite book deciding a nice long soak in the tub was exactly what you needed. After spending far too much time soaking you decided to just read and go to sleep. Your eyes closed around 10 that night, failing to turn your phone over since you had gotten home.

What you didn’t see were the frantic texts from Rooster making sure you were okay. He has probably texted you 15 times between the time you left the bar and when he was dropping Carly off. You were clearly upset trying to play the whole thing off as nothing. So, he decided to text you to make sure you were alright. An hour passed and the conversation with Carly was fine. She was a beautiful woman, but she didn’t hold a straw to you. After the first hour he sent a few more texts, just hoping for a response but to no avail. He distracted himself by taking Carly down to the beach showing her a few things. He wasn’t really going to take her to the cliff, it kind of just spilled out when he was talking to her earlier.

After another few hours of faking it with Carly he decided that he needed to check on you. It was nearing 10 and you still hadn’t texted him back which sent a little terror through him. Once he pulled in, he let Carly know he was just going to talk to you. He walked in enjoying the smell of your home. It always smelled like lavender, just like you did. Rooster was sure Carly picked up in his disinterest, he wasn’t trying to blow the girl off he just needed to make sure you were okay.

You were sound asleep when you heard a soft knocking on your door. Annoyed you rolled back over willing yourself back to sleep, but the knocking wouldn’t stop, “I’m sleeping Carly.” You spoke softly hoping she would just go away.

“Not Carly.” Rooster’s voice spoke through the door.

You internally groaned not ready for whatever this was, “Yeah Roos?”

“Can I come in?” He asked leaning his entire body on your door.

“Sure.” You spoke while still laying down, not feeling like moving.

He quickly opened the door taking a second for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He smiled seeing you laying there, looking so peaceful. You were still clearly trying to wake yourself up.

Yawning your stretched out while Rooster took a seat on the other side of the bed, “What’s up Roos?” You rolled over turning your body to him fluttering your eyes, trying to keep them open.

He looked sad, “You didn’t answer my texts.”

“I haven’t looked at my phone since I left the bar.” You admitted, almost whispering. Is that why he was here?

“Really?” He asked looking anywhere but you, “I texted you a lot.” He sighed looking down at his hands.

You bit your cheek to stop the stupid grin that was going to give you away, “I’m sorry Bradley, I was just tired and… yeah just tired.” You stopped yourself from spilling everything, just tired, that was all.

“Are you okay?” He asked leaning back into your bed turning himself to face you now, far too close for your poor little heart to handle.

You nodded, “I’m fine.”

“You just seemed so upset at me when you left the bar.” He stated in an almost whisper matching your nervousness.

“Did I?” You asked softly deciding to break the eye contact you two were making.

“Mhmm. Really upset and if was something I did…”

“No, it wasn’t you Roos. It’s me. I just…” You stopped this time feeling the emotions coming back stronger than ever. Your throat tightened up and you could feel your stupid eyes beginning to water. You quickly flipped around so you were facing him anymore to take a deep breath. Again, this was perhaps the last thing you expected to happen to you tonight.

“Hey, hey, hey, come back to me Y/N. You can tell me anything, you know that.” He placed his warm hand on your shoulder squeezing it tightly drawing you back into the room.

“If I tell you what I want to tell you it could ruin everything Rooster.” You whispered letting a few tears fall.

He could tell you were crying. It nearly broke his heart in two. He hated when you cried, he hated the boys that would fuck with you and break you down. He couldn’t stand it. It freaked him knowing that he was likely the source of your tears, “You could never ruin anything Y/N. I promise.” He cooed still holding your shoulder tightly in his hand, afraid you would vanish if he let go.

Here goes nothing, “Bradley I…” You took a deep breath before continuing, “I was jealous tonight.” You closed your eyes waiting for him to respond, so afraid of what his reaction might be.

He didn’t respond right away which sent your mind into a million directions all at once. You felt him get up from his spot on the bed, finally letting your shoulder go. This was it, he was walking out on you. How could you be so stupid? How could you ruin the one good thing you had, the best thing in the world?

“Y/N,” You felt him pushing the hair away from your face catching you by surprise, “Please open your eyes.” He stated.

You obliged, sucking in a breath when you saw just how dangerously close he was to you now. He was squatting down to the floor. His head was level with yours.

He grinned seeing your eyes snap open, “There you are.” He spoke so softly. Continuing to brush the hair out of your face putting you into overdrive. You weren’t sure how to deal with the utter intimacy. Sure, you and Rooster were close, but this was so different. He was looking at you like you really were the only thing that mattered. His palm felt so warm against your face you were sure you were about to combust.

“Here I am.” You looked away from him again. This was something. Any sort of courage you had was gone. This was your Rooster, yet you couldn’t even look him in the eyes for more than a second.

He cocked his head ever so slightly waiting for you to continue. You took another deep breath making sure to avoid his face when you exhaled, he was so close to you just waiting. Waiting on you to make the next move.

“I wanted to be her Roos.” You took a gulp ready to let it all spill now, “I was so jealous when you wouldn’t take your eyes off her. When you pulled her close. I was a stupid jealous girl who didn’t and still doesn’t know how to say this.” You groaned in frustration eyeing him to see his reaction. He looked happy, content, almost thrilled at the admission, so you continued, “I… I like you, Rooster. I like you way more than best friend should and uhm I…” You faltered.

He placed a finger over your mouth smiling as big as you’ve ever seen him smile, “My turn. I love you, Y/N. Not just as a friend, I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you for as long as I’ve known you.” He looked right at you. You were struggling to process his admission to you. He loved you. He was in love with you. Your heart couldn’t keep up with your mind that was spinning in a thousand different directions.

“You do?” You managed to squeak out in the mess your mind currently was.

He nodded with his big goofy grin taking your head in both of his hands, “I’m so fucking in love with you Y/N it hurts and jealousy is quite the look on you.”

“Oh, wow.” Is all you said before you started cracking up. The relief that flooded through your system was twenty times stronger than any adrenaline rush the Navy gave you. The laughter was one of sheer bliss. Like you were floating through clouds, and you never had to land. You were sure your smile reached all the way up past your eyes. You placed your hands over top of his, which were still cocooning your face.

He joined in as well. The relief of knowing how the other felt about each other was nothing like anything the pair had experienced before. After a few minutes of Rooster making you laugh harder you finally came down from the high you were experiencing. He had yet to release your head from his hands. This time not afraid you would disappear but in euphoria that you admitted your feelings, he wanted to touch you for forever.

The laughter died down and two idiots were left looking at one another just smiling, finally admitting what had been building up for literally a decade.

You hummed rubbing your thumb along the back of his hand noticing the chills the rose when you did so, “I think I love you to.” You nodded your head, “No, I do love you. I don’t think I do. I love you, Bradley.”

That was all it took for him to let go of your head, gently of course. He scooped you like you didn’t weigh a pound from your laying position and brought you close to him, bridal style, “I thought I’d never hear those words coming from those beautiful lips.”

You turned your head into his chest to hide the insane blush that was inevitably covering your entire face, “No, no, no, don’t hide that face from me beautiful.” You could feel him laughing as he held you in his arms.

“That’s not fair.” You turned your head to take another good look at him. Your Rooster. Your beautiful Rooster. Who was holding you so gently in his arms. You hugged him tightly not wanting to let him go this time feeling like this was all too good to be true.

He pulled you closer to him in response, “Penny for your thoughts?” He asked in response to your actions.

You shook your head, “I just don’t want to let you go Bradley.” You smiled looking up to him. So happy. You were sure this is the happiest you’ve ever been in your life. Your Bradley. You were going to get to tell him you loved him for forever and you really couldn’t wait. You were going to get to wake up next to him, when you weren’t off on missions, every day and you really didn’t want to wait, “Stay with me tonight?”

He nodded rocking you back in forth gently in his arms, “I’ll stay whenever you ask, whenever you need me to.”

Your smile got even bigger if that were even possible, “Can you kiss me now Bradley?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

[guessimate]

Today we’re visiting the Bruni family. The founders of this family are really similar to one another in terms of personality. Their firstborn daughter ended up being more playful than her parents, but their 2nd daughter has the exact same personality and zodiac sign as her mother.

Baset is a Cancer. She’s 8 Neat, 0 Shy, 9 Active, 9 Playful, 9 Nice.

Tefnut is a Pisces: 7 Neat, 0 Shy, 9 Active, 0 Serious 9 Nice. She does not like her older sister for some reason.

Bunefer – Pisces (Popularity/Family): 7 Neat, 0 Shy, 9 Active, 0 Serious, 9 Nice.

Geatano – Virgo (Family): 8 Neat, 0 Shy, 9 Active, 0 Serious, 8 Nice.

All of them have Tinkering as One True Hobby, probably because they’re so similar in terms of personality. But it’s still strange to me.

~*~ 

It’s quite odd I haven’t seen any multiples/twins so far. I would normally have at least one pair of twins by now in my previous hoods at this point.

So far Bunefer has been the luckiest mother in town, but we’ll have to see next time I play them if they are happy enough to pass on their last name. She’s given birth to 2 healthy baby girls and she’s survived the births. One girl is a green-eyed redhead and the other one is a blue-eyed blonde. They will live till their natural deaths. Unfortunately, she also suffered 2 miscarriages. Her pregnancies were quite hard. I think she clogged the toilet. I had to reset it because that castaway toilet doesn’t have all the interactions enabled.

~*~ 

They ended up with 6400$ in the bank, having sold the jumbo fish, and a golden fish. They still have a lot of harvestables and fish they can sell, but they’re a bigger family, so they’ll need to keep the regular bass to eat.

I played this family for the same amount of time as the others. The founders have 17 days left before becoming elders. They had 2 harvests.

They are hoping for a male heir. And the baby Bunefer is currently pregnant with will not die naturally because of the rolls, but it will be born, so it won’t die before teenagerhood.

[gameguides]

Star Ocean The Divine Force Side Quest List

Welcome to our Star Ocean The Divine Force Side Quest List guide. This guide will show you all the Side Quests, their locations, how to complete them, and the rewards you will receive after completing each quest. We know that there are people who have a hard time finishing the STAR OCEAN THE DIVINE FORCE game. If you are one of those who find it difficult to finish the game, let's take you to our STAR OCEAN THE DIVINE FORCE guide. #StarOceanTheDivineForce

Star Ocean The Divine Force Side Quest List

All the Side Quest, their locations, how to complete them, and the rewards you will receive after completing each quest! Side Full Quest List & Guide - Find My Kitty Quest – Location > Larcette Village: Cat-Loving Girl (at night) – Rewards: Lost Chacham (Kitty) x1 Cryptographic Message A-1 x1 640 Fol - Native Pest of the Forest Quest – Location > Larcette Village: the Undaunted Man (outside the inn) – Rewards: 2400 Fol - The Corporal’s Farewell Quest – Location > Baldaar Citadel: the Soldier Who Survived – Rewards: Lost Letter from Sartus’ Wife x1 13000 Fol - Why Is It Only MeTBA Quest – Location > Delryk Village: Eat at the village inn, then the Undaunted Explorer – Rewards: None - Delryk Oddball Quest – Location > Delryk Village: Seeking a boat to Cotto main quest & the Man in the Alley (west of the inn) – Rewards: Lost Tattered Robe +1 x 5 5280 Fol - Pesky Thieves Quest – Location > Delryk Village: the Man Who Has Had Enough – Rewards: Iron x10 2080 Fol - Welch the Compounder Quest – Location > Delryk Village: Return the Vineyard’s ring (Seaport of Rythal & Welch Vineyard in Delryk Village) – Rewards: Welch’s Communicator x1 Unlocks Item Creation feature: Compounding 8 Fol - Welch The Crafter Quest – Location > Delryk Village: Welch the Compounder quest & Welch Vineyard – Rewards: 80 Fol - Welch The Smithy Quest – Location > Delryk Village: Welch the Crafter quest & Welch Vineyard – Rewards: 800 Fol - Welch the Engineer Quest – Location > Delryk Village: Welch the Smithy quest & Welch Vineyard – Rewards: 3200 Fol - Welch the Alchemist Quest – Location > Delryk Village: Welch the Engineer quest & Welch Vineyard – Rewards: Unlocks Alchemy Feature 4800 Fol - Welch the Author Quest – Location > Delryk Village: Welch the Alchemist quest & Welch Vineyard – Rewards: 6400 Fol - Welch the Synthesizer Quest – Location > Delryk Village: Welch the Author quest & Welch Vineyard – Rewards: 8000 Fol - Such Soft & Fluffy Beds Quest – Location > Seaport of Rythal: the Innkeeper Looking to Upgrade – Rewards: 2560 Fol - Es’owa Initiation Quest – Location > Seaport of Rythal: the Shady Merchant – Rewards: Dorne pawn x1 640 Fol - Smuggler’s Surveillance Quest – Location > Seaport of Rythal: the Sharp-Eyed Sailor – Rewards: TBA - When I Sleep & When I Wake Quest – Location > Cottonrinth Region: the Boy Having Nightmares – Rewards: Morale Potion x 4 10400 Fol - Brooch Hunt Quest – Location > Royal Capital Acendros Palace Gardens: the Woman standing next to the grave in the Palace Gardens – Rewards: Cryptographic Message D 9440 Fol - A Healing Herb Quest – Location > Seaport of Rythal: the Sickly Woman – Rewards: 8480 Fol - A Long-Awaited Message Quest – Location > The Aucerian Highroad: A Healing Herb side quest & the Manipulative Man – Rewards: 8480 Fol - The Man with No Plan Quest – Location > Seaport of Cotto: the Even Still Undaunted Explorer – Rewards: Cryptographic Message B 4160 Fol - A Memorable Hat Quest – Location > Seaport of Cotto: the Old Woman Preparing for a Trip – Rewards: 8000 Fol - A Prized Pendant Quest – Location > Seaport of Cotto: the Married Woman – Rewards: 11520 Fol - Creepy Crawly Critters Quest – Location > Royal Capital Acendros City: the Slightly Stinky Man – Rewards: Cryptographic Message A-3 5120 Fol - A Daughter’s Gift Quest – Location > Royal Capital Acendros City: the Skilled Dollmaker’s Daughter – Rewards: 8480 Fol - A Parent’s Love Is Never Far Quest – Location > Baldaar Citadel: Complete a A Daughter’s Gift & the Shy Father – Rewards: 9440 Fol - Luggage Larceny Quest – Location > Larcasse Region: Find Elena’s escape pod & then the Old Woman help – Rewards: Secret Preparation Recipe X1 1440 Fol - Meet some Meat Quest – Location > Village of Eda: the Romantically Assertive Woman – Rewards: Unlocks Exquisite Herb Steak at the Inn 2080 Fol - A Ticket’s Destination Quest – Location > Seaport of Rythal: the Undaunted Explorer – Rewards: 6240 Fol - Chapter One in Becoming Novelist Quest – Location > Village of Eda: the Aspiring Writer – Rewards: 8480 Fol - A Glimpse of Talent Quest – Location > Royal Capital Acendros City: Chapter One in Becoming Novelist side quest & the Magnificent Writer – Rewards: Wordsmith Pen 4000 Fol - A Trekker’s Charm Quest – Location > Village of Eda: Help the Still Undaunted Explorer in Larcette Village & meet him in Eda Village – Rewards: 8000 Fol - Mama’s Favorite Quest – Location > Royal Capital Acendros City: A Healing Herb & A Long-Awaited Message side quests & the Manipulative Man – Rewards: Cryptographic Message C 4800 Fol - Junk Collector Quest – Location > Delryk Village: the Weirdo – Rewards: Smithy Hammer x1 Lost Holey Armor +2 x5 2400 Fol - The Immortal Knight Quest – Location > Seaport of Cotto: the Corporal Swallowing His Pride – Rewards: Aucerian Medal X1 6080 Fol - Defense Systems Down Quest – Location > Parrapoeiam: the Security Guard in Need of a Fix – Rewards: TBA - Endless Curiosity Quest – Location > Parrapoeiam: the Researcher Striving for Peace – Rewards: 35200 Fol - Unknown Organisms Quest – Location > Parrapoeiam: the Researcher Striving for Peace – Rewards: 32000 Fol - One More Please Quest – Location > Parrapoeiam: the Man Curious about Umaibo – Rewards: TBA - The Snack You Crave Quest – Location > Parrapoeiam: the Man Curious about Umaibo – Rewards: TBA - Material Deficit Quest – Location > Parrapoeiam: J.J. – Rewards: 48000 Fol - J.J. on a mission Quest – Location > Parrapoeiam: Material Deficit side quest & J.J. – Rewards: 32000 Fol - Parrapoeiam on the Rebound Quest – Location > Parrapoeiam: J.J. on a mission side quest & J.J. – Rewards: 16000 Fol JJ permanent party member - Great Goops of Goo Quest – Location > Galca Shrine: the Discerning Woman – Rewards: TBA - I Want to Be Disliked Quest – Location > Baldaar Citadel: the Concerned Woman – Rewards: Pheromone Enhancer x1 - The Perfect Detox Quest – Location > Baldaar Citadel: the Passionate Man – Rewards: TBA - This Man Needs Love Quest – Location > Baldaar Citadel: the Passionate Man – Rewards: TBA - Puffy’s Debut Quest – Location > Imperial Capital: Puffy – Rewards: Farleen - An Unfair Apology Quest – Location > Imperial Capital: Complete Puffy’s Debut & Puffy – Rewards: TBA - Reckless Santa, Full of Rage Quest – Location > The Ultima Thule: Santa – Rewards: TBA - That Peculiar Merchant’s Dem& Quest – Location > The Gauntlet: Santa – Rewards: TBA - That Unyielding Door Quest – Location > Semiomancy Consortium: Melthia – Rewards: Spirit orb - The Adventures of a Carefree Cat Quest – Location > Imperial Capital: the Cat-Loving Boy – Rewards: Cryptographic Message A-2 - The Corporal’s Farewell Quest – Location > Baldaar Citadel: the Soldier Who Survived – Rewards: 13000 Fol - The Mechanic’s Saga Quest – Location > Merchant Vessel, the Aldous: the Curious Mechanic – Rewards: TBA - The Undelivered Quest – Location > Merchant Vessel, the Aldous: the Considerate Crewmate – Rewards: TBA - The Soldier’s Wife Quest – Location > Larcette Village: the Lonely Woman – Rewards: 14000 Fol - The Trigger of War Quest – Location > Castle Aucerius: Bertr& – Rewards: TBA - The Actual Owner Quest – Location > Seaport of Rythal: Vahnel – Rewards: TBA - Cat Recall Quest – Location > Imperial Capital: the Elderly Man with a Cat – Rewards: TBA - Rout the Rest Quest – Location > Museum: the Meticulous Patrolman – Rewards: TBA - What Could Be InsideTBA Quest – Location > Museum: Rout the Rest side quest & the Meticulous Patrolman – Rewards: TBA All Merchant Locations To complete our Star Ocean The Divine Force Side Quest List & Guide, we leave you this video guide with all the Merchant Locations, from BAI Gaming: https://youtu.be/AN5T-tbFJ-E Read the full article

[volturiwolf]

It's All Greek To Me - A Demetri Volturi x fem!Reader Imagine

A/N: I wanted to write an imagine about Demetri in Greece or about Greece, so there it is.

A/N 2: A small lesson in pronunciation to help you get through the story: "ai" and "e" are pronounced "e" like "elephant" // "ei", "oi", "i" and "y" are like "e" in "see" // "mp" sounds like "b" // "nt" like "d" // "ch" like "h" in "hello" // "ou" like "u" in "orangutan" // "d" like "th" in "though" // "th" like "th" in "through" // "g" like "y" in "yellow"

A/N 3: The story takes places during the summer of 2020, in Crete, Greece

A/N 4: The story includes techniques of reviving someone in the case of drowning - I found the instructions online, so don't take them as facts

A/N 5: Under no circumstances you should trust a stranger, even if they look as good as Demetri does

A/N 6: (Y/N/N) = your nickname

A/N 7: Sorry for the interruption, enjoy :))

No. of Words: 6400+

Mentions of: Murder, Drowning, Death/loss of a relative, Greek, Swearing, Panic attacks, C*vid-19 related themes, Claustrophobia, Light smut

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Volturi-related Tag List: @eunoia-kth

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Demetri’s POV

“Seriously, who thought this was a good idea?” I was indignant with the fact that we were sent on a mission in the middle of the summer.

It would have been understandable if it was winter or if we were sent to, let’s say Australia, or South Africa, or Brazil. But, in the middle of a very warm and sunny summer for the northern hemisphere, we were sent on a mission to sunny Greece. Don’t get me wrong; I loved Greece. It was my birthplace, and I wished I had spent more time here, instead of Amun taking me back to Egypt.

But, again, we were sent to sunny Greece. This was not a place for vampires, so what kind of mission was that? It turned out that a few vampires were terrorizing the island of Crete, at the southernmost end of the country. The media all over the country called for a gang of serial killers, or possible vendettas between old Cretan families, which was not uncommon. Cretans were stereotypically known for starting “wars” between families, for reasons of “honor”.

Tracking the vampires down proved quite easy; being the best tracker in the world, this was child’s play for me. Crete, like the rest of Greece, had many mountains where the vampires could hide, and easily hunt, so, at first, we thought that that was where these vampires would be. However, this was not the case. These vampires were hunting out in the open, close to villages, beaches, wherever there was a chance to get noticed by humans.

The difficult part for us was blending in with the environment and the people around us. We were literally sticking out like a sore thumb. We had no choice but to move around dressed in long capes, sunglasses, scarves, gloves, anything that could hide our identity. During probably the hottest month of the year, we were walking around fully clothed, wearing dark clothes, while everyone else around us was wearing the lightest clothes they could find.

We never cared about humans staring at us; we never cared about that. But, when we were out in the open, with humans passing by and giving us weird looks, we were quite conscious as to not expose our identities. These vampires we were after, whoever they were, knew what they were after, what they wanted to achieve. Even if they knew we would come after them, they tried to gain some more time by putting obstacles in our way.

We finally tracked them in Elafonissi, a pristine beach that attracted hundreds of people every single day, because of its unique pink sand. It was late in the afternoon, the time of twilight and the sky was painted with tints of pink, orange, and purple.

Sometimes, I wished I could just stand and stare, taking in all the glory of nature and the beauty around me. Sometimes, I wished I lived a normal life. But that couldn’t be my life now. I was a vampire, and I had important responsibilities and many duties in the Volturi; I couldn’t be “normal”, no matter how hard I tried.

Jane snapped me out of my thoughts. “Demetri, wake up. We have work to do. Where are they now?” She was stern, as per usual, wanting to get done with it, just as we all were.

I tried to search around with my gaze. There were only a few humans around who were leaving at that time, as it started getting chilly around, and they were probably getting cold. I doubted the vampires would be interested in staying there any longer, as there seemed to be no reason to waste their time. Apart from a towel and a bag that laid on the sand, there seemed to be no humans around, so no interest for those vampires.

Suddenly, a scream broke the silence around us.

“Voitheia! Help! Somebody help me!” The voice screeched, piercing our vampire ears.

Looking around, I saw a woman, struggling to stay afloat, seemingly fighting an invisible enemy. Her heartbeat was frantic; the heartbeat of a scared human who was fighting for their life. I wouldn’t care for that woman if I hadn’t noticed the female vampire that was trying to drown the human down into the water.

Without thinking about it, I ran into the water, swimming fast towards the vampire, removing her from the woman, and grabbing her quickly. I noticed Felix had followed me into the water, and we both grabbed the vampire, walking her out the water, in front of the Twins. We were about to leave when we heard the woman screaming once again.

“Help! Somebody help me, please!” Her voice was desperate, but we knew we couldn’t let her live if she had possibly realized that the one who tried to drown her was a vampire.

I turned towards the others. “I will handle this.” I turned around, jumping in the water and swimming towards the woman.

I reached her quickly, as she was struggling to breathe. I grabbed her neck, pushing her into the water, and trying to squeeze the life out of her. She was trying to push me off of her to no avail, but she was still trying to fight me off. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and looked at me, realizing that this was her end.

But the moment she opened her (Y/E/C) eyes, I felt the environment around me shake, something in my existence shifting, and suddenly she was all I cared about. I felt something like an electric current pass through me and shake my core. I let my hands off of her neck. Unbeknownst to the others, I thought I found my mate in the eyes of the woman in front of me. As her seemingly lifeless body sunk further down the sea bottom, I woke up from my fantasies. I could not let that human die. I had to save her.

I quickly dove down, reaching her arm, and pulling her up towards the surface. She didn’t seem to breathe, so I tried to reach the shore as quickly as I could, panicking about what I was about to do to her. As I walked out of the water with her in my arms and laid her on the sand, the others turned to look at me, a mix of confusion, disgust, and curiosity on their faces.

“I thought you were supposed to take care of the human.” Alec looked in between me and the woman in my arms.

“You don’t understand. I cannot kill her. I have to save her.” I was on my knees, in front of the woman, panicking, trying to wake her up.

I didn’t have to say anything else for the others to understand, as they started realizing what was the deal with the human I just saved. Felix and Jane quickly walked beside me, sitting on their knees, while Alec used his gift on the vampire to keep her senseless and quiet.

Jane looked down at my mate, who seemed lifeless, all blood drained out of her face, which now looked chalky and pale for her complexion. She then turned to look at me. “First of all, check her mouth and nose to see if she’s breathing.”

I leaned down but I couldn’t hear her breathing. I turned to Jane, panicking more than I did before. “I cannot hear her breathing.”

Jane was too calm for my sensitive nerves. “You have to perform artificial respiration. You have to be quick. She won’t have too much time left. Lift her chin up higher, and press her forehead lightly down. You have to make sure her respiratory tract has opened up, and her tongue is not on the way. Check that there’s nothing in her mouth, no seaweed or anything else.”

I followed her instructions carefully. “Now what?”

“Press her nose and close both nostrils. Put your lips on her mouth.” I turned to look at her with her, my eyes widened. “Do it, or she will die.” I did as I was told. “Make sure your lips are tightly on hers. Blow twice on her mouth, as if you’re actually exhaling. Make sure her chest inflates and deflates, before the second blow.”

I did as I was told once again. “Now what?”

“I’ll check her neck if there’s a pulse.” Jane lightly put her index and middle finger on my mate’s neck for a few seconds. “I feel a pulse, but it’s still pretty weak. Demetri, continue blowing air on her mouth. Blow once every 5 seconds.”

I continued doing that for about a minute but nothing happened. “What do we do now?”

“Take your index and middle fingers. Search for the point where her two rib sides unite, just in the middle of her chest.”

I moved my fingers across her chest, searching for that exact point. I found it just below the middle of her breasts. “Found it!”

“Good. Now, link your hands and press lightly on her chest. Do not crush her with your strength! Make sure her chest goes down 3 to 4 centimeters every time you press. Try to press 100 times per minute.”

My hands were trembling slightly every time I pressed down on her chest. “You can do it, Demetri. Don’t worry.” Felix was encouraging me.

I continued pressing for about a minute or two, until she finally puked all the water she had in her lungs, coughing and gasping for air. She looked at me with tired eyes, trying to breathe.

“Efcharisto. Thank you.” She barely whispered, closing her eyes, and trying to control her breathing.

“Parakalo. You’re welcome, dolce bambina (sweet baby girl).” I looked at her lovingly, trying to take in her beauty.

“Maybe she should go to the hospital.” Jane told me sternly.

I realized that there was so much I could do to help her. “Yeah, I think she should.”

“Yeah, I probably should.” She whispered with a raspy voice, opening her eyes to look between us, her eyes stopping to stare directly at mine.

“Here, let me help you sit up.” I offered her. She slightly nodded, and I wrapped my arms around her back and legs, lifting her up in my arms. I was about to walk away when Jane stopped me.

“She’s still dirty from the sand. You better help her clean up.”

I didn’t realize her back and her legs had sand on them until Jane mentioned it. “Yeah, you are right. Let me help you…”

“(Y/N). My name is (Y/N).” A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.

I turned towards the sea, slowly splashing her with water to remove the sand. “Hey (Y/N), my name is Demetri.”

I felt something in (Y/N) change as I told her my name. “Are you Greek, too?” She turned to stare at me with her big (Y/E/C) eyes.

I didn’t realize she was Greek. “Yeah, I am, though I haven’t been to Greece for quite some time now if I’m being completely honest.”

“That’s nice. At first, I didn’t realize you were Greek. Se efcharisto pou me esoses (Thank you for saving me).”

“Parakalo, mia dolceta (my sweetie).” I looked down at her smiling, happy to have found her. “Although I’m really sorry for trying to drown you.” My smile dropped, and I looked at her apologetically.

“Right... Why did you do that?” She suddenly looked saddened and distressed.

“I’m really sorry about that, honestly. I will explain everything to you. But for now, we need to get you to the hospital.” I walked us out of the water and went on to leave the beach.

“Wait!” She stopped me. “I have to pick up my towel and my bag.” She pointed back at the towel we saw earlier.

I turned back, and slowly set her down on her feet. She picked up her stuff and walked towards the parking lot. She took out her car keys and unlocked her jeep, which was unnecessarily big for just one person. She set her bag in the trunk, took a small fanny pack out of it, and wrapped her towel around her, shivering slightly. She walked over to the driver’s seat before I stopped her. She looked at me confused, tilting her head.

“I think it’s best if I drive, bambolotta (little doll). You must be exhausted, and it’s the least I can do.” I took her keys out of her hand, and rushed her to the passenger's seat, making sure she would wear her seatbelt.

“Okay, okay, don’t worry about me. I always wear my seatbelt, caro (dear).” I raised my eyebrow, looking at her cheekily. “What? You think you’re the only one who knows Italian? I also know a few words.” She bragged, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

I then ran to the driver’s seat and started the car. I turned to look at (Y/N) whose eyes were wide from shock. “I know, I know, you will explain later. Where are your friends? Won’t they come with us?”

“Don’t worry about them. Let’s just go to the hospital.” I started the engine, determined to get her to the hospital and make sure she’s safe. I made sure to increase the heat in the car, seeing as she was still trembling.

She pulled her phone out of the fanny pack and opened Google Maps. “Okay, it’s about one and a half hours to the nearest hospital. Just 73 kilometers away, or…” She started typing on her phone. “... about 45 miles, if you are wondering.”

I grinned at her. “I know kilometers, love.” I pushed on the pedal lightly, pushing the car to go faster.

(Y/N) shrieked a bit beside me. I turned to look at her, and she was clasping her seat tightly. “Okay, I wouldn’t advise you to actually run around here. One, it’s a provincial road, meaning it’s narrow, probably not well maintained, it passes through villages and mountains, and it has too many turns to count. Two, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Cretans drive pretty recklessly, and I wish not to die on the road. Third, this is a rental car. Please, do not destroy it. I don't have the money to fix it if anything happens.”

I laughed loudly at her cluelessness. “Dolce bambina, my reflexes are pretty good, don’t worry.”

“Okay, I’m just gonna close my eyes then, ‘cause I’m getting dizzy.” She shut her eyes off for the remainder of our way to the hospital, translating every now and then whenever her phone was shouting a direction.

We reached the hospital in less than 40 minutes, much to (Y/N)’s dismay and utter horror for my driving. I rushed inside the hospital, trying to find a nurse or someone to examine (Y/N). I was thankful I had worn brown contact lenses before we left for the mission, though I knew that they would completely melt under the venom any moment now. I saw a nurse and rushed towards her.

"Παρακαλῶ ὑμᾶς, βοηθείτε ἐμέ (Parakalo ymas, voithite eme).” I started begging the nurse, who was looking at me shocked, probably not understanding what I was saying. “Please, help me.”

Now, she must have understood me, as she nodded. “What seems to be the problem, sir?” She was looking at me mesmerized, trying to keep a calm demeanor, but she clearly seemed flustered under her mask.

“My friend was drowning at the sea. I managed to wake her up, but I’m not sure if she’s still okay. Please, come with me.” I grabbed her hand, and led her outside, towards the car.

(Y/N) was still seated on the passenger’s seat, waiting for me to come back. I opened her door and showed her to the nurse.

“Hello, miss. Did you drown? Are you feeling okay?” The nurse was asking (Y/N) all these stupid questions, instead of taking her in to examine her, making me roll my eyes at her.

“Nai, alla eimai kalytera tοra. Aplos, o filos mou ythele na kano merikes exetaseis gia kalo kai gia kako (Yes, but I’m feeling better now. My friend just wanted me to get examined, just in case).” (Y/N) explained to the nurse in Greek, and I would lie if I said I understood everything she said. It did remind me of the Greek I knew, but also not really.

“Oraia. Tote, tha se paro mesa na kanoume merikes exetaseis, na doume pou eimaste, entaxei? (Good. Then, I will take you inside to have some examinations, to see where we are standing, okay?)” She replied to (Y/N), as she started walking back into the hospital.

(Y/N) took a mask out of her fanny pack, then jumped out of the car, and turned to me. “I’ll have some examinations now, so I have to go inside. Thank you again for your help.” She smiled at me sweetly.

“You’re welcome, cuore mio (my heart). I’ll be waiting here for you when you’re done.”

“Oh, no.” She was moving her hands around, in front of me. “You don’t need to stay. Just give me my car keys, and I’ll leave when I’m done. Besides, your friends will get worried.”

“I’m sorry, cara (dear). I don’t mind waiting for you. I have a lot of free time. Don’t worry about my friends, I know where to find them if I need them.” I tried to reassure her as best as I could. She smiled and nodded at me, before wearing the mask and following the nurse inside the hospital.

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

(Y/N)’s POV

I went under some “typical” exams, as the nurse called them. They took my blood pressure, and some blood samples, they examined my lungs and my heart for potential damage, and a few hours later, they released me. I was thankful all this was over; I hated hospitals; I was terrified of needles; all this was a true nightmare for me. I was trying to calm myself all this time, barely able to breathe properly after wearing that mask for so many hours, my claustrophobia taking over my mind. I was suddenly interrupted by the nurse who took me in here.

“Glykia mou, eisai entaxei. Mporeis na fygeis tora. O,ti allo chreiasteis, mi distaseis na kaleseis sto nosokomeio (My sweety, you are okay. You can leave now. Whatever else you need, don’t hesitate to call the hospital).” She said kindly, allowing me to finally leave.

I thanked her silently, exiting the hospital as fast as I could with whatever energy I had left in me. The chill breeze hit me, relieving me temporarily. I took my phone out of my fanny pack. 2:30 am. I had several calls and texts from my friends, but I didn’t feel ready to face them just yet. Instead, I closed my eyes, trying to relax. After all, it’s been a long and exhausting day.

The one-day excursion I planned to relax and explore a few places my friends were not willing to come along with, turned out to be a life-threatening experience. I never thought that would be my last day on Earth; I would never think, under normal circumstances, that I would ever drown; that I would go down the same way my grandma did - doing what we loved so much: swimming. Simply swimming. I tried to hold my tears; I didn’t want to cry out in public. Opening my eyes, I was met with Demetri, who was now standing in front of me, startling me a bit.

He noticed it immediately. “I’m sorry if I scared you. I didn’t mean to.” He looked at me apologetically, extending his arm to stroke mine lightly. For some unknown reason, his actions did not scare or repulse me. On the contrary, his presence felt inviting, though his touch was cold, and sent shivers down my whole body.

“You didn’t scare me, at least not now. You just need to warn me first before you suddenly and silently appear before me.” I laughed a bit, and he smiled at me, seemingly relaxed. “But.. you promised me you would tell me why you tried to drown me.”

He sighed deeply as if he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. “We better get away from here. Somewhere..private.” He took a few steps away from me, before turning to look back, extending his hand towards me. “Do you trust me?”

I knew I should have not trusted him; I knew I should have said no; that’s how girls got killed - girls who were left alone; girls who trusted unknown people. All these thoughts were passing through my mind, and yet, I chose to ignore every single one of them. Demetri exuded a sort of kindness and protectiveness that invited me in; invited me to trust him. So I did, allowing him to take my hand in his, as he led me back to the car before we drove away towards an unknown destination.

I finally took my mask off. “We can go to the “Elephants’ Cave”. It’s 28 kilometers away from here, but it’s quite isolated, especially this time around.” I barely spoke, almost whispering, but he must have heard, as he simply nodded his head and continued driving us away from the city center.

Again, I should not have trusted myself going anywhere isolated with someone I barely knew - especially someone who attempted to kill me, but I felt like I could trust Demetri. My mind was filled with thoughts that this could indeed be my last day on Earth; that it was very likely that I would die in the hands of this beautiful stranger.

I slowly turned around to look at him; his face looked like it was sculpted by Praxiteli himself - I could even say that he looked even more beautiful than Ermi, or any other Greek god. His blonde hair looked almost golden, even under the dim light of the street lights we passed. His jaw looked sharp, defined, and slightly clenched. His lips were plump, full, with a bright, lively shade of pink which seemed to miss from his cheeks, or any other part of his face. His brown eyes started to slowly turn in a dark shade of red, which I couldn’t explain.

“Take a picture, love. It will last longer.” I hadn’t realized how long I was staring at him, or that he realized I was staring at him.

“Okay.” I simply nodded, taking my phone out of the fanny pack, unlocking it quickly, and snapping a picture of the strange, yet beautiful Demetri.

Demetri. Same name as my mom, Demetra. Was it a coincidence, or fate? You sound ridiculous, (Y/N). Get yourself together. Why do you care about this guy? For all you know, he tried to kill you, and he might as well kill you within the next hour. The voice of sense in my head was really trying to warn me, again and again, but I wouldn’t listen. Why are you doing this to yourself? Why do you keep finding yourself in trouble? The ringing of my phone shook me out of my concerns.

“Parakalo? Nai, kala eimai, Alex. Eicha ena thema kai xechastika. Eimai sto dromo tora. Vgyka na xechasto ligo. Mporei na gyriso to proi. Tha do ti tha kano, okay? Pes kai stis alles na min anysychoune. Efcharisto. Ante geia. Filakia. (Hello? Yes, I’m fine, Alex. I had an issue and I lost track of time. I’m on the road now. I went out to relax a bit. I may be back in the morning. I’ll see what I’ll do, okay? Tell the others not to worry. Thanks. Bye. Kisses.)”

“Is there something wrong?” Demetri sounded genuinely worried; he probably did not understand a thing I said.

“No, no, it’s okay. It was my friend, Alex. She called because my friends were worried since I’m not back yet. I told them I went out to get some air or something, and I may be back in the morning.”

“You didn’t tell me you were here with friends.” Demetri raised an eyebrow at me, not really looking back on the road, and it stressed me.

“You better turn your head ahead. Well, I didn’t have time to tell you. You know, with everything that happened tonight, I couldn’t really think straight. But, yeah, I’m here with friends. You think I'd rent this huge car for myself? I couldn’t possibly afford to rent it on my own, like ever.”

“Well, that makes sense now. I also wondered why one single human would need such a big car.” He laughed with himself, not letting me in on the joke.

“Okay?” I looked at him strangely. “So, we are like a few minutes away. It’s basically a long but narrow road until we come close enough to the cave.” Demetri nodded, and simply followed my instructions, as the jeep was slightly bumping up and down at the irregular, narrow road.

Demetri was driving dangerously close to driving us off the road, but, again, he didn’t. He was either a really good driver or a professional - I didn’t know which of the two. I still held on to my seat tightly, afraid of the collision that never came, closing my eyes tightly; my heart was pounding, and my breathing was quick and shallow. Then, the car stopped, and I was hearing muffled laughter. I opened my eyes to stare at Demetri who was barely trying to hold his laughter, as he stared back at me.

“You get too scared too easily, huh?” He was grinning at me.

“Well, I told you, the roads here are dangerous, and the drivers even more dangerous. Do you expect me to be calm?” I questioned him, still wondering how he was so calm, and how he could drive that well.

“I really don’t know what to expect from you, tesora (treasure).” He laughed loudly; his laughter warmed up my heart for some inexplicable reason - I was easing up to the stranger, and I could.. Somehow, for a reason I couldn’t really understand, I was starting to like this stranger.. a lot. Stupid feelings, you’ll get me killed.

Demetri exited the car, motioning me to follow him. I slowly climbed out of the car, clinging onto my towel, still not having fully dried. The sea breeze was calming, welcoming, familiar. I had always been so in love with the sea and its wonders. Even after such a traumatic experience of almost drowning, I couldn’t look at it differently. I waited every single summer to go swimming; I craved the freedom I felt every time I swam. I couldn’t let anything ruin it for me. Even if it was because of the beautiful man who now stood beside me.

I took a deep, shaky breath, before turning to look at him. “Now, tell me. Everything. You owe me that.”

The blondie looked restless, doubtful almost of what his next words would be. He stared straight ahead, towards the dark sea, as the breeze passed through the locks of his hair.

He gulped, before turning to look back at me. “Promise me you won’t hate me if I tell you the truth?” His voice was trembling, and I could only nod, allowing him to continue. “I’m a vampire.”

I looked at him, mouth wide open like he was crazy or something. “Wh..What?” I felt like no thoughts passed through my brain right now like it was literally numb upon hearing Demetri say he was a vampire. “Like.. Eisai vrykolakas? (You’re a vampire?) Like..Like the Greek myths of people dying and being cursed so they rise out of their graves and walk among the living?” I was still staring at him like he was crazy, and I was even crazier to believe him.

He laughed at my exasperation. “No, it’s not like that, dolcezza (sweetness). It’s more like a “you-get-bitten-and-three-days-later-you-are-a-vampire” thing.”

I was still looking at him like he was crazy. But, in a moment of confidence, I tried to slightly agitate him; to make him prove he was under the influence or something; to prove that believing he was a vampire was just some crazy thought in his head. “Okay, since you’re a vampire, prove it.”

He smiled at me, before he quickly grabbed me, taking me in his arms, and running towards the sea. I screamed out of fear. “Se parakalo (Please)! Don’t jump!”

He suddenly stopped in his tracks, looking down at my trembling figure. “I’m really sorry, anima mia (my soul). I didn't realize you were so scared.”

“I will definitely need some time to recover from what happened yesterday? Today? Call it however you want. But, really, you are a vampire?” I looked up to stare at his now fully red eyes, as realization hit me. “You are.” My breath hitched in my throat, a new fear growing inside me. Demetri was a vampire, and as every vampire, he drank blood. I started getting dizzy. This would be my last day on Earth, one way or another. Demetri noticed the sudden change in my attitude.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong, cara?” He looked more worried than ever, cupping my cheek with one hand. I shivered more under his freezing touch.

“Please.. please.. don’t.. don’t kill me.” I was struggling to speak or breathe, as I felt fear taking over me. “Please..” I felt tears streaming down my face, unable to keep calm.

“I would never do anything to hurt you, pimpi (short for “principessa” = princess). I swear. You’re way too preziosa per me (precious for me).” To prove it, he leaned forward, pressing his cold lips on my forehead, and I felt as if all of the fear I had in me immediately left my body, and was replaced by a sense of calmness and belonging?

“Okay.” I whispered, clinging more onto him. He felt him smiling, huffing a bit.

“Cuore mio (my heart), I have to tell you something else as well, but I’m really worried about how you are going to take it.”

“More worried than telling me you are a vampire?” I laughed, wondering what could be more worrying than Demetri being a vampire.

He gulped, looking away from me. “What no myth has ever mentioned is that we vampires do not necessarily spend our eternal lives alone. Some of us are lucky enough to find a partner, someone special for us to share everything we have with. Someone who means the world to us, who we would do anything for. Someone who completes our soul perfectly. Someone who gives meaning to our worthless existence. Our soulmate.”

Demetri turned to look down at me, his eyes staring into mine lovingly. “You are that special someone for me. I was ordered to get rid of you - no human should know about our existence. And I was going to get rid of you. But, the moment you opened your eyes and I stared into them, I couldn’t take my own eyes, or my mind off of you. I tried to do everything I could to save you. I had to save you, to reverse what I dared to do; what I had the audacity to do.” He gulped once again, trying to choke the sadness that was now evident in his eyes.

“I would never live with myself if I did not manage to save you. I would have never forgiven myself for taking your life away.” He turned to look back at the sea. “You know, we vampires are cruel, vicious, true monsters. Killing people has become our second nature - either for survival, or to cover our tracks; some of us kill people for fun. But, I would never make myself forget if I took your life. I would either have to live with my regret and guilt or end my own life. Most of us live for so long, hoping to one day find our better halves. If I lost you, my life would not matter anymore.”

I couldn’t say a word back to him. He turned to look at me once again. “You are my better half, (Y/N), and I hope that one day, you will forgive me for what I tried to do to you. I understand if you never do, or if you want to get as far away from me as you possibly can. I will accept it, and not waste a second more of your time. I just want you to be happy, and I will do everything I can for you to be happy, even if it means that I will have to stay away from you. Knowing you are happy would mean the world to me. You mean everything to me, cuoricino (little heart).” He was lightly stroking my cheek, and I couldn’t help but lean into his cold touch.

I was quite speechless. I had never felt like this before; nobody had ever felt like this about me. “A sto diaolo.” I whispered to myself, but I’m pretty sure Demetri caught that.

“Cara, my Greek is not perfect, but I’m pretty sure that was a swear?” He cocked an eyebrow at me.

“Well, yeah, it means “go to hell”, but it’s more like an exclamation. Like, I could never imagine anyone feeling like that for me, let alone a living Greek statue!” I stated like it was the most obvious thing - Demetri literally looked like he was sculpted; his porcelain-hard skin looking flawless.

He laughed at my response. “Well, I’ll tell you what we are going to do if you want to. I’ll teach you Ancient Greek if you teach me Modern Greek. How about that?” He smiled cheekily.

“I will tell you what we’re going to do. You will come back to my hotel with me, spend the night if you want, and I will teach you some Modern Greek. But, you need to promise me you won’t say a single word in Ancient Greek, ‘cause I still have nightmares about it from middle and high school, okay?” I pointed my finger at him, warning him with whatever human power I had.

He smiled widely. “You got a deal, micia (kitty).”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days went by pretty pleasantly. I was spending my mornings and noons with my friends, swimming, eating, going out, whatever we wanted to do. And then, I was spending my afternoons and nights with Demetri. The moment the sun went down, Demetri would show up in my hotel room and would take me out. My friends knew that something was going on, and there must have been a man involved, but they didn’t say a thing, other than they had never seen me so happy in my life before. I didn’t know if I should tell them about Demetri - not the fact that he’s a vampire, just something to place an identity on the man who had mended my heart forever.

Demetri would take me anywhere I wanted with his super speed. One moment we would walk down the beach, and the next, we would be up in the mountains, watching the plains below us. Together we were discovering places I could have never seen otherwise; he was literally showing me the world; his world; things he enjoyed; things he wanted to share with me. Sometimes, I would stay up the whole night with him, watching the breaking dawn, as the sun licked his skin, reflecting the millions of diamond-like crystals on his skin. He was always smiling widely, and it made him more beautiful if that was even possible.

He was set to leave tomorrow, and he tried to spend as much time with me as he could. We were currently at the beach, sitting on a mat, just after twilight. Just like the past few days, I was trying to teach Demetri a few words and phrases in Greek, so he could use them every now and then to confuse his friends. At first, the hesitant, yet cheeky Demetri was totally against learning swear words - or hearing me say them. However, that quickly changed when he saw the prospect of messing up with his friends.

“Okay, so if I want to point out how stupid Felix is being, I would say…?” Demetri was really trying to learn Greek, but he still had some issues with some of the swearings.

“You would say “koita ena malaka”, which literally means “look at a wanker”, but it’s for when someone is being an asshole or something. If you want to put emphasis, you’ll need to “moutzoseis” him. You remember what that is, right?”

“I’ll show my open palm towards him, right?” Demetri was looking hopeful.

“Exactly, agapi mou (my love)! And again, whenever you show someone your open palm, you can tell them “par’ ta, malaka!”, which literally means…?”

“Take them, wanker!” Demetri shouted proudly. I had created a monster! I was so proud of him.

“You’re doing amazing, fos ton mation mou (light of my eyes)!” I grabbed his face, bringing him closer to me, and planting a passionate kiss on his lips.

He wrapped his arms around my waist, bringing me to sit on his lap, my legs wrapped around his waist. I let my hands travel through the locks of his hair, and I heard Demetri moaning under our kiss. I could let him take me right then and there if we weren’t out in the public - though Demetri didn't seem like the type of person who would care about the setting. I involuntarily pulled back, not wanting to take it any farther for now. I kept my palms on his cheeks, trying to take in his every feature. I would miss him greatly.

“Dimitraki (little Demetri)?”

“Yes, (Y/N/N)?” He smiled at me, his eyes glistening; I swore I could see the little heart emojis jumping out of them.

“Promise me that you will come and visit me back home, in Thessaloniki, okay? And that you will text me every day when you’re away, or at least as soon as you can, okay?” I went a bit melancholic, thinking about being so far away from Demetri.

“Sou to yposchomai, agapi mou (I promise you, my love).” Demetri grinned, and I let a few happy tears fall from my eyes, listening to him speaking Greek. Demetri wiped them away. “Don’t cry, baby. I promise you, I will come back and see you as soon as I can. And whenever you can, you will come to live with me. Permanently.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

[casbangs]

Cas Bang Masterpost

And with that, the 2020 Castiel Big Bang has ended! Let’s look at the masterpost for the season ending in June 2021~!

#~+~#

Title: Breaking Free and Finding Home

Author: @limeyjellybean

Artist: @soluscheese

Rating: Mature

Pairing(s): Castiel/Dean Winchester (Destiel)

Words: 22,293

Summary: Freedom isn’t something Castiel ever thought he could be familiar with, living under Naomi’s roof with her rules and strict way of living - but when the opportunity presents itself, he takes it and runs.

What he didn’t expect was what followed, and what the newfound freedom would bring him.

Link to fic

Link to art

~~

Title: Husbands and Headlines

Author: Why_do_you_want_to_know ( @an-ace-phoenix )

Artist: @love-nakamura

Rating: Teen and up

Pairings: Dean/Cas

Words: 22,000

Summary:

Castiel thought his life was perfect. Maybe his husband was away for months at a time - but that was the life of an actor - and it wasn’t like Castiel wasn’t busy as well. They found time for each other. And Castiel knew that they always loved each other.

But then Dean started acting weird.

He took on more and more jobs, spending more time away than at home, and taking the bare minimum in terms of breaks. So when Castiel got a chance to work on the same film set, designing the costumes and spending the next couple of months in Montana with Dean, he jumped at the chance.

When Dean just acted even weirder, and Dean’s co-star Bela seemed to spend more time with Dean than Cas did, he started to see his perfect life crumbling around him.

Is anything really what it seems?

Link to fic

Link to art

~~

Title: Say Yes

Author: @verobatto (BENKA79)

Artist: @jenniferb-art

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Dean/Castiel

Words: 21.1k

Summary:

After evading the apocalypse, Heaven faces a new crisis. Without archangels and with an absent God, the angels will appeal to their last hope: to achieve a perfect bond between two of their own and thus generate the necessary energy to save Heaven.

But when the first attempts fail, and everyone begins to lose hope.

It is then that Castiel admits that he may have “accidentally” started a bonding ritual with Dean Winchester by bringing him out of Hell, and now the restoration of Heaven depends on a brave hunter agreeing to complete the bond with Castiel, a ritual full of enigmas and sensuality that will confront the angel and the human with their most hidden feelings.

Link to Fic

Link to Art

~~

Title: Whiskers and Whispers

Author: Why_do_you_want_to_know (@an-ace-phoenix)

Artist: @kingstoken

Rating: Gen

Pairings: Dean/Cas

Words: 6400

Summary:

Castiel gets turned into a cat while killing a witch, and is brought back to the bunker by an unsuspecting Sam and Dean. He tries to get a message across to them, tell them that he isn’t actually a cat, but maybe its not so bad… especially with how open Dean is now that he thinks Castiel is just an animal who can’t understand his words.

Link to fic

Link to art

~~

Title: Sign of God

By: spnsmile

Art by: heart-eyes castiel

Pair: Castiel/ Dean Winchester

Rate: Explicit

Word: 12,000

Summary:

Amara smiled at him.

“Hello, Castiel…seems like you two have been having fun.”

Castiel wrapped his arms protectively around Dean’s sleeping form and dragged him closer to his body.

“What are you doing here? If you’re here for Dean—” She rolled her eyes.

“Of course, I’m here for Dean, but why would that make you think you’re out of the equation? You’re already making a very hot pair…” her eyes drawdown on Dean’s nakedness where a blanket flew to cover seconds next. Castiel didn’t like her smirk at all and was beside himself to tell her to fuck off. But she was here in Dean’s bedroom. She better had a good reason for it because Deity or not, Castiel will kick her out.

LINK TO FIC

LINK TO ART

~~

Title: Feline Fate

Author: @endlessnepenthe

Artist: @nickelkeep

Rating: T

Pairing: Castiel & Dean Winchester

Words: 5041

Summary:

The cat considers Castiel for a moment. “Mrow,” it repeats, a little less irritated, immediately followed by a high, curious trill.

“If I take you home with me,” Castiel tells the cat, stern, “you will be good. Won’t you?”

When Castiel rescues a green eyed cat from a certain doom via one truck running a red light, he never would have guessed his act of altruism would send a pair of brothers crashing through the door of his already chaotic, eventful life.

It’s a good thing Castiel’s well acquainted with seeing strange things.

LINK TO FIC

LINK TO ART

~~

Title: Angelic Kitty Curse

By: shadowywerewolfqueen

Art by: nickelkeep

Pairing: Castiel/Dean Winchester

Rating: Explicit

Words: 21736

Summary:

Angel’s only go through a mating season every few millennia so imagine Castiel’s surprise when his wings burst onto the physical, signaling the start of mating season. Castiel is worried that Sam and Dean might find the wings offputting, but he never imagined how Dean would react to them. Disheartened that his feelings for Dean aren’t reciprocated, Castiel enlists the help of Rowena to help him end his mating season prematurely. Instead, the spell goes wrong, and Castiel ends up turning into a cat with his wings still showing. Will Castiel be turned back into an angel before it’s too late? Will Dean ever learn Castiel’s true feelings?

LINK TO FIC AND ART

[cyndecreativity]

Mystery in Tauri - Ch 1 - No Good Deed

Zodiac Chronicles Book 1

Tristan attends what he thinks is a typical day at school. He does something atypical and pays the price for it with his blood. A small scratch, but enough to leave a lasting impression.

~6400 words

Trampled paths carved through a thin layer of snow in two opposite directions, converging on an old, small schoolhouse. The wider, well-trodden path of footprints led between a pair of farms to a road that led eventually to the village proper several miles off. The smaller path consisted of only one set of very large tracks, boot prints of an unusual size, that led to the small river beside the school. The owner of the large boots crouched by the bank and tucked a sealed bottle into the rocks along the river’s edge, well away from a collection of similar bottles. With any luck, the bottle would still be there by the time he got to it at lunchtime. Tristan turned back to the schoolhouse and eyed his large tracks, hoping that the midday sun might melt the snow enough to obscure them.

He lingered by the river to watch the other students funnel into the small door at the front of the schoolhouse. The door swung outward, held open by a kind bull on the verge of graduation. When the door had to be replaced some years ago, Tristan recalled the village carpenter stressed over the direction of the hinge for days before the installation. He returned every day afterward for a week to apologize for installing it wrong.

As he waited, he allowed his eyes to roam over the schoolhouse’s exterior. The paint chipped very slightly on the older slats of siding to reveal the numerous and varying colors the building had been over the years. He remembered well the year the teacher had organized the students for a day of painting the schoolhouse a vibrant green. The previous color, a faded pink, had been splashed by a graduating student’s experimental project for admittance into the doctor’s college in the capital. She had the carpenter and his wife provide her with information of how they treated the wood to maintain longevity and had the village’s merchers bring books back to describe how the paints earned their pigments.

The door cracked against the frame, the students finished filing inside. Tristan moved to join the wider path of boots and made his way to the door. He opened it gingerly and ascended the few short steps into the mudroom. He moved slowly, careful not to bump his large frame against the door or his horns against the doorframe or any of the other students. The village children paid him little mind, having their heavy woolen coats and other articles on the hooks along the wall. Stains marred the mudroom benches, the wood slightly bowed from years of harboring rain and melted snow. The floorboards creaked with every shift of weight, every step through the one-room schoolhouse. The whole building smelled of faintly of smoke from the small firepit and potbellied stove in the center of the main room, despite the pipe that extended up through the roof.

Tristan pulled the door closed, lifting up on the handle to set it properly in the frame. One step to the side and he lifted a small charcoal bit to scan for his name on the roster hung by the door. His eyes hesitated at the familiar names, ones he remembered from his first few years before the growth spurts started. After that, he stopped trying to remember the newcomers, to connect names on the list to faces. He found his name and checked the small box for his attendance that day.

Several of the girls seemed happy to see each other, giggling and shrieking with glee, leaning to whisper conspiratorially as they headed to their seats. Evelynn lead the group, smoothing and fussing with her hair as they walked, making sure her ringlets survived the morning. Tristan noted that the group appeared smaller, but the little herd never had the same numbers, its members dependent entirely on Evelynn’s whims.

The younger ones, the calves, moved awkwardly, as calves do, and climbed onto the benches to hang up their hats and scarves. Some preferred to stuff their things into the bins below the benches, too short to hang their things. After the removal of their hats, one of the calves became surrounded. Tristan just barely made out their young pronunciations of shock and amazement at the nubs protruding from the center one’s scalp. It would be several years for the nubs to turn into anything even resembling horns, but with the arrival of the nubs, that calf become the coolest and most mature among their little herd. He reflected on his brief moment of approval when his nubs arrived at a surprisingly young age. And struggled to forget the subsequent frustration and terror from his peers as the nubs grew larger and longer than normal at an alarming rate.

A frown pulled at his features and he dropped off his gear on his half of the mudroom. Despite moving to the furthest corner of the mudroom, none ever dared cross beyond the door except to check their attendance. He tried not to let it bother him. This left the boys of the class to wait to remove their gear. Ladies first, as the manners say. And calves have little sense of propriety. Having doffed his gear, Tristan gathered his materials for class, plus an ancient-looking leather journal.

As he finished pulling the drawstring on his pack, Tristan’s ear perked up at a voice that rose above the din.

“We didn’t think you or your brothers would make it today, Jorgus. Are you okay? What happened to your father?”

“Doesn’t really concern you, does it, Seamus.” A thud sounded as Jorgus threw his bag down on the bench under his hook. The adolescent bull had yet to grow properly into his limbs, gangly and long, his shaggy ginger hair left to grow over his eyes.

Seamus, a sturdy young bull with brown hair and a square jaw with the slightest bit of stubble, furrowed his brow. “I’d think it concerns all of us! The attacks have been happening more often, yeah? And with all our grandparents-”

Jorgus spun and growled at the older bull. “Seamus, I said drop it.” The tan and white splotched young bull jerked his head pointedly to his little herd of younger brothers.

The Jones boys, four young calves of varying ages and colorings, sported red and puffy eyes. Tristan glanced at the roster and wondered which brother belonged to which name. The youngest two of four sniffled openly, the older of the pair grabbing his younger brother by the shoulder to lead him to their desks. The youngest’s shoulders lifted and jerked in the obvious signs of barely contained sobs.

Seamus watched the calves, then shared a look with the other boys in Jorgus’s usual group. “We’ll… catch up on the way home, then?” He did his best to sound optimistic.

Tristan watched the boys offer support via a pat on the shoulder or some muttered promise and turn away one by one. The youngest, probably one of Jorgus’s brother’s friends, lingered, fussing with his pale splotchy fingers. Jorgus tilted his head slightly, the only indication on his shrouded face that he noticed the calf, and waited. A light thwack from another broke the calf’s resolve and he scurried through the room to his desk near the front and the younger Jones boys. Jorgus started to turn back to removing his winter gear and caught Tristan’s prying eye. He sneered and angled his horns at him. Tristan started and jerked back to his own preparations.

Part of him wished he could walk home with those boys, to make a group of friends and… do whatever friends do together. He wished he could talk about the orchard with them, about the plants along the path, about their crops, and the state of their land. He wanted to make friends his own age. But he knew how he looked, how they all looked more like his children than friends. Or perhaps younger brothers. He hadn’t grown any manner of stubble yet. The elder Lunars, those that heard the voices from beyond, told him that he had aged quickly, gaining a few years in a few months as a babe. Blessed by the Spirits, they called it. He called it a curse.

The commotion over, Tristan took barely a few steps to round the wall that split the classroom from the mudroom. He settled into the last bench at the table in the back left of the small open schoolhouse. This area in the back typically held the eldest students, the ones closer to the front reserved for the younger calves, or most in danger academically. He caught Seamus chatting with his neighbor on the other side of the aisle. Tristan held the bench in the back alone for years simply due to his size, too large to sit anywhere else in the room. He might block the view of the other students was the official reason, but mostly he took up a desk and a half on a good day. He tried not to think of the bad days.

Unbidden, he remembered vividly the pain in his chest the day the girl he typically sat next to, perhaps eight at the time, had complained before class that he had crushed her hand when attempting to use his ink and bone splinter pen. He barely remembered moving his arm out far enough to even touch her, painfully aware of his size even then. Not that the other students would let him forget it. The teacher had simply calmed the girl down and offered him the bench in the back. As he moved, he watched the girl’s best friend eagerly move up to take his seat with no objections from the teacher. He sat in the middle of the bench and spread out comfortably over the two-desk wide table. He felt his size for the first time and tears stung at his eyes. He looked up then as Miss Shaunessy moved to the blackboard and continued with class, though not without offering an apologetic smile. That remained his table for the following seven years.

He enjoyed the space the longer table provided over the years. In the early days of the schoolhouse, students normally shared one large desk, the top able to lift to reveal a compartment below. However, too many instances of one of the students at the desk lifting the table’s top without their partner’s consent resulted in broken pencils, splattered ink, or scattered papers. Deemed far too impractical for use by calves, the village’s carpenter frantically redesigned the furniture for single use. Tristan preferred the width, able to hide plenty of things in his desk that the others had to keep in the mudroom, under their desks, or in the river’s banks. He reveled in the ability to lean forward, elbows as wide as he wanted, his books and parchment and inkwell spread comfortably apart. He never had to worry about knocking over his own inkwell or his neighbor’s.

He placed the leather journal on the middle of the table, his inkwell on the corner with the bone splinter pen leaned away from the aisle, and his parchment squarely between the journal and the edge. Half the table for him. The other remained empty, as it did every day.

An aging Taurus woman, pale splotches covering more of her dark, umber skin every year, walked down the center aisle of the classroom to check the roster by the door. Wrinkles threatened at the corners of her eyes, a few locks of silvery hair escaped from the hair buns under each horn. She assessed the youngest calves first and shot harsh glances to the group of gossiping girls as she walked by. Evelynn greeted her with an overly saccharine, performative “Good morning!” Miss Shaunessy smiled to the girl, not nearly as hollow, but nothing like the warm and silent “Good morning” she mouthed to Tristan. At the head of the room once again, she smiled to the class and listed off her plans for lessons that day. Calves first, as their attention span dwindled as it grew toward lunch, then the higher education lessons for the older children.

“This morning will be the next chapter of history for the calves. After that, a bit of arithmetic as a class. After lunch, we will be going over the essays I assigned you last week, then we will work on our spells and rituals together before the end of the day.” Miss Shaunessy’s face pulled together slightly. “Please, please look over the essays of your friends and neighbors. Some of you are very good with prose and could stand to share your skills with others.”

No names, but she stared very pointedly at a few of the students on the other side of the room. For Tristan she offered another warm smile, then an encouraging nod, all as she swung her attention back to the calves.

“All righty, little ones. Who can tell me what we went over yesterday?” A bright and happy smile took her face, her whole aura changing to matronly and polite.

As a calf, Tristan coveted her to act as his mother at home. When he brought the suggestion to his father, the bull fell into a melancholy. He remembered the oppressive silence that filled their small house for days afterwards, hating every tense and silent second. When his father finally broke the silence, he promised to tell Tristan more of his mother and encouraged him to seek out the journals and diaries she kept around the house. At his young age, Tristan did not understand all the words in the books he found. It became a nightly ritual to read the books together before bed, at least until he could read them on his own.

“We talked about the Bindings, Miss Shaunessy.” Aishling, Evelynn’s youngest sister and lookalike, waved a hand in the air.

“Very good Aishling!” Miss Shaunessy clapped brightly and started to pace as she lectured. “A very brief recap: The Bindings are what led to our ancestors, the Unbound, starting to evolve and change into what we are today. The result of these changes came in the form of the separation of what we now call Constellations. All of us here are called Taurus. But there are eleven others. Can anyone tell me what the other eleven are?”

For the first few years, Tristan eagerly engaged in the lectures about history and the Constellations and whatever else the teacher taught. But as the years moved on, he grew tired of the same information. Then the banishment to the back of the room. After that, his interests became focused on a different kind of history.

As the drone of teacher and student buzzed into the back of Tristan’s ears, his mind drifted to the work left in the orchard. Wasps had moved into a section of the trees that he needed to discourage from the area. An increasingly common occurrence, but nothing difficult. Fruits and flowers had been scattered under a few trees, easy enough to clean up and add to the compost bin or salvage for his jams and jellies. He still had several jars to fill. It might behoove him to check if any of the fruits and nuts could stand to be harvested. And that unknown flower at the edge of the orchard still haunted him. Once he identified it, he might be able to decide its fate. With the shorter days of the season, he pondered how much light he would have to work with.

Old leather straps creaked under the strain of turning pages after many years of neglect. Tristan loved the smell of these journals, the old paper and leather and glue. As the thin leather binding on the outside flopped open with a soft slap on the table, he jumped. He glanced up to find a few of the older students near him turn at the noise as they quietly “discussed” their papers. Their curiosity sated, they returned to their work. He focused his attention on the journal and the detailed diagrams with disproportionately scribbled but familiar handwriting.

The almanacs that littered his family’s home formed the physical connection between his father’s memories and his mother. Each one held notes in the margins, ink splotches, paints that bled through to the parchment beneath, the occasional hidden treasure of dried flowers between the pages. Curiously, every journal contained the same handwriting, no matter their age. Their sister journals contained a language so old not even Miss Shaunessy recognized it, though his father understood a few phrases. His father always dodged questions on how he knew those phrases and Tristan learned to limit his curiosity to what remained in the text.

Thumbing absently through the pages, scanning the detailed diagrams as they passed, he paused on a page and studied the flora depicted. He had started to lose hope that he might find his quarry, his stock of books running low. Only a few more journals and he would’ve had to ask Miss Shaunessy for the latest herbology almanac, though most of them contained the same information as his mother’s journals. But finally, his search had come to an end. It had to be the flower that appeared at the edge of the grove. He tugged a sheet of parchment out of his bundle and dipped his bone into the ink well on his desk to scribble the page number down. The journal contained that old language; he would have to seek his father’s guidance.

At midday, Valerie showed up for a visit. The village’s Postwatch visited Miss Shaunessy often, usually to drop off the special papers the teacher ordered for the roster, though not always. The pair seemed to be best friends. Valerie hauled the box of special order papers into the closet behind Miss Shaunessy’s desk and beckoned the older woman into the room. After a bit of whispering, Miss Shaunessy’s normally warm and grounded cadence shook slightly as she encouraged the students to take lunch outside. The class cheered and headed eagerly to the door. Tristan hesitated by the mudroom as the others filed out with their bundles and their herds. When no chuckles or insults found their way to him, he peeked outside and found the ground glistening with melted snow. He heaved a small sigh of relief, forced into a sharp exhale as Jorgus elbowed him out of the way. Tristan straightened up to allow the boy and his friends passage.

On his way to his things, Tristan caught sight of the Mayor’s daughter, Isolde, watching him from the other side of the mudroom. He furrowed his brow to her, a simple unspoken question. She stiffened, blushed, and turned back to her things to hastily throw her scarf over her head. It caught in her little female horns, the movement too fast or the girl still not used to her horns’ length. The flush moved to her ears as she untangled the knitted muffler to drape around her neck. He watched in amused confusion as she hurried outside with her wrapped bundle of food.

Tristan lingered in the building, watching through the windows as everyone else grabbed their bottles of milk or juice from the river bank. The hushed whispers from the closet gained a frantic and worried tone. Tristan resisted the urge to move closer and kept his focus through the windows. After the other students all split off into their herds and settled down for their meals, Tristan forced himself outside to grab his own bottle of juice. Despite a few snide remarks from the usual suspects, Tristan found his bottle where he had left it in the morning. A small thank you to the Spirits and he took his lunch around the back of the building. A small herd of rambunctious calves gathered around the smith’s son. Not keen to be injured by whatever tool the bull had brought that day, Tristan returned to his desk to eat his salad in peaceful loneliness.

The calves normally spent the time after lunch free to play outside as the older students took their lessons, but Miss Shaunessy herded them all inside with Valerie’s help. Afterwards, Valeria made her way back to her home at the Postwatch. Miss Shaunessy provided the younger calves with some harder math problems to focus on, a topic to discuss amongst themselves, and permission to borrow a few of the easier books from the bookshelf in the closet. She had to approve the book, of course, but everyone had to remain inside.

Dismissal marked an explosion of relief among the students as they darted from their desks and gathered their things. Today, however, the girls from that morning gathered together to whisper again, pointing to Jorgus occasionally. Tristan slowly gathered his books and papers and lifted his inkwell to stopper it.

“I told you to drop it!” Jorgus’s voice filled the small building, startling and quieting the girls for a moment.

Seamus and the herd of boys, all friends of the Jones brothers, shrunk away from their friend’s outburst. Tristan looked down to his desk, dotted with splatter from his inkwell, made by his jump at Jorgus’s shout, and pressed the stopper in. A bin under the bench in the mudroom held the spare cloths to clean spills with. He lifted his eyes back to the scene as the girls’ whispers grew again. Jorgus unceremoniously scooped up his things before Miss Shaunessy could approach him.

Seamus and the herd followed Jorgus and his brothers to the mudroom. Tristan rounded the wall behind his desk and crouched down to seek the box of throwaway cloth under the bench.

Miss Shaunessy clapped as she made her way through the classroom, checking desks for cleanliness. “Oh, and students! Miss Valerie informed me that from now on you are to travel in a herd as you head directly home.” A few of the students groaned. “It was also emphasized to not be out after dark for any reason. Winter has shorter periods of sun, which means you will have less time to dally. And there is always safety in numbers.”

She wandered the aisles, calling out names attached to messy desks. Liam Jones, Isolde Cennaire, the MacBanions, Kevin McGabhan. At one desk, she picked up a piece of paper and squinted at the top corner. “Oh, Jorgus Jones, it appears you left your essay here.” She placed the paper back down.

The called names sighed and headed back to tidy whatever Miss Shaunessy called them out for. It helped with the bodies attempting to cram through the door at the same time. Apparently one of them had managed to forget a whole tool. Must’ve been the young bull Tristan avoided at lunch.

After checking the whole room, Miss Shaunessy caught sight of Tristan. “Oh, Tristan, I noticed you weren’t paying very close attention during lectures today. Did you need help with anything I covered?”

Heat found Tristan’s cheeks. Miss Shaunessy noticed far more than he gave her credit for. He rarely gave her anything to pay attention to, after all. He shook his head in answer and grabbed a cloth stained with spots of paint and ink from the scrap bin. He brandished the cloth at her with a hopefully gentle smile by way of explanation.

As he stretched to his full height, she leaned back slightly to keep her eyes on his. No fear entered her features. She merely smiled back and patted his arm. She shifted out of his way and walked with him the few steps back to his desk. A small gasp drew his attention. “You don’t have anyone to walk home with, do you, dear?”

He shook his head absently as he cleaned off his desk. Silly question.

A soft and wrinkled hand lifted to tap her fingers against her chin. “You do live alone on the other side of those woods…” She paused, her eyes darting through her thoughts before focusing on him again. “Would you like me to go ask for an escort for you from town?”

His expression darkened immediately with all the heavy and unhealthy thoughts his father attempted desperately to cleanse him of. She pulled back slightly, eyes wide, and he tempered his expression with a gentle shake of his head.

An uneasy smile crossed her face. “No, I suppose you’re big enough to handle most things on your own. But you’re still just a boy, despite outward appearances. I just want to make sure you’re taken care of, is all.”

His breath hitched.

“You mean someone was attacked last night!?” A brown-haired girl with the smallest horns in the group lifted her fist to her chin, brow knit with concern.

Evelynn, the ringleader of the girls and owner of the largest horns, nodded as she made her way to the mudroom. “Isn’t it just awful? And the attacks are getting more frequent. That’s why they want us to walk in herds now.” She gestured to a pair of girls, both younger, as they scrambled for their things. “You heard that right, calves?”

The two calves, one girl and Aishling, chorused a “Yes, sissy!” and proceeded to haphazardly don their layers of clothing. The youngest children moved quickly, faster than their teenage counterparts, thanks to the small growths on their heads not yet formed into horns. Evelynn rolled her eyes and continued on to her hook to don her own set of weather gear. Miss Shaunessy smiled absently at the children and patted Tristan on the arm before wandering back toward her desk.

“But my father told me it was-“ Evelynn glanced at the group of boys across the mudroom and whispered loud enough for them to hear. “-Branach Jones that was attacked last night.” The girls shared a gasp with varying reactions of surprise. “Jorgus’s father-”

“You keep my family’s name out of your dirty mouth, Evelynn!” Jorgus burst through his group of friends, finger pointed sharply at the pale, splotchy ringleader of the gossipers.

Miss Shaunessy stopped in the middle of the building by the firepit. She shared a look with Isolde still at her desk as she turned to the commotion. Tristan dropped the rag on his desk and moved into the mudroom. Though he had no intention of intervening, his size intimidated most folk, forcing cool heads in tense situations. Noone had caught the quake in his hands yet, too focused on their own anger.

Evelynn swatted his hand away as she crossed her arms, big brown eyes glaring daggers into him. Her friends and sisters fanned out around her to cross their arms at Jorgus, though not all of them had their heart in it. One girl stayed behind, the brown-haired one, and glanced at Tristan.

Jorgus narrowed his dark eyes at Evelynn, his head angled to brandish his longer and sharper horns at the girls. His friends, too surprised at his actions, hesitated before stepping in beside their friend to brandish their horns, smaller than Jorgus’s but still as harmful if used properly. Though the youngest Joneses did not involve themselves in the standoff, their friends brandished their nubs as well, eyeing the older bulls for correctness.

Evelynn did not appear fazed, though the tremble of her voice betrayed her. “My father told me that yours was injured last night while they were hunting. He said they had to take him to the doctor because his injuries were so severe.”

All the posturing broke. Whispers of “The Doctor?” moved through both groups, each losing their members to gossip, conjecture, and fear.

“He’s fine. He’ll be home by dinner tonight and tomorrow we’ll work on tilling the land.” Jorgus cracked his neck.

Evelynn’s lip curled. “I’m sure the Doctor will also finally let the Lunars go home, too, then? I haven’t seen my Mamó in so long. I guess if you say so, it has to be true. But, then again, your family has been saying every harvest will be their biggest yet. Until counting day comes and you show up with barely a cartload.” She grinned, confident in her victory.

Jorgus tilted his head the other way, alone in his threats. “The doctor told me himself that Pa would be back by tonight.”

Miss Shaunessy stepped slowly down the center aisle toward the two little herds of teens. She caught Tristan’s eye and nodded at him to step down. He lowered his shoulders and stepped back a bit, but remained ready in case Jorgus made the wrong decision. He had no idea what he might do, but better that he get hurt than someone else.

Just as Miss Shaunessy crossed into the mudroom, the energy between the herds changed. Evelynn rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Young bulls and their posturing.” She grabbed her things and stormed out the door into the chilly winter air. “Come on, girls!”

Most of the girls shot hateful looks as they grabbed their things quickly to follow Evelynn. The brown-haired girl that did not join the posturing, moved slowly to grab her things and hesitated at the door. Jorgus crossed his arms at her. She squeaked and disappeared through the door.

Jorgus growled and stalked back to his desk. His small herd of friends and brothers stayed in the entrance and moved to begin dressing in their jackets and scarves. Isolde hesitated at her desk, but returned to packing up her things. Miss Shaunessy heaved a small sigh and trotted down the center aisle back to her desk.

It didn’t take long for the herds to drift outside to wait for any stragglers. Only Miss Shaunessy, Jorgus, and Isolde remained in the schoolhouse building. He hoped, despite his own solitude, that Jorgus or Isolde had a group to walk home with. Especially if the monster sightings proved to be true. He hoped that Jorgus’s father recovered and that Evelynn’s gossip proved to be only that. But in the case that Tristan’s hope had no basis in reality, he knew the only tangible thing to do. He knew the only thing he wanted his whole life.

“Uh, hey, Jorgus.” Tristan lifted a large hand to wave awkwardly to the young man.

Jorgus jumped at Tristan’s low timbre and backed away, eyeing him up and down as he jammed a few scraps of paper in his bag. “What do you want, cull bait?”

Tristan’s brow furrowed despite being used to the insult. “I just… uh, wanted t-to tell you that… um, I-I’m sorry about your father. I know how… how difficult it is to-to worry about your f-father and, uh… I guess you’re the-the man of the house while he’s injured. A-and at least you still have your-your mother and your little siblings-“

Jorgus’s mouth lifted in disgust as Tristan rambled, his eyes shrouded under his shaggy hair. “What are you rambling about?” He thrust the last of his items into his satchel.

Tristan lifted a hand to the shaft of his horn to grip it and rub absently, a habit from when they had hurt growing in. “If… If you need any help-“

Jorgus spun on the larger boy. “Help!? From you?” He dropped his satchel on the desk. “I can’t believe you haven’t gotten it through that thick skull of yours that nobody even wants you here.” He scoffed. “We’d want your ‘help’ even less.”

Isolde tightened the leather strap on her stack of books and papers. “Jorgus-“

Jorgus shook his head and turned to her, poking a finger at her face. “No, not even from you. Mayor’s daughter, as if that excludes you from suffering just like the rest of us.” Something imperceptible crossed Isolde’s face. “I heard your father is sick. From that plague. The one from before. That it’s coming back. Despite all that stuff your father or the doctor say.” His jaw tensed for a moment. He looked back to Tristan. “I also heard it’s your fault. You and that foreigner father of yours. Your mother knew about it and cast a spell to protect your land, but nobody else’s. That’s why you’re safe. And we’re not.”

Tristan’s arms quivered. He shouldn’t have said anything. He should’ve just gone home, alone, like he did every night. He closed his eyes and gripped his horn tighter, his other arm lifted to cover his torso. He wanted to disappear.

“And then you have the nerve! You continue living here, coming to this school, as if you have any right!” Jorgus angled his head down to brandish his horns again. “You and your father should be driven out of town!”

A sharp pain on his arm startled Tristan. He inhaled sharply. Blood blossomed on the sleeve over his torso.

“Tristan!” Miss Shaunessy bolted for the scrap fabric Tristan left on his desk.

Jorgus, stunned, raised a hand to touch his horn. It came back red. He shook his head, muttered something, and grabbed his satchel. Isolde hurried around the desks and stumbled as Jorgus pushed past her to run from the building.

“Come here, poor child.” Miss Shaunessy pressed the fabric to Tristan’s arm. “That boy… He may be a handful but ever since his horns grew out the way they did…” She looked to Tristan’s face. “Don’t take it too personally. Like you said, he’s having a rough go of it. It was nice of you to try to connect with him and offer to help out.”

Isolde hovered by the edge of the row. Tristan looked to her, chest empty. He never should’ve tried. He knew what the town thought of him and his father. He knew better. Tears welled in his eyes and he pressed his hand to the cloth. Miss Shaunessy released him with the promise of salves or something, but Tristan had to get out. He had to go home.

He moved back to his desk and found Isolde holding his satchel, all packed and tied and ready. He barely registered the act, how she had moved so fast, and accepted his bag. He dropped the fabric and satchel on the mudroom bench to slip into his woolen clothes. A stray thought reminded him to be careful of the wound bleeding onto his jacket as he only had the one. He growled. All because the town hated him. All because of a stupid rumor.

He grabbed his bag and ripped the door open. A few groups of calves lingered and chatted as they headed back toward the village. Jorgus’s brothers and their herd had waited for him, despite his protestations, and crowded him to point at his bloodied horn.

Tristan’s blood. He stomped down the short stairs. Fury overtook him, strengthening him to speak without a stutter. “All I wanted was to help, Jorgus Jones!”

Jorgus spun around at the voice. Terror pulled at his features at the massive bulk of Tristan charging toward him. He whipped back around and moved swiftly for the path that led back to town.

Tristan growled. He wanted to stop him, to make him understand, to hold him responsible for injuring him. So many emotions threatened to split him open. “Everyone should be allowed to help each other! We’re a community! That’s what it means to be a community!” In his frustration, he looked to the rest of the students that had lingered to gawk.

A loud thud drew everyone’s attention. All eyes turned to Jorgus, groaning on the ground, a large root split through fresh soil at his feet. He writhed a bit and got to his hands and knees. A shrill chuckle came from further up the path. Tristan caught Evelynn through the blur of his tears, hand in front of her mouth, as she laughed at the unfortunate bull on the ground. The rest of her group chuckled, one by one, with varying degrees of mirth. The laughter spread through the rest of the students, including Jorgus’s little herd, even his brothers. He grunted as he stood and bolted down the path, past Evelynn and her friends, horn still pink.

Tristan sniffed and continued to wipe his face, the cold winter air unpleasant on the slight moisture around his eyes. He slipped his satchel over his shoulder and checked the sleeve of his coat. A chill wind whipped past him and his hands hurt. He left his other accessories in the building. He turned around to head back inside and almost bowled over Isolde.

“Oh! Excuse me, Tristan.” She smiled brightly to him, in an uncomfortable way he could not place.

He barely nodded and attempted to move past her.

She gently placed a hand on his arm. He froze, eyes on the contact. He recognized her mitten, knitted by his father some winters ago and sold by the village seamstress Ciara. His brow furrowed. Her other mitten lifted to offer him his forgotten accessories; mittens similar to hers, a long scarf knitted by his father with a less intricate design, and a warm knitted cap that he tied around his horns. He muttered a thank you and dropped his sack on the ground to don the accessories.

She held his items as he donned them individually. “I agree with you, by the way.” He lifted his wet eyes to her. “We should be allowed to help each other, as a community. I think it’s just awful that we are so discriminatory to those that are sick and injured. Or who have been in the past.”

He nodded absently. Paranoia and fear shook his fingers. He looked up to the rest of the students, those that lingered, and found hateful glares. Isolde, the mayor’s daughter, held high regard among the town, high enough that even her father’s illness did not dull her priority among them. To find her speaking to him? He snatched his scarf and easily tossed it over his horns to drape from his shoulders.

Before she could continue, he hurriedly wandered away from her, down the path to the thick row of trees that separated his orchard from the school. He barely heard Isolde sputter after him, the crunch of dead plantlife under her boots with a few steps. He heard the whispers of the other students, however, and quickened his step. He should know better. And so should Isolde.

[overtrolled-liveblog]

[6400] You’re just eying that vial of delicious Vriska blood and reaching for your pocketbook.

[pikapeppa]

Felassan/f!Lavellan: The Vagaries of Names

Chapter 6 of The Love That Grows From Violence (Felassan x Tamaris Lavellan) is up on AO3!

In which Felassan and Tamaris are still bumming around the mansion talking and eating, and Varric comes to pay a visit. 

~6400 words; read here on AO3. Featuring beautiful art by @lethendralis-paints​!! Please check out the chapter for the full piece!!! 

Tamaris scraped her hair back from her face. “...and he was all, ‘we must be beyond reproach and give them no reason to think we’re suspicious even though the orb is elvhen.’ And that’s when he mentioned Skyhold. We spent the next three days tromping through the snow, and then there it was: an entire fucking castle in the middle of the Frostback Mountains that nobody knew about.” She tapped her fingers moodily on the open copy of This Shit Is Weird. “So yeah, what Varric described was pretty accurate, minus the stuff Solas only said to me.”

“Interesting,” Felassan said. He pushed the book aside and placed a plate in front of her. “And the part about the fledgling Inquisition singing your praises to the heavens, quite literally?” He shot her a grin as he started spooning food onto her plate. “Was that accurate too, or a colourful embellishment?”

She groaned, and Felassan laughed brightly. “Oh, no.” 

“Oh, yes,” she drawled. “They sang me a Chantry hymn. A Chantry hymn to praise the most non-Andrastian elf in the fucking Inquisition.”

“Non-Andrastian because you believed in the elvhen gods instead?” he asked. 

She shot him a hard look, and he raised his eyebrows expectantly. After a moment, Tamaris sighed again. “Fine, all right, yes. I did.” She gave him another resentful look. “As much as anyone can believe in a bunch of ‘gods’ who are either ignoring their people’s prayers or who got trapped by a tricky wolf.” 

Felassan smiled faintly, then spooned another poached egg onto Tamaris’s plate. She waved irritably for him to stop. “Quit it, will you? Sit down. I can serve myself.”

“Can you?” Felassan said. “Or will you eat straight from the pan given half a chance?” 

She eyed him flatly without replying. She couldn’t give him the satisfaction of being right. “Don’t give me a hard time,” she retorted. “I saw you eating grapes straight from the icebox yesterday. You didn’t want to put them in a fancy serving bowl first?”

He tsked at her sarcastic tone. “There’s a difference between being hedonistic and being slovenly. But fine, since you insist.” He set the pan down in front of her, then picked up a piece of toast and tossed it carelessly onto her plate before taking another piece of toast for himself and sitting beside her.

He leisurely kicked his feet up on the table and bit into his toast, and Tamaris watched him with a combination of amusement and exasperation. He carried himself with such elegant confidence, almost like a noble with no doubt about his place in court. It seemed so incongruent with his humble beginnings as a slave in Andruil’s household.

He swallowed his bite of toast, then raised a roguish eyebrow. “Enjoying the view, are you?” 

She ignored his playful flirt. “You’re strange.” 

He smirked. “It takes a special sort of mind to see its reflection in the eyes of another.”

She rolled her eyes. “Ha ha, yes, I’m strange too. I just mean…” You don’t act like someone who used to be a slave, she thought. Not that she had met many people who had lived most of their lives as slaves, in truth. The only former slave she’d spent any real time around was Hawke’s husband Fenris, so maybe her expectations were biased by how taciturn and unsmiling he was during his and Hawke’s brief travels with them – when Hawke wasn’t teasing and flirting with him, at least. 

She tried to find a more tactful way to state her thoughts. “I wouldn’t have known you were a slave if you hadn’t told me,” she said.

“Because I don’t act like one, you mean?” he said, and he took another bite of toast.

Fuck, she thought. She should have known he would guess what she was really thinking. “Yeah,” she admitted. “That’s a shitty thing to think, I know.” 

“I’m curious now how you think slaves are supposed to act,” he said. “Should I be crawling on the floor beneath your feet? Making myself unheard and unseen as I walk around your mansion trying to pretend I don’t exist?”

His tone was laced with humour, but Tamaris didn’t smile. “Nobody should have to act that way,” she said quietly.

His impish smile softened. “You’re right; they shouldn’t. And there was once a time when I walked with my head bowed and my eyes on the ground. But eyes on the ground does not mean that those eyes are closed. Silent servants are the ones who hear the most. Nobles always seem to forget this, whether their ears are pointed or round. You’d think they’d learn eventually, but…” He shrugged and took another bite of toast.

Tamaris nodded thoughtfully. Sera had often said the same thing, in her annoyingly roundabout sort of way.

“In any case, I haven’t been a slave for several millennia,” Felassan said. “I have, however, been many other things over the course of many years.”

“You mentioned that before,” Tamaris said.

“It is the truth, and not just for me,” he said. “After all, were you always as you are now? A–” 

“A bitch?” Tamaris helpfully supplied.

He grinned, but went on as though she hadn’t spoken. “A warrior with sharp edges and a soft heart? An elf with eyes that are far older than the rest of her face? A woman who dances with fire?”

She stared at him for a long moment with her heart in her throat. He was smiling still, but there was something intense about his catlike amethyst eyes – and something unnervingly warm. 

Her belly was wriggling – and not in an unpleasant way. She dropped her eyes to her plate and picked up her fork. “Get your fucking feet off the table while I’m eating.” 

Felassan chuckled and slowly shifted his feet back to the ground. “By all means, eat. It’s better when it’s hot.” 

Tamaris eyed the breakfast Felassan had made. He’d poached some eggs in a pan of savoury sauce made from tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions and red wine, drizzled with olive oil and flavoured with something that smelled sweet and spicy at the same time – some interesting herbal mixture, probably, knowing him. The dish was actually semi-familiar to her, thanks to some strings Josephine had pulled to get a Nevarran chef to Skyhold for one of her fancy formal dinners, but the spicy scent and the vibrant crimson of the sauce weren’t quite what she remembered. 

“This is a dish from Nevarra, isn’t it?” she asked him. 

He raised an eyebrow and swallowed another bite of toast. “Would it shock you if I said it was an ancient Elvhen dish that the Nevarrans stole?”

She lifted her eyebrows slightly, then scoffed and dipped the tines of her fork into the sauce. “Not at all.”

He twisted his lips ruefully. “Ah. Shame. Because it’s not.”

She gave him an exasperated look, and he chuckled. “The Nevarrans didn’t steal this dish, but we had something very much like it in Arlathan. Not surprising, really, given how simple it is to make. Although the spices–”

Tamaris cut in. “Let me guess. Your own special herbal mixture?”

He tutted. “So dismissive! I heard no complaints from you last night when you were inhaling that salad.”

She opened her mouth to make a snappy remark, then paused. “Okay, fine, that salad was really good,” she admitted.

“So is this,” he said, and he tapped the edge of her plate. “Now eat. You look like you need it.”

“I look like death warmed over, you mean,” she grumbled. Last night was the first night in some time that she hadn’t drunk herself to sleep – a fact that her persistent headache and nausea were not-so-kindly reminding her of. 

“Such bluntness is your hallmark, not mine,” he said airily. “Besides, I would never speak such a lie.”

She gave him a chiding look. “Yes you would. You were a spy.”

“I was, but no longer,” he said. “Now I can say whatever I want. For example, that you look perfectly alluring despite your sickly pallor.” 

She tsked. “You’re so full of shit.” Even more irritating was the fact that Felassan looked like the picture of health. His tawny skin was glowing and his glossy hair was pulled back in a tidy tail at his nape, which only made Tamaris more aware of her own untamed curls. And he was so fucking chipper.

He chuckled and took another bite of toast. “Eat, Tamaris. It’ll help.” He picked up This Shit Is Weird and kicked his feet back up on the table.

She eyed his feet hopelessly. I give up, she thought, then took a bite of egg.

It was, of course, delicious: savoury and sweet and creamy from the perfectly runny egg yolk. And spicy.

Very spicy. 

Tamaris cleared her throat, then sucked in a breath. “Damn, this is hot.”

“Too hot for you?” he said slyly.

“No, actually,” she retorted. “I love it. It’ll kick my headache right out.” She dipped her toast in the sauce and bit it with relish.

He bowed his head politely. “I’m sorry to hear you’re still having a headache. With any luck, we can get our hands on the herbs I need to make that tea.”

She swallowed her toast and shrugged. “Varric will probably show up today to see if I’m dead, so we can ask him to get what you need.” She took another bite of eggs and sauce.

“It is a shame that I can’t collect the herbs myself,” Felassan said. “They’re more potent when they’re fresh.”

“Varric said we can get anything in this city if you look in the right places,” Tamaris told him. “He can get your herbs fresh if that’s what you need.”

Felassan nodded. “Of course.”

She looked at him. He was gazing at the fire, and his expression was slightly wistful. 

Before Tamaris could ask what was wrong, he turned to her with a mischievous smile. “So. Skyhold. What did you think of Fen’Harel’s beloved fortress?”

She swallowed her eggs and gave him an odd look. “Why do you call him Fen’Harel?”

He tilted his head quizzically, so she elaborated. “You call Solas ‘Fen’Harel’. But he told me that Fen’Harel was an insult from his enemies.”

Felassan laughed. “Ah, the vagaries of names. Fen’Harel was an insult seeded by the Evanuris and their followers, yes, but he relished in it at first. ‘They should bear dread for me,’ he said, ‘for it’s through my forces that their atrocities will be laid to rest.’” He gave her a knowing look. “Pride once took great pride in the title of the Rebel Wolf.”

Tamaris frowned. “Rebel Wolf?”

He smiled faintly. “Words change, as do people and their places in time. It makes sense, really. I can understand how the word ‘rebel’ became twisted with negative connotations due to long association with the mighty gods’ greatest detractor and foe.”

His tone was irreverent, but Tamaris frowned thoughtfully as she considered what Solas had told her a year ago. “Rebel Wolf… yes, I can see that.”

Felassan nodded. “Fen’Harel proudly adopted the insult as his informal title among our ranks. It bolstered courage among our people, and importantly, it allowed us to laugh at our foes. Ridicule can be a powerful weapon against those who hold themselves in such high esteem. But those of us who called ourselves his friends still called him Solas, for pride is who he was to us.”

Tamaris scoffed. She’d suddenly remembered the way Solas had once described himself to Blackwall. “Young, cocky, and ready to fight?” she drawled.

Felassan smiled slowly. “He said that, did he?”

“Not directly to me, but yes.”

He shook his head and let out a soft little laugh. “Yes, that’s… that is exactly who he was, once, and it was glorious. But as time wore on and the Evanuris’s tactics grew more vicious, Solas became…” He tilted his head thoughtfully. “Not disheartened per se, but… serious. He was no longer quick to laugh like he once was. His title and its insult began to chip away at him. So I began calling him Fen’Harel.”

“Why?” Tamaris asked.

Felassan blinked. “To cheer him up, of course.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You insulted him to cheer him up?”

“Of course,” Felassan said. “It cheers me up when you roast me.”

She laughed despite herself. “I don’t roast you.”

He smiled. “My humorously wounded feelings would say otherwise. But yes, I called him Fen’Harel in jest, but also to remind him what it meant to those of us who followed him and fought for his cause. He was the young and uppity Rebel Wolf to the Evanuris and their ilk, but to us, he was the man who snatched us from the jaws of slavery and, for many, of a certain and ugly death.” He waved his hand in an elegant gesture. “So yes: I called him Fen’Harel as a reminder of all that he was trying to achieve.” He shot her a wry little smirk. “Perhaps it was too effective a reminder, given the position we now find ourselves in.”

“You feel sorry for him,” Tamaris said.

She realized belatedly how accusatory she sounded, but it was too late; the words were out, and Felassan was gazing at her with a rather contemplative look on his face.

“Don’t you?” he said.

“No,” she said instantly. “I feel sorry for everyone in this world that he’s trying to murder for no good reason.”

Felassan nodded an acknowledgement, but Tamaris wasn’t finished. “He was only awake in this world for one year before deciding there was nothing of value in it. And then he spent another entire year with us, and he still has so much disdain for us that he’s going to try and kill us all?”

“It is not a matter of disdain for your people that drives him,” Felassan told her. “It’s a matter of guilt for ours.”

“That doesn’t make it better!” she snapped. “And you — you’re from his time, and you still purposely fucked up his plans. You must think there’s something of value in this time.”

Felassan slowly ran a hand over his hair. “I understand change better than Fen’Harel does,” he said.

“But you think there’s something of value here,” she pushed.

“I think there is value to be found everywhere, if you look in the right places,” he said.

“Then how can you feel sorry for him?” Tamaris demanded. “He tried to kill you, for fuck’s sake. How can you feel sorry for someone who was once your friend, betraying you like this?” 

He looked her in the eye, and Tamaris scowled. He was wearing that soft and world-weary look again – the one that smacked of thousands of years of life and knowledge and war.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she said. 

His eyebrows rose. “Like what?”

“Like I’m a fucking child,” she said in a hard voice. “If you have something to say, just say it.”

He frowned slightly. Then he reached out and lifted her chin with a gentle hand.

“Do not mistake my sympathy for a lack of anger,” he said quietly. “You know that it is possible to harbour both.”

She couldn’t reply; her mouth was suddenly dry. Her chest was jangling, partly from the delicacy of Felassan’s fingers on her chin, but mostly at the ferocity in his eyes. His odd violet eyes were so bright and clear, and Tamaris couldn’t tell if the uncanny light in them was from conviction or from a hint of untapped magic.

She took a deep and slightly shaky breath. “Good,” she said. “I’m glad I’m not the only angry one.” 

Felassan stared at her without replying, and she gazed helplessly back at him. She still couldn’t decide if his eyes were actually glowing, or if it was the fierceness of his expression that was taking her breath away.

Then his lips started to slowly curl at the corners. By the time his face was lit with that full breathtaking smile, her heart was pounding in her ears. 

She swallowed hard. “Keep it in your pants, Felassan,” she breathed. 

His smile curled into something wicked, and a tantalizing rush of heat raced down her throat and into her chest. 

Then someone knocked on the front door.

Tamaris jumped, and Felassan’s hand fell away from her face. Then Varric’s voice called through the door. “Hey, Cuddles. You alive in there?”

Felassan’s smile widened. “Cuddles?” 

She curled her lip at him, then rose from her chair and went to open the door. 

Varric sidled inside, and his eyes darted over her face. “You okay? Hey, it smells good in here.”

“You’re just in time for breakfast,” Tamaris said. She gave Varric a long-suffering look and lowered her voice. “He cooks.”

Varric gave her an odd look. “Is that a bad thing?” he asked.

“No,” Tamaris muttered petulantly.

He raised one eyebrow, then turned to Felassan, who had wandered over to join them and was leaning casually against the doorjamb. Varric held out his hand. “Hey there. Varric Tethras, reluctant Viscount of this fair city-state.” 

Felassan bowed his head graciously and shook Varric’s hand. “I am Felassan. Former Tranquil and current victim to Tamaris’s dubious hospitality.”

Varric snorted a laugh, but Tamaris straightened with indignation. “‘Dubious hospitality’?” she said archly. “I told you this house is yours as much as mine!”

“And you got mad at me for reading Varric’s excellent book,” he said.

“That you stole from my pack!” she exclaimed.

Felassan shrugged elegantly. “A minor detail. Varric, come and eat. Tamaris, yours is cold now.”

“It’s cold because you won’t stop talking to let me eat,” she complained.

Felassan tutted. “Always so focused on the details,” he said. He shot Varric a smirk, then sauntered toward the kitchen.

Tamaris grumbled in annoyance, then turned to Varric. “Look, he’s actually a really good cook. Do you…” She trailed off; Varric was giving her a funny look.

She frowned. “What?” 

He continued to eye her shrewdly. “Remind me how long he’s been here?” 

“Three days,” she said. “Why?”

Varric’s eyebrows rose even higher. Then he chuckled and shook his head. “Andraste’s ass. I know how this story ends.”

She scowled. “What the fuck are you on about?”

He patted her elbow. “Nothing, elf. I am hungry, though.” He made his way toward the dining table, and Tamaris grumpily followed him.

Varric took a seat across from Tamaris’s now-cold breakfast. “So you’re okay then? Not, uh, sick?”

She sat down and picked up her fork. “I’m good. I’m going to stop drinking.”

His eyebrows rose. “Oh. That’s… yeah, that’s probably good.”

She nodded brusquely. “It helps that I ran out of hard liquor,” she said. She took a bite of egg and gave Varric what she hoped was a reassuring half-smile. She still had some wine and beer in the house, but it seemed likely that Felassan would use it in his cooking at some point.

Varric returned her smile, and Tamaris felt a pang of guilt at the obvious relief in his face. A moment later, Felassan wandered out of the kitchen with a clean plate and utensils for Varric. 

He set them in front of Varric, who raised his eyebrows. “Hey, thanks,” he said. He peered at the pan of eggs and sauce with interest. “Is this…? It looks like that Nevarran dish.”

“It is a similar dish,” Felassan said. “And there’s coffee in the kitchen if you’re in need.”

“I’m surprised you’re not offering him tea,” Tamaris said snidely. 

Felassan grinned at her as he made his way around the table. “Don’t worry, Tamaris. My special teas are just for you.”

She rolled her eyes and took a vicious bite of toast. Felassan draped himself lazily in the chair beside her and smiled at Varric. “It is good to meet you. As our lovely hostess mentioned, I have been reading your book. I was just asking her what she thought of Skyhold.”

Varric chuckled and helped himself to breakfast. “Oh, I’m sure she had a lot to say about it.”

Felassan grinned at Tamaris. “Do you, now? I imagine it must have been quite the shocking change from your aravels.”

She swallowed a mouthful of toast and egg. “Hey, I like aravels, all right?” she said defensively. “They’re homey. And I like sleeping outside, too, if you want to make fun of me for that.”

“I’m sure I will, eventually,” he said pleasantly. “Now come, tell me what you thought of Fen’Harel’s stronghold.”

She shrugged and took another bite of eggs. “It was a good headquarters for the Inquisition.”

Felassan nodded. “It is an excellent headquarters for an organization to grow its power, yes. What else?”

“It was…” She shrugged irritably. It had been a year since she’d lived in Skyhold, and everything felt so different then compared to now. “I don’t know what you want me to say. It was fine.”

“Fine?” Felassan chuckled. “I’m sure Fen’Harel was disgruntled by that assessment.”

Tamaris scowled and took another bite of her food. Then Varric spoke to Felassan. “She was like a nervous cat for the first week we were there. And every time something got renovated and the castle got nicer, it was like she got nervous all over again.”

Felassan laughed brightly, and Tamaris shot Varric a resentful look. “I’m a simple girl with simple tastes, all right? I don’t like fancy shit. I’m not used to it.”

Varric smiled. “Hence the Avvar decor in the Great Hall.”

“Exactly,” she said. “Although that also had the benefit of pissing Vivienne off.”

Varric chuckled. Then Felassan addressed him once more. “Your book mentioned that Solas had a preference for the rotunda. Is that correct?”

Varric nodded. “He painted huge murals on the walls, like the ones in that Shattered Library place.”

Felassan’s eyebrows rose. “So the murals are still intact there as well? Interesting.”

Tamaris pushed her empty plate away. “Did Solas spend most of his time in the rotunda back in the olden days too?”

Felassan shot her a chiding smirk — likely at her irreverent reference to the ‘olden days’. “Some, but not most. The rotunda is where he gave his rousing speeches.”

Varric huffed in amusement. “He gave rousing speeches? I can’t see it.”

“I can,” Tamaris said quietly.

Felassan nodded and lifted his feet onto the table. “Oh, he was very inspiring. But the rotunda was likely much larger in our time than it is now.”

“What do you mean?” Tamaris asked.

“The fortress you lived in can’t possibly be the same as the one we knew,” he explained. “The original fortress was a thorough melding of the magical and the mundane. The castle you occupied was likely built in parts and pieces over many ages.”

She stared at him. She felt stupid for not having thought of this before, because it made perfect sense. Of course Skyhold couldn’t be the exact same building as the one from thousands of years ago, especially if it was originally a merging of the Fade and the real world like the Vir Dirthara was.

Varric, meanwhile, seemed unsurprised. “Yeah, that makes sense. Gatsi — our head stonemason — he said the castle was a mishmash of styles and stone from different places and eras.”

“But Skyhold felt like a whole,” Tamaris put in. “Even if it was a mishmash, it didn’t feel like one. It felt like it was supposed to be as it was. It felt… It didn’t feel like a patchwork or anything.” She wrinkled her nose. “I… It’s hard to explain what I mean. It felt—” 

“It felt like safety. Didn’t it?” Felassan said. “It felt like coming home.”

She looked at him sharply. “Yes,” she said. “It… it took a while, but yes. It did.”

He nodded an acknowledgement. “A lingering quality of Fen’Harel’s magic in the foundations. Skyhold was a refuge for freed slaves as well as a fortress. It too played many roles over time — including beyond our time, clearly.”

She frowned thoughtfully as she pulled a joint of elfroot and embrium from her shirt pocket. “It’s where he made the Veil, isn’t it? Or triggered it or whatever.” She lit the joint and took a drag from it, then blew the smoke over her shoulder before looking at Felassan.

He was staring at her intently. She blinked at him. “What? What’s wrong?”

“How do you know that?” he asked.

She frowned. “It’s… he practically told me. He said the castle was named ‘Tarasyl’an te’las’ back in your time. ‘The place where the sky was held back.’” She huffed and lifted the joint to her mouth. “In retrospect, he obviously meant the Veil, but hindsight is perfect, blah blah and so on.”

“When did he tell you that?” Felassan said. He reached for the joint in her fingers, and she handed it to him.

“When he was still with the Inquisition,” she said. “We’d been living there for… I don’t know, maybe eight months. We had a bunch of scholars studying the castle just for interest’s sake, and he told me that little tidbit and said I could pass it on to them.”

Felassan released a mouthful of smoke. “He told you that while he was still with you? Fenedhis.” He shook his head and smiled. “He really wanted you to figure it out, didn’t he?”

She gave him a skeptical look. “His whole ‘not telling me shit’ thing would say otherwise,” she drawled. She reached for the joint, and Felassan took another quick drag before handing it back to her.

“Truly, I’m shocked at how much he revealed to  you,” he said. “There was only a handful of us who called the castle by that name, and only then when times were so desperate that the Veil was all he could think to do.”

She blinked. “Really? What did you call it before that?” She tucked the joint at the corner of her lips for safekeeping and started gathering the dishes.

Felassan barked out a laugh. “Oh, nothing nearly so lyrical as Tarasyl’an te’las.”

She paused and looked at him. “Come on, tell me.”

He shook his head and chuckled. “I can’t tell you what we called it.”

“Why the fuck not?” she demanded.

He waved his hand in an expansive gesture. “We once prided ourselves on our wonderful use of metaphor. The castle’s common name was… not very poetic.”

She gave him a flat look. “Just tell me.”

He sighed. “Twist my arm, why don’t you. We called it Arla’fen.”

She frowned and took a slow pull from the joint, then lifted it away from her lips. “‘Home of the wolf’? That’s it?”

He rose to his feet and continued collecting the dishes. “It meant ‘the wolf’s den.’”

Tamaris raised her eyebrows, then snorted. “That sounds like a place where a bunch of rowdy boys gather together to watch each other getting into fighting matches.”

“And wouldn’t that be undignified,” Felassan said without turning around. 

She stared at him, then smiled slowly. “That’s exactly what you did, isn’t it? You and your rebel buddies would have fighting matches for fun.”

He smirked at her over his shoulder. “I told you it was not very poetic.”

She could feel her smile growing wider by the moment. “Did you howl at each other like wolves too?” she said.

“It is possible that there was some howling involved,” he said in a dignified manner.

She laughed, and Felassan grinned at her as he finished stacking the dirty dishes. “Well, if you’ve finished roasting me, I’ll go to the kitchen to deal with these.”

“This is hardly a roast,” she said. “When I decide to roast you, you’ll know.” She lifted the joint to her lips once more.

Felassan reached out and plucked it from her lips. “I’ll look forward to it, avise.” He placed the joint between his own lips and smirked at her, then picked up the dishes and walked away.

She huffed in amusement and shook her head, then plopped down in her chair again and looked at Varric.

His chin was propped on one fist, and his eyebrows were raised. Tamaris gave him a flat look. “Come on, Varric, out with the judgment. Let’s hear it.”

“What was that he called you?” Varric asked. “Avise’?”

“It means ‘fire’,” Tamaris said. “Or ‘flame’.” She shrugged. “It’s a long and stupid story.”

Varric didn’t bat an eye. “He’s got a nickname for you?”

“You have a nickname for me,” she pointed out.

“I’ve known you for four years,” Varric said.

“You started calling me ‘Cuddles’ two days after we met!” she exclaimed.

He tilted his head, and Tamaris folded her arms. “So what then? Do you want to chaperone us? Feel free to move in. Mythal knows this fucking place is big enough.”

Varric sat back in his chair. “No no, I won’t interrupt. Just… be careful, huh?”

She softened. He was just trying to be a good friend. “Seriously, don’t worry,” she assured him. “Nothing’s going to happen. We’re both too fucked up.”

Varric frowned slightly. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re doing okay.”

She shrugged, and Varric leaned toward her. “Seriously. It’s good that you’re going to cut back on the drinking. We were all a little… well.”

“You were worried,” she mumbled. “I know. I get it.”

He shrugged and leaned back in his chair again. “Just looking out for you, Cuddles.”

She tsked at the nickname, and Varric smiled and stood up. “Well, I just wanted to check in since I hadn’t heard from you. I should probably get back to the Keep. Bran will be getting tired of running my meetings by now.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You had meetings this morning?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I didn’t really need to be there, though. Besides, when you miss meetings, people think you’re all the busier, and they’re less likely to try and bother you unless it’s really urgent.”

Tamaris scowled. “If that’s true, why did Josephine always insist that I had to be at every fucking meeting?”

He chuckled. “Don’t ask me. I wasn’t one of your advisors.” He started to make his way toward the door.

Tamaris stood up. “Oh hey, hang on a second. Can you get supplies for us while we’re cooped up here?”

He glanced up at her in surprise. “Cooped up? Why can’t you leave?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for Felassan to be alone until he gets a better handle on his magic,” she said quietly. 

Varric’s eyebrows rose. “Oh. Shit, yeah, okay. What do you need?”

“We made a list,” she said, and she reached into her pocket. “It’s right…” She trailed off and rifled around in her pockets for a second. “Fuck, where is it? Felassan!”

He poked his head out of the kitchen. “You bellowed?”

“Do you have the supply list?” she asked.

“I do,” he said. He came out of the kitchen and pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket, which he handed to Varric. “Are you leaving already?” he asked.

“Yeah, unfortunately,” Varric said. “Viscount duty calls.” 

“That is a shame,” Felassan said. “I was hoping to hear some of your stories first-hand. Your lovely ex-Inquisitor is not the strongest weaver of tales.”

Tamaris tutted. “Excuse me. Who’s roasting whom here?”

Felassan smiled at her, and Varric chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back and I’ll tell you some stories then. Let’s see what you’ve got here…” He unfolded the parchment and peered at it. “Hmm. Yeah, this is… oh, black lotus, huh? And deep mushroom, all fresh? That’ll be tricky. But I know a guy. Might be a couple days, though.”

Felassan bowed his head politely. “Your effort is appreciated, truly. More by Tamaris than myself.”

Varric looked at Tamaris. “This is for you? Why?”

She shrugged. “Withdrawal. He’s going to make me some kind of fancy tea.”

“Oh, yeah. You mentioned that.” He looked at Felassan. “You a healer?”

Felassan waved dismissively. “More of an amateur herbalist.”

“Not amateur,” Tamaris protested. “You have herbs for everything.”

He smiled at her. “I do believe that was almost a compliment,” he said, and he gave her a small but still somehow mocking bow. 

She rolled her eyes, then paused and looked him over. “Hang on. Where’s my joint?”

“I finished it,” he said.

She slumped in exasperation. “But it doesn’t even do anything for you!”

“It held the sweetness of your lips,” he said. “That’s more than enough for me.”

Varric’s eyebrows leapt up, and Tamaris winced internally. Fuck, she thought. Now Varric was really going to worry about something brewing between her and Felassan.

Before either she or Varric could speak, Felassan took a step back. “Varric, it was a pleasure,” he said warmly. “I look forward to your next visit.” He turned and made his way back to the kitchen, but not before Tamaris noticed the tips of his ears turning pink. 

A pang of sympathy twisted her heart. He clearly hadn’t meant to say that comment about her lips out loud.

That also meant he didn’t really mean it, which was for the best.

She turned to Varric, whose eyebrows were almost buried in his hairline. “He’s just… it’s the Tranquility cure,” she explained lamely. “He’s all over the place. It’s not… he doesn’t mean it.”

A sudden image intruded in her mind: Felassan’s fingers on her chin and his wickedly heated smile. 

She ignored the memory. He didn’t mean it, she thought. Varric, meanwhile, was still eyeing her skeptically. 

“Uh-huh,” he said, and he turned toward the door. “I’ll check on you every couple days, and I’ll have Bran set you up with a raven so you can send letters if you need something sooner.”

“Sure,” she said, and she followed him to the door. As he stepped outside, however, she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. 

He looked askance at her, and she gave him a serious look. “Listen, Varric, I didn’t come here to be a burden on you,” she said. “I didn’t… this is a pain in your ass. Checking on us and bringing supplies and shit. I – you’re busy with all your other responsibilities, I know, and I just wanted—”

“Hey,” he cut her off gently. “Don’t worry about it. Maker knows you did enough for us over the past few years.”

She nodded and awkwardly ran a hand through her hair. “Just… thanks, okay? I really appreciate it.”

He patted her metal elbow. “I know, Cuddles. Don’t worry about it. Just take some time to look after yourself. Things’ll be busy once you’re ready to get back into it.”

She sighed. His reminder about the tenuous situation in the world was fair but unpleasant. “Yeah, okay,” she said. “Thanks again.”

He smiled faintly. “See you in a couple days,” he said. He waved casually and walked away, and Tamaris returned to the house.

Felassan was finishing the cleanup in the kitchen. When she sidled into the kitchen to join him, he turned to her with a smile, and she was relieved to see that he didn’t seem awkward after the provocative comment he’d made in Varric’s presence.

“So here we are, with the full day ahead of us,” he said cheerfully. “What should we do with it?”

Once again, the memory of his blazing violet eyes and his suggestively curled lips rose to her mind. Fuck off, she told herself, and she shrugged as casually as she could. “I was going to start tagging the shit in this house that I want to sell or get rid of. If we’re going to be living here for a while, we should redecorate. Make it more homey.”

“‘We’?” he said with interest. “Does that mean I get a say in the decor?”

“Of course,” she said. “You’re living here too.”

“How perfectly egalitarian of you,” he said, and he bowed his head again. “You have my thanks.”

He was smiling that gorgeous smile, and his polite tone was laced with a hint of laughter. Tamaris grunted and left the kitchen and his stupid tempting smile behind, then made her way upstairs.

She stepped into her bedroom and wandered over to the window, then opened it and gulped in a breath of fresh air — or as fresh as the air in a city could ever get. 

It held the sweetness of your lips. That’s more than enough for me. Felassan’s smooth and lilting voice rose unwittingly in her mind, and she scraped her metal fingers through her hair as though to push away the memory of his words. 

She was being stupid. Felassan was only hitting on her because he was getting over his Tranquility, and she was only responding to his flirts because she was… well, she had no excuse. She was just horny for no good reason in particular. 

She scoffed quietly at herself and took another calming breath of city air. Regardless of the reasons for their shared sexual frustration, what she’d said to Varric was true: neither she nor Felassan were in any position to get involved any more intimately than they already were. Felassan couldn’t control his flirtatious impulses, though, and that wasn’t his fault, so Tamaris would just have to be especially careful to rebuff him.

It’ll be fine, she thought. I was the fucking Inquisitor. If I can foil a qunari invasion and trick the Orlesian court into thinking I have any kind of couth, then I can say no to sex with a handsome man. With that bolstering thought, she pushed away from the window and turned her mind to the fascinating task of redecorating.

[mystic-kitten-writer]

Limerence [M] ︳15

Pairing: Zuko x OC

Genre: Romance, mainly fluff with future smut, and if you squint hard enough - you’ll find some angst.

Rating: SFW

Words: 6400+

Notes: It’s a big chapter everyone! Let the drama unfold and enjoy everyone <3

Masterlist ︳14 ︳ 16

❤ Buy me a coffee? ❤

Limerence: (English/n.) the state of being infatuated with another person.

The moment their eyes locked they knew - the flames within him twisted while the water within her turned. It was a connection, a connection that would lead to love, adventure, and drama.

Thanatophobia

(Greek/n.) The phobia of death; losing someone whom you love.

~ Ying Yue Jiang ~

            “You look beauti- ahh-ahh-chooo!”

            I giggled at Aang’s face, as it scrunched together as the sneeze seemed to overtake his whole body. He slightly jumped as the air he released was beyond reasonable, and even a few servants looked at us with surprise; their clothes swaying from his sneeze. Aang gave them a cheeky smile, as he innocently rubbed the back of his head, “Sorry…” he muttered out with a shy wave.

            “What I was trying to say was you look beautiful Yue.” He said as he turned back to me. I giggled and nodded, “Thank you Aang.” He rubbed his bright red nose and tried his hardest to breathe; his nose must be so stuffy... I pouted and found myself tempted to heal, but as if he knew what I wanted he just smiled brightly through a dry cough, “Don’t worry.”

            “I do worry. You should be in bed. Not here, it’s just a party – there will be tons in the future.” I grumbled as I watched the way Aang’s chest struggled to breathe properly. He was sick, a lot sicker than anyone expected. But yet here he stood, all dressed up in his Avatar attire with his wooden staff. “I’m already missing the party; the least I could do is come for the ceremony,” Aang said with a smile, trying to play it off as if he wasn’t in pain. He had deep under circles from the lack of sleep under his eyes, and his lips seemed a bit paler than usual.

            “Aang, it’s fine. I would be happier if you were in bed.”

            “I wouldn’t miss this day for anything Yue. The least I could do is be here for you.” He said thoughtfully. I smiled sadly and nodded at his words since I knew what he meant. Today was my big day. The day I was going to be introduced to the public as Zuko’s Consort. It was scary and exciting all at once. Yet, as happy as I was, I was a bit blue not having everyone here for this day. That wasn’t to say I wasn’t appreciative of Aang and Sokka or even Zuko’s family. They were sweethearts and supportive figures who helped me navigate the ropes, but it still would have been nice to have the gang here.

            “Thank you…” I said softly, and Aang grinned, before giving me a small wink, “Before I forget, congratulations.” He said playfully. I titled my head to the side as I looked at him puzzled, “Congratulations?” I repeated in confusion. Aang chuckled, although it soon turned into a small fit of coughs. Gosh, Aang, you’re so sick! You need rest…

            “You and Zuko. He told me you guys are finally official.” Aang said proudly, playfully shoving my shoulder as I blushed and nodded.

            “He asked me out the other night….” I mumbled bashfully.

            “You don’t understand how awesome this is — my two best friends, together. Soon you guys will get married, have little kids-” He ranted as he clasped his hands together in joy. For someone sick, he can for sure talk. I raised a brow as I observed how joyful he was but was soon distracted by the butterflies that danced in my stomach. Aang blurted everything that I would usually daydream of out in the open. Marriage, Kids? I thought I was rushing into things.

            “It was you, wasn’t it?” I snorted. As if he knew what I was referring too already, Aang openly rubbed his beard and shrugged, “I may have talked to Zuko a bit…given him that little push.” Aang said mischievously. I laughed - I knew it! Zuko would have been too shy to ask me out that bluntly unless he had a driving force. That’s not to say Zuko wouldn’t want to, but he was definitely someone who needed that extra push.

            “Thank you, Aang,” I said tenderly, and Aang nodded, understanding.

            “Well, I’m going to get going, your endearing and loveable boyfriend is here. He seems happy.” I rolled my eyes but giggled as Aang wiggled his eyebrows and gave me a childish look. No matter how sick he was, he will forever be his upbeat self. He dashed off, his mustard coloured robes swaying with every sneeze. He really needed some rest if he wanted to get better before the Earth King comes in four days. Maybe I could stop by his room and heal him for a bit after the party…Katara will kill me if she finds out how sick he was.

            The sound of people shuffling and mummers brought me out of my thoughts, as I turned around on my heel and gazed at the door. Probably just another royal family is entering, but as I stared around, I noticed that no one was saying a word but were bowing deeply. Why is everyone so…Heavy footsteps echoed into the room, and as my eyes gawked towards the door, I put two and two together.

            Zuko strolled through, several guards following suit as he nodded his head in acknowledgment towards everyone. But he seemed different. His shoulders were relaxed, head held high, and he even had a specific something with every step. Aang was right, Zuko does look happy. Beyond happy - euphoric. An amiable smile painted his face as his golden eyes mused with interest. It was me biting my lip that brought me back to reality and reminded me to bow down at his presence.  

            The way his hair was pinned up and adorned with the Fire Nation symbol on top. Not a single strand out of place as he moved about and casually greeted a few royals at the entrance. Even his typically loose Fire Nation attire now hugged his body, revealing how toned he actually was. Gosh…the way his muscles flex as he shakes hands...Don't drool in public, that’s nasty Yue! I could spot a few folks around the room stealing glances at Zuko as well, seeing the same thing I was. But unlike them, I could proudly say he was mine. All mine.

            He grinned broadly as he found Ursa, giving her a tight hug and pecking her cheek. Her eyes lit up with joy as she enthusiastically gripped Zuko’s arms and gushed. I could only imagine how happy she was, from the moment I arrived all she did was talk my ear off, saying how pleased she was for Zuko and me — thanking me for being there for Zuko, but in reality, he was the one there for me. Ursa was sweet, soft-spoken, and I could see much of her in Zuko, whether or not he realized. Kiyi pulled on his belt, wanting some attention, and Zuko ruffled her done-up hair with his large hands.

            I could see Ursa smack Zuko’s hands and starting to grumble, annoyed that Zuko just ruined Kiyi’s hair. I found myself snickering at the sight; and the moment my giggle left my lips, Zuko’s attention switched from them to me. His eyes met mine, and the way his mouth slightly parted made it seem like he was surprised to see me. He stood there dumbfounded, and it wasn’t until Ursa shoved him forward, that he began walking hesitantly. Was he mad? Why is he looking at me like I have three heads?

            I moved towards him and shyly bowed, “Fire Lord Zuko…” I said kindly, but Zuko didn’t utter a word. I frowned and tilted my head to the side as I observed him. “What’s wrong…is everything okay?” I asked tentatively as Zuko eyed me up and down. Was there something on my face? Did I do something? What in the world-

            “Y-Yue. You look…gorgeous.” Zuko blurted.

            I furiously blushed as I anxiously played with my fingers to prevent myself from slapping his chest. That was why this man looked at me like I had three heads or something!? A smirk played along his face as he spiritedly gripped my hands, bringing them to his plush lips and planting sweet kisses to every finger; not a single place untouched. My skin tingled in anticipation from his delicate kisses, as the thought of me looking gorgeous in his eyes filled me with an overwhelming sense of confidence.

            I treasured dressing up, having my hair and makeup done. Yet no moment in my life could compare to this level of ‘appearance.’ My hair was pulled up from either side, letting my hair cascade down my back, as an ornate golden crown was carefully placed upon me. Painted golden dragons soared along my red and white robes, highlighting my own golden eyes. My makeup was also dramatic, which took me by surprise given that I haven’t dolled up in a bit since it has been too humid to do so. But the way Zuko’s eyes studied me, he seemed to be enjoying the sight. I need to ask Suki for some seductive lessons…

            “Absolutely breathtaking - it’s dangerous…are you trying to get someone’s attention? Should I be worried?” He grumbled into my hands.

            “Z-Zuko,” I spoke timidly, not expecting this much intimacy in front of everyone. I could see a few people observing us with merriment as Zuko kissed my hands. After seeing my rosy face, Zuko chuckled before planting one last possessive kiss on my ring finger, “If I had known they were going to doll you up like this I would have marked you up last night. Make sure everyone knows you’re mine.” He hummed as his hand caressed my glowing cheeks. I pouted, and despite all royal protocol, I prudently slapped his chest, “D-don’t say stuff like this so publicly.” I grumbled as he chuckled at my humiliation.

            “Don’t tease the poor girl before she even stepped outside Zuko.”

            Zuko turned around, caught off guard, and I curiously glanced over his broad shoulders. Who’s that? That voice…I don’t recognize it at all.

            A tall, lanky man stood behind us, his hands placed over his thin figure as he grinned widely. He must have been around Ursa’s age, a bit older, as his smile actuated the wrinkles underneath his brown eyes. Zuko’s eyes lit up as he smiled harmlessly, letting his hand drop effortlessly from my face and loosely by his side. The man looked at me before he bowed deeply, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Ying Yue, I’m Noren, Ursa’s husband.” Noren. Husband?

            Zuko snickered as he seemed to notice the exact moment his words clicked in my head and I realized who this man was. “Oh! N-no, the pleasure is all mine.” I blurted as I bowed down deeply. This was Zuko’s step-dad; any slower Yue!?

            Noren chuckled casually as he waved his hands to dismiss my formality. “Please, no need! I’m just a regular man, like everyone else in this room. I wish we could have met earlier; I was tied in some business and I just barely made it for your big day! We plan on opening another theatre in a local town. Hopefully, you and Zuko can come by and see it when the construction is all done.” He spoke gleefully. That’s right, Ursa and Noren were the ambassadors of Drama and Theatre for the Fire Nation.

            I smiled and nodded, “I would love to visit the new theatre, is that alright Zuko?”

            “Whatever you wish,” Zuko said with a smile towards me. Noren raised his brows, watching the way Zuko observed me with the broadest smile in the world. Zuko seemed abnormally happy today; was it because there was a party? How I looked? Or maybe, just maybe, because he was going to announce to the world that I was his...probably that – what a greedy man. Noren cleared his throat before eyeing the doors that lead to the Coronation Plaza.

            “It seems all the preparations are done… whenever you two are ready.”

            The moment those words left his mouth I could feel my palms get clammy and suddenly a cold sweat start. Gosh, I feel like I’m the one who's going to get sick at this rate. The whole time I was here I indulged in the treats that servants served or small talked with random nobles. But now that the moment had arrived, I could undoubtedly hear the ruckus from outside, and I nervously bit my lip. What if the people don’t like me? What if they think I’m not good enough? What if they found out I’m a Waterbender? Or what if I’m just too ugly-

            Zuko tightly squeezed my hand, snapping me out of my self-defeating thoughts and gave me a reassuring smile, “Your perfect. It’ll be quick, and then we can go eat lunch in gardens, just as planned.” Zuko spoke calmly; he fingers gently rubbing my palm. I let out a shaky sigh and found myself looking back up to Noren. He smiled sympathetically, “You’ll get used to the royal speeches. Anyways, you’re in safe hands.” He said before giving me a quick bow and walking off to Ursa and Kiyi.

            “Ready?” Zuko spoke as he looked at me.

            “As ready as I'll ever be.”

            “Perfect.”

            With a quick flip of his wrist, the room fell silent, and all eyes were on us, “Let’s start.” Zuko said firmly. As if that was all was needed to be said, all the nobles began walking outside, leaving the room empty beside his family and us. It was then I felt someone poke my shoulder, “Break a leg, Princess.”

            “Sokka…” I said breathlessly, when did he arrive? Sokka smiled, although I swore I could see his eyes tearing up a bit, “My little sister is all big…you know, it’s still not too late to leave this royal pain in the ass.” Sokka said light-heartedly only for Zuko to scoff, “As if I would let her.” I knew Aang had come back based on the endless fits of sneezes, “You better hold those sneezes during my speech.” Zuko lectured while Aang gave him a cheeky thumbs up. I laughed, before a guard came to us, bowing lowly before speaking.

            “Fire Lord Zuko, it is time to depart. Imperial Consort Ying Yue, I shall give you your cue when the time to present yourself arrives.” I nodded, and with one last squeeze of my hand, Zuko let go, the sudden warmth that I had learned to crave - gone. Zuko stood in front with Aang, while Ursa, Noren, Kiyi, Iroh and Sokka followed suit. I watched as they left the room, as I was the only one left behind.

            The crowds instantly roared seeing Zuko. And like second nature, Zuko smiled gracefully and began waving at his people. The nobles gazed over at Zuko with the utmost respect, and it was then reality hit me as to who I was dating.

            Zuko was Fire Lord.

            And while it was such an obvious fact, it was something I always pushed away - and maybe it was because I never got to see him fully engaged in his role. I was used to his playfulness, those silly pointless banters that we shared. But it was because of those sweet moments, that I forget who he was to the rest of the world. 

            He was a man of honour, a leader, and the very person his Nation looked up to in terms of hope and security. The weight of responsibility that rests upon his shoulders was tremendous, yet despite it all, he made time for me. Whether it was for a few minutes, to a whole day, he did it for me.

            When he finally reached the end of the stage, he raised his hand, and the crowd instantaneously went silent. Zuko cleared his throat and began to speak with a powerful and booming voice, “Good Afternoon royal highnesses, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. It is with great honour, that today we celebrate a milestone, for not just myself, but the Nation as a whole…”

            I found myself lost in his speech, the way he spoke so fluently, not an ounce of hesitation or fear lingered in his voice. He just seemed so confident, so self-assured in himself that anyone who could hear him wouldn't be able to rip their eyes away from him or ignore his words. Home, this was home to him. A gentle hand touched my shoulder, catching me off guard. I turned to look, only to see the guard smiling, “It’s time.” My eyes widen, and I looked forward.

            Zuko was now facing me, Kiyi standing beside him and holding a small container of red paint, her smile warm as she swayed side to side in her spot. “It is with great honour, for me to introduce impending Imperial Consort Ying Yue Jiang, the future Fire Nation Queen,” Zuko spoke.

            Shit. This is it. There’s no going back. Holy mother of pearl what have I gotten myself in to. With a deep breath, I walked forward. I tried my hardest to look at the crowd, but the moment my eyes wandered, I could feel myself getting panicky and looked back at Zuko. Zuko, right now, was my beacon of sanity, the only thing keeping me from tripping over my feet and having a nervous breakdown. My heart was pounding, and my hands were sweaty Yue calm down! You’ve done this countless of times. This is normal. Calm down! I could see Zuko chuckle as he seemed to notice my internal dilemma, although he was good at hiding it, clearly better than my dumbass.

            The people applauded, and I stopped in front of Zuko. With a quick bow of acknowledgement, I kneeled in front of Zuko, only then did I look at him directly. His smile calmed down my beating heart, but I couldn’t help but notice the way his eyes darted back and forth, he was nervous. Just like me. He quickly dipped a finger into the red paint, that Kiyi held, before he started speaking, the oath.

            “Do you, Ying Yue Jiang, willingly take this oath, of Imperial Consort?”

            “I do.”

            “And do you, Ying Yue Jiang, solemnly promise to represent the people. To protect and serve the Nation, to care and adhere to all laws regarding the Fire Nation. To serve me as your Fire Lord, in preparation of becoming Fire Nation Queen?”

            “I promise.”

            “Then, as Fire Lord, I shall declare you as my Imperial Consort, future Queen.”

            His finger delicately ran along the skin between my eyebrows, and I knew right away what he was drawing. A flame. This was it. It was official. I was his Imperial Consort. There was no going back from this. No ‘redo's.’ It was literally sealed.

            My eyes met Zuko’s, and we both started smiling bashfully, a nervous giggle escaping my lips as Zuko chuckled. There wasn’t a single thing I wouldn’t do for Zuko.

            “Congratulations Imperial Consort Ying Yue. It’s a pleasure meeting you; I can’t wait till the wedding!” gushed a noble. Her eyes shinnied brightly as she linked arms with her husband, who wore formal military attire. He was a General, that was all I managed to gather, as I was still running on a high from the whole ceremony that took place just a few moments ago. “Maybe a few children as well? I never knew how much my life would change for the better until I had Lilian and Scar.” Her husband said with a bright smile.

            I blushed as I tightly hugged Zuko’s arm, only for Zuko to chuckle and nod his head in agreement, “I look forward to that stage. How about you, Ying Yue?” Zuko asked as he gazed down at me. I timidly smiled and nodded, “I’ve never thought much about having a family until recently, I would love a child, in due time.” Zuko smiled before politely nodding his head, “I do apologize, but we must get going…” Zuko spoke, and the two nobles simply smiled and nodded, “No worries, but once again, congratulations Fire Lord Zuko and Imperial Consort Ying Yue. You both are lovely together.”

            I nodded my thanks before we turned on my heel, wandering about. I let out another breath of air and Zuko did the same, “Tired yet?” Zuko said with a laugh at my anxious and worn-out expression. The day barely started, and I was already exhausted. We were in the gardens, where Zuko had planned the reception to take place. It wasn’t as formal as one would expect, and I was happy about that. Tables were scattered throughout the garden’s where people feasted on their meals and were free to mingle. The children, on the other hand, were given a chance to feed the turtle ducks at the waterfall, an idea strongly pitched by Kiyi.

            I smiled, watching the kids line the edge of the water, trying to get the turtle ducks attention. They chattered amongst each other, only the spirits knew about what. There was a lot of children who resided at the palace, ‘after the war, a lot of babies were made’ Sokka once said as a joke. Who knew there was some truth to that joke.

             “Would you like a family?” I blurted, and as soon as the question left my lips, I could feel my cheeks flare up. Zuko’s eyes widen a bit, taken aback from my blunt question, “S-sorry, you don’t have to answer that. I-I was just thinking and - you know, I’ll just stop talking now-”

            “Yue~! Come feed the turtle ducks with us!” cried out Kiyi from the pond. She waved her arms around frantically, as she stood beside a boy who didn’t look much younger than her. Bless her for saving me from this awkward moment.

             “Coming button!” I said as I waved my hand back to her with a large smile. But as I tried to dash, Zuko held his grip on my arm causing me to be flung back to his chest, “Not without me you aren’t. It seems like Kiyi is enjoying you more than me.” Zuko said with a laugh. I smiled as we both walked to the pond. Maybe he didn’t hear my question? Or decided to be merciful and ignore it altogether.

            The kids all huddled together along the shoreline, and Kiyi hugged me, “Yue~. You look beautiful. Oh, this is my friend, his name is Tom-Tom, Tom-Tom, this is Yue. She’s my big brother’s girlfriend.” She spoke cheerfully. Tom-Tom flushed furiously as he nodded his head to me and muttered a quiet hello. I giggled and kneeled to their level, “So are you guys feeding the turtle ducks?” I asked as I watched all the children near us with small bags of food.

            Kiyi nodded, but she pouted, “We’re trying to, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of them right now…and whatever turtle ducks are here they’re too far away.” She spoke miserably. I gazed upon the water and noticed she was right. They were farther into the water, but oddly enough, they weren’t swimming around but floated along the body of water. That’s weird…

            “How about you guys step inside then?” Zuko spoke. My eyes widen as I stood up to face him; he was joking, right? “Get in the water?” I mused.

            But before Zuko could confirm his suggestion, all of the children began stripping themselves of their shoes and started splashing about. Their pants and dresses were getting soaked, but they didn’t seem to care at all. They laughed and screamed with joy as they were finally getting close enough to feed the ducks. “Aren’t their parents going to get mad?” I spoke worriedly as I looked over the kids, who seemed to be having a blast. Zuko laughed and shrugged, “They’re kids. Let them have fun while they can…” He muttered.

            I raised a brow as I placed my hands on my hips, “And what about their parents?” I asked. “I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to be happy having their kids soaking wet.”

            “Good thing I’m Fire Lord. What I say goes.” I laughed and poked his chest, “Good job with not taking advantage of your power.” I snickered, and Zuko grinned madly, a trait clearly learned from Aang. He wrapped an arm over my shoulders, bringing me close as we watched the kids splash about in the water. Today was perfect. We were together, celebrating and happy. I let my head fall against his shoulder as I hummed to myself.

            Kiyi held Tom-Tom’s hand in the water, as he seemed quite nervous. Probably not a swimmer…She held the bag of food, letting him throw the food at the turtle ducks. I watched as the water moved around the kids, but I couldn’t help but frown as I observed the water.

            It seemed…different.

            Something wasn’t right.

            I could feel my muscles stiffen, as I began standing straight, “Zuko…” I whispered with an edge to my voice.

            The water was darker than usual. Usually, I could see straight through to the bottom, but I couldn’t today. The water this time was murky. My Waterbender instinct started screaming ‘danger’ as I began to fretfully scan around. My eyes trailed upwards to the fall, and I noticed how deafening the sound of the water crashing downwards was. How did I not notice before? The water ran faster than usual. And for a split moment, I swore I saw someone or something standing above the cliff.

            “Yue, what’s wrong?” Zuko asked, but I tuned him out.

            The water was running faster and faster.

            Small pieces of rocks were starting to mix with the water.

            Oh my gosh, please no. Please, no.

            My heart dropped, and I could hear my heart beating rapidly in my ears. My blood pumped furiously, and my body began to move without a second thought. My mind was on auto-pilot mode, as I anxiously ran towards the water, my steps splashing noisily. I raised my arms upwards, mustering all of the strength I could gather.

            Kiyi, Tom-Tom…Anything but the kids. Please, not the kids.             

~ Fire Lord Zuko ~

            I embraced Ying Yue tightly to my side, smiling pleasantly to myself as I gazed over her. Everything about her was just perfect. The smile on her face was beautiful; her golden eyes were beautiful; she was just beautiful. But as wonderful as she was, she more than just ‘my girlfriend’ or ‘consort,’ she was my friend. A friend who seemed to understand everything, and even a bit more.

            I looked back at the children that played in the water, large smiles painting their faces as they eagerly fed the turtle ducks. Family. She asked me if I wanted a family. I sighed to myself. Did I want a family? I frowned thinking about my own family. Would I be fit enough to be a dad? What’s to say that I wouldn’t turn out exactly like my father? A monster.

            “Zuko…”

            My ears perked up as I looked down at Yue. Her bottom lip trembled, and her eyebrows pinched together. A look of terror and apprehension painted her face as she looked forward. I gazed back at the children, what did she see that I’m not?

            “Yue, what’s wrong?” I asked, trying to mask the hint of concern that mixed with my voice. Yue looked scared, no - terrified, as if she saw the dead rise in front of her. I pulled back to look at her carefully, but as if something entirely overcame her, she sprinted forward.

            Her eyes were wide, and she panted heavily as her feet splashed into the water. “Yue!” I yelled and began to step forward, my boots struggling to keep up with her sprint. Was this pond always so muddy? My feet seemed to sink into the mud with every step. I reached forward, trying to grasp onto her arm, but her silk dress slipped through my fingers. My eyes widen as I watched her movement, stopping cold in my tracks.

            Her arms started to rise by her sides, her fingers flicking upwards.

            She was going to bend.

            “YUE!”

            A deafening sound echoed throughout the gardens, causing everyone to gasp and hurriedly covered their ears. What the fuck was that? With my ears covered, I looked towards the waterfall, and I could feel my blood run cold, and my stomach dropped.

            The waterfall, the rocks, they were crashing down. They broke — a landslide.

            The kids. They were still in the water.

            I need to grab the children; I have to get them out there. But I can’t grab them all; the rocks are already falling. As soon as I found the ability to move once again, the water that was just underneath me begin to rise at an instant. I found myself wiping the water from my face, as the children screamed earsplittingly as the water engulfed them for a split second.

            Yue stood in the middle of the pond, her arms spread wide, all of the water above her. She was bending; she bent all of the water above her. She was freezing the water; she was making a barrier to protect the children. The ice above her crackled and cracked as the rocks from the waterfall began to tumble on top of her. Sweat beaded down Yue’s face as she grounded down on her teeth. She was single-handedly supporting the weight of a whole waterfall on her back.

            My eyes met hers, and with a look of desperation, she screamed, “GET THE KIDS. I-I can’t hold this for much longer.” She whimpered. Yue…fuck. I ran forward, “GRAB THE BLOODY KIDS!” I screamed towards the guards as they hastily scooped them into their arms. I could hear parents crying out to their children as the kids cried into their arms. I wrapped my arms tightly around Kiyi and Tom-Tom, scooping them into my arms without hesitation. “B-but Yue! Zuzu, Yue needs your help!” Kiyi cried out in my arms.

            I dropped them at the shoreline, “Zuko- Yue.” Mom spoke worriedly as she cradled Kiyi close. Tom-Tom dashed off to Mai. Mai looked terrified as she scooped Tom-Tom into her arms. I turned around and swore. Yue fell onto her knees, the mud pulling her in as tears started to form. She was struggling. Where is the fucking Avatar when you needed him? “YUE!” Sokka shouted as he threw another kid onto land. I need to save her. I need to get her out; she won’t last much longer.

            “STOP!” She screamed, and I looked upward, her face flustered as she whimpered out. The large wings of ice she managed to form were about to break; rocks started seeping through the cracks, cutting up her delicate skin. “A-are the kids…are they all safe?” She groaned out.

            “Yes but-”

            “Zuko run.” She spoke sternly.

            “What?”

            “I-I can’t- RUN!” She shouted. Sokka grabbed my arm, pulling me back, before dust and the sound of thousands of pounds of rock and stone fell. People coughed as dust flooded the air and my eyes burned. Sokka and I laid on the ground, struggling to breathe properly as the smell of crushed rock completely suffocated my nose.

            “Are you alright?” Sokka gasped, struggling to breathe. “Yeah, you?” I huffed out painfully. I rubbed my eyes trying to get a better sight around us. I could hear people coughing noisily, children crying, while other people muttered out in disbelief at the fact that Yue was a Waterbender. Our secret, it was out in the open. Fuck it. That’s the least of my fucking worries right now.

            As the dust began to settle, I sat up and looked forward. The waterfall was no longer there. Instead laid a giant pile of rocks and gushing water. Yue. I have to find her. Pushing through my dry coughs and the dusty air I crawled forward, “Zuko, what are you-” Sokka groaned painfully, as he clenched his chest.

            “Yue, she is in there.” I panted as I stood. The pile of rocks was massive. She had to be in there. Please be alive. Fuck, if she is hurt-

            “Zuko?” a small faint voice muttered out.

            My eyes widen, and I desperately began climbing over the loose rocks. Water began to gush from underneath my grip of the rocks, and like a lost child, she was slowly crawling from the top of the pile. Her long black hair stuck to her face, as blood began to drop from the small wounds on her face. Her clothes were torn as she struggled to pull herself out, “Babe, I’m here don’t move! Let me pull you out!” Without protest, she moaned in pain and let her body fall against the jagged rocks.

            I wrapped my arms around her torso, “The kids.” She muttered. I looked down at her, was she really concerned with the kids after she single-handedly withstood the weight of a fucking waterfall and then let it crash on top of her? She was selfless. She was never thinking about herself, always putting herself second. She’s going to be the death of me.

            “They’re safe Yue, are you okay?” I pulled on her body, as her head fell against my neck, “Just a bit…sleepy…” She muttered. With a final tug, I managed to pull her out of the rubble, as she rested over me. Her breathing was short and shallow, “Yue?” I spoke gently, as I patted her back. “Hmm?” She moaned. I pulled back, getting a good look on her. Her eyes struggled to stay open before her eyes finally fluttered shut. “Yue? Hey, don’t you fucking sleep on me now.” I spoke sternly as I gently tapped her cheeks.

            But she was passed out. She pushed herself, pushed her bending to the very limits. I cradled her tightly to my body; I had to get her to the infirmary. Fuck Yue. Why did you have to so reckless, so generous? My feet evened out on the ground as I held her as close as I could to myself. Sokka looked over at me with concern, “Yue…” He started.

            “She’s fine, passed out, she pushed herself,” I answered, but that was when I noticed a few council members standing behind Sokka. Frowns painted their faces as they looked at Yue with disgust. As if she was an enemy, a traitor, “She’s a Waterbender Fire Lord Zuko…” They grumbled under their breath. I frowned.

            Let the shit show begin.

~ Azula ~

            “Your little partner seems surprised. Didn’t let her in on the plan?” He spoke with a taunt. I scowled as I watched the way Mai tightly hugged her younger brother, a look of shock and fear painted her face.

            “I made the mistake of trusting her too much. After today, I’ll know where her ties lie.” I spoke bitterly as I crossed my arms. I watched the way Ying Yue dissolved her wings of ice, and instead bent the water to embrace her. An ice bubble. The rocks began to fall, but her cocoon of ice protected her. What a smart and crafty girl…Just like her Uncle.

            “So what do you think - Yakone…”

            Yakone laughed as he crouched down, watching the sight unfold. He ran his hand through his brown hair as his blue eyes watched with amusement. The Royals looked like chickens with their heads cut off, not knowing whether to hide or run as dust puffed upwards. The sound of the rocks falling was deafening, despite us being high on the cliff, I found myself grimacing at the noise.

            “Believe me now Yakone?” I spoke with my arms crossed as I gazed down at the man below me. A broad grin painted his face, a rare sight indeed.

            “Oh, she’s my niece alright.” He said with a hysterical laugh as he watched the way Ying Yue bend. She was good; I had to give her that. Even better than that stupid Southern Water Tribe girl, what was her name…Katara?

            I watched as Zuko struggled to climb up the debris, trying his hardest to reach Ying Yue, who seemed to have pushed herself to the point of exhaustion.

            “So Yakone, does this mean she inherited the family heirloom?” I said with a laugh. But Yakone stood up, a dark and menacing smirk plastered on his face as he turned to face me. It was some of the few moments in my life where I felt a cold chill run up my spine. Yakone was not someone you could underestimate. He was petrifying, a terrifying figure who had no fear slaying the mighty or weak.

            “She’s a Bloodbender alright. I wonder how much my sister taught her?” Yakone pondered to himself as he stepped closer to the edge.

            A Bloodbender. The deadliest form of bending, and powerful. I guess I do have to keep my guard up around Ying Yue; I wonder if her friends knew her dirty secret? I wonder if dear Zuzu knows…maybe I should pay him a nice family visit sometime soon…

            I swiftly turned on my heel, starting to formulate a new plan. We found out what we needed to know for now. Now I can leave my dear brother to deal with the aftermath. Hope I didn’t leave too much of a mess.

Copyright © 2019 Mystic-Kitten, inc. all rights reserved. No reposting, modifying, or translations of any kind allowed. Thank you for your cooperation.

Disclaimer: I do not own any Avatar characters portrayed in this story besides Ying Yue Jiang, Lia, Kima, and any future creations.

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[selbstgemacht-derfoodblog]

Rhabarber Eis mit Vanille

Rezept für ein schnelles, selbstgemachtes Rhabarber Eis mit Vanille für alle Feinschmecker! Der säuerliche Rhabarber macht sich unglaublich gut im süßen Vanilleeis! Das Rezept funktioniert mit und ohne Eismaschine!

Eis selber machen ist ganz einfach! Hier gibt´s ein Rezept für ein schnelles, selbstgemachtes Rhabarber Eis mit Vanille für alle Feinschmecker! Der säuerliche Rhabarber macht sich unglaublich gut im süßen Vanilleeis! Das Rezept funktioniert mit oder auch ohne Eismaschine!

Rhabarber Eis

Kennt ihr Rhabarber Eis? Ich habe bisher nie davon gehört. Doch seit ich letztes Jahr mit einem Erdbeer-R…

[kayura-sanada]

Among My Stillness Was A Pounding Heart (TerraVen) (Part 2 of 6)

Series: Among My Stillness Was A Pounding Heart Chapter: Perhaps ‘Normal’ Was A Bit of An Oversimplification Fandom: Kingdom Hearts Rating: T Words: ~6400

Summary:  Ventus has entered high school, and he now faces the trials that all students face. Class, bullies, and a crush on someone close to him. These problems, however, may end up seeming small in comparison to the one rather unusual issue looming before him - one that has to do with the past he doesn't remember.

Special Note: This was commissioned by the lovely @makesuretheyseeme. Thank you so much!

Terra’s teeth cracked.

They both heard it. There was no way to not hear it. Still, fourteen-year old Terra crunched his way through the food, then swallowed. Twelve-year old Ven’s hands came up as if to stop him. Terra smiled. “It’s better,” he said.

Ven frowned. He lowered his hands to his lap. “You could have been poisoned.”

Terra laughed. It was deep, throaty. Ven’s stomach flipped. His heart raced. “It’s not that bad. You just overcooked the meat a little bit.”

More than a little!

Ven snatched the bento from Terra’s lap. Terra’s chopsticks clicked on air. “I’ll make something better!” he said. Terra stared at him. “I swear it! So… try it again when I do!”

Terra just laughed again. He reached out and tussled Ven’s hair, mussing it up. Ven loved the feel of his hair out of place and the warmth that came with it. “I promise,” he said. “May I have it back now?”

“No!” Ven stood. “I’ll go get us food from the cafeteria!”

He ran off before Terra could see how red his cheeks had gotten.

He fit in like he’d never left.

Master Eraqus greeted him upon his return from work. Aqua rubbed salve over his cheek and helped him with his schoolwork. Terra gently kneaded his head until he was nearly asleep, then carried Ven to his room, where he fell asleep on Terra’s bed. He woke up in the morning to find Terra sleeping in a chair beside the bed, head hanging awkwardly as he leaned forward, hands on the edge of the sheets.

He reached up and traced the place where Terra had touched his cheek. It hadn’t been a dream. Terra had really done that. Without hesitation. Could he hope that it meant what he wanted it to mean? Or was he wanting too much?

He reached out, slowly, to cover those large hands. They were as warm as always. He wanted to hold them tight and never let go. Was that selfish? Terra already always gave him so much. He didn’t want to take any more than he already did.

There were a lot of things he wanted. A lot of ways he wanted to be selfish. Terra had told him strength was continuing on his path, but what if he didn’t like the path he’d chosen? What if, selfishly, he wanted to take a different one?

Ven nearly jumped out of his skin when Terra gripped his hand back. He stared wide-eyed as Terra stretched in his seat. “Good morning,” he squeaked, and wanted to melt through the floorboards at the sound.

Terra smiled. It was like the bright colors streaming through the window panes. “Good morning, Ven.”

He was still holding Ven’s hand as if it was normal. Was it normal? Ven wasn’t sure it was normal. He stared at it, that place where their skin met. His cheeks suddenly felt very, very hot. “Uh.”

Terra lifted Ven’s hand up. Ven stared with bug eyes as Terra kissed the backs of his fingers. He squeaked again. Terra reached out to just below Ven’s eye and touched one cheek. His injured one. Again. “That’s bruising,” he said, his lips thin. Terra took several breaths, then tried again. “Aqua’s probably already up, if you want to help her cook.”

It was a normal pastime for them. Ven had to repeat that word a few times as he got up, trying to remember what ‘normal’ even meant anymore.

He wandered dream-like into the kitchen to find Aqua making eggs. She turned as he entered. “Good morning, Ven!”

He stared at her. She kept stirring the eggs for several moments before she turned and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Ven?”

“Is Terra okay?” he asked, then closed his eyes in mortification. Now she was gonna ask.

She laughed. He peeked one eye open. “He’s fine,” she said. “I think he’s just figuring out what’s more important.” The words left Ven floundering even more. “I’ll start working on breakfast soon. I just have to make lunch.”

That shook him out of his stupor. “No, I want to help.” He stepped forward. “I gotta thank Terra, too.”

Aqua smiled as if hiding some secret. She let Ven take over the eggs and grabbed some ingredients for breakfast. Ven stared into the yellow depths of the pan and wondered just what had happened to these two while he’d been busy keeping distance between them.

Terra and Master Eraqus either loved the breakfast or pretended very, very well. Ven couldn’t tell. At least there were no crunching noises. Probably because Aqua had done most of the breakfast, but still. Ven had helped. More to the point, he’d been the one to cook all of the food they’d packed for lunch. Aqua had gotten the boxes together, and the both of them together had placed everything inside. They made it all the way to the school grounds before Ven worked up the courage to stand by Terra’s side and shove the bento he’d made under Terra’s nose. Aqua burst into laughter at the sight.

“Ven?”

He looked up from the ground to see Terra’s gaze on the bento. “I made it,” he said, then grimaced. No duh? He tried again. “For you.” Obviously! “As thanks. And…”

Terra paused in the act of reaching for the bento. He lowered his hand. “And?” he prompted.

Ven shifted back and forth on his feet. He took several deep breaths. Be brave, he told himself. Be brave. Like Terra. “And… do you think… would Master Eraqus be mad if I asked to, um. Come back?”

Terra and Aqua both stared at him. Before he could take it back, Terra whooped. He scooped Ven up and twirled him around. Ven clutched the bento for dear life. “Really?” Terra asked, before he even set Ven back down. “Do you mean it?”

Ven did not understand the questions as they were asked. “Um…? Yes?”

“Ven, we would all be thrilled.” Aqua knelt beside him and placed one hand on his shoulder. “It’s all we’ve ever wanted. We just wanted you to want it.”

He hugged the bento. Tears burned in his eyes. He looked from Aqua to Terra. Terra nodded, his grin still a mile wide. “Oh,” Ven said. His voice wobbled, even though it was just a short, tiny sound. He bit his lip. “I… if I’m not a burden…” He looked down, remembering Terra’s words. How Terra had mourned the purpose of his existence if it wasn’t to be with and protect those he loved. Ven felt the same. “I wanna go back.”

“We’ve been waiting for you,” Terra said, placing his hand on Ven’s head. Ven leaned into it. “Your bedroom is just as you left it.”

Waiting. Ven tried to imagine it. Before he could, the warning bell rang, and Aqua jumped to her feet. “Oh, no!” She grabbed the bento from Ven’s hands and jammed it into Terra’s. “I am not going to be late. Come on!”

They all ran into the building. Ven couldn’t help but laugh, a watery sound that only brought the tears back. He chased after them, watched their backs as they raced to the door and held it open for him, only to hurry forward all over again. The laugh grew louder. He couldn’t believe he’d gotten Aqua to almost be late, just because he’d said he wanted to… to go home. Permanently. With them.

He’d been strong, just like Terra had said. His reward was everything he’d ever wanted.

Vanitas’ glare greeted him the moment he entered the classroom. Ven met the look for a moment, then headed to his seat. Not even Vanitas could steal the giddy rush that made him practically hop down the aisle to his desk. His smile didn’t even dim. Looking at it now, he had no idea why he’d run and hidden the way he had. What had he been so afraid of? He wasn’t a burden; Terra and Aqua wanted him back. And if Master Eraqus didn’t, too, then why leave Ven’s room the same as it had been? He hadn’t even entered the room again, too afraid to see he’d been erased. To know instead that he hadn’t been, that it was still waiting for him…

He smiled again, nearly giggling where he sat. He was important to them. He wasn’t alone. He’d always known that, so why had he run away?

The teacher called the class to order, and Ienzo ordered them to stand. Ven nearly bounced from his seat. He saw someone turn to look at him. When he looked back, it was to find the girl with short black hair turned in his direction. For some reason, he’d never taken notice of her before. She stood inches shorter than even him. As soon as she noticed him noticing her, she snapped her attention back to the front of the class. He thought about it as he bowed to the teacher. Was she shy?

She was nice. He should talk to her, thank her properly. He swore to do so come lunch time.

“Ventus from Class 1-B. Terra from Class 3-B. Aqua from Class 3-A. Please report to the principal’s office. Bring your belongings with you.”

Ven’s good mood disappeared like smoke.

He looked up at the speaker high up on the wall. Maybe it was a fluke? Or maybe it hadn’t happened at all; maybe he’d fallen momentarily asleep–

“You heard the announcement.” Ven looked to the front of the classroom. The teacher made a shooing motion. “Go.”

Ven opened his mouth. Closed it. “You sure?”

The teacher glowered at him. Several students giggled. “While I would love to pretend my opinion in this matters, if the principal wants to see you, then you had better get moving, hadn’t you?”

Ven thought about that. He stood.

“Your things, Ventus. Unless you forgot which ones are yours?” The other students laughed.

Ven blushed. “Right.” He bent down and grabbed his bag, then pulled his bento from his desk. He nearly tripped out the door. Vanitas’ chuckle followed him out, louder, somehow, than everyone else’s. His ears went hot.

He wasn’t afraid of having done something wrong. If that were the case, then it would have just been him getting called to the office. Maybe him and Terra both, if it was about the fight that had happened in the hall yesterday. He would have readily explained that Terra hadn’t done anything, that he’d only stepped in the path, but that he hadn’t hurt anyone. But Aqua had been called down, too, so that couldn’t be it.

That meant something had happened with Master Eraqus.

Ven’s breath hissed through his teeth, the air suddenly too heavy to inhale. That couldn’t happen. He’d just chosen to return. He wouldn’t have his home ripped from him again, would he? And what about Terra, Aqua? Would they be left alone, too? They were old enough that the state would only take care of them for a short time. They would lose their home, their family – would they all drift apart? Would he never see them again?

His heart thundered so hard in his ears he couldn’t hear himself swallow. He crushed his bag and bento to his chest. He wouldn’t be left all alone, would he?

A tall form stood before the door to the front office. He sucked in a breath. “Thank goodness,” he breathed, and ran forward. “Master Eraqus!”

Master Eraqus stood with his arms crossed over his chest, long hair pulled back in his usual ponytail, wilder by far than anything Ven’s hair could do. Other than the scar that had always been on his face, Ven saw no injuries or marks. He didn’t stoop or cradle some part of his body. Thank goodness. “Are you all right?” he asked anyway as he came to a rest in front of him.

“Ven. I was hoping you would be the first to arrive.” Instead of answering, Master Eraqus led Ven into the office. He held open the door for Ven. “Let’s get you seated. We have something important to discuss.”

The moment the door was open, Ven could hear shouting down the office halls, toward the principal’s and vice principal’s offices. Master Eraqus led him to that same hall. He paled.

“You can’t keep me in here. I don’t give a damn about the cops! Look at my face! He’s my brother! You have no right to keep me from him!”

Ven looked at the origin of the voice. It was the principal’s office. A deep bang sounded, as if someone had pounded on the principal’s desk. He paled further, imagining the kind of person capable of doing that.

“Come on, Ven.” Ven looked at the master. He’d opened a door further down the hall than the offices. Ven looked at it. It wasn’t a surprise that Master Eraqus knew the ins and outs of these rooms; he was one of the superintendents of the schools, after all. Still, it felt odd to enter as if he owned the place. He scooted closer, trying to ignore the shouting that started up again, and peeked into the room. A long, oval table and some plastic chairs. No one sat in any of the seats. “This might take some time,” the master said, nearly pushing Ven into the room. “You may wish to eat your lunch now. I’ll be back for you shortly.”

Ven turned to ask what was going on, only for the master to close the door on him. His mouth flapped open for several seconds before he managed to close it. He clutched his bento like a lifeline.

No way was he eating. Not when there was such a high percentage of him puking it back up.

He set his things on the table and looked around again. Nothing on the walls, no decorations save for two small trash cans beneath either corner of the table. A meeting room? Probably for the teachers. His hands trembled as he pulled out a chair. He didn’t sit.

What was going on? Why had Master Eraqus asked the principal to call down the three of them, himself and Terra and Aqua, only to have Ven separated the moment he arrived? Was this about him moving back in, after all? Did Master Eraqus not want him back?

He found himself hyperventilating and made himself slow his breathing. He put a hand over his heart to time the beats. Slow. Steady. Even if he wasn’t allowed back, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Probably.

For a long time, he didn’t hear anything over the shouting. It rose and fell in waves, growing to a crescendo when, for a moment, Ven heard a door open and then close again. Maybe the principal had needed to leave. Maybe there was some changing of the guard. Whatever the case, the shouting soon died down afterward. From then on, no sound came but quiet murmuring and the footsteps of people walking back and forth.

He sat. Stood up again. Paced the length of the table as if searching for the perfect spot. Stood in front of the door.

Surely he’d waited long enough? What was taking so long?

He didn’t even think about where Terra and Aqua had gone until he heard their voices, carried down the hall in muted anger. He pressed an ear against the door, then, thinking a little more like an adult, opened it and stepped out into the hall. As he did, he heard Terra’s voice rise in accusation.

“Who are you? Why are you here?”

Ven turned, then blinked. Terra and Aqua stood just inside the front lobby leading to the offices, in front of the receptionist’s counter. They faced him. Well, him, too. But also him.

He was staring at his own back.

Well. He’d never worn that much black. Black boots, black shirt, dark gray jeans. But that was definitely his back. And his hair. And, and…

Aqua was going to be so disappointed with him for falling asleep in class.

The thought was almost a relief. None of this was real. Great! Then he could do whatever he wanted. Time to go talk to Terra. Maybe hold his hand again. Heck, if this was a dream, he could go full-throttle, couldn’t he? That would be okay, wouldn’t it?

He wandered down the hall. The other version of him lifted his chin at Terra and struck a stance Ven never had – hands fisted at his sides, body leaning forward as if to pick a fight. “I don’t even know you,” his clone said, speaking his words like he was throwing them in Terra’s face. “Why should I bother explaining anything to you?”

Terra looked up and stilled. His gaze caught on Ven’s.

“We’re Ven’s friends,” Aqua said. She placed one hand against her chest, and with the other gestured toward Terra. “We won’t let you hurt him.”

“Hurt him?!”

“Enough.”

All heads turned. Master Eraqus entered through the office door with the principal in tow. Ven’s clone turned that aggressive stance on the two adults. Master Eraqus didn’t seem the least bit concerned. “Come on, all of you. I believe we’ve kept young Ventus waiting long enough.”

Master Eraqus gestured toward Ven.

The boy turned to him. It truly was his face. His eyes. His nose. His cheeks and mouth. Even the way those eyes widened reflected the look Ven knew to be on his own face. He held up a hand as if to test whether or not he stood in front of a mirror. His heart plummeted. A feeling like numbness consumed him. He wasn’t dreaming. This was too impossible to be a dream.

Ven breathed in. The face across from his looked somewhat different. It wasn’t anything to do with physical characteristics. No. It was just that those eyes had widened a little bit differently than his had; those brows furrowed instead of lifted; those lips parted a bit more than his. When Ven’s clone breathed in, it went in stuttered. All those minute disparities made the image before him come alive, and with a snap, Ven’s emotions burst out, flying about in such disarray as to leave Ven scrabbling. He finally peeled his gaze away from the unknown person to Terra, then Master Eraqus. “Who…?”

The boy flinched. Before Terra could do more than take a single step forward, the boy stormed up to him, nearly pushing Terra out of the way. “I’m Roxas,” the boy said, speaking before even the adults could say a word. His voice sounded the same, yet there was an edge to it that didn’t exist in Ven’s. It also sounded a bit scratchy, like he’d – like he’d been yelling. The boy, Roxas, blinked multiple times as he reached out. On instinct, Ven took his hand. “I’m your brother.”

Ven paused. Something niggled in the back of his mind; “our kids.” The echo of blond hair, blue eyes. Laughter. Sunlight. He blinked, and it was gone. With it went Ven’s world. He looked up to Terra with panic cracking like glass in his chest.

“Let’s slow down for a moment, shall we?” Master Eraqus held up his hand. Roxas turned, not letting go of Ven’s hand, and glared up at him. “I told you to take it easy. Things aren’t so simple that you can overwhelm him like this.”

“Your authority doesn’t mean anything,” Roxas hissed. “He’s my brother.”

“And my adopted son.” Ven jerked a look toward Master Eraqus at the words. The master did not look at him, but instead kept his gaze on Roxas. “Let’s all sit down.”

Master Eraqus, the principal following like a lost puppy, led them all back to the room Ven had left. Ven entered first, taking the seat in front of which his things still rested. Terra quickly took the seat next to Ven, placing one hand on his shoulder. Ven looked up and gave the brunet a shaky smile. “I’m okay,” he said, keeping his voice down as everyone else chose their seats. Master Eraqus nearly pushed Roxas to the chair opposite Ven and placed the principal beside him. Master Eraqus took the seat at the head of the table, and Aqua, finally, the seat beside Terra. She leaned over to catch Ven’s gaze. “I’m okay,” he said again, this time for her benefit.

Neither looked particularly convinced.

Roxas, meanwhile, seemed to be busy glaring at everyone in sight. Save for Ven, who he watched carefully. Roxas took in the hand on Ven’s shoulder, then Ven himself, and finally sat in his seat. “You aren’t keeping me away from him,” he said before Master Eraqus could do more than open his mouth. Ven’s counterpart seemed ready to vibrate off his chair at any second.

“I have no intention of doing so,” Eraqus said. Finally, that gaze of his turned to Ven. “Ven. Do you remember the accident reports? The ones describing what had happened before you came to live with us?”

Ven nodded, then stopped. He furrowed his brows. “My parents died in a fire,” he said, not thinking. He winced when Roxas did. “I’m sorry,” he said, then, “there were problems with the electricity? It… said I had a sibling, right? An older one?”

“Younger,” Roxas said, then, “and we’re twins. You’re only older by six minutes.”

Once again, the feeling of echoes and lost colors spiraled through Ven’s mind. He rubbed his temples, but he couldn’t make anything out. He struggled for a few moments more before finally letting it go. He dropped his hands. “I’m so sorry. I don’t remember.” He looked at Roxas, then Master Eraqus. “I’m sorry,” he said again.

“It’s nothing to be sorry for.” Roxas’ brows scrunched. Master Eraqus leaned over toward Ven’s… twin. “As I said before. This isn’t something so easily solved. And you’ve told me enough of your situation that I know you cannot provide for Ven what I and my family can.”

Roxas’ lips twisted into a snarl. If it wasn’t for the stiff line of his shoulders, Ven might have mistaken the look for anger. But, well. It was his face. He knew better.

Ven switched his gaze to Terra as the bell rang to signal the lunch break. His fingers curled around his bag and bento, trying to hide their shaking. It was Terra. He’d just talked about going home with him. With all of them. Returning to being a family. And Master Eraqus had even said Ven was his son! He hadn’t let him go? Hadn’t let him become a ward of the state? Had Ven still been a part of their family all this time?

He wanted to go back with them. He loved them, Master Eraqus, Aqua. Terra. But… he looked at this Roxas, this brother of his he couldn’t remember. His heart curled and twisted until he felt it wrap around his lungs and choke him. How could he leave this person alone?

He reached over and squeezed Terra’s leg. Terra’s attention turned so fully to him so fast it left Ven lost for words for a moment. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry.” His voice came out a squeak. He closed his eyes and willed it to cooperate for once. When he opened them again, a strange half-smile was battling for dominion on Roxas’ cheeks. Those eyes, so similar to his own, took on a suspicious sheen. “I don’t remember anything from that time,” he said. “Our – our parents. You.” He looked down. “I’m sorry.” Then he leaned forward. “But you’re so strong! To come find me like this. To demand we meet. You’re amazing!”

Roxas’ eyes widened. The sheen got brighter.

“We’re family, right? That means we should be together.” Ven turned to Master Eraqus. “He’s my brother.” He turned to Terra, willing him to understand. Wishing Terra didn’t look like Ven had just punched him. “I have to – no. I want to go with him.”

“Don’t misunderstand, Ven. Terra.” Ven caught Terra flinch at his name and looked at him a bit closer. If he’d thought the line of Roxas’ shoulders stiff, Terra’s was downright brittle. Ven squeezed Terra’s leg again. He opened his mouth to apologize again, but Master Eraqus spoke first. “All of you are far too quick to think there are only two solutions here.”

Ven watched Master Eraqus and Mr. Wise share a nod. He didn’t understand it. Aqua seemed to, though. She gasped. “I am your guardian, Ventus. I don’t take that responsibility lightly. No matter who comes or what happens, you are a part of my family.” Master Eraqus gestured to Ven’s twin. “Roxas. You are a ward of the state, as well, are you not?”

Roxas didn’t answer.

“You skipped school. Ran away from – from from the next town over, it appears, hopped a turnstyle to public transit. All to get here today. Didn’t you?”

Ven’s eyes popped wide. Roxas, on the other hand, had nerves of steel. He simply lifted his chin. “So what? My brother’s here.”

There was an inflection there, more than just the simple ‘I came here because he was here’ emotions his answer indicated. Ven mulled it over for a few seconds. It was like Roxas had answered a different question entirely. Not a simple ‘did you,’ but instead a ‘why did you.’ And it sounded heavier, too. Like the question of why meant something more – perhaps, Ven realized, that Roxas no longer had to ask where.

He’d forgotten everything. Because of that, he’d never questioned the absence of knowledge. But just because he’d forgotten didn’t mean Roxas had.

Ven covered his mouth. Even acknowledging it, he’d underestimated Roxas’ strength.

“Roxas.” Master Eraqus leaned back and folded his hands on top of the table. “How about you join our family?”

Silence fell over the table. Roxas’ mouth flapped open.

Ven gasped. Squealed. Jumped out of his seat. “Oh, my god! Really?!” He launched himself at Master Eraqus. The man managed a muffled “oof” before he had to grip the table or else risk Ven landing them both on the floor. “Ack! Sorry, sorry!” Ven jumped off of him again. Master Eraqus took a deep breath as Ven rounded on Roxas. “Say yes! Oh, say yes! It’ll be great! Master Eraqus can be strict sometimes, but he’s really nice. And Terra and Aqua are the best. And the house is huge! And it’s wonderful; Aqua can help you with your homework and teach you to cook – I’ve gotten better – and Terra is crazy smart and kind and, and – you’ll never have to jump stuff or run away from home, and – and we could all be together. A family.”

Master Eraqus reached over to touch Ven’s side. Ven cleared his throat and sat down. “There’s plenty of room at our home, and any brother of Ven is a brother to these two. Just as any sibling of my son is also my son.”

Ven blushed. He looked at the long stretch of arm leading to him, the loose white shirt that curled in a loose collar around his master’s – his father’s? – neck. He reached out, grabbed it, and held it tight. He needed to apologize. He’d essentially run away, too. Looking at it now, he couldn’t imagine why.

Master Eraqus looked at Ven’s hand. He covered it with his own and smiled. Tears dotted Ven’s eyes. He scrubbed at them. “Master,” he said, but couldn’t finish. If he did, he would end up crying.

Master Eraqus let go of Ven’s hand. The moment he did, Terra reached out and wrapped his arm around Ven’s back. He pulled Ven toward him until Ven’s head rested on his shoulder. Only then did Terra turn to Roxas. “Our home has been waiting for it to be full again. You can help complete it. If you’d like.”

Ven widened his eyes and nodded emphatically. It made his head bounce off Terra’s arm.

Roxas grimaced. “Ven’s all I need,” he said. Those familiar blue eyes, mirror images of his own, took in Ven and Terra together. Ven flushed horribly, imagining what he looked like in that moment. Roxas seemed to chew on something unsavory for a long moment, then nodded. “I’m getting my brother back,” he said. He stood and glared at them all. “If being around all of you is the price I pay, then that’s fine.” He pointed at Ven. “But whichever of you gave Ven that mark is going to get it.”

“Now, boy,” Mr. Wise said, his voice warning.

“That person’s been taken care of,” Terra said without missing a beat.

“What exactly does that mean?” the principal asked. Master Eraqus laughed. “Sir! I must insist!”

“Not to worry,” Master Eraqus said, waving the principal down. “Terra wasn’t raised to hurt people without reason. I’m certain he found the best course of action.”

Ven looked to them all. The world seemed so huge suddenly, yet he loved the open space around him, and the way Terra held him as he stood within it. He wrapped his fingers into Terra’s. If the adults saw, they chose not to mention it. He beamed at Roxas. Those stiff shoulders slumped. For the first time, Ven saw Roxas smile back.

“Mom and Dad told you to run,” Roxas said. They were alone in the room, finally. Roxas had seemed on edge until the others had all left; the instant the door had closed behind them, ‘granting them some time,’ Roxas had turned into a while different person. He leaned lazily back on the table, fingers gripping its edge. He slouched where he stood facing Ven, who had retreated to the wall beside the door, too antsy to sit still. Roxas’ words – the first words between them, just the two of them – were sudden, as if continuing an old conversation. “They told you to run and hide. Your eyes got funny. I recognized it – I couldn’t help but recognize it, Ven.” Roxas reached out for him. Ven took his hand easily. It was strange. Like holding his own. “Because I have trigger words, too.”

Ven shook his head. “What?”

Roxas waved the question away with his free hand. “Not now. Not in public. And not with them around,” he said, nodding toward the door where, just beyond, Terra likely paced the hall. “I know you trust them, but I don’t know them, so I don’t.” Still, he smiled at Ven. “I’m surprised by how familiar you are. Like the old you.”

From how Roxas said that, Ven could only assume that Roxas was not like the old him. But that was fine. Even if he was, Ven would have to learn about him all over again, anyway. At least this way, it felt more normal. “I’m sorry I don’t remember.”

Roxas shook his head. “No. That’s part of… anyway.” He hopped onto the table. Ven’s bento bounced a bit. By now, the thing had to look a mess. “Your eyes glazed over, but by then it was too late. And Mom…” Roxas stopped. Took a breath. “Well. They told you to run, to hide and not talk to anyone. You repeated their words. We thought it was a question.” Roxas’ jaw clenched. “Mom said no one, unless it was a cop. If it was a cop, then you’d be forgiven for it.

“It was the wrong thing to say.” Roxas looked at the ground. Then back up. Ven didn’t understand the look in his eyes. “They didn’t know. Only I did, because I was there. Because we both…” Roxas growled. He slammed his hand onto the table. Ven jumped at the bang. “Whatever. I found you. I swore I would. I promised them. And I did.” Roxas hopped off the table. “Finally. I found you.”

Ven didn’t really understand what was going on, but he could tell that Roxas had suffered. He sidled up next to Roxas and nudged him with his shoulder. Roxas looked at him. “I think you’re incredible,” he said. Roxas snorted. “I don’t know how you found me, or how you had the guts to just – just skip school and break the law and stuff. And you didn’t even get in trouble!”

Roxas laughed at that. “That part’s new. Usually I get in plenty of trouble.”

Ven laughed. It sounded just like Roxas’. He leaned on Roxas’ shoulder. It stiffened against him for a moment, then relaxed. “And you talked down to Master Eraqus. He has such a stern face, I couldn’t imagine doing that!”

“I’ve talked down to scarier.” Roxas shrugged, then apologized when the movement jostled Ven. He went overly still after that, as if afraid Ven might get uncomfortable and move. “Look. These people. This ‘family.’ What do you really think of them?”

Ven looked toward the door. He could hear voices raised just above a whisper. Already, he could imagine Aqua and Terra bickering over whether to let them have their privacy or not. Oddly enough, it would be Aqua who would crack first. Terra was too polite to go storming in on people’s private conversations. Aqua wasn’t. “I know the only family you knew was us, you and me and our parents, before the fire. But, to me, those three are my family. I love them.”

Roxas took a deep, slow breath. “Family, huh.” Roxas leaned his head on top of Ven’s. It felt like some sort of habit. “Is that what that guy is to you?”

Ven flushed. “Huh?” It came out as an unintelligible mouse scream. “Who?”

Roxas snorted out a chuckle. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

Ven flapped his arms, throwing Roxas off of him and smacking the boy’s chest. “Sorry – it’s not like that!” His voice would not go back to normal. He cleared it multiple times before trying again. “I mean, it’s not…”

Roxas’ eyebrow raised. “Like that?”

“Yes!” He stopped. “No!”

Roxas laughed. “Got it?”

“No! Let me try again.” Ven covered his mouth, then, slowly, his cheek. He could feel it burning hot under his fingertips. “It’s not something I’ve told anyone.” He chanced a quick glance at Roxas; as familiar as he felt, Ven didn’t know if it was just because he still felt a little like he was staring in a mirror. Still. He would trust this brother of his who had searched for him for so long. “I know we’re supposed to be family, but that’s not how I feel.”

Roxas smiled. “Good.” At Ven’s startled look, Roxas’ smile widened. “I want to be your only brother.”

Ven grinned. The words felt good. Like things were sliding into place. “I’m glad you found me.”

“Me, too.”

The bell rang. The principal released them from school ‘for as long as needed,’ whatever that meant. It said something about the tumult in their lives that even Aqua didn’t protest the idea of being out of school for some unknown length of time.

“Will there be some place where we can speak privately when we get there?” Roxas asked. Aqua sent the two of them a raised brow from over her shoulder as they walked out of the front office. Ven had lost count of how many bells had rung throughout their time in the principal’s office, but apparently the latest bell had ended the school day. Hours had gone by as they’d all discussed Roxas’ entrance into their lives.

“Yeah.” Terra opened the door for them. Master Eraqus went through first, still thanking Mr. Wise for helping them. The principal was busy waving off Master Eraqus’ thanks. “Ven’s room is still there, and there’s a guest room next to it down the hall. You could also choose to take a walk, if you’d like.” Terra smiled down at Ven. “Take whatever time you need.”

Ven eyed the bento he’d made for Terra. He hadn’t gotten any more of a chance to eat it than Ven had. He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Thanks, Terra.”

“Maybe you two should get some rest first, though?” Aqua exited the office and turned to look at the two of them as they followed suit. “It’s been a long day. Are you tired?”

“We’re fine,” Ven said, then turned to Roxas to double-check. His twin nodded. Ven hopped out into the hall. “I’ve got more energy than ever. Today’s been crazy, but it’s nice. It’s a good kind of crazy.”

“All right.” She frowned at Ven’s cheek, then at his bento. “I’ll drive us home while Roxas goes with Master Eraqus to complete some paperwork.” Roxas scowled at the mention of being separated. Ven nudged him again and shrugged. The paperwork would put the adoption in motion; it was a necessary step to them being together longer than just one afternoon. Roxas huffed, but he didn’t argue. “So on the way home, eat your lunch. All right?”

Ven looked at Terra. “Terra hasn’t eaten, either.”

Terra smiled. “Then we can both eat on our way back.”

Ven’s face burst into flame. Roxas took one look and rolled his eyes. “Right. I’ll travel with the old man, then, shall I?”

“I’ll see you soon,” Ven promised. The words made Roxas shiver. He turned on Ven, right there, and grabbed his upper arms.

“Don’t…” He hissed. Looked away. Looked back, his eyes harder than ever. Ven felt Roxas’ body nearly vibrating. “Just. You.” Roxas glared at Terra. “If Ven ever starts acting strangely, if he ever seems to react poorly to someone’s words, like he’s just gone blank. You get him out of there. Do you understand?”

Terra’s brows furrowed. He looked from Roxas to Ven and back again. “I don’t, but you can believe that I will keep Ven safe. No matter what.”

Roxas scowled. “Fine.” He looked back to Ven. “I’ll explain everything later. All right? I promise.”

Ven nodded. Just as Roxas made to leave, he grabbed his twin’s hand. Roxas turned right back to him. “I don’t understand,” he whispered. He opened his mouth, only to hesitate. “You said our parents died in a fire, but I ran off? What happened to them? To us?”

Roxas closed his eyes. “I promise, I’ll explain. Just. I’m glad you for… that you don’t remember. Be glad you don’t remember, okay?” Roxas squeezed his hand and moved over to Master Eraqus, his lips pressed thinly together. “Let’s hurry this up.”

Master Eraqus didn’t scold Roxas for the attitude. He just turned to them, told them to expect him and Roxas by late evening, and led Roxas out the door. Ven watched them go, then turned to Terra and Aqua. “I’m confused,” he admitted.

“At this point,” Aqua said, “confusion is likely the wisest reaction.”

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Dragonball GT is stupidly overpowered. (DBGT VS DBS)

I know a lot of Dragonball fans HATE GT, and I can see why, (it has A Lot of flaws), bored one night I decided to do some digging for some old Dragonball fights and found the gt gem of frieza and cell vs Goku. Goku is kicking the everloving crap out of them and hadn't even transformed into a super saiyan!

This got me thinking, How would GT Goku have faired against Beerus?

Now in GT both Frieza and Cell claim to have gotten stronger then they were in the past. Since this amount of power is unknown (and minuscule as it didn't really make goku fight them differently) I will compare them to Cell. Who at the time died after fighting super saiyan 2 gohan. I think it is agreeable that if Gohan was at full power, their epic beam struggle would not have been as close (since he was down an arm and had to compensate by blasting with everything he had.)

 But it is also stated by Vegeta in the majin buu saga that Gohan at super saiyan 2 was weaker then when he fought cell, implying that this super saiyan 2 was weaker then super perfect cell. So for the sake of argument and low balling.

Base form GT Goku > super Perfect cell = to a low powered super saiyan 2

Just to make complications easier Ill say Base form Goku is on par with a typical super saiyan 2 of Dragon ball z. As he fought both frieza and Cell without much difficulty (even though they couldn't be killed by normal means)

So what does this mean for DBS?

Well, lets take GT Goku again, and make him a super saiyan.

and the normal super saiyan multiplier is 50x.

GT goku would have been 50x stronger then his own super saiyan 2 transformation in super (give or take)

We know Vegeta (who in a bout of rage) made Beerus (the god of destruction) use 10% to fight him. Vegeta at super saiyan 2 surpassing Goku who fought Beerus at super saiyan 3.

The super saiyan 3 transformation canonically is 4x stronger then super saiyan 2.

Now this is where numbers get tricky and I might be slightly in accurate.

But by my estimations,

GT Goku would have been on par with Beerus using a full power super saiyan transformation

(my math actually has it where Goku would be stronger, but that would be assuming dbs Goku super saiyan 3 was = to super saiyan 2 rage vegeta)

But then, this is where things get ridiculous.

GT Goku has 3 other transformations.

In Super saiyan 2, he would be twice as strong as Beerus and based on the ratings that Toriyama gave (Super Saiyan god Goku is a 6, Beerus is a 10 and Whis a 15) He would be stronger then Whis.

Now I can hear you all like, (But Gale, you are power scaling and you are assuming that power is not on a Richter scale of power)

Well I can tell you it isn't.

In the Battle of Gods movie. Whis confirms that Beerus only used about 60% of his power against super saiyan god Goku. Which makes the 6 in Toriyama’s explanation be equal to 60% of Beerus’s power.

And next I can hear you shout (but Gale, that is because of god ki, super saiyan goku in GT doesn't have god ki and would get bodied)

Well my response to that is, Frieza (from DBS), Hit and Jiren.

All of them have not shown access to god ki and are able to fight on par with beings that do, such as Goku and Vegeta.

The later is even stated by his own universe god of destruction to be even stronger then him. So I state that goku doesn't need god ki to surpass Whis or Beerus.

At super saiyan 3 Goku would have been worlds above Beerus and Whis.

In terms of Ratings, Goku would be about 80 in comparison to Whis (15) and Beerus.(10)

And at super saiyan 4

(Zeno be damned) Super saiyan 4 Goku would be at 800 on that rating scale.

And GT Vegeta would be to.

Oh and get this

All of the notable villains in GT would probably be stronger then Beerus.

Baby vegeta, Super 17,  Eis, Nova, and Syn shenron.

And Don't get me started on Omega Shenron.

Since that f***er was fighting 2 super saiyan 4s, that power he has is intense.

And Calculating Gogeta st super saiyan four?!

Gogeta could sneeze and obliterate the multiverse.

For fun lets calculate how strong Super saiyan god and Super Saiyan blue would be on a GT goku.

Based on the multipliers.

super saiyan god goku is about 6x stronger then super saiyan 3

Possibly a bit more then that, but I am gonna say six.

On that scale Super saiyan god GT Goku would be about 480 on the scale, and his super saiyan blue would be about 640.

But now we include the kaio-ken.

which we know Goku uses a 10x kaio-ken in his super saiyan blue form.

so that form would be equal to 6400 on that little scale.

Unfortunately it is not possible to calculate how powerful ultra instinct would be. But we are well aware that the form is supposedly his most powerful form, so it would not be shocking based on the ridiculous scaling that has been done. That he would be at 10,000 on the scale (making GT Goku 1000x more powerful then beerus (this number however is still debatable as no multiplier has been established.)

(I am more then happy to make corrections should anyone want to point out evidence disproving my findings)

[feelin123]

3000元以內，目前這4部手機值得買，快看看你用上了哪部？

 3000元以內，目前這4部手機值得買，快看看你用上了哪部？

第一部：一加9R

相信大家對一加這個品牌應該不會陌生了吧？跟小米一樣，走性價比路線，這幾年憑藉著超高的性價比，深受“發燒友”的喜愛！之前都是推出高端旗艦機，今年可能是因為競爭太激烈的緣故，還推出了一部中端機型，那就是一加9R，表現不俗，相信不少人都有入手。一加9R配備必利吉  必利吉藥局  必利吉ptt  必利吉哪里買  必利吉藥局ptt  必利吉正品

的是120Hz刷新率的AMOLED柔性直屏，搭載驍龍870移動平台，後置4800萬像素四攝像頭(支持OIS防抖、EIS電子防抖、 4K視頻拍攝等功能)，內置4500mAh大容量電池，搭配65W超級閃充，起售價為2999元，你覺得怎麼樣？

第二部：iQOO Neo5

iQOO Neo5的起步價為2499元，說這手機值得買，原因是具備其他手機所沒有的亮點，一個是支持獨立顯示芯片，另一個就是支持66W超快閃充。當然，iQOO Neo5絕不僅僅如此，在其他方面同樣很出彩，正面的屏幕支持120Hz高刷新率，搭載了驍龍870+增強版UFS 3.1配置，擁有媲美高端旗艦的強勢性能表現。內置了4400mAh的電池，以及還有雙揚聲器、藍牙5.1、全功能NFC等配置，這些同樣也是很加分的。講實話，一個兩千多的手機，能夠有這樣的表現，說值得買，大家都是會認同的。必利吉  必利吉藥局  必利吉ptt  必利吉哪里買  必利吉藥局ptt  必利吉正品

第三部：realme真我Q3 Pro

這個realme真我Q3 Pro相對要更加便宜一些，起售價為1599元，即便最高配也不超過2000元，別以為便宜就沒好貨，這手機就能讓你長見識。該手機有一個螢火蟲版本，晚上能夠發出熒光效果，顏值還是很高的。硬件方面，搭載了6nm工藝的天璣1100處理器，性能跑分達到了67萬，你是不是不敢相信？此外，realme真我Q3 Pro其他方面也不賴，比如機身輕薄，即便內置了4500mAh大電池，重量也只有179g，同時還有6400萬像素三攝設計、120Hz高刷新率和雙揚聲器等等。綜合而言，這樣的手機性價比還是很高的，想必你都用上有一段時間了吧？

第四部：紅米K40 Pro

有的人說紅米K40標準版的性價比也很高，試問你能搶得到麼？從從搶購的角度來說，這確實有點難，所以給大家說說這個紅米K40 Pro，一樣也很值得買！這手機正面的屏幕採用E4發光材質，支持120Hz高刷新率，顯示效果好且操控也順滑。性能在當下也稱得上是安卓手機中的頂尖水準必利吉  必利吉藥局  必利吉ptt  必利吉哪里買  必利吉藥局ptt  必利吉正品

，搭載了驍龍888處理器，並且配備滿血版LPDDR5和UFS3.1，運行各種主流遊戲都沒有問題。並且還有4520mAh電池、NFC、紅外、雙揚聲器等，綜合實力一點都不弱，你也是這樣覺得嗎？

[dirtnapblog]

Even Squawky, the goofy-eyed cart, stopped by 6400 to bid the building adieu! (at Amoeba Music) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAt8-clhyLy/?igshid=1i2f76azcpyv6

[gozealouscloudcollection]

OPPO K5開箱上手：6400萬超清四攝+30W閃充 賽博金屬意外好看

訪問購買入口:

OPPO 自營旗艦店

開箱：

存儲方面，OPPO K5 採用的是 LPDDR4x RAM + UFS 2.1 RAM 組合，可選 6+128 / 8+128 / 8+256 GB 三個版本。

小編拿到的，就是“賽博金屬”（炫藍）的入門版本（6+128），官方另有“奇幻森林”（炫綠）和“極地陽光”（炫白）的選項。

打開包裝後，可見到手機本體、說明書 / 保修卡 / 手機殼 / 取卡針。

底下還放置著 30W VOOC 4.0 閃充 + Type-C 數據線。

這批充電頭由航嘉馳源代工，支持 5V @ 2A 和 5V @ 6A 輸出，方頭造型可以適當節省對插座的空間佔用。

OPPO K5 採用了 6.4 英寸淺水滴 AMOLED 屏，分辨率 2340×1080、亮度 430nit、覆蓋 100% NTSC / 97% DCI-P3 色域。

機身背部採用了賽博金屬風格的變色炫光設計，左上角是四枚攝像頭 + LED 閃光燈，右下角是 OPPO 的品牌 Logo 。

OPPO K5 還支持面部 + 屏下指紋識別，解鎖速度較 K3 提升 7.9%，屏幕上方的感光孔也做了隱藏式設計。

下面是賽博金屬版 OPPO K5 的多角度特寫：

系統方面，K5 預裝了基於 Android 9 定制的 ColorOS 6.1 。

輔以 Hyper Boost 2.0 和 Link Boost 加速引擎，且支持 Breeno 智能助理。

全功能 NFC 支持（支付 / 公交 / 門禁卡模擬），也是該機的一大亮點。

下面是 OPPO K5 的四側邊框特寫：

左側有音量±按鍵，上方有雙 nano-SIM 卡槽。

右側僅一顆電源按鍵

底部為揚聲器格柵、USB Type-C、以及 3.5mm 耳機插孔

頂部僅有一個小孔（副麥克風）

OPPO K5 的寬高厚為 75.16×158.7×8.55 mm，重約 182g 。左右邊框 1.67mm，上邊框 2.0mm，底部邊框 4.3mm 。

跑分：

這裡參考是高通驍龍 730G SoC，輔以 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM 的入門機型的參數。

Spec – 123

Spec – 456

OPPO K5 入門機型（6GB RAM + 128GB ROM）的安兔兔 v8.1.0 跑分為 26w+，屬於高通驍龍 730G 平台的正常水平。當然，感興趣的朋友，也可選購 K5 的中高配版本（8+128 / 8+256）。

快充：

依然先將手機耗盡電量，多次開機後立即自動關機。然後靜置一段時間，在 23℃ 左右的環境溫度下，從 20:30 開始接入 VOOC 4.0 閃充套裝，並每隔 5 分鐘記錄一次電量。

在最初的半個小時內，OPPO K5 可以保持每 5 分鐘 / 12% 左右的充電速度。後續略有放緩，但依然在 1 小時內充入了 96% 的電量，最終在 1 小時 10 分左右完成了 100% 充電。

當然，實際充電速率取決於多種因素，這裡僅供大家簡單參考。全程 VOOV 4.0 閃充充電頭和 OPPO K5 手機本體的溫度控制也很不錯。

拍照：

1X + 廣角模式對比

OPPO K5 配備了 64MP @ f/1.8 光圈的主攝，支持數碼變焦、智能 HDR、EIS 電子防抖等功能。

2X + 5X

副攝為 8MP @ f/2.2，另有 2MP @ f/2.4 黑白人像風格攝像頭、以及 2MP @ f/2.4 復古人像風格攝像頭。

微距虛化效果不錯

室內 1X + 廣角

OPPO K5 – 水池 慢速攝影（via）

傍晚 廣角

傍晚 – 依水觀瀾（拍攝時手動調高了亮度）

傍晚 黑天鵝 1X

OPPO K5 – 傍晚 黑天鵝 – 1X 2X 5X（via）

傍晚 5X

午後 – 廣角

1X + 2X + 5X

夜景樣張

OPPO K5 – 廊橋 夜景 走動拍攝（via）

1X + 廣角

OPPO K5 – 廣場 鴿子 夜景 – 1X 2X 5X（via）

2X + 5X

Under the Moon

OPPO K5 – 廣場 Singer 夜景 手持拍攝（via）

小結：OPPO K5 已於 10 月 10 日開啟預購，搶鮮者可獲百元立減優惠，正式開售時間為 10 月 17 日。

OPPO K5 提供了6+128 / 8 + 128 / 8+ 256 三檔存儲容量，價格分別為1899 / 2099 / 2499 RMB，感興趣的朋友可以到各大電商平台購買，或到線下門店實際感受一下。

.

from OPPO K5開箱上手：6400萬超清四攝+30W閃充 賽博金屬意外好看 via KKNEWS

[joshuajacksonlyblog]

Bitcoin Price ‘Terminal Shakeout’ Could Spark 2017 Style Bull Run, Analyst

Bitcoin should experience a “terminal shakeout” similar to 2015 before a new bull market explodes higher, a veteran analyst has concluded.

Shakeout Should Precede Parabolic Advance

In a series of tweets on October 9, Cole Garner said that the protracted price slump Bitcoin saw in 2015 had not yet occurred in the current cycle. 

For BTC/USD to break out of its current sideways action, a period of lows must likewise ensue first, he argued.

Garner referenced multiple hypotheses to support the forecast, including that of Senior Bitcoinist analyst Filb Filb.

Their concept revolves around miners. Specifically, how much it costs to produce Bitcoin, and the impact of next year’s block reward halving, which will cut BTC gains per block by 50%.

“Big miners have incentive to drive $BTC price back to its production cost. They’d love to dish out max pain one more time before the bull market steamrolls forward out of control,” Garner summarized.

While Filb Filb focused on mining activity, Garner also eyed historic behavior which preceded other bullish phases for Bitcoin.

“Every bull market is preceded by a terminal shakeout. It’s a spring — one last higher timeframe stop run before the parabolic advance gets started,” he added.

11/ That’s @filbfilb's take. Here’s mine:

Every bull market is preceded by a terminal shakeout.

It’s a spring — one last higher timeframe stop run before the parabolic advance gets started. pic.twitter.com/d1cEximDtR

— Cole Garner (@ColeGarnerBTC) October 9, 2019

Markets Await Bitcoin Price Exit

Bitcoin has broadly underwhelmed traders in recent months after its Q2 bull run fizzled in August. 

Commentators blamed various factors for the slump in progress, including the uninspiring debut of Bakkt’s Bitcoin futures for institutional traders.

A sudden 20% crash for BTC/USD in late September added to concerns this year’s gains could soon all but vanish. Bitcoin started the year at just $3100. 

For Filb Filb, however, a return to such levels remains unlikely. Miners, Garner paraphrases the theory as saying, have already “priced in” the reward halving, and as such a bottom for Bitcoin should likely now be double the previous one – around $6400.

“Production cost doubles when the block reward halves. That makes $6340 the new floor. Smart money knows it, again. Retail has no clue, again,” he wrote.

Garner noted Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto had appeared to endorse the idea. In 2010, he wrote that the price of any commodity is linked to the cost of its production.

“If the price is below cost, then production slows down. If the price is above cost, profit can be made by generating and selling more,” Nakamoto had stated.

As Bitcoinist reported, another popular price forecast model suggests BTC/USD should remain at an average of $8300 before the halving.

What do you think will happen to the Bitcoin price? Let us know in the comments below!

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @ColegarnerBTC

The post Bitcoin Price ‘Terminal Shakeout’ Could Spark 2017 Style Bull Run, Analyst appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

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