#I had one far flung wish for the game and that was to have more yiga content

[shadowednavi]

I spent 50 rupees on this 😭😭😭😭

[wishmaster]

Hi wishmaster, I'm your average kinda nerdy guy (no glasses though, guess that's one stereotype I don't fit) and my roommate is a kind guy but god he stinks and lives like a slob. He rarely showers coming back from the gym or his games and he's always bringing girls round. I've gotten used to it I guess but I know our place stinks, I'm too embarrassed to bring my girlfriend over because of it. I just wish he'd understand why I'm frustrated and would be a bit less of a dumb smelly meathead. I guess I'm not being fair and I should get to understand him more too, but I'm just nothing like him. Ugh I wish we both could understand each other more.

The next morning when you woke up all you could smell was a heavy musk, like your roommates. It was pungent as if if was all over you, but you showered before bed last night.

As you got out of bed you felt heavier, and then the smell hit you again, but the longer you smelled it it seemed the hornier you got as you walked towards the mirror a behemoth of a guy stared back at you. In the face it looked like you but your body was muscled and huge. Fuck you thought what the hell happened, then you remembered the wish you made. You sat down to grab your phone hoping to somehow change back, but instead of your phone you reached fro the day old pizza, fuck you were hungry, this body needed so much fuel.

Chips and soda can were scattered around you, you found yourself shoving them into your mouth, you needed fuel before you could go workout and get bigger, dude. Your clothes and you reeked of sweat and body odor all caked on from your long sessions in the gym, wait no you weren't a jock you were a nerd. The thought of that got you chuckling to yourself, you a stereotypical himbo a nerd?

Suddenly the door to your room flung open and standing there was that stuck up roommate of yours.

Jesus it stinks in here dude, you ever going to clean up in here, how the hell I'm I supposed to get laid with you stinking up this damn place all the time, and when was the last time you bathed?

You get laid, right. You joked never having seen him with a girl, unaware that it was you that had kept him from bringing her over but suddenly things changed, a spark was lit between you two, your musk was winning him over, You two change a bit more before you're suddenly in each other's embrace, you were drawn to one another, as far as the world was concerned you two had always been boyfriends, opposites truly did attract in your case having swapped lives had only made the passion hotter.

Your smell drove him crazy, made him so horny he'd jump you the moment he saw you, you couldn't keep your hands off one another now, your girl friend but a memory as you were his and he yours, your apart became filled with the stench of his mess, sweat and sex

you ripped his clean shirt off and began to suck his perfect nipples, you guy barely left the room after that as you had him becoming as stinky as you, but it was a smell you both grew to love.

[bindeds]

do you have any more lucifer crumbs that you can give us please 🥺 i love you and the way you write him please never leave me

first of all, tysm for sticking around as long as you did babe! I appreciate you sm ♥️♥️♥️ and I’m so glad you like the way I write him! You really have no idea how much it means to me that you enjoy it. So sorry I haven’t been posting as of late, been working on an original book, and suddenly I got this spark for Luci.

it’s genuinely been so long since I played poker so I’m sorry if this is wrong but—

˚⟡  ˖  ࣪     ROYALLY  FLUSHED. L.MORNINGSTAR. —   fluff,  sfw, gn reader, 639 words;  you  play  poker  with  Luci  and  he  never  loses. Ever.

Cards fanned out under delicate fingers, masking whatever his lips might have told you without hissing a word. His eyes were willing victims of the spotlight he’d casted himself—he always had known his power, how the very snap of his fingers could cause whole worlds to collapse. But for now, the stare that wrought the very foundation of your technique were worlds enough for him, it seemed.

Lavender lids casted over what one might mistake for bored eyes in a split second’s glance, but the embers in his ruby eyes spelled something far worse—deception. Lust, even, if you only had two more seconds. But given the poker game in front of you, his gaze—as heated as they were—had merely been a shield. You couldn’t read him. Not in the haze of all the other things his pupils might have implied. Not even in his glimmering pink waterline.

The crease in your brow dented further before you flung your cards like it had been a last minute defense.

“Straight!” You declared, still eyeing him up and down and casting an ugly look upon him. 

Lucifer didn’t waver. You weren’t even sure if he had even bothered to look down at your cards, and if you hadn’t known any better you might have said he was almost hypnotized by you, the way his gaze clung to you even after the supposed end of the road.

“Oh, me? It’s nothing—just …” 

With the bow of his wrist, Lucifer revealed his cards to you, and you leaned forward so fast your chair screeched.

“A hand fit for a king, wouldn’t you say?”

“agh!”

Two red diamonds threatened to puncture thumb with the angle he held his cards at. The center cards were all red diamonds too, with an ace, joker and a ten. Lucifer’s cards were a king and queen. 

A royal flush. 

“Lucifer, I know you’re cheating,” you accused him, and his eyes blew wide immediately. “It’s impossible that you’ve won five times in a row!”

“My heart, I warned you fair and square! I’m telling you I’m not pulling your leg when I say I never lose a game of poker!”

“When was the first time you played before this?”

Lucifer coughed, fist to his lips as he tried to stifle it. His eyes zipped between you and the floor countless times before he’d finally spoke up again.

“I uh—when I was teaching—ahem—Charlie how to play.”

“That’s your first time?” You crossed your arms.

“Yes! I saw how the humans had done it once, and I never bothered to play until Charlie had asked me to teach her.”

“Huh …”

“She got frustrated too. I don’t know why I don’t lose.”

Your frown had no longer been one of vexation but one of puzzlement. You were at the cusp of a theory, the light of knowledge ever so close before a hand slithered down your shoulder.

“But hey, you know … I think it’s funny I got both a king and a queen. I haven’t had the other in so, very long …”

Lucifer’s hot breath caressed your cheek before a pillowed kiss was planted.

You looked to him, and those eyes returned again.

But this time, of course, his brows melted, bringing his gaze to a softer edge as he smiled the way the sun would at the horizon, presenting you the colors it held dearest in its burning core.

“Someday, when you’re ready, you wouldn’t just be my queen; if Charlie’s my little Morningstar, you’ll be the star I kneel to amongst all the other ones in the vast night, wishing for just a moment more with you. For even when you give me all your waking days, I find it is not enough.

“It is not enough for how much I burn to always be with you.”

bonus : Lucifer never loses because gambling is the devil’s game 🤭

taglist: @saints-wrapped-in-plastic

[ashensgrotto]

Never Had A Friend (Like Me) - Part 3

Original art piece by pfbatakopd on twitter (Used only for Header. Do NOT REPOST ORIGINAL ART)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 (You Are Here)

YandereSoulmate! AU:

Part 1 (Am I Feeling Love?)

Part 2 (Protective)

Part 3A & Part 3B (Poor Unfortunate Souls)

Characters: Azul Ashengrotto X F!Reader

Word Count: 9,105

Synopsis: A chance for redemption comes in the form of a wish…

Author’s Notes: Ok, here we go. I received an anonymous message in my inbox for the next part of the Yandere!Soulmate series and I was actually going to work on it - but with the arrival of GloMas, working on the next part of ‘Raison D’être,’ wanting to finish “Weren’t You Aware, Angelfish?”, AND the holidays, time got away from me and I forgot about Scarabia’s segment for a short while. 

However, because you all seem to enjoy this and want to know if the tako has redeemed himself - I figured I would work to get this part done. Now, warning - Pompefiore’s part is going to take a bit of time to complete because I will have to wiggle my way through my memory bank and replay a few parts of it (which is approx 76 chapters in length for those players who haven’t made it that far into the game yet) since I’m working so deep into Ignihyde’s chapter right now (which is a doozy - I’m still in chapter 67-tower 1, oof help).

This one is also going to be split into three parts - I promise it will not be a long wait for the second & third parts as this is my Christmas gift to all of my readers <3

Thank you all for your continued support!

Notes: Last part of 'A Friend like Me'!

Pompfiore's part will take some time to go through - I'm likely going to be busy up until the second or third week of January, hence I will be taking a short Hiatus from Yandere!Soulmate AU to focus on a few other projects. I will also be updating Raison D’être in the next few weeks after the holidays have passed.

Thank you everyone for your continued support and I will see you in the next story!

Warnings are as follows: yandere behaviors, manipulation, imprisonment, & hypnosis

***

Can your friends do this? Can your friends do that?

Can your friends pull this out their little hats?

Can your friends go - POOF!

***

Azul shook his head as he pulled himself up off the ground after landing, brushing himself off. He took in his surroundings, noticing that he still seemed to be within the Scarabia dorm, but unsure of where. Sands still surrounded him from all angles - making him feel more like a mer out of water than anything else - and a noticeable chill hung in the air, cold enough to make out the fiat traces of one’s breath as it hung in the air. Azl’s eyes shifted around as his mind began to refocus. Where was he? And… where were you?

“(Y/n)? (Y/n)!” he spun around before hearing your grunt as you pulled yourself up from under a pile of sand and fur.

“Owww…” Grim clutched at his head, his eyes screwed shut as he moaned softly, “I really can’t catch a break around here…”

“I feel that…” you sigh, sitting back on your knees, gripping your lower back as you wince in pain.

“(Y/n)! Are you alright?!” Azul moved quickly, his breath coming out in pants as he knelt beside you, his gloved hands tilting your head up to examine you. 

You were covered in sand and were shivering from the cold, your teeth chattering as you took in deep breaths. Your face had a cut on the forehead and your eyes seemed a little hazy, dazed from the landing. You steadied yourself against Azul’s hold, the warmth of his gloves warming your cheeks.

“I’m alive… barely. It felt like he knocked us into next week and then some.”

“It would appear that he flung us some distance. Are you two alright?”

“Fine - given that we were knocked to the ends of the earth,” you answer as Azul pulls you up with Grim in your arms, “Where’s Jade? Floyd? Kalim?”

“Over here, shrimpy!” the tuba voice of Floyd spoke a little ways away as he approached, his arms wrapped around himself, “Brr! It’s seriously cold here. It’s like we’re under the ice floes or somethin’.”

You feel a shudder rattle through you as Azul wrapped an arm around you, pulling you close to keep you semi-warm under the covering of his overcoat. The temperature here was noticeably different from when you were in the Scarabia dorm - it would seem that at the edge of the desert dorm was freezing like the inside of an icebox. 

Jade was crouched beside Kalim, the ex-headwarden of Scarabia, rubbing his forehead as the others approached, “Where am I?”

“Good, you’re awake,” Jade sighed in relief, “I believe we are at the edge of the dimension that contains the Scarbia dorm.”

“So… Jamil literally did send us to the ends of the earth,” Grim chirped in surprise, before glowering, “When we get back there, I’m going ta let ‘im have it-”

“How, though?” you asked, “We don’t have any carpets, or brooms.”

“And with this cold, I doubt Kalim and (Y/n) will last long out here,” Azul nodded in agreement.

“It’ll be a slog,” Floyd shrugged, “but walkin’s our only way back.”

“Floyd,” Azul growled, “we spent quite a bit of time in flight before we landed here. It could take hours - wait, more likely days at this rate - to trudge back on foot. And… I can’t take another minute of you with that voice. I’m tearing up the contract and annulling it.”

“O-oh c-come on, Azul,” you shiver, trying to be light-hearted, “H-he’s h-having f-fun.”

“Having fun, my ass, (Y/n),” Azul grumbled, “That voice is annoying me - even more so than his normal one. Back to the old voice, Floyd.”

“Aww… but I like bein’ all baritone.”

A snap of his fingers and the contract disintegrated, leaving Floyd clearing his throat as his normal voice returned to him.

Kalim let out a soft sniffle then, “Jamil… I trusted you.”

“Hey, you cryin’, sea otter? Your tears are gonna freeze over, ya know,” Floyd asked.

“It’s all my fault…” Kalim sobbed a little harder, “I drove Jamil to the brink without realizing it. The real Jamil would never do such things! He’s a good guy… always helping me… giving me a shoulder to lean on… and… and…”

Azul rolled his eyes. Before he could open his mouth however -

“Isn’t th-that the a-a-attitude r-right there what d-drove him to th-the b-brink?” you asked, your voice shaking still from the cold.

“Wh-what…?” Kalim looked at you in awe.

 “Yikes, (Y/n) - you do go for the jugular sometimes…” Grim spoke up from his spot.

“I’m with shrimpy on this,” Floyd agreed, turning toward Kalim, “Sea otter, you’re… TOO nice. It’s kinda grating.”

“Grating?”

“Yes,” Jade nodded in agreement, “If I were betrayed in the same way you were - I’d lash out with a torrent of unmitigated verbal abuse to break them down mentally, then bind them and drag them beneath the waves. The way you blame yourself and to excuse Jamil’s behavior is… a tad galling.”

“Galling? Really? Kalim asked this as if it was a compliment, “But… Jamil would never betray me…”

“News flash; he did,” Floyd shouted.

“A-And the w-way he w-was m-making you out to be the b-bad guy and get you expelled is even m-more nerve-wracking,” you explain, “H-However… I d-do understand why Jamil d-did it.”

“Huh?” Kalim and Grim looked at you in shock.

“Allow me to explain,” Azul adjusted his glasses, “Kalim - you carry yourself like a goody-two-shoes, laughing off conflict with a flippant word or two. Those remarks, however, are barbs on the skin to those that are calculating and twisted - Jamil and myself being prime examples. They might seem like nothing, but to us - it makes us go crazy and push harder to see you reach your breaking point.”

“And w-when you d-didn’t, Jamil t-took alternative m-measures,” you finish.

“You seem to really know the inner workings here, (Y/n),” Grim commented, looking up at you.

“T-Takes one t-to know one,” you answer, looking at Azul.

“I would argue, though, that in Kalim’s case,” Jade spoke, clasping his hands behind his back, “that it might be simply a case of naturally innocent disposition.”

“So… what you’re saying is… that Jamil’s… a bad guy?”

“Extremely,” everyone says in unison.

“In that case,” Kalim stands, resting his hands on his hips, “I’d better get back fast! I have to punch Jamil and yell ‘Traitor!’”

“You ought to make him march to the oasis and back ten times,” Grim growled, his ears falling behind his head.

“That, and we’ll need to bring him to his senses fast,” Azul agreed, “If we don’t, his magic reserves will run dry and his life could be in danger.”

“And thus that puts us back where this whole conversation started,” Floyd grumbled, “How’d we get back? Walkin’?”

“If there was a river, we could swim back,” Jade commented, looking around, “Though, it appears the rivers here are all dried out.”

“So, lack of water is the problem?” Kalim asked with a knowing smile.

“Of course,” Azul answered, “Floyd and Jade can easily outpace brooms and magic carpets for that matter when they’re in their true forms. However, we can’t exactly restore a river - even my own magic wouldn’t be able to -”

“Maybe you can’t, but I can!”

“What?!”

“‘Oasis Maker’!” your eyes widened, “Kalim! T-That’s it!”

“What do you mean?” Azul asked, looking down at you, “I thought Grim said it was only a glorified waterspout.”

“‘Oasis Maker’ allows me to produce an enormous volume of water with just a smidgen of magical power,” Kalim explained, “If I make you a river, you can get us back to the dorm, right?”

“T-that’s… your signature spell?! That’s insane!”

“It’s pretty useless when you have running water, though,” Kalim shrugged.

“Some countries don’t HAVE that sort of infrastructure!” Azul shouted, “Great Sevens, Kalim! Your power would make you nothing short of a HERO to those people! That’s… that’s… ABSURDLY marketable!”

“Azul!” you smack his cheek light, returning him to the task at hand.

“Kalim, if you would oblige us?” Jade asked.

“Of course! One river coming right up!” Kalim smiled, closing his eyes as magic began to encircle him, “Then water you shall have… and I’ll make it cool and refreshing for you! Respite in the scalding sands, a never ending party. Dance! Sing! Oasis Maker!”

***

The dorm was still cloaked in darkness by the time the group returned, sneaking into the lounge.

The students of the Scarabia dorm all encircled Jamil, who lounged before them in the headwarden’s chair as he ordered the students about, each of them still entrapped in a puppet-like state.

“The good thing is that he hasn’t gone too far to the point of no return yet,” Jade commented, looking over the banister before turning to the group, “Azul - do we have a plan?”

“We’ll have to snap Jamil out of his trance as you’ve done to me,” Azul answered, “But we also need to get close enough for both Kalim and (Y/n) to reach him.”

“Huh?” Grim asked, “What do you mean?”

“I agree, it would be too dangerous for (Y/n) to get involved with this,” Jade answered.

You looked over at Jamil, a feeling and the same urge slowly growing within you.

“You feel it, then?” Azul asked you softly.

You turn and give him a slow nod, “I do.”

Azul huffed - he had little choice in the matter. He turned to the others, “Here’s the plan - (Y/n) and Kalim will take this side of Jamil while Jade, Floyd, and I distract him. Grim - I’m expecting you to form a barrier to keep unwanted guards out of the way.”

“No worries, Azul,” Grim gave a mischievous smirk of confidence, “Grim the Great is at your service!”

“Do you think we’ll be able to pull it off?” you ask quietly.

“Trust me, angelfish,” Azul winked, “You know what to do.”

The group split, hiding themselves among the crowd of students, slowly inching forward toward Jamil.

“Haha! That’s it… go on,” Jamil’s twisted voice spoke as he sat back in his chair, closing his eyes, “keep singing my praises.”

“I never realized what a gallant figure you cut.”

“You oughta LIVE on a throne…”

“Your intelligence is beyond compare.”

“There’s royalty, then there’s you.”

“You look so strong and powerful!”

“Jamil, Jamil, he’s our man, if he can’t do it… GREAT!”

Jamil bolted upright at the sight of the five exiled students standing before him, “Wait, it’s YOU?! I sent you to the ends of this dimension! How did you get back so fast?!”

Kalim stepped forward, a hand in front of you while Scarabia’s headwarden staff was clutched in his hand, “I filled a dry river with water and we swam back.”

“Not that it was a cakewalk,” Floyd growled, “I’ll tell ya - I’m pretty worn out!”

“Tch,” Jamil tsked darkly, “Now I see… you used Kalim’s signature spell. And here I’d written it off as a worthless gift only good for watering plants or filling a pool.”

“Heh - you clearly don’t appreciate Kalim’s power for what it is then,” Azul shrugged, gripping his cane tighter.

“Jamil - I now see what you’ve thought of me all this time. There can be no question now - you are a coward and a traitor!” Kalim shouted, “Face me in combat! I’ll win back the housewarden seat you’ve stolen from me.”

“You accuse me of stealing?” Jamil stood, the overblot power growing around him, “You’re the one who stole everything from me! Now you shall witness my true power! Cower before my might! Phenomenal… cosmic… power!”

A fire bolt was flung and everyone ducked as the puppet dorm launched forward.

Grim blew a wall of fire up, preventing the students from getting involved and kept his guard up should any of them attempt to bypass the barrier. Floyd and Jade shot forward, pens at the ready and spewed fire and flora at Jamil’s attacks, Azul following close behind. Kalim worked from the side, keeping you behind him as he waited for his opening.

Azul dodged an attack, gritting his teeth, “Sevens! How much power has he been hiding all this time?!”

“I refuse to give up!” Kalim shouted, a wave of water mixing with Azul’s ice shield forced Jamil further back, the overblotted vice warden now taking on the defense. 

Suddenly, Jamil’s power made everyone lose their footing, the group falling to the ground, “You little fools… you thought you could defeat the most powerful being on Earth!”

“Jamil! Snap out of it!” Kalim begged, looking up at his friend-turned-enemy, “You have always been powerful! You don’t need that darkness to prove otherwise!”

“You don’t understand!” Jamil shouted, “You always had to be the best! You always had to be better than me! I could never outdo you! I. Wasn’t. ALLOWED. TO! I was FINALLY going to be free… to be number one…”

As Jamil raised his hand, a figure darted to him… and another resounding ‘smack!’ echoed in the room as Jamil fell back.

“Jamil!” Kalim rushed forward, but was held back by Azul.

“Kalim! Wait!” Azul shouted.

“Azul? What’s going on?” Jade asked as he and Floyd watched on.

You stood before Jamil - eyes locked on each other as tears suddenly began to appear in Jamil’s eyes. 

“Jamil…” your voice was soft, barely above a whisper, “I’m so sorry you had to endure that life… to be forced to hide your true self behind the pretense of incompetence, to always be… second-rate. I know that pain of wanting to be number one, too. Life… has truly been unfair to you - but this is not the way to fight back. You fight back… by simply being you - show your true strength in your magic… in your abilities. Then… you’ll get the recognition you want and deserve.”

Jamil’s features shifted before them, an arrangement of anger, frustration, fear… and sorrow. He bowed his head and the darkness slowly receded from his form.

Azul and Kalim moved quickly - Azul to your side and Kalim to Jamil’s. Kalim leaned over Jamil’s form as the vicewarden slowly reawoken.

“Ngh… Where am I?”

“Good,” Azul smiled as he sat with you at Jamil’s other side, “You’ve regained your senses.”

Kalim started to sniffle before large fat tears rolled down his cheeks - the regained housewarden pressing his face into the carpeting as he cried Jamil’s name, “I-I’m so glad you’re alive… so so glad…”

“Must you always be so dramatic?” Jamil sighed, sitting up, “I’m fine.”

“I… I never knew… how miserable you were all this time *sniff* *hic*. A-All this time… I never knew *sniff* just how much I put you through… So, l-let’s just stop. We can stop holding back on account of our social status.”

“Um… what?”

You couldn’t help but chuckle softly as Kalim explained - relieved that the two could act as rivals for the spot of number one and - to be equals. Azul arched a brow at you in silent question.

“Azul - mind if I talk to you?”

“Not at all, angelfish.”

He followed you out into the hallway, away from mischievous eyes as you took a breath and gave the headwarden a small smile, “First and foremost - I want to thank you for your help. I know that it normally isn’t like you to poke your… tentacles in other people’s businesses unless there’s a deal to be had.”

“(Y/n),” Azul gave you a smirk, resting his hand on your shoulder, “If you recall when you first came here, I said I would take responsibility for you.”

“You also promised to get me home,” you reminded him.

“Yes - I did. The point I’m trying to make here is that… regardless of if you’re in Octavinelle or not, I will still want to protect you - to make sure you’re safe,” Azul answered, “Have I not done just that? Does this not prove that I’m more than willing to at least be there when you need it most?”

You let out a sigh and nod, “I suppose so.”

Azul nodded, tilting your head up to meet his gaze, “(Y/n), I want to be there for you, to help you… will you at least allow me a second chance to prove that I’m more than what I appear?”

You look at Azul wearily, your gaze shifting a bit before meeting his eyes again. 

His sea blue eyes, framed by the semi-rimmed glasses, still held a possessive desire within them - however, hope also burned within. He could have turned you away when you had initially asked for help, he could have ensnared you in a bubble - take away your voice - or even turn you into a mermaid again… and yet he didn’t. As you looked into his gaze, it seemed all Azul wanted… was another chance.

You let out a soft sigh and nod, “I think you should, and I believe you do. I would prefer to rewarm myself back up to you - which means I would like to stay in Ramshackle with Grim.”

Azul nodded, as much as he wanted to argue. He needed to get you to trust him again - which meant he would have to work extra hard to earn your favor again, “Very well. If you would like - I would be willing to help give you a few things that would help with the accommodations greatly. Whatever you wish, I will make it happen.”

“And what will you get out of it?” you ask, already knowing that Azul was looking for something.

“Your time,” Azul answered with a smile, “To be honest, the students of Octavinelle miss working with you. I know the headmage has you running ragged with janitorial duties, but if you could work a day or two in the lounge - I will consider it more than enough payment.”

“And, during my shifts, you’d be able to talk with me while we’re working.”

“Correct,” the headwarden nodded, “Does this seem like a fair deal to you?”

You nod in agreement, “More than, thank you.”

Azul offers a gloved hand, which you took with a shake.

The first steps to amending the bridge were in place… as well as the first steps toward an unknown trap.

[griseldagimpel]

Media Recommendations for Harry Potter Fans

Alright. So you’re a Harry Potter fan. You’re a Harry Potter fan because you love Harry Potter and you love the community you’ve built with your fellow fans, but J. K. Rowling is using her vast fortune to harm people and she says asinine shit about how anyone who likes Harry Potter agrees with her transphobia, and you know that’s not true, but maybe you’re wondering if there’s a different fandom you and your friends could go to, where if nothing else the creator isn’t using a massive platform and massive amounts of money to harm transgender people. This is a guide for you.

You really wish you could have a Harry Potter that’s just not Harry Potter. You want a magical school and aerial sports games and fighting a tyrant and the equivalent of Hogwarts Houses.

Check out The Owl House. It’s about a girl named Luz who wanders into another world and attends a magic school.

You can watch it on YouTube: Link.

You like the idea of a modern-ish fantasy book series (British, pre-Smart Phone technology age) with a big, rambling world to play around in.

Check out The Chronicles of Chestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones. It’s set across a multiverse and follows the lives and trials of young magicians.

Start with Charmed Life, which can be purchased on Amazon: Link.

You want a fantasy series with chosen ones, suffering, and sacrifice where anyone can die. Also, you like magical animal companions.

Check out The Last Herald Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, which is part of the broader Valdemar series. It’s about the life of Valdemar’s greatest – and last – Herald-mage.

You can find it on Amazon: Link.

You love Harry Potter for the mysteries. You’d be fine with something for a bit of an older demographic, and you love supernatural horror and angst. You want to see the protagonist go through it. But you’d also love it if there was something akin to the Hogwarts Houses that you could define yourself by.

Check out The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir or The Magnus Archives. The Locked Tomb series is science-fantasy set in the far-flung future and has necromancy. The Magnus Archives is a podcast about an institute in London that takes down statements from people who have had encounters with the paranormal.

The Locked Tomb series begins with Gideon the Ninth: Link.

The Magnus Archives can be listened to on YouTube: Link.

Your favorite part of the Harry Potter series is the wizarding war, and your favorite house is Slytherin.

Check out The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. It’s about a necromancer who’s been resurrected. The necromancer in question is like 95% brat-turned-cool-uncle and 5% evil-necromancer.

The volumes are numbered and can be found on Amazon: Link.

There is also an adaptation entitled The Untamed that I have not watched yet, but it can be found on Netflix.

You really enjoy the social satire aspect of Harry Potter and think Hermione was right about House Elf liberation. Also, you’re okay with science fiction instead of fantasy.

Check out The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. It’s about an enslaved cyborg finding freedom, making friends, and healing from trauma.

The first book is All Systems Red: Link.

You like Harry Potter because it’s comfort media. Life is rough, and you want a piece of media that’s engaging but gentle.

Check out the podcast Welcome to Night Vale. It’s presented as the community radio broadcast out of a small, deeply weird town in the American southwest.

You can listen to it on YouTube: Link.

If you want something in print form, there’s The Lord of the Rings: Link.

If you like movies, there’s Jupiter Ascending: Link.

Don’t hesitate to ask if you want more information (such as content warnings) for any of the above.

[dirty-bosmer]

Snippet Someday

So I've been revisiting the earlier chapters of my fic and am stuck in a bout of editing paralysis where everything sounds blegh, but ahhhh so is life. I thought, what the heck— let me put a positive spin on all these writing woes and make a game out of it. Plus I've been meeting a lot of new writers this summer, and I figured this would be a fun way to get to know your stories and characters as I make my way through my bookmark list. Take this chance to showcase your fic. We've all been working hard. Let's be proud of how far we've come :)

Tagging: @atypicalacademic @skyrim-forever @justafoxhound @elavoria @gilgamish @thana-topsy @thequeenofthewinter @paraparadigm @chennnington @expended-sleeper @snowberry-crostata @sylvienerevarine @dumpsterhipster @nuwanders @daedrabait @wispstalk @rainpebble3 @nine-blessed-hero @mareenavee @miraakulous-cloud-district @ladytanithia Sorry for blowing up your notifications. If you're not tagged, please feel free to jump in and tag me if you see this and want to join! I'm not always sure who is writing fic and who isn't. No pressure as always :D

Rules: Revisit an old fic (or earlier chapters of your current WIP) and share a snip from:

Your first chapter

Your favorite chapter

Your most challenging chapter

Alternatively, if you don't write longfic, feel free to share your one-shots. Provide as much or as little commentary as you want.

From The Illusionist: Passion, Purpose, and Penance:

First Chapter: Skirting The Black Road (commence the moral decayyy 😈)

Admittedly disappointed by this virtuous facade, he saw the crack, only needed to slip his blade into it and twist. This, he could work with, for she was a murderer in the eyes of the Night Mother whether she accepted it or not, and he had no doubt that if pressed, she too would heed Sithis' call. They all did. New murderers were pliant, he found, like old snags of dead wood. One gentle push and the roots released their grip.

Favorite Chapter: 61— Us and Them (self indulgent disaster-ship is self indulgent 🤷‍♀️)

And when he looked at her, he felt dissolved, knew not where the salt of her tears became the salt of his blood, and if he could strip her from her skin just to drink the liquid dark behind her eyes, he would.

Most Challenging Chapter: 67 — A Small Death (Newly mantled Sheogorath is not a headspace I know how to work with 😅)

“Again, Nimileth?”

There was disapproval in his voice, faint, but not faint enough to suggest he'd been trying to hide it. Nim fought back the urge to growl.

“I had a bit too much to drink, that’s all,” she mumbled. Too much last night and the night before. Too much. Too much again.

“Don’t you think you should know your limits by now?”

'Don’t you think you should know your limits by now,’ she wished to spit back at him, make herself an even greater pest if only to feel more like the lowly, burrowing insect she had become. Or better yet, something limbless, blind. A worm. But Nim didn't have the strength to finish. She didn’t even have the strength to start.

Instead, she bunched the sheets in her fists and yanked them over her head so that she lay completely covered. What am I doing, she thought. The throbbing waves of her headache crested and crashed, grinding her skull down to coarse, ivory sands. What am I doing?

Lucien didn’t linger after that. He flung open the curtains, and when he left, the sun crept across her back. Shielded as she was beneath her sheets and behind her eyelids, she could still feel its glaring, angry flare.

“I see you, Nimileth,” it said, stretching its fingers across the room. Pointing, taunting fingers that seared and scraped at the raw wounds of last night's sins. “I see you. I will set and I will rise and I will see you again tomorrow. I will see you then. I will see you again.”

[sabraeal]

Come to Heel, Chapter 2

[Read on AO3]

It’s hair for which his brother’s beta is best known— not the richer auburn of Tanbarun’s nobility, nor the carrot-like hues familiar to more far flung nations, but a brilliant apple red; its bright sheen inviting enough to make even the most civil mouth water. Or at least it had been when she flitted through Wistal’s gardens, the second prince’s scent clinging to her as strongly as koko grass and sage; a curiosity to the court, uncertain whether she would emerge as a pawn in their games or a player.

Of late, however, the reports whispered in his ears speak more of her intelligence and cunning, of her determination and grit. A beta that would make a fine alpha for any that might try their hand at taming her. A waste of a sure talent, a certain lord and commander had written from behind his well-watched walls, with neither status nor inclination to bolster her. A judgment and offer both, neither of which Izana had been inclined to take.

But what truly set her apart from her peers— nay, what places her above even the most cultured of his courtiers, the loveliest of his court flowers— is the heady scent of her agitation. Beta she may be, but even an alpha would be hard-pressed to put forth a more enticing essence, both sweet and sour as it bursts in his mouth like the season’s ripest plum. Which is what she is fast coming to resemble the longer she perches in his salon, the long bones in her hands standing out as stark as a skirt’s pleats.

“I think,” she says, voice trembling with the effort of measuring each word. “That the amount of your attention will hardly overcome your instinct to disregard any advice you don’t wish to heed, no matter how reasoned.”

Oh, his brother’s beta might compose her complaint as prettily as she likes, but he long ago learned how to sniff out the kernel of truth from even the finest flattery. “Why, Mistress Shirayuki,” he hums, crossing one leg languidly over the other. “Are you calling your king reckless?”

Her mouth pulls perilously thin. He’s half-tempted to try to slip another strip of meat between them, if only to see if she might bite. “I’m saying that you think you’re smarter than everyone else, and you act like it. It’s a liability.”

Well now, that’s a bit bolder than he’s heard in some time. At least from lips other than his aide’s. “My my, do be careful, mistress. It almost sounds as if you think yourself more clever.”

His brother’s beta is conspicuously silent, her only answer an even deeper furrow of that stormy brow.

“Doesn’t this cause more than a few issues with your security?” Her shadow smirks as he tacks on a much belated and hardly heartfelt, “Your Majesty.”

Still, Izana allows himself to entertain the question. “Perhaps, if I were to attend Mistress Shirayuki in my official capacity.” He allows his lips to curl, drawing that even sweeter suspicion of out her. “But I doubt that there would be much interest harming one of the Master Herbalist’s esteemed colleagues.”

“Esteemed…? No.” Alarm sours her scent, fast enough he nearly coughs, eager to expel the flavor. “No, no, you can’t possibly mean…?”

One brow arches, a question rather than incredulity. “Why not? Master Lowen has already been established as one of your acquaintances. It would be a pity to let such a convenient cover go to waste.”

“It’s impossible!” By the blush blooming across those freckled cheeks— and the sultry scent of her chagrin— the words may have burst from her unbidden, but the square of her shoulders practically shouts that she stands by the sentiment. “You can’t just…pretend to know about herbalism. It’s taken me almost four years to learn just this much, and I’m nowhere near as good as—”

“I’m not asking to pass as one of your Lilias scholars,” he drawls, enjoying the spike of her scent as she struggles not to leap from her chair. “Just a competent enough pharmacist to convince the ones in Hyatess. I hardly think a backwater like that would expect anything more than decent.”

Her mouth purses, peeved now that the honor of her irreproachable profession has been impugned. Even now a retort foments behind that unassuming face, her agitation peeling back the thin skin of civility between them, showing the animal beneath hair by innumerable hair—

And yet, she’s saved from it, her shadow once again insinuating himself where he ought not. “It’s nice that you’ve got this little show all worked out, Your Majesty, but that doesn’t change that it’s you.   His Grace isn’t going to be happy if you traipse off without an entourage. Or at least a bodyguard.”

His brother must be more fool than he gave him credit for if he still believes this irreverent mutt to be an omega. The pest doesn’t even lower his gaze when he speaks, those strange eyes fixed on him even as he helps himself to another shred of meat.

“It is not His Grace’s place to tender permission.” Izana lets his tone implying her knight might remember his own. “Though, for what it is worth, I do not mean to travel unprotected either.”

“Oh?” That grin slices like a knife, teeth peering through the gash. “So, what? Are you going to pass Sir Zakura off as a coachman? An apprentice? No wait, don’t tell me— the dog?”

“Of course not.” Though the last is tempting, if just to see if that man could bend his knees if the occasion called for it. “I assumed you would be coming with us, Sir Obi. After all”—he bares his own teeth this time, enjoying the way that shadow shrinks— “it would be odd for our dear master herbalist to travel without her paramour, would it not?”

To say the scent of the room becomes complex would be an understatement; it is a pity that his brother could not be here with a better nose to suss it out. It might save them all a bit of time if he could.

“We leave in two days.” Izana unfurls upright, pacing back behind the sofa, making sure both its occupants feel every inch. “Sir Zakura will give you further details as they are made.”

“But—?”

His hand snaps out— not a blow, but a firm press of his hand to her nape; a reminder. Trust his brother’s beta to take a royal request as a starting bid rather than a command. “Make your preparations accordingly.”

To his dismay, the mutt laughs.

“Beck and call, huh?” The man practically shivers with delight. “Looks like it might take a little more than that for some people to come to heel.”

*

As simple as the decision to don his pharmacist disguise had been, becoming Lowen comes with several logistical issues. Touka Bergatt may have been expelled from Clarines’ borders, but Izana is hardly fool enough to believe that he does not have his own spies in the capital, close enough to have a good idea of his comings and goings. The treasury might pay a hefty stipend to each of the palace’s staff— compensation commensurate with competence and loyalty— but there are always costs even a king cannot anticipate, human foibles that cannot simply be solved with an application of funds.

Master Lowen might walk freely in the North, certain that he would only be recognized as a companion of the much-admired Mistress Shirayuki, but here in his own palace, there are few and far between who would not wonder why His Majesty had dressed himself as a humble merchant's son. A half day’s ride would quell that particular problem, but, well— if personal experience had taught him that the disappearance of a prince between one post town and the next would cause a panic, he could only imagine the newfound degrees of hysteria that would be discovered should a king do the same. And to make matters worse, there was the conundrum of Mistress Shirayuki: she could not be seen departing Wistal in his company, but she must arrive in Hyatess with Master Lowen.

It only made sense to spread the news that His Majesty meant to decamp to one of the royal country homes— the one further south, out on some far flung promontory near Yuris. It was hardly his favorite of their properties— he hadn’t been there since he was little more than a boy himself, bored to tears looking at the ocean but never being able to touch— but it made for a secluded getaway to woo his would-be queen, and the domestics were downright giddy in their preparation. By the time he mounted the carriage steps behind his beloved, their excitement was at a fevered pitch, a few of them even bidding him good luck before the door swept shut behind him.

“Good luck,” Shidnote huffs once they’re past the palace proper, legs sprawling across the carriage’s cab. “Now what’s that for? Do your loyal followers believe that you might have trouble locating your cock, Your Majesty?”

Izana restrains the urge to grimace. Perhaps his bandit is getting a little too comfortable with his royal company. “Sir, I’ll beg you to remember that there is a lady—”

Of good breeding, he means to say. That he nearly does, until the aforementioned lady snorts. To her credit, she does raise a hand— a demure attempt at a muffle— but it’s no good. Her shoulders still shake, the scent of snow rising sharply in the stuffy cabin, vivid enough he can taste ozone on his tongue.

He casts her a withering glance. A pity she is much immune. “Well, go on then, get it out.”

Her restraint doesn’t so much disappear as dissolve, girlish giggles just the same as they had been when Mother first introduced them: Arleon’s promising daughter and the prince without a proper coat.

“I’m sorry,” she manages, only after Shidnote turns his grin to the window. “It’s only that I had been thinking something similar…”

“Worse, no doubt,” Shidnote adds, too amused. “Knowing that brother of yours.”

*

City cedes to forest, and cobbled roads to well-packed earth. There’s no such thing as a quiet ride when it comes to traveling with Shidnote, and once Haki produces a set of cards and proposes a game the guards taught her— all the rage in the North, she promises, as if his aide needs an inducement to misbehave— all hope of it is scuttled. Whatever variation of match-three, run-four she’s brought them this time involves slapping, which his aide takes to with an enthusiasm that borders on aggressive.

“Why, if we were not such close companions, sir, I would be tempted to think you strike me on purpose,” Izana observes, shaking out his hand.

“Me, Your Majesty?” Shidnote hums, hand pressed earnestly to his coat, right where a heart would be if he had one. “But I would lay down my life for yours. Take an arrow, right through my belly. Suffer any torture to—”

He holds up a quelling hand. “Enough. Your dedication honors me, as always. But I cannot help but observe that you only seem to have such…unfortunate accidents when it is my hand reaching for the pot, and not the lady’s.”

His eyes widen— an act of innocence, belied by the twitch of his mouth. “Why, Majesty, are you saying that I should strike a lady? Even one so gracious and lovely as your—”

“I’m saying, that by my count, you should have had no interest in that pot,” Izana deadpans, “and yet, somehow, I am still the one wounded.”

“Count?” Shidnote’s brows raise to a thunderous degree, and ah, that had been a mistake. A slip of the tongue. Not one that would be soon forgotten. “This is why you get hit, Majesty, because you are a dirty cheater—”

“—it is hardly occult to possess the ability to count to seventy-two—”

“—has the carriage stopped?” Haki’s much-vaunted profile turns toward the plains on the other side of the glass, the scent of snowfall thick in the air. “Izana—?”

Shidnote holds out a hand, urging her back against the bench as he puts head and shoulders between her and the door. “Sit back, my lady, I’ll handle this.”

His aide might be a beta by inclination, but he knows how to stink up a place like an alpha— only the barest undercurrent of balsam and spice breaks through the alarmed musk filling the carriage, so strong his gorge rises, acid washing across his tongue. Only experience keeps the bile in his stomach; after all, a prince could not lose the contents of his stomach on a friendly visit to a vassal, no matter how uncivil the lord.

With a weary glare, Izana rises off his seat, reaching up to knock on the panel between carriage and driver’s box. “May I inquire as to the nature of our delay?”

“Ah, pardon, Your Majesty!” the driver huffs back, distracted. “Seems there’s a messenger for His Lordship. From the palace.”

Shidnote’s gaze meets his, brows hiked to his hairline, stretching the chasm cut across his nose. Though his aide might command a good number of eyes across the kingdom, there were few who would have news urgent enough— or near enough— to use one of the official messengers.

But Izana can think of one. His mouth curves, satisfaction sinking him deep into the bench’s cushions. My my, it seems his brother’s little beta might make this interminable trip interesting.

“Well, let him in.” he drawls, anticipation a steady thrum beneath his skin. “Let us hear what our master pharmacist has gotten up to.”

*

“Now, you know I’m not one to criticize, Majesty…”

A lie if Izana has ever heard it; Shidnote might not scold the way Haruka would, but he had his own way of letting his opinions be known. Mainly through loosing the sharp edge of that tongue of his. “But you’re going to start, I assume?”

Shidnote wipes the sweat from his brow, more weary than waggish. “I’m confused, is all. You’re the king, aren’t you?”

Ah, now this will be an interesting tack, to be sure. “I am.”

The sharp scent of clove spikes, enough that even a few paces away, Izana can perceive it. “And so everyone’s supposed to wait on your pleasure. That’s the way it works.”

“It is.” Mostly. Though he certainly knows better to test that particular privilege with Mother.

“Then why were we the ones who raced across the damned country just to squat in some backwater and wait?” Shidnote crosses his arms over his chest, casual lean belied by the rigid line of his shoulders. “I know those two deciding to skip town a day early wasn’t part of the plan, but all that should mean is that they’ve got to cool their heels longer. Not that the king of Clarines cuts his romantic getaway short to beat them to the inn.”

“As far as anyone else is concerned, the romantic getaway has not been interrupted in the slightest.” Though he would have to send his wife-to-be a very lavish gift for her gracious acceptance in the sudden change of plans. “It is not as if the king and his future consort would mark the departure of two messengers. Especially when one will return in such short order.”

“That’s not the point.” Shidnote sighs, scrubbing a hand over his scar. “The point is that you heard they’d get to the rendezvous ahead of you, and you tore out of there like you’d been told the place was on fire. You want to share why? Because I have to admit, Your Majesty, I don’t see it.”

And he wouldn’t; for as much as Shidnote had played alpha for his band of merry bandits, keeping them in line with the skill of his sword and the strength of his scent, it’s not his natural inclination. His lot might have marked their territory, the boundaries of that little outlaw town stinking of his musk to deter other alphas from thinking them easy pickings, but he wouldn’t think of a space like this— an inn’s room, large enough to hold a bedchamber and parlor, meant for well-off but transient occupants— as a place to declare dominance over all those who entered.

But that shadow would. Pity Shidnote didn’t have the nose agree.

Izana’s mouth quirks, wry. “Because it is important to start every battle with the high ground.”

The scent of sweet apples floods his mouth, the bright taste of honey chasing its heels, and his pulse quickens, anticipation making her flavor all the sweeter. It’s faint— faint enough that she must be at the stairs, idling as her knight carried their bags up behind her. There’s no scent to mark him, masked and suppressed as he is, but the sing-song of their conversation bounces down the hall, heralding his presence clearer than any footman. Giddy, that’s what it is; her scent and his voice, both barely contained.

At least, until boot heels scuff right outside the door. The shadow hesitates; Izana may not be able to catch his scent, but that man catches his, his silence ringing as loud as any alarm. But it’s not one his brother’s beta hears, not when she’s too busy fumbling with the door, trying to fit the key properly in the lock.

“There,” she sighs, key finally sliding home. “Let’s get our things inside, and then maybe we can take a look around before Izana—”

“—Miss!” her shadow yelps as the door swings open. “Maybe you should let me—?”

It’s too late, her boots have already crossed the threshold, that banner of red unfurling as her hood falls back, a sight as tempting as her scent. It’s followed by her eyes, flitting over the parlor as a butterfly might a garden, never alighting for much more than a moment as she takes in the whole. “Oh, I didn’t think it would be so nice! I wonder…”

Her flight stutters as it lands on Shidnote, still as a statue against the far wall, before it drops, searching every surface until she finds—

“Oh, no.” A sour spike of dismay floods his nose, her head shaking in slow counterpoint. “No, no. Absolutely not!”

He lifts his brows, letting a languid leer curl his lips. “What is the matter, Mistress? Surely you can’t take exception to your esteemed colleague sharing accommodations?”

“No, that’s not— it’s not the accommodations,” she blurts out, flushed and fragrant. “It’s…it’s…”

Izana adjusts the silver-rimmed spectacles perched on his nose. “It’s…?”

“Well.” Her shadow coughs, covering a smile. “The fur coat’s a bit much.”

[aziraphales-library]

Hello my amazing friends!! I hope you are doing well!

First id like to thank you for your amazing work here on this archive, you are the kindest souls ❤️

Secondly, id like to ask if you have any recommendations of longer works, can be any type, any trope (but i would prefer if it didnt have like a angsty ending)

Just any loooong works that i can download and add to my e-reader ( going on a vacay/holliday)

I wish you peeps the best ❤️

Hi! We have a #long fic tag, and if you you're only requirement is "long" and "no angsty ending" you can do a seach on AO3 that excludes the "unhappy ending" tag and filters by length. Here, I've done it for you. Here are a few to get you going...

Once More, with Pharaohs by Duinemerwen (M)

Egypt, 1337 B.C.: Aziraphale gets stuck reliving Tuesday afternoon over and over again. It wouldn't be so bad, if every afternoon didn't start mid-argument with a certain disagreeable demon. Or if cooperation with the aforementioned demon weren't Aziraphale's only chance at escaping the time loop...

Standalone, canon-compliant story featuring friendship and humour, with a side of angst, the smallest dash of romance, and a happy ending.

Ineffably Yours by SecondHandNews (M)

It had been six thousand years, give or take, Aziraphale had stopped keeping count, it didn’t seem to matter now. Six thousand years he had wandered the Earth and he had taken in almost every sight, every sound, every taste. He had seen humans’ greatest evils and witnessed their truest joys, and yet it was still this fallen angel who taught him more than any other. If he had learned two things in the past six millennia it was that nobody was ever truly fallen, and those with the whitest wings could conceal the blackest souls.

*

An angel and a demon have been playing a six thousand year long game of the words not said. It’s funny, though, the truths that saving the world can unveil. With heaven announcing its plans to make up for Armageddon and with hell closing in, what will be the cost of protecting what they’ve found in each other?

Planning Permission by blythely & circetigana (M)

Aziraphale has put memories away for centuries. Carefully filed them around far-flung corners of the island he has claimed as his Principality. As he and Crowley celebrate 1000 years of their Arrangement, he begins to wonder what he’s been missing. Crowley has plans of his own, plans that he wants to share. But with the angel looking to the past, he knows he’ll have to be patient about their future.

Or:

Aziraphale has hidden his regrets. Crowley has hidden his hopes. One day they’ll unpack them together.

The Truth Remains by WanderingAlice (M)

Raphael had been the third angel ever created, and he’d raised himself first with Michael’s clumsy help. Then he’d turned around and raised three more siblings, and loved them all so fiercely it hurt. He'd loved Aziraphale too, more than either of them really knew.

And then, he fell. He lost everything. The bond he held with his siblings was ripped away, leaving an aching, empty void. And while he still has Aziraphale, the angel doesn't recognize the archangel who taught him how to care about the Earth. And Crowley refuses to tell him who he was, or how Aziraphale's voice is the one thing that can soothe the ache in his soul that wants, so badly, to feel a connection again.

A story through the ages as an angel and a demon come to terms with their shared past.

Through The Eastern Gate by SoftlySweptAway (M)

Aziraphale finds himself lost in a thick wood with no memory of who he is or where he came from. All he can remember is his own name. Lost and confused, he stumbles upon a crumbling chateau that is home to a serpent in a garden and a man who only appears night. Searching for answers and determined to break the strange spell cast over the manor, Aziraphale will have to step through the eastern gate to find his way home.

- Mod D

[contreparry]

happy friday ann! for the dadwc: “Your hair keeps falling into your eyes, do you know that? Here, lemme just—”

Absolutely! Here's some f!Hawke/Isabela for @dadrunkwriting!

She has a pull on her, something fierce and powerful and unrelenting. She was like the tide, something that was impossible to ignore or combat. Or perhaps Marian was like the sea and Isabela the moon, drawing her ever onward, forwards and back for the rest of her days. Dramatic, maybe, but that was how she felt.

Charisma, Marian thought as she watched Isabela carefully explain all of the cards in her wicked grace deck to Merrill. Merrill listened attentively; her wide green eyes bright with curiosity as she analyzed every card. And Isabela- Marian bit her lip to keep herself from sighing like a love-drunk fool. A lock of Isabela's curly hair fell out of her blue kerchief and brushed against the curve of her cheek like a kiss. Merrill asked Isabela a question, and Isabela flung her head back and roared with laughter. That laugh- unrepentant and loud- drew eyes from all across the tavern. Isabela had charisma, and it pulled Marian in until she couldn't escape- and she didn't want to. Not now. Not ever.

"You could talk to her," Fenris suggested, a sly note coloring his normally even, composed tone. "She does like to talk."

"What would I do without you to advise me, Fenris?" Marian asked, and she was only being a little sarcastic. Fenris was prickly and angry and brilliant and terribly considerate when he wanted to be- and he was far wiser than anyone gave him credit for. Perhaps he was a little cynical, but after the life he led... well, who wouldn't be?

The point was this: Fenris often had a good idea about things and people. If he thought that she ought to speak her mind to Isabela he was probably right. Marian just wished speaking wasn't so difficult. She had what she wanted to say all plotted out (worked on it for months, in fact). I enjoy our time together. This means more to me than simple fun. I like your company as a person, not just for- but then Isabela would say something with her wicked sharp tongue, or she'd smile and there would be crow's feet at the corners of her amber brown eyes, or she'd drop her head to Marian's shoulder and the words would fly out of Marian's head like a flock of pigeons launching themselves of a Chantry roof.

"Hmm," Fenris hummed, his green eyes dancing with a cat-like amusement as he leaned back against the wall and watched the tavern from his seat. "You'll forget which knife you use for fish versus meat, most likely. Go talk to Isabela."

"Bossy," Marian teased, but she pulled herself out of her seat.

"Go. Or else I shall have no peace from the moonstruck calf's eyes you make at her," Fenris said, and he dismissed her with a wave of his hand as if he were a prince.

Marian made her way around the other patrons in The Hanged Man, dodging elbows and tables of rowdy drunks until she stood by Isabela's side at the table. Isabela, for her part, easily made room for her and wrapped one strong arm around her waist.

"And how is our broody darling elf in the corner?" Isabela asked, her voice bubbling with barely restrained laughter. By the Maker, that laugh was one of Marian's favorite sounds!

"Content. He has a bottle of wine and dropped sage advice, he's going to be a smug little shite for the rest of the evening," Marian sighed. "How are the card lessons progressing?"

"Merrill's a fast study, though she has a few too many tells," Isabela replied. "But we all knew she'd take to this like a fish to water." She sounded proud, so proud, and Marian shared in that pride. There was a certain joy in seeing a friend grow skilled at something, and Merrill's growth from guppy to card shark was a delight.

"Isabela says I tap my foot when my hand's good," Merrill sighed. "Maybe I'll strap weights to my ankles so I can win a game."

"Against Varric and Isabela? Impossible," Marian said sympathetically. "But you have more than a fair chance against Fenris. And I know you'll beat Sebastian if we convince him to play a round."

"We have every confidence in you, Merrill," Isabela declared. "And when have either of us steered you wrong- with cards, that is."

"Always with the qualifiers," Merrill teased. "It's as if you're afraid of what I might say!"

"Afraid? Never, kitten," Isabela laughed before turning the full force of her bright eyes onto Marian. "Now, whatever was it that sent you to our corner tonight, Hawke?"

This was it, Marian thought. This was the moment. All she had to do was ask Isabela for a private conversation, take her somewhere less crowded, less noisy, and tell her that she mattered, that she was precious, that she made life in Kirkwall not just bearable but worth all the shite she put up with every day. All she had to do was unstick her tongue from the roof of her mouth and spill her heart out, and that wasn't a frightening prospect at all, was it? If there was anyone she'd trust to keep her heart safe it was Isabela. She didn't have to be afraid. She didn't want to be afraid! She wouldn't be afraid!

"Your hair keeps falling into your eyes, do you know that?" Marian blurted out instead of the speech she planned to make, and she could sense Fenris shaking his head and turning to his wine in frustration. "Here, lemme just-" Marian reached out, carefully grasped the errant curl, and pushed it away until it was tucked behind Isabela's ear.

"Ah, my hero," Isabela teased, and she drew up to her toes and pecked Marian's cheek before leaning in and whispering in her ear.

"Whatever did I do to fluster you, sweet thing?" she asked coyly, and she squeezed Marian's hip in her hand just once before letting go to flop down in the chair and resume card lessons with Merrill. Marian, the heat in her face so fierce that she thought her head might be on fire, followed suit and sat across from them at the table. Isabela smiled, a wicked gleam in her eye, and blew her a kiss. Marian returned the gesture, blushing like a foolish maiden at her first dance.

So perhaps she couldn't say the right words tonight. But there would be a tomorrow, and more beyond that. She'd get it out- and get it right- another time.

[toiletology]

I’m good friends with the Toilet God

You can be besties with the Toilet God as well but you’re gonna need to put in the work.

The gates of heaven are guarded by demons and many test you need to overcome.

If you truly want to be friends with God you’re going to need to defeat all the demons to unlock the gates. God will send many battles at you. If I count all of my major ones 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2023, 2024 or 9 major battles (so far...).

Some easier than others, they have been getting easier to survive towards the end now because I know the tricks the devil uses. The devil is basically just a bug, albeit an extremely powerful one. But it all comes down to fear killing your mind. If you break in your mind, it takes a lot longer to recover from to say the least.

The password to the gates is 1/7 = 0.142857142857143

The 17 = Apple (17 chromosome pairs in the Apple, Eve was 17 when she gave Adam the Apple) You must eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

That code (apple) won’t work until you cross the barrier or the event horizon. Ya can't cheat the system, because GOD literally has to approve your entry. Its like the secret word in the movie Eyes Wide Shut "Fidelio." Except just knowing the word or code does absolutely nothing.

If you are a serious acolyte your spiritual helper will come and reveal itself to you. You must make the conscious decision for a long time before this mysterious paranormal event will come to fruition. God gave me Toiletology so that others serious about escaping the matrix can do the same exact thing that myself and my sister managed to do.

For me it started as I was laying in my bedroom on my mattress on October 2012. The blinds of my window were completely shut. But a small square at the bottom right of the blinds was torn out.

Outside my the window the street light was pulsing on and off it felt like it was matching my breath. It started to freak me out so I got on my computer. It felt like my computer was talking to me like on the movie Matrix.

A wave of ideas started coming over me. The words guardian and blood of kings came to me. I actually owned that website at one point bloodofkings.com because of this.

Up until this point I had been searching for so long for truth I was ready to do anything to learn more. I was hardcore searching from around 2005/2006-2012 it was all I did except for a little bit of music and video games. I had 0 social life and was obsessed with knowing the truth about reality.

At this point I basically made a deal with the devil. Wrote out a contract and signed it. This was the point of no return, sometimes I wish I had never did that if I knew how much pain I was about to go through. In short I went crazy right after this and drove away from the cops after going through two stop signs. They cornered me into a dead in and I U-turned and got away from them.

I ducked out in a warehouse parking lot and had a smoke of a cigarette. Once I thought the coast was clear I went and started driving and saw a restaurant I used to work at. I was like I’ll have some food. Needless to say they spotted my car and about a half a dozen or more cops showed up and arrested me. Looking back on it now it was kind of cool.

They brought me to jail and the nurse was cute so I basically hit on her. Because of this they stuck me in a naked camera room. Basically solitary confinement with no clothes on. At some point I ripped all the stuffing out of my mattress and flung it all over my cell. I then stuffed my blanked in the toilet and flushed till I flooded my cell.

They eventually gave me a new mattress but left all the water on the floor. As soon as I saw this mattress coming I knew something was going to be inside of it. There was a hole and I reached my hand inside and found a long piece of ripped sheet. I used this to pull the sprinkler which shot black stuff all over and covered me and my cell.

They let me shower to get the black stuff off and I used my towel to pop the sprinkler in the shower as well which shot more black stuff all over myself. The other inmates started calling me black Matt. They then locked me to a chair in another cell with cuffs and were taunting me with a taser. I had thought about popping the sprinkler in that room once I was unlocked briefly to use the toilet but decided against it. They were telling me each sprinkler cost like $2,000 dollars to replace and I was like POCKET CHANGE BIATCH.

The food they were feeding me was so disgusting I told them I was gluten intolerant. I knew about gluten intolerance because that year I hiked the Appalachian Trail briefly with a girl who's trail name was GLUTEN PUFFS, so thanks for that knowledge it helped briefly.

For about 13 days in jail I didn’t eat. I had like one bite of a hamburger during the time and water. I spent a lot of time curled up on the cold wet cement floor of my cell day dreaming of a fully loaded potatoes.

Eventually they brought me new food. Like tortilla chips, tuna, egg salad, tomatoes and it was actually good but only lasted for about a week before they stuck me on basically rice and veggies and oatmeal for the rest of my meals.

Long story short I have been through hell trying to understand the mind of God.

I reached apotheosis last year (2023) and have now been able to maintain 4D awareness for a couple months, while also moving into 5D awareness for a short amount of time.

I don’t recommend this journey for anyone that is weak willed or physically weak. You will get crushed by this journey. The only way to ascend is by your own free will and choice. God will not throw you haphazardly to the wolves so to speak.

You gotta choose to be a willing sacrifice just like Jesus was. The traveling fool or the hanged man.

Luckily for y'all I’ve already made the journey so I can make the process a lot less painful on you by telling you exactly what you need to do to prepare. Basically what to do and not to do to keep your dumbasses out of jail or a lot safer than I was on my own. The maze of ascension is completely dark. Toiletology will help light your way making the journey a lot easier.

Toiletology is the ARK. Angel code 777 to keep the demons out of heaven. We can’t let them know what we top Toiletologist know. The first rule of fight club yada yadda ya.

[mumms-the-word]

Siblings

Day 13 of the BG3 Fic February Challenge

Another day, another "I read this prompt and thought of something completely different." But then I eventually got around to actually responding to the prompt.

Rolan won my stupid little heart when I first fought Lorroakan as Ardynn and he straight up shove-yeeted Clank over a railing and down several stories. I laughed SO hard. I've heard other people say he can shove Lorroakan over the balcony too and man I wish he had done that in Dani's game because it would have been LEGEND.

Anyway have some Rolan appreciation. Dani loves all the tiefling refugees but she has a special place in her heart for Rolan, and I wanted to share some of that here.

Check out my masterlist of BG3 fics!

---

13: NPC shows up at camp unexpectedly 

---

“Ah, Sorcerous Sundries,” Gale said as they stepped into the shop. He gestured grandly toward the many shelves and counters and tables full of books, scrolls, magic items, staves, and more. “Look around you. Indulge your curiosity. Sorcerous Sundries is the finest purveyor of magical miscellany for miles around.”

“Hm.” Karlach looked both a little impressed and a little confused. “Where’s the axes?”

Gale had the good grace to look more amused than offended. “What they sell is far more precious than mere sword or shield. They sell knowledge, ingenuity, the wisdom of mages past.”

Karlach yawned and stretched her arms over her head. “Sounds like more your thing than mine.”

Dani giggled. “Don’t worry, Karlach. We’ll find a good forge after this. We just need to…” She trailed off, looking toward the elaborate desk that took up the center of the large room. She gasped when she recognized the clerk behind it.

“Rolan!”

He turned as she hurried toward the desk, his yellow-orange eyes lighting up with surprise. “Dani! What are you doing here?”

“Me? What are you doing here?” She skid to a stop just short of crashing into the desk itself, her grin wide and bright. “Gods I feel like it’s been ages! Tell me everything, I want to know—“

She stopped short, her brain catching up with her eyes. It was difficult to tell at first with Rolan’s red Asmodeus skin, but this close, there was no mistaking the dark bruising around his eyes and along his jaw. He looked like he had gotten into a fight. 

“Ah. This…is my apprenticeship,” he said, his own smile wavering. “It has not been what I expected. Master Lorroakan is…” He paused and lifted a hand to his cheek briefly, a shadow of shame and uncertainty flickering across his features. “…a difficult man.”

A ball of anger began to knit together in her stomach. The more she watched Rolan move, clearly aching from other bruises she couldn’t see, the angrier she got. His lip was split and puffy and there was a bit of dried blood around his nose, as if he’d had a nosebleed recently. When she looked at his hands, she noticed all the knuckles of one hand were battered, bruised, and split. He looked worse now than he had after fighting off shadows outside of Reithwin Town. And he was suggesting Lorroakan did this to him?

He’d been talking about this apprenticeship for days. Yeah, he’d been pompous about it and yeah, Lorroakan didn’t seem like he’d be a good teacher, but this? No one deserved this.

Rolan didn’t deserve this. No one put their hands on her friends, her family, without consequences. 

“Are you telling me that Lorroakan did that to you?” she asked.

“What? No!” Rolan flung out his hands, worry flashing across his face. “No, of course not.”

“Rolan, you’ve got bruises all over your face,” Dani said, leaning further across the desk. 

“This is nothing. Just—accidents. From my training. You know how clumsy I can be.” Rolan’s gaze flicked over her shoulders, then around the room, as if looking for someone or something. As though someone might be listening.

Dani pressed her lips together in a hard line. So it was going to be like that, eh?

“Right,” she said, frowning. “You’ve always been a little…clumsy.”

He nodded, looking a little relieved. “Yes, precisely.”

“Which is why I’ve come to drop off a couple of healing potions,” she said, reaching for her bag. She pulled out two small potions from her bag and set them on the desk.

He eyed them warily. “Oh, ah…thank you. I’ll be sure to take them…later. When I need them.”

Dani crossed her arms, waiting for him to accept them. But he just stared at them for a moment before stepping to the side, so they were no longer in front of him. “You’re not going to take them, are you?”

He glanced around furtively before leaning across the desk and lowering his voice, “You have no idea how things operate here, Dani,” he said quietly. “Master Lorroakan is consumed by his pursuit of the Nightsong. How he deals with that is his business but…” Hs hesitated. “I haven’t learnt a thing and I fear it’ll stay that way.”

“A lucky escape, given Lorroakan’s reputation,” Gale said. “He’d have little of value to teach you.”

“And in exchange for his useless lessons, he beats you?” Dani whispered. “Rolan, come on. You can’t stay here.”

“I don’t have much of a choice,” he said. “It isn’t ideal, but it’s an apprenticeship that pays, which is better luck than Cal and Lia have had. If I leave now, I abandon everything I’ve worked for. And I leave Cal and Lia on the streets.”

“Where are Cal and Lia anyway?” she asked. “I saw Alfira and Lakrissa at Elfsong and plenty others outside Rivington, but I haven’t seen them.”

“They’re finding work where they can,” he said, straightening, his voice returning to normal volume. “I was hoping Master Lorroakan would let them stay with me in my room, but he has thus far denied that request.” He looked more than a little bitter at that. “He doesn’t let me write much, either. But last I heard, they were trying to get rooms above the Blushing Mermaid.”

“I’ll check there later, then,” Dani said. She reached her hand across the desk, toward him. “Family should stay together, always, right?”

He stared at her hand a moment before giving her a little smile and taking her hand in his. “Yes. You’re right.”

“I’ll make sure they’re doing okay and keep you updated,” Dani said, still holding onto his hand. “As for this ‘Master Lorroakan,’ I’d like to have a word with him myself.”

“Not about me, surely,” Rolan said, looking wary.

“No. About the Nightsong.”

“I see. Well, in that case,” he stepped back from the desk, letting go of her hand, and gestures toward the stairs on either side of the desk. “Head upstairs. Master Lorroakan has set up a few portals. Read the signs carefully or you’ll find yourself tossed out onto the street without so much as a warning.”

“Thanks, Rolan. We’ll be back soon!” 

She pushed away from the desk and started to walk around the side of the desk toward the stairs, only for Rolan to hurry after her and reach across the desk, grabbing her arm.

“Wait, Dani.” He glanced around the shop again before lowering his voice once more. “Be very sure before you make to visit Lorroakan. He’s got a beastly temper.”

She could tell. Lorroakan’s temper had made an unpleasant canvas of Rolan’s face. Dani was inclined to give Lorroakan much the same treatment.

But she had other things to do here first. For one, she wanted to scope out the place and plan a heist. Gale wanted a book and there were plenty of other tempting arcane artifacts that were just waiting to be discovered. She wanted the heist to go smoothly, without a single alarm raised. Second, she wanted to know what this Lorroakan wanted with Dame Aylin. Nothing good, if that was how he treated his apprentices, but she wanted to be armed with the knowledge all the same. And if he proved unhelpful or provoked a fight, well…then Dani could match Lorroakan bruise for bruise.

“We can handle ourselves, Rolan,” she said, patting his hand. “You know that. We’ll see you in a bit.”

———

A few days later, as Dani and her companions were gathered in their room at Elfsong, some of them lounging in the central pit before the fireplace, others seated on their beds or talking to one another, there was a knock at the door. Dani glanced around at the others, but they all seemed as surprised as she was. She got up from where she was seated on the floor, leaning against Gale’s legs as he sat in one of the armchairs, and went to answer the door.

The door swung open to reveal Rolan, Cal, and Lia, all looking fresh-faced and well dressed in new clothing, with a couple of bundles in their hands. Dani gasped and clapped her hands together.

“Rolan! Cal, Lia, hello! We weren’t expecting you.”

“We wanted to make it a surprise,” Rolan said, smiling. “May we come in? We come bearing a few gifts as thanks.”

“You have nothing to thank us for. If anything we should have prepared better to entertain the new master of Ramazith Tower.” Dani gave Rolan a little bow before stepping back and beckoning them in. “Come in, come in. Gods, let me look at you.”

The moment they were all inside, Dani took Rolan’s face in her hands, squeezing it slightly like a doting older sister, and peered very seriously into his face. “Hmm…you look well, Rolan. Not a mark to be seen.”

He chuckled self-consciously and patted one of her hands. “Nothing a few healing spells can’t fix, I assure you.”

“And you two,” Dani said, turning to smile at Cal and Lia and letting go of Rolan’s face. “How is the tower treating you?”

“Oh, it‘s much better than the Blushing Mermaid,” Lia said. “Like living in a palace or something.”

“We have everything we could ask for and more,” Cal said. 

“Which,” Rolan cut in, “is why we thought we’d drop by and give you a few things. Though I hear you’ve already taken off with more than a few of Ramazith’s, ahem, rarer items already.”

“Have I?” Dani asked airily, well aware that one of the most powerful staves that had been housed in Ramazith’s vaults was leaning against the wall just meters away. “I can’t imagine where you heard such a rumor.”

Rolan laughed. “Don’t worry, you can keep them. Better they be put to use saving the world than gathering dust in the tower.”

Dani smiled, a little relieved. She didn’t think Rolan would come to take back the items she had stolen (back when they belonged to Lorroakan and thus she felt no guilt for taking them in the first place), but it was good to hear him say it.

“Here. It isn’t much compared to magic treasure,” Cal said, offering his bundle, a cinched-together bag of plain fabric. “But it’s something to say thanks.”

Dani took the bag and loosened the ties, peering inside. It was weighty, containing several gemstones as well as a few rings and necklaces. Dani’s eyes widened, her brain already ticking through values and prices and how much she could barter when she sold these to the right buyer.

“Holy Hells, Rolan.”

“Non-magical, I’m afraid,” Rolan said. “But Lorroakan’s quarters were full of baubles like this, half of them completely sapped of what arcane power they had possessed. This is just a fraction of what we found. Either way, consider this our financial contribution to the army against the Absolute.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Dani said, cinching the bag shut. “Other than thank you.”

“No, thank you,” Rolan said. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Without you, the three of us would be dead thrice over. A few gems doesn’t make up for that.”

“But maybe this will,” Lia said, offering her bundle. It was a much smaller satchel of a fine velvet material, the ties made up of gold-threaded cord. Dani set aside the gem-filled bag to gingerly take the velvet one, sensing it was important to them.

She untied the cords and pulled open the bag. Inside was a small necklace, the chain glinting slightly in the candlelight. She pulled it out and held it up, examining the charm at the end. It was a metal symbol of a gauntleted fist clutching a crown of rays, like sunbeams or starlight. The symbol of Elturel, she realized. 

“We know you’re not from Elturel,” Lia said. “But you’re like family to us. As much our sibling as we are to each other.”

“We all have Elturel’s crest tattooed on us,” Cal said. He pushed up his sleeve to show her the crest on his bicep. At the same time, Lia turned her head and pulled down her collar to show the crest on the back of her neck, and Rolan pushed his sleeve up to show the crest on his forearm, just below his elbow. “To remind us where we came from. How we came together.”

“That necklace is our official invitation for you to be part of our family too,” Rolan said. “We all talked it over and we all agreed.”

“It might be the only thing we’ve ever unanimously agreed about,” Cal said, grinning.

“You don’t have to do or say anything,” Lia added. “Just keep that necklace as a reminder.”

“No matter where your adventures take you,” Rolan said, “you’ll know you always have us. Ramazith Tower will always have a room for you, when you need it. And you can call on us any time.”

Tears welled up in Dani’s eyes faster than she could stop them. Rolan, Cal, and Lia had been like siblings to her since she met them in the Grove. All the tieflings had felt like family, but the three of them were particularly dear to her heart. When she saw them, she saw Liara, Kellen, and Paraxxel, her Merry Rovers, her siblings in all but blood. She’d teased them like her siblings and fought to protect and save them like her siblings, but she never thought…

She let let a little sob and threw her arms around Rolan and Lia, grasping to try and bring Cal into the hug too. “I love you guys so much,” she cried. She felt them chuckle and hug her in return, patting her shoulder or her back. “Gods, now I’m going to have to get another tattoo…”

“Only if you want it,” Cal said, pulling away. The all untangled from each other and Dani wiped her eyes, sniffling. “You don’t have to.”

“I want to. When I have the time. But for now…” She clasped the necklace around her neck, the crest of Elturel dangling just above her heart. “I love it. Thank you so much. Rolan, Cal, Lia, I love you guys.”

“Aw, we love you too,” Lia said, giving her arm a light punch. “Now do us a favor and save the city, will you?”

“You do have Ramazith’s cannons at your disposal, should you need them,” Rolan offered. 

“I just might. But I want the three of you as far from the fight as you can be, whenever it comes.”

“Aw, come on, you know you can’t tell us that,” Cal said. “Have you seen these two? You can’t keep them out of a fight for anything.”

“All three of us will be manning Ramazith’s cannons when the time comes,” Rolan said. “We’ll be safe there. The Tower’s defenses are unmatched. Don’t worry about us.”

“I always worry about you guys.” She wiped her eyes again and hugged each of them in turn. “Ugh, enough crying. Pull it together, Dani!” She patted the sides of her face and gave them a smile. “Stay, will you? We were just about to have dinner.”

The siblings agreed. As they joined the rest of them, gathered by the fireplace or around the carpeted area near the windows, Dani couldn’t keep the smile off her face. Her family had grown exponentially since she had been abducted by the nautiloid all those months ago. Now, it was three siblings larger.

She went to bed that night with the symbol of Elturel clutched in her hand, fluffy daydreams of introducing Rolan, Cal, and Lia to the Merry Rovers and her mother and all sorts of other people floating around in her head. She knew there was a battle coming—she was planning on taking the fight to Orin in the morning to get the final Netherstone—but it was the farthest thing on her mind.

She fell asleep that night contented that whatever mistakes she might have made in the past, whatever stupid decisions she would make tomorrow, she’d at least one thing right. She’d at least done right by Rolan and his siblings.

[a-little-bit-of-ravioli]

Day 14: Die a Hero or Live Long Enough to Become a Villain

Character Focus: Sky & Warriors

Warnings: Implied MCD

Ao3 Link

Sky couldn’t tell which was louder between the drums of his own heart and the voices of his brothers yelling at him from behind.

He tightened his grip on the Master Sword.

“Sky, hey,” the man in front of him said, his voice too suave, too unnatural, too confident. Everything was too much or too little, never quite right, always, how had he ever dismissed it as theatrics and charisma? “It’s me. You know it’s me, right? I don’t know what I did, but there’s no need for this. Just lower the sword and we can talk.”

Sky pressed his lips together harder. He wasn’t going to play this game. His entire being refused to stay blind to this farce even a moment more. He kept the tip of the Master Sword trained right at the neck, her soft emanating glow the only comfort he allowed himself to focus on.

A larger hand closed itself around his and the hilt both.

“Whatever the issue is,” Time's low timbre cut through the rest of the soundscape around him, evoking the depths of a mountain standing firm, calming and deep, “let’s resolve it in peace, as a group. Lower the blade.”

The words were an open invitation, to be grasped and let himself be whisked back into blissful ignorance, and he struggled against the instinct to accept it. Parts of him, aching in turmoil and betrayed confusion, begged him to. Yelled at him to ignore the painful truth he’d never asked to stumble upon. To return to when he’d known of but not about the others’ secrets, and the world still made sense.

His spirit refused each and every plea.

“I can’t,” he said, and solidified his conviction with it. However tight he’d held his blade before, the strength of his hold increased once more, the tension in his knuckles only barely registering in his head. 

“We can -”

He snapped his eyes to the side, and met Time’s with a sharp gaze.

“She’s not burning me.”

For a moment, watching for his words to convey meaning, he feared he'd need to say more. Time's brow furrowed as he inspected him in return, flitting between the Master Sword and Sky himself.

“I do not see how -”

He cut off.

It took nothing but Time’s eye widening impossibly fast for Sky to know he’d understood.

Time’s head swung to the side, and Sky swore he could feel the others’ focus shift from his back, now going past him. To where he was still standing. Hands still raised in mock surrender, with the audacity of a small reconciling smile on his lips.

“Come on, is this a prank? If so, it’s one of your weakest so far,” he said, eyes moving to both of Sky’s sides before settling back on him. “How’d they get you to play along, Sky? Did they promise to let you sleep in longer?”

Sky ignored what would any other day be a friendly jab to hook into.

“Who are you, and what have you done with the captain?”

The man who looked like Warriors laughed, and Sky wished his thoughts hadn't homed in on how feigned it was. “It’s me. I’m right here. No one else.”

It would be so easy to pretend. That was the danger of it all. The blue scarf hung draped over his shoulders in exactly the same way, hair a strange mix of styled and frizzy from their earlier spars. The sword that had been dropped by his side the same he'd seen glint in each battle they'd fought in as allies.

His breath caught in his throat.

He couldn’t think of that. Not when undeniable proof something was wrong rested in the palm of his hand.

Gritting his teeth, he shoved off Time’s lingering hand and flung his sword arm up above his head. The energy of the heavens began to coalesce in the blade immediately, the holy glow that usually calmed his mind bearing down on him like a burning star.

Behind him, the voices of his comrades that had fallen silent merged into chaos once again. Time was speaking to him, but the drumming of his blood coursing through his body clogged Sky’s ears enough to not grasp the words. 

Shock and worry had settled on what was and wasn’t Warriors’ face. Sky couldn’t decide whether that reassured him or not. But he’d made his choice, this was the quickest way to dispel any doubt -

“Stop it, Sky!”

Wind’s yell burst through the dull thumps of his heart and shot his awareness up like a rush of cold air after a shower.

He stood stock still as he watched the sailor sprint by, sliding into place in front of Warriors with his arms outstretched to both sides. His entire stance radiated protective instinct, making up for his smaller body with pure presence and intent.

“What the hell are you doing?!,” he kept yelling. “That’s our brother!”

Sky’s breath hitched. His sword stayed upright, struck into the heavens.

The handle began to feel hot under his gloves.

Wind’s defiant eyes pierced him like a spear, and the conviction in them sowed the seeds of doubt he’d so carefully uprooted before.

Memories of halcyon nights flooded his immediate senses. Of laughing around the fire, until it had been nothing but embers. Of participating in bets to appease those more eager, and trying not to look too self-assured while countering the captain’s own. Of the first time they’d crossed borrowed blades in camaraderie, and how his chest had fluttered at all the compliments another trained knight spoke to his technique and form.

He remembered the same smile Warriors was wearing now comforting him during bad nights.

He noticed it twisting into cruelty too late.

In the single heartbeat it took him to process, the captain fell into a crouch and reached for the handle of his sword, and Sky could do nothing but scream.

"Sailor -!"

[benjaminthewolfnsfw]

Super Evil Desires

So this is a remaster (though more so a total revamp) of "A Nostalgia Trip...WITH A TWIST!", and one that the story desperately needed.

That being said, I still have zero shame.

****

     Benjamin apprehensively creaked open the door to the garage, just far enough to be able to peek inside, as one final means to confirm that they were currently alone. As they had suspected, the garage was entirely void of any cars.

     Perfect. This meant that they were indeed the only one inside of the house, momentarily. As a result, now was finally their chance. Their only chance, in fact, that they were going to get in quite a while.

     Practically swiveling their body around with an instantly newfound rising sensation of pure glee rushing throughout their nerves and pounding throughout their bloodstream the exact millisecond that realization had set in, Benjamin zealously burst their way out of the laundry room door which connected the family room to the garage, and fiercely snatched up the TV remote upon the shelf holding up the thing up, smashing their thumb onto the ON button in its top right corner, and switching input to HDMI 3. 

      Ardently bending down into a squatting position, Benjamin emphatically flung open the doors to the cupboards which lay underneath the TV, located their PS3 on the bottom shelf and right side of the cupboards internal space, and finally, pressed its ON button as well. The iconic PS3 startup sound rang its way all across the living room and off of its three walls for a while, as Benjamin eagerly glossed through the titles of the great stack of games which lay upon the PS3’s very top. As many as half of them were naturally for the console in question, whilst the other half pertained to the Wii, a console which Benjamin also owned. 

     At last, however, after approximately a minute of restless, cursory, title browsing, Benjamin finally located the game they wished to play this afternoon. Wasting absolutely zero time at all with yoinking the thing right out of the stack, (not minding in the slightest the resulting gravity-induced tumbling of the rest of the games to the carpet below), opening up the game’s case, taking out the disk, and popping the thing straight into the PS3, Benjamin reached to the left of the PS3, in order to grab a controller, and upon slipping it into their hands to be utilized, fervently mashed the unfortunate thing’s home button in order to turn it on and connect it to the console just about as soon as was physically possible. Eventually, the PS3 menu loaded in upon their TV, and upon flicking the control stick to the right, and seeing the menu scroll to the right upon the very movement, Benjamin knew that the time was nearing ever closer.

     Thus, with absolutely nothing else left for him to do, Benjamin continued to scroll their way through the console’s currently yellow-ish home menu, until he finally located the game on the disk he had slidden into the thing moments earlier, the game which ultimately lay at the core of all of this vigorous hubbub. Skylanders Swap Force for the PS3. 

     Benjamin clicked on the game in rising anxiousness, as the game began to start up, and the credits sequence started to roll. Immediately snapping out of said uneasiness, Benjamin furiously mashed the poor triangle button in order to skip straight to the main menu. Finally at the aforementioned menu, Benjamin selected the very first save file, the one that he had previously beaten the game in. The game loaded it up for a few painstaking seconds. And then, the undeniably most important part of this mission began.

     Upon the TV screen, there was now yellow text upon a blue background informing Benjamin that they had to place a Skylander on the Portal Of Power in order to enter the hub. The portal, which had already been attached to the PS3 the last time Benjamin played a Skylanders PS3 game, was currently laying on top of an official portal-placement, flat-ish, circular stand. This, of course, in turn, was on top of a couch-accompanying cube-like yellow, and black polka-dotted footstool. Upon the portal stand, there was a washer shape surrounding the portal at a slightly lower elevation, decorated with symbols representing each of the, as-of-Swap-Force, eight elements, with an ever-at-the-ready maxed out Skylander of each respective element lying over each. Benjamin, however, had absolutely none of them in mind as they took a step up towards the portal; nor did they have in mind any of the other Skylanders in their plastic tub lying next to the footstool. Nor the smaller tub next to their Wii on the top shelf towards the right. Nor the bag on the same shelf towards the left. (though that was mainly because said bag was mostly full of Superchargers and Imaginators figures, which are unplayable in Swap Force). Regardless, however, the alternative, and what the implications of it were, exactly, were clear to only Benjamin alone. Anyone else, whether a fellow Skylanders enjoyer or not, would only be left to take a guess. His breathing slightly quivering as he stood, Benjamin glared directly downwards onto the portal, doing his absolute best to remain utterly stone-faced and still, in order to cover up his rising nervousness. He knew what, precisely, he needed to do. Now, it was just a matter of if he could do it. Benjamin heaved in and out slow deep breaths, whilst he finally coalessed his resolve.

     And just like that, Benjamin moved. Aggressively slamming both hands onto the portal, Benjamin held his body firmly still for seconds after, not even daring to blink or breathe, for he knew he had to learn from prior mistakes of other Portal Masters, rather than fearing the results of their attempts. Finally, he could feel something rushing up his nerves. Thankfully, however, the sensation was far too quick for Benjamin’s brain to signal his arms to pull away, before the jolt exploded up through its stem. Benjamin could thus not feel or comprehend anything at all, until at last, he was greeted by a sentence.

     “Welcome back to Woodburrow, hero of Cloudbreak Islands!” 

     It worked. 

     In all honesty, though, now that Benjamin was finally in the game, there wasn’t really anything stopping him from drop kicking that literal piece of living redundancy known as Rufus straight off the nearest island edge. However, since he was still in the process of recovering from the initial teleportation, any and all different kinds of momentary murderous intentions were ultimately stifled entirely from sheer disorientation and wooziness of their being.

     “...R-Rufus…” he eventually managed to wheeze out after a while. “...just be extremely thankful…that my instincts were suppressed for long enough…for my rationality to kick in.”

      Now properly able to examine the world that surrounded them with all their senses, Benjamin momentarily closed his eyes before giving a reorienting head shake, and finally, opening up both his eyes.

   “...what?” he composedly let out after doing so, onto the seemingly dumbfounded form of Rufus right in front of him. “...actually, no, don’t answer that, it’s probably best for everyone involved if I DIDN’T have to hear you talk again today-”

     “Y-you’re not any Skylander I recognize….wh-who are you, exactly?”

     Benjamin sighed and gave an eye roll.

     “...well, you better be lucky once again that I’m a consequentialist, and not one who acts on impulses. …at least when thinking rationally, of course.”

     Rufus, though he hadn’t the slightest clue what a consequentialist was, was still able to recognize that whoever this newcomer was, they were decidedly NOT a force of evil, and as a result, was able to calm himself down just a little.

     “I-I’m sorry, I must’ve judged you too soon…” he sheepishly mumbled out whilst making eye contact with the grass on the ground. 

     “Nah, you’re good.” Benjamin casually replied with a rising sigh. “Oh, and before you ask, yes, I am a Portal Master. Though to be completely honest, I’m not exactly a real fan of this form, so…”

     Promptly making use of their magic in order to switch themself out of their human form, (a form which they despised so much that it does not deserve a proper description), and transform instead into a small, pure white wolf with light blue eyes and wings, a pink floating halo, and a trans pride bandanna around their neck bearing upon it a symbol of a black circle with a white circle in its middle and a white washer shape surrounding that white circle, Benjamin instantly gave a satisfied nod.

     “Ah…much better.” they heaved out in deep-set relief, before an enthusiastic smile swiftly formed across their wolf muzzle. “Welp, time to get going, I guess!”

     “Umm…” Rufus awkwardly began to talk before ultimately shutting himself up.

     Benjamin locked his being up stiff, making zero noise at all for a while, his smile firmly glued upon his face, before ultimately breaking the moment with a head shake, paired with an excessively heavy, shoulder-moving sigh.

     “...no, no, it’s okay. Go ahead.” he breathlessly let out at its end.

     “Uh-Oh, umm…okay.” Rufus thus softly spoke a moment later. “I-Is there some kind of special business happening that requires the presence of a Portal Master? W-Where are you going, exactly, and…why?”

     Benjamin immediately gave a lighthearted snort with widened eyes upon fully comprehending the question. 

     “...oh boy…*pft*...ummmmmmmmmmm…how should I explain this…urnghhhh…...umm…eeeeeeehhhh…” Benjamin humorously attempted to formulate, as Rufis only waited, still and silent. 

    “How about I just put it this way for ya, Rufus…” the little white wolf ultimately chuckled out after a while, whilst simultaneously bringing up the game’s menu. “I’m here for the second phase of Cloudbreak Core. There. That should give you enough information to figure it out.”

     And just like that, Benjamin instantaneously scrolled his way to the end of the chapter selection menu, clicked onto Cloudbreak Core, and teleported his way out of Rufus’ sight, not even giving the poor NPC a single, minute millisecond to even attempt to string together a response.

****

     As is true for a great number of games, there would be a cinematic cutscene which played before the final level began, (that which was also the final boss fight, in this case). Having seen this cutscene many, many, many times before, however, Benjamin was only interested in getting to the action as fast as he could. As a result, he nonchalantly skipped it with his Portal Master magic and simply prepared to start fighting said boss. 

     Casually being dropped by the game onto the long, stone platform that, in normal gameplay, the player’s Skylander would now occupy, Benjamin gave a preparatory nod to what was coming, paired with a self-aware smirk. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he did not feel a milliliter of shame.

     The setting was currently that of the inside of an active volcano. Mt. Cloudbreak, to be exact. This volcano, however, was not a volcano which spewed lava. Instead, it was a volcano which, every one hundred years, the Ancient Elementals would gather around, in order to replenish Skylands’ magic for the next one hundred years, and…

     Ok, skipping ahead to the relevant part, the main villain, Kaos, wanted to “evilize” the volcano using a huge pile of “petrified darkness” crystals, but then the pile collapsed onto him, and his body ended up absorbing all of the darkness. That’s how he turned into a giant, dark dark purple, crystalline, monstrous version of himself he dubs “Super Evil Kaos”. A form which is currently climbing around inside a mostly empty portion of the volcano’s interior. Whilst wearing nothing but the majorly ripped top portion of his black cloak, and……………………….a part of me really wishes I didn’t have to write this, but alas, ‘tis still, indeed, the truth…white and red-heart-polka-dotted underwear. 

     And when I say “nothing but”, I mean “nothing but”.

      Including shoes or socks.

     “WITNESS YOUR CRUSHING DE-FEET! HAHAHAHAHAH! OH YES, I DID!”

     That is the very first thing he says when the fight finally starts, by the way.

     Anyway, Benjamin was not here for Kaos’ feet. He was here for what happens after you complete the first phase, which features Kaos’ feet. As such, I do not feel inclined to describe in great detail exactly what happened in the next few minutes. If somebody wishes to pay me to do so, however, then I will indeed have an inclination! 

     For now, though, we are now going to fast forward to the second phase, so that Benjamin can finally get to the good stuff.

     Upon finally having the last bit of pinkish crystal on his toenails broken away, Super Evil Kaos brought both feet back down to the ground, and angrily pouted for a little while about the round loss, like the bald, evil dumbass (who we all love anyway…or maybe it's just Benjamin…) that he is. 

     And then, at long last, it was time for the second phase to begin.

     Benjamin began to idiotically grin. Ok, no, that’s a humongous understatement. Benjamin began to formulate a grin that more closely resembles that of the Grinch’s when getting his wonderful, awful idea than the grin of anyone with any level of usable sanity.

     Super Evil Kaos’ fingers wrapped around the tiny form of the wolf standing below, clenched his hand up into a fist whilst still leaving his head outside of his grasp, raised it all the way up to his face, and let a single sentence hurl its way, many, many times, across the spacious volcanic walls which enclosed both him and Benjamin, a second later.

     “Time for a late night Skylander snack!”

     Now was the moment that Benjamin had been waiting for all this time. Now was the moment where Super Evil Kaos would part away from each other both of his jaws, shove the person he was fighting against into his maw, and finally, attempt to swallow them whole. The only difference here was that, unlike every single Skylander that a player could put onto the portal, Benjamin was NOT going to resist.

     And that was when he realized that, even though he should be deep inside Super Evil Kaos’ maw right now, he wasn’t. Moments later, Benjamin’s brain finished rebooting, and he was able to take a look in front of him.

     Nobody spoke nor made any kind of noise at all for a good half a minute after this. Indeed, the only thing that happened in that time frame was the slow and sweaty  nervous growth of an exceedingly awkward, grimacing grin upon Benjamin’s face, paired along with the ever-reddening of both of his cheeks. Reciprocating this was the constant, continuous furrowing of Super Evil Kaos’ giant dark purple brow. 

     Eventually though, one of them needed to talk. And so, left with absolutely nothing to lose at this point, Benjamin ultimately decided to do so first.

     “...do you…do you just want me to spill all the beans?”

     Super Evil Kaos remained in his previous state of silent brow-furrowing.

     “Oh, boy…” Benjamin mumbled to himself soon after whilst gazing in sobriety towards the floor.

     “...In all of my years upon Skylands…” Super Evil Kaos finally began to softly scowl, causing Benjamin’s gaze to rise back up towards him. “I have NEVER encountered a Skylander like THIS!”

     A few more seconds of silence passed by.

     “...Uh…you’ve fought against Wrecking Ball, Ghost Roaster, and Slobber Tooth, haven’t you?” Benjamin apprehensively piped up. “...and even though you’ve yet to fight against them personally, the Trap Team does exist by this point in the timeline, so…Gusto? And I know that The Gulper is a Doomraider, not a Skylander, but I mean, the point still stands so…AND THE FIRE VIPER TOO! THE FIRE VIPER- oh you mean someone who willingly wants to be eaten, not someone who willingly eats.”

     Super Evil Kaos could only respond with a still extremely unpleased, yet still undeniably affirmative glare.

     “Well ok in that case you have a point.”

     Super Evil Kaos proceeded to take his sweet-ass time rolling his eyes.

     “...I’m also not, like, actually a Skylander though, so…” with every single second that passed, the realization only compounded within Benjamin that he was continuously moving away from his goal. Inevitably, this would lead to desperation.

     “...please just eat me…ok?”

     “No.”

     “Please?”

     “NO!”

     “Why not?”

     “BECAUSE…BECAUSE NO! THAT’S WHY!”

     “But why ‘no’?”

     “BECAUSE!”

     “Because you only like unwilling prey?”

     “NO! I-WAIT WHAT?”

     “...I could pretend to be unwilling for you?”

     “WHAT IN THE ACTUAL NAME THE ANCIENTS ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?”

     “...well, you wanted to eat me before you knew I was willing, right? So I just thought…”

     “THOSE TWO THINGS ARE NOWHERE NEAR THE SAME…THING!”

     “...hard to argue with that…”

     “WHAT, DO YOU LIKE, WANT TO DIE OR SOMETHING?”

     “What? No, I’m a Portal Master in the form of a wolf….I have magic. …if you just swallow me whole, and then I use the magic so the acids won’t affect me, I’ll be fine…”

     “...what about air?”

     “Air is commonly present in the digestive system, due to the fact that, ya know, the vast majority of the time, you swallow some when you eat.”

     “.......”

     “.......”

     “...alright, fine, you don’t want to die.”

     “...yes.”

     “...I may be evil, but I, too, have my limits!”

     “...good?”

     “SO THAT MEANS YOU DO LIKE IT IN THE WAY I THOUGHT YOU DID!”

     “...uh…I know this isn’t exactly the time nor the place to start talking about logical fallacies, but-”

     “SHUT IT!”

     “..................”

     “Uuuuuugh…”

     Now that the both of them were silent, Super Evil Kaos could only slowly  bring his ass down to the floor and give an extremely petulant, sputtering sigh as he did. Still confining Benjamin to his grasp, Super Evil Kaos proceeded to cross his arms, and give a fractious *guuuuuuuuuurrrrgh*...noise. All the while, Benjamin wisely decided to stay silent. Eventually, Super Evil Kaos moved his arms out of the crossed, pouting position, and lowered the one holding Benjamin to the floor, whilst the other one was placed onto his straightened out leg, his chin falling down to meet the palm below soon after. Benjamin could only take a guess as to what was going on through his head in that time frame.

     “So let me get this straight…” Super Evil Kaos at last began to speak. “YOU want ME to swallow you whole?”

     Benjamin gave a swift nod. “Uh-Huh.”

     “And you’re NOT going to…I don’t know… set off a bomb halfway down my throat? Right?”

     “...what? Why would I even-”

     “I’M NOT THAT STUPID, YOU KNOW!”

     “Okay, okay, okay, uh…then how about I…uh…oh boy what would the falsification criteria even be for something like this?”

     “...the what?”

     “...the thing that proves the proposition false…”

     “...............”

     “...proof that I’m not going to betray you in some way.”

     “OH! Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………………………….”

     “...maybe I could…hmm…”    

     “Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh …………………………………………………..”

     “...yeah I’ve got nothing. What about you?”

     “...no.”

     “Well…well I mean, the fact that I didn’t attack you while you were off your guard and distracted has to count for something, right?”

     “...you’re still trapped in my hand.”

     “Okay, the fact I didn’t RESIST against you, or attempt to escape while you were off your guard and distracted has to count for something, right?”

     Super Evil Kaos put a few fingers under his chin for a while.

     “Eh…I guess you’re right.”

     “...and I mean you saw my face back there…clearly I wasn’t as interested in fighting as I was…well…”

     “Ehhhh…that’s true, too.”

     “And I’ve mentioned I’ve got magic, but I haven’t used any against you at all, so…”

     “That is……………..also true…..”

     Super Evil Kaos paused for a second.

     “ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT, FINE! YOU MANAGED TO CONVINCE ME ENOUGH. KEY WORD: ENOUGH! SO IF I SENSE THERE’S ANYTHING GOING ON DOWN THERE, IT'S STRAIGHT TO THE UNDERWORLD WITH YOU, YA HEAR?”

         “YES! OH BLESS THE JOYS OF LOGICAL ARGUMENTATION, I DID IT!”

      Super Evil Kaos finally conceded to Benjamin’s evidence, causing the still-captured miniature wolf to positively burst out in unfiltered elation, a single, imperceivable picosecond later. Hardly a considerable pause in the slightest.

     “...ok, now I’m really convinced, so…good job. I guess?” 

     Benjamin could only respond with twinkling eyes and a beaming grin as Super Evil Kaos once again began to raise up his hand towards his face, whilst simultaneously picking himself up off the ground.

     “...so I just…open my mouth and put you inside?” Super Evil Kaos calmly asked Benjamin when this was done.

     “YEP!” they immediately replied with palpable glee. “...but can I like…make it dark purple instead of reddish?”

     “Eh?”

     “...your maw…and, actually, the rest of your GI tract, too. Can I make it…dark purple, instead of…”

     “YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, WHATEVER, I DON'T’ CARE WHAT COLOR IT IS IN THE SLIGHTEST, SO-”

     “WOOHOO!” 

     Benjamin closed their eyes for two seconds before they reopened.

     “Done! You may now unveil to me that glorious maw!”

     Super Evil Kaos silently blinked. Benjamin was just about to pipe up due to this, before Super Evil Kaos beat them to it.

     “Ya know…even though this is still all super weird…” he thus began to casually speak, with a far more enthusiastic tone in his voice that immediately caused Benjamin to widen his eyes. “...I…did want to eat you before I knew you liked it, sooooooooooo……”

     And with that, Super Evil Kaos began to part away his two jaws.

     As the great, goopy chamber within was steadily unveiled unto Benjamin, a few slimy tendrils of saliva broke apart from the sudden testing of their elasticity. Some held a powerful enough cohesion in order to hold together, their lengths now spanning the distance from the hard palate all the way down onto the tongue. The vast majority were split apart, however, coalescing their liquid contents either on the smooth, dark purple muscle, or the hard palate above.

     Benjamin, meanwhile, was far too fixated on the aforementioned sleek tongue below in order to really care about these events. The slimy, slickened muscle’s salivating form became more and more visible to the little wolf as the stretching of the jaws and gums which surrounded it only continued. Eventually, Benjamin was able to gaze far into the soft palate at the end of the area’s dark purple roof. With the back of the tongue currently being raised up and touching the roof of the region, however, the undeniably greatest, most wonderful, eye widening portion of any and every single maw in the cosmos was yet to be revealed to Benjamin. Holding his breath still and stagnant with nothing but anticipation and awe, Benjamin’s furry body suddenly and silently quivered lightly, as at last, the tongue began to extend.

     There it was, before his two eyes. Dangling right above the drop towards the pharynx. Gently swaying with each breath in and out of the trachea. Bulbous and plump in its shape; and towards its bottom, especially so. The one, and the only. The uvula.

     Benjamin’s eyes were now positively infatuated with the fleshy, little organ. So much so, he could hardly even tell that he was being slowly yet surely inched closer in towards the chamber by the second. It was only when Super Evil Kaos’ fingers began unraveling their grip from his fluffy being whilst the whole hand twisted to the side so that he was now lying upon his open palm that Benjamin finally snapped himself out of his trance.

     Expeditiously shaking their head for a moment in order to reorient themself, Benjamin was at last able to comprehend that the side of the palm was now nearly right up against the elongated, yet far more importantly, leveled out tip of the tongue. Immediately comprehending the hint, and carefully clamoring onto the saliva-coated muscle’s very edge, Benjamin began to casually plod their way across its length, in order to reach the far back, so Super Evil Kaos wouldn’t have to hold the muscle in such an awkward position anymore. 

     As Benjamin continued with this task, Super Evil Kaos began wondering if he should retract his tongue all the way back into his maw and close it up, once Benjamin had made it inside. Only to realize seconds later that that was actually a really dumb idea, and that he should probably keep his tongue elongated just to prevent himself from accidentally making a stupid mistake. Once he sensed that Benjamin was nearing the base of his tongue, he simply flopped the muscle down towards his cheek, and began to silently wait for the little wolf to enter his throat.

     Benjamin, however, was currently far more fascinated with all of the anatomical details of the giant man’s pharynx than they were with entering his esophagus. As Benjamin had made the whole of the giant dark purple villain’s GI tract dark purple before he revealed his maw, whilst staring down into the region of his laryngopharynx, he could see that while the epiglottis was considered part of the GI tract, and therefore colored purple, the larynx, which held the vocal cords and lead down into the trachea, was not, and colored its typical fleshy reddish-pink as a result. Benjamin gazed in fascination down at the vocal cords as they continuously opened and closed with each breath the giant man on the outside took in, (through his nose so as not to bother Benjamin inside). Benjamin then glanced up onto the arytenoid cartilage, and then at the posterior wall of the pharynx, the latter of which was indeed colored purple. With the larynx currently covering up any sort of view of the esophagus, or even the upper esophageal sphincter, Benjamin instead decided to divert his gaze back upwards, and back onto the uvula as such.

     For Super Evil Kaos, the sensation upon the fleshy sack immediately caused him to lurch forwards just a little as he was forced to suppress his gag reflex. Rolling his eyes with a rather irritated groaning noise moments afterwards, Benjamin could only give a light smirk as the noise rang around them within the maw. Proceeding to squish themself deep into the form of the uvula whilst their body hung from it in the air, Benjamin gently nuzzled his cheek into the giant, purple oral organ whilst wagging his tail profusely. Understanding that attempting to swing around on the uvula might just be one step a little too far for Super Evil Kaos, Benjamin instead gazed back down into the form of the larynx, and gave the purple villain’s uvula a pat. Realizing that this gesture probably meant that Benjamin was going to attempt to take a deep dive into his throat pretty soon, Super Evil Kaos was thus forced to steel himself to time the swallow so that Benjamin would not end up inside his trachea. Only to feel the tiny wolf landing back down onto the root of his tongue seconds later.

     Taking a brief moment to comprehend what had just happened, and that Benjamin was not, in fact, planning on doing something that would most definitely put the both of them at great risk, Super Evil Kaos eventually just let out a small sigh of half-relief and half-resignation, before proceeding to lift up the back of his tongue.

     Benjamin on the inside was now once again staring down the larynx back towards the vocal cords, merely waiting for Super Evil Kaos to swallow. And swallow, the evil man sure soon did. With the epiglottis slamming over the larynx, Benjamin was soon slidden over the length of the flap of flesh, until finally, he made visual contact with the upper esophageal sphincter. This visual contact would not last for very long, however, as the pure white wolf was immediately squelched through the form of the powerful muscle ring, and down into the esophagus at last.

     Now that Benjamin was officially past the chamber of his maw, Super Evil Kaos took in a great volume of air into his lungs, and heftily released it in a tremendous sigh. This meant he could finally close it up again. Retracting his tongue back into its resting position, and bringing together his jaws soon after, Super Evil Kaos was soon able to feel a couple rings of dark portal master magic moving outwards from both sides of his now sealed rows of teeth, before dissipating somewhere in the middle of his tongue. Taking in and out another yet another sigh utilizing his nose whilst slowly shaking his downwards tiled head, Super Evil Kaos now knew that his previous assumption was correct. He could only wonder in retrospect just what, exactly, would’ve happened had he closed his maw up before he swallowed.

     Meanwhile, deep inside the compressing walls of the purple esophagus, Benjamin could only stay still and let the walls of the squishy organ guide him down; whilst enjoying the ride all the way, of course. With the natural squeezing motions of peristalsis shoving him deeper and deeper by the second inside of the gigantic villainous man’s evilized body, Benjamin knew for a fact that now, it was simply a matter of time before he reached his destination at last.

     Sure enough, pretty soon, they were able to pick up a consistently throbbing and booming thumping emulating from ahead of them in the esophagus. As they were only squelched further along, said noise seemed to wholy envelope them for a few moments, before eventually reaching a forte, and diminuendo-ing soon after that. This indicated to Benjamin that they had made it past the region of the chest, and were nearing their final stop as a result.

     At this point, Super Evil Kaos had managed to get over the situation of his maw,  having brought himself back to the present with an excessively swift and seconds-lasting head shake, and had carefully brought himself back down towards the floor. He was now patting both of his hands over his middle in a settling sense of satisfaction. Benjamin was going to arrive in his stomach any second now, something which the tiny wolf deep within was very, very much aware of and excited for.

     The moment that their relatively powerful wolf ears had detected the sound of deep grumbling, they immediately made use of their Portal Master magic to immunize themself to the gastric acid which was naturally sloshing around down below. With the symphonic medley of gurgling and growling crescendo-ing with each passing second, it would now only take a few more before the lower esophageal sphincter came into sight. Doubtlessly so, this very notion was indeed to come true within the specified time frame.

     Benjamin was currently utterly immobilized by elation, as their head was squelched through the muscle ring, causing their body to follow suit as anticipated soon afterwards. Plunging down deep into the churning water-like liquids present within the purple chamber of the stomach, Super Evil Kaos on the outside gave a characteristically villainous “Heh.” as he could feel the organ’s activity picking up from Benjamin’s entry. Giving his middle a few pats as Benjamin below resurfaced above the waterline with jittering bliss, Super Evil Kaos abruptly felt a tingling spasm of delight positively rattling its way down his spine. Causing him to give a pleased shudder in turn. 

     Benjamin within his stomach proceeded to doggie paddle his way over towards the nearest stomach wall encompassing him, before practically leaping his way out of the water in order to land upon the shifting, slick purple muscular surface and instantly bury his face and muzzle into its smooth cushionny-ness as a result. Suddenly, however, his ear instinctively swiveled around as he noticed a noise of a squelch which could only be indicative of the lower esophageal sphincter opening back up. Upon opening up one eye and confirming that it was not him which would be rising back up through the esophagus, Benjamin soon after took note of a noise letting him know the sphincter had closed. Giving a swift nod to himself, Benjamin immediately went right back to nuzzling their head into the pillowy walls.

     Super Evil Kaos on the outside, meanwhile, would abruptly sense something rising its way up his esophagus. He did have a brief moment of natural, instinctive panic, but this almost instantly dissipated once a deep and lengthy belch proceeded to echo itself around the spacious, volcanic cavern. Swiftly forming an evil smirk across his face once he was able to fully comprehend what had happened, Super Evil Kaos proceeded to allow his great purple tongue to flop out of his mouth for the moment, whilst he began to slowly rub over his midsection. The rumbling and growling noises within were somewhat muffled, yet still definitely audible to the evil man on the outside as he now began to merley revel in the moment. Benjamin, still locked away inside his stomach, could not agree more with this sentiment.

     With the joys of his ultimately victorious journey of indulgence flowing all the way from his tail-tip to his nose, down within Benjamin continued to churn, deep inside the vast, goopy, purple stomach of Super Evil Kaos. Something which he had previously only yearned for with drastic vigor every time he had played this game’s level in the past. Now, with his heartbeat and gurgling ambiance positively enveloping his little canine being; with the natural warmth present within the organ wrapping ‘round the simple whole of his body, and soaking deep into his fur as a result; with the churning, soft, slick walls gently shifting his tiny form around, Benjamin could not be more happy. Here he had made it at last. 

     Super Evil Kaos, meanwhile, was similarly flooding with joy. He still wasn’t exactly sure why Benjamin was so eager to get down there, nor was he quite sure why he had ended up agreeing to do this, but, in the end, here he was. Sitting down inside the core of Mt. Cloudbreak, with an undoubtedly evil and delighted grin on his face, with the form of a living being locked away and churning around inside his stomach. That was what his goal had been at the start. And, after all of those awkward hurdles and all other barriers, ultimately, that was what he had, indeed, accomplished.

     Benjamin back on the inside emphatically buried one side of their face into the stomach wall he lay upon in purified, unwavering glee. After years of playing this game and fighting this boss. After years of getting to this second phase. After years of wishing vainly that there was a way within the game to get Super Evil Kaos to swallow, he had finally managed to take the situation into his own four paws, and make his way into the villain’s stomach. He had no idea how long he would stay here. But that did not matter in the slightest. The only thing that mattered was that he WAS here. And Benjamin was, indeed, going to enjoy every single little moment to the fullest, as long as he remained in this stomach. 

[mannatea]

Break Open the Sky, a Tales of Symphonia ‘fic (Chapter 8)

Current Word Count: 58,207 Summary: What kind of “Hero” of Regeneration would she be to leave an infant to fend for itself? Someone had to have left it here for a reason. The question was, of course, why? But as she lifted the little thing carefully into her arms, the motion reminding her of nights so far in the past, now, the why seemed almost tragically clear: this baby was of mixed blood. Chapter Summary: The first month in Altamira passes quickly and Raine and Regal grow a bit closer. Then a letter arrives...? Pairing/Characters: Raine, Original Characters, will also feature Genis, Regal, and Sheena. Endgame is Regal/Raine. Extra Info: This is technically an Accidental Baby Acquisition story, but I liken it more to “Doorstep Baby” literature because it sure ain’t cute. Rating: Mature, for themes. Genre: Eventual romance, gen, family, character study.

The title is the link to Ao3 for Chapter 8! If you read it please feed me a little comment. I love you x8. 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

Notes are under the cut!

What's this? An early update? I had the time since I took an extra day off from work, and thought I'd put it up right away.

Raine is exceedingly slow at muddling her way through that Meltokio party blunder she made, but she will eventually find peace there, I promise.

Caelfall is here:

Enjoy the free worldbuilding lol.

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It was incredibly difficult to write Regal being awkward but he's so observant I think he'd know that there's no easy way to ask Raine politely if he could more or less give her Things. It's that delicate balance, you know? He doesn't want to offend her by suggesting she can't provide for the girls or that they're embarrassing him by being shabbily dressed. At the same time, though...those realities can't be ignored. Yes, he's primarily thinking of Raine (and the girls') comfort, but it'd be silly to pretend those other things aren't a reality, too. At the end of the day though, he respects her too much to just do something like this without asking first.

And no matter how it's phrased, it's still kind of an awkward thing to ask.

--

I don't really need to talk about it a lot here, but Regal's situation is pretty interesting in terms of the postgame. I'm handily ignoring DotNW for the sake of this story, and that game pretty much just flung Regal right into his job without a thought. (And also made a mockery out of the whole thing so no thanks.)

I believe it'd be more complex than that, though. The man was in prison for the last 8 years; he's probably had little outside contact. George continues to hold respect for Regal but that doesn't mean the whole company will blindly follow his lead since George is the one they now look up to and trust.

Anyway, Altamira is so cut off from the outside world, and as a tourist destination it would be expensive to stay there (not to mention travel to). I imagine this makes it difficult for friends to visit & leaves him in a position where he has little in his life but his work and political obligations.

As the richest man in the world, and probably also the most eligible bachelor in the world (Zelos being just beneath him in that regard, and only because Zelos has less money) how can he trust anyone? With his influence, wealth, and title, it would be hard to trust others, and harder still to trust to the extent of having close friendships and romantic attachments. How can he know when someone truly sees him as a friend vs. when they may wish to take advantage of him?

Of course Regal is lonely. All he has are letters and the very rare visit of a friend or two. I think it's believable enough that he'd cling to anyone who came to visit him (like Lloyd and Colette, who were with him a few months before Raine got there).

And for the sake of this story, he's always felt pretty close to Raine anyway, so her presence is especially wonderful to him right now.

--

For the hairpin/piece I was thinking it looked something like this, but with tiny blue flowers instead of what looks like gems mimicking baby's breath flowers:

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I had a blast writing the library scene. Of course Regal would have a huge library. The "special" bookcase will come up eventually, but feel free to guess at what that might be/mean.

--

The passage of time was my biggest concern in writing this chapter. I didn't want to dillydally writing each day slowly and dragging things out to the point of it being unbearable to read, but I did want to touch on the changes that happened during Raine's first month in Altamira.

Hopefully it doesn't feel too rushed.

--

Raine is definitely looking to Regal for validation when she mentions the dream she had in Hima + the fact that she worries she wasn't emotionally stable when she made the decision to adopt Lila and Marcie. Also, there is a fear there in the way she worries that if things had been any different she might not have ever adopted the girls at all. It's an unreasonable fear (it didn't happen!) but it's understandable because it could do easily have gone another direction.

Also, Raine's elbow is the one that aches before it's about to storm/rain a lot. I wanted to mention how it had ended up hurt enough to be permanently affected, so here we are.

Raine's fear of being "odd": she struggles with touch and the physical component of any relationship. She hates it because it's limiting and embarrassing, and she's afraid the girls will pick up on it. She has made several conscious efforts to do better in the story already but it feels slow to her and therefore bad.

Of course, Regal's compliment that the girls were learning from her wasn't meant to make her think they might be learning bad things, but the association was there and you know how it is when you think of an association lol. #justadhdthings or something. Sorry, Raine.

--

Anyway, the letter is here! And a lead! So it's off to Crestfield in the next chapter.

It's located here:

[ericac318]

A Reunion in the Multiverse

Summary:

Batgirl (Haisley Wilson) thought she lost Batman when they fought Reverb together. Things aren’t always the way they seem, though.She learns this when two Barry Allen’s show up in her ‘universe’ looking for Batman to help fix a mistake they made. This story goes along with the new Flash movie. I used all the information available for the movie so far along with all my DC knowledge. Batman x OC

Chapter 1

“Batgirl, you need to get out of here,” Batman instructed as they fought Reverb together, “We can’t run the risk of Gotham City losing both of us.”

The villain continued to open portals, attempting to trap the heroes and they had no idea where they would end up if they got sucked in.

She shook her head, “I’m not leaving you here,” she argued as she flung a Batarang at Reverb, watching disappointedly as he disappeared it with another portal.

“I’ve been training you to take over. We both know that I’m getting too old for this,” Batman responded while summoning the Batmobile to their location to take her back to the Batcave where she’d be safe.

Batgirl was shocked as she heard the roar of the engine nearing their location, “We’re more than crime-fighting partners,” she challenged as she fought back her tears.

“I know,” Batman responded with a nod as he distracted Reverb long enough for her to get in the Batmobile.

The last thing Batgirl saw as the vehicle took her from the scene was Batman falling through one of Reverb’s portals.

Three months later…

“Aren’t you over these games, Trickster?” Batgirl questioned as she disarmed his explosives and made her way to handcuff him. “We do this every few months,” she added with a sigh. Fighting crime wasn’t as fun now that she did it alone.

Trickster shook his head, “Not so fast, bat lady.” He opened his jacket to reveal another bomb strapped to his chest with the timer set for thirty seconds.

Batgirl rolled her eyes as she started to think over how to disarm the new obstacle.

Before she could act, she was distracted by blue lightning taking over the scene.

When the dust settled, Trickster was sporting handcuffs Batgirl had never seen before and there were two identical young men standing before her.

“Who are you two? The Wonder Twins?” she joked as she signaled for the police to take Trickster.

One of the replied, “No, we’re both Barry Allen, the Flash. We need your help to find Batman,” he explained causing her heart to sink.

“I wish I could help you,” she answered, “But, Batman is dead. You’re three months too late. How are there two of you?” she asked, changing the subject once they were alone. “My real name is Haisley Wilson, by the way.”

The same Barry spoke, “I went back in time to stop my Mother’s death and in the process, I ended up on another Earth with this Barry. We’ve tried to fix my mistake, but instead, things have gotten worse. We unleashed General Zod in another Batman’s world. So, we came to get reinforcements to take back. What happened to your Batman?”

Haisley’s head was spinning as she listened to Barry explain what was going on. “Different Earths? Do you know how crazy that sounds?” she inquired, choosing to focus on one thing at a time.

The other Barry replied, “We do, but we can prove it if you join us. We’ll take any help we can get. Do you mind sharing what happened to Batman?”

She sighed as she thought back to the day she never liked to remember, “He and I were fighting Reverb. He can open portals to .. well, we don’t know where. Batman sent me away just before he fell through one of them.”

“Come with us,” the first Barry requested, “We’ll bring you back once the threat is eliminated.”

She shrugged, “I don’t see why I can’t. Try not to make a bigger mess,” she added as the two Barry’s grabbed onto her and started running.

A/N: I know this is all over the place DC wise but I just had to write this story after seeing Michael Keaton return as Batman in The Flash trailer.

[thedivinelights]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Pairings: Ebenezer Scrooge/Isabel Fezziwig

Summary:

Ebenezer Scrooge has spent these past two years fixing bonds he had destroyed, building bridges that he had burned. No more did people look upon him and fear. It was safe to say his future was averted.

Then the cracks began to appear, showing him the one he had carelessly thrown away years ago. He knew there was more to be done.

Perhaps happiness was not fully out of his reach just yet

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey, Ebenezer!"

Scrooge groaned under the covers of his sheets as his large and blue visitor banged a spoon against their golden rhyton with a loud clanging sound that easily drowned out the sound of his own alarm clock ringing at 7 past.

"Ye gods, man, why are you here so early?" Scrooge grunted in annoyance as he willed himself out of bed, stretching out the aches of the morning.

"You know I don't like to waste any time, Scrooge." Present replied as one of their cheerlings popped out of their rhyton with a dizzied expression before passing back out into it. The ex-miser let out a huff. Present calling him by 'Scrooge' usually meant that a lecture was due.

"So you always tell me." Scrooge grumbled under his breath as he put on his clothes for the outdoors, briefly checking his pocket watch as he did so.

A smile graced the man's features as he looked upon the words — once a painful reminder — engraved into the cover. Present immediately noticed and pondered a question they'd been wondering for a while.

"Have you thought about going back to see her?"

Scrooge gave a sigh, pocketing the miniature clock and adjusting his cravat as she once did, "I highly doubt she wishes to see me after all this time. She seemed quite happy with her family, and I would hate to put that happiness under duress with my sudden appearance."

"But it's been twenty years." They countered, gesturing in a rather exaggerated manner whilst following him down the large flight of stairs, "Neither of you are getting any younger and... well, sooner or later you'll lose your chance."

Scrooge looked at them in perplexity as he reached the living room, turning to face them fully, "That is odd. Were you not the one to tell me to live in the present?"

"I also told you to do the best you can with the time you have." They dropped the unconscious cheerling onto Prudence, causing her to bark in annoyance that they paid no heed as they poured out some wine that they summoned from the kitchen for themself.

Scrooge looked a tad disconsolate, yet still Present continued, "Things are not always what they seem, Ebenezer. I hope you'll remember that."

He looked up at the giant, eyes widening, "Wait, what do you-!"

Before he could even finish, the sound of his doorbell ringing caught his attention. He turned back to Present, who had disappeared as soon as they came and leaving the man with far more questions than answers. Making a mental note to speak with Present when they returned, he made his way to the front door and flung it open to reveal Bob Cratchit on the other side. 

Prudence, in her excitement, sprinted towards Bob and tackled the young man, only keeping his footing thanks to Scrooge.

"Prudence..." Scrooge chastised, to which Prudence whined in slight shame before making her way back to her master's side, "I am truly sorry about that, Bob. What brings you here this fine morning?"

Bob gave a slight grin as he pulled out a flyer from his coat pocket, which Scrooge took and read as he spoke, "I have some good news for you. The charity committee has asked if you would like to participate in the annual park fundraiser for the orphanage this weekend. They're looking for volunteers to help with the games and activities for the children to enjoy. I assumed it would be a good idea to gain more goodwill and make our business far more well known."

Scrooge's eyes lit up, a small spark of excitement within him at the prospect of spending time outdoors and doing some good, "I do believe that is a wonderful idea, Bob. You've most certainly outdone yourself this time."

Bob's chest puffed up slightly with pride as he said that, "Thank you very much, Mr. Scrooge! And don't worry, I'll let the committee know you've decided to attend."

Scrooge nodded, still smiling, "Brilliant. Oh, and do give my regards to Ethel and the children. They are always welcome in my humble abode."

Bob nodded back, giving a small wave of farewell before practically skipping down the stairs and out of Scrooge's view. The older man beamed a grin at his partner's antics before he himself made his way out into the chilly streets of London. He waited for Prudence to make her way out the door before locking it up himself and checking to see if it was done properly. Once, twice, and then when he was satisfied he took his cane from under his shoulder and made his way to his counting house, ready to begin the day with a smile.

---

On the Saturday when the charity event was due to commence, Scrooge walked alongside Bob through the main street and towards the park, his cane tapping onto the pavement below as they walked.

"Quite a busy day today." Bob muttered slightly, dodging the large crowds that were forming as they made their way through a multitude of stores.

Scrooge appeared to have no difficulty and eased his way through them, "Well, the holidays are on the horizon. It only makes sense given people's tendencies to shop for gifts last minute."

"Like you, perhaps, Mr. Scrooge?" Bob teased.

"Hardly so, Bob!" Scrooge defended, feeling a tad embarrassed, "And please, it's 'Ebenezer' now! We're business partners, remember?"

Bob remained unconvinced. Despite his constant reminders, he absolutely refused to stick with the name 'Ebenezer' and understood that this latest reminder was a way to swerve the conversation. He had been certain that Scrooge was clearly reminded of the year before last where the older man's presents were clearly rushed with signs of messy gift wrapping, "Mhm... changing the subject, are we?" 

Scrooge was just about to give a sharp retort in response when the sudden sound of clanging reached his ears and he immediately tensed up. The duo were currently passing by a blacksmith's shop, with the owner himself hanging up chains at his window front to showcase them. Scrooge squeezed the top of his cane hard enough that Bob wondered if he would end up breaking the damn thing with the force he was emitting.

Despite his newfound happiness and fulfilment after the ghosts had visited him that fateful night, Scrooge could not shake the haunting image of Jacob Marley's chains from his mind. The memory of him, his ghostly form draped in heavy chains that clanked and clattered as he moved had even ingrained into his mind even to this day. Those chains had been a physical manifestation of the weight of Marley's own greed and selfishness, and the sight of them had filled Scrooge with dread. He began to develop a fear of chains and bondage, unable to bear the sight or even the thought of being shackled or tied up.

Bob — or anyone else who knew him, for that matter — never understood this sudden fear, yet they all made the conscious effort keep Scrooge away from anything that even remotely resembled those linking pieces of metal. He moved to Scrooge's side, squeezing his shoulder before gently leading him away from the shop until he felt him relax enough for him to let go.

"Thank you, Bob." Scrooge stammered slightly, his voice a tad weaker from his usual strong tenor. He ran his hand through his hair, giving himself a moment of calm before he continued.

"I truly should be getting over this irrational fear of mine." He chose his words carefully as he spoke, not wanting to reveal the true nature of why he developed this merinthophobia.

"All of us have something we're scared about, Mr. Scrooge, and it takes quite a while before you can heal from such a thing." Bob gave a reassuring smile, "Give it time, I'm sure you'll be free of it eventually."

Scrooge smiled weakly, and though he wasn't sure if he could fully agree with Bob's words he took them to heart nonetheless.

Straightening himself up once again, he fixed his hat and cleared his throat before once again walking towards the park, Bob following not far behind. They were greeted with a small group of volunteers who were setting up the tables filled with food and small mini games all around the fields in the park. He looked around, already noticing some children who were playing on the side while their parents made their way to the event.

One of the people at the event — a young woman who appeared to be in her mid twenties — suddenly noticed Scrooge and Bob and made her way over to them with a cheerful grin.

"How wonderful of you to join us, Mr. Cratchit!" She shook hands with Bob first before looking up at Scrooge and shaking his hand, "And you must be Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge. I am Elizabeth Rothschild, the woman in charge of this wondrous event. I truly must thank you for your kind donations to our cause."

"It is always a pleasure to work with you, my lady." Scrooge gave a bow as he spoke, "The little ones at the orphanage deserve the same capability for a wonderful Christmas as everyone else. I merely wished to give them that chance."

Elizabeth gave him a smile, "You can be certain that they most certainly are pleased with the gifts they've been given. I myself could hardly believe my eyes when I saw so many toys all at once."

"I'm glad they enjoyed them. Many of those came from Jenkins' Toys & Games, a store I would highly recommend visiting. The man who owns it is one I know well."

The trio ended up chatting for a small while with Elizabeth giving a rough outline as to how they were to proceed. She was to say a few words introducing herself and what her committee wished to achieve. She would then invite the two men up onto the stage where they themselves would say a few words before commencing the activities. A rather simple affair, Scrooge believed, and one he was more than happy to oblige to.

Yet the more he began to talk with Elizabeth, the more he began to be reminded of something familiar. Her blond hair, her blue eyes, the way she carried herself with poise and grace... she reminded Scrooge so much of... of...

"Mr. Scrooge, are you alright?" Elizabeth asked, forcing Scrooge out of his trance.

"Hm? Oh, forgive me, you..." He gave a smile, "...you merely remind me of someone I used to know, is all."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at this, but shrugged and said nothing in response. Bob glanced over at his former boss, having a mere inkling as to what it was he was mentioning, but decided not to comment upon it as well. After a few long minutes, they eventually made their way to the stage where a crowd was slowly beginning to form. Children, both from the orphanage and not, were all sitting at the front, rather fidgety and would have gone straight to the activities were it not for the adults behind them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for coming this fine winter's day." She motioned to the children in front of her, "As we all know, Christmas is a time of giving and spreading love and warmth, as we all gather here to celebrate the holiday season, I would like to take a moment to remind us of the less fortunate children who are spending this Christmas without a loving family by their side. At this orphanage, these children have been given a safe and nurturing environment to grow and thrive. But they still need our support and help to provide them with the basic necessities and opportunities that every child deserves. Your donations this day will go towards providing these children with essential items such as clothing, food, and educational materials. It will also help fund activities and programs that will enhance their physical, mental, and emotional well-being."

She turned to Scrooge and Bob, "And today, we are especially fortunate to be joined by two incredibly generous donors who have made significant contributions to this cause. I would like to take a moment to introduce them to you and to express our heartfelt gratitude for their support. Everyone, may you please welcome Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge and Mr. Bob Cratchit!"

The crowd's cheers drowned out all the background noise around them, with Bob and Scrooge hastily making their way up the snowy steps of the stage. The younger man motioned for the older to speak first, which he did with some apprehension. Refusing to let his nerves get the better of him, Ebenezer Scrooge steeled himself into a brave facade and spoke.

"Two years ago, if you would have told me that I'd be standing here before you all this very day, donating my hard-earned wealth to these children, I would not have believed a single bit of it." He motioned himself in a way that mocked his former self, full of greed, "I would have shouted 'Humbug!' and forced you all to pay your loans with exceeding interest!"

This got a laugh out of many, causing Scrooge to return to his normal posture with a genuine smile, "Yet now I see that it is not money that defines us, but our heart. Our spirit. And as I look around I am reminded of the true meaning of Christmas - giving and helping those in need. And that is exactly what we are doing here tonight, as we come together to support the orphanage and the children who call it home."

Bob moved in to continue where he left off, far more noticeable in his nervousness, "I-I know that this time of year can be especially difficult for those who do not have a home or a family to celebrate with. That is why I am so grateful for the work that the orphanage does to provide a safe and loving environment for these children. Mr. Scrooge and I encourage all of you to give what you can to support the orphanage and its mission. Whether it be through a financial donation, volunteering your time, or simply spreading the word about the important work that they do."

Scrooge swiftly cut in, "Or enjoy some of the wonderful activities that Miss. Rothschild has planned, as some of you are most certain to agree." 

He looked down at the children below who were grinning at his words, winking at them all before continuing alongside Bob in unison.

"So, without further ado... let the games commence!"

The children all dashed off into different direction, screaming and laughing as they did so. Bob swiftly began to make his way down the steps, and Scrooge moved to follow suit until a familiar face caught his eye.

She was far back in the crowd, and far older than when they last met, but Scrooge's eyes were not failing him just yet and he recognised the kind smile he knew all those years ago.

"Isabel...?" He muttered, though he immediately got off the stage as he noticed her beginning to move, running as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Isabel!" He called out, much louder than the first. He heard her gasp in surprise, before turning to face her former flame.

"Ebenezer!" Isabel's smile widened as she made her way over to him, "How lovely to see you!"

"I should have known you would attend something like this." Scrooge's heart fluttered at the sight of his dear Isabel. Despite the years that passed, she still looked as beautiful as ever. Perhaps the only indication of her age would be the greying strands of hair forming upon her once fully blond hair.

"You were quite the sight up there, I must say." Isabel held her hand to her chest as she spoke, "I've heard what you've been doing these past two years, and I am most glad you've gotten rid of Marley's influence upon you."

As she motioned, Scrooge noticed the golden band upon her finger and the flutter in his heart dropped like a heavy weight, "Yes... well, I've most certainly done all I can to atone for the things I've done. It has not been easy, but it is most certainly worth it."

The old money lender gave a smile, "And how have you been, Isabel? Is your husband treating you well?"

Isabel fiddled with the ring in her hand, her smile wavering a tad but refusing to falter, "He is. His name is Solomon Rothschild, have you heard of him?"

Scrooge's eyes widened slightly, "So that is why Miss. Rothschild appeared so familiar..."

She looked on with a sense of pride, "Indeed. She is a kind woman, one of three of my children, all grown up now."

Scrooge was briefly reminded of the vision he saw just before his time ran out with Past. A cruel twist of fate for him to see her future without him in it, yet nevertheless he believed she was happy. Her children appeared so full of life, her husband kind and loving. 

"Your husband sounds rather familiar." He stroked his chin in thought, before finally remembering him from a newspaper article, "He is a barrister, is he not? I recognised him from the recent robbery case of the nearby jeweller's."

Isabel nodded, her voice softening, "He is a very successful man. Gained the respect of many in our community. He's the reason this event even exists to begin with."

"That's wonderful news," Scrooge said, his heart sinking at the mention of Belle's husband. "I'm so happy for you."

"Thank you, Ebenezer," Isabel said, her voice seeming a bit colder than usual, "I'm very happy with Solomon. He's been a wonderful husband and father."

Scrooge was surprised by Isabel's slight but sudden change in demeanour. He had always known her to be warm and open, but now she seemed distant and guarded, especially at the mention of her husband. He couldn't help but wonder if there were problems in her marriage. But for now, Scrooge decided to keep his concerns to himself and support her however he could. After all, he could hardly deny it when she said she was happy, and he intended not to pry any further.

They both continued to chat for a while, reminiscing about old times and learning more about new ones whilst also finding ways to entertain the orphans together. And when the day continued onward, seeping into the evening, much of the crowd at the park had dispersed. Bob and Elizabeth soon went over to them as they returned from escorting the children safely back to the orphanage.

Bob gave a grin to Scrooge, placing his hands upon his hips, "Well now, this has been a rather successful day, wouldn't you agree?"

"Indeed it has Bob." He replied before tipping his hat towards Elizabeth, "Now I do believe Mr. Cratchit and I should be departing soon. There is still much paperwork to be done back at the office."

"I can take care of that Mr. Scrooge." Bob turned to face Isabel, "You should probably escort Mrs. Rothschild back to her abode. It is getting rather late and Elizabeth and I will finish clearing up here."

The knowing glint in his business partner's eyes did not go unnoticed by Scrooge and he gave a small frown at the mere notion. But despite it all, he couldn't help but oblige.

Scrooge turned to Isabel, his eyes filled with so much warmth and love that she felt she could cry at any moment.

"Shall we?"

Now she couldn't help but oblige.